Legacy of the Alicorn: Part I ~ Legend of the All Mother

by Philosopony

Chapter 2: The Grey Herald

Chapter 2

The Grey Herald

The dawn of the new day broke through the darkness of night, shining its warming light across the frigid world. All the creatures of the day began to stir from their homes in the woods and burrows of the fields and forests. The sky was clear and the air was warm. The ponies of Equestria awoke to another blissful day.

Outside of Ponyville, on the road to Manehatten, sits a rather large two story cottage, built from the ground up with brick and mortar, steam and metal. The Whooves’ household was a queer sight indeed. Its metallic structure stood apart from the normally wooden abodes in Ponyville; not to mention it’s large size made it the biggest house in the region much like a mansion, though not as pretty as some. The two story house was accompanied by several large metal smokestacks blowing out a steady stream of steam from the large metal shed attached to the side of the house. Dr. Whooves was always busy working on some sort of new invention in his laboratory. The whole reason for their living out here was because of it. When he misjudged the pressure of one of his steam tanks, the consequential explosion nearly destroyed town hall. While he was not to blame, everypony figured it would be better if he did his experiments outside of town.

The brown earth pony walked out of the hot smoky interior to the cool misty morning of the outside air. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled a long stream of warm steam. The calm exterior of his mechanical domain was a great relief to his ringing ears; having been banging on metal and listing to the high squeal of escaping steam from loose pipes.

He meandered over to the trough filled to the brim with water, a pipe sticking out of his lab where the steam from his machines condensed into fresh, spring like water. He dunked his dirty head into the icy water, holding it for a moment; letting the icy grip of the water pierce his hot skin. Quickly jerking out, his wet mud colored mane sent water flying through the air. “Ah, that’s better.” He remarked, feeling wide awake, “Better then a cup of coffee, I’d say.”

Cleaning up with a towel hanging off the wall, he noticed that the window to his room on the second floor was open.

“Curious.” He said aloud. Moving to the front of the house, he found the front door locked, as it always was when he was out alone in his lab.

“Curiouser and Curiouser.” Dr. Whooves walked into the silent empty house. The machines and mechanisms he built throughout the lay dormant in the dark. He tiptoed up the stairs as not to wake anypony. Peeking into his unicorn daughter’s room, he found Dinky Doo sound asleep, cuddling with her muffin plushy that her mother made. The next room was Dinky Doo’s cousin, his niece, Sparkler. She came from Fillydelphia seeking work with the doctor as an engineering student. Dr. Whooves loved to have her around, mainly because she was a unicorn, but also with his wife always working, or being unable to; an extra hoof never hurt anypony. With both his daughter and student safe, there could be only one explanation for his window. Walking up to the last door, he pushed it open to see the love of his life, lying upside-down on the bed fast asleep. Dr. Whooves shook his head sympathetically, “Should have guessed it in the first place.”

Walking over he gave a small kiss on Derpy’s neck making her smile. She mumbled dreamlike, “Mmmm, muffins.”

“You certainly had a busy night my dear.” The doctor said, closing the window, “Another all night trip to Canterlot I assume? What did the princess ask for this time?”

“Canterpolt…” Derpy said, rolling over onto her side, her wing sticking strait up in the air. Dr. Whooves sat down in front of her and stroked her mane. While he is considered one of the smartest ponies in Equestria, named Fjord’s Most Influential Pony of the Year, twice, and given many awards such as the Alspark Industries Award of Excellence, he is unable to solve the one problem he has been seeking to answer his entire career: helping Derpy cope with her handicap. Of all his experiments and all his attempts at medication and surgery, it seemed to him to be impossible. He sometimes felt that her oblivious helplessness was the cause of their marriage. But he knew, deep down in his heart, that he truly loved the mare before him. Not because he pitied her, but because he loved her just the way she was.

Derpy rolled over onto her back again and opened her yellow eyes. They were both looking directly at him. He smiled at her; she returned the gesture. Then stretching so hard it shook her whole body. Relaxing, she looked up at him again with a blank expression on her face.

“Good morning.” He said to her. One of her eyes slowly drifted off in a different direction. For as long as he has known Derpy, her handicap has plagued her and defined her life. She was unable to finish school because she could not read, many task she is given she fails at, and on top of that, she is mocked by many who think she is just dumb. He saw through all of that. Past the exterior of a handicapped pony, he saw a brilliant mind just waiting to come out; held back by a body unable to contain its genius. Every now and then she would have a stroke of brilliance that would beat out even the doctor; he just had to find a way to make it permanent.

“Morning is good.” She said yawning. She rolled over onto her belly sighing heavily, “I’m really sleepy.”

“Well you were out all night.” He replied getting up. He walked over to the closet next to the door. Pulling out one of his many different colored ties and collars and started to put one on, “Confound these things are difficult to put on without magic.”

“Why do you wear them?” Derpy asked sliding out of bed. Her attempt at an easy maneuver resulted in her face crashing into the floor. She picked herself up with her wings and hovered over to the doctor.

Dr. Whooves successfully put on his white collar and green tie, “It makes me look more professional. Don’t you agree?” Derpy plopped onto his back and looked into the mirror with him. They were quite the couple.

“Did you recalibrate the steam intake valve so that it can withstand the PSI exceeding three hundred, on the Gizmodat?” she asked, rather wearily and without hesitation. Doctor Whooves smiled. That’s the mare he knew.

“What’s going on?” A sleepy voice sounded out from the doorway. Dinky Doo stood there, dreary eyed with her muffin plushy on her back, looking at her two parents.

“Muffin!” Derpy said trotting up to her daughter, the sign of intelligence seemingly vanished from her childlike face, “I see you have Mr. Muffin.”

“I always carry Mr. Muffin with me mommy.” The little pink filly replied, not taken aback by her mother’s strange behavior.

“Ditzy. Why don’t you wake up Sparkler. We have a lot to do today.” Dr. Whooves said, putting on his reading glasses. As Ditzy woke up Sparkler, Derpy began baking her famous apple muffins while the doctor sat upright on the couch reading one of a stack of daily papers that were delivered to their cottage every morning from Fillydelphia, Manehatten, Canterlot, Ponyville, Baltimare and Trottingham, “Looks like rain is scheduled for next week. Are you going to help out again dear?”

“I don’t think Rainbow Dash likes my help.” Derpy said from the kitchen; a massive white cloud of flower slowly making its way into the dining area, “Last time I shocked her, and she did not seem very happy.”

“Yes, electrocution can cause some ponies to become quite upset. Well, at least you tried.” The doctor encouraged her. Several of the automated machines in the kitchen were busy smashing barriers and churning butter, designed specifically so that all Derpy had to do is put in the raw goods and turn it on. Even this simple task she sometimes messed up. Singing a song that was stuck in her head, she put the barriers for the jam press into the butter churner and the cream destined to be butter into the jam smasher. The automated oven however worked perfectly, baking muffins to a golden brown with a soft inside.

By the time the muffins were done, Sparkler and Ditzy came down to a table filled with churned barriers which look like a block of red butter, and canned cream with an unhealthy amount of sugar added to it. Derpy sat down with a big smile on her face and began indulging in her cooking. The rest of the family wearily eyed the buttered barriers and cream jam which looked to be poisonous if consumed. Grateful for Dr. Whooves’ ingenuity in making an oven that was easy to operate and always made perfect baked goods, the family smiled widely and dug in.

“Perfect as always.” Dr. Whooves complemented on the muffins. Having averted the condiments, he instead opted for a plain muffin cut in two.

“It’s good mommy.” Ditzy cheered, munching on her muffin. Her plushy sitting in the chair beside her seemed none to amused by the ponies eating its brethren.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” Sparkler asked, always eager to start work. The doctor switched to the next paper on his stack, not really looking at the ponies around the table, “I was hoping we could get the Dirigible Carrier up and running so that we can go to Canterlot sometime this week.”

“Canterlot?” Derpy asked, stopping in the middle of eating her muffin. She tilted her head as if the name was ringing a bell.

“Yes, I was hoping to talk with the Princess about the Elements…”

“You know she will never let you see them sir.” Sparkler said looking across the table at him.

“Well it can’t hurt to try…again.” Dr. Whooves replied reluctantly, retreating behind his paper.

“Princess?” Derpy said as if trying to remember something.

“Something wrong?” Sparkler asked. One of Derpy’s eyes began to roll away from the center of her face, when it suddenly snapped back into position, “The message!” she yelled. The grey mare sprinted to the door, bucked it open and soared off into the daylight. Everypony paused to watch her go.

“Hmm. Anyway, about the Dirigible Carrier…” Dr. Whooves continued. The rest of the party at the table went on as if nothing had happened.

Just another day for the Whooves.

***{Legacy}***

With the sun fully above the horizon, the land basked in its glory. High up in the sky, a flash of a rainbow streaked across, doing the craziest of stunts that a rainbow had ever done before. Down on the ground, in the shade of a tree, a young, orange pegasus looked on, at the awesomeness that was Rainbow Dash.

“So cool.” Scootaloo exhaled in one long breath. She joyfully flapped her little wings like a beetle. No matter how hard she beat them, they were just too small to lift her up. Rainbow Dash looped around a cloud causing it to spin. She looped around another one causing that one to spin in different direction.

“Hello Scoot!” a British accented voice came from down the road. Pipsqueak jaunted over to his friend who did not acknowledge his sudden appearance, still intently focused on the sky.

“Whatcha’ looking at?” he asked her, turning to see what she was so focused on. All he could make out was a tiny blue speck disappearing into the sky, “Is Rainbow Dash doing another Sonic Rainboom?”

“She’s going to do a Double Sonic Rainboom!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“Double Sonic Rainboom? Would that… brake time or something?” Pip asked, rather apprehensively. He was answered with a simple shake of his companions head. They both observed as the screeching sound of a falling pony became louder and louder, and the blue speck that was Rainbow Dash became bigger and bigger. The air condensed around her forming a barrier. The sound barrier formed a cone around pressing against her, attempting to stop the awesome pony…BOOM. The first Rainboom exploded across the sky, sending a shockwave of the visible spectrum over the land, but the blue Pegasus did not stop. Screeching down to the earth, a rainbow falling in her wake, she continued down, faster and faster.

“She’s going to crash!” Pip yelled covering his eyes. Scootaloo was so transfixed she could not look away. Her hero, the one she looked up to the most, was going to defy all odds again! The second sound barrier formed around Dash, she was only a few hundred feet from the ground when…

“Rainbow Dash!” a voice sounded out from the distance. It broke Scoot’s concentration as she turned to see who had yelled. A grey pegasus was speeding towards the falling rainbow.

“Derpy! Watch out!” Scoot yelled, but it was too late. The second sound barrier crackled with life. Dash knew she was about to do it, everything she had been working for lead up to this moment! WHAM! Their collision sent the two pegasi into a tumble, creating a spiral of a white and rainbow streak. The two pegasi sped out of control, crashing into a grove of trees bringing down a massive timber.

“By Celestia!” Pip cried out. Scoot jumped onto her scooter and locked on her helmet.

“Come on Pip!” she yelled. Pip hopped onto the back and held onto his friend as the orange filly revved up her wings propelling them forward like one of Pinkie’s Gyrocopters. They flew across the dirt road leaving a large trail of dust in their wake.

Reaching the grouping of trees, they saw a large pile of fallen sticks and leaves covering the forest floor, along with the giant timber that was ripped from its home several yards away. Hovering above the wreckage was Derpy, desperately looking around on the forest floor, clearly unhurt, “You okay Rainbow Dash?”

“Geez Derpy! You could have killed me!” the blue pegasus yelled, reveling herself from amongst the fallen leaves and branches.

“You’re alright! Thank Celestia!” Pip rejoiced, as he and Scoot rolled up. Scoot jumped off her vehicle and into the hooves of her champion.

“What the…? Scoot, where did you come from?” Dash asked, perplexed, blushing slightly. She winced when the filly squeezed her. Looking behind, one of her wings was bent in an odd direction, having taken most of the impact of the crash.

“Dang it Derpy, not again! Now I can’t do that audition for the Wonderbolts.” she yelled, looking angrily up at the grey mare. Derpy landed next to them, ashamed that she caused harm to one of her friends… again.

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. But it is really important, I promise this time.” The mail mare dejectedly replied.

“Well at least I’m alive… What’s’ so important that you had to run into me during a life threatening maneuver?” Dash asked annoyed. It was no use trying to fight against Derpy. She had fallen for that one too many times; and always came out feeling bad. She had known the clumsy pony when they were little, and like everyone else, she made fun of Derpy because of the way she acted. Now looking back, with all that she has learned in the past two years, it made her feel ashamed to admit she did something like that. Taking Twilight’s advice, Dash tried to be tolerant with Derpy, but the active pony was just too impatient to have to wait for anything.

Derpy opened her mouth to respond, but froze as one of her eyes began moving away from the other. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in frustration, her blood began to boil. Pip and Scoot looked at one another confused as to what was going on.

The grey mare closed her mouth and defaulted to a blank expression of slight confusion. She blinked once then looked down, “Are you okay Rainbow Dash?”

“Derpy!” Dash yelled, banging her hoof on the floor; a flock of birds in a nearby tree flew off.

The grey mare shook her head in surprise. The realization of her being there hit like a ton of bricks, “Oh! I have been sent by Princess Celestia to tell you, that she wants to see you and Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy and Rarity right away!”

“What for?” Dash asked calmly, now more interesting in what Derpy had to say.

“She did not say, but she was very urgent. I mean, she wanted me to tell you right away, and for you to go to Canterlot right away. And that’s why I was in a hurry, and that’s why I ran into you, because I had to stop you right away, and…”

“Did you tell the others?” Dash asked, stopping her before the ‘ands’ and ‘becauses’ continued.

“The others!” Derpy sprang into messenger mode and blasted off to find her other recipients of the message.

“What a strange mare.” Pip commented, watching Derpy fly off towards Ponyville.

“Yeah, try growing up with her. Help me up will yeah. We need to find Twilight.”

***{Legacy}***

Ponyville was alive and well. The stores were open, the birds were singing, and the many ponies of the town were gently trotting along saying their, “Hellos” and “Good days” to one another. Cheerilee was happily perusing the market with her fellows, humming a soft tune; glad to have the day off. First item on her list was apples. Normally, her students provided her with enough apples to satisfy anypony with an apple craving like hers. Apple Bloom especially would tote over a basketful every week of applebucking season. But today, Cheerilee just had to go to the Apply Family cart to pick out the best ones she could find. Today was Thursday, and it was Big Macintosh’s turn to tend the store.

She trotted up to the chart which sat near the tree library as it always did. Fresh delicious red apples, ripe from just recently being bucked from a tree, shined in the early morning sun like the bronze bell at the school. To her slight displeasure, the cart was serviced by Applejack, who wore her usual worn out green bit apron; a brown cowfilly hat tilted back on her head.

“Mornin’, Miss. Cheerilee. Didn’t speck to see you out here this early.” Applejack piped up in her southern pony accent.

“Morning, Applejack. Twilight was kind enough to take my class today, giving me the day off. She certainly loves to teach.” Cheerilee smiled.

“Ah well. I reckon she defiantly knows a lot of stuff. Though she’s not exactly the best teacher type, if yah know what I mean.”

“Well, she needs to learn somehow. I was not very good when I started either.”

“Ah shucks Miss. Cheerilee. You’re the best darn, teacher I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you Applejack.” Cheerilee chimed. She glanced over the many different apple varieties that the Apple Family grew just outside of town, “My, my, did you buck all of these yourself?”

“Nah, Big Macintosh did most of it yesterday. I was busy fix’n the old barn.”

“Oh. It must have been hard for him to do it all by himself.”

“Ah shoot, Miss. Cheerilee. Big Mac can clear an orchard in a day with his eyes shut and his front two hooves tied up.”

“Ah well. A big strong stallion like him would defiantly be able to accomplish such a momentous task.” The purple mare responded blissfully. She could just imagine the strong red stallion, bucking the trucks of trees with ease as the apples so gently fell from the branches, landing perfectly into the baskets. Off in the distance, she would watch, under the protective shade of an apple tree, sitting atop a red and white checkerboard blanket. When her stallion was done, he would approach her carrying two heavy bushels full of apples across his back. His strong muscles flexed, trained to peek perfection from years of hard work. They would come face to face and…

Applejack blinked confused, “Uh, Miss. Cheerilee?”

Cheerilee opened her eyes. She was but a few inches away from Applejack, her mouth pursed for a kiss. She shook her head vigorously, turning as red as the apples on the chart, “Oh dear. My apologies. Uhh…where is Big Mac?”

“He’s fixin’ Fluttershy’s chicken coop. Got all messed up by Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh....” Cheerilee said, slipping from her stance and knocking over a whole bushel of apples from the cart, “Oh dear, I’ll pay for these I’m sorry.”

“No need to worry ma’am.” Applejack responded a bit confused.

“No really I’m…. Do you hear that?” The mares looked to the sky where they saw a small speck growing larger, a white streak painting across the sky.

“Who could that be?” Cheerilee asked.

“Uh, oh. I don’t like the looks of this.” Applejack sighed. Sure enough, her worst fears were realized.

“Applejack!!!” a loud, long yell echoed out from the growing speck. Before anypony could react, Derpy was upon them with a loud bang! Crashing into both mares and the cart, sending the baskets of apples and ponies into the air as if hit by an artillery shell. Cheerilee went flying and landed just outside of Rarity’s Boutique, her head spinning. Applejack flew through Sugarcube Corners’ front window, landing in a large Apple cake. Its pieces splattered around to all corners of the room and the patrons waiting in line. Derpy skid to a standstill on all fours, just outside of Flower Garden, run by Daisy, Lily and Rose.

“What the hay?” Rose cried out, seeing Derpy slide to a stop right in front of her precious flowers, “Derpy, what are you doing?”

The grey mare looked up, the most serious look on her face, “I am on a mission from Princess Celestia!” she announced. Rose scratched her head with her hoof. Daisy and Lily poked their head out of the shop. Seeing Derpy they jumped out, grabbed their flowers and retreated back to the safety of their shop. Not noticing their actions, Derpy marched off towards Sugarcube Corner, as any important pony would.

***{Legacy}***

“Gracious me.” Applejack said, lifting herself out of the mess of cake and apple bits, “My, oh my. That was one heck of a crash!”

“Oh, wow Applejack! I saw the whole thing! Your were all like, ‘AHHHHH!!!’ I was I like, ‘Watch out!’ and then you crashed through the window, BOOM! And smashed into that huge cake display, SPLAT! Oh, that was sooooo amazing! Can you do it again?!” an excitable pink pony was dancing around in front of Applejack’s blurred vision. Pinkie Pie seemed mostly unharmed by the flying cake bits, indicating that she was in the back kitchen where the Cake Twins were curiously poking their heads out. Her guests in line however, were completely covered in cake and apple bits from the crash. Luckily, nopony was hurt. Only a few of the displays suffered some damage and needed culinary attention.

“What’s going on down here?!” Mr. Cake cried out. Mrs. Cake walked down the stairs and gasped. The ponies in line began to clean themselves by licking the cake off of their faces and wiping it off of their coats.

“You guys missed it! Applejack flew in through the window like an old western hero and the Big Sweet Super Apple Tapple Surprise exploded into a thousand pieces! It was the coolest thing ever!”

“Uh, thanks Pinkie…” Applejack replied, getting up and wiping the cake off of her. Just as everything seemed to return to normal, Derpy marched into the store and right up to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, “I have a message from Princess Celestia!”

“The Princess?” Applejack gasped.

“Oh! Is it a guessing game? I love those! Um… She wants to invite us for tea?” Pinkie Pie asked energetically hopping up and down in front of the stoic faced Derpy.

“No” the grey mare replied seriously. One of her eyes pointing off in another direction.

“She wants us to open a pickle jar for her?”

“No.”

“She wants us to bake her a cake?”

“No.”

“Her sister is scaring little fillies again?”

“No.”

“She wants us to fly to the moon? Wouldn’t that be fun?!”

“No.”

“Pinkie. Why don’t we let Derpy tell us the message?” Applejack interjected before the pink pony could continue.

“No.” Derpy answered.

“What is the message Derpy?” the earth pony asked.

“No.”

“Uh, oh. She’s stuck.” Pinkie said walking around the grey mare, “Hold on. I think I got this.” Pinkie walked over and grabbed a blueberry muffin from the counter. She put the golden brown morsel in front of Derpy’s face to which both of her eyes focused on it with an excited expression.

“Now Derpy, tell us what the message is and I’ll give you the muffin.” Pinkie waved the muffin back and forth, tempting the mare to divulge her secrets.

“Muffin…” Derpy replied mystified, “Princess Celestia wants to see, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle as soon as possible.” When she finished, Pinkie handed the muffin to her to which she gladly gobbled down.

“Sweet mother of Equestria! We gotta get to the Library pronto!” Applejack said. She and Pinkie left Derpy behind with the angry customers and the Cakes.

“Goodness, what are we going to do?” Mr. Cakes asked aloud.

“I’ll contact the Doctor. He’ll pay for the damages.” Mrs. Cakes turned to the angry customers, “I’m sorry everypony; you all can have a free pastry to compensate.” The other ponies gave a small cheer, while Derpy trotted out like nothing had happened.

***{Legacy}***

Cheerilee’s vision began to clear, but all she could see was white. “My goodness! What happened to your hair?!” said a voice.

Cheerilee wearily stood up to the talking marshmallow before her. She slumped down on her rump and shook her head, “What happened?”

“Well, I heard all this screaming and then a loud bang on my door. When I opened it, you where laying there my dear.” The marshmallow that was Rarity said.

“Goodness.” Cheerilee replied. Her vision cleared, she could see the splintered remains of the apple cart scattered around the town. Many ponies were looking around at the mess in awe. A grey haired earth pony trotted up to them.

“Are you all right?” Mayor Mare asked concerned.

“I am. Thank you.” Cheerilee replied.

“What in Equestria happened? Was it Rainbow Dash? I told her not to do her tricks around town again. The last time she broke though my window…” Rarity went on complaining.

“No, it was Derpy.” The purple earth pony said getting up.

“Oh, that… mare.” Rarity said exasperated, “Why she still works for the postal service I do not know.”

“Well, she can’t rightly do any other job.” Mayor Mare replied solemnly.

“Now ladies please. She is trying her best. And nopony got hurt… I think.” Cheerilee looked around at the mess. Out from Sugarcube Corner, Applejack exited, followed by a hopping Pinkie Pie. They approached the three ponies in unrest, “Come on Rarity. We gotta go find Twilight!” Applejack huffed.

“Whatever for?” the white unicorn asked.

“Derpy said that we gotta go see the Princess right away. Come on!” Applejack hurried off to the library. Pinkie, having just hopped over, stopped, “Are you okay Miss. Cheerilee?”

“I am thank you. But you won’t find Twilight in the library. She’s at the school teaching my class.”

“Okie Dokie!” Pinkie hopped off.

“Why did she just not send it to Spike, so he can… burp it up as he always does?” Rarity asked aloud, sounding revolted when mentioning the burp.

“Spike went to Canterlot yesterday to get something for Twilight. I guess the Princess knew that.” Cheerilee said.

Riarity sighed and followed after the bouncing pink pony. As she left, Derpy trotted by giving a nod to the remaining two ponies, “Good morning Mayor Mare. Good morning Miss. Cheerilee.”

The two nodded back with a silent smile. When the grey mare passed, Mayor Mare sighed, making her way to the road leading out of town, “Well, I better go talk with the doctor to help repair the damages.”

“I’ll go… get Fluttershy so that Derpy won’t destroy her little farm.” Cheerilee trotted off towards the Everfree Forest. A slight heat building up in her cheeks.

***{Legacy}***

“Well class. Now that we’ve done an in-depth coverage on the History of Magic, let’s delve into the History of Equestria!” Twilight cheered, knocking her hooves together in excitement.

“Yea…” came an inaudible mumble from the desperately board fillies and foals that were falling asleep in their seats; having survived the last two hours with Twilight’s non-stop talking about the most boring subject in all of ponydom. Sweetie Belle turned her head to Apple Bloom who was softly banging her head against the desk.

“How much longer do you think this is going to talk?” the white unicorn whispered.

“Until we die of boredom.” Came her friends reply.

“Where is Scootaloo?”

“She heard Twilight was a teach’n, so she skipped out to watch Rainbow Dash try out for the Wonderbolts.”

“We should have done that!”

“Now now. Quite please.” Twilight sang from the podium. All the foals adjusted their heads so their faced forward, making it look like they were paying attention; even though their eyes were half shut.

Twilight pulled down a map from the top of the chalkboard which depicted Equestria and several other lands that bordered it. She lectured with her back to the class, writing on the chalk board like she does when she is doing research, “Now, we ponies did not always live here in Equestria. We actually came from a different land, far to the east and migrated here some two thousand years ago. After the first reign of Discord, Princess’ Celestia and Luna came and freed us from his chaos and united the three pony tribes.”

“When will this end!” Sweetie Belle whispered in despair, covering her ears with her hooves. Twilight turned around to scold her for the remark, but instead found Apple Bloom’s hoof in the air.

“Yes. Apple Bloom?” Twilight pointed to her.

“What is Tar-tar-us?” The filly asked.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Spike told us about it. And I can see it on the map there, so it must be real.” Apple Bloom pointed to a small area in the south-west corner of Equestria near the Wild West. It was marked with skull and crossbones. The name jutted out from the mark in crimson letters.

“Well… Tartarus is a prison that is used by the Princess’ to put away the worst kinds of monsters that threaten these lands. An interesting fact: Tartarus has always existed here in Equestria, even before the three pony tribes arrived.”

“How’s that?” Silver Spoon questioned Twilight’s knowledge of the subject, “My daddy always said that it’s where bad ponies go.” She gave a scathing look to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“Well, not exactly. You see, nopony really knows how or why Tartarus was built. It was found after the Princess’ took power. Sense then, it has been used to keep many horrible monsters away from our cities and homes. Nopony has ever been put into Tartarus.” Twilight was glad to see the class getting interested in the subject, but it was not exactly what she wanted to cover.

“Have you been there?” asked Sweetie Belle. The class was now starting to get interested. All this talk of horrible monsters and imprisonment sounded interesting.

“Well… yes I have. When I took Cerberus, the three headed guardian dog, back after he broke out. I have never been inside of it though. But, I have heard from some of the guards in Canterlot that it is a dreary and scary place that nopony should ever go to.” Twilight finished with a shiver. Despite giving herself the frights, the rest of the class was entirely focused on the lecture now, wide eyed and sitting on the edge of their seats.

“What else can you tell us?” Apple Bloom implored.

“Why wasn’t Nightmare Moon put in there?” Diamond Tiara piped up, not wanting to be left out.

“Well… I don’t know. I guess you would have to ask Princess Celestia about that, but…” Twilight began.

“Twilight!” the door burst open to Applejack, huffing and puffing, all scraped up and dirty, “You got to come with us right now!”

“Applejack? What’s going on?” the purple unicorn asked.

“Derpy said that the Princess wants to see us!”

“The Princess! But… I can’t just dismiss…” The bell rang and the classroom was already emptying as the students joyfully left for lunch; all talking about Tartarus.

“Come on! We don’t have all day!” Applejack pushed Twilight out of the school house, leaving Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle behind.

“That Tartarus sounds like a scary place.” Sweetie Belle pondered. Apple Bloom hopped out of her chair and over to the map. It was quite detailed, showing every town, city and village across Equestria including the great mountains to the north east, the Wild West desert to the west and the vast expanse of forest and jungles that spread far to the east to the end of the map. The tip of Equestria in the south just touched the Aquarian Sea which shot up into the heart of Equestria as the Camarillo River where Manehatten sat along it. To get to Tartarus, the journey would go across a large expanse of wilderness to the southern mountains of Draco before reaching the Murky Valley. At its end, Tartarus stood surrounded by mountains.

“It sounds like a great adventure!” Apple Bloom said excited.

“What do you mean?”

“Twilight said not many ponies go to Tartarus. What if we made it, and got our Cutie Marks in exploring or something!”

“Well… Twilight did do it by herself. But it took her a long time. We could be gone for days. How are we supposed to do that without get’n caught?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go find Scootaloo and figure that out later.” The two fillies ran out in an energetic gallop.

***{Legacy}***

Cheerilee made her way steadily across town towards the Everfree Forest, the crash still leaving her vision a bit fuzzy. Fluttershy’s cottage sat serenely near the edge of the forest with lush vegetation and many, many small animals hopping around the place in peace and harmony. Behind the cottage Fluttershy was hovering just off of the ground, corralling the little animals while Big Mac moved around large bushels of hay and repaired the white picket fence that keeps the chicken coop safe.

“Hello.” Cheerilee called, rounding the side of the cottage to the back.

“Oh. Hello Miss. Cheerilee. What can I do for you?” Fluttershy said, in her hushed voice. She seemed a bit flustered as she pushed the chickens into the coop before shutting the door. Other animals were taking advantage of her being distracted and tried to make a run for it, only to be corralled back by their caretaker. Big Mac was busy hammering down a fence post with a sledge hammer he was wielding in his mouth. Every time he would hit the post, his mane would whip back and forth like a rock star. Cheerilee could not help but watch the strong stallion at work. Ever sense the last Hearts and Hooves day she could not shake the feeling that there were deeper emotions she harbored for Apple Bloom’s brother.

“Uh… Miss. Cheerilee?” Fluttershy asked, gently waving her hoof in front of the transfixed earth pony.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Um… right. I came here to inform you that the princess wants you, Twilight and the others to journey to Canterlot to see her.”

“Oh my. You didn’t have to go through all the trouble...” Fluttershy added, feeling that the purple pony was working far too hard to deliver a simple message to her.

“Well, it’s more that Derpy was supposed to give you the message. But I figured that… well, it would be easier if I delivered it instead.” Cheerilee said, trying not to make Derpy out as being a mess up, though in actuality she could not completely disagree.

“The Princess?! Oh dear. I must go see Twilight right away. But… my animals…” Fluttershy landed on the ground looking torn.

“It’s alright. I’ll look after them.” Cheerilee smiled.

“Oh, thank you. Hopefully I won’t be long!” Fluttershy flew off towards town. Alone now, Cheerilee ventured over to Big Mac who had set the sledge hammer aside, the post firmly placed in the ground.

“Afternoon, Big Mac.” She said, being coy.

“Afternoon, Miss. Cheerilee. Don’t you have class today?” the big red stallion answered, wiping his brow.

“Twilight took over for me. Though I should probably go back before lunch is over…” she explained, hardly having a thought other then the stallion before her, “You know. Maybe sometime you can come over and fix my… fence…” She ended. Rather lamely.

“Eyup.” Big Mac took a swig from his water sac. Cheerilee slowly walked backwards continuing to look at him. Their eyes connected, each looked longingly at the other. She bumped into a goat, who bahhed out loud and bucked her flank. She jumped in surprise, “Oh dear. Um… well. I best be going…” she quickly ran off towards town. Big Mac set his water sac aside and began hammering in the next fence post.

***{Legacy}***

The library was full of commotion. Rainbow Dash was laying on her belly squirming as Nurse Redheart wrapped her wing. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Pipsqueak were all huddled in a corner talking in low hushed voices to one another. Pinkie Pie and Derpy were having a grand old time with one another as they hopped around the library singing Pinkie’s latest musical compilation:

The cake is dead!
The cake is dead!
It’s all over Applejacks head!
She flew through the wall,
And landed down the hall,
Then everyone said,
What will we do!
The cake is dead!
The cake is dead!

Meanwhile, Rarity was complaining to Applejack how Winona is always barking and fighting at Opalescence.

“It’s because she’s a dog Rarity. Dogs n’ cats don’t like one another.” Applejack stated, trying to end the argument. She has growing more annoyed by Pinkie’s song, feeling that it was her fault the cake was destroyed.

“Yes, well. Just try to keep your filthy mongrel away from my precious Opal.” Rarity chimed.

“At least she’s not as bad at Miss. Cannon Ball over here.” Applejack nodded to Rainbow Dash, who jerked up, causing more pain and a scolding from Redheart.

“Hey! Me and Tank were just trying to have some fun is all.” Dash defended.

“I don’t think launching Tank into Fluttershy’s yard is considered fun for everyone.” The earth pony retorted, “My brother had to leave early so he could help fix up the fence.”

“Well, it was an accident. I missed my target.” Dash argued, trying to add to her defense.

“I must say Rainbow Dash, you do have a knack for destruction.” Rarity added.

“Hey! It’s not like we can all be prissy ponies like you!”

“Quiet!!!” Twilight yelled, drowning out all other conversations going on. Everyone looked to the purple unicorn who was now standing on top of a pile of books she had been quickly reading through.

“Now then. Where’s Fluttershy?” Just as she asked, the door creaked open to the yellow pegasus peeking her head in, “Am I interrupting?”

“Good you made it. Now that we are all assembled. Derpy. What was the message that the Princess gave you?” Twilight asked the grey mare, who through this whole time continued to fly around singing Pinkie’s song loudly. Growing annoyed, Twilight grabbed Derpy’s tail with magic stopping her dead in mid air, “Derpy please. What was the message?”

“Message?” Derpy responded confused. She landed on the floor and looked around as if having just realized that she was in the library with around eight other ponies. As they watched her, one of her eyes began to shift off in another direction. “The message…” she whispered to herself. It was so quiet that they could almost hear the cogs rotating around in Derpy’s head.

“I got it!” she exclaimed, before anypony could react, “Princess Celestia wants Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy to come to Canterlot right away!”

“Great. What for?” Twilight asked.

“What?” the grey mare responded, her eyes still derped.

“What does she want us there for?”

“Uh… she did not say.” Derpy said, examining the bowels of her memory to see if she forgot something.

“Well, that’s great and all. But I’m not exactly ready for any adventure here with my wing broken.” Rainbow Dash added, sitting up on the table, her wing uselessly sitting in its cast.

“Yes, it seems that we all have some kind of work to do.” Rarity contributed, “I myself have several dresses that need to be done by next Tuesday.”

“And my cottage, still needs some repairing, so… um…yeah.” Fluttershy peeped.

“Wait. You guys are refusing an order from the Princess?” Twilight exclaimed. This seemed to her to be near treason, “I can’t believe you guys!”

“Well you can’t rightly blame us. I mean… we like helping the princess and saving Equestria and all, but it’s disrupting with our home lives. We can’t keep running off while our homes fall into disrepair.” Applejack stated.

“Despair.” Rarity corrected her.

“Besides, with the increase of guards, what needs to be stopped?” Dash added.

“And we haven’t made a friendship report in weeks.” Pinkie contributed.

“So all your lives are too busy, too important to help the princess? This is the princess were talking about, not somepony who would just use the Elements for any reason. She would only call on us if it was extremely important. Remember the changelings? Did you forget them? Discord? Nightmare Moon? What if they were to return? Would we just sit and watch as Equestria fell into darkness?”

“But that’s different….” Applejack tried to explain.

“The Princess needs us, and it is not our position to deny her our help!” Twilight affirmed. She gazed at her friends who all seemed rather reluctant. When nopony responded, she huffed aloud.

“Fine then. I’ll go see what the Princess wants. You all can stay here and do your chores.” The purple unicorn hopped off of her books and began marching up to her bedroom. The other ponies looked at one another, feeling that they have struck a chord with their friend. Derpy continued to search her memory for anything she might have forgotten.

“Alright.” Rarity sighed, “We’ll go.”

***{Legacy of the Alicorn: Part I ~ Legend of the All Mother}***

Comments

[Philosopony]

709783

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I am trying to get over a handicap of spelling and the grammatical errors i'll try to keep an eye out for. I hope with later chapters you'll see my reasoning's behind character choices and how they play into the whole story, and not just as a plot moving character.