A Future Worth Saving

by Flashgen

Chapter 5

Twilight groaned as she awoke in the corner of the library, a pile of books strewn around her small cot. It had been almost two weeks since she and her friends had arrived in the village of Gallant Hollow, and things had started to settle down; relatively at least. Her nightmares had all but vanished after the first few nights, and everything else was going smoothly. As Aqua had promised, their identities had been kept a secret for the time being, and while rumors were still rampant about the village after the announcement of the Element’s return, they were left to their own devices. One by one everypony had started to settle in, and they’d all found some way to show their support by lending a helping hoof...

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Applejack groaned as she shuffled around the library, a small weed between her teeth. She had hoped she could help the village by lending her hoof with farming food, but she was a bit dismayed when she found out that they got almost of it by gathering in the nearby woods. Unfortunately, the village had no shortage of ponies that could lend a hoof with a small task such as that, so for the past two days she had shuffled around the library, and the sound of her hooves scraping across the wooden floor had practically driven Twilight up the wall.

“You know, you don’t have to walk back and forth here Applejack...you could do it outside.” Twilight said with a disgruntled tone in her voice, though she tried her best to sound sincere as she was focused on a small book floating in front of her.

Applejack stopped suddenly, “I-I’m sorry Twilight, it’s just bein’ stuck in here with nothin’ ta do, it doesn’t feel right!” She let out a sigh, “I don’t wanna be gatherin’ sticks and leaves for days on end....” She looked at the unicorn for a moment before she turned to the door, spitting the weed out of her mouth, “I need to go for a walk.” The door slammed shut behind her as she let Twilight return to her studies.

Applejack’s head hung low as she trotted slowly through the streets, muttering under her breath, “Consarnit! If only there were somethin’ else worth spendin’ mah time on.” Her concentration was broken as the rough sound of rusted bells ringing through the air pierced her ears. As her head shot up she could see ponies galloping into some of the nearby hollowed-out trees, while others trotted quickly towards the gates, wearing armor with weapons attached to their sides. Applejack’s gaze shifted between the two sets of ponies before she quickly followed the ones headed towards the front gate.

A few unicorns were busy moving cut logs in front of the gate one at a time in an attempt to barricade it, while several earth ponies and pegasi took stations near the top of its walls. Applejack was stopped short by a colt wearing tattered armor across his flank, a rough contrast to his bright coat, “The guards have this under control civilian, you should get back to your home until things are resolved.”

“Like ahm gonna sit by and twiddle my hooves when there’s some emergency goin’ on round here. I’m not some helpless little filly. Now tell me what the hay is happenin’... and don’t say you don’t need an extra hoof to help.” Applejack stared down the young colt who seemed more than a little shocked by her response.

He let out a sigh as the bells continued to echo through the village, “One of the scouting patrols spotted a hydra nearby. They usually don’t come this close to the village, and it’s headed in this direction pretty fast. Hopefully we can keep the gates secured and wear it down...”

Applejack looked up at the towering gates. No matter how big they were, they were still made of wood. They couldn’t really keep something like a hydra from smashing them open, could they? A familiar looking pegasi landed next to the colt, wearing much looser armor to allow her wings room enough to move freely, “It’s almost here, the captain says we need everypony at the re-...Applejack?”

Applejack grinned as she looked at the pegasus, “Rainbow Dash? Is this where you’ve been running off to every day?”

“You know this pony Dash?” the colt grunted in frustration as he looked back at the gates, the ground starting to shake lightly, “Alright, fine, you can help, but we don’t have any extra armor to spare, so if you end up battered and broken in the nurse’s tent for a week it isn’t on my conscience.”

Rainbow Dash slung a hoof around Applejack’s shoulder, “Like she would let any kind of monster hurt her. Isn’t that right Applejack?”

“You can bet your horseshoes on it Dash.” Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash waved a hoof and flew back up above the gates. She turned her attention to a small set of crates nearby, a bit of rope hanging out of one, “Well, this is gonna be a lot tougher than the rodeo...”

The ground began to shudder heavily as the sound of falling trees echoed in the distance. Several of the ponies readied small catapults behind the walls while the unicorns kept the logs pressed firmly against the gates. Applejack ran up one of the staircases to the top of the wall, several bits of rope hanging loosely from her neck. It was only a moment before she saw the hydra break through a cluster of trees. Luckily it seemed smaller than the one she and her friends had encountered at Froggy Bottom Bog, though its size was still a bit daunting. A set of three heads let out a hiss as it charged towards the gates.

A voice rang out clearly through the air as the ringing of the bells stopped. “Fire!” At the order the catapults aimlessly flung rocks over the gates. Most of them landed around the hydra, though one managed to impact a single head, which hit the ground a few moments later. Its tail swung around in a large arc at the wall, knocking a few ponies off of the top and back into the village. One of the ponies flew straight into a catapult, splinters raining down in the vicinity as the ponies operating it rushed to his side. As the other ponies tried to rearm the catapults, several of the pegasi tried to keep the hydra’s heads occupied. Applejack took a moment to secure a crude lasso to her tail, holding another one in her mouth as she jumped down onto the ground below. She managed to barely dodge out of the way from another tail swipe, ducking into some nearby brush.

As the heads were preoccupied with the pegasi, she waited for her moment. One of the still-conscious heads impacted the ground roughly close to her, Applejack taking the moment to wrap the lasso in her mouth around its neck as it tried to regain its bearings. It only took her a few moments to crisscross through several trees, securing the rope to a heavy tree trunk with a tug. As the constrained head struggled to break free from the rope, its partner crashed into the ground as well. Applejack flung the second piece of rope around its neck, a rough whistle from her hoof cutting through the air, “Rainbow! Help me out over here!”

The blue pegasus flew down, grabbing the lasso from Applejack’s tail as she helped tie the second piece of rope to another tree. There was a spree of cheers as the two returned back to the clearing, a few ponies emerging from the gates to knock out the still-conscious heads. The aged colt that had escorted them into the village came out to greet them, “Rainbow Dash, it’s good to see you didn’t spend all of your time showboating today...”

Dash rolled her eyes, “Whatever Breeze, you owe this one to Applejack anyways.” She put her hoof around her friend’s shoulder.

Breeze turned his attention from the pegasus to Applejack, “I can see that... That was quite impressive Applejack. How would you like to join up with the guards? We can always use another strong hoof at our backs, especially a skilled one like yours.”

Applejack smiled at Dash before she turned to face Breeze, “You can count me in. Just hope it ain’t always this excitin’.”

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Rainbow Dash’s first flight had proven more effective at livening the pegasus’s spirit than Aqua could have expected. During the following days she had gone out on patrols with the guards at nearly every opportunity, though her attempts at showing off had gained her the ire of most of the veteran guards, but the respect of a few younger ponies. Following the attack by the hydra and Applejack’s joining the guard, however, the pegasus’s spirit for competition only seemed to grow...

“Chillax Applejack, I was only showing Pollen and Crimson some moves, they asked me to!” The pegasus sighed as she hovered behind Applejack, the other guards on their patrol further ahead: two pegasi, a unicorn, and four earth ponies. It wasn’t, well, completely her fault one of the other guards got in her way while she was waiting for everypony to meet at the rendezvous point. It was only natural she’d want to practice with nothing else to do but nap... especially with a war probably on the way.

“Then at least watch where ya goin’! We don’t have the extra hooves to be putting ponies in the nurse’s tent for getting injured practicin’ tricks.” Applejack readjusted the armor running along her flank, glaring at Rainbow, “So please, try an’ keep your eyes open next time Rainbow.”

“Maybe somepony else should be keeping their eyes open t-.” She was cut off as the other guards started to take formation up ahead. It was only a split second before they saw a flash of orange jump out from the nearby brush, knocking two of the earth ponies into a tree, and out cold. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rushed in from behind as the guards started to corner the manticore, readying the weapons on the side of their armor.

One of the earth ponies pulled a small blade from its sheath with his mouth before he charged in, trying to dodge the manticore’s claw before he was sideswiped by the tail. His blade managed to put a scratch in the manticore’s hide as it flew out of his grip. The earth pony grit his teeth as he got back to his feet, the unicorn checking on the two unconscious guards. The two pegasi moved to Dash’s side, the colt with a dark green coat speaking up, “We need to distract it. Applejack, can you help the others take it down?”

“You got it partner,” she said with a nod as the pegasi flew off above the treeline. Applejack got up beside the others, trying to keep the manticore pressed up against the trees as they pointed their weapons at it. It was only a few moments before the three pegasi swooped in, a mix of colors obscuring the manticore’s view as it tried to swipe at them. His claws barely missed the three on several occasions before one impacted Pollen, pushing him away a few feet in the air. Applejack and the others counted down before the pegasi moved out of their path to the manticore, the group jumping together, letting out a set of kicks to the manticore’s dizzied face. The force managed to knock it into a nearby tree, splintering it impact before the creature slumped down to the ground, groaning in pain.

The two pegasi with Dash moved over to the unconscious guards as she landed next to Applejack, a smug look on her face, “See? Practice does pay off Applejack. Been working on that one for two days, and see what it gets us? One knocked-out manticore with no bruises to show for it.” She looked at the two guards on the ground a few feet away, “...mostly.”

“I didn’t go sayin’ there was anything wrong with practicin’ Rainbow... Ya just need to be careful is all. You’re not the only pony ‘round here and we need to look out for one another.” Applejack looked back at the two guards being pulled up to their hooves and those that were tying the manticore down, “And besides, you could take a moment and act serious once and awhile. It won’t hurtcha.”

“I always have my eyes open Applejack. Nothing is getting past me,” Dash scoffed looking to the manticore, their group’s captain busy tightening a rope to keep its paws together. She started to follow Applejack before she noticed a flash out of the corner of her eye, the smallest bit of movement in the manticore’s tail as it tensed up.

Applejack could only feel a gust of wind as a rainbow-colored streak whizzed past her, right before she saw Rainbow Dash roughly knock their captain and his companion to the ground. She was about to yell out at Dash until she felt the earth shake, the manticore’s tail embedded almost a foot in the ground inches from where the captain had stood a moment earlier, its body falling limp. Dash slowly hovered off of the captain on the ground before she offered her hoof to help him up, which he seemed to accept reluctantly.

The earth pony let out a chuckle as he looked between the manticore and Rainbow Dash, “Well, color me impressed...I guess I actually owe you one for once Dash. Though don’t expect me to keep it that way for long.” He trotted past her and to the others, “Get Lantern and Shade up on their hooves again, we can’t stay here much longer... I don’t want any more of those things jumping out on top of us like this...”

Rainbow Dash didn’t even try to suppress a smirk as she looked at Applejack, who could only press a hoof lightly to her face in response, “Not a word Dash...”

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Rarity let out a sigh as she trotted next to Fluttershy through the open streets of the village. It wasn’t hard to occupy their days getting a look around the expansive village and mingling a bit with its inhabitants. The place seemed so calm despite the overshadowing presence of dread that hung in the air, even as they saw fillies and colts playfully running through the streets. Reminiscing about old times in Ponyville seemed the only way to make time move by faster than a snail’s pace.

The unicorn lifted her head quickly with a smile, a chuckle escaping her lips, “Oh, and then there was that time that Pinkie Pie threw a surprise party for that little filly Scootaloo. I swear that girl seemed on the verge of running away for her life between greetings and hugs from nearly every pony in town. Thank goodness Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom managed to keep her calm long enough to enjoy herself.”

Fluttershy smiled in response, “All of the adventures those three found themselves in, it reminds me a bit of us, don’t you think Rarity?”

“I suppose so, though you know I preferred a quiet day sewing or at the spa over being out and about in the muck finding my talents...” She looked at Fluttershy, “Speaking of, we should spend tomorrow over at that hot spring near the base of the mountains. They said it’s al natural, and I’m sure it does wonders for one’s coat, much better than going without a bath of course.”

Their peaceful walk was interrupted by the sounds of familiar shouting in the distance as their friends garnered a few odd looks from the villagers. “Look Applejack, the past is done. I promise I’ll take your advice, okay? Just drop it already!”

“I’ll believe that when I actually see it, but fine. I know buggin’ you ‘bout it ain’t gonna solve nothin’.” Applejack turned around to leave before almost bumping head first into Rarity and Fluttershy, “Oh, hey girls. You two out fer a walk?”

Rarity nodded, “You could say that, and I see you two are settling back into the usual friendly quarrels?”

Applejack glanced at Rainbow Dash, the pegasi’s hooves crossed as she hovered over the ground, “Just tryin’ to keep this little showboater from makin’ new rivals every half second. Can’t have everypony on the guard thinkin’ she’s nothin’ more than a showoff.” She winced a bit as she readjusted her armor, muttering under her breath, “Consarnit... Would it hurt anypony to actually fit this stuff?”

Rarity looked at Fluttershy for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Applejack, “Is... something the matter darling?”

“It’s just this darn outfit. I swear it don’t make a lick o’ sense to just hand everypony the same ol’ thing without even a thought to how it fits.” She winced again before letting out a sigh, “Hey! They probably got some unused sewin’ machines round here somewhere, you should fix ‘em up for us Rarity. I’d sure feel better with your work on my flank than these stock scraps, and I know Rainbow here keeps whining that she can’t fly easily in ‘em.”

Dash landed next to Applejack as she brushed one of her wings with a hoof, “It’s not my fault they just cut a wing hole in them and assume it’s gonna work.”

Rarity moved closer to them, smiling widely, “Why of course Applejack. Anything I can do to help a friend in need, but I might need some more ummmm... scraps was it?” She ran a hoof along Applejack’s side, inspecting the rough stitches that kept the bits tied together, “There have to be bigger ones than these, aren’t there?”

Applejack tried to avoid jumping away from Rarity’s close inspection, “Well, they only get what they can scavenge... and that usually ain’t a lot. They don’t stumble on nothin’ ‘cept once a week or so, and it’s not the best quality stuff.”

After managing to find the village’s stockpile of armor scraps and a few ragged sewing machines that had seen fairer days centuries ago, Rarity had set off on her work. It only took a few hours to piece together Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s new “duds,” though she took an extra day to add a bit of style to them. It wasn’t long after that there were lines of guards waiting outside of the library looking for adjustments of their own, and shortly after Twilight had to push Rarity out to remove the constant clicking that echoed inside of the tree.

Soon she had more orders in a day than she did in a week at Carousel Boutique, though Fluttershy was more than happy to lend a hoof when the need arose. Along the way she managed to add her own personal flair to every single one of them, much to the annoyance of the more senior guards. She even had civilians asking for the upkeep of their own garments, and word was that a even members of the Council had requested hoof-made outfits.

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Fluttershy sat outside of the food tent as she watched several ponies trotting by with urgency. She didn’t have much of a chance to spend time with Rarity since her orders started to slow down, at least to the point where she wasn’t constantly fixing armor and had some normal requests from the villagers to work on that didn’t require Fluttershy’s help. Fluttershy had tried joining the guards after she heard about all the creatures they had to deal with from Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but her friends seemed too concerned for her safety to vouch for her. With Pinkie Pie still missing and Twilight trying to study, it seemed like she was on her own... Not that it was a horrible thing. It’s not like her friends were trying to abandon her, they were just... preoccupied.

She took another small bite of grass from her plate before the ringing of a bell drew her attention, the sound of the front gates opening with a creak that resonated through the village and the sound of urgent hooves barely audible underneath it. Perhaps it was her sense of curiosity or simply a desire to cut short the spree of nothing she had been doing, but whichever it was, Fluttershy made her way towards the front gates, seeing a group of thirty or so ponies make their way into the village. She could barely make out what seemed like three or four pairs in the group carrying ponies between them on crude stretchers, trying to get to one of the medical tents through a crowd that formed to greet the others. Fluttershy galloped over to them as they disappeared into one of the small white tents, a chorus of groans flooding her ears as she grew closer.

A clear voice rang out from inside the tent, like a conductor amidst the chaos within, “We need to keep them stable or they’re going to go into shock! Gauze, get some presses ready, and Well, stop worrying about those two, they only have a few bruises or a head injury, these ones are bleeding out. Is there anypony else that’s on call?”

A deeper voice called out in response, managing to overcome the groans, “Everyone else is either out on patrol or seeing to the sick over at the base of the mountain, we won’t be able to get to them in time.”

Fluttershy moved forward, lifting the drape to peak inside the tent. She saw two ponies barely holding onto consciousness in the corner, but her focus was drawn to the center of the tent, even as she tried to avert her eyes from the cruel sight amongst a growing puddle of red. Before she could move away there was a hoof pulling her into of the tent, a white unicorn looking her over, “You. We need an extra hoof in here, get her some scrubs.”

In a flash the two ponies behind her tied a small cloak to her back and a mask to her muzzle before she was pushed over to a bedside. The pegasus laying on the cot underneath her had a large set of cuts on her underside, a rough set of bandages trying to keep the blood from flowing freely to no avail. The unicorn looked up at Fluttershy from the other side of the cot, “I just need you to keep her still so that I can stitch her up.” Her horn glowed as a needle and thread floated up by the pony’s injuries, the other two nurses doing their best to lessen the other pony’s bleeding a few feet away.

Fluttershy swallowed hard as she put her hooves up on the pegasus’s flank, trying her best to be gentle enough not to make matters worse. She remembered having to help her animal friends so much before, but never with something this serious. Sprained legs, small head injuries, or fits of illness, that was all that it was, but this wasn’t an animal with an injury. It was a life in danger, and she wasn’t going to run away from a situation like this. It took only a few seconds for her to gain the confidence to press down a bit harder as the pegasus started shaking a bit, hoping to stop her from tearing away the bandages before the nurse was ready.

“P-please, just stay still...it will only be a minute, I promise.” Her voice didn’t seem like it carried much weight over the mix of groans to the pony’s deaf ears, but the shaking slowed down as the bandages were peeled off one by one, the unicorn quickly managing to stitch the wounds closed. It was obvious that she’d done something like this numerous times before, though Fluttershy wasn’t exactly sure how much of a help she was. Several minutes passed before the nurse was done and the needle and thread rested on a small table nearby. She held up a small damp cloth to Fluttershy with a smile.

“If you wouldn’t mind, just rub this along the stitches. And thank you so much for helping, I guess we’re lucky you stepped in...” She turned away and headed over to the other two nurses that were busy with the other pony. Fluttershy looked down at the pegasus before she gained a small smile, rubbing the cloth lightly against the blood-stained wounds. It was a while before she was pulled from the tent, the four ponies inside having been helped as much as they could be.

“Thank you again for the help. We could always use an extra hoof around here, if you wouldn’t mind helping... I’m sorry for pressuring you, I’ve just noticed you around the village for the past few days without a whole lot to do.”

Fluttershy shuffled her hoof against the ground timidly, “O-of course, I’d love to help... I’ve just never really, helped anyone with injuries except animals before. I’m not sure how much of that will help...”

“A helpful hoof is better than nothing dear. If you’d like I can teach you a few things here and there. And I’m sure you’ll pick up on it in no time at all,” the unicorn said with a smile, turning back to the tent, “Just be here tomorrow when the early bells ring, hopefully something this... gruesome won’t be waiting.”

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A calm set of bells echoed through the streets of Gallant Hollow, signalling the end to another “day”. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were just arriving back at the library following another long patrol, though it was at least uneventful this time around. As the door opened up they could see Rarity and Fluttershy in the corner talking about the day’s events, and of course Twilight somehow managed to keep her nose planted in a book for several days. Rainbow Dash landed outside of the door before she started to unbuckle her armor, letting it fall onto the floor in a heap, “It’s always good to get out of that...even if Rarity did make them more comfortable.”

“You can say that again Dash... nothin’ like gettin’ a chance to come home after a long day’s work and rest your hooves.. even if it’s just fer a night.” She took off her set as well, though she at least had the decency to put it on a small rack by the door. Applejack took a quick look around the room, “So, still no sign of Pinkie Pie?”

Twilight looked up from her book as she tried to force a smile, “Not one... it’s been days since we got here and after our little history lesson we haven’t seen any sign of her. Though I’m sure she’s alright. I mean, it is a pretty large village after all.”

Applejack started to close the door, “But we haven’t seen heads or tails of ‘er since then. I know she ain’t one to go runnin’ off in ta somethin’ dangerous, but we can’t go expe-.”

The orange earth pony was pushed away from the door roughly as it was knocked wide open, the familiar pink pony landing awkwardly on the floor of the library as she looked up at the assembled, “Hi girls!”

Fluttershy quickly bounded across the library, managing to wrap her hooves around Pinkie and lift her up off the floor, “Pinkie Pie! We were so worried about you, we kept trying to find you everywhere.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity helped Applejack back to her hooves while she tried to shake herself out of a daze, “Ya know you can open the door slowly next time Pinkie...”

Pinkie Pie managed to find herself standing again, returning Fluttershy’s hug for only a moment before she slipped out of her grip, “But I had to get back here quickly. I needed to tell you all what I’ve been doing!” She managed to keep hopping up and down with her normal energy as the others watched in confusion.

Twilight’s eyes tried to keep up with the bouncing pony, “And...what exactly is that Pinkie?”

She stopped to move closer to the others in a flash, “Duh! I had to meet everypony in the village. I mean I couldn’t just leave a whole big place full of new ponies to make friends with go un-...friended!”

The others looked at one another suspiciously before Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Isn’t that a...bit far-fetched Pinkie Pie? I mean there’s like, a few hundred ponies here at least.”

“Well that’s why it took so long you silly filly. I had to introduce myself to everyone more than once, cause some of them were too busy to notice who I was the first time. And then I had to ask them about where they came from or what they were doing here. And memorizing everypony’s names took so long. I thought I’d never finish this soon!”

“Y-you memorized everypony’s names?” Fluttershy asked. She, like the others, appeared extremely doubtful.

“Of course.” Pinkie Pie opened her mouth as she started to take a deep breath only moments before Applejack’s hoof found its way to her lips, barely stopping the pink pony from her impending spree of names.

“I think we can just take yer word for it Pinkie Pie. But ya know you didn’t need to spend forever and a day out an about gettin’ to know everypony here,” Applejack commented before removing her hoof.

“Well... if we’re going to be here for a while, I have to know everypony. That way we can make new friends to spend time with while we’re here, and it makes it easier to forget about,” her smile faded for only a moment, “losing everything.” Her happy disposition returned almost supernaturally fast, “Isn’t that what you’ve all been doing finding a place to work?”

The five friends looked at one another. It was true, finding a place to occupy their time during the day had taken their minds off of the past they’d left behind. Even Twilight’s mindless studying had kept her occupied long enough to forget the friends and life that had been taken from them by Nightmare Moon. Maybe it was all for the best. Twilight stepped up to Pinkie’s side, “Well, as long as you didn’t scare anypony half to death with surprise parties.”

“Of course not silly, I just planned a few parties tomorrow, and none of them are surprises. Oh! I’m also helping one of the food tents by making sweets.”

Dash raised an eyebrow, “...Sweets? But all they have here is leaves and twigs.” She lowered her voice as she mumbled under her breath, “and they don’t even taste that good.”

“Well obviously I’ll have to be creative. It’ll take a few tries but I’m sure once I get the right ingredients they’ll be super tasty and everypony will be wanting some. Besides, they only let me use the stuff they can’t feed to anyone.”

Twilight closed the still open door as she looked at the others, noticing a few ponies in the street staring awkwardly at the doorway. She could of sworn she heard one of them say something about ‘that’s Pinkie Pie for you’ before she spoke up, “Well, we should probably get to sleep. You all probably won’t see me tomorrow, Aqua has something important she wanted to talk to me about in the morn- early.” Twilight corrected herself, trying to get used to the new terminology she had been catching up on. The group bid one another good night as a blanket of silence fell over the dimming lights of the village.

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Twilight barely managed to see anypony except a few guards or a lone vendor setting up for business as she walked through the quiet streets of Gallant Hollow. As she approached the large hollow tree at the village center, she could still see a few lights shining dimly from its windows, casting long shadows into the village. It wasn’t odd given the circumstances, they probably had to spend all hours of the “day” planning, and of course there were guards on duty at all times.

With a light yawn she entered the building, receiving a kind greeting from a group of ponies gathered in the center of the room. She wished she had more time to stay and chat with them, but Aqua had summoned her to the Council room she and her friends had been brought to on their arrival. With a begrudging goodbye she started the long trot up the steep stairs, relieved once she finally came to the top. The door was already open as she poked her head inside, seeing Aqua looking over some papers at a desk across the long room.

The light blue unicorn looked up from the desk as she heard Twilight’s hoofsteps, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry for not coming down to meet you Twilight. I was trying to get these signed before the next Council meeting, just a few administrative things, nothing serious.”

Twilight tried to suppress another yawn as she put on a smile, “Oh, it’s alright Aqua. I just wish you had called me here a bit... later than this. I’m not usually a mor- early pony.” Twilight let out a small cough at her correction, “You said you had something important to ask me?”

Aqua moved out from behind the desk, her horn dimming as she approached Twilight, “Yes, in fact. It’s a bit, personal though, but I hope you won’t mind the question. It’s about your cutie mark.”

Twilight seemed a bit skeptical as she glanced at her flank momentarily, “My cutie mark? What about it exactly?”

“Well, I guess I didn’t want to ask you and your friends so openly about it, but...you’re the Element of Magic aren’t you? The core.”

Twilight nodded as she tried to seem uninterested by the odd terminology, “Y-yes, I am. I was Princess Celestia’s personal pupil in fact.” She frowned as she became aware of her situation once again, “Before all of this happened... of course.”

“Perfect. Then I have a favor to ask of you.” Aqua moved past Twilight to close the door, her horn letting out a glow again as a set of scrolls floated over to her and Twilight. “I have a small, let’s call it a project, for you to work on. I’m sure you remember from the books you read and our conversations that magic isn’t universally taught in Equestria like it was in your time.”

Twilight smiled, showing off the pride she carried for recalling the fact, “Of course, magic is only taught in the military, industry where it’s required to complete a task and sometimes in the noble houses. Even then, what unicorns are taught to do with their magic is limited, like industry workers only learning how to operate machinery effectively, or battle unicorns learning how to fight with it.”

Aqua returned a smile to Twilight’s enthusiasm, “Exactly, and that’s why I need your help. So many unicorns born here in the Wilds, or that escape from the oppression of Equestria are like you. Their talent is magic, and they are deprived of the tools and the knowledge to improve upon it,” her horn glowed brighter as several of the scrolls opened. On them were a set of pictures accompanied by a list of names, about a dozen or so in total, “These are all such unicorns we could find. It took me a while to get them all to come here, but they will arrive within the week, and they need a teacher.”

Twilight looked around her to confirm she was alone with Aqua as she finished skimming over the scrolls, “M-me? You want me to teach a dozen unicorns how to use magic? But I barely finished my own studies under the Princess.”

“There’s nopony else like you in the entire Wilds Twilight... Please, I know that this is hard for you, but I believe you can teach them more than anyone else here could.”

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Twilight moved her hoof to cover her mouth as she let out a yawn. Today was finally the day her students would be arriving in Gallant Hollow, and she started to have second thoughts about staying up past the late bell for last minute studying. She could hear the sound of hoofsteps filling the streets outside as she walked to the open window, gazing up at the night sky through the canopy above. She could barely make out a single star as her eyes closed, whispering under her breath, “Please Princess Celestia, give me the guidance to show them the way. Like how you showed me.”