Evenfall

by Yinglung

Chapter 18 – Vision of Utopia

Ponyville was at night and quiet, except for the occasional chirping of crickets and howling of owls. A mare and a dragon was hurrying towards the outskirts of the town.

Twilight’s brows were tightly knitted together, her expression one of burning worry.

After releasing and making peace with Discord, she began to visit the Tree of Harmony in the Everfree Forest to study the nature of the Harmony Magic, and whether there was a way to manually evoke the power of the Elements even if she returned them, in a way akin to using Rainbow Power and consulting the Cutie Map.

However, in her investigation, she uncovered something rather unnerving about the forest. Or rather, certain inhabitants of the forest.

Before the ancient tome gained its consciousness, before even the arrival of the first ponies in Equestria, the land adjacent to the Canterlot Hill had been home to a wide range of animals. There was no settlement or civilization, save for the wolves.

The only lupine creatures ever existed on the modern Equestrian continent had been the coyotes in the extreme south along the Skull Coast, but they weren’t seen or heard from even before the founding of Equestria. There were also tales about the nation of Arctosia up north beyond Yakyakistan, where a tribe of pure-white snow wolves resided. Both seemed to have some form of organization, but none of those had much contact with the ponies.

However, there were no wolves made of flesh and blood living within the borders of Equestria. The only ‘wolves’ that she knew of were the timberwolves inside Everfree.

It had always struck her, or rather, the ancient tome, as something quite strange. It clearly recorded the first flicker of civilization near where it was buried. It had been by a pack of grey-coated wolves, who established a small rural settlement in the vale of Canterlot hills.

Those grey wolves were very likely part of a larger entity, as they came as a band of pioneers and moved onto the hill packed with tools, food and equipment. They spoke a language, Farcas, which Twilight failed to find any modern-day relatives among the languages she knew of. The village of Szürkehegyi, or Grey Hill in Equestrian, was a fishing and farming community of only several families.

However, shortly before the arrival of the three tribes, the lupine residents of the village departed and never came back. Several outsiders, apparently envoys of the wolves’ great leader, summoned all the residents towards the capital to the south without giving a clear reason.

And then grey wolves as a species was never seen by ponies ever since. When ponies began to settle the Canterlot hills centuries later, the knowledge about grey wolves was all but completely forgotten.

All these were originally not on the forefront of Twilight’s mind, given her mission to preempt the troublemakers and better Equestria. However, while she was sampling the magic inside the cave where the Tree of Harmony resided, a chance encounter with the timberwolves led her to a chilling discovery.

The timberwolves, instead of being magical automatons animated by the forest’s latent magic as all of they assumed, clearly had a strong level of vital impetuses inside them that only sentient beings would have.

The logical conclusion was that something catastrophic happened, which turned all the grey wolves within Equestrian territory into the wooden timberwolves. The grey wolves, while chiefly carnivorous, seemed to have been generally a peaceful and civilized bunch, not unlike the griffons. The thought of them being turned into some mindless machines was so unsettling that Twilight dearly wanted to return to investigate them, after lab results raised her suspicion further.

“Twilight!” Spike exclaimed.

“W- What?” Twilight’s thoughts were pulled back to reality.

“When we’re hurrying out, I got a new letter from Princess Luna. You were in a deep thought so I didn’t disturb you at first. But it might be something urgent, so I think it might be better to call out to you after all.”

“I see, thanks.” Twilight said, as she took the letter from Spike. “Let me have a look… Wait, this is the same letter that Luna sent me after Nightmare Night!”

“Oops.” Spike said bashfully. “Seems that I might have grabbed the wrong letter on my way out.”

“It’s fine.” Twilight sighed. “I’m really sorry for the hurry. I forget about the flow of time when I’m doing research.”

Spike looked up to the high-hanging moon, and the mud road in front of them. He let out a big yawn.

“I told you about this, Spike.” Twilight frowned. “You should have rested before we come out tonight.”

“But the new Daring Do’s so fun to read!” Spike said.

“Ha, now who’s the bookworm?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “If you like Daring Do so much, we should probably go visit A.K. Yearling someday.”

“What?!” Spike exclaimed. “She was like the most elusive pony ever! No one has seen her except in a few book fairs!”

“Yeah, trust me on this one.” Twilight thinly chuckled, but her expression turned severe quickly. Spike looked at her with a puzzled expression, but he followed her regardless.

They walked towards the Sweet Apple Acres, now much larger and more sprawling than before. Rows of apple trees lined their view, all the way up to the horizons. Ever since they introduced farming machineries and struck a deal with the Blueblood estate, the Sweet Apple Acres have greatly expanded, roughly three-fold in size and four-fold in trees planted. The Apples even had to employ some temporary workers from bigger cities in busier seasons, which added to Ponyville’s rising population.

Suddenly, strings of shrill-sounding howling were heard from the woods, causing Spike to gasp and latch onto the leg of the purple mare.

“What was that?!” Spike yelped.

Twilight sighed in relief. She then looked to the ground and said quietly. “… Timberwolves. Their howling signals the beginning of the zap apple harvest.”

She had planned to look for timberwolves specimen again immediately after the initial discovery, but to her bemusement, sightings had become so incredibly rare that she could not find any despite long searches. While this was welcomed by Ponyville residents, this presented a severe problem for her continual research.

She decided to wait till the zap apple harvest, which seemed to signal the highest activity of the timberwolves, and would be the best opportunity for her to see one. Fortunately, the pack of timberwolves seemed to be still existing

Just after the initial howling, there were a few clangs of bowl. The howling immediately receded, but for some reason, the banging of pots and pans had then stopped, which caused the timberwolves to start howling again.

“Quick, Spike!” Twilight said. “We’re running late!”

Twilight and Spike rushed into the apple farm, and dashed across lines of apple trees to reach an area with only barren trunks and branches. Applejack and Granny Smith was standing there, with Applejack trying desperately to tell her grandma something, but the latter seemed not to comprehend, causing the orange mare to groan loudly.

“Applejack! Granny Smith!” Twilight shouted.

Applejack turned and saw the purple mare and dragon. She immediately said, “Thank goodness! Ah’m havin’ a hard time here talkin’ mah granny into not scarin’ the wolves away. Please be quick, Twi.”

“Eh?” Spike asked. “Didn’t you say you come here to study the magic of zap apples, Twi? What’s up with the timberwolves?”

“Um, Spike…” Twilight hesitated for a bit and said. “From what we know, timberwolves are very receptive to the magic related to the maturation of zap apples. Their behaviors closely reflect the magic concentration in Everfree. Hence it is very useful for us to study them.”

“But they’re wolves! They’re going to eat us whole!” Spike said with clattering teeth.

“Spike, you’re a fire-breathing dragon.” Twilight said. “They’re made of wood. If things go to south, you can just roast them into charcoal.”

But she then grimaced. “But I hope it would not come to that. I’ll tell you more on the way.” She glanced at Granny Smith and pulled at Spike.

Twilight quickly waved her hooves at the Apples, then galloped into the woods where the timberwolves were heard.

Immediately, a pack of timberwolves were seen surrounding them. The timberwolves were made of clusters of leafy branches, and they howled menacingly at the two.

Twilight lightly gasped, and quickly casted a protective spell.

However, to her and Spike’s surprise, the timberwolves immediately stopped howling, and laid on the ground in seemingly submissive gesture.

“What did you do, Twi?” Spike asked.

“I didn’t do anything special, I just casted a protective shield around us.”

“Then why are they crouching on the ground like Winona?”

“I… don’t know.”

Twilight felt incredibly puzzled. What she just casted was an incredibly simple spell. If the timberwolves were merely reacting to her magic, then the Twilight in her vision should not have been attacked by timberwolves on multiple occasions.

Unless they were reacting to something else…

Twilight walked near the timberwolves, who stayed immobile to the approaching pony.

“Watch out, Twi! They might attack any moment!”

“I’m using my full caution, don’t worry. They don’t seem to be aggressive in this state.” Twilight sighed. “I do not wish to harm them. You shouldn’t as well.”

“Why? They’re just vicious animated wooden branches!” Spike said.

“I must verify this myself before I tell you more, please give me a moment.”

Spike was still a bit shocked, but he eventually agreed. Twilight then looked around, and located one of the larger timberwolves. She kneeled down and gently held its head, then touched her horn with one of its protruding wooden ears. A muted but serene white glow began to surround the timberwolf’s head.

Spike widened his eyes at the unfolding scene, as the white glow began to spread out, forming a web of white floating lights. The beams of light connected each of the timberwolves, and also flown up towards other places in the forest. Spike almost gasped aloud in amazement as he witnessed this dancing symphony of brilliance before him.

However, the white glow suddenly ceased. The timberwolves paused for a short while, and then slowly dispersed into the woods. Twilight herself let out a frightful yelp, and stumbled backwards. Spike barely managed to soften her fall on the ground.

“What happened?” Spike asked worriedly.

“Th- This…” Twilight barely squeezed out in short breaths.

“Relax, deep breath!”

“… Phew.”

“I haven’t seen you panic like this for a while, so what was that?”

“I can’t believe it’s actually true.” Twilight for a brief moment looked weathered, then she lowly said. “… Spike, what I’m about to tell you, it is of grave national importance. Do not tell anyone under any circumstances, unless you have my word.”

Spike widened his eyes and gingerly nodded.

Twilight looked to the horizons. “Timberwolves are commonly believed to be only tree branches animated by Everfree’s ambient magic. Less ponies know that Everfree’s ambient magic comes from the Tree of Harmony. But nopony knows that timberwolves are not created from Everfree’s magic, but merely sustained by it.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked in confusion.

“Timberwolves were originally a sentient, civilized species with bodies of blood and flesh called the grey wolves.” Twilight bit her lips. “And I just discovered that they were turned into timberwolves you see now by… a certain unicorn in the past.”

“What?!” Spike exclaimed, “How…? Why would anypony do that?” Spike was horrified by the implications that an entire species was turned into mindless mauling machines.

Twilight again sighed and turned her head away. “I wish I know who did it. According to my research and understanding, it must be one of the very first ponies who arrive on this landmass since the time coincided. However, the history at that point of time was not very well documented, and subjected to a lot of distortion and fanciful interpretation.”

“… I finally get why you said the play wasn’t the complete picture of Equestria’s founding.” Spike said gravely. “Somepony probably… wipe them out to make this land suitable for settlement.”

Twilight’s face turned white, but she said quietly. “I… I don’t know. I really hope that it wasn’t a case of malice, but it seems increasingly unlikely.”

“So what did you do to the timberwolves?”

“I tried to tap into their vital essences to determine their true identity. However, I was immediately struck with a large dose of dark unicorn magic. It was a surefire sign of an actively-casted, mass-scale curse by a unicorn in the past. This unicorn probably has a raw magical potential equal or even higher than that of mine.”

“… So who were that era’s powerful unicorns? Maybe we can get some insight from them.”

“… I’ve heard of one, but I hope it wasn’t him, because I have somewhat revered him for being the land’s first top magic user.”

“Who was he?”

“His name was Trefoil. He was the chief court mage of the unicorn tribe. When he was young, he was part of the combined pony expedition to Equestria. As the tribes discovered Equestria to be suitable for living, he followed the unicorn court and settled down here, establishing the first magic school in Equestria. This is the textbook version.”

“… Sounds plausible, but it might or might not be him.”

“True.” Twilight sighed. “I also discovered another thing.”

“What was it?”

“The timberwolves’ magic is weakening along with the general magic of Harmony in the Everfree. I am worried that if it continues, they might not survive for long, so to speak.”

“I thought you said they were living beings on their own? How would they be affected so deeply by the magic of Harmony alone?”

“I don’t have a clear hypothesis on that. I can only surmise that their integrity was kept by the rich ambient magic of the Everfree. As we have activated the Elements, the magic began to drain like a bath with its plug out. From what I observe from our first engagement to the encounter just now, the dwindling level of ambient magic correlates with their activity level.”

Twilight drew in a sharp breath. “Even though they would not all die out, as long as Everfree still has a sliver of magic within, but they will dwindle to such an unsustainable level that it would become impossible to bring them back to normal.”

Spike made an uneasy smile. “B- But correlation doesn’t equal causation, you taught me?”

“Very good. But you also have to remember that the magic in Everfree and timberwolves activity had remained largely stable for a long time, and changed together shortly after we took the Elements out. There is likely few alternative explanation for both.”

“What you gonna do, Twilight? Are you going to lift the curse for them?”

“Just now I found that I could connect to their essences relatively effortlessly, which should in normal cases the biggest hurdle. Since that was done, lifting the curse from then on would be a relative trivial…”

“Really? Then let’s do it!”

“… project requiring two weeks of preparation and thousands of bits of materials.”

“What the hay?! How is that trivial?!”

“It’s trivial because once I bypass the intricate magical artifice by directly hooking onto their essences, reversing such a mass transfiguration curse would be an elementary task. It is similar to reverse an individual transfiguration, but only much larger in scale. I’d only need to align the physical attributes of the timberwolves back according to their true internal essence. All it took was continual inpouring of magic and a large amount of magical artefacts to stabilize the magic flow. We have the bits if we six squeeze left and right and all pitch in.”

Twilight sighed. “But the true problem will be what to do when we revive them.”

“… They would hate the ponies really badly, wouldn’t they?”

Twilight winced. “That’s exactly my fear. If what we deduced was true, then in their eyes, ponies are definitely a bunch of land-stealing villains who cursed them to millennia of unlife.”

“But you’d be the one who rescued them out of this state…”

Twilight sighed. “If, say, somebody punch you in the face, and then give you a candy, will you then be happy and act like nothing has happened?”

“… Right.”

“While I feel like I must hurry to undo this injustice, we simply don’t have the recourse or influence to contain their possible anger at us and also to assuage the fear of the pony residents nearby. We’re too insignificant and powerless.”

The two both sighed.

“… Why don’t we just tell the princesses, Twilight?” Spike asked.

Twilight frowned. “We can’t do that yet. The princesses have the well-being of ponies as their first priority in mind. They will strongly object to my idea of holding justice above harmony... Don’t wake a sleeping dog, so to speak. But I do want to discuss this among our friends to see what they think about this.”

Twilight then looked to Spike with a pleading look. “Spike, I again ask you not to tell this to anyone other than us six. Can you promise me?”

Spike was uncomfortable to hide so much from his respected princesses, but he decided to obey Twilight at this moment.

He gulped and nodded. Then, he looked up to the purple pony, his mind for some reason drifted back to the time when Twilight was just an egghead and often buried her head in books in the Ivory Tower. Life was boring, but also simpler back then.

He suddenly thought of something. “Hang on a sec, Twilight. So what do zap apple have to do with all these?”

“Oh.” Twilight realized that she had delved too deep into her another purpose there, she forgot to take care of the matters of zap apples. “Zap apples are hotspots of Everfree’s natural magic, I suppose this is why timberwolves are drawn to it. Although I won’t exclude any other reasons… there is simply too many unknowns regarding the particulars of the tim- the grey wolves.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two were very exhausted when they came out of the Everfree, so they crashed on the couch of the Apple farmhouse for the night. When the sun came up, they were awaken by some ruckus outside the house. They hastily groomed themselves, and went out to see what happened.

When they got out of the door, Spike’s jaw fell as he muttered. “What… the hay…?”

The Apples seemed to be wearing bunny suits and jumping over full watering cans, all while singing the alphabet.

Twilight coughed as she tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the scene. “Um, hmm. Don’t be alarmed. They’re kind of doing a, um, ritual to ensure the zap apples bloom. Although…”

“Although?” Spike said. “That has to be the most ridiculous looking ritual I’ve ever seen!”

Twilight shrugged. “Heh, if it is effective, then it is not stupid or ridiculous. Although it does make me think…”

Just as they discussed the Apples’ harvesting ritual, two ponies, a stallion and a filly, were seen entering the Sweet Apple Acres.

“Well, howdy-doo there, Filthy Rich!” Granny Smith called.

“Hello, Mrs. Smith. Did I hear right that there's a zap apple harvest coming in a few days?” The stallion, Filthy Rich, asked in a hopeful voice.

“Four days, to be exact.” Granny Smith replied calmly.

“Excellent news, and as usual, I get your first hundred jars?” Filthy Rich said.

“'Course, Filthy.” Granny Smith smiled.

“Uh, I prefer Rich.” Filthy Rich clarified, as he and Granny Smith began to walk inside the house.

“Eh, Spike.” Twilight said, “We should get going.”

But before Spike could respond, they heard an angry voice at a distance. Applejack was in front of her little sister, glaring at Filthy Rich’s daughter, Diamond Tiara.

“How rude! How dare you speak ill of mah family within mah earshot?” Applejack huffed.

Twilight and Spike looked at each other with concern, and then rushed to the orange pony’s side.

Diamond Tiara widened her eyes, but immediately smirked, “Hmm, am I wrong now? You’re all just a bunch of grungy mud ponies who work in the field all day, while my father and I come from the illustrious upper crust of the Equestrian society.”

Applejack was close to boiling over, but Twilight immediately pulled her over and whispered something in her ear, which caused her to calm down a bit.

“Diamond Tiara, you already have your cute-ceañera.” Twilight said. “So I’ll try to talk to you in grown pony terms. You know your father and I are business partners, right?”

“So?”

“So that means I would be quite concerned if you continue to show a negative attitude towards my friend and her family. I dislike being a snitch, but this will be a case I couldn’t help but to make clear to your parents.”

“Hmph!” Diamond Tiara briefly glared. “My mother will only approve me acting like a pony of my status should be!”

Twilight resisted her urge to heavily sigh. It’s not really her place to intervene in somepony else’s family life, but her mother was, frankly, a horrible influence. Still, she said. “Okay, then what about your father right there?”

She hissed, but deflated quickly, “Fine! Have it your way, Miss Sparkle.”

“Count yerself lucky, kid.” Applejack grumpily said, “Ah’ll let it slide because of Twilight. Now Ah’ve got things to do with her. Don’t ever let me hear or see you do that again.”

Diamond Tiara turned aside in defiance, but Twilight quickly led Applejack away before another possible outburst.

“Why didn’t you let me discipline that little brat?” Applejack said exasperatedly as they left the Sweet Apple Acres and walked to the town center. “She’s grown bolder and bolder each day!”

“She’ll grow out of it eventually, you know.”

“But she and her no-good chum are pushin’ mah sis and her friends around every day. Ah’ve been fixin’ to chew them out for a long time!”

“It’s that bad?” Spike asked.

“They keep callin’ the Crusaders names and even ‘blank flanks’, and drag them into unsavory businesses to leave mess after mess for them to clean up.”

Applejack irritably said. “But she put up a face of docile little foal in front of Cherilee and other grown-ups usually. Don’t know why she got so bold this time, but by Harmony I was going to use that as a chance to knock some sense into her little head.”

“AJ, I’m not trying to downplay and call it harmless banter.” Twilight said with a sigh, “But it’s foal matters, we grown-ups can only do so much without acting wholly inappropriate. Besides, it takes a set of special circumstances for her to finally confront the negative influences from her family.”

“So are you suggestin’ me to do nothin’?”

“No, I only ask you to wait. She won’t listen to us now.” Twilight said.

“Hm.” Applejack frowned but caught Twilight’s implication. “Fine… So you wanna talk about the timberwolves.”

Applejack looked to Spike hesitantly.

“It’s okay.” Twilight said, “I told him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah… scary stuffs.” Spike made a sour face.

“This is not the place to talk.” Twilight bit her lips. “Spike, please go get Rarity and Pinkie. We’ll find Rainbow and Fluttershy. We’re going to have a meeting on this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight and Applejack gathered the two mares and entered the library. To their slight surprise, Trixie was also there. Pinkie went out of the kitchen with a fresh tray of tea.

“Eh? Trixie?” Applejack said, as she took a cup from Pinkie Pie to drink.

“Oh, Trixie just finished her works in the boutique and she wants to look for you to arrange for another magic lesson.” Rarity explained for the slightly bashful-looking Trixie.

“Oh, of course.” Twilight nodded. “Trixie, is everything okay with your outing to Trottingham and Manehattan?”

Rarity smiled. “She had done a good job pitching my design to the clients.”

Twilight grinned, and then whispered into Trixie’s ear. “Any news on the pony I’m looking for?”

Trixie lowered her head and sheepishly muttered. “Trixie spent weeks in the northeast, but even though there is a town record with the name on it, I can see no pony that matches your description of a unicorn with purple mane with a light blue stripe. You told me not to get into any settlement that, uh, consists of cutie-mark-less ponies…”

Twilight raised her brows. “I trust that you didn’t. It’s very dangerous to do so.”

Trixie gulped. “But the truth is, I combed the whole northeast but find no settlement like that. I tried to pull some strings and spread bits around to gather as much news as possible. The only useful information is that Starlight Glimmer’s old relatives said she might have gone into the mountains or crossed the sea to Griffonstone.”

Twilight frowned, and sighed with a resigned smile. “That’s strange… But thank you, Trixie. Your help is immeasurable. I will compensate any expense incurred in your trip as well as some more as my token of thanks.”

“You’re too welcome, Twilight. But may Trixie ask again why it is so important to find this Starlight Glimmer? You only said she was magically competent.”

“She has strong magic, yes. But there is also something I have to, um, settle with her. If I can bring her to my side, then it would be even more splendid.”

“I see…” Trixie looked at Twilight with an uncertain gaze.

“I am not going to be vague with you, Trixie. I just really want her as my student as well.”

Trixie went wide-eyed for a moment, and then frowned sadly. “I- Is it bec-”

“No no!” Twilight hurriedly added. “It has nothing to do with you being my student. Your progress has been excellent, in any case.”

“Really?” Trixie said hopefully.

“That’s true!” Twilight smiled. “If it were the current you when we first met, you could have preyed on my carelessness and easily disintegrate my defense field in under a minute.”

Trixie gulped, and again grinned sheepishly.

Twilight then looked to the window. “Starlight Glimmer is… well, let’s just say, she had some troubles with her childhood. She’s not a bad unicorn by any stretch of the word, but if left unattended, she would go astray with her negative thoughts. I just want to make sure Equestria would not be plunged into chao- I mean, calamity by some powerful magic user.”

“Discord’s not here, hun.” Rarity chuckled.

Trixie, however, again asked doubtfully. “Twilight, how do you know about this unicorn in the first place?”

“Ah…” Twilight anticipated this question, but it’s still hard for her to lie to her friend and student. “I had investigated extensively on current magical prodigies from around Equestria. Why would you think that I know about your abilities so well?”

Trixie’s face burnt bright red at being called a ‘magical prodigy’, and she became silent with embarrassment.

After waiting for the blue unicorn to calm down slightly, Twilight smiled warmly. “Trixie, you can come back two hours later. We have some business matters to talk about. You know, boring stuffs.”

“Ah, are we going to practice magic control again, or can we move onto artefact crafting?” Trixie asked eagerly.

“Sorry Trixie, magical control is very, very important. If we don’t make sure that you’re a hundred percent ready, making something that stores static magic is going to blow up the library nine times out of ten.”

Trixie deflated. “Trixie understands… but I really want to progress beyond the basics for once.”

“Basics are make-or-break. Even I am still working on it.” Twilight cooed. “How about this? If you can knock the bell with the bit this time, I’ll let you make the first amulet.”

“What? Knock the bell?” Spike couldn’t help but ask.

“Twilight told me to use my magic to hurl a silver bit from the town hall to the Ponyville clock tower before sundown. If my bit hit the bell at the exact moment the bell rings, it counts as success. But so far I don’t have too much luck at it… I always hit the bell a few seconds early or late.”

“Wait, so you actually hit the bell?!” Spike gasped.

“I told you, Spike, Trixie’s a prodigy at magical control of her own.” Twilight said as Trixie blushed. “It’s just that the teachers in the school were sadly unable to figure out her true talent.”

“Trixie will hit the bell at the right moment this time!” Trixie confidently proclaimed. “Um, I guess I should not bother you anymore, see you!”

The mares and dragon looked at Trixie as she left and closed the door to the library.

“What’s the deal about that Starlight Glimmer anyway?” Spike casually asked.

The mares looked at one another uncomfortably, and Twilight said cautiously with a sigh. “As I told Trixie, it’s a measure of prevention. I’m interested in taking her under my wings, if she’s willing of course. She’s a highly talented magic user, but as far as I know, she also harbored a deep resentment towards cutie marks because her best friend, that Sunburst colt, left her when he gained his cutie mark earlier than her. Since then, she’s been finding a way to make everypony’s cutie mark go away.”

Spike first looked shocked, but perhaps due to hearing one shocking thing that day already, he simply calmly crossed his arms and joked. “This is a rather petty reason to hate the whole thing. It’s like someone swearing vendetta on tacos because his parents divorced over bad-tasting tacos.”

Pinkie Pie did a spit-take at the analogy and burst into a belly laugh, while Fluttershy frowned and lightly admonished. “Spike, you shouldn’t say that. The pain of being friendless is very real.”

Twilight also nodded with a grim look. “It’s a shame that we cannot locate her at the moment. From what I know, she might or might not be researching a way using Star Swirl’s findings to change the past, in order to prevent ponies from getting their cutie marks. Like knocking out Rainbow Dash when she’s doing the Rainboom so-”

Rainbow Dash impatiently interrupted. “No matter what, if she succeeded, we’ll all get the short end of the stick. We can never allow that to happen.”

Spike was stunned silent. Twilight then continued. “Rainbow’s right. Messing with the past is a proven recipe for disaster. The temporal integrity of our world hangs in the balance. Fortunately, she is currently not magically advanced or resentful enough to do something so drastic, and we’ll have ample opportunities to intervene. For now, we have a hoofful of other problems.”

Rarity said as she threw a careless glance at Spike. “There’s another problem?”

“Timberwolves. I want your opinions on how we deal with them.”

“Hang on, Twi. So it’s true?” Applejack said.

“Yes. The magical signature won’t lie. There were clearly signs of strong vital impetuses in the timberwolves. Had they been… mindless automatons, that kind of energy would not be detected.”

Twilight then looked incredibly sad. “Besides, a unicorn did it.”

“What?!” The five all gasped aloud.

“… So what are we gonna do?” Pinkie Pie gingerly asked after a protracted silence.

“I doubt that the princesses would be okay with you releasing an ancient pack of wolves that are probably holding a deep grudge at ponies.” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“But this is most unkind and cruel!” Fluttershy insisted. “How can we go around and claim that we’re fostering goodness and harmony, when an injustice of this magnitude is festering right under our noses?”

Spike looked on and felt a bit bumped, as he discovered that he was the last one among Twilight’s friends to know this. He wondered what else Twilight hid from him for reasons unknown.

“Twilight, how many timberwolves do you think there are in the Everfree?” Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. “The number of active timberwolves waxes and wanes depending on the residue magic of the Everfree. And with us taking away the Elements from the Tree of Harmony and unleashing its power on Nightmare Moon, their numbers have dwindled to a dangerous level.”

“But they won’t truly die out, will they?” Rarity said.

“I doubt it.” Twilight said, “But allowing them to shrink to a number too low, and it would severely hamper the viability of timberwolves once the curse is broken.”

“How exactly? You haven’t explained very clearly back then.” Spike asked.

“Um, how should I put this…” Twilight hesitated, then she widened her eyes in realization, “Ah, here’s an analogy that perhaps Fluttershy would be very familiar with.”

“Eh?” The yellow mare yelped in surprise.

“According to my most substantiated hypothesis, magically-sustained creatures are much like others, in that a large population is conducive to their well-being. Small population size in naturally-occurring creatures would inevitably lead to reduced fitness and the accumulation of deleterious traits, due to a lack of reproductive alternatives. Similarly, magical creatures also requires a diverse mixture of vital impetuses in order for their population to maintain a complete visage of their ancient recollection.”

“P—Pardon?” Spike said in confusion. “Fluttershy, Twi said you’d understand her.”

The yellow mare blushed lightly. “Um… well, sometimes, when two bunnies love each other ve—”

“Hey, Ah’m with farm animals all the time too!” Applejack interrupted with a smug huff as she lifted up a tea cup to drink. “See, if two animals are kin to each other, and there are no others of the same kind around, they kinda have to get with’ each other to produce foals of their own even though they’re related. Just no choice ya know?”

“Huh,” Spike said. “So you’re saying that it’s like if something happens, and there are only you and Big Mac a—”

Applejack immediately spat all the tea on Spike’s face, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie erupted into a laughter.

Twilight put up an unimpressed expression, as she magically lifted a cloth to clean Spike’s wet face. “We’re talking about something very serious, girls.”

Fluttershy also coughed, “Y—yes, indeed. If animals inbreed too often, the newborn would usually be weak and unhealthy. If they cannot find anyone but close family, it would eventually make the species very sick and even drive them to extinction. I think Twilight meant to say that something similar could happen to the timberwolves even though they’re not flesh and blood.”

“Correct.” Twilight said. “If we allow this to continue, even if we manage to break the spell someday, the timberwolves would very soon lose their memories and knowledge of the olden days, in addition to suffering from other unknown harmful effects. To some ponies, it might not be a bad thing, but in the name of goodness and decency, I believe that all of us here do not want to see that, right?”

Fluttershy and Pinkie vigorously agreed, while Rarity and Spike nodded somewhat neutrally. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, though, were clearly in some sort of reservation.

The cyan mare returned a doubtful frown. “So what are you going to do about it? Immediately setting the timberwolves free before they become too few?”

“This is possibly one solution.” Twilight said cautiously. “The curse was surprisingly simple to reverse, but it would just take us several weeks in preparation and a moderate sum of bits to buy materials.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I know it’s a just thing to do, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do. They’re very much likely our sworn enemies given how horribly our forbearer treated them. So yeah, there will not be rainbows, sunshine and happy faces after they regain their forms.”

Applejack added. “Rainbow’s right y’all. They’ll also likely strike out to retake the lands that they think we ponies have stolen from them. Conflicts and even wars might break out. It’s no jokin’ matter.”

Fluttershy winced, however she insisted firmly. “… But now that we know, we cannot let the timberwolves stay like this! We must free them from the chains of ancient magic before there can be any talk of reconciliation and betterment!”

Pinkie Pie also added. “Fluttershy’s right! How can you make friends when your friends are cursed to be walking wood sticks and branches?”

Applejack stonewalled. “No way. The risk is way too big. You know that they could have been overlooked and nothing bad would have happened.”

The girls knew that Applejack was referring to the tidbits of future-past that had been guiding their actions so far. However, timberwolves were basically treated as mere nuisance by their alternate selves, and they couldn’t now in good faith do that.

“How can you be so mean, Applejack?” Pinkie Pie said with a mix of sadness and disappointment.

“Applejack.” Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. “Are you blocking this proposal… because it might also affect your family’s zap apple harvest?”

The other mares were completely stunned by the bombshell accusation by the usually reserved Fluttershy. Even the accused Applejack widened her eyes in a moment of hurt and shock.

The orange mare gritted her teeth and tried her best to swallow back her tears. “… S—so what?! So what if Ah care about mah family? Zap apples were what kept mah family alive back in the days. Without zap apples there would not be a Ponyville, or Apples, or me! Is it wrong to be a bit selfish about the one thing that mah family and Ah treasure most?!”

Twilight grimaced at the degenerating atmosphere of the meeting. However, it was Rarity who stood up to mediate the situation.

“Now, now, we don’t even know for sure if breaking the spell will break the cycle of zap apple harvest. Twilight and all of us will definitely research a way to ensure the zap apple magic goes uninterrupted by the transition should it happen.”

Rarity then turned to the apprehensive purple mare. “Twilight, is there really no delaying for the ritual? Although I’m in favor of breaking the spell as early as possible, Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s concerns are not without merits. We now have too little influence and power to keep any eruption of conflicts at bay. Causing undue alarm to the princesses will certainly be bad for all of us.”

“If we’re to ensure no lasting harm, we pretty much have to start it within these few days. The ambient magic is dangerously low.” Twilight bit her lips. “Though I’ve been considering an alternative for quite some time…”

Spike leaned in and whispered. “Speak up Twi, you can’t let friends be bitterly torn like this!”

Twilight looked at Spike and eventually nodded with determination. “Girls, I propose we should return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony as a mean to restore strength to the magic in Everfree.”

The mares and Spike looked at Twilight and gasped in shock.

“Twilight! We need the Elements! They’re our number one weapon!” Rainbow Dash immediately said.

“Twi, there are still a lot of evil villains in the world. Without the Elements, we’re largely a powerless bunch.” Applejack cautioned.

“There are other ways that we can handle those with our resourcefulness, I’m sure.” Twilight said reservedly. “In any case, we have a moral responsibility because we introduced this problem with our use of the Elements. If we let the timberwolves descend into a ghostly semi-existence, it’ll not be reversible. Our opportunity to rectify our errors only comes once and it’s now. Besides…”

“Hmm?” The mares looked at Twilight intently.

The purple mare smiled. “We haven’t really followed through with our promise to Discord that we’ll hide away the Elements, have we? What shows more commitment on our side by returning the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, where he can be a hundred percent sure of his safety?”

“Isn’t that a little over-the-top?” Rarity said doubtfully. “After all, we simply promised him to store the Elements at a place of his choosing. We retain some discretion as to whether and when we retrieve the Elements even if he managed to hide them at the top of the Crystal Mountains. But we’ll not be able to use the Elements for quite some time, if ever, if we send them back to the Tree.”

“Yeah! Discord is a tricky one. He might looks reformed, but he’s not that reformed.” Spike added. “We need something to keep him from being naughty.”

“Especially because he’s not that reformed, we need to crank up the dial of our sincerity, to show that we mean business. If you don’t think that immediate liberation is an option, that’s one more reason for us to do this. This is my word.” Twilight said adamantly.

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash was stunned at Twilight’s dogged determination.

“I’m on with you, Twilight, let’s do this!” Pinkie Pie spoke up, “We should do everything we can to make Discord our true friend!”

“Sorry but Ah can’t share yer enthusiasm, Pinkie.” Applejack said. “Ah hate to be a wet blanket, but there is a very real chance that he’d suddenly stab us in the back for whatever reason. The Elements can protect us from that and other sticky situations.”

“… Well, I guess you have to take the risk sometimes.” Rainbow Dash let out a resigned breath.

“Rainbow?!” Applejack turned to the cyan mare in shock.

“Eh, what else could I say?” Rainbow Dash smiled wryly. “One thing I like about Twilight is the length she would go to just to make friends and make them happy. As the Element-bearer of Loyalty, I think I’m contractually obligated to applaud that.”

Twilight chuckled at the sardonic remark of Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy then added. “I too believe in the inherent goodness in Discord’s heart.”

“Sure you would.” Applejack said with some hidden thorn.

Fluttershy winced but continued. “He may be somewhat rebellious, but Twilight’s probably right, if we’re kinder to him and more willing to listen, perhaps he will not turn on us, and even become our stalwart ally. With him on our side, we’ll be able to weather the storm despite the lack of the actual Elements.”

Applejack gazed at each of her friends. She eventually raised her hooves in the air and sighed. “… I hope you’re right. Maybe Discord just needs that little nudge to become tame.”

“Thank you for your understanding, AJ.” Twilight smiled.

Spike suddenly spoke up. “Hang on a second, weren’t we just talking about the timberwolves a moment ago?”

“Ah yes.” Twilight said sheepishly, “Sorry for the detour. If we put back the Elements, the ambient magic in the Everfree will restore to a safe level, allowing us to deal with the matter at a later but more suitable time.”

Fluttershy looked to the ground in sadness. Twilight laid a hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder and said, “I know it’s hard to turn a blind eye at their blight. But if we rashly break the curse, more harm will come to both us and them.”

“… I understand.” Fluttershy said in slight defeat.

“So.” Twilight perked up her tone a little. “Let’s snuck them into the tree before Discord wades back from Celestia-knows-where. We can frame this as a gift and give him a surprise! And we should be quick too, I have to come back to meet Trixie later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mares trotted on the newly flattened pathway in the Everfree forest. It was originally an old overgrown path traversing the Everfree, a relic from the time when the royal capital was still at the old castle. It had remained one of the relatively walkable path in the Everfree.

However, with the increasing need for Zecora and her helpers to transport a large amount of herbs and other raw materials out of the forest, Twilight had spent some time to devise a long-lasting spell to suppress vegetation growth, and she also hired some builder ponies to make it friendlier to pony-drawn carts as well as trotting ponies.

After walking for a while, the mares took a detour into the bushes, and soon reached a cave where a giant, crystalline tree resided.

The white tree was ever resplendent in its glimmering glory. It branched into multiple crystal shoots, among which five of them were the most prominent. Each of them bore at the end the symbols of their respective Elements, connecting to the heart of the tree, where there was a giant six-pointed star similar to Twilight’s cutie mark.

“Speaking of it, we haven’t really come here before.” Twilight said while admiring the serene beauty of the Tree of Harmony.

“Strange innit?” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“So this is the Tree of Harmony…” Spike gazed in wonder.

“If there is something that can be rightly called a deity on this very land of Equestria, this is it.” Rarity said.

“It literally gave life to mah kinfolks.” Applejack said.

“And to countless creatures, animals and plants in the Everfree.” Fluttershy added with a smile.

“So, uh.” Spike asked, “How do you ‘return’ the Elements to it?”

“Silly Spike, you just hang them on like you hang ornaments on Hearth's Warming Eve trees!” Pinkie Pie smiled.

“Yup. Twi, do it!” Rainbow Dash gushed.

“You’re strangely more in a hurry than me.” Twilight shook her head with a smile, and then snapped the Elements out from her saddlebag. With a flourish, the Elements drew six perfect parabola and landed on the trunk and branches of the Tree of Harmony.

Immediately, the Tree absorbed the Elements and glowed in a pure, bright white. After the glow died down, the mares looked at the base of the tree trunk in expectation, but they let out a collective yelp at what they saw.

“Wh—what? Did something go wrong?” Spike asked worriedly.

“N—nothing, haha!” Twilight squeezed out a smile.

Instead of a treasure chest of any kind, six inscriptionless slab of white crystal had emerged from the ground around the tree.

“That’s one more mystery to be solved.” Twilight muttered under her breath.

Rainbow Dash leaned forward to Twilight’s ears with a grin. “Don’t you hate it when you actually have to solve a puzzle?”

Twilight shot Rainbow Dash a glare, and then shook her head with smile. “Only time will tell if we can solve this one then.”

The group then left just as quickly as they came, but before they could exit the Everfree, they were greeted with the sight of Discord standing in the middle of the road. His expression is inscrutable, but strangely without much of his usual mirth.

“… Why did you do this?” The chaos spirit asked in rare candor.

“A promise is a promise. And a promise to a friend should always be upheld.” Twilight said plainly, and then smiled. “Pinkie knows the importance of promises best.”

“Yes! We promised you that we’ll put the Elements where they can’t harm you. You trust us. And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!”

“I remember you just said I could store the Elements somewhere of my choosing, you don’t have to put them back to the Tree.” Discord said.

“We want you to feel safe.” Fluttershy said.

Discord deeply inhaled, and then widely grinned. “And I do! Ha ha! It’s like lifting a chocolate cloud from my eyes!”

“Chocolate cloud? Where?” Pinkie Pie was momentarily distracted.

“So are we friend-friend now?” Twilight asked expectantly.

“… Sure, why not?” Discord chuckled.

Author's Note:

Obvious Chekov's timberwolves here!

Comments

[ferret]

she might or might not be researching a way using Star Swirl’s findings to change the past

The future sight stops cold at Starlight's meddling with the past. Starlight was a severely depressed, unstable, broken mare when she did this. She kept disrupting the Rainboom, but in the past they know, the Rainboom happened with no Starlight to be seen. And yet their timeline is still deviating from its original course, since her village doesn't exist. Her trail has gone cold, vanished without a trace before she could found the village, vanished at a time before she had hurt anypony. Starlight would know the exact moment in the past that she was most vulnerable, and alone. She didn't change history by stopping the Rainboom.

She changed history by stopping herself from existing.