The Coming Of Stellas Spatium

by Harratot33

Chapter 1 - The Unorthodox Summon

"I'm here!" Scootaloo panted.

"I was beginning to think you weren't attending," said Rainbow Dash.

"I'm so sorry..." Scootaloo was still short of breath. "There was an emergency CMC meeting. I tried explaining to the other two, but they insisted all of us were required."

"Ah, well, better late than never, hey!" Dash said kindly, and winked. "After all, that is the very first time you've been late for a flying lesson, and we've been having them for...err..."

"Five months." Scootaloo chimed in.

"Exactly!" Dash responded, astonished on the inside at her pupil's matchless memory. What happened next happened without any warning, as it always does: Dash's cutie mark began to glow and flash, signalling her to Twilight's Castle and the Cutie Map for a mission.

"I'm sorry, Scootaloo," she said. "Mentoring's gonna have to wait, I'm afraid. There's more...pressing matters right now, apparently." She showed the filly her flank, and Scootaloo instantly understood. No sooner had she done so, then Dash was soaring away into the eerily crystal-clear, blue sky.

I wonder who else is being called, Scootaloo thought. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy or Rarity?

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"ALL OF US!!" The voice that shouted this simple line was far more blaring and boisterous than any other ponies' in town. Yes - the pony was Pinkie Pie, and all her friends were standing just as dumbfounded as she was.

"This is mighty strange, alright!" Applejack agreed.

"Very unusual," Fluttershy nodded.

"Most eldritch if I may say so," said Rarity.

"The only other time this happened was our very first mission, when we first encountered Starlight," Twilight piped up. "If that mission was anything to go on..."

"Then this one ain't gonna be no trot in the park, neither," Dash interrupted, flying swiftly in through an open window.

"Where has the map called everyone to?" asked Spike.

"That's the worst part - it's beckoning us to Canterlot, and I have a nasty feeling the friendship problem involves Celestia and Luna, just like Starlight experienced several months back. The thing is, she was the solitary recruit for that mission...and...if the map has summoned the entirety of my friendship group...!"

"You don't suppose Luna has turned back into..." Spike began, but Twilight was already shaking her head before he had gotten every syllable out of his tiny mouth.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," she re-assured both him and her friends. "For all we know, the map might not have even called to us as a result of the princess' relationship with each other."

"There's only one way to find out!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, already making her way out (bouncing, of course!).

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Stepping hoof off the train, Rarity could not help but feel excited at the prospect of being back in such a high-class city.

"Oh! The sense of fashion, the sophistication, the overwhelming sense of royalty!" she exclaimed to herself. She often did this, and so the rest of the Mane Six were used to it after all these years.

"We are not here to enjoy ourselves, Rarity!" Applejack said sternly. "We've got a potentially deadly friendship problem on our hooves."

"I wonder if this mission will convince all the bystanders who think otherwise that friendship is important and worth studying; many ponies don't think it's worth being on the Equestrian education system at all!"

"That's crazy talk!" Dash exclaimed. "Without them, society would be chaos!"

"Yes, well, we've already got Twilight's library after use if anyone ever wants a taste of chaos."

"Rarity!" Twilight snapped.

"I do apologize."

"Now, if we're all quite finished, girls, I think our first stop should be Canterlot Castle."

"Excellent idea." said Fluttershy. "Our minds will at least be put to rest then if your instincts do turn out to be wrong, Twilight."

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Twilight and her friends were very soon inside the castle itself. A few rooms and many, many stairs later they eventually came to the royal throne room; what they found there was shocking, and certainly not in-keeping with the sense of familiarity Twilight had been accustomed to thus far. Princess Cadance was restraining Celestia and Luna in front of the former's throne.

"Stop it! Both of you! Please...I don't know how much longer you can both go on like this before one of you, heaven forbid..." She noticed Twilight and her friends. "Thank goodness!"

"Let go of me!" Luna shouted.

"You can do as she says, Cadance, we're here now." Twilight assured her.

"I guess we know what our little friendship problem involves," Applejack muttered to Fluttershy.

"I suppose the Cutie Map sent you all here," said Cadance, flying gently down to the Mane Six. Normally, her and Twilight would perform their special handshake, a ritual going back to the latter's childhood when the pink pony used to babysit her; however, this hardly seemed appropriate at such a time.

"If you can't help these two, I'm sorry to say I don't think anyone can," Cadance continued. "I've been attempting to do so myself for the past week, although I have to admit I'm no expert on friendship."

"Shining Armour can't look after Flurry Heart himself! She's too powerful!" Twilight exclaimed. "I think you'd better get back to the Crystal Empire.""

"Yeah, we've got this covered," said Rainbow Dash in an even more conceited manner than usual. "Six against two!"

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"I CAN'T WAIT FOR BREAKFAST!" Pinkie Pie yelled the next morning, bouncing merrily to the dining hall with Applejack following much more slowly behind. "I HEAR CELESTIA'S PANCAKES ARE DELICIOUS!"

"Pinkie," Applejack yawned. "I wouldn't move so darn quick, if I were y'all. You might break something valuable." Princess Luna was passing on her way to bed in the other direction, and it was at that precise moment that Pinkie inadvertently crashed into a stain-glass window (ironically the one depicting the defeat of , causing a tiny crack. Applejack very quickly caught up with her.

"Who...?" Luna asked somewhat crossly, turning her head.

"It was me," Pinkie sadly admitted. "I guess I do take my bouncy nature too far on occasion."

"Now, now, Pinkie," Applejack said kindly, putting her hoof around her. "I thought I was supposed to be the element of honesty."

"Honesty is the best policy, that's what I always say!" Pinkie said a little more loudly. Luna thought things over. And then she came to a decision. On the condition that Celestia agreed with her, it was time to tell Twilight and the others the truth. �p��