Twilight was left to her own devices in the guest room with Spike. Night was starting to fall and it was soon going to be time for slumber. Twilight, however, had no intention of sleeping. Supplied with a quill, ink, and some sheets of paper, the mare was allowed to write whatever pleased her. As she had done for years, the unicorn decided that she was going to mark down her theories on how to resurrect Celestia and how to restore her body regardless of the condition.
Twilight was interrupted in her task by the door opening and an angry guard chucking something at Twilight. She yelped and reflexively covered her face when a giant, boney hand emerged from around the corner to catch the projectile. Spike peered around the corner, its eyes glowing in the ambient darkness and terrifying what was a proud soldier mere moments ago.
"Uh, th-the Empress wanted me t-to give this back," she stammered.
Spike took a step, shaking the ground and causing the pony to run screaming.
"Could you close the door and show me what it is they threw, please?" Twilight asked.
The undead complied and passed her the item, delighting its master. It was the frozen hair of Celestia that still glowed with the magic that used to course through her body. The mare hugged it close to her and put it next to her papers to better illuminate what she was writing. A single tiny oil lamp wasn't enough to properly illuminate her room. With her inspiration and goal next to her, Twilight found herself compelled to write and rewrite all her theories, proving and disproving constantly as she worked through the night.
Or, that is how it would have happened had Cadance not come through the door and pulled away Twilight's tools.
"Hey!" the mare protested. "Give those back! I need them!"
"Twilight," Cadance started as she looked over the notes. "You need to sleep."
"No, I need to work," Twilight said. "If I don't write everything that comes to mind then I'll forget it when I wake up."
"Uh huh." The mare tucked the supplies away with guards hiding in the hallway. "Have you been doing that this whole time?" she asked incredulously.
The unicorn shrugged. "Yes? What's the problem? I haven't had many-" Twilight yawned unintentionally. "I haven't had any problems yet."
Cadance rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep, Twilight," the alicorn said firmly. "Don't make me treat you like a foal."
Grumbling, Twilight crossed her forelegs and puffed up her cheeks. "Fine," she said reluctantly.
The alicorn screamed mentally and shut the door, leaving the guards to watch it.
"What will we do if the undead attacks us?" one of the soldiers asked.
"We gave you that for a reason," Cadance said as she pointed to a glowing red 'badge' on the chestplate of the guards. "Press that and all the spire will be alerted to the necromancer trying to escape." She made to turn but stopped herself. "Don't get in the way of the undead," she added. "It'll only attack you if you impede it or try and attack its master, alright? It's less dangerous than you think."
"She says with the dead and wounded left in its wake," the guard whispered to her companion.
The night slowly turned to day, bringing Cadance and Shining Armor up with it. Flurry was still sound asleep in her crib at the foot of the parents' large bed. The two got up and stretched, cracking their joints in the process.
"Good morning, Flurry!" Cadance coo'd. Flurry yawned and shifted in place as her mother lifted her up. "Ooo. Still so tired. You already got tuckered out playing with Twilight yesterday? But you didn't play that much."
Shining pulled apart the emerald-green drapes covering one of the three large windows of their room and looked upon the growing capital. The crystal ponies were starting to become active themselves and bringing life back into the sleepy city. The new train station was also seeing its first arrivals, judging by the armored vehicle belching out thick plumes of smoke. The stallion still wasn't sure about its presence, but it helped link everypony up with the griffins and yaks to the east and the ponies over the mountains to the west. Of course, that line had yet to be finished.
As the Emperor stared outside, taking in the sunlight to wake himself up, his eyes shot wide in horror.
"Oh no," he gasped.
Cadance turned to him with Flurry on her back. "What? What is it?" she asked him.
Shining pointed at the window as he looked at his wife in horror. "Three of the Elements are here," he said.
"What?!" The alicorn hurried over to the window and looked around. "Where? I can't see them."
"Down there between the two pastry shops and next to the part of the street that was taken apart for the new water pipes."
Cadance nearly smushed her face against the glass but refrained from doing so. Her horn could destroy the window. "Where?! I can't see-Oh." She paled. "Why three? And why are they here?!" She turned to her husband, panicked. "We didn't call for them!" She started to pace about nervously, making Flurry laugh. "A message would have taken at least five days to get through to one of them!"
"Were they already on their way?" Shining couldn't find a reason for it. "What for?" He smiled in sudden realization. "Maybe it's just a visit, then!" he said. "Nothing wrong with that. We did say they could come whenever they felt like it." He nuzzled his wife's cheek. "Might not be as bad as we think it is."
Cadance whined. "I hope you're right. I don't want them to see Twilight. She's not exactly in her right mind right now."
"And with 'Spike' back, it might be able to break the lock on Twilight's horn." He exhaled, feeling his heart starting to race. "If she's pushed far enough then she'll probably order it to try and break that seal, then she'll be able to use her magic to escape...maybe." His brow furrowed in thought. "The Crystal Heart prevents any dead from being raised while it's under our control. Kinda wish it undid any that are already raised," he complained under his breath. "Even if she gets free, she can't raise any like she did at the border."
"Shining, honey. We don't even know what kind of spells Twilight knows, or even if she really has offensive spells at all." Cadance smiled nervously. Her attempts to calm her husband down weren't working very well, but at least she tried. "I'm convinced she would have used those spells when she got captured if she knew any."
"Let's hope you're right," Shining said.
"They're coming to the Spire," Cadance said.
The two hurried with Flurry in tow. The young foal was kept on Cadance's back by a magic harness, something she enjoyed as her parents flew down the steps until they realized they could just teleport to the first floor. Calling themselves idiots, the rulers teleported outside in front of the three elements, startling them.
"Girls! You're here!" Cadance said happily.
"Oh, gosh! You startled me!" one of the elements said.
"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy," the alicorn apologized. "I didn't expect you to be at the base of the spire so quickly."
"So it's the Elements of Laughter, Kindness, and Honesty that are here, then?" Shining noted. "What brings you three here? We don't have any celebrations in the works yet. They're still a ways off," he continued.
"The Map of Harmony directed us here!" a pink mare stated excitedly. "It called for three of us this time. Can you believe it?"
"Pinkie's raght," an orange earth pony added. "Dern thing only calls on us one 'er two at a time. Couldn't quite figure out what fer, just that we needed to come here ta the Crystal Empire." She huffed and took her stetson off to pass a hoof through her blonde mane. "Thing never tells us what we gotta do, just where we ought ta go."
"Sounds...upsetting," Shining said.
"It's enragin' 's what it is," the mare added with a scowl. She sighed. "Just a month 're so ago it sends Rarity 'n me out ta some village in the countryside." She smiled. "Pretty good place if'n ya like ta garden 'n whatnot. Really good soil, but not fer apple trees, so ain't no interest ta me." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, took us 'bout three days ta finally realize why we were there. We'd been tryin' ta fix everypony's problems and didn't fix the main one." She sighed. "Ah tell ya, we need a vacation from time ta time."
Shining and Cadance shifted in place. "So, why did you three come here?" the stallion asked. "Nothing wrong here," he said. "I mean, outside of the blizzard, but the Crystal Heart is responsible for that."
Fluttershy nervously stepped forward, her long pink mane covering most of her face. "Well, I don't mean to impose, but I think the map brought us to the spire," she explained. "The magic binding us to the elements seems to have dragged us here, after all."
"That's right!" Pinkie declared while throwing random confetti into the air. "I thought it might be you two, but I'm glad I was wrong." She waved to Flurry excitedly. "Hi, Flurry!" she cheered. She squeed when the foal exchanged the greeting.
Cadance had to adjust herself to the suddenly shifting weight of her daughter when she was about to speak. "Mmf. Well, I'm not sure what the problem might be. We haven't noticed anything wrong."
Applejack sighed. "Well, the map ain't never lied ta us 'afore. Can't go back or the map gets plum darn angry. Last time Rainbow came back it started howling like a siren, forcing her to go back."
"That was a dreadful day," Fluttershy said. "Ooo. My ears ring when I think about it."
"Turns out she was lookin' in the wrong place and it wasn't with ponies that she needed ta work with." Applejack pulled her mouth down and shrugged. "Who'd'a thought?"
"Well, feel free to enter the spire and ask around, then. I'm sure that the problem won't be too big."
"Thank ya kindly," Applejack said with a tip of her hat. "Ah'd rather not stay in yer manes fer too long. Rulers is busy folks, after all."
The two watched them with a smile as the three climbed the stairs into the Spire. Once the elements were out of sight, the rulers started to panic.
"Did the tree direct them to Twilight?!" Cadance panicked.
"What do we do? How is a map cantankerous? They'll never leave if they see her!" Shining said.
"We haven't even gotten to get Twilight through a day here!" the alicorn continued. "Hoooo. What do we do? We can't redirect them and tell them they can't go somewhere forever! Applejack is a smart pony. She'll eventually put two-and-two together and realize that they have to go where Twilight is."
"Not to mention that Twilight will have to get out at some point, and she's under constant surveillance by guards."
Flurry was laughing while her mother bounced around nervously. She wanted to have more fun like this and pouted when her mother stopped.
"The guards!" the two ruler said together.
"We haven't told them to keep quiet!" Shining squeezed through clenched teeth. "What are we supposed to do if one blabs?!"
"The best we can do is try and catch them all and have them spread the word through the floors," Cadance explained.
The two nodded to each other and did just that. Shining teleported to the lower floors and worked his way up while Cadance did the opposite. They weren't going to let something bad happen to an already unstable Twilight Sparkle, especially since she had just returned into their lives. Both worried for her mental well-being, and with how nosy the Elements tended to be, there was no doubt in either of their minds that the three mares would push too far.
After several minutes of rushing, the two met back up three floors below Twilight's, both gasping for air and suffering through the strain of pushing one's muscles past their limit.
"Okay," Shining said. "I told everypony not to talk about Twilight."
"I did the same," Cadance said with a grin. "Not just the guards, but the servants as well."
The stallion giggled. "Good. Normally we shouldn't have to worry too much...Unless Twilight decides to leave herself...Oh no."
"Don't worry," Cadance said assuredly. "I told the guards to bring Twilight a bunch of paper, ink, and quills to her room. She'll be too occupied writing those...awful theories on bringing the dead back to life." The mare shivered.
"Well, at least she's just writing them, and necromancers never figured out the solution to that," Shining said. "We can at least find some comfort in her being occupied." he shrugged. "Could be worse, I guess?"
"Oh, y'all're here?" Applejack said.
"What? Oh, yes. Hello, Applejack," Cadance greeted.
"You're pretty fast," Shining commented.
The mare stood up proudly. "Farm work toughens ya up. Fluttershy 'n Pinkie 're behind."
"I see," Shining said. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"No..." Applejack sported a look of suspicion. "But Ah think the ponies here're hidin' somethin'. Call me crazy, but they seem ta want ta say somethin' but it might be too much of a dilemma. Ya got 'ny guests 're somethin' from abroad? Could be a political thingy." She exhaled loudly. "Hate politicickings 'n such, but if it's fer harmony Ah figured 'why not?'."
"Can't say we have any," Cadance said. "I--"
She froze. Both she and Shining felt the red alarm go off and alert the spire. They didn't have time to react when they heard a familiar voice cry out from the stairs.
"Cadance? You forgot to give me back my writing supplies," Twilight called out. "I just want that then Spike and I will go back."
"Who's that?" Applejack asked.
"A non-political visitor," Cadance responded with a very unconvincing smile. "Those stupid guards didn't do what I told them!" she growled at Shining.
"What?!" He looked at Applejack and grinned nervously. "Those stupid idiots! I'm going to make them run a hundred laps after lunch. Around the city!"
"We'll be right back," Cadance said. "Wait for us right there, please."
"Alright?" Applejack responded. The farm pony narrowed her eyes at the two rulers as they rushed up the stairs with a laughing Flurry in tow. "Should they be gallopin' around with that foal on her back?"
The two found Twilight wandering with guards following her but keeping a significant distance from Spike.
"Twilight!" Cadance blurted out angrily. "What are you doing out of your room?"
"I wanted my writing supplies, is all," the unicorn explained casually. "I didn't want to be too much of a bother since you have this empire and Flurry to take care of, but the guards didn't want to listen to me, so I had Spike escort me while I looked for you. I know that you know where everything is since you took it from me last night," Twilight huffed.
Cadance dragged a hoof across her face. "I told the guards to bring you some new ones. I would've brought yours back afterward."
"Is Flurry alright?" Twilight asked.
Cadance gasped in horror and brought Flurry into her forelegs. The foal had turned green from all the excitement and was swaying left and right. "We were so distracted that we forgot Flurry was here! Oh, my poor baby!"
Shining groaned and tapped the sides of his head. "There's too much stress lately in too short a time. If I wasn't already white I'm sure my coat would've turned that color by now."
"You?! What're you doin' here?!" an angry voice cried out.
"Oh no..." Cadance whimpered.
Well this is bad, in more ways than 1.
I can already tell Twilight is gonna escape either next chapter or the chapter after that.
So the map clearly wants Twilight for something, either to help her, or something of more importance, and since the Crystal Heart apparently blocks the undead from rising, that means Twilight will probably leave anyways, obviously since she won't be able to complete her goal at the crystal empire.
Who would have guessed, it's not like I commented that "Twilight could raise the undead at the crystal empire and be of use there and help ponies back to there normal health" BUT APPARENTLY NOT! Talking to you Arthur!
But ya, next chapter probably isn't gonna be so great, if AppleJack attacks Twilight physically than Spike will obviously defend Twilight and probably break the ring around Twilight's horn either resulting in Twilight staying at the crystal empire, if she chooses, or escape, Twilight might know some offensive spells, just because she ran away doesn't mean she can't attack.
I'm not excited about next chapter to much, but I'm probably gonna be more excited for the chapter after that. Well, unless the Arthur doesn't do what I believe is planned, next thing you know Twilight starts attacking and then gets sent to the dungeons.
11841443
I'm starting to think your mocking me....
Well, I can tell AJ isn't going to react well, but I suspect once she finds out that the "evil necromancer" is Shining and Cadance's family she might become sympathetic. I suspect Fluttershy is going to be the MVP here.
11841486
I don't plan anything when I write the chapters. I didn't expect Shining and Cadance to last this long. Realized I could use them for more and went on with it.
Well, I plan a beginning and an end but the end is never the same when I finish the story. Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories is 111k words long and I expected it to be 40k at best.
I write everything on the fly which is why I'm able to pump out a chapter every day.
It's not for mockery. That's just how I work. I write down what I 'see'.
11841443
It's even possible that in the future you'll add tags for other characters, anything is likely at this point.
11841514
I thought that too for a moment, but then I considered several things, the first meeting between Twilight and Applejack was not the best and let's remember that Spike may have hurt her, and then I paid attention to this part:
Applejack has been VERY obsessed with farming and farm work, the same thing happened when she visited the town where she chased Twilight. And as far as we know, the ponies rebelled and opposed Celestia because of the food, that is, because of the famine, and we have to remember that the main producers of food are the earth ponies, I don't think Applejack agrees with the council or that she I may have been in favor of executing Celestia but I have a feeling that she (or her family, who ironically started in Poniville thanks to Celestia) may have been part of the revolt. And believe me:
Twilight (former student of Celestia, practitioner of necromancy, against the ponies who opposed Celestia who could be mainly farmers, with PTSD and possible repulsion to certain members of their species) + Applejack (bad experience with necromancy in the past , too stubborn, too protective of her work beliefs and too proud of her earth pony roots) = Not the best of friends
And if we make the equation worse:
Twilight (former student of Celestia, practitioner of necromancy, against the ponies who opposed Celestia who could be mainly farmers, with PTSD and possible repulsion to certain members of their species) + Applejack (bad experience with necromancy in the past , too stubborn, too protective of her work beliefs and too proud of her earth pony roots) + Pinkie (Too friendly, no respect for personal space most of the time, tries to force social interactions and....too Pinkie) = MURPHY is home ladies
11841682
Ah, I see you're a person of culture as well, I would like to shake your hand
11841520
I'm going to be honest with you, unfortunately your story has been one of the most underrated I have read in a LONG time, I don't know why people aren't giving it a chance.
I admire the work you are doing with this story, and it surprises me how you are able to write a daily chapter, there are stories with the same amount of words that are only updated twice a month.
This story easily has the potential to be over 300,000 words, the backstory is so deep and well structured that you could even make spin-offs from other characters' perspectives.
I only know that I will be present until the end of this story, you will not get rid of me so easily
11841715
It's also an opportunity for me to train myself and get back into the habit of writing one chapter a day like I used to do in the past. Sure they're only two thousand words, but that's still a step up from the one thousand minimum I used to do in the past.
11841715
Her your back! I was wondering where you were.
11841686
So you don't think Twilight will have a great experience with making friends with them? I also agree with this, which doesn't explain why the map would call AppleJack and Pinkie Pie, I think the best ones to call would have been Flittershy, and only Fluttershy, those 2 might become friends but definitely not the other 2.
There job might not be to make friends with Twilight if they called AppleJack or Pinkie Pie.
Also about the whole Allicorn thing, she still could be one even without being one of the bearer's, because I just realized that the elements are what made Twilight an Allicorn, if all elements are present in 1 place with Twilight, it is a possibility, just saying, of course there is the spell she completed In the show but it's a possibility it might not be necessary, of course there might need to be some things for Twilight to do with being an Allicorn, probably making friends.
It would make sense if Twilight did become an Allicorn though, because wasn't her destiny to be an Allicorn? Her destiny was also to be the element of magic, obvious with her cutie mark with the 6 purple star representing the element of magic with the 5 smaller 6 pointed white stars representing the other 5 elements of harmony.
Also something I just realized with someone else being the element of magic, I am curious how certain events took place and how the "main 6" solved them, it was thanks to Twilight that discord was defeated, it was also thanks to Twilight that Tyrek was defeated, because due to Twilight's leadership skills and knowledge of friendship, while also being intelligent, she did more to stop Equestria from ending, let alone the world than everyone else, she was also responsible for Sombras defeat, which is also another reason why im curious who the current element of magic is.
I swear if it's Starlight Glimmer I'm going to ammidietly make the accusation that Starlight went back in time and altered history causing the death of Celestia, and would also explain how the bearer's even found the elements in the first place. If it's someone else though, well, I'm gonna have multiple unanswered questions, for a while atleast.
Theories!
I hate being left on cliffhangers. But this is sooooo good so far! Looking forward to more updates.
11842157
I'm writing the next chapter right now.
11842136
I was present bro, I hadn't commented anything because I stopped to think about some theories and discard others that didn't make sense.
From my point of view Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are the worst options for a first interaction with Twilight, obviously the best first option would be Fluttershy and maybe Rarity since she has some ability for social interactions, and the "element of magic" is a total wild card until I know who it is I won't be able to make a theory about it.
And I find Twilight becoming an alicorn extremely unlikely, but not impossible, remember that Cadence became an alicorn on her own without any guide or spell to help her, the important thing is that she does a "great feat", in which series deciphered the spell of the Cutie marks, perhaps to whom she would discover the mysteries of Dark Magic without becoming corrupt.
I think you are taking the "destiny" thing very seriously, let's remember that NOTHING is set exactly in stone, everything can change, it is enough to see the disaster that Starlight Glimmer made, in each timeline each of the 6 men had different destinies due to the situations in which they found themselves, the same can be said about Twilight in this situation, her beginnings were very different from those we know, she seriously injured her parents and killed the baby Spike by accident, right now she is forging a totally new destiny since "someone else" has already taken her place as an element of magic and possible princess of friendship, if that is a good or bad thing...only time will tell.
11842265
Eh, will just have to wait and see, I'm still gonna go with the theory that the current element of magic is only temporary, unless Twilight's cutie mark changed, I don't think the story described Twilight's cutie mark yet so who knows a this point.
Also with the starting events at the exam being difficult, it is possible Starlight Glimmer could have altered history before that, maybe Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom was different causing a different affect to take place with Twilight.
And with the whole destiny thing, yes it could change, but I always thought her destiny was to be an Allicorn, even without Celestia, she just sped up the process. But we'll just have to wait for future chapters.
There are things I would love to happen within this story but I doubt they would ever happen, even Twilight being an Allicorn is unlikely, I'm just gonna have to stick with making theories instead of assumptions.