The Hour of Demise

by Tioko

Crisis meetings

The Hour of Demise

Chapter 3
Crisis meetings

It was a nice, peaceful morning at Sweet Apple Acres, or so thought Applejack while lying in her bed and enjoying the last few moments before sunrise. As soon as the rooster crowed, it would be time to rise and shine, and do all the usual morning chores. Those could wait just a tiny bit longer, though, for the bed was nice, warm and soft. Five more minutes wouldn’t hurt. Speaking of which, was it just her, or the rooster was kinda late with crowing this morning?

“Nah, probably just mah imagination.” Thought Applejack. “It’s not like a rooster can oversleep... There he goes.” The earth pony smiled as she stretched herself and got out of the bed. The rooster crowed again, which was unusual. And again. AJ frowned and put on her hat. Was it just her, or the rooster sounded... panicked?

Applejack went outside to see what was wrong with the rooster, but what she saw was beyond any degree or definition of wrong she had even come across in her life.

“What in tarnation?!” The farm pony’s eyes widened like saucers as she looked upon the sky. The Sun was red! Not only that, it seemed to have shifted a bit south, rising up between Barney and Timmy rather than between Timmy and Martin (all three of which were trees, of course). And finally, the edges of the Sun were pitch black. That could only mean one thing: trouble!

Not wasting another moment, the Element of Honesty left the farm, galloping at full speed to get another Element, namely Rainbow Dash. She had no clue what in Celestia’s name was going on or why the Sun was being the way it was. It didn’t even really matter why it was that way as long as there was a way to make it stop being that way! She was out for only a few minutes in this sun light, but already she didn’t feel that good. The rays of the sun seemed way too hot, even though it was only morning, and the further she ran on, exposed to it, the more of a headache she got.

“This ain’t good... Ain’t good at all...” Applejack muttered as she reached her destination, namely Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. “DASH! DASH! WAKE UP, Y’ALL!”

“A...J...?” Came a sleepy voice from the inside, and a few moments later the fastest flyer in Equestria lazily drooped out of the window. “Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s sunrise, and the sunrise is all freaky!” Applejack explained. “Just look!”

“Wha...?” Rainbow Dash blinked, slowly turning her head to look at the Sun. “Whoa!!!”

“See? Ya’ll gotta wake up Fluttershy, and I’m gonna go get Rarity and Pinkie. Meet at the library.” The earth pony said before galloping away, not giving the sleepy pony any chance to get another word in. Though, looking at the Sun again, Dash understood the urgency of the situation.

Spreading her sleepy wings, the Element of Loyalty took flight. “Princess Celestia must be in a really bad mood today...” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Need to give her tips on pulling good pranks…”

With those thoughts, the rainbow-maned mare reached her destination – Fluttershy’s cottage. She could see that the animals that lived with her were unnerved by the Sun’s odd behaviour. “Understandable, with this heat, sheesh!” the rainbow Pegasus thought as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Dropping down to the door of the cottage, she gave it a few knocks with her hoof.

“Fluttershy! You awake yet?” Dash shouted. The door opened, seemingly on its own. The cyan pegasus was confused for a moment, until she thought of looking down. There he was, a very annoyed-looking bunny. “Angel, I need you to wake Fluttershy up at once. It’s an emergency!” In response, the white fuzzy creature angrily waved a clock around, gesturing wildly at it. “Yeah, well, I was raised at this ungodly hour too, and you should look at this!” Dash said, pointing at the Sun. She couldn’t believe she was reduced to arguing with a rabbit. Then again, this was Angel. The rabbit did freak out at the sight of the Sun, though, and immediately ran to wake Fluttershy up. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

“Angel...” Fluttershy yawned. “Aww... why you so scared...?”

“Fluttershy, no time for that, come to the library now!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Um, oh, sorry, Rainbow Dash, I... I didn’t know you were here.” Fluttershy said timidly, walking up to the door. “Um, would you like some tea?”

Her fellow pegasus facehoofed at that. “Fluttershy, there’s no time for tea. The Sun is all crazy and Applejack is gathering everyone at the library!” She dragged her fellow Pegasus outside and turned the timid pony’s head right at the sun.

Fluttershy let out a really loud gasp and said: “Oh, I... Of course! At once! Umm... but I need to tell the animals to hide... This Sun looks like it could burn them...”

Rainbow Dash was getting impatient. “Can’t they figure that out for themselves?”

“Oh, but, but I need to make sure of it! And put the little ones in their cute little beds and...” The shy pegasus rambled on.

Dash sighed. “Fine, fine! Just don’t take too long!” She said before zapping off into the skies. By now Rainbow Dash was sure Applejack would have gathered Pinkie Pie and Rarity already, the three ponies no doubt waiting impatiently and talking amongst themselves about her being late. It made the Pegasus shiver. She couldn’t be late! Rainbow Dash was never late!

---

“And then I was all like: ‘Oooh, the Sun is weird this morning! Maybe it’s the end of the world coming!’ And you know what that means?” The pink party pony rambled, looking at her marshmallow-white companion. “An End of the World PARTY!”

“Pinkie, darling, I don’t think the end of the world is a good cause for partying.” Rarity said, taking a fan out of her saddlebag with her magic and fanning herself. “But I’m sure this heat is going to be the end of me! Oooh...” She took the liberty of allowing herself to fall on Twilight’s couch. The two of them had just arrived at the library as per Applejack’s request, and the farm pony herself was currently upstairs, trying to wake up Spike.

“Aww, but it would have been so much fun!” Pinkie pouted, but then her face lit up again. “Say, are you hungry? ‘Cause I’m hungry. Twi won’t be mad if we raid her fridge a little, now would she? Ah, of course not. Want me to bake some cupcakes?”

“Speaking of Twilight, I thought she said she would be home by morning?” the white unicorn replied, looking around the library again, as if Twilight Sparkle would suddenly appear if she just kept looking long enough.

“She’s with the Princesses, silly, I think she just stayed for the night at the castle!” Pinkie said with a smile.

“Pity, for I’m certain she would have at least an inkling as to what’s going on with our dear Sun,” Rarity replied. “Black is just not its colour.”

Before Pinkie could reply, however, a loud “INCOMING!!!” broke the silence of the room, and Rainbow Dash came crashing through the window. The two ponies already inside winced as their pegasus friend crashed once again into Twilight’s bookshelves. Rarity looked at the heap of books and Rainbow Dash on the floor and sighed, shaking her head.

“Darling, it’s called a door, use it,” she chided.

“Heheheh... Sorry.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “I didn’t wanna be late...”

“Ya’ll not late, sugarcube, and thanks to ya’ll the sleepyhead over here woke up.” Applejack said, coming downstairs with a very sleepy Spike in tow. When he saw the mess Rainbow Dash had created, he groaned.

“Oh man, not again…” the baby dragon grumbled, and he immediately set to work to clean it up before Twilight could complain.

“Alright, everypony, y’all here?” Applejack said, looking around. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Eh, she said she was gonna warn her fuzzy friends to not go out in the red sun first,” Rainbow Dash replied, while she helped Spike to clean up.

“Huh? The Sun is red?” Spike blinked.

“YES! It’s the end of the world so we’re going to have an ‘End of the World’ party!” Pinkie Pie answered, hopping up and down excitedly.

“Uhh, I don’t think it’s the end of the world...” Spike said cautiously. “But seriously, red? I mean, I saw it change colour once, but it was slightly pink, and that what when Princess Celestia got a bad case of hay fever.” He put a claw to his chin and seemed to be thinking deeply about something. “I heard Twilight say once that the Sun is kind of an indicator of Princess Celestia’s health.”

“Umm... does it mean the Princess is sick?” Fluttershy said, quietly coming into the room.

“Uhh, I’m not sure, Twilight would know,” Spike answered with a shrug. It was then that he noticed that his caretaker wasn’t here. She hadn’t come home last night?

“Whatever caused it, it sure means trouble!” Applejack declared. “Hmm, wonder if those fancy books hold some answers.” She glanced outside, to the red sun, and shivered despite it being so hot. This sunlight would be disastrous if it kept on for much longer. Sure, it could be tolerated by a pony, but it would spell the end for her poor apple trees, and with it, the entire harvest.

“Oh, um, Pinkie is good at finding books.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Yup! I found it!” the pink bundle of mysteries replied excitedly, hopping around while balancing a thick book delicately on top of her head. When the others could finally get her to calm down enough so they could take the book, they placed it before them on the floor. The title on the cover read: ‘Everything you need to know about the End of the World!’. “The party part is on page 183!” Pinkie said helpfully. There was the sound of five jaws hitting the floor simultaneously. “What?” Pinkie asked innocently.

“Ugh, just ignore her, she’s being Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, and she pulled the book towards her, checking its table of contents. “How the world may end, Discord, Meteor Showers, Super volcanoes, Demise, Alien attacks… And a whole list of nonsense.”

“Well, do any of them mention a red sun?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash ran her hoof along the list, scanning it quickly. “Nope, no mentioning of any Red Sun anywhere.” Her eyes narrowed and she frowned, looking at the list again. “There’s a Black Sun here, though.”

“Umm, it is trimmed with black edges...” Fluttershy noted. “We should look at that...” Spike’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he heard the shy pony’s words.

“It’s BLACK?!” he exclaimed, his voice full of panic.

“Why don’t y’all look for yourself?” Applejack suggested, pointing to the window. The baby dragon whooshed past her so fast that the mare found herself spinning. Spike took one look outside, saw the Red Sun with its shades of black at the edges, and promptly began to panic.

“This is bad... It’s really, really, REALLY bad!!!” When he saw that the others were just giving him odd looks, the young dragon slapped his face with his palm. “UGH! Don’t you fillies know anything?! If the Sun’s turning black it means Princess Celestia is dying!”

Shocked silence that followed his words lasted for a whole minute, before it exploded with a flow of incoherent screams, questions, and overall panic. Even Pinkie Pie didn’t feel like throwing an end of the world party anymore. Yet the panic didn’t last for long, either, for it was interrupted by a very loud burp from Spike.

Spike immediately grabbed the letter that materialized from his green fire, and opened it up. “It’s from Princess Luna!” He looked closer at the letter. “Dear... uhh... umm... ehm...” He then looked up helplessly at the ponies. “I can’t read this.”

“What? Why not?” Pinkie Pie blinked.

“I can’t understand her handwriting.” Spike explained.

Applejack peered into the letter over his shoulder. “It’s all fancy!” She declared.

“Give me that!” Rarity exclaimed, taking the letter from Spike’s hands with her magic. “Why, of course you ruffians wouldn’t understand it, it’s the Canterlot Casual Cursive writing! Allow me to read it.” Rarity cleared her throat.

Dear Elements of Harmony,

We, Princess Luna, take pen to inform ye of matters of great importance which require your assistance. We implore ye not to panic. The situation is grave, terribly so, and haste is required. We need ye at your best, which panic shan’t give us. Read the following message attentively, we beseech ye.

As ye have no doubt noticed, a Red Sun has risen above all of Equestria, and I dare guess the rest of the world. It is a dreadful sign that something has gone astray with our beloved sister, thy Princess, Celestia. Last night, our royal capital and castle were attacked by an unknown villain. The accursed creature infiltrated our castle whilst we were tending to the fire in the city, but our sister sensed something was amiss and returned home.

There, so she told us when we saw her briefly upon our return to the castle, she confronted a figure who calls himself ‘the Hound’. The foul beast was chased off by our beloved sister, but not before he had abducted your friend, Twilight Sparkle. After informing us of these events, our sister gave chase. We have not heard of her since, but when we saw the Red Sun rise, we knew something had gone wrong. The blackened edges of the great star informed us that it had gone terribly wrong.

Our sister’s life, and by extension all of Equestria and the world, is in grave danger, this much we know. Of the fate of your friend, Twilight Sparkle, we have no clue. Ye art the Elements of Harmony, and since this is a matter that affects ye personally as well, we beseech ye to join us with great haste at Castle Canterlot, so we can hold council on our next course of action.

Our chariot should arrive not long after ye receive this letter.
We repeat: do NOT panic.

Our Royal Highness
Princess of the Moon,
Luna

Silence filled the room as Rarity finished reading the letter’s last words.

“Well... hmm... Looks like y’all were right about the Princess.” Applejack said to Spike.

Fluttershy gasped. “Someone kidnapped Twilight!”

“And we have no clue as to who did it.” Rarity said. “Pinkie, I don’t suppose you could...”

“Find another book? Nope! It’s not here.” Pinkie declared as she scanned the bookcases. “No books here on what to do in case of Twilight kidnapping.”

“I think Rarity meant something about the Hound that kidnapped her, sugarcube.” Applejack explained to the party pony.

“Oh! Well, no books on that either!” Pinkie grinned. She gasped dramatically. “That means we don’t know anything about how to get Twilight back!”

At that moment, a dramatic thunderclap followed by lightning could be heard from the outside, followed by a rather timid knock on the door. The pink pony hopped over and opened up for whoever it was that had arrived.

“Eeep! It’s Nightmare Moon’s carriage!” She squeaked before bolting back inside and hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

“We are Her Royal Highness’ Princess Luna’s carriage, if you please.” One of the stallions who drove it replied. “We’re here to collect the Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s us, alright.” Applejack nodded. “Come on, y’all, the Princess is waiting.”

“Oh, oh, but I wanna drive the Pinkiecopter!” Pinkie Pie said eagerly.

“Fine... Everypony else, let’s go.” The orange Earth Pony commanded. Spike made a move to come along, but Rarity put a hoof to his chest to stop him.

“I think it’s better if you stay here, Spike,” she said calmly. “To inform everypony who asks where we have gone. And to try and prevent global panic from breaking out.”

“...Umm... okay... Anything for you, Rarity.” The baby dragon said, giving the white unicorn a hug. “Just... just don’t let anything bad happen to you and Twilight, okay?” Rarity hugged him back gently.

“I won’t, you have my word.” Rarity said solemnly and kissed the baby dragon on the forehead. All worry was instantly forgotten as Spike’s world turned into smiles and rainbows, reflected by the huge hearts in his eyes. Satisfied, Rarity left the library and closed the door behind her, then boarded the carriage.

“Well, off we go! To Canterlot!”

Applejack glanced at the closed library and then at Rarity, grinning slightly. “Y’all sure have a way with them men, Rarity,” she said.

“Ah, it’s but a simple task for a glamorous beauty such as myself.” Rarity said, winking adorably. “Why, I could give you a few lessons on that, Applejack.”

“No, thanks. I’ve had it with fancy-shmancy folks.” Applejack shrugged. She thought back to her brief stay in Manehattan and shivered. “I’m gonna find mahself a colt that takes me for what I am.”

“Uhh, ladies, are you ready to take off?” One of the carriage ponies asked.

“Oh, um, yes, if... if it isn’t too much trouble.” Fluttershy said.

“COME ON, YOU SLOWPOKES!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the sky.

“LAST ONE TO CANTERLOT IS A SOUR CUPCAKE!” Pinkie declared before speeding off on her Pinkiecopter. Luna’s guards could only stare at the contraption and its arguably insane pilot, while Pinkie’s friends just sighed.

“Just go, boys.” Rarity ordered, and Luna’s carriage took off.

---

Luna was pacing around the throne room impatiently and restlessly. She had seen the right and left side of the chamber probably a thousand times by now, but she couldn’t get her hooves to stop moving. The Moon Princess was sick with worry, and every time she glanced outside to see the Red Sun and its black edges, she knew why. Over and over again she cursed herself for allowing her sister to go off on her own like that, or even letting her go at all. Then again, she had had no reason not to, for when was the last time Celestia had ever gotten into trouble? There was no foe or adversary left standing on this world that could pose a threat to her sister, so Luna had always believed. Apparently, she was wrong. Very wrong. She couldn’t be sure that it had been this ‘Hound’ that was the cause of this all, but the chances of that being the case were high. The both of them had underestimated this new foe, the youngest Princess knew that all too well. A mistake she wouldn’t make twice. There was no doubt that she would go in search for her sister now, but she would do so prepared.

At that moment, Luna heard something from outside. “PINKIE, SLOW DOWN!” A voice in the distance shouted. It sounded awfully familiar.

“I DON’T KNOW HOW! WHEEEEEE!!!” Now that voice, Luna recognised very well. She didn’t have time to ponder on it, however, for a flying contraption made of candy came crashing into the room. Though, surprisingly, the damage caused was minor, as it came through the balcony and crashed on the marble floor, rather than smashing through the window. Luna let out an inward sigh of relief. Her sister was rather fond of those windows.

“Wheeeee! That was a fun ride!” Declared the pink Element of Laughter, getting out of her ruined Pinkiecopter, but then suddenly gasped. “Oh no! Flinchy tail... twitchy ear... Princess, that window!” Pinkie pointed at the window right next to the balcony. Confused, the Moon Princess looked at the said window and saw a pony going at it at full speed! Quickly, she put up a force field to protect the window.

“INCOMING! Huh? WHOA!!!” Rainbow Dash cried as the force field bounced her back and sent her spiralling in the air. Luna glanced at Pinkie Pie.

“We thank thee, our sister cares for those windows greatly,” the Princess said.

“Tee hee. It wasn’t me, silly, it was my Pinkie sense!” The party pony giggled, taking one of the candies from her Pinkiecopter. “Care for a candy cane?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “No? More for me, I guess!” Pinkie said, devouring the sweet in one big lick. The Princess shook her head in disbelief. She would never understand some ponies.

“Pinkie, will you stop being so Pinkie Pie in front of the Princess?” Rainbow Dash said, landing properly on the balcony for once. “Ehm, sorry for the window, by the way.” She apologized. Luna recognised her now as the pony who had been zapping everyone at Night Mare Night, though they had yet to be formally introduced.

“No harm was done, the window is whole still,” Luna replied calmly.

“Yeah well, it would have been wrecked if not for the bouncy spell...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “Anyway, are the others here yet?” She looked around.

“No! They’re last! So they’re the sour cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie screamed excitedly. “And I was first! WHEE!”

“Ignore her, Princess, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Applejack instructed, entering the room with Fluttershy and Rarity, flanked by guards. Luna send those away with a flick of her hoof.

“I apologize for all of those ruffians’ misbehaving.” Rarity said.

“Oh, um, if you don’t mind, why have you gathered us?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

Luna’s horn flashed and she made five pillows appear, laying in a circle, for the Elements to be seated on. She trotted over to the centre. “Please, we, I mean, I, ask that ye be seated, for there is much to say.”

“Oooh, fluffy!” Pinkie approved, lying down and cuddling her pillow instead of sitting on it like the rest did.

“Most of ye, we… I have already been introduced to,” Luna began, nodding her head in greeting at Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

“Oh... Oh! Oh right, we haven’t been properly introduced!” Rarity perked up. “I am Rarity, an aspiring fashion designer.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria and a soon-to-be Wonderbolt!” The cyan pegasus made her introduction.

“Charmed,” Luna replied, extending her hoof, though she forgot to turn off her Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Huh? I thought her name was Luna?” Pinkie Pie blinked in confusion.

“It is a figure of speech.” Rarity explained. “She is glad to meet us.”

“Oh!” A lightbulb lit above Pinkie’s head, which was promptly ignored, just like the Princess’ hoof, which she expected to be kissed. Luna sighed and lowered her hoof. Where had tradition gone, she wondered. Regardless, she had more on her mind than the lack of proper protocol. She glanced at the windows, illuminated by the red sunlight.

“We assume ye have all seen the state of the Sun?” the Princess inquired.

“We sure did.” Applejack nodded.

“Umm, Spike said it had to do with Princess Celestia’s health...” Fluttershy said worriedly.

“Twilight Sparkle’s assistant was correct,” Luna confirmed with a nod. “When my sister and I rose the Sun and the Moon for the first time, the powerful magic that tied these great celestial bodies to ourselves, in return tied us to them as well. Because of this, were any kind of harm to befall my sister and I, the celestial bodies we raise and lower would be affected likewise.” The ponies nodded, understanding that.

The Moon Princess pointed at the red-tinted windows, to the Sun outside. “It is this that all of Equestria, and the world, is witnessing now. Our sister has been harmed, and gravely so if the Sun shows shades of black.” Luna closed her eyes briefly and steeled herself. “We know not if ye are aware of it, but if the Sun starts to turn black, it signals our sister’s life is nearing its end.”

“Well, Spike sort of told us that...” Rainbow Dash said, scratching her head.

“Ah, we suppose it makes sense he would know, having lived in Canterlot as Twilight Sparkle’s assistant for so long,” Luna nodded. She looked at each of the ponies seriously. “We pray ye understand that the situation is dire indeed.”

“We do understand, Princess, even if some of us don’t act accordingly.” Rarity said, giving Pinkie Pie a look. The pink pony smiled innocently.

“What? There’s no point in being afraid! You gotta laugh your fears away!”

“Pinkie, it’s one thing to laugh at fears, but... don’t you think this situation needs to be taken a bit more seriously?” Rainbow Dash tried to give a clue. She looked at her friend intently.

“Aww... You’re no fun.” Pinkie pouted. “But hey, I’m listening!”

“Thank thee,” Luna commented, and then continued. “We have called ye all here to discuss this matter, for we require your assistance. We trust ye have read in our letter about this character that calls himself the ‘Hound’?” The ponies nodded in agreement. “We know nothing of him, aside from what our sister told us. But seeing the state of the Sun, we shan’t take any chances. We shall consider him a threat of no greater danger than Discord himself, and as of such, we require the assistance of ye, the Elements of Harmony.”

“Sure thing, Princess!” Rainbow Dash said eagerly.

“Umm... what do we have to do to help?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“We shan’t rest until our sister has been found and returned to us, and the Sun restored to its proper state. We intend to head out in search Celestia and Twilight Sparkle ourselves, and we would ask ye to join us on this journey,” the Princess explained. “Seeing as how the Hound, I suspect, may have injured our sister despite her vast power, we shan’t risk going alone, which is why we ask ye, the Elements of Harmony, the strongest power in the world.”

“Well, Princess Luna, you can count on us!” Applejack declared, putting her hoof on the alicorn’s shoulder. “Uh, but the fancy jewellery is somewhere in the castle.”

“But, ehm, without Twilight… ehm… the elements aren’t complete… are they?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“They will be once we find her, silly!” Pinkie Pie said something that made sense for once.

“But, oh, ehm… what if… what if we find the dog before Twilight?” the shy Pegasus insisted.

“Well... We, ahem, I can try to fill in for the Element of Magic.” The Moon Princess suggested.

“But I thought princess Celestia said you both lost your affinity to the Elements?” Rainbow Dash asked, frowning.

“I can try...” Princess Luna emphasized. “I cannot guarantee that it shall work. Yet controlling one Element without affinity to it is simpler than controlling three, let alone all six.” She ran a hoof through her mane. “Though we… I hope we can reunite the Element with its proper bearer before the occasion arises that they are needed.”

“Sounds good to me.” Applejack nodded.

“But where are we supposed to start our search?” Rarity inquired.

“I have tried to determine our dear sister’s location with a map-marking spell earlier, but alas, it failed.” Luna explained. “It is most likely that our sister is outside the borders of Equestria, and Twilight Sparkle as well. Which means, I fear, my dear subjects, that our expedition shall take us to lands beyond our homeland, where few ponies have ever wandered.”

“Ooooh! Does that mean we’ll get to be, like, explorers? Woo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie cheered excitedly.

“Thy enthusiasm is appreciated,” Luna commented. “But I fear thee will find it fading quickly. I trust ye are familiar with the Everfree Forest?”

“Well, yes? That’s where we rescued you from Nightmare Moon.” Rainbow Dash stated the obvious.

“For which we… Oh for the love of our moon, why must language change?!” The Princess could barely restrain herself from planting a hoof firmly on her face.

“Well, it sorta happens on its own...” Applejack said awkwardly.

“Umm... it’s not like you need to correct yourself... all the time, I mean...” Fluttershy smiled at her. “If it makes you uncomfortable, I mean...”

“After a thousand years, we are simply… Having difficulties to forswear traditions to which we have clung to since Equestria began,” Luna apologised. “Though we do think there are matters more dire to attend to than our difficulties to adapt. Shall we get back to the matter at hand?”

“Yes, please.” Rarity nodded.

“Very well then,” the alicorn concluded. “As we were saying… It is commendable ye are excited to explore, but ye would best temper that enthusiasm. The world beyond Equestria is much like the Everfree Forest, if not worse. Weather changes and clouds move on their own, animals are vicious. That is the norm for the outside world.” She turned towards the throne upon which her sister usually seated during the day to rule her country. Behind it was a great, beautiful tapestry depicting the unity of the two sisters. Luna’s horn glowed as she used her magic to roll the tapestry up, revealing that underneath it was a large map, engraved in stone.

“Whoa... That’s a big map.” Rainbow Dash blinked. “I didn’t even know Equestria was this big!”

“Umm, Dash... Equestria is over there.” Fluttershy noted, pointing to one section of the map marked with blue gemstones.

Rarity gasped. “You don’t mean... it’s a world map?!”

“A map of the known world,” Princess Luna corrected the unicorn. “This map covers all charted lands, but there has yet to be anypony to go beyond the borders you see here. That is uncharted territory, lands none has seen or visited yet, though they do exist. So the world is even larger than what ye see here.”

The ponies just stared at the map. Like most other ponies, they never even thought of the world beyond Equestria, so the new knowledge was a lot for them to take in. It was Fluttershy who finally broke the silence.

“Ehm… Do you know where on the map Princess Celestia and Twilight are, then, Princess?” she asked quietly.

“Not yet, but we shall find it out. At once.” Luna said, charging her horn with magic. She concentrated on the image of Celestia and the sacred holy magic of the Sun that always defined her, then directed her magic at the map. Soon enough, a yellow dot lit up, to the south of where Equestria laid. Far to the south. So far it was almost on the opposite end of the map, the land where the dot was bordering on uncharted territory.

“Oh my... Is that where Princess Celestia is?” Rarity’s eyes widened.

“So it would seem,” the Moon Princess said. She narrowed her eyes and looked at it thoughtfully. “It is too far south of Equestria… Our sister could not have crossed such a distance by wing. Magic must have been involved, though this goes beyond a mere teleportation spell, even for us alicorns.”

“Twilight would have known what it was...” Applejack said sadly.

“That we doubt,” Luna said, surprising them all. “We do not underestimate the knowledge of Twilight Sparkle, for she is indeed a gifted unicorn, but if even we cannot, not yet at the very least, comprehend what has happened for my sister to cross such distance, we doubt thy friend could.” She paused for a moment, then added, rather awkwardly. “No offence?”

“None taken, I guess... But, ah...” Applejack scratched her head.

“Twilight is not only good at magic, she’s good at studying magic.” Rarity said.

“Yeah! Like when something unknown comes up, she can find it in a book in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Then suddenly, it dawned at her. “Find... a book?”

The present Elements of Harmony looked at Pinkie Pie, who busied herself with eating the remains of her Pinkiecopter. It confused Princess Luna a great deal. Pinkie looked up curiously.

“What?”

“Princess, where do y’all keep ya fancy magic books?” Applejack asked.

“Why, in the royal library, of course,” the Princess replied.

“Take us there.” Applejack nodded.

Luna seemed uncertain about it, though. “We do not understand thy reasons, but we shall comply, fair Applejack.” Her horn flashed, and the group was promptly taken from the throne room to the library.

“Whoa...” Rainbow Dash blinked, looking around. The library halls seemed endless, and bookcases towered all around them, reaching the ceiling.

“Alright, Pinkie Pie.” Applejack asked her party-loving friend. “How’d ya reckon one can teleport a pony to the other end of the world in a blink of an eye?”

“With a portal!” Pinkie exclaimed. Princess Luna blinked a few times. Wasn’t Pinkie Pie standing right next to her just a moment ago? Then why did her voice sound... “It’s right here in this book!” The party pony said while hanging over the banisters of the second floor section of the library.

“How did she…?” Luna could only mutter, utterly at loss for words.

“Relax, Princess, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash shrugged, flying up to where Pinkie was and taking both her and the book back down.

“Thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack smiled, and then tried to read the title: “Uh... Apple... No, Ape... uh...”

“‘Aperture Science’.” Luna read for her. “‘Thinking with portals and all things portal’. Written by Cave Coltson.”

“Eh... heheh... I’ve never been good at fancy science...” Applejack said sheepishly. Her words went unheard, however, as the Princess had already lifted the book up with her horn and started looking through it attentively.

“Cave Coltson was a prodigy at Aperture Science, and quite ahead of his time, if I remember well,” the Princess muttered. “Yet I do not believe he ever managed to create any spell akin to the one we seek…”

“Buuut it has to be there!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “My Pinkie sense doesn’t lie!”

Luna frowned. “Pinkie sense?”

“Pinkie sense!” The party pony nodded. “Like when Rainbow nearly crashed that window! I told you it was gonna be broken!”

“Yes, but… what…?” the Princess sputtered, still not understanding.

“So pleeeeease trust me?” Pinkie looked at her with huge pleading puppy dog eyes. “Just skip the parts where he gets technic-y science-y stuff! Look at the magic-y stuff!” Luna shook her head awkwardly, blinking, but proceeded to do as requested. To her surprise, Cave had written a pretty good summary of other ponies’ theories research on portals, and that was before any nonsense about portal guns came in the book. One paragraph even referred to Starswirl the Bearded. All in all, after reading through that summary, Princess Luna found herself having a clear idea of what to do next.

“Huzzah!” she exclaimed, smiling brightly at Pinkie Pie. “Thy senses were correct! It is impossible for us to create such a portal, but thanks to this book, we know of a way that we may still cross the distance.”

“Hooray!” Pinkie squealed, throwing a bunch of confetti in the air.

“So, uh, how are we gonna do that?” Applejack asked.

“We must follow the trail of our sister and find the point where she vanished,” Luna explained. “Should we find this point, we can try to attempt to replicate whatever magic was used to bring her from Equestria to so far in the south.”

“Oh, okay then.” Rainbow Dash nodded. “So when do we head out?”

“As soon as ye are prepared,” Luna answered. “We need to gather supplies for our journey, as well as more information on the land Celestia has vanished to...”

“Found it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed from the other end of the hall. Luna glanced at the other Elements of Harmony.

“Do not ask, I suppose?” she wondered aloud. The other ponies just nodded. “Then let us proceed to see what she has found, and prepare accordingly,” Luna finished, taking the book the pink pony was offering her, already having grown used to the strange abilities the bubbly Element of Laughter displayed. Sometimes, it was better just to not ask, indeed.

To be continued.