It's been a thousand years since Princess Luna's sister went insane and let the sun fall. A millennia of scorching heat has left Equestria changed. Now Daybreaker's return is eminent and it is up to Luna's personal students to stop her.
For a thousand years, Equestria has been too close to the sun. With the land rendered largely uninhabitable by the scorching heat, the ponies of Equestria have retreated into the sky. Now airships roam the clouds, severed mountaintops, held aloft by ancient and powerful magics, serve as the home for ponies everywhere and the land is mostly at peace.
But that peace is threatened when an ancient prophecy heralds the return of the one who caused all this change. Daybreaker. Princess Luna's older sister, imprisoned in the Sun for a thousand years, is about to return and, according to legend, burn the land to the ground.
Can the three students of the Princess defeat the mad empress? Or did Princess Luna's desperate use of the Elements only buy Equestria a thousand years of borrowed time? Either way, it will be an adventure for the history books.
So after reading Reformation ... It's a Pony Thing and Twilight's Pirate School, both by the wonderful Let's Do This, I realized that they effectively boiled down to the tagline 'My Little Pony - Everything is Better with Airships'. This story and, indeed, this setting are the result of my mind taking that idea and going wild with it.
This story is written in full and will not interfere with my other work. The sequel to Phoenix is still in progress and sadly taking a little longer than I had hoped, but it's coming.
In the ancient days, back when ponies still roamed the land below, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest sister used her magical power to raise the sun and bring about the day, and the younger sister used her own power to raise the moon and paint the firmaments to bring about the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different kinds of ponies.
But as time went on, the older sister became jealous. The ponies always praised her sister for the work and artistry she put into her night sky, but never valued her work in stopping the scorching sun from falling down on them. One fateful day, the older sister was consumed by her anger and decided to show the ponies what would happen without her.
She let the Sun fall.
The younger sister tried to reason with her, but the wrath of the elder had transformed her into a mare of unyielding fire: Daybreaker.
She vowed that she would not stop the sun, and burn the land to the ground. Reluctantly, the younger sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. She defeated her elder sister and banished her permanently to the sun that burned with her wrath.
The younger sister took up responsibility for both sun and moon, but her power alone could only stop the sun from falling, not return it to its rightful place. And so the land began to heat up. To save themselves, ponies severed mountaintops, converting them into the floating islands that now dot the sky.
The most powerful mages of the time enchanted them to make sure they would never fall.
Over decades of work, the rivers and lakes that once crossed through the land, were moved below the ground, where the scorching heat of the day could not touch them.
Canterlot, located atop a tall mountain, the only surface city to remain habitable, became the new capital.
The pegasi shared the secret of flight with those that now shared their skies, great mages and inventors adapted it, and so the first airships were built.
As ponies got to know their changed world, they learned first how to survive, and then how to strive.
"... and was preserved ever since," three voices spoke together.
The three young mares looked at one another and saw their own expressions mirrored in their sisters. Princess Luna had taken them all in, made them her students for their exceptional talent. They may not have been related by blood, but none of them cared. As far as they were concerned, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were sisters.
In one way or another, each had impressed the Princess of the Moon enough to convince her that they held a talent worth nurturing.
And right now, each of them thought the same thing. Ultimately it was Starlight who gave voice to their shared thought, "Elements of Harmony? I could swear I've heard of those before."
"I know, right?" Sunset agreed, "I just can't put my hoof on where."
Twilight, the youngest of the three, jumped up from the dry grass. "I think I know! But I need to look it up. We need to get home!"
She galloped off. Sunset jumped up and made to follow her. Rolling her eyes, Starlight shook her head before raising her voice. "Girls!"
The other two turned around to look at her, speaking in unison, "What?!"
Rather than answer, Starlight lit her horn and vanished in a flash of blue.
Almost perfectly synchronous, Sunset and Twilight facehoofed, before following her in twin flashes of teal and magenta.
Materializing in the flat they shared above Princess Luna's School for Gifted Unicorns, the two looked at each other in exasperation.
"Why do we keep forgetting that we can teleport?"
"I don't know, Twilight. I don't know."
Twilight snickered quietly. "Then it's a good thing we have little Miss Triggerhappy over there to remind us, isn't it?"
Well used to their antics, their older sister simply rolled her eyes again and smiled. "You're welcome. Now what did you want to look up Twilight?"
"Oh, right. One moment." With purpose, Twilight trotted up to the bookshelf, looking over the titles. "Now let's see here ... Elements, Elements, Elements ... Spike!"
Having heard the commotion and already figured out what Twilight was looking for, Spike, the young drake Twilight had hatched over a decade ago in her entrance exam, was already perched atop a ladder leaning against a different bookshelf. "It's over here! Whoa!"
Twilight's magic had gripped the book from his claws, pulling him and the ladder over in the process. Before he could fall far, however, two strong talons gripped his arms, arresting his fall. He gave the phoenix a grateful smile as she softly set him down. "Thanks Philomena, you're the best."
Much like the three unicorns saw each other as sisters, their familiars did the same. Each of them had been hatched by their bonded magician during their own entrance exam.
Like Spike had been hatched by Twilight in her entrance exam fourteen years prior, Sunset's flames had hatched Philomena the year before. And the year before that, well ...
The ladder didn't clatter to the ground, but instead stopped moving before, slowly, tilting back upwards and leaning back against the shelf where it belonged. Starlight walked over to her own familiar, gently stroking the air next to the ladder.
In a shimmer of light, a large feline with spotted dark gray fur, six legs, one pair at the front and two at the back, and a tail that split in two near the tip appeared. Curling up under the unicorn's ministrations Ephemera laid down on the wooden floor.
Not even the princess herself had been quite sure what would hatch from the crystalline egg that had been the object of Starlight's entrance exam. Only when the creature had jumped on the teenage filly's back, curled up and become visible did the truth become apparent.
Ephemera was a prism wraith. A rare species of semi-physical beings that could manifest in a number of different forms, akin to many mundane animals but always with obvious differences, be they extra limbs, limbs with unusual forms or unusual colors of coat, scales or plumage.
No two prism wraiths appeared quite the same and this six-legged, feline form was exclusive to Ephemera. They also had the interesting ability to go invisible, but those familiar enough with them could see them anyway.
Unaware of the accident she nearly caused, Twilight floated the book in front of herself and opened it up. "Elements, Elements, E, E, E ... Aha! Elements of Harmony, see: Sunshadow?"
"The Sunshadow?" Spike chimed in from where he was stroking a claw over Philomena's feathers. "But that's just an old ponies' tale."
Twilight didn't pay him any mind. She was already looking through the book again. "Sun, Sun ... Aha! The Sunshadow, myth from the time before the sky. A powerful pony who wanted to destroy Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will return to set the sky ablaze!" She gasped. "Girls, do you know what that means?"
The other two mares' faces had grown progressively more worried as she read and they nodded. Sunset was the first to speak. "We need to warn the princess."
Starlight had already summoned a pen and some paper, writing in her elaborate cursive. "Our dearest teacher, our continuing studies of pony magic have led us to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster." She stopped and looked a bit undecided. "Uhh."
"For you see," Sunset easily continued, prompting Starlight to continue writing, "the mythical Sunshadow is, in fact, Daybreaker, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring destruction!"
This time, Sunset stopped, unsure of how to continue. As one, both of them looked to Twilight, she might have been the youngest of their number, but she always had the easiest time expressing herself with words.
"Something must be done," Twilight easily continued, once more prompting Starlight to continue writing, "to make sure that this terrible prophecy does not come true. We await your quick response. Your faithful students, Twilight Sparkle,"
"Sunset Shimmer,"
"and Starlight Glimmer," Starlight finished and, with a flourish, added the two dots on the ‘I’s in her name. She quickly folded the paper in half twice, placed it in an envelope she magically grabbed from a nearby desk, and floated the finished letter over to Spike. "Would you?"
Spike wasn't entirely sure why the three mares were panicking over a fairy tale, but he knew better than to get in their way when they got like this. His own bonded magician was prone to panic, but, on the rare occasions when the other two joined in, it usually took the princess herself to calm them down. With a shrug, he grabbed the letter from Starlight's aura, took a deep breath and breathed a gout of flame over the letter, incinerating it and generating a plume of smoke that flew out of the open window and disappeared into the distance.
Still, he couldn't help but speak up. "I dunno girls, Princess Luna's a little busy preparing for the Sky Light Festival. And that's, like, the day after tomorrow."
"But that's just it, Spike," Sunset spoke up from where she was laying down on a cushion, Philomena perched on the flowing white cloth that covered her withers. "The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Sky Light Festival."
"Exactly," Starlight added from where she was still cuddling with Ephemera. "It's imperative that the Princess is told right away."
"Well, if you say so. But I wouldn't hold my breath."
"Oh, I'm not worried." Twilight came over with a somewhat smug expression to sit down next to her sisters. The Princess trusts us completely. In all these years she's been our mentor she's never once doubted us."
With a sudden burp, Spike breathed out a cloud of fire and smoke that quickly formed into a letter bearing the royal seal.
"See?" Twilight pointed a hoof at the letter before taking it in her magic. "I knew she would want to take immediate action. Now let's see here." She broke the seal with practiced ease and took out the folded paper. Clearing her throat, she unfolded it and began to read the missive, "My dearest, most faithful students. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely."
Both Starlight and Sunset were subtly preening under the praise, gaining eye-rolls from both Philomena and Ephemera.
"...But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books." Spike joined the other two familiars, rolling his eyes as well, when Twilight stared at the letter in disbelief and the other two mares gasped.
Still stunned, Twilight continued reading, "My dear students, there is more to a young mare's life than studying. I know the three of you are basically sisters, but I want you to have more than that. Make some friends.
"To that end I'm sending the three of you to supervise the preparations for the Sky Light Festival in the location for this year's official celebration: Ponyville."
Looking into the envelope again, Twilight perked up slightly as she saw a second piece of paper folded up inside. "Oh! A checklist."
Despite their worries being far from quelled, Starlight and Sunset couldn't help but chuckle. There was something endearing about Twilight's enthusiasm for checklists. The two of them got up, using a bit of magic to pull their clothes back into position.
They all knew the stories of the time before ponies had fled to the sky. Of the days when ponies used to not wear clothing most of the time. These days it was different. The colorful coats of most ponies simply didn't reflect the harsh sunlight of the day well enough, nor did they do much to shield them from the bitter cold of the nights high up in the sky.
By now the clothes had become a cultural statement and, while their long, flowing shapes had remained largely unchanged, the colorful patterns that decorated the fabric were as varied as one could imagine.
Moving to stand beside Twilight, Sunset looked into the envelope as well, finding another sheet of paper. "Oh look, it says we're to stay at a place called the Golden Oaks Library. If push comes to shove we can always continue our research there."
Starlight nodded. "We'll do that. Take care of the preparations and then go to the library to keep researching. Come on then."
With a nod, the three of them left the apartment, followed by Philomena. Spike simply hitched a ride on Twilight's back while Ephemera faded from view again.
Before long, the group reached the Royal District Airship Harbor. Following the migration of the Capital, Canterlot had been massively expanded and, in the process, split into four districts, each on separate platforms arrayed around the mountains at different elevations. The Royal District, housing the Palace, the Royal Guard and Royal Navy Headquarters and Princess Luna's school, was the topmost district. Then followed the Upper District, mostly inhabited by the old nobility, the Middle District, housing most of the business in the capital, and the Lower District, housing mostly commoners.
Across the entire range of elevations, built into the crystal caves in the mountain itself, lay the Midnight District. Known mostly only to the inhabitants of the city, it housed the majority of Equestria's nocturnal thestral population. Their sensitive eyes especially suffered in the harsh sunlight.
They turned onto a small pier to the side of the main harbor, the Royal Pier. Only two airships were docked there. Princess Luna's personal yacht, the Selene, and the one they were here for, the Lumiere. A spark of Starlight's magic, sent into the gem beside the airship's port side access hatch, gained them entry into the luxurious vessel.
When Luna had taken them in, her main intent had been to teach them how to harness their magical talents, but she had also given them a complete education beyond that. And, in modern Equestria, no education was complete if it didn't teach how to handle airships, especially for unicorns and earth ponies.
All three of them could easily fly the yacht, though Twilight was, without a doubt, the most skilled helmsmare. One might not expect it when first looking at her, but Starlight was a talented machinist. Sunset, finally, could do either thing reasonably well, but mainly rounded out the group by taking care of everything else that needed doing on an airship. On longer voyages, for example when the three followed the princess on a diplomatic mission, she mainly acted as the ship's chef.
She also had an unexpected talent at handling hazardous substances, a skill Starlight liked to call upon whenever maintenance to the ship's levitation network was in order. Neither the water flowing through the pipes, nor the mythril within it that carried the anti-gravity spell keeping the ship aloft were particularly dangerous, but, to ensure that the latter remained evenly distributed within the former, the pipes also contained a rather potent solvent that was highly corrosive.
With no odd jobs around the ship to take care of, Sunset followed Twilight to the upper deck, while Starlight headed to the rear of the ship to handle the thaumo-electric drive core. Once they arrived, Sunset went up to the railing at the bow, while Twilight headed to the helm, located beneath a sun-roof near the stern.
A spark from her horn into a crystal at the far left of the helm console brought the illusory control interface to life. It only took a moment for the diagnostic display to light up all-green, showing that Starlight had reached her destination as well and found the ship ready for take off.
Sitting down behind the console, Twilight tapped a few buttons, releasing the docking clamps that held the ship in place. Her right forehoof found the throttle and pushed it forward and, with gentle motions of the helm, she guided the Lumiere out of the harbor and set a course for the small group of floating islands that held the settlement of Ponyville.
The whine of turbines on both sides of the Lumiere had almost fallen silent as Twilight brought the ship around the last corner of the Cloudwalker District and steered the airship into the Ponyville Port. When the clanking of the docking clamps signaled that the ship was secure, she shut down the engines completely and deactivated the console. After flying for nearly two hours and crossing so much distance, not only across the land itself but also vertically, seeing how Ponyville, like most of the isles in the sky, was about half again as high above sea level as Canterlot, she was happy to get up and stretch.
Going below deck and heading for the entry hatch, she met up with the other five, Sunset, Philomena and Spike had gone below deck at some point to avoid the searing sun. Had the Lumiere not been one of the fastest vessels in Equestria, they would only have arrived early the next day, but as it was, they had arrived in the late evening.
Well aware that very little preparation or research would be going on at this hour, the three unicorns decided to sleep aboard the ship and check on the preparations the next morning. What little reading time they could get in could easily be satisfied by the on board library no ship intended for a trio of scholars could be called complete without.
That the students of the Princess of Dreams would have a restful sleep went without saying and, after a quick breakfast courtesy of Sunset, the three departed the ship and walked out onto the pier.
Early as it was, the air so high up was still a bit more chilly than they were used to, but the three took it without complaint. Before they had even reached the end of the pier and set hoof on the island itself, they found a remarkably pink mare sitting in their path.
Everything about her was pink. From her coat to her mane to even the fabric of her clothes that, rather than white, were a very soft pink. The brilliant pink polka dot pattern rounded off the picture.
The moment the earth pony laid eyes on them, she gasped loudly, jumped her own height up into the air, defied physics by remaining there, as if frozen in time, for several seconds, then fell back to the ground, spun around and raced off deeper into the town.
"Anyway," Twilight spoke up, seeking comfort in what she knew best. "According to the list, we have four ponies to check on. But only two of them have set addresses. We'll be fastest if we split up. Have one of us take the two with addresses and one each for the two without."
"I'll take those with addresses," Starlight immediately piped up.
"Alright then," Twilight checked the list again, "that would be the banquet preparations at a place called Sweet Apple Acres." She looked up and took a quick look around before pointing a hoof towards the edge of town. "Assuming that's the orchard farm I saw on the way here that should be loosely that way. And the other one would be the musical arrangement at a place called Fluttershy's Cottage."
"I'll just head to the farm first, I'm sure they'll be able to give me directions. See you then."
While Starlight trotted off, followed by the invisible form of Ephemera, Sunset walked over to Twilight, looking over her shoulder at the list. "You take weather, I take decorations?"
"Sure, why not. Have fun."
Walking over one of the bridges that connected the various floating islands that made up the town, Starlight got a first look at the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. She took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of the farm's namesake. It truly was wonderful. The clean, high altitude air mixing with the earthy aroma of fertile farmland and the fresh scent of apples. She might have been in a hurry, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the atmosphere while she was here.
Following the path along the edge of one of the orchard islands she soon reached another bridge and crossed it to reach the island that held the main farm house as well as a barn, a large shed that probably housed the various machines used to tend the extensive orchards and a large gate that sat mostly flush with the ground. Starlight guessed that it probably covered a staircase leading either to a storage cellar or to a private airship dock on the underside of the island. Perhaps both.
A loud noise drew her attention away from the bright red buildings and to a small, adjacent island. Finding the bridge that led there, she followed the repeated noises to a small clearing among the trees that stood on the island. A pavilion stood at the center of the clearing, with a table at the center. The noises came from behind it.
Stepping around the structure, Starlight found an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane, wearing light clothes, clearly as much designed to hold off the sun as to let the sweat of hard, physical work escape. She trotted up to another tree, moving several wooden barrels to stand beneath it before stepping up to the tree, pushing off with her hind legs, spinning around on her forelegs and bucking the trunk of the tree, revealing the source of the noise Starlight had been hearing.
The apples falling from the tree into the barrels also explained the clattering noises she had started to hear as she got closer. Stepping out of the shadow of the pavilion, she cleared the rest of the distance between her and the farm mare. "Good morning. My name is Starlight Glimmer-"
The mare spun around and a smile came to her face when she spotted Starlight. She walked up to the unicorn, vigorously shaking hooves with her. "Well, howdy-doo, Miss Starlight, pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!"
"Right, friends. Well actually, I-"
"So what can I do you for?"
Hearing a feline chuckle from behind her and sensing her familiar's amusement through the bond they shared, Starlight turned around to the seemingly empty air behind her. "Oh quiet back there. Get your mind out of the gutter, Ephemera."
Applejack's slight blush when she recognized how her words could me misinterpreted quickly gave way to startled surprise when the prism wraith became visible behind Starlight. "What in tha wide sky of Equestria is that?!"
Starlight turned back to Applejack and followed her gaze back to her familiar. "Oh, that's Ephemera, my familiar. Don't worry, she looks more scary than she is. When she isn't invisible that is."
To demonstrate the truth behind Starlight's words, Ephemera came up alongside the unicorn, gently rubbing her head against her side. "See? She's quite cuddly once you get to know her, she's just a little shy around ponies she doesn't know, so she's usually invisible in public. But she seems to like you, normally it takes at least an hour before she trusts somepony enough to show herself."
Applejack still seemed slightly nervous as the large cat made her way over to her, but relaxed when she gently rubbed her muzzle against the pony's neck. "Huh, guess she really is a big softie. Well anyway, we've gone of course, ain't we? You were sayin'?"
"Oh right, I've been sent here by the princess to supervise the preparations for the Sky Light Festival. Your family is in charge of the food?"
"We sure as sugar are! Would ya care ta sample some?"
"Well as long as it doesn't take too long..."
"SOUP'S ON EVERYPONY!" Only her experience from the few times that Princess Luna had gotten so annoyed with the nobility that she had used something she called the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ allowed Starlight to remain standing at the force of the mare's shout. As a veritable stampede of ponies streamed onto the island over the several bridges connecting it to other parts of the farm in various directions, Applejack turned back to Starlight, a twinkle in her eyes. "Now, why don't Ah introduce ya to the Apple Family..."
And she proceeded to do just that. In short order, Starlight was introduced to the members of the Apple Family. All of them. Each carrying some apple related food product or another, quickly forming a pile on the table in the pavilion. An invitation to brunch soon followed.
Despite a hungry gaze from Ephemera Starlight had been ready to decline until the Apples started fighting dirty. A swift application of weaponized cuteness later, courtesy of Applejack's younger sister, they convened around the table which surprisingly managed to seat all of them, though it was a little tight.
The Apples were eager to learn more about Starlight. She didn't mind answering their questions in between sampling some of everything. And she learned some interesting things herself. Aside from helping on with the trees, Applejack's main role on the orchard was apparently keeping the various machinery running smoothly.
She, it seemed, shared Starlight's enthusiasm for engineering. Her family, at least, claimed that any piece of broken equipment delivered to her usually came back working better than ever, sometimes with new features it didn't have before. Her father seemed especially impressed with her work. He had apparently taught her engineering when she was younger, but the young mare had long since outmatched anything he could teach.
As such, it didn't take long for her and Starlight to get into conversation.
"No way! You actually still have equipment with purely electrical engines here?"
"We do! Ah know they're practically antiques, but they work jus' fine. Ah make sure o' that. Sure, we've got some o' the newer models for the further out fields, but the old ones still work so why toss 'em out?"
Apple Bloom turned to her older brother. "You got any idea what they're goin' on about?"
"Nope"
"You know, I'm kinda surprised your family is so okay with using machines to help around the farm. Most old farming families are against that."
"Now listen here," Granny Smith spoke up. "We Apples believe in playin' to our strengths. We've got a simple rule. 'Never use a machine to do somethin' a pony can do better.' That's why we still buck our apples by hoof. But we ain't got no problem with usin' machines to haul 'em back to tha storage cellar."
Applejack chuckled. "When we export 'em to other islands, we'd be usin' machines anyway."
"Hey I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm just a bit surprised. Most farming families I've heard of are either all for technology or all against it."
"Eh, one're stuck in the past and the other's've lost the personal touch. Without machines ta help ya just can't compete on the market these days," Bright McIntosh explained.
His wife nodded. "And if ya let 'em do everything for ya, there's nothing special 'bout yer produce, then everyone could grow it just as good. Ya need balance in these things."
Having sampled the last of the food, Starlight nodded. "Completely right. Now if you'll excuse me, I do still have a few more things to take care of. Could any of you perhaps point me in the direction of Fluttershy's Cottage?"
"Pretty much right across town on one of the lower islands 'neath the Cloudwalker District. Head back into town until yer at Town Hall. There's a staircase beside it that goes to the walkways in the Umbra district. Y'all can see it from there."
"Thank you."
"Mah pleasure, see y'all around town Miss Starlight."
"Sunset? What are you doing here?"
The mare in question turned towards the speaker, finding a familiar mint green unicorn. "Lyra! The princess sent the three of us to supervise preparations for the Festival. And you? Here for the official celebration as well?"
Lyra shook her head in bemusement. "You three really don't pay attention to anything other than your books, do you? I moved here two weeks ago. Why do you think I wasn't around Canterlot all this time?"
"Oh. We must've missed that."
Lyra gave Sunset a flat look. "At least tell me you didn't forget about Moon Dancer's party."
Sunset's face fell. "Ponyfeathers, we'll have to apologize to her later. Still, the princess specifically sent us here, not really much we could do about that."
"True, I suppose. Still, you've got preparations to supervise. Looking for anypony specific?"
"Yes actually. Do you happen to know where I can find Rarity?"
"Rarity? Hmm, let's see here. Last I remember she was hanging up decorations near the stage at the southern edge of town. White unicorn, curly purple mane, fabulous outfit, probably fretting about some detail of the decorations. You can't miss her."
"Thanks."
"No problem Sunny, see you around. You too Philomena, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble."
Following Lyra's directions, Sunset quickly made her way to the southern edge of town. She soon saw the stage on a lower island, along with a unicorn mare that perfectly matched Lyra's description of Rarity.
Seeing no stairs to get to the lower island in sight, Sunset smirked. Out of her sisters, she had always been the middle one including in terms of their magic. Starlight had more power, while Twilight had less, Twilight's finesse was better while Starlight's was just a touch worse, but Sunset had them beat in terms of physical strength and agility. She'd always been the most athletic of the three.
She turned around and walked a few steps away from the edge. Turning back towards it she galloped towards it and jumped off, easily clearing the hoof rail and dropping to the island below. Lighting her horn, she cast a modified version of the spell that kept airships aloft to slow her descent, landing softly on her hooves. Turning back to the stage, she walked up to the white unicorn, marveling at the decorations.
Beyond the moon setting a few moments before the sunrise, rather than at the same time like on any other day, the main element of the Sky Light Festival, as the name implied, was the ceremonial lighting of the islands with all manner of lanterns. Each island had its own unique style or styles.
The Canterlot Museum of Cultural History had samples of almost every style. As such, Sunset had seen the local style before, but she found this year's rendition of the design to be especially tasteful. Ponyville's style of lantern was based on the fact that it had long since had an almost even split amongst its population into earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns and thestrals. As such the lanterns involved elements of each tribe's work.
The basic frame was made of wood, using classical earth pony methods, the lanterns held a special magical flame that burned without fuel in a beautiful sapphire blue, courtesy of the unicorns, pegasi added the magic that made the lanterns free floating and an enchantment by the thestrals added their control over shadow to the mix, ensuring that the lanterns themselves wouldn't cast one.
This year's rendition was smaller than any Sky Light Lantern Sunset had ever seen, but their numbers were all the more plentiful, it was everypony's responsibility to ensure their own houses and properties were decorated with the lanterns, especially those at the edge of the islands, most ponies hadn't hung up their lanterns yet, but if the stage was anything to go by, there would be many lanterns in Ponyville this year.
Refocusing on the pony before her, Sunset cleared her throat. "Good Morning-"
"Just a moment, please. I'm 'in the zone', as it were. Oh yes, here is perfect, is it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help you?" The unicorn turned around to look at Sunset, carefully taking in every detail about her. "Let me guess, Canterlot?" When Sunset nodded she simply smiled. "Yes, the style is unmistakable, some try to copy it, of course, but they never quite manage it, do they?”
She closed her eyes, swooning a little. "Ah, Canterlot. The glamor, the sophistication. Oh I've always dreamed of living there. Alas, I could never handle the heat that close to the surface."
Sunset came a few steps closer, chuckling lightly. She leaned in to quietly speak into the other mare's ear. "I'll let you in on a secret. Neither can I. That's why almost every piece of clothing sold in Canterlot has cooling charms on it."
Rarity gasped. "Really?"
"Really," Sunset replied with a smile.
"Sweet Luna, I never knew. Oh I wish I could manage such an enchantment, it would certainly help my business."
"You're a seamstress?"
"A fashionista at heart, darling. But, yes, I suppose, for the moment I'm just a small town seamstress."
"I could teach you, if you want. I know the charm." Assuming we're all still alive after tomorrow, she mentally added.
"Oh, you would? How wonderfully generous of you. But do tell, why did you want to talk to me?"
"Oh, right. I was sent by the princess to oversee preparations for the festival. I came here to check up on the decorations, but clearly that won't be a problem. I can see you have that well in hoof."
"Don't worry about a thing, darling. I'll make sure everything is in place before the Festival starts."
From the shadows between the houses attached, like the nests of swallows, to the underside of the island, inhabited mostly by thestrals, Starlight followed the walkway back into the harsh sunlight. She idly considered that a thin wooden plank was the only thing between her and a good two miles of empty air, grateful that a milenia of living almost exclusively on islands suspended high up in the sky had caused ponies as a people to lose the fear of heights.
Of course, if she really were to fall, the spells in her clothing, like in that of any unicorn, earth pony or pegasus or thestral too young to fly on their own, would break her fall, allowing her to glide safely to the desert below and send out a magical emergency signal, prompting the closest airship of the royal navy to come pick her up.
Clearing the idle thoughts from her mind, she looked at the scene before her. The small island was covered by a grove of trees, animals of all shapes and sizes populated the island. Nearly every tree had at least one birdhouse mounted to it somewhere, squirrels jumped between the trees, butterflies gracefully fluttered among the wildflowers that dotted the ground and a narrow path snaked through between it all.
Following the path, Starlight heard only the gentle whistling of the wind in the leaves and the musical chirping of birds. The closer she came to the center of the island, however, the more did it sound like the birds had formed a coordinated choir.
Finally, she breached the inner edge of the ring of trees, finding a clearing in the middle of the island. At its heart stood another tree that seemed to be incorporated into a small cottage, it's branches bent protectively over the small home.
Slowly walking around the cottage, Starlight found a single pony on it's other side. A butter yellow pegasus with a long light pink mane stood before one of the smaller trees on the inner edge of the ring. Within the branches sat a large collection of birds, lined up in orderly rows and, apparently, singing under her direction.
Calmed by the gentle melody, Starlight sat down in the grass, a respectful distance away, listening carefully. Ephemera faded into view and curled up at her side, eyes closed, but ears perked and pointed at the choir of birds.
Several times, the pegasus corrected birds singing off cue or out of tune with gentle words and every time, much to Starlight's bafflement, the addressed bird corrected its mistake the next time. Only when the birds got increasingly distracted by their impromptu audience, did the mare turn around to see Starlight sitting in the grass with her eyes closed, a relaxed smile on her face.
Only a startled 'Eep!' from the pegasus before her caused her to re-open her eyes. Seeing the mare sitting in the grass, her wings clasped tightly to her side and her face hidden behind her mane, Starlight felt sorry for her. "My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you. Miss Fluttershy, I presume?"
A quick nod was all the response she got.
"My name is Starlight Glimmer, I was sent by the Princess to supervise preparations for the Sky Light Festival. I'm here to check on the music and, if I may say so, it sounds fantastic." Seeing how she got no response, she chose to once more interrupt the awkward silence. "Well that's really all I'm here for, so I suppose I'll be leaving then." She got up from the grass. "Come on Ephemera."
A sudden gasp drew her attention back to the pegasus who was suddenly directly in front of them, floating in the air with gentle flaps and studying a rather startled Ephemera who made to fade from view again. "Who is that? I've never- Huh? Where did she go?"
Starlight couldn't help but chuckle. "That's Ephemera. I think you startled her. It is odd though. That's the second time today she's become visible in front of strangers." She stretched out a hoof, stroking the seemingly empty air beside her. "Calm down Ephemera, it's alright. Miss Fluttershy is just curious."
Under her gentle ministrations, the prism wraith became visible again, jumping onto her back and curling up there. While she and Fluttershy held an impromptu Q&A session, Starlight walked back to where she had seen the library earlier.
Just when Fluttershy was asking if Ephemera knew of any other prism wraiths, they reached the door to the Library. It was truly impressive what earth ponies could do with their magic given time. The library was built into the massively widened trunk of an, obviously still living, oak tree. "Well if you want to talk with Ephemera some more, you can do that, but I have to meet up with the others here."
Without any further prompting, Ephemera jumped off her back, and sat down on the bench beside the library. While Fluttershy sat down beside her, Starlight continued on into the library. Given how much time she'd spent at Sweet Apple Acres, she wasn't at all surprised that Sunset and Twilight were already present, the latter of whom was currently brushing her mane which was a complete mess.
"Goodness, sis, what happened to your mane?"
"Rainbow Dash happened."
"Okay then."
And so she joined Sunset in researching a way to stop Daybreaker's return or, failing that, a way to defeat her once she did return. Once her mane was once more somewhat under control, Twilight joined them in their search. The most promising lead were, of course, the Elements of Harmony that were always mentioned in the same breath as Daybreaker or the Sunshadow.
However, try as they might, they couldn't find any reference to the Elements. Nothing, no text, no illustrations, not even so much as a footnote.
By the time they finally took a break, it was late afternoon. Twilight and Starlight sat down in the library's hopelessly understocked kitchen, while Sunset ventured into the basement, hoping to find any stocks of food or drink that might have been kept there. Unfortunately, it seemed, there was little to be found.
"Nothing," they heard her voice call up the stairs, "but with a few small modifications this place could be turned into a great laboratory and-" She cut of and they just barely heard the words 'where does this go' echo up the stairs. After a moment, she called again, more quietly this time, further away. "Girls, come have a look at this."
Seeing how they had little else to do for the moment, not only Twilight and Starlight, but also Spike, Philomena and Ephemera, who had faded into view a few hours into their research, made their way down the stairs. The basement was just as round as the ground floor above it, but made mostly of earth and rock, nestled between the roots of the old tree. Sunset stood before another door on the opposite side of the room. "Come on, this way."
She turned around, walking down the stone steps going a good distance deeper, followed quickly by her sisters and their familiars. Finally a gust of wind heralded the end of their descent and the staircase ended in another door that opened up onto a pier attached to the rock on the underside of the island. It was currently vacant.
"Hold on. The library has a private airship dock?" Spike called out from behind the mares. "Neat."
Starlight turned to her sisters. "Think we should go get the Lumiere and dock her here? At least we have some actual food on board."
"Good point, and if we really need to get somewhere, this place would be easier to reach than the harbor. It's far more central. Can you get the clamps working?"
An electrical noise caused her to turn back towards Starlight who was stood next to the small maintenance panel for the magnetic docking clamps. "Already done. Shall we?"
Sunset smirked. "Nice. Philomena, would you mind flying to the harbor from here and meeting us there? Then you can guide us back."
With a nod and a trill, Philomena flew off, and the three unicorns made their way back up the stairs, Twilight and Starlight each carrying their respective familiars on their backs.
It only took them a few minutes to reach the harbor at the north east end of the island and board the Lumiere. Starlight went below deck to get the drive core running while Sunset and Twilight went to meet Philomena on the upper deck.
A few taps on the helm console later, the engines were running and the docking clamps released. With practiced grace, Twilight guided the ship below the island and followed the phoenix who was flying ahead, the embers coming off her wings lighting their way.
Two minutes later, the Lumiere settled into dock beneath the Library. The docking clamps attached the ship firmly to the island once more and Twilight gave Starlight the go-ahead to shut down the drive core. Moments later, the six of them gathered back on the private pier and made their way back into the library tree above.
They were surprised, to say the least, to find the library completely dark. They most certainly hadn't closed the curtains when they left. Before any of them could light their horns to see through the darkness, the lights came on and revealed the library to be packed with ponies, all of them shouting one word.
"Surprise!"
The main room of the library was decorated with balloons, streamers and a large banner that read 'Welcome to Ponyville Starlight, Sunset and Twilight!'. Plenty of food was spread out across several tables that certainly hadn't been there either. And everypony was smiling at them.
Especially the pink one right in front of them.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?"
The three of them gently applied their levitation to remove the earth pony from their personal space.
Sunset was the first to speak up, "we've been gone for maybe fifteen minutes tops. How did you set all of this up that quickly? That shouldn't be possible."
"It probably isn't, darling," A familiar voice spoke up from beside them. Turning, Sunset saw the familiar form of Rarity. "But it's Pinkie Pie. Trust me: it's best not to question it."
"Gotta agree with Rares on that." Twilight turned to the left to see a familiar sky blue pegasus with a multi-hued mane. "She just does these things every so often. Try not to think about it too hard. We've all tried to find the logic in what she does. None of us've managed it."
"Mhm." Another pegasus had taken position right next to Rainbow Dash.
"Enough o' all that though." Once more, the three turned, this time back to the front where Applejack had stepped up next to Pinkie Pie. "If ah recall correctly, there's a party ta be had."
"Absotutely! Come on you three, have some fun. Make new friends. Enjoy yourselves."
The three rolled their eyes at the locals' casual acceptance of the insanity that was Pinkie Pie before looking around the room in earnest. One by one, they let their eyes settle on the various baked goods spread out across the tables. "Well," Starlight finally managed. "We did want to get some food."
Despite their remaining concerns, the three mingled at the party. They had tried and failed to find any hint towards where the Elements of Harmony might be kept. All things considered, they were well and truly out of options. The only thing they could do now was to enjoy the party and hope that the princess had been right.
Even though they had some trouble keeping their worries in check, they still managed to enjoy the party. Even with magically distorted space making the interior about twice the size of the exterior, it was impressive just how many ponies could fit into the library.
The ponies of Ponyville were all friendly and welcoming to the three and, perhaps more surprisingly, almost all in attendance. When asked why, they all, without exception, answered with the same sentiment: 'Nopony misses a Pinkie Pie party.'
Still, the party eventually wound down, late in the night or, depending on perspective, early in the morning. Despite that, even the foals had been allowed to stay until the end seeing how everypony was staying up for the festivities at dawn anyway.
Finally, the early morning twilight drew near and everypony gathered near the stage. Sunset had been right. The lanterns hung all around the group of islands were as numerous as they were beautiful. Their blue light, reflected off of the strategically placed clouds and fog banks above, below and around the islands gave the entire scene a mystical atmosphere. In the distance, through gaps in the clouds, the golden lights of Canterlot, the red glow of Manehattan and the emerald shimmer of Fillidelphia stood out amongst the sea of smaller lights in all colors, coming from the numerous smaller villages and towns spread throughout the Equestrian sky.
Stood among the five mares they had gotten to know over the previous day and with their familiars on their backs, the three unicorns watched with some trepidation as the moon sank beneath the horizon.
In the absence of its glow, the lanterns provided the only light, creating the otherworldly atmosphere only found at the Sky Light Festival. Only one element of the official celebration was conspicuously absent:
Princess Luna
The ancient monarch of Equestria, they knew, should have been here by now. They had seen the Selene docked in the port when they had gone there to get the Lumiere. They knew that Luna didn't care much for speeches in her honor and enjoyed making a dramatic entrance, but her absence was growing far longer than usual.
They were not the only ones to notice. The other ponies in attendance were growing nervous as, even after a full minute, the princess was nowhere to be found.
Then the eastern horizon lit up orange. After just a moment, the Sun peeked over the horizon, the vaguely pony-shaped shadow that had marred its surface for centuries absent. For a short moment, its light seemed to focus into a tight beam. Pointed straight above the stage where it ended in an orb of white.
The beam cut off, but the orb remained, before bursting apart and revealing a pure white alicorn wearing what seemed to be ceremonial battle armor that was, if the orange glow coming off it was any indication, heated almost to its melting point. Her cutie mark was that of a sun and her mane and tail were made of dancing flames.
With high pitched, cackling laughter, she fell to the stage below, landing with a loud thud. The sturdy wooden planks immediately began smoking under her glowing shoes. Her slitted eyes roamed across the silent crowd and she gave them a fanged smirk.
"Well now, Equestria has changed quite a bit in my absence. You've done admirably to survive under such harsh conditions. But fear not.
The indignant shout that pierced the silence came from a light brown mare with a gray mane. From the party, they recognized her as the town's mayor.
"Why? Is my crown not regal enough for you? Has my name been forgotten. Have you not seen the signs?"
Stepping forward from the front of the crowd, followed by her sisters, Starlight spoke up, "WE have."
Sunset raised her voice next, "we know who you are, Daybreaker."
A small smile curled the alicorn's lips. "So somepony did remember. And tell me," As the only one of the three who hadn't spoken yet, her gaze focused on Twilight. "Do you also know why I am here?"
Twilight shuddered in spite of the heat coming from the alicorn before her. "To burn down the land."
Daybreaker seemed to stiffen at that, as if hesitating for a moment. "Yes, well. I might have to reconsider that plan. There is no fun to be had in ruling a barren wasteland... We'll see." She chuckled lightly.
The mayor clearly had enough. "Seize her! Only she knows where the princess is."
Four guards, both pegasi and thestrals, flew up to the stage to grab the alicorn. She spread her wings and, with a mighty flap, sent a wave of fire towards each pair of guards, knocking them back and scorching their armor.
"Foals! You think you can stop me?!" Daybreaker once more broke into hysterical laughter. "Oh, and, by the way, I don't know where my dear sister is. Perhaps she is hiding from me. Not that it matters. I will find her before long."
She burst into fire and flew off, over the edge of the island and down to the land below.
For a moment, there was silence, then one of the guards groaned and the crowd broke into fearful muttering. From behind the three, Fluttershy rushed forward towards one of the injured guards.
Sharing a glance, Twilight, Sunset and Starlight turned and galloped off towards the library.
More desperate than ever, they scoured the bookshelves for any indication on where to find the Elements of Harmony.
They had put their familiars to bed, seeing how, after a day and a night, they were at their limits.
"Come on!" Starlight groaned, "there has to be something here. We need to find the Elements."
"And what are these Elements? And how did you three know about Daybreaker, huh? Are you spies?!"
Rainbow Dash had come into the library after them, the other four mares close behind her. Applejack was about to reign her in when Starlight chuckled despite the situation.
"Spies? Yeah right. Hired by a pony sealed away in the sun how exactly?"
As Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, Applejack rolled her eyes and stepped up beside her. "Sorry 'bout Dash, her mouth gets ahead o’ her brain sometimes. But y’all do know what's goin' on. Don't ya?"
Sunset nodded and sighed. "To give you the short version: that was Daybreaker. She is the corrupted version of Princess Luna's older sister. A thousand years ago, Princess Luna banished her to the sun using the Elements of Harmony and we'll need them now to stop her. But we have no idea where they are or how to find them."
"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide" All eyes turned to Pinkie Pie who stood next to one of the bookshelves, a thin book held in one hoof.
"How did you find that?" Twilight demanded as she rushed over to her, levitating the book over to her.
Pinkie bounced around the room with a wide smile. "It was under 'E'!"
"What?!" Sunset exclaimed, "but that was the first place I looked!"
"Really?" Pinkie turned to her, her head tilted slightly. "Huh, weird. And here I thought I was the only one who looks under the shelves."
Ignoring Sunset's sputters, Twilight cracked open the book and began to read aloud. "Let's see here: 'There are eight Elements of Harmony, but only seven are known: Kindness, Honesty, Laughter, Empathy, Generosity, Loyalty and Trust. The eighth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the seven Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now ... Oh dear. That's not good."
Starlight turned to face her. "Why? Where is it?"
"I think I know where Daybreaker went. It's down in the Everfree Forest."
The reactions were immediate. All signs of bravado fell off Rainbow Dash's face and she landed with a worried expression. Applejack looked just as worried. And perhaps a touch fearful. Fluttershy gave a quiet 'Oh dear' and curled her wings around her with a soft whimper. Rarity dramatically fainted on a chaise lounge that definitely hadn't been in the room a moment earlier. Both Starlight and Sunset mirrored Twilight's nervous expression. Clearly they weren't looking forward to having to deal with the Everfree Forest on top of Daybreaker.
Only Pinkie seemed unfazed, merrily smiling around the silent room.
"Well," Twilight finally said, clapping the book shut, "no point dwelling. Let's go, girls."
She got up, only to freeze when not only Starlight and Sunset, but also the five others mimicked her motion. Twilight glanced to her sisters, then quirked an eyebrow up. "Uhh I didn't mean all of you."
"Well, Ah'm not gonna let three friends o' mine go inta that forest alone," Applejack explained. "If y'all are goin’ there ta save the day, then so am Ah."
"Me too!" Rainbow added with a confident smirk.
"Me three!"
"Uh, I'll be coming along too."
"Well I couldn't just let all of you go without me, now could I?"
Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity joined the other two. The chaise lounge was nowhere to be seen.
Starlight shrugged. "Alright, come along then." She started to walk off towards the basement door.
"Uhh, not to interrupt, but the door is that way." Fluttershy was pointing a wing towards the exit.
Sunset smirked. "So it is. But the library's airship dock is that way." She went over to the basement door as well. The rest quickly followed.
"My goodness, that ship is gorgeous."
"Couldn't agree more, Rares. That's one heck of a ship. Ah'd love ta see what kinda engine core it has."
Starlight smirked at the farm mare. "Come, I'll show you." With a spark from her horn, she caused the entry hatch to spring open and walked inside, followed closely by her fellow engineer.
"Sweet Luna these engines are huge! This thing is fast!"
Twilight smirked. "One of the fastest in Equestria. Come in!"
As she led Rainbow to the upper deck, Sunset addressed the other three, "Come on in then. I'll show you around."
Down in the engine room, Applejack was staring at the drive core. Three large crystals floated, circling around a common center, inside a cage of brass tubes in the shape of an oblate spheroid. Larger tubes connected on it towards the front and to the back at either side, vanishing into the ring of flooring that marked the ceiling of the lower part of the engine room and the floor of the upper part.
Starlight smirked and let a spark from her horn jump into the control console next to the wall. It came to life, displaying an illusory screen with various readouts and controls. Tapping a few buttons, she sent a surge of magic through the drive core, causing it to fully activate from its current idle state.
The crystals lit up orange and started spinning faster, arcs of orange lightning jumped between them and the cage bars. With a low hum, the pumps in the tubing came to life and distributed the magical charge from the core along the underside of the ship. The magical conduits leading from the core to the engines lit up with the same orange aura, signaling that power was flowing through them.
Seeing that all systems were running as intended, Starlight tapped a few more buttons on her console to signal Twilight before turning to Applejack who was looking between her and the drive core with a wide grin.
"Now that there is an engine!"
While Starlight and Applejack were geeking out over the engine and Rainbow was drooling at the ship's power as Twilight gently steered it out of the dock and down towards the surface below, Sunset guided the other three mares into the lounge at the front of deck one.
Rarity rushed over to the panoramic view window that completely covered the front of the room, looking down at the surface below. The ship was gently angling downward until it hung in the air pointed down approximately thirty degrees. Pointed as such, the ship gently floated out beneath the islands that held Ponyville.
Rarity sighed contentedly. "Now this is what I call traveling in style."
Sunset stepped up beside her, enjoying the view just as much. "It is, but I'd recommend you sit down."
"Why is that?" Rarity asked even while she complied. Behind them Fluttershy and Pinkie had sat down as well.
"Because," Sunset explained with a smirk, "if I know Twilight at all she's about to-"
The entire ship shot forward as the helmsmare gunned the engine. The whine of the three large turbines filled the air.
"-do that," Sunset finished. "She just can't help having a bit of fun."
The ship descended towards the surface in a wide spiral. The panoramic view window in the forward observation lounge gave a fantastic view of the surface below. The wide expanse of dark green that marked the Everfree Forest formed a marked contrast to the pale brown of the desert that covered most of the surface elsewhere.
Several patches of bright orange, smoking ominously and leaving charred ground in their wake, marked the small patches of wildfires that had constantly roamed the Everfree for centuries. Not too far from the forest's edge, a canyon separated loosely circular a section of the forest. Sitting in it's center was the dark gray shape of an abandoned ruin.
"There," Sunset said, pointing her hoof at the ancient structure, "you see that? That's the Castle of the Two Sisters. That's where we're going."
Following her gaze, Rarity studied the ruin with a careful eye. "Oh dear, it looks quite dilapidated, doesn't it?"
Sunset frowned a little. "I don't know. Keep in mind that it’s within the Everfree and has been abandoned for a thousand years. Considering that, it's actually remarkably intact. I know plenty of ruins that are far younger and in much worse shape. Almost like there is something preserving it. Odd."
"Now that you mention it, that is odd. So we'll just fly there?"
Sunset's eyes widened at the suggestion. She gave Rarity a disbelieving stare, mirrored by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. "Fly that far over the Everfree? Of course not. Twilight is good, but she's no miracle worker. Weather over the Everfree was always wild and uncontrollable, even back when the castle was still in use, though it was far more manageable at the time. With all the extra power from the harsh sun and the wildfires now? Even when there aren't any crazy storms brewing in the area, there are chaotic winds that are next to impossible to fly through.
"Twilight will probably fly us a good distance in and then set us down in a suitable clearing, but we can't go too far over the forest or we're more or less guaranteed to crash." She looked out of the window again, noting that they had now left their spiraling descent and were flying in a straight line for the forest. "Speaking of ..."
"Hold onto your hooves, ladies," Twilight's voice came through the intercom, "it's gonna be a bumpy ride." Moments later, the first tremors ran through the ship as it was shaken by the winds.
On the upper deck, Twilight had started to use two spells to safely guide the ship through the gusts. The first one was a powerful adhesive charm to keep her hooves firmly secured to the deck. The second was an enchantment for her eyes, visualizing the chaotic air flows around her and giving her a few moment's notice before she had to compensate for a sudden change in the wind blowing the ship this way and that.
It also allowed her to see how the storm only got harsher the further away they got from the forest's edge.
Flying alongside she ship, Rainbow Dash was having the time of her life. Her innate magic allowed her to sense the sudden changes in wind speed and direction even more accurately than Twilight's charm, enabling her to work with the winds in many places, rather than fight them. She soared above and behind the ship in one moment, then ahead of it and below the next, casually waving to the four mares watching her stunts from the observation lounge, desperately seeking a measure of stability within the quaking vessel.
Well aware of the constant danger, Rainbow was flooded with adrenaline, pushing her strength, agility and awareness to their natural limits and enabling her of aeronautical feats even she could usually only dream of. While Twilight had to keep the Lumiere firmly above the treeline, Dash could, if needed, momentarily escape the gusts by diving through the canopy and weaving between the trees before emerging again and flying alongside the ship once more.
If there was one difference between the two mares that were soaring through the storm above the forest, one piloting a ship, the other on her own, it was that Twilight had a far more realistic understanding of her skills and the limits thereof. She was easily able to see that the winds would soon get too strong for her to safely maneuver the ship through and slightly adjusted their heading to point them at a nearby clearing rather than directly at the castle.
A sudden gust from below lifted ship and pegasus alike upwards, higher above the forest where the winds were even harsher, then an equally sudden downdraft sent them careening towards the middle of the clearing below.
In the last possible moment, Twilight used one fore hoof to pull back the throttle and cut the engines while slamming the other onto a large red button on her console. Only a few meters above the ground, the ship's rapid descent came to a sudden halt, the entire vessel engulfed in a pale blue, almost white aura for a moment. Twilight had activated the ship's emergency stasis field.
The experimental safety feature was designed to arrest the momentum of the ship as well as that of anything and anypony within it. Unfortunately for her, she was not within the ship. She grunted in pain as her hooves, still affixed to the deck, took the entirety of her inertia and directed it into the ship which stubbornly refused to move within the stasis field.
A sudden tearing noise behind her and to her right, followed by a cry of pain and a resounding 'crash' announced that Rainbow Dash was also solidly grounded once more.
Recovering from the sudden halt, Twilight took hold of the helm once more, ready for the stasis field to release a few seconds later. She gently brought the ship into a fully horizontal alignment, a short distance above the ground and hit another button on her console.
Around the ship, four crystals lit up before shooting chains of orange light, tipped with magical constructs similar in shape to harpoons, down at the ground beneath. A slight adjustment to the gravity spell of the ship pulled them taut and secured the vessel in position. A few more button presses shut down the turbines and advised Starlight and AJ in the engine room below to set the drive core into a low power mode, enough to sustain the slight lift keeping the ship in place against its anchors, but little more than necessary.
Once the ship was secure, she turned her attention to the still slightly twitching pegasus beside her. A quick diagnostic spell revealed that she was mostly fine. All her bones were still intact and she didn't seem to have suffered a concussion or some sort of other internal injury either. A few healing spells took care of the mare's numerous bruises and a quick electric jolt brought her back to the present and back to her feet.
"Ow! What gives? Why did you stop so suddenly?"
"Well sorry if I didn't want the ship to crash."
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "Right. Sorry. Thanks for patching me up."
"Don't worry about it."
"And sorry about your sunroof."
Twilight turned her gaze to the Rainbow-Dash-shaped hole in the roof above them. "Oh yeah. No problem. It's just fabric. We can get it fixed later."
The door opened on the side of the ship and revealed the immediate issue. The exit hatch was several meters up in the air. A few more button presses on Sunset's part opened a smaller hatch right beneath the larger door and caused a series of elaborately carved wooden panels to float out of it, forming a staircase to the ground.
With a smile, she led the way down to the ground. Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy followed her. All three of them seemed quite glad to once more have solid ground under their hooves. Applejack and Starlight followed not long after and Twilight and Rainbow brought up the rear. Lighting her horn, Twilight prompted the hatch to close, sealing the ship, but leaving the staircase in place.
As she hopped down the last step and joined the group a short distance away, Rarity turned her attention to Sunset. "I think now would be an ideal time for those cooling charms you mentioned. It's dreadfully warm down here."
"Oh right. One moment." Sunset lit her horn, quickly followed by Starlight and Twilight, and the three of them began applying powerful cooling charms to the group and themselves. "There. These should last us a good few hours. We can refresh them later if need be."
"Just out of curiosity," Starlight piped in, "is this anypony else's first time on the surface." Everypony raised a hoof. "Ah good to know."
Rolling her eyes, Twilight moved ahead of the group. "Let's go then. The sooner we find the Elements, the sooner we can leave this forest."
The eight mares engaged in casual conversation as they made their way towards the castle. It was true that they were in a forest filled with dangerous creatures who wouldn't hesitate to snatch up a pony or two for lunch, but with three well trained mages keeping up scanning spells and taking up positions in a triangle formation around the group, it was more or less assured that no such creature could approach closer than a few dozen meters undetected.
As such, the first major threat to the group managed to catch them completely off guard. Dangerous creatures they had been prepared for. A cliff with an unstable edge was entirely unexpected. Once more, Starlight needed to remind both Twilight and Sunset of the fact that they could teleport. Rarity, to their dismay, lacked that skill.
From where they had teleported, away from the edge and onto stable ground, they watched as Applejack, who had barely managed to catch Rarity before she fell, told her to let go and that she would be fine. Rarity seemed conflicted for a moment, but finally decided to believe Applejack's words. She fell off the edge only to come back up a second later, safely held by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They set her down beside the three mages and Pinkie Pie who had been close enough for the three to catch in their telekinesis when they came out of their respective teleports.
The mares took a few moments to recover from their shock before continuing on their way to the castle. In the commotion, of course, the three mages had lost focus on their scanning spells and the group soon ran into an agitated manticore. More or less all of them made rather ineffectual attempts to subdue the beast, until Fluttershy managed to break through her timidness and stop them.
She carefully walked up to the manticore and gently picked up it's large paw in her hooves. Turning it to face the others, she showed them the large thorn that was stuck there before carefully removing it. The manticore roared in shock for a moment before quieting down and, much to the others' surprise, affectionately licking her face.
Once the mares had recovered from their shock and Fluttershy had bid her newest animal friend goodbye, they went on their way again.
They soon reached a darker area of the forest. The dense canopy more or less blocked out the harsh sunlight from above and, after such a long time in the bright light, their eyes were not at all adapted for the sudden gloom. They stumbled through the darkness for a while, heading loosely towards their destination until Twilight suddenly stumbled backwards from the ball of fire that had appeared in the air before her.
The group quickly reacted and made to move in the opposite direction, only for a second ball of fire to spring up there and block off their path. The same thing happened in any direction they tried to escape. The fact that the fire seemed to form grimacing faces didn't calm them at all.
Except Pinkie Pie.
Minutes later the group were on their way again and the three mages added Pinkie's impromptu musical, laughter-based exorcism to the list of things about the mare they would question once the world wasn't at stake.
Not long after, however, they smelled smoke once again and there was a faint orange light ahead of them. "Pinkie, are there more of them?"
"Nope. That's an actual fire."
"Whatever do you mean, darling?" Seconds later, it became clear just what she meant. The trees parted and the group found themselves on another cliff overlooking a wide section of the forest.
One that was currently on fire.
"Never mind that. I understand what you mean."
"One of those wildfires did look like it was loosely in the way, didn't it?" Sunset admitted. "This is a bit inconvenient."
The eight mares stood atop the cliff for a few minutes, looking over the wildfire below and considering their options. They couldn't see past the smoke and fire so teleporting wasn't an option. Having made it a good part of the way to their destination, the winds overhead were now much stronger than where they had 'landed', so flying was definitely out. And while their cooling charms could hold off the nearly sixty degree heat of surface, even in the shade granted by the trees, the fire was easily twenty times hotter and would get past the charms in moments.
Not to mention that the charms would only protect them from the heat. The flames could still burn them regardless.
Rainbow Dash was not happy. "Come on! We've come all this way and now a fire stops us?!"
"You know, I could help you."
The group whirled around and caught sight of a bluish white pegasus stallion as he stepped out between the trees behind them.
Rainbow landed before him, looking at him suspiciously. "What's another pony doing down here?"
"What?" Another stallion, this one a pale brown with an ash gray mane, stepped up next to the first. "Did you think everypony lived up in the sky these days?"
"Admittedly, most ponies do," the first explained. "But some of us chose to go down instead of up. I'm Snow Storm, by the way. That's my brother, Desert Wind."
The girls introduced themselves in turn. Ultimately, it was Rainbow who spoke up again. "So exactly how can you help us?"
"Remember what I said about going down instead of up?" Snow Storm asked. When he received a round of nods, he continued with a winning smile. "Well I meant that. We live underground. Over the centuries we've built a network of tunnels that spans a good section of the Everfree. If you'll trust us, we can take you to the other side of that wildfire down there by going underneath it."
"Give us a minute, will ya?" When the two stallions nodded, Snow with a smile, Desert with the same frown he’d had for the entire conversation, Applejack shepherded the group a few steps away so they could talk in private. "Ah dunno. Thar's somthin' fishy 'bout them two."
"I know what you mean, darling. Ponies down here. And they're not even wearing clothing."
"Not what ah meant, Rares."
"I see your point, Applejack," Sunset spoke up. "But they've not done anything to make us doubt them. This area of Equestria is relatively safe, but that's not true everywhere. There are pirates closer to the borders that attack ships that go by, even settlements on occasion. If there was a surface community underground somewhere, especially one that old, I'm not surprised they'd want to stay hidden."
"So yer willin' ta go along with 'em?"
"I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt."
"Alright sis. If you trust them, then so do I," Twilight moved to stand next to her sister.
"Me too." Starlight took her other side.
One by one, the mares agreed. Finally only Applejack was left. "Well if y'all say so. Ah s'pose ah'll go along with it. But ah'm still sayin' they ain't tellin us the whole truth."
When the mares returned to them and agreed, Snow Storm took the lead, guiding them a short distance along the cliff, Desert wind brought up the rear. Soon, they reached a path that led down along the cliff, zigg-zagging closer to the flames below until they were at about half the height of the cliff and reached a concealed entrance.
The tunnel they entered led them further down. Occasionally they came to a split in the path, but Snow unerringly led them down a route, not even hesitating before going one way or the other.
Every once in a while they came past a tunnel that led upward, every time sealed by a heavy stone slab and guarded by a single pony. Those, Snow explained, were exits to the surface, sealed before the wildfire could reach them.
After a while, Twilight trotted up beside their guide. "Say, how many ponies live here? I haven't really seen anypony outside of those guarding the exits."
"Oh yeah, most of us don't usually come to the surface. We usually stay deeper down in the lower chambers where it’s cooler, but when there's a wildfire in the area, we need to be able to see where it's going so we can seal the exits if we need to. That's why Desert and I were up there at all."
After about half an hour of trotting through the tunnels, Snow led them up into a tunnel that led back to the surface, one that wasn't sealed. "We're a good way past the wildfire now and it isn't moving in this direction. You should be good to go on."
After the mares had bid them goodbye and gone back on their way, Snow and Desert returned into the depths of the tunnels. Both were engulfed in a flash of green. "You know Pharynx," 'Snow Storm' spoke up, "I don't like that we have to lie to them."
"We're changelings Thorax," Pharynx explained with a sigh, "get used to it, it's what we do."
"No, I agree," came a deeper voice from behind them. A taller changeling with a membranous mane and a small crown on her head walked out from the shadows of a side tunnel. "It really is a shame. But who knows, if they are successful, things may well change. Let's hope that the elements do recognize them."
"Of course, your majesty."
The next major hindrance on their path caused them quite a few mixed feelings. Bewilderment chief among them. Never before had any of them seen a river of that size before. And, being a weather mare and thus, among other things, responsible for keeping the weather factories supplied with water from the underground reservoirs, Rainbow Dash was also the only one of them who could swim.
Needless to say that the raging river before them was a rather major inconvenience.
The next mystery they faced was how exactly there could be a sea serpent in a river that was a significant distance away from the sea and had no actual connection to it. Sea serpents were, after all, not exactly known for walking through the desert. That Rarity managed to calm said serpent and he was actually quite charming afterward was honestly less of a surprise.
With a final wave, Rarity bid goodbye to her latest acquaintance and the group departed, deeper into the forest. "Well, he was quite charming, wasn't he?"
"Oh absolutely. Most creatures are, actually. Ponies just don't understand most of them."
Sunset shook her head slightly. "I still can't believe you made friends with a manticore, Fluttershy."
"Oh she really is a lovely one. Strange thing is that she could swear that thorn wasn't there before she put her paw down."
None of the mares said anything more on the matter as they continued on their journey, but it didn't take long for all of them to reach the same conclusion. The thorn suddenly appearing out of nowhere was certainly suspicious. A wildfire just happening to be in their way was more so. That the sea serpent had just flat out mentioned that his mustache had been cut of by a flash of light made it more or less obvious what was going on.
Daybreaker was messing with them.
But why? Even if she didn't know where they were, she clearly could predict their route well enough. Why not simply wait for them and stop them before they could get close? She certainly had the power and doing so certainly would be the easiest way to stop them. Or had her sanity degraded that far?
Finally, they reached the edge of the treeline, allowing their gazes to fall upon the castle. It clearly was a ruin, but, for its age, it truly was in remarkable shape. Regardless, there was still one major hindrance in the way. Separating them from the castle was a deep chasm. Everypony from Ponyville could also tell from memory, from seeing the forest from the edge of their islands or from the observation deck on the Lumiere, that it fully surrounded the castle. If they wanted to reach the ruin, they would have to cross it.
Fortunately, there was a rope bridge. Unfortunately, it was out. The anchor points beyond the chasm were still there, but the bridge itself hung down from the anchors on their side.
Once more Starlight tried to simply teleport. That, she found, was a bad idea.
Twilight quickly rushed to her sister's side and quickly cast a number of spells to sort out the mess of magical feedback in her horn so as to alleviate her headache. Sunset, meanwhile, looked at the chasm again, then to Starlight.
"Forgot to check for wards first, didn't you, Miss Triggerhappy?" Starlight simply nodded, pain and embarrassment binding her tongue. "Admittedly, hiding the wardline in the chasm is clever. And it can't have been easy either, considering that the chasm isn't even close to circular."
"Somepony ask for a bridge?" All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash who stood before the, suddenly no longer broken, rope bridge, a thoughtful smile on her lips.
"How?"
Fluttershy turned to Twilight with a rather mystified expression. "She has wings, remember?"
"Oh. Right."
After a careful first few steps, the group quickly crossed the rope bridge, though, after Sunset's warning, only one at a time and soon stood before the ruined castle.
Given the time that had passed, the castle was in remarkably good shape. The harsh sun hadn't done much to the old stone, but where vegetation and rain might have caused decay, the perpetually hot weather had prevented either from doing much.
One of the large doors of the castle was open, the other was lying beside the frame, both likely unmoved for centuries. They looked around themselves as they passed through the inner courtyard, then they found the way to the throne room.
There, in the middle of the room, was a strange construct. Seven arms reached out from the center, each holding an orb with an indentation matching the shape of a gemstone.
The elements.
"Ah, so glad you could finally join me." All of them whirled around to find Daybreaker at the entrance, looking at them all with an expression between deranged amusement and annoyed contempt. "I was hoping you'd all be dead by now. Oh well. Guess I'll have to take care of it myself."
Without any further warning she pointed her horn at the group and let loose a stream of white hot fire right at them. Only a shield, hastily conjured by Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight, prevented them from being boiled alive.
After a few seconds, the fire cut out and Daybreaker looked at them with an expression of disappointment, quickly morphing into delight. "Ohh, fighting spirit, have you? Good. This should be fun."
"Why are you doing this?"
The fiery alicorn looked at Starlight with a disturbed expression. "Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?! Has the world truly forgotten?"
"Hardly. But I'd like to hear your side of the story. Being under attack generally doesn't lead to an accurate retelling and a thousand years of time don't really help either."
"Well it's simple. Our little ponies didn't appreciate me, they never understood what I did every moment of every day to keep the sun from falling on top of moving it across the sky. I guess centuries of having it done for them will do that. Starswirl was one of the last to understand. And when he vanished ..."
For a moment, Daybreaker's expression of fury turned sentimental, then her anger returned. "No. They always preferred my dear sister and her night sky. She protected them from monsters in the night, after all. Oh and from nightmares. Creations of their own imagination. Never mind that I was keeping the other nations of the world in check, who's armies were quite real, I might add- Hey!"
Distracted as she had been, by Starlight's questions and her understanding expression, Daybreaker hadn't noticed that there was one pony who wasn't listening to her story. Twilight.
She had turned to the elements, levitated them off their pedestals and was trying to figure out how to get them to work.
"Oh no, you won't best me so easily. Your little diversion won't stop me." She jumped over the group and, before her hooves touched the ground again, vanished in a flash of red, along with Twilight and the elements.
A gasp rang out in the throne room as the seven mares realized what had happened. Then, suddenly, Starlight's and Sunset's heads, and a moment later Rarity's, snapped to the side, looking out through a window.
There were lights in the tower. More specifically, the magenta of Twilight's magic and the red of Daybreaker's.
"Gather around," Starlight called to the others. They came over and crowded around her and Sunset.
"And brace yourselves," Sunset added as she lit her horn, then she vanished in a flash of teal, taking Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with her.
Starlight vanished a second later in a flash of pale blue, taking Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, and leaving the throne room empty once more.
In the tower, Twilight, Daybreaker and the elements had scattered across the floor upon coming out of the hasty teleport. Given her alicorn physique, Daybreaker was naturally the first to recover. While Twilight was still getting to her hooves, she picked up the elements in her magic, quickly lifting them out of the unicorn's reach.
Just as Twilight was about to step up, trying to get at the ancient stones, she reared up on her hind legs before bringing her forehooves down on the artifacts, shattering them to pieces, cackling madly all the while.
Twilight simply stood there, staring at the scattered shards of crystal with mounting despair, not even able to comprehend the fact that the darkened, multicolored, crystalline fragments didn't even remotely match the rough stone spheres that had produced them.
Then, a flash of teal magic delivered Sunset, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to her left. It was followed a second later by a second flash of magic, blue this time, bringing Starlight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity with it.
With a stunned expression, Twilight looked from one group to the other, then to the shattered stones at Daybreaker's hooves. Her eyes lit up and, for a moment, her face twisted into a victorious smile which quickly gave way to determination.
"You think you can destroy an ancient artifact like the Elements of Harmony just like that?" she called, interrupting the mad alicorn's cackling.
Looking over her shoulder, Daybreaker was stunned for a moment. It seemed that, in her glee, she hadn't even noticed the arrival of seven more ponies.
"You may have destroyed the physical form of the Elements," Twilight continued unerringly, "but the spirits of the Elements are right here."
She glanced over her right shoulder, looking at the first of her new friends. "Applejack, who assured Rarity enough to trust her, admittedly counterintuitive, advice, represents the Element of Honesty."
Daybreaker stared between Twilight and Applejack disbelievingly. Her expression morphed into shock when several of the shards at her hooves shuddered, before lighting up a rich orange and shooting towards Applejack, quickly entering a small orbit around her.
Before anypony else could react, Twilight gazed over her shoulder once more. "Fluttershy, who calmed a raging manticore and treated her wound, represents the Element of Kindness."
A second set of shards lit up a pale pink, matching Fluttershy's mane, and, like the orange shards before them, shot towards the mare in question, forming a crystalline orbit around her.
Again, Twilight looked at one of the mares behind her, over her right shoulder this time. "Pinkie Pie, who banished fear with unerring joy by laughing in the face of danger, represents the Element of Laughter."
A third set of shards, lighting up light blue this time, followed the previous two, forming a ring of crystal around Pinkie.
Once more, Twilight looked behind her, smiling at her sister. "Sunset, who was willing to give a pair of strangers the benefit of the doubt and let us bypass the wildfire, represents the Element of Trust."
Another set of shards lit up a pale green and flew towards Sunset.
Twilight looked over her right shoulder once more. "Rarity, who befriended a sorrowful serpent, the presence of which still baffles me, with a thoughtful gift, represents the Element of Generosity."
The next cloud of shards, headed for the pearly white unicorn, lit up a deep purple, matching her mane.
Twilight turned back to her left. "Rainbow Dash, who repaired the bridge before we even thought to ask her, represents the Element of Loyalty."
Rainbow Dash simply smirked as a set of glowing red crystals encircled her.
Finally, Twilight turned back to her right. "Starlight, who listened to your side of the story, and no, not just as a distraction, represents the Element of Empathy."
The remaining crystal shards at Daybreaker's hooves lit up teal and went to orbit Starlight.
Daybreaker smiled triumphantly. "But you're still missing the final element. There was no spark. The elements won't work without the last one."
Sunset simply rolled her eyes. "You know, for an ancient, supposedly wise, being you're remarkably dense."
"What?"
Twilight was rolling her eyes as well. Choosing to ignore her older sister's antics, she moved to explain. "The spark was never real. It's a metaphor. Not sure what a metaphor is doing in a reference guide, but here we are.
"Regardless, when the seven elements are brought together, the proverbial spark reveals the final one. That spark ignited within me when I found you at my sides, when I realized how happy I was to see you. When I realized that you, all of you, are my friends.
"When the spark binds the other elements together, it becomes the final Element. The focal point. The Element of Magic."
With a brilliant flash, an undamaged stone orb with a star-shaped indentation appeared above Twilight. In a moment of clarity, Daybreaker recognized it as the same orb that had been sat atop the plinth, surrounded by the other elements.
Obvious in retrospect.
But that realization wouldn't help her now. The swelling of Harmonic magic interrupted her own magic just as the fear that paralyzed her now kept her from focusing on it anyway.
In a brilliant flash, the orb of stone became a crystal in the shape of a six pointed star, floating downwards towards Twilight's head.
Not only Twilight, but also the seven mares behind her closed their eyes as they felt the magic surge within them. As such, Daybreaker alone saw how the golden tiara formed around the star-shaped gemstone and sat down upon Twilight's brow. Or how the seven rings of crystal gathered before each pony, resolving into the crystalline shapes of an apple, a butterfly, a balloon, one half of a stylized sun, a diamond, a lightning bolt, and a wispy wave, before quickly forming necklaces in which to sit themselves.
Seven beams of light came from the necklaces and struck the back of the gemstone in Twilight's tiara, lifting the mare off her hooves and causing the stone to glow brilliantly.
A second later, Twilight opened her eyes, shining with magic, and the light erupted into a beautiful rainbow of colors, arcing towards Daybreaker and impacting at her hooves, only to quickly spiral upwards around her.
Within seconds, the solar alicorn was surrounded by a maelstrom of color, spitting sparks upwards. Before she could do more than wail in impotent fury, Daybreaker was ripped from her host by the unrelenting power of the ancient artifacts. Within moments, the tidal wave of harmonic power drowned out the raging fire, dispersing in a bright flash of light.
As her hooves lightly touched back down on the ancient stone floor, Twilight looked around to the seven mares behind her. For a moment, all of them seemed stunned. Then Sunset and Starlight trotted up to her, enclosing her in a caring hug.
While the others busied themselves with looking at their new necklaces, or even just comprehending what had just happened, while Pinkie bounded around the room, swept up in the rush of power and energy they all felt, and Applejack merely pointed out her disbelief that all of this had truly just happened, Twilight simply hugged her sisters, relishing their company.
After a few moments, she let go. "Well, we did it."
"That you did." All their eyes turned to the broken window where a cloud of deep blue smoke sparkling with glittering stars, came into the room to resolve into Princess Luna. She smiled proudly at the eight young mares in the room. While the five who had never met her bowed deeply, her students rushed up to her and enclosed her in a deep, loving hug. "I knew you could do it," she spoke quietly to them as she closed her wings around them.
"But," Twilight stammered, "didn't you say it was just an old pony's tale?"
Luna shot her an amused smile. "I don't know. Did I?"
Starlight shook her head. "No. No, you didn't."
"That's right," Sunset chimed in, "you just told us to make some friends."
"Exactly. I knew you had the potential to wield the Elements, but you couldn't awaken them until you let true friendship into your hearts. Beyond those you consider family, that is." She sighed quietly and turned her head to the side. "Now if only another would as well. Isn't that right, Tia?"
All eyes turned to where Daybreaker had been standing. There, sitting among shattered fragments of no longer glowing golden armor, was a white alicorn filly with a pale pink mane, not unlike Fluttershy's. She was looking up at Luna with wide eyes, tears staining her fur.
With a flap of her wings, she rushed at the larger alicorn, practically attaching herself to Luna's neck. With a soft chuckle, Luna wrapped a large blue wing around her.
"Luna! I'm so sorry. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, sister. It's been much too long."
“Aww.”
The two alicorns separated, looking at the mares with varied expressions. Luna looked simply amused, while the white filly was looking at the mares as though she was seeing them clearly for the first time which, considering what had just happened, was actually entirely plausible.
Luna chuckled. "My little ponies. Allow me to re-introduce the second diarch of Equestria. Princess Celestia, my older sister.
"Older?"
The newly introduced Celestia simply sighed at the question. "T’is true. The elements have freed us from Daybreaker's influence, but they also took along most of our power. It will likely be weeks before we can assume control of Our sun at all, not to mention push it back to the distance it is meant to have. We know We may look younger, but We assure thee, We art the elder sister. It shall become apparent as Our power returns."
"I'm looking forward to it Tia," Luna chimed in happily. "But maybe don't move the sun away again so soon."
"Why not?"
"We've had a thousand years to get used to it being where it is. If you pushed it back to its original position, all our islands would become too cold to house anypony other than pegasi and thestrals, and it would take years, decades maybe, before the surface could be made habitable again. A thousand years of erosion haven't been kind to the land."
Celestia's eyes were once more filled with tears. "I-I'm so sorry. I never meant for that to happen. I wanted to push it back to where it came from after a day or two, but it only made things worse, everypony became hostile and I ... I lost control."
"I know, sister. I know. It doesn't matter. We have adjusted. The Equestria we live in now is harsher than the one we once had, but we've grown stronger for it, technology has advanced to a degree you won't believe when I show you and with you back at my side, we can make our realm safe once more."
"Not ta interrupt yer reunion," Applejack chimed in, but should we really be sittin' around in here?"
Luna jerked up. "Oh, of course, I nearly forgot. We ought to return to Ponyville."
With not one but two alicorns escorting them, even if one wasn't anywhere near her full power, the trip back through the forest was easy. The forest fire had moved on by the time they returned to that stretch of land and while the smoldering, burnt down forest was eerie, it was no actual hindrance. After about an hour and a half, they finally approached the clearing where they had parked the Lumiere.
"Sister, pray tell what is this construct?"
Luna looked down at the smaller alicorn with a gentle smile. "Tell me Tia, do you recall me mentioning how technology had advanced in your absence?"
"Yes?"
"This is one of the crowning jewels of such technology. The royal yacht Lumiere. Airships like this one are used for travel between the various islands that make up modern Equestria, though this is admittedly an exceptional one."
While Luna had been explaining the airship to her sister, Twilight had walked up the floating staircase and unlocked the hatch with a spark from her horn. "All aboard," she called from the door before stepping inside.
With a smile, Luna lead the way up the stairs, followed by Celestia who looked to be caught somewhere between awe and fear. It was clear that she didn't quite trust the vessel. Luna had to duck her head slightly to avoid hitting the tip of her horn against the frame of the hatch. Celestia had no such problem. The other mares followed up the stairs.
The last one up, Sunset sent a spark into the small console beside the door, causing the steps to float back to where they had come from, the hatch to cover them once more and the entry door to seal behind her. She then joined Celestia, Luna, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and, surprisingly enough, Rainbow in the forward observation lounge, while Twilight had gone back up to the helm and Starlight and Applejack were bringing the engine core fully back online in engineering.
Up on the upper deck, Twilight once more adhered her rear hooves to the ground. She glanced skeptically at the pegasus-shaped hole in the sun roof before bringing the control console online with a spark of her magic.
A simple button press, caused the magical tethers to vanish, leaving only the holes in the ground, where the magical harpoons had dug deep into the earth. She slowly spun the ship around, setting course back in the rough direction of Ponyville.
On the observation deck, Luna placed a wing over her sister's back. "Fair warning, the intense sunlight has made the weather over the Everfree harsher than it used to be."
"Harsher than it used to be?" A violent gust rocked the ship, the first of many. "Never mind sister, We understand."
As the ship made its way away from the heart of the forest, the gusts slowly became more bearable and Celestia began to relax. Finally, as they approached the edge of the forest, she let out a relieved sigh.
"Don't relax just yet Tia, I suspect there will be one more."
"But We art leaving the forest, why wouldst there be another?"
Just as Luna smiled mischievously at her sister, the edge of the forest passed beneath them. The ship pulled up, re-entering into the wide spiral that had brought it down to the forest hours earlier. The ship rocked again as the engines howled up sent the vessel shooting forward.
As the humming of the Lumiere's drive core slowly died down, the hatch opened, releasing the ponies aboard onto the pier of the dock beneath Golden Oaks Library. The princesses followed the other seven mares up the stairs. As they stepped out onto the plaza surrounding the library tree, they were greeted by confetti, streamers, music and the various other trappings generally associated with celebration.
Only upon hearing that Pinkie Pie had set up the party, did the mares notice that she had vanished some time through their trip back up to the floating island.
"Wha- How didst- When did she-"
Rarity simply laid a hoof over Princess Celestia's withers. "Don't question it, your Highness. Trust me, it's easier that way."
"How?"
"Don't worry about it, sister," Luna quietly shushed the smaller alicorn as the others walked off to enjoy the party. "I've had my agents keep track of all five of these mares for years. I cannot recall anypony – or anycreature for that matter – ever giving them as many headaches as young Miss Pie and her family. All of them have a rather ... loose handle on generally accepted reality at times.
"That being said, they have also told tales of Miss Pie's parties. If they are to be believed, this isn't something we should miss."
There were several 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the gathered ponies as the two royals joined in on the party. While almost everypony bowed to Princess Luna, much to her chagrin, the introduction of Princess Celestia caused some confusion. Most ponies had, after all, forgotten that Princess Luna even had a sister. Though many had to agree that, in retrospect, the existence of a Princess of the Moon did imply that there should be a Princess of the Sun as well.
Luna had been right. The party was fantastic. Somehow, Pinkie Pie had managed to have something for everypony's tastes. Even Celestia's, which was impressive considering even Luna had forgotten what her sister enjoyed after so many years.
Everypony had a great time, which wasn't really surprising, given who was throwing the party. Still, after a few hours, evening came around once more and, to Luna's observant gaze, Starlight, Sunset, and Twilight's seemed to be growing increasingly subdued.
"Is there something wrong, my students?"
The three turned towards her, exchanging a glance. "Well, not really," Sunset began, "it's just that well-"
"Now that we've finally understood what it means to have real friends..."
"We have to leave them behind," Twilight finished. All three of them were looking at the floor, unaware that their new friends had approached from behind.
Luna smiled proudly as she looked at her three students, then she turned to the young dragon who was once more sat on Twilight's back. "Spike, take a note. I, Princess Luna, hereby decree that, from this day forward, my three students shall remain in Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. Furthermore, they shall send me reports on what they learn so that the ponies of Equestria may benefit from their studies."
As the three unicorns smiled at each other and turned to the other five mares they had only just noticed, Luna looked after them for a moment, then looked to her sister and motioned for her to follow before walking off to the town's main port where the Selene was docked.
A few moments after the princess had walked off, Sunset inclined her head as she often did when communing with Philomena. "Goodness, you're right. We totally forgot about Moon Dancer's party!”
The other two looked to her with dawning shock. "Oh sweet Luna, we did, didn't we?"
"Well," Starlight eventually pointed out, "it's too late now. Guess we'll have to write her an apology. And it's not like we can't visit Canterlot if she wants to throw another one. Y'know, when the world isn't ending."
The other two chuckled and Twilight summoned a piece of paper and a pen, beginning to write.
Sunset, meanwhile looked in the direction of the port. "Y'know, if we're fast enough we should be able to give it to the Princess... es and they can have it delivered.
It was only early evening, but, despite that, the house near the central library of Canterlot was darkened. The only light came from the unicorn lying on the couch with a depressed expression. It wasn't her horn that was emitting the light. Rather, her entire form glowed slightly, fading in and out in some places.
Every now and again, sparks of magic danced off various points on Moon Dancer's body, but she couldn't be bothered to hold her form properly. If she could have, she would have been crying, the fact that she couldn't was only another reminder that she wasn't a pony anymore. Not since the accident.
Ever since, everypony had treated her like some kind of dangerous beast the moment they learned of her condition. Until she met those three unicorns. They talked to her like they would to any other pony, like they did to each other. It had taken weeks before she had learned that they were the personal students of Princess Luna.
Over the years, she had started to see them as friends, even though they only talked on occasion, seeing how the three were always busy with her studies. She had understood. She was much the same. It had taken their other friends, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemonhearts, and, of course, the ever bizarre Lyra, to get her to come out of her shell a little more.
Finally, she had been ready to throw a party of her own, had invited them all. All except Lyra, that is, given that she had moved out of town only a few weeks before.
And the three mares she had wanted to attend the most hadn't even shown up.
The other three were still there, sure, but even they had to admit that it wasn't the same without the three.
A knock on her door broke her out of her reverie. A normal knock probably wouldn't have, but this wasn't a normal knock. A normal pony's knock ranged somewhere from shy to polite to impatient. This one was different. It was forceful and clear. Polite, yet making it clear that the door wouldn't really hinder her visitor if she didn't open it for them.
Simply put, it was a guard knock.
Sure enough, when she opened her door, after restoring her form to proper cohesion, of course, there was a mare in the usual armor of the night guard standing outside. "Miss Moon Dancer?"
"Yes?"
"I have a letter here for you."
Moon Dancer looked in confusion at the envelope as she took it in her own magic. "Since when do the royal guard deliver letters?"
"We usually don't, but we make an exception for important royal communication. From what I've heard Princess Luna's students were quite eager to make sure you got this letter. Something about being unable to attend a party because of official royal duties."
"Really?"
"That's what I've heard at least. I suspect the letter will make things clearer. Regardless, I have to go now. Have a pleasant evening ma'am."
As the guardsmare walked off, Moon Dancer let the door fall closed and returned to her living room, actually turning on the lights now, and opened the letter. Sitting back down on her couch, she began to read.
Dear Moon Dancer,
we hope this letter reaches you quickly. We're very sorry that we couldn't make it to your party, but we were called away on royal business. I suspect that you will learn the details of it from the news soon, but just in case Princess Luna plans to keep quiet about them, we won't discuss them in a letter.
In case you're wondering if this has anything to do with the Sky Light Festival being cut a bit shorter than usual or the strange behavior of the sun, it does.
Moon Dancer hadn't been wondering about that, so Twilight's suggestion only left her confused.
Before the question can come up, yes, the fact that Equestria suddenly has two ruling princesses rather than one also plays into this.
Two ruling princesses? What was she talking about? Had something changed in Princess Cadence's status? It was a commonly known fact, in Canterlot, at least, that, while she was a princess, Cadence was not the head of government as Luna was and only took over rule when Luna was occupied elsewhere.
We'll be visiting Canterlot in a few days so we can tell you the details then if the media doesn't pick up on it.
The more Moon Dancer read, the more confused she became. Whatever was Twilight talking about? How could those three be visiting Canterlot? They lived in town didn't they? As she made to read on, she noted Twilight's clean, formal script transition into Sunset's elaborate cursive.
To explain what Twilight is talking about, we've made some new friends during our business in Ponyville, who managed to show to us the value of friendship. Looking back, we understand now what terrible friends we've been to you and the others. Hay, we didn't even know Lyra had moved here until I ran into her yesterday!
As such, we really want to apologize, not just for missing your party, though we'd gladly come by if you want to throw another one when the fate of Equestria doesn't hang in the balance, but also for being such terrible friends all these years. Could you pass our apologies on to the others as well? We'll apologize personally when we visit Canterlot next week.
Moon Dancer was now firmly somewhere between touched and confused. The girls' apology was touching, it really was. But what in the wide skies of Equestria were they talking about? The fate of Equestria hanging in the balance, a second ruling princess, irregularities with the sun and the Sky Light Festival, none of it made any sense. And Sunset, too, was talking about visiting Canterlot as though it wasn't the city they called their home.
She could only hope that the rest of the letter, written in the elaborate cursive that was the result whenever Starlight was writing something intended for somepony else to read, rather than the notes to herself and her sisters she wrote in her usual chicken scratch, would give her answers.
Since the other two apparently can't be bothered to explain, let me give you as much detail as I can in a letter. In short, something bad happened that threatened all of Equestria and we had to go to the surface with our new acquaintances to retrieve some ancient artifacts to save the day.
That's also why they keep talking about visiting. To study the power of these artifacts, we'll be living in Ponyville for the foreseeable future. Why we have to do that from here should become clear when we give you the full story directly.
Regardless, we hope we can be better friends to you and the others in the future and we still have the Lumiere so it's not like we can't visit anytime. Alternatively, you and the others could come to visit, but be prepared for a welcome party. That seems to be custom here.
Take care,
Starlight, Sunset, and Twilight
Well, it wasn't all the answers, but there was hope that she would get the full story in due time. At least she now knew that her friends had an actual reason to miss her party. Probably. She would reserve judgment on whether she would really forgive them for when she had the full story.
Regardless, for the moment she was feeling much better than she had before. She should probably go meet the others tomorrow, they had been trying to talk to her all day and she had a message to give them anyway.
For now though, that could wait. It was late and she was tired.
Going up to her bedroom, she fully let go of her pony form and jumped into the miniaturized drive-core that was her bed.
