> Bravery of the Stars
>  by Phase Nexus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue- How It All Began
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mom! Mom!” A small colt with blue eyes, cream-covered fur, and a dark red mane and tail, runs through the hallway of the small house, a scroll held in his blue magic aura. He runs into the kitchen, bursting with excitement. There he finds his mother. A unicorn mare with tan fur, a black and a black and white mane making breakfast. Her cutie mark is in the shape of a red heart with a pulse line going across it.

Heart Rate, my Mom.

She turns to look at me, a look of curiosity in her blue eyes. “North? What’s got you so worked up?”

I thrust the scroll towards her with my magic, “It came! Look!” 

She takes the scroll from me, opening it. She reads it aloud. “Dear North Star, It is with great joy we write to you saying we have approved your application to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!” She reads, getting excited herself. “Oh North, that’s amazing!” She says, pulling me into a hug. 

I hug her back as she continues reading the letter. “We have taken the liberty to include two tickets to Canterlot for you and your Mother so you may come to take your entrance exam in three days' time.” She takes the tickets out of the letter, setting them all to the side. “Oh my little star, I knew you could do it! Ever since you got that cutie mark I knew you were going to be amazing.” She exclaims, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Thanks Mom,” I say, hugging her back. I look down to my flank, seeing my mark. A blue six-pointed star, with a longer bottom point and white and black whisps behind it, almost looking like fire. “I promise I’ll make you proud.”

“Oh my Little Star. You already have. And I always will be…”





“Are these ponies serious,,?”

I look back at the judges, their silent judging stares boring into me. I look back at my Mom, who gives me an encouraging smile, but even she looks unsure. 

Which is understandable as it seems my entrance exam is to hatch a freaking dragon egg. I look over the egg, it's a reddish grey and covered in dark red spots. I take a deep breath. Okay North, think. What do eggs need?

“Heat…”

My horn lights, enveloping the egg in my aura. I focus, a relatively simple spell of raising the temperature, but I have to keep focused to keep it from spreading past the egg, and potentially catching the cart it’s on ablaze. 

It takes a great deal of focus, but I’m able to do it, sweat dripping from my brow. The egg is surrounded by a soft red heat, but nothing is changing. Oh come on smart guy, what are you missing? I think back as far as I can, what was it that pegasus filly said in her class report about chickens?

“The baby chicks won’t come out of their shells unless they get plenty of heat, and love.”

Love… 

I look over the egg, gently lowering it from the cart and to my level. I step towards it, feeling the heat radiating off it. 

“I really hope this works…” I mutter to myself. I lean in, placing a kiss on the top of the egg, where it’s coolest. “Come on, come out and see the world.” I encourage it, setting it back on the cart and dispelling my magic. I step back, the room thick with suspense.

At first, nothing happens, the entire room is silent. But then…

CRACK

My eyes go wide. A pale red tail breaks through the shell. It falls apart, revealing a pale red dragon with crimson spines. She looks up at me, blinking her pink eyes, letting out a happy trill.

“I did it… I DID IT!” I yell, jumping in place. My Mom scoops me into a hug and the judges applaud me, but suddenly go quiet when a new voice speaks up. 

“My my, I never thought I’d see that again.” I look up in confusion, seeing a towering white alicorn standing next to me.

“P-Princess Celestia?” I ask in disbelief. 

She looks at me, giving me a smile. “It seems my little ponies are just full of surprises.” She looks at my Mom. “You must be very proud Dr. Heart Rate.”

Mom smiles, ruffling my mane. “More than you could know Princess. He’s worked so hard, ever since he could first use his magic.”

“Is that so?” The Princess crouches down, so she can speak to me. “To get a special talent in magic, you must be very strong. Tell me North Star, what do you want to do with your magic.” 

I think for a moment, looking up at Mom. She gives me a loving smile. I look back to the Princess, a determined smile on my face. “My Mom is a doctor, she spends all day helping ponies feel better. And my Dad joined the guard to keep ponies safe. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be just like them! I want to use my magic to help everypony I can, and be the best Hero in Equestria!”

Celestia smiles. “That’s a very admirable goal for a colt, you must be very brave if you wish to accomplish it.”

“I’m super brave!” I grin up at her. “Nothing scares me!”

“Well in that case,” she stands up. “North Star, I’d like to offer you the position of my second personal student here at the school.” 

“Wha-!” I gasp out. “A-Are you sure?” 

“Of course. The exam is merely a test of will. So long as a student does their best to hatch the egg, they pass. Only one other student has ever actually gotten it to hatch.” She explains, looking at the baby dragon as it hops onto my back. “The fact that you managed to do it, speaks not only of your capabilities, but also your determination. As my student, you’ll receive the best teaching I can provide you, but I’ll also expect the best in return.”

I look at the baby dragon sleeping on my back, and to my Mom. She nuzzles the side of my face, encouraging me. 

I turn to the Princess, a confident smirk on my face. “I won’t let you down Princess. You can count on that.”
> Chapter 1- Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“For being so obsessed about organizing she sure loves leaving books everywhere…” I mumble to myself. I’m standing in my personal library of the school, searching through the piles of books. 

It’s been ten years since that fateful day. Where I hatched a baby dragon and became the second personal student of Princess Celestia. Something that ended up not being popular with everypony. Some thought it laughable that a colt was worthy enough for such an honor of being taught by the Princess herself. Others thought I was just another project of Celestia’s. An experiment to try and boost the morale of the common stallion. I had to work harder than any of my peers to try and be taken seriously. 

Celestia always had faith in me though. She supported me fully in my goal to become a hero. Offered me resources on combat magic. Training practically and magically both from the guard in how to fight, and medically to heal ponies who get hurt. She was with me through it all, giving equal attention to both myself and her other student.

She always told me the only pony I had anything to prove to was myself. 

…I wish I believed that more often than I do.

My ear twitches as I take a breath, trying to push back the negative feelings from the sudden rush of memories. I adjust the black and blue bandanna around my neck as I get back to searching through the scattered piles of books. “Spike, do you have any idea where Twilight put my copy of Restoration Magic History?” I asked aloud, searching through the scattered books. 

“Here it is!” A voice says next to me, I turn to see a small grey-red dragon with pink eyes holding up a book. She has pale pink ear fins and scales on her chin, going all the way down her belly. Crimson stripes wrap around her body and arms, and spines of the same color reach from the top of her head and down to her tail, and a crimson spot rests between her eyes.

“Oh, thank you, Ruby!” I say, taking it from her and putting it in my saddlebag. “You finish helping Spike wrap his present for Moon Dancer?” 

“Yep!” She beams happily, Spike holding up his present.

“You sure you two can’t come too?” He asks, walking over.

I shake my head. “Sorry Spike, we gotta get to the train station to get to Ponyville soon.” I pat his head with my hoof. “I’m sure she’ll be happy enough to see you though.” 

He smiles up at me. “Okay, you two have fun!” He says, grabbing the present and heading for the door. 

I turn back to my saddle bags and adjust the black and blue bandana on my neck. “Now I know I left those colored pencils somewhere…” I mutter, going back to packing. 

“You got my sketch pads right?” Ruby asks, climbing onto my back. 

“Yep! Just trying to find your pencils.” I move aside another stack of books, spotting a pink pencil case. “Ah! Here they are.” I levitate them over to Ruby’s backpack and zip it up. “Okay! I think we’re all good to-“

SLAM

The door to the library swings open, startling the two of us. 

“Spike! Spiiiiiike!!” I look over and see a purple unicorn standing in the door. My fellow Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle. 

She looks down, seeing the purple dragon she knocked over. “Ah, there you are.” She rushes past us and up to the library proper. “Quick, find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies.” 

“Hello to you too, Twilight,” I sigh as Ruby helps Spike to his feet. 

She looks back, seeing the impaled present on Spike’s tail. “What’s that for?”

He sighs, pulling it off. “Well, it was a gift for Moon Dancer, but-“ a gored teddy bear falls out of the box, making a sad squeak as it hits the ground. 

Twilight scoffs, searching through the book piles. “Oh Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing.”

“But we’re on a break!” The dragon protests. Ruby helps him clean up the mess as I walk up to the bookshelves.

“He has a point. Summer break exists for a reason.” I say, watching her pull books out of the shelves at mere random. I roll my eyes, grabbing the copy of Predictions and Prophecies she’s looking for off the proper shelf and giving it to her. “Here. And Moon Dancer seemed to be really looking forward to you showing up to her party.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be fine,” she takes the book from me, dismissing the idea entirely. I let out a quiet and frustrated groan. This is the way it always goes,

I don’t dislike Twilight. I respect her immensely. Having practically grown up with her, we know a lot about each other. She’s never given me flack for being a stallion and has been supportive of my goals. And when we’re working together on a project we’re basically unstoppable.

That said, it’s obvious she cares more about books than friends. I can’t even begin to count the multitude of times I’ve tried to hang out with her outside of magic and academic settings, only to get immediately shot down.

Twilight sets the book down on the desk, flipping through the pages. “Elements, elements… Aha! Elements of Harmony. See Mare in the Moon?”

“Mare in the Moon?” I ask, my curiosity peaking. “My Pops used to tell me that story all the time.”

“Really? What do you know about it?” The purple unicorn asks while she flips to the appropriate page. 

“It’s a real old story, dating back to when Celestia rose to power.” I start explaining, looking at the picture in the book. The face of a mare on the moon’s surface. “She was a very powerful pony who tried to take over Equestria. The Six Elements of Harmony were used to defeat her and trap her in the moon. Pops said that on the longest day of the thousandth year, she’d return to take her revenge on all Equestria.” I can’t help but chuckle at the memory. “I would always say that if she ever came back I’d fight her myself.”

Twilight reads through the story in the book, nodding. “That’s pretty much what it says here… ‘the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night time eternal!’” She gasps, turning to me. “North, do you know what this means?” 

“That an ancient evil demigod of the night from a bedtime story might be returning during the Summer Solstice this year?” I say, a bit skeptical, but curious where she’s going with this.

“Exactly! The story lines up with the tale of Nightmare Moon! Spike, letter!” She calls out to her assistant. The dragon nods, pulling out a scroll and quill. “My Dearest Teacher, My continuing studies have led me to believe that we are on the precipice of disaster. For you see the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact, Nightmare Moon. And she is about to return to Equestria, and bring about eternal night. Something must be done to ensure this terrible prophecy does not come true! I await your quick response. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike finishes writing the letter, “There! Got it!”

“Perfect. Send it.”

“Now?” He asks, tilting his head.

“Of course!” She replies, turning to him.

“I don’t know Twilight,” Ruby chimes in. “The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow. She’s probably really busy.”

“That’s just it, Ruby. Tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. The prophesied return of Nightmare Moon! It’s important that the Princess is told right away!”

Spike sighs, “Okay, okay,” he wraps the scroll, blowing fire on it. It turns to magic ash and flies out the window.

“They do have a bit of a point, Twilight,” I say, putting some of the books away. “While I agree it’s too odd to be just a coincidence, it is a bit of a stretch to say our old bedtime and Nightmare Night stories are real.”

“Oh, I’m not worried North. The Princess trusts us completely. In all our years she’s been our mentor, she's never once doubted us.”

“Wait when did it become ‘us’-“

I’m interrupted by Spike burping out a letter. “Ah! You see? I knew she’d want to take immediate action!”

Spike clears his throat before reading the letter. “‘My Dear and Faithful Student Twilight, You know that I value your diligence, and I trust you completely.” Twilight gets a happy smirk, looking out the window. “‘But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!’” She gasps at this, and I can’t help but let out a short laugh. “‘My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony’s life than studying! Therefore, I am sending both you and North to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration at this year’s location, Ponyville! And I have an even more crucial task for you to complete! Make some friends!” Spike smiles, and Twilight groans at the thought. “‘I am preparing a chariot for the four of you that will leave within the hour. I look forward to hearing about your experiences after the Celebration. Your Dearest Teacher, Princess Celestia.’”

Twilight groans again, and I let out a chuckle. “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about catching our train Ruby.” 

“Yay!” She cheers happily.







The four of us are sat in a chariot being pulled by two royal guards, flying over the countryside. Twilight is moping, draping her forehooves over the side of the chariot. 

I sigh at the sight “Come on Twilight, it’s not that bad. Ponyville is a great town.” 

“You’re from Ponyville, right North?” Spike asks me. 

I nod. “Yeah, though it’s been a few years since I visited. Looking over the checklist, I know a few of the ponies we have to meet, so that should make our job a bit easier.”

“Aw c’mon Twilight! Look on the bright side,” Spike says. “The Princess arranged for us to stay in a library! Doesn’t that make you happy?”

The purple unicorn perks up. “Yes. Yes, it does. Why? Because I’m right!”

“Oh, here we go…” I sigh.

“We’ll check on the preparations as fast as we can, then I’ll get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon’s return!”

“But then when will you make friends like Princess Celestia said?” Ruby asks her.

“She said to check on preparations. I’m her student, and I’ll do my royal duty. But the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.” She states as the chariot lands in the center of town. The four of us hop out of the chariot, thanking the guards as we walk into town.

“Maybe the ponies of Ponyville have some interesting things to talk about!” Spike says optimistically as a familiar pink pony approaches us. The baby dragon gestures to her. “Go on, Twilight, just try.”

She gets a nervous look. “Uh, hello?” she greets.

“GAAAAAAAAAAGH” The pony jumps into the air with a look of surprise on her face before speeding off over our heads!

“...well that was interesting, all right.” Twilight remarks sarcastically, walking off. “Who was that anyway?”

“Pinkie Pie,” I quickly explain, fixing my bandana from the whirlwind the pony made. “She moved here about a year or so after I left, that’s pretty normal for her.”

She groans, “Of course. Well since you’re the local, care to guide us to our first stop?”

“No problem! Spike, what’s up first?”

The baby dragon clears his throat, pulling out the checklist. “Okay, the first item on the list is… Oversee banquet preparations at Sweet Apple Acres!”

I can feel the smile spread across my face. “Yeah, it makes sense that they’d have been picked for that.”

“Applejack is perfect for a job like that!” Ruby says excitedly, most likely remembering the last time we visited. 

I chuckle, picking her up and setting her on my back. “Come on, it’s just outside of town,” I say, leading Spike and Twilight. The homes become less dense, soon finding ourselves on a path leading out of town. Soon enough, we start seeing rows and rows of apple trees. We turn onto the path, eventually opening up to a large barn and farmhouse. The sign over the path reads SWEET APPLE ACRES. “Here we are!” I say happily.

Ruby hops off my back. “Wow, this place really hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Nope, but where’s Applejack?”

My question is answered for me as we hear a yell pierce the air. “YeeHAW!” An orange earth pony mare wearing a stetson hat rushes across the yard in front of us. She stops in time to turn and raise her hind legs, slamming them into the trunk of the tree, causing the apples in it to fall into the waiting baskets below. Applejack! My face lights up at the sight of my old friend.

Twilight lets out a sigh, walking ahead of me. “Let’s get this over with.” She approaches the country pony, putting a smile on her face. “Good morning. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She gets a grimace on her face as Applejack grabs her hoof, giving her a very enthusiastic hoofshake.

“Well, howdy-doo Miss Twilight! A pleasure makin' your acquaintance!” She happily greets her. “We here at Sweet Apple Acres just love makin’ new friends!”

Twilight shakily struggles out a response. “Fr-friends? A-a-actually-y-y-”

Applejack stops when she sees me standing behind Twilight. “Hah! Well, Ah’ll be a buttered apple crisp! That you North Star?”

“The one and only,” I smirk, stepping up to her. “Good to see you again AJ.”

“Well Ah’d sure hope so, five years with only magic letters. What, you outgrow little ol’ Ponyville already?” She says teasingly, nudging me with her elbow. 

“Yeah, yeah.” I nudge her back. “Sorry about that, but I can get into it later.” I apologize, giving her a soft smile. “But it really is awesome to see you again.”

“I’ll say!” Ruby yells, hopping in front of me. The country mare lights up.

“Land sakes! You’ve got a lot bigger Ruby! Last Ah saw you, you was no bigger than a apple tree sprout!” She compliments the dragon, ruffling her spines.

Twilight clears her throat. “Yes, it’s very good to meet you. Now if we could get on to why we’re here,” she says, wanting to move on.

“Oh! My apologies Miss Twilight. What can Ah do y’all for?”

The purple unicorn takes a breath. “Well, we are in fact here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I understand that you’re in charge of the food?”

“We sure as sugar are!” Applejack confirms. “Care to sample some?”

“Yes please!” Ruby says happily, her mouth already watering.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t take too long,” Twilight says, but Applejack zips off before she finishes speaking. 

She rings a rusty old dinner bell and then puts a hoof to her mouth. “Soup’s on everypony!” A relative stampede of ponies appears from the other side of the farm. They run towards us, scooping us up and plopping us behind a picnic table. Applejack pops up. “Now, why don’t I introduce y’all to the Apple Family,” she says, gesturing to the crowd of ponies around us. Applejack begins barraging us with a marathon of names, with each pony placing their signature dish on the table before us. 

“This here's Apple Fritter. Apple Bumpkin. Red Gala. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp…” She takes a deep breath, shoving an apple in Twilight’s mouth, “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith.” She gestures to a large red stallion, a small yellow filly, and a green, elderly earth pony mare snoozing in a rocking chair. “Up and at’em Granny Smith! We got guests.”

Granny Smith wakes up with a snort. “Huh, wha? Soup’s on? Imma commin..”

Applejack throws her hoof around Twilight. “Well Ah’d say they’re already part a the family!”

Twilight’s eyes go wide, spitting the apple out of her mouth. She lets out a nervous chuckle. “Hahaha, well, I can see the food situation is well under control. So if you don’t mind we’ll be on our way!”

“Aren’t ya gonna stay for brunch?” Apple Bloom asks, giving the purple unicorn the biggest puppy eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Sorry,” Twilight spologizes, “but we have an awful lot to do.”

“Aww…” The entire family lets out a collective noise of disappointment, causing her to let out a defeated sigh.

“Fine.” The entire group cheers, a few of the mares scooping Twilight up and taking her to another table.

“Ah, the old Apple Family Hospitality. Never gets old,” I say teasingly to Applejack as she sits back down next to me.

“You know it,” she chuckles, taking a bite of an apple fritter. “Now, what’s the deal with you two? Somepony finally make an honest stallion out of you?” She teases.

“Ha ha ha, very funny,” I reply sarcastically.  “Even if I was interested in getting herded, she wouldn’t be my first choice. We’re not exactly friends.

“Oh! So she’s the other personal student from your letters, ain’t she?” She asks, connecting the dots. “Shoot, she does seem to be as against friend makin’ as you said.” 

“You don’t know the half of it,” I sigh, watching as Red Gala gives Twilight a plate of cupcakes. We sit in silence for a moment, enjoying the apple-themed sweets in front of us. I glance at her, giving her a soft smile. “Told you you’d grow into that hat.”

She lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah. Took a bit longer than I might have liked, but I think it suits me,” she says, a bittersweet tone in her voice. 

“You guys been doing okay?”

“Yeah, it's been good,” the orange mare responds, a genuine smile on her face. “Some days are harder than others but, we still got each other.”

“Proud of ya AJ,” I say, nudging her.

“Thanks North…” She nudges me back. “Now what about you? I ain’t seen head or hide of ya for almost five years now. What’s had you so busy?” she says, tilting her head at me.

I sigh, taking a bite of some apple cobbler. “Sorry about that AJ. After Mom moved Canterlot with Cloud Dust to be closer to me and Dad, there wasn’t a whole lot of reason to make my usual trips back other than you and Rarity. I was always planning on coming back of course, just, got busy with practicing my abilities.”

“Hm, you’re kinda sounding like her,” she says, gesturing to Twilight, who’s now getting buried in apple pie. “North, you’re the most talented unicorn Ah’ve ever met. Ah’ve never seen somepony else do the things you do. You got nothing to prove to anypony.”

I grunt in response, my ear flicking as I overhear a conversation to the side of us.

“He’s gotten pretty darn handsome.” “Ya think he’s been scooped up yet?” “Probably that unicorn, the lucky mare.”

I shake my head, pushing the gossiping country ponies out of my mind. “As much as I wish that was true, I have to work as hard as I can if I want to be taken seriously.”

“What just cuz you’re a stallion?”

“Exactly. Half of the time ponies think I’m just a cute little pet project for Celestia,” I say, frustrated. “I still want to be a hero, and if I’m going to do that, I have to get stronger.”

Applejack sighs, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “If that’s what you gotta do sugarcube, then Ah support you. But at least try to swing by once a year?” She smiles at me.

“It’s a deal,” I smile at her. “Now, if I’m not mistaken, I think you still owe me a fritter-eating rematch.”

She grins, a competitive spark in her eye. “Hah! Gonna make you regret that, city boy!”







“Uuuugh… Worth it…” I groan, walking next to Twilight as we walk back into town. As expected, Applejack beat me.

“Ooooh, I ate too much pie,” Twilight moans, shaking her head.

Ruby hums, looking over the checklist. “Next up is weather. There should be a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash keeping the skies clear.”

We all look up, seeing the still rather cloudy sky. Twilight huffs. “Well, clearly she isn’t doing a very good job.”

“Oh don’t be like that Twilight,” I say, nudging her. “She might just be bu-OOF” I’m cut off as a blue blur slams into the two of us, knocking us into a mud puddle with a splash. I groan, looking up to see both Twilight and a sky-blue pegasus on top of me. The pegasus gets up, looking down at the two of us.

She lets out an embarrassed giggle. “Uh, excuse me? Ehehe,” Twilight lets out a low growl at her as she gets off me. “Here, lemme help you,” she says, hovering in the air and zipping off. 

I get up out of the mud as she brings over a grey cloud. She positions it over top of us and starts jumping on it, causing all the rain inside it to pour down on the two of us. It washes all the mud off, but we’re now soaking wet. “Well it could be worse,” I sigh. 

The rainbow pegasus lets out another giggle. “Oops, I guess I overdid it. Um, oh! How about this?” She zips up, flying towards us and spinning around in a tight circle, creating a rainbow colored vortex. “My very own patented, Rain-Blow Dry!” she stops in the air, hovering down to the ground. “No no, no need to thank me, you’re quite welcome.” She looks back at the two of us, her eyes going wide. She snorts, trying to stop herself from laughing. 

Not that I really blame her. Twilight’s mane and tail have turned into a massive curly mess of purple and pink. Meanwhile, my coat, mane and tail have all poofed out, making me look like a fluffy red and cream colored marshmallow.

The pegasus, who I’m assuming is Rainbow Dash, can’t hold it in anymore. She bursts out laughing, falling to the ground. My ear twitches, looking over to see both Spike and Ruby in a similar situation, unable to contain their laughter. I roll my eyes. “Let me guess, you’re Rainbow Dash?”

The pegasus springs up, a confident smirk on her face. “The one and only!” She zips into the air, hovering in front of us. “Why, ya heard of me?”

“We heard that you’re supposed to be keeping the sky clear,” Twilight snaps. She takes a breath. “Let’s start over. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my companion North Star. The Princess sent us to check on the weather.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’ll be a snap!” Rainbow responds, now lounging on a cloud. “I’ll get it done in a jiffy. Just as soon as I’m finished practicing.”

“Practicing for what?” I ask, trying to flatten my coat out.

“The Wonderbolts!” She says excitedly, pointing at a nearby poster. “They’re gonna preform at the celebration tomorrow, and I’m gonna show ‘em my stuff!” She says, doing a small twirl and landing on another cloud.

“The Wonderbolts?” Twilight asks with a skeptical smirk.

“Yep!” Rainbow confirms, back to lounging on her cloud.

“The most talened fliers in all of Equestria?”

“That’s them!”

“Pfft, please,” my companion scoffs. “They’d never accept a pegasus who can’t keep the skies clear for one measly day!”

“Hey! I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!” The blue mare defends, springing up.

Twilight gets a challenging look on her face. “Prove it.”

Rainbow frowns, then launches off her cloud, breaking it in the process. She zips around the sky, flying through clouds as she goes, bursting them as she goes. She flies so fast she creates gusts of wind, smashing through the last cloud. “Loop-de-loop around and BAM!” She lands on the nearby bridge, a smug look plastered on her face. “What’d I tell ya? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hanging.”

Twilight’s mouth is agape, a look of shock on her face. Not that I blame her. “I gotta admit, that was amazingly impressive, Rainbow,” I compliment her.

“Why thank you, haha!” She looks over to Twilight, giggling as she hovers next to us. “You should see the look on your face. You’re a laugh Twilight Sparkle. I can’t wait to hang out some more with you two. See ya around!” With that she does another loop, zipping towards the other side of town.

“She’s amazing!” Spike says.

“I’ll say!” Ruby chimes in. “That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen!”

I roll my eyes, picking her up and placing her on my back. “Come on, we’d better get a move on,” I state, passing Spike playing with Twilight’s fluffy hair.

She groans, walking past him. “Wait, it’s kinda pretty once you get used to it!” He says, following behind us.

“Y’know, he’s right,” I tease. “You should wear your mane like that more often.”

“You’re the worst,” she moans as we walk inside the town hall.

Banners and streamers of all designs and colors decorate the room, giving the whole area an air of enchantment. “Beautiful,” Spike breathes out, enraptured. But not with the decorations. 

In the back of the room stands a porcelain white unicorn mare with a curled purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark depicts three baby blue diamonds. Her horn is alight with a light blue magic aura, sorting through different bows hovering around her. 

“How are my spines? Are they straight?” Spike asks, trying to make himself look presentable. 

“Ew, gross!” Ruby laughs, shoving him. “She’s probably like way older than you!”

I roll my eyes, walking towards the unicorn with Twilight. “Good afternoon.”

“Just a moment, please!” The unicorn says, sorting through her ribbons. “I’m in the zone, as it were. Oh yes!” She seems to settle on a shiny red bow, tying it to the post. “Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Rarity you are a true talent.” She turns towards us. “Now how can I help you-AAAAHH!” She screams when she catches sight of Twilight’s nightmare of a mane. “Dariling what ever happened to your mane?!” Her eyes lock on me, her look instantly going from concerned to angry.

I let out a nervous chuckle. “Hehe.. Hi Rarity.”

Rarity huffs. “Oh don’t you ‘hi Rarity’ me, North Star! Nearly five years without seeing me and the first time you show up you look like you lost a fight with a blow dryer! And, you’re still wearing that ghastly bandana! Could you not have at least put on something nice for me?”

I roll my eyes, giving her a soft smile. “I missed you too Rarity.”

“Hmph, I should hope so,” she says, smiling at me. “Now what in the name of Celestia happened to the two of you?”

“Um, a pegasus named Rainbow Dash washed some mud off us, but then she tried drying us off,” I explain, poking at my fluffed-up coat.

“Oh, that Rainbow Dash!” She bemoans. “Honestly that pegasus must be more careful. Come along, I really must get you two sorted.” She hops off the stage, pushing Twilight towards the door.

“Wait!” Twilight protests. “We’re just here to check on the decorations! Where are we going? North, help me!” 

I let out a short chuckle, following behind. “Same old Rarity.” She drags us to a fancy-looking blue and white circular building. I let out a low whistle as she leads us inside. “Nice place Rarity.” The interior has many ponnequins showing off her outfits, for mares and stallions alike.

She lets out a giggle. “Why thank you! Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!” She says, proudly. She maneuvers Twilight into the back of the show floor, where a set of mirrors is set up. She levitates a brush over to me. “Now darling, you work on getting yourself fixed up, and I’ll take care of your friend here.”

“There’s really no need-” Twilight starts to protest, just for Rarity to shush her.

“Nonsense darling!” The ivory unicorn insists. “I can’t have the two of you walking around town looking like this. I promise it’s no trouble at all! Now hold still, and I’ll get you fixed up before you know it!” She levitates all kinds of combs and straighteners over to her, getting started on fixing Twilight’s mane. I take off my bandanna and get to work with the brush, smoothing out my coat. It doesn’t take me very long, fortunately, managing to get my mane restyled in its usual fluffy and wavey style, and all of my coat flattened out again, save for my stubborn chest fluff. 

I let out a satisfied sigh, setting the brush down. I reach over to where I sat my bandana down, but I only find a black bow tie in its place. “What the-? Ugh, Rarity.” I give her a soft glare. She’s already finished with Twilight’s mane, and has now moved on to having her try on different outfits. 

“Yes, North?” She turns towards me with an innocent smile.

I levitate the bow tie over to her. “Give it back.”

She sighs, taking the bow tie back and floating my black and blue bandana back over to me. “Oh very well. You can’t blame a mare for trying.” I take it, tying it back around my neck. “Honestly dear, I sometimes wish you weren’t such a janefilly. Accessorize a bit more! Maybe moisturize your coat! I swear you’re a terrible influence on little Ruby.”

I roll my eyes. “No thanks, Rarity. I like the way I look just fine. And Ruby is free to dress however she wishes.” I say, looking over at the small red dragon, who’s drawing in her sketch pad.

She sighs, putting a jewel-embroidered saddle on Twilight. “Well then dear, you were telling me what you two are doing here?” She asks her, pulling the ties of the saddle tight.

The magic student-turned-living ponnequin struggles to breathe, choking out an answer. “We’ve… been sent- ugh, from Canterlot… to-”

Rarity gasps, letting the ties go and sending Twilight falling over. “You’re from Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious!” She exclaims, zipping over to the purple unicorn. “The glamor, the sophistication! I’ve always dreamed of living there! Oh North is always so cruel! He never gives me details on the circles of high society in his letters, no matter how much I beg!”

“Because I’m not in them?” I say with confusion, but she ignores me.

“I can’t wait for you to tell me all about it, Twilight! We are going to be the best of friends.” She cozies up to Twilight with a smile on her face, with the unicorn giving her an uneasy look. Rarity looks down at the saddle, gasping. “Ugh, emeralds? What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!” She insists, heading off to another part of the store.

“Quick! Let’s get out of here before she decides to dye my coat a new color.” Twilight says, picking up the love-struck Spike and running out the door. I let our a short laugh, scooping up Ruby onto my back and following behind.







The four of us are now walking down a path along the edge of town. Ruby is walking beside us as Spike sits on Twilight’s back, that love struck look still on his face. “Wasn’t she wonderful? I’ve never seen a pony so beautiful in my whole life…”

Twilight and I roll our eyes and Ruby makes a mock gagging sound. “Focus Cassanova,” Twilight nudges him. “What’s next on the list?”

He blushes a bit, pulling out the checklist. “Oh! Music! That’s the last one!” We start to hear the sound of birdsong nearby. Following it, we come across a soft yellow pegasus with a pink mane conducting a group of birds. 

A blue jay however seems to be singing out of tune. “Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone,” the pegasus says softly, hovering up to the bird. “Um excuse me sir. I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny tiny bit off.” She floats back down. “Now, let’s try that again. Follow me, please. A one, a two, a one two three-”

“Hello!” Twilight greets suddenly, startling both me and the pegasus, who lets out a surprised squeak. The birds all fly off and the yellow mare turns towards us. “Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Twilight quickly apologizes. “I didn’t mean to frighten your birds. We’re just here to check on the music, and it sounds beautiful.” She says with a smile.

The pegasus floats down, pawing at the ground. She peeks at us through her mane, but says nothing.

Twilight gives her an uneasy smile, looking back at me. I gesture towards the pegasus, encouraging her. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” 

The pegasus hesitates, whispering out her name. I think. I take a small step forward. “My name is North Star. We’re sorry to bother you. You’re doing an amazing job with the music. We’ll let you get back to it,” I say, motioning to Twilight. It’s pretty clear this poor girl is very shy. It wouldn’t do anypony any good to try and force her to open up. The two of us walk back to Spike and Ruby, who come around from some bushes they were waiting by.

I hear a gasp behind us, looking to see the pegasus has shot into the air. “Baby dragons!” She speeds towards us. I’m able to sidestep in time to get out of her way, but Twilight isn’t so lucky, getting knocked into the air by the excited pegasus. She stops in front of the two dragons, crouching down. “Oh! I’ve never seen a baby dragon before! They’re so cute!”

“Well well,” Spike says smugly in Twilight’s direction.

“That’s very nice of you to say, miss.” Ruby thanks her, nudging Spike.

“Oh my, they talk! I didn’t know dragons could talk! That’s just so incredibly wonderful, I dont even know what to say!” The pegasus says softly, hovering in the air with excitement.

Twilight suddenly picks the two dragons up with her magic, dropping Ruby onto my back and Spike onto hers. “Well, in that case, we’d better better be going!” She says quickly, starting to walk off. I roll my eyes at her, giving her an unimpressed glare.

“Wait, wait!” The yellow pegasus calls out, following us. “What are their names?”

“I’m Ruby! And this is Spike,” Ruby happily introduces them.

“Hi Ruby. Hi Spike! I’m Fluttershy. Wow, talking dragons! What do dragons like to talk about?”

“Well, what do you want to know?” Spike asks her.

“Absolutely everything!” Fluttershy says excitedly, causing Twilight to let out an exaggerated groan.

I can’t help but let out a small chuckle. Ruby and Spike go on to tell Fluttershy about how they were hatched by Twilight and I, and how they were raised by us with help from our parents. I listen passively as we walk, eventually reaching the Golden Oak Library. A library sitting near the center of town made out of an enchanted tree. “I guess Miss Bookmark finally retired…” I mutter to myself, looking behind me.

“...and that’s the story of our entire lives!” Spike finishes speaking.

“Up until today,” Ruby adds. “Would you like to hear about today?”

“Oh yes please!” Fluttershy says happily.

Twilight turns around, giving Fluttershy a nervous smile. “I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast? This is where we’re staying while we’re in Ponyville, and our poor baby dragons need their sleep.”

“No we don’t-” Spike begins to protest before Twilight subtly bucks him off her back. 

“Aw look at that. He’s so sweepy he can’t even keep his wittle bawence.” Twilight says, trying to make an excuse. Spike glares back at her. She pushes the door open, using her magic to drag Spike, Ruby and I inside. “Anyway it was nice meeting you, goodnight!” She slams the door in Fluttershy’s face, leaving us all in the dark library.

“Rude, much?” Spike scolds her.

“I have to agree. You could have handled that much better.” I add, setting Ruby down.

“Sorry guys,” Twilight apologizes. “But we have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming and we’re running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time! Now, where’s the light?”

Suddenly the lights flick on, confetti and balloons falling on us.

“SURPRISE!!” The ponies surrounding us cheer. Twilight lets out a defeated groan.

“Oh, right. Heh, I forgot about that part,” I chuckle. 

“Surprise!” The pink pony form earlier pops up in front of us. “Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised?! Were ya?! Were ya?! Huh?! Huh?! Huh?!”

“Very surprised! Libraries are supposed to be quiet.” Twilight says sarcastically. 

“Well that’s silly!” Pinkie counters. “What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean duh! Boooooring! Y'see, I saw you with North Star when you first got here, remember? You were all ‘hello’ and I was all ‘GAAAGH’. remember? I’ve never seen you around before, and if I never saw you around before that means you’re new! Cuz I know absolutely everypony in Ponyville!” Pinkie prattles on, following Twilight as she walks to a table set up with drinks and starts pouring herself one. “Which means you don't know anypony here and that made me super sad! So I thought hey, I know, I'll make her a super-duper spectacular Welcome to Ponyville party and invite as many ponies as I can so you can make lots and lots of friends other than just Northy! Plus it would double as his Welcome Back to Ponyville party! It’s like a double party!”

Twilight freezes, her eye starting to twitch. Her face goes all red and sweaty, tears forming in her eyes.

“Uh, Twilight? You okay?” I ask her, reaching a hoof out towards her.

She lets out a muffled yelp, speeding towards the stairs and running up to the bedroom of the library and slamming the door behind her.

“Aw, she’s so happy she was crying!” Pinkie giggles. I take a look at the drink Twilight was pouring.

“Actually I think it was because of this,” I say, holding up the bottle of hotsauce.
 
“Ooh! Gimme!” Pinkie nabs it from my magic, pouring it all over a cupcake. She tosses it in her mouth, humming happily. She sees me and the other girls staring at her. “What? It’s good!” We all giggle at that.

I grab a soda with my magic, taking a sip from it as Applejack walks up to me. “Glad to see you two finally made it. Guessin y’all got your prep work done?”

“Yeah, not as quick as Twilight would have liked though,” I sigh, looking up the staircase.

“That pony is wound tighter than a eight day clock,” the country pony says with a shake of her head. And even though I have only slightest idea what that means, I can’t help but to agree.

“What’s her problem anyway?” Rainbow Dash asks, hovering next to my head. 

“She’s just not the biggest fan of social gatherings,” I respond, sipping my drink. I feel a weird tinge in my chest. This isn’t the first time Twilight has blown off a social event, far from it. But this time it feels different, and I can’t explain why.

Pinkie huffs. “Well that’s no fun! Who doesn’t like making new friends?”

Rarity hums. “I’m inclined to agree. Barging off from a party thrown for you and leaving your coltfriend behind is most uncouth.”

I choke on my soda, spitting it out as I start coughing. “Her- chugh! Her what?” I ask, getting my breath back as Applejack pats my back.

“Oh there’s no need to be so coy, darling,” Rarity giggles. “The two of you make the cutest couple! The two personal students of the Princess falling in love! Oh, it’s like something from one of my favorite novels.” She says dreamily.

“We aren’t dating, Rarity!” I say, feeling a blush on my cheeks. My ear twitches when I hear Rainbow Dash laughing, but I try to pay her no mind. 

“Why ever not, darling? You two must be some of the most eligible ponies in Equestria! Have you not given any thought to settling down?”

“Ooh! Does that mean you’re single?” Pinkie pops up in my face. “Cuz I know a lot of single mares in town who would love to meet you! And even some stallions if that’s more your-” She gets cut off by an orange hoof shoving a cupcake into her mouth.
 
“Don’t you pay them no mind, sugarcube,” Applejack reassures me, putting a foreleg around my shoulder. “We all know you’re a strong independent stallion. Ain’t nothin to be ashamed of.”

I roll my eyes, shuffling her off me. “I’m gonna get another soda…” I walk away, stepping over the still-laughing Rainbow Dash. I sigh, reaching the drink table.

“Um, excuse me, North?” A soft voice says next to me. I turn my head, seeing Fluttershy standing next to me. “I um, got you another soda…” She says, giving me a new cup.

I smile, taking it from her with my magic. “Thank you, Fluttershy, that was very kind of you.”

She gives me a soft smile, then gets a nervous look. “So, um, I was wondering something?”

My ear flicks. ‘Oh please for the love of Celestia don’t…’

“Did, we have a class together, when I first moved to Ponyville? It’s just, you look kind of familiar…”

I fight the urge to let out a sigh of relief, thankful the butter-colored pegasus wasn’t about to ask me out. I think back, taking a drink of my soda. Now that I think about it, she did look awfully familiar…

“The baby chicks won’t come out of their shells unless they get plenty of heat, and love.”

My eyes, go wide. “Hey, yeah. We did.” I say, a bit excited. “You did a presentation on baby chicks, right?”

She nods. “Oh yes, I was so nervous. I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through it if it weren’t for my animal friends.”

I let out a chuckle. “You wanna know something?” She tilts her head at me. I look over to Ruby, watching her play pin the tail on the pony with a group of fillies. “It’s because of you I was able to hatch Ruby.”

“Really?” Her eyes go wide in surprise.

“Yeah. Your presentation on what eggs needed to hatch told me what I needed to do. Heat and love.”

Her wings flutter happily. “Oh that’s so amazing, I feel like I could cheer!” She rears back, taking a deep breath. “Yaaaaaay.”

I let out a soft giggle. “I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to be proper friends, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, that’s okay! We have plenty of time to make up for it.” She says happily, a soft smile on her face.

“Fluttershy, darling! It’s your turn to come play Pin the Tail on the Pony!” Rarity calls out to her friend from the other side of the library.

“Coming! Are you coming North?” She asks me. I’m about to say yes, when I hesitate, looking back at the stairs.

‘Come on. You know what you have to do.’

I give Fluttershy a smile. “You go on ahead. There’s something I need to do.” She responds with a small nod, heading over to the other girls. I take a breath, downing my soda and throwing the cup away. I make my way to the edges of the party, my eyes scanning the bookshelves.

I came to this library all the time as a colt. Diving horn first into anything I could read about magic, adventures, and heroes. Miss Bookmark had a simple method of organizing the books in here. Everything was in alphabetical order so that anypony could easily find what they were looking for. In theory anyway.

I shuffle past a few groups of ponies finding myself at the row I was looking for. My eyes skim the shelves, reading over every title as not to miss the one I’m looking for. 

Finally, I find it. A large red book with gold trim. I pull it out of the shelf and quickly make my way back through the crowd. I manage to make my way up the stairs without anypony noticing and push open the door to the living area, closing it shut behind me. 

 I find Twilight lying on the bed with a pillow on her head, probably trying to drown out the noise of the party. She lifts her head up, seeing me standing by the door. She lets out another groan. 

“I don’t know how you can stand this, North! Everypony in this town is crazy! Do they have any idea what time it is?!” The purple unicorn huffs.

I chuckle, walking up the stairs to the loft. “Well in their defense, The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow. They have to stay up or risk missing out on Celestia raising the sun.” 

She flops on the bed in response, holding her pillow against her chest. “And here I thought I’d have more time to learn about the Elements of Harmony. But, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it! The entire day has been wasted!”

I smirk. “Well last I checked, the day isn’t over yet.” I pull the book off my back, plopping it on the bed next to her. She sits up, her eyes going wide when she reads the title.

Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide 

“I-! What? How did you-?”

I let out a small laugh. “I grew up going to this library, Twi. I know how to find what I need.”

“But, why?” She asks, getting a sheepish look on her face. “You didn’t seem that interested in helping me before.”

I sigh, climbing into the bed and sitting next to her. “You’re right, I wasn’t. And I’m sorry. Twilight, whether or not you consider me a friend, I consider you my friend. This whole Nightmare Moon prophecy has clearly been important to you. So it should have been important to me as well.”

“Oh, North…” She sniffles a bit, small pools of tears welling in her eyes. She quickly pulls me into a hug, catching me by surprise. “You were my first friend… and I’m sorry I didn’t act like it.” I smile softly, hugging her back. We stay there for a short while, seemingly making up for lost time. Twilight breaks the hug, wiping her eyes. “Alright, let’s see what this book says.” 

I use my magic to turn on the bedroom lights as Twilight opens the book. “Okay, let me see if I can find… aha! ‘It's said that there are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, and Generosity. The sixth Element is a complete mystery. Legends say that there used to be a seventh element of Harmony, but only one would be worthy of wielding it once all six elements are combined. The seventh element bearer would become a ‘Bridge to Virtue.’”

“Seven Elements? Pops’s story only ever mentioned six,” I say with confusion.

“Bridge to Virtue… why does that sound familiar?” Twilight ponders.

“Keep reading,” I say, getting closer in order to get a better look at the book.

“‘It is said that the last known location of the five Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters.’”

“In the Everfree Forest?” I ask with a groan.

“Come on North! We should get this to Princess Celestia as soon as we can” Twilight says. She goes to move away from me when the bedroom door gets pushed open. We both look over with wide eyes, seeing Ruby.

She blinks at us, seeing us both sitting rather close to each other. “Um, am I interrupting something?”

“N-No! We were just, doing some reading!” Twilight quickly stammers out, a blush forming on her face.

Ruby shakes her head. “Yeah, anyway. It’s time to go watch the sunrise, so you guys better hurry up and finish.” She says, closing the door behind her as she leaves.

Twilight and I exchange a look, scooting away from each other. We hop off the bed, taking one last look at the moon outside. The silhouette of Nightmare Moon staring down at us. Four stars slowly getting closer to her…
> Chapter 2- Finding Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems like half the town is gathered in the Ponyville Town Hall. Twilight and I, with our dragons on our backs, have managed to find a spot in the front of the crowd with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Excited ponies surround us, with even a few pegasi hovering in the air. Rarity is waiting up on the balcony for the big reveal, and Fluttershy is to the side, waiting to direct her birds in their song.

Pinkie Pie zips between the two of us, giving us a slight startle. “Oh this is so cool! Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited. Well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went ‘GAAAGH’ but I mean really, who can top that?”

Before we’re able to respond, Fluttershy’s birds start singing, signaling the start of the ceremony. A tan mare with a silver mane steps onto the stage. “Ladies, and gentlestallions! As mayor of Ponyville, it is my pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!” The room erupts into happy cheers. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!”

I peek out of one of the windows to the moon outside, seeing the stars get close to it. “Twilight.” I quickly mutter, getting her attention. We both watch the stars seemingly move behind the moon, and the silhouette of Nightmare Moon disappears. We exchange an uneasy look, looking back to the stage.

“And now,” Mayor Mare continues, “it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of Harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!”

Rarity pulls the rope on the curtain to queue Princess Celestia, but the balcony is completely empty.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” I mutter, getting ready for a fight.

“You and me both,” Twilight moans.

The ponies gathered start to chatter amongst themselves, an air of worry and fear starting to settle in the room.

“Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!” Mayor Mare urged, trying to keep everyone calm.

Pinkie Pie perks up, “Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?”

“I don't think Princess Celestia would pull something like this on us, Pinkie,” I say, setting Ruby on the floor behind me.

“North..?” The baby dragon looks up at me worriedly.

Rarity looks behind the balcony for the Princess, coming back out with a shocked expression. “She's gone!” Everyone gasps, the confusion now teetering on panic.

“Ooh, she's good,” Pinkie hums. She suddenly yelps at what we all see form in the Princess’s place.

A purple mist gathered at the central balcony where the princess was supposed to be and it revealed someone completely different. She was an alicorn mare with a black coat and cyan eyes. She had a flowing brilliant blue mane filled with stars. Around her body, she looked to be wearing silver-blue armor.

“Nightmare Moon…” Twilight whimpers. Spike faints, falling off her back.

“I really hate it when you’re right,” I utter at Twilight, not taking my eyes off the villain.

“Oh, my beloved subjects. It’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious little sun-loving faces,” Nightmare Moon states, her voice filled with malice.

“What did you do with our Princess?” Rainbow demands. She tries to fly at the villain, but Applejack grabs her tail and holds her back. Applejack is right to stop her though. The town hall is far too crowded. If we try to fight her now, innocent ponies could get hurt.

Nightmare lets out an evil chuckle. “Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?” She gets in Fluttershy’s face, scaring the birds away and terrifying the poor pegasus. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”

“We did!” Twilight calls out, drawing attention to the two of us. “And we know who you are. You’re the Mare in the Moon!”

“Nightmare Moon.” I finish, scowling at the fallen monarch.

The crowd gasps in shock, surprised that our old bedtime stories were true.

“Well well well, some ponies who remember me,” Nightmare looks down on us, pleasantly surprised. “Then I assume you also know why I’m here.”

“You’re here to… to…” Twilight trails off, her voice filled with worry.

The Nightmare chuckles at her. “Remember this day my little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment on, the night shall last, forever!” She lets out a billowing evil laugh, lighting striking from her magic. The ponies gathered start to cower, more scared than they’ve ever been.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” I yell out, glaring at the tyrant before me.

She lets out a mocking laugh. “Oh, is that so? Times must clearly have changed if stallions have grown backbones. And does the foolish stallion have a name?”

My ear twitches and I let out a growl. “North Star! And you’re damn right they have! I don’t care what it takes, I will stop you!” I swear, glaring at her.

She jumps down, landing in front of me. All the ponies behind me flinch, but I don’t falter. “Even if it costs you your life?” She asks me, getting in my face. Her smile curled into a fanged grin.

I meet her gaze, filled with a steely determination I’ve never felt before. “If it means saving Equestria from you, so be it. I am not afraid of you!”

Nightmare Moon holds my gaze for a moment, before letting out a low laugh. “Very well North Star. Let us see how long your bravery lasts.” Letting out another evil laugh, lightning strikes around the hall. She turns into purple mist, flying out the doors with a crash.

Rainbow finally gets loose from Applejack, chasing after the alicorn. 

“Back to the library, now!” Twilight urges me, using her magic to put Spike and Ruby onto our backs. I nod at her, following her out the door and into the night.







Twilight and I have made it back to the library, running as fast as our legs could carry us. Spike and Ruby tried to insist they come with us, but they soon fell asleep. Being up all night partying and the shock of Nightmare Moon really took a lot out of them. They are just baby dragons after all. 

Twilight is taking one last look at the book, reading over any information we might have missed. “Okay, we need to hurry! We need to get the Elements of Harmony and get back as soon as we can!” She urges as we head for the door. Suddenly, a rainbow blur zooms up to our faces.

“And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash demands, hovering above us. “And how did you two know about Nightmare Moon, huh?! Are you spies?!” She yelps as Applejack grabs her tail again, yanking her away from us. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy apparently followed us as well, as they’re all standing behind the country pony.

“Simmer down, Sally. They ain’t spies. But Ah get the feelin’ they know what’s goin’ on. Don’t you?” Applejack asks. The group gathers around us. Twilight looks at me, and I give her a nod.

“I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon,” she starts explaining. She pulls out the book on the Elements. “Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her. North and I have discovered there are six, and possibly seven Elements. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. But we have no idea what the sixth is.”

“The Elements are in the old royal castle in the Everfree,” I continue. “Twilight and I are going to go there and bring the Elements back here so we can use them to banish Nightmare again.”

“Woah woah woah!” Rainbow protests. “You two can’t just head off into the Everfree by yourselves!”

“She’s right.” Applejack nods. “If y’all are goin’ in there, we’re comin’ with ya. Especially after all that stuff North said to the ruler of all darkness.” She deadpans at me. “Nopony is pulling a self-sacrifice on my watch, especially you.”

Rarity lets out a small huff. “I’m afraid I must agree. Honestly dear, what were you thinking? You wonder why I worry so much about you.”

“I meant what I said,” I insist. “I’d do anything to keep you all safe. And while we appreciate the gestures, this is something Twilight and I need to do ourselves.”

“No chance, sugarcube.” Applejack butts in. “There ain’t no way we’re lettin’ friends of ours' go into the Everfree forest alone. If you’re goin’, we’re all goin’. We’re stickin’ to you like caramel on a candy apple.” The other girls nod in agreement.

“Especially if there’s candy apples in there!” Pinkie perks up, causing us all to look at her in confusion. “What? Those things are good! Now let’s get a move on!”

The seven of us leave the library, heading for the edge of town. Rainbow hovers next to Twilight and I at the front of the group. “There’s something I don’t get. You guys said there’s seven Elements, but you only mentioned six.”

“The seventh Element has even less known about it,” Twilight explains. “It will only appear when one worthy of wielding it appears when all six Elements are gathered.”

“As far as we can tell we only need the six to banish Nightmare Moon, so we aren’t worrying about the seventh,” I say as we get to the path leading into the forest. 

“You aren’t curious at all?” Fluttershy asks, coming up next to me.

“Well of course I’m curious,” I shrug. “We just have more pressing concerns at the moment. All that matters right now is getting the Elements we need to stop Nightmare.” I answer as we reach the forest. The Everfree looms over us. Dark and twisted branches coming from the trees, almost beckoning us forward.

“Woo! Come on let’s go!” Pinkie cheers, bouncing forward. We all follow behind her, into the forest. We manage to find a path winding through the trees, leading deeper into the forest.

“So, none of you have ever been in here before?” Twilight asks, her voice carrying her nervousness.

“Oh, heavens no!” Rarity asks, just as uneasy. “Just look at it! It’s dreadful!”

“And it ain’t natural,” Applejack adds as we make it to the side of a cliff. “Folks say it don’t work like the rest of Equestria.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the purple unicorn asks.

“Nopony knooooows,” Rainbow says in a creepy voice, stalking towards Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. “You know why?”

“Rainbow cut it out.” I scold her, but she ignores me.

“Because everypony who has ever come in, has never… come,,, back… OUT!” She jumps, trying to scare the mares. Suddenly, the ground starts to rumble. I try to brace myself as the ground gives underneath us and the cliff breaks off! 

I can hear the girls screaming around me. Looking up, I see my fellow non-pegasi sliding down the cliff, with Rainbow and Fluttershy flying after us. Thinking fast, my horn lights up. Using a quick shield spell, I’m able to create barriers in front of Pinkie and Rarity, stopping them in place. Before I can do more, my flank slides off the edge of the cliff and I’m just barely able to catch myself. Twilight ends up next to me, yelping in fear.

“Yeah, you were right. Really wishing I’d learned that self-levitation spell last week instead of going to hang out with Minuette.” I grunt, trying to climb back up.

“Is this really the time?!” Twilight snaps at me. 

Looking above us, Applejack has caught herself with a tree root between her teeth. She lets it go, sliding down towards us. “Hold on! Imma comin’!” She reaches us, grabbing our hooves.

“Applejack! What do we do?” Twilight asks, her back hooves kicking at the cliff, unable to find a grip.

“Okay, I got an idea,” I say, trying to get ahold of the cliff as much as I can. “AJ, I’ll use my magic to help you lift Twilight up, then you both pull me up, got it?” There's another rumble, more of the cliff breaking off beneath us.

“I don’t think we’re gonna have time for that!” Twilight argues. 

Applejack grunts, then looks down at us. “Both of you, let go.”

The unicorn’s eyes go wide. “What are you crazy?!”

“Ah ain’t crazy. Let go, and Ah promise you’ll both be safe.”

“That’s not true!” She yells.

“Now listen here,” the country pony looks us both in the eyes. “What Ah’m sayin to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe.” I look Applejack in the eyes. In all the years I’ve known her, Applejack has never led me astray or intentionally put me in harm's way.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I let go of her hoof and the cliff face, letting myself fall. I briefly hear Twilight yell my name over the sound of the wind in my ears. I don’t fall got very long though, as I’m caught in a warm and soft embrace. I blink, looking up to see Fluttershy caught me. 

“Oh, are you okay North? That looked rather scary…” she asks me, gently carrying me to the ground.

“Nah, I’m okay,” I smile, looking over to see Rainbow has caught Twilight, and Applejack is hopping down the cliffside. “I knew I was in good hooves.” She gets a small blush as she sets me down, and we all regroup. I think I see a  purple blur move in the corner of my vision, but when I turn to look, it's gone. I let out a hum, following the girls with Fluttershy.

“...and once Rarity and Pinkie were safe, whoosh! Me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM!” Rainbow lands next to Twilight. “Caught ya right in the nick of time.”

“Yes, Rainbow. I was there,” Twilight says, unamused. “And North and I are very grateful, but now we gotta-” she’s cut off by something slamming in front of her, making her gasp. A large lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail stands in our path. “A manticore!”

It roars at us, rearing up on it’s back legs. It jumps towards us, taking a swing at Rarity. She dodges out of the way, turning and bucking it in the face. “Take that you ruffian!” She says triumphantly, only for the manticor to roar in her face, blowing her mane back. Her mane turns into a curled mess, not unlike how Twilight’s was earlier today.

‘Or, would it technically be yesterday? Damn this eternal night stuff is already making things confusing…’

“North, we need to stop them,” Fluttershy’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts. I look up, seeing Applejack riding on the manticore’s head.

“Why? You have an idea?” I ask. She nods in response as Applejack is thrown off. Rainbow zooms in next, flying past us.

“Wait!” Fluttershy says, trying to stop her fellow pegasus. 

Rainbow unfortunately either ignores her or doesn’t hear her, flying around the beast in a small tornado. The manticore growls, smacking her with its tail and sending her flying, skidding to a halt in front of us. She recovers quickly, she and the four other girls glaring at the beast. They scrape their hooves on the ground and start charging, running at the beast together.

“WAAAIIIIIT!” Fluttershy and I yell, jumping in front of them. They all skid to a stop, looking at us in surprise. I turn to Fluttershy and nod, giving her a smile. She walks up to the manticore without fear. It growls at her, realing one of its paws back.

“Shh, it’s okay,” she gently calms it, nuzzling one of its paws with her nose. The manticore hesitates before opening its paw to her, showing a rather large thorn stuck in its palm. “Oh, you poor poor little baby…”

“Little?” Rainbow Dash mutters, causing me to let out a small giggle.

“Maybe not little, but she’s got this handled,” I say confidently, watching Fluttershy work.

“Now, this might hurt for just a second,” she warns the manticore, grabbing the thorn in her teeth. She quickly yanks it out, making the beast roar in pain and scoop her up.

“Fluttershy!” The girls all yell in shock. However, there was no need to be worried as we hear Fluttershy laugh. The manticore wasn't eating her, but licking her mane as it began to purr. The girls sigh in relief and smile while Fluttershy giggles.

“Aw, you’re just a little ol’ baby kitty, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are!” The yellow pegasus praises the manticore as we all head for the end of the path. Twilight and I wait for her as the manticore puts her down, flying off into the forest. Fluttershy walks up to us, her mane sticking straight back from the licks.

“How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight asks her, amazed.

“I didn’t,” she answers with a soft smile. “Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.”

Twilight smiles, following the rest of us down the path. I let out a quiet chuckle, happy to see she’s starting to warm up. 

We continue heading deeper into the woods, the trees becoming thicker and thicker. “Y’know, we’re probably the first ponies to venture this far into the Everfree in centuries,” I ponder out loud.

“With good reason I imagine,” Rarity replies. “Why would anypony want to come out here if it wasn’t related to the fate of Equestria?”

“Aw c’mon Rarity, where’s your sense of adventure?” I playfully tease her.

“Properly reigned in, unlike yours,” she replies. “Not all of us spend our days thinking about being heroic and dashing,” the fashionista says sarcastically, smirking at me.

“I do!” Rainbow chimes in, making me chuckle.

Rarity rolls her eyes. “Honestly I just wish I could give my eyes a rest from all this icky muck.” As she says that, we walk into a part of the path where the trees are the thickest. The moonlight we’ve been relying on to light our way starting to diminish. 

“You just had to ask,” I deadpan at her, not that she could see it.

“Well, I didn’t mean it literally, darling.”

“That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we’d have no idea,” Twilight huffs. We try to make our way through the trees, bumping into each other as we do. I see that purple blur again, watching as it darts behind a tree.

“Oh, Ah think Ah stepped in somethin’,” Applejack grunts. Fluttershy lets out a scream, staring at Applejack. Behind the farm pony, the tree has started glowing red. An angry twisted face carved into its trunk. It seems to let out a roar, causing Applejack to yelp and jump back. The trees surrounding us start to do the same, glowing ominously, their twisted faces roaring at us. The girls start yelling and I get in front of them, getting ready to fight.

“Hahahheehaha! Bleh! Blugh! Heeheehaha!” I look over in confusion, seeing Pinkie laughing at one of the trees and making faces at it.

“Pinkie what are out doing?! Run!” Twilight urges.

Pinkie giggles. “Oh guys, don’t you see?” She starts to dance a bit, bobbing her head. And she starts singing.

“When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooooown~”

“Oh please tell me we’re not doing this…” I beg.

“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooown~”

“Apparently we are…” Rarity sighs.

“I’d hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw~ But Granny Pie said that wasn’t the way to deal with fears at all~”

“Then what is?” Rainbow asks.

“She said, ‘Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall~ Learn to face your feaaars~ You’ll see they can’t hurt you, just laugh and make them disapeaaar~’”

She bounces in front of a tree. “Ha! Ha! Ha!” As if by magic, the twisted face and red glow disappears, and the area around us gets a little brighter. She turns back and smiles at us, and we all start to laugh.

“Sooooo, giggle at the ghostly~ Guffaw at the grossly~ Crackup at the creepy~ Whoop it up with the weepy~ Chortle at the kooky~ Snortle at the spooky~”

“And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna. .. hahahaha... heh…”

“Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!~”

Soon enough our laughter makes all the trees turn back to normal, and the area is nice and bright again. We all fall to the ground, laughing happily. “That was awesome Pinkie,” I praise her, pushing myself up to my hooves.

“I aim to please!” She giggles. “A good laugh can make anything better.” She bounces ahead as we all follow her. 

“She sure knows how to keep everypony positive,” Twilight comments, walking up next to me.

I nod. “That’s Pinkie Pie for ya. I’ve only gotten to spend a bit of time with her on my visits, but she always makes it memorable. She just loves to see ponies smile.” Twilight hums in thought, a small smile on her face.







‘This night just gets weirder and weirder… Or, day? Dammit did Nightmare not think this through at all?’

We’ve come across another obstacle. A river sits in front of us. It would be narrow enough for us to swim across, but it’s water is being churned and thrashed around, making it too dangerous to cross. The cause? A large sea serpent flailing in the water, crying out in distress. His orange hair is slicked back and it appears that half of his mustache is missing.

“What a world! Oh, what a world! This isn’t fair!” He cries out as we approach,

“Excuse me, sir? Why are you crying?” Twilight asks him.

“Well, I don't know,” he responds, “I was just sitting here, minding my own business when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off!” He bends down to us, showing his butchered facial hair. “And now I look simply horrid!”

I hum in thought at what he said. ‘That purple smoke again? It can’t be a coincidence…’

Unfortunately, I’m cut off from my train of thought as the serpent starts wailing again. He flops into the water, creating a massive wave and splashing our group, getting us soaked.

“Oh give me a break,” Rainbow rolls her eyes.

“That’s what all the fuss is about?” Applejack asks, a bit annoyed.

“Why, of course it is!” Rarity interjecs as she steps forward. “How can you be so insensitive? Oh, just look at him! Such, lovely luminecent scales.”

The serpent sniffles, sitting up out of the water. “I know.”

“Your expertly coiffed mane,” she compliments.

“Oh I know, I know!” He agrees, slicking his hair back.

“Your fabulous manicure!” 

“It’s so true!” 

“All ruined without your beautiful mustache!”

“It’s true! I’m hideous!” He starts crying again.

“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!” Rarity states definitively. Before any of us can do anything, she uses her teeth to grab one of the serpent’s scales, pulling it out.

“Ow! What did you do that for?” He cries. She doesn’t respond, brandishing the scale like a sword.

My eyes go wide. “Rarity! Don’t do anything hasty-” She quickly slices with the scale, causing us all to gasp. The serpent dramatically faints, laying his head on the river bank.

At Rarity’s hooves lies her sliced off tail. Using her magic, she levitates it over to the serpent, carefully tying it to the remains of his mustache. He looks down, gasping happily. “Oh-hohohoho! My mustache! This is so wonderful!”

“You look smashing,” The fashion pony beams at him.

“Oh, Rarity. Your beautiful tail,” Twilight says, looking at the remains of her curly tail.

“Oh it’s fine dear,” Rarity reasures her. “Short tails are in this season, with it being summer and all. Besides, it’ll grow back.”

“So would the mustache,” Rainbow mutters to me. 

I roll my eyes with a smile. “Tail or not Rarity, you still look lovely. And I’m sure once we get back you’ll figure out a way to make it look perfect.”

“Why thank you, North,” she smiles at me. “I must admit I do have a few ideas in mind…”

Twilight notices that the water has calmed now that the serpent has stopped thrashing. “Hey look! We can cross now!” She starts to head across the river when she gets lifted up by a part of his body rising out of the water.

“Allow me,” the purple serpent offers. He dives down, creating a bridge for us to hop across out of his body. We all cross, making it safely to the other side. He rises back up, waving us all goodbye as he swims upriver.

“I can’t believe Rarity didn’t even hesitate to sacrifice her own tail for that guy,” Twilight says to me as we regroup.

“She’s always been like that,” I nod. “Whenever somepony needs something, she does everything in her power to help them, even at her own cost.”

She nods in understanding, starting to walk ahead. “Come on! The castle can’t be much farther.”

“Hang on a second,” I say, putting a hoof on her shoulder. The group stops, turning to look at me.

“What’s the matter, sugarcube?” Applejack asks.

“There’s something that serpent said that caught my attention. The purple smoke that took his mustache,” I explain.

“What about it?” Twilight tilts her head.

“After we fell off the cliff, I thought I saw a purple mist come out of the rubble. And I saw it again right before those trees transformed.”

“Hey wait a minute,” Rainbow thinks for a moment. “Nightmare Moon turned into a purple mist too when she ran away from Town Hall!”

“You think Nightmare Moon could have been causing all these things to happen to us?” Fluttershy asks me.

I nod in response. “I wouldn’t eliminate it as a possibility. We don’t fully know what she’s capable of.”

“Oh that just makes me want to kick her in the face even more now!” Rainbow growls.

“Everypony just be on your guard,” I warn them. “If we can snoop her out we have a better chance at stopping her.” They all nod in agreement, and we head deeper into the forest.







A short while later, we finally find it. The entrance to the crumbling ruins of the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters on the other side of a thick fog. Despite its age, I must admit it’s still impressive. The place Celestia ruled with her sister a thousand years ago.

“There it is!” Twilight says excitedly. “The ruins that hold the Elements of Harmony! We made it!” She runs forward, and the rest of us follow behind.

“Twilight! Wait for us!” Applejack calls out.

“We’re almost there-WOAH!” Twilight comes to a sudden stop, her front half dangling off the cliff. I gasp, running forward and grabbing her with my magic, yanking her back to safety.

“You okay Twilight?” I grunt, helping her back to her hooves.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry,” she sheepishly apologizes.

“Maybe we should start keeping a tally of how many times she falls off cliffs,” Rainbow jokes.

Taking a closer look at the cliff in front of us, it looks like the rope bridge broke a long time ago. Looking over the edge, I can’t see the end of it through the thick fog.

“I got this one,” Rainbow says confidently, flexing her wings. She dives into the pit, vanishing into the fog. I’m barely able to see her come up on the other side through the fog. 

She’s gone for several minutes, and only half the bridge is tied in place. “Something’s wrong,” I say, trying to get a better look.

“Rainbow! What’s taking so long?” Twilight calls out. The fog clears a bit, and I can see Rainbow talking to three other ponies in flight suits.

“Shit.”

Twilight notices as well, calling out to the pegasus. “Rainbow!” One of the flight ponies glares at us. Her eyes flash, and the fog gets even thicker, obstructing our view. “Don’t listen to them!” Twilight tries to yell, but the fog is too thick.

“Um, this is bad, right?” Fluttershy squeaks, shuffling behind me. We all wait on bated breath, looking for any sign of the pegasus. The bridge suddenly goes taught, and a figure flies through the fog. Rainbow lands in front of us, clearing the fog with her wings.

We all let out a cheer, starting to head across the bridge. “Great job, Rainbow!” Twilight beams at her.

“Y’see? I’d never leave my friends hangin’!” Rainbow states, flying over to the other side of the bridge. We all cross, heading towards the large wooden doors of the castle.

I push the doors open and step into the ancient stone structure. Vines crawl up the ancient walls. In the center of the room, five stone orbs with gem shapes carved into them sit on pedestals in a branching statue.

“Woah…” Twilight utters in amazement.

“Go on Twilight. Ain’t this what you two have been waiting for?” Applejack says.

“The Elements of Harmony, We actually found them,” I let out a short laugh. Rainbow and Fluttershy take turns picking up the Elements off their pedestals and setting them down in a circle in front of us.

“One, two, three, four… There’s only five,” Pinkie points out. “Where’s the sixth?”

“The book said when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed,” Twilight explains, crouching down in front of the Elements.

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asks. “And what about the seventh?”

“Not a priority. We just need to activate the ones we have here first. And we think we have an idea how,” I explain, crouching next to Twilight.

“Stand back,” the purple unicorn warns, “we don’t know what will happen.” Our horns light up as we start to focus, trying to pour our magical energy into the orbs before us.

“Come on now, y’all. They need to concentrate,” I hear Applejack speak, leading the other mares out of the room. For a moment the only sound I can hear is the sounds of our magic, and Twilight’s small grunts of effort. 

Then, I hear the sound of wind in front of us. I open my eyes, seeing the Elements start to swirl in a purple vortex. “Oh crap.” Twilight opens her eyes as well, yelping in surprise.  The vortex swirls faster, growing bigger. We exchange a look, nodding to each other as we jump into the vortex, consumed by a bright flash of light.

I come to laying on a stone floor. I shake my head, seeing Twilight to my side. I help her to her hooves, looking around. We seem to have been teleported to some kind of atrium. The ceiling is long gone, and the support columns look like they’re ready to collapse. At the end of the large room, stands Nightmare Moon, with the Elements hovering around her. She laughs at us, making more lightning strike around her.

“Twilight,” I whisper, getting her attention. “Get to the Elements. I’ll keep her busy.”

“What? No!” She whispers back. “North, you can’t possibly beat her!”

“I know I can’t. But I can buy you enough time to light that spark. Just trust me, please.” I ask her, looking her in the eyes. She looks back at me and nods. We both stand up, turning to face the villain before us.

Nightmare Moon laughs again. “I must say, I’m rather impressed you and your companions have made it this far. Then again, I suppose I should expect nothing less from my sister’s star pupils.”

“How do you know about that?” Twilight asks her.

“I’ve been following you since you left that library of yours,” she answers. “I admire your resourcefulness. And I believe your talents would be better suited elsewhere.” She flares her wings. “Join me, Twilight Sparkle and North Star. I will teach you things about magic my feeble sister would never dare! I will unlock your full potential!”

Twilight and I exchange a look. I give her a smug look and nod “Thank you,” Twilight starts, “but you can take your dark power and shove it up your flank! We’re going to stop you!” She scrapes her hoof on the ground, charging up her horn.

“Very well! Then I hope you enjoy being martyrs!” Nightmare yells, preparing for a fight.

I look to the side, focusing on one of the broken support pillars. ‘Come on North, you can do this. Time to show your real talent.’ 

My horn lights up, enveloping the pillar. I focus, grunting with effort. I’ve never used this spell on something this big before. With a grunt, I cast the spell, and the pillar becomes weightless. It subtly starts to float, as does the few bits of rubble around it.

I turn back, seeing the two mares charging at each other, waiting for my moment. I’m only going to have one shot. Twilight charges her horn as Nightmare gets closer to her. Just before they collide, she’s enveloped with a pink light, vanishing. She reappears by the Elements, lowering her horn to them.

Nightmare focuses on me. She growls, and I take my shot. I grab the pillar in my magic, swinging it as easily as a stick thanks to it’s weightlessness. Nightmare Moon gasps in surprise, crying out as the pillar slams into her side, sending her crashing into the wall. The pillar shatters, sending floating debris around the room. The villain growls loudly, glaring at me. “That spell. Impossible!” She yells, rushing at me.

I run forward, sliding between her legs. My horn lights, grabbing four of the floating rocks and throwing them at her. She blasts three of them, but the fourth manages to nail her in the horn, making her roar in pain.

“Enough of this!” Nightmare Moon slams her hooves into the ground. Lighting shoots out from her, striking me in the side. I get flying back, landing on the ground hard.

I groan in pain, looking down at my side and seeing a black burn mark on my fur. “Shit,” I struggle to get up, looking up to see Twilight still using her magic on the Elements. Nightmare turns into purple mist, zipping towards her. “Twilight!” I yell, trying to warn her. There’s a flash of white light, and Twilight flies away from the Elements, landing next to me.

She looks up, gasping as she sees the burn in my fur. “North-!”

Nightmare stands over the Elements as they start to float, lightning sparking between them. “No! No!” She says in disbelief.

“You did it Twilight,” I chuckle weakly. The Elements start to glow, the electricity intensifying!

…and then it stops. They fall to the ground with a thud, motionless. Twilight gasps. “No! Where’s the sixth element?”

Nightmare Moon laughs maniacly. “Fools! You really believed you could defeat me?!” She raises her hooves, slamming them on the ground. The force causes the Elements to shatter. “You will never see your Princess or your precious sun ever again! The night will last forever!”

I let out a shaky breath. ‘Well, this is what heroes do, right?’ “Twilight. Get the girls, and get out of here,” I instruct her. She looks at me in confusion. “Without the Elements, you need to find a more conventional means to stop her.”

“But what about you? You’re hurt, we need to get you to safety!” She urges.

I shake my head. “I’ll just slow you down. But I can buy you girls time to escape.”

Her eyes go wide. “What?! Are you crazy? I am not leaving you behind in here!”

“I’m not asking!” I say, my horn lighting up. “Just go! I said I’d do what ever it takes to keep you safe, now run!”

“Twilight? North!” A voice calls out behind us. We look back, seeing the shadows of our friends coming up the stairs, all calling out our names in search of us.

Twilight gasps and her eyes go wide, a twinkle sparking in them. She looks back at Nightmare Moon with a confident smile on her face. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” She asks as the rest of our friends make it to us. “Well you’re wrong. Because the spirits of the Elements are right here!” We all face Nightmare Moon, with looks of determination on our faces.

“What? That’s impossible!” Nightmare denies as the shards of the Elements start to float up.

Twilight grins triumphantly. “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of… Honesty!” Shards zip towards the farm pony, swirling around her. “Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with compassion, represents the spirit of… Kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... Laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of... Generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of… Loyalty!” Element shards surround them all, the same as Applejack. “The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”

“But you still don’t have the sixth Element! The spell didn’t work!” The villain points out.

“But it did! A different kind of spark,” Twilight says, turning towards the girls.  “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all… are my friends!”

A bright light then shines above drawing everyone's attention to see the sixth Element of Harmony in it's stone orb which hovers above Twilight. “You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of… Magic!” 

The elements start to orbit the mares faster, glowing brighter. Twilight looks at me, a smile forming on her face. “It is said that when all six Elements are combined, one pony would be worthy of bearing the last Element. That they would become a Bridge to Virtue. North Star, my first friend. He stood up for all of us. Tried to protect all of Equestria on his own even if he had to risk his life. He is the legendary element… of Bravery!”

All of the shards glow brightly, creating a beam of light that envelopes me. I let out a surprised grunt as I start to float, and my injuries heal. There’s another flash of light, and an orb floats over my head.

The shards then transform into golden necklaces with gems resembling their respective owners' Cutie Mark and go around their bearer’s necks. The orb of Magic transformed into a tiara with a gem on top that resembles Twilight's Cutie Mark before settling on her head. My orb of Bravery shatters, spinning around me and transforming into a silver chest plate, a dark blue gem resembling a star in its center.

The Elements of Harmony start to glow, making us all float towards each other. I feel a wave of energy course through me, and a large rainbow-colored beam shoots out from us. It arcs towards Nightmare Moon, wrapping her in spectral light.

“No! NOOOO!” She yells in defiance. I feel the energy intensify, and the entire room is flooded with a white light.

I find myself lying on the floor again, opening my eyes with a grunt. I stand back up, looking around to see my friends recovering. 

“Ugh, my head,” Rainbow whines, flexing her wings.

“E-Everypony okay?” Applejack asks.

Rarity notices her tail has been restored by the Elements, letting out a happy squeak. “Oh thank goodness!”

“Why Rarity, it's so lovely,” Fluttersy compliments.

“I know! I'll never part with it again!”

“No. Your necklace,” the yellow pegasus points out. “It looks just like your cutie mark.”

“What? Ooh. So does yours,” Rarity says, pointing at Fluttershy’s

Fluttershy takes a look at her Element of Harmony and gasps. Everyone notices theirs and admires them as well.

“Look at mine! Look at mine!” Pinkie bounces excitedly.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow grins down at hers.

“Gee, Twilight! I almost thought you and North were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship,” Applejack says, full of emotion.

The purple unicorn smiles, looking at all her friends. “Yeah, I suppose we do.”

“Didn’t I tell you it wouldn’t be so bad?” I ask, playfully nudging her.

She giggles, looking down at my chestpiece. “Wow North. I had no idea you’d awaken the legendary Element!”

“Neither did I,” I chuckle. “Guess that means you’re stuck with me now though.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she giggles.

“Oh my! North that chestpiece makes you look like a properly dashing hero,” Rarity compliments me.

“The Element of Bravery really suits you,” Fluttershy says softly, giving me a warm smile.

“And Kindness is perfect for you,” I reply with a giggle.

A bright light suddenly fills the room. “Well done, everypony.” We all look outside, seeing the sun finally starting to rise. An orb of light comes off of it, flying towards us. It floats into the room through the window, and with a flash it disappears, revealing Princess Celestia!

“Princess!” Twilight and I yell in unison, running up to her. 

“North Star! Twilight Sparkle!” She greets us happily, leaning her neck on Twilight and wrapping a wing around me. “My faithful students, I knew you could do it!” We break the hug as Twilight looks up at her.

“But, you told me it was just an old pony tale,” Twilight says in confusion.

“I told you that you needed to make friends, nothing more,” the Princess explains. “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, the same as you. I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. And I knew North would be best at helping to guide you to it,” Celestia smiles at me.

“So, does that mean you knew about this too?” I ask, pointing to the Element on my chest. 

She lets out a small giggle. “I must admit, you being the fabled seventh Element was a surprise. I wasn’t even sure it actually existed. But I feel like it could not have chosen a better weilder. You are truly one of the bravest ponies I’ve ever met,” Celestia smiles down at me. I blush a bit at her praise, but smile back at her. She looks to the end of the room, getting a solemn look. “Now, I only hope somepony else can accept true friendship as well.” 

She walks past us and I follow her gaze, seeing a small blue alicorn surrounded by the broken armor of Nightmare Moon. The young alicorn gasps as she gets up from the ground, looking up at the large pony coming towards her.

“Princess Luna,” Celestia says softly, crouching down. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. It is time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship, and my apology?”

Princess Luna looked up, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged Princess Celestia. “I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!”

Celestia eagerly return the hug, also shedding her tears, happy to reunite with her little sister. “Oh, I've missed you too! More than you can imagine…”

Princess Luna turns to the rest of us. “You seven, thank you for freeing me from that nightmare. I could never hope to repay you for what you’ve done.”

“Eh, don’t sweat it!” Rainbow shrugs. 

“Yeah. It’s what heroes do after all.” I smile up at her. She smiles back, looking up at her sister.

“Hey! You know what this calls for?!” Pinkie interjects. “Party time!” 

We all laugh as Celestia walks up to us, her horn lighting up. “Come my little ponies. Let us get all of you home.” She casts a spell, teleporting all of us out of the castle, and back to Ponyville.







Pinkie Pie made good on her promise. As soon as we got back to Ponyville she launched her biggest party ever, spanning the whole town. The townsponies were eager to welcome Luna, seemingly excited to have a new Princess. 

Spike and Ruby tackled Twilight and I upon our return, happy to see we were okay.

I look over, seeing Twilight looking rather glum. I walk over to her, nudging her shoulder. “Hey, you doing okay?” 

She looks at me, sighing. “It’s just that, after finally being able to make friends and actually being able to admit to it, I have to leave most of them behind. We have to go back to Canterlot, and all I want is to spend more time with them.”

“Hey, it’s not all bad,” I try to sympathize with her. “You can make friends in Canterlot too. Minuette, Lemon Heart, Twinkle, and Moon Dancer are still there. Plus we can always come back and visit Ponyville.” I look over at our friends, laughing as Pinkie pops out of a cake. “But, I’ll admit, I’ll be sad to leave them behind to…”

“Do you truly feel this way, my students?” We look behind us, seeing Celestia standing there.

Twilight nods as our friends walk towards us. “I do. The six of them are the best things to ever happen to me. I love being your student, but I don’t want to leave them.” I can’t help but nod in agreement, smiling at my friends.

Celestia smirks, getting an idea. “Spike, take a note, please.” The dragon smiles, eagerly pulling out a parchment and quill. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville.”

Our friends all cheer, scooping Twilight in a hug as she starts to tear up. “Oh, thank you, Princess! I won’t let you down!”

“And as for you, North. Ruby?” Celestia turns to me. Ruby giggles, pulling out her own quill. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn North Star shall also take on a new mission for Equestria. To study the magic of friendship with Twilight Sparkle, and to aid any pony he can as he takes on his new role, as the Hero of Ponyville.” She smiles down at me as I feel my face light up. The girls all tackle me to the ground, hugging me tightly as they laugh. 

I hug them back as best I can, happy to finally be calling Ponyville home once again.

And I’ve never been more excited.
> Chapter 3- Family and Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As much as I’d love to say Twilight and I jumped straight into our new lives in Ponyville, sadly the world doesn’t work like that. As eager as we were to stick around, our families were still back in Canterlot, and they at least deserved a proper goodbye.

Well, that and everything we owned was still back there and we needed to pack. 

This leads us to now, with Twilight and I standing by a chariot waiting to take us back, and a tearful Pinkie Pie clinging to us and sobbing her eyes out. 

“I-I’m gonna miss you two so muh-huuuuuuch!” She cries, soaking my neck with her tears.

“P-Pinkie… I can’t breathe..,” I struggle out as my ribs get crushed in her bear hug. Y’know it figures. Survived battling the Mare of All Darkness only to get crushed by one of my best friends.

“I, I think I can see the light…” I hear Twilight choke out. Applejack rolls her eyes, granting us mercy as she grabs Pinkie by the tail and drags her off us.

“Calm down there Pinks, they’re only gonna be gone three days,” she says as Twilight and I suck the air back into our lungs.

“But that’s like forever!” The party pony argues. 

I get back to my hooves, patting Pinkie on the head. “We gotta say goodbye to our families and pack, Pinkie. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Twilight smiles excitedly. “Especially with the checklist I was making last night, we should be super efficient! Right Spike?” She looks back, but Spike is sound asleep in the chariot, hugging a large piece of rolled-up parchment. 

Ruby is near the front of the chariot, talking to the guards. She turns back to us. “Hey guys! The guards say Canterlot has a rain storm scheduled later, so we should get going if we wanna beat it.”

“Guess that’s our queue,” I say. “One last hug for the road?” Our five friends rush forward, pulling us into a group hug.

“We’ll be waiting for you, dearies,” Rarity says with a small smile.

“And we’ll make sure your welcome back party is a small one. The town is still recovering from Pinkie’s last bash,” Rainbow giggles, making us all laugh.

We break the hug, hopping onto the chariot. “We’ll be back soon!” Twilight promises, waving as we take off. They all wave back at us until they disappear from sight beneath the clouds. Twilight sighs, sitting down. I chuckle, patting her head. 

“You’d better get some rest. Our parents are probably gonna have a ton of questions for us,” I say, sitting next to her.

“Ugh, I don’t even know where to start,” she groans, getting comfortable.

“Well, we got a few hours to figure it out,” I sigh, leaning back against the wall of the chariot.

She lets out a nervous laugh, “Maybe we should leave out the parts where we almost died?”

“Yeah, that’s a given,” I chuckle. I look up, watching the clouds pass over us. “It’s kinda crazy to think about how much our lives have changed in just two days…”

She lets out a short laugh. “That’s an understatement. If you’d had told me last week I’d be overjoyed to move out of Canterlot to study friendship I’d have called you nuts.”

“Not only that but the Elements of freaking Harmony?”

“I know! It almost makes me wonder what other old stories are actually true,” she says excitedly. “Maybe we could find the Crystal Empire or figure out what actually happened to Starswirl-”

I cut her off by booping her nose. “Slow your roll there Star Butt,” I giggle. “Let’s just try and focus on the now, okay? One adventure at a time.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Learning how to be a friend is going to be enough of an adventure,” she says, before giving me a look. “Y’know, you’re technically a ‘Star Butt’ too.”

I laugh. “Well then let me begin your first lesson, with the Art of Teasing.”







After an hour of teaching Twilight about how to tease your friends without it going too far, and briefly touching on the science of pranking, we land in front of Celestia’s school. We thank the guards, waving them goodbye as they take off.

“So, should we start packing, or go see our parents first?” I ask, 

“Spike and I can start packing!” Ruby offers.

“Are you sure?” Twilight asks. “I’d hate to put too much work on you two.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Spike insists. “Besides, I think you two will need the time,” he says, pointing behind us. 

“What? What are you talking about?” I tilt my head in confusion, looking behind me in time for a grey blur to slam into my chest, knocking me over. I groan, looking up to see a pegasus colt with a light grey coat with pale blue spots on his chest, back, and rear legs. He has a messy white and blue mane and tail. Excited gold-colored eyes beam down at me.

“North! You’re back! Did you really fight Nightmare Moon?! Did you punch her in the face?!” Cloud Dust, my little brother asks me excitedly.

“Missed you too, Dusty,” I grunt, ruffling his mane. I set him down off me and sit up, seeing my Mom heading towards us with Twilight’s parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet in tow.

“North!” Mom calls out, running over and pulling me into a hug. I hug her back, looking over to see Twilight in a similar situation. “Oh, we were so worried! When the sun didn’t rise, then word made it back to us about Nightmare Moon…” She takes a breath, hugging me tight. “We’re just glad you’re safe.”

I hug her back. “We’re okay, Mom. I missed you.”

“Getting started without us, eh?” A new voice says.

I blink, looking up. I see two stallions walking towards us. Commander of the Royal Guard and Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor, large white unicorn with a blue-toned mane and tail. Next to him is Captain of the Canterlot Aerial Guard. A smaller burnt orange pegasus with a crimson and orange mane, and gold-colored eyes.

“Heat Lightning, you said you’d be here earlier,” my Mom mockingly chides him. 

He rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry, Miss love-of-my-life,” he teases back, “The Princess needed to give us a last-minute debriefing on our darling son’s adventure.” He gives me a knowing look, and my eyes go wide. I look over, seeing Twilight is just as nervous.

“Wait, really?” Velvet asks, looking at my Dad. “It couldn’t have been too exciting could it?”

Shining lets out a small chuckle at Twilight and I’s expression. He ruffles her mane. “Come on, let’s help these two pack and they can tell us the whole story.”

“Yeah, the whole story!” Twilight chuckles nervously as we follow them in.







Fortunately for us, Celestia seems to have left out our more reckless actions from yesterday. Our families listen intently as we recount our adventure, from the fall off the cliff to the manticore and the serpent. All the way up to our fight with Nightmare Moon and using the Elements of Harmony. 

“That’s so cool!” Dusty exclaims. “My brother beat Nightmare Moon!”

My Mom giggles, patting his head. “The Element of Bravery… I’m so proud of you sweetie.”

My Dad wraps his leg around me, ruffling my mane.”I always knew you were gonna grow up to be just as awesome as me,” he snickers.

I chuckle, hugging him back. “Thanks you guys.”

“Oh it’s all so exciting!” Twilight Velvet exclaims. “My little girl is a hero!”

Twilight blushes. “Mom, I wouldn’t go that far. We couldn’t have done it without our friends.”

“Quite literally,” I nod. “If they hadn't shown up when they did, I’m not sure what would have happened.

“Oh don’t go thinking like that,” Night Light insists. “You two and your friends saved Equestria. That’s what matters.”

“Thanks Dad,” Twilight says with a small smile.

“It’s a bit of a shame you two have to leave so soon,” Mom sighs. 

“We can always come back and visit, Heart Rate,” Twilight assures her. “We’re only a train ride away.”

“By the way,” Dad starts, looking at me. “You don’t have a place to stay in Ponyville do you?”

I chuckle, rubbing my neck. “Well, not really. Twilight was given the old Golden Oak Library. We were planning on me staying in the basement until I could buy a house with the bits I’ve saved up.”

Mom and Dad exchange a look, and she nods. “Well, there was something we were waiting to tell you. You remember how your Nana and Pops moved to Maneami a few years ago? They left their old place to you in case you ever wanted to move back to Ponyville.”

My face lights up. “Oh no way! I love that old house.”

Dad chuckles. “We know. We’ve been paying some ponies to keep it clean in the meantime. Might need some new furniture, but other than that.”

I pull them both into a hug. “Thanks you guys.”

Mom hugs me tight, a few tears in her eyes. “Oh, sweetie. This is almost harder than when you first left for Canterlot.”

“I’m gonna make you guys proud,” I smile up at them.

“Oh Bud,” Dad wraps his wings around us. “You already have.”







The three days went by faster than I’d like to have admitted. Before we knew it Twilight and I were boarding the express train to Ponyville with almost everything we owned, as well as enough books to properly stock the Golden Oak, as well as our own personal collections. After a tearful goodbye, and many promises to write, our families saw us off, waving goodbye as our train pulled out of the station.

After an uneventful trip, we were back in Ponyville that afternoon. As promised, our friends were eagerly awaiting us.

“North! Twilight!” Pinkie yells. In a blur, she tackles us to the ground, pulling us into another crushing hug.

“N-not again…” Twilight chokes out.

“I’m too young-!” I gasp, waving a hoof to try and get help.

Applejack comes to our rescue again, prying the part pony off us. “Pinkie! You said you’d take it easy on ‘em.”

“But I did!” She insists with a pout.

The country pony rolls her eyes. “Anyway, it’s good to have you two back. Ah got the wagons for your stuff,” she says, gesturing to the two wooden wagons off to the side of the platform. “We was plannin’ on helpin’ y’all move into the library, then a small get together at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Some of my animal friends even offered to help,” Fluttershy says with a small smile, gesturing to the group of animals by her side. 

“That’s really nice of you girls,” Twilight says with a smile. “But there’s been a slight change of plans. North isn’t moving in with me.”

They all blink in surprise. “Why ever not darling?” Rarity asks.

“Turns out my grandparents saved their old place for me,” I explain. “It’s on the outskirts of town. So you guys can help Twilight while I drop my stuff off there, then I’ll come back and help.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Rarity puts a hoof to my chest. “There is no way we are letting you and Ruby move in all on your lonesome.”

“Rarity, really it’s fine,” I try to insist, but she boops my snoot. 

“No no! While I do respect you North, I simply cannot allow one of my best friends to move in on his own. Besides, it’s only lady like to help a stallion in need.”

My ear twitches and I sigh. “Alright Rarity. But let’s do Twilight first, since she’s closer.”

“Very well. We’d better get started then!” Using our magic, she, Twilight and I levitate all our stuff into the waiting wagons. Rainbow and Applejack are already hooked up to them, waiting for us. 

“Feel like a race, Applejack?” Rainbow goads the country pony.

“Maybe take a raincheck,” she responds. “Wouldn’t want to damage any of their stuff while you’re busy losing.”

“Wha, hey!” The pegasus exclaims, causing us all to laugh.

“Maybe we should split up?” Twilight suggests as we all head out.

I nod in agreement. “Yeah, that’s a great idea. Then we’ll have plenty of time to catch up after.”

”Well Applejack has my stuff, so why don’t you and Rainbow take Rarity and Fluttershy?” 

“Sounds like a plan! Meet up at Sugarcube Corner when we’re all done?”

“You got it, boss,” Applejack tilts her hat at me. “See y’all soon!” With that our two groups break off, heading to our respective destinations.

I lead the girls through town, passing ponies as we go. We reach the outskirts of the west end of Ponyville, where the town borders on the White Tail Wood. There we find a long two-story cottage with a balcony overlooking Ponyville. One of the White Tail’s many streams flows into a large pond next to the cottage, with a large peach tree sitting next to it. I smile at the sight of the old place, happy to be home.

“Pretty nice digs, North,” Rainbow compliments, unhooking herself from the wagon. “Had no idea this was your place. That peach tree is one of my favorite napping spots.”

“Well I’m glad you like it,” I chuckle. “My uncle Clingstone planted it when he was a foal.” I levitate some of the boxes, carrying them to the door. Ruby pops up out of the wagon, carrying some of her boxes.

“I call dibs on Anti’s old room!” She yells, running inside. The girls giggle, each grabbing some of my stuff and carrying it inside. It almost exactly what I remember. The old couch by the fire place. Next to it as one of my favorite things from my childhood, a large old radio next to it, that doubles as a coffee table. It looks like my grandparents took most of the personal things. Pictures of family, my Mom and her siblings as foals. They seemed to have left most of the ones with me though.

“Oh, I remember this!” Rarity says happily, walking up to one of the photos. In it, there’s an older brown earth pony stallion with a black and green mane, and a cutie mark of a four leef clover. Next to him, is a pink unicorn with white hair, and a cutiemark of a white spade. My Pops and Nana, Cloverfield and Spade Spot. They’re standing with my parents and me as a foal in front of the peach tree outside. “This was the day you got accepted into the Princess’s School isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I nod, walking up next to her. Next to that photo is one of me with Applejack and her as foals, playing on the jungle gym at school. “Kinda sad I missed out on all the stuff you two got up to after I left. You must have some crazy stories.”

Rarity get a sad look. “Honestly darling there aren’t many. I’m sorry to admit it, but after you left, we only stayed together for a few years at most. She became more active on the orchard, and I pursued my passion with fashion. We’re still friends, but we’re not as close.”

I put a hoof on her shoulder, giving her a small smile. “Well maybe we can fix that? We got plenty of time to catch up now.” 

She smiles back at me. “I’d love that, North.” She turns away, heading back outside. I go to follow, when my eyes settle on another picture. Of me with a smaller purple unicorn.

“OHMYGOSH!!” Rainbow yells behind me, startling me. I whip around, seeing her standing over one of the boxes she’s started to unpack. She’s holding a framed Wonderbolt poster of a familiar burnt orange pegasus. He has the mask of the flight suit off and his goggles around his neck, and he’s giving the camera a confident look. She looks at me with wide eyes. “How did you get this?! They only made a hundred of these posters!”

I let out a quiet chuckle. Well might as well have some fun with her. “Well it was pretty easy actually. My Dad gave it to me.”
 
“Your Dad just gave you the Limited Edition Captain Poster of Heat Lightning?! He was one of the greatest Wonderbolt Captains of all time! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been searching for one of these?!” The pegasus exclaims, setting the poster down. 

I hear Rarity giggle as she steps back inside. “Dear must you keep teasing her?” She asks me knowingly.

Rainbow looks at her in confusion. “Wait, teasing me?”

I let out a short laugh. “Rainbow. Heat Lightning is my Dad.”

Her eyes go wide, as she gasps. In a blue blur she tackles me to the ground. “Your Dad was a Wonderbolt?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” 

“Well it didn’t really have a chance to come up. That’s not exactly something you just drop in a normal conversation,” I shrug.

“You gotta introduce me sometime! I need to show him my moves!” She says excitedly, jumping and hovering in the air.

I chuckle, standing up. “Sure, whenever he comes to visit. I think he’ll like you.”

“Hell yeah!” Rainbow says excitedly, spinning in the air.

I walk past her, seeing Fluttershy. “Um, excuse me, North?” She gets my attention. “My friend Mr. Beaverton Beaverteeth would like to know where you want his family to set these boxes,” she says, gesturing to a group of beavers carrying the last few of my boxes. 

“Oh, you can just have them set it in front of the couch,” I instruct, stepping aside as the beavers head over to the couch, setting the boxes down.

“There’s still a big wooded crate in the wagon,” Rainbow says, hovering outside. 

My ear twitches and I head outside. “Oh, I can get that one,” I say, lifting the crate out of the wagon with my magic. “This is my lab stuff. Some personal magic tech projects, that kind of stuff.”

“Ooh, that sounds interesting,” Fluttershy says as I carry the crate inside. “I’d love to hear about it sometime.”

“You sure about that? Most of the time it’s really boring,” Ruby teases me as she hops down the stairs.

“That’s just because you like naps more than science,” I tease her back. I nod to Fluttershy. “And sure, I’d love to have someone else to bounce my ideas off of.” I carry the large box over to the basement door. “I’m gonna take this to the basement. If you girls want to take Ruby, I’ll catch up.”

“Very well darling,” Rarity nods. “Come along Ruby! I’ve been dying to ask you about any embarrasing stories North has been hiding.” The baby dragon giggles, hopping onto her back.

“See ya soon North!” Rainbow calls out, hooking herself back up to the wagon. Fluttershy silently waves, closing the door behind them.

I open the door to the basement, the blue light of my horn lighting my way down the stairs. Other than that, the only light in the basement is coming from the light from the basement windows. I set the crate in the center of the room. Taking a breath, I open the top of the crate, and the basement is filled with crackling pink light. I stare down at the experiment before me, letting out a sigh.

“One day. I’m so close…”

I reluctantly close the crate back up, moving it to the side of the room. I head back up the stairs, and close the door behind me. Taking a breath, I head outside making my way back to town, eager to see my friends.

After a short walk, I make it to the gingerbread house-themed bakery. I push open the door and get greeted by a pink blur in my face. “Hiya Northy!” Pinkie greets me enthusiastically with a pie on her head. “You’re just in time! The others just got here a few minutes ago!”

“Thanks, Pinkie! I just had to take care of something back at the house,” I tell her, stepping inside.

“Oh you’re okay! I’ve just been getting everypony snacks! Ooh! Speaking of which,” she takes the pie off her head and hands it to me. “I got your favorite! Peach Melba ice cream pie, right?”

“Aw, thank you, Pinkie!” I say, taking the pie from her. “I’m surprised you remembered, it’s been so long.”

“Oh don’t be silly, janefilly! I always remember what my friends like!” She giggles, bouncing over to where our friends are gathered around a table. I follow behind her, taking the empty seat next to Twilight. 

“Glad ya could finally join us!” Applejack smirks at me, taking a bite of her apple pie.

Fluttershy takes a bite of a lemon bar, smiling at me. “Oh, you’re okay North. We just got here.”

I chuckle, taking a bite of my pie. “Oh don’t mind her, she’s just jealous cuz I like peaches more than apples,” I tease her.

The country mare huffs. “Ah am not jealous. Ah just don’t get why you’d prefer peaches when apples are so much better.”

“Wouldn’t you technically be a Pear, North?” Rainbow asks, eating a cookie. “Cuz of your uncle or whatever?”

“I mean, technically I guess?” I shrug. “As far as I know my great grandma Nectarine was the last peach making Peach on my branch of the tree before Uncle Clingstone.”

“Oh, I love genealogy!” Twilight claps her hooves. 

“Uh, what do rocks have to do with this?” Rainbow asks, genuine confusion on her face.

I’m unable to hold my laughter, caught off guard.

Twilight lets out a small giggle. “No, you’re thinking of geology, Rainbow. Genealogy is studying family histories!”

“Oooh okay! That makes way more sense.”

“Although both would apply in my case!” Pinkie giggles.

Rarity perks up. “Oh, that reminds me! I found the most exquisit jewel deposit the other day!”

We continue long into the night. Sharing new stories, and catching up on old ones. Laughter echoing into the streets.

It’s so good to be home.







My eyes shoot open. I’m laying on a cold stone floor, a broken ceiling above me, casting the light of the moon down onto me. I groan, climbing back to my hooves. Looking around, I see two thrones in front of me. One blue, the other yellow, with banners draped above them. A hole in the wall between the two of them,

I quickly put together that I’m back in the ancient royal castle. “I really need to stop waking up here,” I groan, walking up to the thrones. “The question is if I’m dreaming or not,” I mutter. Walking up to Luna’s throne, I tilt my head at it. “Well there’s no one to stop me,” I smirk, climbing into the large chair and sitting down. Despite its age, it's rather comfortable. I look over the ancient hall, banners of the old regalia still hanging from the walls. 

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” A voice whispers in my ear.

I whip around, jumping off the throne as my horn lights up. I don’t find anyone behind me, so my eyes scan around the room.

“I thought so too,” the voice continues. “But it wasn’t enough. None enjoyed my night, my beautiful stars.” A purple mist bursts from Celestia’s throne, breaking it. It settles on Luna’s materializing into Nightmare Moon. “So I decided to make them enjoy it. But you already know that story don’t you?”

“Nightmare!” I scowl at her. “So I guess that answers one question, this is a dream.”

She lets out a low chuckle. “As much as it pains me to admit it, yes. Your friends succeeded in expelling me from that weakling Luna.”

“Then what are you doing here?” 

“One last act of defiance perhaps?” She shrugs, that smug smile never leaving her face. “As you were using the Elements on me I used the last of my energy to latch on to anything I could. How lucky it ended up being you.”

I roll my eyes. “You got a point you’re trying to make here, or are you really using the last of your strength to try and taunt me?”

She smiles down at me. “You’ll never save them all. Yes you prevailed against me. Quite spectacularly. But do you really think I’m the worst creature in this world?” She materializes in front of me. “Even with my own spells at your disposal, you will never be strong enough to best the worst of them.”

“I won’t need to be,” I glare at her, watching as she starts to circle me. “I’ll always have my friends with me.”

“Oh yes, the power of friendship. Because that has worked so well for you in the past,” the fallen monarch mocks me. “Tell me, do any of them know about her? About how you failed her too?”

I growl at her. “That wasn’t my fault!” 

“Wasn’t it? Had you been here and not learning from my pathetic sister you could have saved her. But you weren’t. You abandoned her!” Nightmare yells, getting in my face. 

“No I didn’t! How do you even know?” I demand, stamping my hoof.

She lets out a laugh. “I am the original nightmare, my dear. I know everything you're afraid of. Your most private fears, and even those you’re ignorant of. The power to save your friends is within your grasp, but you will always be too weak to take it.” She walks away from me as the palace starts to crumble around us. “So enjoy your victory North Star. I’m certain it won’t be your last. But when you fail your friends, and your Harmony crumbles to dust around you, I’ll be waiting.”

Nightmare Moon lets out a bellowing laugh as the floor cracks beneath me, sending me falling into the dark abyss.







I awake with a gasp, sitting up in bed. I sigh when I take in my surroundings, seeing I’m in my room. The sun hasn’t risen yet, the dull light of twilight peaking out outside. 

Pulling myself out of bed with a groan, I walk over to the sliding door of my balcony, pulling it open. I sit down on the outdoor couch, staring out at the horizon as I sort through the nightmare I just had. 

Was it even real? I have no doubt things worse than Nightmare Moon exist. She even knew about…

I sigh, taking a breath of the cool morning air. 

‘It doesn’t matter. I won’t fail my friends. Whatever comes for us, we’ll beat it. Together.’

A new sense of confidence rising in my chest, I look up, seeing the sun rise over the hills, ushering in my first official day in Ponyville.

The first day of my new adventure.
> Chapter 4- Tasks and Tickets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been a few days since Ruby and I moved into my grandparents’ house, and it’s another beautiful day in Ponyville. Well for now at least. There’s a short rainstorm scheduled around noon, so I’m out with Ruby running some errands before then. After a day of unpacking and inspecting the house, we’d come up with a solid list of everything we needed. Unfortunately, most of the appliances needed either replacing or upgrading, and we’re waiting for those to get delivered at some point this week.

Right now, we’re heading to the farmer’s market to stock up on cooking supplies and food.

“Thanks, Carrot Top!” I thank the ginger-maned mare, putting a bag of carrots in my cart. Ruby marks off her checklist from her seat in the cart. “Okay, that’s carrots done. What’s next?”

“Let’s see,” the dragon hums. “Carrots finish off the vegetables. Already tackled baking supplies. Got soap and cleaning stuff… Looks like the only thing left is apples to finish off the fruits!” She says happily, tucking the checklist away.

“Great! Now where the heck is Applejack?” I mutter, walking to where the Apple Family cart is usually parked. There I find Apple Bloom and a napping Granny Smith mareing the cart. I walk up with a smile. “Morning ladies.”

“Howdy North!” Apple Bloom greets me. “Ya doin’ some shoppin’?” 

“That’s right,” I nod to the filly. “Think you could set me up with two dozen apples?”

“You got it!” She hops to the cart, starting to put apples in a sack.

“By the way, where’s Applejack? She’s normally out helping you guys.”

“Oh, she’s gatherin’ up some apples in prep for Apple Buck Season next week. Somethin’ about a bet with Big Mac?” The filly shrugs. She drags the sack of apples over to me. “That’ll be twenty bits!” 

I levitate the money into their collection box and lift the sack into my cart. “Thanks, Apple Bloom,” I say, ruffling the filly’s mane.

“See ya around, North!” She giggles, waving to me as we walk away, making our way back to the house.

“This mean we’re done for the day?” Ruby asks excitedly. 

I nod. “Yep! All we gotta do is unload this stuff at home.” 

“Awesome! I had this great idea for a new drawing and- erp,” she’s cut off as her cheeks balloon. She lets out a belch of pink fire, producing a letter. 

“A letter from Celestia?” I tilt my head. “I wonder what she needs.”

“Only one way to find out,” Ruby clears her throat. “‘Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, blah blah blah, next spring… cordially extends an invitation to North Star, plus one guest!’” She lets out another burp, and two golden tickets materialize from her magic. We exchange blank looks. “...So we’re selling these, right?” We both start laughing as we get back to the house.

I cough a bit as my laughter subsides. “Yeah. A whole evening of just us with the stuffy Canterlot nobility. Noooo thank you.” I start to carry the groceries inside as Ruby hops out of the cart.

“You remember your last fancy shindig the Princess invited you to?” The dragon giggles.

I groan as I start to put everything away. “Oh yes, Blueblood’s birthday party. Y’know, I’m still half convinced she only invited me because she knew I wouldn’t be able to resist messing with him.”

Ruby hops on the counter to help. “I still think he’s terrified of you for getting frosting in his mane.”

“Hey, that was an accident! I only wanted to make him sneeze his drink out his nose, he’s the clod that got so startled he tripped into the cake.” We both laugh at the memory as we finish putting the groceries away.

“Hey! Maybe Twilight and Spike got tickets too?” She suggests. “I mean it wouldn’t be so bad if they were with us.”

I hum in thought. “Not a bad idea. She’ll probably want to spend most of the night with Celestia, but I can think of worse ways to spend an evening. Why not?” I take off my saddlebags and head for the door. “You coming with?”

She shakes her head. “Nah, I’ll stay here. I did say I had some drawing I want to get done, and I might head over to the Library later. But you go on ahead! And don’t be scared to give my ticket away if a cute mare asks.” She teases me, pulling her drawing pad and pencils off the table. 

I roll my eyes. “Okay, have fun!” I tell her, closing the door behind me as I leave.







“Now, if I was a purple book horse and I was not in the Library, where would I be?”

I’m broken from my thoughts by the sound of a rather loud argument happening nearby. “Okay, that sounds bad…” Putting my current task on hold, I take a detour, following the ruckus. What I find is my friends, for some reason, arguing with each other with a nervous looking Twilight in the middle. 

‘Well that’s one problem solved, but it looks like I have a brand new one.’

Walking over, I clear my throat. “Hey!” I yell, getting all of their attention. Well, almost all.

“And I said, ‘oatmeal? Are you craz-’” Pinkie cuts herself off, looking at me. “Oh, sorry.”

“Girls, what is all this arguing about?” I ask.

Rainbow speaks up first. “They’re all trying to get Twilight to give them my ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!”

“Um Ah think you mean my ticket!” Applejack counters.

“Enough!” Twilight yells, trying to stop another argument. “Girls, there’s no use in arguing.”

‘But Twilight-” Rarity tries to plead, and the unicorn cuts her off.

“No! This is my decision, and I’m going to make it on my own. And I certainly can’t think straight with all this noise!” At that moment her stomach growls, causing her to groan. “Not to mention this hunger. Now go on, shoo!” She demands, waving her hoof. Our friends all groan, going in their separate directions.

I walk up to Twilight, tilting my head at her. She looks at me sadly, and her stomach growls again. I let out a soft chuckle. “Come on, let’s hit up the diner, then you can tell me all about what craziness we’ve gotten into now.” She nods, a smile forming on her face as we head off.







Twilight and I are sat in the corner booth of the local diner. I insisted we eat inside, due to the rain that’s supposed to start soon. That and to keep us from getting interrupted by our friends. I listen to Twilight retell the events from this morning as we wait for our orders. From Spike receiving the tickets, to all of our friends starting to argue over them, as well as their reasons for wanting to go (and resisting the urge to audibly groan at Rarity’s desire to marry Blueblood of all stallions. Seriously she deserves so much better.)

“Oh, North, what am I gonna do? All five of our best friends have really good reasons to go to the Gala, but I only have two tickets. There’s no way I can please all of them.” She sighs, idly chewing on one of the flowers sitting in the vase on the table.

I sigh. “Twilight, each of our friends means well, but this is not something they’re gonna let go of easily,” I say as the rain starts to pour outside. “The Gala is a huge opportunity for all of them, I get that. But what do you want?”

“What do… I want?” She asks, almost confused by the question,

“Your orders,” The waiter pony says, setting a double daffodil and dandelion sandwich in front of Twilight, and a double baked potato in front of me.

“Thanks, Savoir,” I say, and he nods to me before walking away to tend to other guests. I turn back to my companion. “Now. Less thinking. More eating,” I instruct her with a smirk. She looks at me thankfully, taking a big bite out of her sandwich. She lets out a happy groan, making me chuckle as I dig into my own food.

Twilight happily eats her sandwich, quickly devouring it to satisfy her hunger. She lets out a content sigh when she finishes, the only thing being left is a toothpick. “Thanks for this North, I really appreciate it.”

I give her a soft smile. “Any time Twilight.”

She smiles back at me, before getting a small blush. “You asked me what I wanted, but what about you? Would you want to go to the Gala with me?”

I swallow the last of my meal, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Funny you should mention that.” I look around the cafe to see if the coast is clear, and then I pull out my two tickets with my magic.

Twilight gasps. “Princess Celestia sent you tickets too?” She asks quietly.

I nod. “Yeah. It’s actually the reason I was out looking for you.”

“For me? Why?”

“Well, Ruby and I weren’t really interested in going by ourselves,” I explain. “We had the idea that maybe you and Spike got tickets too, then maybe we could all go together. And if not, then maybe you and I could go.”

“You’d wanna go to the Gala with me?” She asks, almost in disbelief. 

“Well yeah,” I smile. “You’re basically my best friend Twilight. I could tolerate being around stuffy nobles if I’m hanging out with you.” She smiles at this, the blush on her face deepening. “But now I’m having the same problem as you,” I sigh. “Cuz even if we go together, that still leaves two spare tickets and five friends who want them.”

Twilight groans, laying her head on the table. “So we’re right back to square one.”

I pat her head, standing up out of the booth as I set down bits for the bill and tip. “Come on, why don’t we head back to the Library for now? Give you a chance to clear your head?”

She nods following me outside. Fortunately, the rain has stopped. Unfortunately, someone is waiting for us. 

“SURPRISE!” A bunch of ponies yell, throwing confetti. A pair of pink legs grab us, pulling us into the crowd. They start tossing us in the air as Pinkie Pie starts singing.

“Twilight is my bestest friend! Whoopie, whoopie!~”

Twilight deadpans as we get tossed, “Pinkie…”

“She's the cutest, smartest, all-around best pony, pony!~”

“Pinkie,” I try to get her attention, but she ignores me and we get tossed again.

“I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!~”

“Pinkie!”

“She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me!~”

“PINKIE!” We both yell, startling all the mares tossing us as they drop us to the ground. I feel my tickets fall on my face, and my eyes go wide.

“Northy! You got tickets too?!” Pinkie gasps.

“Wait a minute. Tickets to what?” I hear a random mare ask as Twilight and I scramble to our hooves, quickly putting the tickets away.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Pinkie smiles innocently. Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala! And apparently Northy does too!”

“THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA??” The group all gasps, turning towards us. A few mares zip up to me.

“Y’know I’ve always thought you were really cute.”

“Maybe you need a date, handsome?”

“I’ll clean up your house for you! And maybe more~?”

Twilight is in a similar situation as we bump into each other, the mares continuing to talk over each other, throwing compliments and offers of favors at us.

“Twilight? Any Ideas?” I nervously ask her.

“Just one…” She sighs. “RUN!” She takes off, and I follow close behind. The crowd yells in surprise, chasing after us. They chase us all through town, unrelenting in their pursuit. We do everything we can to try to lose them. Hiding in shops and under bridges. I’m pretty sure I ended up in a baby carriage at some point.

The crowd eventually corners us in an alley peppering us with more offers of favors and compliments, each wanting our spare tickets. Seeing no other way out, Twilight and I’s horns light up, and there’s a flash of light. We reappear in the Library, startling Ruby and Spike.

“Ugh, that spell is gonna take some getting used to,” I groan, rubbing my head.

“Where the heck did you two come from?!” Ruby yelps.

“No time! Quick lock the doors!” Twilight yells. The four of us run around, locking all the doors and windows on the first floor. Turning off all the lights, we slump against each other, letting out a sigh of relief.

The lights turn back on and our eyes go wide. We shoot up, seeing our friends in the loft above us, smiling down at us.

Twilight yells in frustration. “I can't decide, I just can't decide! It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, because you're all my friends and I wanna make you all happy and I can't! I just can't!” She collapses to the floor, putting her hooves on her head. I put a hoof on her back, glaring at our friends as my own frustration rises.

“I’m disappointed in you girls. I understand you all want to go to the Gala but putting this kind of pressure on Twilight like this isn’t fair to her at all, not to mention to the rest of your friends! I’m glad I didn’t tell any of you about my tickets. Were you planning on harassing me too?” I scold them, and they all get guilty looks. 

Applejack hops down, walking over to Twilight and putting a hoof on her head. “Twilight, Ah’m sorry. Ah didn’t mean to put so much pressure on you. And if it helps, Ah don’t want the ticket no more. You can give it to somepony else. Ah won’t feel bad, Ah promise.”

“Me too,” Fluttershy hovers down.”I feel just awful I made you feel so awful.”

“And me too!” Pinkie nods. “Northy is right. It’s no fun upsetting your friends.”

“Twilight, it was unfair of me to try and force you as I did,” Rarity apologizes, then looks at me. “I’m sorry to you as well, darling. I am better than this, and I apologize for disappointing you.”

Rainbow zips into the air. “Yes! That means the ticket is all mine! Haha!” We all glare at her, unamused. She awkwardly clears her throat. “Y’know, I haven’t perfected my signature moves for the Wonderbolts yet anyway. I don’t need that ticket either.”

“We all got so gun-ho about going to the gala that we couldn't see how un-gun-ho we were making you,” Applejack finishes.

They all apologize to us, walking over. Twilight and I look at each other. I smile, nodding as I pull out my tickets and give them to her. “Spike, take a letter,” She says, getting to her hooves. "Dear Princess Celestia, North and I have learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there are not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though we appreciate the invitations, we will be returning our tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

“What?!” Our friends all gasp out.

“If our friends can’t go, we don’t want to go either,” I finish, smiling at them.

“You two don’t have to do that,” Applejack tries to argue.

“Nope, we’ve made up our minds,” Twilight nods. “Spike, you can send the letter now.”

The dragon nods, heading over to the window and sending the letter off with his fire.

“But now you two can’t go to the Gala either,” Fluttershy says.

“It’s okay girls,” I reassure them. “I think I speak for both of us when I say that we couldn’t properly enjoy ourselves without knowing our friends were having fun too, so we’d rather not go at all.” Twilight nods in agreement, smiling.

They all come up, pulling Twilight and I into a group hug. Spike pretends to gag, and Ruby rolls her eyes at him. Her cheeks balloon again and she coughs out a burst of pink fire.

“Celestia responded already?” I tilt my head. 

Spike tries to grab the letter, but Ruby gets it first, bapping him with her tail. She unrolls the scroll. “‘ My faithful students. Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?’” She gasps, holding a clawful of tickets. “Look! Seven tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!”

We all gasp, and Twilight lets out an excited squeak. “Now we can all go! This is amazing!” The girls all cheer, and I let out a soft laugh. We’re cut off though when Twilight’s stomach growls again. She lets out a small giggle. “I guess that sandwich wasn’t enough to hold me over.”

“Allow us to treat you to dinner,” Rarity offers.

“As a way to apologize, if nothing else,” Rainbow adds as we all head out the door, grabbing our tickets from Ruby.

“And celebrate!” Pinkie cheers. “Come on everypony! The cupcakes are on me!”

I hang back for a second, watching as a burst of green light comes from the library. A second later, Ruby and a giddy Spike run out, each holding tickets. He stops when he sees me, and I give him a smug look. 

“Uh, I mean gross! I have to go too?” He says, trying to play it off.

“Yeah, a real shame,” I tease him, picking Ruby up onto my back. We catch up with the rest of our friends, who are discussing what we should get.

“I vote pizza!” Rainbow says, hovering over the group.

“Oh please, Rainbow, have some class. How about the Prench place across town?”

“Well, pizza is technically Neitalian,” I giggle. “Plus I feel like something simple after the day we just had,”

“Oh, very well. I’ll find a way to inject some culture into this group eventually,” she sighs, making us all laugh, happy to be together.
> Chapter 5- An Apple Headache
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m telling you, in a straight point-to-point race, Fleetfoot is winning hooves down.”

“As if! Spitfire has it down! That’s why she’s the captain!”

Once again, it’s another new day in Ponyville. I’m spending the day hanging out with Rainbow Dash, and we’re currently having a conversation about the Wonderbolts, specifically, who’s the fastest. It's one of the bigger things we have in common since we both grew up around them. Though, in different ways I guess. Rainbow is next to me, lying on a cloud she brought down.

“Trust me Rainbow, Fleetfoot is faster than Spitfire,” I say. “She actually reminds me of you a bit.”

“How so?” the speedster tilts her head.

“Well like you, what she lacks in size she makes up for in speed,” I tease her.

“Wha-Hey! I’m not small!” she pouts, making me laugh.

“In all seriousness Rainbow, you’re gonna be an awesome Wonderbolt,” I smile at her.

“Well of course I am! They’d be crazy not to take me in!” She says confidently.

I roll my eyes with a smile. “Yeah, just don’t try and hijack any of their performances. Twilight told me about your Gala plan,” I deadpan at her, unimpressed. “They tend to take that kinda serious, and I’d hate to have to bail you out of the Canterlot dungeon.”

“Ugh, fine,” she sighs, kicking at a tuft of her cloud. “I gotta meet them somehow though.”

“Well the Best Young Fliers Competition is next spring, isn’t it? You could win that for sure!” I encourage her.

“Heck yeah, I could!” Rainbow gets a smug look. “I’m already planning out my routine. I’m going to cap it all off with my Sonic Rainboom! There’s no way any anypony could beat that!”

“Sonic Rainboom?” I ask in confusion, tilting my head.

“It’s when a pegasus flies so fast that they break both the sound and light barriers, making an explosion of color!” She says excitedly.

“Wow, that sounds awesome! I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it before.”

“Well, they’re super rare. I did when I was a filly,” she says smugly. “I just wish you and the rest of our friends could come too. I’m gonna have just Fluttershy as my cheering section.”

I get a mischievous look. “You wanna see something cool?”

“Uh, always!”

Moving quickly, I tackle her, knocking her off the cloud. She hits the ground with an oof, but she quickly recovers, giggling. “Hey- woah!” Her eyes go wide when she sees me sitting on the cloud.

“Oooh, I forgot how comfortable these things are,” I sigh, lying on the cloud.

“How are you doing that?” She asks, hovering next to me, poking my chest.

I respond by booping her snoot with a chuckle. “I’m half pegasus, you dork. It’s just genetics.”

“Oh, yeah. I knew that,” she chuckles with a blush.

“Sure you did,” I roll my eyes playfully..

“Well you could have just told me,” she says sitting next to me.

“Yeah, but this was funnier,”  I counter, causing her to giggle. “But yeah, if you want, I could come to the competition to cheer you on. You’d just have to ferry me on a cloud.”

“Heck yeah!” She cheers. We sit in silence for a moment, watching the clouds pass overhead. 

Our quiet moment abruptly ends as the ground starts to rumble, and we both shoot up. 

“That can’t be good,” I say, running towards the noise as Rainbow flies above me. 

“I’m gonna get a better look!” She yells, zooming up higher. I get to the edge of town, seeing a dust cloud building in the distance.

“Shit.”

“Stampede!” Rainbow yells, trying to warn ponies. 

“We gotta get everpony off the street!” I yell up at her. She nods, zooming off. I run into town, doing my best to corral ponies indoors, as the town has started to panic. Some of our other friends are there as well.

Pinkie giggles as the ground makes her body vibrate. “H-e-e-e-e-e-y! T-h-i-s m-a-k-e-s m-y v-o-i-c-e s-o-u-n-d s-i-i-l-l-y-y-y-y!”

“Pinkie Pie, are you crazy? Run!” Twilight urges her.

“Calm down everypony! There’s no need to panic!” Mayor Mare yells, trying to calm everypony.

“But Mayor! Whatever shall we do?” Rarity asks dramatically.

“Look there!” Rainbow calls out, pointing at the stampede. We all turn and look, seeing Appljack! She’s trying to corral the herd and direct them away from town.

“Yeah! Go Applejack!” I cheer. She gets a lasso around the lead cow, pulling it while Winona runs at the front of the pack. At the last second, they get the herd to turn, avoiding the town. Everypony cheers for her, grateful that she saved the town.

“That was so awesome!” Rainbow says, landing next to me.

“I’ll say. She showed up just in time,” I respond with a grin.

Applejack and Winona come over the hill, and we all cheer for them again.

“YeeHAW!” The country girl yells, running back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Pinkie giggles. “YeeHaw! Ride ‘em cowpony!” She cheers, hopping in the street.

The mayor nods. “Applejack was just… just…”

“Appletastic!” The party pony finishes, falling to the ground.

“Exactly! We simply must do something to thank Applejack for singlehoofedly saving the town!”

Pinkie's eyes go wide as she smiles. “I know what we can do!”

I smirk. “Let me guess, a party?”

“Aw, Northy! I didn’t know you could read minds!” She giggles, patting my mane. “Now I need streamers and four dozen balloons!” 

She bounces off, and our friends follow her. Getting a weird feeling, I start heading towards Sweet Apple Acres, wanting to check on Applejack. I make my way through the rows of apple trees, searching for the farm pony. My eyes land on a familiar sight, making me stop.

An old dilapidated clubhouse sits in a large apple tree. I walk up the small ramp, brushing some dust off the balcony with my tail. “The years haven’t been nice to you, have they?” I let out a soft chuckle, pressing my hoof against the old doorframe. 

“North?” I turn around, seeing Applejack standing behind me. She tilts her head at me. “What are you doin’ here?”

“I was looking for you,” I say, climbing down from the clubhouse. “Old girl has seen better days, huh?”

“Yeah,” she nods sadly. “Ain’t got a whole lot of use out of her the past few years. Ah’m wantin’ to show Apple Bloom to see if she and her friends wanna fix it up. There just ain’t been time.”

“Yeah the past few weeks have been pretty hectic.” I look over, seeing she has a cart full of buckets. “What are you up to?”

“It’s Apple Buck Season,” she simply explains, and I nod in understanding. 

“Guess that means fall is finally here huh?” I lightly joke. “Is Big Mac working the other side of the orchard?”

She shakes her head, setting up the buckets under a tree. “Big Mac hurt himself yesterday stopping a runaway cart from hittin’ some foals. He’s restin’ up so, Ah’m on my own.”

“By yourself?” I ask with a tilt of my head. “Applejack it would take you forever to do this all alone.”

“Now don’t you start using your fancy mathematics on me too!”  She frowns at me. “I can do this on my own, just you watch.”

“Are you sure? I’m more than happy to help.”

She looks annoyed by my offer. “Ah appreciate it, North, but Ah can do this on my own.” Before I can argue further, she starts bucking apple trees.

I sigh internally, knowing first hoof exactly how stubborn Applejack can be. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.” She only nods in response, and I head back towards town.

‘This can’t end well…’







It’s a few days later, and the town is prepping for the celebration to congratulate Applejack for saving the town from the stampede. The whole square is decorated with banners and balloons. Even the pony fountain statue has balloons tied all over its limbs.

“A party!” Pinkie randomly yells, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I look over and see Ruby helping Rarity tie a bow around a tree. I walk over as Twilight approaches with Spike on her back.

“We all ready?” She asks.

“Just one last thing,” Rarity reassures her. “North, if you’d be so kind?” I nod happily, picking up the large apple-themed banner in my magic and lifting it up, fastening it in place on the town hall. “Thank you, darling. Now we’re ready!”

Twilight nods. “Is Applejack all set?” 

“Actually I haven’t seen her all week,” Rainbow chimes in, landing next to us.

“Same here. She’s been busy since the stampede,” I add.

“She’ll be here for sure. Applejack is never late,” Rainbow says confidently.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” I mutter as Ruby climbs on my back. 

About an hour later, a crowd has gathered outside of the town hall. I stand on the open porch of the hall with Twilight. She steps up to the podium, pulling out a stack of flash cards. 

“Welcome, everypony!” The purple unicorn starts, addressing the crowd. “Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to-” She’s suddenly cut off by Rainbow zooming in next to her.

“Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so awesome!” Rainbow says excitedly, squishing her face with her hooves.

“Exactly!” Twilight shoves the speedster off the podium, but before she can continue her speech, Pinkie pops up in front of her.

“This week! I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!” The party pony announces. “And Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me! Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!”

The crowd cheers as Twilight takes her spot behind the podium again. “Okay, that’s great. Now if I can just make a point without getting inter-”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy pokes her side.

“-rupted,” Twilight grumbles, moving aside for the soft pegasus.

“Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census,” Fluttershy says happily, much to the apparent annoyance of Twilight. “Where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills.” She notices the unicorn’s annoyed look, silently slinking back from the podium.

“Anyone else? Anyone?” Twilight asks aloud. “No? Well then, as I was trying to say-” she looks over, seeing the wide smile of Mayor Mare. She growls in frustration, flinging her index cards in the air. “Never mind.” I let out a soft chuckle, patting Twilight on the back as we step off the stage.

The Mayor clears her throat. And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the Prized Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!” The crowd cheers as the curtain on the porch opens, revealing… no one.

“Oh no,” I mutter as the crowd gasps.

“Cool! Way to go, Applejack, that was awesome! I mean—” Spike cheers, stopping when he sees all of us staring at him. “Heh. Awkward.”

“Yes, you’re pretty much the king of that,” Ruby rolls her eyes.

“Ah'm here! Ah'm here,” a southern voice calls from the back of the crowd. I look back, seeing Applejack making her way through the crowd. She has saddle baskets filled with apples on her back, and thick bags under her eyes. She stumbles through the crowd, eventually making it to the stage. “Sorry Ah'm late! Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for this here... award thingy,” she says tiredly with a yawn. “It's so bright and shiny and, heh, heh heh, I sure do look funny heh.” The country pony laughs at her distorted reflection in the award, making noises as she moves back and forth.

I rub my face with my hoof, kicking myself for being right. She looks like she hasn’t slept since I last saw her, and she’s acting like it too.

Twilight clears her throat. “Okay, well, thank you Applejack for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony.”

Applejack yawns again. Yeah. I like helping the ponyfolks and… and stuff.” She dozes off again with a snore, shaking herself awake. “Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, thanks!” She drags the trophy off the stage, and the crowd makes room for her, silent as she heads back to the orchard.

Twilight tilts her head. “Uh, was it just me or did Applejack seem a little…”

“Tired?” Rainbow offers.

“Dizzy?” Fluttershy asks.

“Messy?” Rarity says, making us all look at her. “Well. Did you see her mane?”

“She seemed fine to me!” Pinkie perks up. “Woo!”

I roll my eyes, heading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, to try and talk som sense into Applejack.

“Hey North, wait up!” I turn my head, seeing Twilight following me. “You going to see what’s up with Applejack too?” She asks as she catches up with me.

“Yeah, but I get the feeling I already know what’s up,” I sigh. Twilight tilts her head at me in confusion. “It's the Apple family’s harvesting time,” I explain further. “Big Mac hurt himself a few days ago, so Applejack is on her own.”

“What about all those relatives I met when we first came to Ponyville?” She asks. “Can't they help?”

“They probably would if Applejack would just ask,” I grunt. “They’re harvesting their own orchards around Equestria, but I’m sure they could spare a few ponies.”

“So why won’t she ask?”

“Easier said than done,” I say as we walk into the orchard. “Applejack is one of the most stubborn ponies I know. If she has her mind set on doing this alone, we might not be able to convince her to let us help.”

We find Applejack by a tree. She bucks the trunk, sending the apples falling into the waiting baskets below. In her tiredness, she kicks over one of the baskets, spilling apples on the ground.

Twilight and I call out her name, but she doesn't hear us, having fallen asleep standing up. I consider letting her sleep, but Twilight teleports in front of the earth pony.

“Applejack!” The unicorn yells, waking her up.

The farm pony shakes her head, smiling tiredly when she sees us. “Oh, howdy Twilight, North.”

“Are you doing okay?” Twilight asks worriedly.

“Yeah, Ah’m just busy,” she claims, bucking another tree.

“North told me what happened. Are you really out here all by yourself?”

“Oh did he now?” Applejack asks, giving me a side eye. She shakes her head with another groan. “Well, don't you four worry none. Ah’m just fine and dandy.”

“Applejack you’re exhausted. You’re going to get yourself hurt,” I try to reason with her. “Please, just let us help you.”

“Help?” The farm pony scoffs at the idea. “No way! No how!”

“But there’s no way you can do this by yourself!” Twilight protests.

“Is that a challenge?”

“No one is challenging you!” I sigh. “Applejack we’re just worried about you.”

She scoffs, walking off. “Ain’t nothin’ to worry about! I'm gonna prove to you that I can do it! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got apples to buck.” She heads further into the orchard, away from us.

Twilight sighs. “Well that could have gone better.”

“She’s gonna get herself hurt. Or somepony else,” I groan, rubbing my face.

Twilight pats my back as we watch Applejack get back to work, knocking over another basket of apples.







Things only went downhill from there. While helping Rainbow Dash with an air stunt, Applejack had sent her careening through the air, and crashing on Twilight’s balcony. The day after, she poisoned two dozen ponies by botching Pinkie’s muffin recipe. Each time, Twilight and I have tried to confront an even more exhausted and sleep deprived Applejack, and each time she turned away our offers to help, her exhaustion no doubt making her stubbornness even worse.

“Boy do I sure hate being right…”

Making my way through town on my way to the library, wondering what new disaster awaits me today, I hear a voice call my name.

“Hey North!” I look up, seeing a panicked Rainbow Dash. “Get to the square! We got a problem!”

I groan, running through town as I follow the pegasus. The ground is rumbling one again, and the townsponies are panicking, trying to rush to safety. I look up seeing a stampede of… rabbits?

The rabbits flood the town square, eating the flowers and vegetables from the gardens. Poor Fluttershy is skittering around, trying to gather up the bunnies again. “Oh my. Oh... Please stop, little bunnies. Oh no! Please, let's go home. Oh my goodness!”

“Okay! I’ve had enough of this shit!” I declare, making my way towards Sweet Apple Acres. I run into Twilight, also making her way to the orchard.

“Guessing you saw the bunny breakout too, huh?” She asks me, and I nod.

“Yep. It’s only a matter of when she seriously hurts someone at this point. Including herself.”

“I agree,” Twilight nods as we search the orchard for the farm pony. “No matter what happens, we are not taking no for an answer.”

We run into Big Mac, the large stallion still has a bandage wrapped around his torso. 

“Big Mac!” My companion greets him. “Do you know where Applejack is?”

“Eeyup,” he nods.

“Can you take us to her?” I ask.

“Eeyup.” He leads us through the orchard, to a lone tree on a hill. An exhausted Applejack is barely able to stand, weakly kicking the tree.

“Must… keep, buckin'... just… a few, more. Must finish harvestin'...” Applejack mumbles out, a few apples falling into her baskets.

Twilight and I walk up to her, and I start confronting her. “Okay Applejack, your stubbornness isn’t just being a detriment to your health, you’re putting other ponies at risk now too!”

Twilight nods. “You’ve over-propelled a pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, you. Need. Help!”

The farmpony kicks the tree behind her, sending the last of the apples into her baskets. “Hah! No Ah don’t!” She yells smuggly. She gestures to the empty trees behind us. “Look, Ah did it! Ah harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without your help! How d'ya like them apples?”

Big Mac clears his throat, getting her attention. “How do you like them apples?” He gestures behind her, to where a whole quarter of the orchard is still unharvested.

The farm pony’s eyes go wide when she sees all the trees that are left. She sways side to side, mumbling incoherently. Then, mercifully, she collapses, falling asleep.

“Finally,” I sigh. I take the baskets off her back, putting the spilled apples back inside them.

“Is she going to be okay?” Twilight asks, looking down at the snoring pony.

“Probably. Let’s just let her sleep for now.” I take a seat by the tree, and Twilight joins me. We watch over the snoozing pony for a while, letting her rest after going Faust knows how long without sleep.

Applejack starts muttering, stirring awake. “Applejack?” Twilight gets up, looking her over. “Applejack!”

“Huh?” The farm pony looks up at the unicorn, causing her to sigh in relief.

“Oh good, you’re okay,” Twilight sighs in relief, before getting a stern expression. “Now Applejack, We completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you.”

“You’re one of my best friends Applejack,” I tell her, a tone of worry in my voice. “I hate seeing you work yourself to death like this, and I refuse to let you hurt yourself anymore.”

Applejack sighs, a look of defeat on her face. “Okay…”

“We are not taking no for an answ– what?” The unicorn says in surprise.

Applejack looks up at us, pressing her hooves together in a pleading gesture. “Yes. Yes, please. Ah could really use your help.”

I sigh in relief, helping Applejack to her hooves. “It’ll be our pleasure,” I smile at her, helping her back to the barn.







We ended up recruiting the rest of our friends to help as well, working together to finish the harvest. Between the seven of us, we manage to finish emptying the orchard by the end of the day. The sun starts to set as Applejack wheels out a cart with seven bottles of juice on it.

“How about y'all take a little break? Ah got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!” She cals out to us. We all father around the cart as she sighs happily. “Ah can't thank y’all enough for this help. Ah was acting a bit stubborn.”

“Understatement of the year,” I chuckle, taking a sip of my juice.

Applejack giggles. “Okay, a might stubborn. And Ah’m awful sorry,” she apologizes, getting a smile on her face. “Ah know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is having you six as my friends.”

We all smile at her, enjoying our juice and the company of our friends.

“North Star and Twilight Sparkle?” A new voice chimes in, causing us all to stop. I look over, seeing a dark red pegasus stallion with a brown mane and blue eyes. He’s wearing a black and purple cloak and saddlebags. 

“Yeah, who’s asking?” I ask him. He walks up to me, pulling a scroll out of his cloak and giving it to me.

“Please open at your earliest convenience,” he says, the serious look never leaving his face. Before we can inquire further he spreads his wings, taking off into the air faster than any of us can react.

“Woah! He’s fast!” Rainbow exclaims, watching the stallion soar towards Canterlot.

Twilight and I look at the scroll. We exchange a look, unrolling it. As we read the letter our eyes go wide.

Rarity notices the look on our faces “Darlings, is everything okay?”

I look at her. “It’s… from Princess Luna.”







Our Dearest Subjects Twilight Sparkle and North Star

We hope this letter finds you well. We write to you once again to express our thanks for your intervention in freeing us, and we hope you are settling in well in the town of Ponyville.

Our sister has been spending time educating us on the new customs that have arisen since our banishment, and we must admit we find them most curious. 

We wish to discuss with you the events that transpired during your battle with Nightmare Moon. We await your hurried response, and look forward to seeing you again.

Your Princess of the Night,
Luna

I reread the letter again, watching as Twilight is frantically zipping around the library. “Oh! Where’s my copy of the Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy?” She panics, searching through the shelves.

“Twilight, she just wants to see us about the Nightmare incident. There’s no need to panic,” I sigh, watching as she stuffs books into her saddlebag.

“No need?!” She turns on me. “This is the Princess of the Night we’re talking about! We have to make a good impression on her!”

“I think you did that after you saved her life,” Ruby mutters, gathering a few more supplies for Twilight, earning a glare from her.

I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, you need to relax. I’m nervous too, but panicking like this is only going to make it worse.” The unicorn nods, taking a deep breath. I pat her back, smiling at her. “Come on, we got a train to catch, you can study all the stars you want on the ride to Canterlot. 

We bid Spike and Ruby a farewell, making our way to the Ponyville train station, our nerves rising as we ride towards our royal summons.
> Chapter 6- The Royal Summons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Yknow I didn’t expect to be coming back here so soon,” I sigh, staring up at the towers of the Royal Palace. Long shadows cover the square as the sun starts to set behind the castle. 

“Oh I knew we should have prepared more!” Twilight panics, fidgeting on her hooves. “Quick, let's run to the library and get all the books about stars we can find!” She goes to take off in the direction of the school, but I stop her by putting my hoof in front of her.

“Easy there, Sparkle. We already established this isn’t a test. The Princess just wants to talk to us. Come on, I know you can do this,” I encourage her, giving her a smile. She nods, taking a deep breath as she follows me to the castle gate. The guards stationed nod to us as we pass, recognizing us well by this point.
 
We head into the castle proper, to find the courier from earlier waiting for us. The red stallion nods to us. “You’re earlier than expected. The Princess is at the top of the spire,” he says, walking further into the castle. We nod, following behind him.

It’s a silent trip as the stoic stallion leads us through the halls of the castle, until we start ascending the steps of the spire. Twilight and I exchange a look, and she clears her throat. “So uh, you got a name, sir?” She asks tentatively. 

The pegasus sighs. “Lieutenant Red Letter. Formerly of the 1st Recon Squadron of the Royal Aerial Guard,” he answers, listing off his name and rank. Seems like we aren’t the first to ask.

“Formerly? What happened?” Twilight inquires further.

“I got promoted. Princess Luna asked Captain Lightning to help her selecting a new personal guard. I was one of the names he put forward, and she picked me,” he replies. His voice is rather flat as he answers.

“You must be a hell of a scout if my Dad put your name forward for that,” I say with a tilt of my head. 

Red Letter nods. “Your father is a good leader. Taught me a good bit of what I know. But I only ever did my best.” Our journey ends as we get to the top of the spire. On one side, a large black door with a silver moon etched into it. On the other side, the doors to the balcony are open. Standing at the edge, is Princess Luna.

She’s taller than the last time we say her. Her coat is now a deep blue, and she has a flowing ethereal mane, dotted with stars and constellations of the night sky. The sun sets beneath the horizon, and her horn alights with an aqua energy. Her wings flare, bringing her up into the air as the moon rises in front of us, brighter than I ever recall seeing. The moon rises into the sky, and the Princess gracefully lands back on the balcony. 

She turns to us, and Twilight and I bow our heads. “Princess Luna, we are honored to meet you again,” I greet her.

She steps toward us. “You needn’t bow to us, North Star and Twilight Sparkle. You are the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony. As far as we are concerned, you are our equals.”

We raise our heads, and I can’t help but notice stifle and excited squeal. She clears her throat. “We appreciate you saying that, Princess.”

“And we were more than happy to save you. I’ve never seen the night sky look so vibrant before,” I compliment her, looking up at the night sky. The Milky Way expanding out before us, each star seeming even brighter than they were the night before. As if they themselves were celebrating their Princess’s return. 

Princess Luna gets a small smile as she looks up as well. “Yes. We were hoping you would be here tonight. It is the first night since our return that we have felt enough of our power return for us to be able to raise the moon once again. Which we have you to thank for.”

“Your thanks really aren’t needed, Princess,” Twilight smiles. “But speaking of which, you said you wanted to speak to us about our battle with Nightmare Moon?” 

The Princess of the Night nods. “Yes. But first, come with us to our chambers. We’d like to offer you some tea first.” She says, walking past us. “Lieutenant, you are relieved for the night, thank you.” 

Red Letter bows his head. “Send for me if you need anything, Princess,” he says, walking to the balcony and hopping off, gliding into the night. Twilight and I follow the Princess inside. Her horn alights, and the balcony doors close behind us, and the doors to her chamber open in front of us. An open room, with a small library. Floor to ceiling windows, with burgundy curtains. A large bed shaped like a crescent moon to one side, and a tea table with purple sitting cushions around it. A table with a fresh pot of tea waiting for us.

“Please make yourselves comfortable,” she insists, heading towards the table. Twilight and I exchange a look before taking off our saddle bags and setting them by the table. We each take a seat on the cushions. Princess Luna pours the tea into three cups set in front of us, the smell of Earl Grey filling the room. She hovers the tea in front of us, offering a bowl of sugar cubes, as well as a small pitcher of cream.

Twilight and I help ourselves, sipping the tea in front of us. The unicorn lets out a satisfied sigh. “This tea is lovely Princess!”

The alicorn smiles again. “Thank you. It was a favorite pass time of ours. We are pleased to know our skills are still sharp.” She sips her own tea, before adopting a more serious look. “Now, as our letter said, we wished to discuss with you the events of the night you defeated Nightmare Moon.”

I nod. “Where would you like us to start? Do you remember what happened?”

Princess Luna gets a troubled look. “Partially. Most of my time as the Nightmare is,.. Foggy,” She answers, noticeably dropping the royal ‘we’ from her speech. “As if looking at my memories through frosted glass. Start from the beginning, please. And leave nothing out. I need to know everything.”

We nod, and Twilight starts recounting our tale. “Well Princess sent us to organize preparations for the Celebration. That’s how I met the other Element bearers. We gathered for the sunrise, and that’s where Nightmare Moon arrived.”

Luna nods. “This I remember. You were the two who recognized me. Who stood up to me.”

I nod. “Yeah. We grew up hearing stories about Nightmare Moon. Everyone in that room recognized her, they were probably just too shocked to speak up.”

The Princess gets a solum look, but seems to shake it off as she takes another sip of her tea. “Continue. What happened after you entered the Everfree Forest with your friends?”

Twilight nods in understanding. “Well, we made our way through the forest, and eventually got to a cliff…” The two of us continue recounting our story. Of the fall from the cliff, the manticore and the trees, and the serpent Stephen Magnet.

“...and after Rainbow turned down the Shadow Bolts, she repaired the bridge and we headed across to the old castle,” I say, finishing off the last leg of the journey itself.

“Once we got inside, we found the orbs of the first five Elements. North and I tried to activate them, but Nightmare Moon took them, and we got teleported with them,” Twilight continues.

“And that is when you confronted Nightmare Moon?” Luna asks, pouring another round of tea.

I nod. “Yeah. I kept her occupied while Twilight tried to activate the Elements.”

“But I wasn’t able to, and we thought Nightmare destroyed the Elements. Then North tried to convince me to leave him behind, so me and the others could escape,” she says, deadpanning at me.

“Hey it seemed like the only option at the time,” I argue, taking a bite out of a cookie. 

Princess Luna nods. “That is very brave of you, North Star. If a bit dramatic,” she smiles.

“Well fortunately for us, it didn’t come to that. Our friends came to help us, sparking the magic of friendship inside me,” Twilight finishes. “And you know the rest from there.””

The blue alicorn nods. “Indeed. That is a truly harrowing tale. I can see why now my sister chose you both as her pupils.”

Twilight shakes her head. “We’ve only ever done our best, Princess Luna. We may have our talents, but we worked hard to get where we are.”

“I can certainly see that,” Luna says with a small smile. “The Elements of Magic and Bravery. They truly could not have picked better wielders.”

“You should visit Ponyville sometime,” I encourage her. “Our friends would love to meet you.”

Twilight nods in approval. “Yeah, we’d show you a great time! And Ponyville is so peaceful at night.” 

The Princess lets out a soft laugh. “That is a generous offer. Perhaps some day my little ponies.” Luna sips her tea, a puzzled look on her face, as if debating something.

“Princess Luna? Is something wrong?” I inquire, tilting my head.

Luna seems to break from her thoughts, shaking her head. ‘Oh, no North Star, I am alright.” She stands up from her cushion. “I fear I have kept you both long enough. The hour grows late.” 

Twilight and I exchange a look, and then she nods, standing up. “Yes, of course Princess. Thank you, for hosting us.” I stand as well, gathering our saddlebags.

Luna shakes her head. “It is I who should be thanking you. You saved me from the Nightmare, and reunited me with my sister. And I must thank you for entertaining my curiosity.”

“It was our pleasure, Princess,” I smile at her. A thought crosses my mind, the memory of my dream all those weeks ago. I look up at the Alicorn. “Princess Luna, may I speak with you about something?”

The Princess looks down at me, and nods. “Would you mind waiting outside, Twilight Sparkle?”

The purple unicorn nods. “Of course, I’ll see you soon North. And thank you again Princess.” She bows her head, heading out and closing the large black door behind her.

I take a breath. “The night we moved to Ponyville, I had a dream. I was in the throne room of the old royal castle. Nightmare Moon was there…”

Luna hums. “I’d feared as much. I have been monitoring the dreams of you and the other Element bearers. I thought I felt her presence in your mind, but it was faint.”

“She said it was a ‘last act of defiance’ when I asked,” I shrug. “Tried taunting me on some past failures. Said she would be back when I failed my friends…” I trail off, feeling my ear twitch.

She hums. “Yes, that sounds like her. But do not take her words to heart. You are one of the strongest stallions I have ever met. You will not fail your friendships. This I am certain of,” Luna reassures me, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “Take heart, North Star. Your journey has just begun, and I shall watch your growth with great interest. You will do great things.”

I smile up at her thankfully, determination filling my chest. “Thank you Princess Luna. I won’t let you down.”







Princess Celestia looks over the city of Canterlot, watching as the night life of the city begins to awake. Ponies beginning to mill about in the sleepy streets, a far cry of centuries past, when all but the watchers woto sleep with the sun. Her eyes settle on the train station, watching as the last train of the day pulls out of the station, bound for Ponyville. Watching as her precious students leave yet again for their new adventure.

“Your students have much talent, sister. You taught them well,” Luna speaks behind her. Celestia turns, nodding to her sister as she walks up next to her. 

“I’ve taught them almost all they know, but their talents are their own. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Celestia says with a small smile. She looks to her younger sister, seeing a troubled look on her face. “Is something wrong Luna?”

Luna lets out a sigh, looking out over the horizon. “…I’m considering giving your students specialized training.”

Celestia blinks, her eyes going wide. “That’s… surprising. You’ve never been interested in teaching before, Luna.”

“Times have changed it seems,” she responds, a melancholic smile on her face. “Besides, I see potential in them. In our fight-“

“Their fight with Nightmare Moon,” Celestia is quick to correct her, wanting to prevent her sister from associating herself with that dark form.

“Right,” the younger sister nods. “In their fight with Nightmare Moon, North Star used an Anti-Gravity spell against her. A spell I developed myself.”

Celestia nods. “I remember. From what he told me, that spell is how he got his cutie mark.”

“Then I suppose you should inform me on all he has learned,” Luna says. “I need to know the limit of his abilities.”

Celestia nods, following her sister inside. She takes one last look at the sleepy town of Ponyville, so far below. She takes a breath, having faith her precious students are ready for the challenges that lie ahead.