If any of you have read my other two MLP:FIM fanfics, you will know they were just one-shots, this however will be a multi-chaptered fic. Basically the story in this prologue chapter is deliberately vague, then the next six chapters will piece together the story from each of the mane six's points of view, then there will be one or two chapters to conclude. Don't expect this chapter to be great, I write much better when I'm doing inner monologues which the bulk of this story will consist of, but I had to set the story, anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Tomification.

The Greying Elements – Chapter 1 – One last Time

Twilight had heard the songbird before she had seen it, she heard its incessant chirping, they always got on her nerves. It flew toward the window, and proceeded to smash into the polished glass. With much effort the purple mare pulled herself out of her old chair, and ambled toward the window. It was easier to use magic to nudge open the pane of glass than to even attempt to use her hooves. The years of quiet study and reading had meant that Twilight had never been the most mobile of ponies, but in her old age, as her body had begun the inevitable process of failing her, she rather missed the act of getting up not taking all of her energy. The bird flew in through the now open window, and dropped an immaculately rolled parchment on Twilight's desk.

She trudged back to her chair, only to notice her feathered visitor hadn't left. The memory activated and she remembered the standard procedure for post-birds, she opened her purse and slipped on bit into the pouch that was buckled to the underside of the bird's stomach. The whole practise of using avian postmen was very recent, and considering how rare it was that anyone contacted her, the information wasn't important enough to be prevalent in Twilight's mind. The songbird flew out of the window, and Twilight unrolled the scroll, she instantly recognised the elegant script.

Dearest Twilight Sparkle, My Faithful Student.

It has been a while since your last letter, however I was fascinated by your thesis on the theoretical catalysts involved in unsustainable cold fusion reactions, I'm sure your findings will only give us more insight into the way our world works. I am writing to ask your presence her in Canterlot at your earliest convenience to discuss a matter of grave importance.

Hoping to see you soon,

Your ever-proud teacher

Celestia.

Twilight set the parchment down, she could feel nervousness building up in her stomach, Celestia hadn't used the term, 'grave importance' since the discord fiasco, and that was thirty-two years ago. The aged mare had rather been hoping she could live out her final couple of decades in peace, but this parchment was a very realistic threat to said dream. However, her princess had requested her presence, and student or not, Twilight was still her subject.

With a magenta glow of her horn, items began moving around the room; however not at the pace they would have once moved, as she slowed physically, her magic had become a more taxing activity. Nothing was as effortless anymore, and in these thirty years by herself, things had become more and more difficult. Maybe if they had stayed as such, her friends would've helped her out, maybe if he was still around, her number one assistant would have aided her packing. Even the gentle hoot of the late Owloysius seemed like a distant memory, like a summer night's dream not bold enough to leave a lasting impression.

However, as she had for three decades, Twilight got sorted by herself, she finished filling the suitcase with necessities and got up. She hadn't been doing anything out of the ordinary, only writing up a few findings, so with another red-purple glow her supplies moved into the draw of her desk. She took a look around, wondering if she should wait until tomorrow to depart, but the point seemed rather…well pointless. She barely ever associated with anyone and had no close friends, her older brother was in Canterlot anyway and her parents were dead, as was Owloysius, and Spike was long gone.

Aside from this tree, which would survive independent of Twilight's presence, she had literally no significant living things in her life that would worry or care about her absence. So, after having answered her own question in an unnecessarily round-about and soul-crushing way, Twilight decided that no, there was no need to wait for tomorrow to come.

She opened the door to her house, stopping to blow out the candles before she left, she couldn't afford these new light bulbs on her pension. She saw Sweetie-Belle laughing with her two friends, a microphone cutie-mark adorned her pale flank, Twilight pondered how they had stayed close all these years. However such thoughts had no bearing on her current situation, and as such she couldn't allow herself to become distracted by them. Twilight trotted steadily through ponyville, seeing the ramshackle carousel shop, it used to be a boutique before the…well it used to be a boutique.

She saw the massive spa, underneath its extension, the ground looked ever so slightly blackened, they never could ever make sugar cube corner's locale look normal again, to be honest it was a massive relief when the spa sisters purchased the ground. The unicorn was near the station now, she regarded the path that once led to sweet apple acres, an old dirt road in well need of upkeep, but there was no point in anyone paying it any attention now.

Twilight reached the airship docking station, there was no time for anything as inefficient as trains in today's Equestria. After paying the conductor her fare, she took her seat, one by the window; one of the few things she took pleasure in nowadays was to see Equestria's sweeping panoramas and gorgeous vistas. However, as she sat, a chore that took far too much effort, she froze. Two rows in front of her she could make out some light pink hair.

Twilight's own mane had begun to dull in colour; it was no longer the striking purple it had once been. The same could be said for all of her former friends, on the rare occasions she saw them around the village, they had all aged visibly, she couldn't say the same for Applejack of course, but Twilight bet the years had taken a visible toll on her too. They hobbled rather than trotted, they had wrinkles and all of their manes were greying, except Fluttershy. Twilight didn't see Fluttershy much, ever since the…unpleasantness she appeared outside less and less.

But despite the stress she had experienced, Twilight had to admit the years had been exceptionally kind to her, and there was nopony around with that mane colour. What the hell was she doing coming to Canterlot, she could barely leave her cottage anymore. However Twilight was lucky, the mare clearly hadn't noticed her, and come to think of it, even if Fluttershy did see the purple mare, it's not like she'd talk to her, Fluttershy never talked to anypony. Twilight sat back and tried to relax, but as the soothing views and gentle rocking of the airship lulled her into a sleep, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

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"Madame…Madame? Wake up Madame," Twilight awoke with a start, the conductor had his hoof on her shoulder and was gently shaking her.

"I'm up…OK I'm up!" She snapped at him, he looked affronted for a second, but he tried to help her out of her seat regardless, something that she shook off rudely. He left her, and trotted down the aisle, muttering something about 'Damn OAP's'. Twilight took a look around, and to her relief, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Twilight wasted no time, whatever it was the princess wanted she would rather just get it sorted and get on with being alone.

She knew the paths of Canterlot well, and so it was not hard to find the way to the palace gates. Hard however was not the same as effortful, it had taken her the best part of an hour to make a journey she could have made in fifteen minutes in her younger days. The guards recognised her, and they signalled for the massive doors to open, Twilight said a quick thanks and slowly walked into the great hall. At its end she saw two large Alicorns, one white and the other a dark blue. Princess Celestia noticed Twilight and quickly moved to meet her in the middle of the grand chamber.

"Twilight you're here," She spoke as if her student's presence was unexpected. Twilight took the handle of her pulling suitcase out of her mouth and responded,

"You asked me to meet you Princess," Her mentor chuckled slightly "On a matter of grave importance," Twilight reminded.

"Twilight I sent that letter only this morning, I didn't expect you up today. The matter is important but it hasn't become a catastrophe yet, although I'm sure if it left unchecked it will."

"Princess, what is this matter?" The princess only chuckled warmly again,

"It can wait until tomorrow Twilight, I have a spare chamber you can use until the morning, when we will discuss it properly," The alicorn signalled for a guard to come,

"Take this bag to where Twilight will be staying tonight please," he nodded and Twilight started to follow him.

"Is there really no way we can discuss it now Princess,"

"Oh my no, the others haven't even arrived yet," Twilight froze, she had been doing that a lot today, she wheeled around but the princess was already starting to head back to her throne.

Twilight had trouble sleeping that night, first Fluttershy on the airship, and then the princess saying there are others? This couldn't be coincidence, could it? She didn't want to see them again; she couldn't, after what happened, after where they left it. Twilight consoled herself with the knowledge that if it even was them, they would probably want to get everything done as quickly as possible as well; there was no need for extended contact. But the damage of over-thinking was done, Twilight dreamt that night, it was a dream that hadn't plagued her for years, but the wound had never healed. Re-experiencing it in her psyche was like a fresh layer of salt added to the tender gash, one that hadn't bothered her for nearly thirty years.

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She was awoken by a knocking on the door; it was too fast and reckless to be a guard, or any inhabitant of Canterlot for that matter. Twilight groggily pulled herself out of bed and moved to the source of the offending noise. When the purple mare opened the door, her jaw dropped. The years had taken a visible toll (as Twilight had predicted), her blonde mane was dull and her orange coat was thinning, all the years of bucking trees had given her a funny stance, as if her hind legs couldn't take the weight of her body. She still was wearing her Stetson as she always did, and surprisingly she was smiling, albeit meekly but the grin was undoubtedly present.

"Erm…hi…Twilight," her country accent was much less prevalent, where she had been must have been a larger place than quaint, old ponyville.

"Applejack? What are you doing here?" Her query hadn't sounded particularly friendly; Twilight didn't know whether she had even meant it to in the first place.

"Same reason that you're here, I got a letter from the Princess," That confirmed it, they were all going to be here, Twilight did not need this sort of thing, not now, not at her age.

"…I asked the guards where you were, I thought that maybe, we could catch up," she offered the unicorn a smile, needless to say she did not receive the same kindness.

"You want to catch up do you? You took your sweet time about it," Twilight spat, Applejack looked down in shame.

"Twilight, I know it's been a while but-"

"It's been a while? No, two weeks is 'a while', when you meet a pony on the street who's just a causal acquaintance, you say 'it's been a while' thirty years is not 'a while'!" Twilight had found that she was shouting at her ex-friend, in all of these years, she hadn't considered just how much it hurt.

"Twilight…what do you want me to do?" Applejack looked so desperate, almost pathetic.

"Just do what you want, you're good at that," with that she slammed the door in Applejack's face.

The guard had said Celestia had insisted they all get a round of breakfast, it may have sounded caring, but Twilight knew the thinking behind such a gesture, they were all old, and no-one wanted them dropping dead during the briefing. Twilight entered the castle's dining hall, lo and behold; they were all there, and all at different tables.

Applejack was sat in the middle; she probably wanted one of her old friends to sit near her, to no avail though. She was eating her food and sniffling occasionally, she looked as if she may burst into tears any moment, Twilight almost felt sorry for her…almost. Pinkie Pie was the only one not sitting, she was picking a couple of pieces of toast off the display in the centre of the room, the pink pony completely disregarded the delicious looking sweets tray. Surprisingly she sat at the same table as Applejack, much to the happiness of the orange mare. How no attempt to converse was made, Applejack didn't want to scare away her visitor and Pinkie, she just looked kept brushing her straight, thin mane out of her eyes. Rainbow Dash was sat with her back to everyone else, she the one most likely to sit away from everyone due to her resentment.

The years of hatred and anger hadn't been kind to her. Her mane was thinned ridiculously and her one remaining wing was weak and lame from decades of inactivity, Twilight didn't like looking at the stump where her right wing used to be, it brought up too many unpleasant memories. She was hunched over her porridge, and even managed to look bitter while eating it. Rarity was looking like her usual dishevelled and unkempt self, her mane was still thick, but it was stuck up in all different directions, it was very likely she hadn't looked in a mirror since getting up. Her coat would still be white if it weren't for the layer of dust and dirt in it, it was matted and ugly looking. She had chosen to sit nearest to the entrance and was eating dry cereal with no milk, probably just because it took the least effort.

Finally Fluttershy, her thick and vibrant mane confirmed it was her on the airship yesterday, she barely looked one decade older, let alone three. She was sat in the corner, alone as she preferred, and she wasn't eating, but she did have a very weak tea, which she was stirring, over and over again, it seemed very unlikely she would even make an attempt to drink it. Twilight hobbled to the spread to get a salad, her entrance was met with mixed reactions; Applejack gave her a weak smile whereas Pinkie just looked up, sighed, and then got back to her food.

Rainbow Dash turned, glowered, and then furiously got back to attacking her porridge, Rarity was not at all so animated, she simply looked and then down, over the years she had perfected doing things in the least animated way possible. Fluttershy gave her no reaction, she didn't react to anything, so much so that when the guard arrived, announcing Celestia was ready for them he had to go over to her and help her out of the seat. They all followed the guard; the first to break the heavily uncomfortable silence was Applejack.

"So, Pinkie-" she was cut off by Pinkie, who spoke as if she was giving a eulogy.

"It's Pinkamena," Applejack blinked a couple of times, if memory served right the party-pony hated the name Pinkamena.

"Ok Pinkamena, thrown any of your famous parties recently?"

"No" Pinkie replied in the same funeral drone.

"Oh, why's that?" It was not Pinkie Pie who replied; rather it was Rainbow Dash in her permanently fuming state.

"Oh for Celestia's sake, just shut the buck up," Applejack looked wounded, and momentarily she looked to Twilight, perhaps for some comfort, she got none.

They entered the grand hall as Twilight did yesterday; Celestia and Luna were stood, ready to meet them. The latter had grown to be the same size as her sister now, and after decades of proving it to Equestria, she was no longer feared or hated, rather she had the same amount of love and respect as the white Alicorn beside her. Regardless of the fact that it was very unintentional, when the two sisters were together they looked so imposing, to translucent manes moving and glistening in time. Two enormous feathery wings spread and two long horns, practically sparkling with power.

The six bowed, all in their own tin-pot ways, Applejack tried to look formal but her country ways, no matter how much they had faded still made her exaggerate the gesture. Rainbow Dash instinctively splayed her wings…or wing, as a Pegasus did in such a situation, but she still looked furious as her muzzle touched the ground. Pinkie, as she usually did, looked like she had just seen fifteen puppies die when she made a sombre bow, and Rarity, ever-apathetic, more or less just fell into a heap on the floor. Fluttershy didn't bow, she just stared forlornly, however the two Alicorns didn't seemed bothered by this. Twilight was the only one who didn't make the action look impossible, a curt and dignified lowering of her head more than sufficed.

"Well, it has been a very long time since we have all been together for a matter such as this, hasn't it?"

"Thirty-two years," Twilight pointed out, to be met with a venous muttering of 'know-it-all from Rainbow Dash. Luna shot the cyan pegasus a disapproving look that went unnoticed,

"We have called you here today because a threat is moving towards here. Ponies from all over Equestria have told us of its danger, the only problem is, nopony has seen it face to face, they only talk of a massive shadow that blocks out the sun. The pegasi couldn't get close, my royal guard have travelled to try and bring it down with no avail. The unicorn's magic has been powerless; nothing we have tried has worked. So the pegasi have set up a massive cloud net in Fillydelphia, and the unicorns have fused magic into it, we know it will be forced to land there, and we want you to be waiting."

"Princess, why would you need us there," Twilight queried.

"We cannot be too careful about this," it was Luna who spoke this time, "Whatever this is Twilight Sparkle, it is something we have not seen the likes of before, we cannot rule out the possibility that we may need the elements or harmony to overcome this threat." Twilight narrowed her eyes, she was sure friendship somehow related to the elements, it had been so long, she could barely remember anymore.

"In which case we want you there," The six mares looked amongst each other, well Twilight and Applejack did, the others were too sad/furious/not-bothered/in-a-waking-coma to do so. Twilight's eyes met with Applejack's for a second, and they both looked anxious; however Twilight immediately grew uncomfortable and looked away.

"We know things have changed, but Equestria could be in mortal danger, we need you at the cloud net as soon as possible, your airship sets off this evening. If you can help us this one last time, you will have earned the right to rest, as you have many times already. We know this is hard, but it is necessary, so we thank you, and wish you the best of luck," with that the two Alicorns turned away, it seemed the discussion was very much over. In their own time each mare ambled away, to prepare, and in Twilight's case, worry. In these past three decades Celestia and Luna hadn't needed their help for any crisis, and there had been a fair few.

Whatever this threat was, it must have been great, even Equestria's immortal rulers knew not what it was, and that worried the purple unicorn. However, the six mares were still the elements of harmony, even if their relationship had gone sour to say the least, they still had a duty to the kingdom. Twilight still had niggling doubts, she could swear friendship had something to do with the Elements, but it could've just been her old mind tricking her. But if Celestia and Luna thought it to be the best, then it had to be for the best, and after all, maybe helping Equestria wouldn't be such a bad thing, as long as it was this one, last time.

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Chapter 2 is to follow which will cover Applejack's story, in the mean time please Read and Review, but definitely enjoy.