Part 1

Chapter 2: An Old Pony's Tale

Twilight briskly walked down the lane toward her home’s library, pondering where she heard of the Elements of Harmony before. Twilight’s favorite hobby was reading, spending nearly all of her time at the bookshelves. Being the most faithful and hard-working student of Princess Celestia, the older sister in the story of Equestria, she puts forth incredible effort in her studies of magic and academics all around. She was thinking about whether or not the she would have a book on the Elements of Harmony when she was stopped in her tracks by three young ponies she recognized from around town.

“There you are, Twilight!” a white-coated unicorn said to her excitedly, “Moondancer is having a little get-together in the castle courtyard. You wanna come?”

As she said this, all three ponies, the other two being yellow and blue-coated unicorns, looked at Twilight expectantly. Twilight looked a little surprised, and said, “Oh, sorry, girls. I’ve got a lot of studying to catch up on.” Having said this, she darted off on her way to the library.

The white-haired unicorn sighed, “Does that pony do anything except study? I think she’s more interested in books than friends.” The other two nodded in agreement and made their way to Moondancer’s party.

“I know I’ve heard of the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight said to herself with frustration as she continued running. Then, it hit her. A couple of ponies waved at her as she passed, but she ignored them.

Spike, Twilight’s assistant and brother of sorts, was carrying a wrapped gift in his hands with a pleased look on his face as he made his way out the door of the library. He was a baby dragon, with purple scales, green eyes, and slightly clawed feet. Unlike most dragons, he walked on two legs. Just as he was about to open the door, however, it was knocked open, throwing him off his feet.

“Spike! Spiiike! … Spike?” Twilight’s shouts turned to curiosity as she saw her assistant lying on the floor. Spike groaned. “Quick, find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies.” She told him as he got up. Seeing Spike’s gift now thoroughly impaled on his tail, she asked him, “What’s that for?”

“Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but-“ he stopped when a stuffed teddy bear fell out of the crumpled box. He wore a disappointed look.

“Oh, Spike,” Twilight said exasperatedly, “you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing.” She started tossing books around, hoping to find Predictions and Prophecies.

“But, we’re on a break,” Spike half-complained.

Twilight ignored him. She started levitating books past her, checking them. “No. No. No, no, no!” She checked impatiently, “Spiiike!”

“It’s over here!” cried Spike, holing it up to show Twilight. She quickly levitated it toward her, with Spike still attached. He hit the floor with a loud “smack!”

“Ah!” she cried in excitement as Predictions and Prophecies floated over to a table. Spike followed grumpily, picking up fallen books. “Elements, elements, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘e’. Aha! ‘Elements of Harmony- see ‘Mare in the Moon’?” Twilight read curiously.

“’Mare in the Moon’? But that’s just an old pony’s tale.” Spike said.

“Mare, mare, mare. Aha! ‘The Mare in the Moon- myth from old pony times, a powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal!’” Twilight gasped after reading this, and asked urgently, “Spike, do you know what this means?”

“No,” spike said before falling off the library ladder and landing, hard, on Twilight’s back.

Twilight gave him a scroll and quill, “Take a note, please. To the Princess.”

“Okey-dokey.”

“My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster.” She dictated to her assistant.

“Hold on… preci-, preci-,” he struggled with the word, and looked at Twilight expectantly.

“Threshold.”

“Thre—“

“Uh, brink?”

Still no good.

“Uh! That something really bad is about to happen!” she said, annoyed. Spike quickly scribbled that down. “For, you see,” she continued, “the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Night Mare Moon, and she’s about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true! I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight Sparkle… got it!” He finished writing aloud.

“Great! Send it.” She said.

“Now?” Spike asked.

“Of course!”

“Um, I don’t know, Twilight. Princess Celestia’s a little busy getting ready for the summer-sun celebration. And it’s like, the day after tomorrow.” He reasoned.

“That’s just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the summer-sun celebration. It’s imperative that the Princess is told right away!” she informed him with urgency.

“Imper-, impera-…” Spike started to write.

“Important!” she yelled at him.

“Okay, okay!” He drew a great breath, and blew green flames over it. It turned into a sort of dust, and flew immediately out the window to the Princess. “There. It’s on its way.” He paused, “I wouldn’t hold your breath,” he advised her.

“Oh, I’m not worried, Spike. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she’s been my mentor, she’s never once doubted me,” she said confidently.

Spike belched green flames, which immediately materialized into a return scroll.

“See, I knew she’d want to take immediate action,” she stated.

Spike cleared his throat, and began to read aloud, “Ahem, ‘My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely.” Twilight looked pleased. “But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!”

Twilight gasped.