Forging Hope

By Marching Thunder

Chapter 2

Manehatten

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The bright lights of the design shop illuminated the lone unicorn mare working away with a dozen strips of fabric and and too many pieces of thread to count. Her coat was a pure white with a beautiful sheen, her mane was highly stylized and a dark burgundy with a high gloss to it. Her cutie mark was a small flower that was made of what appeared to be cut crystal.

Her name was Dainty.

As she sewed away on her current project, she periodically picked up small gems from a container and sewed them into the dress. The dress in question was a new design for her company that would be put on display for the coming Spring season. Surrounding her were numerous ponyequins, most of them sporting designs that had already been completed. Unfortunately for dainty, she was not going to be finishing her current design.

A loud knocking came from the door to her shop, shocking her from her concentration and nearly causing her to mess up the dress she was working on. Muttering a stream of curses under her breath, dainty stood from her sewing machine and moved to the door, swinging it open with her magic to slam against the wall.

What awaited her was not what she expected.

What she had expected was some assistant, but what she found outside the door was four white, gold armored pegasus guards. None of them had even flinched at her slamming the door to meet them, anger clear on her face. Instead, the closest one stepped forward and spoke to her, his tone solid as a rock and serious.

“Miss Dainty?” he asked.

She could only nod in reply, shocked as she was at the sudden appearance of royal guards outside her door, for no reason she knew of. That was taken care of for the stunned unicorn thankfully.

“You have been summoned to Canterlot by her highness Princess Celestia and her highness Princess Luna for a matter of grave importance. We are to bring you there immediately,” the lead guard spoke again.

Now thankfully able to speak again, Dainty struggled to put out a reply to this. “I’m needed in Canterlot? By the Princesses? Whatever for?” she finally said.

“I don’t know ma’am, we were only told to go and bring you back with all speed. So please ready yourself immediately,” the guard said.

“Ah-um yes, just a moment,” Dainty stammered out before quickly closing the door and fleeing deep into her shop till she reached her living area. Immediately she set about packing a suitcase before heading back out into the hall, leaving a quick note for her secretary when she next stopped by to check on Dainty’s progress with the new line of fashion.

“Ready to go good sirs,” she said as she exited her shop into the hall where the guards were. She was much more collected now, and so she hoped, far more prepared for whatever weirdness awaited her as they exited the building.

What she found, were two further pegasus guards attached to a golden chariot along with a rather sizable crowd. With only a momentary pause to gather her poise, Dainty, quickly stepped out into the open and up onto the chariot while the four free guards moved into position around the chariot. With a short flourish of wings, the chariot, Dainty, and guards were aloft and on their way to Canterlot.

Cloudsdale

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A vivid streak of rainbow colors traced their way across the sky, making its way across the clear skies of Equestria in a zig-zag pattern towards the pegasus city of Cloudsdale. Eventually the colored streak touched down in the cloudy metropolis near the rainbow pools.

When the streak finally came to a halt on the cloudy surface, several things became apparent in short order. First, the streak was in fact a pegasus pony, second the pony in question was as white as the clouds she trotted on barring her mane and tail which were an assemblage of the main six colors of the rainbow. her cutie mark was a gray colored color with a rainbow stretched across it.

As the pony trotted proudly through the building towards her home, she was surprised to find a group of pegasi gathered all around it. With a frown and sigh of frustration, she moved forward, pushing through the ponies all around her home till she finally stood inside the ring of ponies that had gathered there.

Awaiting her were four pegasi of the royal guard who had immediately turned towards the source of the noise that had forced its way through the crowd.

Upon sighting her, one of the guard ponies advanced to meet her and spoke saying, “Miss Rainbow Sky?”

Rainbow would have thought it obvious who she was but nodded anyways to confirm it for the guard.

“Good, you have been summoned to Canterlot by her highness Princess Celestia and her highness Princess Luna for a matter of grave importance. We are to bring you there immediately,” he said.

Rainbow merely cocked an eyebrow and replied with a simple “Right” before turning and heading in towards her house. She was stopped though, as two of the guards standing in front of her home opened their wings and barred her way. Immediately she whirled to look back at the guard who had spoken to her before and began huffed angrily, saying, “What the hay are you doing? Let me into my home!”

The guard shook his head and replied quickly saying, “We are to bring you to Canterlot no matter what, ma’am, please come along quickly, The Princesses require your presence.”

Rainbow Sky held her ground for several seconds before sighing in frustration and nodding quickly.

The guards seem to relax a notch, glad to not have to drag her along. Quickly, they escorted her to a chariot pulled by two more pegasi and motioned her to board. With a sigh she entered and waited for take off, briefly noticing a second chariot off to the side.

Calling to one of the guards, Rainbow asked, “Yo, guard dude, what’s the other chariot for?”

The guard pony, to his credit, didn’t miss a stride as he replied, “That is for another pegasus here that is also being summoned by the princesses.”

"Right, and who's that supposed to be?" Rainbow sniped.

The guard didn't reply immediately as if debating just how much to tell her before opening his mouth to speak. Any answer he might have given though was lost as Rainbow Sky shouted at a new arrival surrounded by a group of four guards.

"Humblefly! You get a weird summon thing from the princesses too?!" she shouted.

To Humblefly's credit, the skittish, butter yellow pegasus did not bolt then and there or hide inside of her voluminous light gray mane, but rather perked up a bit to see the friend who had called to her. With confirmation of the other pegasus's identity, Sky was out of the chariot and off to join her friend who looked just a bit like a faded version of the four bumble bees that adorned her flank to learn just how she had been rounded up to be brought to Canterlot.

When the two were finally ready to go, much to the chagrin of the two guards pulling one of the chariots, they both chose to ride in a single chariot and talk rather than ride apart.

Fillydelphia

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A group of four gold and white pegasus guards muscled their way through a massive crowd of dancing, drinking, and partying ponies on the way towards their goal, one of a pair of ponies behind a massive console near a screen that illuminated the entire room.

When they finally arrived, they forced their way past onto the stage till they were within speaking distance of the two ponies behind the console, one a gray unicorn with ruby eyes, an electric blue mane and a trouble clef cutie mark, the other a bright pink mass of energy with a massive mane that seemed to expand in nearly every direction in dark purple shot with streaks of white that faded in and out. Her cutie mark was a blue and green gift wrapped box that had been opened and was now shooting red streamers out into the air.

When they were close enough the lead guard called out to the ponies saying, "Miss Streamer."

No response.

"Miss Streamer!"

Again no response.

Clearing his throat after sighing in frustration the shouted out in a very, very loud voice.

"MISS STREAMER!"

At his shout the music abruptly came to a halt with the scratch of records stopping as everyone looked towards the guard who had just shouted.

Doing his best to regain his dignity, the guard in question spoke to Streamer again saying, "Miss Streamer, you have been summoned to Canterlot by her highness Princess Celestia and her highness Princess Luna for a matter of grave importance. We are to bring you there immediately."

Streamer looked at first surprised before quickly turning to the gray unicorn beside her who nudged her to the side saying, "Go Streamer, I got this. You got something real big to go do." At the unicorn's prompting Streamer turned back to the guard with a face that was part trepidation, part excitement, and part ecstasy as she shot off towards the ground level exit calling, "Well let's get going silly!"

The pink, purple, and white earth pony made her way to the waiting chariot as if she already knew where it was so by the guards caught up to her, she was urging them to get on their way while music blared from the party club behind them.

Outside Ponyvillie, Sweet Apple Acres

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For the several centuries that had paced, relatively little had changed on  Sweet Apple Acres Orchard. All the original building had of course grown old and had eventually had to be demolished and rebuilt periodically, but everything there still felt homey and cozy to visitor. There was no sign that the orchard was a large as it truly was besides the number of ponies that showed up to work unless one could see it from above. The Sweet Apple Acres had nearly increased in size by a factor of three requiring several outlying harvest centers to be built to help make the work easier for the ponies even though everything was still run the same.

One rather tall, well muscled earth pony mare continued the long standing Apple family tradition of apple bucking deep in the orchard around the main house. Her coat was a dark straw color that rippled every time she hit a tree to make it drop its apples into waiting baskets. Her mane was a light brown and tied together at the end into a ponytail as was her tail to keep them from getting snagged as she worked. Her cutie mark was a large, ripe red apple positioned on top of a large jug containing a tea colored liquid.

The morning so far was going well for this farm mare as she worked away bucking apples, but it was disturbed in short order as a shrill tone from a little filly’s cry came tearing down a line of trees towards her. She looked up just in time to be bowled over by a pale yellow colored filly with grass green hair and no cutie mark.

“Big sis’ Cider,” the little filly wailed.

“What is it, Applesauce? Geez, ya’ can’t just slam me over like that and not say why now can ya’?” The older mare replied, confusion in her pale red eyes as she scooped up the crying filly and righted the both of them back onto the ground.

“Applecider, there’s these guard ponies lookin’ for ya’,” Applesauce whined, bringing her breathing under control now that her older sister had given her a bit of talking to.

“Wha’da mean looking for me’ Applesauce? Be specific please, especially if this is important,”

“Six of them landed by the house with this chariot thing and and began asking around for ya’ sis. I got scared that they were gonna take you away so I came to find you,”

Applecider brought a hoof to her face and then gently patted Applesauce on the head saying, “Don’ worry sis’ it’ll be fine I haven’t done anything bad, so let’s go see what they want with me.”

Reluctantly, a nearly crying Applesauce accompanied Cider back to the main house, where Cider was surprised to find things exactly as her little sister had described them. Six white pegasus ponies in gold armor, two of them attached to a chariot, stood at attention near the main house. As soon as they sited her, the nearest one approached and spoke.

“Miss Applecider?”

Her response was a stiff nod, she didn’t quite appreciate that they had arrived and interrupted her work day, much less sent her sister off frightened for her life, but for the moment she was going to hear them out.

“Miss Applecider,” the guard began, “you have been summoned to Canterlot by her highness Princess Celestia and her highness Princess Luna for a matter of grave importance. We are to bring you there immediately."

Applecider immediately cocked an eyebrow at this and replied with a very formal, “Say what?”

“I said your presence is needed in Canterlot by the Princesses, so please come along quickly.”

“Just a sec,”

Cider was quick to bolt into the main house to see about getting things in order to leave for who knows how long. When she returned some fifteen minutes later, she carried a pair of saddlebags over her back as she said, “I’m ready, jus’ let me say bye to my sister.”

Without even waiting for the guard’s permission Applecider was busy giving Applesauce a series of instructions on what she would need to do around the orchard while she was gone. The filly seemed pleased at the responsibility, but a bit disappointed that her big sister was leaving. In short order though, Cider had said goodbye and was in the chariot waving goodbye to her siblings, her saddlebags stored away in the chariot.

Ponyvillie Proper

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The town of Ponyvillie had grown a fair bit over the intervening centuries since the time of Night Mare Moon and Discord, but not a great deal. The houses were still wood and painted in pastel colors, mostly with thatched roofs. At the center of the quiet town still stood the library tree, only now larger than it had been. The building had grown wider and taller to the point where it stood close to twice its original height and diameter in all aspects, and when one went inside, it became clear that the changes hadn't gone unnoticed.

The interior hadn't increased in size as much as the outside, but it was still much larger, new bookcases stretching along the walls to hold an ever increasing assortment of books that were available for the populace. The stairs that originally lead up to the the bed room and study still went there, but instead of stopping they continued on up further into the tree till they reached a trap door in the ceiling. Beyond that point was a small observatory added some time in the past when the tree had grown enough to accommodate it.

On the ground floor though was the town's librarian, busy ordering dozens of books around to their proper places with her magic. She kept constant track of all of them as they slotted neatly into the correct position on the shelves according to genre, then author, and finally title.

The town's current librarian was a bit of an odd duck, but so had most of their librarians been for a while. A unicorn mare, her coat was black as pitch while her mane at tail were another case all together. Both started a dark lavender at the roots before slowly fading out to a light pink and finally yellow at the end. Her cutie mark was also unusual, a black moon with small silver stars on one upper corner over a gold sun. Add to this her this her magenta eyes and extremely powerful magic with a tendency to go haywire and you had a walking, talking curiosity. A curiosity named Midnight Dawn.

As more books came from stacks around the room to be sorted as they were picked up in Midnight's magic, one could see just how much concentration the unicorn was using to perform this activity.

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Outside the library in the town square, a quartet of white pegasus guards with gold armor touched down followed by two more with a golden chariot. Immediately, the free guards set a course for the library nearby. The first guard to reach the entrance knocked twice on the door and foolishly looked in through the window as all hay broke loose inside.

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Midnight had picked up the last four stacks of books in her magic for sorting putting a total of nearly sixty of the heavy tomes swirling about around her for sorting. That stopped the instant someone knocked on the door.

As soon as the sound from the knock reached Midnight's ears, her concentration broke and her magic poured out, sending the books she was holding flying ever which way. The vast majority were hitting walls, but a few shot out through windows and one rather large tome made its way out the front door's window.

She didn't see what it hit, but she heard the dull crumpling sound of metal, the 'oof' of a pony, and then the solid thud of some pony hitting the ground. Swallowing her immediate fear, she bolted for the door to see what had happened.

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The instant loud thuds began coming from inside, the guards had started to take a step back, but before any of them could, a large black book came crashing out the front window, smashing into the first guard's head hard enough to dent the armor he wore before making him flip completely over backwards. An instant later the door sprang open to reveal a very concerned and flustered black unicorn mare looking at the guards who had bolted forward to their downed comrade.

"Ah no. Ah hay..." Midnight muttered slightly when she saw just who it was that was outside her door, freezing up just a bit.

The closest conscious guard immediately moved forward to speak while the two other free ones came to tend to their comrade.

"Miss Dawn, you have been summoned to Canterlot by her highness Princess Celestia and her highness Princess Luna for a matter of grave importance. We are to bring you there immediately." he said calmly, though not without eying his knocked out soldier.

"I understand, I'll come," Midnight replied quickly before also looking at the downed pegasus.

"He'll be alright won't he?" she asked.

"He should. He's merely dealing with the consequences of forgetting that we aren't supposed to disturb your concentration, ma'am,"

Midnight nodded in reply before quickly moving back inside and fetching a set of saddle bags for travel. Any request from the princesses was important. Especially when it took six guards to deliver it. So this was something Midnight Dawn, Celestia's protégée immediately understood and complied with.

She did wonder just how quickly the guard forgot things sometimes, as it had only been a year since she had left Canterlot.

Still in short order, she was outside and in the waiting chariot along withe guard she had hit, who now sported a white bandage in place of his helmet as he lay beside her in the golden chariot.

With a sigh, Midnight signaled she was ready and they took off towards Canterlot.