Yay! My writers block is gone! I Wrote this last night, hope everypony likes it. I want to turn this into a type of story that explores the possible past and future of mlp, the first two or three chapters are going to set things up. Enjoy.
*Oh, I do not own my little pony, but I do own anything I might make up*
A cool fog had rolled into Ponyville, Celestia's sun shone through the haze creating a gorgeous morning scene. It was the first day of winter, and every little pony was out frolicking in the chilled mist wrapped in scarfs and warm boots and eagerly awaiting the pending winter snow.
But one pony couldn't bother with the outside fun. By the light of a lone candle, Princess Twilight Sparkle bent over a book. Her library home smelt of old books and candle wax. The smell was familiar and soothing to the alicorn.
The book she was reading was one of old pony tales. They were mostly cautionary threads, stories depicting the important morals parents had taught to their foals. Goldie Hoof and the Three Dragons taught to respect others property. Little Filly Ridinghood taught to listen to your parents' advice and to stay away from strangers. Twilight had heard most of the stories before, and had regarded them as little more than myths. But she had a feeling there was something…odd about one story in particular. It was called 'The Filly of the Wind.' It was a short myth that seemed oddly placed in a book of children's tales. Twilight had studied the subject long before the sun came up. She had read the short bit of words in the book and spent the rest of the night searching for more information. But she couldn't find another book that referenced the myth.
"The filly of the wind…" she read, "in ancient pony times she was believed to be the deity of knowledge and cunning. Some say she was deceitful and often resorted to dishonesty to manipulate her victims to do her biding. Others say she is a being of order and harmony, deliverer of knowledge that can benefit all of ponykind. She is said to appear only to those seeking knowledge for the sake of knowing and understanding the world. But she has been whispered to appear when her own boredom drives her to play pranks on innocent ponyfolks. Myths regarding her died out 5000 moons before the rise of Discord, but they returned soon after the beginning rule of the princesses." That was it. Well the rest of the tales in the book had a more whimsical tone, this was a straight forward information dump, much like many of the history books Twilight owned.
Her thoughts were disrupted by a voice. "Twilight, hey twilight!" she heard, though she was still too engrossed in the short bit of text to respond. She barely registered the sigh from the other pony as she flipped through the pages of the book. "Wake up sugar cube." She felt a hoof shaking her shoulder and blinked up at her guest.
"Oh hey, Applejack." Twilight smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came to remind you about Pinkies party."
"Party?"
"For the first day of winter." Applejack looked slightly amused, "spike said he reminded you and said you were coming."
Twilight looked embarrassed. "I don't really remember…"
"Read through it?"
"Heh, ya. I was reading about this old myth, look." She gestured to the page, but the text was gone. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the page before flipping through the book. It was empty, all of it. The front page now read 'Diary' and nothing more. "B-but it was right here!"
Always motherly Applejack raised an eyebrow and gently placed her hoof on Twilight's forehead, "you're feeling a bit warm Twilight." She said "how much sleep did you get?"
"Enough, I know my limits." The alicorn stated.
Applejack looked skeptical. "Twilight, how long have you been up?"
Twilight sighed, "I haven't slept," she admitted, only half in the conversation as she was franticly digging through the pile of books on her desk. "But I should be fine, if worst comes to worst, I'll just cast a wakeful spell on myself, no problem." She huffed and put the last book back on her desk before moving to the nearby shelves. The story had to be somewhere! She had spent the night researching over it.
Applejack shook her head. "Go to bed twilight, I'm sure Pinkie will understand. I'll make you some tea before I leave, and I'll bring you some cake."
"I'm fine." Twilight repeated through a yawn.
"You'll make yourself sick." Applejack warned.
Twilight had moved halfway down the room, searching through book after book levitating the novels before her and observing their titles. She was visibly swaying.
Applejack looked concerned. "Sweetie, we're all worried about you, you haven't gotten much sleep at all since you became a princess."
"Well ya," Twilight said scanning the isles "if I'm going to be a princess of Equestria than I have to know everything! The history of Equestria, all the myths and tales. I have to be prepared if there's another threat. I mean, what have we proved in our life of fighting bad guys? Quite a bit, and undoubtedly we have proved that the most important aspect of fighting battles in the present, is to understand how things worked in the past. I mean," she looked Applejack in the eye, "think about it! Who have we faced? Nightmare moon, seemingly a myth from a thousand years ago. A supposed myth that almost destroyed us all!" She was pacing now, "Discord! Also someone we considered a myth. The king of the crystal kingdom, someone who existed only in the most distant of stories that nopony remembered except Celestia and Luna! What's next? Who's next? Will we have to fix it? Will we have time? Will anyone see it, or them, coming? What kind of threat will they pose? I have to know. It could very well mean the fate of Equestria and everypony who lives!" Twilight had stepped into a beam of sunlight streaming through the library window and Applejack got a good look at her. The young princess had bags under her bloodshot eyes. Her mane was somewhat matted and her tail was un-brushed.
"You're worrying too much hon"
"Too much?" Her voice had raised an octave, "I'd say not enough!" Twilight sat in the light beam and buried her face in her hooves. "AJ, we don't have the elements anymore. If something happens, if we need to defend ourselves, how can we do it? How will we survive?" Twilight's voice had become quiet and defeated by the end of the question. She dragged in a sobbing breath and fell to silent tears.
"I wouldn't know." Applejack responded carefully. "But what I do know is that if something DID happen, you wouldn't be in any place standing up to it in this state." Applejack sat next to the young princess, and took her into a hug.
Twilight didn't protest as she cuddled up to AJ's mane. She always seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, but sometimes it was good to just cry on somebody else's.
She found it almost silly to cry, it wasn't all that warranted, but now that she had started, she was too tired to stop. She felt the strangely warm winter sun on her face, and the soft rhythmic motions of Applejack stroking her mane, the comforting smell of the library now mixed with the near intoxicating smell of apples. Around her the dollop of vibrant sunshine and the subdued, yet pleasing colors of the library began to blur into shades she could no longer place the name to. She could feel herself slipping, beginning to dream. Right before she dropped into sweet sleep, she heard what could have been a mere delusion of a weary mind.
"Goodnight, my princess." The whisper circled deep into her dreams, along with apples and ponytails, and the warm sun.
Well there's my first chapter, tell me what you think! I'm going to use this story to explore some of my headcannon, it should be a lot fun. :)