Rain pattering on the windows woke Fluttershy. She kept her eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the day streaming into the room and onto her face. She felt inexplicably happier than she'd felt in a long, long time. Something nuzzled against her side, making her open her eyes. And she remembered that it was Applejack lightly snoring next to her. A big, joyful grin spread out over Fluttershy's face as she took in the sight of all of her friends curled up together on Rarity's living room floor, all of them alive and well.


Soon, all Ponyville was rejoicing too. The Apple family wouldn't let her go for days, and when she did manage to leave the Acres, Apple Bloom was always at her side. The gloom that had covered the town dissipated, and the world was a better place for Applejack being back in it.

Until Princess Celestia found out.


"Your majesty, you haven't even seen the Mayor!" Twilight nearly had to gallop to keep up with the Princess' long, fast strides.

"There is only one pony I need to see today, Twilight."

Twilight knew Spike was lagging behind, breathless, but wasn't going to leave her mentor's side, especially when she was clearly on a mission of great importance.

The two of them arrived at Rarity's house, and the Princess walked straight in without knocking, Twilight scampering behind her. Rarity was out of bed, her leg mostly healed now that she was less stressed. She was happily working on a design for something or other when she looked up and gasped in horror.

"Your majesty!" She bowed low. "Forgive me, my shop is a mess! If I-"

"Rarity, I will speak with you alone." There was not an ounce of friendliness in Celestia's tone, and Twilight knew the statement had been directed toward her, so she quickly stepped outside and shut the door.
She waited for a long time, pretending not to hear the raised voices, until Spike arrived with Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash in tow.

"What's goin' on?" Applejack asked, nervously. But it was obvious. The words "magic" and "dangerous" could be heard enough times from inside to make it clear what exactly Princess Celestia was bellowing at Rarity for. And to Twilight's horror, she could hear Rarity's voice sounding just as loud back at her monarch.
Suddenly, a great clap of thunder and a flash came from inside the house, and the voices stopped. Still no-one dared even go to the windows to look in, though other ponies had gathered to the house at the noise.

The door swung open and the Princess strode out, her expression more angry than Twilight had feared of her.

"Twilight Sparkle."

The student stepped before her teacher diligently.

"I hereby give you the position of Magical Director. You will supervise all use of magic in Ponyville and report directly to me anything you consider dangerous."

Twilight said "Yes, your majesty" before she'd fully taken in the authority she was being given. And no-one else spoke a word in reaction. They just watched their ruler walk away through the cloud before stopping.

"Applejack," she said. "I'm very glad you're back."

And then she was gone, straight upwards in a rocketing leap, back to her castle.

Everyone rushed to Rarity's door, but when Twilight called out "Stay back!" even her friends stopped more quickly than they would have before her new appointment. Twilight pushed back the odd feeling this gave her and went into the house.

Rarity was lying on the floor, facing away from her. It was quickly apparent that she was breathing and awake, but Twilight froze too when she saw that there was now only one horn of a Unicorn in the room.


"Bu' the Crusader's Picnic is meantah be in the orchard!"

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom, but things the way they are, I don't think that'd be such a good idea. Scootaloo can come over fine."

"But we're a team! We can't leave Sweetie Belle outta anythin'!"

This was the first argument Apple Bloom had had with her sister since her return, and it didn't feel good. The sound of bickering could usually be heard over all parts of the farm from all family members, but it felt wrong to have the life Applejack had come back to have any kind of bad in it. So Apple Bloom couldn't understand why her sibling didn't feel the same way. She seemed tired by the row, but when she turned back to meet her eye, there was no give in her resolve.

"It jus' can't be. I'm real sorry, but the eyes of real powerful ponies are on me and Rarity right now, so until they're gone it's best we don't do anythin' at all to give 'em cause to think trouble's occurin'."

"It's jus' a picnic!"

"Do you want somethin' to happen to Sweetie Belle too?" Applejack sighed and lowered her voice, knowing she'd yelled. "I know it ain't right. But that kinda time's the time when we gotta keep things goin' smooth. I don't want any more to come of what happened."

Guilt card. Classic sister move. But it was on a subject that Apple Bloom couldn't face, so she huffed noncommittally and kept on with her drawing. Most of her stuff had ended up here in Applejack's room, due to the two never being apart these days. And the little filly always had the elder sibling in the corner of her eye, so she gasped when she saw her bring out the chest that held the magical piece of jewellery that represented her Element of Harmony.

"Leave it be!" She cried out. "Don't you be thinking of goin' out and usin' that again!"

"I'm just looking, Apple Bloom." Applejack's voice was quiet. "I'm know all you guys'd rather not think about it all, but for me it's something that needs thinking over now and again."

Apple Bloom watched carefully as Applejack gently took the Element in her teeth and carried it to her bed, where she curled up and brought her face to it, taking in every shine of it reflected. She became so engrossed in it that Apple Bloom found herself collecting up her pencils and leaving. She didn't want to know what thoughts were going through her sister's head.


Twilight Sparkle loved being busy. Her list of books to read was always growing, there was always a checklist to get through, and then there were the visits to all the friends she'd made in Ponyville she had to make to be sure she was growing in her knowledge of the magic of friendship. If there was nothing for her to do, Twilight would feel empty and guilty, like there was something she SHOULD be doing but had forgotten. Activity gave Twilight life.

But this was ridiculous.

As Magical Director, Twilight was meant to oversee every single piece of magic done by unicorns throughout Ponyville. There were those who would come to her door to see if they needed permission for the most menial of tasks like carrying. Until now, Twilight had no idea of the fear a power like Celestia could bring on a community. And she saw the new way people looked at her as she inspected their enchantments and just walked down the street. She had the power to report any of them directly to Celestia. Twilight had decided she didn't like power.

And she didn't know what other ponies were saying about the whole thing. Too often she'd had to turn down Pinkie's invitations or Cheerilee's requests for he to give lectures in favour of overseeing building constructions by unicorns, Magic Art by unicorns, even writing by unicorns. She had a feeling that many unicorns had now adapted to not use magic for all the tasks Earth Ponies and Pegasi did without horns. There was also a nagging feeling that it was her duty to do something about Zecora, and her thousand potions which Twilight was sure wouldn't meet the Acceptable Use Policy found in the new 'Guide to Magical Practice' Celestia had provided her with.

But more than Zecora, Twilight felt guilty about Rarity. She was another pony she hadn't seen purely for having been busy, and, though the only non-magical Unicorn in the town, was also the one pony she knew she should be seeing. The whimpers that Twilight knew were shrieks underneath Rarity's barely-maintained restraint of that night were the last thing she remembered as her now-disabled friend was rushed away were the last thing she remembered of her. She'd heard that she was back in her shop and that other than the obvious, no real harm had been done physically. But especially with her previous injury to her leg, Twilight knew that Rarity must be beyond miserable.

And so, one day she gave in and gave Spike one appointment more than she usually delegated to him, which added more guilt as she knew as a baby dragon he needed his sleep, and set off to Rarity's shop.

It was open for business, and a customer, Tick-Tock, was coming out as Twilight approached. The spiky-haired brown colt pretended he hadn't seen her and set off at a quick trot, though he was an Earth Pony and so had no reason to do so that Twilight could see. She nudged open the door and spotted Rarity bent over a sewing machine. The bell above the entrance rang out, making the pale pony turn.

The usually so glamorous Rarity looked as shattered as Twilight felt. Her eyes drooped and her mouth hung slack where it obviously ached by her having to use her mouth for everything she'd previously done with magic. And the quiff of her mane was gone; it now hung in a tasteful fringe that made Twilight conscious of how long it had been since she'd attended to her own. The new hairstyle of course hid the scar which Twilight remembered vividly on her forehead. Rarity's horn hadn't been snapped off, nothing as kind as that. It was like it had been pulled out of her skull.

But the scar was hidden, and Rarity's face lit up with delight when she recognised her friend.

"Twilight my darling!" She rushed to her and the two nuzzled each other's necks for a moment. "Do excuse my rudeness but I'll have to continue to work while we- Sweetie Belle!"

Rarity's younger sister hurried in, four differently covered strips of material floating above her. Sweetie Belle had come to Twilight and requested permission to be granted any hovering and manipulating spells needed to assist her sister in the shop, which she had immediately been given. And now she was rushing to a table where Rarity instructed her to start following the designs for a range of scarves that had been requested by a client in Canterlot. The elder set back to work at the sewing machine.

"So.." Twilight struggled to find an opening that wasn't anything along the lines of 'how are you doing', and was grateful for the rescue when Rarity asked her about her new duties, which also allowed her to let off some steam as they laughed together.

"Mmmm ghmm frmm-" Rarity spit out the sleeve of the dress. "Apologies. Does that now mean you know-"

The bell above the door nearly fell off its hook as Fluttershy crashed in.

"Twilight!" she yelled, gasping, taking a moment to settle on where her purple friend was in the room before rushing up to her. "I thought as Director you should have all our Elements, so I went to get it, and it was gone! My cupboard was a mess, someone had taken it!"

"What?" Twilight's thoughts went straight to the drawer under Spike's bed that held her own tiara, and what would happen to him if the thief came in while he'd snuck home for a nap.

"RARITY!"

And then it was Sweetie Belle who they was rushing to the rescue off, the scream having come from upstairs. There was a horrific-sounding thunk, and the silver filly flew out of the room, only saved from colliding with the wall by Fluttershy's wing-propelled leap through the air.

Someone in the bathroom had kicked her. And as they stormed through the door rage turned to confusion as they saw that the kicker was Applejack.

In the next two seconds all that Twilight was able to take in was the shine of Rarity's Element in Applejack's mouth, Rarity's bellow of fury at Applejack, and that she was taking a step forward in order to ask what was going on. The step forward had been a mistake. Applejack leapt into an aggressive stance, her face a snarl of violence, and magicked Twilight into the air.

A black energy surrounded Twilight as she hovered above the floor, blocking out everything, including her own magic. Something like an electric shock rushed through her, white hot, and a voice echoed through her skull.

The voice said YOU ARE NOTHING, and Twilight crashed to the floor as Applejack bounded out of the window.