I saeh thar yen welven a smelten, ytornd to me, a I war wanwolde.
Or feye myn ane I iliche al schalde the fallyng sterre.
Weak words were all that was left, when time had come to excuse the greatest of gifts this is what was said, that it was nothing but a town in the plain facing afar under the sky metal sharp those towers of white. Fields were green, gardens in bloom, ponies ever happy in the lost history. Call it Victory's tale if you want, hardly anypony knew what it was or what it meant. It is this weak will I fear, when royalty is reduced to some light that you will see nothing but a stonehearted mare, because there was nothing but a stonehearted mare to begin with.
Fields were green, in pastures wide the grass floated, waved on the sides of hills with lighter shades. The grass was fresh, the bristle wet, their hooves stomped and smashed the sluggish soil. Hers heavy and strong pulled forward in a single leap, breaking the circle, striked close to those of the filly who wavered and fell. It wasn't the shock, only the fear the mare explained, stepping back on her side of the circle. There the grass stomped over and over had let place to mud. "You startled me!" The filly got up, checked her red ribbon and pouted, mocked a bit by her two friends aside, she hadn't felt any fear.
This was the point Sweetie Belle insisted, as she had done a few times already. "It's... your body!" She couldn't explain it more clearly, it was the body that was frightened and she looked at the mare for approval, met only two dull, wide and inexpressive eyes. Her two friends didn't care, Applebloom grunted and said all she wanted to know was how she could have avoided falling.
"Liche this" the older pony answered, getting up on her two hind legs and defiant, she put her two front together as a shield. Thus, she explained, all hits would reach her hooves and leave the body unharmed, and her back and thighs would absorb the shock. Scootaloo fluttered her wings, remembering: "That's what Luna's guards did!" But she got no reaction and, feeling left aside, she looked around at the field, at the coming pony.
"Stand on my legs" the young farm pony repeated, getting up on her two and mimicking the mare, "put my hooves together... and now nothing can defeat me!" She grinned.
"Are you learning to fight?" The voice of her sister asked from behind.
Applejack approached the group, to the side of the two fillies watching, stopping by them as her little sister lowered her front legs back to the ground and smiled. They were learning to be knights, "she is" Scootaloo underlined, a bit frustrated. It was part of their quest, as good Crusaders and since, "well" the white filly added as an excuse, crusaders were a bit like knights. They had seen on the cowmare's face some disapproval, the hat a bit low shadowing her sight.
"No offense Victory" Applejack addressed the group, "but my sister here doesn't need no lesson on fighting, 'cause she won't fight ever."
She had said that with a lighter tone at the end, since it was common sense, ponies weren't meant to fight and as the fillies, a bit annoyed, admitted it the cowmare kept looking at the mare still silent on her side of the circle.
"But I want to be a knight!" Applebloom reacted, she wanted to be brave and fight dragons.
"Your sister is right" Victory's voice slashed the air, cold. "Poneys should nat fight, yow should nat want to."
"But you fight all the time!" The little filly tried.
At that the blazing mare answered nothing, only turned and said goodbye. She would be at the library, playing with Spike, and with a last look at her hooves the mare went away, by the hills and that sky metal sharp.
Applejack left with the group of fillies felt relieved. She rubbed the juicy mane of her sister and proposed it was time for some lunch. They let the two other crusaders go their way for more playtime and returned towards the town more joyful than ever. The little sis' trotted along still excited by what she had learned, or thought she had learned, and she suddenly began to explain it, the circle pattern and all. "Stop it" the cowmare cut her, a bit harsh. She didn't mind the fun but those were things she didn't want her sister to play with, and Applebloom grunted, fell silent.
She had wanted to answer, stuff like what her big sister would do if say there were timberwolves, but there was no heart for that. Her attention had been caught by the breeze, joy filling the air so plain, as if concrete, and soon she was smiling again, her little trot happy and light at the side of that happy and light of her big sister. Both were approaching the first houses, by thatched roofs and tall chimneys when they finally noticed the music, some air coming playing that they immediately liked.
"Ya hear that?" Applejack asked. "There must be festivities or something! Let's leave the sad knight stuff behind and have some fun, what do ya say?"
The sister didn't give it a thought: "I'm with ya big sis'!"
Both went on to join other ponies attracted like them by the happy tone, and soon they reached the street, just opening at the corner of two close houses, where they saw dozens of town mares and stallions dancing along the notes, eyes closed, their expressions so happy, humming to follow the rhythm. In front of them was the musician, her coat of such a pale green flowing with the partition as she pulled the strings of her tiny harp, Applejack thought, with tiny glows of magic. Her trot was so genuine it made the cowmare want to follow, and already she was humming too, lulling her head then to her sister: "Let's join them!" And the filly nodded, pressed to go and take part with the parade.
Not a second later Applebloom was watching the Stetson hat of her sister flying lone in the air, caught it with her teeth as the sister herself was down on the ground, covered by the crashed rainbow.
"Don't get near them!" Rainbow Dash hissed to her friend between her forced smile.
Applejack pushed her aside: "What do ya mean? Don't crash on me like that!"
"We must get away as fast as possible!" The harsh pegasus kept on saying, pulling the farm mare by her tail to take her by the side street, opposite to the song.
Applejack was ready to give some thought through her leg to her friend when she noticed her hat lying down with no little sister around it. That's when she realized how the filly had already joined the parade, without waiting for her, and how much she herself wanted to go. Then a little hurt from her tail reminded her to get free of her friend's catch, she whipped the straw tail then retreated with the sky blue mare some more, her sight to the street where she knew her sister was. She wanted to know what was going on.
So did Dash, and she explained how she and Fluttershy had found Lyra approaching the town with that instrument, playing her happy tone. The creamy pegasus had gone to say hello and then suddenly "she began to follow her blindly!" As did everypony getting near her, more and more from the whole town and the pegasus admitted, she herself had had to go to some extremes to not get caught in.
"I get your point" Applejack affirmed, holding Dash down as the smiling pegasus was scrubbing the ground to join the parade. "But that doesn't tell me what's going on!"
"Trouble! That's what's going on!"
Trouble, her sister was in trouble, immediately the cowmare thought to go in and find her, then remembered what Rainbow Dash had said, to stay away. And at the same time she wondered, how it could be trouble since the music was so joyful, those ponies so happy, and she wanted to go in and find her sister to join the fun. She shook her head, smacked it with a hoof then looked around, a bit distressed. All the ponies she could see, that hadn't join the street, were on their way to, not one seeming to mind.
The blue pegasus had took off, hovering near her friend the sky blue mare yelled, what they were going to do, and she was putting her hooves on her ears to try and not hear the music, in vain. Her whole body was jolting with the hum, her mind unable to think of anything else. She screamed as loudly as she could. "I can't take it!" Rainbow Dash burst, stretched and got taken down again by her brave friend. She yelled to get released, that she wanted to join the parade and Applejack, doubting, let go of her grasp for a moment. She watched the rainbow mane mix with the crowd, barrell over their heads then get hidden by the houses.
"What... happened?" The cowmare murmured for herself.
She was already walking back towards the street, not even sure why, not really conscious of it. It was fascinating and, as the unicorn and her instrument were getting farther away, the mare felt some fear to miss the moment.
She blinked. Before her just at her forehooves was the hat that her sister had let behind. Her eyes were fixed on the crowd of ponies, that more were joining, slowly getting away and she wanted to pace forward to joint them, felt the hat against her toe. "Applebloom" the thought flashed in the mare's head, as if a heartbeat. She shook a last time, took the hat, put it back in place then galloped away, clenching her teeth in hurt, and she repeated to herself as silly to her as it sounded that she would save her sister.
The library was there, quieter on this side of town, the music distant a happy tone adding to the green of leaves and bushes, the flowers on windows. While approaching the Golden Oak the mare couldn't get to put two thoughts together, wishing only one thing before she would give in, and that was to alert Twilight.