Chapter 2

Bluster and Celestia walked the halls of Celestia's castle. Bluster was looking at the floor. Celestia was looking at the stain glass windows in the hall. Both were tired and ragged, though Celestia was aware she looked more put together than Bluster. She and Luna had gone to help them at the Crystal Empire, when it became clear something had gone amiss. The sisters had defeated Sombra even without the elements before, and they could do so again, especially with the help of her student and his friends. It was just . . . a shame the royal sisters had been needed.

"I'm sorry," Bluster said. "I failed."

He'd certainly messed up, but that wasn't entirely his fault. As the day Nightmare Moon would return had come closer, Celestia knew she had to find some other ponies who could wield the elements, or risk banishing her sister again. Or losing to her. But no pony was who she was looking for. In the absence of any ideal bearers, she found she enjoyed Bluster's company. His easy going attitude was nice after all the pressure in her life. And after the six's success against threats like Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis, it was easy to assume this would be another success. But that was all working against them now.

Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry too. We could've avoided this if you knew a bit more about what to expect."

At one point she'd planned to try reforming Discord with these six, and had considered if one of them would be a good alicorn. (One of them. Apple Zap might be a better choice than her own student.) Neither of those were completely off the table, but it was time to slow down a bit, make sure they were ready for those challenges.

"It all worked out this time. I'm not mad," Celestia assured him. "This can be a learning experience, for both of us."

That was, after all, the point of a test, wasn't it?

Bluster just looked at the ground, like he had since they got back, and nodded.

"Apple Zap? How was your family reunion?"

Apple Zap made a noncommittal grunting noise and Melody Midnight frowned. Apple Zap and her family didn't exactly always see eye to eye. But even if it had gone badly, Apple Zap would have more enthusiasm than that.

Apple Zap apparently knew she hadn't given much of an answer, because she stopped, taking her satchel off, and added some more. "The reunion was okay, but apparently some of the family was kicked out of their home by some inventors. Kind of important family members too."

"That sounds wrong," Melody said, eyes getting bigger with concern.

Apple Zap nodded. "But apparently it was agreed on."

"They agreed to get kicked out?"

"It's a long story okay?!" Apple Zap snapped.

Melody shuffled back. "O-okay."

She felt like she might cry, and not even because she'd been yelled at, but because she hated when her friends were so angry.

Apple Zap seemed to realize what she did and stepped back with a sigh. "Sorry. It's just not something I expected to get into."

"Do you want to . . . do something about it?" Melody asked.

"I'm not sure there's much we can do. Can't friendship them into oblivion," Apple Zap pointed out. "But I suppose we can pay a visit."

Ponyville was more industrial than Apple Zap remembered it. Fewer plants, awful smell, that kind of thing. Seemed there were some mixed reactions. Some ponies didn't like how fast everything was changing, or what it did to the landscape. Some ponies liked the inventions, or liked it if they could get involved. But many citizens did like how easy it was to get things they wanted, when they wanted it. Not just cider. Seemed like the inventors had already branched out from there.

Either way, Apple Zap had been right. The Apples had lost a competition, willingly given up their farm, and this had all happened a while ago. Bit late to argue about the agreed upon arrangement. She and Melody left the "farm" and discussed for a while longer, but there was really no point staying. They flew back towards home. After all, aside from a few members of the Apple Family, it wasn't like those twins were going to cause trouble for anypony.

[Villain defeats that I think would've gone different without the specific main six, even if their replacements were perfect, are Chrysalis, Sombra, and Flim and Flam. And different doesn't automatically mean a loss. Obviously these six handled Chrysalis. But Flim and Flam especially. Who's going to think they're a threat unless they're part of that specific Apple farm? Meanwhile, more credible threats are being taken out. This hypothetical arguably just replaces some semantics problems with others, but you can't win them all. It was still fun to write.]