Long before the days of Equestria, before even the first traces of pony life, in an age almost completely forgotten by the annals of time, the vast continent that now houses the many kingdoms and races of the modern world, contained only such society: The Kingdom of the Primordials.

Believed to be long extinct, the Primordials are the earliest known civilized species, a part of the primate family that had achieved levels of intelligence far beyond any living animal of that time, intelligence that allowed them to create language, build homes and fashion tools, they invented clothing, plates, beverages, kitchen utensils, some believe they may have even been on the verge of creating an early form of plumbing.

Perhaps most importantly, however, they were the first to harness and control the forces of magic.

In these times, magic was a young, chaotic and mysterious element, no one truly understood what it was, or how to contain it. Many times, magic would seem to act on its own, creatures being turned into different creatures, lightning coming out of trees, objects and animals beginning to levitate for no reason, things like this didn't happen too often, but often enough.

For the Primordials, it started as a simple desire among their scholars to study magic, to understand what it was and how it worked, but the more they learned about its mechanics, the more they desired to control it for themselves.
Unfortunately, it was this very ambition that lead not only to their downfall as a society, but also, to their own extinction.

"12 Done, 28 left to go…" Twilight sighed as she looked over at the remaining letters she was required to read and reply to. As much as she loved reading, writing, and the general concept of sending and receiving letters (or at least used to love), if she had to pick what the worst part about being a semi-important political figure was, there'd be no contest against all the paperwork she had to do on a weekly basis.

"Are you sure you don't wanna take a break, Twilight?" said Spike, "You've been at this for 2 hours! It's not like these letters are going anywhere," Spike paused to take a sip from his "#1 Assistant" mug that was totally a gift and he totally didn't get custom made for himself, "And ya know, sitting down like that for so long is really bad for your back and neck, or, so I've heard. Back me up here, Starlight!"

Starlight, who was on the other side of the room on the couch, working on fixing her kite, looked up in confusion. "Huh? Wha? Oh uh, totally, yeah, what he said" The Unicorn stammered before putting her focus back on the kite.

"I appreciate the concern, Spike," the Alicorn began as she started writing the next reply, "But the sooner I get these done with, the better, procrastination is unbecoming of a princess. Probably."

"Taking a break isn't procrastinating! Come on, Twilight! Just for 5 minutes, stretch your legs, go outside, do something fun. Back me up here, Starlight!"
"Mhmm, definitely" Starlight said, without looking up. Spike simply raised an eyebrow at this display. "I think maybe you both need to get out."

Before either mare could reply, the Dragon suddenly felt a lump in his throat, followed quickly by the familiar sight of green fire being burped out to form a rolled up scroll. "Oh great", Said Spike with an annoyed look on his face, as he caught the letter in his hands, "even more mai- Wait, this is a letter from the Princess!"

Without missing a beat, Twilight looked up from her desk, grabbed the royal letter in her magic, opened it, and speedily read through it.
"Celestia wants the six of us in Canterlot at once!"
"What for?" asked Spike.

"She didn't say. Come on, Spike, let's go get the girls! Starlight, are you ok to look after the castle while I'm gone?"

This seemed to snap the Pale Purple Pony out of her fixation. "What? Oh, uh, yeah, of course! I mean, the letter only called the six of you, so I might as well stay here, make myself useful, hehehe", Starlight said, before letting out a quiet sigh, holding a look of disappointment.

Twilight and Spike shared a look, before the Alicorn turned back to Starlight with a concerned but knowing look on her face. "Actually…..Why don't you come with us?
The Unicorn's disappointment turned to confusion, then to visible glee. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Come on, Everypony! Next train to Canterlot leaves in 25 minutes!"

The train from Ponyville to Canterlot bustled through the mountain side as seven ponies sat in their usual car, in their usual seats, conversing all along the way.

"What do you think the princi called us for this time?" Pinkie Pie asked, in her standard chipper tone.
"I'm not sure," Replied Twilight, "But I think-Wait, did you say "princi"?"
"Yeah!" said the pink Earth Pony, "The plural of Pegasus is Pegasi, so the plural of Princess must be Princi!"
Twilight was about to say something in reply to her party throwing friends' bemusing grammatical conclusion, but decided against it.

"Anyway, I think it might have something to do with this", Twilight then enveloped a newspaper in her aura, and showed the contents of the headline to everyone around.

STOLEN ANCIENT ARTIFACT FOUND AND RETURNED TO MUSEUM IN SADDLE ARABIA

"Hey, look who's on the cover!" Said Pinkie.
On the picture below the headline, a familiar beige Pegasus mare with a black mane wearing safari gear stood shaking hooves with who appeared to be a Saddle Arabian political figure, next to the aforementioned Artifact, a small bronze statue of a monkey.

Rainbow Dash then took the paper out of Twilight's aura, and began reading: "Eccentric Adventurer Daring Do discovered the ancient statue being sold on the black market during one of her many expeditions, and as a thanks for returning it to the History Museum in Mareq, has been given a 1 Million Bit Grant by Saddle Arabian Minister, Salstallion Al Sadd. Aw yeah, this is totally what her next book's gonna be about!"

"Ah'm not sure I follow, Twi," said Applejack. "Why would their majesties call all've us over for this Artifact if it's already been found?"
Starlight then took the newspaper from Rainbow Dash and read further. "Hmm, says here they still haven't found the pony who stole it in the first place. Maybe they want us to try and find them?"

The ponies in the car glanced around each other, and Rarity spoke up. "Forgive my bluntness, darling, but that hardly seems like the type of thing the princesses would call us for. Hunting common criminals on the other side of Equestria is a bit outside our field of expertise."

"It was just a thought." Starlight shrugged, looking a smidge dejected.
"Still," Twilight began, "I can't help but feel as though it's related. Princess Celestia sent the letter at 9:35 AM, and she always reads the newspaper at 9:34!"
"You know what time Celestia reads the paper?" Rainbow said, with a cheeky look on her face.

"Of course I do! I was the one who put it on her schedule."
"Why am I not surprised," The cyan Pegasus snickered while facing towards Applejack, but both ponies now seemed to share an uncomfortable awkward look, and they both turned away.

Twilight took notice of this, but decided it best to not question it in a public setting.
"Hey! Uh, I just remembered, I need to go, uuuhh," Twilight stammered, trying to think of an excuse on the fly. Fly. Fly! "…..Go do my, Wing, stretches, yeah…gotta keep these things in shape, am I right?" The lavender Alicorn said while rubbing her left wing, "Would you, uh, like to join me, Rainbow Dash?"

She really hoped the Rainbow maned Pegasus would buy this and go along with her.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but seemed to be buying it. "Uh…, sure, I guess. You coming too, Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy?"

The Pegasus looked over and saw that her yellow friend was asleep, resting on Pinkie's lap, while the Pink Pony brushed her mane with her hoof. "She had a bit of rough night last night, she just needs some rest right now," She said, a dreamy look on her face as she watched her marefriend snoozing.

Twilight and Rainbow left the car, and went all the way to the back. Once they were both in, Twilight closed the door and turned to Rainbow, a stern look on her face, and spoke up. "Ok, what was that about?"

"What was what about?"
"That look between you and AJ."

Rainbow's face turned to mix of confusion, annoyance, and mild embarrassment. "I thought we came here to do wing stretches."

"I just said that because I didn't want to make things awkward in front of all our friends. Now come on, did something happen between you two?"

"It's nothing," The Pegasus replied, crossing her forelegs, "Just drop it."

"Ya know, if you don't tell me, I can always ask Applejack, and I'd imagine she'd be a bit more honest about it."

"Then why didn't you just ask her in the first place?"
"I…couldn't come up with a better excuse than wing stretches."

Rainbow dash sighed and uncrossed her legs. "Ok fine…..Just… don't tell anypony else about this, alright?"
Twilight nodded.

"Alright, well, ya see….last night, me and AJ were both at this party in a barn, a little outside of town, we had this competition going over who was the better dancer. Then we started dancing with each other."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Ok?"

Rainbow Continued "And then, well, one thing lead to another, and…we, she and I, we…kissed."
Twilight's eyes widened with surprise, and understanding, "Oh…Oh wow…"
"Well, ok, it wasn't just a kiss, it was like, a full on make-out session. We didn't stop until we heard a bunch of stallions cheering. Pfft. Typical." The Pegasus turned to her Alicorn friend, who still seemed to be processing the information. "Twi? You still here?"

"Yeah! Yeah, it's just…wow, I almost can't believe it finally happened!"
Rainbow cocked an eyebrow, "Come again?"

"I mean it's been in the making for like, what, 4 years now?" The Alicorn was giggling as she was speaking, "And for it to happen because of a competition, I mean, that's some new age romantic novel stuff right there-"
Rainbow put a hoof over her friends' mouth. "Hold on a minute-are you telling me you expected this to happen?"

Twilight pushed Rainbow's hoof aside and continued speaking, "Weellll, it has been kind of a running joke between me, Spike and Rarity for…quite some time now actually."
"For how long?" Rainbow demanded.

"I think it must have started after that "Running of the Leaves" event from my first year in Ponyville, you and AJ running side by side under the Autumn leaves, the pictures made it look pretty romantic. And the more time went on, the more the clues started piling up."
"The clues?"

"Just, ya know, the way you two talk about each other, how much you have in common, how often you two seem to just stare into each other's eyes, heck, Spike even jokes that the whole "Most daring pony" thing Is just an excuse to spend time together." Twilight Chuckled, but then saw that her cyan friend had a rather disgruntled look on her face.
"So you've all been joking about us behind our backs, for 4 years? Real nice," Rainbow's voice was dripping with annoyed sarcasm.

Twilight looked and felt a bit guilty, but decided to put that aside for the moment. "Sooooo…do you like her? As in, Like-Like?"
"No! I mean…Maybe?" Rainbow sighed and closed her eyes, "I don't know."

Twilight put a hoof on her friends' shoulder, "Well, whatever you think of her, the two of you are gonna have to talk about this at some point. You can't avoid each other forever," she said, with a stern, but sympathetic face.
Rainbow didn't reply, but her expression showed that she knew her lavender friend was right.

The Royal castle was as it always was: Guards patrolling the many hallways, or simply standing by the doors, until their shifts end, its many caretakers and cleaning crews (yes, cleaning crews, plural) keeping the monumental palace as beautiful on the inside as it is majestic on the outside. But the ponies of Ponyville weren't here to admire the scenery (aside from Rarity, maybe).

The seven ponies and one dragon made their way to the entrance of the royal throne room, and were met by two guards standing on opposite sides of the door, one with a maroon coat, the other orange.

"Halt!" The maroon guard shouted, startling the group, "who goes there! Identify yourselves!" He demanded. The Orange guard turned to look at his fellow official, with an unamused expression, "What are you doing?"

"This is the traditional greeting for unexpected arrivals to the Royal Throne room, it's in the official guide book! Section 35-C. You'd know that if you had actually read it."
"First of all, you're a nerd. Second, come on man, Everypony knows who these guys are", the orange guard stated, pointing towards Twilight and her friends, "They've saved Equestria like, 28 times! And they come here like once a moon! I'm pretty sure the purple one used to literally LIVE in this castle!"

"That doesn't mean we break protocol. As the trusted royal guards," The maroon one began, putting a hoof to his chest, "it is our duty to keep the Princesses safe, and we do that by always following the rules. Or at least, I do. You, on the other hoof, seem to prefer sleeping on the job and eating everything in the Mess hall!"

"At least I'm not a Suck-up like you are, I bet if the CO told you to jump off a cliff, you'd do it in a heartbeat!"

"If the CO asked me to jump off a cliff, I'm sure he would have a very good reason why. You know, you could learn a thing or two from that pony, maybe if you actually paid attention to him once in a while, you wouldn't be so lazy all the-"

"EXCUSE ME!" Twilight interrupted, "Can we please go in now?"
"Oh yeah, sure," The Orange guard replied, opening the door.
The seven ponies and the dragon walked in as the two guards resumed their argument, and the door shut behind them.

Once they were in, they saw Princess Celestia sitting on her Throne, her sister, Princess Luna standing next to her. "Thank you all for coming", The Princess of the Sun exclaimed, standing up. "The matter I have called the six of you here for, is most urgent."

Starlight and Spike shot a glance at each other, clearly having noticed the use of the word "Six". Both seemed a little annoyed by it, but didn't dare to say anything.
"Is it about the monkey statue?" Asked Twilight, "The one that was stolen in Saddle Arabia."

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Replied the Princess of the Moon.
"The statue itself is not important, but rather, what is held inside of it," clarified Celestia.

The group shared confused looks with each other, and Twilight spoke up. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand, Princess. What exactly is held inside of it?"

"A key to saving the entire world from destruction." Luna said, very bluntly.

Everypony standing below gasped, with unnerved expressions.

Before anyone could speak up, Celestia's eyes began to glow a bright white and her horn lit up, and, right in front of the very confused group, a large stone mural began to materialize.

"To understand what we mean, I must first tell you this story", said Celestia, her voice know seeming to encompass the entire room, as the room itself suddenly grew dark, with only the mural staying bright.

The mural depicted four cloaked, bipedal figures circled around a table.
"Many centuries ago, long before even our time, these figures you see now ruled over this land."

Celestia carried on, explaining the history of the Primordials, all the while, the contents of the mural would shift and alter, corresponding to her words, showing depictions of whatever part of the story she was telling. The one thing she left out of her retelling, however, was how their study of and control over magic had led to their downfall.

Twilight was left stunned by this account, though her friends seemed more confused if anything. "I can't believe I've never heard of this," The lavender Alicorn finally spoke up, still not fully processing this bout of information. How had she not heard of this? Heard of them? She thought she knew everything there was to know about the Pre-Equestrian era.

"Very few have," clarified Luna, "My sister and I, as well as only a small set of important scholars know about the existence of the Primordials. And even then, the information we do have, is still quite limited."

"Indeed," her older sister continued, "The Primordials were already a long extinct species by the time of our births."

This seemed to put Twilight's mind at ease, though she was still very slightly hurt that she apparently wasn't considered "important" enough to be told about any of this, at least that was how she had interpreted Luna's words.

"That's all mighty interesting," said Applejack, not completely sarcastically, "But what does any of this have to do savin' the world or keys inside've old monkey statues?" The orange pony then nervously bowed her head slightly, "Your majesties," She added, hoping she hadn't offended the princesses with her bluntness.

"That will be explained in the next part of the story," replied Celestia in a thankfully gentle tone. The mural changed once again to show what appeared to be a constellation, one that Twilight instantly recognized. "Errera's Strip!" She exclaimed. It was three stars in a diagonal line, one star on the upper left, another on the lower right, and one more in the middle.

"Nearly 1 million years ago, the wisest of the Primordial society discovered through magically-aided astronomy, that three stars of what is now known as Errera's Strip, were set to align in a single straight path," stated Celestia, as the mural shifted to show just that.

"Upon further research, they discovered that these stars had strange magic properties, and that when the alignment occurred, their energies would converge into each other, creating a powerful surge of magic that would beam directly into the centre of the planet." The mural displayed a view from space of the aforementioned beam going into the globe, followed by several cracks forming over it, and eventually, the entire planet breaking into hundreds of pieces.

Everypony now had a look of utter horror at the idea of the whole world simply breaking apart like a smashed rock.

The Mural changed once again, this time once again showing the four cloaked figures from the start of the tale. "The Four leaders of the kingdom knew that something had to be done to prevent this catastrophe, so they called upon all of the kingdom's greatest inventors, magic researchers, and architects," explained Luna, as the mural shifted to show the leaders in conversation with several Primordials, undoubtedly the greats that she had spoken of. "They were instructed to build a machine that would absorb the beam's magic and, hopefully, fire it directly back towards the stars it came from. To power this machine, the greats would use 3 mystical gems, the exact nature of which were a mystery even to them," The mural changed once again to show the three gems: one red, one yellow, and one blue.

Rarity quickly recognized these gems as a Ruby, a Lapis Lazuli, and a Tigers-eye, respectively.

"Well, obviously, that big ol' machine must have worked," said Pinkie, in her usual cheery tone, In contrast to everyone else's looks of unease. "Cuz I'm preeety sure the planet isn't in a gajillion pieces floating through the vacuum of space!"
"Yeah," Rainbow said in agreement. "Either that, or they were way off with that whole stars-align-laser-to-the-planet thing."

The mural then dematerialized as the room lit back up, taking everypony by surprise.
"I can assure you, their predictions were quite accurate," said Celestia in a frighteningly serious tone. "According to every available bit of knowledge about their time, the stars did indeed align almost 1 million years ago, and they did in fact create a beam of magic that would have been powerful enough to destroy our world."

This statement seemed to make Rainbow lose a bit of her cocky bravado.
"However," began Luna, "The Primordial scholars made another prediction: That the stars would align again every 1 million years. And as of the last few days, several astronomers have made reports claiming the stars have made slight changes in position."

A pin could be heard drop as the gravity of what that statement meant began to dawn of the group. There was a brief silence, before Applejack spoke up, "So, what you're saying is..."

"The 1 million year anniversary of the last alignment draws very near" replied Celestia.

"How-How long?" asked Fluttershy, who was practically shaking as Pinkie tried to comfort her.

"11 days."

"So, let me guess," Rainbow began, whose current emotions were almost unreadable, "you want us to try and find this machine and, turn it back on?"

"There is a bit more to it than that, I'm afraid," The Tallest Alicorn clarified. "Some time after the collapse of their kingdom, the few remaining Primordials took the three gems that had been used to power the machine, and hid them across the continent."

"The Exact Locations of two are unknown, only vague ideas and theories," continued Luna, "But one is known to be in Equestria."

A sudden realization hit Twilight. "The monkey statue…The gem is inside of the Statue!" The Young Alicorn exclaimed a bit too enthusiastically.
"Indeed," the Princess of the Moon said before lighting her horn. A large map then appeared before.

"The second gem is believed to have been hidden somewhere in these deserts," an X was drawn over the part of the map she was speaking of, a large stretch of desert land outside of Equestria, but not quite in the Badlands. "The third, somewhere in these jungles," another X appeared, this area was even further away from Equestria, seeming to sit at the edge of the continent.

Finally, it all seemed to make sense, at least to Twilight it did, the others still seemed to have their questions. Starlight was the first to speak her mind.
"Ok, so you want us-or, sorry, them, to go to all around the continent to find these long-lost magical items, to turn on a super ancient machine that we don't even know the location of?"

Twilight was somewhat taken aback by how boldly her student was talking to the Royal Sisters, and almost said something, before Celestia cut her off. "I understand your concerns, Starlight Glimmer," she said, in her standard Regal, but gentle tone. "But I have my reasons for this decision. Many expeditions have been made to try and find the remaining gems, but nopony has been lucky enough to find them, and many never returned from their journeys."

That last statement very quickly increased everypony's feelings of anxiety, which The Princess of the Sun was quick to try and calm. "But time and time again, I have seen the six of you accomplish feats that were previously thought impossible. If anypony can find those gems, it's you fillies!"

Twilight didn't look so sure, neither did most of the rest of her friends, but before she could voice her concerns, Rainbow spoke up: "Well what are we waiting for? We've got an adventure to go on!" The cyan Pegasus threw a hoof up in the air, as she flew herself up in excitement.

"Not so fast, Rainbow Dash", Celestia said, with a somewhat playful attitude. The Pegasus landed back on the ground and continued listening.
"I have elected to give you all one day to prepare for the long trip. I would have given you more, but time is short, and the paths are long. Your first stop will be Mareq, the village where the Saddle Arabian History Museum is located." The Princess lit her horn up again, and pulled a scroll out from her chair, guiding it towards Twilight, who quickly enveloped it in her own aura. "Once there, you must give this scroll to the Minister of Saddle Arabia, he will understand everything once he reads it."
Luna spoke next, "After retrieving the first gem, you will then be able to set off on the search for the two yet undiscovered gems, and then, the Kingdom of the Primordials, where the machine resides."

"Yes, about that," Rarity said with a slightly nervous and confused smile, "We still don't know where this kingdom is, exactly. I certainly don't remember seeing it on that map."

"You need not worry about that now," stated Celestia. "Once you have all the gems, everything will be revealed to you."

The seven ponies and one dragon once again shot glances of confusion at each other.
"Why do they have to be so cryptic?" Spike muttered under his breath, hoping nopony had heard him.

Twilight hadn't said anything in quite a while, she simply rubbed her chin in thought, before giving a determined smile. "Your majesties, we would be honoured to go on this adventure. What do you say, girls? Ready to go save the world?"
The lavender Alicorns' friends looked deep in thought for a moment (save Rainbow, who was already dead-set on going), before Applejack finally spoke up: "Aw what the heck, ah'm in!"
Her other friends cheered in agreement.

"So, how exactly are we gonna get to all these places?" asked Rainbow. "I mean, I don't imagine there's a train route to that desert or that jungle."
"You will travel by Hot-air Balloon," explained Celestia. "I had a new model built especially for this occasion."
Spike raised an eyebrow. "A new model?"

Perched on a small platform in the uphill valley just a little outside of town, was an almost intimidatingly large lavender envelope* connected to a round wicker basket with a little over half the width of an average two-story house bedroom.

As a Royal guard stood by the impressive lighter-than-air aircraft waiting for its passengers, said passengers stood a few feet away, simply marvelling at what would be their mode of transportation for the next several days.
"So that's what she meant," said a slightly dumbfounded Spike.
"If I had known the basket would be so big, I wouldn't have packed so light!" added Rarity, pointing to her single, medium sized suitcase.
"What a shame," Rainbow responded in sarcasm.

The seven ponies then averted their gaze from the Balloon and towards their respective friends and family who had come to see them off before they left on their long journey.

"Are you sure I can't come with?" pleaded Spike, "I've been with on epic adventures before!"

Twilight gave a sympathetic look to her dragon companion, and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Sorry, Spike, but this mission is too long, and too potentially dangerous. Those other times, you got roped into it with me, but this time, I have the opportunity to keep you safe, and I have to take it." Spike didn't reply, simply looking to the ground with a sad, but understanding face. Twilight then smiled as another thought popped in her head. "Besides, I need someone to take care of the castle for me while I'm gone, and I can't think of anyone more qualified than my Number 1 Assistant!"

In truth, Twilight had actually asked Sunburst to come to town to act as the castle's temporary caretaker, but Spike didn't need to know that yet.
The little dragon's frowned turned upside down, and he gave a small salute. "I won't you let you down!" His face then fell again, and he quickly pulled the Lavender Alicorn's foreleg into a hug. "Just promise me you'll come back ok."
"I promise," Twilight said softy, as she returned the hug.

Close by, three of Twilight's friends were giving their own goodbyes to their younger sisters.

"Take good care'v the farm fir me, you hear?"
"Don't get in too much trouble without me, scoot."
"Make sure to give Opalescence a bath daily, and don't open the door for anyone without asking who it is first! Oh, and stay away from the third left drawer on my nightstand, that's where I keep all the pins and needles, which are very sharp! Oh, and also remember to-"
"Rarity," Sweetie Belle interrupted. "I'll be fine! Heck, I probably don't even need all those baby sitters you hired!"
Rarity cocked an eyebrow as she gave her younger sister an unamused look.
"….I'm kidding!" Sweetie laughed nervously, before her older sister pulled her in for a big hug.

"Isn't this exciting, Shy!" Pinkie exclaimed as she threw her and Fluttershy's luggage into the basket. "This is our first big adventure as a couple!"
"Woohoo," The yellow Pegasus implied timidly, but with clear enthusiasm, as she gave a loving look to her pink partner.

After a few more farewells, the seven ponies hoped aboard the casket, all their supplies in tow, as the guard nearby lit the tank, and untied the rope keeping the carrier grounded.

It was then that Rainbow Dash noticed something unusual. One, two, three, four, five, six….seven? "Wait," she exclaimed "Starlight? You're coming too?"
"Uh, yeah!" The pale Purple unicorn replied, smiling a bit sheepishly. "I needed to get out of the castle, ya know? I think I'm well overdue for a big adventure."

"That's the spirit!" the Cyan Pegasus exclaimed, giving Starlight a soft punch on the shoulder.

It was then that the aircraft began its ascent, a surprisingly quick one given the weight it was pulling. After a little while, the area from which it came faded out, and soon so did Ponyville. The trip had officially begun.
Twilight looked out in the horizon, an expression of determination across her face.
"To Saddle Arabia!"

A few miles away, unbeknownst to its passengers, the Hot-air Balloon was being observed through monocular, by a mysterious pony in a black cloak that covered their face. The figure lowered their device and turned over to another similarly dressed pony before speaking. "Send a letter to the captain, alert him of their arrival."

TO BE CONTINUED…

*Envelope: the technical term for the balloon part of a hot-air balloon.

So yeah, first chapter, first fic. I intend for the following chapters to be at least as long as this one, but with more plot/action and less exposition, current plan is about 17-20 chapters, based on how things go.
Also, i do intend on writing a prequel story about how Pinkie and Fluttershy became a couple, likely before this one is even done.