Songs of Innocence

Chapter 11: From the Angst of Lost Memories

Fluttershy's cottage, many moons later

"With that, the course of her life - before, a blurred line, smudged by amnesia - became a little clearer. But the path she travelled down had many diversions that she found herself walking on before coming back to the main path." Fluttershy explained poetically. 

She picked up the worn book again, and flipped through it to find something she wanted to show the filly. She landed on a page with a page with a letter addressed to Fluttershy taped on the page. She looked at it with a bit of a mixed expression - one of nostalgia, but it was clear that something was off, and the filly hoped her storyteller would explain.

A wistful sigh left the old mare's mouth. "Sometimes, she'd hit a dead end, chasing something that only led her to disappointment. In other words, things between me and her got... complicated. I mean no offence, but you're a little young to understand."

The filly reacted with a scowl, but she knew Fluttershy was just being honest. 

"I'm sorry. Uhm, well... Sun didn't quite understand either." She cleared her throat, communicating that she was about to start another wordy bout of reminiscence. "With the support of my and my friends, the path Sun was walking on became her more than just the one to her destination - it became her own. She never felt like she was on some kind of grand journey, and I think that was because we were always there to support her. Actually... Think of it more like a hike on a mountain. You might get lost trying to find the path to the top, but with friends around to help, you'll be back on it before you even know it."

The Castle of Friendship, many moons ago

Twilight gathered her friends and Sun (as well as Avalonia) into the meeting room for an important... well, meeting. Neither Twilight nor Sun really knew what to think about what happened yesterday, and Pinkie was clearly too distracted by her new wings to bother asking why she was here, so Rainbow Dash decided to be her substitute.

"I have questions. Like, a LOT of questions. Do I need your permission, or can I just start?" the pegasus asked, her arms crossed, barely willing to wait for answers.

"You have my permission, Rainbow..." Fluttershy replied meekly.

"Did something happen?" Rarity, the white unicorn asked, having even less of a clue than Rainbow. 

"You tell me." chuckled Applejack, the southern-accented earth pony, as she eyed Pinkie's wings.

"I'm glad you noticed." Twilight said, skillfully calling everyone's attention back to her. "Yesterday was unusual, to say the least." She turned to look at Sun, signaling her to open a rather important-looking box on the table. Upon opening it to reveal its contents, she heard five simultaneous gasps from the ponies as they laid their eyes upon what they never thought they'd see: a new Element of Harmony.

"What in the hay is that?" Applejack asked, not quite knowing how to react. "Ah thought the Elements were destroyed!"

(Writer's note: in this fanfic, I will be writing Applejack's dialogue in a stylized way that will reflect her southern accent, but all you really need to know is that "ah" means "I" (e.g. "ah'll" means "I'll", "ah'm" means "I'm". Please refer to The Southern Person's Dialectal Dictionary For Talkin' Southern Real Well for more information.)

"That hasn't changed. The Elements are still destroyed... and that's why even I'm not sure what I'm looking at." Twilight replied. "Care to explain, Sun?"

And Sun explained the best she could.

"So, I thought Pinkie would lose her wings once we got back to our bodies, but... uh... I don't need to say anything else about that. Anyways, to make a long story short: Ultra Violet is good now and she's renamed herself to Avalonia, I somehow have a new Element of Harmony now, and you know the third thing. So, Rainbow, that's why there was a giant lizard monster in your dream last night. Uhm... Any questions?"