Masks
The moment Twilight Sparkle stepped out onto street level from the tunnels below, she knew something was wrong. About three blocks away, roughly where she expected the Iron Circle’s tower to be, a column of smoke illuminated by an angry orange glow climbed into the night sky. The ringing of a large bell filled her ears. She stepped out into the street to try to get a better look.
The tower stood at the end of the narrow road, dominating a block. Flames spilled from all the windows up to the fourth story, belching black smoke out into the air. She froze in shock, her foreleg cocked mid-step, and stared. Half the building was on fire.
“Out of the way!” somepony shouted behind her.
Pinkie pulled her back to the side of the street – just in time to avoid four ponies galloping past pulling a cart laden with a massive wooden drum. Water sloshed out its open top as the wheels jumped over bumps in the cobble. She glimpsed red helmets before the cart obscured her view.
“We have to get in there!” Twilight shouted as Pinkie released her. Launching herself out into the street, she galloped after the cart. I’m not going to let my answers burn! she thought. The clopping of hooves filled her ears as her friends followed.
Rainbow lifted into the air over her head. “I’ll check it out!” she called over her shoulder before shooting forward with a powerful beat of her wings. She took off toward the flames, climbing at a slight angle.
Overhead, Twilight saw pegasi pushing storm clouds into ring around the burning building, dousing the surrounding structures. Why aren’t they trying to put out the fire? she wondered. Catching movement in the corner of her eye, she looked ahead again. A pony came rushing out of a shrine marked with a brass sun at the street corner two blocks away from the tower. He wore a star-shaped holy symbol on a cord around his neck. She nearly ran into him as she galloped past.
When they reached the base of the tower, earth ponies and unicorns all around them drenched buildings across the street from the blaze with water from buckets and hoof-pumped hoses. They all stayed as far as possible from the burning building. After running through the wash of a hose, Twilight felt the heat on her face.
The fire was over twenty hoofspans away, contained inside of the stone exterior of the tower, but through the open double doors at the front, she saw an inferno. Looking at it for a few seconds dried her eyes, and she had to turn away. In the street a distance away from the building, two ponies smudged with soot coughed. The cleric she’d passed arrived and tended to one of them.
Shouting from above drew Twilight’s attention. She spotted Rainbow standing on a stormcloud positioned over one of the two-story buildings across the street from the tower, facing a pegasus wearing a blue vest with a red wing sewn into it. “Why aren’t you doing something to put it out! Drop some rain on it!” Rainbow yelled.
“It’s too hot!” the pegasus argued. “The air is rising so fast that it dissipates the clouds! The best we can do is try and keep the whole district from going up!”
“There must be ponies trapped on the upper floors! You have to help them!” Rainbow angrily shouted.
“We’re weather ponies, not the Flaming Wing rescue team! The ponies stuck up there are gonna have to sit tight until they get here! Now let me do my job!” the pegasus yelled.
Twilight rushed toward the pair of survivors, dodging the volunteer firefighters as she went. Applejack and Rarity broke off to lend a helping hoof, but Pinkie and Fluttershy stuck with her. When Twilight reached the ponies, she grabbed one of their shoulders with a forehoof to get her attention. The mare looked up at her, revealing an angry burn on the left side of her face.
“What happened!” Twilight shouted.
“I don’t know! Smoke and flames came up from the basement and filled up the whole first flo—” The mare broke down coughing.
Fluttershy patted the pony on the back, a glow in her eyes. “Just breathe,” she whispered.
The burned mare sucked in a clean breath. “We were just about to leave to get some drinks. I don’t think anypony who was working the late shift got out but us...” she said, her eyes growing distant and drifting towards the building.
Twilight grabbed the mare’s unburned cheek, forcing her head back toward her. “Records, ledgers, important ponies! Where are they?!” she shouted.
“I don’t know!” The mare cried. “I’m just a receptionist. There was a meeting on the eighth floor; I think they’re still up there!”
A commotion drew Twilight’s attention, and she released the mare. Ponies looked up at the tower, and she followed their gaze. Above, a unicorn leaned out of a fifth story window. “Help me!” he screamed, pleading. “It’s coming!”
Rainbow Dash immediately shot up towards him, cutting a streak of blue through the smoke, but before she could reach the window, the inferno roared. An explosive gout of flame shot out into the night and knocked the unicorn out the window. He fell, screaming and burning as he plummeted toward the street below. Rainbow raced after him, but Twilight could already tell she wasn’t going to catch him in time to slow down. A mere hoofspan away from him, Rainbow flared her wings and braked.
Twilight reached out for the unicorn with her levitation, but he was too far away, and at that distance, even her strength waned. Moments after lacing around him, her purple levitation field shattered as he struck the cobblestones with a sickening thud. His blood slowly mixed with the water on the street.
Rainbow dragged at the air with her wings, barely stopping in time to avoid crashing into the pavement beside him. After she landed, she closed her eyes tight as she made a strangled sound of frustration and anger. She slammed a forehoof into a puddle, and the red water splashed her coat in return.
Twilight stared at the chaos around her in a daze. Applejack stubbornly pulled a cart with a water drum on it toward the tower’s open double doors, ignoring the protests of the ponies around her. Her dragonscale armor shielded her from the heat; they couldn’t follow to stop her. She stopped, repositioned, and bucked the drum off the cart. The water sloshed out into the doorway but only vaporized in a burst of steam. The blaze raged on.
This isn’t supposed to be happening... she thought. She looked up at the fifth floor. Smoke spilled from all of its windows. The fire was climbing. If they went in, even with spell protections against the heat, they wouldn’t be able to breathe the dead air.
“What’re we going to do, Twilight?” Pinkie said.
Twilight shook her head, breaking free from her daze. This is my best shot at finding him, and I’m not going to let it slip away, she decided. The smoke and embers spilling out of the windows climbed at an angle, carried away by a stiff breeze. She could still see the top of the tower. I should be able to breathe up there, she thought.
She focused on a spot above the rooftop, and reached for her magic. “I’m going up,” Twilight said.
“Twi—”
Whatever Pinkie was going to say to her, it was lost as she teleported away. Her Dimension Door spell dumped her out into the air above the rooftop, higher than she would ever consider jumping from. She plummeted, flailing at the air with her hooves. When she landed, she crumpled to the side and slammed into the masoned stone. The impact knocked the air from her lungs.
Gasping, she looked around from her position on her side. A low stone wall topped in iron spikes bordered the flat rooftop area she’d landed on. She focused on a closed door that lead into the tower. With a groan, she picked herself up, knowing that she would have another collection of bruises.
She approached the door, peering at it. Metal points poked through it around the handle. Somepony had nailed it shut from the far side. With a slash from Celestial Fury, she cut it open. They must not have wanted to let anypony in... or out, she thought as she rushed down the narrow stairway beyond the door.
Wisps of grey smoke clung to the ceiling, and the dry air bit at her lungs. She moved as quickly as she could. The pegasi outside were probably doing everything in their power to get the breeze under control before it could spread the flames. When they did, there would be nothing but smoke, even in the upper floors.
She pushed open a door at the bottom of the stairs and stepped out onto a landing. A mirrored pair of wide staircases split off from the landing and descended to the floors below. To her right, she saw a closed pair of ornate doors. She wondered if anypony was still up here. All I need is one pony who knows what’s going on, she thought.
She hoped the meeting was important, and that she would find the ponies who ran the Iron Circle cowering on the far side of the door. A dark fantasy of forcing them to answer her questions, then leaving them to burn entered her mind. They’d deserve it, she thought as she threw the doors open.
On the far side, in a large room with wide windows, seven ponies slumped against a long narrow table with goblets of wine spilled beside them. They were finely dressed, well groomed, and still as the grave. An eighth sat at the head of the table, swirling his goblet in a hoof. “Twilight Sparkle,” he greeted her. “How goes the hunt?”
“What happened?” Twilight growled, advancing with her swords drawn. “Why are they dead?”
He laughed – a black cackle void of any true emotion. “They knew too much...” He laughed again. “Poof! Nothing in their heads anymore.”
“Tell me what you know or I’ll cut you into a thousand pieces – slowly,” she said. It was no empty threat.
He grinned. “Even if you could, you wouldn’t have enough time before the flames got here. Still, it’s a game I’d rather not play.” He took a sip of wine.
Posion, she realized.
Twilight lunged forward and leaped onto the table, but it was already done. He slumped forward. “There’s nothing to find here,” he wheezed with his last breath.
No... Twilight thought. It was all too similar to her confrontation with Hay Brittle. She was so close, only to have her victory whisked away by the fragility of her enemies. “They were supposed to be alive!” she roared. In her fury, she slammed the table with her hooves. Then, with a clean stroke, she split the head of the corpse that had taunted her in life. His red blood oozed out of his open skull, coating the table and staining her hooves.
“I wanted to kill them!” she screamed. She kicked the fallen goblet away from his hoof. There had been no way to stop it; he must have been drinking it before she got into the room for it to act so fast. She had nothing. No revenge – no answers. She coughed, something scratching at her throat.
She picked up the body at the head of the table in her levitation and launched it through one of the windows. It smashed through the metal framework girding the small glass plates in the window, and fell, broken and mutilated, out into the night. “You stole them from me!” she weakly cried, her rage ebbing away, leaving her with only crushing disappointment.
She sagged, collapsing down onto the table, and coughed. The mixture of wine and blood on the wood soaked into her fur. In her anger, she hadn’t noticed the room fill with smoke. She could see it billowing outside the windows. They must’ve got the wind under control. she thought. She was out of time.
She struggled to her hooves and staggered toward the broken window. All she needed was a glimpse of the ground and she could teleport down. She felt tears in her eyes, but they evaporated before they could build and roll down her cheeks.
“Twilight?” a voice said from behind her. She recognized it as Fluttershy’s.
Twilight turned, blinking away the stinging smoke, and saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moving toward her. The smoke fled at their approach, and a sphere of clean air projected around Fluttershy engulfed her. “What’re you doing here?” Twilight asked, gasping.
“We flew up,” Rainbow said. “Pinkie tried to climb the tower and come with, but the sides were too hot. She was so worried about you! You’ve got to stop running off on your own, Twi!” She looked around the room, peering through the smoke. “Why’re they all dead? Did you kill them? Was that what the shouting was about?”
Twilight shook her head. “They were dead when I got here – all but one. I think he murdered the rest so that they wouldn’t tell me anything, then he killed himself.” She looked at Rainbow. “How many floors are burning?”
“Six,” Rainbow said. There was something in the look Rainbow gave her, but Twilight couldn’t tell if it was horror, pity, or concern.
Maybe there’s still hope, Twilight thought. She pushed past her despair and her mind focused to a razor sharp edge of purpose. I can still find something that will lead me to him, she told herself. “There has to be some records or something. How long can you keep the smoke away, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “At least ten minutes... I think,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight gestured at the area of clean air around them. “I didn’t know you could do this.”
“I didn’t either, until it came up,” Fluttershy said. “I needed the air to be clean to find you, and it was.”
“How—” Twilight started to ask, but stopped herself mid question. “Nevermind. It works. We need to go downstairs and see if we can find something.” She trotted forward.
“What’re we trying to find?” Rainbow asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said, pausing at the edge of the bubble of clear air for Fluttershy to catch up. “Anything – documents, somepony that knows something; it doesn’t matter.”
The stairway that they descended down was mercifully clear. The other was responsible for filling the eighth floor with smoke. They found a group of three ponies huddled in a corner on the seventh floor stairwell.
“How long have you been here?” Twilight asked.
“I dunno, a few minutes,” one of them answered. “We went up to the roof to try and get out, but the access door was nailed shut. Can you believe that? We couldn’t get it open without tools, so we came back down... but...” He looked down the stairs. The steps beyond were collapsed. “Daisy said we should wait here for rescue,” he said as he glanced at a mare beside him. “Are you here to get us out?”
“You bet,” Rainbow said.
“What’s your job? Do you know anything about the trade crisis?” Twilight asked.
“What? No,” he said, shaking his head. “We work mail. We take letters from the magic mirrors and get them where they need to go.”
“Do you read any of them?” Twilight asked.
“Only if we wanted to get fired... or worse,” he said. He peered at Twilight. “Wait a second... you’re... you’re Twilight Sparkle!” He scrambled back. “You’re dangerous!”
“Not to you, but if you don’t tell me what I want to know, I might be,” Twilight said. “Where do you keep records?”
“They’re on this floor,” Daisy said. “Down the hall, second door on the left.” She looked up at Twilight, fear in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt us!”
“Thanks,” Twilight said, turning away. “Rainbow, stay with them. We’ll head up together when Fluttershy and I get back – and figure out how to get everypony down when we can.”
“Got it,” Rainbow said.
Before heading out of the stairwell, Twilight cast a spell. A ring of icy blue flames surrounded her and Fluttershy, shielding them from the heat. She walked down the corridor with Fluttershy beside her, their hooves clicking on the stone floor. How can the fire climb so fast if the floor is stone? she wondered. The walls to either side were wooden, except for supporting columns. If the other floors were like this one, the fire would have plenty of fuel, but the stone floors should slow its progress. She’d seen the flames engulf the entire fifth floor in a matter of seconds, as if something explosive were stored there.
They passed bodies in the hall, revealed as Fluttershy’s spell pushed away the smoke. There were no burns; they had been poisoned by the dead air. Twilight stepped over them and kept her eyes forward.
As they reached the second door on the left, Twilight noticed Fluttershy glaring at her. “What?” she said, pausing in front of the door.
“Nothing...” Fluttershy murmured.
Angel bit her ear from his position on her back.
Fluttershy winced. “Weren’t you... um, a little mean to those ponies back there? And to the one you questioned at the bottom of the tower?”
Twilight sighed. “Maybe. We don’t have time for this.” She pulled the door open.
A blast of heat greeted her, passing through the blue flames in front of her as if the Fireshield wasn’t even there. She felt the exposed skin around her lips and nostrils singe. In the center of the room, a vaguely pony shaped creature hovered, engulfed in a blazing inferno. Beneath it was a crater blown through the floor. Around it, open cabinets full of papers burned. It turned to look at her, its eyes black spots in the flames.
She slammed the door shut.
Fire Elemental. Greater, probably. Definitely not lesser, she thought, her mind scrambling. “Run!” she cried. She knew they couldn’t fight the creature here, submerged in its element.
Grabbing Fluttershy, she took off down the corridor. The records were nothing but ashes now, but one more plan formed in her mind. There was a cleric at the base of the tower, and seven bodies of ponies important to the organization on the eighth floor. If the cleric could cast the same Speak With Dead spell Lyra did back at the Helping Hoof, and they could get a body to him before it was too late, then there might still be hope.
She spared a glance over her shoulder as they neared the stairwell. A gout of flames blasted the door to the records room off its hinges. The form of the Elemental glowed through the smoke as it floated out into the hallway.
They burst into the stairwell, and Twilight stopped in shock. Rainbow stood over three bodies, blood dripping from one of her wingblades. Daisy lay unmoving on the floor in front of her with a deep wound in her side and a bloody letter opener in her mouth. The other two ponies appeared to have died from neck wounds.
“I–I didn’t mean to...” Rainbow said, distraught.
Twilight lowered part of the ring of blue flames, allowing Rainbow to enter as she moved forward. “We have to get to the roof!” she yelled.
Rainbow stared at Daisy’s body.
“Come on!” Twilight shouted as she shoved Rainbow with her shoulder.
Rainbow stumbled and started to move. They reached the eighth floor a moment later. Twilight dipped into the meeting room, guiding her two friends with her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the bodies unburned. She grabbed one of the corpses, floating it behind her, and headed for the roof. As they ascended the narrow staircase, she felt heat on her hind hooves.
When she reached the roof, Twilight tossed the corpse into a far corner and faced the doorway. “We have to fight it here!” she said as she began to cast a spell. “It’ll keep spreading the fire until it’s stopped!”
She closed her eyes, focusing. When she’d prepared the spell, it had been nearly at the limits of her ability, and it was equally difficult to complete. When she finished it, the world around her passed by at half the speed. It was a stronger version of the Haste spell she’d used before, but it only affected her, altering her passage through time. Smoke filled the air around them, except for the area kept clear by Fluttershy, but at least there were no flames.
We might be able to beat it out here, Twilight thought. Even with just the three of us.
Beside Twilight, Angel jumped off of Fluttershy’s back, and her eyes glowed. Storm clouds rushed in from beyond the cloud of smoke billowing around them and engulfed Angel, lifting him and turning him into a creature of water, wind, and lightning. Electricity crackled within his form as he took up a position in front of the door. Four of us, Twilight corrected herself.
The small stone structure capping the top of the stairs exploded outward as the Fire Elemental burst onto the roof, launching chunks of masonry. With a beat of her wings, Rainbow flew upward, clear of the debris. Twilight ducked a stone, and caught another in her levitation. Beside her, Fluttershy’s cloak manifested into a barrier of wood and bark, deflecting the rocks. The door hit Angel, but he didn’t even flinch. After tossing the stone aside, Twilight advanced.
Ahead of her, Angel met the Fire Elemental head on. Thunder boomed, slow and deep in Twilight’s ears, as he clashed with the creature’s pony-shaped core. They struggled against each other like two massive titans – lethargic and ponderous due to her slow-motion perception of the world. She moved closer, using Angel’s body to shield herself from the staggering heat.
As she approached, the Fire Elemental edged a hoof past Angel’s thundercloud body and shot a ray of fire at her. With the help of her spell, she dove to the ground and rolled out of the way. While she got back to her feet, she glimpsed Rainbow turning in a tight circle, whipping around at a rate that was still impressive even cut in half. A vortex built in the center of the circle, forming from the eddies bleeding off of Rainbow’s wings.
Back on all four hooves, Twilight darted to the side and lashed out with Celestial Fury. She caught one of the creatures hind legs as it grappled with Angel, severing it clean through. From the point of contact, a golden aura spread and held the Elemental in place. The smell of burning hair and flesh filled her nostrils as she singed in the heat, and she ducked back behind Angel. With the storm clouds shielding her from the blaze, she started to cast a spell.
The base of Rainbow’s vortex met the held Fire Elemental. It pulled away the flames surrounding the creature and sent them skyward, leaving behind nothing but its blackened body. The whirlwind burst with the flames and sent Rainbow sailing backwards through the air. She gave Twilight a small salute as she fell past the edge of the rooftop.
The creature writhed free of the golden aura. Twilight lunged forward, taking the opportunity to strike. At point blank range, she completed her spell. A blast of icy shards erupted from her horn and riddled the black figure with holes.
The perforated corpse turned to ash in Angel’s grasp. Its head hit the rooftop and dissipated, revealing a red orb. Twilight released the Haste spell as she picked up the orb and stowed it in her pack. She turned away, and Angel shrank back down to his usual size.
“That could have gone worse,” Twilight said, sheathing her swords. “Good work, everypony.” Angel glared at her. “And rabbit,” she added. Her face hurt. She lifted a hoof and rubbed at her cheek. It came away bloody, with blackened hairs stuck to it.
“We’d better get down,” Rainbow said, staring at Twilight.
Twilight nodded. “Right.” She hefted the body, and with her second prepared Dimension Door, teleported down to street level.
This time, she appeared standing on solid stones. A puddle of water pooled around her. She lifted the corpse off her back and floated it beside her.
“Darling, your face!” Rarity cried as she approached. “What happened?”
Twilight glanced down. She saw her reflection in the water, illuminated by the glow of the flames. Her face was a mottled patchwork of blackened fur and exposed, bloody skin. It hurts to blink, she realized.
“Fire Elemental. I’ll explain later,” Twilight said. “Where’s the cleric?”
Rarity pointed down the street. The cleric stood over a corpse covered with a blanket, his head bowed in prayer. Twilight walked towards him. “Can you cast Speak With Dead?” she asked, looking around for the two survivors she’d seen earlier.
“I turned my back for a second, and one of them murdered the other... crushed her windpipe,” the cleric said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “She ran off into the night.”
Twilight hardly heard what he was saying. At the moment, it wasn’t useful information. She stepped forward and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Can you cast Speak With Dead?” she repeated.
He eyed her, concerned. “Do you need help?” he asked.
“Just answer the question,” Twilight said, ignoring the pain that was spreading across her face like an inferno.
He nodded slowly.
“Good. Will here do? Or do you need an altar?” Twilight said.
“What she means to say is we’ll give you a generous donation to question the body,” Rarity said.
Twilight stared at a mosaic on the wall of the shrine, keeping her eyes open to avoid the sting that came with moving her eyelids. In a series of images, the mosaic depicted two Alicorns guiding a mixed coalition of ponies across a land bridge to the island of Manehattan. She recognized one of the Alicorns as Planetos the Wanderer, a dead demigod, but the other was too abstract to identify.
She hissed when Fluttershy’s hoof brushed a sensitive spot on her face, but a moment later, all the pain faded away. Twilight blinked her dry eyes and felt nothing but relief. “Thanks,” she said.
“Sorry, I had to be careful or you wouldn’t look right,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight turned toward the altar at the head of the shrine. The cleric was finally prepared to begin. She looked at him expectantly, and he cast the spell, touching his hooves to the body.
The body jerked as its eyes filled with a golden light, but the cleric fell back, collapsing. Twilight rushed over. Something’s wrong... it doesn’t work like this, she thought.
Behind the altar, the cleric held his metal holy symbol in his mouth and scraped the wooden floor beneath him. His eyes were still glowing. Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie crowded in behind Twilight while he sketched something into the floorboards.
“Is he okay?” Pinkie asked.
“I dunno,” Applejack said.
“Should we wake him up?” Rainbow said, moving forward.
Applejack held out a hoof and blocked Rainbow. “No, best to let it play out. It could hurt him if you tried to break the spell.”
A moment later, the glow faded, and the Cleric rolled onto his back, gasping. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s all there was.” He shut his eyes tight and held his head in his forehooves.
Twilight stared at the sketch. A collection of straight lines arranged in a pattern and a couple numbers were inscribed on the floor. “That can’t be it!” Twilight said.
“You said he was poisoned, right?” the cleric said, curled up on the floor. “It must’ve... burned away at his mind, or something. All that was left was an image.”
Twilight pressed a piece of parchment against the floor and made a rubbing with a charcoal stick. It has to mean something, she thought. “Well, thanks,” she muttered, turning away.
All that, and this is all I have to show for it, she thought while she stared at the sketch. It seemed like every conceivable force conspired against her. Someone had deliberately destroyed the Iron Circle’s headquarters to hide the truth from her. She couldn’t even begin to piece together what had happened, or why the ponies in the building murdered each other, but the Fire Elemental was no accident. It had been summoned for a purpose.
“I feel like I’ve seen you ponies someplace,” the cleric said.
“Nope,” Applejack said – too quickly. “I can’t think of any way you coulda’ seen our faces before right now.”
Twilight heard the cleric climb to his feet behind her. “No, you’re definitely familiar. I’m sure it’ll come back to me... when my head clears.”
“I think it’s time for us to go,” Rarity said, ushering them out the door.
“Oh... bye! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Thanks so much for the donation!” the cleric called after them.
As they left, Rarity discreetly ripped down one of the wanted fliers nailed to a signpost near the shrine.
“We’ll be pardoned come morning,” Applejack said.
“These are still giving our faces far more attention than I’d like,” Rarity said as she ripped the poster into fragments and tossed it into the gutter beside the street.
As they walked away from the shrine, Twilight noticed Rainbow lingering. The pegasus stared back at the smoldering tower. “You okay, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.
“M’fine,” Rainbow nodded, trotting after her.
They walked in silence down the street, a bit behind the group.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Rainbow said.
“The mare?” Twilight said.
Rainbow nodded again. “I thought I heard shouting from down the stairs, and I flew past the collapsed section to check it out. There was nopony there. When I came back, I found one of the ponies with his throat cut open, and the other fighting Daisy off while she stabbed the letter opener into the side of his neck and,” she paused, hesitating before the next word, “Twisted.”
Rainbow sighed, closing her eyes tight. “I snapped. It was just... too horrible to watch. It was too late to stop her, so I killed her.” She opened her eyes and focused intently on Twilight. “There’s something really bad going on here, Twilight – worse than anything we’ve seen before.”
Twilight leaned against Rainbow as they walked, comforting and drawing comfort. In the moment, what had happened in the tower didn’t faze her, but now that the drive to find answers was gone, it left her chilled. She could still hear the laugh of the pony at the head of the table echoing in her ears. She knew Rainbow was right.
Back in the spa, the group gathered in the second-story common area. Twilight stretched out on the floor, sipping a warm, slightly alcoholic drink that Aloe had volunteered to mix for her despite the late hour. It slowed her thoughts to a reasonable pace, allowing her to clearly think through them one at a time.
“So this Fire Elemental ya’ll fought... it was summoned?” Applejack asked.
“Right,” Twilight confirmed. “Fire Elementals don’t appear in normal fires, at least, that’s what a book in Candlekeep said.”
“Fair enough.” Applejack pulled off her hat, inspecting the brim. “It still don’t make sense. Too...”
“Too coincidental?” Rarity suggested.
“Yeah,” Applejack said.
Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof and took another sip from her mug. “Near as I can tell, somepony used some sort of gateway, magical item, or spell to conjure the Fire Elemental in the basement. It rampaged upward, burning everything in its path on the way to the records room. It had a mission, and I think it recognized me and chased after me when it saw me.”
She set her mug down and rolled onto her back, gesturing toward the ceiling. “At roughly the same time the summoning was going on, the Iron Circle’s leading merchants were gathered in a meeting on the eighth floor of the tower for some unknown purpose. One of them gave the rest a poisoned bottle of wine – capable of preventing their minds from retaining any information after their death.”
“The pony at the head of the table – you said it seemed like he was expecting you?” Applejack said.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. It’s like he knew he was going to kill himself, but he stayed alive just long enough to gloat.” She paused briefly before continuing, waiting to see if somepony had something to say. “Anyways, while this was going on, certain ponies in the tower murdered other survivors, with little to no apparent hesitation or concern for their own lives. There was a concerted effort here to not allow any scrap of information to escape that tower – immediately before we arrived to see what we could find out.”
“So, somepony tipped them off?” Rainbow said.
“Hold up,” Applejack said, raising her hooves. “If somepony wanted to sweep the Iron Circle under the rug, why’d they only kill the night staff?”
“Maybe the night staff were the only ones involved,” Rarity suggested. “If I were running a conspiracy, I’d keep it in as few hooves as possible.”
“You run conspiracies?” Pinkie asked, fascinated.
Twilight up glanced at Rarity, who rested on a couch sipping tea. “No, not exactly, just... I know how these games are played,” Rarity explained.
“This isn’t a game,” Twilight muttered.
“Figure of speech, Twilight,” Rarity said.
Twilight curled into a ball and held her head in her hooves. “Why do I always have to take things so literally?” She was midway through her third drink, and she felt a bit tipsy.
“You’re a literal thinker,” Rarity said. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Twilight pulled her mug close and gulped down more of the delicious liquid, trying to purge face of the pony at the head of the table from her memory. His eyes were dead. He didn’t look right. Something imperceptibly off-putting filled his expression.
“So, let’s assume that whoever organized this was tipped off that somepony was coming to investigate,” Rarity said.
“But the only ponies who would know anything—” Pinkie said.
“Were the Duke and the Princess,” Applejack stated.
“Or their staff,” Rarity pointed out. “If I were behind this, that’s the first place I’d put a spy.”
Pinkie laughed. “Yeah, of course. Besides, why would Cadance and Shining be working with the Iron Circle? That would be silly.”
“The Empire was trying to kill her, and they’re behind this,” Twilight murmured. “She wouldn’t have anything to do with them.”
“I don’t know,” Rarity said.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.
“Well,” Rarity said, “we didn’t find anything tying the Iron Circle to the Empire. If it runs as deep as Cadance seemed to think it did, we would have found something.”
Twilight closed her eyes, the voices of her friends shaping her thoughts.
“All we got really was one safehouse and a madmans scribbles,” Applejack said.
“I don’t think Cadance would have lied to us,” Fluttershy said. “She seemed... nice.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “Stressed, maybe, but nice.”
“We’d best warn her about her staff at the next opportunity, then,” Rarity said. “Anyways, all we’ve got to go on is this drawing.”
Hearing paper crinkle, Twilight opened her eyes and looked at Rarity. She saw the rubbing floating in the air while Rarity studied it. “These are street numbers,” Rarity said. “I’m sure of it now.”
“What?” Twilight said. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Rarity flipped the sketch so that Twilight could see it. “Does this look like a street corner to you? Because it doesn’t to me.”
Twilight peered at the sketch and sighed. Something about it stood out, as if it was familiar in some way, but she couldn’t place it. “No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t look like anything.” She curled back into a tighter ball, despair eating away at her. “I’m sorry... this was all for nothing, and I dragged you all along. All I did was get a bunch of ponies killed, and I don’t have anything to show for it.”
“Nonsense, Twilight. You’re still alive, despite everything that’s happened, and we’ve done a great deal of good,” Rarity said.
“Rarity’s right,” Pinkie said. “You can’t let this get you down. My granny always said that when life knocks you over with a barrage of lemons, you’ve gotta pick yourself right back up and keep on trying!”
Twilight looked at Pinkie out of the corner of her eye. “First, it’s: ‘When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.’ Second, you don’t have a Granny.”
Pinkie stuck her tongue out at Twilight. “Says you!”
Twilight sighed again and stared at the floor.
“Well, my Granny says you should sleep on problems like this. It’s well after midnight, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m still pretty beat, even after sleeping most of the day away.” Applejack yawned. “I’m about ready to hit the hay, and I didn’t fight no Fire Elemental.”
“Agreed,” Rarity said.
Rainbow yawned. “It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I could use a good sleep.”
Pinkie nudged Twilight with a hoof. “Come on, Twi. You’ve got to get up so that we can go to bed.”
Twilight groaned. “I don’t wanna get up!”
“Let’s get you to bed, drunky,” Rainbow said, prying her up with a wing.
“I’m not drunk!” Twilight protested as she lethargically climbed to her feet. “I’m just tipsy!”
Flames of shadow wreathed Twilight Sparkle. They moved with her where she stepped, but they did not burn her. She lifted her hooves high, moving over the forms of ponies that littered her path. Their eyes were closed, and their faces serene: the peaceful dead.
She walked through the halls of the Iron Circle’s headquarters. Living ponies around her fled or burned. Cloaked figures in masks swept in from the shadows and killed those that escaped. Twilight made her way ever upward with purpose, ignoring those in her path. Her answers gleamed like a beacon above.
She climbed winding stairs until she finally reached her destination. The beacon winked out. A smiling, laughing face replaced it: the figure at the end of the table. He stared at her with dead eyes. The corpses of her enemies slumped around him. He killed them to keep them from her.
Wherever she walked, ponies burned when they got too close. She wrought a path of havoc. There were five that would not run – five that stood at her side.
Flames wreathed her hooves and blew them away.
Twilight shot awake. Terror clutched at her chest, the moment when she nearly used a Sunfire spell in the spa coming back to her. Cold sweat stung her eyes when she opened them. A sliver of sunlight slanted through between the black curtains. She stared up at the ceiling, listening to the calming sound of Pinkie and Spike’s breathing.
Cadance was right, she thought. It did end badly. She sighed and melted back into the bed as the tightness in her chest eased. Cadance couldn’t have known that they would burn away the evidence, but she must have realized something was wrong.
Maybe she saw it in me, Twilight thought. There was one thing on my mind when I left for the Iron Circle’s tower. What if they had been alive? What would I have done? She wiped the sweat off her brow and rolled onto her side, facing Pinkie’s bed.
Pinkie snoozed peacefully. She shifted in her sleep, curling her forelegs up against her nose and burying her face behind her hooves. Twilight wondered what Pinkie thought. We’ve both changed since Candlekeep... but how much has she changed? She always pictured Pinkie with a smile on her face, but now she wondered if that smile had become a mask. Is she disappointed in me? Does she see what I am now?
With another sigh, Twilight rolled out of bed. Stepping as softly as she could, she moved over to the window and peered out beneath the curtain. The light illuminating the room lanced down an alley between two buildings. The Sun hadn’t been in the sky for long. She knew she could use a couple more hours of sleep, but she didn’t feel like slipping back into bed.
She retrieved a quill, some parchment, and the rubbing before she left the room. Her hoof-falls seemed thunderously loud in the morning stillness as she made her way into the common room. Rainbow Dash sat in front of the window. She turned her head as Twilight slipped in the doorway.
“Can’t sleep?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah.” She turned back to the window. Outside, the buildings cast long shadows on a mostly empty street.
Does she have nightmares too? Twilight wondered.
Twilight settled onto a spot beside a small table and set her parchment on it. She started to copy the rubbing line for line. It was a strange drawing. Three parallel lines ran diagonally across it. Occasionally, a single line would cross between them at an angle. A box surrounded the lines at the center of the image. Next to it were two numbers, listed as 43rd and 10th. Below the box, two more lines split off and headed for the bottom of the page until they disappeared from the rubbing. She bit her lip, trying to get the lines exactly right.
“What’re you doing?” Rainbow asked, surprisingly close.
Startled, Twilight jerked the quill in her levitation, dropping a blotch of ink on the parchment. “I’m trying to make a copy of this,” she muttered and replaced the ruined sheet with a fresh one. “It’s the only clue we have.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said. “Sorry...”
Rainbow stayed quiet as she worked. Drawing out the sketch brought it to the forefront of her mind. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen something like it before, but the more she thought about it, the more she wondered if it was actually familiar at all. Usually, when she saw something, she could place it. She finished the first copy and reached for another sheet of parchment.
“I shouldn’t have killed her,” Rainbow said.
Twilight paused and looked up at Rainbow. “Who?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.
“Daisy,” Rainbow said, not meeting her gaze.
Twilight hesitated, trying to find the right words. “It wasn’t unjustified,” she finally said. It was the best she could manage.
Rainbow nodded slightly and plopped down on her haunches beside the table. “What if she knew something?”
Twilight rubbed her forehead, near the base of her horn. “What if she did?” Twilight asked, raising her voice. “If we had someone to question, maybe we’d know something!”
Rainbow recoiled, her ears shrinking back. “I’m sorry! I’ve practiced that swing so many times that it just happened!”
Twilight sighed. “No, I’m sorry... I’m frustrated. We can’t blame ourselves. We didn’t know what they would do to stop us.” She paused until Rainbow looked up at her. “It’s not your fault.”
Rainbow shook her head. “It is! When I get in a fight, all I have are drills and instinct. I get angry, and I can’t stop. I can’t do anything right! I couldn’t even catch the one that fell!” She glared at Twilight, tears clinging to her lower eyelids. “How do you do it? You’ve killed more ponies than I have! Doesn’t it hurt?!”
Twilight stared at Rainbow. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t find words. It doesn’t... could I tell her that? She glanced off to the side, unable to meet Rainbow Dash’s accusing gaze. “I see their faces in my nightmares,” she said finally.
Rainbow sighed and looked down at her hooves. “Me too...” she said. “I feel guilty. I feel like I shouldn’t have killed them. I wish I didn’t have to. I wish I could save them. Why do they have to fall?”
For a moment, neither spoke. Twilight felt words on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to tell Rainbow the whole story. “I feel guilty for liking it,” she murmured. She cringed.
“What?” Rainbow asked. It wasn’t the accusatory, outraged shout she expected.
Twilight shook her head. “Nothing,” she quickly said as she glanced at Rainbow. How much did she hear? She gauged Rainbow’s expression – inquisitive, not angry.
“I thought you said—” Rainbow said.
“She said she liked killing,” Fluttershy said from the door, loud and clear.
Twilight’s eyes widened. She was caught. There was no going back now. She quickly rose to her feet and took a step back away from the table and the door. “I–I,” she stammered. She felt something building in her chest.
The outrage Twilight expected flashed across Rainbow’s face. “What!” Rainbow shouted, turning on Fluttershy. “Why’d you accuse her like that!”
Fluttershy kept her gaze focused on Twilight. “It’s true, isn’t it? You’re different.”
“What’s all the ruckus?” Applejack said, appearing behind Fluttershy. Her eyes were half lidded, and her coat mussed, like she had just gotten out of bed.
No... Twilight thought, horrified. Two was bad enough. She backed away from the others.
Rainbow gestured at Twilight. “Fluttershy said Twilight likes killing ponies!” She flared her wings aggressively. Twilight expected Fluttershy to flinch, but she didn’t.
“Hey now, that can’t be right,” Applejack said, stepping between them. “No one likes killing, ‘cept for sadists and murderin’ psychopaths. It’s just something that we’ve gotta do,” she said. “It’s why we’re better than the bastards that burned down that tower. Fluttershy wouldn’t say Twilight likes killing.”
Rainbow eased her stance, folding her wings. “It’s what I heard,” she grumbled. “Fluttershy said it.”
“Something the matter?” Rarity asked, poking her head in, a towel wrapped around her mane.
Four, Twilight thought. At least Pinkie won’t have to hear this. Her back hit a wall. Her heart raced.
“I heard what she said,” Fluttershy said firmly, glaring past Applejack at Rainbow. “And so did you.”
“See!” Rainbow shouted and stepped forward. “That’s not right!”
Rarity raised a brow at Rainbow. “What’re you talking about?”
Applejack sat on her haunches and held up her hooves. “Calm down! I’m sure there’s a way to make sense of this.”
“Make sense of her accusing our friend of being some sort of monster?!” Rainbow yelled. “Why, Fluttershy? How could you say that?” she asked, her tone softening.
“She’s not a monster, and I never said that she was,” Fluttershy said. “You need to talk about things like this to heal them.”
“Of course Twilight’s not a monster,” Pinkie said as she swept into the room as if nothing was amiss. “Celestia blessed her with a familiar, and gave her a sword,” she added, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. She passed Rainbow and peered at the table. “You made a copy? Good idea, Twilight!” she said, beaming.
Twilight tried to press herself further back into the corner she’d wedged herself into. Not her, she thought. She wanted to hide away. Not Pinkie. There was no way of knowing how her closest friend would react if she knew the truth. The tightness in her chest built. Her pulse raced.
Rarity stepped further into the room, approaching Twilight. “How’d you know they were talking about Twilight?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Who else?” She held up the two drawings, one in each hoof, and giggled. “You even got the little lines right!”
“Well, Pinkie’s right,” Applejack said. “So, that’s settled. Twilight’s not a monster, and she doesn’t like killing ponies.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Twilight is our friend, and she helps ponies, but—”
“Does liking killing make you a monster?” Pinkie interrupted.
The pressure built to a peak in Twilight’s chest. She felt like she was about to burst. It wasn’t right. I’m not going to hide from my friends, she decided. Twilight advanced out of her corner. “It does, I do like killing, and I am a monster!” she shouted.
All eyes turned to her. She pressed forward. “I didn’t have to Fireball the ponies on the road. I didn’t have to kill the diamond dogs in the cave – at least not that way. I didn’t have to kill the bandits on the way to the city. Some of them were running!” She flicked her gaze between each of her shocked friends. “I cut them down!”
She fell back onto her haunches, her strength gone. She held up a hoof and stared at it. It was smooth, pristine, and well-cared for since they started staying at the spa. She saw bloodstains on it, even though she knew it was clean. “I liked it. It makes me feel... alive. I am a monster. I’m a psychopath, or something.”
Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulders, and looked up. Fluttershy’s kind eyes met hers. “You’re not, Twilight. You care.”
Twilight shook her head and shoved Fluttershy’s hoof away. I don’t deserve her kindness... I don’t deserve any of them, she thought. “Star Swirl taught me to care. I’m not like you!”
“I don’t believe that, Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
They should run, before they get burned, Twilight thought. She glared at Fluttershy fiercely. “I don’t care about you – any of you!” she lied. “All I care about is killing the Black Knight, and I used you to get this far! And now, I want you to leave!”
Fluttershy recoiled. Twilight saw the hurt in her eyes, but pushed past, fighting to keep her expression strong and angry. She made for the door.
“Twilight...” Pinkie said, staring at her.
“Leave me alone, Pinkie,” Twilight growled.
“Twilight, you should stop and think about this,” Rarity said from somewhere to her side.
“There’s nothing to think about,” Twilight muttered. She stopped; Applejack blocked the door. Twilight glared at Applejack. “Move.”
Applejack chuckled.
Twilight blinked, her mask of rage wavering. Why is she laughing?
“You had me going there for a second, Twilight, but you’re a terrible liar. That ain’t the truth, and this ain’t what you want,” Applejack said. “The truth is: you’re scared.” She stared into Twilight’s eyes. “You’re more scared than you’ve ever been. You’re like my brother when he was growing up, too big and too strong for his age, afraid of hurting all the smaller ponies around him. You may be strong, but I’m a big girl, Twilight. We all are.”
Twilight furrowed her brows and hardened her expression. She lit her horn threateningly. “Move,” she growled.
“What’re you going to do to me, Twilight? Cast a spell? Turn me to stone? Throw me into the wall?” Applejack taunted, planting her hooves.
Twilight reached out for Applejack with her levitation, but it was like trying to grab a bar of soap. Applejack’s hooves stayed firmly rooted on the floor. Twilight’s eyes widened. “How?”
“Magic Resistance,” Applejack said. “Runs in the family.”
Twilight’s mind immediately flicked back to the encounter in Berry Punch’s tavern, where the wizard had dropped Applejack with a spell. “What about the Shocking Touch?” she asked.
“I wasn’t ready, and I was in metal armor,” Applejack said. She stepped forward and wrapped a foreleg around Twilight’s neck. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” She gently pushed Twilight onto a couch. “Sit down,” she said. It wasn’t a request.
Twilight settled onto the couch. She looked around at her friends. There was hurt in their eyes, but also understanding. Why don’t they hate me? Twilight wondered.
“Twilight, there’s something I think you should consider,” Rarity said, standing between Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “You haven’t had long to deal with death. We all cope differently. If you feel like all you get is enjoyment, maybe you’re suppressing something.”
Twilight shook her head. “There’s a hunger, Rarity. I feel it every time I think about killing someone.”
“You really mean it, don’t you?” Rainbow said, staring at Twilight with disbelief. “I guess... I saw it in your eyes – when you were looking at Lightning Dust.”
“Some wounds are in the mind,” Fluttershy said. “You need time to heal, Twilight. It’s good that you were honest with us.”
“You need a break,” Pinkie advised sagely.
“We don’t know what to do next anyways,” Rarity said. “We’re going to take a day off and see the sights of Manehattan!”
Twilight opened her mouth to argue.
Rarity held up a hoof. “No ifs, ands, or buts. You need this. We need this. We’ll visit Shining Armor and Cadance this evening. I hope they can shed some light on the events of last night; but for the day, we’re going to take a break.”
The flavor of warm jelly squirted out into Twilight’s mouth as she bit into a pastry. They sat at a table in the bakery she’d broken into while they were in prison. Boards covered the shattered window behind her.
“How long have you been feeling this way?” Fluttershy asked, peering at her.
Twilight swallowed. “I don’t know... since the caves, at least. Maybe always.”
“Well, you stopped,” Rainbow said.
“Huh?” Twilight muttered around her next bite.
Rainbow leaned forward, resting her forelegs on the table.“When you were standing over Lightning Dust, you stopped. When I asked you not to kill Gilda, you stopped. Hunger or not, you’re in control,” she said quietly.
Twilight shrugged. “Maybe.” She finished off her pastry.
“Rainbow’s right,” Applejack said. She gently patted Twilight on the back. “There’s a rush to combat; we all feel it. Don’t take it too hard.”
It’s not just that, Twilight thought. It’s not right. Here she was, her first kill less than a month ago, and already death seemed like a familiar friend. She sighed, pushing away her doubt, and nodded. “Well, I’m ready to go,” she said and stood up from the table.
As her friends joined her, she left a generous tip on the table, enough to cover the damage she’d done to the window and her theft twice over. Applejack nodded in approval and turned to leave. “Thank you for coming!” the baker called after them while they stepped out the door.
“The pastries were delicious!” Pinkie said over her shoulder. “Getting breakfast here was a great idea,” she said to the group.
On the street, a pair of Flaming Wing ponies pulling down fliers eyed them. Twilight overheard one of them grumbling. “Shortest pony hunt I’ve ever seen,” he muttered. She grinned at them as she passed. It was a wonderful feeling – being able to move about freely so close to the fortress she’d been imprisoned in.
“Welcome to Sorcerous Sundries,” a dark-blue unicorn behind a counter announced as Twilight followed Rarity through the shop’s doors. The walls of the curricular building curved away to either side, bearing shelves littered with knick-knacks that allegedly possessed magical power. “Can I help you with anything?”
While Rarity walked toward the shopkeeper, Twilight picked up a random object, a gnarled staff of wood, noting the ’You break it, you buy it’ sign beside the counter. She noticed nothing outwardly magical about it.
“Would you happen to have any of ‘Fizzle’s Fantastic Fixing Agent?’” Rarity asked the shopkeeper.
“Ah yes, great stuff, that is. I think we some in stock. Let me check upstairs,” the shopkeeper said, then disappeared up a spiral staircase.
“Thinking about getting a wizard staff?” Pinkie queried, appearing beside Twilight. The rest of the group filtered into the shop, eyeing the goods arranged on the shelves.
Twilight shrugged and started to put the staff back. It was probably just a piece of wood anyway. She hesitated for a moment. Star Swirl’s staff seemed like it was just a piece of wood, she thought. She headed for the counter, bringing the staff with her.
“This don’t look like a smithy,” Applejack said, poking at a crystal ball on one of the shelves. “I thought you said we’d be able to fix my chain here, Rarity.”
Twilight set the staff on the counter. Beside her, Rarity rolled her eyes. “They have exactly what I need to fix it here,” Rarity said.
“You’re gonna fix it? You’re no blacksmith, Rarity. You don’t work metal,” Applejack said as she turned away from the shelf and trotted over to the counter.
Rarity produced the golden spike from her bag of holding and set it on the counter. “Give me the end of your chain.”
Applejack muttered something under her breath and flicked the end of her chain up onto the counter. With her levitation, Rarity grabbed both pieces, aligning them. The spike matched perfectly to the chain, though there were some chips missing, revealing the broken edge. “It wants to be whole,” Rarity said. “All it needs is a little push.”
Applejack quirked a brow at Rarity. “If by a little push you mean a spot of reforging, you’d be right.”
“Look closer,” Rarity said.
Applejack leaned in, peering at the chain and spike. Twilight pressed in beside her for a better look, curiosity getting the better of her. The imperfect gaps where the edge had worn away shone with a glimmer of faint golden light. New material crept into the spaces.
“Woah,” Applejack said. “It’s fixing itself...”
Rarity let go of the two pieces, and they separated, clattering to the countertop. The new material vanished in a wisp of golden smoke. “It needs help.”
Twilight looked over her shoulder. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy perused the shelves. Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she reached for the back of the shelf, bumping a decorated vase. “Careful, Rainbow,” Twilight called.
Rainbow pulled back with a golden feather in her mouth and headed for the counter. Twilight bit her lip as the vase teetered and quickly reached out with her levitation to stabilize it. “If this is what I think it is, we’re buying it,” Rainbow said around the object.
“What is it?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow spat the feather out onto the counter. “It’ll stop a falling pony.”
Twilight tilted her head, peering at the feather. “How do you know?”
“I’ve seen one of these before, back in Skywall. While I was training, I screwed up and hit a dense patch of cloud when I was doing a maneuver. I cracked my head pretty good, and I fell. I was spinning, dazed, and I couldn’t tell up from down. Firefly flew after me. I expected her to catch me and right me or something, but she stuck the feather behind my ear. I stopped instantly. No jerk, no inertia, I was just drifting gently downward. She told me it was way less risky than trying to execute a mid-air catch,” Rainbow explained.
Twilight lit her horn and cast an Identification spell. “You’re right,” she said a moment later. “We’ll get it. It’ll only work three times though.”
Rainbow blinked. “Why three?”
“Because that’s the number of charges it has, of course,” Twilight said, exasperated. She glanced at the staff. She’d only prepared one Identification spell that morning. As she started to form one from scratch, hooves on the steps drew her attention.
“Sorry, this was the last one,” the shopkeeper said as she descended. “It took me a bit to find it.” She levitated a miniscule glass jar filled with a tarry, black substance onto the counter. She looked over the other items. “I see you ladies have an eye for quality.”
Twilight pointed at the staff. “What’s this do?”
“That is a branch sung from a tree by a Dryad and cured on the sunlit peaks of the northern mountains. For a wizard, it will hold a Sequencer and a Contingency,” the shopkeeper said.
Twilight tilted her head. The staff would be useful, but she already had her two swords. She wasn’t sure she wanted to manage levitating three objects in combat. “Do you have anything like it, but smaller and less unwieldy? Something I could wear?” she asked.
They left the shop after spending a small fortune, but it hardly put a dent in the Dragon’s hoard stored in the Bag of Holding. Twilight sported a silver amulet, a crescent moon, on a thin chain around her neck. It could only hold a Sequencer, but she knew she could store both a Contingency and a Sequencer in Solstice if she wanted to.
Out in the street, Rarity carefully dabbed a bit of the black tarry substance from the jar on the end of Applejack’s chain, then set the spike against it. “You’re fixing my chain with glue?” Applejack grumbled. She shifted in agitation while she watched Rarity work.
Rarity winked. “And a little bit of magic.” She lit her horn, and pale blue light laced around the two spikes. A little bit of the black goop spilled out from between the two pieces, but nothing happened. She bit her lip in concentration, her brows furrowing.
“Nice try,” Applejack scoffed.
“Give her time,” Pinkie said.
Suddenly, white flames erupted around the end of the chain. The brightness forced Twilight to close her eyes. When she opened them, blinking away the ghostly afterimage, the chain was whole. Golden motes swirled around Truthseeker’s twin spikes. Applejack stood in stunned silence, her mouth agape. Ponies walking by in the street gasped.
Rarity nudged Applejack. “Don’t I get a ‘thank you?’” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.
Applejack slowly closed her mouth. “Rarity, if I could, I’d give you way more than that. But, my thanks and an apology are all I’ve got. I never shoulda’ doubted you.” She collected the chain, wrapping it around her tail once more, and the golden motes dissipated.
Rarity smiled. “Oh, I understand. This is your father’s weapon; I’d be concerned too.” She lifted a hoof, tapping her chin. “Where next?”
“We should go somewhere exciting!” Pinkie suggested. “There’s gotta be a tavern in this city where all the fun ponies go.”
Twilight chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I know we’re supposed to be taking a break, but could we check out the intersection of 43rd and 10th? Just in case we see something?”
Rarity shook her head in disappointment, but she said, “I suppose you won’t be able to stop thinking about this. We’ll go take a look.”
Twilight stood on the corner of the busy intersection as ponies walked by, holding up the sketch. She stamped her hoof in frustration. They’d found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in the intersection itself or the shops on the corners. Standing here, looking around, the drawing made even less sense.
“Something has to be here,” she muttered. “The numbers must mean this intersection.”
“Twilight,” Applejack said, folding the drawing with a hoof. “If it doesn’t make sense, maybe we’re missing pieces. All we’ve got is what was dragged from a dead pony’s damaged mind. The numbers might not even relate to the drawing.”
Twilight sighed. “I guess there’s nothing left to do but talk to Shining Armor and Cadance again.”
“Oh, we could do that, if you don’t want to take a trip to the Manehattan Museum a few blocks away...” Rarity said.
Twilight’s ears perked. There wasn’t a location she wanted to visit in Manehattan more than the museum. It must have slipped my mind, she thought. “It’s that close?” she asked.
Twilights hooves clicked on smooth marble as she climbed steps to the museum’s second floor balcony. She stared up at the structure around her in awe. A massive dome rose from the center of the ceiling, its interior painted with a stylized mural of the Celestial Sphere. One half was blue, sunlit sky, and the other was a field of stars on a dark background. A crystalline lattice ran around the borders. A ring of six classical stone columns supported the dome. Beneath it, a wide floor held countless artifacts. The Manehattan Museum was everything she imagined it to be.
On the balcony, Twilight stopped in front of a strange device. It was a steel tube as wide as she was tall, but half of it was fragmented and rusted, revealing the interior. Gleaming sapphires lined the inside of the tube.
As she read the bronze plaque explaining the device, Pinkie stepped up beside her. Twilight had separated from the rest of her friends, too excited to restrict herself to their pace and understanding, but Pinkie had stuck with her. The plaque told her the object had been discovered a few years ago on the coastline by an ancient shipwreck washed against the cliffs of the Sword Coast, but according to it, nothing was known about what it did.
“Betcha it shoots magical beams of destruction,” Pinkie said.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’ll bet it doesn’t.”
“Fancy meeting you here, Twilight Sparkle,” a pony beside them said.
Twilight turned toward the speaker. She recognized the grey haired pony and smiled. “How are you, Crystal Clear?”
Crystal Clear stepped towards them, limping slightly on one of her hind legs. “Good, despite those ruffians arresting us.” Crystal Clear grinned. “I see you’re doing well for being the most wanted pony in Manehattan a day ago.”
“Yeah, we got that sorted out,” Twilight said.
Crystal Clear raised her spectacles to her eyes and peered at the plaque. “This information is terribly out of date. There are a few of these in Canterlot that still function.”
“Do they shoot magical beams of destruction?” Pinkie asked.
“No, they’re...” Crystal Clear tapped her hoof on the marble floor, as if thinking of the correct term. “Propulsion devices, most likely. For boats. Water comes in one end and goes squirting out the other at high pressure.”
Pinkie rose up onto her hind legs and held her forehooves up in the air menacingly. “It’s a magical cannon of watery destruction! I told you, Twilight!”
Twilight eyed Pinkie and chuckled. “Sure, Pinkie.” She turned to Crystal Clear. “So, I guess you’re happy to discover the Crystal Princess is real?”
Crystal Clear raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “The fact that she’s speaking at the next meeting of the Duchesses is hardly proof, Twilight. We need to see her, in the flesh, to know if she is the rumored Alicorn. And, some tests for illusion or shape changing would definitely be in order, even if she had wings in addition to a horn.”
Twilight held her tongue. Stupid, she reprimanded herself. With the Empire trying to kill Cadance, I shouldn’t have said anything. Cadance was obviously doing her best to stay out of the spotlight. She assumed that Crystal Clear would have had the opportunity to meet with Cadance, but that assumption was wrong. What if Crystal Clear is spying for the Empire? she wondered. She eyed Crystal Clear suspiciously, and something on the wall caught her attention.
“Really, I’d expect more from Star Swirl’s pupil,” Crystal Clear said with a sigh.
Twilight stepped past Crystal Clear, ignoring the reprimand. A large, white board with red, green, and black lines drawn across it was fixed to the wall. A title on the top read, ’—ay Map’, chipping and flaking on the surface of the board obscuring the first bit. The plaque seemed to focus on the water resistant qualities of the board’s unknown material and the way the ink was worked into the substance itself, calling the contents of the map ‘indecipherable’.
Lines, Twilight thought, her mind racing. Triple line, crossed... two lines. A box. 2nd street station. Crystal Clear was saying something, but the words sounded muffled and indistinct in her ears. Tramway Map! Each line is a track! Twilight slapped the sketch up against the map. The lines matched a station marked ‘10th & 43rd’. She had seen something like this before, in the back of a book archiving some of the artifacts found in the Manehattan Museum.
“It’s not in the intersection, it’s under it!” Twilight cried out in excitement.
“What’re you talking about?” Crystal Clear said, annoyance in her tone.
Twilight grabbed Pinkie with a hoof and ran off without a word.
Twilight stepped down a wide staircase, descending deeper beneath the earth, the only light coming from her horn. Above, they’d paid the merchants to search their basements, and in one, they found a wall that sounded hollow. After a brief negotiation, they knocked it down and revealed a tunnel. At the bottom of this staircase were her answers – they had to be. With her friends at her side, she reached the last step and brightened her horn to reveal the expansive station before her.