//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: In the Center of Ponyville // by Amandy //------------------------------// By the time morning came, Twilight was both extremely confused and extremely hopeful about the small group of ponies that had come to her in the night. She had patched Raindrops up after not too long and the stammering mare had fallen asleep off to the side of the room. Later that night, as the letter said should happen, a few...others had shown up. Twilight glanced over at Lyra, who was sitting on a chair, half-heartedly plucking on the lyre that she always had with her. Berry Punch was sitting on the other side of the table, drawing circles with her hoof as she waited as well. Twilight sighed, turning her gaze outside to look at the rising sun with heavy eyes. They had been waiting all night for one more pony. Worried that she had read the letter wrong, Twilight trotted back over to her desk table where the odd letter still lay. She picked it up with her magic and frowned, seeing that she had read it correctly. It told her that her fears were correct. Something was going terribly wrong in Ponyville. But the letter didn't explain what was happening or who the sender was. All that was at the bottom was Royal Stone. The only conclusive thing it mentioned was that three others would meet her in the night. Nothing else. No more explanations. It didn't say why those ponies were coming or how this pertained to what was going on in Ponyville. Raindrops had shown up first at her door just after she had finished reading the letter. She'd been quite surprised, not thinking that somepony would arrive so soon. But when she asked Raindrops about the letter, the mare insisted that she didn't know what Twilight was talking about. Just after midnight, another knock had come and Twilight opened the door to find Lyra, who looked relieved to find that Twilight knew who she was. In fact, Twilight had had a hard time getting Lyra to stop going on about how nopony knew her anymore and that even Bon-Bon was acting like they had just met. Berry Punch... had come just after Lyra. She knocked shyly and defended herself when Twilight asked if she hadn't been drinking too much punch and ended up at the wrong house. Twilight looked over at the mare now with a soft wince, terribly sorry that she assumed that about her. After Berry Punch arrived, Twilight showed them the letter that she had received and they pulled out their own. Raindrops joined in on the conversation with a bit of confusion. What was going on down here in Ponyville, she had questioned. Everything was just fine in Cloudsdale. Twilight had frowned at this information and suggested that they wait to make any further speculations until the last pony arrived. But now as the sun started to rise, Lyra groaned and glanced at Twilight, her voice a bit sarcastic. "Are you sure Raindrops isn't the last pony?" "Positive. She said that she didn't know about the letters or what's going on. She is from Cloudsdale after all." "But maybe she doesn't know that she's the last pony." Berry Punch chimed in, tired of waiting as well. "Did you think of that Twilight?" Lyra said with a flop of her head on the table, her lyre still floating as she plucked at it with her magic. "She insisted that she hadn't any idea. Now please, I'm sure that if we just wait-" "We've been waiting all night!" Lyra suddenly shouted in exasperation as she threw up her hands and her lyre dropped out of her magic's control and clattered to the floor. Raindrops suddenly jerked awake, startled by the sound as Twilight narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. And then they all froze as the sound of a soft knock on Twilight's door. Everypony in the room blinked and turned towards the door in stunned silence before Twilight regained herself and trotted over to it. She opened the door slowly and then stared sadly at the pony on the other side. Derpy's filly, Dinky, was staring back at Twilight with big eyes. "Dinky, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school right about now?" Twilight said gently before she stared in surprise as the filly ignored the question and trotted inside, determination on her face. "I'ma guessing you are the others?" Dinky said as she trotted over to Lyra and Berry Punch and hopped up onto a seat at the table. They looked at one another in surprise before Lyra spoke. "What do you mean Dinky? Why are you-?" "I was told to come here by this letter." Dinky said as she used her magic to pull a small note from under her hair. She unfolded it and held it up for them to see. Twilight, still a bit scattered, shut the door and trotted over, reading the letter as the others did. "But how..." Lyra stammered, shaking her head. "You're so young!" Berry Punch said with a frown. "And why didn't you come sooner?" Twilight asked with a tilt of her head as she took a seat at the table as well. Dinky shook her head and smirked. "Did you think my mother would've let me leave home at night?" Dinky said with a roll of her eyes. Twilight smirked and laughed softly before she glanced at Dinky's letter again. "So if everypony's here...what happens now? These letters don't give us any clues." Twilight said as she picked up all the letters and laid them out on the table. The entire circle of ponies frowned and squinted their eyes, reading and re-reading the letters for some type of clue. Any clue, that could lead them to an answer. Raindrops, in the meantime, had slowly trotted over to the table, curious about what was going on now. The others didn't notice her as she glanced from one letter to the other with a tilt of her head. And then suddenly, she spoke. "Look at the signatures." She said with a point of her one hoof. Startled by the sudden sound, the others jumped in their seats for a moment before Twilight managed to speak. "What do you mean? They're not the pony's real name, they're all signed differently!" Twilight said as Dinky gasped. "I get it!" Dinky said with a growing grin. "The names are all descriptions!" Dinky exclaimed in excitement before she tilted her head. "Though I don't know where it's talking about." "I don't get it...how do you see...?" Lyra said with a look at the filly as Twilight figure it out. "They're right Lyra. Look. Royal Stone, Broken Fable, Night Home, Magic. " Twilight said with a smile as Berry Punch frowned. "I don't see how-" "You just have to rearrange the signatures." Twilight said with growing enthusiasm. "Royal Stone and Broken Fable -when switched- make Broken Stone and Royal Fable!" Twilight said with a grin as Lyra chimed in. "But how does Royal Fable make any sense? Wouldn't Magic Fable make more sense?" "What about Royal Home?" Dinky pitched in, eager to help. "That would leave Night, Magic, and Fable. And that doesn't make any sense..." Twilight said with a frown. "Maybe..." "Night Fable. I'd say." Raindrops said with a small blush as the others looked at her. "I-I mean, it sounds like another name for a bedtime story." "So we'd have Broken Stone, Royal Home, Night Fable and Magic. How are those connected?" Lyra said with a frustrated frown. Berry Punch glanced at Twilight, and Dinky frowned as well. Raindrops shrugged and looked to Twilight, who was staring intensely at the words. A few minutes passed in silence until Twilight suddenly lit up. "I got it!" "What? What does it mean?" Lyra asked in joy. "It's talking about the old ruins of the royal castle that's deep in the Everfree Forest!" "The what?" Dinky questioned, too young to know about them. "The ruins! They're made of broken stone that's been crumbling for years. They used to be a royal home for the sisters. Stories are told about them to little fillies, and it's where I first realized that I was the element of Magic, and that friendship was a powerful thing." Twilight said quickly with growing enthusiasm. "So are we supposed to go there?" Berry Punch asked after a small moment of silence, her voice hesitant. "I'd say we were." Lyra said with an excited grin. "I agree. But we can't take-" "I'm going with you and that's what's going to happen." Dinky said with a strong glare at Twilight as she puffed up her face. Twilight blinked in surprise and tried to reason with the filly. "But your mother-" "Will forget about me like she did with daddy if we don't fix this. I'm coming with you." "Okay then! It's settled. We'll bring Dinky with us!" Lyra said with a clap of her hooves before she glanced around at everypony. "Twilight knows better than I do how hard it will be to get there, but all that means is that we should all go home and pack out things and meet back here at noon. Sound good?" Lyra said with a smile, leading the way toward the door. The others shrugged and nodded their heads in agreement and then stood to leave. "But what about me?" Raindrops said as everypony headed towards the door. "Oh...well I guess you can go home." Lyra said with a soft smile. "I can't." Raindrops said with a frown. "Why couldn't you...?" "She injured her wing Lyra." Twilight said as she turned to Raindrops' defense. "I can't really fly home right now. And I doubt Twilight just wants to leave me here alone." "Well, you'd be here with Spike of course." Twilight said with a smile. "Spike? But we haven't seen him all night Twilight." Berry Punch said with a confused look at the princess. Twilight blinked in realization and her face fell. She had no idea where he was. "R-right. Maybe Raindrops should come along with us then?" Twilight suggested. "That probably wouldn't be-" "That'd be a great idea!" Berry Punch said, cutting Lyra off with a sheepish smile as Lyra glared. "After all, she did notice the connection with the signatures. She's probably be good to have around. Right Twilight?" "Only if she wants to come." Twilight said with a glance at the mare. Raindrops smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me." "Okay then! We'll meet back here in front of my house at noon. See everypony then!" Twilight said with a small bit of excitement as Dinky giggled and bounced out the door. Berry Punch followed after Dinky, and Lyra frowned and sluggishly trotted out. Twilight shut the door and then turned to Raindrops. "Okay then! Time to pack. I think I remember having a spare saddlebag in the storeroom..."