//------------------------------//
// 10. A Human and Pony Show 
// Story: The Dark Side of The Sun 
// by Nopony of note 
//------------------------------//

     By the late afternoon, Max could not tell if everything he’d seen so far was business as normal for this planet, or if the inhabitants were putting their best foot forward. Either way he was impressed.

        After his presentation, Max was given a quick chariot tour of Ponyville and the surrounding area. After that he was taken back to the library and given a brief description of Equestria and its cities, whose names still weirded him out. But it was a mystery he would file away and try to solve later. Right now he was sitting on a tree stump on a field on the outskirts of the town, munching on one of the most delicious apples he’d ever bitten into, courtesy of an orange Earth pony who had introduced herself as Applejack.

        Of course Max had to run a few simple toxin tests on a small chunk before actually taking a bite, but he wasn’t surprised to find that these apples had pretty much the same chemical makeup and nutritional value of apples from Earth. After verifying the snack was safe, he began patiently waiting for something Twilight had described to him as an “aerial demonstration” by a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash. Some of the same cameras used to film Max’s official first meeting with Twilight were now set up to record whatever would happen in the demonstration, so all he had to do was sit back and watch.

        “How’s the apple?” asked Twilight, who was sitting on her haunches in the grass next to him. 

        “It’s better than any of its counterparts on Earth I’ve ever tasted,” Max replied and promptly took another bite.

        “I still can’t believe they have apples on your planet. Aren’t you a little surprised?”

        “Honestly, Twilight,” Max said after swallowing. “If I let myself be shocked by every uncanny similarity I’ve seen so far, I’d probably be in a coma right now. In fact, that’s pretty much what happened the first time I ran into Lyra, remember?”

        Twilight chuckled as she imagined Max’s first encounter with ponykind, based on his account of the event.

        “Now, when is this Rainbow Dash friend of yours going to show up?” Max asked around a mouthful of apple.

        “She was warming up for her demonstration last I heard,” Twilight replied. “She should be showing up any minute.”

        True to her word, it wasn’t long before Twilight prodded at his leg with one hoof and pointed out towards the horizon with the other. Max put down his mostly-eaten apple and squinted off into the distance. It took a few seconds to see what Twilight was pointing at because the pony’s coat was only a few shades off from the sky, but as the pony got closer, Max could make out her rainbow-like mane and tail.

        So that’s why they call her Rainbow Dash… Max thought. Soon Rainbow Dash was directly over the field, and that’s when her demonstration commenced. Max watched in awe as Rainbow performed a myriad of stunts, including but not limited to loops, barrel rolls, corkscrews, and even a few acrobatic maneuvers he recognized from his days as a fighter pilot. This was all impressive enough, but when Rainbow Dash started to incorporate the clouds into her antics, his mind was really blown. 

        Max had accepted the fact that weather could be influenced by pegasi, but this was the first time he had seen a Pegasus directly manipulate it. The way Rainbow danced around them and molded their shapes made it seem as if the clouds were solid floating balls of fluff instead of water vapor condensed around airborne particles like he knew them to be on Earth. But by this point, it was just another interesting quirk to add to his mental list of physics-defying magical phenomena to investigate at a later date.

        After just a few more minutes of science-busting stunts, Rainbow seemed to shoot off into the distance with astonishing speed and entered a near-vertical climb. Max had to bring up a hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight to see her, and as the Pegasus became smaller and smaller, Max turned to Twilight and said, “Well, you can color me impressed. That was some of the most mind-blowing flying I’ve seen anything do without the assistance of jet propulsion.”

        Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the words ‘jet propulsion,’ not knowing what kind of human invention Max was talking about, but said quickly, “The show’s not over. You’re going to want to see what’s coming next.”

Max turned his attention skyward again and was just able to pick out the distant specks of red that were Rainbow’s mane and tail as she began to dive back towards the ground. She gained considerable speed in the dive, and when she leveled out again, Max estimated it was only a few hundred feet above treetop level. But what astonished him even more was that the pony continued to accelerate. Soon a white cone of vapor formed around her, nearly obscuring the blue Pegasus from view.

        “No way…” Max muttered to himself. He stood up from the tree stump he was sitting on and took a few steps towards the approaching Pegasus. 

        “Um, Max? You might want to stand back…” Twilight warned, but it was too late.

        Before Max could process what he’d heard Twilight say, Rainbow Dash broke through the cone of vapor and the air around her literally exploded. There was a thunderous CRACK as Rainbow’s speed seemed to double in an instant and a ring-like shockwave emanated from the spot where the she shattered the sound barrier. But, as Max quickly learned, this was no ordinary shock wave, if such a thing could be considered ordinary in the first place.

        The ring seemed to blaze in every color of the rainbow as it spread from its point of origin, and literally became a multi-hued, rainbow-like ring of fire. When the shock wave slammed into poor Max the force nearly knocked him flat on his back and he went stumbling backwards in a vain attempt to stay upright. Twilight, who knew what to expect, had taken cover behind the stump that was previously occupied by Max.. 

        “What was that?!?” Max asked when he finally regained his balance.

        “It was a sonic rainboom,” Twilight said coolly after coming out from behind the stump. “It’s one of Rainbow’s signature tricks.”

        “A sonic… a what?” Max suddenly found himself at a loss for words. It looked as if the Pegasus named Rainbow Dash had just gone supersonic, and Max could distinctly remember the moment in orbit when he decided that whatever the inhabitants of the planet were, they didn’t have the technology for supersonic flight. And yet, a pony just broke the sound barrier right in front of him seemingly without any technological assistance of any kind, and with explosive results that he’d never seen before. His mental list of magical mysteries to solve later was finally full. This merited immediate investigation. 

        “A sonic rainboom

        Twilight, who had extensively studied the sonic rainboom phenomenon since Rainbow Dash had been able to perform them reliably, was all too happy to give one of her signature scientific lectures.

        “You see, Max, Pegasi don’t fly by the physical lift their wings produce alone. The same intrinsic magic that allows them to control the weather allows their wings to generate more lift and thrust than they normally could. And with your being a pilot, I don’t think I need to tell you that it takes a lot of power to go faster than the speed of sound. There’s nothing magical about that.”

        Max nodded, having broken the sound barrier countless times himself. He followed what Twilight was saying, so far.

        “There’s also nothing magical about that fact that the closer you get to the speed of sound, the more resistance you get not just from air resistance, but from the shockwave building up around whatever’s going that fast.

        Max nodded again, as this scientific fact held true on Earth as well. 

        Twilight smiled, happy that she had established some scientific common ground with Max and that her lecture was understood so far. She then continued, “And it just so happens that the point at which a Pegasus has to use more magic than physical strength to accelerate is roughly the speed of sound. And when Rainbow breaks the speed of sound and all the resistance from the shock wave disappears, she has a lot of excess magical thrust to burn off. Some of it just propels her even faster, which is why you saw her speed roughly double, and the rest is released in that rainbow ring of fire, as you so eloquently put it.”

        Max took a few deep, relaxing breaths, mentally processing Twilight’s explanation. “I guess that makes enough sense for now,” he said after a few seconds of mental gear-turning.There’s one law of physics they haven’t broken yet.

 Then he said, “Well, at this rate, you’ll probably manage that before we do.”

        Twilight beamed at the compliment, and took some pride in the accomplishments of her friends. That was precisely when Rainbow Dash decided to make her entrance. She swooped down seemingly out of nowhere and touched down at the edge of the field, but her momentum carried her all the way to where Max and Twilight were standing, and when she came skidding to halt, she left a trail of multi-hued flame in her path.

        “Hey there,” Rainbow said with a haughty grin. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. How’d you like the little demo back there?”

        “Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” Max said. “I’m Maxwell, but you can call me Max. And that little demo over there was pretty impressive.”

        “Yeah, well that was all the simple stuff. I am one of the best flyers in all of Equestria after all.” 

        “I’ll believe it,” said Max. “Now Twilight, is there anything else you’d like to blow my socks off with?”

        Rainbow and Twilight started laughing, remembering Pinkie’s earlier tangent about socks, and the awkward conversation that followed.

        “What?” Max asked. “I hope the expression ‘blow your socks off’ means the same thing here that it does back home…”

        “Don’t worry, Max,” said Twilight after she stopped giggling. “I’m pretty sure it does. It’s just that one of our friends said the same thing this morning.”

        “So what’s so funny?” Max asked again. 

        “Don’t worry about it, dude,” Rainbow answered him. “If you ever meet a crazy pink pony who’s constantly on a sugar high you’ll get it.” 

        For the sake of his sanity, Max secretly hoped he wouldn’t meet a crazy pink pony who was constantly on a sugar high.

        “Seriously, Max,” said Twilight. “Don’t give it a second thought. In fact, I think that’s all we have to show you for today.”

        Max looked down at his watch, which he had calibrated for the planet’s day and night cycles before landing, and realized it actually was getting late in the day, and the task of properly documenting everything he’d seen would likely last well into the night.

        “That’s probably a good thing,” he said. “After all this I think I have a lot of archiving and organizing to do.”

“Oh, I can totally help with that!” Twilight exclaimed. “After all, I live in a library, remember?” Secretly, she hoped to get a peek at whatever data storage system theBirdie was packing. If the movie she saw earlier was contained in the little box of a projector, who knew what other treasure troves of information could be hiding in the giant spacecraft.

        “I appreciate the offer Twilight,” said Max, who was not fooled by the offer. “But since I’m the only one on this planet who knows how to operate the extremely delicate equipment on the Birdie, it’s probably best that I be the only one to touch any of it.”

After somehow suppressing the heart attack he felt approaching as a result of the unreasonably adorable display, Max felt the need to partially concede to Twilight’s request. “Ahem, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to show you the inside of it at least once before I head home.”

        Twilight perked back up at the prospect, and said, “Oh, I’d love that! I’ll hold you to that promise, Max.”

        Max didn’t remember saying the word ‘promise’ or even a word with a similar meaning, but he decided to go with the flow. “Alllrighty then. Tomorrow I’ll have something else to show you, if you’re interested.”

         “Cool! What?”

        “You’ll find out tomorrow,” Max said and smirked, considering the small bit of suspense revenge for the multiple heart-attacks he’d been forced to fend off in the past two days.



        Later that night, all seemed peaceful. Max was fast asleep in his bunk aboard the Birdie and under the impression that all was well. His craft was no longer parked in a forest that was notably more dangerous than the rest of the world, the magical pony princess was no longer bent on killing him, and he was not sleeping on a cold stone floor in the dungeon of a medieval-style castle carved out of the side of a mountain. For the astronaut, things could scarcely be going better. 

        Twilight, who was similarly optimistic about the situation, still had one loose end to tie up. And that loose end had pale green fur and a knack for causing Twilight more than her fair share of headaches. She looked up at the night sky as she trotted through Ponyville on her way to Lyra’s house, and saw the moon just starting to poke up over the horizon. The half-moon wasn’t quite as bright as the full moon from the night Max and his flying machine first appeared in the night sky, but it was plenty bright enough to let Twilight see her destination clearly. The lights were still on and once she was at the doorstep she could hear faint lyre music coming from somewhere inside, so she stepped up to the door and knocked gently a few times.

        The lyre music came to an abrupt and clumsy halt, and about a minute later Lyra cracked open the door timidly.

        “Oh, uh, hey there, Twilight,” she said, opening the door a little wider. “How’s it going?”

        “Oh, everything’s going great,” Twilight replied. “And now I believe you have a little something to tell me.”

        Lyra sighed and looked down at her hooves. “Alright, Twi. Come one in.”

        Once inside and seated on a sofa across from Twilight, Lyra told the whole story. She began with explaining how the song went back farther in her family than any official records did, and how she used the spell book Spike helped her find to try and find where the song originated. She then described the first time she performed the spell on her song and the human-like image it created. The last thing Lyra told Twilight about that she didn’t already know was the ill-fated venture into the Everfree to Zecora’s hut and the events leading up to Lyra’s first encounter with mankind, and while Lyra’s story lined up almost exactly, Twilight still let her tell her perspective of the things she and Max talked about.

        “Okay, so let me get this straight,” Twilight said when Lyra was done with her story. “You initially didn’t freak out when you saw Max in the forest because of that spell you performed on your song.”

        Lyra nodded. “Yep. He didn’t look exactly like the thing I saw, but he wasn’t that different.”

        Twilight smiled and said, “Lyra, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

        “I don’t know what you’re thinking so I don’t think so…” Lyra said with one eyebrow raised cautiously.
        “I’m thinking that if you can play that song and do the spell for Max and show him what you saw, we might be able solve one of the greatest mysteries in Equestrian history less than a week after it’s been discovered!”

        “You… you want me to… what?” Lyra stammered nervously, directly contrasting her confident and snarky mannerisms from earlier.

        “It’s simple,” Twilight said happily. “All you have to do is play your song for Max while performing the spell-”

        “I can’t do that,” Lyra cut her off. 

        “What? Why not?”

        The answer to Twilight’s question was not something Lyra was particularly proud of. “You see, I have this thing about playing in front of other ponies…”

        “You have STAGE FRIGHT?” Twilight nearly exploded. “We are standing on the brink of the single most momentous and significant discovery in the history of ponykind, one that could lead to an ancient link between us and a race from another feathering planet, and you’re going to let a little thing like STAGE FRIGHT be the one thing that keeps you from being the pony that makes it all happen?”

        After Twilight’s outburst, Lyra could only stare back silently at her with wide eyes and ears flattened back against her head. She heard Twilight could get worked up about some things but she’d never been on the business end of one of Twilight’s outbursts.

        It took a few seconds, but Twilight calmed herself down and said, “Sorry, but this is a big deal. You’ve got a chance to be a part of history here. If I were you, I’d be jumping at any chance I got to be a part of all this.”

        Lyra sighed and hung her head. “I know Twilight, but I’m just no good at performing in front of other ponies. Why do you think I opened a shop in a quiet little town like Ponyville instead of joining some ensemble?”

        “But I heard you playing before I came in. You sounded great! And besides, Max isn’t even a pony. He’s a… uh… oh, what did they call themselves…” 

        “Humans?” Lyra offered meekly.

        “Right, thanks,” Twilight said quickly. “He’s a human, not a pony, and there’s only one of him. There’s no reason to be afraid.”

        “Oh yes there is,” Lyra countered. “He’s been acting like an ambassador ever since he touched down here. You heard him say how many humans there are back where he comes from, so whatever he thinks of what he sees is going to be what he tells all umpteen-billion humans back on his planet! There is no way I can do a performance with that kind of audience!”

        Twilight knew from experience with Fluttershy that there was no point to pointing out the flaws in Lyra’s logic and no way to talk a pony out of stage fright in just one night, but this was something that Max absolutely had to see if they were ever going to solve the mystery behind all the impossible similarities between Equestria and Max’s home planet. 

        “Look, it doesn’t have to me, right? The spell should work if anypony does it,” Lyra said almost as if she knew what Twilight was thinking. “It’s a pretty easy song to play, and you should have no problem with the spell. So you can get somepony who’s an actual performing musician and do the spell yourself.”

        Twilight wanted to argue more, to find some way to convince Lyra to be a part of solving the great mystery, because she thought the normally sassy and rambunctious musician really deserved to be a part of the historical moments that were sure to come in the next few days after everything else she’d managed to get involved in, but there was no way to force the issue.

        “I guess I could write a letter to Princess Celestia tomorrow,” Twilight said dejectedly. “She probably can send the one of best musicians in Canterlot to help out.”

        “I’m sorry Twi,” Lyra apologized. “But I just can’t do the whole performance thing. A professional musician would probably do a lot better than me anyway.”

       “Alright. See you tomorrow,” Twilight said before walking out the door a closing it softly behind her.


                
                “Are you sure Lyra can’t make it?” Max asked Twilight the next day.

                “Yeah, I’m sure,” Twilight responded, her voice containing a bit more contempt than she meant to let through.

                Her tone of voice was not lost on Max, and he asked, “Is everything okay?”

                “Yes, she’s fine,” said Twilight. “Just a little too busy to be a part of the greatest moment in pony history.”

                “Ooookaaaay…” Max said, and got back to work with his demonstration for the day. He requested a large open space that backed up to a hill of sorts, and there was no shortage of places like that in and around Ponyville. The most convenient spot happened to be a field near the Birdie’s landing area.

                “So what do you call this thing again?” Twilight asked as Max finished cleaning the components of his pistol that were laid out on the folding table he brought from the Birdie and began to re-assemble the weapon.

                “It’s a pistol, or handgun, whichever you prefer. It’s a kind of firearm.” Max had already explained the term firearm, which Twilight had an easy time understanding after a quick chemistry lesson. After all, it wasn’t that different from fireworks or Pinkie Pie’s party cannon, although Twilight doubted she would ever completely understand the latter.

                “Oh, and Applejack,” Max said to the other pony standing next to Twilight. “Thank you for letting me use some of your apples for this. I did tell you that you won’t be getting them back, right?”

                “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “I got whole orchards of these things back on the farm. There’s plenty more where these babies came from.”

                “Great. You may want to cover your ears” Max finished assembling his weapon before putting on some hearing protection of his own, inserted a loaded magazine, racked the slide, and took aim at the five apples lined up on the fence roughly thirty yards away.

                 Twilight and Applejack put their hooves over their ears right before a loud, harsh, BANG rang throughout the empty field and reverberated a few times before dying out. Twilight switched her focus between Max’s pistol and his target apples for the remaining four shots, and every time Max pulled the trigger and she heard a loud BANG, she either saw the pistol jump slightly in Max’s hand as it emitted a puff of smoke or she saw an apple disappear in a small explosion of apple chunks and juice.

                Hitting the apples at thirty yards was no challenge for someone with military training, and Max managed to hit every apple close enough to center mass that they all exploded rather impressively instead of just being knocked over like they would if a bullet simply grazed one. All it took was five shots in as many seconds, and the apples that were sitting on the fence posts were no more. After hitting the last target, Max removed his earmuffs, took out the magazine, and set down the gun before turning to look at Twilight and Applejack, who simply stared back at him slack-jawed.

                “Where did the apples go…?” Applejack asked quietly.

                “They’re in little pieces that are probably scattered on the ground around the fence,” Max answered.

                “Exactly what was coming out of that little contraption o’ yours again?”

                “This little contraption fires a little piece of metal that goes faster than the eye can follow, and it carries enough energy that when it hits the soft apple, well, there isn’t much of an apple left.” As he explained the basics to Applejack, Max began to disassemble his weapon as his new friends seemed a bit uneasy after seeing what it really did.

                “I’d hate to see what would happen if one hit a pony…” Twilight mused.

                “I’ll be honest, this was designed as a weapon of war, and when a bullet hits a human it usually causes serious injury or death.” When Twilight’s expression turned into one of horror, Max quickly added, “But you don’t have anything to worry about. I brought this along purely as a defensive tool to deal with any predatory creatures I might have encountered, and usually just the sound is enough to scare away any animal on Earth, never mind actually shooting something. Also, I’m guessing most people back home would find ponies much too adorable to wage any kind of war against you. So you’re safe.”

         “It’s just…” Twilight said uneasily. “It’s just strange to think that you humans can hold the power to kill somepony, er - somebody in your hand like that.”

         Max had anticipated a comment, and had a response prepared just in case.

        “Let me ask you this, Twilight,” he said. “How many ponies are alive today?”

        “About two or three million, I think.”

        “I already told Lyra this, but I might have forgotten to mention it to you. Right now there are more than nine billion people on Earth. That’s about three thousand times more than the pony population here. And one thing we’ve learned about having so many people on one planet is that the more people there are, the more likely they are to disagree about things that are pretty important. People disagree over what resources belong to which countries, which system of government works best, who should be in charge of a country, and plenty of other things.”

        “That makes sense, I guess…” Twilight said, as she was beginning to see where Max was going.

        “Probably the worst thing people disagree on is just how far it’s acceptable to go to prove who’s right. When one person decides to go too far to prove they’re right, they force everyone else to do the same just to defend themselves. And we believe, just like you ponies, all people have the right to defend themselves. But unlike you ponies, we have no magic spells that turn bad guys into statues or sends them to the moon. That means defending yourself against someone who has gone too far can mean either killing or being killed yourself.” 

                “You told me all about the times something has tried to invade, take over, or otherwise terrorize Equestria, and how you and your friends managed to win every fight with some sort of magic,” said Max. “Well, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that we don’t have magic back home. But the only other difference is that in the absence of evil monsters we just have some genuinely evil humans. And in the absence of some magical artifact that turns the bad guy to stone, they can do some pretty awful deeds. Having tools like this gives people a way to defend themselves if necessary.”

                “But surely there has to be a way to do that without killing!” Twilight protested.

                “Let me ask you this, Twilight. What would have happened at your brother’s wedding, if ponies had no magic?”

                “I… I guess the changelings would have won.”

                “Then what if I gave you one of these?” Max gestured to weapon that was now lying in pieces on his table. “If you had to choose between letting them win, and taking a life?”

                Twilight tried her best to come up with something that would have beaten Chrysalis without magic, and for a few seconds she honestly thought there was a way. After all, she had been deprived of magic before and still she and her friends had managed to come out on top. But the more she thought, the more she realized every time she had a real villain to face, even one that took her normal magic or even the Elements of Harmony away, it was all a matter of either getting her magic back or simply using a different kind. Twilight looked at Applejack for help, but her friend could only look back with the same conflicted expression.

                After a few moments of silence, Twilight hung her head in defeat. “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I really don’t know.”

                “Hey, no need for the long face,” Max said. “Not knowing is a good thing. Even with humans, it’s not easy to even consider taking a life. Until someone is put in a situation like that they can’t really know what they would do. The upside to all this is that back home situations like that are getting less and less frequent. We’re to the point where I’d assume more than 90 percent of humans alive today have never had to make that choice. It sounds like those kinds of situations never happen here, thanks to your magical powers, you’ll probably never have to know. I’m just trying to help you understand why we need weapons like this on Earth a bit more than you would here.”

                “I know, it’s just that all this makes Earth seem so… I don’t know, barbaric.”                       

                “There are some parts of humanity that are that way,” Max conceded. “I spent most of my life in the military so I’ve seen the worst humanity has to offer firsthand. And it’s easy for a lot of people to focus only on the evil they see just because of how bad it can get, and not really how prevalent it actually is. But people who do that lose sight of all the good things we’ve done, and there are just as many if not more redeeming examples of humanity than condemning ones. One of the great things about the military is that while you see the worst parts of humanity, you also get to see the best.”

                “Really?” Applejack said harshly. “ ’Cause to me it sounds like you humans have no problem puttin’ each other in these kill-or-be-killed situations.”

                The farmpony’s comment stung a little bit, and Max’s first instinct was to say something to mankind’s defense or his own defense, but somehow he managed to repress the notion and came up with a better way to get his point across.

                “Tell you what,” he said calmly. “I’m no history or ethics teacher, but I’ve got another tool that is.” Max picked up one of the equipment bags he brought with him and pulled out a touch-screen tablet computer and a stylus. Twilight and Applejack, having never seen one before, regarded the device curiously.

                “What kind of contraption is this?” Applejack asked suspiciously.

                “It’s not another weapon, if that’s what you want to know,” Max said as evenly as he could. “This is merely a device that can access and display information,” he explained as he demonstrated how to turn on the tablet and navigate through its menus.

                “It’s almost like a little library,” Twilight mused as she watched Max pull up encyclopedias, historical databases, media databases, and do keyword searches.

                “That’s exactly what it is,” Max responded. “In fact, this little tablet and other devices like it are how I kept myself from going mad with boredom on the lonely year-long trip out here. It’s remotely connected to the data storage systems on the Enterprise, so there’s more than just raw information here, but also the vast majority of fictional stories, music, and motion pictures humans have produced. This thing will even tell you how it and all my other stuff works, down to the laws of physics they use to do what they do. Essentially, you have here a one-year-old copy of the World Wide Web.”

                “What’s the World Wide Web?” Twilight asked as she took hold of the device and they stylus in a cloud of her telekinetic magic and imitated Max’s motions, getting the hang of how it worked.

                “It’s pretty much the largest collection of information in the history of mankind. Also, if you have a question this thing can’t answer, you can use it to send messages to me on the Birdie. And as long as you don’t try contact me in the wee hours of the morning, I’ll respond as quickly as I can.”

                “Are you sure you humans don’t have magic?” Twilight asked, turning the tablet over a few times and inspecting it. “Because I don’t see any way else this tiny little thing could do all that.”

                “No, no magic is involved,” said Max as he packed up all of his things. “At least, not your kind of magic. We humans have our own brand of magic we call imagination and ingenuity. If you take a look through what my little tablet can tell you I think you’ll understand.”

                Twilight said, “I’ll definitely try. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s research.

                “Great. Now I’ve got to get back to the Birdie and check up on some of its instruments and sensors. If you need me you know where I’ll be.”

                Max slung his equipment bag over one shoulder and headed back to the Birdie. As Applejack and Twilight watched him go, Applejack said to Twilight, “Suddenly Ah’m not so sure about this fella. He seems nice and all, but if these humans really need inventions like that apple-blaster of his, maybe Equestria is better off leaving them be.”

                Twilight looked down at the tablet Max gave her and said, “I know what you mean, AJ. Hopefully some research on this little library device will show me some more redeeming aspects of his kind.”

                “And if it doesn’t?” Applejack asked.

                “If Max said humans have done better things than wage war on each other, and I believe him. I’m just going to have to find out what.”

                “Ah sure hope you’re right, Twi.”
            

 
                No sooner had Twilight returned to her library from Max’s apple-busting showcase than a golden chariot swooped out of the sky and landed right in front of her doormat. A grey mare with a long black mane and a pink bow tie dismounted, carrying a wooden cello case on her back. She bade the Pegasus stallions pulling the chariot farewell, and watched them take off and fly back in the general direction of Canterlot. She then turned around a knocked on the library door. The knocking slightly startled the librarian inside, who had only returned a few minutes prior.

                Spike came bounding down the stairs to answer, but Twilight, who hadn’t even left the foyer, waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, Spike. I’ll get it.”

                When Twilight opened the door, she was greeted by the gray mare with the pink bow tie and cello.

                “Good afternoon, Ms. Sparkle. My name is-” the mare started in a refined, proper Canterlot accent.

                “Octavia Philharmonica?” Twilight finished for her. “You played at the Grand Galloping Gala two years ago, right?”

                Octavia’s ears suddenly flattened back and the corners of her mouth turned down in a frown. “Yes, that would be me. And thanks to some ruffians  my ensemble wasn’t invited back the next year. You’ll have to excuse me, it’s a rather sensitive subject for me.”

                Twilight put on her most innocent smile and said “Well I’m sure it wasn’t your fault… um… maybe I can talk to the princesses about that…”

                “Oh, that would be much appreciated, given your stature with Princess Celestia.”

                “Yeah, I’ll get on that. So, what brings you to-”

                Before Twilight could finish, Spike tapped her shoulder and held up a scroll. “Uh, this just came for you from the princess,” he said.

                “Excuse me for one moment,” Twilight told Octavia, who nodded patiently.
 
 
                Dearest Twilight,
 
I received your request for a professional musician, and I think it’s a wonderful idea to share with Mr. O’Hara some of Equestria’s finest classical music. I’ve arranged for a visit from one of Canterlot’s premier cellists, and she should be arriving this afternoon. She can play any piece you might have on hand at the library and quite a few more from memory. I hope all is going well with our guest and would like to hear of your progress soon.
 
                                                                    Sincerely,
                                                                    Princess Celestia
 
PS -  If she asks you about the Grand Galloping Gala, tell her I am very much aware of her predicament. I had Luna speak with the Gala staff and after a bit of ‘convincing’ they agreed to allow her and her ensemble back next year.
 
                “Good news I hope?” Octavia asked when Twilight looked up at her from the letter.

                “Yep, everything’s great. Just great, So you’re the cellist Princess Celestia sent?”

                “Correct, Ms. Sparkle. Now, I’ve heard much about this guest of ours, but I haven’t actually seen him yet. I saw what I believe to be his means of transportation from the air, and I must say it was quite impressive.”

                “Just wait until you see the thing fly. Would you like to come in?”

                Twilight stepped aside to allow Octavia into the door, and the cellist gladly stepped in. Once the door was closed behind them, Twilight explained the situation with Lyra, the song, the spell and the ghostly image it produced, and finally Lyra’s bad case of stage fright.

                “I see why you needed a performing musician on such short notice,” Octavia said when Twilight’s story was over. “But why didn’t the princess mention any of this before?”

                “Well, I haven’t really told Princess Celestia about any of this yet…”

                Octavia’s jaw dropped briefly. “And why not?”

                “I dunno, I guess I don’t want to make a big deal of it until I see it for myself, and Celestia has been kinda overreacting to a lot things ever since Max got here, so...”

                Octavia’s shocked expression didn’t change.

                Twilight sighed and looked hard at Octavia. “Look, Princess Celestia made me responsible for what’s going on here, and I’m going to handle everything I can myself before I go to her for help. As soon as I see what the spell does firsthand, I’ll decide if it’s worth reporting back to her.”

                “I guess if the princess put you in charge I should trust your judgment,” Octavia said finally. “Where’s this song you need me to play?”

                “It’s right here,” Twilight said as she magically grabbed the sheet music Lyra transcribed for her earlier and held it out for Octavia to see.

                “It seems to be a simple enough melody,” Octavia said, bringing her hoof to her chin pensively. “I hope you can say the same about this courtroom spell of yours.”

                “It won’t be a problem,” Twilight said, retrieving the book that Lyra had returned from a nearby shelf. “But still, let’s do a practice run so we know what’s coming.”

                “Excellent idea,” Octavia agreed and began to set up her instrument. After a minute or so of tuning, she was ready to play. Twilight nodded and Octavia began to move her bow across the strings, filling the air with the sweet silky tones of the cello. Twilight poured on the magic and was surprised to find the seemingly simple spell to be incredibly taxing. But Twilight Sparkle wasn’t about to let a spell get the better of her, so she kept channeling more and more power into her efforts.

                With a furrowed brow and beads of sweat forming on her forehead, Twilight asked, “Is…anything…happening…yet…?” through clenched teeth.

                “There’s a floating purple blob and not much else, I’m afraid,” came Octavia’s concerned response. “Maybe you should take a break and try again later?”

                “Nope, I’m going to get this right,” Twilight said and tried even harder. She’d never seen a simple spell take this much effort, and she could tell she wasn’t making any mistakes with the thought patterns, but still Twilight just couldn’t force the blob of magic into an image. Finally, Twilight had to give up. When her horn stopped glowing and her head drooped, Octavia stopped the playing.

                “I don’t get it,” Twilight said, panting and a little dizzy. “I’ve never had a spell do that to me before.”

                “Perhaps you need to check the book again?” Octavia offered.

                “No, I was doing everything right, but the spell just wasn’t working.”

                Octavia thought for a few moments, and said, “You know, I may not be an expert on magic or anything, but I think I’ve seen a few other spells like this fail before.”

                “You have?” Twilight asked, surprised that an earth pony, even one as sophisticated as a professional cellist from Canterlot, would know anything about such an obscure spell.

                “I have indeed. Spells like this use the magical connection between the creator and his or her creation, but that connection gets weaker over time, so…”

                “So if this song is really as old as Lyra says it is, then the connection must be almost totally gone!”

                “Exactly.”

                “But if the connection is gone, how is it Lyra could make the spell work and I couldn’t?”

                “Sometimes the spell can be easier to use for ponies who have a connection to the one who wrote the song, like a descendant or a close friend, but that would mean…”

                “There is no way Lyra’s part human,” Twilight interrupted. “It’s not… well, it’s just not scientifically possible.”

                “The only other possibility is that perhaps one of Ms. Heartstrings’ ancestors was a close friend to the human that wrote this song. And even that would be a bit of a stretch.”

                “How do you know so much about this spell, anyways?” Twilight asked.

                “It’s not as obsolete as some sources might lead you to believe,” Octavia responded calmly. “When I was little and my mother had a dispute with another pony over a symphony my grandmother composed, this spell was the only thing that proved her right. Some of the attorneys had the same trouble you did and had to bring in a unicorn relative from both parties to actually use the spell.”

                “But why wouldn’t any of this be in the book?”

                Octavia couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Twilight’s question and answered her, “A book doesn’t always tell the whole story, Ms. Sparkle. Sometimes you just had to be there.”

                Octavia’s suggestion did seem to be the only viable explanation, but at this point it was all speculation. All the speculation, however, only did more to prove Twilight’s earlier deduction  correct; humans must have been to Equestria before. All the clues pointed to it, but it was just so far-fetched. Something like this surely would have changed the course history if it happened before, and humans surely would have made some sort of record about interplanetary travel, if what Max said about humanity’s history was true. So the three questions that troubled Twilight when she first got home from Canterlot resurfaced in her mind.
                When were they here? Why did they leave? Why don’t they remember?