“I just got a letter from Celestia,” Spike said. “I’m sure it’s for you.”
Twilight sat on the floor of her study, breathing deeply. She lit her horn and pulled the letter toward her.
“Are… are you okay?” Spike asked.
Twilight unrolled the scroll and read.
Twilight Sparkle,
When I said not to dig into Star Swirl’s spells, I meant it. They are dangerous, and I will not see you harmed by your own curiosity. I took a very calculated risk when I sent you his masterpiece the first time, and the last thing you should be doing is tempting fate. Return his journal to me immediately. Rest assured that I will have some very stern words with Luna for giving it to you in the first place. I know that it is in your nature to ask questions and seek answers, but I can’t allow you to put Equestria’s well-being in peril so that you can play scientist. So, again, return the journal, and we can all just put this behind us.
- Princess Celestia.
Twilight read the letter over once. Then again. And again. She let if fall to the floor.
“Twilight?” Spike stepped toward her, worry in his eyes.
She didn’t move. Her throat felt tight. Her gut twisted with a mix of anger and terror. She stared at the ground in front of her. A calculated risk. Celestia had been using her all along. She had sent Star Swirl’s spell book, hoping that Twilight would beat the odds and ascend instead of wasting away like Star Swirl had. And why? Did Equestria really need another alicorn that badly? There had already been three, two of which had ruled peacefully for thousands of years, and the third was well on her way.
Twilight felt something warm wrap around her chest. She looked down at Spike, whose arms were stretched as far around her as they could reach.
“Spike…” Twilight shifted.
“You look scared.” He pulled back and looked at her. “What did the letter say? Is everypony alright?”
Twilight glanced at the letter. Spike reached down and lifted it up to his eye level.
Spike looked back up at her. “What does she mean ‘ put Equestria’s well-being in peril’? What have you been doing?”
“I found out why she doesn’t want to talk about alicorn magic.” Twilight struggled to her feet. “I found out the real reason she asked for Star Swirl’s spell book back.”
“And what does that mean?” Spike asked.
“It means…” Twilight hesitated. What did it mean? She couldn’t change the past, and although there were still several years worth of entries in Star Swirl’s journal that she had yet to read, she doubted there was anything there that would matter to her right now, so she had no real reason to keep the journal. It would be easy to just send the book back to Celestia and forget that she had ever learned any of this. Well, it would be easy to pretend to forget. She looked around at the layer of paper that covered the floor of her study. She had a feeling that she would remember the last entry of Star Swirl’s journal for the rest of her life. “I’m not sure what it means.”
What did Celestia want? She could go to Canterlot and ask, but… Celestia had lied. Twice, now. Had she intended for Twilight to cast the spell wrong? Had she known what would happen to her friends? If the spell killed Star Swirl, then why did it only swap her friends’ cutie marks? Then again, Star Swirl hadn’t died right away. It took years.
She felt a chill creep through her. Were her friends wasting away right now? She had no way of knowing.
“Twilight?”
She blinked and glanced over her shoulder. Spike was standing hesitantly in the doorway.
“I… uh, I gathered everypony. They’re waiting downstairs.” He paused. “I figured that you’d want to talk to them.”
Twilight squinted at him. “Wha– How? Why?”
Spike shifted nervously. “You’ve, uh, been standing there for, like, twenty minutes. Just staring at the wall since the letter came.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t felt like twenty minutes. She shook her head. “Thanks, Spike.” She looked back at the letter lying face-down on the floor, then back through the door. “Let’s go, then.”
Spike led her through the second floor of the castle and past the staircase that led to the council room. He stopped at a door to one of the castle’s many sitting rooms. Twilight could hear hushed conversation from within. She took a breath and pushed the door open.
The room was small, warm, and welcoming—the opposite of most of the castle. Hardwood had been laid over the crystal floor, and the walls were decorated with paintings, banners, and ornaments. Five mares sat on the simple furniture in the centre of the room. They all turned as she stepped through the door.
“I’m sorry if I interrupted you all.” Twilight suddenly felt very self-conscious. What could any of them possibly do to help? This was a waste of their time.
“Nonsense,” Rarity said, eyes wide. “We’re your friends, darling. Now, what’s the matter? Forgive me, but you look like you haven’t slept in days, and Spike seemed very worried.”
Twilight shook her head and stepped forward, settling into an unoccupied chair. “I’m okay. I just… well, remember what I told you about Star Swirl’s spell book and Celestia’s letter?”
Everypony nodded.
“I managed to crack Star Swirl’s journal.” She took a minute or two to explain the contents of the journal and the letter she’d just gotten.
“So I’m trying to figure out what to…” she swallowed, “what to do about all this.”
Silence. She looked around. Rainbow was hovering just off her seat, her nostrils flared and her teeth bared in anger. Next to her, Applejack ground her teeth, looking almost as angry. Fluttershy had shrunk back against the couch, her ears pressed flat against the sides of her head. Rarity’s face was drawn in a look of intense concentration. And Pinkie…Pinkie sat, smiling, looking completely unperturbed.
The silence persisted for a moment or two.
“Well, go over to Canterlot and ask Celestia what her bucking problem is!”
All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash. She blinked and looked around at everypony’s shocked expressions. “What? If somepony put my life on the line without telling me, I’d friggin’ call them on it.”
Twilight winced.
“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity began, “you can’t seriously—”
“I agree with Rainbow, actually,” Applejack interrupted. “Princess Celestia is supposed to be a role model, right? The shinin’ example of what a pony ought to be?” She looked around. Nopony replied. Applejack continued. “If what Twilight says is true, and I’d bet my hat that it is, then Princess Celestia’s been lyin’ to everypony, includin’ her sister, for years. That’s just not right.”
“Um,” Fluttershy said, her ears still flattened, “I’m sure that Celestia had a good reason for doing what she did, Twilight. And… she sounded really angry in that letter. Maybe… maybe you should just do what she says. I mean—” she cut off as she noticed everypony looking at her, then found her voice again. “I mean… nopony got hurt in the end, right?”
“Yeah! You got wings, and so far you haven’t died even a little bit!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I mean, sure, you could have died slowly, with no idea what had happened to make you sick until you expired, weak and scared on a hospital bed, but everything turned out fine!”
Everypony glared at her. Pinkie kept smiling.
Rarity sighed. “Twilight, dear. What about Cadance? Or Luna? Are they in on this, somehow?”
Twilight jumped as somepony addressed her directly for the first time since Rainbow had started talking. “Uh…” Twilight thought about it. “No, actually. I don’t think either of them know.”
“Well, why don’t you tell them.” Rarity stood and paced in front of the couch. “Going against Celestia directly would be foolish. She’s thousands of years old, and everypony loves her. What you need,” she pointed a hoof at Twilight, “are allies.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to fight Celestia.”
Both Rainbow and Rarity pouted, before noticing the other and straightening their expressions. Applejack chuckled quietly.
“But I should talk to Cadance. She deserves to know what’s going on. And maybe I can contact Luna again.”
Her friends stayed for a few minutes more, but eventually they all excused themselves and left. It was the middle of the work-day, after all.
Twilight trotted up to her study and, from underneath mounds of wrinkled parchment, pulled out fresh paper. She found a working quill and a half-filled inkwell, and set the feather’s tip against the clean white page. Dear Princess Celestia, she wrote. Then she crumpled the parchment up and started again. Celestia, she began. I am sorry for disobeying you. I didn’t realize that was what I was doing. Your warning was undeniably vague and, ultimately, useless in informing me of what not to read. Enclosed is the journal. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle. With any luck, Celestia wouldn’t realize that Twilight had already copied the entire journal last night.
She trembled slightly as she tied the letter to the journal and conjured a blast of dragonfire. There. Now, to contact Cadance.
She pulled another sheet of parchment free. Dear Princess Cadance… she paused, then added and Prince Shining Armor, I hope this letter finds you well. It has been far too long since last we’ve seen each other. I hope the pregnancy is coming along well. Twilight paused. How could she go from pleasantries to panicked warnings and pleas for help? She grabbed another new page. Dear Cadance and Shiny, I need help. I think that Celestia has been manipulating me for years, and I don’t know what to do about it. Please respond as soon as you are able. I’m sorry for causing such a fuss, but I really am scared. She read over her letter. That seemed right. She signed, then… oh. Cadance didn’t know how to send and receive dragonfire. Twilight would have to send the letter through the post. It would take at least a day for it to reach the Crystal Empire, and another for their response to get back to her, at the very earliest. She ground her teeth. There was no other way to contact them.
Twilight rolled the letter up and trotted down to the castle entrance and out into Ponyville. The town post office was open and bustling. For once, Twilight appreciated her status as the crowd cleared and she was given an open path to the front counter. She mailed the letter as quickly as she could, extracted herself from the socially required small-talk with the clerk, and galloped back to the castle. She made her way to her bedroom and flopped onto the bed.
It was only ten o’clock in the morning, and she already wished the day was over. She rolled over and felt the tension starting to drain from her limbs. She normally hated to nap in the middle of the day, but after the last few hours…
There was a knock at the door. Twilight groaned. More bad news, probably. “Come in.”
The door swung open and Spike peaked his head inside. He looked worried. “Another letter from Celestia.” He took a step inside. “Do you want to read it?”
For the first time in her life, Twilight found herself debating whether or not to read one of Celestia’s letters. In the end, she lit her horn and lifted from Spike’s hand. She unrolled it, steeled herself, and read.
I know that you deciphered the journal, Twilight. Send me your notes, or I will have no choice but to intervene directly. Do not force me to that.
That was it. It wasn’t signed, or even addressed. The lettering, unlike Celestia’s usual, gracefully curving hornwriting, was sharp and jerky. For years, Twilight had gotten letters from her mentor. This one, though, might as well have been from a random stranger. She was about to toss it onto her bedside table when a thought struck her. How did Celestia know that she’d already deciphered the journal? In fact, how had Celestia known that Luna had given her the journal in the first place? She thought back to Celestia’s first letter. It had been right after…
“Spike, can you show me Luna’s dragonfire signature?”
Spike jolted in surprise, then raised an eyebrow. “Uh, like this?” He opened his mouth and let loose a thin stream of green fire. Twilight extended her magic. It was the same signature that Luna had shown her in Canterlot Castle. Did Celestia have some way of intercepting dragonfire? If so, then… how long had Celestia been spying on her? On her sister? Twilight frowned. She had to do… something. Anything was better than sitting around and waiting. She started for the door.
“What’s going on?” Spike ran after her. “Twilight?”
Twilight turned. “I’m going to Canterlot.”
Spike’s eyes widened, then he forced his surprise down. “Take me with.”
Twilight shook her head. “I’m not taking the train.” She lit her horn. It was time to see how much power an alicorn could harness. She formed her normal teleportation spell, and focused on her destination.
Everything disappeared.
Twilight’s senses caught up to reality a second later. She was lying on her back. The sky above was blue and cloudless. She shifted against the hard, chizelled stone ground. She breathed in. Canterlot air. She’d made it.
She rolled over and pushed herself to her hooves. She was exactly where she’d meant to end up: the plaza near the train station. A few passing ponies shot her suspicious looks as they passed. She supposed that seeing an alicorn materialize on her back in the middle of downtown was a strange sight, even for a city of unicorns. Hopefully, news wouldn’t reach Celestia until she had what she needed.
She set off toward the Archives. Again.
Although she hadn’t read them very closely, Star Swirl’s journal had contained countless entries describing his research in depth, including several references to his other work. If she wanted to better understand his ‘master-piece’ she needed to do her homework. That meant tracking down some of his work on the natural sciences, and, more importantly, recovering his spell book.
She turned just before reaching the Archives and wound her way around to the back, intentionally choosing deserted roads, alleys, and even teleporting across busy streets. The fewer ponies who saw her, the better. The rear of the Archives building was a plain brick wall. No doors, windows, or even signs. Twilight brought to mind a mental map of the interior. If she teleported forward, say, thirty feet, and about five to the right… she lit her horn.
She teetered as the world fell into place around her and fetched up against a bookshelf. A small stack of scrolls wobbled, tipped, and slipped from their shelf. She caught them in her magic before they could hit the ground, looked around at the disorganized mess of literature she’d appeared in, and allowed herself a quick, silent celebration. She would make a pretty competent cat-burglar.
She crept through the labyrinth of knowledge on silent hooves, casting her gaze around in search of the aisle she’d found the other day. She rounded what appeared to be an archway made of books and smiled. Bingo. At the end of the aisle lay the lectern upon which Star Swirl’s spell book…
Wasn’t. It wasn’t there. She trotted up, stealth forgotten, and looked around. The spell book was nowhere to be seen. She ground her teeth. Celestia must have kept it close to her. She rolled her eyes. Obviously. Why would she put it right back where Twilight could get to it?
Twilight turned and wandered back through the Archives, grabbing books and scrolls as she passed. Most she returned to their places, but some, whose titles and introductions seemed relevant to Star Swirl’s experimentations, she brought with her. As she walked, her mind churned. She needed that spell book if wanted to keep digging into alicorn nature, but she couldn’t just waltz into Canterlot Castle and search Celestia’s tower.
She stopped walking. She couldn’t search the tower if Celestia was there, obviously, but… if she managed to slip in while Celestia was away, guards probably wouldn’t stop her. While technically nopony—including Luna, Cadance, and Twilight—was allowed within Celestia’s chambers without direct permission from the princess herself, she doubted the guards would try to stop her. Twilight’s heart hammered as she contemplated a plan. She could haunt the stairwell outside of Celestia’s study and wait for her to leave. If she teleported away quickly enough, she should be able to get in and out without Celestia noticing her presence. She looked around at the various items floating behind her, then placed them all in a small pile in a corner. She could come back for them later. She licked her lips, then lit her horn again.
Darkness. Twilight felt around blindly with one forehoof until she touched a corner. She pushed, and light streamed into the cramped space. She poked her head out and glanced left and right, then stepped cautiously out of the closet and tiptoed down the hall. Teleporting around like this was useful, but she didn’t want to know what would happen if she aimed for a closet that had been converted into, say, solid wall. Thankfully, she knew Canterlot Castle like the back of her hoof. She peaked around a corner and saw a passing group of guards. She shrank back against the wall, and was about to teleport past the intersection when she remembered the light from her horn. Whoops. She had to figure out a way of masking her aura when she used magic.
Sort out this mess first, she reminded herself. Then she could start to experiment with her absurdly potent new abilities. The last of the guards stepped past the hallway, and she quickly turned left, left again, and down another hallway. The spiral staircase leading up to Celestia’s tower lay before her. She hesitated. She had no way of knowing whether this would work. She trotted up a few steps, then closed her eyes and lit her horn. She extended her magic and felt, just like when she had tested Scootaloo’s magic the day before. She wasn’t certain what she was looking for. As she kept pushing outward she felt a ripple, like water flowing around a stone. Two ripples, side by side. Guards? She pressed further, and she felt an immense weight drag at the invisible wave of her magic. She pulled back quickly. That had to be Celestia. With any luck, she hadn’t noticed Twilight’s magic brushing up against hers.
Twilight took a few more steps, plopped down on haunches, and extended her magic again. Now, she waited.
After what felt like an eternity, Twilight felt something shift. She jerked to her feet and wobbled as the blood drained from her head. Her concentration broke, and her spell faded. She heard hoofsteps at the top of the stairs. Two ponies? Three? She couldn’t tell. She took a breath—hopefully there were three—and teleported straight up.
She spun around the second her vision cleared, desperately hoping there wasn’t a disapproving white alicorn standing behind her. The room was empty. She exhaled, took a second to let her heart rate slow, and looked around. Celestia’s study always reminded Twilight of dawn. Tones of orange, blue, and scarlet dominated the office and connected bedroom. A solid wooden writing desk was pressed to one side, and bookshelves containing a massive collection of both art and science lined the walls.
Once she had collected herself, Twilight trotted over to the desk. A lone inkwell sat to one side, a quill rested in the dark black ink. A small pile of envelopes sat on the other side, most of them opened. In the centre of the desk, half unrolled, was the letter Twilight had sent only a few hours ago. She glanced over the envelopes, then started shuffling through Celestia’s desk drawers. She found sealed inkwells, paper, a few more opened letters, and an entire drawer full of extra quills, but no spell book. She turned and eyed the bookshelves. They were all completely filled, with no empty spaces between the volumes. She walked over and ran a hoof along the spine of one. It came away covered in dust.
Twilight frowned. It was entirely possible that Celestia had hidden the spell book somewhere here. If one were trying to hide a book, where better than surrounded by other books? She took a step back and turned. While Celestia’s study was themed toward dawn, her bedroom was slightly darker, with more powerful colours. Like dusk. Like twilight.
She moved quickly through the threshold. Celestia was gone, but she could be back at any time. Her plush, round bed sat before a cold fireplace. A door to one side let to a balcony that overlooked the city. There were no obvious hiding places, besides… Twilight chuckled. Besides under the bed, like a filly hiding her diary. She turned, absently levitating the bed into the air as she looked for—huh? She turned back to the fireplace. Under the shadow of the floating bed lay a dark, spiral bound tome. Star Swirl’s masterpiece.
Twilight’s eyes teared, and a laugh burst free from her muzzle. Okay, under the bed it was. She snatched the book and walked over onto the balcony. Beyond the soft, nighttime glow of Canterlot, a smaller light lit the Equestrian countryside. She squinted, and could just barely make out the branching spires of The Friendship Castle. Then she looked down at the tiny steeped roof of the Canterlot Archives far below and lit her horn.
She didn’t worry about subtlety this time. The moment her senses caught up to her new location, she started walking. She really was getting much better at long-distance teleportation. She made her way back to the little pile of books and scrolls she’d dropped in the corner, and focused on Ponyville. She teleported—
—and something very hard and very fast slammed into her, sending her flying backward. She hit the ground back first. Her hind legs kept moving for a moment, leaving her balanced precariously on her neck before gravity caught up she flopped onto her side. She lay there on the dirt road for a moment. Maybe her destination of ‘right outside Castle Friendship’ should have instead been ‘safe and secure inside Castle Friendship’.
“Sorry ‘bout that!” Somepony called from behind her. “Watch where you’re going next time!”
Twilight grunted, then rolled back onto her feet. She shifted her shoulders, glad that bruises didn’t tend to show under purple coats. She ignored the curious looks of her neighbours as she picked up the books that lay scattered around her and headed toward the castle entrance. This day really needed to end.