//------------------------------//
// Pandemonium 
// Story: Hope, Imagination, Magic, and Love 
// by MuffinPonyPoser 
//------------------------------//

The train to Canterlot from Ponyville took an hour thirty minutes, with minimal fluctuation, which was enough time to think of what to ask. I was unsure for a while what to say to my sort-of-teacher, but had drawn a blank for a half hour. Should I ask about the author of the book, the logistics… I was just confused. 
 
I was also irritated since my saddlebags were a tad heavy.

Looking at the blurs of green, brown, and grey, I began to wonder what Prin… Celestia was hiding. I went over all sorts of law in my studies, and I couldn't find a reference to that particular one anywhere. It was obviously FOR Celestia and Luna… and another ruler.

I tried sleeping on the issue, but couldn't put it down.

The clacking of the train on the track and the smell of the seats distracted me from, and yet made it easier to focus on, the conundrum.

"So, why Canterlot Twi?" The voice of a green and purple reptile piped from beside me. 

I was silent, which I know worried Spike.

I opened my mouth, but didn't know how to address my issue.

"I need to ask Prin- I mean Celestia an important question, and I need to ask it face to face."

"What question?" Silence. "Was it about something in one of those books?" I nodded. "The author was Terra Firma, right?" I nodded. "What was in that old book that has you confused?"

"There's something in there that makes no sense unless something that makes equally no sense is true." I responded.

Spike gestured for me to continue.

"A set of laws that, if real, mean that Celestia and Luna weren't the only alicorns before Discord… at least ruling Equestria." I finished, thinking of the king and queen of the Crystal Empire before Sombra attacked.

"Well, wouldn't we have heard of a third? Luna we knew of because of Nightmare Night, but we've never had another evil alicorn or anything…?" Spike reasoned.

"I just… don't know."

Most of the rest of the train ride was spent in relative silence, Spike excusing himself to go to the bathroom a couple of times. I just watched as the train sped past the edges of the Everfree forest, then the plains separating Canterlot Mountain and the Everfree Forrest. 

We got to the summit of Canterlot when a group of foals ran to my side of the train to see the city above. There were many "ooh"s and "ah"s as we went into the tunnels and bridge. I couldn't help but chuckle as an orange foal with green hair pressed her muzzle to the glass with wide eyes. It was heartening to see that much wonder in their eyes.

We exited the first tunnel, going over the bridge that gave the best view of Canterlot, and then into the second tunnel. The second tunnel ended at the start of the train station, and the train slowed. The rest of the passengers left the train, and I followed the crowd. I preferred being at the back, where shoving and the rush of others was at a minimum. That meant less of a chance of ruining my books or losing Spike in the crowd.

It also meant nopony usually noticed me, so last I went.

As I arrived at just before noon, it meant there were petitioners at Celestia's castle. I had to wait a couple hours, when Celestia's court would be close to ending. 

I walked to Donut Joe's first, Spike on my back. The brown coated pony in question was at his counter, sneaking a donut or two for himself. There weren't many ponies in the shop, and there wasn't anypony I knew.

"Hey Joe! Can I have a half dozen gem donuts and a half dozen dark chocolate donuts?" I ordered

"Half Spike Specials and half Chocolate Delights, right?" He repeated, using the names he gave the donuts.

I nodded, and he put the Delights in first. He went into the back room, where there were an assortment of gems, and closed the door. The muffled noise of machinery and grinding came into the room we were in, and the vibration made me jitter a little bit.

The memories of all the times we came before filled my head, the sound and power of the machine feeling like an earthquake. The first time it had happened I ran out of the shop thinking there was an earthquake. It seemed a little silly now. And the quesadilla incident. Even if it was an accident, I can't get over my phobia for those cheesy abominations.

Joe came out, carrying 12 donuts with him. Atop the donuts was a rainbow of gems. Only he knew the combination and types of gems on there.

I took my bit pouch out of my saddlebag, paying for the donuts. Joe took the bits and gave Spike the donuts.

"Spike, don't touch the donuts just yet. I want to save them for the castle, okay?"

"Sure Twi." came Spike's response.

We continued walking at a slow pace. Spike pointed out a beautiful arrangement of flowers at a home in the middle ring of the city. The house was cyan, and it complimented the magenta Rosa Maria flowers in their front yard.

The houses in the middle ring of the city were vibrant, as there were more flavorful restaurants, more art and music centers, and more things to do in general. The outer ring were mostly 'slums', although that was just a derogatory term. The outer ring was home to many small apartments and businesses, but it had the best views on one side and the city went into the mountain on the other. It showcased the sturdiness of the earth, and allowed for nigh infinite dwellings.

The inner ring had the snobbish, rich, and, more commonly, both. My family lived in a grey area between the rich and the middle, so I was introduced to the upper class, with all their behaviors, as well as the middle class with its color and excitement.

There were even racial differences, with pegasi outnumbering unicorns and earth ponies combined 2 to 1 in the outermost layer. Earth ponies and unicorns preferred the middle layer, while the inner layer was almost exclusively unicorns. Celestia had tried to fix this, but the 'noble houses' always contradicted her.

As I walked further in, I saw a band in the streets(probably Luna's idea), artists painting the walls of ponies' homes, and chefs cooking in front of their respective restaurants. A couple of years ago, the artists would have been yelled at for vandalizing property, but because of a comment from the night princess, ponies saw it as a new trend and fashion.

During my time, the chefs wowed audiences, making dishes from scratch with flair and display. The band played tunes that made even the shyer ponies dance to their tune. The artists painted everything from individual ponies to breathtaking still scenes. And the passerby made requests, be it a hay sandwich, a particular song, or a portrait of their group.

My parent's house was up ahead, so I continued my walk, giving a couple bits to the musicians and artists. Spike commented on what he thought was 'cool' and got off to admire their work a couple times.

As we walked past this cluster of ponies and restaurants, taking a shortcut to avoid a longer walk, I came to the grey area between what the nobles thought were 'middle' and 'upper' classes. The walk was almost over, as my parent's house was up the street to the right. I took said right, and noticed the color schemes that separated the two sides. To my right was the color of the middle circle, and to my left the white and gold of the inner circle.There was a loop, and the house I was headed for was in the dead center. 

One half was colorful and vibrant, showing dozens of different kinds of flowers. Through the windows, you could see waves on the curtains and vines engraved on the walls. It was chaotic and had the wine cellar underneath.

The other half was as bland as the noble houses. The walls were white, the curtains and edges gold colored. The walls were enchanted not to reflect as much light, so as not to blind anypony, and the windows showed strict, stern rooms. There weren't any flowers hanging or spurting out of the ground.

Of course, both halves were my parents' decision. They were a metaphorical agreement that they would be as passionate about their work as the artists, yet as serious and determined as the nobles could be.

As I walked up to the multicolored door, my father came out the door, looking in the house. He had his saddlebags on.

"-yeah, I can do that! Be back in a" he looked forwards at me. "bit." His face stopped, his eyes wide and mouth a thin line.

Then burst into laughter.

"Hon!" Night Light, my father, yelled into the house.

"Yeah?" My mother, Twilight Velvet, yelled back.

"I think groceries are gonna have to wait!" He yelled in, putting the saddlebags, colored like the house, next to the door.

"Night. Light. You'd better have a pretty good reason fo- oh Twilight! What a pleasant surprise!" My mother shifted from tyrannical to welcoming in the swish of a tail. "And you still have to go to the market, Night Light." The pony in question gave a groan in response as he shut the door and left.

"Couldn't he have stayed? I don't really visit all too often." I mumbled the last part.

"We're out of food. So unless we wished to eat out, which we don't, he had to go." She answered without remorse. "He promised me a nice dinner tonight to celebrate." She added.

"Celebrate what?" I asked, head slightly tilted.

My mom looked at me in a weird way. I was obviously missing something, but what…

WAIT.

"It's our anniversary, Twilight. Did you really forget?" She asked incredulously.

I chided myself.

"I'm sorry. I completely forgot that it was yours and dad's anniversary." I said, head lowered.

"Odd. You've always been the one who remembered every little thing."

"Including the exact arrangement of your spines when I turned you into a cactus." I replied with a smirk.

Mom blushed at this, and we continued chatting. We talked about Dad's job as an astronomer, her job as a spell technician under Celestia, and my new roles as a diplomat.
 
Dad had come back after about two hours, and started cooking something. Mom reassured me she had something perfect.

"As I'm the newly crowned 'Princess of Friendship', Prin- Celestia thinks I'll do better with external affairs than internal ones. She was planning on sending me to the Prince of the Yaks and the Dragon King to sort out some… less than optimal relations." I started out optimistic, but buttered up affairs quite a bit.

Yaks were a hardy and strong race, and they had done well before the Crystal Empire emerged. The snowstorm Sombra caused hit them a few days later at full force. There were still aftershocks from the magic used to make the Empire vanish, as well as reappear.

The Dragons had a sore spot with Ponies after coming to a standstill during a war shortly after Discord. They had started a war, and Celestia defended Equestria. They had strength and circumstance, as Changelings had come out and started feasting. While Celestia and Luna dealt with that, dragons took land.

It came to a melting point when ponies found a way to protect themselves from changelings. Luna started distributing the knowledge of a certain brew mixed with mud, while Celestia led armies against the threat. Celestia put up a shield around the dragonlands, going into them herself. She came out unscathed with a peace agreement and a grudge from the dragons.

"Sounds important. Any idea when this'll happen?" Mom asked.

"Sometime this year for the Dragons, and the Yaks have an event planned next summer. We were thinking winter for the Yaks to come and summer for us to go there." I explained. "What are you doing?"

"Well, there was a nice young colt who came in with an idea to make networks of different types of spells to make, what he called, a computor. In theory, you can plug certain numbers into it, and it'll use said numbers to calculate another number. If you put in a one and a one, it should make a two."

"Why?" I asked. "We have ways of doing that kind of math. Even thaumatical variables can be calculated to some degree."

"If he's right, and he might be, we might be able to make hundreds of these to use for communication and entertainment! If we can figure out how to connect a few of these computors, we can connect two Ponies from the Crystal Empire and the Roaman ruins!" Mom rattled off excitedly.

"That's… huge. But how would you connect one to the other without changing both of their programming at once?" I asked curiously.

"That's the problem we're running into. We've made a language for the computors to 'speak' in, but no way of transferring that language to the other. Right now it can only do basic math." She continued with the same enthusiasm.

My mind galloped for a minute or two, just thinking of the possibilities.

Then the Canterlot Bell Tower struck four times. I realized how late I had stayed.

" I'm so sorry, but I've got to go." I said, hugging mom. I grabbed my saddlebags on the way to the door. "Love you and see you later!" I called.

I trotted to the castle, going at a faster pace out of excitement. Even through my conversation with mom, that… typo had still been bugging me.

The scenery changed from white and gold houses to a gold gate and grand doors, one with a moon and the other a sun. There were stars appearing, vanishing, and reappearing on the gate, a costly enchantment that was great for asthetics. The gates had been changed after Luna's arrival, and once more when I was crowned. I navigated a labyrinth of corridors and rooms. I ended up in the waiting room, where numbers were called every ten minutes.

I walked up to the receptionist. She looked at me with one eye raised.. "You're here to talk? Privately?" She asked.

I nodded.

"You'll have to wait for the pony already in, but I can clear the room." She told me.

I walked over to a chair and waited.

After two or three minutes, the door opened and the receptionist ushered everypony out. I walked through the gold and silver colored door.

And out into the throne room. Near the side I came out, there were banners and a secret room to teleport into. There were pillars going up to the thrones themselves, stairs separating the petitioners from Celestia, and stained windows on either side of the thrones. The gold throne on the right had a sun to its left, the silver throne a moon to the right. There were two corridors by the thrones, one for each. They led to personal rooms for the two sisters. Celestia was on her throne, smile on her face.

"Twilight. It's good to see you. How have you moved in?" She asked, adorning a radiant smile. It was nothing like the dull motherly smile she gave to the nobles.

"We'll, I um... " I took a deep breath. "I've handled my new castle well, all things considering, but that's not why I'm here." I said as calmly as possible.

Why am I still so nervous around her? I thought to myself.

Celestia gestured me to go on.

"I was reading, as I normally do, and I found a typo or something in a historical document on law. But upon reading further, I found more. I can't determine who these laws were meant for, but if they were real, it would mean there were originally three rulers of Equestria." Celestia held up a hoof.

"Twilight, who else might have seen this document?" Prin- Celestia's tone had shifted from welcoming to cold.

"I-I don't kn-now, why?" I responded, stuttering.

"Twilight, I can't change the fact that you saw that, but you must not tell ANYONE about that. I'm sorry I can't tell you, but you can't know about that yet." She tried to say cooly. I could still see her eyes water slightly and her voice crack near the end. "Now, give me the book."

"Why? What are you going to do with it?"

"What I did with all the others. No one can know of even the author."

"Terra Firma?"

Celestia froze at this. She was unblinking, without breath, and totally, completely still. I could have mistook her for a statue.

She lit her horn. I felt a slight breeze and heard a pop as a certain night blue alicorn teleported, yelling "WHO DOTH ATTEMPT TO INV-oh hello Twilight." She turned to face Prin- Celestia. "This isn't really an emergency. At least not enough to wake me. Really sister, I thought you'd be more careful with that spell." She chided.

"Luna, she knows."

Luna groaned. "Of what? There's so many things you- mhf" Luna tried to say when Prin- Celestia stuck her hoof in Luna's mouth.

Celestia then took her hoof out and said "Lunaa! Why'd you have to do that?! That's gross!" as she started wiping her hoof frantically, trying to get slobber and saliva off her hoof.

"Luna, what can you tell me of the author Terra Firma?" I asked, demanding an answer.

Luna looked at Celestia, who nodded. Luna opened her mouth, hopefully to explain, when her mouth was taped shut. A draconequs walked out of a wall, glaring at the two rulers.

There was something wrong with his demeanor. 

"Isn't it about teatime with fluttershy?" I asked.

"Why yes, but this is much more important. I made a deal Luna. Are you going to break it?" He asked, brushing me off.

"What deal?!" I shouted.

"I was not, Pu… Discord."She corrected at glarepoint. "And you owe us one, on account of your recent betrayal." She countered. 

"This was an agreement for her sake" he pointed at Prin- Celestia "and mine. I agreed not to affect your end if you didn't affect mine."

His demeanor was still off.

I was getting impatient and offended at their ignorance of me.

"You can either tell me what's going on or get out Discord!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. He glared, but was scared by something and popped away in a burst of bubbles. I turned back to Celestia and Luna, who stared in awe. I took a couple of deep breaths, then continued. "As for you two, I'm disappointed. I expected you" I pointed a hoof at Celestia "to answer your student's questions. I expected you" I turned the hoof to Luna "to answer a friend's call. If this is how you two act towards me, I can figure it out without you." I glared at Celestia in particular. "After all, you two aren't the only ones from that long ago." I ended. 

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Disc-"

"I'm not going to him." I interrupted.

I walked out. Calmly. As I walked through the stained glass hallway, I looked at each of the pictures. At the end, I looked a bit closer, but at my reflection instead of the picture.

My mane was flowing. If Celestia's was a trickle, mine was a waterfall. And then it blipped off my mane.

I went into the next room to grab Spike. I teleported to the train station, paid for a ticket, and left as soon as I could for the Crystal Empire. Spike was a little confused, yet silent.

I left spike, as he could mostly take care of himself. I also needed to be alone for a small while.

Several hours passed as I sat in thought. The train ran back the way it came, back towards Ponyville. The Canterlot station was a dead end, and Ponyville had a lot more tracks leading away from it.

The train went around the edge of the Everfree, where the tracks had to be enchanted to take wear and tear. After all, nopony wanted to go near that place, whether or not it was creepy.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Spike asked. He probably knew the answer, but was trying to start up a conversation. Greenery flew past us still.

I shook my head, still looking out the window. I just hoped I could get my answer.

Spike was silent. I could tell he wanted to talk, but didn't know what to say.

"You still have those donuts?" I asked.

He took out the box. The Spike Specials were all there but one.

One of my eyebrows rose.

"You didn't eat all that much." I commented.

"I figured I'd eat one or two, then leave the others for later. We're probably not going back for a short while." He pointed out.

"Unless she calls because of a threat, I don't think there's a… a…" I tried to say. I felt a tickle on my nose.

"A reason?" Spike offered.

I sneezed. But the strangest thing happened. My horn lit while I was sneezing, and I felt a pop of air.

I teleported from sneezing?

It wasn't unusual for me to fire off spells reflexively, but teleportation takes a lot of power, at least relative to the amount discharged by mistake.

I looked around in the dark. I definitely wasn't moving on the train, and I could hear water droplets echoing. I teleported into a cave, but where I was was a mystery so I couldn't just teleport out. Sure, I could teleport by instinct, but that left much to chance, and I wasn't about to lose a leg or two.

Well buck.