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// Chapter 9: Seeking Answers 
// Story: Friendship Day 
// by Crescent Pulsar 
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The flight back to Ponyville was both quiet and somber.

Twilight Sparkle spent much of that time looking down at the sack that hung from her neck, a curtain that she had taken from the secret room. Since her thoughts were focused on the letter that she would write to Princess Celestia, her attention was invariably drawn to the Elements of Harmony inside of it, which were highly relevant to the question that she would ask.

Not that there weren't other questions on her mind, but she was having a hard enough time committing to the one, if the princess happened to be testing her. She held the princess in such high regard that she feared how she would respond, even with the knowledge that it should be retracted with the next loop. After all, if there was a pony with a chance to notice and enter the time loop, surely the princess would be a very likely candidate.

But if she wasn't being tested, then all of the oddities that she had noticed, which were connected to the Elements of Harmony, may not have been done by the princess. If that turned out to be the case... Should she be worried? While it seemed like the intention was to gain access to the Elements of Harmony, at the very least, why would someone go out of their way to give them to another indirectly, instead of doing it personally? And why do it in the way that they had?

When they arrived at the town hall, she set her concerns aside and focused on finding Spike. He wasn't there, and neither was Rarity, so they made their way to Carousel Boutique, which she figured would be the next likely place to find him. By the time they got there Rainbow Dash had grown impatient, who rushed up to the door and knocked on it harder than necessary.

They heard a voice on the other side of the door, but it was only loud enough for them to assume that it belonged to Rarity. Spike opened the door a few seconds later, and the attire that he now wore was strange enough to catch Twilight Sparkle's attention and momentarily distracted her from conveying what she needed him for. Said attire was a pair of trunk hose, a doublet with full, slashed sleeves, a comically-large piccadill collar, and a wide-brimmed hat that had a sizeable, poofy feather sticking out from the band.

Rainbow Dash, who was also distracted by his appearance, got sidetracked enough to address what she was seeing while giving him an odd look. "Are you getting ready for a play or something?"

With arms akimbo, Spike proudly said, "Nope. Rarity just thought that I would look debonair in this."

"Debo-what?" Came Rainbow Dash's confused reply.

"Spike," Twilight Sparkle cut in, her volume notably lowered, "I need to send a letter to the princess. Can you please ask Rarity if she has a quill and paper that we can use?"

Spike, who looked curious, couldn't help asking, "Why do you need to send a letter to the princess?"

"A letter?" Rarity asked, who was suddenly behind Spike, eyes wide and alight with interest. "To the princess?"

Twilight Sparkle directed a slightly annoyed look toward Spike, for not following her example in being discreet, before answering Rarity. "Yes. It's very important. May I—"

"Will these suffice, darling?" Rarity eagerly asked, who already had a sketchbook and pencil floating above her head.

With a nod of her head, Twilight Sparkle accepted them and said, "Thank you."

While she began to write, Rarity finally had the presence of mind to notice the sack, which she looked at with poorly-concealed disgust as she gestured toward it and queried, "Why is that drab... thing hanging from your neck?"

Not wanting Twilight Sparkle to be distracted, Rainbow Dash explained, "Because she needed something to carry the Elements of Harmony and we hadn't brought anything to the castle." Seeing that Twilight Sparkle had stopped writing to stare at her unhappily, she defensively said, "What? It's not going to matter because of the time loop, right?"

Noticing that Rarity looked ready to inquire about at least one of the things that Rainbow Dash had said, Twilight Sparkle sighed before telling her, "I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you while we wait for the princess' response."

Rarity appeared to be appeased by that, so she focused on finishing her letter. When she did, Rainbow Dash, who had been leaning over to watch her write, thrust her hoof in the way when she tried to roll the letter up and aggravatedly said, "That's it? What about all the weird stuff we found?"

"What about them?" Twilight Sparkle responded in kind. "All we have to do is summon the sixth Element of Harmony, so we can stop Nightmare Moon."

"Stop Nightmare Moon?" Rarity voiced, not knowing if she should be concerned about that or the possibility of the two mares on her doorstep being crazy.

Rainbow Dash took to the air, folded her forelegs imperiously and obstinately retorted, "So you don't think it's suspicious that somepony — maybe the princess — went through the trouble to make somepony else use the Elements of Harmony instead of using them themselves?"

"If she did," Twilight Sparkle replied in a dismissive manner, "I'm sure it was for a good reason."

"But what if it wasn't her?" Rainbow Dash countered, undeterred. "If time travel is possible, and you were able to learn about Nightmare Moon's return from a book that had predictions and stuff, then isn't it possible for somepony else to know and prepare for it?"

That made Twilight Sparkle pause, meet Rainbow Dash's gaze and really look at her. She had an intense stare, wherein she could see a hint of what could possibly be desperation. After a few seconds of consideration, realization finally struck her: if she were in Rainbow Dash's position, who probably believed that she would essentially cease to exist in a couple of hours, then she would also want to make the most out of that time and learn what she could. She wasn't in her position, of course, so whatever she did would have no real consequence, but that didn't mean that her actions wouldn't weigh on her conscience.

So, eventually, she turned away, toward the sketchbook and pencil that she still held in her magic, and released a sigh of resignation. "Alright. I'll ask Princess Celestia if she knows anything about what we saw at the castle, as well as the library book."

Rainbow Dash landed and watched with a mixture of satisfaction and relief as Twilight Sparkle expanded the letter to include the aforementioned questions. When she was finished, she tore the paper from the sketchbook and gave it to Spike, who used his fire breath to turn it into a cloud of magic smoke and send it on its way to the princess.

An awkward silence followed, after they watched the letter disappear from sight, until Rarity cleared her throat and offered, "Would you like a drink, or a snack, while you await a reply?"

Twilight Sparkle could tell, from the expression on her face, that it was also an invitation to relate what was going on in more detail. Since she didn't have anything better to do with her time, considering the potential of what she could learn from the princess, she simply nodded her head.

"Do you have any cider?" Rainbow Dash asked, a serious expression on her face.

Rarity hesitated before replying, "Yes, I do, but..." After reading Rainbow Dash's face, her expression turned sympathetic and she changed her tune. "Will one bottle be enough?"

Rainbow Dash grunted. "It's better than nothin'."

With that settled, Rarity guided them to the living quarters of the building, unaware of the wary or distasteful looks that Rainbow Dash directed at the contents of her shop. Once they entered the kitchen, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash found their seats at the table while she went to provide everyone with drinks and snacks, Spike following close behind and ready to assist.

After Rarity and Spike delivered the aforementioned drinks and snacks, they sat at the table and listened to Twilight Sparkle as she related where she and Rainbow Dash had gone and what they had experienced, with the latter chipping in from time to time while she nursed an expensive bottle of cider. Rarity was skeptical about most of it, unsurprisingly, but she ceased to care once she got ahold of the Elements of Harmony and scrutinized them with a loupe, due to their internal structure being unlike anything that she had ever seen before.

By the time Twilight Sparkle had finished telling the story of their day thus far, her attention was fully drawn to the fact that the princess had yet to reply to her letter. She hadn't been the only one to notice, so she ended up reassuring the others that the princess was probably just busy, what with it being the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration and all, and tried to convince herself that that was the case as well.

As more time passed, however, the more awkward the conversations, and the silence between them, became. Not only was Rarity becoming more uncomfortable as they continued to impose upon her, but Twilight Sparkle was concerned about Rainbow Dash's brooding, which was quite different from the brash and energetic pony that she had become familiar with.

Finally, when Twilight Sparkle saw the time and accepted the possibility that the princess might not respond any time soon, if at all, she stood up from her chair, collected the Elements of Harmony, and put them back inside the makeshift sack as she told Rarity, "Thanks for the hospitality." Turning her attention to Spike, she said, "Let's go, Spike," before looking over at Rainbow Dash and offering, "You're welcome to join us if you're still interested."

Rainbow Dash contemplated the mostly-empty bottle of cider for several seconds before she sighed and remarked, "Might as well..."

She got up and began to walk out, mumbling her thanks to their host as she passed by.

Spike hesitated before asking Rarity where he should put his outfit, but followed Twilight Sparkle out after he was told that he could keep it and was assured that she was okay with that decision.

Once all of her guests had left the kitchen, Rarity hurriedly put away the cider before heading to the laundry room, where she used the back door to sneak out of her home.

On the other side of the house, after the front door had been closed, Twilight Sparkle looked up at the yellow sky and absently wondered, "What should we do while we wait? Pinkie Pie's probably waiting for me at the library to surprise me with a party, so going there is out..." 

Rainbow Dash gave her a sidelong look. "Why? A party sounds like a good idea to me."

"A party sounds like fun!" Spike excitedly chimed in.

Seeing Twilight Sparkle's reluctance, Rainbow Dash turned to face her and entreated, "Come on; it won't start unless you go there."

Twilight Sparkle glanced between the two a few times, who were gazing at her expectantly, before she sighed. "Fine. I guess I can wait in the loft." Giving Spike a pointed look, she added, "Just be sure to bring the letter to me as soon as it arrives, okay?"

Spike saluted. "You got it!"

Since Twilight Sparkle wasn't looking forward to the party, even if the experience would be brief, she led the group at a sedate pace. No one felt inclined to talk, so she began to speculate as to what books she might find in the loft, trying very hard to not wonder why the princess was taking so long to respond to her letter. She hoped that there would be something new and interesting up there, regretting that she hadn't given them a look when she had been there that one time.

With her mind deliberately preoccupied, she didn't notice when Spike stopped walking and covered his mouth as he gagged. When he belched, however, she swung her head around to see if it had been accompanied by a letter. Seeing that it had, she quickly snatched up the letter in her magic and broke the seal before unfurling it, not noticing Rainbow Dash hurrying to her side and looking over her shoulder.

Skipping the greeting, she read, "I apologize for the lateness of my reply. I made many attempts to compose one, but I was unsatisfied with them. I'm not entirely pleased with this one either, but this matter is serious and I felt that I couldn't tarry any longer."

She paused on that ominous note before urging herself onward. "I'll get straight to the point: I was aware of the setup, but not many of the specifics. Somepony, or someone, has spent many years proving their goodwill and gaining my confidence with their predictions, none of which I could ever determine were artificial, and whose source I could never trace. This was the only plan that I was aware of, which they had shared with me, claiming that it would ensure a bright future for Equestria for a long time."

She was almost too shocked by those revelations to continue, but she reined in her racing thoughts and read further. "However, it's apparent that something has gone awry with the plan, because one of the few details that was disclosed to me would have made it impossible for you to discover the Elements of Harmony before tomorrow morning. So, unless I'm contacted by the seer and updated on the situation, I'll come to collect the Elements of Harmony from you after I arrive in Ponyville. It had originally been my plan to deal with Nightmare Moon personally anyway, as much as it pains me."

"...That confirms that Nightmare Moon is her sister," she absently noted to herself, before her eyes inexorably fell upon the last paragraph, which read, "We can speak more on the matter when I see you, and apologize in person if necessary."

She looked up and stared into the middle distance, unsure of how she should feel about what she had just learned. With the letter still held in place with her magic, Rainbow Dash was able to finish reading it, who was quick to express how she felt.

"The hay?" Came her incredulous response, her brow furrowed. "So... There is somepony — or whatever they are — who set all that up, and the princess knew and approved it?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Spike queried.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle turned to regard each other, neither knowing the answer and trying to seek it from the other. When that became apparent, Twilight Sparkle quietly replied, "I don't know."