//------------------------------// // Unveiled, Unknown // Story: The Greatest of These // by archonix //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie woke with a snort and stared up at the ceiling of her room, then at the early morning sun streaming through her window. Another day. She smiled and leaped from her bed, ready for the fun to begin anew. Contrary to Rainbow Dash’s assumption, Pinkie hadn’t been hiding in a locked kitchen, although she had been working on a huge, huge order of cupcakes for the local Young Stallion’s Celestian Association annual Grand Brotherhood Convention, which meant spending the whole day working in said kitchen and not getting to go outside at all. Not once. She hadn’t even got to see Rainbow Dash and she always tried to see Rainbow at least once. Her hair was like the most incredible frosting. Pinkie just knew she’d be able to copy it one day soon. Not that she’d enjoyed herself any less, just thinking about all the different kinds of treats she could make for all those wonderful hunky young stallions who always seemed so happy to see her cakes, but then they always started talking about Rarity and how she was so special, and that’s usually when Pinkie had to leave because the room started getting really warm. But they really liked her cupcakes. She tripped and trapped down the stairs to the kitchen. “Morning Mr and Mrs Cake!” “Oh! Oh my, Pinkie!” Mrs Cake seemed strangely out of breath and warm and Mr Cake, he was leaning over the sink, breathing very heavily too and crossing his back legs, like he needed to go. They both stared at her with an odd, pleading expression. “I got the order done!” “That’s great, Pinkie Pie, why don’t you take the day off as a reward starting right now?” “Wow, really? Great! Thanks!” She scampered into the café, humming the happy tune that had spent most of the night flitting around her head. She paused by the Cakes’ new coffee machine just in time to hear a curious giggle from the kitchen. So, they wanted to have fun without her huh? Well she’d see about that! Pinkie stalked from the shop with a vicious glare that lasted for nearly three seconds until the sun fell on her back, and Pinkie realised that there was nothing wrong with other people having fun if they wanted. The revelation gave her another spurt of joy that sent her bouncing down the street and through the market, bustling with so many of her friends, until she reached Rarity’s home. And that’s when it all started to go pear shaped, which was a bad thing, Applejack had told her once. A very bad thing, but pears were kind of yummy so she didn’t know why anyone would think pears were a bad shape, not that she’d ever try and contradict Applejack about is. When it came to apples and pears, Applejack could be a really silly pony. She saw the crowd first, a band of ponies milling uncertainly around the front of the Boutique with somepony sitting in the middle of their strange little group. Pinkie Pie skipped over to the crowd and pressed her way through with a grin and a giggle until she found Zecora, seated on the dirt, eyes closed and yet somehow staring at the door to the Carousel. She was shivering. “Zecora? You look terrible! I mean you look great, but you look like you’ve frozen your butt off all night!” The zebra didn’t answer, which wasn’t all that unusual. Pinkie had always suspected that the rhyming thing wasn’t entirely an act and that Zecora sometimes preferred to stay silent instead of trying to rhyme words like orange and purple, and sasquatch, only sasquatch rhymed with watch and thatch, so maybe it was something else? But the point... the point... Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in front of Zecora’s face. She was really out of it. In fact she seemed to be swaying slightly, muttering something under her breath. Pinkie started to lean closer but then thought maybe Zecora didn’t want her to hear it, which is why she wasn’t saying it very loud, so she turned to one of the crowding ponies and poked his side to get his attention. “Hey, what’s going on? Did I miss something fun?” The stallion, a very junior member of the YCSA if she recalled correctly, smiled uncertainly at Pinkie Pie and then shrugged. “Beats me. She’s been here all night as far as everyone knows. It might be something to do with miss Rarity disappearing.” “Rarity’s disappeared? Why did nobody tell me?!” “Well, I—” Pinkie turned before he could finish his reply, all set to gallop straight to the library. Instead she found herself face to face with the very target of her ire. Any thought of confrontation evaporated. “Twilight! Hi!” “Pinkie? I was just looking for you, I don’t know if you heard—” “Rarity disappeared, got it, did you check in all her closets because I heard someone say she was totally in one the other week and then he said so was Applejack and I thought maybe they were playing some sort of hide and seek, but when I went to try and join in I couldn’t find them anywhere so I figured—” “Pinkie...” “Ah ain’t in no closet,” Applejack declared from behind another group of ponies. “Well duh, you’re in the street!” Pinkie Pie sat down with her back to Zecora and tilted her head as she examined Twilight. “Why didn’t you tell me Rarity had disappeared?” Applejack finally managed to push her way through the growing crowd. “Ah think you was busy an’ ah know how cranky you get when somepony interrupts you bakin’ an’ stuff.” “But... but it’s Rarity, Applejack! She’s like one of my best friends ever!” “Ah know, sugarcube, but it was a weird day.” “The point,” said Twilight, with a pointed expression, “is that we’re telling you now, when you’re in the best state to help us.” “I don’t know about helping you but somepony should help Zecora. She looks terrible! I mean, she looks great, but... wait, didn’t I say this before?” Pinkie flopped on her haunches, one hoof rubbing her chin as she tried to work out whether repeating herself was déjà vu or just silly. Twilight’s exasperated sigh had her leaning towards the latter pretty fast but when she looked up, the unicorn was gone. Pinkie soon found her next to Zecora, now with added Fluttershy and a dash of Rainbow. They seemed to be staring at the poor shivering zebra as if she’d never seen one before. “She seemed to be okay last night.” Rainbow Dash had that frown on her face, the one that made her nose wrinkle. It almost looked cute. “I mean, Fluttershy said she looked fine too, right?” “I, well, it... she didn’t... I guess I did. She wasn’t shivering at all, and she was even singing just a little.” “She doesn’t look fine now,” Twilight replied, moving this way and that as she examined Zecora. Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t even know what she’s doing. Zecora?” Zecora shuddered but otherwise remained unmoving. If she had heard them she made no obvious sign of it, nor did she interrupt her chant. Pinkie had never heard anything like it before. When this was over she’d ask Zecora what it meant. “Twilight, is Zecora sick? Maybe I should get her some hot tomato soup!” “I don’t think... actually that’s a very good idea, Pinkie.” Twilight smiled, and that was good, because Pinkie almost never saw Twilight smiling when she was really stuck for a way forward. Pinkie scooted back to the Sugarcube Corner and ducked behind the counter to find a bowl, so very glad that the Cakes had started offering a soup of the day as a way of selling more bread. That’d been her idea, come to think of it. Everyone liked soup, right? Right! Pinkie shuffled over to the soup tureen in the corner and lifted a big steaming ladle of soup from it. Her leg twitched. “Not now!” She tried to glare at her leg without overturning the ladle but she couldn’t quite manage it. Her leg, defying Pinkie’s command, twitched again, followed closely by her tail. Then her head shot back, flinging soup all over the ceiling. The empty ladle dropped to the floor with a resounding bong that Pinkie Pie, had she been listening, would have thought sounded super cool. The reason she wasn’t listening was because she was galloping at full tilt from the shop, her eyes set on Twilight Sparkle. Twilight’s horn was glowing. She was doing something to Zecora, something that was going to bring about something so horrible that Pinkie could already feel another tingle in her legs. “Not now, I said!” Twilight had her eyes closed and didn’t notice her. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were a little distance back and did notice, but they also didn’t seem to know what to do about Pinkie Pie’s sudden mad dash across the town. As Pinkie zig-zagged around a pair of passing ponies she saw Zecora’s eyes open. A purple light flared in them and the zebra turned, slowly, and looked straight toward her. Pinkie had just enough time to register something other behind those eyes before she leaped... She hit Zecora with a loud thud and, for some reason, an explosion of party ribbons. Pony and zebra bowled past Twilight and into the middle of the street where they ground to a halt, Zecora on her back, Pinkie lying on her front with all her legs splayed out behind her. Ignoring a pain in her shoulder, Pinkie flopped over onto her side and prodded Zecora with a free hoof. Something like a spark of light zapped her. Pinkie jerked back her leg, wondering if Zecora had pranked her, but the zebra was out cold. She stood up, a little unsteady, and turned to her friends as they cantered up to her, varying expressions of amazement and frustration on their faces. It was Twilight who spoke first. “What in Celestia’s name— Pinkie, why?” “I felt a real doozie! It was...” Strangely the memory was fading already. She’d known, known what it was, not just the sort of thing it might be but precisely what would happen. Only, now it was gone. Pinkie shook her head. “I... I guess something was going to happen when you used your magic on her?” Pinkie rubbed her face and stretched her eyelids as wide as they’d go — which was pretty far, she knew — mostly to clear the cobwebs. Must have landed harder than I thought. “Well I was about to try and ascertain if Zecora was under the influence of the curse,” Twilight Sparkle said with a surprisingly haughty voice. She took a step toward Pinkie, then seemed to think better of it and turned aside to look at Zecora. “But you’ve put an end to that. Now I have no—” Zecora stirred and coughed weakly. Her head rolled to one side. She took a deep breath, held it and then let it go again, before opening her eyes. “Twilight, do not berate your friend, it was only help she wished to lend. I am fine,” she added, rolling onto her stomach. “And in good cheer, thanks to miss Pinkie Pie here.” Pinkie grinned. “See? I helped! How did I help?” “The curse, to me it tried to move, but difficult my mind did prove and so the night I fought its hold, lest I suffer more than cold.” Zecora gave Pinkie Pie a long, appraising look. She laid her head down on the floor and seemed to smile just a little. “Finally I have overcome its power, so now I think I’ll have a shower.” Without another word Zecora got up and trotted in the direction of the spa and baths, leaving the bemused group with only each others confusion. Twilight called after Zecora but the zebra either couldn’t hear, or chose not to listen. “Well that’s just great,” she grumbled, turning back to her friends. Pinkie edged a little closer to Twilight and reached out to comfort her, but the unicorn moved away before she got the chance. “Twilight, why don’t you all come back to Sugarcube Corner and relax for a little while? My treat!” “Any other day you know I’d say yes...” “Oh. Yeah, I guess. Well hey, that just means more for later, right? When Rarity’s back I’ll throw a great big Welcome Back Rarity party. She’ll love it!” “Yeah, she will.” Twilight’s voice seemed distant. She was staring back down the road Zecora had left along, with her ears perked right up as if she might be able to tell where the funny zebra had gone. Without warning she huffed a sigh and turned away. “We have to go and see the mayor, but... Pinkie, could you go and check on Spike? I don’t want him getting more lonely.” “Sure!” Pinkie Pie smiled and bounced away, happy to have a new errand and a chance to entertain someone. She might even set up a few decorations. Maybe Spike would like a party too! Wasn’t it his birthday soon? Well maybe not, but that didn’t matter, he could have a half-birthday instead. An awkward feeling that she should go back to Twilight pulled Pinkie Pie to a stop. She needed to... to... but the feeling was gone before. Pinkie checked her legs and tail, then waited to see if anything might start twitching. Nope! With happiness and balance restored she bounced away, singing snatches of a song she’d never heard before. * * * Twilight had liked Ponyville’s town hall from the first moment she’d set hoof in it. Such an ostentatious little tower in such a rural setting, it almost appeared to have been dropped into the town square from the outskirts of Canterlot in one piece. Of course, after the enormous, endless halls and soaring spires of Canterlot it was almost nothing, but it had been a tiny piece of home away from home for as long as Twilight had lived in the town. Not that she’d trade her wonderful library and Ponyville for any cold stone mansion on a mountainside, though there were times when she wished she could be closer to her old haunts. The Solar of the great royal Library, the many parks and all those little bookshops that housed so many treats and rarities for her to peruse. Quieter times. Twilight forced the thoughts away. She was here on business, not to indulge nostalgic fantasies. She mounted the steps of the town hall at the head of her band of sisters and pushed through the main doors. The main hall was empty and still, save for the quiet tapping of hooves on wood as a minor functionary made his way around the mezzanine. Unusually, for it was rare that a day went by without some mayorally-appointed holiday or celebration, there were no decorations on the walls and no sign of anyone attempting to put them up. “Not even a ribbon,” Twilight muttered. “Ah reckon They’re savin’ em all for the risin’ of the creek.” Applejack made to spit but then caught herself with an embarrassed hiccup. “You’ll have to explain that to me one day.” They took the stairs — or, at least, Twilight and Applejack took the stairs. When they reached the mezzanine they found Rainbow Dash fluttering about near the ceiling like a moth trapped in a bowl. Fluttershy was pressed hard against the wall, shivering, her eyes firmly locked on the floor at her hooves. She exhaled and seemed to finally calm down when Applejack stood between her and the edge. Rainbow settled to the balcony a short distance away and indicated that she’d found the mayor’s office. She was pounding on the door as the others drew near. A dour stallion in a plain grey suit answered and glared at the quartet. “Ah. Miss Twilight Sparkle. You don’t have an appointment.” “I’m afraid not, but this is rather important.” “Miss Sparkle, the mayor is very busy today, you’ll have to come back some—” A crumpled piece of paper bounced off the stallion’s head at the same time as the mayor’s voice ordered him quiet. The stallion lowered his ears and snorted, then retreated into the office. A moment later the mayor herself peeked her head around the door and smiled. “Please excuse Jobsworthy,” she said, beckoning the group to enter. Mayor Mare shot her deputy a broad smile as she lead Twilight through to her rather cramped private office. “I had him specially imported from Canterlot, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Perhaps cramped wasn’t quite the word. The room was not overly small but neither was it ostentatiously large. Where walls weren’t taken up with filing cabinets, they were filled with shelves that held ream after ream of carefully organised box files, interspersed with the occasional official trinket or gift from a neighbouring town. Homely might have been a better word. It fit the trio of clay pegasi crawling up the wall behind the mayor’s desk. Whoever had painted those had managed to screw up the eyes on at least one. The mayor seated herself behind her desk and frowned at the stacks of paperwork. She shovelled the papers to one side and leaned forward, ears perked forward and smiling the smile of a mare who had just found an excuse to ignore her work for a few minutes. “Now. What can I do for you?” There’s a dragon on the loose and it took Rarity! No, that wouldn’t do. Twilight tried to think of a better response, something that expressed the urgency of the situation without causing panic. A decent opening, perhaps a reference to her status as the element of Magic, then— “There’s a dragon on the loose and it took Rarity!” Twilight blinked. She looked over her shoulder at Fluttershy, who backed up into a corner and squeezed her eyes tight. “Um... I mean... that is, it might be a dragon...” The mayor tilted her head and gave Fluttershy a thoughtful look, before reaching into her pile of papers and withdrawing a folder. And that was odd because, in Twilight’s experience, mayor Mare was not a particularly thoughtful pony. Intelligent, yes, driven certainly, but she usually just went ahead with whatever scheme she’d dreamed up today without any plan at all. At least that’s how she appeared... Underestimating again, Twilight, she chided herself. Twilight pushed the thought aside and tried to pay attention to the mayor. “Ah! Yes, here we go, a report of a dragon harassing a travelling tradespony and... stealing his cart? How odd.” The mayor pushed the folder across her desk to Twilight. The thoughtful look was back. “Didn’t you insist there was no chance a dragon had been involved in yesterdays, ah, shenanigans?” “Now you just wait an apple buckin’ minute!,” Applejack cut in, to both Twilight and the mayor’s great surprise. “Y’all wouldn’t want to think your friend had been eaten by a dragon either. If y’all are gonna make hay outta that... why ah’m surprised at you for even thinkin’ it!” “Applejack, I assure you, that was not my intent.” Applejack suddenly seemed to realise she’d spoken out loud. She blushed and turned aside, though the way she pawed the floor was anything but apologetic. “Just ain’t polite to go throwin’ accusations around like that, is all ah’m sayin’.” “I suppose so. In any event, Twilight Sparkle, if you do believe a dragon has taken miss Rarity then you may wish to start on the Fillydelphia road. This tradespony claims his cart was taken about forty miles from Ponyville, late yesterday afternoon.” Twilight took the proffered documents, raising them over her back with a simple levitation spell. For some reason she felt reluctant to use the Ossory’s Pocket she’d conjured, so kept the papers hovering a little theatrically in the air whilst the group exchanged departing pleasantries with the mayor. She drew Twilight to one side as the others left. “Miss Sparkle, you understand that a dragon is not something that would be conducive to our town’s continued prosperity. I’m not asking you to act in any official capacity, but...” She leaned closer. Uncomfortably close, Twilight thought. “The Crown rarely seems to respond to requests for any sort of aid even when there are obvious dangers. If you could put in a personal word?” Twilight raised her eyebrows. She tried to force them down again but only managed to pull her ears down with them. “I’m... flattered that you think I have so much influence.” “Please, you’re her personal student and even somepony like me can see she dotes on you.” Mayor Mare opened the door again to escort Twilight to the atrium. “I can fully appreciate if you don’t wish to bring politics into a personal relationship.” “Well, I’ll... I’ll certainly see what I can do, madam mayor,” Twilight replied. The mayor smiled and nodded, then closed her door. Twilight let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding and turned to her friends, escape Rainbow Dash, who had already plunged over the rail and was gliding a circle down to the floor. “What was that about, sugarcube?” Twilight shook her head and sighed. “The price of fame. Sometimes I wish I could just disappear into my library and never have to deal with all these problems...” “Well Ah ain’t one for savin’ the world either, but it’s—” A crash from below interrupted Applejack before she could conclude whatever piece of rural profundity she had begun. They raced to the rail, except Fluttershy, who craned her neck to peer over as best she could from the safety of the wall. “Oh, Rainbow Dash!” “My fault!” Rainbow Dash struggled to untangle herself from a wall hanging that she had brought down on herself and some other pony. “Dash, you gotta watch where y’all are goin’!” “That banner totally tried to grab me,” Rainbow Dash shouted. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Hey Twilight?” “What?” “I think Zecora’s waiting for you outside.” Twilight leaned over the railing and stared down at Rainbow Dash, as if this would somehow divine the truth of her statement. Rainbow had paused in untangling herself from a fallen tap3stry to stare out of the open door, though Twilight couldn’t see what she was staring at, which was a little frustrating. By the time they reached the ground floor, Rainbow had managed to extricate herself from the folds of what had, up to that point, been a fairly large and presumably quite expensive tapestry depicting the founding of Ponyville. Dash trampled across it to the door and looked out. “How do you know she wants me?” “Just a hunch.” Rainbow stepped back from the door to let Twilight pass. The young unicorn paused mid-step when she saw Zecora, seated in the centre of the square and staring straight at her. Not at the building, but at her. Twilight had the feeling she’d been watching her the entire time she was in the building. The others followed at a short distance as Twilight walked towards the zebra mystic. Almost as an afterthought, Twilight opened her Ossory’s Pocket to hide away the papers still floating behind her head. Zexora’s gaze immediately shifted to the invisible spell. Maybe it was a coincidence though, if the last few days were any guide, coincidence as a concept didn’t exist any more. The square seemed to darken as they approached Zecora. Twilight slowed and looked around, noticing for the first time a misty aura of magic surrounding them, barely visible in the bright sun, but potent enough to leave Twilight with an annoying itch at the base of her horn. She’d known Zecora had some magical talent but this was way, way beyond anything she’d expected from a zebra. When Twilight looked back she found, to little surprise, that Zecora’s eyes were glowing. She had turned them back on Twilight herself once more, but occasionally they would flicker to the same spot by Twilight’s side. It took all of Twilight’s willpower to keep herself from looking to see if the spell had somehow become visible. “That’s a neat trick,” she said. Zecora tilted her head as Twilight spoke but didn’t answer. “How can you see it?” “It’s shape is plain as day and night to those who share our second sight.” Okay, so maybe she can see magic. Twilight added the thought to her list of surprises about Zecora and filed it away for later study. The zebra smiled. Twilight froze. “Did you just...” “Minds are things I cannot read but for some ideas I do not need to see the thought to understand just what it is that you have planned.” And the rhyming is annoying, Twilight mentally added. That one seemed to get a reaction too, but not the one she had expected. Zecora stepped back from Twilight, still smiling. She sat on her haunches and looked at the four of them. “Twilight, ah think she’s tryin’ to read my mind too.” “Lucky for you there’s nothing in there,” Rainbow Dash retorted. A worried pegasus is always more aggressive, Twilight thought. Even Fluttershy seemed... edgy. And Applejack had let the insult from a friend just slide away as if it meant nothing, whilst all around them the misty magic swirled and shimmered. “What do you want, Zecora?” The zebra stared impassively, her attention focussed entirely on Twilight’s face. She could see Zecora’s pupils behind the glow, shrunken with effort, night-black diadems, barely visible. Whatever Zecora was doing it was taking a lot of concentration. Twilight glanced at her friends. Their confusion and curiosity was a mirror of her own, but they were also scared, lacking Twilight’s intimate knowledge of magic. Even after all their adventures, or perhaps because of them, magic on such an overt level had become a symbol of danger in some indefinable way, yet Twilight could see there was no danger here. It was a show. A very impressive show, but no more dangerous than the illusions Zecora had created on Nightmare Night. Except... Twilight closed her eyes, summoning a spell of allsight. When she opened them again a gasp escaped her lips. She was surrounded by magic, great skeins and coils swirling around Zecora like snakes and spreading out in all directions from where she sat. The vaporous fields she had seen before were shimmering walls of energy, glowing a bright, strangely alluring green. Beyond them the tendrils of magic faded into the distance. Twilight blinked and dismissed the spell. Zecora was smiling at her again. “Now you see my potency,” she said, as if it were nothing. “But not I fear the reason that I show it here. Touched by a curse you were, though finally it moved to her, your friend, you know of whom I speak, for you were strong and it was weak.” “If you know so much...” Zecora shook her head. “I know but what the curse has told me, as well as ancient tale and story, told by my people ever year. I’ll tell you too, if you want to hear.” She looked at each of the four in turn, as if daring them to refuse. One by one the ponies gave their assent, though it was clear they had no idea what they were agreeing to, until only Twilight was left. She looked at her friends, saw the longing in their eyes that she felt. Anything, anything that brought them closer to Rarity... Twilight nodded, mute and Zecora tilted her head back, accepting the answer with another faint smile. The zebra closed her eyes and began to hum tunelessly. Soon, though, Twilight could detect an obvious regularity in the hum, a near-chant, wordless, almost hidden but growing with each moment. She could feel the magic around her now, an itching under her horn, a greasy static sensation across her fur that moved in time with Zecora’s voice. Faint images danced before her eyes. Mountain peaks cast in snow, a great plain filled from one horizon to the other with a vast, undifferentiated herd. Armies at war, great beasts in the sky larger than any dragon. A great aerie filled with winged, tailed creatures unlike anything she had seen, that looked somehow familiar... “Okeanos...” The voice was Rainbow Dash. “A myth,” Fluttershy whispered. “Um... I mean, we were taught...” “No myth I show,” Zecora said. She had her eyes closed. “The truth, you shall know.” Zecora’s pose had changed a little, as if she were thinking back to some other time and place; when she spoke, her voice had a quality they hadn’t heard before. Her bearing was almost regal. She began to speak, her words tumbling forth in time to the ebb and flow of the magic surrounding them. “Hear now, tales of ages past Of heroes, hunters, prey and last Of times when light and dark were one When moon serene and ancient sun On earth did cast both day and night As never ending, whole twilight On world alive, and whole, and free That knew only of harmony. And hear of creatures hidden for Millennia, from times before The dragon roamed on azure skies Before a fall to whispered lies Of wise ones, true, noble and fair Who peace took with them everywhere they journeyed and, between high peaks that now not even griffon seeks, Ruled justly and with love for all Until great pride began their fall Until amongst their number came Division, strife, and hate and blame Then sundered were this noble folk As lightning breaks the mighty oak And scattered by a mighty power Sent abroad from their great tower Where that one people, filled with might On wings of starlight once took flight With ivory horns and hooves of iron Claws of dragon, teeth of lion Voices fair and minds of fire Driven forth from mighty spire Broken, now, and split in twain Where stood one race, thousands remain Pony, griffon, minotaur Dragon, changer, and zebor And others henceforth, fallen seed Shaping selves for every need Yet ‘fore all these, and first apart And first of all to practice art Came, deadly, powerful, impure The demon lords, the foul centaur Who forged the tools that split our kin Who broke apart all from within And dug down wells where terror lurks Yet tumbled, fell as their own works Were locked away by magics cast By one who stood apart, the last Of once great race that dwindled first To one, then none, for they were cursed Their posterity to leave Unfinished work, incomplete weave And broken ways, and holes aside Where ancient curses, sleeping, bide And still remain forever more A deadly trap, forgotten spore To split and break and tear apart All harmony, and bind the heart To slavery, to evil ways Forever cursed to end of days Revealed at night, their power rings In sympathy with hidden things.” A gust of wind crossed the square, tearing away the images that floated around Twilight and seeming to steal the very light of the sun itself. With the wind shaking her short mane, Zecora stood, her voice a keening cry raised to the heavens. Twilight felt the magic withdraw and cried out as a foal suddenly ripped from the loving hold of her dam. She felt her own power instinctively reaching out, sucking the life from her as it sought what it had lost, sought the revelation she had been so long denied, until she was breathing deep, ragged breaths that left her lungs aching. When she opened her eyes, Zecora was gone. They were alone. Twilight could feel tears rolling down her cheeks and let out a quiet sob as the full realisation of what she had lost crashed down on her. For a moment she had known everything, seen everything, but the revelation was gone and with it the knowledge of how to save her friend. “Rarity,” she whispered. Twilight felt a gentle hoof touch her cheek and looked up into Fluttershy’s eyes, mirrors of her own pain, yet somehow the sight of them gave her strength. “We’ll find her,” Fluttershy said, with just the hint of a smile. “She’s safe. I know it.” Twilight nodded, unable to form a reply. She tried to remember the images Zecora had conjured along with her tale. A broad vista of endless forest beneath a glowing amethyst sky, great herds of creatures she had never seen before. Paradise set aflame by the first twinklings of chaos and the great weapons of a war so ancient that she was sure not even Celestia knew of it. It was too much. Whatever she had known was buried again, hidden in the deep pit burrowing through her heart. Rarity. She stood up — when had she sat down? — and turned to her friends, and together they set out to the library.