//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: Hiding in Plain Sight // Story: Return of the Ancient Mage // by Zoshe //------------------------------// "He needs you to be there, Twilight," Whisper said. "But before you go chasing after Clover, I need you to do something first." "What do you need?" Twilight asked with rapt attention. "With both you and Luna finding out that Clover the Clever is still alive, he's not going to be able to disappear again." She placed her hooves together as she looked at Twilight. "However, he needs to settle his differences with Celestia." Twilight lowered her eyes at the mention of her mentor. "I don't know if she really cares though," she said somberly. "I mean, she hasn't responded to any of my recent letters." "It's not her fault," Whisper sighed as she held out a hoof. Two scrolls popped into existence in front of her. "The letters you sent never made it to Canterlot." Twilight's eyes widened with dread as she levitated and unfurled each of the scrolls, "you stole my letters? Why?" Whisper paced around the top of Clover's desk, "I've no doubt that she would've immediately come running to Ponyville had she gotten both of those letters. If Clover and her were to bump into each other, I can't see it ending well. The last time they saw each other was right after Princess Luna was banished to the moon, and that didn't end well either." "How bad was it?" Twilight wanted to know. "Let's just say there's more than one reason why the old castle is an abandoned ruin now," she said. "If you want to keep them from fighting the moment they see each other, you need to find Spectrum first. He's Clover's closest friend aside from myself and I'm certain if you show him what you saw when you went on your little trip, that you could get Clover and Celestia to talk." "Spectrum?" Twilight tilted her head at the name. "That's an unusual name for a pony? How exactly am I supposed to show him what I saw?" "Spectrum shouldn't have any trouble looking at your memories if you can find him," Whisper said with certainty. "As for his name?" She cringed a bit. "Yeah... About that..." "We're looking for a changeling?!" Exclaimed Rarity. "That's what she said," Twilight said in hushed tones when Rarity's outburst caused several other passengers to look in their direction. "Not so loud though." "Sorry, darling," Rarity quickly apologized. "I had a bit of trouble sleeping after everything that happened yesterday." Twilight had met up with her friends at the train station and they were currently on their way to Canterlot to try to find this Spectrum that Whisper had mentioned. Once they settled into their seats, she filled them in on everything she had learned except for the details about Celestia's nightmare form. She didn't think that she should talk about that when others might overhear. "Sounds ta me like ya went on quite an adventure," said Applejack as she poked at the Element of Honesty she was wearing around her neck. She wasn't used to wearing any sort of jewelry. At Whisper's prompting, they were all wearing their associated elements. Her parting words before Twilight left was that they'd likely play some role before all of this was over. "I'm still having a hard time believing that he was Clover the Clever all this time," Twilight said as she resettled into her seat. Spike was curled up next to her, sleeping. She had kept him up late the previous night helping her study her temporary split into multiple forms. "Did everypony else at least have a quiet evening?" "Ah swung by the hospital and picked up Big Mac," Applejack gave a soft chuckle. "The big galoof had no idea what had happened and all he wanted to know was what's for dinner. Ah was just happy to see he was alright." "Well last night was no fun for me," Pinkie complained loudly. "That stuff didn't wear off until late last night and I'm still feeling a bit itchy." She shook one of her back hooves to emphasize the point. "Pinkie!" Screeched a red-faced Rarity. "That's hardly appropriate to talk about in public." Several other ponies in the train car had stood up upon hearing what Pinkie said and were quickly vacating themselves to another car. More than one of them had a younger pony traveling with them, many of them now clamping their hooves over the ears of their charge. Twilight tensed up when she thought she heard a little filly ask her mother, "what does she mean by itchy?" "What?" Pinkie whined, paying no attention to the scene she just caused. "But it's not fair that Rainbow Dash got to get all snuggly with Flutterguy and all I got was a cold shower." "Fluttershy did nothing of the sort," Rarity insisted as she fanned herself off. "She just escorted Rainbow Dash home because she was worried about her. I assure you nothing more happened than that. Isn't that right, Fluttershy darling?" Fluttershy didn't look Rarity in the face, nor did she answer her question. Instead both her and Rainbow Dash were preoccupied with studying the floor, both of them having turned so red that they looked like a pair of radishes. "Oh boy," said Applejack as she took off her hat and began fanning herself as well. "Is it just me, or did it just git a mite bit warmer in here?" They stepped off the train once it finished pulling into Canterlot station, some of them a little more red in the face than when they got on. Twilight was half expecting to see a bunch of guards on duty if there was a changeling roaming the city. Nothing like that was happening though and it was actually pretty quiet. She did get a few Canterlot locals who started bowing to her the moment she stepped off the train, making her feel a bit self-conscious. Now she remembered one of the reasons she ran back to Ponyville shortly after her coronation. Rarity leaned over to whisper to Twilight while she was stuck in her third 'smile and wave' session. "So I know we got a bit distracted on the train darling, but how exactly are we going to find a single changeling in a city this large?" "I have no idea," Twilight said back through gritted, smiling teeth. "Ya reckon we should go talk to the princess, first?" Applejack suggested. "Ya said she weren't gettin yer letters. She's probably got no idea what's been happenin in Ponyville." Twilight nodded, "that sounds like a good idea. I really want to talk to her after everything that's happened." "Well what are we waiting for," said Rainbow as she took off into the air. "Last one there's a rotten egg." The rest of them ran through the streets and made their way in the direction of Canterlot Castle. Twilight was still feeling bothered by how quiet everything in the city was. "What took you girls so long," came the voice of Rainbow Dash as they were passing by a nearby fruit stand. She was standing in front of it with a bored look on her face and was pacing back and forth as she stretched out her wings. "Did you get lost on the way here? The castle's not exactly hard to find." The five mares and one dragon all looked at each other and then at Rainbow with concern. "RD," said Applejack, breaking the silence. "That's a fruit cart." "What are you talking about, Applejack?" Said Rainbow as she gestured to the hapless vendor. "There's a guard right in front of the gate and everything." "Is your friend ok?" Said the confused vendor. Fluttershy stepped up and placed a hoof on her forehead. "She doesn't seem to have a fever." She observed. Twilight took a closer look at the pegasus and noticed a slight twinkle in her eyes upon closer inspection. "Does anypony else see that?" Rarity took a closer look as well and after confirming that she did indeed see the same thing said, "what do you suppose that is, darling?" "I don't know but let's try..." A small spark floated off of her horn and hovered right in front of Rainbow's face before popping. Rainbow recoiled in her discomfort, "what was that for, Twilight!?" She then looked around all confused, "what happened to the castle?" "There never was a castle, sugarcube," said Applejack as she gave the confused mare a pat on the back. "But you seemed certain there was, that's fer sure." "Good heavens Twilight," said Rarity as she looked over to her. "What did you do to her?" Twilight shook her head clear, feeling unexpectedly dizzy from the spell she just cast. "The way she was acting sort of reminded me of when Discord cast that spell on us. Remember when Rainbow thought that a small cloud was a whole city?" "And when Rarity thought that big hunk of rock was a diamond," Applejack said as she shot the mare a savage grin. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again," Rarity said flatly. "Anyway," Twilight cut in before they got out of hoof. "The point is that afterwards I looked into other spells that can cause mind altering effects and more importantly, how to stop them." "So whacha think, Twi," said Applejack. "You reckon this Spectrum we're looking fer did something to her?" "Achoo," Spike sneezed as he gave a slight shiver. "You ok, Spike? You're not catching a cold are you?" Twilight asked. "Nah, I'll be all right," said Spike as he stretched. "Still feeling a bit sleepy though." "Well ok..." She turned back to her friends. "Anyway, I don't know. As much as I've seen Clover do with magic already, it wouldn't surprise me if anypony else close to him knows a couple unusual tricks." "Well I don't like somepony making me look like an idiot," Rainbow stomped her hoof. "Come on, lets get to the castle." She galloped away from them in the direction of the castle. They made their way towards the castle, trying to keep up with Rainbow as she ran ahead of them. As they turned the last corner that should've brought them to the castle... "Tickets please," said the attendant on the station platform. "What the hay?!" Proclaimed Applejack. "Huh?" Said a confused Pinkie Pie. Everyone else looked at her with an extra level of concern. If Pinkie was confused, that couldn't be a good sign. "How are we back at the train station?" Questioned Twilight. "I've lived in Canterlot all my life. I shouldn't get lost trying to find the castle." "And I don't think we're all seeing things, are we darling?" Asked Rarity. Twilight quickly cast that same spell over all of them, only to look even more concerned when it didn't do anything. "Maybe it's that jerk Discord messing with us again?" Said Rainbow with a scowl. "It seems like the kinda thing he'd do." "Oh, I don't think so," Fluttershy shook her head. "He's been very well behaved lately." *Burp* Spike let out a large flaming belch followed by coughing and spitting as he buckled over the postcard he just coughed up. "Oh dear, Spikey Wikey," said Rarity as she rushed over to check on the purple dragon. "Are you going to be all right?" "I'll be fine," he said as he held a claw up to keep Rarity from getting too close. "It just caught me by surprise." "What's it say?!" Twilight said excitedly. "Is it from the princess?" "I've got it darling," said Rarity as she used her magic to pick up the card up from the ground in front of Spike. "Just catch your breath." "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Fluttershy," said Rarity as she read from the postcard. "At least somepony believes in me. As for the rest of you, I'm not about to take responsibility for somepony else's chaos. Although I will happily enjoy watching it. Your friendly neighborhood Discord." Rarity flipped the card over a couple times in her magic, "that's all it says." "Well that still doesn't answer how we ended up going the wrong way," said Rainbow. "What do you reckon we should do, Twi?" Said Applejack. "Somethin's clearly tryin to keep us from gettin to the castle." "Hmmm," Twilight rubbed her chin as she thought it over. "What if we didn't try to go to the castle? Not directly anyway." "Ooo," said Pinkie as she hopped up and down excitedly. "You got an idea, Twilight?" Twilight gave Pinkie a sly smile, "I might." They were once again running through the streets of Canterlot. However, they weren't currently running in the direction of the castle. In fact, none of them knew where they were going. "Darling, I fail to see the point of this detour," Rarity gave a disgusted look as she stepped around yet another trash can down the fifth alley they ran down. "We tried going directly to the castle and got lost," said Twilight as she ran several paces ahead of Rarity. "Something is definitely keeping us from getting to the princess and I plan to find out what it is." "Ah think she means why are we following Pinkie on this wild goose chase?" Asked Applejack. "We must've passed by the castle at least half a dozen times by now." "Did anypony notice that the streets aren't making any sense?" Said Rainbow as she ran alongside them. Pinkie made another turn ahead of them and bounced up a couple boxes onto the roof of a nearby building. One by one they all climbed after the pink bundle of energy as they made their way to the roof. Soon they found themselves running across the rooftops of Canterlot, jumping from roof to roof. "I'm... Gasp... Trying to figure out the range of the spell we're caught in," said Twilight as she fought for breath. "I was hoping that with how random Pinkie is that we could shake it off or at least figure out how far it goes." "Ah thought you said we didn't have any magic cast on us?" Said Applejack. "There's definitely some kind of magic at play," said Twilight. "A couple minutes into this run I noticed we stopped seeing any other ponies." "What do you think that means, Twilight?" Said Spike as he calmly ran alongside her. Twilight's eyes went wide as she slid to a stop. The stop was so sudden that everypony else behind her ran into her backside and as one they all tumbled off the roof and landed in some nearby bushes. Pinkie cheerily bounced off the roof and landed besides where the rest of her friends were piled up... Before jumping into the pile herself. "Gosh darnit, Twi," snapped Applejack. "Warn a mare before you stop like that." "I figured it out!" Twilight announced. "Figured what out, Twilight?" Complained Rainbow from her spot in the pony pile. "Something's been off for a while but I couldn't put my hoof on it until now," she looked up at the baby dragon sitting on top of the pile of ponies. "Spike's been able to keep up with us..." "What are you saying, darling?" Asked Rarity as she watched Spike remove himself from the pile and climb back onto solid ground. "We've been galloping like mad through the Canterlot streets and not once have I seen anypony carry Spike, yet he still managed to keep up with us. He's not even out of breath." She pointed a hoof at him, "you're not Spike. You're Spectrum, aren't you?" Spike brushed himself off as he turned to face them, "finally one of you ponies starts paying attention."