//------------------------------// // Finding Answers // Story: A Pegasus Horn // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// As soon as they recovered, Sunny Skies and Moonlit Night ran to the library. If anypony knew what was going on, it would be Twilight. They knocked on the door, only to find a sign on the frame right next to their hooves. VISITING MY PARENTS WILL BE BACK SOON TWILIGHT SPARKLE "Well... I guess we're going back to Canterlot then." "Verily. Dost thou still have the tickets?" "Yes, they're in my..." she facehooved, "saddlebags, which I left on the train." Luna returned the facehoof. "Then let us find accommodations for the night so that we can remove our disguises. My back itches without my wings." They checked into a hotel. Luna paid, of course. She still had her bags. Soon the enchantment was off and they were back to their normal selves. Celestia wrote out a letter and shot it with her magic, causing it to disappear in a burst of green fire. "At least we can still find out this way." A moment later, there was another burst of green flame, and a letter materialized in front of her. Twilight is not available at the moment and will respond to all letters as soon as she is available. Thank you for your patience. This is an automatically generated response. Celestia hit her head against the table. She knew she shouldn't have taught Twilight that "out-of-office" spell. Luna simply rolled her eyes. The next day, they were back in their disguises and wandering the streets, trying more secondhand sources for information about the rumors. They started with the surest source they could find for such information. "Welcome to Rarity's Boutique, where everything is unique, chic, and magnifique. How can I help you?" "Oh we were just looking around. This is a marvelous place you have here." "Thank you, darling." "Come to think of it, isn't this the town where they said there's an alicorn colt?" "That's what the rumors are, but my friends say he's either a changeling or a chimera. I'm not too sure yet, but that's what I've heard. I was going to talk with Twilight about it, but she wasn't in the library. Why do you ask?" They looked at each other. It was a possibility they hadn't considered, but it would explain a lot. They ruled out chimeras though. They could tell at a glance that he wasn't one of those. "Well, it's not every day you hear stories like that." Moonlit Night joined in, "what do you think he is?" "Well, personally I think he's an alicorn who just doesn't like being teased because of his lack of magic. Then again, I've met his parents, and neither of them are alicorns. "Of course, for all I know, maybe alicorns could be born of a normal pony. Besides, Twilight did give some interesting reasons why he could be a chimera." They looked at each other again. Of all the ponies to think he was a chimera, it was Twilight? The comment about lacking magic was an interesting angle. They didn't have much information on natural-born alicorns, so how quickly they developed magic was still a mystery. Perhaps one day Cadence and her husband would be able to answer that question. Of course, a changeling imitating an alicorn was a plausible explanation for the lack of magic as well. Sunny Skies decided to skip to the question at hoof. "Did you hear of the newspaper articles about him?" Rarity's expression noticeably soured. "I think those ruffians shouldn't talk about the princesses like that. I'm good friends with their personal student, and I assure you they'd never do such a thing." Sunny sighed. That was a relief. "At least, I don't think they would." What? "Did you hear something about them?" Sunny Skies stammered, trying to come up with a plausible excuse to switch topics. "Uhh... no, no. We... uhhh... we didn't.." Moonlit Night, on the other hand... "Nothing happened, and that's final!" ... at least didn't use the royal Canterlot voice this time... As they stepped outside, Moonlit Night thought for a moment. "If he was an alicorn," she finally said, "he should have enough innate magic to be detectable, even if he can't use it yet." Sunny Skies considered the thought. "I suppose that should make sense. Perhaps we could measure it using some of Twilight's equipment." "She's away, remember?" Sunny Skies simply sing-songed. "I know where she keeps the keeeeey." Less than an hour later, they were changing back into their disguised selves after having to teleport themselves out of the local jail. Apparently, Twilight had found a new hiding spot for the spare key to the library. It also seemed that looking for hollow tree branches through which to get in counted as "attempted breaking and entering." With that option ruled out, they went around town to try asking some of the others. "If he's a changelin' he's a strong-willed one. I tried every trick in that book, an' he never dropped his disguise once." "A bunch of his friends at school made up an awesome new game. I think they call it extreme golf or something. I'm gonna start up a league back in Cloudsdale." "He seemed... nice... ..." "...so that's when I tried sticking marshmallows in the piñata, but they all fused into a big gooey mess, so then I..." They soon decided that the best option would be to get the answer straight from the horse's mouth. They watched the stallion enter his house after work, then approached the house themselves and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" "Sunny Skies and Moonlit Night, sir. We have some questions about the newspaper articles." "Go away." Moonlit Night spoke up. "We work for the princesses, sir. If anypony had reason to believe the story was false, it's us. We thought at first that the articles were against them, but we wanted to determine if you may have been the target instead." The door opened a crack, and the unicorn inside looked them over. "Are you the one who was hiding in the bushes yesterday?" Sunny Skies averted her eyes. "I may have been a bit overzealous in my investigation." As the door was closing, she stuck her hoof in the frame. "Please. We just want to know what happened." The stallion sighed, muttering something about getting it all over with, and opened the door the rest of the way. As the two stepped inside, they met a darker gray pegasus mare that Moonlit Night recognized from the school. Her flank involuntarily twitched. Behind the pegasus, the colt and filly from yesterday were on the floor with a chess set between them. The filly rolled a pair of dice, then turned a rook upside-down. The colt responded by dropping three playing cards beside the board and moving his king five spaces. They both looked up from the game upon noticing the newcomers. "This is my wife, Gneiss Crystal, and these are my foals, Obsidian Crystal and Feldspar Stone. Gneiss, Obsidian, Feldspar; this is Sunny Skies and Moonlit Night. They say they want to know where the news articles came from." Gneiss spoke up. "Well, I'll most certainly confirm that he's mine. He poked me with his horn enough times..." "Mom..." She tussled his mane with her hoof. "Well you did. And everypony else said the kicking was what to watch for." "We have our own reasons to not believe the rumors. You don't have to worry about that." The others looked at the investigators skeptically. Quartz decided to ask the unspoken question. "I know you said you work for the princesses, but how can we be sure you do? How do we know you're not just reporters trying to spread this mess even further?" It was at that moment that a letter materialized in front of Sunny Skies's face. She tried to catch it in her magic, only to be reminded that she didn't have a horn anymore as it landed on the ground. She swiped it up as quickly as she could with a wing, but not before Quartz and Gneiss could read the first lines. Dear Princess Celestia, I'm sorry I didn't see your letter until now... Quartz and Gneiss both looked up, eyebrows raised. "Dear Princess Celestia? What's that supposed to mean?" Gneiss finished the thought, "and how did that letter appear in front of you in the first place?" Obsidian, meanwhile, subtly used a bit of blue magic to reposition the decorative mirror on the wall. ɒitƨɘlɘƆ ƨƨɘɔniɿԳ ɿɒɘႧ ɿɘttɘl ɿυoγ ɘɘƨ t'nbib I γɿɿoƨ m'I .won litnυ γnɒ tυodɒ bɿɒɘʜ t'nbɒʜ I tloɔ ɘʜt ʇo bɿɒɘʜ bɒʜ I tυd ,ƨɘlɔitɿɒ ƨwɘn .miʜ tɘm nɘvɘ ɘvɒʜ I .bɘnoitnɘm υoγ ɔitɘmɒϱɒɿtɘt ƨɒ nwonʞ ƨi noitibnoɔ ƨiH. ϱninnɒlq ƨɒw I .mƨiɿɘmiʜɔ I nɘʜw miʜ no ƨtƨɘt ɿɘʜtɿυʇ nυɿ ot (ɘƨɿυoɔ ʇo noiƨƨimɿɘq ƨiʜ ʜtiw) ʞɔɒd toϱ ƨɘɔnɒʜɔ γnɒm bɒʜ t'nɘvɒʜ I tυd ɘʜt ot ɘυb oƨ ob ot ϱnioϱ ƨtnɘvɘ ɿɘʜto ƨυoɿɘmυn .no tnɘbυtƨ lυʇʜtiɒʇ ɿυoY ɘlʞɿɒqƧ tʜϱiliwT "You're the princesses?" Obsidian reread the letter just to be sure. Feldspar, meanwhile, had her own thoughts on the matter. "But you aren't alicorns either. Are alicorns a myth?" "No, no, we're their...," Sunny looked over to Moonlit Night for guidance, "... secretaries. We get their mail because of that." "And the Princesses are alicorns, not myths." It was then that Quartz brought in his own question. "So why would the princesses send secretaries to do investigative work?" Moonlit Night dug around in her saddlebags. "She may be a secretary, but I'm an investigator. We're a bit understaffed, and she has experience in these matters. Here. I have some extra copies of my papers." Everyone in the room looked at the documents. Quartz sat down, suddenly nervous. "By Faust," he finally said, "I dropped the Princess's personal secretary in a trash can..."