//------------------------------//
// We Never Said it Was Easy, or Hard (Twilight Part 3) 
// Story: The Bar at the Edge of Nowhere 
// by Syric Philharmonica 
//------------------------------//

"It began as a nagging thought in his head, an urge that clawed and tore away at his soul. "I'm going on a journey." He said to his family. "I know not when I shall return or if I shall be the same at the end." And with one last look back, he turned his back on heath, home, and everything he loved."

-Short Story, The Black King, printed 1975





It was a late evening in Ponyville when the bell above the door of Golden Oaks library rang out, distracting Twilight Sparkle from her task. Craning her head to catch a glimpse of her visitor Twilight dropped the sextant onto a large map spread across the table and trotted into the library proper to welcome them properly. Of course, when Twilight entered the main room of the library she was pleasantly surprised to see her pink friend, even if said friend currently had her snout pressed to the ground and was following something like a dog would a scent.

Realizing that Pinkie was in one of her trances, Twilight leant against the nearby wall and watched Pinkie the bloodhound wander the library with a small smile. After a few minutes of that Twilight noticed that Pinkie was seemingly following Twilight herself, a fact that became obvious when Pinkie began to follow the route Twilight made by pacing upon her arrival home. Twilight shook her head softly at the pink pony's antics and her soft smile grew a little larger when she saw Pinkie heading straight for her. Pinkie, completely oblivious to everything around her, continued unabatedly toward the smaller mare's hooves before bumping into the, causing the rest of her body to slump to the floor as well. Pinkie's eyes which had been crossed and looking down at her snout uncrossed and stared at the hooves placed before her, before travelling up the legs attached and ending on the smiling face of the Eleancana unicorn.

"Having fun Pinkie?" Twilight asked with a slight smirk, the antics of her excitable friend surprisingly grounding at the moment. In fact, Twilight saw the exact moment Pinkie's mind caught up with her body. It started with a blink, then her pupils dilated as an enormous grin stretched across the Thorosian's face.

"Twilight!" And with that elated shout Pinkie shot up from her prone position and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight's barrel before lifting the smaller mare off the ground and twirling in circles with her. "Oh I missed you so so so so so SO much! I know it was only a few days, but they were just oh so LONG without one of my bestest friends!" With a sudden gasp Pinkie dropped Twilight, who had grown quite dizzy, to the floor and began to look around the library. "Where's Spike? *gasp* Are we playing hide and seek?" Pinkie them shoved her head into a potted plant... Which then popped out of a nearby bookshelf.

Twilight took a moment to stop the room from spinning before standing back up, then took another moment to ignore Pinkie's brand of crazy as she pulled the larger mare out of the plant. "Spike is sleeping Pinkie." Twilight threw a fond glance up to their shared bedroom before refocusing on Pinkie. "I'd prefer he actually sleeps the whole night now that he doesn't have his comics distracting him."

As Twilight held up a hoof to stifle a laugh, Pinkie leaned to the side and saw what Twilight was working on, Her eyes going wide as she hopped past her an into the room proper. Twilight watched her go with an eyeroll before following, Twilight standing before the table as Pinkie leaned in close to the map with a soft exhale of interest. "What's this for Twi-Twi?"

Twilight gave the crisscrossing thread across the entirety of the map a quick glance before answering. "It's... An assignment from the Princess, well, Princesses. Oh, hold on." Twilight levitated a loose thread back into place while Pinkie scrunched up her muzzle in thought, one hoof tapping against her head. Pinkie watched Twilight fiddle with other fraying threads and looked over the whole web once more with a nod before it clicked in her mind.

"Ooh! Is this about Mister Mystery that has you going all cuckoo-loco?" Upon seeing Twilight's offended look Pinkie collapsed into giggles and snorts as Twilight rolled her eyes so hard she feared they may never come back down, before using her magic to tug on Pinkie's ear which caused her to yelp and hide under the table. "Hey! I'll get you for that later missy!" Pinkie narrowed her eyes, voice dropping low to be more menacing... Which was greatly hindered by her choice of hiding spot. "When you least expect iiiiiiiit."

"I'm sure you will Pinkie." Twilight bit her lip as she looked over her cyclical research again, Princess Celestia's words running through her mind again. "Actually... Hey Pinkie, how long would it take you to gather the girls together? I get the feeling this little adventure is going to involve everyone." Twilight levitated the sextant back up and returned to her task making a route to where she was fairly sure her quarry was.

Pinkie for her part nodded rapidly as she held up a hoof in salute. "Aye aye, captain Twilight! It'll take me mayyybe 10 minutes sooo..." Pinkie leaned into Twilight's vision with an expectant gaze, causing Twilight to huff good-naturedly and put down the sextant again.

"Fine Fine, I'll tell you what happened. While we were in Canterlot I asked The Princess about The knight, and Spike went to go do his own assignment. Aside from making me so incredibly proud he had a big weekend back in Canterlot, but..." Twilight glanced slyly at Pinkie who tilted her head to the side in question. "Considering he passed his Dragon Assessment test, I think he deserves a celebration, don't you?" Twilight didn't need to look at Pinkie to know that the Thorosian had stars in her eyes, her perpetually puffy mane somehow growing bigger in her excitement and her hooves trembling, the manic party planning energy taking a firm hold over the pink pony. "In fact, I think a party would give him the perfect opportunity to show all his friends the new tricks and skills he learned."

Upon hearing the go ahead Pinkie let out a squeal and rocketed out of the library's door, startling passerby as the pink missile disappeared into Ponyville. Twilight looked after her for a moment before shrugging, trying to put the thoughts of the chaos Pinkie could cause in this state out of her mind as she once again picked  up the sextant. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Totally." Fortunately, before Twilight could far into the cycle of panic, there was a rumbling groan from upstairs and a shuddering yawn that preceded the scittering of sharp claws on polished wood. A fond smile crossed her muzzle as that sound stopped at the top of the stairs for a moment before descending.

"Good morning Sleepyhead." Twilight called over to him, not taking her eyes off the work she was doing. "I made us dinner, but I didn't want to wake you up." Instead of answering a grumbling could be heard from the young dragon, causing Twilight's smile to grow larger. "You just missed Pinkie, AND your chance to try and cajole some sweets out of her." After that statement the pattering of tiny clawed feet stopped and Twilight allowed herself to feel satisfaction at catching him off guard.

"Aw, how'd you find out?" Spike whined as his footsteps started up again, notably more downtrodden now that his ruse had been discovered. "I was so sure we covered our tracks this time." After a moment of silence Spike reappeared from the Kitchen with his own portion, a sheepish slouch to his posture.

Using her magic to ruffle his spines Twilight gave one last cursory glance over the map before brushing past Spike. "Breathing fire doesn't get rid of the sugar silly, you just make the library smell like caramel. It was pretty easy to figure out what was happening." Spike watched sullenly as Twilight levitated over a box and packed his comics inside it before placing a timed seal on it to prevent it from being opened. Once Twilight was done she placed the now labeled 'Punishment Contraband' atop a bookshelf. "You know the rules about your nutritional needs Spike, a growing dragon can't eat too many sweets or it'll cause more problems down the road. So because you broke the rules no comics for a week."

Spike seemed to deflate in his seat for a moment at Twilight's admonishment, but looked up questioningly when she didn't continue. "That's it?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at him as he regained some of his good cheer. "I can totally handle a week!"

Twilight raised a hoof over her mouth at his sudden excitement. "I don't know about that Spike. a week is always longer than you think it is, and It's going to feel even longer without them. Besides," Twilight made her way to Spike's seat to throw a hoof over his shoulder for a warm hug. "Undue and harsh punishment will hurt your growth as well" Once Spike had enough of the hug he went back to his food and Twilight returned to her project, the both of them quietly enjoying each others company. For a few minutes more at least, until Pinkie returned with the rest of the girls.

The door to the library was flung open as Pinkie, who was now covered in dirt and smears of paint, led the retinue into the library proper and stood at attention with a salute. "Sergeant Pinkie reporting Captain! All VIPs collected and accounted for!" Twilight and Spike, who had both been startled by the violent door opening, looked over with identical wide eyes with a single limb covering their chests. Once the initial shock had worn off, Twilight gently guided Spike to the kitchen with her magic, certain that the discussion she was about to have would disrupt his dinner.

Afterwards she turned back to her friends, the other four making themselves comfortable or wandering over to glance at what she was working on while Pinkie had unerringly held the salute. "Uh... At ease, sergeant? And thank you all for coming on what I'm sure was extremely short notice." There was a chuckle shared between them all as Pinkie shook her body rapidly, the paint and dirt covering her sliding off her coat like water.

"It's cool Twi, I can't speak for everyone else but I wasn't doing anything important." Said Rainbow Dash, the Peragle pegasus having swept close to the taller Eleancana unicorn with a proud grin as Twilight rolled her eyes at the display she was putting on.

"I hate to admit it myself but I happened to be in the same boat as Rainbow Dash, Darling. Business always slows down in the evening so close to when I, 'close up shop', as it were." Rarity, the second tallest of their mismatched group, elegantly waved away Twilight's concern as she came over to gently hug the mare. Afterwards the Reanent Unicorn took a step back to look over Twilight's state, pursing her lips at the state of her mane. "We need to get you to the spa as soon as possible Darling, It looks to have been FAR too long."

Applejack, with a heavy roll of her eyes, extricated Twilight from Rarity's fervor with a gentle push to the Reanent's side. "Ah for one, appreciate this here meetin' bein' so late in tha day. Pinkie here had shown up right as Ah finished up mah work on the farm, so Ahm all set fer how long Ah hafta be here." Twilight gave the Belire earth pony a grateful look before turning to the last one who hadn't spoken yet.

Twilight had to crane her neck upwards to see Fluttershy's face, the Peanox pegasus being the tallest and quietest in their group of friends. Noticing the movement, Fluttershy turned her head downwards and gave Twilight a gentle and kind smile. "Oh, don't worry about me Twilight. I asked Angel to take care of my nocturnal friends for a little bit."

Seeing that Fluttershy was content to say no more, Twilight lit up her horn and, making sure none of the pins were dislodged, lifted the map into the air so all of her friends could see it comfortably where they sat. "As I've told you all before, throughout my study of Equestrian history I have found a strange pattern throughout it all. And tracking said pattern like so," Here Twilight cast a spell that highlighted her progress throughout her investigation with a purple glow. "I was able to narrow it down from a coincidence, to a old order of knights, all the way down the a single stallion. Unfortunately," Twilight cut the highlighting spell and cast a new one, drawing a arcane circle over the entire west side of Equestria and beyond into the undiscovered West.

"As you all can see, there is just far too much guess work required to find him, so I took it upon myself to ask the Princesses... After a reminder from Spike." Before Rainbow could make any snide remarks Applejack stuck her hoof over her muzzle, and glanced over too see if she needed to do the same to Pinkie, only to see the Pink Thorosian diligently taking notes, which caused Applejack to feel a little fear. AJ poked Rarity with her other hoof and pointed at Pinkie, causing both Rainbow and Rarity to look over then share a worried look with each other.

Before Twilight could continue, Fluttershy softly spoke up. "Uhm, excuse me please, Twilight." Twilight stopped short with a blink before turning and nodding to Fluttershy to go ahead. "Oh I was just wondering, Is this the same group that left behind those uh, 'Relics you called them, that you an i found in the Everfree? The um, Knights of the Queen's Roundtable?"

Twilight's eyes lit up at the question, keeping her excitement in check so as to not scare the Peanox. "Yes, exactly! Using the images depicted on the Relics and descriptions written down in history I was able to compare the two and It was a perfect match, Which could make this one of the single most important historical events!"

Smiling at Twilight's obvious happiness Fluttershy looked over to the others and saw the expressions they all wore and frowned a bit, before seeing Pinkie and having all the color in her face drain away. Twilight however, did not notice anything amiss and continued her spiel. "After I met with both of the Princesses they confirmed my theory! In fact, they told me that not only do they know him personally, but he is an Immortal like them! The history locked away inside his mind could change EVERYTHING we know about ancient Equestria!" Twilight finally turned to her friends, an almost manic gleam in her eyes, but stopped short upon seeing the varying expressions of fear each of her friends was sporting. "Girls? What's going-" Before Twilight could finish her question she saw what they all had noticed before, and she cut herself off in confusion as Pinkie finished writing.

Pinkie, for her part, didn't notice the stares she was getting, or not getting in the cast of Fluttershy, the Peanox was trying to hide behind a potted plant and failing due to her large size. But after taking a moment to look over her notes Pinkie gave a satisfied nod as she looked p directly into Twilight's eyes, causing the smaller mare to take a step back. "Twily, you said that the Princesses know more?" At Pinkie's uncharacteristically serious tone, Twilight was shocked into answering.

"Uh, yes. Yes they do Pinkie... Why?" Pinkie rolled up the notes she took and tucked them into her mane, displacing some glitter and ribbons as she donned a grave expression.

"They are gonna help me plan the BIGGEST. PARTY. EVER! And with that declaration Pinkie seemed to disappear, zooming out of the library and leaving five confused and frightened mares.

"... Oh no."