Chapter 2: Staircase
After the incident in her home, Applejack convinced the conductor of Ponyville station to send her to Canterlot in the dead of night so she could give both Princess Luna and myself the message that Princess Celestia entrusted to her. Admittedly, I was rather skeptical as to the true identity of this thing known only as the Spiral. Surely, I thought, only a powerful villain like Crysalis or King Sombra could muster such a feat. The disappearance of both Princess Celestia and Big Macintosh’s wife left us with only a vague idea as to what we were really up against. Perhaps only Applejack and her brother understood the Spiral’s power at that time, but that would change very soon.
She dashed through the halls of Canterlot Castle. A scroll appearing from a poof of smoke and landing in a punch bowl in the middle of the room had abruptly interrupted her dinner party earlier. It was the first time it had ever happened, and even though most of the writing was illegible due to its soaking in the punch, she could never mistake the signature at the end. Besides, only one dragon could have sent a letter in that way.
As she made her way quickly, though still as elegantly as running like a madmare allowed, the various guards directed her to where she could find the pony she was looking for. When they finally directed her to the last door, she burst into the room. “I’m here, Twilight. I hurried over as soon as I heard. Whatever is going on?” Rarity said as soon as she saw her.
Twilight, Princess Luna, Spike, and for some reason Applejack were gathered in the room. “In a moment. We just need to wait for Rainbow Dash and we’ll try to piece together what we know so far,” Twilight said relatively calmly though she did sound rushed.
“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity said, raising her hoof to her mouth. “Oh, darling, I doubt Rainbow is coming. In fact, she probably did not even receive your letter. Have you forgotten what time of year it is?”
“Huh? What do you mean? It’s…” Twilight stopped in sudden realization.
“That’s right,” Rarity answered for her. “Training season for the Wonderbolts just started yesterday.”
Twilight facehoofed. “I forgot. The Wonderbolts fly all over Equestria don’t they?”
“Yes. Moreover, they won’t be back until the end of the month. They could be anywhere right now.”
When Spike had sent the letters, he already had a suspiciously accurate idea of where Rarity was and had sent Rainbow Dash’s letter to her bedroom in her new apartment in Canterlot. He couldn’t send it directly to them like he had with Princess Celestia since that required a specific contract spell that Rarity didn’t know and Rainbow, being a pegasus, couldn’t cast even if she did.
“Do they have a flight schedule? Maybe we can send a letter to somewhere ahead of them.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Rainbow Dash said something about going where the wind takes them or some such.”
“Great.” Twilight looked at the gathered ponies and shook her head. “We’ll just have to do this without her. We can’t wait for her to come back.”
“What about Pinkie? Ain’t we gonna wait for her?” Applejack asked.
“Actually we don’t have time to wait for Pinkie to take the train. It doesn’t run this time of night anyway. I sent her a quick letter explaining the situation, so we can fill her in on what we plan to do later.”
“Pinkie Pie as well? What is going on? Is it the changelings again?” Rarity didn’t know if she could take the suspense any longer.
Princess Luna, who had been staring out the window with a rather angry look on her face, suddenly spoke. “Read it, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight picked up a rolled up parchment from the table, cleared her throat and read.
“To my sister, Luna and faithful friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I wish I could tell you this in person, but alas, if you are reading this I must have failed. A grave enemy the likes of which you have never faced before has returned and I implore you to take the utmost caution in dealing with this threat. The enemy I speak of is only known as the Spiral. It is a vast phenomenon that nearly caused the extinction of all ponykind almost six hundred years ago. From what Twilight described to me before, Lemonade is the first known victim, but the Spiral may have already cursed many others. It will take the form of anything and everything you can imagine with a spiral design, not just obsessions like Lemonade apparently has. It’s only known goal is to eradicate all life. If this is anything like before then there is still much time to act, so try to remain calm, but heed this warning and do not take the Spiral lightly. For further instructions, seek out the Rickshaw family. If I am not mistaken, at least one descendent of their family is currently living in Ponyville. Find him. His family devised the method for defeating the Spiral the last time. I do not know what else I can say other than good luck and have faith in your friends. Remember that friendship is the true key to overcoming any obstacle. Yours truly, Princess Celestia.”
When Twilight had finished, everypony was silent.
“What?” Rarity finally said. “Did she just describe some kind of apocalypse that almost happened in the past?”
“In a nutshell, I suppose so.” Twilight sounded considerably more nervous than while she was reading.
“And it’s happening again, right now?”
“It seems that way.”
Rarity blinked once and fainted. Spike rushed to her side and started fanning her.
“I can’t blame her. I kind of feel like doing the same thing.” Twilight looked at the letter again. “I don’t get this though. What is the Spiral? She’s not exactly specific in the letter.”
“She said it’s a phenomenon didn’t she?” Applejack asked. “I believe it. What I saw was way too freaky to be real magic.”
“I know, but still. Princess Luna, what can you tell us about this Spiral thing? Where exactly does it come from?”
Luna turned away from the window and looked at her sternly. “I can’t tell you.” The look of shock that overcame Twilight was almost comical but Luna didn’t laugh. “To be honest, this is the first I’ve heard of the Spiral.”
“But you’re the princess of the night. You have to know something.”
“I was still banished on the moon six hundred years ago.” Luna frowned at a painted mural on the wall of Princess Celestia. “And my sister never mentioned anything of the sort when I came back.”
It was clear to everypony that this fact was a source of irritation to Luna. However, why Celestia had never mentioned such a dangerous sounding adversary before was an answer they wouldn’t be able to obtain.
Luna returned to glaring out the window. Twilight decided to leave her to her thoughts and focus on what they knew. “Based on the letter, we can say that the Spiral is definitely evil. We need to pull together in friendship once again to stop another threat to Equestria.”
“Pancakes!” Rarity suddenly sprang awake. She appeared startled as if expecting to be in her bedroom. “I’m sorry, what were you saying about apocalyptic spirals?”
Twilight groaned and shook her head. “If we’re going to stop this threat we’re going to need more information. We hardly know what we’re dealing with here. Applejack, is there anything else you can tell us about your encounter with this Spiral?”
Applejack removed her hat and shook her head. “I don’t know what else to tell ya. Princess Celestia tried to cast some spell or another and it got sucked up in that freaky hole in Lemonade’s head. Then they both disappeared and that’s it.”
“Hole in her head?” Rarity repeated slowly.
“What about all that stuff Lemonade was collecting? Did that do anything?” Twilight continued, ignoring Rarity’s expression of illness.
“Not so far as I know and I ain’t gonna find out.” Applejack snorted. “Big Macintosh is probably done movin’ all that junk out and burnin’ it. There ain’t no way we’re gonna let the Spiral live at our farm.”
“So this Spiral… that makes holes in ponies’ heads… is it here? Now?” Rarity worried, edging closer to Spike who suddenly turned a shade of red.
Twilight shrugged. “I have no idea. We could look around Sweet Apple Acres I suppose, but other than spiral patterns, I don’t know what we would even be looking for specifically. And if we did, what then?”
“What about the Rickshaw family? It sounds like Celestia believes they are the key to defeating this.”
“The real question is how do we find the Rickshaw family? I don’t remember meeting anypony of that name in all the time I’ve lived in Ponyville.”
“Why don’t you just ask Pinkie Pie? She does know everypony in Ponyville,” Spike pointed out.
“Oh… right. I forgot about that.”
“Or you could check the public records. That should have a list of everypony who’s lived in Ponyville since it first formed.”
Twilight stiffened. “Of course. How silly of me.”
“Actually, you’re the mayor now. Maybe you could just publicly call them to your office or something and see who shows up.”
“Right! I could just…” Twilight growled and stepped in place.
“What’s the matter, Twilight? You seem kind of out of it.”
“I’m not! I just…” She sighed and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Spike. I don’t mean to be so short with you. I guess I’ve just never wanted to admit how scatterbrained I am without you around. You’re the reason I could always stay so organized. Even after re-shelving day, you always knew where the books I needed were before I did.”
Spike smirked. “Sounds like you still need your number one assistant around.”
Twilight gave him a weak smile. “Maybe, but you still can’t leave Canterlot. I don’t want to say I don’t trust you, but we can’t have you lose out to your dragon instincts while we’re trying to stop this whole Spiral thing.”
“Uh… yeah.” Spike sounded hurt. Rarity smiled and patted him on the leg.
“It’s okay my big Spikey-wikey. You have a very important job to do right here in Canterlot. We might need to make some long distance messages.”
Spike somehow turned even redder and beamed. Even though he was apparently fine with his position, Twilight couldn’t help but feel guilty for bringing it up. However, logic dictated that they minimize their total number of problems in the face of an emergency. They didn’t have any real clue as to what the Spiral would do next and could only depend on finding the Rickshaws if they were going to have a chance.
“I wonder if I should make an emergency flight back to Ponyville tonight. I want to find the Rickshaws as soon as possible.”
Luna suddenly turned from the window and spoke. “Hold, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” She raised her hoof as if she expected silence. “I realize the urgency of this crisis, but there is no sense in losing sleep over it either. My sister did say there is still much time. In any case, you particularly appear exhausted.”
Twilight looked at the door and whimpered. “But, the crisis.”
“No buts, Twilight. Sleep is necessary to keep one’s brain activity functioning properly and I will not lose to this menace because we were too slow of thought. Besides…” Luna lowered her voice slightly and turned red. “I may need some assistance figuring out how to raise the sun in the morning.”
Twilight gasped. “That’s right, Celestia’s not here to perform the bringing of the dawn.”
“My sister has always told me that the duty would fall to me if anything were to prevent her, but I never imagined it would happen or so soon. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never practiced the task.”
“Well… the unicorns of the old days used to bring day and night before you and Celestia, so I’m sure there is a book on the subject somewhere. If you want, I could help you look for it-”
“Then it is settled. You will all stay here for the night and in the morning we will go to Ponyville and find this Rickshaw family.”
Applejack and Rarity looked at each other in surprise. Twilight startled. “We? As in all of us including you?”
“Do you find something amiss with that?”
“No, it’s just… Princess Celestia usually leaves everything to me and-”
“I am not my sister and this crisis seems far too large for you to handle alone. After all, what better ally could you have than your princess of the night?”
Twilight exchanged glances with her friends. “It’s an honor. It’s just… different. You’re essentially the standing ruler of Equestria right now. Shouldn’t you stay safe for the sake of order or something?”
“I feel it is imperative that I meet the Rickshaw family personally. I have many questions to ask about the Spiral that my sister so neglectfully failed to inform me of.” Luna remained rather bitter about that fact. She had yet to show any kind of emotion about Celestia’s disappearance other than anger.
“Hey, I think I know where that book-” Spike started but Luna held her hoof up again.
“Silence, scribe. The time for searching is not upon us. Sleep must come first.”
“But don’t you need it before-”
“Your princess has spoken. Do you defy her?”
Spike glanced at Twilight for help, but she shook her head. Spike sighed. “No.”
“Good. Then to bed with us all. We must get a very early start.”
As she had said, there was no questioning one of the princesses. Luna instructed the servants to have the guest rooms prepared and ushered the gathered ponies and Spike to leave. Then she returned to the window and stared outside again.
“Princess?” Twilight stuck her head back in the door. “Is everything all right? I can imagine that with… what happened to Celestia that you must feel emotional, but-”
“Emotional? Twilight Sparkle, I cannot feel emotional.”
“Why not? Don’t you care what happened?”
Luna squinted her eyes and put a hoof against the glass. “Twilight, I fear dearly for Celestia. I am angry she did not include me until after, but she is still my big sister. I refuse to believe that she is anything more than missing until proven otherwise. Until then I will not shed a single tear.”
Twilight stood next to the taller pony and smiled. “Are you really going to sleep? Didn’t you just get up to bring the night a few hours ago?”
“You’re observations are correct as always. I was just contemplating resorting to a sleep spell after I find the book on raising the sun.”
“That’s not what you told Spike.”
Luna looked sidelong at the shorter unicorn. “You’re observations are also a nuisance.” Though she sounded angry, her expression showed otherwise. “But you are right. I may not have been entirely honest when I asked you all to stay.”
“You don’t want to feel alone. That’s what I think.”
Luna let out a small laugh. “You should take up counseling.” Twilight saw a tiny sparkle in Luna’s eye, signs of a tear, but the princess of the night apparently had the will to hold it in. “I was alone for a thousand years, Twilight Sparkle. I am not ready to know that feeling again.”
“How about I help you find your book and then I’ll see about casting that sleep spell?”
Luna smiled. “That would be most helpful.”
Raising the sun hadn’t been too difficult. The fact that it had risen some ten minutes early was something most ponies probably wouldn’t take any notice of, but other than that it was shaping up to be a successful day. As promised, Princess Luna ordered a chariot flown by pegasi to ride back to Ponyville. With Spike waving farewell, it had been a very quick morning. Twilight and her friends were forced to eat breakfast on the way, which was difficult due to the speed at which they traveled. Hopefully nopony would be alarmed if a random English muffin happened to fall from the sky.
As they drew nearer to Ponyville, Twilight looked down and noted some of the ponies who had happened to see them descending. There had been no formal announcement that any royalty from Canterlot would be arriving today so it was understandable if some ponies were caught off guard by their unexpected guest.
“Greetings fair villagers of Ponyville. Your princess of the night has arrived!” Luna announced in the royal Canterlot voice as soon as the chariot landed.
Twilight groaned. “Princess, we’re not here for fanfare. Don’t you think we should be more discreet about this?”
It was too late to say that of course. Many ponies were bowing or making hasty greetings of respect, though there were many confused looks as well. Luna only made public appearances on Nightmare Night, and to see her arrive in the middle of spring and in the morning no less was completely unexpected.
Luna thought a moment. “Ah yes, we almost forgot.” Luna cleared her throat and spoke at a normal volume. “Hello everypony. I’ve come to check on a grave evil that threatens your village with dire horrors and vast chaos. Have any of you seen anything out of the ordinary?” Luna smiled with a squee.
A few ponies gaped, and a few more considered screaming in terror, but again, it wasn’t Nightmare Night. The princess had played the part of evil every year since her return, all for the sake of fun of course, but this sounded more real to them.
Twilight suddenly jumped in front of Luna and waved her hoof in a friendly gesture. “Sorry everypony. She’s just practicing for later this year when she returns. She felt that the Night Mare Moon thing might be getting a little old and thought to try something new.”
Luna stared at her. “What are you speaking of, Twilight? Have you forgotten our-”
“Nothing to see here, everypony. I’m going to have a meeting with the princess and then she’ll be on her way. Just go about your business.”
Twilight waved once more at the gathered ponies and ushered Luna and her friends into a back ally at the same time.
As soon as they were safely hiding behind some barrels, Luna stomped her hoof. “What is the meaning of this, Twilight Sparkle? A grave threat has befallen Equestria. We must gather as much information as we can.”
“I know but… can we do it quietly?” Luna raised her eyebrows. “If word of the Spiral gets out, everypony might panic. I just became mayor. It’s my responsibility to protect the citizens from unnecessary harm that could result from that. Didn’t you ever hear about the riot of Manehatten? Fifteen ponies were injured in that panic.”
“But Twilight, don’t you think the Spiral is a bit too important to keep to ourselves?” Rarity asked.
“Princess Celestia said we still have time. If it comes down to it, then we can tell everypony then, but until that happens, I think ignorant bliss might be best for everypony. It could end up hindering our progress rather than help.”
Princess Luna frowned, but she remained quite in thought for a moment. “Perhaps you are right. My sister did not inform anypony other than you and your friends when Discord returned. Not that anypony with eyes really needed to be told but I imagine she must have had much the same reason.”
“Exactly my point. Let’s just do what we came to do and move from there.”
Luna slowly nodded though she still didn’t look particularly happy. “As a former pupil of my sister I suppose I really should have more faith in you. All right, we’ll do it your way then. She turned to Rarity. “Come, we will ask Pinkamena if she has any knowledge on the Rickshaws.”
“Then I’ll check the public records and see if I can find information on the family there,” Twilight put in. “I’ll meet you at Pinkie’s house when I’m done. Applejack, can you help me?”
“Course, Twi. I woulda offered even if ya hadn’t asked.”
City Hall was an easily accessible building from most any road in Ponyville as it sat in the exact center of town. It was the center of many meetings and events throughout the year and housed many important documents to boot, including the public records. Twilight only acknowledged the various ponies who greeted her when she and Applejack went into the public records and shut the door behind her.
“That seemed kinda cold, Twilight,” Applejack said as Twilight opened the nearest filing cabinet. “You could at least act like nothin’s wrong.”
Twilight looked back at her with honest confusion on her face. “I thought I was. The mayor is always busy.”
“Every time I see you around town, you always seem so cheerful and approachable.”
“I was being approachable!” Twilight shouted as she slammed the cabinet shut hard enough to tip it over. She visibly blushed. “Okay, maybe I’m acting a little out of character.”
“Nah. I’d say freakin’ out is about right for ya. At least ya got good reason for it this time. But you’re the one who said we should try to stay discreet and yet you’re the one givin’ off the biggest sign of stress.”
“What do you mean this time?” Twilight raised her eyebrow but Applejack only met here with a scrunched expression on her face. “And like you just said, I’ve got good reason. I can’t stop to talk to everypony right now. Besides, any slip of the tongue could start all kinds of rumors. Who knows what ponies would say.”
“Oh, come on, Twi, it ain’t exactly believable to begin with. Who’s gonna say anything about somethin’ this crazy?”
Abruptly, the door flew open. “Twilight Sparkle!”
“Oh no,” Twilight grumbled.
A pale magenta pony stomped into the room, determination and a flare of anger on her face. “Madam Mayor, you can’t avoid me anymore. I demand that we discuss these namby pampy laws you’ve proposed.”
Twilight groaned. “And what’s so namby pamby about them, Diamond Tiara?”
“These new taxes are unfair and unjust. You can’t take away money from the hardest working ponies in Ponyville.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to target with this proposed tax and you can’t say I have just because you’re father happens to be one of the ponies most heavily affected by it.”
“Oh yes I can. Raising taxes on the wealthy is just outrageous!”
“You’re father is the richest pony in Ponyville by leaps and bounds. Besides, he’s the one who suggested it and furthermore he is quite the philanthropist so I’m sure-”
“Unacceptable! You cannot put up a bill that taxes just the wealthy. It’s unheard of to punish ponies just for being successful. You should reconsider my proposal.”
Twilight groaned again. Diamond Tiara wasn’t even listening to what she was saying. “Diamond, please, I don’t have time for this right now. As mayor of Ponyville, I have an obligation to see fit upkeep of the happiness and well being of our citizens.”
Diamond smirked and placed her hoof on her chest. “And as deputy mayor of Ponyville, I have the same obligation and same notion in mind. We have to discuss this new agenda now.”
Deputy mayor. It still irked Twilight that such a fussy and narrow-minded pony had been appointed to such a position. Then again, perhaps that was why Diamond’s father, Filthy Rich, had not seemed particularly troubled about losing the election. He had made sure she was appointed to the position the very next day. Yet, in regards to the law she was talking about, why couldn’t she understand that Filthy had been the one to suggest it, unless that had been some plan of his as well. It was as if the election hadn’t counted for anything.
“Look, I understand what you’re saying, I really do, and I promise to discuss it with you in due time, but right now I have some urgent business to attend to.”
“What could possibly be more urgent than the future of Ponyville?”
“Trust me, that is exactly what my business is about.”
“What? What are you planning?” Diamond paled when Twilight’s horn suddenly ignited in magic. “Don’t you dare-” In a wink, Twilight teleported Diamond Tiara outside.
“If her father didn’t have such influence…” Twilight growled under her breath.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t vote for her,” Applejack said, crossing her heart.
“Nopony did. You don’t elect the deputy mayor in Ponyville, they’re appointed.”
“Explains why I never saw her on the ballot. Anyway Twi, was that really necessary? I don’t wanna believe that politics can be solved by ignorin’ the other side.”
“Then you don’t know anything about politics and you don’t know what it’s like to deal with Diamond Tiara. I finally understand why Apple Bloom told me not to handle her lightly.”
“Maybe, but still, this is kinda important, Twilight. You’re really gonna leave the deputy mayor in the dark about the Spiral?”
“The fewer ponies that know about this the better. This is end of the world stuff after all and I don’t want to start a panic. If we can stop the Spiral quietly, then I’ll be all the happier.”
Applejack slowly lowered her head and appeared worried. “You said that already but I don’t know, Twi, this seems pretty heavy even for us. I know it don’t seem like much is goin’ on right now, but you didn’t see what I saw.”
“So long as we can contain this problem, I think this is the best option. Now help me look through the records. There are a lot of them.” She floated over two large stacks of folders, one for both of them to search through. Applejack picked one up and sighed. It reminded her of when Trixie had returned several years back and she and the others had spent a great deal of time trying to find a solution at the library.
For several minutes, the two mares sifted through paper after paper looking for the Rickshaw name. Even after fifteen minutes, they didn’t seem like they were any closer to finding this pony.
“This is ridiculous. Princess Celestia can’t be wrong. The Rickshaw’s must be in here somewhere.” Twilight flipped through a few more pages and skimmed slowly. Applejack saw her eyes light up and she pointed. “Here! The only pony with that name is Squeaky Rickshaw.”
Applejack looked at the document and nodded. “Looks like she moved here just a year after Granny’s folks founded Sweet Apple Acres.”
“And then she married into this family here.” She pointed again and smiled. “They do still live in Ponyville, only under a different name.”
“Well all right then. Let’s hightail it over to Pinkie’s and get the Princess. I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”
“Yeah. You’re right. We should hurry,” Twilight said slowly. She was looking out the window. “I’ll teleport us outside.”
“Teleport? Why?”
The door suddenly flew open. “Mayor Sparkle!” Diamond roared just as Twilight cast the teleportation spell. In seconds, she and Applejack were outside.
“That was really mean of you, Twilight,” Applejack told her as soon as she realized what the other mare had done.
“Desperate times, AJ. Defeating the Spiral comes first.” Twilight used her magic to hold the public records in front of her. “At least now we know that one of the Rickshaws still lives here. Let’s go. I don’t have time to listen to Diamond Tiara right now.”
Applejack shook her head. “Politics sounds complicated and childish all at the same time.”
“No kidding, but this is one politician who really does have something more important to do.”
Applejack nodded. “I don’t want to sound doubtful Twi, but I sure hope we can win this one. I still can’t get what happened outta my head. We can’t let that happen again.”
“Trust me, I feel the same way. At this point I’ll be happy if we can get through the day without any incidents.”
Whether it was fate or the design of a supernatural sort, Twilight and Applejack saw something out of the corner of their eyes before they heard a thud that made them jump. Nearby, an earth pony lay on the ground amidst dust that had risen after he had fallen there. Above him was the start of one of the newly constructed buildings, a good three stories tall.
“Oh my gosh! Are you all right?” Twilight ran over to the pony. He was trembling slightly, his eyes wide open, and he breathed rapidly.
“Jack Hammer! Hey, is he okay down there?!” a construction pony yelled from above.
Twilight looked over Jack Hammer quickly and determined that, for the moment at least, he was okay. “Applejack, get a doctor, hurry.”
“On it!” Applejack galloped to the hospital while Twilight stayed with the fallen pony.
“You’re going to be fine. A doctor will be here soon.” Twilight smiled but the pony didn’t even look at her. “Hey, snap out of it. You had a nasty fall but you’re going to be okay.”
Jack Hammer mumbled under his breath, “Couldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop…”
“Mayor Sparkle!” Twilight looked up to see the other construction worker coming down a staircase. She recognized him as Tough Nails. “Is he okay?”
“I think so. What happened?”
Tough Nails looked at his friend with a worried expression. “I don’t know. He just sort of leaned over and fell. I’ve never seen him do something that clumsy before.”
“Shouldn’t he have been tethered to the building or something?”
“He was. Safety is always our top priority, but…”
“But? But what?”
“He sort of… slipped out of it first.”
That didn’t make much sense. Jack Hammer couldn’t have had any reason to un-tether himself unless he was planning to come down via the stairs.
Jack Hammer mumbled on, “Couldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop…”
“Couldn’t stop what? Do you know why you fell?” Twilight asked him.
“Couldn’t stop. They were so mesmerizing. Those stairs…”
“The stairs?” Twilight looked up. There was nothing particularly special about the staircase other than that it circled up to the third floor. Then it donned on her. It was a spiraling staircase. “Tough Nails, what is this staircase for?”
“It’s the emergency stairwell for the new hotel. We just finished them about an hour ago. Why?”
“You finished the stairs before you even put in the floor panels? The building is still a frame.”
“Uh… yeah. Come to think of it, I don’t really know why we did that.” Tough Nails scratched his head and stared at the staircase as if it was the first time he had seen it. “Why did we build this so soon?”
“You built it and you don’t even know why?”
“Well…” He cocked his head and examined the staircase. Then he slowly shook his head in a no.
Twilight looked at the stairs again. It was too silly. There was no way it could have anything to do with the Spiral. It was just an accident, probably caused by a misused checklist. After all, Jack Hammer hadn‘t been sucked into any holes, and other than his injuries, he would probably be okay.
Twilight was out of breath when she and Applejack finally reached Pinkie’s house and knocked on the door. She was surprised when a tiny window opened in the middle of the door.
“What’s the password?”
Twilight groaned. “Pinkie we don’t have time for this. I have very important information to give to Princess Luna. Is she here?”
“Yep, that’s the password.”
“Huh?”
“Is she here. The password is, is she here.”
Twilight facehoofed as Pinkie opened the door and ushered them inside. Princess Luna and Rarity were sitting in the living room drinking something from teacups. “Sorry we’re late. There was an emergency in town we had to take care of.”
“Nothing involving the Spiral I hope,” Rarity worried.
“No, I doubt it. It was a work accident. A pony went to the hospital but I’m sure he’ll be okay.” She figured that Jack Hammer had just been tired and made a careless mistake. She remembered jabbing her hoof with a quill once or twice when she was sleepy. Why they had decided to build the stairs so soon, well, that could probably be explained in some way.
“In any case, we know where the Rickshaws live,” Twilight said happily.
“As do we. Pinkie Pie knows them very well,” Rarity replied.
“Yeah. Their family has been in Ponyville since almost the beginning,” Pinkie added.
“I guess I should have known I could rely on you to know.” Twilight smiled at her.
“Come on, let’s go. I’ll show you where he lives.”
Twilight abruptly looked at the records and realized there was no address listed for some reason. “I guess I wasted my time getting this.”
“Weren’t no waste of time if we helped somepony,” Applejack added.
“That’s true. The doctors said he should be all right with some rest.” She turned back to Pinkie. “What do you know about the Rickshaw’s Pinkie?”
“Lot’s of stuff. Their family is all brilliant ponies who achieved great awards in science and breakthroughs in pony technology.”
“Really? And I’ve never met them before? This is sounding better and better. We’ll defeat the Spiral yet.”
“Come on, it’s just a hop skip and a jump. But we should get there fast.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“If we’re too slow, then I won’t be here when Binkie get’s home from school.”
The other ponies smiled. “I would never make you late for that. Let’s hurry everypony.”
The address in the records led the five ponies to a house on one of the nicest streets in town. It was a modest house with a somewhat unkempt garden in front and a roof that may have needed slight repair. As they walked up to the front door, a cat yawned lazily in the window and turned away from them apparently intending to sleep some more. This was the house of the Rickshaw family.
“Finally we can get some real answers.” Twilight knocked on the door and waited. When no answer came, she knocked again. Then a third time.
“It would appear that nopony is home,” Luna observed in slight irritation.
“He’s home. He usually takes a nap around this time of day,” Pinkie put in methodically.
“How heavy a sleeper is this guy?” Applejack asked and knocked even louder than Twilight. Still no answer.
Pinkie turned the knob on the door and revealed that it was open. “Yep. That’s just like him. Never caring to lock the door.”
“You sound very familiar with this pony, Pinkie. Is he a good friend of yours?” Rarity asked.
“Everypony is my friend. And you guys know him too.”
“We do?” Twilight said as they walked inside.
“Pardon us for intruding, but grave matters are upon us and we require your assistance,” Luna called. Again, no answer. “Are you sure this genius is home?”
“I doubt he’d be anywhere else.” Pinkie Pie walked further into the house and started looking around. Despite the motherly calmness she had gained, it seemed she still had no respect for other ponies’ privacy unless told otherwise.
The house was a mess. In the kitchen there were dirty dishes piled up in the sink and even a dirty plate and glass still sitting on the table. Nopony had dusted in a while and the carpet was such an off color that Rarity felt the need to unroll her emergency red carpet in front of her before allowing her hooves to traverse over it. Twilight was irked by the lack of organization in each room and suppressed her urge to make a checklist of things that needed to be done in the house. Finally, Pinkie opened a door in the back and pointed.
“I found him.” The other ponies smiled and gathered in the doorway. A pony snored in a lounge chair. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack paled.
“Snails? He’s the brilliant pony who’s going to help us?” Twilight said with an exasperated tone.
“Accordin’ to the records, he’s descended from the family Celestia told us to find in her letter,” Applejack replied, reading from a document about Snails.
“And I remember learning about it from his father,” Pinkie put in.
“Pinkie, I thought you said his family had achieved awards and such for their brilliance?” Twilight complained.
“They did. Squeaky was the last one to win an award before she married into their current family name.”
“And what? It all went downhill from there in just one generation?”
“I don’t understand your distress, Twilight. Is something wrong with this pony?” Luna asked as she approached the sleeping unicorn.
“Knowing him as a kid, he never came across as brilliant. I suppose he was the first one in his class to use magic but still.”
“That sounds like a sign of brilliance if I ever heard it.” Luna turned to wake Snails up but noticed a bubble slowly growing and shrinking from his nose. With a look of disgust, her horn suddenly lit in magic and the bubble popped.
“Huh? Wha?” Snails rubbed his eyes and looked at Princess Luna. “You’re not my mother.”
“I suddenly feel very relieved that I am not. Arise young Snails. Your help is greatly desired in our time of need.”
Snails yawned and scratched the inside of his ear. “Okay. What do you guys want?”
“Would it be asking too much to know if you have any information about the Spiral?”
Snails froze. “The Spiral?” He pulled his hoof out of his ear. “The Spiral spiral? The one that almost destroyed Equestria before?”
Twilight’s eyes bugged out. “I don’t believe it. You know what we’re talking about?”
“It really is the Spiral?” Snails went wide-eyed and yet almost looked happy. “No way. My parents told me all sorts of things about it, but I never thought the Spiral would ever return. What happened?”
Twilight blinked. “You mean we actually found an expert on the subject?”
Snails pounded his chest. “Of course. My family helped Princess Celestia defeat the Spiral. We’ve been passing down the story of the Spiral for generations. ”
“Then you know how bad it is?”
“It’s bad. Very bad. Lots of ponies could die.”
“Then why do you look so happy about it?” Twilight frowned at Snails’ smile.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that my mom always told me that our knowledge might be needed again someday and I’m just so glad I can be useful.”
“Right…”
“Enough idle chatter,” Luna said angrily. “Tell us everything you know of the Spiral. Its horrible power has already struck and taken Celestia away.”
“It got the princess?” Snails finally lost his smile. “That’s not good. She was the only pony who knew that spell.”
“Spell? What spell do you speak of? Will it defeat the Spiral?”
“Hang on. My family recorded the events of the Spiral’s attack the last time. It has the spell we need and everything.” He turned to a bookcase in the back of the room and used his magic to pull a few books out. “Nope. Nope. That’s not it. Uh uh. Nope…”
As he pulled books out of the case, a stray piece of paper floated out and landed on the floor. Twilight picked it up. “You dropped… this…” She looked at it. It was a high school grade sheet with Snails’ name on it. According to the sheet, he had achieved nothing but Cs and Ds. One of the Ds was in science.
“Here it is!” Snails pulled out an old book, leather-bound and dusty with a leather strap securing it closed. It had no apparent title or description of any kind. Upon closer inspection, Twilight was sure that the pages were made of parchment vellum, something highly uncommon in any books she had in her library and only in a secured wing in Canterlot Castle.
Snails flipped through the book until he stopped on a certain page. He set the book down for the gathered ponies to see and pointed to a series of words and an illustration. “When the Spiral first attacked about six hundred years ago, my family was able to devise this spell. Celestia used it to stop the Spiral before.”
“Wait a minute!” Twilight exclaimed, grabbing up the book. “I know this spell. Princess Celestia asked me to learn this about a year after I started living in Ponyville.”
“Celestia taught you this?” Snails remarked.
“It’s called ‘Ruination.’ She said it was important that I learn at least one spell of offensive magic just in case. Unfortunately though, I got pretty frustrated that I could never get the darn spell to work.”
“Maybe it did work and you just didn’t know it.” Snails scratched his chin. “As far as I know, it wouldn’t have any effect on anything other than the Spiral.”
“If this spell is so great then what became of my sister? How did the Spiral overcome her?” Luna demanded.
“Well… I don’t know. What happened when she was attacked?”
Though she sounded a little begrudged to do so, Applejack relayed the incident with Lemonade and Celestia once again. Snails listened with an attention span that belied his poor grades in high school.
After thinking the incident over, he spoke. “It should have worked but from what you’ve told me, I don’t know if the spell failed or if the Spiral caught her before she could cast it.”
“Well she cast somethin’ but the Spiral sucked it up.”
Snails stared at her blankly and then flipped through the pages of his book again. He read a few lines, flipped to some other page, read some more and looked at some other pages.
“Well?” Rarity said impatiently.
Snails finally looked up from the book. “I don’t know what to tell you. There’s no record of anything like that in here, but it sounds like the Spiral found a way to defend itself.”
“Is that your expert opinion?” Rarity asked rather dryly.
Snails smiled. “Can I say yes?”
“Since you are apparently the only expert.” Snails looked overjoyed.
“If the spell doesn’t work then what are we supposed to do?” Twilight interrupted.
“No, no, the spell works. I’m positive it does. The Spiral might have just… I don’t know… dodged it?”
“So then we can still use the spell to defeat it, right?”
“Of course. Its how we defeated it last time.”
Okay, how?”
Snails remained silent for a moment. “There is one more thing.” He flipped through the pages again. “If the Spiral managed to come back again, then my family hasn’t been wasting their time.” He picked up the book and shook it until a folded paper fell out. “Even though the Spiral was defeated, we heard about it occurring somewhere much further away at around the same time. My great, great, great… uh… my great grandfather ten generations over thought that the Spiral may have had an actual source, a central location if you will. He feared that the Spiral would be able to return if that source was not found and destroyed. So he started designing this.” He unfolded the paper and revealed that it was a diagram of some kind with a large list of numbers and extra sketches all around it as if describing some kind of complex problem. “This is a blueprint of the machine he started and my family continued over the years.”
“Okay. And what is this machine?” Twilight asked.
“Well, it’s just called the machine. We never thought to give it a name.”
“Never… wait… what is it supposed to do?”
“Theoretically it’s supposed to find the source of the Spiral.”
“Theoretic… so you never tested it?” Snails shook his head and Twilight facehoofed. “I don’t believe this. We’re going to depend on a unicorn with a C average in school, and an untested machine with a theoretical purpose?”
“Uh… also, the machine isn’t exactly… real… yet.” Snails smiled apologetically. “My grandmother Squeaky finished the design but she never actually built it.”
“And it just keeps getting better,” Twilight moaned. “So you don’t even know if the machine can serve its theoretical purpose?”
“It’s never been built before so, technically no. The Spiral was defeated without it of course but-.”
“Then why are we even talking about it? Let us defeat the Spiral with the Ruination spell,” Luna announced.
“But that might not be the end of it. What if it comes back again in another six hundred years?”
Twilight had to admit, for being a pony who had never come across as some kind of genius before, he was being very rational now. “Snails is right. Even if we do defeat the Spiral, it would behoove us to make sure it can’t ever come back again.”
“Lest this whole incident be repeated. Once again you make a good point.” Luna looked angry again, but also sad at the same time.
“If nothing else, we can build this machine as a backup plan. I’d rather not leave anything to chance.”
“That’s a good idea. If Celestia cast Ruination on the Spiral already, it must not have worked,” Snails reasoned out.
“You just have nothing positive to say, do you?” Rarity grumbled.
“Then how do we get it to work?” Twilight asked, ignoring Rarity’s annoyance.
“Well… I don’t know. Maybe something prevented her from casting it.”
“No, she definitely cast somthin’, but it got sucked up,” Applejack confirmed. “I don’t know if that was the spell or not but the Spiral didn’t seem to care.”
“If it was then you don’t suppose that was the end of it?” Rarity said, almost sounding as if she were pleading.
Snails shrugged. “We’ll have to wait and see. If something else happens, then it’s far from over.”
“Something else?” Twilight’s mind ran through a number of possibilities. Then her thought’s stopped on one thing in particular. “As long as we don’t need these anymore, I’m going to return the public records.”
“Huh?” Everypony looked at her when she made her statement. “Now?” Applejack asked her.
“We found our expert and we have a clear way of fighting the Spiral. Maybe we can wrap this up as early as… tomorrow. Or something.”
“Twi, you okay? You seem kind a spooked again.”
“Get some more information from Snails for me. I’ll be right back.”
“Do you want somepony to go with you?” Rarity asked her.
“Or a lunch?” Pinkie put in.
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“But-”
Before anypony could object further, Twilight winked outside. She took a heavy breath. It was probably nothing. It had been little more than an accident. It could have happened to anypony. Still, Twilight found herself walking towards the hospital where Jack Hammer had been taken after his fall.
It was nothing. It had to be a coincidence. That was what Twilight kept telling herself as she approached the hospital. All she had to do was talk to Jack Hammer, find out that he had just forgotten his coffee that morning, and be done with the thought. Even though she was sure it was something as simple as that, she found herself lingering in the lobby. The truth was far too important but her hooves refused to believe her.
“Out of the way everypony! Emergency coming through.”
Twilight woke up from her thoughts and absentmindedly moved to the wall away from the door. She watched some ponies walk in quickly and was about to return to her thoughts when a new one crept in.
“What the…? Tough Nails?” Two strong ponies were carrying in the head construction pony on a stretcher. He looked deathly pale. “Hey, what happened to him?”
“Oh, Mayor Sparkle. He fell off the building he was constructing. They found him at the bottom of the stairs.”
“The stairs? The spiral staircase?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what it was. I’m sorry, mayor, but he’s in bad shape. We have to get him to emergency, stat.”
Twilight watched them walk further into the hospital. She turned and stared out the glass doors and looked in the distance where she was just able to make out a part of the building Tough Nails and the other construction ponies were working on. On one side of that building would be a spiral staircase that should not have been built yet. The Spiral had influenced Lemonade to collect spirals as if gathering ammunition for the Spiral to inhabit. By that logic there was no reason not to believe that the Spiral influenced those two ponies to build the stairs and then fall down between them. Twilight wracked her brain but she could not figure out why the Spiral would want them to fall down the stairs. They were both seriously hurt but otherwise it was completely different from what apparently had happened to Lemonade.
“Don’t kid yourself, Twilight. It’s just a coincidence. It has nothing to do with the Spiral,” she told herself and tried to laugh it off. Despite that, she walked quickly through town moments later, headed to the incomplete hotel. It was probably nothing but she had to look at that staircase again. It was on the way to Town Hall anyway.
“What in the world?” As she approached the unfinished hotel, Twilight looked up and saw the staircase. It was taller than when she had last seen it. Tough Nails had somehow built it up a full story above the rest of the building. The fact he had managed it at all was an amazing feat in its own right, but just as the stairs had already done, it defied the logic of the construction.
Twilight followed the top of the stairs down to the bottom with her eyes and stopped. Sitting at the bottom, directly in the middle of the spiral staircase was Carrot Top, a pony who excelled at growing vegetables in her garden. She was just sitting there, staring up. She didn’t move nor did Twilight even see her blink until she walked up next to her.
“Good afternoon, Carrot Top.”
“Oh. Afternoon, Twilight.” Carrot kept staring skyward but waved her hoof.
“So… what are you doing here?”
Twilight waited for almost fifteen seconds before Carrot finally responded to her question. “I want to walk up these stairs.”
Twilight grimaced but Carrot Top never took her gaze away. Shaking her head, Twilight backed up and looked up. The spiral staircase loomed like a tower, taller than anything immediately around it.
Twilight jumped when she realized that she had backed into somepony. “I’m so, so, sorry. I didn’t…” An earth pony named Bumper was sitting behind her. He was staring at the staircase. In fact, he wasn’t the only one. There were a few ponies either standing or sitting around the building, apparently mesmerized by the stairs.
Twilight shouted, “Oh come on everypony, they’re just stairs! I have some at my house!” Some of the bystanders looked at her and some passersby increased their walking speed as if they thought Twilight had said something weird, but otherwise, none of the transfixed ponies moved.
Things couldn’t go on like this. The stairs had to come down before somepony tried to walk up them and maybe hurt themselves falling back down. Twilight thought a moment deciding what she should do. Burning the stairs would be too dangerous. Perhaps turning them into something harmless like leaves would be best. Then she remembered the Ruination spell. She had never managed to get the spell to do anything, but Snails had said it would only have an effect on the Spiral.
Twilight approached the staircase and used her magic to drag Carrot Top away from it. She didn’t struggle but kept her eyes trained on the top of the stairs no matter where she moved her. Groaning at the strangeness of it all, Twilight concentrated very specific magic into her horn. It was a good enough time as any to test the Ruination spell, but if it did have any kind of effect, there was no telling what it might do.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself in case she needed to cast some kind of counter spell or maybe even her failsafe spell. Twilight took careful aim and fired. A bright beam emitted from her horn and struck the staircase. When the light lifted, the stairs sat there, just as motionless as they already were.
“Well, once again, that didn’t do anything.” Twilight shook her head and prepared to cast a transformation spell when she saw something start to leak out of the stairs. It was like some kind of red smoke. The smoke suddenly flew into the air, forming a spiraling funnel as it disappeared behind the clouds. Twilight hadn’t realized she was gaping but quickly shut her mouth. “No way. It actually-” Twilight jumped when the topmost stair suddenly fell. Then piece by piece, the rest of the stairs crumbled, apparently unsupported by whatever magic the Spiral had imbued in them.
Twilight’s heartbeat had increased quite a bit. The stairs had been reduced to a pile of wooden rubble. She watched it, half expecting something to come crawling out. The spell had finally worked. To be more precise, that meant there was something for it to work on.
“That was the Spiral?” Twilight whispered to herself and gazed up at the clouds. She didn’t see anything moving up there, nor did she see the clouds change form. All was silent again. Apparently, she had just challenged the Spiral and won.
Still focused on the clouds, Twilight didn’t notice when Carrot Top blinked and looked around as if she wasn’t sure what she was doing there. Then she noticed Twilight. “Hey there, Mayor. What’s up?”
Taking her attention away from the sky, Twilight slowly responded, “Not the stairs.”
“Stairs?” She looked around again. “What stairs?”
Twilight studied the other mares face. She didn’t look like she was kidding. “The stairs. You know, the ones you were just looking at?”
“I was looking at some stairs? I’m pretty sure I was on my way to buy more seeds.”
Twilight paled. “You don’t remember anything at all?”
“I remember the seeds I need to buy. See you later, Twilight.”
Twilight watched in awe as Carrot walked off as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. The other mesmerized ponies started walking away too, apparently continuing whatever they had been doing before seeing the spiral staircase.