"Twilight! How wonderful to see you!" said a very familiar voice. "Princess Celestia! It's so good to see you again!" said Twilight. She and her friends had just arrived at the Grand Galloping Gala, and this year was already looking so much better than last year. Rarity had found a nice gentlecolt, Applejack's sales were through the roof, Rainbow Dash was actually hanging with the Wonderbolts, Fluttershy had finally managed to befriend the animals at the Gala, and Pinkie Pie was.... well, off being Pinkie Pie. Things were going perfectly, when suddenly Twilight noticed steam pouring from the dance floor. Or mist. At first, she thought Pinkie Pie had set up fog machines or something. "Pinkie, what's this all about?" Twilight asked, pointing to the quickly expanding ball of mist in the center of the room. Pinkie shrugged. "I don't know Twilight. But I hope it has something to do with cake! I'm starving!" "Wait... what? You didn't do this?" Twilight asked. Then, something odd happened. The mist, as quickly as it had been spreading, began rushing back, towards the room's center. It receded and receded until it disappeared entirely. After it was gone, a wave of whispers spread through to spectating crowd. Twilight pushed her way to the front, trying to see what was so interesting. When she got there, she froze in shock. Standing there was a creature with four legs, standing on two of them. It wore a strange cloak which separated into strips of cloth as it neared the floor, and had a small crop of fur on the top of what Twilight assumed was it's head. Someone screamed, and the strange creature swung it's head in the direction of the sound. 'Uh-oh' thought Twilight, right before the creature ran towards the door. It moved with extraordinary speed as it dashed towards the door. A guard stepped out to stop it, and something odd happened. The creature jumped over the guard, then, when it was over it, rocketed towards the door with a speed even Dash would have been hard-pressed to match, despite the fact that it had no obvious wings. Twilight, breaking from her trance, realized this may be her only chance to talk to this thing. So, calling upon her magic, she stopped the creature mid-air. It struggled, attempting to break free. "WAIT! We just want to talk!" she called. At this it froze, staring right at Twilight. "Princess Celestia, I think you should talk to her." she whispered to the Princess. "Her?" asked Celestia. Twilight shrugged, inexplicably knowing it was a she. "Very well..." said Celestia, stepping towards the creature.
Slowly, Vin was lowered to the ground. The crowd parted, and a beautiful white horse stepped forwards. It was taller than the others, possessing both wings and a horn. 'If the horned ones can do things like that purple one, then this one would make a dangerous enemy.' Vin thought. "Greetings!" it said. "My name is Princess Celestia, and I am an alicorn of Equestria. This is my student, Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn of Equestria. Now may I ask, who, and what, are you?" Vin remained silent. "HEY! Answer the mare!" yelled a rainbow maned pegasus. "Shhhh Rainbow Dash! We don't even know if she can understand us!" said the one called Twilight Sparkle. "No, I can understand you." said Vin slowly. All the ponies seemed taken aback by the fact Vin could speak. Every instinct inside Vin screamed to remain silent, but she feared angering everyone there by ignoring their leader. So she spoke. "My name is Vin. I am a human from the Final Empire." "Ohhhhh! Where's that?" said a pink horse with curly pink hair. Vin was disturbed that it had managed sneak up on her, even while she was burning tin. "Do they have cake there because I really want cake WAIT what if they don't? What if you don't know what cake is QUICK! SOMEONE GET CAKE!!!" it screamed, bouncing up and down. It was rather amusing watching it, actually. Vin realized suddenly that she was very, very tired and her pewter was almost gone. Her first instinct was to drink another vial of metals, before realizing that, where ever she was, this place may not have allomantic metals, meaning she should conserve her metals. This brief internal struggle distracted her long enough for her pewter to burn off. 'Uh-oh' she thought as the world around her spun and her vision went black.
When she awoke, she found herself in a luxurious white marble bedroom. She was no longer wearing her mistcloak, only wearing her simple black shirt and trousers. At first, she panicked. Her mistcloak had her metal vials in it. However, there was her mistcloak, sitting on a table across the room with her metal vials and daggers laid out neatly beside it. Burning iron, she pulled one of the vials over to her out-stretched hand, downing it. "How did you do that?" a voice asked. Vin snapped her head towards the sound. Standing in the doorway was the one they called Twilight Sparkle. "Allomancy." Vin slowly replied. "What?" "Alloman-" Vin cut her self off, realizing this unicorn had probably never heard of the art of Preservation. "I'll tell you if you answer my question." Vin said. The pony nodded. "What did you do to me last night? How did you stop me midair?" The pony looked confused at this. "What do you mean? Magic, or course." "Well then I used something similar." Vin replied. The pony did not seem satisfied by this answer, but simply said "The princesses are waiting for you." Warily, Vin got up off the bed she had been on. She donned her mistcloak, putting her metal vials and daggers back in their proper places. The pony eyed the daggers with suspicion, but did not object. "Lead the way." Vin said. Twilight's horn glowed, and suddenly she was in what appeared to be a throne room. "How.... what...?" Vin said. "Greetings, Vin, human mistborn of the Final Empire, and welcome to Canterlot!" said Princess Celestia. Sitting next to her was another alicorn with a coat as black as night, who's mane twinkled like the stars. "This is my sister, Princess Luna." said Celestia, noticing Vin's interest in her. "Now, I am sure you have as many questions for us as we have for you, but let me ask the most pressing one. Why are you here?" "I do not know." Vin replied slowly. "Now let me ask you a question..." And so they continued, each asking questions about the other. Princess Celestia was shocked to learn how cruelly skaa were treated before the death of the Lord Ruler, and Vin was stunned to learn how harmoniously the ponies lived. Vin learned the basics of unicorn magic, and in turn told Celestia how allomancy works. As it turned out, all allomantic metals or components of allomantic metals (with the exception of atium) occurred naturally here, in similar quantities as the Final Empire. At first, Vin was reluctant to give any information away to Celestia. However, as they talked, she slowly began to think she could trust her. She burned duralumin and bronze, just to make sure there wasn't a Soother or Rioter playing with her emotions. "Well Vin, I am sure you would like to rest and process the information I have shared with you. Twilight, would you mind if Vin stayed with you in the Ponyville library?" "Not at all, Princess! Please Vin, if you would follow me."