//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Of Notes and Hearts // Story: The Outer Limits // by Salnalus //------------------------------// The crisp air of the outside filled Pinkie Pie's nostrils. She trotted along as happy as can be through the streets of Ponyville without a care in the world. No questioning as to what she was doing, being so cheery and all. Of course, this was how she mostly, if not always, acted on an everyday basis, so none of this was new. All the ponies who saw her noticed she was headed towards Twilight's library, for whatever reason. They all either ignored her, or just shrugged it off. They all knew it was for the best, with Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. It was the day after the day Pinkie found Sugarcube Corner empty after preparing two cupcakes for Twilight and Spike, two of her best friends. Earlier in the morning, she thought to make two more of those sweets, carrying them on her back as she made her way there. Or at least, one of them was on her back. The one with the gems in it was perched on top of her head. Applejack, who was in the Ponyville market managing her apple stand, noticed Pinkie when she trotted past the stand, taking note of the locations of the delicious treats on the pink mare. She wondered why the one on her head was filled with small gemstones, but she shook her head and shrugged it off. She had finally made it to the large tree on the east side of Ponyville, which housed Ponyville's library. Luckily for her, the cupcakes never fell off her during the short journey. Then again, this is Pinkie Pie, and with Pinkie Pie, almost anything is possible. Then again, ponies had a knack for carrying things on their head. It was probably a normal thing. She raised a hoof after she approached the door, and knocked on it three times. “Hellooooo? Twilight? Spike? Owlowiscious? Anypony?” She waited for a few seconds, but no response came. She knocked again, but harder. Instead of a hard knock as expected, the door suddenly opened, as if it wasn't closed all the way. That was pretty suspicious, even for Pinkie. She knew Twilight wasn't the kind of pony to just be leaving her door open like that. Perhaps it was Spike who left it open? No, even Spike had the decency to always close the door. She made her way inside, looking around. It was dark inside, though that was because the lights were off. It was pretty early in the morning, but Pinkie also knew Twilight was also sort of an early bird, so she at least expected the lights to be on. “Hellooooo? Twilight? Spike? Owlowiscious? Anypony?” She repeated her words, but yet again, no response. She did remember where the light switch was, and as soon as she found it, she flicked it up to the “on” position. The room lit up instantly. Pinkie took note of everything in the main room of the library. One thing she noticed seem different, like something that was normally not there. On a stand where Twilight would normally make notes, or read books while conducting studies, was a letter. Pinkie trotted over to it, and began reading its words. While reading it, she gave it a few facial expressions. By the time she was finished, she gasped, her hoof instantaneously covering her mouth. Without another word said, she rushed out of the library in a speed that could almost rival Rainbow Dash. About a minute later, the door from upstairs opened up with Spike walking down just afterward. He gave a yawn, outstretching his limbs before he took a peek down the stairs. “Hello? Twilight, was that you?” He made his way downstairs to where Pinkie had been, but only saw nothing but the paper she read. After walking towards it, he picked up the piece of parchment, looking over it. Just like Pinkie, he also gasped in shock, dropping the paper. He knew Twilight was leaving, but to leave this? Just about a few minutes later, all of the rest of the ponies sans Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were situated in Twilight's library. All of them read or heard the letter, and were either shocked or confused, depending on the pony. “Ah don't get it. We get the point why Twilight left. We don't got a clue why she didn't say goodbye, though.” “Perhaps she was busy. I know I tend to forget things when I'm busy with my clothing work. I can't begin to tell you how many times caring for Opalescence had slipped my mind when I-” Before Rarity could get another word in, Rainbow Dash cut her off. “Yeah, yeah, boring story. The point is, Twilight's gone, and she didn't even say why!” Applejack stared at her in disbelief. “Uh, sugarcube? She did say why she left. Read it again. It's in plain words right there.” Before Rainbow could pick up the letter to read it again, Fluttershy came crashing through the door, slamming into one of the bookshelves. When she fell to the floor, her eyes spun in circles, indicating her dizziness. Pinkie emerged from the door, with everypony else giving her odd looks. “Sorry for throwing you, Fluttershy! My tail was twitching, and something was about to hit you in the head. Luckily for you, Pinkie Pie was here to save the day!” For some odd reason, she stood upright in a heroic fashion. The others disregarded her action, and turned to Fluttershy. “Darling, are you alright?” Rarity held a hoof near the yellow Pegasus, who took a moment to regain her ground. “Y-Yes, I'm fine. It kinda hurt, though...” She rubbed her head where it came into contact with the bookcase. Applejack shot Pinkie with an intimidating glare. “What? I said I was sorry. Sheesh!” Applejack shook her head, and turned back to Fluttershy. “Anyway, the reason we're all here is because Twilight left here a note explainin' that she's departin' from Ponyville to head on over to Canterlot.” “Oh, really? Why?” As to answer Fluttershy's question, Rarity used the magic emanating from her horn to levitate the paper over to her. And she started to read it aloud. Dear Spike, and all of my friends, Princess Celestia had sent me a letter inviting me to Canterlot for a chance to study more magic! Yes, I understand all of your thoughts. I already know a lot of magic. Why would I want to try and study more? Well, since my special talent revolves around magic, I yearn to learn as much magic as I can. However, as of recently, I have been lacking in it. Not magic itself, but finding more magic to increase my magical potential. It sounds very confusing from a certain standpoint, but I won't delve much into that. The point is, Princess Celestia has found a way to give me more of what I wanted, and I don't really get a chance like this much! Well... ok, maybe I do, but for something like this? Why wouldn't I accept? I wish I could've told all of you before, but I had to make preparations. I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I'm so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to all of you, but I will make it up to all of you when I get back. I'll even have the Princess send letters to all of you through Spike, so you'll know how I'm doing. In fact, I'll send you one right after I get situated in Canterlot. I hope you all understand what I'm about to do up here. I also hope you all can be proud of me when, and if, this all helps me in the end. So for now, goodbye to all of you. Twilight Sparkle This left a puzzled look on Fluttershy's face, the same look that everypony else had when they read it. Everypony but Pinkie Pie, anyway. She was a bit too surprised. This left many questions haunting around the ponies' minds. Even though they understood why Twilight was going to Canterlot, especially considering her love for the magical arts, it didn't much excuse her from taking her time with her departure. They all thought about what she could be doing now. In fact, at that moment, she was in the train station. It was only about three minutes before the train left for Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria. Twilight was already in the train, and under the seat she was sitting in was a bag filled to the brim with many supplies she thought she needed during her stay with the Princess. Books, papers, quills and bottles of ink, scrolls, and basically anything an aspiring magic Unicorn needed to learn magic, or so she thought. While she waited for the train to depart the station, she looked around the train car she was in. There weren't many ponies going along for the ride, though there were still a couple of them. Most of them were notably Unicorns like her, and there were a few she could make out, though others were unknown to her. One in particular was a pink mare sitting next to her. Like Twilight, she was also a Unicorn, with a long, lime green mane that draped down her head and neck, with a tail that was only a bit shorter than that. The hair also had lighter green highlights, as to make it brighter. Her eyes were a deep blue, much like Rarity's eyes, but a bit more defined. What interested Twilight about her the most was her cutie mark: a simple flame with three shades of blue. The outer layer was about the same shade of blue as her eyes. The middle layer was a pale blue, and the inner layer was a sky blue. Twilight had seen her a couple of times in Ponyville, though she had never met her. Just then, the train's whistle made its sound, and the wheels of the train started to move. The train started to move, and Twilight let out a relieved sigh. When she looked out the window, the last things she thought she saw was Pinkie Pie standing at the train station, a sad look in her eyes. This sight struck a chord in Twilight, and she did not like the feeling. She knew she had to make it up to Pinkie, as well as her other friends, when she returns. Perhaps a souvenir, like a book from the library in Canterlot? Maybe not. She would have to think of something, but later. What she was focused on now was heading to Canterlot. Twilight figured there was nothing to do during the ride. She didn't bring along anything to keep her occupied. Perhaps she can write that letter she said she was going to write to send to her friends when she gets to Canterlot. But wait, she was going to write about how it was going after spending a bit of time there. She just left the station. Looks like that will have to wait. “Looks like this is going to take a long while. I know I've made train rides to Canterlot before, but those were with my friends. Now, I'm just alone. Spike's not even with me. It feels... oddly different.” She looked out the window. The fields adorned the view, as well as the trees in the background. The high mountains out in the distance decorated the view quite nicely, with the tallest one she saw housing the capital city of Equestria. Even though the beautiful view made her smile a bit, she was still feeling lonely. “I should've expected this. But it's just a ride to Canterlot. I don't really need any friends to keep me company... do I? No, I don't. I'm perfectly fine.” “You know, it doesn't really hurt to make more friends, right?” Twilight turned her head to the source of the voice. It was that same pink mare from earlier. “Excuse me?” “You said something about not needing your friends. But, having friends is a good thing! If you don't have your friends with you, there's no problem in making more, is there?” The mare gave Twilight a heart warming smile. “Well, no, I guess there isn't. Wait, are you suggesting we become friends? I've seen you around Ponyville sometimes, but we've never actually met.” “Well, of course not. But that doesn't stop us from meeting now while we're here.” The mare extended a hoof towards Twilight. “My name is Ember Spark, but you can just call me Ember. What's your name?” That felt weird to Twilight. She would've thought almost everypony in Ponyville knew who she was by now. Key word: almost. Apparently, Ember wasn't one of those ponies. She held out her own hoof, and shook Ember's. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. You may have heard of me, or maybe you haven't.” “Hmm... can't say I have, sorry. But hey, you've never heard of me either, so it's alright!” Ember let go of Twilight's hoof. At least she wasn't going to be bored on this trip after all. “So, why are you going to Canterlot anyway? I'm going because, well, I go every so often to visit my relatives up there. You see, I was born up in Canterlot. Don't get me wrong though, we're not all really snobby, stuck up ponies. That's just an insult to us, and we hate whenever a pony thinks that.” Twilight saw that Ember wasn't too delighted with that fact. But she knew where Ember was coming from. “It's alright, Ember. I, too, come from Canterlot. Though, I can't say I met many ponies that say things about Unicorns from up there like that.” “Trust me Twilight, I've seen plenty. It just riles me up to hear such blatant remarks. The nerve of such individuals! Do we ridicule them for their misdeeds? It is highly improbable.” Now Twilight just stared at Ember with a look of confusion, bewilderment, and... more confusion. Ember noticed this, and giggled a bit. “Sorry, was I acting like one of those stuck-up ponies? I don't really like speaking like that. It's one of the reasons why my brother and I left Canterlot in the first place. We moved to Ponyville, where we could meet some nicer ponies. Although... it wasn't long before we were greeted by another pink pony out of nowhere, who for some reason threw us a small party just for a welcome into the town. Can you believe that?” “Oh, that's just Pinkie Pie. She likes to throw new ponies welcome parties when they arrive in Ponyville. It's not out of the ordinary. Well, for her, that is. You'll get used to it after a while.” “No kidding.” A small moment of silence passed. There wasn't really much else to talk about. Twilight turned her focus back to Ember's flank, and noted her cutie mark. “I noticed your cutie mark. Exactly what does it symbolize?” Ember blinked her eyes, and looked to her flank. “My cutie mark? It's nothing special, really. It's just a blue flame, which means I'm pretty good at using fire spells. Don't get me wrong, though. Fire spells are nothing to laugh at or play with. Fire magic is advanced magic. I only learned it easily, but most who try to learn it have difficulties with doing so. You have to be really careful when performing it, even with the basics.” “Trust me, I know all too well about fire spells. I've even tried some myself. They're... kinda hard to do, yes. But I got it down with a bit of practice. I understand where you're coming from, but I don't know that much about it. I'm sure you know a lot more than I do, given it's your special talent and all.” “It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'm satisfied with what I know now. Are there other kinds of magic you ever wanted to know?” “Actually, there is.” Twilight looked back out the window. The first and only thing she set her eyes on was the tall mountain that Canterlot stood atop. “It's the reason I'm going to Canterlot in the first place. I received a letter from Princess Celestia asking me to go there because she has an idea of how to help me with my magical studies.” “You learn things from the Princess? That's pretty amazing.” It was a normal response from Ember, though one would expect a bigger response. Ember didn't want to sound too surprised either way. “I mean, it's nothing to brag about.” Twilight turned back to Ember. “It's just the same thing I've been doing for years now, ever since I was a filly. Ever since I received my cutie mark, I've wanted to learn as much magic as I possibly could. Given the circumstances, I think it's possible for my level of magic to reach really high up. I just need time.” “Well, good luck in whatever you do, Twilight. Maybe we'll meet again sometime while we're both up in Canterlot.” Twilight nodded in agreement. “If I ever have time, I'd like that.” Twilight smiled the rest of the way to Canterlot. She was glad to know she wasn't alone on the train ride like she originally thought. A new friend was exactly what she needed to pass the time. She didn't know what to expect when she arrived, but given that it's Princess Celestia, she knew she wouldn't have anything to worry about, as the Princess always assured her that things would always turn out alright. While she waited, Twilight and Ember just held casual conversation, talking about their hobbies, their other friends, and a couple of other random subjects. Before she even noticed, Twilight heard the screeching of the wheels of the train as they slowly halted to a stop. As she looked out the window again, she noticed that they were now in the train station of Canterlot. As the doors opened, all of the ponies stepped outside the cars, with Twilight and Ember being the last two of their car to exit. Before she headed off, Twilight turned back to the pink mare. “Well, I guess this is goodbye, for now. It was nice meeting you, Ember. Hope we can meet again while I'm here.” “It was nice to meet you, too. I have to go see my cousins now. See you some other time!” With that, Ember took off towards the streets of Canterlot. As for Twilight, she looked to her left, and noted the large castle standing before her. She inhaled deeply, and exhaled a deep breath before trotting towards it. She knew she had some big days ahead of her, and now was the time to start.