We hurried to the front gates of the Canterlot Castle.
A last-minute thought by Dusk that there was the possibility of this Twilight Sparkle mare, being Celestia's student, would know about the curse, especially that she would have probably asked her teacher about it by now, held a possibility. Since the confrontation/kidnapping of Trixie, we had no leads.
This was a lead that we could not afford to lose.
We then arrived at the castle gates, where two guard-pegasi keeping control of the ins and outs of the castle.
"Halt!" The first guard said.
"Who goes there?" Said the other, as if they had practiced the synchronization of the two phrases for their whole lives.
Crap, I'll have to use my alias that I conceived when Twilight asked me my name.
"I am Celest, and I seek audience with Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle." I responded.
"We're sorry, but we cannot allow that," The first pony said.
"Visitors are only allowed in with previous appointment." The other followed.
Damn. I guess I would have to use my Plan B way of getting in.
In the dirt below me, I drew the symbol.
It was a symbol that was used by Celestia's spies to other lands, that needed to get into the castle with no commotion, no indication of presence. No appointment. The symbol was a fish with an S on it, swimming towards a castle with a star over it.
The guard's eyes widened, and with a simple nod, they allowed me in. I trampled the symbol on my way in, reducing it to a dust cloud while I walked through the gates.
I was handed a pink parcel on my way in. I held it upside down, its bow hanging as I walked. This was a signal that let guard's inside the castle know not to pursue.
Everything went smoothly until we reached the library door, where a note was posted. The note read:
To whomever this note pertains to,
I am sorry, but the library will be closed indefinitely. Princess Celestia has asked me to supervise the arrangement of the Summer Sun Celebration down in Ponyville. If you need to contact me, I will be staying at the local library.
Celestia's star student,
Twilight Sparkle
Dammit, we had missed her by a day.
Look on the bright side, Dusk said in my head, we know where she is, and even where she's staying!
True, I replied.
There was still a lead.
I returned to the gate, where I placed the package, on its side, on the gate median. The two guards nodded, and we left for Ponyville.
I let out a large sigh of relief as we left the city gates.
"Man, that was stressful!" I said to Dusk. Since we were outside the gates, nopony was there to judge a pony babbling to himself.
I didn't see it that way, although I felt the tension in your mind, Dusk stated.
"Well, the thing is, as far as I can remember, if I got anything wrong with that, down to returning the parcel side-ways, Celestia's direct orders were to execute on the spot..." I shivered at the thought.
Whoa! Didn't know that such a soft-hearted Princess could give such cold-hearted orders.
"You were lucky. You saw the soft side of Celestia." I replied.
I guess you're right. Nopony could stay cold-hearted after hearing that their long-lost son, believed to be dead many years ago, was still alive, Dusk thought out loud.
"I'm just happy that she didn't turn you into a tree or pile of ashes when she woke up." I interjected.
We arrived in Ponyville just after noon. My stomach wanted food, my logical mind thought it optional, and my creative mind brought up a picture of a delicious hay-filled sandwich.
Wow, it's like you already had multiple ponies in this mind before I came along, Dusk said.
Actually, I thought now since we were getting near town, that only started to happen after you showed up, I replied.
As we neared a hill overlooking the town, my observation skills went into full bloom. The town had a center that was mainly shops and residences in it. As the town spread out, it had three distinct zones: an apple farm, a park area, and an area that became a dense forest as you went deeper into it. The apple farm was large, looking to be the town's main crop. The park was nice, with only one house sitting within it (a caretaker's house, probably). The forest sat just outside the park, but the park kept it's distance from it. In fact, most of the town was pretty abstinent of expanding near the forest. Interesting.
Now my mind tried to find a place outside the town that we could stay in with minimal detection. If the town was so reluctant to do anything near the forest, nothing good probably was in it. There was a mountain range, but it was very far from the town. The orchard was not dense at all, so hiding in there would probably cause more suspicion of us if we hid there. There was only one choice, and Dusk knew this as well.
"Fine," I sighed to myself and Dusk, and we headed into town to find a place to stay.
We had found an inn within the town, and borrowed a room for the night. As we were leaving the inn, something went off in my head. Something was about to go horribly wrong...
An indescribable pink blur passed me so fast that I did a 360 and landed on my flank where I stood. I rubbed my head, now spinning from the sudden event, and when I looked up, all I saw was a pink mare smiling at me so hard, it could've melted my face.
"Partypartyparty!" She said rapidly. Did she have some kind of speech impairment?
"I'm inviting you to a party! Everypony in Ponyville will be there, and I'm making sure everypony in Ponyville will be there, I know everypony in Ponyville-"
She paused, calculating something in her head. Oh Celestia, what was next?
Her face lit up ten-fold, my amazement being that that was even possible. She inhaled, and I prepared myself for the next barrage of words.
"Wait, I've never seen you around Ponyville, and I know everypony in Ponyville, so if I've never seen you in Ponyville, that means that you're new to Ponyville, which means that you need a party too!"
Oh Celestia, not a party! That's just asking to blow our cover!
"I have to prepare for TWO parties now! I gotta hurry!" The pony spit out as her hooves spun, ready to lift off.
Uncontrolled by me, my hoof stomped down on her puffy tail, and all of her momentum was stopped. She looked back at me, and my head spun, meeting her eyes and immediately staring down into them. Her bluish-green eyes turned blood-red for a flash, and I released her tail. She barreled away from me, a forced smile on her face.
Umm, what the hell was that?
I looked around, seeing if anyone noticed. Luckily, everyone was either at home or at the cafe, eating their lunches. Luckily, the cafe was on the other side of the center, blocked by a large tree.
Well, I didn't do that, so that leaves one other person...
Well, as you said, it would've blown our cover brother, so I really couldn't do much else.
I'm not wondering why you did it, but how! You took control of my body, and somehow did something through me!
All I did was put a spell on her that made her fear us, and keep away from us at all costs.
Yeah, but don't you think that will cause suspicion of us, a resident pony that absolutely fears us?
You're right. Never thought of that. I'll just see her tonight and reverse it. After all, isn't she going to be at the party?
Party? I looked down at a card that had fallen to my feet when Dusk stopped the energetic mare.
It was a party invitation. Specifically to a welcome party for a pony named-
I stopped at the name. I had to contain the joy that I felt down in my heart. Both the pink mare that we had to reverse the spell on, and Celestia's student were going to be there. This was PERFECT!
Be at the library at 6:30 sharp to surprise the guest! Be there or be square! the invitation ended.
Hold it there, Dawn. We still have to decide how we're going to get information out of this mare, Dusk interjected.
Good point, I thought back.
My stomach growled.
Can we do it over lunch, please?
Ugh, Fine, Dawn sighed back. There's no stopping your stomach, is there?
Nope, I thought happily.