“I got left behind! I’m trying to get to the palace, but I can’t tell where you are. I’ll catch up! Just—” Was all Verity said before Concord urgently drew her aside, placed a hoof over her mouth and urgently shook his head. The filly gladly took this as permission to quit speaking for Twilight and clammed back up. It had been getting tiring, helping that unicorn dig herself deeper and deeper in lies and deception. Verity hoped she’d stay away for a good long time.
The group of ponies had materialized Canterlot Palace Long Distance Teleportation Arrival Zone #2 not more than a few seconds ago. Luna, aiming perfectly, had arrived at the dead center of the room, facing the exit, with Pinkie Pie and Verse appearing to one side of her while Verity and Concord popped back into being on the other.
Concord glanced worriedly up at the princess, afraid that she’d heard the vicarious outburst and surmised something, but his captor was having troubles of her own.
Luna whinnied and shook her head as arcs of wasted magical energy crawled across her horn. It was as though the spell had tried to pull along a sixth target and failed. Something was up, something she hadn’t accounted for. Had another conspirator been there, watching them undetected and somehow resisting her spells? The alchemist grinned sheepishly at her from where he stood next to his equinculus, who had been trying to say something about a rendezvous before he silenced it.
To her vision, the collar-mark of the geas still hung hazily about the stallion’s neck. That ought to have comforted her; she was in control now. However, something was still—how did ponies today say it—piscine about the whole situation.
Luna was about to address this issue when Pinkie spoke up from her other side. “Hey, that looks like Dashie’s!” the earth pony said, picking up a corner of a blue blanket lying in a heap in the corner of the room. She sniffed it tentatively then wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. “Hwoof! Yup, it’s Dashie’s alright.”
The princess tilted her head. “You can tell by the smell?”
Pinkie nodded. “Uh-huh! Rainbow told me once how she likes to fly around to get all tired out and wound up in the evenings. Then she jumps right into bed with a book and reads until she falls asleep, so that would make it get all gross, right?” She lifted a corner of the blanket to which was attached a tag with ‘RD’ scrawled on it in red ink. “Also this. What’s it doing all the way up in Canterlot, though?” She looked up from her find back at Luna, then noticed Concord standing nearby.
With a shriek, Pinkie dove beneath the blanket and hid herself, trembling with renewed fright. It probably looked silly to everypony else, but covers kept you safe from dangerous, scary things, or at least so she’d thought back when she was a little filly. Her Granny Pie had taught her that smiles and laughter were a whole lot better than hiding under the sheets, but Pinkie just hadn’t been able to muster any of those since her terrible realization that afternoon. There was no reason to be happy until that awful pony was out of her life for good!
“What’s he still doing here?” she complained. “Why haven’t you put him in a dungeon yet or something?
Concord winced, but he knew he shouldn’t take it personally. Pinkie couldn’t help it, and she’d be this way until Twilight (or somebody) fixed her. Still, he hated to think that he was making her feel worse just by being here, but it was either this or breaking his promise.
...Or was it? Twilight had said she could get Pinkie back to normal, but Verity said that other spirit, ‘Desserts’ or whatever, was the one who changed Pinkie in the first place. Hadn’t she told him she’d be up here with Fortuna? She had seemed pretty friendly that one time they’d ran into each other in Ponyville. Maybe he didn’t need Twilight after all? Maybe he could just find Desserts and explain what was going on, and she’d rescind the penalty. Yeah, that would fix everything!
Concord’s foolish grin reappeared for the first time since Pinkie took her plunge off the town hall. Punishing her had to have been some sort of mistake, anyway. How could she do anything wrong? Pinkie was the perfect pony!
Luna watched the two ponies with an inquisitive eye, mistrustful of Concord’s sudden cheery expression. “I suppose your friend was holding it too tightly when I brought her here, and it was pulled along as well,” she answered Pinkie dryly. Being wary of alchemists was sensible, but this alchemist? Even with that equinculus, he’d been nothing but a foolish, erratic pushover so far. It was starting to remind her of her own reception by the pink mare on Nightmare Night. Was there really something wrong with the little earth pony? Could those quacking doctors back in Ponyville have been half-right after all?
“My friends are all here?” Pinkie squeaked.
Luna nodded distractedly, scrutinizing Concord again. “They are. As for him, I still need to tighten him for information about—”
Pinkie Pie launched from beneath the comforter and out the room’s door like a pink-and-magenta bullet, throwing the blanket over Concord’s head and blowing Luna’s starry mane into disarray in her wake. “Gonna-go-find-them-thanks-bye!”
“Pinkie, wait!” Luna cried. “His servant said the other alchemists would be here too! They might be—”
Out of sight down the hall, Pinkie screamed.
Concord and the princess gasped in unison. “Don’t you dare move a step outside this room,” Luna commanded him as she charged through the door. Why was it ajar? Where were the guards on duty, she wondered, then shelved the questions for later. Pinkie Pie was in trouble!
Heedless of the order, her prisoner followed as well as he could. Still blinded by the heavy fabric over his head, Concord ran straight into the wall beside the door and bounced off before dazedly tossing the blanket aside and giving pursuit.
Verity and Verse trotted up to the doorway. The filly lifted a corner of the discarded bedclothes to find what she already knew was there: another piece of fabric tangled among them, originally white but covered in chemical stains. It was Concord’s improvised cloak, all that had hid his partial transformation. It had come undone when he freed himself.
A smile tugged at a corner of Verse’s mouth.
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men,
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain
For promis’d joy!”
Verity frowned at the dirty disguise. The things Verse said usually turned out to be true in some sense, but they were only apparent in retrospect. Whose scheme was he talking about? Which of them would come to grief?
Just asking would be a waste of time.
Without another word between them, she leaning against him to support her mismatched leg, the two spirit ponies walked through the doorway to catch up with the others.
In another part of the palace, Twilight Sparkle’s new form hunched into a defensive stance as Fortuna advanced. That thing had said she was a spirit of fortune, Twilight reminded herself, and she’d made Twilight’s magic fizzle effortlessly during their confrontation under the library. Just as well that this mirror shell couldn’t even do basic magic. What could she do? What could any pony do against fortune? How did one fight the physical embodiment of ‘things that just happen’?
“Yes, you’re just the one I’m looking for,” the red unicorn said. “How fortuitous that old Celestia called you from the waters before her appointment, no?” She paused and raised an eyebrow when she noticed Twilight’s anxiety. “Say, are you feeling well?”
Twilight was feeling confused. Celestia called her from... water? And why shouldn’t she be concerned? It didn’t make any sense, unless...
...Unless this spirit thought she was still the Mirror Pool duplicate instead of the (sort-of) real Twilight Sparkle! Could that be it? Verity knew Twilight’s condition because knowing things was her purpose, and the Mirror Pool ponies seemed to absorb a few facts about whoever they reflected, but maybe a spirit of fortune could be fooled by appearances?
Fortuna stood before her, looking mildly uncertain. “What’s the matter? Say something! I meet no one by accident. You are who I’m looking for, aren’t you?”
The mostly-faux unicorn’s mind raced. What could she say? What would calm Fortuna’s suspicion? How would a real Mirror Pool pony act in this situation?
...Oh, right.
Twilight stood up straight, unfocused her eyes and put on an air-headed grin. “I’m Twilight Sparkle! Uh... books are neat?”
The spirit rolled her eyes and snorted. Twilight maintained eye contact and kept smiling for all she was worth. Despite it not having an actual source, she felt a heartbeat racing somewhere in her empty chest.
After what felt like an age, the spirit nodded. “Of course you are, poppet. You’re doing a fine job.” She turned to leave, then beckoned to Twilight. “Now come with me, if you would.”
Twilight gulped and followed. She seemed to be getting an inordinate number of opportunities to mislead everyone tonight.
“I know I told you lot to stay out of our way earlier, but things, as they always do, have changed.”
Fortuna didn’t slow or look back at her, but as the silence lengthened, Twilight realized the spirit was waiting for a response.
“Uh, right! You sure did tell me that.” Twilight fibbed. “What’s changed? Is something wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong!” Fortuna replied a little too hastily. “Things are merely different, and so require a different approach.”
Twilight felt a glimmer of hope. Any trouble for these spirits was an advantage for everypony else. “Okay, what’s ‘different,’ then?”
The other pony glanced about, as if worried that she’d be overheard, then looked back at Twilight shrewdly. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you,” she said at last. “Speculars do lose their individuality and memories when they go back Outside.”
“Of cou—” Twilight caught herself. “—I’m not a specular, I’m Twilight Sparkle!”
The other unicorn nodded and winked at her. “Right, right. Good catch. Anyway, all of us seem to have gotten a bit sidetracked since ‘you’ let us in, and I’m going to need your help to get things back in order again.”
So the spirits had a plan? They weren’t just an assortment of supernatural beings she’d summoned at random? Twilight listened intently.
“Your sort know how it is; it’s so easy to get carried away with opportunities in here. Why, I couldn’t resist, myself. I got to torch the livelihood of the richest pony in Ponyville!”
Twilight did a double-take. “Wha? That was you? You started the fire that burnt down Barnyard Bargains?!” She glanced over Fortuna’s body. She didn’t seem to have any mutations. Was she telling the truth?
The other unicorn nodded. “It was supposed to be a complete reversal of fortune; the mighty, fallen! The great, brought low!” Her lips pressed into a moue of annoyance. “But all that Filthy Rich fellow cared about was whether anyone was hurt, and when nobody was, he just shrugged, and said ‘oh well, it’s insured,’ and gave his workers the week off. Can you believe it? The nerve! The cheek! ‘Insured!’ I guess I’ll just have to burn something he can’t replace next time... or someone.”
It took all of Twilight’s neophyte acting talents to hide just how much this conversation was creeping her out.
“So, uh, but that’s not why you came here?” she ventured, trying to look nonchalant.
“Oh, of course not! Small potatoes, all of it,” Fortuna said with a dismissive sniff. “We’re here to correct one very specific imbalance.”
“And you want my help? What is it?”
Fortuna chewed her lip. “Well, yes, I can use you, but not with that directly. Two of my compatriots have gotten sidetracked in such a way that, ah... well, let’s not mince words: they’re bound to come into direct conflict before long. You understand what that means, I trust.”
Twilight smiled a little in spite of herself. Dissension in the ranks of her foes! Wonderful news! Which spirits did Fortuna mean, though? That Just Deserts creep, obviously, but who else? Concord would let the world go hang as long as he had Pinkie, and Verse and Verity didn’t seem to actually want much of anything. Had Twilight summoned even more spirits than she knew?
“It means you won’t be able to do whatever it is you’re trying to do,” she guessed.
The other pony laughed harshly. “That’s putting it lightly! The way things are going, spirit will fight against spirit before too long. Really, truly fight. The kind of power we can bring to bear when we can’t reach a compromise... well, let’s just say we’ll all be out of a job if it comes to that. You won’t have ponies left to mimic, and even I can’t keep stirring the pot when it’s been shattered into a million pieces, now can I?”
The feeling of schadenfreude at the spirits’ falling out vanished. Twilight recalled Concord’s threat to pacify the world and Verity’s abuse of her power to rewrite past events. Sure, whatever they were originally planning was probably pretty awful too, but two reality-warping spirits having it out over Equestria had the potential to make the reign of Discord look like a picnic!
Twilight shuddered. “How do we keep that from happening? What do you want me to do?” She asked Fortuna.
“I want you to keep being Twilight Sparkle,” The spirit said with a twinkle in her eye. “She’s not just about books, you know. She’s also a bit of a heroine when needs must. I know you can’t really use them like she could, but if you could just act like you’re going to do that thing where you unite with the Big Six and save all your little friends from the big bad spirits, I think we can bluff them into backing down. Just follow my lead and I might be able to set you up as Twilight Sparkle in perpetuity!”
Not believing her ears, Twilight tried to hide her amazement. “I, uh, sure, I can do that. ‘Twilight Sparkle to the rescue!’ Ha-ha? It won’t even be fake, because I am Twilight Sparkle! I just need the other five bearers, they should be around here somewhere, and, um, all six Elements of Harmony?” Was this really happening? Could she get everything she needed on a silver platter, just for the asking? Was fortune literally turning in her favor at last?
Fortuna raised an eyebrow at her.
“Um, I mean, the ‘Big Six!’ Those. Yes. Please?”
The spirit unicorn smiled and increased her pace. “Oh very well, I’ll see if I can scrounge a few together.” She chuckled to herself. “I’m not sure you’ll get much use out of your friends, however. Come, there were four of them right in here last I saw.” She took a turn off the main hallway and down a side passage.
Twilight followed, too excited to bother wondering what Fortuna meant.