Scraps of paper surrounded Twilight Sparkle. Some were piled upon her writing desk. Others were stacked precariously on the edges of bookshelves. Several lay where they’d fallen on the floor. Upon the scraps were a hodgepodge of scribbles in different colors: spiral squiggles, zig-zags and ink splotches, as well as Twilight’s name and odd phrases such as “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Twilight scrunched her face in concentration, the tip of her tongue protruding absentmindedly from her mouth as she focused her magic on a pen and wrote, “a minimum of fifty.” Then she huffed in frustration. “Guhh! It did it again,” she said. “It skips on the longer downstrokes.”
“I guess we’ll be sticking with quills, huh?” said Spike. The baby dragon had been almost as excited as Twilight at first, when she’d unwrapped the newfangled fountain pen, read the instructions, and started to try it out. It seemed like a great idea: a mechanical pen that held ink inside so you wouldn’t have to keep dipping it into an inkwell after every line or two. And of course, it figured that Twilight would be one of the first in Ponyville to get her hooves on one. Now she was finding out the inventors hadn’t quite worked all the kinks out of this gadget.
“I haven’t given up!” Twilight insisted. “I just have to figure out why it sometimes skips or clogs… and blurts ink onto the page… and leaks… but how complicated can it really be? Maybe I can come up with a spell to make it work better.” She pondered. “Hmm. It seems to work better with some inks than others, so maybe that’s the problem.” She went back to scribbling.
“You’ve already been fiddling with it for almost two hours, Twi.”
She blinked, then glanced at the clock. “I have? I didn’t even know. I’ve been trying every combination of ink and paper. And when I change inks, then I have to flush it out or the colors would mix. If I can just figure out which ink works best with it, I’ll stick with that.”
Spike sighed. The novelty of the new pen had worn off quickly for him, but he knew Twilight’s mind was fully engaged, and she might spend the rest of the day playing with this high-tech toy.
From downstairs came the jangle of bells as somepony entered the library. “I’ll see who it is,” Spike said, glad for the distraction. He scurried down the stairs and found a familiar earth pony. “Hey, Applejack!”
Applejack nodded and said, “Howdy, Spike! You ain’t seen Apple Bloom around here by any chance, have you?”
The little dragon shook his head. “Not today. What’s up, is she missing?”
“Oh, she’s run off ‘cause she thinks she’s gonna git in trouble. Which she is, when I find her. I’m jist checkin’ everywhere I thought she might try to hide out.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for her, and I’ll tell Twilight too. What did she do this time?”
Applejack sighed. “She and her crusader friends went messin’ around with Pinkie Pie’s stuff, and it started a fire in the marketplace. Pinkie’s mighty upset about it, on account it messed up her welcome fer the new alicorn pony that she met.”
Spike blinked. “Alicorn, huh? You mean like the princess, with wings and a horn both?”
“That’s right. Aside from her colors she was a spittin’ image of Princess Celestia. Said her name was Crystal. Anyhow, after the fire she flew off, and Pinkie’s convinced she flubbed her chance to make a new friend.”
“Wow! I guess the crusaders are all in trouble with Pinkie, huh?”
“And not just with Pinkie. That fire damaged some vendor stalls too, and might near started a stampede. Anywho… I better git back to the search. I’ll see y’all later, Spike!” She waved a hoof.
Spike waved and said bye and then climbed back up the stairs to tell Twilight what he’d learned. He found her flushing out the fountain pen with water — again — in preparation to try a different ink. “Hey Twilight, it was just Applejack. She said to keep an eye out for Apple Bloom.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” said Twilight without looking up from the pen.
“She said the Cutie Mark Crusaders started a fire and burned up some of Pinkie Pie’s stuff, and damaged some of the market stalls.”
“Wow. Nothing too serious, I hope.” Twilight still was looking at the pieces of the fountain pen, which she was swishing around in a bowl of water.
“It didn’t sound that way,” Spike said, “but Pinkie’s really mad at them. She was trying to make friends with an alicorn and the fire messed everything up.”
Twilight blinked, her ears perking up for a moment. Then she chuckled softly and said, “Spike, it sounded for a moment like you said an alicorn.”
“That’s what Applejack said. With wings and a horn, just like Princess Celestia.”
Twilight frowned and set down the pen, and turned to look at Spike. “Well, that just doesn’t make sense. I thought Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the only alicorns in the world.”
Spike shrugged. “I guess not. Hey, we thought Princess Celestia was the only one until last year.”
Twilight’s frown deepened. “That… That’s true, but still it doesn’t make sense.” She focused on Spike. “Did she say who she was? What was her cutie mark? Where did she come from?”
The baby dragon stammered, “I don’t know, I don’t know! Applejack didn’t say. Wait… She said the alicorn’s name was Crystal. But that’s all. Then she left and went looking for Apple Bloom.”
The fountain pen forgotten, Twilight started down the stairs. “I have to investigate this. It could be important. I mean, who knows what this strange alicorn could be up to. She might be a powerful nature goddess, or some ancient evil that’s returned to, um… not plunge Equestria into endless night, because that was Luna’s thing, but it could be something just as bad.”
“Wait for me!” Spike hopped onto Twilight’s back.
Twilight said, “We’ll start our investigation with the marketplace, Spike! It’s like a crime scene. There’ll be evidence and witnesses and everything.”
It was only a short jog over from the library. The area had been substantially cleaned up when they arrived, with only the partially burnt cloth awnings standing out as obvious damage. Twilight immediately cornered one of the vendors and got a quick recounting of the morning’s excitement.
“Wait… You say this alicorn helped put out the fire? Did she cast a spell?” Twilight wondered.
Roseluck answered, “No, she used her cape to beat down the flames. The poor thing… Her cape was completely ruined.”
“That’s… odd. I’m sure I could have cast a fire suppression spell if I’d been here. I wonder why she didn’t?”
Spike said, “Not everypony’s as great with magic as you, Twilight.”
Twilight retorted, “But she’s an alicorn! I mean, come on! If she’s anything like the princesses, she’d completely outclass me in spellcasting.” Spike shrugged helplessly. Then Twilight turned her attention to Rose again. “What happened after the fire was put out?”
“Oh, that’s when we all saw that she had wings, and some of the ponies started bowing and asking if she was a princess. She didn’t seem to like that, and she flew away.” Then Rose pointed helpfully with a hoof. “That way!”
Twilight gazed over the rooftops for a moment, then asked, “She didn’t say anything about why she was here? Anything about portents of doom?”
Rose frowned for a moment. “No… Oh, well of course she was here to shop for groceries!”
“Groceries?” Twilight echoed.
Rose nodded. “She left her bags here when she flew away. She must have forgot about them completely. You know, if you find her maybe you could take those to her.”
Twilight scuffed at the ground with a hoof, annoyed. “I’m just trying to investigate the appearance of a new alicorn that might be a threat to all of Equestria. Delivering a sack of vegetables isn’t exactly my priority right now.”
Rose said, “Of course, dear, of course… But still, she did pay for them, and it’d be a shame for that food to go to waste.”
Twilight sighed and levitated the two sacks of food. “Okay, I’ll do my best to get them to her.”
Rose smiled. “Thank you, dear! I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
Twilight left the market, grumbling softly to herself as the bags of food floated beside her. She called over her shoulder to her assistant, still riding on her back, “Spike, have you been taking notes?”
He nodded. “Sure thing, Twilight. But you know… This alicorn doesn’t sound like much of threat to Equestria so far. I mean, it sounds like she was just going about her business.”
Twilight growfed her annoyance, then said, “But… Nothing adds up. I mean, for a thousand years the only alicorn that anypony knew about was Princess Celestia. Then suddenly we’ve got Princess Luna. Okay. I understand that, I was there for that whole thing. They’re sisters. I’ve come to grips with that. But now… A third? How many more are there going to be? Why are alicorns coming out of the woodwork?”
“Twi…” Spike tried to interrupt her rambling, to no avail.
“And what’s her power? I mean, we’ve got the sun and moon covered already. So what is Crystal? Is she the earth? Is she like mother nature? Or is she in charge of something really abstract like, I dunno… Love? Peace? War? Hosting really great tea parties?”
Spike started to stroke Twilight’s mane in a way he knew would help calm her. “Shhh… I’m sure we’ll find her, and she’ll turn out to be a nice pony, and she’ll answer your questions.”
“R-right! Thanks, Spike. Okay, maybe if we can find Pinkie Pie she’ll be able to tell me something. Let’s see if she’s back to Sugarcube Corner yet!” She picked up her pace to a jog and wound her way through the streets to her familiar destination in a few minutes. They found Mr. Cake at work behind the counter, but he directed them to the storage shed behind the bakery — which Pinkie had largely taken over as a workshop for her own tinkering and inventing. This cluttered space was where such mechanical wonders as the Pinkie Copter, the Party Cannon, and the Welcome Wagon had originated.
Twilight Sparkle had been back here a few times before. The Pinkie Copter in particular had piqued her curiosity, but it soon became obvious that Pinkie’s mad inventing skills were completely at odds with Twilight’s methodical and scholarly mind. Most disturbing had been the realization that Pinkie Pie didn’t really understand the operating principles of her own inventions. Her usual approach was simply to bodge two — or more — items together and see what happened. It was all trial and error plus nudges from her mysterious Pinkie Sense.
This time Twilight and Spike found Pinkie sitting on the floor and staring at her scorched Welcome Wagon with an uncharacteristically serious expression. Twilight called to her, “Hey Pinkie, you okay?”
The pink pony perked up. “Hey Twilight! Oh, I’m glad to see you. I’m really in a pickle now. A peck of pink pickles, even! Maybe you can help me figure it out.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, we heard about it. I’ve just been trying to find out exactly what happened.”
“Oh Twilight! Twilight! I was right there, I’ll tell you everything. There was a new pony in the marketplace, and I was trying to make friends with her, and she was all like, I don’t want to go to a party, and then I said I’d bring out the Welcome Wagon, and she was okay with that, and then I did my song and dance you know…” She performed a couple of quick dance moves just to illustrate. “…and everything was going good, and then the Welcome Wagon exploded and rained down rainbow-colored fire all over the marketplace. It was awesome! I mean…. awful! It was awful! And then the new pony got mad and flew away and I didn’t get to make friends with her.”
Twilight said, “But she was an alicorn, right?”
Pinkie blinked. “…?”
“I mean she had wings and a horn. Like Princess Celestia?”
Pinkie thought for a moment, and rubbed her chin with the top of her pastern just to make sure Twilight knew she was thinking. “Oh yeah. She looked almost just like Princess Celestia, except her colors were different, and her cutie mark was different, and she didn’t have the fancy gold collar and shoes and tiara, and her mane wasn’t all wavey-wavey. But she had a cape until it got burned up.”
An eager grin broke across Twilight’s face. “You saw her cutie mark? What was it?”
“uhh… I didn’t look all that close. Something orange, I think.”
Twilight facehoofed.
Pinkie nosed at Twilight and added, “She said her name is Crystal Dawn. Does that help?”
Twilight pondered. “Crystal Dawn. Hmm. Dawn is a time of day, so that fits the pattern I guess. I’m not sure how you put that together with Crystal.”
“Oh, and she said she was in town to visit with an old friend.”
“Really? Huh. I wonder who that could be? I don’t think we have any creatures of ancient legend living in Ponyville, do we?”
Pinkie thought again. “hmm… Ancient legends living in Ponyville. I only know of three. No, four if you count Granny Smith. But I don’t think any of them could be who she was talking about.”
Twilight blinked at Pinkie. “Four?” Then she called over her shoulder, “Spike! Make a note for me to ask Pinkie about that again sometime.” Looking to Pinkie again, she said, “Anyhow, I really think we should find her and try to get some answers.”
“Yes!” Pinkie bounced. “I don’t give up easily. If we can just find her, I’ll tell her I’m sorry for setting her on fire, and we’ll be friends, and everypony will be happy.”
“And I’ll get my answers,” added Twilight. “Let’s do this!” She felt a tugging on her mane, and looked over her shoulder. “Spike? You okay back there?”
“I’m getting kinda tired,” he said. “Can’t we go home now and investigate the alicorn threat to Equestria tomorrow?”
“No!”
Pinkie said, “Twilight? Maybe you could take Spike and your groceries home first, and then we could do our searching.”
“Oh, the groceries! They’re Crystal’s, apparently. I promised Roseluck I’d give them to her if I find her.”
“Wow, that’s super nice of you! I’m sure Crystal will appreciate it.”
They left the storage shed and wandered around to the front of Sugarcube Corner, then pondered where to begin their search. Twilight said, “Maybe we should split up.”
Spike chuckled and said, “Good idea, we can do more damage that way.”
Pinkie nodded and said, “Why don’t I take the north, and you take the south. No, wait! I’ll take the east, and you take the west. Or maybe if I get the northeast and south-by-southwest, and then you can go eastwest-by-northsouth…”
Another voice called out, “Hey, Twilight Sparkle!” It was a mint green unicorn who’d just come out of the bakery.
Twilight blinked and answered, “Hey, Lyra.”
Lyra said, with enthusiasm, “Wow, I’m glad I caught you here. I was just about to head over to the library. I’m done with The Encyclopedia of Monsters. The chapter on humanoids was really fascinating. I was wondering if I can find a book with more information about yahoos. I’ve got a new theory that yahoos were like wild men that ponies had domesticated. That would explain why so many of our everyday items seem designed for hands — because they were made for the servants to use.”
“Ut ut ut!” Twilight cut short Lyra’s rambling. “That’s all very interesting, but I’m pretty busy right now. I probably won’t be able to open up the library again until tomorrow… unless… Actually, you could do me a favor, Lyra. Do you think you could carry Spike back to the library for me? Then he could help you with your books. Are you okay with that, Spike?”
Spike said, “Sure thing, Twilight!”
Lyra nodded too, and said, “I’ve never carried a dragon on my back before. Sounds like fun. Hop on, Spike!” Spike hopped on and grabbed her mane to steady himself, prompting a little startled yeek and fidget from Lyra, but only for a moment. “Okay, I’ll try to keep it steady,” she assured him.
Twilight waved a hoof. “Go on, have fun!”
Spike waved back, and Lyra began to walk away, careful not to jounce Spike. Twilight could overhear her talking to him as they moved away. “So, Spike. Could I ask you a couple of things about those little front paws and claws of yours?”
Twilight giggled softly and said, “Lyra’s convinced there’s some deep dark secret in Equestria’s past involving humans, and she’s got to be the one to figure it out.”
Pinkie Pie hmmed, and nudged Twilight. “Just like you with this new alicorn, huh?”
“Uhh? No, no… That’s completely different. I just want to make sure she’s not dangerous, that’s all.”
“She didn’t seem dangerous to me. Not like Black Snooty, for sure.”
Twilight shrugged. “Not everything dangerous is as obvious as Nightmare Moon. Anyhow, I’m sure Princess Celestia will want to know whatever I can learn about Crystal Dawn.”
“Oooh! You can be like a spy, Twilight. You’re like Her Majesty’s Secret Agent. Double oh Twilight! And I can be like Q and make spy gadgets for you.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “C’mon, ‘Q’, and let’s find that alicorn first!”