//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: Destination: Equestria 
// by Zervziel 
//------------------------------//

"I am going to die." The nervous officer's face betrayed his thoughts. Gone was the stoic, almost bored look that was so commonly attributed to the Royal Guards. This particular guard could only look on in silence at the destruction before him. Even after a week, a fine layer of rock dust from muted the once vibrant colors of the castle. The heavy and magically reinforced door had been ripped from its deep-seated hinges and cast aside.

The guard officer watched as even more guards scoured the room the door had once warded for evidence. Both Night and Royal guards were included in this search, the dark and heavily stylized armor of the former contrasting sharply with the gold and rather simple armor of the former. This did not matter to him. It had been on his watch that the theft had occurred.

So used to seeing civilians and even his subordinates quell under his stare, the officer now practically melted under the intense gaze of his liege, Princess Luna. He had heard of a pony that had stared down a cockatrice once, but the look the princess leveled at him now with her glowing pupil-less eyes threatened to bore a hole clear through his very soul.

"Tell us once again how a spell that capable of rending this door off it's very hinges was completely missed?" the Princess inquired, her voice gaining an earthly echoing quality to it. The officer winced. No answer he had currently to that question would satisfy the princess. He had to try at any rate.

"I don't know, Princess. All I know is when I was on my rounds, I simply found the door like this." At the point, he fought the urge flex his wings, a nervous tell for many pegasi he had learned. "No sounds were heard and as her Highness has mentioned, no magic was detected that night."

"What thou says is true." The Princess's face finally relaxed a minor degree. "Whoever committed this theft didn't use magic. At least not directly."

The officer's face once again betrayed him. How does one use magic indirectly? Most unicorn's needed to directly manipulate objects with their magic.

Seeing his confusion, Princess Luna heaved a sigh. "Magical artifacts. To be specific, objects that have been imbued with magic to have certain magical effects." Still seeing a look of incomprehension on his face, the dark blue alicorn fought the urge to facehoof. She felt as if she was teaching a foal the basics of magic. "Look at your hooves more the most common use of those methods."

Inspecting his right fore hoof, the officer spoke without thinking. "So they broke in using horseshoes?" Almost immediately he realized what he had said and winced. Several Royal guards looked up from their search efforts as the felt the ambient temperature in the room drop.

Mastering her emotions, no matter how much she wanted to vent her frustration on the pony in front of her, the princess instead finally indulged herself a facehoof at her officer's idiocy.

"No, commander, whoever perpetrated the crime did not break in using horseshoes." Looking back up at armored pegasus, she went on. "Continue your search of the area. If you find anything even remotely suspicious have it taken to one of the Silver Pinnacle's mages for magical verification. And commander?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Please brush up on magical enchanting. Unicorn or not, you need to know that if you wish to continue to command our guard."

With an acknowledging salute, the officer trotted off. Heaving a sigh, Princess Luna continued on her way to the throne room to speak with her sister. It had been her intention to do so before, but she had decided to stop by the scene of the recent break in the vaults first.

Upon entering the throne room where her sister currently was supposed to be holding court, Princess Luna was greeted by the odd sight of Princess Celestia presiding over a large amount of ponies. What made the scene so extraordinary was that every single pony present was wearing a hat, the more outlandish the better seemed to be the theme. Celestia herself was wearing a large, fuzzy, purple top hat that threatened to be knocked loose by her ever-flowing mane as she looked over at the new arrival.

"Luna! It is a pleasure to see you at this time, sister. Did you forget what day it is?"

The white alicorn's broad smile clued in the night princess that the hats were likely one of her sister's infamous pranks. This one seemed to be targeted at the large amount of nobles in the room. Sir Fancypants himself had a fedora, while his lovely wife Fleur-de-lise outshone almost everypony in a gaily-colored sombrero.

Stifling a laugh, the younger princess removed her crown before transforming it into a black bowler hat, which she quickly perched on her head.

"Excuse my intrusion, sister, but I wished to speak with thee about our recent incidents. In privacy perhaps."

Catching the look in her sister's eye, Celestia dismissed the crowd of ponies who quickly filed out of the large room. Luna quickly held out a hoof to stop two of them.

"Mr. Fancypants and Lady Fleur, please remain here. I have a feeling you may have a role in our discussion here."

Neither of the unicorns could refuse a direct command from either Sister and so they bowed their heads swiftly in acknowledgement, the motion almost causing Fleur's sombrero to fly off.

As soon as all the nobles were out of the room, Princess Luna spoke up. "Sister, we would like to personally over see the investigation of the theft from the Mage's Vaults. Perhaps with our magic we can trace the thief that stole the Arcane Lexicon."

"My sincere apologies for interrupting, Princess Luna, but what is this Arcane Lexicon?" Fancypants couldn't help but ask.

"It is an ancient artifact that acts as a focus for magical casting as well as a repository for certain arcane knowledge." The dark blue alicorn's face quickly hardened. "It is also one of the few remaining links Celestia and I have with our parents."

For once the ever suave and under control Fancypants felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine under his coat. Any and all information of the mysterious parents of the Princesses who had come and gone eons ago, leaving behind a planet seeded with life and magic as well as two alicorn fillies who were kept asleep until the time the world bore forth intelligent life for them to watch over, was strictly controlled.

It wasn't illegal to inquire into the nature of the divine sister's parents, but at the same time Luna's face had become grim and foreboding, her sister's face also hardened. It was definitely not a subject they wished to pursue and thus Fancypants quickly obliged them by changing the subject.

"If the investigation is in your hooves, Princess Luna, then I'm sure the culprit will be found quite quickly and brought to justice. However, may I inquire as to why Fleur and I are needed here? We are hardly investigators by any stretch of the imagination." Fleur, who had remained quite all this time, chuckled at that last thought.

"I believe I know what my sister wants." Said Princess Celestia with a knowing smile. "Fanypants, you are one of the most influential ponies in Equestria as you well know, but I believe it is actually your wife, Fleur, that my sister wishes to talk to."

"Indeed." The Night Princess continued from her sister. "Believe it or not, but Lady Fleur-de-lise is among the best connected unicorns, her area of expertise not being the gain of monetary resources. "

The white unicorn stallion just looked confused.

"What I mean is her resources mainly include a vast information network." The dark alicorn shot the startled Fleur a rather predatory look coupled with a smile any shark would be proud of. "A network I fully intend to capitalize on to catch our little thief."

Taken aback at the younger princess's intensity, it took the noble a moment to collect himself. As he did so, he couldn't help but wonder if his missing houseguest may be linked to this theft.

Knowing better than to withhold what could be potentially helpful information from the two sisters, Fancypants cast a quick look at Fleur. The light-pink unicorn, a being of elegance and intelligence, which was a major part of his attraction to her, looked ruffled at the Princess's declaration. However Fancypants couldn't help but wonder how much was her truly being flustered and how much was an act. Catching his eye, Fleur paused a moment and then nodded.

Clearing his throat, he decided to take the dive. "Ahem, your majesty, we may actually be able to help narrow your search a bit."

At this both Princesses looked at him, Celestia's top hat finally losing the battle to gravity and toppled to the floor.

"How, pray tell?"

"Just a mere few days ago, Fleur and I encountered a strange pony on our doorstep. She asked if we could let her stay in our house. Even said any location would do."

From the significant looks the sisters exchanged, Fancypants wagered they were indeed interested in this mare. He hoped it was just a misunderstanding as she had seemed pleasant enough if a bit uncoordinated, and standoffish at times. However if she were the culprit then his and Fleur's harboring the criminal without telling the authorities would have had dire consequences. Best tell what they could.

"This pony, describe them for my sister and I, please."

Fancypants readjusted his monocle as a delaying tactic as he gathered his thoughts.

"It was a mare. Unicorn. Slightly shorter than I. I think she was a little stockier too." Fleur offered, taking some of the heat of off her husband who nodded gratefully.

"Coloration? Cutie mark?" Celestia asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"She had a coat that was either white or cream colored. Dark blue mane and tail, neither of which have seen a comb in a decade at least. As for her cutie mark, amazingly enough for a mare that age, she didn't have one!"

Celestia's well-trained face almost betrayed her surprise for once. She quickly cast a wide-eyed glance at her sister.

"Does a unicorn pony with that coloration sound familiar, Luna?"

Luna's ethereal dark blue mane undulated as she nodded.

"Indeed. That sounds very much like the same culprit that attacked our nephew Blueblood with a vase and robbed him. Neither of you are to repeat that by the way." She added, leveling a hoof at the high-class unicorns. The couple could only nod, digesting the information that pompous priss, Prince Blueblood, had gotten mugged. Fancypants could only admire the gall of whoever did that whereas Fleur-de-lise silently vowed to shake hooves with the mare should they ever meet again.

"Is this mare still at your manor, Fancy?" Celestia asked, using the same nickname he often used at parties and other high-class gatherings.

The stallion shook his head, "No, your majesty. She up and left the next day. I will say one thing in her defense. She came into our mansion with nothing but the fur on her back."

The younger princess looked skeptical, whimsically tapping her hoof on the floor as she thought. "She may have hidden the lexicon prior to arriving at your house. Did she say where she was from?"

"No ma'am. I guessed from the old country from her lack of a cutie mark."

Princess Celestia finally descended from her throne, retrieving her top hat as she did so. Floating it back into place, she joined the three other ponies.

"How long ago was she there?" The Solar Princess asked, unaware her hat was once again in danger of falling.

"It was the same night of the disturbance in the castle's main hall. She stayed that night, broke fast with us the next morning and left shortly after."

It was Luna's turned to look startled. "That was the same day our nephew was mugged!" The irony that had Blueblood caught the thief that day as a way to prove himself, he may well have apprehended a thief that had broken into one of their most secure vaults was not lost on her.

Before Luna could ask any more questions, her sister held up a hoof calling for silence.

"We have discussed this in great detail now and I can easily see it taking up on the rest of the day as well. I need to reconvene court to finish up today's matters and I imagine you two…" Here she leveled a hoof at Fanypants and Fleur. "I imagine the two of you could use a break from all this."

The two nodded wearily, getting grilled for information by goddesses being somewhat tiring. With a smile, Celestia dismissed them. Turning back to Luna, she spoke.

"You don't need my permission to head an investigation personally. However even if this mare is the thief, since there is the chance she is not, justice has changed since the last time you took a personal role. Procedure now is considerably more thorough now. Another change is punishment and treatment of what few prisoners we have is fairly tolerant. It doesn't take much to make our little ponies reform.

Luna gave her elder sister a flat look. "So I am to go soft on this pony even considering what she has taken from us?"

"Yes!" The blue alicorn's wings flared in her fright at the sudden steel in her sister's voice. Her face softening, Celestia continued. "There are more reasons to this than just we don't want any of our subjects getting hurt any more than necessary. For one, getting answers for questions like "Where were yo taking it?" and "Why steal it in the first place."

Her sister nodded at this so the sun goddess continued. "Take only a small amount of guards if you must leave the city. If she is the thief, seeing too many of them will make her more cautious. Be patient and she may reveal more than just her intentions."

Now the Night Princess spoke up. "You expect that somepony else is involved, sister." The white alicorn simply smiled and pointed a hoof at her horn. Luna knew what she meant. The massive surge of magical energy that had awoken her so rudely just a few days ago which had eventually subsided until it was indiscernible against the background magics of Equestria.

With a sigh, she cantered to a side-door in the throne room, pausing as celestia signaled to let the awaiting crowd and their fleet of funny hats ack in. Luna smirked. It was days like this she could fully understand why her sister would want that extra laugh.





"Those eyes! Those eyes! Why is this green abomination so attached to me?"

That thought hurried through Mayberry's mind as her magical, minty mentor managed to creep her out even more. Applejack and her sister had left on the train just a few hours ago, completely and blissfully unaware of the odd behavior of the pony she had "assigned" to teach the unicorn magic.

Any excitement and wonderment over learning to use magic was quickly overturned in favor of an uneasy feeling about her new teacher. It hadn't taken long before that became fear and eventually full-blown horror. The pony was insane!

After her unsettling introduction of smelling Mayberry's neck and then proclaiming to know what she was, things had rapidly gone downhill from there for then came the tests. Lyra, as she finally introduced herself, wanted to check everything from body weight to horn and leg length. All the while, the green unicorn kept muttering something under her breath. Then the real shock came.

Having completed her most recent lap around the larger pony, Lyra backed up with a thoughtful look on her face.

"I wonder if the reason you're that size is because humans are inherently bigger than us equestrians. The whole conversion of mass thing."

Later when she thought about it, Mayberry was quite glad Lyra had at least had the presence of mind to take her inside of one of the empy cabins before the inspection and her dropping of that little bomb. She couldn't imagine what her face looked like at that point.

"H-human? What do you mean?" She stammered as she backed away from the unicorn.

From the way her assigned teacher's face lit up at that, Amber knew she had made a grave mistake. The smaller unicorn's horn lit up in an soft green light and Mayberry was forced to duck under several items that came whizzing down the stairs from the sleeping loft. The objects were revealed to be books that quickly assumed a very slow orbit around their mistress.

Eyes darting from book to book, the mare finally sent one of the books floating over to her captive audience, who was entranced by the show of magic. The book opened up and several pages fanned to the side to reveal an illustration of a human on one page.

"Humans are a species of advanced primates with an incredible capacity for intelligence that's equal to or even more so than us ponies!"

"And you believe I'm one of these "humans" on what basis now?"

Despite what she had just said, Mayberry had to admit it was an odd experience discussing humanity with a pony while wearing the shape of one. It also made for a bizarrely hard choice. Did she admit to being human and just go along with this seemingly unstable pony or should she just play dumb? She had no idea if humans were common knowledge here or what the other inhabitant's reaction to humans would be.

The green mare smiled even wider in response to the question Mayberry had forgotten she had asked. "I have my methods."

"Ooookay…..At any rate, my main concern here is to learn magic from you so I can earn my keep around here easier. The unicorn hoped she could call the nutty pony back to task.

"Oh right. That." Lyra brought her right hoof up to tap her chin as she thought in a surprisingly human gesture that took the other pony off guard. 

"Ok, I'll tell you what. I'll show you magic, if you help me out."

The other pony considered Lyra's proposition: magical training in trade for helping out in an undefined manner.
It didn't take long for her to come to a decision. 

"It's a deal as long is whatever I help you with isn't too dangerous, or weird."

"Excellent! Magic training begins tomorrow morning!" Lyra exclaimed, happily clopped her front hooves together.

Mayberry nodded and then froze as a new thought occurred to her.

"Uh, any idea where I go to get a cabin assignment?"

Lyra's grin reached even further.

"No need. There's only one cabin left with room for another pony."

The other mare looked surprised. "Oh really? Which one?"

Extending a hoof towards the large mare, who flinched away, Lyra snickered.

"Welcome aboard, new roomie!"

"Buck me."

AN: Next chapter= Ponies teaching humans.