Chapter 4
It was indeed a long ride. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Buster hadn’t kept tripping over himself. I was afraid to look in my supply bags now; surely half of my stock would be broken or damaged in some way, given how many times he’d nearly trampled them. He was even more jittery once we neared the expanding Everfree, thanks to his last experience with the plunderseeds. Fortunately, this was where we would part ways.
“Stop here, Buster.”
“Huh? But the Castle of the Two Sisters is further ahead.”
“I know that, idiot. Thanks to your little stunt with the Tree, Princess Twilight discovered my plunderseeds sooner than she should have. No doubt she’ll be looking for a solution. I need you to find out what she knows, and keep me updated as to what she’s planning.”
“But how, Mistress?”
“I cloaked you, did I not?” I jumped off his back, becoming visible once more. Buster realized that I had, in fact, cloaked him rather than myself when I cast the last spell.
“Oh. Very good, Mistress.”
“I’ll come fetch you when I’m ready. Leave the luggage with me. I’ll take it to the ruins and begin preparations.”
“Mistress,” Buster’s voice actually filled with concern, “let me bring them for you, and then I’ll find Twilight Sparkle.”
“No. Go now.”
“You can’t carry all these, Mistress.”
“Fortunately, I won’t have to.” Using the amulet was becoming easier and easier, so I barely had to think when I directed two of the nearest vines. They scooped up my bags for me, and a third knelt at my hooves, offering transport. I clambered up, ignoring the irritating pricks of thorns (I didn’t have to fear their lethal life-sucking properties so long as I wore the amulet). With me aboard, the vine raised up. I didn’t have to see him to know that Buster had shrunk back in its shadow. “What are you still doing here? I told you to go!”
“Right away, Mistress.” He fled without a second thought, leaving a path of trampled grass in his wake. I could only hope that he wouldn’t be so careless once he neared town.
I had bigger things to worry about, though. Buster might be able to delay Twilight from making too much headway, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before Twilight attempted to get rid of my plunderseeds. Without the Element of Magic, her chances of success were slim, but I’d learned the hard way not to underestimate her. I had to keep her focus off the plunderseeds, at least, until I got to the Tree.
The plunderseed vine delivered me safely to the ruin of the Two Sisters, which was already overrun with the parasitic weeds.
“I’m sorry, my lovelies, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to relocate. Mama needs to stay here for a while. Don’t worry, you’ll have the place all to yourselves soon enough, if things go as planned.” The plants obediently withdrew from the castle, allowing me passage. “Thank you, darlings. Mama shouldn’t be long.”
I wandered inside the old ruin, only two vines following me in. These were the two that were transporting my bags, and they carefully dropped them off at the entrance before leaving me in peace. The castle was large, but most importantly, isolated. I could plan for Twilight undisturbed.
I found my way into an old study, and upon deeming it a suitable workspace, casually cleared the desk of cobwebs and dust. I moved a couple of ancient, moth-eaten books out of the way, and then replaced them with my own materials. Just as I had feared, most of my glass containers and vials were fractured or completely obliterated. After a bit of digging around and exploring the castle, I scrounged up a few bowls and pots that would serve the same purpose.
Now it was time for the moment of truth. I held my breath as I peered into the second bag, and heaved a sigh of relief. This one was intact. I picked up the jar, and inspected it to be sure that it was unscathed. This jar was truly irreplaceable. It was enchanted with an old stasis spell. It would preserve its contents as long as it remained sealed. Long ago, I had taken a cutting from the legendary star flower, a gargantuan, magic plant that grew on a hill at the very edge of Equestria. The star flower was said to have untold healing properties. However, what most ponies didn’t know was that the star flower attracted the terrible tatzlwurms like bees to honey. I believe Twilight herself once had a run-in with the creature while trying to make a healing elixir for Discord. She had uprooted the plant not long ago, but fortunately, I had taken my cutting centuries before.
Thanks to my study of botany, I could easily create a plant growth formula to turn the small sapling into a blooming, fully grown star flower in minutes. When Buster returned, I would have him plant the cutting in her castle, and use the formula to draw the tatzulwurm and wreak havoc in Ponyville. It was my hope that this would distract her from the plunderseeds and buy me a little extra time.
I had brought the ingredients for the growth formula with me, so I could get right to work. I was supposed to have had the concoction ready by the time we got here, but after Buster removed the Element prematurely, we were both scrambling to take off, and I hadn’t had time. The potion took great patience and precision, but I had practiced this brew a thousand times before. Thanks to the improvised supplies, however, I found myself babysitting the vials the majority of the time to make sure nothing boiled over. My tongs didn’t fit the new vases and jars, either, so rather than burning myself, I opted to borrow the amulet’s levitation abilities once more. The power felt so good...
The potion was done, and yet... where was Buster? I realized with a groan that I hadn’t told him how long to stay put. That doting puppy could be there all day trying to gather enough information to please me. I’d better go fetch him. Or, why didn’t I just drop the star flower off while I was there? Then I could get the hay out of there before the tatzlwurm arrived, and be safely back here at the ruins with Buster, hopefully plotting how to counteract Twilight’s plan.
I sifted through the contents of one of the duffel bags until I pulled out a smaller pack, one more my size. The plain sage-colored saddlebags were embellished with my cutie mark on the clasps, and it was currently empty. I settled the bag over my back, and placed the enchanted jar inside. The newly-made potion was carefully tucked beside it, and then I secured the flap. Now I was ready.
The plunderseeds parted for me, and I hitched a ride back out of the woods.
I rode the plunderseeds as far as they could take me, and had to walk from there. For a short filly such as myself, that was no easy task. Fortunately, I encountered an unsuspecting merchant heading into Ponyville, and snuck into the back of his wagon. Hitchhiking worked for a while, but the pony stopped at the marketplace, still a good distance from the castle. Rather reluctantly, I slid out to continue by myself from there.
I was deposited in the middle of a bustling square. My heart pounded, surrounded by all these ponies. I was very tempted to cast a cloaking spell for myself, but I knew better. I needed to conserve magic... even if tapping into the amulet’s power felt like heaven. ‘It’s not like any of them know who you are,’ I kept reminding myself. In fact, this was no different from the occasional trips I made to Canterlot. Nopony paid me any mind back there, and this town was no different. I was able to go about my business undisturbed... almost.
“Hey, you!” I stopped, suspicious when I recognized a similar country accent to that of Applejack. I glanced back to find that I was being approached by three young fillies. To the average pony, I appeared to be about their age. They must have been looking for a playmate.
“Are you new around here?” an orange pegasus with pink hair inquired.
“Of course she’s new, Scoots. We haven’t seen her around before,” the white unicorn with pink and purple curls stated.
“Sorry ‘bout them.” It was the yellow earth pony filly that had the accent. “My name’s Apple Bloom. An’ this is Scootaloo n’ Sweetie Belle. What’s your’s?”
“Scram, kids.”
“That’s a strange name,” Sweetie Belle said. Scootaloo face-hoofed.
“That’s not her name, Sweetie Belle.”
“Ya don’t gotta be so rude,” Apple Bloom furrowed her brow, turning back to me. “We’re just tryin’ ta give ya a warm welcome ta Ponyville, is all. Since Pinkie’s off with the Princess, somepony’s gotta fill in.”
“We’re hoping it might help us earn our cutie marks,” Scootaloo’s underdeveloped wings buzzed with excitement.
“Yours is pretty awesome, by the way. What is it?” Sweetie leaned in to scrutinize my flank. In return, I flipped my tail’s braid in her face. She spat out the green hair in disgust.
“Hey!” Scootaloo jumped to her defense.
“Mind your own beeswax!” I shouted back, pressing my nose to hers. My eyes flashed, and so did the amulet.
“Uh... guys? I think we better just walk away from this one...” Apple Bloom gulped.
“But-!” Scootaloo tried to protest, but Apple Bloom dragged her away. Sweetie Belle glared at me one last time, then ran after her friends. I rolled my eyes. Blasted kids.
It took me a moment to realize that they’d run off in the direction of the castle. I didn’t worry about it too much, though. If Apple Bloom was indeed related to Applejack, she was probably just going to pay her sister a visit. I watched the kids dash through the front doors just as the castle came into view. There were two guards posted there; I would have to be careful not to be seen.
There was little shrubbery surrounding the castle, so cover was hard to come by. Now I finally had reason to cast my own cloaking spell. My coat shimmered once again, and the same effect brushed over my saddlebags. Confident that I would leave no trace, I headed for the side of the castle. I still gave the guards a wide girth- I didn’t want them to notice the trampled grass I left in my wake. I tread carefully, even when I had rounded the corner, for now there were even more guards patrolling the castle walls. Time to call on the amulet again. Fortunately, the red glow of magic was disguised by the cloak. My whole body tensed when the magic surrounded me, yet I felt at ease when I began floating to the nearest window. Levitation really did come in handy.
I drifted around the castle walls for a while, searching for the Royal Library. No doubt that was where Twilight would be stationed. Fortunately, due to the princess’ love of books, the library was one of the most extravagant rooms, so it came with a very convenient balcony from which I could watch. I did my best to land softly and quietly so no one would hear me, but it didn’t matter, because EVERYONE was constantly moving. I noticed Fluttershy pacing in the corner, still pining for Discord. Twilight, the girls, and even her little dragon assistant, meanwhile, were moving from shelf to shelf, trying to dig up whatever information they could.
“Applejack?” Apple Bloom tentatively called.
“Apple Bloom?” The orange mare looked up from her book. “What’re ya doin’ here, sugarcube? I thought you three were gonna go crusadin’ today.”
“We were,” Scootaloo confirmed.
“Since Pinkie was busy, we tried greeting all the new ponies coming into town,” Sweetie Belle elaborated.
“Aw! I’m so proud!” Pinkie Pie dramatically sniffled.
“Then we met this filly,” Apple Bloom continued.
“She wasn’t very friendly,” Sweetie shivered.
“Oh, I’m sorry, darling, but not every pony you meet will be,” Rarity consoled.
“That’s not the problem,” Apple Bloom fretted. “She was wearin’ this necklace... and I think...” She trailed off. I tensed. She couldn’t know. She couldn’t possibly know about the amulet. Could she?
“What is it, Apple Bloom?” Now, Twilight’s interest was piqued. ‘Blast!’
“I think it was the Alicorn Amulet. I recognized it from when Trixie came to town.” Scootaloo gasped.
“You know, I didn’t recognize it at first. But now that I’m thinking about it, that was totally the Alicorn Amulet!”
“First the plunderseeds, and now the amulet? Arg!” Rainbow growled.
“But she was an earth pony,” Sweetie recalled. “Could she even use the Alicorn Amulet?”
“I suppose anything’s possible,” Twilight shrugged.
“Quick, girls, what did the filly look like?” Rarity primed her sketchpad.
“She was our age, and she’s all green. Her coat’s real light, and her mane’s darker. I think her eyes were green, too,” Apple Bloom started.
“She kept her hair in braids,” Sweetie contributed.
“And she had the weirdest cutie mark. When we asked her about it, she got really defensive. It looked like a sideways eight... it was also green.”
“A sideways eight? An infinity symbol!”
“Do you think she could be that Infinity?” Fluttershy had stopped pacing. I nearly toppled backward. How did they know so much? Hay, they knew my name!
“But the Infinity named in the deed to the Canterlot house lived almost a thousand years ago. She couldn’t still be a little filly,” Twilight shook her head. The deed! Of course! When they hadn’t found anything in my house, they’d looked up records about my house!
“I still think they’re connected somehow,” Rainbow spoke up. Pinkie’s hindquarters began to vibrate, her ears flapped, her right eye twitched, and her mane briefly deflated before poofing back out to twice its normal size.
“Whoa... I think my Pinkie Sense agrees!” she spoke up, patting the hair back down.
“Can’t argue with the Pinkie Sense,” Applejack urged Twilight.
“Alright. We’ll add it to the board.” I noticed, for the first time, a cork board leaning against the wall. It had all kinds of documents, articles, hoof-written notes and sketches pinned all over it, with red ribbons wound through the hoof tacks like a giant connect-the-dots puzzle. Rarity added a few last finishing touches to the drawing, and gave it over to Twilight. It looked something like myself. Twilight added it to an empty space in the corner, and started tying another ribbon to the pin. Rarity quickly finished another image, this one of my cutie mark, and pinned it so that this one was just overlapping the corner of my portrait. Fluttershy had also located a book all about the Alicorn Amulet, and with Twilight’s permission, carefully tore out a couple of pages, and added these to the collage.
I shifted uncomfortably where I stood, and bumped into something warm and hairy. I had to keep myself from crying out, as I hadn’t noticed it before. When the item I had brushed reeled back and tripped over himself, causing a huge commotion in the process, I finally realized what had happened.
“BUSTER!” I hissed.
“Mistress?” His blundering stopped.
“Hey, did anypony else hear that?” The dragon, Spike, looked around.
“Hear what?” That daft Princess Sparkle had been too caught up in her books to notice. Spike shrugged.
“Never mind.”
“What are you doing here, Mistress?” Buster whispered, now back on his feet.
“I came to give you the star flower and growth potion.”
“Ah, very good, Mistress. Where shall I plant it?”
“Right here, in the library. This is where Sparkle is getting all her information. If we cut that off, she’ll be dead in the water. And, when the tatzlwurm arrives, it will cause such a commotion that you can sneak their corkboard out.”
“Their corkboard?”
“It has all the information they have managed to gather about me. I can’t risk them discovering the truth about who I am before we are ready.”
“As you wish, Mistress.”
“Good. Plant the star flower, and wait for the wurm. Stay well away from the flower- that will be its primary target. You don’t want to be in the way when it arrives this time. When the girls are running away, snatch the board and bring it back to me. I’ll wait for you in the ruins.”
“But Mistress, how am I to get past the plunderseeds alone?”
“The plunderseeds follow my every command. I’ll have them bring you to me.”
“A-As you wish, Mistress,” he nervously agreed.
“And Buster? Don’t let me down.”