Woven Word Weekly

by WovenWord

2nd Issue: Surreptitious

Why?

The bodies of the earth pony and the pegasus lay motionless on the grass. Neither stirred nor breathed. And neither would ever get up again.

Why did this happen?

They were soaked from the heavy rain, which kept pouring down on the meadow.

Twilight couldn't look away from the horrifying sight, tears trailing along her cheeks before they were swallowed up by the deluge.

Why do things like this happen at all?

She slowly walked past them, lowering her head solemnly and moving towards the stone arch. A sturdy wooden door barred her path. It had no knob or keyhole—only ornate carvings that marred its otherwise smooth surface.

With just a flicker of her horn, it cracked open.

~~<82>~~

Surreptitious

~~<82>~~

It started with a letter. Or rather, the green puff of a magic dragon, which materialized into a letter.

"Whoa there, partner! You're gonna burn somepony's mane one of these days..."

"Sorry. But it's just sending fire. Your mane would be fine... just a little displaced."

"Heat's still there, sugarcube."

"Just read the letter, Spike," Twilight cut in, wearing an amused smile.

He cleared his throat. "To my dearest student, it has come to my attention that a spell of considerable power has been unleashed upon Hoofington, creating a sustained field of effect over it. It's probably the result of an accident or a magical overload, but I trust that you will be able to dispel it and, perhaps, learn a few things in the process.

"M—" Spike stopped abruptly, staring at the scroll in confusion. "Huh."

"What is it?"

"That's new. It's like she hesitated before writing this part. There's a splotch of ink at the beginning of the paragraph... and that never happens in the princess' letters."

Twilight furrowed her brow and Spike cleared his throat again, before continuing in a more somber tone. It just seemed appropriate. "My dear Twilight, please be careful with this task. I am not certain as to the nature of the magic you will be facing.

"Also, be wary of mentioning this matter to your friends, should you choose to implicate them. I am quite aware that they would follow you most anywhere, without much regard as to the consequences. Yours truly, Princess Celestia." Spike leveled his gaze at the five mares sitting with him and Twilight at their table in Sugarcube Corner.

"Lil' late for that." Applejack smirked.

"A mission that even gets the princess on edge?!" Rainbow spread her wings and puffed up her chest. "Count me in!"

"Wow, she didn't even get edgy about the dragon thingy," Pinkie mused. "And that was a big dragon."

Fluttershy squeaked and shrank back into her chair. "P-please don't remind me, Pinkie."

"Hoofington, huh?" Applejack reread the letter over Spike's shoulder. "Ya know, I've been there before. No train 'round those parts, so ya just gotta hoof it. I could guide ya there, if ya want."

As the others talked, Rarity finished chewing on the dainty bite she'd taken from her pancake. She then calmly wiped her mouth with a napkin and proceeded to place a distraught hoof upon her forehead, arching her back a bit. "Oh, darling, you know I'd love to come with, but I still haven't finished that order I went shopping for."

"That's okay, Rarity. I know I'm not going to shake off having Rainbow Dash come, and I'll probably need Applejack's directions... but I wouldn't feel comfortable taking anypony else, considering the princess' caution."

There was a small sigh of relief—which still didn't manage to escape anyone's notice—coming from Fluttershy's direction. "O-oh, umm... I'm sorry, Twilight, I just..."

"Really, it's okay," Twilight reassured her with a smile. "You girls hold down the fort, and we'll be back in... How long does the trip take, Applejack?"

"Round trip? 'Bout three days. If you don't actually do nothin' in Hoofington, that is."

The little bell rang loudly as the door to the Corner burst open, startling everyone inside.

"There she is!" yelled Scootaloo, pointing a hoof at her quarry.

Sweetie Belle ran up to their table with pleading eyes. "Applejack! Please, can't she just—"

"Nope. Still grounded." AJ turned away from the filly, only to meet Scootaloo's gleaming eyes on the other side.

"Aww, but think of all the crusading she'll miss! You could be depra—derp—"

"Depriving," Sweetie Belle whispered between shallow coughs.

"—depriving her of her cutie mark!" Scootaloo shook her forehooves in the air, trying to emphasize the terrible implications, while the other mares at the table watched on in amusement.

"You're barkin' up the wrong apple tree, sugarcubes. A punishment's a punishment," Applejack finished, crossing her forelegs.

The Crusaders visibly deflated, dropping their gazes to the floor.

Taking a peek at their crestfallen faces, AJ sighed. They could be a headache someti—most of the time, but she still hated to see them down.

Clearing her throat, she announced to nopony in particular, "Still, I'm gonna have to go on a trip and I'll probably be gone for a few days. I dunno who's gonna be able to watch over Apple Bloom in that time, since Granny's favorite hobby is sleepin' and Mac's gonna have to double his work on the fields. So she'll be pretty much unsupervised."

The fillies perked up immediately—eyes and mouths open in wide elation—and quickly zipped forward to hug Applejack.

"Heh, you're welcome." With a quick thought, she shifted into a warning tone. "But I want you to listen very closely. AB's still grounded, and if I catch word that she left the Acres for anythin' other than goin' to school, she's gonna be grounded for a lot longer than a month. And trust me, I'll know."

The fillies saluted and spoke in unison, "Yes, ma'am!"

In just a few seconds, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle departed, letting the Corner's customers go back to their previous conversations.

"So, about that whole not-remembering-last-night-but-still-getting-home-somehow business..." a mulberry earth mare at the next table over said to her companion.

"I've told you before, Berry, you need to cut back." The other mare was a pale blue unicorn, who didn't look too impressed with the tale.

"That's the thing, I can't even remember drinking." Berry Punch slumped over the table, groaning and burying her head in her hooves.

The unicorn blinked. "You're really starting to worry me."

Back at their table, Rainbow leaned conspiratorially towards Twilight. "We didn't serve any of the hard stuff at Pinkie's party, did we?"

"No, and it was in the morning anyway… two days ago, so I don't really see how that's relevant." Twilight hummed and thought for a bit, before continuing, "If you'll excuse me, girls, I need to speak with Berry for a bit. We'll talk about the trip later, but do you think it's okay if we leave tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. I'll try and get done as much as I can 'round the farm today. Ask Mac to cover the rest." Applejack grinned. "Rainbow can reschedule her naps for later in the month."

"Hey!"

~~<82>~~

"And here's the list of things that need to get done around the library in the next few days. Now, what did we learn last week?"

"Never defile the sanctity of the checklist," Spike droned.

"Very good." Twilight put on her saddlebags with a glow of her horn and opened the front door, stepping out into the bright morning sun.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Spike nervously fiddled with his claws. "W-what if you have to contact the princess really urgently?"

Twilight gave him a quick hug, trying to sooth his obvious apprehension. "We'll be fine. Don't worry, okay? I'll have the toughest friends I could ask for right by my side, so I'm sure that nothing can go wrong."

Spike fidgeted in her embrace for a bit, but eventually let out the breath he'd been holding and smiled. "You're right. The princess just had me a little worried. I'm sure you three could take on anything!"

~~<82>~~

"I wonder if we'll have to fight manticores on the way," Rainbow said, twirling in the air with excitement, "or maybe a hydra!"

Applejack tipped her hat up at that. "Uh... you've been livin' near the Everfree a mite too long, Dash."

Rainbow wrinkled her nose in confusion. "We all live right next to it."

"My point exactly," Applejack said with a smirk, still moving forward along the path of dirt that cut across the green plains surrounding Ponyville. "These here roads are as safe as most any other in Equestria. Ya ain't gonna get into no trouble, unless ya go lookin' for it."

"Actually," Twilight said, "I've been hearing rumors about robbers hitting traveling merchants and small groups on the roads that don't see much traffic."

"Robbers?" Applejack frowned. "That's new."

Twilight hummed in thought, her ears drooping as she spoke in a quieter tone. "It seems that these things are becoming more frequent lately. Fortunately for us, the bulk of it has been happening around big cities, and even if it's happening more than before, it's still scarce. At least for now..."

"Oh, right!" Rainbow zipped in between the two. "Some guys in the weather patrol were talking about it too."

Applejack sighed. "That don't sit well with me. Equestria's always been a peaceful place. Ya never had to never had to worry 'bout somepony stealin' from ya—'cept in the marketplace. Even back when I was livin' in Manehattan. Heck, my aunt and uncle left the door unlocked half the time."

"Well, it's not really something that's happened overnight." Twilight looked up, recalling what she'd read on the subject. "It seems to have been growing since around five years ago. Slowly, but without any signs of stopping."

A heavy atmosphere loomed over them—threatening to whisk away their energy—before it was shattered by Applejack. "Ya know, this ain't really good traveling talk, so let's go on 'bout somethin' else."

"Yeah, I got a good one!" Rainbow said, perking up. "I think we should decide on a leader for this adventure."

Twilight let the silence hang for a few seconds. They passed a crossroad, and heard a train off in the distance. "Applejack's already guiding us."

"Doesn't make her the leader, just the guide. I think we should use seniority to decide!"

"Seniority? Really?" A grin tugged at Twilight's lips.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "Yup, 'cause I was reading the other day... What? Don't give me that look, AJ! It wasn't Daring Do this time." A beat. "T-Twilight... s-stop grinning like that! Y-you're freaking me out..."

Twilight held herself back as best she could, forcing herself into a calm smile. It was very easy for her to recognize the air about Rainbow at the moment. It was that little glow that a filly got when she'd learned something new and interesting, and couldn't wait to show it off in front of her peers.

Her smile collapsed into a frown. That didn't bring back pleasant memories.

Cautiously eyeing Twilight, Rainbow continued, "Well, I was reading this book that was mentioned in the latest Daring Do, and guess what?" She puffed out her chest. "I'm the eldest of this group."

"Uh, I reckon Fluttershy's older than all of us."

"Ugh, not of the whole group! I'm talking about the three of us."

"Oh?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "But that's still wrong. You're the youngest one here."

Rainbow flashed a smug grin. "Not when you consider the—" the grin got smaller "—thing between earth pony age and the pegasus—" and smaller "—thing." The grin disappeared.

Twilight let out a chuckle. "You mean the ratio of life expectancy at birth between the three tribes?"

"Uh..." Rainbow shifted her eyes side to side. "Yeah. Sure."

"I suppose that would make you older... in a sense." Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. "Doesn't really help your case when you lack maturity, though."

"Hey, I'm plenty mature! I've already—" Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Applejack was paying more attention to the ground passing beneath her hooves than to them. "AJ? You okay?"

"Huh?" Applejack's eyes refocused and she shook her head. "What'd ya say?"

"Something on your mind?" Twilight asked, placing more worry than curiosity in her voice.

Applejack was silent for a moment, before she shook her head again, as if trying to dislodge a thought. "Nah, ain't nothin'."

"Hey, you should be glad you get to see two hundred, AJ. Pegasi get the short end of that stick, only up to sixty-five or something."

Applejack snorted and gave Dash a sour look, before composing herself and answering, "Well, unicorns ain't that far off either."

"About forty years less than earth ponies, give or take," Twilight added, nodding along, "but we are somewhat close. Pegasi have the highest magical expenditure, so they also age much quicker..."

"Which is so not fair, by the way. Especially since we're all considered adults at the same age. I mean, what's up with that?"

Twilight looked curiously at Rainbow. "This isn't all some elaborate plan to start calling us foals, is it?"

Rainbow's eyes lit up as the idea struck her. "Hey—"

"Can we change the subject?" Applejack kept staring straight ahead. Aside from the set jaw, she didn't look any different on the surface, but Dash and Twilight could sense that she'd grown very tired in the time since their conversation started.

"Yeah."

"Sure."

They didn't talk much after that.

~~<82>~~

The three had stopped and set up camp right next to the road, where they'd found a dry dirt patch amidst all the grass. The night was cold, dinner was behind them, and Rainbow snoozed up in the clouds, while Twilight and Applejack huddled under a warm blanket near their campfire.

Their saddlebags lay next to them, crowned by AJ's stetson.

They both stared at the dancing flames in silence. The only sounds were those of the cracking firewood and a few chirping crickets.

"Well?"

It was the first thing Applejack had said in a while.

Twilight turned her head slightly to look at the eyes that were decidedly not looking at hers. "Well what?"

"Ain't ya gonna say nothin'?"

"About before? I thought you'd want to speak about it when you were ready."

"No, not about today."

"Then, what?"

Applejack shifted uncomfortably under the blanket. "Oh, c'mon, Twi. Don't be like that. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout."

Twilight hummed playfully. "You're wondering if I'm angry about the letter you sent to the princess?"

Applejack was still avoiding her gaze, and her voice started sounding more frantic. "I know it weren't right to ask Spike to do that behind your back, but I—"

"AJ," Twilight cut her off, finally getting their eyes to meet, "I know that you're only looking out for me, and that you're worried about my behavior. I want you to know that I appreciate it..." She frowned and placed a hoof upon one of Applejack's. "Although I would've liked it if you'd given me the chance to tell the princess myself, before going to her directly. And I was going to tell her, you know. I was just waiting for my next visit."

Applejack's ears drooped. "You're right. I'm sorry, Twi." She sighed. "I should apologize to her too. She's a busy mare, after all."

"Not so busy that she can't send me a concerned letter..."

"She wrote to ya?"

"Yeah." Twilight was trying to look bothered by it, but couldn't hide her smile. "It was mostly about my sleeping habits, though." Applejack started to chuckle lightly. "I swear, no one understands the importance of heavy research around here!"

AJ rolled onto her back from laughing so hard. Eventually, Twilight's pout melted into giggles and grew into loud laughter as she rolled on the grass beside her friend.

"Hey!" A dreary Rainbow yelled from above them, stretching her neck over the edge of her cloud. Her eyes were narrowed into slits—not from anger, but from her inability to open them any further. "You fillies done? I'm trying to get some sleep up here!"

"Ooh, careful, AJ. Old mare Rainbow's gonna throw us off her lawn," Twilight mock-whispered.

Applejack snorted before they both broke off into another peal of laughter. Dash just groaned and plopped back into her sleeping position.

~~<82>~~

The sun shone harshly upon them, with few clouds adorning the sky to provide shades of respite as they moved along the main road.

Still, they weren't too bothered by it.

"Mmm, juicy!" Twilight looked down at the golden delicious she'd just taken a bite out of, floating in her magic.

"Told ya they were!" AJ wore a proud smile as they slowly crested yet another green hill. None of them felt the urge to rush forward, having just finished lunch.

Rainbow turned her dessert around in her forehooves, eyeing it curiously as her wings gave another lazy flap. "Makes me wish I had some cider," she grumbled, before taking a bite out of it anyway.

They were getting close to their destination, but the hills had gotten higher as they moved forward, so now they couldn't see very far into the distance. Their initial worries seemed unfounded, as no danger had reared its ugly head during the entire trip.

Rainbow would've given anything for a hydra to pop up at that point. Or maybe just a parasprite. As it was, she found herself hovering along in a daze, barely paying attention to the road, and definitely not paying attention to what the other two were talking about.

"—surprised ya let him publish that, actually. Thought you'd wanna keep it a secret."

The word "secret" managed to snap her back to reality.

"Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? To let them see us as we are, flaws and all. I'm actually more surprised that a certain pegasus hasn't already flown off the handle over the free publicity."

She'd missed something. Something important, apparently. "Hey, uh... what publicity?"

Twilight and Applejack turned back to face her.

"Welcome back, sugarcube."

"You know, that supplement they're writing about us on the newspaper?"

Rainbow blinked. "Somepony's writing about me?!"

"Us, Rainbow. As in, all of us. Didn't the writer come by your house to talk to you about it?" Twilight asked.

"Well..." Dash scrunched up her nose, trying to remember anything like that. "I think there was this one stallion that showed up out of the blue the other day. I was napping, so I told him to buzz off. Then he started bugging me about giving him my autograph on—"

"Signature," Twilight quickly corrected.

"What?"

"He asked you for your signature, right? Not your autograph." Twilight had tensed considerably, and her voice was dripping with trepidation.

Rainbow didn't really notice. "Yeah, whatever. I think he put it that way too." She stopped for a moment, trying to remember, before waving a dismissive hoof. "Anyway, I just scribbled down my name on some papers and went back to sleep."

"Rainbow!" Twilight bristled and turned towards the recoiling pegasus, finally bringing a stop to their trek. "Those papers could've been anything! Haven't you been taught not to sign something without reading it first? How can you be so careless?!"

Dash shrunk to the ground, her wide eyes staring straight into Twilight's—mostly because she was now snout to snout with the irate unicorn.

Their gazes broke off to the side when they heard Applejack chuckling. "Well, let's just be thankful that them papers were nothin' to worry about. Now, why don't you take a deep breath and calm down, Twi?"

Taking a moment to compose herself, Twilight took a step back from Rainbow, offering a hoof to help her up. "S-sorry."

"S'okay. Still feeling a bit snappy?" Dash started moving forward again, prompting the others to follow.

"Yeah. With the exception of last night, I haven't been sleeping all that well."

"Sugarcube..." Applejack said in a warning tone.

"No need to worry!" The cracks in Twilight's grin could be seen from Cloudsdale. "I've just been pushing myself to try and stay awake a little longer without coffee these last few days. The problem is that I end up falling asleep on my desk, which isn't a very comfortable position."

Applejack sighed. "You woke up just fine today, didn't ya?"

"Yes, but we did turn in earlier than usual for me."

"Exactly! You had a good night's sleep, and now you're full of energy. Ya see? You don't need to stay up late. When your body asks ya to sleep, you sleep. It pays well to listen. The problem is your gosh darn stubborn atti—don't give me that look."

Twilight shook her head. "I get it, Applejack. I just can't do that on a regular basis. I lose too many hours."

"Please tell me the princess gave ya more time in that letter."

Despite her dour look, Twilight answered, "Yeah, she did. But it's not about that..."

"What's it about then?"

"You wouldn't understand. I have reasons to stay up so late."

Applejack frowned and opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Rainbow before she could say anything. "Wait, wait, hold up! Back to that other thing! You're saying that I get to be in the news again?!" Her grin was infectious, helping the other two to clear their thoughts.

Twilight smirked. "I thought you wouldn't be so keen on it, considering the last time you were in the news."

"That was just the Foal Free Press, Twi."

"Which reached other cities due to its popularity."

"I think it was more 'cause nothing ever happens," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes, "so the news is extremely boring everywhere else. Heck, I bet the Royal Wedding's been their biggest headline in months!"

Twilight tilted her head, mulling the idea over before nodding. "Well, aside from Ponyville, we're a pretty peaceful nation. They say newspapers are something to be scared of in Griffia, for example. Nothing but bad news all the time."

"Well, no news is still better than bad news, I reckon." Applejack smiled, thinking of how peaceful things used to be even in Ponyville, just a few years prior.

As the sun reached its zenith, the road led them through a sparsely vegetated area, before going out of sight behind a tall hill.

Rainbow performed a few simple flips and spins, unwilling to remain grounded. "So, how does this work? Does he interview us or something?"

"Actually, he gets most of what he needs through a spell connected to his talent. I think that's why they hired him." Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof. "He still asks us a few things though, so I guess you could say that he interviews us."

Rainbow frowned as she stopped her tricks. "A spell? So he spies on us? Is he..." Her eyes darted from one side to the other and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Is he doing it right now?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No, he's not. It's not a very powerful spell, so its range is somewhat limited. Also, it only helps him record what we talk about, which is why he still has to ask us a few things afterwards. That's what the papers you signed were for."

"So now I have a creepy stalker guy invading my privacy all day?!" Rainbow huffed in indignation.

"Sort of... For what it's worth, there were clauses in there that prevent him from divulging anything he learns about us that we may deem inappropriate for publishing. That's why he'll always show you what he's written before he sends it up to print."

"Oh." Rainbow deflated a bit from that. "He's still a creepy stalker guy," she grumbled. "So, all of you signed those papers too?"

"Yup, though I figure we got more outta the whole deal than you did, since we were awake to negotiate a bit," Applejack teased.

Rainbow's ears perked up at this. "What do you mean?"

"From what I heard, each of us asked for something in exchange for signing—aside from the payment that they were already offering. I know that Fluttershy asked him to interview her only when it was absolutely necessary, and to get most details from the rest of us."

"What did you ask for?"

Twilight looked to the side and grinned. "To be honest, I would've signed it anyway—since it was a direct request from Princess Celestia—but I just couldn't resist the chance to learn a new spell."

"I should've known..." Rainbow turned towards Applejack. "What about you?"

AJ shrugged. "Just that he keep an ear out for the Crusaders too. Make sure they ain't gettin' into any big trouble."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "And he agreed to that?"

A smirk was her only answer.

"Wow, now I actually feel a little sorry for him. Not sure how this whole interview thing's gonna work out though." Dash craned her neck and stretched her legs in the air. "I'm pretty busy most days."

"Yeah, real busy." Twilight giggled.

"Wasn't that big a deal." Applejack ignored the way Rainbow was scowling at their other companion. "Didn't even cut into my work, really. He just followed me 'round while I bucked some trees and told him what happened in my own words. He wrote it all down and that was it. I actually 'preciated the company… 'cept for that whole accent thingy."

"What thingy?"

"Nothin', forget it."

"Well, as long as he stays out of my practice time... and my nap time." Rainbow looked around, noticing they were moving upwards again. "Hey, are we there yet?"

"Memory serves me right, we should be seein' the town when we reach the top of this hill."

"You said you'd been there before?" Twilight asked.

"Yup. Delivered a bunch of cider barrels there once, when the farm was facin' some hard times and Granny decided to sell to folks outside Ponyville."

"You had a surplus of cider?" Rainbow asked, in a tone that very clearly added, "You'd better have a really good reason for not selling it to me."

"Nah. We made the same as most years. Just put some aside for sellin' to outside folks," Applejack said, giving Rainbow a knowing look, "'cause they pay more."

"Hmph, sellout."

"Believe it or not, my family runs a business, Rainbow. When bits are short, we need to find ways to up our earnings."

"You know, I'd happily pay you more beforehoof if it'd guarantee me some cider." Rainbow crossed her forelegs.

Applejack hummed in consideration. "You mean sellin' it to ya when I don't have the cider yet?"

"Yeah, I know you're good for it."

"That might not be a bad idea..."

"Actually, it's a very good idea," Twilight chimed in. "You always have ponies that line up and still don't get to buy anything on cider season. You could limit these early purchases to a certain amount per pony, so that those who still want more can continue to camp out and wait for you to open up the barrels. Like Pinkie Pie, for example."

The businessmare in Applejack was having a field day, thinking of all the possibilities. "And the rest will still be able to get their share no matter what... and pick it up at their convenience! That's—"

"Please tell me you're seeing that."

They'd reached the crest of the hill, and Twilight had stopped abruptly, staring wide-eyed at what lay ahead.

"Seein' wha—whoa..."

Rainbow gaped right next to them, before shifting into a frown. "Okay, who put a palace in the middle of nowhere?!"

"This ain't the middle of nowhere, Dash." Applejack gulped. "It's where Hoofington should be."

~~<82>~~

The whole structure pulsed with magical energy. That much was obvious, unicorn or not. Even under the midday sun, the stone walls didn't seem to catch the light, being surrounded instead by a twisting darkness that appeared to bite at the edges of their otherwise solid-looking surface.

The architecture felt ancient—similar to the Castle of the Pony Sisters in the Everfree—with tall windows that gave no hint as to what lay inside, save for an eerie blue glow.

Everything about the palace seemed to dwarf them in size, if what they'd seen of it was any indication. It was almost as large as half of Ponyville—Hoofington being a much smaller town—and taller than any of the hills they'd climbed to get there.

The three stood at what seemed to be the only entrance. A set of gigantic double doors—nine, maybe ten times their height—that opened up into a pitch black nothingness.

"I don't feel right sure 'bout this, Twi."

"I'll admit it's impressive, but the only way to dispel a magical structure like this one is to reach its core."

"You mean the whole thing is the spell?!" Rainbow gaped harder.

"Remember what the princess said: 'A sustained field of effect'. Someone or something is maintaining the projection of this palace on top of the entire town. I don't even want to think about what might've happened to the ponies that lived here..." Twilight tore her gaze away from the entrance to face her companions. "I'll understand if you both want to stay outsi—"

"Twi, it didn't happen when we barely knew ya. It sure as hay ain't happenin' now."

"Yeah, come on! I wanna see what's inside." Having overcome her initial shock, Rainbow was now shaking in anticipation.

Twilight smiled ruefully as she let out a deep sigh. "I understand I won't convince you to stay behind, but you have to promise me that you'll be careful. I'm mainly talking to you, Rainbow."

The excited pegasus narrowed her eyes at her.

"I'm serious. The princess doesn't know what this is, which means that I won't be able to figure it out either. Not until we're well inside of it, at least. Stay sharp, and watch out for traps and other threats, since I doubt there'll be a shortage of either."

Applejack still looked worried, but there was no doubt in her voice. "We'll be careful. Ain't that right, Rainbow?"

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go!"

With two gulps of apprehension and a dash of impatience, they walked into the darkness.

~~<82>~~

Applejack's eyes started adjusting to the dark.

No, that wasn't right.

She noticed that it wasn't dark around her anymore. An unseen light source had begun to bathe her surroundings, causing shapes to become clearer. She seemed to be in a long hallway and—if she went by the silvery glow coming from the closed windows on either side of it—it was nighttime.

She looked behind her at the solid stone wall. "No way back."

She looked forward at the only visible exit in the hall: an open door, giving way into a well-lit room. "One way through."

Finally, she looked to her sides, where her friends should've been. She rolled her eyes and adjusted her stetson.

"Well, wish I could say this was new."

She started making her way down the hall.

~~<82>~~

"Open!"

Thump.

"Up!"

Thump.

"You dumb—"

Thump.

"—piece of—"

Thump.

Rainbow slumped down to the floor, panting as she looked back at the window she'd been bucking for the past ten minutes.

Nothing. Not even a crack in the glass.

She snorted and got back up. "Twilight would love to put up windows like this in the library." She frowned. "Better not give her any ideas."

Staring down the dimly lit corridor, she felt a nagging thought in the back of her head. The same one that popped up the instant she'd first looked over the place.

"I've seen this before..."

Was it the soft red carpet that covered the center of the hall? Could it be the way that the moonlight—fake as it probably was—came in through the windows and hit those statues just so?

Maybe it was the statues themselves. There were dozens of them, all lined up against either side of the hall, facing each other and holding upright what were sure to be the biggest axe-like thingies she'd ever seen. Also, the first axe-like thingies she'd ever seen. She initially thought the statues resembled Royal Guards, but closer inspection revealed the armor designs to be off.

No, wait... she hadn't seen this before.

She'd read this before!

"Daring Do and the Quest for the Holey Bit." She whispered, as a grin started to form on her lips.

She'd never gotten the whole 'holey bit' part. Twi told her it was some sort of metaphor or something, but she didn't read Daring Do for the metaphors. She read it for the action! Fortunately, the part that related to the hallway didn't require much interpretation.

Moving towards the closest statue, she noticed that there was enough space between it and the wall for her to move through and not have to deal with any obvious traps.

"Buck that."

She quickly positioned herself in the center of the hall, locking her eyes on the open doorway at the far end. As soon as she set her sights on it, a stone slab started to slowly slide down, threatening to seal it.

Her grin grew wider.

Eyes narrowed and wings splayed upwards, she went into a half-crouch, coiling herself for an initial boost. The slab was already halfway to the floor.

Good. She liked a challenge.

She took a deep breath and bolted forward, seeing the statues starting to move from the corner of her eye before she flew past them, too fast for the sharp blades that were swinging down and hitting nothing but her rainbow trail and the carpeted floor. She could hear the stone tiles cracking loudly behind her, but it only drove her to flap her wings harder and faster, as she saw the door approaching.

I'll make it with time to spare!

The moment she thought that, the hallway seemed to stretch forward, pulling the doorway further out of reach. Several new rows of statues also appeared out of thin air.

"Hey! That's cheating!" she screamed, as she gritted her teeth and pushed herself to go faster. She almost didn't notice that the new statues weren't holding their weapons vertically.

Her eyes widened as the first one began to swing and she found herself flying straight towards the blade. With monumental effort, she twisted her body in the air, clamping her wings to her sides and lifting herself just enough to pass over the deadly edge unscathed. She spread her wings once more, regaining control over her body and speed.

Knowing what was coming, she started climbing and diving in rapid succession as the other statues attacked from different angles. Having found the pattern though, none of them came as close to hitting her as the first one had.

Once she cleared the last statue, she dove towards the small opening that still remained under the slab. Her wings snapped shut and she threw herself into a side-roll across the floor, squeezing through the shrinking space and slowly coming to a stop in the next room.

Finally, the slab ended its descent with a resounding thud that echoed into the distance. She could barely hear it through her own panting.

Her chest was heaving and her vision was blurry, but she still managed to chuckle in between gasps for air. "And Rarity says... I can't learn anything... from 'foalish' fiction."

She grinned and pumped a forehoof into the air. "Thank you, Daring Do!"

~~<82>~~

Twilight didn't light up her horn. She didn't need to. Darkness could not hinder one who could gaze upon the inner workings of magic and see the enchanting patterns of strings that tugged at the world's greatest mysteries.

"Ow!"

Her chest ran into something hard and pointy. She whimpered as she rubbed the sore spot and lit her horn, casting its glow over the room.

Her eyes shone with a light glitter of their own, enchanted by a spell she'd crafted beforehoof. It allowed her to see the structure beyond the fake images that composed her surroundings—magic coursing through methodically crafted currents, like blood through veins—but not everything seemed to be made of magic within the palace.

Like the table that was now visible in front of her.

If the size and decoration of the room were anything to go by, she was in the great hall, but there was no long ornate table occupying the center—like the one back in Canterlot Palace. Instead, several simpler tables of different shapes and sizes seemed to be emulating it, standing side by side in a long line.

"These probably belong to the townspeople," she mused, walking along the length of the room. "The spell must have assimilated anything within its radius... so the ponies of Hoofington have to be somewhere around here."

She thought of Applejack and Rainbow, but shook her head before fear and worry could get ahold of her.

"They're fine. They have to be. They're much stronger than I am, after all."

She smiled.

She blinked.

She drove a hoof to her forehead.

"That's the problem with self-assurance." She sighed. "You can easily tell when you're blowing hot air."

Trying to find at least a shaky foundation for her words, she started scrutinizing the glowing currents running along the walls, ceiling and floor of the room. As she moved, she noticed that some of those bright streams were starting to separate from the main bulk, looking like thin blue wriggling tubes coming out of the stone and pointing at her.

Still, none of them set off any of the defensive spells that were protecting her.

"I recognize several of these patterns... but I've never seen them working together before." She leaned closer to the floor, mentally naming all of the spells she could identify.

After a couple of minutes, she raised her head again, relaxing her features and letting out a sigh of relief.

"They don't seem to be dangerous."

Turning her attention to the focus of her mission, she gathered her magic and cast another spell. A small sphere of light formed on the tip of her horn, before floating off and stopping in front of her. The sphere fluctuated for a while, pulling at the nearby currents, until it started moving steadily towards the door at the far end of the room.

"Item one: reach the spell's core. Item two: dispel the field. Item three: look for my friends."

Happy with her checklist, she started thinking about the ways that the spells she'd identified could be working in unison. The only ones she was really worried about were a couple of forbidden ones, used to access certain parts of a pony's mind. However, those were just for information gathering, and had to be feeding their output to the rest of the structure—which was mostly comprised of things that would be right at home in her edition of Fabulously Flamboyant Falsities and Fantasies.

Advanced illusion magic wasn't her forte, but she could still see where this was going.

She groaned as she reached the place where the floating ball had stopped. She'd have to be careful. Such a combination of spells could bring about her worst fears or tempt her with her greatest desires. Even if there was no indication of physical danger, the possibility of a psychological attack was very real.

Mustering her courage, she pushed open the door and walked in.

~~<82>~~

Applejack woke up at the crack of dawn.

She yawned and stretched under her covers, thinking about her dream. She chuckled to herself, remembering their trip to Hoofington all those decades ago. It was weird that such an old memory would come back out of the blue, but dreams were funny like that.

Hopping out of bed and moving to her dresser, she checked the mirror's reflection while making some well-rehearsed brush passes through her mane. She smirked at how useless the darn thing was. It'd still be a century before she started showing a few wrinkles. And even then, she wouldn't really care much to hide them.

Tying up her mane and tail, and throwing on her stetson, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Mornin', Sis!"

"Mornin', Apple Bloom. What are we havin' today?"

Her little sister stood smiling in front of the working oven, wearing a white apron and one of those sophisticated chef's hats. She'd certainly grown over the years, turning into the fine mare that she was so proud of. Her eyes wandered over Apple Bloom's cutie mark and she suddenly froze.

Something wasn't right.

Had she forgotten something? She knew it was AB's sixtieth birthday in a couple of weeks, and she'd organized a get-together with the girls over at Flutter—no. Scootaloo's. It was sweet old Scootaloo's cottage now. She had to keep reminding herself of that.

But then, what was it? Something around the farm? Did she have to fix the barn a—

"I'm bakin' some apple fritters! Milk's on the table." Her sister's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

It took her just a second to regain her grin. "Well that sounds—and smells—wonderful!" She turned to see Big Macintosh already seated, reading the newspaper. "Hey Mac," she said, sitting down.

The paper lowered a bit, revealing the same easygoing smile from the old hunk of red she'd always known. "Mornin', AJ."

Yeah, it was a nice morning.

"Apple Bloom! I told ya I'd still take care of breakfast! I never get to treat you youngsters nowadays."

Applejack froze again, her grin disappearing immediately.

"Sorry Granny, but I got up real early and didn't wanna wake ya. 'Sides, it's fritters! Your favorite."

She turned slowly, eyes widened and twitching.

"Well, I'm gettin' too old to be wakin' up 'fore dawn, that's for sure."

Her breath had caught in her throat.

"Oh, don't say that, Granny. You've still got plenty of life in ya!"

And there she was.

Granny Smith turned to look at her curiously, just as she managed to catch a glimpse of the old mare.

"And what happened to you, Applejack? Ya look like you've seen one of them ghost folk."

She grit her teeth and looked down at the floor.

"Sis? You alright?" Apple Bloom asked. It was easy to tell that she'd tilted her cute little head, just by the sound of her voice.

"Applejack?" Mac slowly droned from behind her, as concerned as he could manage to sound.

She lifted her gaze in a violent motion and focused it on Granny Smith, narrowing her eyes.

"No."

Crack.

"AJ?" Apple Bloom looked to be on the verge of tears. "What's wrong? Ain't we havin' a nice breakfast? Don't you wanna try my apple fri—"

Applejack couldn't stand to listen anymore. "I don't 'preciate bein' lied to," she said in a low growl, bearing her teeth. "And I sure don't 'preciate havin' someone mess with the thoughts of my family!"

Crack.

Granny stepped towards her, a frown on her face. "Don't you raise your voice to me, missy! Why I oughta—"

"Get out!" AJ screamed as the walls of the farmhouse shattered like glass around her, followed by the images of her family members. The shards swirled around her, breaking apart until they were no bigger than grains of sand, pelting her coat here and there, but not hard enough to cause her any damage.

She kept screaming as the earth and sky burst in waves of colors and sounds that crashed over her, twisting and tumbling her body around in dizzying motions.

Losing all sense of what was up and what was down, the roaring unmaking of the world around her was eventually too much.

She blacked out.

~~<82>~~

"Yeah, bring it on!"

Dash's mocking laughter echoed in the long corridors of the palace, as hundreds of darts—poisoned darts, she baselessly assumed, just for the sake of it being more awesome—flew through the air beneath her, and dozens of spikes sprang up from under the carpeted floor, missing her by a wide margin.

"Wow... Now I get why Daring always gets an injured wing at the start of her adventures." She smirked as she dodged a bunch of snakes that fell from a hole in the ceiling. "This is too easy!"

A loud yawn overtook her as she alighted in front of the next open door.

"Huh. Weird. I think I'm actually getting bored of this."

Her eyelids started to get heavier, but she shook her head vigorously, driving away the drowsiness for a few seconds.

Looking at the path ahead of her, she saw it open up into a wide garden.

"Maybe I can find a place to nap there."

Making her way to the green area, she noticed that the garden was enclosed under a huge crystal dome. There was probably a name for that, but she was too tired to care.

She also noticed the bright sun illuminating the place.

She looked back at the corridor she'd just come from, with rays of moonlight still slipping in through the windows.

She shrugged.

There was a very nice tree growing near the center of it all. Its sturdy branches had her name written all over them, and she wasn't about to refuse.

As she made her way up, a glint caught her eye.

She turned to see a stone pedestal she'd missed before. It was obviously ancient, with a few vines covering its surface and some faded carvings which might have been important a bazillion years ago. But who cared about that when there was a solid gold cup thingy on top of it?!

"Is that...?" Rainbow stood breathless in front of the relic. She squinted and fluttered around, looking at it from different angles, taking in all of the details and—with a wide grin on her face—coming to an exciting conclusion.

"It's the Griffon's Goblet!"

~~<82>~~

The room was pure white.

There was a featureless white table in the center, on top of which sat a white porcelain cup, filled with a very familiar black liquid.

"Oh, come on! Is that the best you've got?!"

Twilight paced in a circle around the table, eyeing the cup with disdain.

"I am Princess Celestia's prized pupil!"

Her ear twitched.

"I am the bearer of the Element of Magic!"

A bead of sweat started to form on her forehead.

"I am one of the most talented minds in Equestria! And I won't be fooled by such a simplistic and obvious trap!"

She stamped her hoof on the pristine floor tiles for dramatic emphasis, just like Rarity taught her to do when monologuing at the edge of a nervous breakdown in an empty room.

A few seconds passed and the echoes of her emphasis faded, but nothing changed. Everything was silent, waiting for her to move.

Waiting for her to fail.

"Well, you're out of luck. I'm not touching that cup." She sniffed and inadvertently caught a whiff of the tantalizing aroma, sending a shudder through her body.

Forcing herself to remain still, she lifted her nose high into the air and closed her eyes, like she'd seen those other Canterlot unicorns do.

"I bet it doesn't even have the right amount of sugar."

She opened one of her eyes to see if the cup was still there. Of course, it remained the same… except for that pot labeled "Sugar" that had appeared next to it.

She was now visibly straining. "N-no! My friends are helping me get over this! I have to put in the effort too..."

There was steam rising from the cup and oh sweet Celestia she couldn't remember if it'd been like that before.

"J-just a little sip won't hurt, right?" she whispered, slowly drawing closer to the table. "After all, I'm so tired, and I can't keep m-moving if I fall—"

Her eyes widened in realization.

"Tired?" She frowned and stopped in her steps, the cup forgotten in an instant.

"Why am I tired? I had a good night's sleep, we ate well, and I was feeling fine before we came in here. I haven't even walked that much..."

She paused and craned her neck, looking around the room.

"Why can't I see the magical currents in here?"

That's when she started to hear a little buzzing sound in the back of her head. It was bothersome and strangely familiar. It demanded her attention and caused her to lose focus on everything else. It made the hair on the back her neck stand up.

It was one of her defensive spells, trying to warn her through a thick haze of illusions.

She gasped and, with a quick flash of her horn, a barrier formed around herself, repelling most of the spells that were affecting her.

The white room flickered and cracked, crumbling around her as it lost the link to her mind, and revealing a simple corridor. It was right outside the great hall—the door she'd come through still hanging open—but she noticed that she couldn't see the streams there either.

"Oh." She giggled as her horn started to glow, bringing a reddish light to her eyes. "Of course I can't see them. I never cast the spell in the first place, did I?"

The magic coiling through the palace became visible to her for the first time. It wasn't much different from what the illusion had shown her initially, but she supposed that was to give her a false sense of security.

However, before she could start moving again, she noticed that one of the glowing blue tendrils was clinging to her body, apparently unaffected by her barrier.

Furrowing her brow, she gave it a closer look, quickly deciphering the symbols that covered its surface. She recoiled at the sight.

It was siphoning magic from her.

"Ah! Get it off! Get it off!" she screamed as she ran up and down the corridor in a panic, with the tendril flailing in the air and showing no signs of tensing or tearing.

Realizing how futile this was, she skidded to a stop and tried to tug and push at it with her magic, her hooves and her teeth.

None of it worked.

"Okay, calm down." She took a deep breath. "What do I know about this thing?"

She nervously turned around—trying not to freak out at the sight of something sucking what may very well have been the life out of her—and resumed her reading of the tendril's purpose.

"Magic extraction... safety limiter... a location spell?" She blinked, feeling the piece fall into place in her head. "That's how the palace knows where I am. How it determines where to craft the illusions."

Smiling, she lit her horn and the little ball of light formed and floated ahead, guiding her towards her destination. "With that out of the way..."

She changed the nature of her barrier and fused it with some of the stealth spells she'd recently learned. Her smile turned into a satisfied grin as the tendril detached from her body and squirmed around, having lost sense of her presence.

"As long as I don't have to cast anything else, I think it'll be smooth sailing from here."

~~<82>~~

Applejack woke up.

It wasn't dawn.

She wasn't home.

And she was alone.

She was also lying on the cold stone floor, the side of her face wet from the trail of tears she'd shed. Her eyes felt puffy and sore, not to mention the rest of her body.

Actually, it wasn't right to say she was lying on the floor, so much as being dragged along it.

She whipped her head up, trying to get a look at the thing she could feel coiled around her hindlegs. As soon as she did though, she felt the grip loosen and disappear.

There was nothing there.

"H-hello?" Her voice echoed along the walls of the long and dark corridor.

After a minute with no response, she shakily pushed herself up to her hooves. Taking a few steadying breaths, she wiped the moisture from her face and readjusted her stetson.

"Ain't no point in dwellin' on it."

Looking around, she noticed that she could see fairly well up until a certain distance from her body in the windowless hall. Beyond that, the darkness became much thicker.

Chalking it up to her eyes adjusting, she started to move forward. Head held high.

And she walked.

And walked.

Through empty rooms, winding stairs and long hallways, she kept walking, her hooves clacking loudly against the marble tiles. She wasn't trying to be subtle, so the noise didn't bother her much.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but she reckoned it was about half an hour later when she found herself walking along a glass wall. Outside, she could see the moon—drawing a perfect glowing circle in the sky, like always—along with the stars... and not much else. The landscape seemed to be covered in a black fog.

Turning her eyes to the palace's interior, she could see a little better thanks to the moonlight. She couldn't set eyes on the opposite wall, so she guessed that the room she was walking through was pretty big. It wasn't a hard guess, considering she'd walked the length of five barns up to that point, and there was still no end in sight.

There was also a forest of columns filling up the place, as far as she could tell. Black and smooth, springing up towards a ceiling she couldn't see.

"Rainbow!"

She'd lost count of how many times she'd shouted by now. Her voice echoed for a while, before dying out in the distance.

"Twilight!"

She started to wonder if the main purpose of her shouting was still to find her friends. Maybe it had shifted to simply making noise. The more noise she made, the less she thought about how eerie the whole place was. How dark it was. How alone she was. How lost she—nope.

"Rainbow!"

She huffed and brought a hoof up to rub her eyes. She was starting to get tired. Had it been longer than half an hour? She honestly couldn't tell.

As she put her hoof back down, she noticed something between the columns to her right.

A pair of shapes was moving through the shadows.

~~<82>~~

Rainbow eyed the Goblet with suspicion.

"These things always set off traps."

She'd stopped flying a while ago—her sore wings resting snugly against her barrel. The rush of excitement had come and gone, allowing her to remember how tired she was.

She still hadn't seen hide nor hair of her friends, and she wasn't even sure where exactly she was supposed to go.

"As long as I keep flying into more traps, that should be the right direction. And if the traps get more deadly, that means I'm getting closer to the end!"

Armed with her flawless logic, she decided to leave the Goblet alone for the moment.

"It'll be there when I wake up." She yawned loudly, turning back towards the big tree. "I'll just shut my eyes for a couple of minutes."

She lay down at the base of the trunk, curling her tail around herself and covering her head with a wing. She didn't want to bother getting up on a branch anymore.

Faintly, as sleep was about to take her, she heard a pair of hoofsteps getting closer.

~~<82>~~

Twilight was making great time.

Her guiding spell was moving at a brisk pace, and her surroundings had offered no obstacles in a good long while. Her barrier was working perfectly, allowing her to move undetected.

Since she'd only been cantering down long halls, she was able to study the palace's structure more calmly. She found that it had various spatial and perception distorting mechanisms working in concert, making teleportation a very bad idea while within its confines.

"Not that it matters much. I should be very close to the core by now," she whispered to herself, happy that soon it'd all be over and she'd be able to see her friends once more. Her very safe and very sound friends.

Close to the middle of the hallway she was currently running down, the little ball of light made a sudden left turn and headed straight towards a closed door—the first one she'd encountered since she'd escaped the illusion.

She skidded to a halt as the sphere seemed to bounce back once it got too close to its target, the door's surface rippling like water before becoming still once again. With a soft popping sound, her guiding spell disappeared.

"Uh oh."

She put a forehoof against the door, trying to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. She tried bucking it, but her legs seemed to be more rattled than the sturdy wooden surface. She could tell by the frame that it wasn't meant to be pulled, but there was still no visible way to open it with her hooves.

Panic began to swell inside of her, but Twilight forced it back. She couldn't lose her nerve at this point. Not when she was so close.

To unlock the door with her magic or cast another guiding spell, she'd have to lower her barrier for a bit. Another option was to try and move forward on her own, looking for another route, but she'd already seen the twisting, maze-like corridors she'd had to pass through in order to get where she was. A single wrong turn at the next intersection could get her completely lost. It might even force her back to the beginning.

She shook her head. "I don't have time for that. I'll just have to face whatever it throws at me."

Gritting her teeth, she left herself vulnerable, lighting up her horn and pushing the door open to reveal another hall.

Two ponies were sitting on the carpeted floor, resting against each other. Their backs were turned to her.

Twilight was so shocked at the sight that she almost forgot to raise her barrier again. She still did it after a new bouncing light was floating away from her horn.

They must be from Hoofington, caught in the palace's illusions, she deduced. Her eyes told her that they weren't part of the much larger spell. These ponies were exuding their own individual magic—like everypony does—but she still sensed something off about them.

The pair looked very peaceful though, like they were just resting. Of course, she couldn't see if they were actually sleeping, but she tried to remain quiet as she worked her way around them.

Regardless, I should be careful about interacting with strange ponies in a place like this.

~~<82>~~

"Hi there! Name's Applejack." She grinned while strongly shaking the stallion's hoof.

"Hah! Good firm grip you've got there, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dazzle and this here's my..." The pair exchanged a meaningful look before he continued with an even bigger grin, "My marefriend."

The mare smiled and nodded. "Pizzazz. Pleased to meet to you!"

~~<82>~~

"Pizzazz?" Rainbow asked, still trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Yes, I know. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue." The mare sighed dejectedly—her mood as blue as her coat—before perking up again. "You can just call me Pi. All my friends do!"

"Umm, okay... Pi. You can call me Dash. Or Rainbow, I don't really care," she muttered, standing up again.

She took a good look at the couple. They seemed nice enough, close to her own age, and far too into each other to not steal glances at one another every ten seconds.

"You guys must be from Hoofington."

"That's right! Born and raised. Haven't seen you around, though. You a tourist?" Dazzle asked, a little too eager for Dash's tastes. She could've sworn his eyes were sparkling at the possibility.

~~<82>~~

"I'm sorry, I still don't see how you can be so calm about this situation."

"Oh, it's always nice to meet new ponies, miss..." Dazzle trailed off, raising his eyebrows as he smiled.

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle," she answered automatically.

"Twilight Sparkle! Marvelous. Such a beautiful name, wouldn't you say, Pi?"

"Definitely!" The mare beamed. "So very regal sounding. Why, you must be from Canterlot!"

"Um, yes, I—"

"That means you are a traveler!" It was hard to believe Dazzle's smile could get any wider, but there it was.

"Well... yes, I'm from out of town, but—"

"Say no more!" With a flourish, a bouquet of roses appeared between the stallion's forelegs. Bowing, he presented it to Twilight, who took it in confusion.

"Please, allow us to give you a magical welcome to Hoofington!" Pi was standing next to what seemed to be a fitting room curtain, blocking a small circular area of the hallway from view. Her violet eyes twinkled in excitement.

Twilight was certain the prop had appeared out of nowhere.

"We hope you enjoy your stay!" Dazzle pulled the curtains open, stepping inside with Pi, and then closing them once more.

Before Twilight could get a word in, the curtain fell to the floor in a burst of streamers and confetti. Neither Pi nor Dazzle could be seen anywhere.

She looked up, noticing that there was nothing that had been holding the curtain up. No metallic ring, strings or anything of the sort. She lowered her gaze to the floor.

The curtain had vanished.

She stood there, perplexed, for a good whole minute. Slowly, she turned to see that her guiding spell was still bouncing in place, waiting for her to get close in order to continue its trek.

She lifted a forehoof, only hesitating for a few seconds before continuing forward.

~~<82>~~

"Huh. That was weird."

Applejack stood in the middle of several stone pillars, still staring at the space where the couple had disappeared.

"Dazzle?" she called out. "Pi?"

Nothing but echoes.

"Horseapples." She bit off a couple of rose petals, chewing on them as she started to walk again.

They were really good roses, too. A crisp flavor, meaning they'd been recently picked. A slight sweetness that only came from a sprinkle of morning dew. Vivid and healthy color, showing proper care in their growth. They basically melted in her mouth, so she didn't even have to chew all that much. They must've been the best flowers she'd ever had.

They weren't apples though.

She popped open her saddlebags, stashed the roses and brought out a golden delicious, taking a large bite.

"Much better."

~~<82>~~

"Hey, lovebirds!" Rainbow shouted as loud as she could. Which is to say, not very.

"You know this place is dangerous, right?!"

She was lazily flapping her wings, moving around the garden in search of the couple. Her vision was getting blurrier by the minute and her sense of balance was slightly off, so it was by no fault of her own that one of her hooves brushed against the Goblet, sending it tumbling down into the grass.

She stayed there, hovering in place and looking down at the golden antique, while her brain tried to catch up with the sight.

Then she started chuckling. "The... the Goblet... fell," she managed between gasps of air. She didn't really get what was so funny, but she couldn't stop laughing. "That's just... I can't even..."

A loud noise drew her attention up towards the dome. All of the glass panels were showing cracks, and more were forming every second.

"That... that doesn't even make sense..." She was holding a hoof to her stomach, starting to feel a bit sore from the constant bursts of laughter. "Oh, this is gonna hurt."

The dome shattered into thousands of razor sharp fragments, raining from up high. Her survival instincts kicked in and her wings thrust her straight back to her napping spot, hooves over her head. The tree's crown protected her from the worst of the falling shapes.

It had only been a couple of seconds, but she could still hear the ringing in her ears. Very slowly, she uncovered her head and opened one of her eyes.

Everywhere she could see, a layer of glass covered the garden. If she had any interest in those kinds of things, she might've said that it looked pretty. A very strange kind of pretty, but still.

She could feel something was missing, though. As she stood up, she noticed that everything had darkened considerably. It would've been her guess that the warm light, which had been covering the garden just a few seconds ago, would've made it all look even prettier—again, if she was into that sort of thing. She started to walk out from under the tree, trying to see what had happened to the sky.

That's when the tornado hit.

Her body was suddenly pulled forward by roaring gale force winds, barely giving her enough time to root herself down. She crouched low to the ground, forcing her wings to stay shut against her sides, and looking straight ahead at the twister that was sucking up all of the grass, dirt, bushes, small trees and—of course—the razor sharp glass shards.

With much struggling, she managed to turn around, noticing that the only reason she wasn't being cut into ribbons was because the tree's trunk was shielding her from the fragments coming from the other side.

She threw a hoof forward, starting to drag herself along the ground. As she moved, she chanced a look up at the sky, seeing that the sun had completely disappeared, replaced by a dark and twisting cumulonimbus.

The shards had stopped flying through the air next to her, so her biggest worry as she reached the tree's roots was that they'd start shooting out in her direction. She quickly made her way around the trunk and stood on her hindlegs, her back flat against the tree.

Her heart was pumping a mile a minute, and she had to swallow hard a couple of times before her brain could stop running on instincts alone.

"Okay..." Rainbow's voice was lost in the deafening noise, but talking gave her some form of focus. "I think I'm awake now."

She peeked around the trunk at the tornado before jerking her head back again. "Wow! That thing looks deadly..." She grinned. "I must be getting close!"

Her eyes caught movement in front of her and she focused on the wall of the garden, some distance away. She could see an open door leading into another dark hallway. The problem was the glass, which was starting to fall like rain all over the place. Also...

She took another quick peek.

"Yup, the giant pillar of suckitude is getting closer."

She clenched her jaw, shut her eyes and gave her best battle shout as she rushed straight ahead, flapping her wings to gain speed, but not enough to risk taking her hooves off the ground for too long.

She cracked an eye open to see if she was still on course, just in time to see the golden goblet crash into the ground in front of her. She swerved around it and made it into the hall, the door slamming shut by itself behind her.

She collapsed onto the carpeted floor, breathing hard and checking her body for injuries. During the rush, she hadn't really felt much pain from the shards, but she could see that the cuts were there. They were pretty shallow though, nothing too bad.

Deciding that—in spite of everything—her body was pretty much fine, she let her head and eyelids drop. She wasn't sure if a door would be enough to stop a tornado, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment.

Sleep was far more important.

~~<82>~~

It had been a few minutes since Twilight had run into the strange couple. She'd been following her little guide through another area of the hallway maze without much trouble.

"Oh, Dazzle! I'm so nervous!"

Twilight froze. She turned to see Pi in front of a large fitting mirror, wearing a flowing midnight blue dress. It was covered in frills and lace, but seemed a bit tacky.

It also accentuated the mare's cutie mark, which Twilight hadn't noticed up until then. Three linked silver rings adorned her flank.

Dazzle was wearing a confident grin as he draped a foreleg around Pi's back. "Don't be, dear. They'll love you!"

"They already love your show," the mare said, turning her head to check her diamond-shaped earrings and grimacing. "It doesn't really matter what your assistant looks like."

"Well, we have a special guest in the audience tonight," Dazzle admitted, his grin turning sheepish. "We should make a good impression."

Pi rolled her eyes as she placed a giant fruit bowl on her head.

"No, wait. That's a hat," Twilight muttered to herself. Rarity would've been proud.

Trying to remain unnoticed, she slowly backed away from the scene and turned a corner. She looked at the glowing and bouncing sphere next to her. "Come on, we can't be far now."

~~<82>~~

"Wonder where she got that dress from..." Applejack frowned. She'd kept walking after a quick encounter with the couple had ended with them disappearing again.

She could finally see the far wall of the giant room she'd been crossing, as well as several doors lined up next to each other.

As she approached the closest one, she heard them again.

"That's wonderful news!" Pi swooned as she lay on the back of the brown coated stallion. She looked exhausted and her dress seemed undone, but she was smiling.

AJ noticed it was a completely different dress.

"I told you it'd be worth it!" Dazzle gave a hearty laugh as he pulled open the door in front of him. "Feeling too tired to celebrate?"

Pi ruffled his gray mane with a forehoof as she smirked. "Not for what you have in mind."

Applejack felt her cheeks warm up as the couple crossed the doorway. It was only when they were out of sight that she snapped out of her stupor. "Hey, wait!"

She rushed to the open door, only to find an empty hallway behind it.

"Consarn it! Stop doing that!"

~~<82>~~

Twilight was starting to get mixed emotions about those two ponies.

She couldn't find a link between them and the palace in the spell's structure. They also seemed perfectly normal to her enhanced senses, but they weren't acting like ponies trapped in a maze of illusions.

Unless they'd completely snapped.

She shook her head clear of that thought. "I've snapped before. They're acting too calm for that to be true." She blushed. "Well, except for that last time."

Her spell had been guiding her up several flights of stairs. She noticed how the more she climbed, the more she could find spots on the walls that stopped resembling polished stone, and started looking like blue-tinted glass or crystal.

The magical currents making up the structure were also getting stronger, coiling together and pulsing with power.

Reaching the next floor, she found herself in a lavishly decorated rotunda. Tall lancet windows allowed the bright sunlight to fill the room.

She was so in awe of the architecture that she almost walked right past Pi, who was standing in the middle of the room in front of a mirror again, wearing a dress. However, she stood alone this time, and the dress was very elegant. It was also very obvious in its purpose.

"Do I look fat?"

Twilight was caught off guard by this. Looking around and finding nopony else that the question could've been directed towards, she opened her mouth.

"You're pregnant, dear."

That wasn't her voice. Actually, she'd been cut off, but she couldn't see anypony aside from Pi or herself in the room. The voice had been very clear and very feminine, though.

"I know I'm pregnant, mom. I asked if I look fat," Pi said, giving a low chuckle.

There was a long pause. Long enough to be awkward. Twilight perked her ears, getting ready to pinpoint where the other voice was coming from. At the same time, she looked Pi over, noticing she did seem to be carrying a few extra pounds, but nothing that called much attention to itself.

"No, of cour—"

"Too late." Pi huffed, turning to look at her reflection's side. "At least the dress tries to hide it a bit."

"Are you sure about the white, sweetie?" The voice sounded cautious.

"It's my wedding day and I'm pregnant. Do you really want to be the pony who asks that question?" The scowling bride hid her face behind her veil.

The other voice was originating right next to Pi, on her left side, but Twilight still couldn't see anypony there.

"Let's go, mom. We don't want to be late."

Seeing the mare turn and walk in the direction she'd come from, Twilight faced the opposite door and started walking towards it.

She was beginning to understand.

"You sure this ain't 'bout the bits?" asked a gruff stallion's voice.

Twilight whipped around, looking back at the mirror.

Pi had already disappeared.

~~<82>~~

Dazzle stood in her place.

"I already told you that the money belongs to both of us anyway, dad." The stallion was fixing up his vest, looking at his reflection.

"I'm just sayin'! Two of you meet, you start workin' together, sparks start flyin', you catch a big break, and bam! Filly's knocked up with your foal. Seems a bit fast, is all."

Dazzle stopped fiddling with his vest, giving a very flat look towards the empty space to his right. "Dad, I get that you're old and senile, so I'll forgive you for forgetting that me and Pi have been together for over twelve years and that our 'big break' was two years ago." He sighed. "We had a nice surprise last summer, which led to one thing and another, and here we are. This is not Pi's convoluted scheme to run away with money that's already hers."

There was a long pause, the length of which Dazzle seemed to be trying to burn a hole into the air with his glare.

"Just sayin'," came the weak reply.

Dazzle took a relaxing breath and gave a tired smile. "Let's go, old coot. It wouldn't do to be late for my own wedding."

Applejack stood, struck dumb and staring at the lone stallion as he disappeared around a corner.

"Okay, this don't make a lick of sense."

~~<82>~~

Everything was getting clearer.

As she moved through the hallways at a fast trot, Twilight pieced together all of the clues she'd found. The moonlit corridors passed by in a breeze as her guiding light rushed along with her.

A change in her surroundings made her slow down, noticing she'd reached an interior balcony. She approached the railing to her right, and looked over at the large room below.

"It's a self-sustaining spell," she whispered.

She could see dozens of spherical containers dotting the floor. Her infused eyes allowed her to see the thin, tentacle-like protrusion growing from the top of each one, meeting the others half-way to the ceiling and coiling together as they continued upwards as a single magical conduit—presumably to the next floor.

They were streams, moving magic out of the spheres and powering something bigger up there. If she had to guess, she'd say they were obviously feeding the spell's core. Something else that was obvious to her gaze was that there was a pony in each container.

Twilight slowly broke into a grin as the pieces fell together.

"After the initial requirement of energy, the spell binds those in its vicinity, constantly sucking out their magic to keep itself going. That's what that tendril was doing to me. But that means those pods have a different purpose. They're probably..."

She squinted, trying to make out the patterns that formed the containers. They were too far away, but she still had a pretty good idea.

"They must be helping those ponies survive and recover, so that the spell can keep using them as energy sources!" She stepped back from the railing, taking the whole sight in. "It's a perfectly balanced system." Her eyes glittered with appreciation as the thought left her breathless. "It's beautiful…"

Her awe was cut short when she remembered what she had to do.

She glanced in the direction she'd be heading, looking at the spiral staircase that would surely get her closer to her goal. Then she turned back at the floor below. Her expression shifted to one of reluctance and then defeat. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she walked slowly towards the stairs.

"Duty first."

She slowly ascended the stone steps towards the light that shone at the top. Once she reached it, she was momentarily blinded by its brightness.

She could feel a soft breeze on her coat and hear the rustle of leaves nearby. Her eyes adjusted as she stared up into the clear blue sky, thankfully missing the sun that was causing her shadow to be cast forward. As she lowered her gaze, she saw the vast field of green that lay in front of her, stretching all the way to the horizon.

Carefully checking her defensive wards to make sure that they were still in place, she wondered at the amount of magic needed to craft such a scene. This was no simple illusion—well, not the kind that happens in your mind, anyway—but a magically-based fabrication, much like the palace below.

Spells still permeated everything she saw, from the seemingly endless sky to the blades of grass at her hooves, giving them shape, texture, smell, and all the little details that would've made them seem real had she been looking with her naked eyes.

The sound of laughter caused her to turn around. The first thing she noticed was the forest behind her. The second thing she noticed was that something was missing.

"There was a hole here... it's gone now."

She blinked, looking down at the patch of soil that blocked her way back, up until her vision was filled with the face of a blue mare.

"Hi!"

"Gah!"

~~<82>~~

"Oh, hello again!" Applejack grinned nervously and took a step back in surprise. Pi had popped up just she entered the large room.

The place seemed to be a bathroom, but made unnecessarily bigger than it needed to be—which seemed to be a trend with nobles. There were several large stone tubs set up next to each other. They looked like the one back at the spa, but a lot emptier and fancier.

She could hear quick and light hoofsteps echoing around the room, along with a filly's giggling.

"Dear, come greet our guest!" Pi called out, lying down to rest on her side. She turned to face Applejack, looking her over and squinting. "You've been here before..." Her eyes shot open in recognition. "Of course! You're Applejack! It's been such a long time. I'm glad to see you visiting this little town again."

"Uh..." AJ didn't really know what to make of it. Weird things had been happening since they'd set hoof in the palace. All of it could be waved off as being magic—that much was obvious—but she didn't understand how Pi and Dazzle fit into it all. The couple also seemed to be moving very quickly through life, which brought up a new thought that chilled her to the bone. "P-Pi? Exactly how long are we talkin' 'bout here?"

The mare seemed distracted, looking at something at the back of the empty bathroom, but the question snapped her back into attention. "Oh! Well, I'm not sure, sweetie. Let's see," her eyes wandered as she thought and her hoof started tapping the floor along with her count. "I think you came the year Dazzle got his big contract. Two years later was the wedding. Our daughter was born right after that, and she just turned six last month. So, I guess it's been around eight years."

Applejack's mouth felt dry. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to wrap her head around that last bit. "Eight y-years? I might've been gone for..." Her body suddenly felt weak. She wobbled and fell back on her haunches, staring straight ahead and seeing nothing.

Her breaths came shorter and faster. Images flashed through her head. Big Mac straining to tend to the farm alone. Apple Bloom getting her cutie mark. Granny baking for the next Summer Sun Celebration by herself. Her family in—

She shook her head.

Nopony gets anywhere by panickin'. That's what we tell Twi, at least.

She closed her eyes and slowed her breath with some effort.

It's just the worst thing that could happen. I can't be sure it's happened and there ain't no point worryin' 'bout it right now.

The sound of running hooves got closer and stopped nearby.

"Well, look who decided to stop frolicking around." Pi's gentle scolding was met with sweet, innocent laughter. "Now, say hello to Miss Applejack."

"Hi, Miss Applejack!" the young voice said.

AJ opened her eyes to look down between herself and Pi, but couldn't see anything other than the floor. "H-hello?" She gave a half-smile, darting her eyes around to try and find the filly.

"Aww, that was very good, dear. See what I told you about being nice to others?" Pi threw her forelegs forward, hugging and nuzzling the air.

Applejack just stared, confused beyond the point of trying to understand anymore.

"Mom!" the filly wailed playfully, in the way that fillies do when they feel that their mothers are embarrassing them, complete with giggling at the end.

Pi chuckled and—apparently—let go. "Okay, okay, run along."

Hoofsteps echoed again and slowly faded away into the distance.

"They grow up so fast. I wish our parents could've seen her." Pi sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

Applejack still couldn't see anypony else in the room, which was worrying her. The mare seemed... honest. Her cuddling and sweet words didn't feel like some sort of trickery, and the filly's voice was also pretty real. This all pointed to bad things for AJ. It meant that there was somepony else there, but her eyes weren't working properly. Pi didn't act like she was trapped in some strange palace either, so that was probably something else wrong with herself too.

Come to think of it, I don't even know if Rainbow and Twi are in here! I could be having one of them hol—hallu—one of them bad dreams while I'm awake!

I-I... Huh... Twi's really rubbin' off on me...

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Pi's words, "Lucky for me, I've got another one in the oven. I'll be able to enjoy a few more years of being an overbearing mom, before they get sick of it." The mare grinned and patted her stomach.

Something about the mare's tone allowed AJ to relax for a bit, soothing her nerves. It brought up a certain warmth in her chest and made her remember something she hadn't thought about in a long time.

A soft blanket covered her from tail to neck, wrapping her in sweet, homely comfort. She felt a tender nuzzle on her neck and heard a whispered goodnight as she drifted off to sleep. "I never grew tired of it. Then again, I didn't have much time to." She smiled, the corners of her eyes glistening for a bit.

Pi looked at her, first in confusion, then in quick and painful understanding. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds, before she drove a hoof to cover it. Her expression turning to one Applejack had seen on countless occasions, but didn't much care for. "Oh, miss. I'm so so—"

"Don't worry 'bout it. It was a long time ago." AJ waved the words away with a hoof, but her smile became strained and her voice remained low.

Pi's ears fell flat against her head. "That may be so, but here I am reminding you of it." She looked away again, eyes fixed on a certain point.

Applejack reached out with a trembling hoof, slowly bringing it to Pi's cheek. For just an instant, the dark blue coat was replaced with a vivid yellow under her touch.

She snorted. "Darn magic."

Pi turned to look at the frozen mare, tilting her head. "Huh?"

"Nothin'. Ain't nothin'." She drew back her hoof and dropped her gaze to the floor.

Pi looked at her for what seemed like a long time. The choking silence drowned out even the filly's giggling in the distance. Finally, with a trembling and low voice, the mare asked, "Do you have foals, Miss Applejack?"

AJ opened her mouth to answer far too quickly, but stopped herself. After a while, she took a deep breath and forced out a more upbeat tone. "Nah. Ain't found the time for it. Still a bit young to be worryin' 'bout that."

Pi jumped at the chance to change the tone of their talk, giving an airy laugh. "Ah, well, it's hard to tell. I actually thought Dazzle was pretty young when I met him. He didn't even tell me I was dating an old geezer until a month into our relationship!"

That got a loud chortle out of Applejack. "I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose."

"Of course he didn't." Pi tittered as her eyes softened, looking at the back of the room again. "He thought he'd already told me, but it'd slipped his mind—old age and all that." She smirked playfully. "He was so apologetic that day. Very sweet too, considering how mad I got.

"To tell the truth, I'm not that young either," she added with a chuckle, "but a lady never tells."

AJ smiled and tried to follow Pi's gaze. She felt like she should've been looking out over an open field or something like that. But in that fragile moment of peace, she found that the naked stone walls would do.

~~<82>~~

A few minutes of quiet later, Twilight turned to see that she was alone again. The grass by her side seemed undisturbed, as if nopony had been resting on it.

With a little effort, she got back up on her tired hooves. All that running was starting to take a toll on her, and she felt a sudden desire to lie down and shut her eyes.

It was a natural tiredness, unlike before, but she pushed it back anyway. She didn't know what might happen if she fell asleep then and there.

Her guide was still waiting patiently, floating ahead. She followed it into the forest, carefully stepping over roots and around trunks.

There was no path, so she could only depend on the direction of her bouncing light. Soon, it also became her sole source of illumination, as the forest grew thicker around her.

It was not so different from being lost in the Everfree, except that—as far as she knew—there was nothing out to get her. The tree trunks were just as large and twisted, and she could feel the moisture in her coat, as well as in every breath she took.

The darkness was... Well, darkness was darkness, no matter where you were. It would've been easy to dispel it. Just a quick display of her will, and she could've been walking much more comfortably. However, there was something about the place that made her feel like doing so would be disrespectful. As if the forest was meant to be crossed in the dark.

"A strange thought." She wrinkled her brow.

At that point, she was only looking down, trying to gauge where she stepped in what little light she had. Her eyes scanned over dirt patches, over dry grass, over perfectly polished wooden floors—

"Huh?"

She looked up and she wasn't in the forest anymore. The place looked like a study; bookcases lining its sides, a large desk near the only entrance and a stone chimney in the middle of the far wall, providing warm light to the otherwise darkened room.

Dazzle was resting on a cushion, a couple of strides away from the fireplace. On the rug, in front of him, a pencil danced through the air, scribbling away at a notebook all on its own.

The pencil dropped to the floor.

"Daddy?" It was the same young filly's voice.

He lifted his head, looking towards the notebook. "Yeah, sweetie?"

"I have to write about your job for my homework. What do you do?"

Dazzle grinned as he sat upright, gesturing towards his cutie mark—Twilight realized that it was the first time she'd taken note of it—a side shot of a top hat, with a playing card peeking out of it. "Well, I'm a magician, dear. I set up magic acts to entertain my audience."

"Oh." There was a pause as the filly seemed to think on this, before she tentatively asked, "Is that the same as a mage?"

He chuckled, stretching a foreleg out and holding it there as his eyes moved slowly from the notebook to a point closer to himself. He lowered his hoof and moved it around, as one would when ruffling a filly's mane, eliciting a few giggles. "Afraid not. Mages study and practice actual unicorn magic... which I can't do—for obvious reasons. You could be a mage though, when you're older."

"Really?!" The filly gave an excited squeal.

Dazzle smiled warmly. "Sure."

~~<82>~~

The figures faded, once again leaving Applejack alone in the hall she'd been walking down.

"If there's one thing I can take from all this, it's that that's one lucky filly."

She kept moving, reaching an arch at the end of the corridor, which led into a large room filled with a strange blue glow. As she went in, she gasped as a cold shiver ran down her body, like she'd passed through a sheet of icy water. Her senses seemed a bit sharper, and it was as if a weight had been taken off her back.

Shaking off the surprise, she looked at where the glow was coming from.

Her jaw dropped.

Countless sleeping ponies were floating inside strange crystal formations. They all seemed to be resting peacefully, while their prisons flashed a bright blue every few seconds.

Applejack shuddered as she remembered the green goop that the changelings used to trap their prey.

She walked up to the closest... thing, trying to get a better look. It was firmly rooted to the floor, the crystals growing out like weeds through the cracks in the tiles, spinning around each other as they went up, before spreading out to form the bubble-like prison that housed the pony.

Looking inside, she could see shining shapes and writing on the surface of the crystals, but they made no sense at all to her.

~~<82>~~

Twilight stood in the empty study, staring at the darkness beyond the room's only door, which had opened moments before. She turned around and looked at her guide, bouncing next to the wall beside the fireplace.

She frowned in thought, moving closer to the wall. Tapping it with a hoof, she confirmed that she wasn't getting through there without magic. Taking one last look at her guide, she sighed and closed her eyes.

"Well, here goes nothing."

Her defenses fell as her horn began to glow. She could feel the palace's tendrils shooting out and latching onto her body, as she fired a beam to dispel the fake stone surface. She opened her eyes to see the wall crumbling and giving way to a bright, white opening.

She tried running forward, but something quickly slithered around her neck and started choking her, pulling her back towards the room. A scream died in her throat as the grip around it tightened.

She grimaced and focused through the constricting pain, throwing out a new shield around herself. She darted forward as air reached her lungs again, stumbling through the shining exit.

The world seemed to twist around her, and she found herself floating in a white expanse. It wasn't the same as falling. No lurching stomach or the fear of an impending splat. Just silence and nothing to see, except her own body.

She looked behind herself to find that the way back was gone. The fact that it didn't surprise her at all made her feel like she was getting far too used to this.

As she turned forward again, she noticed a little ball floating ahead. It wasn't her guide—which had disappeared—and it was very clearly made up of the same magic as the palace. The ball consisted of several currents, tightly packed together and glowing their bright blue.

Before she could probe it, it exploded outwards in a wave of colors and light, painting her surroundings and forming a vivid scene out of the blank canvas. She felt her hooves touch ground and her eyes adjusted to the light of a sunny day. Stalls and tents sprung up around her, as well as the buzz of a crowd of ponies.

Blaring music could be heard in the background and she slowly understood what she was seeing.

"A carnival..."

"I gotta say, that was pretty good," came Dazzle's voice from behind her.

She turned to see the couple walking down a path lined with food stands. The stallion was effortlessly carrying three saddlebags, several boxes and quite a few purchases on his back, while Pi was happily trotting next to him unencumbered, save for her bulging belly.

"Pretty good?!" Squealed the little filly's voice. "That was amazing! Did you see when Daring faced off with all of those bandits?"

While Twilight couldn't see her, she could imagine the filly trying to mimic what she'd seen, making all sorts of wild gestures.

"Yes, sweetie, it was all very exciting." Pi said through a smile, as she eyed what seemed to be a map of the attractions. "Now, we've seen the live action show, the greenery—"

"That one was boring!"

Pi chuckled. "Oh, come now, I thought it was beautiful. Nothing exciting may have happened there, but didn't you like the peace and quiet? And the pretty flow—"

"Bleh!"

With a roll of her eyes, Pi folded the map and put it back in one of the saddlebags. "Well, I think this next one's more up your alley," she said, pointing at something to Twilight's left.

Before she could turn to look, a loud voice startled her. "Step right up, folks! Feeling adventurous? Then try navigating the mesmerizing maze of mirrors!"

"Ooh, ooh, can we go in?! Please?"

Dazzle lowered his gaze and smiled. "Why don't you go in with your mommy? I'll be waiting at the exit with all of our things. Might even buy you some cotton candy if you don't make her run too much."

"Yay! Come on, mom!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Pi walked forward with a lazy smile as Dazzle broke off in another direction.

Twilight turned and stepped back, trying to get a good look at the structure they were going into. It was quite large, so she had to move away a fair bit. She was pretty sure she would've bumped into somepony by now, had she been able to see the crowd around her. The more she moved away, the more her jaw opened as she registered what she was seeing.

She promptly fell to her haunches.

"The palace..."

The façade was identical, even if it was clearly a carnival attraction and not actually made of ancient stone. As big as it was, it was also considerably smaller than the one covering the town.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Twilight stood up and galloped forward, feeling her heart tighten with dread. She zipped past the empty barker stand and the entrance archway, reaching the lobby and barely catching a glimpse of Pi's tail disappearing around a corner, into a hallway.

She ran up to the hall's entrance and saw it quickly branch out into seven different paths, all of them with mirrors lining their walls.

"Oh no."

She hesitated, looking to one path and then another, frozen in place. Her indecision made seconds pass like minutes, and she wasn't even sure how long she'd just been standing there.

"Are you okay, mommy?"

Twilight's ears perked up.

"I'm... I'm fine, dear. Just feeling a little winded."

She went down one of the paths, following the echoing voices.

"Oh, okay. Umm... you just stay here and rest. I'll go explore!"

Twilight turned again as the path kept twisting and branching out in different directions.

Pi's laughter was weak and strained. "Sure. Just don't wander off too far, okay?"

The voices stopped, and Twilight stood at the next fork in the path, not sure of where to go. The mirrors made the halls look much wider than they really were—especially considering that she didn't cast a reflection—adding to her anxiety and the sense of emptiness in the maze.

"Pi!" Her shout echoed down the halls. She knew she couldn't interact with anypony—it was one of those scenes—but she had to do something.

"Ow!"

The little filly's cry reached her ears, and she ran towards the source.

"Sweetie?! What happened?"

Twilight followed Pi's frightened voice down more crisscrossing halls. She felt like she should've reached them by that point. It was impossible that they'd moved so far away in such little time.

"Mommy!" the filly cried. Her barely repressed sobs provided another guide to follow down the corridors. "I h-hit my h-h-head!" The wails got louder.

"Don't worry, honey. I'll be right th—ah!"

Twilight froze.

No.

The filly's voice was suddenly drowned out by gasps of pain and a loud thud.

No. Please, no.

Twilight's hooves started moving again, but at a much slower pace. As she rounded the next corner, she found Pi lying on the floor, panting heavily. Her features twisted in pain.

"It's... it's too soon," the mare managed to get out through her clenched jaw.

"Mommy?" The filly had stopped crying. Her voice now carried fear and worry.

Pi let out another scream. A wave of pain wracking her body and making her coil around herself.

Twilight couldn't do anything but drop to her haunches, staring wide-eyed at the floor. She tried to zone out the sound around her.

Why had she bothered? She'd seen it coming and she knew she couldn't do anything to change what was going to happen. It was an irrational action, but she'd just started running. She had to get out of there. She couldn't bear to—

"What do you mean you can't treat her?!"

Twilight snapped her head up at the sound of Dazzle's angry shout. She wasn't sitting in the maze anymore. Her surroundings had changed to a small, white-tiled room.

"Sir, she's going through a difficult premature labor. Our clinic doesn't have the right equipment for the procedure." The disembodied voice of the nurse was soft and placating, trying to get him to understand.

Dazzle's frown changed from angry to panicking. "So... so we move her? Get her to a big city hospital, like the one in Manehattan?"

"We've already arranged for transportation, but we need you to understand the risk—"

"Do it, then! Please!"

The room bled away, leaving Twilight in a new place. She was sitting in a long hallway, lined with blue cushioned seats and white doors. Moonlight poured in through the open windows, and Dazzle paced in front of a large double door marked "Emergency Room".

The sign's red backlight died, drawing Dazzle's attention.

The doors opened slowly, with a slight creek, before closing again. An uncomfortable silence loomed over the scene, as Dazzle looked intently—eyes shaking—at the space in front of himself. "D-doctor?"

Twilight heard a long intake of breath, which was held for a second too long. She let her head drop and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, sir."

~~<82>~~

"Who'd do this?"

Applejack stepped back from the crystal prison. The pony inside slept peacefully, with only some light twitches now and then.

"We'll getcha out." She looked over the rows and rows of glowing blue crystals. "We'll getcha all out. I promise."

She made her way through the room, taking quick glances at the faces of those trapped there, and was easily reminded of the folks back home. Hoofington was a small town—founded by earth ponies—so those who lived there had a day to day life much like Ponyville's own. A bit more on the peaceful side, of course.

She'd only been there once, but everypony had been very nice during her stay. Even if a few years had gone by, she could still remember some of them.

A cutie mark here.

An old bandana there.

A rainbow-colored mane over the—

She stopped.

Her head turned slowly towards that last one. Her eyes traced over the smooth cyan feathers, the well-toned athletic body, and the do-it-yourself manecut.

"Rainbow!"

In just a short gallop, she was in front of her knocked out friend. She placed her forehooves against the crystal and tried to shake it like a cherry tree.

"C'mon, sugarcube! Wake up!"

She shook and pushed, grunted and panted, but the thing wouldn't budge. She dropped back to all fours, giving her hindlegs a worried look. She didn't know if it'd be the best idea to break the thing...

"But I'll be darned if I'm gonna leave you in there."

~~<82>~~

Tick.

Twilight sat on the wooden floor, giving Dazzle a sidelong glance.

Tock.

An old grandfather clock was the only source of sound in the wide living room.

Tick.

It was the middle of the day, but one would be hard pressed to notice at first glance—what with all the curtains being drawn.

Tock.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed between the last scene and the one before her eyes. Even so, she wouldn't give it more than a couple of days.

A loud knock broke the silence, and a sharp gasp came from right beside her. Twilight was surprised. Either the filly had approached that spot very quietly or she'd been there the whole time, dead silent. And Twilight had been watching Dazzle just sit there for at least ten minutes.

The stallion didn't even flinch at the noise.

The knock came again, with much more urgency. Twilight heard little hooves scramble towards the front door and stop just before crashing into it.

"H-hello?"

"Umm, hello? Little filly?" The voice on the other side sounded like a young stallion. "Is your dad home?"

"Yes."

"We're from the hospital. We're just doing a routine checkup for cases of... great loss. We also need him to sign a couple of things. Could you go call him?"

Twilight could hear the filly pace back and forth in front of the door, unsure of what to do. This went on for a while, before the pacing stopped and the doorknob turned slowly, along with the sound of fumbling hooves.

It was supposed to be midday, but what light came in through the open door was dull and lifeless. The outside didn't fare much better, looking like somepony had taken a brush to it with a palette of grays.

"He's... he's over there."

"Thank you, dear." This time, the voice came from a mare. "Why don't you stay with me while they talk to your daddy?"

Twilight could hear two sets of hooves walking into the house towards Dazzle, who was still sitting with his back towards them.

"Sir? We're from Manehattan General. We'd like to have a word with you. See how you're holding up."

No answer.

"Sir?"

"He's been like that for a few days," said the filly, from her spot near the door.

A tense silence hung over the room, during which Twilight could imagine the adult ponies giving each other worried glances.

"Have you been... eating anything?" the mare asked. "Has anypony been coming to take ca—"

"I'm a big pony! I can take care of myself!"

Twilight recognized that tone of voice. She'd heard that same bravado and indignation before, from a certain little filly. This filly's voice faltered after that though, falling into a trembling whisper.

"I-is daddy gonna be okay?"

Some shuffling could be heard before the mare spoke again, using a soothing tone. "Your daddy's going to be fine, sweetheart. He's just feeling very... sad right now. We're going to talk to him for a good long while so he can get better again, okay?"

Twilight imagined the filly giving a tentative nod.

"So, while that's going on, somepony will have to look over you. Come with me and we'll get all that sorted out."

"But I wanna stay with daddy!"

"Your daddy's coming too. He'll just be talking with these two gentlecolts first, and that might take a few hours." Her voice lowered to a playfully loud whisper. "Do you really want to stick around for boring grown-up talk for so long? Or would you rather get to Manehattan early and maybe visit the stores for a while?"

The filly gasped, but her next words still took a few seconds to come out. "B-but he'll be okay, right? You promise?"

"I promise."

Hoofsteps moved away from the door and further outside. Once they were lost in the distance, the two stallions started talking.

"We can't just move him like this."

"I know. Go ask for a ride from the local clinic, and bring a gurney."

Twilight felt something tug at her, a sudden and familiar shift in the atmosphere, signaling a spell getting ready to be cast.

"You sure that won't hurt him?"

"It's just a standard sedative spell. It'll help him relax. Now go get that ride."

"Okay, okay."

As the stallion moved away and the spell was fired, Twilight saw Dazzle's frame falter and sag forward. The lights of the scene dimmed and the sounds started growing longer, echoing against each other.

The house disappeared into an inky blackness, which was swiftly replaced by a small and cozy room.

It had all the trappings of an office: A single wooden door stood in the middle of a wall, surrounded by framed diplomas and pictures. A window on each of the other three walls allowed her to view the mostly blue skies—with some gray clouds building up in the distance. A large oak desk stood in the back, opposite the door. A plush maroon carpet covered the floor. Bookcases and potted ferns lined the room, and several large cushions lay in the middle.

Dazzle was sitting on one of these, staring straight ahead.

"I want you to understand something, Mr. Dazzle." A mare with an accent that was decidedly not from Manehattan—it sounded Canterlotian—was apparently sitting across from him. She sounded much younger than the one from the previous scene. "You are not a prisoner here. You're free to leave at any time. However, should you choose to do so before we give you a clean bill of mental health, the hospital will have to make certain assumptions."

Twilight noticed that this voice was... silky? Rarity might've described it as such. In fact, it reminded her of the voice her friend used when she wanted to get a stallion to do something.

"Where is my daughter?" Dazzle sounded tired and rough in comparison.

"Rest assured, she's perfectly fine. For the duration of your treatment—and, I want to stress this, only for the duration of your treatment—she has been placed under temporary foster care by the foal protection agency."

Dazzle visibly relaxed, lowering his gaze to the floor.

There was a long silence, during which Twilight could see and hear something being scribbled into a notepad by a quill, floating in front of what she assumed was the mare's position.

"There is no great mystery here, Mr. Dazzle," the mare started again. "It is abundantly clear that the grief over the loss of your loved ones has driven you to depression. This, in turn, has given way to apathy, making you unfit to care for yourself or another."

Dazzle flinched and Twilight frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Is there something you'd like to say to that?"

There was a brief pause as Dazzle seemed to think on the mare's words, before he gave a resigned, "No."

"Well then, allow me to give you a choice." Twilight heard as the mare stood up and walked over to one of the bookcases. "What would you give for a chance to have her back?"

Dazzle's eyes widened, before setting into a confused frown. "Anything. But that's imposs—"

A loud thud cut him off, as a thick black book fell in front of him. It had no title or symbols on its hard cover.

"This book has one purpose. All of its pages are part of an elaborate spell, focused on doing a single thing." The mare's voice was now coming from the space right next to Dazzle's head, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the book. "To bring a loved one's memory back to life."

Twilight felt that same tug against her senses. That feeling of magic permeating the air. But this time it felt... wrong. It was a sickening and sliming presence twisting around the inside of her body. She had to force herself to stay put and keep listening to the mare.

"The steps are detailed on page eighty-four. The wonderful thing is that anypony can use it. Unicorn? Pegasus? Earth pony? It doesn't matter. All you need is your loved one's body."

Dazzle's eyes were shaking as he shifted them towards the mare.

"So here's your choice, Mr. Dazzle. I cannot, in good conscience, give this book to you. Instead, I'm going to step outside for a bit. Have a coffee, chat with the orderlies... keep them busy. Should I return to find you and the book still here, I'll put it away, and you'll never see it again."

"W-why? Why are you offering this to me?"

The mare's voice dropped to a whisper. "Let's just say I'm extremely interested in seeing if it works."

Hoofsteps started moving towards the opening door.

"Think about it, Mr. Dazzle. I'll be right back."

The door closed.

Twilight looked at the trembling Dazzle. "No." Her lips quivered as she stepped in front of him. "Magic doesn't work that way."

He extended a foreleg, reaching out towards the book.

"Please! It doesn't work that way!"

He pulled it close and hugged it to his chest.

"Stop!" She tried to take the book away, but her hooves just passed through his image. "You can't bring them back with magic!"

He got up and turned towards the door. Desperately, she threw herself over him, going through his body and hitting the floor. Her eyes misted up and her voice cracked as she lifted a hoof towards his receding figure.

"But you wouldn't know that..."

Her hoof fell as the door closed behind him.

"Would you?"

~~<82>~~

The crystal cracked under the force of her buck.

"Ha! I told ya this flimsy thing wouldn't keep me out! Just you wait, Dash. I'll getcha out in a bit."

Applejack coiled her body and thrust out with her hindlegs again. The sound of shattering glass echoed through the whole room, as the web-like cracks spread over the prison's surface.

The whole thing burst open, crystals falling to the floor while AJ made sure to shield Rainbow's body from the fall.

"There ya go!" She carried her friend over to an open area of the room, laying her gently down on the floor. "C'mon, sugarcube. Wake up."

Rainbow didn't stir.

"Hey." AJ's voice grew heavy with worry. "Dash?"

She patted her friend's cheek with a hoof.

"Don't... don't do this to me, c'mon."

She placed her hooves to the sides of Rainbow's head and started shaking.

"This ain't funny! Wake up, ya lazy pegasus!"

Dash remained still.

"C'mon! If I could do it, you can too! What? You gonna let me win now of all times?"

Her hoof hit Rainbow's barrel.

"Wake up!"

~~<82>~~

The storm thundered above her as rain poured down her coat.

Why?

Two stone slabs stood in front of her, one bigger than the other. The dirt in front of the bigger one had been dug out, its contents desecrated.

Why did this happen?

The two bodies in front of her were soaked, lying on the grass. One had long ago turned cold. The other suffered the backlash of an unfinished spell.

Why do things like this happen at all?

The book lay open on the ground. Its pages danced in the wind, never getting wet or tarnished by the rain that washed over them. A light blue glow covered the cursed thing, remnants of a spell with too little magic to fuel it.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as she stepped up to the door behind the scene.

The last one, she assumed.

Her horn shone for an instant, and the door cracked open.

~~<82>~~

"W-what?"

Applejack's head shot up at the sound of the raspy voice. "Rainbow...?"

"AJ? Where are—ow, my head!"

"Rainbow!"

Applejack threw herself over the bleary-eyed pegasus.

"Ack! H-hey! Cut it out!" Dash tried to pry her off with her hooves to no avail. "When'd you get so mushy on me?"

"I thought you'd never wake up, sugarcube." She sniffed and wiped her eyes dry, releasing her friend from the crushing hug. "Heh, had a nice dream?"

Rainbow stood and stretched her aching muscles. "It was pretty good, up to a point. But why was I sleeping anyway? And what..." Her eyes fell on the crystal prisons. "What are those things?"

"Well, I bet I don't know much more than you do, but I can try to tell ya what's been happenin' with me."

~~<82>~~

She was not surprised by who she found behind that door. Not after everything she'd seen.

The large pillar in the middle of the room—in which the unconscious mare was half encased—did make for quite a sight, though. She marveled as pulses of magical energy ran towards it through the azure tinted crystals jutting out from the floor and ceiling, adding to the soft glow that permeated the environment.

She noticed the ethereal bridge she stood upon and began crossing it with some trepidation, as if a loud enough sound would disrupt the spectacle around her.

As if it would awaken the dreamer from her sleep.

Exhaustion was starting to weigh heavily on her, both from maintaining active defenses for so long and the fact that she felt she'd been walking for hours—which was probably right.

At the other end of the bridge, she reached the exposed upper half of the unicorn that had been the cause of the palace's appearance.

She'd seen her before, of course, a couple of years prior. However, with her newfound knowledge, she couldn't help but look at the boastful mare in a different light.

A very blue light, which complemented her well.

She managed a sad smile. Her surroundings were beautiful and peaceful, and she had no problem admitting that she wished to enjoy them for a bit longer after everything she'd just seen.

So she did.

She allowed her eyes to close and her body to lie upon the floor that wasn't a floor.

She stayed like that for quite a while, letting the din of the crystals wash over her, humming a sweet lullaby of long and entrancing notes.

Still, she knew not to indulge in it much. It would be foolish to have come so far, just to fail out of tiredness.

Looking down, she confirmed the location of the open book at the base of the pillar.

She sighed and lifted her gaze again. "I don't know how it fell into your hooves. And I don't know who could've been so heinous as to give it to your father. What I do know is that I wish I could give you more time with them."

Her horn lit up and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up."

~~<82>~~

"And then ya came to," AJ finished.

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but she paused and flicked one of her ears. "Hey..." She narrowed her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "You hear that?"

Applejack stood at attention as she started to pick up a faint rumble in the distance. She frowned as it slowly grew louder, and the floor beneath them started to tremble.

"What's happening?!" Rainbow began hovering, looking around at the shaking room.

"Do I look like a pony who can answer that?!"

Large cracks appeared on the walls, spreading towards the shattering windows.

"Rainbow, watch out!"

Following Applejack's gaze, Dash looked up in time to see a huge chunk of the ceiling falling on top of her.

She froze as the mass of stone closed in, taking up her entire field of view.

She flinched and closed her eyes.

Something blue flashed beyond her eyelids.

And then...

Nothing.

Grimacing, she slowly opened an eye. "AJ? Am I dead?"

"No, sugarcube. Look!"

With both eyes wide open, she saw as several more chunks of the ceiling fell around the room. She also saw how none of them reached the floor, dissolving into something that looked like mist in mid-air after a flash of blue.

"She did it..." Applejack whispered, before breaking out into a grin. "She did it! Twilight must've made it!"

Dash slumped forwards, a tired smirk on her lips. "We're never gonna hear the end of this. Looks like she didn't need us after—"

"Twilight!"

The panic in AJ's voices made Rainbow snap her head up. She saw their friend falling through a huge hole in the ceiling—eyes closed and body limp—along with hundreds of crystal shards.

She was off in an instant.

The air whistled past her ears as she faintly heard Applejack shout behind her, "There's another pony up there!"

Looking past Twilight, she noticed the outline of the other body.

"I got them!"

Her wings pushed her through a familiar pain, the one that told her she'd reached her limit. Every inch of her being ached, she felt tired and hungry, but none of that mattered. Maybe it would have if she'd been dodging deadly weapons for fun. Maybe it would have if she was escaping a tornado.

But this was different. She was flying to help a friend.

She reached a high point and started her descent. She knew that Twilight wouldn't survive if she just caught her from below.

Lining up her targets, she closed in quickly, seeing the floor rapidly approaching.

An image of a white coat and three blue gems flashed through her mind.

She could make it. She had to make it.

It'd be close, but she knew she'd have enough time.

She stretched her forelegs forward as far as they could go.

Applejack screamed something in the distance.

She could see their shadows growing bigger on the floor.

She was so close.

"Twilight!"

~~<82>~~

Her eyes opened slowly.

The surface she was resting on shifted in steady, repetitive motions. It was also soft and warm. She recognized it as the feeling of being carried on another pony's back.

As her eyes began to focus, she noticed her muzzle was buried deep in a blond mane.

She moved her head a bit, not wanting to lift it, and looked to her right. The pale blue unicorn was being carried in much the same way, resting between cyan wings.

A pang of sorrow shot through her.

What the mare had done would not go unpunished, be it by law or the princesses. Forbidden magic was categorized as such for a reason—no matter the intentions with which it was used.

Still, the spell had already done a number on its caster, making her watch impotently as her parents' lives crumbled around them. Twilight could only imagine what it must've been like for her, when all she probably wanted was to see them again.

Perhaps there was some way she could help her... or, at least, make her punishment lighter. She'd need to have a word with a certain writer once she got back home.

Yes, Princess Celestia would understand. She always understood.

With that warm though, she drifted away once again.

Into the land of dreams.

---

And now, a word from the author and his editor:

WN: I can't believe I made the deadline for this. I'm so tired.

VN: I'm guessing you had some trouble with your usual method this time? [You really need to use a dictionary when you're not sure of how to spell something. Seriously, do you even read what you write before sending it to me? 86 errors, marked in red.]

WN: You could say that. Or just be blunt about it and say it was completely useless. I had to sit each of them down and get the full story.

Much slower process, I can assure you. Although it was fun to see Applejack making sure that Rainbow didn't enhance the truth in her parts. [Corrected.]

VN: Oh, I weep for you. Celestia forbid you actually have to work on your writing.

On an unrelated note, did you hear anything about what happened to the mare? ["The lavender unicorn", "the lavender unicorn", "the lavender unicorn"... what are you, five?! Learn to use pronouns! I found several places where you could practice. All marked in red!]

WN: Hey, all I normally get are lines of dialogue, I do have to build everything around that, you know. Also, you're the one in Canterlot, shouldn't you be better informed? Last I heard, she'd been put on standby for her trial.

Speaking of which, the reports from Hoofington said that everypony was fine once the spell was lifted. They just woke up feeling exhausted. [Revised. You know, I'm not even sure if her coat's actually lavender or some other form of violet.]

VN: What I'd really like to know is where the Royal Guard was during all of this. [Trust a stallion to never learn the difference between shades. Tell you what, next time we meet, I'm going to throw a brick at your head. You'll have until the moment of impact to tell me what color it is—and you're not allowed to say "red".]

WN: You know that they can't leave Canterlot, unless it's to escort the princesses. This isn't a rare occurrence, either. Did you know she sent them to deal with a dragon once? [What if I guess wrong?]

VN: She sent them to fight a dragon? [You'll prove me right. And the brick will drive the point home.]

WN: Well, no, not fight. She sent them to... negotiate with the dragon. [And if I guess right?]

VN: Which usually means 'get eaten by it'. You know, sometimes I just feel that Princess Celestia should go and [REDACTED BY THE EIC]. [You'll get the satisfaction of proving me wrong.]

WN: Wow. I don't think they'll let us publish that. [...And the brick?]

VN: We'll see about that. [Oh, it'll still cause a massive skull fracture. I'm not that generous.]

Comments

[sopchoppy]

yay!

[arghgh]

Wow.. THAT certainly went in a new direction. This chapter was FAR more intricate and complicated than the first, and was certainly much darker in tone. Chapter 2 has been fantastic, and I can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeve.

[LukeZaz]

These stories are great because each chapter is a story of its own, no cliffhangers and no waiting for the next chapter of the story to be written - its all right there, right now. Also long enough to take a few hours out of your life, but hey - hours well spent.

[TheAndyMac]

That was good Though more than a little heartbreaking as well...

As a point of interest, though, listening to Lunar Republic Takeover as I read this, and about two thirds of the way through this came on. Ended just as Dazzler was talking to his daughter about mages and magicians. Gave me an epiphany, you might say

[Feldoran]

While a fun and great chapter, especially with the leaving of how safe Applejack and Rainbow Dash were up in the air, at the same time heavy use of illusions and dreams make me start to skim read past them to seek out reality again. A lack of a basic reality and jumping from scene to scene is incredibly disorientating.

[WovenWord]

2340689

Yay indeed

2340693

Thanks! I used Chapter 1 as an introduction, most of all. That's why most of the characters that are going to be popping up at some point in the story (all of the Mane 6, Spike, the CMC) got at least a small scene.

2340854

I will begin work on the next cliffhanger-free chapter very soon, right after I finish up a quick (read: "I wish I could actually do this fast") one-shot.

2341024

Sometimes I feel like I miss out on half of the fandom's music, since I normally don't listen to a lot of electronic. I did read the lyrics and I can very much see what you mean, though

2341032

Wow, you must've skimmed over most of the chapter

The truth is, most of it is happening in "reality", as in, not inside their heads (there are only four scenes that happen inside the characters' heads). But I do understand that it was harder to follow, since most of the story took place within a shifting magical construct of illusion magic. That's why I mostly stuck to resurrected memories, and not the mind screws that appeared at the beginning (which were the actual traps).

Just in case it wasn't completely obvious, I love illusion magic To me, it's the best kind of magic there is, as long as it's used creatively. If I use it again, I'll try not make it so confusing.

[nemryn]

Poor Trixie.

[Sound Wave]

MORE CHAPTERS!!!!

[Seether00]

Glad I am not the only author to explore the differing lifespans between the tribes. Was a little confused at parts but a beautiful and intricate chapter.

[Themaskedferret]

Wow....okay so I totally wasn't expecting that...It's awesome don't get me wrong but it was really unexpected Can't wait to see where you'll go next!

[HoofBitingActionOverload]

This reads very similarly to an episode of the Twilight Zone. It has that same bizarre, yet brilliant premise, mystery, melancholy, and a feeling underlining the whole story that something is very, very wrong.

Great work on writing the different character's perspectives. They each had a distinctive, matching style. Perfect example of narrative voice.
I was impressed by the introduction of Dazzle and Pi. I've only seen non-linear dialogue once before, but it's fascinating, and you pulled it off very well.

I'm still not sure how necessary those little exchanges at the end are, and this reporting idea is strange, but interesting. That early bit about the difference in lifespans is a great little bit of world building, and I'm disappointed it wasn't explored any further. I hope that comes back later. Anyway, I have nothing constructive to say, but this was great. Much better than the first chapter.

[WovenWord]

2341669

"Trixie would like to remind you that she is still the same Great and Powerful mage you've always known. Trixie cares not for your displays of pity."

2342083>>2344785

Coming soon.

2343619>>2366040

The lifespans are a bit of world building that will indeed come into play later.

As a rule, I tend not to introduce elements that are completely irrelevant—especially when expanding upon the setting—but you might not see the reason for their introduction until several chapters later.

As another rule though, I try not to dump everything on the reader at the same time. If something that'll be at least semi-important to the plot depends on a thing that only exists within the canon of my own story, I'll introduce that element early, before it gains importance—so that it doesn't come out of left field.

In other words, I really like Chekhov guns.

[Seether00]

2366267

Chekhov guns

Oh yeah, those. My editor commented that I like using those too, and I had no idea what he was referring to.

[Themaskedferret]

2366267 *Squee*