— Prologue —

--- Near A Journey's End ---

Twilight Sparkle was the first to awaken, greeted by the first rays of sunlight for the day shining through the cave's wide entrance, alongside the distinctive and familiar sounds of light snoring nearby. This sound brought a tired but sincere smile to her face, the purple pony let out a loud yawn as she lazily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with a hoof. Sitting up from her bedroll, it wasn't long before she instinctually reached out with her magic and claimed the heavy cloak she had temporarily discarded the previous night, clicking the clasp around her neck and concealing all but her head from outside eyes. Despite being mostly isolated, she still felt better with the cloak on. It wouldn't be long before she would be back in a settlement anyway, so it was good that she still hadn't kicked the habit. A flash of arcane light emanated from under the cloak for a brief moment, the sounds of shifting metal being heard within and completing Twilight's ensemble, even if she was the only one who knew the true intricacies of what lay underneath her veil. Once the morning ritual had been completed, alongside some quick mystical adjustments of her mane, Twilight turned her attention to her little makeshift camp.

The dying embers of last night's campfire had all but died out, only the tiniest orange sparks still dancing about the charred wood. But still, the scent of fire lingered in the area, and the heat from the fire had yet to fully escape the cave. It must've only died out moments before Twilight had awoken. Closer to the small firepit than her own was another bedroll, one that had been twisted and deformed into what could only be described as some kind of nest. The mass was shifting up and down ever so slightly, perfectly in tune with the snoring that had helped in waking Twilight up this morning, bringing a much more alert smile to her face. Lastly, Twilight's attention was drawn to the two large pouches that sat propped up against the cave wall. They were still in the precise location she had left them before turning in for the night.

Another yawn escaped Twilight as she quietly trotted over to the saddlebags, her horn lighting up once more as she mythically reached into one of the bags. And after a few moments of quietly rustling around within, one of the bags popped open with a click of the buckle and several items came forth in Twilight's magical grasp. A large sealed bottle of ink, a rather plain-looking quill, and a large journal stuffed to the brim with makeshift bookmarks and other loose strands of paper.

Taking these items and leaving the saddlebags behind, for the time being, Twilight walked over to a part of the cave that was currently illuminated by the bright morning sun and took a seat. Cracking the book open and prepping her quill, the pony began to write. It had been a few days since she had made an entry in her journal, and she felt enough had happened within the past few days to warrant a new memo.

Journal entry number three hundred and forty-three.
May 16.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
It has been four days since Spike and I have begun our latest expedition for the fabled Dragon Kingdom, with very little progress to show for it, unfortunately. I'm starting to believe that the lead we picked up in Klugetown might have been more superstition or rumor more than concrete information. It doesn't help that the information was second-hoof, to begin with, Spike having overheard some likely less than morally upstanding individuals talking about "a kingdom's worth of gold." But Spike was insistent that we at least investigate a little, and had been hoping that we'd at least be able to see another dragon, so here we are. I want to tell him not to get his hopes up to high, but at the same time, he has been getting more and more anxious about this with each passing day. I'm starting to get a little worried about him.
Moving on. The "source" of information had suggested that this mountainous region was draconic territory, and the environment itself seems to support this claim. The various mountains would provide more than enough cave systems to allow a number of dragons to make their homes here, and the distinctive scent of sulfur in the air suggests that at least one of them is volcanic in nature. Both of which are tell-tale signs of a dragon's natural habitat. On a slightly unrelated note, Spike is absolutely enthralled by the scent, likely a byproduct of his natural instincts and his excitement over possibly finding the Dragon Kingdom or even just other dragons in general.
Though as stated before; I am beginning to doubt that there are even any dragons, other than Spike of course, here at all. Let alone a kingdom of them. In the past days, we have found several caves that would be more than suitable for draconic nesting grounds. Though there were no territorial claw marks, no shed scales, nothing at all. The rations brought along for the expedition are also beginning to dwindle to a dangerously low level. We have day's worth of food left, at best, and we are a far way's off from the nearest town. I promised we'd search one last cave or two before we begin making our way back to civilization to resupply and regroup. Thankfully, the amulet has finally recharged, and I caught sight of a root not too far from where we are now. So at the very least, we won't have to travel very far to do so.
It won't be long before Spike is up and demanding we get to the next cave, so I should end this entry here. He really wants to see if we'll actually find anything in the next cave, and it took more than a little willpower for me to get him to settle down last night. I will provide more details of the expedition's conclusion in the next memo, but for now, I promised him we'd search one more cave. Either we'll find what we're looking for, or we'll leave empty hoofed. Or clawed, in his case.

After giving the ink a moment or two to dry, a process accelerated thanks to a bit of magic, Twilight closed the journal with a content sigh. She was immediately greeted by the sight of a small dragon's face, and the massive bright green eyes that decorated it, uncomfortably close to her own. Purple scales covered the youthful-looking creature from head to toe, a series of small green spikes running down from the top of his head all the way to the tip of his tail, which was decorated with a tuft of green fur, not unlike the end of a lion's tail. While almost undeniably a dragon based on these facts, his physique was anything but traditionally draconic. Dragons were thick, stocky, winged creatures that radiated authority and power, even in their younger stages. And while there were a few subspecies that didn't quite fit this description, not one of them perfectly matched Spike's specific traits. This dragon, in all honesty, was rather thin and lanky for his kind. In fact, if one were to compare him to a serpent, it wouldn't be that far off of an observation. Aside from the more draconic features of his face, the spines along his spine, and the clawed limbs he had, he'd just be a purple snake in the eyes of any given passerby. And that comparison had been made many times in the past, much to Spike's dismay.

"Finally!" Spike chimed with a large toothy grin, returning Twilight's personal space as he began to run excited laps about the long-dead bonfire. The way he was bounding about on all fours like that reminded Twilight of an excited puppy, and she had to stifle a small laugh on her part at the admittedly adorable sight. "Come on! We're gonna miss the dragons!"

Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes as she returned her journal and writing utensils to the saddlebags. "Calm down Spike," she instructed with a chuckle, "The dragons will still be there after we eat breakfast!" If there are any here at all, she added internally.

The prancing reptile ceased his celebration and gave his pony companion the meanest death glare he could muster. With an angered huff, he dashed over and dove headlong into one of the saddlebags, disappearing completely inside of the travel pouch. Moments later, he resurfaced with a different book gripped in his dexterous foreclaws. The crimson covered tome was one that Twilight knew all too well, it was only the book that Spike had been obsessed with ever since she showed it to him early on in their friendship. This book, in particular, was a collection of information that ponykind had gathered about dragons over the years. Seeing the book again brought back distinctive memories of a younger Twilight using it to try and disprove that Spike was a dragon. Though she had been disproven herself when Spike had almost burnt the book to a crisp with an accidental burst of fire (along with a good portion of her mane). Thankfully, ponies were great at magically restoring damaged books (manes, not so much), so the damage wasn't permanent. But despite the unusual context in which he had been introduced to it, this book had been Spike's favorite for as long as they both could remember. The fact that other dragons were so different than he was was fascinating to him. Heck, the only reason Twilight had been able to teach him how to read was because he wanted to know what all the weird scribbles in the book actually were. And since then, he had gone through the book countless times.

Spike eagerly flipped through the pages of the tome with great speed and ferocity, still taking careful precautions as to not shred the pages with his claws. It wasn't long before he found what he was looking for, turning the book around and pointing at the displayed page.

"Here! Right here!" Spike shouted grumpily. "It says that dragons migrate!" He paused for a moment, his frustration melting into uncertainty. "That... that means they move around... right?"

"Yes, Spike, that's what 'migrate' means," Twilight confirmed with a smile, paying more attention to the breakfast preparations more than her friend at the moment. "But if you read a bit more carefully, you'd see that dragons only migrate once or twice a year, and we're a long ways off from that." She finally turned back to Spike with an expression that Spike had come to call the Twilight knows everything look. "And there are plenty of dragons who make permanent nests in areas just like this one. Not to mention the fact that we're looking for this dragon 'kingdom' you've been on about. And it wouldn't be much of a 'kingdom' if they all just got up and left, right?" She turned back around and continued sorting through their foodstuffs, her mind already putting together the morning's menu. "Besides, you're a growing dragon. You need to eat."

Spike's expression sunk into a further scowl and he snapped the book closed. "I'm not that hungry..." But the dragon was betrayed by his own biology, the growl of a draconic stomach echoing through the cave. Twilight didn't call him out on this blatant contradiction, she was far more inclined to dig through the remains of their rations in search for something that sounded appealing. Thankfully, having access to magic made traveling with food a much easier process, and thus the two of them were able to explore with a much more varied selection of foodstuffs at their disposal.

"Hey, Spike? We still have some eggs left. You sure you aren't hungry?" She teased, levitating a few of their remaining eggs around in a small circle for emphasis. Twilight didn't have to look to know that the gesture had gotten Spike's mouth to water.

"... Are you gonna make omelets?"

Hook, line, and sinker. "I think we have enough for that... but you finished off the jalapeños yesterday."

The differences in Spike's visible reactions to the two halves of that statement were like night and day. The first was a look of optimism that was only rivaled by his enthusiasm over the idea of finding other dragons. But once the pony finished her statement, all traces of hope and joy were seemingly slain right then and there, leaving behind nothing but a jalapeño-less void of despair and sadness. But it probably wasn't as bad as it looked, Twilight knew for a fact that Spike had a habit of blowing things a bit out of proportion.

But regardless of how severe the lack of the spicey vegetable actually was, the two of them still needed to eat. And Twilight was going to get Spike to sit down and eat if it was the last thing she did, and it seemed it would be much easier then that based on the continuing rumbles of the dragon's stomach. She didn't even have to ask him to get the fire started back up, the kindling still useable enough for their needs.

The purple pony had to keep herself from laughing at Spike's antics as she prepped their morning meals. The young dragon spent almost the whole time either hovering over the frying pan itself—or on Twilight's back with his head resting atop hers—practically drooling from the scent of the slowly cooking eggs with wide, glittering eyes. She had to give him a few pieces of bread and cheese just to get him off of her back for a few seconds—literally.

Other then his hounding over the food, the rest of the morning meal went off without a hitch, aside from Spike barely chewing his food in his haste to get to the dragons. The cloaked pony found a way to twist this development to her advantage, telling Spike that if he began to clean up the camp while she finished eating they'd be able to leave sooner. He didn't need to be told twice, moving with blinding speed granted to him by his small and sleek body frame. While it wasn't the most organized re-packing of their camp, Twilight had never once specified that he had to do it neatly. And she couldn't muster up the necessary willpower to make him wait any longer than he already had this morning, she could fix it at the next town.

With everything completed, there wasn't much else here for the two of them. Twilight wasted no time in getting the saddlebags strapped to her person, Spike impatiently waiting at the cave's entrance with his head down low, and his long wagging tail up high. Once again, Spike's behavior reminded Twilight of an overly excited puppy, not that she was about to tell him that. With one final check to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything, the two were off and out of the cave in no time, much to Spike's elation.

While supportive of her friend's curiosity in his own kind, Twilight couldn't help but be a bit anxious about the whole situation. The evidence—or lack thereof from the past few days had led her to believe that there were no dragons in the immediate area. And even if there were, she was uncertain if they should be seeking them out like this at all. Assuming that dragonkind hadn't somehow formed a civilization without anyone knowing, dragons weren't typically the most social of creatures. The book Spike had been obsessed with claimed as much, yet he still insisted on seeking them out regardless.

Searching for dragons was far from the safest or wisest pastime the two of them could partake in, but Spike was utterly determined in his quest for draconic knowledge. And Twilight would be lying if she claimed that she wasn't curious about Spike's heritage. He was one of a kind, for all intents and purposes, a completely unique subspecies of dragon that had never been seen before. Information on this yet unnamed subclass of dragons could prove to be quite valuable to society as a whole. And even if it wasn't, Twilight still wanted to know regardless. Not just for her own curiosity's sake, but also to help her closest friend find some form of closure.

Who knows? Maybe we'll finally find another one like him. Twilight mused as she and Spike continued down the mountain. One way or another, the two of them were in for a long day.

— Chapter One —

View Online

--- Of Misadventures and New Beginnings ---

The craggy landscape stretched out as far as the eye could see, rough and uneven, and surrounded by numerous peaks. The mostly grey coloration of the environment was only broken up by the bright blue cloudy sky, and the dull browns and greens of the few plants that were able to survive in this environment. Moreso weeds than anything else, to be perfectly honest. Little more than proof that life could be sustained here, however grim or bleak it may have seemed. The hard stone was perfect at capturing the warmth of the sun, transforming the cool stone into a force that radiated heat with even the closest of proximities. This combined with the lingering yet distinctive scent of volcanic ash in the air created an aura of danger about the place. Definitely not a prime location for an early afternoon picnic with the kids.

But such things were far from the concern of Twilight Sparkle as she frantically galloped through the rocky region as fast as her legs could carry her. The short rapid gasps for air blended together with the clacking of her hooves against the stone and the pounding of her heart into a rhythmic cycle that only served only to escalate her own paranoia and panic. Against her better judgment, she turned her head to gaze upon the scenery behind her to gage her current situation. Much to her relief, she was still in one piece. Her heavy concealing cloak was still present, still held firmly in place by the clasp around her neck and the saddlebags strapped to either of her sides. The presence of her belongings wasn't much of a comfort, however, compared to what she saw rising above the mountain she had just escaped from.

Silhouetted by the early afternoon sun was the figure that the pony was currently fleeing from. The impressive, majestic form of an adult dragon leaped into the sky with a mighty stroke from its wings, casting a shadow that managed to perfectly eclipse the sun, a testament to how massive this creature was. It easily put most houses to shame and was clearly more than capable of rendering a large city to naught but ash if it were so inclined. It was nothing short of a miracle that had allowed Twilight to escape the beast's initial assault and gain so much distance. A miracle, alongside a slight rockslide that had rendered the creature temporarily buried alive. Though it seems that this head start was of little concern to the dragon, as another quick flap of its wings sent the red-scaled titan into a nosedive aimed directly at its prey. It almost smirked as it somehow managed to lock eyes with Twilight, a knowing glance that told her that there would be no "accidental" avalanches to save her this time. And as the dragon continued its assault, transitioning into a slightly slower glide, its head reared back as a foreboding orange glow began to shine through the pearly white and spear-like teeth.

Twilight knew exactly what this meant, anyone who had any knowledge of dragons knew what this meant, and the sudden loss of color in her face spoke a thousand words of just how much she was aware of what came next. With a heavy nervous gulp, her gaze returned to the path ahead, an act that only further served to worsen her fear as she caught sight of the dragon's silhouette that now surrounded her. Thankfully, this pony was nothing if not resourceful, and the horn that sat atop Twilight's head began to radiate with arcane light as she adjusted her focus. She had already attempted something along the lines of this earlier in the chase, and it proved effective enough at the time. Perhaps trying the same trick twice wasn't a great idea, but a plan was better than no plan. A plan that would require near-perfect timing and precision to pull off successfully: too early and it would only prove as a minor delay to her currently inevitable demise, too late and she'd be converted into a black ashen stain against the ground. Neither prospect sounded particularly pleasing, which thankfully served as a good source of motivation to keep herself concentrated on the spell. All she had to do now was wait for her moment.

The shadow that had engulfed her was suddenly dispersed by a rather warm orange glow. A warmth that turned into sweltering heat as the light grew brighter, signifying to Twilight that the dragon had unleashed its attack. It was now or never, do or die, either she enacted her plan now or let herself succumb to the flames. Her eyes shut tightly as the mass of fire overcame her faster than she could react.

The flames dispersed into nothingness as they crashed into the ground without kindling to keep them alive, leaving nothing behind but a massive black scorch mark on the ground. Despite the seemingly obvious evidence of Twilight's demise, the dragon continued its airborne assault, shifting into a lower glide with its limbs tucked close to its body. It had fallen for this trick once before and was seemingly clever enough not to do so again. Just as she had the last time the dragon attempted this method of attack, the magical pony appeared within a flash of mystic light with a loud distinctive "pop" sound, still running full tilt away from the now gliding dragon.

Looking back for the smallest second, Twilight was deeply upset by the fact that her ruse failed to work a second time. Earlier in the day, that spell had given her the upper hoof against the red-scaled beast. But just as her own intelligence had saved her, her own hubris had doomed her: thus allowing the dragon to quickly disassemble the advantage she had gained. Glancing back to the path ahead, Twilight's expression shifted from horror to hope as she spotted her goal.

Off in the slowly closing distance stood an odd natural phenomenon, a series of odd crystal protrusions sticking through the stone ground, almost like the exposed roots of some utterly massive tree. The structures created a number of archways that a pony or other similarly sized creatures could comfortably walk under, one of which was almost big enough for the dragon itself to squeeze underneath if it were so inclined.

Yes, yes, yes! Twilight's mood only continued to improve as she came closer and closer to her own salvation. Her horn began to glow once more, as one of her saddlebags began to rustle and stir a bit. After a few seconds, a chained amulet with a large gleaming white gemstone embedded within floated out and took its place around Twilight's neck. Her attention shifted back to the crystal roots as she adjusted her focus, changing the intent of her magic and causing the white gem around her neck to glow with every color of the spectrum.

The same light began to radiate from the closest archway, almost leaking from the structure down to the ground and creating a shimmering curtain of light. The sight of this veil gave Twilight hope for the future, hope that was all but extinguished as she heard the dragon behind her cry out once more. A thunderous crash soon followed, the image of the dragon now galloping after her on its claws etching itself into Twilight's mind.

This is gonna be close! Twilight pushed her body to its absolute limits as she continued her way towards her goal, the sounds of the dragon gaining on her giving the little pony the strength to push herself even further. She was so close, and so was the dragon, but she wasn't about to stop now.

With a loud hissing snort, the dragon lunged forward maw first towards what it hoped would be its next meal. Hearing this, Twilight dove forward herself in a last-ditch effort to reach her destination. And thankfully for her, her forehooves made contact with the shimmering curtain just as the maw beginning to engulf her, the magical energies quickly sucking the rest of her inside and safely out of the dragon's reach. For all intents and purposes, she was gone.

The dragon, however, was not so lucky. Its empty maw snapped shut just as its snout collided with the field of light, a bone-snapping crack echoing throughout the land. The veil of light pulsated violently, pushing the seemingly invincible dragon away with great force and onto its back with a loud resonating bang. It took the titan a moment to register what had happened, regaining its composure as it rolled back onto its claws. Turning an angered gaze towards the crystal archway, it watched with much disdain as the curtain of light faded away as the crystal root returned to its dormant state, entirely unharmed by the dragon that had just tackled it.

The red-scaled dragon huffed heavily through its nostrils, releasing a bit of thick black smog atmosphere. It turned away from the field of structures with a frustrated growl, beginning to slowly walk away with whatever dignity it had left. It stopped for only a moment, turning its head away from its chosen path and spitting on the ground, leaving behind a single bloodied fang that the impact had knocked out of place. With that last act, the dragon once more took flight and began the trek to its mountain home. It had left its hoard alone for too long, so it wouldn't be long before smaller dragons took notice and attempt to usurp some of its treasure. And while the pony's trespass and escape was an insult, the thought of losing even one trinket from its hoard to lesser dragons was far more vexing.

--- — ---

The moment Twilight had touched the barrier of light, her entire perception of the world had changed. The rocky wasteland, the sun shining in the bright blue sky, and the dragon that was assaulting her had vanished in their entirety. The only thing Twilight could comprehend at the moment was light. The glittering radiance surrounded her on all sides as she fumbled and fell throughout the void of light. Not intense enough to cause pain to one's eyes, thankfully enough. It was a sight Twilight had seen many times before, though normally in less dire circumstances.

The magic used in this method of travel was fickle, unstable even. One needed absolute clarity on where they were going in order to make the delicate roadways in this realm appear. And based on how there was no solid footing to be had what so ever, it seemed that Twilight had cast the spell without this necessary level of coherence. Likely a result of being chased down by a very angry dragon. No destination had been set, and so no path had been forged. She was at the mercy of cosmos now, liable to end up virtually anywhere in the world at this point.

If I end up anywhere at all, she gulped nervously. She kicked her legs wildly in a vain attempt to hopefully find some form of solid ground. But no such sensation greeted her hooves, and she was left to soar through the abyss. Any and all sense of direction was utterly lost: up was gone, down was meaningless, and diagonally was over in the corner crying. Maybe I should have tried my luck with the dragon again...

There was no way to tell how long she spent in this space between spaces if any time had even passed at all. But eventually, there was a break in the endless walls of light that surrounded her. A tear in the cosmic fabric that looked to lead back to a physical plane of existence. The sight brought a smile to Twilight's face, a smile that only grew wider once she realized that she was heading straight for it. With newly restored hope, she began swimming in the air in an attempt to speed up her approach.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She blurted with glee, watching the new gateway grow in size as she came in faster and faster. Elation was quick to turn to worry, however, as Twilight made a very important observation. She was, perhaps, approaching this new portal a bit too fast for her own good. "No, no, no!" She began kicking her legs in the opposite direction, trying to slow down her decent (or accent) back into the real world, but it didn't seem to have made much of a difference.

Twilight let out a shriek as she was unceremoniously flung back into existence, all sensations that she had previously lost suddenly flung back to her. Time, direction, everything all at once. And the shriek was cut comically short as she landed face first in the dirt, sliding along the ground for a moment before skidding to a stop.

"Pfft," she huffed loudly while pushing herself out of the dirt. A few dog-like shakes of her head and several coughs were enough to clean her up for the most part. "Not the most gracious of escapes, but I'll take it." She chuckled to herself and looked down to the amulet, taking notice of how the white gem had taken on a pitch-black coloration. A tired sigh escaped from her as she lightly poked at the artifact with a hoof. "Of course that depleted the whole charge. Why wouldn't it?" She shook her head disappointedly at this development, turning instead to see where in the world she ended up.

An expanse of trees could be seen in all directions, with green-tinted shadows, cast from the sun high above, were dancing about the ground. The subtle sounds of the forest and its inhabitants could be heard in all directions, a few birds having stopped for a moment to investigate the sudden new arrival before fluttering off. The only deviation was the large crystal archway identical to those from the dragon lands—which she quickly realized must have been her point of exit—through this one was seemingly alone. It was a stark contrast from where she had just been moments earlier, and the calmer environment was a calming sight. Twilight let out a relieved chuckle as she came to the realization that the threat had been passed, the pony sitting down in the dirt to catch her breath.

Twilight exhaled contently before letting out a chuckle. "I think we're gonna be okay, Spike." She took a moment to just take in the calmness of the woods. Though it was only then that she remembered that Spike had been with her for the entire ordeal. She had told him to climb inside one of the saddlebags when the larger dragon had spotted them, and she distinctly remembered him doing just that. Or at least, she thought she remembered, yet his silence was doing wonders in making Twilight doubt her memory. "Spike?..." She waited for a few moments, ready for the young dragon to pop out of one of the saddlebags at any moment. But no such occurrence came to be, and Twilight's mind began running through all the possibilities of what could have happened.

He got in the bag when I told him to, right? I know I felt him climb in...

What if he fell out while I was running?

What if he got lost in the portal?

That last one scared her more than any dragon ever could. And it was only now that mild anxiety burst into full-on panic. "SPIKE?!"

She shot up to her hooves with a sudden sense of dread. With a quick flicker of her horn, her saddlebags were placed on the ground. She threw the first one open with great haste, digging through her belongings with speed comparable to light itself. Each book or map or other such items she moved out of the way only served to further anxiety, as everyone had yet to reveal her lost companion. As she continued her foraging, her mind continued to race with dreadful possibilities. She thought that Spike had been with her since the larger dragon had found them, she could have sworn that he had gotten in the saddlebag, and she quickly began scolding herself for not paying better attention to the one who depended on her the most. The mere suggestion that she might have let him down, or worse, was more than her heart could take.

The grisly images her mind painted of the elder dragon finding Spike—or accidentally extinguishing his life without even noticing him—was almost enough to make her choke up the omelet she had made this morning. The idea of Spike being trapped forever in the magical void she had been lucky enough to escape from wasn't very comforting either. In many ways, they were even worse. She couldn't possibly imagine spending the rest of her life trapped in the space between spaces, and frankly, she didn't want to. After fully emptying the first bag onto the ground with no sign of the odd dragon, her attention turned towards the second and the process was repeated with even greater haste.

And thankfully, her frantic searching was finally rewarded, allowing her some brief peace of mind. Curled up in the second saddlebag was a familiar mass of purple and green scales, rolled up into a small draconic sphere. Twilight's brow furrowed as she leaned in closer to check in on her friend. The relief she had felt upon finding him was less than a memory at this point, replaced by worry over his well being.

"... Spike?" The dragon finally began to stir at her latest pry, and so Twilight quickly backed up to allow him room to move. Watching Spike emerge from the saddlebag was a calming sight in it of itself, it was more than proof that he was alive and well, and it brought back a cavalcade of good memories the two had forged over their time with one another. Earlier this morning in particular.

But the past was the last thing on Twilight's mind once she took notice of Spike's expression. The young dragon was slow and timid in his movements, foreclaws gripping at the lip of the bag as if his life depended on it. His eyes darted back and forth across the environment nervously and quickly, searching for any sign of anything amiss, and she could tell he was trembling ever so slightly. Twilight didn't need to be told that her draconic companion was scared, and she also didn't need to be told what he was currently scared of.

After what felt like a never-ending silence, Spike finally spoke. "... T-T-Twilight?" His voice was jittery and nervous, and it was clear he was using a great deal of effort to try and hide these facts from his friend. He gulped hard as he started Twilight dead in the eyes.

"I... I don't wanna look for dragons anymore..." Those words had significant weight to them, and hearing them was enough to practically break Twilight's heart all over again. After seeing Spike's utter joy earlier today, this sudden reservation and paranoia from him was painful to see.

"Spike... are you sure?... We're not going to—"

"I'm sure!" The dragon barked with a quick nod before transitioning to a forced smile, his voice changing to a pale imitation of his usual speaking tone. "I mean... I just think we've done enough searching, for now, you know? W-we should do some other stuff for a little while... It's only fair, right? I'm sure you have things you wanna do..." The only thing more forced than that smile of his was the chuckle that he managed to push out after his statement.

Despite Spike's best efforts, Twilight was able to read her young companion like a book. Spike had been wanting them to find this 'Dragon Kingdom,' or other dragons in general, for the longest time. But today had been the first time Spike had ever seen another dragon outside of books or paintings, and it seemed to have proven too much for the young dragon to take. Despite his high intellect, he was still only six years old, young by pony standards, and even younger by dragon standards. It was more than a bit upsetting to see him give up on his goal like this, but at the same time, she couldn't exactly blame him. An adult dragon wasn't exactly the most comforting of creatures, especially when angered. There was another pause in the conversation as Twilight processed his words.

"... If you say so, Spike," she gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster, beginning to repack the saddlebag she had emptied in her panic. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about this, not yet at least, so she would give him the time to calm down. She felt like she could use some of that herself, in all honesty. "Come on. I have no idea where the tree spat us out, and we're running low on food. We need to find a town."

"Uhh... actually... if it's all the same with you, I think I'll just stay in here for a bit longer," Spike was doing everything he could to avoid eye contact, "You know... take inventory... make sure we didn't lose anything..." He sunk back into the saddlebag and latched it shut behind him before Twilight could register what he had even said. She took note of this behavior and made a mental note of it for later, placing the now depowered amulet back inside the travel pouch as well. With her items placed back in their proper places, and her saddlebags once more at her sides, Twilight took a moment to pick a direction before walking off. It seems fate wasn't entirely against her, as the patch of dirt she had faceplanted into seemed to be part of a well walked path. And where there was a path, there was bound to be civilization.

--- — ---

The forest seemed to stretch on forever like an endless mass of trees, bushes, and other flora. The subtle sounds of nature overwhelmed Twilight's sense of hearing figuratively speaking, it was all that could be heard for what felt like miles. Definitely a far cry from the near-dead silent ambiance of the wastelands where that red dragon had made its home. She had even seen a few of the local creatures responsible for the atmosphere of the forest, the small woodland creatures stopping only for brief moments to asses Twilight's presence before moving on. It was doing wonders for Twilight's mood, serving to help calm her down after the rollercoaster of fear and anxiety from earlier today.

Hopefully, it was doing the same for Spike.

He had been all but silent after their narrow escape from the red dragon, staying confined within the saddlebag long after Twilight had told him it was safe to come out. She had to actively talk to him to break the silence, and even then he didn't have much to say. The explanation was that he hadn't slept very well last night and was a bit tired because of it, an excuse that Twilight was instantly able to see through as an obvious lie. His energetic behavior at the crack of dawn was more than enough to contradict him, but again Twilight didn't wish to call him out on this. Funnily enough, Spike did actually end up falling asleep in there at some point during the woodland stroll, so at least he hadn't been lying straight out.

Despite them being well out of harm's reach by now, Twilight still couldn't help but worry for her small draconic friend. She had spent a good portion of her hike trying to figure out what she could possibly do to help him move on from this experience. It was clear that he had been shaken up by the encounter with the red dragon, he hadn't done a very good job of hiding this fact, but for the life of her Twilight couldn't figure out what to do. Spike had never gotten like this before, he'd always faced every situation with this childlike optimism that was hard not to be influenced by. Not to say he had never been afraid before, that one time they had run into a manticore stuck out to Twilight in particular, but this was—quite literally—an entirely different beast.

The cloaked pony had been wracking her brain on how to handle this particular problem for what might've been hours now. Scratch that, it definitely had been hours since they arrived in the forest. The sun had moved a considerable distance since then, it'd be another few hours before the sun went down, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to set up camp for the night either. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh at the development, glaring up through the canopy of leaves to the sunlight above. They were running out of rations and were in desperate need of resupply. She had been hoping that there'd be a town nearby, but it seems that was just a pipe dream of an overly optimistic pony.

"Something wrong, stranger?" A loud bubbly voice suddenly asked from behind.

Twilight practically leaped out of her skin from the sudden shout. With a quick leap and a spin, Twilight was made to face her assailant with a defensive stance, her horn lighting up in preparation to defend herself. The one who had snuck up behind her was, surprisingly enough, another pony. Twilight had to take a moment to properly register this, it'd been quite some time since she had seen another one of her kind.

The earth pony was covered in a bright pink coat, perfectly accented by the even brighter shade of pink that made up her incredibly poofy mane and tail. Two bright blue eyes stared back widely into Twilight's own, a large grin dispersing into a look of worry. Despite her readied posture, the sight of the pony was one of reassurance. It meant that Twilight had a much better idea of where in the world she had ended up. Nothing specific yet, but the search area had been significantly dwindled down from anywhere in the entire world.

"Whoa! Hold up! Don't shoot," the pink pony bellowed, "Didn't mean to scare you! I come in peace!"

Twilight let out a small sigh as she extinguished her horn, standing back to a more relaxed posture. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. I could have seriously hurt you," she scolded of the pink pony, knowing that she had no idea what someone like Twilight was capable of.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I saw you walking around, you looked like you were lost, and I've never seen you around before so I assumed you were lost, and I came over here to help you out if I could!" The earth pony spoke faster and faster with each passing word, never stopping for a breath until after her elaborate statement had been completed. "My name's Pinkie Pie, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She offered the biggest smile Twilight had seen in a long time before transitioning into a floppy-eared look of guilt. "... Sorry if I scared you..."

Twilight hesitated for a moment before finally responding. "... Thank you, Pinkie... I'll be going now..." She turned to continue on her way but stopped as the earth pony's words finally fully processed in her head. She stopped and slowly turned back. "I'm sorry... but did you say you were going to give me... directions?"

The shift in Pinkie's mood back to bright and bubbly was instantaneous. "Yeah! You're looking for the town, right? I mean, I'd be looking for a town if I were in your position. I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't want to spend the night alone in the Everfree Forest!"

Everfree Forest? That name had an oddly familiar ring to Twilight, but for the life of her, she couldn't quite place her hoof on it. But that was a question for later, the prospect of finding the nearby town was of far more important right now. And Twilight was quick to answer Pinkie's suspicion and request directions to said settlement.

"Well, firstly you're gonna wanna get off this path," Pinkie explained with a giggle, "It'll lead you to town, eventually, but it'd be WAY faster to just walk straight this way." She pointed a hoof to her sharp left. "If you do that, you'll be back in town LONG before sundown!"

Twilight looked in the direction with a raised eyebrow. Was it really that simple? Well, she didn't exactly have any better ideas at the moment. "... Thank you... Pinkie Pie, was it?" She mentally chuckled at the name. While there was nothing particularly wrong with that name, especially for a pony, it had been quite a while since Twilight had been around other ponies. And in that time she had forgotten just how... on the nose pony naming conventions usually were. There was nothing wrong with them, but after spending so much time around various other races, it was an observation she couldn't stop herself from making.

"Yep! That's me! Pinkie Pie!" She beamed brightly. "I already said this, but it's really nice to meet you, purple-pony-who-hasn't-told-me-her-name-yet!"

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"OOOOOO, that's a pretty unicorn name! Well, for the third time it was nice to meet you! Maybe we'll see each other around town sometime!" Pinkie giggled with a loud snort. After a quick wave of her hoof, she spun around to continue on her merry way. But after a few bounces steps, she stopped dead in her tracks and bolted back to Twilight. "OH! I almost forgot! If you're looking for a place to stay, go to the Bedrock Inn! Best hotel in town!"

Twilight didn't have time to process the advice before Pinkie bounced off—literally, she just bounced off like she had horseshoes made of rubber or something. It was bizarre. But again, she didn't get a chance to question these odd antics. Instead, she decided to take the pony's advice and head in the direction given to her. She didn't really have anything to lose by following this new path. If it didn't lead to town a quick teleportation spell could undo the lost progress in a snap. And if it did lead to town, then one of today's problems would be effectively solved.

At the very least, there wouldn't be any more accidental dragon encounters.

— Chapter Two —

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--- Over The River & Through The Woods, To Ponyville We Go ---

Just as before, the forest seemed to stretch on for what seemed to be forever. Even after taking Pinkie's advice of not following the path directly, the edge of the woods was still nowhere in sight. Though in between bouts of intense thought, Twilight did actually notice that she had crossed the same dirt path she had previously abandoned once or twice. At the very least, it seemed that Pinkie Pie had been right in that the path was just a more roundabout way to get through the forest, as it clearly just winded around like a massive snake. The shortest distance between any two points was a straight line, after all, so the cloaked pony continued on this route. As she deduced earlier, there was no real harm in following the pink pony's directions. During the walk she kept taking the time to check up on her draconic companion every now and again, confirming each time that Spike was still sound asleep deep in the recesses of the saddlebag. And while she was glad that he was still able to relax after what had happened, it meant that she wouldn't have a conversation partner for quite some time. A shame, too, seeing as how a very prominent question was currently wracking her mind.

Everfree Forest... Everfree Forest... I know I've heard that name before...

The question had been bubbling away in the back of Twilight's mind ever since the encounter with the odd pink earth pony. Every time she repeated the name to herself, either in thought or out loud, there was this odd sense of déjà vu. Twilight had known where she had picked the name up, it had to have been in one of the many books she had read in her past. But the problem wasn't where or how, but in which book had she read it. Despite her status as a traveler, Twilight was quite well-read. A vast majority of her younger years had been spent in close proximity to any number of books on any number of subjects. And while this had led Twilight to be smarter than most in her age range, give or take, but it also made remembering specific details of specific books a bit of a chore. After a certain point, all of the textbooks, magical manuals, and alchemic tomes begin to fade together; making the process of remembering where exactly a specific bit of knowledge originated from a very daunting task. It didn't help that she couldn't quite recall in what context the Everfree Forest had been mentioned, she only had a faint recollection of the name. She had a feeling it was important, yet she couldn't quite place a why or how. But once again, that itching thought would have to wait a bit longer to be scratched, for after about a half-hour Twilight had managed to escape the forest, stepping out into direct sunlight for the first time in what felt like forever. The promised town wasn't that far off, maybe another ten-minute walk before she reached the first of the outlying buildings.

The larger than expected village was a sight for sore eyes, especially after how today had gone so far. Even from a distance, it looked to be a place that was proud of its roots, most of the buildings retaining an older style of early Equestrian architecture that had been lovingly maintained throughout many years. And while there were some structures that looked significantly newer, they seemed to be built in the same general style to match the rest of the small city. This town clearly had an aesthetic to it, a calming aura of the simplicities of old country life. Even from where she was, brightly colored ponies could be seen either strolling along the ground or soaring through the sky on their ways to their various daily obligations.

As Twilight came closer and closer to the town, her attention was drawn to the large sign that marked the town's entrance. Welcome to Ponyville had been lovingly carved into the dark wood sign in an elegantly curved font, painted over in bright pastel colors to make it pop out to the eye more.

Ponyville? Twilight asked herself, giving the sign a tilt of her head in response to its warm welcome into the village it guarded. The name "Everfree Forest" had rung a bell, yet the word "Ponyville" gained no such reaction from her. It made sense, she had never once been to this particular part of the world, why would she know the name of this town? But the fact that she knew—or thought she knew—the name of the forest just outside this town was a bit baffling, to say the least. She would have been more adamant about figuring this mystery out, but an impatient growl from underneath her protested. It wasn't the growl of a young draconic being, no, this was the roar of an empty belly that had clearly waited far too long to be filled. The woods and the village would still be here in the morning, she could interrogate herself for the information then. Assuming nothing else came up, that is.

With a deep breath and newfound resolve, Twilight stepped into the village known as Ponyville. The hustle and bustle of civilization was something Twilight hadn't experienced since her time in Klugetown several weeks ago, and this Ponyville place was the polar opposite from that wretched hive in just about every way. Klugetown was a rickety makeshift city made from old rotted wood haphazardly built between a number of cliffs and canyons, somehow defying all laws of probability by still being around to this very day. Its citizens were monstrous, figuratively and literally, and you had to watch yourself at every twist and turn to keep from getting robbed blind in the overly crowded narrow streets. And that was if the citizens, and the local crime families, liked you.

Ponyville, on the contrary, seemed to be a much warmer and inviting place. The streets, for one thing, were designed to actually accommodate a large number of people, allowing for a significantly higher amount of personal space. The citizens also didn't stare down Twilight like she was a piece of meat to be chopped and sold, for aside from a few momentary glances she was mostly ignored. Just a normal pony walking through a normal pony village. A few brows were raised by her choice in attire, but no one seemed to care that much as to investigate.

Twilight spent a bit of time just wandering about, getting a mental map of the town in her head for future reference. Knowing where the marketplace and a few other stores were was the biggest priority, and it seemed Pinkie wasn't the only kindhearted soul in this town. There was a small number of ponies more than willing to offer her some directions after noticing the cloaked pony wandering around for a bit. While she hadn't asked for help, it was appreciated all the same. It made getting to the next priority item on her to-do list all the faster: finding a place to stay for a night or two.

And funnily enough, that had been even easier. The last thing Pinkie had said to her was a recommendation for a place called the Bedrock Inn. An odd name for a hotel, but certainly more creative of a name than "Ponyville," in Twilight's honest opinion. An appropriate name for a village of ponies, if a bit on the nose. Though once Twilight set eyes on her possible shelter for the foreseeable future, she found that this name was also perhaps a bit too fitting.

It was one of the newer buildings in the area, towering above most of the other buildings on the Western edge of town at a staggering three stories, still stylized to match the same architectural structures of the rest of the town, but with a few notable differences to befit the obvious aesthetic. The building had been painted in entirely cold colors such as deep faded blues and dark greys, all colors that could be found on common stones and rocks. Each of the building's four corners was decorated with support beams that were made of lovingly stacked cobblestone bricks, something entirely unique to this building. Next to the main entrance was a decently sized rock garden, which seemed to be going under some form of maintenance by an earth pony comprised entirely of grey hues. This mare was clearly an employee of the hotel, based on the apron and the nametag bearing the name Marble. She was clearly engaged by her work, so Twilight didn't see much need to bother her. It was a public establishment, she didn't need permission to enter. As she approached the large double doors that served as the entrance, she took notice of the large oak carved sign that sat just above. This one reading Bedrock Inn, as expected.

A rock-themed hotel, Twilight couldn't help but chortle to herself at the thought, walking through the building's threshold. Now I've seen everything... probably. Silently hoping she hadn't jinxed herself out of seeing anything else as novel as this place on her journies, she reached out with her magic and pushed the doors open.

The interior of the building wasn't all that different from any other inn she had stayed at. The main foyer was home to a few stray chairs and couches for waiting, as well as a large unoccupied receptionist desk towards the back of the room. The walls were lined with paintings of various sizes, all of which depicted a wide array of mountains and interesting rock formations. The exterior motif also extended into the inside, proven by a similar cool paint job. The only contrasting color was the dark wine red carpet that covered the entirety of the floor. The next thing Twilight was greeted to upon stepping through the threshold was the smell. Twilight was practically bombarded by the warm and unmistakable scent of some type of stew. The mingled aroma of potato, white and green onions, carrots, celery, and a number of other tantalizing ingredients all mixed together into a satisfying symphony that called out to Twilight's growing hunger. Following her eager nose, her head turned sharply to the left, revealing the entrance to what looked to be a large eating area. The sounds of various ponies talking over their meals could be heard from beyond the opening. It was clear that this establishment also served as a restaurant, and for good reason of that aroma was anything to believe. But now was not the time for eating, and Twilight had to force herself to continue on towards the main desk. Shelter for the night came first, then she could stuff her face.

Upon reaching the wooden countertop, Twilight rung a small service bell to no immediate response. Whoever worked this desk must've been on break, a fact that only served to further delay Twilight's meal and rest. Sighing in frustration, Twilight began to do the only thing she could: observe her environment as she waited. As her eyes further scanned the room, a blotch of a much brighter color caught her eye, prompting her to focus on the only painting that didn't seem to be rock-themed. Hanging on the wall behind the counter, it was quite clearly a family portrait of the owners. An older mare and stallion alongside four young fillies. Every pony in the painting featured dull, almost rock-like colors, much like the young mare who Twilight had seen just outside the building. In fact, one of these young ponies was clearly that same mare, based on the exact dull hues. One of the fillies stuck out in an almost comedically contradictory fashion, however, featuring two very familiar shades of pink, an equally recognizable poofy mane and a smile almost as bright as the sun itself. There was no mistaking it: Twilight had met this very pony earlier this day.

That explains the recommendation, Twilight chuckled to herself. Family business.

"Welcome to the Bedrock Inn," a monotone voice suddenly began, cutting Twilight off from her appreciation of the portrait. She quickly looked to who had addressed her, taking note that this was also one of the fillies from the painting, though obviously older. The earth mare's light grey coat and dull purple mane were accented rather nicely by a simple pale blue dress decorated only with a nametag with the word Maud written on it. "Where our service is faaaaaar from rock bottom," she continued with a tone and expression lacking any noteworthy amount of emotion, "How may I help you?"

Even her attempt at a joke was dry and dull. Despite the delivery, the "joke" was still enough to cause Twilight a deep physical and emotional pain. She could have sworn she felt herself give ever more into entropy at that moment, hastening her departure from the mortal coil if ever so slightly. Even still, the cloaked pony did her best to keep her composure and pain hidden. Twilight had been raised to be many things, a rude pony was not one of them.

"I'm guessing you're from out of town?" The stone-faced pony asked after a short silence, leaning ever so slightly to take a look at Twilight's bags. "Room for one I'm guessing?"

She doesn't waste any time, does she? Twilight commented internally, lightly clearing her throat before continuing. "Yes. That'll be fine."

"Awesome," Maud replied with the exact same level of enthusiasm, "Quick question. Did Pinkie Pie send you?"

If she hadn't been in a public space, Twilight would have done an overly exaggerated and downright cartoonish double-take. There was no way this mare could have known about the meeting with Pinkie Pie earlier today unless she had somehow managed to get back here before Twilight did. And while not impossible, it was highly improbable.

"... Yes?" Twilight slowly responded, not quite sure of what to make of the situation.

"Wait here please." Maud walked off without another word leaving Twilight to wonder the significance of what was to come. It was clear that there was something going on here. A sinking feeling that something sinister was going on suddenly struck, paranoia beginning to get the better of her and causing her thoughts to wander. Everyone she had met in this town so far had been nice, but perhaps a bit too nice? Memories of a book Twilight had read in the past suddenly came rushing back to her, telling the tale of a secluded village in the woods that welcomed all comers with open arms and wide smiles only to roast them alive in a giant wicker-pony to appease a spirit of agriculture in hopes of a better harvest. Maybe that's why the name Everfree Forest rang a bell? Maybe the tree had somehow transferred her into the world of that fictional story? Preposterous for sure, but what if?

Twilight's questions were answered all at once as Maud returned, placing what looked to be a large fruit basket onto the countertop. "Welcome to Ponyville, from Pinkie Pie," Maud's expression was still as plain as ever, "Enjoy your stay."

... That's it? Twilight asked herself, looking to the basket with equal parts caution and curiosity. "A... fruit... basket?"

The dull-colored mare slowly glanced downward at the basket of fruits as if to confirm the question. "Yes. A fruit basket," Maud elaborated as she looked back to the hotel's newest guest, "Please don't take it too personally. She does this for everyone who passes through the town. The backroom is filled with them."

The curious look was shifted back to Maud. "... Really?"

"Yep. She used to throw parties, but it got frustrating whenever someone left before she could finish planning everything out. So she switched to fruit baskets. I give them out when she isn't here."

Maud had spoken as if that was a completely normal statement. Throwing parties for complete strangers? That didn't make any sense. Who in their right mind would take the time and resources to throw a party for someone who was just passing through? The fruit basket thing was slightly more believable, slightly being the keyword.

"Sorry about the wait, here's your room key," Maud suddenly placed a simple tagged key on the countertop in front of Twilight. "Second floor. Last room on the right. We charge ten bits per night."

It took Twilight a moment to process all of that, alongside the sudden fruit basket, but she quickly complied and gave the stone-faced mare enough bits to cover three nights. After being thanked for her patronage, and being reminded to take her basket, Twilight was off towards the large staircase at the back of the open space. Today had certainly been an odd one, but a least now she could finally follow in Spike's lead and relax.

--- — ---

The door to the room was open and shut with intense speed, Twilight taking the time to click on the lights and admire the first proper room she had been in for several weeks. It was simplistically furnished, with a plain-looking bed, dresser, and nightstand. There was also a painting hanging just above the mentioned dresser, and like those found in the lobby, it was a painting of rocks. Other than that, there wasn't much else to say about the room outside of the full body mirror and the... back door?

Twilight found herself to be highly curious as to what this second door was for. Placing her fruit basket and saddlebags onto the bed, relieved at the sudden lack of weight on her back, she approached the slightly ajar door. Pushing it open with a hoof, what Twilight saw within was enough to bring her to tears.

A bathroom.

Not much of one, in all honesty. It consisted only of a small shower/tub combo, a toilet, and a sink in an admittedly cramped space, but it was a bathroom. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had a bathroom all to herself... and Spike. It was a wonderful, magical feeling that could not be described by mere mortal words. But Twilight's euphoria was suddenly interrupted with the click of her bag's latch, the fabric rustling about as the secret passenger within slowly crawled out with a loud yawn.

"Uuuuggghhh... Twilight? Where are we?" The drowsy dragon slowly scanned the room as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He was clearly still half asleep, but still aware enough to know they had moved a considerable distance during his slumber.

"A town... err, an inn to be specific," Twilight explained as she strolled over to the window and peered out to the village outside. Glancing out the window revealed a number of ponies moving about the town, and she also took notice of the sky and how it had begun to transition from its traditional blue shade into a more orange hue. A familiar sign that the sun had begun to set. With a wave of her horn, the curtains of the window were drawn shut. Despite being on the second floor, Twilight wanted to maintain her and Spike's privacy. She had noticed a number of pegasi were inhabitants of this country town, so it was better to be safe than sorry. "I ran into somebody in the woods who gave me directions."

"Really? That's lucky..." Spike yawned again, stretching out in a very cat-like fashion. Being curled up in a bag for the better part of the day had clearly taken a toll on the young dragon's body. "Wait... what kind of town?"

Twilight turned her attention to the door, taking a moment to examine the woodwork. "It's a pony village, unfortunately," she answered as she eyed the entrance. "But we have our own bathroom. So there's—"

"THBPBPTHPT," Spike interjected loudly, burring his head down into the pillow as he did. Ponies didn't tend to react well to the young dragon just showing up, mostly because of the fact that despite his many abnormalities, he was still quite recognizable as a dragon. Most ponies didn't think very highly of the fire-breathing reptiles, mostly because of their anti-social and rather territorial behavior. So Spike chose to remain hidden during their stays in pony territory, mostly just to avoid the hassle of it all. He didn't mind all that much, he wasn't exactly a social butterfly with many individuals outside of Twilight anyway. The only difference was that he couldn't just pop out of nowhere like he normally did. A minor inconvenience at best, but still an inconvenience.

Twilight mostly ignored the rude sound that Spike had made with his tongue, instead choosing to focus on her current task. The door seemed to be sturdy enough, the material wouldn't block all sound but it would prove enough to muffle anything of a reasonable decibel. But Twilight was a pony who enjoyed privacy and silence, and thankfully magic was very good at providing those things. A quick flash of light from her horn had then caused the wooden barrier to glow for a short few seconds.

"There we go!" She exclaimed happy, clearly proud of her work. The spell she had just cast had two simple yet distinctive purposes: firstly, almost no sound could get in or out. Any overly loud noises from the restaurant downstairs would never reach their ears as long as the door was closed. And nobody would be able to overhear Twilight and Spike conversing with one another. After all, Twilight had checked into a room for one. It'd be a mite suspicious if someone overheard her and Spike conversing with one another. And the fewer questions that were asked, the better it would be for both of them. The only sound that could get through the door at this point would be someone knocking on the other side, a tricky modification Twilight had to make after some... issues they had in the past.

The second function of the spell was something of an alarm system, to put it bluntly. If anyone other than her opened that door, Twilight would be alerted almost instantly. A bit of an extreme measure, to be sure, but one could never be too careful. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't just undo the charm when she made her departure from the town, it wasn't hurting anybody.

"Alright, Spike, we're totally alone now," she explained happily, trotting to the center of the room with a grin. "You can do what you want now." Twilight began to magically fidget with the clasp of her cloak. The thing was always so easy to get on, but the clasp had a way of sticking when locked that made removing it a bit tricky. The small oddly shaped dragon, meanwhile, drug his face out from the pillow with a slow groan. Lightly smacking his face a few times to help wake up, he surveyed the room once more to get a better look at where he'd be living for however long Twilight had paid for them to stay. His eyes caught notice of something a bit unusual, even for the two of them, and he slowly approached the oddity with a tilted head and raised a brow.

"... What's with the fruit basket?"

"... Oh, that? It's a long story." Twilight turned back towards the bed, still fidgeting with the harness on her concealing robe. "Don't eat any of it until I check it out. I want to make sure it's safe first."

Spike's deadpan stare spoke volumes about what he was thinking, yet he chose to speak up regardless. "... It's a fruit basket. What could be unsafe about a fruit basket?"

"Who just gives random ponies fruit baskets for walking into town?" Twilight retorted with a grunt, having started to use her forehooves in combination with her magic to try and get this cape off. It was being particularly stubborn today. "A mite suspicious, don't you think?"

"If you say so," the dragon chuckled as he stretched out across the bedspread. It was far more comfortable than the little nests he would make with his bedroll out in the wild, and he was taking full advantage of that fact.

*CLICK*

"Ah-ha! Finally!" Twilight almost squealed with joy as the latch came undone, the cloak being tossed across the room in her excitement to finally get the thing off of her back for a little while, finally letting her stretch out a bit more. As she stretched out her tired joints, a glint of something shiny and silver caught her eye. Confused, she turned towards the source and took notice of the room's mirror. It felt like a long time since Twilight had reflected on herself—literally, in this instance—and she found herself practically entranced by her own reflection.

Staring back at her from the other side of the glass was the same lavender pony she had known her whole life, the familiar mare's two dark purple eyes staring right back at her. The darker shade of violet that made up her mane (and tail, by extension) was accented by a streak of a slightly different shade, which sat right next to a bright streak of magenta. Looking past her head and down to the rest of herself, she caught sight of the source of that silver glint.

A set of radiant silver-colored light-weight armor decorated her frame separated from her body by an undersuit of thick dark fabric that reached down to cover her hooves, which were also protected by a silver-hued plate. The armor was highlighted and reinforced with darker and sturdier material. The flanks of the set were decorated with a bright magenta insignia of a six-pointed star, the symbol that had come to represent Twilight herself ever since the day she had been branded by destiny.

It had been quite some time since Twilight had actually looked upon the custom-made suit with her own eyes, yet she instantly remembered when and where she had picked it up. A gift from her older brother just before she departed on her journey, a loving over precaution from a protective and paranoid sibling. The words he spoke about the armor as he gave it to her rang in Twilight's mind, specifically his explanations of the spells he had infused into the protective garb. Virtually indestructible, extremely lightweight, self-cleaning, and able to be magically removed or donned instantly with a simplified teleportation spell. It was the perfect gift for someone about to go on a long journey, and Twilight had been very gracious when she had received it. Thanks to the ease in which it could be removed and equipped, the armor was only either on her person or in her saddlebags with no physical transition in between. And since she spent most of her time underneath that cloak, there was very little reason for her to ever notice its lovingly crafted metalwork. Over time, it had simply become a habit to take it on and off when she needed to.

The sight of her armor was always enough to bring Twilight's mind back home. Mostly memories of studying, but those she had of her family were still strong. A strong sense of nostalgia came over her as she gently ran an armored hoof against the chest piece, bringing a soft smile to her face. She found herself wondering how things were back home, and honestly considering the idea of backtracking a bit to see her family. But as her curious gaze continued along her body, Twilight was given a reminder of why she even wore the cloak in the first place, and the smile vanished in response.

A set of wings adorned with lavender feathers, much like those found on a pegasus.

Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as she unfolded the feathered appendages for closer inspection. They had certainly been the victims of neglect for quite some time now, evident by a few misaligned feathers here and there. Despite being a winged creature, Twilight had never quite been able to figure out how to properly care for them. She had been able to get close enough for her needs, but she was far from a master and it showed. These wings would have certainly been helpful in a number of situations in the past, but you could never know who was watching at any given time. And seeing an alicorn just flying around was bound to raise a number of unwanted questions, prompting Twilight into her current habit of hiding her true nature in public. They were much easier to hide than a horn, and much less useful in her honest opinion.

Maybe I'll finally learn how to properly preen these things... I'm sure there's a book on the subject in town... With that thought, Twilight once more freed a flicker of magic from her horn. And in a blink of light, her protective attire was gone, the only other sign of its existence coming in the form of a brief bout of movement from her saddlebags. She wouldn't be needing the armor in the town and thus could allow her body to breathe a bit.

"Twilight?" Spike spoke up, knocking the alicorn back into reality with a bit of a jolt. "The fruit basket?"

It took Twilight a moment to register what the small dragon meant by that, chuckling through a quick apology before trotting back over to the bed, wings returning neatly to her sides. She proceeded to throw every identification spell she knew at the collection of assorted fruits, only to find that it was indeed a collection of assorted fruits. They hadn't been poisoned, there had been no hexes or curses placed upon them, and they were actually rather fresh. These revelations came as an unexpected yet pleasant surprise to the magic caster, relieving the stress that had come with her wild assumptions about being made a living sacrifice to appease some false idol. Maybe the ponies of this remote little village were just nice people. An odd concept for sure, but far from impossible.

"Alright, Spike, it looks like this stuff's safe to—" She slowly trailed off as she caught sight of what the dragon had been up to while she had been checking their potential food. The small dragon could be seen on the floor, currently rearranging one of their bedrolls into a little nest for himself. Twilight knew exactly why he had chosen to partake in this action, it was their routine whenever they had a bed available. While she couldn't quite recall where or when it had happened, at some point on their travels the two of them had agreed that if there was only one bed available, Twilight would be the one to get it. The line of reasoning was that Twilight was the one carrying all the weight of their supplies, and sometimes all the weight of a growing baby dragon, so it only seemed fair to both of them. After that, Twilight hadn't really put much thought into the arrangement. They didn't exactly check into hotels most nights anyway. Usually, they were sleeping under the stars or in a cave.

But tonight, seeing this familiar sight gave Twilight pause. Or perhaps it was just the sight of Spike in general, she honestly couldn't tell at this point. Her mind began racing with images and sounds from earlier in the day. The intensive roars and attacks from the red dragon, the haphazard escape that almost ended in tragedy, how timid Spike had been after the whole ordeal. These factors combined with his previous declaration of no longer wanting to find dragons only served to further the sense of worry Twilight had for him. There wasn't any way to tell at the moment if today's events would have any long-lasting effects, but one way or another, Spike had just gone through what was without a doubt the most difficult day in his young life. Her immediate reaction was to do something to try and make up for what had happened today. Give him something to improve his mood, even if it didn't seem like his mood was poor at the moment. And thankfully, she knew just what to do.

"Hey, Spike..." Twilight paused for a moment, giving the young dragon ample time to notice her. "... I was just thinking that maybe you should take the bed for a few nights. I always get it, so you should get a turn." The inscrutable expression that Spike donned at that moment was the stuff of legends and could have easily inspired an entire generation of artists if anyone other than Twilight had been here to witness it.

"... Who are you and what have you done with the real Twilight?"

The alicorn found herself scoffing at the accusation, despite her current mood, as she began to properly layout the bedroll for her own use. "Oh come on, don't be like that."

The serpent-like reptile glanced up with a seemingly worried look. "I don't know... I was asleep for a pretty long time..." He took two initiatives steps backward. "You could be a... a... uhh..." He paused for a moment, his eyes darting to and fro across the floor as if searching for the right word.

"A changeling?"

"Yeah! One of those!" Spike looked elated that his comrade had figured out what he had been trying to say. That elation was quick to snap back to his pensive and suspicious expression. "So, are you?"

Twilight noticeably laughed at his bluff, turning to the young dragon with a sly grin and a single raised brow. "Spike. Do you honestly think someone could have stolen my bags, while you were in them for the record, and gotten this far?"

The small dragon raised a single claw in protest, looking as if he were about to say something, but slowly lowered the extended digit after a moment of thought. "Good point," he added, letting the small chuckle escape.

"Now, you're going to be sleeping in that bed after we eat," the alicorn gestured towards the bed, "And I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

"Fine," Spike spoke in an obviously fake whine, leaping up onto the bed with feline-esque grace. Despite his "protests," it was more than obvious that he was overjoyed at this new development. He nimbly burrowed his way under the covers with a childish chortle.

A sight that brought a smile to Twilight's face, as his antics often did. But even as she watched him create what would be his bed-based-nest for the days to come, a knot in Twilight's stomach began to form. Not from hunger, at least not entirely, but of distress. She couldn't help but come back to the conclusion that something was wrong with Spike. Twilight couldn't get the images of Spike's distraught expression and shaky words from earlier out of her head. Every sense for logic and reason she had kept telling her that something wasn't quite right. He looked to be fine on the outside, but he could very easily be suppressing what he's actually thinking, intentionally or not. These thoughts continued to well up inside Twilight with no signs of slowing down, thrusting her into a downward spiral of worry and empathy. And as she watched Spike begin to help himself to the basket of assorted fruits, these feelings forced their way out.

"Hey, Spike?" Twilight asked calmly, despite the inner turmoil within.

The long dragon's head quickly snapped around to face her, his snout dripping with the juices of an apple that he had begun to eviscerate. "Yeah?" He asked through a mass of mashed fruit, loudly gulping down the mouthful afterward. "What's up?"

The alicorn had to actively try to not be repulsed by the rude act and did everything in her power to retain a sympathetic and understanding aura. "You know that you can always come and talk to me if something's wrong, right?" The room fell silent, even more so due to the spell that Twilight had cast on the room earlier. There was a moment where the two of them locked eyes, a short moment in reality but it felt like an eternity for the two of them. Spike retained his same expression throughout the experience, only once did he break eye contact as his eyes darted downward for the briefest moment.

"... Yeah, I know. You always looking out for me." He offered Twilight a warm smile before returning to his previous task of viciously mauling and devouring the unluckiest apple in Ponyville.

"Just... a lot happened today, and I want to know if you're doing alright. With the dragon and—"

Spike practically became a statue at that word, prompting her to cease speaking almost immediately. His gaze slowly glanced down to the horridly mangled apple in his claws. He trembled ever so slightly as he mused over Twilight's offer for closure. He began to shift his gaze back towards the alicorn, his movements slow and drawn out, and he finally made eye contact.

"I'm... fine," He explained, almost whimpering. If Twilight had been worried before, she was a paranoid wreck right now. It took an insane amount of will power for her to maintain a semblance composure, as to not further alarm her dear friend. Yet Spike's expression suddenly changed without any provocation. No longer a look of fear and anxiety, he returned to a more neutral look, one that was more akin to what Twilight was used to seeing from him, a smile and everything. "I just... it's in the past. Let's just move on." Without another word, he continued to stuff his face with the mangled apple.

Twilight's scream would have leveled the building if she had chosen to vocalize it instead of keeping it internal. The alicorn couldn't exactly blame him for wanting to move on, she wanted to do the same, even if it was more then obvious he needed to talk right now. But at the same time, she couldn't force him to talk. Prying any further at this point could only make things worse, she assumed. It was clear that Spike was going to need time to digest what had happened. Despite his age, he was fairly intelligent, thanks to his time with Twilight. He knew that he could confide in Twilight when he was ready, and Twilight would be ready to listen when that time came. With a slow and heavy exhale, the lavender alicorn lit up her horn again and began to go through her saddlebags.

"Try not to fill up on fruit, Spike," Twilight said through a tired sigh as she mystically dug through her belongings. Soon after, the items of her desire were drawn forth: the first was nothing special, just a simple silver spoon that had been clearly bent out of, and back into, shape a number of times. The second, however, was a curious item. A large, dark blue colored ceramic bowl, the interior of which was lined with shallow carvings of various runes. "I'm going to go get us some dinner." With that, she placed the eating utensils onto the nightstand and made her way for the exit.

"Uhh, Twilight?" Spike called out just as Twilight was about to open the door, "Forgetting something?" It took a moment for Twilight to figure out what he meant, chuckling at herself as she realized her mistake. Quickly returning her concealing cloak to her frame, Twilight thanked the dragon for his assistance as she left. She didn't bother redonning her armor, however. For it wouldn't be needed for the acquisition of that delicious smelling stew downstairs.

--- — ---

A nice hot meal, a secluded table towards the back of the Bedrock Inn's eating area, and a tall glass of ice cold cider.

These were luxuries that weren't often available in the life of a traveler. Most meals were to be had in makeshift camps along roads, in forests, or where ever else a temporary shelter could be made. And even then, most of these meals were of a more basic variety. Quick simple recipes that could easily put an end to hunger, but weren't anything spectacular. This stew that was being served at the Bedrock Inn, however? The polar opposite in every meaning of the phrase.

The thick brothy concoction filled the massive bowl it was served into the brim, the slightest of movements being enough to cause some of it to spill onto the wooden table beneath. Neatly diced vegetables were currently working on absorbing as much of the residual liquid as possible, however, giving the meal a surprising amount of color. By no means was it a gourmet meal, but based on the aroma alone, Twilight could tell that the pony they had working the kitchen here put no end of effort into his or her profession.

And while Twilight would have been more than happy to reward the chef by fully enjoying her meal, she had a baby dragon to feed upstairs. Thankfully over the course of their travels, the cloaked alicorn had mastered the art of finding ways to sneak food to Spike with ease. Even from great distances, such as in this instance. Looking around the restaurant with cautious eyes, she was quickly able to confirm that there were currently no eyes on her at the moment. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Twilight's attention returned to her meal. And as she closed her eyes in concentration, her horn began to flicker and glow with arcane light.

The stew itself began to react to her magic, several spots atop the uneven surface of the meal beginning to light up. These points of light took on different forms and shapes, each one shifting to match one of the runes carved into the ceramic bowl she left upstairs. Once the runes were in place, they seemingly began to push down against the foodstuff in the bowl. To an outside observer, they would be witness to an odd sight: the thick soup was seemingly vanishing into the bowl, the top of it sinking deeper and deeper past the brim. Meanwhile, if one were to observe the bowl that had been left upstairs, they would be seeing the opposite as the soup began to materialize in the dish.

The answer to the conundrum was simple enough: just a basic transference spell, modified for Twilight and Spike's needs. Once her bowl had been emptied to about half of what she had started with, Twilight ceased the transport and looked upon her now diminished meal. While much less than what she had started with, it looked to be hearty enough to satisfy the day's hunger. For a moment she considered the possibility if she had sent Spike to much, but it was fine. She could always finish off whatever he didn't when she got back to the room, so it wasn't like it was going to waste. And thus, with the last bit of responsibility taken care of, for the time being, it was finally time for Twilight to take some much needed time for herself. With the spoon in her magical grasp, no time was wasted in shoveling the brew into her face with great vigor.

And as expected, it was quite delicious.

"HI, TWILIGHT!" A loud, shrill voice suddenly screamed around halfway through Twilight's meal, dragging the attention of everyone in the area to the location. Upon seeing the source of the outburst, however, the various patrons proceeded to continue on with their business as if nothing had happened. Seems as if this was common behavior from the odd mare around here and something that didn't bother the locals.

Twilight, however, had a slightly different reaction. The sudden shout had caused the currently disguised alicorn to nearly choke on a mouthful of potato, her surprised spasms almost knocking over the glass of cider she had gotten with her meal. A great rage was born within Twilight at that moment, her gaze turning towards whatever unfortunate pony had thought it would be a good idea to interrupt her while she was eating. There was only one possibility of who this could be, as there was only one pony in town who currently knew Twilight's name.

Pinkie Pie.

She stood next to Twilight's lone table with a massive grin on her face, a pale bandana doing everything it could to keep the wild curly monstrosity of her mane tied down and out of the way, alongside a matching apron, the earth pony was now adorned in. Much like the other hotel employees, she also had a nametag on, hers reading Pinkie, to the surprise of nobody with higher brain function. It seemed she was currently acting as something akin to a busboy, though clearly with the time on her hooves to stop and speak with Twilight.

Oh. Her again, Twilight commented as the undying fury within her began to settle down. She couldn't exactly act upon her anger at the moment, she had been raised better than that. And while Twilight didn't know this particular pony very well, it was quite obvious that she didn't have any ill intent. So after almost dying from choking, and giving the pink pony a quick acknowledgment in return, Twilight returned to her meal after a few quick gulps of cider to ease her now slightly aching throat. Pinkie's expression, meanwhile, changed from the seemingly unwavering smile. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as the corners of her mouth dropped ever so slightly, matching the decent of her ears.

"Oh, sorry," Pinkie softly spoke—almost whispered, even—with just a twinge of guilt present in her voice, "I have trouble controlling the volume of my voice when I'm excited. I'm working on it, I promise!"

Well, at least she's aware of it. "Well... thanks, I guess," Twilight muttered back before continuing to eat. The pink pony, however, wasn't quite done with her yet it seemed. For she was very quick in pulling up the second stool from the table and taking a seat, an earnest smile plastered over her face the entire time.

"Did Maud give you the fruit basket? She always says she'll give 'em out when I'm not here, but there's been more than one occasion where she's forgotten. And I don't want anybody to be left out and not get a fruit basket. It's no party, but fruit baskets are still nice!" Her words were quick and cluttered, and it took Twilight a moment to even process what had been said.

"... Oh, yeah... thanks for that," Twilight muttered through half-chewed stew before gulping it down and continuing, "Never got a prize for walking into a town before. Not complaining, but it was a bit weird."

"You know, you'd be surprised by how often I don't hear that," Pinkie explained with a giggle, "Most ponies either just take them without question, or go and think everyone in town is part of some crazy cult that's out to get 'em!" She paused for a moment, placing a hoof to her chin with a quizzical look. "It's never anything else... it's always one or the other of those two very specific reactions. Weird."

"Heh, well there's a first time for everything," Twilight chose to ignore the fact that a very similar idea had come to her own head not even an hour ago when she had received her gift. Instead, she opted to take a large swig of cider to wash down some of that hearty meal.

"Yeah. But the ponies-thinking-there's-a-cult thing only happens, like, one in every fifty times a new pony comes into town," Pinkie returned to a happy expression and waved her hoof nonchalantly, "Not enough to be worried about, but enough to be noticeable." There was a slight lull in the conversation, Pinkie not saying anything while Twilight continued to eat. The hotel worker's expression slowly began to waver as the silence dragged on. "... I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"

Twilight nearly coughed up her current bite at that. Well, if you're just going to say it outright, she commented to herself as she recovered from the shock.

"I mean, you were eating, and then I just kind of waltzed on up and started talking to you, and you have this look on your face that just screams 'I'd rather be anywhere else right now, please for the love of the Sun just kill me now and get it over with,' and—" Pinkie continued to list off various aspects of the current situation, her words growing faster and faster until there was no clear indication of when one started and another ended.

"Pinkie!" Twilight suddenly barked, prompting the rambling pony to cease her chattering and return her attention to the disguised alicorn. "It's fine. I don't mind." That statement was only partially true. After the day Twilight had gone through, she just wanted some time to relax and ruminate with herself. But at the same time, the pink pony's company wasn't entirely unbearable. At the very least, it was just nice to have some noise to distract her from some of the lesser points in the day.

"Oh, thank goodness," Pinkie let out a massive sigh of relief, "For a moment there, I thought I was being a nuisance."

You kind of are, but whatever. Twilight continued to enjoy her meal as she kept that comment internalized. She was a patient mare, and this wasn't the first time she had dealt with an individual like Pinkie. Pinkie was definitely the most intense out of all of them, but it wasn't unbearable.

"So, where're you from?" The question was quick and direct, coming straight out of left field and slamming into Twilight like a freight train. "Probably from somewhere really far away, right?"

The metal spoon was left stranded in Twilight's mouth as she blankly stared back at the smiling pony, bewildered at the odd change in subject. Did she really just ask that? What business was it of hers? Why did she need to know? These were simply a few of the questions passing through Twilight's head at the moment as she continued to glare at the earth pony now sitting before her. The body language was either unnoticed or ignored entirely, however, as Pinkie's smile refused to falter. If anything, the anticipation caused by Twilight's silence only seemed to pique her curiosity more, her bright blue eyes practically glowing at this point.

It'll be faster to just play along, Twilight realized as she withdrew the silverware from her mouth. "Canterlot," she answered dryly before returning to her meal.

"... Oh, the capital!" Pinkie realized aloud, her expression somehow growing brighter in turn. "And since you came into town from the South... you must be on your way home!" Twilight had initially ignored the earth pony's reaction. It was not unlike other reactions she had gotten from ponies when she mentioned her previous place of permanent residence. Though indifference was replaced by curiosity when the words "your way home" were spoken. That was not part of the typical reaction she got in the few instances the celestial city had been brought up.

"I'm sorry... what did you say?" The question was awkward, intelligently spoken. Rightfully so, considering the disguised alicorn's confusion.

"...Oh, the capital?"

"After that."

"Since you came into town from the South, you must be—"

Twilight was actually starting to get frustrated now. "Okay. Let me rephrase the question. What did you mean?"

"... Oh. Canterlot. It's just North of Ponyville," Pinkie Pie either didn't notice or didn't care about how Twilight fumbled over her words, "It'll take you a while to get back if you walk. But if you take the train, it'll only take three days!"

It'll only take three days...

The words echoed in Twilight's head like the bells of a great cathedral as a hefty realization struck her. By sheer dumb luck, the tree had managed to spit her out this close to home, and she hadn't even noticed. The weight of this development bore heavy on Twilight's mind, bringing up thoughts and memories that hadn't been brought to the surface in quite a long time. So close to home, yet oh so far away.

A deep sigh escaped from Twilight at that moment as she processed this new discovery. Quickly thanking the smiling earth pony for the advice, she swiftly finished the cider she had ordered alongside her meal. Afterward, she simply stood up and began to walk away. Once more showing either ignorance or indifference to the situation, the pink pony gave a heartfelt goodbye and goodnight before beginning to clean up the table. The kind words were lost on the magical pony as she slowly trudged up the stairs back towards her room. Today had been quite the long day, and this latest event was the icing on that particular cake. There was much to digest, both in her head and in her belly.

And as she used the room key to enter her rented abode, yet another hurdle was added to the list. A young serpent-like dragon laying on the floor, groaning in agony whilst massaging his midsection with his foreclaws. The cause of the problem was clear as day, as there was a suspiciously empty bowl of stew sitting next to him, alongside a fruit basket that seemed significantly less fruity then Twilight remembered.

All she could do was shake her head slowly, a cocky grin coming over her face. "I told you not to fill up on fruit," she jokingly chastised at Spike's overdramatization of a bellyache.

— Chapter Three —

View Online

--- Mistakes and Regrets ---

"Come on, Twilight!" Spike shouted with glee, leaping and bounding towards the next cave entrance with great vigor and speed. His movements bringing no end of comparisons to various felines and canines to the mind of his purple pony companion. He stopped momentarily to give her time to catch up, beaming back at her with the biggest brightest look of joy he could muster. "Just one more cave! Then we can go!"

Twilight shook her head slowly, trotting slowly behind the long dragon with a chuckle. The phrase "just one more cave" had been uttered quite a number of times this morning, enough to almost drive the cloaked alicorn mad. But at the same time, she couldn't help but comply with his requests up till now. They had come to this region in search of dragons, based on the rumors of a "dragon kingdom" Spike had apparently overheard in the last town they were in. It was also the last day they were spending in the area, so she saw no harm in indulging his childlike glee. She honestly couldn't recall a time in her life where she had seen the unusual dragon so excited and happy before. It was hard for her to say "no" to such elation for fear of drowning it out. She was certain that they wouldn't find whatever it was they were searching for, but at the same time, there was no harm in being thorough in that search.

"Alright, Spike. One more," the alicorn spoke with both compassion and authority, "And that actually means one more this time. Got it?"

Spike nodded enthusiastically as he darted ahead once more, disappearing into what would be the final cave of their expedition, whether he liked it or not. This cave, in particular, looked to be much too small for a full grown dragon to fit into, making it a poor choice for their final stop. Despite this, Twilight began to pick up the pace, transitioning from a slow stroll to a brisk trot in order to keep the infant dragon within some semblance of eyesight. Just because this cave couldn't be home to a dragon, that didn't mean some other sort of creature couldn't be found here. Thus it was wise to keep Spike within reasonable proximity, just in case—

"TWILIGHT!" The young dragon suddenly blared out, joy and excitement clearly present in his tone.

Just in case that happens! Twilight began sprinting towards the subterranean entrance. Her eyes quickly locked onto the only blotch of purple and green in sight, fully expecting something terrible to greet her vision. Instead, the young alicorn was witness to a sight very few ponies would ever see.

Mounds upon mounds of seemingly endless treasure, glistening in the sunlight let in through a massive hollow in the larger-than-expected cave's ceiling and filling the chamber with an enriched radiance. The opening was clearly large enough for an adult dragon to fly through, Twilight quickly realized. The horde was made up of everything from gold and other precious metals to large raw deposits of gemstone ripped straight out of the ground. Finer cut jewels could also be found amongst the collection if one were to investigate closer. Assuming one could complete the impossible task of claiming every single piece of treasure, they would have more than enough monetary value to purchase the entire Kingdom of Equestria. Twice over! Despite it's worth, this trove was entirely unprotected.

And while Twilight was glad that there were currently no dragons in sight, she was also incredibly worried that there were currently no dragons in sight. Spike had vanished from sight in the time it took the cloaked alicorn to catch up. And that was more than enough to send a surge panic through her veins. Venturing further into the cavern, her eyes blotting in every direction in hopes of catching a glimpse of purple scales, she began to curse herself for letting Spike talk her into this.

Looking for dragons was one thing. The fire-breathing titans were a rare sight, and their hordes were an even rarer one at that. Knowing this, Twilight didn't see any harm in letting Spike indulge in his own curiosity for a bit. But not once had Twilight considered what she would do in the event that they actually found something. As she doubled the efforts of her fearful search, she was able to find a small amount of solace in the fact that the dragon who called this cave home was currently absent. Or at the very least, seemed to be absent.

"Spike?!" She called out in a raspy half-yell-half-whisper, fearful of the possible presence of the treasure trove's owner. "Where are you?! We have to go!"

"Twilight! Come look at this!" Spike yelled back with no such caution or tact, "This is so cool!"

There was a wince at the young dragon's chosen volume, but also comfort in that she knew where he was now. A general direction, anyway. With much haste, the cloaked alicorn dashed towards the shout, gold coins and other trinkets being kicked up with various links and clatters. The various mountain like stacks of treasure was like a maze, forcing her to take a twisting-turning route that only served to further her own anxiety.

Grab Spike, leave the cave, explain later. Grab Spike, leave the cave, explain later. Twilight continued to internally chant as she traversed the treasure horde. After what felt like an eternity she finally found what Spike must've been gawking over. A large, solid gold statue of the legendary Starswirl the Bearded. And while it was an impressive sight to behold, it only served to further induce a growing sense of fear into the young alicorn. A dragon capable of stealing something like this was not something to be trifled with. Unfortunately for Twilight, it seemed that Spike had already moved on from the impressive discovery he had found.

"Spike?!" Twilight dared herself to yell louder, hoping her young friend would take notice of the panic in her voice and come find her.

"I'm over here!" The young dragon replied with childlike glee, his voice coming from behind a much larger mound of gold. "This place is AMAZING! I haven't seen this much stuff since I got locked in that vault!" Twilight instantly knew what he was referring to. The time he had "accidentally" wormed his way into the vault of the First National Bank of Equestria. That had also been a stressful time for Twilight, though the irony of him bringing up that incident was lost on her at this moment.

The alicorn didn't bother responding, choosing instead to make a mad dash for her dragon in a desperate attempt to get out of here as quickly as possible. But those particular events would never get a chance to play out. A shadow was soon to fall over the cave, and Twilight froze in horror at the sound of beating wings announcing the arrival of this cave's owner. Slowly craning her head around to face the massive entrance that was the cave's ceiling, her eyes locking onto the silhouetted form descending from above.

The red scales of the dragon all but overtook her vision as it came in for a landing towards the very pile Twilight was attempting to sneak around. Slamming down into its horde with a thunderous crash that shook the earth beneath her hooves. By some miracle, the beast had failed to notice the comparatively small pony that was trespassing upon its home, and that was currently situated uncomfortably close to one of its hind claws.

Twilight was too frightened to even breath as she watched the dragon adjust himself, seeming to be intending to sleep for some time. If she had just been a few small feet further ahead of where she was, she would have been utterly decimated under the weight of the titanic creature. If it weren't for the massive dragon attempting to go to sleep nearby, she would have laughed in celebration of her insanely good luck.

Alright... now to find Spike... Her next steps were slow and deliberate, taking extra care to make as little sound as possible as she made her way towards the dragon's head. A phenomenally stupid idea in most circumstances, but it was currently her best course of action. Spike wanted to find a dragon, the best place to do that would be at the dragon's head.

A glimmer of joy returned to her heart as she caught sight of something small and purple. Spike was staring with wide eyes at what he had found, much like his expression that he had worn earlier in the day. But this was no longer a look of joy and curiosity, for as she got closer Twilight could see the fear in his eyes and the subtle twitches of his shivering form. She couldn't blame him, after all, he was currently staring up at a much larger dragon's massive sleeping face. How it had failed to notice him was a mystery, but Twilight wasn't about to complain. She was far to busy suppressing her own panic attack, coping by not so subtly twitching the restrained wings underneath her cloak.

"Spike!" She whispered while approaching, still taking care to make as little noise as possible. "Don't make a sound."

"... They looked a lot smaller in the book..." he muttered quietly, not taking his eyes off of the titan for even a second. For a moment, Twilight considered using magic to retrieve her friend. But just as she was about to, she stopped herself. One of the drawbacks to pony magic that one doesn't normally think of is the sound it causes when it becomes active. While not loud by any definition, it was more notable than a few minor whispers. And thankfully she had managed to remember that just before she began casting it.

"Spike, slowly crawl to me and get in the bag," Twilight commanded quietly, her eyes darting to the resting behemoth they were attempting to escape from. She noticed as Spike heeded her advice, ever so slightly beginning to advance to her position as she approached him in turn. Her gaze shot back and forth between both dragons, making sure that one was still sleeping while the other continued moving towards her.

Twilight's heart nearly stopped when she glanced back to the red scale one last time, only to see two furious yellow eyes now staring back at her. The dragon once again shook the very ground she and Spike were treading on, this time with a mighty roar.

She gasped loudly as her eyes shot open, being greeted to only by further darkness. She pushed and fidgeted against whatever was restraining her in a silent frenzy as she stood to her hooves, frantically looking around for any sign of the red-scaled beast. But there was no red dragon to be seen, the only thing breaking the darkness being the pale moonlight shining through the curtains. As her breathing and heart rate began to descend to normal levels, her horn lit up with a familiar pinkish-magenta hue that illuminated the sparsely decorated room that she was in. The pony looked down at her hooves, seeing that the thing restraining her had been nothing more than a simple bedroll.

A dream... It was just a bad dream...

Twilight soon remembered where she was and how she had gotten there, a relieved sigh echoing through the room. It seemed her mind had been lingering on today's previous events more then she realized if that nightmare had been any indication. The fact that it was already something that had been dealt with was soothing in its own right, but that didn't help the fact that they had happened in the first place. With tired eyes, Twilight looked over to the room's single bed.

Her nocturnal outburst had seemingly no effect on the baby dragon in her care, as he was still sound asleep in his own self made den. Just the sight of him peacefully at rest was enough to bring her own chaotic thoughts and bring ease to her panicked heart. Ease that was soon overtaken by guilt as she chastised herself for letting it get that bad in the first place.

I should have told him no... I should have told him dragons were dangerous, Twilight continued to berate herself, lightly pounding a hoof against the side of her head in some attempt at penance. She halted the self-abuse and looked down at Spike once more, still sound asleep. I could have gotten us both killed today. What was I thinking?! Silent tears began running down her face as she walked away from the bed, choosing to replace the light of her horn with the much calmer radiance of the moon, slowly pushing the drapes open and peering out to the slumbering village just beyond the glass.

I wasn't thinking... I just wasn't thinking...

The fact that she somehow managed to get both of them out of that situation without any major setbacks was unbelievable. Even now, it didn't feel like it had really happened the way it had happened. Dumb luck. It couldn't have been anything more than dumb luck, she told herself. That was the only explanation that she could think of that made any sort of sense as to how they both survived, physically unscathed. Placing her forehooves atop the window seal so she could somewhat relax, Twilight's gaze trailed upwards as she continued to ruminate on today's events and her part in causing them.

Her eyes locked onto the calm silver radiance of the sun's nocturnal counterpart, and the mysterious and alluring stare of the Mare in the Moon.

— Chapter Four —

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--- The Day After ---

As the morning sun crept through the drawn curtains, signaling the beginning of a new day, a tired groan escaped from Twilight Sparkle as she opened her bloodshot eyes.

The previous night had been plagued by repeating nightmares of yesterday's failings, each time forcing the alicorn back into the waking world. She had lost track of just how many times this had happened, maybe four or five, but she knew that it had occurred enough to deprive her of much-needed sleep. Not enough to have any drastic effects, but enough for her to feel a noticeable effect. It took her a few moments to shakily push herself onto her hooves after deciding that further attempt at sleep would be futile. The alicorn's sense of balance took a moment to catch up with her, her wings reflexively flapping outward in an attempt to keep her steady as she stood up.

A groggy yawn was the first sound Twilight made as she began to stretch and shake herself awake. Glancing over to the bed, a small smile found its way to her face as she gazed upon Spike's still sleeping form. It was clear that the baby dragon had gotten the exact opposite experience that she had, sleeping peacefully all throughout the night. She knew this because every time she had been awoken by her nightmares, her first instinct had been to check on Spike to make sure he was alright. An irrational response, there was nothing that could have happened to him in the intervals where she was actually able asleep.

Content with her friend's state of being, Twilight continued along with her morning routine. The smile on her face only continued to grow as she remembered that this hotel room came with a bathroom. A tired but excited giggle escaped from her as she walked through the threshold, quietly closing the door behind her. The first thing the magic pony did was aim her attention towards the admittedly not-so-impressive shower/tub combo, quickly switching on the hot water. It came to life with a loud hiss, and the alicorn held a hoof under the stream until she was satisfied with the temperature. It took longer than it probably should have, but it wasn't long at all before Twilight was standing under the relaxing downpour of warm water.

With closed eyes and a deep breath, Twilight took this moment to gather her thoughts and composure as she began the cleaning process. What had happened yesterday was in the past now and today was a brand new day. And with a new day came things that needed to be done, namely the errands that Twilight had to complete whenever she and Spike passed through a town. Food and supplies would need to be bought before they could move on, and possibly earning some more funds for whenever they came upon the next town. If her memory was right, their money pool was starting to run dangerously low, meaning the order of these chores would have to be reversed this time around. A bit inconvenient, but it was just something that she would have to deal with.

After taking the time to let the soothing pitter-patter and the warmth of the water wake her up, Twilight finally turned the showerhead off. A quick flicker of her horn was enough to render the alicorn dry, letting her step onto the tiled floor without a single drop of liquid to be dropped. The foggy mirror was her next destination, and she was quick to meet her own tired gaze on the other side of the hazy glass. The magic used to dry herself off had left her mane as an absolute mess. Thankfully, magic was also the solution to this problem, and the issue was quickly resolved with a magenta-hued flash. Satisfied with her usual mane style, the alicorn begrudgingly looked towards her wings. Aside from one or two misaligned feathers, there wasn't anything particularly wrong here. She gave each of them several hearty waves, almost enough to lift her off of the ground, until the wings looked better then they started.

I really should preen these, Twilight commented as she opened the bathroom door, a heavy cloud of steam following her back into the main room. Alright. I'll find a book on it while I'm in town. I mean it this time. With the traditional empty promise out of the way, her attention was drawn to the saddlebags sitting in the corner of the room as she needed to figure out just where they were in terms of funds.

Twilight deadpanned as she gazed upon the group of golden coins in her possession, each emblazoned with a blazing sun on one side and a crescent moon on the other. While not entirely devoid of money as she initially had anticipated, there was enough to buy a few essentials for the travels to come, the imminent need for money would soon be upon them. The smart thing to do would be to find a place to work for a few days to restock on their funds. Of course, finding employment was never a fun endeavor, especially when you don't plan on staying for very long. The alicorn's lamenting was soon interrupted by the yawn of a young dragon which served to draw her attention away from her coin purse.

"Morning, Twi," the serpentine dragon muttered between yawns, stretching out his lengthy frame as he crawled out of the bed. "What's the plan today?"

"Finding a way to make money is pretty high on the list," the alicorn bluntly explained with a sigh. "We're basically broke. Thankfully, I paid for three nights, so that's how long we've got to find a way to buy food and supplies." Spike was quick to match her concerned grimace, an action that only furthered the anxiety of the situation, prompting Twilight's mind to go into overdrive. The answer to the problem was simple enough, she'd have to find a method of temporary employment to help restock on funds. But the real issue was in finding said employment.

At that very moment, three swift knocks were made upon the other side of the main door, the only type of noise that could penetrate Twilight's spell, drawing the attention of both the room's occupants. Spike did not hesitate in swiftly crawling underneath the bed, just in the even that whoever was at the door decided to peer inside. With that taken care of, there was nothing stopping Twilight from walking over and seeing whoever it was on the other side of the door.

"Cloak!" Spike shouted out, just as Twilight had begun to turn the handle. And without missing a beat, the blanket from the bed was whisked towards her and cocooned around her exposed frame. Now there was nothing stopping Twilight from quickly opening the door, And just on the other side of the enchanted barricade but the only pony in this town who had spoken more than ten words to her.

Pinkie Pie stood in the same uniform she bore the previous night, her smile as bright as the morning sun outside, and with a wheeled cart of cleaning implements stationed just behind her. It seemed that clearing of tables was not the only job she was tasked with completing in this establishment.

"Oh! Hi, Twilight!" The earth mare seemed surprised at first to see the blanketed alicorn. Her astonishment was then quickly replaced by a mixture of confusion and concern. "... Sorry, I didn't know this was your room! I hope I didn't wake you!"

It took Twilight a moment to realize what she meant, but the heavy blanket wrapped around herself was clear evidence that she had just rolled out of bed. "Oh... no, I've been up for a while," she quickly corrected with a small chortle, "Just... haven't exactly started the day yet."

Pinkie was quick to return to her happy outlook, almost jarringly fast. "Oh, well that's good then! I was just going around cleaning some of the empty rooms. But this room isn't empty, so I'll just be on my way then!" Just as suddenly as she had arrived, so too was she prepared to be on her way.

"Hold up a second," Twilight interjected as an idea sprang to life within her head. Pinkie seemed like the kind of social butterfly who would know her way around town, and who might know anyone who was looking for employment. "You wouldn't happen to know where someone like me could go for a job, would you? I'm... running a bit low on cash."

The earth pony stopped and looked back to the disguised alicorn, a narrow-eyed look of great contemplation on her face. A faint humming noise emanated from her as she greatly considered all possibilities she could think of. One could almost hear the mental "ding" that signified the completion of her task, Pinky reverting her attention to Twilight with a familiar smile. "Not off the top of my head! But I'd be willing to help you look after my shift ends!"

Twilight noticeably recoiled at the offer, caught off guard by the unexpected act of kindness. This pony's kindness had been a nice change of pace after the past few villages that she had wandered through, but it was beginning to edge a bit on the unpleasant side. Who in all honesty was this nice to a complete stranger without some kind of motive, after all?

"Oh, you don't need to—"

A pink hoof was swiftly raised in protest. "I don't 'need' to do a lot of things. But I do them anyway because it's the nice thing to do! You don't have to wait for me though, but I'll be free in a few hours!" There wasn't a chance to respond to the offer, as the pink pony was quick to be on her way with her cart of cleaning supplies. "See ya later!"

A loud squeaking emanated from one of the wheels as the earth pony pushed the cart along. Closing the door with a sigh, cutting off all sound from the outside world in the process, Twilight flung the blanket off of her body and back onto the bed. She followed suit, flopping down onto the bed and enjoying the soft surface for a moment in time.

"You can come out now, Spike. She's gone," the alicorn spoke directly into the pillow that her face was buried in. She could hear the sound of the young reptile scampering out from under the bed, but didn't bother looking up to meet his gaze.

"She seemed nice," Spike commented as he climbed back onto the bed, "I'm guessing she was behind the fruit basket?"

"MmmHmm." Twilight wasn't in the proper mind space to respond properly right now. Her lack of sleep had caught back up to her, and she was seriously considering drifting back to the land of dreams. "She's alright, I guess."

"So, what did you have in mind for that job?" Based on his tone of voice, it was obvious that the dragon was in a talkative mood. Not something that was out of the ordinary, but it wasn't exactly welcomed at the moment.

"Something that pays decent, hopefully... Either that or I'll have to sell some old stuff. One way or another, we need the money." There was a lull in the conversation, long enough to where it almost allowed Twilight to actually fall back asleep. But unfortunately, it seemed that Spike wanted to add something else to the conversation.

"Even if it means you have to become Twig—"

The alicorn was wide awake at the mere mentioning of that question, and she quickly glared over to Spike with great intensity. "No. Absolutely not. Never again."

"Oh come on, it was great!" Spike's tail began to wag excitedly as the memories came back to him. "And you were so funny!"

"Spike, it doesn't take much to make you laugh," Twilight countered as she put her head back down, "I could show you your own tail, and you'd be distracted for a whole day."

"Well, yeah! Just look at it, it's so soft and fluffy!" The small dragon brought the tip of his long tail around to show off the fluff at its end, using a claw to comb through the tuft of green fur.

"Point proven."

"No, point not proven!" Spike was starting to get upset now, as evident by his furrowed brow. "You made, like, six hundred bits in one day doing that!"

"And it was humiliating, so I swore to never partake in those actions again," Twilight spoke sternly, meeting the dragon's glare with her own. "Twiggles the Clown is dead. And I killed her."

The two continued to stare each other down, neither one willing to back down. The tensions in the room continued to rise as the silence dragged on, both competitors never once taking their eyes off of their opponent. And as the seconds dragged on into minutes, the stalemate was finally broken as the two of them began to lightly laugh at the ridiculous statement that the argument had ended on.

"We should probably get something to eat," Twilight suggested as she slowly crawled off of the bed.

Following her lead, Spike too leaped off of the bed, almost smacking his face into the wall in his vigorous dismount. "I think there's still some of that fruit basket left."

--- — ---

Coffee. Fixes. Everything.

This was the conclusion that Twilight had come to after receiving a cup of the black elixir of life later on in the morning after her fruit basket breakfast with Spike. The caffeine-infused liquid was by no means a substitute for a good night's sleep, but it was very good at temporarily counteracting the negative side effects of not getting that sleep. It had cost her a small yet important portion of her remaining money, but it was more than worth it.

Unfortunately, finding employment was much more difficult than finding a decent cup of coffee. It wasn't helped by the fact that Twilight was severely limited in her potential options for employment, as anything that required a uniform was out of the question for two very obvious reasons. And the insistence on her chosen attire was likely to turn heads at most jobs involving a high amount of social interaction. After all, a traveler in a cloak is nothing out of the ordinary. But a cloaked cashier, or something else of that ilk? That would turn a few heads. She had managed to find three or four shops that met her preferred standards, though the owners were either looking for full-time employment or weren't hiring at all. Both understandable reasons, but it didn't make the revelations any less frustrating. With the way things were going, it was clear that Twilight would have to make a difficult choice. The first choice was extending her stay to more than just the three days she had already paid for at Bedrock, which could cause any number of complications. Or she would have to bid adieu to some of her personal possessions, but that could only take her so far considering her vagrant lifestyle.

This stupid town is going to be the death of me, Twilight complained to herself as she plodded through the village's busy marketplace, looking to each of the open stands with two parts eagerness one part bitterness. Her glare was subtle, you wouldn't notice unless you took the time to observe, but it was intense enough to burn a hole in the sun itself. She could feel her anger boiling over into her horn; the sizzle and crack of the magic only noticeable to her. It wasn't enough as to where she would lose control, years of practice and lessons had made sure of that, but right now it was a bit difficult to restrain all of her frustration.

How hard can it possibly be to make some hard-earned money in this—?!

"Hi, Twilight!"

The surprise greeting quickly caught the alicorn's attention, her neck all but snapping towards the stimuli. Pinkie Pie's smiling face was the first thing she saw, her work uniform gone, prompting Twilight to quickly change her mood. The frustration she was currently experiencing was cooled down, and the excess charging in her magical appendage settled down as well.

"Hello, Pinkie," Twilight slowly responded, her temper simmering down considerably.

"Any luck with the money thing?" Her tone was as cheery as ever, and such an attitude would normally be a nice distraction, but the chosen subject made sure to keep the dreary mood aloft.

"Unfortunately, no," the disguised alicorn continued walking, her pink companion taking the hint and following close behind. "Nobody I've talked to is hiring part-time. I think I'm going to have to start selling things or—" The disgruntled pony suddenly found her external train of thought being suddenly cut off by her robe being tugged at. Only enough to try and get her attention, which she promptly gave as Pinkie continued to speak.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! You're selling stuff?" Pinkie's eyes narrowed intently as she spoke, leaning in uncomfortably close and poking a hoof into Twilight's chest. At least for a moment before apparently noticing the disguised alicorn's clear distaste for the intimacy, swiftly taking several steps backward with a nervous chuckle. This only added to Twilight's growing list of behavioral oddities that the earth pony had demonstrated thus far.

Twilight spent a moment or two staring down the pink earth pony, still utterly baffled by her mannerisms and actions. "... If I have to, then yes... Are you buying?"

"Me? No, no, no," she shook her head with clear intent before placing a hoof to her chin in contemplation, "Well, maybe. Depends on what you're actually selling."

The statement was clearly intended to provoke Twilight into elaborating further on what she was planning on parting ways with. There was no malice or fowl intent in the pink pony's tone, at least as far as Twilight could tell. She probably just wanted to know so she could take Twilight to someone who'd actually be willing to buy what she had to offer. And, to that end, the cloaked pony saw no harm in divulging that information.

"Well... I probably don't need to be lugging around as many books as I do, so—"

Pinkie's studious expression transformed back into a common neighborly grin. "Say no more! I might know a few someones who might be more willing to buy some stuff like that! Come on, I'll introduce you!"

Twilight didn't get a chance to deflect the offer before Pinkie Pie bounced off towards whatever destination she had in mind. But without any better options in the money-making department, she had no choice but to follow behind, finding it difficult to actually keep up with the prancing pony as the two bobbed and weaved through the market place. If it weren't for the loud, cheery tune that Pinkie was humming as she went, Twilight might not have been able to keep track of her in a few instances. And while at first holding high speculation and reservation towards this scenario, the magical pony slowly began to open up to the idea. Pinkie had just practically solved her problem, or at least delivered a new avenue in which it could possibly be solved. It would be foolish to throw an opportunity like that away, especially considering the dire state of her wallet.

The impromptu game of follow-the-leader became progressively easier as Twilight was lead out of the large and bustling market place and back into the town proper. Though if anything that only prompted the pink pony to pick up the pace, forcing her cloaked friend into doing the same. The hustle and bustle of Ponyville had thinned out once they cleared that particular street, but ponies of all colors still surrounded on all sides. Though Pinkie didn't look like she would be stopping any time soon, even as the two ponies began approaching the edge of town. Just where in the world was she taking Twilight?

"Pinkie, slow down!" Twilight finally decided to call out, "It's hard to run with this—OOF." Her attempt was cut short by the earth pony suddenly stopping dead in her tracks, becoming practically immobile before almost being tackled by the alicorn in question.

"Geeze, Twilight, I know you must be excited but you don't need to be in such a hurry!" The irony of that statement was lost on Pinkie Pie as she helped her get back on all fours. One both of them were standing unsupported again, she turned her attention to the structure that she had led Twilight too and waved a hoof in a presenting manner. "Well, here it is! Stop numero uno!"

Located a short distance outside of Ponyville proper, to say this building was a "building" at all might not have been the most accurate description. It definitely had most of the qualifying features, such as a door and windows, but it had some certainly unique architecture to say the absolute least. Standing at around the height of a three-story building, based on the windows that could be seen here and there, was an oak tree.

Somehow this plant was still alive if the lush green foliage lining the branches was anything to be believed. Looking towards the top of the towering tree, further glass-covered openings could be made out within the greenery above, implying that even a fourth-floor existed within the odd building. The additions and modifications to this peculiar oak looked to match the style of architecture that Twilight had noticed all throughout Ponyville, though these installations appeared to be much older. If not for the sign that read as "Golden Oak's Library" that stood guard just outside the main entrance, Twilight would have assumed that this was the home of some eccentric sorcerer, not a public library.

Seeing a tree converted into a place of business like this, to most, was a little out of the ordinary. But this method of architecture wasn't actually as uncommon as one might be lead to believe. Twilight herself had actually seen quite a number of tree-made-homes and huts in the past. It was quite a common sight in Zebra territories and villages, though seeing one made with a still living tree was a bit of a curveball.

"Welcome to Golden Oak's! Ponyville's best library!... and only library, but that's not the point," Pinkie strode towards the entrance with vigor in each step, pushing open the door to the tune of a small bell. "If anyone's gonna buy books, it'll be Mr. Knox! Come on, I'll introduce you!"

The cloaked pony felt a smile creep over her face as she stepped into the premises. Even after everything that she has gone through, there was a certain serenity that came from locations very similar to this one. Knowledge was unmatched in value to her, so much so that she couldn't get enough of it. and books were the primary dealers of this borderline addictive relationship. If the pursuit of a higher understanding of the world was a sin, then Twilight would be content with her divine retribution.

Though as she stepped under the short archway leading into the hallowed tree, a stray thought made itself known in the furthest reaches of her subconscious. "Knox" wasn't exactly a very typical name for a pony, especially this far into Equestria's heartland. But considering the fact that she was an alicorn traveling the world with a mostly-unknown subspecies of dragon, who was she to judge an abnormal name?

Golden Oak's interior was exactly as one would expect of a library, with tall shelves lining just about every wall that wasn't occupied by a door or a window. Simply curved stairs lead up to the upper stories, and a cluttered desk occupied the center of the room accented by a dull metal cabinet. And much like the work station, the entire first floor of the establishment felt a bit chaotic in nature. Some books sat crookedly on the shelves, some sticking out further than their neighbors. And then there were the stacks of books piled high on the floor, or in a wheeled bin likely used for returns. It looked as if the librarian had been in the middle of reorganizing the place before mysteriously vanishing.

Twilight could only pray that the books upon the shelves were at least arranged in a proper organizational system. Yet aside from herself and Pinkie, there was absolutely nobody here. A near haunting silence filled the air as Twilight looked around, not seeing any sign of life anywhere. The only light came from the windows letting in the bright afternoon sun, more than sufficient in illuminating the space, but adding further evidence to the idea that the location was empty.

"Hello?" A confused Twilight asked quietly, still obeying the unspoken rule of every library abandoned or not. "Anyone here?"

Pinkie chuckled as she stepped past the traveler, slowly shaking her head with closed eyes. "Always sleeping on the job," she muttered under her breath as she walked up to the abandoned desk. Twilight, in the meantime, couldn't help but watch with bated breath as the earth pony propped a hoof onto the desk. Something was about to happen, but the alicorn could only guess as to what that was.

With eyes still gently closed, Pinkie's chest puffed up ever so slightly as she took in a deep breath. Then, in one single motion, her bright blue eyes shot open as her head lunged forward.

"MR. KNOX! WAKE UP!!"

The outcry was loud enough to shake the tree down to its very roots. Or at least that's what it felt like to Twilight, who was standing in close proximity to the screaming pony. And she was just about to scold the earth pony for her blatant disregard for the most sacred of traditions amongst book enthusiasts, but a sudden thunk emanating from underneath the desk caught her notice instead. Scrambling hooves lightly clattering against the wooden floor emanated from under the desk, as well as a few minuscule grunts of severe discomfort.

"I'm up! I'm up!" The older sounding stallion stammered as he scampered out from his hiding place. "I just dropped my quill!" The gentle light of the afternoon sun bounced off of a dusty grey coat and a short cut mane and tail, both a faded blue in color. Ears with unusually fluffy tips flicked back and forth as the pony attempted to orient himself after Pinkie's wake up call, tired amber eyes scanning about the room for the source of the disturbance.

Though out of all his abnormal traits, there was one in particular that caught Twilight's attention. Or rather, two in particular. Jutting out of his back, much like any pegasus, was a pair of flight-giving wings. Though unlike those of a pegasus—whose wings were typically feathery and bird-like—these wings were mostly made of dark, leathery-looking skin. And just like that, the question of the unusual name had been answered. After all, while Knox was a strange name for an Equestrian pony, it fit perfectly with those hailing from the land of the small neighboring country of Seară. A sight uncommon to most Equestrian citizens, seeing as how the small nation had become very secluded over the past few generations. Not to mention the fact that the land's primary occupants were nocturnal, meaning that interacting with those who frolicked in the sun a bit of a hassle.

"Hi, Mr. Knox!" Pinkie spoke loudly—much quieter than before, but still quite loud.

"Oh... is that you, Pinkie?" A sigh of relief came from the nocturnal as he rubbed a hoof against the top of his head. A grin came up over his face, showing off the four sharp fangs common to his people. "You gave me quite the scare. I thought you were the mayor for a second. What can I do for you today?"

"For me? Absolutely nothing!" She stepped backward and tilted her head towards the conversation's silent observer. "But my new friend Twilight has some books she'd like to sell to you!"

Knox's ears perked up as he turned his amber gaze towards the cloaked pony. "Oh, sorry about that, young mare. I didn't see you there," the stallion went over to his desk and began feeling around the desk with his dexterous wings. After a few moments, a pair of glasses had been seized by the appendages and deposited before his eyes, the grey pony blinking several times as the world came back into focus. "Knox Onwud, but everyone just calls me Knox... or 'Mr. Knox,' in Pinkie's case. A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," a dumbfounded Twilight responded slowly. She wasn't staring at the nocturnal pony by any means, but she was surprised to see someone like him in this part of the country. Despite her many travels and experiences, it seems fate always had a way of catching her off guard.

Knox shuttered at the silence that followed Twilight's reply, his wings nervously adjusting themselves. "Ah. To answer your question, yes, I am a ba—"

"Sarosian, right?" The alicorn quickly interrupted, "Sorry if I stared, it's been a while. Caught me off guard is all." A visible and utter shock came over both Pinkie and Knox as they took in Twilight's words.

"That's... a pleasant surprise," Knox spoke with a very slight chuckle, "Most tend to just call us 'Bat Ponies.' Not inaccurate, given our nature," a wing was flared out in time with his words, "But still, quite interesting."

"Where'd ya learn that?" Pinkie asked with vigor, "Most ponies I know didn't even know 'sarosian' was a word 'till I told 'em!"

Embarrassed, Twilight scratched at the back of her head. "Well, when you spend a summer in Seară, you pick up on the customs."

A cocky smirk came over the librarian's face. "Chiar așa?"

And Twilight was quick to match it with a confident grin of her own. "Asa este!"

An almost childlike chuckle came out of the nocturnal pony as his newest guest replied in his native tongue, his fancy tickled as he began to mindlessly organize his desk as the conversation continued along. "So, back on topic, what's this about selling books?"

The magical pony went on to explain just what had brought her here. No necessary detail was spared as Twilight elaborated on her dire need of finances for the journey ahead. All the while, Mr. Knox continued his work in bringing order back to the currently disorderly library. The earth pony even managed to convince her newest comrade to lend a hoof to the older stallion with his duties, if only to further Twilight's goal of putting some money in her hungry wallet. And as Twilight described her financial circumstances, Pinkie Pie occasionally blurted in with innocent enough questions. A bit off-topic, but not so intrusive as to dissuade the alicorn from answering. If anything, she made the calculated assumption that telling a few very abridged stories could be in her benefit in this situation. Though she consciously chose to avoid or ignore any questions regarding the past forty-eight hours, for reasons obvious to her and the long dragon currently lounging back in the hotel room. In no time at all, the first floor of Golden Oak's had been restored to a state much more befitting for a library, and Twilight was finally allowed to conclude her spiel.

While listening to the conclusion of the traveler's tale, the sarosian mindlessly scratched at his chin with a wing. "Hmm... interesting tale, Miss Sparkle," he placed the final book back in its proper place. And with that, Golden Oak's had been returned to its former glory. With that, his attention turned back to his two guests. "Well, you're in luck, young mare. Got a letter from City Hall just the other day, wanted me to get some new books in here. And if you're selling, that'll save me a bit of hassle in the long run."

A weight was lifted off of Twilight's shoulders at that moment, so much so that she almost floated away from the raw sense of elation now coursing through her veins. After everything that had happened in the past few days, it seems that fate had finally decided to throw her a bone. She had a hard time containing this newfound sense of glee, magically removing the saddlebags from her person and gently placing them on the floor. Then with the clicks of the latches, the cloaked pony began sorting through her belongings. Almost chuckling as she began to build up a pile of books she was willing to part with.

--- — ---

Both Pinkie Pie and Knox Onwud watched with wide eyes and bated breath as the purple pony continued to sort through her books. Neither one of them could currently describe just what they were witnessing. Twilight had amassed a decently sized pile of books to sell, which was what had been expected of her to do. The size of this pile, however? Very unexpected.

The two non-magical ponies were far from unintelligent, but even they could tell that something wasn't quite right with this scenario. While not overly huge, the stack of tomes seemed to have more books than both of those bags could hold. And even still, she was still adding more books to the collection. At least fifteen books that were pulled from the bags were now sitting in a neatly stacked pile next to her. All the while, the cloaked pony was muttering to herself, judging the value of each book.

Pinkie slowly leaned over to the elder stallion, never taking her eyes off of Twilight. "How long has she been at this?" She spoke in a hushed tone befitting of their environment.

"About fifteen minutes," Knox whispered back, equally fascinated by the mumbling pony. "Where are all these books coming from?"

An ear was turned toward her two witnesses, and a lavender hoof lightly tapped against her glowing horn. "Magic. The bags are larger on the inside then they are on the out. It's a simple spell... relatively speaking." Her tone was dry and blunt, still clearly focused on her current task. "I think I still have the book with that spell in it if you're interested."

The fascination was made clear on the librarian's face, his ears perking noticeably. "Oh, that would be sublime," he swiftly trotted on over to Twilight and peered over her shoulder into the larger-than-anticipated bag. "I'd be willing to take any spellbooks you're willing to part with... plenty of young unicorns in this town who want to learn."

The academic mindlessly nodded as she continued to sort through her books. It took some time, but after a while, she had finally decided on which books she was willing to sell-off. Twenty four in total, slightly more than half of the ones in her possession. She was unwilling to depart with all of her tomes of knowledge, but she had plenty that she could do without. Knox's seeming interest in spellbooks was also fortunate for her, seeing as how that was the subject of many of her writings. And with the stack completed, her saddlebags were returned to her back, and the bartering process had begun. But before any sales were made or prices were agreed upon, a question popped into Twilight's head that she just had to ask.

"Hey, just out of curiosity, would you happen to have a book on pegasi?... I've been curious about how they work."

Author's Notes:

A bit of a longer chapter for all ya'll. Chapter 3 was really short, so I wanted to make up for that here.

Useless Trivia: The loud and catchy tune that Pinkie was humming is, in my mind, the smile song. Because of course it is. No way to convey that naturally through text, so I thought I'd put it here.

Useless Trivia 2: This chapter was originally going to introduce a different character (five guesses as to who), but it felt more natural to introduce Golden Oak's and its librarian now, for reasons. I'm in no hurry.

Useless Trivia 3: "Knox Onwud" was originally going to just be "Nox," a play on nocturnal. But then I came up with a way better pun.

Less Useless Trivia: The language that Twilight and Knox briefly slipped into was (Google Translated) Romanian. The language spoken in Transylvania. You know, because of the whole vampire thing. "Seară" is also Romanian. Just some fun world-building.

— Chapter Five —

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Journal entry number three hundred and forty-four.
May 20.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calender.
The past three days have been a very nice change of pace. Ponyville is a far cry from most of the other villages and townships Spike and I have passed through on our travels. A small country town of happy smiling ponies just blissfully living their lives. There's a certain beauty to be found in the mundane, and this town encapsulates that in just the right way. Not too crowded, not too loud, just a peaceful patch of land located in scenic central Equestria. One of the workers at the hotel we stayed at has been a delightful divergence from the normal status quo as well. While a bit overbearing at ~~all~~ certain times, it was nice to be given a reminder that there are legitimately good people in this world. Something that I had almost forgotten, much to my shame.
Though like all things, this visit must come to an end at one point or another. And I only paid for the three nights, and I'd rather not spend any more money after the last supply run. This pit stop has been endearing, to put a word to it, but it's time for us to move on. Even though I've found myself enjoying the period of rest and rejuvenation, this town's close proximity to Canterlot has been a constant source of anxiety buzzing in the back of my mind. It feels like a lifetime since I last set hoof in that city. And much to my own shock, I've been starting to get a little homesick. To the point where I've legitimately considered just popping in to check in with everyone. And I'm sure a certain someone would love to see Spike again. But I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Besides, we still haven't found what we started this journey to find. And I don't want to go home empty-hooved.
So instead, Spike and I will be heading South of town at the break of dawn, back towards the Root of Harmony that had brought us to this place. I haven't quite figured out where we'll go yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I always do.

--- The Forest Time Forgot ---

The trees of Everfree began to glisten and shine as the sun peaked over the horizon, due to the fresh layer of moisture caused by a rainstorm the previous evening. The local woodland creatures were starting to venture out of their respective dens and burrows, while those of the nocturnal variety began to settle in for their turn at sleep. Birds of various breed and color also began to sing amongst themselves as the rest of the forest came to life around them, only adding to the ambiance of this tranquil environment.

A rejuvenated Twilight Sparkle casually strolled through the awakening woods, the squishing of wet dirt beneath armored hooves came in time with each step she took, her concealing cape lightly fluttering in the gentle morning breeze. Compared to some more recent outings, the cloaked alicorn felt truly at peace with the nature around her. Though this serenity was occasionally interrupted by sudden snorts and snores coming from one of the bags on her back, originating from a young long dragon that had been unceremoniously scooped into the pack earlier this morning. She had elected not to disturb his slumber, a young creature like him needed his sleep after all, and she doubted he'd be happy about being up this early against his wishes.

Deeply inhaling the fresh damp morning air of the Everfree Forest and letting out a long content sigh, Twilight couldn't help but feel a strong sense of euphoria as she strolled through the woods. Disaster had been turned into success, in some way or another, and things were finally back to normal. Or whatever the equivalent of "normal" was for an alicorn and dragon backpacking across the world was, at least. But even still, no matter how hard she tried to stay optimistic about what could be in store for the next, there was still one question that prevailed in the furthest reaches of her mind.

What now?

Regardless of how "normal" things seemed to be again, the dragon incident earlier in the week had significantly changed things. The two had been poking about in that ecosystem in search of dragons, or the "Dragon Kingdom" that Spike had claimed to have heard about before the disaster struck. And while this had been the first time they had actually seen a dragon, this hadn't been their first search for the mighty fire-spewing reptiles. Not by a long shot. Now, normally, seeking out dragons and their various offshoots was considered to be a very bad idea. But the two of them had a very good reason for engaging in such behavior.

Long dragons, as Twilight had dubbed them in her infinite creativity, were proving to be a very rare and elusive species. Most were entirely unaware of their very existence. And to the very few who did know of them? Spike was the only living specimen. Found as an egg, seemingly abandoned in the middle of nowhere, nobody even knew what they had found at the time. No nest, no den, nothing. Just a lonely unidentified egg that had been brought back to Canterlot for study. That's why he and Twilight had ventured forth into the world and the unknown, to see if they could possibly find out anything about the young one's origins and heritage. And as Twilight reminded herself of her mission statement, a select few words from a few days ago came to mind.

I don't wanna look for dragons anymore.

What was Twilight meant to do with that? Was Spike being truly sincere when he made that claim or was it just a reaction caused by the admittedly frightening experience? It had been the first time Spike had ever seen a dragon in person, it only made sense that reality defied his expectations. But what of their self-given quest? If the long dragon had truly forsaken his desire for knowledge on his kind, what was Twilight to do? Where would they go?

The immediate—and obvious—answer was to go back to Canterlot.

And the immediate reaction was a stern, external "no" from Twilight's own mouth. She didn't want to go back to the nation's capital. Not yet, at the very least. The alicorn didn't even know for sure if her draconic ward was even fully serious about his statement. Since making it, he's had time to calm down and rationalize his thoughts. Spike was many things, unintelligent wasn't one of them. Twilight had spent quite a bit of time making sure of that, and his vast progress in the linguistic arts was something that filled her with pride. Both in her teaching ability, and his capacity for knowledge.

A loud thunk suddenly rang out through the woods, startling every bird in the immediate vicinity and causing them to scatter to the winds. The source of this loud disturbance? An alicorn too lost in her own thoughts to watch where she was going, who managed to walk face first into an old-looking tree, getting her horn stuck in the thick wood as a result. A grunt of combined irritation and pain was quick to accompany the thunk, followed by the sounds of a shifting saddlebag.

"I'M UP! I'M UP!" A startled Spike cleared out, popping out of the sack in a manner reminiscent to a terrifying children's toy. His head flung itself too and fro as he attempted to get his bearings. "What I miss?!" Irritation was swiftly replaced by embarrassment and shame as Twilight felt her friend's gaze fall upon her. "... You walked into a tree again, didn't you?"

This wasn't the first time she had been so careless as to walk horn-first into something. There were many upsides to being an alicorn, one of which was enhanced physical strength and durability. Though this was often a setback for those who had a tendency of losing track of their surroundings. And when one walked into something that wasn't very structurally sound, such as a tree that was reaching the end of its lifespan, it leads to situations eerily similar to this one.

"N-No..." Twilight muttered as she began to wriggle her horn free of the decaying wood. "... It insulted me."

The young dragon crossed his forelimbs as he leaned against the lip of the pouch. "The tree insulted you?"

"Yes."

"So you stabbed it with your horn?"

"... Yes?" Finally free of her self made prison, the embarrassed alicorn turned to look back at the dragon sitting in her pack. Though that didn't last long as he hopped out to stretch his slender frame. The conversation ended there, much to Twilight's relief. After allowing him a moment to stretch and yawn away whatever drowsiness he had left, the two continued side by side down the path Twilight had chosen.

"So, where to next?" Spike asked casually as if that wasn't a currently impossible question.

Twilight had already spent quite a bit of time this morning pondering the conundrum, so much so that she had caused that embarrassing accident. It was absolutely infuriating, seeing as how Spike's wellbeing was the very reason she was asking herself this. And now he was actually doing it himself. But that realization gave birth to an idea just insane enough to work. If Spike got her into this mess then surely he could get her out, right?

"Well... where do you want to go?" She did not do a great job of hiding the unease in those words. At all.

A cocked brow and a confused stare were turned in the pony's direction. "Uhh... what?"

"Where do you want to go?" More confidence could be heard in her tone this time around. "... I've been the one leading the way this whole time, and it hasn't really gotten us anywhere... And after what happened last time? Maybe you should plot the course for a while..."

Hesitation was subtly shown on the small dragon's face, followed by concern and then a vague expression of some form of anxiety. This confirmed to Twilight that the young one was at a loss as to what they should do now. The two continued to walk in relative silence, only the sounds of the forest around them keeping some form of noise in the air. And despite the peaceful atmosphere surrounding them, an aura of suspense floated around the two oddities.

After some time, Twilight suddenly broke the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"... Talk about what?" Spike's voice wavered, ever so slightly, but it wavered.

"Anything. Where you think we should go next, what we should do when we get there..." Twilight paused for a scant moment, briefly considering her next words with great intensity. "... About what happened the other day?"

Spike winced. "What about it?"

"Well... what was it like? Seeing a dragon for the first time?" It was a loaded question for sure, but it was better than leaving him to his own thoughts any longer. A few days was long enough to let him stew on it. "I'm... I'm sure it wasn't exactly what you were expecting, huh?"

Once again, silence persisted. And like before, it lasted an uncomfortably long time.

"It was... interesting," Spike finally responded with a slight chuckle, "I wasn't expecting it to be so... big." Several quick, sudden exhales followed that last word. Almost akin to another laugh, but Twilight could tell that it was something else entirely.

"It was scary," Twilight continued in an effort to get Spike to open up, "You don't have to hide it. I was scared too."

"... You were?"

"MmmHmm," she took several steps closer to the young dragon, "There were a few moments where I thought we weren't gonna make it." Another lull made itself known in the conversation, loud deep breaths radiating from Spike's flaring nostrils. This newest pause gave Twilight another chance to think a few things over, bringing her to the conversation's inevitable outcome. "It's... okay... if you want to stop looking for other long dragons," she spoke slowly and deliberately, doing what she could to not choke on the words. "We can go where ever we want to."

Wide eyes were pointed at Twilight, bright green orbs that had proven to be weapons of mass destruction in the past. "No! I mean... no, it's fine," his tone shifted considerably after his initial reaction. After another deep breath, the serpentine dragon continued his thoughts. "I mean... I still want to know if there are any out there..."

The alicorn's eyes narrowed. "Do you at least want to take a break? A longer one, I mean. We've been at this for nearly three years now, we're not in any hurry."

"That would... be nice. Thanks." A heartwarming smile finally returned to the reptile's face as the sun continued to rise far in the East, and the two's short-term destination came into view. The crystalline archway that had thrust the two of them into this corner of the world only a few days prior. Completely untouched by the foliage around it. "Oh hey, there's the root thingy."

The humming resonance of magic rang through the air as Twilight once again donned the medallion that made using this natural relic possible. A very rare and powerful artifact, gifted to the younger alicorn by Equestria's Queen herself. The amulet predated the Grand Celestial Calendar, one of several used by the Royal Family since the beginning of recorded history in conjunction with a particular spell to swiftly traverse this world and beyond. Every alicorn had one for their own use, all three of them, a gift that was given to her on the day her and Spike's journey began, alongside a short poem that activated the ancient magic.

"In times of need and in times of urgency, all roads are linked by the Tree of Harmony. Where ever it is you may roam, with this relic, you are never far from home."

Her voice still rang in Twilight's ears to this very day, a constant reminder that as long as she had this amulet, Canterlot would always be just a short walk away. And while there was some comfort in knowing that she could go home at almost any time, the tone in which the Queen had spoken was ominous. Almost foreboding, really. Like she knew that something would happen, and Twilight would come running back home. But she hadn't in nearly three years, and she wouldn't do so yet.

With a huff and a grunt, Spike managed to climb his way back into his saddlebag based perch. And after a few moments of shifting around in the larger-than-expected pouch, he swiftly poked his face back out, the flap resting atop his head like a mysterious hood. "Ready when you are."

"We still don't have a destination," Twilight pointed out as the amulet was placed around her neck. "The offer is still open if you have any suggestions."

A claw was placed against his lower jaw in contemplation, serious consideration being placed into this responsibility. "Hmmm... haven't had mangos in awhile... Hollow Shades?"

How Spike had managed to single out a township in Seară was beyond her, especially since she had a pleasant chat with a nearsighted sarosian just the other day. She didn't recall telling Spike about it, but she might have now that she was reflecting on it more. But regardless, the time the two had spent in the quiet little country was pleasant, a retread of that particular piece of the world wouldn't be so bad. Besides, now that Spike had mentioned it, mangos did sound pretty good right now. And there were few other places in the world with fruits of such high quality.

So the destination was set. Spike fully received back into the saddlebag at Twilight's request, and the alicorn began mentally reciting the short incantation. Her horn lit up with a magical aura that slowly stretched down to the relic that hung from her neck. Unlike the last time she had tried this, Twilight had ample time to prepare the quick ritual and properly pick a destination. Her mind's eye locking firmly on the township of Hollow Shades. The magic within the amulet would do the rest from there, reaching out to the nearby tree root and forging an ethereal path to the root closest to the desired location.

And nothing happened. Not even a tiny spark of arcane light. There was absolutely no reaction from the crystal root not five feet away from where she was standing.

Twilight's ears perked as she stared at the natural wonder with a bewildered look. "That's... not supposed to happen..."

"What's up?" Spike popped out of the pouch once again, curious as to why they were still here.

"It... didn't work?"

"... Did you do it right?"

Twilight scoffed at the very implication that she cast a spell wrong. "No, Spike. I did it the exact same way I always do it. It just... didn't work."

"Bad reception, maybe?"

The next several minutes were passed by Twilight trying every trick in the book to try and get the spell to go through. Casting it in the old tongue it was written in, reciting the incantation backward, inciting it backward in the ancient tongue it was written in, still nothing. Eventually, Twilight was found herself forced into a corner. it was only now that she felt it necessary to envoke the most sacred and ancient methods of restoring and activating spells connected to magical items such as this. A truly ancient art only known among a select number of elite sorcerers and mages, taught to Twilight by the Queen herself. A powerful rite only to be used in absolutely dire situations, like this one.

Percussive maintenance.

Spike honestly couldn't believe what he was seeing. After watching his best friend mutter some cryptic language he didn't recognize for a few moments, she suddenly starts thwacking the priceless and ancient artifact against the crystal root, growling the word "work" in time with each impact. The clinking of metal against crystal rang throughout the woods, gathering the attention of a few wayward critters who were brave enough to investigate the unfamiliar sound. Even they were confused as to why the disguised alicorn was partaking in such odd behavior, moving on shortly afterward upon realizing there was no danger to be had.

After letting this go on for far longer than he logically should have, Spike finally let himself be heard. "Uhh... Twilight?"

"What?" The frustration in her tone was obvious as she kept smacking the Tree of Harmony's root.

For a moment, he considered not pressing the matter any further. But the long dragon was feeling particularly brave at the moment. "... What are you doing?"

"Percussive. Maintenance."

"... Is it working?"

Twilight finally ceased her futile attempts at fixing the ailing amulet with a defeated sigh. "No, it's not." No matter how long she pondered on it, it still didn't make any sense. The only possible explanation she could come up with would be that her improvised trip earlier in the week had done something to the medallion. But even then, that answer wasn't logical either. This was some of the most powerful magic in the world Twilight was dealing with here, magically connected directly to the Tree of Harmony itself by a spell written by the first-ever alicorn in conjunction with Starswirl the Bearded himself. No force in the world could overwrite such power, not even the spirit of chaos itself. Something that powerful, that connected to the very foundation of the world, doesn't just stop working after one minor incident.

But as the pony continued to lament over the loss of such a powerful magical item, the sun itself intervened in her affairs. A glint of light uncomfortably shone in one of her eyes, prompting her to turn her attention to the amulet itself. The very same as it had always been: a round black metal base covered in elaborate golden curls that invoked the appearance of ivy. In the center of it all sat a single black gemstone that contained the magic used for this spell to work properly.

"Wait a second... don't tell me..." With newfound irritation as she squinted at the dark rock, Twilight began to cast a new spell upon the travel trinket that she honestly should have tried first. A spell designed for analysis of various artifacts and objects, most commonly used by botanist when trying to determine if a newly discovered plant is edible or not. But the spell had other uses, as Twilight was currently demonstrating. And as she completed the charm, a nearly manic laugh escaped from her.

Considering what he had just witnessed moments before, Spike was more than a little worried about what that laugh meant, sinking further into the pouch as a result. "... What is it?"

With the earnest smile of someone who was willing to laugh at their own mistakes, the cloaked pony turned to the young dragon and presented the magical item. "It hasn't recharged yet!" Her laughter continued in the form of a far less deranged sounding chuckle as she slipped the relic back into her bag.

The magic used in this transportation spell was powerful, yes, but it was not without its limitations. One such limit was its inability to be used in quick succession, as each bridge made expended the charge within the amulet. It was designed in such a way that it would recharge the expended energy over time, the further the distance traveled, the longer it would take before it could be used again. And it seemed that the haphazard escape she made had drained it significantly so. After the magic she had just used upon it, she knew that it would become useful again with time. The problem was, there was no way of telling just how long that would take.

"Looks like we're gonna be walking for a while," Twilight spoke with a relieved sigh as she stepped past the inactive magical gateway. It wouldn't do them any good to just wait around and let it recuperate, it could be months before they could use it again, and both of them now had a vast thirst for the sweet sweet flavor of mangos. And so, the two resigned themselves to walk. Not all the way to the foreign country, not by a long shot. But far enough to find a coastal town where they could purchase passage to the nocturnal land. Of course, there was no way of telling how long that would take either, but at least they had something to do aside from just sit and wait.

As the sun continued in its journey through the sky, Spike and Twilight were given ample time to enjoy the quiet nature of the nature around them. Eventually, Spike ventured his way out of the saddlebag once again to satisfy his own curiosity. Never straying too far from his guardian, the long dragon began to pass the time by just exploring and investigating whatever caught his fancy. A few of the more sociable woodland creatures returned the curiosity in kind, wishing to know the nature of this unknown guest in their habitat. Words could not describe how delightful it was for Twilight to see him happy and active again.

Speaking of, the young alicorn had her own way of passing the time. Aside from keeping a watchful eye on Spike just to make sure he didn't aggravate something he shouldn't have, Twilight allowed her mind to wander far beyond the confines of this forest. When one spends most of their time walking from place to place, one often has plenty of time to think and contemplate. And aside from answering questions from an inquiring dragon every now and again, Twilight had the perfect opportunity to leisurely float along in the stream of consciousness to see where it would take her.

It was only now that she realized that she never figured out where she had heard the name "Everfree Forest" before. She had planned on asking some locals in town if there was anything noteworthy about this collection of trees, Pinkie, in particular, would have probably been more then willing to answer any and all of her questions, but the topic had simply slipped her mind until just now. So she was left with no other alternatives but to try and recall the reasoning herself.

Well, I definitely haven't been here before. I'd remember that library if I had been, Twilight rationalized, her eyes still locked on the frolicking long dragon. We are pretty close to Canterlot, maybe I overheard a merchant or something talking about it. That sounded about right. Being the capital, Canterlot was a hub for tourists and travelers as there was no end of sights to be seen within the beautiful city. The theatre, the art, the music, the scenery and architecture, the food, everywhere you looked there was something worth looking at. It was a cultural hub as much as it was the political seat of power. And being a city constantly filled with visitors from all around the country, it made sense that a local would overhear a conversation or two about where they came from.

Well, that wasn't much of a riddle now, was it? Twilight asked of herself in a disappointed internal drone. Now what am I going do with my time? A bored sigh resonated from Twilight as the day continued along. At some point, she even found herself mindlessly humming the catchy tune she had heard from Pinkie Pie any number of times. That mare still confused Twilight, even now.

She was just so friendly, almost overbearingly so, and was a near-constant source of company during the three-day sojourn in Ponyville. The earth pony had managed to perfectly straddle the fine line between endearing and irritating, creating an odd feeling that Twilight couldn't put into words. The other citizens seemed to be in the same boat as the alicorn, with the only difference being that they had time to get used to her. The general consensus, as far as Twilight could tell, was that Pinkie was generally liked around town. The only real complaints being about her volume, which was understandable. Twilight found it fascinating that someone like that could just exist, and was at least glad that she had gotten to meet such a unique individual. That pony would definitely have a few stories told about her, that's for sure.

"Hey, Twilight?" Spike called out, breaking the pony's focus. He was further ahead down the naturally made path, staring at something obscured by a cluster of close trees that blocked Twilight's ability to see whatever had caught his interest.

"What's up, Spike?" She called back swiftly. He probably had another question about an unfamiliar plant or animal. The flavor of the day, it seemed.

"Do trees move?" He glanced back to Twilight for a mere moment, the wonder showing plainly on his expression. "Not like in the wind... but, like, actually move?"

Well that's unexpected. Twilight was earnestly caught off guard by the left-field question. Far from the ones the young reptile had been asking up to this point. But it wasn't a question Twilight couldn't answer, not by a long shot.

"That might be an ent," the academic pony called back as the distance between them became shorter and shorter, "They're docile creatures. They won't hurt you as long as you don't hurt them."

Maybe that's where Twilight heard of the Everfree Forest before, she suddenly figured. Ents were sufficiently rare, especially in Equestria. There were only a few known locations in the world where they made their homes, those forests being protected as natural landmarks by Equestrian law. Twilight had never seen one in person before, and this looked to be a prime opportunity to fix that.

"Oh, that makes sense!" Spike smiled with a nod as he continued to look at whatever creature had caught his attention. But that smile slowly went back into a frown, seemingly beginning to doubt Twilight's claim. "Wait. Just checking, but do ents look like dogs?"

No, no they did not. That alone was enough to raise several red flags as the alicorn began to gallop. "Spike," she quickly called out to her friend. But the young one didn't need the warning, for just as she had called out for him the nimble dragon narrowly leaped out of the way as a set of oaken jaws clamped down in the space he had previously stood. And as Spike swiftly ran to the safety of his alicorn caretaker, Twilight was finally given sight of the creature he had found.

A moving tree that looked like a mean dog was not the worst way to convey the creature's physical appearance. If nothing else, it was only a bit of a vague description. Someone of a much more verbose individual would take note of the fact that the entity was far closer to a wolf than it was a domesticated canine, growling through tightly clenched wooden fangs. Whatever this particular being was, Twilight could tell that magic played some roll in this animal's biology, given the glowing green carvings that could be seen on a vast majority of its body, and the two gleaming orbs of light that sat within two hollow sockets where eyes should have been. Curiously enough, the markings weren't runic in nature at all. Just looping curves of various lengths and thicknesses, looking more like aesthetic carvings than anything with purpose. Speaking of, the wooden wolf in its entirety looked to have been carved by some unknown sculptor, like a statue given some twisted mockery of life. Twilight found herself asking if this entity was a natural phenomenon or something that had been created by some external intervention. But now wasn't the time to play twenty questions.

"Wh-what is that?!" Spike shouted as he dashed behind Twilight, only barely poking his head out from behind her to keep an eye on the malicious woodwork. There wasn't a chance to dwell on the question, as the wooden wolf was quick to lunge forward fangs first again.

Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't friendly. Twilight didn't have time to think, survival instincts kicking in and forcing a reaction out of her. Her horn was swiftly engulfed by magenta light, and in an instant, the carved canine was engulfed by a beam of raw arcane might. No finesse, no spells, no restraints, just a burst of raw unfiltered magical energy. If one were to look close enough, something akin to an expression of sincere regret could be seen on the wolf's face as it jumped headlong into Twilight's attack. Soon enough, nothing was left of the beast aside from a segment of blackened earth and a small flicker of whatever magic had been used to animate it left to float away and disperse without anything to contain it. Twilight let out a chuckle as something of a joke came to mind.

"Dust. It's a pile of dust," she laughed lightly again at her own attempt at dark humor, stumbling for a moment to catch her posture. That particular method of solving the problem was more than a little excessive, and it had taken a fair bit of stamina to muster up that level of strength.

Spike's eyes went wide with wonder and shock at the magical display that had just been shown to him. But astonishment soon caved in as his brow furrowed, and he glared up to Twilight. "Why didn't you do THAT to the dragon?!"

"Because the dragon was significantly larger," Twilight answered through a deep breath. She usually wasn't one to resort to violence in most situations, she wasn't above making use of such tactics in the face of a life or death situation. And an unknown, hostile entity rushing her and Spike with fangs at the ready? That seemed like a life or death situation. She just wished, in hindsight, that she hadn't been so reckless with how she did it. Unleashing raw bursts of energy like that was a surefire way of draining one's stamina rather quickly, even for an alicorn.

Accepting the explanation after a short moment of rationalization, Spike hesitantly stepped over to the scorched patch of land and began to poke and sniff about. Anyone could tell that he was still left with some questions about what their mysterious assailant was. And frankly speaking, many of those questions likely overlapped with Twilight's own. Twilight knew quite a lot of things about the world, the creatures that lived in it, and the magic that said creatures had learned to harness. Far more than anyone her age should reasonably know, the result of a lifetime of studies and dedication. But that thing that they had just encountered? Not a clue. Whatever that creature was, the alicorn didn't know anything about it other than the facts that it was wooden and hostile. And if it weren't for the fact that she knew she could disperse them with ease, she would have been very hesitant about proceeding further.

"We should keep going," Twilight began as she seized Spike in a telekinetic grip, quickly helping him to crawl back inside the saddlebag, "Wolves tend to hunt in packs." A stifled gasp from the dragon was the only reply Twilight was given as she began to hurry along through the Everfree Forest. Eyes ever vigilant in search of any more of those hostile hounds, ears perked to catch even the faintest hints of their inevitable approach.

But even with her guard up, the young alicorn was quickly caught off guard as the sensation of a hefty piece of wood slamming into her side overtook everything else. Thankfully it wasn't the side in which Spike's saddlebag was on, so the young dragon wasn't in danger of being squashed by the impact, but the danger of the situation was still very real. The pony managed to use the tackle's momentum to leap away, landing on her hooves and sliding along the dirt ground as her eyes locked onto the newest attacker. Another wooden wolf, perfectly identical to the one Twilight had previously obliterated. There was one noticeable difference though, namely fact that this interloper was not nearly as bold as its predecessor. This one brought friends, two more of their ilk emerging from the bushes, growling and snarling at Twilight and Spike in a clear sign of intimidation.

"Stay back!" Twilight's voice echoed out with an authority befitting of an alicorn. But the warning was lost on the mindless beasts, the one that had tackled her leaping forward again. And like the first wolf, this one was met with a similar fate. This time though, Twilight's attack was voluntary. Controlled. The monster was still reduced into ashes, but the ground around it had been left unharmed.

"I said, stay back!" The alicorn stamped an armored hoof into the ground, her nostrils flaring as she glared at the remaining two beasts. But the canines did not show any fear at the sight of their kin being reduced to ash. If anything it only served to further enrage them. And as the alicorn prepared herself for another assault, her eyes caught sight of something that would serve to further complicate this issue.

The small cluster of unrestricted magic that Twilight had seen escaping from both of the creatures she had already exterminated began to descend from the skies above. It slithered and writhed like a serpent, worming its way into one of the nearby trees. The green mist vanished into the wood as the plant's bark began to ripple like water. Much to Twilight's horror, yet another member of this wooden wolf pack emerged from the distortion, the tree withering ever so slightly as it did. The new arrival gave a gesture akin to a snicker as their eyes met. Almost as if to ask "remember me?"

And in those short few moments, one of Twilight's questions regarding the nature of these beings was answered. They were definitely made by some external force, without a doubt, given their apparent immortality. With this development came the realization that brute force would be a waste of time. Eventually, their regenerative powers would wear her down and make her an easy kill. But brute force was very rarely Twilight's preferred modus operandi, and her academic mind quickly began to formulate a plan of escape.

That plan was thrust into action far sooner than anticipated as two of the three assaulters rushed the alicorn. Caught off guard, she quickly leaped into the air and used their craniums as makeshift hoof-holds to further propel herself into the air. It was now that Twilight wished that her wings weren't held back by her cloak and saddlebags, but she had made do with hoof and horn plenty of times in the past. Today would be no different.

The third wolf attempted to intercept her airborne escape but only ended up being dusted by a burst of magic for the third time today. The particular spell Twilight had chosen this time around had a bit of kick to it, usually mitigated by being cast with all four hooves firmly on the ground. But in mid-air? The force was enough to propel her in the opposite direction with the cloaked pony elegantly flipping through the air before taking a ten-point landing several yards away, well past the other two foes. Twilight wasted no time in running from the futile fight, no longer along the path she had been following up to this point, with the two remaining wolves soon giving chase as their comrade began to reform once again.

Excited by the commotion, Spike swiftly popped his head out of the jostling pouch with childlike wonder in his eye. "When did you learn THAT?!"

"No idea," Twilight panted back, more so focused on the sound of the barking of wolves that was surely gaining on her, "Get back in the bag!" She didn't give him time to reply, pushing him back down with a magical shove. Rude, yes, but he was far safer in the enchanted pack then he was out here. It also served as a reminder that he was indeed with her this time. After the scare after the dragon incident, she wasn't willing to take any chances of losing him.

The immortal forest dwellers seemed to be smarter then they looked as they began to flank Twilight on either side, their third companion keeping the chase going strong from behind. Once the two side runners were parallel with their prey they began to drift closer and closer in a pincer maneuver. With a wooden enemy on either side and a third one gaining from behind, Twilight knew that she would need to act fast if she didn't want to be torn into. With the magical precision of a prodigy, an orb of magical light was flung in front of her that ceased moving in an instant. The pony leaped over the self-made hurdle and delivered a swift kick to the condensed mass of energy as she soared past, launching it squarely into what had to be the unluckiest of the wood-made trio and rendering it into ashes once again.

But that was only a temporary solution to one-third of the problem. The two hunters flanking her were still in the midst of their own scheme, though Twilight was already on working on her own countermeasure to this situation. Using their own disregard for their own safety against them, she waited patiently for the two pursuers to get into lunging distance. And as expected, the two both leaped with open jaws aimed at Twilight's throat in unison. She couldn't help but smirk as her horn flashed as their attack progressed, vanishing in a burst of light. The two wolves collided with a loud thunk, knocking them off balance and causing them to fall to the ground with heavy thuds. Twilight, meanwhile, reappeared a fair distance ahead and kept on running. Despite the setback, the monsters were back on their feet in record time and returned to their vicious pursuit.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Twilight shouted at herself, finding it hard not to laugh a little as she kept on running. The situation was beyond frightening, only a fool wouldn't be afraid in this situation, but she would be lying if she said that there wasn't some form of enthusiasm coursing through her body at the moment. Some sense of accomplishment at thwarting her attackers so flawlessly, at least so far.

So far being the key phrase in that statement. For you see, in that brief moment of indulging in her own satisfaction, Twilight had let her guard down. She had also failed to consider the possibility that these wooden beasts could choose where their bodies were reformed. And it was in this moment of brief celebration that the wolf Twilight had blasted into smithereens several times already chose to make its comeback. With some unbelievable accuracy or luck, the angered wolf managed to beat all the odds and catch Twilight by one of her hind legs. The thick cloak and armored suit she was wearing were more than enough to stop the sharp fangs from ever greeting her flesh, but the canine's grip held strong as it sharply jerked back in the opposite direction Twilight was headed.

Falling to the ground with a loud groan, the jerking motion she had been victim to was the straw that broke the camel's back. While Twilight had been harshly forced to stop, her saddlebags kept on going as they soared overhead. In their unplanned flight, there was a moment were several items ended up being flung from the cloth containers. One such "item" was a purple scaled long dragon, who collided with the dirt floor with a thud and a grunt. Any feeling of accomplishment was replaced instantly by a crippeling sensation of pure undiluted fear. So much so that she almost failed to register that the wooden monster still had her hind leg in its jaws, violently shaking and chewing at the protected limb in a desperate search for flesh and blood. And that fear only grew as she heard the other two attackers make their way back into the fray.

"RUN!" Twilight had only ever screamed that loud one other time in her life, her cry easily carrying for miles. There was no thought put behind that action what so ever, only the terror-driven need to save his life.

There was a moment where the long dragon didn't take the advice, not wanting to leave his friend behind. But upon seeing that there were two more of them swiftly approaching, and taking the shortest of moments to recall that Twilight was more than capable of fending these things off on her own, Spike made the calculated decision to flee the situation as his guardian had suggested. And just as Twilight had screamed much louder than she normally did, the small reptile dashed away as fast as his legs could carry him. Which, despite his size, was actually considerably fast.

With the potential of Spike being mauled by these wolves removed, for the time being, Twilight finally gave notice to the beast knawing at her hind leg. By now there was a tear in that segment of the cloak, but her armor still heald strong. Even wood enchanted with life was still just wood, and couldn't possibly hope to penetrate a suit designed to repel swords and arrows. But the constant jerking and shaking motions were still an inconvenience that prevented the alicorn from standing back up.

And thus Twilight used her other hind leg to deliver a swift kick straight to this beast's head with as much force as she could muster. The clash of metal-clad hoof against wood rang out and the canine's cranium shattered like glass into hundreds upon thousands of tiny splinters. Its body went limp as the mysterious arcane force responsible for giving this being life leaked out of its frame, floating once again into the boundless sky. In a moment of clarity, Twilight reached out with her own magic in an attempt to dispel this force. But the smoky green mass slipped and wriggled out of her clutches, continuing to rise without a care for her attempt.

It was now that the other two wooden adversaries had caught up with the alicorn, one stopping to confront the magical pony with the second dashing past in pursuit of the fleeing long dragon. Twilight was not prepared to let either of these creatures continue with their violent intents, and thankfully still had enough mental fortitude to come up with a plan. These wooden beings, based on what Twilight had seen thus far, could regenerate their bodies using the trees of the forest if their current ones became unusable. Now the obvious solution was to incinerate every tree in the Everfree, something Twilight was fifty-fifty on whether she could actually pull it off, but that would only lead to a slew of new problems. But her second idea? Much more likely to result in success.

As the first of the wolves slid to a halt before her, and just as the second dashed past, Twilight's horn unleashed a particularly powerful variation of a spell normally used in the creation of frozen delicacies. The mild Spring air in the general vicinity, for a brief moment, was as intense as the coldest of Winters. A layer of frost covered the ground and coated the trees as the arcane burst expanded outward, creating a perfect circle of white within the lush green of Everfree Forest that stuck out as much as one would expect.

And as for the vicious sculptures? Each one was now trapped in what could only be described as a miniature glacier, perfectly frozen in place. Twilight took a moment to not only catch her breath but to observe her work. The glowing green carvings began to glow brighter and brighter as if trying desperately to escape from their prisons of ice to no avail. Through her deep breathing, Twilight offered the trapped creatures a cocky smirk. She might not have been able to kill them, but it seemed that trapping them was an effective substitute. She might have caused a bit of excess havoc on the ecosystem, and karma was likely to catch up with her later for that, but there were more pressing matters on her mind at the moment. Quickly recovering what little stamina that she could, Twilight took off running full tilt after her dragon. She didn't even stop to collect her fallen possessions, but instead just magically scooped them up as she ran past. One or two possessions might have been left behind, but possessions could be replaced. Spike could not.

Heavy regret wracked her mind as she dashed, as her hasty command to run had been entirely pointless. But it had kept Spike from getting caught in that blast, and the alicorn used that as an excuse just to get her mind back on track for the time being. Thankfully, Spike's trail was easy enough to follow. The dirt was soft and loose, and the reptile had left distinctive claw marks that acted as a metaphorical trail of breadcrumbs leading straight to him.

But Twilight wasn't the only one who could follow this trail, and soon enough she could make out distinctive pawprints running alongside the dragon's own. She had only incapacitated two of the three, after all, the third being given the opportunity to regenerate a new body once again. Only serving to further motivate her, Twilight pushed her body to its absolute limits. The pony couldn't see either the wolf or the baby dragon, only the trails that they left behind, and that put a tightly woven knot in her gut. After a short period of time that seemingly dragged on for an eternity, the twin pairs of tracks lead the alicorn to seemingly an exit in the forest.

"Spike?!" Twilight screamed despite the searing sensation from her throat, further unnerved by a lack of an answer. "Where are—?! WHAO!!" Just as she cleared the last of the trees, stepping back into direct sunlight for the first time in hours, the cloaked pony only just barely managed to stop in time before careening off of a very steep drop. There was something of a dirt slope just underneath the ledge that leads all the way down, acting as a means of safely getting to the bottom, with two grooves recently carved in. Spike and the wooden wolf had likely fallen off of this cliff and tumbled down to the bottom. Following these new paths with her eyes, needing another moment to catch her breath, Twilight's eyes became as wide as dinner plates. The astonished alicorn locked her gaze on the structure sitting in the distance, and for a brief moment, nothing else mattered.

She finally remembered where she had heard of the Everfree Forest before. "That's... Warden's Keep"

Sitting in the bottom of what she could now see what something of a canyon surrounded by the Everfree Forest sat what had once been some kind of stronghold. Tall stone walls that had been broken down by the ages surrounded what was once a castle. Now nothing more than a collection of walls and towers that refused to topple. Gutted and left to rot, the local flora had begun to overtake the landmark giving it a greenish hue from this distance that conveyed a significant amount of time. An impossibly tall tree had forced itself to grow in the center of the keep, hiding what had once been a fortress from the sun in a green-tinted shadow. Twilight honestly couldn't believe that she was actually looking at this place with her own eyes. Everyone in Equestria knew what this ruin once was, and what it meant for their history.

Once upon a time, long before the founding of the Grand Celestial Calendar, Warden's Keep had been the seat of military power in Equestria. With its remote location hidden deep in a vast forest, it made for the perfect training ground for new recruits. Or for launching a surprise attack on any invading force that managed to get this far into the country. But in relatively more recent history, Warden's Keep had fallen to just such an invading force during Equestria's last great war.

And in the last months of that tragic conflict, Warden's Keep had been where the invading forces of Seară made their last stand. Warden's Keep was where that war was ended, definitely and absolutely. Warden's Keep was where the person who would one day be known as the Mare in the Moon became what she is today. These ruins were the only blemish that remained from those dark days. Left as a grim reminder of the lives lost, on both sides, in the conflict with Seară. And a reminder of the fallen alicorn who had led the nocturnal nation in that time. How Twilight could have forgotten any of that was beyond her, but in her defense, a thousand-year-old war wasn't exactly her top priority.

"Twilight?! Where are you?!" Spike's voice suddenly rang out from within the canyon. Very far away, but still clearly audible. Anyone could hear the absolute terror heald within the voice.

There was no time to ruminate on the nation's history now, the desperate cry from her friend was enough to drag her back down to reality. Without hesitation, Twilight hopped down the cliff and onto the slope below, sliding on her hooves down toward the valley. Now also wasn't the time for fear or doubt. Right now, the only thing on the alicorn's mind was getting to her friend before that wooden monstrosity did. Failure was not an option, it had never been for her, and she refused to let that change now.

Author's Notes:

A lot of people have really been liking my world building so far. I wonder what they're going to think of these juicy nuggets of information?

The lore runs deep my friends, and we have only just scratched the surface. The stage is set, the pieces are in their places, and the gears are turning. This is where the real story begins.

Also, something I should mention about Twilight's journal:
She's only going to do entries when she feels that there's something significant to note down. _{Because I don't wanna have to make entries for every single day.}

Going to be taking a very short writing break on this. Just to refresh my systems and what not. I'll start writing Chapter 6 soon enough, don't you worry. This doesn't matter if you're reading this in the future, but whatever.

And I'm just gonna leave this here. No particular reason~

— Interlude I —

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August 31,
Year 1,005 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
It's been one week since my entrance exam, and it still feels like I'm the victim of some kind of absurd prank. Every morning I look at myself in the mirror and all but gawk in disbelief. Me? An alicorn? There has to be some kind of misunderstanding. All I did was hatch an egg—~~among other things~~—I didn't do anything worthy of such a gift. It's supposed to be something that you earn. But who am I to question the judgment of someone with centuries of life experience over me? I'm only fifteen, the Queen has lived more a thousand lifetimes.
Every living creature in this world has a purpose. From the smallest insect to the mightiest dragon, my Mom and Dad always say that there's a plan for all of us. If I'm an alicorn now, then it's because I'm supposed to be an alicorn now. The only question left is "why?"
On a related note, contrary to popular belief alicorns aren't just winged unicorns or horned pegasi. I am different on a fundamental level. Even things like simple levitation take more concentration and precision now, I have to be gentle or I'll crush whatever I try to pick up. Cadence has been spending every free moment she can get helping me to adjust to my new body and its capabilities, and it's helped immensely, but I'd be lying if I said that I still didn't occasionally obliterate something like a carton of orange juice every now and again.
Speaking of, everyone has been unbelievably supportive during this transitional period as well. I haven't seen Mom and Dad look so proud—surprising considering all that happened—since Shining got enlisted in the Royal Guard. And Shining Armor? Much the same. Despite everything, he's doing everything he can to still treat me like me. I don't think he'll ever know just how much I appreciate it, no matter how much I tell him. We even went out to lunch today, just the two of us. It was nice. After that, we all got together and helped me move into what would be my dorm during the school year: a lofty tower on palace grounds. The location is close enough to the school to walk without any major difficulties, and I'll be within hooves reach of Cadence and the Queen ~~in case of another accident~~ in the event I need anything from them.
School starts in a week. I need to stop worrying about all of this and fix my broken sleep cycle. Starting now.

Twilight just could not sleep.

How could she? With everything that had happened to her in the last week, it was amazing that she had been able to even been relaxed enough to even try, or even had been able to sleep at all. But here she was again, for the third time tonight, woken up by some unpleasant external stimulus. Eyes groggily opening and looking out one of the room's many large windows, her gaze was returned by that of the Mare in the Moon floating high above Equestria. A quick glance towards her nightstand clock revealed to be just about one in the morning.

Fantastic, she groaned to herself, doing everything in her power to try and roll over without causing any further discomfort to herself. She needed to be up just a few short hours, and she had to spend another one just trying to get back to sleep. One of her pillows was quickly seized and used to bury her face from the full moon's gentle but currently unappreciated light outside, another exasperated sigh escaping from the young pony.

Her attempts at sleep, however, were further delayed by several distinctive crashing sounds coming from somewhere within her home. Based on the sounds of shattering porcelain and glass against the hard tile, it was coming from the kitchen. This got Twilight's attention, causing her to unbury herself from her pillows and rise to a seated position. It couldn't have been a burglar, it would have taken someone very brave or very stupid to try and rob a place this guarded. No, it must've been something else. Probably an animal that snuck in looking for food or something. She was already up at the moment either way, so it wouldn't hurt to at least check it out. With a yawning groan, she hopped down from the bed onto the floor, beginning to walk to her destination.

The pony's progress, however, was stopped by a sudden sharp pain, Twilight let out a growl at the sensation. Lighting up her horn and looking down, it was now obvious that she had accidentally stepped on one of her own wings. "I hate these stupid things," she mumbled to herself, working the muscles and putting the feathered appendages into folded positions at either side of her frame. They were easy enough to keep there once they were in place, it was just remembering to put them there that was the problem. And now some of the feathers on her right wing were damaged and misaligned. In time, keeping them neatly tucked away would become second nature to her, she wouldn't even need to think about it.

But it was going to suck a lot until that actually happened.

With one minor inconvenience out of the way, the young alicorn moved to check on the one that had previously gotten her attention. Walking down the curved staircase that led from the upper balcony down to the primary area of her tower-based home, she scanned the room with her sleep-deprived eyes in the light of her own horn. Thankfully, she didn't have to look far at all to find what was causing the disruption, as the tower's kitchen was illuminated by the refrigerator, proving Twilight's earlier theory that it had been some local fauna that for some reason had decided her home would be a good place to forage for food.

She armed herself with a broom as she approached the light of the fridge. From where she was at, she'd have to walk around the wide-open door to actually be able to see the creature in question as it greedily filled its belly on her food stock. As she got closer and closer, she could make out the sounds of whatever animal that had snuck in as it basically ravaged her fridge. The sounds suddenly coming to a halt when it seemingly found what it was after.

It's probably just a raccoon or something, nothing to be afraid of, Twilight told herself as she steeled her nerves to face whatever trial was ahead. But as she stepped into the light of the open fridge, all fear and anxiety were replaced with confusion and annoyance as to what she saw in the icebox. The magical pony recognized the distinctive creature rummaging through her food. Though it was just a mite different than how she remembered it looking about a week ago.

When she had first met this animal, he had only been about the size of a garden snake, with soft lavender scales and four little stumpy limbs. In the time since then, the scales that covered him had matured and hardened into a more traditional purple with a series of small green spines beginning to grow from atop the creature's head and all down his back and a long tail. No longer the size of a garden snake, he was now comparable to the size of a ferret, albeit much longer. Despite his unconventional appearance, this entity was without question a dragon. Or some previously undiscovered subspecies of, at the very least. Bittersweet memories of that fact being proven to Twilight were coming back to the alicorn at that moment, causing her to thank her lucky stars that she had been aware enough to dodge a firey sneeze before any serious harm had been caused.

The Queen's dragon? She asked herself, slowly putting the broom down as she observed the young creature. How the heck did it get here?

Sensing movement behind him, the dragon spun around with haste and locked eyes with Twilight. He had been too young to open his eyes when they had first met, but now Twilight could see the vivid shade of green that had been hidden before. Twilight also noticed the dragon's prize hanging from his jaws, half of a sandwich that she had bought from a local shop earlier that day. She hadn't finished it and had planned on saving the meal for consumption at a later date. But clearly, the dragon had different plans for who would be doing the eating.

"Hey! That's my sandwich!" Twilight blurted out, eyes narrowing with frustration. Almost in reaction to this, the dragon began to quickly chew at and swallow the item with haste and gusto, unphased by the alicorn's shout. Frustration turned to grief at this new development.

"That... was my sandwich... Guess I need a new plan for lunch tomorrow." With a hearty sigh, Twilight calmed herself. She couldn't exactly be mad at the little guy, he was just a hungry animal. She could be confused as to why he had chosen to come here of all places for a meal, but not angry. "Alright... whatever your name is. Let's get you back in your pen before the Queen wakes up and has a heart attack."

Based on the look on his face, the small dragon clearly didn't understand what Twilight had just said. He simply tilted his head quizzically. "Sah..." he muttered, eyes shifting to look at his own snout. "Sha... Sahm... Samee..." Ignoring the odd sounds the infant was making, Twilight rolled her eyes and went to magically grasp at the creature. But what happened next gave her pause, halting her actions immediately.

"Samich," the dragon murmured as his eyes returned to Twilight in a wanting gaze. "Samich?"

She had to sit there for a moment and process the sound he had just made at her. Unless she was mistaken, it almost sounded like the dragon had just tried to say "sandwich." Did it... just mimic me?

"Samich!" he sounded a bit impatient, seemingly waiting for Twilight to respond to his... request?

Hmm... his subspecies must have some kind of parrot-like ability to copy sounds and voices, she quickly theorized, I should let the Queen know. She'll probably do a backflip when she figures out her little pet has a new tri—

"Samich!" The dragon barked again, seemingly angered by a lack of a reply. With a sound that could only be described as a moan of frustration, the young reptile leaped from the fridge and scurried into the cabinets along the nearby counter. Twilight was just about ready to magically drag the little guy back out, but he returned faster then she could act. Held in his teeth was an unopened package of bread that he proceeded to drop at Twilight's hooves before swiftly dashing back into the cupboards.

What happened next was utterly baffling. The small dragon proceeded to drag out more and more food items, leaving them at the alicorn's hooves. He had even returned to the fridge at one point to grab lettuce and mustard of all things. Twilight could only watch with fascination at what she was watching, unable to react in any meaningful way as the small pile of food was left before her. Satisfied with his findings, the dragon proceeded to sit down before Twilight in a way that was very reminiscent of canines and other such animals.

"Sa... mich," he spoke slower and more deliberately, almost as if trying to place emphasis on the broken word. He became all but motionless after that, looking up at Twilight with wide, pleading eyes. Twilight, meanwhile, was beside herself. She couldn't believe what was transpiring. If this dragon was doing what she thought it was doing, then the comparison to parrots would be a great disservice. There was only one way to find out for sure, and she knew what had to be done.

"Do you... want another sandwich?" She lightly poked a hoof at the wrapped loaf of bread.

"Samich!" He didn't seem as flustered as before, continuing to look at Twilight with those big emerald eyes. He looked down to the pile of food items that he had placed at Twilight's hooves for a moment before returning his eyes to her.

"... Alright then," Twilight replied cautiously as she carefully stepped through the stack. She magically collected a number of items that would be put into a sandwich, ignoring the ones that weren't traditionally used in such a meal like cookies or bagels. The young one didn't seem to mind as he hopped up onto the counter to watch Twilight work. She occasionally looked over to him only to see that he was absolutely entranced by the process of combining the food items. It took only a moment for the alicorn to complete the preparations, slowly sliding the completed sandwich over to the dragon.

"Here you go... I guess..."

The dragon eyed the small meal with absolute intensity, his next course of action having long since been decided. He practically pounced onto the sandwich and seized it with his foreclaws, soon after proceeding to bite and chew at it with his newly grown fangs. Twilight couldn't help but let out a surprised almost chuckle of a huff as she watched the dragon greedily consume his meal. It didn't take him long to finish, letting out a small burp as he did. He then let out a loud yawn, curled up on the countertop and proceeded to go back to sleep as if nothing had happened, light snores escaping his nostrils as he dozed off.

"Did he just... teach himself what a sandwich is...?" She slowly asked of nobody in particular, leaning in closer to examine the smarter-then-previously-assumed dragon with great curiosity. "That's... that's incredible!"

She ran off as quickly and as quietly as she could, madly searching for something to write her new discoveries down on. The young pony could hardly contain her excitement. Her feelings of sleep-deprivation and anxiety were all gone, replaced by her usual academic curiosity and enthusiasm that had been all but absent in the previous week. She needed to take notes on this, she wouldn't be able to do or think about anything else until she had at least a three-page report for the Queen before sunrise.

After all, if the idea of a dragon that could mimic pony speech would make the Queen do a backflip, this new discovery would reduce Equestria's most respected and dignified ruler to nothing more than an excited little filly. Finally finding a quill and paper, the ecstatic alicorn began to write.

Author's Notes:

Just because I know someone will bring it up, the journal entry here was from before Twilight started numbering them. This was six years ago, she's gone through more than one journal, and WAY more than 300 entries. Just wanted to clear that up.

This "chapter" doesn't really serve any purpose other than to act as another cute moment between Spike and Twilight just for the sake of showing a cute moment, to elaborate a bit more on their relationship, and to foreshadow a few things for later. The idea came to me in the middle of writing chapter three, and this was the most natural place to put it. And by "natural," I mean "I want to drive you all even crazier after Chapter 5's cliffhanger."

And there will be more of these, don't you worry.

And yes. Spike's first word in this continuity was "Samich." He likes food. And I found the idea of this baby noodle dragon demanding a sandwich to be adorable. So I had to make it reality.

— Chapter Six —

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--- The Kindness of Strangers ---

"Spike?!" Twilight cried out, over and over, as she hastily proceeded through the ruins of Warden's Keep.

The forest-based fortress lived up to its reputation, the sheer scale of comparable to a small city in it of itself. If the circumstances were less dire, the academic alicorn would be taking in the potent history of the landscape. The ruined main structure was surrounded on all sides by smaller stone buildings and huts, their distinct purposes long since lost to the sands of time. Given that this was once a military base one could assume that these acted as homes for the soldiers of Equestria's past, as well as storage facilities for weapons and supplies.

But in the here and now, these ruined buildings only served as obstacles in Twilight's path. A labyrinth of shattered stone and the various forms of flora that have begun to run rampant. She bobbed and weaved around whatever hurdle came up in her path in her quest to find her lost draconic companion. As her eyes darted to and fro in a frenzied attempt to catch sight of him, Twilight's mind was wracked with worry and guilt.

Why did I tell him to run? Twilight chastised of herself, calling out for Spike again. Again, no response was heard back. He would have been safer in the long run if he stayed with me! What was I thinking?! This cycle continued for some time, Twilight's own berating of her unplanned reaction becoming more and more severe with every passing moment when the young dragon was not found.

And then, to act as a reprieve from her own mental punishment, there was a reaction. Not a voice calling back out to Twilight's, but something else entirely. The only way to describe it was a loud fwooshing, the same sound that came from a vast amount of fire spontaneously appearing. The sound broke occasionally as if it were taking brief reprise to catch its breath before returning in full a second later. And then, alongside the roaring of flames, was something akin to a whimpering canine. Likely from their newfound wooden "friend," given that being's wolf-like nature. Now in a normal circumstance, this would be a very alarming sound to hear in a heavily wooded area like this one. Flames were typically seen as a bad thing when left to their own devices in such an environment.

But Twilight couldn't help but grin at the fwooshing of flames. Fires don't just come from nothing after all, not in a forest still fresh with moisture from a recent rainstorm. Something had to be causing it. And if there was one thing that could cause a blaze in this place, a dragon was a pretty solid guess. And judging from the sound, it was close. Very close.

"Spike!"

The alicorn bolted in the direction of the sound, newfound strength and stamina coursing through her frame at the prospect of finding her friend. Leaping over a mossy stone color, she couldn't help herself from letting out something of a giddy chuckle. Not that there was anything humorous about the circumstances, it was just relieving to have some confirmation that Spike was still alive. Maybe not "well" in this current situation, but alive. That's what mattered right now. But when the sounds of flame ceased to be, that was when Twilight got worried. More so than she already had been, at least.

As Twilight approached the scene-in-motion, the concern of Spike's current wellness was now front and center in her mind. The monstrosity that had been chasing him was nowhere in sight, save for what could only be described as its charred corpse off to the side, and Spike was left to lay on the ground whimpering and sniveling in pain. The bright red of the fresh blood around him told a clear story of what had happened. He had been bitten, and in return gave the wolf far more then it had bargained for. And while the idea of Spike being hurt was mortifying, there was another blatant fact that was staring Twilight right in the face.

Spike wasn't alone.

Crouched down next to him, with a first aid kit oddly enough, was an average everyday pegasus. A soft pink mane covered the unfamiliar pony's face as she worked at dressing Spike's injury, softly speaking words of encouragement to try and calm down the frenzied dragon. Just an average everyday pegasus, completely normal in every aspect aside from a white twig that had been stuck behind one of her ears like a pencil. An odd fashion statement for sure, but neither Twilight or Spike was in any state of mind to question this mare's tastes at the moment. Especially since she was currently treating whatever wound Spike had sustained to his right forelimb.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted again, running as fast as she possibly could over to her friend's side. The yellow pony flinched at the sudden bark and quickly backed away from the long dragon with a sharp eeping sound. Spike, in the meanwhile, almost instantly ceased his rightful crying and squirmed closer to Twilight as she scooped him up into her hooves. No words were spoken between the two, the dragon grateful to be back with his life-long friend as he softly cried and whimpered into her. And Twilight to was busy with examining the wound, constantly repeating the words "you're going to be okay" in an almost religious chant. Though there wasn't much to examine, as the mysterious pegasus who had gotten here first had worked quickly in covering the bite in pristine white bandages.

"Is... is he your friend?" A quiet voice slowly asked. The disguised alicorn snapped her attention to the yellow pegasus, causing Spike's savior to flinch in sudden shock.

She was on edge, Twilight could tell that much, likely from being in this place. But even still, this stranger had stopped to assist Spike in his time of need. She glanced down to the medical kit that the pegasus had been using, noticing that it was designed to be worn like a saddlebag. That at least explained why she was just carrying around medical supplies with her, in some aspect at least. Satisfied with the momentary investigation, Twilight turned her attention back to the henceforth unknown pony.

"Thank you." That's all she said in response. That's all she could say as she cradled Spike closer, an overwhelming rollercoaster of conflicting emotions rushing through her at this very moment.

"Oh... y-you're very welcome..." Against all odds, a smile managed to shine through the yellow pony's nervous exterior for a short moment. "And... I, I, I, I'm sorry if I'm intruding... but you two really shouldn't be out here... not during timberwolf season... they're really active during the Spring and Summer... the only reason I'm out here is for damage control... I-I'm a vet, you see, and the timberwolves will attack a-anything that moves... so I come out to make sure that none of the animals get hurt too bad..."

She was fumbling over her words, keeping her line of sight away from Twilight and Spike. She was absolutely mortified by the very idea of these "timberwolf" creatures, and it showed. The explanation sounded more like an excuse to remind herself of why she had even come out here despite the danger and less like an explanation for Twilight's benefit.

"That would have been nice to know a few hours ago," Twilight answered through a half chuckle, equal parts relieved and frustrated, as she continued to give Spike as much comfort as she possibly could.

"Well... I can't just leave you two out here with the timberwolves..." A deep breath was taken, followed by a nervous gulp. "... There's pleanty of room back at my cottage... if you need a place to go?"

The cry of a howling wolf far in the distance was quick to gather the three's attention. Spike, in particular, let out a small whine as he pushed himself even closer to Twilight. The answer to the worried pony's answer was made clear at that moment, and this unknown interloper was clearly more trustworthy than this forest's wood-made inhabitants. Resting in a house was better than resting in this ancient warzone, especially with that beast clearly on its way back. So without further delay, the newly formed trio was quickly on their way. The newest member of the group led the two travelers further into the gorge, towards a path that they could easily walk up and away from Warden's Keep.

--- — ---

The briskly-paced walk out of the forest was uneventful and silent. Neither Twilight or the mysterious mare made any attempt at conversation, both preoccupied with their own thoughts and looking out for any more fiends. Spike spent his time in the saddlebag, physically and mentally resting after his second traumatic event this week. And the wooden wolf-like monstrosities, apparently known as timberwolves, did not make another attempt on their lives.

Just a simple mid-afternoon stroll through the woods. At some point, Ponyville came into view in the distance through the masses of trees. But as the edge of the woods was reached, it became clear that the town proper was not their destination. Instead, the yellow pegasus was leading them to a humble two-story hut that sat just at the edge of the Everfree. Simple in nature, the same architectural style as the rest of the village, it sat next to a river that flowed through the forest and towards the town. The most distinctive feature of the place was the back yard, guarded by a simple chainlink fence, containing a number of chickens and other similarly sized animals minding their own business. Twilight had actually seen this house once or twice during the stay in town, something of an animal sanctuary based on word of mouth.

Not long after arriving did the yellow mare usher Twilight and her currently unseen passenger inside, and the claims of it being an animal sanctuary were instantly proven true. The modest household was absolutely crawling with animals of every shape and size. Mostly forest creatures like rabbits and the like, the occasional dog or cat, and a rainbow of parrots and other small birds. Pretty standard fair given the location, but there was one stand out member of this particular group of creatures. A flamingo simply stood in off in a secluded corner, currently infatuated with a similarly colored floor lamp. It was surprisingly quiet and clean, despite the sheer number of creatures who were occupying the living room of this home.

"Home sweet home," the pegasus spoke with a sigh as the door closed behind them. Still quiet in tone, but nowhere near as nervous as before. Almost immediately she was swarmed by birds who instantly perched on almost every available perch they could find. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable... oh, and your little friend, too, of course."

The cloaked alicorn hesitantly nodded. No way around it, she saw Spike back there. Thankfully she didn't seem to be put off by the long dragon, at least not enough to make a fuss about it. Still unsure about the situation, she steadily walked towards a small couch with the yellow pegasus at her side and gently set her saddlebags on one of its cushions. Soon after Spike managed to crawl out and curl up onto the couch, taking extra care to not use his injured leg.

Giving him a moment to get as comfortable as he could, Twilight was the first to speak up. "How are you doing, Spike?"

There was a deep breathed sigh on his part. "Better," he answered dully, it was good to hear his voice again after so long. Twilight had known the young dragon long enough to know that he was exhausted, physically and mentally. He'd probably be asleep by now if it weren't for the likely stinging pain of his fresh bite wound.

The yellow pegasus was quick to let out the world's quietest surprised gasp, eyes like dinner plates as she gazed upon the long dragon. "Oh my goodness! H-he can talk?!"

"Of course I can talk," Spike quickly interjected, a quizzical look being shot in the shocked mare's direction. This got the yellow pony to instantly shift from surprise to anxiety in a heartbeat.

"Oh! I didn't mean to offend! It's just... well, I've never seen a critter like you! I was just caught off guard, that's all! I'm sorry!"

"Not many people have," Twilight commented as she turned her attention to her host. "Thank you for your help... I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

Quickly shaken out of the apologetic state, the yellow pony was quickly able to put a small smile on her face. "Fluttershy... and you?"

"Twilight Sparkle. You've already met Spike," her words were accompanied by a small wave of the long dragon's behalf.

Once more, a surprised look came across Fluttershy's face. "Oh... Pinkie told me a bit about you... The adventurer, right?... It's very nice to meet you."

Twilight was made to share in this moment of sudden realization, and it plainly showed on her face. "That's me... I'm more of a 'traveler,' but that's me."

The pegasus let out a relieved sigh, a great weight being lifted off of her shoulders. "Oh thank goodness, for a second I thought I invited a complete stranger into my house..."

Being associated with that pink earth pony had proven to be an advantage in this town on more than one occasion. And Twilight was glad that she had run into someone who continued to prove that right. It was a refreshing change of pace after the two hostile encounters this week. First the dragon, and then those timberwolf creatures. Luck and fortune were a very limited resource these days it seemed, and Twilight was willing to take whatever she could get.

After reveling in her relief for a short period, Fluttershy quietly cleared her throat to regain Twilight's attention. "So... umm... you two are welcome to use the guest room for a few days... i-if you need to, that is! By no means do you have to stay here... I just figured that you wouldn't want to go out on the road again while he's still hurt," Her attention turned towards Spike, "A-and I can help the healing process if you'd like. I'm... I'm a vet, I think I mentioned that earlier... So I might be able to help with that leg."

"That's... great and all, but you don't have to do that," Twilight interjected with her own nervous grin, "We appreciate the help, we really do, but we don't want to impose. We'll be out of your hair by tonight."

"No!" Fluttershy shouted. Granted, a shout from her was more akin to a regular speaking voice, but the intent was clear. "It's not safe out there at night!... Well, less safe... that's when most of the timberwolves come out."

Twilight and Spike both looked to one another with matching expressions of worry. A silent conversation was had between the two travelers at that moment, and after its conclusion, they both looked towards Fluttershy with the same thankful smile. "Well... as long as you're offering, one night couldn't hurt," Twilight answered with a small sigh. "Thank you."

"It's really no trouble. My parents always said a little kindness can go a long way," Fluttershy reassured with a kindly smile in return, "I can... show you to the guest room if you'd like."

"You go ahead... I'm just gonna lay here for a little while," Spike interjected as he shifted further into the couch's embrace with a loud yawn. "I just got comfy."

Neither of the ponies could argue with that logic, nor did they want to as the young one deserved a bit of comfort after what had happened today. And so after scooping up her saddlebags, Twilight gestured for her gracious host to lead the way. And so the two ponies left the young dragon to his well-needed nap, each equine taking care not to accidentally step on any of the smaller critters as they stepped on by.

"I... umm, I think it's safe to say you don't want anybody knowing about him?" Fluttershy asked as they ascended up the stairs. "N-not to be rude... it's just, well, Pinkie would have mentioned definetly something about him if she had known anything. Loudly, to the entire town. The moment she found out."

"If it's not to much trouble, then yes," Twilight answered solomly, "Most ponies freak out when a dragon just shows up in their town."

Fluttershy stopped at the top of the steps and tilted her head at her cloaked guest. "He's a dragon?... I mean, I can definitely see it... but he doesn't look like any dragon I've ever seen."

"We get that a lot. Only one of his kind ever seen, as far as we know. We call him a 'long dragon.'"

"Oh, is it a sore subject? I hope I didn't—"

"It's fine... you've already seen him, might as well fill in a few blanks for you." Twilight felt a twinge of defeat with that remark. In all of their travels, she and Spike had an absolutely perfect record of keeping him out of the public eye whilst among other ponies. Fluttershy here was the first pony outside of Canterlot to break that streak, and the disguised alicorn couldn't help but be a bit upset over her record ending as it did.

Fluttershy's eyes darted away for a moment as she continued to lead the guest through her home. And she noticeably bit at her lower lip before she continued the conversation. She looked like she really did not want to, but was seemingly under some self-made obligation to do so. "I... umm, only really have one other question in mind... if you don't mind me asking since he's a dragon and all... is there any chance of him—?"

"Your animals are safe," Twilight interrupted the moment she realized where the question was going. "As far as I've been able to tell, long dragons are omnivorous. But Spike's spent a good chunk of his life on a vegetarian diet. He won't attack any one of them."

Another relieved sigh rushed out of the pegasus. "I'm sorry for being rude, I just wanted to—"

"You're fine. It was a perfectability reasonable concern," Twilight offered a sincere smile alongside this interruption, "But thank you for not bringing it up in front of him. He's been through a lot recently, and I appreciate your tact."

"O-oh!... Well, you're welcome..." That seemed to have caught Fluttershy off guard as she pushed open one of the doors on this floor, revealing a sparsely decorated bedroom. "Here it is... not much to look at, but it should work."

As Twilight passed through the room's threshold, "not much to look at" was definitely what came to mind. It reminded her a lot of the room she had stayed in back at Bedrock if she were being perfectly honest. The only differences came in the colors and patterns on the bedsheets and drapes, and the fact that there was a distinct lack of rock-based art. Not that simplicity was a bad thing, but it was noticeable. The lack of complexity in the room's decoration thought was actually rather soothing after the day's excitement.

--- — ---

As the sun began to sink beyond the horizon signifying the end of this hectic day, Twilight was left with time to stare up at the ceiling in reprieve. Laying atop a bedroll with her legs and wings splayed to either side of her. The door had long since been locked, the alicorn was determined to keep at least one secret from the hospitable yellow pegasus this day. Thankfully, Fluttershy's knowledge of Spike gave Twilight an excuse to not cast the perfect privacy spell she was accustomed to using, which was a good thing in this instance as she didn't feel like using any magic after the day's frantic festivities.

Spike, in the meanwhile, had since had his bite-wound properly taken care of by Fluttershy, after Twilight confirmed that Fluttershy was indeed a veterinarian by trade. The pegasus hadn't been lying about that, and Spike's injury had been properly cleaned and dressed after the rushed-job in the woods. In her professional opinion, the long dragon would be able to make a full recovery within a month or so, but she did heavily recommend that he did not put much strain on the limb for a while. Nothing was broken or injured beyond repair, but it would take time and rest. She even put in the effort to make a small sling of sorts, as a passive way of discouraging Spike from walking on it. Afterward, he had been relocated from his perch atop Fluttershy's couch into this guest room. And seeing as how he had been physically injured today, he was given no choice in taking the bed for himself. Not that he was particularly complaining about this fact, but the conversation that had led to it was rather short.

"You're hurt. You're taking the bed. End of discussion."

The long dragon had since made himself another nest out of the blankets and sheets, and curled himself up into a reptilian orb to cradle his hurt leg. He was content with spending some time to rest and relax, still exhausted from earlier. And as he was left to recover and recuperate, Twilight Sparkle was once again left with time to think. Well, "daydream" was a more accurate term in this particular instant. "Spacing out" was another good choice of words.

Adrift in a sea of near-mindless thought, simply letting her mind wander in much the same way she and Spike had been living their lives. Just going from place to place, or topic to topic in this case, and just seeing what happens. There was an end goal in mind, in some respect, but there was no clear cut road on how to find it. Or even on where that end goal was. It existed, that much was certain, but there was no way of knowing when or where it'd be found.

After sailing through a sea of meaningless thoughts for eternity and a day, the inevitable ultimately came to pass. Her academic mind, starving for substance, finally settled on a topic for internal discussion. And the lucky winner of the alicorn's attention was the subject of her and Spike's current states of being. Pushing herself up off of the ground, the young dragon was left blissfully unaware as her eyes fell upon him. He was entirely at ease, at least on the outside, in spite of today's harrowing events.

That's two times in one week where I almost got him killed, her eyes narrowed whilst observing the lounging long dragon. She huffed subtly as her attention was turned towards the room's single window. The day had finally given way to the night, and the mare in the moon had only just begun to peak over the horizon to bathe the land in soft silvery light.

Two times in one week...

She still couldn't believe it. No matter how hard or how long she thought it over, Twilight just couldn't accept the reality of this situation. In the past five days, the two of them had endured more life-threatening trials then they had in the rest of their travels. Mathematically speaking Twilight knew that such circumstances were certainly possible, but by no means were they probable to any noteworthy degree. The proverbial needle in the haystack, as it were. And this unprecedented streak of exceptionally bad luck was enough to get Twilight to think.

"... Hey, you awake?" Twilight finally broke the hours-long silence, keeping her eyes locked on the slowly rising moon.

"Mmmmm... yeah." The young dragon slowly emerged from his newest burrow, using his good forepaw to rub the weariness from each of his eyes in turn. "What's up?"

"I've been thinking... maybe it's time we take a break."

Spike's head leaned to the side as he perplexedly stared back at Twilight. "Are you... breaking up with me? Because I don't think we have that kind of relationship."

"Wait? What?! No!" Twilight quickly spun around and glared at him with shock and embarrassment. "Where did you even learn that?!"

"I gotta do something while I'm riding around in the saddlebag," Spike smirked, "And you have a lot of books."

There was suddenly a new flavor of deep regret born within her's heart, this particular grief involving the cheesy romantic comedy novels from her younger days that she had chosen to take with her for some unfathomable reason. But right now wasn't the time to dwell on those past mistakes, and Twilight made that very clear as she shook those memories away.

"That's not what I meant in the slightest. I'm talking about..." There was a short lapse in the conversation, just long enough for the alicorn to take a deep breath. "You know, traveling. I think it's time we took a break. Plant our roots for a while, you know?"

"Oooooh! That makes MUCH more sense!" Spike smiled and nodded as he came to understand her meaning, but this shortlived victory was quick to fade. "... I'm guessing this is about today?"

"That's part of it, yes."

"Well... it's probably not a good idea to leave with this, anyway," he lightly shook his wrapped arm for emphasis, "And you sound like you've already made up your mind."

It was Twilight's turn to nod in confirmation as she turned her attention back to the window. The moon had fully risen by now, creating a truly beautiful scene in part with the Everfree Forest just beyond the glass barricade. While teeming with danger, it did make for a legitimately beautiful view. If Twilight were given the luxury of choosing where she and Spike were to take their vacation from exploring, Ponyville would at least be somewhere on the list.

The quiet country town was exactly what the doctor had ordered, a perfect contradiction to the life that she had become accustomed to over these years. So long as she didn't wander into the Everfree again, but that wouldn't be a hard feat to accomplish. And as the young alicorn stared out into the night, already formulating plans for where to go from here, a grim realization came to mind. One that would prove to make this newest life choice very difficult to cope with.

"I'm gonna have to get a real job..."

— Chapter Seven —

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--- Diamonds in the Rough ---

As the morning sun began to shine down on the land, Twilight Sparkle awoke to the delightful fact that the night had been kind to her. Fully reveling in the aftermath of a good night's sleep, Twilight stretched and yawned with an honest smile on her face. Her current hypothesis stated that extreme physical, magical, and emotional strain made the act of resting all the easier. And based on how this day had begun? That theory was definitely correct.

Of course, that feeling of content and ease was swiftly put to rest as the young alicorn recalled what this day would entail for her. And she groaned in anticipation of what was to come. But that was a problem for the future her, even if that future was soon, and the present Twilight took some comfort in that at the very least.

After living through the day's first major—and hopefully last—mood swing, her next action was to immediately check up on the well being her young draconic companion. Safe and sound, lightly snoring away at the daylight in his own little den with the smallest bit of drool escaping his maw. This calming and adorable sight was contrasted deeply by the bandages wrapped snuggly around one of his legs, their pristine white tarnished slightly by what little blood was able to squeeze out of the bite over the course of the evening. Despite Spike being the one to have been hurt, the pain that Twilight felt at the sight eluded description by mere words.

It should have been me, the grim thought lingered in Twilight's head as she donned her concealing garment. She'd gladly have let one of her own wings be ripped off if it would have spared Spike that injury. But in a surprising act of mental fortitude, Twilight managed to repress this thought relatively quickly. The past was the past, immutable and absolute. Nothing could change what had happened, that was something Twilight learned a long time ago. Dwelling on it anymore would only impede her future, and that would only invite disaster.

With a series of deep breaths, Twilight allowed her failures to pass on by. Being guilty would do her no good, so instead, she was resolved to be better. At least until after she had gotten a stable job in this town. Then, in the privacy of whatever abode she ended up renting, she could beat herself up over letting her friend get hurt. Putting on a brave smile while adjusting her cloak, Twilight felt like she was ready to take on the world as she opened the door.

And there was a bear.

Just standing there in the middle of the hallway like it owned the place, in just the right way that their eyes met as soon as the door was opened. There was no reaction on either individual's part, just a silent exchange of stares that lasted for an eternity. There was also no thought in this moment, just a steady and continuous state of internal screaming on Twilight's behalf. The look on her face acting as the only outward expression of this inward panic. The bear, meanwhile, just gazed back with this half-eyed look of indifference. If Twilight were in any state of mind to take into consideration the emotional state of this animal, she'd proclaim that it looked groggy. Tired even, like a caffeine junkie who had yet to partake in their morning coffee.

Without the slightest of shifts in posture or expression, Twilight ever so slowly closed the door and clicked the lock. She then proceeded to slowly turn around, same wide-eyed gawk painted across her face, and slowly walked towards the window. By some improbable coincidence, it was now that Spike had decided to gently rouse himself from his own slumber. Yawning loudly, emerald eyes locked upon his purple pony comrade as she unlocked and opened the window.

"Uhh... Twilight? What are you doing?"

"There's a bear out there, and I'm not dealing with that today." Her stress-filled response sounded almost giddy. "I'm just not dealing with that today. This is where I draw the line."

"... Are you being serious right now?" It wasn't often that Spike looked at Twilight like she were an absolute lunatic. Well, not too often. Maybe two or three times every few months, but that's not important. Right now, though? That was the look he was giving her. Unquestionably.

"Very."

"You're scared of a bear?"

"Not particularly. I just don't feel like dealing with that today."

Unamused, Spike narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. Looking back and forth between the door and the cloaked alicorn, there was a brief moment of pause before he climbed out of bed. And after figuring out how to walk with only three legs, he made his way over to the door. Propping himself up on his hind legs, it wasn't long before the lock clicked open once more.

"Spike, don't you dare," there was no change in her tone or her expression as she turned to face Spike, "Do not open that door."

"There can't be a bear out there though, and I'm gonna prove it," Spike chuckled as he turned the knob, absolutely sure in his reasoning. A confident smile on his face, he knew that there couldn't possibly be a bear in this house. He might have been young, but he was clever enough to know that bears do not just wander into houses like this. To find food? Maybe. But if that were the case, the supposed bear would be in the kitchen, not up here. And he was determined to prove that to his friend as he opened the door against her wishes.

The bear was still there.

"Oh." That's all Spike said as his eyes met with the grizzly's own. Closing the door just as slowly as Twilight had, he turned back to her with his face now matching hers. "I stand corrected. That was a bear."

"Which is why we're going out the window. I'm not dealing with that today." Twilight turned back to the window to continue her escape but was greeted to the sight of a worried looking yellow pegasus in a sunhat.

Fluttershy hovered before the window with a puzzled look on her face. It looked like she had been doing some yard work when she had noticed Twilight's attempted escape. "Is everything alright?"

Spike and Twilight answered in perfect synchronization. "There's a bear in your house."

A sincere look of guilt came across Fluttershy's now reddened face. "Oh! Did I forget to tell you about Harry? I sent him up to let you know breakfast would be soon... Could have sworn I told you about him though... Sorry."

Silence. Absolute silence. A complete lack of any sound at all, as if the world itself had been forcibly muted. Neither the wounded dragon or the disguised alicorn could comprehend what the yellow pony could have meant by that. Well, it was clearly an indication that she and this bear have had some kind of longlasting acquaintanceship. That was just one of several questions answered, at the very least.

"... You have a pet bear?" Twilight's reaction was surprisingly calm.

"Ehh... less 'pet' and more 'freeloader who lives in my basement and drinks all my coffee,' but effectively yes," Fluttershy hesitated for only a moment after that, "And... not to be rude, but you have a dragon..."

This was true.

--- — ---

Today was an odd day.

Not only had Twilight Sparkle woken up to the sight of a bear waiting outside of her current bedroom, but she also ended up sitting down and having a civilized breakfast with that very same bear. A bear who, shockingly enough, had better table manners then Twilight herself had. And that was impressive, considering her hometown. But aside from the inclusion of a bear, the meal that she and Spike had been invited to was pleasantly uneventful. Just a normal breakfast in a normal house, something that Twilight and Spike hadn't experienced in a very long time. It was nice. And also gave Twilight a perfect opportunity to plan out the rest of her day.

Thankfully, Fluttershy was more than willing to allow Spike to rest and "lay low" in her cottage while Twilight spent the day looking for a job. Spike deserved the reprieve from all the activity for a while, he needed the rest and Twilight didn't want to jostle him about in her saddlebag all day. This meant one less thing for the cloaked pony to worry about, which was great because the job hunt was proving to add a whole bunch of NEW things to worry about.

A few days ago, when she had been merely been searching for some quick cash, she had found several possible employment options who were looking for full-time employment or local workers. And while Twilight couldn't fix the second issue, the first one was now no longer a problem. But, just her luck, those positions had been filled in the days since she had looked into them.

Each and every single one.

And thus explained Twilight's current predicament. Sitting on a bench in the center of town, a recently purchased newspaper floating before her. She had previously skimmed the jobs section earlier in the week during her quest for cash, but she was hopeful that something new had been added between then and now. This town was pretty decently sized, surely a new job opening could have opened up since then.

"Nope, nope, double nope, nope, supreme nope, nope, nope, nope with a garnish of NOPE," Twilight grumbled as she fiddled through the job listings, verbally disqualifying a number of options from the list. Eventually, the paper drooped as the cloaked pony gave up hope with a sigh. "... Maybe I should bring back Twiggles the Clown..."

"Twiggles the Clown?" A bubbly voice spoke from the other side of the newspaper. "Now THAT'S a story I want to hear!"

Lowering the document to see the intruder, Twilight's eyes met with the bright blue orbs belonging to Pinkie Pie. "... How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know you need more money," Pinkie said with an honest smile on her face, "What happened to all the cash you got from Mr. Knox?"

The cloaked pony had to pick her next words very carefully as to not cause a scene. "I've... actually decided to extend my stay in town... and I need to put food on the table, after all."

Her words had been chosen poorly and a scene was in the works, evident by Pinkie's reaction. Her lips were sucked into her mouth as if she had just gotten a taste of something sour, eyes wide and shocked by the news. And then, she began to shake. Subtly at first, but the vibrations quickly grew more and more noticeable at a scarily exponential rate. Before long, the earth pony was practically a pink wheezing blur.

Is she going to explode? The question wasn't entirely unjustified, Twilight moving behind the bench in order to use it as some form of cover for the inevitable detonation.

The shaking only became more violent as Pinkie's head lurched back towards the sky, her ecstatic humming becoming louder and louder. It wouldn't be long before whatever cosmic force she was holding back was unleashed upon the world, likely with enough force to violently transform Ponyville into a smoldering black crater.

And then, it stopped. Pinkie's ceaseless jittering finally ceased, and she looked back to Twilight with her usual happy outlook. "That's fantastic!" She wasn't even that loud, just her usual speaking voice.

In all honesty, Twilight found herself being disappointed as she peeked out from behind the bench-made-barrier. She had been promised a cataclysm of apocalyptic proportions, and all of that buildup had lead to a rather disappointing anticlimax. And against her better judgment, Twilight just had to ask.

"... What was that?"

"What was what?" The earth pony answered as if she were entirely unaware of what she just did.

"All of... that! The shaking, and the MMMMMMM-ing," Twilight almost perfectly imitated Pinkie's peculiar body language as she mimicked the sound, "That!"

Words have power, actions have consequences, and Twilight Sparkle learned this lesson the hard way with Pinkie Pie's reaction. The earth pony's ears practically stapled themselves to the sides of her head as the pink pony's face flushed into a deep shade of red. She broke eye contact and looked to her forehooves, one of which was currently scratching at the other as the mare sunk into herself. In this specific instance, Pinkie Pie reminded Twilight more of Fluttershy then of Pinkie Pie.

"S-sorry," Pinkie almost inaudibly whispered, "Sometimes I get really excited and I have to stop myself from freaking out... sometimes I'm not very subtle... and I'm kind of having an off day, so the good news was really good and... eh... ya know?"

The disguised alicorn didn't think that the feeling of guilt she felt about letting Spike get hurt could be beaten. And it wasn't, but this was a very close second. She felt as if she had just ripped this poor mare's still-beating heart out of her chest and stamped it into the ground. Everything that had made Pinkie Pie who she was had just been torn away in a single instant and Twilight felt absolutely horrid about doing that to such a nice young mare.

"I... sorry... I didn't mean to upset you," Twilight responded slowly, not sure how to respond to that. "I was just curious, that's all."

The speed in which Pinkie managed to bounce back from her stupor served to almost give Twilight whiplash. "It's okay! You didn't know, but now you do, so it's all good!" The mare giggled and snorted as if the episode had never even happened, leaving Twilight perplexed beyond imagination. "So, how's the new job hunt going?"

"...Not well," Twilight mindlessly wandered around the bench to continue the conversation, "Haven't exactly found anything I'm looking for."

"Well, what are you looking for?"

"That's... not exactly an easy question." What was she honestly supposed to say? That she was looking for something with no uniform so she could keep her wings hidden? That question would contradict the goal entirely. "I... don't really know what I'm looking for." That wasn't exactly a better explanation.

Pinkie's head tilted to the side as she mused over the words. There was a short lull in the conversation as she looked over the covered pony. "Well, whatever you end up doing, you might wanna get the hole in your cape fixed!"

Caught off guard for the third time this conversation, Twilight quickly began searching her person for the supposed hole in her garments. And it wasn't long before she found it, a decently sized tear in the thick cloth. Clearly where she had previously been bitten by that timberwolf, on further investigation. Thankfully the gaping rip wasn't in any position to reveal her hidden wings to the world, but that could change if it were to be left to its own devices for too long.

"Oh... that's a problem."

"Don't worry, I know where you can get that fixed! Come on!" Pinkie didn't wait for a response before trotting off, humming that same catchy tune.

A mile a minute, that mare. Twilight rolled her eyes as she followed suit, resigning herself to whatever wild ride the earth pony had just signed her up for. After all, there was no force in this or any world that could get her to take off this cloak, so making sure that it was presentable to any potential employers was important. Pinkie's escort wasn't nearly as quick or hasty as it had been earlier, a much more manageable pace than she had gone the other day. Though the route was much shorter than the trek to the library, as today's destination was actually in the town proper.

The appearance of the structure did more than enough to conceal the shop's true nature. From the short time that she had been here, Twilight knew that Ponyville was a town with a fairly uniform architectural style. Every structure, while not one hundred percent identical to the ones around it, all fit within the same visual schema. This building, however? Well, it definitely rode on the edge of not fitting into that style. The two-story foundation was cylindrical in nature, an outstanding oddity when compared to its brethren, and was painted in colors that were both eye-catching and subtle. The fact that it took the alicorn this long to notice it was a testament to her ability to become lost in her own headspace.

The building's construction and design were made with the clear intent of drawing one's attention, everyone except for Twilight apparently. And combined with the various ornaments and design elements that gave the distinctive and immediate impression of a carousel, it did just that. Though to say that it was gaudy was a bit of a stretch, there were subtleties within the structure. It was just that it's differences were amplified greatly by the comparatively dull shops surrounding it. Above the main entrance sat a beautifully carved wooden sign hung just above the shop's entrance, the words "Carousel Boutique" carved in with an elegantly curvy font.

Well, I should have seen that coming, Twilight thought as she overlooked where she had been brought. "I'm guessing this is what you were talking about?"

"Yep! Rarity's super good with this kind of thing," Pinkie beamed back, "Who knows? Maybe she'll even be able to get you a way better one!" And with that, the pink earth pony trotted on into the shop to the tone of a small bell without another word. Twilight, in the meanwhile, was left with feelings of self-doubt as she overlooked her concealing robe.

What's wrong with this one? She asked herself distraughtly. Yes, this particular article of clothing was indeed a bit old and well worn, but Twilight didn't see anything wrong with that. The brown mass of fabric had a few flaws and distortions in it from so many years of frequent use, that's what happens when you wear something every single day, but it was made for that purpose. The large timberwolf-based hole from yesterday was the first time the garment had ever been damaged this badly. It was reliable and relatively subtle, that's all she really needed from it.

Putting aside the moment of uncertainty, Twilight followed Pinkie Pie into the clothing store. Taking in a deep breath as she passed through the threshold, a very distinct aroma of incense greeted her nostrils. It was actually quite pleasant, really. It gave off a certain elegance to the air within the structure and one that was a very one. There was no doubt in her mind that whatever fragrance the shopkeeper had chosen, it had been imported from Canterlot. Not surprising considering this town's apparent proximity to the nation's capital, but it did catch the cloaked pony off guard. Old memories instantly being brought back to the surface by the familiar scents.

Instead of dwelling on that any further, she instead turned her attention to the shop's interior. Much the same as one would expect from a clothing store: a register towards the back, several mannequins each displaying a unique garb, and a series of seating arrangments that were likely used by any poor stallion dragged through here. The color scheme of the inside matched that of the exterior with not a single inch of space wasted, everything was set in such a way as to maximize the space of the building. The true intricacies of interior decoration were lost on Twilight, but even she could tell that this Rarity individual was someone who knew what they were doing. If the magical pony didn't know any better, Twilight would think that this store had been plucked right from the capital and dropped into the middle of this country town.

"Just one moment!" A voice called, almost sang, from somewhere on the second floor. "Just have a seat, and I'll be right with you!"

"Okay, Rarity! We'll wait!!" Pinkie hollered back, firmly planting herself on one of the plush seats that had been left out for customer use. "She's probably busy with a commission or something, sorry about that." Twilight found her own perch on the chair neighboring Pinkie's couch.

"Commission? So she's a couturier?" One of the pink earth pony's ears drooped at the question, a conflicted look coming over her face. Twilight knew that particular expression well from her own life experience, a clear sign that Pinkie knew what the word meant—or had at least heard it before, but didn't currently remember the exact definition. Twilight's brother had made this very face at her countless times in the past whenever she got a bit too verbose for him. And so she did what she used to do in those situations, and simply rephrased the question.

"She makes custom clothes?"

"Oh, yeah! That's what she does," Pinkie's face returned to its natural state of being, that being a massive smile, "She absolutely loves making dresses. And jewelry, and all sorts of other fancy stuff!"

So this Rarity is also a jeweler, Twilight pondered as she looked about the store. True to Pinkie's word, there did also appear to be some fine trinkets on sale as well, just not as eye-catching as the dresses being shown off. Interesting skillset.

True to her word the owner did not leave the two waiting for long, only a short few minutes or so, and her arrival was soon heralded by the distinguishing sound of hooves descending stairs. A doorway was opened, and out stepped the unicorn known as Rarity. As if to serve only to further remind Twilight of her days in Canterlot, this mare's perfectly groomed white coat combined with the royal violet finely curled mane gave the impression of someone who carried themselves with grace and elegance. Yet while her outward appearance would allow her to fit right in back at the capital city, it was the unicorn's sapphire eyes that brought back the most memories in the young alicorn. The tired yet determined eyes of an overly passionate—and overly hard-working—pony who didn't know when to quit or even when to take a break. Eyes that Twilight once stared back into every morning when she looked in the mirror. And that memory alone was enough to send a chill down her spine.

The white unicorn flipped a stray part of her mane back into place as she strolled on over towards her guests. "So sorry for the wait, Pinkie, I was just finishing up—" she stopped as she took notice of Twilight staring straight through her. "Oh, this is a new face. And who might you be, darling?" Twilight shook herself out of her self induced trance and went to answer, but found herself being cut off by the pink earth pony instead.

"Rarity, this is my new friend Twilight Sparkle," the earth pony blared out with pride, "And Twilight, this is my old friend Rarity!" Shortly after completing the introduction, Pinkie's joyous outlook was tainted by a look of anxiety. "N-not old in that she's old or anything! Old in that I've known her longer then I've known you! That's what I was trying to say!" Several nervous chuckles followed the clarification, her eyes darting back and forth between the two magical ponies standing at either side of her.

Rarity instantly shifted her expression into a more concerned and nurturing one. "Pinkie, are you having an off day?" That was the second time Twilight had heard that combinations of words today. Obviously, they had some kind of meaning that the disguised alicorn didn't know about. And Twilight had a feeling that she'd be discovering that meaning was very soon.

"... Maybe," Pinkie muttered back, almost shamefully.

"Don't worry, you'll get through it. Just like you always do." There was no hesitation on Rarity's part, pulling the earth pony into a one-hooved hug of sorts. It was almost reactionary from Twilight's point of view as if this very situation had happened before. "I have ice cream in the freezer if that'll help."

Pulling away from the embrace, Pinkie shook her head. "No, I couldn't do that! That's your ice cream, and—"

"It's cookie-dough," Rarity cut off with a sly grin. Within seconds, Pinkie Pie was on a fast track to the promised frozen dessert, shouting out a very grateful sounding declaration of thanks in the process. "There, that should keep her busy for a few moments," the unicorn chuckled to herself as she turned to face the cloaked alicorn. "Now then, Twilight Sparkle, was it? It's very nice to meet you."

"... Likewise," Twilight responded dully, unsure of what exactly had just transpired. "I... I'm sorry, I said something to her earlier that might've—"

Rarity raised a hoof in protest of the apology. "You don't know her very well yet, do you?"

"... Not really, no."

"Well, don't put any unnecessary blame on yourself," Rarity sighed, "Pinkie just has... 'off days' sometimes. And when she's having one, just about anything can set her off like that. She's already forgiven you for whatever you may have said, trust me."

The information was quite a bit to take in all at once. Up until today, just about every interaction with the pink pony had been nothing but smiles and laughs on her part. But, in retrospect, it made perfect sense that there'd be 'off days' in her routine. After all, it is effectively impossible to be happy one-hundred percent of the time, and it was now clear to Twilight that Pinkie was no exception to that rule.

"Don't worry, a little comfort food is usually enough to help her bounce back," Rarity continued with a reassuring smile and tone of voice, "Now then, what can I do for you? I'm sure Pinkie didn't just bring you down to my humble little shop just to chat. Even on her off days, there's a method to the madness, as it were."

"Oh, right!" With everything that had just happened, Twilight had just about forgotten about that herself. "Yeah, I had an... accident of sorts yesterday, and I needed a quick patch job." She turned to show the seamstress the large tear in her cloak. "Didn't even notice until Pinkie pointed it out."

"Oh my, that certainly won't do at all! Well, you certainly came to the right place." Rarity maintained a respectable distance as she overlooked the large tear, something Twilight was very thankful for, for a number of reasons. "Hmm... this 'accident' wouldn't happen to be timberwolf related, would it? You really should exercise caution when going into the Everfree around this time of year. Did you not see the signs?"

A silent rage befitting a Tartarian Lord was born within Twilight. "There were signs?"

"Well, there's supposed to be. Someone must've forgotten to put them up again," Rarity thought aloud as she finished up her concise examination of the damages, the statement serving to quell the fury within Twilight's heart. "It happens every year. Quite irresponsible, if you ask me. Now then, what exactly do you mean by 'patch job'?"

What kind of question is that?

Twilight looked to the snow-colored unicorn as if she had just spoken in some silly made-up language. The request was blatantly clear, she wanted a patch to cover up the hole in her cloak. It didn't take much to piece that together from the context clues that had been provided. This Rarity didn't seem like an unintelligent pony, the tact and grace she had used in taking care of Pinkie Pie just now was proof enough of that. Not to mention the fact that she worked with fabrics for a living, meaning that she should know what a patch is.

"I... want a patch... for this hole," Twilight reiterated blankly, "I thought I was being pretty clear."

"A... patch?" Against all odds, Rarity went pale as she spoke. A strange brew of confusion and disgust was made apparent as she mulled over her own question, the words seemingly leaving a bad taste in her mouth. "Just... just a patch?"

"... Yes...?" Twilight wasn't exactly sure anymore, given the couturier's reaction.

"No. Absolutely not. No, no, no. That will never do." In an act of absolute defiance, Rarity quite literally turned her nose up at Twilight's request. "I simply will not degrade either of us with the lowest common denominator of fabric mending. I have my reputation, and we both have our dignity."

Now that reminded Twilight of Canterlot. To a tee. Rarity could very well be from the Celestial City herself, given the pompous nature of the denial. It was far more polite then what someone from the capital might say, given that Rarity at least gave the impression she was also worried about Twilight's well being, but even still. Though once again, Twilight was thrown for a loop by one of Ponyville's citizens as Rarity turned back with a smile.

"Now then, I am more than capable of mending this hole good as new without the need of a filthy disgusting patch," she continued cheerfully, "I can also touch up the rest of the piece for you. It should only take about a day or so."

The idea of being left without her protective garment, even for a mere day, sent a near painful shock throughout Twilight's body. A near primal fear of being potentially exposed for what she really was, an incident which would come with no end of consequences for herself. And that fear only grew as she felt an unfamiliar magical force begin to gently tug and pry at the latch holding the concealing cloak to her person, her wings reflexively clenching uncomfortably tight against her frame. Thankful for the sticky-nature of the lock, Twilight hurriedly reached out with her own arcane touch and nullified the soft blue light the unicorn had inflicted upon her.

"Noabsolutelynotnononothatwillneverdo," Twilight frantically parroted back to the white unicorn, sheer and utter panic apparent in her eyes. And as Rarity looked back to her with a frown and a cocked eyebrow, the cloaked pony was forced to quickly come up with some kind of explanation for her sudden frenzy. "I... need to have this done today."

"Well... alright then. If you're okay with me just mending the rip, I could get that done within an hour or two, not taking into consideration any potential customer interruptions." Rarity was clearly confused by the odd request, but not enough so as to question Twilight's true intentions. "The repairs will run you about fifteen bits. You can leave it here, and—"

"How difficult would it be to sew this up while I'm wearing it?" Twilight blurted without thinking, instantaneous regret shooting through her like a bolt of lightning. The point of the cloak was to draw attention away from what she had underneath. But that question served to only draw attention to her dependence on the sheet of fabric that adorned her body.

"I... could do that..." Rarity continued to grow more and more curious as to Twilight's motivations, actually tilting her head as she tried to figure out the odd mare that had been led into her store. "Pardon my prying, but with how you were speaking earlier, you made it sound as if you were in a hurry. But now you want to stand around while I fix your garment?"

"... I'll pay you double," Twilight blankly offered, silently praying that the offer of extra pay would deter any further questions.

There was a moment in which Rarity looked as if she were about to press the issue further. Anyone with eyes could see that she was suspicious of Twilight's inconsistent behavior, but it seems that the promise of double pay was at least enough to get her to conform to her client's odd demands. Gingerly gesturing with a hoof towards the staircase, Rarity politely requested Twilight to step into her workspace before taking the lead. Twilight followed without any objections, she had pushed her luck far enough for one day. She needed to keep her actual identity a secret if she were to have any intentions of staying in this town.

Especially this close to Canterlot.

--- — ---

The last half hour or so had been spent in relative silence, Twilight standing as close to perfectly still as possible as Rarity worked away at the large tear in Twilight's garment, occasionally muttering something to herself while attending to other minor things in the interim. Though the "workspace" that Rarity had led her to was not exactly what Twilight had been expecting. The mannequins, work tables, and large rolls of fabric definitely gave the impression of a seamstress's office. But at the same time, there were furnishings such as a bed and dresser that gave the space the distinct impression that it was also a bedroom. When asked on the subject, Rarity was happy to explain that wasted space is never good. Why spend the money to upkeep both a home and a business when you could put both in the same building?

Twilight couldn't exactly argue with that, and she could respect the unicorn's efficiency. Something else that reminded Twilight of her younger days living in the nation's capital. But the conversation had come to a halt at that, Rarity focusing on her work and Twilight not knowing what to even say. The disguised alicorn couldn't help but feel that her behavior from earlier had put some kind of rift between the two of them, either out of suspicion or just out of good old fashioned awkwardness. And as the tailor continued her work in relative silence, Twilight was left to muse on these thoughts while she waited. Every now and again she turned her head to check up on Rarity working away, just to make sure that she wasn't sticking her nose where it didn't belong. It wouldn't be good for either of them if Rarity discovered the feathered appendages hidden beneath the layer of fabric.

And it also served to give Twilight a measure of just how long she was going to be stuck here. And it was looking like it was going to be another half hour, maybe more, just as Rarity had said before she started. She stifled a groan, not wishing to show the obvious boredom that was brought on by the current series of events or lack thereof. Twilight had asked for this, there was no backing out now. But that didn't stop the session from being any more or less dull than it already was.

Thus Twilight did what everyone always does in such situations, she allowed her eyes to wander about without aim in search of something to occupy her mind. Surely there was something in this room that could spark her interest, she assumed. Or maybe even act as a source to start up another conversation, anything to pass the time quicker. The alicorn considered starting up some kind of conversation, but she wasn't sure if this unicorn was the kind of pony who needed to focus as she worked.

"So, where are you from?" Twilight suddenly asked without much thought, her eyes still scanning what they could of the room. Why'd I ask that? She's obviously from—!

"Ponyville, born and raised," Rarity swiftly answered, clearly more focused on the task at hoof then actually talking. "Sorry for the silence, darling, I have a bad habit of getting absorbed in my work. Feel free to keep on chatting, if it staves off the boredom."

"To be fair, I asked for it."

"Yes, you did." Rarity paused her work for a moment and stepped forward to face her client. And the expression she wore mirrored the one that she had previously given to Pinkie Pie. Not as intense, but the similarities were blatant. "I'm sorry if I'm stepping over any boundaries, but are you not comfortable in your own skin?"

"... That's a very personal question."

"There's no shame in it if you are. We all have our insecurities, I know I have my fair share," the look of worry was overtaken by a sympathetic smile, "But we're all beautiful on the inside. And my job, as far as I'm concerned, is helping to put some of that inner beauty on the outside. But this?" She gestured to the old brown cloak with a look of mild disgust. "This is not inner or outer beauty. Forgive me for being crass, but this is absolutely hideous and I can't understand why anyone would let themselves be seen in it."

This was the second time today that Twilight's beloved cloak had been insulted right in front of her face. Taking a look back at her preferred garments, she could at least understand where her critics were coming from. The sheet of fabric wasn't exactly much to look at, but that was never the purpose it was meant to have. It was meant to be subtle, to help her blend in with a crowd. And it had done its job fantastically, Pinkie and Rarity had been the first two ponies in years to bring it up in conversation. And both of them only spoke of it because it had been the topic of the conversation in the first place.

"Look, it's alright if you're nervous about it. And no one is saying that it has to be today," Rarity returned to her makeshift workstation at Twilight's flank and resumed her work, "But if you ever want some advice for coming out of the shell you're in, my door's always open. And I won't push the issue anymore out of respect for your dignity. I'm sorry if I went too far just now, but it has been bugging me for a while now, and I just wanted to get that off of my chest."

Twilight didn't reply. Or rather, "Twilight couldn't respond" would be a more accurate statement. Rarity's words got Twilight thinking on the unusual circumstances that had led her to constantly hiding beneath this litteral veil. The cloak was a countermeasure against unwanted and unnecessary attention from prying eyes while she traveled throughout Equestria and beyond. It was just easier to let people think she was just a unicorn with an interesting fashion sense then to continuously explain the complicated and borderline twisted story of why she was the way she was.

But that wasn't always the case, and Twilight knew that for a fact. She had owned this particular piece of clothing for six years, exactly as long as she had been an alicorn. This dull piece of cloth had been her constant companion throughout this massive chapter in her life, and she didn't think she'd be getting rid of it any time soon. She hadn't been traveling the world six years ago, she had been living in Canterlot with her family. Living as normal of a life as she could, all things considered. Something drove her to don the robe way back when, something that Twilight hadn't consciously thought about for years.

Maybe I'm not comfortable in my own skin? She pondered on Rarity's words for what felt like an eternity. Though, in reality, it was only for a minute or two. Twilight could feel herself begin to break down, she wouldn't last long if she kept on this train of thought.

"I'll... keep the offer in mind," she slowly spoke back, forcing her tone to remain calm. Not paying attention to the unicorn's own reply, Twilight once more began scanning the room for something to distract her from the oncoming crisis. Anything to change the subject of her thoughts, and the conversation if need be, to keep her from having an unnecessary mental breakdown. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find just what she was looking for.

In an instant, the panic and the worry just vanished. Replaced instead with a strong sense of curiosity, and a familiar feeling of Canterlot-based nostalgia. The source of this sudden change in attitude was a framed photograph, sitting all by it's lonesome on a shelf in the distance. But even from this far away, Twilight could clearly recognize the subject contained in the small wooden display. How she hadn't seen it until now was baffling, it was practically right in front of her, just begging to be noticed. And Twilight wasn't one to ignore the request of something begging to be noticed, at least not in this instance, so magically reached out to draw it closer for a better look.

Once again Rarity stopped working, taking notice of the magical hum that was associated with unicorn magic and realizing that it wasn't her own. "Oh, I see you've taken notice of that particular memory," Rarity almost sang with glee, seemingly happy that the photograph had been seen. "Quite spectacular, if I may say so myself."

Considering what Twilight was now looking at, "spectacular" was an understatement. Two ponies sat within the captured moment in time, both looking directly towards the camera with grand smiles. The first of the two was Rarity, dressed to the nines in an absolutely beautiful faded blue dress, one worthy of royalty by Twilight's evaluation. Though while her attire was rather high class, her expression wasn't exactly matching. Someone could have told Twilight that this was actually a picture of Pinkie Pie in a very convincing Rarity costume, with how big her grin was. And considering who she was standing next to? It was understandable why she looked so ecstatic.

There was not a single doubt in Twilight's mind as to the identity of the second pony in the picture. The soft and well-kept soft pink coat, the thrice colored mane made up of violet, magenta, and a creamy yellow, the golden regalia decorating her body, and the fact that she was without question an alicorn. There was only one pony in the entire world who matched that description, a pony that Twilight hadn't seen in a very long time.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

"You've met... the princess?" Twilight tried to casually ask, not taking her eyes off of the royal pony in the portrait. The consistent reminders of Canterlot were one thing, but this new revelation was in a league all of its own, and she had to catch herself before she eluded to knowing the pink alicorn on a personal level. Though she couldn't help but smile at the sight of the familiar face, fighting back a joyful tear all the while. "How did that happen?" It seemed that Rarity had been waiting for Twilight to ask that very question, evident by her puffing out her chest a bit as she cleared her throat.

"Well, it's a very long and complicated story, but if I must it all started—"

"She won a sweepstake from some fashion magazine," Pinkie Pie cheerfully answered, startling the two other ponies half to death with her sudden presence. And after getting over the shock, Twilight's mind once more began to do the thing it was best at. Thinking. Specifically thinking on the past, and how she recalled Cadence speaking of something like that a few years ago. Something about wanting to seem more approachable to the general public.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity barked at the pink mare, "I thought I told you not to ruin that story!"

"Sorry, I forgot!" Pinkie replied without a fault in her smile, her "off day" seemingly behind her now. "Oh, and you're also out of ice cream."

Rarity's anger was overtaken by confusion. "It took you a half hour to eat half a pint of ice cream?"

"Actually, it took about five. But then I felt bad about eating all of your ice cream, so I went and bought you more!"

"... That was very nice of you, Pinkie, but you didn't have too—"

"And then I ate that too! So I went and bought you more again." Pinkie's tone was just as chipper and upbeat as Twilight was used to seeing from her. Clearly, the comfort food method Rarity used had worked like a charm.

A hoof was placed against Rarity's forehead as she sighed. "You didn't have to do that, darling. I'll pay you back by the end of the week," her disappointed outlook was directed back to Twilight, "And she isn't wrong... I only ever met Princess Cadenza through an event in Manehatten hosted by Pristine Perspective Magazine..."

"But at least you got to meet her at all," Pinkie Pie tried to cheer up, "You even got to talk to her! How many ponies in Ponyville can say that?!"

Oh, if only you knew, Twilight silently taunted to herself with an internal laugh. Princess Cadence was practically extended family, in more ways than one, and Twilight knew her better than anyone in this town ever could. Enough to know that she preferred "Cadence" over "Cadenza," but she wasn't about to correct them on that. While the idea crossed her mind for the briefest of seconds, Twilight was smart enough not to brag about having a personal relationship with one of the most famous ponies in the world.

Yet for a moment, she thought she wouldn't even have too as Pinkie suddenly gasped with shock. "Wait a minute! Twilight! You're FROM Canterlot! You've probably seen the princess in person more than ANY of us!"

Rarity looked at Twilight as if she knew she was an alicorn, "You're from Canterlot?!" Her voice came extremely close to cracking with that question. "Well, why didn't you say so?!"

"You never asked," the other two ponies answered in perfect synchronization. "And, ya know, once or twice," Twilight continued, "Public events and all that. Never close enough to actually talk to her though. Good on you, Rarity." That statement wasn't technically a lie, as Twilight had never been within speaking distance of her old friend during said public events. Of course, she didn't need to clarify that to these two.

"Well, today's certainly been a cavalcade of emotions," Rarity magically seized a small fan and began to casually cool herself down, "A pony from Canterlot in my shop, how exciting!"

And with that, Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes. Whenever the topic of her hometown came up, nine times out of ten there was always someone who suddenly thought more of her because of where she grew up. Sure, she was raised in a national and cultural powerhouse of a city, but that didn't make her any better than anyone else.

"A-a-and you hired me for a job that I'm currently not doing!" The white unicorn gasped loudly, dropping the fan and quickly running around to Twilight's backside and returning to her appointed task. "Do forgive me, I did say distractions might happen, after all."

"It's fine, just calm down," Twilight huffed back, hiding her irritation at the sudden change in treatment. "And take it easy back there. If you stab me, I'm not responsible for kicking you."

"Sorry, sorry," the flustered Rarity apologized through a deep breath, "I just wasn't expecting to have someone from Canterlot of all places show up in my store today." Her tone slowly returned to normal as she spoke, redirecting her focus to the tear in Twilight's cloak. "I really shouldn't get so flustered about that sort of thing."

"Especially with your trip coming up," Pinkie added with a shout, "You're still going to Canterlot later this week, right?"

"Yes, I am," there was a newfound twinge of nervousness surfacing in her tone, "A three-day taste of life in the Celestial City, it's going to be absolutely breathtaking!"

Once more defying all expectations, Pinkie's smile somehow widened as her eyes fell back to Twilight. "OH! Maybe you can give Rarity some tips on where to go!"

"Anywhere but Sun Square," Twilight's reaction was cold and quick, her attention still upon the picture of Rarity and Cadence. And thus, she didn't notice the twin looks of absolute bewilderment that were turned her way.

"But... that's the most famous spot in the city, save the palace," Rarity explained matter-of-factly. "It's practically the heart of the city!"

"Exactly. It's always crowded, and someone tries to sell you something every six steps," Twilight explained similarly, "Do you want to buy twenty watches that don't work for eighty bits a piece? No? Then avoid Sun Square as much as possible. It sucks. Go to the East Village instead."

"... What's in the East Village?"

"The stores and restaurants that won't put you in crippling debt for the rest of your life. It isn't as glamorous as the rest of the city, but it's worth spending some time there."

From there, the conversation simply divulged into the three ponies talking about the logistics of Canterlot as a vacation destination. Twilight doing all she could to help counter their preconceived notions of the city based on what the two have seen and read, going through Rarity's list of places she wanted to visit one by one and setting her straight. And while not all of them were worth abandoning entirely, Twilight was able to at least convince her to avoid some of the spendier establishments in the city.

Seventy bits for a salad without dressing? Not worth it, in any of their eyes. Time seemed to fly as the conversation went on. To the point where two of them had practically forgotten why the three of them had even met up. But the third of the group didn't forget, and after some time she had finally managed to finish the task of fixing the gaping hole in Twilight's cloak.

Taking a step back with a pride-filled smile, Rarity took a brief moment to collect herself as she observed the stitching. "Do me a favor and turn about a bit, I want to see if my work is symmetrical." Taking a sigh of relief herself, Twilight did as she was told and made a complete rotation, the hem of her cloak fluttering about in the small breeze created.

Rarity placed a hoof to her chin as she deeply observed her work compared to the rest of the garment. "Hmm... well, I can still notice the new stitches... but I'm the one who put them there, so it should be fine," the look of contemplation faded away entirely as she gave a warm smile, "And in record time, if I may boast."

Craning her neck to take a look, the tear that had previously threatened to expose her true identity had all but vanished. The only sign that it had even been there was a long but thin line of stitching, hardly noticeable unless you really tried to look for it. It didn't just look good either, even Twilight could tell that the repairs were made to last. It'd take another timberwolf incident to rip through that again, and that wasn't exactly something Twilight was planning on doing again.

"Impressive," Twilight began with an approving nod, "I believe I owe you thirty—"

"Fifteen bits," Rarity quickly corrected.

"... But I said I'd pay you double."

Rarity riposted with a slight chortle, "I'm sorry, but I don't recall ever accepting that offer."

Author's Notes:

It seems there's been a bit of a distraction in finding Twilight a job. ~~And by that I mean I wanted to introduce Rarity but didn't have a better place to do so.~~ But with that, we have yet another character added to the slowly growing cast. And a bit more on Twilight's past. Cadence exists in this universe!... something that might not be very surprising, all things considered.

Might've been a bit rushed, but I wanted to get this one out before the end of the month. Might go back and fix a few things later, not sure. But for now, this is a finished product.

Also, this particular chapter gives me an excuse to unveil the second of the interludes. But is it too soon after the first one? There's really no better place to put it, but it is pretty soon. What're your thoughts? ((edit: I may just wait for the next interlude until after Chapter Eight because that will also be a good point for a sort of mini-break. Thoughts?))

— Chapter Eight —

View Online

--- All That's Golden ---

Two hours.

That was roughly how long the detour to the Carousel Boutique had taken out of Twilight's day. It was half-past two in the afternoon by now, which left plenty of time to spend on the pursuit of employment. And even if that particular task wasn't achieved this day, at least Twilight could walk away knowing that she had grown the small social circle she had managed to amass in this town. Which itself was some kind of victory, considering her plans for settling down here. Rarity herself seemed like a kind and well-balanced individual, and a possible way to check on just how much Canterlot had changed during her absence.

"Well, that was fun!" Pinkie Pie beamed, trotting alongside Twilight's casual stroll as the two reemerged into the bustling country town. "So, what's next?"

"I still need to find a job," Twilight gave a deep exhale after the reply. It wasn't something she wanted to have to do, but it still needed to be done as quickly as possible. Especially since she spent some precious money on what was effectively a fashion statement. Not the greatest financial decision when one has no source of income. "Still not sure what I'm gonna do about that, though..."

Fluttershy hopefully won't mind another night... if it has to come to that. The thought wasn't exactly encouraging, but at least there was the possibility of having a roof over her head for the recent future. There was some form of breathing room, at the very least. But as the alicorn continued on her way, her progress was halted by a sudden pink pony standing directly in her path.

"OH! I know! Let me help! I can be one of your references!" She looked at Twilight with wide sparkling eyes, almost uncomfortably close to the other pony, clearly looking forward to her proposal. "It'll be fun!... Well, as fun as getting a job can be, anyway!"

Skepticism was made plain on Twilight's face as she stared back into the almost pleading eyes. The offer was tempting, having a town resident vouch for her might prove to be beneficial in the search for employment. Yet at the same time Pinkie definitely seemed like the kind of person who would vouch for anybody if they just asked nicely. And that could make Twilight look as if she were manipulating the mare to make herself look better, which could hurt her chances of getting employment.

"And don't even think about saying no," Pinkie continued after returning Twilight's personal space, "Because there's nothing in this world that can stop me from helping a friend! Not even the Queen and her two hearts!"

Well, that saved Twilight the effort in making that decision at the very least. Though the dilemma had been exchanged for a curious glance in the earth pony's direction. It was an oddly specific statement with a rather odd claim, and Twilight wasn't quite sure why Pinkie had even brought it up. And this confusion was only allowed to escape her mind in the form of a single word.

"What?"

"Alicorns have two hearts. I remember hearing that somewhere." Without another word, Pinkie began trotting off. "Now C'mon! We gotta find you a job, and I know a good place to start!"

Twilight wasn't sure what was stranger. The fact that such a rumor even existed in the first place, the fact that Pinkie flaunted it about like common knowledge, or the fact that she didn't know for sure if she had two hearts or not. An urge to place a hoof to her chest had to be actively fought off as she went to follow the earth pony, the vague bit of information rattling about in her head. What if she actually did have two hearts? How would she know without actively checking? It wasn't exactly something one would think about on a regular basis. And if that rumor were true, there wouldn't have been much need for Twilight to have been told about it. Her mind was on other things when she was transformed into this, like the wings that had basically burst from her back.

Shaking the wayward thought from her headspace, Twilight elected that there were more important things to worry about at the moment. In the end, it didn't really matter if she had two hearts or not. The knowledge wouldn't change anything relevant in her lifestyle, so it wasn't worth looking into imminently. For now, she had to worry about where ever Pinkie was taking her.

Of course, Twilight wasn't expecting to be brought back to Golden Oak's Library. Yet here she was, approaching the tree-made-building once more alongside Pinkie Pie. Of course, there was one major difference in the library's appearance from how Twilight remembered it, a white sign hanging from a nail in the door bearing two words that the young alicorn was very happy to see.

Help wanted.

"Was... was that there last time?"

"Nope! Mr. Knox put it up just this morning!" Pinkie responded with glee as she pushed the door open for Twilight. "Which is actually really convenient, if you think about it. The only other idea I had was taking you to Sweet Apple Acres to see if Applejack would give you a job bucking trees. But while we were talking with Rarity, I was left with plenty of time to think about it, and I figured it probably wouldn't end very well. Applejack would probably say something like 'picking apples with magic makes 'em taste bad,'" Pinkie's words were beginning to blend together, faster and faster until they were almost illegible, "And then she'd go on to actually prove that somehow against all known laws of science and magic. Then you'd show that you can actually buck trees because you're a world-class-adventurer and you're probably super swole underneath that cape.

"Then Granny Smith would show up and say you couldn't work there because apple-bucking is an earth pony thing—she's kind of old fashioned when it comes to that sort of thing—and then everyone would be super quiet for a hot minute because of the SUPER uncomfortable undertones of racism that'd be going on. And then Applejack would start trying to back peddle her granny's statement as to not make the family look bad, and Big Mac would be all like 'yup' like he always is. And Apple Bloom would also be there, but I didn't hypothesize what she'd contribute to the conversation. School fillies are basically a different species, and thus are entirely unpredictable.

"But anyway: at some point, you'd just get irritated with the whole thing and just leave to get some peace and quiet. And where to ponies go for peace and quiet?" Pinkie gestured towards the shelves of books surrounding them. "The LIBRARY! And when I thought of that, I remembered the help wanted sign outside. So I decided to cut right to the chase and just bring you here first, skipping all the pointless filler!"

Twilight had absolutely no idea what Pinkie had just said. She had clearly heard the mess of words that had been thrust upon her, but they had yet to fully process. But Twilight wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to understand them in the first place. Regardless, she was at least happy to see that there was a job she was actually qualified for. And her potential employer was someone she already knew, which could actually help her case.

What wouldn't help her case, however, was what Pinkie Pie was about to do. She was taking in a long and deep breath, reeling her head back for dramatic effect. It didn't take a diploma from the Queen's School For Gifted Unicorns to figure out what the earth pony was about to do, and the first occurrence of this action was not one that Twilight wished to have repeated.

As Pinkie whipped her head forward to call out for Ponyville's local librarian, she found herself unable to do more than make a few muffled mumbles. In fact, she couldn't even open her mouth, and it felt like something was holding it shut. Naturally alarmed, she crossed her eyes to look at her snout in order to see whatever was wrong. To her surprise, she could see a feint magenta-hued aura ensnaring her mouth and holding it closed. One that matched the magical glow currently emanating from Twilight's horn.

"Pinkie, please don't. We're in a library. And I think my eardrums would burst if you did that again," Twilight stated plainly, keeping her hold on the pink mare's mouth firm. "I'm going to let you go now. But I need you to promise not to scream. Understand?"

"MmmHmm." That was all Pinkie could do to respond, aside from nodding of course. And then the seal on her lips was released, and the ability to annunciate was returned. "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

With that obstacle taken care of, for now at the very least, the only thing left to do was to find the librarian looking for help. Though unlike last time, he was not to be found snoozing underneath the desk as he was the last time. So without any further ideas, the only place to go was up the stairs to the second floor. Though that plan had to be put on hold for the time being, as three blurs rushed down the steps in a cavalcade of hooves clacking against the wooden floor.

"Scuse us!" The first blur shouted, her only discernable feature being a big pink bow tied up in her mane.

"Sorry about that!" The second dashing filly added, a book levitating close to her in a green aura.

"Hi, Pinkie!" The final, orange colored pony called out as the trio made their swift leave. The three young ponies had only been present for a few short seconds before entirely vanishing, leaving Golden Oak's eerily silent.

"What in the world was that?" Twilight glanced over to Pinkie for some form of wisdom. She was a longtime resident of the town, surely she would know what in the world that was about.

"Oh, just Sweetie Belle and her friends," Pinkie answered while squinting heavily at the door, "Sweetie Belle being Rarity's little sister, that is."

"Oh... small world."

"Indeed it is," Mr. Knox chuckled as he slowly made his way down the steps, "Figured you'd have moved on by now, adventuring and all that. Here to sell me more books?"

Twilight groaned and mumbled under her breath at the insinuation. "I'm... I'm a traveler..."

"Nope, she's here looking for a job!" Pinkie explained with pride, "And you're looking for an employee!"

"Is that so? Now that's a pleasant surprise!" The nocturnal pony perked up at that. "Truth be told, I wasn't expecting the position to be filled so soon... or at all, really..."

"That's... sad."

Shaking off the momentary discomfort from being mistitled, Twilight returned to the conversation with a smile. "So, when can I start?"

"Hold on there, young mare," Knox waved a leathery wing to slow the conversation down, "I still need to interview you. Make sure you're right for the job and all that."

"Ah, right... sorry."

"Alright, we'll start with some general information. Where are you from?"

"Canterlot. And I'm twenty-one years old if you were going to ask."

Pinkie audibly gasped. "You're younger than me?! I'm twenty-four!"

"Pinkie, please," Mr. Knox addressed firmly, "This is kind of important."

"Oh, right! Job interview!" Pinkie flushed a bright shade of red as she slowly backed towards the entrance. "I'll just... wait outside. Sorry!" And with that, the library was allowed to be silent once more with one last click of the door.

"Now then, Canterlot, hmm? A lot of great schools up there," Mr. Knox continued as he made his way towards the desk. Taking a seat behind the wooden structure, he placed his forehooves atop its surface and looked back to her. "A degree from just about all of them could fetch you quite the nice job in just about any field you were looking for. So, where did you get yours? If you have one, that is."

"The Queen's School for Gifted Unicorns."

If the sarosian had a drink, he'd have spat it out on the spot. He looked at Twilight with wide unblinking eyes for what felt like ages as he processed the weight of the words Twilight had just spoken. "You... you went to school there?"

"Correct. And I have my degree if you want me to prove it." Twilight knew that this was a reasonable reaction, it was the same reaction she always got when she mentioned her place of education. At this point, she was just going through the motions. Sifting through her saddlebags with her magical touch, it wasn't long before she withdrew the framed certification of her graduation. Signed by the school's headmaster and the Queen of Equestria herself, this small slip of paper was irrefutable proof of Twilight's claim. The frame had seen better days, a long and thin crack running from one corner to the other diagonally across the glass surface.

Knox looked down at the degree that had been placed on his desk for a time, eyes still wide with disbelief at what he was actually looking at. At some point, he had even removed his glasses and quickly cleaned them just to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. Which they weren't, which somehow still surprised him. After a few minutes of absolute silence, he finally returned his attention back to Twilight.

"You have a degree from the most renowned school in the country—and you're a homeless traveler who wants to be a librarian in a nothing country town?" The stallion combed through his mane with a hoof as a show of just how baffled he was at Twilight's situation. "If you don't mind me asking, why?"

When it was put that way, it did sound a bit preposterous. Twilight was in a position that many coveted but few actually obtained, and could have used this one piece of paper to set her up for the rest of her life back in Canterlot with just about any career she could ever want. Yet she had chosen the life of a vagrant, traveling the world in search of long dragons with Spike. There were several reasons as to why she had chosen this path for herself, and it had been a very long time since she had put any substantial thought on any of those reasons. But Mr. Knox had asked the question, and he likely wouldn't be satisfied with anything short of an answer.

"I just... wanted to see the world," Twilight half lied with a sigh, "You know, experience life outside of books and magic for a while." The sarosian narrowed his eyes at the disguised alicorn, reading the minor details in her expression as he mused over that answer. Though just as Twilight was starting to get worried about any further prying, he relaxed his face and leaned back into the chair.

"Well, asking you about your qualifications would be redundant at this point. You have just gotten yourself a job," the nocturnal pony yawned loudly before continuing, "How soon can you start?"

"As soon as you need me too," Twilight answered instantaneously, using a tremendous force of willpower to stop herself from wildly celebrating right there on the spot.

"Alright then. Be here tomorrow morning at seven sharp," he pushed himself out of the seat and began walking for the door, "There will be some bureaucratic hoops for you to leap through, forms to sign, and all of that, but it shouldn't take too long." Knox pushed open the door with a hoof, not noticing as Pinkie Pie quickly pulled her ear away from the wooden barricade as he did. "We'll go over the exact duties your job entails in the morning. If you think it just involves running this library, I'm sorry to say that isn't quite true. There's a reason I was looking for help, after all. As for right now, I have my own hoops to leap through to make this all official, and I'll need to lock up while I'm out."

Twilight nodded as she exited the library as asked, choosing to ignore Pinkie's eavesdropping antics. "Thank you so much, Mr. Knox. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I could say the same to you," the elder pony chuckled as he locked the door behind him, "This job can be surprisingly taxing. I'll be seeing you in the morning then, Miss Sparkle. Remember, seven sharp!" Twilight confirmed that she remembered before she and Pinkie said their goodbyes to the nocturnal pony, leaving the two of them alone in front of Golden Oak's Library.

"So you got the job!" Pinkie bellowed in obviously faked surprise, "That's fantastic! Congratulations, Twilight! Now you just need to find a house!" She swiftly draped a forelimb over Twilight's shoulders, using its twin to gesture on towards the town. "Come on, I know just where to—"

"Actually... With all due respect, Pinkie, I think I'll take a rain check on that one," Twilight interrupted as she wormed away from the unwanted physical contact, "I had... other things I needed to take care of. Private things." Indeed she did. Now that her employment was all but finalized, she needed to get back to Fluttershy's cottage to check up on Spike. She was sure he was fine, but after the week she's had the alicorn preferred not to leave anything up to chance.

"Ah. I see." Pinkie spoke dejectedly, taking a few steps back to return her friend's personal space. The disheartened facade was quickly discarded in favor of the pink pony's normal outlook. "That's fine! Canterlot wasn't built in a day, after all, see ya later!" And with that, she was gone. Skipping off back into town with a spring in her step, humming the familiar catchy tune to herself as she did.

She is something else, Twilight mused to herself as she made her way back to her current base of operations, At least she'll keep things around here lively.

--- — ---

Fluttershy's cabin was exactly as Twilight had remembered it. Quaint, quiet, and filled with just about every animal one could find in this region of the world. The only thing that betrayed her memory was the lack of the yellow pegasus who owned the abode and the absence of a particular reptilian being who had been left in her care for the day. Of course, Twilight had only just walked in the door, and it was possible that they were simply somewhere else in the woodland home.

"Spike?" Twilight asked loud enough for her voice to carry throughout the home, but not loud enough as to be considered a shout. Aside from the various sounds of the various animals rummaging about and minding their own business, there was no response. "Fluttershy? Anyone?" Still nothing.

Alright, Twilight, don't panic, the alicorn told herself as she made her way to the stairs, Spike's probably just taking a nap or something. Fluttershy likely stepped out to go get something. Nothing to be worried about.

Twilight walked lightly through the home of her host, scanning for any sign of the two she sought. The first stop was logically the room in which she and Spike had been given use of, but this led to no meaningful development in the search much to her frustration. Taking a brief pause to set down her heavy saddlebags, Twilight returned to her quest with much vigilance. And while Spike was her top priority, she was still a guest in this home and did not wish to overstep any boundaries, keeping her search to rooms with opened doors. As for doors that were closed, she resorted to knocking and asking if anyone was within. There were no answers aside from the calls of the critters who inhabited this place, but it was still worth a try.

It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, Twilight chanted internally as she continued, doing her best to remain calm, Nothing bad happened. I'd know if something bad happened. I'd feel it. This did very little to ease her anxieties, but it did keep the external facade alive for a short while longer. It was about now that Twilight recalled Fluttershy mentioning a basement in passing, and redirected her search towards the lower end of the house. At least, that was the plan. But upon returning to the ground floor and starting the search for the basement entrance, something rather peculiar caught her eye. Something that couldn't just be ignored, something that demanded some kind of acknowledgment.

The item in question sat in a rather nice looking glass display case, the bottom lined by a velvet cushion made to delicately cradle the contents of the case. But held within the glass barricade was just a simple white wood twig. Likely from some species of birch, if Twilight were to take a guess, clearly not from any tree around this area for sure. Though the strangest thing wasn't the fact that this seemingly insignificant item had been put proudly on display in such a profound way, the fact that Twilight had seen this small piece of wood before. Yesterday, sticking out from behind Fluttershy's ear like an accessory.

"Okay... she likes twigs..." Twilight pondered aloud, examining the stick from every possible angle she could without opening the case itself. "Is anyone in this town normal?"

That question would never be answered, as the loud and abrupt crash of a door being flung open interrupted the alicorn's train of thought, this sound accompanied by the outcry of a rather upset sounding bear. Immediately on guard, Twilight turned towards the source just in time to see Harry the bear stomp right past her without a moment's notice, angrily grumbling and growling to himself as he made his way into the back yard. Following close behind, but actually taking the time to stop and acknowledge Twilight, was Spike. The missing dragon doing his best to walk on only three legs. His expression lit up brighter than the sun when he noticed that Twilight was back.

"Twilight!" Spike yelled enthusiastically, pushing himself off of the ground with a mighty push from his one good forelimb directly into Twilight, in an act that could be described as a very haphazard hug. "I just beat a bear twenty-eight times at chess! In a row! It was great!"

"Wait, what?" The prideful claim was lost on the magical pony, who was still trying to process exactly what had happened just now. Angry bear, then happy Spike, there was a bit of whiplash to be had.

"Spike and Harry spent the day playing chess," Fluttershy explained quietly, "And he's... scarily good at chess..." She sounded almost intimidated by the long dragon's strategical aptitude.

He'd better be, with how much we used to play, Twilight kept her own boastful claim to herself as her personal space was returned. Back when the two had lived in Canterlot, there had been many a day where they passed the time by playing the game of kings. And Twilight had taken a great deal of effort to teach Spike exactly how to play the game, just so he could provide some kind of challenge to her. And it seems the little guy had come a long way from trying to eat the pieces, and that made Twilight proud.

"So, how did the job hunt go?" Spike asked enthusiastically, his tail wagging almost uncontrollably behind him. Some things never change it seemed, the dragon's behavior upon being reunited with Twilight being a clear example of that statement. He never did like spending prolonged periods of time apart from her, he was rather clingy to put a word to it.

"Well, luckily enough. The local library was looking for a set of extra hooves to help out."

"Oh... so you'll be working with Mr. Knox?" Fluttershy shrank into herself at Twilight's report, shuttering slightly at the mention of the library. The slightest twinge of dread present in her tone, which was immediately noticed by Twilight.

The horned pony raised a brow towards the pegasus. "Is something wrong with that?"

"N-no! Not at all!" The yellow pony practically panicked, waving a hoof rapidly in the air as if to dismiss her own claim. "I didn't mean it like that! He's a perfectly fine stallion, I petsit his cat a lot of the time! It's just," Fluttershy shivered again at the thought, "He's a little... odd..."

"Who's Mr. Knox?" Spike asked blankly, currently feeling rather lost in the conversation.

Twilight ignored the dragon's query, more so focused on the yellow mare's statement. "Odd how?"

"I-i-it's nothing, really," Fluttershy deflected while making her way towards the kitchen, "I c-can just be a bit paranoid at times... I'm sure you've noticed..."

Twilight couldn't argue with that. Fluttershy was one bad day away from the grandmare of psychological meltdowns, based on what she knew about her. She had all the signs of a socially awkward introvert who wasn't exactly the best in any given social situation. In fact, if it weren't for Spike's injury, the disguised alicorn was certain that the mare wouldn't have welcomed Twilight into her home as suddenly as she did. In fact, Twilight knew for a fact that the two would've never even met if not for that injury. Though even still, her reaction to just the implication of Ponyvile's resident sarosian was a bit much. It was more than just simple paranoia, there was a reason for that behavior. But continuing to push the issue clearly wasn't the way in which to find those reasons.

"W-were you able to find a place to stay?" Fluttershy changed the topic, stopping at the threshold of the kitchen to face Twilight. "Or did you want to stay another night?"

"... If it isn't too much trouble," Twilight did well in hiding her current suspicious while speaking, "Pinkie offered to help me with house hunting tomorrow."

"Ah. Alright then. Well, the guest room is still yours to use. For however long you need it." It took a moment, but the nervous look that Fluttershy wore was soon overtaken by her small but kind smile. "If you need anything else, I'll be out back trying to calm Harry down."

— Interlude II —

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December 12,
Year 1,005 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
Today marks the end of the first term of the school year, with classes closed until after the holidays. The fact that Winter Break is a practice in this school honestly baffles me. The Queen's School for Gifted Unicorns is a prestigious university that churns out some of Equestria's most brilliant Wizards, Sorcerers, and Scholars. You'd think "Winter Break" wouldn't be much of a priority. But here I am, on vacation for the holidays. At the very least, the reprieve will make for a nice opportunity to recuperate and catch up on my journal entries.
I am beyond proud to say that I am currently in the top percentile of my class. Through hard work and determination ~~and an undying sense of stress and dread~~, I have managed to excel in every course I am enrolled in. Or at least most of them. The fine art of divination continues to elude me, and my grade shows that fact clearly much to my shame.
I'm just going to change the subject now before I have another panic attack. Anyway, the research paper on long dragons I was asked to write on behalf of the Queen was an astounding success. She was also pleased to know more about her precious pet, so much so that she insisted I turn the paper into one of my teachers as an assignment. Speaking of, the long dragon seems to want nothing to do with her daycare service. At least that's what it seems like since he keeps running off to my tower. His day guard is not too pleased about chasing him all over the castle grounds, either. He keeps telling me that precautions are being taken to prevent his breakouts, but they have yet to have any effect outside of delaying the inevitable.
Anyway, that's all I have time for today. I've been told that Cadence plans on visiting today, and afterward, I'll be headed home for the holidays. I'm looking forward to spending some time away from academics for a couple of weeks, as hard as that seems to believe.

Another pinching sensation ran up Twilight's wing, causing her to wince in pain and flinch, causing the springs in her mattress to creak loudly. A feather fell from the spot she had attempted to preen, adding to the small pile that had accumulated by her sides. Not enough to be worrying, but enough to remind Twilight of her current string of failures. The feathered limbs at her sides were proving to be more and more of a nuisance with each passing day, and her current task was only expediting the process.

"Almost, Twily," a voice spoke through a chuckle, "You need to do it gently, or you'll keep hurting yourself."

Twilight's head swung around with a glare that would turn a cockatrice to stone, a low growl emanating from her throat as she stared at her guest. Sitting just across from her on the bed was a pony well known to the public eye. A nation-known symbol of love, tranquility, and beauty. To just about everyone in the world, this mare was known as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, future ruler of the neighboring Crystal Empire to the North. But to Twilight? The pink alicorn was simply Cadence, a somewhat dorky pony who had been one of Twilight's closest friends, and former foal-sitter, for as long as she could remember. And currently? She was as far away from how Equestria knew her. No regalia, no gems, and her candy-colored main tied up by a simple blue ribbon. The tabloids would have a field day if they could see her now.

"This is stupid," Twilight muttered through grit teeth, "Don't they make combs for this?"

Cadence giggled again. "Afraid not. Preening requires a bit more of a... delicate touch."

"What about a spell?"

The older alicorn seemingly couldn't stop laughing. "If you want to write one, go for it. But you're going to have a lot of work on your hooves. No one's ever written one. Mostly because no one's ever 'needed' one, until you."

"It can't be that hard." Twilight scorned as she looked back to her wing, reaching down with her mouth and attempting to groom herself again. Taking her current mentor's words to heart, she moved with grace and precision.

"That could very well be true. But trust me, Twili," Cadence poked at her horn with a hoof, "Getting used to this? I guarantee was harder than getting used to those," she gestured towards Twilight's wings.

"But I don't want to get used to them," Twilight almost whined back, wincing again as she once again failed in her attempts at preening.

A somber mood overtook the room, most noticeably in Cadence's expression as her smile sunk away. "Twilight... you know that—"

"That it isn't a choice anymore," the younger alicorn snapped back, "I know. The point has been made."

"Twilight... please don't do this."

Twilight sighed heavily, resting her head on the plush surface of her bed. "I'm sorry... Still getting used to all of this... ya know?"

"I know. You don't have it very easy right now. But trust me when I say—"

"TWHY LITE!" A sudden voice called out, spoiling the dreadful atmosphere and drawing the two alicorns' attention.

"Get back here!" A clearly upset stallion called out in pursuit.

Twilight's mood shifted in an instant as her attention was solely redirected towards the commotion, and she quickly leaped off of the bed to head towards it. Confused, Cadence followed close behind in an attempt to unveil the mystery for herself. The veil was soon lifted as a purple and green blur raced up the stairs towards them, Twilight in particular. Backing up from the shock, she was soon privy to a serpentine form waving around and in between each of her legs in sheer excitement. She instantly knew what, or rather who, this was. In the months since the sandwich incident, as she called it, the long dragon had at least doubled in size.

"S-Spike?!" Twilight blared, trying to keep herself from being knocked over by the dragon's energetic show of affection. "Again? Really?!"

"Sorry, sorry!" The stallion guard called out as he came into view. The golden armor the earth pony stallion wore instantly identified this individual as a member of the royal guard. If Twilight were not preoccupied at the moment, she would have recognized him as the dragon's personal guard, assigned to watch him while the Queen was busy. He trotted up the stairs, a frustrated glare locked firmly on the dragon currently harassing Twilight. "The little bugger got out again!" As the guard reached the top of the stairs, he caught sight of Cadence and his demeanor changed immediately, stone-faced and now standing at attention. His previous task all but forgotten.

Cadence rolled her eyes. "At ease," she said calmly, walking over to her fellow alicorn in an attempt to rescue her from the dragon's frantic nuzzling. "What did you call him? Spike?" By this point, Twilight had managed to secure the long dragon in an arcane grasp, looking back to Cadence with confusion while the reptile dangled in the air by his midsection, kicking his legs in search for some kind of solid ground. It took her a moment to realize that Cadence had even addressed her.

"Oh... uhh, yeah," Twilight muttered, trotting back to the bed and setting the dragon down atop the plush surface. As she climbed back on beside the young reptile, he immediately curled up into as small of a ball as he could, as close as he could get to Twilight, almost purring with content as he made himself comfortable. This was practically routine for her at this point, it was the fastest way she had found to calm him down. The dragon would be asleep within a few minutes, and his guard would be able to return him to his own space. "We had to call him something... and he's got those spikes. It was the only name we could agree on."

Cadence's hoof found its way to her chest, and a dopey smile was made visible on her face. "Aaww, it looks like he really likes you!"

"You don't know the half of it," the guard muttered under his breath, "Keeps running off and coming here every time I look away for more than a few seconds..." His anger at the situation was obvious, and it equally clear that he was holding back the more colorful language due to the presence of royalty.

"He seems to be infatuated with me," Twilight continued, looking back to the small dragon beside her. "He even learned how to say my name... kind of." She looked back to the pink alicorn, eyes darting about for a moment as she placed a hoof by her mouth. "I think your aunt is really jealous," she whispered with a twinge of childlike glee.

Cadence found couldn't help but join in at the laugh at the Queen's expense. And as she looked over the alicorn and the dragon, and how quickly the later had changed the mood of the former, one could almost see the brilliant idea forming inside of her candy-colored head. Was it a bit manipulative? Most certainly. Would her aunt hate it? Without question. Could it help out Twilight in the long run? There was only one way to find out.

"Maybe the little guy should stay here then," Cadence suggested as casually as she could, "It would certainly get him to stop running away so much."

"It'd make my life easier, that's for sure," the guard muttered again, earning him a momentary glare from the princess in the room.

Twilight, meanwhile, glanced again at Spike. As per usual, the little guy had quickly fallen asleep beside her. She couldn't deny the fact that the long dragon had definitely taken a liking to her, that much had been made obvious from the start. For a while, Twilight suspected that it might have had something to do with the color of her coat and mane, the young dragon possibly mistaking her for some kind of maternal figure. Or maybe he was just fond of Twilight for giving him sandwiches. Regardless of the reason, the small dragon seemed to have an affinity for her.

And Twilight would be lying if she said that the feelings weren't at least a little bit mutual. She had no explanation as to why, but the little guy had actually started to grow on her. For a moment, Twilight was honestly considering the idea of becoming the dragon's caretaker, at least temporarily. She had already brought it up to the Queen that she wanted to try and develop his apparent language skills, something that the elder alicorn had been wholeheartedly on board of. Him living with her would give Twilight that very opportunity. Though a sense of reality suddenly returned to the young alicorn. She then proceeded to look back to her friend with a stone-cold face that rivaled that of the royal guards.

"You know she's never going to let that happen, right?"

"Oh, don't you worry about her. You leave aunty to me," Cadence explained with a playful grin and a mischevious wink. She stepped over and gently ran a hoof over the sleeping reptile. "You should worry about finding this little guy a place to sleep," she took a moment's pause as she observed him, "Other then your back, I mean." The pink alicorn giggled again.

— Chapter Nine —

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--- Life of a Librarian ---

Golden Oak's door creaked open, letting in the soft morning light shine through into the eerily empty library. Twilight followed the morning rays into the quiet space, bringing noise and color to the interior. The incident last night had left Twilight with less energy then she would have preferred, though it didn't take long to get the young dragon to calm down after his initial frenzy. After that, he had slept peacefully and soundly, much to Twilight's relief. The same, however, could not be said for the alicorn. For one reason or another, she was subject to a rather unfortunate state of restlessness, Twilight periodically waking up spontaneously throughout the night with no provocation.

Thankfully though, sleep didn't prove to be entirely elusive to Twilight. And a good few mugs of coffee helped to fill in some of the time she had missed. And having to debate with a bear on who should get more coffee certainly served as a good wake up call. An argument that the bear somehow managed to win, mind you, but Twilight was able to sneak away with enough to hopefully get her through the day.

Aside from the young alicorn, the library was uninhabited by any living thing. Absolute silence radiated from the space as Twilight closed the door behind her, unsure if she should even be in here without the resident librarian present. On one hoof she had just been hired by the old sarosian, who had told her to be here at this time. On the other, nothing was official until after she filled out all the required paperwork and whatnot, thus meaning that she was technically trespassing. Fortunately, the conundrum was solved swiftly by the arrival of Mr. Knox, descending the stairs with a loud yawn.

"Good morning, Miss Sparkle," Knox spoke slowly through another yawn. He looked as if he had just rolled out of bed from the looks of him. He looked like he had just lost a fight with a tornado if his unkempt mane and exhausted exterior were anything to go off of. "Is it seven o' clock already?"

"Are you... feeling alright?" Twilight couldn't help but ask, her concern showing plain as day as she looked over the fatigued pony.

"Hmm? Me? Oh, yes, yes. Just a particularly nasty fit of insomnia last night. Happens every now and again. It's no big deal."

"That sounds like a big deal, insomnia is no laughing matter."

"Neither is a nocturnal trying to adjust to being awake in the day. These are the things I have to deal with." Another yawn signaled the end of this particular thread of discussion, Ponyville's librarian slowly strolling over to the desk, with Twilight following close behind. He gestured to a large stack of papers sitting neatly towards one end. "Here are the forms and whatnot you'll need to fill out. Just the basic bureaucratic nonsense."

The first page was magically whisked away to face Twilight, the young mare intently looking over the form. From a moment's glance, it looked like the first page of a citizenship form for Ponyville. Which made sense, it wouldn't be wise to have an unregistered individual working and living in your town. It wasn't the most ideal scenario, but a necessary one to go through. And just as Twilight was about to begin filling in her information, a loud thwack threw off her concentration.

"Okay, that was a shelf!" A now wide awake Mr. Knox bellowed, rubbing the sore spot atop his cranium. "Uggh, nothing like blunt force trauma to get the old thinker thinking."

"Are you alright?!"

"Oh, I'm fine. Or, I will be. My goodness, that hurt!"

And with that, the small mountain of documents was put to the wayside as Twilight went to go assist her employer. There didn't seem to be any major damage done by the impact, thankfully enough, but that didn't stop it from hurting any less by Mr. Knox's testimony. Yet even despite that, it didn't take long for the old stallion to get back up on his hooves right as rain. With that distraction taken care of, Twilight was left to be able to fill out her paperwork as the sarosian began his daily tasks as a librarian.

--- — ---

The days as a librarian began to pass fairly quickly after her paperwork-filled initiation, and once again Twilight found herself sitting behind the library's desk with a short stack of books on either side of her, with one additional text floating before her in an arcane grasp. On one side were the books she had yet to read today, on the other the books she had already finished cover to cover. Today had been her first "slow day" as the second in command at Golden Oak's, with hardly anybody coming in to borrow any books. And with Mr. Knox currently out on business at the local schoolhouse, Twilight was left without her newest conversational-companion.

And so, the young alicorn had decided to use today to catch up on her reading. And seeing as how she worked in a library, that wasn't exactly hard to do. Though if one were to take a gander at the books she had gathered, they might have seen a very distinctive theme connecting them all. All were research journals and various other texts on recent discoveries, all published within the last year or so. To anyone who wasn't in the know, it would just seem like she was just curious about Equestria's current knowledge of the world. And in a way, she was.

But there was a more specific subject than just "the world" on her mind. No, she was looking for any possible leads on the location of the elusive long dragon. Spike may have wanted to take a break from all of that, and they might be stuck in this town while his injury heals, but that didn't mean that Twilight had to let the trail go cold. The world was a big place, far from fully explored and documented, and new findings were liable to be found every day. She herself had found out about these "timberwolves" just the other day, a phenomenon that was wholly normal to the citizens of Ponyville but entirely alien to her. So who knew? Maybe someone else had found the elusive subspecies

Three swift knocks at the door were quick to distract the cloaked pony from delving into Equestria's History. Which was odd seeing as how this was a public building, you didn't need to knock before you came in. Yet whoever was on the other side either didn't know that or just didn't care. This was proven when another three knocks signified that whoever was there was waiting to be let in.

This caught Twilight's attention, so much so that she found herself going to answer the door as if this were her home. The rational part of her mind concluded that maybe the pony on the other side of the door was preoccupied and couldn't open it without assistance, such a thing wasn't that far out of the realm of possibility. Not everybody was gifted with a magical horn that could do almost anything for you, after all. But this theory was swiftly disproven when Twilight opened the door only to be greeted by the familiar stone-faced expression of one of Pinkie's sisters, burdened only by the saddlebags on her back. She could have easily opened the door, yet she didn't for some reason unknown to Twilight.

"Oh, good," the monotone mare began dryly, "You were the one I was looking for."

"Oh, hello again... Maud, was it?" Twilight was relieved when her question was answered with a stoic nod. "Well, uh, what can I do for you?"

"I would like to talk to you about some things," Maud continued dryly as she stepped into the nearly abandoned library. "Some things being Pinkie Pie." The disguised alicorn wasn't sure how to feel about that. And the reason why was entirely this mare's expression, there was no way to tell if this conversation was going to be good or bad. If Maud ever got out of the hotel business, she would definitely make a killing at a poker table. But hypothetical gambling aside, all Twilight could do was wait for Maud to continue. She had a few ideas of what this could be about, but again there was no way to know for sure. Finally, Maud broke the silence.

"Do you like her?"

Caught off guard by the question, Twilight hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "Uhh... I mean, she's nice."

"So you don't like her?"

"I... didn't say that. I said she was nice."

"Does she bother you?"

The alicorn furrowed her brow at this, there was something more going on here. Despite Maud's apparent disinterest in—well, everything in general—Twilight's gut told her that this wasn't the first time that this mare had asked these particular questions. And considering Pinkie Pie's normal behavior, Twilight was starting to piece together what was going on. Though as any good mare of science did, she needed more evidence before she could say for sure.

"... Not really... Why do you ask?"

Maud stared back at Twilight for a moment, her unwavering expression beginning to make Twilight nervous. "I'm sure you've noticed by now that Pinkie is very... social."

"Not going to lie... it'd be harder not to notice."

"Exactly. Pinkie Pie has always been a very... unique pony. For better and for worse. I just wanted to make sure you're okay with that." Ah, the elder sibling looking out for their younger counterpart, that was something very familiar to Twilight Sparkle considering her relationship with her brother. And seeing Maud looking out for her little sister like this tugged at the alicorn's heartstrings a bit, bringing a warm smile to her face.

"Well, she's been fine. A bit much at times, but nothing offensive. She's probably my closest friend in town if I'm being honest."

"Good. Please tell her that when you get the chance. She's been a trainwreck for days because she thinks you despise her and want her to stop existing."

"I'll be sure to do that. Maybe later today when my shift—Wait, what?!" The warm and fuzzy feeling Twilight was feeling was instantly inverted into a twisted and shocking sensation of an unpleasant surprise. It was safe to say that she was offended by that statement. "I've been nothing but nice to her since we met! Why would she think that?!"

"Pinkie Pie has a bad habit of thinking too much," Maud answered without a moment's hesitation, her tone still unchanging. "She'll say or do something, and then hours later she'll think about how it could have hurt somebody's feelings or irritated them and it will absolutely destroy her. And then she'll stay like that for hours."

Twilight was left to process that heavy bit of information that had just been thrust upon her. It was a lot to take in all at once, especially considering the dull tone that it had been told to her in. And after taking the time to take in this information, Twilight looked back to the monochromatic pony with an apologetic expression.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean too—"

"It's all in Pinkie's head, it's something that she's been working on. And she's been getting better, but nobody is perfect." For the first time in this conversation, maud showed some semblance of visible emotion. Her eyes closed as she took in a deep breath and slowly released it. "Just tell her that she doesn't bother you. And if she ever does bother you, tell her in the moment. Nicely."

"Y-yeah, I can do that."

"Thank you. Enjoy your... books." Maud spoke blandly as she turned to make her exit. But before she did, the earth pony stopped and removed her saddlebags. "Oh wait. I almost forgot. There was something else I needed to talk to you about." With that, she began to search through the bags she had brought. And after a few moments, she returned her attention to Twilight. And Twilight had to stifle a scream at what she saw clenched in the teeth of the grey mare.

Lavender feathers. Twilight's feathers. She felt her heart stop as she stared at what the earth pony was confronting her with. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she could hardly breathe. She could only stand there, gawking at the damning evidence before her. It finally happened, she had finally been found out for what she really was. And it was mortifying. How could she have been so careless? She was sure she had cleaned her tracks

"I found these in the room you stayed in," Maud explained through clenched teeth. "Did you think nobody would notice?"

"I-I-I-I can explain!" Twilight managed to stammer out, trying desperately to come up with some way to get out of this.

"You don't need too. The jig is up." Maud dropped the feathers back into her bag before continuing. "You snuck an exotic bird into my hotel."

"I'm not—!... Wait, what?" Terror transformed into confusion as she listened to the accusation. "Exotic... bird?"

"Don't play dumb. I wasn't born yesterday. I even know what kind of bird it was." Maud reached back into the bag, this time withdrawing a book from the pouch. It was soon placed on the ground and kicked open to the marked page. "Right there," she dryly continued, pointing to the page, "The purple plumed puffin."

Twilight kneeled down close to the book, her eyes soaking in every bit of information on the pages like a sponge. Just as Maud said, these pages were an examination of the extremely rare purple plumed puffin. An apparently endangered species found only in Puerto Caballo and other coastal regions, best known for its distinctive coloration of which it is named. Looking at the diagrams on the twin page, Twilight was shocked to discover that the color of this bird's feathers was almost an exact match for her own. In fact, the size and shape of these feathers were also nearly identical, which meant that the purple plumed puffin was unusually large compared to other species of puffins.

"Y-yes! My... purple plumed puffin... Pike... how could I forget...?" Twilight quickly lied, nervously chuckling to herself as a cold sweat ran down her neck.

"You're lucky that we allow pets," Maud blandly warned after putting the book away. "But traditionally, you're supposed to tell someone that you have a pet with you."

"Sorry... I don't like telling ponies I have him with me... endangered species and all that, never know when... poachers might be around, ya know?" Twilight quickly added with a shrug. "Won't happen again."

"It shouldn't. I already know about your bird, so it's impossible for you to sneak it back in." Maud reclaimed her saddlebags and once more went to leave the building. "But please don't try anyway. I don't want to have to get the authorities involved."

And with that, Twilight was once more left alone within the confines of Golden Oak's library. She didn't even pay any mind to Maud's loose threat, she was just happy that she had managed to get out of that situation unscathed. That was entirely a stroke of luck, she wasn't denying that, but it still felt good to know that her secret was safe. And it came with the new information on this rather interesting bird, something that Twilight would have to look more into at a future date. If she could get her hoofs on one of these, it would make an excellent scapegoat in the event something like this ever happened again. And Spike probably wouldn't mind the extra company.

Emotionally drained from the roller coaster she had just lived through, Twilight made the executive decision to let her mind rest for the time being. These books weren't going anywhere, and she had done enough to warrant a bit of a brain-break anyway. Instead, she elected to try and find a book about the purple plummed puffin, adding Puerto Caballo to the list of future destinations.

--- — ---

"Alright, Spike, the coast is clear." Twilight locked the door of her new home behind her as she entered, opening the saddlebag and allowing the long dragon to poke his head out after the walk from Fluttershy's cottage to this location. "This is where we'll be staying for the foreseeable future, so feel free to explore a bit."

Taking care as to not agitate his bound leg, Spike crawled out of the large pouch and onto the hardwood floor below. What he saw was not the most luxurious home he had ever been in. A modest and drab single-story home was on display before him, with very little in terms of actual color aside from wood brown and the tacky lime green couch that sat in the middle of what he assumed was the living room. From this vantage point, only the living room and part of the kitchen could be seen, but he knew there was more to the small hut that met the eye based on what Twilight had told him. Even still, his initial reaction was not exactly grandiose. He narrowed his eyes at the abode as he scanned the area, trying to parse exactly what he was feeling about this place.

And as the young alicorn began to get settled in herself, removing her cloak and saddlebags whilst closing the drapes, she found herself reflecting on just how she came in possession of this particular home. The past couple of days had been a bit hectic for the young purple alicorn and her small draconic companion. Mr. Knox hadn't been lying when he told Twilight that there'd be hoops to jump through, enough to keep Twilight preoccupied for an entire day just to get through it all. It didn't help that she technically wasn't a citizen of Ponyville, which only added more documents to the pile of paperwork. But paperwork like this was child's play for someone like Twilight, even if it did take a hefty chunk of time. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was finding a place to live. Despite its proximity to Canterlot, Ponyville was structured far differently than the Celestial City. Finding a home wasn't as easy as finding an apartment with a vacancy, Twilight actually had to find a house.

Or someone willing to rent out a room.

And while Pinkie Pie was more than willing to rent out some space for cheap, Twilight was a bit hesitant in becoming roommates with the peculiar mare. Thankfully, it seemed that fate was on Twilight's side for once, and there was a small vacant house up for relatively affordable rent. It was a bit of a fixer-upper, to put it lightly, but it wouldn't put Twilight into bankruptcy right away. And it was a perfect place for Spike to hide out during the days Twilight would be working, which was another bonus.

Finally, Spike spoke his mind, returning Twilight's thoughts to the here and now.

"It's nice." He seemed optimistic enough, though that was quick to change once he caught sight of the room's eye-catching centerpiece. He didn't say anything in regards to it, he just stood there staring with this dumbfounded look on his face. And Twilight couldn't exactly blame him, her reaction had been much the same when she first caught eye of the couch. Spike soon hauled himself up onto the green seat, testing it out its softness with his one good forelimb.

"This thing is hideous."

That was something Twilight could agree with. The eyesore of a seating arrangement was well before either of their times, and it showed very much in its design and coloration. Far from being outright hideous, but it was even further from being visually appealing. It was one of the few pieces of furniture that came with this home, and one that the landlord was particularly fond of if his description of it was anything to go off of. And that meant that this was a permanent fixture in their impermanent home, unfortunately.

"I know, I know," Twilight muttered back with a small smile, climbing onto the couch next to Spike. "You should have seen the landlord. He bolstered this thing up like it was the best thing in the world."

"Heh, that must've been hard to listen to. At least it's comfy though."

As Spike rolled further into the sofa to fully enjoy it, Twilight couldn't help but think that this was nice, seeing some sincere joy from him again. It was the small moments like this that made the less-than-pleasant recent events seem like they didn't matter. They still happened, and they would irrefutably have some impact on their futures, but right now none of that mattered. The young dragon was happy, and that's what counted. And she still had something hidden beneath her wing that could make this one moment of joy all the sweeter.

"So, would you like to see your room?" The look on his face as Twilight spoke those words was absolutely worth it all. He lit up brighter than the sun as he processed the question, unsure for a brief moment if she was being serious or not.

"My own room?"

The alicorn couldn't help but smirk. "There's two in the house."

"I've... never had my own room before..."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Twilight hopped off of the sofa and continued to playfully grin at the dragon, "But, of course, if you don't want it I could always—"

"No, no! I want it!" Spike followed her back down to the floor, looking up to her with pleading wide eyes. "I would very much like that, thank you much!" He was shaking with how excited he was, like a puppy waiting patiently for a well-earned treat. Twilight chortled again as she gestured for him to follow. With how excited he was, she thought it best not to keep him waiting much longer otherwise he might literally explode.

--- — ---

Journal entry number three hundred and forty-five.
May 30.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
It's been about two weeks since Spike and I had accidentally stumbled into Ponyville, and things have finally started to turn around for the two of us. My job at Golden Oak's has been going well, though I would have never expected to be so busy as a librarian in this small town. And it isn't just this library that I help to run, either, the local schoolhouse sometimes requires assistance. To quote Mr. Knox, "In an act of infinite brilliance, the pony in charge of Ponyville's layout decided to have the school and the library on opposite ends of the town." I still don't quite understand why the local librarians must sometimes be available to act as teacher assistants, but I suppose that is just the drawbacks to a small country town like this one. The old horse is getting up there in years, and it seems he just can't keep up with the demand like he used to. And while that is sad, it means that I have a way of putting plenty of food on the table for Spike and myself.
Speaking of, his wound is healing spectacularly well. Fluttershy has been no end of help in his recovery process and has even offered to help keep an eye on him whilst I am at work. It's been nice to have someone else I can count on in regards to Spike's well being, which is something I haven't been able to say for a very long time. I've actually found myself pondering the idea of further extending our stay in this quaint little village. And I've found myself far more relaxed than I ever recall being, the same can be said for Spike based on what I've been able to tell.

— Chapter Ten —

View Online

--- The Visit ---

The Celestial City of Canterlot, the capital of the nation of Equestria.

The many buildings that made up this city were all beautifully constructed, each a piece of art in and of itself, almost cathedral-like in terms of how they had been built. Ornate pillars and majestic archways or white and gold were commonplace in the architecture construction, practically mundane in this town with how many there were. And while there were many, it never got repetitive in construction. Each feature had something to it that made it unique, not so much so as to throw out the idea of uniformity, but enough to give each one just that tiny bit of individuality that made it pop to the eye ever so slightly. The biggest contrast to the white and gold architecture were the islands of grass and trees that had been placed every city block or so, just to add a bit of color to the town, accompanied by courtyards that were paved in beautiful stones of various intricate patterns. And standing above it all, visible from just about any point in the city was the royal palace. The towers and spires of the township itself paled in comparison to those of the castle itself, tall enough to practically pierce the heavens, standing at the highest point in the entirety of Equestria, even atop this mighty mountain.

It was a truly breathtaking sight to behold, a worthy monument to Equestria's centuries-long peace and prosperity. Few ponies from beyond the city walls would ever get to actually see such sights for themselves, and paintings and written words can only do so much to portray its beauty. But to Twilight Sparkle and many other citizens of the city? It was simply their home, nothing out of the ordinary.

The young alicorn slowly strolled through the lustrous streets with little care in the world, outside of the book she had chosen to accompany her on this particular walk. Walking and reading might not have been the safest activity, but it was an art that she had mastered over the years of advanced literacy. Or at least that's what she had told herself, but this was unceremoniously disproven when Twilight walked face-first into a street lamp.

"Ugh, who put that there?" Twilight groaned, rubbing the point of impact in hopes that a noticeable bump wouldn't be formed. "I swear that wasn't there yesterday..." Shaking her head to force herself to focus again, Twilight reclaimed her book and went along her way as if nothing had happened. Hope nobody saw that...

But that walk was cut tragically short by the sounds of screams echoing out over the city. Looking up sharply, she was suddenly greeted to a dozen horrified ponies rushing past her as if their lives depended on it. And when the haunting howls reached the young alicorn's ears, she had a sickening realization as to what was happening.

Looking up from her book, she saw that the Canterlot citizens were all scattered in a panic, screaming and crying in a vain attempt to deter their tormenters. The timberwolves in question were unmoved by their frightened pleas, continuing their brutal hunt in vast numbers. Twilight nearly vomited at the sight of one pony vanishing underneath a horde of the wooden beasts, a sickening gurgling scream the last thing to escape before the monsters began to feast. It wasn't long before the canines took notice of the disguised pony just standing there, quickly moving in for the kill on what was to be an easy kill.

Of course, Twilight knew exactly what to do in this situation. Every attacker was thoroughly extinguished via an arcane bolt from her horn, or an impossibly powerful kick for someone of her stature. She pushed through the debris and the continuous attackers, blasting every timberwolf that got too close for comfort with magical might. The city guards had made themselves known at this point, fighting off the monsters as best they could, giving Twilight the freedom to worry about her own safety.

But no matter how many she blasted, or how much further she went into the city, the attackers never ceased or seemed to falter in number. For every timberwolf that died, there was always another to take its place. And that fact was evident not only to Twilight, but the brave armored ponies also figured this out quickly enough.

"Get to the palace!" One soldier commanded to the populace in an attempt to direct the crowd. "Come on! Move, move, move!" Following the first guard's lead, the rest shifted their priority to clearing a path for the frightened civilians to escape through.

The plan had merit, Canterlot Castle was easily the most fortifiable position in the entire city. And while these invading beasts were brutal and vicious in their own right, they were far from an invading army. Rampaging through the streets was one thing, but besieging a castle was far beyond their capabilities. Twilight herself had resigned herself towards the back of the escaping crowd, doing what she could to assist the guards in their plan. Which seeing as she was an alicorn, she was capable of pulling her weight and then some. And while their duty required them to yell for her to retreat with the others, they weren't about to actually force away someone who was helping them fight these monsters off. And with how things were going, they needed all the help they could get.

And then, Twilight froze. She ceased her counterattack against the wood-made beasts, prompting the city guards to pick up her slack so she didn't end up being eaten herself. But she didn't care about that right now, for she had just remembered something very important that held a vast priority in her mind. In all the excitement, she had only just now realized that her saddlebags were absent from her person. But more importantly, a particular occupant of those bags was also not in attendance.

Where's Spike?! She asked herself, over and over, wracking her brain as she tried to retrace her steps this day to no avail. All she could remember was grabbing that book and going out for a nice stroll in the town. In fact, the more she thought about it, that was the only thing she did remember. She didn't recall waking up, eating breakfast, nothing at all! Just that book, and that walk.

And stranger still, she was still holding that book. Strange, she thought, she could have sworn she had dropped it in the chaos of the sudden feeding frenzy. Yet here it was, floating right beside her in her own magical aura. Why did she hold onto it? What possible reason could she have for keeping this book, when her life was of far more importance? Looking to the book's cover in hope of answers, Twilight stifled a gasp as she read the golden font.

Corul Luminii Lunii. Those were the words written in elaborate gold lettering on the cover of the dark blue, almost black, tome. Written in Searăn, when translated the title read as "The Moonlight Choir."

That was the only decoration the book had aside from the large, silver crescent moon emblazoned just below the title. Age had clearly taken its toll on the passage, as the corners of said cover had been bent and dinged up over time, the many pages within holding the distinct yellow hue of aged paper. It also looked like there had been other gold or silver engravings on the front at some point, but they had long since been lost leaving behind only faint indents as proof of their existence.

"When did I...?" The question trailed off into silence as she mindlessly observed the tome, ignorant to the carnage surrounding her on all sides. Almost imminently, she opened the book back up and began to scan the pages diligently. Yet, much to her surprise, each and every single page was utterly blank save for three words. "Beware the sky...? What does that even—?!"

The question was answered with an ear-splitting sound that resonated throughout Canterlot, shaking the Celestial City down to its very foundation. Everything stopped with that roar. The panicked screams of the citizens ceased, the guards halted their counterstrike against the timberwolves, and even the wooden beasts themselves shuddered in abstract terror. For each and every single living thing in the vicinity knew what had made such an announcement, and all eyes turned towards the shadow that was slowly growing over the city.

Silhouetted by the afternoon sun was the unmistakable visage of a massive dragon, its burning eyes currently the only distinguishable feature as it dived towards the city made warzone. Outstretching its wings, the behemoth altered its flightpath into a slightly upward glide, its intentions made clear with another piercing cry. It swooped over Canterlot Castle, and a vast portion of the city, in addition, spewing a monumental torrent of burning red death over the capital. Instantly, the scene was painted red as the dragon returned to the sky. But not for long, as everyone in attendance could see it making a turn for another pass.

In one impossible moment, Canterlot had fallen.

And with this, the equines and the timberwolves were united in a common sense of fear. Everyone scattered to the winds, all sense of order or reason lost as all in the area fled in terror of the red-scaled beast now raiding the city. Twilight was the only one left to face the titan as it readied another scorching attack, but this was not a brave rebellion or a final stand. The alicorn was just left unable to move, unable to process what was even happening. It didn't help that she very clearly recognized that dragon. The very same she had narrowly escaped from those weeks ago.

The only thing she could do was brace herself for the end. Eyes shut lightly, pulling back instinctively from the unbearable heat she knew was coming. This was it, she was going to die, the realization was heartbreaking. Relieving, in a sense, but no less tragic. She never thought that this would be how it all ended, but there wasn't much she could do now. The best thing to do was to just accept her fiery grave alongside Equestrian civilization.

It has been quite some time since we hath seen our home.

A thousand voices all spoke as one, resonating from every direction. From everything. The sky, the ground, Twilight's own thoughts, everywhere. The noise was all-encompassing, almost overbearing, and with it came a sudden sensation of clarity to the young alicorn. Memories that had been blocked off suddenly began rushing back into her mind, the last thing she really remembered was showing Spike to his new room, much to his excitement, and then a quiet evening before going to sleep. Which had, undoubtedly, happened back in Ponyville. There was only one answer, and Twilight knew for a fact that it was the correct one. She was dreaming right now, fast asleep in her home in Ponyville.

Her eyes shot open, yet the nightmare around her remained. Fundamentally different then it had been a moment before, however. Everything had stopped. The screams, the flames, time itself had slowed to a halt. Even the mighty dragon just hung there in the sky, frozen in a single moment. Twilight seemed to be the only one spared this fate, left entirely alone in the paused city.

"Okay... weird dream..." She wondered when she would be waking up from this nightmare, looking around the scene her subconscious mind had painted. But, she stopped. The sound of armored hooves clacking against the stone walkways echoed endlessly throughout Canterlot. Slow and methodical, almost like a drum beat, closer and closer they came. The young alicorn slowly turned to face whatever interloper her psyche had conjured.

The interloper in question was tall, draped in a tattered black robe even heavier then Twilight's own. Despite its apparent weight, the garment still lightly rustled as if caught in a breeze that Twilight was untouched by. The robe's hood was drawn upward, casting a pitch-black shadow over the face of whoever was wearing it. The only defining feature that Twilight could see was the dark horn that poked out from underneath that hood. It looked like one that would belong to a unicorn, though even that wasn't an accurate description. This appendage had an upward curve and had a rounded triangular shape overall, a far cry from the straight spiraled cone that was a unicorn's horn. It was unlike any appendage that had ever been seen on a pony before. Otherworldly, even.

The robbed figure paid Twilight no mind as they slowly strode through the city. Despite the hoofsteps clearly echoing from them, the entity moved as if they were gliding. Hovering just above the ground as if they were a specter. The figure stopped, silently looking up to the burning spires of Canterlot Castle. And then the voices once more spoke. Though now, one voice seemed to dominate the others, a feminine one.

"Though truth be told, we did not wish to see it in such sorry states."

Ever so slowly, a hoof was raised by the mysterious hooded figure, pushing out from underneath the cloak. The appendage was black as night, almost indistinguishable from the robe itself if not for the silver adornments around the hoof itself. Something akin to a mixture of jewelry and armor, fierce and jagged in its design. The hoof was spun a few times in a slow, lazy circle. And much to Twilight's surprise, the world around them seemed to react to the gesture.

Following the pace of the unknown pony's gentle motion, slowly speeding up over time, the events that Twilight had just lived through began to undo themselves. The dragon's assault was undone, and the beast looked to be pulled back into the sky as time continued to reverse. The scattered ponies and timberwolves also returned, their actions being rewound and reversed in a manner most disturbing. On and on it went until the dream had been entirely reset. The only change was that in this strange process of restoration, the day had rapidly shifted into night. Only Twilight Sparkle and the unusual hooded pony were left untouched by the strange magic and said figure then lowered their hoof, now content with observing the newly restored city.

Twilight was at a loss for words. She had long since figured out that this was a dream by this point, but the events she had just witnessed felt unnaturally real. This hooded entity that had made itself known to her did not feel like it belonged here, it felt like some outside force had invaded her mind. A trespasser in every sense of the word and Twilight's first instinct was to repel them as quickly as possible.

Do not think we have left you unnoticed.

The collective of tones was no longer dominated by a single voice, once more they were equal in their volume. And the voice's effects were immediate to see, the young alicorn suddenly feeling an impossible weight bear down on her, holding her in place. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't even blink. It was like she had been frozen in time as just her dream had been moments before. Yet still, Twilight was left entirely aware of her surroundings. Unpleasantly so, she realized, as the hooded figure turned its gaze towards her own. From deep behind the veil of shadows, Twilight could see the eyes of whatever this entity was, glowing with an ominous white light that shook Twilight down to her core.

So many burdens. So many fears. So many secrets kept very near.

Frighteningly so, the figure began to approach. Their hoofsteps echoing throughout the halted city once more. And with each clack, each inch the figure advanced, the overbearing pressure holding Twilight grew greater and greater. And as the force continued to escalate, so to did her own sense of alarm. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She wanted to run, but she was unable. She wanted to cry, but was left with no tears. Soon, the figure was upon her, standing taller then almost any pony Twilight had ever met. They leaned down close, allowing the light of their eyes to show Twilight the absolute faintest impression of a pony's face in the pale glow.

Yes... we remember these terrors. We remember you.

And then Twilight woke up.

The overbearing sensations she had just experienced had shocked her awake, sending her back into the darkness of her room with a stifled gasp. She felt the cold sweat that had formed around her in her slumber, contradicted heavily by the unearthly chill that was still prevalent in every inch of her body. She simply laid there for a time, unsure if she was even able to move, left to contemplate that thing from her dream.

It knew me... The thought shouldn't have been as unsettling as it was. It was her dream, why wouldn't an aspect of her own mind know her?

But it didn't feel like some construct of her subconscious mind. It felt like there was someone else in the world of dreams with her, some outside force that had invaded and made itself known to her. Something that knew Twilight. That's what disturbed her the most, the fact that apparently remembered her. And the more she ruminated on that idea, the more she started to get this strange sense of déjà vu. Like she had some previous encounter with that creature before, but she couldn't recall when.

That quickly became the least important thing on her list of concerns, however, as a loud scream made itself known within her home. And since it wasn't Twilight herself who had done the screaming, there was only one other option as to who could have made that shrill sound. Twilight practically flung herself from the bed, her wings flapping wildly in an attempt to help keep her balance, and she nearly broke the hinges off of her bedroom door when she forcefully pushed through it. The dark hallway went by in a blur as the alicorn rushed to Spike's bedroom.

"Spike?!" Twilight called out in a frenzy as her horn brought a bright magenta light to the dark space. "SPIKE?!"

No answer. Twilight swore she could feel her heart stop beating at this prospect, mind wracked with what possibly could have happened. But then came the sound of stifled wimpers and sobs, quietly leaking out from underneath the long dragon's bed. There was a brief respite once the alicorn realized what this meant, kneeling down beside the bed to gaze underneath. As expected, Spike was found underneath the piece of furniture. Rolled and folded into himself to make himself as small as he could, his foreclaws were grasping at the sides of his head as he shuttered and shook. He was horrified.

"Spike?" Twilight asked worriedly, still to no responce. He didn't even react to her presence, or the light that was being emitted from her magical appendage. Ever so gently, she reached out to try and get his attention with a light tap. This proved to be a mistake.

Spike violently recoiled from the light touch, scrambling out from underneath the bed—away from Twilight—with quick haphazard gasps. He fortified himself in one corner, turning around with a vicious feral grimace. He growled and hissed like a beast, ready to stand his ground or die trying. That changed when he saw Twilight stand back up on the other side of the bed, and both looked at each other with looks of absolute shock.

Twilight had never seen Spike act like this before. To say it was shocking was an absolute understatement of the grossest variety. It was painful to see him react like that, and it was even more painful to think about whatever it was that could have done that to him. It seems this wasn't lost on Spike, either, as he stared back to Twilight. He said nothing, he did nothing, for what felt like eons. Until finally, he broke.

Tears ran like rapids down the dragon's face, and he leaped and bound over the bed directly into Twilight, who hardly had enough time to react and catch him. They both crashed into the ground with a thud, but Spike didn't care, he only pulled himself closer to Twilight. He dug his face into her chest and pulled himself closer with his claws. Twilight would have been lying if she said it wasn't uncomfortable, his grip wasn't exactly gentle and his scales were digging into her a bit too much. But a bit of temporary pain was bearable, especially if this was helping Spike in any way. The alicorn managed to pull the two of them up to a sitting position, taking Spike's hint and pulling him into a hug just as he was to her. She then doubled down by stretching out her wings and wrapping them around like some kind of blanket. It didn't do much to quell his crying, but there wasn't much else she could do at the moment.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," she spoke softly, gently stroking the back of his head in an attempt to calm him down, "It's alright... I'm right here." His wailing didn't cease, but it did show signs of slowing down. He was calming down, if ever so slightly, which was a good sign. But still, the question lingered. "Spike, what happened?"

"B-b-b-bad d-d-dream," the young reptile managed to stammer out between sobs.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"C-c-c-c-cloak... p-pony i-i-in a cloak..."

Thankful that Spike couldn't see her from where he was at right now, Twilight's eyes became cold and lifeless as she contracted some of the dragon's fear. For Spike wasn't the only one to dream of a hooded figure this night, as the purple pony clearly remembered all too well. She didn't know how it was possible, but somehow she and Spike had both experienced nightmares revolving around the same central figure. Something that wasn't necessarily impossible, but it was highly improbable. Especially at the same time such as this incident.

It came to Twilight fast and hard, the alicorn having to stifle a gasp as the realization hit her. She remembered why she vaguely recognized that figure. She knew why it had felt like her mind was being invaded by some outside force. And she knew exactly who had been hiding beneath that hood. Twilight's gaze turned towards the window, the curtains were still drawn closed yet a few slivers of silver light managed to break on through regardless. Turning back to Spike, Twilight was quick to try and push these thoughts out of her head for the moment. She didn't want to face the grim truth of their situation.

They had just been visited by the Mare in the Moon.

— Chapter Eleven —

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--- An Irrefutable Request ---

This day in Ponyville had started out as most others had. The sun rose above the small town and heralded in the new dawn, the citizens once more stirring from their slumber to begin the daily grind. And now, Twilight Sparkle was no exception to the village's collective routine. She got up like everyone else, went to work, ran her errands, and returned home to start the whole process over again. Day in and day out, the most variety coming in the form of the different interactions had between her and the various townsfolk. Namely Pinkie Pie and the social circle she was trying to get Twilight to join. And in all honesty, after living the life of a vagrant for so long, the consistency was a refreshing change of pace. Not having to worry about food or shelter every night, having a consistent schedule, not being in immediate danger of being eaten by some horrific beast, it was relaxing.

At least, it was relaxing until last night.

The visions of her encounter with the enigmatic Mare in the Moon were ever-present in her thoughts. Even more so the sounds of Spike's whimpering crying from his own nightmares, that horrific sound still ringing in the alicorn's ears. It had felt like hours before she was able to get him to calm down long enough to go to sleep, and even then he utterly refused to sleep alone. It was sheer coincidence that Fluttershy had agreed to watch Spike on this day, partly out of wishing to help and partly out of finally unbinding his leg. If that hadn't been the plan they had agreed upon, there was absolutely no way Twilight would have come into work today. The last thing he needed right now was to be alone.

But right now she had to focus on her work. And today, that work involved helping out at the Ponyville schoolhouse.

Ponyville's local school, simply dubbed Ponyville Elementary, was the prime example of a typical Equestrian educational facility. Large enough to accommodate for all the children in Ponyville, more or less depending on the exact year, the establishment specialized in the basic academic necessities. Reading, writing, mathematics, history, social studies, music, physical education, basic magic classes for unicorns, and basic flight classes for pegasi.

Ponyville Elementary, in spite of its rather bland name, also had accommodations to act as a daycare center for the exceptionally young, and had higher educational proceedings for those who were past the elementary stage. Granted these three factions were technically held in separate buildings, but they were all within the same fenced-off patch of land and faculty from any were viable to migrate to the others if the need should arise.

Which is a situation eerily similar to the one Twilight found herself in today. As an employee of the Golden Oak's library, Twilight was also technically part of the educational department. Meaning she was viable to be asked to help out at the school should the need arise. And today the need had arisen.

"—And then you carry the six," Twilight concluded as she returned the pencil to the filly, "So the answer must be..." She trailed off, hoping the younger pony would pick up on the hint.

The young unicorn sat there for a moment, puzzled at the question even after the assistance she had received. "Umm... eleven?"

"That's right!"

"Yes!" The young unicorn quickly jotted down the answer as she celebrated her achievement, even if Twilight had helped her a great deal.

"Alright, now try the next one on your own. It's the same basic idea, just different numbers."

"Okay then. Thanks, Twilight!" The filly scooped up her assignment and returned to her desk with a smile, leaving Twilight once more alone at the small table she had been stationed at. Today was the day that this particular batch of students was being introduced to long division, hence why the disguised alicorn had been requested to help out as something akin to a teacher's assistant. And it had been a busy day, that filly being the most recent in a long series of students who had been having trouble with the new material.

In fact, Twilight had gotten more requests for help than the actual teacher herself. Not that the teacher wasn't knowledgable about the subject matter, she wouldn't be a teacher if she couldn't teach, but Twilight just seemed to be better at getting the message across to the young crowd then she was. Which was without question due to her past experiences with Spike. When you can teach a dragon how to use a toilet, you can effectively teach anyone to do anything. The only difference between these ponies and Spike, aside from age and species, was that she couldn't reward correct answers with peppers.

The sudden and prominent chime of the school's belltower prompted a powerful reaction from the student body. Much more rambunctious and rowdy uprising than when the other classes had been dismissed. They were far more eager and enthusiastic then the other children had been for whatever reason, their motivation becoming clear to Twilight as the teacher called out over the sudden commotion.

"I'll see you all tomorrow, and remember to study! There will be a test at the end of the week!"

That made sense, the young minds were eager for a chance to catch their breaths, and frankly so was Twilight. Time really does fly when one keeps busy, it seems, and now Twilight had a bit of time to herself. And realizing that, the young alicorn began to tidy up the workspace she had been given use of.

"Excuse me, Miss Sparkle?" The teacher, Cheerilee, asked out of nowhere, forcefully snapping Twilight back to relatively. The older, dark magenta mare offered her a kind and impressed smile before continuing. "Thank you so much for your help thus far. If I may say, you're quite the natural when it comes to teaching. And the kids are actually understanding the material in record time thanks to you. I'm impressed!"

"Oh... well, I've had some tutoring experience in the past," Twilight explained with a slight chuckle. "I was... asked to help out a lot back in my school days."

"Well, you've certainly got a knack for this. If you ever decide to go full time, I'd be willing to put in a good word for you!" The teacher's smile only grew as she began to leave the room ahead of Twilight.

Career options. Not bad, Sparkle, the alicorn congratulated of herself as she continued her self appointed cleaning task. It wasn't an option that she had any plans of taking, but the thought that the professional educator had put in to the offer was a nice sentiment at the very least. But Spike was due for another checkup with the shy nurse in another couple of days, and hopefully, he has made a full recovery from his bite wound. After that, there wouldn't be much reason to stay in Ponyville outside of simple leisure.

Currently, the agreed-upon plan with the long dragon was to stay until after the Summer Sun Celebration towards the end of June. Just to give them enough time to fully recover from their weary travels, and to build up their savings to a comfortable level. Besides, resuming their voyage at the beginning of the new year just felt right, new beginnings and all of that.

Maybe by then, I'll have burned up all this bad luck, she chuckled to herself, thinking back on the encounters with the dragon and the timberwolves. The mistakes Twilight had made leading up to those incidents still burned at the back of her head, taunting the alicorn with her own failures and shortcomings. But these were not thoughts to have right now, and Twilight didn't want to be worrying about that at the moment. But as she returned her attention to the classroom's only exit, Twilight found herself trapped by three fillies.

Three fillies that she had been acquainted with over the day so far in the various class periods Twilight had been helping in today. Apple Bloom—the yellow-ish earth pony with a bright red mane and a brighter red bow that was almost larger than her head. Sweetie Belle—the white and pink unicorn who was evidently Rarity's sister. And finally Scootaloo—an orange and dark purple pegasus who for one reason or another gave Twilight the strangest sense of déjà vu. Though for the life of her, she couldn't put her hoof on it. Each of them had their saddlebags worn and ready as if to take their trips home, seemingly waiting for the cloaked pony.

But Twilight knew the trio for a different reason. When she had arrived at the school, she had received a warning that these three were something of a group of troublemakers. They weren't exactly "bad kids," but on the occasion when an incident did occur, they were usually involved in some form or fashion—malicious intent or not. She had also been reassured that these incidents were few and far between, but it was better for her to be aware. For her own safety, the teacher who had warned her explained.

"Howdy, Twilight," Apple Bloom spoke up first, her country accent still as prevalent as ever.

"How's it hanging, teach?" Scootaloo added with an upward jut of her chin. The gesture reminded Twilight still of something, but she wrote it off as perhaps having seen it before. It wasn't exactly an uncommon gesture, after all.

"Oh... Hello, you three," Twilight muttered back, "How can I help you?"

"If you're not busy, would you mind helping us out with something?" Sweetie Belle's horn ignited with green light, a book removing itself from the confines of one of her bags before being offered to Twilight. "It's really important!"

Taking the book in her own grip, Twilight was privy to the sight of a very particular book. It was from a series of children's history books that detailed the kinds of tools and weapons that had been used by Equestria during its two greatest wars—The Great Shadow War, and the Equestrian/Searăn War. This volume in the set was all about various siege weapons that had been invented in that time period. Though, of course, the book didn't answer the question of what the three ponies wanted Twilight to help them with. And thus, the obvious question came to be.

"What exactly are you asking me to help you with?"

"School project." ~ "It's a secret." ~ "Nothing illegal."

The three fillies answered simultaneously without a moment's hesitation. Scootaloo's answer, in particular, caught Twilight's attention—and the attention of her two friends. The three comrades withdrew from the conversation with the librarian for a moment to huddle and talk amongst themselves. Based on the intensity in which they were whispering, it was very heated and very quick. Before Twilight could make out any specifics, the three fillies returned their attention to her with bright happy expressions.

"We are working on a school project," Sweetie Belle explained as she withdrew another item from her bag, this time a piece of paper clearly outlining a school assignment. "We're supposed to build a simple machine to demonstrate to the class."

"But we wanna do something cool," Apple Bloom added as if she were trying to sell a product, "Then we found this book at the library and decided we wanted to build."

"So we're building a trebuchet," Scootaloo concluded. The confident look on her face was suddenly overcome by a brief and unsubtle flash of panic. "A model trebuchet. Small enough to fit on a desk. So it isn't illegal." The breach of the facade earned the young pegasus a swift and subtle kick from Sweetie Belle, who's expression remained the same while in the act. And after getting over the brief moment of pain, Scootaloo's expression returned to the same innocent smile that the others had.

You three are terrible liers, Twilight observed as she overlooked the document. As the three had claimed, it was indeed a school assignment. The students were to construct a working miniature machine with some functional purpose by the end of the week. Everything else looked to be in order, from the teacher's signature to a small list of basic suggestions to get the mind flowing.

"Wait a second... this says it has to have a functional purpose," Twilight pointed out, showing the three students what she was talking about. "What possible function could a tiny trebuchet have?"

"Have you ever wanted to throw something away," Sctootaloo pointed towards the trash bin on the other side of the room, "But the trash can was all the way over there?"

Twilight didn't honestly know what to expect for an answer. In fact, she wasn't sure she was expecting an answer at all. But there it was, presented to her plain as day just as she had requested. The entire scenario seemed a bit sketchy, to say the absolute least. These three clearly had ulterior motivations outside of the school assignment, Scootaloo's testimony alone was enough to poke a few holes in their case. But at the same time, they were asking for help on a school project. And Twilight couldn't just turn a blind eye to three eager young minds who wanted to pass an assignment.

Even if they were clearly up to something.

But what harm could a model trebuchet actually cause?

"Are you three free after school?"

"Heck yeah, we are!" Apple Bloom answered swiftly, two enthusiastic nods following from her comrades.

"Alright then. Meet me at Golden Oak's, we'll see what we can do then."

--- — ---

The rest of the school day seemed to fly by like nothing after that. Twilight continued to help out in that particular math class, making sure that each student who asked got enough help to at least figure out the basic processes of what was being taught. It wasn't all that bad if the alicorn were being honest, it was just time-consuming. But now the school day was over and Twilight was allowed to return to her actual place of employment.

Warm sunlight fell upon her hard and fast as she stepped back into the outside world, a familiar sensation that brought a multitude of good memories to surface. Of course, she didn't have time to bask in those memories at the moment, she had a prior arrangement to fulfill. And it seemed that the three excitable fillies were eager to keep the alicorn to her word, for just as they had done earlier in the day the trio had tracked down and cornered Twilight at their earliest possible convenience. And the purple pony in question wasn't sure if she should have been impressed by their eagerness to complete their assignment or worried about the intensity in which they were pushing.

But it did give Twilight an experience that would one day become a funny story to tell. As the group exited the school in destination for the library, the trio of young ponies had Twilight surrounded on all sides in a triangular formation. Her own little entourage escorting her back to her place of employment. Twilight found it adorable, and that was likely helped by the fact that they weren't even aware of what their actions implied.

Or maybe they were just trying to make sure that she didn't ditch them. That was probably the more likely answer, all things considered.

Regardless, onward they marched through Ponyville, taking the most direct route to Golden Oak's: through the marketplace. Bustling and lively as ever, the congregation went widely unnoticed by the masses as they all went about their business. Though while Twilight and co weren't enough to draw the attention of one of the merchants, the alicorn seeing the pony's sudden and worried approach just out of the corner of her eye.

Standing at almost a whole head taller than Twilight—a whole head taller if you counted her well-worn stetson hat sitting atop her dirty blonde mane—was the earthy-orange earth pony. She didn't only just have a height advantage over Twilight, either, she also had the physical physique of a pony who had been working her entire life. And given that she had just bolted out of the apple stand, saying she was a farmer of some description was a safe bet. And as Twilight turned her head to fully see the approaching farmer, she saw two emerald green eyes filled to the brim with haste, anxiety, and the smallest twinge of anger.

"Apple Bloom, what'd we tell you about kidnappin'?!" The interloper scolded, aiming her ire at the younger earth pony who had been leading the caravan. She stood her ground before the younger pony, bringing the group to a swift halt. The younger two ponies passing Twilight to join their friend in the confrontation with this new arrival.

"Okay, first of all, we weren't kidnapping them," Applebloom defended with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "And second, we aren't kidnapping her."

Has this happened before? Twilight asked, suddenly regretting the choices she had made that led her into this situation.

"Yeah, we were going to the library to work on our project! Honest!" Sweetie Belle added to further their argument.

"Which isn't illegal," Scootaloo also mentioned, earning her another subtle kick, this time from Apple Bloom. "What? It isn't!"

Still uncertain, Applejack looked up to Twilight with a raised brow in search of answers. "This true?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't be, but I was asked to help them with an assignment," Twilight rebutted with a raised brow of her own.

"Hmm... alright then." The farmer didn't exactly sound convinced, evidently just as suspicious of the three fillies as Twilight had been. But she was satisfied enough to let them on their way, the three fillies rushing by the moment the path had been cleared without a care in the world. Though as Twilight went to follow them, she found herself being stopped by the orange mare once again. "Hey... do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar..."

The cloaked pony smiled for the first time in this whole conversation. "Ten bits says it's because of Pinkie Pie."

Sudden realization washed over Applejack like a wave, "Oh! You're the adventurer pony!"

That smile was quick to turn into a deadpan grimace. "... Traveler. I'm a traveler."

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you! Always good to meet one of Pinkie's pals," Applejack beamed, "Last I heard, you were looking for a job. Guess ya found one at the school, huh?"

"If we're being specific, I work at the library, they just had me help out at the..." Twilight began to explain, but she found herself trailing off to a stop when she caught sight of Applejack's reaction. The farm pony had gone pale in the brief period of time Twilight had been talking, wide dilated eyes locked firmly on the cloaked pony standing before her. Her mouth was left slightly ajar, stuck in a perpetual silent gasp. There was something else behind the surprise and shock, something bitter. Something angry.

"Are... you alright?"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine." Applejack was quick to shake herself out of her stooper, though a look of obvious worry was still plastered on her face. "But, uh... be careful around Ol' man Onwud..."

This got Twilight's full and immediate attention. "Why's that?"

"Twilight!" Apple Bloom interrupted at the worst possible time, running back up with her friends. "Where'd ya go? I thought you were gonna help us!"

"I'll tell you later," Applejack answered, returning to the currently abandoned stall she had left behind, and leaving the young alicorn with a number of questions burning to be answered. Though there was no way that they'd be answered right now, not with Applejack returning to her job and with three anxious fillies tugging at Twilight's cloak to get her to hurry up. The only thing to be done was to just go on ahead and fulfill the promise she had made earlier this day. Two weeks had already passed and Twilight had yet to notice anything odd of the sarosian thus far, who knows? Maybe it was nothing at all.

But what if there is something wrong? She mused for but a moment. After all, this hadn't been the first time someone had reacted this way after learning of her employer.

— Chapter Twelve —

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--- The Third Floor ---

This afternoon at Golden oak's had been, all things considered, had been almost dully normal outside of two very distinctive factors. The first was the presence of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. The three fillies had requested Twilight's assistance on a school project, and the young alicorn had agreed to help them out. The second and much more pressing matter was the absence of her employer, Knox Onwud.

Twilight and the trio of students had encountered the sarosian rather briefly upon arrival at the establishment, only for him to hurriedly leave on "personal business" of his. When asked about what he was doing, he simply stated that an old friend of his was going to be in town today and that he needed to see them. After that, he had tossed Twilight the keys and told her to lock up at closing time if he didn't return by then. The frantic nature in which Knox had left in, combined with Twilight's earlier encounter with Applejack, had given the alicorn no end of concern about what exactly he was doing. But at the same time, she didn't have much time to linger and dwell on that. When one has three excitable young ponies who need help with a school project all but pestering them, they tend to focus on that.

The actual project work itself wasn't all that bad. The fillies had managed to build the base of their miniature siege engine with glue and popsicle sticks—some reconstruction required due to it spending time in a school-filly's saddlebags for so long. After that, the only things needed were the beam, the pivot, the sling, and the counter-weight. Which, as luck would have it, were exactly the things they needed help with. The beam and pivot were the simplest, just a few more popsicle sticks—carefully combined with glue to achieve the optimal ratio with the rest of the construction—and a simple pivot hinge that Twilight constructed with the use of a loose nail. The only reason it had taken as long as it did was because of Twilight's duties as a librarian, the purple alicorn having to assist the occasional pony to wander into the library.

Why Scootaloo had a loose nail in her saddlebags Twilight didn't know. And considering the way that the pegasus had been answering most questions thus far, maybe that was for the best.

"Alright then, it's starting to come together," Apple Bloom idly commented, testing out the newly installed pivot to the trebuchet. "Now we just need to make it shoot stuff."

"And I got that covered," Scootaloo beamed as she once more delved into the depths of her saddlebags. Twilight found herself anxious about whatever else could be hiding away in there. Thankfully some of that anxiety melted away when the orange pegasus pulled out a simple bag of rubber bands.

"Oh great, this again." Sweetie Belle moped, prompting Twilight to question what "this" was. But the question was answered before she could.

"We gotta use rubber bands for tension!" Scootaloo argued, slamming the bag onto the desk with gusto. "The book says so!"

"That was a different thing," Sweetie fought back, for what sounded like the umpteenth time, "We're building the one with the weight!"

"They're the same thing!" Apple Bloom joined in as she began to flip through the book for proof.

"No, they aren't!"

Twilight was left to watch awekwardly as the three friends continued to argue. Back and forth they went, giving a clear example of just why they had needed help with this project in the first place. From what she could tell, the trio was split about what exactly it was that they were building. Based on the page that Apple Bloom had brought up, it looked like Scootaloo and the earth pony had made a simple mistake.

"Look, it's got ropes and stuff to build up tension," the earth pony explained as she pointed to the picture, "You unhook the thing and it launches!"

"But that's the wrong one though!" Sweetie groaned in frustration, resting her head on the table. "We were trying to build the tall one!"

Scootaloo huffed. "What's the difference?"

"Actually... there's quite a big difference," Twilight was hesitant in her interruption but stood her ground once she began. "If you're trying to build a trebuchet, you probabbly shouldn't be using a catapult as a visual guide."

Bloom and Scootaloo looked to their example for reference. They both were overcome by apparent confusion as they studied the illustration before looking back to Twilight.

"They aren't the same thing?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well, they're similar. But I'm afraid that is a catapult," Twilight explained with a kind smile and enthusiastic tone, "The inferior cousin to the greatest siege engine of all time, the trebuchet."

"See?! I told you so!" Sweetie Belle propped herself back up with a confident smirk.

"So wait... if we don't need these," Scootaloo chucked the bag of bands over her shoulder, "How does it fire stuff?"

"With the counterweight. You attach a sling to one end," Twilight pointed to one end of the trebuchet's throwing arm, "And on the other end you put a weight. Once you load it, you unlock the mechanism and gravity should do the rest, assuming you have the right weight ratio. But since this is a smaller one, we should be able to make it hoof operated."

Things got back on track after that. With the biggest obstacle in their progress taken care of, it didn't take them long to get the miniature weapon finished. As it turns out, the rubber bands did end up being used, after all, skillfully weaved together to form the pouch for the sling. It seemed that Sweetie Belle had picked up a few tricks from her elder sister. On the other end of the arm was yet another rubberband, from which the final popsicle stick hung. Not the most efficient counter-weight, but will a little applied force from a hoof, it would suffice for this model.

As proven by the test fire.

And the second test fire.

And the third.

Once they had finished construction, Twilight had provided a few crumpled up pieces of paper for a demonstration. It took a few tries—and a few repairs—to get the exact force needed correct, but they eventually got it right and they were launching the wads of parchment across the room for what felt like hours. Twilight was content with letting them play with their creation for a time, they weren't hurting anything and they weren't being overly loud. They'd get bored eventually and would pack up their things and leave.

"Awesome! We're gonna get an A on this for sure!" Apple Bloom blurted with glee, as the three fillies began to gather their belongings. "Thanks, Twilight!"

"Not a problem," the disguised alicorn smiled back, "Let me know how it goes with the class."

"We will!" Sweetie Belle was the one to grab the trebuchet. It was better to carry it with magic then it was to stuff it into a bag, after all. With that, the three dashed for the door.

"Let's go make it bigger!"

Twilight didn't pay any mind to Scootaloo's last comment until it was far too late, the three fillies were long gone by now. But despite the implications, she wrote it off as nothing. They were a group of fillies, just how much trouble could they possibly get into without being caught? Not a lot, she figured. They'd have to not only find the materials but also put them together. Not something that three ponies of their age could accomplish with ease. Not another moment was spent lingering on that, however, as the chime of the door's bell snapped her back to the here and now. Another patron needed assistance, and it was Twilight's job to give that assistance. Though once Twilight gave the newest guest her attention, she noticed there was something different about this particular pony.

The lavender-coated mare stood there at the entrance motionless, burdened by two very overfilled saddlebags—the obvious sign of a fellow traveler. A silver fob watch hung around her neck by means of a thin but sturdy-looking chain of similar silvery material, slightly glistening in the afternoon sun. The unicorn's mane dark violet mane shimmered in the afternoon sunlight and was contrasted heavily by the twin streeks running through it, blue as lightning. There was a strange sense of recognition Twilight received when she laid eyes upon the mare. Like perhaps the two had met once in the past. Perhaps a brief encounter somewhere on the road?

But that sense of déjà vu was of no consequence right now, as what really caught Twilight's interest the most was this pony's intense staring. Wide indigo eyes stared straight at—no, straight through Twilight, like there was something truly horrific and beyond words standing just behind her. Of course, there wasn't anything of the sort behind her—not as far as she was aware, at the very least—so this unicorn's staring warranted the confusion.

"Ahem," Twilight cleared her throat, "Can I help you?"

The unicorn shook herself out of her trance, looking to Twilight with a look of embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry... I spaced out there for a second..." She chuckled awkwardly, her face beginning to take on a slightly red tint.

And I thought Fluttershy was awkward, the alicorn observed as her newest customer closed the distance, "Well, what can I help you with?"

"Y-you work h-here?" The unicorn didn't seem to believe she had asked that question, shaking her head slowly in disapproval of her own actions. "Where's Mr. Onwud?"

"He's out at the moment running errands. Did you need something specific? I could go and—"

"No! It's fine!" Sudden panic shot through the strange pony, quickly doused by a surge of visible regret. "I mean... I just need to return a book. No big deal... right?"

"... Right," Twilight nodded slowly, leading the customer to the nearby desk. "I'll just need to see the book and your library card."

A sliver of her previous alarm returned, if only for a second. "Library card?"

Twilight gave the mare a blank stare. "Yes, a library card. You couldn't have checked out a book without one. And I need to see it so I can fill out the right paperwork. There's a system, I have to follow it."

"O-of course, how silly of me," another paranoid chuckle followed suit before she engulfed her horn in blue arcane light. One of the filled-to-the-brim bags flipped open and one of what looked to be many books was drawn forth from the confines. "Here's the book, give me a moment so I can find my card..." Taking the book for herself, Twilight gave a skeptical glance to the unicorn before looking to the book in question.

Corul Luminii Lunii.

The same book from Twilight's dream, she quickly realized. And not just a copy of the same text, but the exact same book. Same apparent age, same external damages, everything was identical. It was a surreal thing to see in the waking world, all things considered. A brief moment passed by where Twilight thought she was still dreaming, but the unicorn's voice was quick to distract her from that school of thought.

"Here it is!" The unicorn's voice brought Twilight back to the conversation. She was now holding up a small plastic card before the newest librarian. "Sorry that it took so long, clutter and all that."

Twilight knew the complications of overstuffed saddlebags first hoof and didn't bother getting upset about that. Instead, she took the library card in question and began the process of overlooking it. As expected, everything looked to be in order. Everything matched up with the cards Twilight had seen throughout her time here, the only difference being the mare's name scribbled onto the front. She took a moment to jot down both the unicorn's name and member number onto the appropriate document, as well as the book's title and date of return.

"Alright then, Starlight Glimmer, everything looks to be in order here." Twilight floated the card back to its owner and offered a smile. "Have a nice day."

"Y-you too..." Starlight muttered back, stowing away her library card once more and impatiently making haste for the door. But in spite of her apparent hurry to leave, she stopped and waited, motionless like a statue. There was a long and drawn-out pause before she spoke again, not looking back to the robed librarian. "What... what's your name?"

"... Twilight," the alicorn answered as nicely as she could.

"Twilight... I am... sorry. Just in general... I'm sorry." The unusual unicorn practically flew through the door without giving Twilight a chance to respond to the apology.

At least she was courteous enough to apologize for her awkward behavior, even if it wasn't exactly necessary. Twilight knew from experience that some people just didn't like meeting new people, and she wrote of the unicorn's anxiety without another thought on the topic. Instead, she focused her efforts back on her job and back on the book she had just been given. Opening up the front cover, she looked to the included index showing the book's history in this place.

And it had only ever been checked out one time, three years ago by that socially gauche unicorn. And based on the information scribbled into the small chart, the duration in which it was to be kept was exactly three years. To today's date and everything. Either a misprint on Knox's behalf or perhaps some irregular exception to the typical rules. Regardless, the book had been returned on time, so that meant less paperwork in general for Twilight to sift through. Always a benefit.

The only thing left was getting it back onto its shelf. Where that was, Twilight had no idea, but that's what the catalog was for. Thankfully the system was organized alphabetically, so finding the book's title was a quick endeavor in it of itself. It was also a tool that Twilight had to find on her own, Mr. Knox never having even mentioned it. And considering the dust that had accumulated on it when she found it the first time, it had scarcely ever been used.

But nothing was ever that easy, she knew that from experience, and this book proved that statement true. Because unless something was wrong, the shelf that this book belonged too didn't exist. Or at least, it didn't exist in any part of the library Twilight had seen thus far. The system itself was organized through a combination of letters and numbers. A1 was the first shelf on the first floor, B1 was the first on the second floor, so on and so forth. Yet according to the index, Corul Luminii Lunii belonged on shelf C6. The sixth shelf of the third floor.

Wait a minute... have I ever even been up there? The alicorn found herself looking back to her entire time working here. And looking back, she couldn't pull up a single instance in which she ventured beyond the second floor. In fact, nobody ever went up to the third floor. Nobody, except for one pony.

"Onwud..." She realized aloud, looking back to the Searăn tome on the desk. It was only now she noticed that Knox had been the only living soul to tread up those stairs, not very often, but enough to stick out in her mind. This led her back to the index, skimming feverously for another C-shelf-book. There were very few and very far between, but they were there. And outside of Corul Luminii Lunii, there was a pattern forming.

"They're all spellbooks... every single one."

This couldn't have been a coincidence. Throughout the first two floors, the spellbooks were placed alongside the regular texts, as to be expected with the alphabetical system. But on the third floor? All spellbooks. And not just spellbooks, old spellbooks. Covering every field of magic from conjuration to transmutation—and everything in-between. The only name Twilight found that she didn't recognize was the book that had been returned just moments ago.

What secrets could this passage hold?

"TWILIGHT!?"

Just as Twilight was about to open the book to see just what kind of subjects it covered, Golden Oak's door was rammed opened with great ferocity, her employer bellowing out louder then he had ever spoken before. Looking up from the book in shock, Twilight was greeted to the sight of what she could only call a feral sarosian. Eyes dilated far beyond normal, his mane and face glistening with fresh sweat, and breathing with heavy and haggard gasps that seemed to emphasize the fangs that were commonplace in his race. He looked like he was ready to murder someone, or like he had just finished murdering someone. Though this crazed facade faded almost as quickly as he had burst into the library, his usual way of carrying himself returning as his breathing normalized.

"Sorry, I just ran halfway across town..." Mr. Knox apologized, lightly kicking the door shut behind him as he walked up to the desk. "I saw my friend leaving town just now, and she told me she dropped—" his outlook changed to one of great joy as he caught sight of the book, scooping it up into his surprisingly prehensile wings, "Ah, there you are!" He tucked the tome neatly underneath one of said wings, holding it tightly to his body as if to protect it from anything and everything.

Twilight meanwhile, just stood there dumbfounded. The display her employer had just undergone was truly a sight to behold. He had written it off as exhaustion from running a great distance, the sweat still showing prominently on his brow serving as evidence for that. But then there was the way he had kicked open the door, the deep and raspy way he had been breathing, and that demented horrific look in his eyes. They were evidence of something more than simple physical exertion.

Anger. Desperation. Fear.

That's what Twilight had seen in those scant few seconds, a brief flash of something horrible lurking just beneath the surface that was the seemingly kind old stallion. It was like looking at an entirely different person, she could hardly even register that this was the same old horse who had hired her. Any angrier, and he would have been foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. And a subtle but noticeable feeling in her gut told her that she wasn't the first to see this side of him. But that was shoved aside for the time being, Twilight thinking quickly and trying to ignore that for the moment. She'd gain nothing from a direct confrontation now, but perhaps she'd be able to coax him into giving some context to all of this by playing along. More flies with honey than vinegar, after all.

"Yeah, she was looking for you, actually," Twilight replied kindly, pointing down to the catalog book. "I was just trying to find the shelf that this belonged to. Turns out it goes—"

"On the third floor." Knox interrupted, eyeing the old collection of papers with a slight scowl. "Yes... that's a problem."

"Oh? How so?"

"The third floor... isn't public anymore. Hasn't been for years. In fact, we don't even have most of those books anymore." He groaned in dissatisfaction. "This thing needs to be updated. From a moment's glance, this whole thing needs to be entirely redone. We don't have any of these books anywhere in the library anymore."

That was a blatant lie and Twilight could tell. Unlike her employer, she had actually been using this organizational index for her entire employment thus far. And from what she could tell, every book from the first two floors was accounted for within this catalog. The exception being the books she had recently sold to the establishment before her employment. But still, she went along with Knox's story.

"So what's up there then?"

"I... live up there." There was a subtle stutter hidden amongst those words.

That didn't sound quite right to Twilight's ears. His hesitation and his attempted lie served as strong evidence against the claim. "You... live here?"

"Of course. I... like seclusion," he explained with a moment's pause, "And that's exactly what I get up there. Seclusion..."

"I see... then where does that book go?"

"Oh, this?" Onwud shook the wing that held the tome close to his barrel, "Well, after the third floor got restricted, the town wanted to sell the books up there. Which we did... but I kept this one for my personal collection... I used to have a copy as a colt, and I was feeling a bit nostalgic. So it stays with me... But my good friend wanted to borrow it for a bit, so I loaned it to her."

If nothing else, Knox had that part of his story straight, Twilight had to give him that. But even still, his alibi had holes in it. By the book's own documentation, it had been checked out one time. And that one time had consisted of a grand total of three years. And if he had loaned it to that unicorn, why would she bother returning it through the normal means? The mare had been a nervous wreck, but if she had borrowed the book in a personal sense she would have said something. But she didn't.

Not to mention, living in the restricted floor of a library didn't quite seem legal. Coupled with the fact that Twilight had seen him lock the door and leave on multiple occasions instantly proved that he wasn't being honest with her.

"Well, I should be able to take care of everything else today," Mr. Knox continued hastily on his way to the stairs, "You can go home early if you'd like. I know that those school ponies can be exhausting."

"But I—"

"Goodbye!"

Twilight said nothing else as her employer ascended to the upper levels of the library, vanishing from sight entirely. It was now that she let her skepticism and curiosity finally show, squinting at the staircase with great intensity. Her mind buzzed with questions and theories of what was going on within Onwud's mind. Either his old age was catching up to him with greater intensity than Twilight had initially thought, or he was hiding something.

Considering the things Twilight had seen last night, she was inclined to believe the latter.

— Chapter Thirteen —

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--- Too Many Questions ---

Despite the possible reasons as to why Mr. Knox had let her go home early, it was something Twilight was grateful for the early reprieve. She wanted to check back up on Spike to make sure he was doing better then he had been last night, which led her to make great promptitude towards Fluttershy's cabin. The walk wasn't very long, doubly so thanks to her haste, and Twilight couldn't be any happier for it.

Inside was exactly as she remembered it, animals of almost every variety out and about like they owned the place. They practically did own the place, knowing Fluttershy's typical behavior. Nothing out of the ordinary for Twilight at this point, save for Phlorence the flamingo. He was an enigma beyond mortal comprehension, not even Fluttershy knew what was up with him. He simply was. But then again, that meant he was part ordinary on-goings in this house, funnily enough.

But none of that was Twilight's concern right now. She was more invested in the whereabouts of a particular long dragon, which wouldn't be that hard to locate based on the upset grumblings of a grizzly bear very close by. Walking into the dining room, it was easy enough to spot the grizzly bear, the yellow pegasus, and the dragon sitting at the table. Normally, the sight of an angered bear would be an alarming one, but Harry's frustration was a common sight by now. Spike sat opposite to him, leaning his head in one of his foreclaws with an almost bored expression on his face. And between them both was Fluttershy, watching the chessboard with bated breath. None of them had noticed Twilight yet, so the alicorn decided to play it by ear and see where this was going to go. It went by fairly quickly, all things considered, Spike simply reaching forward and flicking a piece forward.

"Checkmate."

Harry was not amused by this development, evident by his immediate reaction of knocking the board off the table and storming out of the room in a huff. Twilight had thankfully been there to catch the game set that had been furiously flung in her dirrection. Still, she went unnoticed and continued to watch the scene unfold before her.

"He's a sore loser, huh?" Spike asked, hopping down from his chair with a small laugh. And the first thing Twilight noticed was him standing on all four of his legs. Not a single bandage to be seen. "Better luck next time, hairball!" He shouted over his shoulder before walking away triumphantly, only now noticing the cloaked alicorn watching from the entrance. "Oh... hi, Twilight... how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," Twilight spoke with a sly grin, floating the chess set back to the table as she approached Spike. "It's good to see you walking again, let me see your leg."

Almost embarrassingly so, Spike presented his newly freed and newly healed forelimb for Twilight to inspect, the dragon looking away as he bit at his lower lip. Twilight kneeled close to the offered appendage and inspected it carefully. While the damage from the bite had been healed, there was still evidence of his wound still present. Something akin to a scar was a jagged line of discolored scales, lighter in hue than the others covering Spike's body. Thinking hard, the alicorn was reminded of Spike's earliest days. This was the color his scales had originally had before they hardened and matured into the darker shade she was accustomed to seeing these days. So, by that logic, this distortion would fade with time. Assuming nothing else happened to it, that is.

"I don't think that will be permanent," Fluttershy spoke up while approaching the new conversation, "But Spike said he wants it to. He said it makes him look tough."

"I didn't say that!" The dragon quickly barked, pulling his leg away from Twilight. "Shut up, you can't prove anything!" This course of action did not end in the desired results, however, as the two mares simply chortled and giggled at his antics. And after a moment of nervously glancing back and forth between the two, he joined in on the joke. Anxiously at first, but soon enough he fully joined in on the moment. Soon it passed by, with Fluttershy beginning to attend to other matters within her home. But Twilight, meanwhile, had yet to actually speak with her, and she had some things she wanted to say. Thus she followed the pegasus and began to continue the conversation.

"Thank you again for all your help, Fluttershy," the sudden attention caught the mare off guard, evidenced by her flinching in shock. Twilight paid no mind to this, however, and kept on speaking once the pegasus calmed back down. "I don't know what we would have done if you didn't come along when you did. If there is any way I can repay you, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Oh... i-it was no problem," Fluttershy broke eye contact as she sunk into herself, embarrassed by the situation she had just been thrust into. "You know... a little kindness and all that... I'm just glad I could help. You don't need to do anything for me..."

"Nonsense. You let us stay in your home, eat your food, you help keep Spike company while I'm at work, and you've helped him heal in record time. There must be something I can do to repay the favor."

"B-b-but you already gave me so much money for rent..." Fluttershy took a few hesitant steps back in response to Twilight's offer. It was true that Twilight had already paid the pegasus back for the time she had allowed them to stay in her home, and Twilight had to practically force her to take the three hundred bits of rent money before moving into the new living space.

The alicorn sighed deeply, reflecting for a moment and trying to accommodate to Fluttershy's absolute refusal to be paid back. "Alright. Then if nothing else, at least let me invite you over for dinner tonight. Nothing fancy or extravagant, just a nice and simple home-cooked meal to show my appreciation."

The yellow mare ceased her panic for a moment and began to ponder the offer. As awful as it may sound, over the time she knew Fluttershy, Twilight had learned very quickly how to get past the mare's humility in order to pay her back. It was how she had gotten her to accept the rent money that Twilight owed her, and it looked like it had worked here as well. But Twilight's offer didn't just catch the attention of the yellow pony, it also piqued the interest of the purple dragon in the room. he quickly propped himself up onto his equally purple caretaker and leaned in close to her ear.

"Twilight, tomorrow's grocery day," Spike almost hissed in a hushed whisper, "We don't have enough food for three of us!"

"Shush, I'll improvise," Twilight whispered back through grit teeth, "We can do some shopping on the way back."

"Umm... can w-we take a rain check on that dinner?" Fluttershy finally answered with an apologetic grin. "I actually have... prior engagements I need to attend to..."

"Oh... well, sure. Whenever is good for you should be fine."

"Th-thank you. Now if you excuse me, I have to go... you don't have to leave but you don't have to stay either..." With that, the yellow pegasus began to gather her medical into a set of saddlebags. Taking the hint, Twilight began to gather her belongings into her own bags. Those belongings being Spike, as while he could once more walk unimpeded, parading a dragon around Ponyvile was still a very bad idea.

With everything sorted and settled the disguised alicorn gave her regards to her fellow winged pony before headed towards the front door. But Twilight stopped herself when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, something very peculiar that demanded her attention. Unaware of the purple peepers locked upon her, Fluttershy quickly opened up the glass case that served as the home for the simple twig and retrieved it with the utmost care and caution. The stick was then gently tucked behind her ear before the shy mare made her way to the back door.

Alright, that's unusual, Twilight thought, blankly staring at the door the pegasus had departed through. In the time she had spent here, that stick had been the center of so many questions and unsolved mysteries. Granted, Twilight didn't have much time for that topic due to her job and her house-hunting, but the displayed scrap of wood remained at the back of her mind even still. A mundane mystery that was intriguing enough to remember, but not intense enough as to demand an immediate explanation.

But now? Now it seemed too strange to just simply ignore.

"Hey, Fluttershy? Do you have a moment?"

The pegasus halted, turning around with a look of haste. "Not to be rude... but can it be quick?"

"I'm just a little curious about that accessory of yours." The cloaked pony raised a hoof and pointed to the twig.

Fluttershy noticeably hesitated. "Th-this?" She asked shakily, gesturing to the scrap of wood herself. She gulped heavily as Twilight nodded in response. "Oh... it's just a... good luck charm... I keep it with me whenever I go into the Everfree... now if you excuse me, I really need to go."

That answer matched up with what Twilight had seen thus far, but the pegasus's body language gave the impression that there was something more to what she was saying. But her haste in leaving also served as a strong deterrent against the alicorn getting any further explanation, and that's exactly what Fluttershy did. Exiting her home via the back door and leaping over the fence with a few flaps of her wings. It wasn't long before the pegasus vanished from sight within the woods, focused on her mission of assisting whatever timberwolf victims she could find.

Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, was left alone to wrestle with her thoughts. And wrestle them she did as she left the home, having no business in staying here any longer. A moment passed where she had considered following the mare into the forest, but Spike's presence was enough to thoroughly dissolve that potential course of action. There was no force in the world that could compel her to bring the dragon back into that forsaken place. Not as of yet, at the very least, they'd have to leave town eventually.

The walk home seemed endless, the alicorn's mind ablaze with what could only be called baseless conspiracies at this point. The more she thought, the more she found that there was very little evidence to prove that anything wrong was necessarily going on. And Twilight of all ponies couldn't exactly criticize someone for keeping secrets—not without a serious amount of hypocrisy on her part. She was just being paranoid, she told herself. Overthinking and over-analyzing things that didn't need to be dug into. What business was it of hers? It wasn't like she had any plans to stay in this town any longer than she needed too.

Keep moving forward, you have to just keep moving forward, the purple pony reminded herself as she passed through Ponyville's marketplace. Don't stop, don't linger. There's too much... too much...

A deep resonating sigh escaped from her as she strolled by, largely unnoticed by the passersby around her. Why would they notice? Twilight was just another unicorn living her life, as far as they were aware. It was all Twilight wanted them to see. It was all that needed to be seen. So this school of thought was also discarded, for the time being, Twilight was tired and just wanted to go home. The early end to her shift meant she could spend some much needed time for herself and with Spike. Two things that had been neglected for far too long, in her honest opinion.

But then, ever observant to a fault, out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the orange earth pony who had started this series of conspiracies and theories. Applejack was hard at work, selling her stock to all comers, and seemingly pretty busy considering the line she had. An honest smile slapped over her face, the earth mare seemed to have completely moved on from whatever ailed her during the conversation she had with Twilight. And thinking back on that, Twilight found herself recalling the last thing the farmer had said to her.

"I'll tell you later."

A venue for answers had been given to her, and she had only just noticed. The alicorn stopped and stared in the street, just watching as the earth pony happily went about her business. Was Twilight really considering going over there and possibly ruining that for, potentially, no good reason? She was honestly considering it, but at the same time, she didn't want to be responsible for causing any trouble. The idea was to lay low, causing trouble was a bad way to do that. It took but a moment for Twilight to make her decision, swiftly continuing her walk home.

If she was going to do this, she at least didn't want Spike to be involved.

— Chapter Fourteen —

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--- A Forgetful Warning ---

As the sun began to set over Equestria, Twilight found herself back at Ponyville's marketplace observing the apple stand from a respectable distance. She spent some time with Spike just talking about their respective days. Leaving out the parts involving Mr. Knox's little outburst, she was far more interested in hearing about his day. He didn't have much to say, but he had enough to spin quite a decent yarn. Enough so as to expend the remainder of his stamina just by talking. So after making them both a quick dinner, Twilight suggested that he go to bed early tonight to catch up on his sleep while she attended to other necessities.

The excuse she had fed him was that she was just going to get the grocery trip out of the way tonight so that her day off tomorrow could be spent relaxing. Spike had liked the idea, and Twilight had spent the past hour or so gathering said supplies just so she wouldn't be made a liar. All that was left was the apple booth and the earth pony who could shine some light on the situation. With a deep breath, Twilight advanced once it looked like the farmer didn't look to be busy.

Applejack, in an attempt to pass the time, had begun to polish and clean the apples on display in her little shop. She whistled a jaunty tune as she worked, enjoying the shine the fruits gave off in the fleeting rays of sunlight. Though when she saw that light being obscured by something she was quick to look up to the cloaked pony now standing before her.

"Oh, hello again," the farm pony greeted with a smile, "How can I help you? Could I interest you in some mouth-wateringly delicious, freshly picked apples?" She gestured to her stock in an overly dramatic fashion. Twilight mused the offer for a moment before agreeing to the salesmare's suggestion. If her prying were to cause trouble, she didn't want this visit to be entirely negative. Besides, she was out and about shopping regardless, and it never hurt to have a few apples lying around. The transaction was quick and efficient, and after it was all said and done, Twilight was given the opportunity to resume their earlier conversation.

"Is it later yet?"

"Ah... should have figured that's what this was about." The farm mare chortled a bit at the situation before taking on a more somber expression. She took a moment to think something over before she continued. "You're from outta town, right?" Twilight nodded. Applejack paused again, turning away for only a moment as she weighed her options. "Look... I didn't mean to scare you earlier if I did. Just... steer clear of that library's third floor, and you'll be fine."

That was when the earth pony decided to go back to her work. After giving that very vague warning, she just decided that was enough to let Twilight know about before leaving the topic alone. But after what had happened earlier in the day with Mr. Knox, and the brief flash of rage he had shown her, the alicorn knew that there was more to the story than that.

"Wait, that's it?" Twilight asked pressingly of the farmer, taking a step closer to the apple stand between them. "You're just going to tell me that, and not give me an explanation?"

"It's for the best that you don't know," Applejack spoke back sternly. "Trust me. I wish I didn't. Just don't go to the third floor, and you'll be fine." She turned away from the cloaked pony and began to pack away the unsold apples into large wooden boxes. Twilight nearly growled in responce.

"You said you'd tell me." She wasn't given an answer yet again, only furthering her frustration at the whole situation. Of course, thinking back to that promise, Twilight also recalled something quite interesting about how their previous conversation had ended. "Alright then... if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'll just ask Apple Bloom."

Applejack stopped what she was doing in an instant, a single apple dropping to the ground with a simple light thud. Twilight could almost hear the sounds of grinding stone as the farmer slowly turned her gaze back towards her. The look on her face would have been enough to strike a pony of weaker constitution dead on the spot. She only spoke two simple and short words.

"Do. Not."

And with that, Twilight knew she had struck the right nerve. Applejack had ceased speaking of the subject just as her little sister had intruded upon the conversation. By that logic, the elder sister must not have wanted Apple Bloom to know about whatever this was all about. Was it wrong of Twilight to drag Applejack's family into this? Absolutely, and she knew that. But she also knew that there were far too many questions to ignore by this point. The mystery of the third floor, why Knox was so protective of it,

"You said you'd tell me," Twilight reiterated, taking on a more relaxed facial tone. "That's all I want."

The enraged earth pony sighed in defeat, her head and her ears drooping low as a clear signal of her surrender. She stood there for a moment, seemingly thinking things over before she finally looked back to Twilight, with almost the exact same expression she had donned earlier that day.

"I... I don't know what's up there," the farmer spoke shakily, taking a brief moment to make sure nobody was listening in on their conversation. She leaned over the countertop, gesturing with a hoof for Twilight to do the same, before continuing in a hushed tone. "But I know when somebody finds out... something bad happens to them... something that ain't normal..."

Twilight found herself squinting again. "What kind of something?"

Applejack shook. "It's... hard to explain."

"Try."

Applejack recoiled, a twinge of anger returning to her face as she did. "Okay, how 'bout you tell me why you care so much? I told ya what ya needed to stay safe. What else do you want?"

There wasn't an answer. At least, not at first. Twilight found herself thinking on her own actions thus far with a cold and calculated disposition. Why was she pushing so hard into this topic? An answer wasn't that hard to find, as she soon found her mind flashing back to the previous night's dream. The book that she had seen in that nocturnal vision was the exact same book that she had presented with just earlier today. It was too strange and too specific to just be a mere coincidence, there was some reason that it had happened. And Twilight had become dedicated to finding that reason without realizing until now.

She kept thinking, also taking the time to observe the earth pony standing within the small apple stand. The mare in question was heavily conflicted right now, a part of her looked like she wanted to tell Twilight everything, while another seemed to want to run and hide at the mere mention of it. The slight twitch at the bottom of one eye, the way the mare subtly shivered and shook, she was frightened. Whatever it was that she was hiding, it didn't look like something that should be taken lightly. The grim expression reminded her all too much of Spike's reaction to his first-ever draconic encounter. With that in mind, Twilight involuntarily reacted the only way she could in such a situation.

"Does it scare you?"

The farm pony took a double-take at the question. "I beg your pardon?"

"What happens in the library. Does it scare you?" Twilight did her best to take on a more empathetic expression of her own.

"... A bit."

"Do you want me to help?"

There was a sense of legitimate surprise that came over Applejack with Twilight's question, and it could be plainly seen on her face.

"Alright... I'll squeal... but I gotta finish closing up shop first. Do you mind?"

Agreeing to the reasonable request, Twilight stood off to the side and waited for her to conclude her business. It looked like she had been getting ready to close for the day anyway, given how Applejack soon resumed her duty of packing up the unsold apples into crates. But as the alicorn stepped to the side, she found herself bumping into what she could only call a wall of red muscle.

The red stallion was absolutely massive, towering above even Applejack's already above-average height. Closer to a goliath then an earth pony, he hadn't even noticed the comparatively smaller pony bumping into him. His emerald eyes just stared forward into the deepest recesses of oblivion. Twilight honestly wasn't sure if this were a living breathing creature or a statue that had been placed here while she wasn't looking.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't see you there..." Somehow, Twilight added silently. The behemoth of an equine said nothing, unphased by the rude introduction.

"Big Mac, quit messing around and help me out," Applejack called out nonchalantly, "I got stuff to do in a bit."

"Okay." He spoke only once, before moving to assist the other earth pony in shutting down the stall for the day. He moved with almost complete silence and grace, like a gentle spring breeze. Only forceful enough to just make itself known, and nothing else. And before long, he was hauling away a cart with the unsold apples in tow, vanishing into the town as if he had never even been there at all.

But that was something Twilight could worry about later. For now, she had questions in regards to her employer to ask. Though even though Applejack had sent the larger pony on his way with the goods, she was yet still denied her explanation. At least for the time being, as the earth pony began leading the disguised alicorn through town. When asked why they couldn't just talk then and there, Applejack gave an unsettling answer.

"It'll be easier to show you..."

So the alicorn marched forward, a few meager paces behind the earth pony who had some of the answers she sought. Eagerly awaiting whatever explanation there was to be had in regards to the sarosian. And the utter anxiety of whatever it was she had to say had the hairs on the back of Twilight's neck stood up on end in anticipation. She could feel herself shaking in suspense, shuttering even.

"Hey, uhh, Twilight?" Applejack asked out of the blue, suddenly behind the walking alicorn. "Where are you going?"

She was so suspenseful, in fact, that she found herself almost walking right past Applejack. They had reached their destination within just a few short minutes without her even noticing. Looking at the building that the farmer had stopped in front of gave Twilight yet another surprise in today's long line of surprises. The Carousel Boutique stood before them, exactly as Twilight had remembered it when she had been brought here by Pinkie Pie.

So Rarity knows something too, the alicorn realized as she entered the building alongside her earth pony escort. The place was seemingly abandoned, but that didn't stop Applejack from waling right up the stairs. Was she expected? Or maybe she didn't care? Either way, Twilight wasn't about to let this go. No, she'd come too far now, her curiosity had bested her. She didn't care if she was getting her hopes up for nothing, at this point she didn't think she'd be able to even sleep without having at least some of her questions answered.

The two walked up to the only door that Twilight had been through in this place, and Applejack was quick to pound a few quick knocks on the wooden barricade. Someone began moving hurridly on the other side as they muttered something illegible. In no time at all, the door was swung open with immense speed and force, a bindingly thick cloud of steam erupting into the comparatively cool air. The two visitors were momentarily blinded by the misty mass, but the cloud dissipated quickly in the open air.

Now standing within the doorway was Rarity, wearing an almost impossibly fuzzy bright pink bathrobe and equally fluffy slippers. The normally curly locks of royal violet were constrained by a pale towel in an almost beehive-like fashion. However, she was unable to see who it was who had interrupted her, as the mare's eyes were obscured by large cucumber slices. She moved her head about as if she were trying to find her guests, with no success as to be expected.

"Hello? Who is it? I'm a bit busy at the moment, could it—?"

"Rarity, it's me," Applejack bluntly interrupted, "And take those stupid veggies off your eyes. You look like a ding dang fool." Seemingly in responce to this, one of the thin slices of cucumber unceremoniously slid off of her face and granting Rarity the gift of sight. She aimed her one unamused eye at the earth pony and spoke in a dully disapproving tone.

"How dare you?" The sapphire orb took notice of someone else in her presence and it darted over in Twilight's dirrection. Irritation transformed to embarrassment immediately. "Oh... hello, Twilight... what brings you here?"

"We need to talk." Applejack answered in place of the disguised alicorn with an utterly blank tone and expression.

"Oh... I see..." The second cucumber joined its twin on the floor as Rarity took on a curious look. The unicorn looked to be just as confused about this as Twilight currently was, something that put the cloaked pony on edge. The white unicorn stepped past the two other ponies, flicking her horn lightly and opening another door. "Come, make yourselves comfortable. I will go and make some tea."

"I want cider," Applejack piped up.

"You get tea," Rarity sternly reinforced. "I know how you get."

--- — ---

In the time since being invited back into Rarity's home, Twilight had learned that there was more to this upstairs portion of the store than just a workroom and a bedroom. It went without saying since the unicorn lived here, but the entire upper floor of the facility functioned as a house. Applejack and Twilight were currently waiting in the dining room. Nothing overly extravagant, it was a bit plain in all honesty. It was akin to the stereotypical dining room one would see in a play, scarily to a tee.

"Alright, what is it that you're trying to show me?" Twilight eventually broke the silence, looking to the earth pony with great impatience. "What does Rarity have to do with any of this?"

Applejack just sat there, her discomfort as plain as the hat atop her head. "It's... not something that's easy to talk about."

"If you want my help, you'll try."

Applejack didn't say anything at first. There was just this unnerved stare into the opposite wall as she gathered her words and her thoughts. Within time, she looked back to Twilight and attempted to answer the question. "Okay... I think Onwud... did something."

"Okay. Picture this," Applejack held her forehooves out as if she were holding something between them, "You're talking to a pony. One of your pals... Pinkie, for example, and the library comes up for one reason or another. Ya both keep talking, and then your bud just gets really, really upset about something. For no reason." The earth mare paused to make sure Twilight was keeping up with her, only continuing after getting Twilight's nod of approval. "And then... they just stop."

Twilight sat there with a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised higher than its twin. "And how is that an issue?"

"I mean they stop," the orange mare emphasized in a panicked tone, "They stop talking, stop moving, stop everything. Then they mutter some nonsense and go on like it didn't even happen... it ain't normal..."

Twilight was left with just that in regards to a verbal explanation. Any further attempt to get information from the farmer was denied, she was intent on actually showing Twilight what she meant. She even went as far as to tell the cloaked pony that she had asked for this.

It wasn't long, however, before the unicorn in question did return. About fifteen minutes or so, which Applejack used to the fullest to calm herself back down. Rarity returned with the promised tea in tow, as well as a vastly different appearance from before. Her self-care garb had been discarded, her mane and tail done in the style Twilight were familiar with, and just a touch of makeup had been applied to her face. Clearly, she had spent most of that time making herself presentable for her two guests.

"That really necessary?" Applejack asked, very clearly annoyed by this obvious fact.

"Well, I had to do something while waiting for the water to boil." Rarity lightly scoffed, pouring tea for each of her guests before herself. "Besides, it's me, Applejack. What else would you expect?"

"Point taken."

"Speaking of the point, can we get to it?" Twilight muttered impatiently while tapping a hoof against the table.

"Right, right," Rarity retorted before taking a sip of her drink. "My apologies... we can proceed. What did you two wish to discuss?"

Applejack cleared her throat, gathering the attention of the two other ponies sitting to either side of her. "Rarity, if ya could be so kind, what do you know about Ol' Man Onwud?"

"... The librarian?" The unicorn tilted her head slightly, looking back and forth between Applejack and Twilight with blatant uncertainty showing on her face. "I know about as much as anyone else would. Why do you ask?"

"Humor us."

There was a lull in the discussion as the white unicorn began to think, a hoof being placed to her chin as she compiled her information. In the meanwhile, Twilight was left to wonder what the purpose of all of this was. The farmer seemed to know what she was doing, yet Rarity seemed none the wiser as to what was going on at all.

"Well... I know he's been working at Golden Oak's for a number of years now. Since I was a filly, at the very least," Rarity began slowly enough, still picking her own mind for whatever information she could. "I've actually done some work for him in the past. He had me refit an old suit for him once. Something about needing it for a conference or something like that. But, pardon my manners, I don't see how any of that is relevant to either of you."

"What else do you know about him?" Applejack leaned into the question ever so slightly, her eyes narrowing in a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. From Twilight's perspective, it looked like the farmer was trying to get Rarity to both ask and answer the same question.

Rarity paused for a moment to drink of her own tea. "Hmm... I honestly don't know what else I could have to offer you. He's not exactly a social butterfly. He tends to keep to himself, more often than not. Very absorbed in his work. But I still fail to see why you're asking me of all ponies these questions." Mild but growing frustration made itself known in Rarity's tone, a sentiment Twilight was sharing in right now. "I know it's hilarious coming from me Applejack, but gossip is unbecoming of you. You're better than that, and we both know it."

Applejack sighed with a defeated and mournful sound. She gave Twilight a brief glance before looking back to Rarity, an obvious surge of regret coursing through her. "Rarity. Remember that time you tried to go up to the library's third floor?"

Twilight furthered her focus on the ivory-colored unicorn, hoping that her intensive staring wouldn't be noticed. Thankfully, the other magical pony seemed non-the-wiser as to what was going on, far to distracted by whatever was going through her head. At first, Rarity gave a confused glance no different than the one she had been wearing thus far, but that quickly gave way to one of sudden realization. Shocked—almost appalled—by the remembered information, Rarity's eyes went wide.

"Of course... how could I have forgotten?" She asked of herself, narrowing her eyes into an inquisitive squint. "It happened... when I was a filly. About Sweetie Belle's age... No, a few years younger," she spoke slowly with some reservation. As if she were still trying to remember exactly what had happened. "I was... looking for a book. Obviously, why else would I be there?... Something about gemstones, if I remember correctly. I couldn't find it on the first two floors, so naturally, I thought I'd try my luck with the third."

Twilight was left on the edge of her seat as the story was abrupt stopped. For dramatic effect, maybe? She couldn't say for sure, Rarity seemed like the kind of pony to do that sort of thing. But no matter how long Twilight and Applejack seemed to wait, the ivory-colored unicorn seemed to refuse to continue. Her inquisitive look of remembrance slowly faded back into a more neutral, almost blank expression as she seemed to mindlessly stare off into space. The alicorn almost groaned in frustration as Rarity took another sip of tea.

"... And then?" Twilight asked impatiently, drawing a small circle in the air with a hoof in an attempt to get the story back on track.

"Salutați corul," Rarity whispered—nearly silent—under her breath. Then, as if seemingly being knocked out of a trance, Rarity's attention swiftly shifted to Twilight. "Forgive me, but what were we talking about again?"

Absolute silence followed. The flag that had been raised at this sudden shift in behavior could not have been redder. That reaction was far from normal, just as Applejack had alluded to moments prior. There was a brief moment where Twilight was absolutely stumped, unsure of what to even make of the display she had just borne witness too. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Applejack shutter, it was clear that the farmer had such events transpire before. She couldn't blame her, it was unsettling in its own right. But nothing was inexplicable, and Twilight had a strong hunch as to what Rarity had been afflicted with. But she needed to be absolutely sure, and thus kept what remained of the conversation going.

"You were... telling a story," the alicorn answered Rarity's question uncertainly, the unicorn seeing to be none the wiser to that fact. "About the time you went up to Golen Oak's third floor...?"

"Oh, Golden Oak's has a third floor now?" Rarity asked the question with absolute sincerity, almost happily so. "Well, that's fantastic! The young ones could really benefit from some extra reading material."

"This is what I was talking 'bout," Applejack spoke to Twilight in a hushed tone, "Happens just about every time Onwud comes up. And not just to her."

"So how have the two of you been?" Seemingly oblivious, Rarity went on with the small talk. As if nothing had happened, just as the farmer had eluded to. "I'm sure we don't just want to talk about our work, after all." Both of her guests remained silent for a moment before Applejack took the invitation to speak. It looked like she needed something to calm her nerves, and the casual conversation must have been a good option. Great for Twilight, seeing as how she needed time to think.

No doubt about it... she's been given a memory charm. Twilight gazed upon Rarity with cold clinical eyes, thanking her lucky stars that the unicorn was enraptured by the conversation with her friend. She also thanked those same stars for her education, and the classes she had taken on spells such as these. But they're supposed to dull memories, not block them out entirely...

Despite what one may think at first, memory charms were a fairly common practice in the medical and psychological fields. Typically for treating PTSD, where powerful embedded memories affected one's day to day life. That said, the variant Rarity was seemingly afflicted with wasn't of very high quality. It was sloppy, to put it simply enough. There was a lapse in the block when Applejack poked at the right subjects, but then the magic quickly plugged the leak back up.

Then there was the subject of that tiny bit of mumbling that Rarity spat out before being redirected to a different topic. The short phrase was undoubtedly Searăn, which served as loose but still valid proof of Knox's involvement. Especially considering that it was the mention of him and the library that triggered the reaction in the first place. Of course, that didn't explain how he got his hooves on such magic. While it wasn't impossible for non-unicorns to use magic, such methods were neither easily accessible or convenient for anyone involved.

"Well, it's been fun," Applejack suddenly began, in a tone far more casual than she had shown thus far, "But I think we've all had pretty long days. And we all gotta get up in the morning, so I say we call it quits." She looked to Twilight and gave a quick jut of her head towards the door. The quick gesture served as enough indication to Twilight that they had seen what they had come here to see.

"Mmm, unfortunately, yes," Rarity added, "I have quite the busy workday tomorrow, as I'm sure both of you have as well. It's a shame we must cut this so short, but we simply must do this again sometime."

"Yeah... I'll definitely stay in touch," Twilight added with a nod. And as she made her way out of the premises alongside Applejack, her mind was still wracked with possible explanations to the sudden change in Rarity's demeanor and apparent memory. The two stepped out of the boutique and into the cold night air. The sun had already set by now, and the moon had only just begun its nightly crawl across the sky. The street just outside of Rarity's boutique was practically devoid of life, save for Twilight and Applejack.

"See what I mean?" Applejack asked quietly, not wanting to draw any unneeded attention despite the lack of bystanders.

"I think I do," Twilight muttered back with a nod, "And I can see why you didn't want to talk about it."

"There, I gave you what you wanted," the earth pony huffed with anger before calming herself down. "... You can stop whatever he's doing, right?"

With all that had happened, Twilight had honestly forgotten that she had even extended the offer to help in the first place. Of course, she wasn't going to redact that statement now, not after seeing and hearing that. "I'll... see what I can do," she finally answered with her best attempt at a comforting smile. "I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can."

And with that, the two mares went on their separate ways. Applejack took the time to thank Twilight for what she was doing, a visible weight easing off of her shoulders as she did. And in all honesty? Seeing that did something for Twilight. It felt good helping to ease some of this burden off of the earth pony, even if she wasn't sure if she could fix the problem at hoof. She couldn't quite describe what this feeling was, it just felt right.

Of course, that feeling of satisfaction was soon overcome by some of the orange mare's previous dread, Twilight beginning to think more and more on what Rarity murmured within that discussion. Salutați corul. Those were the two Searăn words that the unicorn had hastily mumbled before her trance-like state was ended. Another connection to Knox's previous book, one that caused the alicorn to shutter at the possible implications.

For when translated, that phrase meant "hail the choir."

— Chapter Fifteen —

View Online

--- Insecurity ---

Twilight Sparkle stood before the Queen's School for Gifted Unicorns, dressed in elaborate gowns of silver and gold like the peers she stood amongst. They were in a neat, orderly line, each with a grin of satisfaction plastered on their faces. The line slowly moved towards a small stage and podium that had been set up in the courtyard before the campus, the school's headmare giving each graduate a certificate of authenticity before a large crowd that erupted into ecstatic cheering with each diploma awarded. Princess Cadence and even the Queen herself were in attendance, standing upon the stage watching with silent smiles as the ceremony continued.

Twilight couldn't believe she was here. It had taken time, effort, and no end of blood and sweat, but she finally made it. The young alicorn's eyes darted over to the audience and she imminently caught sight of her clearly ecstatic parents and older sibling. In the chair next to her mother's sat a saddlebag, with a pair of binoculars suspiciously poking out and pointed square at Twilight. She recognized this seemingly bizarre sight as Spike, doing his best to wait patiently in the bag as to not cause a scene. All things considered, she was happy he was able to attend at all. The little guy had been an outstanding source of companionship and levity, not to mention a great source of stress relief from the trials and tribulations of these past four years. Twilight was currently the last in line, frustratingly enough, but the procedures more moving quickly enough. Each graduate would step up, receive whatever degree they had earned, would say a few words, and bow to the present royalty before making their way off stage.

"I still can't believe you got straight A's again," the unicorn ahead of Twilight groaned in a whisper. A tan-colored coat alongside her maroon mane and thickly framed glasses made her recognizable to Twilight as a mare named Moondancer. One of Twilight's closer companions from her school years, graduating right alongside the currently gowned alicorn. "I swear you got special treatment or something. How else can you explain perfect grades?"

"Stress, fear, only sleeping for two hours a night, and pain. Lots and lots of pain," Twilight whispered back with a chuckle, "Not exactly what I'd call special treatment." Moondancer didn't know about Twilight's fairly recent alicorn ascension—very few ponies did—and she was planning on keeping it that way for the foreseeable future. "And you didn't do too shabby yourself, you're still in the honor roll."

"Pfft, yeah. But still, a B in conjuration, enchantment, and evocation?" Moondancer looked back with a cocked eyebrow in jest. "Meanwhile you're sitting there with your perfect grades."

Twilight scoffed at the accusation. "You and I both know I wouldn't have passed divination without your help. And even then I barely got an A."

The unicorn snickered while returning her attention to the advancing line. "Yeah, you're absolutely lost when it comes to the future." Ever so slowly, she turned back to face Twilight, the wide-eyed look of a psychopath now stretched over her face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're terrified of it."

Twilight wasn't given a chance to question the sudden shift in behavior, as Moondancer was quickly called up to the stand to receive her certificate. Odd, Twilight pondered, she could have sworn that they were at the back of the line. Or, at the very least, the line was much longer. Though the speed in which time was passing may have been a side effect of the butterflies in her stomach. She was just so ecstatic about this whole event, she wasn't even bothered by the cryptic comment. Moondancer always had a bit of an odd sense of humor, so it wasn't that far out of normalcy.

"Twilight Sparkle," the headmare spoke aloud, to the familiar sound of hooves stomping and applauding.

This is it, Twilight beamed as she walked up the short set of steps. All eyes were on her as she strode confidently towards the podium and her awaiting degree, the Queen and Princess Cadence giving their own proud smiles out of the corner of Twilight's eye. This was it, this was Twilight's moment in the sun. Everything she had worked for, everything she had lived for, all of it had been leading up to this moment. That moment was climaxed by the framed document that was levitated towards her by the headmare, a 100% authentic degree from the Queen's School for Gifted Unicorns.

And Twilight couldn't help but shed a few tears of joy as she looked out to the crowd of applauding ponies. Every graduate so far had been given a minute or two to give a very brief word in, usually a "thank you" to the friends and family who had supported them throughout their studies. And Twilight was no exception, quickly turning her gaze to the family she had taken notice of earlier.

But something was wrong. Something was different.

Her family was still in their seats, making an absolute storm of noise as they cheered her on, but the seat that had once been occupied by a dragon-filled saddlebag was now home to a new occupant. Slouched over, not really paying much mind to anything around them, was the hooded form of the Mare in the Moon. Though Twilight Sparkle would never be given the chance to address the cloaked mare a second time, for the second her eyes landed on the hooded figure, everything began to fade. Her eyelids felt like they were made of lead as the world around her began to shift and distort. And as cognizance escaped Twilight, leaving her to fall into the gentle dark of unconsciousness, the many whispy voices of the lone figure whispered in her ear.

"Is this what you really wanted?"

A loud shout echoed from Twilight as she awoke to the lavish and extravagant room she had been given use of. Even in her panicked state, she knew she still wasn't a fan of the room's decoration. It wasn't bad, per se, but it was far from what she was comfortable with. To frilly. To royal. Not enough books. She liked to maintain some sense of normalcy in her private life, and her room back home reflected this mindset to a tee.

But as Twilight began to calm down after her abrupt awakening, rational thought began to return. And as she observed the room she had been using for the past three days now, she came to a sudden and shocking realization.

Twilight had never seen this room before.

Not once in her entire life. Which isn't that odd of a statement, there are pleanty of rooms people don't see in their lifetimes. But what was odd was that as she observed the bedchambers around her, she recognized it despite this fact. She had deep and personal opinions on it, she had been sleeping here for the past three nights, yet this all felt like the first time she had ever been here. It was surreal, the last thing she could recall was attending her graduation ceremony. And then she was just here. No transition, nothing out of the ordinary, she was just here now.

Before the academic alicorn could question this inconsistency any further, her train of thought was derailed by her door slamming open with a loud yell from the culprit. Said culprit was an orange coated pegasus stallion, adorned in gleaming silver armor, a stone-faced look of a warrior painted over his face.

"Miss Sparkle?! What's wrong?!" The overzealous guard was immediately struck by an arcane blast of light that sent him right back out the door, a shrill shriek of combined pain and surprise resonating for quite the impressive distance.

"Flash Sentry, you are supposed to knock before—!" Twilight's reactionary lecture was cut short, angered glare transforming into a confused outlook. How did I know his name?

"Sorry... sorry... I heard you shout, and I got worried." His low gurgling groan of a reply brought Twilight back to reality, Flash Sentry waddling back into the room dazed and confused. "And it's... you know, my job to be worried about you."

The beaten and battered stallion's words rung true in Twilight's mind. How could she have forgotten about her personal guard? Whatever nightmare she had been having must have been a doozy, though she couldn't quite recall what the nightmare was. Dreams had a way of fading in the waking world, after all. It only made sense that the same factor would apply to nightmares as well.

"Sorry, Flash... just a bit shook by a bad dream."

"Third time this week," the disgruntled guard murmured, "Are you sure you don't want to see a specialist or something?"

"They're just bad dreams, nothing to worry about." Twilight laughed as she climbed out of bed. Another magical flash emanated from her, this time serving to get her ready for the day instead of causing her personal guard a severe amount of pain. Within seconds, her mane and tail were styled, her wings were preened, and all evidence of sleep were washed away. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Well, Empress Cadence wanted too—"

"Wait. Empress?" Twilight looked down bewilderedly, suddenly unsure of the reality around her. That didn't quite sound right in her mind. "... Not 'Princess'?"

The pegasus looked to the magical pony as if she had just spoken complete and utter nonsense. "... Well, she couldn't be the ruler of the Crystal Empire if she were just a princess. That'd just be silly."

Taking a moment to think things over, the memories came rushing back. Twilight clearly remembered Cadence and Shining becoming the rulers of this region, she was there for the coronation, for crying out loud. She distinctly remembered bringing her choice of wine for the happy couple, and they ended up hating it because Twilight had terrible taste in wine. But they all got a good laugh out of it if nothing else. How could she have forgotten about that? Shaking away the momentary confusion with a smile.

"Right. Sorry, still waking up, it seems. You were saying?"

"... Oh, right!" The stallion cleared his throat after the awkward pause. "Empress Cadence wanted to talk to you about tomorrow's... festivities."

"Ah! Of course," Twilight realized, lightly bopping a hoof against her own head. "She wanted me to help with Shining's Birthday, for once! Thank you, Flash." And with that, she was gone. Blinked out of existence by means of her own magic, Flash Sentry left behind with an appalled look on his face. He reached out an armored hoof in a vain attempt to stop her from teleporting away, but there was absolutely nothing he could do.

"Wait, you're supposed to take—!" Flash interrupted his own unheard statement with a sigh. "Every time. Every flappin' time."

With his head hung low in shame and annoyance, Flash Sentry trudged out of the bedroom slowly and dejectedly. The absolute worst part of his job, by far, was when Princess Twilight would just warp away at the drop of a hat. Thankfully he knew where she was going this time, but on most days he wasn't so lucky. And so he began the long and lonely walk to his boss's destination.

Twilight Sparkle, in the meantime, appeared in the spacious banquet hall with a loud popping flash, scarring one of the busy members of the castle half to death, the unfortunate pony letting out a shriek of terror. Everyone's attention was drawn to the newfound commotion, and after they all collectively realized that it was just Twilight being Twilight again, they all went back to work. Tomorrow was a big day for the Empire, and this room needed to be perfect. Or as close to it as possible, anyway.

Giving a quick apology before both ponies went on their way, Twilight summoned a clipboard to her side and began overlooking everything that was going on. A few quick laps around the large chamber was enough for her to figure out that her four-hundred-eighty-two point plan was being followed to a tee. It wasn't quite done yet but at the pace that everyone was currently working, it would be done within the hour, if nothing went wrong. It wasn't exactly a very complicated plan, the event was effectively going to just be a fancy dinner, so a majority of the points in Twilight's outline were just backups. Contingency plans for every possible setback, from small things like the worker's scheduled and fairly numerous breaks, to the event of a total disaster that rendered all progress undone.

Among the many documents tethered to the wooden board was a sealed envelope labeled simply as "In case of Spike." While she trusted the long dragon with her life, having a backup plan in case of that was a wise move on her point. Taking a break from her overlooking, Twilight spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Cadence was busy directing a few ponies who seemed to have been at a loss as to what to do.

Wouldn't be lost if you kept the pamphlets, Twilight sneered to herself as she approached. She wasn't too worried about this development, Cadence's input was valued and trusted. It was her home that this party was happening in after all, and it was being thrown for her husband. It only made sense that she should have some say in how it's planned.

Besides, she had already invented some contingency plans in the event Cadence's input stepped beyond Twilight's predictions. One could never be too prepared for a given situation, and Twilight was the undisputed queen in that regard. Everything was fine.

"Oh, finally up, are you?" The pink alicorn took notice of Twilight as she finished answering a few questions. "You've never been one to sleep in before."

"Rough night, apparently," Twilight replied with a laugh. "Just another bad dream."

"Again? That's the third time this week."

"I'm fine. So, how's everything been going?" She already knew everything was going fine, but as outlined in point two-hundred-ninety-four of her plan, it was important for Cadence to think she was contributing to the plan. And she had in the initial phases, but Cadence was always a big-picture kind of pony and the finer details often escaped her. At least in Twilight's eyes.

"Everything's going fantastic. He would have loved it." The Empire's Queen sighed and her smile began to falter. "... I still miss him so much..."

"... Wait, what?" The other alicorn's words just didn't process in Twilight's head, prompting a small double-take. "... Is Shining not here?... Wait, did you want this to be a surprise party?!" Stress was made apparent as she began to frantically skim through her notes. "I didn't plan for that!"

Cadence fell silent, looking at Twilight with the most sincere expression of hurt she had ever given to her. "Twilight... what are you talking about?"

"You said that you miss Shining," Twilight answered blankly, already working on rewriting a good chunk of her plans to accommodate for the sudden development, "So that must mean he isn't here right now. So when's he coming back? I need to know."

This time the entire room fell silent.

Everyone stopped working and looked at her with wide, befuddled eyes. It took Twilight longer then she should have to notice all the eyes that had fallen onto her. She looked to each and every set that had locked onto her, confusion and anxiety only growing worse and worse until she finally came back to Cadence. In that time, Cadence was the only one who had any change in expression. No longer startled by Twilight's statements, Cadence looked like she had been hurt. Badly. Tears were starting to run down her face as she just stared back at Twilight.

"... What?"

"Twilight," Cadence began, "Shining Armor isn't coming back."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "... Why is he not coming back?" She had clearly missed something in the time she was asleep because at that moment she might as well have stabbed Cadence right through her heart. "Did... you two have a fight or something?

"... Twilight," Cadence's voice shook, "He's dead."

Twilight screamed. Not externally, her reaction was entirely internal, but she was made to match the upset crowd around her as the words hit her ears. "... Wh-what?! Wh-when?! How long?! How'd he die?!"

The ruler of the Crystal Empire, for a moment, did not know how to react to her sister-in-law's questions. "... Twilly, sweetie... He's been... he's been dead for a very long time," she choked on the words, "He just... it was just his time. He lived a long and happy life, and it was his time to go." Gentle tears began to change into sobs, the ponies around them beginning to back off to give the two space. "How do you not remember that? You were there."

Twilight didn't remember any of this. Shining Armor, her elder brother, dead? She shook her head violently at the thought. Her brother couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be dead. Every cell in her brain burned and worked to dig up every memory they could find, and there was only one recent memory that came to mind. She had seen him just yesterday, alive and well, she knew for a fact she did.

"That's... not right. I saw him yesterday!" Twilight bellowed, matching her sister-in-law tear for tear. "He was at my graduation! So were you! How do you not remember that?!"

Pain became shocked disbelief upon Cadence's face, the pink alicorn not once averting her skeptical and hurt-filled gaze. "Your... graduation?"

"Yes! He was in the crowd with Mom and Dad! I saw them! They waved to me!" The younger alicorn was sure of that. Her memories might have been a bit jumbled when she first woke up, but now she was recalling it clear as day. She graduated from the Queen's School just yesterday, fact. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind.

Based on the way she stood there, it looked as if Cadence couldn't decide if she wanted to be angry, sad, or very afraid.

"Twilight... that was over a hundred years ago..."

A hundred years?! That couldn't have been right. How could a hundred years pass by in one night? It didn't make sense. "No... it was yesterday! I remember it, clear as day!" Twilight raved, looking more and more like a mad-mare with each passing second. "You were on the stage with the Queen giving out the diplomas, Shining was standing right next to you... Mom and Dad were in the crowd... wait, are they dead too?!"

"No, it wasn't, Twilight." Cadence merely shook her head in defiance of her friend's claims. Sadness transformed into a searing, bitter glare, an expression that Twilight had never seen on the candy-colored alicorn before. It was harrowing. "... I think you should go."

As Twilight tried to come up with another possible explanation, it suddenly hit her. Even if Shining were gone, which he couldn't be, today was his birthday. Twilight knew that for a fact. But his birthday was in December. And the graduation ceremony was in June, it always had been in the school's entire history. If that event really had been the previous day, then it couldn't possibly be her brother's birthday! And as that realization came, then came the other memories, the ones that only just now seemed to be off. The opinions she had on her room, her currently missing personal guard, all of it. These memories couldn't exist, shouldn't exist, but they did. And Twilight Sparkle was suddenly very aware of that fact.

"... How long was I asleep?" It was the only somewhat rational answer her addled mind could produce. She knew that it wasn't true, the memories she found waiting for her this morning were too vivid to be dreams. She had lived through each and every day of those many many years, she remembered each one of them. But at the same time, they felt too distant to be real. Like she had just blazed right on by them without even noticing. "What's going on?"

And then, the voices came back, as did the one memory from that day she had repressed, thinking it as nothing more than a bad dream. The hooded figure, the whispers in the back of her mind as she passed out. Both of them had returned, and both were behind her.

"This is it. Your reward. To endure."

Twilight's neck nearly snapped as she glared to the hooded pony behind her, the very same who had made an unwanted appearance at the graduation ceremony. So many emotions were surging through her head, a dangerous cocktail of rage, uncertainty, and fear. "What's going on?!" Twilight screamed at the unflinching figure. "What did you do to me?!"

"A lifetime, gone in the blink of an eye," the cloaked pony murmured back, their haunting voices echoing from everywhere and nowhere. "This is what you wanted?"

The mood in the room drastically shifted with Twilight's outburst. "Twilight... who are you talking to?" Cadence's words sounded distant and fading.

"Cadence, can't you—?" She spun around, not understanding the question. But Cadence wasn't there anymore. Neither was the hooded figure, upon taking a second look. In fact, the Crystal Empire itself wasn't there anymore.

Just a few short seconds ago, this room had been filled with ponies hard at work preparing an annual memorial service for the late Shining Armor. But now? Gone. All of it. Twilight was alone, completely and entirely. Even the room she was standing in, and the entire civilization around it, had vanished into dust. The lone alicorn now stood in what could only be described as an endless wasteland of dust and dirt. The sky was blackened with a dark overcast of clouds. A breeze occasionally kicked up whatever loose dust and debris were lying around. And off in the distance? Twilight could see where the city had gone. All that remained was a scant few broken remnants of towers and other buildings, still refusing to crumble to time like all else had, acting as the only visible landmarks for miles. And as Twilight tried to figure out what had just happened, she quickly found out that she didn't have to. Much to her horror, she knew full well what had just happened here.

Time.

She remembered it all. It was hazy and faded, but it was all there. The passing of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years. Twilight had lived throughout the entirety of civilization until it all finally sputtered out and died. She had even outlived Cadence and the Queen herself, who had long ago died to disease or other means, she didn't quite remember when they stopped living. But even without them, Twilight had survived. She had watched the whole of pony society, the whole of every society, run its course before fading away into the dust. And now, here she was. At the end of all things. Against the impossible odds, Twilight had endured long enough to watch the world die around her.

"But... they were just here!" Twilight hoarsely screamed out into the void in opposition of the grim reality around her, understandably upset by this sudden revelation. "I was just talking to Cadence! She was standing right here!" She walked over to where Cadence had stood her ground, now nothing but dust. But she walked, her hoof tapped into something solid. Not dust, not stone, but a book. Once more, she was presented with a copy of Corul Luminii Lunii. Seemingly untouched by time.

That's when everything clicked into place. All this had been nothing but some twisted alternate reality, woven by together by either the Mare in the Moon, Twilight's own mind, or some combination of the two. That realization came with some facet of relief, relief that all these years had only in truth been one night. She was still back in her Ponyville home, safe and sound and fast asleep.

Twilight found curiosity gripping at her, almost compelling her to read whatever was in this illusionary text. Once again, all pages were inscribed with the same words repeated endlessly. But this time, they didn't seem to be a warning about what was to come. Instead, it was an apology. The only words within the entire book were simply "The answers are in the Everfree." Before she even had time to process what that could mean, the many voices that had become frighteningly familiar by now.

"To endure beyond everything. This is your fate."

"Why are you doing this?!" Twilight asked sternly of her hooded tormentor. There was no answer. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

If the Mare in the Moon were to give an answer, Twilight would never hear it. Once more the dream was ended abruptly, Twilight greeted to the early morning sun peeking through the curtains and gently striking her upon her face. She laid their motionless, wide eyes glaring up to the ceiling, feeling the small wet streaks that had formed on her cheeks in her slumber. Apparently, her dream had brought her to tears. Not surprisingly.

She shuddered at what she had experienced within that dream. Even now it shook Twilight down to her very core, the dreadful implication of it all lingering uncomfortably in her mind. It was an idea that she had thought she had long since overcome, a phobia that she had long since conquered. But it seems the Mare in the Moon had seen it appropriate to remind Twilight of the lingering inevitability that had been following Twilight around for the past six years. Twilight quickly realized that it would be seven within the next couple of months, the seventh anniversary of her receiving the precious gift of immortal life. Seven years since the unicorn known to the world as Twilight Sparkle ceased to exist, being replaced by an alicorn of the same name. Seven years since a certain reptilian entity had fallen into her life. That same anniversary would also mark the third year since she took Spike to try and find other long dragons.

I wonder how they're all doing? Twilight mused as she blankly looked up at the ceiling, unmoving and unwavering. I wonder if they're worried... they should be worried... but I'm an alicorn. There isn't much I can't endure through.

That train of thought brought the pony back to that nightmare.

Twilight was quick in pushing away the darker thoughts, as she learned to do long ago, so she could begin her day proper and focus on the brighter side of things. They didn't matter to her right now, all that mattered was the here and now. It took only a moment for her to wipe away the evidence of her nocturnal crying and to fix her mane to a somewhat presentable standard. And after a few deep breaths to further calm her nerves, Twilight was ready to face the day.

Practically striding out of her room, the alicorn's first order of business was to check on Spike. There hadn't been any screams of terror to catch her attention this time, so hopefully, he had been spared another visit, but it never hurt to check and be sure. Besides, she needed to start making them both breakfast anyway. And even if she knew exactly what he would want, there was one question that she would need to be answered.

"Spike? You up?" Twilight lightly knocked against the closed door, not wanting to startle him if he were still sleeping. "I'm making omelets. How many eggs do you want in yours?"

There was no answer. Not surprisingly, it was still fairly early, and he might be catching up on sleep after he had been robbed of it the previous night. But that wasn't the case Twilight soon discovered, her keen hearing detecting something unusual behind the door. Heavy breathing, almost growling, could be heard just beyond the thin barricade. It could almost be called snoring, which served as enough motivation to keep Twilight from slamming into the room as she had done so last night. But worry still welled up inside her at an exponential rate. Her magic moving to slowly open the door, she ever so slowly poked her head inside.

"Spike?" She asked again, still with no responce. The first thing she noticed was that Spike was not in his bed, but instead in the far corner of the room. Sitting upright, if a bit hunched over, it was clear that he was awake. Of course, the next logical question was what he could be doing over there. Based on his breathing and his posture, it looked like he was glaring down at something with great ferocity.

Having not been noticed yet, Twilight took the opportunity to slowly ease her way over to see what it was that Spike was doing. Not an easy thing to do for a hoofed creature on a hardwood floor, but she managed to keep her presence a secret. Whatever Spike was doing, his full attention was focused on it. Ever so gingerly, Twilight peered over his shoulder to see what he was enthralled with.

Sitting upon the floor before the dragon was something she was well acquainted with by now. The book on dragons that Spike had grown so fond of in his short six-year life, currently open to an illustration of a dragon not unlike the one the two of them had the misfortune of meeting in person. Spike's breathing continued to grow heavier and heavier, faster and faster, an obvious indication of a rising temper.

"Spike?"

Spike flinched at the sudden interruption before freezing entirely. Motionless, like a statue, he sat there for what felt like eons. Finally, he turned to look at the alicorn standing behind him. On his face, he wore the expression of a child who had been caught in the act of doing something they knew they weren't meant to do. A bit of fear, a bit of regret, a pinch of anger, all blended together in this one look that perfectly conveyed the word "oops." Twilight wasn't much different. Just as the long dragon had been surprised to be caught in the act of whatever he was doing, Twilight was equally shocked to have found him in this state.

"Are you alright?" The question came out automatically, even though Twilight already knew what the answer was.

"I'm... I'm fine," Spike spoke back casually with a grin, "Just... still upset about what happened. That's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really..."

Twilight furrowed her brow. "But do you need to talk about it?"

Spike bit at his lower lip, silence overtaking the conversation as he took the time to think. "Is... is that why ponies freak out when they see me? Because when I get big, I'll be... like that?" An understandable question for sure, but that didn't stop it from tearing into Twilight's heart like an arrowhead. This was a topic of discussion that was long overdue for the two of them to touch upon. Trying to choke back a wince of discomfort, Twilight magically opened the book back to the page Spike had previously been observing.

"Spike, you're not like other dragons. You're a long dragon. Most ponies have never even seen a long dragon before, they don't understand—"

"But I'm still a dragon." Spike looked back down at the page, any number of conflicting emotions clearly welling up inside of him. "They understand that."

If words could kill, those ones would have been enough to end Twilight's life several times over. She had to stop herself from physically recoiling at the statement, especially seeing as how she couldn't give him a straight answer. After all, that was exactly the reason as to why most ponies had a negative first reaction to him. It's why the two did the best they could to keep him a secret whilst among other ponies. It was easier than explaining things out, after all. A choice Twilight was now beginning to deeply regret. It hurt even more as she realized that Spike must've been holding in these thoughts since the incident.

Once more, absolute silence. Spike didn't turn back to face Twilight. Instead, he just stared down at the book on the floor. But even though his back was turned to the alicorn, Twilight could practically feel the tears welling up in his eyes. Some of them had even found their way into Twilight's own as she shared in his pain.

"Spike, you're not like that," Twilight spoke sternly yet affectionately. She sat just behind him, pulling the dragon in close with her forelegs and wings. It took a bit of effort, she had to make sure she didn't end up stabbing herself with the green spines that ran down his back, but eventually, she pulled him into the loving hug. "You're not going to end up like that. I promise."

"But how can you—?"

"Because I'll make sure you won't. You're better than that and I know it."

There wasn't another answer. Not verbally, at least. But as time went on, she could feel a great deal of tension release itself from Spike's body as he began to relax. She led by example with several deep breaths, smiling slightly as she heard him follow in her lead. The two of them stayed like this for some time, just breathing. Calming down. Time lost all meaning until, eventually, Twilight released the dragon from her embrace. She gave him the space to stand back up and look at her in the eye for the first time in a while, and she could clearly see that her intervention had a positive impact on him.

But of course, the tender moment was suddenly interrupted by three loud, rapid knocks on the house's front door. If they didn't know any better, it almost sounded like whoever was at their doorstep wanted to knock down their door altogether. It was a frustrating way to change the topic of discussion, Twilight let out a small groan in responce. Spike's reaction was less volatile, just a minor mumbling sound as his stomach growled in turn.

"I'll go get rid of them," the alicorn began in a half-joking tone, "After that, I'll make us some breakfast. Ommletes still sound good?"

Spike gave a weary nod as he climbed back into his bed, looking to be quite overwhelmed by the short discussion that had just taken place. Twilight, in the meanwhile, made her way through the short hallway and, by extension, the still-being-knocked-upon front door. She made sure to take the dragon book with her on her way out, not wanting it to cause another incident. Frustrated at the unwelcome interruption, the alicorn's cloak was acquired from the nearby coat rack and donned just as Twilight swung the door open.

Shockingly enough, nobody was there. Not Pinkie Pie with some grandiose greeting, not Fluttershy wishing to check-in with Spike, not even the mail-mare with the weekly bills. Not a single soul was standing on Twilight's doorstep. Confused, she leaned outside of the threshold to look around for any sign of the unwanted guest. Again, there was no one. What she did see, however, was the mint green unicorn that lived just across the way, currently watering the flowerbed in her front yard.

"Hey, Lyra?" Twilight called over to her neighbor, getting the minty unicorn's attention. "Did you see anyone at my door just now?"

"Uhh... Yeah, I think so," Lyra called back, "I wasn't really paying attention, but I think they nailed something to your door."

Looking to the wooden barrier, Lyra's claim was indeed proven true with the crisp white strip of paper that was now skewered by a single nail to her door. That explained the excessively loud knocking if nothing else, but not who the sender of this message was. Of course, answers didn't come from the message itself, either. In fact, it only raised more questions.

The answers are in the Everfree.
~ A friend.

— Chapter Sixteen —

View Online

--- Into the Everfree ---

Twilight's day off had been a relaxing change of pace from what the day before had brought. With nothing to distract her and no outside responsibilities to attend to, the young alicorn was left with an entire day for herself and Spike. Thankfully so, as the last thing that the long dragon needed right now was to be left alone to further stew in his thoughts. He needed stimulation, companionship, and reassurance that everything was going to be fine.

Be it reading, playing, furthering his education, or just simply relaxing, Twilight and Spike did just about everything they could whilst confined to the interior of their home. There was even a visit to Fluttershy's cottage at the edge of town, for the sake of Spike socializing and getting some sunlight in the unseen safety of the pegasus's back yard. The effects of this day were clear and apparent, doing wonders for the long dragon's mental fortitude and apparent mood. It'd be foolish to say that his worries and anxieties had simply vanished, but it would be equally ignorant to claim that today hadn't helped.

In every sense of the word, it was the perfect day.

But like all things, even perfect days have to end sooner or later. Forced by the natural law of all things, the golden sun was made to dip past bellow the horizon as its silver counterpart was lifted into the heavens above. And after such a day, both Spike and Twilight were left understandably worn out. Not exhausted, but more than ready and willing to end the day with a good night's sleep.

Or at least, one of them did.

"No!" Spike shouted with a laugh, nibbly climbing from the kitchen counter onto one of the overhead shelves above. The shelf was empty as he and Twilight didn't have need of an excessive amount of plates or other dishes, making it the perfect hiding spot from his equine caretaker. Or rather, it would have been if she hadn't seen him jump up there.

"Yes, Spike," Twilight responded, just as jovial as Spike currently was. "It's time to go to bed! You're a growing dragon, you need your sleep!"

"How about 'no'?" The reptile leaped to another shelf, further away from Twilight, and snickered again. "I'm not even tired!"

Twilight sighed in jest. This was something of a game that the dragon had developed early on in his life, a habit of denying sleep that Twilight had thought she broke him off of. Apparently, he was feeling nostalgic today and decided to resurrect these antics, much to Twilight's annoyance. Yet still, she was smiling and laughing right alongside him. Even if he was being defiant, it was just nice to see him legitimately happy again. But even still, the game had to end sooner or later. And as Spike attempted to leap to the third and final shelf, he was gently grasped by a cloud of magical mist and pulled closer to the alicorn.

"Hey, no fair!" Spike flailed about in his midair prison, desperately searching for some kind of perch to regain his advantage. Unfortunately, the pony's magic held strong and he was left in his helpless state.

"Who said I was playing fair?" Twilight giggled as she simply walked away, magically guiding the dragon alongside her like a balloon as he continued to tumble and flail in a futile attempt to escape. His fate was sealed as the two entered his bedroom. The door shut behind them, and he was gently placed into the messy mass of fabric that he had crafted into his nest. "Come on now, time for bed."

"But I'm not even ti-... -tired..." A loud yawn betrayed his intent in the middle of that last word.

"Come on Spike, you've had a busy day. And now you need your sleep."

"Fine..." He yawned again, burrowing himself into his pillows and blankets. "But you can't make me like it."

"You'll probably end up enjoying it regardless." Twilight smiled as she watched Spike get comfy, giving him a gentle pat with a hoof once he was done. She leaned over and gave a gentle kiss at the end of his snout. "Love you. Goodnight."

"Night, Twi." Spike yawned again as he nestled further into the bedding, his eyes slowly closing as he began to try and fall asleep. Twilight, meanwhile, left the room as quietly as she could, and turned out the lights as she closed the door behind her.

I should probably get to bed, too, Twilight thought alongside a yawn of her own. Today had been long for the both of them, and she had things that needed to be looked into tomorrow. If nothing else, she was going to be keeping a very close eye on her employer for several reasons. And that was going to require energy, rest, and vigilance. All three of those things being accomplished with sleep.

But as the young alicorn was readying herself to climb into her bed, there was something on her nightstand that caught her eye.

The answers are in the Everfree.
~ A friend.

The source of a small, irritating buzz in the back of Twilight's head over the entire day. It wasn't enough that there was some mystery involving her employer, but now there was this mysterious "friend" character promising answers in the Everfree Forest. As to who this mystery pony was Twilight couldn't say for sure, maybe it was Applejack trying to be discreet? Or maybe someone else who was concerned about Onwud? There was no way of knowing.

But what Twilight did know was that whoever was responsible for this had used the same message that she had seen in her sleep. A fact that only further served to intensify her own curiosity, and her resolve into following the ominous invitation.

"I know I'm going to regret this..." Twilight murmured to herself, lighting her horn and drawing forth a second scrap of paper. If she was going to do this, she was going to at least make sure Spike wasn't going to worry if he woke up while she was away.

Running some quick errands.
Be back soon.
—Twilight.

The message wasn't the only precaution Twilight had decided to take, however. At least another hour was spent waiting, just to make sure Spike was actually asleep. On top of that, and the note she was planning on leaving, there was a third layer of protection the alicorn planned on leaving. A quick flash of her horn was all it took to set it in place, something of an alarm that would trigger if Spike was abruptly awoken. If there was another nightmare to be had in this house, Twilight would be made aware of it instantaneously.

All of that combined with the usual magical security measures in place allowed for Twilight to leave her domicile with minimal anxieties. And so, with cloak and saddlebags in toe, the young alicorn ventured forth from the safety of her home into the chilled night air. Ponyville was a wildly different environment in the cover of darkness than it was in the light of day. Quiet, almost eerily so, not a soul could be seen stirring about the town. No, all of the denizens were sound asleep in the comfort of their own homes. Twilight was the odd mare out, not something that was uncommon for her.

Even if this lead turned out to be nothing, or worse if nothing else Twilight was happy to learn of Ponyville's quieter side. Perhaps she'd make a habit of taking late-night strolls around town over the rest of her stay here. Maybe she'd even take Spike out along with her once or twice, show him around town a little bit. She was sure he'd get some amusement out of that.

"Push!"

The rhythmic shouting followed by the heavy grind of wheels against the dirt road pulled Twilight from her daydreaming. Looking ahead of her to the source, Twilight saw something she never expected to see in this town. Slowly being rolled down the middle of the intersection, streight through Twilight's path, was a trebuchet. Standing at about six feet tall, constructed of various pieces of scrap lumber and unprocessed logs. In place of the weight at one end was a wooden plank dangling horizontally from a rope. Evidence that this particular model was designed to use pony-body-weight as the firing mechanism. Speaking of, the sling of the launching mechanism was currently home to an oversized water balloon, sloshing and jiggling with the motions of the siege weapon. The haphazardly made war engine made short and slow strides down the street before stopping. Another shout of "push" was called out before each jerking advancement. Not loud enough to rouse any of the sleeping townsfolk, but it wasn't exactly subtle either.

Twilight stopped in her tracks as she watched the monstrosity roll by, her eyes falling upon the three ponies escorting the device. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The earth pony and the pegasus worked at pushing the contraption itself, Apple Bloom being the one responsible for the "push" commands to keep their efforts synchronized. Sweetie Belle wasn't slacking on her part either, she was busy hauling a red wagon with two additional water balloons, additional ammunition for whatever it was these three were up to.

And as the alicorn watched this display, she couldn't decide if she should intervene or if she should see where this led the trio of fillies. Despite their size, the three rounds of ammunition of choice were still just water balloons. A little water—"little" being relative here—never caused anyone any harm. And it wasn't like they could get the right amount of weight to properly launch them anyway.

That choice was taken away from her though as the three fillies took notice of the older mare watching them. They stopped on the spot, looking to Twilight with the same wide-eyed expressions of shock. If this mirrored expression were to be summarized by a single word, "busted" would be the perfect fit. They continued to gawk at the cloaked pony for what felt like ages, Twilight looking back at them with her own look of curiosity and concern. Eventually, the stalemate was broken when Twilight spoke the obvious question.

"What are you three up to?"

"Nothing illegal!" The three fillies blurted the answer in perfect synchronization.

I... honestly don't know what I was expecting, Twilight observed as the three frightened fillies remained motionless. That is until one of them squinted heavily at Twilight and raised an accusing hoof.

"Wait a second, what are YOU up to?" Sweetie Belle demanded, soon after her two cohorts were joining in on the intensive glare.

"I'm an adult, I don't have to explain what I'm doing," Twilight responded blankly, "Especially since I'm not the one with a trebuchet."

The three looked to have been defeated, if the return of their solum faces were anything to go by, that is until an idea came to Scootaloo. "The trebuchet that YOU taught us how to build!" She pointed and scoffed in victory, catching the alicorn off guard. "So here's the deal! You leave us to our business, and we won't rat you out! Deal?"

Scootaloo's inquiry was answered imminently with a magenta-hued beam of light that swiftly struck the trio's trebuchet. Then, with a slight popping sound, the wooden monstrosity simply ceased to be, vanishing into thin air as if it had never even existed in the first place. Understandably so, the three fillies were appalled and horrified at all of their hard work was erased from existence.

"Wha... but... that's not fair," Apple Bloom bellowed, "We worked hard on that!"

"And I didn't destroy it," Twilight responded with her own triumphant grin. "But it is about a hundred feet in that dirrection." She raised a hoof and pointed in the dirrection the three had been pushing away from. Surely enough, their weapon of choice could be seen in the distance. Entirely unharmed. "I'll take your deal, don't get me wrong. But consider that a lesson. Don't threaten people."

Dumbfounded, the trio simply glanced back and forth between Twilight and their trebuchet. They seemed to be deciding if pushing the cloaked pony any farther was a bad idea or not. Their decision was made clear as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo raced towards the distant trebuchet as Sweetie Belle stayed behind to guard their ammunition. Twilight kept her smile on full display as she watched the two fillies run. Then, once they were about halfway there, she unleashed another blot of light at their creation. And like that, it was whisked back to where it had been before Twilight had intervened. Now visibly frustrated, the two ponies began to rush back to the horned ponies.

"Stop doing that!" Apple Bloom shouted in frustration. "We get it, we're sorry!"

"And we won't tell anyone you were involved!" Scootaloo added, out of breath.

Twilight's smile faded into a more stern look, one she typically only brought out when being the authority figure with Spike. "Alright then. Just promise me you won't actually hurt anyone with this thing, and I'll let you go."

"... You aren't going to bust us?" The question came from all three of them, each one more confused than the last.

"You need to learn that there are consequences for your actions," Twilight explained while placing a hoof on their haphazardly built machine, "And this? This will have consequences. Big ones. I'll leave the choice up to you. You can do whatever it is your going to do and face those consequences, or you can avoid those repercussions and go home."

Hesitant at first, the three fillies weighed their options before complying to Twilight's promise and once more beginning their trek. But as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom resumed their rhythmic pushing of the cart, Sweetie Belle stayed behind for a moment. A clear sense of wonder had overtaken her, and she looked up to Twilight with wide starry eyes.

"Hey... do you think you could teach me how to do that zappy thing you did?"

"It's not that hard of a spell. Just a simple combination of teleportation and levitation." Twilight gave a more sincere smile to the young unicorn, happy to see such enthusiasm for magical knowledge in one so young. It reminded her of her own younger years, in some fashion. "Of course, you'd have to learn the teleportation spell first. That's the hard part. How old are you?"

There was an attempt to hide the disappointed sigh that followed. "... Eleven."

Twilight furrowed a brow at that, ponies were required to be at least fifteen years old to begin learning spells of that caliber. And going off of her reaction, Sweetie Belle was also aware of this fact. She felt a little bad about getting the filly's hopes up like that, but a quick idea was enough to undo that.

"Well... I can't teach you teleportation, but I can teach you some other spells if you'd be interested. Nothing too advanced, but enough for some cool party tricks, at least."

The offer seemed to resonate with the young unicorn, who swiftly took the offer with glee. Of course, neither one of them could begin the lesson at the moment, so they took the short amount of time needed to set up an agreed-upon time and date to meet up. After that, Sweetie returned her attention to her wagon of water balloons and dashed off after her friends—not that there was much catching up to do, given the circumstances.

Now with that out of the way, Twilight was free to get back to her own business. While she was worried about what possible harm those three little ponies could cause if left to their own devices, she was far more concerned about whatever it was that was waiting for her in the Everfree Forest. And if left to its own devices, these things could lead to far more problems then a small group of children with a downsized siege weapon.

She doubled her pace, wanting to get into the woods as quickly as possible, soon after finding herself at the nearest entry point to the Everfree: Fluttershy's humble little cottage. Even at night, the cabin sitting at the very edge of Ponyville was as warm and welcoming as ever. Silhouetted beautifully by the pale moonlight, if Twilight were more of an artist she'd almost be compelled to sit down and paint the calming sight.

Note to self, take up painting, she mentally commanded of herself, It'd be a good way to make bits in the future.

Of course, now was not the time nor place for such frivolous thoughts, right now Twilight was a mare on a mission. And the only thing standing between her and that objective was the admittedly pretty cabin. But it was an obstacle that could be removed easily enough just by walking around the structure, which is exactly what Twilight began to do. But the light creaking of an old wood door heralded the halt of everything. The world fell deafly silent to Twilight as she looked over to what was meant to be a quiet house, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed in turn.

While the dark of the night did obscure her, it was easy enough to recognize Fluttershy's muted silhouette emerging through the back door of her home. She moved slowly and silently, seemingly wincing at the loud resonance the door had made upon her exit. Even still, she was quick to get over this minor inconvenience and get back to whatever it was she was doing at such a late hour. A flutter of her wings was all it took for the pegasus to leap from the back porch to just beyond her humble fence. From there, she stopped to observe something at the base of the perimeter, before moving on unwaveringly into the dangerous forest that lay behind her house.

Twilight, who had gone unnoticed, was left to watch on with many questions buzzing about in her mind. It wasn't exactly a normal occurrence for someone to just walk into the woods in the middle of the night, even in Twilight's unique situation. Especially as one so dangerous as the Everfree. What in the world could she possibly be doing in there? Perhaps she was also given a mysterious note as the alicorn had?

Or maybe she's the one who sent it, the idea was quick to butt in. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility for Fluttershy to have been this mysterious friend character. Deeper and deeper this mystery kept going, only pushing Twilight further and further into wanting it solved. But first, she had clearly seen Fluttershy check on something before waltzing into the woods. Naturally, Twilight was drawn to the fence out of pure curiosity, moving carefully and quietly as to not draw the attention of the property owner.

The humble fence was normal enough at first glance, nothing noteworthy or out of the ordinary to be seen. Twilight was at first just going to write this off as nothing of interest. That is until she stepped on something small and brittle that snapped under her weight. Lifting her hoof to investigate, Twilight was greeted to the sight of a small white stick, half of it now laying on the ground, half of it still stuck in the dirt like a fence post. Nearly identical to the one that Fluttershy had on display in her home, in fact. Twilight magically lifted the shattered remains of the twig for further study.

And she was almost imminently choked by the horrid stench emanating from the small branch. Twilight gagged and coughed at the awful stench, doing all she could to stifle her reaction as to not draw Fluttershy's attention. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she did so. It wasn't just a rancid stench either, it burned and tingled at the inside of the alicorn's nostrils in an almost acidic way.

It's like rotten eggs had a baby with morning breath and burning hair, Twilight idly commented, flailing wildly in an attempt to free herself of the smell. Thankfully, while it was potent, it did not carry far from the stick it clung too, which made escaping it an easy enough task, as the broken fragment of the stick was thrown off to the side. With that out of the way, she was now free to continue her investigation unabated. This time, she made sure to magically hold a bit of her cloak to her face to block out the smell.

Yet aside from its unusual color, and horrid smell, the only unusual thing about it was its placement. Stuck in the ground like a small post, it had to have been placed there intentionally, there was no other way it could have gotten here. Fluttershy was the only culprit that made any sense, but why would such a stick be placed out here like this? Especially when there was another one placed so lovingly inside of Fluttershy's home. That's when Twilight noticed that this wasn't the only twig placed to stand guard outside her domicile. No, in fact, there were several more of these strange objects. All placed an equal distance away from one another, all along the perimeter of the fence.

"But... why?" Twilight wondered out loud, dropping the cloak from her face in thought. There had to be some reason behind this arrangement of smelly sticks. "And then there's the one she keeps in her house... that she carries into the Everfree..."

Her train of thought was derailed by a familiar growling coming from behind, and Twilight's blood went cold at the sound. She hadn't heard such a sound since the incident, and she had sincerely hoped she never would again. Slowly and steadily as to not provoke an attack yet, Twilight turned her gaze back towards the forest and the glowing green eyes that watched her from within. Thankfully, only one of the wood-made beasts was present at the moment. But Twilight knew better than to assume that others wouldn't be far behind. She also knew that these things were prone to attack anything that moved on sight, especially in the dead of night. Yet that attack never came, the lone timberwolf in question never made any kind of advancement towards what could have been an easy kill if it hadn't made itself known.

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?" She squinted at the timberwolf intensely, trying to get a read on the furious glare it was shooting towards her. "Can't be a survival instinct. You... things aren't that smart. So why are you just standing there?"

Twilight approached with great reservation and caution, ready to counter any attempt on her life. The timberwolf continued to growl furiously, almost sounding like it wanted the pony to stay away. Of course, she didn't stop, these things didn't care about what she wanted. Why should she care about what they wanted? Closer and closer she came, and slowly the wolf was revealed from the shadows. Light from Twilight's horn served to further illuminate the area and answer several questions at once.

The wolf wasn't biding its time. It was struggling.

It couldn't advance despite its obvious efforts. As if being pulled by an unseeable chain, or being pushed back by an undetectable wind, the timberwolf strained itself greatly as it tried and failed to get past where it was standing. Something was keeping this creature at bay, and keeping Twilight from being assaulted, yet she couldn't quite place her hoof on exactly what it was that could be doing this. Thinking and thinking, observing the timberwolf all the while, the alicorn pondered on what this could mean.

"So you want to kill me, but you can't. Why?"

Seemingly as if to answer her question, the wolf's gaze shifted for but a moment. Curious, Twilight looked back to Fluttershy's cottage. An idea came to mind as she turned her back to the monster, quickly trotting back towards the humble home. A moment's search was all it took to find what she was looking for, the half of the broken stick she had stepped on earlier. Taking it in her grasp, she went to return to the timberwolf. And soon, her theory was proven correct. The closer she got to the creature, the further it was pushed away by that same unseen force. Seeing this, Twilight kept walking forward with. The wolf wailed and howled at this, falling as it changed its tactic and pushed away and fled. Once it was gone, she stopped to examine the small piece of wood.

"It repels them..."

The realization had served to answer several questions but raise so many more in turn. Fluttershy had seemingly found a way to protect her home from these timberwolves—and herself, seeing as how the pegasus seemed to make an effort to take one into the Everfree with her. But how could she have done this? Fluttershy didn't seem like the most magically inclined individual, and whatever these wards were, they were magic without question. First, there was the memory charm seemingly put in place by her employer, and now this. Could there be some kind of connection?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

The answers are in the Everfree.

— Chapter Seventeen —

View Online

--- Intervention ---

Walking through the Everfree Forest was a vastly different experience at night then it was during the day. The silver light of the moon was far less capable of piercing the leafy canopy then its golden sister, leaving most of the woods draped in darkness. What little light did manage to pierce through did not do much to improve visibility, only enough to paint a few different shadows alongside the trees and dirt. The sounds of the forest were also entirely different, now almost dominated by the chirping of crickets and other nocturnal sounds. As well as the almost ever-present sound of timberwolves on the prowl for something to sink their fangs into.

Of course, one of these potential targets was not Twilight. She had wisely decided to keep the broken ward she had stumbled upon, kept just behind her ear just as Fluttershy had carried hers around. Grateful that its stench couldn't quite reach her nostrils from that position, she was even more thankful for the protection it granted her from these impending beasts. Some attempted to break through the unseen barricade that emanated from the small item, others decided to move on after realizing that their efforts were in vain.

It was a refreshing change of pace, especially after being chased down by these same beasts those weeks ago. The lack of having to focus on them allowed Twilight to aim her efforts solely on trying to find Fluttershy in this expansive stretch of trees. If nothing else, only to find out how the pegasus had gotten her hooves on such potent magic like this. It might not have had anything to do with Twilight's current situation regarding Mr. Knox and his apparent use of memory magic, but even still it was an important matter. Something like this would surely benefit the town as a whole, yet Fluttershy seemed determined to keep this secret to herself if the pegasus's earlier reactions were anything to go off of. Besides, Twilight had already stuck her nose this far into a mystery that didn't concern her, why should she stop at just the one?

The alicorn suddenly stopped walking.

Why was she doing this in the first place, she wondered. Because she offered to help Applejack out in exchange for information that she, in all honesty, didn't need? Why should she care about whatever it was that this sarosian was doing in this town? Twilight didn't even know who he was until very recently, and very soon she would be setting her sites away from Ponyville and onto the road ahead of her. Out of sight, out of mind. Whatever was going on in this small country village, it wouldn't be Twilight's problem anymore. After all, what would any of this matter in a hundred years anyway? Or two hundred? Or three?

"No, Twilight, we've been over this," she scolded of herself harshly. She shook the nihilistic thoughts out of her head as she pushed herself forward. "It isn't healthy to think like that. People matter. The things they do matter. The actions we take can have lasting consequences that far outlive—"

"A lifetime, gone in the blink of an eye."

The words from the nightmare rung in her ear and the young alicorn shook at their implication. Again, she violently thrashed her head about to jettison the thoughts from her mind. She didn't want to think about it. Not now, not ever. She just wanted to live her life, just her and Spike. The world was theirs to see, and they were going to see it all. Never stopping, never staying, never looking back.

Though this current train of thought was brought to a swift halt as Twilight walked directly into something solid, her horn loudly tinking against the crystalline structure which caused the magical pony a great deal of disorienting discomfort. She jolted backward from the shock, flailing wildly for a moment or two as she regained her composure. Once the ringing in her ears stopped and her eyes once more decided to focus, Twilight saw the immense crystalline root standing before her, one of countless belonging to the Tree of Harmony. The very gateway that had flung her into this region of the world—and this mess—in the first place. Seeing the root again jogged Twilight's memory, her attention shifting towards her saddlebags. She quickly retrieved the travel charm she had been given, her gaze falling upon the jewel in the center. While no longer pitch black, there was only the faintest of glows to the magical stone. It was recharging, that was for certain, but far from being useable.

"That's... not right," she muttered to nobody, "It shouldn't be taking this long to recharge... unless something's stopping it." Twilight looked back up to the crystal root, unmoving and untouched by the countless eons it had stood here. She thought back to how she was brought to this forest. How she had spent an undetermined period of time floating around in that endless astral abyss. Up until now, Twilight hadn't put much thought into this. But continuing her recent streak of being overly inquisitive, she began to question the nature of her accidental arrival.

"We could have come out anywhere... So why here?" She squinted at the crystal arch as if it would actually answer her questions.

It probably could, if it had some way of communicating. Not a single soul, living or dead, knew quite for sure what exactly the Tree of Harmony was. At first, it was believed to just be an unusual natural phenomenon. But several key events in Equestria's history—and likely some from well before that history—suggested that there was something more to the tree. Since then, hundreds of thousands of theories had come into existence over the lifespan of civilization as to what its true nature was. Most of them agreed on one thing if nothing else: that the Tree of Harmony was wise beyond all mortal comprehension. And it had proven this in the few but significantly meaningful times it had "acted" in the affairs of the world. Twilight knew this, just about everyone in Equestria did, it was a common topic in general history classes.

"There has to be a reason for sending us here, right?" She asked, pacing to and fro before the stone structure as she thought out loud. "I mess up the spell and just happen to end up a stone's throw away from both Canterlot and one of the most important historical sites in relatively recent history? That portal could have led anywhere, or nowhere, so why here?"

She stopped in her tracks and looked up to the crystal root with wide, waiting eyes. But of course, the pony's questions were left unanswered, understandably so considering she was technically talking to a rock. A rock that was connected to one of the most powerful sources of magic in the world, but still just a rock. Nothing more and nothing less. Twilight's expression of anticipation slowly faded into one of bitter animosity. Partially towards the unusual tree root for not answering her, but also herself for expecting answers from it in the first place. A loud sigh signaled the end of her fruitless waiting.

"I'm wasting my time..." Shaking her head, Twilight turned to walk back towards Ponyville. She didn't care about answers anymore, and she didn't care about whatever it was that may have been going on.

What was I even thinking? Coming out here like this... She growled in frustration to herself. I'm just going to go home, get a good night's sleep, and we'll leave in the morning. I'm not getting any further into whatever this mess is. End of story.

But then, as the alicorn made up her mind with an angry snort, the wind picked up. A strong, short burst of air suddenly pushed at Twilight, enough to send her mane into a frenzy and to ruffle her cloak. Caught off guard, she yelped as her magical hold on the travel medallion was lost, causing it to fall to the ground. The round relic rolled with the wind for but a moment before falling to the dirt, slowly renewing centerpiece facing upward. And just as quickly as the sharp breeze had started, so too did it end without any warning. Twilight just stood there for a minute, unsure of what to make of the bizarre natural phenomenon that had just occurred around her. At first, she wrote it off as just that and nothing more. But then, as she went to retrieve her amulet, her overly analytical brain noticed a very odd and specific detail.

That gust of cool air had just pointed her towards Warden's Keep.

She was beside herself as she gazed over in the fortress's dirrection, finding herself at an actual loss for words for the first time in a very long time. There was a sense of doubt that filled the air for a long while, the alicorn wondering if that gust of wind had been just that or something more. Looking to the small piece of the tree in question, the crystal archway offered nothing akin to an answer. It simply stood there in the dirt, exactly as it had since long before Twilight was born, an eternal reminder of the Tree of Harmony's presence in this world. Twilight thought of the implications of this for what felt like ages. Her mind raced back to one of the many many books she had read in her youth. One that told the story of the Tree of Harmony and the mare who had become Equestria's first queen.

The story itself was old and vague, even to the one pony in the world old enough to hear it first-hoof, but enough was known to understand the general idea of what had happened all those hundreds of years ago. The tale of how in the earliest day of pony society—when the three tribes of pegasus, earth pony, and unicorn were still at odds with one another and the Spirit of Chaos itself—the mare who would be queen was "guided" towards what she came to call the Tree of Harmony. The tree had bestowed two gifts upon her: a mighty weapon that could smite the chaos, and an immortal body that could withstand such power. It was the oldest story in Equestrian history, the story of how the first alicorn had come into existence, to save and unify the ponies of the region, and to defeat the avatar of chaos that had beseeched the world. There wasn't a single living pony in Equestria who didn't know the story in some form or fashion.

But what Twilight was caught up on in particular was how exactly the first queen had found the tree in the first place. All historical records simply state that she was "guided" there, and nothing else. No further explanation existed, any and all who would have known had died long ago. Even the second queen was ignorant of the true meaning of that part of the story, or so she claimed. Though at this moment, Twilight's sharp mind had come up with a hypothesis. A hypothesis that greatly resembled the bizarre scenario she had just experienced.

Maybe there was a reason as to why she had been brought here after all.

Twilight continued onward through the Everfree Forest with that thought without even realizing it, each step bringing her closer and closer towards Warden's Keep. Spurred on by her own curiosity and another gentle gale in the same dirrection, the litteral wind in her sails, the young alicorn was now resolved to go through with this. Even if she didn't know what she was going to do with whatever answers she was to find, she at least wanted to know. If nothing else, she could pass on her findings to someone else so they could take action. But right now wasn't the time for worrying about that, right now was the time for finding answers.

And soon enough, the trees began to dwindle in number as the sudden drop off came into view. Stopping at the cliff's edge just as her guiding breeze did, Twilight looked to the forsaken fortress at the bottom of the canyon with inquisitive eyes. In the light of the moon, the broken barricades and shattered stone walls were just as distinctive as they were in daylight. They were all that remained from the countless years that this battleground had been forgotten and left hung open to rot. Though all of that was beneath Twilight's notice at the moment, her gaze solely locked on the massive tree that had taken root in the center of the structure.

The impossibly large plant had grown streight through the central mass of the keep, rendering it rather ineffective as a stronghold in any sense of the word. Twilight had briefly given it some thought the last time she was here, but there had been more prevalent topics on her mind at the time. But now she was free to question the absurdity of this unusual floral phenomenon, and the strange green light emanating from somewhere within the massive expanse of leaves.

Twilight double took as she noticed the slowly flickering luminance. She almost mistook it for a trick of the moon's light for a moment, but she corrected her mistake once she remembered that the moon wasn't green. She looked back to the treetop and the green glow emanating from within, it was just barely noticeable among the leaves glistening in the moonlight. It seemed to be pulsing, stopping and starting again after every few seconds. Like a slow heartbeat. There was something in there, Twilight was certain of that. What she was also certain of was that unless she was mistaken, this light was the same green hue that emanated from the eyes of the timberwolves.

"Okay... more unusual magic," Twilight idly commented, tilting her head at the unusual green glow. "... If I were a betting mare, I'd say this is what my new pen pal wanted to show me."

There was a moment where Twilight simply stared at the ominous glow with hesitance. A moment to steel her nerves in preparation for whatever it was she was about to come across. She had already come this far and had already decided against turning back, so one last deep breath was ready to go. A flicker of magic was enough to pull her cloak out of the way, allowing her to stretch out her wings with a few quick flaps to get the blood flowing. The gap between her and the treetop was too far a distance to teleport safely, especially without knowing what exactly it was that was up there. So flying was, unfortunately, the better option. Even if she hadn't done so in quite a few years.

"Alright, Twilight. It's just a short trip to the tree," the alicorn reassured herself, looking over the edge down to the ground below. "Not that big of a deal. Just... gotta remember those lessons... yeah." Twilight peered down over the cliff to the grassy landscape bellow, memories of her first few flying lessons coming back to her. Of course, this was a significantly shorter fall then the cliffs near Canterlot, so it was probably going to be okay. Plus, there wasn't an over-zealous pegasus to throw her off the ledge before she was ready, nor was there Spike to throw himself off the ledge after her. Bonus.

Several long steps backward were taken before she ran right off the edge of the cliffside. The first few strokes of her wings were hectic and uneven, only serving to slow her descent into the pit below. It didn't take her long, however, to even out her movements and actually ascend. It wasn't easy, especially when she had to navigate through the many leaves and branches that surrounded whatever it was she was after, but eventually, she did reach the tree's top.

A massive dome of greenery surrounded the spacious crown of the tree, a natural plateau large enough to build an entire house upon—and then some. The only source of light within this space was the mysterious green glow, and the light of the full moon beaming down through a large gap in the canopy—something she wished she had noticed before flying headlong into the cluster of leaves. Twilight quickly readjusted her cloak as she landed, but didn't hear the sound of hoofs clacking against the wooden surface.

Instead, what met her ears was the dry crunch that comes when someone steps on an old and dead plant, as well as a slight sinking sensation. Like the floor wasn't strong enough to support her weight, as strange as that sounded. Looking down, the entirety of the floor was covered in what were unquestionably dead flowers. Hundreds of thousands of them, a thick layer of dead foliage left atop this massive tree for some unknown purpose. Their colors had all but been torn away by the passage of time, now just a dark cluster of tangled dead things. They couldn't have grown up here, there was no soil to be had, it was obvious that they had been placed here. But by who?

This was a question Twilight couldn't answer, but it was one that became more prominent as she turned to face the slow green blinking. Her eyes were first drawn to the only other living thing up here—or formerly living, given its current state. She slowly walked over, desecrating this bed of flowers ever further, to one bunch of flowers that looked to be brand new. A small bouquet of rosemary had been placed here. Fairly recently from what the alicorn could tell, evident by how fresh their scent was. She wasn't the first one to come up here this evening, it seemed. Twilight took the opportunity to partake in the aroma, mostly to help cleanse her mind of the stench she had experienced earlier, before placing the flowers back down.

Though that didn't answer the question of "why?" that permeated Twilight's mind. Looking around at the thick layer of dead flora around her, it was clear that whoever had left this bouquet here had been helping keep up some longstanding tradition for a very long time. Perhaps as a way of paying respect to those who had fallen here? That was the only conclusion she could come to. But this routine service of remembrance wasn't the reason why Twilight had come up here.

No, she came up here to find the source of that green glowing. After having moved the newest addition to this hoard of rosemary, the mysterious light was shown to still be shining from underneath the layer of additional flora. And so, Twilight began to dig. Lightly pulling away small layers of the decayed plants away with her hooves, careful as to not disturb whatever it was that was beneath.

Finally, though, the secret was revealed after penetrating at least a foot of decayed flowers. Twilight could now see the wood of the tree's crown for the first time, and the strange shard of crystal that looked to be partially embedded within the tree, the perfect size to be concealed by Twilight's hoof if she so chose. It continued to pulse and glow as it had had been doing before, it's light brighter now that it was no longer buried by the thick layer of decaying rosemary. Not enough to be blinding, but it wasn't exactly comfortable to look at.

"What in the world is this?" Twilight pondered out loud, she was absolutely stumped as she observed the small object lodged in the bark. There was a short-lived moment where Twilight wanted to forcefully remove it from the wood with her magic, but she was smart enough to write this off as a bad idea. She had no idea what this thing was, and it was clearly magical in nature, it would be best not to agitate it.

Of course, that choice was soon revoked from the alicorn as an unusual humming began to emanate from her saddlebags, in perfect synch with the returning radiance of the crystal. Looking back towards her pouch, a bright white light was seen beaming through the fabric. She quickly reached into the pack and removed the object that had seemingly begun to resonate with the tree's shard.

She held the travel amulet in her magic, its new pale glow shining unopposed even through the magenta aura her horn had wrapped it in. The humming was louder now, almost unbearably so, and Twilight was forced to close her eyes from the two different sources of now brighter light. Though now, unlike before, the light did not cease. Even though the lids of her eyes, Twilight could tell that the two lights were getting more and more intense. And as the two magical stones reacted too one another, Twilight could feel her own thoughts growing heavy. Whatever the arcane phenomenon she had just triggered was, it was having a very strong effect on her ability to retain consciousness.

Alarmed, she murmured and stumbled about in defiance, fighting against her own fleeting awareness as she tried to escape whatever force she had inadvertently unleashed. She blindly stumbled about, fighting as hard as she could to stay cognizant, just focused enough to at least put the amulet back into her bag. That, if nothing else, diminished the intense light by a small amount. Enough for Twilight to finally open her eyes.

Just in time to watch as she inadvertently stumbled over the edge, and began the long but fast trip to the ground below.

Though by this point, her own sudden onset exhaustion had taken the better of her. She felt tired, unnaturally so, and found herself passing out as she continued to plummet to the shattered fortress far beneath her. The last thing the young alicorn saw before blacking out was the Mare in the Moon, silently watching this all transpire from her place amongst the stars.

— Chapter Eighteen —

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--- Intrusion ---

An endless blue sky. A thick expanse of tropical greenery. Hot and humid air, thick with a morning mist. And what looked to be a rather large puffin with strange purple feathers.

Those were the last things Spike saw before he was abruptly awoken from his slumber by a loud bump from somewhere else in the house. He was imminently made aware of his surroundings as he bolted upright in the twisted mass of blankets and pillows that were formerly a bedspread, eyes futilely darting about the darkened environment. It was the dead of night, he could surmise that much, and two years living on the road with Twilight had trained the infant dragon to be wary of unusual sounds in the night. Even in the safety of an established shelter like this one. The time he'd spent traveling alongside his favorite pony had also taught him exactly what to do in such an instance.

Wake up Twilight.

Swallowing his anxieties and attempting to keep himself calm, he slowly crawled out of his bed and began to slowly sneak his way towards Twilight's bedroom. The last thing he needed to do in this instance was panic. He needed to stay calm and alert, he couldn't let whatever fears he had at the moment get the better of him. He slowly advanced, keeping his whole body kept close to the ground, and kept repeating the words "don't be scared" in his head. It wasn't much farther now, he could see the moonlight beaming out of Twilight's bedroom door.

"I honestly can't believe you were that dumb," an unfamiliar voice spoke from the bedroom, "You're supposed to be smarter than that. I know you're smarter than that."

Spike froze mere inches away from the doorframe. Someone was in their house. That was what the dragon ended up fixating on the most. There was a stranger in their house, in Twilight's bedroom. How they had gotten in was beyond Spike, they shouldn't have been able to get past Twilight's magical barrier thing. Right? That's what Twilight had assured him of, anyway. But did she even use that spell on their house? They only needed it to keep their privacy in hotels and stuff, so would Twilight even think to use it in their house? Spike had absolutely no idea, and it was an unbearable feeling.

Okay, okay, calm down, it's fine Spike tried to convince himself, Twilight said she's been making friends here... Pinkels, Rarely, and Apple-Jax... maybe she's just talking to one of them?... In the middle of the night... in her bedroom... in the dark... without telling me...

Ever so slowly, the dragon crept forward despite his better judgment telling him otherwise. He poked his head into the room ever so slowly, holding his breath to try and conceal his presence as much as possible. And standing there in the pale moonlight was a unicorn with heavy-looking saddlebags, a mare based on her voice, standing right by Twilight's bed with what he could make out as a forlorn expression. The features that caught his eye most were the blue streaks in the mare's mane and tail, and the silver watch that dangled from her neck. A sudden blue glow from her horn drew Spike's eyes back to the bed as the unicorn pulled the covers over Twilight's sleeping form, tucking her in for the night. Even in the low light, Spike saw Twilight's cloak and bags sitting off in one corner of the room—the culprit behind the thud that had woke him up, he soon realized.

"I mean, I know that little note of mine wasn't exactly very descriptive, but you could have come up with a better plan than that!" The mare went on in a sarcastic manner, huffing out a forced chuckle as she put a hoof against her face. "It's just not like you, of all ponies, to just go in headlong like that without a plan... or maybe it is, and I don't know you as well as I thought." She sighed mournfully. "I suppose that would make sense though, given the circumstances."

What in the world was she talking about? Spike hadn't the faintest idea, but from the sounds of it, it was like this unicorn knew Twilight. That should have been a calming revelation, but Spike was beyond being calm at this point. He was petrified in fear of what was going on, all he could do right now was watch and listen.

"But I suppose this is my fault. Should have expected you to investigate the ominous magical glowing thing. Why I didn't expect that is beyond me, but it's not the dumbest mistake I've made in my life... Well, if nothing else, at least you didn't bring—" She stopped herself midsentence, looking away from Twilight and instead of looking directly at the wall in front of her. "... He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

Spike tried to scream, but no sound came out. He only trembled at her words, she knew he was there. He tried to run, but where was he to go? The only place he could go was to Twilight, and right now there was a possible threat standing between him and her. Frightened beyond reason, all he could do was wait to see what would happen, and hope that this unfamiliar face wouldn't hurt him.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble," the mare slowly turned around and looked right at Spike. Her tone and her eyes seemed sincere enough, but Spike was still reasonably suspicious. Even as she continued talking to him. "I'm... well, the short version is I'm here to help—" she gestured towards Twilight's unconscious form—"She had a... rough night, we'll say. I figured she'd rather wake up in her bed then in the woods."

The nervous chuckle the mare managed to give didn't do much to calm Spike's own nerves. But when the mare took a few steps away from the bed, jutting with her head in such a way as to tell him to go to her. Even if that wasn't the intention, Spike took the opportunity and ran as fast as he could to the sleeping alicorn. Without hesitation, he began trying to stir her back into the waking world. But, much to his dismay, he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for.

"Care to... hazard a guess?" Twilight murmured wearily in her sleep. She was dreaming, that much was certain, and it seemed she wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

"I... think it'd be best to let her sleep," the unicorn suggested hesitantly, "Like I said: rough night. She'll get up in the morning, don't worry."

Spike didn't respond, he didn't even look back to the invader in his home. He just sat there, watching Twilight peacefully sleep while he was busy being terrified.

The mare sighed again. "It's okay, your secrets are safe with me... and if all goes according to plan, you'll never see me again." And with that, the unicorn simply began to leave like it was nothing, making her way to the door without another word. This was when Spike finally found his voice again, turning to face the mysterious mare who had broken into their home. He only had three words to say to her.

"Who are you?!"

The unicorn stopped and waited, apparently mulling over the long dragon's question. It felt like an eternity as the two just waited there in silence as Twilight continued to dream on. The mare hung her head, seemingly in shame, as she thought over his request for information. Finally, she decided to look back towards him, with a weary smile and saddened eyes. It almost looked as if she were about to cry.

"Starlight Glimmer. I was here to help... even if I didn't do a very good job." The mare looked down towards the ground shamefully. She took a long deep breath before turning her attention back to Spike with a very different look. Steely-eyed determination now lived in the space where obvious sorrow had just been, which didn't exactly put Spike at ease. "Take care of her for me, little guy. And... I'm sorry about this. But she can't know I was here."

Spike didn't answer the question. He wasn't given nearly enough time to even process what Starlight said before a blinding flash of blue light enveloped the room.

That was the last thing Spike saw before he was abruptly awoken from his slumber by his own nightmare. He shot up into an upright position, frantically scanning his dark bedroom as his young mind failed to segregate dream from reality. It didn't take him long to realize that he had been dreaming, however, a sigh of relief escaping his maw. He couldn't quite remember what his nightmare had entailed, but whatever it had been was enough to unnerve him greatly. Something felt wrong. He couldn't sleep.

So the young dragon did what any scared child would do in this situation. He sought out comfort from his guardian. He made his way into Twilight's bedroom at a quick but quiet pace, already feeling at ease as he discovered her sleeping form. He hesitated for only a moment before propping himself up onto the bed, beginning to lightly shake the slumbering pony.

"Twilight... I had another nightmare..." Spike's pleas were left unanswered, the alicorn continuing to peacefully sleep the night away. He wasn't going to be able to get her up anytime soon, not nicely anyway, so instead the dragon decided to go for the next best thing.

Ever so carefully, he wormed his way underneath the covers in-between Twilight's forehooves as she slept into something of a forced hug. The last thing he wanted after this right now was to be alone, it was a thought that he just couldn't handle at the moment. Thankfully for him, even in her sleepy state Twilight was at least able to recognize his presence and she gently pulled him closer. The unconscious hug from his closest companion wasn't what he had been wanting out of this experience, but it was enough to at least get the dragon to finally collect his nerves. And soon after, he found himself peacefully drifting back to sleep.

"You just leave that to me," Twilight muttered from behind him. Spike was certain that she was just talking in her sleep, but the kind words did their part in helping him to relax.

— Chapter Nineteen —

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--- What Nightmares Dream Of ---

The tall, spacious hallways of Canterlot Castle surrounded Twilight, bathed in the light of the early afternoon sun allowed entrance by the many vast windows that lined the walls. Truly representative of the high status and power the nation had accumulated over the years: with shining marble floors, high pillars of beautifully carved white stone, and luscious red carpentry with golden trim. Every window was home to a breathtaking view of Canterlot itself, alongside the rest of the landscape far beyond the mountain the city resided on. More than capable of inspiring the artistic talents of all who would come to the glorious city that sat as Equestria's crown jewel.

It was magnificent, to say the absolute least.

Twilight slowly strode through these wonderous walkways, half out of spite and half out of curiosity. In spite of everything, the young alicorn had never been given the chance to explore the castle on her own. She had always been taken down the most direct paths towards whatever her destination was meant to be. The dining hall, her personal quarters, her classroom, and the throne room. But there was so much more to this place than she had ever seen. She had been kept from entire wings of the castle, them being of no concern to her, they all said. But today was different. Today, Twilight had had enough and wanted something to do to distract her from the admittedly awful day she was having. A quiet stroll through the castle seemed like a good idea.

Of course, facts always tend to outweigh fiction. And her peaceful self-guided tour was not as peaceful as she had anticipated. Every time Twilight passed by one of the castle's many guards, she was subject to a bitter moment's glance. Not a single guard attempted to stop her, as she technically wasn't trespassing, but the way they all stared was telling enough. These looks only lasted for a second or two, but it was easy to see that they were off-put by her. After all, an alicorn of her age was something unheard of before Twilight came along. It only made sense. But as she continued on her way, she started to suspect that it wasn't just her status as an alicorn that was putting them off. And that realization only served to further amplify her bad mood.

But then, a voice. Someone had just called out her name and was making no effort to hide just how upset they were with the young alicorn. Twilight sighed, recognizing both the tone and the voice, and stopped walking. She didn't bother turning to face them, for she already knew exactly who was standing behind her. Her overbearing and overprotective older sister, just as agitated as ever from the sounds of it. Twilight sighed in anticipation of the dreadful conversation that was to follow.

"There you are," her sister spoke sternly at Twilight's back, "You can not just up and abandon your studies like that. Your professor as been searching high and low for you."

"Humorous, normally he is doing all he can to look away from me," Twilight murmured back, recalling the less than pleasant series of events that had led up to her midday stroll. "Now he wishes to know of my whereabouts? Forgive me, sister, if I laugh at his hypocrisy. Ha, ha, ha." The fake laugh was the last thing Twilight contributed to the conversation before walking away. Or at least, before she tried to walk away. Instead, she felt something grab hold of her tail, keeping her from advancing. Still, that didn't stop her from trying, creating the admittedly funny sight of her walking in place.

"You should not walk away from your elders when they are talking to you," the older sibling continued. She began applying more force to her magic, drawing Twilight in closer, much to the younger pony's dismay. "Especially your sister."

"But our conversation is over. You want me to go back to class, and I refuse. The debate has come to a close." Twilight doubled her efforts in trying to escape the superior magical grasp, only to cause herself a great deal of pain from pulling at her tail so hard. So she stopped attempting to escape, prompting the release of her tail. Even still, she did not look back.

"This is not up for debate. You are an alicorn, a very young one at that. Your magic is far more potent than that of a unicorn's. You need to learn how to properly control it so you do not hurt somepony. Or yourself."

There was something in those last few words that resonated with Twilight. It was faint but noticeable, underneath the overbearing and unpleased tone, there was some legitimate concern for the younger alicorn's safety. Of course, Twilight didn't really care about that at the moment.

"Then why are you and mother unable to teach me?" Twilight pleaded back, practically begging at this point. "If alicorn magic is so volatile, then surely a unicorn should not be qualified to teach an alicorn how to use it."

"Starswirl the Bearded is one of the most accomplished sorcerers of our time, perhaps even in the whole of the world." Twilight didn't need to look behind her to see her sister's brow furrowing, she could practically feel her gaze bearing down on her. From personal experience, I can assure you that he is more than qualified for the task."

"Yes, from your personal experience," Twilight hissed, "But in mine? He is a bitter old bastard who absolutely despises me for no reason I can be blamed for."

The older sister gasped in shock. "Excuse me?! You are an eight-year-old filly, how do you think mother would feel if she heard you talking like that?!"

Twilight donned an unseen mischievous smile. "Who do you think taught me to talk like that?"

There was a long pause in the situation, one that let Twilight know that she had gained the upper hoof in this sibling argument. She did all she could to stop herself from laughing, otherwise, her ruse would be revealed for what it really was. Of course, their mother didn't teach Twilight to talk like that, she was only eight years old for crying out loud. But the swiftness in which she had spoken was enough to have fooled her older sister, much to her own delight.

"Alright... I will play your game. Why does your teacher hate you so?"

The question was one Twilight didn't expect to hear, not from her sister at the very least. She had been caught off guard by the inquiry and hesitated for a moment. She knew exactly why and how her professor disliked her, but putting it into words was a more difficult task then she anticipated. She spent some time thinking it over but soon decided that the simple approach would be the best. Her sister was a busy pony, who knew how long it would take before she would be on her way? Taking a deep breath, Twilight simply raised a single wing, still not looking back to face her elder sister.

"Care to hazard a guess?"

Once more, silence engulfed the whole of the castle as far as Twilight was concerned. There was an honest moment where she believed that her sister had up and left before even hearing her out, something that wouldn't surprise the younger alicorn. She almost didn't want to look, instead, she just wanted to walk away and pretend like she had been heard out. But a heartfelt sigh from behind her was enough indication that she wasn't alone. Further proof of this came from the glittering golden light that surrounded her at that moment, and soon Twilight was forced to turn and face her elder sister.

Her coat was whiter than snow and accented heavily by the golden regalia that decorated her body. Her mane and tail, ever-flowing like their mother's, were both comprised of beautiful hues of glowing firey colors, reminiscent of the sun she had been named for. The second alicorn was still young, but she was well on the path to adulthood at this point. Even now in her adolescent state, she would be taller than most fully grown ponies. So, when compared to Twilight's stature, she came across as a giant. She was magnificent in every meaning of the word. Twilight had seen this mare many, many times throughout her short life. Her sister was known far and wide across the expanses of Equestria and beyond, and her name would likely live on for thousands of years to come.

Princess Sanctus Solis Celestia II

But as the older alicorn kneeled to look Twilight in the eyes with her own of royal violet hue, Twilight could see a look of great emotional turmoil upon her sister's face. At first, Twilight thought that her sister was upset with her, but that thought was eradicated as she was pulled into a tight sisterly hug. The size disparity between the two caused Twilight to practically vanish from the world in the larger pony's embrace.

"Mother is busy with her court at the moment, but I will see to it that she is made aware of your concerns," Celestia spoke softly as she pulled away from the hug, "You may go about your business... just try not to get into trouble."

Nothing else was said between the two before the elder sister simply turned and walked away. And as she watched the heir to the throne make her leave, Twilight was left in a dumbfounded state. She couldn't find the words to explain what exactly it was that had happened just then. She tried as hard as she could to recall a time when her sister had ever listened to her like that without some huge argument between the two, and there was none. She tried to recall a time when her sister had looked to be in such great turmoil, and there was none.

What in the world just happened? Twilight asked herself in her confused state. Though her attempts at solving the mystery were interrupted by a slight sniffling sound off to her right. Looking over, she saw one of the many royal guards watching her. The stallion's eyes were beginning to water, looking as if he was on the verge of sobbing. Frustrated by this, Twilight barked at him.

"What are YOU looking at?"

"Nothing, your highness." His expression and demeanor were quickly replaced by the typical stone-faced look the guards always had.

"Damn right."

--- — ---

Days began to blend into weeks, which soon faded into months and even years.

Twilight's days were spent as a young princess, and a young alicorn, should have been spending them. Her studies were her life, more often than not, even after her initial teacher had moved on to pursue other goals. Every subject was touched upon, from the most basic control of mystical energies to the most complex of transfiguration and conjurations. Even divinity was a touched upon the subject, something Twilight found herself to be decent at, at best. But magic was not her only subject, oh no, as a princess she was also required to learn of Equestria's many laws and appropriate social customs. Which were just as complicated and equally strenuous as trying to bend the forces of reality to your whims with a glowing horn.

But as the young alicorn began to mature and blossom, she found her interests did not align with the arcane arts or the political world. Every day on her various paths throughout the castle, she would see numerous members of the Royal Guard on their own routes and routines. Training their bodies and wills, ready to defend Equestria at a moment's notice with their very lives. While the work of the royals and the nobles were invaluable to the survival of the nation, it was these brave mares and stallions who would be the ones to keep the populace safe in times of strife and war. Thus, her mind was made up. Her path was set, her destiny in her own hooves from now on.

And on this day, her sixteenth birthday, she was finally ready to enact on this decision. Finishing up her daily duties and studies, Twilight made her way down to the castle barracks, to the private office of the captain of the guard, where she would take the first step to define the rest of her immortal life.

"... You can't be serious?" The guard captain asked with a cocked eyebrow, gazing upon the younger pony's ever eager expression. A tall, powerful built earth pony stallion. He was currently without his enchanted armor, leaving him with a dark grey coat and a lighter grey mane, colors very reminiscent of powerful metals. He was a seasoned soldier who worked hard to protect country and crown, a pony Twilight admired despite scantly knowing him.

"I am most serious, Captian Iron Oath," Twilight responded with the same enthusiastic grin, "And today is my sixteenth. The age in which ponies may be legally drafted into military service should the need arise, or enlist should they choose to do so. And I choose to do so."

Iron Oath continued to stare blankly at one of the royal alicorns he was pledged to protect. Despite her claims, he couldn't tell if she were being serious or not. He looked around his sparsely decorated office space with warry eyes. A feeling deep in his gut told him that this was some sort of royal prank and that any moment either of the other two alicorns would pop in from nowhere to laugh at whatever it was the joke was meant to be. But that never came, and Twilight was the only pony sitting in front of him.

"I... mean no disrespect when I say this, your highness... but I don't think you're applicable for a spot in the royal military."

"Why would I not be? I am in top physical condition, I am sound of mind and soul, and I am fairly certain that I can pass the background check. If I cannot, then I will have to speak with mother about lowering the standards."

"That's not exactly what I meant..."

"Then what did you mean?"

Twilight's pressing eyes upon him was enough to make Iron Oath shutter. He might have outclassed this mare in terms of physical ability and size, but she dwarfed him in every other category. She had authority over him, she had unfathomable magic prowess over him, and she had a direct line of communication to the two other ponies in the world with that kind of overwhelming advantage against him. She could very easily just order him to comply with her request, and that would be the end of that. But she wasn't, and the confusion that brought the stallion was enormous and neverending.

"Well... you're a princess, you aren't meant to be fighting wars or catching common crooks. You... well," he gulped heavily, "It just isn't your place."

Twilight just sat there for a moment while her friendly smile fading into a stern glare, enough to send another shutter down the soldier's spine. Her eyes pierced through him like spears, as she thought heavily on his words. For a brief moment, Iron Oath thought he might have convinced her to leave. But then she spoke up again.

"And what exactly is my place?"

"You... I... Umm..." Iron couldn't finish the thought, he was far too intimidated by the sixteen-year-old mare sitting in front of him to properly form words. Sweat began to build up above his brow, and his eyes began to dilate and twitch. His breathing was becoming faster and faster, so much so as to risk his oxygen intake entirely. And he was trying to hide all of this from the princess sitting just on the other side of his desk. Seeing that he had no answer to give, Twilight went to finish her thought.

"I am not heir to the throne, captain. That right is reserved for my elder sister, as I am sure you are well aware. And she has fully embraced her duty and her destiny to lead our people into further greatness. And as for me? I have decided that if it is my sister's fate to lead this land, then it shall be mine to protect it. Would you rather I spend my days pining over a throne that is not mine to have?"

"I... actually didn't know your sister was the heir..." Iron's dull face was painted with the shade of pink synonymous with embarrassment. "I just assumed that your mother would rule forever... or that you and your sister would... I don't know, take shifts? Or something? I don't know?"

Much like Twilight herself, it seemed the political world was not on this earth pony's list of high priorities. Yet unlike her, he was not tasked with learning the inner workings of said political world.

"Fanciful ideas, captain, but unfortunately the real world cannot always accommodate such ideas. The real world can be a dark and unforgiving place, and we need brave ponies to protect those who cannot protect themselves." A confident smile found its way onto Twilight's lips. "And who better than an alicorn to be the one to protect them?"

The stallion couldn't argue with her on that front, her status as an alicorn alone made Twilight more capable than any other recruit right out of the gate. He pondered for a time on the princess's request, before finally continuing.

"Very well. But don't expect special treatment because you're a princess. You want to be in the military? Fine. You got it. And everything that comes with it."

Twilight smiled brightly. "Oh, captain. On the contrary, I expect nothing less than to be 'put through the wringer' as they say. Do your worst, I will overcome."

"... All right. But if I hear anything from the Queen, then you're—"

"You just leave that to me."

--- — ---

Twilight's family wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that she had joined the Equestrial Royal Milliotary under their noses. She had spent months attempting to talk the two into letting her pursue her desires, but they hadn't been as easy to sway as Captian Iron Oath, much to her dismay. But in time, she was finally able to get them to understand that this was what she wanted to do with her life. And thus, the youngest alicorn was able to begin her training in earnest.

And the following six years to come had done wonders for her physical condition and her social life. At first, the other recruits and guards were wary around her, being an alicorn princess and all, but she was able to get them to open up to her in time. And while she chose to spend most of her off-hours in the barracks, wanting to live the full experience, she allowed herself the luxury of returning to her high-societal ways of life for one week every six months. To see her family, to catch up on her academic and arcane studies, and to tell no end of stories about all the friends she had made amongst the common folk to her sister and her mother.

She might have accidentally gotten a few ponies promoted by doing that, but she didn't mind. If anything, she was happy that her comrades had gotten to advance in the ranks, they didn't need to know that she had any involvement in these progressions.

Of course, everything changed one day when Twilight returned to the upper levels of the castle, only to learn that it was finally time. Her mother was ready to pass on the mantle of Queen down to her elder sister, an announcement that shook the whole of Equestria. The Queen had been the nation's only leader since the country had been established, it only made sense that the citizens would be wary. It seemed that ruling a kingdom for four hundred and twenty-six years was all she could take and wished to pass on the throne to the next in succession.

The month before the coronation was a bizarre one. Twilight was asked to put her military duties on hold for the time being to help in the preparations, a request she complied too without hesitation. This was to be a momentous occasion in Equestrian History, she wanted to make sure that it went off without a hitch. She had found that her sister had her own senses of anxieties and fears about all of this as well, and had not been informed of her ascension until the day of the public announcement. Their mother had always been one to wait until the last moment to do things, she was always one for dramatic flair.

Finally, the day had come for the official ceremony. Twilight had spent the past several hours in her room preparing for the event. She was still a princess after all and was obligated to be there front and center with the rest of her royal family. Despite this, her mother absolutely insisted that she wear her armor to the occasion as opposed to any regalia or gowns to the event, much to the dismay of several counselors and hired event planners. Twilight herself even objected to this, until her mother informed her that she wished for the people to see her as she wanted to be seen: a powerful guardian to the people.

And so, Twilight stood before the full-sized mirror within her chambers, taking one last moment to tidy up any unsightly details that might have remained. And staring back at her from the other side of the glass was the same pony she had known her whole life. With a coat made of a stunning shade of dark cobalt and a mane of brilliant ivory strands, almost aglow like pale moonlight. Normally tied up to keep it out of her eyes, today it was worn down in a matter more befitting of a princess. And while she vastly preferred the former style, she could definitely appreciate the way her mane framed her face. It didn't dance and wave about as her mother and sister's did, but that was something she was glad for considering all the horror stories the two had told her of those unruly manes. Her eyes were of a magnificent silvery teal hue, a trait she had only seen in herself thus far in her life. Her eyes trailed down towards the suit of armor she was wearing, custom-built for her natural height difference and regal status.

She had requested to have armor identical to that of her fellow soldiers, but it seems the blacksmiths still felt the need to add some bravado to show that she was indeed a member of the royal household. A bright silver-colored set of plate mail with very miner highlights of gold inlay and an intricate carving of a crescent moon upon the chest. It at least matched the traditional uniform in coloration, in addition to the gold highlights, but it was far more detailed. Far more elaborate. It was still perfectly functional, which was the only reason Twilight had accepted the set in the first place, but still, she longed for something less conspicuous. She already stood out enough as it was.

And with that train of thought, her eyes fell upon the features that distinguished her from all other ponies in Equestria. Her gorgeous teal eyes had an almost cat-like alure to them, with tall narrow pupils as opposed to the round ones that her kin had. The horn atop her head was not a streight narrowed cone but was more akin to an upwardly curved wedge of some kind. The princess had been told that there were unicorns with horns such as these in Seară, but she had yet to ever meet such a pony. She flicked her ears, watching the tufts of fur at their tips wobble and bounce slightly. And then there were her wings, large and bat-like in appearance, and easily the most eyecatching aspect of her form.

All features befitting of the world's only sarosian alicorn.

Twilight frowned at these abnormalities. She was the only member of her family to have such traits, and one of the only few sarosian ponies in Equestria to begin with. Even to this day, she got occasional disapproving glances from the ponies she had dedicated her life to protecting. She was different, there was absolutely no hiding it, and she knew that. The black sheep of the royal family, a dark stain upon their perfect bloodline according to some. The sarosian alicorn had long since learned to let these glances and words pass her by, but that didn't stop them from hurting all the same.

"Princess Selene?" A voice spoke from the open door, the sound of her own name pulling Twilight back to the real world. The pony standing there was one of the many royal guards that she had come to know in the past several years. The unicorn's natural colors were overwritten by the enchantment of her own suit of armor—another difference between Twilight's set and the rest—appearing to have a snow-white coat and a solid blue mane and tail. Even still, Twilight recognized this pony from one unique feature: the silver fob watch dangling from her neck.

"The... the ceremony is going to start soon," the unicorn mare spoke nervously, "I was sent to collect you."

Twilight took a moment to regain her composure before offering the guard a kindly smile. "Thank you... but between you and I, you are out of uniform."

The unicorn guard looked confused for a moment before looking down at her accessory, gasping in surprise as she quickly tucked the watch safely away underneath her chest plate. "AH! How'd I forget that?! I'm sorry, I'll—!"

"It is fine, I am not the one you should be worried about," Twilight chuckled as she left her chambers with the unicorn following close behind, "In fact, you are quite lucky that I was the one to catch it. Otherwise, you might have gotten your family's heirloom confiscated."

"Yeah... that wouldn't be good..."

The rest of the journey to the castle's frontmost courtyard was silent, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. Not that there was much to think of at the moment, all she had to do was stand up in front of the crowd of attending ponies and be quiet. She could do that in her sleep, eyes open and everything. Maybe she'd be asked to say a few words, or maybe even put the crown upon her sister's head, she didn't know. All that she knew was that all eyes would be upon her sister and her mother, as it should be on such a day.

Finally, she arrived at the scene. The largest banquet hall in the castle had been cleared of most tables in favor of just a minor few, as the various nobles and royals of Equestria and a few allied countries all could be seen mingling and chatting amongst each other, with castle staff-members roaming about with trays of drinks and those weird little sandwiches that Twilight would never understand. A few guests of note that Twilight noticed were a few ponies from the Crystal Empire to the North, as well as a number of sarosians hailing from Seară. Though the biggest standout was the single emissary from the distant nation of Minok, the lone minotaur wearing nothing but slacks and a bowtie as he awekwardly stood alone in the corner of the room. The "before party" had been set up in this venue as it had access to the balcony overlooking the castle's largest courtyard, where hundreds of bystanders were likely gathering for the event proper to begin.

Twilight glanced about the room in search for someone to chat with and pass the time, noticing that the guard who had walked here with her had vanished. Likely to get back to whatever assignment she'd been assigned earlier, as the Royal Guards were on high alert for the occasion. She earnestly considered walking over to the Minok Emissary, just to hear whatever his wild story was, but the choice to do so was ripped from her as she caught two unicorns approaching her—from the Crystal Empire if their extravagant garbs were to be believed. And much to her dismay, Twilight recognized these individuals.

The first, the older looking stallion, was none other than Emperor Mi Coraggio Rapsodia of the Crystal Empire, a crimson coated well-built stallion who offered nothing but the kindest of smiles towards the sarosian alicorn. Then there was his accompanying daughter Princess Mi Amore Melodia—Twilight's other older sister. While her eldest sibling, Celestia the Second, lived here in Equestria, Melodia was destined to be the future ruler of the Crystal Empire, and thus had made that kingdom her home. The resemblance she had to Celestia II—and by extension, the trio's mother—was prevalent. In fact: if not for her pale pink coat and her bright pink mane, it would be very easy to mistake the second alicorn for this unicorn.

"Ah, well if it isn't Selene!" Rapsodia bellowed with a great laugh, Twilight doing her best not to roll her eyes as the two stopped to chat with her. "My, my, look how much you have grown! And that armor! Befitting of both a princess and a soldier, if I may say so!"

"Hello, Emperor Rapsodia," Twilight replied dryly. She moved her glance down towards her other sister. "Melodia."

"Selene," the pink unicorn almost hissed back. While the relationship between Twilight and Celestia II had been one of mutual love and respect with the occasional bouts of bickering—as siblings do—her relationship with Melodia wasn't quite as civil, to put it kindly.

"Oh, you do not have to be like that, I have already told you that you can call me father!" Rapsodia continued, either oblivious to the tension between the two mares or just blatantly ignoring it. "You might not be my daughter by blood, but I do care for you and your wellbeing as a father should!"

"And the sentiment is... appreciated," Twilight lied back, "But I am more comfortable with Emperor Rapsodia if you would not mind."

The stallion took a defeated grimace at that. "... Could we at least compromise with just 'Rapsodia'?"

"If you insist..." Twilight sighed. "... Rapsodia."

The Emporer was practically aglow from that exchange, trotting away with a spring in his step and humming a catchy tune. He was earnest in his desire to want to be a surrogate father, but that had also been his greatest undoing as he was also far too eager to be as such. And frankly, it had only served to push Twilight away from him. But maybe this little compromise would get him to back off a tad bit. But as he began to chase down one of the sandwich servers, Twilight noticed that her sister had stayed behind.

"You realize that this is a coronation, not one of your training exercises, right?" Melodia asked bitterly, glancing up and down at Twilight's armor with a judgmental gleam in her eyes. She then resumed eye contact with a bitterly sarcastic smile. "Or are you here to provide security? Because if that is the case, I think that guard over there could use a short break." She pointed daintily at a distant member of the Royal Guard. "Chop-chop, soldier mare."

"Oh, is that jealousy I detect in your tone?" Twilight asked back with an equal amount of snark. "What? Still upset that you have to settle for cubic zirconium instead of real diamonds for that little tiara of yours?"

The unicorn's taunting expression transformed into one of frustration. She looked around worriedly to check if anyone had heard the comment before turning back with a hissing whisper. "You promised you would never speak of that again!"

"And I was told you had promised to be civil today. By both our sister and our mother."

"Oh, it was just some sisterly teasing, grow some thicker skin!"

"Said the pot to the kettle," the sarosian alicorn chuckled much to the other princess's dismay.

"Said the black sheep of the family."

"Said the unloved middle child." Twilight knew what she game that Melodia was playing at this point. But she was going to play along. Any excuse to get this unicorn to throw a tantrum. After all, if she caused too much of a ruckus, Twilight had the authority to legally detain her. And that would absolutely make her day, even if she'd have to deal with her mother's consequences.

"Said the would-be-commoner!"

"Said the spoiled brat."

"Said the knife-toothed-FREAK!" Based on how her face had darkened from pink to red, it was clear that Melodia was done with this little game. She was so flustered, in fact, that she failed to notice that she had raised her voice a bit too high until it was far too late. She looked around, only to see that all eyes were currently on her. There was no getting around it, everyone had just heard that little outburst. Furious, she looked back to her younger sister. Twilight, with a triumphant smile, simply readjusted her wings and allowed a spark of silver to dance about her horn.

"Said the unicorn," she whispered before walking simply away with a swish of her tail.

While she didn't get to make the pink unicorn spend a night in the dungeon as she wanted, this outcome was far more enjoyable. Her little outburst was the only thing noticed by the others in attendance, and they didn't exactly appear to be quite to pleased her choice of words. The sarosians, in particular, weren't a fan of the comment. She would be spending the rest of her evening struggling and squirming to undo her mistake. And "struggling" was the perfect word to describe it, especially as Twilight saw the mare's father stomping back towards her. The pink unicorn only had enough time to mutter something about "waiting for her coronation" before her father's lecture was upon her.

Oh, how Twilight was going to enjoy watching Melodia's backpedaling from afar. The only thing that could have made this better would have been if their mother had been present to witness it. And as she watched Melodia getting her ear chewed off by her father, Twilight could only imagine how the eldest alicorn would react, and it tickled her fancy to no end.

She continued to wander about the room, occasionally stopping to speak with whoever it was who decided to try and speak with her. Just simple small talk, nothing more and nothing less. Not many of the discussions had been much of Twilight's interests, aside from a choice few. The Minok Emissary was more than happy to share his entire life story, and what a story it was. A grand tale of mammoth herding and sand-shark hunting. A life that was truly worth living, in both his and Twilight's honest opinion. This was someone Twilight greatly enjoyed the company of, more so than the other stiffs at the party. Speaking of, the Searăn Representatives were also amongst those that she decided to speak with. And this was when she learned that her actual father would not be in attendance this evening. Something that Twilight found herself feeling indifferent about. The old bat never left his domicile unless the event in question had something to do with him, and this occasion did not meet those standards. But, if nothing else, it meant that Twilight wouldn't be getting a little sister anytime soon.

Unless mother dearest decides to fancy another suitor. She shuttered at the thought. Especially considering the fact that it was a very real possibility, doubly so seeing how the mare was ready to retire.

The clamor and commotion that floated about the room had been quickly cut silent as the elaborate doors were once again swung open, all eyes turning over to the entrance and the two alicorns that strode into the room. The first was Princess—soon to be Queen—Celestia II. Wearing a beautifully elaborate gown of reds and golds, crafted specifically for such an occasion. She was radiant, even if she fought to conceal just how overwhelmingly nervous she was. Even from such a distance, Twilight could see her sister shaking like a leaf.

Seems even she can't escape the power of stage fright, she chuckled to herself, partaking in one of the martinis as a service mare walked passed. Ugh, how can these things be so expensive yet taste so terrible?

The second mare to walk through, however, was far more confident than her daughter. A moment's glance was enough to see the family resemblance between Celestia II and her mother was strong indeed. To the point where you could mistake the princess for a younger variation of the Queen, and vice versa. From the perfectly carved features of their faces to the colors of their coats, there were only two distinct ways to tell the two apart. The first was their eyes: whereas Celestia II's were of a violet complexion, her mother's were a brilliant scarlet hue. The second, and more distinctive way, was their manes. Twilight's sister had a mane colored like brilliant golden flames, that gave off a small aura of light akin to that of the sun. It was a beautiful and stunning sight to see in person, one that could never be replicated. But their mother? Hers was an entirely different story.

If Twilight's mane could be called silver, and Celestia II's gold, then the Queen's was without question platinum. Beautifull, ever-flowing locks of flawless hair colored in the same way as the rarest of the precious metals. And like her daughters, her mane also had a certain glow about it. The platinum threads glistened and shined with the complete color spectrum, creating a rainbow aura about the Queen that was beyond description.

Queen Sanctus Solis Celestia I was truly a sight to behold. She stood there, observing the guests to this little soiree with the kind of look that only a respected queen and a proud mother could. That expression wavered when she saw her middle child getting a lecture from her father off in one corner of the room, but she didn't seem to pay it much mind outside of merely noticing it. Instead, she merely cleared her throat instead, a powerful sound that hushed all in the room who had not already given her and her eldest their undivided attention. Afterward, the soon to be former Queen of Equestria began to speak. Mostly thanking the VIPs for attending, both the before-party and the main event soon to follow, and expressing her hopes for future prosperity and cooperation between all nations.

Twilight, of course, had heard this little song and number before. Her mother had been practicing this routine—as well as her address to the people that would follow shortly—for weeks now. One would think that after four hundred years of ruling a country that she'd be better at public speaking. But as evidence suggested, it was still something that the eldest alicorn still had anxieties about. And as a result of that, the two daughters that lived with her in Equestria had been made to hear these very speeches many times over, giving them both an excuse to pay attention to other matters. For Twilight, that meant trying to find something to clean the taste of martini out of her mouth. For Celestia II, it meant trying to down as many of those martinis as she reasonably could to drown the anxiety radiating off of her like light off of the sun. It wouldn't be long now before the coronation proper had begun, it was scheduled to coincide with the rising of the sun. "The first sunrise of a new era," as their mother had put it. She was always one for the theatrics.

The status quo was reestablished quickly once the Queen's second-to-last speech as the nation's queen concluded, now with the two alicorns being the central focus of attention and conversation. So much so that hardly anybody noticed as the sarosian emissaries began to distance themselves from the crowd, save for the ever-vigilant Twilight, that is. Four representatives from Seară had arrived in total—two guards and two members of the King's Court, and now each of them was slowly marching towards one of the four corners of the spacious room.

That seems peculiar... Twilight kept her watchful eye on them as they continued to spread out. Something was definitely wrong with them, however, as they moved in a very unnatural manner. Stiff, puppet-like, like they weren't even ponies at all. And then, upon reaching their destinations, the four ponies simply turned and stood at attention. Their gazes fixated forwards, unblinkingly so. Curious as to the reason behind this behavior, Twilight cautiously made her way over to one of the transfixed individuals.

"Excuse me, but what are you and your comrades doing?" The sarosian alicorn was given no answer. In fact, the other nocturnal pony gave no sign that they had even heard her question at all. He simply stood there, staring forward without any sign that they were even still conscious. "Excuse me, I am speaking to you. It would be wise too—"

This time, she was given an answer, but not the one Twilight would have preferred. The stallion's eyes flashed brightly with an unnatural white light before continuing to glow with a less intense, but still all the ominous, pale glow. If she could see the other three at this moment, she'd have been mortified to know that they had undergone the exact same change. And then, the four sarosians spoke in unison, impossibly loud for such a minor amount of ponies. But stranger still was the number of voices that called out. Where there should have only been four, instead there were so many more. Uncountable, even.

"Salutați corul."

Each of the Searăn representatives left their mouths agape after that, hissing as thick streams of black smoke began to flow outward. Twilight was the first to be caught up in it, coughing and hacking as the horrid substance penetrated her lungs. She could do nothing as the room was enveloped, the dark smog eliminating all ability to see. And as the shadows continued to swirl and stir about the spacious room, an unnaturally chilled gale found its way in, which served to diminish the ability to hear as well as see. But that didn't stop the screams of confusion and fear from the party-goers. If anything, it only encouraged them, especially when the crackles of arcane lightning began. Whatever was behind this was a powerful force of magic, that much was clear. Twilight was quick in her attempt to try and stop this, thinking that maybe if she stopped one of the sarosians that it would diminish this horrid effect. But despite restraining the stallion with her magic, the other three simply increased their efforts, which more than made up for the sudden lack of their comrade.

The tragedy that followed happened far too quickly for anyone to stop.

As the winds continued to howl and the black smoke continued to swirl, a pattern could soon be seen within the unnatural phenomenon. A cyclone, a pillar of pitch-blackness, had formed around Equestria's Queen. Whatever was going on, she was the sole target. And notice this, the first alicorn took immediate action. A powerful multicolored burst of light spread throughout the room in an instant, disrupting the shadows for but only a moment. But the seemingly useless countermeasure had succeeded in its purpose: getting everyone else in the room away from the Queen. But before she could take any further action, the room was silenced by the sickening sound of flesh being torn by cold steel.

It was only then that the four representatives ceased their dark ritual. Their eyes returned to normal, and the smoke ceased flowing, just in time for the four sarosians to pass out. Whatever it was they had just done had taken a great deal out of them, rendering them unable to even remain conscious. With the source of the chaos gone, it was not long before the unnatural storm began to clear. The winds were silenced, the lightning faded, and the black veil that had been cast about the room began to disperse. All eyes were locked onto the spot where the Queen once stood, watching with wide eyes and bated breath in fearful anticipation.

Standing in the shallow crater was not her mother, but a single coal-coated sarosian who had not been there moments prior. His black mane was tattered and jagged like a sinister dark flame, his body covered in small patches of onyx crystals, seemingly protruding from his flesh, one of which sat at the right spot to mimic a twisted and jagged horn of a unicorn. Dark iron armor also decorated his frame where crystals did not, in addition to a heavy-looking crimson cape. Twilight had seen this individual before, just all in attendance knew who this was. While he had undergone a few changes since they last saw him, this stallion was undoubtedly King Sombra of Seară.

It seemed Twilight's father had decided to attend, after all.

He stood there while taking slow, raspy breaths. His crimson eyes were wide with exertion and exhilaration, as unnatural tendrils of dark magic flared and whipped from their sockets. As he gazed down at his hooves, a slow smile began to form across his lips. It began with a slow chuckle, but soon it transitioned into full-blown cackles of madness. It was a horrific sound in it of itself, even more so when one considered what had touched his fancy. For laying there at his hooves was Queen Sanctus Solis Celestia the First. Unmoving and unbreathing. Her mane had also fallen flat, losing the lustrous rainbow aura that floated about it. Slowly, a puddle of red began to form and expand around where the fallen queen laid, flowing from the point where her throat met the large and jagged metal knife that had been buried deep within. And aside from Sombra's manic laughing, all in attendance were just as silent as the corpse he stood over.

"It is just as they said," Sombra blared out between his bouts of insane laughter, "There is no such thing as a true immortal! Not even you!"

Twilight watched in utter disgust and horror, unable to act and unable to pry her eyes away from the lifeless form of her mother. Her body refused to move, her breaths were short and haggard, and her mind could not possibly comprehend what it was she was even looking at. This couldn't be real, could it? Celestia the First was an alicorn, she was meant to be immortal. Unable to leave the mortal realm by any means. Yet there she was, dead in the dirt like a common slain beast. And standing right above her was the monster that had managed to do it.

But as Sombra continued to revel in his triumph, Twilight was approached by a new sound that drowned out Sombra's triumphant laughter. It came from everywhere and nowhere, the sound of her own voice—No, it wasn't her voice she was hearing. It had never been her voice in the first place. It was the voice of Princess Selene, the alicorn who she had been masquerading as for what felt like a lifetime, accompanied by hundreds of other voices all speaking in time. A sound that Twilight had come to know very well within the past few days of her real life.

Where did you learn to dream-walk?

And with that, Twilight was abruptly awoken from this horrid nightmare.

Author's Notes:

Twilight was sound asleep for the whole of the last chapter. Did you really think I wouldn't dive into what she was dreaming about? In a Nightmare Moon-tagged story? Hilarious.

You also finally got your name drops for Celestia and ~~Luna~~ Selene, as well as the first alicorn's as a bonus. So now you know why I chose to wait. As I changed their names quite considerably... kind of. I decided to go with Selene for this universe as opposed to Luna. Why? Coin flip. I'm dead serious, I couldn't decide.

And then there's the full names. I had a lot of fun coming up with Celestia's full name for this story, for the record. Sanctus is Latin for Holy and Solis is Sunlight, according to Google Translate. So her full name translates to Holy Sunlight Celestia The First/The Second. Fitting, wouldn't you say? As for Moon-Horse. Her full name was never stated, but there's really no point in hiding it anymore so I'll give it to you. "Lunae Lumen" is Latin for "Light of the Moon." Meaning her full name is Princess Light of the Moon Selene.

And I know I said this would go up on the One-Year Anniversary for the series. But I've been really anxious to put this chapter out for all of you people, and I didn't want to wait another second. I'm also releasing the Q&A answers today, and you can check that out by clicking this link here.

— Chapter Twenty —

View Online

--- Of Revelations and Resolve ---

Twilight abruptly awoke to the morning sunshine with a sharp gasp, disoriented and alarmed from what she had just dreamed of. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, eyes darting about the room frantically as she tried to recognize where she was. Needless to say, Twilight was baffled by the fact that she was back in her home. The last thing she remembered was falling into unconsciousness as she plummeted to her inevitable doom from atop the Everfree Forest's resident giant tree. How she had gotten from there to here was a mystery to her, as was the unusual dream that served as a connecting point from then to now.

"I... what... where?!" Her brief and hectic questions came out in the form of quick wheezes, the young alicorn unsure if the world around her was real or just another dream. Some of the alarm she was experiencing though was diminished once she took notice of the long dragon sleeping peacefully in her bed with her. How or why he had gotten there—or how she hadn't woke him with her outburst—was irrelevant, seeing him safe was always a sure way to calm Twilight's easily roused nerves. A smile crept over her face as she carefully climbed out of bed, not wanting to disturb him anymore. And it was thanks to his presence that Twilight was finally able to begin rationalizing her thoughts.

But as she climbed out of bed, she felt something slide out from behind her ear and fell to the floor. The bit of twig that somehow served as a timberwolf repellent, she soon discovered. It was placed upon the nightstand for the time being—there were more pressing matters at hoof, at the moment.

"Okay... I probably cast the teleport spell just before passing out as a reflex," she theorized out loud, beginning a series of deep breaths as she paced about her room. "The reentry probably woke Spike, he got worried, and climbed into bed with me... yeah, that makes sense." She nodded in approval of her own hypothesis, turning her focus instead to the unusual dream—even by recent standards—she had just experienced. There was something about it that didn't quite feel right about it. It was too vivid. Too real.

"Dream-walking..." she murmured aloud, recalling the last words spoken to her before her rude awakening, "Dream-walking... I know I've heard that before... but from where?"

Glancing about the room once more, she caught a glimpse of her cloak and saddlebags laying off in one corner of the room. Said items began to glow with her magic and followed her out of the bedroom, Twilight deciding that Spike could sleep a little while longer. In the meantime, she began to retrieve a series of old books from her pouch as the cloak was returned to the coat rack where she typically kept it.

Seven or so books had been drawn forth from her collection, books that she was now relieved that she didn't sell to Knox way back when. With superb multitasking skills she had honed during her school days, Twilight began to skim through the selection of books she had in her possession. They orbited around her in slow circles, Twilight giving each one only a few seconds of attention before moving onto the next. If she were actually trying to read these books, this method of information intake would be utterly pointless. But for quick sessions of skimming, trying to find something specific? It was fast enough for her needs.

"Ah-ha! Dream-walking!" Twilight laughed at her triumph as the now unneeded books were neatly stacked upon the table via her magical appendage, not paying much mind to them as she began to read the passage she had found and began to read aloud. "Let's see... A school of magic developed in year 332 of the Grand Harmonic Calendar, designed to allow the user to traverse the dreams of willing subjects as a form of primitive therapy.

"The user is placed in a lucid state of semi-sleep where they can freely interact with the dreamscape of the subject, drawing forth memories and stimuli lost in the subconscious mind or creating deceptively realistic illusions, effectively allowing the user to lucid dream for the subject. A vast majority of spells crafted in this field were deemed class one felonies in the year 411 GHC, due to how easily they could be abused for collecting sensitive and private information or psychologically harming individuals by inducing consistent and vivid nightmares."

The passage was short, nothing specific, but it at least gave Twilight a general idea of what had happened. If nothing else, it explained how the Mare in the Moon had been visiting her in her dreams. She was alive and well in the time period where these spells were being taught, and would have no doubt had viable access to the resources in which to learn them. But that didn't explain how Twilight had been dream-walking herself. She didn't know any of that magic, and all information on how to cast it was either lost to time or locked away somewhere far underneath Canterlot. And Twilight wasn't exactly keen on learning illegal magic anyway, no matter how curious she got.

"Later on in the field's lifespan, however, alternative uses for the method had been developed. It became possible to project one's consciousness independent of their body into the real world, causing the infamous Ghost Sightings of 402. From there, it became possible to observe other planes of existence through this method, as well as... pull other individuals into one's own dream..."

And there it was, as plain as the horn upon her head, the answer to her conundrum staring her right in the face. If she really had been dream-walking last night, the only logical explanation would be that someone else had dragged her into their dream. But there was only one pony—that Twilight knew of—who could do that. And thus, the question of "why?" had reared its ugly head.

"A crash course on Old Equestrian History through the eyes of someone who was there... But why?" The remaining book was placed on the table next to its kin, Twilight continuing to ponder as she went to go begin breakfast. No use over-exerting herself on an empty stomach after all. Perhaps having some good brain food would do her some good in figuring out what was going on.

Eggs were the first thing that came to mind, so that's what Twilight began to cook. Today felt like a sunny-side-up kind of day, as well as some toast and some fruit. She momentary lamented the fact that they had run out of strawberry jam—which would facilitate a later trip to the market—and she confined herself and Spike to only having toast with butter. Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. And as the seductive sizzling scents of the eggs began to fill the air, that one minor inconvenience became less and less relevant.

What was relevant, however, was the previous night's bout of dream-walking. The dream she had evidently been drawn into was still at the forefront of her thoughts, lingering like the bad dream it was. Brief yet vivid flashes from the life of one of Equestria's most significant historical figures, shown to Twilight for reasons that were still unclear. She strained herself in an attempt to recall every detail she could, as most of it was now hazy and distant in the waking world. The only detail of any real significance she could drag back up was two simple words.

"Salutați corul," she muttered to herself, continuing the preparations for the morning meal to come. "No doubt about it now. Whatever Knox is doing, it can't be good..."

The alicorn had already deduced as much, but last night was the final nail in the coffin. Knox's secrets were tied to long since concluded tragedies, and now Twilight was equally connected to the distant past. It wasn't exactly a settling thought, though. Especially seeing as how there was some mysterious interloper who had seen it fitting to lure her into the forest to learn this.

And as Twilight began to set the table for her and Spike's breakfast, something caught her eye. The saddlebag she had placed on the table earlier was still open, and within the darkness of the pouch she could just make out the dim glow of her sill-inactive travel amulet. Unpleasant memories of how it had reacted to that thing in the woods last night flashed into her head, the young alicorn wincing as she recalled falling off of that tree.

This was when Twilight began to dwell less on what that dream had entailed, and more about what had caused it in the first place. A glowing green shard of... something. That something had resonated with her amulet, causing the chain reaction that had plunged her into that unusual and unnerving dream. She reached into the bag and withdrew the artifact, gazing quizzically at the gem embedded at its core. It had returned to only containing just a brief glint of light, a far cry from the blinding beams emanating from it last night.

"It reacted to this," she reminded herself, "Why did it react to this?" She overturned the amulet in her arcane grip, examining it with the utmost intensity she could. It didn't make sense, this thing composed of metal and crystal should not have had the capacity to have done such a thing. It was made with exactly one purpose and didn't have the ability to accomplish anything else. This amulet was made to interact with the magics within the Tree of Harmony, allowing one to travel through its roots to just about anywhere in the world. And, in theory, anywhere beyond.

"The Tree of Harmony..." She became fixated on those words, the intensive quizzical look upon her face melting away while a wide-eyed look of sudden realization took its place. "The amulet reacts to the Tree of Harmony... or, a piece of it..."

Her breathing became heavier as the implications became clear, the amulet falling to the floor with a loud clack as she backed away from it. That thing in the forest reacted to an artifact with undeniable ties to the Tree of Harmony. By that logic, the thing in the forest must have had some link to the tree as well. How and why was beyond Twilight right now, but there was a connection. And just as her gut told her last night, there must have been some greater purpose to her being here than just a simple accident. She was there for a reason, she was told that there were answers in the Everfree for a reason, and she was shown those visions for a reason. And that was enough to worry her deeply.

Especially when she considered who it was who had given her that amulet in the first place, Queen Celestia II herself, the very same pony who was responsible for Twilight's alicorn ascension. Her mind shifted back to the day she and Spike had left Canterlot, nearly three years ago now. Distinctly remembering the last time she saw her family as if it had been only a few moments ago, and receiving that well-made suit of armor that her brother had gotten prepared for her journey. But the armor wasn't the only parting gift she had been given that day, as Equestria's Queen herself had seen it fit to bestow Twilight the very amulet that now laid upon the ground. By her own words, it was a way to keep in touch, to come back home at any time and see those she was leaving behind.

But now, looking upon the fallen relic, there was this unshakable feeling that there was more to this gift than just an easy way back home. No, Celestia II was the oldest living pony in the whole of history, and throughout her many years, there was seemingly no end to the wisdom and knowledge she had accrued. Not to mention the fact that she had very likely mastered the art of divination years ago. If she had allowed Twilight to become an alicorn and had given her this priceless magical artifact, then surely there had to be some reason behind the queen's actions, right?

Did she set all of this up? Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted an answer to that question, and her knees shook as she picked up the amulet she had dropped. Is this why I'm here? To be her puppet?

"Twilight?"

Spike's sudden interruption caused Twilight to jump in shock with a small "eep." She turned her panicked gaze towards the drowsy-looking long dragon. He must have been awoken by the lingering aroma of the breakfast Twilight had prepared just moments ago. Lost within the unending labyrinth of her own thoughts, she had entirely forgotten that she had even done that much this morning. She somehow managed to chuckle at herself for forgetting that, in spite of the upsetting thoughts roaming freely in her head.

"Oh. Good morning, Spike," the alicorn greeted normally enough, "I'm guessing a rough night is why you wound up in my bed?"

"Mmmhmm..." A languid accompanied the rubbing of one eye as Spike climbed up on to the chair, a plate of food being put before him soon after. A loud yawn was heard from him before the dreary look on his face faded away as he fully woke up for the day. "Had a really weird dream... how're you holding up?"

"Me?" Twilight froze for a moment as she served her own breakfast. The hesitation was shaken off quickly though and she managed to return a kindly smile in Spike's dirrection. "Nothing's wrong." Spike's eyes narrowed at the responce, gazing upon the alicorn as she began to eat her breakfast.

"That... makes me feel like there is something wrong."

"What? N-no there isn't." Twilight's apparent anxiety was obscured by the half-chewed bite of toast sitting in her mouth. It was gulped down in a manner that could be seen as rude, the alicorn acting hastily to try and cover-up what was going on. "Everything's fine. I promise."

"Are you sure?" Spike held a claw up to the side of his face and pointed to one of his eyes. "Because you're doing that really weird tiny-eye thing that you do when you're really freaking out."

A moment of uncertainty followed the dragon's accusation, Twilight unsure what to even make of that claim. She had to think about what he had said for a moment, or rather what he was trying to say. If Twilight's eyes had become "tiny," as Spike had put it, because of fear or anxiety, then there was only one symptom that Spike had to have been pointing out.

"You mean my eyes are dilated?"

"I guess. But you're still doing it. Which means something's wrong. So what's wrong?"

"I... I'm fine. What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"I don't know. Just a feeling. Do you want to talk about it?"

Well, he was right about that, there was something wrong. From what was supposedly going on with Knox and his mysterious third floor, to the supposed meddling from the Queen of all Equestria. She couldn't recall a time where she felt as anxious and paranoid as she did right now, which was saying something considering where she went to school. But these were all Twilight's problems, Spike didn't need to concern himself with any of it.

"Spike, if something was wrong, I'd tell—"

"Do you need to talk about it?"

Twilight didn't say anything, not at first anyway. She just stared at the long dragon, and he stared right back with this unwavering look of determination. He wasn't going to let this go without a fight. But of course, this was a fight Twilight had every intention of winning. Spike was far too young to be worrying about the conspiracies and problems she was plagued with right now, and the last thing Twilight wanted was to inflict these same emotions onto him. He already had enough to deal with as it was, and she couldn't possibly bring it upon herself to add to that. But before the alicorn could even throw a punch, metaphorically speaking, Spike was already going for the kill.

"You made me talk when I was upset. So now it's your turn. Talk." His glare intensified, there was no chance he would let this go.

He had a point, she had to give him that. Just yesterday, she had pressured Spike into opening up after he had deflected the topic in just this same manner. That combined with the steely-eyed look he was giving her was enough to make Twilight question her own silence on the issue. Was it hypocritical of her to do the very thing she told Spike not to do? Absolutely, one hundred percent. But it was a necessary evil.

Right?

The longer she looked at those determined green eyes of his, the more Twilight felt like she had to tell him the truth. Whether she liked it or not, Spike was indirectly involved with all of this going on. If something were to happen to Twilight, then the impact on Spike would be astronomical. The only other living thing who knew he was even here was Fluttershy, and that could be either better or worse than Spike being left alone in this house. Waiting in vain for Twilight to come back until, after a lack of paying rent, the landlord came in to clean the house out. That wasn't a pleasant thought in the slightest, and Twilight was astute in purging it from her mind. Instead, she focused solely on the here and now, Spike in particular.

He wanted to help her, just as she had helped him yesterday. Or tried to, at the very least. She didn't just magically make his troubles go away, and he was undoubtedly aware of that fact. But he must have been equally aware that just talking about it had helped him, so he must have assumed that the same would be true for Twilight. The little guy had always had a way of knowing when Twilight was being bothered by something and had shown that he wasn't exactly a fan of those somethings.

And maybe, Twilight pondered, he was right. She was aware of the fact that she wasn't the most open of ponies, it was a necessity given the secrets she carried, and that had only worsened within the past few days. It was decided at that moment. She wouldn't tell him everything, but she'd tell him enough to ease his worries and lessen her own burden.

After breakfast, that is. After all, their food was getting cold and Twilight was hungry.

The meal went by in a painfully slow manner this morning, an undeniable aura of tension building up over the dining room table as Spike and Twilight partook in the day's most important meal. Not once did Spike take his eyes off of his alicorn caretaker, never letting his determined glare falter for even a second. He was resolute on getting her to talk to him, for her sake, and wasn't going to be letting the subject go anytime soon.

Twilight, in the meanwhile, took her time with her food, using said time to think up exactly what she was going to tell Spike. Her expedition into the Everfree Forest and last night's dream were simply out of the question, just because she was going to tell him what was going on didn't mean he had to know about those specific incidents. She didn't want to scare him, after all. She was hesitant about even telling him about Knox—seeing how the only thing she knew for sure was that he had somehow blocked all memory of the library's third floor with some still-unknown magic.

She'd also decided to tell him about how she learned of this fact—that little get together with Applejack and Rarity. After that, the only thing left was her current suspicions towards Fluttershy. Something she wasn't sure if she wanted to delve into or not, as Fluttershy was the first pony Spike had any meaningful interactions with in the past two years. It might not be best to sour that relationship, but she could at least voice her concerns in regards to the timid pegasus. After all, there was no evidence to support that she was involved, maybe she was just in a situation similar to Applejack's. And once breakfast was finished, Twilight explained all that she was comfortable explaining to the long dragon in a fairly timely manner. In retrospect, there wasn't much at all to explain, but it was enough to get Spike to settle back down. It was obvious that her little story was unsettling to his young mind, but not enough for him to ask for her to stop altogether.

"Okay... not what I was expecting..." Spike sat beside Twilight on the hideous green couch, eyes locked squarely on the wooden floor below. He had this dumbfounded look upon his face as he tried to process the short story he had just been told. "I just thought... you were upset about something..."

"Well, I'm not exactly happy about any of this," Twilight chuckled in response, "But I know what you mean."

The two of them sat there in silence for a bit, neither one quite sure of what exactly to say next. Taking advantage of the lull in the discourse, Twilight descended from the tackey piece of furniture to clean up the mess left behind from breakfast. The task had been ignored in favor of explaining the current happenings to Spike, leaving the dishes dirtied and left out. If her mother had been here she would have lost her mind, Twilight found herself realizing as she began to scrub the remnants of egg and jelly from the plates. That mare ran a tight ship of a household, and sloppiness like this would have gotten the young alicorn a stern talking too.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Spike asked out of the blue as he sauntered into the kitchen. His mood had taken a complete turn around, far more optimistic and cheerful then he had been earlier in the morning.

"Don't know yet, I want to get more information before I—" Twilight stopped herself once she took notice of what exactly Spike had asked. "Wait. 'we'?"

"Yeah, we. What are we going to do?"

"... We're not doing anything. I'm the one who's taking care of this," Twilight submerged the plates and silverware in a sinkful of hot soapy water to soak before turning back to Spike, "I only told you this so you'd stop worrying."

"How could I not worry after what you just told me?" Despite the good point he had just made, Spike seemed way too excited to get involved in this mess. His tail served as a clear indication of his elation, wildly whipping at the air behind him. "Come on, you gotta let me help! This is just like those old detective books you used to read me!"

I read him detective stories? Twilight questioned herself, thinking back to try and recall if she ever had done such a thing. It certainly sounded like something she would have done, as detective stories were ones she had a passion for back in the day, but she couldn't remember any specific instance of this happening. The alicorn had read a lot of books to the long dragon, after all, so it was possible that she had done as he claimed. Regardless, it wasn't important right now. She simply rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the dirty dishes.

"This... this isn't some story, Spike. I have no idea how dangerous any of this actually is."

"Then why are you messing around with it?"

"... I offered, remember? I told Applejack I'd help in exchange for information." That was the closest thing Twilight had to an answer right there. His question was a tough one, one that she wasn't sure she could even answer.

"But why did you need to know?"

"Because... I don't know, I'm OCD I guess. I don't like not knowing things!"

"No, that's not like you." Spike shook his head as his expression turned freezingly stern. "You don't do anything without a reason for doing it. So why are you doing this?"

Twilight took those words to heart, asking herself the exact same thing. Again, why was she pursuing all of this? Whatever was going on in this town didn't have anything to do with her. She had come to this same conclusion just last night, but there was no destiny-driven gust of wind to redirect her thoughts this time. Even her academic mind was able to accept that some unknowable force was behind all of this—either the will ancient all-knowing tree, or the manipulation of the Queen who made Twilight what she was now. In this one moment, every logical aspect of her mind screamed at her to get out of this while she could. To not be the puppet of the divine, to just take Spike and walk away from all of this.

Just like she did two years ago.

And just like she had been doing ever since. Over the past two years of traveling the world, the solution to most of Twilight's problems had just been to walk away when she got the opportunity. Whether it was Spike being discovered by other ponies somewhere outside of Manehatten, or becoming an unintentional witness of someone else's life taking a sour turn, Twilight's answer to everything had just been to move on. Never stopping, never looking back, always moving forward. Which is what she knew she should be doing in this instance, it was the easiest way to get her and Spike out of any potential danger.

But there was something else, something that was screaming just as loudly as her logic. This indescribable burning feeling, welling up from somewhere deep inside the young alicorn. She couldn't stop it, she couldn't fight it, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to fight it. Whatever this feeling was just felt right. And before she was able to formulate an answer for Spike's question, that burning feeling compelled her to speak.

"Because... I can't just keep walking away from problems, Spike," she explained to both the long dragon and to herself, "There is something wrong going on here. And I feel like I have to do something about it. That I'm the only one who can do something about it. So I'm going to try and do something about it. And you're going to stay out of it."

She turned away and focused her thoughts on cleaning the dirty plates, hoping that the menial task would cleanse her mental palette. It didn't, obviously, as her astute mind was far too worried about what she had just said. That answer had just come out of nowhere, practically involuntary on her behalf, but she didn't feel the need to try and back peddle on it. It still felt right to her, it felt right to not want to walk away from a problem.

She knew it was dangerous, she knew that from the moment she witnessed the memory-dampening curse she had seen inflicted upon Rarity, but against all odds that only seemed to motivate her more. This was something big, bigger than even she could fully grasp at the moment. But she was also an alicorn, a nigh-immortal super pony with tremendous magical potential far exceeding that of the average equine. If anyone in the whole world was equipped with the tools to do anything about this, it was her. She still didn't like the possibility of this being put into place by Queen Celestia, but she couldn't just walk away. Especially after she had offered to help.

"It's just something I have to do, Spike," Twilight continued, "I'll be fine. You don't have to worry. This will all be over before you know it."

"But I want to help!" Spike shouted eagerly as he took an almost predatory stance, ready to pounce on some invisible prey. "Why won't you let me—?!"

"Because I'm less breakable than you are." Twilight sharply interrupted, not looking back as the dragon flinched from her sudden shout. The brief flash of anger didn't last long, however, and soon Twilight adopted a more tired-sounding tone. "I... I don't want you to get hurt again. Or worse. You just recovered from that wolf bite. You don't need to be involved in this mess. I only told you because you kept on persisting. And now I want you to stop worrying."

"I just... wanted to help..." There was an earnest sense of disappointment coming from Spike as he slowly slinked away back towards the eyesore of a couch. It seems that he was sincerely looking forward to contributing in some way, only to be shot down faster than a griffon stupid enough to try and fly around in Klugetown.

And now I feel bad. Twilight watched silently as the long dragon flopped onto the couch with a depressed sigh. Why couldn't he have come with an instruction manual?

A stupid question, for sure, but one that Twilight wished she could get an answer too. She also wished she could get an answer as to how to get his spirits back up. A vast majority of the previous day had been spent trying to improve his mood, and she had just ruined that in ten seconds flat. In fact, she might have made the problem worse just now. Letting Spike stew in his own troubles was one thing, but actively denying him a part in her life? That was something else entirely. It was heartbreaking.

But what else could she do? She had a responsibility to keep him out of harm's way—a responsibility that she had not-so-great at as of late. At the same time, however, she couldn't just cut him out like this. Not after telling him almost everything she had been up to—and especially not after spending so much time away from him during their stay here in this town. It wasn't fair to him in the slightest. Though there was no way to remedy this, she couldn't risk something happening to him.

As she continued to watch the dragon sulk in self-pity and defeat, there was a sudden flicker of inspiration that came to mind in a brief flash. A delightfully devilish idea that would serve to kill two birds with one stone. Maybe she couldn't risk letting Spike help her on this mission of hers, but maybe there was a way to get around that little limitation. A clever smile found its new home on her lips as she walked towards the couch to counsel her draconic companion.

"Hey, Spike? On second thought, I think there is a way you can help out. If you still want to, that is."

Spike's reaction was immediate and very telling of his answer.

— Chapter Twenty-One —

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--- Of Trickery and Trust ---

Fluttershy's cottage was framed brilliantly by the Sunday morning sunlight, just as photogenic as it had been last night. Twilight sauntered on up to the modest home with a moderate pace, her draconic companion along for the ride tucked away in one of her saddlebags. Twilight needed information before she could confront Knox, lest she be victim to whatever memory-altering magic he had gotten his hooves on, and Fluttershy seemed like the perfect avenue for achieving this. The way the pegasus had reacted to Knox's name in tandem with her midnight extrusion into the Everfree, not to mention her timberwolf-repelling tools, made her prime suspect number two in this investigation of hers.

Knocking upon the door, Twilight waited for the pegasus who dwelled within to answer. She was left waiting for a small bit of time before the homeowner finally answered, Fluttershy peeking out of the door with a disheveled mane and tired-looking eyes. The night had not been kind to the timid pegasus, whatever she had done in the woods being enough to wear her down considerably.

"Oh... hello, Twilight... n-not to be rude, but what are you doing here?" Fluttershy stepped to the side and gestured for her guest to enter, lack of sleep seemingly not doing much to deter her welcoming nature. "I thought you didn't have work until tomorrow?"

"I don't, but I didn't have anything better to do today." Twilight set her bags down next to the door, allowing Spike to crawl outward as the entrance was closed. "Never hurt to be a little social. And it was either you or Pinkie Pie. At least with you, I don't have to worry about Spike being seen."

"That's... fair enough..."

"You weren't busy or anything today, were you? I'd hate to intrude."

"Oh, no, n-nothing on the agenda today." There was a nervous jitter to Fluttershy's words, seemingly she had been caught between actually having some plans of her own and not wanting to be rude. "I just... had a bit of a hectic night after you two left."

"Heh, guess I wasn't the only one who had some weird dreams," Spike stretched for a moment to regain his bearings before walking further into the house.

"Yeah... you could say that..." Fluttershy made a shuddering, almost chuckling sound that conveyed just how apprehensive she really was right now. "I've... got a few things I need to take care of upstairs... feel free to help yourself to the coffee, there should be plenty."

"Even with Harry around?" Twilight jokingly asked.

"He's already had his fill for the morning." That was the last thing Fluttershy said before she ascended the staircase to attend to whatever it was that needed her attention. Thus leaving Spike and Twilight to enter the kitchen to partake in the promised coffee. Well, that's why Twilight was going there anyway. Spike wasn't one for coffee, but he was one for getting a reminder on the plans.

"So I just have to distract Harry for a while, right?" Spike whispered with great enthusiasm, ecstatic to just be involved.

"That's the plan," Twilight replied plainly enough as she poured herself a mug of liquid hot goodness. "Just keep him busy for a few hours while I talk to Fluttershy."

Spike's inclusion was a critical component in Twilight's plans for the day if only to bolster the long dragon's mood and allow him to feel involved without putting him directly in harm's way. While leaving him to handle a bear wasn't exactly the safest of ideas, Harry had proven to be docile to a fault even when enraged over a game of chess. Not having to worry about a bear while discussing potentially sensitive things with Fluttershy was an added bonus Twilight was happy to have. So in a way, Spike actually was helping out. So Twilight wasn't entirely lying to him.

At least that's what she kept telling herself to keep the guilt at bay.

But she was able to drown that guilt in piping hot caffeinated goodness, enjoying this last moment of reprieve before her confrontation with the yellow pegasus. She found her eyes wandering about the room before they fell upon the pile of envelopes on the counter. Just the morning mail and nothing else out of the ordinary, nothing that was Twilight's business. Though there was one open document that had caught her eye, one bearing the familiar crest of Equestria.

Twilight had seen forms like these throughout her life, the bi-yearly Pillar polls. Every year, the Pillars of Equestria—the council of ponies who served to assist and moderate the queen's power—would be altered based on the public's vote. Less desirable politicians would be booted out of office in favor of new recruits, and those who were deemed worthy would be allowed to continue their service. These forms were sent to every citizen in Equestria, and Twilight likely had one waiting in her mailbox back home. But there was no harm in getting a sneak peek on who had their heads on the metaphorical chopping block and who would be likely to continue their terms, doubly so seeing as how Fluttershy had yet to cast her votes.

"Let's see who's up for renewal..." Twilight muttered aloud, taking the few sheets of government stationery in her magical grasp.

The forms were divided up into three distinctive categories: those who were stepping down from their positions willingly, those who wished to be voted back into their office, and a list of new recruits who had proven themselves worthy to potentially be voted into office. The actual voting system was simple enough, even a child could comprehend it.

Up first was the list of ponies who would be stepping down from their positions. This section was usually absent in the forms that Twilight had seen in the past, but this year it looked like there were actually a few ponies who were stepping down this year. Three of nine, to be specific. Though the only one that caught Twilight's eyes was the stallion known as Fancy Pants. Despite his admittedly funny name, this unicorn was one of the longest-standing members of the council, and Twilight was actually saddened by the announcement of his retirement. He had done wonders for Equestria's educational systems, and was someone Twilight was happy to have met a few times in the past. But it seems over twenty years on the seat was enough for the old horse, and he was stepping down. A shame, really.

Then there was the list of the current six members who wished to be voted back into office. Right next to each name were two labeled checkboxes. One read "keep" while the other said, "kick." A simple enough voting system, which got a fairly accurate idea of who the Equestrian populace wanted to stay in office and who they wanted to kick out of office.

Three of the names, in particular, stood out to Twilight. The first two were those she wasn't a particular fan of. The twin unicorn brothers that were known as Flim and Flam, who had both been Pillars for the past five years. How these two even met the criteria to be a part of the council was something Twilight would never understand, and how they both kept being voted back into office was something the whole of Equestria would never comprehend. Public opinion of the two didn't seem to be very high, yet their five-year streak spoke otherwise. The third name she took notice of, however, was what got Twilight to hesitate.

Twilight Velvet looked to be trying to continue her nineteen-year term as a Pillar of Equestria. It brought a smile to the young alicorn's face to get this small confirmation that her mother was still alive and well, and just as invested in the nation's wellbeing as she had been when Twilight had left on her journey with Spike. This sudden sense of elation was almost enough to drive Twilight to go home and see her family again. But that idea was quickly filtered away, at least for the time being. Maybe she'd consider the possibility again once she was done with this mess here in Ponyville.

Well, I know who I'm voting for, Twilight chuckled to herself as she placed the documents back on the kitchen counter. She didn't bother looking towards the list of possible new recruits, as she hadn't been involved in Equestria's affairs for a long time. The list of names would be absolutely meaningless to her. She'd probably just end up picking a few at random when she got home to fill out the form herself. An act that could potentially have consequences on the country as a whole, but the worst-case scenario was that the bad-picks would only be around for a year.

"Alright, I've gotten everything taken care of," Fluttershy quietly announced as she entered the kitchen. Far less tired and disheveled looking then she had been before she had gone upstairs, showing that at least some of her time had been spent making herself presentable for her guests. "So, uhh, was there anything you had in mind for today?"

"I don't know about you two, but I think Harry wants to try his paw at chess again," Spike chortled with glee as he strode out of the room in search of the coffee-addicted bear. Fluttershy made an attempt to try and stop him, but she was far to slow on the uptake and the dragon was long gone by the time it mattered. And with that obstacle out of the way, Twilight was free to finally begin her little interrogation. She sat down at the table and waited for Fluttershy to do the same. After the pegasus got her own coffee for the morning, that is.

Fluttershy was one of the few ponies Twilight had met on her travels that she could call a friend, which gave her pause at this moment when she was finally going to begin the questioning. And alienating her wasn't exactly on the alicorn's list of priorities. But there was no reasonable way she could bring herself to confront Knox without further information. If Fluttershy knew something, then Twilight needed to figure out what it was. Good or bad.

"So..." Twilight tapped the tabletop with her hooves as she glanced around the room. Despite wanting to begin questioning her friend on the matter, she found herself tripping at the one-yard line. Where was she even supposed to begin? All she had to go off of was an adverse reaction to Knox's name, a midnight extrusion into the woods, and the small scraps of wood that could somehow repel timberwolves.

But Twilight would never have to make that choice. Instead, she was brought back to reality as the yellow pegasus let out a long and regretful sounding sigh. She pushed her coffee to the side and rested her head upon the kitchen table with her hooves over her head. A piece of body-language used to convey a great deal of distress, one that Twilight remembered clearly from her school days.

"Uhh..." The disguised alicorn looked around the space for any assistance in this matter. But the only ones who could possibly offer some insight were currently busy partaking in a heated game of chess elsewhere in the cottage. Thus, Twilight was on her own here.

"I can't do it anymore..." Fluttershy meekly moaned back, "I just can't keep doing this..."

Maybe this was a bad time, Twilight couldn't help but wonder to herself. What she was looking at right now was a breakdown, nothing more and nothing less. Something was eating away at Fluttershy, and had been for what looked like a very long time now. Another thing that Twilight recognized from her own past that she could instantly empathize with. Twilight knew in that moment what had to be done, and all other plans and priorities were pushed aside to make room for the question she wished someone had asked her way back when.

"Are you okay?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Fluttershy's head tilted upwards, once more revealing her eyes to the purple pony. They were tired, practically on the verge of tears. But aside from that, there was a more subtle look hidden within those sapphire orbs: hope. And despite the sincerity behind that question, Twilight couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Oh, if only Fluttershy knew.

"I mean, I think I've done a pretty good job with Spike," Twilight gestured to the exit that Spike had taken, just as the sounds of the dragon taunting Harry in jest could be heard emanating from elsewhere in the home. "Something on your mind?"

"I... shouldn't tell you..." Some doubt made its way into Fluttershy's tone, breaking eye contact and instead gazing into the dark-colored liquid within her brightly colored mug. "It's n-not that..."

"Is this about Knox?"

"N-no!" Just like that doubt was overcome by shock, Fluttershy nearly leaping out of her chair as her eyes went as wide as the moon. And as suddenly as the sudden surprise had come it also went, replaced by the usual meek tone the pegasus spoke with. Her pink mane falling in such a way to partially hide her face from view. "It doesn't have anything to do with... him..." She shuttered at even this indirect reference to the town's lone sarosian resident. To say that this reminded Twilight of Applejack's unease towards the memory magic that had been cast upon Rarity—and most of the town, if the farmer's hunch was correct—was an understatement.

"Are you sure? Because you wouldn't be the only one bothered by whatever it is he's up to. I've seen his little... security measure, we'll call it." Twilight leaned forward into her seat, gazing upon Fluttershy with a stern expression. "How ponies just forget things whenever somebody mentions the library's third floor. I don't blame you for not wanting to talk about it."

There wasn't an immediate responce, only a deafening silence that overtook the conversation. A maelstrom of thoughts surged throughout the pegasus and a variety of emotions made themselves known upon her face. Confusion, uncertainty, realization, elation, fear, all of these and more were present in this moment of pause.

"I'm... not the only one who knows about that?" There was evidence of relief in Fluttershy's voice, and even a small chuckle passed her lips. "I'm not the only one who knows..." A great burden had just been lifted off of the pegasus on this day, that much was clear enough. "I'm not the only one..."

Twilight smiled at seeing her friend's mood improve from this news, as well as the apparent evidence that she wasn't in league with the librarian. Or she was just a very good actor, Twilight's cynical side briefly suggested before being silenced. Fluttershy had done very little thus far to give Twilight a reason to distrust her, and thus Twilight felt almost obligated to not try and find reasons that might not even be there. Thus, she continued her explanation.

"I'm not sure how believable this may sound, but I'm trying to put a stop to whatever it is he's up to..." She paused for a moment, taking the time to take not of Fluttershy's appearance. Even with that weight lifted off of her she still seemed to be bothered by something, and it showed subtly in her expression.

Judging by how this conversation had even started in the first place, Twilight had the sneaking suspicion that it really didn't have anything to do with Knox's machinations. So in that case, surely it must've had something to do with whatever errand had dragged Fluttershy into the Everfree last night, a question that still prodded at the alicorn's curiosity ever so tauntingly. She was already going out of her way to look into Knox's activities on Applejack's behalf, what harm was there in helping out a friend on top of that?

"And... if you help me out with this, then maybe I can repay the favor? Help you out with... whatever it is that you've been lying about?" A cheesy and nervous grin stretched over Twilight's lips as she shrugged, hoping that Fluttershy would take the bait.

Again, the conversation was stalled as Fluttershy pondered the offer. It was a much more logical looking procedure when compared to the previous lull in the discussion, but there was still a serious weight being tossed around here. And as the seconds dragged on into minutes, Twilight found herself almost begging for the answer out of sheer anticipation. Yet just before the cloaked pony was about to reach that breaking point, Fluttershy finally broke the silence.

"You can keep a secret... right?"

"You already know the answer."

"No, I really don't. I know Spike is really important to you, but this is something really, really big. Bigger than both of us. And it..." Fluttershy lightly bit down on her lips as she paused, a nervous hum escaping her throat as she did so. "Might... not be legal... like, at all..."

"I mean, harboring a dragon the way I have been isn't exactly 'legal' either." Or at least, it wouldn't have been legal if Queen Celestia wasn't aware of his existence. But Twilight felt like that was a titbit better left for another time, when this whole mess was over and done with. "How bad could it possibly—?"

"The timberwolves are trying to escape the Everfree Forest. If they get out they'd be able to regenerate and reproduce using any piece of wood they get near," Fluttershy interrupted, talking fast enough to make Pinkie Pie's head spin in disorientation, "They'd end up hurting and killing a lot of people and animals if that ever happens. And the only one who can stop them is an illegal immigrant who I've been helping live illegally out in the woods so she can work on putting a stop to them before anyone dies a horrible horrible death." The pegasus sharply inhaled to replace her deprived oxygen stores that her little rant had thoroughly depleted. Afterward, she transitioned into slow and haggard deep breaths. Clearly she was as attuned to that kind of speed-talking as Pinkie Pie was.

Not that Twilight was complaining about the conversation being delayed this time, however. In fact, the opposite was true in this instance, the purple pony working to try and parse the sheer amount of information that had just been dropped on her like a ton of bricks. She didn't exactly have many theories on what Fluttershy was doing, there just hadn't been the time for her to consider any, but that was not exactly what she had expected to come out of the yellow mare's mouth.

"Phew... finally got it off of my chest..." Fluttershy sighed, her exhausted demeanor shifting to one of long-overdue satisfaction. "I'm feeling better already..."

"Okay... not what I was expecting..." Twilight murmured back, still dumbfounded by the confession. "But at least it explains the sticks..."

"Yes, my friend made them too—" Fluttershy stopped herself and squinted at Twilight with great skepticism—"Wait. What sticks?"

"... The ones in your back yard," Twilight hesitantly replied, "I... might have gotten a little too curious for my own good last night..." That was certainly one way of summarising the way Twilight had spent her evening. "And... I might have broken one by mistake..." She quickly retrieved her saddlebags and produced the broken fragment of twig that she had acquired last night, presenting it to Fluttershy like a child who'd been caught in the cookie jar.

Once again, Fluttershy halted the conversation as she stared upon the broken yet still functioning ward. This pause wasn't nearly as long as the others, but it was just as telling as to what the pegasus was thinking. Based on her expressions alone there was a brief moment of betrayal and hurt from this revelation, but it did not last as long as it very well should have.

"I suppose that's fair... I was acting a bit suspicious, wasn't I?" Fluttershy found herself chuckling at her own expense, gently picking up the twig and casually examining it. "At least you didn't go around telling anyone about it... right?" She looked back to Twilight with a dead serious grimace. "Right?"

"Spike doesn't even know," Twilight quickly reassured, hoping that it would get the pegasus to stop glaring at her with murderous intent.

"Spike doesn't know what?" The long dragon's question immediately drew the attention of the two ponies, both of them donning the embarrassed looks of children caught sneaking treats before dinner. Spike, meanwhile, was standing there with a puzzled look and a cocked brow. Twilight could tell that he wasn't entirely aware of what was being discussed, but was ready to do anything to find out. "Are you keeping secrets from me?"

All you had to do was play chess with a bear. How hard is that?! "No... Spike," Twilight slowly answered and stood up from the table, placing her saddlebags firmly upon her back. "In fact, I was... just coming to get you. We're going into the Everfree."

"We are?" Spike and Fluttershy both spoke the exact same question at the exact same time, though with different inflections. Spike seemed more confused as to why they'd be going out there, while Fluttershy seemed to be more nervous about the sudden venture into the woods.

"Yes, we are," Twilight told Spike before turning her attention to Fluttershy, "You said you'd help me if I helped you, right?"

"W-well, yes... I guess I did..." Fluttershy stammered, standing up in turn and making an effort to show her concern upon her face. "B-but right now?"

"Your problem seems pretty urgent, would you rather we wait?"

"I... suppose not... But you're going to bring him?" Fluttershy meekly pointed to Spike. "Not to be rude, but the last time he went in there, he—"

"Got hurt because we were separated," Twilight interrupted matter-of-factly, "That won't happen again. Especially since we'll have a bit of... added protection this time around." She gestured to the broken twig upon the table. The confidence she was exuding was all for show, brining Spike back in there wasn't something she was eager about. But if given the choice between leaving him unsupervised or letting him tag along, the later was by far the more appealing option.

Especially after she had already told Spike he could help. She'd never hear the end of it if she were to go back on that promise now.

As the three of them prepared to depart into the woods, Twilight hid a groan of discontent. She had come here looking for information regarding her current predicament—and now she was leaving with the intent of solving a completely different problem. Not exactly how she had planned this procedure would go, but she's the one who offered to help in the first place she swiftly reminded herself. Again. But before leaving, the disguised alicorn took the time to reassure herself that it was going to be fine. After all, this was going to be beneficial to both parties. She was offering to help in exchange for the information she wanted in the first place.

Is this becoming a habit? Twilight asked of herself, standing by while Fluttershy retrieved her personal piece of timberwolf protection. I mean... helping people out like this isn't the worst thing in the world, I suppose.

And as the trio made their way out the back door, Twilight found herself actually wearing a smile on her face. If only because, if nothing else, she knew what she could do once she and Spike were back on the road once all of this was said and done. But of course, the problems at hoof needed to be solved first. And it seemed that the timberwolves were the first ones on the chopping block.

— Chapter Twenty-Two —

View Online

--- Of Concoctions and Connections ---

There were only so many ways one could describe the Everfree Forest, as it wasn't exactly a very fluid environment. The same trees, the same shrubs, the same dirt path. If given enough time, Twilight could probably point out which hoofprints in the dirt were hers and from which day she had made them. It made sense, as there were probably one or two ponies who came into this place a year. The past few days had probably been the most hoof-traffic this place had gotten in years. Fluttershy was leading the charge at a moderate pace, Twilight and Spike trailing not too far behind her. If nothing else, at least they wouldn't have to worry about timberwolves, that was enough to put Twilight at ease at least. But the stroll through the woods wasn't exactly silent. After all, Fluttershy had a lot of explaining to do.

Not about whatever it was she knew about Knox and his schemes, instead Twilight had asked her to elaborate further on what was going on within these woods. Preferably not at incomparable speeds, she stated. And while Fluttershy was clearly still unsure about all of this, it didn't take much coaxing to get her to talk. For Fluttershy, it all began about three years ago when she stumbled upon her mystery friend in the woods. Said friend, someone who went by the name "Zecora," had been working on this for far longer, and had come to the Everfree for one very important reason.

"What do you mean the forest is 'dying'?" Spike's confusion was plainly shown in by his cocked brow.

"I mean it's dying," Fluttershy gestured with a wing towards a specific tree as the three kept walking. Twilight, shockingly enough, managed to recognize it as the tree she had walked face-first into on the day she had first met the timberwolves.

Though calling it a "tree" at this point was something of a stretch. While before it could easily be classified as an unhealthy plant, now it was more accurate to call it a rotted twisted mess. Shriveled and blackened to the point of hardly being recognizable as a tree anymore. Even the dead leaves that had fallen from the tree were blackened and crumbling, on the verge of turning to ash. Another memory from that grim day came back to Twilight's mind, how one of the timberwolves was able to revive itself from death through one of these trees and how that act affected the tree it emerged from. She didn't put much thought into it at the time other than the present danger it had presented. But in retrospect, these beasts could cause some serious damage if left to their own devices.

"They're killing the trees to make more of them," Fluttershy averted her gaze from the decayed tree as the three of them kept walking, "It's been going on for years."

"And nobody's done anything?" Spike seemed to be determined to save Twilight the trouble of asking these questions, not that the disguised alicorn was going to object. She wanted these answers, too.

"Nobody knows. Everyone just stays out of the Everfree altogether. Why risk the danger? The timberwolves don't go outside anyway, so nobody's really bothered by them."

"But that's changing, isn't it?" Twilight asked, surprised that she was finally allowed to ask a follow-up question before Spike.

Fluttershy simply nodded in responce. "They're trying to leave... and if that happens... I don't even want to think about it..."

And neither did Twilight, but that didn't stop the cloaked pony from envisioning the scenario anyway. An ever-growing pack of murderous wolves that couldn't be killed? It wasn't hard to figure out how that would go for the general populace of Equestria—maybe the whole world, depending on if these things could swim or not. And after that brief bit of acknowledging that dreadful possibility, Twilight went to change the subject by asking what in the world these things even were. Though Fluttershy didn't seem to be sure of that herself. The pegasus knew that they were magical in origin and certainly unnatural, but that was about as far as her knowledge went.

That was where the conversation was allowed to end as the three came out from under the canopy of trees, direct sunlight falling upon them once more. A small clearing in the woods that Twilight and Spike had yet to be acquainted with. The only thing of note in the space being the decently sized patchwork hut, looking to be big enough for about two or three rooms, give or take.

"Patchwork" was being a bit generous however, as the building materials used in the structure were varied and borderline nonsensical. Old planks of wood were accompanied by old rotting logs, as well as a few rusted iron bars and worn down stone bricks that looked to have been salvaged from the nearby Warden's Keep. It was big enough to be considered a small house but was more akin to what a child would put together to make a fort. And if the faint pillar of smoke rising from a shoddily made chimney was anything to go off of, then the resident Fluttershy had been helping was home. Or very irresponsible. Either one was possible at this point.

"Here we are..." Fluttershy's hesitance was plain as day as she led Twilight and Spike to the cabin in the woods. With a deep breath, she gestured for her guests to follow her to the shoddily made structure. Though instead of taking them towards the currently unseen entrance, she instead took them towards a small bowl that sat perched atop an overturned log, filled to the brim with an unknown reddish substance. "You're going to want some of this."

Without any explanation, Fluttershy gently dipped the tip of a hoof into the thick red slime and smeared it onto the space between her upper lip and her nostrils. An act which not only got Twilight to question her sanity, but also gave her an admittedly humorous appearance.

"Heh, she's got a mustache," Spike chuckled to himself as he gazed upon the red smear.

"What... is that, exactly?" Twilight cautiously approached the bowl and looked into the red mixture within. It wasn't quite blood-red, more akin to wine than anything else. It also looked to be thick and goopy, more akin to some kind of slime rather than liquid. Yet it's most noticeable feature was the shockingly pleasant scent that gently wafted from it. Very sweet smelling, almost enough to make Twilight want to dunk her head into the bowl to eat her fill.

"Mostly berries," Fluttershy replied plainly, "It's for the smell."

A single instant was all it took for Twilight to understand what it was Fluttershy was eluding too, clearly remembering the nearly unbearable stench that clung closely to the timberwolf wards in Fluttershy's possession. And assuming that this place was where they were made, then it would only make sense that it would smell just as bad. This was why she took the time to make sure that she was well prepared for what was to come, taking the time to help Spike get ready himself. It took a bit longer then it should have, as the long dragon kept licking at the sweet-smelling substance, but the task was accomplished soon enough.

As this was going on, Twilight was able to keep track of Fluttershy's actions despite the task at hoof. She continued around the side of the house, towards a door that was currently outside Twilight's field of view, and she boldly knocked.

"Umm... Zecora? Are you home?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly into the home. "It's me..."

"Fluttershy? Weren't you here last night?" A deep female voice resonated from within the structure, the walls being thin enough for Twilight to just barely hear them. "What brings you back so soon? Did you and Harry have a fight?"

"No, no, nothing like that... but I think I found someone who can help us out..." Fluttershy sharply inhaled as she watched Spike and Twilight casually approach her and the home's entrance. "Is it alright if they come in?"

"Friends of yours? Of course! Hurry, bring them indoors!" The hut's owner sounded very eager to meet new people. Much too eager, considering Fluttershy's reluctance at even wanting anyone to know about this place. Though maybe she just trusted Fluttershy that much, Twilight rationalized.

And as Twilight made that assumption, she also took notice of the makeshift home's only door. Or rather, a lack thereof. No, the functional door frame wasn't home to any sort of door at all, but instead a curtain of beads of all things. Beautifully crafted beads of bright reds and oranges primarily, a stark contrast to the home they were attached too. The style of the decore alone was enough to tell that whoever was in this hut was native to the distant land of Nchi. The name "Zecora" was just icing on the confirmation cake, really.

"Okay... but I need to warn you about something first," Fluttershy continued, taking a quick glance over towards Spike, "One of them... isn't exactly from around here..."

"Huh, well that makes two of us," Zecora chuckled back as the beads began to part, "On this matter, I'm the last one to have a right to make a fuss." The home's lone occupant stepped out into the light to greet her guests, revealing herself to indeed be a zebra, thus confirming Twilight's guess. A zebra who looked to be around the same age as her parents, if she had to guess.

Zecora, like most zebras, stood about a head taller than the average pony, with the top of Fluttershy's head resting just beneath her chin. Still shorter than a fully-realized alicorn, but shockingly taller then Applejack's brother, if only by an inch or two. But while such a hight was shocking to see Her body was decorated in the telling black and white stripes of her kin, as well as a series of well-crafted golden bands of her culture. Her mane, similarly colored to her coat, were draped off of her head in haphazard strands. About half of them were braided and held together by small golden rings and partly hid her face from view.

But even still, Twilight could see the warm smile upon the zebra's face, as well as her eyes. One a bright and vibrant shade of hazel, the other dull and grey. And based on the well-faded scar that accompanied the duller orb, it was clear as day that an injury of some kind had robbed her of half her sight.

"Now then, let's see who's come to visit me." Zecora giddily chuckled as she pushed her messy hair out of her line of sight, looking down to Twilight and Spike with a blatant look of excitement. "Now, now, who might you—?"

The zebra stopped herself imminently when her gaze fell upon Spike, her welcoming grin fading away to be replaced by a look of utter fascination and surprise. The reaction only lasted a second before a wide smile came upon her face and she leaned in close to the young reptile, stopping herself when she noticed him backing away. At least she had some semblance of boundaries, even if the grin she was wearing gave the impression that she was ready to poke and prod at Spike to discover his many secrets. Twilight could see that there was no malicious intent behind this interest of hers, the zebra was just legitimately curious as to whatever it was Spike was.

"Well, well, it's rare I see a creature I've never seen before," Zecora chimed happily as she fought back a childlike giggle, looking back to Twilight with an almost unsettling enthusiasm. "Once we've finished this nasty business, I would love to learn more."

"Uhh... okay?" Spike's reaction was equally bewildered and significantly less joyful. Zecora wasn't the only one being introduced to a creature they'd never seen before, as this was the first time Spike had been confronted with the concept of a zebra. And those simple two words were enough to get Zecora to join him in his less-enthusiastic shock. As much like with Fluttershy, the zebra hadn't been expecting the long dragon to speak.

"By the great bird's beak, the little creature speaks!" Zecora's spontaneous outburst was repaid with silence and three uncertain looks from two ponies and a dragon, but she didn't notice this as she shook her head suddenly. "No no, Zecora, there's a time and a place. Time is short, so we must work with a speedy pace!" Words couldn't describe how quickly she retreated back into the safety of her hut, with Fluttershy not far behind.

"What in the world was that?" Spike whispered in astonishment once they were alone, looking up to his guardian with wide almost fearful eyes. "I didn't know ponies could be that big!... Or could have stripes.."

"That's because she's a zebra," Twilight elaborated, "Think of them as a... distant cousin of ponies. Very similar, but with a number of differences."

"Like me and... other dragons?"

"Sort of..." Twilight blinked a few times as she processed that dreary responce. "If that makes it easier for you."

"It doesn't."

Well, that's reassuring. Twilight shook her head slowly as she ushered Spike inside.

The interior didn't do much to defy the expectations set from the outside. The patchwork walls were lined with improvised shelves lined with various glass bottles—each filled with various liquids or seemingly random assortments of leaves and dirt—and a few odd books here and there. Some of the jars had been left lidless and used as makeshift candle holders, illuminating the space with a cozy orange glow. One shelf that stood out, in particular, was lined with what looked to be the food stock for whoever lived here. Some fruits and vegetables alongside a half-eaten loaf of bread and an old canteen or two—absolutely nothing that needed to be kept refrigerated.

And in the center of it all was a small firepit, overtop which was a dark iron cast cauldron, bubbling away with some unpleasant looking green fluid of unknown origin. And in spite of the sweet-smelling smear beneath her nostrils, Twilight could still clearly detect the scent wafting from the basin. It was nowhere near as strong as she remembered, dulled greatly by the small bit of protection Fluttershy had provided, but it was still there. The smoke from the flames was escaping through what could only be called a smoke vent, in spite of its shakey construction, that led to the chimney outside without doubt. There was only one other door within, lined with a similar vail of beads. This probably led into a bedroom of some description, Twilight rightfully assumed.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting company and I believe that's shown." Zecora was already hard at work stirring the substance with a long stick, continuing to work on whatever it was she was brewing. "Now then, Miss Twilight, I assume there's a reason for your being here, am I right? Fluttershy has insisted that my living here be kept confidential. So if she brought you here, there must be a purpose most essential."

"Uhh... yeah," the baffled pony shook her head quickly to reestablish her focus and recall her purpose, "I believe I'm here to help out with your... timberwolf problem." She advanced further into the Zebra's workshop, Spike staying relatively close to her side. And the closer they got to the center of the room, the unpleasant stench of the cauldron got ever more noticeable through their thin layer of berry-based protection. It never got to an unbearable level, but there was no ignoring it now.

"What's that smell?!" Spike blurted out loudly, backpedaling away from the large pot with a look of absolute disgust upon his face.

"Ah, that would be this gunk here," Zecora kicked the cauldron with s loud clank of hoof-on-metal, "It's a special alchemic blend that keeps timberwolves from drawing near."

"But why does it smell like that?!" He shook his head violently—almost like he was sneezing—clearly trying to shake that scent out of his head. "What's in it?!" A question that Twilight wanted the answer to as well, even if she did think Spike's reaction was a bit on the rude side.

"You don't want to know." Zecora and Fluttershy both answered the question at once, and there was a sincere tone of dread in their answer.

"It's... a lot of stuff from the forest," Fluttershy elaborated, "You know... like leaves... and leavings..."

Of course, Twilight silently retorted as she plucked the broken twig out from behind her ear and magically placed it far out of reach. Why did Spike half to ask?

"Yes, these beasts were born of the Everfree," Zecora added cheerily as she continued to stir the bubbling blend, "Thus, their repellent must from the forest be."

"Well, they ain't the only thing that stuff repels!" The long dragon made his way over to one side of the room, sitting in the corner with an unpleasant pout upon his face.

"This is what you get for wanting to be involved," Twilight explained in a way that only a parental figure could. Afterward, she turned her attention back to Zecora's brew and the foul-smelling substance within. She gazed upon the green goop with great intensity, hoping to gain some form of insight from the muck. "So... what do you know?"

"A loaded question, I believe your inquiry needs a more specific orientation," Zecora spoke with a throaty chuckle as she moved towards one of her many shelves. She claimed a few of the jars and brought them over, carefully adding their contents to her potion before continuing to stir away. "I know a great many things, you'll have too—"

"The timberwolves," Fluttershy interrupted suddenly, drawing everyone's attention in a flash. It was hard to tell if she was actually frustrated, or just flustered from everything that had happened this morning thus far. "She's obviously asking about the timberwolves."

"... Fair enough," Zecora shrugged, "But at the risk of further antagonizing Fluttershy... where should I start?"

"Wait... that didn't rhyme..." Spike's subtle comment went ignored by the three equines in the room.

"Well, it's easier to fix a problem if you know where it's coming from," Twilight reasoned, "So do you know where they're coming from?"

"Ah yes, that's a good place to start. But truth be told, I only know the story in part," Zecora smiled as she reestablished her rhyming streak, "Some dark force has taken residence in this place, it's true nature I cannot trace. Though I've spent many nights studying where they roam, and if unless I'm mistaken that old Equestrian fortress seems to be their home. I've attempted to use my repellents there, but they have little effect so deep in their lair."

Red flag.

Twilight froze as those words came together in her head, followed by a sincere feeling of dread about what was to come next. Now perhaps it could have just been a coincidence, but Twilight honestly didn't believe her luck was that good. If Zecora's claim was true, then it meant that the timberwolves liked to prowl around Warden's Keep—unabated by the wards that Zecora had managed to forge specifically to stop them. And considering what she had seen last night, there was only one conclusion to be drawn. But she had to be sure.

"Are you... absolutely sure about that?"

"Yup," Zecora replied cheerily, not noticing the distress that Twilight was fighting to hide. "That's where the bulk of them tend to reside. When they aren't out and about prowling about the woods."

"That didn't rhyme either!" Spike aimed an accusing point that went ignored by the zebra, who simply strolled off towards the other room without so much as a word. Spike grumbled inwardly at being snubbed for the second time in this conversation, his pouting doing well at keeping his focus off of Twilight's anxiety.

Speaking of, Twilight wasn't exactly doing the greatest at the moment. She was currently in a state of disbelief, as surely there couldn't be any real correlation here. The odds of these two things being connected were astronomically low, and there wasn't much proof that there even was a connection to be made.

But at the same time, if Zecora's words rang true and the timberwolves had claimed the old fortress as their territory, then there must have been a reason. RIght? It had to be more than just a simple coincidence. And the more Twilight thought things through, the more likely it seemed that there was more to all of this than she first anticipated. There just had to be something more. Even if she really wished there wasn't.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered, startling the cloaked alicorn out of her intense thinking and dragging her back to reality. "You don't look so good."

"Don't freak out," Twilight hesitantly began, not caring at the moment if Spike overheard or not. "But I think our problems are more closely linked then I first thought..." After a moment of processing that fact, Fluttershy's expression was overtaken with a gawk-eyed look of shock.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Remember when I said I got a little too curious last night?" Twilight further closed the distance between them and began to speak in a much more hushed tone. "I might've gone to Warden's Keep... and I might've found something... unsettling..."

— Chapter Twenty-Three —

View Online

--- Of Remedies and Recollections---

"Remember when I said I got a little too curious last night?... I might've gone to Warden's Keep... and I might've found something... unsettling..."

The fear was plainly shown as the color drained from Fluttershy's face. There looked to be conflicting thoughts floating about her headspace at the moment, one half of her wanting to know more and another half wanting to forget what she had heard. Thankfully for her, she would never have to make that choice. As at that moment, Zecora had decided to return from the adjacent room. Rather loudly, at that.

"But worry not, for I have found a remedy!" Zecora blared with an almost gleeful tone, clearly enraptured by the fact that she had an audience. "Be it temporary or not, a solution I have found through my chemistry!"

And as she strode back into the room with a proud smile, it became evident that she wasn't alone. Being towed behind her was a large red wagon, not unlike one a foal would tug around. Filled to the brim with what looked to be small-sized logs. The kind that one would keep around for use as firewood. Though with the way the zebra was showing them off, it implied that there was more to this than just simple firewood.

Absolute silence followed the zebra's display, the two ponies and lone dragon simply staring onward with blank expressions. To say that there were questions that needed to be asked was an understatement, yet nobody seemed to be willing to ask them.

"... Okay, I'll bite," Spike meekly broke the silence, "What's that for?"

"I'm glad you asked, my reptile friend!" Zecora beamed as she turned towards her wagon, lightly sifting through the pile of timber for a moment or two. Soon after she retrieved a specific, far more refined piece and placed it gently upon the ground. "With the use of these, we'll be able to leave those beasts condemned."

Twilight, stricken with curiosity towards the presented piece of wood, approached with a raised brow as she began to investigate. A moment's glance was all it took to deduce that it was in actuality a wooden stake that looked to have been lovingly carved and engraved with swirling striped patterns that were common in Nchi's culture. Something like this must've taken quite a great deal of time to make, though how this was going to help with the timberwolves was still a mystery.

Or at least, it was a mystery. Or it was until Zecora unceremoniously swiped at the stake with a hoof, sending it flying through the air before landing in the cauldron with a wet plop. She pumped a hoof into the air with a short "woo," signifying her glee at succeeding with her little stunt.

"The plan is to lock them away within that place," Zecora turned her attention back to the wagon and starting to take pieces out of the pile, "It's not ideal, but it will keep them from putting the forest through further disgrace."

"Oh, I get it," Twilight replied with a sly grin, "Bigger pieces of wood means they can suck up more of that juice. Ergo, the wards will be stronger."

"Exactly! And the brew itself is strengthened by the forest's own wood, no substitute would suffice in case you've misunderstood." Zecora's glee was only matched by her confidence in this plan of hers. The unbridled optimism was a refreshing change of pace. "Now hurry, we must work quickly if we're too deliver the forest its cure!" Moving with speed enough to startle Spike, thanks to their size difference, and stopped swiftly before one of her shelves. Just as quickly she retrieved a series of carving tools and began to pass them around.

"Zecora... didn't that first one take you three months to make?" Fluttershy asked as she gingerly took the small wood-working knife in a hoof. It was obvious at this point that the zebra was planning on having the four of them sit here and carve more of these out, something that could very easily take quite a bit of time if Fluttershy's accusation was accurate.

Thankfully, Twilight was already privy to a way of shortening the process exponentially.

"Which is why we must hurry!" Zecora was very excited about all of this, presenting Twilight with a carving knife before moving over to Spike. Though she stopped just before giving the tool over, looking to Twilight with a perplexed expression. "Uhh...?"

"Please don't, he doesn't need to be playing with knives," Twilight requested as she magically claimed the third carving tool, placing it back up on the shelf where it had originated. "And... not to be rude, but I believe I have a simpler answer. Can I see the one you already made?"

Zecora's excitement was diluted with the same confusion her three guests had previously shown, yet she still gave a slow nod in response. Thus began the task of fishing the long-since sunken stake out of the sludge. She used her long stirring stick to poke around the bottom of the cauldron until eventually, she was able to force the wooden stake back out. Now bleached white much like the other repellants forged by the zebra, it was gently tossed over towards Twilight and swiftly caught by a whisp of magenta light.

Twilight took her time examining the piece of wood, doing her best to hold her breath as to avoid the stench that now permeated about the object. It was a very basically made wooden stake, with most of the craftsmanship laying in the intricately carved patterns that lined the entirety of the small post. Whether these spiral designs held any arcane properties or not was something Twilight didn't know for sure—maybe they were just an elaborate way of letting the green goop seep into the wood faster—but it was better to be safe than sorry. With what she was planning on doing.

"Okay... I think I can do this." She squinted her eyes as she began to concentrate, weaving together the various magical energies needed for this particular spell. More arcane light manifested around one of the logs Zecora had just brought into the room and it too was brought to float before the cloaked pony. "But you three might want to stand back... I haven't done this since I was twelve." The immediate space near her was vacated, and the three looked on with obvious concern.

"H-haven't done what?" Fluttershy asked with her head close to the floor and her ears as far down as they could go. She looked as if she was ready for a bomb to go off if her posture was anything to go by.

"Nothing special, just something from an old wood-working class I took..." Twilight closed her eyes and initiated the spell, the log in her grasp spinning around at a high velocity.

The sounds of a buzzsaw cleaving through wood echoed about the room as sawdust poured from the log like water out of a bucket. This lasted for about thirty seconds before the process was complete, the log now replaced with a second wooden stake, identical in all ways to the one Zecora had offered previously. Well, in all ways except for coloration, that is. But that would likely be fixed by a quick soak in Zecora's arcane stew.

"... I needed the elective credits," Twilight explained with a shrug and a chuckle, presenting her copy to Zecora for inspection. "Never thought I'd find a use for that spell, though. It's not every day you need to make a copy of a wooden sculpture that you already have."

"Incredible..." Out of the three witnesses, Zecora was by far the most awestruck by Twilight's magical feat. She overturned the stake in her hooves over and over again, desperately searching for some kind of flaw or imperfection. But the look of wide-eyed shock was enough to say that she wasn't able to find a single fault before looking back to Twilight. "How many of these can you make?"

"How many do you need?"

"... I'mma go find more dead trees..." Zecora muttered as she almost limped towards the front door, the shock from Twilight's accomplishment having been that impactful on her. She stopped for just a moment to claim the axe that had been leaning by the doorframe with her teeth. "We're gonna need a lot more wood..."

Nothing further was said before Zecora vanished behind the veil of beads without delay, fully committed to her mission of finding whatever fallen trees she could to fill out her unknown quota. And if Zecora needed more logs for this endeavor, then it was easy enough to assume that she was going to need a lot of these stakes. If that was the case, then it was better to start now instead of waiting. She walked on over, took a seat, and began the task she had unwittingly signed up for.

"Okay, what was that?!" Spike asked, raising a claw to point towards the long-gone zebra.

"Have you never seen a zebra before?" Fluttershy tilted her head in response. "They're kind of like... distant cousins—"

"No! The way she was talking," The dragon placed great emphasis on that last word, "Almost everything she said rhymed!"

"I was wondering about that too," Twilight interjected as she finished the second stake, "Can't say I've met many people who talk like that regularly."

"Oh, that. She does that to entertain herself," Fluttershy sighed, "When you spend a lot of years alone in the woods, you need to find some way to keep your spirits up."

Twilight couldn't exactly argue with that reasoning. Isolation was a powerful thing, and it could greatly affect one's mind if submerged in it for too long. In fact, if she didn't have Spike along with her during this two-year trek across the world, Twilight rationalized that she would have lost her mind long ago. But that was a grim thought that was better left unthought, as there were far more relevant topics to dwell on. Especially now, as Twilight was going to have quite a bit of time to kill with this carving business. And it seemed Fluttershy had a similar opinion on this matter as she hesitantly approached the cloaked pony, a pensive look upon her face.

"So... you said our problems might be... connected?" She almost shuddered with the question, almost unwilling to even ask it even.

"It's just a theory," Twilight grimaced as she added another stake to the pile, "I need more information before I can know for sure. Care to help out with that?"

"R-right... sorry, but it's been a really long time. It might not be very accurate information..."

"Anything you can tell me will help," Twilight pleaded with the utmost sincerity, "I don't want to fly in blind."

"I... really don't know where to start."

"The beginning?" Spike's question came with a smirk and a shrug, earning him the attention of the two ponies. There was a brief time where Twilight wanted to reprimand Spike for the sarcastic answer, but she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't thinking the exact same thing. Even if she wasn't going to say it quite that bluntly.

Fluttershy meekly sighed, her eyes falling upon the simple dirt floor of the cabin. One could see the subtle shakes and twitches that plagued the pegasus as she scoured her mind for details on the subject. She took long and deep breaths in an attempt to calm her nerves, but as time went on they became shorter and faster gasps. This came to a head in one final deep breath that was released in an overdramatic puff.

"Before I get going," the pegasus continued, "Have you met a pony in town named Rarity? Unicorn, about ye tall, a little too obsessed with Canterlot?"

"I've met her a few times. She seems nice." And obsessed is an understatement, Twilight thought it best to keep that comment to herself for the time being.

"She's, uh, an old friend of mine. We were about eight years old when... when..." Fluttershy stopped as the trembling that wracked her frame worsened. Her eyes shut tightly as she continued to shudder, small tears beginning to squeeze their way through the closed eyelids. This wasn't something that was easy for her, that much was obvious enough. For a moment, Twilight had considered telling the pegasus that she didn't have to continue, but Fluttershy managed to finish her statement with a squeak before the alicorn could make the offer.

"When I saw what he did to her..."

The log Twilight was about to rend fell to the ground with a thud, the cloaked pony's focus spoiled by that remark. There were many ways to interpret what Fluttershy had just said and how she had said it, that much was certain for sure. And if not for the things that she had been shown earlier this week, she might have jumped to an unpleasant conclusion about what Knox "did" to Rarity. Or a pleasant one, depending on what exactly had been done.

Regardless, Twilight surrendered her full attention over to Fluttershy and did her best to implore her into continuing without coming across as insensitive. Fluttershy, understandably so, took a brief moment to calm herself down before going on. And after another series of deep, calming breaths, the yellow pegasus began to recount the events of that fateful day as best she could.

--- Sixteen Years Earlier ---

Today was a day much like any other in the quiet town of Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and a light breeze danced throughout the country village. The slight nip to the air dictated that summer was soon to end and that fall would follow suit shortly. The natural progression of the seasons was something that couldn't be stopped or denied, and it served as a dastardly reminder for the fillies and colts of Equestria and the world over.

The school year would be starting soon.

Something that no child ever wanted to hear, even if it was for their benefit. The proverbial loss of freedom that came with the end of the vacation was heartbreaking for the young hearts that longed to be free. Particularly those with a distinct disdain for the humdrum routines of social interaction and the noise and clamor of a classroom, those who would much rather spend their time connecting to nature and all its quiet wonders. Fluttershy was one such pony, and one of many who lamented the oncoming return of her educational pursuits, even if it was required for her dreams of caring for the cute and cuddly creature of the world for a living.

Which led the young pegasus to the Golden Oak's library on this fine summer morning. With the school year just around the corner, she would need to be ready for the trials and tribulations to come. And with a summer vacation that had been spent mostly in the great outdoors, a refresher course was a mandatory sacrifice to get her mind up and running. Mostly mathematics, history, and the various sciences were her topics of interest this day, biology and botany not included as she had those subjects down to a tee.

As she sat at one of the tables upon the facility's second floor, she paid little to no mind to the very few ponies who would come and go on their own business, and they, in turn, didn't give her much attention either. She was all but invisible to the world right now, doubly so as it was a rather slow day for the library, buried behind her reasonably sized pile of books and study materials. Even the lone librarian, a kindly old sarosian by the name of Knox Onwud, seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that she was even there. He had only spoken to her for a scant few moments when she had arrived and proceeded to let her go about her business.

Not that she minded, of course, Fluttershy had always been one to avoid any unnecessary social interaction if she could help it. She couldn't point out why, but talking with other ponies just made her feel uncomfortable. Doubly so if it was someone she didn't know in the first place, but that was something that everyone suffered through. Or so she had been told by her parents in their attempts to get her to open up more. But Fluttershy didn't really feel the need to do that, she had plenty of decent-to-good friends amongst a few select ponies, and the rest of the gaps were filled in by the many animals she had come to care for over her life thus far. Even the ones her parents knew nothing about. Especially the ones her parents knew nothing about.

"Oh, why hello there, Fluttershy! It's been a while!"

And speaking of friends, Fluttershy nearly leaped from her skin at the sudden greeting from one of them. After letting out the world's quietest exclamation of terror and surprise, and after finding her way out of the book she buried herself under in an act of self-preservation, she finally recognized one of the few ponies she had added to her social circle. Rarity stood off to the side with a worried and guilty look upon her face.

"Oops, sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you..."

"I-it's okay." Fluttershy sighed in relief upon figuring out the interloper's identity, offering a wearily kind smile in return. "It's good to see you... how have you been?"

"Oh, just trying to enjoy the scant few remnants of our summer. But seeing as how Applejack and Rainbow won't stop whining about it, I decided to take some needed time away from them. You understand, yes?"

Fluttershy shook her head at that. Everyone in town knew just how rowdy those two got when they weren't in a good mood. Or when they were in a good mood. Or when they felt like causing trouble. Or were in the same general location as one another. The point was that those two had something of a reputation as trouble makers and Fluttershy was glad that she had chosen to spend today in the one place that the two would never go unless they absolutely had too.

"So what have you been up to?" Rarity's followup question was enough to bring Fluttershy back from the hypothetical thoughts of how today could have gone. "It isn't like you to coop up inside all day. Especially here. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, not at all. I was just trying to get ready for school." She gestured to the collection of books and papers she had amassed over her stay here with a slight blush. "I kind of needed the refresher course..."

"My, that's very responsible of you! But... you wouldn't happen to have picked up any books about gemstones though, did you? I've been looking for one all afternoon, but I can't find the one I'm looking for."

"I... don't think so..." The inquiry prompted the two fillies to quickly search through Fluttershy's amassed collection. And while the pegasus had gathered a few books that covered the topic of geology, Rarity made it clear that she had something far more specialized in mind. Soon enough their search was complete, with Rarity's desired book still unfound. "Nope, it isn't here. I'm sorry, Rarity."

"Oh, it's fine." It didn't exactly sound fine based on the sigh that followed that statement, and the way that the unicorn's ears fell over didn't help to sell the facade either. "Looks like someone already checked it out. I'll just have to wait until they return it... whenever that'll happen."

The feeling of guilt and regret that Fluttershy felt as she watched her dejected friend slowly walk away. While it wasn't her fault that Rarity couldn't find the book, she still felt like she could have done more to help her out. It was that feeling that fueled the idea that suddenly popped into her head. She galloped for all she was worth to intercept the departing unicorn with a bright smile on her face.

"Wait! Have you tried the third floor yet?"

"There's a third floor?" Rarity stopped, her upset demeanor being replaced by a curious expression.

"Well... yeah." Fluttershy gestured with a wing towards the staircase at one end of the room. And much to Rarity's surprise, it did indeed lead up to what could only be the library's third floor. "I've seen Mr. Onwud go up there with some books a few times today already."

"Oh! Perhaps he moved up there!" The unbridled joy and hope in Rarity's voice combined with the wide smile she donned were very reminiscent of a certain pink pony that everyone in town was familiar with. "Thank you very much, Fluttershy!"

"Do you want help finding it?" She offered a sincere smile alongside the kindly offer, taking the time to push her mane aside so her whole face could be seen. "I needed a break anyway."

There wasn't even an attempt on Rarity's part to refuse the help, instead, she cheerily took up Fluttershy on that offer and the two made their way towards the neglected staircase. The steps creaked and groaned quietly as they ascended, the light from the second story windows fading from view as they stepped on up into a much darker part of the library. The darkness wasn't an unusual thing, the staircase leading from the first floor to the second did much the same, it was just how the building was made.

Though once they reached the peak of the steps, coming face to face with nothing but a door left slightly ajar at the top. Something that Fluttershy took notice of immediately, as that was a detail that didn't match the lower set of stairs. Furthermore, putting a door directly at the top of a flight of stairs just didn't seem right. At least, it didn't seem right to her, but she was an eight-year-old who'd never left Ponyville before, so maybe she just hadn't seen anything like this before. But as Rarity pushed open the old door with a creak, Fluttershy was suddenly hit with the overwhelming feeling that the two of them shouldn't be up here.

What windows there were in the space were blocked by heavy-looking tarps mounted in place of curtains. The only light in the room came from the flickering candles and lamps scattered here and there, casting whipping shadows that gave this floor an ominous aura. The shelves that lined the walls were mostly empty, only a few books sat on each one, odd enough for a library. There were other doors up here, ones that likely led into closets or other equally dreary rooms, and strewn about the chamber were various tables each home to a multitude of books—some open, some closed. Some of the tables had been adorned with large white sheets that looked like they were being used as tablecloths. As to why some tables had them and others didn't, Fluttershy didn't know. And in the center of it all was a much larger desk, much like one that you'd find in a school principle's office, cluttered to the absolute limit with books just like the others around it. This was the only place in the room where a chair could be found, a ragged old thing that looked like it would fall apart if you sneezed on it.

And Fluttershy looked like she would fall to pieces at a similar gesture. Her shivers and shakes went unnoticed by her unicorn friend as they both stared into the darkened space. Now, Fluttershy had never been the boldest of the young mares in town. At best you could call her a cautious and timid filly, at worst you could call her a downright coward. It didn't take much to frighten her—or even startle her, for that matter. Fright and unease were feelings that she had been long familiar with over the course of her young life, and sometimes they would beseech her at the most inopportune and unexpected times. Like now, for instance.

"Looks like he's in the middle of reorganizing," Rarity said in a shockingly optimistic tone, entirely oblivious to the fright that Fluttershy was experiencing as she passed the threshold. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we look around a bit. It'd be one less book for him to sort."

Fluttershy watched wordlessly as Rarity just walked on into the dilapidated room, unsure if she should follow behind or not. She felt like, at this point, she should go back down to the first floor and get Mr. Onwud to help them out. Or reprimand them for even coming up here at all, as that felt like a natural conclusion to this foolhardy idea. Yet against every rational thought and better judgment she came up with, she silently shuffled inward passed the threshold.

Best case scenario? Fluttershy was just being overly cautious and fearful, as she was known for doing in the past. Maybe there was nothing wrong at all. After all, why would the door be unlocked if ponies weren't meant to come up here? It was a public library, there couldn't be anything that dangerous here.

Worst case scenario? She couldn't just let Rarity go in there alone. And the sooner they found that stupid book, the sooner they could leave.

Fluttershy moved from table to table with silent haste scanning every book in sight with near feverish intensity, hoping to find Rarity'd desired gemstone text so they could evacuate without delay. But much to her dismay, not a single one of those books seemed to be what they were looking for. In fact, not a single one looked to be the object of their desires. Fluttershy couldn't even decipher most of them, with pages filled to the brim with long and complex words she didn't want even attempt pronouncing accompanied by what the pegasus could only call random shapes and squiggles. Maybe they had some meaning to someone, but they meant absolutely nothing to her. Especially in her frantic state of mind.

Rarity, in the meanwhile, took a much more calm and careful approach to her search, the blue light from her horn acting as a useful beacon for Fluttershy to keep track of her out of the corner of her eye. But with every book that came up as a dud, the more and more frustrated the young unicorn got. Furrowing her brow and puffing out her cheeks as if that would make the book she wanted magically make it appear before her. It was this frustration that led her search towards one of the other doors in the room—hoping that maybe her book waited within.

But Fluttershy didn't pay that much mind, she was far too busy trying to find that book as quickly as possible. This place was making her nervous more then it had any right too, and the longer she remained her the longer she felt like she shouldn't. Like there was some dark shadow hanging over her, following her about the room. Watching her every move with overwhelming intensity.

"My, what a beautiful little charm!" Rarity's voice beamed from the other room. It was obvious from her inflection she had found something that caught her eye more than the book she had come up here to find. "Where in the world did he get this?"

Fluttershy found herself intrigued by whatever it was Rarity had found, momentarily forgetting her worries and making her way towards where she heard her friend's voice echo from. She didn't get far, though, before she was quickly deterred by the events that happened next.

A loud and shrill shriek echoed outward from the other room Rarity had vanished into, alongside another sound that Fluttershy couldn't identify. It was calamitous like thunder, yet hushed like a kind whisper, an entirely unnatural noise that rang out in time with Rarity's ear-bleeding screech. Fluttershy couldn't even begin to describe what it was, all she knew for sure that she didn't want to find out.

In her already skittish state, these sudden and overwhelming unpleasant sounds were enough to send Fluttershy into full-blown panic. Her small body moved on its own as she dove underneath the nearest table, finding very brief joy in the fact that it was one that had been adorned with a white tarp. Maybe if she had more time to think, she would have gone to see if her friend was okay. But rational thought wasn't something that came easy when you were as frightened as Fluttershy was at this very moment.

"I need to get a damned lock for this damned door," a new voice viciously grumbled alongside a series of slow, methodical hoofsteps. It was Mr. Onwud's voice, Fluttershy could tell that much, but something seemed off to her.

She'd known the local librarian for about as long as she could remember, and Fluttershy had never known the kindly old bat pony to show any kind of anger. Mild frustration after stumbling into something? Definitely. But the utter wrath that his voice was slathered in right now? Especially after the door loudly slammed shut behind him, prompting the tiniest of squeaks from Fluttershy in responce.

"Come out now, whoever you are," He growled out again, "if you make me wait this will get messy.

Before Fluttershy could even ask herself what in the world he meant by "messy," further hoofsteps broke the silence. The frightened and confused pegasus found her curiosity getting the better of her, a trembling hoof slowly lifting up the tarp that concealed her beneath the table, only enough for her to see what was happening—and hopefully not enough to be noticed.

She saw Rarity walking towards the librarian with slow, shaky steps. Unnatural was the word that came to Fluttershy's mind, like a puppet on strings. And while the dim candlelight wasn't strong enough to give Fluttershy a clear view of what was happening. But she could still clearly make out Rarity's expression—wide and dull eyes accompanied by a slightly agape mouth. Utterly vacant of any and all emotion, just a blank slate of who she used to be. And unless the pegasus was mistaken, she could swear there was a twinkle of red light hidden in Rarity's glossed over eyes.

This was also when Fluttershy noticed her friend's horn, engulfed by an aura of blue. And something else shared this trait, a small object that Rarity was holding. Fluttershy couldn't tell what it was from this distance—some kind of necklace, maybe?

"Well? I'm waiting." Knox's demand was greeted by the object slowly floating over to his neck, a chain locking it in place with a definitive clack. And once it was firmly in place, a disturbing flicker of red danced about Onwud's frame for but a moment. "You'd think a unicorn would know better than to mess with magical items. Oh well, I've been behind schedule as of late—" he leaned in uncomfortably close to Rarity and cupped the unicorn's chin with a hoof with no signs of resistance on her part, the white of his teeth glistening in the candlelight as he gave a wide grin— "Your little intrusion is actually quite convenient for me. Thank you, Rarity."

Mr. Onwud swiftly broke the eye contact as his head snapped to the side—gaze firmly locked in Fluttershy's dirrection. She nearly squealed in fright at this, but she managed to stop herself when she noticed she was looking passed her hiding place. She was still unnoticed for the time being, thankfully enough.

Knox's eyes began to glow with a sinister scarlet hue, as did a large gemstone nestled into the accessory that Rarity had delivered to him. And much like how unicorn magic was accompanied by an audible hum, so too was this bizarre and unsettling display. Though this noise didn't sound quite the same as what Fluttershy had heard before, it was cold and metallic. Artificial and haunting. And not unlike the clamor that previously accompanied Rarity's earlier scream.

The frightened filly soon caught sight of something enveloped in this same red light floating towards Knox, from the dirrection he was staring at. Whatever it was looked to be cracked and broken in some spots, from what Fluttershy could tell. She couldn't quite tell what it was outside of that, maybe some kind of rock or black crystal? Honestly, she didn't really care what it was. She didn't even want to know what he was going to do with it. The young mare could only watch as the item was placed in the sarosian's waiting hoof.

"Now then, Miss Rarity, I have a very important question for you." Onwud presented the stone to Rarity, cradling it gently like a stallion would present a flower to a mare. "Can you hear the Choir sing?"

"Y-y-e-y-e-yes-es-es-ss..." Rarity moved in slow jerking motions. Somewhere deep inside that blank slate of a mare, some semblance of herself looked to be fighting back against whatever had been done to her. But she wasn't strong enough, and she confirmed the question with a slow nod. A forehoof was lifted and ever so gently placed atop the black stone, once more bringing a shimmering toothy grin to Knox's face.

That was all Fluttershy could stand to watch and she quickly withdrew her hoof and allowed the tarp to fall back to the floor, only catching the briefest glimpse of the dark whisps that began to emanate from the black stone as an otherworldly chill filled the entirety of the library. The frigid aura of something very very old, and very very malicious. Something horrible. Something unknowable.

Though Fluttershy didn't want to know what they meant. She couldn't even bear to watch whatever terrible thing was happening to Rarity at the moment, the pegasus was far too focused on keeping her location a well-kept secret. Tears had long since begun silently streaming down the sides of her face, unable to understand what was going on.

Why was Mr. Onwud doing this?

How was he doing this?

Was he going to find her?

All these questions repeated endlessly in the filly's head as she waited and waited in the darkness underneath the tarped table. Sobbing in absolute silence for fear of being found by the older pony. She didn't know what he had done to Rarity, but she didn't want it to happen to her. So she stayed there in the dark and in the dust, hoping that she would never be found. It felt like an eternity before something broke the silence of her prison, Rarity's voice to be specific.

"Salutați corul."

Fluttershy didn't understand the unusual sounding words, but she had hardly noticed them at all in her panicked state. She spent the rest of the day under that table, laying there in absolute silence as the world went on without her. Occasionally she heard hoofsteps—Knox's, without a doubt—and the rustling of paper. If he knew she was down there, he made no attempt to confront her about it. And so she waited, the hours stretching on like centuries as she endured her self-made entrapment. She had lost track of how much time had passed before she mustered up enough false courage to venture out from her den.

She strode with the utmost caution, evacuating the third floor as quickly as she could without drawing any unwanted attention. The second floor was easier to traverse, especially seeing as how it was entirely abandoned. But on the first floor? Even more mortifying than the third, as that's where Mr. Onwud was busy doing his usual duties as Ponyville's lone librarian. Gazing upon him now she could only see the kind elder that she had known before being inadvertently introduced to his more sinister side earlier today. And thankfully, he paid her about as much mind as he had before the day's more intense events. Fluttershy didn't want to question this blessing and took the opportunity to leave without further delay.

--- — ---

"That was the last time I ever set hoof in that place..."

Everything just seemed to slow down to a halt as Fluttershy finished her story, and nobody said anything as the silence overtook the room. Twilight took the moment to take a break in her woodworking task, finding it difficult to concentrate on her magic after all she had just heard. It wasn't the most specific story, or the longest, but it did more than enough to convey just how serious this situation was. Or at least how serious it was to Fluttershy if nothing else. Even now, the pegasus sat there shaking like a leaf and doing everything in her power to maintain some level of composure. She was walking the fine line between a full-blown panic attack and a complete mental shutdown. This hadn't been an easy thing for her, to say the absolute least.

And Twilight felt awful about it. Sitting here watching someone that she considered a true friend go through such turmoil was a difficult thing to do, even more so with the knowledge that she was the one who'd brought up the bad memories in the first place. It'd probably been years before she had given the sarosian a second thought, but then Twilight came around and began bringing him up, and it had all come to a head here. Yes, Twilight had gotten exactly what she had been looking for—the vague but ever valuable knowledge of that amulet and stone would be helpful in the long run—but there was no satisfaction here. There was no victory. There was only shame in making Fluttershy dig up these bad memories.

"Did you not tell anyone?" Spike's question wasn't very loud, but it shattered the silence like cannon fire. The dreary mood in the air was not lost on him, he was clearly uncomfortable just as the two ponies in the room were, but it seemed he still wanted a bit more clarification. "This sounds like something"

"I tried," Fluttershy meekly replied, slowly beginning to reclaim her composure. "I went to my parrents, Rarity's parrents, everyone I could think of... and... and..."

"Knox did to them what he did to Rarity," Twilight interjected in some attempt to alleviate the yellow mare's burden. "He used that... necklace, or whatever it was, to block out their memories. Keep them from asking questions. Right?"

"Y-... yeah..." Fluttershy took the time to breathe and calm her nerves, about as much as she could at the moment, before going on. "After that, they all just... forgot what I told them. When I tried to tell them again... they forgot again... after a while, I just gave up. I figured it would be safer if I pretended I didn't know anything... I didn't—I'm sorry..."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Twilight stood from her sitting position and walked on over to Fluttershy with an apologetic grimace strewn over her face. "I... I'm sorry you had to relive that because of me..."

The disguised alicorn raised a hoof and gave an awkward smile, trying to convey the message that she was willing to help Fluttershy hug it out if need be. The message clearly wasn't lost on the pegasus, and Fluttershy was swift in taking up that offer. The room fell silent again as Twilight was essentially tackled by the other pony, who preceded to burry her face in the alicorn's cloak-covered shoulder and just began to cry. It wasn't loud, it wasn't intense, but it was clearly long overdue.

"Twilight, Fluttershy, I have returned with more wood!" Zecora proudly announced as she walked back into her home, "And I—"

She stopped herself short as she took notice of the emotional scene playing out before her, in her own home no less. Neither pony paid the zebra any mind and just continued to hold one another in an attempt to overcome this emotional episode. Zecora watched this in utter silence with a raised brow for quite some time, trying to parse what exactly had transpired in her absence. Eventually, she approached the only other person in the room—that being Spike—and leaned down to whisper.

"Did I miss something?"

— Chapter Twenty-Four —

View Online

--- An Unexpected Reunion ---

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"It's fine, Fluttershy. It's just a harmless side effect. Nothing's wrong."

"But I feel like it's my fault..."

This short conversation, or variations of it, repeated no less than six times on the way back to Fluttershy's home from the Everfree Forest. After several hours of carving out those special wooden stakes, Zecora had decided that her work was satisfactory and gave her the okay to stop. And Twilight had managed to make no less than two hundred of those specialized trinkets for the zebra's sake, each one now stewing away in that alchemic vat in preparation for the destined purpose.

The act of creating these items—casting that woodworking spell over and over again—did have a physical effect on Twilight, however. One that was very hard to miss, even if you weren't looking for it. A consistent flow of steam wafted about her horn for about half of the walk back from the woodland cabin, a visual indication of just how much magic had been pumped through it this day. It didn't hurt or burn, it was just the magical equivalent to exhaustion, more numb than anything. If someone runs for several hours on end, they're going to get tired. If someone casts the same spell over and over again, non-stop for several hours, then there's going to be a buildup of excess heat. It wasn't painful, nor was it dangerous. Just a natural side effect of the task Twilight had put upon herself.

That didn't stop Fluttershy from thinking that she'd caused Twilight to injure herself, however. And for almost the entire walk back she had continuously apologized and inquired about the state of her horn, making no end of offers to try and alleviate the "agony" Twilight was in. If nothing else, Twilight was at least happy that Fluttershy had found something else to occupy her thoughts with after that story of hers. The cloaked alicorn still felt guilty for making her relive that experience and wanted to do something to try and make it up to her. But figuring out what could do that was a Rockhoofian task in it of itself, and Twilight already had her plate full with this Knox business.

Well, getting that problem solved and sorted was probably a good start at making amends with the pegasus. At least for now.

"See? Better already." Twilight practically sang as she pointed to her horn, no longer enveloped by that thin layer of mist.

"If you insist..." Fluttershy didn't sound very convinced of Twilight's wellbeing, gently pushing open the back door to her home for her guests to enter through.

"So what now?" Spike asked after remaining silent for the whole of the walk back, a potent reminder that he'd been present for the day's events. "We just kind of... left. Were we supposed to do something?"

"It'll take some time to get the barriers ready, and Zecora should be able to take care of that on her own." Fluttershy made her way to the kitchen sink and began preparing a glass of water for herself. "After that... I guess we just put them in place and hope it works."

Twilight sharpened her gaze. "And if it doesn't?"

"I don't know... and I'd rather not dwell on that."

Absolutely fair enough, Twilight hid a grimace as she sat down at the table. There was a lot of faith going into this plan of Zecora's, at least as far as the cloaked pony could tell, so it didn't seem prudent to sit here and try poking holes in that faith. If it didn't work, then they'd deal with it. But that was a bridge Twilight would cross when she came to it, for now, she just needed to try and formulate a plan for dealing with Knox.

"I think we're going to head on out," Twilight explained and offered her saddlebags to Spike. The hint was quickly taken and the dragon soon hid away in the enchanted pouch for the short walk back home.

Fluttershy's ears perked at the statement, hurridly finishing her glass before turning back to respond. "Are you sure? You don't have to leave if you don't want to."

"Not to be rude, Fluttershy, but it's been a very long day. For both of us, I assume, and it isn't even one in the afternoon yet." Twilight took the time to make sure her bags were securely fastened to her robed back, doing her best to adjust her wings without giving away the fact that she had them in the first place. "Besides. I have work in the morning, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do about Knox."

There was a shortlived moment of defiance on the part of the pegasus, but she dropped it before even making the attempt. She couldn't argue with Twilight's reasoning and gave her guest permission to take her leave. There wasn't much that she could have done to stop Twilight, but the sentiment was appreciated if nothing else. There was much to be done today in order for tomorrow to go smoothly, and Twilight wanted to get out of Fluttershy's hair as quickly as possible to do just that. After a quick session of so longs and farewells, Twilight made her way towards the front door and stepped out into the outside world.

Or at least she would have stepped outside if a sudden and unexpected hoove hadn't struck her face the moment she had opened the door.

"Ack! Twilight?!" Pinkie was just about as shocked as Twilight was at the sudden reunion, albeit in less physical pain then the purple pony was at the moment. "I'm so sorry! I was trying to knock on the door, not your face! Honest!"

That didn't stop it from hurting any less, however, something that Twilight was very well aware of. Twilight had taken a few hits in her time, from a few different sources, but nothing ever compared to getting struck in the face by an earth pony. Intentional or not, they were ponies known and famed for their strength. And Pinkie was no exception if that accidental punch was anything to go off of.

"Ugh... it's fine..." Twilight meekly rubbed the newly acquired sore spot on her snout in some effort to soothe the pain. It wouldn't leave a mark or cause any permanent damage, but boy was it sore right now. "Accidents happen."

"But they shouldn't happen, I should be more—! Wait a second..." Pinkie stopped in the middle of her frenzied apology and gave Twilight a skeptical glare. "This isn't your house. I should have punched Fluttershy in the face just now."

"What?!" Fluttershy had chosen a poor time to enter the conversation, understandably upset by the implications of Pinkie's words. She shook like a leaf, her face becoming partially hidden behind her mane from the gesture. "Why am I being punched?!"

"Hypothetically," Pinkie answered with little acknowledgment to the pegasus, instead she continued to stare sternly at Twilight. And when next she spoke, her voice was just as stern. Almost as if she were interrogating the cloaked pony, she leaned in with heavily squinted eyes. "So what're you doing here, anyway? Is something going on?"

"Nothing of significance... just visiting a friend." Twilight found herself a little intimidated by the pink pony. If only because the concept of personal space was becoming less and less relevant with each passing second. She could practically feel the other equine breathing on her, they were so close. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"I guess not... but you never come visit me."

It was Twilight's turn to furrow her brow. "What are you talking about? I see you all the time! We get coffee together on my way to work!"

"Hmm... fair enough," Pinkie swiftly returned Twilight's personal space with a shrug, "Past couple of days have just been weird though. I feel like I've been sidetracked in favor of more important things, ya know?"

"It... has been a busy weekend, I'll give you that." It really had been, looking back. In just three short days: Twilight's entire perspective of her current employer had been changed, she had learned of things that nobody had any reasonable way of learning, and she had gotten herself involved in a tangled mess that still had yet to be unraveled. It was amazing how all of it had happened in just three days, the Friday afternoon when this all started felt like it had been months ago by this point.

"Oh, you too? Yeah, it's been just kind of a 'blah' few days, huh?" Pinkie asked with a cheery giggle, sticking her tongue out with an overdramatic eye-crossed expression alongside the word "blah," before returning to the giddy smile. But that happy look on her face was murdered shortly after by a wide-eyed look of horror. "But we can talk to worry about that later. Fluttershy! We're going to be late!" Twilight looked back to Fluttershy for some insight on Pinkie's slightly-odder-than-usual behavior, only to see that the pegasus was just as confused on the matter.

This got Pinkie to roll her eyes in frustration.

"What day is today?"

"... Sunday?"

Pinkie slowly spun one of her forehooves in a small circular motion, as if prompting Fluttershy to keep going. "Sunday the what?"

"Uhh... I think it's the second?"

"Yes! Today is Sunday, June second," Pinkie almost laughed out before returning to a more serious demeanor, "Now, who sent a letter saying that she'd be back in town on June second? Around now-ish, should the trains allow?"

By this point, Twilight had figured out that these two had prior engagements to attend to today. What that was, she had no way of knowing without being told. And looking at Fluttershy's face revealed that she might have been in the same boat. Her eyes glanced about the room as she tried to remember, lightly chewing upon her bottom lip in frustration about having forgotten something seemingly so important. The few short seconds where Fluttershy took the time to think seemed to drag on forever for a certain pink pony, her impatience growing more and more apparent with each tick and tock on the clock. And then finally the bell was rung, and Fluttershy donned a look of sudden shocking clarity.

"Oh... OH! I completely forgot!! I need to go pick up the cake!" The pegasus skittered about for a moment, not sure about what to do or where to go for a few seconds. It didn't take her long to make a hasty decision, scooping up her own saddlebags and quickly making a B-line for the door. "Harry, feed the chickens!" That was the last thing she said before she brashly rushed out of the house, taking care not to rudely bump into Twilight or Pinkie on her way out. And with a few flaps of her wings, she was gone just like that.

"Okay, good, we're back on track." Where Pinkie had been keeping the clipboard she was suddenly overlooking was a mystery Twilight would never be able to solve. "Still say I should have been the one to take care of the cake, but whatever, it's fine, I'm not even mad. It's not like baking gives me life or anything, so what if my last cake ruined last year's get together? Everyone makes mistakes! I was having a bad week!" She was muttering to herself at this point, with more bitterness and sarcasm than Twilight had ever heard from this pony before. It was almost unsettling, really.

"Wait a second... last year..." Pinkie suddenly looked towards Twilight as if she had achieved true enlightenment. "That was before you showed up in town!"

An astute observation, Twilight sarcastically chimed back in her head. She didn't want to say it out loud, Pinkie seemed upset enough by this cake business, so she kept the comment to herself. Not that she had the time to make it anyway, as it didn't take long for Pinkie to clasp onto the front of the concealing cloak with her teeth, using it as leverage to pull the disguised alicorn forward.

"That means you two haven't met yet! Oh, this is gonna be GREAT!" Pinkie's excited chimes came loud and clear despite her preoccupied teeth, and her tugging only increased in intensity. "You two are gonna LOVE each other, I can tell!"

"Pinkie?! You don't have to pull!" It took a great deal of effort on Twilight's behalf to conjure up just enough magical force to pry open Pinkie's jaw without actually hurting her. A difficult task, but not an impossible one. And as soon as she was free, Twilight took a few steps back to prevent the earth pony from grabbing her again, though no attempt was made. The unusual taste of magic had distracted the earth pony for just enough time, thankfully enough.

"Sorry, sorry... got a little carried away there. My bad." The apology came sincerely enough alongside a pair of downed ears and saddened eyes. Something that Twilight had learned very quickly in her time in this town was that Pinkie sometimes got a bit impulsive when she got excited like this. And the prospect of introducing Twilight to her friends was one that seemed to trigger this impulse quite a bit. "But if you're not too busy, I'd love for you to meet her. You two would hit it off in an instant, I can tell!"

"I don't even know who 'her' is, Pinkie," Twilight calmly explained as she examined her cloak for any damage. Thankfully, pony teeth weren't as damaging as a wolf's, so there wasn't any real tears or anything to be had. Just a few minor wrinkles that'd be smoothed out naturally within the hour.

"Oh, her name's—Wait, no." A stern expression fell upon Pinkie's face, pushing her brow downward as the pony quickly thought things over in her mind. "First impressions are everything to her... she'd be really bummed out if she didn't get to introduce herself. It's what she lives for."

Whoever Pinkie Pie was talking about didn't seem like the most down to earth person based on that description, quite the opposite to be honest. It sounded like the mare in question had quite the ego weighing down on her shoulders. Or, at the very least, a long list of self-esteem issues in regards to what others thought of them. In Twilight's mind, there was a fifty-fifty chance of either one being true. And in the case of the second option, she actually found herself relating to that facet a bit more than she first expected. And this brief thought got the cloaked pony thinking—not a difficult feat—causing her to look back down to said cloak with a melancholy frown. This sturdy patch of fabric had served her well in concealing her true nature for almost as far back as she could remember. But now, all of a sudden, she began to deeply question the purpose of holding onto it.

Sooner or later, it wouldn't be enough to keep her true form a secret. She was an alicorn, after all, and would sooner or later begin to express those traits more and more dominantly. Queen Celestia was, in essence, the template for what Twilight was going to eventually grow into as the years went by. Even Cadence had begun exceeding the average pony's height just a few short years after her ascension. Twilight had been lucky thus far in life, maintaining the standard body type of the common pony. But how long would it really last?

It's inevitable, The words rang in Twilight's head like the gargantuan bells held within the various clocktowers spread around her hometown of Canterlot. Just like... just like...

"Twilight?" Pinkie's voice shattered the labyrinth of thought that Twilight had trapped herself in, causing her to flinch at the sudden acknowledgment. "Are you okay?" Every other emotion Pinkie had displayed thus far in this conversation was gone, replaced only with this frightened look of worry and concern.

As for why that was, Twilight hadn't the slightest idea. She didn't even know how much time had passed since she had let her thoughts run away with her. And her newly cocked brow reflected this feeling justly. "I'm... fine... why wouldn't I be?"

"You're crying."

Shocked, a purple-hued hoof found it's way to Twilight's cheek and quickly pulled back. Sure enough, the smallest traces of moisture were present now. Evidence that tears had begun to trail down the alicorn's face. She had begun crying just out of the blue, all of it linked back to the mere idea of a pony with self-esteem issues.

"I... guess I was just thinking too much," Twilight wiped the trace remnants of tears from her face, "Guess I touched upon a touchy topic. I'm fine."

"I don't think you are," Pinkie droned back in an upset manner, "It's not healthy to bottle everything up. Trust me, it leads to bad things. If you want to talk, I'll listen."

There was absolute sincerity in the way Pinkie was presenting herself and that offer right now, and that struck a chord deep within Twilight. Those had been words she had been longing to hear for six long years, even if she had long since repressed those memories and desires within herself. There was so much that Twilight just wanted to blare out right then and there, if only because those choice words had been used. But now wasn't the time or place for that, and while Pinkie was a trusted friend at this point, Twilight wasn't quite sure if she was ready to just dump all of that upon the pink earth pony. She wasn't even sure if Pinkie would have been able to handle it.

So instead, for now at least, Twilight decided to divert the topic once again of her own volition. There was already so much going on in her life right now, she didn't need to add drama from her past into the mix as well. So a brave front was put up, alongside the happiest smile she could muster.

"I just need to take my mind off of it for a bit, that's all. How about we go to meet that friend of yours? Aren't we going to be late?"

"Hmm..." Pinkie stood there for some time, the same inquisitive look from earlier once more worn on her face, staring deeply into Twilight's eyes as if to parse some hidden meaning from the purple pony's words. But soon this look began to waver as Pinkie began to twitch and shutter. Just as her words had struck a chord with Twilight, so to did Twilight's for the earth pony. "Bah, fine! Let's go!"

Twilight donned a sly grin as Pinkie spun around and began trotting away. She wasn't one-hundred percent on board with another distraction being thrown her way, but it had been the easiest way to get out of this conversation. She magically pulled Fluttershy's door shut as she went to follow Pinkie Pie, but stopped when an accusing forehoof was suddenly being pointed directly at her.

"But so help me, you are going to talk about your problems eventually," Pinkie warned in a stern and almost wrathful tone, "I'm not the best with body language, but just now I could see that you've been bottling something up inside you for a really long time. And I swear on the Queen's Two Hearts—that she may or may not have—that I will help you through it. Even if it kills both of us in a horrendously violent manner. Do I make myself CLEAR?!"

"Uhh... sure." Twilight meekly shrugged back, doing her best to keep her composure in check underneath that unrelenting scowl being aimed at her right now. Just moments ago the offer to listen seemed like a blessing, but now Twilight couldn't get that hopefully unintentional death threat out of her head. The words "horrendously violent" sticking out to her in particular.

Pinkie sharply nodded with a snort before returning to her trademarked happy-go-lucky smile she was known for, turning around and taking off at a brisk yet moderate pace. That mare's talent for almost instantaneously changing her mood was something both astonishing and a bit frightening, so much so that it gave the cloaked alicorn a moment of pause before she hesitantly followed behind. This newfound distraction wasn't exactly a welcome addition to Twilight's schedule for the day, but it was the easiest way to get out of this scenario she had found herself in.

Unfortunately for her, Twilight's house wasn't anywhere near the train station, so the courtesy of dropping off Spike was a no-go. He was stuck on this ride just as much as Twilight was, albeit in a much less direct way. And she made sure to at least give a quick apology back towards Spike when the opportunity presented itself to do so without drawing any attention toward the act, sneaking into a public restroom to do so under the guise of needing to "go." Thankfully, Spike seemed pretty understanding of the whole ordeal Twilight had managed to wrap herself up in. It shouldn't take that long, he suggested, so it'd be fine in his eyes. Or at least that was what he told her, he could have easily been lying about it.

That thought was one that poked and prodded at Twilight's mind as she kept on trailing Pinkie throughout the town. They walked at a reasonable pace that bordered on being just a bit too slow, likely a result of the pink pony taking the time to overlook that clipboard of hers. Now Twilight didn't necessarily want to be the nosey sort, but she couldn't help but ascertain that the document in question was some kind of schedule or plan. Probably. Most of the paper was covered in above-average quality crayon drawings that seemed to depict some kind of get-together between at least five ponies. There were words scribbled onto the parchment, some circled with arrows leading to other words or images, but there was absolutely no way that anyone could call such a thing an agenda. Though on further thought, this was probably something meant for Pinkie's eyes only, made by her in such a way as to maximize the space of the paper.

Or it was just an attempt to make herself look more prepared than she actually was. Also a valid possibility.

But it wasn't really any of her business as to why Pinkie was carrying that around anyway, so she didn't feel the need to ask. Something she found humor and hypocrisy in, seeing as how the purple pony had been sticking her nose in what was most certainly not her business for several days now. But it was different enough in Twilight's mind to justify her actions, at least at the moment. So she pushed it out of her head for the time being, and instead decided to focus on the external rather than the internal. Just to clear her headspace for a moment.

Ponyville was a bit more active than it usually was, ponies rushing about here and there in preparation for something. Streamers and banners of red and gold were being strewn upon buildings and street lamps, creating glittering archways and giving the city a far more festive look than it usually had. A common image that could be seen upon these various decorations was a depiction of a blazing sunrise. Or a sunset, depending on how you looked at it. The exact meaning behind the image was a subjective one, it could either be seen as the beginning of something or the end of another. It was all dependant on one's perspective.

But that particular depiction of the sun was a special one, as were the decorations it was emblazoned upon. An undeniable sign of the Summer Sun Festival that was to come within the month's time. A holiday observed most prominently in Equestria and the Crystal Empire, taking place on the longest day of the year. An all-day event meant to celebrate and welcome the new year that was to come with fun, games, and various other methods of jubilation.

End of the year already, huh? Twilight took the time to appreciate the festive adornments as she kept on walking, finding it hard not to smile at the familiar warm colors associated with the national holiday. It went by pretty quick.

Yet another thought that had to be thrown by the wayside before it could bear any fruit. Today was just looking to be as upsetting as it could be, based on everything that was going on all at once. A frustrating fact that actually made Twilight look forward to meeting this mystery friend of Pinkie's, for at least that would be something new. Pinkie did keep true to her promise though of not divulging any information before the introduction proper, deflecting any and all questions asked of her. All Twilight was able to ascertain was that it was indeed a "she" in question here, a pony who spent the majority of her time out of town because of work. But every year around this time, she came home for anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months at a time. And that was when the group of childhood friends got together for something of a reunion party.

Of course, Twilight didn't need to wait long to figure out who this group of friends was, as it was about then that they had reached the train station. Situated a bit of a distance outside of town, just far enough to reduce the noise pollution from the heavy machines, the station looked to have a fairly busy day ahead of it. Ponies of all types and colors boarding and departing trains, some coming back from simple short trips and others departing for much longer journeys. Further still in the distance was something of a freight yard, where various crates and barrels were being loaded and unloaded from trains in the ever ongoing act of trade and purchase. But that wasn't why Twilight had followed Pinkie Pie here, so she paid it little mind.

"Oh thank goodness, we didn't miss her!" Pinkie blurted out happily as the two came upon their platform. There were other ponies here waiting for the train as well, but two in particular stuck out to Twilight.

Rarity and Applejack were also waiting for this mystery guest to arrive. It didn't take long for them to take notice of Pinkie Pie, beginning to greet and catch up with one another in the beautifully casual way that only friends can. Twilight didn't pay much mind to the small talk though, finding herself just a little unsettled by Rarity's presence. Not in that she was a bad person, but after everything she had learned, it seemed a bit odd to see her again. The snow-colored unicorn had been the victim of something truly horrendous from what had been learned over this weekend, and she couldn't even remember it happening. It was kind of unsettling, really. But Twilight did her best to try and ignore this for the time being. It didn't seem to bother Applejack any, and even though she wasn't here at the moment Fluttershy would likely be showing up too.

"Hey there."

The sudden whisper from very close by actually managed to make Twilight flinch. Not enough to grab Pinkie's or Rarity's attention, but it was enough to earn her a stern "shh" from whoever had just adressed her. That person turned out to be Applejack, her face dressed with the same worried look from the last time the two had last met.

"Sorry 'bout that... didn't mean to scare you," Applejack apologized in a hushed tone, taking a short glimpse over to Pinkie and Rarity to make sure they weren't listening in on them. "And... sorry for bugging you about this again... but have you—?"

"Yes." The question didn't need to be finished for Twilight to know what was going to be asked. "I'm making progress. I haven't done anything yet, but I have an idea of what I've gotten myself into."

"Should I be worried about it? Because I am..."

"I'm not sure... based on Fluttershy's story, he only seems to act if someone goes to the third—"

"Fluttershy?! She's in on all this?!" The hissed whisper was almost loud enough to attract some unwanted attention, and Applejack noticed that quick enough to settle back down before it did.

"She... saw some things. Didn't get the memory charm..." Twilight explained drearily, remembering all too clearly how Fluttershy reacted to her own story earlier this day. "I got her to talk about it earlier, and I got what I needed... so please do not make her do that again."

"What did she say?"

The answer to that question would never come, as soon the blaring of the whistle and rumbling of the heavy metal construct rolling along the tracks was all that could be heard. It was enough to bring Applejack back to the here and now, redacting her question as politely as she could before trotting off to stand with Pinkie and Rarity. It seems that the mystery guest was soon to arrive, and the three friends were getting ready to greet her. Applejack, in particular, could be seen fidgeting with her mane and hat in an attempt to make herself look a bit more presentable.

The train rolled into the station just as normally as any other would, slowing to a halt with a grinding whirl. It stood there for a few short moments, all in attendance watching with wide eyes and silenced mouths, only just barely able to contain their excitement as the doors slid open with a sharp steamy hiss. And "steamy" was not an exaggeration, as a large cloud of steam was kicked up by the act of the doorway opening. The small crowd, Twilight included, all took a few steps back from this, either to avoid the steam or to allow the passengers to depart. But only one figure stepped forward through the mist.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the outfit they were wearing, still partially obscured by the sudden burst of steam. A sharp blue jumpsuit decorated with a series of yellow lightning bolts, the most prominent being the symmetrical jagged streak worn prominently down the chest. The uniform of Equestria's Wonderbolts, she quickly realized. A faction of Equestria's military that, at some point, had also become something of a sports team of sorts, performing at any number of public events and whatnot in addition to their duties to Queen and Country.

The prestigious uniform was currently being worn underneath a well-worn aviator jacket and a set of weighty-looking saddlebags, evidence enough that the athlete had been released for some vacation time of sorts. But none of that mattered to Twilight as the rest of the steam began to clear away, and the pegasi's face finally came into view. A cyan coated mare, roughly within Twilight's age range, decorated by a cocky smile and a dark set of older-style sunglasses. But that wasn't that out of the ordinary, ponies came in all sorts of shapes and colors. What really caught the cloaked alicorn's attention was the Wonderbolt's mane.

Only looking at the length and cut? It wasn't anything special. A bit ragged and messy, but intentionally so. It was just a haircut, nothing too special about it. But that didn't really didn't matter to Twilight right now. No, she was far more preoccupied with the color of the mane. Or colors, to be more specific. Seeing a pony with one or two colors in their mane wasn't anything special, and seeing three was a bit rarer but still a relatively normal sight. But seeing all seven colors of the rainbow? Evenly distributed throughout the head of hair? That was a very rare trait indeed, and the number of ponies in Equestria who had this trait could only be in the single-digit numbers. And there was only one pony in the world that Twilight knew with this extremely rare genetic trait. And, just her luck, this pony just so happened to be that very same one.

There was no denying that fact, it was her.

Of all the ponies in the whole world, it had to be this one in particular that had to be the one to show up today. The sudden and bittersweet reunion was made more so with the realization that Twilight had only just moments ago decided not to let drama from her past interfere with her present. Yet it seemed destiny was determined to make her time in Ponyville ever more trying than it already had been, a thought that was only reinforced as the other three ponies quickly welcomed the mare Twilight never once thought she'd cross paths with again.

"Welcome home, Rainbow Dash!"

— Interlude III —

View Online

June 11,
Year 1,005 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
My first year at the Queen's School for Gifted Unicorns has been successfully concluded. My final grades were spectacular, and I was even able to get my Divination grade ~~barley~~ up to a C. I'm not particularly proud of that fact, but it's a drastic improvement over almost failing. It was an arduous and stressful endeavor, but it was all worth it in the end. In retrospect, I've come to realize that the process of becoming Spike's "babysitter," as the Queen calls it, was actually the least stressful series of events. Cadence's suggestion of keeping him around has, somehow, done wonders for my anxiety. I think it has something to do with the education regime I've set up for him. It's far less complex then what I'm used to, and I find it oddly therapeutic to teach him some basic linguistic and mathematic skills. Just the other day I finally got him to use an actual toilet. How many ~~unicorns~~ alicorns can say that they potty-trained a dragon?
Though the Queen's "spontaneous" visits are more than a little stress-inducing. I won't lie.
Back to the subject, I'm greatly looking forward to taking some time off and relax for a few months. Classes are only going to get more difficult from here on out, so I need to be ready for it all. It's also going to be nice to spend some time with my family again. Even if last week's visit was an absolute disaster by all definitions, I still love them with all my heart.
They even agreed to let Spike come home with me, Dad even encouraged it. They've been surprisingly supportive of this little guy living with me, despite everything that's happened. It's comforting, in some regard. It makes me feel more at ease about currently being his primary caretaker, in spite of the Queen's obvious reservations about the whole situation. And seeing the way she treats him? I wouldn't blame Spike if he preferred my company over hers. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
She is "clingy," to use a single word.

Finally home.

Adjusting the cloak and saddlebags covering her form, Twilight stepped up the polished stone steps and pushed open the front door. Immediately her nose was assaulted by the scents of whatever it was that her mother was cooking tonight. It was distant, but the aroma was definitely familiar. She breathed deeply of this scent, the following exhale being long and loud. Some sort of soup or stew, based on the distinct aroma of mingled potatoes and onions. While Twilight was usually one to study and work with every fiber of her being, this summer would be a time for her to unwind and relax. To process everything that had occurred in the past six months of her life.

"Is that my favorite daughter I hear?" The voice of an older mare chimed out happily. Walking into view from what Twilight remembered to be the kitchen was the very familiar pale grey unicorn with tail and mane made up of light violet hues with several prominent white streaks. Unmistakably those of Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet. "Ah-ha! I knew it!" She gave a welcoming smile as Twilight close the door behind her.

"Hi, mom," Twilight spoke kindly, a school-borne weariness present in her tone. She gently discarded the concealing robe and her saddlebags next to the door, soon afterward the two mares quickly met up and embraced one another in a warm hug. "It's really good to be home."

"You don't know how good it is to see you again," Velvet responded, pulling Twilight closer into the hug.

"Mom, you just came to visit me last week."

"I know..." Bringing up that incident was enough to get Velvet to sigh in contempt. The hug ended shortly after that, a smile returning to her face as she returned her daughter's personal space. "Speaking of, where's your little friend? I thought you were bringing him with you?"

"Hello!" Spike yelped out of the blue, or rather out of the saddlebag, as he abruptly emerged with a toothy grin. At just under a year old, his growth spurts had become fewer and farther between, and less drastic over time. He was about the size of a young Border Collie now, albeit longer, and was just barely able to squeeze into the saddlebag without causing a noticeable distortion. His smile quickly faded into an investigatory expression, confused and amazed by the unfamiliar surroundings now laid out before him.

"Oh! There you are!" Velvet squeaked through a flinch, placing a hoof to her chest as she calmed herself down. "You scared me, little one."

Guilt became apparent on the dragon's expression as he sunk back into the saddlebag, only his eyes showing over the lip of the sack. "Sorry," he murmured out. While his growing had seemed to have slowed down for a time, his vocabulary had grown exponentially. He still only spoke in short one-to-two word sentences, if you could call them that, but he was learning remarkably fast and Twilight couldn't help but feel exceptionally proud about that fact.

"Thanks again for letting him come with me, Mom," Twilight continued, "I don't think his old guard would've been very happy if I had to dump Spike with him for three months... the Queen, on the other hoof..."

"Oh, don't I know it. It's almost every other day, she's going off about him. It's almost impossible to get any real work done when she starts." The two mares shared a small laugh at their leader's expense, Twilight growing the tiniest bit uncomfortable in the meanwhile. With all that had happened, it was hard to remember at times that her mother was a Pillar of Equestria, and thus had a direct working relationship with the Queen.

Maybe that's why...?

"But it really is no problem, dear," Velvet continued, interrupting Twilight's dreary thought and pulling her back to the now. "But... I have to ask. He is housebroken, right? I know you remember how bad it was with Shining's dog, and I don't want to go through that again with a dragon's—"

"Mom, that's the third thing I taught him," Twilight reassured with a small laugh, "And if he does make a mess, I'll clean it up."

"Alright..." Velvet glanced back to the long dragon as he slowly began to venture forth from Twilight's luggage. She leaned in close to whisper to something to her daughter, not wanting Spike to hear. "I didn't know how he... you know, so I went out and bought a litter box. Is that bad or...?"

"Mom, seriously, stop worrying about that," Twilight spoke sternly, lightly pushing her mother away. "I have everything taken care of."

With the conversation over, the alicorn returned her attention to the dragon she had brought home. In the time Twilight had been caring for and examining him on the Queen's behalf, she had noticed that many of the long dragon's mannerisms and behaviors were similar to that of common canines. This being shown off at the moment by Spike's insistent and rapid investigation of Twilight's childhood home through his sense of smell.

With his belly and snout low to the ground and his tail held high into the air, the tuft of green fur at the end flowing like a small flag, Spike slowly crawled his way through the interior of the house. Twilight was unsure if he was simply exploring, or if he had caught the scent of something in particular—the food, if she were to guess—but the alicorn was willing to see where her little friend would take her. She also needed to make sure he didn't end up destroying anything of value. The first few weeks of his stay with her, he had gained a habit of clawing into various things. And Twilight did not want a repeat of that particular struggle, especially with her parents around. Though the little game of follow-the-leader was cut short with the sound of a hoof knocking on the front door.

"Would you mind getting that, Sweetie?" Velvet called, already back to her work in the kitchen. "I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."

"Okay, mom."

Twilight turned her attention towards the entrance, looking back to the long dragon every now and then as he sniffed about. Spike seemed to be fascinated with a large potted fern at the moment, meaning he shouldn't be getting into to much trouble for the time being. With that anxiety settled, for the time being, her attention was drawn back to the front door. Gesturing with her horn, her heavy cloak was redonned and the barricade was slowly opened to reveal whoever was on the other side.

The first thing Twilight took notice of was the absolute explosion of rainbow-colors that sat atop the pony's head. It took a moment for the young alicorn to register that this was someone's mane, a very shaggy and very roughly cut mane that served to cover one of its owner's reddish eyes. The haircut that was a well-known symbol of teenage rebellion, which fit seeing as how Twilight and this pony looked to be in the same age group—give or take a year or two. The cyan pegasus stood at the door with a dull look of mixed animosity and boredom—again, another staple of adolescent revolution and was passing the time by very loudly chewing a large wad of gum.

It didn't take long for Twilight to see that the pegasus in question was donned in a blue and yellow jumpsuit. Though it was admittedly a bit hard to tell, as the blue shade was very close to her cyan coat. A brief glimpse and one would be able to safely assume that she was unclothed. But no, this was a mare in uniform. And based on the asymmetrical bolt of lightning going along her chest, it was clear that this was a Wonderbolt in training.

Is she lost? That was Twilight's immediate reaction as she stared down the cadet with a raised brow. "... Hello? Can I help you?"

"Sup." The cyan pony's greeting was accompanied by an upward jut of her chin, before quickly blowing and popping a pink-tinted candy bubble. "You Twilight Sparkle?"

Concern began to take its course through Twilight at the question. She could count the number of pegasi she had met with a single-digit number, none of them being this particular individual. She knew for a fact she'd recall someone with that distinct of a mane. So the fact that this pony knew the alicorn's name was more than a little disconcerting.

"... Yes?" Twilight was barely able to squeak out the answer.

"Awesome! The name's Rainbow Dash," the colorful pegasus stuck out her chest in time with her name as an obvious show of pride, "As you can see, I'm a Wonderbolt. And your new flying coach. So come with me, we got a lot of work to do!" Twilight didn't think she could hold her wings that tightly against her body, but she quickly learned that she could as she reflexively pulled them inward in a panic.

"I-I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong 'Twilight Sparkle,'" she quickly explained, pointing a hoof to her horn. "As you can see, I'm clearly a unicorn. Why would I need a flying coach?"

Blank confusion came over Rainbow's face at the unexpected reaction. Her left-wing gracefully unfolded, and with a great show of dexterity and control the feathered appendage was made to pass a small note to a waiting hoof. As the pegasus squinted over the document, Twilight was impressed that the appendage was able to move like that. And as Rainbow looked to the address-label bolted onto the side of the house, Twilight found herself asking if her wings could do that.

"Nope. I have the right address, says so right here." Rainbow stated with apparent glee, returning the note to her wing to be tucked away at her side. The flying pony's eyes over-dramatically shifted back and forth before she leaned in close, resting the still raised hoof towards her mouth to conceal the whispered message. "I already know you're an alicorn, by the way. The old blanket's a dead give away... I was also told you didn't like to talk about it, so I wasn't gonna bring it up."

Twilight quickly reclaimed her personal space with a sudden step back. Feelings of intense transgression and violation were building up with no sign of slowing or ceasing. It was one thing to know her name, that information wasn't exactly private or hard to get, but knowing about her being an alicorn? That had been a closely guarded secret given only to her family, Princess Cadence, and Queen Celestia II. And all parties involved had been made to specifically promise to keep that information to themselves. Yet here was this random pegasus, who Twilight barely knew, just casually informing her that she already knew.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?!" Twilight's tone was slathered with a bitter venom, her eyes drilling a hole into Rainbow's very soul. She felt a strong spark of energy surge through her horn, and she allowed it to brightly glow as a method of intimidation. This Rainbow Dash person was either very brave or very stupid, as her reaction to the arcane static was minimal at best. She flinched but wasn't otherwise bothered by the obvious threat.

"Whoa, calm down, kid!" Rainbow blurted loudly as she took a step back. If nothing else, it was clear that she realized that a line had been crossed. "I already told you who I am, and why I'm here!... Oh, wait!" She quickly unfurled her wing again and presented the note within to Twilight. "Don't believe me? See for yourself! Officially sanctioned!"

The note was practically ripped away from Rainbow as the magenta light lashed at it like a whip, crumpling the stationary in the process. Twilight gave the pegasus another dirty look before she began to skim the letter she had just been given. It looked official enough, addressed to the pony that had shown it to her. The work of a typewriter, it was just a decently sized blurb explaining that the sender wanted one Rainbow Dash, the recipient, to teach one Twilight Sparkle the basics of flight. The actual note itself had a much wordier way of saying that statement and even included Twilight's home address, but that was the general basis of it. Twilight was ready to disregard every single piece of this as pure nonsense, but then she caught sight of the signature at the bottom.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

There it was, clear as day. Cadence's signature, in her distinctive curly hornwriting, starring Twilight square in the face. The last a's tail even curled up into a small heart and everything, it was unmistakably hers. Anger turned into shock and embarrassment, her attention turning back to the pegasus, Rainbow Dash having returned to bearing a confident posture and cocky smile in the meantime. Something that didn't exactly help her case.

"As I said, I'm your new flying coach," Rainbow spoke with newfound bravado. "And you lucked out because I'm the best flyer the Wonderbolts has to offer!"

Still not believing what was happening, the purple pony looked back down to the note to try and process what was even going on. After a moment's hesitation, she overlooked the second pony and her uniform. For some unfathomable reason, Cadence had pulled the strings to have this mare teach her how to fly? There was no end to the torrent of emotions Twilight was feeling right now. Betrayal, confusion, undying burning rage, they all congealed and conflicted within the alicorn's mind. Why? That was the only question she was able to ask herself. Though some rational part of her brain still fought to break through the commotion, doing everything and more to keep her outward persona calm. And it did this the best way it knew how, by noticing small details. Like the trainee's uniform, for instance.

"The lightning bolt on your chest is asymmetrical," the alicorn calmly retaliated before gesturing to the pegasus's flanks, "And your uniform doesn't have your cutie mark on it. You're a trainee, aren't you?"

Rainbow's confident persona clearly took a heavy hit, but she was able to keep herself together. Her ego had taken a hit, which had been Twilight's objective in the first place. Sanctioned or not, she had no right to come to Twilight's home and cause such a flurry of negative emotions like this. If nothing else, Twilight was entitled to the counterattack. Or at least, that's what the angry side of her kept telling her.

"I mean... yeah, everyone's gotta start somewhere, ya know?" Rainbow deflected Twilight's accusation after only a few seconds and swiftly flipped her mane with a jut of her head. "They can't just let me go straight to the top because I've got mad skillz. I gotta earn it with blood, sweat, tears, and awesomeness!" She paused for a moment. "... And teaching an alicorn how to fly because everyone else is too busy or doesn't want to," she bitterly muttered under her breath, seeming to be just as unhappy with the situation as Twilight was. Something that served to quench the anger building up inside of the young alicorn, if only a tiny bit.

And even now, Twilight could respect this pony's work ethic, as warped as it may or may not have been. Despite the ego that had been shown off, she was at least cognizant enough to know that she wasn't entitled to success just because of talent. That was something Twilight could respect, given her own circumstances. Either that or Rainbow was just trying to defend her self-image after Twilight had brutalized it. It was more than likely some combination of the two. The fact that she was wearing that uniform at all was proof enough that she was at least qualified to even get into the training course. But at the same time, Twilight still had some very strong opinions about Cadence's whole "flying coach" idea. And after calming her thoughts, and dismissing the still buzzing magic around her horn, she finally found the words to convey that.

"Listen," Twilight interrupted with a much more neutral tone after a loud sigh, "I'm sorry for the trouble, but I just got home. I'm tired, I want to see my family, and I want to sleep. I do not need a flying instructor. I do not want a flying instructor. I'll talk to the Princess about it, so don't worry about getting fired or whatever. Good luck with those 'mad skills' of yours." As she turned to reenter her home, a slight tug could be felt on the cloak concealing her true nature, not that it mattered with this particular pony. Spinning around revealed that the cyan pegasus had placed a hoof atop the slack in the cloth, frustratingly halting Twilight's progress.

"I... can't let you do that," Rainbow spoke with an awkward grin, "I was specifically told that I couldn't take 'no' for an answer." Her other wing unfolded, revealing yet another piece of paper neatly tucked in between the feathers. "And I was also told to give you this if you tried. By the Princess herself, if you can believe that." With a tired groan, the second letter was mystically seized and opened. This time, it was actually addressed to Twilight and was once again in Cadence's horn writing.

Hey, Twily.
If you're reading this, which I know you are, it means you've met your new flying coach. Now before you go and have a meltdown about this, I would just like to clarify that this wasn't my idea. It was your father who wanted this. He sent me a letter last week about your wings. He wanted to make sure you were actually taking care of them and not letting them just sit there and rot, his words not mine. Knowing him, I'm sure he's brought the subject up to you as well. And since I got that letter, I'm sure you were pretty defiant about the whole thing. I know he may not seem like it, but he is a doctor, and he does know what he's talking about when it comes to this kind of stuff.
So, at his request, I pulled a few strings and talked with a few people. And I arranged for you to take some lessons over the summer. Private lessons since I didn't want you to be put through the wringer too bad. Plus, I'm one hundred percent positive that you'd find a million uses for flight once you actually learn how to. I wanted the Wonderbolt Captian to be your instructor, I know from experience that she's a remarkable teacher, but even Princesses can't get everything they want. It took a few days to sort everything out, but the Captain and I were able to come to an agreement. I've been assured that Rainbow Dash is a prodigy in her own right, and I'm hoping that her being closer to your age will get you to start socializing more.
I know that it might not seem fair. I know that it was pretty scummy of your dad to go behind your back like that. And I know it was pretty scummy of me to not tell you until now. And I'm sorry about that. But if you want my honest opinion? He's absolutely right. Like it or not, those wings are a part of you now. So to be healthy, you need to take care of them.
You can yell at me as much as you want the next time you see me. But please don't take any of this out on your dad. He loves you, and he just wants what's best for you. I do too, which is why I agreed to this. I'll see you as soon as my schedule clears up, I promise. Hopefully within the next month or so, but I don't want to jinx myself.
With love,
Cadence.

Twilight. Was. Furious.

Beyond furious, even. The academic alicorn couldn't think of a single word to describe just how enraged she was at all of this. The moment she had read the words 'last week,' she knew what this had all been about. Her parents had come over to visit during a lull in her preparation for the year's final exams. She needed someone she knew to help her process some stress and to help keep Spike distracted for a few hours. At some point during the reunion, her ever-observant doctor of a father had begun talking about how Twilight's wings were looking a little ragged and scrawny, that she needed to take better care of them. The conversation that followed only served to contradict the very reason she had requested their presence in the first place, adding onto the mountain of pressure that had been sitting firmly on her shoulders alongside those very wings.

The unneeded argument was one thing. But this? Just going behind her back, making decisions like this for her? Twilight didn't want this right now. She didn't need this right now. This was the absolute last thing she needed in her life right now. And unlike before, where some still-cognizant shred of herself managed to keep her calm, this time there was no such restraint. Her anger began to boil hotter and hotter, stirring up the latent magical prowess within her. Once again, her horn began to flicker and spark. Quite literally, even.

Normally, unicorn and alicorn magic wafted and waved like an ethereal smoke. Refined, elegant, controlled. But this? This was raw arcane might surging about her horn now. It danced and lashed out like bolts of lightning, quickly striking Cadence's letter and reducing it to ashes. And as the magic continued to build, so to did an all too familiar heat began to well in the core of Twilight's being, her heart pounding like a thousand war drums.

That was enough to get her to stop, the small tempest of energy flickering out of existence now that its fuel source was cut off. She stared down at the ashes with absolute horror, clearly remembering the last time something like that had happened to her. Magic and emotions were undeniably linked, even more so with alicorns, and the former had very drastic effects on the later. If she hadn't stopped when she did, she would have certainly gone through another magic-overload. A preventable ailment caused when a unicorn, or alicorn, in this case, lost control over the magic energy within them. With varying degrees of trauma and damage that could be caused by it. There was only one time in her life where Twilight had gone through a magic-overload, and she distinctly never wanted to go through that again.

All of this happened in the span of only a second or two, and Rainbow Dash seemed none the wiser to what had almost just happened. From her perspective, it just looked like Twilight didn't take to that message too kindly. There was an awkward moment where Twilight glared back at the wide-eyed pegasus, the conversation growing cold and quiet as neither of them spoke up.

"So..." The Wonderbolt-in-training lightly kicked at the pavement, "... Is now a bad time?"

The sheer audacity of that question was well past infuriating, given everything else that had happened in this conversation. Twilight wanted to kick and scream every profanity and obscenity she knew as loud as she could. And she knew quite a few examples of less than appropriate language, some she was certain that this pegasus had never even heard before. But the near-overload-experience just now served as a strong reminder to keep her head in the right space, and the anger was quick to fade with the sound of her steadily normalizing heartbeat.

It wasn't Rainbow's fault. She was just caught in the middle of a bad situation, another thing that Twilight found herself having in common with the colorful pony. It was, however, the fault of her father and Cadence. But at the same time, Twilight knew it wasn't out of malicious intent. As the letter said, it was an act of love that led them all to this scenario. The more she thought about it, the more irrational it seemed to be actively angry about this.

But she was still going to be unimaginably bitter and passive-aggressive with her father at the dinner table tonight, she was owed at least that much. If she played her cards right, she might even be able to get her mother on her side to yell at her father for her. And anything Twilight could say to him paled in comparison to what her politician mother could do to the doctor of the family. The thought of her dad being put in the dog house over this—literally—further served to better her mood. With that, she allowed herself to take a long and deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before finally releasing it. After that, she answered Rainbow's question.

"Do we have to start tonight?"

"Uhh... I guess not," Rainbow scratched at the back of her head with a hoof, "Truth be told, I wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow. I just wanted to get a bit of a head start." The statement slowly became more and more silent, like a filly who had been caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. That statement sparked a new but short-lived sense of anger in Twilight.

"That's—!... Tomorrow sounds fine. I'll see you then. Have a... wonderful day."

The alicorn barely paid any mind to whatever response had been given to that as she reentered her family home and shut the door, flicking the lock closed with the horn atop her head. She took several moments to collect herself, most of her weight supported by the wooden barricade as she leaned against it. And after listening to the sounds of the outside world for a time, as well as the sounds of the colorful pegasus departing with a loud windy woosh, she finally found the strength and resolve to continue on. But as she continued into the familiar home, every ounce of her being was suddenly directed towards a much more prevalent problem.

"Spike, NO!" She shouted, scrambling over as quickly as her hooves could carry her. "Ferns are not for eating!"

— Chapter Twenty-Five —

View Online

--- The Sharing of Secrets ---

Twilight stood there with this unbelievable look of mixed shock and outrage as she watched the cyan pegasus depart from the train. Immidiently she was swarmed by Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack, the four friends instantly beginning to chat and catch up on one another's lives. Laughing and snickering all the while as they began their trivial conversation. Twilight was left entirely ignored, thankfully enough, as it gave the cloaked alicorn ample time to process this most unlikely of reunions.

Out of all the thoughts and emotions flying through Twilight's head at the speed of sound, there were two feelings that were the strongest and loudest out of all of them. The first was complete and utter outrage, outrage so strong that it managed to manifest itself as the briefest crackle of arcane sparks about her horn before the magic's owner reigned it back in. The surely impossible odds that this pony of all ponies was the one who showed up here and now were one in a trillion, yet Twilight had been seemingly lucky enough to catch that unlikely one. No, not luck. This was planned. Not by her, not by Rainbow, not even by Pinkie, but by some higher power. The same higher power that had led her to Ponyville in the first place, and the same that managed to convince her to stay with nothing more than a timely gust of wind. And while before she was resistantly accepting of fate's conspiracy against her, now she was absolutely livid about it.

But that rage was kept in check by one of the few emotions that could overpower it in a head-on fight: fear. Complete and utter fear about what this reunion meant for Twilight's life in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly a very subtle pony, and not just because of her appearance. She was a loud, borderline obnoxious, egomaniac that absolutely thrived on the attention and praise of others. And that wasn't something that was hard to come by, given her apparent Wonderbolt status. She was undeniably talented, a prodigy in the art of flight, and that was usually enough to satiate her ego. But in the time Twilight had known her, she had never passed up on a chance to point out her own amazing feats. She was a gloater, plain and simple. And this was what scared Twilight at this very moment, for Rainbow Dash was one of the few ponies with access to some very sensitive information.

Rainbow knew her secrets.

All the ones that mattered, at least. And those secrets, as it so happened, were tied to an accomplishment of the Wonderbolt's that she'd absolutely LOVE to draw attention to if given the chance. And with Twilight here, there was no better chance than right now to do just that. And if that happened, she could kiss any chance of laying low in this town goodbye. Especially this close to Canterlot.

Twilight was lucky thus far and had yet to be noticed by the most dangerous pony in Ponyville right now, and she wanted to capitalize on that luck while she still could. Her head and her ears lowered as the cloaked pony turned to slink away with great haste. The crowd was still pretty dense, they'd make for good cover to at least get out of her foe's direct line of sight. All she had to do was get right now and then lock herself away in her home with Spike for however long it took for the pegasus to flock off. Or perhaps she could hide out in Zecora's hut, seeing as how it was a bit more remote and out of the way. The self-exile might have been a bit extreme and not very rational, but it was the fastest way to get out of this unfortunate situation scot-free.

"Twilight, where are you going? Didn't you want to meet Dash?"

But of course, all it took was one simple question from Pinkie Pie to shatter all hopes of victory and escape in one singular instant, her voice piercing the paranoid silence like cannon fire. For a few short seconds, Twilight simply stood there like a statue, hoping in vain that Pinkie was asking that question of a different Twilight. It was certainly possible, but the odds were astronomically low in this particular instance. And Twilight had already met her quota for beating impossible odds today, thanks entirely to the very pegasus she was trying to sneak away from. There was no getting out of this anymore, so the disguised pony raised her head slowly and turned around even more so. And just as she feared, she was soon greeted to the sight of the four other mares looking back at her.

"Hello..." She spoke in a soft and meek voice, one that made Fluttershy sound like Pinkie Pie. There were looks of confusion upon the faces of Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack without question. But they were of little concern to Twilight right now, as she was far too focused on Rainbow's face to even care. It was clear to see that the reunion was a surprise even to her, a wide-eyed and dumbfounded expression spelling that out plainly.

"No way..." Dash just stood there for a moment, thoroughly astonished at this unexpected development, before a smug grin came across her face that sealed Twilight's face. "Heh, Never thought I'd see you again. How've ya been, egghead?"

Twilight wanted to vomit she was so upset right now. This was it, all of her secrets were about to be laid bare for all the world to see. All just to fuel the all-consuming ego that belonged to this pegasus. The terror that coursing through her veins was enough to lock her firmly in place. She couldn't run, she couldn't cast spells, she could hardly even breathe. All she could do was wait for this Wonderbolt to destroy her.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Pinkie interrupted in a blatantly disappointed tone in her voice.

Dash chuckled again. "Yeah, you could say we've met once or twice."

"That's... certainly unexpected," Rarity commented with a tilted head, "Though I suppose it's not impossible, given your lifestyle, Twilight."

And just as Pinkie had damned her, Rarity had just provided the golden ticket to salvation. And that ticket came in the form of an ever appreciated reminder that Twilight had spent the past two years—soon to be three—on the road, traveling Equestria and beyond. That simple reminder brought hope and life back into the purple pony, and she had to fight the urge to shout out in utter glee. Instead, she took on a more casual, albeit a bit shy persona, in order to try and better sell the tall tale she was about to tell.

"Y-yeah! I've met her on my travels once or twice... Caught a couple of her shows, here and there. Sorry for acting weird... y-you could say I'm something of a fan, wasn't expecting to see her here..." The hasty alibi wasn't the best in the world, but it would add up. Wonderbolts were well known for public displays of their physical prowess, performing in air shows for any number of reasons. Typically fundraisers to donate to charities or help pay for some of Equestria's military assets, and these shows were held all over the nation. Considering that Twilight had made no effort to hide her vagabonding lifestyle, it made perfect sense that she'd have bumped into one of those shows.

Rainbow's grin faded into a dull frown, a hoof slowly reaching up to slowly lower the sunglasses hiding her piercing magenta eyes. And as the eyewear was lowered, an eyebrow was raised. The look was clearly meant to convey the question "what, really?" without a single word at all.

"Oh! Small world!" Pinkie blurted back into the conversation enthusiastically. "Guess that makes introductions easier, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Dash gave another brief chuckle and a wink to Twilight before readjusting her sunglasses to once again shield her eyes. "So let's skip 'em and blow this pop stand, I wanna get off my hooves."

The order was enough to get the small group moving, Twilight following meekly behind in an almost automated fashion. She didn't want to linger around Rainbow Dash for too long, but right now she was more focused on keeping her secrets safe. And since avoidance was no longer an option, the best course of action was to stick to her like glue and dissuade any and all attempts from blowing Twilight's cover. That was the plan that Twilight solidified in her mind, nodding to herself sternly as she trailed behind the group of friends towards the train station exit. But it seemed she had company at the back of the pack, Applejack had decided to slow her pace so she could walk side-by-side with Twilight.

"So... uh... you were acting a bit weird back there," the farmer whispered with great care, far greater than when she was speaking of Knox just minutes earlier. But she looked equally nervous as she was back then, which put no end of horrid ideas as to where this particular conversation was going to go.

"Just a bit nervous... kind of weird meeting a celebrity out of the blue, you know?" The lie was enough to make Twilight want to puke again, but it was the only way to keep the truth hidden. She'd already committed to the lie, so now she had to keep it going.

"You don't have a crush on her or anything, do you?" Applejack's next hushed question came, quite literally, out of nowhere. So much so that it would have made Twilight do a spit take, were she in the middle of drinking something. It was about then that the small party of ponies exited the station and once more set foot into the sunlight. "Well?"

"What? No, it's nothing like that," Twilight was blunt and clear with that answer, not wanting to make it look like she was trying to deflect the question. "That's not even... why would you even—?" She stopped herself when something unusual caught her eyes. Something on Applejack's face, oddly enough. There was a slight glint to the earth pony's lips of all things, more apparent now in the brighter sunlight around them. But it wasn't moisture, there was a slight unnatural hue to it.

Is she wearing lipgloss? The silent question led Twilight to further examine the farmer's face, taking notice of other subtle hits of touching up she'd done to herself. The most of subtle hints of eyeshadow and mascara could be detected, only acting as slight highlights of her natural tones, easily missed if one wasn't looking. And then there were her eyes themselves, each emerald orb filled to the brim with undeniable anxiety and doubt. And, unless Twilight was misreading the situation, a different kind of fear then what she was experiencing earlier.

There was only one logical explanation, one that could be solved with a simple counter-question. And that question was asked in a similarly quiet tone, out of respect for the earth pony's dignity.

"Do... you have a crush on her?" If you looked closely, you could almost see the beads of sweat beginning to form on Applejack's face. Twilight could see the orange mare struggle not to contort her face or break eye contact. Twilight had pushed the right button and was now beginning to regret turning the tables on her like this.

"I... uhh... well, you see, I—"

"TARGET IS IN POSITION! FIRE!!"

Schootaloo's shrill voice pierced the silence, bringing the group of ponies to a sudden stop as they looked towards the cluster of bushes where the cry came from. Though their eyes weren't locked there for long, instead they had their gaze locked on the massive wobbling mass that was launched from beyond the brush towards them. A giant water balloon, plain and simple, had been flung from the shadows towards the five ponies—Rainbow Dash specifically.

If nothing else, at least Twilight knew what the trebuchet was for now.

"Heh, nice," Rainbow chuckled with a slight nod, "Everybody MOVE."

What happened next all happened to fast for anyone to think or react outside of the base instinct. Dash's actions were quicker than her words, and she took the opportunity to show off her athletic prowess by backflipping out of the balloon's impact radius. This action had the unintentional consequence of getting Twilight and Applejack to further back from the soon-to-be-impact sight. Pinkie Pie was also astute in her own evacuation, bounding out of the way with the grace befitting of a gazelle.

Though Rarity was less graceful in her escape. Panic had overwhelmed her senses and motor skills, and the unicorn was unfortunate enough to trip over her own hooves as she was lost in the balloon's ever-growing shadow. It wasn't long after her collision with the grass that she was swallowed by the descending attack, lost entierly under the balloon's impressive girth. She wouldn't have been able to move underneath the gallons and gallons of liquid currently situated right on top of her, pinning her to the ground without any effort.

And then it popped.

Rarity screamed in such a way to put a banshee to shame, overwhelmed by what had just happened, soaked thoroughly by the balloon's contents, and entangled in the rubbery remnants of what had just struck her. The outcry was shrill, loud, and as far from pleasant as one could possibly imagine. It was also what got the three fillies responsible for the assault to poke their heads out of their green hiding place.

"Hey! No fair! You're not supposed to dodge it!" Of the three, Scootaloo was the one who was the most upset by this development, but clearly only because they had missed their intended target. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were looking at one another with this shared expression of dread and regret. They knew that they had screwed up royal, and were now awaiting the wrath that was about to befall them.

"That really the best you got kid? A water balloon?" Rainbow Dash, in responce, merely scoffed at the efforts. "A big one, I'll give ya that. But—"

"It's vinegar!" Rarity shrieked again, recoiling in absolute disgust and agony. It was a miracle that the impact hadn't physically harmed her in any way, even more so how she was able to simply stand back up without any real issues. "Sweetie Belle?! Why would you do this to me?!"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted sternly, face flushed red with both embarrassment and rage. "Just you wait 'till Granny hears about this! She's gonna wring you like a towel!"

That was about when the young ponies decided to make a hasty retreat. Rarity went from screaming to roaring as she chased down her younger sibling, yelling for Pinkie to help her catch the filly. And while Pinkie wasn't anywhere near as upset about this as Rarity was, she was willing to help out her friend deliver her righteous retribution. Applejack, meanwhile, went after her own younger sister and the young pegasus that seemed to have been the mastermind behind all of this. Though Twilight had the sneaking suspicion that part of that choice was made just to get out of the awkward conversation that the two had been having moments before.

And just like that, before they could even react further to the unusual situation before them, Twilight and Rainbow were left completely alone in front of Ponyville's train station. The Wonderbolt took this opportunity to walk on over to the impact site. She lightly scooped up a strand of shredded rubber that Rarity had left behind in her rampage and began to investigate, recoiling at the strong stench of vinegar that wafted about the space.

"Vinegar balloon, huh? Not bad." Rainbow chuckled as she overlooked her soaked form, looking back to Twilight with a wide toothy grin. "Not good enough to get me, though. Little sisters, am I right? Little rascal always tries to prank me like that every time I come home for vacation."

"I... wouldn't know, never had a sister," Twilight droned back as she cautiously approached. The scent of vinegar was potent, to say the absolute least, and she didn't want to get too close to the other mare right now because of it. "Didn't know you had one, either."

"Yep... Well, half-sister, anyway. Her mom and my dad hooked up one night, they got married about a year later, and about a year after that I woke up to find I had a little sister." Dash shrugged nonchalantly, "It was a weird Tuesday." And suddenly, so many of Scootaloo's mannerisms and behavioral quirks made sense now in Twilight's head, if she'd grown up with this mare of all people as a role model. There was no doubt that Scootaloo's habit of answering questions with "nothing illegal" came from this particular pony as well.

"So then, big fan o' mine," Dash continued in a mocking tone of voice, "Wasn't expecting to see you here, though. Did you come to get my autograph? You know, because you're such a big fan?" She was clearly trying to hold back her own laughter.

"Oh, shut up," Twilight rolled her eyes with a groan, continuing her journey past the train station and walking past the pegasus without a second glance. "Like you had a better alibi."

"Actually I did," Dash sang back with pride in her voice, "But I guess it was just a different Twilight Sparkle who helped me with my Wonderbolt-History exams. You know, the ones that 'you' actually helped me with?"

Twilight did what she could to stifle her groan of discontent, not wanting to give Rainbow the satisfaction of knowing that she had forgotten about that part of their past. She shook her head at a disapproving pace as she just kept walking on by. Though she could hear the pegasus following behind her, meaning that this conversation was far from over. Much to her dismay. Today was going to be a very long day.

"Oh come on, lighten up, egghead!" Dash quickly leaped ahead and began walking side by side with the other pony, still bearing that same cheesy grin. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

"Yes, I am," Twilight practically snarled, "What are you even doing here?"

"Well, in case the welcoming party and the little sister weren't clear, I kind of live here." Dash's tone of voice was almost painfully sarcastic, only serving to prove that the pegasus hadn't changed much since the last time they'd seen one another. Much to Twilight's dismay. "I should be asking what you're doing here. But something tells me you don't want to have that conversation in public."

"Good guess." Twilight sighed back in relief, content in the knowledge that Rainbow knew that secrets were supposed to stay as such. With that newfound discovery, any and all reason Twilight would have had to stick around this irksome individual were all rendered null and void. Though as she began to walk away, she just knew the pegasus was following behind her, it wasn't exactly hard to tell.

"Oh come on, you don't even want to catch up?" There was this clear eagerness in Dash's tone as she overtook Twilight's pace, spinning around to walk backward and keep eye-contact as they advanced. "Don't tell me you're still mad about the—?"

"Yes, I am," Twilight sneered back as she changed her heading. This didn't do much to deter the pegasus, who simply switched to walking side-by-side with her instead. But Dash didn't even need to finish the question for Twilight to know what was being referenced there.

"I caught him!" Seemed like the Wonderbolt didn't need the refresher either, whispering that bit with a shocking amount of subtlety. "He wasn't even hurt."

"Not the point, you still made him jump. By pushing me off a cliff."

"But you have—!" Rainbow stopped herself mid-argument, biting her tongue for a brief moment before continuing. "I'm being very nice right now, I hope you know that. I'm being very nice and not blowing the whistle on you. You could at least give me the time of day."

Twilight stopped, prompting Dash to do the same a second or two later, and she looked to her old acquaintance with this bitter attempt at understanding shown upon her face. When Dash turned back around to look at her, Twilight could very clearly see the eagerness and anticipation upon her face. Almost childlike in nature, it was apparent that Rainbow was the one who wanted to talk. About what? Twilight hadn't the faintest idea. But based on the glint in her eyes, Rainbow wasn't going to stop until she got Twilight to hear her out.

So there was only one way to get out of this scenario.

"Okay, I'll bite. What do you want?"

Dash had to stop herself from squealing as unbridled excitement overtook her expression. It didn't take her long to calm herself down and take up a more neutral look. "I... can't tell you. Not here. Too many ears. You're not the only one with secrets, after all."

This particular statement got Twilight to raise a brow in curiosity, taking the time to study both her tone and her expression. There wasn't much to be read in either department, and that was mildly unsettling. She couldn't tell why Dash would want to go out of her wat to tell Twilight these "secrets," or why she was being so insistent on it. There had to be a motivating factor here, the mare in question was never one to do much that didn't serve her best interests. And Twilight wasn't one hundred percent sure if she wanted to indulge this particular pony. But she'd already learned that the best way out was straight through, and thus made her next decision knowing full well that she might regret it later.

With one swift motion, Twilight placed a hoof directly onto Dash's chest, and the two of them were whisked away from Ponyville's train station in a bright arcane flash. The next thing both of them knew, they were standing in the safety and isolation of Twilight's livingroom.

"There, no more ears. You can talk now." Twilight stumbled a bit as she walked over towards the room's hideous couch and placed her saddlebags atop of it. It seemed the teleportation spell was pushing it a bit too much after all the day's spellcasting. Just a bit more strain then she was expecting, nothing more. Once the bags were off of her back, she quickly went to remove the heavy cloak concealing her true nature. No need to hide in front of someone who knows, after all. "Spike, you can come out now, too."

"Heh, guessed you picked up a few things from that prissy school you went to, huh?" Rainbow Dash responded tauntingly as Spike crawled out from his hiding place. She wasn't exactly interested in the long dragon at the moment, instead, she took the time to look around her surroundings to parse together where she ended up. "Didn't expect you to bring me home though. And without even buying me dinner first? Damn, egghead, you got game."

"Oh. It's you." Spike sounded about as enthusiastic to see the pegasus as Twilight had been, this sentiment shown plainly on his face. "Yay."

"... Good to see you too, scales," Dash seemed almost insulted by the disinterested greeting, "You've grown a bit since last I saw you. Jump off any good cliffs lately? Heh."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spike tilted his head in confusion, seemingly not knowing what was being referenced. It only made sense, after all, as the event Dash was talking about did happen five years ago. He probably didn't even remember it happening, or blocked out the memory. It was one or the other.

"I'll tell you later," Twilight interjected before clearing her throat, "Now then, Dash. You wanted to talk about something?"

"Ah, right! Give me a second." Rainbow's bags were swiftly placed on the floor before she began digging into the cluttered mess within one of them. The most prevalent sounds were the rustling of paper, oddly enough. She didn't seem like the type for paperwork, but becoming a Wonderbolt might have overwritten the preference. "Oh come on, where is the stupid thing?"

Twilight and Spike didn't do or say anything as they watched their houseguest rummage through her things, occasionally removing something and gently tossing it to the side just to get it out of the way. Loose pieces of paper, folders, and even a book or two were all deposited onto the floor as the pegasus frantically searched for the object of her desires. And among these random documents and texts, there were a few that managed to catch Twilight's keen eye. The books were nothing special. Flight manuals of various complexity, most standard texts depicting Wonderbolts repertoire of flying maneuvers and codes of conduct. Others looked to be old history books, again not a big surprise. Wonderbolts, for one reason or another, were required to be well versed in Equestria's history. It made sense as to why Rainbow would be carrying around that kind of reading material, covering everything from Equestria's founding to the most recent events in history. But these seemed small compared to what else Rainbow had in her possession.

Folders and document envelopes stamped red with the word "classified," alongside the Equestrian Royal Crest, the former being barely bound together by overburdened paperclips. Things that looked very illegal to have in one's personal possession, even for a Wonderbolt. And the sheer amount of classified documents didn't help Rainbow's case in the slightest. If either of them were caught with these, they'd be locked away for longer then Twilight would be alive. And in the pegasus's haste, one of the folders managed to pop open as it lightly hit the ground revealing the secrets within. Twilight shouldn't have looked, she knew that, but she couldn't help but catch a quick peek. Three words, in particular, stuck out in her mind.

Corul Luminii Lunii.

"Ah, here it is!" Dash bellowed out, an act not acknowledged by Twilight in the slightest. Even still, the pegasus tucked whatever object she'd been looking for under a wing before approaching Twilight, cutting off the alicorn's line of sight from the sensitive information she'd been presented with. "Now then, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a very long time now. And I see no better opportunity than right now. Would you like to guess what that is?"

Twilight shook herself out of her stupor, looking to the Wonderbolt with great intensity and resolve. What did this mare know? Where did she get her hooves on these files? How did she get them at all? So many questions piling up in Twilight's head. So much so that she could hardly think of anything else, let alone answer the question she had just been asked. It was hard to tell if she had even heard it, in all honesty.

"I'll take your silence as a 'no,'" Rainbow snickered, "Well, I don't know what this means coming from me, but I wanted to thank you." Rainbow's wing unfurled itself, reaching around with great dexterity to present whatever it was she wanted to show off. And that one small object was enough to answer any and all questions Twilight had, prompting the alicorn's jaw to drop.

The trinket itself was a simple badge, about the size of a hoof, cast in a coal-black iron. The design of the badge was simple enough—an upright horseshoe surrounding a depiction of the Equestrian Royal Crest partially obscured by the large red ruby that had been domed over the mark, acting as a tinted window of sorts. The shoe itself was engraved with Rainbow Dash's name, undeniable proof that this object was hers and hers alone. The badge itself was one that was decently well known within Equestria, all things considered, but one that not many had ever laid eyes on in person. So much so that it had become something of an urban legend, a baseless rumor with no evidence of its existence, or the existence of the organization that it belonged too.

"Because of you, I'm set for life." Rainbow's well-earned confidence was evident as she passed the badge to her hoof and looked upon it herself, admiring her tinted reflection in the ruby-core. "And I just wanted to thank you for that."

"... It's just a badge," Spike's interjection absolutely killed the mood of the conversation, "What's the big deal?"

"Because it means she's a Black Hoof..." Twilight murmured disbelief, slowly beginning to question the reality that was presented before her. This had to be some kind of dream or nightmare, and any second now the Mare in the Moon would show up and prompt Twilight to awaken. But that never happened, and Twilight was made to endure this unthinkable scenario. Spike, meanwhile, still wasn't very impressed.

"... What's a black hoof?"

"A top-secret hush-hush group made up of only the best of the best that Equestria has to offer," Rainbow beamed with obvious pride, "The cream of the crop, the undisputable super-elite, the ponies that get called when the Queen wants something to get done. And done right."

"How are you a black hoof?" Twilight asked sternly and sharply, practically demanding an answer.

"Because of you, duh," Rainbow Dash shrugged mockingly before tucking the badge into an interior pocket within her coat, "Why do you think I'm even telling you any of this?"

"But how?"

"Easy. You see, as I'm sure you remember, once upon a time I got roped into being your little flight coach by one Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Dash's explanation was so bold that it almost sounded rehearsed, something Twilight would have believed right now given the circumstances. "And that got me onto just the right radar. Queen Celestia's, if you have to know. And thanks to my mad skillz... and a few other qualities—" that part of the explanation seemed to hide a bit of shame in it, but it was quickly snuffed out by her own self-gratification— "I was a prime candidate to join these ranks. And after I became a fully-fledged Wonderbolt, I was given an offer I'd be stupid to refuse."

Twilight couldn't possibly believe that story, she just simply couldn't. It was too fantastical to possibly believe, almost absurd in nature. If she tried hard enough, she could probably even refute that badge, if given enough time. Put in the effort to examine every micrometer of material to find some fault or inconsistency that could prove it to be nothing more than a simple forgery—a forgery that someone could get executed for crafting, let alone owning. But the documents on the ground only served to add further credit to the outrageous claim. Especially with the mention of the Moonlight Choir in one of them.

If this was a ruse, it was one elaborate enough to earn respect in it of itself.

"What other qualities made you 'prime material'?" Spike asked, shattering the silence, and Rainbow's ego in one fell swoop. From the look on her face, she looked like she really didn't want to answer that question.

"Well... that's the funny thing..." Dash nerviously scratched at the back of her head with a nervous chortle, "But I'm not gonna tell either of you."

"Is it because you don't look like you could be a professional at anything?" The long dragon's snarky remark caught both Twilight's attention and that of the pegasus in questions. Twilight, in particular, was surprised by just how sarcastic he was being with the pegasus. She wasn't against this development in any way, but it was unexpected, to say the least.

"Hey, you gonna control your kid, or something?!" Rainbow was sweating buckets at this point, her face flushed a brighter shade of red than the one found in her mane. Based on this, and how her lips were puckered, it looked like Spike had hit the nail on the head. "He's being really rude! Can't you like... ground him, or something?!"

"He's... not my kid," Twilight rebutted in an unsure tone. The topic of her being Spike's "mother" hadn't been one she had thought about in a very long time, and she got caught off guard by it being brought up right now.

"Oh, yes he is! Last time I saw you, you could hardly pry him off your back!" Dash's mood began to take an upswing as she found an opportunity to change the subject. "Not to mention the mommy talks you gave him. 'Spike, don't eat that' and 'Spike, I can fly, don't follow me off cliffs'!" The mocking tone of voice wasn't exactly appreciated, by either Spike or Twilight. And this was also about when Rainbow began packing up her things in a greater hurry than before. "Well, it's been fun, but I kinda want to get back to my vacation. See ya around"

As she watched the athlete re-don her bags, filled to the brim with unspeakable knowledge that could very well help her, Twilight finally found the mindfulness to return to the present. "Hey, wait, I need—!"

"Sorry, gotta go! Pinkie'll flip if I'm late for the homecoming party!" And like that, she was gone. Rushing out the door before Twilight could muster up another word.

There wasn't even time to magically hold the door shut, or grab hold of the pegasus. There was practically a cartoonish Rainbow Dash-shaped smoke cloud left behind in the wake of the slamming door. The alicorn groaned in responce to this, hanging her head in angered defeat. She just had potentially life-saving information literally thrown at her hooves, and she had just let it get yanked out from under her because she had let herself get caught up in drama from her past.

Something she intentionally decided not to let happen anymore just earlier today, infuriatingly enough. She lightly massaged one of her temples with a sigh as she slowly strolled into the kitchen. After all of that, she needed a glass of water. And maybe a sandwich or seven. A task that she got to work on as soon as she approached the fridge. She would need brain food if she was going to figure out what her next course of action was going to be.

"Twilight?"

After some time, Spike once more broke the tension whilst the alicorn was in the middle of making what very well could be the first of many sandwiches. The simple statement brought Twilight's attention over to the long dragon. Standing in the open archway that separated the kitchen from the living room, Spike looked to be even more distraught then she was at the moment. He was practically shaking, biting at his lower lip as he looked towards Twilight with weary eyes, looking to be on the brink of tears.

He'd picked up many habits from Twilight over the six-years they had shared together, some of which Twilight wished he hadn't. Like her tendency to get caught up on one little thing and think far too much on that one subject. Something she was guilty of doing a lot of in the past couple of days, and something she whole-heartedly wished she could cure Spike of. Especially right now, as he looked to be in the act of thinking far too much for his own good. Something made evident with his follow up question.

"What am I to you?"

— Chapter Twenty-Six —

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--- Breakdown ---

"What am I to you?"

Spike's question was clearly one that was born of Twilight's earlier comment. It only made sense, as it was a concern that Spike would naturally come to hold in his heart. Just as Twilight had debated whether or not she was a maternal figure in his life. There was no denying that Twilight loved the little guy with all of her heart, but going so far as to call herself his mother? Even after six years, she wasn't quite sure if she saw herself like that.

She did hatch his egg and had been the one to raise him, but their relationship was far more complicated than that. So much so that going so far as to call herself a "mother" never came to mind. At least not enough for Twilight to make a decision one way or the other. To her, it didn't really seem necessary. She did her best to keep Spike safe, happy, and healthy, and that was enough for both her and him. She didn't need a title to prove that.

Besides, a mother was supposed to love her child unconditionally. And Twilight would be lying if she said that all of her love for him was just that. And that fact hurt her to no end whenever she was unfortunate enough to make herself think about that aspect of their relationship.

"Spike, I love you." Her answer came without much hesitation, but it did come alongside the first smile Twilight had been able to show all day. "I love you as much as someone can love, and even more than that. I've told you this before."

"I know... but you said... I just... I don't know..."

Twilight's gaze narrowed as she studied the dragon's body language. He was nervous and unsure of himself, that much was certain. The conclusion to the conversation with Rainbow had gotten to him in a different way then it had with Twilight herself. She was reminded of the other morning when Spike was having an internal crisis over being a dragon. Though this was a much different kind of identity dilemma. He was confused and conflicted, and those simple few words from Twilight had been the trigger for it all. After a moment's reflection, she suddenly recalled that this topic hadn't come up with Spike before.

It seemed like it was finally time for some clarification.

This problem took unquestioned priority over all other issues on Twilight's plate at the moment. And seeing as how Spike couldn't even finish his own statement just now, she surmised that she would need to act with swiftness, grace, and tact. Hopefully, the idea that just popped into her head was one that could do just that.

She said nothing. Not at first, at the very least. Instead, she approached Spike while he was distracted with his thoughts. She sat down on her hind legs and waited to be taken notice of, a calm and kindly smile upon her face. It took time for Spike to finally notice his caretaker's gaze that had fallen upon him, his conflicted eyes growing wide. His immediate responce was to try and back away, but he managed to anchor himself in place.

The silent stare down did not last long before Twilight made the first move, moving slowly as to not startle him, she kindly pulled the dragon into a tender embrace. The alicorn said absolutely nothing as she did this, emphasizing the hug with her wings as she secured her gentle hold of her closest companion. Spike simply sat there, letting this happen as his frantic mind began to try and catch up with what was going on. His look of shock slowly faded, his eyes gently closing as he returned the hug, resting his head upon Twilight's shoulder. And following her example, Spike said nothing.

And now that Spike couldn't see her face, Twilight finally allowed herself to grimace. Just as she said earlier, she did love Spike. She loved him more than she ever thought she could love another living thing. The circumstances that had brought him into her life were ones that Twilight wouldn't change for the world, and she meant that sentiment in spite of those circumstances. But she knew that there was a small piece of that love that had been born for severely selfish reasons.

After all, Spike was a dragon. A very unique dragon, but still a dragon. And way back when, back when the little guy didn't even live with her, there was a bit of a study on him at the queen's request. Nothing invasive or harmful, just some routine examinations and a few blood tests. It was how they found out everything they knew about him and whatever other long dragons were out there. It was how they learned he was an omnivorous creature, it was how they found out his gender. And it was how they came to the hypothesis that his lifespan was about the same as his more well-known cousins. Thousands of years, hundreds of thousands even, at the absolute minimum.

It wasn't the only reason she had grown attached to him, it wasn't even a deciding factor. And even though she absolutely hated herself for it, it did help. It helped in ways Twilight needed the absolute most back when she first became an alicorn. It helped more than any school, or any private lesson, or any attempt at a motivational talk from her family could ever give her. Spike was far more to her than just a dragon, or a friend, or a loved one.

To Twilight Sparkle, Spike was her hope.

And it absolutely tore her apart knowing that she couldn't tell him any of this. Not yet, at the least. He was still young, with his whole life ahead of him. He didn't need to know the awful truth that, given enough time, he and Twilight would be alone. Truly alone. Far more isolated then they had been over these past two years. In a way, their travels about the world were a way of preparing them both for the inevitable. Other ponies and other people just don't last forever. That someday, they just would never see certain people ever again. They'd be gone. They'd be dust. A lingering dread that Twilight had been carrying deep inside of her for six long years. One that she hoped to spare Spike from for as long as she possibly could.

Because how in the world could she possibly explain that to a child?

"Spike...?" She spoke slowly and shakily, feeling the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. It hadn't taken much to drag up this wellspring of repressed emotions in her, and she was fighting as hard as she could to keep herself together. For his sake. And for her own, as well.

There was a short period where silence once more took over, but Spike was able to give an answer in time. "Yeah?"

"You're... everything to me..." She nearly choked on her own words, fighting for all she was worth to hold herself back from just breaking down into a sobbing mess right then and there. She held him tighter, shaking slightly as her building emotions began to rouse and writhe within her even greater than before. The day thus far had been a long and hard one for many reasons, as had the recent days that had preceded it. All for a variety of different reasons, but now, all that mental and emotional weight was now balanced atop the deepest and darkest of Twilight's secrets and anxieties, the unspeakable truths that she kept even from Spike. And that she tried to hide from herself.

"You are everything to me," she emphasized with great intent, lightly sobbing as she lovingly pulled her dragon closer to her. "You are absolutely everything... don't ever forget that... please..."

Author's Notes:

So it's time for me to use the author's note to say something of actual importance. It might have spoilers, so I'm going to put it in some spoiler bubbles for people who don't want to be spoiled. But it's important enough for me to put it here, so I'm putting it here.

This was going to be the ending of the last chapter, but I felt like this was too significant to tie onto the end of the series of bombshells from last time. It was also going to be the beginning of the next chapter, but again, it felt too important to just be an opener.

This needed the room to breathe. Because while I have been focusing hard on the "A-Plot" in the majority of recent chapters, this aspect of the story is just as important. At least that's the intention, but I don't know how well it's coming across. The interludes are 100% a vehicle to buildup a reveal that has been stuck in my head since day one. The idea that has been the second biggest motivating factor for me writing this story, the first being all the wonderful feedback I've received. But I need to get this twist out into the world.

So this is me officially asking you to bear with me on this one aspect of the story. As I'm still not entirely competent in my skills as a writer, and I can't help but feel like I'm going to flub it up the delivery. It's going to be a big one that is going to change the perspective on quite a few things. Some of you may be able to figure out what this "twist" is based on this chapter alone, but I ask that you don't try to guess in the comments. I am absolutely terrified that someone is going to guess it right, and I don't want that to happen. If you absolutely need to, send me a private message. But I obviously won't be telling you if you got it right or not. There are hints in earlier chapters if you look for them, as hopefully, I wasn't too obscure with them.

Thank you for your time. In both reading this longer-than-usual author's note, and for just reading the story in general. It means more to me then most of you will ever know that so many of you people have been legitimately enjoying this yarn I've been spinning for well over a year now.

Thank you.

— Chapter Twenty-Seven —

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--- Insomniac Interrogation ---

Journal entry number three hundred and forty-six.
June 3.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
Dear Twilight Sparkle.
It's me. Or rather, it's you. We're the same person at different points in time. I'm writing this journal entry specifically for you, in the future, in the event something happens and you've lost some important memories of the past few days. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but I may as well take the precaution. If you're wondering why I've decided to open this like I'm writing a letter to myself, don't ask me.
This was your idea.
In the span of just three short days, Ponyville has gone from a quiet little country town to a den for something sinister lurking in the shadows. I haven't gotten the full scope of what's going on yet, but I have discovered that it's all connected to something known as "Corul Luminii Lunii." And whatever this "Moonlight Choir" actually is, it is something that I have yet to fully understand. Based on what I've witnessed, I'm under the grim impression that it is some form of cult. The phrase "salutați corul" has cropped up every now and again. Either murmured on the breaths of ponies afflicted with some sort of memory-blocking enchantment, or in odd dreams depicting centuries-old events I should have no knowledge of.
Suppose I should touch upon that a bit. This all started when I was visited by the Mare in the Moon. She showed up, said some cryptic things I'm fairly certain were just simple attempts to scare me, and left. At first, I'd written it off as just a bizarre bad dream. But, the very next day, I encountered a book by the name "Corul Luminii Lunii," coincidentally enough. A book that had previously shown up in that very same dream. Coincidence? Unlikely. After that, I learned of the library's third floor and of Mr. Knox's insistence of keeping other people out of there. So much so, that he's been using some kind of magic to keep any and all memories at bay, more or less. It isn't perfect, as I was previously shown by Applejack (one of Pinkie's friends. Tall earth pony, stetson hat. You can't miss her). I also agreed to at least try and do something about it. Or at least figure out what "it" even was.
Speaking of. The very next day, I was ushered into the Everfree Forest by a mysterious note, claiming there were answers in the Everfree. And there were, in a manner of speaking. If you consider an arcane shard of stone up in an impossibly tall tree an "answer." It didn't exactly tell me anything specific about Knox, but it did prove without a shadow of a doubt that whatever Knox is doing is in some way connected to the Mare in the Moon, and by extension the Great Shadow War and the Equestrian/Searăn War.
Though, in hindsight, the connection is actually pretty obvious. Mare in the Moon. Moonlight Choir. If it is a cult, they aren't exactly very creative.
It's hard to put into words exactly how that happened though. The stone in the tree reacted to the travel amulet and triggered some kind of bizarre dream. I don't remember most of it, only the important details, and the Mare in the Moon mentioning me "Dream Walking" to see those details. I still don't know why or how that happened at all, but I know that someone caused it to happen. Someone wanted me to see those things, but I still don't know why.
And then there's Fluttershy. Just today (as of writing this), she finally explained what's going on. In regards to her, at least. Long story short, she's been helping a zebra in the woods fight off the timberwolves. Yes, I'm aware of how crazy that sounds. Wanna read something crazier? You agreed to help. And you did, in exchange for information about Knox, which was also something she knew. But out of respect for her, I won't fully recount that experience. Just know that the two things you need to look out for around Knox are some kind of amulet or necklace and some kind of broken black stone. Not very specific, but I didn't have the heart to try and press her for more answers. Telling that story was hard for her, so don't make her do it again.
Now Twilight. If you're reading this and don't remember writing any of it, or living through any of it for that matter, that's probably because Knox got you with whatever form of memory-altering magic he's been able to get his hooves on. I don't know exactly what you're supposed to do with that knowledge. Or rather, I don't know what I'd do with this knowledge. But you're a smart pony, I'm sure you'll figure something out. Or I'm a smart pony, and I'll figure something out. Not smart enough to know how to properly write a warning to myself, apparently.
But if you do remember writing this, then congratulations. You've successfully wasted your own time by recapping the past three days for absolutely no reason.

All was silent.

The only sound to be heard was the hum of magic, the only light came from both the moon high above outside and the gentle glow of Twilight's horn. She laid all but motionless in her bed, reading over her most recent journal entry for what had to be the hundredth or so time. There wasn't any reason as to why she kept reading it, she knew better than anyone what words she had filled this page with. But she didn't exactly have much else she could do for the time being.

Sleep was an elusive and fickle mistress this evening, bouts of it becoming shorter and shorter as the night went on. The clock read as half-past ten, and Twilight still couldn't sleep for the life of her. She couldn't even tell if it was a curse or a blessing, considering who she might get visited by if she even could get some good sleep. It might not even be worth it, depending on what could be waiting for her behind the veil, so to speak. And that was only one of the thoughts bouncing around in her head.

Timberwolves, the Mare in the Moon, Knox Onwud, and Rainbow Dash of all people. So many questions flying back and forth in her head at unimaginable speeds. Each accompanied by any number of hypothetical answers and explanations. Not a single one of them was useful or productive, just a bunch of incomprehensible noise that kept her from sleeping for very long.

And that was just covering the things that she'd chosen to write on for that particular journal entry. The unexpected reunion with one Rainbow Dash, and her emotional moment with Spike, had been excluded from the summery. She didn't even know how to feel about the pegasus showing back up in her life, especially with all the information that she supposedly had. The moment with Spike, meanwhile, was far to gracious for her to properly convey into written words. She doubted Knox's memory magic could touch that anyway, not without direct intent at the very least, so she didn't see the point of making herself relive that. It wasn't like she was going to forget on her own, either.

Speaking of that event from earlier, she gently sighed and continued her only other motion, mildly scratching the head of the soundly sleeping long dragon beside her. After what had happened earlier, she had seen it fit to give him the offer of sleeping with her in her bed tonight. Just a small gesture to try and ease both of their anxious minds. The rest of the day after the event has been a huge upswing, by comparison. But still, the small gesture of kindness seemed appropriate. He didn't say no, for whatever that meant.

Yet even still, Twilight couldn't find the ability to drift off into dreams. No matter what she did, she couldn't calm the calamity in her cranium long enough to actually get some decent sleep. She lightly groaned in clear frustration, placing the journal upon the nightstand as she ever so cautiously removed herself from the bed, as to not wake the slumbering dragon beside her, and silently strolled on over to the window. Another flicker of light from the alicorn's horn was enough to push the curtain aside, just enough for Twilight to be able to peer outside into the darkness behind the glass.

Ponyville was at peace and all was quiet. Save for Twilight's neighbor from across the way, as Lyra was busy arguing with that peculiar yellow earth pony that seemed to live with her by the looks of it. It wasn't a very loud argument, the others in the neighborhood didn't seem to be bothered by it, and it wasn't any of Twilight's business either way. Her eyes weren't on the duo outside though, instead, she was focused upon the gleaming moon high above them. And the hollow eyes of the Mare in the Moon stared back with their calm silver radiance.

Of all the unusual secrets Twilight had stumbled upon within the past few days, her unique interactions with the ages-old alicorn had been the most unusual. All of this started when that mysterious hooded figure had invaded her dreams for one reason or another, bringing with her a vision of that book that had piqued Twilight's interest in Knox, to begin with. A book that appeared in their next meeting as well, that led her into the Everfree Forest to see... whatever it was that dream had been.

Even now, it didn't make any sense at all. Being forced to relive that mare's memories, at least in part. What was the endgame here? What possible reason could anyone have for showing that to Twilight?

"And I think I know where I might find some answers..." Twilight grimaced and lightly rested her head on the cool glass plane before her. Her eyes closed as she began to envision one of the discarded documents that Rainbow Dash had all but thrown at her, trying to recall any detail she could muster from it. But the only vivid detail that came to mind was those three accursed words that tied all this together. She was too shocked at the moment to have done anything other than gawk mindlessly at the document, something she was beginning to regret now. "I should have taken the file when I had the chance."

The idea of Rainbow Dash having information that could possibly help her out was a tantalizing thought. Twilight was certain she could overpower Knox if need be, there wasn't really much immediate danger in play seeing as how she was an alicorn, after all. But that pegasus could help her go in with a greater understanding of the situation. Something that Twilight found herself desiring more and more as time went on this moonlit evening. It would be so easy to just storm in right now, but the more she entertained that idea the more there was this growing sense of anxiety about doing just that. The last time Twilight had walked headlong into a situation without any forethought or plan, she nearly fell to her death from atop that massive tree. The time before that, she had almost gotten Spike mauled by Timberwolves. And the time before that, the two of them had almost become another dragon's late lunch.

She didn't exactly have the best track record for improvising in recent times.

Twilight was suddenly distracted from her overwhelming thoughts as the old mattress began to lightly shift and creek, accented by the low grumbling yawn of the nearby dragon. Something had roused the reptile from his slumber, prompting him to slowly stretch and begin to wake up. It was probably Twilight's talking to herself, or maybe it was the sudden absence of the light scratching she was giving him. Either way, he was up now.

"Uhh... Twilight? That you?" He began rubbing his weary eyes with his claws, trying to get his eyes to quickly adjust to the relatively bright light of Twilight's horn. "What time is it... Is something up?"

"Just... having a hard time staying asleep," Twilight dimmed the light of her magical appendage, "You should go back to bed. You need your sleep."

"So something is up. You always have trouble sleeping when you think too much."

Well, he had her on that one. Though to say Twilight was the only one in the world incapable of sleep when much was on her mind was probably a bit of a stretch, but it was certainly a trait that Twilight had expressed in the past. She sighed in defeat, unable to hide the obvious distress from her closest friend. She lightly shook her head at her own vain attempt at doing so, stepping back towards her bed and sitting down beside the long dragon. She then, very unceremoniously, flopped down onto her back with a resounding upset groan.

"Rainbow Dash knows what's going on..." It was far from the only thing bugging Twilight at the moment, but that was the one that she felt the need to actually tell Spike about. "She's somehow involved in this mess... for better or for worse."

In the dim magical light of her horn, Twilight could hardly see the confused grimace that Spike donned in response. "Uhh... how?"

"Remember all those papers she flung around? I caught glimpse of something... relevant, to say the absolute least."

"So why didn't you bring it up?"

"Because... reasons." Twilight wasn't sure how to describe the torrent of conflicting feelings that had been sprung up by the impromptu reunion with the technicolor pegasus, choosing instead to grumble out an intentionally vague answer to try and avoid the headache that would come with trying to comprehend the unknowable.

"Okay..." Spike allowed the conversation to come to a momentary halt, scratching lightly at his chin as he thought over the reply that had been given to him. "So... why don't you just go ask her about it?"

"I'm honestly considering it. There's just one problem." Twilight took in a deep breath in preparation for what she was about to say next. It was going to have consequences no matter what, there was no avoiding that fact, thus it would be best to just tear the bandage off quickly. "Either I leave you here alone and risk something happening, or I take you with me... and I risk something happening."

"That's... kind of a dumb problem," Spike bluntly retorted, "You take me everywhere... well, almost everywhere. But still."

Spike's words couldn't have been more wrong. While it was true that Twilight had left Spike alone a number of times over the course of their travels, she had never done so without previously informing him. Only doing so when in the relative safety of a town or roadside inn, and making sure not to go too far as to put the long dragon at any real risk should some hiccup showed up in their plans.

But last night's little adventure into the Everfree Forest was different. She didn't tell him about it at all, outside of an almost cryptically vague note, and she had gone quite a considerable distance away from his admittedly secure location. And her only precaution for his protection was a simple array of spells and enchantments that effectively acted as the world's most elaborate baby monitor: great for letting her know if Spike had woken up or if somebody else had gotten into the house, not so great for helping Twilight trek the distance back with any greater haste. Granted, her carelessness in that scenario had come from a sudden bout of spontaneousness and curiosity, but that was exactly the thing that Twilight needed to start avoiding. For both her own sake and for Spike's.

"I... suppose I do..." The alicorn couldn't bring herself to talk to him about last night. It was a huge mistake on her part, and she had already let him down enough today. She didn't need to add to whatever emotional turmoil was going on inside that head of his. "But I just don't know about this one. I don't know how quickly things could just spiral out of control. It could be nothing, it could be the most dangerous thing I've ever done. I have no idea what I'd be walking into."

"Well, you've done a good job at keeping me safe so far," Spike shuffled closer and placed his head atop Twilight's breast, effectively turning his guardian into a makeshift pillow in a sign of affection. "We got away from that dragon... and those dogs... kind of, anyway..."

The words tore at Twilight's heartstrings, in both good and bad ways. The fact that Spike still had that faith in her was a comforting thought, even if it did come with the unpleasant reminder of two complete failures in her eyes. She wouldn't call being almost eaten by a dragon "safe" in any regard, not to mention the actual wound that Spike had suffered as a direct result of her carelessness and haste.

"But I don't need to keep putting you in danger like that," Twilight placed a hoof atop Spike's head and gently rubbed into his scales, getting a dopey grin from him in kind. "I don't know what I would do if you got hurt... or worse..."

"I could always—" Spike interrupted himself with a loud yawn, enraptured by the light scratches courtesy of Twilight's hoof—"Just stay here. Ya know, hold down the fort." He was obviously wanting to go back to sleep, the sagging eyelids being only one of the signs of that fact. "It's not like anybody's gonna break-in."

And Twilight found herself hesitating at his offer, continuing to mindlessly scratch at his scalp as she mulled it over. Surely it couldn't hurt to leave a slumbering dragon unattended for a short while, it wouldn't be the first time after all. But even still, Twilight wasn't sure if she should even attempt such action so soon. There was no telling what would happen when she went to go confront Rainbow Dash about this information.

The debate in her head roared on for what felt like hours before she made her decision. In spite of everything, Spike was making it clear that he'd rather go back to sleep. And Twilight didn't feel right in denying him that, especially if he was the only one out of them both who could actually get some. Even though there was a part of her deep down that knew it could lead to problems, she couldn't bring herself to potentially drag Spike into further danger. She just couldn't do it.

So with the decision was made, and Twilight began the preparations for her little visit with Rainbow and helped Spike prepare to get some sleep. The only difference being that this time Spike was fully aware of this nighttime departure, and personally hoping that he'd get to just sleep through the whole ordeal. And Twilight made sure he was fast asleep before going on her way. Though not without fortifying their home with enough charms and wards to repel a small army for several hours. She made sure that absolutely no living thing, aside from her, was going to be able to get into that house without at least putting up the fight of their lives. Checking and double-checking her enchantments twice over to make sure that she had taken care of everything before walking out the front door and locking it.

Though as she made her way out of her home, Twilight was presented with yet another problem. In that, she didn't know where Rainbow Dash was at this very moment. It wasn't like she had bothered to ask the pegasus where she would be staying over her time in Ponyville. She'd likely be staying in her family home, but again, Twilight didn't know where that was. And it wasn't like she had all night to go door-to-door to try and figure that out.

But lady luck was on Twilight's side this evening, as it wasn't very long until the young alicorn was fortunate enough to catch sight of the very mare she had ventured out to find as she turned the corner. She wasn't sure what Rainbow Dash was doing out at such a late hour, but she could very clearly tell that the pegasus was trying to be stealthy. Dash was walking slowly, turning her head to and fro every now and again to survey the streets of Ponyvile, making sure that she wasn't being watched or followed. It was a wholly involuntary reaction that kept Twilight from being discovered, ducking back behind the building just in time to keep her presence hidden.

That's... a bit too convenient, Twilight thought with held breath, waiting to be swiftly discovered by Dash. That moment never came, however, and Twilight slowly released a silent sigh. What in the world is she up too?

Twilight slowly peeked her head back around the building, watching with great intrigue as the pegasus continued her self-assigned task. It was clear that she was up to something, and Twilight was quick to change her Modus Operandi to figure out what that was without being caught. But as she sleuthed through the suburbs in silent pursuit of her old flying instructor, there was a small piece of her that knew this was a bad idea. Rainbow Dash was a Black Hoof after all, and interfering with an officially sanctioned Black Hoof investigation was one of the most severe crimes in Equestria. Twilight knew that well enough. But at the same time, she just couldn't help herself. She'd long since dedicated herself to seeing this whole mess through, and Rainbow Dash of all people wasn't going to be the one to make her stop.

In what was a rare display of tact from the pegasus—from Twilight's perspective—Rainbow was moving forward with subtlety and care as opposed to what she was more widely expected of her. A lot can change in five years, and it seemed that Rainbow had undergone her fair share of change in that time. With how perceptive and cautious she was acting, Twilight wasn't sure just how long she'd be able to keep herself hidden. Her sole focus was on not losing track of the technicolor pegasus and keeping herself out of sight as she did so, using whatever means she could to remain undetected.

But in the end, it proved to be a fruitless venture. Wherever she was going, Rainbow wasn't taking a direct route in any sense of the word, curving around every building and turning at every available intersection. And as time went on, this pattern only became more erratic as Dash began moving faster and faster. Twilight couldn't keep up and was soon left wondering which way Rainbow had even gone in the first place. She had botched her chance at answers up, and was now left alone in the dimly lit streets of Ponyville. With no one other than the Mare in the Moon to keep her company.

"Ugh, Lost her," Twilight silently groaned to herself, "How in the world did she do that?"

"Trained professional." The calm yet aggravated answer from directly behind Twilight startled the cloaked alicorn, causing her to spin around with a flinch to face a stone-faced Rainbow Dash. "Did you honestly think I didn't notice you trailing me for twenty minutes?"

"... I was really hoping you hadn't..."

"Cute," a cocky smirk decorated Dash's expression for a brief moment before she returned to her cold glare, "So is there a reason you're following me around?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm busy with something... really important right now."

Twilight didn't give an immediate response, quickly trying to put the right words to her thought process. Inspiration struck as she caught glimpse of the silver orb hanging lazily in the sky, an almost teasing reminder of the mess that she had gotten herself into these past few days. She looked back to Dash with a quizzical look about her, choosing to answer that question with one of her own.

"More important than the choir?"

"Ch-ch-choir?" One could almost hear glass breaking as Dash's eye twitched for only the briefest of seconds. She stood there, blankly staring at Twilight, almost as if trying to process the question itself. Her ears flicked up to attention like a lightbulb going off in her head as if to indicate the idea that just came to light. "I... think Rarity does some 'Pony-Tones' thing with some of her friends... If you're talking about that, I wouldn't know—"

"Corul Luminii Lunii," Twilight stopped the pegasus right there and pointed to one of the mare's saddlebags, "That's what they call themselves, right? The Choir of Moonlight?"

If Twilight's first question could shatter glass, then that simple statement alone could have been enough to bring ruin to the whole of Equestria. And once more, Rainbow just stood there with the same wide-eyed blank look on her face. Twilight could tell that there were a million questions going through the athlete's mind, just as they had been surging through Twilight's head for the past several days. But unlike Twilight, these questions seemed to manifest a great deal of rage within the pegasus, for as time went on the blank look upon her face shifted closer and closer towards anger. Her eyebrows furrowed, her teeth bearing down upon her lower lip, and her body beginning to shake and tremble ever so slightly.

She was pissed, in every sense of the word. And that sentiment was made clear as she grabbed Twilight by the collar of her cloak and dragged her off of the street and behind the nearest building before releasing her grip.

"Who told you?" There was righteous fury held within those words, a burning rage that couldn't possibly be quenched by even the deepest of oceans. "How much do you know? Who else knows?"

"I could ask you the same—"

"No. This is not 'asking questions' time," Rainbow hissed back in defiance, "This is 'you answer my questions' time. Who. Else. Knows?!"

"Why is that—?"

"Because anyone who's heard those three words is life-threatening danger." Rainbow Dash's anger seemed to mellow out, transitioning into panicked anxiety more than anything else. "So if anyone, absolutely anyone, else knows about this, you need to tell me right now. Or very bad things will happen to them."

At first, Twilight took that statement as a threat. Whether that threat was directed at her or at Spike was something she didn't know, but she wasn't going to waste time trying to figure that part out and she prepared herself for Dash to throw the first punch. But that first punch never came, and Twilight was left glaring back at the enraged pegasus in silence for a prolonged period of time. Prolonged enough for twilight to notice the more subtle nuances of Rainbow's scowl.

Anger was dominant in her expression and tone, but there was something else lurking beneath the heated surface. Dash's lower lip was held firmly in her own teeth in an attempt to hide how much it was twitching and quivering. Her eyes, while glaring daggers into Twilight's own, held something else deep within. A deep sense of unease and worry, great anxiety that Twilight almost instantly recognized. It was akin to the feelings that ravaged her mind when she got separated from Spike during the timberwolf ambush. Or how she felt when she had thought she had inadvertently abandoned or lost Spike while being pursued by the dragon that had helped send them to Ponyville in the first place.

This wasn't just anger. This was fear, the kind that one goes through when someone they care about is in danger. Rainbow's question wasn't professional, at least not entirely, but instead was one born of worry for those she cared about. Ponyville was Dash's home, at the end of the day, these were the people who she grew up with. Who raised her. And in one solitary moment, Twilight had caused Rainbow Dash to jump to the conclusion that those people were in danger. A horrible, dark feeling that Twilight could empathize with.

And it was that empathy that led Twilight to answer what she assumed to be the most important of Dash's questions. Explaining just how she had gotten mixed into this situation in the first place. Everything from how Applejack showing her the memory-alteration that a good chunk of the townsfolk had been subjected to, all the way up to how Fluttershy had seen one such alteration take place. There weren't many details that she chose to omit, but there were a few that she had chosen to keep to herself. Both out of a desire to not lay down all her cards at once, so to speak, but also because she just couldn't find the words to even describe them. Her encounters with the Mare in the Moon were among those omitted titbits. That included the night where Twilight had been made witness to events within that very mare's past, something that she still didn't have fully figured out for herself. But aside from that, she found herself willing to brief Rainbow Dash on everything else.

Rainbow became visibly calmer as the explanation went on, only stopping Twilight every now and again to make sure there were no prying ears listening in on this sensitive conversation. There were no requests for clarification and no interrupting inquiries, only a stern silence was given back as Twilight continued to speak. It was only after Twilight was finished that the pegasus made herself heard.

"So... AJ and Flutters know that there's something up, but they don't know about the Choir itself?" Dash placed great emphasis on this question and this question alone, looking to Twilight with eyes that were practically begging Twilight for the answer as quickly as possible.

"That's... a little specific..." Confusion made itself known in Twilight's tone as she donned this more quizzical look, asking herself why Rainbow wanted clarification on this of all things. "But I'm fairly certain that's the case, yes..." And that confusion only grew as Rainbow further relaxed at the answer given, with a noticeable loss of tension in her face and posture as a wave of relief washed over the Black Hoof.

"Good, she's safe," Dash muttered under her breath, almost quietly enough for Twilight not to notice. There were a few moments of reprieve in the conversation as the pegasus processed this particular piece of information. Then, just as Twilight was about to ask her own follow-up questions, Dash interrupted her sternly. "Okay, thanks for the intel. Now do yourself a favor and forget about all of this. Magically, if you have to. Trust me, it's for your own good. You don't want that name in your head." That was all she had to say before she began walking away, much to Twilight's chagrin.

"I'm not walking away from this," Twilight sternly spoke up, an action that prompted Rainbow to stop and look back at her. "I'm in too deep to just turn tail and run away. I'm going to see this through to the end."

"No, you're not. You have absolutely no idea what you're getting yourself involved in." The authority befitting Dash's title radiated from her tone, a sign that this was now entirely a professional conversation. "I don't know what you think the Choir is, but whatever it is, you're wrong. This is big, Twilight. Bigger then you can possibly know."

"I know more then you think." Twilight's smile showed great confidence. "I've—"

"No, you really don't," Rainbow's interruption was blunt and intense. The calm from earlier was gone now, and once more the pegasus was displaying mostly anger. "And trust me, not knowing is the best thing that's ever happened to you."

"And why's that?"

"I can't tell you!"

"Why not?"

"Because knowing makes it stronger." Frustration was able to shine through her fear as Dash barked back at the alicorn in question, desperate to try and get Twilight to change her mind. "The more people who know, the stronger it gets. Just knowing its name is dangerous enough. So do yourself, and everyone else, a favor. Forget. In whatever way you can, as fast as you can. This hole is deep Twilight, don't chase the white rabbit." That was when Rainbow had chosen to walk away, taking with her Twilight's only avenue for further information. The cloaked alicorn didn't have any other options left, and she quickly decided to break out her trump card.

"Deeper than the Great Shadow War?"

Rainbow didn't respond, verbally or visually. She just stopped walking and stood there blankly for some time, slowly turning back at Twilight to stare at her. "Explain."

"I've... been having dreams. Dreams about the Mare in the Moon," Twilight continued, closing the distance with slow and confident steps. Only stopping when she was standing between Rainbow Dash and where ever it was she was going next. "And I've learned things in those dreams. Things I probably shouldn't know, like how long this choir of yours has really been around... I don't think walking away from this is an option for me anymore. I'm a part of this, one way or another."

Dash's eyes grew wider, shocked and almost appalled. If there were words to be said, then Dash couldn't possibly say them right now. She almost looked like she was about to puke, based on her expression alone. Obviously she wasn't liking what Twilight was saying, but couldn't express that sentiment at this point in time. This gave Twilight ample time to finish the offer she had in mind.

"So let me help put a stop to it. You can't tell me an alicorn wouldn't be helpful."

There wasn't an answer. Either Dash didn't have one to give, or she was just too shocked to give it at all. Instead, she just stood there, blankly staring at Twilight with this look of utter disbelief. Almost identical to the one Twilight had given earlier when Dash had explained how she had become a Black Hoof in the first place. Neither one of them kept track of how long this went on before Dash finally gave an answer, bluntly telling Twilight that if she really wanted to get involved, then she was the only one who could be blamed for whatever happens to her. Twilight was willing to accept those consequences if only to get her hoofs on the information that the pegasus had to offer. But when she asked for further clarification on the subject, she was only given an order to silently follow behind. Dash still had a job that needed to be done, after all, and it seemed that Twilight was now along for the ride.

— Chapter Twenty-Eight —

View Online

--- Insomniac Investigation ---

After convincing Rainbow Dash to let her help in this endeavor, Twilight allowed the conversation to fall silent for a time. Both of them needed a few moments to calm down and process what had just happened, and neither one of them was ready to break the healing silence. And they had ample time to do so, as all of Rainbow Dash's twisting and turning about to try and shake Twilight off of her trail had resulted in them ending up rather far away from the operative's objective—or at least, that was what Rainbow Dash had claimed. So if nothing else, they had more then enough time to enough to recuperate.

And the moonlit stroll the two found themselves on served as a good method of doing just that. Even if the moon itself seemed to be at the center of all of this. With just Twilight's admittedly vague knowledge of both the Mare in the Moon and the Moonlight Choir, it was hard to view the silver celestial body with anything other than animosity and dread. As the duo continued throughout the darkened Ponyville, Twilight couldn't help but gaze up to the moon every now and again. Questions bouncing to and fro in her head, just begging for answers. But every attempt to poke and prod at the pegasus who had these answers was frustratingly met with the same old responce.

"For the last time, I'm not going to tell you."

Dash's resolved confirmation was just as stern and unwavering the sixth time as it was the first. She wasn't going to budge on this subject any time soon, and that was a hard pill to swallow. But it was understandable enough, even Twilight could admit that much. The alicorn was the one who was butting in where she didn't have any "real" reason to do so, from a legal standpoint at least, so she was lucky she wasn't being arrested right about now. Though perhaps that had something to do with Dash knowing that Twilight really was, and not being one hundred percent sure if she could even subdue an alicorn. Or Dash was just bad at keeping these kinds of secrets, and letting Twilight help was the best method of damage control.

But the exact reason behind Twilight being allowed to contribute wasn't something of great importance, especially not after it was made clear where Dash was going this evening. Though how Twilight didn't guess that the Golden Oak's library was the target was something of a mystery, it seemed a bit obvious in retrospect. When investigating a crime, go to the scene. They were approaching the building from off to the side, the part of the building that had the least amount of windows notably enough—obviously a measure to try and prevent detection on Rainbow's part. And the desire to remain discreet was made clear when the pegasus subtly gestured for Twilight to keep her head low as the two drew closer to the building.

"I'm guessing you've met old Onwud by now?" Dash asked in a somewhat casual tone as she began converting a series of nearby bushes into something of a makeshift hiding spot. "Not to typecast, but you always were a bookworm, last I checked." Once she was satisfied with her work, her attention was turned towards the window nearest to the front entrance. She pressed her face up against the glass and squinted, peering into the darkened library for any sign of movement or life.

"You could say that..." Twilight didn't think it would be very wise to bring up her current state employment at this facility, or very relevant to the current situation. She was lucky enough that she wasn't facing any serious repercussions for tagging along on this officially sanctioned endeavor of Rainbow's—at least, none as of yet—and she didn't want to try and say anything that could potentially link her to this potential criminal.

That was the plan, at least. But Twilight wasn't even given enough time to say anything even a little bit incriminating, as she soon had to deal with the sensation of Dash wrapping a leg around her neck and yanking her down towards the ground. There wasn't even time to register what had happened before Twilight found herself nestled beside her former flying coach within the bush-made-fort.

"Rainbow, what are you—?!"

"Quiet," Dash hissed in responce, pushing a few leaves out of the way so the two of them could peer into the outside world. "Somebody's coming out!"

The creaky sound of Golden Oak's door opening was the next thing to reach Twilight's ears, just as Dash had forwarned. Both of them had their full attention to whoever was coming out of the library. Rainbow Dash apparently had the same idea, slowly and carefully shuffling forward and lifting her head ever so slightly to peer over the shrubbery, actions that were carefully mimicked by Twilight. Though much to her shock, there wasn't a single pony making their way out of the building. No, instead there were two individuals who were taking their first steps through the door. Walking side by side were two ponies who Twilight was actually able to recognize.

It was strange seeing Knox Onwud after the events of the past few days was a bizarre and unusual sensation. It seemed like yesterday where Twilight thought of him as nothing more than a kindly old stallion who ran the local library, but now she wasn't quite sure what to think. Dangerous, he was definitely dangerous. Or at the very least he had ill intentions, as far as Twilight was aware. This assumption was only reinforced by the look in his eyes. There was only the slightest opportunity to see his expression from this angle, but that was all it took to see that it was cold, cunning, yet oddly satisfied. The best way to describe his expression would be as that of an evil mastermind who's schemes have come to fruition. A look that chilled Twilight down to the bone.

Then there was the matter of the second pony, who's most noticeable was the silver watch that hung around her neck. The very same mare who had shown up the other day with that dusty old book, now confirmed to be working with the old sarosian in whatever scheme he was brewing. She was walking a short way ahead of the older stallion, almost as if he were walking her out as a host would a houseguest. The look on her face was far more dreary then her companion, either she was very tired or not at all happy about whatever it was that had happened there.

Once outside the confines of the old library, the unicorn mare turned around to begin addressing the old sarosian—who still had his back turned towards the building, and by extension Twilight and Rainbow. Though the exact details of how this conversation started were lost upon Twilight, thanks to Rainbow and her sudden urge to think out loud.

"Who in the world is that?!" Rainbow almost silently muttered, only loud enough for Twilight to possibly hear. Though it was evident that the question wasn't for the nearby alicorn outright, it didn't do much to stop Twilight from giving an answer. After all, it took longer then it should have, but it was at this exact moment where Twilight managed to remember that mare's name.

"Starlight Glimmer..."

Her realization was notably louder than Dash's inquiry, made evidence when Starlight's head darted ever so slightly to the side. Her eyes now peering right passed Knox Onwud and now falling upon the series of shrubs that Twilight and Rainbow found themselves hiding in. There was a brief flicker of shock upon her face, but she made no other outward announcement of her discovery. Instead, she simply stared at the bushes.

And both of the mares hiding within the flora froze on the spot. Through the small gap in the leaves that had been made earlier, Twilight could clearly see that the other mare's eyes were locked solely on her. Their eyes were locked in spite of the distance, light, and everything else between them that should have served to hinder it. Twilight wasn't even sure if the unicorn could see her or not. She shouldn't be able to see her, but given the way the mare with the watch was staring Twilight honestly wasn't sure.

"What is it?" Knox's voice cut through the darkness and tension of the situation, the stallion having noticed Starlight's loss of focus in the few brief seconds that had passed. His tone cold and sharp as a brutal knife, even offering his own piercing gaze towards the bushes himself. Yet unlike his compatriot, he didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary at first.

"... Nothing, I think it was just a squirrel or something," Starlight responded. She looked away from the makeshift hiding place and back to her associate. "It's not important."

"Hmm... you might be right..." Knox gazed at the bushes for a brief bit longer before turning back to Starlight. "I suppose we're both a little jumpy. The big night is just around the corner."

"Speaking of, I've actually been thinking about that," there was a slightly nervous chortle as she continued, gesturing with a hoof in an almost overly casual sense, "We've both been working really hard getting everything ready. So I was thinking that maybe we both deserve a little... reward for our hard work? Nothing too fancy... maybe a couple of drinks between friends?" The offer was made with all the tact and grace of a child asking for their birthday presents early. There was some kind of ulterior motive behind the suggestion, that much was clear enough. But whatever it was, it was something known only to the unicorn with the watch.

Her words were left to hang awkwardly in the air for a time, leaving a gracious opportunity for the three other ponies to try and decipher whatever meaning they had in truth. To Twilight's ears, at the very least, the offer sounded forced and improvised. Even more so considering that it came after her supposed discovery of the two hiding in the bushes, almost as if the unicorn didn't want her sarosian friend to make the same realization. But no matter what angle Twilight approached the question from, the reasons that drove these actions remained elusive and enigmatic.

"I'm sorry... what?" Knox responded after a pause, his tone making it clear that he was surprised by her suggestion.

" We're probably more than a bit overworked, I'm not gonna lie. And we've done more than our fair share for the cause," Starlight continued with a shrug, "Who's to say that we can't take one night to unwind?"

"Hmm... We have been pulling most of the weight..." A wing flexed around from his back, being used to scratch at his chin as he pondered the unicorn's words. Even from her limited perspective, Twilight was able to parse that the offer was being considered heavily. "That much is true."

"Then let's just go. You've been in town for a few years now, surely you've found a good bar or pub by now. My treat."

Knox's ears perked up before an almost giddy chuckle escaped his throat. "Well now, why didn't you open with that?" That was all it took for the two to be on their way. They only lingered for a moment to allow for the elder of the two to lock the door, and then they were off. Knox was leading the way, seeming as if he already had an establishment in mind for the evening of merriment ahead of them. Starlight followed dutifully behind, only offering the library the shortest of glimpses back before heading off. Twilight watched the two of them left without a further shred of attention being spared on her or Rainbow. Even still, she did not move from her hiding spot, still worried that she'd be caught by one of them. And that worry kept her frozen in place and kept here breaths slow and shallow.

This sentiment was not shared with Rainbow Dash, however, and it wasn't long before she practically threw herself out of the shrubs with great enthusiasm. She quickly spun around on her hooves and gazed back towards Twilight.

"There's no way she didn't see us," she barked through gritted teeth, "Why did you blow our cover?!"

"You're the one who asked who she was," Twilight gave her rebuttal as she stood up herself, shaking loose the leaves that had clung to her and her cloak while she stepped forward.

"But I didn't ask loud enough to be heard from Canterlot!" Dash groaned and rolled her eyes in frustration, very clearly regretting a number of decisions that she had made this evening. But instead of telling Twilight to take a hike—or arrest her—she instead went over to the library's front door and began investigating the locked barricade. "Well, you seem to know her. Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"I've... only met her one time. Frankly, I'm surprised I remembered her name... She was returning a book. I think you already know which one."

"MmmHmm," Dash murmured back as she freed one of her wings from beneath her saddlebags. She was only half paying attention to Twilight as she swiftly plucked two of her own feathers. These feathers were then taken into her hooves and skillfully inserted into the keyhole, with Dash beginning to twist and push them about methodically. "Anything else?"

"Only that she was acting really nervous," Twilight recalled aloud. She stopped for a moment to try and recollect her previous encounter with that mare, as she hadn't put much thought on it since it had happened. The memories were a bit fuzzy but clear enough to pull an answer from. "It was like she was... afraid of me. If I had to guess." And guessing was as far as she could go with that strange mare.

Rainbow shifted her attention back towards Twilight for only a moment, a look of concerned curiosity upon her face. But just as quickly as Twilight had regained the Black Hoof's attention it was lost once more when Rainbow returned her attention to the locked door. It was only now that she could be bothered to pay attention to whatever it was that her old flying coach was doing—still fidgeting about with those two feathers she had stuck into the door's locking mechanism. There seemed to be a method to the madness, as the movements weren't quite as random as one might think at first glance. It was obvious enough as to what the mare was attempting to do, as impossible as such an act seemed to be with simple feathers.

And it was made even clearer as the lock clicked, the door creaked, and the passageway was opened with a nudge of Dash's hoof. Much to Twilight's astonishment and the pegasus's delight.

"Did you just... pick a lock with some feathers?"

"Yes I did," the pegasus was practically a glowing beacon of pride, "Pretty cool, right?"

Twilight slowly nodded with a slight shrug. Even she couldn't deny that it was actually pretty impressive. "So... was that a Wonderbolt trick or a Black Hoof trick?"

"Neither. That one came from my dad." That was the last time that Dash's feat was brought up, Twilight having nothing further to add after that particular titbit. Of course, she had learned that skill from someone in her family. It just made too much sense. And Twilight shuddered at the thought of what kind of stallion would teach her daughter to pick a lock. Probably the same kind of father who would raise a pony like Rainbow, all things considered. Probably someone very loud and very bombastic. Someone Twilight was glad wasn't at the train station earlier today, for better or worse.

This brief bit of mental wondering was cut short when Dash stopped partway into the library, cutting off Twilight from entering the premises herself.

"So... I know I said I'd let you help and all..." Dash began to murmur in an almost pleading manner, "But is there any chance that 'helping out' can translate to 'keeping watch'?"

The nonchalantly narrow-eyed look that Twilight responded with was worth a thousand words. That lazy, almost bored look upon her face was the only answer that Twilight found appropriate in this scenario. In essence, it was almost more of a lack of reaction, an expression that lacked any and all sign of emotion—not unlike Pinkie's older sister, Maud. But it was definitive enough to get Twilight's point across without fail, made clear when Dash let out a low groan of defeat.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Come on then, who knows how long we have 'till they come back?" Twilight couldn't help but smirk at that as she followed Rainbow into the building, making sure to close the door behind her as to cover their tracks.

The Golden Oak's library was a setting that Twilight had become rather familiar with during her extended stay in Ponyville, but entering this place at night was like walking into another world. Doubly so, now that she had some vague idea of the sinister machinations that were being housed here. Without the lamps and sunlight, the space was almost oppressively darkened by the intense shadows, only contrasted by the pale moonlight as it filtered into the room through the windows—but even this was only a reminder of the dangers that lurked further within. The two of them wasted no time in searching down here, they both knew that whatever secrets were held within these tree forged walls would be found on the third floor and the third floor alone. So the two mares ascended, the old stairs creaking beneath their hooves with almost every step. And with every step they took, the light of the moon became fainter and fainter as the darkness all but swallowed them whole.

And soon enough, Twilight and Dash found themselves at the closed door leading to the third floor. It towered over Twilight like a monolith, or at least it seemed to in what little light was able to reach this place. And while Twilight found herself hesitating at the prospect of going forward, Rainbow showed no such concerns as she pushed the door open. And as the old hinges creaked and the barricade was pushed to the side, their eyes were finally met with an absolutely pitch-black abyss. It was as if this was where the world ended, and all that was beyond this point was an infinite inky void.

A void that Rainbow Dash walked headlong into without any delay. And like a canary in a coal mine, the Black Hoof's action served an important roll in letting Twilight know that the room wasn't booby-trapped. Or at least not trapped to the degree of making the room explode upon unauthorized entry—or something else as ridiculously over the top. Which was better than nothing, all things considered.

"Hey, egghead," Dash's voice echoed out of the darkness, almost startling Twilight as she had almost forgotten that the pegasus was even in there. "I'm letting you tag along on my job, could you at least give me some light?"

Getting over the brief moment of unnecessary shock rather quickly, Twilight rolled her eyes as she stepped into the darkness in turn. As requested, her horn became enveloped by arcane light. Though the glow from her horn wasn't nearly as bright as what she was capable of, and the spell didn't last anywhere near as long. Instead, the magenta aura condensed into a small dim sphere at the tip of her horn—no bigger than a firefly—and it began lazily moving forward towards the center of the ceiling. This was intentional on Twilight's part though, as she had something a bit more potent in mind than just a simple glowing horn.

"Uhh... I had something a bit... brighter in mind..." By the sound of it, Dash didn't exactly sound too impressed with what Twilight had planned.

"Don't look directly at it." Twilight headed her own warning by averting her gaze—tightly shutting her eyes for good measure. The suggestion did fall on deaf ears though, evidence by the loud "huh?" that was uttered at that exact moment. And then it happened, the loud arcane "pop" served as the signal that it was safe to open one's eyes. But that sudden sense of safety was contradicted by the loud shriek of mixed surprise and pain, followed by the unmistakable thud of a grown mare falling upon the ground in a heap. The gift of sight wasn't needed to figure out what had happened, Rainbow obviously didn't listen to Twilight's sage advice.

The cloaked alicorn corrected her posture and opened her eyes, greeted not to darkness but instead something that could almost be compared to sunlight. And in this newfound light, Twilight was free to see what exactly was held within this place. Unsurprisingly accurate to Fluttershy's testimony, the dusty and derelict room was littered with various desks and tables—some clothed, some not. Each had a number of books resting upon them, some of which Twilight was actually able to recognize from a distance. After all, some of the books that she had sold to Knox during her first few days here could be found among this hidden collection. Thick looking tarps held the windows hostage, responsible for the oppressive darkness that had just been vanquished. The only real difference from the story was what hung in the air in the center of the room, a glowing sphere that could accurately be described as a miniature sun. While not as intense as the celestial body it was designed to mimic, it was more than bright enough to cause a bit of discomfort if one were to look right at it.

Doubly so while it was in the process of forming. And speaking of which, a stunned Rainbow Dash could be found laying on the floor a few steps away from Twilight. The shocked mare rubbed at her eyes in some vain attempt to undo what had already been done, moaning and groaning in an almost disoriented manner. But it wasn't long before the pegasus was able to collect her bearings, shakily dragging herself off of the ground with a bit of assistance on Twilight's behalf. It took longer for her to open her now impossibly dilated and watery eyes, rapidly blinking them as she tried to regain her sight. Permanent damage didn't seem to be on the table, thankfully enough, made clear when Dash angrily turned a furious glare to Twilight.

"What the buck was THAT?!" Angry was too weak of a word to describe the cadence carried in Dash's question.

"Portable sunlight," Twilight had to fight back a bit of a giggle at her friend's overblown reaction, "Just a little trick I picked up from the Queen back in the day."

"You could have given me a heads up!"

"I told you not to look at it."

The pegasus remained silent, staring bitterly at Twilight for a moment before walking away and shaking her head. Something was murmured under her breath as she did so, and afterward, she turned back to the cloaked pony.

"Okay. You can go ahead and help me look around," Dash attempted to give her instructions as neutrally as possible, in spite of the fact that she was still clearly a bit miffed. "But don't touch anything. Don't read anything. Don't even breathe on anything. The only thing you do is tell me if you see anything suspicious, and then look away!"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the strange set of requests. "Then... what's the point of me being here?"

"Because me bringing you was the easier option since you wouldn't just let this go, you nosey brat." The answer came bluntly enough to get Dash's feelings across. "Besides, I can't legally let a civilian do any investigation. But if you just so happen to be here while I'm doing my job and you just so happen to report something odd to me, then that's fine." A not so subtle wink followed suit before Dash ceased giving the cloaked alicorn any real attention.

Twilight processed the terms she had been given for a short time before shaking her head and just moving along with her own search. She really wasn't in any position to be complaining about not being allowed to break the law any more than she already was. Being here at all was the compromise that Twilight had been wanting, so it wouldn't be a good idea to try and pry for anything more than she already had.

Thus she went forward, beginning her search for the answers to any of her many questions she had been asking for days now. How it took her so long to try coming in here herself was baffling, but she was finally ready to search the lion's den. Thankfully, the past few days had given her some vague idea of what to look for. The old book she'd been seeing in her dreams, as well as the two unusual objects that Fluttershy had described in her story—a strange necklace and some kind of black rock. Not the most specific of descriptions, but it was better than nothing.

— Chapter Twenty-Nine —

View Online

--- A Sarosian's Secrets ---

The third floor of the Golden Oak's library. The den of secrets that was the home of the answers that Twilight Sparkle had been searching these past several days for. Or at least, it was in theory. And while Rainbow Dash was off exploring some of the offshoot-rooms and closets, Twilight was left with the more open section of the floor. Practically a maze of book-laden tables that served to fill the majority of the space up here.

Twilight began by roaming from one of these tables to the next in sequence, scanning the books that laid atop in search of the one she was looking for. Open or closed, none of the texts that Twilight could see were of any real interest, however. Most of these books, as expected, were spell books of various descriptions. Everything from the most basic of techniques like levitation, to things that were far more advanced like healing magic and whatnot. With every book that she glanced at, this felt less and less like a mastermind's lair and more and more like the disorganized study of someone who was borderline obsessed by unicorn magic. There didn't seem to be anything particularly damning here.

That is until Twilight was finally reunited with the book that had helped to start her out on this self-imposed quest.

That silver crescent moon emblazoned on the cover, alongside those three Searăn that had been at the forefront of Twilight's thoughts for days now. Corul Luminii Lunii, the words were alluring in their own right. Practically begging for Twilight to take a look inside at what secrets were held within. It was almost unreal to see it again in the waking world, almost enough to convince Twilight that she was dreaming. Oh, but she was oh so very awake, prooven by a quick pinprick of magic that she centered on the frog of her left forehoof. It wasn't a dream, meaning that whatever she found when she eventually opened that book was going to be the real deal. No cryptic messages or warnings to be interrupted by the Mare in the Moon. No, the only thing held in these aged pages were the answers that Twilight had dedicated herself to uncovering on a whim.

And now that the option to remove the veil was finally within her grasp, she hesitated. The anticipation built and built until it boiled over, the alicorn beginning to shake and tremble from the mixed excitement and anxiety. She could feel her heartbeat elevate in tempo as she stared at the book, only now wondering if she should even look. It was only now that Dash's warnings had come to hit their mark, the promise that more knowledge would lead to only more danger. Was she really willing to risk everything, just for the sake of stopping whatever it was that had been going on in this quiet little country town?

She tore her eyes away from the book, scanning the main hall of the library's third floor for the pegasus who had brought her up here. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen, likely still snooping about in one of the side rooms or closets for whatever it was she had been sent here to find. Maybe she was doing a bit of reading of her own, Twilight idly thought in an attempt to convince herself to do the same. And even though Dash had specifically told Twilight to simply let the Black Hoof know when she found something that looked suspicious, the alicorn couldn't help but make the assumption that this had been an act of creating a cover story. After all, Dash shouldn't have brought Twilight up here in the first place. They'd both be in the same amount of hot water if word of this little tag-along got out. So while Dash had the advantage in being able to legally arrest and detain Twilight for her intrusion, Twilight held just as much leverage herself. Even more, depending on how much Dash valued her job.

So it was decided. Rainbow Dash had brought Twilight up here to assist her in this endeavor, and the only way she was going to be of any use as if she prepared herself. Knowledge was a powerful weapon, and Twilight was ready to arm herself to the teeth. Whatever Knox and his associates were planning was something BIG, and she couldn't just stand idly by and allow such treachery to go on. And thus, Twilight took up the tome in her arcane grip, and she gently opened the aged book and began to read.

The purple pony found herself face to face with a wall of Searăn text—unsurprising, seeing as how that was the language the cover of the book had been in. Another unsurprising discovery was the specific dialect that the book was written in. Languages had the pesky trouble of morphing and mutating with time, and this piece had been written a very long time ago. A few hundred years, at the very least, more than enough time for Seară's spoken and written tongue to alter itself in such a manner. And while Twilight was able to speak, read, and write the modern incarnation of the foreign language, this older dialect was something that she found herself having some issues with. She could still read it, albeit very slowly, and having to go back and reread a sentence or two every once in a while. She wasn't going to be speed reading this passage, but she knew she could get through it if she had the time.

From what she was able to parse, the old book seemed to be some bizarre mix of a spellbook and a research journal. Whoever had written this was not an expert on the subject, but rather an individual who had been studying it themselves. The blurbs of old Searăn were organized by date, which made the book seem more like a log of their progress. And as she pushed her way through the earliest entries in this pseudo diary, Twilight found herself captivated by the constant mention of the unnamed "Equestrian Benefactor" who seemed to be assisting the author in their research, as well as funding the entire operation. There were no names to be had in any of these entries, however. Both the author and the Equestrian Benefactor had been left completely anonymous.

The subject of their research, unsurprisingly, was the titular Choir of Moonlight. But what seemed odd to Twilight was that there seemed to be more mentions of more psychological and metaphysical concepts rather than information on a cult. In fact, any and all mentions of the Choir itself seemed to be written in a way that referenced an individual, not an organization. But that didn't make any sense, how could a Choir be an individual? At first, the young alicorn was under the impression that she was simply misreading what was in front of her. After all, this was an old book written in an old dialect that Twilight wasn't even a native speaker of. It only made sense that she'd misinterpreted something along the way. So she retraced her steps and went to reread what she had already passed, hoping to find where she had made the mistake.

Though no mistake was found on Twilight's part, as far as she could tell. Based on her personal translations, she could only find more mentions of dreams and nightmares and other non-corporal concepts that the Choir seemed to operate on. There wasn't a single mention of when the group was founded, what the chain of command was, nothing of the sort. This was starting to get under Twilight's skin.

It was almost as if the Choir wasn't even a cult at all.

This was when, once again, Twilight paused her brief bit of improvised research. In part to give her mind a short break after straining herself to translate all of this old Searăn text by memory alone, but also to try and comprehend whatever it was she was actually reading. She had come to this book expecting answers but had so far come out with more questions than when she started. Mostly trying to wrap her head around the idea of what the Choir really was. Maybe it was just her shoddy translation work, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of concrete explanation. She could feel the beginning of a headache forming from the strain she was putting herself through. She was going to need to sit down with the proper tools to translate this book if she was going to make any headway in solving this puzzle.

But that would have to wait until later, for there were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. A short but shrill yelp of shock belonging to Rainbow Dash from the next room over. Something had gone wrong in her own investigation of this place. And considering what had occurred in Fluttershy's story, it could very easily become something far worse. So the alicorn quickly rushed on over to where the scream came from— absentmindedly stuffing the old tome into her saddlebags as she did so. Caution was thrown to the wind as she rounded the corner, knocking something on a nearby wall loose as she haphazardly ran by, but that wasn't her concern right now. The alicorn practically flew into the room at breakneck speed, only to have her neck almost break as Dash wrapped a foreleg around it to hold her back from venturing any further.

"Not another step, you'll spring the trap!" Dash barked with mixed frustration and fear, "That thing's cursed, and I really don't wanna find out what it'll do to you!"

There was a moment where the two struggled with one another, but it didn't take long for Twilight to give up the ghost. It didn't seem like Dash had been brainwashed, so she decided to at least hear her out. So she did as she was told and didn't advance any further, even taking a step or two back. But that sign of respect didn't stop her from glancing behind the pegasus to see the supposedly cursed item in question, which sat atop a pedestal designed to proudly display such an item.

It was now that Twilight realized that this was one of the two objects Fluttershy had seen in her last visit to this place. It clearly had to be the "weird necklace" that had supposedly given Onwud the gift of magic, just based on its appearance. An inverted triangular amulet comprised of dark-tinted metal with very minimal highlights of silver, with a large red diamond-cut gemstone housed at the very center that held a spark of arcane light within. The relic bore a pair of bird-like wings accented with inlaid carvings colored a vibrant red color. But the most concerning feature was the intensely sculpted head of a stern-looking unicorn, with eyes that shared the same ruby glow of the gem below. This feature, combined with the wings, gave the amulet the unmistakable visage of an alicorn.

Red flag.

"What is that thing?" Twilight couldn't help but ask, finding herself unnerved by the piercing red gaze that the item had. She felt as if it was peering into her very soul itself. And she did not like it one bit. The longer she looked at it, the more she felt this dreadful premonition building up inside of her.

"That's an alicorn amulet..." Dash grimly explained, seemingly too shocked to even try making up some excuse. "One of the most dangerous magical artifacts ever constructed."

"And... why is that?" Twilight asked almost mindlessly, transfixed by the sinister glow of the gemstone. It was practically overflowing with arcane might, almost enough for Twilight to physically choke on it. The word "intimidating" didn't even begin to describe it. It was frightening.

"It gives non-unicorns the ability to do magic... and it gives unicorns the magical output of an alicorn," Dash looked back towards Twilight, "I don't think I need to tell you, of all ponies, why that's so dangerous."

This was what got Twilight's attention off of the magical weapon, her shocked eyes now falling upon the knowledgable pegasus who had told her this. If what Dash had just said was true, then this thing should not exist at all. Twilight knew from experience that alicorn magic was far more potent then the average pony knew, as simple tasks had become grueling tests of mental and magical control after her own ascension. And that was when she wasn't even trying to do any damage. But this? In the wrong hooves, this thing could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. And seeing was how Rainbow had chosen to identify it as "an alicorn amulet," that could only mean one thing. There was more than one of these out there. How many, Twilight couldn't say for sure. But any number of these things wasn't good for anyone in the long run. Thus, utterly appalled by what she had just been told, the next question came to life on its own accord.

"Wh-why would anyone make something that?!"

"We really wanted to win the war..." Rainbow explained in an upset manner, approaching the artifact once again, the red stone it bore beginning to glow brighter and brighter as she drew closer. "Only a few of them were made, and they were thankfully never used... In basic training, I was told that the Queen had them all destroyed... but I guess she missed a few."

This left Twilight shocked further still with the implications of those words. These were Equestrian made weapons of mass destruction, constructed in the time Equestria was a nation at war. And whether or not they were used was irrelevant in Twilight's eyes—making them at all was a horrific and blasphemous act in her mind. This kind of power was dangerous enough in the possession of the few alicorns that existed. It sickened her that her home nation would try to mass produce that, regardless of their reasons for doing so. It made her want to vomit. She had to take her mind off of it, for she couldn't bear to think of it any further. This was when Twilight finally noticed Dash's proximity to the device, something that heavily contradicted with something the other mare had said not too long ago.

"Wait... didn't you just say it was cursed?" The fear and disgust that Twilight felt towards that immensely powerful artifact were replaced with great concern for the Black Hoof's safety—and her own.

"Yup." Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seemed more focused on whatever it was she was doing at the moment. Her own saddlebags had been set on the ground, with their owner now digging about within them. "Scared the crap outta me when I came in here, too. You'd think a Black Hoof wouldn't be so jumpy, right?" She chuckled at her own expense.

"And didn't you say that if I got too close I'd set it off?"

"Also yup. So stay back for a minute while I take care of that."

"But... aren't you going to—?!"

Rainbow interrupted the perfectly reasonable question by smacking a hoof against her head three times without looking away from the inside of her bags. Oddly enough, there was an almost metallic clang that chimed out with each smack. The unmistakable sound of a hoof colliding with metal. "There's a plate of adamant in my head. They put it in on my first day as a Black Hoof. Standard issue." Dash finally spared a moment to look back up to Twilight, now bearing a very familiar cocky grin. "Think of it like magic insulation. Keeps all kinds of nasty magic from poking around in my brain. It also makes me really good at headbutting, funnily enough."

Twilight didn't think that anything else could have surprised her today, but there was Dash with another shocking revelation that managed to amaze the young alicorn. Adamant was something that Twilight had learned about in her time at the School for Gifted Unicorns. After all, it was the only mineral in the world that displayed an almost complete immunity to magic in all of its forms. Including alicorn magic. One would need enough raw magical power to fundamentally alter the laws of physics in order to bypass that otherwise immutable fact.

That unique property—combined with its extreme rarity and impossible durability—made it the most expensive material in the world without question. With only a few pounds of the stuff, you'd be able to get enough money to set you up for life. And Rainbow Dash had a plate of it embedded in her head. As did every Black Hoof cooperative, if Dash's claim of "standard issue" was true. No wonder Black Hoofs tended to keep their identities secret, Twilight soon realized. They all have a literal king's ransom tucked away with them at all times.

This was enough to get Twilight's mind off of the horrendously stupid idea sitting at the end of this room, turning and leaving Rainbow to do whatever it was she planned on doing with the amulet. The smart money was on her removing that proximity-based curse by one means or another. Probably salt or something like that. But Twilight didn't spare more than a moment thinking on that, she had other things to do at the moment. And with the Black Hoof preoccupied with that ancient weapon, she was left to continue exploring Golden Oak's third floor without much threat of being interrupted. She went back to doing just that, searching around for anything, in particular, that could have be of importance.

Though it wasn't very long before she took notice of something that very well fit that description. It had been sitting in the back of her mind since she ran to Dash's aide, the thing that she had unwittingly knocked from the wall in her haste. But now she had all the time in the world to rectify her careless mistake, taking the fallen object in her magic hue to see what it was. After all, it could be important.

A large framed painting was the victim of Twilight's reckless running about, depicting nothing more than a lone pony standing in front of the very building that Twilight was in right now. Despite the apparent age of the piece, the alicorn could tell that the pony in the portrait was the owner of an oak colored coat and a vibrant goldenrod colored mane and tail. He was a rather elderly looking stallion, one who had lived through a long life. With minimal regrets, if that kindly smile shown in the painting was worth anything. In particular, however, Twilight was keen on noticing some of the elder pony's features. The tufts of fur at the ends of his ears, the vertical pupils of his olive eyes, and the upwardly curved horn coming from his forehead. The unmistakably visible traits of a sarosian unicorn—more commonly referred to as a sarocorn. What sarosians were to pegasi, sarocorns were to unicorns. A nocturnal counterpart that was native to the regions in and around Seară. Depicted here, as evidently someone rather important. A fact that was proven by the golden plaque engraved into the bottom of the elaborate frame.

In memorial of Golden Oak.
A Wise Scholar and a True Friend.

"Golden Oak, huh..." Twilight murmured to herself as she returned the painting to its place on the wall. "Guess that's where the name came from."

"Who's the geezer?" Dash's sudden question startled Twilight into her own version of the loud yelp that the pegasus had previously let out. This amused said pegasus for a short while before she quickly returned to a more serious demeanor.

"I thought you were—?!"

"Taken care of," Dash proudly patted the saddlebag hanging on her left side, "Curse removed, amulet confiscated."

"Right..." Twilight sighed, turning her attention back to the old portrait and her friend's previous question. "I'm... guessing that this is who the library's named after."

"Huh... neat." The sudden loss of interest was apparent on Rainbow's face as she turned to her old friend. "So, find anything else?"

"N-no," Twilight managed to stammer out, "Nothing important, anyway. Just a bunch of spellbooks."

"Gee, I wonder what he was doing with those?" The sarcasm laden within that question was obvious enough on its own, only made more so as Dash gestured towards her own saddlebag. "Oh, he's not gonna be happy when he gets arrested tomorrow. I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

"Arrested?" This shouldn't have come as a surprise to Twilight, and she knew as much as soon as she asked the admittedly silly question. She considered backtracking for a moment, but Rainbow was too quick on the draw to give her that option.

"Well, duh. Of course, he's gonna get arrested. He's involved with some super illegal stuff. The Alicorn Amulet is just icing on the cake." Dash explained as she stretched herself out, yawning loudly before she felt the need to continue. "And before you ask. Yes, I have a search warrant."

"I... honestly didn't know Black Hoofs needed those..."

"You know the funny thing is, we don't. It just makes it easier." The following chortle on Dash's behalf marked yet another chilling revelation for Twilight to add to the growing list. Neither of them had anything else to add to the current conversation, which prompted the pegasus to continue her search and instructing Twilight to do the same.

And despite not being asked why, Dash chose to explain that even though the amulet was enough to get Knox locked away for several life-sentences, but there were still some top-secret things that Rainbow was required to find. What these things were? She didn't say. In fact, she went out of her way to tell Twilight that she wouldn't tell her, in spite of the fact that Twilight had yet to even attempt to ask. Though to be fair, Twilight had proven herself to be more than a bit nosey on this evening. And besides, at least it was an excuse to keep snooping around without being ushered out by the bossy pegasus. Win-win.

So that was what Twilight continued to do, putting everything else on the back burner for the time being as she went about her business. After all, the strange necklace from Fluttershy's story had already been found. The same could be said for the book that had initially piqued Twilight's interest in this mess in the first place. At this point, she was beginning to have doubts on whether or not that this was going to have any real impact on her investigation, how significant could one little stone be? Well, seeing as how it was one of the things that Fluttershy had chosen to commit to memory, it was at least worth checking out.

Of course, finding a hoof-sized stone in this mess wasn't exactly as easy as it sounded. Hopefully, it was just as important to Knox as that amulet was, otherwise this was going to be a very long night. It didn't help that her attention was divided between actually finding whatever this rock was and making sure Dash didn't find it first—or interrupt when it was actually found. That extra bit of caution was what kept Twilight busy for quite some time, her nerves acting as just as big of an obstacle as anything else.

But even the toughest of problems can be solved with enough perseverance and a tiny bit of luck. The opportunity arose when she noticed Dash examining the large office desk at the back of the room, seemingly groaning in frustration as she couldn't find whatever it was that was on her list, and it was but a simple whim that drew Twilight to check it out after the pegasus went to search elsewhere. Just like the various other tables around the third floor, the ornate desk was littered in books. Most of them spellbooks of varying levels of complexity, unsurprisingly enough, though others did manage to worm their way into Knox's apparent research. Apparently he was trying to teach himself to make mango curry as well as magic if the open cookbook was to be believed.

Though it wasn't these dusty old texts that caught Twilight's attention, but instead the simple wooden box that she spotted just barely peeking out from underneath one of the few closed books in the horde. With only a moment's glance, it would have been quite easy to mistake the container for just another collection of pages. A simple observational error that was likely what caused Dash to leave it be, much to Twilight's benefit. It didn't take her long to unbury the little wooden box—double-checking to make sure Dash wasn't going to apprehend her for interacting with it. But when the other mare didn't even bother to take notice of what she was doing, it was the green light that Twilight needed to go ahead and open the case.

The inside of the box itself wasn't anything special outside of the cushiony velvet used to cradle the sole occupant. No doubt the second of the two items Fluttershy had described in her story, the hoof sized crystal sat in the middle of the box as plain as day. The first thing that anyone would notice was the large, jagged gash in the middle of the seed shaped gem. With the way it was shaped, it almost looked as if something had somehow forced its way out of the unusual rock. There was a smokey white hue to the stone overall, but through the slightly transparent material, one could very easily see what could only be described as wisps of inky black smoke swirling and writhing within the mass, occasionally filling up a majority of the space to create the appearance of the "black stone" just like in Fluttershy's story.

But all of this was lost on Twilight. In fact, everything was lost to Twilight as soon as she laid eyes upon the crystal. Thought was a difficult enough prospect right now, and the privilege of breathing was proving to be just as difficult. The only movement visible on her person was of her wide and dilated eyes, her miniaturized pupils twitching and spamming as if trying to look away from the darkness contained within the stone, yet prevented from doing so by some unseen force. Her heart skipped a beat and a throbbing wave was sent throughout her body in response. When it reached her horn, this uncomfortable pulse had an instantly noticeable effect on her magic. The aura that was holding the box flickered out of existence for a split second, coming back just in time to catch the box and preventing her from taking her eyes off of it. The other spell that Twilight had cast, the small orb of artificial sunlight near the ceiling of the room, also began to fade and flicker. Fighting for its right to even exist, struggling to continue to provide light. But it was a losing battle, as the room was frequently cast into brief bits of absolute darkness followed by longer periods of unstable light.

"Uhh... Twilight?" Rainbow Dash worriedly asked from the other side of the room, her voice sounding far more distant to Twilight then it should have been. "You doing alright over there? Is something wrong?" With every word spoken her voice began to warble more and more in Twilight's ears, to the point where it was almost unrecognizable. The only thing she could hear was a very familiar ringing resonance coming from one of her own saddlebags, of all places. And while she couldn't act to check on the source of it right now, she had a strong feeling she knew where it was coming from.

Yes, something was very wrong. That much was certain. But Twilight lacked the ability to make any kind of reply. Instead, she just stood there, blankly staring at the secret she wished she hadn't uncovered. But while her body was unable to act in any meaningful way, her mind was as sharp as ever, perfectly aware of what was happening here. She knew what this stone was. As something like this had happened to her before, very recently in fact. And although it felt almost entirely different in every way, she knew it was connected to what had occurred in the Everfree Forest just last night. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out, especially thanks to the familiar ringing from her saddlebag, even in Twilight's current state.

It was happening again.

The light of her artificial sun was on its last legs by now, finally dying out completely with a pathetic sizzle of expended magical energy. And as the light sun came to darkness, so too did Twilight. The light around her horn faded as her tensed body finally gave way, swiftly and limply falling to the ground in a heap. The wooden box she was holding, along with the stone, clattered to the ground just as she had. And as her already fleeting sense of awareness began to fade away entirely, Twilight could only just vaguely make out the sound of Rainbow's voice screaming her name in mixed concern and horror. It was the last sound Twilight heard before she once again found her consciousness drifting off into sweet sweet sleep.

And once more, Twilight began to dream of a life lived long ago, one that did not belong to her.

— Chapter Thirty —

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--- What Nightmares Thrive On ---

Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. And based on what she could see in her peripherals, neither could any of the others who had witnessed the atrocity unfold before them.

Today was supposed to be a day of joy, a day of new beginnings. The first step into what would hopefully be a new golden age under the rule of Queen Celestia the Second. But that dream had been rendered mute in a most heinous and unspeakable manner. And the one behind it all was standing right there, wickedly laughing proudly over his "achievement," standing over the still-warm body of the alicorn that he had just swiftly murdered. The knife still lodged deep into her throat.

Queen Sanctus Solis Celestia the First. Dead and gone. Something once thought impossible, until now.

Twilight wasn't able to speak for the others in attendance. Not the royal ambassadors from other nations, nor her two older sisters who had also just witnessed the assassination of their mother at the hoofs of Twilight's father. The only feelings she could currently process were her own, and it wouldn't be long before everyone else knew just exactly what was going through her head. There was a time of grief and of absolute agony. It only made sense, there weren't many other reactions one could have to watch their own mother be killed in such a brutal manner. But now wasn't the time for grieving over the loss of a loved one. And the anguish coursing through Twilight served well as kindling for the flames of unimaginable rage and hatred that were soon to burst to life within her.

She pushed herself up to her hooves, flaring the bat-like wings she had inherited from her father as her curved horn ignited with crackling silver light. Bearing her fangs, the cobalt alicorn roared louder than any banshee as she lunged forward into a low but fast flight. The king turned assassin was caught off guard by the assault, and soon found himself being forcibly pushed through the air at alarming speed by his own daughter's armored hooves. Flying at an almost incomprehensible speed, Twilight used the stallion she once called father as a battering ram to break through one of the room's many decorative windows.

The glass plate exploded into millions of fragments as Twilight used her superior strength to continue to push against Sombra, adjusting her flight to move at a more downward angle. They landed in the castle courtyard with a thunderous crash, which was soon followed by the calamitous screams of confusion and terror of the surrounding ponies. The spectators who had come to witness her sister's coronation, no doubt, but such things were beyond Twilight's concern at the moment. And as the civilians began to scream and scatter, with all of the nearby guards doing what they could to calm the sudden conclave of chaos, her focus was set entirely on the stallion who had just killed her mother.

The two had traveled a considerable distance, but even with the force of an alicorn pushing him along, the fall wasn't far enough to outright kill the mortal stallion. He likely had a few broken bones, among other injuries if the slow stream of blood from one of his nostrils was anything to go off of, but he was going to live. But based on the way Twilight's hooves were pushing into his chest, alongside the sparkling glow of her horn, there was no telling how much longer that would last. But even still, the sarosian king managed to choke out a pained laugh through his clenched teeth, only further serving to infuriate his daughter.

"You dare strike at your Father in such a barbaric way?!" The stallion's tone was rich with mock anger, the pain-filled grin on his face proof enough that this was some twisted attempt at sarcasm or humor. "Did your Mother not raise you to respect your elders?!" He choked out another laugh.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Twilight screamed in his face, pressing down harder atop his ribcage. She could feel the brittle bones beginning to crack under her unreal strength, though she only let up enough as to not kill him outright. "Do you have ANY idea what you have just done?!"

The only answer Sombra gave was yet another wicked laughed, with significantly less strain on his behalf from the sounds of it. The dark crystals that seemed to be growing out of his body began to glow with intertwining tendrils of red and green magic, as did the stallion's crazed eyes. Before Twilight could process what was going on, a powerful pulse of arcane might erupted from him, flinging Twilight off of him with enough force to send her flying for quite a distance.

She collided with a decorative pillar with enough momentum to crack the marble structure, leaving her stunned for a brief moment. The concentration on her magic was lost and her silver aura faded away soon after, the alicorn grunting and groaning in a daze for a short period. It didn't take the trained alicorn very long to collect her bearings, quickly turning her attention back to the foreign king.

Still draped in the writhing inferno of dark magic, Sombra returned to his hooves with little difficulty. Something that should have been impossible, given the hit he had just taken. It was now that Twilight could see that the window had done more then she expected, large shards of glass protruding from where the stallion's body had been used to break through it. And her mouth fell agape as she watched his body simply push the broken fragments out as the wounds were miraculously healed in seconds. Only the faintest of scars were left behind from the undone injuries.

"You're using magic...?!" Rage was temporarily quenched by shock and confusion at the seemingly impossible feat that she had just witnessed with her own eyes. Sombra was a sarosian, he shouldn't have been capable of doing that. Not without help. What in the world was happening? It didn't matter, Twilight soon rationalize as she began to stand, she had to put a stop to stop this menace.

"I am?" Sombra asked in mock surprise, examining the sinister aura that still engulfed his body. "Oh, it would seem you are correct! Shall we see what else I am capable of?" With a smirk, the King of Seară jabbed a hoof toward his daughter. Tendrils of dark magic lurched forward from the aura around him, wrapping themselves tightly around Twilight before she could even process what he had even done. Then, with a commanding swipe of that same hoof, Sombra sent his daughter sailing through the air with great velocity. Though unlike Twilight, who had chosen to use Sombra's body to break through a window, the king saw it fit to use his own daughter to break through one of the castle walls.

The young alicorn shuddered and coughed from the kicked up dust as she came to a stop in the rubble. Needless to say, being thrown through a wall wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience Twilight had ever gone through in her life thus far. And despite being an alicorn clad in full plate mail, the impact she had just endured was still enough to cause a considerable amount of pain. But not so much to keep her from clamoring back to her hooves, not that she was given a chance to though. Twilight could feel the hoof as it pressed into the side of her head, not enough to cause any kind of damage but it was enough to keep her from getting up. It was obvious enough to tell that it was an intimidation tactic as opposed to an attack.

"Now then, my dearest daughter, I would strongly advise you to cease your foolishness while you can." Sombra's tone was that of pure authority and unadulterated confidence. Based on his posture and his voice, it was easy enough to see that he had no doubts about his abilities to face an alicorn in single combat. "After all, I have just proven that you are far from immortal."

Twilight gave her answer in the form of a strong pulse of silver magic. Admittedly taking the idea from her father, it didn't take much force for her to fling him up towards the ceiling with unreal force. The structure loudly cracked as the sarosian was slammed into it and he soon began to limply fall back down. And as he fell, Twilight took the opportunity to get back up and quickly spin around in preparation for what was to come next.

"Neither are you!" With her powerful hind legs, Twilight delivered a devastating kick to the stallion as he descended. Her strike hit true, evident by the unmistakable "snap" that marked the breaking of Sombra's neck and the subsequent end of his life. Twilight watched from over her shoulder as the now limp body of her father clattered to the floor, the black magic around him fizzling out almost instantly.

Breathing heavily as she attempted to calm her nerves, Twilight cautiously approached the fallen sarosian with great intrigue. And as she gazed upon the body of what was once her father, everything that had just happened finally clicked into place. The anger that had overtaken her at the moment began to subside in earnest, and the terror of the situation finally began to sink in. Twilight had just watched the untimely demise of her mother, by the blade of her father no less. There had been a time where it didn't feel real, but now the reality and finality of it was finally beginning to weigh down on her.

"And I... killed him..."

The alicorn gently prodded at the sarosian with a hoof, unsurprised to find that he was unresponsive. The dread of it all was beginning to overwhelm her, this was the first time Twilight had ever truly harmed another individual—let alone killing someone. She had long since accepted the possibility that she would have to end a life at one point or another, as much as it sickened her to admit it. Such was the fate of a soldier, after all. But never once had she considered that her father's life would be the first she'd ever take. And even after the unspeakable crime that he had just committed, there was still a part of Twilight that found herself mourning. He was still her father, after all.

The sentiment was short-lived, however. Just like before, a powerful burst of dark magic sent Twilight careening back with great force. And even though she was caught off guard by the sudden outburst, she was able to land on her hooves this time instead of being slammed into something else. Thus giving her the perfect vantage point to view the horrific sight unfolding before her.

Just as before, tendrils of putrid red and green magic began to flow and fester from the jagged shards of black crystals that now decorated the sarosian's body. Almost exactly as they did to Twilight earlier, the arcane appendages wrapped themselves around Sombra's broken form with great care. Like a demented marionette, the sarosian's body was lifted and placed back on his hooves, still hanging slack in the embrace of his own magic. His form twitched and spasmed about—much to Twilight's visible horror and disgust—before yet another sickening snap rang forth from her father's neck.

And with a loud gasp, King Sombra could once more be counted amongst the numbers of the living. He stood there for a moment or two as his dark magic faded away, taking the time to collect his bearings and readjust to the state of being alive. He looked to be almost surprised by this development, but that state didn't last long before he turned his gaze back towards his daughter with a wide toothy grin.

"Forgive me, would you care to repeat that?" The king took the time to pop the joints in his neck, almost as if taunting his daughter over her failure in killing him.

That's not possible. Twilight stood there, now overwhelmed by a looming sense of dread. That shouldn't be possible.

Throughout her life, she had been fortunate enough to receive the absolute best education when it came to the art of magic. Like her sisters before her, she had learned under some of the greatest scholars and mages in the world, legends in their own right. And she knew more than enough about the field of magic to know that there was absolutely no worldly power that could bring back the dead in such a manner. Even though necromancy was a forbidden art, Twilight had been taught enough to know how to counteract and dispel those evil magics. She knew enough to know that the dead couldn't be revived that quickly, the rituals involved were meant to takes days if not weeks to be completed. Yet there was no such ceremony for her father. He just simply resumed living, as impossible as it seemed.

"What? Are you not pleased to see your Father alive and well?" Sombra's sickening laughter was enough to drag Twilight back to reality. "I assumed it would be relieving to know that you hadn't lost both of your parents today."

If the king's goal was to strike a nerve, then it was safe to say that he had achieved it. Despite the unnerving scene that had just played out before her, Twilight couldn't let her fear rule her. The stallion standing before her had murdered her mother and only continued to show his hostile intentions. And no part of her wished to show this monstrous stallion any kind of mercy. On top of that, she was a soldier of the Equestrian Military, it was her duty to fight on behalf of the country and crown. The only thing standing in her way of making this invading force pay for his crimes was her familial ties to him, but this exchange had long since extinguished any sense of love she felt for her father. There was nothing to hold her back from doing everything in her power to make this invading force pay for his treachery and his bloodshed.

So Twilight once again lunged forward, her horn igniting with intense silver radiance. This time her father saw the attack coming, and conjured up his dark magic in an attempt at counteracting the second tackle. But before the retaliation could strike, Twilight vanished in an argent flash before swiftly repeating to Sombra's left. This caught the sarosian king off guard, but it wasn't enough to save him from his daughter's next attack. What could only be described as an arcane geyser erupted from beneath Sombra's very hooves, launching him upward with great force. Twilight was quick to leap after him, slamming her forehooves into his now exposed underside and proceeding to fly upward, using her father's body as a battering ram to push him through the roof and onto the floor above them. She quickly reoriented herself and delivered another strong kick with her hind legs, sending her foe flying through the room.

The sarosian king was quick to use his own wings to right himself in the air to land with grace. And the second his hoofs were upon solid ground, the dark tendrils of magic surrounding him shot forwards with blinding speed like the strike of a scorpion's tail. There wasn't enough time for Twilight to dodge it, so she was forced to conjure a shield of magic to hold back the piercing attack. And while the barrier did hold strong, visible cracks did form from the sheer force of the impact, but in turn, the dark spears were also dispelled in the process. And the sarosian alicorn chose to take advantage of that fact and spun around to buck at her shield. The wall of magic finally gave up the ghost and shattered like glass under the force of its master's powerful kick. The large jagged shards hung in the air for a moment before lunging themselves at Sombra.

The King of Seară was cleanly hit by two of these improvised blades to his right shoulder and foreleg. A third just managed to knick him as it flew, leaving a sizeable gash in his left ear, and a fourth shattered on impact as it uselessly collided with one of the black crystals jutting out of Sombra's flesh. The rest were all blocked by his unusual veil of magical energy. Though Twilight wasn't able to revel in her achievement of dealing damage, however, as it wasn't long at all before Sombra's magic licked at his new wounds, healing them in an instant. Only the faintest of scars were left behind by the attacks, though the adrenalin coursing through her body prevented Twilight from noticing that fact.

A roar of mixed fury and pain erupted from Sombra's throat as he took his turn in leaping towards his enemy with outstretched hooves. Twilight took on a defensive posture and took the brunt of the attack, finding herself being pushed by Sombra as he mimicked one of her previous attacks. There was enough force behind the tackle to take both of them through the adjacent wall, and further still through that chamber and yet another wall.

The fight went on in this manner for what felt like hours to Twilight. How her father was able to match her, an alicorn, blow for blow like this was a mystery, but she didn't have time to dwell on this mystery for long. After all, she had to focus on winning this fight. The entirety of Canterlot Castle was made into their battleground as the fight dragged on. Sometimes one of them would toss or ram the other through a part of the structure—be it a wall, window, ceiling, or floor—before the battle continued, and other times Twilight had to quickly get her father in some kind of hold so she could teleport them both elsewhere. After all, there were still innocent ponies littered about the castle, and she couldn't risk them being caught in the crossfire. Or worse, used as an advantage in Sombra's favor.

It was only during this spectacular battle that Twilight found out that her father was not alone in his attack. As her battle continued, she caught sight of Searăn soldiers clashing with Equestrian Forces at key locations within the castle. She had also taken notice of the slowly growing body counts—both sides of the conflict were taking casualties. This unacceptable development only pushed Twilight to fight harder than she already was. The amount of blood on Sombra's hooves was only growing as time went on. This invasion was his doing, all of this death and destruction was his doing. And Twilight couldn't bear it any longer, he needed to be stopped as soon as possible.

It wasn't long before their battle inadvertently led them into the throne room, where at least the two had both conveniently decided to allow the other a brief moment to catch their breath. Sombra stood at one end of the chamber, looking to be quite exhausted but far from being done. There were no notable injuries on his person in the slightest—all of them had been healed as quickly as they had been given. But even still, he looked as if he was beginning to be worn down.

Twilight, on the other hoof, was clearly on the losing end of this feud. Her once pristine armor was now little more than useless pieces of scrap metal clinging to her body in a futile attempt to continue the armor's purpose. Cuts and bruises of various sizes decorated her frame, and based on her strained posture it was easy to tell that she had at least a few broken bones. A good deal of concentration on her part had been reserved for magically healing what she could amid battle. Despite being an alicorn, and despite having access to some of the most potent healing spells in the world, she was still nowhere near as quick at recovering as Sombra was. It was enough to let her keep up with him, but she would need to end this fight soon if she were to have any hope of victory. Even an alicorn couldn't keep this up forever.

Father and daughter stood several meters apart in the throne room of Canterlot Castle, both of them intently eyeing the other in anticipation of the next attack. But neither one made a move, much to Twilight's relief. This served as a perfect opportunity to get some of her more limiting injuries taken care of in the lull of combat. Sombra didn't seem to care that she was hard at work mending her broken bones, yet even still she remained ready to counter the king's next attack. This was when the tide of the battle shifted drastically, the massive doors leading to the throne room were suddenly thrown open by a burst of golden light. This drew the two combatant's attention towards the entrance and the alicorn that was swiftly approaching them.

"Selene!" Celestia the Second bellowed as she charged into the spacious chamber, looking to be doing better than her youngest sister. But the signs of struggle were still evident, despite being far from injured as Twilight was, it was clear that the eldest sister had been doing her part in fighting off this invasion. Most prominently shown by the beautifully crafted dress woven for her coronation, now no more than just tatters of shredded silk.

This simple development was all it took to earn Twilight's paranoia and worry. "Tia, NO!" She leaped to get between her father and her sister, not wanting to take any chances after everything that had happened today. After all, Sombra had just killed one alicorn and was fighting on par with another, and Twilight couldn't risk letting her sister be hurt by this monster. At the end of the day, Equestria needed a ruler and the only other suitable candidate wasn't an option anymore.

But upon standing her ground between the two rulers, prompting her elder sister to cease her approach, Twilight was quick to notice that Sombra's attention had shifted away from the two sisters entirely. He stood with his back to the two alicorns, appearing to be looking upward at something in the tall and spacious chamber. The younger of the sisters took this as a direct insult and took the opportunity to strike at the distracted stallion. Charging forward once more alongside a series of magical bolts imbued with the intention of snuffing out the sarosian's life for good this time. And it was now that she learned the brutal lesson that her father had apparently been toying with her this whole time.

Her blasts of magic were dispelled in an instant by those all too familiar lashes of dark magic, and the alicorn herself was stopped in her tracks by a simple disinterested kick to the snout. Left dazed by the sudden strike, Twilight hardly had the presence of mind to notice as a wave of magic slammed into her left side with tremendous force. She yelped in pain as she was sent flying, bouncing and skidding along the ground like a stone on a pond's surface before she painfully crashed into the distant wall with a resounding crash.

"Selene!" Once more, Celestia howled out with great concern for her sister, keeping her eyes on the foreign invader for a time before rushing to her youngest sibling's aid. It was only then that King Sombra decided to finally act upon his apparent discovery.

"Her hubris truly knew no bounds, did it not?" He smiled at his question eyes lighting up with unbridled joy as he gazed towards the nation's throne. "The most powerful weapon in the world and she used it as nothing more than simple decore."

It wasn't easy, but her sister's help was most invaluable when it came to getting Twilight back up on her hooves. The words of her father struck a chord in the young alicorn's mind, and she was practically overwhelmed with the evaluation that hit her. She traced Sombra's gaze upwards towards his apparent objective.

For as prosperous of a nation as Equestria was, it was easy to imagine just how grandiose the literal highest seat of power in the land was. Comprised almost entirely of silver and gold, and adorned with luscious red fabrics and cushions for the sake of comfort, it was truly a throne worthy of the great Queen Celestia the First. But that wasn't what Sombra had his eyes on. No, instead his gaze fell upon the wall behind the throne, to the breathtaking representation of the Tree of Harmony that was the sole reason for this room's immense height.

The throne sat at the base of the opulent mural, which stretched up powerful and proud as the symbol of Equestria's peace and prosperity. And near the top of the mural and embedded in the wall, was a simple hoof-sized stone that vaguely resembled the seed of a tree. Glowing with the pure, unfiltered might of the very tree that it came from. And as the two sisters watched Sombra's black magic stretching out to claim his prize, both Twilight and Celestia were left with a powerful and primal sense of fear. For they both knew what that stone was, and what it was capable of doing. After all, it was the weapon their mother had used to strike down the Spirit of Chaos those many years ago. A crystallized embodiment of the unparalleled power held by the Tree of Harmony itself, a relic that they couldn't afford to let fall into the murderous hooves of this madman.

The Element of Harmony.

There wasn't a single second of hesitation on their behalf at the sight of Sombra's attempt to claim such a powerful relic for himself. They both sprung into action with the utmost haste, Twilight once again going after Sombra while her elder sister took flight and went for the element itself. And while she couldn't speak for her sister's success, Twilight was far more competent in her most recent attack against her father.

But it was all in vain, much to their dread.

Sombra didn't even give his daughter the time of day as a piece of his dark aura lashed at the ground between the two of them. An immaculate wall of jagged black onyx erupted forth and served as an effective barrier preventing Twilight from interrupting him in this critical moment. Just long enough the king to achieve his goal, brutally smacking Celestia out of the air as the Element was engulfed by his dark power. The surrounding wall was ground to dust as he yanked back hard, swiftly pulling his prize back to him in an instant.

Twilight roared like a savage beast as she leaped over the irregular barrier to pounce upon her prey, her fury only growing as she saw the murderous invader leisurely looking over the stone sitting atop his hoof. The smug grin upon his face only serving to rub salt into the wounds. The sarosian alicorn was practically feral at this point, bearing her fangs as she went for the throat. But she would never get the chance to even nick his neck, thanks to the aura of black and red around him twisting into a demented claw and swiping her out of the air. It clasped impossibly tight around her before slamming her into the ground on the opposite side of the wall.

"Oh, daughter dearest, surely you didn't think that would work, did you?" Sombra spoke down to her in the most demeaning of ways, not even bothering to look at her as she struggled to get up off of the ground. "It seems you have failed to inherit my common sense."

"Common sense?!" Twilight screamed back at him, prompting a small number of bloody coughs on her behalf. "You claim to have 'common sense' after bringing this chaos and carnage upon Equestria?! After killing my mother in cold blood?!"

"It would seem you understand very little of the world, my daughter," Sombra finally glanced over to Twilight with a disinterested glare, "I would see this world unified under one banner. A world of true harmony, just as your mother wished. But she would never allow it to happen, and thus I had to remove her from the equation. Though I don't expect you to understand. Not yet." The king's attention turned towards the crystal wall he had previously conjured, taking up the Element in his arcane grasp so he could set his hoof upon the onyx structure. With minimal effort, it cracked and shattered into dozens of pieces. "Not until you've heard them sing."

"What in the world are you talking about, you insane cur?!" Twilight roared again, fighting her own body just to get back onto her hooves. It wasn't easy, but she was at least able to stand her ground.

"You will see soon enough. But for now, a simple parting gift will suffice." Those were the last words spoken by Sombra before he took his leave.

The red and green flames surrounding his form became pitch black smoke that twisted and swirled into a portal just behind him, a smaller version of the one that marked his arrival. One that the sarosian king made use of and was gone in an instant. Twilight made one last attempt to strike him down, but she was too slow and her attack only struck at the smoke itself much to her fury and despair.

Although she wasn't given much time to dwell on these feelings for very long. Even in her weary and beaten state, she noticed that the wisps of inky blackness didn't fade with the absence of their master. Curiosity turned to caution as she watched these puffs of smoke moving towards the broken shards of onyx that her father had also left behind, the shattered stones beginning to twitch and rumble as the magic flowed into them. They further cracked and broke apart as Sombra's dark magic went to work, pieces of onyx beginning to float and form something new.

It happened too quickly for Twilight to even attempt to stop it. And before she knew it, she found herself staring down what was unmistakably a pack of wolves. Eight of the beasts stood before her in a moment, each comprised of the black crystals conjured by Sombra, held together by nothing more than that black smoke. They each stood there, menacingly glaring down Twilight with piercing eyes of glowing white. Like monsters pulled straight out of a nightmare.

The last thing Twilight saw was the glistening of artificial fangs as the first member of the pack rushed her. And then everything went black.

--- — ---

A loud panicked gasp marked Twilight's return to the waking world, much to her surprise. Still being in a frantic state, she bolted upright in her bed only to be met with a sharp pain in just about every part of her body. A series of loud and pain-filled coughs ripped their way out of her throat in response to her hasty attempts at moving again, prompting the alicorn to finally look and check the damage that she had suffered. Tossing the blanket off to the side with a strained flicker of her horn, she saw that most of her frame was essentially mummified bandages. Very little of her cobalt coat showed through the slightly bloodied wrappings, and it wasn't a surprise to why this was.

The ghost of pain still lingered in most of her body, evidence of a hard-fought battle on her behalf. A few seconds of passive observation was enough to notice the slight arcane hue that danced and fluttered about these wrappings, not enough to be considered "glowing," but noticeable enough. Healing magic had been embedded into the gauzes to expedite the healing process as much as possible. But there were other things on Twilight's mind right now. She didn't know how long she had been out cold, but regardless of the exact amount of time spent unconscious, it was enough for the adrenaline rush to wear off. It wasn't just the pain of battle that she was now keenly aware of, but the reality of what had just transpired was now agonizingly clear.

"Mother...?" Twilight mournfully whispered out into the ether, but she didn't expect anyone to give her an answer. She had been alone from the moment she had awoken in her bedroom, someone must have brought her up here after the battle had concluded. But there wasn't any part of the alicorn that cared about those little details right now. There was only one thing on her mind, and that was the unfortunate departure of her dear mother.

The scene was clear as day in her mind, and the horrid sight refused to leave the forefront of her thoughts. Neither would the sickening laughter from the assassin behind the unthinkable act. It was the only thing the young alicorn could spare any effort in thinking of, and it brought her nothing but torment and tears. Someone she loved was gone, and the longer she dwelled on it the more and more she came to blame herself for letting it happen. She was the first one to notice the Searăn ambassadors acting strangely, and she hated herself for not acting sooner. She hated herself for not doing something, anything, during that storm of smoke and darkness.

Out of everyone in that room, Twilight was the one who should have been the most prepared for a crisis like that. She should have done something to try and stop it. It was her duty as a member of Equestria's military to protect Queen and Country, and she had failed. Miserably, in her own eyes. But it wasn't just the fact that she had been trained to act quickly in such dire circumstances, it was the fact that she was an alicorn on top of all of that. She spent her whole life being told that she was far stronger than other ponies, that her magic was far more potent. And yet with all that power, she still couldn't save her mother's life. And it tore her up inside knowing that her failure cost someone she loved with all her heart their life.

"Selene?"

The question brought a flash of hope to the sarosian alicorn, who believed for the shortest of seconds that her mother had somehow survived the attempt at her life. But the flash faded when it was the sight of her elder sister standing beneath the doorframe. The new Queen of Equestria stood with a weary look of mixed worry and relief, slowly walking towards the bed with painfully slow steps. Like her younger sister, Celestia the Second was also bandaged up to a great degree—though to a far lesser extent.

"You're finally awake." There was relief in her tone, her golden magic pulling up a chair so that she could sit beside her bedridden sister. "I was starting to think we had lost you, as well..."

Twilight grimaced at her sister's sentiment. Some part of her knew that she had meant well by it, but that didn't stop the reminder from hurting any more than it already had. "How long was I out?" She kept her sour gaze focused ahead of her. She couldn't bring herself to meet eyes with her sister after her spectacular failure—doubly so, considering the close resemblance to their mother.

"About three days or so," Celestia responded with a grim cadence, "But it has felt more like a lifetime, in all honesty."

Three days. The words resonated deeply with Twilight, the implications that they held hitting harder then Sombra ever could. "And what of... Sombra?" She could not bring herself to refer to that murderer as her father anymore.

"Gone. Back in Seară, if I were to guess. But that shouldn't be your concern right now. You need to rest, to recover."

"Three days is rest long enough," Twilight growled as she fought to get out of the bed, struggling not to show any outward signs of the pain that lingered in her form. "I am going to Seară. My 'father' must be held accountable for his crimes."

"And he will, in due time. But for now, he remains out of our reach." Celestia placed a gentle hoof upon Twilight's shoulder, bringing a momentary pause to the younger alicorn's escape attempt. "The Element wasn't the only stolen treasure of mother's. Sombra knew well what he was doing, and he used the chaos of the attack to claim everything pertaining to the tree. The Element, the travel medallions, even mother's journals. We must move forward with tact and strategy, and you need to rest."

"If he has stolen everything, then there is even less time to waste! We must act now!" Without even waiting for a response, she pushed past her sister's hoof and practically leaped from the bed. It caused her a great deal of pain to do so, but she didn't let that stop her as she strode confidently as she could towards the open door. But much to her irritation, a golden light was quick to seal the door shut before she was even halfway there. Angered eyes and bored fangs were quickly turned towards the elder alicorn.

"That was not a request from your sister. That was an order from your Queen."

"You would let him go unpunished for his treachery?!" Twilight brought her horn to life with a flash of silver, ready to force her sister to stand down if need be. "This is an act of war, Tia. And I intend on bringing that war to him myself! And I won't let you—!"

Celestia stood from her seat with great speed and authority, and in an instant Twilight was rendered nothing more than a mewling child. She saw nothing but fire and hatred in her older sister's eyes, and it shook her down to her very core. The silver aura about her horn ceased to be, and the younger sister had to muster up a great force of will as to not cower in fear from just this glare alone.

"I understand that you are upset. I am as well. And believe me when I say that I want nothing more than to render him naught but cinders myself." Celestia strode forward with all of the prestige a ruler should possess, if not more. She peered down at her younger sister with authority and wrath. "But we cannot rush into this headlong without a plan. You've missed much in the past days. Already, his armies have begun to act in aggression against our borders. And whatever dark pacts he has made have been extended in part to his soldiers, we're hardly holding them back. The war has already begun, Selene. Right now, we need to focus our efforts on protecting Equestria and her people. On protecting the legacy that our mother left behind. And I refuse to let you kill yourself in this manner. Do I make myself clear?"

Celestia ceased her lecture to allow time for her words to sink in deeply. The sheer weight of her words would have been enough, but the fury and passion in which she had spoken resonated deeply in Twilight. As the speech went on and on, Twilight began to feel more and more like the mischievous filly she once was, once more being lectured by her overbearing older sister. If it weren't for the sheer and unbridled sense of intimidation she felt at the moment, Twilight might have viewed this scenario as a nostalgic one.

But she had nothing else on her mind other than the revelation that her sister had just bestowed upon her. And the more she thought over it, the more she knew her sister was right. She couldn't afford to be so careless, especially with first-hoof knowledge of Sombra's unprecedented magical prowess. Twilight had been humbled, it was that simple. When no response came to her question, Celestia took it as a positive affirmation. She quickly told her sibling to return to bed and rest before walking towards the door herself. But before she could leave, Twilight had one last remark of her own.

"... You can't stop me from fighting... You won't stop me from fighting..." The intention behind those words was one of resolved defiance, but the tone that carried the reply was nervous and quiet. Part of her didn't want to push her sister any further than she already had. The room fell silent as Celestia stopped walking, seemingly taking the younger pony's words to heart for a time. After a time, the elder sibling let out a sigh, followed by I response in a much different tone. A much kinder tone.

"I know... and I don't intend to. You were the one who decided to become a soldier, that path was your choice and yours alone. And I don't think I need to tell you just how proud mother was of you for taking hold of your destiny. A sentiment I share, if you must know." Celestia spoke softly, turning back to face Twilight with something of a strained smile. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes as she went on. "I would not disrespect you, or our mother, by taking that choice away from you. And I do not believe I would be able, even if I wanted to. I can't stop you from fighting in this war, Selene. I know that well enough. But I can stop you from killing yourself. Now please. Get some rest."

Twilight was left speechless as her sister left her alone in her bedroom. There wasn't anything else she could do now, her sister had proven with words alone that the order was absolute. She didn't have it in her to try and fight it anymore, and she slowly limped her way back to her bed. No longer restrained by having to put up a brave front, she was free to wince and whine as she begrudgingly got herself back under the covers. And while she had been quelled, for now, the rage and pain and guilt of everything was still just as strong as it had been. But for now, she would comply with her sister's demands and rest.

--- — ---

The light of the setting sun piercing through Twilight's tent served to wake her up in a gentle and welcoming manner. Calm mornings were a somewhat infrequent yet always welcomed change of pace, and today was going to be no different. Slowly but surely she pulled herself out of her bedroll and began getting ready for the day. Still groggy and weary from sleep, her mind still lingered on the previous night's dreams.

The horrid day that had begun this dreadful war was at the forefront, still clear in her mind even all this time. One would think that the horrendous images would at least become less vivid after twelve years at war. Yet still, the nightmares haunted almost every moment of rest that came Twilight's way. But after so many years, they began to bother her less and less. In fact, over the years she had taught herself to use it as motivation. The sarosian alicorn had turned the pain and grief of loss into anger, anger directed at the one who had taken her mother away from her and everything he stood for. And she had sworn upon the nation that her mother had built that she would rain suffering and retribution upon him if it was the last thing she ever did. It wasn't the healthiest coping mechanism, one neither of her sisters would approve of, but it had been years since she had seen either of them.

While Twilight's efforts in this great and terrible war were centered on the frontlines, Celestia and Melodia had their plates full with running their respective homefronts. At some point after the war began, Melodia had followed the eldest sister's lead and became Empress of the Crystal Empire and had joined the war against Seară, in Equestria's favor. But even with the two powerful nations working together, Sombra's forces proved more than enough to fight back against the two superior powers. It also meant she had become an alicorn, something Twilight refused to believe until she saw it. That childlike argument was one of the few bits of levity that Twilight was able to hold onto even in these dark times.

And as the all too familiar sounds of battle reached Twilight's ears, she sighed as yet another reminder of the nocturnal nation's combative prowess had arrived. At least this time she had woken up before the raid, the memory of waking up to spears at her throat still painfully fresh in her mind. Luckily for her, she was already almost done donning her armor for the day and was soon on her way to join the battle with an almost mundane lull in her eyes. After all, this was almost a painfully dull routine by now. But such was life on the Equestrian/Searăn border.

The camp was in chaos. Equestrian and Searăn soldiers could be seen clashing in every direction. Pegasi and sarosians could be seen high in the sky trading strikes, while the unicorns and their nocturnal cousins exchanged powerful blasts of magic upon on the ground. Already the young alicorn caught sight of casualties on either side of the conflict, and that number was only going to grow if this conflict kept ongoing. With a resounding, guttural sigh she strode forward into the fray, a look of barely contained rage strewn about her face.

It was about now when a very brave or very stupid sarosian soldier attempted to strike her down. This poor fool was more than certainly filed by delusions of grandeur, wanting to be the hero who fell the immortal soldier who had been decimating the Searăn forces where ever she roamed. The mad fool's dreams were tragically shattered as Twilight took ahold of the lunging pony in her magical grasp, not even giving him the time to scream in horror as she slammed him down into the ground with tremendous force. Twilight didn't know whether or not the would-be-assassin was dead or simply too injured to get up, nor did she spare him the courtesy.

The tide of this minor battle began to turn in Equestria's favor soon after Twilight's intervening. The squadron of Searăn soldiers behind the sneak attack was clearly acting on their own accord. No commanders, no backup, and no coordination worth a damn. Likely just a bunch of drunken idiots thinking that they could raze this Equestrian war camp by themselves. Or maybe King Sombra was just that confident in his troops. Twilight couldn't decide which explanation was more insulting, which only drove her to end this skirmish even quicker.

The sun had sunk completely below the horizon by the time it was done, with the Equestrian forces victorious once again. The strike team that had begun this raid were all either dead or captured, awaiting their interrogations before being shipped off to the P.O.W. Twilight spent the intermediate time magically licking her wounds, as well as doing what she could for her fellow soldiers, before moving onto the next task in this dark routine she had made for herself. She had been doing this for years now, but it was never any less sickening than the first time.

One by one, the alicorn found the names of every one of her comrades who had been slain on this day. Either by recognizing whatever was left of them or by asking around to see who was missing. And one by one, each one of their names was scribbled into a thick leatherbound journal. She had made it her mission to catalog every Equestrian life that this war had unjustly taken, that King Sombra had unjustly taken. Their memory and their sacrifice serving to further fuel Twilight's resolve in mounting her father's head upon a pike.

Today, there had been fourteen casualties on the Equestrian side of the conflict. Dwindling their numbers in the camp to just under a hundred, if Twilight's memory was accurate. They were going to need reinforcements soon if they were going to keep going on as scheduled, and Twilight was the one who was going to have to send the formal request back to the capital. She was the one who had to ask for more innocent ponies to march into their almost certain demise. She hated it herself for it, but she couldn't fight this war on her own. A lesson that had been forcibly learned eleven years ago, painfully taught by King Sombra's forces and the boons that he had gifted upon certain members of his army. None of which had shown up in today's raid, much to Twilight's frustration. There was a reason why they had been waiting on the border as they had been, and now they would have to wait even longer. With seemingly no end in sight.

"Princess Selene!" An Equestrian soldier frantically called out, running up with as much speed as she could muster. Twilight's journal was slammed shut just as she finished writing down the last name for the day, and her full attention was turned towards the pony who had interrupted her. "They had one!" She shouted urgently through her gasps for air, clearly being out of breath from the long run.

For the first time today, Twilight was able to make an expression that wasn't just a grim scowl. "Is it intact?!" An equal amount of urgency was held within the alicorn's tone. She was almost uncharacteristically hopeful that the purpose of their being stationed here was finally fulfilled.

"We caught him just as he was about to use it," the soldier explained through her still strained breaths, "The shard is intact! We've set up a quarantine, as you've requested."

That was all that needed to be said, Twilight quickly rushing on ahead towards the tent in question. There was an almost childlike glee present in her eyes as she dashed towards her goal. For the whole of the war, King Sombra had granted his soldiers shards of his magical power to use in combat. Twilight had seen dozens of these shards thus far and had seen the effects of hundreds more. And for as long as she could remember, she had been trying to capture one of these dark relics for herself. To try and see how they worked, and more importantly to try and find some way to nullify and counteract Sombra's dark magic.

Twilight knew she found her goal when she saw the circle of guards standing around the lone tent's perimeter, located a safe distance away from the rest of the camp in case of an unfortunate emergency. The key to the war's end resting inside, something that filled Twilight to the brim with excitement. A sense of excitement that she had to hide as she approached the guards, quickly beginning a short series of questions to make sure everything was in order. Before going inside herself, she ordered two of her soldiers to go interrogate the pony they had taken this prize from, to get any information he had about his magical tool. By any means necessary, she made sure to emphasize. The rest of the entourage was ordered to return to the camp. To refortify their defenses and tend to the injured as needed. And as they all went on their way to complete their new assignments, Twilight turned to enter the tent for herself.

The inside was entirely barren save for the lone wooden table ominously standing in the middle of the makeshift room. And sitting on that table was the object of her desires, though one wouldn't think much of it on at a moment's glance. A simple, poorly cut shard of onyx colored crystal sat there in the dim candlelight. A few links of chain forcefully embedded into the fragment served its purpose in allowing the item to be worn like a necklace or medallion. It wasn't by any means a pretty thing to look at, but Twilight knew from experience that the magic held within this relic was more than potent enough to make up for it. And she knew well enough what that magic was capable of.

More times then she could count, she recalled the times where she saw a sarosian soldier remove this makeshift amulet and crush it into dust under hoof. An act that always preceded the black tendrils of smokey magic—spewing forth from both the broken stone and at least a few nearby sarosian soldiers—conjuring up the very same beasts that Sombra had unleashed in Canterlot Castle the day this horrid war began. Sometimes the dark magic would use broken bits of stone and rubble to construct the monstrosity, other times the beasts would be constructed of wood. Regardless, the magic always forged constructs with the guise of wolves with piercing white eyes. Over time, the soldiers of the Equestrian and Crystal Imperial armies began calling them "shadow beasts."

And now, Twilight had one for herself to poke and prod at for any possible way of stopping Sombra's reign of terror. And as far as she knew, all she had to do was to make sure she didn't break it. Aside from that, she was free to examine the stone in any manner she saw fit. But even still she exercised great caution, knowing full well what this thing would be able to do if its power were to be unleashed. So ever so gently, she reached out with her magic and plucked the shard from the table. Slowly rotating it with narrowed eyes, she began to cast one of the many spells she had learned throughout her life, a spell designed to detect and identify magical sources and their origins. A lengthy, concentration-based charm that couldn't be cast in the frantic midst of battle. But as Twilight finished casting the unique charm, she was met with a most unwelcome interruption.

"Slaves..." A whispy voice murmured, coming from behind Twilight.

"Liar."

She turned to the tent's entrance to see who had chosen to bug her right now, but to her surprise, there was nobody standing there. Curious, the young alicorn put the shard down and walked to the entrance of the tent. Pushing the flap open, she peered into the dark of night for a time, the only thing of import meeting her eyes being the light of the campfires and torches over in the distant Equestrian camp.

"Hello?" She asked out into the night, looking around to see if there was anyone around. But there wasn't a soul to be seen. "Did somepony say something?"

"We are... slaves..."

"You are liars."

The same voice came, again, from behind Twilight. Alarmed, she turned towards the source once again only to again see nobody there. Just the table and the shard, nothing out of the ordinary. There was nowhere to hide in the mostly empty tent, there shouldn't have been any way for someone to hide in here. Yet Twilight was convinced that the impossible had been achieved as she cautiously strode back into the tent. She took the captured relic and held it close to her chest to keep it safe.

"Hello?" She called out again. "Who is there? Reveal yourself, now!"

"We were summoned." The voice came again, louder this time, seemingly coming from the dark shard embraced by Twilight's magic. "We were stolen."

"You were lying." It was now that Twilight noticed the second voice. Her own voice, faded and distant somewhere in the deepest depths of her mind. It didn't seem like a thought though, it felt more like the memory of a dream. And like a dream's remembrance, it faded quickly from her thoughts as if it had never happened at all. It didn't feel real.

"What are you?" Twilight asked of the shard, placing it back upon the table. There was no doubt in her mind that this object was speaking to her. It sounded like it was afraid. Or lost. Perhaps both, even.

"We can give you power..." The scared voice whispered in her ear, almost sounding like it was beginning to sing. "Just as he stole power from us..."

"Liars!" Twilight's own faded voice called out from the back of her mind again, angrier than it was before. This time it sounded closer, more vivid, somehow more tangible than the rest of the world around her. Almost as if reality were the dream, and the distant voice was real. The tent slowly began to distort around her, only adding further credence to this theory. But this was all lost on Twilight as she kept her eyes on the small dark shard sitting before her. Unable to think of anything else but the sweet songs it was wearily singing in her ears.

"We can help you kill him."

"LIARS!"

The calamitous voice of Princess Selene was enough to rupture reality like a plane of glass, and in that instant Twilight was flung away and made to be herself again. The memories of herself—her true self—coming back to her in less than an instant. At the same time, the memories she had been reliving began to dull, with only a few vague details lingering in her mind. Just like the last time this happened, the lavender alicorn realized as she overlooked herself. Her cloak and saddlebags seemed to be missing, but she was herself again. Her lavender coat, her purple mane, and even her pegasus-like wings. Everything was how it should be, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The nightmare was over.

Or so she had been optimistic enough to have thought until she noticed the world around her. Just moments ago, Selene's dream had shattered around her. And now, she stood alone in what could only be called a bleak abyss. No matter where one looked, the only sights to be seen was the blacker than black void that made up the sky, and the strange flat terrain that stretched out to the dark horizon. The ground was mostly smooth with a few odd bumps here and there, made up of some unknown greyish-silver stone-like material, with a thin layer of similarly colored sand or dust of some kind gingerly covering the unusual environment. Only adding to the growing list of questions, the ground itself seemed to be the source of what little light could be found in this unusual realm. Pale and silver, the radiance emanating from every physical surface bore a striking resemblance to something Twilight was well acquainted with by now.

"Moonlight..." The muttered realization sent chills down her spine, more so than the already fridged environment did by itself. It was almost unbearably cold here, enough to allow Twilight to see her own breath right in front of her nose.

"Not once, but twice. Twice now, you have desecrated our dreams," a thousand voices all spoke as one, as loud as thunder yet as subtle as a whisper. "Twice now, you have desecrated our host."

Twilight spun around with great haste and alarm, only to see the cloaked figure of the Mare in the Moon standing where she had once stood moments before, the glowing white eyes under the hood still just as piercing as they had always been. She took a step back, away from the threatening figure before her. And in turn, the figure seemed to glide forward the same distance. This kept on going, Twilight slowly reeling back as the Mare in the Moon persuing at the same slow pace.

"You will tell us now where you learned to dream walk," the mare's many voices demanded with great authority as clouds of black began to flow from underneath her cloak. The shadows began to twist and manifest into something else until Twilight was met with not one pursuer, but three. On either side of the hooded alicorn now stood a pitch-black Wolf, bearing the same white eyes as the one who had summoned them. They walked side by side with their master at the same slow pace Twilight had set, bearing their equally dark fangs with a low intimidating growl.

"Or you shall never wake again."

Author's Notes:

So this was a long one. I kind of got a bit carried away. But there's a method to my madness. This chapter has been in and out of drafts since chapter 19, the vague outline for what needed to happen present in the back of my mind. And I was very tempted to just skip over the admittedly lengthy fight scene with Sombra, but I decided against because I needed to show why he was a threat back in the days of the Great Shadow War. And introduce the "weapon" used to defeat the Spirit of Chaos I've already referenced once or twice.

Plus, I just really wanted to do a cool fight scene with King Sombra.

But I also need to start developing the main antagonist. I've been revving up the buildup for a fair bit of time now, and it's about time we actually start putting that "Nightmare Moon" tag to use. And at the risk of potentially spoiling something: I think it's safe to say that we've entered the story's third act. Not to say that the story's almost done, far from it in fact, but this is where things should be starting to pick up the pace. With 1 or 2 "hiccups" along the way.

Speaking of, the next chapter probably won't come as quickly as this one did. I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with it yet (I have a beginning and an end, need to work on the middle), so it might be a bit. But regardless, thank you all for sticking with me thus far. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as I further develop it. Have a great day!

Oh, and don't be afraid to point out any spelling/grammar mistakes you see. I'm always willing to make a few quick revisions, if need be.

— Chapter Thirty-One —

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--- The Valley of Hosts ---

"Or you shall never wake again."

The three imposing figures approached without end, the growling of the ethereal hounds the only sound to follow that threat. Twilight continued to back away into the unending void that surrounded them all, eyes darting between each of the foes before her in anticipation for one of them to make the first move. Yet intimidation seemed to serve well as their weapon, however, and the trio merely continued their agonizingly slow pursuit of the retreating alicorn.

What in the world is going on? Even in these seemingly dire states, Twilight couldn't help but let her mind run wild and she had an understandable amount of questions at the moment. The last thing I remember was... the library...

It was hazily coming back to her now. Searching Golden Oak's Library with Rainbow Dash for information on Knox and his schemes, which resulted in her finding the unusual stone that had cast her into this horrible nightmare. A stone that seemed oddly familiar now, in retrospect. But she couldn't quite place her hoof on why that was, however, considering the danger she was in at the moment.

"Now!"

The simultaneous and countless shouts brought Twilight back to reality—or whatever this place could be called—alerting her just in time to the snapping jaws of the dark beast that had lunged at her in her distracted state of mind. It was pure dumb luck that the flinch of surprise allowed the young alicorn to escape a gruesome fate at the fangs of this nightmarish hound. There were a few lingering doubts in her mind about whether or not she could come to any real harm in this dream, but she wasn't exactly eager to find out.

Her first instinct was to retaliate, to lash back with her magic. She wasn't sure if she could cause any permanent harm to these things, but she could at least persuade them to keep their distance. But there was no such action on her part, not even a simple spark or two to be seen. Her eyes turned upwards as if to look to her horn as she tried again and again. Each time she was met with the same result. That being a distinct lack of a result.

Teleportation, transmutation, conjuration, portable sunlight, woodworking, portable sunlight—sweet rave edition, she tried every spell she could think of in her frantic state and not a single one worked. Absolutely nothing was happening, as she couldn't even feel the magic within her string to her will. It wasn't that her magic was being blocked, but rather, it was as if her ability to cast spells at all had been simply revoked.

Of course, it made sense that she wouldn't be able to cast spells. After all, this was a dream. A dream being controlled by the hooded figure not but a stone's throw away. Twilight was playing by her rules now.

So as the wolf went in for a second strike, Twilight quickly decided to run. Even without her unexpected history lessons, she knew she was heavily outclassed in this situation. The Mare in the Moon—or rather, Princess Selene—had fought throughout the complete 87 years of the Great Shadow War. And while the entire duration of the conflict wasn't just one long series of battles, as there were moments when King Sombra seemingly decided to just let his enemies catch their breath, it was still the longest war in recorded history. And right now Twilight was facing off with the one pony who had seen just about every major battle that had come. Over time, she had even earned the title of "The Immortal Soldier."

Twilight wasn't about to try and fight someone who came to be called "The Immortal Soldier." Especially not when they were able to conjure up nightmarish wolves out of thin air, and certainly not without magic. And so she ran, as far and as fast as she could. There was no given order on their master's part, but it wasn't long before Twilight could hear the hounds chasing after her with great ferocity. Unpleasant memories of her introduction to the Everfree's Timberwolves began to rush back to her. As well as a few brief flashes from her time peering into Selene's past. It didn't take her very long to put the pieces together, even in this terrifying moment.

"Of course they're connected, why wouldn't they be connected?! I'm not that lucky!" If she had the time to stop and slap herself for not coming to the conclusion earlier. The possibility had been dancing around in her mind ever since her introduction to Zecora, but now that there was actual proof to be had on the subject. The timberwolves were a part of this, one way or another.

Only a moment's glance was spared as she kept running, the two beasts doing well to keep pace with their fleeing prey. The one who had summoned them was surprisingly absent, something that made Twilight more anxious than anything else. She had no magic, nowhere to even try and hide, and the one behind it all was nowhere to be seen. It would be upsetting if Twilight wasn't troubled by these encroaching factors.

Speaking of, her pursuers were beginning to close the distance between them. She didn't dare to look back, but she could hear them coming. It was the only thing she could hear other than her shallow breaths and pounding heartbeat. Of course, her captor had chosen to leave the limitations of fatigue and stamina in place, why wouldn't she? She wasn't quite sure just how long she could keep this up, as those two limitations were beginning to take their toll on her.

"Why aren't I waking up?!" Twilight bellowed out between gasps, doing her best to drown out the unpleasant sound of her tormenters drawing ever close. "I'm having a nightmare, and I'm terrified! I should be waking up!"

"Not until you tell us what we need to know." The voices came from everywhere at once. The ground, the sky, Twilight's own thoughts, even the two beasts chasing her down. "Where did you learn to dream walk?!" The last two words sent a tremor throughout the dreamscape, knocking Twilight off of her balance for only a second before she was able to keep going.

Is that was this is about?! Twilight asked herself in shock and vexation. It shouldn't have been a surprise, considering how this "conversation" started, and how her first bit of memory-viewing had ended. Of course, it was a question without an answer, as Twilight wasn't exactly sure how she came to be here in the first place. "How about you tell me?! I didn't ask for this!"

Twilight's question was answered by a blunt force ramming into her left side hard enough to knock her to the ground. One of the shadowy wolves had managed to close the distance and struck Twilight down, seemingly in response to her reply to that question. Without even thinking she began to squirm her way back up, but was stopped by a sudden force pressing down on her back, effectively pinning her to the ground. She craned her neck to look up at whatever had her held, and she had to fight the urge to scream when she saw the hooded figure holding her down with a single hoof. She could also see brief flashes of the two wolves, encircling the two like hungry sharks.

"We have been most kind with you despite your trespass, Twilight Sparkle," The hooded mare began, pushing down harder with the single hoof. This act caused Twilight to further squirm in pain and discomfort. "All you have to do is tell us what we need to know. Then, you may return to your 'endless' life." She leaned down until she was uncomfortably close to Twilight, to the point where the younger mare could feel the icy cold breath in her ear. "Unless, of course, you'd prefer the alternative?"

Twilight only doubled her efforts at this, wanting nothing more than to escape this horrible nightmare. And as if to fulfill that wish, the pressure on her back was suddenly alleviated. But one unpleasant stimulus was replaced very quickly by another, the sudden and very unpleasant sensation of falling. The ground beneath her had seemingly vanished, and Twilight was cast into what she perceived as a bottomless pit. Screaming as she descended, the young alicorn wildly flapped her wings futilely as she tried to cease her fall, but to no avail. She managed to orient her sight upward, however, watching with silent horror as the hole that had opened up underneath her sealed itself shut. Leaving Twilight in absolute darkness.

Though it didn't take long for the falling to stop, and Twilight landed on something cold and dusty with a loud thump. She laid there on her back for a short while, lightly groaning from the discomfort of falling for who knows how far. And in spite of the situation's weight, she took her sweet time in getting back up on her hooves. She was back in the same bleak and desolate environment she had come to know and dread well, the only difference being a distinct lack of antagonistic forces. Twilight was alone, completely and absolutely, in this bizarre landscape. She tilted her head up to try and see where she had come from but was met with only the same utter blackness from before.

"It's a dream... why would it make sense?" Twilight shook her head dismissively and returned to surveying the blank environment around her. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing noteworthy to be seen for as far as the eye could see. Just the rough, untreated ground of whatever this place was. "I should keep moving... who knows when she'll come back?" And keep walking she did, staying ever vigilant for when her captors caught up with her. But much to her surprise, the Mare in the Moon didn't reveal herself and neither did her pets. And Twilight couldn't keep herself from asking the all-important question: "Why?"

Perhaps this seemingly endless isolation was meant to persuade her into talking? That was the only rational explanation Twilight could come up with. Intimidation didn't work in the other mare's eyes, then surely leaving Twilight alone to stew with her thoughts would. Of course, that would only help if Twilight actually did know what had caused these unusual dreams herself. And in the lull of everything, it was only now that Twilight found herself actually beginning to put more thought on her current situation, and her captor's demands.

"Why does she think I know what's going on?" Twilight asked out loud if only to provide a brief comfort of hearing something aside from silence. "I'm the only one who doesn't know..."

The alicorn silently cursed herself for her curiosity and persistence in this matter. Her involvement in this whole mess was no one else's fault but her own, all of it centered back on a simple bout of curiosity that spiraled far out of her control. She was the one who wanted to help put a stop to whatever was going on behind the veil, to help out a bunch of strangers she had no real ties too. That was the only part she couldn't bring herself to lament, at least not in full, as bringing some sense of ease to the two ponies she had made that promise to made it all seem worthwhile. At least it did, before this unfortunate development.

But even still, the further she chased that white rabbit, the more and more Twilight began to see just how deep the rabbit hole went. Never in a million years did she think she'd ever get tied up into a mess like this, a web of troubles tying to a centuries-old war and the dark magic that had been involved in it. Of course, thinking of it like that—combined with the seemingly endless time to think she had been gifted with—inevitably drew Twilight's mind back to Canterlot. Back to Queen Celestia, the one solely responsible for Twilight's own alicorn ascension. And once again, Twilight began to wonder if the millennia-old alicorn had this path planned for her from the very beginning.

"It doesn't matter right now..." She was quick to push these unpleasant thoughts back to the back of her mind, just like the last time she had been foolish enough to ask these questions. It didn't matter right now whether or not she was simply fulfilling some divine purpose laid out before her by Equestria's Queen. "Either way, I'm here and I'm involved. I had my chance to walk away, and I didn't take it. The only way out is through."

Her own words came in an almost doubtful tone, far from okay with the situation at hoof. Even if this was all planned out for her by some power outside her control, there wasn't a way for Twilight to peacefully withdraw from the conflict now. She was going to have to play her part in seeing this through until the end, with whatever that end may entail. But she wasn't going to be able to do that in her present state, she was going to have to wake from this odd nightmare before she could even try.

Speaking of, the architect of this nightmare still refused to show herself again. Twilight had been walking for what felt like hours now, and still nothing. The Mare in the Moon had to have known by now that Twilight didn't know how she had come to be here, so why was Twilight still asleep? She dared not to dwell on the threat of "never wake again," hoping that the ancient alicorn didn't hold that kind of power over her right now. The concept of eternity was already something that Twilight was put off by, but an eternity in this place seemed all the worse. She wouldn't wish that unbearable fate on anyone.

But as the hours seemingly continued to tick by, Twilight felt more and more certain that she had been left here to face infinity in darkness. Or at the very least until the Mare in the Moon chose to come back to question her again. She seemed adamant on figuring out how and why Twilight came to be an unwitting witness of the older mare's life. And now that Twilight had time to think things over, she was starting to share that sentiment.

She brought her thoughts back to earlier, to how this dream-based entrapment began. Unlike the last time, her window into the past had been shattered with the outburst of some third presence. That was the only reasonable explanation Twilight could find to what had happened earlier. Looking back, it was almost as if someone had been reacting to what had been going on in those memories. Twilight couldn't blame them, considering that from what she was able to tell, Selene had been seduced by that mysterious voice. Or at least that was the impression Twilight had been getting before she was rudely ejected from those visions without warning or tact. None of this made any sense to her, and she was having a hard time trying to keep track of each little detail, knowing full well that anything in this mess of a situation could have been a hint. A hoof was roughly rubbed against one of her temples as she kept ever onward as if trying to coerce her brain into working harder on finding the answer.

And then, there was a change. As she was walking along, not paying attention to where she was even going anymore, her hoof snagged on something. It was taut and thorny, swiftly coercing her to pull away. This was the first time there had been any change in the environment, and it was quick to make Twilight investigate. What she saw could only be described as a thick, black vine. She looked closer at the unfamiliar flora, taking notice that the thorns embedded in the fine were, frighteningly enough, made up of onyx. Twilight could see the end of it sticking up out of the ground, stretching off into the distance.

And as she followed the trail made by the odd plant with her eyes, more of them made themselves clear. And the further she looked, the more twisted and tangled they became. Twilight had unwittingly stumbled upon the edge of this massive field of bramble. But now that she had noticed it, she wondered how she hadn't seen it earlier. It was massive, to say the absolute least. The twisting mass of black stretching on forever, encompassing the dull light given off by the ashen ground and casting horrid shadows into the equally black sky. And after looking at nothing but rock and dust for countless hours now, this was a welcome change of scenery, able it a bit disturbing.

"Mother..."

Ever so weakly, a voice suddenly reached Twilight's ears. At first, she thought it was simply just the wind, but something about it seemed off. And seeing as how she was in a dream, Twilight elected that anything that seemed off was worth investigating. At the very least, it would be something to do while she waited to wake up. She closed her eyes and focused, her ears subtly turning in the vague dirrection where the sound had come from.

"Tia..."

It was definitely a voice. It was hoarse and weak, but the absolute silence of this bizarre land allowed it to carry for as far as it did. And she recognized it very quickly. After all, it hadn't been that long ago when she had been speaking with it herself. Only now, there was something different. The voice sounded afraid, lightly gasping between weak sobs. A part of Twilight saw this for the trap that it was, knowing that the Mare in the Moon was trying to lure her into her demise. But at the same time, there was a sad sincerity to the whimpering that heavily influenced the young alicorn's next few decisions.

She looked in the direction it came from, further in the valley of needles that she had just discovered. And now that she was actively trying to listen, there were a few things she noticed. These things were enough for Twilight to brave the unforgiving terrain, stepping carefully as to not impale herself on one of the thousands of tiny pricks in her path. And the further she strode into the range, the more she began to notice a pattern in the plants. Despite being a massive tangled mess, they all seemed to be reaching towards one central point—the same point Twilight was headed to herself. Very rarely, something further ahead would pull at one of the taught vines, causing the whole field to slightly shake and shudder ever so slightly.

And every time it happened, Twilight had to stop and readjust herself to make sure she didn't get caught in the spines. These weak tremors also did well to expose secrets that had been lost to this valley of thistles, secrets that Twilight wished she had never seen. It wasn't the first time Twilight had seen skulls in her life, she had been to more than one museum in her time. But this was the first time she had seen them in what could only be called a mass grave, each entangled within these black vines. There wasn't an abundance of them, from what she saw less than ten thus far. But each of them was distinct from one another. Both in origin and deformity.

One seemed to belong to a griffin once upon a time. Or at least, Twilight thought it was a griffin. Everything looked right until she noticed that the beak was jagged and serrated by design as if it had grown that way. Another looked as if it had once belonged to a minotaur, one who had been unfortunate to have lost one of their horns. But this deficiency was made up by the intact twin, which seemed to have dozens of other horns jutting out of it, almost like it was an antler. But the one that gave Twilight pause was the skull of a pony. A sarosian, if the fangs were anything to go off of. This skull had been desecrated by a series of black jagged crystals, one of which jutted from the forehead in a twisted mockery of a unicorn's natural gift. And for a moment, Twilight locked eyes with the empty sockets of this once living creature, a great sense of dread overwhelming her before it was swallowed again by a tugging at the vines.

"Somepony... help me..."

The continuing outcries of the voice brought Twilight back to reality—or as close as she could get to reality at the moment—and once again she pushed herself onward. The same song and dance repeated over and over again until the young mare finally came upon the source of the tugging and the whimpering. The heart of the bramble patch, if the now apparent circular pattern of the vines were anything to go off of. And in the center of it all, a pony could be seen impossibly woven into the thicket. It was hard to notice her at first, her dark coat blending in well with the dark bindings that held her. But it was easy enough to find where the mare began if the intensely glowing silver horn was anything to go off of.

From there, Twilight traced the outline of the trapped pony with a look of blatant terror. Like horrid chains, the vines wrapped around the mare in impossible knots. Her head was relatively free, save for the thick loop around her neck. Laying on her side, her legs were splayed out far and wide to one side of her— each one held in place by any number of the black vines. Twilight couldn't see the pony's bat-like wings from here, but it was safe to assume that they were being held similarly. Small lines of long since dried blood marked where the thorns had pierced the mare's skin—nowhere near as many as there should have been—yet tears seemed to flow ever free from the face contorted in fear and pain. Her breaths were short and silent, growing in volume and speed whenever the mare's body spasmed in a futile attempt to break her bonds—the source of the vines being tugged about, clearly enough. And as Twilight drew closer, these spasms seemed to continue to grow in frequency, although Twilight wasn't even certain that this mare was aware of her surroundings, let alone the second alicorn's presence.

"... Selene?" Twilight managed to ask, supremely disturbed by the sight in front of her.

"Please... free me..." Selene seemed to choke out in reply, through her tears and her gasps. "Anypony... please..."

If this was a trap meant to lure Twilight close, then it had worked without a single failure. The cynical side of Twilight that had suspected this whole endeavor was all but silenced as she witnessed the plight of the alicorn princess before her. If it was a facade, then it was a very well made one. There was no faking the pain strewn about on the cobalt pony's face, and Twilight could almost feel that pain for herself just by looking at this dreadful display. It was enough to make twilight's stomach wretch.

"Can you... hear me?" The frightened alicorn asked, but no reply was given. The elder pony only continued to squirm and writhe every so often in what could only be called her prison. Once again leaving Twilight alone, with nothing but her questions to keep her company. "You can stop now... I'm here, you can spring the trap. Just do it already... I get it..."

But the trap was never sprung, the only thing Selene did was continue to fight the chains that bound her, continuing to weakly beg for freedom from this ghastly nightmare. And all Twilight could do was watch, unable to draw her eyes away from the horror before her. She tried to avert her eyes, thinking for a moment that this might be some new form of torture conjure dup by the Mare in the Moon to make Twilight talk, but instead she found herself enraptured by Selene's silver magic. Bright and potent, the magical aura was healthy and strong, unimpeded by the apparent physical pain she was in.

This caught Twilight's attention, distracting her for a moment from the other pony's plight. If this was all meant to be a trap for Twilight, then why was the mare's horn glowing? It seemed like an odd detail to include, unnecessary even. Unless, of course, this wasn't a trap after all. Regardless, Twilight couldn't stand to watch this anymore. She quickly searched for a piece of vine that was mostly clear of shards and began working to try and free Selene. It tasted horrible, but she had no choice given her current lack of magic. She tried to pull on the vine in a way that wouldn't cause further pain to their captive, only for Princess Selene to continue murmuring.

"I've had enough of this dream... All I hear... their song... this dreadful lullaby... trapping me here..."

Their song? Twilight asked internally, her mouth still filled with the bitter dry vine. Despite its brittle appearance, the vine was seeming to hold up under Twilight's efforts. Either her above-average strength was also something nullified in this dream—just like her magic—or these things were just that tough. Twilight eventually gave up and turned back to the trapped pony. "What song? Who's singing?"

"There you are," the many voices of the Mare in the Moon spoke from behind as if to answer that question, Selene's struggles only intensifying in responce. "What have you been up to? Seeking aide in a fragmented shard of our selves?"

It didn't take much for Twilight to find the Mare in the Moon, silently standing there in the bramble with them. The black vines around them stretched and distorted around their evident master, creating a blatant clear patch for the hooded figure to stand. Immediately on guard, Twilight did what she could to face the antagonistic force without skewering herself on the sharp environment. She lightly shifted the muscles in her wings, hoping that flight was still an option in this place. Because if it wasn't, then Twilight was squarely out of options.

But the hooded mare didn't make a move. She didn't say or do anything at all, she merely stood there, her eyes untraceably fixated on one thing and nothing else. At first, Twilight was under the assumption that she was the subject of interest, but then Selene's mewling once more reached her ears and she looked back to the bound mare. This was enough to prove to Twilight that this wasn't a trap, or at least not an intentional one. After all, why keep the facade going after you've sprung it? But of course, this brought up a very concerning question in Twilight's mind.

Who have I been talking too?

The question wasn't one that would be answered, or at least it wouldn't be within the confines of this dream. A sudden sensation of weightlessness washed over Twilight in a powerful wave as she was plucked upward by some unseen force. Her sudden escape wasn't unnoticed, the Mare in the Moon quickly looking up at her as if shocked by this development, yet seemingly unable to do anything about it.

Then without warning, yet with a loud gasp, Twilight found herself waking up somewhere else. Her ears were ringing loudly, like an irate warning bell that refused to cease. She felt the cool air of a late-spring night on her exposed face—and the familiar weight of her cloak and saddlebags once more. The light of the rising sun greeting her almost instantly, a refreshing change of pace after this very long night. She was on the ground—after a fall, she assumed—but she was quickly able to deduce where she was. And she breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar houses around her. She was back in Ponyville.

"Argh, what the buck was that?!" Rainbow Dash's raspy voice was a breath of fresh air after the dream Twilight had just lived through. It was soon apparent that the pegasus had also been knocked to the ground, her forehooves hard at work shielding her evidently harmed face. It was also now that Twilight realized just where they were in Ponyville—right in front of her house.

"Dash?" Twilight began to get herself up, finding that her body had yet to fully catch up with her. Her first few steps were wobbly and unstable, but she was able to right herself in no time.

"Oh, so NOW you wake up?! Typical!" Rainbow Dash yelled in annoyance and pain, writhing on the ground to turn and look at Twilight without having to get up. "Care to tell me why your house EXPLODED at me?!"

"Exploded?" The cloaked alicorn looked over to her rented home, the last remnants of some strong magical pulse fading away visible to her. It didn't take long for her to catch up with whatever had happened, figuring out exactly what had just happened. "You triggered the alarms... all of them." Twilight found herself goofily grinning at this apparent development. The wards and charms she had slathered her home in had been enough to force her to wake up when Dash had blindly brought her sleeping body here.

"Why did the alarms explode though?!"

"Because it's meant to keep people out," Twilight bluntly answered as she helped her friend back to her hooves, almost giddy at the return of her beloved magic. And now at the end of this long night, as Twilight helped Dash get up off of the ground and the sun continued to rise into the sky, there was one thing that suddenly came to mind that took priority above all else.

She didn't bother explaining herself before quickly rushing into her home with great haste, not caring if she was being followed while taking the few twists and turns about the short pathway to her destination. With a flash of magic, the door was thrown open and Twilight barged into Spike's room. She nearly tripped on a few of his scattered belongings in the process— a few toys and trinkets he had accrued over the two's travels—but it wasn't enough to get her to falter too much. Especially not right now.

"Wha-HUH?!" Spike was abruptly awoken by the tactless entrance on the behalf of his equine guardian, the long dragon bolting upright out of the cluster of blankets and pillows like a startled animal. His eyes glossed over and unfocused, still half-asleep and unable to pinpoint the origin of whatever just woke him.

"Spike? Are you okay?" Twilight tried to ask the question as calmly as she could, even though she was still a bit frazzled from everything that transpired. If nothing else, knowing that Spike was able to wake up at all seemed to be a good sign. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"Uhh... I dunno..." The sleepy dragon spoke through a yawn and began rubbing at his eyes. "If it did, I slept through it..."

All Twilight could do in reply was give a soft, relieved chuckle before she scooped the dragon up into a soft hug. He was still somewhat delirious from his sudden awakening but he didn't make much of an effort to squirm out of the sudden embrace. It took a second or two for the young dragon to catch up and return the gesture. The two of them sat there for a few moments, simply enjoying one another's mere existence. Of course, for Twilight, it was more of a way to try and move past whatever it was she had just been through. The memories of her impromptu dreams were slightly hazy now in the waking world, but they were clear enough to leave their mark. The young alicorn had plans to address these issues in the near future, but for right now she was simply content with caring for her little dragon.

"Welp, I'm diabetic now," Rainbow Dash was swift in interrupting the tender and loving moment with a taunting grin, "Because that's just too sweet."

— Chapter Thirty-Two —

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--- Painful Reminders ---

Despite its hectic start, the morning went on in a relatively normal fashion. Twilight went on to make breakfast as she always did, nothing more extravagant than a simple meal of eggs and toast with a generous serving of coffee. The only difference in Twilight and Spike's routine was the inclusion of a certain cyan pegasus, who had stayed of her own accord. Something that Twilight encouraged, knowing full well that there were going to be some questions. Which was fine by her, she had her own as well. The only thing really standing in the way of that was Spike's presence, as neither one of the two ponies seemed willing to put the dragon through this.

It was doubly fortunate for them that Spike had elected to go back to bed after eating his fill, the result of his sleep being harshly interrupted only a half-hour prior—He hadn't been much of a conversationalist during the short meal, after all. And when he went to go back to the land of slumber, Twilight was hesitant but supportive in getting him back to bed. She was unsure if he'd be safe from the Mare in the Moon's influence, but at the same time, the only other option was to deny him his sleep altogether. If nothing else, she at least knew that she could shock him awake just as Rainbow had done to her earlier this morning.

It was only after he was soundly back asleep that Twilight went back to address the issue waiting for her in the dining room. Said issue was waiting with uncharacteristic patience upon her chair—idly sipping her coffee as she awaited Twilight's return. It didn't take her very long to notice the alicorn in the room, turning a cold inquisitive glare in her direction. One that Twilight was able to match verbatim. But this stalemate didn't last long, and Rainbow was the one to fire the first shot.

"So. Something very interesting happened tonight," Dash began with a cold sarcasm about her tone, "Either you developed the world's most ironically timed case of narcolepsy, or you found something relevant and didn't tell me. You know, like you were supposed to."

"I wasn't exactly given a lot of time to give you the heads up," Twilight explained in just as cold of a voice as she returned to her seat at the table. She calmly took a long drink of her own beverage as she waited for Rainbow Dash to respond. "I don't think the amulet was the only thing Knox had cursed up there."

"Good theory, but I did a little snooping of my own before I got you outta there. And I found something... well, something I think you didn't want me to see." The pegasus paused for a moment before going to dig through one of her bags. For a moment, Twilight was fully expecting the stone that caused that nightmare to begin with. Only to be fully surprised when Dash drew forth a familiar looking book.

Corul Luminii Lunii.

Twilight could almost feel her heart stop as she looked upon the well-worn cover of the book she had taken, and that sentiment was shown plainly upon her face. In the chaos of everything that happened, she had almost forgotten that she had stuffed it into her bag whilst going to check on Dash. The young alicorn was very tempted to search her bags for that very same book, hoping in vain that maybe there were two copies of the book to be had. But she knew better than that.

"It's funny, the kind of things you just find lying around on the floor," Dash said with a smile as she observed the book's cover. But very quickly she turned back to Twilight with a dark glare that managed to spook her. "Next to an unconscious alicorn, and her open saddlebag." The book was placed atop the wooden table and held there by a stern hoof, Dash's glare only growing more intense as she went on without even pretending to wait for a reply. "I told you not to touch, and to tell me if you found anything. Do you just like putting yourself in needless danger?"

The alicorn furrowed her brow. "You're the one who brought me up there in the first place."

"Yeah, because it was easier than dealing with you bugging me about it. So I—Whatever, what's done is done, not important right now." The pegasus stopped herself, biting down on one of her lips for a moment before she continued with a different tone. "But you need to tell me if you read this or not." Dash tapped the old tome a couple of times for emphasis. "Because if I know one thing about you, it's that you're a smart cookie. So if anybody in town could read this dusty old thing, it's you."

"I... don't think I should tell you that," Twilight spoke sternly and confidently, "Not until you answer some of my questions."

The two stubborn ponies glared back at one another with great ferocity, like two ancient dragons ready to fight to the death. "You're really going to try and pull that? After I bent over backwards and risked my job for you? Just so you could maybe answer a few questions that you really don't need answers to?"

"I'm just trying to help," the purple pony almost snorted in frustration. "Whatever this is, it's big. Bigger then either of us knows. Don't tell me an alicorn's help wouldn't be useful in getting this done." Anger continued to build up as she made her argument again.

"Oh, will you stop it with that?" Dash emphasized with the rolling of her eyes, "I get it, you're an alicorn. But you're still a civ."

"A civ who's graduated from the School for Gifted Unicorns."

"Irrelevant." The pegasus remained adamant.

"A civ who's been personally taught by Queen Celestia."

"... Slightly less irrelevant." Dash's persona faltered ever so slightly. "But still no. Gotta keep civs safe and all."

"Why can't you just let me help?" Twilight grunted bitterly back, "I'm not safe either way. Why can't I—?"

"Give it a week or two, I'm gonna send for a professional mage-breaker," Rainbow explained confidently and sternly, crossing her forelimbs as if to emphasize her point. "Need someone to look into that 'memory alteration' thing you were talking about. I'm sure they'll be able to help you out, too."

"Okay, then give me a week or two. Let me use that time."

"Use it for what? Everything's basically wrapped up," Dash's statement came with the same smug attitude that Twilight knew well from way back when. "Once Knox and his weirdo friend are behind bars, there won't be anything left to worry about."

That statement brought visible shock to Twilight's face, the alicorn having to stop for a solid few seconds to fully understand what she had just been told. While there was some logic behind Dash's statement, there were also a number of holes that could be poked into it. Whatever it was that was going on in this little town, locking up two ponies wouldn't stop it for good as their schemes had undeniable ties to much larger problems. The Great Shadow War, the timberwolves, the Choir of Moonlight, the list went on and on. Taking care of those two would certainly take care of a few symptoms, but that wasn't going to cure the illness as a whole.

"Are you being serious right now?!" Twilight asked after a moment's thought, outraged by the apparent laziness Dash was showing right now. "You know damn well there's more going on."

"And all of that's above my paygrade. I was given a mission, and I've accomplished it. What else is there?"

"Stopping the Choir?"

"You don't stop the Choir. You stall it." Dash shook her head with disappointment before leaning forward and glaring over the table with great intensity. "Why do you even care so much? You don't need too—"

"Because Celestia gave me more power than anyone should ever have and never told me why!" Twilight suddenly snapped back with unjustified righteous fury, her front hooves finding themselves atop the table with a loud smack. "And now I have to live longer than anyone ever should!" She smacked her chest with every occurrence of the word ever. "Because I'm supposed to do something with this curse, and everything in the past few days has told me that this is it! There are just too many coincidences! This is why she made me!"

Twilight's haggard breaths following her rant was the only thing breaking the silence of the room. The cloaked alicorn sat there with her outraged scowl, waiting for Rainbow to even try and argue with her again. She could feel tears begin to well up in the corners of her eyes, but she fought them back just as soon as they were about to fall. She wasn't going to cry, not right now. It wasn't the time.

The outburst had come out of nowhere, even from Twilight's point of view, and had encompassed a number of emotions and thoughts that the alicorn had been wrestling with for as long as she could remember. As far back as her first few weeks as an alicorn, and as recently as just the other night. The idea that there was some grander purpose behind Twilight's ascension had been a topic of self-discussion that she wasn't very fond of lingering on for very long. After all, who would want to confront the idea that the course of their entire life had been irreparably altered for the sake of someone else's agenda? Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Rainbow Dash bore a look that could best be described as shocked enlightenment. This wide-eyed, almost weary expression that showed traces of concern, compassion, and understanding. Pitty would be another good word for it, and that was the one Twilight chose to use in her angered state of mind.

"So that's what it is..." Dash spoke softly, leaning back into her chair with a soft breath. "You want to justify what happened to you."

"Don't talk like you know! You have no idea what I've—!"

"August twenty-second. 1,005." That date made Twilight shut up in a heartbeat, her mouth left agape as slowly Dash went on. "That's the day it happened, right? Or close enough to it, anyway."

"Why... why do you know that...?" The ferocity and passion Twilight had shown mere seconds ago was long gone. In their place were only confusion and distress at the implications of Dash knowing. There were very few people in the world who knew about Twilight being an alicorn. But even fewer knew the circumstances that lead to that status, and Dash had just proven without a shadow of a doubt that she was one of them. "Who told you?"

"The Black Hooves keep tabs on a lot of things. Before I was a field op, they had me pushing papers. Rookie stuff, basic initiation. You get the idea. Anyway, I found a file with your name on it one night, and curiosity got the better of me." Dash closed her eyes softly and breathed in slowly, the following exhale even slower. When next she next spoke, there was no mistaking the timbre in her voice as one of apology. "I didn't know it would be that... well, you know."

There's a file about me... The realization hit hard and strong, like a lead pipe to the teeth. Twilight's deepest and most personal secret, nothing more than a tidbit sorted away in some filing cabinet back up in Canterlot. Who could say for sure just how many bureaucrats and other government agents had read into her life without her ever knowing? How many people knew? "... I wish you didn't tell me that..."

"Sorry... about everything, I mean..."

Once more the room fell silent, neither party having anything further to add. The weight of this quietness was oppressive and heavy, like heavy iron chains literally tying Twilight to a facet of her life she had spent six years trying to forget. But even still, the unpleasant visions were still as painfully vivid as ever. August twenty-second, 1,005. The day that Twilight's destiny irreparably altered, for better and for worse. And no matter how hard she tried to repress and block out those memories, no matter how long she hid the aftermath of that day under her dusty old cloak, she couldn't ever really forget that day.

After all, it was also Spike's birthday.

The silence was shattered when Rainbow Dash cleared her throat in order to reclaim the other pony's attention. "Look... if this all really means that much to you... then I guess I could let you tag along a little while longer."

Twilight glanced back over to the pegasus with an austere look. "I don't want your pity."

"And I didn't want your help, but you've made it very clear that you're going to give it to me either way." Dash was able to give a strained chortle in response despite the grim atmosphere of the conversation. "It's only fair I return that favor." After a few seconds of letting the small smile longer, she returned to a more serious expression. "But I'm gonna need a few hours to get everything sorted out. Gotta talk to the police about detaining Knox and that Starlight weirdo, gotta send an update back to HQ, and I need to go the buck to sleep because I've been awake for twenty-six hours straight and I feel like I'm about to pass out. Do you think you can go that long without getting into any deeper shit?"

The cloaked pony took the time to let Rainbow Dash's words sink in as deep as they could get, using this as an opportunity to reclaim her composure and settle her racing mind. "Yeah... I can do that."

"Good." Dash gave an affirmative nod as she stood back up, taking the blue book back into her bag before she started on her way towards the door. "Now do yourself a favor, take some time for yourself. Stop stressing out for a while. Get some ice cream, spend some time with your little dragon friend. Something to... I dunno, lighten up a bit."

She sat there quietly, watching as the pegasus walked over towards the front entrance. She didn't know exactly what else she could contribute to the conversation at this point, still mulling over the suggestions she had been given for how to kill some time. One, in particular, stuck out to her the most. That, combined with the most recent reminder of the life she left behind, got her to think about a few things. These things were enough to provoke Twilight into action.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight spoke confidently enough, trying to sound stronger then she felt at the moment. The address did its job in stoping the cyan pony from leaving, if only for a few scant moments.

"Hmm? What's up?" She turned back to the table to face the alicorn in question. "Something on your mind?"

"He's not just my friend," Twilight looked her straight in the eye with unwavering resolve, "He's my son."

"Oh... well, it's about time you admitted it."

That was the last thing either of them said to one another before Rainbow Dash departed. And with her young draconic companion soundly sleeping a few rooms over, and Rainbow Dash off to do much the same, Twilight was left with none other than her thoughts to keep her company. It was only now that Twilight was given time to notice that she wasn't suffering from any kind of fatigue at all, despite having been up nearly as long as Rainbow Dash had been. Aside from the unexpected nap in the library, she had been up since yesterday. Yet she felt as if she'd gotten an entire full night's sleep. A fortunate side effect of that encounter, if nothing else.

But that also meant that Twilight wouldn't be getting to go back to sleep any time soon, even if she wanted to. Which put a few roadblocks in her path for how to pass the time. Unlike up in the library's third floor, she had no intention of going behind Rainbow Dash's back again. Especially not when Dash had just promised to let her continue helping in this operation. Which, of course, led her to have an abundance of free time on her hooves. Looking at the clock, she was able to see that it was just about to be half-past seven. Still fairly early, and a few hours before she had to go to work. And that was assuming she was even going to go in today, all things considered. With all these possibilities and avenues in mind, Twilight had some decisions to make.

— Chapter Thirty-Three —

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--- A Dragon's Desires ---

A lazy Monday morning about the house was just what the doctor ordered after everything Twilight had been through as of late. It was a wise decision to heed Dash's advice, to take the time to calm down after this whole ordeal and process everything that had gone on. Everything she had learned thus far, as well as her own emotional state. There was no shortage of things to sort through on either front. It had only been just a few short days, but it felt more like a lifetime looking back. It was bizarre, and the opportunity to stop and cope with all of it was a much-appreciated one. It was almost akin to meditation, really. And the time did well in helping Twilight calm her skittish nerves.

It also made for a nice way to wait for Spike to once more return to the waking world. The young dragon strolled out into the living room with a weary stride, lazily pulling himself up onto the tacky couch next to Twilight and almost falling over onto it while doing so. Whereas before he was the victim of not having enough sleep, now he looked to be suffering from the aftermath of too much sleep. Groggy was one word that could be used to describe his current state of being, half-lidded eyes unfocused and fighting to keep themselves open.

"Hey, bud. Sleep well?" Twilight noticed him almost as soon as he plopped down next to her, giving a gentle nudge to help draw his attention to her. The answer she was given in response was something between a groan, a growl, and a gurgle. "That well, huh?"

Spike nodded slowly, gently allowing himself to fall over to lean on Twilight for support. He yawned loudly, doing everything he could to fight through this unexpected bout of grogginess. Twilight couldn't help but giggle a bit at the dragon's plight as she gave him a reassuring pat on his head. The little guy had to be doing all of this on purpose, how else could he be so adorable? It was something he was indisputably the master of, intentional or not. And even if he didn't know it, he was doing a spectacular job at elevating the alicorn's current mood just by being here.

"So... what's next?" The dragon was slowly coming around to being fully lucid and starting to support himself without the help of his primary caretaker. "Did you get Dash to spill the beans? Or whatever it was you were doing last night."

"Oh... that... it... w-went well!" A brief moment of hesitation came before the cheery sounding answer, Twilight not wanting to cause any more distress in her young companion's life. "Not as well as I had hoped, but I can't... really complain..."

"That's good. So what're we gonna do next?"

"I... haven't figured that out yet. But you don't need to worry about that. You've got enough to deal with already." Her posture was adjusted to better face Spike as she continued to talk. "Speaking of, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Uhh... like what?"

"I don't know, whatever's on your mind..." Twilight gave a half shrug in an attempt to indicate she didn't know either. She was "Like... are you still upset about anything that's happened?"

"Hmm..." Spike looked back to Twilight with a look similar to the one she was giving him. Laced with uncertainty and hesitation, it was equally clear he was now just as lost as the alicorn was. "... Maybe? I haven't really been thinking about it... I kind of... don't want to..." That didn't sound good, and Twilight was quick to try and address this issue.

"Well, maybe if you talk about it you could—" But she was swiftly interrupted by a cheery sounding knock on the front door, which had an instant effect on her mood. Gone was her loving but confused outlook, now she bore the look of pure outrage and annoyance. "Of course. Why not?... Spike, you know what to do."

"... Yeah..." He answered almost begrudgingly, hopping down off of the couch and scrambling to hide underneath the sofa. Once he was firmly out of sight, Twilight gave a solemn nod of approval before checking to see if she still had her cloak on. Another nod came just as the knocking on the door resumed, prompting her to finally stride over and see just who this unwanted intruder was.

"Hiya Twilight!" Pinkie's happy voice chimed loudly as the door opened, the pink earth pony becoming momentarily airborne in her own excitement. "How've you been? I haven't seen you since the train-station incident yesterday!"

"Oh ... right... that." Twilight had completely forgotten about most of that interaction, having had far more prevalent things to worry about than a giant balloon filled with vinegar. "I've been... fine, I guess. And you?"

"Eh, I've been better." Pinkie's happy-go-lucky demeanor she bore was suddenly replaced by one of dull indifference. "Had to help Rarity and AJ round up their sisters after what happened, plus Scootaloo. That took a few hours, those kids can run really fast."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that...?" Twilight's response was slow and unsure, not knowing where this conversation was going or what exactly to say next. In all honesty, she was looking for a way to try and get rid of Pinkie quickly so she could return her attention to Spike. "How did that go?" She didn't know why she answered like that, considering she wanted this conversation to be brief, but there wasn't any going back now.

"Pretty well. I know the girls got a serious talking to, but I wasn't there for that part. But that's not what I came here to talk about!" Viciously shaking her head, Pinkie returned to her normal demeanor in a flash. "Anyway, Rarity and I were going out to get breakfast, and I randomly thought of inviting you along! You don't really get out that much aside from work, I figured it'd be good for you!"

Twilight cringed internally at the generous offer but managed to keep an outward smile to save face. While the offer was kind, she wasn't exactly eager to take it. On top of just not being in the mood for such humdrum formalities with everything that was going on, she also knew that doing this now wouldn't be the best thing for Spike. While she hadn't exactly neglected him in any true regard, she had been putting him on the back burner as of late in favor of the messy web of conspiracies she had gotten herself tangled in. Much of her time in these past few days had been dedicated to solving these mysteries and putting a stop to whatever sinister schemes were going on behind the veil, not so much spending time with Spike and helping him through his issues. And while the long dragon had stated he was okay with Twilight's investigations—or at least, was pretending to be okay with them—but she wasn't sure if going out for a casual breakfast with ponies she hardly knew was going to fly.

"Uhh... Thanks for the offer, Pinkie..." Twilight did what she could to respond in a respectful tone, not wanting to just bluntly refute the heartfelt offer. "But could we take a rain check on that? Today... might not be the best day."

"No problemo! All's good! But if you do change your mind, we'll be at Sugar Cube Corner! Bye!" Taking the refusal shockingly well, Pinkie strode off without another word leaving Twilight standing in the doorway with a befuddled expression.

That mare was nearly impossible to get a read on, but she meant well enough at the end of the day. And she had at least saved Twilight the trouble of coming up with a proper excuse, so for that, the alicorn was grateful. She sighed deeply as she shut the door, locking it swiftly after with a flicker of her horn. She stood there and sighed, working to quickly recover her train of thought from before the untimely interruption distracted her from her talk with Spike.

"Did you want to go?" The dragon asked in an almost apologetic tone as he scurried out from underneath the couch. The distinctive sound of ripping fabric could be heard as the spines on his back brushed up against the underside of the sofa. The centerpiece of the room had been damaged, without question, but that was a problem to be dealt with later. "Pinkie and that other pony. They're your friends, right?"

"Uhh... something like that," Twilight murmured back softly, scratching the back of her head. "I mean, Pinkie's pretty nice... I'd say she's at least a close acquaintance. But Rarity? I've talked to her maybe four or five times. And not all of those times were good." The night that Twilight had been introduced to Knox's memory magic was brought back to the forefront of her thoughts, and a ghastly chill ran down her spine. "But I don't need to go out to eat with them, we already ate."

"But did you want too?" It was simple enough to see that Spike was being very pensive right now. His foreclaws fiddling and twitching with one another as he changed to a seated posture, his brows drooping in a nervous and worried manner. "You know, to talk with other ponies?... About stuff that isn't Knox... or wolves or... whatever?"

No effort was needed on Twilight's behalf to see that there was something more going on here. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she tried to get a read on him, not getting much deeper than the surface level emotions that the dragon was displaying. "I'm not really sure... why do you ask?"

"Well... I was wondering..." There was a slight glint of hope hiding within the slow and hesitant words, accompanied by a shaky grin and a slight shrug. "Maybe I could have... tagged along... to meet them?"

Time stopped.

The soft words hit Twilight like a ton of bricks at terminal velocity. She never once expected Spike to ask such a thing in a million years, and the seemingly impossible action caught her off guard more than anything else that had occurred within the past couple of days. Maybe that was being a bit overly dramatic, but it felt appropriate given the circumstances. Over the past two years of their travels, Spike had only been seen by other ponies three times. The first two times did not end well, to say the absolute least. After all, one doesn't just see a dragon-like creature in the middle of a town without making a big deal out of it. Thankfully enough those two events had ended well enough, with Twilight and Spike managing to slink away before any serious consequences could be established. And while the third encounter—the one with Fluttershy—had gone exceptionally better, Twilight was still skeptical of her kind's ability to accept a dragon of any kind with open arms.

"Spike, you know what's going to happen if we do that," Twilight answered with a weary voice, not wanting to just shoot him down outright. "I know you remember what happened the last time."

"Yeah, but it'll be different this time. It's not like some random stranger's gonna find me while your back is turned. You know these ponies, and you'll be there." As Spike went on, his tone became more and more pleading. He wanted to meet some new faces, it seemed. "And there's also Fluttershy! She didn't freak out! Maybe she could help, too! She's already been helping us out a lot already!"

He had a point, she couldn't argue with him on that front. But even still, Twilight had her trepidations about what exactly Spike was asking of her. "Spike, where did this come from?"

The hopeful glee in the dragon's smile faded slightly as he was confronted with the question. "I dunno... you were asking me about what I felt, and then that Ponkle person showed up, and I just thought it might be nice..."

Twilight bit at her lower lip as she watched Spike sink into himself in shame. Even if this was just an impulse caused by an unfortunately timed coincidence, he still seemed to feel strongly about doing this. No, it couldn't have been an impulse. This wasn't the kind of reaction one would give about rethinking a hasty decision. There was a long-since repressed desire at work here, that much was starting to become obvious. Twilight had kept Spike in almost complete isolation over the past two years, outside of herself and the odd creature that didn't care about him being a dragon. Though, even then, these encounters were almost surgically brief. Nowhere near long enough to forge any kind of connection.

But before their travels? Spike had a far more varied social circle. Twilight's family, Cadence, the Queen, her personal guards, and even a small number of biologists and other researchers who had helped to determine his draconic status. But once the duo began the two-year trek for long dragons, Twilight had effectively cut every single one of them out of Spike's life.

Yet in the past few weeks, Spike had finally received a meaningful contact with another pony in the form of Fluttershy. And those interactions might have stirred some unfulfilled need for social development. It would only make sense, Spike had spent quite a fair bit of time with that timid pegasus over the past weeks, almost to the point where her home was his second home here in Ponyville. It wasn't exactly a ludicrous stretch of logic to say that this sudden change in his way of living would stir something inside of him. And with those thoughts in mind, Twilight couldn't help but feel like she had been hurting Spike more then she had been helping him. So as such, there was only one reasonable course of action she could take at this juncture.

No matter how bad of an idea that she thought it was.

"Alright... I'll go figure something out," she sighed in defeat, "But I want you to wait here while I go get them."

Spike took on a look that gave the impression of hurt and confusion. "Wait. Why do I have to—?"

"Spike, if this is going to happen, I want it to happen in a controlled environment, with ponies who're ready for it." Twilight interrupted as she fetched the saddlebags. "I don't want to parade you around the town and cause a big panic. I'll talk to them and bring them here, and we'll see where it goes from there. Does that seem fair?"

The long dragon wasn't exactly on board for that exact version of the plan at first, but it didn't take much to persuade him to meet Twilight half-way on this. Pinkie and Rarity were currently in a public establishment, and who knew what they were going to do after that. The best course of action was to persuade them to come back to the house after breakfast, using that time to prep them for what was to come. She assured him that it wouldn't take longer than an hour or so, telling him that he could use the time to prepare for this encounter himself. With that, Twilight was able to go on her way without any further complications.

Aside from the ones within her own head, that is. Despite folding to her young dragon's demands, Twilight still wasn't sure about this at all. It seemed like a phenomenally stupid idea that was coming to have extraordinary consequences to follow. But at the same time, Spike had made it clear that this was what he wanted. What was she supposed to do? Just shoot him down without even considering what he wanted? She couldn't exactly call herself his "mother" if she did that.

She spent the whole of the walk thinking these things over and preparing herself for what was to come next, good or bad. With that time, she decided that maybe starting with just Pinkie Pie by herself would be the better course of action. After all, Twilight knew her better, it'd be easier than trying to explain the situation to two ponies at once. Plus, assuming it went well, Pinkie could be an invaluable asset in helping introduce Spike to other individuals. As would Fluttershy, now that Twilight was taking a moment to actually think this through with some real effort. But that was about six or seven steps ahead of where she was now, first she needed to cross that first hurdle. There had been a short moment where Twilight considered fetching Fluttershy to assist in this endeavor, but she decided against it soon after. Spike clearly wanted Twilight to be the one to introduce him to other ponies, making Fluttershy do it would hurt the sentiment. Especially after how Twilight had tried to deny him this experience at all. So for now, she needed to go find Pinkie Pie and bring her back home.

Luckily enough, she wouldn't be hard to find. Pinkie had at least given her the location where the purple pony could easily find her at the current moment. And it wasn't long at all before she came upon the aforementioned Sugar Cube Corner, one of Ponyville's more notable eating establishments. It wasn't anything outstanding or mind-blowing, just a simple eatery that specialized in baked goods and other things of that nature. And it was one that Twilight had grown very familiar with over her time in this town.

After all, they had the best coffee in town.

Walking into the establishment known as Sugar Cube Corner, Twilight was greeted by the unmistakable scent of a bakery hard at work and the chime of the little bell above the door. Beyond the barricade was what one would expect from a restaurant of this nature. A long counter with a series of glass windows to show off a series of pre-made goods—mostly muffins and some pastries that could be left alone for some time and still be alright to eat later—along with tables and wall-side booths for customers to sit down and enjoy themselves. It was a fairly busy day here today, given the sheer number of ponies in here at the moment. Even still, it didn't take her long to spot her targets upon walking inside. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were sitting at one of the corner booths in the midst of a discussion. Swallowing her anxieties and her pride, the disguised alicorn made her way over to the corner booth of the table.

"I'm telling you, they're into each other," Pinkie continued with absolute certainty, "You've seen how they look at each other. Everyone has!"

"Well, of course, they've been friends since childhood, it's only natural they care about one another," Rarity countered with a nonchalant wave, part of her attention focused on the newspaper crossword that floated in front of her through a veil of magic. She was just as invested in the discussion as Pinkie was, she was just multitasking while doing so. The unicorn must have been that confident in her stance on this subject. "You look at ponies like you care about them all the time, that doesn't mean you're in love with them. Or am I mistaken?"

"That's different, I'm a weirdo who still fully doesn't understand most social boundaries," Pinkie admitted bluntly, tapping her hooves against the table. "But those two? They're a perfect match. They'd make such a cute couple!"

Rarity gave a dignified chuckle to that point. "I won't argue with you there. But even if they were in love, it would never work out. Rainbow Dash is out of town most of the time, and—Oh! Hello, Twilight!" The unicorn's point was cut off as she suddenly noticed the debate's newfound audience. "So sorry about that, didn't see you there!"

"I, uh, wasn't trying to interrupt you or anything," Twilight nervously stammered back, "I was just—"

"Taking the obvious plot hook I left for you so you could advance the metaphorical narrative we all play a part in?" Pinkie interrupted with a smug grin, raising an eyebrow at the nervous pony standing at their booth. "Well, I'm glad you did! The more the merrier, I always say! Come on and sit down, we already ordered, but I'm—!"

"It's fine, I already ate... I just came to talk..." Twilight did as she was told with a small sense of trepidation buzzing in the back of her head, almost falling over herself as she took a seat on Pinkie's side of the booth. "You can, uh, keep going if you want. I don't mind."

"Oh, it wasn't anything important," Rarity smiled as she shifted more of her focus onto her crossword, "It was just a bit of gossip between friends... that we go through just about every time Rainbow Dash is back in town." The alabaster unicorn's eyes rolled in response to that before falling back upon the newspaper. "Besides, it'd be uncouth of us to continue a conversation that'd would more than certainly exclude you."

And it isn't uncouth to do a crossword when you're talking to your friend? Twilight didn't dare to let that thought come out of her mouth, not wanting to derail this conversation into a heated discussion of the right and wrong ways to have a conversation. She was a mare on a mission, and she was going to be damned if she didn't see it through. Even if she had no idea about how she was going to see it through. For now, at least, the best course of action was to sit through this little meet and greet, to see where it went. Afterward, she could invite Pinkie back home and finally get this bad idea off the ground.

"So... how have you been since yesterday?" Twilight shrugged at Rarity, not knowing exactly how to continue this conversation naturally. The question got a visible reaction out of Rarity, who seemed to fight back a shudder at that incident being brought up.

"Oh... not as mad as I was in that moment, that's for sure." The unicorn shook her head slowly before a smile came back to her face. "I don't know where those girls got that catapult, but it's water under the bridge now. And you, Twilight?"

"Oh, I'm... I'm fine... Certainly wasn't expecting to see a Wonderbolt yesterday, so that was a nice surprise." It wasn't a complete lie, Rainbow Dash's arrival had been an unexpected one at that. Though just not for the reasons that she was conveying to these two.

"Ehh, Dash isn't that impressive once you get to know her," Pinkie casually insulted of the cyan pegasus without any tact before imminently backtracking. "That wasn't what I meant! She's good at what she does don't get me wrong, but she's just a regular pony at the end of the day. You don't need to get all star-struck around her like you did!"

Sure. Let's go with that. Twilight mostly ignored that statement, her eyes begging to wander about in a fruitless search for something to advance the discussion. She had only been here for a minute or two, and she was already at a loss for words. And considering that the three hadn't even gotten to order their food yet, this was going to be a very long second breakfast. And it wasn't exactly like she was just going to come out and ask Pinkie if she wanted to meet a dragon. She needed to ease into it, she was certain of that much, she just wasn't sure of how to do that.

The search was ended when Twilight's eyes fell upon the front page of the newspaper in Rarity's grasp. And just like that, the rest of the world just seemed to fade away as the young alicorn skimmed the headline article. She could feel the sweat begin to form on her brow as her eyes grew wide, a sudden sense of bitter nostalgia rushing over her once her gaze drifted down to the photograph that accomplished the article. Twilight could have sworn she felt her heart skip a beat in response to this, and all other thoughts were driven from her head as her next words began to form on their own accord.

"H-hey, Rarity? You done with the front page?"

"Hmm? Oh, certainly," Rarity was soon to deliver on her word and pass the sheet of paper across the table without a second thought. "Interested in the coronation, hmm?" An answer wasn't given as the sheet was hastily shipped by Twilight's own magic, the alicorn almost in a frenzy over the piece of news that had been worthy of making the front page. It was far too important of an event to be anywhere else in the newspaper, a fact that was only further solidified as Twilight re-read the headline now that she had a better view of it.

Crystal Empire Coronation.

The article itself was exactly what one would expect if given that title. An admittedly wordy summary covering the events of the past few days over in Equestria's Northern neighbor, specifically going into details covering the aforementioned coronation. Empress Mi Amore Poesia had finally passed down the torch to her heir, the former Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and had fully stepped down from her position of power upon the Empire's throne. A significant event, considering that Poesia had been on the throne for nearly three hundred years now. It was about the average length their rulers spent on the throne, but seeing as how that term was longer than any normal lifespan it was no shock that it was front-page worthy news. Even in Equestria. But as for the article itself, there wasn't anything spectacular or noteworthy aside from the notification that the Crystal Empire was now under new management. And in all honesty, that wasn't what had caught Twilight's attention though. No, she was far more interested in the photograph that accompanied it.

Three smiling ponies were front and center for all to see before the immaculate Crystal Palace, all of them being individuals Twilight was well familiar with. Princess—or rather, Empress—Cadenza was front and center, rightfully so all things considered. And aside from the new regalia to mark her new status, she was the same as Twilight remembered her. She hadn't aged a day in these past two years, from what this photograph was portraying. The same could be said for Queen Celestia, who was standing to the left of the newly crowned monarch with a proud but professional smile. Seeing the eldest alicorn again, even in a photo, made Twilight feel a bit uneasy. Though it was only natural that Celestia was there, Cadence was her niece after all. And speaking of the centuries-old alicorn's nieces, the third individual was also a pony who shared the same royal bloodline of the first alicorn.

But at first glance, this individual just looked to be some random pegasus mare who couldn't have been any older then sixteen, if Twilight were to make a guess. Compared to the two alicorns standing beside her, this third pony stuck out in an almost hilariously contrasting fashion, hardly even coming up to Celestia's leg for crying out loud. Her natural colors were nearly identical to that of the newly crowned empress, so much so that it would be easy to assume that she was Cadence's younger sister at a moment's glance.

And there was an honest moment on Twilight's behalf where she didn't recognize this young mare, but it didn't take her long to correct the mistake. And while Twilight didn't know this third pony as well as Cadence or Celestia, she still knew her all the same. Albeit in a very brief fashion, back when Cadence and her brother began seeing one another more intimately. And the mere sight of this young mare was enough to rip Twilight's heart in half. Because while Twilight may have learned this lesson a long time ago, seeing the actual proof of it was something else entirely.

The alicorn spell is absolute, Queen Celestia's words echoed horribly in Twilight's mind, a terrible reminder of her ultimate fate. To undo it is to send one back to whatever they were before the spell was cast.

"Hey, who's that?" Pinkie asked abruptly, pointing to the youthful pegasus in the photo. "She looks... familiar..."

"That's... Empress Poesia..." Twilight's answer was slow and automatic, the forefront of her thoughts dominated by what she was looking at on this page. Saying that name out loud was the final nail in the coffin, solidifying it in her mind that this was the very same pony she had met once before. "... Former Empress Poesia, I mean..."

"... No, that's not her." The cloaked alicorn was too distraught to even notice, but Pinkie furrowed her brow at the unsatisfactory answer. "I've seen pictures of her before, and I know she's an alicorn. That's a pegasus."

"Well, of course, she reverted," Rarity made her way into the conversation to try and help explain, not that Twilight cared right now if Pinkie understood this all or not. This was what finally got the unicorn to put her crossword down, partly due to her frustration in trying to find an eight-letter word for the word giving. "It's been a tradition in the Crystal Empire for centuries. When the Emperor or Empress feels as though they have done enough for their nation, they appoint a successor and renounce their alicorn status." It wasn't surprising that Rarity knew this, it perfectly public knowledge. Something that was brought up, at least in passing, in any world-history class you could find in any school. In all honesty, it was more shocking that Pinkie didn't know.

"Wait, they can do that?!" The pink pony expressed legitimate shock at the information she was presented with, this showing clearly on her overblown expression and in her flabbergasted tone.

"Of course, alicorn's aren't born, Pinkie. They're made, through an ancient spell known only by Queen Celestia herself."

"That's so cool! But..." The ecstatic look on Pinkie's face was soon to sour, indicating that the mare was beginning to ask more questions about the nature of alicorns. "Why would they give up being alicorns? Like, they live forever, right? Why would anyone give that up?"

Mercy, Twilight internally grimaced at Pinkie's unintentionally painful question. They do it for mercy.

"Well, I'm exactly sure about that myself," Rarity's kind and helpful persona had been diluted by her confusion at the question Pinkie brought up. "If memory serves, they started doing it shortly after the great shadow war, but I don't think anyone outside the royal family knows exactly why. It is a good question though."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to try and ask when the Queen comes into town in a couple of weeks. I'm sure she knows!"

Pinkie's words were enough to pull Twilight out of her own head and back into the discussion. "I'm sorry... what did you say?" It was Twilight's reaction that got Pinkie to notice what she said, her hooves quickly darting up to cover her mouth to keep herself from saying anything else. "What did you say?!" There was a panicked aura emanating from the repeated question. Twilight knew full well what words had come out of Pinkie's mouth, but she desperately needed more information. Especially if that meant what she thought it meant.

The pink pony held out for a few seconds before slouching over with a look of utter failure upon her face. "Ugh... I guess the cat's out of the bag... Can you two keep a secret?"

"Of course, Pinkie," Rarity was quick to reply, "But I'm also a bit curious as to what you mean."

"Well... Rainbow Dash wasn't the only pony from Canterlot to show up yesterday..." Pinkie slowly explained, almost painfully so in Twilight's honest opinion, but the alicorn remained silent so she could soak in the explanation. The pink pony leaned closer towards the center of the table and her two companions did the same as she continued in a hushed whisper. "So after the little party, I had to back to work because Maud needed me to run the front desk for a while. And while I was doing that, there was this skinny weirdo with a briefcase who came in." Pinkie's words came fast and hot, only getting faster as she continued on with her story, demanding the full attention of the two magical ponies if they were to have any chance of keeping up.

"At first, I was thinking he wanted to check-in. You know, because it's a hotel and that's what ya do at a hotel. But no! Instead, he told me he wanted to reserve every room on the third floor for a few days during the Summer Sun Festival. I... kind of told him he was a lunatic because that would take a LOT of bits. I didn't know the exact number off the top of my head, but I knew it would be a lot. So Mr. Skinny takes his briefcase and pops it open—and it was filled with money. Like, more money then I've ever seen in one place in my whole life. Almost overflowing! And then he tells me that there's more where that came from, and this was just a down payment! This guy's just walking around with a butt-load of bits as a down payment! So, obviously, I had to tell him to wait for a minute while I went and got Maud. Because I didn't exactly know what to do in that situation. So Maud and Mr. Skinny start talking while I'm just standing there like a doofus. And while he's talking, he pulls out this badge and this letter and says he's here on behalf of Queen Celestia herself. Apparently, she's coming into town for the Summer Sun Festival with the Pillars of Equestria, and they needed a place to stay. Why are they coming to Ponyville? Heck if I know! But the only ones who're supposed to know are us at the inn, and the higher-ups at City Hall."

"So... yeah..." Pinkie leaned back into her seat and took the time to catch her breath. "That's happening. I don't think Maud bought the story, but she agreed anyway and took the down payment."

"Oh my word, that's incredible!" Rarity stammered out with equal parts astonishment and disbelief. It was a bit of a ludicrous thing to believe without taking a few grains of salt alongside it, but she seemed to be about as convinced as Pinkie was. "I mean, that would be a massive event for Ponyville! I can't even put it into words..."

Twilight was also at a loss for words in response to this, mostly because of the ceaseless internal screaming that dominated every corner of her mind. The idea of Ponyville being so close to Canterlot had previously caused her an intensive sensation of unease and worry back when she first arrived in this little town. And the idea of going up North to pop in and visit her loved ones had been one she had previously entertained once or twice in her short time living here, eventually deciding that it'd be for the better if she didn't go through with it. But now that choice had been pulled out from under her, leaving Twilight to haplessly fall into a seemingly endless downward spiral of panic and despair.

She was coming here.

Queen Celestia was coming to Ponyville, right to Twilight. That alone would have been enough to drive Twilight to this state of mind by itself, but as if to add insult to injury the eldest alicorn was also bringing the Pillars of Equestria with her on this visit of hers. Most of them didn't mean much of anything to her, but there was one, in particular, that really made this whole scenario far worse then it should have been. After all, Twilight's own mother was one of the ponies who was counted among Equestria's most important political figures, and she would be right alongside the Queen in this endeavor. Along with any number of Royal Guards who might very well be able to point Twilight out in a crowd if given the chance. While her cloak made hiding her true nature as an alicorn a lot easier, it also made her stick out in groups, especially for trained professionals keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. It was all but guaranteed that she'd be noticed and confronted by those two individuals, and the young alicorn wasn't certain if she was ready for that. She didn't even know if she wanted that in the first place.

"Sorry for the wait, it's been a busy morning!" One of the unicorn ponies working at the restaurant began as she sauntered up to the table. She had two plates of food floating alongside her, each of which was swiftly presented to Pinkie and Rarity respectively. But it didn't take her long to notice that there were only two plates of food and three ponies at the table, a shocked look of embarrassment overtaking her demeanor. "Oh! I didn't notice you added a third to your party, Pinkie!"

"Oh, no worries, Twilight only just got here five minutes ago!" Pinkie answered with one hundred percent sincerity, taking it upon herself to answer for the stunned alicorn. Five minutes. That's how long this whole event had been. A measly five minutes that felt like it had dragged on for eternity from Twilight's point of view. "And I think she said she was just here to hang out... if that's okay?"

"Well... I suppose that's fine," the waitress continued, seemingly unsure about how she should react to someone taking up a seat without ordering any food. "But I should at least get her some water... Or maybe coffee?"

"I'm good..." Twilight lifelessly mumbled back, slowly drawing herself up to her hooves as if she were a puppet on strings. "I was... just on my way out, actually..."

"Twilight, are you feeling alright?" Rarity was the first one to notice the cloaked pony's sudden shift in attitude, visibly growing concerned over her wellbeing. "You don't look well..."

"I'm fine... I just need to go home and lay down... does anyone else feel hot?" She tugged at the collar of her heavy cloak in an attempt to ventilate some of the built-up heat held within the thick garment. She couldn't quite recall when she had started feeling this overheated, but she was practically starting to melt underneath her disguise.

"Well, I'd be hot too if I wore that big blanket everywhere I went," the waitress commented in an almost sarcastic manner, "Seriously, it's June. Take that thing off!"

"I hate to admit it, but she has a point, Twilight." Rarity was hesitant in agreeing with the waitress, but her hesitation wasn't enough to hold her back for long. "I can understand self-expression more than anyone, but if you don't mind me saying, I don't think I've ever seen you without that dusty old thing. "

"The cloak's not the problem," Twilight deflected through haggard breaths as she began to stride towards the exit, "I just need... to go home!"

"Are you sure you're alright?" Pinkie called out, growing more concerned by the second. "Do you want me to walk you back?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me!" Twilight chimed back, fighting the oncoming mental breakdown and the sudden sensation of heat she was feeling with a cheery sounding voice, "I just need to get some rest!" Nothing else was able to stop her before she was able to get out of the door and out of that conversation. If there had been any other attempts at checking up on her on any of their behalfs, she wouldn't have noticed. Especially considering how she had just stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire when she bumped into a certain someone on their way into the eatery, someone who added a whole new layer of anxiety

Knox Onwud hadn't been the face she wanted to see right now, and that sudden shock was far from welcome at this current moment in time. Though in all honesty, the sarosian wasn't looking to be in top form himself. He appeared to be even wearier then Twilight did, with eyes slightly reddened and squinted and hair that looked like he'd just woke up in some ditch. He looked about how Twilight felt, like a hot pile of garbage.

"Oh... Hello, Twilight," the librarian murmured with a strained smile, "Wasn't expecting to see you so soon... how was your weekend?"

"F-fine, I guess..." The alicorn began to sidestep around him, not wanting anything to do with this conversation or this person in her current state. But, through her hazy thoughts, she was at least able to grasp at one moment of clarity. "I, uh, don't think I'll be coming into work today. I don't feel so good."

"Heh, I can understand that. I'm not exactly in top form myself." When he tried to chuckle at his own statement, he winced in pain as he held a hoof to his obviously aching head. "Ugh, I don't think I'm going to open the library today, anyway. Last night, a... colleague of mine convinced me to have a few drinks, and now I'm paying dearly for it..." He swung his head lightly in some attempt to try and shake out the hungover sensation he was feeling. It didn't work. "I need coffee. Badly."

The sarosian's plight was far from Twilight's top priority at this moment in time, doubly so when she was able to catch glimpse of a few town guards who seemed to be eyeing him from a distance. Even now in her current state, she was able to tell what was going to happen very soon, but she wasn't exactly willing to give the hungover stallion a fair warning. There were far more prevalent things dominating her attention that needed to be addressed, so she was quick to give Knox at least a somewhat meaningful goodbye before being on her way. He didn't need to know that it was very likely the last time he'd speak with her as a free stallion, he'd figure it out sooner or later.

But for now, none of that was Twilight's problem. Nothing in this town was her problem right now. There was only one thing that she was able to bring herself to care about, and that was the visitors this little village would be receiving in the very near future. The time between now and then didn't matter much either, a plan of action needed to be made. Twilight couldn't afford to sit and wait on this, it needed to be adressed now. So she hurried back home under the sweltering sunlight, fighting for all she was worth to keep the oncoming panic attack in check.

— Chapter Thirty-Four —

View Online

--- Traumatic Testimony ---

It was almost nine in the morning by this point in the day after everything that happened thus far, with the denizens of Ponyville were gearing up the day's momentum and getting the town up and running. Just about every local business was either already opened or working on doing that, the young ones were already in school, and the market-street was as bustling and as busy as ever. If not for the continued process of decorating and setting up for the up and coming Summer Sun Festival, the village's activities would be just as plain and dull as any other boring day.

But for Twilight Sparkle, today was far from boring. How could it be? Especially after that eventful evening with the Mare in the Moon, the following discussion with Dash, and now this of all things? Pinkie Pie's claim of Queen Celestia and the Pillars coming to this town for one reason or another seemed almost impossibly far fetched on its own but after the past few days of nightmares and conspiracies Twilight was willing to believe almost any impossible rumor or story. Rainbow Dash being a Black Hoof was enough by itself to justify this mindset.

But whether it was true or not didn't exactly matter at all to Twilight at the moment, however. The sheer idea of that possibility alone was enough to make Twilight's blood run cold. Just the thought of being anywhere near them dragged out the worst of the young alicorn's anxieties and fears, even if it wasn't very likely that they'd even run into each other. And despite once thinking that visiting her family would be a good change of pace, it was now the most horrific thing that she could possibly think of. Maybe she really didn't want to see them again somewhere deep down, or maybe she was just reacting to the loss of her content in this hypothetical reunion, but it was clear that she wasn't ready to confront them again.

But the chilling dread flowing through her wasn't enough to help cool her down. The summer sun was now beginning to shine full force on the land of Equestria, and with that came the trademark heat that came with this time of year. And while it was still early on in the season, the heat was enough to begin getting to the pony hiding underneath that thick layer of fabric. She had gone through these problems in the past, it came with her lifestyle, but right now it felt particularly dreadful. It didn't help that she was already on the verge of a breakdown after Pinkie's unintentionally unfortunate news. Was she overreacting? Most certainly. Was she aware of that fact? Absolutely. But was that enough to get her to stop? Not even close. Emotions were a fickle thing, and at this moment they were enough to overpower logic and reason.

Every step Twilight took on her hectic trek back home felt like it took a thousand years to take, but there was a small sense of joy at finally returning to her temporary residence. She wasted little time in dispelling the defensive wards she had put up before leaving and entering her home, slamming the door shut behind her with a little too much force if the sound of cracking wood was anything to go off of. But she didn't care about that right now, it wasn't even close to being on her list of priorities.

I need to get out of this thing! That was the first coherent thought of hers since this meltdown started, and her horn was swift in following up on that. There was a sharp choking sting that came with tearing the cloak from around her neck and the garment was swiftly tossed to the side. But in her haste, the alicorn had lost control of her own power for a brief moment, and that brief moment was enough to cause the dry fabric that had been gripped by her magic burst into flames.

"Agh! No, no, no!" As quickly as her legs could carry her, Twilight dashed over to the burning garment and began stomping out the small fire. Luckily enough, she was quick enough to stop the blaze from spreading to the house itself, and from further enveloping her ever-faithful piece of clothing. The cloaked was gently hoisted up—with hooves, this time—so that its owner could see the damage. It was certainly a bit crispier then Twilight would have preferred, and the damage itself was minimal at best, but the damage was done. So now, on top of everything else, rage had been mixed into the volatile cocktail that was the alicorn's current state of mind.

"Of course. Why not?!" Something between a growl and a groan marked the damaged garment being tossed to the side again, Twilight stomping away from that particular problem to deal with the more prevalent one: one of the reasons why she had rushed home in the first place. With great distance for just about everything right now Twilight marched over to the calendar, which quickly became the only thing in the world that the alicorn cared about.

Today was the third of June, and the Summer Sun Festival wasn't until the 21st. Assuming that they'd arrive on the 21st, Twilight had plenty of time. But it was never that simple, the alicorn was quick to correct herself. It took three days to get from Canterlot to Ponyville by train, meaning that they'd be arriving at least three days before the event began, maybe even earlier, there was no way of telling. In all honesty, they could even be on their way now, seeing how a representative had supposedly already gone ahead and paid for their hotel rooms. Pinkie might know what days they'd be here considering her insider information, but Twilight had failed to ask when she had the chance which she was now kicking herself for.

The longer Twilight glared at the calendar, the less and less sure she was about just how much time she had left to make her move. Then there was also the chance that the move she made would be the absolute wrong one to make. The first idea that came to mind was just hiding out until the royal visitation was over and done with, either in her home, with Fluttershy at the edge of town, or maybe even Zecora out in the woods. It seemed like a safe idea until Twilight remembered that Spike would more than certainly ask why she wasn't going outside at all for that long of a time. And if Spike found out that Twilight's mother would be in town, he'd more than certainly want to see her again.

But even if she did hide out like that, there was no guarantee that that the Queen wouldn't find out about her presence in this town one way or another. If she was coming into town with every Pillar of Equestria, then there were going to be royal guards everywhere. Checking every nook and cranny for some possible threat to them. There'd probably even be a few Black Hooves on the prowl, now that Twilight was thinking about it. And thinking of them, Twilight was swift to remember that Rainbow Dash was in town on official business. Official business that Queen Celestia had to have some kind of investment in, all things considered.

That's why she's coming here. It has to be. The alicorn snorted with righteous fury, a sparking flicker of wayward magic forming around her horn and, followed by the simplistic calendar mounted on the wall becoming nothing more than simple ash in some vain attempt at venting these dark feelings. It didn't help much, if at all, and the purple pony groaned again. For crying out loud, she probably already knows I'm here!

That was the worst thing in Twilight's honest opinion right now. Queen Celestia was just as enigmatic as she was ancient, and in the time Twilight had known her it had been utterly impossible to get any kind of read on her. The eldest alicorn presented the persona of a warm and compassionate ruler to the general populace, but underneath all of that was a cold and cunning intellect the likes of which the world had never seen. If life was a game of chess, then Queen Celestia was the undisputed strategical champion of it. And it infuriated Twilight to no end, knowing that Celestia must have had some grand master plan for her all this time, and that she had likely played right into it.

"Twilight?" Spike's voice shattered the silence filling the room, prompting Twilight's head to snap over to his direction. "Did you... talk to them?"

There was a moment where Twilight honestly didn't know what he was going on about, but she was quick to recall the reason why she had even left in the first place. Spike wanted to meet her friends, and she was supposed to bring them here so he could do that in a controlled environment. Something that had completely slipped her mind until just now, given everything that went on at that restaurant table. Part of her felt guilty for letting herself forget that, but there were also more important things to deal with at the moment. But at the same time, there was an opportunity here, one that Twilight was able to see even in her near-deranged mindset. It might not have been the best course of action, and part of her was aware of that, but it would work. And in her frantic state, Twilight was quick to capitalize on that fact and make the decision.

"It didn't work out," Twilight answered snappily, looking back to the nail that once held a calendar to the wall. "Go get your things. We're leaving. Today." It felt horrible to lie to Spike like this, but at the moment Twilight didn't feel like she had any other choice. They needed to get out of town quickly, and this was the best way to do that.

"Wh-what do you mean we're leaving?" A portion of the panic that Twilight was experiencing was beginning to spread to Spike, evidence by his increasingly concerned-looking demeanor. "What about that stuff you were dealing with? What about Fluttershy?"

"Rainbow Dash can take care of it, it's her job." Twilight hastily answered, walking away sternly and beginning to go through the kitchen cabinets for any useful supplies. "Hurry up, we don't have time."

"But what about—?"

"Now!" The shout echoed in the now dead-silent house, Twilight's nostrils flaring with fury alongside the outburst. She didn't want to hear any excuses right now and didn't pay any further mind to Spike as he slowly scampered back to his room to collect his belongings as he was told. The small shred of her mind that could still think rationally felt horrible for lashing out at Spike like that, and she knew better than anyone that he didn't deserve any of it. But at the same time, Twilight didn't want to take any more chances. Especially not with the looming threat of her mother finding her. Hiding in this house was an option for sure, but how long could she reasonably do that? The better course of action was to leave before anything could happen, she was sure of it. Just as she was the first time around.

I can't see them again. Not now, not ever. Twilight told herself again, as she had many times during the first few months of her self-appointed exile. It's better this way. It's better for everyone... It'll hurt less this way...

With that, she forced herself through this mental block and began focusing on her immediate escape from Ponyville. Food was the first thing she began sorting through, prioritizing things that didn't need refrigeration like bread and fruit. She could stock up on other food items at another town later down the road. Up next were the valuables she had purchased previously to make life a bit easier to manage, like the small set of dishes and silverware that had been acquired just for the sake of making meals easier. They weren't the best, but they could probably get her a few bits depending on who was willing to buy them.

And while she was on that subject, she realized she needed to make a trip to the local bank to withdraw her savings and close her account. She had managed to make a nice little nest egg of bits over the past couple of weeks she'd spent here, which would help them get by once they were back out on the road. Thinking on that a little more, Twilight considered some of Spike's concerns and thought once more about Fluttershy. All things considered, that mare had done far more for Twilight than she reasonably deserved. If nothing else, she should at least say goodbye before just up and vanishing. Surely there was time for that. If nothing else, it might make Spike feel a little better.

Her mind was racing at a mile a minute, her hectic thoughts viciously clawing at one another for dominance and Twilight's attention. Somewhere deep down, she knew she was overreacting. She knew she was going too far, that this was an extreme far beyond what was reasonable or necessary. But at the same time, she couldn't muster up the effort to care. Nor could she call upon the courage to confront this issue head-on. Even after all this time, she wasn't ready to face her demons, let alone her family.

She had to run. It was the only way out. Just like last time.

And then—in an act of pure cosmic cruelty—everything became much, much worse. Twilight's front door was all but kicked in with a thunderous crash, which prompted the young alicorn to freeze in from the sudden surprise. She watched helplessly from the corner of her eye as a pink blur rushed into her home far faster than she could ever hope to react, her manic state only growing more so as a dreadful realization came to her. Her eyes bolted to the discarded cloak on the ground at the speed of light, and Twilight's heart shattered even faster.

She was exposed.

"Twilight! Mr. Knox got arrested!!" Pinkie howled as she widely barged into the house unannounced, clearly far too shocked by that event to notice or care. "Do you know what happened?! What did—?!" The earth pony stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes fell upon Twilight. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out why, of course, it wasn't every day one runs into a seemingly-random alicorn.

"Pinkie, you can't just barge into other people's houses like that!" Rarity lectured of the pink pony as she followed her inside. "It's not—!" Much like Pinkie before her, Rarity fell silent once she caught sight of the disrobed alicorn standing in the middle of the room, plain as day for all to see. And like Pinkie, she was visually overwhelmed by the unexpected alicorn just standing right there in front of her.

Complete and absolute silence followed suit. Rarity and Pinkie's faces were both dominated by this look of absolute disbelief and shock, almost a perfect reflection of the one Twilight was giving them back in turn. And there was nothing Twilight could reasonably do in this hideous moment to undo this damage. Her first instinct was to try and cover herself, to hide her shame along with her wings. But such a thing was a pointless gesture at this point, the damage had been done and the secret was out. Not that Twilight would have been able to even try it anyway, her body had locked up from the sudden shock of this sudden uncovering of her secret, and her horn was just as unresponsive as the rest of her. The eyes gazing upon her form burned like the hottest of flames, searing her soul from the inside out. In this one horrible stroke of bad luck, the veil was finally lifted. Twilight's cover had been irrevocably blown.

And then, the pink earth pony broke the silence. First with a loud gasp, and then with the first question that anyone would ask.

"YOU'RE AN ALI—HRMNN?!" That was all Pinkie was able to shout out before Twilight was able to seal her mouth shut with a magenta glow. Rarity had yet to say anything, but the distressed alicorn didn't give her the chance to do so and held the unicorn's mouth shut as well. Thankfully, Twilight was mindful enough to make sure she didn't actually hurt either of them with her hasty method of keeping her quiet, but it probabbly didn't feel too good for them either.

Though that wasn't something on Twilight's mind right now, at the moment she needed to keep her secret from spreading out any further. This was accomplished, in part, by a pulse of arcane light that emanated out from where she stood. The glittering magenta wave traveled along the ground and the walls, which served to lock every window and shut every door before applying the silencing spell to the whole of the home. For all intents and purposes, the inside of this house no longer existed to the outside world. Nothing would be able to escape now, but most importantly sound. Pinkie would be able to scream her little heart out without risk of further dooming Twilight Sparkle.

"Quiet! Both of you!" The alicorn commanded, looking to each of the silenced ponies in turn with a look of absolute urgency. It was only now that she noticed that she was still holding their mouths shut, forcing herself to back up a considerable amount as she released her grasp. "S-sorry... just don't make a scene... please."

"You're an alicorn!" Pinkie continued in a noticeably quieter, yet still frantic screech. "Why are you an alicorn?!"

"Pinkie, I don't think we're in any position to be asking those kinds of questions," Rarity warned in a meek and whimpering tone, not taking her eyes off of the alicorn in the room. "We just walked in on something I don't think we were meant to see..." To say that Rarity looked afraid was an understatement. The white unicorn looked as if she was about to pass out from fear, more then certainly anticipating some gruesome end by the hooves of the alicorn. At least, that's how Twilight interpreted this demeanor at the moment, it didn't help that her actions just now made it seem very likely that she wasn't going to let them leave.

"I-I-I'm not going to hurt either of you," Twilight swiftly shook her head in defiance of Rarity's unspoken claim, further backing off in some attempt to deescalate the situation. "I just need you to not tell anyone about this ever! Please."

"B-but you're an alicorn!" Pinkie shouted again, fighting a losing battle when it came to keeping her voice at a reasonable level. It wasn't loud enough to escape the house, but it was still far too loud for Twilight's liking. "Tha-tha-tha-that's not normal!"

"I know it's not, just shut up and forget about it!" Twilight pleaded again, practically on the verge of tears at this point. She didn't know what to do in this scenario, and she wasn't in any state of mind to try and figure it out. "Just... ple—!"

Pinkie suddenly let out a loud and shocked gasp. "Are you Queen Celestia's long lost daughter?!"

"Wh-what? No! I'm not—!" Twilight wasn't even allowed to finish before Pinkie throw out another absurd theory.

"Are you from another dimension where everyone's an alicorn?!"

"No, I'm not! I'm—!"

"Are you from the FUTURE?!" Pinkie's third crazed theory was her last, her mouth once more being clamped shut by Twilight's magic. "HHRRRMMM?!"

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Twilight begged through an enraged sob, already on the verge of tears from all of this. She was desperate at this point and needed to make it absolutely clear just how much she needed these two to stay quiet about all of this. So desperate, in fact, that the young alicorn was far beyond being distraught by this unexpected bout of exposure. Which allowed her wrath to flourish without anything else to stunt its growth. "For once in your life could you just stop and let someone else talk?!"

The flustered outburst was soon followed up by twinge of regret, spurred on by the expression of hurt on Pinkie's face. The pink mare said nothing, silently rubbing her now-sore snout as Twilight's words sunk in. This short exchange was what allowed Rarity to find her courage, putting on a brave front as she stood up to Twilight for her behavior. It seemed that lashing out at Pinkie Pie like that was the line Twilight needed to cross in order to awaken the unicorn's fighting spirit. And based on the look in her eyes? She looked ready to actually try and fight Twilight. To the death, if need be.

"That isn't necessary, Twilight. Let her go. Now."

"This is absolutely necessary," Twilight snapped back, releasing her hold on Pinkie's muzzle to turn and face the unicorn that was standing up to her. That small feeling of remorse she had previously was bolted out in a flash, with the only rage left in its place. They were the ones who had just intruded upon her home and learned of one of her deepest secrets. What right did Rarity have to decide what was necessary? "Neither of you can talk about this. Ever. I need to—"

"You're an alicorn, act like it," Rarity spoke up once more, eyes ablaze with righteous fury as she continued to defend her friend. "Have some dignity, for Harmony's sake. Yes, we shouldn't have barged in as we did, I will give you that, but that doesn't excuse snapping at Pinkie like that over an honest accident. I don't care who or what you are, Pinkie doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. You should be ashamed of yourself."

Once again, everything fell silent when Rarity stopped talking. And at that moment, the fire burning within Twilight's glare was doused completely. Rarity's words had hit the purple pony hard, perhaps harder then the unicorn had intended them to. For the whole of the six years that she had spent with this body, never once had she been spoken to in quite that manner. Never once had anyone just blatantly told Twilight that she should act in a way that fit her current status—that she should act like her fellow alicorns—especially not in such an aggressive way. It put more than a few things into perspective, to say the least. After everything Twilight had been through in these past years, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The glass wall that had been holding back almost every fear, worry, and anxiety that had passed through her head in that time had been violently shattered. Leaving all of those once bottled up dark feelings free to flow through her all at once.

For the first time in years, Twilight felt utterly defeated. Broken, to put a word to it.

Meanwhile, outside of Twilight's sphere of attention, Rarity had calmed herself down in order to consolidate Pinkie Pie, who was in the middle of her own internal crisis at the moment. Based on her mournful murmurings, her breakdown was centered around this situation as well. Or rather, she dismayed by the fact that this was all her fault if the constant murmurings of "I should have knocked" were anything to go by. And Rarity was quick on the scene to try and get the Earth Pony to calm down, reassuring her that she didn't have any way of knowing that this would happen. That this was just an unfortunate accident and nobody was at fault for causing it.

The counseling was doing the trick, and the pink pony was slowly making a turn for the better. And the more her current mood improved, the more she noticed how Twilight's was becoming worse. Twilight was as stiff as a board, her legs spread out slightly in an attempt to keep herself standing. Her face was twisted into a horrific, wide-eyed grimace. With her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly, and with an impossible torrent of tears flowing from her unblinking eyes, it was easy enough to see that she was far worse off right now than Pinkie was. She didn't make a single sound, the only thing Twilight did was silently sob. It was the only thing she could do at the moment.

"Twilight?" Pinkie asked hesitantly, walking closer to the distraught alicorn. "Are you... alright?" Her self pity was all but gone by now, or at least pushed off to the side for the time being. After all, it should have been obvious that Twilight was the victim in this scenario.

"I didn't ask for this..." Twilight murmured back, slowly shaking her head as she continued to dwell on her own fears. Her filter was all but gone at this point, she didn't care anymore. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks in droves, tears that had been bottled up for six long years now. It was finally time to let them out, and Twilight didn't have any say in it. "I didn't ask to be turned into... this..."

This was when Rarity finally started to emphasize with Twilight's plight, seeing just how torn apart the alicorn was by all of this. But the unicorn chose to remain silent for the time being, not knowing exactly what to say or do. For a short moment, she considered just taking Pinkie and walking out the door right now. But at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to just up and leave Twilight in this state. For as angry as she was at Twilight for snapping at Pinkie, she couldn't bring herself to do something like that.

"I wasn't even told why, Pinkie..." Twilight continued, absentmindedly drifting back to one of the earth pony's previous questions in her vulnerable state. "She never told me why... she just did it..."

"Did... what to you?" Pinkie asked regretfully, trying with great separation to see why her newest friend was hurting this much.

"Alicorns aren't born, they're made..." Rarity solemnly repeated her words from the discussion at the restaurant, "Made by the Queen... the only one who can anymore..."

"Don't remind me," Twilight hoarsely murmured back, not wanting to think any more of Celestia or what she did.

"Okay... well, why don't you just tell her you don't wanna be an alicorn anymore?" A spark of optimism was born in Pinkie's voice as she suggested the idea, once more donning a familiar smile as she took off with that idea like a dog with a bone. "We were talking about it earlier, remember? It's reversible! And she's going to be in town for the Festival! I could even sneak you into the—"

"Do you not think I already tried that?!" Twilight lashed out again, a small flare of frustration returning to her. "I've been like this for six years. That was the first thing I thought of!... And it won't work... Not for me." Her body convulsed in disgust as she was made to linger upon the horrible truth, forcing her to sit down. "The spell is absolute... undoing it would put me right back where I was before she cast it... Just like Poesia. She's right back where she was before the spell was cast."

"... So you'd be six years younger?" Rarity asked pensively, thinking back on the young-looking pegasus from the photo. "I can... imagine how that would be a setback. But if being an alicorn upsets you this much, then growing up again shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"I wouldn't even get the chance..." Twilight closed her eyes as her tears continued to flow, shaking her head ceaselessly as if to try and refute the reality of her situation. For a moment, she stopped herself from telling them the ugly truth, but she didn't hold out long. They already knew she was an alicorn, and Twilight wasn't exactly in the best headspace right now, she couldn't hold this back any longer. She needed to tell someone. Anyone, just to maybe try and alleviate some of this dreadful pressure building up inside her.

Silence followed suit. Rightfully so, in Twilight's opinion. But she knew it wouldn't be long before one of them asked what she meant by that cryptic explanation. And Twilight wasn't sure if she would be able to survive her own outburst if one of them dared to ask that painful question. So it was with a heavy heart and gritted teeth that Twilight decided to nip the bud before it could bloom, and she hesitantly began to recount the tale of how she became what she is now.

"Six years ago...I was trying to get into the school for gifted unicorns. It'd been my dream for basically my whole life. I worked every waking moment to meet the requirements to get in, and against all odds I did. All I had to do at that point was pass the entrance exam. They custom make exams for each individual so that they can actually prove they're worth being enrolled. And all I had to do to get in was hatch that stupid egg..." Her tone thus far was mostly one of sorrow, but apparent frustration and regrets began to worm their way in as she kept going on. "Just a stupid egg. A kind of egg I'd never seen before, but still just a dumb egg. It shouldn't have been hard..."

"And you... couldn't do it?" Pinkie slowly asked, walking along the metaphorical razor's edge and hoping she wouldn't set Twilight off.

"No... I did. I hatched the egg and passed the test... But not without screwing up royally..." Twilight mournfully sighed once again, the events of that day repeating vividly in her mind without end. "Do you know what a magic-overload is?"

It was obvious enough that Pinkie didn't know much about the unicorn-exclusive ailment. After all, as an earth pony, she wouldn't exactly ever need to worry about going through one herself. She didn't have any magic to lose control over in the first place. But Rarity, meanwhile, looked like she knew very well about what Twilight was talking about. Her snow-covered ears perked up at the words before dropping down as their owner's own bad memories began to fester and stir within her mind.

"Yes... Sweetie Belle had one a few years ago. A major one, as well. She was hospitalized for nearly a month... we were worried that she wouldn't recover at all. It was horrifying..."

"Well... that's kind of what happened to me... At the last possible moment, I pushed myself too hard and lost control." Twilight continued grimly, tightly shutting her eyes as she continued to vividly remember every single agonizing sensation that she went through in those short few moments. "And it... killed me... it literally killed me..."

Once again, everything went still. Not a single word was spoken in responce to what Twilight had just admitted. The secret that she had done everything in her power to forget and bury for the past six years, laid bare before two random strangers in a moment of weakness and vulnerability. And Twilight hated herself for letting herself get to this point. This could have all been avoided if she had just done something different. She didn't know what would have prevented this horrible outcome, but she knew deep down she could have avoided this.

"So you... actually died?" Pinkie had already begun to cry at this point as well, though not nearly as much as Twilight had been thus far.

"Yeah... I'd be in some grave right now if Celestia didn't step in when she did..." This was enough to steer Twilight's hatred away from herself, and back towards the ancient alicorn who had done this to her in the first place. "I should be grateful... she gave me a second chance... and so much more..." The alicorn's horn began to spark and sizzle as her anger continued to rise, with her breaths becoming shorter and more frantic. "She saved my life... and trapped me in it. Because of her, I either get to die another horrible death or live forever... and watch everyone else turn to dust around me until I'm all alone!" She looked over to both Pinkie Pie and Rarity in turn, a bitter mix of pleading and rage covered every corner of her expression. "How could anyone make that choice?!" She stood back up and stomped away, her wrath taking full control as the air around her began to warp and distort from the raw heat being produced by her horn.

"I should be dead right now, but I'm not! Because Celestia decided I was useful and brought me back!" A bolt of magenta magic tore through the air and absolutely decimated the outdated couch in the center of the room, a clear indication of Twilight's pent up rage. Pinkie and Rarity both flung themselves away from what was left of the tacky piece of furniture in shock, both of them now fearful over the alicorn's continuing outburst.

"And she wouldn't even tell me why! There was a reason she did this to me, there has to be! You don't just turn someone into a god without a good reason!" Twilight screamed again, just in time for another wayward bolt of magic to lose itself from her horn and tear apart a segment of the floorboards, leaving behind a smoldering jagged hole. "But I don't know what it is! And that's not fair!" The tantrum didn't last very long, and soon the alicorn was reduced back into the sorry, whimpering state she had been in just moments ago, falling back down to a seated position in defeat. The magic around her fading away just as pathetically. "It's not fair..."

In her pitiful state, Twilight hung her head low as she sent out another pitiful wave of magic around the whole house. The silencing spell was undone, and the magical locks that had been placed upon the doors and windows were abolished as well. It was now that she remembered that she had an audience witnessing all of this, and she slowly turned her head to gaze upon the two on-guard ponies.

"Sorry about that... you can go now..." She lazily gestured towards the front door. "Just... just go. I don't care what you do after that. Just... leave me be..."

There was a moment of caution and tension between the two mortal ponies before Rarity began to usher Pinkie Pie towards the door. Neither one let their eyes leave the utterly defeated alicorn just sitting there on the floor wallowing in her own self-pity. Of the two, Rarity was clearly the one who was focused more on getting out of this situation safely, and the way she was half-scowling at Twilight got that point across well. Pinkie, on the other hoof, was clearly more worried about Twilight's well being right now then she had any real reason to be. And before Rarity pulled her out the door, she managed to get the unicorn to stop for a moment so she could say one last thing.

"Hey, Twilight?" Pinkie wasn't given an answer, much to her visible dismay. "We won't say anything... I promise... but if you ever need to talk about... anything, you know where to find me..."

For now... Twilight couldn't bring herself to spit out that retort. She didn't have the energy to say or do anything at this point. All she could do is sit there in shame, unable to escape the past she so desperately wished she could change. Luckily for her, Pinkie was at least able to take the hint and finally left with Rarity. Twilight had no way of knowing what would happen with them next, if they'd keep quiet about all of this or not. The alicorn certainly didn't deserve to have them keep her secret for her, not after how she had just acted. But in the end, it didn't really matter, did it? The young alicorn was all but ready to leave Ponyville behind her for good.

But not yet. Right now, after all of that, she was tired and wanted to rest. And so, she mustered up the willpower to drag herself over to the irreversibly damaged couch and flopped herself down upon the pile of splintered wood and shredded fabrics. Tears still continued to roll down her cheeks, emotional and physical exhaustion beginning to seep in after that outburst six years in the making. And the pain that came with letting it all out at once was one that was truly unbearable.

— Interlude IV —

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July 8,
Year 1,006 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
New year, same old problems.
The "flying lessons" that I've been all but forced into taking "for my health" have been nothing but a nuisance. I'll admit, the actual process of learning how to fly has surprisingly been enjoyable. And once I was actually able to stay off of the ground for more than five seconds, I actually started having fun. The problem comes from my ~~teacher~~ ~~tutor~~ ~~coach~~ ~~trainer~~ WHATEVER SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE.
I have never met anyone like this Rainbow Dash. I can't even think of words to properly convey what it's like to be in her company. She's beyond egotistical, extremely competitive with someone she's meant to be teaching, and has the descriptive power of a goldfish. She knows what she's talking about, some research on my part has proved that, but this pony is absolutely abysmal in putting it into words. On further reflection, I think I might just be bitter about the circumstances. She probably isn't as bad as I've made her out to be. ~~Who knows? Maybe someday we'll actually be friends. Ha!~~
But learning how to fly hasn't been the only thing on my agenda these past weeks. Officially, classes have concluded until after the summer. But for me, as a recently ascended alicorn? They've only just begun.
Exercises in self-control and magical restraint, something I've proven that I need, but exhausting none the less. As I had learned several times throughout the past months, magic and emotions are linked, even more so for an alicorn. And learning how to disassociate the two so I don't accidentally disintegrate my Divination Homework—~~to give a completely unrelated and entirely hypothetical example~~—is very important. Though I wouldn't be surprised if these lessons were just another excuse for the Queen to see Spike, seeing as how the little guy just has to follow me everywhere. I'll have to try leaving him home one of these days to see how she reacts. That is, once I know that my Mother and Father are comfortable caring for him while I'm not around. Last time I tried, he tried to eat more houseplants. And I can't condone such behavior ~~no matter how cute it may have been.~~
I never thought I'd say this though, but I just want to be done with all of this. All I wanted was to go to my dream school, to learn in the same hallowed halls as the great minds who came before me. To one day aspire to be a great scholar, or sorcerer, or maybe even an astronomer.
~~I don't want to live forever~~
I didn't ask to be an alicorn.

Done with her flying and magic lessons for the day, Twilight strode through her family home with a tired and dull expression. Her father was the only one home at the moment, his day off and all, and he had asked her how her day had been. She wasn't exactly in the best mind to give an in-depth account of the day's events, especially since she was still upset with him over these flying lessons, and only gave the most basic answer she could possibly give him.

"It was fine. But I'm tired, going to take a nap."

If nothing else, her father was understanding enough to let her rest after a long day. His meddling aside, he wasn't that bad of a father. In fact, he was the stereotypical "perfect dad," by every meaning of the phrase. But recent events had served to sour Twilight's relationship with him, though even she could admit it was only a temporary feud. She still loved her dad, and she knew he loved her, but he had done something phenomenally infuriating.

Though this was the farthest thing from her mind right now. True to her brief words, she was exhausted. On this day, in particular, the fates had conspired to schedule her flying lessons with Rainbow Dash to be just before her Magical-Control sessions with Cadence and the Queen one right after the other. None involved knew of this error, and by the time they learned, it was far too late to reschedule. After all, Twilight wasn't allowed to miss her magic lessons. She was legally prohibited from missing a single one without a viable excuse. And physical exhaustion wasn't a viable excuse, at least not in Twilight's mind, and thus she didn't even bother to try. She just told herself that it was only one day, and resolved to push through it. After all, she had all the time in the world.

A decision she wholly regretted as she walked into her childhood bedroom. While she had been staying there for the better part of a month now and would be for the remainder of the summer, walking into this room was like walking back in time. It was exactly the same as she remembered it from before she moved into her tower for the first school year. Primarily decorated by various crowded bookshelves, there was evidence that a young filly had once lived in this room, the occasional old toy left around here and there, mostly thanks to Spike's more explorative nature.

Among them was a very old looking stuffed pony with a bottom half made up of mismatched pieces of fabric that gave a distinct impression of pants. "Smartypants," as Twilight had called him in her youth, had gained the small dragon's favor in his time here. And he was, strangely enough, the one piece of fabric that Spike absolutely refused to destroy. In an act of curiosity, Twilight had even tried to encourage this behavior but nothing came of it much to her relief. Since then she had let Spike hold onto it seeing as how he treated her old friend so well and how he was so fond of it. These elements combined to form a longing nostalgia for her younger days washed over her for the briefest of moments as she closed the door behind her, discarding her saddlebags and cloak off to the side.

There was a moment where Twilight just stood there, taking in a long deep breath as she reveled in the first true instance of pure isolation for the day. Not a soul was around, not even Spike, who Twilight was fairly certain had been downstairs with her father. She saw something purple that was his general size: it was either Spike or a pillow, and she was positive it was Spike. Which was good, because the only thing Twilight wanted right now was some time to herself. Lighting up her horn, she reveled in the click of her door locking. Then, utilizing a spell she had picked up early on in the school year, enchanted the room itself. No sound would be able to enter or exit the room—unless someone knocked on the door—for as long as the enchantment was active. And Twilight had specifically set it to only end when she applied the counter charm to it, effectively cutting this room off from the rest of the outside world for as long as she saw fit.

And she screamed.

Loud and unapologetic, Twilight clenched her eyelids like vices as she let out the loudest, shrillest, most upset shriek she had ever made in her life. It was an unpleasant sound that even Twilight could hardly tolerate, but still, she kept blaring out. If she hadn't silenced her room, her father and their neighbors would have heard her without question, rushing in to see what horrid banshee had found its way into the bedroom. But there was no banshee, only a young alicorn who desperately needed to vent.

In just two short months from now, it will have officially been a year since she had first become an alicorn. An entire year since Twilight Sparkle the unicorn had, for lack of a better term, died. Only to be replaced by Twilight Sparkle the alicorn. Just a year ago, she had been no different than any other mare. She was just another unicorn, just living her best life and following her dreams to the best of her ability. But those dreams turned into nightmares when that entrance exam went horribly, horribly wrong.

Even now, she could distinctly recall what had happened as if it were only mere moments ago. Walking into the classroom, her family sitting by to quietly cheer her on as she attempted the trial. All she had to do was hatch an egg, that was it. It wasn't anything spectacular, it wasn't anything difficult. It was just an egg. Or at least, it should have been. It wasn't like any egg Twilight had ever seen before, more akin to a metal ball than anything else. But still, she tried. Nobody could take that away from her, she tried her absolute hardest to get whatever creature lay within to emerge. So hard, in fact, that she triggered a magic-overload. One so powerful that it had torn right through her body, like a paper bag in a hurricane of broken glass. And she felt every last drop of that agony. Her last moments—what should have been her last moments—still fresh and vivid like a bad dream that just refused to fade.

And then she woke up the next day.

Right as rain, perfectly healthy, not a single scar or burn or anything like that to speak of. But something was different, she didn't feel right. And her feelings had been confirmed when she had discovered the wings that now sprouted from her back. And everyone—mother, father, brother, Cadence—they were all so happy to see her. It was hard to be distressed about the wings, about actually dying, with such unbridled joy being aimed at her. She even managed to join in when they gave her the news. Her efforts had been rewarded, the egg had hatched. She had passed the exam, she got into her dream school. And all it took was her life.

But ever since then, there has been this lingering sense of doubt and dread somewhere in Twilight's mind. Some days it was easier to forget than others, but it was always there. This alicorn ascension—this miraculous second chance at life—was more than just that. It was a responsibility. It was pressure. It was stressful. Nobody ever mentioned it, but Twilight knew that there were more expectations of her now. She couldn't afford to fail her classes now, she was an alicorn. But it should be easy for her. After all, she was an alicorn now. She was given no other choice than to excel in every pursuit. The Queen wouldn't have given this impossible gift to her just to watch her squander her newfound potential, right?

There had to be a purpose or reason behind why Twilight Sparkle, of all the ponies who had ever lived, was chosen to be the first pony outside of royal blood to become an alicorn, right?

She had to be important, right?

This was her destiny, right?!

Maybe her family didn't have these expectations of her. Maybe the Queen didn't either, perhaps it was just as she said it was. "An act of kindness to one so young who did not deserve such a tragic end." That was the only answer she had ever been given, and it drove her absolutely insane. But not nearly as insane as another, much darker, realization. Twilight Sparkle had been transformed into an alicorn, and had gained all the boons that came with it.

A wellspring of magic that could theoretically outlast even the mightiest of unicorns.

The gifts of flight and cloud walking held so dearly by the pegasi.

The strength and stamina enjoyed by earth ponies.

And a lifespan that, without interference, could last forever.

That was what scared Twilight the most out of all of them. Of all the things the Queen had given her on that day, she tried so hard to keep that last one as far away from her overly analytical mind as she could. But still, she lingered on it. It wouldn't matter today, and it wouldn't matter tomorrow, but it would come around eventually. Time, cruel and unforgiving, was destined to take away everything she cared about. One doesn't often count how many years they have left in this world at Twilight's age, even rarer does one of her age count the lifespan of others as she has. How long did they have left? Sixty years? Seventy? Eighty?

Mere drops of water in the endless ocean of eternity that Twilight would live through.

Cadence would last longer, that much was certain, but even she wouldn't be around forever. Eventually, she would grow tired and ask to have her status as an alicorn revoked, as per the Crystal Empire's traditions.

Of course, Twilight had that option as well, technically. Twilight had researched the topic many a time, and thanks to the customs of the Crystal Empire, there was enough information on the subject to do so. She had found out that the spell was completely reversible. So long as she had access to a willing alicorn to cast the reversal spell on her, and she herself was willing to go through with it. Of course, there was always a catch. Thanks to the Crystal Empire, it was known that once the alicorn spell is removed, the subject is reverted to exactly as they were at the moment of their ascension. Age is undone. Injuries are undone. And, in some cases, injuries were redone.

So, Twilight had been given two choices thanks to her horridly unique situation.

Live forever.

Or die another horrible death.

And she didn't want to die. Not like that, not again. Even the idea of reliving that experience, even if only for the shortest of moments, horrified her to no end. There was no way she could bring herself to go through with it. Especially since her only options of having the spell undone were Cadence and the Queen who had given her this gift in the first place. Even if she could make that impossible choice, she couldn't bring herself to ask either one of them to be her executioner. They would never.

But the worst part? The absolute worst part of all of it? Nobody except for herself had seemingly figured this out. If they had, they either didn't bring it up, or it didn't bother them. They were all just so happy that Twilight was alive, not a single one of them brought mention to just how long she would be alive. And Twilight still couldn't drag up the courage needed to bring the topic up herself, despite having held onto these thoughts for nearly a year now. They were all so happy about this. They were all so happy for her.

She didn't want to ruin that for them. She didn't think she could ruin that for them. Who was she to take away their happiness? Their lives were so short, why make them worry about her problem? After all, they'd never lose her.

Finally, she managed to stop her unimaginable screaming. Her lungs had only allowed her to hold the shrill note for only a minute or three, but the burning in her throat made it feel like it had been hours. Tears had managed to push their way through her sealed eyes, she could feel them running down her cheeks and dripping down to the hardwood floor below. The alicorn fell back into a seated position as she began to wheeze and cough through her sobs, her body trying to compensate for the oxygen she had just deprived herself of.

I needed that, she thought as her gasps for air became fewer and farther between. It felt good to let that out after all these months of it building up and up. Even if nobody heard her, even if it was only for herself, it was still good to get that off of her chest. It wasn't a permanent solution, not by a long shot, but it helped. And nothing could take that away from her.

"Twilight?"

Oh no. Her eyes practically broke their way out of her eyelids. Twilight jerked her head upwards and looked over to where the question had come from.

Spike was found sitting atop what was formerly a large dog bed that was now a rather bird-like nest of old blankets, an old sleeping bag, and a large piece of well-chewed driftwood that the reptile had somehow found during his time here. It was a massive upgrade compared to his bed back in the tower, and this new sleeping arrangement would likely make its way over there once the next school year started.

But that wasn't important right now. What was important was the wide-eyed glare of shock and fear he had aimed at Twilight. It was clear to see that he had been sleeping before Twilight had come in and ruined that. Meaning the purple thing she saw downstairs was, in fact, a pillow. There was this uncomfortable silence that overtook the room, and Twilight could only gawk in shame as the long dragon exited his perch and approached her. She watched him walk a few small circles around her, seemingly looking for something, and furrowing his brow when he couldn't find it.

"Twilight... are you hurt?"

That was a sensible reaction, Twilight was able to surmise even now. She recalled at some point she had taught him only to scream in that manner if he was in pain, a measure to help keep him quiet when she needed to study. But even now, she could see that there was a milestone in his development. This was a sign that he had a capacity for empathy—or for sympathy, at the very least, which was a small discovery that served to distract Twilight from her own hectic thoughts.

"No, Spike. I'm not hurt... thank you."

"Twilight... are you hungry?"

Screaming when he was hungry, however, was a habit he had picked up on his own accord, a habit that Twilight was still trying to break him of. Granted, he didn't scream quite that loudly or for quite that long. It was more akin to whining than anything else, but it was still irritating.

"No, I'm not hungry, either. Thank you"

This was where Spike seemed to draw the line. He walked back around to look at Twilight right in the eyes, keeping his glance firmly locked on her for what felt like ages. He squinted intensely at the sitting pony just a few feet in front of him. Twilight, in the meanwhile, was curious as to what could be going through his head at the moment. Spike still looked like he was trying to find something. What that was, she didn't have the faintest idea.

And then, after finally finding what he was looking for, Spike suddenly stepped forward. He quickly drew himself as close to Twilight as he could, and he began to hug the sitting alicorn. Caught off guard, Twilight didn't know how to react at this, so she just kept looking down to the reptile now clinging to her chest. She didn't even have time to ask what he was doing, as he soon answered the question with one of his own.

"Twilight... are you scared?"

This was an unexpected development, and Twilight's wide-eyed reaction was evidence of this. She simply sat there for a moment, looking down at this small draconic entity currently doing his best to comfort her. He nuzzled into her chest as he pulled himself closer, much to Twilight's amazement. This was something new, something that she hadn't taught him. Tried as she might, she couldn't quite recall any time where he had demonstrated this kind of behavior, in any situation. It wasn't unwelcome, but it was unexpected.

He's trying to make me feel better. It was the only explanation that came to mind. Soon after, she found herself mindlessly returning the favor with hooves and wings. Spike seemingly appreciated the gesture, almost purring as they continued to sit there in one another's embrace.

As they continued to sit there, as the minutes stretched on into what felt like hours, there was this newfound sense of security and ease. An irrational knowledge that everything was going to be alright, even if very few of her problems had been solved. It didn't erase Twilight's worries and doubts about the future. It didn't undo the pressures she felt about being an alicorn. It didn't change her concerns that some aspect of her ascension was being hidden from her. And it didn't change the fact that she would outlive so many people she cared about. But that didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered right now. In this one, solitary moment, everything else just faded away as this dragon—her dragon—did his best to console her.

Right now, there was only Twilight Sparkle and this wonderful little creature that had fallen into her life. A wonderful little thing that loved her with all his heart, and that she would love just as much in return.

For however long that a long dragon lived for. Which, if his more well-known cousins were anything to go off of, would be a very, very long time.

— Chapter Thirty-Five —

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--- The Other Side ---

"My name's Spike, it's... nice to meet you?"

"I'm Spike! Yes, I'm a dragon. Yes, I'm a weird-looking dragon. That's... not really important right now though. Don't worry about it. It's fine..."

"Uhh... Hmm... S'up, dog? How's it chilling in yo... fo shizzle?... Yeah, those are words..."

The long dragon sighed into the bathroom mirror again, still unsure exactly how to deal with what he was about to go through in who knew how long. Twilight had left a while ago to go get the ponies she'd be introducing him to today, and Spike had spent that time preparing himself for that coming encounter. The idea of speaking with other ponies hadn't been anything he had seriously entertained since he started his world-spanning adventure with Twilight, but the past couple of weeks had done something to alter that mindset of his as of late. Hearing about Twilight's interactions with the locals had piqued his curiosity, not to mention the time the two of them had spent with Fluttershy. He couldn't remember the last time a random stranger had been that nice to him or Twilight, but he wasn't willing to complain about it. That alone was enough to get him curious about what the other people in this town were like.

But right now, that curiosity was leading to a bit of a nervous streak in him. He remembered Twilight using the phrase "butterflies in my stomach" before to describe the idea of being nervous about something, and he felt like that saying was appropriate for what he was feeling right about now. He knew nothing bad would happen, Twilight wouldn't let anything go too horribly wrong, but he couldn't help but feel a little antsy about the whole thing.

"Come on, you've talked to other ponies before..." He reassured himself, gazing deeply into his worried reflection. "Twilight... Twilight's family... Cadence... that's like, five ponies right there!"

That didn't help him feel much better about the up and coming meet and greet, but it did enough. He gave his reflection a pearly white toothy grin, he knew that everything would be alright in the end. He didn't really need to be stressing out over this like he was. He was overthinking things, it was just a couple of Twilight's friends. What could go wrong?

That question was answered when Spike heard the door slam with immaculate force, sending a noticeable shockwave throughout the house and causing Spike to nearly leap out of his scales. It took him a second to process what that thunderous crash was at all, and it brought a chilling sense of dread to the young reptile. In his short life thus far, he had never known the slamming of a door to be anything good. It usually meant that someone was very upset with something.

"Agh! No, no, no!" Twilight soon shouted out from the other room, followed by a few muffled stomps of her hooves. The distressed tone in her voice cemented it in Spike's mind that something had gone wrong in today's plan. "Of course. Why not?!"

Oh boy... this can't be good... Spike couldn't remember the last time Twilight sounded this upset about something. Slowly but surely, he slinked his way out of the bathroom and towards the living room. He wasn't sure what was going on, but his curiosity and concern for Twilight outweighed his trepidation towards all of this. When he arrived at the scene, there were a few things he noticed right off the bat.

Firstly, he saw the dusty old cape that Twilight always wore to keep her wings hidden off in the far corner of the room, with a few more black patches than he remembered it having. As a fire-breathing creature himself, he had long since learned what fire-damage looked like. And that was definitely fire-damage, not anything too severe, but it was fire-damage all the same. He didn't know why Twilight's cape would be fire-damaged, but it did add to the dread welling up in Spike's mind right about now.

The next thing that stuck out to him was the severe lack of other people in the immediate area. It was just him and Twilight alone in the temporary home, the latter of which was busy glaring daggers at the calendar with an intensity that Spike had rarely seen of her in his lifespan. He found himself comparing her present state to distant and hazy memories of Twilight's school days, how she would spend hours on end glaring like this at whatever books or papers her teachers had thrown at her. The long dragon winced at those recollections, distinctly remembering just what the alicorn had gone through during her time in Celestia's torture chamber of a school. Or at least Spike had always assumed it was torture, given how much he had watched his closest friend suffer through it.

Though these familiar feelings were dashed away in the instant a blot of light lept off of Twilight's horn and incinerated the calendar that seemed to have been tormenting her so. Spike could sparsely even remember the last time that he saw Twilight lash out at something like that, he wasn't even sure if she ever acted like this in the past. If she had, he either hadn't seen it or just simply didn't remember it. But regardless, the dragon shuddered at the alicorn's sudden display of violence. He knew Twilight would never do anything to hurt him, it was more of a reflexive reaction rather than a logical one. But even still, it wasn't an easy thing to watch.

Something was wrong, anyone could see that if they just looked, and Spike knew it better then anyone at the moment. So much so that he was compelled to move forward, albeit with a meek hesitance about his stride, knowing that he had to do something about it. For as long as he could remember, the young dragon had been a source of comfort for his equine caretaker. For one reason or another, his presence had an almost healing effect on Twilight and her mental state, and she was the same for him. And in times such as these, Spike had learned to view it as his solemn duty to help ease Twilight through troubling times like these. Even if he seldom knew what exactly was wrong nor how to fix it. All he could do was be there and try.

"Twilight?" He asked meekly, earning the alicorn's immediate attention with an unnerving jerking motion. Her eyes were cold and hollow, devoid of everything other than the anger she was already exuding in droves. It was enough to make Spike hesitate his decision and his self-appointed roll in the alicorn's life for but a moment before he was able to continue, albeit a bit shakily. "Did you... talk to them?"

That question might not have been the best in this situation, but it was the only thing Spike could think of right now to get the alicorn talking. If her attitude was to be believed, the talk with those ponies most definitely did not go according to plan. And that question would more than certainly get Twilight to talk about it, with any luck at least. But Twilight didn't say a single word in reply, at least not at first. She just stood there with that same dark grimace for a few seconds before a new emotion began to make itself known. Another one that Spike, unfortunately, recognized right off the bat. Guilt was the quickest way to describe it, Twilight looked like she was feeling an immense amount of guilt. But this too only lasted for a second or two before she became almost bitterly stoic.

"It didn't work out," Twilight answered snappily, her gaze falling back to where the calendar used to be. "Go get your things. We're leaving. Today." The answer and the cold way in which Twilight had given it had caught Spike off guard, to say the least. He did not like the sound of that at all, and his priorities shifted from trying to help Twilight and more towards figuring out what was going on. Something was very wrong indeed, and it was far worse then Spike could have imagined

"Wh-what do you mean we're leaving?" That was the first of many questions that came to Spike's increasingly worried mind. With each passing second, he felt more and more like he was back in the woods being chased by those timberwolf monsters. Or like he was back in that cave with that horrible red dragon. Regardless, Spike felt scared and confused, his mouth moving before his head could and continuing to spout out questions. "What about that stuff you were dealing with? What about Fluttershy?"

"Rainbow Dash can take care of it, it's her job." Twilight walked away without even looking at him, hastily beginning to go through drawers in search of something. "Hurry up, we don't have time."

"But what about—?" He was abruptly cut short the instant he saw Twilight begin to spin around towards him.

"Now!"

Spike was not expecting Twilight to snap back at him with such, nor was he expecting her to shout out with such intensity. The fire in her eyes burned hotter than any comparatively meager flame that Spike could ever hope to produce. And then, just as quickly as she had lashed out she was back to rummaging through the drawers and cabinets without anything further to say. No backpedaling, no apology, just a burst of rage followed by cold indifference.

It was harrowing. So much so that Spike could do nothing left but silently scuttle back to his room in hopes that he wouldn't set Twilight off again. He quickly slipped inside and shut the door behind him as if the alicorn would be stopped by a simple wooden door. With wide eyes glued on the wooden floor beneath him, Spike stood there holding the door shut for an almost unnecessary amount of time. He could scarcely breathe, and the ones he could take were short and hurried. A foreclaw found its way from the door to his chest, the dragon's heart pounding like an anvil from what he had just been through.

Did that really just happen? The question looped over and over in the stunned dragon's head, unable to even process what had just transpired. Never had he seen Twilight direct that kind of anger towards him before. At other people who deserved it? Once or twice. But never at him, she had never once spoken to him like this. That didn't happen, that didn't happen, that didn't happen.

Never before in his life did Spike feel this helpless and small. He couldn't stop shaking, practically on the verge of tears from that short lived discussion with Twilight. He still didn't fully grasp what was going on, but even in this uneasy state, he was able to decipher that whatever it was must have been bad. Very bad, if it was enough to get Twilight to explode at Spike like that. This wayward thought was enough to get the dragon to begin his assigned task of getting his possessions so that they could leave.

Not that he had many possessions, though. Just a few toys and books that Twilight had accrued for him over their travels. Aside from the book about dragons that he had long since sworn off, he had a couple of other texts on basic reading and mathematic skills—ever the scholar, Twilight was, not even traveling the world in search of long dragons would stop her from educating Spike. The toys were another story, just a few trinkets and bobbles for Spike to fidget with whenever boredom struck, they weren't anything particularly elaborate or special. A ball or two, a chess set, a stuffed goat, and several puzzle boxes and other similar items. Just simple things to entertain him from time to time.

Though Spike didn't bother with taking the time to wax romantic about his personal belongings, he was far too busy gathering them up into a neat little pile on the ground for whenever Twilight would be around to collect him. It was the best he could do without having the saddlebags himself to put his things away, but he wasn't about to go out there just to grab the pouches. He'd already made Twilight mad enough, and that fire certainly didn't need any more fuel.

But that sentiment was thrown right out the window as another thunderous crash echoed through the house, followed almost immediately by a series of unfamiliar voices shouting out one by one.

"Twilight! Mr. Knox got arrested!! Do you know what happened?! What did—?!"

"Pinkie, you can't just barge into other people's houses like that! It's not—!"

Spike could have sworn he felt his heart stop for a moment or two with this sudden development. Intruders had made their way into his and Twilight's home with seemingly no difficulties, something that was only made worse in the dragon's mind as he remembered Twilight telling him that her talk with the others "didn't go well." Were they here to do something about the dragon that had been hiding in their town? That was the only logical answer that came to mind, even if what they were saying didn't really match up with that idea at all. Either way, Spike was compelled to leave the relative safety of his bedroom to see what was going on or not. Outraged or not, the safest place right now was as close to Twilight as physically possible.

"YOU'RE AN ALI—HRMNN?!"

Twilight's magic suddenly surged through the whole house at that moment, every physical surface now glowing with a familiar magenta hue. The light's purpose was made painfully clear with the clicking of nearby locks—doors and windows—sending a brand new wave of distress through Spike's already alarmed mind.

"H-Hey!!" He blaired out with blatant fear, frantically working the door handle to try and get out of his newly made prison. But his efforts were all in vain, or they were until he remembered that this door locked from the inside. He couldn't help but feel a little dumb as he looked down towards the simple latch that stood between him and freedom, wasting no time in unlocking the barricade.

"Quiet! Both of you!" Twilight's voice stopped the dragon in his tracks—just as he opened the door by just a crack—effortlessly convincing him to stop and listen for a second or two. "S-sorry... just don't make a scene... please." His equine caretaker didn't sound anywhere near as angry as she did mere moments ago, her voice was now giving off this meek tone of distress. What in the world was going on out there?

"You're an alicorn!" The first intruder answered at the absolute perfect time, catching Spike's full attention. "Why are you an alicorn?!"

This was bad, really bad. On top of everything else, now Twilight's being an alicorn was out in the open? Oh, if she was angry before, Spike didn't even want to know what was going through her head right now. For reasons Spike never fully understood, Twilight did absolutely everything in her power to keep that part of her a secret from everyone outside of a select few. From what he did know, alicorns were exceptionally rare, he had only ever heard of there being two or three others in the whole world. So, in his mind, it made sense why Twilight would keep that a secret from the masses. And he could scarcely imagine the wrath that was born from this secret being exposed.

But that divine fury never came, much to Spike's shock. As he continued to silently listen to the conversation, he was surprised by just how calm Twilight was acting with these complete strangers, especially after how she had exploded at him not even ten minutes ago. And with a few simple words from one of the interlopers, Twilight's anger was drowned out by apparent sorrow as the conversation took on a quieter tone. This prompted Spike to venture further outward, keeping himself low to the ground as to not be so easily spotted. Yet once again, his advances were cut short by a simple sentence.

"Alicorns aren't born, they're made... Made by the Queen... the only one who can anymore..."

Made by the Queen? Spike asked himself, not knowing what the stranger was talking about. Spike knew for a fact that Queen Celestia wasn't Twilight's mother, so the statement made little sense to the young dragon. Nothing about this situation made sense, with dozens of questions forming in his head as the three equines continued the discussion.

"Don't remind me," Twilight hoarsely murmured back.

"Okay... well, why don't you just tell her you don't wanna be an alicorn anymore?" The first invader seemed almost giddy about that suggestion. "We were talking about it earlier, remember? It's reversible! And she's going to be in town for the Festival! I could even sneak you into the—"

"Do you not think I already tried that?!" And with that, Twilight's anger was back in full force and Spike silently winced in reply. "I've been like this for six years. That was the first thing I thought of!... And it won't work... Not for me." Just as quickly as it had flared up, her anger died back down into that weary droll. "The spell is absolute... undoing it would put me right back where I was before she cast it... Just like Poesia. She's right back where she was before the spell was cast."

"... So you'd be six years younger? I can... imagine how that would be a setback. But if being an alicorn upsets you this much, then growing up again shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"I wouldn't even get the chance..."

What in the world were they even talking about? The question tormented Spike ever so, his young mind hardly able to follow the conversation. Alicorns being made, Twilight not being able to go back, none of it made any sense at all! It was driving him mad, so much so that he just wanted to leap out and ask Twilight what she was raving about. But then as if to answer his silent pleas, Twilight began to try and explain everything. And as she did, there were a few parts of her tale that stuck out especially in Spike's mind.

"Six years ago."

"Stupid egg."

"Killed me."

Spike may not have been fully following what was going on up until now, but this brief little story definitely put a few things into perspective. And while his memories from that long ago were hazy at best, he did know that he came from an egg and that he had hatched six years ago, right around the time that this event in Twilight's life took place. Anyone could have put those pieces together, and an overwhelming sensation of guilt overcame the young dragon as he put them together himself. A claw moved by its own accord up to his snout, claiming his mouth shut in a vice grip as to keep him from screaming out in horror.

I... killed Twilight? Part of him fought back to deny this outrageous claim. There was much he didn't know about the world as a whole, but he knew that when something died that it didn't keep going. And Twilight had certainly been going for the past six years, even if she seemed fully convinced otherwise. A forced smile came to his sealed lips as he convinced himself of this delusion. But that dream was shattered when the first interloper spoke up again.

"So you... actually died?"

"Yeah... I'd be in some grave right now if Celestia didn't step in when she did..."

Twilight's words cemented it in Spike's mind that she was only speaking the absolute truth. And it hurt him, it hurt him more than he ever knew he could hurt. Knowing that his very existence only came to be because of Twilight's own suffering, that he was the cause of that suffering. It was absolutely heart wrenching. But at least he wasn't the only one going through an excessive amount of emotional turmoil, evidence as Twilight continued to rant and rave. Volatile streams of magic were flung this way and that as her wrath reached its apex before the enraged alicorn fell to her flanks and began to softly cry once again. Going on and on about how it wasn't fair. Spike couldn't help but agree.

Nothing else of interest was said from that point forward, at least not anything that Spike particularly cared about. It was around now that Twilight let the two intruders leave without any further fuss before making her way over to what was left of the couch, sitting down admits the sorrowful sofa's shreds. Spike, in the meanwhile, held his position on the hallway floor practically on the verge of tears himself. Twilight's testimony had a truly damning effect on the young dragon, one he didn't think he could recover from. The fact that Twilight had just admitted to all of this pain she had endured since Spike's birth, pain that he couldn't help but feel at least somewhat responsible for despite her consistent claims that Celestia was the one at fault. Because of him—in Twilight's own words—she had to choose between dying another horrible death or living forever. To watch everyone else turn to dust around her until she was all alone.

Those words in particular stuck out to Spike in retrospect, even in his dismayed state of being. Twilight seemed utterly convinced that she would, one day, end up alone in the world. That at some point or another, she would be on her own with nobody else besides her. And while it might have been selfish of him to think of this right now, he wondered when this would apply even to him. If fact, now that he was thinking about it, another question came to mind.

If Spike had been the catalyst for all of this torment in her life, why in the world did she want anything to do with him? She had shown him nothing but love and compassion for as long as he could remember, minus a few lectures on behavior and etiquette here and there. She had even gone as far as to say that he meant everything to her, it didn't make any sense. How could these two truths co-exist? Spike's existence took Twilight's life away from her, yet she loved him with all of her heart. So much so that she offered to leave her home behind to help him find the other long dragons.

And then it all came crashing down, the realization cutting deep. His silent whimpering stopped in that very instant as he stood back up, blankly staring ahead of him with this stern expression of mixed pain and revelation. He didn't like it, but he had answered his own question.

She's trying to get rid of me... As the conclusion came to mind, the intense guilt he felt for what he unintentionally did was joined by a sharp sense of betrayal. This whole time she's just been trying to ditch me! That's why she wanted to find long dragons! It has to be! There wasn't a doubt in his mind at this point, he was convinced that this was all some elaborate ruse to be rid of him. All these years of love and learning that had shaped Spike into who he was now, what did they even mean to Twilight? Was it all just a means to an end for her? After all, what did she have to lose? She had all the time in the world, that much had just been made clear.

"Twilight." A bitter snort escaped from the dragon as he marched into the living room, bitterly glaring at the alicorn with nothing but disdain.

"Spike!" Twilight flinched at his arrival, a wide-eyed look of shock strewn over her lying face. She sat there on her throne of scraps, eyes red and puffy from her still-ongoing display of tears. "... How much of that did you hear?"

"Oh. Enough," Spike's tone was as venomous as his anger, "Enough to finally know the truth."

Twilight's shame was easy enough to spot, her eyes loosely narrowing as she hung her head low. "... I'm sorry."

"You really should be. Were you ever going to fess up about it?"

"... I don't know," her voice carried weakly across the room, seeming to Spike as if she were fishing for his pitty in this scenario. "It's... not an easy thing to talk about it."

"It seemed pretty easy when you were talking to those two," Spike scoffed much to Twilight's apparent surprise, "But then again, they're not the stupid egg that ruined your life! Are they?!"

A hurt-filled look was quickly turned Spike's way, not that he cared much at the moment. "Spike, that's not what I meant! I—"

"Shut. UP! I'm done with all of your LIES!" Spike roared back, searing tongues of emerald flame bursting forth to emphasize his words. "You've been lying to me my whole life and I'm DONE WITH IT!"

"Spike..." The tears that had been rolling down Twilight's face were coming harder and faster now. Evidently, she was caught off guard by Spike's sudden change in character, so much so that she stayed quiet for an almost unbearably long time. Likely to try and come up with some new lie to worm her way out of this, Spike couldn't help but think. "Where did this come from?... What did I do wrong?"

Spike couldn't answer that question, not at first, at the very least. In spite of his newfound rage towards the purple pony, he still couldn't help but look back on all of the times she had been there for him. All of the laughs they had shared, and the tears, and the lazy days where nothing happened. And seeing Twilight hurt like this was so painful for him despite his anger. Doubly so knowing that he was the one who was causing a great deal of that hurt. But his temper was burning far too brightly to be doused by a few wayward tears. He wasn't even sure if they were sincere or just another of the lies he was accusing Twilight of spewing. And that uncertainty only served to make him angrier and angrier.

"You... made me love you..." Spike snarled through gritted fangs, beginning to tremble as every muscle in his body tensed up. He could feel himself beginning to cry as well as his conflicting emotions raged within him for dominance. "Just so you could... ditch me, and hurt me like I hurt you!"

Twilight didn't say a single word in her defense, a clear enough signal to Spike that he was correct in his persecutions. She stood there shaking almost as much as he was, tiny gasps and wimpers occasionally escaping through her agape mouth. And in any other situation, Spike would be the first to run towards the distraught alicorn with open arms to try and help her through this obvious state of agony. But not this time, he was far too gone in his wrath at this point. He was convinced that this had to be some trick on her part, some ploy to get Spike to stop asking questions and accept the status quo she had established for him. Some part of him still believed that Twilight was being fully sincere right now, yet another louder part was quick to retort by claiming that she was just that good at lying by now.

"Well... mission accomplished," Spike continued in a low growl, doing everything he could to keep up his furious persona. "You got what you wanted... Here, I'll even save you the trouble of ditching me..."

Nothing else was said as he turned his back towards his former caretaker and strode on over to the door. He didn't know where he was going to go or what he was going to do, but he didn't care at all right now. All he wanted right now was to get away and never see Twilight for the rest of his life. But that plan was cut short when a familiar magenta glow surrounded his form and a firm yet gentle pulling sensation began drawing him back towards the alicorn.

"Spike, don't," Twilight commanded as sternly as her tears and her agony would allow her, "You have it all wrong, just let me—"

"SHUT UP!!" Spike bellowed again as he bore his claws into the wooden floor, the natural weapons grinding loudly against the hardwood surface for a second or two before he was able to halt his backward momentum. "JUST LET GO SO YOU CAN BE RID OF ME!" With great strain, he began to move forward against the alicorn's magical pull. She tried pulling harder, Spike could tell as much, but even still he kept going onwards.

"Spike, stop! Just let me talk!" Twilight tugged even harder with her magic, though not nearly enough to cause any kind form of harm to the escaping long dragon.

Spike groaned as he kept fighting the arcane pull, a losing battle at this point. She wasn't going to let up anytime soon, and he knew that she could easily end this charade if she wanted to. He knew enough about alicorns—Twilight, in particular—to know that she wasn't even putting in a fraction of her full effort right now. It was almost insulting, at this point. Like she wasn't even really trying to stop him from leaving. That only made him angrier, causing him to fight even harder against the alicorn's magic. An unpleasant numbness began to spread through his body as his fury grew evermore, boiling over entirely into a seething foam of unbridled wrath. At this point, there wasn't anything that could be called a rational thought in Spike's head. Right now he was a being of pure emotion, little more than a wild beast. Not unlike the red dragon that had chased the two into Ponyville in the first place. And it was this state of pure unadulterated frenzy that Spike made his move.

"I HATE YOU!!"

He spun around without a moment's hesitation and lunged towards the purple pony, using her magic to speed up his assault upon his prey. Through his own furious hissing, he heard Twilight gasp in shock before yelping in pain as he sunk his teeth in as deep he could get them to go. He kept himself latched there for what felt like eons, breathing heavily as the gushing warmth filled his maw, the pounding heartbeat in his ears overwriting all other sounds.

And then he realized what he just did.

With a loud, shocked gasp he pulled away from the purple pony as quickly as he could, the bitter taste of blood still ever-present in his mouth. It was this moment that some sense of clarity came back to the long dragon and all of his unfounded wrath and hatred was replaced with fear and regret. He didn't really hate Twilight, he didn't really believe all the horrible things he just said and thought, but he had let his own anger run away with him in a time of vulnerability, and now he was to pay the price. He scurried backward, shaking his head rapidly as if to deny the evidence of his crime standing before him.

Twilight didn't make a sound. She just stood there, with a look of abstract horror strewn over her face as she stared down at what Spike had just done. Her right foreleg was held slightly aloft, the gaping bite-wound now upon it persuading her to keep her weight off of it. Blood trickled from the freshly delivered wound, as did it from Spike's newly crimson-colored maw. Neither one of them knew how long they stayed like this, both staring at the results of what had just happened. It was Twilight who finally broke the stalemate after an eternity of silence.

"You... bit me..."

She didn't sound angry at all, that was the worst thing about this. The only thing Spike could parse from her tone was a legitimate sense of surprise and disappointment. The alicorn didn't even bother to look up from the horrible thing Spike had done in a moment of uncontrolled anger. Without another word, Spike ran. As fast as he could manage, not even bothering to acknowledge as the alicorn called out for him. In his terror, he ran back to the only safe place he could think of, his bedroom. He wormed his way inside and slammed the door shut behind him, fumbling with the lock for a few seconds before getting it to click in place. He knew it wouldn't stop Twilight, he knew that for a fact. But that didn't stop him from at least trying to buy himself a brief bout of time. It was now, in the relative isolation of his bedroom that Spike allowed himself to weep. He paced back and forth about the room, sobbing and sniffling, unable to process the reality of his new situation with Twilight.

"Why'd I do that?! Why'd I do that?! Why'd I do that?!" He demanded of himself in a shouted whisper, over and over again without any sign of stopping anytime soon. With each passing second his sobs became louder and louder, and a newfound hatred for himself grew more and more.

At this point, he could hardly even remember the feelings of unjustified anger and hatred he had aimed at Twilight over a few hasty assumptions in his head. That's what they were, he only now realized, hasty assumptions that he made of Twilight's character in a moment of weakness. He knew that she loved him with all her heart—she wouldn't have given him a single year of her life if she didn't, let alone six—and he had just repaid that love and kindness by brutally tearing into her flesh right after screaming horrible, horrible things at her because he let his anger get away from him.

On that note, he could still taste the blood upon his tongue and could feel it dripping from his vicious maw. And upon realizing this, he began to cough and gag to get that horrible taste out of his mouth, trying to wipe away the red smears on his face with his claws. This did nothing for him, as he could still feel that bitter warm taste dancing in his mouth, and now even his claws were dyed crimson as if to remind him of his crime.

The long dragon was an incoherent murmuring mess at this point, once again unable to form any meaningful coherent thoughts. But now instead of rage clouding his mind, it was self-loathing and regret that kept him from thinking with any kind of logic or rationale. And it was in this sorry state that drove Spike to his next hasty decision, his eyes glancing up towards the room's only window.

"If she didn't hate me before, she has to hate me now..." He murmured to himself as he skittishly approached the room's only other exit. He didn't know for sure what Twilight was going to do next in response to what he had done, but he did know that he could no longer bring himself to face her. Not after everything he had just accused her of, and certainly not after attacking her like that. And thus, still shaking from the traumatic experience he had just lived through, he began to unlock and subsequently open the window, hesitating for just a moment as he looked to the outside world.

Three knocks upon the door halted any further progress the dragon would make, shortly followed by Twilight's haunting voice.

"Spike?" She meekly asked from behind the wooden barrier, the only thing standing between her and the long dragon at this moment. "Can I come in?... I just want to talk..."

Spike could feel the tears rolling along her face and he could hear the quivering of her lip as she choked the words out. She was hurting, that much was obvious enough. But it was far more than physical hurting, Spike didn't need to look at her to know that much. That bite was so much more powerful than just a simple flesh wound, and it must have sent a very nerve-racking message to the one he had given it to. Yet even still, he couldn't bring himself to turn back towards the door. He just couldn't.

So with a heavy heart, Spike moved as silently as he could and slinked out of the window down to the soft grass below. It wasn't a long enough fall to cause any harm, but he wouldn't be able to crawl back in without Twilight's help in pulling him back. There was no going back anymore, and for as much as it hurt him to do it, the long dragon went on his way. He didn't know where he would go from here, all he knew was that he had to go.

"SPIKE!?"

Twilight's shrill scream echoing through the open window caused him to hesitate for but a single second before he took off running, managing to get away long before Twilight had the chance to see his shameful escape through the window.

— Chapter Thirty-Six —

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--- The Looking ---

The world around Twilight Sparkle was nothing more than a simple blur of light and color as she raced through town in her frenzied pursuit. Her singed cloak waved widely in the breeze caused by her haste, the alicorn fighting through the pain of her recent injury to her right foreleg. She didn't exactly have a lot of time to properly dress the wound, settling instead for a few quick layers of gauze and a couple of effective—but uncomfortable and slow-acting—healing spells she had been able to hastily recall in the heat of the moment. It wasn't pleasant in any sense of the word, in fact, it even made the wound sting and burn more then it would have otherwise. But momentary creature comforts were far from a luxury Twilight could afford at the moment. Not with the current crisis she had to deal with.

I'm such an idiot, she silently screamed at herself, how could I let this happen?!

Every hurried step and haggard breath brought the alicorn only more anxiety and guilt, her mind throwing an unending stream of hypothetical ways she could have averted this tragedy. What she could have said, what she could have done, every possible way she could have stopped this from happening at all went through her head. Not that any of it really mattered anymore, what was done was done. Nothing could change that. No matter how badly Twilight wished she could go back and fix her mistakes. And that was what hurt more than anything else right now, the fact that all of this was her fault in the first place. Her outbursts, her utter failure in explaining things, each and every single thing that had gone wrong today was absolutely her fault. She had to fight every last desire and instinct that screamed at her to call out Spike's name in hopes the little guy would respond, but she couldn't bring herself to act upon these powerful impulses. Even in this trying time, lost in the torrential sea of her own chaotic emotions, there was still some strand of rationale that prevented her from blowing Spike's cover.

He couldn't have gotten far, he has to be around here somewhere! The alicorn continued to tell herself this in a fruitless effort to try and steady her agitated nerves, continuing to check just about every nook and cranny that looked even remotely big enough for Spike to worm his way into.

These locations were anything and everything from bushes to large baskets and even a fruit-stand or two. Not a stone was left unturned in her search, some of which earned her an understandable amount of questions and scolding from the citizens of Ponyville. Most of which Twilight either just blatantly ignored or replied with a hastily half-hearted apology. Again, she didn't really care about anything else at the moment. If nothing else though, the lack of any dragon-related panic going on at least meant that Spike hadn't been found by anyone else as of yet. That was one thing that Twilight could hold onto in this trying time.

"Where in the world did he even go?!" The alicorn growled at herself through clenched teeth, shaking her head in mixed disappointment and frustration as she yet again failed to find her lost dragon, this time in yet another patch of shrubbery. The urge to lash out of pure unadulterated fury was a strong one, and it took every ounce of strength she had left to not do so. Her logic was simple, she had enough problems to deal with today and she didn't need to deal with the complications of causing severe property damage.

The cloaked alicorn sighed, continuing to ignore the onward glances she was getting from wayward townsfolk around her. She understood that she needed to calm down, as hard as it was to even consider that a possibility. Even the act of just trying to slow down and think rationally was a harrowing task in and of itself, as every inch of her body refused to stop shaking from the tension and anxiety building up within her. But even still she tried, as the alicorn had a truly brilliant mind that she needed to work properly right now. And as she fought the urge to limp as she strode through Ponyville, the distraught equine was at least able to formulate the question that might lead to her salvation.

"Where would he even go?"

The billion-bit question, if ever there was one. Ponyville may have been a small town in comparison to larger settlements like Canterlot, it was still a fairly large village. A fairly large village where Twilight's own settlement was fairly close to the center, meaning that Spike could have gone just about anywhere depending on what direction he took off in. But the real question was where he would go, as redundant as it sounded. The last she saw of him, he was acting irrationally, and he was probably still being driven by emotion and impulse—much like Twilight herself at this very moment. He was probably scared and angry and most certainly looking for a safe place to hide if Twilight's hunch was correct.

All of a sudden the metaphorical light flashed to light in Twilight's head, her eyes practically glowing as the idea came to fruition. In hindsight, it made almost too much sense considering the circumstances. If Spike wanted to feel safe right now, there was only one place in this town the cloaked alicorn could see him running off to in a time like this. The fact that she hadn't thought to look there first was mind-boggling to her, but she didn't have too much time to beat herself up right now. Ignoring the pain in her leg, the magical pony took off running as fast as she possibly could.

And after several minutes of non-stop running, she was rewarded as a euphoric sense of hope swelled in Twilight's heart as her destination came into view—Fluttershy's humble cottage looking more like a sanctuary than it ever had before. There was no other place in the world she could imagine Spike would go right now, as the yellow pegasus had been an undeniable source of support for the two over their stay in Ponyville. All because of a simple act of kindness on the pegasi's part after another of Twilight's spectacular failures. If anyone could help Twilight right now, it was this mare. And this dependence on the other equine was made evident enough by Twilight's enthusiastic—to put a word to it—beatdown upon Fluttershy's front door. And the wait for the mare to come and investigate that series of loud bangs was agonizing in its own right. And when that door was swung open to reveal the now distressed looking pegasus within, Twilight couldn't help but feel a little bit of baseless hope that her dragon would be here.

"Have you seen Spike?!" Twilight wasted no time in blurting out her question, not even giving Fluttershy the chance to even address her. "I don't know where he is, and I can't find him anywhere!" Her words were fast, warbly, and practically on the verge of being incomprehensible gibberish.

"T-Twilight? What's going on?" The pegasus was distressed by Twilight's tone so much that she clearly hadn't caught onto what had been said through it. "Why are you—"

"Agh, I don't have time for this!" The cloaked pony wasn't so nice in pushing her way into Fluttershy's home, her head darting up and down and all around in any search for her missing companion. "Spike?! SPIKE?! ARE YOU HERE?!" The only answers she was given was the chatter and clamor of the various animals that held residence here and how they responded to her shouting. Which wasn't well, scattering away from the sudden and noisy intruder and her outcries.

But it was these outcries that got Fluttershy's attention, bringing a similar look of distress to her face. "Twilight, what's going on? Shouldn't Spike be with you?"

"He ran away..." Twilight was able to choke out in her panicked state, still looking high in low for some sign of the dragon who clearly wasn't here. Instead, she turned back towards Fluttershy to maybe try and continue the explanation. "And now I don't know where he is... I didn't know where else to look!"

The pegasus remained silent for a short while, the worried look upon her face only growing more so with time. "Does... he even know how to get here?"

The question wasn't an unreasonable one, it actually made quite a bit of sense in the grand scheme of things. A fact that was made soberingly clear to Twilight the second the words hit her ears, silencing every voice in her head in an instant. It was a damning realization that would have been obvious enough if it wasn't in the midst of this mental breakdown, and Twilight was ready to kick herself hard for not realizing this sooner. After all, what reasonable reason was there for Spike to know how to get to Fluttershy's cottage? Every time he and Twilight came here, the long dragon was carried over within the confines of Twilight's saddlebag. Her dark, vision-blocking saddlebag. A measure to keep his existence a secret from prying eyes.

Another secret of Twilight's that served to hurt Spike in the long run.

The cloaked pony found herself actually laughing at the absurdity of this whole situation and how quickly she had clung to the delusion that Spike would have been here, slowly chuckling like a madmare at this waking nightmare she found herself trapped in. With time the soft laughter transformed into light sobbing as the weight and dread of these circumstances came to fall upon her shoulders. Her knees shuddered and shook before finally giving up the ghost, forcing the alicorn into a seated position with a thump. Her son was gone, lost and likely afraid, aimlessly wondering around because he didn't know his way around all because of Twilight's sheer incompetence as a guardian. She didn't care that this was the third pony she had cried in front of today, nor did she even recognize that Fluttershy was even here at the moment. She was too far gone at this point, the wrenching in her chest making it impossible to care about anything other than this plight she had woven for herself.

"And what do you mean he ran away? Why would he—" The pegasus had her questions interrupted by yet another knock on her door, not quite as frantic as Twilight's previous attempt to get her attention but still noticeable enough. At first, Fluttershy wanted to ignore the newest visitor to console her current one, but when the knocking began to intensify she was left with no other choice. "I'll be right back... sorry..."

The apology didn't mean much to Twilight right now, and she hardly even noticed as the pegasus went to attend to her other guest. No, Twilight was too far gone right now to even think about worrying about such trivial matters. Anguish and self-pity enveloped every fiber of her being, alongside a wave of unbearable despair. A powerful tightness began to grow in her chest as she glared down at the floorboards, making it harder to breathe in this dire time. Her heavy breathing was one of the only sounds that reached her ears alongside the heavy pounding of her heartbeat.

Spike's gone. That was something that was finally beginning to sink in for what it really was. A deathly shiver ran down her spine and through her hidden wings, sitting there trying to deny the reality of her situation. It wasn't something she wanted to come to terms with, and she wished with all her heart that this nightmare would just end already. Her son was gone, she had no idea of where in the world he could have gone, and she had spent far too much time on this last-ditch effort. And with this lead proven to be a dead-end, she didn't know what else to do.

"What am I gonna do?" The alicorn asked of herself, rocking back and forth as the hopelessness continued to grow. "What's he gonna do?"

Some time passed before Fluttershy came back from whatever it was she was doing, a pensive look of anxiety strewn over her face. Whatever had happened at the front door had clearly caused her some kind of distress, not that Twilight was in any state of mind to care about someone else's troubles at the moment. The pegasus began to pace back and forth before her distracted guest, looking to be unsure of exactly what to say. She would start a sentence, only to quickly bite her lip with a groan before going back to pacing. This indecision was finally broken through and Fluttershy spoke at last.

"Twilight?... I think I might know where Spike went..."

The change in her demeanor was immediate, and Twilight bolted back up to a standing position at lightning speed. Her wide, pleading eyes drilled their way into Fluttershy's own, practically begging for the information that had just been promised. It very clearly wasn't necessary for Twilight to ask for a follow-up, but that didn't stop her from asking the question anyway. But the newfound sense of hope in Twilight was diluted by Fluttershy meekly sinking into herself. Whatever new information she had been presented with just now must not have been quite what Twilight was looking for. It was an impossibly long time before Fluttershy was able to muster up the courage to speak up again, and what she said could have killed Twilight right then and there if words could kill.

"Do you want the good news or bad news?"

— Chapter Thirty-Seven —

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--- The Lost ---

Spike's muscles were aching, his heart was racing, and his lungs were burning. Spike didn't dare stop, and he couldn't bring himself to look back. He dashed through the unfamiliar landscape of Ponyville he now found himself stranded in, zig-zagging back and forth between whatever cover he could find to keep himself hidden from the world. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he was doing, all he knew was that he had to keep going. Far more scared and confused than he had ever been before, all he could do was keep moving forward. That was the only thing his adrenaline riddled mind could think to do right now, just keep moving.

I'm such an idiot! He kept telling himself, tears rushing down his face almost as quickly as the reptile was running. A stupid, STUPID IDIOT!

He was still in shock with his own actions from earlier today, all he could bring himself to do was get away from the situation as fast as he could. The anger, the blind fury, the bite. Spike wished he could just take it all back, even if that wasn't an option anymore. Even if Spike had any intention of turning back, the long dragon had long since lost track of which way he had come from in his haste to flee. Despite his time here, Ponyville wasn't exactly a place he was familiar with. Most of his time had been spent indoors entirely or being ushered from location to location in Twilight's saddlebag. His only time outdoors was over towards Fluttershy's house, if only because of its isolated nature at the edge of town.

But Spike couldn't tell you which edge of town it was at. Nor could he be expected to know if he was even going in the right direction. Not that he even wanted to be there right now, all things considered. That was certainly the first place Twilight would go if she was going to try and find him. That house was a safe place once, but it couldn't be called that any longer. Nobody in the world could help Spike right now, except maybe a few select ponies from Canterlot. But just as he couldn't find his way around this town, he had no hope of navigating to a completely different city. He wouldn't even know what direction to go in or how far he'd have to go.

The dragon was stuck, plain and simple. And all he could do to try and alleviate this matter was to keep on running. As far as he could, as fast as he could. It was the only thing he could think to do anymore, fearful of what would happen if he was found by Twilight. The young dragon had never once seriously considered the possibility that Twilight would do anything to actively harm him, but he had also never expected himself to lash out and bury his fangs in her leg. Nothing was outside the realm of possibility anymore, and Twilight could respond to this situation in any number of ways. And that's what scared Spike the most, he didn't know what would happen if the two ever ran into each other again. Even though it hurt more than anything to come to that conclusion. So all he could do was keep on running. Making his way through the unfamiliar maze that was this town, dashing from hiding place to hiding place whenever the coast was clear. He couldn't risk being seen right now. Any possible sighting could alert Twilight to his location, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Which is why he nearly screamed when he almost dashed out of his most recent cover straight into the very person he was trying to get away from.

Twilight stood there, thankfully oblivious to the long dragon scrambling back into the bushes, in what was very clearly a bad mood. Her head hung low, her hair a twisted and tangled mess. That combined with the singed cloak on her back made the alicorn look absolutely deranged, and it only furthered Spike's resolve to remain hidden. But even still he had to fight years of instinct telling him that Twilight would provide safety and shelter, and it tore him up inside. Somewhere deep down, he wanted to believe that Twilight was the person he had grown up around.

But at the same time, he couldn't forget everything that had happened today. Twilight's outburst towards those two strangers, how easily the young dragon had been persuaded into distrusting her, and how quickly he'd been willing to attack her in his rage. It wasn't just fear that was driving Spike to this hasty escape, he suddenly realized, it was also his shame. Shame for what he had done, and how he had turned around and treated Twilight after a lifetime of kindness and care. He had thrown all of that away in a matter of minutes with that tantrum of his, and now he wasn't sure if anything he could do could fix it. If nothing else, he couldn't blame Twilight for hating him now.

Holding his breath, he could hear her mutter something to herself in an agitated growl. He couldn't make out what it was, but the angered inflection that she carried gave him a few ideas. He waited in tense silence, watching as Twilight slowly began to walk away from his position. Then, without warning, she took off sprinting. To where Spike couldn't say for sure, but he could at least say one thing. Wherever Twilight was going was where he wasn't. As soon as he was certain that she was gone, he made his move by turning around in the bush and making his getaway, as fast as he could manage in his worn-out state.

And just like that, he was back to his elaborate game of running and hiding throughout the town. Though at the very least, this time he was at least able to take some comfort in knowing that he was definitely getting farther away from Twilight, but that comfort was overwhelmed by the stinging realization that he was taking pleasure from that of all things.

Time lost most meaning to the young dragon at this point. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, he truly didn't know anymore. All he knew was that he had spent the better part of the day running like mad, and that he was very tired and very thirsty. He needed rest and sustenance if he had any intention of going on any further, he would need something to replenish his strength. If nothing else, he was at least able to rest in the shade of his newest hiding spot—an old overturned crate nestled between two close-together buildings. It looked to be out of the way enough to where nobody would bother him, so it was as good a place as any to take a load off and regain what strength he could.

A deep remorseful sigh was the only sound heard from the dragon as he rested from his long trek, surrounded by the other abandoned debris that had wound up within this alleyway over the years. He couldn't help but feel like he was just another piece of discarded rubbish himself, unloved and unwanted, it was enough to bring the dragon back to silent tears. Understandable feelings of regret began welling up inside of him, and there was a brief moment where he considered trying to find his way back home. Even now, there was still some brief glint of hope that Twilight would forgive him for his trespasses.

A thought that was put to the side for the time being to address the sudden and intense growling of his stomach. He grumbled in protest of his body's needs, only now looking down to his claws as one of them rubbed at his underbelly. The distinct crimson color that stained his limbs was enough to remind him of what he did. And now that he was thinking about it, he remembered that the same sticky redness was also smeared all around his mouth, and he could still taste its upsettingly bitter flavor. That's what decided it, he needed to get food in his body. If only to get that horrid taste out of his mouth.

It didn't take him very long to pull himself up and slowly begin the search for something to fill his stomach. Although, he wasn't going to find anything here amongst all this trash, nothing particularly appetizing, at the very least. So it was with great hesitation that he began to venture back out into the sunlight, keeping low to the ground to try and stay as discrete as possible. His emerald eyes lit up with joy as he quickly caught sight of something that would very easily solve his current predicament. From what he was able to tell, it looked like he had wound up in some kind of market street. It didn't look very busy at the moment, which wasn't something Spike was about to whine about right now. Especially seeing as his sights weren't set on the ponies walking about, but rather one of the stands itself. Or rather, the goods it was there to sell.

A childlike sense of wonderment filled Spike as he took in the sight. What looked to be hundreds of apples, far more then Spike had ever seen in his entire life, were either on display on the booth itself or stored just behind the structure in barrels and crates. Juicy, large, and delicious looking pieces of fruit in every color available just sitting there in broad daylight. Just sitting there, waiting for Spike to fill his belly. Only two ponies stood by the booth to keep track of all of those delicate pieces of food—an orange mare with a really cool-looking hat, and a red titan of a stallion. The two of them looked to be passing the time with idle chit-chat, not really doing much as they were waiting for business to pick back up.

They won't miss an apple or two... Drool began to drop from the dragon's maw as he considered just sneaking on over and grabbing a quick bite to eat. It wouldn't be hard, the two sales ponies had enough barrels behind them to conceal Spike's presence. So long as they didn't turn around while he was out in the open, he'd be fine. They have hundreds... a few apples won't make a difference...

He surveyed the area one last time to make sure it was safe to venture forward, only moving when he was certain he wouldn't be spotted. There wasn't much cover between the alleyway and the apple stand so he had to move quickly and quietly. He remained close to the ground as he slinked on over, eyes dilating as his prize drew ever closer. Nobody was the wiser while the long dragon wedged himself between a gap between the barrels, practically home free for swiping his snacks. Spike had to fight the urge to celebrate his achievement as to not blow his skillfully maintained cover. For all intents and purposes, he had won, and now all he had to do was grab some grub and be on his way. The hardest part about all of this was picking which flavor of fruit that he wanted to indulge in at this juncture, eventually choosing the tried and true red delicacies to his right. It didn't take much effort for him to prop himself up onto his hind legs to get a better view of his soon-to-be-meal.

And right into the line of sight of the red pony, who had chosen this exact moment to wander over to the very same barrel that Spike had chosen to steal from. There was a split second where the two silently stared at one another with wide and shocked eyes, both equally surprised at the sight of the other. And after the longest second that Spike had ever endured, the red stallion screamed.

Never in his life had Spike heard such a loud or shrill scream of terror, and never once had he ever expected such a sound to come from such a masculine figure. But that was the reality that he now lived in, and it was only made worse as the titan of a pony kicked at the barrel between the two of them with great force. The wind was knocked from his lungs as the container crashed into him, his reflexes serving him well enough to allow him to twist and turn his way free before he was pinned down by the falling object. He didn't waste any time in scrambling back up and running off as quickly as he possibly could. Adrenalin and fear mixed into a potent fuel to propel him forward with reckless abandon, no longer caring if he was seen or not. And he was seen if the shocked gasps and confused shouts he overheard as he dashed along were anything to go off of, each one of them very telling as to what the people of Ponyville thought of him.

"What is THAT?!"

"BLOODY SNAKE THING!"

"Did it eat someone's cat?!"

And just like that, Spike was back on the run. Only now it was the whole of Ponyville he had to try and escape from.

— Chapter Thirty-Eight —

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--- Desperate Times ---

Twilight stood there in absolute silence as she patiently waited through Applejack's story. At Fluttershy's request, the earth pony was made to recount the events that had brought her here in the first place. And based on the story thus far, it wasn't a challenge to see why she had chosen to come to Fluttershy of all people for help in this matter. It was well-known knowledge that Fluttershy was Ponyville's resident animal expert—even without her veterinary expertise taken into account—meaning that she was on the top of the list of ponies to call when any animal-related event was going on. And the sighting of what seemed to be an unknown animal definitely fell under that category. But for the duration of the admittedly short story thus far, however, it took more than a fair amount of Twilight's inner strength and raw willpower to keep herself from exploding at the earth pony for referring to her son as some "snake dog thing." And to keep herself from rushing out in another panicked frenzy before she could get the information she needed.

"—I didn't even have time to get a good look at it myself, it ran off way too fast, but I know it went down market street towards city hall," Applejack explained with a mixture of haste and confusion. It was apparent enough that she didn't quite know why she had to repeat everything for Twilight's sake, but it wasn't enough to keep her from doing so in the first place. Although Twilight's current expression seemed like it was coming close to making her cease, the farmer glancing back now and again to the unnerving grin with noticeable hesitance. "It freaked the ever-living daylights outta everyone to boot. Big Mac said its mouth was all bloody and—"

"Bloody?" The color drained from Fluttershy's face, this part of the story being new to her as well. Her eyes were immediately on Twilight, almost as concerned as the disguised alicorn was about this whole mess. "Why would he be bloody? Did he get hurt?"

Twilight pulled her wounded leg up towards her body as if to keep it hidden, not that anybody could see it from underneath her cloak anyway. She knew damn well why the long dragon would be covered in blood right now, the sting of the bite still fresh in her mind. It was yet another thing to add to the list of things that she couldn't help but blame herself for today, doubly so knowing that it was her blood that was dripping from his maw. And the crimson red upon his face would be more than enough to make Spike look like a vicious wild animal without question, which both explained Applejack's uneasy persona at the moment while also serving to further agitate Twilight.

"You two know that critter?" Applejack asked bluntly with a mixture of relief and renewed panic. "What is it? Why's it in Ponyville? What's it gonna—?" She stopped herself short of the last question, her eyes now wide in response to a sudden realization. The gears in her head were turning faster and faster with each passing second as she swiftly glanced back and forth between Fluttershy and Twilight. "Twilight, is there something bigger going on here?" Further concern made itself known on Applejack's face. She spoke in a hushed tone, glancing over to Fluttershy one last time before going on. "Don't tell me this has something to do with... you-know-who..."

There was an honest moment where Twilight, in her enraged and uneasy state, didn't have the faintest idea what Applejack was even talking about. And she showed this quite blatantly with this narrow-eyed grimace accompanied by a slow shake of her head. It was only after a few seconds that Twilight was able to catch up with Applejack's train of thought and figure out what the farmer was going on about. How Twilight had promised to take care of the issues pertaining to Knox Onwud and whatever schemes he was scheming behind the scenes, a promise that had been a byproduct of her curiosity that had eventually led her to want to solve these issues on her own accord. And how she had mentioned Fluttershy's limited knowledge of the situation just yesterday at the train station. From there, it was simple enough to see how Applejack had managed to connect all of this back to Onwud, even if she was as far off the mark as someone could be right now.

"No, it's got nothing to do with any of that." Twilight's snappy response to Applejack was kept brief as she looked back over to Fluttershy. "And no, he's not hurt. At least he wasn't when I saw him last."

"Then why's he covered in blood?!" Fluttershy's question wasn't an unreasonable one by any stretch of the imagination. "What in the world happened?!"

"Did it kill someone's cat or something?!" Applejack added in, freaking out more as something she overheard on the way here came to mind.

"He bit me, alright?!" Twilight shouted back without thinking, causing an uncomfortable silence to wash over the three of them in quick succession. To emphasize her point she lifted her cloak enough to show the dressed wound, taking great shame in what she had just admitted as the eyes fell to gaze upon her bandages. "I-it was an accident," she quickly tried to explain, "There was an accident, he probably blamed himself, and he ran away... And I need to find him before someone else does."

That was the last thing Twilight said before she took off running at blinding speeds. Applejack yelped loudly as Twilight slid her way around her to get through the front door, and Fluttershy had barked out something to try and get Twilight to stop. But neither of those reached Twilight's ears as she pressed ever onward, as she chose to try and focus on the brighter half of the previous conversation instead. She had a general direction now of where Spike could be now, a vast improvement over what she had to work with earlier today. Though this glint of hope was still far outmatched by anxiety and dread. The worst possible scenario had made itself a reality, and now the whole of Ponyville was looking for the long dragon in tandem with Twilight. While the situation had improved, it still wasn't optimal in any sense of the word. And it only got worse as she kept racing through town much to her dismay.

As she made her way through the streets of Ponyville, Twilight couldn't help but catch sights of the citizens out and about right now. It seemed that news about Spike had spread like a plague throughout the town which had prompted a series of town guards, easily identified by the uniform sashes and simplistic helmets that marked them as such, to begin searching high and low for the little guy. Most bore ropes and nets at the ready for when they found their unidentified creature, giving Twilight a brief moment of respite knowing that they weren't just going to try and kill him outright. It wasn't much, but it was a small victory.

But the town guards weren't alone in their efforts, as several civilians had also been trying to find Spike as well. Those who were bold enough to help in the efforts were using the same methods as the town guards while others were trying to set up makeshift traps. Though most of them seemed to care more about seeing the long dragon rather than capturing him, made evident by the cameras that they were carrying around instead of anything practical. The town guard's efforts were split down the middle trying to get these bolder ponies to cease and return to their homes, though they weren't having much luck on that front either.

Nobody as of yet had elected to grab clubs or other weapons—for as far as Twilight could see, anyway. But even still, the thought of one of these people finding Spike first was tormenting in and of itself. The idea of her precious baby being caught, muzzled, and thrown into a cage and shipped off to who-knew-where was the most pleasant of the scenarios that her mind was able to present her with. All of the others being far too grisly for Twilight to even entertain for her own sake.

He went towards city hall, Twilight kept telling herself, over and over again in some attempt to drown out the other thoughts in her head. He's gotta be somewhere around there.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her focused on her mission. The market street was nothing but a blur as Twilight doubled her efforts, knowing full well that she would need to make up for the significant head start that Spike had gotten in the time it had taken her to get this far. It wouldn't be easy, but at least she wouldn't draw any more unneeded attention to herself. Not with the whole town searching for the same thing she was, if anything else she was blending in more then she ever had before. Not that she had the time or patience to appreciate that. And thus, Twilight was back to frantically searching the town for any sign of her little long dragon, just as she was earlier this morning. She poked her head into just about every nook and cranny that looked even remotely big enough for Spike to hide in, making sure to keep an ear open for any sorts of screams or shouts on the behalf of any of the other ponies around just in case one of them caught sight of the dragon first. That was the absolute worst-case scenario, but it was one that had to be prepped for. Just in case.

"Excuse me, miss?" A gruff voice tempered by years of hard work asked suddenly from behind. When Twilight turned and faced him it became clear that the voice belonged to an older earth pony guard, one who wasn't too amused by Twilight joining in on the search efforts. "There's an unidentified creature that was seen in town. We don't know if it's dangerous or not, so we need you to get back to your home."

"He's not dangerous," Twilight bitterly spoke without thinking, insulted by the implication that her son was a threat to anybody. "He's just scared."

"I'm sorry, what?" The reaction got the stoic stallion off guard, shown by the raising of a curious and intrigued eyebrow. "Do you know anything about this animal?"

Ah, horse apples. It was now that Twilight came to share a similar sense of shock as this guard here, as well as an immediate sense of regret and self-loathing. That, on top of the sense of panic she already felt from this whole day in general, was enough to drive Twilight to make yet another hasty decision to try and get out of this mess as quickly as she could. Somewhere deep down, she knew there'd be consequences to this, but right now she really couldn't care about that.

"I'm going to need you to—" That was all the earth pony guard was able to say before a flash from Twilight's horn caused his very existence to cease.

At least for the few milliseconds of transit time before he reappeared on the other side of town no worse for wear. He was probably startled out of his mind, spontaneous and unexpected teleportation will do that to someone while asking himself a fair deal of questions about what had just happened. But unless Twilight had royally botched up the spell he wasn't hurt, just displaced a fair distance away from this very spot. Which wasn't much, but it did give Twilight a bit more time to act on her own accord before she'd have to deal with him again. Hopefully, she'd find Spike by then, seeing as how the guard would no doubt bring a few friends with him to try and apprehend her next time. This was a problem to be dealt with in the future, as Twilight was keen on getting back to her search for Spike.

Though while she planned to keep searching for her son with nary another interruption, that interruption came regardless of her feelings when she turned around saw the last two ponies she wanted to see right now. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were out and about, still together for one reason or another. It was obvious enough as to why Pinkie was out here with how she was snooping around with a camera dangling from around her neck. She was out to try and find Spike, just like everyone else in town was. Rarity's presence here was harder to pin down, as she didn't look like she was helping with the efforts at all. But that conundrum was solved when she continued to speak.

"I still don't see how you're okay with all of this," Rarity went on in an exasperated tone, following Pinkie around as the later continued the search for the missing dragon. "She's clearly deranged and dangerous. We have to tell someone about her!"

It was clear enough now that the two were talking about their run-in with Twilight, and that they had yet to notice her arrival on the scene. And despite everything going on in her head right now, this caught Twilight's attention. Based on what she just overheard, Rarity had walked away from that encounter with a few new opinions of her. And in her emotionally vulnerable state Twilight couldn't help but stop for a moment to listen to what Rarity had to say.

"Rarity, it's Twilight, she's not going to do anything," Pinkie argued back only half invested in the argument, the rest of her focus going towards searching for the long dragon that was loose in town. "If she was going to, she would have done something by now."

"You did see how angry she was, right?" Rarity asked almost mockingly. "I can't be the only one who saw that tantrum she threw. That couch could have been us."

This was what got Pinkie to stop and face her unicorn friend, a stern look upon her face. "And did you see how much I hurt her by barging in like that? I've already caused her enough problems today, I don't wanna cause her anymore!"

"Pinkie, you couldn't have known she was—"

"Don't say it! I promised we wouldn't say anything!"

"But we have to tell someone!" Twilight's outburst from earlier didn't just have a lasting impact on Spike, and Rarity was showing just how much it had shaken her up. Not that Twilight could blame her, she'd probably feel the same if their roles were reversed. "Just think of what—"

And that's where Twilight's observation of the conversation was abruptly ended. What goes around comes around, and the karma from her earlier transgression against one of Ponyville's local guards had come back around to Twilight in the form of an almost-blinding flash of blue light. It wasn't difficult for her to recognize the familiar feeling of teleportation, though it was an odd sensation when she wasn't the one who triggered it. When she reappeared shortly after a fair way away, it became abundantly clear who the culprit behind her sudden displacement was. After all, Starlight Glimmer was just standing right in front of Twilight, waiting for the cloaked pony with a look of mixed stress and panic not unlike Twilight's own.

"You again?!" Twilight blurted, not exactly happy to see Onwud's accomplice here right now. This displeasure was only matched by confusion, as even now Twilight knew that this mare should also be on the guard's list of arrests to make. "What're you—"

"He went that way. Towards Sweet Apple Acres." The unicorn spoke bluntly, jutting her head off to the left to indicate the dirrection she was talking about. "Saw some guards headed that way. They didn't make a fuss about it... for obvious reasons." She gingerly gestured a hoof off to the right, and a series of ponies searching high and low for the unknown creature spotted in their town.

Twilight, understandably so, was caught off guard by the statement. It was the absolute last thing that Twilight expected to hear right now, and it had come from the absolute last person she had expected to hear it from. There was no possible way that this pony could be talking about Spike, right? How in the world would she know about him? It didn't add up. There had to be something else going on here, something to do with Knox and the whole mess Twilight had made herself a part of. That had to be it, she thought.

"You know. The little... snake... dog... dragon-looking guy, right?" Starlight spoke again, trailing off mid-sentence as if she didn't know quite how to describe what she was thinking of. "He's probably at Sweet Apple Acres by now. If you hurry, you might find him first."

Just like that, Twilight's confusion was swallowed back up by her rage. In this one moment, Starlight Glimmer had just shown that she knew far more than Twilight first expected of her, and the implications of what that meant were heavy. Had she been spying on her? How much did she know? What was her game? All these questions and more suddenly began to ring out in Twilight's head, and each one demanded answers.

"How do you—"

"I'd love to explain, I really would, but I don't think either of us has the time for that." Starlight took a few steps back with great haste, a wave of obvious nervousness washing over her as this conversation went on. "I'm pretty sure we both have places to be right now." And just as she had brought Twilight here in a burst of blue light, so too did the unicorn make her exit. Blinking out of existence with a magical pop, she left Twilight alone with nothing else but a series of unanswered questions and a few more gallons added to the sea of anxieties and frustrations that she'd been swimming in all day.

And Twilight was left to stand there and wallow in all of this, unsure of exactly where to go from this current juncture. That brief interaction with Starlight had brought more than a few things into question and reconsideration, and the young alicorn wasn't sure what any of it meant at this point. She found herself looking in the direction Starlight had pointed her in with longing and concern. Did Spike really run off that way as she said? It was certainly possible, but what reason would that unicorn have for telling that to Twilight? How would she even know Twilight was looking for him in the first place? It was frustratingly nonsensical, just as Starlight's actions from the previous night had been, and that wasn't something that was lost on Twilight even now. If nothing else, she knew now that this Starlight Glimmer person was up to something else. But as to what that was, Twilight hadn't the faintest.

But that wasn't at the top of Twilight's priorities right now, far from it. No, right now she was solely focused on deciding whether or not she should take Starlight's tip or continue searching on her own accord. It was far too specific advice to just be a coincidence, Starlight wanted Twilight to head to Sweet Apple Acres for one reason or another. Maybe Spike was there right now, doing what he could to avoid being caught by the town guards who were supposedly on his trail. Or maybe this was a trap devised by Knox's associates to get the upper hoof on Twilight, which also wasn't out of the realm of possibility. It was a tough choice to make, but her current desperation and stress expedited the process significantly.

Without further delay, Twilight ran off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

One of two things was going to happen when she got there. She was either going to find her son, or she would make life very unpleasant for whatever poor unfortunate fool thought that ambushing an agitated alicorn was in any way a good idea.

— Chapter Thirty-Nine —

View Online

--- Explosive Exposure ---

The bright afternoon sun blazed down over the land as Twilight galloped along at top speed, driven solely by her single-minded drive to assure Spike's safety by any means necessary. By now the pain held within the bite wound of hers had subsided considerably, now nothing more than a dull stinging sensation, but it had been replaced by a plethora of new unpleasant sensations that wracked the alicorn's body.

Her legs ached with each step forward, lungs burning and begging for her to stop to catch her breath. A mixture of sweat and tears rolled down her face, blurring her vision through a consistent veil of moisture. And then there was that blistering summer sunlight, seemingly here only to make Twilight's life even more miserable by utilizing its mere existence. A fast-paced tour of Ponyville would be enough to make anyone build up a sweat, but doing so while underneath what was, in essence, a heavy blanket did not help matters at all. By this point, it was only her force of habit and sheer stubbornness that kept Twilight from just tearing off the blasted thing and being done with it. But the physical misery that Twilight was made to endure was nothing compared to the mental anguish that plagued her every thought, and there was only one way to alleviate that burden.

And as her destination drew closer and closer with each hurried step, Twilight learned that the town of Ponyville was sandwiched between two large plots of trees.

The first was the Everfree Forest to the south, which Twilight was very familiar with by now, and the second to the northwest had been given the name "Sweet Apple Acres." Both about the land's purpose, and who had ownership of the territory. Though unlike the Everfree Forest, the large wooden archway bearing that name signified that these weren't exactly the same type of wild growths that made up the wooded region to the south. Past the gate's threshold was like an entirely different world. The field of grass that had been leading up to this point was replaced by simple dirt and soil. At least around the pathway and the many apple trees that likely gave this expanse its name. The almost countless trees stood tall and proud, evenly spaced apart in neat orderly rows, fenced off to disway any potential interlopers from interfering with them. Reds were by far the most abundant of the fruits Twilight could see, though there were still quite a few variations out there. And in the middle of it was a simple farmhouse accompanied by a bright red barn. And while the rustic beauty of this well-maintained farmland was lost on Twilight at this moment in time, there was one aspect of the plantation that caught her attention.

It was absolutely massive.

At least as large as the rest of Ponyville itself, maybe a little bit bigger or smaller as it was hard to tell from this vantage point. But the point still stood that Sweet Apple Acres was a big place with a lot of open land, meaning that Twilight was going to have a lot of ground to cover if she was going to find Spike. Swiftly approaching the large gateway that served as the main entrance, Twilight surveyed what she could of the farmland with ferocious intensity. And just as her unexpected informant had told her, a town guard could be seen standing at attention by the main gate. Likely to keep an eye out for Spike in case he came back around while also serving to keep any unwanted interlopers out.

Though if this lone guard thought for even a second that he stood any chance of standing between Twilight and her baby, he was going to be in for a very rude wake-up call. She wasn't even going to give him a chance to try and stop her with something like "you can't enter, official business" or "there's a wild animal on the loose and we need you to stay clear," she was not in the mood for anybody to stand between her and Spike any longer. But as she ignited her horn with righteous intent, there was an unexpected interruption in the form of Applejack bolting right on by. She slowed down to almost to a complete stop as she watched in perplexion as Applejack flagged down the guard and began speaking with him in an angered tone.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy's arrival was just as unexpected and sudden as Applejack's, with the pegasus tapping Twilight's shoulder to catch her attention and get her to come to a full stop. "How're you holding up?"

"Not the greatest..." Twilight wasn't exactly sure what to feel right now. There were many conflicting feelings of joy and guilt in seeing these two again, mostly because of the hasty way that they'd been informed about the incident between her and Spike. Thankfully, if nothing else, Fluttershy seemed more concerned with the actual crisis at the moment, but that didn't mean Twilight was out of hot water yet. "Someone saw some guards chase Spike this way, so I came to check it out..."

"Don't worry, we're gonna find him, okay?" Absolute certainty backed up Fluttershy's claim, and her words did something in easing Twilight's troubled mind.

"Alright, come on you two," Applejack shouted from across the way, waving them down to come and join her. Looking back over to her and the guard, it was clear that Applejack had managed to win the short-lived debate, though the guard himself seemed more than a little suspicious of the whole thing. "We gotta lot of... apples to count. So yeah, let's get going..."

Unlike Fluttershy, Applejack sounded like she had absolutely no confidence to back up the words she was speaking. It sounded like a blatant excuse to get Twilight and Fluttershy past the admittedly minimal barricade, but Twilight wasn't about to scrutinize the farmer for not being able to come up with a better excuse and she was the first to rush past the large gate. Fluttershy and Applejack were soon to follow, each hurriedly walking side-by-side with Twilight further into the farmland. There was a time where nothing was said between the three, but once they were out of earshot of that lone guard Applejack was astute in breaking that silence.

"Hey, um... sorry about earlier," Applejack spoke solemnly towards Twilight, her head slumping downwards in shame. "I, eh, didn't know the little guy was with you..."

Twilight stopped. And once the other two ponies noticed this and stopped as well, she looked towards Applejack with an appalling expression. Today had been a very long and very stressful series of events served with a side of agonizingly unanswered questions. And Applejack had just added yet another one to Twilight's already full plate, and the cloaked alicorn wasn't taking another step without at least having this one thing made clear. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm... talking about Spike..." Applejack continued, "I didn't know he was with you."

"I told her everything," Fluttershy confessed before Twilight even had the chance to accuse her of anything, "I couldn't just leave her in the dark. You've made it very clear that you want all the help you can get."

Twilight didn't say anything. Or rather, it was more like she couldn't say anything. After everything that had gone on today, to say Twilight's headspace was a mess was an absolute understatement. And she didn't even have a knee-jerk reaction to respond to this newest piece of news with. She just stood there, with this almost dazed and confused expression, trying to murmur out some kind of reply in response to this newest development. But that question never quite fully formed, not enough to make it past Twilight's quivering lips at the very least.

"Twilight, I'm sorry. But I think secrecy is off the table at this point." Fluttershy shook her head and sighed. Even though Twilight couldn't form the words, Fluttershy was clearly able to get the message. And it was at this moment that she chose to put her hoof down on the matter. "People know about Spike now. And finding him isn't going to make that go away. We need ponies on our side if this is going to turn out for the better."

The stern words resonated deeply with Twilight, and for the life of her she couldn't come up with a sound response. She found herself agreeing with Fluttershy's logic more than anything. It seems that one of them had at least put some thought into what would happen after Spike was located, and it made perfect sense to Twilight even now. Sequestering Spike back into hiding wasn't going to stop the whole town from turning every stone to find the so-called unidentified animal, and it was only now that Twilight was made to realize this in a moment of clarity. And it was this moment of clarity that allowed Twilight to finally pull herself together, thanking Fluttershy for actually taking the time to think things through right now. It was also Fluttershy who was quick to get the small group back on track, suggesting that the three of them split up to cover as much ground as they possibly could. Twilight wasn't going to be the first to dispute that next great idea, but she was the first to pick a direction and head off running.

And once again, Twilight was back to hurrying along in search of her lost son. Though there were significantly fewer places to hide in the relatively open expanse of apple trees. The only real place there was to hide was behind one of those many trees, in fact, as the rest of the landscape was mostly devoid of other protrusions or obstacles. The family that ran this place made very well sure that the only things that grew here were apple trees and grass, it was almost shockingly well maintained. But that high level of maintenance served well in Twilight's favor at the moment, so for that, she was thankful. The only thing that acted as some kind of obstacle was the presence of those town guards that had been brought to her attention earlier, Twilight taking careful measures to remain unnoticed by those law-enforcing professionals. Applejack wasn't here anymore to give her an excuse to stick around here, and she didn't want to have to displace any more ponies than she absolutely had to. If only to keep the law off of her back as much as possible.

She called out his name only when she was sure she wasn't in the presence of any guards, only using a loud enough tone to carry a short distance. It wasn't much, but she was hopeful it would help the dragon find his way to her. Even though she was fairly certain he didn't want anything to do with her right now. She went on like this for what felt like hours, only able to tell the time by looking to the scorching sun's slow crawl across the skyline. It had to be later in the day by now, the sun still wasn't anywhere close to setting, but it had made quite the sizable trek in the time that this search had dragged on.

"Spike?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said!" The alicorn continued to call out as she searched, weaving between trees like a sewing needle through a sheet of fabric. "Or... not in the way you thought I meant it... just let me explain!"

Even with the occasional sighting of a town guard continuing the search, Twilight was honestly starting to lose hope. Even after spending the better part of a day searching without end, she hadn't even seen the slightest trace of Spike anywhere. She felt like she was ten steps behind him at every turn, only chasing the vague directions of others who had seen him before she even got the chance to. It was heart-wrenchingly infuriating to know that he was still out in the world somewhere and she couldn't do a thing about it. Even with the endlessly appreciated help from the few allies she had, the chances of her reuniting with Spike were seemingly growing slimmer and slimmer with each passing moment.

"Please... I don't wanna lose you..."

With that last weak cry, Twilight slumped down to the ground and sat there amongst the dirt and apple trees as if to accept her defeat. Spike was still nowhere to be seen and the trail had gone cold at this point, she'd been searching for so long and still, there was nothing to show for her efforts. With any luck, she thought, maybe Applejack or Fluttershy would have found him by now. But at this point Twilight wasn't counting on that little miracle happening in her favor. And frankly, she didn't even think to deserve it. "Horribly" was one word that could be used to describe her behavior as of late. Towards Pinkie and Rarity, towards Fluttershy and Applejack, and even towards that random town guard she whisked away on a panic-induced whim. For the whole of this day, Twilight had been acting like a spoiled child who hadn't been getting their way, and it was no longer possible for her to ignore that fact. It wasn't even just today that she had been acting in such a manner. All she had done last night was simply pester Rainbow Dash into allowing her to poke her nose where it didn't belong, constantly pushing the boundaries of the permission that she was unjustly given. All of that had been for a good cause, at least Twilight thought so at the time, but now all she could think of was how in-the-wrong she was about the whole thing. And then there was the matter of how she even got into this mess in the first place.

All of this was put into motion the day she had taken Spike and ventured out into the world under the pretense of figuring out where he had come from. And while she was earnest in achieving that goal, it was far from the only reason she had left Canterlot. It was fear of her loved ones' mortality that had played a key deciding factor in her departure, and in the soon-to-be-three years since she had made that decision she had only looked back very recently. The past years had been spent selfishly running away from a problem that there was no easy-way-out of, running away from the only people in the world who could possibly help her through all her fears and doubts about her unwilling longevity. There was no longer any denying it. Twilight was a selfish, almost heartless person. She had been so willing to throw away everything else to spend centuries alone with the little creature that had fallen into her life just based on the sheer fact that he was a dragon and would long outlive almost any other pony in the world without much hassle. But the past three years had only served to set Spike up for this horribly tragic event so early on in his life.

It wasn't even for her own sake that she wanted to find him—all of her worries were focused solely on Spike. He had to be so scared and confused right now, Twilight could hardly even stomach the thought of it. She had done enough already to hurt him more than he ever deserved, and now he had half of Ponyville hunting him down under the pretense that he was a dangerous wild animal. All because of a few red smears on his face that had come from him biting her earlier, an action that was wholly Twilight's fault.

"Hey! You! What're you doing here?!" Someone shouted in an angry tone. Based on the tone and authority held within her voice, it was likely that it was one of the guards who was out here searching for Spike. Twilight was drawn out of her hopeless dismay quickly enough and was placed on high alert, quickly trying to come up with an excuse that would get the guard to leave her alone—or just zap her away if that didn't work. But neither scenario would come to pass, as made clear when someone else answered the question justly.

"Uh... I live here?" Apple Bloom sounded both confused and offended by the guard's question. Something that made sense, seeing as how she definitely did live here if this place was owned by her's and Applejack's family.

Though this sudden development was enough to spark Twilight's curiosity, prompting her to mosey on over to where this interaction was taking place. Keeping herself hidden behind one of the many fruit-bearing plants, it was easy enough to spot the two ponies. And, as expected, a unicorn mare bearing the guard's garb was angrily glaring over to the familiar earth pony filly who matched the grimace with her own. Though even now, Twilight couldn't help but notice something that seemed a little out of place. Situated next to the little pony was a basket filled to the brim with foodstuffs. Apples, bread, a couple of bottles of water, and several other junk food items and drinks as well. Apple Bloom looked like she was ready for a picnic with that setup she had. And Twilight would have been ready to believe that if she hadn't taken notice of two very peculiar items hidden amongst the hoard of snacks.

A towel and a bar of soap.

Not exactly the first things that come to mind when preparing for a picnic, especially for someone as young as Apple Bloom. And this oddly specific discrepancy was enough to convince Twilight that there was something more going on here. And that "something more" was giving the unseen observer was getting a very familiar feeling, almost exactly like when Apple Bloom and her friends convinced her to help build that trebuchet. And that was something that stuck out to Twilight even now, which only further drew her into this conversation. If only to see what it was this filly was hiding, as Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that this might be more relevant to her plight then what it looked like. It wasn't much, but she was desperate enough to follow even this far-fetched lead.

"Okay, fair enough, but you still shouldn't be out here right now," the guard retorted back in a snooty and condescending voice, "I don't know if you've heard, but there's been some weird animal running around town all day. And we've cornered it here. You being out here isn't a good idea right now. So come on, I'll walk you home."

"Uh, I don't know what you're goin' on about, but I think I would've noticed if there was something like that running about our farm." Apple Bloom answered almost nervously, picking up her basket for just a moment before backing away. "Sorry, lady, but I think you're full of it."

Just as the way the guard was acting shouldn't have been the way someone should talk to a child, Apple Bloom's reaction wasn't what Twilight would have expected from a child. One would think that a town guard telling her about some dangerous animal would have gotten the young mare to take the offer for a safe walk home, but the opposite seemed true in this instance. There also seemed to be a hint of nervousness behind the filly's words, almost as if she was hiding something—exactly like the other time Twilight had interacted with this kid.

"Kid, I don't have time for this. You need to get somewhere safe." The guard looked like she didn't take to kindly to being insulted out of the blue like that, but was at least willing to do her job and keep this civilian safe.

"I really don't think there's anything dangerous out here," Applebloom insisted with great defiance, "Actually... I think you and your copper buddies are just here to swipe a few free snacks!"

"Wh-what?! That's ridiculous, just come on and—"

"Wouldn't be the first time, either! Don't think we haven't noticed!" Apple Bloom shouted with growing confidence, "I hear Granny and Applejack talking about it all the time! Maybe I should go tell her that we've got a whole squad of intruders running around? Huh? HUH?!"

The guard pony knew something about Apple Bloom's grandmother that Twilight did not, as that threat was enough to make the mare go pale in the face. It was her turn to recoil away from the other pony now, seemingly terrified of the elderly mare of the Apple Family. And while Apple Bloom's remark was an obvious bluff, it was enough to get the town guard to turn tail and run about as fast as Twilight had been moving all day. This got Twilight to feel a little bit nervous about whatever this granny of Apple Bloom's was capable of, but such concerns were short-lived once Apple Bloom continued along her merry way, basket in tow.

And in response to this, Twilight went from frantically running around Sweet Apple Acres to trailing Apple Bloom at a slow and careful pace. She knew that if the filly spotted her she'd get much the same treatment as that guard did, so staying silent and unseen were Twilight's top priorities right now. Apple Bloom was much less cautious then her pursuer was, however, never once even thinking to suspect the idea that she was being followed. And after some time of walking, Twilight was made privy to the filly's destination.

Sequestered deep within the heart of Sweet Apple Acres, looking to be situated in an older tree that had since stopped bearing fruit, someone had decided to build this little fort for levity's sake. It looked like it had been here for many years, with many modifications that had been added to it over that time like a balcony and what could only be described as a watchtower. It was an impressive structure that any kid would love to spend hours on end in, and it was fairly obvious that Apple Bloom and her friends had commandeered it for their own purposes. Twilight watched with great enthusiasm as Apple Bloom ascended the simple staircase that led up to the entrance before vanishing into the clubhouse altogether.

Seeing as how she had already come this far, it wouldn't hurt at this point to at least check to see if her gut feeling was right or wrong. With great trepidation, Twilight moved towards the child's fortress and began to slowly head up the stairs. If her hunch was wrong, she didn't want to have to explain to a bunch of fillies why she had followed one of them to their clubhouse. That was an endeavor that would take far too much time right now, so the stealthy option was once again chosen as Twilight pressed her ear against the door. An entirely pointless gesture, as the open windows were more than enough to let the voices carry out of the small building, allowing her to easily listen in on the conversation-in-progress.

"So there's also a bit of bad news," Apple Bloom was the first voice Twilight heard in the confines of the treehouse, "There's a bunch of cops running around. Looking for you-know-who."

"That's not good," Scootaloo added with a blank tone of voice, "They're gonna look here eventually, right? What're we gonna do then? How're we gonna explain this?"

"Well, there's really nowhere else to hide him," Sweetie Belle spoke up, "I know if my mom found him in our house she'd have eight heart attacks at the same time."

"We don't need to move him, they think he's just a wild animal—no offense," Apple Bloom continued, "So they shouldn't think to look in here... as long as he stays quiet... You can do that, right Lil' Buddy?" There were a few seconds of silence before there was an answer, but when it finally came Twilight nearly screamed.

"Y-yeah," Spike meekly answered from within the clubhouse much to Twilight's elation, "Thanks for helping me..."

There aren't enough words in any language to describe the instantaneous change in Twilight's mood. In an instant, all of the anxiety and fear that had been building without any end in sight was shattered like glass as hope flooded into her heart at this change. There was no longer any uncertainty to Spike's safety, there wasn't any immediate danger to be had at least right now. Not only that, but a small group of ponies had seemingly even offered to help him avoid the unfriendly forces hunting him down, something that only further served to help improve the alicorn's mood. She was so elated, in fact, that all previously established notions of subtlety were thrown out the window as she practically knocked the door down in her mindless desire to reunite with her son.

"SPIKE!"

The loud declaration of joy was met by the frightened and ear-piercing screeches of the three little ponies, who had clearly not been expecting a cloaked pony to burst into their clubhouse screaming. But they were of little concern to Twilight right now, her eyes locked firmly on the long dragon towards the back of the room. In less than a second Spike's attention was drawn to Twilight as a look of terror came across his face, shortly before dropping the wet towel and soap he was using to clean himself. Then, moving with speed far too fast for Twilight to react to, Spike scampered to the nearest window and threw himself out of it.

"Spike, no!" Relief turned back into horror as Twilight reached out with her magic to catch him, only just missing its target by mere fractions of a second. Hurridly she went to the window he had leaped from, just in time to watch her son hit the ground and take off running. "No! Come back!" She cried out to no avail, only now remembering the fair bit of animosity that still lingered between the two of them and why he had run away in the first place. Though there wasn't much time to dwell on that, not with the sudden onslaught of three fillies going out of their way to attack her for her trespass. Not anywhere near enough to cause Twilight any harm, or even move her very much, but was enough to be an irritating distraction.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BIG BULLY!" Scootaloo was the first to squeal, repeatedly headbutting one of Twilight's hind legs in an almost comical fashion. It had the absolute least effect

"HE AIN'T GONNA HURT NOBODY! HE'S NICE!" Apple Bloom was quick to add, spinning around and striking Twilight with an admittedly strong kick from her hind legs. It managed to make Twilight flinch, if only just a little bit because she wasn't expecting it. Though these two attacks were followed by a sudden green glow to ensnare her cloak as it was tugged sharply away from the window.

"He's got enough problems to deal with right now!" Sweetie Belle yelled, pulling for all she was worth on the older pony's cloak in an attempt to stop her. Twilight didn't budge an inch, but that didn't stop Sweetie from trying ever harder. Her efforts were quick to inspire her two cohorts, each one latching onto the robe with their teeth and helping their friend. "He doesn't need you turning him into the guards!"

"H-hey! Cut it out!" Twilight shouted as she stood her ground to resist the constant yanking of the three fillies, not wanting to fight back in any meaningful way to keep from accidentally hurting any of these kids. "You don't—"

Everything was rendered silent when the sound of ripping fabric reached Twilight's ears, with two of the three fillies being flung backward from the sudden loss of support. The damage Twilight's cloak had sustained earlier had mixed horribly with the abuse the three kids had decided to put it through. The result was a now very much revealed alicorn standing in the middle of the clubhouse, with nothing but the tattered remains of a cloak still hugging her neck—far too short to hide her wings even a little bit. For the second time today, Twilight's alicorn status had been exposed.

"Holy crap..." Sweetie Belle was the first of the three to take notice, seeing as how she was the only one who hadn't fallen over herself from the cloak's unfortunate destruction. But once Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had reoriented themselves, they were quick to join in on the shock and awe. It seems that the implications of Twilight's true nature weren't lost even on these kids, much to the alicorn's dismay.

There were many things Twilight wanted to say and do in response to this, and once again she was too flustered to pick a course of action. Was she to thank the fillies for fighting so hard to keep Spike safe? Scold them for what they had just uncovered? Or should she just stop wasting time and go after Spike? It took her far longer than it should have, given the circumstances, but she did eventually manage to come up with an answer.

"I don't have time for this again," she muttered angrily before leaping out the window herself to chase after Spike. What the three fillies did from this point onward was no longer any of Twilight's concern for she had far bigger things to deal with. Especially now that she was once again on the run, albeit this time with a much better idea of where he was and where he was headed. After all, she could see him off in the distance.

He runs fast, Twilight couldn't help but comment in her head as she watched the purple speck that was Spike practically dance on the horizon just out of her reach. He was contrasted heavily by the bright red barn he was headed towards, which only helped Twilight keep track of his fleeting form. And while progress was slow, that little purple blip was getting closer and closer with each passing second. And, by extension, Twilight was getting closer and closer to reaching Spike and finally setting all of this straight. She didn't know what she could say to help ease his heart and mind right now, but she had to try. Though that plan was put horrifically on hold as that little purple blip was suddenly stopped and buried underneath a bunch of town guards. They must've finally seen him out in the open and took advantage of the situation. Now, Twilight had thought she would have been angry before seeing her son get dogpiled by a bunch of random ponies with ill intent.

But actually seeing it happen with her own eyes was enough to replace every single aspect of Twilight Sparkle's being with nothing more than the pure unfiltered will to murder.

The alicorn roared like a great and terrible dragon, her horn practically exploding with violently crackling arcane light. The magenta bolts of light coiled around her body like vicious snakes and ripped her from the physical plane of existence only to be deposited just past the squirming pile of guards, now standing between them and the barn Spike had been fleeing towards. Though overshooting her target didn't do much to stop her, with Twilight quickly snapping back around to glare at them for only a microsecond before acting. With a crackling burst of light from her horn, the six or seven guards that had been working together to bound and gag the long dragon were sent flying, leaving Spike behind curled up and trembling on the ground, though otherwise unharmed. They all hit the ground at relatively the same time, mostly unharmed aside from actually hitting the ground itself. The only thing that had kept Twilight from unleashing her full power on them just now was their proximity to Spike.

"Leave my son alone!" She demanded with unwavering wrath and authority, stepping over and standing over Spike's fallen form in a protective gesture. He wouldn't be able to stand up now, but the payoff to that drawback was that he was now the single safest living thing in the world. "If you want to take him, you gotta go through me!" Taking advantage of her already-blown secret, Twilight flared out her wings menacingly. Both in a primal attempt to make herself look larger and more intimidating and as a way to show these ponies that they really shouldn't try again.

It wasn't long before the town guards began to shake off the attack and get back up to their hooves. Some of them began shouting obscenities at Twilight before any of them noticed what exactly it was they were up against. And then, absolute silence. Not all of them noticed Twilight's wings and sparking horn at the same time, but they all gave the same wide-eyed reaction when they finally caught up. From that point on, it was a standoff. On one end was Twilight Sparkle, who stood at the ready to turn the first idiot to try and challenge her into glass. And on the other side, the group of guards was either just standing there mindlessly or murmuring with one-another on what their next course of action should be. On the one hoof, they had their orders and their duties to fulfill. But on the other was an understandable hesitance towards trying to rush down an alicorn. And then there was Spike, who was looking up at Twilight with his own shocked expression.

The passage of time was diluted heavily as the stalemate grew ever longer, nobody present being quite sure how long they remained like this. Twilight certainly wasn't going to make the first move, and none of the guards were willing to take their eyes off of the immediate threat for even a second. And so, they stood there, and they were going to keep standing there for however long it took for one of the two groups to flinch.

"Come on, try me!" Twilight viciously taunted after some time, a bolt of wild magic scorching the ground in front of her in a long, drawn-out lick, the intention and message clear. "Who's gonna be the one to try take away my son?! Huh?! Who's coming to take him from me?!" Now that the immediate danger was over and done with, for the most part, Twilight wasn't quite as willing to just flat out end any of these mares or stallions for just doing their jobs. As mad as she was, she knew that none of them deserved that. But she was still quite mad and needed to blow off some steam. She had already dug herself into this hole, and there wasn't much deeper it could go.

An ear-ringing boom, a ground-shaking crash, and an explosion of dust and dirt directly in between Twilight and the severely outmatched town guards. There were more than a few recoils and shouts at the sudden attack on the behalf of the town guards, them believing that Twilight had made the first act of aggression. But Twilight had done no such thing, and when the dust settled the culprit was revealed to be a large crude ball of blackened iron. A textbook definition of a cannonball, if ever there was one.

"Alright, listen up ya big bunch of ninnies!" An elderly sounding mare shouted at all of them quickly drawing everyone's attention off to the left. Looking over revealed a well-aged green earth pony who was glaring at everyone with an unmatched look of bitterness. Standing behind her was Apple Bloom, peeking out from behind the much older mare the way a nervous and regretful child would after getting their parent involved only for them to escalate the situation far past where it needed to be. And that escalation came in the form of the still-smoking cannon sitting just to the grandmother's right.

Why does she have a cannon? That was the question on Twilight's mind, and she could only suspect that the others were also asking that very same question at this current juncture.

"Ah'mma say this once, so y'all better open yer darned ears!" The elderly pony shouted at the top of her lungs, smacking the cannon with a loud metallic clang for emphasis. "You buncha coppers are trespassin'! So get off my property, 'fore Ah blast ya!"

There was a moment of hesitation on everyone's behalf after the obvious threat, but it didn't take long for the town guards to make their move. Backing up slowly as to not instigate another attack—from either the alicorn or the cannon-crazed earth pony—the group of law enforcers was far enough away they turned tail and ran. It wasn't a frightful run, it looked more as if they were retreating to regroup and reconsider their priorities. So, if nothing else, those stallions and mares were great at hiding their fear as they rightfully ran away. Twilight huffed indignantly at them one last time long after they were out of earshot. She knew well that this wasn't over, her actions and words were probably enough to get the whole of Ponyville's police force to come after her, and that was before taking her alicorn status into account. But, for now, at least, the issue was settled.

"Twilight..." Spike's shaky voice murmured out from beneath the alicorn.

In an instant, Twilight's entire outlook changed as she took a few steps back to allow Spike the room to get off of the ground. He was slow and shakey in doing so, it was clear that he was just as exhausted as Twilight was after all the running he had done. A few bits of red still stained his face, as Twilight had barged in before he could finish cleaning himself, though he wasn't visibly harmed from his run-in with those ponies just now.

"Spike! You're not hurt are you?!" Even though there weren't any visible marks on him, Twilight couldn't help but ask that question. She changed her posture constantly to try and get a better view of the rest of his body, hoping she wouldn't see some previously unseen cut or bruise.

Spike, in response, only sat there looking longingly at the alicorn before him. Unknowable amounts of conflicting emotions clashed within his shakey form, so much so that they made themself manifest in the form of slowly flowing tears. He clearly didn't know what to say, do, or think right now, yet another thing that Twilight could relate to after the day she's had. But after some time of seemingly not knowing what to do, Spike finally broke and acted in accordance with his strongest emotions. Much like before he closed the distance between himself and Twilight with blinding speed, though unlike this morning it wasn't with his fangs at the ready. Instead, he was quick to bury his face into her chest and clasp onto her with the tightest hug he could muster before he finally began to sob. There was only a split second of hesitation on Twilight's behalf at this, a moment taken to realize what had just happened before she returned the favor. She adjusted herself into a seated posture and return the hug with one of her own, one that was further reinforced with the use of her wings.

"I don't hate you..." Spike was able to choke out through his unending sobs, trying for all he was worth to pull Twilight closer into the embrace. "I don't hate you..."

"I know," Twilight kept her answer short and sweet, tears once again beginning to flow down the sides of her face as her own emotions took hold of her once again. But for the first time today, these emotions weren't ones that she wanted to shun off and never once think of again. Right now she only wanted to hold her little dragon and let him cry into her for however long he felt he needed.

And as they continued to sit there, as the minutes stretched on into what felt like hours, there was a slowly growing sense of security and ease. An irrational knowledge that everything was going to be alright, even if very few of today's problems had actually been solved. It didn't erase that there were so many ponies who knew about Spike now. It didn't change the fact that all of Ponyville would likely soon know about her being an alicorn. It didn't undo the horrible things she had said and done in her fit of rage. And it didn't change the fact that she would have to face the consequences of all of that very soon. But that didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered right now. In this one, solitary moment, everything else just faded away as she and her son did their best to comfort each other after the first leg of this trying ordeal.

Right now, there was only Twilight Sparkle and Spike. A wonderful little dragon who'd fallen into her life that loved her with all his heart, and an alicorn who brought him into this world that loved him back just as much.

Author's Notes:

First off, I'd like to take a moment to thank Scyphi for unintentionally giving me inspiration for how to make this chapter work. It's because of their comment on Chapter 38 that this chapter got done so quickly, as that little bit of inspiration went a VERY long way. And because of that, the writing process for this chapter went much smoother. Secondly, I'm going to apologize in advanced for any spelling/grammar mistakes. It's nothing new at this point, but the bulk of this chapter was written very late at night. I did scrub through it with Grammarly a few times, but that's never stopped me from letting a few errors through every now and again. If you manage to catch any, feel free to let me know so I can fix 'em up. It's always appreciated.

As for what happened in this chapter specifically, I've been planning on blowing Twilight's cover like this since almost the beginning of me writing this story. I mean, why else would I make such a big stink about Twilight wanting to keep her wings a secret? And while this particular arc didn't do anything to advance the main story as of yet—that's just life. Life doesn't always revolve around one singular event or goal. It likes to throw curveballs at us when we least expect it, something I think we can all relate to in this day and age. That's the excuse I'm sticking with for including this stuff, anyway. Probably not a very good excuse, but it's a little late to go back and change it now. We'll get back to the A-plot soon enough, I promise.

Oh, but the next chapter might take a tiny bit longer than usual. This one came out so quickly because of a few good ideas that came to me (again, thanks Scyphi), but this chapter did wear me down a bit. It won't be too terribly long, but a slight delay is possible. Just a far warning.

— Chapter Forty —

View Online

--- The Aftermath ---

For the better part of the day thus far, everything had seemed so fast. From the news of the Ponyville's incoming high-profile visitors to the long-needed reunion with Spike, as well as everything else in between. All of it had happened so fast and frantic without any time to process any of it, Twilight's head was still spinning from all of it. But now that the initial crisis had been averted, for the time being, everything started to be move at an exponentially slower pace. At some point after the confrontation with those town guards, Twilight and Spike had been invited into the rustic farmhouse by that cannon-wielding grandmother, Granny Smith, as she introduced herself. The old mare didn't give a reason behind this undeserved kindness, and she wasn't taking no for an answer, though Twilight wasn't in the questioning or defiant mood after everything that had transpired today. It probably had something to do with Apple Bloom's intervention seeing as how she wasn't far from the scene, silently staring in amazement at Twilight's wings, so it wasn't exactly necessary to ask.

Spike was just as unwilling to question the elder on her motivations and instead chose to silently follow towards the rustic farmhouse where the Apple Family lived their lives. Soon after walking into the quaint little home, Granny Smith was quick to point the two of them towards the bathroom. In her own words, Twilight and Spike looked like something that the dog left behind, ate, and then left behind again. Twilight didn't take to kindly to that metaphor, but she couldn't disagree with it either. A full day of rampaging around Ponyville had left her worse for wear, covered in sweat and grime from her makeshift marathon. Spike wasn't faring much better either, covered in dirt and other filth from his time underneath that dogpile. So she didn't even bother trying to refute the offer to get the two of them cleaned up.

And that was how the two of them ended up where they were now. Situated in an almost disturbingly apple-themed bathroom surrounded by the sounds of rushing water and soothing steam. Twilight worked diligently to help Spike get some of the filth out from underneath his scales in the shower—the alicorn having already freshened herself up with a few flourishes of magic. But scales were harder to get under then simple fur was, so the manual method was what they had to go with here. Aside from the hiss of the showerhead and the pitter-patter of the water in the tub, the bathroom was eerily silent. Spike hadn't said a word since his reunion with Twilight and had done all he could to avoid direct eye-contact with the alicorn whenever he could. He wasn't going to try and run away again, that much was apparent, but the heartfelt reconciliation wasn't enough to abolish the drama between them. Though this silence was just as much Twilight's fault as it was her son's seeing how she wasn't exactly contributing much to the conversation either. Twilight knew she had a lot on her mind right now, she could only imagine just what was going on in his head right now.

"Twilight?" Spike was the first to break the silence. "I'm... I'm—"

"You don't need to apologize," Twilight spoke with almost bland indifference towards the attempted apology, still focused on the act of cleaning him up. "I don't blame you for any of this. It's not you're fault." She spoke only the truth as she helped scrub away the dirt that still stubbornly clung to Spike's frame. If anyone was to be held accountable for this horrible day, it was going to be Twilight herself. She wasn't about to shift the blame onto someone else when it deserved to fall upon her, and she especially wasn't going to let Spike blamed himself either. "I said things that hurt you, and you reacted. I'd probably do the same thing if I were you."

"That's not what I'm talking about..." Great shame was held in the long dragon's tone as he hung his head in shame. And it was now that Twilight fully understand what it was that Spike was trying to show remorse for, memories of earlier today flooding back to her as he grimaced at her reaction.

The story she had told Pinkie and Rarity in her moment of absolute weakness echoed mockingly in her mind. How she had not only bore her soul out for those two ponies but had done so in a way that had made her seem resentful towards Spike. Out of everything that had happened today, this was by far her biggest moment of shame. How she had forgotten Spike's presence within her home at the time was something she would never know, and frankly, she hoped she would never find out. But the fact still stood that what she had said hurt Spike, badly. And she needed to rectify that.

The problem being she currently didn't know how to do that.

"I ruined your life," Spike continued with great distress, his newly forming tears being lost amongst the running water. "How can you not be—"

"No, you didn't," Twilight finished for him, magically reaching out and gently forcing the dragon to look at her. Her eyes bore deep into his own, an effort on her part to try and convey her feelings without any confusion or misunderstanding. "I don't ever want to hear you say that again. You did not ruin my life."

This only seemed to make the long dragon more distressed. "But what about—"

"Spike, what happened to me was my own fault. I've known that since day one, and I've never blamed you for it." Twilight held the highest form of sincerity in her tone, pulling him closer to further get her point across. "You did not ruin my life. If anything, you gave me a reason to keep living it. You're my son, and I love you. Don't ever forget that. Okay?"

Once again the conversation was enveloped by mostly-silence, with Spike just sitting there staring back into Twilight's eyes even after she let him go. Twilight really couldn't tell for sure what was running through his head right now, but her words seemed to have reached him in some capacity and that was enough for her. After a short while, she broke the eye-contact and returned to helping to clean out his scales. He did the same, gently picking at what few little dirty areas were left after all their work thus far. It didn't take long after that for Twilight to be satisfied, switching off the water and quickly drying off Spike with a magic-made gust of air just to save time.

"Do you really mean that?" Spike finally asked with cautious optimism as he climbed out of the tub. "About me... being your son?"

Twilight smiled for the first time in what felt like ages. "Of course. I hatched your egg, I raised you, what else would you be?"

"... Do I have to start calling you mom?"

Twilight sat there for a moment, she honestly wasn't expecting Spike to ask that. And for the life of her, she couldn't come up with a solid answer. All-day long she had been calling him her son, yet she had never once expected Spike to ever use that title. Not because she didn't want him to, it just hadn't been something that had ever crossed her mind. Upon putting some honest thought into it for a moment, Twilight couldn't honestly put a pin in what her preference on the matter was. He'd spent so long using her name that he abruptly switching to "mom" would just feel off. But at the same time, she didn't want to alienate him, that was the last thing their currently fragile relationship needed. And so she gave him the only answer that she felt comfortable with.

"Only if you want to."

"... Okay."

With that, the two were done with their business in the washroom. It took only a few short moments to restore it to the state it had been in when they had got here—the least Twilight could do after being allowed to use the space for her purposes. Once that was done they two of them strode on over to the door and swung it open, only to be blocked off by a blockade of little ponies. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle stood with one ear pressed to where the door used to be before quickly noticing its sudden absence and looking up to Twilight, eyes wide with the shock. Their mouths hung slightly agape as they gazed at the alicorn before them, still in utter shock about what it was they were looking at. Twilight and Spike, in turn, looked back at them with their looks of surprise and confusion.

"Oh. You three again." Twilight was the first to speak in a deadpan tone, taking the time to eye each of the fillies in turn. "Alright, what do you three want?"

That's all it took to get the trio to snap out of their self-induced trance. Where once their eyes were glued on Twilight, they were now anywhere but. The astonishment they held was replaced by great embarrassment, with Sweetie Belle's horn flashing to light and drawing attention to what they had brought with them. The gentle green glow worked to present Twilight's torn and burnt cloak back to its owner, and the three fillies squirmed to not just run away on the spot.

"We... w-were just trying to help Spike..." Apple Bloom was the first one to break, looking back up at Twilight with a look of almost painful remorse.

"We thought you were gonna try and hurt him," Scootaloo chimed in as if to add some context to their actions. "He... didn't tell us that you were his mom... or that you were an alicorn..."

"We're, uh... we're sorry..." Sweetie Belle mumbled weakly, pushing the torn sheet of fabric closer to Twilight. Out of the three of them, she looked the most guilty over this whole endeavor.

"Oh, right. That." Twilight remained outwardly blank as she gently took the cloth from Sweetie's magic into her own.

She gazed upon the torn garment with this bittersweet sense of nostalgia, looking back on the six long years she had spent hiding under this dusty old blanket. Six years that had been rendered almost entirely moot in one day by a few unfortunate circumstances and the hasty actions of a couple of unsuspecting ponies. Speaking of, Twilight looked again to three of those very ponies. The children had once again broken eye contact with her and were either looking away entirely or had their eyes shut tight. And it wasn't exactly hard to see why that was, they were trying not to stare. Or they were expecting some kind of great retribution to come for their transgressions—it wasn't hard to believe that they had heard Twilight's screaming at the guards earlier. It only made sense that they'd be a bit trepidatious around the alicorn at this moment in time.

Spike took notice of the way they were acting and how Twilight was gazing at them, great worry coming over him as he stepped forward to intervene. "Twilight, they were just—"

"Thank you for helping Spike," Twilight didn't give Spike a chance to finish, and a small smile crept over her face. She waited for the three fillies to stop cowering and look at her before going on. She held up her decimated robe and shook it about lightly back and forth to draw their attention to it. "I'm not happy about this, but how were you supposed to know? I can't be mad at you for that. Especially after you helped Spike when he needed it most. Thank you."

That was all she had to say on the subject, giving the torn fabric back to the young unicorn before gently stepping past them and down the hallway. Spike was quick to scamper past his three new friends to catch up with Twilight, looking up at her with confusion and awe. As they departed, the three fillies they left behind could be heard breathing a sigh of relief at what had just happened. It wasn't long after that something akin to celebration began to echo out from the trio. Ecstatic at how well that interaction had gone, as well as successfully reuniting Spike with Twilight. Based on this, and an earlier statement from Scootaloo, Twilight was able to piece together fairly easily that Spike had explained in part his situation to them and that they'd agreed to help him.

"They seem nice," Twilight idly commented, sparing a glance in Spike's dirrection.

"Y-yeah..." A nervous sounding chuckle managed to find its way out of Spike's mouth as he continued. "They're really nice..."

The smile on Twilight's face grew a bit more with Spike's answer. Even if it hadn't been under the most ideal of circumstances, Spike had managed to end up meeting a few other ponies after all today. It wasn't much of a victory given how the rest of the day would likely go from here, but it felt good to revel in the feeling of something going right for a change. Hopefully, those three fillies and Twilight's other companions could come together to try and get the town off of Spike's back if nothing else. It certainly wouldn't be easy, but it would at least be possible to get them to stop turning the town upsidedown in an attempt to find him.

There was some sense of optimism about how it all could go as Twilight made her way back through the Apple Family home. Before Twilight was going to do anything else, she at least needed to thank Granny Smith again for her intervention and sanctuary. But those plans were cut short when the front door was abruptly swung open with a crash, only just missing Twilight by a fraction of an inch, followed by Applejack and Fluttershy rushing in. Both of them looked to be greatly distressed and alarmed, Applejack more so, almost as much as Twilight had been earlier.

"Granny?! I heard the family cannon go off! Please tell me you didn't—" Applejack cut her statement short when she caught sight of Twilight, and there were a series of visible and distinct reactions that she cycled through in very quick succession.

The first was a sense of surprise, caused by unexpectedly seeing Twilight in her home, which was an understandable sentiment. Then there was the moment where Applejack noticed Spike, which prompted a momentary feeling of confusion before the pieces clicked together in her head. This got her to smile with relief and joy at the prospect of Twilight's reunion with her son, a smile that was very quickly wiped off her face when she noticed the wings on Twilight's back. Over the day, Twilight had seen many reactions to her true nature and most of them were identical. Wide eyes, agape mouth, damning silence, these were the most dominant traits that she'd noticed thus far. And Applejack had all of them in spades, blatantly staring in disbelief at the alicorn in the room.

Then there was Fluttershy. She hadn't entered as frantically as Applejack had and thus wasn't flailing her head about trying to find Granny Smith. She was just along for the ride in Applejack's mission to check in on her family even though she was still clearly worried. It wasn't until after Applejack had noticed Twilight's exposed wings that Fluttershy even registered that she was even here with them right now, and her reaction was a bit different, but it did untimely end the same way.

"Oh, good! You found Spike!" There was a massive burden lifted off of Fluttershy's shoulders as she walked on over to check up on the long dragon in question, that relief only growing when she saw that he wasn't hurt. It was now that her attention shifted back to Twilight. "Where was he? When did you—" And that was where she stopped short, as this was when she took notice of the very blatant wings protruding from Twilight's back, and all was silent once again.

"What's all the racket about?!" Granny Smith came barging into the scene with a bitter outrage aimed towards her older granddaughter. Her focus was solely on Applejack and how she had barged into the house as she did. "What in the world's gotten into ya?! What's with all the shoutin'?!"

Applejack didn't say a word, instead she just reached up with a hoof and simply pushed her granny's face to point towards Twilight in an almost comedically slow fashion. "She's an alicorn..." Granny Smith fought the force of the pushing hoof with seemingly no effort as she turned her agitated eyes back to Applejack.

"O' course she's an alicorn, ya ding dang igit! Ah've seen her walkin' 'round town b'fore, why'd you think she had that big blanket with her all the time?!" Granny Smith's outraged outburst held some decent logic behind it, and she wasn't the first person to point out the flaw in Twilight's masterfully-made disguise, but hearing it out loud nailed the point in that maybe it wasn't as masterful as Twilight had convinced herself.

"I just figured she had some horrible, disfiguring scar..." Fluttershy piped up, still taking in Twilight for all she was worth, "I know that kind of thing can be demoralizing..."

That wasn't too far off from the explanations Twilight had heard over the years, in all honesty.

"And quit starin' at her like that, ya ninny! It's RUDE." Granny Smith blared out again, jabbing a bony hoof into Applejack's chest with enough force to make the significantly stronger-looking mare recoil a tiny bit. "Ah helped raise you kids better than that!"

"S-sorry, granny," Applejack pulled her eyes off of Twilight and threw them down at the floor, "A-and sorry, Twilight..."

"It's fine... I need to get used to it soon anyway." Twilight didn't want to admit that, but it was a sad reality that she would have to face sooner rather than later. Her cover was blown irreparably at this point, especially after her standoff with the town guards, that was unavoidable. News of her true nature was likely spreading like wildfire among the town's law enforcers by this point. Though Granny Smith's intervention just now did bring up a question that Twilight had been meaning to ask.

"But... if I may... why aren't you making a big deal out of this?" The question was directed towards Granny Smith herself, rightfully so given how she had been reacting to everything.

Granny Smith turned to Twilight with a blank, yet still somehow bitter, expression. "Child, Ah am a hundred and six years old. Nothin' surprises me anymore."

"Well, alright then." Spike gave the older mare a deadpan glare.

"I'm not going to argue with that." The answer wasn't necessarily a good one, but it was more of an answer then Twilight had been expecting so she couldn't complain. And after a moment of taking that in, it was time for Twilight to address the other problem in the room. With a deep breath, she turned to address Fluttershy and Applejack. "So... I have some apologies to make, and you two are on that list."

"If it's about... this," Fluttershy gestured towards Twilight and her wings in particular, "I'm not exactly the person to cry foul about people having secrets..."

"That's... part of it. I also need to—" A loud series of knocks upon the wooden door served to cut Twilight off immediately. And it didn't take long for anyone to figure out the identity of the interloper.

"Ponyville Town Guard, open up!" The guard shouted from beyond the wooden barrier. It didn't take long for the town guards to get their spines back, Twilight idly thought in irritation.

Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, what do they want?"

"Probably somethin' 'bout me shootin' the cannon at 'em earlier," Granny Smith answered with casual indifference, "Or it's somethin' to do with wingycorn over there blastin' 'em in the face."

These two statements got a potent reaction out of Applejack. It looked like she couldn't decide on who it was she wanted to yell at for their actions, looking back and forth between Twilight and her Granny with this almost constipated expression. In the end, she never did decide who she wanted to yell at and instead settled for answering the door. She just mindlessly moved back to the door and swung it open, greeting the town guard as casually as she could given the current circumstances.

"Good afternoon, ma'am, I'm looking for a mare named Twilight Sparkle," the guard began in a professionally grumpy sounding voice,

Granny Smith was quick to peer from over her granddaughter's shoulder. "Yer not here 'bout the cannon?"

"No, Miss Smith, we're not taking your cannon," the guard spoke in this condescendingly mundane tone, almost as if this wasn't the first time he had said something like this. "And nobody down at the precinct wants to try after what happened last time. But I still need to know if anyone here has seen Twilight Sparkle."

Applejack furrowed her brow aggressively towards the stallion. "And why's that?"

"Well, if you must know, I've been informed that she's dangerous, has assaulted some of my peers, and is currently harboring a dangerous unknown creature."

Twilight's blood began to boil once more thanks to the stallion's accusations, enough so to prompt her to step into view of the doorframe. She glared into the guard's very soul with significant malice, though she managed to keep that grudge out of her tone and spoke in a fairly calm and respectable way.

"That 'dangerous creature' has a name. It's Spike," She began slowly, taking the time to slightly adjust her wings in such a way to catch the guard's attention. And now that she could peer out the door beyond Applejack, she could see that this stallion wasn't alone in his search for her. Two other guards were flanking him on either side, and they had very noticeable reactions when Twilight walked into view. Understandably so, given how they were a part of the earlier standoff. "He isn't dangerous, he is my son. Your peers were 'assaulted' because they were hurting him."

"Well now... this simplifies things a bit..." After taking a moment to take that in, the guard cleared his throat before going on. "But in any case, you've still assaulted guard personnel, on top of other things. I'm going to need you to come with me. Willingly, preferably."

Twilight stood there within the house staring at the guard for some time in deep thought. Now that she was finally over the day-long mental breakdown she was finally able to think with rational and logic again. With her arguably best trait restored, it was easy enough to figure out that further retaliation against the township's police force wouldn't be ideal. It would be mindlessly easy, there was no feasible way for these small-town guards to possibly stand any real chance against alicorn magic, they lacked the resources and numbers to likely even consider it. And it was clear that they were also aware of the almost immeasurable gap between them and Twilight, evidence by their more civilized tactics of simply asking Twilight to come along with them. The only other thing that they could do at this point would be to send out to Canterlot for backup, as what better way to deal with a rogue alicorn than with a significantly more powerful one?

Her thoughts shifted to Spike as she turned to look at his reaction to all of this. He seemed worried, as did the three ponies present for this interaction, seemingly curious as to why she was even bothering talking with these people. But all Twilight could focus on was the repercussions of Spike's romp about Ponyville, and how he had earned the attention of just about every living thing in the township, with most if not all of them were under the impression that he was some kind of feral beast. Something that wouldn't be an issue if he and Twilight were to simply just leave town, but that was something that wasn't exactly possible at the moment. If only because of those three little ponies who had gone out of their way to help Spike in his time of need. Spike's mental stability was probably still fairly fragile after everything that had gone on today, and the last thing he needed right now was to be suddenly uprooted from what had become his routine this past month. Especially after he finally made some friends, even if that desire had been what started this whole mess.

But when Twilight glanced back over to the guard, there was a spark of inspiration that struck. While the town guards weren't exactly hospitable at the moment, they could provide an interesting opportunity. Maybe not the best opportunity, but it couldn't make things any worse than how they were right now. Or at least, they couldn't make things worse for Spike. It was a risky gambit, and a difficult wager to make, but if it worked out the payoff would be worth her while.

"Alright, I'm not above the law. I'll go with you." Twilight's words garnered more than a little surprise from those around her, and not just the guards.

Applejack was the first to ask the obvious question. "Uhh... Twilight? What're you doing?"

"Accepting the consequences of my actions," Twilight explained as she kindly gestured for Applejack to move out of the way. "Come on, Spike, let's go." Spike only hesitated for a moment before rushing up to Twilight's side.

This got the guard's ears to perk up. "You're bringing the—... you're... the creature?"

"That's... actually not a half-bad idea," Fluttershy spoke up after a moment's consideration, "Show them that Spike's not dangerous..."

"My thought exactly," Twilight almost chuckled as she and Spike stepped outside, an obvious attempt to hide just how nervous she was about what she was about to do. Doing her best to hide her anxiety, she looked back towards the small group of guards. "So, I'll go with you to where ever it is we need to go, so we can talk this out. But he doesn't leave my side, and nobody touches him. Fair?"

While the two other guards were busy assessing Spike as he did his best to stay hidden behind Twilight, the third spent his time thinking over Twilight's offer. He was surprisingly composed despite the alicorn and dragon standing before him. How or why he wasn't bothered by these two very unusual phenomenons was a mystery, but one that didn't really matter in the long run.

"That's... not exactly how we wanted this to go down... but I suppose you're not giving us a choice?"

"Not really, no. You take my deal, or we take off."

The guard sighed and reluctantly agreed to the terms presented before him. Twilight's claims weren't ridiculously outrageous in the grand scheme of things, so it wasn't as if she was particularly screwing them over. Before going with them Twilight took the time to address her friends once more, finally getting around to thanking Granny Smith for the hospitality and the other two for their help in searching for Spike. It wasn't by any means the last time Twilight was going to be seeing any of them, yet from the outside looking in the short discussion did very much look like they were parting ways. Once that was said and done, one of the guards produced a set on manacles to Twilight with a nervous chuckle. The intent was clear enough, but all it took was a raised eyebrow on Twilight's behalf to shoot the idea down. The cuffs weren't needed seeing as how she was going with them willingly, and they wouldn't exactly do much against a pony who could break the bonds without much effort.

With nothing further to delay them, they were on their way. Spike clearly had his concerns over what was going on, but seeing Twilight's outward confidence about the whole thing was enough to keep him calm. Though in truth, she was probably more nervous then he was about all of this. There were some fairly high stakes that Twilight was gambling with right now, and it could blow up horrifically in her face if things didn't go well. They were going to be escorted through a sizable chunk of Ponyville if they were going to the town guard's little base of operations, meaning they were going to be seen by at least some people. Seeing Spike with an escort of town guards should at least get the citizens to calm down in their efforts to find him, and hopefully keep some of the rowdier ponies from trying to tackle him. But that wasn't what was making the hairs on the back of Twilight's neck stand on end. No, it was her backup plan which had her the most nervous, and it was already too late to change it now, seeing as how she had chosen to leave the torn remnants of her cloak back at the Apple Family Home.

After all, the sight of an alicorn walking through town would surely take some of the unneeded attention off of Spike. She had already been revealed to far too many ponies on this day, and news of her status was going to get out one way or the other. It was beyond her control at this point, sooner or later the news would spread. So if nothing else, Twilight could at least expose herself on her terms. In her head, she kept telling herself that this was a necessary measure to get the spotlight off of Spike, but it still didn't alleviate the unrelenting tension that was once again building in her chest.

Today had been a very long day, and it was still far from over.

Author's Notes:

So when writing Aplejack's dialogue for this story (or just in general), I've been doing my best to avoid the fandom trappings of making her Cowboyisms/Southernisms too prevalent. She does talk that way to an extent, but it isn't as pronounced as some people depict it.
Granny Smith, though? I think she's the perfect character to speak with that kind of southern drawl and I went out of my way to pronounce it here as much as I could. Because I think it's funny.

Also, sorry if this chapter felt rushed or like an anti-climax/padding. I really wanted to have a follow-up moment with Twilight and Spike to try and dwindle the tension between them, but I also had a few other things I needed to take care of and address imminently. Some of these things will be addressed later on more-in-depth, don't worry. But for now, I think it's time I started easing back into the A-Plot.So if you didn't like this little side-arc, it'll be over about halfway through the next chapter. Thanks for letting me emotionally-abuse you people with this arc though.

But anyway, there's a reason why you're all getting this chapter now instead of later. It's so that I can inform you all that Finding Friendship will be getting a new upload schedule. Up until now, aside from a few hickups, I've managed to keep a fairly consistent Once-a-Month/Twice-a-Month upload schedule. But, from here on out, I'll be uploading chapters once the chapter to come after it is finished.

What do I mean? Well, it means that Chapter 41 won't arrive until I've finished Chapter 42. This means that there might be a bit of a wait between this chapter and 41, but overall it should make the story come out a bit faster. Though that "faster" should be taken with a grain of salt, as some waits might be a bit longer than others due to life-circumstances/motivational issues. But, hopefully, that won't be the case. We're getting very close to this story's endgame, believe it or not, and I'm really excited to get everything out into the public eye.

— Chapter Forty-One —

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--- Facing the Consequences ---

Out of everything that had happened today, Twilight was at least thankful that Sweet Apple Acres was so relatively remote when compared to the rest of the town. The long, slow walk through the apple orchard was just what the doctor ordered for her freshly-agitated nerves. It wasn't an easy decision that Twilight had just made and now she was left to wonder if it had even been the right one in the first place. Momentary feelings of regret were enough to get her to reconsider her actions and see if there was still a way to wriggle her way out of this. The three guards who had come to collect her now surrounded her and Spike in a triangular formation, two behind her to the left and right and the third directly ahead of her. Meaning that there would be no way for Twilight to abort this mission without at least one of them seeing her book it. It was a no go, she was in this for the long haul. Once they got back into town, everyone would know about her being an alicorn. A worthy sacrifice to help take some of the attention off of Spike, at least she hoped it would, but it still wasn't a sacrifice that she wanted to make. The logic was sound.

"Twilight?" Spike whispered at her, drawing Twilight's attention back to the real world and the situation she found herself in. "Everythings gonna be okay, right?"

"Of course, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't sure." A confident smile accented Twilight's lie convincingly enough, at least enough to get Spike to ease up a bit. This in turn acted as a way to get Twilight to calm down ever so slightly about what she had roped herself into, but it was unavoidable at this point. "It might be rough for a bit, but we'll get through it."

That part wasn't a lie, though it was meant more for herself than it was for Spike. She needed the reminder that this wasn't the end of the world, even if it felt like everything was collapsing at the seams around her. This was a phenomenally bad idea, Twilight had only realized in retrospect, one that was undoubtedly going to cause far more problems than it would fix. It was all becoming clear to her now as her panic continued to fester behind the calm facade she held for Spike's sake. All it was going to take was one person to see those wings of hers for the chain reaction to start, news of the sudden and previously unknown alicorn spreading like wildfire through the town. From there, it wouldn't take much for that rumor to spread far and wide across Equestria. For the most part, Twilight was able to theorize that most individuals would just write it off as some tall tale or lie, a logical assumption to make given the scarcity of alicorns in the world. Even without this parade through Ponyville, with how many people who had seen her today, it would have only been a matter of time before this news reached the right ears and would draw curious eyes to her and Spike. Queen Celestia would be amongst those who believed the story, and Twilight didn't even want to think about all the possible ways that conversation could go.

Thankfully, a distraction from these thoughts was quick to make itself known.

"Did... did that... he... just talk?" The guard to the left muttered in shock, slowly stammering through the question with great care to try not to offend either of them in the process. She was clearly taken aback by the prospect, eyes locked upon Spike with great intrigue and conflict.

"Yes... he did," Twilight managed to reply as calmly as she could. Despite the guard trying to not insult, Twilight had taken some deal of offense to the way she had begun to word that sentence. "And he has a name. It's Spike."

"H-hi..." Spike gave a cheesy, toothy grin and a nervous wave to the quizzical mare observing him intently. This had gotten one the attention to the guard on the right, and he similarly peered around Twilight.

"Whoa! How'd you teach him to do that?" The young stallion asked with absolute wonder held in his eyes, trying to get as good of a look as he could without breaking formation. The question wasn't an outlandish one, Twilight could at least give him credit for that much. Even if it looked more like he had just seen an animal perform an impressive yet novel trick, it was to be expected after all. While they weren't ideal, these kinds of reactions were to be expected. And Twilight was going to have to expect a lot of them from here on out.

"The same way you'd teach a foal," she replied blankly, "I just... talked to him. Read to him. Helped him build up a vocabulary... nothing out of the ordinary."

"He must be a pretty clever little critter then," the mare guard idly commented, "What is he anyway? Some kind of magic iguana?"

This was absolutely absurd. It had only been less than a half-hour ago when these two guards had been trying to bound and gag Spike in the belief that he was some dangerous wild animal that needed to be contained. And now here they were, playing a game of twenty questions with Twilight trying to learn as much as they could about him. While this sudden turn around gave Twilight hope that maybe the townsfolk would be accepting of Spike without much fuss, but some irritations came with this development. The worst part was that they didn't seem to acknowledge he was even there, speaking about and above him like he was some kind of pet or accessory. She could only imagine how humiliating and demoralizing that must be for Spike to sit through right now, especially after everything else that had happened today. She didn't need to look very long to see him slightly trembling beneath the gazes of the two curious ponies. It likely didn't help that he had been previously tackled to the ground by these very guards, something that Twilight couldn't help but think about.

"Save the questions for the station," the older guard leading the way was quick to interject, much to Twilight's relief and the other two's dismay.

That was all it took for them to go back to being as stoic as they could, occasionally stealing glances at Spike now and again. This change got Spike to loosen up a bit, which in turn got Twilight to relax more as well. Right now, every concern in her head was centered on making sure that Spike got out of this mess with as few drawbacks as possible. Twilight herself was already well practiced with dealing with having these kinds of issues and anxieties, something that her son was far less experienced in. She could count the number of times she had witnessed these kinds of hardships affecting Spike on her hooves, and most of those incidents had happened within or very near Ponyville itself. Much as Twilight's cloak had been torn from her, Spike had lost a sense of security and safety within the past several hours. Even after supposedly making up, Twilight could still sense some confusion and distrust between herself and Spike. Not enough to get him to run away again, thankfully enough, but it was clear that he was still somewhat alienated by everything going on around him all at once.

Twilight hoped with all her heart that this would be the first step in repairing the harm that she had unwittingly caused her son in that fit of rage and pain, and mentally fortified herself for the worst as her little escort party passed beyond the large gate leading into Sweet Apple Acres. It wouldn't be long now before they were back in Ponyville proper, and now there was certainly no withdrawing from this plan to use herself as bait to keep the heat off of Spike. Twilight did everything she could to keep her anxiety and squirming from showing on the surface as they passed the first few buildings of the township, finally coming back into the town proper. And just as Twilight had been dreading, it wasn't long before they encountered the citizens within. The hustle and bustle caused by Spike's running about had calmed down in the time since Twilight last saw. Only a dedicated few seemed to keep the search efforts alive while the rest had simply gone back to their mundane everyday routine. Things changed when Twilight and company began making their way down the streets, and it didn't take long for one set of wayward eyes to catch sight of the trio of guards and their willing prisoners. At first, the pony who had noticed them had caught glimpse of Spike and had begun to make some kind of an uproar, something along the lines of "there it is" from the sounds of it. But his eyes hadn't remained on Spike for long, and once his gaze hit Twilight he fell silent and wide-eyed just as everyone else who had seen her today had. The interrupted outcry was enough to get the attention of a few other ponies and it all snowballed from there.

Never before had Twilight viewed Ponyville as such an alien and foreboding place, but the silence that followed the first few sightings was quick to put that perspective into her head. All she could hear was the light crunching of grass beneath hooves as they all proceeded forward at a painfully slow rate, as well as her escalating heartbeat pounding in her ears. The silence was utterly damning. Now and again she heard a few hushed murmurs between clusters of closer ponies, the gossip almost equally split between the unusual dragon and the unexpected alicorn walking through their town. Rumors and speculation wouldn't take long to circulate around the town at this rate, upsettingly enough. The guards surrounding her and Spike were enough to keep most at bay, though now and again they would have to turn away someone too curious to remain shocked in silence. But this thin layer of protection wasn't enough to protect Twilight from what was going on in her head.

She could practically feel every single wide set of eyes that fell upon her as the slow march moved ever forward, unrelentingly gazing upon her like the wondrous oddity that she was. Each one served to further escalate the constantly growing sense of anxiety and dread building up within her. Every fiber of her being was focused on remaining as outwardly calm as she possibly could, the only sign of her dismay that was able to shine through was the occasional twitching of one ear or the other. Over and over again she kept telling herself that every set of eyes on her was one that wasn't on Spike, and that was enough to keep her as casual and calm as one could be in her current predicament.

The act of walking into the town guard station brought with it a sensation of relief that was almost unrivaled in Twilight's mind, the sudden lack of eyes upon her causing a huge weight to lift itself from her shoulders. Of course, she wasn't out of this mess yet and that was made clear when the first guard asked her and Spike to continue down the hallway. Again, Twilight didn't put up any resistance and emplored Spike to come along as well, and after a much shorter walk through the precinct with far fewer eyes falling upon them, the two were brought into a dull room lit only by a single lamp in the middle of the ceiling. The only features to be seen within the stony grey walls was a simple table, a few chairs, and a very large mirror. An interrogation room, if ever there was one. The guard politely asked Twilight to wait here for some time and simply walked off, gently closing the door behind him when he did. There was no accompanying click of a lock afterward, so the two of them weren't trapped here at the very least. Not that a simple lock was going to be enough to keep Twilight in here though. Either her willingness to comply had earned her some good faith or they didn't want to tick her off again.

Regardless of their reasons, the second that there was some semblance of privacy Twilight let out the longest sigh of relief she could remember unleashing into the world. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be, but that short walk through Ponyville was going to have ramifications very soon. And at this moment that fact was weighing heavily on Twilight's mind.

It's gonna be okay, it's just gonna take time, Twilight silently told herself again, taking long and slow deep breaths to calm her agitated nerves. It might take a few days... or weeks... or decades... but everything's going to be fine.

"Twilight? You don't look okay..." Once again, Spike served well as the anchor tying her down to reality as he made his concerns known. "What's gonna happen?"

The fear held in his voice was enough to get Twilight to snap out of her funk, shaping back to a calmer persona to lessen the tension in the room. "I already said, everything's going to be fine. But we're in a bit of an awkward situation right now, so we just need to sit down and explain—" A sudden tingling surge running across her body got the alicorn to stop dead in her tracks.

Spike wore his confusion plainly as he waited for Twilight to finish her thought. "... Explain what?"

There wasn't an answer, Twilight far too focused on the unusual sensations tickling and prodding at her. It wasn't painful or invasive, but it was noticeable enough. It was like a weaker version of that numb sensation you get when your leg falls asleep, except it was moving in shallow waves up and down Twilight's body. Offput by the bizarre feeling, her head snapped off to the left to glare at the large mirror at one end of the room, and she instantly knew what was going on here. Everybody knew about the one-way mirrors that were used in these kinds of interrogation rooms and how they were used to observe whatever was going on within, and Twilight didn't need to be told what was going on beyond the glass.

"Spike, do you feel weird at all?" Twilight didn't take her eyes off of the mirror even for a second. "Like a... weird tingling sensation?"

"I... don't think so?" Spike's anxiety only seemed to worsen with Twilight's questions. He recoiled inward in a meek flinch, placing a claw against his chest in an attempt to better sense if anything was wrong with him. "What's going on? Is there something happening?!"

"It's nothing bad. They're just checking me for illusions or anything like that," Twilight ruffled her feathers as the unseen scanning washed over them again, "And they're not being very subtle about it either."

"Why are they doing that?"

"They probably don't believe I'm an actual alicorn." Twilight scoffed in the dirrection of the mirror with an almost smug grin. "Not that I blame them."

"Wait, why would they even know about that? You..." The dragon's statement trailed off when he took a closer look at Twilight. The look that came upon his face at this moment was the exact same look that Twilight had been receiving from others all day, although the exact emotions behind Spike's reprise were a bit different. "Y-y-your cloak! You're not wearing it!"

"Did... you only just now notice?" There was something of a short chuckle on Twilight's part as she smiled softly at him in response. "Well, you've probably had a lot of other stuff on your mind."

"B-b-but why aren't you wearing it?!" And now the only thing on his mind was Twilight, which he showed quickly by rushing up to her in a panicked state. "You told me before it was really important that ponies don't know about your wings! And we just walked through—" He stopped mid-sentence and pure horror formed on his features. "We just... walked through the whole town... and I thought they were staring at me... but they were actually... oh..." There was a deafeningly silent pause as Spike in the ramifications of what had just transpired, Twilight inwardly cringing at him figuring it out on his own this quickly. "Why would you—"

"Because you're more important," Twilight answered without a second of hesitation, "You don't need a million ponies gawking at you right now. And this was the only way I could think of to get some of that attention off of you."

The unwilling investigation of Twilight's person had ended at around this time, the magical poking and prodding of her person stopping just as suddenly as it had started. All was rendered quiet in the interrogation room, with Twilight and Spike being left to their own devices for the time being. And as the minutes continued to tick by without change nor interruption, they both found themselves growing less and less anxious and more bored than anything else. The time was used wisely if nothing else, Twilight putting in the effort to try and ease Spike's worry about the discussion that was to come next as much as she possibly could, as well about his dismay towards everything else he had been confronted with on this day. And much to her delight, there was some decent progress being made on that front. It was slow progress but the long dragon was starting to come back out of his shell. With each passing moment, he was drawing ever closer back to the Spike that Twilight remembered and loved. The healing process had begun, and that was what mattered most right now.

It had been nearly seventy minutes of waiting before someone finally came into the room to deal with the Twilight and Spike, which served as a swift and potent reminder to them both of where they were and why they were there. An older, though not quite as old as Granny Smith, earth pony mare stepped into the room with little fanfare or haste. She carried with her a small dossier, likely containing everything she believed she needed for this discussion. Her dull tan coat and greyed mane was a sign of the pony's age, while the golden framed glasses and green ascot gave the impression that this pony held a great deal of importance. Twilight was able to recognize her without much effort on her part, as this hadn't been the first time she had a run-in with the town's own Mayor Ivory Scroll. Although the last time these had spoken had been a much briefer and less substantial occasion, just a quick greeting while Twilight had been in the process of registering as a citizen of Ponyville.

So they went all the way to the top, the idle comment formed in Twilight's head as the other mare sat down at the table across from her, Guess nobody else knew what to do.

Ivory sat at the opposite end of the table and rested her folder upon the wooden surface, glancing across it towards Twilight and Spike with her rich indigo eyes, caught somewhere between curiosity and surprise. The lack of the traditional wide-eyed stare was enough to tip off Twilight that she was at least expecting to have a run-in with an alicorn today, not something that many of the other residents of the town could say. Though that didn't stop her from modestly gawking at the sight before her, as even being told in-advanced what she was in for wasn't nearly enough to prepare her for this unusual encounter. And after an awkward silence, the older pony cleared her throat as politely as possible before she began.

"So... there will be another joining us sooner or later to figure out what we're going to do, but for now, you have some explaining to do." Her tone was equal parts frustrated, tired, and curious. Understandably so, given the impossible scenario that had been brought to her attention. "Specifically regarding those registration forms you filled out when you settled down in my town. About how you identified yourself as a unicorn with no... company, to put a word to it." She gestured calmly towards Twilight and Spike in a slow wave. "I don't think I need to point out the discrepancies here."

Respectfully authoritative would be the way Twilight would describe the tone that was being used here. Ivory Scroll was without question the one who held superior power here as far as the law was concerned, and she wasn't letting Twilight's true nature as an alicorn intimidate her into bending over backward. She was treating Twilight the same way a regular person who was on the wrong side of the law would be treated, yet still, the older pony was at least respecting Twilight's dignity. Something that Twilight could both respect and appreciate.

"Now, while I do have my concerns about that first part, I'm personally far more invested in the company you keep. If I may be so audacious, could you explain your friend here?" Ivory kept the same level tone throughout her request, only breaking eye contact with Twilight to gesture towards Spike briefly. The question itself, however, was met with a raised brow on Twilight's behalf.

"You're... not going to ask about this?" A wing was raised and presented alongside the question.

The mayor's outward persona faltered for a short moment with that reply. "There's... technically nothing illegal about being an alicorn, and I don't believe it's a story you're going to be willing to tell me."

Should have caught me earlier, you wouldn't have been able to stop me, Twilight joked at her own expense.

"But, if you insist, I'm sure there's a few who'd appreciate some form of explanation. It's not every day an alicorn walks into Ponyville, after all."

Twilight didn't know what she was expecting to happen when she shifted the focus to her wings on her own accord, and the new request was enough to make her sigh. "It's a... very long story. The short version is that there was an incident that made the Queen want to make me an alicorn—" a disgusting oversimplification—"and you can ask her yourself if you don't believe me. And I'd be willing to stay in custody for however long it takes for you to contact her if that helps."

"It... does... I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more than that..." It was obvious that the vagueness of Twilight's answer was a point of irritation here. "I hope your explanation for him is a bit more descriptive. As he is one of the primary reasons for this little meeting of ours... as well as your actions towards my town guards, of course."

Before Twilight could say anything, Spike very calmly propped his forelegs up onto the table to better present himself. "She's my mom."

Those three simple words got two very unsimplistic reactions from the two ponies in the room. It was Twilight's turn to give Spike a pair of impossibly wide eyes and a hung-open mouth, an expression that the town's mayor was matching in an almost mirror-like fashion. And while Twilight couldn't speak as to why Ivory was reacting this way, she knew very well why Spike had roused this reaction out of her. The meaning behind those three words by themselves was enough to justify every horrible thing that had happened today. The sheer amount of joy and love that began to swell up in Twilight's heart with that statement was almost too much to bear. She had to actively fight the urge to outwardly react further, as while she wanted to drown him in an unending torrent of love and affection right now, there were other more important things to deal with at the current moment. With the mayor's interview being one of the bigger ones.

"My word, he-he-he can actually talk!" Ivory Scroll stammered out without any dignity or grace. "I-I-I was told that he could, but I didn't think—"

A thunderous crash brought everything to a stop when the door was suddenly kicked in. The loud bang was followed up with a loud, irritated groan and a very long slurp from some mug. A very tired looking Rainbow Dash was the one responsible for these abrupt interruptions, carrying with her a half-drank cup of coffee and a very bad attitude. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, her usually unruly mane even more so, and her posture was wobbly and uncertain. She looked like there was a very good chance she was just going to fall over and die right then and there as she stumbled further into the interrogation room, kicking the door shut behind her with just as much force as she used to open it. The pegasus had earlier claimed that she had been up for over twenty-four hours and based on how dead tired she looked right now that claim was believable.

"Alright, Ivory, there better be a damn good reason why your boys got me up to—" The bitter words stopped right when those half-lidded eyes noticed Twilight and Spike. And for a time, she just stood there. Lackadaisically gazing upon the alicorn and dragon in much the same way a very dumb cow would gawk at an oncoming train. There was this long moment where Dash didn't look like she could even process what she was looking at or understand the implications of it in the slightest. But this moment was just that, a moment, and soon enough Dash was able to catch up with what was going on. Her lazy expression transformed into one of severe disappointment and irritation, the pegasus practically fuming at what she had just been thrown into.

"One day. All I asked you. Was to go one day. Without getting into deeper shit. Just one day," the pegasus forcefully placed her mug upon the table as she spoke harshly through clenched teeth, "What. In the ever-loving buck. Did you. Do?"

This got the surprise that Ivory held to be redirected away from Spike and over towards Rainbow Dash. The way Dash had been talking was more than enough to tip the mayor off, and she picked up on it without any difficulty. "Wait... Don't tell me you know her?"

"Oh, I know her all right," Dash didn't take her searing eyes off of Twilight for a second to address the mayor, "And I really wanna know what she did to wind up here. Exposed. With her dragon and everything." Ever so slowly, Dash's head slowly turned back to glare at Twilight with unprecedented malice. "The floor's yours, egghead. Take it from the top."

For a time, Twilight honestly didn't know where she should begin. She had known from the beginning that she'd have to explain the day's events in some form or fashion, just to try and give some context to herself and Spike, yet she hadn't once considered what exactly she was going to say in their defense. What aspects of the story would she leave out? The idea was to try and de-escalate the situation from where it was now, and there were a few pieces of the tale that likely wouldn't serve that purpose. Leaving those bits out wouldn't be that difficult of an endeavor, it wouldn't be the first time Twilight had only told half a story, but the sudden introduction of Rainbow Dash threw a wrench in that plan. Not that Twilight was any less willing to spin half-truths for the pegasus, but the issue arose from Dash's connections and contacts. Pinkie Pie and Rarity specifically, the two ponies who had unintentionally acted as the catalyst for all of this. Yesterday's events had proven that the three of them were well acquainted with one another. It stood to reason that Dash would hear some recount of the tale from at least one of them at some point or another, and lying to her now could prove to be disastrous in the future.

Or at least, that was what Twilight was able to hypothesize given the current standings of everyone and everything. If Pinkie wasn't going to be the one, Rarity more then certainly would be the one to squeal to Rainbow at one point or another. It seemed like the better option to just get it all out in the open right now, after all, how much worse could this situation possibly get? So Twilight, for once, did as Rainbow Dash told her and went back to the beginning. A few of the specific details were left out of the recap, but most of everything was put out in the open. From her shameful encounter with Pinkie and Rarity up to her standoff with the town guards, and everything else in between. The two ponies hearing this tale for the first time were at a loss for words for most of it, with varying reactions through the whole experience. But by the end of it all, both of them looked to be thoroughly done with today in general, caught somewhere betwixt anger, confusion, and mental exhaustion.

Dash sat in utter silence, her face cupped by her forehooves as she processed Twilight's recount of the day's events, slowly shaking her head back and forth seemingly in denial or some other similar sentiment. Mayor Ivory, meanwhile, was in much the same boat in all honesty. Her head was propped up by a foreleg as she sat there with her eyes closed, a long and drawn-out sigh signaling almost perfectly what was going through her head at this very moment. Twilight took the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to check up on Spike, seeing quite clearly that he had regressed into a very obvious state of guilt. It wasn't ideal, but it was unavoidable at this point. The following silence seemed to drag on forever, nobody having the resources or state of mind to form any kind of cohesive reaction.

"You... really don't like making things easy for yourself, do you?" Rainbow was the first to break the stalemate, resting her forelimbs on the table with a strained look of great vexation. "Most of it wasn't that bad... but it certainly wasn't good."

"I'm not going to try and defend my actions. I shouldn't have done what I did or acted how I acted, plain and simple." Twilight spoke clearly and plainly without a moment's hesitation. "And I'm willing to accept the consequences of what I've done. Whatever they are."

"At least there's that," Ivory growled to herself as she reached for Dash's half-drunk mug of coffee. The long since cooled beverage had gone ignored by its owner thanks to that very interesting story of Twilight's. "I need this more than you." That was her only response to Dash's shortlived protests before the older mare buried her snout into the lukewarm liquid. A heavily muffled gurgling scream could soon be heard emanating from within the porcelain cup for an extensive period before the mare swiftly withdrew herself with a loud gasp, her pale snout now stained by the brown beverage.

"Alright! Let's just forget about the alicorn part and the dragon thing, and just focus on the things that are actually covered by the law! Alright? Alright!" Any and all signs of the dignified demeanor that Ivory Scroll once held were gone entirely, replaced only by this frantic and stressed out persona that looked like she just wanted this problem done and dealt with. "Ignoring all of that, all we have to deal with is just one case of disturbing the peace within the sanctity of your own home, one unwilling displacement of one town guard, and seven charges of minor assault against seven town guards." After the momentary meltdown, Ivory quickly sucked in a deep breath that she released very slowly, allowing her to regain a fair bit of her lost composure.

"Thankfully... no one was severely hurt in any of these occurrences, which does help all of us out. So if it pleases the alicorn and the Black Hoof, I'd like to do a follow up with those most affected by these occurrences to see how they feel about all of this?" She turned towards Twilight and Dash in turn, waiting with a startling amount of patience for their answers.

"Seems like the best course of action, to me," Dash's answer held just a bit of bitterness in it, "But I'm going to have to write another report back to HQ about this though... and I'll be mentioning you by name this time, egghead. And I'm going to bring up the crap from last night, too. You blew your free chance."

"More than fair," Twilight directed towards both of them in turn with a pair of calm, courteous nods. This was about the outcome she had been expecting when she hastily decided to go through with this, anything less would have been frankly disappointing. She took the time to collect her composure and take note of Spike's reaction to all of this. His worry was about as plain as the scales covering his body, but he remained silent on the subject. And while this worried Twilight deeply, there were still things she needed to take care of before she could focus on him again. "I'm going to guess we'll be spending the night here?"

Ivory sighed in relief, shockingly enough. "That would be preferable, given how half the town is in an uproar about you're little parade through town—"

Rainbow Dash bopped a hoof against her head in a moment of great revelation. "That's why everyone outside was freaking out! Gah, I'm dumb."

"—We'll call it protective custody for the time being if that makes you feel any better. And I'm going to be the first to assume that you'd rather have your son with you for your stay?"

"If you'll let me," Twilight answered boldly, "If not, I know someone who'd be willing to keep an eye on him." This got Spike's absolute attention, the anxious aura emanating from him practically doubling in potency at the implication. She wasn't wanting to spend any more time away from him herself, but given the situation she found herself in, it would be in her best interests to comply with the authority figure's demands as much as possible. Hopefully, Fluttershy wouldn't mind watching him if it came to that, and hopefully nobody would storm her house for a good look at the long dragon.

"Given your story, I don't think separating you two would be good for anybody. And I certainly don't want to be the one to try." Ivory's loaded statement cut deeply into Twilight, even though the alicorn had done everything to deserve such animosity from her.

"Alright, let's get you two in a cell," Rainbow Dash growled through a sigh as she stood from her chair and sauntered on over to the door, "The good ol' mayor and I got a whole bunch of new work to get done thanks to you. So we need to get started on that right away. Unless you have something else to add?"

There was not a single shred of resistance on Twilight's part, and she was quickly able to quell the doubts her son held about the whole situation at least for the moment. And just like that, Twilight was back to being led through Ponyville's precinct as she had been earlier today. After everything that had happened, the orange hue of the setting sun could be seen making its way in through the few windows within the building, a clear indication of just how much time this whole endeavor had eaten up. An entire day that had been blown away like dust in the wind all because of one stupid mistake on Twilight's behalf. The shame and guilt she felt because of this were neither minuscule nor ignored, Twilight fully embracing the punishment that was to come her way soon enough. For the first time in her life, Twilight was grateful for the wings sprouting from her back, the prestige and power they symbolized having done her at least a few favors today to counterbalance some of these severe setbacks. If nothing else, they had stopped the authority figures she had surrendered to from separating her from Spike during her willing incarceration. It was a small victory, but after today she was going to take what she could get.

Twilight and Spike were swiftly escorted by Rainbow Dash towards the rear-end of the complex, leaving behind the more office-like portions of the station in favor of a long hallway filled with holding cells. As they passed each barred room, it became increasingly clear that there weren't many ponies here at all. Most of the cells were either empty or occupied by very hung-over looking individuals—likely there due to a rowdy night of drinking. Either Ponyville crime rates were relatively low, or there was another complex for more permanent tenants. Twilight didn't know for sure, and she didn't care at the moment.

"Psst, egghead," Dash whispered, stepping to walk side-by-side with the alicorn as opposed to leading her. "Don't think you're getting off easy. I gotta waste my time dealing with your mess, so I'm putting you to work dealing with mine. Capiche?"

Twilight turned her head and raised a single eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Remember what I said this morning? 'Bout me letting you help out more? Well, just do what comes naturally and keep me in the loop. " Dash's words brought back hazy memories from earlier this morning, a point in time that felt like a lifetime ago to Twilight after everything between then and now. "And don't tell anyone else. This stays between us... sorry if he hears anything..." She jutted her head towards Spike before looking straight ahead again in absolute silence.

A multitude of questions formed in the alicorn's head thanks to the black hoof's cryptic instructions, but not a single one was answered or even acknowledged by Dash as they kept walking down the hallway, much to her frustration. The worst part of this being that she felt like she should have known what Rainbow Dash was even talking about, the answer was just sitting there right on the tip of her tongue, but for the life of her, she just couldn't place it. Today had been an exhausting endeavor, physically and mentally, and Twilight was not in the right mind to make these connections.

All too soon had they arrived at the deepest point within the facility, signaled by the wall that accompanied the very last two holding cells in the lineup. It didn't take much for the pegasus to usher Twilight and Spike into one of them, locking the door behind them with a hefty metallic clang. A purely symbolic gesture, as there were at least a hundred ways Twilight could get out of the cell without even having to think about it, but she didn't have any plans on doing that any time soon. Rainbow didn't waste any time mincing words before she left the alicorn and her dragon to their own devices within their new temporary residence.

"Twilight?" Spike finally made his voice known again once the echoes of Dash's departing hoofsteps faded. "We're gonna be okay, right?"

"Of course we are," there wasn't a shred of doubt it Twilight's answer, "It's a little messy right now, but we'll come out of this alright. We always do."

"But you attacked people... I saw it..." The despair that Spike's voice carried was even more heartbreaking than the prospect of losing him had, and Twilight couldn't help but share in that feeling as he shared it with her. "They're not just gonna let that go..."

"No, they won't..." Twilight paused for quite some time, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before slowly walking over to her son. Much like she had done earlier today, she embraced him with hoof and wing alike in an attempt to comfort him in this time of great stress. She felt a smile slowly creep over her face when he returned the hug as best he could. "But I promise that things will get better. It might take a long time, but it will get better. I promise."

The two of them sat there like that for a long time, unmoving and silent. Both of them were scared right now for different reasons, but both were able to take comfort in the other's presence. Even if her concern wasn't necessarily with their emotional well-being, the mayor's kindness in letting the two of them remain together did immeasurable work in making this difficult time just a little bit easier. And although it was just for a short moment, Twilight and Spike were able to ignore the severity of the situation that they found themselves tangled up in. For that moment in time, they weren't worried about whatever troubles the near-future would bring to them. There would certainly be severe consequences, but those would be dealt with in the future.

Like all good things, however, this moment didn't last forever. Soon enough a stirring could be heard from the cell directly across from theirs. At first, Twilight assumed it to be another drunkard pony moving to get a better look at their new alicorn neighbor and readied herself to ignore whatever drunk or hungover comments came her way. But it wasn't a drunken slur nor hungover whine that came to meet her ears, though she sincerely wished it had been.

"Well, well, well, I see they finally decided to apprehend you, too," an all too familiar voice almost sang out before taking on a far more sinister tone, "Took 'em long enough to get you, though."

Still holding her son close, Twilight's head snapped over to see who it was incarcerated just across the hall from her. And much to her surprise, the amber eyes of her former employer were looking back. Looking to be much less hungover than he was this morning, Knox Onwud sat in the center of his cell with a bitter scowl strewn across his face, clearly just as unhappy to see Twilight as she was to see him. And for a time, the sarosian's presence here was a mystery within the headspace of Twilight Sparkle, until the memory of Pinkie barging into her come came back to mind. The mare's intrusion had been triggered by Onwud being arrested in the first place, an incident which Twilight herself had helped put into motion. The pieces all fell into place like dominos after that, the irony of that cruel twist of fate bit at her sharply, but not as sharply as the much more recent memory of Dash's unusual instructions and why she had given them. From there, Twilight didn't need a degree from the school for gifted unicorns to put finally complete the puzzle.

This sentence of "protective custody" had just become an interrogation, and she had been unwillingly appointed as the lone interrogator.

— Chapter Forty-Two —

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--- A Jailbird's Song ---

"You know, I was almost thinking they weren't going to get you," Knox continued in his bitter tone from across the way, "I didn't think Ponyville's guards had the resources to capture an alicorn. Good for them, really."

"You..." That was all Twilight could manage to say as she glared at the sarosian through the bars. There was a volatile cocktail of potent emotions at the unexpected sight of this stallion.

And it was now obvious why Rainbow Dash had chosen to stick Twilight in this cell, in particular, her baiting the alicorn into fishing out any information she could from the old librarian. Either her own interrogation hadn't gone smoothly, or she no longer had time to question him thanks to the new problems that Twilight had unwittingly thrown onto her plate. Regardless of the reason, it was undeniable that Twilight was supposed to talk with him in some form or fashion, even though she wasn't in the mood to do so right now. Especially with Spike being in the vicinity with nowhere for him to escape the conversation. What was she even supposed to ask of him? Sure, she had questions, but what would inspire him to even tell her in the first place? The only thing Twilight had was the superior power granted to her as an alicorn, but threats of violence weren't exactly a viable option for her, she had already gotten herself into enough trouble. She didn't need any additional charges thrust upon her by attacking the elderly. Even if he was technically a dangerous criminal, an assault was still an assault.

"Twilight?" Spike whispered up at her, an act that instantly snuffed out the flames of rage within the alicorn and drawing her attention down to the dragon. "Who's that guy?"

"That's... Knox Onwud, Spike," She answered calmly enough, her eyes moving back and forth between her son and her foe. "I think I've told you about him once or twice... He's my boss at the library."

"For whatever it's worth at this juncture, you're fired." Knox's interruption was all it took to rekindle Twilight's aggressive aura, something that he seemed to revel in beneath his bitter expression. "You were a great librarian, but getting me arrested was a step too far."

"That's really him? That's the bad guy?" Much to Twilight's dismay, Spike stepped closer to the wall of bars to get a better look at the sarosian in question. While Twilight had kept him in the dark about many things, Spike at least knew of the stallion in question's involvement in these affairs of hers. He sat there for a short while with a narrow-eyed look curiosity before finally speaking. "I figured he'd be... intimidating..."

Knox huffed loudly in response, his bitter persona giving way for a brief moment for that shortlived chuckle to take place. "And I was expecting the first dragon I met to be impressive."

That jab at Spike was where Twilight drew the line. Her horn flashed to life, gently yet firmly whisking Spike away from the barred door towards the back of the cell, with a small yelp of surprise was all the protest Twilight got from him. The alicorn then moved to stand between her son and Onwud, blocking his malicious gaze from reaching her baby, and she looked at him in much the same way she stared down that group of guards earlier today.

"Do. Not. Talk to him." Her words were powerful and commanding, as to be expected of an alicorn. Wings splayed themselves out slowly and majestically to play up her true nature, as well as further obscure Spike from his glare, and hopefully silence Knox before he could say anything truly detrimental. If knowledge of the choir was really as dangerous as Rainbow Dash said it was, then the last thing Twilight needed was for Onwud to endanger Spike with just a few simple words.

And, surprisingly enough, Knox seemed to heed Twilight's words. He fell into silence at the very obvious threat, though his outward demeanor remained unchanged. He continued to sit there in the middle of his cell, staring bitterly into the adjacent room with those sinister eyes of his. From there, Twilight's time in that holding cell was very long and very tiring indeed.

Every single movement of hers and Spike's was caught by Knox's relentless eyes, every sound picked up by his unfaltering ears. Privacy was a luxury that Twilight could not afford with the circumstances that she found herself in right now, and that had been made very clear within the first few moments within the holding cell. He said not a word as Twilight tried her best to ignore him, he simply sat there with this vaguely bitter expression on his face the whole time. He did not seem the slightest bit surprised at the sight of Twilight's wings, nor the unusual dragon accompanying her. Meaning that he either simply didn't care about such trivial things, or he had already known of these truths before this encounter. Twilight sincerely hoped it was the former, as the implications of the later worried her deeply.

So she did the only thing she could do, for now, and that was to simply ignore the stallion as best she could. She sequestered herself and Spike as far back into the cell as they could go, and she implored him to speak as quietly as he possibly could. She made sure to keep herself between the dragon and the bat as much as she could, for both her sake and Spike's. She didn't want him eyeing him the way he was, and she didn't want to have to look at him either. Not right now, at the very least. While she knew that the mess she had gotten herself into was important, she considered Spike's wellbeing and safety to be the much higher priority.

From there Twilight worked to quickly diverge their topic away from that and towards something more prevalent to Spike. Despite being presented with a possible outlet for answers regarding the conspiracy she had immersed herself in, the top priority in her mind was Spike's comfort and well-being. Maybe dragging him with her into a prison cell wasn't the best idea for that, but being with her was the safest place in the world for him right now. And she wanted him to feel as safe and comfortable as he possibly could be right now, so she began asking him about the one positive thing that had happened to him today.

Spike didn't have much to say on the subject of the three fillies who had reached out to him in his time of need, just a short little summary of how they had found him crying in their clubhouse after school and how they agreed to help him out. Based on the story those kids must've left an immensely positive impression on him, he couldn't stop himself from sharing a small grin as he went on and on. When the two of them were accidentally whisked to this place in their hasty escape from that draconic threat, the absolute last thing she had expected was for Spike to find friendship in this little country town. But she couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride and joy in that fact.

Though Spike's heartwarming tale wasn't enough to keep Twilight from glancing over her shoulder now and again only to see Knox staring at her just the same as he had been since the very beginning. It was unnerving, to say the absolute least, almost intimidating even given the sheer ferocity of his glare. This stallion knew a great many things that made Twilight's skin crawl, things that made him far more dangerous than an elderly sarosian had any right to be. And while he presented no immediate threat to Twilight or Spike at this moment, Twilight couldn't help but feel like he had something planned.

The only time this changed was when they were presented with their dinner for the evening, something that Twilight hadn't even thought about since her marathon around town had begun. There hadn't been a single scrap of food to enter the alicorn's body since breakfast, and she could only imagine that the same was true for Spike. That said, the food in question wasn't the greatest in quality. Buttered wheat toast, a few pieces of fruit, alongside some mashed potatoes and gravy. It wasn't anything special, and it certainly wasn't gourmet. But it wasn't awful or low quality by any means, it was just a bit bland. It served its purpose in filling their bellies, and that's all food needed to do at the end of the day. Spike didn't seem to mind his lackluster rations and wolfed them down with vigor, a testament to how hungry he truly was. Knox also took the time to savor his meal, providing Twilight with the first respite from his unyielding gaze for the first time since this all started. But once dinner was said and done, the routine was resumed right where it had begun.

Hours passed in much the same way after the mediocre meal, Twilight doing all she could to keep herself and Spike distracted from the relentless and silent gaze of Knox Onwud. And after some time, the light of the setting sun continued to dwindle more and more as the minutes ticked by, soon to be replaced only by the ominous light of the moon. At some point, Twilight didn't need to convince Spike to crawl into the cell's sorry excuse for a bed and to get some sleep considering the day he went through. The wall-mounted board holding up the barely comfortable mattress and the cheap stark white blanket was enough to get Spike to drift off into dreams smoothly enough, prompting a sigh of relief from Twilight. The sorry excuse for a sleeping space was hardly big enough for one pony, let alone a pony and a dragon, so Twilight would have to sleep on the floor if she didn't want to disturb Spike. And while that wasn't exactly the best idea for her wellbeing, it was a more than worthy sacrifice for his.

Without Spike to keep her mind occupied, Twilight's attention was free to fall upon the spiteful looking sarosian on the other side of the hallway. In the darkness of the night, the elderly stallion was now nothing but an ominous silhouette sitting in the center of his cell. But his nocturnal eyes were able to catch what little light that reached him in just the right way to set them ablaze with this sinister yellow glow, allowing the alicorn to clearly see his menacing glare. He didn't move, he didn't blink, and Twilight honestly wasn't sure if he was even breathing right now. If he hadn't moved earlier to eat his dinner, or when Twilight had first been placed into this holding cell, she could have sworn that this was some sort of hyper-realistic statue of her former employer. But she knew for a fact that this was a stallion of flesh and blood, a stallion that looked as if he wanted to make Twilight bleed with how furious he was staring at her. And at this point, Twilight couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you going to say something? Or are you going to spend all night mean-mugging me?"

"Oh, may I speak now?" Knox almost smirked, but his resentment was enough to overpower the impulse. He growled for a moment before going on, seemingly ignoring Twilight's question. "Well, you just couldn't help getting in our way, could you?"

Twilight furrowed her brow at the elderly pony, she honestly didn't know what she had been expecting of him. Of course, he knew about her accidental involvement in this whole mess of his. It only stood to reason that the Choir would warn him of her meddling about in these affairs, or maybe he was just projecting onto her out of spite for almost reading that book of his. Or it could be any number of other reasons that Twilight couldn't come up with at the moment, there was no way of telling for sure without asking him for herself. And seeing as how Dash had all but explicitly told her to ask questions, she didn't see any reason to hold back.

"That depends on the 'our' you're talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, child, I know of your transgressions upon their sacred realm," the sarosian hissed back at her in Searăn, "Accident or not, such a heretical act must not go unpunished. I hope you realize this."

A moment or two was spent parsing the threat, her Searăn was just a tad bit rusty after all and that wasn't helped by how quickly Knox was speaking. But it didn't take her very long to remember the basics and deliver a prompt reply. "So I am going to guess you have been speaking with them?"

"Why would they not? I have long since proven myself as one of their most faithful clerics. If a threat to their glorious encore arrises, it is my duty—nay, my privilege to snuff it out."

Definitely a cult, Twilight confirmed silently upon mentally translating his rebuttal. While the Choir itself might not have been a cult as she had initially guessed, they weren't without their worshipers. The alicorn chose to take this as a moral victory before turning her thoughts back to more relevant matters.

"Well, you are welcome to try. I do not think you will get very far on that front, however." She loosely stretched out one wing to remind Knox of what he was dealing with here.

"Do not think yourself above me just because you are an alicorn, child," Knox stood from his seated position and slowly walked up towards the door and into the light. He framed his now moonlit face between two of the metal bars, continuing to glare at Twilight like a beast waiting to pounce upon his prey. "After your little dream walking stunts, you should know very well that your kind aren't as eternal as your Queen would have the world believe."

One of Twilight's forehooves found its way up to her throat with that remark, her mind filled with the now hazy visage of Celestia the First's assassination through the eyes of the Mare in the Moon. A memory that did not belong in her head, and one of the few that she could still recall even after waking up from that dream. A turning point in Equestrian History that she had known about since the earliest history classes in her education, now given a gruesome new context in her head. The shudder that ran down her spine only heightened by Knox's comment about her dream walking escapades, an unnecessary confirmation that he knew far more than Twilight would have preferred. That revelation entirely overshadowed the fact that Knox had blatantly just threatened to end her life if she continued on this path, as the elderly sarosian was not in any way a physical threat to Twilight's wellbeing.

"And even then, a mere alicorn couldn't hope to stand against the Choir's might," Knox almost chuckled as he continued with his monologue, "Honestly, I can't even fathom why you'd even bother. There's no point in even trying."

Out of all the things that Knox had said thus far, this was what got underneath Twilight's skin the most, much to her surprise. She found herself legitimately insulted by the implication that all of her work thus far had been completely pointless. The exact reason why that, of all things, riled her up so much was beyond her, but Knox's insult had once again stoked the flames of anger within her.

"Because you're clearly up to no good, and I've seen more than enough to prove that," she didn't bother answering in Searăn as she stood and spun around, "I don't know exactly what it is you're doing, but I know you've been going a very long way to keep it a secret. And I've done everything in my power to stop it. It's over."

"Twilight, my dear, if you think that my imprisonment here is anything more than a minor inconvenience, then you are very mistaken. As I'm sure you've deduced by now, I am but a humble pawn in a much larger game. A pawn that has already played his part spectacularly. The other disciples shall finish the preparations in my stead, just as preordained." Knox chuckled again as his head tilted up towards the ceiling, a smile of absolute joy coming across his face as he basked in the pale moonlight. "Soon, all our hard work shall bear fruit. And nobody will be able to stop their glorious encore."

"Encore?" Twilight had noticed when Knox used that word before, but she didn't pay much mind to it at first. But if he was going to keep bringing it up, then Twilight felt all but obligated to ask about it. All things considered, she had a few ideas, but she wasn't going to learn anything useful if she didn't keep him talking. "Mind telling me what that's all about?"

If Knox had known Twilight was here to interrogate him, then it was at this moment that he had chosen to show either his ego or his naivety. His yellow eyes glistened in the moonlight as he adjusted his gaze, filled with sinister knowledge and almost giddy intent. It was the kind of look that someone gives when asked to explain their favorite book—or in Knox's case, his religion—and he seemed to take great pride in being given an excuse to educate someone on the matter. His smile expanded far more than it already had this evening. Twilight didn't think that his grin could get any larger, but she was proven wrong very promptly at this moment.

"It grows ever closer with each setting of the sun. The Choir of Moonlight shall return to our world and their song shall finally be heard," Knox explained with absolute delight, his eyes wide and almost lifeless as if the very core of his being had been hollowed out and replaced with something else entirely. Something eerie and malicious, yet gracious and gentle. Onwud looked less like himself than Twilight had ever seen, more akin to a lifeless puppet rather than the stallion Twilight had known for the better part of a month.

It wasn't even the same stallion who she had seen brief glimpses of in his short bursts of unbridled wrath. No, whoever this was was someone entirely different. A vacant facsimile of the very stallion Twilight had just been speaking with, or at least that's what it felt like to her. To an outsider looking in, it almost looked like the sarosian was being driven by a will that was not his own. It was disturbing, to say the absolute least.

"I have already heard it myself, Twilight. I have heard the Choir sing. And it is marvelous. And soon, the whole world shall hear them sing." Knox continued in a soothing whisper loud enough to be heard from Twilight's cell, the sarosian standing and prompting himself against the bars with his forehooves. His breathing became slow and heavy as his excitement continued to escalate, making him look all the more fanatical than he already was. Even still, his voice remained at a reasonable level. He wasn't screaming, but he was certainly excited. "It's too late for you to stop them now, Twilight. It has already been put into motion. We've won, my colleagues shall finish what I started, and the world shall finally unite in true harmony. And all shall, at last, ascend beyond these mere mortal husks. Is that not what you desire most, Twilight Sparkle? Freedom from the mortality of those around you?! Freedom from your impossible choice?!"

Knox's haggard and frantic breathing became the only sound to be heard within the hallway of holding cells, the fanatic sarosian staring forward with feverish intent as if he were waiting for her to answer his question. His words hadn't been lost on the alicorn across the way from him, quite the opposite actually, as Twilight found herself taking his words to heart. The idea that Knox—and by extension, the Choir—knew of her deepest anxieties was something that shouldn't have surprised her. And to an extent, it didn't, but that didn't take away from the fact that it was still upsetting. Mostly due to the Choir's supposed end goal being the supposed "ascension" of all life in this world, something that did match a desire she didn't know she had until just now. Albeit in a very twisted way.

She'd have been lying if she said that she never once thought about the concept of those around her living forever. It was an idea that had crossed her mind once or twice some years ago, but that was as far as it ever went. Twilight never once intended on actually going through with those momentary fantasies, she couldn't bring herself to inflict the curse of eternal life upon those she loved. And even then, it would only cause more problems than it solved. The only way for it to work without hurting anyone would be to make everyone immortal—but that would have its consequences, as she figured out a long while ago. A world where everyone lived forever would grow excruciatingly dull, and would eventually drive everyone insane.

Even still, Twilight found herself disgusted by the idea that Knox believed that her interests aligned with that of the Choir. While it was true that the idea of watching the people around her fade away wasn't a pleasant one in her head, she had long since come to grips with the reality of her situation. Today's outburst had been a moment of weakness prompted by unfortunately timed circumstances—the long-overdue release of emotions that had been bottled up for almost seven-years too many. And while she may not have liked it, she did on some level accept the nature of her situation.

Besides, whatever this "ascension" was that the Choir had promised surely wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Twilight knew from experience that the Choir was malicious, ruthless, and distrustful. Whatever it had promised Knox and his allies likely wasn't the truth at all. Or maybe it was exactly what it had promised, and was merely twisting their minds to make them act on their behalf. Knox's display just now would certainly serve as solid evidence of this, as he looked to have lost himself in that moment. Which was equally distressing for obvious reasons.

"Well, then I guess I have more work to do." Twilight scoffed back, an attempt to hide the uneasiness she held within. She didn't know what else to say at that point, really. What could she even say to that little display of his? For now, she just decided to brush it off, play it like she wasn't distressed by his speech. And hopefully, convince him to spill something more substantial in the process.

Knox took his time in taking in her words, his breathing eased up as he lowered himself from the bars. He took on a far more neutral expression as he did, almost looking lost or confused for a few seconds after his little outburst. Maybe he hadn't even been aware of it himself, another thought that served to unsettle Twilight's mind. Twilight made sure to use this time to calm herself down as well, backing up from the metaphorical edge that Knox had pushed her to just now. Nothing was going to get done if she lost herself in her own emotions again, as she had learned the hard way earlier today. It wasn't until he made a full recovery that he once again spoke.

"You're welcome to try, but there's not much else you can accomplish. Everything you've stumbled upon thus far has been sheer dumb luck, my associates are poised to complete the preparation without me, and it's very clear that I was the only lead that you and the authorities had. You won't find me the traitorous sort, I won't throw away all we have worked for."

He kept bringing up his associates, his fellow "disciples" who were still out and about scheming and planning. It was almost as if he was trying to taunt Twilight with that fact, like a child teasing another about a secret he wouldn't tell. It was oddly juvenile, and oddly stupid considering his predicament. And after a moment of consideration, Twilight found herself wondering why he was bragging like this to her, of all people. After all, on the day that Twilight had gotten involved in this mess, Knox had practically painted a bullseye on at least one of his compatriots. Something that Twilight saw fit to make use of.

"You're putting a lot of faith in Starlight Glimmer, aren't you?" There wasn't a moment's hesitation before Twilight stepped forward and rested her head between two of the iron bars. It wasn't comfortable, but it gave her a better view of her opponent. "You weren't exactly subtle about her being involved."

The reaction Knox gave wasn't one Twilight had been expecting. He didn't try to deflect her claim at all if that option even came to mind. Instead, he looked at her this expression of legitimate confusion. As if the words that just came out of Twilight's mouth were utter nonsense.

"I'm sorry... that's not a name I'm familiar with..." He shook his head slowly, slowly looking from point to point in front of him as if searching for some answer. If it was an act, it was a very convincing one. If she didn't know any better, Twilight would think he actually didn't know her. "I've spent decades in this town, and I've never once met anybody by that name. Disciple or not."

"Oh don't give me that, you know exactly who I'm talking about. She's the one who tipped me off to this whole thing in the first place back. I already know—"

"I'm not playing dumb, Twilight, I honestly have no idea who you're—" he stopped dead in his tracks, and his confusion was quickly swallowed up by a look of absolute terror. The kind of terror that comes with a sudden realization that something horrible had just transpired. "Oh no... No. NO! That traitorous little whore!!"

That terror was soon replaced by sweltering rage, Knox lunging forward at the bars like a feral animal, screaming and hissing as he uselessly flailed his forelimbs outside the bars in an attempt to break free. He pushed with tremendous force as he tried to squeeze his head out between two of the bars in his frenzied wrath, his sudden outburst enough to make Twilight recoil in shock and wake Spike from his slumber. The sheer anger he was exuding reminded Twilight greatly of how she had been acting earlier today, much to her shame. It was like watching a rabid animal trying to break out of its cage.

"YOU HAVE TO LET ME OUT, RIGHT NOW!" Knox screamed louder then someone should reasonably be able to, his voice screechy and cracking from the strain on his vocal cords. "IF I DON'T STOP HER NOW, SHE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING! I HAVE TO WARN THEM! I HAVE TO WARN—" And then his outburst stopped, just as suddenly as he had started. Ever so slowly his forehooves returned to the cement floor as he backed away from the bars, eyes wide and trembling for some unknown reason. No longer angry, now he looked to be deeply worried, and Twilight couldn't help but get the feeling that she had seen this reaction before.

"Tell Twilight... that we need to talk... she'll know where to find me..." Knox's next words came slow and shaky, almost like he was being forced to say them. It wasn't long after that Knox shut his eyes and shook his head as if trying to shake off some nasty headache, before glancing back to Twilight with a puzzled look about him. "I'm sorry... what were we talking about?"

And it was this that tipped Twilight off and told her why this was so familiar to her, her mind raced back to the day this had all started for her, specifically that little meet-and-greet she had with Applejack and Rarity. How Applejack had shown off the memory-alteration magic that Knox had been using to hide his sinister machinations, how Rarity had suddenly remembered everything before once again having her recollections confiscated by the hastily made charm. And while what she had just witnessed wasn't an exact carbon copy of what she had witnessed that evening, the similarities were far too numerous to ignore.

"She wiped herself from his mind..." Twilight murmured under her breath, the gears in her mind spinning at full speed with this new information. The biggest inconsistency between Rarity's example and what she had just witnessed in Knox was the words they murmured during the process. Where Rarity had mumbled some chant used to praise the Choir, Knox's was very clearly a set of instructions for him. A set of instructions that, perplexingly enough, involved her. She didn't need to be told when this had happened, though. It was simple enough to assume that it had happened at some point last night when Starlight had almost conveniently whisked Knox away from the library. "And she... used that spell to leave a message for me?"

"Twilight, what's going on?!" Spike finally mustered up the courage to speak out, dazed and confused after being so rudely roused from his peaceful sleep.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Twilight reacted quickly, walking over to the bed and looked Spike in the eyes. "Everything's fine, just go back to sleep."

"But what was with all the shouting?!"

"Was I shouting just now?" Knox asked with one hundred percent sincerity as a hoof gently rubbed the side his head. "And why does my head hurt?" When Twilight's attention was brought back to the sarosian, she took a short moment to collect her thoughts on the subject before going on. Whatever that had conditioned Knox to say when the memory magic triggered, it had to be important. It sounded important at the very least, and Twilight felt the need to make sure she got the message loud and clear. Triggering the reaction again wouldn't be too hard.

"We were... talking about that friend of yours, Starlight Glimmer," Twilight explained slowly and cautiously, making sure that he heard her name again. Getting him to think about her at all seemed to be the trigger. "You know, Starlight Glimmer, one of your little disciples. She was at the library the other day, she had your book about the Choir. Don't know why you checked it out to her publicly like that, but it did help me learn that her name was Starlight Glimmer when she showed me her library card. She was even with you last night, helping you out with... whatever you're trying to do."

As before there was a short time where Knox denied knowing that enigmatic mare at all, but it didn't take much more pressing on Twilight's part to trigger the reaction again. Knox's reaction was almost identical to the one he had given before, surprise transforming into anger that quickly led him to lash out in a desperate attempt to get free of his cell. The ferocity behind his outrage wasn't as startling the second time around, but the tantrum went utterly ignored by Twilight when Spike began one of his own.

"Twilight, she was in the house!" Spike blurted out, barley audible with Knox's thrashing about. Instantly, Twilight's attention was off of the sarosian and locked solely on her son. "I-I-I was gonna tell you, I was supposed to tell you, b-b-but she was there!"

"Wait, Spike! Slow down and breathe!" Twilight pleaded, rushing over to the bed and cupping his face in a forehoof. "What do you mean she was in the house? When was she in the house?!"

He was hyperventilating at this point, a distorted way of completing Twilight's request for him to breathe. "It w-was the other night! I woke up, she was there, you were asleep! She was talking like she... like she..." Spike's words stuttered off into a slow stop, at about the same time that Knox's outburst on the other side of the hallway was beginning to cease as well. A red flag, if ever there was one.

"Like she what?!" Twilight was more assertive then worried at this point. The knowledge that there had been an intruder in her home was disturbing enough on its own, only made worse by the fact that the intruder had intercepted Spike and did something to him to make him forget about it altogether. It was a worrying thought, only made worse when the spell that had been cast upon the sarosian finally kicked in, and he and Spike began to speak at the same time.

"Tell Twilight... that we need to talk... she'll know where to find me..."

"Starlight Glimmer... I was here to help... even if I didn't do a very good job..."

While Knox's forced words brought some kind of clarity to Twilight, Spike's brought only fear and outrage. In an instant, all of her thoughts were once again centered around her son and his wellbeing. Right now, she didn't care about Knox or the Choir or anything else at all. No, instead all of her energy had been diverted to a desire to learn who Starlight Glimmer was and why she had supposedly intruded upon her and Spike's domicile. It didn't help that there was clearly much more to Spike's story then he was able to tell before that mare's magic took effect over his mind. And while it was certainly possible for her to simply trigger the reaction again and hope he would give her the correct information, she didn't know enough about this particular spell to know if it was safe or not. For all she knew, the actual memory-correction itself could have been excruciatingly painful, and the last thing she wanted was to hurt Spike for the sake of her own curiosity.

"Oi! What's all the racket down here about, Knox?!" All of Knox's screaming had finally drawn the attention of the lone nightguard watching the long hallway of holding cells, finally prompting him to storm down to the end of the hall to see what was going on. Funnily enough, it was the very same stallion that Twilight had made an unwilling victim of teleportation earlier today. Small world.

"What racket?" Knox was the first one to ask, just as confused as the guard was. "I was merely discussing... something... with Twilight?" Holding a hoof up to his head, he looked at the floor with a perplexed look of dread. "I think my previous night of drinking has caught up to me again... I should get some rest." He said nothing else as he made his way towards the bed in his cell, crawling under the covers and slowly going to sleep.

The guard kept addressing him to no avail, eventually growing too irritated to continue his pursuit. In a huff, he turned to walk back to his post to finish his shift, but not before giving a stern look to Twilight. The silent stare was enough to tell the alicorn that there was still some animosity between the two of them, but that wasn't something that Twilight cared about right now. Her mind was ablaze with the answers she had been given and the new questions she was asking, all of it pooling in her brain like a toxic swamp of anxiety and rage. But there wasn't exactly much else she could do from within this cage. And for as much as she wanted answers, she did need to stay put for the time being for Spike's sake. Besides, getting some much-needed sleep wouldn't exactly be a bad thing either.

Twilight spent a great deal of time in easing Spike out of his agitated state and back to sleep, the time doing wonders for Twilight's own anxiety as well. It wasn't long before Spike drifted back to sleep, with his caretaker not too far behind him on that front. And after the day Twilight had been through, the cold embrace of the concrete floor was a welcoming enough cushion for her to rest soundly upon.

— Chapter Forty-Three —

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--- Black Hoof Blackmail ---

If someone were to ask, spending a night in a jail cell wasn't Twilight's idea of a good night. Even less so when she was morally obligated to give up the lone bed for the sake of her son's wellbeing, thus dooming her to a night of sleeping on the cold concrete floor. Yet after the excruciatingly long day that she had gone through, she'd be lying if she said that her night hadn't been a restful one. Maybe it was the whole day of running around and losing her mind, maybe it was the fact that she didn't get much sleep before hoof, but either way, Twilight had been rewarded with a relatively painless session of sleep. Was it perfect? Absolutely not, she had still spent the night sleeping on a cement floor after all. But, all things considered, it could have been far worse. Even her dreams were dull and mundane, free of any spiteful interventions from the Mare in the Moon. And as the morning sun came to greet her through the barred window of her cell, Twilight found herself so enraptured by her rest that she wasn't imminently roused from her slumber. The warm rays of the sun seemed to be encouraging her to continue sawing logs like a fat lazy cat.

But the sound of someone tapping their hoof against the metal bars of her temporary residence, while not extremely loud, was irritating enough to stir the slumbering pony enough to open an eye and look towards the intrusion. A unicorn guard she didn't recognize stood on the other side of the barricade, a mare younger than Twilight who looked like she was trying her best to not gawk at the literal alicorn in the room. A reaction that Twilight was starting to grow accustomed to, as much as she hated to admit it. And at least the latest pony to gaze upon her wings was at least trying to be subtle about it. Small victories.

"I, uh... was sent to get you..." The guard began, her voice caught somewhere between the official tone expected of her position and the meek jitters of a nervous filly. "Your... situation's been sorted out..."

"Awesome," Twilight half growled through a yawn, her body slowly stirring to life and getting her hooves under her. She took the time to stretch her stiff joints and muscles as she rose to her full height, already feeling the ramifications of sleeping on the cold hard surface that was the floor. Despite the ease she had rested with, she was sore from her undesirable sleeping arrangements. It wasn't anything detrimental, more irritating than anything else, but it was noticeable. Her neck popped loudly before she turned her attention back to the guard. "Hey, do you know what time it is?"

The guard blinked a few times at the question. "I think it's almost three... Did you not wake up at all?"

Utterly bewildered at just how late she was able to sleep in with the conditions she had to endure, but it was quickly written off as a side-effect of her rather-exhaustive experiences the previous day. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight was greeted to the sight of two ignored trays of food—lunch from the looks of it, their neglected breakfasts must have been picked up when they were brought their next meals. Glancing over further quickly showed that Spike was just as tired as she had been, the little long dragon still fast asleep upon his temporary bed. He looked so peaceful and calm as he snoozed away through the sunlight, a sight that made Twilight's heart flutter. But even though she didn't want to disturb him right now there was business to be done, and the last place Twilight was going to leave him alone was in a prison cell.

"Spike? It's time to wake up," she gently cooed as she nudged at his side, "We're leaving."

A low, rumbling growl came from deep within the reptile's throat. "I don't wanna... comfy..."

Twilight lowly growled back in responce to this, frustrated by her son's disobedience. No matter how much she loved him, she didn't exactly have time for this little game of his. Thus, she looked back to the guard with a sly grin. "Could you go get a bucket of water?"

Spike reacted instantly, shooting up like a rocket as his eyes struggled to open. "I'm up! I'm up! It's fine!"

"Whoa, he can really talk..." The guard murmured under her breath, now entranced by Spike rather than Twilight. "I guess I owe Fleetfeather eight bits..."

Ignoring the childish side-comment, Twilight simply aided Spike in fully waking up before helping him down from the bed. From there it was easy enough to catch him up on the very few events he had missed while sleeping before she calmly trotted over and gently pushed the door open. And as she and Spike stepped out of the cell to follow the guard to where they needed to be, the young mare to escort them took on a look of appalled shock.

"W-wait, was that unlocked the whole time?" The question wasn't an outrageous one, given how Twilight was meant to be in custody at the moment.

"It didn't really matter if it was," Twilight's reaction was equal parts humorous and straightforward in intention, "Alicorn, remember?"

"Oh... Right... Let's just go..."

The dejected guardsmare didn't say much else after that. She simply gestured for the two to follow her before making her way down the long hallway of holding cells. And it didn't take much else to convince Twilight and Spike to pursue her to their shared destination, though Twilight did spare a single moment to check up on Knox Onwud before moving along. The sarosian was also making use of the opportunity to catch up on his sleep, lightly snoring away within the confines of his own cell. And needless to say, it wasn't anywhere near as an appealing sight to behold as Spike soundly slumbering. The way the elderly stallion was sprawled out over his bed with mouth hung slack open as he lightly snored was almost grotesque in some way. It honestly felt more like looking at a corpse than at another breathing pony, but it was a sight that Twilight didn't linger on for long before moving to catch back up with her escort.

Their stroll through the precinct wasn't a very long one, and the odd stares that Twilight received from the passers-by were equally short. Most of the town guards at least seemed to know about her existence by now, and the most excitement she caused was the subtle turning of a few heads. Even if she would have preferred to have not been exposed at all, it was nice that the people around her were adjusting to the sight of an alicorn walking around. It was liberating in a sense to be free of that heavy cloak upon her back as well.

Regardless, it didn't take long for the young unicorn to lead the two to where they were needed, and it just so happened to be the very interrogation room where they had been dumped into last night. Though unlike the previous evening, they wouldn't be left alone for hours on end. As the guard opened the door and gestured for them to enter, Twilight was astute in noticing the person waiting for their arrival.

Sitting with a dull expression strewn across her face was Rainbow Dash, looking far less tired than she did last night. Though while the sight of the unamused technicolor mare was one thing, Twilight was far more interested in the layout of the table that divided them. Dash had with her a pile of papers, likely relevant to the business that was about to go down, alongside a long rectangular box accompanied by a stack of napkins and three beverages. Two of them were the familiar white paper cups with plastic lids used to hold coffee-to-go, while the other was a very kiddy-looking disposable to-go cup filled with what looked like apple juice. The top of the box was made up of cheap clear plastic, putting the delectable donuts held within on full display. A baker's dozen, by the looks of it.

"Perfect timing, you two," a half-smile came across Dash's face, "Your coffee was getting cold."

Spike knew the sight of a box of donuts when he saw it, and the promise of food was enough to get him to scamper into the room with feverish vigor. He situated himself into one of the chairs and locked his sights on the container of sweets, displaying a great deal of patience by not simply digging in right then and there. Twilight, on the other hoof, took a short moment to cautiously take in her surroundings and what was being presented before her. While it would have been easy enough to guess that this was simply an act of kindness on Rainbow's behalf, Twilight couldn't help but feel like she was being buttered up. Some attempt to get her to be more cooperative than she already had been. It was enough to earn her suspicion and caution if nothing else.

"What's the occasion?" Twilight slowly followed Spike in and shut the door behind her.

"Pinkie Pie. She insisted that you get some half-decent food in you," Dash's answer was dry and blunt, instantly washing away any doubt Twilight held about the situation. " And she wouldn't let me leave until I agreed. It's her treat, you can thank her later."

"So you're the one who talked to her?" Twilight sat down without looking away from the pegasus, magically lifting the box's lid and promptly drawing forth two of the sugary donuts from within. Another pulse from her horn served to deliver the confections to Spike—alongside a few napkins and the apple juice that was clearly meant for him. He began eating as soon as Twilight's magic vanished from his feast. She herself settled for the cup of coffee closest to her assuming it to be hers. Dash didn't object, so she took a quick drink. "Didn't that blow your cover?"

"I'm also technically a Wonderbolt, remember? That part's not a secret." Dash adjusted her posture with a grunt before taking another swig of her own coffee. She sighed in satisfaction after the sip of dirty bean water before half-crushing the now empty cup betwixt her hooves and depositing it on the table. "And Wonderbolts are always on-the-clock, even on vacation should the need arise. And, well, the need arose. Perfect cover story." The pegasus laughed to herself for a moment before looking at Twilight with a cocked brow. "How is it that I'm better at keeping secrets than you?"

"Professional training, maybe?" Twilight shrugged. "So... what's the damage?"

"Damage might not be the best word if I'm being honest," Dash broke eye contact in a not so subtle manner as she meekly admitted that. It didn't take her long though to recover her professional demeanor, tapping a hoof upon the table to draw emphasis to what she was going to say next. "But before we do anything else, I gotta know. You talked to Knox last night, right?"

"That's one way of putting it..."

"I'm surprised you didn't hear about his crazy yelling," Spike felt the need to add, "Scared us half to death."

"I've been busy," Dash's explanation was almost dismissive in nature, the pegasus clearly wanting to get back on track. "So did you get anything useful out of him?"

The room was filled with the resonance of Twilight's downtrodden sigh as she mentally went back to that conversation. There wasn't much of a need to think it over for very long, there wasn't much in that discussion that could be called "useful." The idea of this "encore" might be something, but just knowing about the final stages of whatever Knox and his allies had planned didn't mean much if they didn't know where to find the rest of the group. But there was one thing that still stood out to Twilight, a thought that prompted her to gaze worriedly towards her son for but a moment. And while the reason she held this information in high significance was mostly personal, she was hard-pressed to think up anything else to satiate the agent's thirst for information.

"Not exactly... but I might have a lead. Do you remember that mare from the other night? When we were sneaking into Golden Oak's?"

For a time, Dash didn't look like she knew what Twilight was talking about in the slightest. That was, until, the metaphorical light went on in her head and it came to her all at once. "You mean Starli—"

"Don't say her name." Twilight's command came with far more authority than she had any right to hold given her current status. A fact that wasn't lost on the pegasus she was glaring at from across the table, who returned the intense expression with one of confusion and borderline irritation. Quick as a flash, Twilight's eyes were made to subtly point towards Spike to convey the meaning behind the alicorn's motivation. "I just... don't want to hear her name again..."

That excuse was solely meant for Spike's sake, as the brief exchange had earned the dragon's silent curiosity. It was obvious enough that this most recent part of the conversation had raised at least one question within his mind, one that Twilight had managed to extinguish before it could lead to a reprisal of his reaction from last night. So, instead, Spike returned his attention to the sugary feast that had been provided for his and Twilight's sake. The memory-altering magic that was so widely used in this town was sketchy at best, and the last thing Twilight wanted to do was cause Spike any more unnecessary pain. Now, the exact reasons for these actions were lost on Rainbow Dash, but the Black Hoof seemed to at least catch onto the fact that there was a reason behind keeping this one mare's name unspoken. And a quick, subtle nod served as the sign that she at least caught the message. Maybe not the reason behind it, but enough to know that Twilight didn't want that name said out loud.

"Okay... so you got something on crazy cultist number two?" It took Dash longer than it probably should have to come up with a substitute for Starlight's name, and even then it wasn't even the most creative.

"On the contrary, I think she might have something on me," Twilight grimaced, "She basically used Knox as a tape recorder. Left a message saying 'we need to talk.'"

"Wait, is that what got him so worked up?" Spike worriedly injected himself back into the conversation, no doubt looking back on last night's turbulent events. "... I can see why you don't wanna talk about it..."

Rainbow Dash was in much the same boat as Spike was, musing over this new information like a sour piece of fruit. It wasn't pleasant, but it also wasn't hard to consume. After a short few seconds of silence, Dash let out a low whistle. "Dang. That's... not what I was expecting."

"Welcome to my world for the past few days," Twilight said in jest, her half-joke triggering her to look back at the events that led her here. All of this started in earnest when Starlight Glimmer showed up at the library on that Friday, a day that felt like months ago by now. And from that point on, that unusual mare had continued to show up again and again, undoubtedly a part of this whole mess, but her role in it all was still left up to speculation.

Up until now, Twilight had just assumed she was one of Knox's associates in his occult dealings, and there was evidence enough to support that theory. But there was no denying that Starlight had her own agenda to attend to, and it seemed to revolve around Twilight, uncomfortably enough. The mare had gone out of her way to keep Knox from discovering Twilight and Dash's hiding place the other night, and she went even further out of her way to tip Twilight off to Spike's whereabouts just yesterday. And then there was that note that had led the alicorn to investigate the Everfree—which, looking back, was more than likely Starlight's doing as well. And who could say for sure what else that unicorn was doing behind the scenes? Well, Spike did at one point, but that information was currently inaccessible, much to Twilight's frustration. And Twilight made it a point to bring up these findings and her concerns about them as well, making sure to leave out Spike's involvement as to not cause another of those unpleasant memory relapses.

"Dang... you're really in a sticky wicket, huh?" Dash let out a short, slightly anxious chuckle. "So... I'm guessing you're going to go get some answers?"

"That depends. Am I free to go?"

"Uhh... what?" There was a moment of legitimate confusion on Dash's behalf as Twilight's question was left unanswered. All at once though it caught up with the pegasus and she lightly gasped, seemingly surprised by the information she should have already known. There was a short awkward pause after that before she chose to speak back up. "Right... almost forgot about that."

"That's rude," Spike scoffed in response.

Rainbow Dash seemed to take offense to that. "Well, they didn't exactly come up with some grand mastermind plan to deal with egghead here. It was kinda hard to remember that she's technically a felon right now."

And this, in turn, earned Twilight's undivided attention and paranoia. Whatever fate had been decided for her wasn't going to be good, that much was for certain, and it was only now, after the point of no return, was she feeling the slightest bit of regret about laying her crimes bare for her to be judged. It didn't help that yesterday's actions had encouraged Rainbow Dash to inform her superior officer of Twilight's interference in the investigation of Knox's lair—among other things, no doubt. The only shred of hope Twilight could hope to grasp at was the idea that willingly admitting and accepting her fate would help soften the blow of the hammer of justice. It also didn't help that she had been insisting to Spike that everything would turn out okay, only very briefly considering the possibility that it wouldn't turn out for the best.

"And what exactly are they planning to do about that?" Twilight asked perhaps a tiny bit too loud,

"Well, in about two weeks, you're going on trial. Makes sense considering your list of accomplishments. Assaulting and threatening officers of the law, reckless endangerment of two civilians—" Rainbow Dash took on a particularly bitter look as she mentioned that last part, making it very obvious that she wasn't very happy about the conversation Twilight had yesterday with Pinkie and Rarity. "And interfering in Black Hoof affairs. And in two weeks, the big wigs are gonna decide what to do with you."

Spike made his concern known with a stifled whimper and a heavy gulp. "And what are they gonna do with us?"

"You? Probably nothing. You'll just get shipped up to egghead's parents or something like that." There was an almost kind disinterest held within those words, not exactly dismissive but also not entirely cruel. If Twilight had to guess, she'd say that was Dash's attempt at comforting the young reptile, and that attempt was appreciated. But that appreciation was lost when Dash turned back to the alicorn with a much more stern expression. "But you, on the other hoof... well, it depends on your actions in these next two weeks."

Needless to say, Twilight found herself intrigued by Dash's choice of words. "And what kind of actions are we talking about here?"

"Well, I was talking with my boss up in Canterlot—we have ways to talk over long distances, don't worry about it—and like I said last night, I brought you up by name. Because you don't get to act like a lunatic and expect to be rewarded for it. Anyway, when I told her your name, she had... a reaction." Dash leaned back in her chair and gazed up at the ceiling, taking the time to ponder what she was going to say next and how she was going to say it. She looked back to Twilight with a neutral look that was difficult to read. "Well, you already know we have a file on you."

With everything that had happened, Twilight had almost forgotten about that upsetting detail. "I really wish I didn't."

"Well, your history with a few select ponies of power, and a few ideas I pitched on your behalf, has earned you a tiny bit of leeway. Not much, but a bit." Deciding that she needed to draw this out further, Dash took the time to stretch her forelimbs over her head with something akin to a yawn. "It's not enough leeway to get you out of this mess entirely. But if a certain someone were to, say, help clean up this Choir-related mess in these next two weeks, then another someone might be willing to sweep some of the messier accusations under the rug. If you catch my drift?"

"So I'm being blackmailed?" There wasn't a single second of hesitation on Twilight's behalf.

"Hmm... Yeah, pretty much. It's like you said, having an alicorn help out would be a benefit— my boss certainly thinks so. Besides, 'black' is half of our namesake, did you think we were above blackmailing someone?" Dash couldn't stop herself from chuckling at her own joke, "But, to be fair, you wanted to solve this mystery anyway. And now you get to. And you get to stop yourself from being labeled an enemy of the state. Really, I'd say you got the better of us on this one."

It didn't really feel like she was getting the better of anything, though. In Twilight's honest opinion, she felt like she was being given preferential treatment due to her past and her connections. In fact, that's exactly what Dash had described it as. And that preferential treatment had earned her the right to be used as a criminal asset to solve the seemingly endless list of problems that she had stumbled into a few days ago. A criminal resource, that's what she was right now. Someone to be utilized for the sake of the nation as a form of repentance for her misdeeds. It might not have been the severe punishment she had been expecting, but at least they hadn't just absolved her outright. Twilight still had to do something about it. Surprisingly enough, Twilight almost felt relieved that she actually had to work for it.

"So... we're gonna be okay?" Spike's cautious optimism was enough to draw Twilight out of the funk she had put herself into, and his unknowing act of kindness earned him a smile from his parental guardian.

"Well, I told you we would be, didn't I?" Twilight's mood had changed significantly, practically on demand.

"I wouldn't call being blackmailed by one of the highest legal authorities in the country 'okay,' but whatever floats your boat." There weren't many ways that Dash could have made that sentence any less blunt, but it was obvious that she didn't even try if her tone of voice was anything to go off of. It was enough to turn Twilight's chipper mood right back to where it had been when this conversation had started.

"You're not exactly wrong... But I can fix that." Twilight grumbled as she stood up, stretching for a few seconds before turning back to Rainbow Dash with a small sigh. "Speaking of, where do you want to start?"

"That lead of yours seems promising," Dash answered as she too stood up, "Might be able to get some useful information out of her."

Twilight couldn't agree with that plan any more than she already did, making that very clear as the group began getting ready to head out. The remaining donuts were collected for later consumption, Dash took the time to make sure she had all of her belongings, and Twilight made sure that Spike hadn't missed anything whilst cleaning the donut residue from his features. This was going to be the third time he'd be seen in broad daylight after all, and Twilight figured he'd need to be at least somewhat presentable. Most of the anxieties around that particular tidbit had been dealt with the previous day, thankfully, but it still wasn't going to be easy walking around town anymore. But Twilight chose to keep these feelings to herself, for the time being. There were far more important things at stake than her own anxieties right now, and they needed to take center stage. There would be time enough to deal with these feelings at a later date but for now, the situation at hoof demanded far more attention.

And like that, they were off.

Author's Notes:

Okay, first off (for the people reading this as it came out), new cover art! Or at least, there should be. I commissioned some artwork that was drawn by the talented Hoodwinked MCShelster. The old art wasn't bad, but I wanted something a bit... different. Something a bit more visually distinct than just Twilight and Spike standing there. But as of this chapter update, FimFiction is being screwy with me and not letting me upload cover art. But I'm not going to hold the story hostage because I can't upload the new art. So for the time being, you can see that new art by clicking This Link.

Secondly, the Finding Friendship audio-book is up and running over on the YouTube dot Comm! You can click this link here to see it, as of this chapter upload it's about 5 chapters in, but it exists! It's something that I'm super stoked about, and it'll make for a good way to refresh yourself on the story's earlier events since this tale is two years old now. Man, how time flies.

And thirdly, this chapter took far longer than it should have to write. It went through eight or nine different iterations before I finally decided on this one here. As such, I don't expect it to be the best chapter in the world, but it at least does its job of moving the story along. But hey, it ain't the first time I've fallen flat with this story. I ain't perfect, I'll admit it.

Anyways, thanks again for your patience, your time spent reading, and for the support and criticism. All of it is endlessly appreciated.

— Chapter Forty-Four —

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--- Drawing a Blank ---

Twilight had formulated a few ideas about what would happen when she left the Ponyville Town Guard Station. She had gotten it into her head that the second she stepped out those doors, she'd be swarmed by just about every living thing in the town. Hundreds of curious ponies gathering around to behold the alicorn that had suddenly appeared in their humble little country town, drawn to her like moths to a flame, bringing with them an endless torrent of questions and concerns that would all blend together in an incomprehensible mess of pointless noise. Her wings would be irritatingly tugged at and her horn would get yanked to and fro by the more rowdy members of the herd in an attempt to disprove her status as an alicorn. Without a doubt, Spike would have been caught up in this chaos as well, either lost in the sea of swarming ponies or an unfortunate victim of the same poking and prodding that Twilight was. Thus, Twilight was on high alert the second the sun's light touched her cloakless form, the young alicorn ready to protect her personal space and dignity.

The reality of the situation, however, was far different from what she was expecting.

She had been walking alongside Rainbow Dash and Spike for a decent portion of time now, long enough to have made it back to the primarily residential area of town at least. And over that entire length of time, they hadn't been accosted once. Not a single pony approached them or even spoke with them, much to Twilight's confusion. It wasn't as if there wasn't anyone around, either, the trio had passed a number of individuals as they went about their business, and they were certainly noticed. There were people who stared, people who murmured amongst themselves at the sight of the group, and those who tried to go about their days in spite of the oddity walking through town. It was a bit unsettling, to put a word to it.

"So this isn't what I was expecting..." Twilight's eyes slowly scanned the street where she had made her home. There were fewer people here at this time of day than there were at, say, the market street, but there was a noticeable number. And just like all the others, their reactions were just the same as all the others.

"I figured someone would have jumped us by now..." Spike added before turning his head to look every which way to scan for possible interlopers. This alone was enough to tell that he was just as anxious as Twilight was, if not more.

"I'm shocked Pinkie hasn't jumped us yet," Dash gave a snorting chuckle before taking on a marginally more professional tone, "But you two can calm down, I went out of my way to make sure you two wouldn't have any trouble."

Understandably so, this alarmed Twilight more than it eased her mind. "What did you do?"

"Had the mayor make a public statement about the you-subject. Long story short: she told everyone to act like adults."

"And that actually worked?"

"I don't see you drawing a crowd, so my money says yes." Rainbow Dash smirked alongside a wave of her wing as if to emphasize the lack of people who were swarming Twilight at the moment. "Besides, if you were one of us mere mortals, would you be the one to do something to piss off an alicorn?"

That was a very good point, Twilight realized alongside an uncomfortable mixture of embarrassment and shame. The thought hadn't crossed her mind, but thinking it over now, it made perfect sense as to why nobody was approaching her. Nobody wanted to be the one to push the wrong button and risk sending Twilight over the edge, the incident with the guards yesterday probably didn't help with that either. While it was a given that everyone knew of Twilight being an alicorn at this point, who knew just how many people had heard rumors about her little standoff at the apple farm? If that information was floating freely about the town, it would be a miracle if anyone even spoke to Twilight again. But this wasn't her chief concern right now, not by a longshot, as there were far more prevalent issues at hoof right now.

"So... anyway... her message said that I'd know where to find her," Twilight changed the subject promptly, not wanting to dwell on the current topic any longer. "So that either means the Everfree or the library." They were already walking in the dirrection of Golden Oak's anyway, for one reason or another. It was the closer of the two possible options anyway, it only made sense to check there first.

Dash shot a glance and a raised brow towards Twilight with that, seemingly as if to question the sudden decision to change the conversation's heading like that. But if the pegasus had any strong opinions about it, she kept them to herself without much of a fuss. "You absolutely sure about that?"

"Positive... ish..."

The pegasus furrowed her brow in frustration "Ish?"

"The message said I'd know, and I don't know where else she'd go."

"Uh... guys?" Spike chimed in meekly, "I feel like I'm missing something here... you keep talking about a message... did I miss something?"

That was when Twilight stopped walking, her two companions stopping shortly afterward to see what was wrong. This was lost on the alicorn at the moment as she began to think very heavily on Spike's question. At Twilight's own doing, Spike was entierly unaware of the memory-altering spell that had been cast upon him, and up until now, Twilight had planned on keeping it that way until they had gotten to Starlight Glimmer. The plan had been to have her undo the spell, have Spike remember, and figure out exactly what had happened when he had his run-in with Starlight Glimmer. It had happened in their home, Twilight knew that much, but aside from that, nothing.

And it was only now, after Spike asked for some clarification, that Twilight saw the mountain-sized hole in her plan. Starlight Glimmer was an enigma, there was no reason to trusting her at this point, if at all. Would she even undo her memory spell in the first place? She could very easily refuse to do so—or, more likely, spin a different spell to put false memories in place of Spike's true ones to make her seem more trustworthy? There were too many variables at play here, and Twilight was infuriated at herself for not seeing them sooner. But as quickly as she found these immeasurable errors in her initial plan, the astute alicorn was able to devise a countermeasure. She absolutely hated this idea, and herself more for even coming up with it, but it was the only way she could figure out how to get around Starlight's potential trickery.

"We need to go home first..." That was the only explanation Twilight offered before changing her course, ignoring the group of ponies that scattered off of the street she was now headed down.

"Uh, why?" Rainbow Dash asked, clearly upset, as she and Spike closed the distance Twilight had made in a few short steps. "In case you forgot, we need intel, and time is definitely a factor here. What could we possibly need from your house?"

"Intel," Twilight grimaced. Ever so subtly, she gestured towards Spike. The signal was thankfully lost upon the reptile, but Rainbow Dash was quick to pick up on the subliminal message.

"Are... what?" The pegasus asked, something about the situation had gone over her head. It seemed that perhaps Dash wasn't exactly on the same page as Twilight in regards to Spike's current memory issues, after all. It only made sense, Twilight had never outright said it, she had only implied it when Dash had tried to speak Starlight's name. The confusion was to be expected, really. "How're we gonna get intel at your place?"

Twilight grimaced, not looking forward to what was about to transpire. "The same way she got Knox to deliver that message."

The implications were lost on Rainbow for a short time, but it wasn't long before the pieces came together and the picture formed itself within her mind's eye. And what she saw didn't seem very pleasant to her, if the subtle yet telling reaction was anything to go off of.

"You... sure that's a good idea?"

"Absolutely not," Twilight's answer lacked any sort of confidence, her eyes staring a thousand yards ahead of her. "But we can't just go in unprepared. We need everything we can get before we go up there."

That was all that needed to be said, and that was all that Twilight wanted to say on the subject. This wasn't going to be an easy thing for her to do, and she needed the time to prepare herself for it. There was still time to avoid the colossal mistake she was about to make, but she knew deep down that doing this now would save them all a lot of time and headache later down the road. If he found out about his affliction during the confrontation, he'd certainly go into a panic, something that he didn't need any more of right now. The only way to prevent that, if possible, was to make him aware of it in some form or fashion. She didn't want to continually keep triggering the flaw in the memory-blocking charm affecting him, but right now it was the best option she had.

Trying to undo the spell herself could prove disastrous if Starlight had put any kind of countermeasures in place, and the idea of accidentally turning her son into a vegetable did more than enough to intimidate the alicorn into this half-baked plan of hers. The looming sense of silent dread hanging over Twilight wasn't lost on Spike, and he didn't hesitate to ask what was wrong, though all Twilight gave him was calm reassurance that everything was going to be alright. She didn't believe that herself at the moment, but she was at least able to calm Spike's nerves long enough for them to reach their domicile.

The house was still a mess. The couch's remains were still an irreparable mess in the center of the space, and if one looked closely they could see some of the aftermaths of Twilight and Spike's unfortunate disagreement, now dried onto the wooden floor. It wasn't spared much time or thought on anyone's behalf, even left entierly ignored by Rainbow Dash, perhaps because she simply didn't notice the now dark and dried droplets. Twilight tried her best not to linger on it, something she was able to accomplish by going to check on her long discarded saddlebags. Anyone could have accessed her home last night, and it was likely someone tired all things considered, but a cursory glance showed that nothing was out of place.

"I don't think anything's gone," Spike announced in a relieved tone, apparently having shared Twilight's idea and followed her lead of checking for missing belongings. "That's good, we have enough stuff to worry about right now."

He chuckled, Twilight stifled a groan. There was no backing out of this now, it had to be done. It was best to rip off the bandaid quickly if nothing else.

"Hey, Spike? Could you come here for a second? We need to talk..." She didn't wait for a response before walking into the dining area, seeing that Dash was already waiting at the table with a mixed look of anxiety and boredom. As she sat down at the table herself, Twilight caught a glimpse of the long dragon's reaction. Spike had quickly read the room and took on a similarly distraught expression to the two ponies waiting for him.

"Uh... sure..." He slinked up into the third chair with only a short bout of hesitation, sitting up and looking from Dash to Twilight with blatant concern. "Is, uh, everything okay?"

"Yes... almost..." Twilight's eyes fell to the floor from the shame of this all. For the life of her, she didn't know exactly how to go about saying this. "... I need you to promise not to panic."

This, understandably so, only heightened the visible sense of panic coursing through him at the moment. "N-not panic about what?"

"Well... the thing is..." Twilight slowly looked back up to her son's pleading eyes. She had gone about this in the completely wrong way, and now Spike was starting to stress out over this. All she had to do was just tell him the truth about this, and then hopefully get him to tell her enough information through the gaps in Starlight's spell to figure out something. Then, all they'd have to do was find that unicorn and have her undo the spell entierly, and this mess would be done with.

That was it, that was all she had to say. So why was it so difficult for her? She could almost feel the words welling up in her throat, threatening to choke the life out of her, yet she couldn't spit out the words. Spike's worried eyes weighed on her heavily, as if she had been suddenly sent to the deepest darkest depths of the ocean. And just like in that scenario, Twilight felt like she was about to drown. What she needed to tell him wasn't even that bad, all things considered, yet she still couldn't muster up the strength to tell him.

Thankfully, or not so thankfully, Rainbow Dash knew just how to get the conversation moving again.

"Someone messed with your head and locked up some of your memories," Dash blurted out in an unapologetically straightforward way. "Or at least that's what I think this is about."

Twilight and Spike both turned towards Rainbow with wide, shocked eyes. Twilight was quick to chastise the pegasus for being so brazen about that, with Dash's defense being that time was a factor in this situation, and they couldn't afford for Twilight to keep beating around the bush. An argument formed around this pattern, the two mares going back and forth for some time in much the same way. It wasn't until Spike interjected did the two stop their pointless bickering and turn their focus to more important matters.

"I'm sorry, what?" Spike asked with great alarm and authority, demanding to learn more about this situation he'd just been made aware of. His eyes wide and dilated, looking back and forth between the two ponies in the room as if waiting for one of them to speak up. An appropriate reaction, if ever there was one. "What do you mean someone messed with my head?!"

"Spike, I need you to calm down," Twilight spoke sternly, staring deeply into Spike's eyes whenever they were passed back to her. Soon enough he stopped and focused on her, giving Twilight a window to break back through to him. "You're going to be alright. We're going to get this fixed. Breathe, please."

"I don't even know what this is!" He shouted back at her, albeit slightly less panicked than previously, with an exaggerated gesture with one claw. "What happened to me?!"

Twilight hesitated for a moment or three before allowing herself to sigh heavily, the weight upon her shoulders causing her to slump forward in her seat. Well, she had wanted to rip it off like a bandaid anyway, she supposed this was for the best. Even if she didn't like it. The lull in the conversation was also an opportunity for Spike to lower his temperature a little bit, transitioning from flat out frenzy into more subdued anxiety as the seconds ticked by. Something that Twilight chose to help him with by guiding him through a series of slow, deep breaths.

"It's... exactly what she said," the alicorn admitted slowly, "Remember how someone 'left me a message' using Knox last night?"

Slowly, Spike nodded. "Yeah... you were talking about that earlier. I was there." The small bit of sarcasm that managed to shine through his confusion was a decent sign, though it wasn't exactly appreciated at the moment. "What's that got to do with this?"

"Well... that same pony apparently met you at some point, and used some spell to block out your memory of it. I don't know when or why." Twilight made sure to choose her words very carefully in this instance. The true complexities of this spell were still largely unknown and triggering its reset feature would make explaining things even harder than it had to be.

The young dragon continued to nod at a snail's pace, a signal that the information was reaching him even if he couldn't fully parse it right now. "... And how do you know about this?"

"My guess is that something slips through when you hear her name," Rainbow Dash made herself heard after her absence from the discussion altogether, "Egghead shut me down pretty fast when I tried to bring it up."

"That's it exactly," Twilight confirmed dreadfully, "Whatever spell she cast isn't perfect. It has holes that can be exploited, if only for a few seconds at most. I found out about it last night while talking to Knox about... her."

The silence was all-consuming as Spike sat there processing the information that had just been dumped upon him. His eyes fell onto the wooden table before him, glazed over and unfocused in a show of him clearly putting some deep thought into all of this. If Twilight knew him half as well as she thought she did, he was trying for the life of him to try and remember anything that seemed out of the ordinary. A conscious attempt to break through the enchantment with the sheer force of will and regain what had been stolen from him. But it was obvious enough that this wasn't going to work, something that Twilight already knew fully. And as this all-encompassing silence pressed onward, the tension in the room began to subside. Spike, in particular, took a significant turn for the better. If nothing else, he wasn't shaking as much.

"So... you wanna try and poke some holes and figure out what happened... right?" He slowly looked back up to his parental figure, curiosity seeming to have overtaken some of the anxiety that had built up over this painful discussion.

"Dang, ya hit the nail on the head, kiddo," Dash congratulated with the first smile any of them had seen in what felt like decades.

Spike swallowed hard. "Is... it going to hurt?"

"I... don't know... but it's probably going to be scary..." And once again, Twilight felt as if she had just had her heart torn straight out of her body. The subtle reaction to Twilight's unnerving words could have been enough to kill her right then and there, it was that painful. And she hated herself for even bringing this up to him in the first place. She should have left him in peaceful, ignorant bliss until after they had weathered the storm. "If you don't want to, that's completely fine. I'm not going to make you go through with this if you aren't comfortable with it... If nothing else, I just wanted you to be at least a little bit aware of what was going on."

Much to Twilight's relief, her words seemed to put Spike's mind at ease, at least a little bit. He didn't give an answer, not straight away at least, and was clearly putting some heavy thought into this conundrum that he had been thrust into. Once again, Spike caused the room to fall into silence as he mused over his options and how he felt about them, both Twilight and Rainbow displaying a great deal of patience with him on this matter. Irritatingly enough on Dash's behalf, or at least that's how Twilight felt considering how the pegasus saw fit to make a big deal out of not wasting much time with this. So it was okay for Spike to take his time but not her? She considered calling out the Black Hoof for this blatant hypocrisy, but swiftly decided against it and kept her tongue in check. If given the choice, Twilight preferred this small kindness being granted to Spike above herself. This wasn't the time or place to be petty about something so seemingly insignificant.

A sudden knocking at the door was enough to shatter the silence like glass, everyone turning their heads towards the front entrance in perfect unison. The identity of the unexpected guest was a mystery to all, one whose siren call was threatening to whisk them all away from the subject at hoof. Rainbow Dash was the first one to stand to attention, quickly declaring that she'd get this all signed and sorted. With the way that she explained her plan, alongside how quickly she made her way to the door, Twilight was able to guess that maybe Rainbow was a bit put off by this whole situation. Or, more likely, it was just another way to "save time." Whatever reason she may have had, Dash was quick to slip through the door and shut it behind her, leaving Spike and Twilight alone again in their house.

"Okay... so doing this is going to help you?" Spike asked after yet another few seconds of silence, a pensive yet resolved look upon his face.

"It should... I hope..." There was no hiding the uncertainties and anxieties Twilight held about this entire situation, which was both a boon and a bane. On the one hoof, she at least wasn't lying to Spike. But on the other, she likely wasn't doing much to quell his anxieties.

"Alrighty then... so how do we do this?"

Needless to say, Twilight was caught a little off guard. "Are you sure?"

"Not really... but I wasn't ready for a lot of things recently. May as well just get it over with."

I couldn't agree more. "Okay... So, what I'm going to do is keep saying her name. After a while, you should start remembering things. When you do, I'm going to need you to keep calm and tell me everything you can remember."

Another set of nods confirmed Spike's understanding of what the plan was, another set of deep breaths serving to help him calm down a bit more for the plan to work. Twilight offered help where she could in helping Spike ease through this endeavor she was asking of him, an act that hopefully did more on the inside than she was seeing on the outside. It would all be over soon, that's what Twilight kept telling herself to keep herself calm and cool for what was to come soon. A bitter taste still lingered in her mouth from thrusting all of this onto Spike all at once, something that she'd be working very hard to make up for once everything was all said and done.

"I'm going to start now, you ready?" Twilight was just as nervous as Spike was about all of this, something that the long dragon was seemingly able to pick up on as he gave his confirmation and consent. "Alright then... does the name 'Starlight Glimmer' sound familiar at all?"

"Not at all." Spike's answer was to be expected. From his perspective, at the moment, this was the first that name had ever been uttered in his presence. "... I'm guessing she's the one who messed with my head?"

"Yes... Starlight Glimmer was the one who did that to you," Twilight placed great emphasis on that mare's name, taking note from the time she had witnessed Applejack trigger this very spell's reset on Rarity. A night that felt like it had been years ago at this point, even though it was only the other day. "She was in our house, I was apparently asleep. Does any of this sound familiar?"

"She was in our house?" Spike began to slip back into that initial state of panic that had formed at the beginning of this conversation. "How did she get in our house?!"

"I don't know how Starlight Glimmer got in here, but I need to know what she did," Twilight did her best to keep a calm, stern demeanor as she pressed forward. Honestly, she was surprised that the spell hadn't given in by now. "You were there. You met her. And I really need you to remember what happened with you and Starlight Glimmer."

"But you just said that I—" something clicked in Spike's head at that very moment, his eyes going wide in time with some great revelation that was suddenly made crystal clear in his mind. "Wait... I remember now!"

With nothing more than a swift gesture for Twilight to follow, Spike leaped down from the chair and dashed towards his own bedroom. Twilight didn't need to be told twice and was hot on his heels, ears perked, and listening

"I woke up in the middle of the night... I had heard something and got freaked out, so I went to go find you." Spike stopped for but a moment, peering into his bedroom for but a moment, tracing his path with a pointed claw before turning back and heading the other dirrection. "That's when I heard someone talking... I thought you'd brought a friend over or something like that, but she was saying some really... really weird stuff." They reached Twilight's room and he didn't waste any time rushing over to the side of her bed. "She was standing right here... tucking you into bed, talking to you... Then she noticed me... she didn't freak out or anything... like she knew about me ahead of time..."

Twilight was taking in every last word as if it were gospel, nodding and remaining silent to encourage the dragon to keep going with his explanation. There were dozens of questions she wanted to bombard him with, but time was a precious resource here and she couldn't afford to waste another second of it. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after he had started that he began to peter off, his gaze becoming less and less sharp as the fog around his memories began to fill in again. The alicorn recognized what was about to happen, and made a move to try and at least stall it for another few seconds.

"Spike, I need you to focus really right now," Twilight pleaded with great intensity, rushing over and gently turning his head to face her. She peered deeply into his eyes, hoping that she could at least get something more before the reset took full effect. "I need you to tell me about Starlight Glimmer, remember? What was she doing in our house?"

"She was..." Spike's face slowly fell into an open claw, which he rubbed back and forth across his features as if trying to soothe some headache. This lasted for a few, painful seconds before he managed to look back up to her. He looked so tired, Twilight could tell that he was fighting against whatever it was she had afflicted him with. Hard enough to at least give her something else to work with. "She was talking like she knew you... like she knew you personally..."

Twilight froze up, she had not been expecting that answer of all things. The all too familiar sensation of one question leading to a hundred more returned to her at this moment, all of them bouncing around in her head like an army of incoherently screaming, sugar-high Pinkie Pies. She had known since day one that there was something up with Starlight, her first encounter with that nervous wreck of a unicorn was more than a little bit odd. Though now, with this newly acquired piece of information from Spike, Twilight found herself looking upon that encounter in a new shade of light. Like Starlight hadn't been expecting to see Twilight at that library in the first place, or something of that nature. Of course, that clarification didn't answer the question of how Starlight already knew about Twilight ahead of time. Unless, of course, there had been some form of interaction between the two of them in the past that Twilight was just conveniently forgetting about—through magical means, she hypothesized. Yet more questions that demanded answers were born alongside that little theory, but all of them were cut off as Spike spoke up again.

"Starlight Glimmer... I was here to help... even if I didn't do a very good job..."

Author's Notes:

Fun Fact: The title for this chapter is a reference to my very first story on this website. A story that was deleted, rebooted twice, and then deleted again for VERY good reason. But hey, I still think it's a fun callback.

So this chapter took a lot longer than it needed to, in retrospect. And that was due to a lot of outside factors bearing down on me all at once. Life got a little hectic for a few weeks there and it killed most of my motivation to write. It didn't help that a deadly combination of writer's block and burnout managed to hit me at around the same time. But I seem to be through the worst of that storm now, and I'm planning on getting back to writing as much as possible again. Within reason, of course. I still need to sleep and go to work and stuff.

This chapter is the result of me deciding well after the fact that leaving Spike in the dark about that memory thing was a bad call on my part (the rest of this explanation will be in a spoiler bubble, but it's mostly referencing cut content/ideas, so it shouldn't be that big of an issue). I felt like that would be the play Twilight would make, keep her son safe/ignorant from/about the weird magic affecting him. But with the plan I had in mind for how the upcoming encounter would go, it led to a lot of what felt like unnecessary fluff involving Spike freaking out about some of his memories being gone without him knowing (like he did in this chapter). Or at least, it felt unnecessary at that moment. So I decided to just kind of take that idea and flesh it out beforehand to hopefully make things go a little smoother. This led me to write this longer-than-average chapter about Twilight learning things that you guys already knew... yeah, not my greatest idea, but hey, it's not the worst blunder I've made with this story in my opinion. But nobody's perfect and at least I'm not just abandoning this story because I made a mistake or two (live I've done in the past, several times). So at least there's that.

Anyway, as usual, thank you all for reading and sticking with this story, in spite of my many, many continuous spelling/grammar errors and my other BS. It really does mean a lot that you guys are actually enjoying this stuff. Let me know if you find any glaring grammar issues in this chapter, BTW, it's always appreciated.

And for those who've been asking about it, the next two chapters are dedicated almost entierly to answering some questions about you-know-who, at long last.

— Chapter Forty-Five —

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--- Accepting the Invitation ---

"Starlight Glimmer... I was here to help... even if I didn't do a very good job..."

Twilight had become very familiar with those words coming out of Spike’s mouth over the next twenty minutes or so. In that time, she had relived that painful discussion with Spike three more times. And each time that irritating phrase passed through his lips, all progress was lost on the front of making him aware of his magically blocked memories. Whatever spell had been used on Spike—as well as on Knox Onwud and who knew how many other ponies around town—was as clever as it was blunt. Part of its design seemed to be dedicated to keeping the victim entirely unaware of whatever memories the spell was meant to block, as well as keeping them from even knowing about the lock placed upon their memories in the first place. Though Twilight had managed to figure out that she could make Spike aware of the spell without it kicking in, as the enchantment only reset itself after the temporary return of the blocked-out memories. Thus, Twilight was able to at least have Spike aware of the situation that they'd be walking into, and how one of her primary objectives was to have the spell cast upon him undone. Explaining these things didn't get any easier with each passing iteration, but she at least became decent enough at it to keep Spike from panicking every time. At least there was one benefit to this whole mess.

Though figuring out that little loophole in Starlight's magic wasn't the only thing this repetition had taught Twilight. Just as she had intended, she used the temporary lapses in the spell to piece together a clearer picture about just what had happened on the night where Starlight and Spike had met one another. It only took her two of the three iterations to learn what she needed of what happened that night. Now, with this knowledge, she'd be able to gauge just how trustworthy this Starlight Glimmer person was. If she undid the spell and Spike was able to tell the same story he had told Twilight three times already, then maybe there'd be some merit in what the unicorn had to say. If she refused or implanted some fabricated lie into Spike's head, or tried anything else that was sketchy, then Twilight would have a very good excuse to teach that unicorn why it was a very bad idea to mess with her son.

With all of that out of the way, the time to meet back up with Rainbow Dash was at hoof. Twilight claimed her bags before they went on their way. The pegasus was found waiting for the two just outside the home, having decided to remain outside while Twilight and Spike finished up. As soon as she noticed them emerging, Dash was quick to ask if Twilight had gotten what she needed. And while Twilight was able to give her answer, she wasn't given much of a chance to elaborate on what it was she had learned before Dash proclaimed that it was time they got moving and began the trek towards the library, which gave Twilight and Spike little choice but to follow.

"So, who was at the door?" Twilight asked as the trio walked through Ponyville, with the glances and murmurs of the various citizens of Ponyville going ignored for the time being. It was an inconvenience that would be dealt later.

"Hm? Oh. It was just Pinkie." Dash's answer came on an air of distraction, the subject not being one that she was particularly focused on. "She heard you were outta the slammer, so she came by to check on you."

"What did you tell her?"

"That you were busy."

"Is that it?"

"Well, it took about fifteen minutes longer than it should have—because Pinkie Pie—but yeah, that's it..." Rainbow yawned loudly before suddenly perking up as she recalled an important detail from that headache of a conversation. "Oh, and she wants you to talk to Rarity at some point. I told her I'd tell you."

Of course she wants us to talk, Twilight sighed inwardly as the conversation was dropped, left behind as she continued towards the library with her two comrades. Thankfully enough the Golden Oak's library wasn't too far off from where Twilight lived, and it wasn't long before they arrived. Not much had changed since the last time Twilight had been here, the library stood as it always did on the outskirts of town, entirely untouched by the scandals surrounding it. The only hint that anything was amok here was the fact that a simple "closed" sign hung on the door, acting like the only thing keeping the masses from entering the crime scene. There were no barricades, no guards, nothing to suggest that anything serious was going on within these tree-made walls. It was just a closed library, nothing more.

"Okay, red flag number one," Rainbow Dash made her concerns known, glancing around the area with skeptical eyes. "I could have sworn I told someone to send some guards to cover this place."

"Maybe they're on break?" There was a nervous optimism to Spike's question as he joined in the search by peering around as well.

"Or maybe they just conveniently 'forgot' why they were here..." Twilight's insinuation wasn't lost anyone present, Spike giving a nervous gulp, and a wayward claw found its way to the cup the side of his head. With that possibility in mind, Twilight strode over to the door and placed a hoof upon the handle with the intention of opening the door just like she would on any other day. Not a single sliver of magic was used in the attempt, yet the door creaked open without so much as a struggle.

Though it wasn't as unfortified as one might think. as the wooden barrier was pushed out of the way, it passed through a thin tether of blue light. It only lasted a second before the door snapped the line in twain and erased the arcane effect from existence, though in the darkness of the library it wasn't exactly difficult to notice it. She instantly recognized the crude yet effective little security measure for what it was, a makeshift silent alarm. Many unicorns learned how to use such spells from a very early age. Usually the paranoid sort who didn't like the idea of their siblings or parents going into their bedrooms without permission—something Twilight herself was guilty of before her days at the Queen's prestigious academy.

"Red flag two, she left us a little magic tripwire," Twilight pushed the door all the way open, glaring into the dim library with a sense of single-minded determination drawn on her features. "She knows we're here."

Rainbow snickered at that. "Guess she's not a fan of being ambushed."

"I thought we were here to talk to her?" Spike asked as he followed the two mares into the odd building. "Why would we—?"

A question that likely would never get answered thanks to a loud flash of magical light towards the back of the room, catching the three off guard and putting them all on high alert. Starlight Glimmer haphazardly stumbled her way out of her own teleportation spell, still adorned by the overfilled bags and that silver watch that had almost become synonymous with her appearance. The mare's momentum didn't halt, and she ended up ramming herself into a bookshelf with a painful sounding "oof." A small cascade of loose books added insult to injury with a few extra knocks on her noggin.

"Ugh... note to self... don't mix alarms and teleport spells..." Starlight murmured to herself as she righted her balance and collected her bearings, straightening out her mane and clearing her throat. Then, with an overdramatic flip of her hair, she turned to face her three guests as if she hadn't just entered like a complete buffoon. "Hello, Twilight. I'm glad you got my—oh, good, you brought Rainbow Dash!" The mare's demeanor switched from cool and collected to pleasantly surprised once she caught sight of the pegasus.

"I actually needed to talk to her too, so that... saves us some... time..." Her sentence came to a slow stop as her gaze drifted over to Spike. She looked upon the long dragon with the kind of expression one would give to an oncoming train suddenly appearing in their bedroom. A potent cocktail of surprise and fear that left Starlight's jaw hanging there, slack. Before anyone could question her reaction, Starlight raised a hoof to point at Spike as her eyes darted back over to Twilight. "Wh-wh-what's he doing here?!"

Now, Twilight was already upset enough over the things this unicorn had been doing, but after that spontaneous appearance and that very exaggerated reaction, she couldn't help but punctuate her next sentence with a long and sharp inhale. "What's wrong? Did you wipe your own memory too?"

The sarcasm was as subtle as a brick to the face, and it wasn't lost on anyone. Starlight, in particular, was sent into what looked like some kind of panic attack. Her eyes darted back and forth in every direction as she processed the question presented to her, and likely several dozen more that she was asking herself. But it all came to a head in one moment of blatant realization, her eyes gently closing as her head shamefully fell. And very calmly, she answered Twilight's sarcastic quip with a query of her own.

"He freaks out if he hears someone say my name, doesn't he?"

"That's one way of putting it," Twilight bitterly confirmed, "Would you like to explain why that is?"

Falling into a seated position, Starlight buried her face within her forehooves and sighed loudly. "I panicked and used the wrong spell..."

"Did you say... the wrong spell?" That was all it took to set Twilight off. Yet despite the clear inferno in her eyes, she didn't do anything else to make her wrath known. Her voice was never raised and her horn was left dark. Screaming and violence weren't going to get them anywhere, especially since Starlight was the one responsible for this little meeting in the first place. She had been the one who wanted to talk, so she had at least earned some leeway in Twilight's mind. Not much though. "What do you mean, 'wrong' spell?"

"Hold on, how do you use the wrong spell?" It was now, in this moment of hesitation on Starlight's behalf, that Rainbow Dash chose to interject herself into the conversation and make her concerns known. "I'm not an expert on magic, but I feel like that's a pretty stupid mistake to make."

"Well, stupid mistakes are pretty easy to make when you're sleep-deprived and having continuous panic attacks," Starlight answered shamefully without a moment of hesitation. Slowly, she lifted her head back up, and a pair of tired-looking eyes were aimed at the noisy pegasus. "It's been a busy week for me. Sue me."

"Oh, you're gonna wish I took you to court if you don't start giving me some answers," Twilight's threat was delivered by a tone befitting the anger she was holding back right now, "For starters, what was the 'right' spell to use on my son?"

"A memory spell that actually works right," Starlight slowly stood back up, her head still lowered as if she were ashamed of what she had done. She stood there for a moment longer before allowing herself to breathe deeply. She turned her eyes back to the enraged alicorn. "My intention was to keep that... ‘incident’ as my little secret. I didn't need you getting sidetracked with a million questions about me... but I guess my efforts were in vain. It was inevitable..."

With the way that Starlight was carrying herself, she knew she'd been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar and was making no apparent attempts to hide that fact. Even now, Twilight could tell that there was sincerity in the unicorn's words. Though as sincere as it may have been, it didn't change the fact that Starlight had, in essence, put a curse on Spike. And Twilight was still quite infuriated by that fact.

"But now that that's out of the way," Starlight Glimmer continued with some semblance of confidence, "We have a lot to talk about and not a whole lot of time, so we—"

"Undo the spell you put on him first," Twilight interrupted, "I'm not listening to another word you say until I hear what he has to say about you."

This clearly caught Starlight by surprise, judging by the look on her face. But this wasn't an issue that Twilight was going to budge on, and there wasn't a single attempt by anyone present to try and get her to take back that promise. Starlight least of all. She simply strolled over to the nearby desk and deposited her saddlebags on it. She began to search through one of them with careful haste, making sure not to overlook a single detail.

"Tell you what, as a show of good faith, I'll do you one better," the unicorn explained as she withdrew one of the many books from within her pack, her horn flipping through the pages quickly while also returning the bags to her person. Once she found whatever it was she was looking for, she turned back to Twilight and levitated the open book towards her. "This should be capable of undoing any of the spells in the disciples' playbook... including the one I used on him..." A twinge of shame returned to her voice as she spoke that last part.

Twilight looked down to the page and skimmed over it. She was able to tell that this was a homebrewed spell, something custom-made to serve the purpose that Starlight claimed it to have. And to the unicorn's credit, Twilight couldn't see anything particularly wrong with it. With how the different components came together, it seemed to only react to other magical effects before canceling them out. Unless the alicorn was misreading something, this spell was literally incapable of causing harm to any living creature. If nothing else, it was safe.

With that in mind, Twilight offered the unicorn another cautious glance before walking back towards Spike. He had spent the majority of this conversation in confused silence, trying to piece together what was going on from what little information he had. He at least knew what Twilight was hoping to accomplish with the book that Starlight had just relinquished, so he set those questions to the side when he noticed Twilight drawing near. Neither of them was ready for what was about to be attempted, but they couldn't just leave it well alone at this point. Before casting the spell, Twilight gave one last stern glare to Starlight, an expression that spoke a thousand words. A silent warning of what was to come if this didn't work as promised. Starlight merely stood there in silence, waiting for the alicorn to conduct her business.

In an attempt to regain some of the focus, Rainbow Dash made herself known through the quick clearing of her throat. "So, you were saying something about needing to talk to me? Care to explain a bit of that?"

Flinching as if knocked out of some hypnotic trance, Starlight turned towards the pegasus. "Of course."

Twilight ceased paying attention to the two mares as they began their own discussion, choosing instead to focus on Spike. After taking the time to make sure he was ready for what was about to come, she lit up her horn and unleashed the enchantment upon him. A series of dancing lights slowly fell from her horn to flutter around Spike's cranium. His eyes became wide and dilated as if he were compelled to focus on them in a mindless haze. Twilight felt a surge of worry, but it was luckily a side effect that was quick to pass. Once the lights faded and his eyes returned to their normal state, Twilight gave him a few moments to get his bearings.

"Spike? Do you feel alright?"

Spike groaned, still woozy from the spell as the magic worked its way out of his system. "I... think so... but why does everything taste like sand?"

"It's probably just a side effect of the spell I just used."

The confusion on his face only intensified from there, but something in his head clicked into place and that expression began to wane. "Right... you used a spell... to undo another spell... ugh..." His eyes closed as he rubbed a claw over his forehead. If Twilight didn't know any better she'd say that Spike was experiencing his first hangover. "Was it supposed to make me feel like my head's swimming?"

"We're dealing with mind-altering magic, so this isn't exactly unexpected. Just try to stay calm and breathe, it should clear up soon..." Twilight spoke with confidence, but she'd be lying if she said that there wasn't at least some anxiety floating about in her head right now. Any mother would be a bit anxious about using some unknown spell on their child. "Let me know if it gets worse."

"I think it's starting to clear up..." Spike grumbled one last time before suddenly shaking the last of the delirium from his head. He sighed with relief as he once again opened his eyes. "Okay... I think I'm good."

"Alright then. Does the name 'Starlight Glimmer' sound familiar?"

"Yeah, she was in our house the other night." He spoke in a shockingly casual tone given the subject. But it only took a split second for him to realize what he just said, and Spike's eyes lit up with shock, and his body stiffened. "Oh! She was in our house! How did I forget?!"

"Because she made you forget. Remember?"

"Oh... right..." Spike sunk back into himself as he pondered over his freshly freed memories. "It's all coming back to me."

"Would you care to explain what happened?"

"Yeah... I'll do that..." Spike slowly nodded in response, taking one last second to overlook those memories again just so he wouldn't miss anything. "I remember... waking up in the middle of the night. I heard something, and my first thought was to go get you."

Twilight nodded approvingly, subtly acknowledging that he had taken the right course of action at that moment.

"That's when I heard her talking," he paused for a moment to peer around Twilight to get a good look at Starlight from across the room. She followed his gaze curiously. Whatever conversation was happening between her and Rainbow had caught Starlight's full attention, thus preventing her from eavesdropping on Spike and Twilight's discourse. "She was saying some really weird stuff, too."

"Stuff like what?"

"Something about a note she left... and then she went on about how you apparently did something without a plan? Something about you being smarter than that? I didn't get the full context on that..."

While Spike didn't fully understand the implications of that, it confirmed Twilight's suspicion that the "Answers in the Everfree" note had been left by Starlight. Though the comment on Twilight's intellect was something of a minor surprise here, it at least served as proof that Starlight did indeed know about her ahead of time. But Twilight didn't need to be worrying about that right now. She nodded. “Okay. What happened next?”

"After that... she started talking down about herself. That she should have expected you to go and look at the big ominous glowing thing in the woods... I'm not really sure what she meant by that, but that's about the time she noticed me." Spike slightly shuddered as he recalled how he'd been caught so easily. "But she didn't freak out like most ponies normally do... in fact, she was really calm about me being there... like she already knew about me."

Again, something that didn't surprise Twilight, considering that she had heard vague variations of this exact story earlier today. It didn't stop her from asking how Starlight could have known about Spike ahead of time, but those questions would be kept to herself until Spike's story was concluded.

"She said she wasn't there to cause trouble. You were asleep, and she said she was helping you get into bed. That you didn't want to wake up in the woods..." Spike stopped himself as he mused over his memories. After a few seconds, he looked to Twilight with a great deal of curiosity. "Did you go into the woods in the middle of the night?"

Twilight gulped. "... Yes."

"Why?"

"She left me a note... telling me there would be answers in the woods... I got a little too curious for my own good." The simple truth came flowing out of her like water from the tap. After everything that had happened between the two of them in the past few days, Twilight wouldn't even consider lying to Spike right now. "It... may have ended with me getting knocked out by a magical glowing rock."

Spike's head tilted at the absurdity of that explanation.

"We can talk more about it later. Could you keep going? It's important."

Spike narrowed his eyes slightly at that, silently tucking that piece of information away for later before he continued with his story. "Anyway, after she noticed me, she said she wasn't there to cause trouble. She was putting you in bed after you knocked yourself out in the woods—" a great emphasis was placed on those words, his intention being to try and make Twilight feel guilty about galavanting into the woods while he was asleep—"and that you'd be fine in the morning."

"Did she say or do anything to try and hurt you?"

Spike shook his head. "Nope. In fact, she said I'd never see her again if her plan went right..." Once again, he peered around Twilight to the other conversation in the room. "I guess her plan didn't go right."

"And that's when she wiped your memory?"

"Pretty much, yeah..." Uncertainty made itself known on Spike's face. "No... wait. There was one last thing. She told me to... take care of you for her... and then she wiped my memory."

The story Spike just told Twilight definitely matched up with the versions he had given her while that pesky memory block was still in place, that much was certain. Of course, there were still plenty of questions to be had about this mysterious mare who had managed to show up at every turn. And Spike's story still didn't provide any concrete answers on many of those fronts. Starlight Glimmer was still just as much of a conundrum as she had been before, a conundrum that Twilight couldn't help but try to unravel in her mind.

"It really does sound like she knows us..." Twilight murmured under her breath, rubbing the underside of her chin as she wondered. "The question now is how..."

"Maybe we met her before? While we were traveling?"

"That's the only way any of this makes sense... but why would she wipe our memories? It just makes her job harder... whatever her job even is..."

"Well, she called you here to talk, right? Why not just ask her?" Spike offered one last glance towards Starlight Glimmer, narrowing his eyes as if to learn something more about her. "She wouldn't have done that if she didn't want to explain anything, right?"

An excellent point indeed, one that Twilight agreed to with a firm nod. Standing back to her full height, her attention shifted back over to Starlight and Rainbow Dash. Whatever discussion they were having had ended while Twilight and Spike were busy with their own, the two mares were now busy digging through their respective saddlebags. Moving cautiously to keep Starlight from noticing, Twilight made her way over to Rainbow Dash in hopes of gaining some context.

"So, what did I miss?" She whispered to Rainbow, her eyes locked firmly on Starlight at the other end of the room.

"Glim-Glam and I came to a little agreement," Rainbow explained with significantly less subtlety, an act that momentarily drew Starlight's notice over to them. Her attention lasted only for a moment before she went back to digging through her own things. "How did things go on your end? Get the little guy's head un-scrambled?"

"Yeah, I did..." Twilight was admittedly still distracted by Starlight, watching her as if waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever did, Starlight simply kept fumbling through her bag, which only made Twilight more anxious. "The story he gave me matched what I got out of him earlier... so if nothing else, she gave me the right spell. What did you get out of her?"

"Not much. Said her info's on a need-to-know basis. She just needed me for that dusty old book you found." Dash gave a grin as she pulled out the very item she was looking for, the well-worn blue book bearing the Choir's Searăn name.

Twilight was appalled. "And you're just going to give it to her?"

"Nope, she wants me to give it to you." With a resounding plop, the book was hastily tossed down at Twilight's hooves. "And you're probably going to need these if she expects you to read it." Just as quickly as Dash threw the book onto the ground she whipped a wing at Twilight's face. And Twilight let out a shrill yelp as she stumbled backward from the cyan wing being unexpectedly thrust into her face. The feathers tickled at her nose unpleasantly, and some of them managed to slip into Twilight's agape mouth in the instant of her shout of surprise and tracing her tongue with the unpleasant flavor of feathers. Overall, it wasn't a fun time.

"What was that about?!" Twilight gagged and hacked to get the awfully bland taste out of her mouth before glaring at Rainbow, who was snickering like a child from her own antics.

"That's a good look for you, egghead," Dash grinned like a madmare and chuckled again, "You should wear glasses more often."

There was a moment of confusion on Twilight's behalf before she ideally reached up to touch her face with a hoof. Sure enough, a pair of glasses that hadn't been there before were sitting squarely on her face. There was no need to question how they had gotten there, Dash was the only possible culprit. But that didn't stop inquiries from being made.

"What're these for?"

"Old Black Hoof trick. Let's you read pretty much anything. Like that book, for example."

Twilight levitated the thickly framed glasses off of her face and examined the trinket. At a moment's glance, they looked like nothing more than an ordinary pair of glasses. But it didn't take very long for her to notice the series of sigils carved along the frame. There was a surprising amount of complexity to these glyphs, considering how small they were. These were clearly made by a master of the magical arts. Looking back up to Dash as if to check if she was serious or not, Twilight folded the spectacles up and gently tucked them into her saddlebags alongside the old tome. There were more important things to deal with.

Dash offered Twilight an approving nod before turning towards Starlight Glimmer, the smile on her face souring. "A trick that you somehow knew about. I'm guessing you're not gonna elaborate?"

"You could say my special talent is knowing things I shouldn't," Starlight's answer was as unhelpful as it was disinterested, the unicorn's focus centered on finding her half of the agreed-upon trade. Once she did, however, Twilight had to fight the urge to gasp as a familiar-looking wooden box was freed from the bag. "I think I've proved that well enough by now."

A wisp of blue magic served the purpose of delivering the case to Dash's possession, and Twilight could only wince in response as Dash lifted up the lid to gaze upon the contents. She instinctively craned her head back, making absolutely sure she didn't make eye contact with the mysterious stone in fear of another sudden onset case of magically induced narcolepsy, and was relieved when the lid was shut again without a repeat of that incident. With Rainbow Dash seemingly satisfied with her acquisition from that exchange, Twilight was free to steal her resolve once more and finally begin asking this mare some questions.

"Why did you have that?" Twilight's question was stern and cold, the alicorn's mind still working to try and figure out Starlight's angle in all of this.

"Why didn't either of you grab it the last time you were here?" Starlight spoke back in the same defeated tone that she had been carrying for most of this conversation. "I figured you'd at least realize how important it is, considering how it should have reacted to your travel amulet."

Once again caught off guard, Twilight could only stare with blank perplexion at the unicorn standing in front of her. Her memory of the events that led to her second dream walking session was hazy at best, but she remembered clearly enough that distinctive ringing sound that began emanating from her bag while it was happening. A ring that she had heard before in the Everfree Forest, the first time she'd been made to dream against her will. And the fact that Starlight somehow knew about that specific detail, among all other things, was harrowing init of itself. Just how closely was Twilight being watched?

"She even knows about that?" Spike meekly whimpered, matching his mother's current sense of anxiety towards this situation. "Why does she know about that?"

"Yeah, why do you know about that?" Twilight almost growled, slowly closing the gap between her and Starlight. "You brought me here to talk. So start talking." A long pause filled the space where words once lingered, Starlight gazing in an almost longing fashion at the alicorn whose eyes bore down upon her like the unrelenting desert sun. Twilight couldn't quite put a pin on whatever it was that was going through this pony's head, but as she looked into the unicorn's eyes she saw something that she didn't expect. There looked to be a great deal of pain hidden deep within those sapphire orbs, a pain that Starlight was clearly trying to hold back.

"Gladly... but like agent Dash said, the things I have to say are for your ears only." Starlight took one step forward, close enough for the two mares to touch, and held an upturned hoof towards Twilight. "I need you to come with me. There's a lot we need to do and we don't have a lot of time."

"Less than twelve hours, if she wasn't lying," Dash added, caught somewhere between her confident persona and a sense of legitimate concern. "I tried to get more out of her while you were busy, but she wouldn't budge. She's just as stubborn as you, maybe more."

Spike gulped, caught up on the time limit that had just been established. "Twelve hours until what?"

"The end of the world," Starlight answered without a second of hesitation. "That's why we need to go now, Twilight."

Almost recoiling from the casual way in which the stakes had been laid out, Twilight donned an expression of bewilderment as she glared at Starlight. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“The end of the world,” Dash obliged in Starlight’s place, “Did she stutter? I told you that this was big.”

“No, but I feel like she should at least explain it a little better!”

“You’d know what’s at stake by now if I didn’t fudge everything up,” Starlight mumbled shamefully under her breath, just barely loud enough to be heard. She then cleared her throat and reasserted her more collected tone. “To make a long story short, the Choir has plans for our world. And they have almost everything they need to carry them out. Which is why you and I need to go now. I can explain more on the way.”

"And you're okay with all of this?" In disbelief, Twilight turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Me going on ahead to get all the answers?"

"Not really. But with your current situation, I trust that you won't be keeping too many secrets from me." Dash's reasoning was blunt, but it didn't come with any hint of malice. The pegasus was just stating the facts. "Besides, Glim-Glam did give me something to work with while you two are chatting. A list of ponies who may know a bit more about what's going on, if you catch my meaning."

With no resistance from Rainbow Dash to hold her back, Twilight's prime concern came back into play and her eyes darted over to Spike. The long dragon was sitting patiently where Twilight had left him, clearly distressed about this whole situation yet holding his tongue all the same. There were pros and cons to either leaving him with Rainbow Dash or insisting that Starlight allow him to tag along. The little guy had already been through so much today, it wasn't fair of Twilight to keep piling up anymore on top of the load he already had to deal with. But at the same time, it wasn't fair to leave him behind while she went off to go get her answers.

The alicorn sighed, she couldn't decide. So she'd leave the final decision up to her son. "Spike, are you going to be okay if I go?"

"I... don't think bringing me would be a good idea," the dragon meekly replied, seemingly in shock that he was being asked to weigh in on this subject. The long dragon was in way over his head when it came to this subject, and everyone in the room knew it well enough. "She might try something... better safe than sorry, right?"

A decent point, if ever there was one. This Starlight character was still mostly an enigma, after all, a few acts of help didn't absolve her of suspicion. It was entirely possible that this was all some sort of elaborate trap, even if Knox's outbursts last night served as some evidence that Starlight wasn't on his side. Spike was clearly uncomfortable around this unicorn. It was plain enough to see on his face, doubly so with how his eyes kept drifting over to Starlight before snapping back to Twilight. Seeing this, she couldn't blame him for wanting to stay far away from her, a sentiment that encouraged her to ask Rainbow to keep an eye on him for a while—or at least have her go ask Fluttershy to do so instead—and the pegasus agreed to the terms without much of a fuss.

With nothing else left, Twilight once more turned to face Starlight and her still offered hoof. The gesture was obvious enough to interpret, and with a deep breath of preparation, Twilight placed her own hoof atop Starlight's. After that, the familiar sensations and sounds of teleportation overtook Twilight's senses, and the blue light of Starlight's magic became all that she could see.

— Chapter Forty-Six —

View Online

--- Beyond the Veil ---

The brilliant light of the teleportation spell only lasted for a moment, and when Twilight's vision was no longer obscured she was greeted to a very different environment than the Golden Oak's library. A sudden sense of vertigo told her that she had been warped somewhere higher than the library's third floor. A tower was the only explanation, given the old stone brickwork around them. Twilight could only assume that they were in one of the few still-standing structures of Warden's Keep. It was the only place that would have old architecture like this. Speaking of the building's construction, the only way out of this room was a door that had long since fallen off its hinges, leading directly to a downward-going spiral staircase.

It was the perfect place for the secluded conversation that Starlight wanted out of Twilight. And based on the state of this room, Starlight had been using this place as a base of operations for quite some time. While there were very faint hints of sunlight spilling through the gaps in the boarded-up windows, the primary light source was a series of mismatched lamps scattered about the space seemingly randomly. Tucked away in one corner was a small plastic trash bin that looked far too new to belong to the old military base, stuffed to the point of overflowing with discarded food wrappers. Next to that literal pile of trash sat an old oak desk that looked like it could have been here before Starlight came along. Time had not been kind to the piece of furniture, yet it was still standing even though it looked like it could turn to dust if someone sneezed at it. The unicorn who had been squatting here had made use of it though, judging by the stacks of papers scattered across it.. The only thing missing was a makeshift place to sleep, though it was very likely that there were other rooms in this tower that Starlight had appropriated for her uses. Such places could wait, though. Twilight was here for answers, not a tour.

"Alright, we're alone," Twilight turned to face the unicorn, a cold and serious look strewn about her face. "Let's hear what you have to—"

"It wasn't supposed to be like this..." Starlight's interruption was carried on a heavy sigh. She slouched over as if she had partially deflated. "All it was meant to be as a push in the right direction, a little vague note to pique your curiosity and get you to... well, figure all this out on your own. I wasn't supposed to get this involved..."

"That's... an interesting way to start off," Twilight replied hesitantly, eyes narrowing as frustration began to give way into intrigue. Though subtle hints of frustration were still able to shine through given all this mare seemed to know. "So, would you care to explain why you chose to push me in the 'right direction? Because, to me, it seems a little too convenient for you to pick the only alicorn in town." There was a twinge of bitter sarcasm in those words, just enough to get across the point that Twilight was at least a little aware of what Starlight knew.

"I... uh... hmm..." A sharp inhale through Starlight's teeth cued the immediate look of regret upon her face. She pulled herself out of this stupor with a quick shake of her head though and magically reached into Twilight's saddlebags, drawing forth the book and glasses that had been retrieved from Rainbow Dash just moments prior. A wide, obviously forced grin took hold of her face as she brought the objects towards the dusty old desk. "How about we worry less about me and more about the oncoming end of the world? Seems like a much better use of our time! Wouldn't you agree?"

"You said we have twelve hours. Plenty of time for you to tell me—"

"Eleven hours and eighteen minutes, to be specific, but who's counting?" An unhinged chuckle echoed through the chamber as Starlight hurriedly tore through the first several pages. There was an almost psychotic smile on her face. She quickly snapped back to Twilight and gave her back the glasses. "There we go! You just need to read a few paragraphs, and we'll be all set to keep going!"

The elated look on Starlight's face slowly faded away as Twilight continued to glare at her. Twilight wasn't too happy with the sudden attempt at a change of subject, and she made no effort to hide it. Starlight withered under that glare, her ears drooping.

"How about you actually tell me what's going on here?" Twilight demanded, taking the glasses in her own magic and placing them next to the opened book. She could deal with that later. "You obviously need me for whatever it is you have planned. You clearly know things about Spike and I that you shouldn't. If you want me to cooperate, you're going to give me an explanation. Period."

Silence prevailed as Starlight stood there, watching Twilight intently as if waiting for something to happen. She bit down on her lower lip and her knees began to shake. Twilight could only guess what kind of thoughts were running through her head. She looked intimidated by Twilight, something that she honestly couldn't be blamed for. It was clear that she didn't want to fill Twilight in on what was going on, but it seemed that Twilight's requests had at least made her think twice about that plan. Finally, Starlight hung her head and sighed in defeat. She slowly trudged over to one corner of the room and placed her heavy-looking saddlebags onto the floor before turning back to face Twilight.

"Can you at least start reading first?" Starlight pointed over to the book on the desk. "You deserve answers, and I want to give them to you, but you need to compromise with me here. The world as we know it is going to end if we waste all our time bickering."

Twilight growled under her breath She didn't like being jerked around like this, being left in the dark despite being a supposedly important player in this game. But it was obvious that Starlight was just as stubborn as Twilight was, and the continuous demand for answers was only going to be met with further resistance. Another groan signaled the further acceptance of Starlight's increasingly restrictive demands. Giving the unicorn one last dirty look, Twilight turned her gaze over to the book and glasses that had been left on the desk . A flourish of magic delivered the spectacles to her face, and she leaned in to read.

As advertised by Rainbow Dash, the Old Searăn words were made to appear as if they'd been written in modern Equestrian. She found herself quickly taking them off and on to test the translation effect that they had upon the pages before her, her sour mood slowly giving way to giddy curiosity as she watched the words change. Even in this dire situation she couldn't help but wonder just how they worked. It was remarkable. Revolutionary even. A mental note was made for later to check and see if Dash would let her keep these things when all of this was said and done—or at least let her look them over so she could make her own pair later on. But her desire to learn how these glasses worked needed to be redirected towards the book placed in front of her and the spell she supposedly needed to read.

Just as she had confirmed the last time she had attempted to read this journal, the book was indeed written more like someone's research log on the Choir. The page Twilight had been told to start on spoke heavily of the Choir's supposed true nature, not a god-like entity that Knox and his allies worshiped— but an arcane parasite of extraplanar origin that had been present in this world for centuries untold, even at the time of this old book's conception. Despite the entity's boasts to Twilight that it was a being far above this world, the author of this book had seemingly managed to discover and prove that the Choir was reliant on a connection to a mortal being in order to survive.

It manipulates the heart and mind of its host, drawing out and feeding off of the darkest parts of their psyche in order to survive, Twilight donned a concerned grimace as she silently read the words. In turn, the host is influenced to act in ways that benefit the Choir's motives, being granted physical mutations and arcane abilities in order to accomplish these goals.

What these goals entailed wasn't made clear, at least here, but there was something almost as useful left to be seen. While there was evidently no way to track where the Choir had come from in the first place, the book's author had managed to find its earliest actions within the material world. The distant nation of Minok seemed to be where the Choir first made itself known, and if what Twilight was reading was to be true, then the minotaur nation owed its very existence to the arcane entity. It was utterly impossible for Twilight not to recognize the name of The Great Overboss Steve With Many Sharp Horns For Stabbing With. A rather prominent figure in the overall history of the world, as he was credited with the unification of the numerous minotaur tribes under one banner—using both masterful diplomacy and incredible violence. The journal made it a point to mention Steve's unique trait of having several horns where the normal minotaur would only have two, as well as an apparent fondness that he had for garbing himself in wolf pelts.

At some point, however, Steve lost his life in a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of Gryphell, something else that this journal saw fit to detail. But it wasn't long after his demise that the Choir's second known host made himself known in the griffin lands, and it was yet another name that Twilight recognized from history classes she had taken way back when. Basile of House of Ghrimtal. Otherwise known by aliases such as Basile the Terrible, Basile the Impaler, and Blade-Beak Basile. That last nickname had been given for a very specific reason. All depictions of the infamous dictator show him to have a serrated beak, more akin to a weapon than an actual piece of his biology. In his time, he was a warlord who led an insurrection attempt to overthrow his homeland's centralized government. An insurrection who had flown flags depicting a wolf pack, something else that seemed to tie him to the Choir's chosen canine form according to the book.

It was around here that Twilight had stopped reading, as her mind began to wander back to her short time trapped in the world of dreams. That field of black thorny vines was just as vivid to her now as when she was stranded in that nightmare. Specifically though, Twilight found herself lingering on the deformed and discarded remains of once-living things tangled within the bramble. The skull of a minotaur with far too many horns and that of a griffin with a saw-like beak were among the remnants of life that Twilight had seen. It was an unsettling sight back then, but now Twilight couldn't help but tremble for a moment from this new and horrific context. They weren't ominous decor meant to intimidate Twilight, they were trophies. Prizes claimed from previous vessels of the Choir, a literal headcount of just how many lives that this thing had dominated.

"The Choir's been around for a very long time," Starlight suddenly spoke up, having noticed the obvious shift in Twilight's posture and focus. The sudden voice was enough to get the alicorn to flinch before turning back to face her. She wore an equally uncomfortable expression on her face. "But it isn't as eternal as it would make you think, as I'm sure you managed to read."

"I saw a mention of something like that..." Twilight glanced back to the book for a split second before returning her focus to the conversation. It was true that the entries she had read told that the Choir needed a host to survive, but there wasn't anything to back up these claims. Thus, doubt began to bubble upward from the depths of Twilight's mind. "It didn't exactly give any proof though."

"Why else would it cling to 'lesser beings' like a tick?" Starlight strode forward and past Twilight, once again beginning to flip through the book's pages. "It's not the god that it wants us to think it is. It's a parasite. And like any parasite, it'll die if it doesn't have something to feed off of."

Twilight narrowed her eyes into a skeptical glare, thinking back to the conversation she had with Rainbow Dash the other night. "I was told that the Choir—"

"Couldn't be stopped, only stalled. Right? Yeah, because the Choir's disciples would go around letting info slip that their 'god' could actually die." Starlight interrupted with another sarcastic quip. "They've been at this for almost as long as the Choir's been around, and they've been feeding people like the Black Hooves fake intel for literal centuries to keep 'em off the right trail."

"... And you expect me to just believe that?" Twilight shrugged, unsure of exactly what she could believe from this mare. The way that she spoke so casually about this gave some credit to Starlight's supposed knowledge of the subject, but at the same time, this mare hadn't exactly been the most open and honest until very recently. It wasn't hard to believe that Starlight was trying again to deceive Twilight. It wouldn’t be the first time.

"You can believe me or not, the truth is still the truth and nothing's going to change that." Starlight stopped turning through the book's pages and locked eyes with Twilight. There was a fire in her eyes, an intensity that told Twilight that Starlight wasn't ready to tolerate any nonsense. "I brought you here to help get you ready for what's coming next. And the only thing I can do is arm you with the knowledge I have. If you choose not to believe me, you could at least not rub it in my face. This is hard enough for me already..."

Starlight returned to skimming the book for the next passage she needed Twilight to read through with a huff. And Twilight was left momentarily speechless at the answer she had been given. Or, to be more specific, the way the answer had been given. It was delivered in an exasperated yet tired tone of voice. But more than that, it was easy to see that something about this was upsetting Starlight. She had said as much herself, and her tone and body language reflected back. Though Starlight's mental and emotional wellbeing weren't Twilight's top priorities at the moment. Such formalities hadn't even crossed her mind. Starlight held information that Twilight needed to stop the supposed end of the world as well as an unexplained knowledge of her and Spike. And it was now that Twilight decided that it was time for some more answers.

"In that case... since you're here to give me information," Twilight spoke cordially enough despite the situation she was in, "How about you make good on your promise and actually tell me who you are and why you know about me?"

Ever so slowly, Starlight's eyes rose from the dusty old book to stare straight into the decrepit wall just ahead of her. "Really? You're going to do this now?"

"You said I needed to compromise, and I did. So it's time for you to meet me halfway."

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"And you're going to let that stop you now?" Twilight vindictively smirked. "Here. If I choose not to believe you, I won't rub it in your face."

Silence. Starlight stared at the wall with such intensity that she might have been trying to knock it over. She was as still as a statue, a grim frown on her face.. Twilight had made an excellent counterargument just now, and it was obvious that even Starlight couldn't come up with a rebuttal for that. There was the slightest tremble that traveled from one end of her form to the other before a sudden sigh marked the end of her silence, and she turned and stormed over to the other side of the room, practically burying her face in the corner. Starlight sighed mournfully before continuing.

"That's... not what I'm worried about..." The unicorn's voice shook violently with her words, the unmistakable cadence of a mare on the verge of breaking down. Twilight would know, as she had sung a similar song the previous day. Despite this, however, Twilight did not relent. At least, not entirely. While empathetic of this mare's supposed trouble with this topic, that didn't change the fact that Twilight felt violated by Starlight's intimate knowledge of her and her son. Not to mention the inexplicable need for Twilight to be wrapped up in this literal world-ending scenario. She deserved answers.

And she was sick and tired of waiting for them.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't care what you're worried about. You're the one who's been trying to make me solve this cryptic puzzle by myself. You're the one who invaded my home—put a dangerous charm on my son! You're the one who knows things that you have no business knowing." Twilight snarled through clenched teeth, emphasizing her words by aggressively pointing her hoof in Starlight's general direction. She wasn't yelling yet, but she was ready to.. "And to top it all off, you're the one who won't even give me an explanation, and you seem to think that I'm just okay with that. Well, guess what? I'm not. If you want me to play along with your little plan, you could at least tell me—"

"Do you think I wanted this to happen?!" Starlight yelled as she spun around. The anxiety and trepidation she had been displaying were gone, replaced by a painful rage. "Do you think I'm getting some sick kick out of any of this?! I don’t want to be here! I shouldn't be here! But I am! I am because I've made mistakes! Huge mistakes that took away everything and everyone I ever cared about and put the whole of creation at risk!... And the only thing I have left is the insignificantly small chance that I can help set things right..."

The flash of anger was quick to burn itself out, Starlight's rant fading into a defeated monologue, accompanied by tears that began to flow freely down her cheeks. Twilight honestly considered this to be just the latest in the unicorn's series of lies and deceptions, but she couldn't deny that there was a sense of sincerity here. The kind of anguish that Starlight was showing her was very difficult to fake. Twilight went to say something in response, but that was the exact moment that Starlight chose to cut her off and continue herself.

"If I could do this without getting you involved, I would! If I could get somebody else to do it, I would! But it has to be you, Twilight... And it hurts me to be the one to put you through all of this!" Starlight hung her head low as she sighed. A moment later, she pulled it back up and trudged over to her bags. She opened one bag and began to push things around within as she talked., "I don't like having to lie to you like I have been, Twilight... but I was scared that you might choose not to fix everything this time around! And I couldn't let that happen. So I tried to push you in the right direction... But I pushed too hard, and now we're here!"

Twilight blinked in confusion. It had to be her? What in the world did that mean? But, more than that...

"What do you mean... 'this time around'?"

"I mean I've done this all before! I've tried to stop the Choir myself, but I couldn't! Because I'm not you! I tried to get others to do it when you didn't show up, but they couldn't because they weren't you!" Starlight suddenly lashed out at Twilight, the tears returning as she bore her heart out. There was no faking the desperation carried in her shaking voice. "I don't know why it has to be you, but it just has to be you! That's how things are supposed to be!" Gritting her teeth, Starlight made a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a scream, kicking over her bag in a fit of rage as she spun back around and scattering a few items across the floor. It was as if she couldn't stand to look at Twilight any longer.

The room became chillingly still when Starlight stopped ranting. Anything Twilight could think of saying ended up getting caught in her throat. She didn't have any meaningful response to what she just heard. Starlight's outburst raised more questions than it answered, as most of what she said simply didn't make any sense. Starlight had previously mentioned that she had been doing this for a long time, and how things weren't supposed to be the way that they were now. Yet more evidence to support the fact that Starlight knew more than she should, and whatever it was, it was tearing away at her emotionally.. Twilight found herself ruminating on this for some time, actually feeling sympathetic for this mare.

Why she felt this way she couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it was just her bleeding heart getting the better of her, or maybe it was a legitimate concern for this other person's wellbeing—stranger or not. Whatever it was, she couldn't bring herself to ignore Starlight's plight. Even if her methods weren't the greatest or most thought-out, it was clear that her intentions weren't sinister. Just a mare who knew too much, trying to do the right thing. Something Twilight could relate to only all too well..

"That's how things were before I mucked everything up..." Starlight kept going on with her speech. No longer yelling, she spoke in the voice of a beaten down and broken mare.

"And I wish I could change that... but it's the one thing I can't... and you're not going to accept that as an answer." The resonating sound of a deep inhale overtook the room as Starlight regained her composure. Her attention was then shifted to the scattered objects that had fallen out of her bag. "I know I'm going to regret this... but I don't know what else I can do at this point..."

With bated breath, Twilight watched as Starlight lifted and subsequently offered yet another dusty old book to her. It was large and old, stuffed to the brim with makeshift bookmarks and other loose strands of paper. The cover itself was worn down, but it was evident enough that there was never really anything there of note, to begin with. The simple and bland diamond-esque pattern that decorated it had faded with time. And yet, Twilight actually felt some inexplicable familiarity towards it. But before she could muse on that idea any longer, Starlight opened up the book and began flipping through the pages with a pinpoint focus in search of something specific.

"What is this?" Twilight moved to try and catch some glimpse at whatever secrets this book held. But Starlight was keen on keeping Twilight's nose out of this business until she was ready.

"You wanted to know why I know so much, right?" Starlight mumbled with a slight twinge of bitterness, "Well, the short version is that I've been keeping up on my reading."

With that, the book was magically thrust back towards Twilight, held firmly in place by Starlight's magic. Without even being given a chance to further question things, Starlight firmly gave the order to just read what was on the page. Twilight gave a cautious grimace before turning her attention down to the levitated book. While it was true that she had been wanting answers, Starlight's breakdown just now made Twilight a bit hesitant on actually getting them. An unpleasant foreboding feeling began to well up inside of her, an ominous sensation that whatever was written there wasn't something that she was meant to see. But she was able to shake it off. She wouldn't back out now after Starlight had finally caved in.

Though as she began to read, she found that there was some justification for that ominous feeling. The first few words alone were enough to get her undivided attention. While the book's well-worn cover was vaguely familiar by itself, the contents within were even more so to a disturbing degree. There was no denying that this was a journal, judging by how it was written, but that wasn't the part that resonated with Twilight. From just the entry's date alone she was able to not only figure out why the cover had been so familiar but also who had written this journal in the first place. The way it was written was a dead giveaway. The exact wording used, the penmanship used in putting those words to paper. No matter how impossible it was, there was no denying what Starlight was showing her.

Journal entry number three hundred and forty-three. May 16. Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.

This was Twilight's journal.

— Chapter Forty-Seven —

View Online

--- The Impossible Journal ---

Twilight was beside herself. In a turn of events that she could have never prepared for, Starlight had just delivered to her the journal that had been by her side since the day that she left Canterlot. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the genuine article. The way I's were dotted and the T's were crossed, the distinctive curl of her C's and S's. All of it was a perfect match to her own penmanship. Though there was one thing in particular that didn't match up as Twilight actually took the time to read the words that she had clearly written.

Journal entry number three hundred and forty-three.
May 16.
Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
It has been four days since Spike and I have begun our latest expedition for dragons in the badlands, far to the South of Equestria's borders, with very little progress to show for it, unfortunately. I'm starting to believe that the stories I overheard from that charlatan in Klugetown were largely exaggerated. Oddly specific life advice: when an individual has the word "dapper" in their name, take everything they say with a grain of salt or two. But Spike was insistent that we at least investigate, and had been hoping that we'd at least be able to see another dragon, so here we are. And looking back in hindsight, that catfolk's tall tales might have been part of some larger scam in the long run. As it was only just last night where Spike and I accidentally stumbled upon a camp of bandits situated in a large cave, one that looked perfect for draconic nesting grounds. Thankfully, we were able to slink away without being noticed, but that experience was more than enough to tell us both that we had been deceived. Klugetown is a place filled with unsavory individuals who'd love to get their ~~hoofs~~ ~~paws~~ ~~claws~~ ~~hands~~ appendages on a dragon's hoard, and Capper must have seen me as just an easy mark. The realization has made Spike more than a little anxious about this whole situation. I'm starting to get a little worried about him.
Moving on. Even if the reason Spike and I came all the way out here was less than credible, the environment itself seems to support the claim that dragons could be found in this region. The mountains would provide more than enough cave systems to allow dragons to make their homes here, and the distinctive scent of sulfur in the air suggests that at least one of them is volcanic in nature. Both of which are traits of a dragon's natural habitat. On a slightly unrelated note, Spike is absolutely enthralled by the scent, even after last night's upsetting revelation. Likely a byproduct of his natural instincts and his excitement over possibly finding dragons at long last.
Though in spite of the evidence we've found; I am beginning to doubt that there are any dragons, other than Spike, here at all. Of the cave systems that we've looked into, outside of the one holding the bandit camp, we haven't found any sign of dragons being here. No territorial claw marks, no shed scales, nothing at all. The rations we brought along for the expedition are also beginning to dwindle. We have day's worth of food left, at best, and we are a far way's off from the nearest town. I promised we'd search one last cave or two before we begin making our way back to civilization to resupply and regroup. Thankfully, the amulet has finally recharged, and I caught sight of a root not too far from here. So at the very least, we won't have to travel very far.
It won't be long before Spike is up and demanding we get to the next cave, so I should end this entry here. He really wants to see if we'll actually find anything in the next cave, and after last night's upsetting discovery, I'm at least hoping there's a few discarded scales. I will provide more details of the expedition's conclusion in the next memo, but I promised him we'd search one more cave for now. Either we'll find what we're looking for, or we'll leave empty hoofed. Or clawed, in his case.

This was her journal, there was no hiding that. But the events described in it were inaccurate. Just different enough from Twilight's recollection of those days to make her wonder. Quicker than any bolt of lightning could ever hope to fly, she reached into her saddlebags with her magic. Unsurprisingly, there was her journal, tucked into the pack's depths. The very same journal that Starlight was showing her. At least Twilight's journal hadn't been outright stolen from under her nose, though that fear was taken off the table at the sight of the differing descriptions held within Starlight's "copy". Twilight opened her own journal to the same page Starlight had pulled up. And just like that, the differences became far more apparent. There was no mention of any catfolk named Dapper or how they stumbled upon some bandit's camp, which was far more accurate to what had actually transpired.

Out of curiosity, Twilight took Starlight's edition and flipped backward from that point, skimming through more of the contents that she supposedly wrote. And each new entry she read through gave her the same feeling the first one did. All of them were painfully familiar, as if she had written them herself, but the events they described weren't accurate to how they actually transpired. Some of the described events were slightly different from what she remembered, while others described scenarios that could have only happened if Twilight had made different decisions in those moments—decisions that Twilight could clearly remember making. Now and again she flipped back to one that was a perfect match for what she actually remembered writing, adding to her growing confusion.

Finally, Twilight snapped both books shut and began rotating them in the air. Taking care to not get the two mixed up, she studied them intently, looking for any sign of differences. And to her surprise, there weren't many. Where Twilight's had been irritatingly stained at some point in time, the same spot was tarnished on Starlight's duplicant. Small scratches and dings on one perfectly matched up with the other. The only differences Twilight could find were, strangely enough, a few minor scratches on Starlight's book that weren't present on Twilight's. But those that matched were far too perfect to be mere coincidence, almost too perfect to even counterfeits.

"This is either a really bad fake... or a really good one..." Twilight admitted absentmindedly, putting her own journal away and turning to Starlight. "How'd you make it?"

"Wrong on both accounts, and I didn't," Starlight's answer was cold and sterile, "It's... your journal. Every word in there was written by you..."

"No it isn't, I have my journal," Twilight gestured to her saddlebags before tossing the supposed fake at Starlight's hooves, "This... isn't."

"Well, it is. You wrote every single word in that book, I can promise you that," Starlight lifted the book she had provided and carefully dusted it off., "Things just might not have lined up the same way this time around. You could call it the 'first draft'."

Starlight wasn't making any sense, which wasn't anything new at this point, but this took that to an otherworldly extreme. Starlight had been ranting and raving about how she had done this before, how Twilight could have chosen to walk away this time around, and how this accurately inaccurate journal was described as being the first draft. The gears were spinning in Twilight's head, working to try and unravel this enigma. And with each passing second, there was only one answer that could make any sense, even as impossible as it may have sounded.

"Are you... trying to tell me that you're from the future?" Equal parts irritation and curiosity shone through in this, the strangest question Twilight had ever had to ask.

"That's an oversimplification of a very complicated issue," Starlight leaned further into the wall, "I could spend years talking about the metaphysics behind my 'existence.' But yes, I suppose the short version of it all is that I'm from a future. One that isn't possible at this point, but still a future."

That statement was equally enlightening and enraging, and Twilight’s scowl made that very clear.. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Forgive me if I touch a nerve, but neither does Queen Celestia giving some seemingly random individual a second chance at life through alicorn ascension." Starlight retorted with an impossibly straightforward tone of voice, no hint of malice or contentment to be found. "I learned a very long time ago that life chooses to not make sense at the least convenient of times."

Twilight’s eye twitched in anger at the reminder of her ascension.. At this point, it was impossible to be caught off guard by Starlight's intimate knowledge of Twilight's past, but that didn't make it any easier to be reminded of it. Twilight took a slow, deep breath, calming her anger and leaving only a smoldering frustration in its place.

"Okay, fair enough," Twilight bitterly admitted through clenched teeth. "So. If you really are from some 'impossible future,' would you care to explain what it is you're doing here in the first place?"

A long, tired sigh rushed from Starlight as if she were a deflating balloon. Much like Twilight's thoughts on her alicorn ascension, this subject seemed to be a point of contention for Starlight.

"I don't even know where to begin. It was so long ago... relatively speaking."

"Start from the beginning."

"The beginning? Alright, I guess..." Another disgruntled moan, this one filtered by her upper row of teeth and her bottom lip. "Well... I guess it all really started back when I found the temporal gateway spell. It was just kind of something I stumbled upon and took interest in... I didn't actually take it, I just took a few pictures. Made it easier to not get caught."

Twilight scoffed, raising a single eyebrow of skepticism. "You just stumbled on the ability to travel through time?"

"Well, it was in a library... or, I guess it was more of an archive, depending on how you look at it. Top floor, highest security..." It was at this point that Starlight broke eye contact, her eyes trailing upwards and to the right as a look of embarrassed shame came across her face. "I wasn't supposed to be in there..."

Twilight's brow furrowed. The idea that this mare was a thief was the most believable thing she had heard so far. Though there did seem to be some semblance of regret hanging over her, that didn't justify the actions in the first place. The next subject was, of course, how Starlight had stolen it in the first place, but Twilight didn't really see a point in going in-depth with that right now. The place that she had stolen it from probably just didn't have very good security. She was more interested in the results of that little heist.

"And you were able to just cast something like that?"

"It took a few years of decoding it to figure it out. Not to mention gathering all of the material components for the ritual and testing it out on a much smaller scale. And I had some help... from a friend..." Starlight's words slowly trickled off into silence. Ever so slowly she turned her attention to the floor, and the life in her eyes visibly faded away. Much like before when a humorous piece of nostalgia brought her some joy, this time she recalled something that resulted in sorrow. "Sunburst kept telling me it was a bad idea... that we shouldn't have been doing it... I should have listened to him when I had the chance..."

Starlight remained in that almost catatonic state for a few moments before suddenly jerking back up to attention. "It goes without saying, but he didn't talk me out of it... but he at least insisted I bring something along with me so I wasn't entirely lost."

"... And that's why you have 'my' journal?"

"The first rule of road tripping, always bring a map."

"Sound logic..." Twilight nodded slowly, parsing the information before taking on a bitter expression. "So you stole it from me?"

Like a scarecrow in a field, Starlight froze and remained entirely motionless. Her eyes practically bored into Twilight's skull with how intense her stare was. Twitches and jitters visibly ran up and down her frame as the silence persisted. Sweat began to gather across her brow as her cheeks puffed up, a sign that she was now holding her breath. Whatever the answer to Twilight's question was, it looked like Starlight didn't want to give it. Another of her nervous breakdowns looked just about ready to boil over to the surface. Frustrated by this development, Twilight quietly growled to herself before going to press the issue.

"Did you—?"

"Okay, there's no sugar-coating this, I stole it just like I stole the spell." The question was cut off immediately by a hasty response given in a single breath. "I mean, I was going to put it back when I was done. Back when I thought I'd actually be able to go home. But that's not possible, so I'm a thief. Happy?" The admittance to stealing the journal was the first thing Twilight believed without a second thought.

And the more she thought about this story, the more she began to connect the dots in her head. From day one, Starlight had acted in very strange ways around Twilight, ways that displayed some level of foresight. From apologizing to Twilight "for everything" the first time they met, to yesterday when she showed up out of the blue to point Twilight in Spike's general direction. One explanation was the use of divination magic. Twilight wouldn't be surprised if Starlight had some knowledge in the art, but that didn't explain Starlight's knowledge of her personal affairs. The duplicate journal did, but there was no logical explanation as to how she could have gotten it. The only time she could have was the night she had wiped Spike's memories, but that had happened after the two ponies had met. It also didn't justify the numerous alterations made to the entries. What in the world could she have to gain from making those kinds of edits? Then there was Starlight's reluctance to talk about this in the first place. If this was all meant to be some cover story, why go through the effort to deny it? Perhaps to sell the illusion of it being a far-fetched tale that Twilight wouldn't believe, but at that point why not just make a more believable alibi? One that didn't require all this emotional strain?

As she thought, Twilight made it a point not to break eye contact with Starlight. She watched for any crack in her persona, any sign that this was all some elaborate ruse, a sob story to get Twilight to stop asking questions and get back to the task at hoof. But no such sign came, and all Twilight saw staring back at her were the tired eyes of a defeated mare. A mare who, as she said, had lost everyone and everything she had ever known or cared about. And in a moment of either foolishness or kindness—Twilight hadn't decided which it was yet—she found herself coming to believe that, if nothing else, the explanation that was being given was at least real to Starlight. Real enough, at least.

"You're... not making this up, are you?" Even now, Twilight had her doubts. But they were slowly being overpowered by her bleeding heart, as she had been calling it for the past few days.

Starlight simply shook her head in response. No further explanation, no attempts to either deny or bolster the story. Just a simple expression that spoke louder than any number of words ever could. Though that didn't stop Twilight from continuing the interrogation, as there was one piece of the puzzle that needed to be put in its place.

"So... Why'd you do it?"

"What?" Starlight flinched at the question.

"Why did you do it? You had a reason, right? Someone doesn't just go around stealing from archives and alicorns without a good reason. Especially when you have a friend telling you to stop." Twilight didn't raise her voice, she kept herself calm and collected as she spoke. "So, why did you do it?"

Something in Starlight shifted at that moment. An emotional weight bore down on her enough to make her posture slack more than it already had. Her face became visibly strained as her inner turmoil came to the surface. Tears began to well up in her eyes, And her breaths became ragged with emotion as she struggled to put the words together. A series of pained choking sounds escaped her as if she were about to burst into sobs.

But before either mare could continue, a rumbling quake shook the dilapidated tower. The emotional tension was shattered like glass as the tremor came and went without any warning. Starlight perked up and ran towards the window, poking her head outside and glaring upward.

"I thought we had more time..." Starlight bit her lower lip and let out a concerned groan, looking back to Twilight with an exasperated expression. "We need to get a move on, we're running out of time!"

Twilight had to bite back the urge to growl at this development.. While Starlight's story practically demanded further investigation, there was no denying that the earthquake also needed her attention. Though Twilight didn’t even get a chance to question what was happening before Starlight was on the move again. In a blur, she raced back to the dusty old desk and scooped up the box stolen from Knox. Doubling back around, Twilight braced herself as Starlight charged her like a bull.

"Sorry about this!" Starlight shouted frantically as she leaped towards her.

There wasn't enough time to react to the situation, and Twilight soon found herself being tackled to the ground by the frenzied unicorn. But before she could hit the floor, a blinding flash of blue light overwhelmed her senses as Starlight's teleportation spell once again whisked them away. To where, Twilight did not know.

— Chapter Forty-Eight —

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--- Truth in the Treetop ---

There were many benefits to traveling via teleportation, but it didn't come without its drawbacks. Such as the fact that momentum and posture were maintained through the transition, meaning that as the blue light of Starlight's spell faded, Twilight was left hanging in the air seconds away from plummeting to the ground. She landed with a thud and a groan, disoriented by the unexpected transportation, and remained still on the surprisingly soft floor while she reoriented herself.

"No, no, no, no!" Starlight was already up and running off by the sounds of it, and unmistakably upset by whatever it was she was shouting at. "Not yet! We were supposed to have more time!"

Twilight shook her head with an irritated murmur, readjusting the glasses she had been wearing and taking in the sight of a field of long-dead rosemary flowers. Starlight had taken them back to the top of the gargantuan tree at the heart of Warden's Keep. Being up here again was enough to make Twilight give an anxious shudder as she recalled the last time she was here.. She turned her attention towards the center of the organic platform, where Starlight was having her latest panic attack. Twilight watched with timid concern as the other mare frantically dashed back and forth around an ominous structure faintly glowing at the center of the space, frantically examining it, but not taking the time to actually see.. If Twilight's memory served her right, that was the spot where that small shard of crystal was embedded into the tree's bark.

Though as she cautiously made her approach, she saw that the small shard had undergone some changes since the last time Twilight had laid eyes on it. It was bigger now, for one thing, and had ascended above the thick layer of dead flowers that it had once been buried in. Where before Twilight could use her hoof to obscure it entirely, it was now large enough for her to use as a small bed, though she couldn't imagine it would feel good to rest on It no longer resembled a simple broken gemstone, and it had taken on an uncanny plant-like visage. Six large leaf-like protrusions surrounded a large bud big enough to fit a pony's head in, giving it the appearance of a flower about to bloom. Comprised of a milky quartz-like mineral, the green light held within was focused entirely at the heart of the waiting flower bud. Every now and again, as if at random, wisps of other colors made themselves visible within. . Reds, blues, yellows, and every other shade in the visible spectrum. There were even flickers of white from time to time, though green remained the dominant color, at least for the time being.

"I know you're impatient, but could you just go back to sleep for a little bit longer?!" Starlight pleaded with the crystal plant as if it could actually hear her. "I just need a little more time!"

"What in the world is that thing?"

"The cause of all our problems... the wars, the Choir going after Selene, the timberwolves. All of it because the Choir wants its claws on this stupid, impatient rock!" Starlight lashed out at the unusual growth, kicking it with a loud, resounding clang. She let out a yelp of pain that was louder and, waved the injured hoof about to try and alleviate the discomfort. "Okay, I deserved that!"

Twilight scowled. For as helpful as that answer was, it wasn’t specific enough.. "Thanks for giving me another vague answer. But would you mind telling me what it actually is?"

"I would have explained earlier if you hadn't been hyper fixated on me," Starlight managed to shoot a knowingly bitter glance at Twilight. "But to answer your question, you're looking at the Element of Harmony. Or what's left of it, anyway. It's been trying to fix itself for centuries."

That answer changed Twilight's attitude in an instant. Her eyes drifted back to the crystalline flower as she processed Starlight's words. Most ponies knew that this forest had indeed become the sacred relic's final resting place. In the last days of the relatively short Equestrian/Searăn war, when Queen Celestia stormed Warden's Keep to confront her corrupted sister, the resulting clash was enough to shatter the fortress. When all was said and done, and the smoke settled, the Element of Harmony was supposedly destroyed with Selene, having been resigned to her existence as the Mare in the Moon. And while Starlight had made some outrageous claims today, the idea that the most powerful magical artifact in the world had somehow survived its own destruction was one of the more believable.

That train of thought was shaken out of her head as another tremor shook the whole tree, the crystal bud's light growing and decreasing as the event came and went. If one were paying particular attention to the unnatural plant, they would have seen it grow, even if only by a fraction of an inch.

"And as you can see, it doesn't want to be broken anymore," Starlight managed to stammer out as she fought to maintain her balance. "Probabbly because of that little travel charm you have."

Taking the cue, Twilight's first thought was to pull out the artifact in question. Much like it had the first time Twilight had come up here, the gem embedded in the amulet was glowing brighter than usual—though it was far from blinding this time around. The bizarre ringing sound was also back, also far less prevalent than it had been the first time around.

"Yup, that's the one. Good thing you brought that, we're gonna need it." While the panic in Starlight's voice had toned down significantly, She was still very much on edge. Once again she Knox’s book in feverish search of something. "Dumb question, how fast of a learner are you? Specifically with spells."

"What does that have to do with anything? What's even going on?!" It was hard for the hectic nature of the situation not to get under Twilight's skin, the hair on her neck standing on end as her emotions began to boil over. "What in the world is going through your head right now?!"

"At least she's finally asking the relevant questions," Starlight bitterly mumbled under her breath before shoving the open book at Twilight, "To make a long story short, you need to cast this spell through that amulet over at the big weird crystal plant thing." She pointed at each of the three mentioned components in a series of overly exaggerated movements.

"And that's gonna stop the world from ending?" Flustered and confused, Twilight lookedNumbly down at the dusty old tome. From the first few words sprawled out before her, she knew what this spell was. "This is the Dream Walking spell..."

"Yup. Choir's disciples only kept the book around because that spell lets them commune with their god," Starlight snappily turned her focus back to the crystal bud, "You've probably been on the receiving end of it a few times. Well, this time you need to be the instigator. Confront her in her own head."

"I'm sorry, you want me to go back in there?!" Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. Memories of the last time she had been made to endure Selene's dreams rushed back into her head like water from a busted dam. If it hadn't been for her own home security measures and Rainbow Dash's actions, there would have been a very good chance that she never would have awoken from that awful nightmare. "What does going back into her head have to do with stopping the Choir?"

"A lot, actually. If you can manage to either sever its ties to Selene or cut her ties with the Element," Starlight kept her eyes locked firmly on the bud, watching for something, though what that was, only she knew.. "Though I will say, cutting her off is the temporary solution. Cutting her off from the Choir is the permanent answer."

"Okay..." Twilight slowly nodded, taking her time in processing this new information. It was a lot to take in all at once, but it wasn't anything Twilight couldn't handle. Her eyes drifted over to the glowing bud, becoming increasingly more worried as she dwelled on these thoughts. "So, I'm guessing they need this to do whatever it is they need to do?"

"Yes. The Choir is powerful, but it has rules that it can't break even if it wanted to." Starlight took a moment to collect her thoughts and calm herself down before she continued. "It wants to use the Element of Harmony to rewrite itself. Make it so it doesn't need a host. Or consent to infect someone's mind. They need an alicorn to do that. And it went to a lot of trouble to get its hooks into Selene way back when. It killed her mother and started a whole war just to break her down. Enough to make her take their deal."

Twilight’s mind lingered on the fact that an alicorn was needed for the Choir's objective to be fulfilled, and how they had gotten to Selene in the first place. Oddly enough, it brought her back to several days prior. Before she had gotten involved with this mess, and before she had even met Starlight. She went back to her earliest encounters with the Mare in the Moon. The entity had pried into her deepest fears and anxieties about her immortality and taunted her with them. Up until now, Twilight hadn't dwelt much on those interactions, in fact, she had almost entirely forgotten about them. But with this new context, she couldn't shake a sick feeling of dread.

"They just need... an alicorn?"

This was what got Starlight to aim her attention back at Twilight. There was a similar look of contemplative concern written across her features. "Yeah... why?"

"It's nothing..." Twilight was quick to shake off that horrid hypothetical and return to the here and now. If the Choir really had tried to make Twilight its new host, it had seemingly given up on that option, if their last encounter was anything to go by. That was enough get her to calm down and focus. With a sigh, Twilight took up the old book and began skimming over the contents of the spell. She wasn't done asking questions yet, but at least she could get started on this in the meantime, just to help get her mind back on the right track.

As she began to read in earnest, it became apparent that the translation properties of these glasses weren't quite made with spells in mind. It was still perfectly readable, but the way it was translated made it a bit awkward. The grammar was off, for one. Twilight had no idea what kind of magic had gone into these glasses, but it made sense that something like this would have a few glitches in its functionality. It wasn't enough to stop Twilight's progress, just slow her down a bit. It was less distracting than the next tremor to rattle the tree, but that was only a momentary distraction at best. The spell itself was fairly straightforward all things considered, which probably played a role in why it was outlawed.

"So, Is there anything else you want to tell me before I do this?" Twilight asked as she read, making sure she was parsing the spell correctly.

"Doing this is probably going to cause as many problems as it fixes," Starlight solemnly answered without hesitation, "There's a lot of moving parts to this whole mess. I'm not even sure if this will work in the first place..."

Well, that wasn’t at all reassuring. "What kind of problems?"

"Unless you can separate Selene from the Choir, you're going to accelerate her return... which is something that you'll have to deal with..."

Somehow Twilight knew that this wouldn't be as easy as Starlight had been making it sound, and the confirmation that there were going to be further hardships to come was oddly satisfying. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're not done explaining everything."

"No... I suppose I'm not..." There was a moment of chilled silence before Starlight continued. "Can I ask that you wait until this is all said and done?... I want time to collect my thoughts..."

"Nice try, but I don't think I'll be very conscious while I'm rummaging about in that mad mare's head," Twilight raised an eyebrow as she closed the short distance between the two of them, "How do I know you won't just run off?"

"...You don't," the hesitation there was damning by itself, but at least she was honest about it. "And I'm going to guess that there isn't much I can say to make you believe that I'll actually come back?"

"Not really, no." Twilight changed her expression back to a bitter scowl, "You can't just start the story you did without finishing it."

"In fairness, I didn't want to tell you in the first place," Starlight nervously chuckled.

This got under Twilight's skin more than it should have, and the alicorn snorted with fury before she retaliated. "In. Fairness. I'm owed an explanation for how and why you've been stalking me."

To Twilight’s surprise, Instead of being given an answer—or in all likelihood, another excuse—Starlight just took on this wide, blank expression. The life just seemed to drain out of her. It was reminiscent of the way she had gawked at Twilight the day the two had first met. As the silence dragged on, Twilight noticed that this time the primary emotion behind the expression wasn't surprise. This time it was sorrow. Her wide eyes drooped as her brow contorted with emotion, her lips parting slightly as tiny half-gasps escaped. It sounded like she was trying to say something, anything, but the words were caught in her throat. It was enough to cool Twilight’s frustration into concern. Finally, after several seconds, quieter than a whisper, Starlight was finally able to choke out the words.

"You... talk... just like her..."

Once again, Starlight's words only brought on further questions instead of answering any. Yet before Twilight could ask for clarification, the moment was interrupted with yet another outburst from the broken Element of Harmony. Twilight swore she heard the tree creek from the strain of this latest quake, far stronger than the other tremors. The green glow radiating from the crystal became unbearably bright as the very earth shook from the magical force, the air filled with the otherworldly arcane ringing. Like before, these symptoms only lasted a simple moment. But it was more than enough to command the attention of the two mares, and likely every living thing for miles if the magnitude of the shaking was to be believed.

"We're running out of time," shaken free from her mournful trance, Starlight turned back to Twilight, her eyes desperate and pleading. "Look, if we keep bickering like this, the world will end without us even noticing!"

Even so, Twilight couldn't just let Starlight run off to who-knew-where. The impending apocalypse was significantly more important in the grand scheme of things, without doubt, but even still, the story behind this unicorn was too tantalizing to resist. There was no way around it, Twilight had become obsessed with this mare and the story she had spun. Whether her story was real or not, it demanded investigation. But in the end, she had to admit that this desire was her personal vice and nothing more. The truth would mean very little to her if she had to let the world end just to get it. Twilight bit down hard on her lower lip and growled to vent her frustrations before throwing her head back. A moment later, her eyes were back on Starlight, burning with pent-up malice.

"Fine. You win. I'll stop the Choir, save the world, and put history back on the right course for you." Twilight's voice was blunt and almost cruel. She leaned in close, squinting her eyes heavily as she glared into Starlight's. "But when it's all said and done, you are going to tell me everything. Beginning, middle, and end."

"Understood." The first and likely last answer that Starlight had given that Twilight actually liked. "But if it's all the same to you, I would at least like some time to put my own affairs in order... stopping the Choir here won't stop their cult. Not all of them, at least. If nothing else, I should at least take care of that for you."

"Hmm... fine." Another low growl echoed from Twilight's throat, unhappy to hear about Starlight's plans to stall for time. But she had at least made a decent excuse for doing so, and they were running out of time. "But if you don't come back, I will find you."

"I know."

Twilight maintained silent eye contact to make sure her intentions were clear. With the looming threat of the end of days, there wasn't much else she could do. With a huff, she finally returned Starlight's personal space and headed towards the Element. With a quick adjustment of her glasses, she made another pass over the spell to make sure she had it right. Once she was confident in her ability to cast this illegal spell, she removed the glasses and placed them in her saddlebag alongside the dusty old book. Another flicker of her horn was all it took to bring the travel charm into focus, and Twilight took the time to gaze upon the jewel embedded in its middle.

"So. I'm supposed to cast the dream walking spell through the amulet at this... thing?"

"Yes. The Element is still connected to Selene. That should be enough for the spell to reach her."

The use of "should" in that sentence was concerning, but so was everything going on right now.. Twilight took a deep breath in preparation for what was to come. She closed her eyes as she looped the amulet around her neck. With a single thought, she reached out towards the amulet with her magic. She remained motionless as she cast the spell, moving slowly and cautiously to make sure that she did it right.

When the spell was completed, however, Twilight was caught off guard by a very forceful pulling sensation on her magic. There wasn’t time to react, there wasn’t time to even process what had happened. One second Twilight was standing atop the gargantuan tree within the Everfree Forest, the next her mind was just… somewhere else.. There was a single instance where Twilight was aware of whatever the spell was doing. It was now painfully obvious that she may have mistranslated a few aspects of the dream walking spell.

And so Twilight was once more made to relive the bygone days of that other mare's life. This time of her own, albeit accidental, accord.

— Chapter Forty-Nine —

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--- What Nightmares Endure ---

"We can help you kill him."

As the war against King Sombra raged on, not a single day went by where Twilight didn't linger on those tempting words. Spoken to her by a shard of the black magic that the Searăn tyrant had allegedly enslaved, the offer remained just as tempting as the years of fighting began to meld together into a violent blur. The entity within the shard, a fragment of some so-called "choir," claimed Sombra had tricked it into servitude, and that it wanted no part in the chaos that he was unleashing upon this world. Yet in spite of her desperation for this war to end, she couldn't bring herself to trust the mysterious voice. It was too convenient, in her battle-addled mind, and she wrote the shard's tempting offer off as some trick on her father's behalf. The fragment was thusly confined within a led box to be contained, and that was the end of it.

But even still, those words lingered in the back of Twilight's mind, faintly calling out to her as she continued her crusade against her murderous father. They weren't intrusive or particularly loud, only lasting for a few short moments at a time, but they were there. Whenever she was given enough time to stop and breathe, or on the occasions where she captured more of these dark weapons, her mind always managed to bring her back to that first night. And each time, Twilight always found herself asking the same question.

"What if?"

A meek cry of pain at her hooves snapped Twilight from her trance, eliciting a gasp of surprise from her as she looked down. A Searăn soldier lay sprawled out on the ground, writhing in agony and crawling towards Twilight. But it was now abundantly clear that the broken sarosian was not dead. She watched silently as her foe twitched and gasped for air.

"Oh my... oh no..." It took Twilight a few moments of dumbfounded gawking to realize what she had done. Just moments ago she had smashed this stallion through a stone pillar in an effort to end his life and preserve her own. She had done this soldier a cruel disservice, his only crime being on the other side of the conflict. He was beyond saving. Silver light emanated from her horn as she called upon her magic to end this other pony's suffering. "You have... my sincerest apologies..."

Those were the last words the sarosian ever heard. He let out one last defiant gurgle as the alicorn's magic snapped his neck like a twig, ending his misery. It wasn’t the first time Twilight had ended another pony's life, it hadn't even been the first one she had taken today, but this one had hit her particularly hard. Twilight had made it a habit to make her kills quick and clean. Seară's soldiers were her enemies, but she bore no ill will towards them. They were simply serving the will of their nation, even if that will was controlled by a horrid tyrant. They didn't deserve to die, but such was the horror of war. She had done everything in her power to avoid dwelling on the lives she had taken. But the way that stallion had looked at her just now had gotten to her. She couldn't tell if his final moments had been spent pleading for help or if he had still been following his orders. Frankly, she wasn't sure which idea frightened her more.

"It did not... have to be this way..." An all too familiar voice clawed at the back of her mind, drawing her attention away from the fresh corpse. Floating beside Twilight in a veil of silver light was one of the many dark shards bestowed upon Sombra's chosen elite. Recovering this weapon before it could be used had been Twilight's reason for attacking this now-dead soldier in the first place. She had almost forgotten she had claimed it, even though it had served as a potent distraction just a few seconds earlier. "We can help you... end this war... And save so many..."

Twilight scoffed at the repeated offer. She was in no mood to entertain the thought right now. Her horn flashed and drew a metallic box from one of her bags, swiftly flipping the lid open. The black shards that had been captured throughout the day glistened in the sunlight, and the latest capture was added.

One final plea was made as the lid was snapped shut, the voice being shut off entirely as Twilight relocked the box. It was unclear if it was the material of the case that was shutting the voices out, or if they were simply taking the hint and respecting her unspoken request for silence. A weary sigh filled the air around her as the adrenalin from battle wore down. Whatever sounds of battle remained were off in the distance, far enough away that Twilight wasn't in any immediate danger. The reprieve was appreciated,, and she wouldn’t waste the opportunity. Tucking the metal container back into her bag, she turned away from the latest victim of Sombra's war and went on her way. Getting these captured weapons into proper containment was of the utmost importance, and the transit back to the camp would give her ample time to collect her composure and take in her surroundings.

Moonveil was one of the largest cities in Seară, and its position and resources made it more than a viable staging point for many of the nocturnal nation's attacks on both Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Unsurprisingly, Sombra had turned the port town into a militarized fortress over the course of this war. Capturing this city would not be an easy task, but after many years it looked as if it was finally being done. As she walked, Twilight could see Equestrian and Crystal Empire soldiers capturing and detaining whatever Searăn troops hadn't been slain. The siege was going as well as it could. Casualties were unavoidable, with the bodies of the deceased littered everywhere the eye could see, from both sides of the conflict. All of which had been left to lay where they had fallen. Proper burials would have to come later when the city was fully secure. It was the least that these soldiers deserved for sacrificing their lives for the sake of their countries.

"Help, please, help!" The Searăn screams dragged Twilight back to reality, shocked by the fact that the mare shrieking at her was undoubtedly calling for help. Running towards Twilight in a desperate sprint was a sarosian, a civilian by the looks of it, eyes red and puffy with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She looked terrified, dashing out of a nearby home in a panic. And for whatever reason, she had decided to seek sanctuary with Twilight. "He's going to kill me! Please! Stop—"

Before Twilight could even register what was happening, a bright blue burst of arcane energy flew out from inside the building and struck the frightened pony in the back of the head. There wasn't even time for her to react before she fell to the ground at Twilight's hooves in a heap. The blast had killed her instantly, and Twilight stifled a scream as she watched the smoke rise from where the magic had struck her. She couldn't take her eyes off of the mare's face, still frozen in that look of terror. It was a horrible thing to see, she wasn't even a soldier. This was just some poor soul who called this city their home.

"Apologies for the poor performance, aunty!" Another voice shook Twilight out of her trance, this time belonging to a stallion that Twilight was all too familiar with.

Mi Coraggio Tenore. Crowned prince of the Crystal Empire, the firstborn son of Empress Melodia, and Twilight's insufferable nephew. Her eyes were practically assaulted by his wine-red coat and extravagantly maintained goldenrod mane, a testament to both his status and his vanity. Despite being no older than twenty-five, he bore a sash decorated with any number of badges and medals that had no real significance in Twilight's opinion. Just pointless trinkets dedicated to this pony's "achievements" during the short time he spent fighting in this war. As he strode from the same house the sarosian had fled from, he made it a point to adjust his wings alongside another brief spark of magic, egotistically drawing attention to his alicorn features.

"I assume you are unharmed?" He spoke with the regal authority that was to be expected of a noble, carrying himself with a codependently arrogant posture despite the crime he had clearly just committed.

"...Unharmed?" Twilight glared at Tenore before looking back down to the deceased sarosian. There was no denying that he had been the culprit behind this unjust execution. Disgust and anger welled up within Twilight as she turned her gaze back to her nephew. "This was a civilian! What harm could she have possibly done?!"

"Hmm... So it was." As if doubting her words, Tenore pointed his gaze down at the sarosian he had slain with a look of disinterest. "Well, casualties are an unfortunate consequence of war. No changing it now." And just like that, he began to walk away as if nothing had happened, completely uncaring of the life he had just ended.

"Tenore!" Twilight screamed with a stomp of her hoof, prompting Tenore to stop and glance back over his shoulder. She charged forward with intent, moving to stand in front of him and block his path. "Do not think you can just walk away after what you just did!"

"What's this? Showing sympathy for the enemy now?" He chuckled arrogantly, "A bit hypocritical of you, if I may. How many bats have you killed over the years, again?"

"Soldiers. I've killed soldiers," Twilight emphasised bitterly.

"Fair enough. But perhaps that is why this war has gone on this long, hmm?" Tenore spoke in the same pompous fashion that he always did, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere of the situation. "These horrible creatures that have allowed King Sombra to remain in power. They need to be dealt with. They are just as guilty of prolonging this war as he is. As such, they deserve to be punished accordingly."

Twilight was left speechless, mouth agape in stunned silence at what she was hearing. She didn't really know her nephew that well, having maybe spent a few hours with him total over the course of his entire life, but she had heard plenty of second-hoof stories about him and his opinions of those on the other side of the conflict. In the past, she had written this off as some twisted form of national pride, a way to bolster morale in the Crystal Empire’s troops.

But hearing these words come straight from his mouth, it was clear that those stories had all failed to show the true nature of Tenore’s prejudice. Discrimination towards sarosians was nothing new, but the fact that these emotions had been so strongly fostered by her own nephew was harrowing. She knew that Melodia wasn’t the most favorable towards sarosians even before the war — Twilight included — but the fact that her son had turned out this way was never the less shocking.

The intensive anger and confusion she felt were only matched by the overwhelming disgust towards his disregard for life. If there had been anything in her stomach, it likely would have been ejected onto the ground by now.

"Oh don't look at me like that, you know I'm right. Mother always says that a ruler is only as powerful as their people allow. And these people allowed that bastard to murder my grandmother and wage this war for decades." He placed a hoof upon his breast and raised his head high in a triumphant manner, truly believing his cause to be the righteous one.

"Most of these people didn't have a choice, they were born into this war," Twilight snarled, "As were you."

"Even so, they have had every opportunity to rebel against their king and fight for a just cause. And yet they haven't." His eyes narrowed, the first hint of aggression he had shown this whole time. "They have chosen their fate."

"And if you continue on this path, you will seal your own. The grandmother you claim to fight for, my mother, would not approve of this. And neither would any of her daughters." Twilight took several steps forward to emphasize her next point. "That includes your mother."

Tenore stood there bitterly processing Twilight's threat before turning and walking away. Twilight wanted to stop him, she felt like it was her responsibility to stop him, but she couldn't. She was paralyzed with such a potent mixture of disgust and rage, only able to watch as her murderous nephew simply walked off. She watched intensely as the younger alicorn took to the skies with a beat of his wings. Her eyes followed his movements until he vanished from view. She stared after him, silently seething with rage. If he wasn't her sister's son, there was no doubt in her mind that Twilight would have slain him then and there for what he had done and said.

With a snort, she finally broke her glare and made her way back to her nephew's unfortunate victim. Her expression softened as she gazed upon the fallen mare. Her desperate cries for help echoed in Twilight’s mind like a ghostly whisper. In morbid curiosity, she turned to the home the mare had fled from and wondered just how many others Tenore had killed.

"Hatred begets hatred. He has been tainted by Sombra's chaos." Twilight heard the voices of the shadow crystals echo in her mind. "Left unchecked he will spread just as much carnage. He must be stopped. This war must be stopped."

Twilight didn't care that the box evidently didn't block out their words, and at this moment, she was barely able to distinguish them from her own thoughts. For the first time since she came into contact with that bizarre entity, Twilight found herself fully agreeing with it. Replacing her dreary outlook with one of determination, she looked back towards what was left of the civilian. With a gentle flicker of magic, the mare's terrified eyes were closed for the last time. It was the least Twilight could do for her.

With that final act of kindness done, Twilight turned her back to the scene of the crime and went on her way. Just as the voice of the shards said, it was time for this war to come to an end. By any means necessary. She knew the dangers of trusting a product of Sombra's magic, but she no longer cared about any of them. It had spent years offering her a way to strip the tyrant of his power and end his life without fault. The time for indecision on the matter was over. Her hesitation was causing innocent lives to be lost. She could bear that weight no longer. And as the first few notes of the Choir's song finally reached her ears, she made a solemn promise in the name of every life that had been lost in this needless conflict.

"No more."

— Chapter Fifty —

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--- The Mare in the Moon ---

No more.

That had been the promise Selene made to herself on the day that she finally broke. The war had gone on far longer than it should have, and the murderous chaos that King Sombra had wrought had spread like wildfire. It had to end, by any means necessary. She no longer cared If this "Choir" entity was untrustworthy or not. They promised to lift the veil of bloodshed that hung over the land and to give Selene a means to end her father's life. Either these promises would be fulfilled, or Selene would be put out of her misery for her foolishness.

She worked swiftly in secret under the Choir's command, doing exactly as they asked without hesitation.. The black shards that had been captured over the war's duration—fragments of the Choir's power, broken and scattered amongst the Searăn forces—were her objectives. Under the guise of routine inspections, she made sure to visit each of the Equestrian strongholds that contained them. From the furthest reaches of Equestria's territory all the way to Warden's Keep, no stone was left unturned.

Hundreds of confiscated crystals were shattered like glass beneath her hoof, each one adding to the Choir's song and, by extension, Selene's growing strength. She was stronger, faster, her magic was more potent. Just like it had been with her father. These enhancements served her well in the many battles that broke up her visits to Equestria's strongholds.

But these battles also allowed her to gather yet more of the Choir's fragments. Though even now, Selene retained her philosophy of killing only when absolutely necessary, even if the Choir said otherwise. It was the one part of her will that would not bend to theirs, and eventually, they submitted to the compromise.

Selene began keeping a careful eye on the Equestrian and Crystal Empire soldiers she fought beside. She was rather adamant about them following her hoof steps and not shedding any unnecessary blood. Disobedience resulted in a number of consequences. From professional disciplinary actions to almost childish shows of force and threats of violence. She never actually harmed her own, nor would she, but they didn't need to know that.

It had gotten to the point where she had begun to earn a rather caustic reputation. A number of letters came from both of her sisters filled with concerns. Selene's replies were curt, speaking of dealing with insubordination or some such. Just to get her siblings to calm down and stay off of her back for a time. They could deal with her in any way they wished after the war was over, but not a minute before.

Her single-minded rage and focus only subsided in times of rest. While the Choir's songs served to fuel her ambition and prowess in battle, they also gifted her with restful sleep and pleasant dreams. The lullabies they would serenade her with were the only things capable of bringing peace to her heart anymore. They filled her dreams with memories of better days, and visions of the future she was fighting to achieve. A world without Sombra's war, a utopia overflowing with unity and love. A harmony that had never been achieved before, even in the time of her mother's rule. Beautiful to the point where waking up was almost unbearable.

Selene wished on many occasions she could dream forever.

It was the memory of these dreams that made it difficult for Twilight to draw the line between herself and Selene. Even as a simple memory, the Choir's song was intoxicating, almost overwhelming. All it took was one moment of consent for them to worm their way into someone's head. Thankfully, somewhere deep down, Twilight knew that these feelings weren't her own.

As time within the dreamscape went on, the distinction between the two alicorns became clearer. It was like being woken up in the middle of the night, with a slow and groggy return to lucidity accompanied by blurry vision and a general sense of disorientation. She almost wanted to stay asleep, but the gravity of the situation kept her aware..

I am never... doing that... again, Twilight made her own vow as she regained the ability to move her body, slowly standing up as her senses returned. Or at the very least... not without practice...

As the haze began to fade, Twilight expected to be greeted with the same bleak void she wound up in the last time she had dream walked. But to her surprise, she was greeted by a much more welcoming sight. Now standing close to the center of a large cobblestone courtyard, bordered by a series of tall marble spires, Twilight was surrounded by endless blooms of rosemary. The scent of the small lavender flowers was carried by a gentle breeze that wafted across this seemingly endless plane.

Looking upward, the starry sky was host to a breathtaking aurora of blues and purples, bathing the field of flowers in a calming radiance. The sight was awe-inspiring, and if the situation wasn't so dire, she might have lost herself in the sea of stars. But there were far more pressing matters to be dealt with. She reluctantly turned her attention to the terrain around her in search of any sign of where to go from here.

"Do not worry, she will be dealt with." From behind Twilight, a cold and ruthless voice spoke with confidence. "This... 'obstacle' that you claim her to be is nothing more than a minor delay. You lack patience."

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Her body tensed as a chill ran down her spine. There was no mistaking that voice. She had heard it come from her own mouth too many times. Swallowing hard, Twilight slowly turned to face this serene world's only other occupant. The pony in question sat upon the cool stone ground with her back turned towards Twilight. She looked strangely relaxed.

The mare's cobalt blue mane stood out amongst the grey of the pavement below her, only matched by the silver mane and tail that hung lazily from her frame. At a glance, Twilight spotted the mare's leathery, bat-like wings and upwardly curved horn. But Twilight didn't need to see these traits to recognize this person. She had spent a lifetime in their shoes, even if it was only a dream.

Princess Lunae Lumen Selene, in the flesh.

Twilight shuddered at the sight of the ancient alicorn, who remained motionless at her post. If Twilight had been on edge earlier, the sudden sight of her destined enemy was almost enough to push her over the edge. A sense of finality washed over Twilight as she stared blankly ahead, knowing full well that this was the moment she had been working towards.

And the moment that Starlight Glimmer, and quite possibly Queen Celestia, had been pushing her towards.

Her body trembled in Selene's presence, and for a moment she considered using the spell she had used to come here to escape. Though the simple fact of the matter was that it was too late to turn back now.. Like it or not, this was something that had to be done.

She took a deep breath to steal her nerves before going to say something. The words died in her throat as Selene stood. Selene was noticeably taller than Twilight, and while not quite as tall as Equestria's Queen, there was enough of a difference in stature between the two to make Twilight shudder again. She had to stifle a yelp as Selene suddenly jerked in place, flinching from some unseen and unheard cause.

"No. You had free reign of our affairs while I slumbered. Now that I am lucid once more, I shall decide how we proceed." The elder alicorn almost growled with frustration as she turned her gaze upward. There was no doubt that she was talking with someone, and Twilight had a feeling she knew who it was..

By a miraculous stroke of luck, Twilight had yet to be noticed, and a wave of short-lived euphoria came over her. Short-lived being the operative word, as she was still left without a clear course of action. The dreams she had lived through didn't offer any insights, neither did Starlight’s irritatingly cryptic briefing.

In hindsight, she probably should have come up with a plan first, but it was too late to regret her hasty actions now. But what Twilight did know was that a direct confrontation wouldn’t be ideal. She took a step backward to try and escape before the situation escalated. She didn't quite know where she could go in this realm, but anywhere was better than right behind the most dangerous person she had ever met.

Though all it had taken was that single step for Selene's ear to flick back. Twilight froze. The gentle wind chilled as the tension rose

Finally, Selene ended the silence.

"Ah, I was beginning to wonder when you'd show up." Her tone of voice wasn't what Twilight had been expecting to hear—calm, collected, almost welcoming. A severe contrast to how she had been talking to her unseen benefactor. Selene's previous behavior was further contrasted when she turned around, looking at Twilight with a small but welcoming smile. "You must be this 'Twilight Sparkle' I have been hearing so much about."

The first thing that Twilight noticed was the older mare's unsettling eyes. Their bright teal hue was on full display, a sight that had become vividly familiar from Twilight's journey through the mare's dreams. But the vibrant light of her eyes had been dulled, now glassy and hollow, and almost entirely devoid of light and life. As if her soul had been sucked out of her, it was reminiscent of the look in Knox Onwud's eyes when he had surrendered to the Choir's influence. Though this was far worse. Frightening, even. A chill ran across Twilight's back as her eyes locked with these dull pools.

"And... you must be Princess Selene..." Twilight anxiously wriggled her wings as Selene started to slowly circle Twilight like a shark. "I've, uh, also heard a lot about you."

"Yes, living another mare's life through her dreams is bound to have that effect." The conversation fell silent as Selene continued her lazy lap around Twilight, taking her time in examining the younger pony. It wasn't until Selene completed the circle that she chose to speak again. "Of course, I suppose that is my own fault. It seems I was quite... restless in my long slumber."

The vivid image of Selene tied down by those black brambles unconsciously calling out for help flashed into Twilight's mind. That cold and unsettling encounter was contrasted heavily by the one taking place right now. Selene herself, who Twilight had once pitied in her sorry state, now emanated an intimidating aura in spite of the unexpectedly warm welcome.

"You don't need to do this, you know. Despite the... insistence of my comrades, I would prefer not to kill you, unless absolutely necessary." Selene continued before Twilight got the chance to interject, speaking in a calm but straightforward tone.. "Truth be told, I personally do not believe any of your actions thus far have earned you a death sentence."

Perhaps there was some bias on her part, but Twilight found herself agreeing with that notion. All she had really done so far was collect information about what was going on. She hadn't done anything to try and stop it. There was no denying that she was going to try, and there was no point in attempting to convince her adversaries otherwise.

But while this offer for mercy was both surprising and touching, Twilight knew it carried little meaning, considering the circumstances. Twilight took on a more confident posture as she locked eyes with Selene.

"I... appreciate that, but I don't think it would matter very much, considering what you have planned. What good is walking away alive if the world ends a few hours after?"

"That is precisely why I am giving you the offer to walk away," Selene took several steps forward to further close the gap between her and Twilight, "Yes, it is true that our world will 'end,' but the hearts and minds of everypony within shall ascend above it. Alive and well as a part of the Choir. Forever."

"Yeah, that adds up with what I heard," Twilight said with a shrug, reflecting on her interesting night with Knox in prison, "It still sounds about as insane the second time around."

"Chaos and death ravage our world like a plague, and they must be purged." Selene's voice was saturated with conviction. She held her head high as she spoke towering over Twilight."The Choir can bring us that salvation. And we are so close to achieving it."

"And did they tell you the price of that 'salvation'? Because I don't think most people want to pay it." Twilight said, though she still didn't fully understand what it was these insidious forces were attempting to achieve with this cosmic coup of theirs. But what she had gleaned from Knox's rants and Selene's recollections painted a very grim future if they succeeded. "Call me picky, but I don't think what they're planning for us counts as 'alive'."

"Chaos and death ravage our world like a plague, and they must be purged..." Selene repeated, the determination decorating Selene's face faltering. "It is true that much will be lost in exchange for harmony, but we will gain so much more in the process."

"Is that what they told you? Because last time I checked, your 'friends' were really good at misleading you. Or do you still really believe that Sombra enslaved them?"

With a flash of white light in her eyes, thick black smoke surged from Selene's horn, replacing the silver radiance that usually signified her magic. Before Twilight could react, an inky bolt shot forward and just barely missed her. By the time Twilight had even processed what had happened, the unmistakable resonance of shattering stone filled her ears, echoing around them like a tolling bell.

The attack hadn’t been meant for Twilight. If Selene had wanted to hit her, she would have. It must have been an intimidation technique. And to Selene's credit, it worked. Twilight fell silent, barely stifling a gag of fear.

"Do not say his name in my presence," Selene growled, the dark miasma about her horn fading as quickly as it had appeared. She gave off a hateful snort, her eyes now alight with fury.

In spite of her newfound fear, Twilight did not hesitate to press on. "But you know I'm right, don't you? You know that they lied to you. How could—?"

A ring of the same dark fog manifested around Twilight's throat with crushing force. With a sound somewhere between a choke and a gasp, Twilight lurched through the air to slam into one of the remaining pillars. She was held in place there, her hooves reflexively pawing at her throat for relief as she struggled to breathe. All she could do was watch as Selene turned her furious eyes towards her as she approached.

"If you honestly think that this is all that simple, then you are a greater fool than I expected," Selene snarled menacingly, letting Twilight drop back down to the ground in a coughing heap. "It does not matter if I was lied to or not. I needed to be taught the folly of our world, and so I was. And now I understand what needs to be done."

Twilight struggled to stand back up under the weight of Selene's eyes, fighting to regain her breath. She tried to speak, but another surge of dark magic ensnared the entirety of her head. Selene slammed her into the pillar again. Stars exploded across her vision as fire filled her skull. The spire cracked and shook from the impact, and Twilight was left dazed and confused with ringing ears, hardly able to parse what Selene was saying as she bitterly continued.

"Silence. I do not want to hear you lecture me as if you were my better. You do not understand, nor could you understand, that what I'm doing is necessary."

Even in her disoriented, shockingly uninjured state, Twilight could tell that something was off in Selene's voice. She sounded too emphatic… as if she were trying to convince herself. As the ringing in her ears subsided, they were replaced by Selene's terrified, meek cries for help from the last time she had seen the elder alicorn.

As her thoughts drifted back to that pitiful scene, and to the memories she had glimpsed in Selene’s dreams, an idea came to Twilight. It was a long shot, but if it paid off, maybe she could navigate this situation without casualties.

"You're right... I don't understand..." Twilight answered through deep breaths, her voice hoarse as she looked back at Selen. The ancient soldier held her threatening glare, and Twilight briefly reconsidered the plan. But she couldn’t waste precious time second guessing herself. Tensing her body, assuming Selene had let her guard down, she spoke. "So… Why don't you show me?"

A tidal wave of magenta light burst forth from Twilight as she lunged, actually managing to catch Selene off guard, and hooking her forelegs around the older alicorn's neck. The light surrounding them flowed upwards like tidal waves, manifesting as sphere around them, Twilight's intent being to trap them both inside.

"GRAH! Release me!" Selene's voice boomed as she thrashed about to shake her assailant off. Unfortunately for her, Twilight’s surprise attack - and raw terror - was enough to let her hang on.

But it seemed Selene was more worried about Twilight's spell than she was with Twilight herself. Tendrils of black magic erupted from her horn. The smog clashed with Twilight's light, keeping the attempted sphere from fully forming. Twilight held on for dear life as the older mare physically and magically fought against her. In a desperate bid to complete her spell, Twilight found any part of her magic that wasn’t needed elsewhere and redirected it into her horn..

Though Selene's countermeasures were as masterful as they were potent. The smog ate through her magic like a worm in an apple, and Twilight could physically feel the precision in every "bite.". It was humbling, in a sense, to witness such mastery of the arcane arts firsthoof. If the situation weren't so dire, Twilight would be star-struck by Selene's talents. Her own spell-weaving was sloppy and amateurish by comparison.

The struggle lasted for barely a moment. Twilight just barely managed to worm her way to victory as the magenta orb fully closed in around them before being replaced by an all-consuming flash of white lightEvery sensation was lost within the ivory explosion as it expanded out far into the endless horizon. Weight, sound, touch, all of it was gone in less than a second thanks to Twilight's spell.

And then, just as quickly as they were taken, they were abruptly returned.

The first thing Twilight felt was the sense of falling before suddenly being plunged into an ice-cold body of water. She continued falling through the chilling liquid for a few seconds before emerging from the other side, back into the open air, and unceremoniously falling to the floor. She leaped back onto her hooves in preparation for the counterattack to come.

But it never did. Selene was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd she go?!" Twilight spun around almost wildly in vain search of her adversary. But Selene was nowhere to be found.

During the lull, Twilight recognized where she was. It was the tower that had served as her dormitory for the four years she spent at the school for gifted unicorns. Everything was exactly as she remembered it. From the oversized windows that let the moonlight pour into the room to the work desk cluttered with dusty tomes and chicken-scratch notes.

It was a perfect recreation from all those years ago. It was jarring to see it all again so suddenly and at such a dire time. Twilight had to fight back the sudden rush of nostalgia that came with it.

"Okay... that went a bit better than last time," Twilight mumbled to herself, anxiously eyeing the room in search of her missing adversary as she reflected on her second attempt at dream-walking. "Not perfect by any means, but I'm getting the hang of it."

The anxiety of the situation melted away as Twilight slowly realized that Selene hadn't ended up in the same place she had, letting Twilight breathe a short sigh of relief for the first time since arriving.

The plan had been simple, if a bit undercooked. Twilight had been hoping that taking Selene back down memory lane would convince her to abandon her chosen path, or at least distract her long enough for Twilight to come up with something better. And in an attempt to try and remain optimistic about all of this, Twilight convinced herself that this blunder of a setback had at least provided her with the second of those options. It wasn't much of a victory, but it was something.

"Hey! That's my sandwich!"

Twilight blinked. That was her voice. Confused, she turned around to face what she could clearly recognize as her younger self.

The light of the open refrigerator illuminated the scene perfectly. And right before her very eyes, Twilight saw both a younger version of herself and Spike. This was the night the two had been properly introduced.

It was odd to see these events transpire from an outside perspective. Twilight watched with mixed awe and confusion as Spike dashed about the kitchen. Twilight couldn't help but smile at the fond memory in front of her, and she allowed herself the privilege to revel in it for a moment to ease her heart.

But, while a pleasant distraction, this wasn't going to help her deal with Selene.

"Alright, this was fun, but I need to get back on track." With that said, Twilight channeled her focus towards her magic and began to recast the dream-walking spell again. Like before, a sphere of magenta light formed around her in an instant—significantly faster, without Selene's interference.

And like a simple bubble, the magic just popped and vanished unceremoniously, followed almost immediately by a loud cracking sound that echoed through the memory. It drew Twilight's attention towards the staircase leading to the second story.

The only way Twilight could describe it was as a split in the skin of reality. Eerie light leaked through from the other side. It was strange to see, and would be utterly impossible were this not a world within a dream. Fascinated, Twilight cautiously approached.

Her caution was proved wide, as her first step towards the fissure caused it to suddenly rupture, shattering the world around Twilight like glass. Once again she was sent into a freefall with a shrill scream.

A vortex of shining lights surrounded Twilight as she fell. She could vaguely see what looked to be windows of shimmering light being thrown about in the chaos along with her. Some bore the familiar magenta hue of her magic, while others had a calm silver radiance. Among these shining portals of light, there were condensed masses of dark smoke that were just as prevalent in the whirlwind of magic surrounding her.

Twilight flapped her wings furiously in an attempt to catch slow her descent, the efforts being wasted thanks to Twilight's unconscious flailing of her legs to try and find solid ground amidst this turmoil.

It felt like years before she was finally given a reprieve from this endless falling, with one of the silver panels of light managing to cross her path just in the nick of time. Twilight was greeted with the unpleasant sensation of falling through a freezing pool of water, and her whole world went white.