Somepony has come to Ponyville looking for Twilight Sparkle and intends to find her before dark forces are able to harm her and her family.
Unease whispered over her coat, like the shadowy kiss of a dark spell just before it struck. There! Power. So faint she barely felt it, as if the heavy rain like a blanket of silver muffled its strength. Yet it felt astonishingly familiar in a way she couldn't describe. Who is the strange unicorn stallion that has come to Ponyville looking for Twilight Sparkle?
To Wake the Stars at Twilight Prologue The Edge of the Storm
. .
ŦS
Gusts of wind shuddered through the trees and threatened to tear the thatch from the cottages. The boiling sky ripped open and, in the blink of an eye, torrents of freezing rain and sleet smashed down on Ponyville. A fork of lightning, electric pearl against black skies, lashed through the air to strike the ground.
I don't remember any thunderstorms being scheduled for tonight. This is really going to throw off the pegasi's weather rotation, Twilight thought as she ducked her head and pushed against the wind. Slashing raindrops bit into her coat like needles of ice. She briefly considered using a bit of magic to shield herself, but decided against it. The door to the library was only a few paces away and she was already soaked. Gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut, she staggered underneath the onslaught of the wind and rain until she finally made it to the shelter of the library stoop. A flick of magenta power pulled the silver keys from her rain-slick satchel. Sighing, Twilight inserted the key in the lock and started to twist.
A prickle of unease whispered over her coat, like the shadowy kiss of a dark spell just before it struck. Twilight glanced over her shoulder toward the nearly-opaque sheets of rain hammering down just beyond the awning above the library's front door. She squinted as that strange uneasiness shivered over her coat again and tingled along the elegant spiral of her horn. The air felt wrong. She wasn't sure why, couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but there was a heaviness on the air that had nothing to do with the icy bite of the storm.
Closing her eyes, the unicorn filly let loose a single thread of her magic. If there was something out there - and every instinct said there was - it could be suicide to just throw some power at it without getting a gauge on what it actually was. Shining Armor had taught her that years ago.
So Twilight let a breath of her power shimmer like a stream of orchidaceous and midnight violet stars across the rain-soaked earth and spread outward. Through the touch of her magic, she tasted the richness of the earth, the fresh green of the grass, the chill of the rain. Static, the harbinger of another lightning strike, crackled along her mane and tail.
There! Power. A unicorn's power, so faint she barely felt it, as if the heavy rain and the fog slowly rolling in like a blanket of damp silver muffled its strength. Yet it felt astonishingly familiar in a way she couldn't describe. Shining Armor?
No, she'd know her brother's magical signature anywhere - the taste of pumpkin cookie ice cream, his favorite flavor that he'd always shared with her when she was just a spindly-legged foal; the pleasant, warm aroma of worn leather and the sharp tang of steel from his armor and sword. It wasn't her brother Twilight was sensing. It was a stallion, though. She could glean that much. And he was watching her from... somewhere.
Her heart slammed hard against her breast bone. Biting her lip, she hastily turned away and finished unlocking the library door. Ponyville was a small town. They had almost no crime, unlike in Canterlot or Manehattan. In the months the unicorn had been there, no one had been murdered or assaulted or even been thrown in prison for drunk and disorderly behavior. Except for a rival in Trixie, she didn't have any enemies roaming free, and if Discord or King Sombra or Queen Chrysalis had somehow come to Ponyville, Princess Celestia would've let Twilight know immediately. So who could be watching her?
The tumblers on the lock clicked and the door swung open. Just beyond the open door, Spike curled up in a ball of sleepy baby dragon under a desk lamp, sluggish from the cold weather. The library itself was freezing; she'd forgotten to leave the heater on, since there'd been no forecast of rain or cold weather from the pegasi.
With one last nervous glance over her shoulder out into the impenetrable downpour, Twilight Sparkle stepped into the shelter of the library. She hastily kicked the door shut and used magic to engage all the locks.
ΡĐς
There she is, the unicorn thought, and barely managed to suppress a surge of triumph. It was too soon to celebrate this minor victory. Yes, he'd finally made it back to Ponyville. Yes, he'd found Twilight Sparkle before his enemy had. But that didn't mean he could afford to let his guard down.
There were a lot of things he had to do before he could consider his mission complete. Many things still loomed on the horizon, waiting to come to pass before he would be ready to face off against the alicorns who wanted Twilight's magic for themselves.
Rain dripped down the dusty, scarred coat that had once been white as moonstone. More rain plastered his long, shaggy golden mane to forehead and neck. He'd have to use a bit of magic to dry out his black leather cloak when he managed to get to the place his mistress had arranged for him while he'd be staying in Ponyville. His paired leather satchels were oiled to repel the rain and damp, but his cloak wasn't. Neither was the loose, brown tunic he wore beneath the cloak. If not for the sleek, vicious horn as white as bone spearing into the air, the unicorn stallion knew he'd have looked like a drowned rat in the torrential downpour.
"All right," a sharp voice said from behind him. The stallion smiled. "You've seen Twilight. Now it's time to go and get settled where she's arranged for you to be. Unless you want all of our plans to be for nothing?"
He turned to regard the plump alicorn mare watching him with an exasperated look on her azure face. Unlike the unicorn, she seemed impervious to the rain. The faint sky-blue glow from the slender horn thrusting up like a spike of glittering sapphire seemed to be what kept her dry. He had a fairly good idea she was glamouring herself to look like either a regular earth pony or unicorn, as well.
"So you've made it, Mazzarine," he murmured, turning back to peer through the torrent at the library again. "Will Malachite and Amaranthine be joining us? Or are they staying to keep an eye on things in Canterlot?"
The blue alicorn shook her head. "Amaranthine's gone to Trottingham. There's been word of the Dark One having business there."
"Does Celestia know of the Dark One's renewed interest in Twilight?"
Mazzarine shook her head again with a sigh. "No, and I'm not going to be the one to tell her. Do you remember what happened the last time Celestia faced off against the Dark One? Hundreds of ponies died in the battle. If we can avoid that confrontation, we should. Malachite is doing his part by keeping an eye on the captain of the royal guard. Twilight Sparkle isn't the only one our enemies want to use for their own ends. Now come along... Peter."
The stallion who called himself Peter moved as if to follow the alicorn, but paused to look back at the rain-hazed library one more time. She was in there. Twilight Sparkle. The mare he'd come to Ponyville to find. His enemies wanted to put an end to her. He wouldn't let that happen. He'd come too far to fail now.
Shaking himself to dispel at least some of the frigid water, Peter followed Mazzarine into Ponyville.
Twilight tried to shake off the strange unease that continued to prickle along her lavender coat as she and Spike reshelved some of the books borrowed by the local ponyfolk. Rain still drummed on the library roof as the gloom outside the shuttered windows deepened into the true darkness of coming night. Lightning forked the sky in lashes of brilliant opalescence before leaving the midnight clouds dark once more.
The strange stallion she'd sensed, whoever he was, was still out there somewhere. Further away now, she was fairly sure, but how far off he'd gone, the unicorn didn't know, and the thought of that mysteriously familiar entity being anywhere in Ponyville sent nervousness twisting like icy snakes in her stomach.
"Maybe you should write to the princess about it," Spike suggested. The baby dragon balanced precariously on top of the ladder leaning against the packed shelf. Owlowsius plucked the leather-bound tome from the dragonet's claws and shoved it into place a few shelves above Spike's head with his razor-sharp talons. The owl hooted and flew back to his perch next to Twilight's desk. He hooted again, this time at the mare. "I think Owlowsius agrees with me," Spike added. Frowning, Twilight scuffed one hoof against the polished wood of the library floor. If there was a strange and potentially dangerous pony in town, her mentor needed to know. Still… if she was going to write to Princess Celestia, Twilight knew she needed to write the letter herself, instead of dictating it to her assistant. The odd sense of familiarity she'd felt from the hidden stallion had her off-balance. She needed to figure out who the visitor could be, and whether they meant any harm. Maybe Shining Armor knew of anypony coming to the area. Twilight knew her brother, as captain of the Royal Equestrian Guard, had more duties than just acting as leader to the royal family's guards and being a husband to Princess Cadance. He was also Celestia's Spy Master, and his agents kept their ears to the ground for unusual activity in the kingdom - especially concerning Canterlot and Ponyville.
Closing her eyes, the young mare unspooled a bit of her magic and set a piece of parchment on her desk. Dipping a newly sharpened owl-feather quill into her inkwell, she began a letter to her mentor. The scritch-scritch of the pen on the smooth parchment soothed some of Twilight's unease. The familiar aroma of rich leather, the sweet scent of paper, and the sharp smell of fresh ink helped, as well. She could ignore the heaviness in the air from the pounding rain outside; ignore the darkness waiting just outside like some living thing waiting for her to step out so it could attack.
Surprised at herself, she frowned. Where had that paranoid thought come from? She was being ridiculous. There was nothing to fear out there in the dark. Hadn't she, Twilight Sparkle, defeated Nightmare Moon - Queen of the Night, Mistress of Dreams - with the help of her friends and the Elements of Harmony? And then gone on to fight off the dark shadow of King Sombra as well? The night held nothing to fear.
She finished her letter to Celestia reporting what she'd sensed. After completing the letter to Shining Armor asking if he knew of anything relevant, and having Spike send both, the young mare sighed and decided it was time for her to get ready for bed so she could stop worrying and get some sleep.
Giving her mane and tail a quick brush - she'd save a full-body brushing for tomorrow, when the air wasn't so muggy - and cleaning her teeth, she lit a candle and climbed into bed. The new patchwork quilt on her bed had come all the way from Canterlot, a gift from Cadance as a thank-you for being best mare at the princess's wedding. Each patch sported a different picture, but the patches at each of the four corners had images from the secret hoofshake she and Cadance had come up with when Twilight was just a foal.
"Sunshine, sunshine; ladybugs awake," the unicorn murmured, running a gentle hoof over the patch with ladybugs done in little circles of red and black velvet. Ever since the quilt's arrival a week prior, Twilight had discovered that sleep came that much easier to her. Cadance had probably used her magic on it to infuse it with the same feelings Twilight felt when she was with Cadance and Shining Armor.
"Hey, Twilight?" Spike called from his basket-bed on the floor at the foot of Twilight's bed. "Um… just wondering… since it's raining and all…"
Lightning flashed white as a sunburst against the blackness of the night outside. A crack of thunder rattled the glass in the windows. Spike yelped. Twilight heard a rustling of blankets, a clicking scrabble of claws against wood, and then the dragonet zoomed across her bedroom floor in a streak of pale purple and green. He catapulted off the floor and bounced into her bed, trembling against her flank.
"Yes, Spike?" Twilight asked, putting her foreleg around him. He snuggled against her warmth, and she was reminded that he was still just a baby dragon. And being a creature of air and fire, he didn't really deal well with the enemy element of water invading one of the realms of one of his elements, air, in the form of rain. He didn't handle the noise from thunderstorms well, either. "Since it's raining?"
The baby dragon scrunched up into a tight ball of scales and spines when another boom of thunder shook the library windows. "C-could you… maybe… read to me?"
Twilight smiled. Whenever rain had struck while they'd been in Canterlot, she'd often curled up beneath the bedcovers and read to herself to pass the time and help take her mind off the usually hideous downpours. Once Spike had been old enough to do more than eat, sleep, burp, and slurp happily on the end of his tail, she'd taken to reading aloud to him, as well. The sound of her voice had seemed to help him deal with the tumultuous noise of crashing thunder, which had always frightened him.
"Any special requests?"
Spike slowly relaxed, some of the tension fading from his body, as no fresh thunder shook their home. "Um... how 'bout Peter Pony and the Lost Colts?"
"Sure thing." Using a bit of magic to bring the book to her so she wouldn't have to leave the still-nervous dragonet, Twilight cracked open the green leather-bound book and started at Spike's favorite part. She'd read the book so many times to him, they could've started anywhere, but the baby dragon's favorite part started during the first duel between Peter Pony and the nefarious, bloodthirsty leader of a band of pirates, Captain Jas Hookhoof.
"Peter's sword flashed silver under the moonlight as he fended off Hookhoof's strike. All around him, the Lost Colts battled the pirates with swords and wings and magic. Pegasi colts zipped into the air, twisting and dodging. Unicorn colts caught sword blades' with their spiraling horns before sending blasts of magical power at their enemies. Toodles, the leader of Peter's earth pony colts, lashed out with his immensely strong hind legs and knocked a zebra pirate off the ship's deck and into the shark-infested waters below.
"The sounds and smells of battle filled the air, but all Peter saw in front of him was the shadowy form of the changeling mare who was his archenemy, Captain Hookhoof. Peter had cut off the changeling's left front hoof years ago when he'd still been a young colt, and Hookhoof had sworn she would one day have her revenge - if not on Peter himself, then on the ponies who meant the most to him…"
ΡĐς
A slow shiver whispered along "Peter's" spine as he ducked beneath the rain-streaked sign that he knew read "Sweet Apple Acres," even if he couldn't actually see the letters. Somewhere around the sprawling apple farm, a teacup flutterpony was waiting to lead him to where he was supposed to meet an old friend. In the dank gloom of the rainy dusk, how Citron was supposed to find Peter, the unicorn stallion had no idea. He didn't need to worry about it, either. Somehow, the flutterpony could always sense where the stallion happened to be.
That wasn't always a good thing, but in this instance, when the familiar, chirping little voice called, "Peter! Peter!" he was more than happy to see the tiny splotch of iridescent yellow that was his flutterpony companion as Citron zipped between raindrops to land on Peter's nose. "I found him, I found him!" Citron chirruped. The teacup flutterpony - so called because his breed could literally fit inside a teacup - bounced along one of the scars marring Peter's nose. "He's in the barn!" "Take me to him, then," Peter murmured.
The little flutterpony hopped off his nose, flew like a drunken bumblebee around the stallion's head, then took off in the direction of the Apple family's barn. Because Amaranthine hadn't been sure about the princesses' involvement, the trio of alicorns looking out for Peter and his mission hadn't been certain they could get a message to their contact in Ponyville in time for Peter's arrival. Citron had made it in the nick of time, but Peter knew the little winged colt would end up paying for it once his exhaustion caught up to him. Already the unicorn could see the way the gossamer wings drooped a little with tiredness, and the usually-perky bounces, while still enthusiastic, had lost their pizzazz.
Looming ahead like a maw of gaping shadows was the back doors of the Apple family barn. Stallion and colt heaved sighs of relief when they stepped through the doors and out of the icy rain. Citron immediately dove into a loose pile of dry, sweet-smelling hay and began to burrow inside of it, drying his coat and wings and slowly warming himself. Peter shook out his mane, and then gave his entire body a good shake to get rid of most of the water clinging to the short, white hair. He shrugged his shoulders to dislodge the packs slung across his back; they hit the straw-sprinkled barn floor with dual thuds.
"Long time, no see, Pete," said a deep voice from the barn.
Peter smiled and lifted a brow at the stallion that stepped out of the shadows. "Hey, there, Big Macintosh… or should I say, Toodles?"
ŦS
"…never fallin' back down; And around this time I should say to you That you should follow the lifestyle of Daring Do!"
Twilight jerked awake to the sound of her alarm clock, a complicated contrivance of copper wires, glass tubing, ensorcelled aether, and iron gears that she'd put together as a filly and fueled with her magic as a class project. Most radios ran on some kind of magic - or in places where unicorns were uncommon, electricity and standard aether - but hers was special. She'd come up with the idea for it after Cadance had read her the old ponytale of "The Sleeping Filly" while foalsitting the young unicorn. Shining Armor had helped Twilight get books together from the library at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns so she could put the spinning-wheel-shaped magical alarm clock together. Shining Armor had finally sent it to her from Canterlot a few days ago.
One lilac hoof flailed around in an attempt to hit the rose-stamped copper button that would shut off the song blaring from the intricately-wired speakers. She had to take care, though - Spike had knocked the clock off her dresser once when he'd been a hatchling, and one of the copper rose vines twining around the glass-tube spokes and spindle of the "spinning wheel" had snapped off, leaving a sharp point that could draw blood if the unwary slammed a hoof down on it without thinking. Twilight still hadn't gotten around to fixing it after all these years. Sometimes she wondered if she ever would.
Unable to locate the button to shut down the clock, which now sang "Life can seem like it's a little bit rough, but the tough ponies never, ever give up," Twilight finally tossed a flick of magic at the contraption. The clock slid off the desk and flipped end over end before thankfully landing in Spike's bed, which was sans Spike at the moment. The baby dragon snored gently beside the mare, snuggled beneath thick blankets.
Stumbling out of bed while Spike somehow droned on in sleep, Twilight trudged to the bathroom. She had a full day ahead of her - studying up on caladrius migratory patterns from Trottingham to Canterlot (and thus through or at least near Ponyville), patrolling through the town to make sure nothing weird was brewing in the near future, and then visiting her friends. Zap-apple season was almost approaching, and this year Twilight was determined to learn the recipe for zap-apple jam from Granny Smith if it killed her. The three previous years, Twilight had been out of the country on assignment with the other Elements of Harmony. The year before that, Granny Smith had broken her hip and Applejack had broken a leg in a barn accident, and there hadn't been any jam-making. Before that, the girls had had to deal with King Sombra, and before that, Twilight hadn't even known what zap-apple jam was.
But this was her year to finally learn!
It took longer than normal to get ready, since she had to shower and give herself a full-coat brushing. Finally done, gulping down a quick breakfast of daffodil smoothie - courtesy of Owlowsius - and a couple pieces of Prench barley toast drizzled with golden syrup from Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight pinned a note for Spike to her desk where the dragonet would see it and left the library.
Though the skies were still thick with white and gray clouds, the rain had stopped sometime in the night. Picking her way through the streets to avoid the standing puddles of muddy water, the unicorn mare cantered toward Applejack's family farm. Since the farm was on the very furthest outskirts of Ponyville, she could get patrolling out of the way at the same time. And she had her double-satchel slung across her back. Inside were Hoofster's Magical Avian Dictionary (with Pictures) and The Encyclopedia Encantica Avianica. Twilight would hit the books during any breaks in jam-making for a quick brush-up on the magical snowbirds known as caladrius before fully diving into her studies when she got home again.
It was a brisk, twenty-minute trot to Sweet Apple Acres. By the end of it, the sun had finally peeked out from behind puffy dove-gray clouds, bathing her long violet and fuchsia mane in amber light. The warmth of the sun's rays felt delicious on her face and back. Twilight found herself humming a cheery tune as she passed beneath the sign proclaiming the farm's name.
"Applejack?" Twilight called. "I'm here!"
A cheerful whoop caught the unicorn's attention. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a sleek dun coat and golden hair dappled by sunlight through apple tree leaves as one of her best friends galloped beneath the orchard boughs toward Twilight Sparkle. Applejack grinned when she drew abreast of her friend.
"Boy-howdy, ain't it nice ta finally have a zap-apple season t'ourselves? Ya'll finally get ta learn how ta make zap-apple jam. Are ya excited?"
"You bet! And it'll be fun, spending time together, just you and me for a bit."
Usually the Elements of Harmony, when not on circuit patrols of their town, training in their roles as the bearers of the Elements, or running missions for Princess Celestia, spent a great deal of their free time together, but in large groups of three or four, minimum. Rarely did any pair of them get to spend quality time strengthening individual friendships. Not that they needed to, per se. It was only that… well, it was nice for Twilight to spend time with just one of her friends sometimes: baking cupcakes or lemon bars with Pinkie Pie; exploring the safer parts of the wood with Fluttershy and learning about the local wildlife; working out at the only gym in Ponyville with Rainbow, who was making her way through her final year of Wonderbolt Academy; lounging on the farm or helping out Applejack or just talking about stuff; doing the filly-thing with Rarity every once in awhile - manicures and pedicures for the hooves and everything else that went into a full day at the spa. Even shopping for music with Vinyl or getting drinks with Berry Punch or working on her rather poor gitern skills with Lyra - some of her less-intimate acquaintances - would've been nice.
Applejack frowned. "Erm… yeah, well… 'bout that."
Twilight felt herself deflate like one of Pinkie's party balloons. Trying to throttle back on what she was sure to be disappointment but was as yet only the earliest seeds of trepidation, the unicorn asked, "What? What's wrong? Did something happen to Granny Smith or-"
"No, no. Nothin' like that," the earth pony hastened to assure her. "It's just… Ah know this was s'posed ta be time just fer us mares an' all, but we got ourselves a visitor."
"A visitor?"
Now Applejack hesitated, biting her lip. "See, thing is… an old friend o' Big Mac's is in Ponyville fer a visit an' he didn' have no place ta stay, so we offered him a spot in our barn. He's an old favorite o' Granny Smith's - he did some big favor fer mah brother a long time back when Ah was jus' a li'l filly an' Granny jus' dotes on him - so since he's here an' all, he's probably gonna be 'round the house while we're workin', is all. Ah didn' want ya ta get flustered or nothin' about him, havin' some stranger around. Ah know yer still not used ta folks as you don' know."
The other mare shrugged. "No worries," she said. "Any friend of my friends is my friend, too."
"'Cept Gilda," Applejack replied.
"Yeah," Twilight muttered, thinking of the griffon who'd once been a good friend of Rainbow Dash, who'd also intentionally reduced Fluttershy to tears in less than five minutes. "Except her."
That settled, the mares made their way toward the house, chattering about everything and nothing. Twilight also told Applejack about the weird feeling she'd gotten the day before in the rain and how, though she'd written to the princess and Shining Armor, she hadn't had time to receive a reply from either one; and while she'd gotten the weird feeling, there hadn't been anything strange to see on her patrol earlier. The farmfilly chewed over everything her friend said as they went inside.
"Hmmm," Applejack said at last. "Ah dunno what to tell ya, Twi. Magic's always been yer thing, not mine. Maybe Rarity can help ya."
Twilight opened her mouth to say that just maybe, Rarity could help, when that bizarre familiarity washed over her again, stronger than ever before. She tripped over the threshold to the Apple family kitchen and hit the polished green, cerise, and buttercup-colored tile floor. The only things that kept her from smacking nose-first into the hard tiles were a magical field surrounding her in a cloud of soft blue that made her skin itch, and a pair of scarred white legs reaching for her. Scuffed slate-gray hooves caught and righted her easily.
When she looked up into a pair of sapphire eyes, the familiarity nearly staggered her again. She gasped out, "You!"
A slow smile gave her extreme déjà vu. The rich timbre of the voice, also familiar, had her backing up as her impromptu rescuer murmured, "Hello, Twilight Sparkle. It's been a long time."
Twilight stared up at the unicorn stallion that seemed to tower over her. A smile played at the corner of his mouth as he gazed down at her with eyes as blue and cold as sapphires. The unicorn found herself momentarily distracted by the grayish-pink scar that ran just beneath one of those azure eyes to the corner of his mouth. It would've hardly been visible against the white coat if the scar hadn't been so thick and ragged and, through bad luck, been as hairless as a rat's tail. Shining Armor had a few scars from his time in the Royal Guard and his earlier time in Basic Training, but his coat had grown over them, leaving slight discoloration and little else to show for the wounds he'd suffered. Not so with this stallion. The ends of a few other scars across his chest peeked out from the edges of a hunter-green vest of cockatrice leather. His emblem - only mares and fillies had cutie marks - stood out against the snowy whiteness of his coat, a golden four-point star backed by a skewed blue star to form a compass-rose.
It was a common emblem and cutie mark - almost as common as the hourglass. In fact, a lot of heroes in books had the compass-rose as their mark - the intrepid Daring Do, heroine of over a hundred books; the discoverer and adventurer Allan Quartermane; the eternally young wild colt, Peter Pony; the rakish hippogriff pirate Buck Sparrow; Twilight's own foalhood favorites, Prancy Drew and the Hardy Colts (although the amateur filly-detective and her colt accomplices had borne compass-roses and magnifying glasses); even Rarity's favorite romance novel heroine, Scarlet O'Mara. But Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen this stallion's emblem somewhere before.
That didn't change the fact that she had no idea who this stallion was.
"Ya'll two know each other?" Applejack asked, wide-eyed. Twilight shook her head so hard the bones in her neck popped.
"I've never seen you before in my life!" She blurted, then bit back a grimace. While she was pretty sure she actually hadn't ever seen him before in her life, something deep inside her said otherwise. "Or at least… not that I can remember."
The stallion chuckled. "We met when you were just a foal," he murmured. "You probably wouldn't remember me. I looked very different at the time."
"Oh." Twilight processed that. Still wary, she said, "So… it really has been a long time, then."
"Yes," the stallion said, and suddenly his eyes were no longer cold sapphires, but pools of sorrowful blue. A strange lump formed in the mare's throat at the abject sadness in those eyes. "Yes, it has, Twilight Sparkle." For some reason, Twilight was surprised when he didn't say, Too long a time. She wasn't sure why. Then the unicorn stallion inclined his head. "But since it has been so long, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Peter Duskshine. I'm a friend of Big Macintosh and… your father."
She blinked. "My father?" He was? Really? He seemed awfully young, about Big Macintosh's age; more a contemporary of her brother, rather than her father.
"Yes. He and I are old friends. It is for him, as much as for my own sake, that I've come to Ponyville. Ah, but I'm taking up your time with Miss Applejack. I'm sorry; you had something planned, Macintosh informed me. I'll leave you to it." Peter took Twilight's hoof and offered a short bow. She half-expected him to try to kiss her hoof like the stallions in Rarity's romance novels, but he didn't. Straightening from his bow and releasing her, his eyes once again cool as jewels, he murmured, "I look forward to seeing you again, Twilight Sparkle. Miss Applejack." With a nod, Peter stepped through the kitchen's back door to the sprawling farmland that served the Apple family as their backyard.
Twilight watched Peter leave, that same unease once again tickling along her coat like the irritating touch of a fly that refused to stop biting and buzz off. When she'd said it had been a long time, why had Peter looked so sad? Or had she imagined that strange look of anguish on his face? It had only been there for a split second… And why had Peter called Applejack "Miss," but been informal with Twilight? Because he knew her family? That didn't seem like the reason. And his name - Duskshine. Her parents had once told her that that would've been her name, if she'd been a colt instead of a filly. If he really was an old friend of the family, was that where her parents had gotten the name? She shook her head; the whole situation just felt strange to her.
"Was it jus' me, or did that feller seem a li'l off?" Applejack asked into the silence that had filled the kitchen after Peter's departure. "The way he looked at ya when ya firs' come in… Ah ain't never seen anythin' like it."
"Huh?" Twilight shook her head to clear it of the thoughts circling like a pack of diamond dogs in her skull and focused on her friend. "What are you talking about? How was he looking at me?"
The earth pony mare tilted her hat to the side and scratched behind her ear with one hoof. "Well, thing is… ya walked in an' it was like he'd seen a ghost or somethin'. Ah know ghosts ain't real," she added when Twilight opened her mouth, "it's jus' an expression. Anyways, he almos' went gray fer a second there. Then ya tripped an' he reacted quick as a snake, an' when he caught ya… it almos' looked like it hurt him ta do it."
"I'm not that heavy," Twilight replied, more than a little defensively.
"Ah know that, sugar cube," her friend said. "That's why it was so strange. He really looked like he was hurtin'. Ah've never seen Peter look like that a'fore. 'Course, Ah've only ever seen 'im three or four times mah whole life, but still… anyways, Ah was 'bout ta ask him if he was okay when he straightened up. By the time ya'd looked up, he was lookin' all normal again. Ah thought maybe Ah'd imagined it, but Ah don' think so."
Frowning in thought, the unicorn mare used a bit of magic to float her satchel off her back and onto the kitchen table. Applejack had seen a look of pain on Peter's face when he'd touched Twilight, and Twilight herself had seen a look of sadness in his eyes when he'd mentioned how long it had been since he'd seen her. Both expressions had been fleeting, and both girls had considered the possibility of a trick of the imagination, but the unicorn didn't think so.
"It's a mystery," Twilight muttered. And one she'd figure out, because she hated mysteries. Not knowing things irritated her almost as much as books being shelved in the wrong spot. The first thing she'd do was write to her father. If this Peter really did know Night Light, her father would tell her. But until then…
"Well, howdy, mah li'l ponies!" At the top of the stairs stood Granny Smith, fresh from her afternoon nap. She leaned on her walker, but the twinkle in her eyes was still as bright and spritely as ever. "Ya'll ready to help me start makin' some zap-apple jam?"
Smiling, putting thoughts of strange unicorns out of her mind, Twilight Sparkle saluted with one hoof and said, "Yes, ma'am!"
βΜ
Big Macintosh stayed out of sight - no mean feat for a stallion of his size - until Granny Smith had taken the two mares to where the small copses of zap-apple trees had been planted over three-hundred years ago. That was in the opposite direction Peter had fled in. Big Mac left the house and trudged to the small stand of trees closest to the barn. They were apple trees, but they weren't mature enough to bear harvestable fruit yet. The large red stallion had planted them himself, as a promise to his little sisters, when he'd come back from… well, it was a bad idea to think about where he'd been when he'd met Peter. Thinking about it made him want to go back there, and that was no good. Besides, he had to find Peter and make sure he was okay.
In the circle of the young trees, white apple blossoms dropping every so often from the green boughs to the grass, Big Mac found his old friend.
Peter stood with hunched shoulders against the trunk of one of the trees, shuddering. His head hung so far down that his nose nearly brushed the grass. His sides heaved every time he drew a ragged breath. The white stallion clenched his eyes shut as tightly as he could, as if trying to block out the sight of the warm summer day and Sweet Apple Acres and everything else. But Big Mac knew the moment Peter sensed him approaching.
"Ya gonna be okay, Pete?"
After a long moment of near-silence, punctuated only by the heavy sound of Peter's breathing, the unicorn stallion nodded. "Forgive me," he muttered. "I… I wasn't prepared. I'd thought… I saw her yesterday and it didn't affect me like this. I thought it would be… easier the second time." He finally lifted his head. His eyes were haunted. "It's been so long, Macintosh… a lifetime ago, it feels like sometimes, but… but it was also only yesterday… or now. Sometimes it seems like I haven't seen her in centuries. Sometimes it seems like seconds. I didn't realize… how much… how much I…"
He closed his eyes again. "It's as if I'm being tossed about by a riptide, drowning in everything that has been and shouldn't be and could never happen. I see her and I wonder if my mission is impossible. Have you ever felt hopeless, Macintosh? Hopeless because the inevitable is looming ahead of you, a yawning brink gaping wide beneath your hooves, and darkness is all around you, and all you have to guide you through the dark is one brilliant star… and you know that no matter what happens, no matter if you defeat the enemy before you now, eventually the star will be snuffed out? And the darkness you've held at bay will finally consume you. I'm there now, Macintosh. I know what happens to Twilight after I accomplish this mission. It's already happened once and nothing I do can stop it unless… and it has been so long…"
The earth stallion ambled over and gave Peter a gentle nudge in the shoulder with one hoof. Fillies and mares did the whole nuzzling thing, and hugs were common too, but stallions didn't normally do that. They had their own ways of doing things sometimes. So Big Mac didn't have to say, "Ah know. Ah know ya've missed her." Peter knew he knew, so Big Mac just stood with his old friend for a few minutes until Peter got his composure back. Once he was calm again, only then did Macintosh speak.
"So this… Dark One. Tain't You-Know-Who, is it?"
Peter nodded. "But it isn't just her. It's both of them. They're after Twilight and her magic. We can't let them get to her." He didn't add again, but Big Mac heard it.
The big stallion nodded. "Yer plan's a good 'un. Makes sense. Ah'll help anyway Ah can. An' Princess Celestia an' Princess Luna…"
"We've got Amaranthine, Mazzarine, and Malachite. They can keep us hidden long enough for my plan to work. They've already altered the necessary memories up in Canterlot." Peter glanced across the open ground in front of the barn toward the house. Applejack and Twilight listened attentively to Granny Smith from where they sat on the front porch steps. "Tell me, Macintosh - do you know somewhere in Ponyville a stallion can take a mare on a date?"
Big Macintosh grinned. "Eeyup. Ah sure do."
ŦS
"Hey, Twilight?" Spike called from his basket bed. Twilight, who'd gone to bed early in anticipation of getting up around dawn tomorrow for more work at Sweet Apple Acres, grunted in response. If she didn't force herself to do too much in the way of things requiring higher brain function, she'd still be able to fall asleep instead of catching her second wind. She pulled the covers over her head to make sure no intrusive light managed to assault her eyelids. "Twilight, I think something's coming."
The mare's ears twitched. "Waddya mean?"
"I mean, I think I'm getting a… oh. Oh!" Then Spike made a sound halfway between a vomiting foal and a belch, and even through the thick blankets and her closed eyelids, Twilight could see the dual flashes of emerald light that meant her dragonet had received some incoming mail. Muffling a real - albeit tiny - burp, the baby dragon flopped out of bed and waddled sleepily over to the unicorn. "Want me to read 'em?"
"Mmm… uh, sure," she mumbled.
"This one's from your dad." Spike cleared his throat. Whenever he read letters from anyone important, he tried to make himself sound like a grown pony, instead of a baby dragon. Some of the other students at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns had teased him about it, but Twilight had always found it endearing.
"My dearest Twilight, So you've finally met Lord Peter, have you? Your old stallion will be honest with you and say it makes me feel a touch easier knowing Peter's there in Ponyville with you. I know you can handle yourself - all that training as a filly and young mare saw to that, and then of course you're one of the Elements of Harmony, and that's pretty impressive - but a father worries. Peter's a good friend, but he's never been to a town like your Ponyville before. I want you to make him feel welcome, all right, Twily? I'd sure appreciate it. Hope your studies are going well. We're proud of you, my little pony. Be safe out there. We miss you. Love, Dad"
Barely floating above the languid sea of sleep, Twilight had just enough presence of conscious-mind to think, Peter's a lord? He didn't mention that. Neither did Applejack. And for that matter, how did a common farmpony like Big Mac ever become good friends with a noblepony from Canterlot? And if he's not from Canterlot, that just makes it weirder that Big Mac and Peter are friends. Huh.
"And this one," Spike said, oblivious to her half-delirious thoughts, "is from the princess."
Twilight managed a muffled "mmm-hmm." Spike started to read the letter. It basically said the same thing as the letter from Night Light, with a few more details - that Peter was a friend of her family; that he was a noblepony bearing the name and title Lord Peter Duskshine of Second Star, an estate in the Equestrian countryside; that he and his vassal, Citron, were staying in Ponyville for health reasons; and would she please be nice and show him around town and make him feel welcome?
The violet unicorn was unconscious and snoring before her draconic assistant reached the end of the letter.
Horte Cuisine, the owner of Horte Cuisine's Diner (The Finest Diner in Ponyville!), eyed the rough-looking unicorn stallion that had just walked into his establishment with no little amount of wariness. As thickly muscled as a farmcolt, tall for a Ponyvillian, he actually had to look down a space at Horte when the restaurant owner approached him. The earth pony had never seen him before. Was the unicorn new to town? Why hadn't Pinkie Pie thrown him a party, given everyone a chance to meet him, learn his face?
"Yes, actually," the stallion murmured, interrupting Horte's thoughts. Despite his somewhat shaggy blond mane and scarred white coat, his voice held an edge of Canterlot culture that surprised the earth stallion. "I've heard this place is fairly busy on weekend evenings. How much to reserve a private table for two?"
"Reservations on weekends come at a premium, sir," the earth stallion said. "Aside from whatever you choose to order, the reservation itself is thirty bits."
To Horte's utter shock, the unicorn floated the required coins out of a leather satchel at his side and set them on the podium behind which the restaurant owner stood in gape-mouthed astonishment. "Thirty bits for the reservation and twenty more, my good stallion, for a private table; will that do?"
"Yes, sir."
The stallion smiled. "Good. Mark me down for a party of two, two weeks from this Friday."
"O-of course, sir. Good day to you, sir," he added as the unicorn inclined his head and walked out of the restaurant.
ΡĐς
The streets of Ponyville bustled in the late afternoon rush-hour as Peter stepped out of Horte Cuisine and started to make his way down Main Street, back in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres. It was late enough, the sun nearly dipping behind the roofs of the Ponyville houses, that the Apple family farm would be empty of visitors when he got back. Twilight would've gone home by then. In fact, Peter thought, she was probably on her way home now.
"Getting a little ahead of yourself, don't ya think?" A small voice murmured next to Peter's ear, bringing him back from thoughts of the violet mare. The stallion flicked his left ear back and forth twice in a silent admonishment to be quiet. They were in public, for Celestia's sake. Citron, tiny enough that if he curled up behind Peter's ear and tucked his wings flat against his little body, he couldn't be seen against the dun of the unicorn's mane, kept talking. "You haven't even asked the girl out yet. She might say no. Ever consider that?"
He shook his head. "I know her, Citron. Remember? Better than nearly anyone. I know how to maneuver it so she'll say yes." She had to say yes. The mission he'd come to Ponyville to complete hinged on the unicorn stallion getting Twilight Sparkle to agree to this dinner date… among other things.
"Well… okay, that's true. But still, you need to be careful. You know what'll happen if you get too attached. You'll lose it - again. And then what will she have to say about it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Peter muttered. "I'm in no danger of becoming 'too attached,' as you put it." It was far too late to worry about the obstacle of simple attachment. But then, the ones who'd given him this task had known that when they'd sent him here.
"That’s because you've already had all that time to fall in love with her," Citron chirped, echoing Peter's thoughts. "Dummy. I've told ya and told ya, all the love in the world isn't going to stop the inevitable. You'll complete your mission and save Twilight from them, but after that, your job is to stand back and let Fate take its course. You know that."
After a long silence, Peter said, "And I'm supposed to just accept that in the end, Celestia will win and Twilight will die?" He was supposed to let Fate dictate how his world should end? Before he'd come back to Ponyville, before he'd seen Twilight, he might've been willing to play by the rules, but not now. Not after looking into her eyes for the first time in… by the Sun, how long had it truly been? He couldn't remember. Couldn't think back to that day, the last time he'd laid eyes on Twilight, without having to swallow back pain so bitter it was nearly poisonous. "You expect me to let Celestia and Luna win this time?"
Citron sighed. "It's not about winning or losing, Peter. It's just what is. Sorry. When this mission is over, you have to say goodbye to Twilight. Forever. You know that, and so do I."
The stallion drew a deep breath. For a long while, there was only the clip-clop of his unshod hooves on the cobblestones of Main Street as he considered all possible responses to his companion's words. Finally, he settled for, "I've learned a lot in the process of getting all my memories back. I learned even more from Twilight and Shining Armor. And one thing Twilight taught me was that nothing's impossible." He smiled tightly. "If you believe in flutterponies, clop your hooves - right, Citron?"
Another sigh. "Don't say I didn't warn you. And, uh, about our fair maiden - she's across the street about to trip over… I don't even know who or what that is."
Peter looked over in time to see Twilight approach a familiar-looking, bouncing pink… mare?
ŦS
It had been three days of following all the steps of zap-apple jam-making with Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres, and to Twilight's surprise, she hadn't seen Peter once after their initial meeting. The first day, she'd just been relieved not to have to deal with the unicorn stallion who made her so uncomfortable. When his absence extended into the second day, she'd wondered about it enough to ask AJ whether the Apple family's guest had actually left Ponyville. Applejack's response had been in the negative. Last the earth mare had checked, Peter had slept in the extra bedroom above the barn, woken up to have breakfast at dawn with Applejack and Big Macintosh, and disappeared upon hearing that Twilight would be coming back to the farm a little later.
With this information buzzing in her brain, by the third day Twilight had been certain that Peter was avoiding her for some reason. Which didn't make any sense, the mare reminded herself, since he'd said he looked forward to seeing her again soon. So why was he making himself scarce on the farm? According to Applejack, he didn't know anyone in Ponyville except Big Mac, Granny Smith, and - at least to an extent - Twilight. What could he be doing all day?
"I hate mysteries," she muttered as she trudged along Main Street on her way home to the library. Not knowing things drove her crazy. "What could he possibly be doing? And why is he avoiding me?"
"Who?" A chipper voice demanded.
"Gah!" Twilight nearly jumped out of her coat when she stumbled over Pinkie Pie lying in the middle of the road on her back, front hooves pressed to her chest, back legs sticking straight out, parallel to the dusty road. At first, the unicorn couldn't figure out what the brightly-colored earth pony was doing… then she realized Pinkie's body seemed to be moving rhythmically up and down. Curiosity drowning the last dregs of her miniature heart attack, Twilight ducked and twisted to look under Pinkie's body. The fuchsia mare was doing push-ups with her tail. "Pinkie… what are you doing?"
"Push-ups," Pinkie said brightly. "Dashie said I couldn't do a hundred, but I did, but then she said I couldn't do a hundred with one hoof, so I did. And then she said I couldn't do even one with no hooves, which didn't really make a lot of sense, but I figured she was desperate by then, so I told her I'd figure out how to do push-ups with no hooves and teach her how and she said fine and flew away to go bounce on some rainclouds. And I finally did push-ups with no hooves! I'm on ninety-eight. Who were you talking about?"
"Oh," the unicorn replied, feeling heat spread through her face and neck. She hadn't even realized she'd been muttering about the situation. She normally only did that with really complicated magical equations. "Um… nobody."
Pinkie did another tail-powered push-up. "Really? That's a funny name. So some stallion named Nobody's avoiding you? That's weird. Did he say why?"
Twilight sighed. "Never mind, Pinkie."
She started to walk around her friend - she just wanted to go home; dealing with zap-apples, following all the random rules about bees and bunny suits and painting the kitchen was actually kind of hard - but Pinkie yelped, "Hang on, hang on! I just got one left!" Dipping lower to the ground, she scrunched her eyes shut and groaned, "One… hundred!" Leaping to her hooves, she happily imitated a tightly-wound spring and bounced up and down. "Whoo-hoo! One-hundred tail-powered push-ups! Yeah! Isn't that just the most super-duper, oolie-coolie thing you ever heard of ever?"
To the violet mare's surprise, she found herself smiling. Pinkie was the pony to be around if you needed cheering up to any degree. "It is definitely the most super-duper, oolie-coolie thing I've ever heard of ever."
"I have to agree," said a deep voice from behind her. Twilight spun around and caught a glimpse of a golden mane, white coat, and sapphire gaze before she tripped over Pinkie, lost her balance, and nearly tumbled to the road. Only a quick catch by Peter kept her from hitting the street hard enough to scrape some skin off her knees. His smile was warm and friendly, but that familiar flash of pain burned in his eyes. "Is this a habit of yours, Twilight Sparkle - tripping over things?"
"I… I'm not usually this klutzy," Twilight mumbled. It took everything she had to pull away calmly instead of jerking out of Peter's loose hold. It felt… peculiar when he touched her. She wasn't a very touchy-feely pony anyway, so ponies touching her made her feel strange unless she knew them really well. Her fellow Elements of Harmony, for example, or her family; Princess Celestia, who'd been her mentor since she was a little filly, and Princess Luna, who'd become a close friend after that strange and yet wonderful Nightmare Night years ago. If any of those ponies so much as brushed her with a hoof, she'd know who it was without even having to look. But just as before, Peter's touch felt familiar to Twilight. As if her body recognized it the same way she recognized Shining Armor's or her father's.
Dusting herself off, even though it wasn't necessary - it gave her an excuse to look at something other than Peter's face and thus allowed her to avoid catching another glimpse of the anguish she'd seen there - Twilight added, "Thanks for catching me. Again. I totally appreciate it, but um… I have to be going now. Thanks again. Bye-"
"Oh, oh, oh! Who's this!?" Pinkie, now recovered from her momentary uncharacteristic quiet, sproinged between her friend and the new stallion. "Is he new in town?" Every other word was punctuated with another energetic bounce. "Do you know him? What's his name? Where's he from? Who is he?"
"He's nobody," Twilight blurted. She realized her mistake a split-second too late.
"Ohmigawshohmigawsh!" Pinkie sucked in a gasping breath and added, "Ohmigawshohmigawshohmigawsh!! Ohmigawsh! This guy's Nobody?" Her hair, an elaborate poof of magenta curl, spasmodically straightened, nearly doubling in visible length for a moment, as her cerulean eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. Then the curls made a drastic reappearance as she cried, "Ohmigawsh, it's so great to meet you! I've heard so much about you! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She grabbed Peter's massive hoof in one of her small pink ones and gave it a hearty shake. "We were just talking about you! Twilight was worried you'd been avoiding her and had more important things to do than hang out with her but now you're here so obviously that's just crazy, right? But that's a weird name, Nobody. How'd you get it? Is it a nickname?"
Twilight Sparkle wanted to die when Peter glanced at her, one brow quirked, a small smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. It took everything she had to keep from cringing. She loved Pinkie - adored her - but sometimes, the spastic earth pony needed a good muzzling! The unicorn opened her mouth to say… something. She didn't know what, but something! But before she could, Peter put out a hoof and lightly pressed Pinkie Pie back to the ground, holding the pink mare in place with implacable gentleness so that instead of bouncing, she simply vibrated.
"My real name is Peter," he said to Pinkie. Then he glanced at Twilight. His gaze hit her like a hard hoof to the chest. Why did he always look like he was in mortal agony when he glanced at her? She'd never seen anyone look so sad before. "And I haven't been avoiding Twilight. I've just been… otherwise occupied."
His right eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly. Twilight narrowed her eyes. Wait a second… he'd just winked at her. Which could mean a lot of things, but somehow the magically-inclined unicorn knew he'd done it because he was lying. By the Sun! He really had been avoiding her! But why in the hoof would he do a thing like that?
"Peter? That's a cool name. I think I knew a colt named Peter when I was filly on my parents' rock farm. Well, my real name's Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everyone just calls me Pinkie, except my sisters - sometimes they called me Pinks. You can call me Pinkie if you want."
The stallion smiled. "Thank you. So, Pinkie, maybe you could do me a bit of a favor?"
Bright blue eyes widened until Twilight thought they would pop out of Pinkie Pie's head. "Is it a secrety-secret favor?"
Peter beckoned her closer with a hoof. Pinkie, almost hyperventilating with excitement, leaned in. Twilight opened her mouth to protest - she was standing right here, for Celestia's sake - but whatever Peter said in the twenty-odd seconds the unicorn was trying to put her words together made the earth mare's eyes bug out even further. She gave a colossal gasp, bounced nearly twenty feet in the air before hitting the ground again with a surprisingly soft thump, and then squealed.
"Okay! Sure! And I'm gonna throw you a party to welcome you to Ponyville because everyone deserves a Welcome to Ponyville Pinkie-Pie-Style Party! It'll be so awesome, you'll love it so much, I promise! Tomorrow evening, six o'clock! Be there, or be a hotdog!" With one last bounce and a cheery "bye Twilight," the earth pony hopped away.
"Wait! Pinkie!" Twilight yelped, staring after her friend. She couldn't help the feeling of abandonment that seemed ready to crush her now that the Bearer of Laughter had skipped merrily on her way, leaving the unicorn alone with Peter. "Pinkie Pie!"
"I don't think she's coming back," the stallion murmured. He looked down at Twilight with that familiar fond smile. His eyes hadn't changed. "What's the matter, Twilight Sparkle? Do I make you nervous?"
Twilight tossed her mane and snorted. "Don't be silly. I just needed to ask her something, but she rushed off before I could."
"What did you need to ask her?"
"Excuse me?" The words came out more surprised than anything else. Incredulous violet eyes flicked to him. She didn't know why Peter taking an interest in her hypothetical conversation with Pinkie, even a passing one, both surprised and unnerved her. There was just something about this stallion… "Um," the mare mumbled, trying not to sound rude, "that's not really any of your business."
Peter shrugged. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Of course the Elements of Harmony would have things to speak of to each other that aren't for other ponies to hear."
For some reason, though the words were mildly spoken, they felt like a tail-swat to the ear. Maybe because she hadn't really had anything she wanted to ask Pinkie - she just hadn't wanted her friend to leave the unicorn pony alone with the blue-eyed stallion.
"Um… so… how long are you planning on staying in Ponyville?" She asked, trying to be more friendly, and could've kicked herself when something unreadable flickered across Peter's expression. Stupid. Of course that sounded like she wanted to know when he was leaving. Even after years of studying the magic of friendship, making friends and being friendly with ponies still didn't come easily to her. Especially with this pony, who made her strangely uncomfortable even though he felt so familiar. But both Celestia and Twilight's father had said to try and make Peter feel welcome in Ponyville. Ugh, why her? Why not Pinkie? Pinkie was great at making ponies feel welcome.
"I'm here for… health reasons," the stallion said softly. "So I suppose when my reasons are no longer valid, I'll be taking my leave."
She blinked. "Okay. Well, I hope you feel better soon. Not that I want you to leave or anything," she added, wincing. "I just… 'cause you're sick and all… or… are you sick? Never mind. Don't answer that; not my business. And now I'm babbling. I'm sorry, I'm not good at this whole small-talk thing; there aren't any real rules. And you're not supposed to say that when you make small talk, gah! Sorry!"
Twilight fell silent when Peter started to laugh. It was a little boy's laugh, carefree and happy and so at odds with the pain she'd seen in his eyes. When he looked at her with a grin on his face, for just a split-second, the anguish was gone, replaced by a contentment she didn't understand, a contentment that sent a small prick of envy stabbing through her. But his boyish grin pulled an answering smile from the mare. Peter's grin softened to a pleased smile.
"There. A genuine smile from Twilight Sparkle. Not so difficult, was it?"
A laugh surprised its way out of her mouth. "I guess not. So, uh… how'd you meet my dad?"
"Shall we walk and talk? I know you put in a day at the Sweet Apple farm, and it seems like you were on your way somewhere when I intercepted you. May I escort you to wherever you're going?"
"Oh, it's… just to my place," Twilight murmured as they started to walk. She noticed Peter put himself between her and the wheeled traffic. Any dust or sprayed dirt would hit him instead of her - or at least hit him first. As they passed Horte Cuisine's Diner, she found herself saying, "I'm staying at the Ponyville Library."
"I've heard that the town's Library is surprisingly extensive for such a small town." Carefully navigating the street bazaar that lined the main road six days out of the week and making their way past Sugar Cube Corner, Peter added, "Would it be possible to come and see it some time? Books are one of my greatest passions."
"Really?" Twilight practically squeaked. She had a few friends and acquaintances that enjoyed reading - such as Rainbow Dash, who adored the Daring Do series - but she'd met no one in Ponyville who shared her actual adoration of the written word. "Mine, too! Have you always liked to read or did something get you into it? My brother didn't like books for the longest time until he read Green Strider by Kristen Trottingham."
"I've read that series," Peter replied. Twilight barely bit back another squeal. Nopony in Ponyville had even heard of Kristen Trottingham's Green Strider novels. "As for how I got into reading… somepony very special to me taught me to appreciate the magic of literature." He smiled again, but it was edged with sorrow. Without having to ask him, Twilight understood that whoever it had been who'd taught him to love books, they were gone now. She floundered for something to say to break the silence and found nothing. Then Peter added, "Your father saved my life many times. Before you were born… and after."
Wide-eyed, she whispered, "Really? Wow." Then she frowned. "So how old are you, then?"
His smile widened. "Curious, are you? I'll make you a deal." He brought them to a halt. To Twilight's surprise, they were in front of the library. She'd forgotten they were even going somewhere in the rush of delight from finding another bookworm like herself. "Will you do me two favors, Twilight Sparkle, in exchange for me telling you how old I am?"
"Depends on the favors," she said, but it was with such cheerful wariness that she instinctively knew Peter wouldn't be offended. It was just like how she often spoke to Shining Armor whenever her older brother wanted to "make a deal."
Peter shrugged. He was still smiling. "They're small things, really. The fourth sign of zap-apple season is tonight - a meteor shower. Miss Applejack says you intend to come. Would you allow me to escort you? And will you allow me to escort you to Miss Pinkie Pie's Welcome-to-Ponyville Party tomorrow evening?"
Completely flabbergasted, Twilight tried to speak. The meteor shower? And the party? Peter wanted to take her to the party? Why couldn't he go on his own? And why would he come all the way out to the Ponyville Library, just to walk all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres? But at the same time, she had been asked to make him feel welcome. And there was no real reason to turn him down, other than he made her a little uneasy. Not even so much uneasy, just... confused. Because it felt like she'd known him forever, and she'd barely even met him. And if they went to the party together, they could talk about books. For hours, even.
"O-okay," Twilight stammered. The word seemed to leap off the tip of her tongue before she could really do anything other than consider all the reasons why she should agree. She knew that the con-aspect of her mental pros-and-cons list would try to inflict blunt force trauma to her brain once she went inside, though. "Sure. Um… I gotta go. Thanks for walking me."
"You're welcome, Twilight Sparkle." Just as he'd done in Granny Smith's kitchen, he caught her hoof and bowed over it, though he still didn't kiss it. The soft gold of his forelock brushed the side of her pastern, sending peculiar - but not unpleasant - tickling warmth from her hoof all the way up her foreleg.
Somehow Twilight made it inside the library. It was only as she was locking the door and Peter was walking back down Main Street that she realized she'd forgotten to ask him again how old he actually was.
"Rarity, you said we were gonna get more fabric to make the Cutie Mark Crusader capes."
Sweetie Belle didn't want to complain; she wasn't just some little schoolfilly anymore - she was too old to be whining. But the new school year had already started, and sign-ups for the Ponyville Chapter of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had just ended. They had seven new foals, plus the nine from the year before. They'd already paid their annual dues and uniform costs, and Apple Bloom had already taken their measurements, which meant the new Crusaders (and their paying parents) were expecting to get those CMC uniforms at the next meeting.
Normally, Sweetie Belle would've left the fabric shopping to her friend Apple Bloom, who'd finally discovered her talent in design and construction - both fashion and interior/exterior - but it was zap-apple season. Apple Bloom was busy with the harvest. Overseeing the little ponies who'd signed up for Granny Smith's annual zap-apple jam-making class took a huge chunk out of her time, as well, and there were her lessons with Zecora in Everfree (whatever those were about). In short, the young earth mare was as busy as Granny Smith's beehives. Since it was also Scootaloo's week to visit Rainbow Dash at the Wonderbolt Academy, that left one fashion-challenged unicorn to deal with the uniforms.
Hence why she was with her sister, the most stylish fashionista in Ponyville (and in Canterlot, if anyone had asked Sweetie Belle's opinion). Rarity had claimed to be happy to take her sister to the local fabric store… which made Sweetie wonder why they were at the Ponyville Library instead.
"We're not here to pick another one of those trashy romance novels you like, are we, Sis?" Sweetie Belle mumbled, eyeing the library door with mild irritation. She liked reading as much as the next pony, but not when it interfered with something more important.
"Of course not, Sweetie Belle," Rarity snapped. "Keep your voice down." Pale blue eyes darted nervously around to see if anyone had overheard. Her predilection for "trashy" romance novels, as her sister called them, was a well-kept secret in Ponyville. Only four ponies knew of it: Rarity's parents, her sister, and Twilight Sparkle, who kept the other unicorn mare well supplied with… product. Pasting a smile on her face, Rarity added, "No, we're here to pick up the latest issue of Project Runway. I need it to go shopping for myself; this way we can get your errand and mine taken care of in one trip. Make sense?"
"Oh." The younger mare nodded. "Okay."
Rarity relaxed a little, since Sweetie Belle wasn't going to push her about the romances, and knocked on the library door. The sisters waited for a few minutes in relative silence. No one came to the door. Frowning, Rarity knocked again. Sweetie Belle cocked her head. Weird. Even if Twilight wasn't home, Spike or Owlowsius should've been there to get the door. So where-
The door flew open to reveal a pale, shaking, wild-eyed Twilight Sparkle. Strands of her mane stuck up every which way, violet facial powder darkened her lavender coat in splotches, and a set of false eyelashes hung from the corner of one amethyst eye. Sweetie Belle's mouth fell open. Rarity's eyes merely widened a fraction.
"Darling," the fashionista said gently. "What on earth-"
"Rarity!" Twilight cried, reaching out and grabbing her friend by the strap of her over-the-shoulder saddlebag. "Thank goodness! I need your help!" Without waiting for a response, she yanked her friend into the library.
The purple unicorn didn't hear Sweetie Belle mutter, "I'll say." The younger mare followed her sister and her sister's seemingly-crazy friend into the library, kicking the door shut with one hoof. Spike and Owlowsius, perched on Twilight's desk in the main room of the library, glanced over at Sweetie and shrugged. Clearly they didn't know what was going on, either. Wondering how long this was going to take, Sweetie Belle decided to help Rarity by locating the magazine her sister wanted. Considering the state of the main room, that would take awhile. Pushing aside a haphazard stack of books - the topmost book was titled How Not to Look Like a Slut 101 - Sweetie went in search of the fashion zines.
Meanwhile, upstairs in Twilight's room, Rarity watched her friend pace back and forth, every so often tugging at her forelock in agitation. The best part was watching Twilight's face and hearing her disgusted exclamations whenever she passed her full-body mirror. Finally the white unicorn grabbed her friend by the shoulders and forced her to be still.
"Darling, what is this about?" Rarity asked. A tiny spritz of azure magic pulled the lashes hanging askew from Twilight's face. "You've never been one for makeup and dressing up, so why…"
Twilight fidgeted, shifting her weight between all four hooves. She hung her head with a sigh.
"I kinda, sorta," she peeked at Rarity beneath her lashes, "have a date."
For a moment the other unicorn simply stared at Twilight as if she'd said the earth was flat and mythological humans had built the stone circles of Trottingham and Connemara. Rarity blinked twice, slowly. Then she peered at Twilight, giving her the fierce sort of once-over she normally reserved for a very choosy customer. Twilight… Twilight Sparkle… had a date? With a stallion? Tonight? Rarity briefly considered being insulted; why was Twilight only asking for her help now, at the last minute? But her friend looked so utterly panicked that the fashionista didn't have it in her to get well and truly miffed about it. Instead, she gave Twilight an understanding smile.
"Well, first things first - we need to wash your face. Come on." Cleaning Twilight's face - and the rest of her - of makeup took a few minutes. Then, taking a compact of concealer powder, Rarity applied a light dusting of the white powder, following it with lavender, powdered foundation. "Violet's too dark for your complexion, darling," the white unicorn informed her friend. "If you don't go with your coat color, you should only go a shade lighter or darker. Now for your eyes; do you have a piece of cardstock and some scissors anywhere?"
It took perhaps an hour to do everything Rarity wanted to make Twilight look her best. She'd lined her friend's eyes with midnight violet liquid liner, which made them look just a little bigger, and gave them a somewhat sultry look that didn't even approach slutty - exactly what the fashionista had been aiming for. A bit of silver eyeshadow and clear lip-gloss enhanced the look. It helped that Rarity had slightly styled Twilight's mane to emphasize her eyes, as well. A few well-placed decorative hairpins were the final touch. When she allowed her friend to turn around and look in the mirror, the purple unicorn's mouth fell open.
"Is that… me?"
Rarity tossed her fashionably curled mane over one shoulder. "It is, indeed, darling. You look fabulous."
In point of fact, she looked like herself, but with just a little something more about her. The perfect look for a first "kinda, sorta date." Since Twilight wasn't sure if this Peter fellow actually meant it to be an actual "date" - though Rarity was fairly certain the stallion was romantically inclined, since he'd asked Twilight on two outings at the same time, and was going out of his way to escort her to and from Sweet Apple Acres tonight, which meant he had to make the round-trip twice… but Rarity kept that little opinion to herself - they hadn't gone overboard, keeping it subtle.
"Wow," Twilight whispered, sounding awed. "I look… I really look…"
"Fabulous!" Rarity cried. "Now, let's pick out your outfit. Outfits must match your hair and makeup, you know."
Þ€
"He is going to attempt to fight us, my sister," Princess Luna murmured as she emerged from her room in Canterlot's observatory tower. The circular overlook that wrapped the entirety of the tower's top was where Luna stood to raise the moon at the hour of sunset, which was swiftly approaching. Celestia stood on the overlook already, watching the weather-pegasi of Canterlot placing clouds to paint a brilliant sunset. The younger princess drew abreast of Equestria's ruler. "You know he will."
Celestia sighed. "With the information he provided for us, I almost want to fight Fate myself. But hopefully Peter isn't so foolish as to think he can win against Fate… or against us."
"He loves her, my sister."
Another sigh. "Love has always made him reckless. Losing her will break him in ways we've seen before. Hopefully he will heal from her loss, as he has healed before this."
Luna began to draw power from the diamond stars above and the lengthening shadows blanketing the world as Celestia began to bring down the sun. Magic whispered through Luna's blood, starlight and midnight. She imagined the luminous pearl of the moon on the other side of the Equestria. Threads of power stretched between the Princess of the Night and the silvery moon. It resisted for a moment, trying to stay settled in its gravitational sling, but Luna coaxed it out the way one might coax a wild thing from its nest. As the sun sank beneath the horizon, the moon peeked above it, ivory against the velvety twilight of the sky. When the moon was on its way to resting in the cradle of the stars, Luna turned back to her sister.
"Sister, I do not wish harm to come to your student. I am… fond of her."
Fuchsia eyes settled on Luna's solemn face before returning to the vision of moon and stars. A soft breeze rustled Celestia's shadowed feathers, cool along her white coat. She didn't speak for a long time. When she did, the sorrow in her voice was obvious to her younger sister. "I, too, am fond of Twilight Sparkle… but some things must be. And as her idol, Starswirl the Bearded, discovered… one cannot hope to change Fate. Attempting to is hopeless. It's never been done."
Only when Celestia had gone back inside, and Luna was gazing up at the fullness of the moon, did the Night Princess murmur, "Just because it has never been done, does not mean it cannot be done." Luna's eyes flicked to Ponyville, miles away. "Fight Fate, Peter," she whispered. "Fight Fate, and Celestia, to protect Twilight Sparkle. You are the only one who can."
ŦS
Twilight couldn't stop pacing. Rarity and Sweetie Belle had already left to go to the fabric store - something about taking care of the newest troop of Cutie Mark Crusaders - so Twilight was relatively alone as she wore a circle in the floor pacing around the main column of the library's roof supports. What if Rarity was wrong? What if Peter thought she looked ridiculous? What if wearing makeup broke one of the co-ed friendship rules? She didn't have a lot of stallion friends she hadn't known since foalhood - hers or theirs. Snips and Snails wouldn't have noticed if Twilight wore makeup; neither would Featherweight or any of the other stallions who'd been colts when she'd first come to Ponyville. As for Big Macintosh or Horse Power or Doughnut Joe… they probably wouldn’t notice, either. Would Peter even notice? What if he didn't notice? Did that mean anything about whether he wanted to be friends?
"Ugh! Why does friendship have to be so complicated?" Twilight cried, stopping long enough to reach up for her mane. Only a cautionary "who!" from Owlowsius reminded her that she'd mess up her hair, which Rarity had been kind enough to style. It wasn't anything elaborate, but if she messed with it, it would look elaborately messy.
"I think you're over-thinking this, Twilight," Spike said. He swung his legs back and forth where he perched on one of the shelf ladders, watching his best friend driving herself crazy. "He's probably like you: likes books and stars and stuff. A brainiac. Big Mac probably told him you were the same way and he wants to spend time with someone with common interests while he's stuck in Ponyville."
She forced herself to be still. "You're probably right. I'm probably reading way too much into this. I'm being ridiculous. Of course it doesn't matter if I wear makeup or my fancy saddlebags or my star-vest. I'm being silly. This is just a meeting between two academic minds in a stimulating social setting-"
Power, familiar as the sound of her own heartbeat, whispered against her magical senses a few moments before a soft knock came from the front door of the library. Twilight's heart leapt into her throat and she tripped twice on her way to the bookshelf that held L.F. Ingram's works. She grabbed Saddled in Death from the shelf; she wondered if Peter had read it and, if so, what he had to say about the futuristic crime series. Then she went to the door as another knock sounded. To her surprise, her hoof shook as she opened the door to reveal Peter on the stoop.
Eyes as cold as sapphires widened as the unicorn stallion took in her appearance. Oh, yeah - he'd noticed the makeup. Or maybe it was the silver embroidery on her dark violet vest that had caught his attention? She didn't know. Didn't care. Why wasn't he saying anything? Why was he just looking at her? His eyes had warmed to summer azure. Twilight swallowed and thrust the book at him.
"Here," she blurted. Her tongue felt thick and numb in her mouth. "Um… I figured, since you liked Kristen Trottingham, you'd like L.F. Ingram. Different genres, but they've both got a brilliant way with words and mysterious plot points, and both series have strong heroines, so… so, I thought you might like to read it."
A smile tugged playfully at Peter's mouth as he accepted the book, lifting it with magic and sliding it into his hunter green saddlebag. Another book slipped out of the bag. Peter presented it to Twilight.
"It seems we both had the same idea. Here; it's fairly new, so I wasn't sure if you had it in your library or not. It's called Buttercup's Foal; it's a sequel to The Princess Bridle."
Twilight accepted the gift with a delighted gasp and clutched it to her chest. She inhaled the rich scent of the leather binding and the sweetness of fresh, clean, newly-printed paper. All thoughts of Peter's strange familiarity or her own made-over appearance fled her mind. She'd loved The Princess Bridle as a foal. Shining Armor and Cadance had both read it to her a thousand times. She'd always wondered about the rumored sequel, Buttercup's Foal, and whether it would ever be published. How had Peter known she'd wanted this book more than any other novel in the world?
"Thank you," she breathed, still hugging the book. "Thank you so much."
Small purple claws plucked the book out of Twilight's hooves. She immediately felt an aching sense of loss. It took everything she had not to snatch the book back from her assistant. "I'll go put this on your 'Read Immediately' shelf," Spike said, waddling away. "Have a good time, Twilight. See you in the morning." Owlowsius hooted. There was the swift, steady beating of owl wings. Somehow Twilight and Peter ended up on the stoop of the library together, the door shut firmly in their faces. Twilight eyed the door.
"He's going to pig out on that box of turquoise Chief Thunderhooves sent him for his birthday," she muttered. "I can tell."
Peter chuckled. "Ah. And here I thought it was simply that your dragon didn't like me. Twilight Sparkle," he added, suddenly serious. That look of anguish had returned to his gaze. A shiver of unease whispered along Twilight's back; why did he always look as if he was in pain when he saw her? "I wanted to say that… you look lovely tonight." He studied her. "You've done something to your mane."
She flushed. "My friend Rarity… I told her you were escorting me, she said since Applejack was inviting me and I had an escort and everything, I had to… I know it looks stupid-"
"Not at all," he contradicted immediately. "It looks beautiful. I like the star-pins especially. I, uh… brought something else for you. It lacks the power to make you any lovelier, but I hope you'll accept it, nonetheless."
Soft cobalt magic withdrew a pale purple flower from Peter's saddlebag. It looked like Heart's Desire, except the poisonous magical herb was normally red. It was one of the prettiest flowers Twilight had ever seen - a pearlescent sheen to the inner petals, the wine-dark stamen lightly furred with pale rose, the green leaves and stem flush with midnight indigo. In fact, the flower's colors matched her mane. The honey-like scent was sweet as apple blossoms.
"It's called Magic's Dawn," Peter said softly.
A brush of power tucked the blossom behind her ear. The petals brushed the tip of her ear like a caress that sent flutters through Twilight's stomach. It took her a moment to find her voice. "Um… so, I'm a very academic pony. I like experimentation and the scientific process and rules and such. I like knowing what things are. And I'm probably breaking a billion social rules, but I have to ask you… is this… I mean… are we…"
"Unless you would have it otherwise, Twilight Sparkle, I consider this a date," Peter said calmly, coming to her rescue. "This is why I brought you a flower and came as your escort - because that's what gentlecolts do when they request an outing with a mare of your quality."
"But… you don't even know me," she blurted, then wanted to face-hoof. What a stupid thing to say!
Peter only smiled, shrugging. "Perhaps I would like to know you. Why else do ponies date?" He indicated the main road with a slight nod. The sun, just beginning to sink behind the Ponyville houses, burnished his golden mane with warm bronze light. "Shall we?"
Walking with Peter was strange, and not just because it felt oddly familiar, as if she'd done it a million times before. He was courteous, like the stallions in some of Rarity's romance novels - always keeping level with her while they spoke about various books, matching his long stride to hers, and placing himself between her and traffic. Once they were past the actual township on the main road to the Apple family farm, he used magic and the occasional helping hoof to hold rogue branches out of her path. Yet he was careful to never actually touch Twilight. Even when he'd first arrived, he'd used magic to give her the book and the flower. Why? Did he feel that bizarre sense of déjà vu when he touched her? Or did it hurt him somehow, to come in physical contact with her?
"So," Twilight ventured into a sudden silence. The sun barely peeped above the tree-shrouded horizon. Long shadows embraced the countryside, deepening the dark between the trees of Everfree Forest. Silver moonlight gilded the little streams and ponds that sprinkled the idyllic landscape. A late-summer zephyr teased the unicorn mare's forelock; luckily, Rarity's diamond hairpins kept Twilight's styled mane presentable. That breeze danced in Twilight's nostrils, bringing with it the warm scent of leather, clean sweat, fresh hay, and stallion. Peter's scent. He smelled nice. Was he wearing cologne? Or was that his natural smell?
Was she supposed to be thinking things like this on a first date? What were the rules of first dates? She hadn't had time to look them up before Peter's arrival. She hadn't even considered doing it, because she hadn't known this was a date! Rather, she'd thought it was a friend-date, an outing between co-ed buddies, not a romantic venture. But Peter wanted it to be a romantic date. So was she supposed to be thinking about his smell, and how nice it was? Or was she doing something wrong? Was it weird that she was willing to go on a romantic date with one of her father's friends, even though the friend was closer to her age than his? Was she… was she turning into a Lolita?
"You're over-thinking things, Twilight Sparkle," Peter murmured. Twilight yanked herself from her thoughts and focused on the unicorn stallion. "You're worried about the rules, aren't you?"
A flush spread through the mare's cheeks and down her neck. How did he know?
"If I may speak freely?" Peter asked. She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the pale ribbon of dirt road under her hooves. "I know your father has no objections to me courting you, so long as you don't object," the stallion said gently. Twilight could feel his eyes on her as he spoke. "He and I discussed it… recently." Surprised, she flicked a glance at him. Was that what he'd been doing the last couple days while he'd been avoiding her? "If you will permit me… I would like to court you. You're someone I would very much like to know better. What I do know of you and what I remember are… I have fond memories of our previous time together," he murmured, looking out toward the border of Everfree. A mild tremor rippled through him - faint, but she felt it, though a good three feet separated them. "That said, the choice is entirely yours. Will you give me a chance?"
"Why me?" The question popped out of her mouth before she could censor it. She ducked her head. "Not that I'm not flattered, it's just… I barely know you. You barely know me, except for when we were kids. So… why me?"
Peter smiled. "Before coming here, I asked Princess Celestia if you were much different than when I knew you. She told me that in some ways, you'd changed. Which made sense; after all, you were…"
"Just a foal," she supplied with a self-conscious smile. He inclined his head.
"But she said that in other ways, in all the ways that mattered, you were the same Twilight. Then I saw you and I felt… different. More alive than I have in a long time," he confessed. Twilight blinked at him, stunned into momentary silence. "I was reminded of when I knew you before. Those were better days for me. Happier days. And I decided I wanted to get to know you. Requesting a first date was a spur-of-the-moment decision," he added with a self-deprecating smile. "But I feel it was the right one. Do you?"
Twilight found herself smiling sincerely back at him, even though she had no idea why. Was it weird that he wanted to date her just because of all that? Or go on a date with her? There was a difference between dating and going on a date, right? Why didn't she care about the semantics right now?
"You know what? I do think it was the right decision."
Peter opened his mouth to say something when-
"Hey, Twilight!"
Twilight turned to see two ponies trotting toward her. One was thickset, with a bushy beard washed out by the night shadows and a rather broad horn spearing the air. The other pony was tall and lanky, his slender horn an almost delicate spiral piercing overhead. Once, these two ponies had been some of the most irritating colts in Ponyville. Then they'd gone abroad for several years. Now, Twilight was proud to call them her students-in-magic as well as her friends.
"Snips! Snails! Hey!"
The two young stallions approached with wide grins on their faces; their expressions were lit by the tiny ball of viridian light pulsing at the tip of Snails' horn. Despite how they'd grown up over the years, they still shifted around in a sort of half-prance (though no self-respecting stallion would ever admit to such a thing), excited to see her. Then they got a good look at her companion and froze. Snips opened his mouth. From the corner of her eye, Twilight thought she saw Peter shake his head ever so slightly. Snips' mouth snapped shut. Snails glanced from his friend to the white stallion, then seemed to incline his head almost imperceptibly.
Baffled, Twilight frowned. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on when Snails suddenly said, "Well, it was nice seeing you, Twilight. Can't wait for Advanced Arcanum Three-oh-Three. How long do we have left to do the summer reading?"
"Uh…" Caught off-guard, she had to think for a minute. "Class starts in two weeks. You need to have the reading done by then."
Snips grinned. "Great. We've got plenty of time to finish up the last bit. Well, bye, Twilight!" And before she could say anything or ask any questions, the two young unicorns trotted off toward the darkly veiled borders of the Everfree forest, no doubt finishing up the last of their summer assignments.
Twilight stared after them, confusion and irritation twining together in knots. "That was… strange."
"Was it?" Peter asked. "Well, it is zap-apple season. It's a time for strange happenings, is it not?" He shrugged. "But the meteor shower is drawing close; we should hurry. We're nearly to the farm."
Twilight lay on the springy grass at Sweet Apple Acres upon a blanket as soft as the one currently lying on her bed, legs comfortably folded and hooves tucked beneath her, and watched the stars fall. As streaks of brilliant silver and exultant gold fire they plummeted to earth in blazes of illuminate glory. The night held a numinous quality—the air was warm with the blush of true summer, crickets serenaded the ponies assembled to watch the meteor shower heralding the zap apples' arrival, and a soft wind blew across the meadow in the midst of Sweet Apple Acres' orchard. The wind ruffled Twilight's mane, but thanks to Rarity's skill, not a hair fell out of place. It brought the scent of the apple fritters in front of her wafting temptingly beneath her nostrils.
And the wind served one other viable purpose, according to Twilight Sparkle. On the edge of the breeze the unicorn mare caught the delicious scent of the stallion beside her on the hunter-green picnic blanket. Peter's scent—the sweetness of fresh hay, the baked aroma of sunlight on stone, clean sweat, and the richness of leather—tickled Twilight's nose. It was ridiculous, but if someone had bottled "the perfect stallion smell" and sold it as cologne, Twilight thought it might smell like Peter did.
Electric blue arced across the clear heavens, leaving a phantom streak behind it. Twilight shivered with pleasure. She loved shooting stars. Loved astronomy. On calm, quiet nights she adored staring up at the sky to find Canis Major and Orion, Cygnus and the constellation Pegasus. And tonight the sky was magnificent as more and more stars rocketed across the clear midnight violet atmosphere and fell in luminous smears to earth. She heaved a sigh of utter contentment.
Peter turned to study her. The crescent moon's pearlescent shine caught on the spearing ivory horn jutting up from his forehead. His scarred white coat almost seemed to glow in the moonlight, marred only by the shadows of the scars dappling his flanks and back. Suddenly Twilight wondered what had inflicted the various wounds on the unicorn stallion next to her. Would he be offended if she asked? It didn't seem like the kind of thing to mention with other ponies nearby. Applejack and Big Mac were her friends (she and Applejack were practically sisters) but it felt…odd to ask Peter such a personal question in front of Big Mac, whom Twilight didn't know well enough to share such an intimate piece of information with, and in front of Apple Bloom. So instead Twilight shifted position and focused on the falling stars overhead, intensely aware of Peter's scrutiny.
"Are you happy, Twilight Sparkle?" Peter asked softly, leaning close enough that the warmth of his breath caressed the lavender hair on the side of her neck. The heat of his body warmed her further, even through the shield of her silver-embroidered vest. His voice was low and earnest and seemed to slip over her like the brush of a muzzle along her spine. "Has this outing made you happy?"
After a few moments she nodded. "Yes, Peter," Twilight murmured. There was something so sad about the way he said her name. As if merely forming the individual syllables drove knives into his chest. She didn't understand why that was, but she knew that being near her hurt the stallion somehow…just as she knew, somehow, that Peter didn't care about the pain. He simply wanted to spend time with her. Maybe that should've tripped alarm bells in her head, but she couldn't seem to find his behavior odd. Maybe because he felt so inexplicably familiar to her, as if she'd known him her entire life. If he felt that strange sense of familiarity too, then…"Yes, I'm happy."
The stallion nodded, sighing a little, as if a great weight had been removed from his shoulders. He turned back to the sky. The stripes of cobalt, vibrant cerulean, ivory, and amber from overhead flashed in the depths of his sapphire eyes. They lit the night as brightly as any of Pinkie Pie's fireworks, staining Peter's white coat with brief splashes of vivid color. Shadows deepened beneath the trees with every celestial flame spilling across the heavens. That only made the light shine more brightly.
Twilight picked up one of Applejack's fresh-baked fritters and took what she hoped was a dainty bite. Mares were supposed to try and appear dainty on dates, weren't they? Stallions liked delicate, refined mares, didn't they? That was what Rarity had said. Rarity would know, Twilight thought, because the fashionista had more than half-a-dozen stallions drooling after her and tripping over their hooves in their attempts to catch her attention. The lavender unicorn chewed slowly. Swallowed the delicious bite of fritter. She didn't want Peter to think she was a pig…even if Applejack's fritters were divine.
Suddenly, Peter turned back to her. "Twilight…would you permit me…may I call upon you tomorrow at the library?" When she blinked at him, clearly taken aback by the request, he returned his gaze to the stars. He added, "I have enjoyed this evening with you, Twilight Sparkle. I would be most grateful if you would consent to another outing. With me."
It took her a moment to process what he'd said. For some reason, she could only focus on one trivial part of his speech at first—though it didn't feel like such a trivial thing. Peter had said her name. Not her full name, Twilight Sparkle, which was how he normally addressed her. Simply…simply Twilight. It made her stomach fizz in an odd way, but she didn't think it was unpleasant. She kind of liked it, actually. Was this a sign of growing attraction? She wasn't sure; she'd have to check once she got back to the library. But she needed to hear Peter say her name like that again, just to be sure it wasn't something terrible…like belly worms or an intestinal contortion. Those could be fatal.
"Twilight?" Peter murmured in that low, intense voice again. She'd never heard anyone say her name like that. Like it was poetry, or music. Like it ought to be sung. It made her stomach fizz again, and the unicorn mare realized she was smiling at the stallion like a fool.
Despite the realization, she couldn't seem to stop. It felt like a changeling had taken control of her voice when she replied, "I would…I would love to go on another date with you, Lord Peter…if you keep calling me 'Twilight.'"
Peter's smile was swift and warm. For the first time since she'd known him, the sorrowful shadow in his eyes faded away completely. He inclined his head to her until their horns just grazed each other. The slow, soft, velvety scrape of another unicorn horn against her own sent golden warmth spiraling through her, made her shiver. Where the rest of Peter's body was hot as a furnace, like every stallion's, his horn was pleasantly cool to the touch. Twilight felt sparks of innate magic tingle along the length of her spiraling lilac horn. She sucked in a breath. Peter never looked away from her dark eyes as he said, "You honor me…Twilight. I would be even more deeply honored if you would call me 'Peter.'"
Suddenly the unicorn mare had the feeling that if she'd been Rainbow Dash, at that moment she would have been hyperventilating and panting "ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh, ohmigawsh!" in ecstasy. Struggling to maintain her academic-minded composure, Twilight merely smiled and, feeling quite daring, stretched out her neck and laid her head on Peter's shoulder.
He stiffened for a moment and a quiver went through him. Twilight wondered if she'd broken a first-date rule or something. Oh, why hadn't she double-checked the books in her library before leaving, just in case? She was definitely looking up second-date rules before their outing tomorrow.
But then Peter's entire body relaxed. He sighed softly and turned his head until his chin rested atop her head, just behind her horn. His breath was warm and soft against the lavender spiral of her horn, and his mane lightly brushed her ears.
Twilight smiled.
ΡĐς
Peter tried to keep his elation in check as he and Twilight walked back to Ponyville. Twilight's entire attention, until the very last, had been focused on the star-streaked sky. The stallion's attention had been riveted on Twilight—the torturous closeness of her, the brilliant sparks of starlight setting her lavender coat aglow, the perfumes of magic and fresh green grass and flowers teasing him. It had taken every ounce of his self-control to refrain from making one of the biggest mistakes in his life and leaning over to…
Don't think about it, he ordered himself in a voice that sounded disturbingly like Citron's. You can't afford to think about her like that… yet. She doesn't know you well enough, doesn't trust you enough. You can't frighten her by moving too fast…even if she does look breathtakingly beautiful tonight.
He stole a look at Twilight trotting happily beside him. Her smile in the moonlight was carefree and radiant. He had done that; brought that smile to her face. Peter tried not to feel proud of himself and failed miserably. Once upon a time, making Twilight smile had been one of the foremost thoughts in his mind. Being able to do it once more when he'd thought he would never see her again was…there were simply no words.
By the Sun…maybe he would simply throw caution to the wind and make his move tonight. It was so hard to resist the impulse when he could smell her from here, not just the intoxicating scent of mare but also the fragrance that was purely Twilight Sparkle. Hard to remember why he should wait when her mane fell so fetchingly across her shoulders in strands of midnight violet and deepest blue with just that one stripe of girlish magenta twining through it. Peter wanted to bury his muzzle in her mane and inhale the scent of her. And why shouldn't he? It had been so long since he'd been able to touch her as he wished, been able to nuzzle and breathe her in and—
"Featherweight?" Twilight blurted, jerking Peter to a halt beside her.
His eyebrows rose as the pale, skinny pegasus colt—almost a stallion now, but not quite—cantered toward them. This was too much of a coincidence, the unicorn stallion thought. The appearance of Snips and Snails was one thing; they had been on their way to the Everfree Forest, probably for some magical practice. But Featherweight had no business out at night this late. And three of Peter's former comrades appearing so close together on the same night? Once was chance, twice was perhaps coincidence, but three times was conspiracy.
"Hey, Twilight," Featherweight said as he drew abreast of them. Peter stared at Featherweight, letting all the weight of his years and authority fill his gaze until he knew the colt could feel his eyes on him. Featherweight drew a breath, blew his forelock out of his eyes, and turned to Peter. With a deep bow, the colt said, "Hello, Lord Peter."
Peter felt more than saw Twilight's start of surprise beside him. "You two know each other?" She asked. Was that an edge of suspicion in her voice? He'd thought she'd noticed the silent exchange between himself and Snips and Snails, but he hadn't been sure, and she'd said nothing to him. Now he began wondering anew.
"I met him when I went to Trottingham a few years back," Featherweight said, quickly rushing to Peter's rescue. The colt hefted his camera—a Ninja-Shutter Snapshot 3000, a rather sleek and quite expensive piece of photographic equipment, which hung on a cord around Featherweight's neck. "He was at a photography exhibit at a museum where I was showing some of my work. He even bought me this camera."
The unicorn stallion arched a brow. "You still have it? You know the value of good equipment, as well as having an exceptional eye for unique angles and shots." To Twilight, Peter added, "Featherweight was the editor of the school newspaper in Ponyville, was he not?" Twilight smiled a little ruefully, but she nodded. Peter already knew from Snips and Snails and Featherweight, as well as Truffle and many of the other colts of Ponyville, all about the Gabby Gums fiasco involving those three formerly-blank-flanked fillies—which would account for Twilight's expression. "He's quite talented with a camera," Peter added.
"True," Twilight said, favoring the colt with a smile.
Peter felt an unexpected surge of dark heat in his chest. He forcibly refrained from hunching his shoulders and lowering his horn to point menacingly at the young pegasus. The colt was no rival for Twilight's affections; why did the sight of her gentle smile send stallion-meanness pumping hot as adrenaline through Peter's veins? He gritted his teeth until he was sure he had himself under control, then focused on Featherweight.
"What brings you out here so late, my lad?" He asked, smiling to mitigate the irrepressible edge in his voice.
The colt must have either heard or sensed the unicorn stallion's sudden tension, because he immediately shifted a little, as if giving way before Peter's superior size and strength. Featherweight said, "I came to bring you a message, Lord Peter—from Mazzarine. She stopped by the print-shop about an hour ago and asked me to deliver it to you."
Every muscle in Peter's body tensed until he thought his muscles might snap from the strain; he could feel the tightness of sudden wariness all the way down to his hocks. Mazzarine had sent one of the former Lost Colts to deliver a message? Why? Had something happened? Had Luna and Celestia discovered he meant to circumvent their plans for Twilight? Citron wouldn't have betrayed Peter to the two alicorn princesses, surely…and Big Macintosh would never have said anything, never let something slip that might…
"What message?" The stallion was amazed by how steady his voice sounded. He didn't want Twilight to think there was anything amiss. He wanted nothing to ruin their evening together if he could help it.
Featherweight slipped a cream-colored wing-tip into the saddlebags strung across his back. Using the dexterous prehensile feathers at the tips of all pegasus wings, he withdrew a scroll tightly rolled and tied with a dark ribbon. Peter knew it was royal blue, Mazzarine's favorite color, even though the night dyed it black. Peter took the missive with a hoof-full of magic and quickly unrolled it, scanning the brief words by moonlight. Then he refolded it and shoved it back into Featherweight's saddlebags.
The words of the missive imprinted across his eyes, even after he'd closed them in order to try and think. In the royal-blue alicorn's elegant scrawl, the scroll had read, They have found you, and her. They are hunting you at this very moment. Be on your guard. Protect Twilight.
"By the Stars and Sun," Peter swore savagely under his breath as he glanced at Twilight. So. It seemed as if no matter how carefully he moved, no matter how he struggled to protect her, the Mares of Fate were set on having the bearer of the Element of Magic for themselves. Well, that would never happen. Peter had sworn to Shining Armor and Cadance, as well as himself, that he would protect Twilight with his life. He would be damned if he allowed anyone, including his oldest enemy, to harm Twilight Sparkle.
"Thank you, Featherweight," Peter said, even as intangible sparks of magic crackled along the length of his horn. He tried to suppress his body's automatic reaction to the knowledge of a nearby threat. If the enemy didn't actually attack, Peter didn't want Twilight to worry. Besides, she couldn't know that someone was after her, or the plan could be set back or even ruined entirely…and then what would he do? Giving nothing away, he added, "I appreciate you coming out to find me. Can you make it back on your own, or do you want to walk with Twilight and I?" Peter tried to ignore another surge of stallion fury pumping hot through him. There was no reason to view the colt as a rival, none…but his baser instincts didn't agree.
"I'm fine," Featherweight replied with a false grin. "I need to come out this way anyway. I want some pictures of the zap-apple trees after the fourth sign has happened. I'm helping my little brother with a report for school."
The colt waved goodbye as he went toward Sweet Apple Acres, while Peter and Twilight kept on toward Ponyville proper. Every so often Peter would scan the surrounding night-shaded countryside, keeping a keen eye out for the ones Mazzarine claimed had found them.
The question was, were these changelings? Or something else? And if they were changelings, were they part of Chrysalis's vicious army, come to seek revenge for what Twilight had accomplished several years ago at the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance? Or was Metamorphosis tired of his mother's unwillingness to attack Canterlot again? Prince Metamorphosis—who'd been so much more than that when Peter had first fought him—wanted Equestria, and he wanted it with a fiercer hunger than Chrysalis did.
If neither Chrysalis nor Metamorphosis were behind this lurking threat, then it could only be one other creature…but Peter didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to consider that his oldest enemy—the one responsible for so much heartache and destruction—had followed him to this place when he had so many other things to worry about…like the curse that would seal Twilight's fate if Peter's plan didn't work.
Didn't want to consider it…but had to, in order to keep Twilight safe.
"Peter?" Her voice came out of the shadows, hesitant as a touch. He could almost feel her voice whispering over his coat like the brush of a butterfly's wings. It was torturous, to be so near to her, yet have to maintain this careful distance, as if he were just a stallion paying court to her instead of…instead of her…"Peter, are you okay?"
"Hmmm?" He shook himself, forcing his mind back to the present. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry, did you say something? My mind was elsewhere for a moment."
The steady clip-clop of her hooves against the packed earth of the road faltered for a moment. "Did…did I do something wrong?" Twilight asked finally. Peter felt his heart constrict in his chest. She sounded so uncertain…
He stopped walking. Twilight followed suit. Wondering if he were about to make the biggest mistake of his life, the unicorn stallion stretched out his neck and brushed his muzzle against Twilight's soft, warm neck, letting his nose glide along the shallow delineation between the taut muscles of her neck. Hot air from his nostrils gusted against the velveteen hairs of coat. Her mane tickled his forehead, caressed the jutting spear of his ivory horn. Suppressing a shudder at that innocent touch, Peter lifted his head to look into those vivid violet eyes. Twilight gazed back at him, lips slightly parted, breathing a little shallow.
"No, Twilight," he said gently. "You have done nothing wrong. Nothing at all. I have enjoyed myself far more than I had any right to hope. I am simply…" Peter trailed off when a prickle of unease raised the hair along his spine. His gaze darted to a shadow flitting between a pair of bushes on the side of the road. "Expecting some unwelcome company," he concluded, grasping at his magic so that it filled his veins like cobalt electric fire. "Which has just decided to drop in."
Twilight reacted to the sudden shift in his tone by rearing up slightly on her hind legs and pivoting to face where Peter was looking. There was a flash of magenta, and the unicorn mare came down shod in the silvery clawed combat-shoes of Princess Luna's Night Guard—the Twilight Peter had known had told him once that they did more damage in a fight because of the claw implements—with the lilac spike of her horn partially shielded by the golden tiara-like Element of Magic. The amethyst cut into the form of a many-rayed star gleamed in the moonlight. The mare lowered her horn, aiming for the unknown threat.
Summoning his own combat gear—clawed horseshoes like Twilight's, an iron visor for his face, and a leather breastplate—Peter allowed the aura of his magic to surge around him like a hungry miasma of power as he turned to guard Twilight's flank.
"Who's there?" The stallion demanded, voice rumbling like a roll of thunder. Magic sparked and snapped along his scarred coat and over his horn. It made the metal of his armor sing when it spilled across the iron like water. "Show yourself!"
From out of the shadows stepped exactly what Peter had feared—a changeling stallion, moonlight piercing through the jagged holes in his legs and flanks, his twisted and pockmarked horn standing out darkly against the brightness of the shapeless crimson hat perched awkwardly on his head.
Behind him, Peter heard Twilight gasp, and knew more changelings had stepped out of the shadows. The malevolent stallion in front of Peter grinned. "Hello, Peter. Time to die—captain's orders." . . . . . . . TBC
