The Alicorn Enigma

Chapters

Chapter One: The Welcome Wagon
Chapter Two: Our Alicorn is Missing
Chapter Three: A Falling-Out
Chapter Four: Correspondence

Chapter One: The Welcome Wagon

Lyra whispered to Bon Bon, "Look over there. Who is that pony?"

Bon Bon's ears perked up as she followed Lyra's gaze across the marketplace, past the stalls vending food and other goods. "I don't know. That's strange. He's so tall! And why is he wearing a cloak on a day like this?"

The cloak in question was tan with blue embroidery around its hem — duller than the bright colors most ponies favored. As she moved, the cloak shifted allowing her onlookers to see the cream-colored fur above her hooves. Peach-colored strands of her tail brushed along the ground as she walked.

As the two ponies watched, the stranger went to Carrot Top's stand to look at the vegetables. A hoof reached up to pull back the cloak's hood, revealing not the blunt features of a stallion but rather a unicorn mare with an unusually long and slender horn, an equally unusually long but delicate muzzle and a flowing mane that matched her peach-colored tail.

"Wow!" Lyra exclaimed, although still trying to keep her voice low. "That's a mare. She must be as big as Princess Celestia!"

The stranger's ear flicked, indicating that maybe Lyra hadn't been as quiet as she thought. She glanced over her shoulder, then shrugged it off and returned to her transaction, levitating a few brass bits from her coin purse and taking a sack of vegetables in return. A few other ponies around the marketplace were whispering and giving her curious looks as well. She sighed softly and turned to leave — and clonked Carrot Top's hanging sign with her horn. "AWP!" she cried out, as the bag of veggies tumbled from her telekinetic grasp and spilled onto the dirt.

"Goodness! Are you okay?" Carrot Top asked.

The stranger sprawled on the ground and rubbed her forehead and horn with a front leg, eyes squeezed shut for a moment as she waited for the pain to subside. "I'll be okay," she managed to say. "That happens sometimes when I'm not careful." Then she sat up, opening her eyes, and focused her magic on the spilled food, putting it back into the sack. "I'll... wash this when I get back to the house, yeah."

She floated the bag beside her as she walked across the path toward the opposing stall. She was met with Applejack's cheerful greeting. "Howdy there! Whoah, you're a big one, aren't ya?"

"That's what everypony keeps telling me." She glanced around, taking notice of the several ponies staring at her: some openly, others stealing furtive glances.

Applejack followed her gaze and said, "Don't you worry about them ponies. They're just a mite skittish around strangers, but Ponyville's a friendly place. If you stick around they'll get used to you in a hurry. I'm Applejack, by the by."

The visitor forced a smile and answered, "Thanks, Applejack. I'm Crystal Dawn. I'm only going to be in town for a couple of days. I just came to visit with a friend who I haven't seen in a long time. So... I thought I'd pick up a few things while I'm waiting for her to get off from work."

"Aww, that sounds nice. Anywho, we've got the best apples in Equestria right here. Does your friend like apples?"

Crystal chuckled softly and said, "She eats too many sweets, actually. I've tried before to nudge her towards healthier food." Then she levitated several apples from the bin. "Maybe a few of these would help convince her."

"Darn straight!" said Applejack. "Nopony can resist 'em. Here, let me get you a bag for those."

Just then a yellow filly trotted up and said, "Hey, AJ! Ah couldn't find them rags. Whoah!" She gawped upward at Crystal. "Hokey smokes, lady! You must be taller than Big Macintosh. Are you a basketball player?"

Crystal peered downward towards her hooves, trying to make sure she wasn't stepping on anypony, and said, "No... Do you play miniature golf?"

Applejack cracked up for a moment. Then, after getting her mirth under control, she said, "Apple Bloom, be polite! This here is a customer. Her name's Crystal Dawn. Crystal, this little troublemaker is mah sister."

Apple Bloom didn't seem troubled in the least by the joke or her sister's laughter. "Howdy, Crystal!" she said cheerfully, and she trotted around Crystal, still peering upwards.

Crystal frowned a little and asked, "Are you... trying to look under my cape?"

Apple Bloom yeeped. "Sorry! Ah just... Ah was wondering about your cutie mark." The orange mark was just barely peeking out from under the cloak's hem, but not enough to recognize what it was.

Applejack said, "She ain't generally so nosey, but Apple Bloom and a couple of her friends have been driving everypony crazy trying to get their cutie marks. Ah keep trying to tell her they'll come in their own time."

Crystal nodded and looked down at the much smaller filly and said, "I'm afraid I can't help you with that, Apple Bloom." Then she took the bag of apples from Applejack and floated it beside her alongside the other bag of vegetables. With a friendly nod she continued walking on down the aisle of the farmer's market. Apple Bloom glanced at her sister and saw that she was occupied for the moment fussing with things behind the apple stand. The filly grinned and took the opportunity to follow Crystal, breaking into a trot so that her little legs could keep up with Crystal's walking pace.

They hadn't gone far when a hyperkinetic pink pony came bouncing along, then jolted to a sudden stop in front of Crystal, bringing her to a halt as well. Pinkie Pie gasped. "You... I've never seen you before."

"I guess not," Crystal said warily.

Apple Bloom sat down nearby, a smile forming on her muzzle. Pinkie Pie's welcome routine — and the victim's reaction — was always fun to watch.

Pinkie's eyes lit up and she grinned maniacally. "A new pony! Yay! I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"

"I'm Crystal Dawn. Pleased to meet you."

Pinkie bounced in place, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "Are you moving to Ponyville? Are you?"

"No, no. I'm only here for a couple of days to visit an old friend."

"A couple of days is long enough to throw a welcome party." Pinkie hmmed, looking upward to meet Crystal's eyes. "I'd better make that an extra big party. I'll invite your friend, and I'll invite my friends, and we'll have music, and cake, and play games, and..."

Crystal blinked. "What? No! No, I don't like being the center of attention. I appreciate the thought, really, but I want to spend my time catching up with my friend. Can't I just do that?"

"No party? You're sure? You're really really sure?" Pinkie's smile faltered for a moment, her ears sagged, and she bit her lip — disappointed, but remembering her last friendship report. She'd learned a lesson about forcing herself onto ponies. Still, she might be able to negotiate. She said, "You should at least let me roll out the Welcome Wagon for you. That'll be fun, and it won't take long. Only a few minutes, I promise!"

Crystal said, "Welcome Wagon? Err.... I suppose there's no harm in it."

"Yippee!" Pinkie exclaimed. "You just wait right here, I'll be back in a flash!" Then, like a pink streak, she darted away.

Crystal found a nice, clean spot by the side of the street, near a shade tree, to set down her bags and sprawl on the ground while she waited. Apple Bloom came over and sat nearby. It wasn't long before Pinkie Pie returned pulling a small but colorful (mostly pink) wagon. She unhitched herself from it and waved to Crystal, and said, "Come on over! You're gonna love this."

Once Crystal, Apple Bloom and a few curious onlookers had come closer, Pinkie jabbed with her hoof at a large, red button on the end of the wagon, and it sprung open. Up popped brass horns, steam whistles, waving flags, large tubes colored with candy stripes, and shelves with cupcakes and small pies. Music blared, and Pinkie Pie began hopping around the wagon as she sang:

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

A fine welcome to you!

As she sang, most of the ponies watching broke out in happy grins, many of them bobbing or swaying to the tune. However, Apple Bloom’s smile suddenly changed to a gasp as her eyes focused on the candy-striped tubes.

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

I say how do you do!?

Apple Bloom glanced left and right with a growing sense of panic, looking at all the ponies that were stopping to watch Pinkie's performance. Then she reared up and waved her front hooves in the air and yelled, "Pinkie! Pinkie stop!" The little filly's voice was barely heard above the loud music and Pinkie's singing, though.

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

I sing Hip Hip Hooray!

Apple Bloom jumped up and down, trying to get Pinkie's attention. "The wagon! Shut it down, shut it down!"

Another pony put a hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder, trying to calm her down, and said, "Don't interrupt, dear! She'll be through singing in a moment."

Welcome, welcome, welcome,

To Ponyville to-daaaaaay!

As the song was wrapping up, Apple Bloom drew in a deep breath and then screamed as loudly as she could: "PINKIIEE! ME AND SCOOTS AND SWEETIE WERE TRYING TO GET CUTIE MARKS FOR MAKING FIREWORKS SO WE STUFFED YOUR CONFETTI CANNONS FULL OF ROMAN CANDLE STARS!"

Pinkie froze, stuck in the same pose she'd ended her song on — except for her tail, which twitched madly. She blinked and said, "Wat?"

Just then there was a bang, and the front panel of the wagon sprang open revealing a strawberry layer cake. An instant later there was a much louder bang as all the confetti cannons fired. The gathered ponies ooohed in wonder as hundreds of multi-colored fireballs shot into the sky, trailing smoke. Then they screamed in horror as colorful fire rained down upon the street.

Ponies ran in all directions looking for cover. Some bucked reflexively when burning stars landed on their manes or tails. Stars landed on the awnings over a couple of the vendor stalls, setting them on fire. Crystal squealed in fear as she realized her cloak was on fire. Using her magic she whipped off the burning cloak and trampled it on the ground. Once it was extinguished and her immediate panic calmed, she joined the remaining ponies, those who hadn't fled the scene, and helped put out the rest of the fires. Using her magic, she swung what was left of her cloak to beat down the flames.

Finally, about the time the last of the fires were extinguished, some pegasus ponies got a cloud positioned over the marketplace and squeezed a rain shower out of it, drenching everypony and everything there. Peering upward, a wet Pinkie Pie called out, "Better late than never, huh, Cloud Kicker?" Peering over the edge of the cloud, the pegasus pony grinned sheepishly. Pinkie went over to her Welcome Wagon, which had several new scorch marks plus a layer cake melting in the rain. She sighed.

Crystal frowned at the blackened and tattered remnants of her cloak laying on the ground, then looked around and saw ponies staring at her. She glanced backward toward her own flank. "Oh yeah," she said. "About those." They were staring at her wings.

Then, with a confused expression, hesitantly, a stallion stretched forward his front hooves and lowered his head to the damp ground, bowing.

“No…” said Crystal, softly. It sounded more like a denial than a command.

Other ponies began to bow, following the first one’s lead. “Princess?” the stallion asked.

“No, no!” said Crystal, louder than before. “I’m no princess. I’m not royalty.” She started backing away, wings flicking anxiously.

Apple Bloom approached her, staring, fascinated. “But… You’ve got wings and a horn. You’re an alicorn, ain’t ya?”

Crystal squeezed her eyes shut as if pained. Then she spread her wings and gave them a shake, scattering the rainwater from them, and she leapt into the air. In moments she’d flown over the rooftops and out of sight, leaving a bunch of damp and confused ponies asking one another in low tones what it all could possibly mean.

Pinkie’s mane and tail hung limp and wet. She sniffled and muttered, “I really didn’t make her smile.”

Business was slow at Carousel Boutique. It was the off season, with no big formal events coming up, no orders urgently needing to be filled. At such times Rarity enjoyed being able to work at her own pace, letting her creativity bloom as she prepared display items for her shoppe. Thus she found herself sitting still, her tape measure and scissors laying idle as she gazed at a work in progress, waiting for inspiration to strike so that she could finish it with flair. She pondered adding more gems. But no… One couldn’t simply throw everything at a dress. Knowing what to leave off was as important as knowing what to add — a lesson that she’d been reminded when Twilight’s unfinished birthday dress had turned out to be such an unexpected success.

And then, of course, there was a knock on the door. It was like a kind of perverse magic; one simply couldn’t expect to stay in the zone of focused creativity without some sort of interruption cropping up. Rarity sighed… but only a very tiny sigh. Customers should always be welcome, of course. “Coming!” she called out.

She opened the front door while delivering her standard greeting: “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and… uh… magnifique.” She faltered as she tried to make sense of the unfamiliar, bedraggled alicorn in front of her.

After a few awkward moments of silence Crystal softly asked, “May I come in?”

Rarity stepped back and aside. “Of course, of course!” she stammered. Then, just to be on the safe side, she bowed and added, “My Lady.”

“Oh no,” said Crystal. “Please don’t bow! Despite my appearance, I’m not royalty. My name is Crystal Dawn. And you are?”

“I am Rarity, and this is my shoppe.” She stood up and looked at Crystal with undisguised curiosity, noticing how damp and sooty she was, and then exclaimed, “Oh my gracious! What ever happened to you?”

Crystal sighed and explained. “There was a fire at the farmers market, and I helped put it out. That’s why I came to you. My cloak was ruined, and I need a replacement. I’m only in town for a couple of days, so it needs to be ready before I go.”

“A cloak? That’s… Something I don’t get many requests for.” Not outside of historical costumes for plays, she thought to herself. “Although, I’ve heard that Princess Luna has been known to wear one when she’s away from Castle Canterlot.” And Princess Luna’s fashion sense is a thousand years out of date — but, for all I know, this alicorn might be as old as Luna and Celestia.

Crystal nodded and said, “I like to wear a cloak whenever I travel. It helps to hide my wings.”

“But… Why would you want to hide your beautiful wings? I could make something for you that shows them off.”

Crystal stamped a hoof. “No! I mean… I’m sorry, it's a lovely idea, but being recognized as an alicorn gets to be quite a nuisance for me, at least when I’m away from my home and around ponies who don’t know me. The bowing, and the awkward attempts to address me by some sort of title, and the questions… I don’t hold it against them, but it does get old after a while, and wearing a cloak helps me avoid some of that. I really don’t like being the center of attention all the time.”

Rarity tried to conceal her disappointment, and she said, “I quite understand, dear. In that case, I’ll do my best to come up with something that satisfies your needs.” At least she was trying to understand, even though she was never happier than when she was the center of attention. Perhaps this alicorn was more like Fluttershy, though.

Then Rarity added, “If you’ll follow me, I’ll get your measurements. It should only take a few minutes.” Soon she had a measuring tape floating in her magical aura, recording every dimension of her outsized client. While working she asked, “What did you have in mind for the color and trim? Some embroidery, perhaps? Some gems? I think you would look fabulous in an indigo cloak with gold embroidery! That would make a striking contrast with your pale coat and mane.”

Crystal answered, “I’d prefer tan or khaki like my old cloak.”

Rarity frowned and said, “Really? That’s usually considered more of a color for stallions.”

“It’s practical,” Crystal explained. “It’s the same color as trail dust. If it gets dirty while I’m traveling, nopony can tell.”

Rarity shuddered, as she greatly preferred to avoid dirt entirely. “Don’t you usually fly above all the dirt when you travel? Please let me convince you to try a more lively color!”

Crystal ermed. “I don’t want a vivid color or a dark color. It should be a soft color like my coat and mane.”

Rarity stepped back and looked at Crystal appraisingly. Then her eyes lit up with an idea. She said, “I have a roll of salmon-pink cloth that would be perfect. It would complement your coat and mane perfectly, and it doesn’t tend to show dirt easily.”

Crystal smiled and said, “That sounds nice. I’ll let you pick a trim that looks good with it. Just don’t make it too elaborate, please!”

“It shall be elegantly understated, I promise.” Rarity put away her measuring tape. Then she added, “I’ll have it ready for you to pick up tomorrow morning.”

“I appreciate that very much. I’ll move along and let you get to work on it.” Crystal started to move toward the exit.

“Oh, no no!” Rarity exclaimed, moving to block Crystal’s path. “You shan’t be wandering the streets in that condition, with all that soot, and with your mane and tail in such disarray. I simply must take you to the spa. I’ll have plenty of time to make your cloak later.”

Crystal blinked. “Spa? I… I was just going back to my friend’s house and wash off. I don’t want to be treated like anything special.”

Rarity huffed, “Nonsense! You are a guest in our fair town, and it’s clear that you’ve gotten a rough first impression of it that I am obligated to correct. Besides, I doubt whether your friend even has a tub large enough for you to bathe comfortably. You’ll find the spa’s whirlpool much more accommodating.” She magically opened the front door and turned the sign around to CLOSED. “Come along! I won’t take no for an answer.”

Chapter Two: Our Alicorn is Missing

Scraps of paper surrounded Twilight Sparkle. Some were piled upon her writing desk. Others were stacked precariously on the edges of bookshelves. Several lay where they’d fallen on the floor. Upon the scraps were a hodgepodge of scribbles in different colors: spiral squiggles, zig-zags and ink splotches, as well as Twilight’s name and odd phrases such as “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Twilight scrunched her face in concentration, the tip of her tongue protruding absentmindedly from her mouth as she focused her magic on a pen and wrote, “a minimum of fifty.” Then she huffed in frustration. “Guhh! It did it again,” she said. “It skips on the longer downstrokes.”

“I guess we’ll be sticking with quills, huh?” said Spike. The baby dragon had been almost as excited as Twilight at first, when she’d unwrapped the newfangled fountain pen, read the instructions, and started to try it out. It seemed like a great idea: a mechanical pen that held ink inside so you wouldn’t have to keep dipping it into an inkwell after every line or two. And of course, it figured that Twilight would be one of the first in Ponyville to get her hooves on one. Now she was finding out the inventors hadn’t quite worked all the kinks out of this gadget.

“I haven’t given up!” Twilight insisted. “I just have to figure out why it sometimes skips or clogs… and blurts ink onto the page… and leaks… but how complicated can it really be? Maybe I can come up with a spell to make it work better.” She pondered. “Hmm. It seems to work better with some inks than others, so maybe that’s the problem.” She went back to scribbling.

“You’ve already been fiddling with it for almost two hours, Twi.”

She blinked, then glanced at the clock. “I have? I didn’t even know. I’ve been trying every combination of ink and paper. And when I change inks, then I have to flush it out or the colors would mix. If I can just figure out which ink works best with it, I’ll stick with that.”

Spike sighed. The novelty of the new pen had worn off quickly for him, but he knew Twilight’s mind was fully engaged, and she might spend the rest of the day playing with this high-tech toy.

From downstairs came the jangle of bells as somepony entered the library. “I’ll see who it is,” Spike said, glad for the distraction. He scurried down the stairs and found a familiar earth pony. “Hey, Applejack!”

Applejack nodded and said, “Howdy, Spike! You ain’t seen Apple Bloom around here by any chance, have you?”

The little dragon shook his head. “Not today. What’s up, is she missing?”

“Oh, she’s run off ‘cause she thinks she’s gonna git in trouble. Which she is, when I find her. I’m jist checkin’ everywhere I thought she might try to hide out.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for her, and I’ll tell Twilight too. What did she do this time?”

Applejack sighed. “She and her crusader friends went messin’ around with Pinkie Pie’s stuff, and it started a fire in the marketplace. Pinkie’s mighty upset about it, on account it messed up her welcome fer the new alicorn pony that she met.”

Spike blinked. “Alicorn, huh? You mean like the princess, with wings and a horn both?”

“That’s right. Aside from her colors she was a spittin’ image of Princess Celestia. Said her name was Crystal. Anyhow, after the fire she flew off, and Pinkie’s convinced she flubbed her chance to make a new friend.”

“Wow! I guess the crusaders are all in trouble with Pinkie, huh?”

“And not just with Pinkie. That fire damaged some vendor stalls too, and might near started a stampede. Anywho… I better git back to the search. I’ll see y’all later, Spike!” She waved a hoof.

Spike waved and said bye and then climbed back up the stairs to tell Twilight what he’d learned. He found her flushing out the fountain pen with water — again — in preparation to try a different ink. “Hey Twilight, it was just Applejack. She said to keep an eye out for Apple Bloom.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” said Twilight without looking up from the pen.

“She said the Cutie Mark Crusaders started a fire and burned up some of Pinkie Pie’s stuff, and damaged some of the market stalls.”

“Wow. Nothing too serious, I hope.” Twilight still was looking at the pieces of the fountain pen, which she was swishing around in a bowl of water.

“It didn’t sound that way,” Spike said, “but Pinkie’s really mad at them. She was trying to make friends with an alicorn and the fire messed everything up.”

Twilight blinked, her ears perking up for a moment. Then she chuckled softly and said, “Spike, it sounded for a moment like you said an alicorn.”

“That’s what Applejack said. With wings and a horn, just like Princess Celestia.”

Twilight frowned and set down the pen, and turned to look at Spike. “Well, that just doesn’t make sense. I thought Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the only alicorns in the world.”

Spike shrugged. “I guess not. Hey, we thought Princess Celestia was the only one until last year.”

Twilight’s frown deepened. “That… That’s true, but still it doesn’t make sense.” She focused on Spike. “Did she say who she was? What was her cutie mark? Where did she come from?”

The baby dragon stammered, “I don’t know, I don’t know! Applejack didn’t say. Wait… She said the alicorn’s name was Crystal. But that’s all. Then she left and went looking for Apple Bloom.”

The fountain pen forgotten, Twilight started down the stairs. “I have to investigate this. It could be important. I mean, who knows what this strange alicorn could be up to. She might be a powerful nature goddess, or some ancient evil that’s returned to, um… not plunge Equestria into endless night, because that was Luna’s thing, but it could be something just as bad.”

“Wait for me!” Spike hopped onto Twilight’s back.

Twilight said, “We’ll start our investigation with the marketplace, Spike! It’s like a crime scene. There’ll be evidence and witnesses and everything.”

It was only a short jog over from the library. The area had been substantially cleaned up when they arrived, with only the partially burnt cloth awnings standing out as obvious damage. Twilight immediately cornered one of the vendors and got a quick recounting of the morning’s excitement.

“Wait… You say this alicorn helped put out the fire? Did she cast a spell?” Twilight wondered.

Roseluck answered, “No, she used her cape to beat down the flames. The poor thing… Her cape was completely ruined.”

“That’s… odd. I’m sure I could have cast a fire suppression spell if I’d been here. I wonder why she didn’t?”

Spike said, “Not everypony’s as great with magic as you, Twilight.”

Twilight retorted, “But she’s an alicorn! I mean, come on! If she’s anything like the princesses, she’d completely outclass me in spellcasting.” Spike shrugged helplessly. Then Twilight turned her attention to Rose again. “What happened after the fire was put out?”

“Oh, that’s when we all saw that she had wings, and some of the ponies started bowing and asking if she was a princess. She didn’t seem to like that, and she flew away.” Then Rose pointed helpfully with a hoof. “That way!”

Twilight gazed over the rooftops for a moment, then asked, “She didn’t say anything about why she was here? Anything about portents of doom?”

Rose frowned for a moment. “No… Oh, well of course she was here to shop for groceries!”

“Groceries?” Twilight echoed.

Rose nodded. “She left her bags here when she flew away. She must have forgot about them completely. You know, if you find her maybe you could take those to her.”

Twilight scuffed at the ground with a hoof, annoyed. “I’m just trying to investigate the appearance of a new alicorn that might be a threat to all of Equestria. Delivering a sack of vegetables isn’t exactly my priority right now.”

Rose said, “Of course, dear, of course… But still, she did pay for them, and it’d be a shame for that food to go to waste.”

Twilight sighed and levitated the two sacks of food. “Okay, I’ll do my best to get them to her.”

Rose smiled. “Thank you, dear! I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”

Twilight left the market, grumbling softly to herself as the bags of food floated beside her. She called over her shoulder to her assistant, still riding on her back, “Spike, have you been taking notes?”

He nodded. “Sure thing, Twilight. But you know… This alicorn doesn’t sound like much of threat to Equestria so far. I mean, it sounds like she was just going about her business.”

Twilight growfed her annoyance, then said, “But… Nothing adds up. I mean, for a thousand years the only alicorn that anypony knew about was Princess Celestia. Then suddenly we’ve got Princess Luna. Okay. I understand that, I was there for that whole thing. They’re sisters. I’ve come to grips with that. But now… A third? How many more are there going to be? Why are alicorns coming out of the woodwork?”

“Twi…” Spike tried to interrupt her rambling, to no avail.

“And what’s her power? I mean, we’ve got the sun and moon covered already. So what is Crystal? Is she the earth? Is she like mother nature? Or is she in charge of something really abstract like, I dunno… Love? Peace? War? Hosting really great tea parties?”

Spike started to stroke Twilight’s mane in a way he knew would help calm her. “Shhh… I’m sure we’ll find her, and she’ll turn out to be a nice pony, and she’ll answer your questions.”

“R-right! Thanks, Spike. Okay, maybe if we can find Pinkie Pie she’ll be able to tell me something. Let’s see if she’s back to Sugarcube Corner yet!” She picked up her pace to a jog and wound her way through the streets to her familiar destination in a few minutes. They found Mr. Cake at work behind the counter, but he directed them to the storage shed behind the bakery — which Pinkie had largely taken over as a workshop for her own tinkering and inventing. This cluttered space was where such mechanical wonders as the Pinkie Copter, the Party Cannon, and the Welcome Wagon had originated.

Twilight Sparkle had been back here a few times before. The Pinkie Copter in particular had piqued her curiosity, but it soon became obvious that Pinkie’s mad inventing skills were completely at odds with Twilight’s methodical and scholarly mind. Most disturbing had been the realization that Pinkie Pie didn’t really understand the operating principles of her own inventions. Her usual approach was simply to bodge two — or more — items together and see what happened. It was all trial and error plus nudges from her mysterious Pinkie Sense.

This time Twilight and Spike found Pinkie sitting on the floor and staring at her scorched Welcome Wagon with an uncharacteristically serious expression. Twilight called to her, “Hey Pinkie, you okay?”

The pink pony perked up. “Hey Twilight! Oh, I’m glad to see you. I’m really in a pickle now. A peck of pink pickles, even! Maybe you can help me figure it out.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, we heard about it. I’ve just been trying to find out exactly what happened.”

“Oh Twilight! Twilight! I was right there, I’ll tell you everything. There was a new pony in the marketplace, and I was trying to make friends with her, and she was all like, I don’t want to go to a party, and then I said I’d bring out the Welcome Wagon, and she was okay with that, and then I did my song and dance you know…” She performed a couple of quick dance moves just to illustrate. “…and everything was going good, and then the Welcome Wagon exploded and rained down rainbow-colored fire all over the marketplace. It was awesome! I mean…. awful! It was awful! And then the new pony got mad and flew away and I didn’t get to make friends with her.”

Twilight said, “But she was an alicorn, right?”

Pinkie blinked. “…?”

“I mean she had wings and a horn. Like Princess Celestia?”

Pinkie thought for a moment, and rubbed her chin with the top of her pastern just to make sure Twilight knew she was thinking. “Oh yeah. She looked almost just like Princess Celestia, except her colors were different, and her cutie mark was different, and she didn’t have the fancy gold collar and shoes and tiara, and her mane wasn’t all wavey-wavey. But she had a cape until it got burned up.”

An eager grin broke across Twilight’s face. “You saw her cutie mark? What was it?”

“uhh… I didn’t look all that close. Something orange, I think.”

Twilight facehoofed.

Pinkie nosed at Twilight and added, “She said her name is Crystal Dawn. Does that help?”

Twilight pondered. “Crystal Dawn. Hmm. Dawn is a time of day, so that fits the pattern I guess. I’m not sure how you put that together with Crystal.”

“Oh, and she said she was in town to visit with an old friend.”

“Really? Huh. I wonder who that could be? I don’t think we have any creatures of ancient legend living in Ponyville, do we?”

Pinkie thought again. “hmm… Ancient legends living in Ponyville. I only know of three. No, four if you count Granny Smith. But I don’t think any of them could be who she was talking about.”

Twilight blinked at Pinkie. “Four?” Then she called over her shoulder, “Spike! Make a note for me to ask Pinkie about that again sometime.” Looking to Pinkie again, she said, “Anyhow, I really think we should find her and try to get some answers.”

“Yes!” Pinkie bounced. “I don’t give up easily. If we can just find her, I’ll tell her I’m sorry for setting her on fire, and we’ll be friends, and everypony will be happy.”

“And I’ll get my answers,” added Twilight. “Let’s do this!” She felt a tugging on her mane, and looked over her shoulder. “Spike? You okay back there?”

“I’m getting kinda tired,” he said. “Can’t we go home now and investigate the alicorn threat to Equestria tomorrow?”

“No!”

Pinkie said, “Twilight? Maybe you could take Spike and your groceries home first, and then we could do our searching.”

“Oh, the groceries! They’re Crystal’s, apparently. I promised Roseluck I’d give them to her if I find her.”

“Wow, that’s super nice of you! I’m sure Crystal will appreciate it.”

They left the storage shed and wandered around to the front of Sugarcube Corner, then pondered where to begin their search. Twilight said, “Maybe we should split up.”

Spike chuckled and said, “Good idea, we can do more damage that way.”

Pinkie nodded and said, “Why don’t I take the north, and you take the south. No, wait! I’ll take the east, and you take the west. Or maybe if I get the northeast and south-by-southwest, and then you can go eastwest-by-northsouth…”

Another voice called out, “Hey, Twilight Sparkle!” It was a mint green unicorn who’d just come out of the bakery.

Twilight blinked and answered, “Hey, Lyra.”

Lyra said, with enthusiasm, “Wow, I’m glad I caught you here. I was just about to head over to the library. I’m done with The Encyclopedia of Monsters. The chapter on humanoids was really fascinating. I was wondering if I can find a book with more information about yahoos. I’ve got a new theory that yahoos were like wild men that ponies had domesticated. That would explain why so many of our everyday items seem designed for hands — because they were made for the servants to use.”

“Ut ut ut!” Twilight cut short Lyra’s rambling. “That’s all very interesting, but I’m pretty busy right now. I probably won’t be able to open up the library again until tomorrow… unless… Actually, you could do me a favor, Lyra. Do you think you could carry Spike back to the library for me? Then he could help you with your books. Are you okay with that, Spike?”

Spike said, “Sure thing, Twilight!”

Lyra nodded too, and said, “I’ve never carried a dragon on my back before. Sounds like fun. Hop on, Spike!” Spike hopped on and grabbed her mane to steady himself, prompting a little startled yeek and fidget from Lyra, but only for a moment. “Okay, I’ll try to keep it steady,” she assured him.

Twilight waved a hoof. “Go on, have fun!”

Spike waved back, and Lyra began to walk away, careful not to jounce Spike. Twilight could overhear her talking to him as they moved away. “So, Spike. Could I ask you a couple of things about those little front paws and claws of yours?”

Twilight giggled softly and said, “Lyra’s convinced there’s some deep dark secret in Equestria’s past involving humans, and she’s got to be the one to figure it out.”

Pinkie Pie hmmed, and nudged Twilight. “Just like you with this new alicorn, huh?”

“Uhh? No, no… That’s completely different. I just want to make sure she’s not dangerous, that’s all.”

“She didn’t seem dangerous to me. Not like Black Snooty, for sure.”

Twilight shrugged. “Not everything dangerous is as obvious as Nightmare Moon. Anyhow, I’m sure Princess Celestia will want to know whatever I can learn about Crystal Dawn.”

“Oooh! You can be like a spy, Twilight. You’re like Her Majesty’s Secret Agent. Double oh Twilight! And I can be like Q and make spy gadgets for you.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “C’mon, ‘Q’, and let’s find that alicorn first!”

Chapter Three: A Falling-Out

Twilight decided to look up Rarity to see if she’d heard anything, while Pinkie Pie bounced off to scout the “southwest-by-northeast” side of town. Upon arriving at Carousel Boutique, however, Twilight was frustrated to see the CLOSED sign. Rarity hadn’t left any note saying when she’d be back.

Twilight sat for a moment and pondered. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both lived outside of town, so there was no reason to suspect they’d know anything helpful. Applejack might possibly have rounded up Apple Bloom and gone home by this time… She might possibly know something. It was worth a try.

Twilight had trotted less than a block when she encountered Rarity coming back toward her shoppe. Twilight bounded over to her friend and called out, “Rarity, hey! I’m glad to see you.”

Smiling back, Rarity answered, “Hello Twilight! How are you today?”

“I’m trying to solve a mystery today. I heard there was a new alicorn in town this morning, and I’m trying to find her.”

Rarity brightened up. “Then you’re in luck. I just got through treating her to a bath and some grooming at the spa.”

Twilight blinked. “Buh? Really? Uh, how did that happen?”

“Well, dear…. Crystal Dawn — that’s her name — showed up at my boutique and asked me to make her a new cloak to replace hers that was ruined this morning. And of course I said I’d be happy to, but then I saw how damp and sooty she was from the fire, and I simply had to help her get cleaned up.”

Eyes bright with excitement, Twilight asked, “You talked with her? Did she tell you why she’s here? What are her powers? Did you see her cutie mark? What’s she like?”

Rarity recoiled slightly, blinked and glanced away from Twilight for a moment as she tried to think of a polite way to respond. Then she said, “Twilight, please! I’m on my way back to the boutique now. Walk with me, and I’ll tell you — one thing at a time!”

“Oh, sorry! Heh! I got a little excited.” She moved to walk beside her friend.

“So… I had a nice chat with Crystal at the spa, and she explained that she came to Ponyville for a couple of days to visit a friend. She was merely at the market this morning to pick up a few things while waiting for her friend to get off from work.”

“Friend? Who is it?” Twilight wondered.

“Hm. I’m not sure if I should really tell you that. She didn’t say it was a secret as such, but I did get the impression that Crystal is rather reserved — not as much as Flutteryshy, of course, but I do think she values her privacy.”

Twilight’s ears drooped. “You… You know who it is, but you’re not going to tell me? Rarity, this could be important. We’re talking about a new alicorn, only the third one that’s known to exist. Remember what happened when the last one showed up? It’s vital that I find out what she’s up to, so I can report to Princess Celestia.”

“Really? I don’t see why it’s so important. Crystal seems like a rather nice pony to me. I can’t imagine why you’d think she’s up to any mischief. Besides, it’s hardly proper to pry into the business of a visitor to our town.”

The pitch and volume of Twilight’s voice increased as she argued, “But you already know! And she didn’t say it was a secret, right?”

Rarity sighed, and stopped walking, as she’d reached the front door of her Boutique. Her horn glowed as she opened the front door and turned the sign back around to OPEN. “Come on inside, Twilight. I can tell this conversation is going to take a while. I might as well fix some tea.”

Twilight followed, but once inside she fidgeted and paced around while Rarity made tea. Her anxiousness only seemed to reinforce Rarity’s resolve to maintain ladylike decorum, and she provided no more answers until tea and cookies were served. When Twilight was finally settled down at the table and took a sip of tea, then Rarity finally was willing to continue. She said, “As I was saying, Crystal came to Ponyville to visit a friend who she hasn’t seen in a while. She’ll be here over the weekend. She’s from Hoofington, by the way. She has a glass workshop and a gallery where she sells her art glass.”

Twilight seemed befuddled. “Glass workshop? Really?”

“Oh yes! It seems she and I have much in common. We both have a creative passion. Her creations, like mine, range from the utilitarian to the whimsical. I asked her to send me some pictures of her art after she’s returned home. Oh, and she gave me this…” From her purse she levitated a small object. It looked like a glass marble, except for the golden-orange light flickering inside like a tiny candle flame. “Have you ever seen anything like it? She called it a fire bead. She insisted it was merely a trinket, but I’m already thinking about how I could incorporate these into some of my designs.”

Twilight’s horn started to glow, then she asked, “May I?” Rarity nodded and transferred the floating marble from her blue aura to Twilight’s purple aura. Twilight peered closely, and let her magic feel its way around the gem. “Hmm. It’s… only a simple light spell. Although, it’s not that easy to cast a light spell on an object and make it permanent. It’s nicely done.” She passed the fire bead back to Rarity.

“So… Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

Twilight stared into her teacup and said, “It still leaves a lot of questions. Where did she come from? I don’t even know where alicorns come from. They aren’t just accidentally born, are they? Or do ordinary ponies somehow get transformed?”

“You never asked Princess Celestia? She is your teacher, after all.”

Twilight’s ears drooped and she didn’t meet Rarity’s eyes. “I… I wondered, but I didn’t know if it was a sensitive thing. I mean, I figured if she wanted me to know she’d tell me eventually.”

Rarity sighed softly and set down her teacup. “Well then. Maybe it’s about time you asked her. She may or may not tell you, but I’m sure she won’t resent the question. After all, it is a student’s place to ask questions.”

Twilight perked up. “Yes! You’re right, and I’ll be sure to ask her in the next letter I send. Thanks Rarity!”

Rarity smiled and added, “I wouldn’t mind hearing the answer as well — assuming it’s not some sort of state secret, of course.”

Finally able to relax a little, Twilight took a sip of her tea, then remembered to ask, “What about Crystal’s cute mark? You did see it, right?”

“Oh yes. It’s a phoenix.”

“A phoenix? Huh. I wonder what that could mean?”

Then Rarity elaborated, “Actually it’s a Phoenix with a heart on its tail. Or a tail shaped like a heart. And I’ll admit, the symbolism seems rather obscure to me as well. But such is the way with cutie marks. Some are obvious, and others… not so much.” Then she giggled softly and nodded towards Twilight. “Sweetie Belle once asked me if your special talent was exploding.”

Twilight laughed and said, “I’ve had a few spell-casting attempts end that way, but yeah… Some concepts don’t translate so well to a cutie mark.” She took a gulp of tea, then got up from the table. “Anyhow, I’d still like to meet Crystal Dawn. Can’t you give me a hint where to find her? I still have her groceries to deliver.”

Rarity blinked at the bags of food that had been following Twilight around. “Those are hers?”

Twilight nodded. “She left them in the marketplace after the fire. I promised Roseluck I’d try and get them to her.

Rarity fidgeted, then said, “I suppose you must fulfill your promise. Just tell me you won’t harass the poor dear when you see her.”

“Harass? Me? I’m shocked that you would imagine such a thing. Of course I won’t bother her, I’ll just deliver the groceries, and maybe chat a bit if she doesn’t mind. I’d never harass anypony.”

“No… No, of course you wouldn’t. Anyhow, she said she’s in town to visit Derpy Hooves. I’m sure you’ll find her at Derpy’s house.”

Twilight blinked. “Derpy?” Rarity nodded. Then Twilight said, “Wait, is that the same pony that Rainbow Dash calls Ditzy Doo? The gray pegasus with the goofy eyes that delivers the mail? Same one who almost destroyed City Hall? The one Rainbow said has a brain like a walnut?”

“Oh well, that’s just unkind. I’m sure Rainbow exaggerates. But yes, I believe that’s the same pony.”

Twilight scratched her head and wondered out loud, “How would Ditzy end up friends with an alicorn? There’s got to be a story behind that. umm… You wouldn’t happen to know where Ditzy’s house is, would you?”

“Not exactly, but I believe it’s somewhere in Littleville. Or above it, if she has a cloud home. You should ask around there.”

“Oh, Littleville…”

Littleville was, one might say, the low-rent district of Ponyville. It wasn’t a slum. There was really no wrong-side-of-the-tracks in Ponyville, not as such. However, in Littleville one was a bit more likely to see a broken down wagon in the front yard, as opposed to a nicely tended flower garden.

Asking around, it didn’t take Twilight Sparkle long to locate Derpy’s home. The cloud home was floating at low altitude within easy view from a nearby street. Twilight didn’t have much experience with cloud construction. She’d been to the floating city of Cloudsdale once and found it amazing. Rainbow Dash’s cloud home was impressive too, with its central tower and rainbow waterfalls. In addition, even though Canterlot Castle was made from solid stone rather than clouds, its magnificently soaring spires were clearly inspired by pegasus cloud architecture.

Twilight was, therefore, surprised to discover that it was possible to make a shotgun shack out of cloudstuff. Well… At least clouds didn’t cost anything, and nopony could charge Derpy rent. Twilight quickly cast a cloudwalking spell on herself and teleported up to the small cloud deck that served as a front porch. “Hello?” she called out. “Is anypony home?”

“Coming!” replied a melliferous voice. Momentarily the front door opened and Crystal Dawn emerged. Despite having been told what to expect, Twilight couldn’t suppress a startled gasp over Crystal’s resemblance to Princess Celestia. She would never mistake one for the other, but this alicorn’s size and proportions were much more similar to the princess than to a common earth, unicorn or pegasus pony. For her own part, Crystal noted Twilight’s wide-eyed expression and said, “Hello! Are you all right?”

Twilight stammered, “I… I’m okay, you just startled me a little. I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. I’m Crystal Dawn. You must be looking for Derpy. She’s out, but she should be home pretty soon if you care to wait.”

“Actually, I was hoping to find you. Rarity told me you’d probably be here. I, uh… have your groceries.” She floated the bags over to the door. “You left them in the marketplace.”

Crystal smiled and her horn glowed as she took the bags into her own magical aura. “That’s very thoughtful. I forgot these in the excitement this morning. Thank you!” She floated the bags into the house and sat them down. Then she returned to Twilight, who was staring intently with a sort of goofy grin on her face, and asked, “Is there anything else you wanted? I would invite you in, but it’s not my house.”

“Yes! uhhh… I’m doing some research, and I was hoping you could answer some questions for me. If you don’t mind, that is.”

Crystal’s smile faded, and she said. “Research? What sort of research? You’re not a reporter, are you?”

“No! I’m just a librarian.”

The alicorn stared at her for a moment, then said, “And you’re doing library-related research?”

Twilight fidgeted. “Err… That is, I’m also Princess Celestia’s student. So you can understand why I want to learn more about alicorns. Until now I only knew about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And then you showed up. So, I was hoping you could explain a few things.” Twilight found herself feeling quite awkward. This wasn’t quite how she’d imagined the conversation going.

Crystal frowned and asked, “Did Celestia send you to check up on me?”

“Not really.”

“So it was your own idea. You just got curious and decided to make me your next research project?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “um… Basically, something like that. I was kinda worried too, because the last time an unknown alicorn showed up, it was sort of a… big deal, you know?”

Crystal nodded. “Nightmare Moon, yeah. Well, I can put your mind to rest on that score. I’m not here to cause trouble, and I haven’t escaped from any sort of imprisonment. I’ve been around for a while, ponies know me, at least back home in Hoofington. There’s no cause for alarm.”

“That’s… good to hear.”

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me; Derpy will be home soon, and I should get about fixing lunch.”

“Wait! I mean, I’d still like to know more about you, if that’s okay.”

Crystal sighed, and then said, “Listen, kid. I’m sure you must be a real go-getter, if Celestia took you as a student. And I don’t want to be mean to you or anything, but… I have a nice quiet weekend planned, visiting with my friend.”

“But I have so many questions! How old are you? Are you related to the princesses at all? What’s your special talent?”

Crystal stamped — quietly, since hooves striking cloudstuff don’t make noise, but Twilight got the meaning of the gesture anyhow. Crystal said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to play Twenty Questions with you or relate my life story to a complete stranger.”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, then left it open as she tried to think of what to say. That Crystal might simply refuse to answer hadn’t occurred to her. Twilight couldn’t force her to talk — but not getting answers to her burning questions was intolerable. There must be a way to convince her.

The moments of silence were broken by a soft sound of pegasus wings as Derpy fluttered to a wobbly landing on the porch. “Crystal! Yay!” she yelled.

Crystal’s face broke into a big smile as she answered, “Derpy! It’s good to see you!” Then the alicorn and pegasus pony nuzzled and rubbed their necks together.

“I’m off for the rest of the weekend,” Derpy said.

Crystal said, “That’s great. I was going to fix something for lunch, but some things came up and I never got time.”

“That’s OK. I got some blueberry muffins in my saddle bags.”

Crystal laughed and said, “I could have guessed that. But you really should eat a carrot or an apple, something healthy, before digging into those.”

Derpy finally noticed the purple unicorn. “Hey it’s Twilight Sprinkle! What are you doing here?”

“That’s Sparkle, actually. I, uh… brought some groceries to Crystal, and I wanted to meet her.”

Crystal said, “I think Twilight was just leaving. Weren’t you?”

Twilight’s ears drooped, then she looked to the pegasus and said, “I could stick around for a while if you don’t mind, Ditzy.”

Derpy blinked, and glanced toward Crystal, who in turn glared at Twilight and said, “Ditzy? Is that what ponies are calling her now? A ditzy blond airhead?”

Twilight flinched. Derpy said, “Crystal, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Crystal held her gaze on Twilight for a moment longer, then pitched her nose in the air and said, “I’m going inside,” and she disappeared into the cloud house.

Twilight blinked, trying to figure out what just happened. She looked to Derpy and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything…”

“I know,” Derpy said. “She just has these moods sometimes. I think she must have had a bad morning. You’d better go now.”

Twilight glanced at the doorway where Crystal had gone, really not wanting to give up. “Maybe if I went and talked with her…”

Derpy growled. It wasn’t much of a growl, but it was more than most ponies had ever heard from her. “Twilight! This is my house. I didn’t even invite you here, and you’ve been hassling my friend. I think you should GO.” She spread her wings and shook them, and stepped closer to Twilight. Intimidated by the display, Twilight took a confused step backward away from Derpy. Derpy shook her wings again and took another step forward. With a rising sense of panic, Twilight stepped back again.

Derpy shook her wings and stepped forward one more time, and Twilight stepped back — and found herself slipping off the edge of the cloud deck. Her hooves scrabbled for purchase on the thin edge of he cloud, then she fell. In a blind panic she reflexively cast teleportation to bring herself to the ground. She still retained the momentum from falling, though, and landed on her back with a sickening thump.

“OWW!” was what she tried to say, but nothing came out. To her horror, Twilight realized she couldn’t breathe. She gawped like a fish for air, but the impact had knocked all the wind out of her. Looking toward the sky, she could see Derpy’s face peering down at her from the edge of her front porch. Twilight waved her hooves in the air in a futile attempt to convey that she was suffocating, but Derpy didn’t seem too concerned and disappeared back into her home.

“So this is how it ends,” Twilight thought. “I’ll be found laying here in the street, cold and lifeless. I wonder if Princess Celestia will come to my funeral?” The urge to breathe was overwhelming, but her lungs wouldn’t respond.

After a short while that seemed much longer, Twilight began to breathe again, first in short little gasps, then deeper breaths. She rolled upright and managed to stand, and she looked upward at the cloud home. Then she lowered her head and her tail and started to trudge back towards her library. It was a long walk, and along the way she broke out in sniffles. “I just don’t know what went wrong,” she sobbed softly.

Chapter Four: Correspondence

Twilight Sparkle retreated to her library home and took solace in her familiar habits. First she gathered all the history books she could think of that might shed some light on the origins and nature of alicorns. She’d pretty much read them all before, but she might have missed something — and besides, the mere act of gathering them together calmed her. Spike could tell she was upset about something, but she evaded his questions and asked him to fix some tea.

After Twilight had sipped her tea and skimmed through her books and was feeling better, she had Spike fetch some parchment scrolls and her quill and ink. Did she want the fountain pen, he asked? No. That newfangled, unreliable gadget was unworthy of correspondence with the princess. Did she want him to take dictation? No, not this time. This was personal. He took the hint and left her alone as she composed her letter to Princess Celestia.

She pondered. This would have to be carefully worded. She certainly didn’t want to relate the disastrous meeting at Derpy’s house — not in detail, at any rate. She began to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This morning I learned that a strange an unfamiliar alicorn made an appearance here in Ponyville. I was both curious and somewhat a bit alarmed as I recalled the last time this had happened. After investigating, I learned that her name is Crystal Dawn. She quickly befriended Rarity quickly befriended her, and I gather that she hasn’t caused any trouble, nor does she seem inclined to. I remain very puzzled, though, as I wonder where she came from and what is her role in the scheme of things Equestria. Are you familiar with her? Anything you can tell me would

It has also occurred to me that I know very little about the origins of alicorns in general. I haven’t been able to find much in my history books written about the subject. I’m sure you are uniquely qualified to explain that to me — if it’s not a state secret too private, of course.

Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle

There. It was short and to-the-point. Most of all, the tone was calm and reasonable. There was no need to mention the ugly incident at Derpy’s house, after all. Twilight frowned and wondered briefly whether “uniquely qualified” might be taken as a slight toward Princess Luna. Then again, Celestia was the elder sister and therefore might logically be expected to know more about the subject; she would have already been around when Luna was born — or came from wherever it was that alicorns came from. Twilight looked at what she’d written and sighed as she realized she was over-thinking this.

Twilight then copied the letter, making a second draft without all the scratch-outs she’d managed to litter the original with. She rolled up the scroll, sealed it, and gave it to Spike.

With a green puff of dragon’s flame, the note was on its way to Canterlot. Twilight knew it would only take a few minutes to reach Celestia. The day was still young, so there was a good chance she’d get a reply in the afternoon if the royal schedule wasn’t too crowded. All Twilight needed to do now was have lunch and wait.

Lunch was okay. The waiting was not okay. Twilight paced. Then she read the parts of her history books that seemed to pertain, obliquely, to alicorns. Then she paced some more. Then she reread the same passages from her books, as if going over them again would cause something new to appear that hadn’t been there the first time.

She skimmed through basic history texts. Pony history was, by convention, divided into five eras: The Pre-Classical Era, The Classical Era, The Reign of Discord, the Renaissance, and the Modern Era. Unfortunately, the Reign of Discord had destroyed many records of earlier times, and information about them was fragmentary.

When had Celestia (in those times known as “Sola”) and Luna first appeared in the historical record? That was easy. They’d appeared — seemingly out of nowhere — to defeat Discord. As saviors of the land, and with any previous governing system of Equestria in tatters, they were offered queenly crowns by popular acclaim, and they had ushered in the Renaissance.

During the afternoon a few ponies came into the library to return books, or to look for some. Twilight forced a smile and helped them, but they could sense her agitation, and none felt inclined to stick around. Spike wanted to go outside and play for a while, but Twilight insisted that he stay close by.

After a while, to distract herself, she went upstairs and fiddled with the fountain pen some more, but her heart wasn’t in it, and she soon became even more frustrated with the gadget than she’d been before.

In the evening, after a listless supper, Spike finally belched up the awaited reply. Twilight eagerly seized the scroll with her magic and read…

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am pleased to read that you encountered Crystal Dawn. Yes, I am familiar with her, and I know her to be good-natured. As to her role in Equestrian society, she has chosen to lead a quiet life away from the limelight. I sometimes feel that her talents and potential are wasted, but that is her decision to make, and she seems contented.

As for the details of her history, I think it would be more fitting for you to hear those from Crystal herself. If she is still in Ponyville, I might suggest that making friends with her would be a good exercise for your ongoing studies in the Magic of Friendship. Although I know her to be wary of strangers, I am confident you can get her to open up.

Regarding your more general question about the origins of alicorns, honestly, I am surprised you never asked about this subject before. Although I must admit I have been evasive with historians, I would be pleased to relate the story to you, my faithful student. However, it is rather long and involved, and time does not permit me to include the tale with this letter. Perhaps we could meet the next time you visit Canterlot? It has been some while since you and I sat down for a face-to-face lesson, and I suspect you will enjoy this one.

HRH Celestia, dei gratia principissa, EQU:DEF

P.S.: If my script seems a a bit sloppy, I apologize. I’ve received a wonderful new invention, called a “fountain pen”, which holds a reservoir of ink inside and does not need to be continually dipped into an inkwell when writing. The nib is more firm than my familiar quills, and I am still getting used to writing with it.

Twilight read the (beautifully penned) letter with a sinking feeling. Then she read it again. “I don’t believe it!” she said, as Spike looked on. “A good exercise for my studies? But she hates me!”

Spike was shocked. “H-hates? What are you talking about?”

“I mean Crystal Dawn! This is awful… Now Celestia wants me to make friends with her, but I’ve already met her, and she hates me. I’ve… I’ve never flunked an assignment before it was even given to me before. What will the princess say when she finds out?”

“Twilight, calm down! I’m sure Crystal doesn’t really hate you. You must have got off on the wrong hoof…. somehow.”

Twilight took a deep breath, then looked at the letter again. “And what’s this? Time does not permit? I didn’t even get an answer about where alicorns came from.” She glanced at the wall calendar. “I wonder how soon I can manage a trip to Canterlot? But it would take a whole day by train, and I only have a couple of days to try and patch things up with Crystal. Gaaaah!”

Spike hmmed. “Hey, you need to make friends with Crystal Dawn, right? Who do you know who’s an expert on making new friends?”

Twilight gasped. “Pinkie Pie! I forgot all about her. She’s probably still looking for Crystal. Pinkie can be like my secret weapon. All I have to do is point her towards Crystal and follow along.” She glanced at the clock. “She’s probably back home by now…”

“Twilight, it’s late. Let’s take it easy tonight, okay? Crystal’s gonna be in town for the whole weekend, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Right… Okay, I’ll get a fresh start on this in the morning. At least now I have a plan. I’d better make a checklist for tomorrow!”

Author's Note

I was just looking at my older stuff today and realized I had a partial chapter entered on this story for ages -- but never published. I checked my notes and found that I had a more complete version already written. So, here it is!

Bad news. . . I don't remember how this story ends! I started this back in the old days when I hadn't yet developed the habit of writing complete outlines for my stories -- and sometimes didn't even have an outcome in mind when I started them. (Which resulted in a lot of stories never getting finished.) So. . . If I ever do pick this up again, I'll have to re-invent it.