Battle Cry Of The Nadirby WolfTheWyvernChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 1Twilight woke up with a start. It was dark, and sleep still muddled her thoughts. It must’ve been after midnight, she thought, and she was… on the floor? “Spike?” She called. “What happened, Spike?” Twilight started to get worried when there was no answer. Twilight switched on the lights with her magic, and was surprised by what she saw: it was her old place, in Canterlot. She hadn’t lived here in years. “Princess Celestia?” She queried to the room. “Princess Luna?” Silence responded to them both. Twilight was starting to get creeped out when she saw the magical residue on the floor. It was right where she woke up. Did she get set back in time? Twilight didn’t really know, but she knew Discord had to be involved. She took a moment to study the magical aura left behind. It felt strange; Twilight would swear that she had felt spells like this before, but she couldn’t- A loud bang on the door startled Twilight. “Um… H-Hello?” Another crash that was just as loud made Twilight start backing up. A blue magical aura took the door and in exploded inwards sending splinters flying everywhere and sending Twilight off her feet. Four Canterlot Guards, fully armed, rushed in the door. “There’s the traitor,” One of them shouted. “Seize her, but keep her alive. Queen Luna wishes to deal with her personally.” Twilight, dazed by the concussive force of the explosion, was just getting back to her feet. She heard something on the skylight above the guards. With a colossal shatter, a figure fell through the window. He levitated two knives, that both found their mark in the necks of the leading two guard ponies. As if dancing, he gave the third a buck to the chin, grabbed his spear, and used it to pin the fourth one to the wall. Twilight found herself paralyzed with fear. Never before had she seen so much blood. The poor pony speared to the wall was coughing up a spray of blood. The two other ponies that had caught a knife in the throat lay in a growing pool of their blood, dead. The last soul was moaning near incomprehensible pleas for his life, and the white figure slit his throat. The cloaked pony walked over to his speared victim on the wall, took the three blood soaked knives from the dead ponies and wiped them off on the still choking guard on the wall. Then the cloaked pony moved towards Twilight. She wanted to run, wanted to scream, but she felt like her hooves were iced to the ground. “Oh please, if I was going to kill you, I would’ve taken you out first,” said the cloaked figure from beneath the scarf that covered his face. He spoke with a serene, calm voice. He looked Twilight over, “Well you picked a bloody good time to grow a pair of wings,” Twilight could hear a smirk in his voice. The figure gave a quick look towards the door. He talked more rapidly now, “Okay, there are at least another ten of the Celestial Elite downstairs. I was going to have you wait up here, but I just got a better idea,” He began to force Twilight towards the window. Twilight’s mind kicked into gear, she tried to backpedal, but the stallion had the physical strength on her. “Wait a minute, who are you? What are you doing? Why did you kill those ponies?” she shouted. The figure stopped, “What are…” He trailed off for an instant. “Okay, I need you to wait downstairs,” The figure broke the window in front of Twilight, and unceremoniously pushed the Princess of Magic out the fourth story window. Twilight was able to right herself and land without hurting anything but her dignity, but she wasn’t concerned with that right now. She looked back up to the window and found it empty. She heard more combat coming from the house, and took this as her chance to run. Twilight knew not what was going on, nor why there was a lunatic loose in Canterlot massacring Royal Guards, but she did know that she wanted to be as far from him as possible. Twilight ran into the city, hoping to lose the bloodthirsty phantom in the shadows of the darkened city. She ran until her heart felt like it was about to pump out of her chest, and she continued until she felt safe. It took her a minute to notice that something wrong. Canterlot was always a busy city, with a thriving night life, but the streets were deserted. The oil lamps were shuttered, and the city was as quiet as a graveyard. Something about the hushed city made Twilight want to crawl into a dark corner and hide. It all just felt… off. Twilight slowed down and forced herself to think. The guards were looking for her? They seemed to be armed for a fight, on a day to day basis guards rarely walked around with spears and swords. Why did they call her a traitor? None of this was making sense to Twilight. Her mind drifted to the figure that had intervened. Who was he? He just came in and murdered four guards, and acted like it was nothing at all. On top of all that, where was everypony? Questions piled on top of questions, and Twilight decided to tread lightly. Twilight came into a small square, with a large statue of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna dominating the whole space. At its base were countless posters with faces on them, some looked brand new, while others looked to have been in the weather for weeks. Among all of them, one stood out. It was fresh, the glue on it still wet. Twilight was shocked to see her own ice cold stare in the picture, but her heart all but froze at the words on the poster. Wanted for crimes of high treason against the Empyreal Diarchy: The unicorn Twilight Sparkle. Alive: 100,000 Bits Head: 50,000 Bits Twilight stood there for minutes, just reading the words over and over again, and tried to order the questions that came flooding into her head. However her mind kept coming back to two words: alive, and head. Twilight could come to no other conclusion, but she couldn’t think of what crimes she could’ve committed that would warrant her death. Equestria hadn’t suffered such barbarism since before the reign of Discord! Then another word came screaming into her head: unicorn. Twilight had been an alicorn for over a year now, she had her coronation in this city; nopony would make the mistake of calling her a unicorn. With everything she had seen tonight, Twilight could not accept that this Equestria was hers. She looked at some of the other posters on the wall. Some were petty crimes, like theft, and some were more serious, but most read just like her own poster. Twilight also noted that none came close to her own bounty. Among the blank stares, Twilight found another poster that caught her attention. It looked to have been there for a while now, and lacked the face of a pony, but only bore the image of a single, white feather. The poster read: Wanted: The pony known as ‘White Feather’ and his band of rebels. They are known for multiple crimes against the crowns including: Murder, theft, high treason, and multiple counts of destruction of crown property. Generous rewards will be given to any and all who give information leading to the capture of this dangerous criminal. For the ‘White Feather’ alone, Alive: 500,000 Bits Head: 250,000 Bits Twilight just knew that she had her first brush with this character, and she didn’t know whether to feel lucky to have gotten away, or to be afraid that she had thrown away a key ally that would have kept her alive. Twilight was only making more questions for herself, and she had to come up with a plan. What she did know was that she was a wanted mare, a criminal had just saved her, and there was something very wrong with this whole situation. This was even outside Discord’s domain of wrong; yes he was far more than chaotic, be he never was one for violence. Some greater magic was at play here. For now, Twilight had no other chance but to keep her head down, get some questions answered, and hope she could keep it on her shoulders. An involuntary yawn also reminded Twilight that it was in the middle of the night, and she was far from well rested. Twilight started to look for a place to sleep and a good disguise. Her body wanted to look for sleep first, but Twilight knew it better to look for a disguise first. She had two problems to overcome, her wings, and the fact that she had no money. Twilight’s first thought was a spell, but anything that would alter her form drastically enough to hide ascension would either be too taxing to maintain, or far too permanent for Twilight’s tastes. However, if she combined a physical disguise, with a magical one, it might just work. Now she just had to source a cloak without anypony seeing her, and without any money whatsoever. Twilight wasn’t a thief, and she decided that she wasn’t going to start stealing tonight; however, she did have an idea, even in her Equestria, the Canterlot elite were wasteful, and she hoped that they wouldn’t have changed now. Twilight wasn’t above dumpster diving, especially is the situation was as dire as this, or she just saw a pony throw away a perfectly good book. Twilight sighed in frustration as she open another trash can only to find… well trash, but it wasn’t the trash she was looking for, and she needed to find it soon. Twilight replaced the lid and moved to the next set of cans, already trying to think of another plan in her head. Hoofsteps behind Twilight made her jump for a hasty cover behind the trashcans. A grey earth pony mare in a black cloak walked into Twilight’s field of view, and she prayed that her second rate cover would hide her for now. “I did see you there, so you might as well come out,” said the mare. Twilight froze, and judged the best route for her escape. “Look, I’m not with the brutes,” She sighed “I’m also breaking curfew. I don’t see why you’re hiding there, just causing stress for yourself.” She looked right into the darkness to where Twilight was hiding. Twilight fought off the urge to run. She needed a friend, and she needed one almost as much as she needed that cloak. Twilight stood up and walked into the light. The earth pony mare first recognized Twilight, then she saw the wings. “By the Empyreal Sist-” “Please, don’t tell anypony,” Twilight cut in quick, “I’m not who you think I am.” “Oh course you are,” replied the mare. “You were the personal student to Queen Celestia herself; who it seems to have opened a whole new set of problems for yourself,” she nodded to Twilight’s wings. “I can see why the Queens want your head now.” “It’s far from what you’re thinking,” Twilight replied. The mare began to open her mouth to protest, but Twilight cut in quick. “I need your help; I need a place to stay and hide from the guards.” “Well I would help you if I could,” Twilight was crestfallen, clearly asking this poor mare to take in a criminal and risk her own well being was asking too much. The mare let out a quiet chuckle, “Dear, it’s not what you’re thinking,” She smiled warmly. “I cannot bring you to my home because I don’t have one.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t…” “It’s fine, been this way for a while now, and I’ve come to realize that it can be better this way. Now, there is no way that you are going to be able to last a day without some sort of disguise.” The earth pony mare unclipped her cloak, and handed it to Twilight. “Oh, no I couldn’t possibly accept this,” Twilight was torn between taking it and continuing her fruitless search. “You are going to need it more than I,” she smirked. “And I found it a couple of cans back anyway.” Twilight smiled and accepted the cloak. She then promptly put it on. “Thank you,” she said. “Anything to help an alicorn. There seems to be less of y’all these days,” sorrow tainted the mare’s words. Then she smiled, “But tonight is a new night, and a new alicorn has arisen. Good evening.” She nodded and started to walk off into the night. “Wait,” Called Twilight. The mare stopped. “What’s your name?” “It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” and she walked into the night, leaving Twilight once again alone in the empty streets of Canterlot. Twilight wasted no time casting the alteration spell to hide her normal looks. She changed her self to have a white coat and a ruby red mane, but she still put her hood up just to try and hide herself even more. Twilight yawned again as she remembered that it was now probably in the early hours of the morning, and she needed some sleep, if she could manage. Twilight was able to find a dark, dead end alley and a corner to huddle up onto. She was asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. Twilight was warm and comfortable when she woke up. Songbirds were singing outside, and she smelled the sweet scent of pancakes. Twilight stretched and opened her eyes to reveal her library. It must’ve just been a horrid dream! She smiled at the morning sun, and made her way downstairs to see what Spike had whipped up for breakfast. What Twilight saw at the bottom of the stairs stopped her cold. It was a Celestial Guard, golden armor shining in the morning sun, speared to the wall. Dread filled Twilight’s heart as she walked up to the dead pony. She wanted to call for help, but she couldn’t open her mouth. Then, he coughed, spitting up blood all over Twilight. She backed away in horror as blood began to flow from the guard’s mouth. Twilight ran into something warm. She turned in horror to see the walls bleeding. The whole library bleeding! Twilight closed her eyes and ran through the door. Instead of earth, her hooves flailed in the open air. Twilight was falling through a black abyss. She tried to fly, but her wings wouldn’t work. She landed in a sea of blood, she tried to keep her head above the surface, tried to swim, but she sank. She tried to scream, but the blood filled her lungs. Farther and farther down she sank, air robbed from her by the metallic taste- Twilight woke up coughing. She was cold and sweaty, and the fear still surged through her even though she now knew what was the dream and what wasn’t. She was still in the alley that she fell asleep in just hours before, and luckily still in her disguise. She took a moment for her heart to slow down, as the remnants of the nightmare burned off in the sun’s rays. Twilight triple checked her spell, and when she was sure that it would hold up to some deal of magical scrutiny, she headed out. All in all, Canterlot looked to be more or less the same to her own. Twilight began to wonder just how different this Equestria was. She began to aimlessly wander around the city, and it all seemed to be mundane: ponies went to work, shopped, and chatted with their friends at the little posh cafés. Twilight could barely comprehend how this could be a society that would come to the conclusion that murder could be the only way to solve a problem. Twilight needed answers, but she didn’t know who to trust to give them. She gave some serious thought to walking to the castle and talking to Princess Celestia herself. Maybe she would understand that she wasn’t the same Twilight Sparkle that lived here before, and would help her get home. Twilight began to notice that a number of ponies were gathering in a large square. Curiosity got the best of Twilight, and she followed the crowd to see what was happening. She could feel the tension in the crowd; there was a dull roar, but Twilight couldn’t make out what was being said. Her attention was drawn to the raised wooden platform in the middle of the square. Atop the platform was what looked to be some sort of restraint, but Twilight couldn’t make heads or rail of how it worked. Then the crown fell silent. Twilight saw two Celestial Guards lead a restrained unicorn stallion. He had a dirty silver coat and a terribly messy navy blue and neon green mane and tail, and he had a hammer and anvil as a cutie mark. However all Twilight could see was that he looked as if he hadn’t seen a solid meal in weeks. The stallion was blankly staring forward as the guards locked his head in the restraint. Twilight could’ve sworn that she saw a single tear fall from the stallion’s eyes. Following this procession was a portly green and orange earth pony stallion who was far more jolly than the rest of the crowd. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, we gather here today for the trial of Steelsmith. He is charged with the heinous crime of theft,” The green stallion spoke with a high, affluent voice. “Steelsmith, what say you in your defence?” “I will not deny that I stole,” said Steelsmith. The crowd gave a collective gasp. He looked pleadingly out into the crowd, “I stole those apples only to feed my family,” He dropped his head to look at the wood planking below him. “And I only request of the forever wise judge that he be lenient. I will serve my Queens as he wishes,” Twilight could barely hear his defeated voice from where she was standing. The green pony smiled and said something to one of the guards, who walked to the back of the platform and retrieved a bone saw, and Twilight’s heart dropped at the sight of it. “For the crime of theft, by the power of the Empyreal Diarchy, I hereby sentence Steelsmith to be rid of his means of theft, so he may never repeat his crimes.” Steelsmith’s pupils went to the size of pinpricks, and he began to weep and beg, and the crowd started to roar, some cheered the verdict, but others called out that it was injustice. Twilight hoped for once that she was not right about what was going to come next, but she was. The Celestial Guard who had retrieved the bone saw took it and placed it right on the stallion’s horn. He then began to saw, slowly. Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes, and she forced her gaze from the spectacle. Over the crowd, she could hear Steelsmith’s cries as they tore through her heart. When his screams stopped, Twilight found the strength to look up. Steelsmith had fainted, she hoped, and the guard unceremoniously finished his work. The other guard freed Steelsmith from the restraint, and pushed Steelsmith out of it as if he was a sack of trash. As the guards left, the crowd dispersed and went back to their normal business, leaving Twilight standing alone in the middle of the square. She tentatively walked up to the platform. She saw Steelsmith’s horn lying on the ground, discarded. She gave the bloody appendage a wide birth and found the stairs up. She walked over to the unconscious pony, blood welling from the place that his horn used to occupy. Twilight fought back feelings of pity and disgust; she had to help. She ripped a piece of cloth from her cloak and made a makeshift bandage. She then cast a spell to wake the poor pony up, and one to alleviate some of his pain. Steelsmith woke up with a moan, “Who are you?” He asked Twilight slowly. “Somepony who’s here to help,” Twilight said. Steelsmith actually laughed, “Help, why would an upper-Canterlotian elitist would ever lift a hoof and help…” He started to nod off again. Twilight did not like how much blood he was losing. She cast another spell to try and stop the flow. “Look, where do you live?” She asked hastily to keep him mind going. “I don’t live anymore, just leave me here to die,” Steelsmith swatted at Twilight with a hoof. “You don’t mean that,” Twilight pleaded. “I do…nothing left here for me anyway.” Twilight tried to lean the injured pony against herself, but Steelsmith fought her, and fell back down to the wooden platform. “I don’t want your help!” He shouted, “Can’t you see that I’m no use to anypony anymore?” Tears and blood mixed freely on Steelsmith’s muzzle. “How can you say that?” Twilight said. “I know that you can come back from this,” she lied. “Are you stupid? I’m a blacksmith without any means to shape metal anymore,” He was sobbing so hard that Twilight could barely make out what he was saying, “I… I can’t even feed my family anymore. WHAT USE AM I NOW?” he shouted at Twilight. “None, if you don’t get up on your hooves right now, and stop thinking just of yourself,” Twilight’s voice turned cold, but her heart was on fire. Steelsmith stared off into nothingness, closed off to the world. There was a long moment of silence, but Twilight wasn’t going to give up yet. “You have a foal?” Steelsmith was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. “A filly or a colt?” “A little colt.” Twilight sat down in front of Steelsmith, “What’s he like?” This time Steelsmith smiled, despite his situation, “He’s quiet and shy, but he wants to mold metal, just like his daddy.” “Think of him, Steelsmith. Think of what will he feel if his daddy doesn’t come home?” Twilight took a breath. “He needs you around, no matter what happens to you,” Twilight stood, and offered her hoof one last time. Steelsmith looked at it for a moment, divided, but he took it. Steelsmith leaned heavily on Twilight, and they began to make their way slowly off the platform. “Where do you live?” Twilight asked. “Lower Canterlot, a little niche in front of the gem mines.” They were approaching the steps to get off of the platform. “Let’s take this slowly,” He said. “Okay,” Twilight replied. They started down the steps, one at a time. They had made it halfway down when Steelsmith stepped on Twilight’s cloak. She lost her balance, and they both tumbled head over hoof down to the bottom of the steps. Twilight had landed at the feet of a golden armored guard with a look that was a mix of surprise, glee, and fear. It confused Twilight for a moment, until she realized that her cloak was on top of Steelsmith. Author's Note So... I had some writers block, and this thing showed up in my head. I hope you like it. -WHK Chapter 2“What in the name of creation did you do?” Queen Celestia demanded as she slammed the door. As soon as Twilight stepped a hoof inside of the castle grounds her thin disguise failed, stunning the guards that had captured her. As they rushed her off to anypony-knows-where, ‘Queen’ Celestia took Twilight, declaring ‘only the night belongs to my sister’. Now they were in Queen Celestia’s personal chambers. The scent of tea filled the air and a steaming teapot sat on a small, ornate table next to the large windows that ringed half the room. “I didn’t-” Twilight started to say. “Did you truly think that giving yourself a pair of wings makes you an alicorn? As if that would ever help?” Celestia was pacing the room, irate. “Don’t you remember what happened to her? How could you?” Twilight could hear sorrow creep into her voice, but the Diurnal Queen’s hot stare directed towards Twilight. “I told you to run, run far enough that she would’ve never found you. Why-” she stopped mid sentence to see Twilight sitting there scared, confused, and…innocent. The Queen paused for a moment. “Twilight, you will always be far more clever than I thought that you ever could be,” Queen Celestia said to the thin air. Then she said to Twilight, “You are not her, are you?” Celestia asked. Relief flooded Twilight as she shook her head, “I’m so glad you understand. I don’t know what she did, but you must know that I am innocent!” “I do, but there’s nothing I can do,” Queen Celestia said apathetically. “What do you mean that there’s nothing you can do?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded “I’m so sorry that you had to get caught up in this,” She said coldly. “Caught up in this? I was forced here!” Stress caught up to Twilight, and she exploded. “I’ve been branded a fugitive, ran for my life and seen things that I would’ve never thought of here. I am not ‘caught up in this,’ I was stolen, from my home, and from my friends! I-” The room began to grow dark, and Queen Celestia’s horn lit with a sickly dark glow, fire erupted from her mane and tail, and darkness enveloped her eyes, “You NEVER address ME like that. I am the LIVING SUN!” Her voice felt like it rocked the very mountain that supported Canterlot, the large chandelier in the middle of the room crashed to the floor, shattering in to a million pieces; Twilight balked in terror. With a shout, Celestia fell to the ground, light returned as Queen Celestia rose again, her eyes shot with fear. She saw Twilight cowering in the corner, and her expression softened. She took a step toward Twilight, but stopped when Twilight cringed “I’m sorry, please I’m not a monster. Please,” Tears began to flow and Twilight didn’t know whether to try and run as far and as fast as she can, or to try and comfort her mentor’s doppelganger. “You need to get out,” Twilight heard the fear in the Day Queen’s voice. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know where you came from, but you will never deserve what she will do to you.” Celestia stood, and with a transformation that would rival the best actors in Manehattan, walked to the door and asked the guard outside for something that Twilight didn’t catch. She then turned back to Twilight, perfectly level and regal as Twilight had ever seen Princess Celestia. “Please, sit our tea’s getting cold,” she gestured to the table, which narrowly missed the carnage of the chandelier. Twilight, fear getting a cold grip on her heart, didn’t want to upset the Queen again. She briskly sidestepped the glass shards that littered the room, and took one of the cushions. ‘She’s crazy,’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘I need to watch my hooves, and I might just come out of this. Celestia poured the tea. That was using dark magic, Princess Celestia knew dark magic, but she never used it, ever. Is dark magic just used here? She stopped the question in her throat, tread lightly.’ “What happened?” Celestia’s question cut through Twilight’s thoughts. “When you came here, I mean, what happened to you?” Twilight paused, searching for the right words. After an uncomfortable pause, she took a drink of her tea for courage, “I went to sleep in my bed, and I woke up here,” Queen Celestia nodded for more. “I don’t remember a magical drain on my environment, no pull on myself, no vortex, and I didn’t pass through a mirror. I can’t think of a single spell that could create a bridge between universes without…side effects.” “It was dark magic, but I figure that I never taught you that did I?” Celestia said. “How did you know that?” Twilight was flabbergasted. “You are very like my faithful student,” The Queen’s words sent a chill down Twilight’s spine. “But you are not telling me the whole truth. I know that you didn’t kill my guards by yourself, did you?” Twilight froze, and a small smile crossed the Living Sun’s face. “I know that they died, but that doesn’t concern me, they sold out to my sister. His blade was perhaps more… kind, than I would have ever been.” “The White Feather? That was him, wasn’t it?” “Do not ever speak that name again,” Twilight heard the edge that Queen Celestia used before, and her heart skipped a beat. Twilight realized that this might be the best chance for her to get answers, and she had to push it. “Well who is…he?” “I don’t know. I used to think that he was the last of the Griffon Confederation, wanting to avenge his fallen nation, but…” Celestia fought back another break down. “Never trust him,” She was pleading with Twilight, “Never.” Tears began to blot her face, and she began to babble. “He was the son that I could never have, I loved him like the sun,” The sky outside began to grow dark, the sun itself was growing dimmer as Celestia fell down into her hole of despair. Then the room grew brighter, and hotter, “That scum killed him, right in front of me,” Twilight’s breath was taken away by what she saw next. The regal face of Queen Celestia shimmered, and revealed many small, healed scars that marked the right side of her face and neck. One had claimed her right eye. The sun grew hotter, and brighter. “He rammed his blade right through my Blueblood’s heart, for spite!” Somehow, Celestia heard the knock at the door, and again she transformed so quickly that it made Twilight fear her like she had feared no other; the sun’s blinding rays dimmed to their normal status. “He will kill anypony to get to me; that is why he was there last night. Not to save you, but to put another blade through my heart.” Celestia answered the door and asked for a moment to the pony on the other side of the door. Closing the door, she turned back inside. The Queen levitated the black cloak onto Twilight’s shoulders, “Tell her nothing, the less that she knows, the safer she will be,” She whispered in Twilight’s ear. Satisfied, Celestia opened the door, and the pony that walked through the door made Twilight’s heart skip a beat: it was Rainbow Dash. She wore an ornate set of gold armor, with a short, red cape. On the breastplate there was a carving of a hoof holding a quill, accented in silver. Under her right wing, the hilt of an elegant rapier could be seen. Much like Rainbow, the sword and the armor were made for style and speed. Celestia turned to Twilight, “This is my Hoof, Rainbow Dash, she will be sure that you will get out of the city safely.” “I’ve heard of her,” Twilight said, trying not to stare at Rainbow. Rainbow smirked, “I bet you have.” “Twilight, trust me when I say that there is no way to send you back home, and…” Celestia turned away, trying to hold herself together, “I’m truly sorry, but this is the best I can do.” Twilight felt something crumple within her as she turned towards the door. Twilight numbly followed Rainbow out of the castle. She couldn’t think about what she would do with herself now, trapped in a world where she couldn’t even walk on the street without being hunted. A world where she couldn’t even talk to the one pony that was always there for her. Celestia was mad, and Twilight didn’t even want to think about what Luna was like. She had seen four ponies murdered, and had seen the horn cut off another. Twilight couldn’t accept that there was nothing she could do to get back home, and why should she just stand here and accept this? She decided to do something about it. Twilight vowed to herself that she wasn’t ever going to stop until she was back home. After all, she was the Element of Magic, if anypony could figure out a universe bending spell, it would be her. With a new sense of resolve, Twilight picked up her step to mach Rainbow. “So, you’re Twilight Sparkle?” Rainbow asked. Twilight’ nodded. “I knew that the Queen would want you gone after Queen Luna called for your head.” “Why would she do that?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash stopped, and looked at her, “You’re really that naïve? You were getting too powerful for your own good, and you were asking too many questions,” She began walking again. “You should just be thankful that you didn’t have your head taken off like Cadence.” The words left Rainbow’s mouth, and immediately bucked Twilight in the chest. She stopped dead in her tracks, “She’s…dead?” Even though Twilight never met her, Twilight couldn’t think of an Equestria without the light of the Princess Cadence. “Yeah, she nearly started a revolt…” Rainbow’s tone was questioning. When Twilight didn’t recognize what she was talking about, she continued. “Half of Upper Canterlot was in flames? How do you not know any of this?” “I was…studying abroad,” Twilight quickly lied. “Must’ve been for awhile.” Rainbow said dismissively. “I heard that she even teamed up with the White Feather. He seems to be anywhere trouble shows up.” Rainbow looked around. When she saw nopony was listening, she lowered her voice, “Take it from the pony that Queen Celestia has picked to find that piece of scum, I think that the White Feather is just a front.” “What do you mean?” Twilight’s interest was building. “I mean that it would be impossible for the same griffon to be fighting like this for nearly fifty years. It was before I was brought in as the Queen’s Hoof, but I think that Cadence escaped, and took the white cloak for herself. The execution was just to keep the public quiet.” “You think she’s still alive?” Twilight tried not to sound too hopeful. “I know that a griffon can’t use magic like an alicorn can, and I know that Queen Celestia has banned her name within the walls of Canterlot.” Rainbow said. “But the White Feather is a stallion,” Twilight said. “He talked to me last night.” “And there is no way to change a pony’s voice?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. “There’re spells, I even know of a potion that could do it,” Twilight elaborated. “Exactly,” Rainbow asserted. Twilight wanted Cadence to be alive, but what she saw last night… It couldn’t be Cadence. Could it? As they continued down through the city, Twilight found herself staring at Rainbow Dash. Twilight found it surreal; Rainbow Dash is the one pony that Twilight wanted most to be with her right now, and here she was. Well, she wasn’t her Dashie, but it still made Twilight feel better that she was with Rainbow Dash in some sense. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Rainbow noticed Twilight’s gaze. Twilight blushed, “Sorry, you just remind me of a pony I know.” “A friend?” Rainbow asked. “She’s… a little more than that,” Twilight gave a slight smile at the sweet memories, but it was quickly shot down by reality, “I hope I’ll be able to see her again.” “Hey, don’t talk like that,” Rainbow stopped and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m sure that you’ll be able to see her again,” She gave Twilight a small smile, and continued on. “We’ve not far to go now,” Rainbow diverted. “Where are we going anyway?” Twilight followed Rainbow Dash. “It’s a…contact that I have in the city. She’s very good at getting what she wants, legal or not,” The way Rainbow frowned made Twilight think that this was the last mare she wanted to be asking for a favor. “Anyway, she’s a…business mare.” Rainbow said. “That’s not ambiguous at all,” Twilight pressed. “Look, all you need to know is that she is very good at avoiding the Night Guard’s eye. Now keep quiet,” Rainbow ordered. Twilight glared at Rainbow. She was beginning to feel like her hooves were tied in all of this. They soon arrived at their location, a rose hotel that dominated intersection of two major arteries for Upper Canterlot. From the outside, Twilight could hear an upbeat melody of a piano, laughter, and a general din of merriment. Rainbow led Twilight into an overgrown and trash-strewn alley, overshadowed by the hotel, and seemingly overlooked by everypony. Rainbow knocked on a rusted metal door. “Password,” said a stallion in a flat voice. “Cupcakes,” Rainbow replied, and the door opened silently on well oiled hinges, revealing a pitch black interior. Inside, Twilight stumbled on the steps in the darkness. Twilight could see a glow at the bottom of the short flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a long, arched brick cellar. At the back, there was a bar set up, with bottles of varying sizes filled with equally various kinds of liquor. In front of the bar, there were makeshift tables, and a cleared area with a player piano. At the sight or Rainbow Dash, the bartender, an attractive unicorn mare, smiled and said, “Been a long time since I’ve seen you in here. Anything I can get for the Hoof?” “Not now, Dust. I’m actually here to see the boss. She in?” “You sure she wants to see you?” Dust raised an eyebrow. “It’s about business Dust,” Rainbow’s tone grew harder. “Now, is she here or not?” “I’ll get her,” with a small click, a section of the liquor cabinet slid back and away, revealing more of the cellar. Dust walked inside, and soon Twilight heard muffled voices. After a moment, Twilight heard some hoofsteps, and the pony that walked through made really made Twilight feel like she was in nothing more than a long, lucid dream. “Pinkie Pie?” she whispered to herself. The pink mare had the same crazy cotton candy mane and tail, and a hard, humorless gaze “You’re here early,” She said to Rainbow, “and you’ve brought a friend.” She looked at Twilight, and then turned back to Rainbow. “Now tell me, why is it that the Hoof of the Queens, is in my fine establishment, with the second most wanted pony in all of Equestria?” Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Pinkie pie stopped her, “Could it be that the Sun doesn’t agree with the Moon? And you have been tasked with the risk of getting a fugitive out of the city? So you’ve come down to my little bar, because you know that I’m the best at getting things in and out of the city without the guard, and you are going to make sure that my little hotel above has it’s taxes paid for the next… year, correct?” Twilight found herself a little slackjawed at Pinkie Pie… well being Pinkie Pie, but it was still impressive. “Now hold on,” Rainbow started, “I keep the guard off your tail, and I make sure that there is no other illicit liquor house in Canterlot that takes a chunk out of your profits-” “And that’s why you drink here for free,” Pinkie explained, “Remember?” “Now, I can’t just rewrite the ledgers like that-” “Well you’ll just have to find another smuggler to get Queen’s Celestia’s student to safety. Taxes. Year. That’s my price.” Pinkie said with a note of finality. Rainbow knew that she was caught by the tail, and nodded. Pinkie walked up to the golden armored pony, and whispered something in Rainbow’s ear that made her turn pale. Then Pinkie smiled warmly, “Good, let the Queen know that her little student is safe and sound.” Rainbow nodded to Twilight, and made a quick exit. Pinkie listened to her steps fade away, and waited until she heard the door close at the top of the steps before she turned to Twilight. “Take it off,” she said flatly. “What?” Twilight said. “The cloak, take it off,” Pinkie said. Twilight hesitated, and Pinkie nodded to Dust. Suddenly Twilight felt the cloak ripped off her body. “By the Sisters, she was right…” Pinkie Pie was stunned. “It looks like I owe my sister a drink.” She said to Dust. Fear coated Twilight’s heard with ice, and she considered running for it. “Don’t worry,” Pinkie Pie put a hoof around Twilight’s shoulder, “Your secret is safe with Auntie Pinkie,” Her smile warmed Twilight’s heart back to normal. “What happens now?” Twilight asked. “Well, there’s an alicorn in my bar, and the night hasn’t even began yet. Looks like party time tonight!” Pinkie Pie led Twilight behind the liquor cabinet, and it shut with a click. Behind the liquor cabinet was a small room with a desk, a bookshelf covered in files, a safe, and three wooden chairs. Pinkie walked in first, and Twilight followed close behind her. As soon as Twilight stepped inside, Pinkie said, “Do it.” Twilight felt a wet rag cover her snout, and the odd smell was the last thing she remembered. Author's Note Well... that took awhile, anyway I had a playwriting class this semester, so that ate up all of my time. However schools out, and it is time for ponies! Shout out to Chaos Studio on FanFiction for giving me a hand on finishing up this chapter. You can find his stuff here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4351291/Chaos-Studio Go take a look at it, he's a pretty cool guy. Chapter 3A sharp kick to the ribs jolted Twilight back into consciousness. As she gasped for air her head swam with distant thoughts and distant fears. “Get up,” the voice commanded from a million miles away. She felt a sharp prod to her flank. Twilight knew that there was something going horribly wrong, but she was just so warm and comfortable that she couldn’t care less. As Twilight slipped back into a drug-induced slumber she felt herself being dragged across the cobblestone floor… With a hollow THUNK! Twilight woke up again, a dull roar assaulted her ears, and she felt sore all over. THUNK! She wondered what was hitting her head. THUNK! Twilight opened her eyes to see the wooden planks of a simple, rough platform. Something screamed for Twilight to wake up to focus, but Twilight was just so comfortable… Twilight was lifted into a stockade. With a metallic click, she was rendered immobile. In front of her was a roiling crowd of angry faces. A midnight blue alicorn walked in front of Twilight, “Princess Luna,” Twilight smiled. Luna ignored Twilight and addressed the crowd, “Today we have dealt a colossal blow to the insurgents!” Queen Luna’s royal voice boomed over the crowd, “Before you here, my little ponies, is the one who whored out our secrets,” an angry roar erupted through the crowd “Our city still bears the scars of her treachery!” she pointed an accusatory hoof at Twilight. “She would see your beloved Queens in the grave!” Another roar rang through the plaza. “Now we all know that my sister’s former student deserves the harshest of punishments, but I am a forgiving Queen!” From the crowd, cheers erupted. She turned to one of the guards, and smiled. “Cut her horn off.” The unicorn in midnight blue armor grinned, and grabbed a bone saw. All the while something in the back of Twilight’s mind was screaming that she needed to get out. The voice wouldn’t let her sleep; maybe if she listened to it the little voice would shut up…. Twilight tried teleporting away, but her magic failed. She pushed with all her might, but the iron holding her would not bend. She kept struggling until a magical aura took her and locked her into place. Panic feigned at the edge of Twilight’s consciousness. Then she felt something thin rest on top of her horn. As it began to move back and forth, she felt something warm run down her face. Pain screamed at her, it was in her face, but farther away than the sun is from the moon. Twilight knew that she had to focus, but she was trapped in an endless fog in her mind. It was the noise that was the most dreadful thing to her. She wanted it to stop; it sounded like somepony was sawing logs on her forehead. It was deafening, the back and forth. Something dripped in her eye, it stung like liquid fire, but Twilight ignored it. She felt as if she was standing in a tunnel, and a train was coming. Suddenly it hit her like the Ponyville Express at full speed. The pain erupted from her skull, blinding her. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move. Twilight could hear somepony screaming; it took her a moment to realize that it was her. The pain dulled a little, and it felt like somepony dumped a warm bucket of water on her face. The sawing stopped, and Twilight heard a something fall to the deck with a hollow clatter. The sharp pain subsided into an intense throb, and Twilight was released from her iron bonds. She fell to the oak planks, devoid of energy. She opened her eyes to see a lavender unicorn’s horn bathed in a red pool. Twilight giggled at the surreal sight of a horn that looked so much like hers sitting on the ground… Twilight woke up in a gentle haze, cut by the sharp pain erupting from the front of her skull. Twilight shot up fear freezing her solid while her heart raced in her chest. She began to tremble…. ‘What just happened to me?’ The tears began to stream down her face. Her head was hurting like nothing she had ever felt before. Utter devastation overwhelmed her as she collapsed to the floor. Her horn was gone, her magic was gone, her friends were gone, her life… all of it was sawn off and rotting on some deck in the middle of the city. Weeping, she reached to what she was sure to be nothing more than a stump to find…her horn? Her other hoof shot to her head. It was there! Right where it should be! Elation flooded Twilight, “It was all a nightmare,” she sighed to herself. Her head felt like it had been caved in with a hammer, but she was alive, whole, and…she had no clue where she was. Forcing herself through the headache, Twilight lit the room with magic. She was in a small, concrete, windowless room, with a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Twilight flipped it on. Beside her was a simple cot, covered in rough linens. Scrawled over the door was ‘Remember the nadir’ in thick black paint. Other than that the room was bare. Twilight tried the door, but it was locked, and warded with a spell to prevent tampering; Twilight was not leaving this room until it was unlocked from the other side. She began to pace, but the headache made her hoofsteps unbearable. A wave of nausea overwhelmed twilight and she had to lie down on the cot. She fell onto the cot, and Twilight felt the faintest edge of something beneath it. Interest piqued, Twilight pushed her headache aside for a moment and felt under the cot and found a small, jewel encrusted box. On the top were three diamonds that made Twilight think of Rarity’s cutie mark. She knew that she should just put the box back under the cot, but Twilight had to push forward. She found the latch, but before she was able to open the box she heard a key slide into the door. She slammed the box back under the cot. The figure in the doorway made Twilight stare, slackjawed. “Umm…hi?” He said. He stood at around the height of two ponies. His scales caught the light and reflected like a thousand amethysts and emeralds, and his claws looked sharpened pieces of quartz. He looked older, but there was no doubting that this was Spike. He smiled kindly, “How are you feeling?” “I feel like a buffalo is tap-dancing on my forehead,” Twilight replied. Spike gave a nervous giggle and rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, sorry about that. It’ll pass soon. I’m glad that you’re finally up, it’s been two days since we brought you down here.” “Two days!” Twilight was shocked. “What did you do to me?” “Calm down,” he said in a calming voice. “I didn’t want you drugged either, but Pinkie does things her way and only her way,” Twilight nodded, and there was a beat of silence. “Since you’re awake, the Feather needs to speak with you,” Twilight tensed up. “Don’t worry, he’s a pretty nice guy, if you stay on his good side,” Spike laughed. “We once took out this lieutenant in the Lunar Army, a rapist and murderer, not to mention an all around prick. But we have him sitting in the middle of a field, Feather had a sword under his chin, and what does that prick do? He brags,” Spike was oblivious to how uncomfortable Twilight was with the way his story was going. “Brags! Needless to say when morning came the lieutenant was strung up over Canterlot’s north gate, back cracked open blood eagle style.” “Great,” Twilight felt a little queasy at the thought of being in the same room as the pony that did what she had already seen. She had no clue of what a ‘blood eagle’ was, but it sounded horrific. Spike stepped out of the doorway, revealing another concrete room. This one had books scattered haphazardly across the floor and piled in the far corner. Across the back wall there was a window covered with corrugated tin, and in the middle of the floor was a metal desk with two folding chairs. To the left was a door, and across that wall there was a map of Canterlot and a map of Equestria. Twilight looked to the right and found a wall covered in portraits, connected in a web of red string; at the top were portraits of Celestia and Luna. Most of the strings ended on Luna’s picture, and only a few were pinned to Celestia. Outside, Twilight heard the general sounds of a city. She considered making a jump for it, but last time running didn’t exactly work. “Wait here,” Spike stepped out of the door, leaving Twilight alone. Along with her headache, she felt nervousness nibble at her heart. However, Twilight found that she didn’t fear for her life. The cold, logical part of her brain kept saying, ‘He saved you, you have nothing to fear from him,’ and logic had never failed Twilight before…except when Pinkie was involved, and then logic flew out the window. Twilight started to look at some of the books when the door opened behind her. She turned to see the same cloaked pony that she had met on her first night here. “I would like to start off with an apology,” he said. “When I told Pinkie that I needed to see you, I didn’t think that she would use such extreme measures,” He sighed. “I’ll have you know, this talk was far from free.” He sat in the chair behind the desk. “Thank you, I guess,” Twilight kept her cards close to her chest. “For saving you this time, or the last?” He pressed on. “I noticed the new wings by the way. How’d you come across those?” “Well I…” “Why did you blow your cover?” the White Feather pressed harder. Twilight could hear the heat of anger in his voice. “What were you doing the other night?” He placed his front hooves on the desk, looming over her. In a blink he had a short knife at Twilight’s throat; its tip digging into her skin. Panic blinded Twilight, but fear kept her hooves iced to the ground. “Does Celestia know about her? Is she safe?” He saw Twilight rigid with fear, and a nagging question seated itself behind his eyes. The very same one that he had asked himself the first time he had seen Twilight with her new wings. “Who are you?” “Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight shouted out. “Princess?” He took the knife away from Twilight’s throat, and she felt like she could breathe again. “Now I know that is not a title given away around the castle…” the White Feather thought aloud. He was eyeing Twilight suspiciously. An audacious conclusion was forming in Feather’s head, “What was the Year of Sunlight?” any foal should know about that. Twilight shook her head, “I don’t know.” She heard the cloaked pony gasp. “I can’t believe she did it…. You’re not from…here, are you?” “Yes!” Twilight felt oddly relieved. “How did you know?” she asked. “She told me of a project she was doing with some of Starswirl’s old experiments. And with what I saw in your apartment the other night, I found it safe to assume that she was at least partially successful in escaping.” Twilight was surprised, “You know about Starswirl’s old experiments?” “I’m not a common street thug,” He breathed a heavy sigh, and walked around the room. “It looks like things just got harder for me. You don’t know it, but you had the ear of half the nobles in Upper Canterlot, and I needed you to gain their support,” He paused, and tuned to Twilight. “Equestria needs us. Our Queens wage another costly war, now with the Changelings, and the cost is taken out on their subjects. Poverty is widespread, and the crowns seize what they ‘need.’ They rule through fear, and create enemies to justify their means.” “And you are there to what, liberate them?” Twilight said sardonically. “From what I’ve seen you’re nothing more than a glorified murderer.” “You don’t know what Queen Celestia took from me,” He snapped. He lifted the metal shutter with his magic. “And you don’t know the stakes that we are working with.” Twilight was taken by the view beyond the window. Outside was a massive cavern that was well over a hundred yards tall, and harbored everything from proper brick buildings to massive blocks of shanties. The whole cavern was lit with massive crystals that were suspended from the ceilings that cast an artificial blue light on the whole place. Snaking through the buildings were streets strewn with refuse, and packed with ponies. “That, Princess,” Twilight could hear a shade of bitterness as the word rolled off his tongue, “is Lower Canterlot. You’ll find no greater seat of kindness and no better sanctuary for evil in Equestria,” they sat in silence for a moment taking in the view, “It used to be a gem mine, until the gems went deeper, leaving this cavern empty. Many left homes in the countryside to try in stake a claim in the mines, and it was free to squat down here. Some enterprising Upper-Canterlotians decided to set up shops, and build some proper buildings down here. Thus gradually another city grew underneath the capitol.” “The Queens just let this place exist?” Twilight asked. “They collect taxes from ponies that live under the mountain just like they do anywhere else,” He sighed. There was a long pause, and Twilight watched some foals playing in the street. “I need you, Princess,” He turned to face her. “‘Need’ me? What for?” “I’m losing,” There was a weight to his words. “Yes, I can kill anything that Celestia sends my way, and I will always fight the treachery of the crowns until they put me into the ground,” the White Feather looked out over the city. “But I am losing, and I always will be without you. Ponies tremble at the mention of my name. The Queens’ propaganda paints me as a demon who eats foals for breakfast, and murders for carnal pleasure. To them, I am the enemy. I don’t care about your mirror’s connection with Upper Canterlot. You are an alicorn. Ponies will rally behind you, and shout your name from the rooftops if you denounce the Empyreal Diarchy. They will hang banners with your cutiemark. They would even lay their life down if need be. You could turn the tide in our favor.” “I can’t have ponies die for me!” Twilight said, horrified at the thought. “Would you have them die for nothing?” anger flared up on his words. “Twilight, you know not how cruel the Queens can be, what they claim is ‘justice.’” “I have seen the Queen’s justice,” the fire in Twilight’s chest was tempered by the spike of icy fear that shot from her horn to her tail. The White Feather looked at her, “A pony who stole some bread to feed his foal,” Twilight found herself trembling, her nightmare still gripping her heart in its icy wings. “They cut his horn off.” “I’m sorry that you had to see that Twilight, but what you are feeling right now, the anger and hatred? Use it and take my hoof.” He offered his clothed hoof dramatically. Twilight felt torn. On one hoof, she knew that she should help the ponies around her, not as the Princess of Friendship, but as Twilight Sparkle. However, she was scared, scared for her life and scared that she would never see her home again. “I’m not mad,” she said. “I don’t hate Queen Celestia, and I haven’t even met Queen Luna. I don’t even know who’s lying to me! Are you telling the truth, and Celestia lying to me, or is it the other way around? I’m sorry, but I just want to go home.” Twilight found tears coming, and she fought them back. “You want to come home,” sympathy coated his voice. “I do too,” He paused and Twilight could hear the gears tuning in his mind. “Would my Twilight’s notes help? If you are anything like her, you should know that she writes volumes.” Twilight didn’t want to feel the ray of hope that entered her heart. She knew that this wasn’t going to be that simple. “You have them?” she asked. “I can get them,” he said, “but on one condition,” Twilight’s heart sank, “you have to stay in Lower Canterlot for a week.” Twilight was skeptical. “That’s it? You won’t make me fight, or lead your revolution?” “How could I?” Twilight could hear him smile. “All I ask is for you to stay in Canterlot for a week, and the notes are yours. I swear,” he crossed his heart. “You’ll be more or less safe down here, just keep your cloak on and stay away from the brutes. Or you can leave now, but how long will it take you to work out the spell without?” Twilight nodded, and she hated herself for doing so. “Okay, get me those notes.” Twilight left the building under disguise as soon as she could, she didn’t know what was in the city, but she knew that she didn’t want to hang around White Feather anymore. She was almost as uncomfortable with the little gift that Spike had given her with her cloak: a simple, cruel looking knife that was about a foot long. Of course Twilight told herself that she had used knives before, the one she had for cutting melons was nearly as long as this one, but she knew that this knife was no kitchen knife, and the thought its purpose made her uncomfortable. Lower Canterlot, however was something else. It looked like a patchwork blanket turned into a city. One block she was walking through almost a carbon copy of Apploosa and the next block featured buildings that reminded her of Ponyville. Ponies were everywhere. Twilight had visited the great cities of Equestria, she grew up in Canterlot, but she had never seen streets so crowded. The streets were so clogged at times Twilight was beginning to feel claustrophobic; she envied the pegasi zipping around in the open air above buildings. On every street corner there was a merchant selling everything from grilled carrots to mining helmets. Even with no destination in mind, Twilight felt pulled towards the back of the cavern. As she made her way in the pale blue light, she wondered how these ponies lived without seeing the sun. She had only been awake for a couple of hours, and she already knew that she wanted out. How am I going to last a week down here? Twilight thought to herself. She tried to distract herself by studying the subterranean ponies. After Twilight had lost the track of time, she had come to a conclusion: something was off. On the surface, the ponies of Lower Canterlot still laughed, the foals still played, and smiles were still shared, but there was an almost palpable tension in the air, as if it the city was dry brush and just waiting for a spark to ignite. What was the far wall of the cavern was now looming over Twilight, and the traffic was flowing towards one specific area on the back wall. As Twilight got closer, she could see that it was a mine shaft, topped off with an elevator that penetrated deep into the earth. Twilight’s chest tightened at the sight of four golden armored guards, but the crowd had become too thick for Twilight to run without gaining unwanted attention. Twilight found herself at the front of a mob of quietly stressed ponies. All of them stared at a small concrete building to the right of the mine shaft, looking like a pack hungry timberwolves. Then the iron door on the building opened, and a strong looking ocean-blue unicorn stepped out. “I need twenty good strong backs today,” She said. As the crowd began to shout Twilight struggled to keep up with the situation. One of the guards opened up the gate to the elevator, and the other three leveled spears against the crowd. It then clicked in her head that these ponies were here to work in the mines, and that there were closer to a hundred ponies gathered. “Single file!” shouted one of the guards and the each pony in the crowd shoved to get to the elevator. Twilight just tried to make her way out. Tensions were running high and Twilight was beginning to fear for her safety. She started to look for a way out, but a body hit her, almost knocking her off her hooves. Twilight turned to apologize, but the stallion was squared off with another. “You’re trying to steal my spot,” sneered the first, a unicorn. “I was waiting here before you were,” the second argued, who was a pegasus, his words radiated with anger like heat from a fire. The first pony lunged at the second, and Twilight caught them both in her magic. She had seen enough violence in the past few days, and she was tired of seeing it. “Stop it, both of you!” her call attracted many in the crowd around them. Still holding them in her magic, Twilight stepped between them. “Now is this really worth fighting over?” she asked condescendingly. “I had work today, until this pig came along!” the unicorn flailed his hooves at his opponent, but Twilight’s magic kept them apart. “You don’t call me a pig! I was here waiting before the light was on this morning. I deserve this not you!” The pegasus yelled. “Both of you calm down!” Twilight shouted. “Now is this the only job in the city?” She asked the first pony. “Well…no, but-” Twilight cut him off, “How about I help you find something else?” He nodded, and she set him down and turned to the pegasus, “I suggest that if you get her so early in the morning, be quick about getting in line. Fighting is not the answer to everything.” She released him too. Twilight was still standing between the two of them when the pegasus smiled, “Better hope the coltcuddlers are paying today!” his laugh was cut short by a knife the unicorn had hidden in his mane. He stabbed the pegasus, then again, and again, then he buried the knife so far into the pegasus’ chest that he didn’t bother to pull it out again. Bleeding, the pegasus fell into Twilight’s hooves. As the crowd scattered, she watched in disbelief and horror as the unicorn calmly got onto the elevator. The guards didn’t bother with stopping him; they just closed the door, and pulled the lever to let the elevator down. All the while, Twilight held the dying pegasus. He couldn’t speak; his lungs were filling with blood, and his dying coughs sprayed blood all over Twilight’s chest. Twilight sat there, shocked, stunned, as his dead eyes stared at the ceiling of Lower Canterlot. “You there, halt!” The guard’s command snapped back into reality. As he began to approach her, Twilight knew she couldn’t stay; with a silent apology, Twilight teleported away and left the pegasus’ dead body laying there. Twilight popped back in a dark alley not a hundred feet away from the mineshaft. She looked back to the four guards, and knew that they didn’t mean to follow her. She found herself trembling. The tears flowed freely from her eyes. She looked down at the blood that covered her chest and forelegs and vomited on the loose cobble pavement. Author's Note I just figured out that there is an automatic tool for indenting the paragraphs. That makes uploading much easier. As always, thanks to Devious Wolf for looking this over before I posted it. Thank you all for reading! Chapter 4Twilight tried frantically scrubbed at the blood out of her coat, but it seemed like the more she tried, the more it just seemed to smear and spread. She removed her cloak, dead to the risk that she was taking, and used it to try to soak up some of the blood. It worked better than her hooves did; soon, she wasn’t totally clean, but it was better than nothing. Inside, Twilight felt dead. After her initial purgation of fear and disgust, she felt cold and alone. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how one pony could be driven to kill like that, especially for something so fleeting. What broke Twilight was that the guard couldn’t be bothered to stop him. Twilight had to remind herself that this was not her home, and it never would be. She thanked Celestia that she’d only be here for a few more days. After a few more minutes sitting in the filth of the alley, Twilight stood up and grabbed her cloak. She considered leaving the soiled thing there, but she pulled it on with a shudder. It was wet and cold, and she didn’t even want to think about the way it was beginning to smell. Twilight needed to get back to the relative safety of the White Feather’s bunker; she knew generally where she needed to go, so she started out in that direction. Twilight found herself being much more cautious now. On guard, Twilight’s eyed the crowded streets for any sign of trouble. If worst came to worst, Twilight knew that she had her magic, and that calmed her nerves a little. Twilight pushed on, and she soon found herself in a (relatively) open air market. She turned left to make her way around the edge of the market. Suddenly, she found her hooves tangled amongst somepony else’s. Twilight had a shield spell charged before she hit the ground. She jumped up, looking for the attack. “I’m so sorry,” said a weak but sincere voice. She heard him gasp, “It’s you!” a small spark returned to the stallion’s voice and Twilight turned to see the pony she had tried to help on her first day here laying on the ground. Twilight’s adrenaline high brain recognized him, “Steelsmith?” His coat looked pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. In short, he looked like he had just dragged himself out of Tartarus. Worryingly, the makeshift bandage Twilight had given him three days earlier was still wrapped around his head; she prayed that the faint stench of rot that clung to the air wasn’t him. “You… you’re from Upper Canterlot…” His breathing was labored as he struggled to stand up on unsure hooves. “You can help me!” he shouted. “Steelsmith, I’m sorry, but I-” Twilight started. “P-please it would be nothing to you,” He grabbed Twilight’s hoof. She could feel the fever burning through his body, and she knew that he was horribly sick. “Only a couple of bits could get us through the week…” he fell onto Twilight, limp. She caught him in her hooves. “Steelsmith?” She saw his eyes roll back into his head. She found her heart pounding and her hooves sweaty. Steelsmith’s body felt like his body was on fire. She knew that for the second time today, there was a pony dying in her hooves, but this time she wasn’t going to stand by and just let it happen. She knew something about medicine: it was knowledge she thought would be vital living in a town as…vibrant as Ponyville. Right now, she knew that she had to keep Steelsmith awake, and get him someplace safe. “Steelsmith!” she shook the stallion until his eyes focused on her. “Hey! It’s you… you can help me…” He started to slip into unconsciousness. Twilight shook him again, “Yes I can. Steelsmith, we need to get you home,” She looked him in the eyes. “Where’s your home?” “It’s across from the bakery, close to the mine,” he gestured off in the direction that Twilight came from. Twilight didn’t have time to drag around a half conscious pony across the city looking for a building she wouldn’t recognize. A spell came to mind, but she hated to use it. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ she thought to herself. Twilight charged the spell, and touched her horn to what was left of Steelsmith’s horn. Instantly, her head was filled with a throbbing pain from her horn. She could feel the infection that was burning Steelsmith’s body, and the migraine that was the result of magical backup. Twilight pushed his pains aside. ‘Home,’ she thought. Twilight’s mind was flooded with thoughts and sensations. She got memories of a small, copper colored colt playing in the street; a sparse dinner around a small table, the room full of laughter; Steelsmith molding white hot metal while showing the colt his trade; sharing a kiss with a unicorn mare... ‘Where is home?’ Twilight refocused her thoughts. She got a picture of a small cobblestone building with two floors. Inside, on the bottom floor, was the smith’s workshop; it was complete with a forge, anvil, and all manner of hammers and metalworking tools. On the top floor was the family’s apartment. There was a living room with a small, round table and a wood burning stove; an immaculate little colt’s room; a bathroom; the last room featured a full sized bed and a dresser. Twilight had what she needed, and she broke the spell. Twilight looked back up, and a crowd had formed around the two of them. She levitated the barely conscious pony over her back and with a spark of her horn, she teleported directly into Steelsmith’s home. Twilight’s mind was racing with what she was preparing to do. She pulled half-remembered passages from books she had read, and she had a tentative idea of what she had to do. ‘I need to cut out the infection, then clean the wound, and find some was to cauterize it.’ She spun when she heard the floor creak behind her. There was a small copper colored colt hiding in the doorframe. She smiled and kept her voice calm, “Hey, are you Copper?” calling the name from borrowed memories, she held out a hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m one of your dad’s friends.” The colt stepped out of the doorframe but didn’t return her hoofshake. He looked at his father lying on the bed and turned pale. “Is Daddy going to be alright?” Twilight could hear that Copper was on the brink of tears. “He will be just fine,” Twilight hoped that she didn’t just lie to the colt, “But he’s really sick, and he needs my help,” She leaned down and got on his level. “Can you be a big colt and help me?” Twilight made a checklist of the things she’d need in her mind. Luckily, a sharp knife was the first thing she needed. Cut out the infection… Copper nodded. Twilight knew that he was putting on a brave face. “Good. Do you have any bandages?” she asked as she started a fire in the stove. She began a search of the kitchen for supplies she’d need. “No,” he shook his head. “Rags? Any sort of cloth, as long as it’s clean.” Twilight found what she was looking for: an old iron. Cauterize the wound... “The only clean thing we have is Daddy’s shirt…” Copper looked nervously towards his father’s room. “Would you get me that shirt?” Twilight asked. Copper bit his lip nervously, unsure. “I know he’ll understand. It’ll be okay.” Copper still didn’t move. “I would ask if I needed it…. Please?” Copper walked into his father’s room, and came back out with a pristine white dress shirt. Twilight guessed that it hadn’t been worn more than a few times. Twilight nodded to the table, and Copper set it there. Twilight’s hooves were still sweating, but she felt a little calmer. Maybe it was the initial adrenaline rush dying off, or maybe she had rehearsed what she had to do in her head so many times that she had convinced herself that she could do it. Cut out the infection, clean the wound, and cauterize it. Twilight stopped the sink and began to let it fill. Clean the wound… Checklist completed, Twilight walked over to the colt. “Now Copper, I need you to listen to me,” she lifted his eyes to hers. “I need you to stay brave for me, okay?” Copper nodded. “Keep that fire going, I’m going to need that iron as hot as it can get,” Twilight put a hoof to her chest to try and quiet her hammering heart, took a deep breath and exhaled her stress away; she told herself that she could never thank Cadence enough for showing her that. Her nerves settled, she walked into Steelsmith’s room. When it was all over, Twilight was physically tired, and mentally exhausted. She sat in the corner of Steelsmith’s dim room watching the pony’s chest rise and fall steadily. It was bloody, and it took longer than Twilight expected. Twilight threw every spell she could at Steelsmith to dull his pain, but he still screamed. She tried to spare Copper the worst of it, but the whole block probably heard Steelsmith’s cries. In the end, Twilight knew that it was going to be worth it all: Steelsmith was going to make it. The nightmare that woke Twilight up hung like a bad aftertaste in her mouth, but she couldn’t remember it. Her cloak, which she’d bunched up behind her head in her sleep, was damp with sweat. She felt hungover; using too much magic will do that. It took her a moment to realize that somepony was watching her. Twilight opened her eyes, and Copper Penny was staring at her. A mixture of fear and fascination was written on his face. “Good morning,” was all that she could muster right now. She knew that she was out of her costume; she had shed it when working on Steelsmith, but she didn’t care right now. Her body ached as she stood, and nausea hit her in the gut. On top of that she felt disgusting. She was muddy, greasy, and covered with the dried blood from two different ponies; Twilight thanked Celestia that she had nothing left to throw up. Twilight looked over to Steelsmith, who still looked to be sleeping peacefully. “Has he woken up?” She asked Copper. Copper nodded. “I gave him some water, just like you said.” there was something in his tone that Twilight decided to overlook until she was clean. “Can I use you bath?” Twilight asked. Copper nodded again. Twilight never knew that a bath in tepid water could feel so good. She had to scrub furiously, but eventually all of the grime, grease, and gore was off of her and down the drain. Twilight dried off, and followed the tantalizing smell that was in the kitchen. She found Copper standing on a chair, stirring some soup. “What are you cooking?” Twilight asked. “Boiled cabbage,” Copper replied, focused on stirring the pot with his magic. “Oh?” Twilight said. ‘I must be hungrier than I thought.’ Her stomach growled in agreement. “Do you want some help?” Copper shook his head and jumped down from the chair. Concentration written across his face, he levitated two bowls from the cabinet, filled them, grabbed two spoons and very carefully levitated everything onto the table. “You’re very good,” Twilight said as she took her seat. Copper sat across from her. “With your magic, I mean.” “Thanks,” He said quietly. “Daddy taught me.” He looked down and played with his broth. “Hey,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Your daddy will be better in no time.” Copper nodded, and silence saturated the air. Twilight sat and ate her cabbage broth. She could feel Copper’s eyes on her, and as soon as she looked up he stared down at his broth. This continued on for a couple minutes, until Twilight realized that Copper wasn’t eating at all. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Copper didn’t answer. “You can talk to me, okay?” Twilight leaned across the small table to put a hoof on Copper but he pulled away. Twilight could see that he was tense and… fearful. Was he afraid of her? In truth he had every right to be, Twilight was some stranger that blinked into his house hours ago…and she was an alicorn. she had seen it before. Most ponies she had met adored, or almost worshipped, alicorns; however, there were the few that were scared of her; they were almost threatened by her power. “I don’t eat little colts, you know,” Twilight laughed. For the first time, Copper looked up at her, and she smiled reassuringly at him. She could see a question burning away his fear, at least some of it. “Go ahead,” she tried to coerce the question out of him, “What is it?” “Are you a Queen?” he asked, betrayed by his own curiosity. “I am not, but I am a princess,” Twilight said. “Like one of the old unicorn families?” Copper said. “No, not like that at all,” Twilight assumed that these families were like the ones in her Canterlot. “Where I’m from the rulers of the land are called princesses.” Copper tensed up again, “Like the Queens?” Twilight struggled with the truth, “No, my princesses are not like them at all.” She said after a moment. Copper’s curiosity was piqued again, “Really? What are they like?” “They rule in friendship and harmony. They try to help anypony that they can. Princess-” She had to stop herself, and Copper looked at her quizzically. Watching her words, she continued, “One of my princesses even runs a school for gifted little unicorns, just like you.” “I could never get taught by a princess,” Copper said into his broth. “Of course you could,” A thought popped into Twilight’s mind that made her smile. “I could give you a pointer or two, while I’m here.” “You would?” Copper asked, grinning from ear to ear. “I’d love to,” Twilight responded. She had to make sure that Steelsmith’s fever wasn’t going to return, but she didn’t want to worry Copper with it. She heard a gasp behind her. She turned in her chair to see Steelsmith leaning against the doorframe to his bedroom. He eyed Twilight like one would an intruder. Twilight stood up to help Steelsmith, but he backed away from her. Twilight recoiled, confused. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Who are you?” He asked, fear chilling his voice. “What are you doing in my home?” “I’m Twilight,” she said, worried that his fever had come back, but she remembered that this was the first time that Steelsmith had seen her without the disguise. “Twilight Sparkle, see?” she switched he palette swap spell on for a moment. “Sorry to confuse you,” She reached out to help him to the table, but he pulled back farther, almost losing his balance on the door frame. “It’s okay Daddy, she’s a good alicorn. She saved you,” Copper rushed to Twilight’s defense. ‘A good alicorn?’ Twilight asked herself. Steelsmith nodded, but distrust was still hidden in his eyes. Something was still nagging at him. “Here, let me help you,” Twilight put a wing across Steelsmith’s back and helped him to the table as Copper got him a bowl of cabbage broth. Twilight watched Steelsmith focus on the spoon for a moment; he then slumped over in his chair, and put a hoof to his forehead. Twilight felt sympathetic, but there was something else chilled her heart. Steelsmith grabbed the spoon awkwardly with his hoof, and actually smiled, “Well, it can only get easier from here,” He got a spoonful of broth and managed to only spill a little on himself. A small knock at the door downstairs made Twilight tense up in fear. Copper jumped up and trotted down the steps. Twilight could hear him answer the door. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but she could tell that the other voice was a filly’s. “It’s Grace,” Copper yelled up the stairs. “Can I go?” “Yeah,” Steelsmith yelled down the stairs. “Our guest can look after me.” “Okay!” Twilight heard the door slam downstairs, and silence filled the room. It didn’t last more than a minute, but it seemed to last forever. She wasn’t looking at him, but she could feel Steelsmith’s eyes burning into her. “Thanks,” He finally said, but his voice was cold. “You didn’t have to save me the first time, much less the second.” “It was what anypony would do,” Twilight said, “I’m just happy to see you back onto your hooves.” Steelsmith nodded, and went back to his meal. “Why were you disguised?” Steelsmith asked, Twilight could hear the fear in his voice. “It’s complicated…” Twilight knew that she had to keep herself a secret. Obviously, Steelsmith didn’t know about this world’s Twilight, and Twilight didn’t want to tell him. No matter how nice he seemed, Twilight knew her head would be enough to buy Steelsmith out of the hole he was in, and she couldn’t risk it: the stakes were too high. “You aren’t putting Copper in danger, are you?” Steelsmith asked. His words landed on Twilight’s chest like a hot block of iron. “I…” Twilight didn’t know; she felt naked without her walls of knowledge to hide behind. She struggled with her answer, “You have my word that both you and Copper are in no danger,” She lied. Steelsmith laughed humorlessly, “I can tell that you have never been in Lower Canterlot, talking like that.” Twilight looked away, the trauma of the pegasus dying in her hooves still fresh in her mind. “I know exactly how this city works,” her words hung like fog on a cold morning. Steelsmith saw that he spoke too early, and silence crept into the air. Twilight swallowed her feelings. She couldn’t stand the silence right now. “What happened to you?” Twilight asked, and Steelsmith looked up at her. “Before…” Twilight didn’t know how to ask. “Before the crowns decided to cut my horn off?” Twilight nodded, embarrassed. “Well, believe it or not, I used to be one of the finest smiths in all of Canterlot, upper and lower. With the mines so close, I handled a lot of their specialty orders, but I took other jobs on the side as well. One night, was it a six months ago now?” He paused a moment in thought, “Anyway there was a knock at our back door. It turned out to be a customer wanting arrowheads. As you should know, it’s illegal to own any sort of weapon it Canterlot, like that stops anypony down here,” Steelsmith sighed. “The bits he offered, however, was far too good to ever pass up. More than I made in ten jobs for the mines. So I took the job, got caught, and my shop was officially blacklisted.” Twilight heard a crack in his voice, “You can probably guess what happens to a family down here with no money coming in. I got desperate, and you know the rest.” Twilight saw him tearing up. “I need to get some rest,” He stood up to go to his room. “Thank you again, Miss Sparkle.” Steelsmith walked into his room, and shut the door. Alone with her thoughts, Twilight didn’t know what to do next. She thought about leaving and getting back to the White Feather, but she wanted to keep close to Steelsmith in case his infection relapsed. She figured that the White Feather wasn’t losing any sleep over her absence, and she knew that she didn’t need a foalsitter. Plus she had a promise to keep with Copper. Twilight yawned, still pretty spent from the past few days. However, something Copper said still troubled her: a good alicorn? She shrugged it off as a little colt's fear, and managed to slip into sleep.
Chapter 1Twilight woke up with a start. It was dark, and sleep still muddled her thoughts. It must’ve been after midnight, she thought, and she was… on the floor? “Spike?” She called. “What happened, Spike?” Twilight started to get worried when there was no answer. Twilight switched on the lights with her magic, and was surprised by what she saw: it was her old place, in Canterlot. She hadn’t lived here in years. “Princess Celestia?” She queried to the room. “Princess Luna?” Silence responded to them both. Twilight was starting to get creeped out when she saw the magical residue on the floor. It was right where she woke up. Did she get set back in time? Twilight didn’t really know, but she knew Discord had to be involved. She took a moment to study the magical aura left behind. It felt strange; Twilight would swear that she had felt spells like this before, but she couldn’t- A loud bang on the door startled Twilight. “Um… H-Hello?” Another crash that was just as loud made Twilight start backing up. A blue magical aura took the door and in exploded inwards sending splinters flying everywhere and sending Twilight off her feet. Four Canterlot Guards, fully armed, rushed in the door. “There’s the traitor,” One of them shouted. “Seize her, but keep her alive. Queen Luna wishes to deal with her personally.” Twilight, dazed by the concussive force of the explosion, was just getting back to her feet. She heard something on the skylight above the guards. With a colossal shatter, a figure fell through the window. He levitated two knives, that both found their mark in the necks of the leading two guard ponies. As if dancing, he gave the third a buck to the chin, grabbed his spear, and used it to pin the fourth one to the wall. Twilight found herself paralyzed with fear. Never before had she seen so much blood. The poor pony speared to the wall was coughing up a spray of blood. The two other ponies that had caught a knife in the throat lay in a growing pool of their blood, dead. The last soul was moaning near incomprehensible pleas for his life, and the white figure slit his throat. The cloaked pony walked over to his speared victim on the wall, took the three blood soaked knives from the dead ponies and wiped them off on the still choking guard on the wall. Then the cloaked pony moved towards Twilight. She wanted to run, wanted to scream, but she felt like her hooves were iced to the ground. “Oh please, if I was going to kill you, I would’ve taken you out first,” said the cloaked figure from beneath the scarf that covered his face. He spoke with a serene, calm voice. He looked Twilight over, “Well you picked a bloody good time to grow a pair of wings,” Twilight could hear a smirk in his voice. The figure gave a quick look towards the door. He talked more rapidly now, “Okay, there are at least another ten of the Celestial Elite downstairs. I was going to have you wait up here, but I just got a better idea,” He began to force Twilight towards the window. Twilight’s mind kicked into gear, she tried to backpedal, but the stallion had the physical strength on her. “Wait a minute, who are you? What are you doing? Why did you kill those ponies?” she shouted. The figure stopped, “What are…” He trailed off for an instant. “Okay, I need you to wait downstairs,” The figure broke the window in front of Twilight, and unceremoniously pushed the Princess of Magic out the fourth story window. Twilight was able to right herself and land without hurting anything but her dignity, but she wasn’t concerned with that right now. She looked back up to the window and found it empty. She heard more combat coming from the house, and took this as her chance to run. Twilight knew not what was going on, nor why there was a lunatic loose in Canterlot massacring Royal Guards, but she did know that she wanted to be as far from him as possible. Twilight ran into the city, hoping to lose the bloodthirsty phantom in the shadows of the darkened city. She ran until her heart felt like it was about to pump out of her chest, and she continued until she felt safe. It took her a minute to notice that something wrong. Canterlot was always a busy city, with a thriving night life, but the streets were deserted. The oil lamps were shuttered, and the city was as quiet as a graveyard. Something about the hushed city made Twilight want to crawl into a dark corner and hide. It all just felt… off. Twilight slowed down and forced herself to think. The guards were looking for her? They seemed to be armed for a fight, on a day to day basis guards rarely walked around with spears and swords. Why did they call her a traitor? None of this was making sense to Twilight. Her mind drifted to the figure that had intervened. Who was he? He just came in and murdered four guards, and acted like it was nothing at all. On top of all that, where was everypony? Questions piled on top of questions, and Twilight decided to tread lightly. Twilight came into a small square, with a large statue of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna dominating the whole space. At its base were countless posters with faces on them, some looked brand new, while others looked to have been in the weather for weeks. Among all of them, one stood out. It was fresh, the glue on it still wet. Twilight was shocked to see her own ice cold stare in the picture, but her heart all but froze at the words on the poster. Wanted for crimes of high treason against the Empyreal Diarchy: The unicorn Twilight Sparkle. Alive: 100,000 Bits Head: 50,000 Bits Twilight stood there for minutes, just reading the words over and over again, and tried to order the questions that came flooding into her head. However her mind kept coming back to two words: alive, and head. Twilight could come to no other conclusion, but she couldn’t think of what crimes she could’ve committed that would warrant her death. Equestria hadn’t suffered such barbarism since before the reign of Discord! Then another word came screaming into her head: unicorn. Twilight had been an alicorn for over a year now, she had her coronation in this city; nopony would make the mistake of calling her a unicorn. With everything she had seen tonight, Twilight could not accept that this Equestria was hers. She looked at some of the other posters on the wall. Some were petty crimes, like theft, and some were more serious, but most read just like her own poster. Twilight also noted that none came close to her own bounty. Among the blank stares, Twilight found another poster that caught her attention. It looked to have been there for a while now, and lacked the face of a pony, but only bore the image of a single, white feather. The poster read: Wanted: The pony known as ‘White Feather’ and his band of rebels. They are known for multiple crimes against the crowns including: Murder, theft, high treason, and multiple counts of destruction of crown property. Generous rewards will be given to any and all who give information leading to the capture of this dangerous criminal. For the ‘White Feather’ alone, Alive: 500,000 Bits Head: 250,000 Bits Twilight just knew that she had her first brush with this character, and she didn’t know whether to feel lucky to have gotten away, or to be afraid that she had thrown away a key ally that would have kept her alive. Twilight was only making more questions for herself, and she had to come up with a plan. What she did know was that she was a wanted mare, a criminal had just saved her, and there was something very wrong with this whole situation. This was even outside Discord’s domain of wrong; yes he was far more than chaotic, be he never was one for violence. Some greater magic was at play here. For now, Twilight had no other chance but to keep her head down, get some questions answered, and hope she could keep it on her shoulders. An involuntary yawn also reminded Twilight that it was in the middle of the night, and she was far from well rested. Twilight started to look for a place to sleep and a good disguise. Her body wanted to look for sleep first, but Twilight knew it better to look for a disguise first. She had two problems to overcome, her wings, and the fact that she had no money. Twilight’s first thought was a spell, but anything that would alter her form drastically enough to hide ascension would either be too taxing to maintain, or far too permanent for Twilight’s tastes. However, if she combined a physical disguise, with a magical one, it might just work. Now she just had to source a cloak without anypony seeing her, and without any money whatsoever. Twilight wasn’t a thief, and she decided that she wasn’t going to start stealing tonight; however, she did have an idea, even in her Equestria, the Canterlot elite were wasteful, and she hoped that they wouldn’t have changed now. Twilight wasn’t above dumpster diving, especially is the situation was as dire as this, or she just saw a pony throw away a perfectly good book. Twilight sighed in frustration as she open another trash can only to find… well trash, but it wasn’t the trash she was looking for, and she needed to find it soon. Twilight replaced the lid and moved to the next set of cans, already trying to think of another plan in her head. Hoofsteps behind Twilight made her jump for a hasty cover behind the trashcans. A grey earth pony mare in a black cloak walked into Twilight’s field of view, and she prayed that her second rate cover would hide her for now. “I did see you there, so you might as well come out,” said the mare. Twilight froze, and judged the best route for her escape. “Look, I’m not with the brutes,” She sighed “I’m also breaking curfew. I don’t see why you’re hiding there, just causing stress for yourself.” She looked right into the darkness to where Twilight was hiding. Twilight fought off the urge to run. She needed a friend, and she needed one almost as much as she needed that cloak. Twilight stood up and walked into the light. The earth pony mare first recognized Twilight, then she saw the wings. “By the Empyreal Sist-” “Please, don’t tell anypony,” Twilight cut in quick, “I’m not who you think I am.” “Oh course you are,” replied the mare. “You were the personal student to Queen Celestia herself; who it seems to have opened a whole new set of problems for yourself,” she nodded to Twilight’s wings. “I can see why the Queens want your head now.” “It’s far from what you’re thinking,” Twilight replied. The mare began to open her mouth to protest, but Twilight cut in quick. “I need your help; I need a place to stay and hide from the guards.” “Well I would help you if I could,” Twilight was crestfallen, clearly asking this poor mare to take in a criminal and risk her own well being was asking too much. The mare let out a quiet chuckle, “Dear, it’s not what you’re thinking,” She smiled warmly. “I cannot bring you to my home because I don’t have one.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t…” “It’s fine, been this way for a while now, and I’ve come to realize that it can be better this way. Now, there is no way that you are going to be able to last a day without some sort of disguise.” The earth pony mare unclipped her cloak, and handed it to Twilight. “Oh, no I couldn’t possibly accept this,” Twilight was torn between taking it and continuing her fruitless search. “You are going to need it more than I,” she smirked. “And I found it a couple of cans back anyway.” Twilight smiled and accepted the cloak. She then promptly put it on. “Thank you,” she said. “Anything to help an alicorn. There seems to be less of y’all these days,” sorrow tainted the mare’s words. Then she smiled, “But tonight is a new night, and a new alicorn has arisen. Good evening.” She nodded and started to walk off into the night. “Wait,” Called Twilight. The mare stopped. “What’s your name?” “It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” and she walked into the night, leaving Twilight once again alone in the empty streets of Canterlot. Twilight wasted no time casting the alteration spell to hide her normal looks. She changed her self to have a white coat and a ruby red mane, but she still put her hood up just to try and hide herself even more. Twilight yawned again as she remembered that it was now probably in the early hours of the morning, and she needed some sleep, if she could manage. Twilight was able to find a dark, dead end alley and a corner to huddle up onto. She was asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. Twilight was warm and comfortable when she woke up. Songbirds were singing outside, and she smelled the sweet scent of pancakes. Twilight stretched and opened her eyes to reveal her library. It must’ve just been a horrid dream! She smiled at the morning sun, and made her way downstairs to see what Spike had whipped up for breakfast. What Twilight saw at the bottom of the stairs stopped her cold. It was a Celestial Guard, golden armor shining in the morning sun, speared to the wall. Dread filled Twilight’s heart as she walked up to the dead pony. She wanted to call for help, but she couldn’t open her mouth. Then, he coughed, spitting up blood all over Twilight. She backed away in horror as blood began to flow from the guard’s mouth. Twilight ran into something warm. She turned in horror to see the walls bleeding. The whole library bleeding! Twilight closed her eyes and ran through the door. Instead of earth, her hooves flailed in the open air. Twilight was falling through a black abyss. She tried to fly, but her wings wouldn’t work. She landed in a sea of blood, she tried to keep her head above the surface, tried to swim, but she sank. She tried to scream, but the blood filled her lungs. Farther and farther down she sank, air robbed from her by the metallic taste- Twilight woke up coughing. She was cold and sweaty, and the fear still surged through her even though she now knew what was the dream and what wasn’t. She was still in the alley that she fell asleep in just hours before, and luckily still in her disguise. She took a moment for her heart to slow down, as the remnants of the nightmare burned off in the sun’s rays. Twilight triple checked her spell, and when she was sure that it would hold up to some deal of magical scrutiny, she headed out. All in all, Canterlot looked to be more or less the same to her own. Twilight began to wonder just how different this Equestria was. She began to aimlessly wander around the city, and it all seemed to be mundane: ponies went to work, shopped, and chatted with their friends at the little posh cafés. Twilight could barely comprehend how this could be a society that would come to the conclusion that murder could be the only way to solve a problem. Twilight needed answers, but she didn’t know who to trust to give them. She gave some serious thought to walking to the castle and talking to Princess Celestia herself. Maybe she would understand that she wasn’t the same Twilight Sparkle that lived here before, and would help her get home. Twilight began to notice that a number of ponies were gathering in a large square. Curiosity got the best of Twilight, and she followed the crowd to see what was happening. She could feel the tension in the crowd; there was a dull roar, but Twilight couldn’t make out what was being said. Her attention was drawn to the raised wooden platform in the middle of the square. Atop the platform was what looked to be some sort of restraint, but Twilight couldn’t make heads or rail of how it worked. Then the crown fell silent. Twilight saw two Celestial Guards lead a restrained unicorn stallion. He had a dirty silver coat and a terribly messy navy blue and neon green mane and tail, and he had a hammer and anvil as a cutie mark. However all Twilight could see was that he looked as if he hadn’t seen a solid meal in weeks. The stallion was blankly staring forward as the guards locked his head in the restraint. Twilight could’ve sworn that she saw a single tear fall from the stallion’s eyes. Following this procession was a portly green and orange earth pony stallion who was far more jolly than the rest of the crowd. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, we gather here today for the trial of Steelsmith. He is charged with the heinous crime of theft,” The green stallion spoke with a high, affluent voice. “Steelsmith, what say you in your defence?” “I will not deny that I stole,” said Steelsmith. The crowd gave a collective gasp. He looked pleadingly out into the crowd, “I stole those apples only to feed my family,” He dropped his head to look at the wood planking below him. “And I only request of the forever wise judge that he be lenient. I will serve my Queens as he wishes,” Twilight could barely hear his defeated voice from where she was standing. The green pony smiled and said something to one of the guards, who walked to the back of the platform and retrieved a bone saw, and Twilight’s heart dropped at the sight of it. “For the crime of theft, by the power of the Empyreal Diarchy, I hereby sentence Steelsmith to be rid of his means of theft, so he may never repeat his crimes.” Steelsmith’s pupils went to the size of pinpricks, and he began to weep and beg, and the crowd started to roar, some cheered the verdict, but others called out that it was injustice. Twilight hoped for once that she was not right about what was going to come next, but she was. The Celestial Guard who had retrieved the bone saw took it and placed it right on the stallion’s horn. He then began to saw, slowly. Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes, and she forced her gaze from the spectacle. Over the crowd, she could hear Steelsmith’s cries as they tore through her heart. When his screams stopped, Twilight found the strength to look up. Steelsmith had fainted, she hoped, and the guard unceremoniously finished his work. The other guard freed Steelsmith from the restraint, and pushed Steelsmith out of it as if he was a sack of trash. As the guards left, the crowd dispersed and went back to their normal business, leaving Twilight standing alone in the middle of the square. She tentatively walked up to the platform. She saw Steelsmith’s horn lying on the ground, discarded. She gave the bloody appendage a wide birth and found the stairs up. She walked over to the unconscious pony, blood welling from the place that his horn used to occupy. Twilight fought back feelings of pity and disgust; she had to help. She ripped a piece of cloth from her cloak and made a makeshift bandage. She then cast a spell to wake the poor pony up, and one to alleviate some of his pain. Steelsmith woke up with a moan, “Who are you?” He asked Twilight slowly. “Somepony who’s here to help,” Twilight said. Steelsmith actually laughed, “Help, why would an upper-Canterlotian elitist would ever lift a hoof and help…” He started to nod off again. Twilight did not like how much blood he was losing. She cast another spell to try and stop the flow. “Look, where do you live?” She asked hastily to keep him mind going. “I don’t live anymore, just leave me here to die,” Steelsmith swatted at Twilight with a hoof. “You don’t mean that,” Twilight pleaded. “I do…nothing left here for me anyway.” Twilight tried to lean the injured pony against herself, but Steelsmith fought her, and fell back down to the wooden platform. “I don’t want your help!” He shouted, “Can’t you see that I’m no use to anypony anymore?” Tears and blood mixed freely on Steelsmith’s muzzle. “How can you say that?” Twilight said. “I know that you can come back from this,” she lied. “Are you stupid? I’m a blacksmith without any means to shape metal anymore,” He was sobbing so hard that Twilight could barely make out what he was saying, “I… I can’t even feed my family anymore. WHAT USE AM I NOW?” he shouted at Twilight. “None, if you don’t get up on your hooves right now, and stop thinking just of yourself,” Twilight’s voice turned cold, but her heart was on fire. Steelsmith stared off into nothingness, closed off to the world. There was a long moment of silence, but Twilight wasn’t going to give up yet. “You have a foal?” Steelsmith was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. “A filly or a colt?” “A little colt.” Twilight sat down in front of Steelsmith, “What’s he like?” This time Steelsmith smiled, despite his situation, “He’s quiet and shy, but he wants to mold metal, just like his daddy.” “Think of him, Steelsmith. Think of what will he feel if his daddy doesn’t come home?” Twilight took a breath. “He needs you around, no matter what happens to you,” Twilight stood, and offered her hoof one last time. Steelsmith looked at it for a moment, divided, but he took it. Steelsmith leaned heavily on Twilight, and they began to make their way slowly off the platform. “Where do you live?” Twilight asked. “Lower Canterlot, a little niche in front of the gem mines.” They were approaching the steps to get off of the platform. “Let’s take this slowly,” He said. “Okay,” Twilight replied. They started down the steps, one at a time. They had made it halfway down when Steelsmith stepped on Twilight’s cloak. She lost her balance, and they both tumbled head over hoof down to the bottom of the steps. Twilight had landed at the feet of a golden armored guard with a look that was a mix of surprise, glee, and fear. It confused Twilight for a moment, until she realized that her cloak was on top of Steelsmith. Author's Note So... I had some writers block, and this thing showed up in my head. I hope you like it. -WHK
Chapter 2“What in the name of creation did you do?” Queen Celestia demanded as she slammed the door. As soon as Twilight stepped a hoof inside of the castle grounds her thin disguise failed, stunning the guards that had captured her. As they rushed her off to anypony-knows-where, ‘Queen’ Celestia took Twilight, declaring ‘only the night belongs to my sister’. Now they were in Queen Celestia’s personal chambers. The scent of tea filled the air and a steaming teapot sat on a small, ornate table next to the large windows that ringed half the room. “I didn’t-” Twilight started to say. “Did you truly think that giving yourself a pair of wings makes you an alicorn? As if that would ever help?” Celestia was pacing the room, irate. “Don’t you remember what happened to her? How could you?” Twilight could hear sorrow creep into her voice, but the Diurnal Queen’s hot stare directed towards Twilight. “I told you to run, run far enough that she would’ve never found you. Why-” she stopped mid sentence to see Twilight sitting there scared, confused, and…innocent. The Queen paused for a moment. “Twilight, you will always be far more clever than I thought that you ever could be,” Queen Celestia said to the thin air. Then she said to Twilight, “You are not her, are you?” Celestia asked. Relief flooded Twilight as she shook her head, “I’m so glad you understand. I don’t know what she did, but you must know that I am innocent!” “I do, but there’s nothing I can do,” Queen Celestia said apathetically. “What do you mean that there’s nothing you can do?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded “I’m so sorry that you had to get caught up in this,” She said coldly. “Caught up in this? I was forced here!” Stress caught up to Twilight, and she exploded. “I’ve been branded a fugitive, ran for my life and seen things that I would’ve never thought of here. I am not ‘caught up in this,’ I was stolen, from my home, and from my friends! I-” The room began to grow dark, and Queen Celestia’s horn lit with a sickly dark glow, fire erupted from her mane and tail, and darkness enveloped her eyes, “You NEVER address ME like that. I am the LIVING SUN!” Her voice felt like it rocked the very mountain that supported Canterlot, the large chandelier in the middle of the room crashed to the floor, shattering in to a million pieces; Twilight balked in terror. With a shout, Celestia fell to the ground, light returned as Queen Celestia rose again, her eyes shot with fear. She saw Twilight cowering in the corner, and her expression softened. She took a step toward Twilight, but stopped when Twilight cringed “I’m sorry, please I’m not a monster. Please,” Tears began to flow and Twilight didn’t know whether to try and run as far and as fast as she can, or to try and comfort her mentor’s doppelganger. “You need to get out,” Twilight heard the fear in the Day Queen’s voice. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know where you came from, but you will never deserve what she will do to you.” Celestia stood, and with a transformation that would rival the best actors in Manehattan, walked to the door and asked the guard outside for something that Twilight didn’t catch. She then turned back to Twilight, perfectly level and regal as Twilight had ever seen Princess Celestia. “Please, sit our tea’s getting cold,” she gestured to the table, which narrowly missed the carnage of the chandelier. Twilight, fear getting a cold grip on her heart, didn’t want to upset the Queen again. She briskly sidestepped the glass shards that littered the room, and took one of the cushions. ‘She’s crazy,’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘I need to watch my hooves, and I might just come out of this. Celestia poured the tea. That was using dark magic, Princess Celestia knew dark magic, but she never used it, ever. Is dark magic just used here? She stopped the question in her throat, tread lightly.’ “What happened?” Celestia’s question cut through Twilight’s thoughts. “When you came here, I mean, what happened to you?” Twilight paused, searching for the right words. After an uncomfortable pause, she took a drink of her tea for courage, “I went to sleep in my bed, and I woke up here,” Queen Celestia nodded for more. “I don’t remember a magical drain on my environment, no pull on myself, no vortex, and I didn’t pass through a mirror. I can’t think of a single spell that could create a bridge between universes without…side effects.” “It was dark magic, but I figure that I never taught you that did I?” Celestia said. “How did you know that?” Twilight was flabbergasted. “You are very like my faithful student,” The Queen’s words sent a chill down Twilight’s spine. “But you are not telling me the whole truth. I know that you didn’t kill my guards by yourself, did you?” Twilight froze, and a small smile crossed the Living Sun’s face. “I know that they died, but that doesn’t concern me, they sold out to my sister. His blade was perhaps more… kind, than I would have ever been.” “The White Feather? That was him, wasn’t it?” “Do not ever speak that name again,” Twilight heard the edge that Queen Celestia used before, and her heart skipped a beat. Twilight realized that this might be the best chance for her to get answers, and she had to push it. “Well who is…he?” “I don’t know. I used to think that he was the last of the Griffon Confederation, wanting to avenge his fallen nation, but…” Celestia fought back another break down. “Never trust him,” She was pleading with Twilight, “Never.” Tears began to blot her face, and she began to babble. “He was the son that I could never have, I loved him like the sun,” The sky outside began to grow dark, the sun itself was growing dimmer as Celestia fell down into her hole of despair. Then the room grew brighter, and hotter, “That scum killed him, right in front of me,” Twilight’s breath was taken away by what she saw next. The regal face of Queen Celestia shimmered, and revealed many small, healed scars that marked the right side of her face and neck. One had claimed her right eye. The sun grew hotter, and brighter. “He rammed his blade right through my Blueblood’s heart, for spite!” Somehow, Celestia heard the knock at the door, and again she transformed so quickly that it made Twilight fear her like she had feared no other; the sun’s blinding rays dimmed to their normal status. “He will kill anypony to get to me; that is why he was there last night. Not to save you, but to put another blade through my heart.” Celestia answered the door and asked for a moment to the pony on the other side of the door. Closing the door, she turned back inside. The Queen levitated the black cloak onto Twilight’s shoulders, “Tell her nothing, the less that she knows, the safer she will be,” She whispered in Twilight’s ear. Satisfied, Celestia opened the door, and the pony that walked through the door made Twilight’s heart skip a beat: it was Rainbow Dash. She wore an ornate set of gold armor, with a short, red cape. On the breastplate there was a carving of a hoof holding a quill, accented in silver. Under her right wing, the hilt of an elegant rapier could be seen. Much like Rainbow, the sword and the armor were made for style and speed. Celestia turned to Twilight, “This is my Hoof, Rainbow Dash, she will be sure that you will get out of the city safely.” “I’ve heard of her,” Twilight said, trying not to stare at Rainbow. Rainbow smirked, “I bet you have.” “Twilight, trust me when I say that there is no way to send you back home, and…” Celestia turned away, trying to hold herself together, “I’m truly sorry, but this is the best I can do.” Twilight felt something crumple within her as she turned towards the door. Twilight numbly followed Rainbow out of the castle. She couldn’t think about what she would do with herself now, trapped in a world where she couldn’t even walk on the street without being hunted. A world where she couldn’t even talk to the one pony that was always there for her. Celestia was mad, and Twilight didn’t even want to think about what Luna was like. She had seen four ponies murdered, and had seen the horn cut off another. Twilight couldn’t accept that there was nothing she could do to get back home, and why should she just stand here and accept this? She decided to do something about it. Twilight vowed to herself that she wasn’t ever going to stop until she was back home. After all, she was the Element of Magic, if anypony could figure out a universe bending spell, it would be her. With a new sense of resolve, Twilight picked up her step to mach Rainbow. “So, you’re Twilight Sparkle?” Rainbow asked. Twilight’ nodded. “I knew that the Queen would want you gone after Queen Luna called for your head.” “Why would she do that?” Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash stopped, and looked at her, “You’re really that naïve? You were getting too powerful for your own good, and you were asking too many questions,” She began walking again. “You should just be thankful that you didn’t have your head taken off like Cadence.” The words left Rainbow’s mouth, and immediately bucked Twilight in the chest. She stopped dead in her tracks, “She’s…dead?” Even though Twilight never met her, Twilight couldn’t think of an Equestria without the light of the Princess Cadence. “Yeah, she nearly started a revolt…” Rainbow’s tone was questioning. When Twilight didn’t recognize what she was talking about, she continued. “Half of Upper Canterlot was in flames? How do you not know any of this?” “I was…studying abroad,” Twilight quickly lied. “Must’ve been for awhile.” Rainbow said dismissively. “I heard that she even teamed up with the White Feather. He seems to be anywhere trouble shows up.” Rainbow looked around. When she saw nopony was listening, she lowered her voice, “Take it from the pony that Queen Celestia has picked to find that piece of scum, I think that the White Feather is just a front.” “What do you mean?” Twilight’s interest was building. “I mean that it would be impossible for the same griffon to be fighting like this for nearly fifty years. It was before I was brought in as the Queen’s Hoof, but I think that Cadence escaped, and took the white cloak for herself. The execution was just to keep the public quiet.” “You think she’s still alive?” Twilight tried not to sound too hopeful. “I know that a griffon can’t use magic like an alicorn can, and I know that Queen Celestia has banned her name within the walls of Canterlot.” Rainbow said. “But the White Feather is a stallion,” Twilight said. “He talked to me last night.” “And there is no way to change a pony’s voice?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. “There’re spells, I even know of a potion that could do it,” Twilight elaborated. “Exactly,” Rainbow asserted. Twilight wanted Cadence to be alive, but what she saw last night… It couldn’t be Cadence. Could it? As they continued down through the city, Twilight found herself staring at Rainbow Dash. Twilight found it surreal; Rainbow Dash is the one pony that Twilight wanted most to be with her right now, and here she was. Well, she wasn’t her Dashie, but it still made Twilight feel better that she was with Rainbow Dash in some sense. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Rainbow noticed Twilight’s gaze. Twilight blushed, “Sorry, you just remind me of a pony I know.” “A friend?” Rainbow asked. “She’s… a little more than that,” Twilight gave a slight smile at the sweet memories, but it was quickly shot down by reality, “I hope I’ll be able to see her again.” “Hey, don’t talk like that,” Rainbow stopped and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m sure that you’ll be able to see her again,” She gave Twilight a small smile, and continued on. “We’ve not far to go now,” Rainbow diverted. “Where are we going anyway?” Twilight followed Rainbow Dash. “It’s a…contact that I have in the city. She’s very good at getting what she wants, legal or not,” The way Rainbow frowned made Twilight think that this was the last mare she wanted to be asking for a favor. “Anyway, she’s a…business mare.” Rainbow said. “That’s not ambiguous at all,” Twilight pressed. “Look, all you need to know is that she is very good at avoiding the Night Guard’s eye. Now keep quiet,” Rainbow ordered. Twilight glared at Rainbow. She was beginning to feel like her hooves were tied in all of this. They soon arrived at their location, a rose hotel that dominated intersection of two major arteries for Upper Canterlot. From the outside, Twilight could hear an upbeat melody of a piano, laughter, and a general din of merriment. Rainbow led Twilight into an overgrown and trash-strewn alley, overshadowed by the hotel, and seemingly overlooked by everypony. Rainbow knocked on a rusted metal door. “Password,” said a stallion in a flat voice. “Cupcakes,” Rainbow replied, and the door opened silently on well oiled hinges, revealing a pitch black interior. Inside, Twilight stumbled on the steps in the darkness. Twilight could see a glow at the bottom of the short flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a long, arched brick cellar. At the back, there was a bar set up, with bottles of varying sizes filled with equally various kinds of liquor. In front of the bar, there were makeshift tables, and a cleared area with a player piano. At the sight or Rainbow Dash, the bartender, an attractive unicorn mare, smiled and said, “Been a long time since I’ve seen you in here. Anything I can get for the Hoof?” “Not now, Dust. I’m actually here to see the boss. She in?” “You sure she wants to see you?” Dust raised an eyebrow. “It’s about business Dust,” Rainbow’s tone grew harder. “Now, is she here or not?” “I’ll get her,” with a small click, a section of the liquor cabinet slid back and away, revealing more of the cellar. Dust walked inside, and soon Twilight heard muffled voices. After a moment, Twilight heard some hoofsteps, and the pony that walked through made really made Twilight feel like she was in nothing more than a long, lucid dream. “Pinkie Pie?” she whispered to herself. The pink mare had the same crazy cotton candy mane and tail, and a hard, humorless gaze “You’re here early,” She said to Rainbow, “and you’ve brought a friend.” She looked at Twilight, and then turned back to Rainbow. “Now tell me, why is it that the Hoof of the Queens, is in my fine establishment, with the second most wanted pony in all of Equestria?” Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Pinkie pie stopped her, “Could it be that the Sun doesn’t agree with the Moon? And you have been tasked with the risk of getting a fugitive out of the city? So you’ve come down to my little bar, because you know that I’m the best at getting things in and out of the city without the guard, and you are going to make sure that my little hotel above has it’s taxes paid for the next… year, correct?” Twilight found herself a little slackjawed at Pinkie Pie… well being Pinkie Pie, but it was still impressive. “Now hold on,” Rainbow started, “I keep the guard off your tail, and I make sure that there is no other illicit liquor house in Canterlot that takes a chunk out of your profits-” “And that’s why you drink here for free,” Pinkie explained, “Remember?” “Now, I can’t just rewrite the ledgers like that-” “Well you’ll just have to find another smuggler to get Queen’s Celestia’s student to safety. Taxes. Year. That’s my price.” Pinkie said with a note of finality. Rainbow knew that she was caught by the tail, and nodded. Pinkie walked up to the golden armored pony, and whispered something in Rainbow’s ear that made her turn pale. Then Pinkie smiled warmly, “Good, let the Queen know that her little student is safe and sound.” Rainbow nodded to Twilight, and made a quick exit. Pinkie listened to her steps fade away, and waited until she heard the door close at the top of the steps before she turned to Twilight. “Take it off,” she said flatly. “What?” Twilight said. “The cloak, take it off,” Pinkie said. Twilight hesitated, and Pinkie nodded to Dust. Suddenly Twilight felt the cloak ripped off her body. “By the Sisters, she was right…” Pinkie Pie was stunned. “It looks like I owe my sister a drink.” She said to Dust. Fear coated Twilight’s heard with ice, and she considered running for it. “Don’t worry,” Pinkie Pie put a hoof around Twilight’s shoulder, “Your secret is safe with Auntie Pinkie,” Her smile warmed Twilight’s heart back to normal. “What happens now?” Twilight asked. “Well, there’s an alicorn in my bar, and the night hasn’t even began yet. Looks like party time tonight!” Pinkie Pie led Twilight behind the liquor cabinet, and it shut with a click. Behind the liquor cabinet was a small room with a desk, a bookshelf covered in files, a safe, and three wooden chairs. Pinkie walked in first, and Twilight followed close behind her. As soon as Twilight stepped inside, Pinkie said, “Do it.” Twilight felt a wet rag cover her snout, and the odd smell was the last thing she remembered. Author's Note Well... that took awhile, anyway I had a playwriting class this semester, so that ate up all of my time. However schools out, and it is time for ponies! Shout out to Chaos Studio on FanFiction for giving me a hand on finishing up this chapter. You can find his stuff here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4351291/Chaos-Studio Go take a look at it, he's a pretty cool guy.
Chapter 3A sharp kick to the ribs jolted Twilight back into consciousness. As she gasped for air her head swam with distant thoughts and distant fears. “Get up,” the voice commanded from a million miles away. She felt a sharp prod to her flank. Twilight knew that there was something going horribly wrong, but she was just so warm and comfortable that she couldn’t care less. As Twilight slipped back into a drug-induced slumber she felt herself being dragged across the cobblestone floor… With a hollow THUNK! Twilight woke up again, a dull roar assaulted her ears, and she felt sore all over. THUNK! She wondered what was hitting her head. THUNK! Twilight opened her eyes to see the wooden planks of a simple, rough platform. Something screamed for Twilight to wake up to focus, but Twilight was just so comfortable… Twilight was lifted into a stockade. With a metallic click, she was rendered immobile. In front of her was a roiling crowd of angry faces. A midnight blue alicorn walked in front of Twilight, “Princess Luna,” Twilight smiled. Luna ignored Twilight and addressed the crowd, “Today we have dealt a colossal blow to the insurgents!” Queen Luna’s royal voice boomed over the crowd, “Before you here, my little ponies, is the one who whored out our secrets,” an angry roar erupted through the crowd “Our city still bears the scars of her treachery!” she pointed an accusatory hoof at Twilight. “She would see your beloved Queens in the grave!” Another roar rang through the plaza. “Now we all know that my sister’s former student deserves the harshest of punishments, but I am a forgiving Queen!” From the crowd, cheers erupted. She turned to one of the guards, and smiled. “Cut her horn off.” The unicorn in midnight blue armor grinned, and grabbed a bone saw. All the while something in the back of Twilight’s mind was screaming that she needed to get out. The voice wouldn’t let her sleep; maybe if she listened to it the little voice would shut up…. Twilight tried teleporting away, but her magic failed. She pushed with all her might, but the iron holding her would not bend. She kept struggling until a magical aura took her and locked her into place. Panic feigned at the edge of Twilight’s consciousness. Then she felt something thin rest on top of her horn. As it began to move back and forth, she felt something warm run down her face. Pain screamed at her, it was in her face, but farther away than the sun is from the moon. Twilight knew that she had to focus, but she was trapped in an endless fog in her mind. It was the noise that was the most dreadful thing to her. She wanted it to stop; it sounded like somepony was sawing logs on her forehead. It was deafening, the back and forth. Something dripped in her eye, it stung like liquid fire, but Twilight ignored it. She felt as if she was standing in a tunnel, and a train was coming. Suddenly it hit her like the Ponyville Express at full speed. The pain erupted from her skull, blinding her. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move. Twilight could hear somepony screaming; it took her a moment to realize that it was her. The pain dulled a little, and it felt like somepony dumped a warm bucket of water on her face. The sawing stopped, and Twilight heard a something fall to the deck with a hollow clatter. The sharp pain subsided into an intense throb, and Twilight was released from her iron bonds. She fell to the oak planks, devoid of energy. She opened her eyes to see a lavender unicorn’s horn bathed in a red pool. Twilight giggled at the surreal sight of a horn that looked so much like hers sitting on the ground… Twilight woke up in a gentle haze, cut by the sharp pain erupting from the front of her skull. Twilight shot up fear freezing her solid while her heart raced in her chest. She began to tremble…. ‘What just happened to me?’ The tears began to stream down her face. Her head was hurting like nothing she had ever felt before. Utter devastation overwhelmed her as she collapsed to the floor. Her horn was gone, her magic was gone, her friends were gone, her life… all of it was sawn off and rotting on some deck in the middle of the city. Weeping, she reached to what she was sure to be nothing more than a stump to find…her horn? Her other hoof shot to her head. It was there! Right where it should be! Elation flooded Twilight, “It was all a nightmare,” she sighed to herself. Her head felt like it had been caved in with a hammer, but she was alive, whole, and…she had no clue where she was. Forcing herself through the headache, Twilight lit the room with magic. She was in a small, concrete, windowless room, with a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Twilight flipped it on. Beside her was a simple cot, covered in rough linens. Scrawled over the door was ‘Remember the nadir’ in thick black paint. Other than that the room was bare. Twilight tried the door, but it was locked, and warded with a spell to prevent tampering; Twilight was not leaving this room until it was unlocked from the other side. She began to pace, but the headache made her hoofsteps unbearable. A wave of nausea overwhelmed twilight and she had to lie down on the cot. She fell onto the cot, and Twilight felt the faintest edge of something beneath it. Interest piqued, Twilight pushed her headache aside for a moment and felt under the cot and found a small, jewel encrusted box. On the top were three diamonds that made Twilight think of Rarity’s cutie mark. She knew that she should just put the box back under the cot, but Twilight had to push forward. She found the latch, but before she was able to open the box she heard a key slide into the door. She slammed the box back under the cot. The figure in the doorway made Twilight stare, slackjawed. “Umm…hi?” He said. He stood at around the height of two ponies. His scales caught the light and reflected like a thousand amethysts and emeralds, and his claws looked sharpened pieces of quartz. He looked older, but there was no doubting that this was Spike. He smiled kindly, “How are you feeling?” “I feel like a buffalo is tap-dancing on my forehead,” Twilight replied. Spike gave a nervous giggle and rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, sorry about that. It’ll pass soon. I’m glad that you’re finally up, it’s been two days since we brought you down here.” “Two days!” Twilight was shocked. “What did you do to me?” “Calm down,” he said in a calming voice. “I didn’t want you drugged either, but Pinkie does things her way and only her way,” Twilight nodded, and there was a beat of silence. “Since you’re awake, the Feather needs to speak with you,” Twilight tensed up. “Don’t worry, he’s a pretty nice guy, if you stay on his good side,” Spike laughed. “We once took out this lieutenant in the Lunar Army, a rapist and murderer, not to mention an all around prick. But we have him sitting in the middle of a field, Feather had a sword under his chin, and what does that prick do? He brags,” Spike was oblivious to how uncomfortable Twilight was with the way his story was going. “Brags! Needless to say when morning came the lieutenant was strung up over Canterlot’s north gate, back cracked open blood eagle style.” “Great,” Twilight felt a little queasy at the thought of being in the same room as the pony that did what she had already seen. She had no clue of what a ‘blood eagle’ was, but it sounded horrific. Spike stepped out of the doorway, revealing another concrete room. This one had books scattered haphazardly across the floor and piled in the far corner. Across the back wall there was a window covered with corrugated tin, and in the middle of the floor was a metal desk with two folding chairs. To the left was a door, and across that wall there was a map of Canterlot and a map of Equestria. Twilight looked to the right and found a wall covered in portraits, connected in a web of red string; at the top were portraits of Celestia and Luna. Most of the strings ended on Luna’s picture, and only a few were pinned to Celestia. Outside, Twilight heard the general sounds of a city. She considered making a jump for it, but last time running didn’t exactly work. “Wait here,” Spike stepped out of the door, leaving Twilight alone. Along with her headache, she felt nervousness nibble at her heart. However, Twilight found that she didn’t fear for her life. The cold, logical part of her brain kept saying, ‘He saved you, you have nothing to fear from him,’ and logic had never failed Twilight before…except when Pinkie was involved, and then logic flew out the window. Twilight started to look at some of the books when the door opened behind her. She turned to see the same cloaked pony that she had met on her first night here. “I would like to start off with an apology,” he said. “When I told Pinkie that I needed to see you, I didn’t think that she would use such extreme measures,” He sighed. “I’ll have you know, this talk was far from free.” He sat in the chair behind the desk. “Thank you, I guess,” Twilight kept her cards close to her chest. “For saving you this time, or the last?” He pressed on. “I noticed the new wings by the way. How’d you come across those?” “Well I…” “Why did you blow your cover?” the White Feather pressed harder. Twilight could hear the heat of anger in his voice. “What were you doing the other night?” He placed his front hooves on the desk, looming over her. In a blink he had a short knife at Twilight’s throat; its tip digging into her skin. Panic blinded Twilight, but fear kept her hooves iced to the ground. “Does Celestia know about her? Is she safe?” He saw Twilight rigid with fear, and a nagging question seated itself behind his eyes. The very same one that he had asked himself the first time he had seen Twilight with her new wings. “Who are you?” “Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight shouted out. “Princess?” He took the knife away from Twilight’s throat, and she felt like she could breathe again. “Now I know that is not a title given away around the castle…” the White Feather thought aloud. He was eyeing Twilight suspiciously. An audacious conclusion was forming in Feather’s head, “What was the Year of Sunlight?” any foal should know about that. Twilight shook her head, “I don’t know.” She heard the cloaked pony gasp. “I can’t believe she did it…. You’re not from…here, are you?” “Yes!” Twilight felt oddly relieved. “How did you know?” she asked. “She told me of a project she was doing with some of Starswirl’s old experiments. And with what I saw in your apartment the other night, I found it safe to assume that she was at least partially successful in escaping.” Twilight was surprised, “You know about Starswirl’s old experiments?” “I’m not a common street thug,” He breathed a heavy sigh, and walked around the room. “It looks like things just got harder for me. You don’t know it, but you had the ear of half the nobles in Upper Canterlot, and I needed you to gain their support,” He paused, and tuned to Twilight. “Equestria needs us. Our Queens wage another costly war, now with the Changelings, and the cost is taken out on their subjects. Poverty is widespread, and the crowns seize what they ‘need.’ They rule through fear, and create enemies to justify their means.” “And you are there to what, liberate them?” Twilight said sardonically. “From what I’ve seen you’re nothing more than a glorified murderer.” “You don’t know what Queen Celestia took from me,” He snapped. He lifted the metal shutter with his magic. “And you don’t know the stakes that we are working with.” Twilight was taken by the view beyond the window. Outside was a massive cavern that was well over a hundred yards tall, and harbored everything from proper brick buildings to massive blocks of shanties. The whole cavern was lit with massive crystals that were suspended from the ceilings that cast an artificial blue light on the whole place. Snaking through the buildings were streets strewn with refuse, and packed with ponies. “That, Princess,” Twilight could hear a shade of bitterness as the word rolled off his tongue, “is Lower Canterlot. You’ll find no greater seat of kindness and no better sanctuary for evil in Equestria,” they sat in silence for a moment taking in the view, “It used to be a gem mine, until the gems went deeper, leaving this cavern empty. Many left homes in the countryside to try in stake a claim in the mines, and it was free to squat down here. Some enterprising Upper-Canterlotians decided to set up shops, and build some proper buildings down here. Thus gradually another city grew underneath the capitol.” “The Queens just let this place exist?” Twilight asked. “They collect taxes from ponies that live under the mountain just like they do anywhere else,” He sighed. There was a long pause, and Twilight watched some foals playing in the street. “I need you, Princess,” He turned to face her. “‘Need’ me? What for?” “I’m losing,” There was a weight to his words. “Yes, I can kill anything that Celestia sends my way, and I will always fight the treachery of the crowns until they put me into the ground,” the White Feather looked out over the city. “But I am losing, and I always will be without you. Ponies tremble at the mention of my name. The Queens’ propaganda paints me as a demon who eats foals for breakfast, and murders for carnal pleasure. To them, I am the enemy. I don’t care about your mirror’s connection with Upper Canterlot. You are an alicorn. Ponies will rally behind you, and shout your name from the rooftops if you denounce the Empyreal Diarchy. They will hang banners with your cutiemark. They would even lay their life down if need be. You could turn the tide in our favor.” “I can’t have ponies die for me!” Twilight said, horrified at the thought. “Would you have them die for nothing?” anger flared up on his words. “Twilight, you know not how cruel the Queens can be, what they claim is ‘justice.’” “I have seen the Queen’s justice,” the fire in Twilight’s chest was tempered by the spike of icy fear that shot from her horn to her tail. The White Feather looked at her, “A pony who stole some bread to feed his foal,” Twilight found herself trembling, her nightmare still gripping her heart in its icy wings. “They cut his horn off.” “I’m sorry that you had to see that Twilight, but what you are feeling right now, the anger and hatred? Use it and take my hoof.” He offered his clothed hoof dramatically. Twilight felt torn. On one hoof, she knew that she should help the ponies around her, not as the Princess of Friendship, but as Twilight Sparkle. However, she was scared, scared for her life and scared that she would never see her home again. “I’m not mad,” she said. “I don’t hate Queen Celestia, and I haven’t even met Queen Luna. I don’t even know who’s lying to me! Are you telling the truth, and Celestia lying to me, or is it the other way around? I’m sorry, but I just want to go home.” Twilight found tears coming, and she fought them back. “You want to come home,” sympathy coated his voice. “I do too,” He paused and Twilight could hear the gears tuning in his mind. “Would my Twilight’s notes help? If you are anything like her, you should know that she writes volumes.” Twilight didn’t want to feel the ray of hope that entered her heart. She knew that this wasn’t going to be that simple. “You have them?” she asked. “I can get them,” he said, “but on one condition,” Twilight’s heart sank, “you have to stay in Lower Canterlot for a week.” Twilight was skeptical. “That’s it? You won’t make me fight, or lead your revolution?” “How could I?” Twilight could hear him smile. “All I ask is for you to stay in Canterlot for a week, and the notes are yours. I swear,” he crossed his heart. “You’ll be more or less safe down here, just keep your cloak on and stay away from the brutes. Or you can leave now, but how long will it take you to work out the spell without?” Twilight nodded, and she hated herself for doing so. “Okay, get me those notes.” Twilight left the building under disguise as soon as she could, she didn’t know what was in the city, but she knew that she didn’t want to hang around White Feather anymore. She was almost as uncomfortable with the little gift that Spike had given her with her cloak: a simple, cruel looking knife that was about a foot long. Of course Twilight told herself that she had used knives before, the one she had for cutting melons was nearly as long as this one, but she knew that this knife was no kitchen knife, and the thought its purpose made her uncomfortable. Lower Canterlot, however was something else. It looked like a patchwork blanket turned into a city. One block she was walking through almost a carbon copy of Apploosa and the next block featured buildings that reminded her of Ponyville. Ponies were everywhere. Twilight had visited the great cities of Equestria, she grew up in Canterlot, but she had never seen streets so crowded. The streets were so clogged at times Twilight was beginning to feel claustrophobic; she envied the pegasi zipping around in the open air above buildings. On every street corner there was a merchant selling everything from grilled carrots to mining helmets. Even with no destination in mind, Twilight felt pulled towards the back of the cavern. As she made her way in the pale blue light, she wondered how these ponies lived without seeing the sun. She had only been awake for a couple of hours, and she already knew that she wanted out. How am I going to last a week down here? Twilight thought to herself. She tried to distract herself by studying the subterranean ponies. After Twilight had lost the track of time, she had come to a conclusion: something was off. On the surface, the ponies of Lower Canterlot still laughed, the foals still played, and smiles were still shared, but there was an almost palpable tension in the air, as if it the city was dry brush and just waiting for a spark to ignite. What was the far wall of the cavern was now looming over Twilight, and the traffic was flowing towards one specific area on the back wall. As Twilight got closer, she could see that it was a mine shaft, topped off with an elevator that penetrated deep into the earth. Twilight’s chest tightened at the sight of four golden armored guards, but the crowd had become too thick for Twilight to run without gaining unwanted attention. Twilight found herself at the front of a mob of quietly stressed ponies. All of them stared at a small concrete building to the right of the mine shaft, looking like a pack hungry timberwolves. Then the iron door on the building opened, and a strong looking ocean-blue unicorn stepped out. “I need twenty good strong backs today,” She said. As the crowd began to shout Twilight struggled to keep up with the situation. One of the guards opened up the gate to the elevator, and the other three leveled spears against the crowd. It then clicked in her head that these ponies were here to work in the mines, and that there were closer to a hundred ponies gathered. “Single file!” shouted one of the guards and the each pony in the crowd shoved to get to the elevator. Twilight just tried to make her way out. Tensions were running high and Twilight was beginning to fear for her safety. She started to look for a way out, but a body hit her, almost knocking her off her hooves. Twilight turned to apologize, but the stallion was squared off with another. “You’re trying to steal my spot,” sneered the first, a unicorn. “I was waiting here before you were,” the second argued, who was a pegasus, his words radiated with anger like heat from a fire. The first pony lunged at the second, and Twilight caught them both in her magic. She had seen enough violence in the past few days, and she was tired of seeing it. “Stop it, both of you!” her call attracted many in the crowd around them. Still holding them in her magic, Twilight stepped between them. “Now is this really worth fighting over?” she asked condescendingly. “I had work today, until this pig came along!” the unicorn flailed his hooves at his opponent, but Twilight’s magic kept them apart. “You don’t call me a pig! I was here waiting before the light was on this morning. I deserve this not you!” The pegasus yelled. “Both of you calm down!” Twilight shouted. “Now is this the only job in the city?” She asked the first pony. “Well…no, but-” Twilight cut him off, “How about I help you find something else?” He nodded, and she set him down and turned to the pegasus, “I suggest that if you get her so early in the morning, be quick about getting in line. Fighting is not the answer to everything.” She released him too. Twilight was still standing between the two of them when the pegasus smiled, “Better hope the coltcuddlers are paying today!” his laugh was cut short by a knife the unicorn had hidden in his mane. He stabbed the pegasus, then again, and again, then he buried the knife so far into the pegasus’ chest that he didn’t bother to pull it out again. Bleeding, the pegasus fell into Twilight’s hooves. As the crowd scattered, she watched in disbelief and horror as the unicorn calmly got onto the elevator. The guards didn’t bother with stopping him; they just closed the door, and pulled the lever to let the elevator down. All the while, Twilight held the dying pegasus. He couldn’t speak; his lungs were filling with blood, and his dying coughs sprayed blood all over Twilight’s chest. Twilight sat there, shocked, stunned, as his dead eyes stared at the ceiling of Lower Canterlot. “You there, halt!” The guard’s command snapped back into reality. As he began to approach her, Twilight knew she couldn’t stay; with a silent apology, Twilight teleported away and left the pegasus’ dead body laying there. Twilight popped back in a dark alley not a hundred feet away from the mineshaft. She looked back to the four guards, and knew that they didn’t mean to follow her. She found herself trembling. The tears flowed freely from her eyes. She looked down at the blood that covered her chest and forelegs and vomited on the loose cobble pavement. Author's Note I just figured out that there is an automatic tool for indenting the paragraphs. That makes uploading much easier. As always, thanks to Devious Wolf for looking this over before I posted it. Thank you all for reading!
Chapter 4Twilight tried frantically scrubbed at the blood out of her coat, but it seemed like the more she tried, the more it just seemed to smear and spread. She removed her cloak, dead to the risk that she was taking, and used it to try to soak up some of the blood. It worked better than her hooves did; soon, she wasn’t totally clean, but it was better than nothing. Inside, Twilight felt dead. After her initial purgation of fear and disgust, she felt cold and alone. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how one pony could be driven to kill like that, especially for something so fleeting. What broke Twilight was that the guard couldn’t be bothered to stop him. Twilight had to remind herself that this was not her home, and it never would be. She thanked Celestia that she’d only be here for a few more days. After a few more minutes sitting in the filth of the alley, Twilight stood up and grabbed her cloak. She considered leaving the soiled thing there, but she pulled it on with a shudder. It was wet and cold, and she didn’t even want to think about the way it was beginning to smell. Twilight needed to get back to the relative safety of the White Feather’s bunker; she knew generally where she needed to go, so she started out in that direction. Twilight found herself being much more cautious now. On guard, Twilight’s eyed the crowded streets for any sign of trouble. If worst came to worst, Twilight knew that she had her magic, and that calmed her nerves a little. Twilight pushed on, and she soon found herself in a (relatively) open air market. She turned left to make her way around the edge of the market. Suddenly, she found her hooves tangled amongst somepony else’s. Twilight had a shield spell charged before she hit the ground. She jumped up, looking for the attack. “I’m so sorry,” said a weak but sincere voice. She heard him gasp, “It’s you!” a small spark returned to the stallion’s voice and Twilight turned to see the pony she had tried to help on her first day here laying on the ground. Twilight’s adrenaline high brain recognized him, “Steelsmith?” His coat looked pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. In short, he looked like he had just dragged himself out of Tartarus. Worryingly, the makeshift bandage Twilight had given him three days earlier was still wrapped around his head; she prayed that the faint stench of rot that clung to the air wasn’t him. “You… you’re from Upper Canterlot…” His breathing was labored as he struggled to stand up on unsure hooves. “You can help me!” he shouted. “Steelsmith, I’m sorry, but I-” Twilight started. “P-please it would be nothing to you,” He grabbed Twilight’s hoof. She could feel the fever burning through his body, and she knew that he was horribly sick. “Only a couple of bits could get us through the week…” he fell onto Twilight, limp. She caught him in her hooves. “Steelsmith?” She saw his eyes roll back into his head. She found her heart pounding and her hooves sweaty. Steelsmith’s body felt like his body was on fire. She knew that for the second time today, there was a pony dying in her hooves, but this time she wasn’t going to stand by and just let it happen. She knew something about medicine: it was knowledge she thought would be vital living in a town as…vibrant as Ponyville. Right now, she knew that she had to keep Steelsmith awake, and get him someplace safe. “Steelsmith!” she shook the stallion until his eyes focused on her. “Hey! It’s you… you can help me…” He started to slip into unconsciousness. Twilight shook him again, “Yes I can. Steelsmith, we need to get you home,” She looked him in the eyes. “Where’s your home?” “It’s across from the bakery, close to the mine,” he gestured off in the direction that Twilight came from. Twilight didn’t have time to drag around a half conscious pony across the city looking for a building she wouldn’t recognize. A spell came to mind, but she hated to use it. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ she thought to herself. Twilight charged the spell, and touched her horn to what was left of Steelsmith’s horn. Instantly, her head was filled with a throbbing pain from her horn. She could feel the infection that was burning Steelsmith’s body, and the migraine that was the result of magical backup. Twilight pushed his pains aside. ‘Home,’ she thought. Twilight’s mind was flooded with thoughts and sensations. She got memories of a small, copper colored colt playing in the street; a sparse dinner around a small table, the room full of laughter; Steelsmith molding white hot metal while showing the colt his trade; sharing a kiss with a unicorn mare... ‘Where is home?’ Twilight refocused her thoughts. She got a picture of a small cobblestone building with two floors. Inside, on the bottom floor, was the smith’s workshop; it was complete with a forge, anvil, and all manner of hammers and metalworking tools. On the top floor was the family’s apartment. There was a living room with a small, round table and a wood burning stove; an immaculate little colt’s room; a bathroom; the last room featured a full sized bed and a dresser. Twilight had what she needed, and she broke the spell. Twilight looked back up, and a crowd had formed around the two of them. She levitated the barely conscious pony over her back and with a spark of her horn, she teleported directly into Steelsmith’s home. Twilight’s mind was racing with what she was preparing to do. She pulled half-remembered passages from books she had read, and she had a tentative idea of what she had to do. ‘I need to cut out the infection, then clean the wound, and find some was to cauterize it.’ She spun when she heard the floor creak behind her. There was a small copper colored colt hiding in the doorframe. She smiled and kept her voice calm, “Hey, are you Copper?” calling the name from borrowed memories, she held out a hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m one of your dad’s friends.” The colt stepped out of the doorframe but didn’t return her hoofshake. He looked at his father lying on the bed and turned pale. “Is Daddy going to be alright?” Twilight could hear that Copper was on the brink of tears. “He will be just fine,” Twilight hoped that she didn’t just lie to the colt, “But he’s really sick, and he needs my help,” She leaned down and got on his level. “Can you be a big colt and help me?” Twilight made a checklist of the things she’d need in her mind. Luckily, a sharp knife was the first thing she needed. Cut out the infection… Copper nodded. Twilight knew that he was putting on a brave face. “Good. Do you have any bandages?” she asked as she started a fire in the stove. She began a search of the kitchen for supplies she’d need. “No,” he shook his head. “Rags? Any sort of cloth, as long as it’s clean.” Twilight found what she was looking for: an old iron. Cauterize the wound... “The only clean thing we have is Daddy’s shirt…” Copper looked nervously towards his father’s room. “Would you get me that shirt?” Twilight asked. Copper bit his lip nervously, unsure. “I know he’ll understand. It’ll be okay.” Copper still didn’t move. “I would ask if I needed it…. Please?” Copper walked into his father’s room, and came back out with a pristine white dress shirt. Twilight guessed that it hadn’t been worn more than a few times. Twilight nodded to the table, and Copper set it there. Twilight’s hooves were still sweating, but she felt a little calmer. Maybe it was the initial adrenaline rush dying off, or maybe she had rehearsed what she had to do in her head so many times that she had convinced herself that she could do it. Cut out the infection, clean the wound, and cauterize it. Twilight stopped the sink and began to let it fill. Clean the wound… Checklist completed, Twilight walked over to the colt. “Now Copper, I need you to listen to me,” she lifted his eyes to hers. “I need you to stay brave for me, okay?” Copper nodded. “Keep that fire going, I’m going to need that iron as hot as it can get,” Twilight put a hoof to her chest to try and quiet her hammering heart, took a deep breath and exhaled her stress away; she told herself that she could never thank Cadence enough for showing her that. Her nerves settled, she walked into Steelsmith’s room. When it was all over, Twilight was physically tired, and mentally exhausted. She sat in the corner of Steelsmith’s dim room watching the pony’s chest rise and fall steadily. It was bloody, and it took longer than Twilight expected. Twilight threw every spell she could at Steelsmith to dull his pain, but he still screamed. She tried to spare Copper the worst of it, but the whole block probably heard Steelsmith’s cries. In the end, Twilight knew that it was going to be worth it all: Steelsmith was going to make it. The nightmare that woke Twilight up hung like a bad aftertaste in her mouth, but she couldn’t remember it. Her cloak, which she’d bunched up behind her head in her sleep, was damp with sweat. She felt hungover; using too much magic will do that. It took her a moment to realize that somepony was watching her. Twilight opened her eyes, and Copper Penny was staring at her. A mixture of fear and fascination was written on his face. “Good morning,” was all that she could muster right now. She knew that she was out of her costume; she had shed it when working on Steelsmith, but she didn’t care right now. Her body ached as she stood, and nausea hit her in the gut. On top of that she felt disgusting. She was muddy, greasy, and covered with the dried blood from two different ponies; Twilight thanked Celestia that she had nothing left to throw up. Twilight looked over to Steelsmith, who still looked to be sleeping peacefully. “Has he woken up?” She asked Copper. Copper nodded. “I gave him some water, just like you said.” there was something in his tone that Twilight decided to overlook until she was clean. “Can I use you bath?” Twilight asked. Copper nodded again. Twilight never knew that a bath in tepid water could feel so good. She had to scrub furiously, but eventually all of the grime, grease, and gore was off of her and down the drain. Twilight dried off, and followed the tantalizing smell that was in the kitchen. She found Copper standing on a chair, stirring some soup. “What are you cooking?” Twilight asked. “Boiled cabbage,” Copper replied, focused on stirring the pot with his magic. “Oh?” Twilight said. ‘I must be hungrier than I thought.’ Her stomach growled in agreement. “Do you want some help?” Copper shook his head and jumped down from the chair. Concentration written across his face, he levitated two bowls from the cabinet, filled them, grabbed two spoons and very carefully levitated everything onto the table. “You’re very good,” Twilight said as she took her seat. Copper sat across from her. “With your magic, I mean.” “Thanks,” He said quietly. “Daddy taught me.” He looked down and played with his broth. “Hey,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Your daddy will be better in no time.” Copper nodded, and silence saturated the air. Twilight sat and ate her cabbage broth. She could feel Copper’s eyes on her, and as soon as she looked up he stared down at his broth. This continued on for a couple minutes, until Twilight realized that Copper wasn’t eating at all. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Copper didn’t answer. “You can talk to me, okay?” Twilight leaned across the small table to put a hoof on Copper but he pulled away. Twilight could see that he was tense and… fearful. Was he afraid of her? In truth he had every right to be, Twilight was some stranger that blinked into his house hours ago…and she was an alicorn. she had seen it before. Most ponies she had met adored, or almost worshipped, alicorns; however, there were the few that were scared of her; they were almost threatened by her power. “I don’t eat little colts, you know,” Twilight laughed. For the first time, Copper looked up at her, and she smiled reassuringly at him. She could see a question burning away his fear, at least some of it. “Go ahead,” she tried to coerce the question out of him, “What is it?” “Are you a Queen?” he asked, betrayed by his own curiosity. “I am not, but I am a princess,” Twilight said. “Like one of the old unicorn families?” Copper said. “No, not like that at all,” Twilight assumed that these families were like the ones in her Canterlot. “Where I’m from the rulers of the land are called princesses.” Copper tensed up again, “Like the Queens?” Twilight struggled with the truth, “No, my princesses are not like them at all.” She said after a moment. Copper’s curiosity was piqued again, “Really? What are they like?” “They rule in friendship and harmony. They try to help anypony that they can. Princess-” She had to stop herself, and Copper looked at her quizzically. Watching her words, she continued, “One of my princesses even runs a school for gifted little unicorns, just like you.” “I could never get taught by a princess,” Copper said into his broth. “Of course you could,” A thought popped into Twilight’s mind that made her smile. “I could give you a pointer or two, while I’m here.” “You would?” Copper asked, grinning from ear to ear. “I’d love to,” Twilight responded. She had to make sure that Steelsmith’s fever wasn’t going to return, but she didn’t want to worry Copper with it. She heard a gasp behind her. She turned in her chair to see Steelsmith leaning against the doorframe to his bedroom. He eyed Twilight like one would an intruder. Twilight stood up to help Steelsmith, but he backed away from her. Twilight recoiled, confused. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Who are you?” He asked, fear chilling his voice. “What are you doing in my home?” “I’m Twilight,” she said, worried that his fever had come back, but she remembered that this was the first time that Steelsmith had seen her without the disguise. “Twilight Sparkle, see?” she switched he palette swap spell on for a moment. “Sorry to confuse you,” She reached out to help him to the table, but he pulled back farther, almost losing his balance on the door frame. “It’s okay Daddy, she’s a good alicorn. She saved you,” Copper rushed to Twilight’s defense. ‘A good alicorn?’ Twilight asked herself. Steelsmith nodded, but distrust was still hidden in his eyes. Something was still nagging at him. “Here, let me help you,” Twilight put a wing across Steelsmith’s back and helped him to the table as Copper got him a bowl of cabbage broth. Twilight watched Steelsmith focus on the spoon for a moment; he then slumped over in his chair, and put a hoof to his forehead. Twilight felt sympathetic, but there was something else chilled her heart. Steelsmith grabbed the spoon awkwardly with his hoof, and actually smiled, “Well, it can only get easier from here,” He got a spoonful of broth and managed to only spill a little on himself. A small knock at the door downstairs made Twilight tense up in fear. Copper jumped up and trotted down the steps. Twilight could hear him answer the door. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but she could tell that the other voice was a filly’s. “It’s Grace,” Copper yelled up the stairs. “Can I go?” “Yeah,” Steelsmith yelled down the stairs. “Our guest can look after me.” “Okay!” Twilight heard the door slam downstairs, and silence filled the room. It didn’t last more than a minute, but it seemed to last forever. She wasn’t looking at him, but she could feel Steelsmith’s eyes burning into her. “Thanks,” He finally said, but his voice was cold. “You didn’t have to save me the first time, much less the second.” “It was what anypony would do,” Twilight said, “I’m just happy to see you back onto your hooves.” Steelsmith nodded, and went back to his meal. “Why were you disguised?” Steelsmith asked, Twilight could hear the fear in his voice. “It’s complicated…” Twilight knew that she had to keep herself a secret. Obviously, Steelsmith didn’t know about this world’s Twilight, and Twilight didn’t want to tell him. No matter how nice he seemed, Twilight knew her head would be enough to buy Steelsmith out of the hole he was in, and she couldn’t risk it: the stakes were too high. “You aren’t putting Copper in danger, are you?” Steelsmith asked. His words landed on Twilight’s chest like a hot block of iron. “I…” Twilight didn’t know; she felt naked without her walls of knowledge to hide behind. She struggled with her answer, “You have my word that both you and Copper are in no danger,” She lied. Steelsmith laughed humorlessly, “I can tell that you have never been in Lower Canterlot, talking like that.” Twilight looked away, the trauma of the pegasus dying in her hooves still fresh in her mind. “I know exactly how this city works,” her words hung like fog on a cold morning. Steelsmith saw that he spoke too early, and silence crept into the air. Twilight swallowed her feelings. She couldn’t stand the silence right now. “What happened to you?” Twilight asked, and Steelsmith looked up at her. “Before…” Twilight didn’t know how to ask. “Before the crowns decided to cut my horn off?” Twilight nodded, embarrassed. “Well, believe it or not, I used to be one of the finest smiths in all of Canterlot, upper and lower. With the mines so close, I handled a lot of their specialty orders, but I took other jobs on the side as well. One night, was it a six months ago now?” He paused a moment in thought, “Anyway there was a knock at our back door. It turned out to be a customer wanting arrowheads. As you should know, it’s illegal to own any sort of weapon it Canterlot, like that stops anypony down here,” Steelsmith sighed. “The bits he offered, however, was far too good to ever pass up. More than I made in ten jobs for the mines. So I took the job, got caught, and my shop was officially blacklisted.” Twilight heard a crack in his voice, “You can probably guess what happens to a family down here with no money coming in. I got desperate, and you know the rest.” Twilight saw him tearing up. “I need to get some rest,” He stood up to go to his room. “Thank you again, Miss Sparkle.” Steelsmith walked into his room, and shut the door. Alone with her thoughts, Twilight didn’t know what to do next. She thought about leaving and getting back to the White Feather, but she wanted to keep close to Steelsmith in case his infection relapsed. She figured that the White Feather wasn’t losing any sleep over her absence, and she knew that she didn’t need a foalsitter. Plus she had a promise to keep with Copper. Twilight yawned, still pretty spent from the past few days. However, something Copper said still troubled her: a good alicorn? She shrugged it off as a little colt's fear, and managed to slip into sleep.
