The Avatar's Call

Chapters

Chapter 5 - The First Signs
Chapter 1 - The Call
Chapter 2 - The Road Taken
Chapter 3 - Rockstown Calling
Chapter 4 - The Call to Adventure

Chapter 5 - The First Signs

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Chapter 1 - The Call

Once, long ago, the four nations of ponykind were wracked by an endless war. Driven by ancient grudges, they fought for supremacy over one another and the lands of Equus. Hunger and strife ran rampant, suffering driven by conflict was rife, and only when all teetered on the edge of destruction were they shaken from their war. Their hooves forced by the dark magic of the Windigos, the four tribes came together in a conference to find a way to save everything they knew.

It would only be through the arcane knowledge of the unicorns and the mystical insight of the crystal ponies that a solution was found. The four tribes would pour their power into a single pony, to summon a champion that could drive away the Windigos and save their lands. And through their combined magic, The First Avatar, Sol Celestia, was born. But with her creation, she stole the power to raise the Sun and the Moon from the unicorns, forever guaranteeing that the sun would rise and set with equality for all. With her gracious heart and kindness she brought the four great nations to peace for the first time in generations and founded the Nations of Equestria.

Over the years more would follow in her hoofsteps, continuing to guide the four nations toward a bright and proseperous future. Whenever war and destruction threatened, an exemplar of ponykind would arise to preserve the peace. Many of them would perish in their task, but two would survive to join Celestia in her rule over the tribes. Artemis Luna, the Avatar of War, and Mi Amore Cadenza, the Avatar of Love.

Today The Kingdom of Unicornia, The Republic of Pegasopolis, The Bittanian Empire, and The Crystal Heart Commonwealth live together in harmony under the watchful eye of the Avatars. But peace is a fragile thing. And as technology and knowledge continue to march ever onward to the future, the old ways find themselves threatened by the new, and once again Equestria is threatened by war, discord, strife, and chaos.

And it is in this fragile moment where our story opens. In the Kingdom of Unicornia, in a place called Bulliontown, where the next legend of Equestria is about to begin…

The weak rays of daylight hit her eyes and reflexively she threw the blanket back over her face. “Goway,” she muttered and tried to burrow down into the covers away from the evil daystar that threatened to upset her lovely dreams. Unfortunately, the stubborn light only got brighter with each passing moment and eventually she was forced from her nice and warm cocoon of blankets to face the day.

In the darkness of her covers, it was easy to imagine the pealing of school bells in the background. The bustling sounds of students off to class, laughing and chattering with one another about the academics of the day. She would be sixteen very, very soon and that was often the oldest the major academies would accept new students. A year later, and there would be perilous few chances for her to escape from this place.

She glanced at the window and stood to stretch out her stiff muscles. The bed was wonderful, of course, but that didn’t mean she was sleeping well. In truth, she hadn’t slept ‘well’ since Shining Armor had given in to mother’s demands and joined the Alabaster Knights. She’d been holding out hope that once Shiny had gone to Canterlot to pursue a commission in the Royal Guard that he might be able to help her get there too.

A glance to one side in her mirror told her that her mane was an absolute mess. Had she been tossing and turning again? Trapped in vague dreams that nopony would entertain listening to beyond a chortle and a pat on the head. Everypony knew Avatar Luna guarded the dreams of all good little fillies and colts, which meant only bad fillies and colts got nightmares. Absurd, of course, but such were the sort of things one attributed to the powers of the Avatars.

So she sighed, and grabbed her comb. It was hard not to think of what she ought to be learning right now, even as she absentmindedly brushed out her mane. Even so, she still had a plan. A bold plan no less, crazy enough to just possibly work if her formulae was right. Trailblazing new paths in magical theory and invention was dangerous of course, but it was not more dangerous than being bored to tears here as she was forced to learn the ins and outs of Unicornia society.

Fortunately, she was able to get her mane under some semblance of control and in a reasonable amount of time to boot. Good thing too, since her mother chose that precise moment to burst in with an absurdly cheerful sounding, “Good morning, sweetie!” Before whipping the last of the sheets off her bed and leaving the poor put-upon unicorn to glare helplessly at her morning-pony of a mother. “Stayed up too late reading again, did we?” Mom asked her with a knowing smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

For a moment, Twilight Vivid Sunriser Sparkle, (Twilight to anyone who didn’t wish to earn her ire), considered hitting her mother with a pillow or some other soft, but firm, object. Only for the moment it took her to squash that particular thought, though. The last thing she needed was to let her temper off the leash. “Probably.” She responded in a quietly contrite voice. It was far easier to admit she’d made a mistake than to listen through yet another lecture on the importance of a proper bedtime for a Mare-Of-Her-Stature. Especially not this morning, when she had better things to be doing than listening to said lecture for the seventy-ninth time.

Her mother pursed her lips and planted her hooves on her hips, giving her a very parental glare before sighing heavily. “Twilight, I’m simply looking out for your health. You spend far too much time cooped up in the study until all hours of the evening, it’s not good for you!” She trotted over to the bed, and not for the first time Twilight wished she was better at explaining things to her mother.

Alas, she remained incapable of explaining to her regal and elegant mother anything that she did not wish to hear. “I apologize mother, I shall work harder to remember that.” It was a good standard answer, and on most mornings it would be enough to keep her mother form suggesting anything too rash. Then she took a deep breath. “Mother, why haven’t I been assigned to a magic school yet? I am to be sixteen soon. I ought to have been assigned to one a year ago.” That was, perhaps, pushing it a bit. But… But she had to try. Today of all days, she had to try.

That produced a moment of silence, and a sigh. Her mother looked sad and perhaps just a trifle uncomfortable for a moment, a rarity given her usual composure. Still, she set her mouth in a firm line and continued.“Twilight… I know your heart is set upon pursuing academic magic, but it is simply not possible. You’ve far too much yet to learn about managing our lands and we cannot waste time with such a plebeian pursuit.” She shook her head firmly. “We’re to be taking our tour next month, and you will have to be by my side. You’re finally ready to be introduced to the barons and other minor lords on their own turf, and you’ll need to understand how to keep them in line.” Her smile was broad and soft. “Perhaps when we return, we can arrange for a tutor to be brought here. Somepony prestigious to help develop your abilities in a practical direction.”

Twilight hesitated, but pressed on. “Mother, at the least allow me to submit an application to the Academy for Gifted Ponies! There is a great deal of prestige in such an acceptance, and I could learn many things about governance from the teachers there!” It was a desperate bid, true. The absolute last thing she wanted to learn was more boring lessons in governance, but if it would get her to Canterlot she was prepared to make compromises.

“No, Twilight. And that is final.” Mother put her hoof down firmly, and then paused… a sly smile crossed her face. “If you truly wish to learn away from home, perhaps I ought to send you to stay with Aunt Eleonore and cousin Octavia in Platinum City. It would do you some good to absorb a little culture.” Twilight could feel her stomach plummet into the bottom of all four hooves as Mother tossed her mane and her grin grew in size. “It may be perfectly acceptable to emulate the great Clover, dear, but even she knew about more than merely academic magics.”

“N-n-no! I’ll be fine, I swear!” Panic set in quickly, as it always did when Mother threatened such things. Cousin Octavia was a lovely mare, but Aunt Eleonore was a legendary terror of politeness and proper behavior. She needed a mollification and fast before she decided to take that threat more seriously. “I… I’ll attend the Hearth’s Lighting ball tonight! I’ll even have a good time! I swear!” The instant she’d said it, she regretted it. The ball would be a bore of epic proportions no matter how she sliced it, but… But it was better than the prospect of being sent away from home.

Mother, ever the sly one, cocked her head with a little smile. “You’ll sing too, of course.” That was a statement, not a request, and Twilight could only nod dumbly. “And you’ll have an escort for the evening, who you will share at least three dances with.” Oh, joy. Spending the night with some vacuous stallion she’d be expected to fawn over? The evening couldn’t possible get any- “And you will sit through dinner, and keep your brother from sneaking away before we’ve had a chance to introduce him to somepony nice.”

Twilight, for just a moment, contemplated telling her mother precisely what she thought of that plan. But only for a moment. She sighed. “Yes, mother.” That produced a sunny, bright grin on her Mother’s face and a little prance in place too. She was going to have a difficult time explaining this to Shiny.

Fortunately, that was future Twilight’s problem. “Good girl,” mother cooed, then patted her on the head. “Now hurry up and get bathed and dressed. You’ve got quite a lot on your schedule today.” Then she was gone in a flounce of mane and tail, and the whisk of her skirts against the hardwood floors.

Twilight glanced back at her tangle of sheets, blankets and pillows upon her soft bed. She could very well climb right back into the cozy nest and try to ignore today with every bit of willpower she could muster, but the odds were very good that if she did she’d end up regretting it. So she sighed, rubbed at her mussed up mane and hauled her flank out of bed. If she was going to face the day, it would be best to face it with a cup of coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her brother was already gone by the time she came downstairs, his messy plate and half drunk glass of orange juice a testament to his passing. He had also forgotten his knapsack, again, and she already knew who’d be taking it to him later today. “Morning, Twi.” Dad muttered from around his pipe, the rustling of The Unicornia Times a familiar sound over the hustle and bustle of morning in the Twilight household.

“Morning, Dad. Morning, Prudence.” First father, then the chief maid, Prudence, who smiled with dimples at her as she slid into her seat at the breakfast table. Food followed shortly thereafter: Oatmeal, toast, juice, good marmalade, almost like clockwork. (Well, except some mornings Prudence would make pancakes…) Father left soon after her arrival, kissing her on the cheek as he trotted to the door and his own daily routine.

Mother was fussing about the place, but Twilight paid her no mind as she spooned a little honey over her cereal and began to eat in earnest. It was easy to ignore the passing servants and workers, the paid staff and so on. Just noise going to work on preparations for the ball she was now obliged to attend, which was annoying. Not nearly as annoying as some things, but annoying just the same.

Mother was ecstatic though. “Oh, Twilight! Look at these lovely curtains. Fresh Neighpon silk! And we’ll have to talk that young daughter of Lily Belle’s into stitching you something up on the quick, she’s quite the dressmaker you know!” The words rolled off her back like so much rain, the sweet cereal more than enough to distract her from this nonsense. The last thing she needed to be bothered with tonight was some silly dancing ball, but… No, The last thing I need is moons upon moons of music lessons with Aunty Eleonore. Dancing will be a pleasure in comparison to that.

So she swallowed her breakfast and let Mother’s cheerful chatter pour over the room like spring rain. In all truthfulness, she really didn’t resent mother her passions. She just… didn’t share them, which made her one of the few mares in the family that didn’t. She would have much rather spent the night enjoying the Midas Library when it would be quiet and mostly empty rather than bore herself to death with the endless rounds of socialite power jockeying and dealing with the endless waves of worthless suitors trying to get into her sheets.

Fortunately, mother quickly found some minor disaster she needed to attend to personally and left Twilight alone in the dining room with the bustling servants. Once gone, she slumped back into the chair and rubbed her eyes. Some days, she wondered why mother was so insistent that she needed to be some kind of vapid social climber. There was no shame whatsoever in advancing the cause of Magic and Science for the betterment of the kingdom, and that was what she was suited for. Not this… frippery.

Still, mother did have a point. She probably had been spending a few too many hours in the library for her own health, even if it was far more enjoyable than other activities. Focus, Twilight. Today will not be so bad. You’ll have at least a little fun with the project! Yes, best to focus on that instead of the ball tonight. Best to slip out quickly too, before Mother decided getting ready for the ball was more important than her homework for just one night.

The front gate guard tipped his iron cap to her as she passed, her brother’s knapsack and her own saddlebags slung over her shoulder. The sun burst into view and nearly blinded her for a moment before the light settled down over the rolling hills of Unicornia. Her estate quickly began to sink into the distance as she ran through fields past the dusty and sweaty fieldhooves. Several of them glanced up at her as she passed, then quickly lowered their eyes back to their work. Sometimes, she wished they would smile, but...

No, today was not the day to focus on that little problem. Today she had one singular problem on her plate, and she was going to solve it, by thunder. She was going to solve it, and it was going to change everything around here, and of course the world was not going to make it easy to focus on that problem. Since just as she cleared the fields, a familiar and regal voice cut through the air outside of town. “Support our gracious workers! Sign the petition for fairer indenture laws!”

Surprisingly, she’d actually gotten a crowd today. Perhaps it was the fact that her violet mane was absolutely gorgeous this morning, carefully coiffed and shimmering in the early morning sun. An elegant day-dress flowed across her shoulders and down her flank quite fetchingly as she brandished carefully printed broadsheets at anypony who would look at one. “We can reduce the costs of hiring indentures with but a few small changes to the contract laws, while also improving their lot in life!” She tossed her mane defiantly, brandishing the broadsheet at a sumptuously dressed stallion who eyed the sheet curiously. The mare stamped her hoof, her voice ringing with conviction. “We’ve a duty to our lessers to treat them with dignity and respect for all the work they do for us!”

The crowd muttered in conversation with each other as no few of them picked up the sheets to examine in detail, and those unshakable sapphire eyes fixed upon Twilight joyfully. The crowd was already beginning to disperse, and so Twilight braced herself before trotting towards her sometimes-friend. “Afternoon, Dame Rarity Belle.” She dipped her head to the mare but did not bow. One did not fail to flout rank in public if one wished to keep the gossips away.

Rarity, of course, didn’t give one hoot about the gossips. “Twilight, darling!” She gushed, throwing her hooves around her neck and squeezing in a warm and friendly hug. “So lovely to see you today, dear. My new campaign is having unprecedented success!” She beamed, as proud as a unicorn colt after his first levitation. “I knew all I had to do was appeal to their wallets. Tell them they can save a few thousand bits, and they’ll do anything you say.” Her eyes sparkled wickedly, and Twilight had to admire her stubborn determination. She did wonder precisely what sort of changes she was proposing though…

“I hope it works out for you.” She smiled tentatively, trying to keep from feeling overly nervous. Mother didn’t much approve of Rarity’s ‘plebian obsessions’, but Twilight was not about to forsake her. She actually had a brain in her head and knew how to use it, unlike many of the other mares in town. The few others like her were similarly precious to her, even if she often hesitated to call them friend. Though upon honest reflection… “Rarity, are we… friends?” It felt a bit thick to say it like that, but Twilight truly did not know how else to put it.

Rarity Belle just smiled brightly at her. “Why… of course, darling! You might be a bit stiff sometimes, but you’ve a good heart in your chest.” She pressed a hoof into her chest with a small smile. “Will you be attending the ball this evening? Mother has been most insistent that I attend.” She rolled her eyes, but you couldn’t miss her smile. “Thinks it will cure me of my nonsense. Ha!”

Twilight chuckled a little at that. She was reasonably certain the royal alchemist couldn’t cure Rarity of her nonsense. “Yes, mother bullied me into it.” It hurt a little to portray it like that, but thats really what’d happened. Right? “I fear I’m going to have to keep my brother present and stand some stupid escort too.” That made her wince. Shiny wasn’t going to be happy that he couldn’t sneak off early tonight.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh, my! Well, I shall endeavour to at the very least keep you from going quite mad at the proceedings.” She leaned in to give her a smaller but no less passionate hug. “I fear I must be off though. I can only give the cause so much of my time on a holiday, lest mother dear get huffy at me.” She winked, quickly flouncing off through town with the eye of every stallion in town upon her.

Twilight was certain that she didn’t notice. She was equally certain that she was going to be unable to finish her project if she kept standing about like a lemon.

~~~~~~~~~~

The tiny crystalline cylinder sat innocuously on the work table, wrapped with copper wires and surrounded by a complex ritual circle. “Okay.” Twilight breathed out, rubbing her hooves together nervously. “Okay… this is going to work. It has to work.” It had to work because the tiny device before her was likely her last shot at this project. Getting a hold of true Crystal Commonwealth gems was hard enough here, but getting them at this level of purity without official support was nigh-on impossible for someone of limited finances.

But she wasn’t going to fail here. This was her ticket out of Bulliontown, the result of all of those late nights buried in books at the library. Should all of her theories be correct, this would be enough to get her a shot at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Ponies and she could finally leave the social climbers and foppish fools of this place behind her. But that meant she had to succeed on this try. So everything had to be absolutely perfect.

The copper wiring was properly hooked up to the generator coil, of course. The ritual circle was very precise, as it ought to be. The cylinder had been measured and re-measured to the point of absurdity. She was ready, of course, but that didn’t mean she felt ready. Not that it mattered, she was damned near out of time. Mother would come looking for her soon to priss her up for the ball, so…

She took a deep breath, glancing around the spare wooden room. A shack on the edge of town, built to store tools for a field that had been left fallow this year. A pile of ad-hoc equipment bought with her monthly allowance. What in the name of the Avatar’s was she doing? She was going to get herself blown up if she wasn’t careful, and she was absolutely not being careful! In fact, this was the opposite of careful!

But the only other option was to wait until mother finally wore her down and convinced her to marry some simpering buffoon of a mare or stallion so she could take up her role as the family heir with all seriousness. That… that she could not allow to happen. So she resolutely turned back to the table and focused. It had always been easy to drawn upon her magic, but today she was on the top of her game. The power flared through the tip of her horn and she focused it into the circle, slowly building up the charge.

A fast glance up told her the glow was increasing at the proper rate, then she shut her eyes again and focused on the magic. She couldn’t watch the cylinder. If it blew up, it blew up. She didn’t want memories of watching all of her hopes and dreams for the future exploding before her very eyes. At least if she wasn’t watching it, she could presume something had gone wrong that had nothing to do with-

. . . . ….

Twilight shook her head as the world slowly swam back into view. What had happened? The world was shaking and slowly rocking back and forth like she’d just made herself dizzy. Had the experiment failed? Was she doomed? But there were no burns on her body, nor signs of destruction. Just an intense, pulsing blue glow above her head. A glow. Blue. Pulsing. Twilight scrambled to her hooves to peek over the edge of the table, not even daring to dream that she might have succeeded… but there it was.

The light swirled in tight little loops within the crystal, and though the copper wire looked like it had bonded to the gem it was otherwise unharmed. The magic circle had been seared out of existence, which was a little disappointing but-

Then it hit her, all at once. “I did it.” She whispered, unable to keep the thrill out of her voice. “I did it! I Did IT! I! DID! IT!” Her voice rose to a triumphant yell and she began to bounce around the table, unable to restrain any enthusiasm. “Take that, Hollandaise! Eat science, Glittersphere! Taste my mighty horn, Sparkle Shine!” She pumped her hooves in celebration, dancing and prancing about like a little filly on Nightmare Night.

Eventually though, her energy wore thin and she slumped into the chair to stare in fascination at her little miracle. Impossible, they’d said. Ha! Nothing is impossible with the power of knowledge on your side. Difficult, surely. She was reasonably certain that she’d passed out from energy expenditure there. That had to be what’d happened, but at least she hadn’t suffered any burnout… that she could feel. Whatever. No piercing pain in her horn meant no permanent damage.

Carefully - oh so very carefully - she lifted the glowing cylinder and placed it in the prepared case along with the rest of her notes. Once closed and sealed with a brief touch of magic, she carried it outside in her teeth. The sun had already begun to slowly sink towards the horizon, which meant. “Oh, bollockth.” She grumbled around the case, wishing she dared shake her head. The bloody mail might’ve already gone out…

Well, nothing for it but to hope. Still, she couldn’t exactly run… there was no telling how stable her little invention was. And if it hadn’t been for this stupid ball- “Twily!” She reared up in surprise as the huge white stallion appeared out of absolutely nowhere. Yes. That was the ticket, it wasn’t because she’d been completely ignoring what was right in front of her nose.. “There you are. And there’s my knapsack! Mother’s been quietly losing her mind with worry.” Shining Armor gave her a stern look through the eye-slits of his helmet. “We need to get you home, and fast.”

“Buth-” She tried to speak around the device, and it just came out stupid. Ugh. With the utmost care she set the thing down… and fortunately, Shiny knew better than to jerk anything she was treating with care around. “I need to get this in the post immediately!” It was so much easier to talk when she didn’t have a mouthful of shipping cloth.

Shiny shook his head slowly. “Sorry, Twily. The office already closed for the evening, I just came from there. They were locking up early so they can get to their own parties. Surely it can wait until morning.” He eyeballed the case dubiously, likely remembering the last time she’d tried to ship something. In her defense, she’d been certain that concoction was stable enough to ship! How was she supposed to know it would explode when exposed to a lightning storm?

But none of that mattered. She’d just have to take it in first thing in the morning, but that meant… “Oh, crud.” She half muttered, glaring at the case. She couldn’t risk leaving it in the shed, somepony might stumble on it and steal it! But if she tried to take it into the house, mother would start asking questions about why she was shipping things to Canterlot of all places and what was inside of it and…

“Twily.” Her brother’s voice shook her out of her reverie, and he was smiling tolerantly at her. “I’ll give you some cover to get it into your room. Just promise me it isn’t going to blow up the house again.” She nodded as rapidly as she could, crossing her heart with a hoof before Shining Armor nodded in acceptance. “Alright, let’s get you back to the house.” He turned, and she quickly (but carefully!) picked up the case and trotted alongside him. “So…” He drawled, arching an eyebrow at her. “What’s in it?”

Twilight nearly froze up, but instinct kept her walking. How was she supposed to tell him that she’d just revolutionized the world of industry? Done the impossible? Actually channeled magical energy into a stable physical form that could power non-magical machinery? He’d call her insane, or worse: He’d believe her and be so paranoid about her creation that she’d never see it again.

She had to give him an answer, and then… well, why not the truth? “My application to Celestiaths School.” She half spat out around the case, and Shining Armor turned his head to regard her with wide eyes. “I’m gettin’ out of here, brotherth.” She put on her most determined look, hoping he’d interpret it as stubbornness.

But he was smiling faintly at her. “I’ll make sure it gets the seal of the guard for expedited delivery then.” She stumbled over her hooves in surprise, and Shiny laughed happily as he braced her. “You belong there, Twily. You don’t need to be stuck in this town like I am.” His voice turned wistful and sad. “Maybe someday I’ll even get a chance to follow you there.”

Twilight swallowed behind the case as they continued to walk into the night. You will if I have anything to say about it, big brother. She silently promised him as the estate loomed ahead. Lights and sounds were pouring out of every door and window, and the Hearth’s Lighting Ball awaited her. But as she walked, she felt something odd… like a shadow passing over her. Like she was being watched from somewhere, but… she couldn’t put her hoof on it. Probably mother casting some scrying spell. She mentally sighed, then braced herself as a platoon of maids approached with fancy dress in hoof.

It was going to be a long night, she could already tell.

~~~~~~~~~

“Sister… did you feel that?”

“Yes. I am searching for the source of it now, but I cannot put my hoof upon it. Have things deteriorated so badly already? I had been certain we had more time to set things aright.”

“Aunty, Grandmother! What was that… that pulse!?”

“Trouble, child. Summon our agents to our quarters quickly and gather your armor. We may have very little time to spare.”

“But… the Hearths Lighting Ball is tonight…”

“Child, this is no time for a frivolous dance!”

“Peace, Lulu. It is a facet of her duties to attend these functions, and we need her vital insight as to the intentions of the Roamin ambassadors and the intentions of King Sapphire towards Madame Harvest. If you would simply take this note to our student, she shall handle the rest, dear. And have a good evening.”

“Thank you, aunty. I will be back first thing in the morning to help!”

“Hmph. She won’t be back until noon if I know that lilt in her step.”

“Hush, Lulu. Do you not remember being her age?”

“I do, I spent most of it cleaning up after the mess the Dictator left behind him and the rest convincing the rest of the Pegasopolis Senate that I would crush them if they tried that foolish stunt again.”

“We won’t be taking direct action tonight, Lulu. You ought to get out and enjoy your evening while I find out who this was.”

“Sister… Did you not feel that pulse of power? I have not felt something so strongly since Starswirl. We must act as quickly as we possibly can-”

“Which will not be tonight. Go, Lulu. Enjoy a night of peace and merriment. It may be the last such night we get to enjoy for some time. I shall task our Student to begin the work.”

“..... Very well, Celestia. I shall see you in the morn.”

…….

“... She is gone, my faithful student. Thank you for coming so promptly, and you look lovely in that dress.”

“My pleasure. That shindig was already turning out to be a chore anyway. Where am I going?”

“Bulliontown. Have that young pegasus Captain take you - she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of slow and you shall need all speed if you are to get there in time. Our little troublemaker is already striding into a vipers nest she cannot hope to be ready for, and you must ensure she reaches Canterlot alive and well by whatever means necessary. Here is an image of her, that may make it easier to track her.”

“Of course, teacher. Ah, she’s cute. Do we know her name?”

“By a strange coincidence, we do. She is Twilight Sparkle, a promising young mage I have had on my admittance list to the school for some time and heiress to the County of Bullion. Things could get very complicated if her mother tries to stop us, Twilight Velvet has an iron grip on that realm.”

“There are no coincidences when the powers of Harmony are involved, teacher. And I shall have no issues dealing with any troublesome noble. Don't worry, I'll have her back faster than you think.”

“I can but hope so, Sunset. Go, with all haste. And good luck.”

Author's Note

I have way too much work to do. I am seriously not ready to be publishing this. School is still keeping me stupid busy and I have a paper and a project and-

Oh to hell with it. LETS DO THIS.

Chapter 2 - The Road Taken

The world was a riot of color and sound, elegant classical music clashing visually with a rainbow of colors and shining gems that glittered and shone from reflected mage-lights. Colored balls of magic hung weightlessly above the ground like a thousand tiny breezies, each brought by one of the guests to ‘light’ the Hearth’s Warming fire, as was tradition in Unicornia. Elsewhere of course, other tribes would be carrying out their own traditions. Some less civilized than others, or so Mother liked to claim.

To be honest, Twilight would much rather have had the uncivilized traditions right now rather than being stuck in this purple dress with a foppish dandy on her foreleg. Oh well, at least the foppish dandy was one of the nice ones. “ ‘Ere, luv! Don’t be such a sourpuss.” Jam Scone smiled brightly at her, his Trottingham accent thick enough to spread on crackers. “I know it ain’t yer cuppa, but you’ve got a pretty smile an’ a brain in yer headcase, an’ that’s more n’ most of the birds around here. So cheer up, dove!”’

It was hard not to crack a smile when Jam really got going. He might’ve been absolutely foolish and mostly uneducated in higher learning, but he knew it and he made the most of what he had. As he had put it, that was more than could be said of most of the ponies around this place. “Thanks, Jam. At least you’re not trying to talk me into marrying you.” And at that, she did outright grin as they walked at a stately pace across the hall.

Jam returned her grin, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Ain’t that I wouldn’t account myself th’ luckiest stallion on four hooves if ya did, dove. But ya ain’t into it, an’ that’s that.” He nodded decisively, then turned his head to keenly regard the party before them. “Asides, I’m sure this’ll all perk up once th’ booze gets goin’. I hear there’s a new tipple comin’ out of Bittania, an’ it’s powerful voodoo, if ya get my meaning.” He winked cheekily at her, and Twilight followed his gaze to the glittering crystal bottles on trays awaiting servants to carry them.

She did, indeed, take his meaning. One day, I’m going to visit the Bittanian zebras… Actually, one day she was going to visit all of the many offshoots and client species of ponykind. She’d already met one of them, but the Seapony ambassador had elected not to come to tonights party. And as for the other guests of import…

Well, her brother had been inevitably paired off with Princess Sapphire for the evening and was putting on an excellent face of charming acceptance. He’s quietly losing his mind, of course. She chuckled richly, taking a bit of pleasure in the fact that she wasn’t here alone. Poor Shiny. She was certain she’d have to submit his application for the Royal Guard in person, since Mother’d never let him send it himself. He’d run off with some pegasus tart with pretty eyes and a sassy demeanour instead of settling down with a proper Unicorn mare. She mimicked mother’s voice in her mind, and giggled.

Shining Armor turned to spot her, and she shook her head at his pleading look. She’d made a promise, and the last thing she needed was mother in such a state that she might forbid Twilight from going to Canterlot altogether. So off he went on the white foreleg of the Princess, who was making doe eyes at him and nattering away about something that Shining Armor likely found utterly uninteresting. Poor big brother, she’d have to make it up to him later.

Her attention snapped back to her own walking partner, who’d brought her into a circle of some of the older stallions and mares in town. Some of them were actually quite sharp on the uptake, and so she’d need to watch her tongue. “Countess Sparkle.” A burly looking Unicorn with a huge beard rumbled at her in a basso voice, instantly identifying him as Baron Lucre. He bowed his head to her properly, as did the rest of those in the group.

Twilight sighed internally, but put on a pretty and neutral smile. “Please, Baron. I am merely the heir to my mother’s coronet, not its bearer. I fear she would be absolutely scandalized to think of me already wearing the thing.” That got a healthy chuckle out of everypony present, and Twilight forced herself to relax. Nopony here was even remotely close to her in terms of authority, so she could afford to be a little lax in her protocols.

The Baron shook his head, still chortling in amusement before mastering his humor and speaking again. “Regardless, you will be the Countess before long. Forgive an old warhorse for trying to stay ahead of things.” His eyes twinkled with mischief, and Twilight tried not to smile too warmly. The Baron was amongst many older stallions who had subtly sought her hoof in matrimony, and she did not wish to give him any ammunition for his cause.

Fortunately, somepony else spoke up. “You were a trifle late to the festivities, Viscount Sparkle. Whatever had kept you occupied all day?” It took a moment for Twilight to identify the mare, given that she was hiding her face and much of her badges behind a floating paper fan. Fortunately, those narrowed green eyes spoke volumes.

“Working on my latest project, Dame Blossom.” It was a lot harder to be polite to her. Yet another town gossip, obsessed with the social scene. Ugh. She did her best though. “I’ve something special I am to be sending to Canterlot in the morning, bound for the eyes of the Princess.” That quickly produced a string of mutters and shocked whispers, body language and fans flitting from emotion to emotion in rapid succession.

Only Jam seemed to catch on to her intentions. He chuckled heartily, patting her hoof while the rest tried to suss it out. The Baron got there first. “Ah!” His pupils dilated to points and his eyes narrowed only a trifle. “I see, I see… Still on your Quixotic quest to join the Avatar’s school, eh? As stubborn as your father ever was, Viscount.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Baron.” Twilight quickly shot back, clamping down on her momentary surge of anger. Where had it come from? She didn’t care about the sort of backbiting these fools liked to engage in. “Besides, why should anypony care? It isn’t as though I am to become the Countess anytime soon, and gaining connections and influence in the Capitol would be good both for Bulliontown and myself.” There. That ought to shut up any possible gossip. Hopefully. Probably.

The rest of the older ponies present glanced at one another, slow nods replacing feverish reactions. Everypony here could understand the concept of turning something into a means of advancing one’s own fortunes. Sickeningly political, of course, but that was the language this sort of pony understood best. “Well, I for one think that’s a grand idea!” A new voice appeared from the crowd, and the tight ring of nobles parted to reveal a slick dressed unicorn - the very latest fashion from Canterlot, no doubt - striding to the fore. “Sir Flim of Goldshire, M’lady.” He bowed deeply over his hoof, and she gave a little head bob to acknowledge his approach. “An if I might be so bold m’lady, I’d like t’ know what sort of wonder we might expect from ya?”

She considered that. There was no question her discovery would have monumental effects on production and agriculture, but there was equally no question that the very idea of her discovery was considered to be foolish at best. Still… there might be a way to split the difference. “I believe I have finally cracked the problem of how to efficiently store arcane energy for use in non-arcane applications.” There, that would probably be sufficient.

Silence fell upon the conversation, and Sir Flim was rubbing at his chin slowly. “Magical power… for non-magical applications? Do you mean using unicorn magic to power physical machines?” That was like dropping the pudding in the middle of dessert, a dozen sets of wide eyes settling down upon her in shock at the concept. It was unheard of, impossible, insane… but Sir Flim was looking at her with renewed speculation. “That could make for quite the splash, M’lady. Would you be interested in discussing the practical applications of this new discovery?”

Twilight felt her heart grip with momentary panic. Gone were the chuckles, the friendly looks, replaced by a wariness of her and her ideas. Her throat had seized up, and she wondered why everypony had suddenly gotten so cold. “Ah, tonight is not th’ night fer business, Lad.” Jam quickly interjected, wrapping his hoof more firmly around hers and tugging at it discreetly. “We’ve much else t’ do before the lightin’ ceremony. Thank ya all fer your time and interest, m’lords, m’ladies.”

No one spoke to stop them, and Jam quickly bundled her away from the strange looks. As soon as they were out of general earshot, the entire group quickly split off into a dozen other conversations: Some obviously hushed, and others more genial and partylike. “Are ye mad, girl?” Jam whispered in a hushed voice as they came to the buffet, busying himself with the punch bowl. “Ye do know what’s goin’ on in th’ industry, right?”

Twilight stared at the poor pony, wondering what the blazes he was talking about before he muttered something rather explicit about intelligent mares that she was not inclined to think too hard about. Then he hoofed over a punch cup, pitching his voice low. “Right, I shoulda remembered. All brains, no horse sense. Do yerself a favor lass, an’ don’t bring up anythin’ about yer project again tonight. I’ll get yer mother t’ explain it later.”

Twilight opened her mouth to complain about such an idea, and got a cruller stuffed into it. “Later.” Jam said in the darkest possible tone, and Twilight carefully closed her mouth around the sweet pastry. What muck had she stepped into now?

~~~~~~~~

Downstairs, the guests had split off to many of the salons and side rooms to prepare their masks and change from ball-gowns into costumes for the Hearth Lightning ceremony. Twilight, for her part, had not even so much as glanced at whatever absurdity her mother had prepared for her. Instead, she was sitting quietly outside of her mother’s solarium and straining her ears to hear the intense conversation behind the closed door. Jam had insisted upon speaking to her mother as soon as the first stage of the party had wrapped up, and Twilight had been given no other choice but to co-operate.

She was alone here, her forelegs wrapped around her hindlegs and trying not to show how much she wanted to curl up and hide. She was so certain she’d discovered something monumental and now she feared she’d overstepped some secret and hidden boundary. What was the problem? Everypony knew that finding new sources of power for mechanical devices was the great intellectual journey of their time. Coal was powerful, but dirty, and so was refined earth tar. Magic could do so many of the same jobs, but it was unique to the caster and not suited to machines that couldn’t handle individual eccentricities.

Sure, she hadn’t really tested that her magic-battery was any different, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a big step forward. Storage of magical energy had been a source of frustration for years… Her mother’s voice began to grow louder in the room, and Twilight could make out a scrap of conversation. “... tell her because she didn’t need to know! And now you’re telling me she’s…” the voice quieted too much to be heard through the thick door, and Twilight could feel a hard lump settle into the back of her throat. Given the shrillness of her voice, mother was surely going to do everything she could to stop her from sending her package in the morning.

That left her with perilously limited options. She could roll the dice that she’d be able to talk mother down from her vapors. She could try to hide behind Shining Armor, present a united front and maybe just distract Mother long enough for her to make it a fait accompli. She could appeal to father, who might see the potential in her becoming a student at the Princess’ school. And… What was she thinking? Mother wasn’t going to be reasonable about this if she thought her future was in jeopardy. Nevermind which future Twilight wished to have access to.

That left only one recourse. She’d have to take the bloody thing to Canterlot herself and somehow manage to get inducted to the school before mother could catch up to her. That was… a tall order to be sure, but theoretically possible. She’d have to sneak out quickly, which presented its own set of challenges. Still. What else could she do? Sit here and wait for Mother to finish arguing with Jam and then watch as months of careful work was flushed into the oubliette? No. She could not allow that.

Then - hooves! Approaching her fast from down the hallway, heavy and metal clad. Did mother already summon the guard somehow?! There was no more time for thought, only action. “Got to- OOF!” Twilight blew a strand of hair out of her face and glared over her shoulder. Stupid dress! “Grr…” She grabbed the thing with her kinesis and hauled it over her head in one motion. It was good enough stitching that she didn’t wreck the poor thing in the process, though she was certain mother would quietly tan her hide for wrinkling it.

The hooves were getting louder. It was time to go, and fast. Running would be uncouth, but she wasn’t about to try teleporting inside the castle when she couldn’t see where she was going. So run she did, as fast as her hooves could carry her through the unlit halls. The distant sounds of the party below became ever more distant while never being too far away. The muttering, giggling, off-key singing… it blended into the background as she flung open the door to her room.

The strong smell of lavender was nearly enough to derail her mad plan, but the sight of her faintly illuminated case banished such logical thoughts. You’re going to change everything. She silently promised the thing, carefully stowing it in the bottom of her saddlebags and quickly stuffing travelling skirts and blouses on top of it to keep it as stable.. and hidden as she could. I should get a cart for this… I should be able to find one in the stable and-

No. Wait. She didn’t have time. She had to move quicker, or she’d lose what little advantage she had. Her compass, collapsible telescope, signet ring, bag of bits from her allowance, quills, ink, parchment, map of Unicornia, portable hammock, dried oatcakes, sack of raisins. A cloak with a deep hood, and her talisman from her Brother and Mother. That should be enough, right? She could buy whatever else she needed on the road. Canterlot wasn’t that far, if she remembered right. She could find a Pegasus chariot somewhere, surely. Wait. Damnit, she was stalling again!

Bags on her back, and out the do- no, there could be guards out there. Window, opened to the sweet night air and looking down on the back gardens. Tiny twinkling lights hung over the hedges. Were there ponies out here? No time to guess. She grasped at the fabric of magic and flung it about herself. A moment later, she burst back into existence on the ground and took a deep, steadying breath. “Go.” She whispered to herself and took off as fast as she could manage with the heavy bags on her back. Past the fences of her estate, and into the quiet darkness beyond.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was very, very dangerous to run in the dark. Very dangerous. In fact, it was more dangerous to run in the dark than it was to run in nearly any other situation. One unforeseen hole could break her leg badly enough to send her to the Healer’s Ward, and she’d be done for. Of course, the fact that she was running across an empty vegetable field in the dark only made the risk greater. But she couldn’t slow down, couldn’t take her time, couldn’t possibly stop long enough for her to simply get into the road. Oh nononono, that would make it much more likely for one of the night patrols to spot her and they’d haul her home and-

A cloud of dust kicked up behind her as she came to a screeching halt just before one of the perimeter fences. She blinked uncomprehendingly at the offending object for a moment before feeling her cheeks burn in embarrassment. “Oh.” Right. There were fences that separated major fields. She knew that. Heh. Heh heh. She carefully clambered over the fence and found herself in another field, this one apparently filled with cauliflower.

Twilight sank back against the fence wood and tried to calm her pounding heart. She wasn’t being pursued yet, and she wasn’t going to get anywhere if she broke something. Get on the road. If a guard spots you, flash your ring and say you’re on your mother’s business. She’ll kill you later, but you’ll be out of town before she can do it soon. That made about as much sense as anything did, so one more clambering fence journey later she found herself on the good old flagstones that made up the path leading to town.

She hesitated, then. She was about to break a lot of familiar rules and there wasn’t going to be any going back from that. She was also going to leave a lot behind her, but… but the little warmth that sat smuggled in her bags was too much to give up to some nebulous fear. I’ve got to get to Canterlot. But why was she so sure of that? Logically, she should go back to the house and speak to her mother and sort this out reasonably…

Twilight Sparkle, stop deluding yourself. Your mother is a very reasonable mare precisely ninety percent of the time. Now when is she unreasonable? When Twilight was involved, or when she wanted to suggest she would move away from home. Precisely. Now what do you think she’s going to do if you suggest you’ll take your little invention there personally to Canterlot? Likely, she would lock her up and bury her work somewhere in the south field. Very, very deeply. Now you’re catching on. Now hurry your flank. If you’re swift and lucky, you can catch a pegasi chariot from Silberfellton before your mother dragoons a messenger fast enough to outrun you..

That was logical enough to stand up on, so she took a deep breath and started off down the road as fast as her hooves could carry her. Glittering golden lights passed her in the night as she careened down the path and off onto the main road. The hard concrete rattled under her hooves in a syncopated rhythm, lulling her into a running trance. By the time she hit the first signpost where the noble-held lands ended and peasant lands began, she was bolting down the road at a fair clip.

Which she was able to keep up for exactly twenty three minutes before her endurance hit the wall and she was forced to come to a stumbling and panting halt. Logic, now finally able to wrestle past her emotions, reasserted itself in the place of blind panic. She wasn’t going to make it to Silberfelton before tomorrow evening at the earliest no matter how hard she ran. She had minimal supplies, little to make camp with, and only a smattering of food supplies. She needed to be smart about this. Wasn’t she supposed to be smart enough for the Princess’ school?

Twilight’s lungs burned and she sucked in a breath slowly, trying to form a plan that didn’t amount to ‘run and hope for the best’. All was dark around her, save for the dim light of the moon hanging far overhead… it was silent as the grave. Except… except it wasn’t. Her ears twitched, and the sound of approaching hooves from the town made her whirl in place. A pair of bobbing lanterns threw out a pool of light around two burly looking earth ponies flanking an unfamiliar unicorn. She had to hide, fast. But where would she hide? There were no bushes, no trees, nothing for her to sneak into unless…

She cast a glance to the trench that ran beside the road, slightly muddy but thick with tall grass. Twilight swallowed silently at the thought of trudging around in that muck, but the lanterns were just getting closer. So down she scurried, trying not to make too much noise when her hooves hit the gloppy mud, making squelching sounds with each step. then carefully she bent down and watched the road.

The lanterns bobbed closer and closer, soon to be followed by voices. “... sure she went this way? Boss said she’d just barely left. Why would she run away from the town? An’ in this direction?” That voice was deep and kind of growly. She didn’t like that voice one bit.

She liked the next voice even less. “Shut up, you cretin. She’s a powerful one if she’s accomplished what she boasted of.” The voice sneered dismissively, “Not that I believe a word of it, but you don’t run away in the midst of a masque unless you have something you want to hide. Now shut up and keep your eyes peeled. We need to be back in town before sunup and I want something to give Mister Flam.”

The voices went silent. Twilight kept her eyes focused on the pool of light as it slowly drifted past, biting down on her lip. Okay, so maybe my instincts are better than I thought… Soon, the lanternlight was gone and she was left in a creaking ditch of mud and grass with a sudden feeling of being in big, big trouble. What in the world had she done that was so bad? Surely she hadn’t stolen somepony else’s idea, or used research that had not been hers. There was no logic behind somepony already being sent out to follow her mere minutes after she’d left the party. Mother surely couldn’t have sent them, so…

Wait. What if they’d been sent to follow her long before she’d left? That was… a frightening enough prospect to make her shiver. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold mud and buzzing insects. She hadn’t even had the good sense to bring a guard, what was she supposed to do if these ponies had more than merely following her upon their minds?

It was a thought she didn’t want to contemplate. She needed to get her hooves clean and figure out her next course of action. She couldn’t continue down the main road, as sooner or later those strangers would be going back and there was no guarantee she would be as lucky finding a hiding spot the second time. So what did that leave? She could go overland, but… That would be slow and possibly perilous. There were a great many peasant villages out there, and Rarity’s passions or not Twilight knew better than to presume she would be safe amongst them. She could wait until she encountered them, and attempt to outfox them upon the road. A gamble, to be sure. Or maybe-

Ergh, she was doing it again. Too many possible plans, too little time to consider them all. Goodness, she really wasn’t suited to this adventuress thing at all. Go off the road for the evening. When day breaks, reassess. You’ll need to find someplace to sleep regardless. Fortunately, that ought to be at least moderately easy with her… Oh, bollocks, that wasn’t going to work, was it? If you’re being followed, no doubt they’ll question the peasants. Poor things won’t know to keep your passing a secret. She rubbed her hoof on her nose, then shook her head. Mud first. Get off the main road second, and sleep third. There. Now she had a plan.

Finding a place to clean her hooves off wasn’t too taxing, oddly enough. There was a nice babbling brook just off the first split in the path that she was easily able to extract a bit of water from for a washup. Cold as the northern mountains, but it did the job. Getting down a more out-of-the-way path was easy enough too. There were no end of small offshoots from the main road, even if most of them were gravel pathed and choosing the best of them had been a matter of simply looking for the neatest one.

The third goal, however....

The sign read “East Rockstown” as she crested the first hill, and the sight of two or three dozen rough wooden buildings alight with bright golden light made her oddly nervous. She didn’t know why, but something was already telling her that her plan to find shelter for the evening would not be nearly as simple as she might’ve imagined.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you my pilot?”

“Depends. You my cargo?”

“It’s not polite to refer to somepony as ‘cargo’, you know.”

“Fine, fine… Are you my ‘passenger’, m’ladyship?”

“That’s Agent to you, Captain.”

“Oh, buck me. Um… I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t see your badge there. A-heh-heh...”

“Forget about it. I’m told you’re fast.”

“Fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, Ma’am. Bar none.”

“You’d better be. We need to get to Bulliontown, as fast as you can get me there.”

“No problemo. What do I call ya?”

“Just Agent is fine, Captain.”

“Well, then Just Agent. Get on board and I’ll show ya my stuff. I’d recommend you hold on, though. If you want fast, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Chapter 3 - Rockstown Calling

Twilight actually lost track of how long she sat up on that hill, trying to figure out a plan. Long enough to examine the town in minute detail at least. Twenty six buildings, most of which were made out of wood. One of which was rough brick, and appeared to be some sort of school-house. The paths were all of a fine gravel, almost fine enough to be used in garden paths back home. The area around the town was thick with sturdy looking trees with bushy crowns that were all in bad need of a trimming. And every single one of the buildings was visibly occupied.

That had been the real stickler. Her first thought - not a bad one she was sure - was to find some abandoned barn and hole up for the night. It would be a touch rough, but she’d dealt with rough a time or two before. Unfortunately, it seemed abandoned barns belonged firmly in the realm of mythology along with Breezies and heroic coincidence. Even from all the way up here, she could hear the raucous celebrations of the ponies below and the smell of roasted vegetables was enough to make her mouth water just a little.

She was stuck. There was no chance of getting to some other village before she became exhausted and no hope of this lot giving up before dawn. For all she knew, they were going to keep going until long after dawn and that presented a problem. What could she do? She needed somewhere inside to sleep. Why? You could find a nice dense cluster of trees out there and just hide in the boughs. That would make logical sense, but her logic was not precisely running on all four hooves at the moment. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to be caught outside by her pursuers.

No, she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she was exposed. She needed someplace to hide. Preferably someplace with a cushion and a blanket, which she had all too belatedly realized she had forgotten back at the house. Shiny would be laughing at her right now, but there was nothing for it but to keep on. Okay. If I walk right into the hamlet, they’ll probably recognize me and I’ll be held and shipped back for a reward. Which means I need to sneak into somewhere. Given a new target, she began more carefully scanning the buildings until a single unlit window caught her eye.

Well duh. Why hadn’t she considered the attic? Surely nopony would be caught up there during a wild celebration. It would be noisy and very dusty, but it would suit for the night. She would just have to be very careful about leaving when she awoke. I’ll simply sleep light. I should awake long before they’re sober enough to care about a hooded and cloaked traveller wandering through town. There. A solid plan that didn’t have any strong likelihood of disaster. She was actually quite proud of herself for that.

That meant it was time to get into that attic. Not a serious issue, actually. Even if the range was a little farther than she’d have liked. Twilight made certain her bags were secure before wiggling her flank and carefully taking hold of the magical forces around her. Slowly this time so as not to create any flash and spectacle, she wove the fabric of the world around her and focused on her destination. A tiny pop of air and a feeling of sudden movement and she was atop the roof of the building in question. Hah! As easy as Hearths Warming pie.

The next part, not so much. Ever carefully, she slipped down to the windowsill and pressed her nose against the frosted glass. It was just barely big enough for a pony to slip through, but that was all she needed. Twilight closed her eyes and focused her magic into a little grabber, carefully groping inside the window for the latch. Around the edges of the thing. Hm. A cross bar? No… What was keeping this window secure? There was no sign of any kind of lock. Was it some kind of earth-pony secret? A mechanical latch? or-

She slipped a little and scrambled against the sill, shoving her hooves into the window on instinct and finding herself - and the window - tumbling end over end until she fell with an inglorious thump on the slightly dusty floor of the attic and the window swung around once more before coming to a halt with a subtle click. Pressure lock. Twilight, you really, really need to stop overthinking everything.

She rubbed at her forehead and felt a surge of panic, throwing open the latch of her saddlebag she pulled out soft clothing in a whirlwind of motion until she came to her case. In tact, and the glowing coming from between the seams was still faint and steady. Gah… Well, at least it can stand up to some abuse. That’s a good thing. That meant she now had some time to glance around her, and she was actually quite happy by the sight. The place wasn’t thick with dust, but there was enough of an appreciable layer that she was certain she wouldn’t be bothered until morning.

It took a few minutes to find a place to hang her hammock, but once that was accomplished she was as comfortable as she could hope for without a proper cushion. Her travelling cloak suited for a blanket, and once she’d bundled her clothes back into her back it did a fair enough job as a pillow. The raucous sounds below might have made it difficult to sleep… if exhaustion hadn’t chosen that moment to sneak up on her and knock her clean out.

~~~~~~~~~

The rays of sunlight streaming into her bedroom as she awoke were actually kind of pretty today. And all the scents and sounds around her put her in a reasonably cheery mood The smell of lavender and soap from the freshly laundered dresses the maids were putting away after last night. The faint hint of dust and varnished wood from her desk. Freshly brewed tea and warm biscuits. The scent of sweet lemon from Rarity’s perfume. The distant scent of oatcakes from-

Wait. Rarity’s perfume?

Twilight felt her eyes snap open with instant awareness of the world around her and she nearly rolled clean off her hammock while spinning around to look right into those crystal-clear blue eyes that belonged to nopony else she knew. Rarity was wearing what could only be described as a bright green peasant's dress and a somewhat plain bonnet in the same colors. She was smiling faintly and sipping from a chipped earthenware teacup while Twilight stared at her in shocked disbelief, feeling her breathing coming in rapid pulses. “Sleep well?” Rarity asked in a conversational tone, freshening her cup from a cast iron teapot as she did so.

All at once, Twilight felt her entire mood collapse into a pile of rubble and she sank back into her hammock. No doubt Mother was outside with the carriage waiting for Rarity to bring her down gently. No doubt she’d demand Twilight turn over her notes and invention and hoof it off to some foalish scholar who’d think she’d just made a bomb or something and destroy it.

Then a hoof touched her shoulder gently. Twilight started in place, and looked up to see a bemused Rarity giving her quite the look. “Don’t despair, darling. Nopony sent me here but myself.” She huffed haughtily and tossed her mane to one side. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if somepony official hadn’t been sent by now. Your mother was positively beside herself when nopony could find you last night.”

“But...How did you?” Twilight stumbled over her words, trying to figure out precisely what was going on. Why would Rarity follow her? Why on earth would she need to? “Why did you…?” She tried to voice her thoughts, but for some reason she could not form the words. Bloody ashes, she was completely out of sorts! So she huffed and closed her eyes firmly until she could get a proper hold of herself.

Rarity, bless her, remained silent for the minute it took her to reorient herself. Then she spoke quietly just as Twilight opened her eyes. “Twilight, you’re a very intelligent mare, but you do occasionally miss the obvious. Your escape route was blitheringly obvious to anypony who cared to look for it.” She sipped her tea again, giving her a very patient look. “You’re fortunate I decided to come looking for you myself, I was able to confuse your trail a bit.”

“No, that’s not-” She facehoofed. “Ugh. Rarity how did you find me here!?” She wasn’t sure what else to say at the moment. Frankly, she never did very great thinking before her first cup of coffee.

But Rarity’s smile remained gentle and serene. “I am… familiar with the farmers here.” Her lips twisted her smile into something more mischievous. “Mother would never approve, but it is important for us to know the ponies that work the land. Hmf. Not that I much care what Mother approves of these days.” She twisted a lock of mane around her hoof, looking thoughtful. “When your tracks stopped at the town, it wasn’t terribly difficult to divine that you’d taken refuge somewhere here. Fortunately, Mayor Mare is an understanding sort.”

“Mayor… Mare? That sounds incredibly generic.” Twilight could feel her frustration start to mount, then quickly buried it under cold logic. Right now, Rarity held every hope she had of a future in her hooves. It would not do to unduly antagonize her until she reached Canterlot.

That actually made Rarity laugh, though. She covered her laugh demurely with a hoof, her eyes sparkling. “It does, doesn’t it? It’s actually a very old earth pony tradition. When somepony takes an administrative office, they typically take on the title of the office as their name until they are replaced. It is supposed to ensure that respect is paid to the power of the office, not the pony itself.” She shook her head once, then exhaled softly. “Twilight… What are you doing running off like this? I’d heard you had some sort of dustup with one of the barons, but surely it hadn’t been that serious.”

Twilight fidgeted in place. Rarity clearly didn’t know what had caused her flight, but knew enough to be troublesome. Should she lie? Could she lie? “I…” No, better to tell most of the truth. She didn’t have to tell Rarity precisely why she’d run… just the reasons. “I can’t sit around the estate letting my brain rot forever, Rarity. Mother has been utterly unreasonable in refusing me admittance to a magic school.” She swung her hindlegs off the hammock and stomped one into the floor imperiously. “I will not be denied my right to a proper education before I am trapped by duty. At the least I shall spend my dutiful years doing practical work for the good of Unicornia and ponykind. Not just foalish politics.”

For a moment, she was certain Rarity was going to give her some speech about duty. But instead, she nodded shortly, biting her lip for a moment and turning her head away. “I can understand that desire, I suppose. Though what inspired you to make such a dramatic exit last night…” She shook her head. “Regardless, I’ve a duty of my own to see you someplace safe.” She nudged her hoof at Twilight’s bag with a sad smile. “You’re not going to make it to Canterlot on this alone, darling.”

Twilight felt her defiance wilt. Of course she wasn’t, not if a cityfilly like Rarity had followed her so easily. Mother would not send amateurs to hunt her down and bring her home. “What am I going to do then, Rarity? I’ve got to get there before Mother catches up to me.” There was no time to stand on pride, she had to enlist Rarity’s help somehow. She didn’t even bother to hide the desperation in her voice when she threw her hooves out to grab her shoulders. “Please… You know so much more than I do about this sort of thing, you’ve got to have some idea of what I can do.”

Rarity hid her shock well, though not well enough to hide her surprise from Twilight completely. “Well I… Suppose I could at least get you to Silberfelton. Spare a few bits for a chariot ride.” She rubbed at her chin, looking down. “I honestly don’t know what I was thinking when I followed you. I suppose I was just concerned that something dreadful had happened, or perhaps your mother had dropped some dire news on you.” She sighed heavily, tapping her forehooves together. “Not that I don’t sympathize, darling. I’ve done what I can here, but there’s so many better places that need my help. Perhaps… perhaps it is finally time for me to admit that I must strike out on my own to truly do the most good.”

Then, Twilight got an idea. Twilight got a slick, clever, surprisingly practical idea. “Then come with me to Canterlot!” She suggested brightly, feeling a new energy surge in her veins. “You’re quite smart enough that I’m certain we can get you admitted to Celestia’s School. They’ve got lots of teachers for every kind of subject, too!” She bounced out of the hammock, grabbing Rarity’s forehoof in her own. “Maybe you could find someone to sponsor you into Parliament. You could surely do a great deal of good in the High Seats.”

And funnily enough, she believed that. Sure, Rarity was perhaps a bit naive at the best of times but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to get things done. “Mm. Not a bad thought, though you’ll forgive me if I lack confidence that I’m Academy material.” Rarity finished her statement with a warm chuckle and a hoof through her mane. “Still, I worry Twilight. You’ve charged off on this little quest of yours without much thought.” Rarity’s brow furrowed, and she looked Twilight dead in the eye. “Are you certain that you will find success in Canterlot? It is not precisely a gentle city.”

Truthfully? Twilight didn’t know, but now wasn’t the time to admit to that. Now was the time to show as much confidence as she possibly could, and project it as firmly as possible. Lessons from her mother, of course. “Yes, I am.” She bit down on the dozen or so qualifiers to that as they’d only harm her case. She had to be careful, the last thing she wanted to do was scare Rarity back home to mother. Then she’d basically have no hope whatsoever of getting to Canterlot ahead of Mother’s agents.

Rarity seemed to be waiting to see what else Twilight might add to her declaration, but Twilight kept her lips buttoned tight. “I…” Rarity hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I suppose it would not hurt to escort you to Canterlot. At the least if things do not go to plan you’ll have somepony who can get you home safely.” Then she brightened considerably. “Cousin Fleur could help us, surely!”

Twilight blinked at that one. “Who?”

~~~~~Bulliontown, that morning.~~~~~

The chariot came to a dirt-skidding halt in front of the manor house, and Sunset Shimmer was not too proud to admit she was ecstatic to be back on terra firma once again. “Toldja we’d get here by morning.” The smug, absurd, insane pegasus said mockingly over her shoulder. She didn’t even look winded, and that was insane. “Hey, I said I was the fastest pony in Equestria. Did you think I was kidding?” The pegasus captain polished her hoof on her chestfur, and Sunset decided it would be best not to dignify that with a response.

It took exactly twenty three seconds before somepony came out to greet her. Naturally, it was a Captain of the Guard and his retinue in full armor. “Who in the name of the Crown do you think you are?!” the Captain growled menacingly with just the right degree of intimidation. Obviously somepony who knew his job, so that might make this easier.

She withdrew the sealed scroll from her saddlebags, the refractive wax and snow-white parchment bound in a shimmering rainbow ribbon as unmistakable in its origins as the sun itself. “Agent Sunset Shimmer, in her Majesty’s Service. I am taking command over you and your stallions, Captain.” There, that would make it simpler to accomplish her goals here. “I need your name, and then you can take me to the home of the unicorn named Twilight Sparkle immediately.”

For a moment the captain stared at her uncomprehendingly, then pulled his helmet off with his telekentic magic to reveal the… Well, he’s certainly handsome. Stallion beneath it. “I’m Captain Shining Armor, ma’am. Alabaster Guard.” He spoke in a very formal, respectful tone. More surprising was his rank. An Alabaster Guardspony? Here? “And the somepony you’re looking for usually lives here, too. Unfortunately for you, miss Agent Sunset, she’s already gone.” His voice went from respectful to extremely dark in an instant, his eyes narrowing and muscles tightening.

Something bad had already happened? She’d gotten here faster than she could’ve possibly imagined! “What do you mean ‘gone’, guardspony?” She had to get information before she could form a plan, and even more so before she could panic. “What happened here?”

The Captain’s head jerked up in surprise at that, “You don’t…?” Then he shook his head once and tucked his helmet under his foreleg. “Twilight vanished last night. Nopony is sure as to the circumstances, but we do know she took things from her room and headed west of here. Nopony knows anything else.” She stared for a moment, then Sunset facehoofed. Oh, bloody duh. Viscountess Twilight Sparkle. She knew she’d heard that name somewhere before. But that meant- “Are you going to go looking for her?” The Captain asked, his voice quiet and intense.

Sunset took a moment to take in the guardspony’s body language. Angry. Frustrated. And most importantly of all, scared. Scared for what? His job? No, the Alabaster Guard were loyal to the crown, not a mere Countess. That meant some kind of family connection. Cousin? No, too intense. Sister, maybe.That’d make him Countess Velvet’s son. She could use that kind of intensity in somepony with his effective rank and station.

That meant she needed to recruit him. “Yes.” She replied, keeping her voice quiet. “West could mean a lot of towns. We’ll start with Emerald City and work our way south, that’s the most likely place for her to run to.” Emerald city had one of the finest Mage colleges in Unicornia. If Twilight had experienced something traumatic enough to have Celestia send her here to retrieve her, that’s probably where she’d go. Poor kid. Young and untutored, stuck in this oppressive environment and under these foolish aristocrats… “We could use a guard escort.” She tossed that one at him off-hoofedly, turning back towards the chariot.

It took all of thirteen seconds for him to fall into line beside her. “Mother’s going to kill me.” He muttered, putting his helmet back on. But he didn’t falter a step. Sunset felt her lips pull into a grin. She could come to like this one. “So who’s the pegasus?” His voice was faintly muffled behind his absurd helmet, but loud enough to be heard the dozen or so yards away.

The pegasus mare cocked an eyebrow at him and grinned cheekily. “Captain Rainbow Dash. Royal Air Force. first wing.” She gave a flippant salute, and winked. “We gotta bring along the white-flank, ma’am? He looks pretty stuck-up to me.”

Sunset wanted to reach out and smack her, but mostly out of amusement. Instead, she intercepted his gaze to get her attention.“He’ll give us some authority around here so I won’t have to whip out my scroll every five minutes. Now get us into the air, we’re going to Emerald City.” And she only could hope her instincts were right. The last thing she needed was this poor mare getting herself killed before Sunset could catch up to her.

~~~~Rockstown~~~~

It was incredibly strange to be standing around so many earth pony laborers without them bowing and scraping to her. But Rarity seemed to be thriving, so she did her best to follow her lead. “Thank you all so much for your kindness.” Rarity’s voice oozed enthusiasm as a dozen voices rose up from the clamor. They were smiling, all of them. Some enthusiastically, some with a sort of wryness that Twilight could not entirely understand.

She hadn’t expected this. She’d expected some tutting, some anger, perhaps a few guilty looks. “Oh, don’t look so worried dear. Tsch. As though you’re the first mare to run away from that awful town.” That was coming from a wrinkled old earth pony mare with a green coat, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Reminds me of my granddaughter. Ya’ll’d like her.” She patted Twilight’s foreleg and tottered off somewhere, only to return with a foaming mug of what smelled like very strong apple cider. “Settle in, girl. Yer gonna be waiting a bit.”

And so she did, settling down to the floor and sipping the - Pft! Hard cider, apparently, while Rarity did her thing. And her thing apparently amounted to quietly glad-hoofing the locals and sorting through the crowd to find what they needed.

Namely, they needed a ride to Silberfelton. Otherwise she’d spend three days getting there on-hoof, and Rarity had put her hoof down on walking for three solid days even on a trade rode with proper supplies. Fortunately, trips to the city were common enough that Rarity had insisted they shouldn’t have a problem finding somepony who’d be willing to pull a cart for a few bits. Of course, everypony wanted to pull the cart. That meant they had to choose someone. Ugh. Why did everything always have to end up in some sort of complication?

“Ahem-hem-hem-hem! If I may interject?” The bright and absurdly cheerful voice cut through the chatter like a hot knife through fresh butter. The figure that strode through the crowd cut the kind of appearance that would have made her unforgettable no matter what tribe she hailed from. That she was an earth pony with a shiny and much coiffed mane and wore an impressive three-piece business suit only set her apart from the more utilitarian farmers to a greater degree. “I’m actually already headed to Silberfelton on my tour of the highlands. I’d be happy to offer you lovely mares a speedy arrival in my new Autoclopper Cart!”

Every head in the room turned to look at the new speaker quizzically. Then all of the earth ponies chuckled ruefully or with tolerant amusement, before one of them curved a hoof at her. “If’n yer lookin’ for speed Dame Rarity, she’ll getch’a t’ Silberfelton in no time flat. Course’ ya’ll might need some new dresses when yer done ridin’ her demon cart!” That set off a roll of raucous laughter amongst the other earth ponies.

Twilight, however, could not help but be intrigued. “Autoclopper?” That was truly absurd name, and perhaps just this side of obscene but… well. She was who she was, and this sounded fascinating. Somehow, it was faster than an ordinary cart? How could she have managed that feat?

“Eyup!” The strange earth pony chirruped, still with that stunningly white grin on her face. “You want to see it in action? We could get an early start!” She almost bounced in place with excitement, obviously eager to show off her invention to somepony.

Twilight couldn’t resist that kind of offer. After all, she had just as much eagerness to show her work to the Avatars. “Sure.” She could feel her lips twisting up into a smile. Maybe things were going to work out after all? “What do you think, Rarity?” She turned to her friend, hoping that she hadn’t just made a foolish decision.

But Rarity too looked vaguely intrigued, her head cocked to one side. “Well, I suppose its as good an idea as any. And the faster we get to Silberfelton, the more likely we are to find a chariot ride.” She squared her shoulders and put on her best smile. “But dearie, I’m afraid I’ve never met you before. Whatever shall we call you?”

Twilight wanted to facehoof, but now was not the time for physical expressions of aggravation. “Oh!” Instead, she delicately brought a hoof up to her mouth, and her cheeks burned. “Forgive me my discourtesy. To whom do I have the honor of speaking to?” Without even thinking, she fell into her old formal speech habits, doing a little courteous bow of her head towards their new chauffeur.

The earth pony mare laughed delightedly. “Silly. No need to worry about that stuff between new friends.” She extended her hoof with a giggle. “We just met, anyway! My name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie. But you can call me Pinkie!”

Chapter 4 - The Call to Adventure

The wind whipped past Twilight’s mane and her limbs and the rest of her as the cart careened down the trade road at what Twilight estimated was approximately twenty-four miles per hour. She was estimating, of course, because she had not had the time to properly judge the distance between milestone markers and one should never state a figure to be exact if it wasn’t. Of course, it didn’t help the fact that the strange mechanical contrivance she was on was moving at a pace unheard of by anypony who wasn’t either a pegasus or a train conductor. And trains typically had four solid walls around you while you went at absurd speeds, while this thing had a grab bar and a rope.

Yet when she could stop and ignore all of that, she had to marvel at the incredible mechanical complexity of this machine.A modified zero-four-zero wheel switcher mount attached to some kind of complex gear system, using some kind of propellant to spin what looks like some kind of rotating shaft and… Wait, how is she transferring the power? There’s no- Oh, it’s some kind of spinning shaft attached to the gearbox and- Clever! Terrifying, but clever!

As they rounded a bend onto the main trade road, Twilight noted the complex lever system Pinkamena was using to manipulate the wheels. Using some kind of rack-and-pinion setup to let her steer without needing to exert too much effort. She watched their driver chock a red lever forward into a different notch and the speed quickly reduced to a mere fast gallop rather than a murderous dive-bombing by a fully armored pegasus. “Whoo! Always like to get the pistons-a-pumpin’ before we settle in.” Pinkamena giggled, and Twilight chanced a glance at Rarity. Her friend’s poor mane had gone quite flyaway in the brief experience, but she did appear to be mostly held together. Well. Mostly.

Pinkamena pulled off her goggles and ratcheted one of the levers to a locked position and the cart slowed to a canter, grinning madly. “I still don’t know what to call the darn thing, but it’s not really ready for production anyway. Too much bite in the drive shaft and the engine keeps exploding, but it’s a good prototype.” Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, obviously trying very hard not to bounce out of her seat.

Twilight blinked a little at the declaration of an explosive engine, but decided to take it in stride. Obviously Pinkamena was still alive so perhaps it only exploded in some minor way like a blown pipe or a thrown gear. “It’s a remarkable machine,” she said brightly, wishing she could dig into the blank black box which contained the engine’s mechanisms. Sporting only a smoke pipe and the strange rotating shafts which appeared to be driving the mechanism that turned the wheels and- Sweet Sol Celestia, it was a combustion engine!

It was hard - very hard - not to gawp in fascination and pleasure at the naked black box that was producing such prodigious amounts of speed. She’d only heard about combustion engines in her advanced technical courses. The newest things out of the legendary Imperial Craftworks, they were capable of tremendous power and speed. Such engines were incredibly rare, requiring vast amounts of metal to safely build and a rare and difficult to produce fuel to even run. Of course, her teacher had described such devices with the sneering contempt of a Mage for technological marvels, but had been unable to conceal her admiration for them either.

Still, Unicornia didn’t have any earth-tar distilleries. So where in the world was she getting the fuel to run the darn thing? “Figured it out yet?” Pinkamena was smiling coyly, hoofing over a towel and a comb to a still somewhat frazzled Rarity. “You look like a smart mare. I’d like to see if you can puzzle it out.” For a moment, Twilight blanked out completely. And then the realization came, Ah, she wants me to figure out her fuel source. Well, there were perilous few things that could potentially run such an engine, so it shouldn’t be too hard to eliminate possibilities.

In the meanwhile, Pinkamena kept one eye on the road and began to chatter at them both. “Not that it was a big leap to figure out it could work, mind. The fuel was the easy part, really. It was getting the mix right that kept blowing up my engines.” She giggled faintly, and shook her head at the wide eyed look Rarity was sporting. “Oh, don’t be such a silly. It hasn’t had one single blow out since Hurricane Mountain! I’m actually quite proud of it.” She patted the cart next to her fondly, as though speaking about another pony.

Then she laughed happily, humming an odd tune under her breath. At least she could focus on the problem at hoof. It was a mix, so that was a good hint. Something powerfully flammable, but it had to be capable of mixing into other substances without losing any potency and- “I say, darling. Did you say your engines?” Rarity’s voice derailed her train of thought as surely as a copper bit on the tracks. Twilight took a deep breath, and then another, trying to remind herself why stuffing a giant cloth into Rarity’s gob would be uncouth and rude. Even if it would be immensely satisfying.

“Uh huh!” Pinkamena winked cheekily at her, eyes sparkling enthusiastically. “I made it myself! Big improvement over the Gear Grabber model, I think. Poppa thinks its kind of silly, but I reminded him that everypony thought some of his Ideas were pretty silly back in the day!” She giggled again, a sound Twilight was beginning to become both vaguely annoyed at and somewhat endeared by. Huh. Well there wasn’t much she could do about it now.

“How long until we reach Silberfelton?” Twilight felt it would be best to figure out what ran this car later, when she wasn’t atop it going at speed. It might be easier if she could catch a glimpse of the stuff.

“Hmm…” Pinkamena pondered, rubbing her chin. “Well if I turned on the speed, we could be there by lunchtime. Though at this pace we’ll get there by sleepy time.” She beamed at them both. “So I don’t suppose either of you know any good road tunes?”

Twilight could feel Rarity’s groan from where she was sitting.

~~~~~~~

Like all good Unicornian trade cities, Silberfelton had a reputation amongst the elite. Which was to say that anypony with a rank higher than Baron would tell you with absolute sincerity that such cities were dens of violence, debauchery, uncouth plebian sentiment, radical academics, labor organizers and a lot of other unmentionable bad influences. In short, they were the last place anyone would expect the heir to a Countess’ coronet to go without an army of retainers to help her remain above the fray.

Fortunately, none of those things really bothered Twilight all that much. Well, perhaps not the violence part, but trying to divorce large city living from violence would likely be like trying to stop teenaged colts and fillies on Harvest Night from sneaking hard cider and doing unmentionable thing to the statuary. Unlikely to succeed, at best.

The city actually swam into view hours before they would arrive there. Bright gas lamps lit the town with a flickering and warm glow that was just as adept at casting shadows as it was at banishing them. Tall smokestacks puffed out a steady supply of white steam that slowly rose into the air and created a faint haze above the town as the moon shone brightly above it. “Silberfelton,” intoned Pinkamena with a good imitation of some old stallion’s grumble. “You’ll not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in all of Unicornia.” She was clearly trying to get a rise out of Twilight, but Twilight wasn’t in a mood for such things.

“Really, darling.” Rarity snorted derisively, tossing her mane back and folding her hooves primly in her lap. “The working classes here aren’t all that bad. They’re really quite nice once you’ve bought them a few drinks.” She smiled slowly, eyes sparkling. “And they’ve the most wonderful ideas on how to improve the lot of all ponies in the four nations! Such grand political hopes and dreams, such romanticism! It’s enough to make a poor mare breathless with excitement.”

Twilight stared at her for a moment, wondering what madness had overtaken her friend for a moment before dismissing the thought with prejudice. Just Rarity being Rarity again, best not to encourage her lest she go off on a tangent. “Well, I for one could use some dinner.” Twilight proclaimed, followed shortly by a fierce rumble in her stomach area. “I don’t suppose either of you know someplace we could grab a quick bite before hunting down our transport?”

Pinkamena nodded, smiling faintly. “Might be hard to find a chariot this late at night, I’m afraid. But you oughta be able to arrange one for the morning.” Then a huge grin crossed her face, her eyes focusing into the distance. “As for food… Oh! A Hay-hay! That’ll be open.”

Rarity groaned again, covering her eyes with both hooves. “Oh, fie. Not that I’ve a problem with lower class cuisine, but can we not find something a trifle more sophisticated than a Hay-hay-hayburger?” There was a ripple of dread running through her voice that Twilight had to admit, she might have shared… if, well… Not that she would admit it in front of anypony she was related to, but… Well, she did sort of, kind of, maybe, probably, really like that place. It wasn’t her fault that fried potato shapes and flame seared hayburgers were so very delicious!

Twilight opened her mouth to voice just that thought when Pinkamena tutted softly. “You do realize how late it is, right? Nopony else stays open this late!” Then, she faintly smirked and spoke in a very soft tone of voice. One which Twilight oddly didn’t have to strain too hard to hear, even though Pinkamena’s lips barely moved and the chugging of the engine was filling the world around them with quite the racket. “Which is one of the reason profits haven’t been higher in years...”

Content of the words aside, how had she heard that? Her hearing was good, but it wasn’t that good. Worry about that later, Twilight. Got to find that chariot to Canterlot and when you’re safe in a dormitory room, worry about if you’ve developed preternatural senses. And while her mind was on the subject, why did she keep getting this sense that events were moving at an almost absurd speed. It was is if the universe itself was clearing her way to get to Canterlot, but that was absurd. Everypony knew that so-called fate was a load of hooey.

Whatever. Once they were in town, things would become simpler.

Except getting into town was going to prove more difficult than presumed, because the gates were shut, guarded, and anypony trying to gain entrance was being questioned. Or at least, that’s what it looked like from the hundred or so yards back where Pinkamena stopped her cart. “Who’s got a bee in their bonnet this time…” The strange earth pony muttered, hauling back on a lever which did… something unseen before turning to them. “Looks like we’ll need to walk.”

“Whatever seems to be the trouble, dear?” Rarity had just finished wrapping a scarf around her neck, and from somewhere had produced a fashionable hat. How Rarity did it, Twilight did not know, but she was certain some sort of dimensional space was being employed to hold all of her friends various accoutrement.

Pinkamena pointed at the gate post. “Baron Lucre’s goons, it looks like. That old bitpincher’s asking a whole lotta questions you two prolly don’t wanna be answering.” She eyeballed them both, her cheerful demeanour gone almost deathly serious. “Though I gotta admit, I’m surprised he’s willing to risk his profits like this. I gotta wonder what crawled up his plothole.”

Twilight felt her blood run cold. Baron Lucre had ordered this? But how? Wasn’t Silberfelton supposed to be under the rule of Sir Loin? And how did he get word here so swiftly? Did he send off a messenger pigeon an hour after I vanished? Or… Or had those goons she’d seen on the road simply continued all the way here? But that was impossible, wasn’t it?

Things were quickly spiralling out of her control, and she did not like it one sticky bit. Perhaps this had been mother’s doing. Yes, that would make far more sense than some mere baron attempting to intercept her on his own recognizance. Mother knew no few powerful communications spells with which she could contact the subjects under her command and deliver her orders. Surely they’d been instructed to delay her long enough for some sort of guard company to arrive, likely lead by poor Shining Armor.

Well, she wasn’t about to let them - “Twilight, stop glaring into the distance! We must hurry!” That was Rarity’s voice, quietly frantic in her ear. Twilight shook herself from her reverie to see the guards moving up the line that had grown at the gates, lead by an agitated looking Unicorn with a mean disposition and a frightening mein. Pinkamena was nowhere to be seen, but Rarity was pulling her towards an alley between a pair of out-buildings.

Something twinged in the back of her mind that told her that it was time to go, and things were about to become very dangerous. Twilight grabbed her bags and half stumbled off the fascinating cart to follow Rarity to wherever she might be trying to take her. Obviously, she’d have to wait until later to study the cart, so she quickly moved her hooves. It wasn’t until the darkness of the night had nearly consumed her in the back alleyways that she heard and felt a dull thud go rumbling all around her, and a fast glance back showed a brief flash of reddish-yellow flame before returning the world to darkness. “What the…?” She whispered, wondering what had happened.

“That’ll keep ‘em busy for a little bit. Come on, Miss Twilight, we’ve got to hurry!” Pinkamena’s voice in her ear was rough and more than a little frightened, but it was also quivering with excitement. Twilight turned to speak, desperate for some kind of explanation, but it was not to be as her two companions grabbed hold of her shoulders and dragged her into the night.

~~~~~~~~

Their rapid escape would not end until they reached a massive crack in the outer walls of Silberfelton, where a sketchy looking pair of earth ponies in matching bowler hats and rough working suits stood casually by a barrel. They were both smoking some kind of foul herbal concoction in their pipes, and looked to have been drinking rather steadily under a dim but visible gas lantern. Or at least, thats what it smelled like. “Wotchu want?” One of them sneered at them, his beady red eyes squinting at them.

Twilight once again tried to open her mouth to demand explanations, but Rarity actually smacked her muzzle and gave her a thoroughly repressive look. Pinkamena tossed a little brown cloth sack at them, and cocked her head expectantly. One pony caught the sack in his teeth, and jerked his head over his shoulder as though all of this was completely normal to him. Soon, Twilight found herself bundled along through the strangely positioned crack in the wall. Surely somepony should’ve noticed the damage and would’ve sent a work crew to sort it out, wouldn’t they?

But as thick as the wall was, it was not so thick as to make her feel more than a trifle uncomfortable being shoved through a damaged portion of it and onto the other side. “I thought you said you’d never been here before.” Rarity whispered harshly through the darkness as they emerged on the other side, the flickering and glowing lights of the city pulsing just beyond the alleyway they’d found themselves in.

“Never said that, Silly. Just said I was visiting.” Pinkamena smiled faintly in the darkness, leaning on the wall. “Try to keep up, you’re both in way deeper doodoo than I’d first thought. What did you two do to piss off Baron Lucre? He’s not the sort of pony you cross without thinking about it.” Then her eyes focused on Twilight for a moment, and she wondered just what was running through Pinkamena’s mind in that second. “Unless you don’t know about that side of him…” She said, a lot more slowly and thoughtfully.

“I thought he was just somepony who’d bought his title,” Rarity ventured quietly, tapping her hooves together with a little tremor in her voice. “I mean, that’s hardly unusual amongst the sort of ponies the Countess keeps around as advisors.”

Twilight was tired of not being able to speak. So she spoke perhaps a trifle louder than she’d intended to. “Would somepony here please tell me what in the name of the Avatar’s is going on here?!” Her words were as sharp as broken glass and… well she hadn’t precisely been yelling but her volume control was certainly a touch out of whack.

Pinkamena pushed back a stray lock of bushy mane and gave her a sober look. “Those guards were looking for you two. They work for Baron Lucre, I saw his house emblem on their clothes. Lucre… doesn’t have a great reputation.” She grimaced, pinching at her snout. “No, that’s not fair. It’s better to say that everypony below the salt knows he’s basically a criminal lord of some kind, but nopony’s stupid enough to say that in public. Someponies think he’s working for someone in Canterlot, or maybe Platinum City, but nopony knows for sure.” Her eyes narrowed, and she spoke sharply. “How could you possibly not know that? Heck, even most of the other Barons know that about him…”

“Twilight is… a touch sheltered,” Rarity quickly pushed her hoof into Twilight’s mouth to shut her up, and the glare Rarity gave her a moment later was more than enough to quell her momentary anger. Why would Mother allow a criminal to become a Baron? What in Equus had she not been told? Had this been what Jam had been arguing with her mother about? “Regardless of that, this is going to make finding a chariot ride more complicated. Ideas?” She was now exclusively talking to Pinkamena, though she’d removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth.

Pinkamena shook her head. “Not immediately. I suppose I could swing some of my weight around, but Poppa would get rather pissed at me if I did.” She chuckled ruefully, tapping her chin. “But I am serious when I say I need to know why he wants you two. It’ll change how we can approach the situation and-”

Twilight had had enough of this. “I don’t know what the big deal is, honest!” She huffed, stamping her hoof in impatience. “Surely I do not. All I had said was I’d figured out a complicated magical-mechanical problem and all of a sudden everypony was losing their minds!” She threw her hooves up in the air, wondering if perhaps she oughtn’t to be a bit more discreet. But frankly, that part of her brain was no longer fully in control of things right now. “I know all new discoveries are disruptive, but this is ridiculous!”

“Wait, slow down, Miss Twilight!” Pinkamena grabbed her flailing hooves and pulled them back down to the ground. “What do you mean, ‘complicated magical-mechanical’ problem?”

Twilight knew she should’ve kept her trap shut. Surely she did, but given the ridiculousness that was already going on, what did she have to lose? “I invented a Mana Battery!” She snarled into the dark silence of the alleyway, pulling out her precious leather case and hurling open the snaps to show her the still glowing blue crystal. “It’s even got a bonded copper coil to hook up to any device you could imagine! And this is going to finally get me into Avatar Celestia’s academy!”

Silence followed her proclamation, and after a few moments of it Twilight took stock of the shocked and awed look on Pinkamena’s face. “I… it’s…” The pink earth pony was stumbling over her words, and it was impossible to not see the flickering of a thousand different thoughts racing through her mind as she stared at the glowing object. “No wonder the Baron’s after you.” She finished her stumbles with a whisper, both hooves coming up to cover her mouth primly. “You’re… You’ve got no idea what you have there, do you?” Pinkamena looked up, a huge smile slowly growing on her face. Twilight felt ultimately confused at that. Didn’t she just say what it was? “No, of course you don’t… Yes. Right.” Pinkamena socked one hoof into the other, her smile huge. “We’ve got to get you to Canterlot, no matter what. Poppa will understand.”

“Wait. We?” Rarity cut in, her eyes narrowing. “And just what interest do you have in getting Twilight to Canterlot, now? What on Equus is so special about that fiddly little thing? I mean, it’s quite pretty and I’d love to have a few for some of my designs but-”

Pinkamena cut her off. “Don’t worry about it for now. I’m on your side, and I want to make sure you get safely where you’re going.” She fluttered her hooves at the case. “Lock that thing up and don’t tell anypony else about it if you can. We’ve got to move.” Twilight felt a surge of annoyance at being told twice in a matter of days about how she should not reveal her invention to anypony, but she complied anyway. There was obviously a deeper game being played here and she needed to be careful if she was going to survive it.

‘Move’ apparently meant getting onto the streets and sauntering towards the center of town. The instant Twilight stepped out onto the main path, a tidal wave of sounds, smells and sights assaulted her from every angle. She even swayed a bit in place until Rarity bolstered her on one side and kept her moving in Pinkamena’s wake. The town was a mixing bowl of all four pony tribes bustling about even this late into the night, when most sane Unicornian’s would have long since been in bed. Some things were just civilized.

And though Twilight had only rarely seen crystal ponies before, here there were dozens of them. Many of them apparently merchants of some type or another, hawking wares from their far off nation or hoof-made crystalline goods that shone in the gaslamp lights. Including some very fine examples of Commonwealth crystal that her hooves itched to buy up as quickly as she possibly could. Alas, her funds were not that considerable. She was certain she could purchase more once she reached Canterlot.

But there was precious little time to gawp, as Pinkamena was scurrying through the crowd like a seapony darted through coral reefs. Twilight, for her part, merely pulled her hood up more firmly over her head and tried not to look too conspicuous. She was still not certain she entirely understood what was going on around here, but she did know that when somepony said you were in danger that it was usually a pretty good idea to believe them until you had better data. Usually. Sometimes they were just being jerks, but one could not presume that somepony was being a jerk when they could be entirely sincere.

The crowds began to thin as they moved deeper into the city, Rarity ever at her side and continually darting concerned looks at her. “I’m okay, Rarity. I promise.” Twilight tried to soothe her, putting on her very best smile. It wasn’t a terribly great one, but she wasn’t trying to hide anything right now. She was fine, just a little miffed and concerned that perhaps she had missed a vital calculation somewhere.

Mother had always implored her to become more aware of the consequences of her actions in a complex environment, but Twilight had never really seen the need until now. It was clear that somehow she’d stumbled into a briar’s patch of politics and money, and even she was not so naive as to not understand the perils of that confluence of forces. “I know, dear. I’m simply worried for you.” Rarity, for once, kept her words simple. “And I do not wish to see you come to harm.” Her words descended into an almost secretive whisper, and Twilight wondered for the first time if perhaps Rarity held a greater affection for her than she’d realized.

It was a thought she’d have to tackle another time. “Hurry. We’re being followed.” Pinkamena spoke quietly as they took yet another seemingly endless turn. “Once we’re inside we’ll be safe for a little bit, but I don’t think we’re going to have time to wait for a morning chariot.” The way Pinkamena was speaking, it was as if she thought they were in mortal danger! But that was silly and impossible. Surely mother would not have sent anypony to harm her, especially not this quickly. Surely things were not so far out of control as to result in violence. Surely.

Wait. “Inside where?” Twilight asked, but Pinkamena shook her head and picked up her pace. Twilight, having no other options she could think of, merely moved faster too. Well, she might be a little slow on the uptake so far, but she would be damned if she remained so. “Pinkamena, who is following us?” She asked insistently, but got no answer as they rounded a corner and found themselves in front of…

A stone barricade, strewn across the street and decisively blocking their way. “This isn’t supposed to be here…” Pinkamena said in a quiet, shocked voice. Her head bobbing to and fro. “Something’s wrong. Very wrong!” And she was right. The streets had gone quiet, and there was no sign of somepony else around to see what was happening. The sound of thudding hooves began to rapidly fill their ears. Many ponies were rushing towards them, confused voices crying out in the night and Twilight was almost entirely sure they were not friendly to her or her friend. “Uh oh…” Pinkamena said, her voice trembling.

“Oi! You lot!” A soft, almost squeaky voice cut through the noise. What? Twilight’s brain balked as she tried to suss out the location of the voice. “This way! Come on then, before they spot ya!” There. In a dark alley she’d not immediately seen, to their left. Pinkamena was already running, and Rarity not far behind her. It could be a trap. It could be a trick. But it was not a certainty to be either of those things. So she ran too, darting into the alleyway just in time for the sounds behind her to rise to a cacophony. “Right, they’re in! Close it up, lads!” The squeaky voice proclaimed, and a wooden fence dropped into place from on high, blocking them from the view of the streets and casting them into a dark gloom.

Author's Note

Four days, four updates! I can do this!