Approach to Canterlot
November 5th

Even without the blanket of snow steadily spreading across Equestria, Canterlot was like a shining beacon of goodwill standing proud as it watched over the land. Even with all the times she had been there before, Apple Bloom couldn't help but watch in awe as the train ride brought it into view, the morning sun hovering just over the tallest spires as if a part of the castle itself. The whole thing was majestic, inspiring, completely...

"Do you ever look at that and wonder if it'd be possible to make a mini cake version?" Pinkie asked from the next seat over, looking out at the same view. Apple Bloom couldn't help but chuckle at how out of nowhere that had come from her own thoughts. It made for some welcome relief after the last few hours, being woken up at the crack of dawn and having to rush for the next train to Canterlot at Pinkie's urging, though she made up for it by getting them breakfast on the train at least.

"Now I'm awake enough to understand, you mind telling me why we had to go immediately? You just said that we could meet your friend today." Apple Bloom asked, managing to rub the last of the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry, all those thoughts were having a big race in my head to be thought first and getting there won," Pinkie replied, looking like she hadn't slept all night. So as energetic as ever. "Anypony working at the Institute seems to be on a tight schedule though. It took me forever to find the opening for this meet up."

"It hasn't even been two days yet."

"When you have to try and fit ideas in the small suitcase that's your mind, it feels like forever." Pinkie's logic didn't make much, if any, sense, to anypony but herself. Apple Bloom knew better than to question it though, the point was there. These were ponies with important work to do and they were their guests for today.

"Alright, so how long have we got before we get there?" Apple Bloom sat back as Pinkie opened the window and stuck the tip of her mane out, watching the wind flowing on it closely.

"Well our meeting is in an hour and the train gets in at..." Pinkie hesitated before taking an alarm clock from her mane and looking at the time on it before nodding to herself. "We'll have about twenty minutes to spare. Think that's enough time for a coffee?" She pulled her mane back in and put the clock away before relaxing and looking back at Apple Bloom, grinning at the sceptical look she was wearing.

"Really? You think you and coffee is a good mix? And I know you weren't referring to decaf."

"Come on, they came up with the stuff, they'd probably appreciate us bringing some," The two stared each other down for a moment before breaking out laughing. "Okay, we'll see about it afterwards...You know, I'm really glad you agreed to come along for this."

"No problem, Scootaloo says that the Cutie Mark Crusaders should always try to help other ponies out. She does a lot of charity work, Sweetie Belle keeps Rarity's Manehatten branch running and now I've got this going with you. I'm more than happy to help."

Granted, Apple Bloom had more than one motive to be out here but she was happy that both of them were good ones as her attention went back to the view. If this contact was willing to give them a lead, they could be helping a lot of ponies here. If things went really well, she might have a chance to try and set the record straight with Pinkie Pie as well, see where things stood between them. First things first though, they had somewhere special to go.

Afterall, it wasn't everyday that some regular pony like her got to visit the most advanced facility in Equestria.

From the outside, the Canterlot Institute of Development looked a match for anything else in the city's central area, an imposing and elegant group of five massive white buildings interconnected with gold stone walkways. Set up twelve years ago as part of Princess Twilight's Equestrian advancement effort, the institute was devoted to finding new ways to improve the lives of all ponykind through social, technological and cultural means. Thanks it's connections and proximity to the Royal Equestrian Hospital and Celestia's School of Magic, there hadn't really been any shortage of ideas and inventions coming from the complex.

Apple Bloom had been trying to prepare herself for this moment, but she had still been caught out by seeing the Institute with her own eyes and how...Simple it looked. It hardly stood out either, managing to look just like anywhere else in the city. For a pony like her that tended to stay in a more rural town like Ponyville, both ideas were impressive to her.

"You okay over there?" Pinkie Pie asked as she came over, shaking Apple Bloom from her overawed stare.

"Yeah, I was just...It's quite a sight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, almost like it was made of white chocolate and glitter. The guards have cleared us to go in though, so I guess we'll have to think about that later."

"When this whole thing is over, I'll make sure to buy you some." Apple Bloom chuckled as she turned for the entrance, blushing slightly at Pinkie's happy little squee. That was something new she'd noticed in the time since their last meeting, those little things about Pinkie now made her happy as much as anything. She had to keep those thoughts off to the side for now though, she wanted to focus on this.

The two of them headed for the entrance, past the pair of unicorn guards, and headed through the double doors. The entrance lobby had a different look to the outside, gleaming white and giving off the feeling of a doctor's waiting room. There was a certain other feeling to it all though, the room, and Apple Bloom suspected the same for most of the facility, had the air of a home that the owner wanted to be in pristine shape but never quite had the time to keep it there. Somehow it made her feel...More like she was actually welcome, as opposed to somepony that wasn't meant to ever come here.

"Look at all this," Pinkie commented as she headed for the reception desk, head craned back to read the signs pointing out to other areas, presumably in other buildings as well. "Understanding foreign religion, Portable magic, Disability studies, Advanced bionics. Twilight really started something big." She stopped and whipped her head back down, shaking it slightly to make sure it was working fine.

"Yeah...You're not planning on trying some of it out, right?"

"Eh, I probably couldn't carry all those ideas and I gave my camera to the guard," Pinkie grinned and went up to the desk, waiting for Apple Bloom to catch up as the pony behind the desk, a green stallion, came over to her. "Hi, we're booked to meet with Consultant Minuette. Right there." She pointed into the appointment book at their names, bouncing in anticipation. The receptionist simply stood there for several seconds, looking sceptical, before a door to one of the walkways opened and a pair of ponies stepped through.

"It's alright, they're here to see us." The one on the left said, a light yellow-grey unicorn mare with an amaranth coloured mane and tail with purple highlights in a style reminiscent of Twilight's, dark purple eyes behind a pair of thin, stylish glasses and a lab coat covering her body. To her right was another unicorn mare, this one light blue with a two tone blue and silver mane and tail, sapphire eyes, matching lab coat and an eager grin as soon as she saw Pinkie.

"Understood, chief." The receptionist replied respectfully, stepping back as Pinkie and Minuette rushed up and high hooved each other. Apple Bloom stayed back, trying to keep her jaw from dropping as she recognised who they were meeting. The chief in question was none other than the head of the entire Institute of development and a pony she had been told about in the past: Moondancer. One of Twilight's friends before she was an Element of Harmony, Moondancer had built herself up after, in her own words, going off the rails a bit and been working here since the facility was founded. She'd been chief for seven years now and had developed a reputation for a brilliant mind and willingness to get her hooves involved in any project.

"Pleasure to meet you, Apple Bloom. Pinkie told me about you and looks like she made a good choice in letting you come. Pinkie...Thanks again." Moondancer said happily, smiling at the sight before motioning for them to follow her. Pinkie and Minuette followed, eagerly chatting away with each other, Apple Bloom trotted forward and walked with Moondancer as they headed for the next building.

"Thank you kindly, miss Moondancer. If you don't mind my asking though, I thought we were just meeting with Minuette."

"Officially, I need to make sure that this is a secure meeting and that we're not leaking details of the Tracer Project to anypony unauthorized. Which is why we'll also be discussing this in my office."

"Officially?" Apple Bloom hesitated, wondering if she should have said that. As they left the walkway and entered the next building, Moondancer nodded and leaned in closer.

"Personally, I get what Pinkie wants to do and I'll take any chance I can get to bring down the mare of Sombra responsible." Moondancer's language was a bit of a surprise but she clearly felt strongly about this as well. Apple Bloom let the matter rest as they passed a set of doors marked 'Armour - Magic resistance' and glanced inside, catching sight of what could only be described as a full body piece of flexible armour being subjected to serious offensive magic and hardly receiving more than a dent.

"Yeah...Good." Apple Bloom commented half heartedly as she moved to catch up, getting a raised eyebrow from Moondancer as she looked back. After a moments hesitation, she simply smiled.

"Yeah, ponies sometimes get caught out by the sight of more...Militant projects, we work closely with the Equestrian Defence Force to develop new ways to keep them, and regular ponies, safe. I could go on about it for hours but I'm contracted to keep it as confidential as that."

Apple Bloom simply nodded and kept walking, following Moondancer up a stairway and through a doorway to what she could only guess was the chief's office. Then again, it looked more a one room engineering lab, filled with various gizmos and research papers, yet still maintaining some semblance of order. Moondancer stepped behind her desk as Pinkie and Minuette arrived, glancing over a stack of papers that had been left for her and breaking into a chuckle.

"Theoretical instabilities in celestial bodies and anomalies in stellar patterns through continuous subjection to Alicorn magic? Tech owes me five bits," Seeing Apple Bloom's confused look, Moondancer readjusted her glasses with her magic and smiled. "A colleague of mine sent this to Princess Twilight for appraisal and we made a little wager that she wouldn't be able to understand it after the princess went full science mode on it."

"It's all in good fun." Minuette added, sitting on a nearby chair. Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom took a pair of chairs in front of the desk while Moondancer looked through some more papers.

"Okay, this is the latest report and our best bet to work on, came in earlier this morning." Moondancer commented, taking it out and passing it over. Pinkie took it and her face darkened, eye twitching slightly. Apple Bloom glanced over and saw the missing pony report was for another farmer, an earth pony stallion called Figleaf.

"...Let me guess, this is the th-"

"Third time!" Pinkie shouted, everypony else recoiling in shock. "This is the third time they've gone after my supplier! When I get my hooves on the pony responsible for this, I'm gonna make them regret the day they ever decided to go after me and my friends like that!!"

The room was silent for several seconds. Moondancer stayed rooted in place, motionless except for her magic readjusting her glasses again. Minuette was fixed on Pinkie, clearly upset from seeing her friend so worked up. Pinkie was staring straight down at the paper, so furious it looked as if she was trying to set those responsible for this on fire with her mind. Apple Bloom slowly put a hoof out and held Pinkie's shoulder gently, feeling like she had to do something to try and bring her down.

"Pinkie, please calm down...This is our chance to fix this, we can do this if we keep our heads." She waited for several moments, silently hoping her words had an effect. Finally, Pinkie let out a sigh and nodded.

"You're right...Yeah, gotta keep our heads screwed on the right way round. We're gonna do this," She put on a look of determination and looked through the report again. "Ok, I know where this is; Lightleaf Farmstead, just south of White Tail Woods. How fresh is this information?"

"Just...A few hours, those news relays do good work," Minuette answered, smiling nervously as she tried to recover her own composure. "The guards might have received it by now, but you girls can go there first, you're with us after all."

"I understand this is personal for you, Pinkie Pie, but I need to ask for something in return," Moondancer added. "If you find any evidence of what happened, anything that points to who might be responsible, please bring it back to us. You can go after them if you wish, but if we could use that information in our work...There's so much potential for a breakthrough in the Tracer Project here."

"No problem!" Pinkie seemed back to her usual self, going ahead and swapping notes with Moondancer. Apple Bloom sat back in her seat, struggling for what to make of all this, eventually settling on saying something to Minuette.

"So err...Sorry that your meeting got kind of hijacked."

"Don't worry about it," Minuette grinned, also getting back to speed. "We tend to work at the same level as the chief and, well..." She indicated Moondancer, who was positively beaming at all the information Pinkie was giving her.

Apple Bloom simply nodded and sat back, thinking about what was coming. Given how focused Pinkie was, they'd be heading for the farm within a few days, possibly breaking a few laws about crime scenes in the process. She wasn't willing to back out though, she wanted to stay close, help these ponies and maybe, if she was lucky, find out how the two of them really felt in the process.

Author's Note

Is it bad that I consider this one of my better pieces? Also, apologies to any Minuette fans, I originally planned for her to be much more prominent, but then Moondancer happened.