Chapters I. BOOK BURNINGS
or, In Which The Mysteries Begin
"Twilight!" Spike said. "Twi-light! " There was a book between Twilight's hooves, one that painted a picture of historic sieges, pony races uniting and the Burnings of the Great Libraries in Everfree. It told of great battles, the Lesser Elements of Harmony and-
Pages were burnt. Pages were burnt! Twilight didn't even know how that was possible! This must've been after the Burnings, seeing as it told of them. It was burnt!
"Hay. Oh hay no!" She cried out, an anguished tone ringing throughout her voice.
"Finally. I've been calling for hours. Where does this book go?" Spike rolled his eyes as Twilight started to pace, making a familiar noise against the wood. "Twilight!"
"Spike, this is incredibly important! What do you want!?"
"Where does Daring Do and the Manticore's Jewel go?"
"Ugh! Spike! Just drop it off with Rainbow!"
"Fine, fine." Spike walked out the door, in an obvious bad mood but Twilight didn't care. She had to know how the histories ended!
"Spike, take a letter." She paused and closed her eyes, waiting for Spike to get out a quill and parchment. When she didn't hear Spike's usual rush, she opened one eye. "I guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way then. This is much too important to wait." She walked upstairs to her bedroom with her book and opened her bedroom door. She brushed aside a painting of her and her friends and got parchment and a quill. Levitating the quill, she leant the parchment on her desk
"Dear Princess Celestia,
"Today I would like to ask you if you have a copy of 'The Complete History of Greater Equestria' as the copy you lent me has had most of the latter half (following the Lesser Elements of Harmony) burnt out by-' here she paused to check what exactly the book had been burnt by. She gaped in horror at the red burnmarks, engraved in the shape of a skull and dropped the book. Demonfire! The slightest touch corrupted a being to it's core! She couldn't tell Celestia she'd been so uncautious to almost touch demonfire! It would ruin her reputation at the palace!
But what could she do? She sighed and decided she'd have to do it if she wanted to know what happened with Discord. "It's not important, Discord isn't back or anything like that. That'd be ridiculous! But I have to know what happens. For the good of Equestria. My reputation doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Write that letter, write it."
"demonfire. I would like to ask you to send me another copy, if you have one.
"Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"
She stared at the book on the floor. She couldn't touch it, even with unicorn magic. She frowned. "I'll deal with that later." she muttered. "For now I have to locate the mail office. Or find Ditzy." Both were easier said then done. Twilight relied on Spike for sending things and the mail office was in a shady part of Ponyville.
Ditzy... well, nowadays she was often out of service, crying herself to sleep. Dinky was taken away from her, because her mind 'wasn't up to taking care of Dinky'. She felt sorry for the trusty mail mare and invited her round often. But she wasn't going to take advantage of Ditzy.
So to the mail office she would go!
***
She'd explored every possible place for the mail office but she just couldn't find it. She sighed. Perhaps Spike was back from delivering the Daring Do book to Rainbow. She lifted herself up from the ground and tried to find someone she knew.
No one. No one she knew well at least. Or was that the Doctor? ...but the Doctor didn't have wings. She knew the Doctor had some kind of innate magic, similar to what Pinkie had, but she doubted he could change his race. He saw her eyes meet his.
She ran. "Who are you!?" she screamed.
He laughed as he flew behind her. "Me? Has your puny Doctor forgotten to tell you who I am? I am a demon! I am the end of worlds! I am the Master!"
Cat and mouse was a small underexaggeration to the game they were playing. A small splinter of Cloudsdale was above her, but she doubted she'd be able to get across to their radiowaves while running. Even if she could, who could tell what was up there! There were other flying beasts, viscous bees that almost destroyed the peaceful race of Flutter Ponies. They were caught by pegasi, but only just in time. She heard that the Flutter Ponies used to be called Breezies (Twilight had seen illustrations of butterfly-like Breezies in her books), but they had to change to deal with the bees. All dark beings were kept in some sort of ironic imprisonment, Catrina the Cat Witch held deep within the Aura Borealis for her magical powers and Flores sleeping deep within the ground they were born in.
Only a few were dangerous enough that they had to be kept in their opposite-Discord, element of Chaos, was within an orderly statue in what was once the capital of order and Tirek, the fire demon, was kept deep within water-Twilight had heard it said that the hippocampi guard him...
"I will destroy you!" The Master cried out suddenly, snapping Twilight from yet another history lesson.
"Destroy Celestia's most faithful student?" she replied. "I doubt it!"
"Did she ever teach you how to defend yourself against a Time Lord?" His cutie mark shimmered and a horn appeared on his head. His body changed and his legs became longer.
"She didn't but my friends did!"
"And how's that, my dear Twilight?" A bolt of lightning caused Twilight to leap away.
"Laugh!" Her horn glimmered as a projection of Pinkie Pie appeared.
"You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear!" Pinkie started singing. "Ha! Ha! Ha! So...
"Giggle at the ghostly,
"Guffaw at the grossly,
"Crack up at the creepy,
"Whoop it up with the weepy,
"Chortle at the kooky,
"Snortle at the spooky,
"And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone!"
"What in the world." the Master declared. "This isn't a distraction, is it?" When he started to resume the chase, he realised that Twilight was gone. He growled and his nose enlargened twice, bringing with it a most peculiar smell...
***
"Thank Celestia," she whispered. "And you, Luna.
"That freak! I wish I'd imprisoned him somewhere. It brings up an interesting question on what the Doctor is. I'll have to ask him that later. 'The Master' said he was a Time Lord. One thread of mystery brings about another. And I haven't even finished the first thread! In the end, this will become a tightly wound ball of mysteries and I won't be able to untangle them."
And so she walked. She walked back to the library. She walked up to her room. "Night, Spike."
"Night Twilight."
III. Caregiver
or, In Which A Battle Starts
"...about her mother?" Twilight asked.
"Of course it is, Twilight, what else could it be about?" Rarity moaned.
"Applebloom said that Dinky was acting mighty strange yesterday and that she was crying. Now normally Ah'd disregard this as filly tattling but seeing as Dinky has been taken away from her mother and put with Sky and Star Ah thought Ah needed to check with you and see if you could do anything. Ah bumped into Rarity on the way here. Ah imagine it was much the same thing with Sweetie Belle?"
"It was. I thought it was the return of Gabby Gums but then I remembered that Dinky had just been put into her foster parents, and the thought was just unbearable! The Cutie Mark Crusaders have always been quite good friends with Dinky so I just had to get over here!"
"So basically you want my address book because neither of you kept yours?"
"And your kno-" Rarity began
"Ah'm not gonna be fancy so Ah'll tell the truth; yes." Applejack interrupted.
Twilight looked at Spike. He groaned and climbed up a bookshelf, picking up a yellow book on the top shelf. "Sky, Twilight," Twilight muttered to herself, "Found it. Okay, Five Smile Lane, Ponyville. And I'm coming with you. I care for Ditzy too."
"Ditzy? Who's she, Twilight?" Rarity asked, her eyes looking bewildered and her brow wrinkled.
"Ditzy Doo? You didn't think Derpy was her real name, did you?" The two ponies looked at the floor. "Oh girls. Come on, let's go!"
Hoofsteps were heard down that road, louder then had been since the Falling of the Leaves.
***
When they arrived at the door of the house they heard a loud weeping.
"I-I just want my mommy," Dinky wailed. "Wh-Where's she gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooone?" They heard a smack. Dinky sniffed and wailed again. "Please don't hit meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
"Shut up you sullen little brat! Tell me everything you know about the Doctor!" Star shouted. "Or I'll hit you again!"
"Star?" Twilight shouted. "Stop hitting her!"
"T-Twilight Sparkle?"
"And me, Rarity!"
"And don't forget me! It's Applejack!"
"...one half of the Elements of Harmony?" Star opened the door and pulled the trio in. "What do you know about the Doctor? Tell me or I'll beat you, like I did to Dinky!"
"Oh no, I'm so scared. It's not like I've spent my life learning spells for an occasion like this, is it girls?"
"I went to Celestia's Academy too!"
"I AM MAGIC." Twilight pulled herself into a foetal position and stared at Star. Star started to smoke and before long she was on fire.
"Let go Twilight! I live or you're just as bad as me!"
Twilight stopped and slumped against a wall. Before her conciousness ran out she heard Star say, "Excellent..." and Rarity's-or was it Applejack? Twilight never knew-hooves clop on the ground.
II. Colorsplodges
or, In Which Twilight Learns About Alicorns
Twilight woke up to the sound of belching fire. She picked it out of the air and started to read it.
"Twilight,
Spike told me that he was worried about you last night. I'm coming over.
Cadence.
"Cadence is coming over? Cadence!" Twilight asked Spike with a shrill, stressed voice. "But this place is a tip! Quick, help me clear it up Spike! Quick!"
A pink glow appeared in the middle of the room. "Twilight?" Cadence stepped out of the portal.
"Why does this place have to be on a layline?" Twilight groaned. Cadence walked over to Twilight but she looked different from normal. Happier... in a way.
"Twilight. I'm afraid I lied to you in the letter... it wasn't that I wasn't worried... it's that I have some news for you..." Another glow, this time blue, appeared while Cadence spoke in a murmur. "It's that... me and Shining Armor are having a baby..."
"A baby! Awwww. Do you know if it's an alicorn or a unicorn yet?"
"It's an alicorn... do you want to feel her? Her name will be Colorsplodges; Celestia says she'll be the next alicorn of colours."
"Wait, so every alicorn has a purpose? Even you? And what do you mean next ? Has there been one before?"
"Well... yes. There has been an alicorn of colour before... before Celestia was born. Her... sisters. There were three of them-Sungold, Waterblue and Rosered. Celestia said they was beautiful; as beautiful as the colours they put into the world. But then-oh god, they fought Discord. And they sacrificed themselves... they sacrificed themselves for their pregnant mother and their sister..."
"Their mother?"
"The alicorn of words-she was pregnant at the time with Luna... but then she ran away into solitude. And she never came back.
"As to your final question-I am the alicorn of love, the ruler of the Crystal Empire."
"Wow... so there used to be three alicorns of colour and now there's none...?"
"Soon to be one, yes!" Twilight saw that Cadence's beaming smile had become fake from telling the history of the alicorns.
"Um... Cadence? You can relax and go home if you want."
"Thank you. Telling that legend has taken a toll on me and Splodges. And one last thing Twilight-no one quite knows if that's true. Celestia certainly believes it, but her memory is often dodgy when it comes to periods when she was young and relies on legends from that age."
Could Celestia ever be wrong? Cadence seemed to think so... Twilight made a mental note to research that age-another that seemed to have been burnt out of the Histories... or not covered. A ball of pink light exploded.
"Twilight?" A colt's voice asked.
"Shining Armor?"
"If anything like that happens again... like Discord, Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon... protect your niece. When she has matured she will likely give you amazing gifts...but help her survive that long."
There was a lump in Twilight's throat. "I will."
"Love you Twi."
"And you." A blue ball of fire vanished, and her brother with it.
She sat in her chair for a bit, contemplating everything that had happened. Spike had long since settled down to sleep and Twilight wondered how nice it must feel to be without a care in the world... the ability to sleep whenever you wanted to... not making checklists...
***
Twilight woke up with a start. There was a bang at the door-a furious, impatient bang. She brushed the sleep out of her eyes and walked over to the door.
She opened to see Rarity and Applejack; distressed with tears in their eyes. "Girls? What is it?"
"It's Dinky."