Inkwell - Reflections and Phantoms

by Archmage Ansrit

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 41981

A mirror in the shape of a pony, a living shadow... a search goes on at the back of everypony.

There is a new arrival in town. The newcomer hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to townsfolk, but it's in her very nature to seek out others. It is all she is; after all, a mirror that has no-one to look into it is useless. Very open and adaptable, she just wants friends that are willing to stick by her and let her stay around.

All the while, strange things happen all around as a pony appears to be able to trot anywhere he or she darned well pleases and go out and disappear without trace. Other than being dramatic and presenting him or herself as a master of disguise and a 'Magical Phantom Thief', he or she doesn't seem to steal anything of value, if at all... although the escapes tend to attract attention.

And he or she is tired of repeating the same phrase. Regardless of how strange, quick, or impossible the changes seem he or she is not a changeling.

And there is another player, looking for a traitor to her trust... but why is it so important to protect her associate from that traitor if they are going into the fray? And why explicitly exclude "the ponies"? Other than that it's obvious she's not one herself.

What's the relation? Is she working with the thief that can't seem to decide on a name? Against? Or are they all friends? One thing is certain; those who look close enough cannot help but see either a piece of their own reflection, or the gaping maw of the abyss.

Published 2012-06-23 16:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-27 03:19:17 UTC

Prologue - The Thief

Princess Luna walked through the castle without saying a word, just smiling occasionally to the servants and guards as they passed. Finally, she arrived at her destination; the elegant gold sun emblazoned into the white doors identified the place as the royal bedroom.

“Good evening.” The guards greeted her with a bow. The pair of unicorns stood at either side of the door like statues, but their tone was far from cold. “Where are your guards?”

“Are you suggesting I need constant supervision?” She replied harshly.

The guards tensed visibly, the younger of the two even felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “F-Far from it, I just- we- uh…”

The princess just shook her head, her starry mane waving in an unseen wind. “No, it’s… I shouldn’t have spoken like that.” She breathed out, and then inhaled deeply, so when she spoke again her voice was warmer. “My apologies, it’s just mild stress.”

“Is… is everything alright?”

“Yes, I just wish to retrieve something from my sister’s chambers.”

The guards opened the doors and the dark princess quietly stepped inside.

*****

A few minutes later, the night princess greeted the guards in front of her sister’s bedroom.

The guards lightly shook their heads, looked at each other, and back. They looked mildly disoriented, unsure of what to say, until one of them settled for asking. “Did your Highness find what you were looking for?”

This time it was the dark royal who looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

The guards looked at each other again, and turned back to open the doors.

With flawless timing, when the doors opened, standing in front of Princess Luna… was Princess Luna.

Like a mirror, both of them gasped and opened their eyes wide. However, the one inside the room, with a hoof-sized bag tied around her neck, reacted first; with a powerful beat of her wings, she sent a gust of wind that knocked the guards flat on their backs and distracted the other Luna long enough to run away.

“Stop her!” Ordered the second Luna, using the loudest voice she could manage, breaking into full gallop to chase the first one. “Thief!”

Both of them were swift; the first would snake and weave her way through the corridors and the guards that stood in her way, then the second one would gracefully hop over the very same guards, so that the distance between them remained the same.

They reached a hallway leading to one of the highest towers and, since it was long and completely straight, the second Luna fired a spell at the first. The silver beam of light struck square on the left wing and a disturbing crack was heard, the fugitive rolled down, crown knocked right off of her head, but still immediately tried to reach for a window.

“Halt, imposter!” The second, or ‘true’, Luna fired another spell to paralyze the thief. The windows had been enchanted to open only for the royals or the guards, and with that broken wing she wouldn’t be escaping that way either, however, it was impossible to predict what a thief this bold could do next.

“Surrender and return what you have stolen.” She ordered, giving the deceiver the chance to repent; she was confident in her spell-casting abilities, so the imposter should be immobile and only capable of speech.

The thief sighed and, to the princess’s surprise, looked at her with teary eyes. “I’m sorry princess, I really am, but that is the one thing I cannot do. I have my mission; neither you, nor your sister can do anything about it.” Her left foreleg was trembling.

The guards that had witnessed the chase poured in and were about to surround the downed fake Luna when she stood up, causing the real Luna to reflexively extend her wing in surprise to order the guards into being cautious.

“Even without a wing, I can still survive a fall from this height, you know?” Said the thief. “But it turns out that, compared to any pony, I heal pretty fast.” She tapped her hoof down and black smoke broke off from her shadow and flooded the corridor. Contrary to what everypony believed possible, a window opened.

“You won’t miss this anyways!” She yelled.

Luna wouldn’t take any of that, and dove after the thief. Whatever that spell had been it hadn’t affected her in the slightest, it didn’t have enough power.

She couldn’t believe the thief had actually opened the window and jumped, but a dark figure swooped past her. The thief had indeed healed. No matter, she opened her wings and gave chase.

Both the princess and the duplicate flew through the air with such grace, it would surely marvel onlookers, but the intricate path weaved through the towers in such a way it would be difficult to follow with eyes alone.

Luna couldn’t help but note that the thief was very agile, just like her, it really was seeing herself fly! Yet something was off, she kept firing spells at the imposter, but the thief neither retaliated nor defended, opting instead for pure evasion. The fake had just shrugged off the paralysis spell, but hadn’t done so with the first one, so all that she could do was hit her hard enough to knock her out and pray that she could catch her fast enough as to avoid having to find out whenever or not the fake’s claims had any truth to them.

Some pegasus guards from elsewhere had seen, and took off to approach the scene. The imposter was going to get out-numbered, and if she was unwilling or unable to use magic she wouldn’t be able to get out of that situation.

The thief was flying straight to the side of the mountain. Luna focused as much as she could; most likely, the thief would dodge right at the last second and try to throw her off, thus she had to pay attention to the direction and follow closely so that the guards had time to arrive.

The thief didn’t change directions and disappeared into her own shadow.

Luna stopped as fast as she could, eyes scanning the wall of solid rock for any clues of her target…

Nothing.

*****

Princess Luna returned to the castle, eventually, to check on the guards that had stood beside her when the black fog rolled in.

Her older sister, Princess Celestia, had just finished her own inspection. It had, indeed, been a spell; a disorientation spell to render the guards unable to follow the fake princess, even through their armor. The princesses couldn’t help but notice that, had it been powerful enough to truly affect the real Luna, the effects on the guards would have been so severe they would have needed hospitalization.

Whatever she stole was valuable enough to risk cantering into the most heavily guarded part of the castle… and yet she wouldn’t risk hurting the guards? And something that wouldn’t be missed?

Celestia and Luna inspected the room, but nothing seemed to be out of place; whatever it had been, the thief knew exactly where to find it. There were hoof-prints on the rug next to the bed, though, which led right to the nightstand where Celestia kept some personal objects.

Celestia used a spell to see who had touched what last.

Bottom drawer, opened by Celestia herself.

Middle drawer, the same.

Top drawer, the thief hadn’t touched that either.

However, something reacted to the spell. A bottle of ink artistically crafted with a lion’s head, something she had had for… a few thousand years, actually. It was a pretty interesting bottle, having been enchanted so that gunk doesn’t form on or in it and to be practically unbreakable under normal circumstances by… wait… it had always been like that. Now that she put thought on it, she just remember having found it and keeping it, not actually buying it or receiving it.

A second spell revealed that it wasn’t the same bottle; it was enchanted similarly, although the ‘unbreakable’ spell didn’t feel as powerful, but trying to look into its past further than the minute the fake had placed it on the stand was impossible.

The thief stole the original bottle and left a new one behind.

And what’s more, she had made the new one after finding the original, which meant she hadn’t prepared… but why? Did she know what to look for, but not the shape it would have?

Twilight had said something about hearing a noise in the library once, but seeing nothing and not noticing anything that was out of place, and she had not been the only one... there had been other, similar incidents. This demanded further investigation, perhaps the same trick was done? And to what purpose?

=====

“Alright, what shall be our next step?”

“We wait; the traitor won’t be able to hide.”

“Should I tell Twilight and the others?”

“Uh… that’ll be an interesting conversation.”

“…”

“Meh, sure, why not? I mean, I think it’s overdue.”

“Thanks, princess.”

Chapter 1 - The Visitors

Days earlier.

“Is everything ready? The window of opportunity is going to be short, you know?”

“Y-yes, everything else is here, so we just h-have to wait for his package now.”

“Why so nervous?”

“Why?! I’m not supposed to do this kind of things! I’m not even supposed to enter that chamber!”

“Ah, worried about what my father will do if he finds out?”

“When we come back; he’ll definitely find out!”

“Psh. You’re supposed to be my bodyguard-slash-babysitter for the time being, no? Just say that you can’t actually stop me because I’d… I dunno, do nasty stuff to you in retaliation once I step up. Tell him I forced you.”

“I’m going to say that alright!”

“Look at that, he came in person.”

“Hello! How are the two ladies of the moment?”

“You came!”

“Ugh, I don’t know how you can stand that metallic taste.”

“Not only the taste; she loves my voice.”

“That grainy, metal reverb just drives me wild.”

“If the lovebirds are done kissing for the moment, I believe you have something for my bodyguard-slash-hostage?”

“Of course, some of my finest work… too bad you can’t carry more with you.”

“Well, we can’t carry that many magical items, drinks included; mundane ones and base ingredients are easier, but that doesn’t mean we should take everything with us.”

“And by ‘us’ you mean ‘me’, and you’re still making me carry a bunch of junk. Some of it can qualify as furniture!”

“Hey, carrying originals is better than committing them to memory; plus, she’s doing this for you, so please cut her some slack and let her have her fun.”

“Ah! B-but I can make a great deal of other things, honest!”

“Yes, you’re useful. That’s why I’m taking you with me, to make stuff as needed. Hurry! We have to get to the chamber today!”

=====

That night in Equestria was a peaceful one; it had been a busy day for many, and thus most of those ponies had decided to go to bed a little early, to better enjoy the delightful weekend that followed.

The mayor was so tired, she even dreamed about her work. “Just my signature on this last scroll a~and… done!” She would put down her quill only to have more forms appear on her desk.

She had been getting swamped with documents lately, leaving her exhausted from the long hours of concentrating on such tasks, and so she had fallen asleep on her bed almost immediately after flopping down on it. She tossed and turned as she dreamed about having to fight against an Ursa Minor made entirely out of overdue paperwork, but she held nothing back and tried to buck it in the face with boots that had stamps for soles.

Back in her office, the bottle of ink popped open by itself.

*****

It was a day like any other in Ponyville; clear skies had been scheduled early on the day with a light afternoon rain.

There were some ponies up and early, enjoying the fresh air of the park; Twilight had her nose buried in a complicated book about history, while Lyra sat in her usual pose.

Twilight placed a bookmark on the page and set down the book for a moment. She levitated a daffodil and daisy sandwich she had packed, careful not to leave any crumbs on her book.

Lyra floated her instrument in place as she reached with a hoof to pluck the strings… only to pull it back for a minute before trying again to play a song. She didn’t know what to do; one moment she was about to play, then she would want to play something else entirely. She put her lyre down for a while; she closed her eyes and tried to clear her head.

Rarity was looking for Fluttershy to show her the new ensemble she designed, she spoke to Twilight for a bit until she decided to keep searching elsewhere.

=====

“Shoot!”

“What is it?”

“Don’t you see? Unicorns! Magic! How am I going to fit in?”

“That’s what’s on your mind? Relax! If it’s needed, just call me and I’ll help you, ok?”

“I knew this was a bad idea. We don’t know anything about the traitor, and I’m not going to fare much better once your father catches me, and now this!”

“Relax. That will take care of itself once we carry out the plan, it’ll flush that slime out of hiding. And I’m pretty sure I can placate my father using his ‘soft spots’.”

“That joke was even worse than when I use it for me; I don’t know why I find it so funny.”

“That’s because your sweetheart is almost a statue, literally iron-tough skin and all. Look, you just do your thing and I’ll do mine, I’ll sneak back in.”

“Wait, so you didn’t read anything? Even with your magic?”

“We had to sneak you out pretty rapidly, so no, but as I said I can go right back in and get some much needed information about this place. Plus, there is a library not too far from here!”

“What about all of the details then? We don’t know anything, so what am I supposed to do about them?”

“OK, think of a temporary solution while I’m busy with my ‘inspection’. I know you’re nervous, but come on! Be an adult and show what you’re made of… or rather, what you are made of can do.”

=====

”Come on, you can do this. With a confident gait you’ll get everywhere!” She tried to convince herself everything would be fine, she did it again as she looked over herself for the sixth time on a small mirror.

Deep red mane, eyes that match, soft cream coat… all nice and shiny; sundress, nice and simple, just like she loved them; horn… well, it was there.

She held her head on high and placed a yellow smiley face button badge on the dress, right over her flank. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, pausing for a moment to wipe a tear from her face; the colorful memento did its job and calmed her spirit.

Who cared this was a whole new world? Who cared if they were total strangers? Who cared about not being…?

“Hngh…” She groaned in frustration.

Well, who besides her. But that would not be a problem, hopefully. She wasn’t the hermit type, and her body was high-maintenance; she just couldn’t stay in the shadows forever, she would go insane. She wanted colors, she wanted flavors, she wanted experiences; she never asked to end up here… but here she was. Here she was, and she was going to make the best out of the situation.

Plus… it would be a shame to let something bad happen to this –or any- place, so her conscience would have nagged her to death for being able to do something and not doing it. She sighed… this was her best option, in any case, to start securing the way to get what she wanted –one of the things she wanted, anyways.

She tensed up one last time before letting the quiet atmosphere invade her… the weather was calm, controlled; the sun was warm, tender; every plant felt cared for. It truly felt like a wonderful world to live in, and though she did not know what the future had in store, she would not let a problem that should be the responsibility of her kind cause trouble for them.

She just had to go out there and say: “Hello, I am…” Wow, she had forgotten about that! Could she even use her name here? Even back home it stood out a bit, since it was just the name she had chosen for herself when in company of others not of her kind.

Just before she could berate herself further, something wonderful began to float through the air and washed away her worries.

Music.

The mint-colored unicorn was using her magic to hold her lyre in place while a well-practiced hoof did the actual playing, and then she would use her magic again to manipulate the notes themselves and give them that marvelous quality that made the sound drift like smoke through the air.

Oh how she loved music. Her beloved knew it too, he always had bells, music boxes and other metallic instruments he played and maintained with his magic; well, he couldn’t make them without help from an actual musician, but he could at least keep them in tune.

Enthralled by the sweet, ethereal sounds, she stopped fretting and just walked closer. She loved music, she loved how it made her entire being shake even when pretending to be something else, and she loved how her incredibly developed senses made it so enjoyable. Of course, bad performances grated on her nerves, but she could choose to dull her senses; all just part of her natural- whoa! She was getting stared at!

She closed her mouth, not realizing when she had gone slack-jawed back there. It wasn’t fair! They caught her with her guard down!

“Hello, are you alright?”

She blushed and turned to the lavender unicorn that spoke to her, nodding furiously. Should she pretend to be unable to speak? It wasn’t too late for that, but it might cause much trouble in the future.

“YesIamthankyou!” She blurted out loudly, startling the lyrist and stopping the music. Her blush intensified; drawing much joy from even the simplest things had a tendency to turn against her.

No-one but those like her liked it when she decorates.

“-haven’t seen you around.”

“I’m new here.” She blurted her reply once more, though softer this time. Ah! She had to stop spacing out! How could that even happen to her!? She drew circles on the ground in mild embarrassment. “I-I was nervous, but I heard the music…”

“Yes, it looked like you enjoyed it.” The purple mare said with a chuckle.

The newcomer closed her eyes and shrank a little. “I- uh, it was- I like music.”

This time it was the mint-coated musician who blushed. “Really?”

“Yeah, I was just passing by, and-and I think I should go.” She began walking backwards, but was stopped by the purple unicorn.

“Don’t be embarrassed, there’s nothing wrong with that.” She said, and was about to say more, if not for some sudden yelling getting the attention of all of the present.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

Strange wind disturbances, a high density of magic aligned to the weather and… something else, something similar to what the lavender mare and the coconut-white one also had. With differences between the three of them, of course.

The point being that the cherry-red newcomer had perceived something was up before the yelling. Still couldn’t do anything about actually preventing the high-speed projectile from crashing into her, though.

She and whatever had hit her rolled along the ground and, due to being so used to similar happenings, reacted on pure reflexes. She embraced whoever had crashed into her, protecting the head and neck, since her senses told her it had been a living being what had struck her. She rolled and bounced around with practiced grace and each fall was with her in the middle, flat on her back. She made sure her body was soft, cushioning each impact with the ground.

The last hit was against a tree, but she didn’t care about that, she was much more interested on the being. Whoever had crashed into her had hair of vibrant colors and flavors –to her at the least-, strawberry, orange, banana, lime, blueberry and grape with a coat of fresh water and clear skies.

“Lyra, help me!” The lavender unicorn yelled to the sitting mint one, running towards the crash site. “We have to get her to a doctor!”

“Twilight, I’m fine.” Said whoever had fallen from the sky, another mare, judging by the voice and scent. “I landed on something soft!”

“Yes! Another pony!” Said ‘Twilight’, using her magic to levitate the mare and free the visitor.

“I am fine as well.” She said.

“Oh dear, she must be in shock.” Said Twilight, breathing slightly faster than before, shaken up from the big surprise she just received. “I quite clearly saw how your chest-!” She shuddered from the memory of it, an unpleasant chill coursing through her body.

Uh oh, this ‘Twilight’ was very sharp! It would be a challenge to keep her in the dark about her true identity. “I am much more resilient than I look!” It wasn’t a lie so she didn’t have to feel guilty about it.

The visitor scoffed and stood up, quickly straightening her dress but not bothering to dust it, it was also stained green from the grass and needed a cleaning anyways, and the grass didn’t taste bad, actually. “It must have been your imagination, see?”

To show she was unharmed, she struck her chest with a hoof, immediately yelping loudly and doubling over. The others gasped in surprise and concern.

“Got you!” She smiled from her position on the ground and almost bounced back on all fours. “I’m tough, I barely even felt it.” She said with pride, since if she wasn’t, she would have been splattered a long time ago. But what if she weren’t? Would her vi-…? No, it was not time for that.

The smile, already pretty forced from her depressing thoughts, was almost wiped off her face when she saw -really saw- what had crashed into her. A pegasus. She should have been a pegasus herself, much less trouble hiding. No use crying about it though.

“Wow, you got us good; glad you’re ok.” Said the pegasus that had crashed into her, sighing in relief. “I was working on a new trick… hehe, sorry.”

“No problem.”

“The last thing we need is sending a guest to the hospital on her very first day!” Said Twilight in exasperation, while Lyra joined her with a knowing nod.

“I knew I hadn’t seen you around!” Said the pegasus mare, standing a bit too close to the newcomer. “Let’s start with the introductions.” She puffed out her chest and, full of pride, said. “I am Rainbow Dash, the best flier ever!”

“Sure you should be introducing yourself like that when you just crashed into her not a minute ago?” Asked Lyra with a wry smile in her muzzle, crushing the sky mare’s ego like a grape and eliciting a chuckle from the cherry-haired pony. “I’m Lyra, I’m glad you liked my music.”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Said the last one, finally believing that the guest was alright. “Welcome to Ponyville!”

Dash couldn’t help but notice. “Hey, where did you get that?” She asked, pointing at the yellow button badge.

The visitor cringed and immediately placed her hoof over it defensively. “Ah, it’s… it’s the first thing I ever owned. The first memory I made on my own.” She couldn’t be bothered to weasel-word that phrase; it would hurt too much to bear. “I-I think it belonged to my parents”

‘Parents’ was the right word, at least by virtue of its definitions.

“You think?” Asked an incredulous Rainbow Dash, her mouth working before her brain as usual. “What happened?”

She shut her eyes, finally squeezing out a tear that had threatened to come out ever since her attention was drawn back to those memories… or rather, the lack of them. “Not now.” She whispered; ears flat against her head. “Please, not now.” She pleaded softly. “L-later, if you must know.”

“Whoa, hey, it’s no big deal.” Said Rainbow, trying to backpedal from having just jammed her hoof on a sore spot. “I don’t have to know, you know?” She gave the other mare a nervous chuckle.

“Hey, know what will cheer you right up?” Said Lyra, placing a hoof on the other pony to comfort her. “A party!”

The others looked at her.

“What? Somepony had to say it sooner or later.” Lyra defended herself from the curious gazes. “It’s only a matter of time before Pinkie does it.”

“You throw parties for complete strangers?” Asked the newcomer, rubbing her eyes and breathing out; she had been able to avoid giving them a name for a little while, but she knew she would get cornered sooner or later. She had to think of one, and fast.

“You’ll get used to it.” Said Twilight, rolling her eyes.

There was ‘Twilight Sparkle’, she had those pink and white stars mark, and her inner flow just screamed that she was the wizardly type.

“Yup, Pinkie Pie makes the best parties, and for almost any reason.” Dash added.

‘Rainbow Dash’, well that was an obvious one. Lightning mark, rainbow mane, high speed flight; not two ways about it, her name suited her.

She had to fish a little bit more though, make sure hers didn’t stand out too much. “And this ‘Pinkie Pie’ is?”

“Pink coat, magenta mane that looks like cotton candy, three balloons as her cutie mark, and seems to be stuck permanently into the greatest sugar rush in the history of Equestria.” Lyra answered her question, gesturing her own mane and flank before looking forward again. “She’s impossible to miss.”

OK, new information, that was always good. “Balloons cutie mark? What is that?”

The three mares looked at each other. “I don’t know.” “Kinda strange.” “Maybe it’s just her love of parties?”

‘Lyra’ had that lyre on her flank and could evidently play very well.

Rainbow Dash just shrugged with her wings. “Well, there is still going to be a cake with your name.”

It was the signal, the start of the show; Twilight reacted visibly to the sentence. “Oh my, I-I’m afraid we still don’t know your name!”

“Gemini, or just call me Gem.” She lied, but what could be done about it? Her regular name wouldn’t fit their naming conventions, and her real name… heh, like it would be of any use for them to know it.

“Well Gem, I’m always up for a slice of free cake so let’s go to Sugarcube Corner already.” Said Lyra; her mouth watering from almost being able to taste her favorite cheesecake.

Gem’s ears perked up, having heard one of her favorite words. “Sugarcube Corner? What is that?”

“The local bakery.” Said Twilight, pointing away into the distance. “Home of the best treats in Equestria. It’s that building that looks like a gingerbread house.”

Gemini began to smile, her grin becoming wider and wider until it stretched from ear to ear. Maybe, just… maybe, this would turn out alright.

Chapter 2 - A Brief Shake

This was a split chapter because it was getting way too big...

Also, a little tease of future events, since it's going to be a while before catching up to them. It seems that, unfortunately, there are a lot of things I have to clear before getting to the Phantom Thief's first appearance; Gem's character, some events and some knowledge, all converging in the final revelation.

***************

Three types of ponies. There were three types making up the inhabitants of the land; two of the three would have actually fit her. Pegasus ponies had an affinity for air, which fit her ‘breath’ quite nicely; while Earth ponies had a profound connection with the land and strong physique, which she could benefit from all around. And she just had to be a unicorn… at least she had a good energy flow and high overall sensitivity.

Still, that wasn’t going to stop her from bouncing after Twilight all the way to the bakery; the stares she was getting were more effective in starting to get her to begin considering stopping… but not enough. There was sugar in her future, darn it! That was reason enough to be happy!

Yes, she was aware her dress was stained green and covered in dirt, not to mention her hair still had a twig or two on it, and yes, Twilight already said bouncing was something Pinkie herself was prone to doing. No, she was not stopping. Each landing after each jump made the nagging, niggling feeling of something being wrong fade away a little bit more and blur at the edges; after all, what was wrong was that she hadn’t had a meal yet.

She wasn’t scatterbrained, she actually had incredible memory; it wasn’t that she forgot what she had to do, just that she wasn’t going to stress about it. Not right now, at least, since there were sweets in the near-future.

They were going to throw a party for a complete stranger. She was tempted to ask what they would do for their friends, but she figured she’d rather find out by herself.

More and more ponies walked down the streets with each passing minute, the day finally getting started. And she could see it would be a great day! She let herself slip back to her ‘normal’ state just a little bit, nothing too noticeable, just enough to enjoy her surroundings. Everything was full of vibrant colors, and a gentle autumn breeze blowing over all of the fruit stands filled the whole area with pleasant aromas that sent shivers all over her body; it was truly wonderful! Each color and scent awakened all sorts of emotions and sensations deep within her being! Passionate red! Mystical purple! Symphonies of colors, sounds, smells and sheer energy that put such pep in her steps, making them so light, that it was as if she was connected to the earth only by the barest of tethers.

She felt, for an instant each time, how the feelings pouring in through each of her senses during that moment of weightlessness made her drift through a breeze only she could see and feel… every brief landing resonating with the rivers of energy in the ground under her hooves and sending ripples through her being… blowing a fresh breath of air down to her very soul. Even while still trapped inside her little glass cage it was so much different from the pittance of stale air it usually permitted, given the sheer amiability in the ambient; she could almost taste the possibilities. Metaphors aside, these personal moments between her and nature were something she wished to share, but for those not like her it would be rather hard to understand…

And, for the crowning piece; she found that, contrary to previous experiences, these ponies waved hello and were being nice to her -even if they didn’t know her! She liked it when others were nice to her. Why couldn’t there be more places like this? She liked- no, scratch that, she loved this place!

A hat-wearing orange pony, with a blond mane and tail held by hair bands, waved at them to get their attention and began walking towards the group. She had saddlebags filled, without a doubt, with apples, going by what the scent wafting through the air told Gem. That’s what she smelled like, apples, trees and rich soil, not to forget hard work and… oh, it wouldn’t be polite to focus on that too much.

There was it again, though, something that was beyond regular senses. It was similar to Twilight, Rainbow and that other unicorn, something… strong even when it was at the edge of her perception; it nevertheless felt natural, inviting and warm. She was unsure of what it could be, but she did know that it was bright and pleasant… though it reminded her that she had to take measures not to get her secrets revealed.

Maybe, just… maybe, once everything settled down, she’d trust them with them. She had to size them up first, though. She didn’t want to… she couldn’t live through any of those terrible events again. It would kill her on the inside.

“Howdy girls!” The orange mare’s voice was warm like a soft summer morning and sweet like honey, flashing a kind smile as she approached her friends. “Who’s yer new friend, and why does she look like she went applebuckin’ in that dress?”

“New trick.” Both Lyra and Twilight spoke at the same time, and the look on the farmer pony’s face, a curl of the lips and a roll of her eyes, revealed what she was thinking: ‘No wonder’.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that ducks have no respect for my air space!” Rainbow Dash said, half-insulted, half-embarrassed that just those two words could explain everything.

“Just like yesterday when that cloud came outta nowhere? Or th’ day before that?” Said the hat-wearing pony with a wide grin, making Dash grit her teeth and turn red.

“My name is Gemini, or just Gem.” She decided to act before things escalated, cutting in front of the pegasus mare and standing between the two of them; else she could be stuck there all day. “And it was nothing, really, I’ve had worse.”

She found that one of her hooves was off the ground and being shaken vigorously, making her whole body vibrate. “A pleasure meetin’ you Miss Gem, mah name is Applejack!” The blonde mare presented herself, a playful glint in her eyes still present.

“L-l-l-like-w-w-wi-wise.” No, really, it was. Each shake, each heartbeat, each breath of air that the pony took allowed Gem to feel –truly feel- the sheer vitality that Applejack held within; it was as if she had the very strength of the earth the same way Rainbow Dash had the sky’s. It was… quite the experience, not many shared her enthusiasm when it came to a simple greeting.

Just when she was getting numb, she was released. She twisted and shook her hoof for a bit, making her joints pop and restoring feeling to her limb. If there were ponies just half this intense, Gemini figured that everything she had to do would require the very best of her efforts.

Still, the precautions that she had taken made sure that her identity was not going to be found out from just this. Usually, a touch of her ‘hair’ would be enough, since she recently decided to stop bothering with hiding it, but for today -and hopefully only a few days more-, she needed utmost discretion.

“So, what brings yah here to Ponyville?” Applejack asked her with that same friendly smile from a moment ago, as if the previous display was nothing important -or everyday news.

“The promise of the best baked goods in all of Equestria.” Gem replied in all seriousness, savoring the golden opportunity that had presented itself, just like that, to her. Oh, she began to imagine the flavors of red velvet cake, chocolate cookies, jam-filled muffins…

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a smirk of her own; it was obvious she was not going to let such grievous offenses slide just like that. “And the best they are, Gem, as long as the baker’s been getting enough sleep.” She said, punctuating that last word with a kind of glee that bordered on malicious, her grin widening once she saw the earth pony’s face change colors.

“Why you!” Applejack fumed, stomping her hoof on the ground and walking towards Rainbow Dash with a glare that could cut through walls. “Ah thought we agreed to leave that be!”

“And what are you gonna to do about it? Bake Gem some muffin spectacles?” Dash chuckled, taunting the farm girl. In response, Applejack wiggled out of the belt while mumbling something unintelligible of likely threatening intent, tossing the saddlebags aside.

Twilight raised a hoof in protest, not wanting to see her friends fight, much less during such a beautiful day. However, Gemini had moved between them before the scholar said anything.

She breathed out, head hanging down, relaxing her body to rid it of any needless tension, before drawing in a large breath of air. She shifted her weight so that it fell solely on her hind legs in such a way as to create a strong, stable base while freeing her front hooves.

She concentrated deeply on the sensations swelling inside her chest; her focus was purely on the energy drawn to and stored within her body through her nose and horn by her inhalation. At least a horn’s properties were still useful.

Feeling the air itself around her, making it become part of her and the other way around. She held her breath.

The breeze stopped.

Her forelegs began to rise, placing one under each pony; then she released her breath, feeling the energy flow through her limbs and strengthening them. She liberated a big part through her hooves, using it to push both rivals apart; as this happened, a soft wind caressed the manes and faces of everypony standing close.

Had somepony cared to ask either Dash or Applejack, she had stuck an iron pole between them; they stopped in their tracks and had to stand on their hind legs because the cherry-haired pony just didn’t yield. The wind continued its slow travel through the street as if it had never stopped.

“Don’t fight!” Gem pleaded; a small hint of panic could be heard in her voice and felt in the way her breath became quicker. Fear began to touch not-so-old memories with its icy claws, threatening to make her live through them again. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

She took a couple of steps back, letting the two surprised mares back down on all fours, avoiding crashing face to face by a quick flap of Rainbow’s wings.

“I… I just wanted a party… if it just causes trouble I’ll leave, I’m used to it.” She added, though the weight in her heart made those last words sound shaky, making her smile seem so artificial it was scary.

“Hey now, that was… uh…” Dash scratched the back of her head as she tried to explain, begging her brain to string up the right words together. This was a new pony she was talking to, one with quite a few problems by the look of it… this was one of the times she had to ‘take things slow’.

“It’s just some friendly teasing… that got a liiiittle out of control.” She added with a sheepish smile, barely gathering the willpower needed to avoid poking her nose in the other pony’s affairs by asking for an explanation; it had been a surprise to see somepony go from blissful delight to the verge of tears so quickly.

“So it wasn’t my fault?” Gemini asked, feeling more hopeful; pain’s claws were still ready to rend her heart, but their grip was becoming weaker by the second.

“Nah, Ah… that was me.” Applejack answered, not really wanting to recall that particular incident. “Ah might have been too stubborn for mah own good. In the past.” She blurted that last part a little faster and louder than intended; she glanced around quickly, suddenly very busy in retrieving her saddlebags.

Gemini didn’t reply, just letting out a relieved sigh that made that cold pain recoil and lose its hold. She pushed it away, far, far away. She didn’t like it whenever she managed to upset anyone. She liked being nice, she was trying to be a nice pony.

“What did you mean by ‘used to it’?” Lyra made her snap back to attention, the mint-colored unicorn arched an eyebrow and eyed the visitor strangely.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her face as she heard Lyra dive headfirst into territory she herself had decided against exploring; it had taken all she had to err on the side of caution and finally keep her muzzle shut.

“Oh! Uh, nothing much, you know, just that trouble seems to follow me and others don’t like it.” Gem tried waving it off, chuckling nervously. She so didn’t want to continue this line of conversation, not so soon; she needed to change the topic, fast. “Did you shrink or something?” She asked, looking around her and feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

“Well, you’re still standing on you hind legs alone.” Twilight pointed at the red-haired pony as she answered, making Gem look down and see for herself.

“I am.” She said absent-mindedly, thinking about how some habits were hard to break. She took the opportunity to flex her knees a little, testing her pony body. Taking a few tentative steps, she found out that it wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined; she was very conscious of her body’s movements, though how in the name of everything sugary and good she had managed to miss the radical change in posture was still a mystery to her. Again, she thought that pure habit might be the answer.

“You make it look easy.” Said Lyra, who couldn’t quite believe somepony would be able to not notice. It was uncommon, save for some types of dancing or… hey, that could be it, no? “You love music, do you dance?”

“While I do, that’s not it. More like habit, sorta training, I guess.” She answered before letting herself fall down on all fours again. “I suppose I’m just very aware of my body.” The movements just came naturally! The pony body was just so flexible! It made it easy for her; flowing from one state to the next, as it has always been and always would be with her kind.

“Training? For what?” Twilight threw her a curious glance as she asked. “What you did a moment ago?”

Oh for the love of-! Of course she noticed! She was standing right over there.

“Uh… that was… I mean… how can I say it?” Alright, it had an explanation. Yeah, it was possible for her to say it. The problem would be to use terms they would understand, since she had no idea if these ponies had even heard of some of the words she would use. Somewhat rude assumption, yes, but given just how far away she was from home, it was not out of the question… in fact, even back there they didn’t have the right words. It was still rather foreign, and thus, sometimes words didn’t mean the same or the way they perceived the concept was different. She prayed to whoever might’ve been listening in hopes that it wouldn’t cause any problems.

*****

Meanwhile

“Alright, who is there?!” Mayor Mare said slightly nervously, looking around her office and even behind the furniture only to confirm that nopony was there. Again.

Just what was going on? First she had heard a noise, a wet ‘plop’ like when Pinkie discovered the strange and miraculous properties of water with cornstarch mixed in and tried to juggle a bucket’s worth of it. Mayor Mare had thought it could have been… alright, she didn’t know what to think outside of somehow making… granted, she had been up rather late each night recently, so it wasn’t be the first time she had left a mess by accident and then just completely forgot to clean up… still, despite how tired she had been while working last night, peeking through the door revealed that her office was relatively tidy right now.

And yet she felt something was off.

That hadn’t been the only noise; before entering, there had also been the turning of pages. In and of itself it wasn’t that weird; as a mayor, her office had to emit a certain feel of authority, to that end she had several books on ‘cultured’ subjects in her office’s bookcase (saving the good stuff for her private collection). She found one of her history books lying on the floor, opened in a section about events that transpired a relatively recent hundred years or so (what a weird thing to think, but given that they had to face much older problems like Nightmare Moon and Discord…). But no, that couldn’t have been the source; even if she had yet again taken the wrong book out in a daze, even if she had dropped it and forgotten about it when she had tried to clean up before hitting the hay… the window wasn’t open for wind to flip the pages.

Oh, yesterday’s newspaper was on the floor by her desk, instead of atop it as she vaguely remembered, so maybe the noise had been its fall after finally succumbing to the pull of gravity.

A minute ago, she would have been satisfied by this explanation, dismissed the first sound and moved on.

If not for… OK, she was a grown mare, but she was also alone, and quick-moving shadows seen out of the corner of her eye still made her hair stand on end.

Twice, it happened twice. She was going to wait a little bit more; if it had really just been her imagination, she would seriously consider adjusting her sleep schedule and cut back on the coffee. If there is something there, then… uh, there has been an oversight in her plan of action.

*****

Ponyville’s Hospital – The day after the theft at Canterlot

“Quick-!” The doctor pushed the stretcher, but a hoof poked him hard in the ribs.

“Shut it doc, you’re too loud.” His patient reprimanded him, as if he was merely being overdramatic.

“Stop moving! You’ll make your injuries worse!” In his mind, though, he added: If that is even possible.

“Stop yelling…” His patient said. “This is nothing, to me at least; it’s the poison and the infection what worries me.”

“Poison?! On top of everything the creature was poisonous?!”

“Yes, so don’t inject me with anything, or I’m going to be soooo mad at you…” The patient trailed off, exhausted. Keeping all of the loot in one place might have been a good idea, perfect bait… but it was supposed to be somewhere far out of town. A single delay in the movements, just about half a day, and suddenly this happened. That the princesses figured out just enough to decide to show up with some guards didn’t help any. And their timing was horrible, too, like it would have killed them to show up sometime before the remains got burnt to ashes.

At least… none of the townsfolk hurt…

Chapter 3 - A Broken Reflection

Ponyville – Gem’s first day in town

“You, as in, you can do that?” Twilight smiled in wonder. “Oh goodness…” The purple unicorn said under her breath, quietly pondering the possibilities.

“Seriously?” Asked Dash, addressing the newcomer. “I didn’t know unicorns could do that.”

“Ah didn’ know anypony could do that.” Applejack said… and found the other mares looking at her as if she had sprouted a second and third head.

“Wow Applejack, really?” Said an incredulous Dash… the orange pony felt hurt. Not knowing anything about spells and magic didn’t faze her in the slightest, but if even Rainbow Dash knew anything about this… it stung.

“How do you think I fly?” She continued. “I mean, I know these babies are awesome…” The pegasus flexed and extended her wings a couple of times, smiling and looking towards them, batting her eyes in a way that Applejack had only seen Rarity do. “But you seriously expect them to lift me all by themselves?”

“You see, you have to have a breathing rhythm for flying fast, right?” The multi-hued pony began her explanation, deciding to start from some examples. “And you take a sharp breath when getting ready to buck a cloud to disperse it. Oh! And the Wonderbolts and the Royal Guards are even trained to cut things with their wings!”

Lyra listened in with rapt attention, mostly out of surprise. She had studied this particular subject before, but then again that was in Canterlot! Where the fanciest schools were! (With a couple of exceptions located in other, also important, cities).

She noticed that Twilight was also listening intently, most likely for the same reason; she wanted to see how much Dash knew.

“Your physical energy… the pinions…” Dash trailed off as she felt the incredulous gazes of her friends upon her. Gem was merely listening with a tiny smile on her lips. “And Equestria’s magic… and… wings…”

An awkward pause fell upon the group. Gem’s smile faded, unsure of what was happening.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Dash asked and, suddenly, her friends seemed unable to make eye contact or form coherent sentences, making her frown. “I’m not a hot-blooded idiot!” She snapped at them, making a guess at their thoughts.

“Nopony is saying that.” Lyra responded quickly and spoke calmly. “It’s just that...” Oh horseapples, she noticed that they didn’t have to outright say it.

“It’s surprising how in-depth your knowledge is!” Twilight chimed in, genuinely pleased at her friend’s academic knowledge -sure, it was still flight-related, as so many other things in the athlete’s life, but it showed that Dash also took it seriously. The honesty in Twilight’s voice placated the flyer’s anger, at least a little. “What grade were you in when you studied that? Was it homework?”

Before the lavender scholar could assault her with a hundred questions about studying, Dash just decided to tell her story. “I flubbed an exam, alright? But if things didn’t change I would fail the class. So the teacher says I can, you know, do a little extra; I would have to work my flank off, but it would prove that ‘it was just a fluke’.”

“Fluke?” Applejack arched an eyebrow.

“Augh!” Dash groaned and threw her hooves in the air in frustration. “Is that all you think of me? Just because I’m interested in sports that doesn’t mean I’m just a jock! Let me guess, you think I can’t touch a stove with a pan without setting myself on fire, right?!”

She angrily glanced around, only to be rewarded with the same embarrassed gestures from before; even Gem cowered a little, although that was from the intensity of the pegasus’s glare.

“Look, without school the pay I was promised when I applied for weather-pony would have been less, then I probably wouldn’t have been interested…” The anger and hurt in her voice faded away quickly as her mind caught up with the implications, leaving behind only worry. “And I would have looked elsewhere; I would have never thought of moving to Ponyville, and I wouldn’t have met you…”

“Ah-Ah’m sorry sugarcube.” Applejack placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s just that those Cloudsdale fellas… well, Ah remember they taunted yah a couple a’ times sayin’ yah got kicked-“

“I didn’t. Get. Kicked out.” Dash interrupted, flicking her tail in annoyance and making the farmer flinch. “I like napping around, but if you need me, I am there. Seriously, oversleep a few dozen times and you’ll never hear the end of it.”

Twilight was reminded of a few incidents back in Canterlot, making a shiver run down her spine. Of course, none of them personally involved her! Of course not! She was the most diligent! Why, no matter what sort of all-nighter she pulled, she’d be right there five -no, ten minutes early for the first class no matter what! Even if she had to get caffeinated up to her ears! No princess! It’s fine! Seriously! Who needs sleep when they have Edgar Allan Poeny and Starswirl the Bearded as company?!

Lyra gave Dash a sympathetic nod, unaware of the moment Twilight’s eye began to twitch.

“If you have to know, I moved away.” The cerulean mare continued, looking away. “Dad found a better job and took it, but it was out of Cloudsdale… he didn’t even warn me.”

Gemini acted. The cherry-haired pony rested her chin on the pegasus mare’s withers; the pony hug startled Dash, not being the touchy-feely type at all.

“Hey now, real-?” She was about to pull away and resume her ‘cool’ act, but the feeling of something warm and wet on her coat stopped her.

“Was… was he looking out for you?” Gem whispered her question more out of the weariness of the heart than a desire for secrecy.

“Well, yeah, of course; it’s what parents do.” Dash paused for a second, and, when Gemini sobbed, she leaned onto the unicorn to briefly return the embrace. “Does this have something to do with… what happened before?” Dash gave the badge on the dress a brief look.

Gem let out a wistful sigh, interrupted by another sob.

“Havin’ family trouble?” Applejack asked while placing a hoof on Gem’s shoulder, making her voice as comforting as she could.

Gem mumbled something that could pass for ‘something like that’ as she stepped away from Dash. The orange pony didn’t let her get too far and wrapped a foreleg over the cherry-haired newcomer.

Nopony was surprised at Applejack being supportive over family matters; she could name at least thirty or so of her own relatives, say what they look like and the name of the farm or business they ran, too, just off the top of her head; she had hundreds of close relatives, and the distant relatives ‘that she knew of’ easily ran far into the thousands.

“Do you need any help?” Twilight asked.

Gem didn’t expect that kind of offer; she broke away from AJ and stared for a few seconds, slightly startled at the ease with which the lavender mare had said it. Twilight’s voice carried genuine concern, and her eyes were fixed on her own while her body leaned towards Gemini’s. This unicorn showed the signs for clear, honest worry. Outside of what few friends she already had, this was a first.

“No.” Gem gave her a tiny smile, appreciating the gesture. That was all it could be, a gesture of sympathy. “Thanks, but there is nothing to do. Not about that.” She gave her flank a quick, sorrowful glance before turning back to the lavender pony.

Applejack shook her head, she just knew that the melancholic tone in those words didn’t mean anything good. “Now there, yah can’t be talkin’ seriously. Ah dun’ know the details, but yah can’t turn yer head to yer problems.”

Lyra placed a hoof gently on her, making the mare look her in the eyes. “Are you... running away from… something?”

“No, I meant that literally.” Gemini said with a remorseful look on her eyes… there was no more dodging that issue; she mentally kicked herself for not being able to keep it secret for longer. “I don’t have any family.”

Rainbow Dash cringed, Twilight and Lyra gasped, and Applejack was dumbstruck.

“When I was… very young…” She said, wording everything as carefully as she could since she didn’t want to board the even messier issue of her actual age; way less than what they most likely would guess. A brief pause. Gem braced for the reaction before continuing, tensing her body, feeling her muscles tighten in a mixture of nervousness and resolve. She breathed deeply to steel herself and let it out without interruption. “I was abandoned so that I could survive.”

Predictably, Twilight and Lyra covered their mouths in shock and even the brave and ever-bold Dash took an involuntary step back. Applejack’s eyes went wide and so did her mouth; her mind trying to turn the words over and around to make sure she understood correctly and she wasn’t dealing with another case of mishearing everything.

“My parents –well, I guess I should say ‘my immediate family’- ran into trouble, or it came to them, I don’t know.” Gemini shook her head, her voice sounding cold and sedate, quite different from the childish, easy-going tones she had used before. “I don’t have any memories of that. I figure they didn’t know what would become of them, so they each went their separate ways; leaving me at the mercy of nature to fend for myself.”

“They left yah alone? Like, completely alone?” Applejack couldn’t believe her ears; for a pony such as her, with such strong family ties, the idea of leaving behind a single member was alien to her –and the fact that it had to be a young one made it absolutely horrifying.

“As far as I know, things were very bad. It was either that, then and there, or chance not being here with you, talking about it.” Gem replied pretty nonchalantly; she accepted it -she didn’t like it, but dwelling on it would drive her crazy. “All I had was the knowledge my parents g-left for me… and this.”

She turned slightly, letting Applejack appreciate the shiny, little metal accessory. “My most valued possession.” And technically the only one other than her clothes, given her current situation. “Nobles with their fancy gold accoutrements or whatever sneer at me for wearing it, but it has seen me trough a lot.”

Of course, it didn’t look the part. The others figured she must take great care of it, since it was spotless and not a single notch, scratch or lump blemished the bright yellow and black surface.

Applejack winced a little, remembering the cold bite of scorn from her days in Manehattan. “Ah know what yer gettin’ at.”

“But how? Just… how?” Twilight asked.

“I am quite adept at survival.” She shrugged. “I can enhance my own senses quite a lot, read energy flow easily, have knowledge of all manner of beasts and plants, I have my special ability… if I were not the way I am, then I would not need…” She trailed off.

She would not need contact. She would not crave the sensation of having another to hold and hold her in turn. Aureolus wouldn’t have needed to stand her crying for hours on end after yet another bad day or night.

“Aer…” She breathed out the name, a nickname; one of… not many, but certainly a list dear to her heart. They met just a year ago. He had changed everything. He had changed her.

“What was that?” One of the mares asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

“Huh?” She looked around, startled, before shaking her head.

“Oh, sorry, got distracted.” Gem kept going on in that calm voice she was using. She considered it might be better to steer away from this particular topic for the time being. “I already said I can look after myself, right?”

“You did.” Twilight caught something, something about what she had said, and now it just made her increasingly curious. “Is that your special talent?”

It didn’t feel right to want to ask about it, much less voice it; it was something that should never happen to anyone, pony or not. Yet it still happened, to many more than just Gemini; pretending that it didn’t would not do any good.

“What is special, being self-sufficient?” Gem asked. Something in her voice told everypony that the question was an answer in itself.

“Is it fancy magic?” Applejack asked, trying to get something good out of something that wrung her heart and tied her stomach into knots. She pushed forward. “Or sumthin’ like that thing from a while ago?”

“Yeah, ‘cuz that’s not something you see every day!” Dash chimed in, her excitement at having a friend with ‘cool’ and unusual skills making her start to smile again; she felt this could help get rid of the unease caused by making the unicorn remember her tough life.

“Oh…” Gemini understood what they were getting at, and couldn’t help but let out a nervous smile. This was uncomfortable. “That? Nah, that’s just a side effect- uh…”

“Of what?” Twilight asked with her eyes wide as saucers. If Gem had been trying to act casual to lessen its perceived importance, it backfired and only served to pique the lavender mare’s curiosity, elevating it to new heights.

“Of…” The cherry-haired pony searched her mind for the right words to use, at least for the time being. “Of my parent’s… legacy, you could say.”

“It comes back to them, huh?” Lyra mouthed under her breath, furrowing her brows.

“Yes!” Gem said, suddenly abandoning the ‘calm and collected’ act; very tense but (barely) restraining herself from actually shouting in the middle of the street. The mint unicorn was surprised at how good her hearing was. “All I know, all I can do, all I am came from them! Sure, I have learned new things, but guess what it can relate to?!”

“So…”

Raising a cream-colored hoof to silence whatever might be said, Gem took the moment of silence and used it to let the stress and indignation fade, turning it into guilt at being at the verge of yelling at her most recent friends. She breathed deeply and once again spoke calmly and softly.

“I did find something I can do, and I’m proud to do… it began with this.” Gemini reached for the back of her head, apparently inside her mane, and pulled her hoof to the top of her head.

Applejack could only stare in confusion at the newcomer… and the brown Stetson hat sitting on her head. She had to reach up just to make sure she was still wearing hers.

Yup, the farmer still had her own hat.

It didn’t stop there; Gemini reached behind herself again and pulled… a golden lyre.

Lyra was quick to open her saddlebag and pull out her instrument for comparison.

“Wha?”

“Duplication.” Gem said, the copies disappearing as red lightning arched through them and seemed to consume them. “All of my kind can do it, but I have turned it into an art form.”

“’Your kind’?” Twilight asked, wondering about the odd choice of words.

“Alchemists.” The reply was quick, calm, and practiced. It wasn’t a lie per se, given the nature of the ability and that it certainly was something that some forms of alchemy could accomplish… but neither was she referring to alchemists as ‘her kind’ nor was that the extent of her ability. Secrets may have power, however, each has their price; right now, she couldn’t bear even the chance of being called-

“Ugh!” Lyra shuddered.

“What happened?” Dash asked.

“No-nothing, I was- well, do you think the changelings can do something like that?”

All of the others grimaced at the mention of the shape-shifters, but Gemini was absolutely furious, reddening considerably.

“Had troubles with those recently?” Gem spoke through gritted teeth, trying to beat her anger and pain into submission.

“Umm… yes?” Applejack’s answer came out resembling a question, but just one look at the other mare’s face had left her confused. It was obvious that whatever she was remembering had been awful, but just how much to elicit such a response?!

Twilight really wanted to do something, but she was unsure of what! Nopony had any wish to elaborate after seeing such a reaction, nor did they want to ask if she had had any brush with them -not right now, at least.

“It’s not fair.” She hissed, her memory assaulting her with all of times she had to deal with the fallout of such an event.

It’s always something like that! Mad sorcerer attack last year? Clearly this alchemist is some sort of mad scientist that is a danger to us as well! This potion-maker cannot be trusted! Shape-shifters last season? Clearly her abilities mean she is a spy like them! Or is trying to replace one of us and steal our young! Chaos energy? Clearly she is one of those insane cultists working to destroy all order and plunge the world into madness and anarchy! Essence of Creation? Clearly she has delusions of godhood like the last one to speak of that and must be stopped before she harms the residents of our poor city!

“Not fair.”

Maybe that thing she gave you is poisoned! Or will turn you into a gnat! Or she will overrun the world with an army of slime-creatures! Or she’ll consume everything in the land! Wait, she’s strong, maybe she’s just-!

“I’m not a monster.” She slumped down, defeated by the sheer weight of the pain brought forth by her vivid memories. Why did she have to pay for the choices and mistakes of others? “I only want…”

“Why would you say that? Why would you be a monster?” Lyra asked.

“Because of what I can do!” She hissed, suddenly bolting back on all fours. “I’m different, alright?! But something always happens that sets townsfolk on edge and I get treated like one of whatever caused problems for them!”

She reared and stomped down with her forelegs, then began pacing back and forth. “I’ve even solved some of them!”

“I don’t want fear!” She was starting to hyperventilate, or would if she… regardless, she stopped in front of the group and turned around as if facing the unknown. “All I wanted was just to see them in the eyes and say: Hello!”

The light cerulean eyes looking back at her shrunk to the size of pinpricks, the bubblegum-pink body they were a part of threw itself up into the air, and then heard a sharp inhalation that almost pulled the twigs out of her hair.

Gemini only saw a blur of pink and raspberry running away from her… and her heart shattered.

Self-control forgotten, her body turned against itself and began shaking, her breath caught on her throat as terror’s icy claws gripped her neck… there were some noises, they seemed to have patterns to them, but she could no longer recognize them.

The ground came up to meet her, water began to flow and everything started to spin.

Chapter 4 - Putting the Pieces Back Together

AUTHOR NOTES IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

*****

Ponyville Hospital’s waiting room – After Canterlot.

Princess Celestia sighed as she entered the room; the situation didn’t go as she had anticipated… well, to be honest, she never really knew what to expect, so maybe things had gone poorly before it all began.

Because, as her student, as well as her own dear sister already knew, there was something she feared and yet had to deal with it constantly; mercilessly testing all of her abilities on a daily basis.

Making a costly mistake.

Hindsight is, and has always been, an unkind, unforgiving thing. She should have insisted more on using her own wings and leading, instead of letting the guards go first and using the much slower carriage…

The guards had reacted far too harshly. There had been a monster attack not a full minute before they arrived! What had they expected, a ‘yessir, lemme roll over’? Nerves were frayed and –if what they were told about the creature’s natural weaponry was right- there were far more pressing issues occupying everypony’s heads. Even if she somehow had the ability to stand, she was bleeding, for goodness sake! It was plain as day that they should have been less aggressive!

And the worst of all was that, so far, all they had was a bunch of rather weak connections; far too important to ignore, too big to be mere coincidence, but too flimsy to consider them as proof of anything solid. At most, they proved that she knew something.

That was it.

Somepony was struggling with the line between life and death because of information that might not even be related directly to the case; this development might prove something more… well, more! The only problem with that was that Celestia had no way to be sure until she spoke to her. Regardless of what it was, it would be a huge step towards understanding what had happened back in the castle, but now…

Pinkie Pie entered the room with Rarity not far behind; distracting her from her thoughts… when had the pink pony left, anyways? Her mane was… odd, it wasn’t bouncing and pillow-like, but rather, it was straight and limp.

“It’s not good!” She said, sniffling, before Twilight had the chance to ask her any question. “They- they are al-already…”

“They are talking; saying that she must be a changeling or something of the sort; perhaps even from the start.” Rarity completed the sentence, doing what she could to alleviate the pink mare’s tension. “They are saying that that must the reason for the princesses’ visit; they are here to ‘deal with it’. And, naturally, this goes double for ‘Aer’.”

“They are being mean, calling her stuff like ‘agent of Discord’ and such.” Pinkie said, and Celestia could have sworn that the filly’s colors had darkened slightly.

“Ah dun’ get it.” Said Applejack, frowning slightly as she gave the other earth pony a brief nuzzle to try and console her. “No matter how weird it was, she helped –hay, she even got hurt ovah it- then-…”

*****

“… Why would yah be feared? Ah just dun’ get it.” The orange pony heard the sharp gasp and realized she had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she missed when Pinkie-

-was already running away to prepare the party. Oh well, one less worry to-

A wheezing sound came from the cherry-haired pony, and she started mumbling and trembling after a few seconds. “Are yah alright?”

Gemini fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut, whimpering softly.

“Hey!” Dash was already by her side, nudging her head slowly to get a reaction, or at least find a way to help her up. “Hey, Gem, what’s wrong?!”

With Applejack’s help, they managed to prop her up into sitting on her haunches; she was still unresponsive, but she didn’t fall again. “Hey there sugarcube, what happened?”

For a moment that seemed to painfully stretch into minutes, Gemini did not react, her tear-stained face still frozen in fear.

“No.” The unicorn lightly shook her head. “No, nonono.”

She pushed herself backwards and tried standing, but her knees wobbled, barely able to hold her weight. Applejack, doing her best to support the distraught mare, was close enough to hear her faint whispers.

“I have to go.”

“Now wait a minute.” Applejack held her, gently but firmly.

“No! If I wait, it’ll be too late!” She responded a little louder now, but her shallow breathing didn’t allow anything more than a hoarse whisper. “I’d rather leave than be run out of town. Sorry if I- if I gave you trouble.”

“And why would somepony want to kick you out of town?” Lyra managed to ask despite the confusion.

Gemini just gaped for a second; her pounding heart didn’t let thoughts form properly.

“Why? Why not!” She was panting, and felt how fear was choking her. She pointed down the street in the direction she had seen the pink blur. “You saw her run! Maybe she saw something, maybe she was reminded of something! It would not be the first time…”

Twilight, now understanding that Gemini had mistaken Pinkie’s reaction of surprise with one of fear, told Rainbow Dash to bring her back expeditiously. “As in, yesterday!” She hissed.

“Now what’cha talkin’ about? That happens often?”

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“Want the summary? I’m strong and that scares them.”

“Now yah can’t be serious.” Applejack had to get Lyra’s help to stop the cream-coated filly from fidgeting, trying to stave off a full-blown panic attack; both had to quickly entrust their saddlebags to Twilight. “Mah big brother is real tough; could buck a dragon’s head all the way ‘round, but he’s just a big lug.”

Gem looked her in the eyes, hers streaming with tears, and spoke in that cold, flat tone again. “And what if he did?”

“Beg yer pardon?”

“What if he killed a dragon, huh? What-what if there was a dragon that tried to eat a village, and he killed him?” Her ragged breath lowered in volume as she once again put on a mask of cold calm. “That’s how I came to be feared, how I got kicked out the first time; I killed a dragon - a large, eat-you-in-one-bite adult dragon.”

“Sorry. Goodbye.” The distraction was enough to allow Gemini to push past the pair of ponies blocking her, but that only served to snap them out of it and make them shove back. And ask a multitude of questions.

“The dragons that are smart enough to fight well are smart enough to not fight.” She offered in answer and, since she figured she wasn’t going to be staying much longer, she continued. “Besides, I had a good weapon and he didn’t quite expect to go against one with chaos permeating their being. The idiot never stood a chance.”

“Chaos?” Twilight asked, right before-

“There she is!” A high-pitched voice cried out energetically.

This caused Gemini’s calm demeanor to vanish instantly, making her panic attack reach its peak. She screamed in terror and reared up, tossing Lyra and Applejack down to the ground.

*****

Celestia, for all of her experience, didn’t have a good answer to Applejack’s question. She had a logical explanation, sure, but it didn’t mean it was actually good.

“Uhg.” Twilight groaned, and Spike –who had not let go of her since the guards had arrived in town - hugged her a little tighter. She shook her head. “But it doesn’t make sense! No matter what they say; her being a changeling goes against what we know of her and about changelings, thus it cannot be the explanation! Besides, it’s wrong, didn’t they learn their lesson with Zecora?!”

Hearing her student brought a genuine smile to her lips. ’Always so logical; despite the scare, she is still using her head.’

“And what are you going to do?” The princess of the sun glanced around the room, making sure to look everypony in the eye. With the exception of Spike, who was still shaken up… not that she could blame him. Her gaze came to a stop at the door a second or so before it opened.

The nurse blinked, having just dropped by to see who they were holding up (and the guards posted everywhere were starting to freak her out, just a little). The princess was looking straight at her!

“What are you going to do, with all of those rumors about her?” She repeated her question.

“We-well, we made an oath.” The nurse stammered only once, before managing to get her mind back on track and continuing with more confidence. “It doesn’t matter if she’s a pony, an angel, or the spawn of Discord himself; she’s a patient in this hospital, and we will do our best.”

The princess could not help but feel a small touch of pride and relief. ’Thank you.’

The mare by the door nodded, as if she had heard the princess’s thoughts, before turning around the room. “Speaking of which, Miss Dash, do you need any help?”

“Nah.” She tried to play cool, but even the less observant could easily tell she was completely exhausted by the way she was swaying; the way she winced whenever she moved her wings told the princess that she was most likely feeling very sore. Going by what Twilight had written in her letters, these past few days the multi-hued mare seemed to be racing back and forth all across Ponyville. “Fluttershy, you need anything?”

The butter yellow pegasus shook her head, leaning into Dash a little bit further. As Celestia understood, the shy filly had seen everything rather… closely; the creature’s hunt, then her friend’s injury, that thing’s demise, the guards’ actions… It was clear, at least to her time-tested mind, that Rainbow was doing anything possible to support her long-time friend by being strong for her, for all of them; despite of the protests of her own body, she held fast. Element of Loyalty indeed.

“And you Spike?” Dash asked the little dragon, who just mumbled a negative while still hugging Twilight closely; not just for comfort, but to protect her. They cared for each other like siblings, with the occasional spat and all.

If the words of ‘Aureolus’ on that crumpled, hastily-scribbled note were true… Twilight had been in danger. Of course, Celestia knew how resourceful and clever her student was, not to mention powerful and skilled, but for young Spike the words could well have said that the world was at stake.

And on top of that he had become close friends with the mare in the emergency room; she simply loved how warm to the touch he was. This situation was hard on him.

Applejack wasn’t just sitting idle, either; she tried comforting the pink party pony in turn. The first meeting with their new friend had been… less than ideal; she had no way of knowing, but still felt a little guilty about it. Celestia knew she would feel uncomfortable if she, too, had touched a sensitive issue with the grace of a sledgehammer; regardless of its accidental nature, it was still a rather unpleasant thought. Now? What had been a mere misunderstanding threatened to happen for real, and Pinkie was not taking it very well.

*****

Sugar Cube Corner – Day 1

Bon-Bon loved the part-time job, really, she did – her candy shop was great, awesome, in fact- but the chance to do some baking and getting paid for it was something she simply could not let pass.

’One just has to get used to Pinkie Pie…’

“And you know what that means! A new friend has arrived!” Pinkie ranted at incredible speeds, during which she was also preparing a cake, cupcakes, and even her super-special hoof-made rainbow frosting (not made from actual rainbows). Bouncing from one place to the other to do everything at once, she wasn’t really paying much attention to Mrs. Cake, Bon-Bon, or Dash.

’Easier said than done. It’s WAY too early for me to be dealing with this.’ Bon-Bon thought, trying to see if she could get something done on time for the breakfast rush. On a weekend. Pure joy.

“Pinkie.” Dash tried to speak.

“And then I saw her! She was all gloomy and sad and speaking like she’s been through rough times so I gasped and I said to Myself: ‘Myself, you cannot let this continue!’ She deserves to be happy so I’m going to do my best and make sure she becomes happy with a fantabulous welcome planned by Ponyville’s premier pink party pony –yours truly! Only my name is not Yours Truly – is there a pony with that name? I’d love to meet him or her!”

“Pinkie!” Dash tried to-

“But the party funds are low! And I’m down to the last five kilos of confetti, last ten meters of each color of streamers and I have less than one hundred balloons and that means I have to break out the donations jar but I can’t actually break it because glass is dangerous and it could hurt somepony and don’t want to hurt-“

“You hurt her!” Dash screamed in exasperation, making Pinkie stop in mid-air, falling gently to her hooves; the other ponies look at her like she was spouting crazy talk even loonier than Pinkie’s.

“What?” Pinkie said without turning around, still trying to process what she had heard.

“Look, she thinks you’re scared of her and are putting a mob together to run her out of town!”

“What?!” Pinkie was shocked, as was Mrs. Cake. “Why would I do something like that?!”

“Look, she’s had it that bad before, alright?”

Pinkie’s gaze hardened; she was a mare on a mission given to her by the heavens. “I’m going to need the Welcome Wagon.” She shot out of the kitchen, a bowl of pink cake batter on her back, and stopped in front of a closet.

’No.’ The other ponies watched Pinkie with mild concern and confusion. ’I’m not Twilight, and I don’t know much about Physics, but I know there is No. Way. No BUCKING way that that thing can FIT in there!’

Pinkie reached for the doors, the eyes on her widened on disbelief, she opened the closet and… it wasn’t there. The spectators let out a sigh of relief –each for their own reasons; Mrs. Cake was happy that Pinkie hadn’t ‘enhanced’ the place without at least warning her; Dash and Bon-Bon because the world still held a semblance of sense.

“Mr. Cake!” Pinkie shouted. “Have you seen the Welcome Wagon?!”

“I had to give it a good cleaning, dear!” The yellow stallion’s voice came from upstairs, then a few giggles, a rather loud squeaking noise, and a ‘thump’. “Pound! No pounding daddy!”

The stallion, carrying his foals on the baby harness he wore, came down to meet them, dark bags under his eyes. “Anyways, one of the confetti-cannons was clogged with batter, and I had to change a hinge that was rusty from all the hot sauce.”

Pinkie chuckled nervously and blushed slightly. “Erm… and where is it?”

“Out-“

Pinkie disappeared from sight in a blur.

“-back.”

Dash had a brief moment to herself and her options. She could go along Pinkie and help her push that contraption, or get back first and explain that Pinkie didn’t have a mean bone in her body (maybe a few annoying ones at worst).

She sighed, made her choice, and followed Pinkie.

*****

Ponyville’s Hospital – Emergency operation in progress

“We need to do… something.” Twilight spoke, determined to help, but unsure as to how. Her own grip on Spike tightened unconsciously. “This… this is the longest time she’s been in a town; she never had the opportunity to live her life as she wanted because of… stupid misunderstandings and close-minded panic! We can’t let something like that happen again…”

Princess Celestia smiled sadly, nodding almost imperceptibly in silent agreement; she, too, was determined to show that Equestria was completely different from… wherever it was that she lived before. No-one, pony or not, should be forced to live like… like a vagrant! And certainly not because of such discriminations. Their meeting a few days before… she behaved just like a little filly! So full of awe, cheerfulness, and respect… and that heavy sorrow; Luna took a liking to her, what with her interesting quirks and such. They even saw her inner chaos magic, just by asking her to let it show (so to speak, it’s an aura thing); soft and gentle, so unlike Discord’s twisted one… kindness made all the difference.

“Unfortunately, the past issues with the changelings, as well as herd mentality, have made ponies very wary and fearful of those different from them.” Clestia’s words sounded as grim as her mood. “Ignorance breeds hate, and it pains me to admit that there are things we do not understand about her… things she kept secret…”

The princess paused to give everypony a brief glance to see their reactions, which were mixed, of course; this whole deal was very confusing.

“Honesty breeds a family.” Celestia offered a comforting smile. “She might not have intended to reveal so much of herself when you first met, but do remember that her past has been harsh.”

“Ah guess that if she wasn’ sayin’ sumthin’, it was ‘cuz she was afraid of that same reaction.” Applejack said as she pointed towards town. If their friend had many secrets, it was only because she had been mistreated for being careless with them, and yet, she wanted to be honest with her friends. That right there was a major inner conflict. Sure, friends trust one another and sure, they could trust that whatever secrets they still kept were things that they didn’t really need to know but… well, this wasn’t a normal situation.

Heck, the ponies involved were not normal to begin with – what with six of them being the Elements of Harmony and one a sort of descendant of some kind of spirit of chaos. No, not Discord, thank you very much. The story didn’t explain the whole thing, like how exactly her ancestors had gotten what she called their ‘gift’, but AJ and the others could understand that if she wasn’t ready, then that meant she wasn’t ready!

“Luna should be addressing the assembled ponies about now; we don’t want misunderstandings.” The princess spoke in her most reassuring voice, her confidence and motherly tone seemed to bring some comfort to them; Spike had let go of Twilight, even, though he was still glued to her side. “After all, we came personally to discuss something very important with her, not because of a changeling threat or anything related to Discord.”

“Important?”

“She is rather knowledgeable, and it seems she has been hiding the true extent of her abilities… I am sure that, thanks to her knowledge and her ability to see magical flow so clearly, she might know a thing or two both about what happened yesterday and its possible relation to the ‘Magical Phantom Thief’.”

*****

Intersection of Mane Street and Daisy Lane – Day One.

“There she is!” Pinkie Pie perked up when she saw that the new arrival hadn’t moved much from the place she left her at.

Her smile fell when she got a panicked scream in response, but her resolve hardened twice as much. She dashed forward, leaving the wagon behind for Dash to push.

The pink pony passed in between her stunned friends and through an odd, funny-feeling bubble of air. Not funny-ha-ha, oh no… it was icky, like whatever had placed it there was feeling bad and left some of that feeling hanging in the air.

The runaway mare dove into an alley with a dead end and turned around, only to find Pinkie already there. She froze and, in turn, Pinkie did as well; the cheery baker still could not believe that she had provoked that reaction!

Such a small misunderstanding, well, what should have been small, had caused this. This poor spirit had been broken in the past, and she had accidentally provoked another fracture. However, there was something she could do about it; after all, when you fell down you had to get back up and pick the pieces.

And you didn’t have to do it alone.

“I’m sorry I made you sad.” The party filly pawed the ground awkwardly. “See, there’s this thing I do like, all the time, where I make a party for some reason or the other… maybe no reason at all. It’s what I do.”

The mare that had backed to the wall choked on her words for a few seconds, but Pinkie kept going.

“What to know a good reason for throwing a party?” Pinkie’s smile returned to her face bit by bit. “Making a new pony feel welcome and make lots of friends.”

“Fo-fo-…” Gemini swallowed. “A party… for me?” She asked softly. She was not going to leave anything to chance. She was focusing really, really hard on the pink mare standing in front of her… so much, in fact, that her senses started to bleed into one another like whenever she let loose too far.

The mare’s heartbeat was like a drum solo and a fireworks display, full of color and energy. Her body was absolutely free of the dark, smelly, constricting apprehension the great majority experienced when telling a lie. And there was something else yet again that she couldn’t place – only now she was focusing hard enough (at first in case of emergency, now from curiosity) to tell a bit more about it… it was the sound of sunshine dancing on the petals of flowers, it was the taste of a good time.

This cotton-candy pink filly was as far from being part of an angry mob as the moon was from being made of cheese.

“So you are Pin…?”

Pinkie’s grin was so wide it almost split her head. She got on her hind legs and retreated while spinning like a ballerina, stopping right in front of Rainbow, who just nursed a bruised muzzle and grumbled something.

Gem slowly walked out of the alley, curious at whatever the dancing pony was doing, since it was affecting everything around them; the sheer energy she spread began to take shapes and, in turn, shaped the free-flowing ambient magic. It was taking the form of… music, of all things.

“My name is Pinkie Pie,”

“Is she…?” Gem asked.

”And I am here to say,”

“She is.” Lyra answered, dusting herself.

“I’m gonna make you smile, and I will brighten up your day!

It doesn’t matter now,
If you are sad or blue.
Cause cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie’s here to do!
Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile! Yes I do~!
It fills my heart with sunshine all the while, yes it does~!
Cause all I really need is a smile, smile, smile,
From these happy friends of mine!”

“We’ll talk later.” Twilight said as Gem was pulled by the singing pony. If she liked music, she’d love Pinkie.

“I like to see you grin,
I love to see you beam,
The corners of your mouth turned up,
Is always Pinkie’s dream.”

“Hoof-bump!” Pinkie knocked hooves with the cerulean pegasus, who just couldn’t stay mad at such a cheerful display.

“But if you’re kind of worried,
And your face has made a frown,
I’ll work real hard and do my best,
To turn that sad frown upside-down!

Cause I love to make you grin, grin, grin! Yes I do!
Busting out from ear to ear,
Let it begin!
Just give me a joyful grin, grin, grin!
And you fill me with good cheer!”

Pinkie let go of her and sat down, nuzzling her softly.

“It’s true; some days are dark and lonely.
And maybe you feel sad,
But Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn’t that bad.”

The pink mare smiled widely when she saw how much Gem seemed to enjoy her song.

“There’s one thing that makes me happy,
And makes my whole life worthwhile!
And that’s when I talk to my friends and get them to smile!”

Random ponies from around were bouncing with each step, ready to burst into a joyous chorus as the resident merrymaker worked her magic.

“I really am so happy;
Your smile fills me with glee!
I give a smile, I get a smile,
And that’s so special to me.
Cause I love to see you beam, beam, beam! Yes I do
Tell me, what more can I say to make you see? That I do!
It makes me happy when you beam, beam, beam.
Yes it always makes my day!”

The singer held the newcomer by her forelegs and made her dance around with her. Ponies all around were singing along.

“Come on, everypony, smile, smile, smile.
Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine.
All I really need is a smile, smile, smile,
From these happy friends of mine!
Yes a perfect gift for me,
Is a smile as wide as a mile!
To make me happy as can be!
Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile!
Come on and smile!”

The music had barely faded from the air when Pinkie let go of the cherry-haired mare, both with large smiles pasted on their faces. She pressed a button on the contraption she had suddenly abandoned before.

Those ponies that were paying attention to the party pony –pretty much anypony who had heard her sing- recognized the signs and hurried along. A violinist barely had any time to put away her instrument before a trumpeter began poking her to speed her up; musicians with bulkier instruments had a harder time moving than their nimbler companions, but such was the life of an Equestrian music pony. The unspoken message spread like wildfire to whoever looked at the Welcome Wagon, sending ponies off in a hurry.

‘Party imminent’ it said with nary a word, ‘clear up a spot on your schedule to at least nab a slice of cake’.

The wagon opened up, mechanically-controlled instruments performed a small fanfare and an oven called out with its bell, opening and flinging a pair of pans towards the future guest of honor.

And covering her in lukewarm pink batter with colorful bits of paper stuck inside.

To say Twilight and the girls were shocked wouldn’t do it justice; they froze where they stood. Pinkie was crestfallen…

… Right as the confetti cannons blasted sprinkles and chocolate chips high into the sky, raining on the messy unicorn and bouncing off the metal pan that hung from her horn, hiding her face from the gathered ponies.

“Oh no!” Pinkie was hopping from one side to another, remembering what had happened the last time she had had a mishap like that, the memories making her feel a mix of awkwardness and mild panic. “Pleasepleaseplease don’t be mad! I was just-!”

“Pinkie.” Gemini didn’t bother with moving at all and spoke calmly and firmly, making the others flinch in fear of an outburst. What they got instead surprised them.

“You just sang for me and fed me.” She was heard smacking her lips and gulping from under the pan; apparently, she was eating the batter as-is. “Thus filling in two of my favorite activities, all despite not knowing me and, in fact, because of it.” Another gulp. “I can say that you are the best pony and it’s damn near physically impossible for me to be mad at you for any meaningful length of time.”

Everypony else sighed in relief, with Pinkie nearly melting from it.

“Next time you might wanna wait longer than a single musical number.” Dash nudged a blushing pink pony. “I mean, I know we aren’t the most patient, but I know it’s kinda hard to rush a cake – at least without turning it into coal.”

“So… everything’s alright?” Twilight asked. “No running?”

“Not unless you make me run, no.”

“Mind telling us what that was all about?” Dash asked.

“I don’t react well to being shown fear.”

“Ah’m glad that’s over, then.” Applejack smiled… then grimaced at the noises coming from their guest, who was just sitting there, unmoving. “Don’ya even care there’s them paper bits in there?”

“You have no idea of how hard cake is to come by when living in the wild.” She was licking something under there. “And there are many actual advantages to being me.” Twilight was relieved to see that Gem had gotten over her multiple successive crises, at least right now. “So no, not really.”

“Pink-ie!” They heard a high-pitched shriek. “What have you done?!”

Pinkie blanched, her ears pressed against her head, her pupils turned the size of pinpricks and her hair almost deflated. ’Uh oh, Rarity found out I ruined somepony’s dress again.’

Chapter 6 - A Mirror's Resilience

“How do you know all these things?” Twilight asked.

Gemini gulped, tightening her embrace and breathing harder. “We-well, I-I can give myself dragon energy. Normally, t-tapping into the ma-magic of another race o-or species is hard, but… I-I am a c-cre-creature of chaos, not just an al-alchemist.”

“Ah, and I guess you’ve been mistreated for that.” Twilight knew the sobs were confirmation enough. Chaos magic was… finicky, and its users eccentric, and that’s being generous! Discord and his ‘fun’ didn’t help matters, either.

The lavender filly just soothed her friend, gently stroking her back. “There, there. They just don’t know; chaos is much more than madness -it’s imagination! Freedom!”

Gem nodded.

“You need it!” Twilight continued; already she could tell this was the cause of her previous hysteria. “Too much in either way is disruptive; order can be complacency, or even oppression.”

Gem was still crying, but the sobs slowly turned into chuckles, and then outright laughter. She threw her head back and peals of laughter filled Carousel Boutique, making Twilight wince from the volume.

She could feel the sheer energy coming from the other pony, though, just like when Gemini had stopped Dash and Applejack from fighting –or when she had screamed. This one was far warmer, far more positive…

“She understands!” She cried skyward to whatever higher power was willing to listen. “Sweet children of the stars, she understands!”

Rarity came back in time to hear that, though she would have heard it even from the outside.

“Rarity! She understands!” Gem turned her head towards the fashionista and gave Twilight a bone-crushing hug. “She understands.” She repeated, softly this time, while tears of unbridled joy ran through her face.

The shower of love was briefly interrupted when the pony on the receiving end decided she wanted oxygen more and carefully extricated herself from it.

“Well, in retrospect, it is a little obvious I would be taught about harmony and balance.”

“Your teacher must be very wise; or teachers, if that’s the case.” Gem felt like the luckiest being alive.

“Well, given that Princess Celestia has to run the nation and raise the sun each day, I would hope so.” Rarity commented, resolving to ask what that had been about a little later; she had sense enough to preserve emotional moments, unlike Dash or AJ.

“Th-the sun?!” The red-haired unicorn gasped in surprise. “You not only know, but you are the student of-…” She choked on her words for a second. “What about the moon? Do you know the one who moves the moon?”

“Erm, we haven’t seen much of Princess Luna, but- eek!” The librarian was interrupted by another, less forceful hug.

“I am going to love you forever. I am going to do everything in my power to repay you… that, I promise.” Gem declared, letting go of her friend just as suddenly. “I was told: ’Do not fear the Night, the Sun, or their Herald, for they shall help you to find your place’.”

“Ah, princesses Luna and Celestia are the night and the sun, respectively, while ‘Twilight’ would be the one who ‘heralds’ the change from one to the other.” Rarity deducted, having read enough novels to see through the simple comparison.

“One of my friends gave me that prediction; I’ve been hanging on to it for months!” Gemini sighed of relief. “Now I can take that bath without worries…”

“It doesn’t seem like you need it or the makeover anymore, though.” Rarity said, only to have Gem look at her the same way Sweetie Belle did when punished by removing her ice-cream privileges; a strange and mildly humorous mix of puppy dog eyes and horror.

“… But it’s already drawn, so if you’d just let me borrow your dress…” She was suddenly covered by a white cloth as the thundering sound of hooves rushed past her and deeper into the boutique.

*****

She then followed her nose to the bathroom.

A small note on her upbringing: It seems she and ‘others like her’ consider baths and spas about as good for socialization as clubs or bars, depending on the type of company. She refuses to tell what she had meant with ‘like her’, as she made it clear she hasn’t met another bearing her ‘gift’; I am guessing she means those with the same kind of sensorial abilities, but that can wait until a time she doesn’t feel like the world is going to turn on her for her secrets.

In any case, after Rarity inspected the dress, noting that it was a foreign material similar to silk of an immaculate white color, I informed her about Gem; something short, about what had happened a minute ago and what I think happened to the dress.

My curiosity kept growing; for each answer I received, two more questions would rise! The last officially-recognized prophecy was- sorry; I guess that the pony who acted upon it to prevent those events and save Stalliongrad would know all about it.

Pinkie’s prediction, even if I personally witnessed it, doesn’t count; I just know that she is going to be the one that gets me ‘a cool birthday present’. I hope it’s the new edition of…

The letter contained a list of ten different books at that point.

*****

Letting out a sigh of contentment, Gem almost drifted off to slumber right there and then; the warm water and varied salts Rarity had added fulfilled their purpose and made all of the day’s excitement just wash off. Instead of sleeping, however, her ears swiveled and pointed at the door.

“You know, you can just ask me.” She said. “And no, it wasn’t a pony; none of my friends are ponies… outside of those I made today.”

She listened a little more.

“Yes, I heard that; I’m focusing, it’s the same thing I did with my sense of smell.”

…

“Just come in already!” She scrubbed her coat with one of the plentiful bathing accessories Rarity had in her bathroom, even though there wasn’t much need for it with the cake batter already gone. As everything else in Rarity’s life, the bathroom was luxurious and stylish; the bathtub could easily fit three ponies, there also were all sorts of lotions, oils, hair care products and soaps inside elegantly designed cabinets… all in all, Gem would gladly live in a hole on the ground if it meant having an excuse for getting a makeover every now and then.

The door swung open, allowing both unicorns to see Gem happily groaning as the shampoo Rarity left for her did its job of cleansing her hair and worries.

“So… one of your friends makes predictions?”

“Yup. All five of them are really nice to me, teaching me stuff to entertain myself with while they travel.”

“Just five?” Rarity asked. She was feeling bad already; Twilight had been very reclusive before that Summer Sun Celebration, but that had been her choice…

The red-haired pony shifted around in the tub, though if it was from discomfort or to further wash her coat was impossible to tell.

“I’m not like you; it’s hard to be accepted when no-one is willing to give me a chance… I am of the nature of chaos and darkness, at least on my natural state.”

Twilight was fighting the urge to pull her mane. More questions!

“Oh… and you have been-…“

“Branded as ‘evil’ faster than you can say ‘Wild Party Night’; yes, I have.” Gemini sighed and slumped so that her nose was covered by the water for a moment. She rose and continued. “They don’t get it! Light can blind! Makes them look the other way! They look out for the thief in the shadows and let the swindlers walk around in plain day!”

Gem was gritting her teeth, but it wasn’t long before the sponge in her hoof soothed her. The unicorn dressmaker also lent a hoof by showing her some of the after-bath oils she could use. Rarity saw the gleam in her eyes, the very same look she had when looking at a beautiful jewel that would complete her current design.

The scholarly mare finished the temporary mental rearrangement of all of her questions, and asked what could very well be the most important one at the time.

“How did you come to be the way you are?”

*****

It seems that she reacts the same way others react to her, so if she’s shown fear she becomes scared, and she gets defensive when shown aggression or hostility. That is, unless she’s in her ‘serious’ mood, which makes her seem cold and detached all the time even when involved in a heated argument.

I was curious, so she just answered our questions without complaint! I asked her about her origin and that of her chaos magic.

Later she would tell us that the raising and lowering of the sun and the moon isn’t very discreet even when she’s deliberately ignoring her senses, and can see the moment you reach for them, explaining her indifference when telling us of her ‘dark’ nature. After all, we have a pair of princesses well-acquainted with the subject.

For context, she asked about what we knew of other worlds; I told her a bit about Tartarus and how it is a barren land filled with great evils, thus used to seal dangerous creatures. While she wasn’t happy about it, since she was scared it would happen to her by means of an over-zealous pony (which I promised wouldn’t let it happen), she thought it was adequate enough. She said that ‘legend has it’ that there once was a spirit of chaos and mirrors with a particular taste for merrymaking.

Apparently, the fact that we can name and describe Discord automatically disqualifies him from having a relation to her, since this being’s favorite trick was shapeshifting so often it was impossible to tell what he or she originally was.

This spirit would visit world upon world, partying and pranking with their inhabitants… until an evil spirit of order and light, intent on eliminating free will -as it deemed it to be the source of all evils- attacked him (or her) in a misguided attempt to ‘cleanse the world of the evils of chaos’. According to what she heard from admittedly uncertain sources, though he (or she) was assisted by a more understanding being of order and light, the mirror spirit was gravely injured.

Gemini herself admits of how strange everything sounds, but she was merely relaying what she knew. However, she whole-heartedly believes that this magical predecessor is alive and well, and later in the day she claimed to have recently come across a ‘more natural’ descendant of that being.

At this part she got tight-lipped once more, only saying that her ancestors came across a pool of the being’s blood and accidentally gained power from it by means she wasn’t willing to share. As a side-note, she says that blood is the shadow counterpart of water, explaining her natural affinity for dark magic similar to that of Princess Luna’s relation to the night. Fast-forward to before her birth; her family was researching ways to strengthen the gift given to them, since its use was somehow limited or confined to certain locations. (For an example, Ponyville and Canterlot Mountain, from what she could tell, meet the criteria.)

*****

“And here I am, a being born out of the basic biological drive to survive, hale of mind and body, able to go anywhere and do anything I please. Fat lot of good it did.” She finished, exhaling and bringing down her hoof on the water. Instead of a splash, though, a stream of bubbles shot upwards. “I don't even know if they would have loved me or treat me like the social part of the experiment.”

They decided to move the conversation away from her family for the moment, so they tried to pick a different topic. While the manifestation of physical energy in the form of kinetic effects was of great interest to Twilight, Rarity wished to know more about her ability and its applications. So the alchemist decided to satisfy both of their questions at once.

“See my dress? It’s made of a material used for high-grade robes; even if it’s missing the enchantments, it still can protect nicely against magical attacks.” Anticipating the next question, she kept going. “There are downsides to this chaos; since my body’s ‘order’ is easily upset when struck; even if I use my energy to deflect blows and resist magic, I still get hurt more than what I should theoretically do when hit.”

Twilight was almost too scared to ask, fearing that she knew what the answer would be. “How do you know that?”

“One blow at a time, Twilight, one blow at a time.” She held a bubble wand in her hooves and made a bubble; it had the shape of a donut for a second or two before reverting to the spherical form it should naturally have. “To be fair, most of those were from wild monsters or training injuries.”

“Well, at least you seem healthy enough.” The fashionista nervously batted her hair with a hoof, barely suppressing a shudder.

“I’d be a lot less healthy without my powers; then again, I would get into a lot less trouble without them.” Oddly enough, Twilight didn’t think that was a complaint, but merely a statement without consequence like wishing she had picked a different breakfast. “What, does this body look like it’s fought anything, least of all a dragon?”

“You what?!” The homeowner gasped.

“See? I don’t look the part.”

*****

As it turns out, the saying ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’ can also work in reverse. For example, since her body’s natural state says she must have two ears, if something were to happen to them it would eventually heal completely without the aid of outside magic or surgery. Think of it as an unconscious use of her ability on herself directed by her own body. She claims she has had a notch missing from time to time, but there are no traces of scarring.

Apparently, she could even replace it; however, the convalescence period increases with the severity of the injury: Incomplete fractures take days to heal on their own, but it is still faster than unassisted bone healing.

She made the rather morbid observation that depression could kill her by upsetting her body to the point it gives up.

The last word was crooked, even when comparing it to the chicken scratch Twilight’s writing devolved to when she wrote in a hurry. It was as if a liquid had fallen on it while the ink was fresh.

Nopony deserves that. Even if she were unwilling to share her knowledge and experiences with me, I would never let her feel like that.

*****

“Still, what made you think attacking an adult dragon was a good idea?” Rarity tried scolding the other mare, but she appeared to be too busy rinsing to care.

“What, him trying to kill a little girl isn’t reason enough?” She countered, again with an air of disinterest. “She gave me a piece of bread and showed me her favorite doll, you see, so I owed her.”

Seeing that her conversation partners would take a little while to come out of their shock, she kept going.

“See, the residents discovered a mine and settled, but the town was still relatively new so there wasn’t much protection yet. He tried claiming its riches, and tried to give a ‘demonstration’ of what would happen to those who opposed.” She frowned, angry that a bunch of shiny crystals could be considered more valuable than the life of a child. “I dove for the kid and managed to get her out; even if I got sent through a wall, it was better me than her.”

“I can keep myself together, as long as I have energy to spare, so I showed him that while a dragon’s scales might withstand a thousand ordinary swords without problem…” She chuckled darkly as the last of the soap was washed out of her tail. “One where the essence of life flows and concentrates is another story.”

*****

“Shiny, you have read the page three times by now; it’s not going to change just because you will it to.” Princess Cadence draped a wing over her husband to force him to stop fidgeting.

“It’s just that… a pony younger than my sister, not just knowing the principles behind the Wing Blade technique, but also mastering them to the point she can produce spell-like effects?” He sounded as nervous as he looked; his mane was disheveled and his eye twitched. “She refuses to tell what she did to nullify the dragon’s breath; it’s suspicious! And a chaos magic spell that weakens the target in mind and body, even a dragon! It’s dangerous… even if it’s just temporary; just thirty seconds is…”

“Twilight is not a filly anymore, and this pony has the advantage of having inherited the knowledge from her parents.” She nuzzled him, and smiled inwards when he returned the gesture. “Not to mention she has practice.”

“That’s what worries me. I know her intentions are noble, but killing-?”

“Shining Armor.” Cadence interrupted him, sounding upset herself. “If you have forgotten already, Twilight herself has been and admits to have been in problems that could result in her having to defend herself with force… she has managed to get by with diplomacy, or running away, or even peacefully, like she did when returning the Ursa Minor to her cave with her power and skill.”

“But it sounds like this mare just… accepts that she killed.” The stallion tried to say something more, but seeing that his wife was genuinely disappointed knocked the fight out of him.

“Changeling invasion notwithstanding, we are blessed to have peace; Twilight and her friends, too, for being able to solve all of their problems without violence. This pony did not have that kind of luck. She’s not a heartless murderer; she wanted to survive, and for others to do so –even if they turned on her afterwards. She deserves peace and compassion, not rejection, and definitely not pity.”

She pointed to a section in one of the numerous pages Twilight had sent them; at first, she was amused by the fact that she must have written three large letters, having decided to stop relying on her parents to relay the information to prevent falling out of touch with her brother like they did before the wedding; however, it made tracking down a specific section rather annoying.

Shining Armor glanced in the direction of her hoof, but returned to the page he was reading. Cadence nudged him and pointed again, before switching approaches.

“You are a soldier, and so are the ponies you have had under you; if they had to, say, slay a manticore, would you still trust Twilight around them?”

“Well, she would be safe…”

“And need I remind you of the times you nearly-“

“Cadence, please…” Shining Armor’s voice was small, and made the princess bite her lips and tighten the embrace around her beloved.

“Just because she is not a Royal Guard, or a soldier, doesn’t mean she’s forbidden from knowing how to defend herself or her friends. Twilight would be safe with her, too… please, just let her be; prove that ‘Gem’ can be safe with them.” She spoke softly, but reminding her thick-headed, worrywart of a husband of the reason he himself joined the Equestrian Royal Guard. "Innocence isn't something that ever goes away; you just have to make sure you don't lose sight of it."

She took one of the very first pages, sliding it in front of the one that Shining Armor was reading.

“Twilight is confiding in you, in us; this pony asked her to only share with those she trusts unconditionally. What does that say to you, about the way she sees you?”

The part of the letter she pointed at before had the answers, even if Shiny was too worried to believe it right now. It’s as Rarity told them; different ponies withstand different things.

*****

“So what if I killed him? I warned him, but he insisted on crushing the ‘puny’ opposition and showing how ‘great’ and ‘superior’ he was. It’s a drop in the river of my life, long since washed away and gone to the Great Depths.”

“Twilight, darling, think of it this way: When the Diamond Dogs captured me, I could keep my head, no?” Rarity waited for her friend’s attention to shift to her. “I remember that day, and, while it was stressful, it is no more difficult a memory to revisit than most. Some other pony could have a harder time… ‘leaving’ captivity, even weeks after he or she returns home.”

Twilight nodded.

“Different ponies have different things they can bear on their own.” Rarity said, gently brushing the deep red hair in front of her; she had extended a helping hoof at this newcomer, and she grasped it with such force… Rarity could clearly see how grateful Gem felt. “It just so happens that the severity of this topic gives it an air of unreality.”

“I-I can’t stand seeing others scared of me without reason.” Gemini shuddered. “I-it feels wrong! I don’t care for the fighting, but seeing-…” She fell silent, instead trying to focus on the fact that she was getting groomed and fussed over. These ponies cared. They were different. They did not judge so quickly. They cared.

The others figured her breakdown could be part of the whole ‘mirror’ imagery. She reflects, imitates, and shares her insight… fear like that was so opposite to what she strove for that she had a hard time processing it. It was like ‘something so ugly it makes mirrors break’.

“I admit that it’s harsher for me to remember the fiasco that was the first fashion show than it is to remember being underground!” She laughed nervously as she braided Gem’s mane.

Twilight, too, had experienced a little of that, spiraling into irrational hysteria when certain types of stress fell on her… the ‘Smarty Pants incident’ came to mind, since Discord’s release had been too fresh in her mind. She… huh, she now found it easier to recall… then again, she knew she had her friends’ support in one-hundred-and-twenty percent for everything. And now she had a new friend that was just as willing to watch her back.

She just hoped she didn’t have to face any more monsters.

She had been mercifully spared from the details of the fighting itself, only being told that mere obstacles would not stop the flow of energy. An opposing force of similar nature was needed. Even dragon scales could only get you so far before failing. The strike acted not only upon the body, but its latent energy; if you couldn’t control it to deflect or soften the blow, you’d get hurt more. It was similar in principle to Earth Pony strength with a few mixings of Pegasus flight, with the defense being similar to the pegasus ponies’ resistance to crashes, but Gem could do so much more…

Gemini, for her own part, felt like royalty. The day’s events were coming at an overwhelming pace! First she had made a couple of friends, and then feared she would loose them like she had done so many others; as it turns out, they don’t care! Sure, there were still many secrets, but it won’t be long now.

Soon… soon, she would know if ponies could handle the entirety of her story.

After all, if her family’s origin story alone was enough to drive listeners into a fear-fueled frenzy, what would they think of her legal caretaker?

Oh goodness! Rarity’s brush feels heavenly!

Chapter 7 - A Dark Dusk and a Bright Day

Ponyville City Hall – After the Castle theft.

There was a large crowd of restless ponies, murmurs and stories floating about and getting more and more twisted and increasingly ridiculous. Each pony would think of something he or she had ‘heard of’ before and voice how it ‘completely explained everything’ that had happened, letting fact and fiction blur together and only succeed in scaring the next pony… who would in turn cobble together his or her own version using another rumor.

The Cakes were trying to calm down the ponies around them, to no avail… could they not understand that nopony that behaved that kind with foals can be bad?

Vinyl and Octavia faced a similar problem with their neighbors. How could a pony that spoke of music like she did be a changeling spy? Would it even matter if she wasn’t a pony? Vinyl would even find it cool and, no matter how ‘refined’ she liked to act, Octavia would as well.

Lyra managed to calm down Bon-Bon, but that was it…

There was another with personal involvement, but she had done too much already. No, she couldn’t be outside right now. She may owe her current lifestyle to the other’s silence, but if she was discovered it could put the both of them in danger.

Meanwhile, Princess Luna’s patience was… strained, to say the least. The rumors had escalated already, now the ‘answer’ was a changeling that made a pact with Discord for power.

Luna took a deep breath to cool her boiling blood. This latest rumor made more sense, but the inconsistencies between the rumors and the facts made poking holes in the theory very easy. Even if she were a changeling, there was nothing the princesses could do about it unless they could identify her as one of the changelings who invaded Canterlot. Maybe not even then, there just wasn’t any ill-intent coming from her! No manipulation! Nothing like in the wedding!

Luna was sure. She heard it from the Bearers and Shining Armor; the manipulation spells made them… gloss over Chrysalis’s defects and mistakes, and made them love her and exalt her into a position where she was utterly impossible to fault –in their eyes. While Twilight’s suspicion and strong will protected her… the captain fell because he was targeted immediately, exposed constantly, and his guard had been lowered by the disguise, while the others were fooled because they did not know the real Cadence… thankfully, the exposure had been so short that finding out the truth freed them.

The princess reviewed her memories, even if she had felt no magic, just to prove to herself that the filly hadn’t somehow found the way to charm even her. Flaws were still flaws, oddities were still confusing and mildly endearing, and her words still made sense instead of being white noise that sounded pretty at the time – simultaneously disproving more mundane forms of manipulation.

‘Let’s put our past behind us… together! The three of us!’

The words resonating inside her head made her clench her teeth, a light frown being the only external sign of her immense disgust with the multitude. No doubts about it - This was a friend they were talking about! She would not be punished for crimes she didn’t commit, and certainly not because of fear from other ponies. Besides, if Luna herself had gotten a second chance, it would be hypocritical –no, downright cruel- to deny this filly.

Though that was neither here nor there, since she wasn’t a changeling.

She was waiting for the Mayor to present her, and then she’d take the stand to… what was it called? ‘Bite them out’? No… chew them out, that was it. If they were so intent in demonizing her and turning her into something unnatural, they might as well pull all the stops and say that Nightmare Moon resurrected Tirek who used the Smooze to craft a golem for the changelings to house an abomination of Discord’s magic!

As soon as that thought surfaced a chill ran down her spine, making her eyes widen as the implications hit her. Discarding the ridiculous parts… it made sense, it made a scary amount of sense. The princess of the night had to run through her knowledge of golems to make sure this wasn’t the case.

A few types of golem could regenerate from nearly anything thanks to the magic animating them. There are often issues with others due to differences in mentality… this could take- wait.

… She was forgetting something in the letter…

She isn’t a golem. Yeah… the letter did say that, outside of their abilities, her parents (and their parents, and so on) were ordinary creatures before whatever process gave them their ability –hopefully not blood magic, but what could be done if it were? Luna also remembered that she had said that, despite her own ability being the result of an enhancement before her physical development, she was every bit her parent’s biological daughter. It would be hard to make that claim when you’re an animated statue. Not to mention that she seemed like the kind to confess something like that… oh, she also said something about wishing to be a golem… something about the legality of the issue being different? Right, something about the laws that applied being different.

Not to mention one of her older friends.

“Your attention, please!” Oh, the Mayor began the public address; Luna had to focus on the matter at hoof.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” Mayor Mare waited until the eyes of the populace fell on her before continuing. She took a deep breath… Luna was unsure as to why would the mayor do- “You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

What.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Those ponies fought tooth and nail for our safety, going so far as to risk theirs, and this is how you show gratitude? By spreading vicious rumors while they cannot explain themselves? When they might not see the next dawn?”

Luna was unsure of how to proceed, after all, that was just what she wanted to do. She even told the mayor that she was disappointed in the resident-… oh.

“Princess Luna has come to give an explanation to the presence of the Royal Guard and their investigators here in Ponyville, please refrain from drawing conclusions on your own.”

With that, she turned away from the stunned crowd and trotted off, passing next to the princess of the moon.

“Thou- I mean, you have taken the words from my mouth.” Luna said, making the earth pony freeze momentarily before she caught the princess’s smile and relaxed.

“Well, I-I thought it was very rude that-…”

“Yes, thank you, but ‘tis our turn.”

Princess Luna mentally kicked herself for slipping back into the royal ‘we’, but she still had to assuage the anxieties of the gathered ponies. Taking her place and raising her hoof to quiet the (already silent) crowd, her wings flared in a mostly-unconscious gesture to increase her presence; she had to make a very conscious effort not to let out the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Please, no questions, for we do not hold the answers!” Darn, first mistake, but at least that ‘we’ was grammatically-correct in context; it was better to just keep it up. “And we won’t have any until they recover enough to answer themselves.”

The eyes of the crowd turned from side to side, but the mayor’s words prevented them from starting any more gossip, at least right away.

“What is known is that one of them, the one called ‘Aureolus’, ran afoul of potent and complex transformation magic.” She had to resist the urge of adding ‘sloppily performed’ somewhere in there; it isn’t every day she had witnessed somepony bleeding magical energy like that – their own, from how poorly put-together their body was. She wanted a few words with whoever had cast the spell.

“The confrontation was due to an oversight of the guards themselves, who, lacking the ability to properly perceive the delicate state of the victims, proceeded to handle them too roughly and thus made themselves a menace instead of a symbol of peace and order.” If those idiots hadn’t already gotten what they deserved, she would have sent them to the hospital herself, or at least put them on latrine duty for a year.

The tips of her outstretched wings crackled with electricity as the inner storm roused by her anger threatened to spill over. She took a deep breath and kept her voice and inner magic reasonably calm, avoiding the Voice; she had to avoid the Voice…

“Our sudden visit stems from a desire for answers of our own… unfortunately; a lack of foresight and these developments might close those doors to us.”

*****

Carousel Boutique – First day.

This wasn’t what she had meant by a ‘demonstration’, but she had to admit it had its… appeal.

Rarity had asked to see a little of what Gemini had seen, she wanted something exotic from a faraway land! However, she forgot to specify what she meant by that, and thus was now holding a sword with her magic.

It was a longsword with a stunning white and gold hilt, with an emerald in the pommel and on either side of the grip, and a golden dragon coiled from pommel to rain guard as a sort of protection for the wielding claw.

She doubted that the griffons had made it, since a great deal of what they made had a tendency to eschew this kind of elegance in favor of practically, but thought it rude to inquire about her past… she’d let her reveal things at her own pace; even if that never happened, Rarity would just be there, ready to lend a hoof. Although, if –let’s say, Rainbow Dash- managed to make questions without offending, she would not deny her interest!

Still, for a weapon, it was gorgeous… as well as somewhat inspiring.

“It is rare to find something so deadly so… beautifully crafted.” Rarity said as Gem took the foreign weapon in her mouth, and then made it disappear in a shower of steel-grey lightning and sparks going outside-in.

“I know!” Gem replied cheerfully, all the while looking at some of the fabric patterns the fashionista thought would look good with her own color scheme. Slightly reminiscent of Applebloom’s, a few of the suggestions were soft greens that would compliment her hair and eyes. The problem being that she had absolutely no idea of what looked good to others, given that her tastes could produce some rather garish results on occasion; she had to ask Twilight to choose for her.

She chose a soft green with vine-like lines. Gem used her ability to call the sundress into being around her body in a crackle of green sparks, with the benefit that the hole for her tail was perfectly sized and the length was easily adjustable. At Rarity’s insistence, it was a slightly altered design more appropriate for the gradually chilling days that would follow; this new dress had long sleeves and a collar, instead of just a sleeveless square neck.

Gem turned around and was about to collect her button, but Rarity insisted on surprising her. She was almost dragged over and shoved on a dais surrounded by three full-size mirrors and told to close her eyes.

“No cheating~!” Rarity said in that little singsong voice she used whenever she was happy. Then, her delighted smile turned to a frown as soon as she looked away from the unicorn with the braided mane and tail.

Twilight was about to ask when she saw Rarity levitating the mare’s accessory over to herself, staring at it as if trying to pry the secrets of the Universe out of it.

’I get it! She’s thinking of using it!’ Sure, it was the sort of thing a young foal would use, but it was probably loaded with all kinds of sentimental value. It wouldn’t look right if worn like before, on the flank, but it was evident Gemini would prefer to display it proudly.

Rarity held a few lengths of ribbon of various shades of pink in her magical grip, holding them next to the filly’s accessory to compare the compatibility of the colors; she found the perfect one, and yet, she appeared to be dissatisfied. She looked over to where the cherry-haired pony was sitting still… this wasn’t going to be like the vast majority of her other works; this was going to be for everyday use rather than mostly show, so it had to favor practicality while retaining the sort of touch the elegant pony strove to add to everything.

A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty, after all.

With a small flash of inspiration, though one unrelated to the previous one, she prepared.

*****

Rarity gave her a simple, round sunhat, with the ribbon tied around it with a big bow behind it and the badge pinned to the side as you would a sunflower. When she was told to open her eyes, and they noticed the hat, with her smiley-faced button on it, she was beaming! It had to be seen; you’d think she was crowned princess!

Her smile, her gratitude, it was all genuine. She does not like to wear any masks on her feelings, and can see right though those of others; even her ‘cold’ side is more of an emotional pause than a true mask – a meditative, logical state of sorts. She is not the kind to dwell in the hardships of the past; instead, she uses the memories to fuel the delight she felt when something pleasant happened. When she smiles, it is a smile.

It did not stop there. If Gemini enjoyed looking nice to others, Rarity would make sure she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

It was time for makeup.

*****

Gemini’s eyelashes were very even, and it wasn’t like she was going to some high-society event; just a tiny bit of mascara and eye shadow, with a dab of blush, and Gem was marveled at her reflection.

Or so Twilight thought, but her guest’s wonder was partially thanks to her.

“Thanks again, for the cake, the bath… for everything.” Gem said.

“It’s no big deal.” Twilight replied in humility, only to be interrupted.

“No, it is. I can’t even do something like… transmute hair into hair of a different color without being accused of being a soul-stealing succubus.” Gem sighed; all that trouble only because of a paranoid fool.

‘Ah, so that is the reason she got mad when Lyra mentioned the changelings. There are many different creatures with the capacity to shape-shift, and spells that can convincingly produce the illusion of such. I guess clothes-making and changing colors qualify for whoever made those accusations.’ Twilight pondered her next course of action with those thoughts in mind.

“Gem, do you want to go to Sugarcube Corner?”

Chapter 8 - Essence of Being

It took a lot of willpower, but Gem managed to hold off running straight there just long enough to take a look at some of Rarity’s displayed works and nab a couple of magazines for later. Currently, Twilight carried them on her bags.

Gem was back in the world of symphonies of colors, describing some of the things she heard and saw with a dreamy sigh. It’d be easier if she were an earth pony, but once she got going it didn’t make much of a difference. Maybe she could teach this? She’d have to start from the basic experiences, and it was likely she’d have to brew some Light-River wine, but it would be nice to do something for Twilight.

*****

We ponies make the earth sing beneath our hooves, our steps and heartbeats shaping the world around us; depending on the type, mood and condition of the pony, the sounds fluctuate in a never-ending orchestra of color, shape, and movement. Unicorns like me make the tingling of glass bells, or more solid bells on occasion, or the sound of a piano, marimbas or similar instruments, and delicate strings like harps. Pegasus ponies are some of the more sonorous string instruments, as well as wind instruments like flutes. Earth ponies are the brass section of the ensemble, the bass-spectrum instruments, and the percussion as well.

Flight, vigorous activity, and spellcasting also have a noticeable effect on the area, enriching the sounds to a different level.

This is by no means fixed, as she said that with but a simple spell, things could get turned on their head. I guess the could-walking spell has a more profound side to it; this is a whole new side to magic I intend to explore for possibilities. More efficient spells and maneuvers ‘sound’ and ‘look’ better, as they are better-structured and/or flow more easily.

There are exceptions as well; just as Fluttershy is highly attuned to wildlife even when compared to an earth pony, there are unicorns with ‘deep’ and ‘tough’ music attached instead of ‘crisp’ tones, earth ponies with ‘airy’ or ‘delicate’ instruments, or different combinations of the effects. Gemini herself has no particular affinity even without spells acting upon her, instead just picking whatever she feels would compliment this ‘environmental symphony’ – which seems to do wonders to improve her mood.

She has expressed great curiosity as to how would you and your sister would sound like, even if discovering it meant that she has to walk all the way to Canterlot.

We caught the scent of baked goods, and she looked ready to start floating from the pleasant feeling freshly-baked cake produced inside us. I know I love it!

*****

“Hi! Looking good!” Pinkie said from behind the counter, holding Pound Cake on her forelegs. “The breakfast rush happened super-duper fast! Everypony and I mean everypony wants to prepare for the par-TAY!” She gave a small whoop to accentuate, which was imitated by the foal.

Gemini let out a squee of happiness upon seeing the Cake’s foals. “Babies!”

*****

From her stories and actions, it is evident that she’s fiercely protective of young children and their families regardless of species; quite understandable, I have the impression that she just wants a family to call her own.

Unfortunately, Dash chose that moment to make a harsh remark about ‘taking forever to get dolled up’ and that if we had taken any longer she would have gone to get her. Then she stomped in irritation.

The effect on Gemini was immediate, as if she had had a bucket of ice emptied on her. She got really quiet and went to sit at a corner, facing away from us like a scolded filly; she then began to hold her tail on one hoof and stroking it with the other, a habit she developed due to the lack of physical contact. I understood quickly that saying ‘get you’ so angrily was a poor decision, and, judging by the slap to the back of the head she gave Rainbow Dash, so did Applejack.

Pinkie tried offering her a complimentary cheer-up cupcake, but she rejected it. I did not understand how much of a bad sign that was at the time, although, given that she just stood in a single place instead of running away, she understood that Dash didn’t mean anything by it; she still needed some time for her heart to catch up to her head, though.

Pinkie, of all ponies, swore off a large variety of surprise parties for Gem and a great deal of scare-type pranks as a result – anything where somepony jumps at her in a way that might be misconstrued as an ambush of some sort; Gem abhors surprises, at least that specific kind, and Pinkie Pie is just that mindful of others. This arrangement is called ‘Partial Fluttershy Treatment’, since not all pranks were disallowed. Sure, if Gemini is prepared, she would be nearly impossible to surprise, but all it would take is a small distraction and a bad prank to get her to flee Ponyville altogether - like it almost happened when the two first met.

“Tia, all will be fine.” Luna gently lifted her sister’s chin with the very tip of her wing. Celestia was revisiting some unpleasant memories, and needed an attentive ear and kind advice.

“Oh, Twilight. I-I only meant it as a joke…” She said in a low, tired voice. Luna hated seeing Celestia like that; she wasn’t her strong, smart, and kind big sister, with eyes sparkling with brilliance and the wisdom of ages. Right now, she wasn’t Celestia, princess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria, exuding charisma and inspiring awe with her presence. No, whenever she was like that… she just looked old.

Old, and heavy with her mistakes.

“I thought she had gotten over it, after all, it’s been years already. I mean, I knew she was anxious, scared that I was going to give her a surprise test; after you managed to calm her down, I thought- I thought that a little teasing would be fun. I should have known better.”

Luna said nothing, limiting herself to nuzzling and listening.

“But no. I had to say it, didn’t I? I had to poke fun at her nervous breakdowns. I had to ruin my chance to apologize just to have a little laugh. I had to forget everything I planned just to say ‘I hope you studied well, I just finished making up the exam’.” Celestia’s face contorted with a pained frown.

“Twilight Sparkle forgave you for that.” Luna said firmly.

“She blacked out!” Celestia snapped back. “She had a blackout from sheer stress!”

“Twilight Sparkle forgave you for that.” Luna solemnly repeated herself, pressing herself just a little bit into her big sister.

“But I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. Sure, I loved spending time with her again, to get her to forget my cruel joke.” The tired white pony sighed. “But pretending that nothing else was wrong…”

“It made you feel sick, yes, but you were afraid she would not be in the right frame of mind.” Luna then had an idea. “This new friend could help you get another chance, even indirectly.”

“How?”

“Invite them all to Canterlot, and then leave them to me while you ask Twilight Sparkle to do something with you and converse, like tea.”

“Or we could visit. Twilight would feel more comfortable at Ponyville.” Celestia’s words were gradually recovering their usual strength. Her mood was still grim, but her determination had been re-ignited; as the sun rose each dawn, so did her resolve gain warmth and strength.

*****

“Rain-bow Dash!” Rarity stomped a hoof of her own. “I will have you know that Gemini is a mare after my own heart; while you may be content with your ‘windswept’ look, others like us prefer a sophisticated touch!”

“Please, don’t cry, you’ll… ruin your make up?” Twilight said, and then bit her lips. Things had been going so well, with Gemini very pleased after the bath…

“Pound Cake, she likes you already, do something!” Pinkie told the foal, right before holding him inside Gemini’s range of vision.

Gem looked at the tiny pony, who stared back in mild confusion as babies often did when meeting strangers. She smiled softly, while Pound tilted his head.

“And who’s this handsome little colt?” She said, still somber, as she gently –oh so gently- took hold of the foal and cradled him.

*****

Mom, dad, later that day she told me outright that she would rather face dragons again than allow a family to be broken. She also expressed a desire to see you, if nothing else, because you raised me into the kind of pony that has an open mind and heart. She wants to thank us as a family.

Speaking of which, seeing her with a foal was… different. She does not spout ‘foal talk’ very often, instead speaking like she would to anypony else. Understandable - after all, a baby does not judge if they have their needs taken care of and shown affection. While she can be a ‘large filly’ most of the time, she showed all of her restraint and moderation at those moments, caring for Pound and Pumpkin like they were her own.

Yes, even if the Cake’s foals are in that stage. It helps that she could perceive the moment they were about to have one of their surges of magic, prompting her to literally blow the wind out of under Pound’s wings and somehow blocking Pumpkin’s magic with her own body before it could build up, effectively ending the surge before it could start.

=====

I could feel it, big brother. I might not be as sensitive as her, but I could feel a small pulse or ripple synchronized with her breathing, produced due to sheer will. She blanketed the foal she held as if shielding him; anything unfortunate enough to threaten the foals of Ponyville would discover just how dangerous a ‘grown filly’ could decide to be. She was on high alert, should something unexpected happen.

At first glance she appeared relaxed, though. She even produced a couple of rubber balls for the twins.

*****

“Are you alright?” Dash asked Gem, who had been knocked on her side by the twins chasing their presents around.

“Better.”

“Sorry.” Dash said as she extended an aiding hoof, pulling the downed mare back up.

“Don’t be, I’m always jumpy when Aer isn’t with me.”

“Who is-?” Rarity began to speak, but Gemini’s attention seemed to be pulled outside; she didn’t have to wonder why for long, as the sounds of laughter could be heard through the door.

“I have it! Carrot, Cup, I have it!” Cried the rapidly approaching voice from the outside, scant few seconds before the sound of hooves skidding through the earth made itself known, followed by the dry sound that could only come from the impact of a pony’s body against the bakery’s door. Even Pound and Pumpkin made a face.

“With the force her spirit is shining with, I’m surprised she didn’t put a hole through the wall.” Gem commented, as Lyra made her way to the door.

“Gemini, this is Bon-Bon, my flatmate.” Lyra opened the door with a small flash of golden magic, allowing the candy-maker mare’s body to fall inside. The mare’s blue and pink mane was disheveled and her eyes swiveled about in their sockets. The foals giggled at the scene. “Bon-Bon, is there any reason to laugh like a mad-mare?”

The other pony sprang back to her hooves, straightening her hair and saddlebags.

“Yes! I mean, no! I mean, it’s a surprise!” She blurted out, before her eyes fell on the new mare in town and she began grinning maniacally. “Don’t worry! These pastries are going to blow your mind!”

With that, Bon-Bon hastily disappeared into the kitchen, where conversation and intense hoofbeats and clattering of implements promptly started. Lyra just shook her head and sighed.

“And that is why I’m working the counter right now!” Pinkie chimed in. “The Cake’s super-special baking project!”

“They are baking… like their lives depended on it?” Gem asked, slightly amazed that the fierce energies radiating from the kitchen of the shop were due to cooking.

“Uh-huh!” Pinkie nodded so quickly it was a wonder that her head hadn’t popped off. “They said that what happened to you –you know, that thing about not being able to eat cake when you wanted- was a tra-… a trasv-…”

“Travesty?” Twilight completed.

“Yes! An affront to their cutie marks and everything Sugarcube Corner stood for! And so they said that they were gonna put their secret baking research to use so you can taste it!” Pinkie juggled the two new balls, a cupcake and what Dash could swear was a cloud lump wearing a diaper, but obviously couldn’t be. “They even kicked me out of the kitchen and took over the catering!”

“Huh.” Gem blinked. “I-I actually like the sound of that. Bread was the first thing anyone ever gave me, and then she played with me…” Gemini trailed off at the end.

’The child she saved.’ Rarity mused.

Gem was pleasantly surprised. The smell of baked goods was already capable of provoking happiness beyond words, and now they were trying to make it more amazing? And for her?

“It’s official. Ponyville is the greatest town ever.” Gemini said, while the other mares nodded in agreement.

“How long have they been at it?” Twilight asked.

“Ever since Pinkie here told ‘em that yer willin’ ta eat paper if it means getting cake.” Applejack eyed Gemini, and then continued. “Was the strangest thing too.”

“I’ll say!” Lyra added, picking up Pumpkin and preventing her from chewing on the furniture. “Mister Cake looked ready to drop, but suddenly, the bags under his eyes are gone, poof, like he was never tired!”

“He’s a bit on the lanky side, but I swear that, for a second, he was Snowflake-size!” Dash’s contribution was followed by a glance towards a waste basket, a half-eaten muffin adorning its top.

“Ah thought Ah was the only one!” Applejack exclaimed, looking towards the basket as well - more specifically, the bitten cookie underneath the muffin. “Ah thought mah eyes were playin’ sum nasty trick on me.”

“And his stubble disappeared!” Pinkie piped in, then shuddered. “It’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen…”

“They must take their baking seriously if they are doing that.” Gem had a small blush, concealed by her makeup. She played a little with the thin ribbon holding her braided mane, pointing with the other hoof. “It feels nice.”

“An’ what is ‘that’?” Applejack asked, following with her sight the unicorn’s gesturing hoof towards the kitchen.

Gemini took a deep breath, sitting at one of the tables before continuing.

“Well, it’s the use –through intense will and/or focus- of… something known by several different names; Spectra, Soul-fire, Essence…”

“Wait, what?” Twilight interrupted the other unicorn. “How is that possible?”

Before Twilight could get into scholar mode, Gem answered. “… Because they wanted to? Seriously, I knew peacetime lands wouldn’t know certain things, but this is pushing it.”

“That’s not an answer!” Twilight said. “What about side-effects, the dangers?!”

“Look, while it’s true that going too far would have serious consequences, I doubt that making bread is such a demanding activity that it causes a burnout.” Gem chuckled. “Sooner or later, they will calm down and the energy will settle. Done. They’ll tire, but they are baking; worry if they have to do something dangerous and don’t know how to handle their Essence.”

“But- but that’s impossible…”

“I’m going to prove otherwise.” Gem was frowning, but soon her face relaxed slightly and her voice became cold and calm.

’She’s very, very upset, but why?’ Rainbow wondered to herself, trying to discover just what would make the cherry-haired pony abandon her cheerful persona like that.

“Has anyone here –besides Pinkie- ever felt like you wouldn’t be able to live with yourselves if you failed to do something?” Gem asked, in a neutral voice, as she looked around. “That is- have you felt like you’d do anything to prevent something that you would regret?”

Pinkie pouted, since she had been excluded.

“Have you ever felt like what you have, what you are, is not yet enough? Have you ever screamed at yourself to make that final push and do something? And then… you did it. You felt it was beyond you, and you did it anyways, because you truly, absolutely wanted it with all of your being. Because you searched deep within for the one part of you that could do it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, closing her eyes and becoming absorbed in her thoughts.

*****

Cloudsdale – Best Young Fliers competition.

“Eeeyaaah!” The scream reached her ears even as she kept climbing.

’What the- Rarity?!’ She looked back and saw Rarity plummeting to the earth.

She saw the Wonderbolts falling out of control… they were unconscious!

All doubt, all nervousness, every shred of anxiousness in her being evaporated. The stadium was far away from her consciousness. Her previous panic was destroyed and drifted away with any plans or objectives she might have had before. There was only one thing in her head – one goal.

‘Wings, you can’t fail me now!’

“Hold on Rarity! I’m coming!” She yelled back at the top of her lungs. Then, she shot downwards.

’Come on! I need more speed! Come on, body, this is what I’ve trained for all my life!’ She shot past the stadium without even noticing it. Only Rarity, the Wonderbolts, and the approaching ground existed in her world.

=====

Unbeknownst to all bystanders, Princess Celestia had her wings spread, and her millennia-old, magic-infused body was filling with the force of the winds.

Before she could lean forward or direct her will to her horn, a prismatic bolt charged with an ever-increasing amount of magic shot in front of her, forcefully pushing against the air and the magical field of Equestria even as they tried to slow it down.

To her senses, it roared with the power of a hurricane and fought back.

Only after blinking twice did she notice that the bolt was, in fact, a pony.

=====

Rarity focused her eyes on the pegasus flying at her, and she stopped screaming. The look on her eyes changed.

It was one of recognition, of trust. Rarity knew she would be saved.

Rainbow knew this, but she could feel the ambient magic closing in on her, trying to push her back.

Twilight had done some of her fancy mathematics. An object devoid of any kind of magic would generate a dome in front of it following some equations or something, then ‘boom’ and be done with it. Of course, an object completely empty of magic would be quite rare, but for practical purposes an ordinary bullwhip was a perfect demonstration, as it has its tip break the sound barrier when wielded properly.

It was hard already – the energy required for the mass of a pony was some number that sounded ridiculous to her. For a pegasus? It was harder. After a while, the magic that let them fly turned against them and made the air press against them from the sides, making the dome form a cone and increasing friction.

Like hell she’d let the air tell her what to do!

’I am the best flier ever! The sky is mine.’ She yelled mentally at her wings.

’Rarity needs me to save her, so I am going to do it, and nothing can stop me!’ She begged, pleaded, bargained with every fiber of her being for more energy, for more speed.

’I WON’T LET A FAILURE HANG OVER MY HEAD! SHE IS GOING TO LIVE, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!’ There! Something was filling her, pushing her downwards a bit more!

’MY NAME IS RAINBOW DASH!’ Her eyes watered from the friction.

‘AND I DON’T!’ The pressure, unbearable when she was training for the Rainboom, was receding.

‘LEAVE MY FRIENDS!’ It was pushed back by… something from within.

‘HANGING!’ Three things happened at that moment. Rainbow Dash pierced the wall of air, creating a shockwave that made the heavens sing like thunder.

The barrier of magic likewise opened and made an explosion of its own, one of light and energy, riding on the ring of vapor.

Her speed increased tremendously, thanks to some aerodynamics’ phenomenon Twilight had theorized about, as well as whatever magic thing inverted once more and helped again instead of push.

Rainbow Dash reached her friend and her heroes, and all would be well.

*****

“That’s the feeling, Dash, of being willing to do something as if it were the last thing you’d ever do.” Gemini said, startling the sky-blue mare out of her memory.

“Huh?” Dash looked at her, and she finally stopped scowling completely.

“I bet you could do something more, but so far, it’s perfect.”

“Did you see something, darling?” Rarity asked, being more aware of Gem’s abilities.

“I felt it; an echo of the flame she ignited. Unassisted, untrained, but still useful.” Gem said, still in that state Twilight found unsettling. “And, quite obviously, she’s fine. Pinkie does it constantly as well.”

“I take everything seriously!” Pinkie exclaimed. For a given, subjective value of ‘seriously’, as she was wearing a big clown nose and had a rubber chicken strapped to her head, waving it around to get Pound’s attention.

‘No wonder Pinkie is so intense all the time.’ Lyra thought, keeping an eye on the foals… Tootsie Flute had been troublesome, but at least she knew how to deal with the little ones now.

“And Pinkie is fine.” A tone of annoyance crept into Gemini’s voice, the tranquil demeanor fading quickly.

“Are yah… offended or sumthin’?” Applejack asked.

“Generally upset, but not quite offended.” She answered, and sighed. Twilight flinched.

“You see, saying that ‘it’s impossible’ is saying that…” She slumped, her voice dropped in volume. “That my friends shouldn’t survive the troubles they get in. And, since not only it’s the very foundation of my being, but a great part of the way my heritage was passed from my parent to me…”

She sniffled.

“You’re saying I shouldn’t exist.”

*****

It’s as if she was made to fit anywhere, but belong nowhere.

Chapter 9 - Made of Reflections and Friendship

Guard Captain’s account of events

I get it now, Cadence.

‘Shining’ bucking Armor finally ‘gets it’.

Oh, I understood before, Princess Celestia herself told me about it. But now I ‘get it’.

A cutie mark is just the participation ribbon, the little signal on the road that tells you a general direction based on what you like. With a little cleverness, you could get your talent to apply in many, many more things.

I still vividly remember her lecture, even after all this time. Celestia expanded on her connection with the sun, making her talent powerful magic, glorious arcane feats, soft and kind applications of her power… but also her ability to nurture, her warm personality.

My little sister too, even if she isn’t yet doing what the princess is doing. Her talent is ‘magic’, and her cutie mark is a starburst.

Her talent involves great displays of power, as evidenced by the large, pink star… but also the smaller, delicate aspects, as seen by the small white stars; their numbers represent her ability to perform multiple-weave spells or even multiple spells altogether at once – three-weave spells are considered very advanced in the eyes of the average unicorn and she only has to study them for a couple of weeks at most; she also has quite the ability to understand and manipulate the sub-components of spells, as symbolized by the large white star underneath the pink one…

How destiny has marked my sister… everything is significant! The six stars, one for every Element of Harmony, with Magic itself as her! The central element, which represents the synthesis of the others and holds them together! And it doesn’t stop there; even the number of points in her stars means something!

And she found everything out just by looking at Twilight - well, this goes much further than just looking, but the fact still stands that they had met only hours before she discovered the elements on her own.

And she made me ‘get’ that to make something special, you just have to ‘want’ it. She made me ‘get’ it, and now I can see how you can make even a cutie mark about a ‘special talent’ of one apparently-specific thing apply to a wide variety of applications.

All she had to do was demonstrate the reverse - how a cutie mark with many meanings can have all of them used for a single purpose, with a focus so intense it blows everything out of the water; this particular goal being ‘become absolutely devastating in a fight’.

I couldn’t help but stare, like a moron, at the dent that she made on a wall using the body of Stalwart ‘idiotic zealot number two’ Wall. I know, I know, I should respect him, being a fellow guard, and I being Captain… but time and time again he shows us that he doesn’t deserve it – he has the second-highest rate of civilian injuries on record, so he’s stuck in the position of ‘guard’ even if he is one of the best when it comes to stopping dangerous animals. He can’t keep himself from accusing everyone he sees from ‘being in league with the monsters/criminals/whatnot’ and rough them up.

We always knew he would find a way to get his sorry hide in such hot water with his overzealous attitude that his ability with magic wouldn’t be able to save him.

We never expected that situation to come from the hooves of a half-dead filly half his weight. Even if she is… yeah…

To be fair, I didn’t expect that ‘Wing Blade’ plus ‘Firm Stand’ plus ‘spell-weaving’ plus ‘Essence manipulation’ plus ‘fierce determination’ would equal to a ranged attack with the tackling force of a large stallion. That, and with her weakening spell, makes it so that I can now believe she took down a dragon.

She was scared half to death of him, after all. He just doesn’t know how to handle these situations with subtlety, or tact, or even basic common sense.

He’s just lucky she’s kind enough to find the idea of hurting somepony repulsive unless there’s no other choice, or she could have killed him. Him, and a couple of others too, even if she would have died herself from her injury – take them down with her, as it were. I believe it was her who said say that subduing a target is at least thrice as difficult as killing it.

Lucky for her, the princesses and me arrived before the idiots could get their act back together and overwhelm her and cause her to die. Iron ‘idiotic zealot number one’ Wing earned himself a dressing-down from Princess Luna. Twilight looked like she was about to ignite and turn him to cinders, as well.

Ah… I feel useless, dear. Fluttershy was stunned into silence and quite obviously in shock, as was Spike, Pinkamina Pie wasn’t far from that either, Rainbow Dash was struggling to work her own head and forced herself to take things one thing at a time, with Twilight in a similar state of confusion… only Rarity and Applejack held them together.

Ugh. If it weren’t for those two overeager stallions, the energy stored on that strange mana battery she uses on that… odd weapon would have gone entirely to healing herself, the poison and infection wouldn’t have spread through her body, and she wouldn’t have wasted any energy on literally holding her body together.

I swear, once Stalwart and the others get out of the hospital, I’m having a long, serious talk with those two.

And don’t get me started on the mess that Rainbow Dash and that other pony left- yes, the transformed one.

Wherever the two of them lived before must be a dangerous place indeed for them to be so proficient at fighting.

*****

Sugarcube Corner – Day One

“Don’t say that.” Pinkie said, gently, for once.

Gemini chuckled, however. “Yeah, Aer said the same thing when I chose a day for my birthday.”

“You chose your birthday!?” Pinkie spoke in a volume much more usual to her.

“Well, I only know my age as far back as the first day I remember, obviously.” She said. “It’s one of those holidays dedicated to goodwill, good behavior, and such things, you know the kind – every culture has one, I bet even yours.”

*****

The first day she remembers happens to be Heartswarming Day in our calendar.

*****

“I remember the first I celebrated…” She said, with a far-off look in her eyes. “There was plenty of food, and I got a little medal for the things I did…”

She began to chuckle, but it wasn’t out of happiness – it was one of those chuckles that were let out because the alternative was breaking down in tears. “O-of course, I had to gather the food, since I was alone in the middle of the forest. A-And it wasn’t much of a m-medal, more like a rock that was carved into a smiley face. A-and instead of being awarded it, I made it myself.”

Gem rested her head on the table, still chuckling like she had said a joke… one that had gone stale long ago. “I’m pathetic.” She took her tail in a hoof, and then stroke it with the other.

“No, you’re not.” Twilight said, trying to console her. Pinkie pulled her in for a hug and Gem quickly nuzzled her.

Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a preemptive jab to the ribs, as to keep her quiet. Which she did, thankfully.

“That continued until about a year ago. Because then comes Aer, and says that I should have a special day for myself.” The cherry-haired unicorn began to laugh more honestly, relishing in the sensation of Pinkie’s soft, cuddly coat. “A whole day just for me. A day to celebrate me. I didn’t know what to chose! There was the day we met, that day, or the first day I remembered.”

“He said ‘why not the three of them? We can celebrate you three times’ just like that.” She smiled broadly, giggling every now and then. “He said that everyone deserves a birthday. He said it’s just another way of saying ‘I’m glad you were born’.”

She began to cry, but it wasn’t out of out of sadness – those were the tears of a soul so overcome with emotion that they ran over. “He said he was glad!” She whispered. “He said he was glad I was alive! He was glad!”

“Of course he was!” Pinkie said, squeezing the sobbing filly in her embrace tighter. “I mean, if you weren’t, we’d be short one friend! That just won’t do.”

“That’s what he said, too. They all said it.”

“Ah’m almost ‘fraid to ask, but why think oth’rwise?” Applejack asked, biting her lips.

Gem looked at Twilight, who nodded and smiled in a warm, reassuring manner; even if Gem had two black streaks running down her face.

Gem just mouthed ‘you do it’.

“Her family has a peculiar power.” Twilight said. “She has shown us already, but she didn’t say it was originated by chaos magic.”

Pinkie gasped. “Can you make cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk? Can you? Can you?!”

“I can’t do that kind of magic without… never mind.” Gem wiped her cheeks, and then turned to look at Rarity. “Oh! I ruined my makeup! Sorry!”

“Don’t worry, dear.” Rarity said.

“I can fix it!” In a shower of red sparks and crackle of lightning, the ruined makeup disappeared.

“I can see how that could get you confused with a changeling.” Rarity said, and with that, Lyra understood the reason behind the outburst at the street.

“She’s been ostracized because of it.” Twilight said. “She does many things that are different.”

“Like that thing about the ‘flame’ and such?” Lyra asked. “What else can you see?”

“Things like alignment and such.”

“What do you see in me?” Twilight asked, curious as to what would a pony who could see magic detect on a pony whose special talent was magic itself.

“Power.” Gem answered.

There was a bit of silence.

“That’s it?”

“I see power in its greatest expression, power with incredible warmth, power with great beauty.” She said. “Your capacity for love is immense.”

“What does love have to do with anything?” Dash asked.

“Strong love is strong magic, simple as that.” Gem replied. “You need intelligence and ability to guide and manipulate powerful and complex spells for amazing feats, but it is through love that you put true strength in them.”

Gem began to blush. “If you –ah- have purpose, even something as simple as making your friends smile…” She chuckled and mouthed the name ‘Aer’ once, before whispering. “’I only have to make my goal to make one little girl smile; I can take on any dangers just to keep her smile safe’. My smile…”

Twilight was blushing intensely as well, remembering what Gem had said about Essences…

*****

I can’t help but wonder; princess, did you see something like that in me when we first met? About love and purpose? It’s true that when I cast spells to help my friends I seem to have less trouble, but I can’t stop thinking about it, did you see it?

“Of course saw it.” Celestia said to nopony in particular. “It’s been an honor and a privilege.”

“I would like to meet this ‘Aureolus’.” Said Luna. “Anypony with such conviction and caring are magnificent allies, and I rest easy knowing there are ponies like them out there.”

“Yes, but keep in mind that they ‘are not ponies’.” Celestia chuckled.

*****

“So… what can you do with your magic?” Dash asked. Truth be told, she’d be suspicious of something like ‘chaos magic’, but Twilight seemed OK with it and she was the smartest pony she knew of in all of Equestria. Then there’s the way she treats the little ones - one could think she was the mother! That earned her major brownie points. ‘Hmm, brownies!’

Oh, and Gem struck a chord, since she has been pretty much abandoned by the world, but Dash would rather get the feather flu and be grounded for a week than let Applejack know.

“I told you, I duplicate anything.” Gem picked up little Pumpkin Cake and hugged her close.

“Anything?” Lyra asked.

“Anything.”

“Anything.” Applejack deadpanned.

“Is there an echo here? Yes, I just need to know how it’s made, and I can make it.” Gemini said, a little miffed, but nuzzling the foal and receiving giggles in return filled her with a kind of warmth that won against any anger she might hold. “The starting point has to be touching something of mine, there are size limits, instruments are liable to be out of tune, if it reacts to ambient magic in some way there might be complications but it’s nothing more than a time issue, some exotic materials are out of the question, and I can’t duplicate separate enchantments right now; other than that, I can show you.”

“Anything, you say?” Dash asked, but she knew what she wanted before she even knew of Gemini. “How about some apple cider?”

Applejack scoffed, and was about to say something before Gemini cut her off. “Freshly squeezed or hard?”

If the speedster’s smile were any brighter, it would melt through her own sunglasses, and she had left them back home. “Fresh.”

“I assume you have a specific kind of apple, from a specific place, already in mind.”

“Sweet Apple Acres.” The other mares replied in unison, since it was as obvious as Spike’s crush on Rarity.

“I’d need one of their apples first, samples and whatnot.” Gem said, only to be quickly presented with one such fruit.

“Ah’d like to see it bah mahself.” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.

“Where did you get that?” Twilight asked.

“Ah always hav’ an apple on mah self, in case o’ apple emergency.” Applejack replied matter-of-factly.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “That’s brilliant! I need to do something like that!”

‘Pinkie, I found one of your eye patches in my sink.’ Lyra thought, but held off on voicing it; Pinkie logic was too strange to follow, it was better to just go along with it and listen in case the odd tidbit of clear information made it through.

Gem took the apple in her hoof, holding little impatient Pumpkin in the other. “Great aroma, nice color, the land it grew on must be packed with vitality.”

“Yah know it!” Applejack said, full of pride.

Gem took a dainty nibble of the apple.

*****

She eats in a manner reminiscent of Rarity’s elegant table manners, however, she is perfectly capable of continuing to eat for as long as she is being fed; she can actually eat large quantities of food, it’s just that her way of eating makes it seem like she’s not a ‘big eater’ like Pinkie.

I still don’t know where they put all of that food in their bodies.

*****

After the tasty treat, Gemini closed her eyes and searched deep, deep into her being. She turned all of her sight inwards to reach the world that existed within.

Somewhere, inside a small rustic cabin, in a plane not of material things, one of the rooms became a wide open meadow.

An apple appeared in this meadow, and another, and another, until a tree’s worth of apples sat there in a pile. Then a stone rose from under the pile.

The apples were crushed by the finger of a stone giant. Where and when had her family found one of those that big, Gem didn’t know, but at least that meant she had the info on them.

The juice flowed through trough the gaps in the stones into a glass.

Back outside, Gemini took of her hat and, after the lights faded, there was a glass of freshly squeezed apple cider resting on her head.

“Oooh!” Pinkie looked at the glass with awe, and then reached for it.

“No!” Dash yelled, shooting forward to swipe the glass, making Pumpkin wince. Dash took off too quickly, however, and hit her head on the rafters of Sugarcube Corner.

Thanks to her deft hooves and superior balance, not a drop was spilled.

Chuckling through the throbbing pain in her skull, Dash looked at the cloudy amber liquid like it was distilled sunshine served in a gilded flagon.

“Not today Pinkie.” She chuckled again, whispering, rose eyes fixed on the drink. “Year after year, you ruin it for me, not today!”

“Wha- ruin?” Pinkie asked, craning her neck to see Dash still up at the ceiling.

Dash smelled the cider – it was that same, delicious scent of the usual stuff. “Always buying it by the gallon, always taunting me, but now… now I’ve got it! My precious…” She trailed off, mesmerized by the opaque beverage.

“Taunt?! I don’t taunt you!” Pinkie said, looking horrified.

There was an uneasy silence as the different residents of Ponyville looked at her; even Dash stopped visually drinking the cider to stare.

“Pinkie, what would you call it if not taunting?” Lyra said, holding Pound to prevent him from taking off.

“Yah’re always rantin’ ‘bout how delicious the cider is and, while I ‘preciate the compliment, Ah don’t think Dash is very receptive of yer comments – what with her not gettin’ any, you buyin’ dozens, and all that.” Applejack said to her pink friend.

“Dash looked ready to blow up last cider season, and you just kept talking.” Lyra commented, getting dragged along the floor by Pound, though she didn’t seem to mind. “Really, I know you are best friends and all, but you shouldn’t push her like that.”

Pinkie Pie stood there, mouth agape.

“Buh- I mean, wha- why didn’t you tell me!? She exclaimed. “I’m not clueless, I can take a hint!”

Pinkie got stared at again, and huffed. “Alright! So I get confused sometimes, but you can speak with me!”

“I’ll speak with you.” Gem said, making the others realize she was lying down on the floor with Pumpkin Cake.

Dash finished the cider, savoring the delicate sweetness with that tartness that tickled her palate.

“Eeyup!” She said, imitating a certain apple farmer, while gently touching her hooves back down to the floor. “Tastes juuust right! Whoa, hey Gem, are you alright?”

“Just… let me rest for a moment.” She said, giving a little kiss to the foal in her embrace, making her giggle.

“What happened, sugarcube?”

“Well, the calories have to come from somewhere.” Gem answered, making Twilight gasp and pulling Dash back down from her metaphorical cloud.

“Are you going to be OK?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, it’s just that the travel left me kinda drained; you see, I’m mostly magic, usually, anyways.” She said in a hushed tone. “Also, this little filly is about to need a change.”

Pinkie gasped yet again and quickly took the foals to another room.

“You should have told me.” Dash said. “I wouldn’t-“

“No.” Gemini said, pulling herself back up. “You don’t mind… this about me, and I could tell you really wanted it, so I decided to give it to you.”

“How generous of you, darling.” Rarity commented.

“Well… I just know how much it hurts when others are selfish.” She said. “I may be a child at heart, but I know when you’re trying to take advantage of me; if I’m using my ability, it’s going to be on my terms, and if they mean I’m hurting myself for my friends, then that’s what you’re going to hear about it.”

“I can just… I dunno, take energy from the ambient.”

“Well, Pinkie left a cupcake and some coffee for you.”

“Hey! I also have breakfast muffins!” The aforementioned mare said from behind the counter. Somehow.

“Food is even better!” Gem said, smiling broadly. “But you’re going to have to cut me off, lest I keep eating forever.”

Then a butter-yellow pegasus mare walked in. She had a sixth, powerful presence…

“Hello Pinkie! Hello Pound!” She said, about as loud as a stage whisper.

“Hello Fluttershy!” Pinkie waved back, and the presences with the six ponies began growing, and growing, and started getting progressively brighter.

“How is Angel bunny doing?” Lyra asked.

“Oh, he’s getting better, thank you.” Fluttershy said, and the additional essence became comforting. “And thank you, Rarity, for-“

“Nonsense, dear, I couldn’t let you do it all alone.” The white unicorn replied, and hers grew warmer.

“Oh… hello…” She whispered upon seeing a pony she hadn’t seen before, shying back slightly, and said pony would have missed her greeting if it were not for her keen hearing.

“Uh… hello, my name is Gemini.” She waved awkwardly, still trying to puzzle out the strange phenomenon she was witnessing. What was happening? Why?

The others made small talk, and something else was happening… even Lyra had a small effect! Everything around became happier; it all felt cozy, it felt safer.

The source remained a mystery, but the cause was evident… she was acquainted with the feeling, after all.

’This is happening because they are all friends!’

Chapter 10 - Lean on Me and Let Me Know the Truth

It all happened too fast! She figured out what was the reason behind the warmth, and then it grew so much it swallowed her up!

The scent of delicate perfumes filled her nose and spread a warm cares across her skin, her eyes became full with all of the colors of silence and the pictures painted with words of kindness.

A comforting wave from under her made her soar high above while the sunlight dancing on the petals of many beautiful flowers sang for her. A soft embrace left a sweet aftertaste whenever she laughed…

That felt good. It made her feel alive.

It was just like when Aer held her, or Hana taught her, or Aby sang for her, or Mihi hugged her!

They were her friends. They might not be numerous, she might not see them as frequently as she would like, but they were hers…

And now? She had more! She had more! She knew she did, because they made her feel the same she did those other times!

*****

Somewhere – Around a year ago

“She’s scared of us.” Marlon said, and he was absolutely right. How could she not be?!

“Particularly of you, sir.” The one she’d come to know as Aby said. And she was right, too. For all intents and purposes, Galleria Marlon didn’t exist. Her senses didn’t pick up anything. No magic, no presence, no heat. Nada, zero.

Hell, even his name was a fake; a name to put on the sides of the wagons of their traveling company that was a front for them. Though given all the important and complicated things they did a desire for secrecy was perfectly understandable.

“You can’t blame her.” A laid-back, almost sleepy-sounding girl’s voice half-drawled half-lilted the sentence. The wood fueling the campfire crackled a little, and a wolf howled to the moon.

“Of course we can’t.” Aby’s lightly accented voice said, whispering… they weren’t yet aware she could hear even their heartbeats from the hole she was curled inside of – save for Marlon’s, obviously. “The only way he agreed to having someone other than his daughter look after her was that any one of us were able to… eliminate her if she ‘went out of control’.”

She shivered in reflex, but didn’t cry; her tears had stopped months ago… why bother? Her life wasn’t hers, so why bother showing any reaction anymore?

“This is a disaster, and all because of paranoia.” Hana’s voice sounded more ‘awake’ now. “What do we do?”

“I do not know; she is not eating anything, even if we offer, and that’s not normal for those like her.” Aby replied.

It didn’t matter. She would just get something from someplace near if she felt like it.

The door of one of the wagons creaked as it opened.

“Thank you, I’m feeling better now.” Aureolus said, speaking with another inside the wagon. “Also, I want to apologize…”

“Never.” Marlon said. “You needed to recuperate from the effects of your potions.”

“But we had to stop all day…”

“We are not in a hurry to go anywhere.” Aby said.

“True… and where is our guest? Where is the Water Child?” He said, looking everywhere.

Guest? Also… Water Child? She liked the sound of that.

“She is over there.” Hana said, and she didn’t need her senses to know that she was pointing at her hole. “She makes one further away if we try to get near.”

“Also, water child?” Aby asked, curiously echoing her thoughts.

“That is not a good sign…” Aer said. “And that is because I want to be respectful, but I do not know if she knows any languages other than this one and her own. Mixing those words with this language doesn’t feel right.”

“Fair enough. But what are we going to do?”

“Have you tried food already?”

“Yes, but she is still too afraid of us.”

“That might be depression… that’s not good, that’s not good at all.”

“Depression? Wait, can’t that… kill them?”

“You try now.” Marlon said.

The steps creaked… and the ground sang out with a low, rumbling bass voice as soon as he set foot outside. It was like a great dragon or a god serenading the very earth, and each step he took was a verse.

He was not fully recovered, so he was using earth magic to hold himself up; through it she heard how resolute he was, how kind and how warm he was. She made no movement, even letting him get closer than the others.

“Hello?” He called, she shivered a little. “Do not worry… why not come with us? The fire is very comforting, and you must hate the cold of these northern lands.”

She did, with a passion, but she just had to trade her dark magic for fire or ice and she wouldn’t be bothered. Her fur helped, as well.

“We made town recently, so we have fresh supplies, would you like some…” He trailed off and turned to his companions. “What do we have? For food, I mean.”

“Well, they tend to like sweet things, right? We have everything for our candy-making carts, but you will have to prepare them; for things ready-to-eat we have honey preserves, dried fruit like berries… we even have sweet bread – mostly as a treat for ourselves, since it won’t last long.”

She perked up slightly when she heard the word ‘bread’, and Aer must have picked up on the movement with his magic, because he then spoke.

“Would you like some? I’ll let you have my portion if you like.”

He was like that all the time, they all were; they would rather trust and regret it than not and feel remorse.

And then Mihi stepped outside as well.

Of all of them, Mihi was the oddest. A tough, hard exterior, but warm nonetheless. An inside that is technically empty, but held a soul far kinder than that of many, many others…

=====

Mihi was holding her, as per usual after training. It was comfy, no matter what others might think. Aer was gently stroking her hair.

She got beaten utterly, of course, because Mihi. Mihi didn’t need to use any of her special tricks yet, either. She simply was that good.

“The Broken Armor, upright.” Aby said, holding out one of her more exotic fortunetelling cards for her to see; it was indeed the card of the Broken Armor. “You know when to rise and be brave, and that is great, however, we can all see in your eyes that your soul is in tatters. Not all situations require you to be strong.”

“Bu-but if I’m not, I could die!” She replied.

“Ah, yes… well…” Aby didn’t know what to say.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Aer said, and his voice just soothed her, even if others found it strange. “Not with us around; we will care for you and protect you when you are not strong, for we are your friends.”

That was it.

She couldn’t hold it any more.

She cried.

She cried out for everything that truly bothered her. She called out for her parents to come back, she yelled that she hated being alone, she especially hated being alone in the cold, she hated being hungry, she hated being attacked and treated like a monster, she hated being denied her own life for something she had the potential to do, she hated that she was being punished for something someone else had tried –not even succeeded- to do, she hated that it all continued just because of someone saying it should.

Aer held her and, unusual for him, began to sing.

Sometimes in our lives~
We all have pain
We all have sorrow

But if we are wise
We know that there's
Always tomorrow~

Lean on me, when you're not strong~
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on~

For it won’t be long
‘Till I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on~…

=====

“Oh no… what happened?” Hana asked, with an unusually high amount of energy in her voice that belied the concern she felt. “Why is she crying now?”

“Guess.” Aer said, holding her gently and patting her back.

“Again?” She sighed. “It’s hard to stay positive when things like this keep happening.”

Aer began to sing again.

When you try your best, but you don’t succeed…
When you get what you want, but not what you need…
When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep…

Stuck in reverse~

And the tears come streaming down your face~

When you loose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?~

Lights will guide you home~
And ignite your bones~

And I will try…
To fix you…

=====

“Oh, yes.” Hana said on one language lesson, again speaking in that singsong voice with the stretching vowels like she was a second or so away from falling asleep. “This language is very limited. The expressions we have available are limited too.”

“When you get to love something or someone, it is said you ‘fell in love’… but that is not accurate at all for us. First, we took you in because the way you were treated was unfair –and still is.” Hana hugged her, and she returned it without hesitation.

“And we are glad we did, because got the chance to see how nice and cute you are, and as we kept talking, training, and practicing, we got to know how smart and strong you are – how kind and caring you are. So no, we did not ‘fall’ into anything.” Hana playfully and affectively mussed her hair.

“We jumped into love, screaming and hollering the whole way!”

=====

“Do not worry.” Aby said; the bandage that was almost perpetually around her eyes removed for once, so that she could look directly at her. Her true name was Bea, but through talks of the sea’s abyss and how sensitive her eyes were to the light she came to be referred to as ‘Abyss’, then she let her shorten it to just ‘Aby’.

“Your darkness is too black and too deep to be tainted by those fools, and your light, though still devoid of direction, is too affectionate to freeze.” She presented a traditional card, that of The Star. “Your day will come, have no doubt about it.”

She looked at Aby’s deep green eyes, and then she knew it to be true.

“And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.”

*****

Outside, there was no sign of it other than a small gasp, as if she tried to breathe in more of that feeling, and it could be seen in her eyes for one brief moment… a brief reflection of the light she was seeing.

“Hey! That’s the same face Twilight made in the ancient castle!” Pinkie said.

“How do you know what I looked- never mind, if you know, you know.” Twilight shook her head.

“Hey, Gem, you there?” Dash asked, waving a hoof in front of her face.

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” She blinked away the stars. “Magical sensory overload and loss of self… weird.”

“Oh my, that sounds serious.” Fluttershy said, caretaking instincts briefly overcoming her shyness.

“Actually, it’s the best I’ve felt in a while.” Gem said, feeling at ease, and even rested!

“Ugh, you’re not making sense!” Dash said, slightly exasperated.

“I would if you would give me time to explain.” She said with a smirk.

Dash shut her mouth and had the decency to blush lightly.

“There’s… something in the six of you.” She looked at Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack and Twilight. “Something very powerful… it feels like everything that is good in the world, everything that makes you feel… feel…”

“In harmony?” Pinkie asked, to which Gem nodded.

“You saw that? Just how good is that sight of yours?” Twilight asked, and received a grin.

“Do you want me to describe what it’s like to be like you, and the general type of interaction your personalities have with one another?”

“I’m listening.” Twilight said, with parchment and quill in her magical grip.

“Where did yah get those?” Applejack asked.

“I always have parchment and quill with me, in case of emergency friendship report.” She said, completely missing the irony.

*****

A second letter arrived at the royal palace the day after Twilight’s. It had a wax seal in the shape of a smiling face. With unexpectedly elegant writing, it read:

“Dear Princesses Luna and Celestia.

Hi! It’s my first time writing a letter, and it’s for you! Twilight thought it would be a good idea to share what I experienced that time at the bakery when I extended my senses, and I do mean truly extend them! I can’t thank you enough for teaching Twilight like you have done – oh! And if her family could see this letter as well, that would be great! I was told her brother lives at the castle, and I want him to know how much I appreciate his sister’s friendship.

These might look like simple red dots at the bottom, but if you look with magesight or some scanning spell you will be able to see the memories, as well as hear and feel everything I put inside.

Yes, I write with memories, like you! I noticed.

My caretaker also does, then again, memories and anything ‘recorded’ in some fashion is her area.

The Elements of Harmony are unlike anything I have ever felt, and yet, at the same time, like everything good I have ever lived through. It left me feeling like- well, that was a previous experience, when I witnessed something so impressive, so majestic… I did not feel grand. I felt very small. I was part of it, and that made me happy. It made me feel alive.

I want others to see through my eyes, since I just know that, if every pair of eyes could see with a renewed perspective each time like mine do, there would be far less problems –not just for me, but for all else.

Looking forward to meeting you,

Gemini Prismriver.”

*****

After recalling the times we have used the elements, I have to say that I agree. I am sorry I never asked but… what were your own experiences with their use? I know they are difficult memories from hard times… it’s just that, hearing Gemini try to describe it with that pleased look on her face, even if she’s a third party…

Spike arrived to tell me the chores were done, and just in time as well! Gemini told us we had to be relaxed and merely feeling, not actually doing anything other than extend our hooves on occasion.

Our unconscious reactions would do everything for us. She is not an empath, but with her sensitivity she might as well be; the research she inherited from her parents included having deciphered the many magical and physical cues to emotions. Her friends, too, helped her to make her more conscious of these cues somehow.

As for her, she appeared to be concentrating quite intensely. She was meditating, and slipped in and out of her emotionally neutral state. She said something when she opened her eyes, something that got me thinking about the nature and purpose of her apparent coldness.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

“That explains why Fluttershy is so proficient with helping other ponies with their problems.” Luna said.

Celestia only laughed.

*****

The six Bearers sat in a circle around Gemini, who happily munched on a blueberry muffin lathered with butter, held in a hoof. Spike stood next to Lyra, who just took care of the babies.

The cherry-haired pony finished the baked good, and Spike took it as his cue to document everything she said and did, as per Twilight’s instructions.

“You can close your eyes if you’d like, and breathe.” Gem said, sighing in delight at the warm treat. “Don’t worry about anything. Think of things you’ve done.”

Rainbow Dash was about to think of some awesome, mind-blowing, daredevil stunt routine, but her mind wandered back to the cream unicorn’s words.

’Being willing to do something as if it were the last thing I’d do.’

Yeah, she knew that feeling… Gemini spoke like it was the key to unlocking something great. Knowing your limits, not to mind them, but to smash them to pieces and go further. She also spoke of ‘peacetime lands’ like the whole of Equestria was missing something obvious to everypony else – though if discovering meant troubled times, she figured that knowing it was a mixed blessing. Gem could certainly be weird.

Dash figured that Gem was kind of like Fluttershy, only that instead of looking frail, she looked like she was about to be yelled at for something she didn’t do; that kind of injustice wouldn’t fly by her, though. If she didn’t have an image to maintain, she’d just give Gemini a hug whenever they saw each other.

Speaking of her, she approached each pony and carefully tapped her horn on the forehead of another pony, while touching a spot over the heart of the same. When Dash’s turn came, she could smell a flowery scent –likely from the bath she took- and felt a nice sensation no different from a hug.

“Alright, point all of your hooves to the center.” She instructed. When they complied, she had them synchronize their breathing… it was a little hard, since Pinkie and Dash sped up and Fluttershy and Twilight lagged behind. Lyra took care of it by rhythmically tapping her hoof, simply enough.

“Think of your friends.” She said, vague as before.

She closed her eyes and lowered her head, breathed out when they all did, and raised her head, with her horn passing through the center of the group. She looked skywards, again at something only she could see… for the moment. “Let me know the truth.”

She smiled, and then turned her eyes towards the pony directly in front of her.

“Pinkie Pie.” She said, slowly and in a neutral tone; looking at the puffy purplish energy coming out of the party pony’s mane and tail, as well as little green vines wrapped around her hooves. Only Gem saw this, and only she knew what it all meant. “You are like the clouds, refusing to be bound, drifting wherever you please…”

Everypony else was about to say something, but then remembered the clouds of the Everfree Forest…

“You can be moody, and a little unpredictable; clouds can become stormy with little provocation, after all.” She exhaled. “Whenever hardship becomes too much to bear, you give your friends rest and protection, expanding to cover everything… you are like the forest in that regard; growing, nurturing. Like the pine trees, always green in the face of adversity. Like the Plum blossom, you are bright when others cannot find a reason to smile. You sometimes lose sight of things during your flights of whimsy, however.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. That had been pretty accurate!

“Fluttershy.” Gem turned to face the butter-coated mare. She could see many twinkling lights inside her eyes, but those weren’t stars – it was rain! There was the occasional flash of lightning inside those wide eyes of hers, and more swirling, water-like energy came from her hooves and wings. “You are like the rain and the rivers; you wash away everything, be it troubled feelings from your friends or even the resolve of your enemies, so that your friends may have the tranquility they deserve. There is a hint of lightning, as well; you do not tolerate threats to your friends, and would rather take them yourself to reduce or remove them. Just remember, though you might be easily affected by things thrown your way, you never know how high you are until you are called to rise.”

Twilight thought that, while still somewhat vague, it was an excellent description of her friend. She out-stared a cockatrice to keep the crusaders safe and help her, heck, she cowed a dragon for pony’s sake!

Not bad for having just met her few minutes ago.

“Rainbow Dash.” Gem said, turning to the athletic mare. “You are like a relentless storm, fiercely moving forwards.” A red, whirling energy lashing about gathered at the cerulean mare’s wings; Gemini could hear the howling of the endless gale within the prismatic pegasus. She also saw many-colored sparks all over her body. “Never giving up, never stopping, always the core of the charge, a surging wind that never rests, that’s you. Along with the lightning, you make the problems of others your own, and it also keeps pushing you further to protect your friends, you can be quite resolute and bold. Keep in mind that not everything is straight ahead – watch the sides and things around you.”

Another hit! It’s a Home Run! What would Gem say about her?

“Rarity.” The two unicorns were face to face. Rarity’s features were hidden among a bank of fog the color of her coat and mane, while a shimmer not unlike that of hot air surrounded her horn. “You are the mist and the mirages, distracting danger and concealing those close to your heart to protect them; you go to great lengths to do so, as I have experienced myself. You put your hooves to work on making your vision a reality. However, going too far or too long without a reminder might cause you to lose sight of others.”

Yeah, that had happened a few times, but Rarity always corrected it herself!

Still, now it was Twilight’s turn, at least if Gem had-

“Applejack.” Gemini said, spinning around to face the farmer. Her eyes and mane shone with a golden light, and her hooves were covered in bright stones. “Like the sun, you shine through adversity and illuminate the sky, and it is also in your nature to nurture. You have the strength of the mountains, standing resolutely to protect that which you hold dear, be it by being firm against calamity or acting as sturdy support for your friends. Sadly, your flaw can be the deadliest; being stubborn and arrogant –especially at the same time- is a luxury you, of all ponies, cannot absolutely afford under any circumstances.”

Twilight… found that a little bitter to swallow, but no less true. Whenever Applejack’s confidence turned from a virtue to a flaw of pride, her stubbornness caused huge problems that required the five of them and great pressure to solve.

Regardless, it was her turn! What would-

“The storm and the rain are nigh-inseparable, sisters that pull one another and build up to make a formidable force; along with the lightning, I’d be surprised if you two don’t get along in some fashion. No matter how different you might seem, you feel comfortable in each other’s presence, right?”

That- well, it was absolutely true. They had been friends since they were fillies and, despite being almost polar opposites, were incredible friends.

“The clouds make the rain, the rain feeds the forest; you two have the same goal, even if you go at it through different means.”

Well, true again. But-

“The rain and the mist, too, have a close relationship. The rain makes the right conditions for fog, especially in rivers. Two gentle spirits that blanket everything with their affection.”

Yeah, Fluttershy and Rarity were great friends and shared many interests.

“Mist and clouds are family, and as such, the way they care for their friends are very similar; the differences are so subtle, yet produce such varied results, that untrained eyes will miss the similitude.”

From a certain perspective, that was true. Pinkie was certainly selfless, and Rarity loved raising ponies’ spirits; she hadn’t thought about it like that though.

“Rain and sun are both very important; they nurture all life and care for it. I can tell you are affectionate each in your own way, of course – while the sun’s warmth helps lift spirits, its intensity can get domineering and derail the effort; nothing like gentle rains to calm down the heat.”

But what about-

“The clouds are the catalyst for many types of weather, like storms. The storm can guide the clouds in turn; sure, maybe they won’t have the same destination, and there could be a little bit of conflict between the two of you, but with a little faith in each other you can accomplish many incredible things.”

Twilight still had to double-check her inkwells in case of invisible ink.

“The sun and the clouds might not seem very cooperative, but do remember that it is possible to have too much sun. In any case, when something troubles your friends, you are there to help them get through hard times, and heaven have mercy on anything standing in your way.”

“Mist and mountains… you two can be fiercely protective of those you care for, and together there is little that can get by you. Your differences here are precisely what helps you two… even if the sun doesn’t always agree.”

Why is everypony else getting a turn?

“Dash and Rarity… you two may look like you have nothing in common… but you have your friends’ backs at all times. They don’t even have to ask, do they?”

“At first glance, Dash and Applejack can look incompatible; I bet there is friction between the two of you, what with your shared tendency to be rash and hasty. However, when trouble arises, ponies know there are few better options than to seek you out. Mountains are reliable, and the support they give makes troubled souls be put at ease. Storms mark a direction, and the lost and wandering are swept in its intensity. You are leaders, and while you might disagree and fight over things, you won’t let anything happen to those who have gathered under you.”

“Even leaders need help sometimes, and so you turn to a very special kind of pony… something much more of a rarity than a leader.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she saw Gemini turn slowly to face her and begin to smile. She was- was it- is this one of those ‘the best for last’? What that why she waited?

“Twilight Sparkle.” She said, and her vision was overcome with swirling colors that left nothing untouched. “You are the open sky, the vast seas, and the outstretching earth. You are the one that colors and engulfs everything, tying everything together. Without you, the clouds lose their place to play, the storm is just a shout without a voice, plants have nowhere to grow, and that guiding light and peaceful nights are lost. You bring them together, and you keep them together.”

“Oh… I can’t be all that…” Twilight said, blushing slightly. “I mean, my friends are perfectly capable of solving their problems and differences. Rarity and Applejack-…”

“Ah, but what about when those around you are losing their heads, and likely blaming it on you? And when there is a problem that others are at a loss as to what to do?”

“That’s true, sugarcube.” Applejack said. “Ah mean, yah were willin’ ta go into th’ Everfree forest, on yer own, just ta keep everypony safe.”

“And do not forget that you made us regain our senses when Discord used his foul magic on us.” Rarity said, shuddering a little in disgust. “And do not try to bring the princess into it, since it was your friendship both in the first place and at the end what allowed you to help us.”

“Yepers!” Pinkie said. “And you are always trying to keep everypony happy, even if you forget yourself some times.”

“And if somepony has a problem, you’re always there to lend a hoof.” Dash said, nodding. “Sometimes you keep too much for yourself though.”

“Yer a littl’ blunt sometimes, but yer level with folk.” Applejack said. “Yah treat everypony with respect and such.”

“You may craft intricate schedules and spend many hours studying in private.” Rarity said. “But if any of us has a problem, you are quick to stop worrying about yourself and devote yourself wholeheartedly to help us.”

“And you might get angry, but you care for everypony and are very… nice and considerate with us.” Fluttershy said.

Twilight was stunned, and her eyes were misty, a soft smile starting to show in her slightly-opened mouth.

“And I-“ “Well, we-“ “What I-“

“Oh! Oh!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air excitedly. “Are we doing one of those?! Let me start! Let me start!”

Pinkie coughed into her hoof and looked at Twilight.

“What we are trying to say is…” She turned to Applejack.

“That’s an honor…” Applejack turned to Rarity.

“And a privilege…” Rarity turned to Dash.

“Being able to say…” Dash turned to Fluttershy.

“That you are…” Fluttershy turned to Twilight, and so did the others.

“Our friend.” They all said at once.

Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof and turned to try in vain to hide her blush, letting out a few tears of sentiment. Gemini wrapped her hooves around her in a hug, and was soon joined by Pinkie, and Fluttershy… and the others, even Lyra and Spike. Gem took advantage of the proximity and stole the foals from Lyra’s grasp.

Twilight let out a small, embarrassed chuckle. “Spike, did you get all that?” She half-joked.

“Every word, Twilight, every word.”

“Aby, my day might be closer than I though…”

Author's Note

I took too long making this pretty, and now with the coming end of Season 3, it makes the little speech at the end feel a little less special... even if I had it planned months ago...

Eh...

In any case, if you manage to catch all the references I use, then hats off to you! You have a wide variety of tastes!

Also, the 'jump into love' thing? I got it from a card I saw once... those things are insanely good at times.

Chapter 11 - A Certain Spell Index

The group hug made Gem feel at peace.

“What about you, darling?” Rarity asked as the ponies broke off, leaving a content Gemini and a giggling pair of foals.

“Hmm… Nothing.” Gem replied.

“Oh come on, don’t be shy.” Dash said.

“I’m not being shy. I said ‘Nothing’.” Gem said, again in a neutral tone. “Since I am ‘Nothing’, ‘Anything’ can be made, and ‘Anything’ is taken in. Well, in theory, anyways.”

It came with the ‘mirror’ and ‘shadow’ territories. Any alignment, any element, any attribute, any mask, any aspect, any wish, heck, any personality if she so desired. Realistically speaking, there were limits both self-imposed and practical, as she had already said, but they had yet to catch on to just what was still permitted.

“What do you mean, ‘made’?” Twilight asked.

“Easy, I can change myself with just a thought. It can even inadvertently alter my personality a little if I change too often, so I just stay ‘river’, ‘cloud’, and ‘rain’. As I already said, things thrown my way… affect me.”

“And ‘taken in’?”

“Another easy one, I am great with cooperative actions.” Gem said more warmly, shaking her head to pry her braid from Pumpkin’s grabby little hooves. “Normally, it’s really hard, since synchronization can be tedious and requires lots of practice with each one of your partners, specially when it comes to magic spells… or absolute trust in that case, but that’s another type of magic; Aer called it ‘Silver Bonds’, and said it is the mark of love between the users.”

“Hmm… Cadence and Shining combined their magic to repel the changelings.” Twilight mused. “Would it be alright with you if…? I mean, you seem to know many exotic things…”

“Well, you are my friend, no? I’d love to tell you all I know.” Gemini said, then inhaled deeply just as Pound Cake started to flap his wings, her horn released a soft blue glow as she released her breath and a small blue wave washed over the miniature pegasus.

“Don’t go flying off young colt.” Gem playfully scolded the foal, who was happily buzzing his wings without actually taking off.

Pinkie’s jaw dropped to the floor as her mind made an acrobatic pirouette off the handle before making a break for the emergency escape exit.

She sat there for a few moments before speaking. “That’s convenient.”

“It would be even better if I was a pegasus, but yeah, I guess.” Gem chuckled. “Babysitting, possibly the most pedestrian use I’ve given that- wait, I have used it for cooking… never mind.”

’I have to be careful, though. I only have an E-class… it’s too frail for me to cast proper spells! At least keeping appearances counts as an emergency. I suppose I should be thankful that it is unaligned.’

“Hey, I wonder what the princesses would look like for you.” Spike said, rolling up the parchment.

“Ah, they are extra-special.” She said. “They are a lot of things simultaneously. At dawn, I saw a river of black and silver reach for and descend from the moon, representative of the concealing shadows and the lights that guide within… then, a claw of gold and faint black did the same for the sun, which would be both the light of life and the shadows of respite.”

“It must be beautiful.” Lyra said.

“And loud. What I don’t understand is how any pony can actually sleep through it.” She released the foals, who promptly began running about the place. “Their presence is just so… vast and strange. Did I tell you it can be felt all the way from here? But it’s almost imperceptible unless you are in the right frame of mind to ‘catch’ it the first time.”

“Frame of mind?”

“Clear like a mirror, a mind as serene and reflective as still water.” Gem said, and then her usual mirth began seeping back into her voice. “It’s in my nature! It can be used for almost anything!”

The thing was that all was bare to her. She could see when energy was clouded and tainted; she could thus see when someone had fears, or was burdened with guilt, or carrying shame, or suffering great pains… she could even see it on projected energies some times, and thus was able to determine the current frame of mind of the caster with consistency and accuracy. She wanted to give the princesses a hug.

“You know? I should totally write a book on magic. With all the things crammed into my head, it’ll be better warded than a king’s vault.”

Yes… some recursive wards, a few empathic seals, anti-tampering enchantments, some blood magic arrays, soul runes combined with regular runes, trap spells galore, curses, conductive sigils, a couple of spell-, force- and energy-absorbing seals, blessings for good measure, and a ‘little’ living magic to tie it all together, hidden under a simple, booby-trapped concealing spell, and she would have the most complicated, over-protected book she had ever heard about. And it would barely require power to shape, what with the oodles of the stuff flooding Equestria; her E-class filter would be well within safety parameters.

If she were (nearly) anything else, it would be easier to invade her mind.

*****

To all who find this book:

Do not open.

Seriously, hooves off.

Only my closest of friends are currently authorized to see its contents. That is to say, besides those who taught me the contents: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, princess Celestia, princess Luna, (and, though they are uninterested in magic) Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Twilight insisted on letting Cadence and Shining Armor see it too, so I added a little something so that Twilight’s family can use it – sorry, I don’t know you Cadence, so I couldn’t add you!

This book is protected by a great deal of enchantments, many of which comprise kinds of magic I have not seen any pony cast, so I am confident that it can’t be opened without setting off the wards. If you can open it without the key, then you already know anything I might have put in here, and thus it’s pointless to steal it.

If you do not believe in ‘curses’, then let me tell you that I use the word to refer to any negative self-renewing enchantment/effect; I added several of them besides the wards against attacks and tampering, and without the knowledge inside this book only the Elements of Harmony are able to safely remove them – though some of them only for a while.

No, I am not implying that the princesses can’t remove the spell-weave. I am stating it. They are awesome, yes, but they are mostly focused on pony magic! A single dragon- or fox-style Eastern seal will be an edgeless puzzle with half of the pieces missing. That and you need to peel away all of the layers at the same time, but without the key…

If you find this book, give it to any of the aforementioned ponies. Or try to steal its secrets for your own, at risk of a fox-curse of bad luck and many humiliating effects.

Oh, and even if you do open it, you’ll find out that they don’t look very readable! Only those who have seen Harmony through the soul of another may see the secrets within.

Shining Armor felt the hum of power fade from the air as the box left the guard’s possession and came to a rest on his own hoof; it kind of felt like a warning not to let it get away from him. The words on the box changed, now actually a reminder that the book was not yet finished, but the knowledge within was nonetheless enough to build up some skills and construct artifacts that, ‘according to Twilight’, had been unheard of in Equestria.

He removed the top of the box, the book within, and stared. The red cover didn’t look any different from any given book, and simply read ‘Index Rerum of Spells and Enchantments’. Never judge a book by its cover indeed; foreign magic and alternate methods as well as their combinations were hidden inside, just waiting for those allowed to look into its pages.

Each page was red, and nothing else. It did not seem to bother the Captain as his eyes scanned the ‘blank’ pages, horn glowing softly, and he quickly decided that no other ponies should know of the book. This foreign magic was… something else. What exotic lands did these come from? Some looked… rather risky to research. What kind of dangers would somepony have to go through to require that kind of focus or go in those directions? Some of the spells, once explained, seemed safe enough, but he was far from a fool! Some of the things described in the book didn’t leave much of an error margin; any experiments performed to reach the finished product appeared to be the result of desperation (but dang, that is one efficient armor enchantment).

There were instructions on the construction and enchantment of the many staves the author had come to be known for; basic runes, arrays, circles and spells would be described as normal, then it would develop into an artistic approach. As the message had warned, it lacked certain advanced instructions…

He had no doubt; Twilight, should she study this, would be able to bypass the security of the book, possibly within mere hours… given the entire day and the final edition, she would be able to make her own.

Heck, just some of the ‘starter’ tips showed promise to make his magic more effective; he had learned more in a few pages, than he had in entire books.

The book detailed the proper use of the staves. With the collection of them they had found on their possession…

“Anything else?” He asked the guard that brought the book.

“Everything is warded, and there are things, like a hat, that have a simple warning: ‘Touch and die’ – the many warnings say that nothing will be actually fatal, but that nonetheless will make life very difficult to thieves. The wards around the location recognize the armor of the guards and permit our passage, as do some others, but it appears objects of personal significance are ‘friends only’. There are several ongoing experiments, and the warnings against disturbances are clear – ‘move at your own risk’.”

A second guard, holding a folded cloth in his magic, spoke up.

“This was the only one that had finished by this point – the rest are expected to finish in the following days.”

The cloth looked to be a white cloak of sorts, with golden trimming, yet it was much heavier than it should be.

This could be the ‘robe’ armor the enchantment book read about. If magic and design could make silk that durable, what would it do to metal? Only one way to find out… he turned to the book once more.

She really must know something about the Phantom Thief: The dream catcher he or she reportedly used as a shield against magic once is described here – physical construction, enchantments, and way of use.

There is absolutely nothing on the strange weapon used to attempt to slay the monster, nor the shield attached to it.

*****

Carrot Cake found himself precariously balancing on a single hoof as he balanced several trays on his head, tail, and remaining hooves. The trays held their new breakfast butter rolls, made with a slightly modified recipe that called for a higher temperature and shorter time… it was a matter of precision - the goal was to make the water evaporate faster and produce a fluffy texture and a better flavor, but it just took a few extra seconds to dry it up and make it bland!

There were also a few special madeleines that agreed particularly well with tea and coffee.

The reason for his sudden feat of acrobatics being that Cup, bless her heart, was receiving a hug from who he could only guess was the pony in whose honor they broke out the experimental recipes.

*****

It seems there is a peculiar meaning attached to food in the culture she was raised in.

When somepony from outside offers food, it is taken as a sign of acceptance; repeat instances, or the recipient’s favorite, are offers of friendship.

She doesn’t ask for much, and yearns of having a filly she can claim is ‘of the blood’, possibly referring to her duplication ability. She described the house of her dreams, and would like to own a shop and do business trading exotic things, using her ability as an aid. Strangely enough, she makes no mention of finding a special somepony, and refers to her future heir as female almost exclusively.

These tranquil desires make remembering that she has trained for combat strange, especially being the smallest and possibly youngest among us. It is nearly impossible to link the soul-weary filly in front of me with anything related to danger; the signs are there, however; be it in the way her eyes dart towards the Cake twins at any loud noises, or the way the air around her changes when she holds one of them.

Her eyes undergo radical changes too; one minute she is a wide-eyed filly looking at pastries, the next there is sharpness like that of a steel sword. One moment she is all smiles and playfulness, and then I touch her and find out she is ready like a bow drawn taut or a coiled spring. She only relaxed in the bath or when in an embrace.

=====

She has a recipe for ‘herb cake’ (attached to this letter) that is more like a collection of herbs mashed, rolled into shape and baked in an oven, stuck together by their own saps. Apparently, and I quote, ‘so disgusting as to die, even by my standards’; it is, however, very nutritious and healthy so that it leaves anypony feeling much better… she breaks them up and makes them into capsules to be able to eat them without tasting them.

She is health-conscious on occasion, knowing just what needs to be done to balance out everything – down to the exercise required to burn the calories in a given amount of ice cream. She is of the opinion that nopony should harm her friends, not even themselves.

She much prefers her friends’ safety over their opinion of her. It saddens me to think about it, about how she has been persecuted because of superstitions and misunderstandings. It has made her very protective of what little she has left.

I shudder to think what fate would befall those that dare threaten the safety of her foals.

*****

She was dressed, clean, her skin was smooth and moist from the fragrant oils, her hair was silky and shiny from shampoo… much more enjoyable than in the middle of nowhere and having to use her energy to make sure she at least looked presentable.

And now, there was food and drink.

“Thank you again, Twilight, all of you.” She said with a smile despite the distant look in her eyes. “I’ve left so many friends behind… or they left me…”

Rainbow Dash scoffed, and was about to say something, but got interrupted.

“No, Rainbow, I can’t blame them.” Gemini nursed a cup of coffee. “There are many, many kinds of monsters that can fake being sentient, to varying degrees, and do many things to their victims. I have seen ten with my own eyes, and personally fought with seven of them. Besides, with so many different shape-shifting races, spells, glamour, and plain old disguises, who’s to say that the kid who just kicked down a wall isn’t dangerous?”

To be fair, she knew that she could very well become a monster – what irked her was the fact that everyone else quite conveniently forgot that they, too, could do so. Although…

She knew she had made mistakes – far be it for her to deny it! She knew she often lacked foresight like most like her, and knew she could have handled certain situations better. Nevertheless, she would never regret it; she had helped others, and that was what mattered.

’To restore peace to the world, to protect your smile… we move in the shadows and shine unexpectedly!’ The words echoed in her memory.

She couldn’t stop. She had blown her own ‘cover’… nearly every time to be honest, save for the precious few when she left before something had the chance. She would never regret it.

“I may be many things, but I’m not ignorant. I’m well aware that I’m a collection of conflicting natures, cultures, viewpoints, desires, instincts and impulses such that, skills or no, it’s nothing short of a miracle that I can function at all, let alone in society.” The madeleine in her grasp was softer than cotton and its taste tickled her tongue, keeping her focused. “Doesn’t help that the way my memory works means that trauma is quite difficult to handle. And that doesn’t even take into account any problems others could have with me or my powers.”

Her head thumped on the table. Being at peace with herself sadly didn’t help others being at peace with her.

“If you can face destiny head on with a laugh, don't worry... your story will never end.” She muttered, and let out a rueful chuckle. Twilight heard her, however.

“Gem, would you like to hear the story of how I met my friends?”

*****

A small jam-maker’s house – After Luna’s announcement.

Hugh Jelly was feeling conflicted.

On one side, there had been a monster attack on town, and a particularly dangerous one to boot. He was surprised that only one pony had gotten injured – sure, it was bad, really bad, but it seemed like she could pull through against all odds. There was also the support; that pony (Au-something) used some fancy spellwork and made a number on the street, while Rainbow Dash… whoa.

Kicked one of those blade things so hard it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say it blew up.

Still, it was a scary situation to face; one near-death experience in the Everfree when he was a little colt had been enough, thank you very much.

And that, or rather, the outcome of that, factored heavily on why he was still feeling a little happy overall.

Ugh! Alright, the rising feeling of heat across his skin and the soreness and tiny cramps lessened the joy; still, it wasn’t like he was running out of time.

No, he had a few hours at the least before the cramps started getting bad, further for the heat to make him sweat, and even then the real trouble wouldn’t start until days later. No reason to wait for that, though. As such, he quickly made his way to his medicine cabinet and took two things.

A hoof-full of the first, spread across chest, wait for it to absorb.

A mouthful of the second, relishing the taste for a moment before swallowing.

Already he could feel himself cooling down, and it wouldn’t be long before everything was back to ‘normal’.

Relatively, of course; he knew that –short of the princesses- only the… modified… however you pronounce her type had the actual ability to return him to actual, mint-condition normal.

Nah, the scars across his gut weren’t that noticeable from the excellent care he received, and it wasn’t like he was in danger of running out of either remedy anytime soon; the symptoms were just a side-effect from the method used to save him, and nothing he could not live with.

And it was the perfect excuse to show up out of the blue! ‘Hey, I’m almost dry again, so I came to see you’ and the little hamlet welcomed him warmly.

And her…

She was there, waiting for his next visit.

And- and the reason he was so darn happy right now was because he could be a father! Two days ago, the princess just showed up at his door, and offered to solve their problem!

Err, that would be theirs, not one of his pony princesses. Hmm. He’d never thought about how much pony royalty in Equestria could be addressed as ‘prince this’ or ‘princess that’ before… everypony just thought of Celestia or Luna by default. Though, to be fair, the Water Children (so much better a name) had never brought up their royalty other than in passing reference.

Though with a title/name combination that roughly means ‘living fragment of the shadow of all-that-is and all-that-will-be’, he made sure he remembered every tale. That name was on his danger list, right up there with ‘Nightmare Moon’, ‘Blade Baron’ and ‘Discord’. (Given the deal with the Nightmare, he wasn’t sure the Baron was ‘merely an old horror tale’ anymore).

And thus, having the aforementioned shadow princess stroll right in and announce the end of his problems was a little jarring; doubly so since he didn’t know that that was supposed to be her, with a disguise so good.

Mad props to her ‘sort of assistant, sort of charge, sort of servant’ for making it; that this one managed to also solve the issue of his parenthood only made him respect her more.

He just wondered… what would the foal be like? Dear goodness, what of the surges?! An Earth pony foal nigh-literally bounced off the walls! Drawing all that ambient energy in an unstable manner, mixing it with their supplies so abruptly regardless of how small it might be, and letting it flail about just as uncontrollably… it sent a shiver down his spine.

Still, was he not willing to go for it regardless? That was rhetorical - of course he wanted! That was the reason he read up so much on the subject! Even though he knew that she couldn’t… but now it seemed he was going to have a bundle of joy after all.

He wasn’t- well, he could adopt, but this would be something else. Besides, how would he get the mother here to Ponyville? He’d want the both of them raising the foal, and the other place… yeah; he wasn’t going making that trip with a foal under sixteen without some big escorts. Oh, if only he could get ponies to see things like he did, making them forget about paranoia; he would be able to get ponies like Twilight be those escorts – to magic every threat into submission.

One thing was for certain, though. He wasn’t sure he’d do well with one of theirs, since they require certain specialized care that he was unable to give and the way they grow up and mature was weird by Equestrian standards.

Come to think of it… he knew some of them could have foals with an Equestrian, like the princess and her servant; it was just an unfortunate twist of fate that his little darling couldn’t. Thing was, how would the whole thing play out? With the density of magic inside a pony, and… alright, he didn’t know how it all worked, but he did know that both kinds of magic in one foal would be quite an oddity.

Another worrying thought. This would be highly unusual, even taking into account hybrids like Kirins… it was hard to believe that ponies didn’t even know what they were supposed to be! Granted, he didn’t know either up until he read that old book, but still! Ugh, alright, the local library didn’t have it, but one would think the story would circulate at least.

A kid born of a dragon and a pony would make an interesting topic, given that there is a dragon living in Ponyville – ‘baby’ or not.

And now he was going for something even more uncommon.

Oh boy, did he have his hooves full now…

Chapter 5 - Dragon Scales Polished to a Mirror's Sheen

“Oh darling!” Rarity bemoaned the state of Gem’s dress with enough force for the both of them. “We must get you out of that immediately.”

“I’d rather-“

“And we simply must get that goop off!” Rarity added while levitating the baking pan away from the mare’s face. She felt she had to find Pinkie Pie as soon as she had heard the music and seen Vinyl playing an actual instrument. ’And not a moment too soon!’

Pinkie was on her hind legs, winding up to toss the contents of a bucket on the newcomer.

An intense stare from both Twilight and Rarity stopped her.

The party pony looked at the pair of unicorns, then down at the bucket, then back at them. They began to scowl at her.

She slowly put the bucket down on the ground and, taking the intensifying glares as cues, dipped a washcloth in it and gently wiped off the cake batter from Gemini’s face.

“Nice try dear.” Rarity said. “But she’s going to need a real bath to get it all out of her mane.” The fashionable pony shuddered and tensed at the idea of something grimy anywhere near her perfect coiffure.

“A… bath?” Gemini’s eyes widened, her face sporting a huge smile.

“Oh yes, a hot bath will prevent it from staining your coat.” The fashionista stated matter-of-factly eliciting a whoop of excitement from the cake-covered unicorn.

“Lead the way!” Gemini reared and kicked at the air happily. “I haven’t had one in ages!”

“Oh?” Rarity was taken aback. “You poor dear; you can tell me all about it at my boutique.”

“Mind if I tag along? I have some questions of my own –I mean! That is, if you don’t mind.” Twilight asked in her best Fluttershy impression, folding her ears and finding the ground hold her interest, to which Gem just nodded.

“Well! You heard them!” Pinkie said, pushing the other three mares. “Come on, there’s no time to lose! You must help me if we are to complete Plan Nine!”

“From outer space?” Lyra asked, retrieving her saddlebags with her magic and helping Applejack with hers.

“The same!” Pinkie answered.

“Uh, Pinkie? There haven’t been any shooting stars in a while…” Rainbow Dash pointed out the flaw in the mare’s scheme.

“Darn!” Applejack exclaimed as the three unicorns cantered down the road in the opposite direction.

*****

Dear Princess Celestia:

Please excuse the length of this letter, I know it’s very far from being the lengthiest, but I am aware it’s greater than the usual; I just have so much to tell you! Today I made a wonderful friend by the name of Gemini Prismriver; her past, though difficult, has tempered her ability – as Rarity so poetically expressed it- ‘to find the light in the deepest darkness and listen to unspoken words’. She is from somewhere outside of Equestria, where those with her particular gift are not appreciated; though when asked she merely responded by saying, and I quote, “I’m so far from home I can boast about it.”

Her ability, apparently gained from birth and inherited (I’ll expand on this later, I promise!), is born of chaos and creation magic -mostly parallel to the schools of transmutation and alchemy- and is closely related to her special talent. She said she discovered the later thanks to the mindset that comes from using the former.

This ‘bloodline talent’ being the ability to duplicate most things; used metaphysically on herself to synergize near-effortlessly with another creature regardless of species or magical ability, with a few, mostly pleasant, side-effects; as well as externally to easily duplicate most objects. There are exceptions, particularly items that have had spells cast upon them or can cast them on their own, since they would have to be enchanted separately.

Though her peculiar ability is indeed fascinating in its uses (and, sadly, abuses), I find that the supplementary skills she possesses in order to bring out the true potential of the first are of greater immediate interest – and less likely to be exploited by unscrupulous ponies at her expense.

*****

Gem trotted happily besides Rarity, with Twilight not far behind them.

“What was that about a dragon?” Twilight asked the first thing on her mind. Sure, she could have asked about the whole ‘chaos’ thing, but the dark tone the other mare had used when she said it made her reconsider. Of course, only after the words left her mouth she realized that maybe she wouldn’t want to speak of anything relating to her past, much less something so harsh and savage; that accursed scholarly thirst for knowledge had a pretty good grip on the lavender unicorn’s actions, taking control of her first, second, and even third instinct.

“That one was an evil jerk, so don’t worry about yours.” She answered with such nonchalance that if it weren’t for her witnessing it, Twilight wouldn’t have known it was a problematic issue. Then again, Gem did say she was OK now…

“My… what?” Twilight asked, only now realizing there was something odd with Gem’s reply.

“Your dragon! What else?” Gem answered with a slight hint of annoyance. “He’s much too small to cause much trouble anyways.”

Twilight stopped abruptly. “How do you know about Spike?”

“Smell, d’uh. You always meet a whole family with your nose, instead of just one target like with sight.” Gem’s answer filled Rarity with curiosity, so she stopped to listen intently.

“Besides your own scents, there’s that telltale reptilian musk mixed with the smell of cinders shared by nearly every fire dragon ever, there’s also burnt parchment plus gemstone dust –yes, I can tell- and he smells like a boy.”

She lowered her head and sniffed the ground, then at a rather pleasantly surprised Twilight.

“Sure smells like he comes this way a lot. Can’t be bigger than a pony… yes, he doesn’t reach past your withers…” Her face scrunched up in concentration. “Can’t be problematic if you live together; I can tell because you’re as soaked in draconic energy as one can be without at least being covered in freshly powdered scales.”

“You detect all that with your nose?” Twilight was surprised; if the cherry-haired mare could find out all that so quickly then her living out in the wilderness wouldn’t be so hard to imagine.

“With everything, actually.” Gem corrected.

*****

Did you know she can see energy no matter how small the concentration? Like magesight or scanning spells that can be sustained indefinitely and activated without effort! And not just see it, but by manipulating her own body she can slip into a state of synaesthesia! All with perfect clarity! She claims her body is suffused with magical energy from her horn down to the very tip of her tail, which reacts to external influences and those changes alert her to the outside world. She claims we should be a little like that too, instead of just letting energy pool in a single spot of our bodies… the things I could learn with an outsider’s viewpoint are so exiting I can barely contain it!

Anyways, thanks to that same sort of self-alteration abilities, she can manipulate the sensitivity of her physical senses as well, which she was glad to demonstrate. Apparently, besides my own ‘pony smell’, she can detect the scent of books, ink and parchment, as she can the slight touch of sap and wood from the tree the library is built into; my lavender-scented shampoo and jasmine soap, the fabric softener I use on my towel; as well as everything else I’ve come in contact with, like Spike and my breakfast. My magic and related energies get slightly more abstract to describe, but she was more than happy to demonstrate…

I now realize I’ve been ranting about what she can do, instead of writing about who she is. I apologize for getting carried away like that. I will also strive to keep a chronologic order.

“Well, Twilight is and has always been a curious filly. It isn’t the first time that she has let a mystery or a surprise like that distract her.” Celestia commented, and Luna smiled. “I wonder if Twilight has the skill and the insight to detect magic as well; maybe with help from this new friend…”

Her behavior is, overall, similar to a little filly’s; at least, it is when away from topics thought of as ‘strictly adult’ by our society, like gambling, or something annoys her enough. I am unable to ascertain if that is merely a result of the difficulties she faced while growing up making her compensate for a perceived wasted foalhood, or if that is her true character, or even a sign of some form of actual psychological damage… that last one is by far the least likely, all things considered, but I’m not discarding the possibility just yet.

Many things can be traced back to her parents; for example, during her foalhood they appear to have left her an accessory as a reminder to always be kind…

*****

Turning to the white unicorn, who also sported a look of interest of her own, Gemini gestured towards the path (accidentally flinging some batter). “Shall we?”

“O-of course dear…” Rarity tried fishing for the other mare’s name in her memory, only to discover she hadn’t yet asked for it in her haste. “Uh…”

“Gemini Prismriver.” She nodded quickly, tossing more batter. “Is there something wrong? You’re looking at me like you want to say something.”

Rarity blushed and tapped her hoof on the ground.

“W-well, if you insist. It might not be as interesting as Twilight’s question, but… uh…” Thanks to the batter, there was a small detail popping up that was bothering her, but it wasn’t something she wanted to call attention to; she settled for asking something else. “I wonder why you would… wear that badge.”

“It’s all that is physically left of where I… I… m-my parents gave…” She started to reply, but her voice faded by the end. Twilight gave her a small nuzzle and seemed to re-energize her spirit, even if she did get a dab of batter on her nose.

Rarity covered her mouth, which hung open in shock, and began to tear up herself.

“They had no choice but to part ways… I seriously doubt they could have taken care of me like that.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “So I’m alone. I don’t even know if they are alive. I take the smile as a reminder to be nice to others… I like it when others smile.”

“Like Pinkie.” Twilight said absent-mindedly.

“Oh no, she’s special.” At this she began tear up; the pony whose personality could be best described as ‘pink’ was really something else. “She cared. Her… her everything started to sparkle and ripple and-and then, when she began to sing, it just poured! No huge explosion, no great crash… her energy and liveliness just expanded and touched everything, and did it just because she wanted to make others happy. If I’m reading my parents’ message correctly, I want to be a part of that too."

“So, what was your real question?” Gem turned to Rarity, but before the white mare could make an excuse, she continued. “Please, I have beggared better poker-faces than that.”

Rarity folded her ears and rubbed her forelegs together, biting her lips; she quietly whispered something to her ears so that Twilight wouldn’t hear.

“That?” Now Gem was blushing, shrinking away from them. “I… well… it-it makes me feel pretty… was it wrong?”

“Of course not!” Rarity replied instantly, turning her head to make her hair sway in a dramatic fashion. “We are mares! It’s is our right to feel our best at all times! To look absolutely ravishing if we so desire!”

“I, Rarity, rising star of the world of fashion, am going to help you achieve said goals.” She finished with a final twist of her head, standing firm for added flair and dignity.

The messy unicorn could not get out any words, merely nodding and smiling in appreciation. The force of the white mare’s spirit was imposing, regal, and bright in all of its magnificence, just like that of nobility; Rarity felt like the kind of mare that would be hard to persuade once an idea got inside her head.

They reached Carousel Boutique not long after, Gemini pausing momentarily to admire the exterior.

“Make yourselves comfortable.” Rarity said while going off to prepare the bath.

Twilight looked around before her eyes fell back on Gem and- whoa, wait a second.

“Gemini?”

“Yus?” She asked through the smiley button badge held gently in her mouth.

“You’re clean.” She stated. Gem wasn’t just clean – she was spotless; her mane and coat looked as neat as Rarity liked hers. She was no longer wearing the dress, making Twilight realize Gem might have gotten rid of it the same way she had done with the duplicates of Lyra’s lyre and Applejack’s hat.

“Uh-huh. Se’f-ta’geted magik. Kinda.” She spoke through the button again, taking a good look inside Rarity’s home and place of business. Going from one jewel-encrusted saddle to a stallion’s tux then to a gorgeous ball gown, the red-eyed mare took in every beautiful detail with the awed look of a foal seeing her birthday presents.

*****

…She as a ‘monster’ had been forced to live far out of towns repeatedly, so that would make her desire to wear clothes and accessories of every possible design a normal reaction; her preference for her sundress stems from a need for practicality. This would also serve to explain her habit of eating staggering amounts of food –preferably bread and sweets- on each meal, but she claims it to be a cultural thing and unrelated to her situation outside of causing her to feel happiness, intense gratitude and relief. If she makes use of her abilities in order to find food in the wilderness, that might very well be true; eating massive quantities of food at a party is not as important to her as the fact that she’s been given said food at a party in her honor.

A white unicorn mare lowered the letter she had been reading, and a dark blue unicorn stallion nuzzled her.

“There, there.” He cooed. “If that is so, then she could not have chosen a better place to end up than Ponyville, and no better pony to meet than our daughter.” He paused a moment before smirking. “Except maybe you.”

The mare couldn’t help but chuckle.

*****

Twilight had a chance to look at Gemini’s cutie mark… it was elaborate. A sky-blue wisp of wind going in one direction, with another one below it –sparkly and in a deeper shade of blue- upside-down and going in the other direction (mirrored both ways, now that she thought about it); two black lines connected the wisps, which made Twilight realize that the wisps representing physical and magical energy respectively also formed part of the symbol for the constellation of Gemini.

‘Neat.’ Twilight added in her mind, noting that the symbol itself worked as a frame for a mirror at the center of it all.

Gem pawed at the frills of a dress, inspecting it closely; Twilight deducted that she was once more seeing beyond sight. Something besides the dresses seemed to have caught her attention, for she looked around to places that had nothing of interest. She placed her button gently on a table, before giving the place another quick glance.

“This… Spike seems to be fond of this place.” She inhaled deeply, looking at Twilight and her nod of confirmation. “This place is full of draconic essence; the good kind, the one that has its priorities straight.”

“Go on.” Twilight pushed; after all, the incident during the migration made her curious about dragons… any sort of knowledge was a treasure. “What do you know about dragons?”

“Dragon magic is not quite what many think it is. Dragons make huge hoards because they have the power to protect them.” She paused and winced. “If greed wins out, they become a twisted mockery of their selves.”

Twilight felt a stab of pain hearing that, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Draconic power is… you might call me a little crazy, but for all of their destructive force is protection. Their breath destroys threats, their scales deflect blows, and their blood is rich in life; all so they can guard that which is important for them.”

“Ah! Given their longevity, and the perceived value of money, their misgivings lead them to amass large amounts of wealth!” Twilight said, having received a burst of insight. “Their fortune grows, and that makes them need more power to guard it, then they grow larger and stronger, but they just use their new-found strength to steal more treasure! It’s a vicious cycle!”

Gem looked at her strangely. “They grow with their hoard?”

“Well if they aren’t old enough to be that big naturally… it seems young dragons can’t quite control their instincts.” She let the words hang in the air as she recalled the grief in Spike’s face each time he saw the giant prints he left on the ground, or even the reconstruction efforts. She sighed and looked down at the floor. “He’s still a baby dragon.”

Twilight found herself on the receiving end of the very same pony hug Dash had, only she did not hesitate to return it. “If he has friends like you… all of you, then I can see he’s going to grow up into a kind, noble dragon.”

Twilight noted, with her new perspective, that Spike’s great desire to help rebuild the town could have been his ‘true’ nature shining forth, wishing to atone for having damaged something he held dear. Her memory recovering moment after moment of Spike going an extra mile, and then pushing himself another mile, each time he helped her or the others.

The only thing that had stopped him from going with her to find the Elements of Harmony was his body simply giving up and forcing him to fall sleep.

When Rarity had been abducted by Diamond Dogs, he hadn’t even hesitated to have a go at them; he had even disregarded the size difference and the greater numbers, but hadn’t just rushed blindly.

And when he had written checklists to the point he got cramps, he still wrote to her mentor in worry.

This and many other examples made the mare smile softly as she spoke.

“You know what? He already is.”

*****

Then I noticed –and told her- that he is.

“Knowledgeable little friend she made there.” Luna smiled as she heard Celestia speak the words on the letter. The Solar princess was looking thoughtfully at it, smiling as she remembered all of her own experiences while taking care of the little hatchling.

“That kind of insight is rare… perhaps ‘insight’ or ‘reflection’ is the meaning of her mirror cutie mark.” Celestia said, still pensive. “Mirror, mirror…”

“On the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Luna added, managing to get a dainty chuckle out of her sister.

Then, the white princess had a small revelation of her own. “That’s it! After all, if you want to look at yourself to get a new point of view…”

“You use a mirror; clever deduction, dear sister.” The midnight-blue pony completed the thought once more.