My Little Proletariat

Twilight's horn glowed. She envisioned the tunnels under the palace, felt the magic well up inside her-

-and hit a wall.

Celestia stood up languidly. "Leaving so soon?" she said, a playful note in her voice. "But you've only just arrived! Tea?"

The Princess' horn glowed. To her left, a tea set was sitting on a sidebar: the teapot lifted and gently poured tea into two cups.

Two cups - Celestia had been expecting her. Twilight had hoped that her confrontation with her mentor would at least have been a little less one-sided.

The teaset floated piece-by-piece to the table where Celestia had been sitting. "Won't you join me?" she asked, smiling. "I think you have some questions to ask me."

Questions raced through Twilight's head. Why doesn't anyone in Ponyville trust technology? What happened to Cheerilee? Is Rarity really spying for you? Who did I talk to on my last night in Ponyville? She'd thought she'd have to force these out of Celestia. She felt she was missing something.

Celestia's brow creased. "Sit," she suggested. Twilight realised she'd been standing there, staring at the teaset. Mind still churning, she trotted over to the table and sat on one of the chairs.

"Now," the princess continued. "Go on, ask away."

"Why is Luna locked up downstairs? And what have you done to her horn?" It wasn't the question Twilight wanted to ask, but it was the one that slipped out first.

Celestia nodded, sipping her tea. "So. I see you got that far in the palace. I'd hoped that the guards would have enough tact to pull you in without causing too much of a ruckus." She waved a hoof absent-mindedly. "The Gala and all."

"The Gala's tonight?"

"Yes," Celestia said. "I sent you an invitation, you know."

Twilight shook her head. "Aren't you supposed to be telling me about Luna?"

Silence as Celestia took another sip of tea, and put the cup down. Twilight still hadn't touched hers.

"First," the Princess said, "how about you give me your latest report? I understand you're owing on a few lessons, and events have been somewhat...hectic, in Ponyville."

Twilight glared at the Princess. She was playing at something, the unicorn knew.

"Well?" Celestia asked.

Twilight sighed. She collected her thoughts. Celestia sat patiently, watching her student, waiting.

"The last time we talked," Twilight said, "was the day after Summer Sun, in Ponyville..."

She recounted the past days' events, in brief. Celestia listened, nodding occasionally but never interrupting. It was something they'd done every day, back when Twilight was still a filly and times were more innocent. She found herself slipping into the routine - then she'd notice, start, and glare at the Princess. If Celestia noticed these pauses, she didn't give any sign.

There was one thing different from usual - Twilight found herself scanning every sentence in advance, censoring herself. She still didn't know what Celestia was up to, but she didn't want to pull her friends into it.

"...closed my eyes, teleported away from there, and found myself in your study."

Silence resumed. Celestia gave no indication that she'd heard her student's report, or that she'd noticed it had finished. Twilight watched her her carefully: she was staring into the middle-distance, eyes fixed on something only she could see. Her horn glowed faintly, the only indication that her anti-magic shield - or whatever it was she was using to keep Twilight here - was still in effect.

The unicorn shifted nervously. "Well?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"I've given you my report. Will you tell me what Luna's doing in your dungeon? If it is Luna and not a body double for some bizarre stunt."

"I'd have thought you'd ask about the rumours you've heard of me," Celestia mused. "About this Party, or the presence of the guards in Ponyville, or the unfortunate incident with the teacher."

Twilight glared at Celestia. "I was getting to those," she said.

Silence again.

"The fact is, Twilight," she said, finally, "I didn't really send you to Ponyville to make friends."

Twilight started. "This better get around to Luna eventually," she said.

"It will. Eventually. Do you know how hard it is to govern a nation?"

"I- uh, no? I mean, academically I can make a guess at it..."

"It's difficult, Twilight. Trying. Ponies - I hope you don't mind me saying - ponies are shocking at governing themselves. Without someone to hold them together, they'd have divided into squabbling villages long ago. The only reason Equestria has held together as long as it has, is because it's had one strong leader at its helm since the old days."

"You," Twilight said. The cup of tea next to her fore-hoof had gone cold.

"Yes, me. Oh, there've been times when some bleeding-heart unicorn liberals try to get together and form an opposition, push for a kingdom-wide election or some such." The Princess smiled. "Sometimes I even let them, take a break while they play at ruling. But soon enough, everything falls apart and they welcome me back to the fold - sometimes grudgingly, sometimes with open hooves."

Celestia stood up from her seat, started walking the room. The study was lined with bookshelves, and she ran the tip of her horn lightly along the books' spines, looking for a particular volume. "The problem, Twilight, is statistics. One day, someone else is going to be in power when a crisis hits. They'll panic. Equestria will fall. The forces arrayed against us, Twilight, they only have to be lucky once." She turned and fixed the unicorn with a stare. "I have to be lucky every time."

Twilight sat in silence as the Princess continued to walk the room. Something caught her eye - something near the high ceiling, where small, intricately-detailed windows opened to let air into the study. She scanned the ceiling, frowning - whatever it was, she'd only noticed it out of the corner of her eye, and now she was looking straight at it, she couldn't for the life of her work out what it was.

"So," Celestia said, returning to the desk. "What would you do, Twilight?" She sat back down, carefully arranging her wings so as not to knock anything over. "Your kingdom rebels against you periodically, and every time it could spell the end. Every generation has forgotten the lessons of the generation before. Each one makes the mistakes of their parents."

"Well..." said Twilight. She thought - and then remembered her conversation with the voice in the shadows. "You...you make crises," she said.

Celestia nodded, gravely.

She tried to recall what the shadowy figure had told her. "You make crises," she repeated slowly, "and you use them to make everypony think you're a hero. You make them think Equestria is constantly under threat from the outside, and you're the only thing stopping it from collapsing, so that when external threats do occur, everypony trusts you to deal with them. And if you live for far longer than everyone else, you can just insert legends and myths into the folklore so that if necessary you have some new beast out of old mare's tales to fight. And if you have ponies in every town who're secretly loyal to you, they can make sure that these tales persist, and that anypony who suggests maybe a republic is a good idea ends up  silenced."

"Exactly." Celestia nodded, pleased - with herself or Twilight, the unicorn couldn't work out. She felt like she'd passed a test. "If I didn't know better, I'd suspect you'd read the answer sheet," the princess said with a wry smile.

"But what about me?" she asked. "Why do I fit into it?"

"Twilight," Celestia said, "I'm old. I've been ruling this nation for - even I forget exactly how long. But I'll be damned if I see it all go to waste the moment I step down. I need a successor, Twilight - and I was hoping that successor would be you."

Twilight opened her mouth. Closed it, swallowed, opened it again. "You, uh..." she said. "You want me to run Equestria?"

Celestia smiled. "The term, I believe, is 'rule'."

"But-but-but I'm just a pony! I'm not an alicorn like you, I was going to be an accountant when I grew up! My parents were shocked when I didn't end up with a checklist for a cutie mark! I don't know the first thing about ruling!"

Celestia stood up and walked languidly around the table to where Twilight was sitting. "And what do you think the last ten years have been, Twilight? Do you think most magical scholars get elocution lessons?"

"Mispronouncing the wrong syllable can leave you with a dud spell, or worse," said the unicorn as if by  rote.

The alicorn wandered behind Twilight. "Posture and gait?"

Twilight unconsciously drew herself up in her chair. "Hours of study take their toll. If you don't sit right, you'll have rheumatism by age thirty."

There was a smile on Celestia's lips. "Strategic reasoning?"

"Essential for...uh..."

"Twilight, I picked you out as a filly. You were a pony with great potential. I trained you to fill this position. And, as much as possible, I kept you out of the politics that involve this nation." Twilight stared straight ahead, as if by avoiding her mentor's gaze she could avoid what she was saying as well. "But at some point," said Celestia, "you'd have to come of age. I did not want you to live in Canterlot. There are too many malcontents here, who'd try to sway you. But I needed you somewhere I could keep an eye on you. Ponyville was perfect."

Celestia turned and started to browse the shelves behind her. Twilight realised she was holding her breath, and let it out. The Princess had her on edge.

"What about Luna?" she asked. "This still doesn't explain the dungeons."

"Twilight," Celestia said. Twilight could hear the smile playing at her lips. The unicorn blinked. Had she seen a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye? She scratched the back of her neck, using the opportunity to glance over in...the same direction she thought she'd caught something before. Again: nothing. Nothing at all. Except - she blinked. There was a rope leading down from one of the windows...

"Twilight," Celestia said again, oblivious. "I needed some way to bring you onto the scene. Something to make you a hero. So I manufactured the best crisis yet."

Twilight's head snapped back. "You what?"

"It caught everyone's attention, you have to give me that. Endless night, warring siblings...a good old-fashioned story. It'll stay in everyone's hearts for milennia."

"Hold on - you made Nightmare Moon? I thought you had a sister!"

"Oh, Luna? She's just some poor pegasus pony who happened to have the wrong look at the wrong time. All it took was a couple of cosmetic changes - making her a bit taller, a bit darker - and she was the perfect villain." Celestia paused, glancing back at Twilight. "We can't let her go until we're sure everything's gone off without a hitch, you understand." The Princess chuckled at Twilight's expression. "Don't worry, her family will be quite handsomely compensated for their trouble. I might have to fix some things in her mind, of course - we don't want unwanted memories surfacing in twenty years."

"But ponies would notice-!"

"Hmm, maybe you're right." Celestia touched her hoof to her chin. "Maybe I should just keep her locked up. I can always use her if Luna needs to make another appearance." She turned back to the bookshelf. "You always made such a good schemer, Twilight."

Twilight blinked. "But I- that's not what I-"

"Oh, Twilight. Think of the big picture. We're saving ponies' lives here. Anyway, you really think if I had a sister whom I'd banished to the moon for a thousand years, I wouldn't at least hint of it to you? Especially one whose sentence was about to come up. I've been ruling this nation for a milennia or two, I'm sure I can keep track of one imprisoned sibling."

"But no one had looked at-"

"Ah, here we go." Celestia's horn glowed, and a book slid from the shelf next to her. It was a thick volume, leather-bound, with an stylised pony's head and five gems on the cover.

Twilight knew the cover of that book very well.

"The Elements of Harmony? You have a copy? You knew what was going on the whole time!"

"Of course I did," Celestia said. The book floated to the table and opened in front of the unicorn. "I wrote this, Twilight. This, the prophecy, all of it. A backup plan, depending on the circumstances a thousand years in the future."

"But the prophecy was for one particular day!" Hooves scrambling, Twilight leafed through the book. She could feel Celestia studying the book over her shoulder. "Here - 'the longest day of the thousandth year'. Even you can't predict this sort of thing to the day."

"Oh, sorry, did you think this was the only prophecy? The thing about prophecies, Twilight," the Princess said, lowering her voice, "is that if they don't come true, no one notices. But if they happen to work, well..." And she smiled again.

Twilight turned the pages frantically, as if somewhere in here would be the answer - the way out of this. One page caught her eye. Writing crammed the margins, but in the centre, spread across two pages, was a detailed illustration - five symbols, and in the middle, a sixth.

"But..." she said. "The Elements of Harmony!" She looked up at the Princess. "You're saying you just let six common ponies get hold of them? You just left them hanging around in the Everfree Forest? What if we'd decided to join with your malcontents? What if we'd wanted to take over Equestria?"

"Silly pony," Celestia said. Twilight could feel her breath, warm on the nape of her neck. "The Elements," the Princess whispered, "are just as real as Nightmare Moon."

"No!" Twilight slammed the book and whirled around. Celestia looked, if anything, taken aback. The unicorn's horn glowed - an instinctive gesture; the Princess' magic barrier still prevented her doing anything. "I felt their power when I was in the Castle, when I was facing down Nightmare Moon! I felt my friends coming! They gave me strength when I thought everything was lost!"

Celestia smirked. "Because you were meant to be together?" she asked, "because together you represented the Elements? Because that made the best story? Or because I just happened to set you up with the five most suitable ponies in Ponyville? Who do you think was controlling Nightmare Moon when you faced her, Twilight? Do you think a poor pegasus from Cloudsdale was going to stand up to you? She was playing a part, Twilight." The Princess stood up and walked toward the bookshelf, the Elements floating behind her. "As were you, as were your friends." The book slotted into place, Celestia casting a critical eye along the row. "The hero, the villain, and a bevy of witnesses to tell everyone what happened there. And if I happened to add a little...sparkle to the scene - no pun intended, Twilight - you'll have to forgive me. A thousand years ruling a kingdom can make one a bit bored of the everyday."

Twilight glared at the Princess. "That's all we are to you, isn't it?" she said. "Puppets. You've been ruling this kingdom so long, you've forgotten we're real ponies." She knew this was a bad idea - to face down the Princess here, in her study, without her magic. But something inside her had been waiting, had been ready to be angry at somepony for the last week. Finally, she'd found a chance. And if she spent the rest of her life rotting in the dungeons next to Luna - next to whoever Luna was in real life, anyway - that's just the price she'd have to pay.

Scootaloo ducked back down behind the bookshelf. "They're arguing," she said.

"I can tell they're arguing," Sweetie Belle said. She was hiding behind a particularly large volume of Equestrian history, and wondering how she'd go into this mess again.

"Maybe we can burst out and help them resolve it!" Apple Bloom suggested.

"I don't think this is the sort of argument that'll get wrapped up with tea and compliments," Sweetie Belle said.

"Hold on," said Scootaloo. She poked her head back around the corner. The Princess had her back to the trio - Scootaloo was incredibly glad of that - but Twilight was looking right in their direction.

"-forgotten we're really ponies!" she all but yelled at the Princess. Her ears were flat against her head, and her mane was all but bristling.

"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said. You could have sharpened razors on her voice. "Maybe you forget that it's my job to keep Equestria running. One pony here, one pony there - if I allow myself to start feeling for my subjects..."

The unicorn panted as Celestia spoke, her eyes darting around the room. Then she saw Scootaloo, hiding behind the bookshelf.

In stories, Scootaloo knew, this was the moment when volumes of information passed between the two of them. Instead, Twilight just looked surprised, then resigned, and then her eyes lit up like she'd just thought of something. Then she cast her gaze back to the Princess.

Scootaloo ducked back behind the bookshelf.

"Well?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What was it you were looking for?"

"If we want to do it Apple Bloom's way," the pegasus said, "they've already got a tea set out there. If not, I think Twilight has a plan..."

Twilight's mind was racing. The past few days, she'd been kept in the dark. Ponies had been keeping secrets: she'd been acting the best she could, but she'd been making decisions without complete information. She'd felt like every three steps she'd learn something new and have to recalibrate. Now things were making sense - the way Cheerilee had been hinting at "knowing" Celestia, why Rarity had been acting the way she had, how everypony in Ponyville had been so nice to her even as they tried to shut her out from their lives - even how Applejack had frozen up when she mentioned technology.

Information was flowing in. But Twilight had grown up in a household of accountants, and then had got a job as a librarian. She was good at this.

Celestia was watching her. She was waiting for Twilight to make a move - and that didn't make sense to Twilight. The Princess held all the power in this room - she'd stopped Twilight's magic without even breaking a sweat, and the unicorn had nowhere to run.

"So," she asked, stalling for time, "what happens now?"

Celestia looked down her nose at the unicorn. Something was...wrong, Twilight thought. The Princess was acting all high-and-mighty at her, but that's what it was - an act.

"What happens now," Celestia said, "is that you choose. You know what I do to keep the peace in Equestria. You know what is required to keep everypony happy - or at least, keep most ponies happy. And you know you're next in line.

"So you have to choose: do you want to sacrifice this kingdom for your belief that everypony should tell me what to do, or do you want to help me, and keep Equestria strong for another thousand years?"

Twilight blinked. Was that it? Was this what Celestia was afraid of? Surely the Princess had a backup plan for if Twilight said "no". She must have.

Unless...

Celestia smiled. "You don't have to make your mind up right away. Take a few days if you want. I understand they haven't cleaned out your old rooms yet."

Twilight stood up. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow. Twilight took a step forward. "I've been trying to work out what's wrong, why you didn't just kill this plan when things started going wrong, and I think I've worked it out."

"Do tell," Celestia said. Was there a hint of a catch in her voice?

Twilight took another step towards the Princess. "You're afraid. Not of the plan failing, not of having to wait another hundred years to find another protégé to replace you on your throne, because I imagine you're tried this before, haven't you? No, you're afraid because you've spent all these years locked up in your palace, ruling Equestria as best you see fit, not feeling, just thinking, running scenarios and calculating odds and...and rationalising the death of ponies to keep the place running! And then along comes a bright student and you think 'Oh, she'll make a wonderful replacement!' And so you take her in - do you usually take them in as your personal students, Princess? Was that your mistake?"

Twilight took another step towards Celestia. The Princess took a step back, toward the bookshelves. The unicorn grinned. "When did it happen, Princess? Was it when I cast my first spell? When I first helped raise the sun with you? Or did it take longer? Was it when I graduated, when I was walking across that stage? Or maybe even - did it take my leaving to make you realise that you actually cared for sompony?"

"Twilight," Celestia said, horn flaring. "This is most unseemly-"

"Unseemly? Unseemly is keeping me in the dark! Unseemly is trying to protect me from everything that's happening back home! Unseemly is interfering with my friends because you don't think they're good for me, because you think they'll corrupt me! Unseemly is making me dance like a puppet just so I'll fulfill your little prophecy!"

Celestia took another step back, hit a bookshelf with her rear hoof. Light coalesced around her horn. "Twilight Sparkle, I think this has gone on long enough!"

"I think you're right, Princess," the unicorn replied. Her eyes were on Celestia's horn. "Girls!"

Scootaloo fairly flew over the bookshelf and landed, hooves around the Princess' neck. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle grabbed a couple of hooves each and hugged. The Princess staggered, but didn't fall.

But her horn did wink out.

Twilight lunged for the fillies. She gathered a unicorn one one hoof, an earth pony in another, and grabbed Scootaloo (fearlessly attempting a nerve pinch that he'd seen a hundred times in comics, which just wasn't working on Celestia) in her teeth. Purple light welled up in her horn as she felt her magic flow unimpeded.

"Alfo," she said around the pegasus in her mouth, "you fuck at teaching ftatifticf!"

Then there was a flash, and the four of them left.

"Twilight?"

She had a headache. She was looking up at the sky. She had trouble focussing, but the sky seemed so close, like she could reach out a hoof and-

The sky hit her.

"Twilight!"

The sky moved. Then it became the face of Rainbow Dash. The pegasus frowned down at her. "She's awake," she said.

Twilight could see the ceiling. They were in some sort of cupboard. It smelled of cleaning supplies, ponies - a number of ponies - and burnt hair.

Her horn hurt. She reached up and touched it, then flinched. "Ow," she said. Some hair had come off on her hoof. She squinted. The ends of the hairs had been charred.

"Yeah, you probably don't want to look in a mirror right now," said Rainbow Dash.

"Where is-" Twilight managed, raising her head. She took in the scene.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were arrayed along one side of the closet. Scootaloo was in the middle. Sweetie Belle was watching Scootaloo, her horn lighting the cupboard. Apple Bloom was trying to adjust the remaining half of her bow. On the other side were Rainbow Dash and-

"Hi," said Fluttershy, waving.

"Oh," Twilight said, "it's you. Hello."

She lowered her head back onto the stone floor. Nice, cool stone. She briefly considered surrendering to the guards on the condition that she get to keep her head in a bucket of ice-water between now and the execution, but dismissed it on the grounds of her horn felt far too hot and nopony had that much ice.

"So," she said. "Um. Mind filling me in?"

"You were awesome!" said Scootaloo. "We came in through the window because we figured something was up with the Palace when there were Palace guards in Ponyville and then we crawled up along the rooftop and Sweetie Belle found us an open window and we climbed in and then there you were talking to the Princess and you were talking about boring stuff about governing or something and then I took a peek and saw you and I thought you had a plan but we had not idea what it was and then you backed the Princess into a corner and you were like "girls!" and then we totally ambushed the Princess and then you grabbed me and there was a flash and-"

Scootaloo paused, to draw breath.

"Anyway," said Sweetie Belle, "you managed to get us out of the room, but you weren't looking so good. We got you into a closet before the guards found us."

Twilight frowned. Her horn still hurt - she hoped she hadn't done anything permanent. Two ponies was usually her maximum - four was well in excess of advised limits.

"What about Dash and Fluttershy?" she asked.

"We were scouting the closet!" Rainbow Dash said. "In advance."

"Rainbow Dash rescued me from the dungeons," said Fluttershy, "and then we followed the guards. We thought you might have been causing trouble."

"OK, well," Twilight said. "It's good to see you again. Sorry I'm not going to rush and give you a hug, but it still feels like I had a house land on my horn." She reached up and brushed the tip of it with her hoof. "Ow. Celestia, that hurts."

She got to her hooves. "OK," she said. "What's the plan?"

Five pairs of eyes looked expectantly at her.

"Oh," she said. "Right."

They got almost to the outer wall before they hit a snag. A colourful, many-pony, flower-toting snag.

"What're they doing?" asked Rainbow Dash as they watched a small army of servants deck out the main lobby.

"Oh," said Twilight, " of course. The Gala."

"Huh?"

"The Gala's on tonight. Remember, with the tickets?"

"What's a gala?" asked Scootaloo.

Twilight gave the fillies a glance. "Adult time," she said. "You three," she said to the fillies, "keep a lookout."

The two pegasi huddled next to Twilight. Rainbow Dash was still glancing down the corridors, expecting guards at any moment. "What do we do?" she whispered.

"We're doomed!" said Fluttershy.

"No, no we're not," said Twilight. "We just have to keep our heads is all. There must be a way we can get out, even if the guards will be on high alert checking everyone who goes in or out."

"Can't we slip out in the crowd?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It doesn't work like that at the palace. They have all sorts of magical wards set up, they can have alarms go off if a pony with the right-colour coat walks through the gates, before anypony's even looked at them."

"Uh-" said Fluttershy.

"And, well, I don't know if Celestia knows you escaped, Fluttershy, or that she got a good look at the fillies, but they know me and Rainbow Dash are in here."

"Well-" said Fluttershy.

"So we fly out," said Rainbow Dash. "Bam, I can outfly them. I bet I can even outfly them carrying you." She socked Twilight in the shoulder.

"You won't outfly royal guards, especially not if they're on double-shifts already for the Gala," said Twilight. "There's too many, they're too well-trained. They'll have the Wonderbolts on standby, too. It's not worth even trying."

"I could-" said Fluttershy.

"Well, what, then?" asked Rainbow Dash, her voice starting to creep above a whisper. "Put on uniforms? Pretend we're flower-ponies? Hide our coats with a vast army of daffodils? What's your master plan if you're so smart, huh?"

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "I don't have one, OK?" she said heatedly. "Are you satisfied now? Is that what you want to hear? The great and powerful Twilight Sparkle doesn't have an answer for everything!"

"I can help!" said Fluttershy.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash glanced at one another. The fillies were staring at the three of them nervously.

Twilight took a breath, forced herself to calm down. Her horn was still hurting. "Go on," she said.

"I, uh, I'm good at not being noticed," said Fluttershy.

"Really," said Rainbow Dash.

"I could cause a distraction. Well, uh, me and the three fillies could cause a distraction." Fluttershy looked at her hooves. "And then we could slip away and we could get out through one of the main gates. If they're not looking for us, I'm sure we can manage with everyone else. And then while everypony's distracted, you could get out."

"I guess-" said Twilight

"No," said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh," said Fluttershy. "OK."

"No?" asked Twilight.

"We're not having Fluttershy sacrifice herself for us again," Rainbow Dash said. "She's done that once already." She grinned at her fellow pegasus. "And I'm not breaking you out a second time."

Twilight looked at the two of them. Rainbow Dash was looking at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was looking at her hooves again and blushing furiously. Twilight thought she caught a smile on the pegasus' face. She realised that Rainbow Dash was right: they couldn't let Fluttershy take another hit for them. She sighed.

"OK, no distractions. Fluttershy, you take the fillies and get out of here. We'll try to get out on our own. Once you've escaped, head back to Ponyville, and we'll meet you there."

"When ah left," said Apple Bloom, "everypony was headed to our old still. I think they're plannin' on hidin' out there for a bit, at least until it all settles down."

"OK, the still then. I guess they'll be looking for us around Ponyville anyway."

"What about you two?" asked Sweetie Belle. "How'll you get out?"

The two of them looked at each other. "We'll find a way," said Twilight.

Fluttershy ended up taking the saddlebags - Twilight still wasn't quite sure how she'd kept hold of them through the dungeons, and the chase, and Celestia's study. They covered Fluttershy's cutie mark too, in case the guards had been notified. They spent as little time as possible on goodbyes - Twilight was glad no one had stumbled on them as it was, and she didn't want to push their luck further. Then, Fluttershy and the fillies trotted out into the main foyer like they were supposed to be there.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched from the corridor as the three fillies followed in a single line behind the pegasus, surreptitiously grabbing bunches of flowers so as to fit in. Then they went through the main door and out of the palace.

"Do you think they'll get past the outer wall?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"They'll be fine," said Twilight, ducking back out of sight. "It's us I'm worried about."

"Can't you disguise us or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight brushed her hoof gently against the tip of her horn, and winced. "I don't know," she said. "Usually, yes. But if I have to keep a disguise up and walk around and answer questions from suspicious guards..."

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin. "What if you didn't have to walk around?" she asked.

For the past four hours, flower-ponies had been bringing bouquets and vases and ribbons and other flower-arranging paraphernalia through Mustard Flower's post. Mustard Flower's superior had been very specific at lunch that everypony was to be extremely thorough when checking credentials - something about problems in Ponyville or something. And then half an hour ago a runner had come up to Mustard Flower and told him that not only did he have to check everypony coming in, he had to check everypony going out in case they were a violet unicorn or a cyan pegasus in disguise.

It was enough to make you want to join a union.

"And where, exactly, did you leave your pass?" he snarled at the earth pony in front of him.

"It's at home, I swear!" The pony was trying to make herself as small as possible, although the image wasn't helped by the bunch of foxgloves stowed in her saddlebags that towered over the both of them. "I was late already and I couldn't find it and I needed to get here and please don't tell Mrs Pansy or she'll dock my pay again!"

"Excuse me-"

Mustard Flower snarled. He didn't need this sort of thing clogging up his day, but orders was orders. "Empty your bags," he said.

"What? But there's just flowers in-"

"I said, empty your bags!" He could feel a sneeze coming on. Sneezes weren't intimidating, and he needed intimidating right now.

The pony in front of him shrugged off her saddlebags and started emptying them. Flowers, pruning shears, those little blocks of whatever-it-was they shoved roses into...

"Uh, sorry to be of-"

Mustard Flower poked at the shears with his hoof. Could you assassinate the Princess with pruning shears? Why was he even asking himself that sort of question?

"Uh, would it be possible to get through please?"

"Sure," said Mustard Flower. "Sure."

A butter-yellow pegasus and a team of fillies laden with flowers squeezed past, out of the palace. "Have a nice day!" one of the fillies called.

"Yeah," said Mustard Flower, "you too." He sighed. He wasn't paid enough to calculate the odds of an earth pony with pruning shears taking on Celestia. "Go on," he said to the earth pony, "you can go through."

About five seconds after she passed, the pollen got the better of him, and a whole-body sneeze left him leaning against the wall.

Mustard Flower thought he might be getting hayfever.

It might have helped Mustard Flower to know that he wasn't the only one having a bad day preparing for the Gala. Mrs Pansy was the Palace's Mistress of Celebrations, which meant that she was in charge of pretty much everything currently happening. Given her title, she spent very little time celebrating.

Right now, in fact, she was wondering if they could call the whole Gala off and be done with it.

"Who puts a statue in the middle of a corridor?" she yelled at a group of burly workponies. Everypony was busy looking at the floor, or out a window, or at a particularly interesting wall-hanging, or anywhere but Mrs Pansy.

She stalked around the group, forcing each pony to make eye contact with her, even for just a second. "Honestly, I don't expect any of you to have any actual taste, but I had hoped that working for Celestia herself, some of you would at least have the common decency to take a little pride in your work. And yet I walk into the main foyer, go down a side-corridor, and find that one of you has stashed this monstrosity down there like this is a common warehouse."

She gestured with a forehoof to the object of her ire - a stone statue of two ponies - a pegasus and a unicorn, standing side-by-side.

"So is anypony going to own up to bringing this monstrosity into the Palace and just leaving it lying around, waiting for somepony to trip over it?"

Silence, once again. Mrs Pansy sighed. "Fine. You know what? I don't care any more. I just don't care. You, and you! Shift this thing out of the palace. I don't want it in here. I don't want to see it."

"Uh," said one of the labourers she'd singled out. "Where do you want us to put-"

Mrs Pansy whirled and planted her feet. "I don't care!" she said, snorting. "Chuck it onto the side of the road! Just get it out of my sight."

"Yes, Mrs Pansy," the two labourers muttered.

"As for the rest of you," she shouted, "get back to work! I don't pay you to stand around and gawk. Go!"

Mrs Pansy stalked up the corridor. One of the advantages of being Mistress of Ceremonies was that she knew where they stored the alcohol around here. If the rest of the day was going to be like this, she thought she might have to leverage that knowledge a few times.

They had the decency to chuck Rainbow Dash and Twilight onto a bed of bracken. It took Rainbow Dash several minutes' frantic wriggling to free her forehoof, but after that she was able to half-chip, half-peel off the thin layer of stone around her.

Twilight still hadn't moved by the time she was free, but she was making muffled noises. Rainbow Dash managed to get rid of the stone around her mouth.

"My nose!" Twilight said urgently. "My nose, get it free."

Rainbow Dash started pulling flakes of stone off until the unicorn's muzzle was free.

"Now scratch it, please, for the love of Celestia scratch it."

Rainbow Dash sighed and scrubbed at Twilight's nose with her hoof.

"You're a saviour. It's been itching since we got onto the main road. It's one thing if you're not supposed to scratch it, but when you physically can't scratch it? I thought I was in hell."

"I'll make you a deal," said Rainbow Dash. "I'll get the rest of this stuff off of you if you just shut up for five minutes."

Twilight was soon free of her casing, and the two of them made for the edge of the Everfree Forest where, that morning, they had looked over the city and the Palace. The sun was setting as they climbed the hill. Rainbow Dash was about to continue into the Forest when Twilight stopped her.

"Let's sit here for a little bit," she said.

Rainbow Dash looked at the unicorn, then sat down and started combing the last of the masonry from her wings. Twilight looked down on Canterlot. Preparations had finished and ponies were streaming into the Palace grounds. She could see the queues at the gates, ponies in dresses and suits and hats and whatever this year's fashion was.

"I thought you were just going to make us look like statues," said Rainbow Dash, pulling at a particularly stubborn piece of cement.

"I don't even remember why I memorised that spell," Twilight said. "I think Spike and I were making statues out of eggs and bits of parsley and whatever we could get our hooves on. I thought it might make a good party trick at some point."

"Say," said Rainbow Dash, "what did happened to Spike?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't think Celestia got her hooves on him - she didn't even mention him. I know he's only a baby dragon, but I think he can take care of himself for the moment."

The Everfree Forest was a big place. There were plenty of spots to hide.

He'd found a cave. It was in his genes, he was sure - something about caves just felt right. He'd had to find a piece of wood large enough to burn for light - he missed having someone around who could magically cast a steady glow - but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He reviewed the letter in his claws. He'd kept it brief:

Celestia trusted me as you suspected. Keeping her Party in the dark sowed enough chaos to keep the Princess' eye off the Dragon Dutchies. Twilight still trusts me - I will stay by her and keep you informed of her actions.

He didn't bother to sign it - the recipient would know who'd sent it, and even though no one would intercept the letter, he still felt uncomfortable putting his name to the words.

He drew a breath, and bathed the letter in flame. As the paper burned, it gave off a blue glow. Once it had gone, Spike laid back. He'd be able to meet up with people tomorrow. In the meantime, he could spend a night in a proper cave.

They chased her forever, and then they kept on chasing her.

The sun had hardly moved from the sky. She cowered underneath an exposed tree root, trying for her life to keep from panting, afraid even that noise would give her away. Every so often she'd hear the sound of hooves in the undergrowth, as the guards searched.

There were three of them, or at least, three different guard ponies that she'd seen. There could be more, lying in wait, ready for her to make a mistake. She had no idea.

A twig snapped, not five feet away. She froze, not daring even to breathe. She couldn't work out where the noise had come from - she dare not move her head.

There was no birdsong, no wind in the trees. The forest watched.

The back of her throat tickled. She had to breathe. She knew it would give her away.

"Hey!" a guard called.

Reality restored itself. There was another crack, the opposite side of the tree root, as somepony moved. "Yeah?" the guard said. He was inches away. Rarity could have reached over and touched him.

"I spotted her! Over here!"

The guard let out a sigh. "Celestia-damned unicorns," he muttered. And then he was off.

Rarity let in a breath. It was the best feeling she'd ever felt, better than anything. She risked a peek out from her hiding place: all clear. Whatever they'd spotted, it had saved her life. She sent a silent prayer to Celestia (even as part of her thought that it was the Princess herself who must have sent these guards after her) and set off in the opposite direction.

The bushes rustled in front of her. She froze.

The bush sprouted a candy-cotton mane and pink hooves. "Ta-da!" said Pinkie Pie.

Rarity let out another breath. "That was you?" she said.

"Sure!" said Pinkie. Then, in a deep, gruff tone, "'Hey! I spotted her! Over here!'" She giggled.

In spite of herself, Rarity smiled.

"'I'm a guard! I eat pies! Look at me, I'm marching!'" Pinkie goose-stepped up and down in front of the unicorn, her expression deadly serious. Rarity let out a laugh of her own.

"'Hail Celestia! Halt! Who goes there!'" And then Pinkie's mask broke, and she joined in the laughter.

"Oh," said Rarity, "I needed that. You have no idea how-"

"I killed Cheerilee," said Pinkie Pie.

The smiled disappeared from Rarity's face. "You...what?"

"I killed Cheerilee. She was working for Celestia. She was spying on us." The earth pony wasn't smiling, but she wasn't...well, Rarity thought, she was confessing to her that she'd murdered somepony. She shouldn't look so nonchalant.

And then Rarity thought: what if Pinkie Pie knew other ponies who were working for Celestia?

"Pinkie Pie, that's, ah, that's a bit of a far-fetched-"

"You were working for Celestia too," said Pinkie PIe. And then Rarity knew why the earth pony had followed her out here. The bottom fell from her stomach. She started backing away, ready to run. "Now, Pinkie, that's not true-"

"Don't worry!" Pinkie said, grinning. "I'm not going to kill you."

"You...you aren't?"

"No, silly!"

She stopped backing away, still ready to run. "Uh...not to suggest I'm not grateful or anything, but...why?"

"Because you hid in a cake! That was hilarious!" And Pinkie bounced away, due south.

Rarity stood there for a minute, unsure of how to react. On the one hand, Pinkie PIe had apparently forgiven her for her misdeeds. On the other, now she was stuck out here, in the forest, with Ponyville's only sociopath.

But the guards would be back soon, she knew. And as much as she hated to admit it, the earth pony had just saved her life.

She trotted after Pinkie Pie. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Why, to the super secret Apple Family hideout, of course!"

"Of course," Rarity said, wearily. "Where else?"

Occasionally Twilight would catch a couple of notes from the band, brought to them by the wind. Right now they were playing background music - later on in the night they'd start up jigs and square-dances and more lively music, before winding down with waltzes and slow dances.

"So," said Rainbow Dash. "What do we do now?"

"Now?" Twilight asked.

"Well, we can't go back to normal. I take it from the fact that you were running from Celestia that you...uh..."

"I don't think we'll be on speaking terms for a while," Twilight said. If ever.

"What did she talk to you about?"

Twilight sighed. "Oh, you know. Ruling Equestria. Pony rights." She shrugged. "Small talk."

"Ruling Equestria, huh?"

"Yeah. Apparently she wants me to do it or something."

"And what did you say?"

Twilight was silent for a moment. Then: "I declined."

"You told Celestia 'no'?" The pegasus blew an errant lock of mane from in front of her eye. "No wonder she's pissed at you."

A pair of voices carried up from the Gala. Some debutante in a dress, being pursued by a unicorn stallion in a dinner jacket. He called out something to her; she turned her head, as if consider his offer, then stalked away. The stallion dropped his head, walked back inside.

That could be me, Twilight thought. I could have just accepted what was happening, gone to the Gala, meeted and greeted or whatever it is you do. Eaten tiny pineapple chunks on sticks. Instead here I am, sitting on a hillside wondering if my teacher hates me.

"We could do it, you know," said Rainbow Dash.

"Huh?"

"Rule Equestria. Whether Celestia wants us to or not."

"Rainbow-"

"No, seriously. We could get rid of her conspiracies and her secret police and her...her everything. We could do it properly. We could care about Equestria. And we'd keep each other honest, the six of us."

Ponies were filing out onto the grounds. Twilight could see officials setting up the fireworks on the grass, well away from the guests. At least I get to see this bit, she thought.

"But Celestia-"

"Pah, Celestia. We took down her sister, remember? And we didn't even know what we were doing then. Now we're closer, stronger. We know what we can do! And we wouldn't be running! We'd be fighting." The pegasus settled down into the side of the hill. "We could take her on."

Twilight opened her mouth. She had so many things to tell Rainbow Dash. The truth about the Elements, about Nightmare Moon. How powerful Celestia really was. How complex the situation was. The politics of running a nation.

She glanced over at the pegasus. Her gaze was fixed on the scene below them, and she was grining like a maniac.

Twilight realised she didn't have the heart to tell the pegasus anything. Not now, anyway. Maybe tomorrow.

"Here," said Rainbow Dash, "watch this."

The first rocket went up, trailing white sparks into the sky. It vanished, then blossomed into a flower of pink and red. Moments later, the crack reached them on the hill.

The guests applauded. Twilight could see something falling down - something like a shower of white flakes, like snow, or-

"Is that paper?" she asked.

Fluttershy hopped from hoof to hoof. "Girls," she said, "we don't have time, we're supposed to be leaving."

"We'll be fine!" said Scootaloo as she stuffed more paper into the firework. "Somepony's got to prepare the fireworks for tonight, and it turns out that somepony is us!"

"Anyway," Apple Bloom said to Fluttershy, "Rainbow Dash said it was OK!"

Sweetie Belle pulled the last of the brochures from the bottom of the saddle-bags. "Maybe we'll get our cutie marks in political dissent!" she suggested.

"You what?" Twilight asked.

"Only if they happened to find the stores on the way out," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. "I kinda told them it was extra credit."

"And what do your brochures say?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, just a few catchy phrases that'll stick in ponies' minds. You know, to help get the common ponies on our side."

"But I don't even know if we want the common ponies on our side! I don't even know what side I'm on!"

"Well, when you decide..." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "It's doesn't hurt, right?"

There was another crack above them, and the hillside was bathed in a light-blue glow. More paper fell towards the earth - onto the Palace, over the city. She could see  guests picking up pieces of paper and looking at them. She saw guards rushing towards the staff lighting the fireworks, trying to stop them, even as three more went soaring into the sky.

They blossomed above her, and even weighed down by her thoughts, she felt a sense of wonder.

And she remembered talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie at that party, not too long ago:

Magic is just lying to reality, and then sticking with that lie until reality is forced to accept that you're right.

Maybe it was possible, she thought. Maybe they did stand a chance, six little Ponies against one Princess. They didn't have magic, after all, but they did have each other, and friendship was kind of like magic, wasn't it?

Maybe they had a chance.

Another firework exploded above them, bathing them in bright light. Twilight put a forehoof around Rainbow Dash's shoulders.

"You know, Dashie," she said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."