Twilight Sparkle: Friendship Expert

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Journal
Chapter 3: Enter Cadance
Chapter 4: We've acquired a stalker.
Chapter 5: You like reading too?
Chapter 6: Don't question the pink.
Chapter 7: Startling discoveries and partial explanations.
Chapter 8: Super Secret Friendship Meeting.
Chapter 9: We Really Need Some Kind of Plan.
Chapter 10: Explosions aren't as cool when you're in the blast radius.
Chapter 11: You're a what now?
Chapter 12: I wish any of this made sense.
Chapter 13: Isn't being lost a wonderful thing? What do you mean it's not?
Chapter 14: In which we escape mind and body
Chapter 16: It's a birthday bash, not a birthday crash
Chapter 17: Stowaways and storerooms
Chapter 18: In which troubling things happen.
Chapter 19: Do you like blueberry?
Chapter 20: So you actually know what's going on?
Chapter 21: Into the unknown
Chapter 22: So what's everyone else been up to?
Chapter 23: Spooky Specters and More Meetups
Chapter 24: Careful what you say
Chapter 25: Bad decisions and questionable surprises
Chapter 26: Of missing things and finding others
Chapter 27: Walking into an awkward position
Chapter 28: Directions please
Chapter 29: Are you sure about any of this?
Chapter 30: It all ends here.
Chapter 2: A Great and Powerful Entrance
Chapter 15: Chocolate milk and cotton candy clouds make for interesting bedfellows

Chapter 1: The Journal

The Journal (Revised 1/5)

Twilight dropped her quill onto the desk as she heaved out a sigh. Her eyes stared blankly at the letter in front of her, mind churning with too many thoughts to process. It felt like the blank page was mocking her.

Her big brother had been reassigned, he wasn’t getting enough experience just working in Canterlot according to the royal guard.

This was the last straw for little Twilight. Her parents were distant, Celestia was always busy, and Cadence was rarely even in Equestria these days. She had thought becoming Celestia’s personal student was the best day of her life, she was starting to wonder now.

She glanced at the stack of books on her desk, eyes slowly focusing as she drifted back to earlier that day. Her first classes hadn’t gone how she hoped.

Twilight walked up to a small group of foals mingling at the edge of the classroom. "Hi! My names Twilight." She said with a smile, hoping to put her best hoof forward.

A filly with a cherry red coat looked up, the others flanking behind her. "Oh, it's you. The Princesses new pet project." Twilight’s smile faltered at the dismissive tone.

No! Twilight was an adept magic user with a drive to learn. She’d gotten into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns on merit alone. Her parents would have struggled to afford the tuition fees on their own, so she was going to make the most of this chance.

Now she was going to make some friends. “It’s true, I am the Princesses student,” said Twilight with a nervous smile. “But I’m nopony special. I’m just here to learn like everypony else, and maybe… make some friends?” She asked hopefully.

The filly looked her up and down for a moment. “I don’t know how things work in whatever podunk town you come from, but the families that go to this school are well respected.” She said. “We don’t associate with the lower class, so you had better just trot along and get out of our faces.”

There were nods from the foals surrounding them. Their expressions were impassive, and they held themselves stiffly. Twilight looked out into the crowd for just one sympathetic expression. Her shoulders sagged when she realized she was alone.

She wanted to try again, but the sting of rejection was a scary thing. She could try again later right? Maybe it was because they were in a crowd, or it could just be this class that feels like that. She had tried once, she could try again. Next time would be the charm.

Only it wasn’t. Twilight tried, again, and again, and again…

She jerked back to the present as a tear rolled down her cheek. Her mouth twisted into a grimace and an angry look flashed through her eyes, but before she could do anything her shoulders sagged. The fire drained out of her eyes as she fell forward, burying her face into her hooves.

She spent a long time just sitting there, contemplating things a little filly really shouldn’t have to deal with.

She looked up suddenly. Maybe she could go visit Spike? That usually cheered her up. But no… he was probably still asleep at this hour. She would visit him later. She wasn’t old enough to take care of him yet, but she wouldn’t leave him to fend for himself.

She considered studying, but she had gone overboard preparing for the entrance exam. She had already noticed she was way ahead of the other foals in her classes. Not that it had helped her make any friends, just a few more nasty nicknames.

She didn’t have the heart to study right now anyway.

With another heartfelt sigh, she left the room. Her gaze swept over the expensive tapestries and marble pillars she passed. None of the guards or servants said a word to her, and the few nobles she saw likely couldn’t see her with muzzles held up that high.

She reached the library in record time, the royal one, not the one she slept in. She shuffled past the librarian reading at the front desk. He was a surprisingly young stallion with a light gray coat, but he didn’t bother Twilight while she read, and could find any book she cared to ask for. He could be her age and that would be perfectly fine as far as she was concerned.

Actually, that would be nice. Librarians liked books right? He probably wouldn’t mock her. She glanced in his direction, but darted off when he looked up.

She examined the shelves in the library for a while, before settling down to read a book she was look at yesterday. If there was anything that could make her feel better, it would be her precious books.

She was searching the library's storeroom. She had worked up the nerve to ask the librarian for a pass, and he obliged. He was surprisingly lax, or maybe he acknowledged her respect for the books she read?

The storeroom was where the books no longer housed in the library proper were kept. Rare and valuable tomes not meant to be taken out under any circumstances. She was alone in here, but the monitoring spells set into the room would alert ponies if anything was damaged.

She had found a particular journal that seemed to call out to her. The cover was worn with a stylized sun cutie mark emblazoned on the front. It looked like the one Celestia had given her when she started learning under her. She rarely used it as the Princess had as much time to write in her copy as she had to teach Twilight personally. That was to say, hardly any time at all.

It was a nice journal though, heavy duty, made to last in rough conditions. Her mother’s archaeologist friend had told her it was popular with explorers and adventurers. It was one of the rare days that they had both been visiting at the same time, she remembered because she had been given an interesting lecture on ancient traps. Specifically how to avoid them.

She flipped the pages idly, skimming through a few sections before reaching the end. The journal was definitely the same as the one the Princess gave her. It was even owned by an old student of Celestia’s, a pony named Sunset Shimmer.

She hemmed and hawed before curiosity got the better of her. Without thinking about it too much, she took out a quill and wrote down a quick message.

Hello? This is Twilight Sparkle, is anypony there?

She didn't have to wait long as the book started glowing almost instantly. Words began to appear below her own in real time.

How did you get a hold of this book?

Twilight paused. She hadn't really thought about what she was going to say next. She decided to be upfront in the hopes of making a friend. She used to be the Princess’s student too right? If anypony could understand, it would be her.

I found it in the royal library storeroom. It looked just like the one the Princess gave me when I was accepted as her personal student. I got curious, sorry if I wasn't supposed to write in it.

That's alright Twilight, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to help myself either. How old are you if you don't mind me asking?

Twilight smiled, she wasn’t mad. If she was lucky she could make a friend. She probably knew lots of magic as well, maybe she could answer a few of her questions?

It turns out that Sunset was willing to answer some questions, after a few ground rules were laid down.

Celestia and I had a falling out a long time ago, so I would appreciate you not mentioning me in conversation. It's not something I'm comfortable talking about, but let's just say that we both made some mistakes. Me more so than her.

Oh, of course! I won't say anything. I understand.

Thank you, Twilight. Now, as for your question. There are a few books that I found really helpful back when I was first starting out...

They talked through most of the day, sharing little stories about magic and drifting from topic to topic. They ended on a promise to keep in touch. Sunset even walked her through how to take the journal out of the storeroom so they could keep in touch.

The enchantments were amazing, but it was easy to bypass the security when you had the password on hoof. Twilight made a note to herself to learn more about enchanting.

Sunset woke up feeling refreshed. She had really enjoyed her chat with Twilight the other day. It was nice to talk about magic so freely again, and she saw more than a little of herself in the young unicorn.

She shifted out of bed on instinct, rolling onto the floor with a groan. As refreshed as she was feeling, she really hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Most of yesterday was spent talking, and she had to rush most of the night to get her work done for the day. It wasn’t far from the first all nighter she’d pulled, but she tried to avoid them when she could.

She reflected on her conversation with Twilight as she took a well-deserved shower.

She was glad for Twilight’s timing. Sunset wasn’t exactly doing okay these days, but it was a far cry from when she first arrived in this world. Back then she would have taken advantage of the filly, filling her head with lies and half truths about her once beloved mentor. Turning her against the Princess for reasons she now found stupid.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. Her shoulders slowly stopped shaking.

She found it ironic that the Celestia on this side of the mirror would be the one to help her when it was the other Celestia that drove her away in the first place. She had so much misplaced rage she couldn’t help but shake her head at the foolishness of it all.

Celestia was more kind and forgiving that Sunset felt she deserves sometimes. Even cut off from her magic and thrust into an alien world, it didn’t give her the right to lash out like she did. She knew she had anger problems that she struggled to control even now. But Celestia, she always seemed to believe Sunset could do better. She always seemed to believe there was more to be seen under the surface.

She was a stubborn mare, and that didn’t change when she became a human. She hadn’t sacrificed her pride and gone running back through the portal, and that had gotten her stuck here. She hadn’t been happy about it back then. But now? She felt like things needed to happen this way. Fate or otherwise, she needed to change.

She just wished she hadn’t hurt so many people and ponies to get here.

Now she had a place to stay, food to eat, and new things to learn. She had made apologies and done what she could to mend things with those on this side of the mirror. It was hard, and she had struggled, but now she finally had friends, and the start of what might just be a family. Now that things were looking up, she really wasn’t surprised her past had come calling to her once again.

She brushed her teeth and slipped into the kitchen. It took quick reflexes to dodge around Luna and avoid knocking anything over. The woman was doing a decent zombie impression, stumbling to the table and reaching out for her coffee with a groan.

She really shouldn’t stay up so late playing her games. What would her students think if they could see her now?

Sunset chirped out a greeting. Luna gave off a deep groan in reply, sipping at her coffee like it was a lifeline. Her shoulders were hunched and she hovering over it like she felt it could be taken from her at any moment.

Sunset just chuckled to herself and poured herself a cup of tea. She had grown to like it, growing up under the Princess of the sun. It also helped that her counterpart was just as fond of the stuff.

As she sat down to the table a plate was placed in front of her. Celestia’s cheerful visage suddenly filling her vision as she looked up.

She was her sisters polar opposite, the very definition of a morning person. While Luna was slumped at the table with a rumpled hoodie and set of jeans, Celestia was practically bouncing on her feet an ironed suit. Nothing seemed to be able to keep her down when it was time for the sun to rise.

"Someone's looking a little down this morning," said Celestia with a concerned expression.

"Ah, that is..." Sunset stumbled over her words, looking for a way to phrase it before deciding to just go for broke. "Someone messaged me through the journal, but it wasn't the Princess." She hunched down a little, looking away from Celestia's now worried face.

"The one you used when you were her student right?" She asked, her voice matching her expression.

"Yeah, that's the one." Sunset said with a sigh.

"It was the princess's new student, and..." Sunset trailed off for a moment. "She found it in the royal libraries storeroom." Sunset looked down, slumping down into her seat.

Celestia's expression turned hard and she quickly pulled a chair over to Sunset, drawing her into a tight hug. "I'm sure it's not what you think it means, but if it is then I'll personally go over there and give her a stern talking to."

Sunset let out a choked laugh. "You'd do that for me? You know she controls the sun right?"

"I don't care what she does in her spare time." Celestia said with determination. "I'll do anything I need to to make sure you're alright."

"And I'm sure I'm not the only one," said Celestia as she nodded to Luna. "We're both here for you."

Luna gave a thumbs up without looking away from her coffee. They sat there for a time, neither saying a word as their minds focused on other things. Celestia finally hopped up and placed another two plates on the table, one for her and Luna.

Sunset turned to the omelette on her plate, taking in a deep breath before she decided to just dig in. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Luna idly prodding at her own with a fork, seemingly baffled by it's arcane function.

Sunset gave off a laugh, and returned to her meal with a smile on her face.

Chapter 3: Enter Cadance

Enter Cadance (Revised 3/5)

Twilight hadn’t been able to make any more friends lately, but her regular visits to Octavia and Vinyl at the park were keeping her spirits high. She saw Trixie at lunch often and sometimes they even worked on illusions after school together. It wasn’t much to some ponies, but to Twilight it meant the world.

With Sunset’s help, Twilight was way ahead of her studies and had plenty of time to learn new things about whatever caught her fancy. In contrast, Celestia’s schedule was tight and their lessons had been getting cut short more often lately.

Sunset told her this was something she would need to get used to during the holidays, as it was around this time the nobles started acting up with more and more expectations thanks to the holiday season.

Today Twilight was pacing back and forth in the library, surrounded by books in her own little nook. Cadence was coming today, fresh from her latest outing as Equestria’s highest ranking ambassador. As the only Princess with the political freedom to move about as she pleased, she was in high demand, having even less time for Twilight than Celestia. Despite that, Cadence had managed to clear a whole day to spend with her favourite little filly.

Twilight consulted her hoof written checklist one more time, struggling to hold both the heavy object and a quill in her magic. Her friends knew she would be busy, she was caught up with homework, and she had a pouch of bits ready. So far everything checked out, but maybe she should check it one more time…

A chuckle sounded in the near empty library. “Hey Twilight, wearing a furrow in the floor I see.” Cadence’s eyes were sparkling.

Twilight blushed, looking at the floor just in case. After making sure that she hadn’t damaged her precious library, she looked back to Cadence, a grin on her face. “Cadence!”

She quickly ran up to the pink alicorn, jumping up to latch onto her leg. Cadence’s smile only widened as Twilight quickly hopped off and got into position.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!” said the both of them at the same time. “Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” They shook their flanks at each other before collapsing into a fit of giggles.

As the laughter slowly died down, Cadence reached over and pulled Twilight into a hug. She gave the little filly a quick nuzzle as Twilight snuggled into the embrace.

Cadence pulled away a few moments later. “Got everything ready?”

“Everything is double triple checked!” exclaimed Twilight, holding up the checklist in her magic.

“Alright then, I doubt we’ll have any trouble with such an organized filly on the case.” Cadence reached out and ruffled Twilight’s mane, getting a pout out of the little filly. “Onwards to adventure!”

Cadence placed Twilight onto her back with magic. After making sure she was safe and secure, she made her way out of the library. She shared a quick nod with the librarian as she left, he was giving the excited looking Twilight a small smile.

They wandered through the main streets of Canterlot. The sky was overcast, and the road was filled with ponies of all kinds, even a few carriages were making their way through the thoroughfare. They occasionally wandered down a few side paths, but mostly kept to window shopping on the main road as they headed towards Cadence’s mysterious destination.

Twilight listened intently as Cadence recounted some of the more interesting stories from her time abroad. “Then he flipped the table over and declared war on the restaurant. This normally wouldn’t have been a problem, but it turns out the chef was the kings long lost brother!” Cadence broke out into giggles.

“Well, I say lost, but apparently he just moved away. Seems like they didn’t exchange mail addresses,” said Cadence. “The look on his face when he realized the whole situation had turned into a fight for the throne was priceless!”

Twilight shook her head in wonder. “And all that was just because of some cold soup?”

Cadence smirked. “That was one of the tamer reactions honestly. They take everything way too seriously over there.”

They walked in silence as Twilight tried to process that. Cadence hummed merrily under her breath as she lead Twilight into a little toy store. The place was filled with plush toys, wooden puzzles, rubix cubes, playing cards and all sorts of small things that would keep an average foal entertained.

“Well, I don’t have any cool stories like that,” said Twilight. “But I did make some friends the other day. I’ve been hanging out with Octavia and Vinyl after school at a local park. They’re really nice.” Twilight’s gaze unfocused slightly as she gave a small smile.

“I heard about that from Shining actually,” said Cadence. “There was also a pretty big playground scuffle if I remember right, one that you handled singlehoofedly? Shiny was gushing about it the last time I saw him.”

Twilight looked away in embarrassment. “They ran away on their own, it really wasn’t a big deal.” She busied herself examining a life size pony plush. “They probably would have been fine without me. Octavia’s super strong.”

She had actually lifted Twilight up a few times when she was asked about it. She hadn’t even looked like she was straining, though Octavia did admit that her special talent did enhance her earth pony strength somewhat.

“You still stood up for them though,” said Cadence with a proud smile. “It takes a brave pony to stand up for what’s right. Especially when you’re putting yourself on the line for ponies you don’t even know.”

She ruffled Twilight’s mane. “You’re a good filly Twilight, don’t let anypony tell you otherwise.”

Twilight looked away, blushing heavily under all the unexpected praise.

Cadence’s gaze swept across the store. Looking at a collection of smaller plush pony toys, she spotted one that had an uncanny resemblance to Twilight. She picked it up quickly, before anypony else could make off with it.

“I think somepony deserves a reward for their bravery,” said Cadence. “You haven’t decided you’re too old for stuffed toys or anything have you?”

Twilight looked at the doll in confusion. “Wouldn’t having a doll that looks just like me be kind of weird?”

“Nah, that just makes for a good conversation starter.”

Cadence led them to the counter, hoofing over the bits to a forest green mare with a curly mane.

“Here you go,” said Cadence, placing the toy on Twilight’s head with a quick sticking spell. “One purple pony plush for my favourite filly.”

Twilight almost fell over trying to look up at the doll. She looked at Cadence with an adorable pout before straightening up. Cadence only chuckled and darted out of the store.

Twilight hurried to catch up, blushing with embarrassment as a few ponies snickered, and a small cream mare cooed over her.

Cadence lifted her onto her back with magic as she made her way out the door, quickly trotting through the street. She didn’t make any more stops and a few minutes later they had arrived in one of the classier neighborhoods in Canterlot.

Twilight examined the wrought iron gates protecting the manor with awe. The structure was built with pillars of white marble and polished gold. Gilded arches framed a set of oaken doors. She wondered how they kept things so clean, the manor was sparkling.

Cadence knocked on the door in a complicated pattern. Twilight could probably memorize it, but she would need to hear it a few more times in quick succession.

One of the doors swung inward with an eerie creaking sound. A beautiful mare with a pristine white coat sticking her head out of the door frame a moment later, her expectant smile framed by a pink mane.

“Cadence!” She cried out, spotting the mare. “You made it!”

She enveloped the alicorn in a warm hug before leaning to the side and getting a good look at Twilight. “You even brought the little one I see.” She said with a dopey smile, struggling not to coo over the little filly.

“Come in, come in.” She beckoned them into a sitting room every bit as lavish as the exterior would suggest. The furniture was obviously antique, and very expensive looking to Twilight’s admittedly inexperienced eyes.

She only had a moment to take it all in before she was led up a set of stairs and through a number of identical corridors. The interior becoming a blur of nondescript doors and expensive tapestries.

Twilight fought to keep herself from feeling woozy as they took twist after twist and turn after turn. Eventually arriving at a door exactly like all the others they had passed.

Inside was a large and spacious room, filled to the brim with clothing racks and screens to change behind. A large stage was placed at one end, and sitting at a nearby table was a distinguished looking stallion wearing a finely tailored suit. He looked up from scanning a newspaper as they walked in.

He gave a bemused smile as he adjusted his monocle. “Welcome back Fleur, I see you’ve brought us some guests.”

“Of course, I couldn’t leave Cadence or little Twilight out in the cold, Fancy.” Fleur said in mock exasperation.

“Perish the thought,” said Fancy with a smirk.

Cadence and Fleur headed out to search through the clothing racks. A few of the outfits they gathered were in Twilight’s size, but the vast majority were made up of fancy dresses and the kinds of accessories you would wear to a high class ball.

“Hello my dear,” said Fancy, holding out a hoof to Twilight. “How do you do?”

Twilight hesitated for a second before taking the hoof and shaking it lightly. “I’m doing quite well sir, and you?”

“Oh my, a polite one aren’t we,” said Fancy. “I’m finding the day rather delightful so far. Have either of these two explained why you’re here today? They do tend to get carried away at times.”

Twilight shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. “Cadence just said we were going to see a couple friends of hers.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Fancy with a chuckle. “Cadence thought we might be able to assist you in your friend making ventures. At least enough to help you wade through the high society mess you’ve likely found yourself in.”

“Cadence told you about that?” Twilight asked in concern.

“None of the details I assure you,” said Fancy. “We’ve just heard enough to know you need a little help to smooth things over. Trust me when I say we’ve had our fair share of similar problems and we wouldn’t want you learning things the hard way.”

“You have?” Twilight asked, her eyebrows raised.

Fancy chuckled. “We’ve been at this for a long time. Long enough that most of our detractors have conveniently forgotten about our humble origins. But we do still remember what it was like, and would like to help if we can.”

Twilight cocked her head curiously. She didn’t think she wanted to be friends with most of the colts and fillies at school anymore. Not after seeing them for who they really were. But maybe she could get them to cut down on the teasing and the cold looks?

What followed was a crash course on high society. What to wear, who to talk to, how to talk to them, and what to talk about. Everything and anything was up for discussion.

Twilight spent most of her time frantically scribbling down notes. Luckily, Cadence came prepared with more than enough ink and paper for a research binge of this magnitude.

“So he’s only acting?” asked Twilight. “Wouldn’t that completely ruin his reputation?”

“Normally,” said Fancy. “But he’s been at it for a long time, and all the big players know the stallion behind the fool. It’s mostly just camouflage to keep the gold diggers at bay.”

“Gold diggers?”

“Ponies more interested in money than making real friends,” said Fancy with a wry smile.

“That’s terrible.” said Twilight, her muzzle scrunching up in distaste.

“But all too common I’m afraid,” said Fancy with a sigh.

Twilight looked at him curiously, but he didn’t elaborate.

“And that’s more or less all you need to know about the art of reading body language,” said Fancy. “Keep referring to your notes and practice when you can, it’s one of the most important skills you’ll ever learn in life. Especially considering your future position.”

Twilight nodded seriously, checking her notes to make sure she had everything written down and organized properly. She wasn’t going to miss out on a chance to apply her skills to something that would actually help her socially.

Eventually they ran out of lessons to share and the chatter turned lighter. There was gossiping and discussion of foreign policies, along with a few shared stories. Some of it went over Twilight's head, but she tried her best to follow along.

They finally headed out after noticing the late hour, settling on a nearby diner that Twilight had never been to before. It was clean and well maintained, but certainly not exactly what she would have expected of Fancy and Fleur. Especially considering the kinds of ponies they associated with.

“Fleur and I first met in this diner,” said Fancy with a knowing smile. “It holds a lot of good memories for the both of us.”

Twilight blushed, nodding in embarrassment before looking away. She followed them to the table and ordered a daisy sandwich with hay fries. Sitting down to quietly contemplate what she had learned that day.

She would have tried to follow along with their conversation, but she had checked out a while ago by accident and they hadn’t called her out on it. This lead to her slowly making her way through her sandwich while blankly staring out the nearby window. He eyes lazily tracked an earth pony mare as she made her way across the street and ducked into a dark alley.

A sudden flash of green light startled her into dropping her sandwich. She looked more intently at the entrance of the alley, a confused frown coming to her face.

After a moment, a completely different pony came out of the alleyway with an eerily blank expression. As she watched, their face instantly shifted to a genuine looking smile. A chill ran down Twilight’s spine and she quickly looked away, focusing back on her meal.

The crisp cool air of the night made Twilight shiver, as she huddled closer to Cadence for warmth. The streets were lit up with bright lights and she could dimly hear chatter issuing from inside the diner. The gravel pathway felt solid beneath her hooves.

“Goodbye for now, mon amie.” said Fleur, nuzzling Cadence. “Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long to see you again next time.”

“I hope not, but you know how it is, sometimes duty calls.” Cadence smiled wryly, returning the nuzzle and giving Fleur a quick hug.

“We’ll see you again soon Twilight,” said Fancy with a warm smile. “Remember. You can send a letter anytime you feel the need. Even if you just need advice on something simple.”

Twilight smiled shyly, nodding her head.

She watched as her new friends returned home, tracking them with her eyes as they slowly faded into the distance. As she turned to follow Cadence back to the castle, she nearly ran into the pony she’d seen in the alleyway. That same smile plastered on their face.

It looked decidedly more sinister up close.

She quickly averted her eyes, watching them as they passed with a frown.

“Thinking some deep thoughts?” asked Cadence, drawing Twilight’s attention to her.

Twilight shook her head, the plushie from earlier bouncing violently. “Nothing much, just thinking about what books I wanna read tomorrow.” An old and very effective fallback when she didn’t want to answer a question.

She looked back for a moment, catching a glimpse of the mare from earlier staring at her from a distance. Twilight looked away quickly, posture stiffening.

“Race you to the castle!” She called out to Cadance as she picked up the pace and ran ahead.

No way was she dealing with whatever was going on with that pony right now.

Cadence laughed and ran alongside her at a pace Twilight could keep up with. They passed through the streets without issue, and by the time they reached the castle, Twilight had pushed the strange pony from her mind entirely.

Chapter 4: We've acquired a stalker.

We've acquired a stalker.

Twilight and Trixie were hanging out in the local park. It was close to the playground Twilight had visited earlier but frequented more by older Canterlotians looking to relax. The constant hustle and bustle of the city had a tendency to wear away at even the hardest of souls.

Trixie had decided that today was the day to take her show on the road. Pulling a little trailer she had hoof built for herself, it was smaller than one an adult pony would use, but still impressively heavy. Twilight had tried to pull it earlier and couldn't get it to budge.

Twilight had worried about needing a license to perform out in the public but Trixie had simply pulled out the necessary card with a smug expression on her face. It turns out her parents were very proactive about getting her into the family business.

With the weather starting to turn cold now, there were fewer ponies about than usual. The only ones being those that were trying to enjoy the last few days they could stay outside without being excessively bundled up.

Trixie set up her small stage regardless of these facts, the little wooden trailer expanding out to an impressive size. The runework was a little basic, but Twilight recognized enough to be impressed. Trixie would have a much easier time with her illusions thanks to the anchoring and stabilizing runes embedded into the wood.

It was as Trixie was silently rehearsing that Twilight had a pleasant surprise. Walking up to her was none other than Octavia, standing bereft of any warmer clothes thanks to her earth pony constitution. Vinyl trailed behind her, still shivering despite her three scarves and oversized parka. She could make out Record Scratch in the distance, talking to a grey coated mare in a bow tie.

"Hello Twilight, what a pleasant surprise," Octavia said. "Our mothers felt we needed to get outside today so they dragged us along with them to their own little outing once again."

She looked over to the stage that Trixie had erected, taking note of the filly with an intense look of concentration on her face. "That is your friend Trixie that we've heard so much about, I take it?"

Twilight nodded with a smile. "Yeah, we're holding a magic show out here. Trixie said it was time to expand her influence or something like that."

Looking around and taking note of the emptier than usual park, Octavia hummed to herself for a moment.

"Are you sure this is the best time? We come here quite often and there are far fewer ponies about than usual." Octavia observed, eyes still sweeping the grounds.

"I doubt something like that will stop Trixie," Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. "She would probably just claim it's another stepping stone on the path to the great and powerful Trixie's glory."

Octavia graced Twilight with a small smile. "Trixie certainly sounds like quite the character. Would you introduce us after the show? I'm sure Vinyl would be interested in someone who could compete with her own powerful ego."

Looking behind her she caught the tail end of Vinyl poking her tongue out at her. This was followed by an adorable pout. "Yes, well, just because no one else takes the time to notice doesn't mean it's not true."

Vinyl seemed to roll her eyes behind her glasses, huffing as she turned to the side petulantly. Twilight could still make out the small smile at the friendly teasing though.

It seemed the time had finally come as they were conversing. Trixie reared up onto the stage. The illusions were much more impressive compared to the last performance. The stylized figures were moving much more smoothly and there were many more of them to be seen.

This time she was facing off against the dreaded necromancer of the frozen plains. With her trusty assistant Twilight Sparkle she had made her way deep into the castle of the necromancer. Searching the underground dungeons for a heretofore unknown princess of dubious origins.

There were grand fights, an army of skeletons taken out with her magical might, and it was all topped off by an epic battle between Trixie and the necromancer on top of one of the castle towers. He was finally taken down thanks to the quick wit of the great and powerful Trixie and a handy distraction by her faithful assistant Twilight Sparkle.

Despite being embarrassed by her inclusion into the story, Twilight was happy to find many of the ponies in the park had gathered around to enjoy the story. It was rather well told if the applause of an audience with only a few foals in attendance was anything to go by.

Trixie let out a breath of relief even as she smiled happily, sweeping into a bow for her adoring audience. It had been tough, but all the practice had paid off as she knew it would. She could see her new friend Twilight Sparkle in the crowd which brought an inexplicably happy feeling to her chest.

She quickly hopped off the stage, accepting a few more rounds of applause and beaming at a few choice words of praise. She finally made her way to Twilight who was talking to a grey filly Trixie suspected was the Octavia she had heard so much about.

She noticed a white filly nearby sticking close to Octavia, she couldn't make out her eyes through the thick purple sunglasses but she seemed to be scanning the crowd. Watching as they slowly dispersed to go about their business for the day.

"Did you enjoy the great and powerful Trixie's magnificent performance, Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie asked proudly, already sure of the answer.

"Oh it was wonderful, Trixie. You've gotten so good with your illusions it was like I was there." Trixie basked in her effusive praise for a while before finally cutting her off.

"Trixie is glad you enjoyed it, as her most faithful assistant Trixie of course values your opinion highly."

Twilight blushed and looked away at that, Trixie was always amused by her modesty. "Ah, well, that is, we, have you met Octavia here yet?" Twilight asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could.

Trixie turned to the gray filly standing by with an amused expression on her face. "The great and powerful Trixie is always happy to meet any friends of her most faithful assistant." She said a little haughtily, drawing herself up a bit to match the earth ponies height advantage.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Octavia said before turning the quiet filly at her side. "And this is Vinyl, I'm sure Twilight has already mentioned this, but she can't really talk. I hope that doesn't bother you."

At the concerned expression that crossed Octavia's face Trixie hastened to reassure her. "The great and powerful Trixie does not believe it will be a problem, we shall simply have to find other ways to communicate." As if Trixie would ever look down on somepony for something like that.

They spent some time getting to know each other after that. All sides interested in making new friends, Twilight especially hoping they could all get along.

Trixie had a taste for pop and did a little song writing on the side with plans for incorporating music into future shows. Octavia admitted she wasn't much for these kinds of things, but she did enjoy the performance and was impressed with the art style.

Vinyl through Octavia expressed her love of the explosions and bright lights. It was also discovered that she had a love of pyrotechnics but was not allowed near them for any reason. Octavia refused to elaborate on the exact details of why, refusing to meet their eyes.

Twilight was really happy her friends were getting along and took a step back to let them get to know each other better. Her eyes wandered over the park, taking in the ponies slowly shuffling out.

She let out a quiet breath, breathing in deeply as she let her heart settle. She felt at peace right now with a warm feeling in her chest. She felt she might not even need the silly jacket she had on if she were any warmer.

She was starting to get a taste for this friendship business.

Looking off to the side her eyes caught sight of a pony that looked vaguely familiar to her. It wasn't the color of her coat or her mane though. She was sure she'd never seen this exact pony before, and yet when she looked at her she was filled with a sense of familiarity.

She finally caught on as she noticed their gaze occasionally flickered in her direction.

That opened the floodgates. The expression was genuine enough, but they held themselves with that same stiffness to their posture.

She had taken to the body language lessons Fancy Pants had indulged her with like a fish to water. Lately she had been examining most ponies she came across when she had a spare moment.

Recently she had been noticing a few of these ponies out and about. It wasn't always her they were watching, but they always stood out to her as tenser than the ponies around them. A little more closed off. Some of them seemed to relax over time and she had noticed those same watchful eyes in ponies she otherwise wouldn't be suspicious of at all.

She was starting to get worried about them, but she wasn't sure who to bring it up to if anypony. Most adults didn't pay attention to her as it is, she didn't want to give them another reason to ignore her if her mind was just playing tricks on her.

Maybe she should bring it up to Sunset. She always knew just what to say to reassure her and would at least have a few ideas. Perhaps they were part of a secret agency that she would learn about from the Princess at a later date?

No, that was absurd. Princess Celestia wouldn't have something like that in her kingdom, and Equestria was at peace right now!

As she continued watching out of the corner of her eye, the pony in question slowly trotted off. They slipped into a side alley and didn't come back out again. Twilight was suspicious enough to keep watching this time, but she didn't see anything else of interest.

Turning back to her friends she noticed that their conversation was winding down. Trixie had also been invited to visit Vinyl's house as well.

Letting the matter drift from her mind for the moment, she turned to follow her friends.

Twilight had been scanning through every book she could get her hands on in the royal library for hours now. Sadly, her search criteria was a little too vague. She had found plenty of books that might hold answers but so far the search was fruitless.

She had messaged Sunset about it but had yet to hear from her. Something about a party being thrown that a certain pink menace wouldn't let her miss. Taking the book with her wasn't an option either, magic artifacts weren't considered normal wherever Sunset was and she didn't want to draw attention to herself.

She let out a sigh and collapsed into her chair. Her eyes wandered aimlessly, but other than a couple of wizards and an elderly mare it was just her and the librarian. She wondered if it was worth asking him. He didn't talk much, so he probably wasn't going to go around gossiping about her.

She eventually decided against it, even if he did know, she had no idea how to phrase a question like that. She imagined the embarrassment of trying to explain herself. "Do you know anything about strange ponies that stand around watching other ponies?"

"It's not just that they're watching you, they're really strange looking. I mean not physically, they're just really stiff, they look... uncomfortable? I saw a green flash when one ducked into a side alley one time!"

She shook her head to rid herself of the phantom embarrassment. She would just wait for Sunset to get back to her. Meanwhile, it was time for lunch and she had important eating duties to attend to.

The first few times she'd gone without eating all day to study she'd come to regret it enough to put a strict schedule in place. She still forgot sometimes but she was doing better.

Maybe she could do with a faithful assistant of her own?

While thinking this she nearly tripped while walking through the door, bumping into a pony that was coming in at the same time as her. As she went to apologize she heard a quiet hiss. Looking up she saw a pony with an almost bestial expression of rage on their face.

As quickly as she saw it though, it was smoothed into an expression of contrite apology. "Excuse me miss, terribly sorry to bump into you like that."

Her mind only froze for a moment before she replied out of habit. "That's alright sir, I really should have been paying more attention."

He quickly walked off and immediately after he was out of sight she bolted, running to her own library without stopping for anything. A few guards called out in question, and a maid or two was startled, but she just rushed past them without a word.

Finally she reached her own private safe haven. She fell back onto her haunches, sliding down against a wall as she fought to catch her breath and calm her wildly beating heart.

Things were starting to get dangerous around here. That pony had also had that same tense air around them. Twilights face settled into a determined expression. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

Chapter 5: You like reading too?

You like reading too?

"So there Trixie was, standing all alone against impossible odds." Trixie swept her foreleg out in a dramatic motion as Twilight followed along. Trixie had been dropping by while Twilight was having lunch a lot more often lately. Twilight couldn't complain though, she genuinely enjoyed the little blue filly's presence. It's not like she'd been able to make any other friends in this school yet either.

She had gotten used to Trixie's tall tales too, especially seeing as she seemed to have a new one every time they saw each other. Twilight wasn't sure if she just enjoyed her storytelling that much or if she was some kind of improvisation master. One thing was for sure, Trixie knew how to tell the most ridiculous stories with nothing but pure confidence. Twilight was actually starting to pick up some of that confidence by proxy. She used to get so jittery when Trixie started telling her stories in the middle of the cafeteria.

Most of the foals nearby rolled their eyes, but she could see a few ears pivoting in their direction. Trixie might not have been popular thanks to her incessant bragging, but she did have a way with storytelling.

Twilight idly bit into an apple as she focused back on Trixie. "The manticore was a wily foe, but Trixie was far more clever and had read up on all his secret weaknesses," said Trixie in a hushed tone that carried across the room regardless. "She had even acquired a prized artifact, the Orb of Obfuscation."

Twilight wondered where Trixie was keeping all these magical artifacts she was supposedly collecting. Not to mention where she was finding the time to go on all these adventures. She stopped herself before she started questioning what kind of books would have the weakness of a specific manticore listed in them though.

She finished her meal mostly in peace as Trixie wove her tale of magical domination over a manticore that was far too interested in raiding rural towns. It was excellent as usual, though she kept the magical explosions to a minimum after a few glares from the surrounding students. Twilight idly wondered at how lucky she was, before meeting Trixie she would have just listlessly made her way through her meal before running back to her books. Now she got to listen to fantastical stories every so often, and sometimes they even discussed illusion theory.

Having also finished her own meal by that point, Trixie suddenly stood up with a dramatic flourish of her cape. "As much as Trixie has delighted in the retelling of another glorious adventure to her most faithful assistant," she paused for dramatic effect. "The great and powerful Trixie must now attend classes. Farewell."

She then threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared. The effect was slightly ruined when she tripped on her own cloak, sliding out of sight through the cafeteria door as the smoke dissipated prematurely. That cloak really loved tripping that filly, it also wasn't much of a fan of friction.

Utterly unphased at this point Twilight simply stood up and made her way out after putting both their trays away. She was getting far too used to this sort of thing.

Twilight and Moon Dancer had met before, but neither had had much to say to each other. Both loved their books and had little interest in interacting with the ponies around them. Twilight had survived on her big brothers presence and the proximity of her parents, Moon Dancer? She just rolled with it. She didn't need anyone or any pony. Still, it was nice to have a kindred spirit around, someone she could point a hoof at and say. "I'm okay. I'm not different. I'm just like any other pony."

She may have looked into said pony a little, but that was just the smart thing to do. Her parents did it all the time, so there was nothing wrong with it right? She knew it wasn't something she was supposed to talk about though. You couldn't trust anyone outside the moon guard, they didn't understand the things a pony was supposed to know.

Thanks to this Moon Dancer was well informed on the subject of one Twilight Sparkle. She knew about her elder brother, her father who worked in the royal astronomy tower, and even about little Spike the dragon. She was a quiet and introspective pony, not given to talking to others or asking questions she could find in her books. Twilight understood though, they were the same. Even if she couldn't quite work up the nerve to talk to the purple pony she was sure they would be the best of friends eventually. It was just a matter of time.

Now her parents were interested in her though, and had demanded that she start cozying up to her. Moon Dancer really wasn't ready to take this next step with Twilight, but she was willing to give it a try. Better someone who cares rather than her parents sending someone else who would just use her for the connections she would eventually accumulate. Other ponies just didn't understand.

Twilight slowly took notice of the yellow unicorn smiling at her in the distance. There weren't any other students roaming this part of the hallway. She had noticed her a few times in the library, but she gave off the strong impression she wasn't interested in talking. She had actually been thinking about taking the plunge and trying to befriend her, but maybe she had decided to do the same before her?

The unicorn fell into step beside her, still with that smile of hers. Up close it looked a little more strained and Twilight could tell she was uncomfortable. It honestly made Twilight feel better about her own situation, the bookish unicorn still got nervous around other ponies she didn't know all the time. She resolved to make friends with her, she would put in the effort as well if somepony else was going to this much trouble.

"Hello?" she asked curiously. "Can I help you with something?"

The unicorns smile seemed to relax a little. "Hi Twilight, my name is Moon Dancer. I've noticed you like reading."

Glancing at the heavy book filled saddlebags slung over Moon Dancers back, she decided that this was going to be the ice breaker topic. "I think that's something we have in common actually," Twilight said with a reassuring smile. "What kind of books do you like to read? Squeaky Clean's Advanced Spell Theory for Foals is one of my favourites."

Moon Dancer looked back at her, her smile curving up a little more. "I've read that one before, I especially liked the section on spell construction," she let out a nervous chuckle. "Spell construction is actually my special talent."

Twilight looked at her with a new respect. Spell construction was a really rare and powerful talent. Twilight's talent allowed her to understand the inner workings of magic more intuitively than any other unicorn, but a general talent like that could only take her so far without a lot of extra work. Someone with a spell construction cutie mark could potentially revolutionize entire fields of magic in their lifetime.

She wondered what kinds of things they could work out together? This could be the start of a wonderful friendship, and she liked books too. She was starting to regret not having spoken to her earlier, it seemed like she was a kindred spirit. Besides, nobody who liked books could be a bad pony right?

They spent the rest of the break chatting. They weren't sharing any classes together until at least next year, but they were both caught up enough with work that they agreed to meet in the library after school to work on making a study group. She wondered if she could drag Trixie into the mix?

Sunset Shimmer was a strange girl, part of that was the fact that she used to be a unicorn. She had eventually discovered that there was magic on this side of the portal, small pockets of it at any rate. Turns out that there are side effects to dumping a number of magically powerful criminals into a magically inert world. Something had to shift to compensate, and that magic was an integral part of those individuals. No, being a unicorn was not normal by any stretch, but she was far from the only one. What was strange about Sunset was her obsessive drive to succeed, and her sometimes exceedingly short sighted ambitions.

It was something that had been tempered in the flames of failure. But she still had the urge to go above and beyond what was expected of her. She had wanted to impress the Princess so badly that she had turned to dark magic and an ancient portal to a world she didn't understand in the slightest. In the end that burning drive only got her the disappointment of the one whose opinion she cared about the most. Sunset had learned from her mistakes, but she was definitely still dumb in the way smart unicorns with too much time on their hands still end up with exploding towers. Even if she didn't care much about becoming an Alicorn anymore.

That was how she ended up in the basement of a semi popular sweet shop in Canterlot, fiddling with far too many wires to count and electronic components she barely comprehended. "You sure this will actually work?" She asked breathlessly. "I'm pretty sure this is only a few short steps away from exploding."

Lyra looked back at her with a smug grin on her face. "Trust me, I know exactly what I'm doing. You're looking at the number one unicorn expert in all of Canterlot, probably the world."

Bon Bon looked over at them with an impassive expression. "More like a conspiracy theorist. I'm still not sure you're really a unicorn at all. This whole story seems a bit far fetched."

"Come on Bonny, you saw the pictures, and the magical artifacts actually work like they're supposed to." She turned back to the display she was working on, pressing innumerable buttons in a sequence only she was likely to understand.

"Lyra, I don't like pulling this card, but you know there are things out there we can barely comprehend. It's not always unicorns." She said with a sigh, her posture drooping in exasperation.

"And I've explained a number of them already, haven't I... Agent Sweetie Drops?" Sunset turned away long enough to give her an insufferably smug grin that blew Lyra's out of the water.

"Are you ever going to let that go?" Bon Bon asked, sinking further into her seat. "You're really not supposed to know about that. You could get in a lot of trouble if the wrong people heard you talking about this you know."

"What can I say, I like living on the edge." Sunset replied, finally fitting everything into the round metallic device she was working on, closing the back panel with a satisfying click.

"Aww yeah! Here we go." Lyra exclaimed, whooping as the display filled up with numbers and diagrams that would have given most people a headache to look at for any decent length of time.

"A few quick twists here and there, change that number to this one, lock onto that frequency, and..." Lyra seemed to jump around the room, changing the settings on machine after machine as the room filled up with a loud hum. "Bam, there we go."

A portal in space time ripped open in front of them. A swirling mess of red, purple, and green colors lined the edge of a perfect oval floating in mid air. Just beyond they could see a grassy field, and in the distance houses with thatched roofs. The most important detail however was the multitude of colorful ponies bustling about the small town. There were unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies all over the place. A groan was heard nearby as a flashing light came from where Sunset had been standing earlier.

A perfectly normal unicorn with a warm amber coat sat there, rubbing her head and scrunching up her eyes. "That feels just as bad as actually walking through the mirror."

She looked up to see Lyra's intense expression way too close to her face. "Uh... hey there?" She asked awkwardly as Lyra's hand twitched and her gaze remained fully focused on her horn.

Bon Bon just face palmed and ignored Sunset's cries for help as she struggled to keep Lyra's hands away from her sensitive horn.

Chapter 6: Don't question the pink.

Don't question the pink

Twilight was wandering through the main street of Canterlot in search of something fun to do. The streets were filled with ponies dressed up for the cold weather, many of them clumped together and chatting in small groups. Holiday decorations were hung up on storefronts and homes alike, the cheery atmosphere unhindered by the cold. She weaved through the crowd, darting back and forth among the older ponies with skill born of long practice.

This would normally be a great time to hang out with Trixie, but she had other business to attend to. A new club had opened up in her section of the school for those interested in magical performances. Twilight had declined the invitation, not feeling like she had all that much to offer to a group like that. She had promised to visit on occasion if things worked out though. Twilight had hope that Trixie could find a few kindred spirits that could help her more with the artistic side of things.

Moon Dancer had been called away on urgent family business, Twilight hadn't wanted to pry for details. The new study group was going well, though they spent more time reading than talking. At least by consolidating their notes they were saving a lot of time that could be spent on researching new things of interest. Twilight had already decided to invite Trixie to their next section, she was sure Moon Dancer would be interested in hearing illusion theory from what was practically a professional. At least to Twilight's mind anyway.

She had thought about visiting Vinyl or Octavia but eventually decided to try her hoof at a bit of exploration instead. There was a certain wanderlust thrumming in her veins today and she wanted to capitalize on it before she lost her nerve. It helped that the royal library was a crowded mess right now. It was filled with a large number of distinguished mages working on last minute research. A symposium was being held nearby this week and she had been firmly rebuffed at the door when she had tried to get in. None of the mages seemed to have time to waste on a curious foal either.

She had taken a bit pouch with her in case of shopping emergencies, as well as the doll Cadence had bought for her. She had worked a minor enchantment into it over a weekend that would alert her to anypony with bad intentions focusing their gaze in her direction for longer than a few seconds. Anything more complicated would take a lot of research but thanks to Trixie's surprising knowledge of animation spells it wouldn't take too much longer to get an early warning system prepared. For now she would have to take it out and leave it sitting on her body, if a threat was detected it would start tapping its hoof on the closest part of her it could reach.

Eventually she was hoping to make it fully autonomous, but that would be a long way off.

She had brought the suspicious ponies up with the Princess, who had shown some concern. She wasn't sure how serious she was being taken, but she was promised that the guards would be informed. Just in case though, she felt it would be best to take precautions. Sunset always said proper preparation was the path to perfection after all. She wasn't sure how serious she was about that, but it rung true regardless.

It was while lost in thought that she stumbled across an even more festive part of Canterlot. One of the poorer market sections that didn't look much different from the rest of the city. Twilight had overheard the guards talking about questionable things being sold here. It was something of a second home to the merchants passing through the capital. There were many things that could be purchased both local and exotic, from genuine potions from zebrica, to supposed ancient artifacts of dubious usage. They were also the best place to acquire magical reagents in just about any part of Equestria.

Twilight wasn't much concerned with that, the Princess provided what she needed for her personal study. Guards also patrolled the place like clockwork. Some ponies found them overbearing but Twilight found herself more often reassured by the gleaming armor and the stern watchful eyes. Likely a product of her older brother talking up the guard all during her foalhood.

Her eyes wandered over the stands, trying to take in all the details. It was such a mish mash of different cultures and ideals that you could find just about anything if you worked at it hard enough. What was more interesting than that, however, was the wild party raging through the marketplace right now. The air was filled with confetti and balloons tied to the tents and stands hugging the walls. Tables laden with sweets and baked goods of all kinds were placed around in strategic patterns and cheerful music was flowing from unseen speakers. The ponies gathered around were in a notably cheerier mood as well.

She searched the place for any foals her age to talk to, but most were clinging almost religiously to their parents sides. She did eventually find a small crowd of them though. They were gathered around a small pink filly doing a full circus act. Crazy acrobatic tricks, juggling, balancing on a large ball, all sorts of things that demonstrated a level of balance and coordination that boggled Twilight's mind. She couldn't imagine the kind of practice she would need to go through to accomplish even half of those feats.

The act did eventually come to an end. The filly jumped off the ball with a full somersault, laughing all the while. The foals gathered around, stomping their hooves and cheering for her as they shouted out questions. It took awhile before they started to disperse, heading towards some of the nearby sweet tables to stuff their faces with candy. That was when Twilight decided to approach her to give her congratulations for an impressive show.

Walking up with a cheerful smile Twilight waved at the pink pony standing back and smiling at the sight of the party going on around her. "That was an amazing performance," said Twilight. "I've never seen anything like that before in my life!"

The pony in question turned to her with an excited smile, bouncing up and down in place. "Thanks! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?" She seemed to zoom forward as she was almost instantly in Twilight's face.

"Um... Twilight Sparkle." She said, falling back onto her haunches and backing away slightly. "How do you do?"

The hoof that Twilight stuck out was shaken vigorously by the pink dynamo. "I'm doing great, I'm always happy to make new friends. I haven't seen you around before, but I'm the premier party planner in the entirety of Equestria." She flipping backwards, landing in a dramatic pose.

Twilight decided to just roll with it for now, not sure at all how to deal with all this energy being directed her way. "So your special talent is party planning?"

Pinkie Pie seemed to settle down for the moment, rubbing her hooves together with glee before launching into an explanation of how she got her cutie mark. After which Twilight felt it only right to reciprocate. Then Pinkie started asking her enough questions to make her head spin. Long story short Pinkie eventually found out that she'd never actually been to a party before and immediately set out to give her a personal tour.

They checked out all the various games, snacked on cake and candy, and Twilight ended up being introduced to more ponies that she expected she would ever be able to remember. She was still smiling widely through it all though, a warm feeling thrumming in her chest. She decided that today had been an excellent day after all, even if her friends were busy or hard to reach. She was definitely making sure to get Pinkie's mail address. Though she was a little worried about how they would deliver a letter to a pony that never stayed in the city for more than a day.

Twilight decided that today was pretty good overall.

Twilight had managed to do some shopping while Pinkie was dragging her around. A few of the deals she got were actually a lot better than she expected to get, likely because of the party pony at her side. In particular was a stall run by an elderly mare with a cheerful expression on her face that was filled to the brim with all sorts of magical trinkets. Twilight spent some time rifling through a number of items, Pinkie Pie had hopped off for the moment to attend to a crying foal that had lost his balloon.

A few thoughtful queries and Twilight managed to ferret out that the mare was an adventurer of sorts. The reason she had so many little trinkets and was willing to sell them was because she had picked them up as treasure. A number of them weren't useful to her, some of them couldn't be used by her, and more than a few were duplicates or did the same thing as something else she already had. Very few were broken, but she hadn't put out anything that wasn't functional. There were also a couple of books with covers faded enough she couldn't make out the title.

She reached out a hoof and picked up a pair of thick rimmed glasses that were oddly similar to the ones she had seen Moon Dancer wearing. "She lit up her horn in a basic analysis spell, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. It definitely wasn't an enchantment she had studied before. "What do these do?" she asked the mare leaning behind the counter.

She hopped to her hooves and leaned over to examine them more closely. "Ah, that takes me back." The mare said, a smile stealing over her face. "Universal translator, you slip them on and you'll be able to read any old tome like it's written in plain Equish."

Twilight looked at the pair of glasses with a newfound awe. "How much?" She asked with excitement, mind filled with the new range of books she would be able to read.

The mare smiled at her enthusiasm. "Well... I suppose I could sell em to you for five bits."

Twilight gasped. "Isn't that a bit cheap for something like this?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, they are an older model. Not to mention the battery's busted so you'll only be able to use it while you're actively channeling magic into it. I'm sure a smart filly like you could fix it up in a jiffy." She said with a wink.

Twilight decided right then and there that she had to have them. Not only was that an incredibly good price, but the opportunity for learning was a hoof. No self respecting scholar would deny themselves such an opportunity. She hoofed over the bits with all due haste, and even made away with a few discounted magical tomes. They weren't anything super special, but they weren't all that common either.

Twilight was eventually dragged away by Pinkie Pie with a smile on her face. The kind older mare waving to her as she was pulled out of sight. Her new purchases were safely stored away in the depths of her saddlebags.

Twilight had finally torn herself away as the crowd started to disperse. She had stayed the entire day and even helped with the clean up. It was getting late now however and she had already said her goodbyes to her new friend. With her new friends contact info stored in her saddlebags she looked up to a sky that was slowly growing darker, ever so slightly tinged by the warm color of Sunset. Despite what ponies considered an excessive night patrol, she still felt it was better to stay on the safe side and return to her library haven before the darkness claimed the sky entirely.

Her personal guard was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't too surprising. For such large presences they sure could fade into the background, Twilight was starting to suspect high tier enchantments. Regardless she couldn't wait around either way, she didn't want to take the chance that she would be left completely alone in the middle of the market square at this time of night. Canterlot's crime rate was fairly low, and nothing particularly damning. But she was still small enough to be allowed a little fear of the dark.

It was halfway through her journey back to the castle that she noticed something odd, or more precisely she didn't notice it. She stopped abruptly, straining her ears to capture the slightest sound. Looking around confirmed her fears. Where before there had been a few stragglers the street was now entirely empty of other ponies. She glanced at the nearby windows, despite the festive lights giving the street a cheery glow, the lights inside the houses were off entirely. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but it was far too early for this to be happening already.

Cautiously she took a step forward, eyes scanning for the slightest hint of movement. Another step and glance behind her, she slowly reached into her bag with telekinesis to withdraw her enchanted doll. Pulling it against her neck she felt a tapping. It was at this point that she started picking up the pace. She needed to get away from the glowing blue eyes she could just barely make out in the darkness.

Then, suddenly, she heard the sharp crunch of gravel directly behind her. Far too close for comfort.

She wheeled around, a magical corona of power building up over her horn. She stopped in confusion, her magic winking out. A perfectly normal earth pony stallion was standing in front of her. She looked up to see him gracing her with a kind smile.

The smile felt fake, though she couldn't place just why she thought that.

"Are you alright there miss?" He asked in a concerned tone of voice. Slowly making his way closer to her as she instinctively backed away.

She smiled back at him nervously. "I'm quite alright sir, just making my way home."

"Aww, that's too bad." His expression turned apologetic. "You really could have made this a lot easier on yourself..."

Twilight made to bolt and just barely dodged his quick lunge. Falling onto her haunches, she scrambled backwards furiously. Preparing a bolt of magical force as he quickly recovered from his tumble. Looking back up at her with a feral expression on his face.

Before either of them could make a move towards each other, a pink blur impacted his face. He was quickly knocked to the side. Twilight looked in confusion towards Pinkie Pie, not having expected her to be the one coming to her rescue in the slightest.

Pinkie looked back to her with a worried expression. The lack of a smile sent a chill down Twilights spine even having known her for such a short time. "I saw this meanie knock out the guard that was following you around. We've gotta get out of here." She said frantically, pulling Twilight to her hooves.

As she was dragged along, Twilight snuck a peek back at the pony that had attacked her. He was already sitting up, a hoof rubbing his head as his eyes clenched shut. There was a brief flicker and Twilight caught sight of a nightmarish creature with holes running through their legs and a jagged horn sprouting out of their head.

She turned away instantly, pushing herself to move faster as she tried to get as much distance between herself and that... creature, as she possibly could.

Chapter 7: Startling discoveries and partial explanations.

Startling discoveries and partial explanations.

Twilight was crying as she leant back against the wall, avoiding the expensive tapestries that clung to the walls around her. Great heaving sobs came from her chest as she struggled to process what was going on and come down from the adrenaline high. Pinkie Pie wasn't doing much better, hovering over her with a worried expression on her face. Her whole body was tensed up like a coiled spring, nearly invisible tremors shaking her tiny body.

Twilight had lead her to the castle, intent on informing the Princess of what had happened. They had slipped through the darkened hallways like ghosts, avoiding everypony they came across. Even the guards. She had finally broken down a short way from Celestia's private chambers. Not quite able to make the rest of the journey just yet, and knowing she wouldn't be coherent at all if she didn't take a moment.

"Twilight," asked Pinkie in a whisper. "What happened back there?"

Twilight turned her head towards her slowly, almost mechanically. She was struck by the fact that this pony, who she had only just met today, was willing to jump headfirst into danger to save her. A shiver went down her spine as she contemplated what would have happened without her help. Twilight was a magical prodigy, and would one day grow to be a very powerful magic user. But right now, that magical bolt wouldn't have done a thing. Even if she had been able to muster the necessary concentration to fire it.

"Its just, I don't think they were planning to take you to a surprise party," said Pinkie shakily. "If I hadnt been sneaking one last piece of cake... or that pony had noticed me hiding..." Pinkie trailed off, a haunted look in her eyes.

Twilight took a deep breath. "Pinkie," she said with a calm she didn't feel inside. "Its okay. You saved me. We're safe." She reached out and pulled the trembling pony into a hug.

"Shhh, its alright, everything is okay." The hug was a little awkward, but Twilight made due for Pinkie Pie's sake.

After a few more moments she pulled back."We'll bring this up to the Princess, she'll know what to do."

Pinkie forced a smile onto her face. It was a little shaky.

As they closed in on the door to Celestias chambers they could hear raised voices going back and forth before stomping hooves were heard galloping in the direction opposite them. They crept onwards, keeping quiet for reasons they couldn't quite vocalize. The guards usually stationed outside were conspicuously absent and the door was slightly ajar, letting warm light spill into the empty stone corridor.

As they moved closer Twilight began to recognize one of the voices as that of the Princess. She was clearly angry if her tone was anything to go by. "This was the absolute worst time for this to happen Lieutenant. How could you have let this happen?"

"I have nothing to say for myself your highness. I will accept any punishment you deem fit." Peeking in through the door they could see Princess Celestia towering over a guard stallion lowering his head submissively.

Princess Celestia let out a huff, looking the least dignified Twilight had ever seen her. "At least you managed to get away before they could rip the memories from your head. We shouldn't have to worry about a fake replacing her any time soon, but we must find Twilight before they realize the mistake they've made." Celestia paused as she held herself rigidly in place.

Celestia then sagged, the fire seeming to drain out of her completely. She turned away from the stallion prostrating himself at her hooves. "I apologize my little pony," said Celestia as she let out a sigh. "This is not entirely your fault, and I apologize for letting my emotions get the best of me."

As she finished saying that, Pinkie Pie leaned on the door a little too much and found herself tumbling through the door and into the bedroom. Twilight crept in after her, hunching in on herself to avoid Celestia's gaze.

"H-hello Princess," said Twilight timidly. She looked up at the sound of Celestia's gasp to find a full grown Alicorn boring down on her. Before she had time to scramble back she was swept up in a warm feathery embrace. She was held like that for an indeterminable amount of time before being placed back on the ground.

Celestia looked over her with a practiced eye searching for any hint of damage or of anything untoward. She finally let out a sigh of relief and settled back down. "I was very worried Twilight, can you tell me what happened?" asked Celestia in a more collected tone than earlier. Twilight could see that the tension had still not faded from her expression though.

Pinkie Pie who had been standing out of the way during the exchange moved to Twilight's side. She gave a tired wave as an expression of surprise flitted across Celestia's face. "Hello there little one," she looked to Twilight for an explanation.

Twilight took a deep breath and began to recount what had happened. Pinkie Pie chiming in with details from her side of things. Celestia's face remained impassive throughout the conversation, as she listened intently.

Until Twilight mentioned the being she saw.

"A-and, when I looked back... it was like a light flickering off and I could see a... a creature sitting there. It had holes in its leg, what looked like a black shell, a jagged horn and glowing blue eyes."

Celestia frowned minutely. "Are you sure that's what you saw Twilight? I understand it was very dark at the time and you only looked back for a moment yes?"

Twilight paused, had she been mistaken? But the image was burned so clearly into her head. It seemed so real. She nodded her head determinedly. "I'm sure Princess."

Celestia looked at her for a long moment, face falling back into an impassive expression before she finally sighed. "Guard, leave us."

"At once Princess!" He snapped a salute and made his way out the door. Likely heading back to the barracks to recuperate.

"Do you trust this filly," asked Celestia, nodding her head towards Pinkie Pie.

"With my life Princess." Twilights expression was unwavering.

"Then it would seem I need to tell you both a few things about... Changelings.

It was a few hours later and Twilight had been through the ringer. First Celestia had to be informed of what was going on, then the guards needed to interview her for the official report, Pinkie Pie would have been going through the same, but she hadn't seen her since she was pulled away for a seperate interview.

She was asked to leave out all mention of Changelings.

She was currently sitting in a lounge inside the guards office building. It was near the barracks so a call for help would be answered swiftly. It was much more luxurious than she would have expected from the ever practical guard, but she wasn't complaining as she sunk into the sinfully soft couch.

She could take a moment to appreciate a really comfortable couch right?

The conversation with Celestia had left her feeling drained and more than a little scared. They could take the shape of anyone and drain a ponies love until they were little more than an empty shell. She could tell Celestia didn't want to tell her anything, but she was now a target, as were those close to her most likely. Especially Pinkie...

She had to fight to keep herself from falling asleep though. She didn't have any books to study and she wanted to be there when Pinkie Pie finally showed up again. She was promised half an hour ago that if she was quiet and stayed where she was she would see her shortly. She idly wondered if the slow process of beauracracy was always like this. She had heard more than a few ponies in the castle complaining about it, only the more unsavoury nobles seemed to enjoy the overcomplicated and easy to abuse system.

Her mind drifted off as her eyes slowly unfocused. Her breathing slowed and the tension left her body.

She awoke to a gentle shaking sensation. She struggled to open her eyes as she slowly batted at the hooves interrupting her sleep. "One more minute..." she groaned out, turning onto her side to avoid the waking world for a little longer.

"Twilight." she froze for a moment, something in the tone calling to her. With another groan she got up onto her haunches and started rubbing at her eyes.

After a moment the pink blob in front of her slowly resolved into the image of her newest friend. "Pinkie Pie... what...?"

It should be noted that Twilight was not an early riser. Few ponies could be said to have a harder time waking up in the morning, especially after a hard study session. She might not have been hitting the books, but the nights events certainly were taxing.

Nonetheless, she struggled to shift her focus onto the filly in front of her. "H-how are you doing?" She asked, her mouth opening in an uncontrollable yawn.

Pinkie gave off a nervous giggle. "You know, better. I... I don't really wanna be alone right now. Can we maybe have... a slumber party?" The earnest expression on Pinkie's face guaranteed that Twilight wouldn't have been able to refuse her even if she wanted to.

"Of course Pinkie, it's no trouble." She tried to lighten the mood a little. "I've never been to a slumber party before, think you can give me some tips and tricks from a real party pony?"

She decided that the slowly widening smile on Pinkie's face was a good sign.

A dark figure made their way through the cold streets, running as fast as their legs would carry them. The pounding beat of their hooves on the gravel echoing through the street far too loudly for comfort.

Their breath was coming in heaving gasps and their gait was unsteady. They glanced around frantically for some cover from the brightly lit streets. A few alleyways presented themselves, but before they could make a move they heard thundering hooves and angry shouts coming from behind them.

The figure turned around quickly before giving off a startled hiss and bolting to the side. They made their way through one of the alleys they'd spotted but didn't dare pause with the enemy so close by.

The shouting had woken up more than a few ponies from their rest, and the few that had stayed up late were now poking their heads through their windows to get a better look at what was happening.

One mare gave off a startled shriek as the figure darted past her, scrambling back inside. The guards passed by not long after and they were quickly out of sight.

One pony in particular kept watching long after they'd left, a blank expression coming to their face as they stared into the distance. Eventually they turned away, moving deeper into the house to start writing a very important letter.

Octavia quietly crept out of her room, adjusting the straps of her Cello case to keep it from bouncing around on her back.

She made her way across the hallway, ears flattened to keep out the loud shouting coming from behind one of the doors. It was the work of a few moments to slip past the front door and outside into the crisp winter air.

She glanced both ways before crossing the street, making her way through to a nearby side alley. She picked up the pace considerably once she'd exited out onto one of the larger and more brightly lit streets.

She could hear yelling in the distance but paid it no mind, focused intently on her self imposed task. She nearly faltered when she heard the sound of loud hoofsteps, but they passed by out of sight before she could make a move.

An uneasy expression crossed her face but she decided to ignore her nerves for now and continue on.

It didn't take very long to trace the by now memorized path to Vinyl's house. The store was as brightly lit as the rest of their surroundings, but there was also the soft sound of music emanating from behind the closed door.

It was close to the areas where the Canterlot night life congregated and as such was open longer than most other stores. They would likely still be open for a couple more hours yet.

She walked up to the door, giving it a quick knock before slipping inside. She hunched her shoulders as she pressed forward heading straight to the counter at the end of the room.
Record Scratch could be seen leaning back in her chair, eyes closed and head gently swaying to the beat. As Octavia reached the counter her eyes opened, having heard the bell above the door and accompanying hoof steps making their way closer.

She looked to Octavia with a sad smile, but not a hint of surprise. "Another one of those nights huh?" She asked sympathetically.

"Sorry to intrude, Ma'am." She shuffled in place, averting her gaze.

"You know I've told you before to call me Record," she said with a warm smile. "You're practically family, if you didn't already have one I'd let you call me mom."

Her expression softened and she looked at Octavia with concern in her eyes. "You're always welcome here, I'll say it as many times as you need me to."

Octavia looked up, a light blush covering her cheeks. "Thank you." It was short, but heartfelt.

"Now, I think there's someone you would rather be seeing than an old mare like me. Vinyl should still be up at this hour, Celestia knows I can never get her to rest as long as the shops still open," she said in a cheerier tone. "Up you go, you know the way."

Octavia nodded in understanding, quickly making her way upstairs. She quietly knocked at the door and waited a moment.

A small white filly opened the door with a confused expression on her face. As she took in who was at the door that expression quickly shifted into a look of worry. Octavia was quickly beckoned inside.

Filing in after her gracefully, Octavia settled her Cello carefully up against one of the walls. Vinyl moved back over to her keyboard and Octavia quietly followed, sitting down next to her before leaning into her side.

They stayed like that for a while, Octavia simply letting the music flow around her before finally speaking up.

"Vinyl?" The filly in question looked up to her with a quizzical tilt of the head. "Sorry to be such a bother." Octavia chuckled self depreciatingly.

Vinyl merely shook her head and gave her a small sad smile. Octavia had known her for long enough to hear the words unspoken. I'm not going anywhere.

The door slammed open as Sunset rushed into the room. Luna looked up from her seat on the sofa, a startled look on her face as she nearly dropped her controller. "Sunset?" She asked in a baffled tone of voice.

Sunset grinned at her. "Guess who got the portal working?" She asked in a sing song voice, twirling around as she came into the loungeroom and gracelessly fell into a nearby armchair.

"The... portal?" Luna asked in a confused tone before her expression cleared. "Oh... Oh! Really!?" She asked, an excited smile growing on her face.

"Mhm." Sunset replied with a smug expression firmly in place. "Express portal right back to Equestria at any time I like, and yes, we can all go to magical horseland together." Sunset said with a roll of her eyes.

Before Luna could say anything further they both heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. After what sounded like a might struggle with the doorknob they bore witness to a very flustered Celestia edging her way into the doorway with two huge grocery bags in her arms. "Little help here?" She asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

They both rushed to grab the bags before any unfortunate incidents could occur. After packing things away they ended up settling in for a discussion around the dining room table.

"Alright, now that Sunset has gotten the portal working," Celestia began with a proud smile on her face. "We need to have a discussion about when she's going and what she wants to do when she gets there."

Luna nodded sagely, looking at Sunset seriously. "We also need to talk about whether or not you want to stay here with us or move to Equestria in the event that you still have a place there." Celestia went to speak up, but Luna quickly cut her off. "Tia, we both know that Sunset will always be welcome here, but it is something we need to discuss."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "I've been listening to Sunset whenever she's taken the time to talk about her homeworld." Luna nodded at a worried looking Sunset. "I can read between the lines. Her special talent is magic and while we might not have an analogue in this world, I understand enough to know that she'll never really feel as happy as she could be without it."

Sunset went to speak up but was also cut off by Luna. "I know you've gone a long time without it, I know you're too strong to be brought down so easily. But if you don't have to go without it, we don't want you to hurt yourself like that for our sakes."

Sunset sagged in her seat, a troubled expression settling on her face. "I don't want to leave you two." She said sadly.

"And you won't have to." Celestia was quick to assure her.

"But we do need to look into your options. Using magic here is almost impossible without advanced machinery or ancient artifacts from what you've told us." Luna continued. "There might be a solution, I can't say for sure, I'm just the vice principal of a high school. But what I do know is that I want you to be happy. Even if that means you will only be visiting us occasionally."

There was silence for awhile as no one was quite sure what to say.

It was Sunset who spoke up first. "Before I came here, I didn't really know what it was like to have a family." said Sunset. "It was completely unfamiliar to me, and a big part of the reason I was never able to make any real friends even before I was known as the Princess's personal protege."

She let out a sigh. "I can't go back to being alone like that, having you two with me, and the friends I've made on this world... it's not something I can ever give up. Even if it means never using magic again, I think I could accept not going back if it meant I could stay with you."

"I didn't start this project because I wanted to leave you, I did it because I've realized that I need closure. I need to talk to the Princess, I need to tell her what was going through my head and ask for forgiveness. Until I do that I don't think I'll ever be able to move past it." She leaned forward, pressing her face into her hands. "It's something I need to do."

Both sisters exchanged a look before moving their chairs next to Sunset and enveloping her in a hug. "It's going to be okay, little sun," said Celestia quietly. "We'll work through this together, no matter what it takes. There's always a third option for the ones truly willing to work for it."

Sunset let out a chuckle that sounded just a little off. "I hope so, but I'm more worried about how the Princess is going to react to be honest."

"It will be okay Sunset. If she's anything like me, and she should be. I'm sure she'll understand and forgive you. Everyone makes mistakes, but we do our best to fix them and then we move on." said Celestia comfortingly.

Luna chimes in at this point. "Take it from someone with regrets of their own. Sometimes the most important person you need to seek forgiveness from is yourself."

""And I'm sure you'll be looking forward to seeing little Twilight as well yes?" Celestia asked in a teasing tone. "I'm sure she would say the same, from what you've told us she seems quite taken with you." She chuckled warmly before falling quiet once again.

They held onto each other for a while before retiring to the loungeroom. They ended up ordering out and spent the rest of the night playing video games. Luna trounced them with ease, but it was a good night anyway.

Chapter 8: Super Secret Friendship Meeting.

Super secret friendship meeting.

Twilight wouldn’t have woken up that morning if she had a choice. Last night was too much for anypony to deal with and it was still the weekend. Sadly the pink ball of fluff sharing her bed had other ideas. “Hey, Twilight! Time to rise and shine.”

After getting that blasted in her ears Twilight found herself tumbling out of her bed and onto the floor. Looking up from a tangled mess of blankets she could make out Pinkie grinning down at her from the edge of the bed.

“Was that really necessary?” She asked with a groan, rolling over and trying to disentangle herself. She rubbed at her eyes sleepily and let out a yawn

Twilight looked out over the library, all her books organized and in place just as she left them the night before. Just as she’d left them when she went out that day.

Pinkie was going a mile a minute in the background as she struggled to contemplate just how little these books would have changed if she had been taken that night. She didn’t mean to tune Pinkie out, but she just couldn’t process it all right now.

She eventually stumbled out of the room, Pinkie close behind. The halls were filled with the usual hustle and bustle of a busy castle. None of the maids called out to her, and the guards watched Pinkie closely but otherwise let her pass unhindered.

Twilight just kept moving forward, struggling to keep her mind calm. She figured she would feel better with something in her stomach, she could deal with all these emotions then.

Slipping into the kitchen, she sat down at one of the benches out front. At this hour the place was a beehive of activity, chefs and kitchen hoofs rushing back and forth to meet the orders of a castle full of ponies.

She didn’t have to wait long, these were professionals after all. Two big plates of blueberry pancakes were placed in front of them in short order. Pinkie Pie looked ecstatic, Twilight gave her thanks and focused her full attention on the meal.

She occasionally ate with the Princess, but she took most of her meals here. It was convenient and allowed her to get back to either of her library safe havens while avoiding most social niceties. Most of the castle was off limits to her anyway, too many political dealings behind closed doors for one little filly to be given free reign.

Twilight ate in silence, occasionally nodding or humming in reply to Pinkie’s many and varied questions. Twilight was feeling a lot more optimistic by the time she finished. She even had a few ideas for enchantments she might like to try out, some for her friends too.

Twilight was back in her personal haven. She had made a quick detour to the royal library to pick up some books. It was a bit of a struggle getting through the crowd to the front desk, but thankfully she had earned some loyalty from the librarian. They were happy enough to grab the books she needed for her.

Her own library wasn’t anything to scoff at, but most of the books were woefully out of date and what wasn’t was usually fiction. Just another one of the many repositories for old and unused books the Princess wanted to keep on hoof. At least she had plenty of room to keep the books she had borrowed.

She was currently pouring over a tome on passive enchantments. Things that would allow her to see in the dark, deflect projectiles, absorb magical attacks, and things like that. Sadly, a great many of the ones that she really wanted were beyond her. Some even required ingredients she’d never heard of, much less had on hoof.

She was currently writing down notes at a furious pace. Pinkie Pie was laying on her bed with a picture book held up over her face, quietly humming to herself. She had noted down a few enchantments she had the necessary ingredients and expertise for.

A hostile eyes charm like she’d used on her doll, combined with a vibration animation spell. A distress beacon that could be hooked up to a paper map, and a short distance visual distortion field that could be turned on and off.

She was currently crunching the numbers and trying to fit them all together into something that could be shoved into a crystal. She was hoping to make a set of necklaces that could be worn without too many questions being asked. They could even be slowly recharged by the wearers personal magic reservoir.

They would know if they were being watched, they could be found in case they went missing, and they could tap the crystal in a certain pattern to disorient nearby enemies. They would be perfect.

The few books she had managed to find on Changelings were decidedly less helpful. She had passed on what information she could to Pinkie Pie as well. But it mostly amounted to them being shapeshifters that fed on love. The only piece of information she hadn’t gotten from Celestia was the fact that they were sighted most often in the badlands. Which was pretty unhelpful when it came to combating them.

It wasn’t unexpected though, Changeling have been considered little more than a folk tale for a long time now. There had been reported sightings, but one had never officially been caught. Twilight wondered how they could manage something like that. Surely one of them would have had to slip up eventually right?

It took most of the afternoon, but she was finally done. She turned to Pinkie Pie with a tired smile on her face, hoofing over the necklace. It was a small pink gemstone attached to a thin wire cord. “Here you go Pinkie, this should give you some peace of mind.”

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Pinkie asked with concern. “You don’t look so good.”

Twilight waved her hoof in Pinkie’s general direction, her head swaying to the side slightly. “I’m fine, just a little tired.” She giggled before slumping softly against the table. She had made a few necklaces. One for each of her friends. It had taken more out of her than she thought it would, but it was worth it.

She slowly rose to her hooves and went over to her school bag, pulling out some paper. She wrote down an explanation of how the necklaces worked and folded them into a few spare envelopes she had laying around. Then labeled each with the name of her friends.

Keeping in regular contact with her big brother had ensured she was well stocked with envelopes and stamps. She would still be delivering these personally though, some things were safer left out of a letter.

“Alright, I’m done for now.” She looked back at Pinkie with a slightly wild smile. “Keep that necklace on. It’ll vibrate if any of the baddies are watching us, and if you tap it three times they won’t be able to see you.” She giggled maniacally and rubbed her hooves together. She felt light as a feather right now.

Pinkie came up to her, the worried expression hadn’t left her face. “That’s nice Twilight, but I think you should probably lay down now.” She carefully led her to the bed and tucked her in. Twilight struggled a little, but ultimately settled down and let Pinkie do her thing.

Twilight looked at her with a steady gaze. “You gotta put it on Pinkie.” She waved her hoof wildly for emphasis. “It’ll stop the Changelings from getting you.”

Pinkie smiled at her and slipped the necklace on. “Alright Twilight, there you go, it’s on see?” She tugged on the cord, showing that the necklace wasn’t going anywhere. “Now you get some sleep, I’ll keep a lookout. Pinkie Pie’s on the case!”

Twilight smiled, feeling a lot more secure now that Pinkie had some form of defense. She clutched the necklace she’d made for herself tightly. She hoped that it would wake her up if anything happened.

It's not that she didn’t trust Pinkie. But she couldn't stay here forever, and then Twilight would be alone.

Again.

She sighed, her eyes slowly drifting shut as her body went limp. She wasn’t magically exhausted by any means, but she was running low.

Pinkie kept silent vigil over her new friend. Nopony would be getting past this party pony.

Twilight was sitting at the front of the classroom trying desperately not to look as bored as she felt. Occasionally her hoof would trace over the delicate gemstone around her neck, feeling for the thrum of arcane power just beneath the surface.

She checked her bag for the umpteenth time, making sure that she had the necklace filled envelopes on hoof. Then she looked up at the clock.

It was slowly ticking down. Another minute until the lunch period. Good, she didn’t think she could handle much more of this right now.

She was the first to leave the classroom. She slung her saddlebags forcefully onto her back and took off at a run, barely managing not to slam the door shut behind her. She had some things to discuss with Trixie.

The waiting was torture as she took finally reacher her seat.

She would have looked for Trixie on her own, but she had no idea which class she would be coming from today. She stewed in silence, worried expression on her face as she idly ran her hoof over the envelope meant for Trixie.

"Trixie confesses to being a little worried, Twilight Sparkle." Trixie said as she came up to the bench, glancing at the letter in her hooves. "Is everything alright with Trixie's most faithful assistant?"

She took a seat next to Twilight rather than across from her as she usually would. Twilight silently slid the envelope over to her, Trixie giving it a curious look. After noting her name written over the front, she quickly opened it and slid the necklace out.

Trixie stared at it for a moment before looking back to Twilight with an unreadable expression. "While Trixie is flattered, Trixie also admits she was not expecting such a thing from you."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked in confusion, taking a moment to think before blushing. "Oh... oh! No, I didn't mean it like that. Not that I don't like you like that, not that I do that is, but..." She waved her hooves around frantically before slumping against the table once she saw Trixie's amused grin.

"So, what is the special occasion?" She asked, carefully examining the necklace with her magic before reading through the accompanying note. "Giving a mare jewelry, enchanted at that." Trixie said with a smug grin.

"You're a bit young to be calling yourself a mare," grumbled Twilight. "Something big happened last night. I need to talk to you, but not out here. Do you have time after classes?"

Trixie slipped on the necklace, tucking it into her cloak. "Trixie is intrigued. She can make time today."

Twilight let out a breath of relief. "Thank you Trixie, its really important that we talk about this as soon as possible. But not out in the open." Twilight finally returned to her meal, dodging Trixie's probing questions for the rest of the lunch break.

All Trixie could get out of her was that she needed to talk to a few more ponies first.

She had informed Moon Dancer of the meeting as she made her way out. She was easy to find as they had compared schedules earlier. Luckily, Moon Dancer was also free today. She did seem really off at the time though. Twilight hoped nothing bad had happened to her as well, these Changelings couldn't possibly be that fast could they? She hoped not.

There were still a few classes left in the day, but she had gotten an exemption from the head office in record time. It was good to be the bookish filly who could do no wrong in cases like these. It was even easier to get a guard to come along with her, they had only barely stopped themselves from following her into the building as it was. Thanks to the disguise enchantment laid into the armor she couldn't tell who it was exactly, but given her necklace wasn't vibrating she was of the opinion that she would just have to take a leap of faith here.

She stepped out onto the street and came to a sudden stop. Her eyes roamed over the gravel paths. She took in the numerous ponies making their way back to work from the lunchbreak. She felt her limbs trembling against her will as she took a deep gulp of air. Try as she might, she couldn't fight this sense of sudden danger that was surrounding her. She looked, but couldn't see anything that was an immediate problem. Then it hit her.

She had been attacked last night, in a street just like this.

She forced herself to look ahead and take a few deep breaths until her limbs became steady once again. The guard had stood behind her stoicly, not making a sound as the filly gathered herself. For that she was grateful.

She kept out a watchful eye as she made her way to Vinyl's store. The necklace didn't vibrate once the entire walk there. Despite that, she couldn't help the uneasy feeling rising in her stomach. It was telling her she should just cut her losses and get out of there, but she couldn't. Her friends might be in danger, and she needed to make sure everypony was on the same page. Not to mention making sure they had some form of defense.

Finding Octavia would be harder, but hopefully Vinyl would know where to go.

She knocked at the door and waited, it didn't take long before Record Scratch appeared. "Hello? You do know this is a shop right?" she said, looking around for the pony at the door. "Hello?"

Twilight coughed politely, startling Record who finally looked down. "Oh, hello there, you're one of Vinyl and Octavia's friends aren't you?" she asked with a warm smile. "It's been a while since I've seen you here."

Twilight blushed, unused to the kind words from a pony she didn't know all that well. "Hello ma'am," she said politely. "I was wondering if Vinyl was in?"

She was quickly beckoned inside. "You're in luck actually, Octavia's come over for a visit as well. They're just upstairs."

She was quickly waved off as Record slipped back into her seat at the store counter. She gave Twilight an encouraging smile before leaning back and losing herself in the music once again.

Twilight hurried up to Vinyl's room, giving it a quick knock and waiting for a moment. She could hear the sounds of a Cello suddenly cutting off and then Vinyl was opening the door. Octavia poked her head out from behind the doorframe. "Darling? Is everything alright?"

When she finally stepping into the room she looked at the two ponies with a blank expression. She suddenly collapsed to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. She stayed there, trembling as the other two ponies in the room exchanged concerned glances. After a moment Octavia walked forward and pulled her into a hug. "There there, it's alright darling, everythings going to be okay."

She flashed a questioning look Vinyl's way over Twilight's shoulder. Vinyl in turn just shrugged with a baffled expression on her face. They stayed like that for an indeterminate amount of time before Twilight finally pulled back, wiping at her eyes with a hoof. "Sorry about that, something happened last night and I don't think I was ready to get back out into Canterlot just yet."

She took a deep shuddering breath. "Wait, shouldn't you two be in school at this hour?" She asked with her head tilted, she had just realized that it was a bit strange for them to be at home on a monday. She felt kind of stupid now, but they were here, so it looked like things had worked out?

Octavia chuckled awkwardly. "I wouldn't say my own evening was all that pleasant, at least not until I came here. The school we go to won't care much as long as our grades don't start slipping." She muttered something about them never caring, but it was too quiet for Twilight to catch.

"What can we do for you?" Octavia asked in a forcefully cheery tone. As much as Twilight wanted to pry she felt that it probably wouldn't end well for anypony involved right now.

"I... it's about what happened last night. I need to tell all my friends about what's going on. But we have to do it somewhere we can't be overheard." Twilight began, looking at them cautiously for a response.

She couldn't see behind her glasses but she felt like Vinyl was raising her eyebrows at her. Octavia simply cut to the chase. "It's a bit of a strange request, but we have time for a friend. Where do you want to meet?"

"Okay, thank you. I was thinking that we could do it in my room at the castle." said Twilight. "It's the safest place right now."

Octavia mouthed the word safe while looking in Vinyl's direction but ultimately turned back to Twilight. "Well, alright, I guess that's okay. Should we get going now?"

"Ah, if you like. Two of my friends won't be arriving until after school. One of them's already there though. It's up to you." Twilight said nervously, glancing around the room as if something dangerous could attack her at any moment. "Oh, and I made these for you." She pulled out two envelopes and hoofed them over quickly before running her hoof protectively over her own necklace.

There would be no more answers until later that afternoon, when they all came together.

Author's Note

Chapter 9: We Really Need Some Kind of Plan.

We really need some kind of plan.

Twilight left the store, Vinyl and Octavia matching her stride. The guard escort was keeping watch from a distance, blending into the background surprisingly well all things considered.

"Moon Dancer and Trixie should be waiting outside the school right now. Shouldn't take more than a minute to grab them and get going." Twilight said in a distracted tone. Her eyes wandered over the street, seeking out threats. Her necklace remained still around her neck.

Octavia fell into step beside her, Vinyl opposite. "Well, it would certainly be nice to know what's going on. Do you really have to keep up the mysterious act?"

"There's a lot of things I'm not sure about," said Twilight. "But as far as I know it's safer not to say anything right now. Please, trust me on this."

"Well, I suppose I can’t refuse a request like that." Vinyl nodded in support, keeping a lookout for anything suspicious. She didn't know what Twilight was worried about, but she trusted that something was up.

Moon Dancer and Trixie waiting outside the school as expected. They both wore disgruntled expressions, standing at opposite ends of the entrance. They both perked up when they took notice of Twilight coming towards them. "Hey girls, read to head out?"

They exchanged an unreadable look before facing her, nodding simultaneously. "The great and powerful Trixie is ready."

Moon Dancer cleared her throat. "I'm ready to go when you are Twilight."

The trip was silent for the most part, Twilight oblivious to the tense air the two unicorns were giving off.

"Halt!" cried the guard as the group of fillies approached. Trixie and Moon Dancer had taken her sides, Octavia and Vinyl now trailing behind. They seemed more amused than annoyed, getting a good view of the two unicorns shooting daggers behind Twilight’s back.

"Good evening sir, Twilight Sparkle with and friends." said Twilight. "I requested a visitation pass earlier?

The guard made a show of looking at his list before heaving a sigh. "Everything seems to be in order. You may go through."

They quickly passed through the gate. "Not all that friendly around here are they?" Octavia remarked.

“Security has been turned up recently. I don’t know exactly why, but most of the guards are on edge or exhausted lately. Letting more ponies through is just going to make their job harder.” Twilight explained. “It’s all the talk among the servants, though the nobles haven’t seemed to notice anything off.”

"You really have your hoof on the pulse don't you Twilight?" Moon Dancer remarked.

"Quite impressive, as expected of Trixie's most faithful assistant." Trixie said in turn, glaring at Moon Dancer.

Octavia bit back a chuckle, before shifting topics. "So... most faithful assistant?" She asked.

Twilight ducked her head with a blush. "Ah, it's nothing much, I've just been helping Trixie with her act. Nothing like a live audience you know."

"Don't let Twilight fool you, she has helped Trixie come up with more than a few new tricks."

"Twilight certainly does have a way with magic. She's been helping me construct a few spells in her spare time." Moon Dancer quickly butted in.

Vinyl was grinning like a fool, eyes following the back and forth like a tennis match.

A cannon went off as they entered the door, confetti falling everywhere. They could hear a giggle before a bouncing Pinkie Pie was among them. “Were you surprised? Were you? Huh, huh? I bet you were!”

Octavia groaned, a hoof coming to her face. “Quite surprised darling, are you the mysterious friend Twilight mentioned earlier?”

“The best of friends.” Pinkie Pie said in excitement.

“I see,” said Octavia. Twilight led them to a table before she could say more.

“Okay, so I know some of you have been dying to know, so I’ll cut to the chase. Everyone here is in danger right now.” Twilight said nervously.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side as Octavia frowned. “Danger, darling?”

Trixie puffed out her chest. “There’s nothing the great and powerful Trixie can’t face. She will protect you, Twilight.” She shot a look at Moon Dancer who scowled back.

“I don’t think this is the sort of thing you’ll be able to handle Trixie.” Twilight said, pausing before quickly waving her forelegs in a warding motion. “Not that I doubt your skill or anything.”

Twilight took a moment to gather herself. “I was exploring Canterlot yesterday when I came across a large party going off in one of the markets.”

“Ooh, ooh, that was me, I planned that party!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air.

“It was a great party Pinkie,” said Twilight. “But it’s what happened afterwards that was the problem. I was attacked by a pony on my way home, or at least what I thought was a pony.”

There were a couple gasps. Moon Dancer remained oddly stoic. “You thought it was a pony?” She asked.

“I saw something when we were running away,” Twilight said with a shudder. “It was horrifying, there were holes running all throughout its legs, and it’s horn was shaped all wrong.”

There were grimaces on the faces of the unicorns in the group. Horns could warp under the corruptive influence of certain magics. It was rarely a good sign.

“That… doesn’t sound good.” said Moon Dancer quietly.

Twilight nodded. “I’ve been told it was something called a changeling. Usually their horns are curved. The jagged nature of the horn marked it as a magic specialist.”

“A specialist?” Octavia asked.

“Mmm, most of this is speculation according to the Princess.” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “I should probably mention that you’re really not supposed to know any of this. Please don’t say anything to anypony you don’t trust.”

There were nods and a murmur of agreement around the table.

“A number of different kinds of Changelings have been discovered, some by the Princess, some by independent reports. There’s a standard worker class with wings and a horn, but they’re only seen when a changeling ‘hive’ gets desperate. They’re average in every way and far less dangerous than their more specialized counterparts.”

“Well, that still sounds a little unfair. Magic and wings, I mean really darling?” Octavia asked.

Twilight shrugged. “It’s a little overpowered, but I think the implications are worse. We don’t know for sure, but it seems they can alter themselves biologically. Selective breeding or something, nopony knows. This one was an infiltrator. They’re meant to get in quickly, take out a target, and replace them with none the wiser.”

They all sat in silence for a moment to ruminate over the implications.

“So basically, they’re after you, and us by extension?” Octavia summed up.

“Yes, I understand if you don’t want to hang out anymore after this,” Twilight said quietly, looking away from them. “The necklaces will at least provide some safety, and if you stay away they might not come after you.”

There were a few looks exchanged among the table. Octavia chose to speak up, her voice reassuring. “Twilight, darling. We’re not going to abandon you over something like this. Especially not something so outside of your control.”

There were nods and determined glances being exchanged across the table. “So the question is what are we going to do about this?”

Moon Dancer spoke up. “I’ve noticed the guard patrols have been picking up. I don’t think this is even just our problem at this point.”

“The great and powerful Trixie’s parents have been getting more orders from their rune business lately. Especially from the guard.” Trixie spoke haltingly.

Twilight looked up after rubbing her eyes with a foreleg. “The Princess wouldn’t share much with me.” She chuckled bitterly. “But I’ve picked up a few things, as I said earlier, security has picked up and the guards are tense. They’ve been taking extra trouble to double and triple check identification.”

“My brothers in the guard, I might be able to ask him. But I wouldn’t want to get him into trouble.” Twilight tapped at the table with an expression of deep thought.

“I wouldn’t know how to weigh in on that topic. You know your brother best. The necklaces will at least give us an opportunity to get away. I hope they weren’t too hard to procure?”

Twilight shook her head. “It wasn’t a problem. I enchanted them myself with materials in storage. It took a bit of work to fit everything together but it only took a few hours.”

“Just be careful, they can only store so much charge.” She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Enchanting isn’t exactly my specialty.”

“Trixie might know a few things you could do with runes.”

Twilight nodded to her. “Maybe we could work on that later?”

Trixie smiled in reply.

They didn’t get too much done after that. They parted with a promise from each other to be careful and keep the necklaces on at all times. Twilight also discussed making some upgrades to her doll with Trixie.

A stallion watched the fillies leave through a window, then looked side to side before lowering himself back into a bush.

He made his way towards one of the doors out of the garden at a painfully slow crawl. A few guards passed by but were too engrossed in conversation to notice anything.

He paused with a blank expression on his face for a moment. A nearby door was unlocked by a maid with a similarly blank expression. “Report?”

“They’re all gathered together.” He paused for a moment. “They know.”

“It’s not like they can do anything about it.” She said dismissively. “We’re only bothering at the queen’s behest. She never did handle failure well.”

“But still, that’s not good. Now the Princess knows.”

“You’re not getting cold hooves are you?” She asked, her eyes narrowing. “You know what she’ll do to you if that’s the case.”

“I haven’t had a choice in a long time.” The stallion sighed. “It’s not like you even needed me to give the report in pony.”

A smirk crossed the mare’s face. “That’s entirely the point.”

They parted before a guard patrol could show up.

Moon Dancer walked into her room with a troubled expression. She threw herself onto the bed, took ahold of her pillow, and screamed into it. She kept this up for a few minutes before throwing the pillow aside and looking up at the ceiling blankly. She couldn’t find any answers in the patternless grey above her.

After a few moments she turned over and levitated a book to her side. A quill and inkwell quickly accompanying it. She started frantically scribbling inside of it with a determined expression. She levitated more books to her, scanning through the volumes one at a time, only taking a note after double checking each fact.

She kept at it well past the time moonlight flooded into her room. Casting a spell to light a candle without looking up from her work. She eventually passed out with books littered around her room, scrunched up pieces of parchment filling her wastebasket.

A knock was heard at the door, a stallion with a stoic expression peeking into the room. He quietly made his way inside, picking up the filly and tucking her into bed. He looked at the mess of books, silently reorganizing them on a nearby table. He glanced at some of the papers with a confused expression.

Reading through a few pages he looked at the filly sleeping in the bed with narrowed eyes. A frown twisted at his face before he smiled wryly. Placing the pages back where he found them, he left the room without a sound.

He passed the living room, poking his head inside to look at his wife. She was reading a book by the light of the fireplace. “Something came up, I’ll be back soon.”

She looked up, took note of his expression, and waved him off with a frown. “Stay safe.”

He nodded back, and left without a word.

Author's Note

Slower updates I think, this is too stressful.

Chapter 10: Explosions aren't as cool when you're in the blast radius.

Explosions aren't as cool when you're in the blast radius.

A loud booming noise rocketed through the air and the ground shuddered and shook beneath Twilight’s hooves. Her head turned wildly this way and that trying to find the source. Other than ponies panicking in the streets she couldn't see much of interest.

She then heard the sound of thundering hooves as a full squad of guards ran through the street in pursuit of a blue cloaked figure. They passed awfully close by and she caught a glimpse of the stallion under the cowl. Considering what he had likely done, his determined expression was disturbing.

Against her better judgement, Twilight headed in the direction they came from.

A pillar of smoke was rising a short distance away, a large crowd murmuring in panic around a building reduced to rubble. Her guard escort twitched as if to help, but ultimately stayed in sight.

"Excuse me ma'am, do you know what happened?" Twilight asked a relatively calm member of the crowd.

"They say it was Nightmare Moon cultists," she said, distracted. "Nopony knows why though. It was just a pawn shop."

The mare looked at the destruction blankly, not even blinking as Twilight walked away.

Twilights mind was spinning. 'Cultists!?' She thought incredulously. This was either some kind of Changeling plot or Canterlot just got a whole lot more dangerous.

She did her best to find some higher ground, heading up a hill to get a better look at the damage. There was fire everywhere of a sickly green color, furniture had been torn apart and the walls were reduced to hunks of rock. She didn't see any bodies, so hopefully nopony got hurt. It was early morning, it was empty right?

With a worried expression, she turned away, trotting off to her previous destination. There wasn't much she could do about it now, and dwelling on it wouldn't help. She did clutch her necklace tighter, eyes darting left and right for signs of danger. This was becoming a real problem.

Trixie looked over the table from where she was manipulating a few rune etching tools. "You seem a little distracted, is everything alright?" Trixie had started easing up on the stage persona lately, something Twilight was grateful for.

"Just thinking about that explosion from earlier." Twilight muttered.

Trixie frowned. "Trixie heard about that, cultists huh?" She deftly etched a complicated pattern into a small stone square. Identical squares with different patterns littered the table. Twilight's doll sat in the center.

"I just wonder what they want, and if they have anything to do with the Changelings."

"Trixie has heard many rumours, but it's not like they have made a move yet." Trixie said thoughtfully. "The necklaces have gone off a few times, but it has been two weeks, Trixie doubts it will be something easy to see coming."

Twilight groaned. "That just makes me feel worse." She pressed her hooves to her face.

They sat in silence, nothing but the sound of stone slowly being cut filling the room. The soft candlelight and the smell of parchment slowly worked to calm Twilight's mind.

"So how many runes do you really need to make here?" Twilight asked.

Trixie hummed. "A lot more than Trixie's parents would, but Trixie is only a novice. Each one reinforces another, this means Trixie can make each function strong, but it requires a lot of functions to work."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Trixie waved her hoof in a so-so motion. "Fitting them all together is difficult, the more you have the more likely you'll trigger a cascade. Too many functions trying to execute at once causes a build up, then…" Trixie paused dramatically. "Boom!"

Twilight jumped at the sudden fireworks, throwing Trixie a glare.

Trixie just chuckled and went back to her etching. Twilight pulled out a book, pouting.

Vinyl tapped at the counter, startling the stallion standing behind it.

She looked at him with an intense expression.

"Uh, what do you need miss?" He asked uneasily.

She pointed a hoof at one of the flyers littering the wall.

"The… music competition?" He asked.

She nodded firmly, pointed at the flyer aggressively. Her horn lit up and a few slips of paper found their way into the table. She continued staring at him.

"O-okay… I'll uh… get right on that." He backed away slightly.

Vinyl nodded firmly before trotting to the door. She looked back for a moment, making a motion from her eyes to him. 'I'm watching you buddy.'

She left the now sweating stallion behind her.

Celestia was sitting in the throne room, flanked by her guards. She could be found here most days, but right now court was on hold to deal with this latest crisis. Celestia sat high above her little ponies as all but a few shuffled in place nervously.

"Status report." She commanded.

"Seven sites have been hit since yesterday, your highness," said a guard. "So far there have been no casualties but the property damage is proving catastrophic."

"And public opinion?"

A different pony spoke up, expression grim. "We're close to full blown rioting. More than a few ponies have left the city and a lot of merchants are adjusting their routes. Many of the more business minded nobles are also throwing a fit." He adjusted his bowtie.

Celestia's frown deepened. "I see… what measures are we taking to deal with this issue?"

A pony in a set of robes spoke up, his long beard trailing the ground. "I've set up a few detection clusters and have the guards sweeping the city with them. If we can't find the source before they strike again, we'll soon be able to."

A pony in a construction hat took over. "We've managed to clear most of the rubble from five of the sites. The damage has been mostly confined to businesses but aid has been requested for a few residences that were a little too close to the action."

Celestia leaned forward, looking at a stallion wearing a finely tailored suit. Are the royal coffers up to such demands?"

He adjusted his glasses. "I believe so your majesty. Things have been quieter than projected this year, so we're currently sitting at a surplus."

"Then see to it that it is done." Celestia leaned back in her throne, rubbing her temples gingerly. "Have we any word from the investigators?"

"Nothing conclusive, your highness," said the guard, disappointed. "We've combed the areas multiple times, but whatever incendiary device they're using was built to burn all evidence of itself. There is some magic residue but not enough to work with, so all we really know is that the explosives have a magical component."

Celestia turned towards a pony wearing shades. The mare was leaning on a briefcase and wore a neutral expression.

"Anything to report?"

"We haven't found any of them." The mare scowled, before her neutral expression snapped back in place. "However, a number of the stores had recently acquired magical artifacts. Some of them are quite powerful. Otherwise nothing of interest."

Celestia's frown deepened. "I see, send me a report when you find out more. You may now leave, my little ponies."

They slowly filed out as Celestia let out a sigh. An intense expression of concentration crossed her face. She turned to a nearby guard. "Court resumes in an hour."

The guard nodded before hurrying off.

Twilight needed more information. The Changelings were doing something, loyalists were about, and now the unrest in the streets was spreading to the castle.

She had seen the way the guards stood more stiffly, the servants rushing from room to room. Even the nobles were looking nervous. Well, the ones that weren't stomping around complaining about the situation. Ponies were in danger, and yet all some seemed to care about were a few lost bits. Twilight couldn't understand it.

"You know, I really shouldn't be doing this." The librarian narrowed his eyes.

Twilight looked back with a pleading expression.

He looked back with a straight face.

She was undeterred.

He let out a sigh.

"Yes, yes, yes!" The little filly bounced as the stallion placed his head in his hooves.

After a moment he stood up. "You tell no one." He looked at her seriously.

Twilight nodded vigorously, pressing a hoof to her chest. "You can count on me!"

The stallion took out a key and led her to one of the backrooms. Placing the key in the lock he looked away for a moment. "Wow, what is that over there? Some kind of distraction? Not in my library." He looked at her with a wink and then walked off.

Twilight rubbed her hooves together and grinned. She quickly turned the key, slipping it out and hurrying inside. Best not to get caught in here if she could help it. She wouldn't get in too much trouble, but questions would be asked and she wasn't in much of an answering mood.

The room was filled with books of all kinds, the sort that the general public wasn't even allowed to know about. Not the truly dangerous stuff of course, that was kept in a separate wing entirely. But a few of the more esoteric tomes that held things better left forgotten could be found here.

There might be more information on Changelings, but it was the loyalists, Twilight was more interested in. She had been listening to the rumors and murmurings. They were making a move, but nopony was actually surprised they were around.

As a student of the Princess of the sun, she was a prime target. Again her friends were in the crosshairs. Moon Dancer was especially on edge, and it was hurting Twilight to see the wary look and pensive expression when they were together.

The cafeteria was a lot quieter than usual. Ponies usually kept to their groups, but they seemed to almost huddle together these days. Wary looks were abound, and distrustful looks were rampant. Twilight was mostly unaffected, she already had problems before this and she trusted her friends.

Not to be cruel, but they had rejected her. She didn't owe them her worries.

She was still relieved when Trixie sat next to her without issue. "Being on edge like this is not good for you Twilight, take it from Trixie, nerves never help a performance."

"But it's getting worse," said Twilight quietly. "Everyday more and more explosions are going off, ponies are jumping out of buildings clutching important documents, The guards being led in circles, and I have no idea what the Changelings have managed."

"We can't let this get us down, it's smarter to stay calm and plan," replied Trixie. "You're good with plans Twilight."

"But even the Princess is worried," said Twilight in a near whisper. "I barely see her once a month and she's always so tense and closed off. If the Princess can't handle this, what can we do about it?"

"I'm not sure there's much we can do Twilight, Trixie thinks it's best we focus on keeping safe ourselves. You have the doll with you right?"

Twilight looked to her saddlebags, a plush purple foreleg poked out the side. "I take it with me everywhere. But you know it's only a last resort. If it doesn't work out…"

"Trixie worries too Twilight, but we can't afford to dwell on that. Trust Trixie, she knows all too well the dangers of such things." She looked off into the distance. "My parents are well informed. You know it's spreading."

Twilight nodded glumly. "Manehatten isn't doing well right now."

"It's practically been taken over, the guard at its finest."

"They're trying their best!" Twilight whispered frantically. Her brother wouldn't let her down if he could help it.

Trixie fixed her with an unreadable look before sighing. "Trixie knows, Trixie simply doesn't deal well with the protectors of this city failing at their job." She looked away. "Father used to tell Trixie stories of his time in the guard, back when they were a real force to be reckoned with."

"Your father was in the guard?"

Trixie nodded. "It's how Trixie knows as much as she does, Trixie's father has contacts among his old buddies. Though few can do anything right now."

They sat in silence for a while, eventually moving onto lighter topics.

Cadance walked with a skip in her step. Despite the drama and unrest, she had finally secured some time off. Time to see her favourite little filly in the world. Maybe take her mind off things for a while. But first she was off to see Fleur and Fancy Pants. A little surprise visit was in order.

She dodged the ponies in the street, a long time ago they used to part like a sea before her. But now they'd grown used to her, being out and about among the common ponies had made her lose a lot of her alicorn mystique. She would normally be fine with that, but more than a few stallions and even a couple mares had taken that as an invitation to hit on her.

Even if she didn't already have a special somepony, some of those individuals were extremely unpleasant. She was the Princess of love, for Celestia's sake she could tell what they really wanted from a mile away!

She pushed that from her mind for the moment, knocking on the door to her friends manor with their special little code. "Hey Fleur, you in there?" The wonder of magic meant Fleur would hear her from anywhere in the house as long as it was running. Unless she was asleep.

It was a little early in the day, and Cadance had called ahead to Fleur's manager to make sure she would be home.

That's why the lack of answer was a little disconcerting.

She knocked a few more times and waited. Finally, after weighing her options, she slipped out a key from her saddlebags and opened up the doors. Leaning in she called out quietly. "Fleur?"

The silence was eerie, not sure quite why, she crept further into the room without a sound.

She lit a simple perception adjustment spell. She might not have been interested in politics beyond her work as ambassador, but you would have to be living under a rock not to hear about all the buildings going up in flames.

The spell was simple, and highly illegal for just about anypony else to cast. If anypony looks at her with intention to hurt, they would start feeling a need to protect her instead. The emotional and ethical quandaries were not something Cadance had ever bothered to consider. She just knew it was allowed under her authority as Princess, and it was better than hurting anypony physically.

She crept through the house, the sound of her breathing loud in her ears. She nearly tripped on the carpet as she stopped outside Fleur's room. Looking down she could see the fabric was bunched up in places, and wildly off center from the hallway.

Now, much more cautious, she kept to the wall and leaned over towards the door, listening for any sound that might explain what's going on.

Fleur looked up with narrowed eyes at the monstrous creature standing above her. She might have been in a bad position but she was still angry it had the audacity to break into her home.

She tried screaming at it, but her voice was muffled by a makeshift gag. She shuddered as the thing spat more green slime at her, and she could feel it hardening as it made contact with the air.

She struggled, but was already battered and bruised from the earlier fight. She might have even come out on top if it hadn't ambushed her. She scowled heavily, her superiors wouldn't be happy about this and if she made it out of here she doubted her coworkers would ever let her live this down.

A green flash filled the room and a perfect replica of Fleur was standing in place of the creature. It looked at her with a cruel smirk. "Not so great after all are we? We heard you were one of the greatest agents the ponies had to offer, but it seems you're just as pathetic as the rest of these walking love sacs."

Fleur narrowed her eyes, trying to get her horn to spark.

The fake Fleur's smirk deepened. "It's a magically inert material, you aren't going anywhere, Fleur."

"You know, I think I'm going to enjoy this assignment. Looks like I'll be living the good life for a while, doubt I'll even have trouble getting information out of your precious agency. And Cadance, your dear little friend? Oh, she'll make a wonderful gift for the queen." The creature cackled in glee.

This only renewed Fleur's struggling, a look of fury overcoming her face. The creature laughed before turning around and heading to the door. "I'll let you stew here for a while. Maybe have some fun with that stallion of yours, hmm?"

With a mighty cry Fleur snapped her bonds, her expression furious. She rushed towards the creature. "You won't be doing anything to my friends!"

The Changeling had a moment to turn around in surprise before the door came flying in and crushed them against the wall.

"Huh?" Fleur remarked dumbly.

Cadance poked her head in. "Did I get them? I really hope this wasn't just some kind of weird roleplay."

Chapter 11: You're a what now?

Fleur sipped her tea, leaning back casually. Across the table Cadance sat there with wide eyes. “So… you’re a secret agent huh?”

Fleur focused on the table, her hooves tracing grooves in the wooden surface. “I suppose that is the long and short of it.”

“Why… why didn’t you tell me?” Cadence asked quietly. “I’m pretty sure I have the clearance to know, I am a Princess.”

Fleur looked away for a moment, chuckling to herself. “I was going to. A long time ago in fact.” She sighed.

“So… why didn’t you?”

Fleur sagged in her seat. “I could give you a lot of excuses. It was never the right time, I didn’t think Celestia would be happy about it, I thought you would be happier not knowing…”

“But…?” Cadance asked.

“I was just scared. Scared of what you would think, how you would react. I’ve heard horror stories from other agents, the conclusions ponies leap to when they find out their loved ones deceive others for a living. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”

She waved a hoof unhappily around them. “Especially because you’re a Princess, the chances of us meeting were already a million to one. I didn’t think you would come to a good conclusion.”

Cadence reached across the table, grasping Fleur’s hoof in her own. “Fleur, I would never doubt you like that. This is a big deal, because I had no idea. But I can understand you not wanting to talk about it.”

“So… you’re not mad?”

Cadence looked to the side with a wry grin. “I wouldn’t say I’m mad, but I’m not exactly happy either. You’re gonna owe me one for this, and the whole saving you thing.”

“Night out on the town?”

“What do you think?” Cadence smirked.

They looked at their prisoner. “We should uh… probably deal with this first though, right?”

Fleur smirked. “Already on it, one of my secret agent friends is on assignment nearby. Has her daughter with her actually. On the job training starts so young these days...”

“Now Bonnie, this’ll be a nice easy assignment. Bad guys already taken out.” The mare wore a finely tailored suit with dark sunglasses. “Now, just to make sure you remember. What do we do if they start talking back?”

Bon Bon jumped up in the air and kicked out with a hind hoof. “Hoof to the face, right mom?”

The mare leant over and ruffled her daughters mane. “That’s right love, you’re such a smart little filly.” She said with a sappy smile.

Bon Bon beamed proudly.

Sunset strolled into sugarcube corner, marching up to the counter with a smile. “My usual please.”

“Of course dearie, just take a table and we’ll bring it out to you in a bit,” said Mrs Cake warmly.

Sunset nodded and gave her thanks before moving to a nearby table. She didn’t have to wait long before she heard the sound of a bell going off above the door.

Bon Bon’s stoic expression contrasted heavily with the way Lyra bounced around her. She made her way up to the counter, ordering for both of them before they moved to flank their friend at the table. Lyra was bursting at the seams with excitement, Bon Bon only let out a sigh, leaning back.

“You let her get into the iced coffee again?” asked Sunset.

Bon Bon looked into the distance. “I don’t know why I keep making these life choices. I thought a padlock would look stupid on the fridge. I should have just gone with my gut.”

Sunset chuckled. “You live and you learn. Any idea when the others are going to arrive?”

“I saw Ditzy’s van on the way here, but considering how fast she was going? Probably not going to get here just yet.”

“Left her oven on again?”

“Probably.”

Sunset leaned back, letting Lyra’s excited chatter wash over her. Bon Bon was already there to nod in all the right places and make affirmative noises. Sunset just enjoyed the company, a small part of her marvelling at how not alone she felt these days.

She was roused from her stupor by the bell at the door going off once again. Ditzy trooped into the store with a lazy smile on her face, more people following behind her. She was one of the few of Sunset’s friends with a license and a vehicle. The fact that it was a van only made it easier for her to haul everyone around when they all needed to be somewhere.

She could make out Trixie and Pinkie behind her. She couldn’t help but glance around for any of Pinkie’s former friends, the last time they made a scene in here… yeah, she didn’t want to think about it. Some of those girls were vicious.

Still, there was a reason her friends went to Sugarcube Corner. Bon Bon’s shop was nice and all, but it wasn’t really made to be a hang out. That and Bon Bon did a lot of her… business there. Only Lyra actually knew about that, and as much fun as it was to mess with her, Sunset knew it was dangerous to go around talking about it.

"So what's the meeting about, Sunset?" asked Ditzy.

Lyra’s arms slammed down onto the table with a bang, getting a sharp glance from Mrs Cake. “We got the portal working.” She said sheepishly, leaning back.

Ditzy started clapping her hands. “Oh, that’s wonderful. Does that mean what I think it means?” She asked with a hopeful grin.

Sunset leaned back and smirked. “You’re all invited to come explore, but we’ll definitely need to prepare for this.”

“The great and powerful Trixie is always prepared.” said Trixie haughtily.

“It’s not going to be that easy Trix,” said Sunset with a wry smile. “It’s probably not going to be too dangerous, but there are questions none of us are going to be able to answer. We need to blend in.”

Bon Bon smirked.

“We’re going to make so many friends!” said Pinkie as she bounced in place.

Hey Twilight, you miss me?

Sunset! It’s been so long, is everything okay?

A little more than okay. You’re currently talking to the pony that finally reengineered one of Starswirls own artifacts.

What!? How did you do that? Which one was it?

With a lot of help from a friend of mine. It’s a mirror that allows you to travel to nearby dimensions. It’s actually something we should probably talk about.

Sunset?

I have a confession to make, I probably should have told you this earlier, but… I’m still dealing with the consequences of one of my mistakes.

What do you mean? Is something wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?

Nothing you really need to worry about. But that fight I had with the Princess? I ended up taking a trip through the mirror. The place I ended up in doesn’t naturally have magic, it’s also populated by an entirely different species from our own.

Twilight’s quill hovered over the page, mind blank. ‘No magic!?’ Twilight screamed in her mind. She couldn’t imagine what that would have been like, and Sunset had the same kind of magical talent she did. But wait…

You said the world doesn’t naturally have magic, but you remade the mirror?

It took a lot of doing, but a little magic has seeped in from our world. Turns out Starswirl used this to get rid of some of his more powerful enemies. Immortal force of nature type enemies...

Twilight was quickly starting to reach information overload. But there was a more important question on her mind.

You can get back right?

I can now, but that’s something we should probably talk about later. I’d like to know what’s been going on with you lately. You sounded worried the last time you wrote.

Deep inside a dark and gloomy forest lies an abandoned castle. The once great stone walls crumbled long ago, the plantlife winning the long battle for the interior. Not far away lies a crystalline structure in the shape of a tree. The once soft glow of arcane light has been steadily growing brighter. Pulsating like a heartbeat, spreading it’s light further and further.

Calling out.

Fluttershy woke up with a yawn, pulling herself up onto her hooves. She stretched her back out before laying back down on the rough bark. The sound of birdsong surrounded her, the late afternoon light filtering through the leaves.

Fluttershy was tired, and not very comfortable, but she stayed awake anyway. Looking around she could see a few foals in the distance, some already following their parents home. None of them looked her way, not that they would have been able to see her if they had.

She waited until the last foal left before flying down to the ground. She had grown more confident in her flying since she fell from the sky, but still wasn’t comfortable in the air. It was too useful when she was lost in that forest though, so she had worked through most of her worst fears by the time she came here.

Canterlots parks were much safer, even if there were fewer animals. She knew where to go to find food, and the guards kept the place safe even if she had to avoid them. It was overall a good choice and she was glad she had listened to the advice Mrs Squirrel had given her.

She had been taking far too many naps lately though.

She made her way through the trees, darting in and out. She looked around cautiously, there wasn’t much to be worried about lately, but there was this one little filly that had almost caught her a few times. She was always fiddling with a necklace around her neck, and looking around cautiously as if ready to bolt.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she had flown away each time and the filly hadn’t followed her. She probably should have moved on by now. But she really liked this place and she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She wasn’t even sure where to go.

Maybe she could find another nearby park?

Twilight was wandering at a dangerously late hour. She wasn’t sure why she was bothering with this, but she guessed her curiosity was being its usual insatiable self. At this rate it was definitely going to get her killed.

She looked around with a shiver. The afternoon light was starting to wane and she really needed to leave but…

Her necklace was glowing. She’d modified them again, so that they could search for hidden things. It wasn’t very accurate and it was a bit of a power hog, but she’d found some useful stuff out and about while using it. Lately it had been going off near this park.

She would normally have headed back by now, but she had been out here searching for a while. She had caught a few glances of something moving up in the trees. That would normally have gotten her out of there fast, but her necklace never vibrated to show hostile intent. Risky but worth it.

Maybe a friendly Changeling? She almost chuckled, she wasn’t sure if that was something she would even want to find at this point. It was a lot easier to just think about them as the enemy. She kind of hoped they weren’t all evil though, it would be nice to think that this was just one really bad group instead of an entire species she had to deal with.

It was then that her necklace finally started vibrating, and she knew with crystal clear certainty that she’d gotten cocky.

Fluttershy watched the filly from a distance, sometimes she came closer and sometimes she went further away. This was the latest she’d actually seen her out and about, and she was really curious about the glowing thing around her neck.

It was cold out right now and most of the animals had started leaving. Something dangerous was getting closer and she wasn’t sure if she should say anything or not. It was risky, but she didn’t want anypony getting hurt. She was also pretty sure the filly was looking for her specifically, which gave her mixed feelings.

On the one hoof this was kind of her fault, on the other she shouldn’t be looking for her in the first place. The guard in the distance made her especially nervous.

As she was deciding what to do, she heard a sharp cry in the distance. Her head swivelled around, her eyes just making out a dark shape hovering over the nearby guard. The filly below was looking just as nervous as Fluttershy felt.

She hesitated a moment before flying down.

Twilight was screwed, she knew that there was no way that sound could be a good thing for her. She saw the guard go down and the dark shape in the distance. It hadn’t come after her yet, but it was only a matter of time. As she watched, a new shape came out of the darkness, tackling the black being to the ground.

She started backing away when a different shape flew down from the trees. She nearly let out a screech, only clamping down on the impulse at the last moment for fear of detection.

The shape resolved into a small pegasus filly with a yellow coat and pink mane. Her eyes were darting around fearfully, before they focused on Twilight. “H-hey, we… we should probably get out of here.” The filly gulped.

Twilight just stared at her for a moment before nodding. “O-okay,” she looked at the fighting in the distance. “I guess you were what I was looking for out here?”

“I… uh, I think so, you’ve been getting awfully close…” She trailed off nervously at the end, quickly walking past Twilight, only turning around to beckon her closer.

“I didn’t want to hurt you or anything you know,” said Twilight, looking over her shoulder nervously. “I just wanted to know what was going on out here.”

The yellow filly gave out a squeaking sound, ducking her head in her mane. She moved awkwardly, trying to keep up the pace while hunching in on herself.

“It’s just, I have this necklace, it helps me find hidden things.” Twilight gestured to the necklace, nearly tripping over a rock as they made their way out of the treeline.

She was just rambling at this point, trying not to think about what was behind her.

The filly looked back curiously, glancing at the glowing pendant.

“I can make you one if you like?” Twilight asked cautiously.

“I… uh…”

“It also helps you stay hidden! It vibrates when bad ponies are looking at you, and it can turn you invisible for a little bit…” Twilight trailed off before her head shot up.

She quickly walked over to the little filly. “I can’t believe I was so stupid,” said Twilight. “Quickly, hold onto me.”

The filly looked at her with worry. “Please, just trust me.”

“O-okay.” She pressed herself against Twilight’s side.

Twilight tapped the crystal three times and they vanished off the visible spectrum. A few moments later a few dark shapes barreled past them. They stopped in front of them. Looking around cautiously.

“I can feel their emotions in the air, but it stops here,” said one.

“Teleport?” replied another.

“They’re a bit young, but maybe one of the guards? Passing unicorn? Reports indicate the filly is good with enchantments.”

“Either way we need to get moving, the others have it handled back there. We’ll spread out and search the area, if we don’t find anything we’ll just leave.”

They shot off into the darkness in different directions.

Twilight and the filly she had found stayed stock still for a few minutes after they’d left. Exchanging fearful glances and trying their best to not make a sound.

Chapter 12: I wish any of this made sense.

Shining armor ducked behind the small defensive barricade, he could feel his mane rippling from a few magic bolts that just barely missed his head. “A little help would be nice over here.” He called out a touch manically.

He could hear a few explosions going off nearby, the pillars of smoke were all he could actually make out though. “Yeah, this might take a minute!” He could just barely hear the shout in the distance.

Shining risked looking over the wooden table providing cover, nearly getting hit by yet another bolt in the process. He scanned the area quickly, making out the fugitives just up ahead. They were all wearing dark blue cloaks with silver badges pinned to the front. Two unicorns and a pegasus were standing out in the open, pressed close together.

“This would be a great time to give up!” He called out.

“Never!” was the reply he received. “The glory of her empire shall be built on the ashes of your defeat.”

Shining armor wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but the reverent undertones sent a chill down his spine. He looked ahead, leaning back against the table. He could see guards running back and forth, more explosions were going off in the distance, and the fire around him was definitely spreading.

This area was a wreck. The biggest issue was that Shining knew that this wasn’t going to be the only section of the city blocked off today. He had seen the citizens making their way out at least, the loyalists methods were questionable, but at least they hadn’t tried hurting any of the non-combatants. Shining only had basic training in hostage retrieval tactics.

He slumped. His first serious assignment sucked.

Shining armor was running for his life. Turns out the small group wasn’t alone and when he burst through the doors of the bar they’d hidden themselves in, he found himself surrounded. A quick bubble shield was enough to get him out of there, but he could hear their yelling in the distance getting closer.

It was around about now that he wished his special talent also involved shielding himself on the go. It was enough to stop a magical bolt or a semi heavy object, but they always shattered on impact. This left a sharp pain in his head and was going to lead to a pretty severe headache by the time this was all over.

“Take this sunspawn!” yelled one of the many loyalists on his tail.

Shining had a moment to look behind him before he had to use his magic to jerk himself to the side. A carriage hit the ground right where he had just been, spider web like cracks spreading out from the impact site.

Shining’s eyes darted around for any hint of safety. Being in the open was only getting him in more danger at this point. If they had an earth pony with that kind of special talent, he was all but screwed if he stayed outside.

Another crashing sound went off over his head as a large barrel slammed into the wall above him. He could feel small pieces of wood lodging themselves into his back and he immediately threw himself forward.

Gathering his magic he looked around the area before catching sight of a nearby alley. He sent off a flashbang and ran like his life depended on it. In this case it probably did.

“Oh, come on!” Luna yelled out, throwing her controller down in disgust.

A game over screen flashed over the tv and she heard a sigh through her headphones. “Better luck next time, Lulu?”

“I don’t really know if I want to play this game anymore.” She leaned back on the sofa, closing her eyes and trying to knead the frustration out of her head. “Our tactics are perfectly sound, that ambush should have gone off without a hitch!”

“You always say that,” the voice chuckled. “We’re good, but we can’t plan for everything.”

“And I always mean it too,” she replied. “I guess I’m just a sucker for punishment.”

“I’ll say. It’s getting pretty late over there anyway, might want to head to bed right about now.”

“Don’t feel like it. Besides, aren’t you the one always waxing philosophical about the glories of the night?” Luna rolled over onto her belly, grumbling unintelligibly into the sofa.

A hearty laugh on the other end. “You said you had something going on for that niece of yours didn’t you? Some kind of birthday party?”

More unintelligible mumbling, before a loud groan issued forth. “She’s not my niece, not that I’d be against it or anything, but…”

“You sound like a family to me, there’s more to a bond than blood. You should talk to her about it.”

Luna groans. “I don’t know, I don’t want to push her away. She hasn’t had it easy, and I really don’t want to put her on the spot. Even sister has been laying off doing anything official.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask, but I’ll bow to your experience, oh mighty Vice Principal.”

Luna laughed. “I don’t know that I’d call myself mighty. You do learn a thing or two about dealing with kids though. Not that most ever open up to me, but sometimes…”

“Maybe you should lay off the stern disciplinarian angle?”

“Never!”

“Alright, alright, it’s up to you. But still, I know you’ve got big plans soon, best be up and about. I’ve got to get going soon, planning a trip somewhere special.”

“Oh, something that would peak your interests?”

“Ah, not like that. But… You might be seeing me sooner than expected.”

Luna gasped. “You mean?”

“That’s right, your second is on his way over. Ready to fight at your side.” His voice was filled with mirth.

“I’m not exactly planning on anything that big. But it would be nice to have you over, might even be able to introduce you to Sunset hmmm?”

“Well, I suppose it would be good to see the next in command. Hopefully she’s up to snuff.”

“Wouldn’t that be dearest Tia?”

“Ah, I’m always on your side Lulu, you can count on that.”

Twilight Velvet woke up to the sound of frantic knocking on the door. She wiped at her eyes blearily, looking to Night Light for assistance before realising he was out. She had crashed after yet another day of getting stuck into her manuscript. Night Light was probably still working in the royal astronomy tower.

She rolled out of bed, falling onto the floor and heaving herself onto her hooves. It was the work of a few minutes to maneuver her way around the pages scattered over the floor. A flick of her magic and the house slowly started to light up.

She opened the door with a wide yawn, looking around for whoever had been knocking so frantically. It wasn’t until she looked down that she was surprised to see the sight of her daughter and another filly she didn’t know huddled near the entrance.

Twilight looked up to her with fearful eyes. “Mom, you gotta hide us.” She looked around the street warily, it was almost eerily silent.

Velvet frowned but quickly ushered them into the living room. She stuck her head out the door and glanced around for any signs of a threat before pulling back in and closing the door firmly. She looked at Twilight with a stern expression, waiting for an explanation.

Velvet hadn’t given up her frown throughout the whole sordid tale. Her daughter really was going to give her a heart attack one of these days. She really should know better than to be looking for dangerous things at this time of night. Or at all really.

“Hmm,” said Velvet. “We’ll be talking about this in more detail later young lady, but I think for now I need to contact the Princess. The both of you should probably be getting to sleep.”

She gazed over them both critically. “Might be time for dinner first though, if you’ve been out all night.” She looked at Fluttershy in particular.

She stepped up to her hooves and gave a quick stomp. “All right, into the kitchen. I’ll make up something real quick and then I’ll go send out a letter to the Princess.” She walked ahead of them, mumbling to herself. “I should still have a few firemail envelopes…”

“So… uh… Fluttershy right?” Twilight asked nervously.

She got a shy nod in reply.

“Well, as I’m sure you heard from my mom, my name is Twilight. It’s nice to meet you.” She went to hold out her hoof, before realizing she hadn’t let go off her spoon.

She lightly blushed, placing the spoon into her bowl before reaching out again. Fluttershy bumped her hoof softly, blushing an even brighter red. Twilight grinned.

“Hoof bump huh? My friend Vinyl likes them a lot, haven’t seen many other ponies who do that though…” She trailed off thoughtfully.

“My… my friend Rainbow does it all the time.” Fluttershy murmured quietly.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked curiously.

Fluttershy gave a small smile, finding a topic she was comfortable talking about.

Moon Dancer kept to the edges of the crowd, looking around warily at the ponies surrounding her. Each and every one was covered in a blue cloak and had a silver badge pinned to their chests. Their cowls were pulled up to hide their faces in shadow.

Moon Dancer was wearing her own cloak, but she hadn’t earned a badge of her own yet.

She gulped nervously, trying to stamp out her fear of the crowd. Her mind was a little fuzzy and unfocused as she pressed herself up against the wall. She knew that she was safe, but all those bodies larger than her, shuffling around, capable of crushing her even by accident… they made her extremely uncomfortable.

She didn’t have to deal with this for long before she heard a voice cutting across the idle chatter filling the room. She looked up to the podium set on the stage at the head of the room. Banners of pure black were hung up on either side, dark blue crescent moons were emblazoned on their center, tips pointing upwards. Wings were bursting out from both sides and a star was placed in their centre.

“Brothers and sisters, fellow guardians of the night sky.” Called out a powerful voice that Moon Dancer was only too familiar with. “I am here to share most welcome news with you.”

Excited murmuring broke out among the crowd as Moon Dancer frowned. A shiver went down her spine as she tried to focus only on the pony at the podium.

“Manehatten will soon fall to our might. The precious sunspawn are swarming the place, but are falling to our superior ideals. The Sunlit Heretic sits on her throne and does nothing to alleviate her ponies suffering, as we all well knew.”

Angry murmuring can be heard throughout the crowd.

“We have many of our political allies gathered here to set plans in motion. We have been successful so far with stymying the Heretics motions for aid, and we are all but sure manehatten will fall within the coming weeks.”

Cheering fills the room. The speaker allows it for a moment before motioning with a hoof for silence.

“Many of our other operations are proving fruitful, the Heretics eyes in the further reaches of the kingdom have been blinded, and the Changeling menace is in the process of being harnessed for the furthering of our goals. What we need to do now is decide how we shall proceed. Will any of our members step forth with suggestions?”

Moon Dancer looked on, an unsettling feeling in the pit of her gut as she watched things play out. She wasn’t sure why, but something about this didn’t sit right with her.

A flash of light appeared in the Canterlot garden. The shape of a pink unicorn resolving itself in the light of the moon. Her head turned from left to right, eyes searching frantically for anypony or anything that might be watching.

She eventually deemed things safe enough and moved further into the gardens. Her hoofsteps losing their hurried pace as nothing jumped out at her.

The moonlight had given the gardens a mysterious atmosphere. While the unicorn knew nothing particularly dangerous should be found here at this time, only things still sealed away, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The shadows seemed to shift and move just out of the corner of her eyes.

She reached her destination without anything untoward happening. Arriving in front of a statue built out of what looked to be a mishmash of different parts. No limb seemed to come from the same creature but it somehow made up a cohesive whole.

She scanned it with her horn, looking for cracks and fissures or any kind of spell. When she couldn’t find anything she let out a sigh of relief. She examined it for a few more minutes bye eye, before she heard a noise coming her way. Her head jerking towards it with wide eyes.

She flashed away the instant she saw the telltale armor of a royal guard coming her way. A moment later the guard strolled onto the scene, humming under his breath. He heard a sharp cracking sound coming from nearby and looked around warily.

Unable to make anything out in the near darkness, and not hearing anything further, he simply continued his patrol.

Chapter 13: Isn't being lost a wonderful thing? What do you mean it's not?

Sunset was unceremoniously shoved to the side as she made her way to her locker. She just barely managed to catch herself, turning around and taking in the angry visage of one Rainbow Dash, captain of the soccer team.

“Hey, friend stealer,” said Rainbow with a disgusted look on her face.

Sunset’s face fell. “Are we really doing this again Dash?”

“I don’t know, are we?” Rainbow crossed her arms, leaning into Sunset’s face.

“I’ve already apologized, I don’t know what more you want from me.”

Sunset sighed, looking around at the near empty hallway. A few faces looked back in concern but she knew none of them would step forward to help either of them. She started to slowly back away with a neutral expression on her face.

Rainbow followed her step by step. “Why do you still show your face around here, you know you’re not welcome right? No one really wants you around.”

Sunset’s eye twitched, but she kept her expression blank. She was considering just making a break for it when she heard the sound of running footsteps coming towards her.

“Rainbow Dash!” called out Fluttershy, a panicked expression on her face.

Sunset watched as Rainbow flinched, before plastering a very fake looking smile on her face.

She turns around slowly, almost mechanically. “What is it Flutters? Can’t you see I’m just talking to my good ol friend Sunset.” Rainbow chuckles nervously, eyes darting around for any sign of escape.

“Rainbow, I can’t believe you, we’ve talked about this.” Fluttershy looked like she was about to break down crying.

Sunset took the opportunity to dash away. She wasn’t dealing with this nonsense again.

Pinkie stood in front of a small crowd. “All right people, you know why you’re here. Sunset’s birthday party is coming around, and I’ve got something epic planned.”

Bon Bon raised her hand. “I can handle the sweets, but I’m kinda busy with… stuff this week.”

“Of course, wouldn’t want you to keep you away from your… stuff.” Pinkie looks at her with a knowing grin, Bon Bon looking back with sudden suspicion.

Before she can say anything though, Pinkie has already moved on. “Hopefully Ditzy can handle transportation.” Ditzy gave her a thumbs up. “And I’ve talked to Principal Celestia, so we’re holding it at her house this time.”

Pinkie pulled out a white board and a marker, starting to scrawl a complicated series of symbols and pictures down. “We got DJPON3 on for the music,” Vinyl grins. “And Trixie can handle the entertainment.”

Trixie huffs. “Trixie is only agreeing so you don’t hire another one of those creepy clowns.” She mumbles under her breath. “Trixie still has nightmares sometimes…”

“I’ll handle whatever Bon Bon can’t on the food side of things, and the decorating. Now the real question is what flavour would be best for Sunset’s giant cake…”

Pinkie Pie was worried. This was strange for the usually carefree party pony, but even as she gave a big smile to the crowd there were thoughts that wouldn’t leave the back of her mind. Like the fact that her necklace was vibrating right now.

She continued to flip and twist about on the giant bouncy ball, juggling a number of improbable objects. One of the fillies was looking terrified as she completed yet another arc in the air, trying desperately to escape Pinkie’s juggling vortex. They were being pretty silly, after all, this Pie was an excellent juggler.

She was keeping an eye out on the ponies around her as she did so though. As much as she just wanted to let go and enjoy the party… She didn’t want to worry Twilight.

They had been passing letters back and forth since they parted, and Pinkie had already decided that Twilight was her best friend. None of the other ponies she met put in as much effort as she did, and Twilight never dismissed any of the things she said, no matter how silly they might sound.

It was kind of nice.

She flipped off of the ball, reveling in the accolades of her tiny peers. They were adorable really, and there was nothing she loved more than all those smiles. Another reason to take this seriously, she didn’t want any ponies to get hurt, a hurt pony was an unhappy pony, and this was a Pinkie Pie party.

There were only supposed to be smiles here.

Pinkie Pie sipped at her cup of punch. It was fruity and refreshing, she was impressed with her excellent party planning skills once again. She noted that she could probably improve the recipe with a little more sugar. She swiped a slice of cake and shoved it into her mouth wholesale, eyes still scanning the party. For danger, or frowny faces in need of cheering.

She had noted a few ponies she hadn’t invited, or even seen before. Which was weird, because she’d been to ponyville before, and she never forgot a friend. One or two new ponies maybe made sense, but there were too many of them for that to make sense.

And their smiles... they didn’t sit right with Pinkie Pie at all.

A lonely statue in the middle of a beautiful garden shakes and shudders. Pieces of stone beginning to fall to the ground, slowly building up in size until a large cracking sound echoes through the small clearing.

With one final heave, spiderweb cracks spread out over the statue. In a single moment the entire thing falls to pieces, revealing a living and breathing figure where once was only stone.

Discord fell onto the hard stone surface panting, eyes wildly looking around from left to right for any sign of danger. He slowly pushed himself up, sitting down on the now empty podium covered in shards of stone.

He snapped his fingers, sparks coming out and fizzling on contact with the air. “Well, that’s not right.” He murmured to himself.

He tried to lift himself up into the air, falling to the ground in an undignified heap a moment later. He scowled, snapping his fingers and getting another few sparks. There was a sputtering noise before the sound of an engine starting filled the air.

It sounded really unhealthy.

Discords face shifted into a grimace, and he took a deep breath. A snap of his fingers had an exact replica of the statue in place, one more and he found himself in a dark alleyway near the castle. He grumbled to himself, glancing around to find his bearings.

Twilight woke up slowly, her brain suffering through a fuzzy haze as she snuggled into the warm yellow wing covering her. She could hear soft breathing nearby, but she slipped back into oblivion before she could think too much about it.

She woke up again, calling out a protest as the wing was withdrawn. She heard a squeak from behind her as she blindly reached out for the wing. After a few moments without success, her sleep addled brain gave her a reasonable course of action. She turned around fully and snuggled into the warm something behind her.

Twilight’s eyes finally snapped open when the shaking sensation got too much. She looked to the side at the yellow hooves on her shoulders, before they followed the forelegs up and across the neck into those big blue eyes.

Twilight lay there frozen as a blush started to rush to her cheeks. Her breathing started to become erratic as the shaking slowly subsided. Her world compressing itself to this one instant. She started to feel woozy before realizing that the hooves had moved.

She was pulled into a tight hug as she struggled to regain control of her breathing. Sinking into the embrace and just focusing on one breath after another in succession.

“Are you okay Twilight?” Asked a soft, concerned voice.

She hesitantly nodded against Fluttershy’s chest, remaining quiet. They stayed like that until Twilight’s mother called out that it was time for them to get up.

Twilight looked up at the sound of a bell going off. She was scribbling into a notebook, tucked into the corner of Pony Joe’s donut shop. A cup of coffee was sitting near a plate of donuts at her table.

The store was near empty as you’d expect from such an early morning. A few customers filtered in, but few decided to stay, ordering everything to go. It was mostly different variety of coffee, few bought donuts at this time of day.

The pony that walked through wore a patchwork tuxedo of many bright colors. Twilight was far from a fashion expert, but even she wouldn’t go near that thing. The top hat was alright, but she didn’t really understand the antlers and goat horn sticking out of it. Wasn’t that kind of offensive…?

He walked up to the counter with a slight bounce to his step, looking intently at all the confections hidden behind display cases. He dropped a rather heavy sack of bits in front of Joe and asked him to keep the donuts and coffee coming. After that he shuffled off to the back of the room, not that far from Twilight.

He looked over at her with a wry grin. “I’ve been told it’s not polite to stare.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she looked away quickly. She only looked up again when she heard him chuckling.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad, at least not that kind of mad.” He gave her a grin.

She cocked her head curiously.

“Just a little something I’ve been told a time or two.” He waved her off.

They stayed like that for a while. The stallion content to wait for his sugary prizes, and Twilight too embarrassed to say a word. A few more customers trickled in over time, some of them stopped to stare at the garish tuxedo, others just ignored him entirely.

Twilight nearly dropped her notepad as she noticed the stallion standing over her shoulder.
“Entropy, by the way. How do you do?” He asked with a roguish grin, eyes flicking away from the notepad for only a second.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “Uh… Twilight Sparkle, I’m alright?”

“Glad to hear it. You know, if you switched out that glyph for this one you’d increase the overall effect of the network with only a little lost power. Pretty good for a little filly though.” He hummed to himself with that same grin, scanning over her notes with disturbing speed.

Twilight took a moment to run that through her head, surprised to find that he was right.

“Are you a rune specialist of some kind?” Twilight asked slowly.

“Who me? Oh goodness no, it’s just a little hobby of mine. I like to travel you see, picked up a thing or two on my adventures.” He gave her a smug grin. “Spell casting is my specialty, I can do just about anything you know. Back in the day it used to get pretty chaotic when I was around.”

Twilight was a little wary, but curiosity won in the end. She got so stuck into the conversation, she almost didn’t notice Fluttershy knocking on the window when it was time to go.

Fleur and Cadence matched agent Sweet Treats stride as she carried the prisoner to the closest facility. Said prisoner was wrapped in an invisibility blanket, one of the weirder enchanted blanket varieties.

Bon Bon was struggling to look stoic from atop Cadence, occasionally letting out a small giggle. Cadence would have been more amused, if she wasn't so on edge at the moment.

"Hey, Fleur?" Cadence asked quietly.

"Mmm?" Fleur glanced at her before she returned to scanning the road ahead.

"I've never heard of a Changeling getting caught before. Isn't this a bit too easy?"

"Well," said Fleur after a moment. "I know they've been sighted, but we rarely have proof they outright attacked anyone. Most of the time, they get in and out after posing as a ponies loved one from what we can tell."

Sweet Treats glanced at them. "They also have mind control magic. Not just the simple cantrips but the heavily regulated stuff. A ponies mind might have strong enough defenses to keep a hold of anything long term without significant effort, but it would be easy to get rid of the last couple of hours."

Fleur nodded. "Long term mind control also tends to have more and more obvious effects over time. We naturally try to push the magic out and fighting it is draining. You can usually tell by the eyes, after a certain point you can see the magic exuding for them. Not to mention the dead look in them after a significant amount of time has passed."

"Well that's not terrifying or anything." Cadence chuckled nervously, glancing around a little more warily.

Before she could say anything further they had arrived at a nondescript office building. It was in the middle of the government district and Cadence could see a few ponies in suits with sunglasses coming in and out.

"That's not exactly subtle." Cadence muttered.

"Huh," said Fleur. "Did you say something?"

Cadence went to speak, but Sweet Treats had already swept into the front office. She dumped the prisoner onto the floor without a care and ran up to the counter. "Sunny! Been ages, when did you get back?" She called out to the mare behind the counter.

She had a sun yellow mane and a white coat, her expression was unamused. "You really do have no decorum Treats. Would it kill you to act like a professional?"

"I don't know, maybe," said Sweet with a goofy grin.

"Uh, are they alright?" Cadence whispered to Fleur.

Fleur waved a hoof dismissively. "They'll be fine, they always get like that."

Cadence looked on as Sweet continued badgering the stoic faced mare. She looked around surreptitiously, lighting her horn.

"Oh, oh my." Cadence muttered under her breath, blushing.

She turned away, deciding to watch the prisoner while they had their… fight.

Cadence cast her spell again because she was bored. It didn’t do much besides scan the ambient level of love in the area. It was unique to her as the Princess of Love, but it didn’t do all that much aside from telling her how ponies felt about the ponies around them.

The problem came when she started using it in the vicinity of the prisoner. When she lit up her horn and pointed it in her direction she felt a strange sucking sensation, as if her magic was being pulled away from her through a straw. She clutched her head with a hoof and struggled to shut the spell off.

She looked cautiously at the prisoner, trying to figure out what was happening. That was the only reason she had any warning when their eyes suddenly shot open. One second they were laying their unmoving, the next they were thrashing in their bonds trying to get closer to Cadence.

She was quickly dogpiled by a number of the agents hanging out in the lobby. Once the Changeling got knocked to the ground, Cadence was finally able to shut the spell off with a grunt. She shut her eyes in pain, feeling a headache building up.

“Are you alright?” Fleur asked with concerned eyes.

Cadence shook her head. “I think I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about why she reacted like that. I’ve never had that happen before.”

Fleur cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. “What spell were you using?”

Cadence blushed. “Just the love scanner.”

Fleur rubbed her chin, sitting back on her haunches. “That’s one of the spells you can only use because of your… you know, right?”

Cadence nodded. “Yeah, do you think…?”

“Well, you are the Princess of Love right?”

Cadence looked at her for a moment. “Do you think we could use this somehow?

Hours later, the Changeling prisoner was sitting alone in a cell. The room was pitch dark and the walls were made of smooth grey stone. She looked up when a door slowly opened, flooding the room with light.

The stallion at the door grimaced. “Seriously? Do you know how much extra work I’m going to have to deal with because of this?”

“Oh shut up, it’s not like you do anything else around here.”

“I’m only a low level employee, I’m not even supposed to be here.” He pressed a hoof to his forehead, letting out a groan. “This is going to be so dangerous, and this disguise is basically ruined now.”

“So what? We couldn’t get the one we wanted, we’ll get something out of this.”

The stallion shook his head, remaining quiet as he moved over to break her bonds.

The Changeling slowly pushed herself up, stretching out. “You got any info for me?”

“The Princess will arrive soon, you can try to nab another agent if you want, but I’m gonna high tail it out of here first chance I get.” He fixed her with a stern expression. “Don’t screw it up, the queen is displeased as it is.”

She paused. “She’s already heard about this?”

“She was watching personally.”

The Changeling hissed, flashing with fire before resolving into the shape of a small mare with a rose red mane and butter yellow coat. “I’ll see what I can do. This disguise is still valid right?”

“It’ll do for the moment, she has been delayed by two hours, as per the backup plan.” The stallion scrutinized her for any missing details before nodding with satisfaction. “Now get going, we’re low enough on time as it is.”

The mare nodded, making her way out the door quickly.

The stallion cast a few spells, filling the room with a sickly green light. He scanned the room with both his magical senses and his eyes before making his way out the door as well. He had just moved to lock the door when he heard someone coming up behind him.

“Hey Shady, what are you doing out here?”

The stallion turned around, plastering on an innocent smile. “Oh, hey Priceless, just checking on the prisoner. You know how it is.”

Priceless fixed him with a look. “I didn’t know you had clearance for this area.”

He chuckled nervously. “Oh, I got an exception, guess the higher ups were feeling lazy today.”

Priceless stared him down for a moment before breaking into a smile. “Well, can’t say I haven’t been there before. Better hurry along though, I hear the Princess is on her way, wouldn’t want to break protocol in front of her of all ponies.”

“Shady” nodded and returned the smile. “I think I’ll take that advice, my shift is just about over anyway.” He turned to walk away.

And that was when his world turned to black.

Priceless walked over to stand above the prone body, shaking his head. “Trying to bluff a spy… I’m not sure you thought this one through.”

He lit his horn up in a minor communication spell, hooking it into the buildings network.

“Yes, this is agent Priceless Artifact. Passcode, Balefire. I’m going to need someone to come down to the holding area, I’ve caught some kind of infiltrator.” He paused to listen to the response before walking over to the door and peering inside. “Yeah, looks like they got away. Considering the timing, they might still be inside the building though.”

He scanned around the hallway, looking for any signs of danger. “Okay, I’ll bring him with me and keep an eye out. Keep me posted.” He cut off the spell before lifting the body onto his back and heading down the hallway.

His horn was lit and ready to zap anything in his way at a moments notice.

Chapter 14: In which we escape mind and body

Twilight walked into the library. It was quiet but for her hoofsteps on the cold stone floor and empty save for the ever present librarian. The books filling the towering shelves were as comforting as ever, the scent of old books filling her with a sense of calm. Nothing bad could happen to her here as far as she was concerned.

She sat down at a table near the corner of the library, stacks of books surrounding her and enough parchment and ink to last her the afternoon. She held a book on minor transmutation spells in her hooves, but her heart wasn’t really in it, no matter how useful the applications might be.

Fluttershy sat beside her with a large book on cat breeds. Considering how fast she was turning the pages, she was either a very skilled reader, or only looking at the pictures. She had a small smile on her face though, so Twilight was happy either way.

She managed to make it halfway through the book before she faltered. Realizing that she had spent the better part of a minute just gazing at the page blankly.

Thanks to last night’s Changeling attack and this mornings breakdown, there was too much going on in her mind right now to focus. Talking about runes with Entropy had helped, but she knew that studying wasn’t a very healthy way to cope. At least that’s what her friends had told her.

Her eyes eventually left the book, simply gazing at Fluttershy as she quietly hummed to herself. Her mind was starting to blank as she gave up on working through her inner turmoil and she just let herself wonder about her new friend. What was she doing in the park so late at night? Was she okay? At least Twilight already knew about the Changelings before she was right in the thick of it.

Fluttershy finally took notice of Twilight’s staring, letting out an eep before hiding behind her mane. She shifted as if to hide under the table before realizing that it was a little too small to cover her entirely. “T-Twilight?”

“Mmm?”

Fluttershy started to peek out of her mane with a concerned expression. “Are you… okay?”

Twilight paused to consider her reply, setting down her book slowly. “I… I’m not sure.” she answered honestly.

“Do… do you want to talk about it?” Fluttershy seemed to take a deep breath, before sitting up straighter and making an effort to look at Twilight directly. “I-I’m not sure if I can help, but I’m happy to listen.”

Twilight looked at her carefully, searching for something. She finally let out a sigh. “You’re probably wondering what happened last night right? It’s not like we’ve had much time to talk about it.”

“I’d like to know if it’s not too much trouble, but you don’t have to say anything.” Fluttershy looked worried.

“No, you deserve to know.” Twilight took a deep breath. “It all began a few weeks ago…"

The party was finally winding down and Pinkie’s necklace was still vibrating. She thought it might be broken, but a little hide and seek outside had proved that wrong. The second she was out of sight it stopped. She was definitely being watched by one of the meanies, maybe more than one.

She swept quietly, eyes darting around the room. The floor was covered in confetti and the tables were mostly cleared of food. Pinkie would have to get rid of the rest of the cake and punch herself. It was her solemn duty as party planner.

However, she was more concerned with the number of ponies staying behind. Usually Pinkie would only have a couple of helpers cleaning up after the party. Right now there was practically a crowd of them hanging around the edge of the room. All of them ponies she didn’t remember inviting to the party, or even coming in with ponies she did know.

She glanced across the room at Mrs Cake, one of the owners of the little shop she had commandeered for today’s party. She was bustling around the counter, singing a happy little tune.

Pinkie pursed her lips, struggling not to frown. She didn’t feel good about this, and she’d learned to trust her gut. She glanced around, trying to work out if any of them were obviously watching her. She eventually gave up and sidled over to Mrs Cake.

“Hello dear, are you alright?” she asked, concerned. “You seem a little worried, did something happen?”

Pinkie looked into her eyes, wavering.

“You can trust me dearie.” She smiled warmly.

Pinkie caved, pulling up her necklace to show it off. “My friend made this for me, it vibrates when bad ponies are around. We were attacked a little while ago and she wanted to keep me and her other friends safe.” Pinkie bit her lip. “I don’t know most of the ponies that are still here.”

Mrs cake frowned in worry. “You didn’t invite them?”

Pinkie shook her head. “And they didn’t come in with anypony I know either.”

Mrs Cake looked around in worry. She didn’t know any of the ponies here herself, and ponyville was a pretty small town. She had just assumed they were travelers, or friends of Pinkie from out of town. “You’re sure it works.”

Pinkie nodded vigorously. “My friends really good with magic, I trust her.”

“Alright then, head into the back for me, I don’t want you getting hurt if something is wrong.”

Pinkie looked at her, biting her lip. “Don’t worry dear, I can handle myself.”

Mrs Cake shooed Pinkie out back, turning around to fix the remaining guests with a practiced smile.

Shining armor watched in horror as his fellow guards were taken down in droves. The madly cackling pony at the head of the loyalists was blasting out beams of dark magic like he was giving out candy on nightmare night. The earth was shaking and large fissures were opening up in the ground. Dark clouds roiled above, shooting out lightning in all directions.

He had arrived as the loyalists were finally being pushed back, screaming about the ultimate power he held in his hooves. He then slipped on an amulet with a red gem set in the center. His eyes started glowing with a malevolent red light and his magical presence suddenly expanded a hundred fold.

Things went downhill from there, the loyalists rallying together and charging at the guard once more. Finally pushing them back in the midst of the chaos.

Shining had to dive to the side as a construct made of the earth rushed past him, snarling with rage. He could see deep grooves made in the ground from the abnormally sharp claws jutting out of it’s paws, and it’s eyes were a swirling miasma of darkness that sent a shiver down his spine.

The construct stood twice as tall as the average pony. It was roughly in the shape of a wolf, made of hard concrete from the roads of the city. It’s posture was aggressive as it leant forward, the animation spell causing it’s non existent muscles to tense as it readied itself to pounce.

His horn sparked to life as it shot forward, his shield shaking and shuddering under the absurd weight of the creature as it flared to life. It ultimately held, but he wouldn’t be able to hold the shield up for long under these conditions.

Shining grit his teeth, pulling the shield inward to the absolute max before releasing it explosively to twice its previous size. A dangerous maneuver in the middle of a battlefield, but also his best option to deal with the construct quickly.

The concrete wolf impacted a nearby building with a heavy crunch, and Shining tensed, waiting for it to get back up. The rain pounding on his back and obscuring his vision made him uneasy and nervous.

He let out a sigh of relief as the magic holding it together gave up and it crumbled to dust.

He looked around warily. Only the guards still conscious and on their hooves were being attacked by the constructs, but they were keeping them back well enough to start getting some of the more heavily injured guards out of the area. Looking behind him, he could see that they were slowly getting pushed out of the city. Shining grit his teeth.

He absentmindedly sent a mana bolt at a nearby loyalist that was rushing towards him, knocking him out instantly. He was more interested in what was going on up ahead.

A large group of loyalists were gathered near the centre of the town. Most of the houses around them were nothing but rubble at this point, and even the fires had died down in the face of the roaring rains. There was a large crystal set into the ground they were surrounding, various runes Shining couldn’t even begin to understand spiraling out from it and to the edge of the rough circle the loyalists had made.

He could vaguely hear chanting, but the howling of the wind could have just as easily been playing tricks on his mind. He looked left to right. His commanding officers were well and truly down, having been struck first. He bit his lip, wavering. Without orders he couldn’t be sure of his next move, but he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he did nothing.

Finally he threw caution to the wind and rushed forwards, enacting a basic shield in front of himself. They weren’t making any new constructs at this point, so he had time to plan out a route to avoid them. A few of his fellow guards shot out bolt of mana to assist where they could, but he barely managed to get past by the skin of his teeth.

He was very lucky that the mad pony with the amulet was being kept busy by the majority of the guards. He didn’t have nearly the reserves left to deal with a magic user that powerful.

Rushing forwards, he crashed into a barrier surrounding the loyalists. His horn sparked in protest as he steadied his stance and started to create a large barrier where he stood. Shield was pitted against shield in the ultimate contest of wills.

One of the figures stepped forward. They had a smile that would have looked kind but for the hood shrouding their face in darkness. “You won’t be making it through this barrier any time soon colt. It’s probably best if you just give up now and leave.”

Shining Armor grit his teeth. “We aren’t letting you take this city. As royal guards it is our duty to protect the citizens of Equestria.” His shield started to grow more opaque as he poured as much magic into it as he dared.

The figure’s head shook as they chuckled. “As much as I admire your determination, it’s much too late for that. The city will be ours soon enough, and plans beyond your understanding will be set into motion.”

The stallion smiled, looking up towards the sky as the elements raged around him. A parting in the clouds showed the full moon in all its glory. “Soon enough you will all see her majesty. Bowing to her power and grace as you were meant to.”

Sadly for Shining, special talent for shields or not, he couldn’t win against a full group of mages on his own. Especially not when they already had so much time to prepare. He could see by the way the runes had started to light up that he was too late, the crystal at the centre glowing with magical power despite his best efforts to stop them.

His shoulders sagged as a bright light filled the clearing and a wave of magical power burst outwards, spreading over the whole city. His hooves left the ground as a weightless feeling overcame him, before he found himself flying through the air outside of the city limits.

The sky was filled with his fellow guards as they quickly fell to the ground, the enchantments on their armor keeping them alive despite the best efforts of gravity.

He gave out a groan after landing, looking up to the sky as a bubble of magic encased the city for miles around. He watched the translucent bubble slowly spark, before it turned completely opaque as his vision faded to black.

Pinkie held her breath as she sat still and silent, hiding inside a small cupboard in the kitchen. Her knee had gotten a pinchy feeling, and she had the sudden urge to hide.

She had been getting predictions like this since she was a foal, and they had gotten stronger since she earned her cutie mark. She wasn’t entirely sure what they all meant, but she could make a guess this time.

“Pinkie Pie, are you in there?” She could hear Mrs Cake calling out. She screwed her eyes shut, staying quiet. If she thought of it as a game of hide and seek, she would be fine.

“Pinkie dear, I’ve had a talk with some of the ponies out there. It was all just a misunderstanding.” She chuckled, but it sounded slightly off, unnatural. “You should really come out and talk to them, they just want to be friends.”

Something was definitely off here. Her… Pinkie Sense? Hadn’t let her down yet. As soon as she made a move to open the cupboard she had gotten that pinchy feeling again, so she kept quiet and waited.

It took a few minutes, but a voice finally spoke up. “It looks like she’s left, I suppose we weren’t being subtle enough.” A sigh. “The queen will be displeased.”

“She’ll be displeased with you,” called out another voice. “I said we should just grab her when she was alone, but no, you had to make a big production out of it, didn’t you?”

“Look, we already tried that with the Princesses student, it didn’t work out so well. We had twenty of our best and brightest waiting to ambush her. How was I supposed to know she would turn tail and run? She’s just a foal. This was supposed to be above and beyond what we needed to catch her.”

“Well don’t look at me, I don’t understand the mind of a child. She was probably scared off by you, always with the stoic airs and curt replies. Would it kill you to act like one of them once in a while? There’s a reason you aren’t cut out for infiltration.”

A groan. “Look, just wipe the shop owners memory and send out a small search party. She’s probably already gone to get the guards so sticking around isn’t really an option.”

A pause. “She could be hiding in here.”

Pinkie’s breath caught in her throat.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you think she could be that quiet for this long?”

“Pff, true, she’d be bouncing off the walls by now.” A chuckle. “Let’s get going, I really don’t want to deal with getting caught by the guards on top of all of this.”

She could hear the voices fading into the distance as they left the room. “Yeah, well, at least you don’t have to deal with…”

Pinkie waited for a few minutes, ears swiveling around to catch the slightest sound.

She let out a sigh of relief and slipped out of the cupboard. She hadn’t gotten that pinchy feeling again, so she hoped that meant she was safe. She exited the back room quickly, coming across Mrs Cake sitting behind the counter.

“Oh, Pinkie dear, what were you doing back there?”

Pinkie froze for a moment. “Ah, nothing Mrs Cake, just… putting away some things.”

“Oh, alright dear, but don’t take too long on the cleanup. Wouldn’t want you to stay up too late now would we?” She chuckles and moves away from the counter, heading upstairs.

“No problem Mrs Cake! I’ll be done before you know it.”

Pinkie looked out over the mess. “Okay, deal with this quickly, then find some guards. I should probably send a letter to Twilight too…” She took a deep breath before getting to work. Her mane was a little limper than usual, but she was safe and that’s what mattered.

Chapter 16: It's a birthday bash, not a birthday crash