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.