Twilight jerked her head up. She looked around and saw five mares rushing toward her. “What,” she said.

“Are you alright,” Rarity said as the group reached the resting pony. “What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened,” the puzzled unicorn asked.

“To your leg,” Rainbow Dash shouted as she pointed at Twilight’s missing leg. Fluttershy had ran with the others to Twilight’s side. Unlike the other three, she was focused on Twilight’s shoulder. She stared in fascination at what was exposed by the missing limb.

“My leg,” Twilight asked. She looked down. “Oh. That. It’s over there.” She pointed off to one side with her muzzle. All but Fluttershy looked to where she was pointing.

There were two ponies standing by a table. One stallion and one mare. The mare’s fur was dark gray, and her mane and tail were light blue. Her cutie mark was of a compressed spring. The stallion had a red coat and green mane and tail. His cutie mark was a screw being turned by a screwdriver. They were studying something on the table in front of them. The staring ponies took a closer look, until.

“Is that your leg,” Rarity shrieked. At the shriek, the two ponies jerked their heads up in surprise. They looked at the group by Twilight with some concern and shock.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll get your leg back.”

“Rainbow, wait,” Twilight shouted. But it was too late.

The blue pegasus had already shot into the air. She shot over to the two ponies and snatched up the limb. Ignoring their cries, Rainbow Dash flew back to Twilight and the others. “Here ya go,” she proudly said as she came to a stop before the purple unicorn.

“That’s your leg,” Rarity asked.

While it was a leg, it was not normal. There were panels open along it. The interior was made from a reddish black metal that none of the ponies could identify. There were lines of purple crystals with faint pulses of light moving through them. The muscles bulged oddly. Like something was buried in them.

“It’s Robomare’s leg,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s not supposed to look normal.

With a sigh, Twilight took her leg back. “They didn’t take my leg, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I gave it to them. They were studying it. I was hoping they could identify some of the things that were in there. And why I could still feel it while it was over there.”

“Say whut now,” Applejack said.

“Professors Spring Loaded and Loose Screw are helping me study my body,” Twilight said. “They’ve been doing it for years and have made many of discovery.”

“I’m afraid that may be coming to an end, Twilight.” The group of mares looked up to see the other two ponies approaching.

“I’m afraid that we could not understand anything new about your leg,” Spring Loaded continued. “We could, at least, figure things out before. Whatever made these changes, it’s far beyond us.’

“Thanks Spring,” Twilight said. “I was hoping you could guess at what’s in me now.”

“Guessing’s no problem,” Loose Screw said. “We can guess all we want. But we wouldn’t know if we were right. And I don’t think the Princesses, or you, would want to go on guesses.”

“No, that wouldn’t do.” Twilight sighed. “Thank you for looking, though. Are you going to stay with us?”

“Princess Celestia herself can’t get me to leave,” Spring Loaded said. “I’m staying. You’re the most interesting thing to happen in centuries. Studying your body, with your permission, of course, will lead to untold discoveries. Just getting to where we can make accurate guesses about you will revolutionize the country. If not the world.”

“Besides,” Loose said. “We may have enough of a puzzle to get Professor Nickerlai Tesla to come here.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to help,” Twilight asked.

“There’s nopony who knows more about electricity than him,” Loose stated.

“Then I’ll ask Professor Neighstein if he could ask Tesla to come,” Twilight said with a determined nod.

The two professors and the group of mares stared at Twilight in shock. “You know Professor Neighstein,” Spring squeaked.

“Why yes,” Twilight said. “He’s been working with Princess Luna for years. They’re trying to figure out why her stars move the way they do.”

“If’n he’s helping Princess Luna with her stars,” Applejack began. “How does he know this Nickerlai pony?”

“Coperneighcus asked him to help,” Twilight said. “He was having some trouble tracking the stars. Princess Luna always knew where they were. But she couldn’t tell him how she knew. It was her magic keeping track of them, of course. Since he didn’t have Princess Luna’s magic, he had to have some way to keep track of them.

“Neighstein came up with some interesting theories on gravity and how it affects objects and magic,” Twilight continued. “Somehow, those theories started him thinking on energy. At first, it was how much energy a moving object had. Then how much the object had while moving at different speeds. Then finally, it was how much energy the object itself had. Some of his theories caught Nickerlai’s attention. And they’ve been discussing things and comparing theories ever since.”

Spring shook her head. “Do you really think he’ll do that,” she asked. “I mean, he’s a busy pony. I don’t want to interrupt his work.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. “Neighstein is involved in a lot of different things. In fact, he has already stated an interest in anything new that is discovered about my body. I’m surprised he hasn’t arrived here yet.”

“He’ll probably be on the first train here once he hears about this,” Spring said. “Since there’s nothing else we can do for you, Loose Screw and I will head on out. Please contact us if you think of anything. We’ll do the same.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Loose Screw said to the mares. “I hope we can meet again someday.”

“The pleasure was ours,” Rarity said. “Don’t hesitate to come to us in the future.”

“If’n you’re finished workin’ for th’ day,” Applejack said. “We could show ya around town. It’s right comfortable place.”

“Oh, oh, oh, and we can tell you about the monster in the forest,” Rainbow said excitedly.

“I do need to learn my way around town,” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

The ponies started walking up the stairs. At the door to the basement, Twilight paused. “Spike,” she called out. “I’m heading out. Do you want anything?”

The young dragon appeared in a doorway. “Some gems would be nice,” he said. “I got nothing against pony food, it just doesn’t taste right without gems.”

“Oh, I can provide you some gems, darling,” Rarity said. “I’ll send some back with Twilight.”

“Ohh,” Spike gasped. “You have gems?!” He turned to Twilight. “Can you bring some back?”

“Of course,” the purple unicorn answered. “As many as Rarity will send. Thank you, Rarity.”

“Don’t mention it. I have plenty of gems,” Rarity answered.

As the group exited the tree, Twilight’s head jerked up. Ears pointing forward. Then she froze. Her newfound friends all stared at the mare in shock.

~ * ~

Apple Bloom looked at her two new best friends. She, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were standing under their new club house. Of course, it would have been better if they had built it together. But she and her older sister had repaired it and she did not want to lose the experience. It wasn’t often she got to do things other than work with her older sister or older brother.

“This is really cool,” Scootaloo said. “But it’s not high enough.”

“Scootaloo,” Sweetie Bell said. “Apple Bloom and her sister built this.”

“I know,” the pegasus filly said.

“They’re Earth Ponies,” Sweetie said. “You should be happy it’s as high as it is.”

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “It is a nice treehouse. It’s just. . .”

“Yer a pegasus,” Apple Bloom said. “Ya like high places. The higher the better.”

“That’s right,” the orange pegasus filly nodded.

“Hmm,” Apple Bloom said as she looked at the tree house. “Ah think we could add another section. This one will be higher though.”

At first Scootaloo looked excited. But then she looked sad. “No,” she firmly said. “I can let you do that. It wouldn’t be right. You and your sister built this.”

“That’s right,” Apple Bloom said. “Me and muh sister did build this. But she done gave it to me. Said it was my treehouse. If we add another floor, it will be our treehouse.”

“But what will your sister think,” Scootaloo asked. “Won’t she be sad you wanted to change the treehouse?”

“Ah don’t think so,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah think she’ll be proud Ah want t’ make this our treehouse. Besides, we need someplace t’ plan how we’ll get our cutie marks.”

“You mean,” Sweetie asked.

“Yep,” Bloom nodded. “This here is goin’ t’ be our clubhouse. Jest as soon as we make the needed changes.”

“When can we get started,” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“Well,” Bloom said. “That’s th’ thing. We don’t have any lumber yet. Ah’ll have to wait until muh sister and brother can get more. They’ve already said we could use the wood t’ make changes.”

“That’s great,” the pegasus shouted. “But what do we do until then?”

“We could hunt for our cutie marks,” Sweetie said.

“Ooh, that’s a wonderful idea,” Scootaloo said. “We’ll show that Diamon Tiara!”

“Call us blank flanks,” Sweetie said. “But what are we going to do to get our cutie marks?”

“Well,” Bloom said. “Muh sister did say she saw th’ Shadow Pony.”

“Ooh,” Scootaloo said. “If we catch her, we’re bound to get our cutie marks!”

“Um, Whos’ the Shadow Pony,” the white unicorn asked.

“That’s right,” the earth pony said. “Yer not from around here. Nopony knows who th’ Shadow Pony is. They just know she makes ponies disappear.”

“She does what,” Sweetie exclaimed.

“She makes ponies vanish,” Scootaloo said excitedly. “All anypony knows is that a pony will be walking alone at night. Suddenly, two eyes appear in the shadows and that pony is never heard from again.”

“And you want us to go after her,” Sweetie asked.

“We can handle it,” Bloom said. “We won’t be alone. Thar’ll be three of us.”

“Well, okay,” the unicorn slowly agreed. “As long as we stick together.”

“Let’s get going,” Scootaloo said. “The sooner we catch her, the sooner we get our cutie marks.”

“To th’ Everfree Forest,” cheered Apple Bloom.

“Wait, what,” Scootaloo said.

~ * ~

She stared at the strange metallic devise. Lights blinked on and off. Some in patterns while others were random. It had been eons since it had last worked. She had hoped it would never work again. She should have known her hopes were in vain.

“How long has this been active,” she finally asked.

“Forgive me my queen,” her guard said. “But we do not know.”

The queen turned her head and stared down at the guard. It was easy for her to do as she was almost twice as tall as the guard. “And why is that?”

The guard bowed. “We’ve only been checking on this once a moon, my queen. It has been this way for centuries.”

The queen grimaced as she turned her gaze back to the device. It was taller than she was. A circular platform with a cone extending from the center. The metal was one she did not know. From the previous queens’ memories, no one knew what metal this thing was made from.

“My queen, if I may,” the guard ventured. “What is this thing? None of the hive’s memories can tell me what it is.”

“It is a sign,” the queen said.

“Of what?’

“A great enemy is returning,” the queen answered. “Or a great ally. Either way, we will not know until they get here.” She turned to leave the cavern. “Double the watchers on the Princess of Food. Get a messenger ready. The Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon need to be informed. Make sure the message is from an anonymous source.”

Author's Note

Finally got the chapter up. Why did I choose to keep the Apples' accent?