Twilight trotted to and fro in front of a mystery. It was her duty as a Princess of Equestria to solve it.

She had received a letter from her first subj—pony earlier that morning and it had nearly made her squeal. Her first letter as a princess! How exciting was that! As it turned out, it was a blend of excitement, strangeness, and suspiciousness, all wrapped up in a chaotic letter signed by the Delivery Mare of all ponies. She had originally thought it was from Derpy but that soon made itself apparently untrue. Derpy would never have sent her on this Bunny Day hunt. But it was the first letter she had gotten asking for her assistance and she well suspected some form of foul play. She recalled the first paragraph of the letter quite well:

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I hope this finds you in good health. I would like to congratulate you on your crowning as the Princess of Friendship as well as commend your heroics. But that is not the true purpose of the letter. I am in need of your assistance. I need you to go retrieve something for me. Below are a set of instructions that will help you get where you need to go. Please read them only when you need their advice to continue.

She was certain in her ability to handle whatever this Delivery Mare was trying to do. She was an alicorn after all.

“What do you think it is Twilight?

From the look of it, the stubby-winged metal contraption had been in this cave for quite some time. “I’m not sure Spike—I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“What does the letter say?”

Twilight levitated said letter out of her saddlebags. When you reach the door, knock three times and say Carol three times with a somber inflection to it. If you don't inflect correctly, it won’t work, trust me.

“It says I have to say the word Carol three times while knocking on this ‘door’—it says I have to be somber.”

Spike shrugged his shoulders. “What are you waiting for then.”

Bringing her hoof up, she knocked on the cold metal thrice. “Carol, Carol, Carol.” Nothing happened.

With a frustrated grunt, she raised her hoof and tried again. “Carol, Carol, Carol.” Nothing happened.

“You’re not being somber enough. Watch and learn.” She winced as Spike jumped atop her head. He rapped his small knuckles against the metal. “Carol, Carol, Carol...” Nothing happened.

Twilight scoffed. “You couldn’t do it either!”

“I can too!” Spike went to knock again but stopped. The entire door had lit up, faint blue tendrils of magic moving from the edges of the ancient bulkhead towards the center, coalescing into a blue lock that unlocked itself midair.

“An advanced lock spell! Whoever sent this letter has been here before which means…”

“Twilight…”

“If I tracked her down, maybe I could—”

“Twilight we should move.”

“Spike, I’m thinking right now, I need silence.”

“I’m trying to save us! Can’t you think somewhere other than under the falling door?”

Twilight glanced up and confirmed that she was indeed standing under a falling door. With a startled yelp and a quick flash of magic, she teleported Spike and herself back several meters, saving them from impending doom.

“Why didn’t you warn me sooner!” Twilight glared icicles at the baby dragon atop her back. Her look was returned two-fold by the dragon, his stubby arms crossing angrily over his chest. “I tried to tell you but you weren’t listening to me!”

Twilight kept her gaze on Spike for a moment before turning her gaze back to the main attraction. The hard metal facade had fallen, revealing a dark, robust interior. Not unlike the outside of this strange apparatus, she supposed.

Her horn lit up with a standard light spell, casting white rays into every nook and cranny of the vessel. Visible inside were many interlaced clumps of foliage, their fronds reaching outwards to catch sunlight that wasn’t there. The moment her light spell hit them, they lit up in a strong blue luminescence.

Her eyes lit up with wonder, a scroll instantly flying out of her saddlebags with a quill and ink to accompany it. The sound of fast-paced scribbles filled the air as she slowly proceeded down the compartmentalized ‘hallway’.

“Spike, I’ve never seen plants like these before! The biochemical processes required to filter magic like this and use it as a food source… It’s incredible! We need to take samples and—” Her rant was halted by little claws shaking her gently.

“Twilight… Calm down. We have to focus on what the letter says.” He paused. “Besides, why are you so excited about the plants! We’re in an alien spaceship!

She took a breath and paused, repeating Spike’s words in her head. What? “Spike, we are not in a spaceship—and aliens aren’t real. You’ve been reading too many comic books lately.”

Spike waved his arms around at the vessel around them. “Who built this thing then Twilight.”

“Well Spike, archeological evidence seems to suggest that there were more technologically advanced races that came before us. In fact—”

“Ok ok, I get it Twi. We’re getting off track again.”

Twilight scowled, glancing back at the plants. “I’m still grabbing some samples though.”

After carefully extricating a number of the specialized ferns and fungi, she slowly made her way farther into the dark and damp interior, taking notes on everything she saw. She grabbed several strange metal sticks for further study later, sticking them in her saddlebags.

At the end of the compartment was a single, handleless door. She brought the letter up once more and read off the next set of instructions aloud.

“Once you reach the cabin door, place your hoof on the small green square to the right of the door to open it.” Following the directions, she pressed her hoof to the aforementioned square, opening the cabin. Two chairs sat side by side, facing a panoramic windshield of reinforced plexiglass.

“Look for the small container next to the closest chair. Inside should be a small bit sized metal chip. That is the item I require.” She did as the letter directed and grabbed a slim metal chip out from the box—it was the only thing inside.

“I guess this is the item she was talking about.”

Spike only shrugged.

She read the last paragraph of the letter.

Please package it and have it mailed to the address at the bottom. Also, if you’d be so kind as to not tell the authorities or the other princesses about this exchange. Thank you Princess.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. Who did this mare think she was? “Spike, when we get back to the castle, send a letter to Princess Celestia regarding this vessel and the strange letter. I’ll gather the girls and meet up with you. Then.” She paused, pointing at the address at the bottom of the scroll. “We’ll go to this address.”

419 Echo Hoof Lane, Canterlot.

Daring listened quietly as the monkey went on fantastically about something stupid no doubt. She had spent the later hours of the afternoon setting up camp. She had only just gotten to sleep when the creature had awoken her. She was a light sleeper, it came with the profession.

So when she had awoken to the sight of the monkey smoking a cigar—one that came from her satchel—she was understandably displeased.

When she had gone to confront it, it had offered her a smoke. Looking back, she wasn’t sure why she had even accepted it. Perhaps it was because of that warm flicker in its eyes. She didn’t know. It was a terrible experience nonetheless. She had almost choked to death on noxious fumes. Then the monkey pulled her close to it and started talking. And it was still talking.

She was tired. Her eyes were drooping. Her dignity as an independent mare and an archeologist demanded she move and fall asleep elsewhere. But the monkey was big and surprisingly warm.

Rye’s gonna be so mad when he finds out the monkey smoked his cigars. Those things were so hard to find.

Its voice continued to lull her to sleep. She couldn’t find it in herself to move.

Damn this monkey… Then she was asleep.

The familiar chime of an incoming scroll reached Celestia’s ears. The moment she heard it, her entire being had brightened up significantly. She had not received a letter from Twilight in a long time.

The scroll poofed into existence in front of her. She grabbed it in her magic and unfurled it, beginning to read.

As her eyes traced the scroll, her smile turning to a frown. The letter was not what she was expecting. This delivery mare was an unknown but she was certain Twilight could handle her. She went over one part of the letter over and over again to make sure it was true. Her smile re-emerged and she felt the prick of tears in her eyes.

The shape of the vessel was familiar to her. Could it really be? After so long…

She shook her head. She would investigate this herself.

Author's Note

This chapter fried my brain. Also it was the first Twilight chapter. I hope you like it. Good day.