Where Trouble Goes

Chapters

Where Trouble Goes

Where Trouble Goes

Commander Tempest Shadow trotted down the interior stairs, leading from the top-floor room of the Advanced Projects tower to its main doors. Hoofing open one of them, the maroon, black-armored unicorn looked out at the balcony beyond.

And found Lieutenant Rose staring back at her. The golden-armored, pink-maned Royal Guard nodded professionally, though she also looked a little uncertain.

"Morning, Commander... ah, this little lady asked if she could speak to Twilight? Said something about wanting to complete her autograph collection?"

A smallish unicorn filly with a tan coat and chestnut mane peered around Rose, wide-eyed. The filly was hugging a slender sapphire gemstone in one foreleg, much the way another child might hold a favored plush animal. "Um... hello?" she said.

Tempest eyed her briefly, then smirked. "It's all right, Lieutenant. I'll take it from here."

"Yes, ma'am." Rose saluted relievedly, then turned and trotted away, down the exterior stairs around the outside of the tower.

And Tempest regarded the filly narrowly.

"You're not really here for autographs, are you?"

The filly stared. "Uhh --"

"Oh, it's a good dodge, I'll grant you." Tempest nodded approvingly. "The guards downstairs are fine soldiers, but they are family ponies, which makes them a little soft at heart. But, word of advice? One small detail you may have overlooked?" She gestured with a hoof. "You seem to have left your autograph book and quill at home."

"Oh." The filly hunched. "I'm sorry! I need to ask Twilight's help. I wasn't sure the guards would let me come up here if I told them that."

Tempest eyed the filly coldly. "You have a name?"

"Bright Cut, ma'am."

"Well, Bright Cut... I am Commander Tempest, Twilight's personal guardian. And one thing you need to know about Twilight Sparkle, right off..."

Tempest paused for effect... then smirked.

"Asking is only the start with her."

Swinging the door fully open, Tempest nodded her head indulgently. "Come on in. Twilight's a little preoccupied at the moment, but you can wait upstairs with us."

Brightening up immediately, the filly readily trotted inside, then followed Tempest up the stairs to the workroom.

At the top of the stairs they found Sunset Shimmer, sitting at the main worktable. The flame-maned pony had her chin resting on her hooves, an amused look on her face. Hearing their approach, Sunset turned to look. Spotting Bright Cut, she nodded affably.

"Hey there, kiddo!" Then she held a hoof to her snout. "Shhh! You might enjoy this..."

On the other side of the table, in the open area in front of the library stacks, Starlight Glimmer was giving Trixie yet another lesson in spell-casting. This time it was self-levitation combined with autokinesis... in short, flying by magic.

"You're doing great, Trixie," The lavender, blue-maned unicorn hovered neatly in midair herself, horn glowing, enveloped in the light-blue shimmer of her magic. "Just keep it steady."

"Easy for you to say," Trixie grumbled. The cyan, white-maned showpony floated uneasily, a hoof pressed to her magician's hat, first careening left, then right, then rising, then falling, as she struggled to keep her own pink magic field stable about her. "How do you do it, Starlight?"

"Just remember what I told you: picture yourself standing somewhere nearby, and 'fly' yourself remotely from there. Like moving the apple earlier."

"The one that flew straight out the window?"

"Maybe not exactly like that. You just need to maintain a fixed frame of reference, and --"

"I'm trying, Starlight!" Trixie complained. "But whenever I turn, or even just look around, I get confused and do things backwards. And I can feel this eating up my reserves -- it takes so long to recharge! Are you sure this is necessary?"

"It is a power-hog, no question," Starlight said. "I can only keep it going this long myself because I have the reserves to burn. But being able to fly might be useful in a pinch, Trix. You never know what might unexpectedly turn up."

Unable to contain herself, Bright Cut looked eagerly at Sunset.

"Is that Twilight Sparkle?"

Starlight looked round in surprise. And so did Trixie... and the showpony immediately slewed unsteadily to one side. "Yahh! Starlight!"

"Easy, Trixie! Just compensate and steady yourself... but slowly! Don't overcompensate..."

It was too late. The showpony was already overbalancing the other way. She managed to catch herself, but then started toppling forwards. With a furious burst of power she caught herself again... and only wound up flinging herself backwards, completely out of control. She landed heavily amidst several stacks of books near the shelves, scattering them all around her.

She lay where she'd fallen, not even bothering to sit up.

"Ow," she grumbled. "Know what, Starlight? I think I prefer the Unicorn Escape. Being bound in chains, upside down over a vat of chocolate pudding? It'd hurt less."

Moondancer leaned around the bookshelf beside her, rolling her eyes in disgust. "Do you mind, Trixie? We only just got through organizing those!" Then the red-maned pony vanished back into the stacks.

Trixie looked up, scowling after her.

"Oh, don't worry! Trixie will be just fine. Thanks so much for asking!"

Hauling herself up, Trixie began disgustedly dusting off her magician's cloak and hat. "I don't see how I'll ever get this right."

Starlight landed neatly on her hooves, dousing her magic. "Well, it's like you say: the Great and Powerful Trixie..."

"... never gives up," Trixie wearily sing-songed, "the show must go on." Then she sighed. "Trixie does better with an audience she can bamboozle. And you just can't fool magic, Starlight!"

Then she looked down at Bright Cut, who had trotted over to apologize. "And who are you, anyways?" She quickly put up a hoof. "Wait! Do not tell me! Trixie shall divine the answer herself, using her awesome mentalist abilities."

Pressing her hooves to her temples, Trixie focused on Bright Cut at length, eyes narrowed, teeth grinding, whispering and muttering under her breath...

Then abruptly she gave it up, shrugging. "Nope. I got nothing." She waved a hoof airily. "I mean apart from your name being Bright Cut, or something like that, and the fact that you like peanut butter crackers almost as much as Trixie does, Trixie knows nothing whatever about you!"

She beamed proudly. And the filly stared at her, astonished.

"How did you know my name?"

Trixie smiled mysteriously. Then she pointed a hoof at the filly's cutie mark, a diamond-like gemstone. "There are only so many kinds of gem cuts," she said. "And I should know, I tried them all while crafting these." She tapped the cyan focus gemstone clipped to the collar of her magician's cape. "And you don't look like a Fancy Cut or whatever, so that narrows it down a bit."

"And how'd you know I like peanut butter crackers?"

Trixie eyed her sourly. "If you're going to grab something quick to eat, before rushing out of the house to look for your adoptive parents, you might want to wash your face first."

Bright Cut's eyes went wide. "Wait! How do you know I'm..."

"The way you're holding that." Trixie pointed at the gemstone clutched in Bright Cut's fetlock. "Like it's the one thing you're really sure of, and you never want to let it go." The showpony looked sad for a moment. "You remind Trixie of herself, in a way..." She harrumphed, and then went on. "And you wouldn't even be here, all by yourself, if you'd just gotten lost on the way to the candy store. You came here looking for help. And since you're alone, it must be something to do with your parents. Q.E.D.!" She grinned smugly. "Well, fortunately for you, you've come to the one... the only... the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie!"

The showpony flung up her hooves, invoking a small shower of fireworks.

Bright Cut's mouth hung open. She was utterly spellbound.

"Trixie..." Starlight warned. "You know Twilight worries when you do that indoors, around all this paper..."

"Not to worry, bestie! The Great and Powerful Trixie knows how to mete out her magic appropriately." Then she frowned. "It's using it in big gobs I seem to have so much trouble with."

Sunset trotted over to join them. "So, Bright Cut... is all that true? You came here looking for help finding your folks?"

"Uh huh." The filly hugged her gemstone. "When I got up this morning, they weren't there. I looked all through the house, and couldn't find them."

"Don't you have relatives?" Starlight asked. "Grandparents, maybe? Or aunts and uncles you could ask for help?"

Bright Cut shook her head. "Not here in Canterlot."

"What about friends of your parents?" Tempest suggested. "Neighbors you could go to, if something happened?"

"Not really. It's always been just Mom, Dad, and me at home."

"Wow," Sunset said. "That... sounds kinda lonely. Okay, so you couldn't find your folks. So then what happened?"

"I waited a while, hoping they'd come home. But they didn't, and I got scared. Then I came here, hoping that... well, maybe Twilight might be able to help."

"Help with what?" asked Twilight Sparkle. The lavender unicorn trotted out of the book stacks, with Moondancer and Spike right beside her. "Moondancer and I are still working out the new sortation order for the mythology shelves, but that can always wait. How can we help?"

Bright Cut curtseyed politely.

"Are you Princess Twilight, ma'am?"

"Well..." Twilight looked embarrassed. "Technically, I'm just an Acting Princess. So there's no need to bow or anything."

"Hey, don't run yourself down, Twi!" Spike said proudly. "Twilight's the closest thing we've got to an actual Princess around here!"

"Spike..."

"Well, it's true!" The dragon insisted.

Sunset smiled wryly at that. "Bright Cut is looking for her parents, who seem to be missing. She's wondering if we can help her find them."

The ponies looked at each other thoughtfully.

"Well..." Moondancer finally said, "it's certainly an unusual request, isn't it?"

Starlight nodded. "Definitely different from our normal line of work. I mean, saving Equestria and everything..."

Bright Cut's face fell. "I know..." she said sadly. "I'm sorry I bothered you with this..."

"Hey!" Starlight reached out a hoof to lift her chin. "You misunderstood me." She looked at the others. "I think it'd be a great way to show everypony we can handle the really important, everyday stuff too."

Sunset nodded. "It'd make a nice change from the usual magic-flinging weirdness. And it might even be a real challenge for once. Count me in!"

"Me too!" Moondancer said.

"Wow, thanks!" Bright Cut smiled up at them. "Oh! Can Trixie help, too?"

Trixie struck a pose, flourishing a hoof. "The Great and Powerful Trixie shall, as ever, be pleased to lend her inestimable assistance!"

"Don't mind her," Starlight said with a grin. "She does that -- a lot. And I'm in, too."

"We'll all be happy to help, Twilight said, smiling. "You can count on us."

"What about you, Tempest?" Sunset asked, looking at her.

Tempest shrugged. "If Twilight says we're in, then I'm in."

"And hey! Don't forget about me!" said Cheese Sandwich. He was suddenly standing right beside Tempest, with a grin a mile wide, making the armored pony snort in startled annoyance. "Because when we find your folks, Bright Cut, we're gonna want to celebrate... with a PARTYYY!"

Producing his accordion, Cheese started jigging around the room, making Bright Cut laugh out loud.

Tempest just rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "I wish he wouldn't do that."

"Whatsa matter, boss?" asked Grubber. The white-maned hedgehog trotted over to stand beside her, a cupcake sitting on one paw.

"One of these days, Grubber," Tempest growled softly, "that party pony is gonna get himself flattened. And it'll be all his own fault..."

"Ah, pardon me, Lord Notice... would you repeat that? I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

Dead silence fell in the Green Room. The Ladies, Lords, and other noble-ponies seated around the Royal Council table glanced at each other nervously. And then back at the tall, regal alicorn who'd spoken.

Council meetings with Her Highness were always a dicey affair. The sessions were held at the Princess's own invitation, and were as Celestia herself put it, a roundtable: an open forum for the airing of issues by the city's notables, its movers and shakers, thus allowing the Princess to make better-informed decisions. Or at least, to keep abreast of which way Canterlot high society was reeling madly this time.

Yet there was little doubt as to which pony was in charge of the proceedings. And none could say with any certainty that the rumors about running afoul of the Sun Princess's ire were entirely untrue. It was oft said of Princess Celestia, that just when you thought you'd finally got through the velvet glove to the iron hoof underneath, it was only because you'd totally neglected to consider the molten core that lurked within...

Still, a certain latitude was permitted in Council, to encourage honest opinion and open discussion. And few ponies so regularly and boldly pushed that latitude to its limits as the gray-coated, scowling Majority Leader.

"We think it prudent," Lord Notice said carefully, "to inquire further on the subject of this 'Advanced Projects' group Your Highness has founded. Merely to put to rest certain concerns, which I'm sure we all share." He glanced about the table self-importantly, as if daring the other Council members to contradict him.

And Celestia tilted her head, smiling thinly at him. Oh, that's not at all what you really meant, Sternly-Worded. But you're canny enough not to say it to my face...

"I had thought," she said lightly, "the main item on the agenda was these occasional unexplained tremors, which have been disturbing commerce and tourism in Canterlot? And the discussion of our plans for the investigation and mitigation of same?"

"We shall come to that, Highness, in due course," Lord Notice replied. "However, there are a few questions we feel should be settled concerning Miss Sparkle and her group. Merely to enlighten this august body as to the group's future direction and purpose, now the incipient Nightmare which required its formation has been brought to such a satisfactory resolution."

Is there a word for damning with multi-syllabic praise? Celestia idly wondered. Then she nodded indulgently.

"Proceed."

"Nopony here questions the group's bravery and quick thinking," Lord Notice said, with a complete lack of irony. "Still, the fact remains that they are barely young adults, little more than students. Though granted, students of Your Highness's fine institution for the care and education of the gifted."

Amusing, Celestia thought, how often the term 'gifted' is bandied about, in much the same fashion as one might say 'mentally deficient', or 'clinically insane'...

"We are pleased," she said aloud, "our educational efforts have instilled such maturity and acumen in our pupils. Twilight and her friends, in particular, display a remarkable responsibility and maturity for their years."

"And yet, Highness," intoned Chancellor Neighsay coldly, "it appears these students no longer attend classes." The goateed unicorn lofted a disapproving eyebrow. "There is no evident lesson plan or curriculum for the group. They appear in fact to have no oversight for their studies, of any kind."

"They are under my personal supervision," Celestia replied, "operating as a self-organized, independent study group, as permitted by Chapter Eighty-Four, Subsection Nineteen, of the E.E.A. guidelines." And doesn't it just rile you, the Princess added to herself, how I managed to sneak that little loophole into your doorstop of a rulebook?

"Still," Neighsay went on, "the group is permitted access to some of the most advanced and subtle spell texts available in the Archives. With a potentially dangerous lack of guidance and oversight thereof."

"Yet never without sufficient reason," Celestia countered. "And here again, they display an unusual care and restraint in the application of such resources as they do request." Celestia smirked. "How often, Chancellor, have your degree candidates required the rebuilding of the Magical Proving Grounds? I draw Council's attention to the fact that the tower presently occupied by Twilight and her group is still standing, and in full possession of its roof and all its windows."

There was polite laughter around the table. Neighsay looked sour at the jab, but didn't dignify it with a response.

"What mystifies me," grumbled blue-coiffured Lady Pince-Nez, "is this 'student group' seems to have no formal charter, no process for selection or membership. It seems to my eye entirely haphazard in its vetting and composition, Highness!"

And thus, Celestia translated, affords no clear avenue for you to wangle one of your own sterling wards into its august ranks? "The group's composition," the Princess said, "has of course been subject to the needs of the moment. And their method of selection is somewhat pragmatic and difficult to formalize. Yet they have chosen their own, by the measures and means most appropriate to the group's requirements."

In other words, Celestia added to herself with a twinkling eye, there's an opening for any student to join... provided they can show they fit in and can keep up with Twilight and her companions...

"What worries me, rather," said debonair, monacled Fancy Pants, "is that these young gels are so excessively lionized by the common folk. The Heroes of Equestria, I believe they're called. Well, it might just turn their young heads, what? They might end up being warped by the very fame and power accorded to them. Might become a little too overconfident, a little too arrogant. And then be unprepared to deal with failure, when it all comes crashing down upon them."

Finally, Celestia thought. A pony with actual concern for the group's well-being. Even if it is couched in the limited, patronizing mindset of privilege and class-consciousness...

"The group demonstrates full awareness of the importance of their role," she said. "And I am continually impressed by their capacity for critical self-assessment. They know their limits. They have no illusions about their capabilities, even as they strive to exceed and improve them. And they do not seek fame and power for its own sake. They seem in fact entirely focused on learning, on discovery, on being ready to help others. They are quite entitled to be thought of as heroes, in the very best sense of the word."

"Well, that's all well and good, Highness," said dark-maned, cardiganed Jet Set. "But as I was saying to my wife, Upper Crust, only the other day..." He beamed proudly at her. "... well, some of these youngsters have really checkered pasts, don't they? I mean, that showpony one -- a common conjurer! How did she manage to get into a School for Gifted Unicorns in the first place?"

"And," added Lord Notice, "this Tempest Shadow, who I might venture to add you've seen fit to grant authority over our entire Guard command structure! Well, rumor has it that prior to this she was little more than a common sneak-thief, a refugee from the rat-warrens of Klugetown."

"And Miss Shimmer!" Pince-Nez said sourly. "Oh my! The little dear just swanks about the School for months, expecting everything to be hoofed to her on a gilded platter. Then she ups and disappears, no reason given. And years later, after who knows what sort of gallivanting about, she turns up again expecting to be readmitted to the finest institution in the land, as if she'd done nothing untoward in the meantime. Hah!"

Only a thousand years of stern practice kept Celestia firmly seated, a gently indulgent look on her face. Especially at that slur about Sunset!

"Variety is the spice of life," Celestia said tightly. "And one of the purposes of the School is to cultivate expertise, even in the most unusual and unexpected of places. Commander Tempest, in particular -- as I have noted before, she has uncommon skills for organization and quick-thinking in a crisis. These simply needed a proper outlet. As for the rest... well, suffice it to say I have full confidence in the group's dedication, their ability to rise to any occasion, fulfilling their important role in Equestria's future."

"And... what is that role, Your Majesty?" asked Joan Pommelway. Despite lack of title or noble background, the caramel-maned Manehattan socialite somehow managed to be a dominating presence in any gathering she was party to. "As I understand it, Miss Sparkle has been declared an 'Acting Princess'... er, what does that even mean?"

Celestia relaxed a little, smiling. "Whatever it has to, given the circumstances. Though it is a fair point of discussion. Unusual times call for unusual measures, and Twilight and her friends have been faced with many extraordinary duties and challenges to date. And have, in my view, acquitted themselves admirably throughout. I have merely granted to Twilight -- and by extension her group -- a level of authority concomitant with those responsibilities. I would not have it that, were the defense of Equestria to hang in the balance, it be through lack of access or outright denial of some resource I myself might freely authorize."

"Yes, but does this put Miss Sparkle in line of succession?" Pommelway persisted. "Will she be holding Court? Does she have authority to hear and grant petitions? And over what dominion, Your Highness, does her authority extend?"

Oh Me, Celestia thought. It's Cadance all over again. But let's be fair. It's not really your fault is it, Joan? You're merely trying to understand precisely how you can set yourself up as Twilight's social secretary...

"Ultimately," she temporized, "a Princess is as a Princess does -- even an Acting Princess. And Twilight has shown herself more than equal to the tasks set her. The most important of which has been the parlaying of the fame and attention she and her friends have garnered, as Heroes of Equestria, into a solid resource for the reassurance and encouragement of the populace. She and her friends give ponies confidence that Equestria is and shall be defended, come what may."

"But are you anticipating trouble, Princess?" Hoity Toity asked languidly. The white-maned tastemaker nonchalantly adjusted his starched cuffs. "I would have thought, now that the Nightmare is over and done with --"

"With the conclusion of the thousandth Sun Celebration," Celestia interrupted, softly but firmly, "and the safe return of my dear sister Luna, a prophecy was fulfilled: a prophecy of a thousand years of peace and prosperity for Equestria. And while I would always hope for more of the same, the Pax Millennia speaks only of what is behind us, not of what lies ahead. Hence, it would seem wise to prepare for whatever may face us now. And having such a capable team already available, a team as skilled and comfortable in working together as Twilight and her friends are, it would seem unwise to want to disband them quite so hastily."

"But, ah... Your Highness..." Lord Notice noted darkly, "is that decision entirely yours to make?"

Ah... Celestia thought. Now we get to it, the real concern.

"However do you mean, Lord Notice?"

"This student group," Notice said, "is in possession of a magic weapon of extraordinary power. In fact," he added cautiously, "it has been rumored, in some quarters, that its power may equal or even exceed your Highness's own..."

Celestia eyed him levelly.

"The Field of Harmony," she said, "which Twilight and her friends have created together, is a tool. One of great power, yes, and were it simply a magical artifact or other brute construct, even I might question its use. Yet the Field is powered by something even greater than magic: friendship. The friendship that Twilight and her companions share. You cannot separate them from it, cannot take it from them. And asking them not to wield it, why... you might just as well be asking the Sun not to shine, Lord Notice..."

And if there was the merest hint of a flickering gleam in Celestia's steady gaze, it was probably just a trick of the light.

Lord Notice cleared his throat uncomfortably. Still, he was not a pony known for backing down, even while sawing off the branch he was standing on. "Nevertheless, Highness, it should be considered that extremes of power of whatever sort attract attention, sometimes unwanted attention. And whatever its values and merits, possession of such a powerful magical... instrument, shall we say? Well... it invites trouble, does it not? And should this not suggest taking care in its use, and applying more direct, well-considered oversight over Miss Sparkle and her friends?"

Despite her irritation at his proposed meddling, Celestia nodded ruefully. "If I knew for sure what lay ahead, I might almost agree with you. Yet even I cannot foretell the future. And I trust Twilight and her friends to make the right choices, both on their behalf and on ours. They are creative, self-motivated, and responsible well beyond their years. They are more than capable of dealing with the power and fame that has been thrust upon them."

"But dash it all, Highness," Fancy Pants said gently. "Shouldn't you at least be offering them a smidgeon more direction and guidance?"

"To be honest," Celestia replied, "I try to interfere as little as I can. I oversee their studies. I provide guidance when they ask it. Yet I allow them to set their own agenda, to follow their own noses, and seek their own answers. Because, ultimately..."

She glanced around the table, her voice flat and incontrovertible.

"Where trouble goes, heroes follow... if you only let them."

Just then, the room shuddered gently. It was a minor thing, the merest of tremblors. If you'd been out on the city's busy streets you might not even have noticed it. Yet for a city perched on platforms cantilevered out from the face of a mountainside, hundreds of lengths above the plains below, it was decidedly unsettling.

"Now," Celestia went on, for once welcoming the distraction, "if we might return to the main point of discussion? I have requested Flying Buttress, our Chief Architect, to give us a brief overview of her research into, and inspections of, the city's foundations."

As the wavy-maned, dirty-smocked earth-pony efficiently unrolled a wrinkled and faded parchment blueprint, and dove into a near-incomprehensible blizzard of engineering terminology concerning the royal city and the cantilevered platforms on which it stood, Celestia gazed upwards at the nearest of the room's windows, set high in the wall.

Through it, a scant vista of blue, cloud-filled sky was visible.

The most powerful pony in Equestria sighed, wearily and forlornly.

Prove me right, Twilight, she thought. Show them that you and your friends are already on this, that you already have matters well in hoof...

Bright Cut's home turned out to be on the inner edge of Middle Canterlot, near the looming wall of the mountain peak. This far from the city center the houses were spread out along a winding stretch of road, with generous rear yards fronting onto the granite heights themselves.

"This is so cool!" Bright Cut gasped, as she trotted along in the middle of the group, "I never had a Royal Guard escort, well... anyplace!"

"One of the perks of being the pony in charge," Tempest said smugly. "Plus if any local constables wander by, wanting to know what we're up to, the guards can run interference for us."

"Shouldn't we have asked them to look for Bright Cut's parents too?" Starlight asked. "You know, put out an APB... or whatever?"

"You've been watching too many gangster movies." Tempest looked at Bright Cut. "What do you think? Would you want your folks taken into custody and dragged back here in chains, just because they took a little too long at the grocery store?"

"No! Not at all!" Bright Cut looked shocked. "I just... hope they're all right, that's all."

Sunset smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure they feel the same about you."

"Here we are!" Twilight said brightly, and knocked on the front door of the two-story cottage. When there was no answer, she unlatched it with her magic and swung it open.

"Hello the house!" she called into the echoing stillness. "Anypony home?"

Hearing no reply, she led the way in, and the ponies crowded into the small living room in front. "Okay," Twilight said. "Her parents still don't seem to be home yet. Bright Cut, are you sure you don't know where they might have gone? Like, maybe they went on an early morning walk? Or an urgent errand? They didn't leave a note, did they?"

The filly just shook her head sadly.

"All right, then," Twilight went on, "we'll just have to figure out where they've gone. We should split up, search the house for clues."

"Do you think we ought to be just barging in and rummaging around like this?" Moondancer asked. "Aren't we trespassing?"

"I don't see we have much choice," Twilight replied. "We need some kind of hint as to where to look for them. But we'll take care not to make a mess, leave things as we find them. And just so we're not all going through really private stuff, Moondancer, why don't you handle any diaries, journals, and letters we find? Collect them from everypony, see what you make of them."

Moondancer nodded. "Okay."

"We should check for magic traces," Starlight suggested, tapping her horn. "See what spells, if any, have been fired off recently. They may be faint, so we should divvy that up between us, just so we don't miss something."

"Makes sense," Sunset said. "I can do that while searching upstairs."

"And Spike and I can check around down here," Twilight said. "Oh, wait... Bright Cut, is there a cellar?"

"Yeah -- the door's right over there." She pointed a hoof.

"Then I'll take the cellar!" Starlight said gamely.

"Grubber and I will check the yard," Tempest said. "Particularly the area out back." She shrugged. "You never know. We might find something."

"And if you'd like," Cheese offered, "I can trot around to some of the neighboring homes, ask whether anypony's seen or heard of Bright Cut's parents lately. That way, it won't seem so much like an official inquiry."

"Thanks, Cheese -- that'll help," Sunset replied. "And let's all plan on regrouping here in say, half an hour? If we don't turn up anything sooner?"

The others nodded.

"All right, everypony!" Twilight said proudly. "Let's move out!"

The ponies quickly scattered, disappearing in all directions... leaving Trixie and Bright Cut standing by themselves in the living room.

Bright Cut peered up at her. "What're you gonna do, Trixie?"

"Huh!" The showpony crossed her forehooves impatiently. "Clearly they've left you with me, expecting me to look after you and keep you entertained. But Trixie doesn't do babysitting. In fact, Trixie feels like doing a little investigation of her own. What do you say?"

Bright Cut nodded readily.

"Well, then! Trixie's unerring investigative sense tells her we should begin..." She pointed at a door at random. "There!"

Bright Cut looked confused. "In the kitchen?"

"Er... yes! That is exactly where Trixie feels we should begin. Come!"

With a flourish of her magician's cape, the showpony stalked across the room and shoved through the swinging door.

"Are you all right, Flying Buttress?"

"Ahem... I think so, Your Highness."

"It's good of you to come inspect the platforms with me. I value your expertise in this."

"It's good of you, Highness," the architect replied, "to offer the use of your chariot and team like this. I feel quite the royal meself! That is, provided I don't look down..." The earth-pony gripped the chariot's railing and took a couple of steadying breaths, her eyes tight shut. Then she looked up again, at the massive network of supporting beams, spread out beneath the city's platforms like the veins of a huge leaf. "Fell off a ladder once, as a filly. And I spend most of my workday behind a desk. Still, I don't have a problem with heights, you see, nearly so much as with depths..."

Celestia nodded patiently. Her massive wings flapping gently, the Princess held station beside the chariot platform, waiting as Buttress had a careful stare at the section they were under. The architect reached up with a long pole, rapping it several times against the underside of one of the main beams.

"Seems solid enough, Highness. Same as with the others. So it's not a defect in the design, or cracking in the support spans. Not a flaw in the lot, really, as you might expect with magically-reinforced concrete. The magic renews the concrete and metal core, the cladding limits magic leakage. And by the records it's been topped up every quarter, right on schedule. So it's not shoddy maintenance, either."

Celestia sighed. "Not that I'd want that to be the cause. Still, it would be such a simple thing to rectify, wouldn't it?"

"It's often the way, Highness," Buttress replied sagely. "You prepare for all the easy things, so in the end you're left with something intractably difficult as the real problem."

"Indeed." Celestia gazed up at the platforms herself. "I was a little concerned, what with all the magic flying around up there during the Sun Celebration, that maybe..."

Buttress shook her head. "I shouldn't think so, Highness. The city is half-magic itself, and it's stood the test of time for well over a millennium. It'd take something a lot stronger and more persistent to bother this lot. I wouldn't worry myself about that."

Celestia nodded. "Thank you, Buttress. It's a relief to hear you say that. Are you up to inspecting a few more locations? And then I hope you'll allow me to offer you lunch at the Palace, as a thank-you for your time."

"Much obliged, Your Highness," Flying Buttress somehow managed a ballet-like curtsey while still maintaining an iron grip on the chariot's railing. "I always like to do a thorough job, no matter what the occasion."

They continued on to the next area of the main platform, with Flying Buttress keeping her attention fixed firmly on the beams and supports passing by overhead.

And Celestia, still looking troubled, kept further concerns to herself...

A light shudder passed through the floorboards of the upstairs bedroom, causing Sunset Shimmer to pause in her inspection, glancing about uneasily. Then shaking her head, she turned to the closet and hauled open its door.

And stared.

"Who in the world needs this many gumboots?" she muttered.

"Did you feel that tremor, just now?"

"Hey, Moon-Moon." Sunset brought over a chair and hopped up on it to have a look at the upper shelf. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing to worry about. By the way, I found a diary in the dresser over there. I left it out for you."

"Thanks!" Moondancer scooped it up with a hoof. "Well, it's just that these tremors, or whatever they are... they've been happening more often lately. Shouldn't we be looking into that?"

"I'm sure Princess Celestia's already on it." Sunset rummaged around in a box on the shelf. "And if it was serious enough that she needed our help, she'd have called us in, right?" Pulling out a helmet with a lamp on it, she slapped it on her head. "What do you think, huh? Does this look suit me? Always wanted to be a coal miner's daughter!"

Moondancer grinned at that... and then the grin slowly faded.

"Sunset, do you mind if I ask you something? Maybe something personal?"

"Ask away."

"Do you ever feel, I dunno... jealous?"

"About what?"

"Well, about Twilight? About her being treated like a Princess instead of you?"

"Nah!" Sunset waved a hoof. Then she paused, looking thoughtful. "Well... no, that's not quite true. It does hurt a little, every now and then. But it's nothing to do with Twilight. She's way better at being a Princess than me."

"How so?"

"Well... you might have noticed, I've got a bit of a temper on me. I'm a lot less patient than she is, for one thing."

"I don't think you're like that!"

Sunset grinned. "That's 'cause you're seeing nice me, right now. Wait till I've lost five straight games of Turbo Speed Cart. Uh, no... on second thought you don't wanna see that. I break things."

Moondancer said nothing, but she still looked uncomfortable. Putting the helmet back in the box, Sunset hopped down from the chair and came over to put a hoof around her shoulders.

"Hey, what brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Not sure." The beige pony shrugged. "I guess I just worry that I'm not being as good a friend as I should be. You know, hauling my nose out of the books, being there for others, listening when they need it? You always listen to me when I'm worried about stuff. I just... didn't want you feeling like you had to keep it bottled up, if something was bothering you."

Sunset smiled. "That's sweet of you, Moon-Moon! But I'm okay, really. If I am bothered by anything, it's not Twilight, It's me. And it's my own darn fault." Sunset shrugged. "I had my chance, as Celestia's student, and I blew it -- big time! I'm just lucky Twilight and the rest of you needed me enough to haul me out of the hole I'd dug myself into. But we're a team now, and I'm part of that. And if there's anything I can do to help make that work, that's fine by me. I'm totally cool with that."

Moondancer nodded. "I wish I was half as sensible as you are about things, Sunset. I think you'd have made a great Princess, actually."

"Hey, thanks!" Sunset shrugged. "And you never know, maybe someday I'll earn my stripes again. Weirder things have happened, right?"

Moondancer grinned in reply. Then she looked at the diary she was holding. "You... didn't happen to come across the key to this, did you?"

"Not yet. But if we don't find it, just give it to Trixie. She'll have it open in two shakes." Sunset grinned. "That, or we'll come back around dinner time and find her attacking it with a crowbar!"

They both laughed at that. Then they split up again, and went back to the search.

Tempest Shadow felt the tremor too, as she stood behind the cottage and looked out on its expansive, unkempt back yard. Being of a practical turn of mind, and there being nothing immediate she could do about it, she merely filed it away for future consideration.

A Guard officer, a gray-eyed Junior Lieutenant, trotted up to her. "All quiet, Commander!" He snapped off an exuberant salute. "We're posted front and back, and overhead, though we're keeping out of sight just like you asked."

"Good to hear," Tempest said, not even looking at him. "Just keep any curious onlookers out of our manes for now. Twilight and the others can focus better when they're not being pestered by overexcited fans."

"Yes, ma'am!" The Lieutenant grinned. "Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what's it like, huh?"

"Hmmm?"

"Working with Miss Sparkle? Being one of the Heroes of Equestria? Must be a heck of a job, eh? Really challenging, right?"

Tempest eyed him dourly. Ponies like you used to run ponies like me in -- or tried to, anyway. How times change.

"Actually, it's surprisingly light work."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah," Tempest said casually. "I mean, how can they assign you things to do..." She suddenly fixed the Guard with a dark, intense gaze. "... when they have no idea what sort of all-powerful Nightmare out of Equestria's past you might have to deal with next, hmm?"

"Woah..." The guard gulped, wide-eyed. Then he quickly recovered. "Hey, you know, Ma'am, there's a rumor amongst the Guard, that Celestia's gonna make Twilight an alicorn Princess herself someday? And give her a dominion of her own to rule?"

"I'm... not sure it works like that," Tempest said. "You probably have to pass a bunch of trials or something first, like Clover the Clever."

"Yeah, but... Twilight can handle that, easy! Everypony talks about how brilliant she is! And she'll probably want you in charge of her Guard, too. That'll be epic!"

"I'm already in charge of the Guard," Tempest replied coolly. "Or hadn't you noticed?"

"Oh! Yes, Ma'am!" He added a salute for good measure. "But... do you think it's likely to happen? Twilight being made an alicorn Princess some day? Us in the ranks, like... well, we kinda got a bet going..."

Tempest scowled at him.

"I think," she said icily, "that Twilight Sparkle will end up being exactly the kind of pony she wants to be." Her eyes narrowed. "At least she will if I have anything to say about it. You read me, mister?"

The guard drew back nervously. "Er... yes, Ma'am!"

"Hmph. Isn't there a bush or something you should be guarding?"

"Uh... right away, Commander!" Saluting quickly, the Lieutenant turned and headed off towards the shrubbery at top speed.

"Heh, heh!" Grubber grinned up at Tempest. "You enjoy doing that, don't ya, boss?"

Tempest turned her attention back to the yard. With a smirk.

"Oh yeah. Like I said, it's one of the perks of being the pony in charge. Plus, it's so satisfying when they look like somepony I remember..."

Then she fell silent, staring out at the unkempt yard, with its tall grasses and wildflowers. Grubber kept silent too, knowing that look -- she was casing the place, intuiting by experience exactly where to look for the box behind a wall-board, or the sack under the mattress. Following trails ponies didn't even realize they'd left, being so accustomed to them.

"Grubber," Tempest finally said.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Go see if you can find us a shovel."

Grubber's eyes went wide. "Woah! You, uh, think there might be dead ponies out there or something?"

She eyed him. "Or buried treasure. Try to look on the bright side. After all, we are the good guys now."

"Oooh, yeah! The rich stuff!" The hedgehog rubbed his paws. "Just like old times, hey?"

"Yeah... just like old times." Tempest looked uncomfortable. Then she glared down at him. "Why are you still here? Get!"

"You got it, boss!" Grubber saluted sloppily, then turned and hustled off, heading back towards the house. And Tempest kept gazing out at the yard, a concerned look on her face. Then she shook her head.

I belong here, she reminded herself. I have a place now. And I'm not going to give that up, not ever...

The Great and Powerful Trixie stood at length, in baffled silence, staring around at the cottage's small but full-featured kitchen.

The pine-topped dining table was covered with notes and sketches. The countertops near the sink held buckets of stone fragments and mineral samples, plus brushes and drying racks. And the entire room had a grungy, practical, workshop feel to it. Doubtfully, Trixie trotted over to the sink and lifted a hunk of granite from one of the buckets.

"Are your parents earth ponies, by chance?" She made a face. "Only they can stomach these gut-bombs."

"Dad is," Bright Cut replied, seating herself on a chair at the table. "But Mom's a pegasus! She likes to say we're a three-tribe family."

"Uh huh." Trixie nodded distractedly. Then she looked sad for a moment. "Trixie's mother was an earth pony..."

"Was she nice?"

"I, uh... didn't know her all that long." Falling silent, Trixie began hauling open drawers and cabinets, fishing through them with a hoof, then slamming them shut.

Worried that she might have offended the showpony, Bright Cut thought for a bit, then went on. "Mom and Dad are geologists!"

"Really," Trixie replied scornfully. "And gemologists?" Reaching toward a bucket of unfinished gemstones on the counter, she scooped one up and examined it. "This is a terrible cut! Trixie can do a lot better."

"Mom and Dad just dig 'em up and study them. See?" Bright Cut pointed at the sketches and charts on the table. Trixie came over to look at them with her. "They polish them a bit, then sell them, to the ponies who make the jewelry for the shops on Diamond Avenue."

"And I suppose that's how you came by your little trinket?" Trixie pointed at the gemstone Bright Cut was holding.

The filly nodded. "When I first came to live here, I was a little scared. Mom gave me this because I thought it was beautiful. And, well... I hung onto it, because it reminds me how safe I feel with them." She hugged the gem tightly. "You know," she added, "if I hold it to my ear, sometimes I think I can hear Mom and Dad talking to me?"

Trixie rolled her eyes. "That's adorable."

Bright Cut suddenly looked frightened. "We are gonna find them, aren't we?"

Trixie cleared her throat, uncomfortable at having to provide reassurance rather than distraction. "If I know Twilight Sparkle, we will. Once that pony sets her mind to something, she doesn't quit. But it's probably nothing," she went on breezily. "They may have got distracted, working on some project or other, and lost track of time. Or got held up paying a parking ticket. Or they might --"

She abruptly fell silent. A loud clatter had sounded from behind a door on the far side of the room.

Trixie and Bright Cut looked at each other. Then Trixie gulped nervously, tip-hoofed over to the door, and flung it open.

And found Grubber sitting in the middle of the pantry floor, a bucket over his head and brooms, mops, and other tools scattered around him like jackstraws.

"Grubber!" Trixie demanded. "What are you doing in here? I thought you were with Tempest."

"Yeah, uh... the boss sent me to find a shovel." The hedgehog pulled the bucket off his head and flung it aside. "But all they got in the cabinet there is cleaning supplies."

"Uh huh." Trixie eyed him knowingly. "And you weren't at all interested in checking for stray baked goods, were you?"

"Who, me? Nah!" Hopping up, Grubber clambered up onto the shelf below the upper cupboards. "Just... lookin' for shovels, that's all."

Trixie sniffed. "Don't they usually keep tools like that in a back shed?"

"Yeah, I guess." Grubber hauled open a cupboard door, and then gasped. "Oh, hey! Would you look at this!" He pulled out a small tray of frosted cakes. "Now this is culinary art, I'm tellin' you!"

"Uhh," Bright Cut warned, "those are rock-cakes. You might not want to..."

But Grubber had already picked one up and bitten down on it -- with a sound like a chisel striking marble tile.

"Ow!" He stared at the cake in injured surprise. "Who the hay puts frosting on rocks?"

Trixie pointed at the back door. "Out!"

"But..."

"Shovels! Get! Now!" Trixie crossed her forehooves, glowering at him. "The Great Trixie... has... spoken!"

"Aw, geez..." Grubber looked downhearted. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Putting the tray back in the cupboard, he shut it, then hopped down and hustled out through the back door, slamming it behind him.

Shaking her head, Trixie fired up her horn, levitating the scattered brooms and buckets and shoving them back in the cabinet, then shutting its doors. "You gotta be strict with him," she told Bright Cut. "He'll be gnawing on the furniture next. Now, let's have another look at those sketches."

They returned to the kitchen table.

"A-ha!" Spike said. "I knew I'd find you in the study."

"Spike," Twilight retorted, "I only came in here because it's a likely place to find letters, bills, ledgers..."

"And books?" Spike gestured at the loaded shelves circling the room. Then he jumped up onto the desk to sit at her elbow.

"Yeah, well." With her magic, Twilight gently tugged a stack of letters from one of the desk's small nooks and sifted through them. "Did you find anything in the den?"

"Yep, I found this!" He held up a silver photograph frame. In it there was a photo of a dappled earth pony and a silver-pinioned pegasus. The pegasus was wearing a bridal gown, the earth pony a black top-hat and bow-tie.

"Good job, Spike!" Twilight said. "Now at least we know what they look like." Taking the photo in her hooves, Twilight looked at it closely... and her expression suddenly turned troubled.

"What's the matter, Twi?"

"I was just thinking," she said, "about Cadance and Shining Armor. They still haven't set a date yet. Cadance keeps saying she doesn't feel the time is right. And she can't say why."

"You think... maybe it's not working out?"

"I hope not, Spike. They're so perfect for each other." Sighing, she put the picture on the desk, and went back to sorting the letters. "I wish there was something I could do. But I know I shouldn't meddle. This is for them to work out, however they can."

Looking up, Twilight stared out through the window behind the desk.

"I wonder if this is what it's like for Princess Celestia? Like, there's things she could do, if only she knew what to do. And not knowing what to do, she's forced to do nothing?"

"But she always figures it out, right?" Spike said. "She always seems to know just what to do, when the time comes."

"She told me once," Twilight replied, "that half a Princess's job is restraint: keeping herself from doing the wrong thing, just by doing anything too soon. And the other half is rushing around madly, trying to get everything done that she should have done a long time ago!"

Shoving the letters back in their slot, she put her elbows on the desk and her snout in her hooves.

"And she's made me an Acting Princess. So it's up to me to figure out which is which, what to do and what not to do. And not just for myself. I have to make sure that we're all doing the right thing..."

"You can do it, Twilight." Spike reached out to put a comforting claw on her shoulder. "Everypony listens to you, because they know when you have something to say, it's the right thing to say. Because you've thought it out so thoroughly. Right?"

Twilight said nothing. Spike followed her gaze, and saw she was looking out through the window behind the desk, at the rear yard. To where Tempest Shadow was stalking about, her head swinging back and forth as she combed through the tall grass.

And every now and then, the black-armored pony looked up, back at the house... at Twilight, sitting in the study window, making sure she was safe.

"Hmm," Twilight said idly. "Maybe I should have let Tempest search the house? She'd probably do a better job of it than any of us."

Spike sat back, a troubled look on his small face.

"Uhh... Twilight," he said at last, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Spike." She looked at him. "What?"

"Do you like Tempest more than me?"

"What?" Twilight stared. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"

"Well... she's always around, and you ask her advice on lots of stuff. And you and I don't seem to talk as much as we used to..."

"Spike..." Twilight put a comforting hoof around him. "Tempest is, well, she's kind of like a big sister to me. And you're kind of like my little brother. So naturally I talk to each of you about different things. That doesn't mean I like either of you better. I talk with Tempest about stuff she's good at, like security for the team, and strategy, and grownup-pony advice, that kind of thing. And I talk with you about stuff that you're really good at."

Spike still looked downcast. Twilight poked him in the chest. "Hey, who helped me when I was stuck finding the right words for that thank-you letter to the gang in Ponyville, huh?"

"Me," Spike said, looking up.

"And who helped me figure out exactly the right gift for Shining Armor? For whenever we throw his bachelor party?"

"That would be me!" Spike agreed, grinning.

"And who -- mind you, who," Twilight added, "makes the best whole-wheat flapjacks with just a touch of honey? Just how I like them?"

Spike beamed proudly. "Me again!"

"Right! And who am I talking to right now, about how much your company and advice always means to me, Spike?"

"Aw..." Spike looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, Twi! I guess I just get a little worried sometimes. Like, that one day you might not need me anymore."

"Not on your life, buster," Twilight replied. "We're a team, and that's not gonna change. It's you and me."

"And Tempest too?" Spike added, fairly.

Twilight nodded. "And Tempest too. You know, I'm really lucky having the two of you looking out for me." She sighed, and turned back to the desk's cubby-holes. "While I try to figure out what the hay to do about this mess..."

Pulling out the letters again, she skimmed through them, and selected the most recent ones. "Here, Spike, would you find Moondancer and give these to her?"

"Sure thing!" Spike grabbed them, grinning. "And thanks, Twilight!"

She grinned in return. "Right back at ya, Number One Assistant!"

"The cellar..." Starlight Glimmer muttered, her horn glowing to provide some extra light in the musty dimness. "Why did I pick the cellar, again?"

She poked around amongst the boxes piled to one side of the room, finding nothing that had been opened or even moved in seemingly years. Then she moved over to the other side, where there was a worktable in an alcove behind the furnace.

Scattered across its plywood surface were fragments and shavings of gemstones. There were more of them littered across the hard-packed dirt floor, which she avoided treading on as best she could. In the worktable's vice was a freshly-polished gemstone, cutting tools scattered all about it.

Staring at it, Starlight grinned. Maybe we should have had Trixie check the cellar? This setup looks just like her crafting table, back at the workroom.

Then Starlight saw, tacked up on the corkboard behind the workbench, an elderly, faded map sketched on parchment. Even without reading the neatly-lettered legend she could tell it wasn't a horizontal plan, but a vertical schematic: a map of a set of tunnels underground.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Resting her forehooves on the workbench, Starlight used her magic to untack the map and bring it down, so she could take a closer look. "The only question is... where?"

Several locations were marked and annotated on the map, in a progression running ever deeper. But there was nothing on the map to indicate where the tunnel system was located. Or even where the entrance was within it.

As Starlight was examining the map, a light tremor shook the floor under her hooves. The low-watt electric bulb over the workbench swung gently, its light flickering a bit. Starlight glanced up at it, ready to ramp up her luminance spell if it went out. When it appeared steady once again, she returned her attention to the map.

Or at least, she tried to. For some reason she found herself momentarily distracted, thinking back to the moment when Bright Cut had spoken up back at the workroom:

Is that Twilight Sparkle?

Starlight grimaced. She'd been getting a lot of that lately. Ponies running up to her in the street, asking for her autograph, thinking she was Twilight. When she took her turn going to the stationary store for quills or ink, the junior clerks sometimes greeted her by Twilight's name. Even her own friends, seeing her from a distance or from the back in a dark aisle of the library, would mistake her for Twilight.

She scowled, tensely.

It's not my fault Twilight and I are so alike in mane and coat coloring! she thought. Or that everypony seems to know her name, but nopony seems to remember mine!

Deliberately calming herself down, Starlight tried as usual to see the lighter side of it. She'd joked with Twilight off and on about being her stand-in or stunt double. And Tempest had once suggested they might use the similarity to advantage, having Starlight pose as Twilight if the situation called for it.

At which, Starlight had opened a book and held it in front of her face. "How do I look?" she'd asked. "Close enough?"

And there was that time, Starlight thought, that the three of us were looking up spell references over at the Archives. Moondancer had looked down the long aisle and called out Twilight's name, for the third time straight that morning. And Starlight had simply grinned back mischievously and said, "Nope, me again!"

Moondancer had face-hoofed in response, and felt utterly mortified all afternoon. To the point that Starlight finally suggested they go get ice cream together, just to smooth things over.

Starlight smiled, thinking about that.

At least it's my friends making those kinds of mistakes, she thought. And they care enough to worry about how I feel about it. And who knows? Maybe someday I'll make a name for myself. And then nopony will ever mistake me for Twilight again...

But for right now, Starlight reminded herself firmly, I've got a job to do.

Starlight focused on the map, looking for some clue as to where the tunnel system was, or what the various annotated locations represented. There were some faded numbers down at the bottom, in a different color of ink, which might have been a survey listing or a catalog number. Might be worth checking with the Archives, she thought. To see if they have any other maps with similar reference numbers, or if --

Starlight suddenly paused, and slowly lowered the map. She stared around the cellar, feeling both startled and worried.

She could hear voices.

Whispering, muttering voices, just on the edge of audibility. And they weren't coming from upstairs...

... but from somewhere down here...

Rolling up the map, Starlight gently set it on the worktable where it would be easy to grab. Then she turned and looked round, trying to place the source of the low murmuring, which was already fading to silence. Finally she traced it to a cabinet on the wall nearby. Edging over, she cautiously unlatched the doors, then swung them open.

And stared at several rows of shelves set with samples of crystal and gemstones. Some were rough-cut, some polished, some were still just glistening shards embedded in rock and dirt.

Starlight listened carefully, but heard nothing now. It was just a bunch of shelves, full of mineral and gem samples.

But she was certain the sound had come from here.

"Greaaat..." she muttered. "Now I get to tell all my friends about how I'm suddenly hearing things..."

She shook her head, and shut the cabinet, then returned to the workbench to continue perusing the map.

And then looked up, at a loud thump from directly overhead.

"Trixie..." she muttered to herself. "What are you doing up there?"

The showpony looked over the edge of the table, at the book that had fallen to the floor when she'd tugged at one of the larger charts spread on the tabletop.

She picked it up with her magic. "What's this?"

"Oh!" Bright Cut pointed at it. "That's Mom's journal, where she logs her research notes and stuff. She told me it's real important to write down what you find out and when, so you don't forget when you write about it later."

"Really." Trixie paged through it idly. "Yeah, looks like a bunch of numbers and academic mumbo-jumbo in here. Bleah!"

Trixie knew she should pass the journal on to Moondancer. But it was the closest thing to a real clue that she herself had found. So she went on skimming through it, hoping something in it would make sense to her.

Trying to be helpful, Bright Cut shuffled through the sketches on the table with her hooves. But she quickly gave it up, not knowing what she was looking for. Then she picked up her gem again, hugging it for reassurance.

She looked up at the showpony.

"Can you do lots of magic spells, Trixie?"

Trixie looked down at her. And clapped the journal shut.

"Does Celestia raise the Sun and the Moon?" she asked loftily. "Huh! Not only is Trixie an expert performer of stage magic, she has also been studying the intricate and subtle arts of structured magic! Don't believe Trixie? Clearly, Trixie shall have to demonstrate..."

The showpony glanced around, hoping for inspiration. Then, moving to a cupboard, she reached inside and rummaged around for a bit.

"Have you ever," she asked, "heard of the marshmallow test?"

She brought out a single white, puffy marshmallow and held it up on a hoof. Bright Cut stared at it, entranced, then shook her head.

"It goes like this," Trixie said. "You can have one marshmallow now." She put it on the table in front of Bright Cut. "Or, if you can wait and avoid eating it for fifteen minutes, you can have two. It's basically a test," Trixie added, with a shrug. "Of delayed gratification, or something sciencey like that."

She looked from the marshmallow to Bright Cut. And then grinned. "Of course, Trixie herself could never wait that long. Nor need she -- observe!"

Weaving her hooves in mystic passes, Trixie fired up her horn, and cast. And suddenly, there were two marshmallows sitting on the table.

"Wow!" Bright Cut said. "That's amazing!"

"Hah!" Trixie shrugged, with her horn still glowing -- and her focus gem, as well. "A trivial test of Trixie's skills! Trixie plans to add many similar tricks to her repertoire. Then ponies won't know what's real magic and what's mere illusion, and Trixie can -- ouch!"

Trixie's horn had suddenly flared. And just as suddenly, there were four marshmallows sitting on the table.

"Uhh..." Trixie stared at the quartet of white puffs. "That's not supposed to happen."

"Neat!" Bright Cut said. "Can you make more of them?"

"I certainly hope not. I -- ungh!"

Her horn had flashed again. And now there were eight marshmallows. Trixie was getting very worried. Plus her head was starting to hurt.

"I think that -- ouch! -- Trixie should call a halt to this spell -- ow! If she still can, that is -- urgh!"

There was now a small heap of marshmallows on the table.

Trixie thumped the side of her head angrily. "Stop it! Stop it, stupid horn!"

Bright Cut giggled, overjoyed at the ever-increasing bounty of sweet treats. But Trixie was borderline panicky now. And her horn was still flaring periodically, doubling the number of marshmallows again and again.

"Uhh... I think..." Trixie said, taking Bright Cut by the hoof and leading her away from the table, which was now groaning under a mountain of marshmallows, "maybe we should just -- ouch -- back away a bit. Yes, maybe that will break the spell. Uh... ow!"

The table collapsed, spilling marshmallows across the floor.

"Umm..." Trixie said, eyes wide. "I think we might need... a little help... uh... Starlight!"

The loud crash from above made Starlight look up from the map in alarm. "Trixie?" she called, moving to the stairs. "Is everything all right up there?"

"Uh, everything's just fine, Starlight! Couldn't be better -- ow!"

Starlight groaned. "That doesn't sound like your everything's-just-fine voice, Trixie. What's happened now?"

"Nothing, Starlight. Nothing at all. I just -- ouch! -- think Trixie might require -- eep! -- a little assistance!"

Rolling her eyes, Starlight galloped up the stairs four at a time. Reaching the top she found Trixie and Bright Cut standing with their backs pressed against the kitchen's swinging door, which was visibly straining against them. Bright Cut was stifling giggles, but the showpony was pale and had a nervously ashamed grin on her face.

"Trixie was demonstrating a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, trivial little spell," she said. "And it kinda, sorta went haywire -- eeyouch!"

She clapped a hoof to her forehead, as her horn blazed particularly brightly. And the door behind them finally won out. It shoved both of them out of the way, allowing a flood of marshmallows to pour through, burying both her and Bright Cut.

The two of them floundered to the surface. Trixie looked from the tide of white candy puffs to Starlight. Then she put up her hooves, helplessly.

"Ta-daaaa..."

Starlight face-hoofed. "Trixie, I told you not to mess around with duplication spells until you had more practice! Now please, please tell me you at least included an interrupt check on the recursive call?"

"Uhh... what kind of check?" Trixie grinned sheepishly. "Trixie might have been in a hurry and, well... left that bit out?"

"Trixie," Starlight grated. "I need you to repeat rule four."

"Starlight..."

"Now!"

Trixie looked put-upon. "Fine! Unbounded iteration is not a toy," she growled. "Now will you please help me -- owww! -- put a stop to this before we all end up smothered in campfire snacks!"

"Okay..." Starlight said warningly, "but this may hurt a bit..."

Licking the tip of her hoof, Starlight waited her moment, then jammed it against the tip of Trixie's horn, just as it blazed alight. Stifled, the magic short-circuited, letting off a burst of sparks.

"Eeeegh!" Trixie's face screwed up in pain. "Starlight!"

"Sorry, Trixie, but it's like curing the hiccups. When you can't interrupt the spell you have to block the magic fueling it -- at its source."

The three of them waited tensely. But there was no further triggering of the spell, no further incursions of the marshmallow horde.

"Phew." Trixie smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Starlight."

"My pleasure, Trix."

"This is an awful lot of marshmallows..." Bright Cut said in a nervous, how-will-I-ever-explain-this tone.

"It sure is..." Starlight was marvelling despite herself. "I didn't think you had this kind of power, Trixie!"

"I don't think I do! I've no idea where all this came from."

"Miss Starlight?" Bright Cut asked, "It was sorta my fault too. You're not mad at us, are you?"

"What? Of course not." Starlight shook her head. "You should see some of the messes Trixie and I get into while practicing magic. Like," she added to Trixie, "you remember that time you tried to teach me the Unicorn Escape?"

Trixie sniggered. "And it took you days to scrub the last of the chocolate pudding out of your coat?"

"Won't forget that in a hurry." She smiled at Bright Cut. "Stage magic's not nearly as easy as Trixie makes it look."

"Well!" Trixie waved a hoof grandly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie endeavors to impress!" Then she glanced ruefully around at the pile of marshmallows. "But... usually she likes to do it on purpose. Starlight, I don't think I have the power left to clean all this up!"

Starlight nodded. "Why don't you take Bright Cut outside for a bit? I'll take care of it, before anypony else notices."

"You're sure, Starlight?"

"G'wan! You can pay me back later."

"Okay..." Trixie said meekly. "And thanks!" Taking Bright Cut by the hoof, Trixie led her towards the front door.

And Starlight stared at the mountain of white sugary puffs spilling out through the kitchen door.

"I'm thinking you buy lunch for a week," she muttered.

Trixie led the way out through the front door to the porch steps. Then she abruptly came to a halt and sat down, looking sad and dispirited.

Bright Cut sat down beside her, hugging her gemstone and looking up the showpony. "I thought it was a really good trick..." she offered.

"It was. At least at first." Trixie sighed. "That's how it usually goes. The Great and Powerful Trixie, uh... has a thing or two to learn yet about structured magic..."

Resignedly, Trixie doffed her hat, then waved a hoof over it mystically. Then she reached into it...

... and pulled out the journal.

She traded a smile with Bright Cut.

"That's why Trixie made sure to stash this away, before all the craziness happened."

Putting her hat back on, Trixie flipped open the journal and started going through it again, a little more thoroughly this time...

"Nothing?" Celestia asked. "You're certain?"

"Nothing, Highness," Ancient Scroll reluctantly shrugged. From a pocket of her velvet robe, the Chief Researcher pulled a small gilded thaumometer. "We do detect the normal background magic of the city of course, plus the usual variation as everyday spells are used. But there's no obvious concentration of magic potential anywhere in the city that might account for an effect on this scale."

Celestia glanced around at the shops and restaurants of Diamond Avenue, directly in front of the Palace drawbridge itself. And at the noble ponies passing calmly by along the Avenue, trying very hard not to look like they were gawking at the co-ruler of Equestria herself. "And you're not able to determine a direction of flow?" Celestia asked. "An indication of where these tremors might originate?"

"Not as yet," the research mage admitted. "With the recording apparatuses we've positioned in the central public areas, we've been able to monitor the distortion that seems to accompany these... events," she said, being careful as usual not to commit herself in the absence of facts. "But it appears to be generalized. So far as we can tell, it's not coming from anywhere. And too, it appears to be confined to the city's platforms. It doesn't extend into the mountainside beyond."

"Are we are sure of that?" Celestia asked, turning to Tectonic Shift, the Archives' expert in geology. "It's not some kind of instability in the mountain itself? Some shifting fault line we didn't know about?"

"As certain as we can be, Highness," the wavy-maned earth pony replied. "Our documents on Canterlot Mountain's geology are reasonably thorough. There are no known major faults, and our most recent map survey reported no changes. There are the abandoned gem mines, of course, in the core of the mountain itself. But there's no indication of any instability even from that quarter. The mountain appears as solid as ever."

"Thank you, Shift. That's a comfort."

"Ah, Your Highness?" Ancient Scroll ventured. "If we could install a few more measuring units in the private lands around the city's edges, then we might have a more detailed picture..."

Celestia shook her head. "The noble ponies would throw a fit. Claim it was interfering with sight lines, lowering property values. The usual complaints about anything they see as an imposition. And I'd wind up spending most of my time answering questions and calming nerves, instead of finding answers."

"But Highness! Couldn't you simply order it, given the importance of this?"

"That would be so simple, wouldn't it?" Celestia agreed. "Yet from experience, I try not to ruffle too many feathers. At least, not without sufficient evidence." She sighed exasperatedly. "Which, so far, we don't seem to have..."

"Then we will continue to monitor things, Highness," Ancient Scroll replied accommodatingly. "And let you know of any change."

"And I'll have another survey organized," Shift added. "We'll report if we discover anything." He shrugged. "Of course, it'd be easier if we knew what we were looking for, Your Highness..."

"Yes," Celestia quietly agreed. "Easier for us all, I think."

Grubber hustled out into the back yard toting a full-sized shovel, a gardener's trowel, and a plastic toy shovel that he'd found in the next yard over and brought along, simply on general principles.

He came up to Tempest, who was rapping a stretch of grass with an armored hoof. Rapping, that was the operative word. The sod thunked woodenly when she prodded it. There was a thin square outline around a section of it.

"Thanks," Tempest said, taking up the large shovel in her forehooves. "Help me pry this up."

Using the trowel, Grubber helped to loosen the square of sod so that they could figure out where the hinges were. And then Tempest used the shovel to flip open what turned out to be a large wooden trap-door. Below that, there was a square of dirt surrounding a large, circular, stone-walled pit, rather like a well.

"Thought so," Tempest said. "Grubber, there's some rope over there, tied to that rock. And a miner's helmet. Bring those over."

Grubber did so. Tempest was still peering down into the well.

"Now put the helmet on," she said.

"Okay. Hmm, nice fit, don't you think? Got the little chin-strap and everything."

"Now grab the end of the rope."

"Yep, got it. Okay, now wha-AAAAAAAA!"

Tempest had casually swept out a hoof, knocking the startled hedgehog into the well. Beside her, the rope swiftly paid out, snaking into it. As the rope was close to running out, Tempest put an armored hoof to it, braking its run. Finally, it went taut.

An annoyed voice sounded from the depths of the well.

"You wanna warn me when you're gonna do stuff like that, Tempest?"

"Now where would the fun be in that?" she called down. "What do you see down there?"

"Can't see nothin', boss. It's too dark."

"Turn on the lamp."

"What lamp? Oh, right!" There was a click. "Woah, yeah! There's some sparkly gems in the wall down here. Eh, not many though, and they're pretty dinky ones. Who in the world would dig all the way down here just for this?"

"Look the other way."

"What other way? Oooooh, hey! There's a tunnel! How'd you know it'd be here?"

Tempest shrugged. "A well that isn't really a well, a rope of a certain length, no bucket at the end of it, a convenient box with caving equipment close by... there had to be something down there. Can you get into the tunnel?"

"I think so. Hang on... er, uhh... Yeah! I'm standin' up in it. Wow, it goes back a ways. Can't see the end from here."

"Hmmm." Tempest considered for a moment. "All right, keep an eye on it. I'll go let the others know."

"Uh, sure..." Grubber called up. "Hey, uh, you're not gonna leave me down here, are ya, Tempest?"

"Of course not, Grubber," Tempest replied, grinning as she turned back towards the house. "Not for long, anyways," she added to herself.

"Uhh, okay..." Grubber called up nervously. "I'll just... hang out down here then..."

Looking through the journal, Trixie quickly realized something.

"There's an entry here, almost every day," she said to Bright Cut, "where your mother just rambles on about what she's been working on, kind of summarizes things."

"Oh, right!" Bright Cut said, "Mom told me once she adds a journal entry like that every morning, right before heading out to work, so that..." She suddenly fell silent, looking wide-eyed and ashamed. "... if anything happened to her... ponies would know... where to look..."

"What!" Trixie glared at her. "You mean these entries say what she's going to do? You realize this is exactly what we've been looking for all along?"

"I'm sorry!" Bright Cut looked ready to burst into tears. "I forgot! I didn't even remember until you said it!"

Trixie bit her lip and fell silent, realizing she was berating a filly... a small, frightened filly looking for her parents. Uneasily, Trixie reached over and pulled Bright Cut into a hug.

"It's okay," the showpony muttered. "Trixie makes mistakes too. Sometimes she even means to." Trixie looked Bright Cut in the eye, and winked. "But you tell anypony I said that, I'll deny it!"

"Okay." Bright Cut managed a small smile.

"Now," Trixie went on, picking up the journal again, "let's see what this can tell us." Turning to the entry for the last day, Trixie read it. And then scratched her mane in puzzlement.

"Huh? Promising strata at B-7... Distinctive crystal formations at G-2 and H-5... then crystal cavern at N-26. And... what?"

Trixie turned the page over. She flipped through the remaining pages, which were just as blank. Then she held up the journal and shook it. "That's it? Trixie finds the answer, the key to the whole mystery... and you're playing Battleclouds? Are you kidding me, lady? What does that even mean!"

She flung down the book in disgust and sat scowling for a while. Then she glanced at Bright Cut, who was hugging her gemstone, eyes downcast and hopeless.

Trixie sighed, and picked up the journal again.

"Come on. We'd better show this to Twilight and the others. They'll know what to make of it..."

"All right," Twilight said. "Let's see what we've got so far."

The group had reconvened around the cottage's dining-room table, along with the small collection of items they'd gathered.

"Spike and I found this picture," Twilight said. "Exhibit A. This is who we're looking for."

She passed the wedding photo around for everypony to look at. As they did, Moondancer consulted the diary and letters.

"His name is Rock Hammer," she said. "And hers is Silver Lining. They're recently married, and moved here from Baltimare and Cloudsdale, respectively. They adopted Bright Cut soon after they arrived." She smiled at the filly. "They really love you, you know. They keep mentioning you, how much you make their lives feel complete."

Bright Cut beamed.

Trixie sniffed, disdainfully. "Apparently they're into rocks and gems and such. They collect them for the jewelry trade."

"And to study," Starlight pointed out. "There's some very nice sketches in the kitchen. Plus a collection of samples down in the cellar." Starlight set one of them on the table: a dark-red ruby embedded in basalt that she'd brought up from the cabinet.

"But," Moondancer went on, "according to Silver's diary, they'd fallen on hard times recently. There was a sharp drop in the jewelry trade in the months leading up to Princess Luna's return, and they were finding it hard to make ends meet."

"I can understand why," Sunset said. "Ponies might be a little reluctant to start new lives together, if they think they're facing the end times."

"We actually helped there," Moondancer said. "After the battle at the Sun Celebration, plenty of ponies wanted gems like ours to wear, which helped jump-start the market. Rock Hammer and Silver Lining were trying to capitalize on that, looking for ways to ramp up their rare gem supply."

Starlight spread out the map she'd found. "They must have found their way into a mine system somewhere. From the markings on this, they've been working their way through it pretty methodically."

Moondancer nodded. "That looks like the old deep-core mines, under Mount Canterlot. I've seen maps like that in the Archives, in the chart repository. Wonder how they got hold of it?"

"Perhaps they 'borrowed' it?" Tempest suggested dryly.

"Or came across it in an antique store," Twilight warned, "or in an attic. We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Go on, Moondancer."

"From Silver's diary entries," Moondancer said, "it sounds like they were trading off the work of exploring the mine shafts. Rock Hammer would explore at night, and Silver Lining during the day."

"That's right." Bright Cut said. "We'd have breakfast together. Then Dad would go lie down for a while, while Mom went off to work. When she came home, she'd make dinner and tuck me in, then Dad would go off to work."

Cheese Sandwich nodded. "The neighbors I spoke to mentioned that -- they said Rock and Silver were like the pair of ponies in a weather house: one would arrive, and the other would depart. But they both were invariably friendly, the few times anypony spoke to them."

"So..." Twilight said, "maybe something happened. Maybe Rock Hammer was late getting home, and Silver Lining got worried and went looking for him."

"Leaving Bright Cut all alone?" Sunset asked, surprised.

"I'm a big girl!" Bright Cut objected. "Sometimes I even make my own breakfast, if Daddy's too tired."

"Oh, I believe you," Sunset assured her. "It's just, if your Mom left so early, you'd think she'd have woken you up to tell you, right?"

"Yeah... I guess," Bright Cut said. She hugged her gemstone.

"Maybe they got lost." Starlight was looking over the map again. "This place is a maze... all these side tunnels. And where does it even start? How'd they get into it?"

"Grubber and I found a well of some kind out back," Tempest said. "With a tunnel leading off below, possibly in the direction of the cliff." She shrugged. "But that still doesn't tell us where it connects to this mine, assuming it even does."

"Hmmm..." Starlight said, "if we had some idea which way they were going, we could work backwards and figure out where they came from..."

"Uhhh... Trixie might be able to help there." The showpony grimaced, and sheepishly slid the journal across to Moondancer. "Sorry, I should have given it to you earlier. It was buried under the sketches in the kitchen. The last entry seems to say what Silver Lining was going to look at next."

Moondancer read it, glancing at the map. "Yep, it tallies with the coordinate system they laid out, the locations already marked on it. And working backwards..." she tapped her hoof on the map, on a short tunnel near the top. "They must have come in this way. It must be what the tunnel in the back yard connects to."

"Only one problem with that," Tempest said. "The trap door covering the well hasn't been opened in weeks, by the look of it."

"They must have found some other way in," Twilight said. "Maybe closer to where they were searching. And then stopped using the tunnel out back."

Bright Cut nodded. "For a while, Mom and Dad went out the back door when they went off to work. Then they started leaving the front way."

"The neighbors did say," Cheese added, "that they started noticing Rock and Silver arriving and leaving so regularly a few weeks back."

"But we have no idea where that other way in is, do we?" Starlight looked at Bright Cut, who shook her head. "So how do we figure out what the back yard tunnel connects to?"

Moondancer was already paging back through Silver Lining's journal. Her eyes darted over the map. "Aha..." she said. "A few weeks back, a lot of the journal entries mention locations near here." She pointed towards a section near the left edge of the map. "So it looks like... yes, the back yard tunnel must connect there." Picking up a quill, she made a small tick-mark on a specific tunnel. "And the most recent journal entry lists locations here, and here... and way down here?" She looked puzzled. "This cavern she mentions. It's way off their search pattern."

"Sounds significant," Tempest agreed. "Maybe they got ahead of themselves, ran into some kind of trouble down there. It would make sense to start looking there. I am assuming, knowing this group, that we're going to go look for them?"

"Um," Trixie asked edgily, "what kind of trouble are we talking about? Just so we know what we're walking straight into?"

Twilight glanced briefly at Bright Cut, but the filly didn't seem frightened by the discussion. She was following closely, in fact, just as curious as the rest of them. "I don't think we know yet. Moondancer?"

"I got nothing." Moondancer had been looking at the diary, the journal, and the letters. "There's no hint as far as I can see. It must have been something unexpected."

"Maybe..." Twilight suggested carefully, "a rock fall blocked a key passage. So they were delayed getting back?"

"There have been these tremors lately," Sunset agreed. "That might have something to do with it."

"Or, looking on the bright side," Starlight said, "maybe they found something really important that they wanted to bring home, and it took a lot longer than they thought?"

"Like... buried treasure?" Tempest asked sarcastically.

"Perhaps." Starlight smiled sheepishly. "You never know!"

Trixie grunted.

"It'd be nice if we had some idea at least..."

Just then, there was another of the odd tremors. It was a little stronger than usual, and made the glassware rattle in the cabinet nearby.

And, from the ruby crystal on the table, there came a vanishingly soft whispering noise, like muttering voices. It faded as quickly as the shaking. But all of the ponies stared at the crystal in surprise.

Starlight looked around at her friends. "You... all heard that, right?"

The others nodded, with varying levels of certainty. "I heard something," Sunset allowed. "Though I couldn't make it out. It sounded like... somepony whispering?"

"Oh, good!" Starlight said. "That means I'm not going crazy! Because I heard exactly the same thing earlier, coming from the crystal samples in the cabinet downstairs. And," she added, "it was right after one of these weird tremors, too."

"Some kind of resonance effect?" Moondancer asked, leaning close to peer at the crystal. "Like, the mechanical energy of the tremor is somehow being translated to sound?"

"Or maybe..." Twilight observed, "it's correlation, not causation. Maybe something's both causing the tremors and causing the crystal to emit sound."

"Like magic!" Starlight gasped. "Uh, sorry, I know how goofy that sounds. But seriously, it's like the focus gems we use for the Field of Harmony. Maybe the crystal refracts magic, in a way that produces sound? And the same magic is responsible for the tremors? After all, we only notice sound from the crystal when the effect is strong enough."

"It's a good idea," Sunset agreed. "But how do we test it?"

"Huh!" Trixie doffed her hat, and pulled out a small hammer and chisel. "Watch and learn!" Pulling over the ruby gemstone, she attacked it with her tools. "Trixie thought the setting wasn't quite right. A little off here... uh huh... a sliver off there, and -- wait, do you hear that?"

They could all hear it now: a whispering, muttering sound, louder than before. As Trixie continued chipping away, the sound became sharper and more audible, though it was still impossible to make out actual words.

"One more tap should do it, I think..." Trixie positioned the chisel, tapped the hammer.

One last shard fell.

And an intense, mesmerizing thrumming sound suddenly filled the room. It wasn't so much heard as felt. It seemed to be coming directly from within their own skulls, experienced not as sound but as pure sensation. It was invasive and overwhelming, making it hard to even think clearly.

The gemstone itself glared brilliantly, the glare ramping in intensity, a painfully bright ruby star threatening to burn an afterimage straight onto their retinas. At the same time, a serious quake shook the house, making dishes fall, shuddering the floorboards underhoof.

"Trixie!" Starlight gasped. "Do something!"

Trixie didn't even think, she acted. With one eye shut, she raised the hammer and brought it down hard, on a point of the gemstone. An entire section sheared off.

And, just like that, the sound and light were gone. The shuddering tremor ceased instantly, as if it had never happened.

"Ha," Trixie said weakly, amazed it had worked. "Nothing but cleavage plane! Is Trixie good or what?"

"More like what," Starlight breathed. "As in, what the hay was that, Trixie?"

The showpony looked at her worriedly. "I pull rabbits out of hats, Starlight. You tell me."

"It's almost like," Sunset said, "whatever was causing the whispering sound suddenly got a lot stronger. But why?"

"The whispering sounds like voices..." Moondancer said, uncertainly. "Like it's a message of some kind..."

"But muffled and distorted," Twilight agreed, "because the crystal wasn't shaped right. What if..." she went on, thinking aloud, "what if you'd been trying to send a message to somepony, and hadn't been able to get through... then suddenly it seemed like the distortion was clearing? Just for a moment..."

Sunset nodded. "You'd crank up the power -- to eleven!"

Bright Cut gasped. "You think maybe it's Mom and Dad? Trying to get through to us?"

Twilight shook her head, doubtfully. "If it was, you'd think the message would be a lot plainer than whispering voices."

"Plus," Starlight added, "it'd take a serious amount of magic to produce effects like that. I don't think your parents would be able to manage it, not being unicorns. But Twilight, even while things were shaking around, I wasn't sensing any kind of magic overload." She tapped her horn. "Were any of you?"

The others shook their heads.

"So..." Sunset summarized, "magic resonance... but without magic?"

"Might almost be funny," Cheese said, "if it weren't so serious, huh?"

"Word!" Sunset agreed.

Twilight smacked the table with a hoof. "This puts the whole thing on an entirely different level. We need to find what's causing this and put a stop to it! Because if whatever just happened should happen again... and if it got any stronger..."

"Canterlot could be in deep trouble..." Moondancer said.

Trixie glanced around at the others.

"So... what are we going to do about it, exactly?"

Five minutes later, they were all out in the back yard, gathered around the open well. "You think it's safe?" Bright Cut peered down into the darkness. "What if there's something nasty down there?"

"Let's find out," Tempest said, and then called down the well. "Everything all right down there, Grubber?"

"Got a little noisy down here for a bit, boss, but it's all quiet now," he called up. "Hey, you gals comin' down or what? Kinda lonely down here, ya know?"

Tempest smirked at Bright Cut. "My assistant isn't known for bravery or subtlety. If there was anything dangerous down there, it would have chased him out by now."

Starlight frowned. "That's a pretty mercenary way to treat him, isn't it?"

Tempest shrugged. "You've heard of canaries in coal mines? Or in this case, a hedgehog?" She turned back to call down the well. "Grab the rope, Grubber! I'll haul you up."

"Okay, boss!"

"Now, Bright Cut," Twilight said, "I'm going to need you to --"

"I know..." she interrupted resignedly. "You're gonna want me to wait up here. I'm not a baby, you know. I can figure these things out."

Twilight smiled sympathetically. "It's just because we don't know what's down there. I know how much you want to find your parents, and trust me, so do we. I just think it'll be safer. And the same goes for you too, Spike!"

"Aww!" the dragon said, disappointed. "Okay. If you say so, Twi."

"And you," Tempest said to Grubber, as she finished hauling him up. "We need to travel light here. In fact, if I had my way we'd all be staying up here. But I know that's not gonna fly, is it?"

"Cheese?" Twilight asked hesitantly. "Would you mind waiting up here too? Just so Bright Cut isn't alone?"

The party pony nodded. "Not a problem, Twilight! After all, Bright Cut and I still need to plan the terrific bash we're gonna throw when you and her parents get back here safe and sound. Am I right, Assistant Party Planner?"

Bright Cut smiled up at him. "You bet!"

"Spike, you and Grubber help out. We'll be back as quick as we can."

"Okay, Twi!"

"And if we're not back by tea-time?" Starlight added, half-seriously, "send the Guards in after us, huh?"

"Will do, gals." Cheese saluted smartly, and Bright Cut imitated him.

Twilight turned back to the others. "All right, everypony. Let's do this!"

Getting everyone down the shaft was easy. It was just like the safe-room drill back at the tower, with Starlight flinging herself down first, then setting up an arresting spell by the tunnel entrance and acting as spotter as the rest of them came down. Except that Tempest insisted being ferried down first, so she could secure the tunnel while the others were being brought down.

After that it was less clear. With their horns gently glowing for light, the ponies gathered to consult the map held in Starlight's magic.

"Okay," Starlight said. "If we want to head for the cavern first, we'll need to follow this tunnel for, like, a couple hundred yards. And then down that shaft. I hope it has a lift. It's a long way down."

The group set out, Tempest in the lead and Sunset bringing up the rear, along what looked like a very old mine-tunnel, with pit props every few yards. Then abruptly it changed over into a rough-cut tunnel through what looked like solid diamond. The tunnel walls glittered in the light from their horns.

"Wow!" Twilight said, "it's like walking around in a jewelry-box!"

Moondancer nodded. "This must be the upper part of the core mine system. The mountain's core is basically an upwelling of diamond and moissanite, with plenty of seams of other minerals. Even before Canterlot was built, there was a thriving gemstone mining operation here. A lot of the old money in Canterlot got its start in these mines."

"But it doesn't look anywhere near tapped out," Starlight said. "How come these mines aren't used anymore?"

Moondancer shook her head. "Not clear. Once the mountain was chosen as the site for the Royal City, obviously, they wouldn't have wanted miners eating away at the foundations."

"Like termites," Trixie said, and giggled.

"But even the section of the mines furthest from the city was shut down," Moondancer went on. "Historical records don't say precisely why, but the mine system as a whole had developed a reputation as being unsafe."

"Unsafe... I see," Trixie said. "And now... we're trotting around in it."

"I mean," Moondancer said, "like strange events happening. Equipment broken or going missing, experienced miners unexpectedly losing their way, unexplained accidents, that kind of thing..."

"Eeeyeah." Trixie replied, glancing around. "And that's different how?"

"Those stories could have been made up," Sunset pointed out. "If the original city-builders didn't want inexperienced gem hounds traipsing around under Canterlot, then spreading a few good spook stories while the mine was being shut down wouldn't have hurt any."

"I'm not sure that would work, not for long," Twilight said. "There'd always be somepony who hadn't heard the stories, or was just skeptical enough. But you're right. If all they needed was for ponies to leave this place alone, until it simply fell out of public memory..."

"Yeah. Strange, though, to think anypony could forget a diamond mine..." Sunset said.

The group continued onward through the glittering tunnel. After another hundred yards or so, they suddenly came to a huge square opening in the side wall. It opened onto a concrete passage, angling back the way they'd come. And unlike the hewn mine tunnel, it led off as straight as a corridor, for as far as their horn-light carried.

"Wow..." Moondancer marveled. "You know what I think this is? It's one of the main support struts -- for the platforms under Canterlot."

"Seriously?" Starlight cautiously trotted a few paces along it, looking up at the cobwebbed concrete walls. "And it's hollow? I thought these things were solid!" She shivered. "That's it, I'm not getting to sleep tonight."

Twilight nodded. "It's not too surprising. Little-known fact: for a given mass, a hollow tube has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than a solid bar."

"And," Sunset added, "it would make it easier to inspect these struts for cracking, water damage, and so forth." She experimentally thumped the concrete with a hoof. "Of course, you'd have to come down here, into the creepy, haunted, spooky abandoned mines to do it."

"There's probably old access hatches, up in the city somewhere," Moondancer said. "But I'm not sure where they'd be."

They continued onward through the diamond tunnel, hooves tapping on the hard, glittering floor, their horn-light glittering back at them from the rough-hewn walls.

Then Tempest abruptly came to a halt. Twilight peered past her at the darkness ahead.

"What's wrong, Tempest?"

"Nothing. We've just run out of tunnel, that's all."

They'd reached the shaft noted on the map. The group gathered at its edge, staring downward into the blackness. It looked as good as bottomless.

"I suppose we could teleport down there..." Twilight ventured.

"If we could even see the bottom," Sunset said.

"For the first time in my life," Moondancer said, "I wish I was a pegasus. Of course it'd be just as hard to fly down there, if you couldn't see where you were going."

Unlike the others, Starlight was peering upwards.

"Well... if there's a lift platform, it's either down below or up above. And if it's up there... then it shouldn't be too far above. I could just float myself up and have a look."

"Are you sure, Starlight?" Twilight asked.

Starlight shrugged. "Hey, it's either that, or we go back and get a really long ladder, huh?"

Casting the levitation spell, Starlight lifted herself up off the ground, then maneuvered herself out over the edge and upward into the darkness. For a while the glow of her magic dwindled overhead.

"Aha!" she finally called out. The gleam of her magic vanished behind a platform overhead. "Just gimme a minute, and we're in business!" There were assorted clanking and clunking sounds from above.

And then silence.

"Starlight?" Twilight called up. "Are you all right?"

"Shoot," Starlight groused. "The cables are stuck. Or rusted or something. This may be a two-pony job at least, getting this thing moving."

Sunset leaned out, peering up at the platform. "Starlight, could you move over to the edge where I can see you?"

"Okay."

Sunset glanced around, grinning uneasily.

"Be ready to catch me, in case I miss."

Firing her horn, Sunset stared upward for a moment, gauging the distance. Then she teleported.

There was a loud thump from the platform above. "Ow," Sunset called down. "I overshot by a length. Okay, Starlight, you ready? One... two... heave..."

With a loud, ungreased screech the platform jarred loose, then began descending, noisily but steadily. When it came even with the tunnel, the others piled on. With Tempest and Sunset working the cables on both sides, the platform began descending much more smoothly, and soon the entry tunnel had vanished into the darkness overhead.

Starlight examined the map, counting levels as they went by. "Check me on this, Moondancer. We want level twenty-three, right?"

"Uh huh." Moondancer peered outwards into the dimness. "I can see floor markers going by. We can use those to make sure."

Eventually the platform squealed to a halt at what they believed was the right floor. Down here, the glittering walls were streaked with seams of other varieties of minerals, and clusters of gemstone crystals. The varying coloration produced a mildly kaleidoscopic effect as they trotted along the tunnel ahead.

"Hold up a sec," Starlight said. "Everypony kill their horns for a minute. I want to check something."

They did, their horns falling silent. And saw what she meant... they could still see. The tunnel was suffused with a low but usable glow from its walls.

"The crystal seams," Sunset said, "they're luminescent!"

"Not just that," Starlight said, "they're thauminescent -- reactive to magic." She demonstrated, casting a small spell at the crystal wall beside her which gleamed brighter in response. "There's a good bit of background magic down here. It's probably attuned the crystals in these walls. I'll bet you some of the gems for those old-style staffs and tiaras came from these tunnels."

"And it's not just the walls." Twilight pointed a hoof at Tempest's armored flank. Tempest looked round, and saw the double lightning-bolt mark on her mage-armor was gently pulsating, and increasing in brightness.

"Hmph," she said. "I did wonder how this thing recharged itself."

The ponies trotted onward through the tunnel, though down here they were having to pick their way a bit more carefully. It was still mostly in its natural state, winding and narrow in places, with jagged crystalline formations projecting from its walls.

"Eeegh... these look like teeth." Trixie stared around at them. "Seriously, I feel like a cragodile's dentist in here!"

Sunset grinned. "Anything else you feel like sharing?"

Trixie scowled, and fell silent again.

Peering ahead, Twilight blinked in surprise. Far off in the blackness ahead, she thought she could see...

... a brilliant spark of light, glinting just for an instant...

... and then it was gone.

"Did anypony else see that?" she asked.

"What?" Tempest asked, staring ahead intently. "I don't see anything."

"Up ahead. There was some kind of, well... sparkle..."

"Really?" Sunset asked, grinning. "... Twilight?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Never mind."

All at once, the seams in the tunnel walls blazed brilliantly, then fell back to their original dim glow. At the same time, the tunnel shook gently, a wave of vibration passing beneath their hooves. Coupled with the sudden rise and fall in lighting, the shaking left them all feeling a little disoriented. And they could hear the whispering, muttering voices again too -- louder this time, and curiously invasive, like the voices were coming from right inside their heads.

And this time... somehow... they seemed to be making sense...

Moondancer stumbled dizzily, bumping into Sunset.

"Ow!" Sunset yelled. "Watch where you're going, Moondancer."

"Sorry!" The beige pony cringed. "I put a hoof wrong."

"Like usual. Too busy reading to look where you're going."

"Hey! Leave her alone," Starlight snapped. "It's rough enough going as it is down here."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sunset sneered back. "But I seem to be doing just fine... all the way back here."

"Huh?" Starlight stared at her. "What's with you, all of a sudden?"

Trixie smirked. "Sounds like somepony's been taking snarking lessons!" She sighed loftily. "Of course, the Great and Powerful Trixie cannot possibly take credit, being above such things, but --"

Starlight ignored her. "You want to try leading the way, Sunset?"

"I could do a better job than you, Glimmer!"

"Hmph!" Starlight looked smug. "Then how come I'm the pony with the map?"

Sunset hesitated... but only because she was trying to find a sharp enough retort. "Well... at least everypony here knows who I am!"

Starlight's mouth fell open in shock. Then set in a hard line. "What did you say?"

"Seriously!" Sunset went on, gesturing with a hoof, "I'm not some kind of walking visual echo of Acting Princess Twilight up there!"

At this, Tempest looked back over her shoulder, scowling.

"Don't make me reach back there," she growled.

"Uh, gals?" Twilight glanced around at all of them nervously. "I think maybe we should... tone it down a notch?"

"Yeah!" Moondancer added, worried. "This is getting out of hoof..."

"Shut it, Moondancer!" Sunset snapped. "Just... butt out, okay? Focus on being a good listener for once. That's all you're really good for!"

Moondancer winced, and looked away uncomfortably.

"Leave her alone!" Starlight demanded. "Don't take it out on her just because you can't stand not being in charge!"

Sunset stormed forward to scowl at her, practically nose-to-nose.

"I could do a better job than you -- easy!"

"Oh, really?" Starlight fired back. "Well, I'm not the one Princess Celestia had to find a replacement for when she ran off! You know, there's a reason Twilight is the leader of our little group, instead of you."

"Uh, girls! Hey!" Twilight called desperately. "Is this thing on?"

Sunset looked torn between tears and boiling mad rage.

"Well... at least I might have been somepony!" she finally yelled. "Unlike you! And I'd have managed it on my own! I could have dealt with Nightmare Moon all by myself! Without any help from the rest of you -- especially you, Twilight!"

Twilight was frozen in hurt astonishment. She struggled for words.

And Tempest had finally had enough. She swung round crossly. "ENOUGH!"

Her armored hoof stamped down, ringingly, on the tunnel floor.

And with a loud thrum of released magic energy, her armor projected its poisonous green shield, enclosing the entire group. Where the shield's bubble flowed into and through the crystal walls around them, the crystalline formations blazed like candelabra, illuminating them all in a shimmering, pearlescent light.

The ponies all fell silent. They stared at each other.

"Uh... why are we arguing?" Starlight said.

"Yeah..." Sunset said. "Me, especially... I don't know what got into me."

"Tempest!" Twilight said "What did you do?"

The armored pony shrugged. "Nothing, so far as I know. I just put up the shield." She looked embarrassed. "By accident, mostly."

"But it's like night and day!" Starlight breathed. "With the shield up, I feel totally different."

"Same here." Sunset glanced around at the others sheepishly. "Uhh, look... I'm sorry, gang. I... I didn't mean that. Honestly!"

"Which part of it?" asked Trixie dryly.

Sunset made a face. "Any part -- take your pick!" She looked to Moondancer. "I'm sorry, Moon-Moon. Can you forgive me?"

Moondancer managed a smile. "Sure, Sunset!"

"Thanks." Sunset grinned back. "Hey, I did warn ya I had a bit of a temper, didn't I? Though usually I have a better grip on it..."

"I'm sorry too," Starlight said. "I guess... well, sometimes I get groused by everyone thinking I'm Twilight's twin sister or something. And then I..."

Her voice trailed off. She looked around the group.

"When we were back at the house," she said cautiously, "did any of you have a moment, right after one of those tremors, when you suddenly found yourself, I dunno, doubting yourself? When you felt unsure, defensive... that kind of thing?"

The others all nodded in surprise.

"Yeah..." Moondancer said, "I was unsure I was being a good enough friend."

"And I was reminded," Sunset admitted, "how much it bothers me now and again, having made such a mess of my time as Celestia's student."

Twilight nodded. "I was fretting about whether I'm a good enough leader," she said. "Whether I'm making the right decisions for the group."

"Hey, no worries there, Twilight," Sunset assured her. "Believe me!"

Twilight smiled gratefully in return. "And Spike," she went on, "well... he was worried that one day we might not need each other anymore."

Tempest glanced around at them, awkwardly. "I, uh... found myself thinking about how my life used to be a little less... structured." She looked sour. "But Grubber, it didn't seem to affect him at all. I don't think that little hairball has regrets."

"Lucky him," Sunset said.

Trixie glanced around at them all, looking downcast. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is... well, accustomed to disappointment. So I'm not sure I even noticed anything, really."

She looked so dejected, Starlight smiled sympathetically and moved over to give her a consoling hug.

Sunset was pacing back and forth. "There must be something down here," she said. "Some effect that makes us doubt ourselves, brings out the worst in us. But Tempest's shield blocks it, thankfully."

Tempest considered it. "The armor's spells are shadow magic," she said. "Maybe this effect is, too? As the saying goes, like rejects like." She looked uneasy. "But I'm not sure I can keep it going for long, even with the magic down here recharging it. I don't know how long my reserves will hold out."

"Don't worry, Tempest," Starlight said. "You've got us for backup. We can remote-cast if you run low."

"All of us," Sunset agreed. "We've got you covered." She looked around at the group. "After all, we're in this together... right, gang?"

"Then let's not waste time," Twilight said, relieved. "We need to find Bright Cut's parents and get out of here fast. Come on!"

The group set off again, moving as quickly as they could through the rambling passage, protected by the green glow of Tempest's shield.

As they followed the passage farther and farther, back into the depths of the mountain, the ambient light from the crystal seams grew steadily dimmer, to the point where they had to light their horns again, just to be able to see where they were going.

And, at the same time, the coloration of the crystal formations around them were fading to a deep, dusky red.

"Must be a big seam of ruby running through here," Moondancer said.

Twilight grinned at that. "Good thing we didn't bring Spike, then. He loves ruby sprinkles on cupcakes!"

"He might not like these," Sunset said, scratching at a dark-red facet with a hoof. "There's something... off about them..."

Trixie picked up a shard, eyed it, and then tossed it aside hurriedly, brushing off her hooves. "Ick. I think it might be cuprite, or something worse. Try not to breathe in any of the dust around here."

"Starlight?" Tempest called back. "How far is this cavern?"

"Uhh... we're there, actually. Round the next turn, that should be it."

Tip-hoofing quietly, the group advanced around the corner, and into the chamber beyond. It was close to pitch-black, the only light coming from their horns. Blood-red crystal formations jutted from the walls, casting swooping, claw-like shadows as they looked around. And the facets on the walls cast so many reflections, just moving around was disorienting. Twilight turned, staring around at a hundred reflections of herself on the chamber walls -- and not liking the look of any of them.

Ahead, their horn-light revealed a thick, floor-to-ceiling column, of the same dark red crystal. And as they approached it, they saw there were five others beyond, arrayed about the center of the chamber in a wide circle. In the center of the circle, there was a huge crystalline formation, several lengths tall, of dark red gemstone.

And the entire chamber throbbed with magic -- a constant unnerving, prickling sensation.

"Woah..." Moondancer breathed. "Hey, you know, this place looks... familiar somehow. But that's impossible! Where would I have seen anything like this before?"

"In a nightmare, maybe?" Trixie suggested, uneasily.

Then Moondancer thunked her head with a hoof. "Of course! Ponehenge! I saw it in one of the books we were sorting this morning."

Starlight blinked. "Pone-what?"

But Twilight and Sunset were both nodding. "It's an ancient lost ruin," Sunset explained. "The location's presently unknown, but there are drawings of it in any good reference on pony mythology: six standing stones, arranged in a circle around a central plinth."

"Some scholars say," Twilight added, "it's why the number six is so important in pony culture. Six Elements of Harmony, and so forth."

"But I don't think there's anything in the Ponehenge myth about it being underground," Moondancer said. "Or made out of crystal, like this. Who built this down here, I wonder?"

"Maybe you'll have a chance to ask them..." Trixie hissed, wide-eyed. "Up ahead, do you hear that?"

The ponies fell silent, listening. And, from the gloom ahead, they could hear somepony quietly sobbing.

"Stay behind me," Tempest warned, and they advanced on the sound.

Circling around the central formation, they found one side of it was a huge, flat facet, like a shadowy mirror. And slumped on the floor right in front of it, head in her hooves, was a silver-pinioned pegasus.

Glancing around at the others, Tempest advanced forward, eyes on the crystal formation, and approached just close enough that her shield included the pegasus. Then Twilight edged closer, and put a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder.

"Silver Lining?"

Her head jerked up. She stared at Twilight, shocked and frightened, almost not even seeing her.

"Who are you?" she shouted. "What do you want from me?"

Twilight glanced worriedly at her friends, then back to the pegasus. "It's all right," she said. "We're here to help. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Silver Lining seemed to relax a little. Then suddenly gasped, as realization sank in.

"Princess Celestia's student?"

"That's right. Your daughter asked us to help find you."

"Oh no! Bright Cut, is she all right?"

Twilight nodded. "She's fine. She's waiting for you at home. Which... I think we should all be getting back to. It's not safe down here."

"But I can't leave," the pegasus sighed. Her head drooped again. "We're trapped..."

Tempest glanced around sharply, looking for potential threats. So did the others, but they saw nothing.

"Coulda fooled us," Trixie retorted. "How do you mean trapped, exactly?"

Helplessly, the pegasus gestured at the mirror-like crystal facet behind her. Looking at it, the ponies saw their own reflections staring back at them. And there was one behind Silver Lining as well.

But then they took a closer look, and realized that the reflection in the shadowy surface behind Silver Lining... wasn't a pegasus. It was a dappled earth pony.

It was Rock Hammer.

When Silver Lining gestured with a hoof, the reflection behind her mirrored her motions.

"O...kay," Starlight whispered. "That definitely qualifies as freaky."

"We found this cavern," Silver Lining said. "I'm still not sure how -- it's like we were drawn here. By the voices, the ones in the crystals..."

Sunset nodded. "We've heard them. Tempest's shield seems to block them."

"Really? Oh. Well, when we found this place, we were so sure it was going to be the big strike, you know? That we wouldn't have to worry any more. And then last night, it's like we were both suddenly afraid we might lose this, that somepony else might have come down here and stolen it from us. So we both came down here, leaving Bright Cut all alone -- I don't know what I was thinking! We found this large crystal, and were going to take some samples of it. And then I noticed those markings, on the columns."

They looked where Silver Lining was pointing. On the interior side of each column was a vertical line of carved, jet-black symbols. It was a little like picture writing, but sharp-edged, with broad, wedge-shaped strokes. And just by looking at it, one got a sense that the symbols were old -- old enough, perhaps, that writing itself had been a new idea at the time...

"Moondancer?"

"On it, Twilight!" She tugged a piece of note paper and a pencil from her mane, and moved to examine the nearest column closely.

Silver Lining shook her head. "I only turned my back for a moment. And when I looked back, Rock was gone. I looked everywhere. Then I thought to look in the crystal, and saw him... in there." She shivered. "And now I'm afraid to move! Because what if I move away from the mirror and he... disappears completely?" She shook her head. "It's silly, I know, but..."

"No, I hear you," Sunset agreed. "As a filly, I did sometimes wonder what happened to the other me in the mirror, when I wasn't standing there looking at it."

The ponies stared at the crystal, at their own images in it.

"What if one of us got trapped like that?" Starlight asked.

"What if we all got trapped like that?" Trixie added. "Why think small, bestie?"

"Then we wouldn't leave," Twilight said definitively, "until we'd gotten everypony out. So we need to come up with a way to do that."

"Right." Sunset nodded. "You heard her, gang. It's idea time! Let's have 'em!"

"Maybe we could bring the crystal back with us?" Tempest suggested. "Figure out how to get him out later?"

"This thing weighs a ton," Starlight said. "And if he is trapped in there, we don't risk damaging it. Maybe there's an enchantment on it, one he tripped accidentally. I'll check!"

"Let's see..." Sunset muttered, thinking aloud. "What else could be refracted or trapped by a crystal? Light... sound... heat... magic..."

"Maybe the writing might give us a clue?" Moondancer called, moving on to the next column, copying the symbols down. "If we could only decipher it..."

The walls and columns around them suddenly pulsed with magic. The crystal floor under their hooves shuddered, and the surge caused Tempest's shield to sputter briefly, until she applied more power to reinforce it.

"I don't think we have the time," she warned.

"Take down what you can, Moondancer," Twilight called. "We'll figure it out later."

"If there is a later..." Trixie whispered. She clutched the brim of hat with her hooves.

"What if..." Tempest suggested, "I put the shield around the crystal? Try to separate it from the rest of all this?"

"That might work," Starlight allowed. "Or," she added, "it might just put whatever's behind all this inside the shield with us!"

"I agree," Twilight said. "Better not risk it."

"Think, Trixie! Think!" the showpony muttered, rapping her skull with a hoof. "What does this thing do? It makes crystals whisper. It makes horn spells go haywire. It makes ponies doubt themselves..."

"What if it's a portal?" Starlight suggested. "Like Star Swirl's mirror? A gateway leading to another universe?"

"A portal?" Sunset asked, staring into the crystal.

Trixie edged closer to it herself, and hesitantly put a hoof to the mirror-like surface. It was hard, and slightly warm, and vibrating with energy. But it didn't feel like Star Swirl's portal.

So... maybe it isn't one... she thought. But maybe we're supposed to think it is...

"But then how do we open it?" Sunset asked. "How do we cross through it to get him out?"

"Not sure we should," Tempest warned. "I don't think I'd want whatever's behind this having an open door to our universe."

"Sounds unsafe to me!" Moondancer agreed. She was peering across at one of the columns outside the reach of Tempest's shield, still scribbling away.

It manipulates things, Trixie thought. And ponies. It tricks them, deceives them. It makes them doubt themselves, question themselves, makes them believe they can't win, turns them against each other... and then traps them...

"But then how do we get through it," Twilight asked, "without opening it? How do we get in there, to get him out?"

Trixie blinked, startled. How does the magician put herself in the magic cabinet, she thought, without opening the door?

She stared at her own reflection, in the dark-red, shadowy crystalline surface.

And almost thought she saw it wink at her.

You don't, Trixie realized. They only think you did... because you were in there already....

Trixie nodded. She knew how to handle this. Taking a few steps back, she lofted her hooves and addressed the group.

"Attention! Your attention, please! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie shall now perform, for your edification and amusement, the very difficult and challenging... Mirror Prison Escape!"

"Trixie..." Starlight objected, "we don't have time for --"

"Shush!" Trixie demanded fiercely. "The Great and Powerful Trixie shall require complete silence for this trick -- complete silence, mind you!" She glared round at them all. The other ponies stared back at her, baffled. Yet for a brief moment, the strange willingness to comply with the orders of an absolutely confident stage performer held their attention. It was a moment that could all too swiftly pass...

But Trixie knew what she was doing.

You can't fool magic, she thought. But you can fool an audience... particularly if, like this one, they really, really want the trick to work...

Adjusting her hat and settling her cloak, Trixie focused intently on the mirror surface, focused her gaze on her reflection in it. She made a point, in fact, of drawing their attention to it.

Then she crossed her forehooves and shut her eyes, concentrating fiercely.

The other ponies all stared at the crystal.

And were shocked when Trixie's reflection suddenly looked around itself, then cheekily waved a hoof at them. Moving quickly, the reflection hurried up to the mirror portal, to the dappled stallion slumped by it. She spoke briefly to him, encouraged him to sit up, then to get up and follow her. Backing away, waving her hooves encouragingly, Trixie's reflection led Rock Hammer off around one of the columns across the room, and out of sight.

Then Trixie's reflection returned, stepping quickly back to where it had been standing. It resumed its crossed-hoof pose, and shut its eyes.

And around the same column in the real world, Rock Hammer suddenly tottered, a little unsteadily, looking around himself in amazement.

Seeing him, Silver Lining gasped, then turned to look in the mirror. And saw her own reflection staring back at her, just like usual.

"What?" Sunset gaped, utterly floored. "Trixie! That was... amazing!"

Trixie opened one eye, peering around carefully. Then she turned to follow their gaze, and saw Rock Hammer. And was just as surprised as any of them. But she quickly grinned, and gestured broadly. "Yes! Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie demonstrates her awesome skill at légerdesabot! Thank you, thank you all! You've been a most helpful audience for this performance!"

She took a deep bow. And hoped like anything nopony would ask her how the trick worked, for she had no idea. After all, she thought, they did it themselves. Trixie merely gave them a reason, an excuse really... to turn this thing's deceptive, manipulative power back on itself...

Silver Lining had leapt up and run to Rock Hammer, hugging him tightly. The other ponies gathered around them as well, relieved, and patting Trixie on the back.

"Well," Twilight said, grinning, "that's one problem down!"

A large surge of magic pulsed through the walls around them. The chamber walls began to glow, first dimly then brilliantly, an angry, blazing-hot ruby-red glare. The intense, invasive thrumming sound they'd heard before, from the crystal upstairs, pounded at them intensely, even through Tempest's shield. The floor shuddered, rumbling and grinding.

"And..." Starlight said anxiously, "there's the bigger problem that takes its place..."

"All right, I'm calling it," Tempest warned. "That's our cue to leave -- now!"

Twilight nodded. "We've got what we came for. Let's go!"

"I just need one more minute, Twilight!" Moondancer was on the last column, but the shuddering was making it difficult to write clearly.

"Leave it, Moon-Moon!" Sunset called. "We need to get out of here!"

Regretfully, Moondancer stuffed note paper and pencil back in her mane and then hurried to join the group as they made their way out of the cavern.

They scrambled along the crystal tunnel, hurrying back into the lighter region beyond. Surges of magic were pulsing along the crystal seams, although thankfully the shaking seemed less intense here, the further they got from the cavern.

They reached the lift shaft, and were relieved to find the platform was still there. They climbed aboard, and Tempest and Sunset made quick work of hauling them back up. Starlight focused on the map, determined to make sure that they got off at the right level...

And all around them, the crystalline walls of the mine were vibrating with energy. It felt a little like being in a huge wineglass, with a pony running a hoof around the rim. There was a palpable, uncomfortable shivering in the air, which set their teeth on edge. Crystal fragments plummeted from far overhead, smashing onto Tempest's shield and exploding like fireworks.

"Everypony be ready," Sunset warned. "If this thing should come loose..."

But the lift held, and brought them safely back to the tunnel they'd come in by. The group hurried off the platform, this time with Tempest bringing up the rear. They ran back along the diamond tunnel. And as they ran, the vibrations seemed to intensify, becoming a much stronger thrumming in the crystalline structure all around them.

"What do we do," Starlight panted, "once we get up there? We know what's causing this. But we still don't know how to stop it."

"Princess Celestia may know," Twilight said. "We should head back to the Palace, tell her what we found!"

They finally came to the huge square opening on the left, leading to the platform support strut. And Moondancer abruptly came to a screeching halt, fast enough that there was nearly a pileup of ponies behind her.

"Moondancer!"

"Just a second!" She stepped into the mouth of the strut's inner corridor, trotted forward a few paces, and stood listening. Then she turned to look at them, grinning ear to ear.

"Resonance!" she yelled, her voice echoing down the long tunnel.

"Huh?" Trixie replied, utterly mystified. The others looked puzzled as well.

Except for Twilight, who saw it immediately. "Of course! Magic resonance!"

Moondancer nodded eagerly. "The struts under the city's platforms, they're reinforced by spellwork -- by magic! It's like the organ pipes in a chapel. There's basically a network of magic-charged organ pipes holding up the city. And when the pulses of magic energy from down below, refracted upwards as vibrations in the crystal and diamond of the mines, finally hit those struts..."

"They find the natural resonance frequency," Twilight said excitedly, "of the platform's magic field -- and are amplified! That's what making Canterlot shake like this -- without any detectable overload of magic. It's all just resonance!"

"And it's getting worse!" Starlight fretted. "Maybe we should discuss the admittedly cool thaumodynamics of this when we're not in a cavern that might collapse at any moment?"

Moondancer and Twilight both looked sheepish. "You're right," Twilight said. "Sorry!"

The ponies set off again, hurrying along the diamond tunnel. And then came to a sudden halt, facing a wall of rubble blocking their way. The diamond tunnel had held up just fine under the shaking... but the mine tunnel beyond had caved in. It was completely impassable.

"Okay..." Trixie said worriedly, "I vote new plan. Anypony got one?"

"We could try teleporting upwards." Sunset stared at the ceiling of the tunnel. "But without knowing how deep we are..."

"Yeah," Starlight agreed. "Teleporting into the middle of solid rock, or a wall or something -- it could really mess up your day!"

"What about the support strut?" Moondancer said, pointing a hoof. "If we followed it, it would take us straight to the heart of Canterlot. That's where we want to go, right?"

Lacking a better plan, the group back-tracked to it, and stared nervously down the dark corridor leading off into the distance.

"Are we sure there's an exit at the other end?" Sunset asked. "I'd hate to get all that way and find this is the only way out."

"I've gotta believe there's a way down from the city," Moondancer said. "But I admit, I don't actually know that for a fact."

A loud shuddering and grinding sounded around them, echoing like metallic thunder in the strut corridor.

"We'll have to risk it," Twilight said. "We need to get to the Princess, and fast!"

"It's still an awfully long hike," Trixie pointed out.

"What if we teleported?" Starlight asked. "Down the tunnel? It's a straight shot, right?"

"But we still can't see the far end," Sunset warned. "We don't know how far a jump it is, and --"

"AAAAAAAA!" Moondancer screamed.

Sunset stared at her.

"It's not that bad yet, Moon-Moon."

"Hush!" Moondancer cocked her head, an ear flicking. "No, I can't tell. I need all of us yelling together. On three! One... two..."

Shrugging, the ponies all joined in, yelling down the tunnel. And then listened. And finally heard a faint echo, coming back from the tunnel's depths.

"What do you think, Sunset?" asked Moondancer. "About ten seconds or so?"

"Yeah." Sunset nodded. "Five seconds each way, makes it a little over a mile. Round that down to a mile, just to be safe. I think we can do it!"

The ponies quickly organized themselves, with Rock Hoof and Silver Lining safely in the middle of the group. Remote-casting, the unicorns linked their pools of magic, allowing Sunset to trigger the spell.

Sunset eyed the darkness ahead narrowly, like a gunslinger. "I'll try to keep us level," she said. "But be ready for a short drop."

"Just don't put us outside the tunnel..." Trixie warned. "Or it'll be a much longer one."

"Thanks, Trixie..." Starlight grumbled. "I'd almost avoided thinking of that!"

"Ready..." Sunset warned, horn gleaming. "... steady... GO!"

She triggered the teleport spell.

And, after a drop of perhaps an inch or so, they all landed safely in a pitch dark stretch of corridor. When they relit their horns, they saw they were standing right beside a dusty, cobwebbed flight of steps leading upwards. A rusted sign was posted next to the steps, reading, in old Ponish:

PERICULO!
Non transgrediendi!
Nisi publica curatores!

Sunset smiled at Twilight. "Good thing we have an Acting Princess with us, huh? If anypony asks, we can say we're with you!"

Twilight smiled back.

And then a strong tremor all but knocked them off their hooves. It felt like standing on the end of a huge ruler, projecting from the edge of a table, just as the end was plucked.

"I'd really like to see daylight right now," Starlight remarked. "Just one last time? Seriously, it'd be so nice."

"No question," Twilight said. "Let's hope that stairwell isn't blocked..."

Princess Celestia strode into Canterlot Commons, the small round parkland in the heart of Middle Canterlot, dotted with topiary, fountains, and small monuments. She was followed closely by Flying Buttress and Ancient Scroll. And her Royal Guard escort. And by the Royal Council, with Lord Notice striding aggressively and authoritatively at its head.

And all around the Commons, held back by the Guard, noble ponies and commoners alike were gathering worriedly, watching her closely.

No pressure, Celestia thought dryly.

"Your Highness," Lord Notice said curtly, "I must insist! That last quake, is that not warning enough? Should we not act, swiftly and decisively?"

Celestia gazed around at the pleasant, quiet park space... and felt yet another violent tremor shuddering the marble pathway under her gilded hooves. "You may be right," she said. "Flying Buttress, is this the exact center of the city?"

"Close enough, Highness," the architect replied. "If you could somehow attach a skyhook right here, you could hold the entire thing up, no trouble."

"And there's no indication yet of the source of these tremors?"

Ancient Scroll shook her head. "Regretfully no, Highness."

"So be it." Celestia turned to the Guard ponies. "Captain?"

Shining Armor stepped forward, saluting. "Highness?"

"Tell the Guard to organize an orderly evacuation. And tell them to reassure the public that I will be employing my magic to keep the city stable, until everypony is safely away."

"At once, Highness, but... what about..."

"You've heard nothing from Twilight?" Celestia asked curtly. "Or from Commander Tempest?"

The Captain shook his head. "The guards say they went looking for some filly's parents, out in the cliffside area. No word from them yet."

Lord Notice sniffed, looking around triumphantly at the other Council members. "So much for the so-called Heroes of Equestria, eh?"

Celestia counted to six before speaking.

"Captain, I will deal with that myself. For now, carry out your orders. The public's safety is your primary concern."

"Princess..."

"At once, Captain!"

"Uh... understood, Your Highness." Shining Armor saluted, looking downcast.

And Celestia shook her head, just as regretfully, as she readied her message spell. "I only hope Twilight thought to bring Spike with her..."

"Uh... Your Highness?"

Shining Armor was pointing past her in surprise. Celestia turned to look, and saw the small purple dragon trotting up to her. With him was the hedgehog Grubber, and a filly she didn't recognize, carrying a small gemstone. Cheese Sandwich was right behind them all, tugging a cloth-covered toy wagon with his rubber chicken riding atop it.

"Princess Celestia?" Spike asked. "Have you seen Twilight around here anywhere?"

Celestia paused, feeling almost broken-hearted.

Then she heard a muffled thumping, ringing sound behind her, like metal striking marble tile. Turning, Celestia saw a section of the marble pathway shudder, then jounce. And then, with a huge ringing CLANG, it was bucked upwards and out of the way by an armored hoof.

Commander Tempest poked her head up alertly, staring around. And then she all but shoved Twilight Sparkle up onto the path. Climbing up herself, the armored pony quickly began helping the rest of the group up through an access hatch that had been buried, forgotten, under the pathway tiles.

"Mom! Dad!" Bright Cut dashed forward to eagerly hug the astonished pegasus and stallion as they emerged blinking into the sunlight. Her parents returned her hug in grateful relief.

And Twilight, looking a little dusty and disheveled, stared around herself in surprise at the assembled crowds. Then, spotting the Princess, she eagerly ran over to her. "Princess Celestia! Are we glad to see you! We've found what's been causing these tremors, and we think we know how to stop it. But we need your help, and --"

"Twilight!" Celestia interrupted sternly. "What are you doing here?"

Twilight winced, and hunched worriedly. "Princess?"

Celestia shook her head, amazed. "I mean, here am I, all ready to send a message requesting that you and your group come and give us the benefit of your advice and assistance... and I find you in front of me, literally underhoof, already up to speed and having already uncovered an answer to all this?"

Celestia turned a baleful eye on the assembled nobles nearby. "I could wish that some members of my Council were half so efficient. Wouldn't you agree, Lord Notice?"

For once, the Majority Leader was wise enough to look contritely respectful. "Ah... indeed, Your Highness."

Celestia turned back to Twilight, and her friends who were gathering around her. "Now then," she said. "First, everypony take a deep, calming breath." She demonstrated, encouraging them to do the same. "And now -- one at a time please -- tell me all about it."

Twilight quickly explained, about the mines under the mountain and the cavern they'd found deep within them. Starlight held up the map, pointing things out as Twilight spoke. And Twilight also described the strange dark magic impulses arising from it. "We think the pulsations of magic are resonating up through the mines," she said, "and out to the platforms beneath the city. If we can disrupt the resonance in the mines, that should stop the tremors. But then we'd still have to deal with the crystal or whatever it was that we found in the cavern."

Celestia looked astonished, staring at the faded parchment. Then her gaze turned stern and fierce. She nodded confidently.

"I believe I know just what to do. But I shall require your help, Twilight. You, and your friends."

"Of course, Princess! What can we do?"

"I can deal with the mines and the cavern," Celestia said. "But while I am occupied with that, I shall need you and your friends holding the city and its platforms steady, keeping everypony here safe."

Moondancer's eyes went wide. "The whole city? Can we do that?"

"The Field of Harmony!" Twilight gasped. "You want us to use it to support Canterlot itself?"

Celestia nodded. "Can you do it, Twilight?"

Twilight looked doubtful, and was about to reply, but she suddenly found Sunset standing next to her, a hoof around her shoulders.

"Of course we can," Sunset said. "Don't worry, Princess. You do what you have to do, and we'll take care of Canterlot. Right, Twilight?"

Twilight looked at her, then at Celestia. "Of course. You can count on us, Princess!"

Celestia nodded thankfully. Then, spreading her wings, she leapt into the air and swept upwards, lofting high into the sky above the city.

And the Advanced Projects group went into a quick huddle.

"Okay, Sunset," Twilight asked, "just how are we going to do this?"

"No idea." Sunset replied, grinning. "But I know this group. We work great under pressure. We can make it work!"

"I don't know..." Moondancer shook her head. "All of Canterlot?"

"We've got to try," Twilight said. "They're counting on us!"

Starlight was thinking furiously. "It'll take an awful lot of power," she warned. "Even with the Field's storage loop fully charged, I'm not sure we'd be able to sustain it that long. Not by ourselves!"

"But it won't be just us!" Sunset said. "Remember the Sun Celebration? The entire crowd, believing in us, trusting in us? They gave us the power we needed. We just need to do that on a larger scale! Like... the entire city!"

"But how do we tell them?" Moondancer asked. "Convince them? Organize them? I don't think we have that kind of time!"

"And there's something else," Trixie pointed out. "We don't have the focus gems -- apart from mine." She tapped the gem clipped to her cape. "We'll have to go get the others first."

There was a polite cough behind them. They looked at Cheese, who grinned proudly.

"Ladies, I think I can help with both of those things. First, the focus gems... we brought them with us, actually."

Turning to his wagon, Cheese swept up Boneless and draped the chicken over his shoulder, then whipped off the cloth cover, revealing the bright purple silk-lined case in which they kept the necklaces containing the focus gems.

"Cheese!" Twilight said.

He shrugged. "The ol' cheesy-sense was a tinglin', Twilight. It's how we knew to look for you here. And I had a hunch you might be needing these!"

Spike quickly grabbed up the case and trotted it around. Each of the gem-bearing ponies donned one of the necklaces.

"And now," Cheese said, "it's time to show you what a party-pony can really do!"

Producing a top-hat and a megaphone from nowhere, Cheese bounded up to a perch atop a nearby fountain, then swung round to address the crowd.

"Hey there, everypony! My Ladies and Lords! Mares and stallions! And Canterlot citizens of all ages!" He glanced down at Bright Cut and winked. "Can I have your attention, please?"

The assembled crowds, the Guards, even the Council members all turned to look at him.

Cheese grinned, his curly mane practically crackling with excitement. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends have a plan, everypony! To shield Canterlot and help Princess Celestia protect us all from harm. But she's going to need your help! That's right, every last one of you! We're gonna need you all for this. But don't worry, it's really simple! All you have to do -- is believe..."

"I think that's our cue," Twilight whispered. The ponies quickly arranged themselves in the hexagonal formation, readying themselves. Starlight cast the stabilizing spell on Tempest's horn. Tempest fired the priming blast at Trixie's focus gem. Beams of spectral energy interconnected their gems. Around them, the storage loop of the Field blazed to life, a whirling dynamo of magic energy, in all its forms and colors, making the crowds around them gasp.

The ponies' eyes blazed. Their manes and tails flowed on invisible currents. They were gently lifted off their hooves and up into the air, rising upwards above the amazed onlookers.

"That's right, everypony!" Cheese called. "Twilight and her friends can protect us, they can keep us safe. But we need you to trust her, to believe in her! To show Twilight and her friends that they have your support!"

The group was rising higher, becoming visible to more and more ponies as they gathered in the city's streets and squares. The ponies all stared upwards in awe, both at Princess Celestia high overhead, and at Twilight and her friends, rising steadily into the air to join her.

"I know they can do this!" Cheese shouted. "You know they can do it! We just need you to show that you know it! All of you, every last one of you! Don't hold back now! Let me hear you!"

"YEAH!" called a bulky albino pegasus from the midst of the crowd.

An elderly, straw-maned earth-pony pumped a hoof anxiously. "For the Princess! For Princess Celestia!"

"For the Princess!" other ponies echoed, growing more confident the more of them spoke up.

"And for Twilight Sparkle!" Silver Lining called.

"Yes!" Rock Hammer shouted. "For Twilight Sparkle!" He hugged his wife and daughter, while staring upward in amazement.

"For Twilight!" yelled Bright Cut, bursting with joy.

The crowd readily took it up, cheering and calling, stamping their hooves and waving excitedly.

"For Twilight! ... For Celestia! ... For Canterlot! ... For Equestria!"

The roar of the crowd spread, reaching out through the streets and squares. It spread to the Upper and Lower districts, first through the urban areas and then outward into the rural neighborhoods. Ponies heard the shouting and cheering, looked up, and saw the Sun Princess, high in the sky, and the small group of ponies surrounded by a shimmering ring of magic. At the sight, they all joined in, cheering and stamping unreservedly, often without even really understanding why at first. A deep sense of calm, of hope, of sheer freedom from fear and doubt pervaded the entire Royal City... all of it centered on the six ponies holding station high overhead, surrounded by the Field's blazing ring.

Under the influx of well-wishes and cheering, the Field's storage loop blazed. It extended outwards, becoming a huge arc of magic energy, shimmering in the sky. It spread, blossoming outwards, until it was nearly as wide as the entire Middle platform itself.

Far below, perched on his fountain, Cheese pumped a hoof. "Come on, Twilight! You can do it! We know you can! We believe in you!"

"For Twilight!" Bright Cut yelled happily.

And the crowd willingly repeated it. "For Twilight!" they cheered. "For Celestia!"

High in the air, Twilight gazed down, at the expanse of the city far below, at the cheering crowds gazing upward. She felt nervous at the height they'd attained, at the magic energy being gathered and harnessed all around them. But she also felt strangely calm...

We can do this, she thought.

She glanced left and right at her friends, who all nodded readiness.

And then Twilight focused her attention on the city below, on the platforms on which it stood. And she reached down with her magic, with the power of hundreds of ponies of all stripes behind her...

... and took hold.

The citizens all felt the city's platforms shudder briefly. But this wasn't like the unnerving, unpredictable tremors before. It was more like a board being gripped, firmly and authoritatively, right before the nail was pounded in. Everypony could feel the platforms beneath their hooves becoming rock steady, held tight and secure in the Field's stabilizing power.

Twilight looked upwards, to the Princess hovering watchfully overhead.

WE'VE GOT THIS, PRINCESS, her amplified Voice rang out over the city. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.

"Bless you, Twilight," Celestia whispered to herself.

Then she charged her sword-like horn, spread her wings. And blazed alight with her full power, becoming a second Sun in the sky. With eyes of pure flame she glared down at the mountain, at the dark, encroaching force buried deep within it.

So, she thought grimly. There you are! Do you know what it's like? Sitting on that throne day after day, year after year, sensing you steadily encroaching, reaching out, poisoning my ponies' minds? Turning them against one other, against the truth and light that can protect them? Against the better life they need, that they all deserve? And not knowing where you are, being unable to properly fight back? Being limited to constantly trying to push back against the darkness, against the never-ceasing tide of pompous ego, self-defeating cynicism, and thrice-damned minutia...

She set her jaw.

Well, that ends today. After a thousand years, I am no longer alone! Finally, I am free to act. And there shall be no holding back this time. I shall end this...

For a brief moment Celestia paused, to smile, lightly and amusedly.

As the fillies and colts might say -- it's payback time!

She swung her head down, aimed at the base of the cliffs. And cast a blinding sheen of shimmering magic. It swept through the stone as if it was mist, struck the diamond core. It was refracted down, down, far into the depths. Celestia carefully probed the mines with her magic, traced out the cold, crystalline tunnels and galleries and shafts of the mine, ensuring they were safely empty of anything living.

And then she collapsed them... all of them, at once.

Ceilings slammed down into floors. Shafts narrowed and slammed closed. Landslides of shattered crystal filled in every inch of space in a jumble, destroying the painstakingly constructed network of shaped tunnels and resonances that had made the city so vulnerable.

The peak of Mount Canterlot visibly sank, settling by several lengths. The small cap of snow atop its peak that had survived the summer sun slid off, tumbling into the valleys and slopes of the ski resorts. Minor avalanches tumbled down rock faces, bounced over cliff edges. But in the end, the Mountain held firm, and stood solid and whole as before.

Celestia nodded. A good beginning, she thought. But now comes the hard part. Even buried as it was, in the silent darkness under thousands of tons of crystal, the cavern itself remained intact, sending out its pulses of dark power.

Now it's your turn, the Princess thought, readying her magic.

Then she spared a brief glance to Twilight and her friends, to be sure they were all right.

And saw they were struggling. The dark force under the Mountain had not bothered attempting to retaliate against Celestia. Instead, it was lashing out against them.

Through the tons of collapsed crystal, through the city's support beams, and bashing upwards through long-abandoned access covers, fulminating torrents of iridescent, bubbling dark magic belched upwards, striking at the Field directly. The very strength with which the city was being held by the Field made it that much easier: the dark forces were now riding the Field's own strength, seeking its resonances, its weaknesses, and attacking them.

With each pulse, the shimmering storage ring of the Field visibly flickered, threatening to lose coherence. And Twilight and her friends were flinching, turning their heads this way and that, struggling to shut their eyes and ears against the almost tangible waves of doubt and despair descending on them.

Starlight gasped. "It's like the voices from the crystal earlier!"

"That was nothing compared to this!" yelled Moondancer. "It's like they're inside my head! It's like they're speaking with my voice..."

"This thing, whatever it is," Sunset called, "it wants us to fail! But the only way it can do that is by making us want to fail!"

"We can't fail," Twilight moaned desperately. "We have to hold on..."

Tempest Shadow was silent, just as racked by doubt as the rest of them. But even worse she felt pinned, unable to act. She wanted to reach out, to leap forward, to put herself in the way, to defend the struggling lavender pony flinching and twisting in the air before her...

But all she could hear, all any of them could hear, were their own voices -- giving up, admitting failure, admitting defeat...

I'll never truly redeem myself, Tempest found herself thinking. Never really earn the friendship I've found here, the trust I've been granted...

I'll never make a name for myself, thought Starlight. Never stand out and be somepony important. I'll always just be somepony else's shadow...

I'll always be second-rate, Trixie thought, and winced miserably. It was an old and familiar fear, but that didn't make it any more bearable. I'll never measure up. Never be able to keep up with Starlight, or with any of the others...

I can't possibly be a good friend, Moondancer thought desperately, and wanted to run away and hide. I don't know how. I'm so useless...

Sunset shook her head, struggling hard to fight back... and losing. I'll always need somepony else, she thought. To come rescue me, to get me out of whatever mess I've gotten myself into this time...

And for Twilight Sparkle, it was worst of all. Despair yawned before her, like a depthless chasm. With it came the helpless certainty that she didn't deserve the role that had been given her, the responsibility she'd been given, as leader for her friends. "I can't do this," she whispered hopelessly. "I can't possibly lead them, can't possibly make the right decisions. I'll never get it right..."

TWILIGHT.

Fighting off the dark influence, Twilight struggled to look up. And saw Celestia, hovering in the distance.

I BELIEVE IN YOU, TWILIGHT, the Princess called. I ALWAYS HAVE.

Then Celestia smiled -- just smiled -- in that wonderfully reassuring, supportive way of hers.

And to Twilight, it was as if the burden of doubt, fear, and care simply lifted from her shoulders. The doubt, the fear -- that wasn't her, she realized. It didn't define who she was. It was merely the problem to be faced, shouldered, and solved. Nothing more.

And, once she'd put it down, the pony that remained, Twilight Sparkle...

...she could do that!

"Don't worry!" Twilight called out to the others, looking around at them. "We can do this! We can make it work! All of us, together!"

The five ponies looked at her, startled. And felt her confidence reaching out to them, through the Field of Harmony, strengthening both it and them.

They stared at each other, saw the returning confidence in each other's eyes.

"You heard her!" Sunset called. "We can do this!"

"Somehow!" Starlight agreed. "Any how!"

"Together!" Moondancer shouted eagerly.

The storage loop ceased flickering. The Field stabilized, then it intensified further, becoming a tangible warm glow in the air surrounding the royal city. The ponies watching down below, they all felt it, felt their spirits lifted by it. They shouted eagerly, with a joy and pride they'd only felt from one other source before:

"For the Princess!" they yelled. "For Twilight! For Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

Celestia smiled in relief at that. She felt no jealously or rivalry at the adoration being directed at her student. She'd rarely heard her subjects so excited and happy. And above all else, they were safe and secure. And Celestia would have willingly relinquished her crown, her entire dominion, to ensure that.

Confident that Twilight and the others were safe, Celestia turned her attention to the task that remained, with a renewed strength.

She recast her magic, into the face of the mountain, into its depths. She tightened her focus, felt her way down into the deepest part of the mine, to the dark-red crystal lair, buried far below.

And for a brief moment, a very brief moment, Celestia allowed herself an indulgence she rarely permitted, knowing the risk all too well:

Vengeance.

Celestia's eyes blazed. Her unleashed rage found the crystal formation at the chamber's heart, focused upon it. And within it, the fury of the heart of her Sun blazed alight.

The crystal's mirror-like facet fractured, then cracked, then shattered. The cavern roared like a furnace, the crystal columns and the central formation briefly blazing in shimmering ruby light. Then the chamber's walls and supports melted, ran like glass, and finally exploded into shards and vapor. They were were quickly swamped and drowned in a flood of hot lava melting in from the surrounding rock, which filled the chamber and swallowed it up, congealing into hot, dead, harmless slag.

The dark influence switched off like a light. It was gone, expelled. It was no more.

And Celestia paused for breath, carefully bringing her anger in check.

That will do, she told herself.

She turned then, and nodded to Twilight. Who nodded to her friends.

"STAND DOWN, EVERYPONY."

The ponies slowly, carefully wound down the spell, returning the remaining magic to the citizens below. The Field's storage loop shrank to its normal, shimmering diameter around them. And then, as they descended to the ground and their hooves touched down in Canterlot Commons, it winked out altogether, the spell shutting down smoothly.

The city's platforms juddered, just once. And then were solid once more.

"Hah! Did you see that!" Trixie shouted, her hooves in the air. "Nothing to it! Trixie never doubted herself for a second! Or... any of you either," he added hastily, and coughed into a hoof.

"We did it," Sunset wearily agreed, grinning. "All of us -- together."

"Nicely done, everypony," Twilight agreed, relieved.

"Great work, gang!" Cheese climbed down from the fountain to join them. "I knew you could do it. Never doubted you for a moment."

"Thanks, Cheese." Twilight smiled at him. "For everything!"

"Way to go, Twilight!" Spike said, running up to hug her.

And then the crowds closed in around them, calling and waving excitedly. Even with the Guard ponies trying to hold them back, it was a madhouse. "Twilight!" the onlookers yelled. "There she is! She did it! She saved us! She saved Canterlot! How'd you do it, Twilight? Tell us how!"

Twilight looked around at them all, wide-eyed in shock.

Then she smiled nervously, motioning for the other ponies to join her. "It wasn't just me," she called to the crowd. "I couldn't possibly have managed it without my friends. They're the ones you should be celebrating, each and every one of them. And I wouldn't trade them for anything!"

The crowds shouted and cheered, deafeningly, as Twilight and her friends grinned at each other.

Grubber trotted over to stand beside Tempest, and smiled up at her.

"So... this is what it's like bein' the good guys, huh? Kinda nice, ain't it, boss?"

Tempest nodded. "You'd better get used to it. I have a feeling this is going to happen a lot from now on..."

On the outskirts of the Common, Princess Celestia swooped down from the sky, coming in for a gentle landing in an area cleared for her by her escort. And she was immediately mobbed by her own circle of awed and grateful admirers. But, as much as she wanted to immediately and personally congratulate Twilight and her friends, Celestia held back and deliberately didn't intrude. She let Twilight and her friends have their moment, their well-deserved place in the spotlight.

After all, the Princess reminded herself, they need to learn how to manage this part of being heroes too...

"Well, Twilight," said Princess Celestia, glancing around as she stepped down from her golden chariot, "it seems once again you and your friends are quite the sensation."

"A lot of that is thanks to Cheese." Twilight looked around herself, at all the decorations. "He's a party pony, all right. He certainly knows how to get ponies' attention..."

Cheese Sandwich hadn't been idle while the group was down in the mine tunnels. He'd organized and thrown a huge block-party that same evening in Bright Cut's neighborhood. And it looked as if some of the neighboring ponies were still getting over the shock. The entire stretch of winding road was done up in bunting, balloons, and streamers, leading up to the centerpiece: a party bash being held at Bright Cut's home. There was music and games, plus a buffet dinner and dance area out in back. And the street, the yard, the house itself were crowded with ponies. Most of them were locals, but even more were arriving from all over Canterlot, having gotten word that it was the happening place to be.

Accordion in hoof, Cheese himself was dancing along, in the midst of a conga line that seemed to have no real beginning or end -- it just weaved all over the place, into the house and out again.

"I only wish," Twilight said, "that we'd been able to find out more about that cavern, about that crystal at the heart of it all."

"I wish I could have gotten down the last of the inscriptions," Moondancer lamented. "And that my notes on them weren't such a jumble!" She stared at a copy of her own notes with a quill hovering in her magic, like a crossword addict trying to fill in a clue. "I really hope we didn't miss out on something forever, just because I can't write clearly when I'm in a hurry..."

"I passed the copy you gave me along to the researchers at the Archives," Princess Celestia said. "To see if they can tell us anything. But I did warn them that if they had any issues with the quality of the researcher's notes, they might consider collecting their own archeological data... under fire."

Moondancer grinned at that. Then staring at her notes again, she pulled out a book she'd brought to check something in it.

"Princess Celestia?" The guards around the group parted, allowing Silver Lining to approach hesitantly, with Rock Hammer and Bright Cut in tow. The three of them knelt respectfully. "We're so honored you were able to come!"

"It's only a flying visit I'm afraid," Celestia said. "There's something similar being held for me, up at the Palace. And I think Luna would like to attend, so I should be there with her. But I did want to stop by to see that everything was all right here."

"Of course, Your Highness," Silver Lining said. And then she winced guiltily. "I'd... also like to apologize to you personally. We know we really shouldn't have been wandering around in those mines. And I really hope it wasn't our gem-hunting that was the cause of all this."

"I don't think it was," Celestia said kindly, "You were simply caught up in it all. And too, I don't recall the mines being officially off-limits. More like abandoned and forgotten. I really should have had warning notices put up, shouldn't I? It's a wonder that nopony wandered into them sooner."

"It's very kind of you, Highness, seeing it that way," Silver Lining said. "We didn't want to cause trouble." She ruffled Bright Cut's mane. "We just wanted to provide a good home for our little shining gem here."

Celestia nodded. "I hear that you and your husband are researchers as well as gem-collectors. Perhaps you might be interested in helping the gemology section of the Archives prepare and catalog samples?"

"Really?" Silver looked at Rock, and they both grinned. "That would be so wonderful, Your Highness!"

"Fair warning," Trixie whispered behind a hoof, "they'll buttonhole you, try to talk your ears off. Those ponies really need to get out more..." She and Starlight giggled together.

"I'm just glad it worked out so well," said Sunset, sipping a mug of punch. "I mean, hey, we thought we were just helping a filly find her parents. And then we wound up saving the entire city! We just don't know how to quit being heroes! Do we, Tempest?" She grinned at the Commander, standing next to her.

Tempest snorted. "I think the proper term for us is 'trouble magnets'. But you're right." She shrugged. "All's well that ends well." She frowned at the double-bolt mark on her armor, still gleaming from the magic it had absorbed earlier. "You know, I really need to ask Twilight to help me figure out what else this armor is capable of. Just so I know in advance, next time."

"Um... Twilight?" asked Bright Cut, staring up at her. "I know you're not really a Princess and all, but... is it okay if I just think you are?"

Twilight nodded. "That's perfectly all right. But don't forget about my friends, okay?" She looked around at them. "I'd be really lost without them."

"Okay!" Bright Cut said, grinning.

"Hey! Princess Celestia!" Cheese Sandwich was suddenly standing beside Tempest, holding out a silver platter. "Welcome to the party! Can we tempt you with a slice of cake?"

Celestia smiled. "Ah... no thank you, Cheese. I'm trying to cut down."

"Oh well! More for us, eh?" The party-pony grinned. "Hey, gals, we're about to start Blindfolded Charades inside!" He looked around at them eagerly. "Last one in the house is it!" Turning, he darted off through the crowds again, dodging and jinking expertly to avoid collisions.

And Sunset grinned at Tempest, who was scowling after the party pony with one armored hoof cocked, muttering under her breath.

"Something wrong with your shoe, Tempest?"

Tempest looked at it. Then she stamped it down hard, ground the turf with it.

"Nothing," she replied. "Just a passing thought, that's all..."

The ponies all laughed. Then, begging leave of the Princess, they wandered off to rejoin the celebrations inside.

And Celestia watched them go, an uncertain look on her face.

What's next for you, Twilight? she wondered. What have I gotten you into, here? And how is it that, no matter what happens, you somehow always manage to be in the right place at the right time...

Later that evening, Silver Lining tucked Bright Cut into bed, ruffling the filly's mane fondly.

"We're proud of you, honey," she said. "You didn't get scared. You knew just what to do. You went to get help and saved us both."

"I did just what you told me, Mom!" The filly hugged her gemstone happily. "I went and found the Princess... well, Acting Princess Twilight. And she and her friends saved you!"

Silver Lining looked puzzled. "I don't recall telling you that, sweetie." Then she shook her head. "But it's not important. Twilight was wonderful, wasn't she? She knew just what to do, and she got us all out of danger. Most of all, she kept you safe. And we can never thank her enough for that!"

Kissing her daughter good night, Silver Lining left the room, smiling as she shut off the lights.

In the darkness, Bright Cut snuggled down in the covers, hugging her gemstone. It might be just a hunk of crystal, but it was so comforting. She still recalled how, that morning, just when she'd felt really afraid, standing alone in the empty house with the ground shivering underhoof, she'd heard it speaking to her. And she just knew the words had to be from her parents, who wanted to be sure she was all right and were telling her just what to do:

The Princess... find the Princess... only she can set us free...

Bright Cut nodded proudly.

And that's just what I did! she thought happily.

The End

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.