Chapter 9, The other end

The Ponyville library was unusually abuzz with activity. Ponies were coming and leaving en masse and quite miraculiously they all fit into the small structure. Even more remarkable was that nopony stepped on any shards of glass still littering the floor or anypony elses hooves. If one did not know any better it could almost appear to an orchestrated event. Almost.

If one were to take a closer look, the equine mass could be easily seperated into two groups.

For one, there were the local residents of the small town, going about their daily routine and either looking for or returning a book or two. To provide the usual service to them Spike had put up an improvised desk, made out of an upside down cartboard box with foldable chair behind, right in the middle of the hallway just behind the door. He did what he could with what was left of the inventory. Most of the bound knowledge had survived the night, but some envelopes were less fortunate. Luckily books with minor burns on the outside were still legiable on the inside and if time tought the library staff anything, then it was the fact that some books were returned in even worse shape, much to Twilights anger.

"Hey, there is only half of this book left! Does that mean I get to keep it twice as long?"

"Uuuuuh...."

On the upside though, any book returned made the shelfes look less…empty. If only for the moment until one stepped closer to them.

Other ponies came by to offer their help after the desastrous event which had struck the central building of their little community. They salvaged and fixed whatever they could of the trees interior and disposed off what, unfortunately, could not be saved. Balancing the charred items on their backs they carried it out of the tree in large boxes or floated them out of the missing windows. Some of the shelves and furniture would have to be replaced entirely at some point in the future, but that could be dealt with after addressing more pressing demands, and the question of how to fund the effort.

The other and far more dominant group of equines were the Royal Equestrian Guards, which came here over the course of dawn. They had beelined to Ponyville in flying carts even before the sun had risen and quickly established a perimeter with orange tape around the tree. And, to make absolutely sure nopony could miss their presence, even set up a basecamp consisting of few big tents and signs. Not to far from the libraries entrance they also set up an impromptu landing strip right next to their camp, making it look like a maneuver campsite.

Now, many hours later, a constant stream of ponies in golden armor was venturing between the tents on the outside, the strip and the mainroom on the right side of the library, occasionally bringing items in or dropping some others off. But always making certain that nopony could see what was being transported. Except for a glimpse on lots and lots of boring papers and magical crystals, everypony was left to guess at the contents.

In the early hours of the day the guard had stubbornly tried to prevent anypony from entering the structure entirely, who was not from the troop. While they busied themselfes with setting things up, they asked everypony lots of questions, even if they had heard or seen nothing. But the taped in perimeter and the minor detail that the guard occupied an official building of the town, not to mention that anything happening in Ponyville always attracted a lot of attention, quickly forced the local authorities to intervene on their citizens behalf.

Quite reluctantly and due to the timely arrival of Mayor Mare the guards were eventually forced to concede some control over their investigation site, into the hooves of the local ponies. So it was decided between the mayor and the commander of the force, that the regular business could take place in a somewhat reduced form. At least in all parts of the tree that were not of immediate concern for the guard and their duty.

With details scarce on what exactly had occurred in the previous night, except for a large explosion that anypony, save for the heaviest of sleepers, must have heard, the townsfolk were logically upset and worried for their safety. And with the usual secrecy the guard behaved with, it only increased the locals desire to speculate and catch a glimpse of the interior happenings, further spinning the rumor mill with each miniscule item they spotted.

It was therefore no surprise that a set number of individuals from the crowd of onlookers tried to sneak by the fence around the library. Or they simply just pretended to have a book to return that was late due. The amount of ponies willing to attempt such a coup lessened a bit after the guards uncerimoniously kicked out a couple of ponies, but never once dropped to zero, as curiosity always got the better of a crowd.

To further undermine these activities the guard commander had quickly resorted to tighten security around and inside the tree by assigning a pair of guards to everything. Even the bathroom. And the coffeemaker in tent 3. Additionally the already limited entrance of the tree had been converted into a checkpoint, which also had the unfortunate side effect of slowing things down considerably for all parties involved due to overly prolonged check-ups.

Amongst these few admitted ponies were a certain orange applefarmer and alabaster fashionista of the little town.

The pair had arrived here almost on time with the first guards touching down to investigate the magical disturbance and stayed ever since. The other girls of their group of friends had intended to come as well, but could not due to various circumstances. They had made it clear though, via manner of sneaked in messages throughout the morning, to come over as soon as the situtation allowed it for them.

Pinkie always found ways to papercards to places.

The initial contact with the armored ponies almost saw Applejack and Rarity removed from the place like some other troublemakers, for manner of interfering with royal business. But a quick intervention by Twilight, and the resulting arguement with the mayor and commander, resolved the issue for the moment. After the guards had departed, a tearful Twilight had tackled the pair of friends and refused to let go for an entire hour, all the while berating herself about how stupid she was and how everything was her own fault.

Despite Raritys and Applejacks best attempts to remedy the situation and calm their friend, it was not to be. For each and every time they though they had made some progress, it was immediately torpedoed, by the investigators of the guards. The golden mares harshly demanded an explanation from Twilight how a type 13 magical anomaly came to be in the middle of the town with little to no regards to Twilights emotional state.

A fact that did not sit well with her friends.

While they both had jobs and families to look after as well, Applejack and Rarity could clearly see that their new friend needed them to be here right now, to keep from falling apart emotionally and to ward off the unusually unfair treatment of the guards. So they comforted her with their presence and stood with her, as Twilight braved the investigative questioning by the lead mare with a rather shaky voice.

Twilight explained in almost typical fashion, meaning in way to much detail, what had occurred during the night. While the guards hung on her every word, Rarity and Applejack knew they were in way out their depths here and instead focussed on shooting down any malicious glare from the guard commander with two of their own.

Usually such a thing would not be much of problem, but with Twilight remembering to much of the catastrophic event in way to much deatil, it made it appear as if she had intended for things to work out as they did. A clue that made some guards and more specifically their boss, ever more suspicious of the librarian and her actions. And that was despite the results of everything being clearly to her disadvantage. It was therefore very likely that Twilight would remain a suspect for some time to come.

After being asked a couple of additional questions about the townsfolk, which basically forced Twilight to tell her lifes story thus far, only in segments, the last officer ended her interrogation. The armored mare narrowed her eyes, and quickly marched off outside to the tents. As soon as she had arrived, the shouting of orders to subordinates could be easily heard through the entire yard. A moment later an aide of the commander returned and asked the trio to stay out of the mainroom and wait for the Princess to arrive, for the commander had notified her of the situation via dragonfire. Until then they were free to enter the premise.

Seeing as Twilight was already on the brink of a mental collapse, it was rather unsettling for Applejack and Rarity to see their friend devolve even further into a mentally unstable state at the mentioning of the word: Princess. They quickly grabbed Twilight by her withers and excused her and themselfes for the time being, to which the aide gladly agreed.

Ever the most experienced individual in reading between the lines, Rarity informed Applejack in hushed whispers, that the guard commander probably only let them in to get Twilight to cooperate. And with the way the mare in uniform behaved, it seemed absolutely certain to them, Twilight was considered more of a prime suspect, and not a victim in the investigators mind.

She was not of the hook yet.

The trio had since then retreated into the kitchen area, situated left of the entrance hallway of the ruined tree house, seating themselves around the table with a hot cup of either hot coffee or cocoa. They had to wrap a blanket around themselfes, as the storm had blown out all but one window and it was rather chilly inside. After a while of silent consolidation, a distraught Twilight explained what had occurred a third time to her friends, but this time without any pressure or guilt implying questions.

It was not that the farmer and the fashionista had to hear the story again per se, but speaking seemed to ease Twilights pain and nervousness a bit, for the mare was a truly a mess. Random patches of her coat and strands of her mane stood out at weird angles and even the pinkish line which normally sat right in the middle of her mane somehow managed to be in several places at once, which were not connected at all.

Twilight looked into her cup of coffee with red eyes and the typical matted fur from tears rolling down her cheeks was very visible on her cheeks. She was rocking back and forth in her chair cuddled into an additional blanked brought in from Spike when he took a break some time ago, and every so often her left eye would twitch uncontrollably as she took a sip from her cup.

Every time she moved slightly, Twilight was silently whispering to herself, “…its all my fault…Celestia will know…I´m gonna go back to magic kindergarten…”

Applejack and Rarity shared a knowing look, that spoke more than a thousand words ever could and after a long drawn out sigh Rarity decided to take the lead, “…Darling, none, and I mean none, of this incident is in any way your fault. Nopony, not even our dearest Princesses could have foreseen this desaster.”

“Rares is right ´bout that, Twilight,” Applejack chimed in, “…way I see things, ya only tried to help ponies…and besides, ya couldn´t have known how da weatherteam screwed up last night.”

Twilight did not stop shaking, nor did she gave any signal back to her friends, aside from a twitching ear. She just continued to stare into her now empty cup and sniffled on occasion. It was only when Rarity tried to reach out to her with a hoof, that she answered the duo.

“…its not just that. I had securities in place for everything!” Twilights mood slowly switched from sadness to anger as she spoke, “Even a magic overload should have never had this much of an impact to the influx of magical energy within the first circle, let alone the innermost!” She threw her cup against a nearby wall and stomped her hoof on the table hard enough to shake it. The kitchenware sailed through the air and impacted on a wall right above the sink, where a purple glow barely stopped it from shattering and gently floated it into the awaiting bubbly pool beneath.

Cancelling her spell Twilight ranted on,“Don´t you understand? Nothing of this should have happened! Not even in a million tries! I triple checked all my calculations and then did it again, just to be certain! I would have never let my sister try it out otherwise! I send her to Celestia-knows-where! Possibly even the moon!”

When her rant ended, Twilight noticed that she had risen out of her chair and was now leaning on the table with her forelegs, towering over her friends. Applejack and Rarity had a little shrunken back from the verbal assault and were looking at Twilight with wide eyes, clearly intimidated by her sudden outburst, but no enough to make them run.

Quickly realising what she just did, Twilight sagged back into her chair and gave a meek “Sorry!” to them both.

Applejack was first to recover, “Ya know sugarcube, Ah might not be the best in this magic mumbo jumbo stuff ya horn types are doin´, but even non magic things can go terribly wrong sometimes. Like the time Applebloom tried to bake a cake for ol´ Granny,” Applejack leaned back in her chair, “It came out all black and the ´hole house was smellin´ like it had burned inside for weeks after. Smelled like it too! But despite all this we were not mad at her for long. She meant well and we solved any problems comin´ from it together.”

“I´m afraid a cake does not quite compare to an incident like this AJ, for your sister is still around, but thanks anyway,” Twilight pointed out.

Her friends could tell though, that the gratitude did not entirely seem to come from heart and more from being polite. Applejack attempt to relate to Twilights experience only seemed to have grown Twilights anger at herself, as the mare continued to sulk.

Rarity shot Applejack a scornful look, “I think, what our mutual clumsy farmfriend is trying to say with her tale is, that even with the best intentions and best preparations there are always things beyond your control in play. And that there is nothing that cannot be repaired with a little time.”

Applejack shot Rarity a warning look, while Twilight just scoffed and sulked further. Not to be deterred by these responses Rarity continued unpertubed.

“Sometimes it also takes a little magic, I must admit. I cannot tell you the amounts of time I had to fix an order that was due late to delivery, or simply repair whatever Sweetiebelle caused.” Twilight raised an eyebrow and was about to respond, probably to shut Rarity down like Applejack, but the white unicorn beat her to it, “Just think of Princess Luna for example, Darling. She is well and back with her sister. And all it took was a little time and magic-”

Twilight scoffed disbelief dripping from her voice, “…aaand the entire Elements of Harmony.”

“Ahm sorry, but Ah have ta side with Twilight there. Ah think a thousand years might be stretchin´ the lil´ time a bit there Rares,” Applejack retorted in an attempt to get back at Rarity for the earlier insult, which earned her a glare, “But yeah, we can probably figure out a way to fix it. Ah mean we still got the elements and all-”

Hearing the word “Elemtents” a second time Twilights mood shifted from dark to hopeful in an instant. Her eyes lit up and both of the other mares were fairly certain to have heard a “Squeee” sound emenating from somewhere. “The Elements! Of course! Applejack you´re a genius! Why didn´t I think of that sooner?”

“Uhm thanks for the the compliment sugarcube, but Ah´m not quite followin´. Ah mean, when we used the elements on Nightmare Moon we had her right in front of us. Ah don´ think we can use´em on stuff we don´ see-“

Rarity cut in,“Darling, we don´t want to stomp on your parade or anything. But we kind of don´t really know how to properly use the elements yet. I mean we just…felt what to do.”

Despite their friends concerns for her plan, Twilights vigor remained unbroken,”Rarity, Applejack, if I can retrace my steps and those of the accident, I can figure out what went wrong and we might be able to use the elements to get Gleaming back by reversing the effects!”

Rarity and Applejack blinked in surprise. This was not what their efforts intented to do, but a quickly shared sideways glance and barely perceived nod between them, was all it took for communication. Twilight was back to herself, at least for the moment, and her spirits were definitely lifted. Even though her new plan sounded rather dangerous to them, both mares were glad to see Twilight back to her usual self.

Twilight rubbed her chin and angled her chair to peer out of the kitchen, “Now if only we could get into the mainroom. I need to get my notes and some samples to start looking for problems with my array and how it was affected by outside forces.”

“That might be a lil´ ta´ do tough right now, sugarcube.”

“She´s right there, Twilight dear,” Rarity leaned back a little in her chair to peek over her own shoulder across the hallway into the living room, ”…even if it was not for that rude excuse for a guard lieutenant, I doubt any of us are permitted anywhere near their sacred ground right now.”

Applejack turned on her chair and squinted into the next room,” What kinda´ clowns are those tincans anyway? Ah´ve neva seen that crest on their armor befor´.”

Without missing a beat Twilight answered her, “Royal Archmage Corps, 17th Devision, department for magical disturbances.”

Applejack whistled, “Dat´s a housenumber and a half. I reckon ya met with ´em before?”

Twilight weighed her head left left and right before answering, "More or less. I´ve ran into a couple of them back in Canterlot Castle, but I never had much to do with them. I did however read about them in in a history book about Discord, his reign of terror and sometime after that."

"I´m willing to bet they were quite the number back in those days," Rarity chimed in, "...must have a been a very stressful position to be in. I cant possibly imagine going from one end of equestria to the next all in the same day. Their manes and coats must have been in ruins by then!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "...sure, Rares, sure. I bet their looks were most definately their main concern." Deftly ignoring the look Rarity shot her for the remark, Applajack continued, "But how come d´ere was a Royal Corps even before the Princesses established them?"

Twilight smiled and hopped down from her chair, discarding her blanket along the way. "They werent. Not originally at least. Back when they first started out, they were but a loose collection of... mostly unicorns, who tried to mitigate and contain the chaos caused by Discords actions for the betterment of all ponykind," Twilight explained as she walked over to the kitchen door, "Later, when Discord was sealed by the Princesses use of the Eements of Harmony, they became one of the first real Corps under their command."

"And now they have nothing better to do than harass the average pony?"

Twilight shook her head, "No its just that the council of nobles think that they have mostly outlived their usefulness and is trying to cut corners with disbanding them."

At Twilights input, Rarity scoffed loudly, "Typical. One sacrifices themselfes for ponykind with their hard work and as soon as a bill is presented to them, the excuses on how not to pay come flowing in."

"Sounds like you have some experience in the matter, Rarity."

"Why of course, darling! I do run a flourishing business after all. And let me tell you, its more often than not the higher class customers, who dont come by to pick their orders up. Especially after one toiled through an entire night to find the right fabric for the desired color and even made the stitching less-"

"Ah think we got it, Rares."

Rarity shot Applejack another glare for the interruption of herlabour tale, when Twilight now with her back to the kitchens opening adressed them both, "Look, girls. I think I have plan for this. I don´t need the guards out of my house, or living room for that matter, all I need is my notes and the maincrystal from the...well...former array. Somewhere on either of them i should find the answer to what went wrong exactly."

"And how would a simple crystal help you dear? Didn´t they all get destroyed?"

"Not necessarily and not this one..., I think." Twilight scratched her chin, "I did have the main crystal embeded in an extra spell matrix, excluding and including it at the same time. Thats why it should have recored every single spell casted last night, but not be affected by the accident." Then she mumbled to herself, "...unless the overload caused a massive manaburst which overrode all data or the protective spells failed-"

Appljack cleared her throat and pointe with her hoof in the general direction of Twilights desired venture, "Aaand exactly how ya want us to get past all that´em there guards in tha next room sugarcube, without the Commanders permission?"

"Applejack is right there, Twilight dear. It is rather doubtful they let us in, let alone touch and seek through the debris for your items and let us us leave with them." Rarity took the last sip from her cup, "Unless your intention is to cause another explosion as distraction and then smuggle them out."

"But even then, they ´ave many more eyes than we do. They´ll be eyeing us closer than da darn timberwolves do their prey."

"I will figure something out. I still have to restore the place to how it was. And besides this is still a public building, and not to mention my home! I have houseright here and a duty to the ponies visiting! They can´t keep me confined for things I didn´t do! And somewhere in the mess I´ll find the clue I need to prove my innocence and a way to get my BSBFF back! An so Celestia help me, I will!"

At the end of Twilights monologue a humble, angelic voice drifted into the room, "Oh, I´m always happy to help my little ponies. What can I do to assist my most faithful student?"

Had Twilights back not been facing towards the kitchen entrance, and had she not closed her eyes at the height of her rant, she might have caught on to the presence of a new arrival within the trees walls by observing the behavior of her two friends. Both Applejack and Rarity jumped down from their respective chairs and bowed deeply towards their ruling monarch.

After having realized in shock just who the new voice belonged to, Twilight whirled around and bowed as well while she stammered a hasty, "P-P-Princess Celestia!"

"Rise my little Ponies. There is no need to bow for each of you. It is I who should, for it was you, who brought me back the last remnant of my family."

Hearing those words from her mentor Twilight was quick to regain her voice, as her friends rose back to their hooves. "How is Princess Luna doing? Is she alright?"

"Luna is almost back to how i remember her to be, even after all those years. And I have all of you to thank for that," Celestia told them with a genuine smile grazing her lips. Stepping further into the kitchen, Celestia gently floated a chair away frm it and summoned a pillow for herself. Fluffing it up she placed it in the stools former spot and took up a place at the table. "Now, if I what I heard about last nights events to be true, let me return the favor in kind."

Twilights expression fell a little, when she remembered whom she had lost, due to her invention ending in a desaster. A detail that did not went unnoticed by her teacher.

"Worry not, my faithful student. Ponies have gotten lost in magical accidents ever since they started to dive into its depths. And ever since my sister and I took up the crown we have always managed to bring them back somehow."

Twilights features brightened a little, but fell shortly afterwards again, spawning a hint of confusion on Celestias face. "All of them. All except Starswirl."

Celestia flicked an ear. Of course it would be Twilight of all ponies to find the one exception in their history. "...all except for him, yes. But he has always been a very complicated stallion of a pony. To this day, it is still my firm believe, that he is not as lost to us as it may seem. Just as your sister."

"What do you mean Princess?"

"All in due time my little pony." Celestia sniffled at the air as she continued to float the worlds tiniest saddlebag onto the table. It was of regular brownish coloration and sported Celestias cutie mark, leaving no doubt as to whom it belonged. "But for now, what is that delicious aroma floating around?"

"We just had ourselves some soulwarmers, your Highness," Rarity explained. Ever the well mannered mare, Rarity guessed the princess´ hidden question. "Shall i prepare a cup for you?"

Smiling at her, Celestia took up her offer with a short nod, as Twilight and Applejack moved back to their seats at the table. "Yes, Miss Rarity, that would be most welcome."

Applejack and Twilight exchanged glances, waiting for Celestia to continue. But she just rummaged through her bag and produced one prachment after the other out of it. The rolled up notes quickly piling up to her eyelevel.

Just when the metaphorical dragon in the room, became to big to ignore and Applejack was about to open her mouth, a sudden clattering of metal could be heard from the corridor along with some shouting from various ponies. Shortly after, a royal guard first skidded past the kitchens entrance and then came galloping in...with her armor full of dust and her helmet hanging at a weird angle.

The guard bowed, then quickly threw a salute, "P-Princess! Forgive me, but nopony thought to inform me of your arrival. Nopony even saw your carriage coming in! I would´ve prepared a proper welcome for you otherwise, your Highness!"

Seeing the crest on the armor and having met with the mare before, the three younger mares in the room quickly adopted a collective scowl to send towards the guardmare. The guard likewise responded with a glare to counter them, but could not afford to meet their gazes constantly, while she waited for her superiors response.

The mare also started to tense up in preparation to what Celestias would say or do, which made her efforts of intimidation even less effective than the state of her coat and armor. Or the less than stellar way of her own arrival just now.

But Celestia busied herself with her bag and scrolls, completely ignoring what just happened. The only hint that the Princess even knew of the guard commanders arrival, was a short flick of her ears as she entered the kitchen.

Rarity, having finished her task, was the first to resume conversation in her singsong voice, feigning indifference, but the way her eyes moved portrayed otherwise. "Here you go, Princess," Rarity presented Celestia a steaming hot cup, matching saucer and spoon and some sugarcubes on the side, "If there is anything else you might want just let me now! Its no trouble at all!"

"Thank you, my little pony."

When Rarity marched over to the table, she shot the guard commander a warning glare in passing, while Celestia busied herself with stirring her drink. After taking a sip, the ruler of all ponykind spoke up again.

"Mhmmmhm, not quite my brand, but recommendable still."

The lonely guard officer shakily lowered her hoof, her bravado being completely shattered by not being acknowleged at all. "P-Princess?"

Celestia looked at her, blinking innocently, "Yes, Lieutenant Starfall?"

The trio of cilivians in the room supressed a snicker, while the poor guard went red with a mixture of embarressment and anger, "Excuse me, ma´am, but none of my guard saw you arriving on scene. We would have loved to welcome you properly and inform you of our investigation progress concerning of last night as well, before entering the premise. If you could please enlighten me, possibly not in front of possible suspects," she eyed the trio of mares warily, "that would be most appreciated, your Highness!"

"Oh," Celestia began in a way of someone just remembering something they forgot to buy, while standing in front of the cashier in a long cue, "that. Yes I can see why this must have confused you. For you see, somepony had all the royal carriages requisitioned for an emergency of sorts and the only one left for me was the closed top one reserved for my sister. She is still quite reserved about being seen in public you see?"

When the Lieutenant heard the Princess words her blueish-grey coat visibly got paler with each word that sunk in, as realisation slowly dawned on her.

Celestia took another sip from her drink, then blew on the remainder of it, "...and when I attempted a teleportation spell instead, I was quite surprised to notice that an anti-teleportation field had been put up at my destination as well." Celestia stirred her cup with a spoon engulfed in her golden magic, "So I had no other choice, but to get her by my own means, which ponies may have forgotten about, but I am still capable of."

The poor guard had shrunken into so much of a shell of her former self this morning, that even the present half of the Elements had pity on her by now. Celestia spoke with the experience of a mother who was chiding her child on the proper use of items in the well known passive aggressive voice.

"But..., I am sure that such a thing will not repeat itself anytime soon in the future, without my me being informed about it, yes?"

Starfall happily took the offered branch an jumped on it, "Yes Princess! Of course Princess! I will make sure of it myself!", finishing it with a salute.

Celestia gave a nod to her subordinate, and finished her drink. Then she floated the empty cup and saucer into the sink, where it swiftly joined the rest of its family. Then she turned back to the gathered ponies and tapped the scrolls she had placed on the table minutes before.

Plucking one from the pile, Celestia unraveled it and swiftly read through its contents. She nooded to herself before returning her attention to Starfall.

Applejack whispered to Rarity, "Mind me ta neva´ get on the bad side of ´er." To which she received a barely perceivable nod in return.

"Now where was I? Oh yes the incident, you´ve mentioned! Why dont you tell us what you puzzled together by now, Lieutentant? That would be most kind of you."

Throwing a sideways glance at the trio of mares, officer Starfall saluted once more, dusted herself off and rightened her helmet before starting. "According to our measurements, and witness reports, at somewhere around midnight a loud explosion of magical energy rocked the entire center of the town, Ponyville. The exact source of this phenomenon has been identified as the living room of this very building. We found traces of a magical experiment designed to channel magic into a user for an unknown purpose, which likely was meant to summon something large into our world by force."

Twilight looked about to strangle a certain somepony, but was held back by her friends and a hoof held out by Celestia to let Starfall continue her tale.

"If just by itself or the combination of an out of control bad weather front, we cant tell yet. But the spell misfired and only caused minor damage to the interior of the house and its equipment. We have nullified all leftovers to make sure no leftovers of magical energy might still cause it to resume its function or harm any ponies nearby. Well any more that is. According to out calculations, approximately one hour after midnight, all traces of Private Gleaming Shields magical presence within Equestria have completely vanished. We have scanned and scryed for her as far as our mages would dare, but nothing has been found, except for her helmet on top of some mountain in the far south. We have confirmed its signature enchantment but were unable to recover thus far."

Finishing with a another salute Starfall ended her report, "Right now we were waiting on you for further instructions on how to proceeed."

Humming in thought Celestias gaze moved to Twilight, who looked about ready to explode into a million of pieces if the kettle was not removed from the fire soon, "Thank you Lieutentant Starfall. But do you also have the other side of the story for me?"

"Of course Princess! But I dont see why-"

"Then i would like to hear it as well, if you´d please."

Celestias tone of voice made certain that there was no room for argumentation. So the guard officer reluctantly retold Twilights version of last night. During which she made sure that disbelief rieked from every word she spoke of it. But to Twilight, Applejacks and Raritys surprise the story was reviewed in all honesty and without leaving anything out. Starfall was a professional in that part of her job at least.

When Starfall had finished for a second time, Celestia addressed her student, "Is that correct, Twilight?"

"Yes, Princess. But you have understand, I was just trying to help ponies! It was never meant ot turn out this way! Even less so for Gleaming...I could not...would never do that her!" Twilights ears drooped as she realized how loud her voice had gotten and lamented much more silently, "If I had just my recording crystal and my notes I could proove it."

Looking at the sinking head of her personal student Celestias eyes softened and she addressed STarfall one more time, "Am I correct in your thorough investigation of all possible items involved in the incident, Lieutentant Starfall?"

"Yes your Highness!"

"Then would you please find and bring me these two items here as quickly as you can?" Celestia glanced at Twilight for confirmation, "A recording crystal and a notebook of sorts, yes?" Twilight silently nodded back.

"Of course your Highness! But-" Lieutentant Starfalls eyes shot briefly towards Twilight and her friends.

"Two items out of all the collected evidence should not matter as much now, do they? I assure you nothing will be done without proper encasements in place, Lieutentant."

Not entirely happy with the way thing went, Starfall grumbled, but nevertheless gave a salute and hurried presumably towards the tentcamp outside.

"You dont believe all that nonsense from her do you, Princess? I mean summoning an otherworldy threat into Equestria? That doesnt sound like Twilight at all!" Rarity scoffed.

Celestia smiled and reached over the table to gently lift Twilights still lowered chin with a hoof. She looked square in the eyes. "No, of course not. For as long as I have known her, my student always has had only academical interest in the higher arts of magic and used it to make life easier for herself and others with the spells she created. She would never do anything harmful with her knowledge on purpose."

"Pardon me, but why did´ya let her get away with all dat nonsense then, Princess!?"

Celestia shifted her attention away from Twilight, whos eyes sparkled again after she heard her mentors true beliefs about her. "You have to understand that Starfall is leading a dying department of the guard and desperately tries to keep together what funding she can get her hoofs on. The nobles are shouting at me for decades...no centuries to disband the departement for magical disturbences for good. But if Starfall can present a real success with proper result to the council, that her unit is still in dire need, she hopes that they would see reason to keep it."

"And why are you keeping them if nopony else wants to, if I may ask, Princess?"

Celestia tapped her chin and looked at the ceiling, "Lets just say I have experience in the matter."

The other mares in the room shared annoyed glances.

When her gaze shifted downwards again and Celestia saw the looks of disbelief leveled at her, she relented, "For as long as ponies have had access to magic, they also always have meddled with it in ways they only partially understood. These experiments have often caused great progress for all of ponykind, but can sometimes have desastrous side effects, which need to be adressed promply to prevent further harm. Even after all these years we still only have a rough understanding of the tip of the proverbial iceberg we are studying.

Is that understandable?"

A series of nods greeted Celestia and it was about that time the officer returned from her epically short fetching quest.

"Ah Lieutenenant, if you could just place the items here on the table," Celestia tapped a spot next to her set of scrolls, "that would be most appreciated, thank you. Now if you dont mind let me explain afew thing you both," Celestia pointed between Twilight and Starfall, "need to know about all of this."

Unsurprisingly the military mare did as she was told an took a seat next to the door, as Celestia began, "You have both been right and wrong about all of this in both versions of the events. To a degree at least. Neither of you could have foreseen this or prevented it from happening at all. For there is a force at work her that is far older than me and my sister rule."

Confused looks were shared between the occupants of the room, except for Celestia of course, who tapped with her hoof on the top of the tower of notes she brought with her. "For you see, that portal, which swallowed up your sister Twilight, was neither a creation of your experiment, nor was it meant to summon anything."

"How do you mean Princess?"

"Yea, Ah´m not followin´ eitha."

Celestia chuckled mirthfully, "That portal has always existed in Equestria way before Luna and I took the throne. Even Starswhirl the bearded has stumbled across it in his research of other worlds, but never once got it to open. But he was sure that all gates lead to places unknown to ponykind. All of which he deemed inhabitable. But no matter how hard he tried and what methods he invented, this peculiar portal always remained closed."

"Until last night..." Twilights worry about her sister was momentarily relieved at hearing those words. Gleaming was quite possibly alive, but where was she?

"Until last night, indeed, my faithful student."

"And what are those scrolls?"

Celestia smiled, "Starswhirls notes on the portal and its movements. I had to spent a few hours to copy them all, but these are all notes he had regarding the wandering portal."

This time it was the Starfall who was intrigued, "Wandering? As in Movement? As in its-not-staying-in-one-place?"

Celestia nodded, "Your department gave it another name, but never paid it to much attention for its inactivity. But yes, this is anomaly 237 true name."

"What do you think they are doing? I hope they are not hurt."

"Nah, ponies are rather resilient and quick to recover. This happens from time to when some of them dont pay attention. Besides, I think one of them is just playing dead. Aint that right, Cotton?"

"Ouwou!"

The voices Gleaming heard came from somewhere right above her head. Both of which were familiar to heras of late, belonging to Wilford and AIden respectively.

The ballgame Gleaming unintentionally started with some random pony, resulted in her being smacked with said ball right into her face. Gleaming figured it would not have been as dramatic, if she had not checked last minute, where the rubbery projectile came from.

´Note to self: Don´t give these ponies anything to throw...or kick.`

Despite bing made of soft rubber, the ball still packed enough of a punch to drag Gleamings head a small ways along its intended path even after impact. And with the upper part of her body attached to her head, they both went the same way, effectively knocking her over for the second time today.

Instintively Gleaming had started rubbing her muzzle at the point of contact, where her body made its displeasure known via a painful throbbing. That is until she heard steps from inside the house coming towards the window she used to peek inside.

In a flash of panic Gleaming stopped moving as she realized, that she would get caught after all now. Most importantly however, with nowhere to hide that quick, Gleaming could do nothing but stay where she was. She opted to keep her eyes closed in a vain attempt at blocking out whatever was going to happen.

But once again thing turned out differently than she thought.

As expected the window opened up and Gleaming could hear somepony sticking their head out, which she now knew where the LIng and this Marshall. But neither of them made any move beyond talking about what they saw.

´Don´t they realize whats happening?´

"Eeeeeeee!"

"See he´s just having fun. Allthough I think hes missing the point of playing dead."

"Why?"

"He forgot to close his eyes as she did. See? He´s looking at us."

Slowly Gleaming risked opening her eyes to check what exactly was going on around her. And when she did, she quickly discovered just why her cover remained intact.

For Rosy eyes, or Cotton, must have seen her getting knocked over from that ball, and thinking it to be a game, copied Gleaming actions once more. There was no daoubt about it in Gleamings mind, for how else would he have ended up on his back with all of his legs sprawled out. Gleaming felt a huge wave of relief crash over her as she came to the conlusion, that the silly antics of this pony just saved her flank.

"See, Wil? She coming back too."

Hearing Aidens voice made Gleaming turn her attention to the windowsill above her. Due to her awkward postion, both individuals leaning out of the window were upside down in view, but they definately had their sights now fixed on her.

The LIng was just as Gleaming remembered him to be, a chitinous face with two blue eyes and the tops of fangs protruding from between his lips. His expression almost void of any emotion and hard to read.

The other one however was more in line with the overly voluminous monkeylike creature, who had the pony back in town on a leash. A bald head and a scraggly white beard covered most of his face, but the wide smile he wore and the mirth which sparkled in his eyes gave him a rather bright aura. He appeared like your friendly old grandpa down the road.

"This the one you told me about, Aiden?"

"Indeed she is. Still easily spooked I see. Maybe she´ll needs a whole lot more time to calm down and fit in with the others. Cotton seems to like her already, so there hope."

At the mentioning of the copycat stallion, Gleaming eyes travelled sideways, away from the window and there he was. Standing upright and looking down at her, like nothing happened at all.

"Ouwou!"

´Great what does he want now?´

"You think he wants her as his mate, AIden? They seem to be attached."

A cold chill ran down GLeaming spine as she rightened herself back up. Out of all the thing imaginable, she had not yet thought of THAT implication! How was she supposed to respond if he really was after her for that?

"Don´t think so, he is still a year to young. Not to mention mating season is over for this cycle." Gleaming briefed a relieved sigh. "Last one to get her foal is Scarlett...and before you ask, I already made an appointment with Nemora for that."

"Mhmm, will that be before or after the dark season? I need to knowm in case we need a rescue party on standby."

"No telling about that I´m afraid, they each have their own clock. Nem´ will have have to use an airtaxi or just-"

The conversation between the two was suddenly interrupted by the sound of tiny wingbeats drawing closer to the window from inside the house. GLeaming saw Aiden retract his head back indoors as he began to speak again, "Morning there Pokey. Did we wake you wake up? I´m sorry about that, buddy."

The whelpling gave his usual unintelligable squealing in response, which reminded Gleaming once more, that she needed to figure out how the Ling understood the dragon.

"Want some breakfast? I can whip up some pancakes for you in about....two minutes or so. Sound yummy?"

"Mehehehe!"

From the corner of her eye GLeaming saw Wilford turn around to look inside from his position, "You throwing us out already AIden?"

"Have to, you drink to much of my coffee."

Wilford burst out laughing at Aidens remark. It sounded honest and hearty to Gleaming, which made him even more sympathetic to her. Then he moved back inside as well.

"Then its probably best if we head out again. You got your hands full, I see. Let me know if you find any more clues about your latest aquisition."

"Will do. Keep me updated as well. You know how hard it is to get any information out here."

"I can imagine. Alright, young lady, enough sitting around. Lets get back on track."

"Uugh, Yes sir! But that clock looks mighty suspicious if I may add."

"Everything looks suspicious to you! We still need to check on the more outlying farms, Move it!"

Anything else being said, was either to silent for Gleaming to hear, as both voices left the vicinity of the window or was swallowed up by the return of sompony else she knew.

"Wahwahdou!"

While Wilford and his Aide, the young junior inspector, announced their departure, Pokey had taken the time to fly out the window and land right next to Gleaming. In his usual manner he waved his claws to get her attention and spoke gibberish as a greeting.

Gleaming did not mind the tiny dragon much. He was a welcome familiar sight and if she had anything to say about it, she would save him from the LIngs clutched someday.
In contrast to GLeaming however, Cotton had a very different opoion of the flying lizard, which he made audably known.

"Eeep!"

No sooner had he spotted the little dragon, Cotton had jumped to his hooves and went to hide behind Gleamings back, apparantly hoping that she would shield him from the little fanged menace. But when Gleaming allowed Pokey to come even closer, it became to much for the stallion and he bolted off into the distance.

The sight of the departing pony caused Pokeys posture to deflate somewhat, but seeing as Gleaming did not move away, but even smiled back at him, instantly restored his happy mood. Enough so that Gleaming forgot herself and whispered to him.

"Hey there little guy. I know I don´t look like it right now, but I can help you get away from here, if you want. All you have to do is let me know how and when, alright?"

Her reward was a headtilt from the dragon, "Meek?"

´Okay, foalsteps Gleaming, foalsteps.´

When Pokey brought his head back into its upright position, he clasped his claws shortly, which made Gleaming think he understood her after all. Pokey further reached behind his back, where a dark purple glow appeared shortly and made to grasp for something Gleaming could not see.

When the glow faded and seemingly happy with what he had found, Pokey then turned back around with the procured item between his claws and presented it proudly to Gleaming. The very sight of the item in question made her quickly reconsider her earlier assumption. Especially after Pokey placed it in front of her and gave his gift a little push.

It was another green tomato with purple spots.

Author's Note

As promised before the end of the month a new chapter for you folk. Including a first insight into some answers as for the how and why.
Had this chapter cooking on an USB stick for while now but no means to work on it properly.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy.