The Road to Who We Are

by hamishwarfare

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Starlight Glimmer, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 22339

In a world with no Alicorns; two mares struggle to fit in, in more ways than one.

The lands of Equestria are not as harmonious as they present themselves; the three tribes are not as unified as they should be. But amongst it all two fillies defy their peers and claim to be sisters; and that’s not the strangest thing about them.

Through ups and downs the two struggle on together as they grow and change the world around them; all the while discovering who they really are.

Published 2023-01-09 16:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-01-01 00:42:06 UTC

Chapter. 2 – Meetings, Memories and Measles Prevention

Chapter. 2 – Meetings, Memories and Measles Prevention

Starlight Glimmer gulped nervously and hesitated for a moment before steeling herself and knocked on the solid wood door. Her two friends were not with her; but they had reassured her that this was a normal thing, apparently. They had never had the first month interview, since they were brought here as infants; but had heard from more than a few other fillies and colts that this was a standard thing.

That and they both had, if not good, then at least respectful things to say about the director of the orphanage.

“Enter.” The words were muffled through the solid oak, but the power held by the pony on the other side was clear from those five letters. Starlight took one last look at the brass name tag on the door; she had to look up, but she could still make out the letters. “Director Race Control”

The office she walked into was probably on the smaller side for such a high position; but there was an air of comfort about the room. With the grass green carpet on the floor, the bright shiny wood book cases and shelves resting in front of pale orange walls.

Then there was the mahogany desk and the pony behind it. He was clearly a retired military pegasus stallion; his sandy yellow coat was fading quite considerably and his mane of red fire was scattered in salt and pepper shades and flecks.

He looked up from the paper on his desk and gave a gruff, “Yes?”

“Uh, I’m Starlight Glimmer. Y-you requested to see me, sir?”

The stallion blinked before using his left wing to look at a small time piece on his desk. “Ah, is that the time. My apologies, it appears I have let myself get distracted.”

“Oh, well I could come back when you’re ready–”

“No, no. I have your file right here. Please, take a seat.” Sure enough, his right wing was already sliding a small folder over to himself; a file that had already been sitting there, waiting.

Starlight hopped up and sat on the adult sized chair. The cushion was actually comfortable, a surprise for an otherwise boring and non-descriptive piece of wood.

“Your records from your previous orphanage state you are a bright young filly, with very few demerits; mostly from tardiness.”

“Y-yes sir, I kept getting distracted by my books.” Race Control just snorted.

“It also mentions that you are a very bright child. How are you finding our lesson plan?”

“Umm, Ok.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared down at the child. This was a stare that screamed he knew she was hiding something, and it would be in her best interest to reveal it. “W-w-well. It’s just I finish all my work very quickly and then have to sit and wait for the others in my class to catch up.”

“Does this happen often? And in how many classes?”

Young Starlight felt like a bunny facing down a predator. It was only thanks to the tone of his voice that she was able to keep speaking; the air of concern within it felt at least a little reassuring.

“A-all of them, sir. In some it might take me longer than others, but it happens in almost every lesson. Uh –” The hesitation was batted away by an inquisitive eyebrow and wing gesture to proceed. “It’s just that my friends have said they’ve been moved forward a few years. C-Could I, as well? Please?”

Slowly the old stallion across from her leaned back from his desk; “well now, that is something we do not normally do. We keep our years together so that you can make friends with ponies your own age…tell me, who are these friends you speak of?”

“Twilight sir. Uhh, Twilight, and Rainbow, sir.” She closed her eyes and waited for the disapproval of her choice in friends.

“Oh? You’ve become friends with those two have you? Twilight I can see, your both unicorns, but what made you become friends with Rainbow?” His voice was utterly neutral; slow and deliberate, not a blemish or a moment of hesitation. Starlight was completely lost. The only way she could go was forward.

“W-well on the third day I was here, I was getting bullied.” The old stallion said nothing, not wanting to interrupt the story, but he was not happy to hear there was bullying under his snout. “Rainbow noticed it happening and came to my rescue. Not soon after Twilight arrived and we all got talking. I-I was hesitant at first,” she gulped and took a breath to firm up her resolve. “But it felt right; and since then they’re both been the best friends I’ve ever had.”

Race Control rubbed his chin with a hoof as he thought over the story. It was not the whole truth that much he could tell; that Twilight arrived after Rainbow faced off against these bullies said that the pegasus filly was losing her temper. A quick glance down at the folder told him the date of the incident; there was nothing unusual about that day as far as he could remember. If Rainbow or Twilight had lost control, had needed to use the kiln, he would have remembered.

“I see. Tell me did anything strange happen to either of the two?”

The question confused the young filly. “Uh no, not that I can remember. Rainbow slipped as she was charging the three earth ponies; she looked like she was about to continue as they ran away, when she stilled and took a deep breath. It was not long after that that Twilight came around the corner.”

He nodded his head as pieces came together. He smiled. “Those two have come a long way then; I’m glad to hear nothing happened in the end and I apologise to you for the incident. Please inform the staff if something like that happens again though. I do not tolerate bullying.”

“S-sure, but I’ve not been bothered at all since I became friends with the two of them. Not many other ponies seem to like them much.”

Race Control nodded his head in agreement. “Not many their age are brave enough to look past the size difference; others are two ingrained by tribal thinking. That you have managed to look past both says a lot about your character.

“Now as for your lesson problem; I shall talk to your teachers and hear what they have to say about you, as well as arrange a few tests to see where you are. That you are a friend of Twilights makes me more inclined to believe in your abilities; but we will still need to make sure you are not over taxing yourself to be in their classes.”

The smile on the young unicorns face was small, but it was an honest one.

The door clicked closed behind young Starlight Glimmer, leaving Race Control alone once more. The meeting with the young filly had been reassuring over all. He had heard rumours that she was friendly with his two unique charges, and he wanted a read of her.

‘Those two changed the direction of my life; and while it has not been easy, not by a long shot, it has been more than worth it.’

A gust of wind rattled his office window, and brought with it the distant rustle of leaves from the small fruit tree orchard. Memories began to surface within Race Controls mind; memories of almost a decade ago.

The tree tops rustled and swayed as the small group of pegasi flew overhead, their hooves and wing tips just barely missing the top most leaves. Every single pony was dressed in a tight fitting blue body suit and was wearing flight goggles. The five ponies were in a V shaped flying formation, following the lead pony and flying as one.

The forest below them was one of, if not the, most dangerous areas of Equestria; with beasts of all shapes and sizes. Even the plant life was a threat to a pony.

But these five fliers were not your average pegasi, they were a part of the Wonderbolts, elite scouts and daredevil extraordinaire. The reason why this group was flying over such a dangerous forest was a simple one; training.

The green sea below them was breached ahead of them as a vine whipped out of the canopy to try and ensnare the low flying team. Its movements were a blurr to the eye as it whipped about, but the formation was un-phased. With honed reflexes and exact precision the five pegasi barrel rolled up and over the attacking flora; before settling back to their original height above the dangerous green sea.

It was the final trial for the four ponies following their mentor. He was significantly older, past the age for active duty; but his reputation and experience was still in high demand.

“Magical anomaly at three-o-clock.” The call came out from one of the wing ponies, and a quick glance confirmed a few bolts of lightning could be seen striking out of the trees. The Everfree forest was dangerous and held mysteries ponykind would likely never figure out; but the lead pony has flown over it dozens of times, if not more. This was not something he had seen before and certainly required a closer look. No words were required as the lead pony altered his wing and started to bank; their new trajectory taking them deeper into the depths of the chaotic forest.

Race Control shook his head and blinked away the memory of him and his trainee Wonderbolts discovering the two unique sisters. But the memories simply moved past their finding and onto other events involving the two strange fillies

Times where they defied everything to be together; from what had to be teleportation, breaking through restraints, to even flying under anaesthetic induced sleep.

Other memories followed; magic bursts, blazing fires, and their strength. It rivalled that of an earth pony, perhaps even more so. Honestly most other places would have gotten rid of them.

But it was he that found them, on his last training patrol of the Everfree Forest. Two infant fillies who defied the forest and had survived within it somehow; huddling together for warmth with big scared and confused eyes. He was even the one who named them; Rainbow was easy, the colour of her mane. Twilight was a little harder, but again he looked at her mane; it matched the twilight sky, the same time he had discovered them.

There were no reports of lost fillies anywhere in Equestria that matched their descriptions. And thanks to their inability to be separated; it was not possible to place them in a standard unicorn or pegasi orphanage.

So he founded one for them.

Rather he took the helm of the family orphanage belonging to his wife; a failing place that was only still running thanks to his donations. With his firm hooves at the helm, he turned it around to one of the more successful orphanages in Equestria. That they were the first orphanage to accept all tribes also contributed to their success as well.

His office door opened, breaking his train of thought; that there was no knock, told him who it was. The white mare pushed the door open with a wing; her heavy steps were slow but sure, bringing the face he had loved for so long closer to his desk.

“So are the rumours true? Have Rainbow and Twilight finally found a friend their age?”

“Gentle Breeze, the young filly has barely left my office; hell you could have probably asked her as she walked past you.” His wife said nothing, just kept looking at him with eyes so caring and curious, “sigh, yes dear, I believe Miss Glimmer is honest with her claim that those two are her friends.”

The large pegasus let out a happy and relieved sigh as she collapsed into the vacant chair opposite her husband. She used a fore hoof to push away a stray strand of fading pink hair.

“Finally, lets hope this is the start of something better for those two. They’re such good fillies, they deserve a change in luck.”

Race Control raised an eyebrow, “oh? You want them to find a family now that they have found a friend?”

“You know what I mean, Race; I want them to be happy, like all of our charges. It’s just those two will never get adopted; ponies just don’t understand their connection.” She shook her head, “I mean how long did it take us to get past the disbelief that a unicorn and a pegasus could have such a close bond?”

“Too long,” Race Control agreed, his head slowly nodding along. “And our lives changed thanks to them showing us how close the tribes can be.” He sighed, “they’re going to change the world when they grow up; and if no family can do it, that just leaves us to raise them as best as we can. Just like the rest of our charges.”

Gentle Breeze eyed her husband affectionately, “there’s that soft centre I fell in love with. Who would have guessed behind such a tough exterior, there was a soft centre.”

“Are you comparing me to candy again?”

“Chuckle, who said I ever stopped?” Gentle Breeze winked cheekily at her husband before getting up and exiting through the door with a sway to her tail; leaving an ex-military pony blushing like a school filly.

It was the start of a new week, and with it a whole new set of classes for Starlight Glimmer. It was with a slightly nervous step that she walked into a classroom.

“Hey, Starlight. You didn’t say anything about joining us the last time we saw each other.” The voice came from behind Starlight; she spun round and came face to face with a red gem surrounded by fluffy light blue fur.

Starlight skittered back in shock before looking higher up to see her friends face, “Did you get even bigger since I last saw you, Rainbow?”

“Naa, she’s just standing on the tips of her hooves.” Twilight came from behind her companion, shouldering the pegasus slightly to knock her off the tips of said hooves. “We noticed you just a moment ago and she rushed on ahead.” She gave Rainbow a cheeky grin in response to the slight pout.

“Still, well done getting into the same classes as us. If you need any help at all, don’t hesitate to ask me; I’ve managed to get Rainbow here, I can certainly help you too.”

“Hey!” the look of indignation lasted all of a second before she joined in with the others laughter.

The class itself had no fixed seating, just single desks with connected chairs placed in rows. It was all situated in front of a black board with a larger desk clearly meant for a teacher. They took three seats together in the front row, with Starlight situated between the other two; almost like they were her bodyguards.

The lesson passed with minimal fuss, or fanfare; the teacher was an earth pony stallion with a monotone voice that perfectly matched his coat. He didn’t even acknowledge the smaller filly in the room, just continued his lecture of the founding of the Pony Parliament.

Starlight found it a little challenging; not the work, so much as just having the lack of context from the previous lectures. But this was a small problem that would be easily dealt with thanks to the notes Twilight had made during previous lessons.

Other classes weren’t so uneventful; the teachers actually acknowledged Starlight and welcomed her to their classes. Some of the other students clearly weren’t happy with the situation, a few more so than others. But in the end nothing happened, other than a few whispered comments and names.

Starlight’s new life continued in such a fashion with her friends; until something happened to change the routine.

It was deep into winter – a little past the New Year – when the eight year olds of the orphanage were informed that they would be receiving their immunisations; a standard event that happened every year.

The timing couldn’t have been better as it was only a few weeks ago that Starlight had turned eight. Meaning that at this moment in time she was the same age as Rainbow and Twilight; their birthday – more so their day of discovery – wasn’t until the end of March. It also meant she would be joining the eight year olds for their injection.

The three friends walked into the main assembly hall and it was here that Starlight heard her two friends groan in unison.

“What, What’s wrong? It can’t have just hit you two what’s happening today?”

“Starlight, look at me and Twilight. Then look out into the hall. Can you see the problem?”

Starlight did as she was asked from Rainbow and looked into the hall. They were some of the last of the eight year olds to arrive, due in part to their lesson schedule being different to the others; so the hall was quite full with almost a dozen colts and fillies comfortably sitting in chairs.

…Oh.

Starlight looked over at her friends once more, before doing the same to the furniture set out for the expected eight year olds.

She tried not to laugh; she did not mean for the snigger to escape her hoof covered mouth. She really did, but her two friends returned the coughed out laugh with a half-hearted glare. “Cough. Umm, I mean oh dear. It looks like you two might find this a little uncomfortable.”

It was Twilight who responded with a sarcastic, “ya think?”

The three friends continued their now standard seating arrangement, with Starlight in the centre. She had to admit it was a nice change not having to reach up slightly to sit down; her two friends, however, did not have quite as good a time as herself.

Yes the seats weren’t that much smaller than what they were used to, but it was still a funny sight to see. Rainbow had it easier than Twilight as she had her wings to at least help stabilize herself, as she bent her knees quite a bit higher than she was used to.

Unfortunately for Twilight, she had miss judged where her chair was and she ended up sitting on less than half of the seat. She over compensated when she realised this fact and ended up falling off of the chair entirely; crashing onto the floor.

It was Rainbow who laughed first out of the group; the snark that she tried to cover up with a cough was undeniable, and the smile could clearly be seen regardless of her hoof covering her mouth.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up.” Twilight got back onto her hooves and was rubbing her behind in an attempt to take away the sting of the drop.

“Giggle, here let me help you Twilight; Rainbow is clearly too busy lau – I mean coughing to do it.” It was not all that difficult for the two unicorns to get Twilight seated properly; though they almost wished it had been. With all three of them sitting nicely, there was nothing else to do and an awkward silence started to form.

“Sooo, do you both have any dreams?” Regardless of how few children there were waiting, the line seem to be taking a very long time; it was Starlight who could not take the quiet any longer.

Rainbow beat her sister to the punch, “I’m going to be a Wonderbolt! Director Race Control has been amazing and said I have the right stuff for it as well. Did you know he used to be a Wonderbolt? He didn’t take part in many shows, but he specialised in planning and scouting. He even got me a few posters for our room; posters featuring Spitfire! She’s, umph.”

“Yeah, Rainbow is just a little bit obsessed with the Wonderbolts.” Twilight had covered her sister’s mouth with a hoof as soon as she heard mentioned the name of Spitfire. Rainbow had to be her biggest fan, even if Spitfire was only a Sargent right now.

“For me, my dream is to become a researcher into magical theory; I wanna be like Star Swirl the Bearded and create new spells to help Ponykind.”

“Oooh, yeah I wanna be like Star Swirl too; but I’m more interested in the stories behind the spells, yunno? Like why did they need to make this spell or that one?” Rainbow huffed and looked away from the two unicorns.

Starlight felt a little guilty for her less academic friend and was going to say something to reassure her, when she saw Rainbows shoulders droop from their former tense state.

Seeing Rainbow calm down brought a smile to Starlight’s face; but as she watched her pegasus friend she began to notice something strange. Her ears flicked, the corner of her mouth would twitch and she shifted in her seat as she looked towards her unicorn sister.

What made things stranger was that Twilight was reacting similarly but with a slight offset. To Starlight it was almost like these two were speaking to each other.

“Uh, guys? You’re staring at each other quite strangely.”

“OH! Sorry Starlight.” Twilight said as she blinked before looking at the other unicorn, “I was just reassuring Rainbow that we won’t spend all our time inside a library getting fat.”

“Huh, you were? But you weren’t saying anything. Oh, is it that you two know each other so well you can have a silent conversation?” Starlight was amazed that they could do something like that, and hoped she could be that close to them one day.

However, Rainbow put that thought to bed rather quickly. “Naa, it’s not that. We can just speak to each other in our heads.”

Starlight blinked; what did her friend mean by that? “You can read each other’s minds?”

Twilight sighed, “no its not Telepa. Sigh, me and Rainbow have a special connection. We can talk to each other, as well as listen to conversations around each other as well; if we really focus on the connection. And if we feel the need, we can even appear at each other’s side; but we can only do that when we really need each other.”

“Huh?” This was not what she was expecting to hear.

“Yeah its like we have special powers, just like in the comics. And since I can do it also, its clearly not magic.”

“It is magic Rainbow.” Twilight said with exasperation. “It’s just not normal magic. Its –”

“Miss Twilight.” The shout from the front of the room stopped the conversation dead; they had almost forgotten that they were waiting for a shot.

Twilight gulped, before steeling herself and got up off the chair. She smiled in gratitude as the sitting ponies gave reassurances and encouragement.

It was a tense few seconds before Rainbow broke the silence, “we’ll show you what we mean after all this.”

“You don’t have to; it’s a thing between you and Twilight,”

Rainbow huffed, “that’s what Twilight says too; that we should keep quiet about it. But your our friend, and I don’t like keeping something this big a secret from a friend.”

It was said with conviction and certainty, Starlight couldn’t help but smile, “thank you, Rainbow.”

Rainbow smiled and nodded back, before her ears flattened, her body flinched, and she rubbed her right foreleg just below the shoulder; no doubt where Twilight had just been given her shot.

Starlight figured it out quickly; there were down sides to their connection, it seemed.

Chapter. 3 – The End of Innocence

Chapter. 3 – The End of Innocence

The years passed by uneventfully for the three steadfast friends; with ups, downs and everything in between. Starlight had even managed to shrink the size difference between them, though not by a significant margin.

It was a little after Twilight and Rainbow celebrated their tenth birthday, when the three were summoned to Directors Race Control’s office.

The three sat side by side, in their now fully established seating arrangement; with the two bigger ponies on either side of the smaller one. It was an almost instinctual habit the larger two had; they couldn’t tell if it was for her protection, just feeling natural, or in an effort to hoard their first friend outside of themselves.

The Director of the RC Orphanage was seated across from the three young fillies, his desk separating himself from them. He could no longer call them all small fillies, as two of them were actually the same size as he was. But by the looks they were giving him, it meant nothing to them; he was still well and truly in charge.

“I’ve called you three here for a rather important decision; one that may very well change your lives forever more.” He turned his attention to the only pegasus of the fillies. “Rainbow, the Military Flight Academy in Cloudsdale has begun accepting cadets for their junior division.”

This clearly caught the filly’s attention, causing the older pegasus to smirk. “Ah, I see you realise what this means. Yes, this is the primary entry point that all of the current and former members of the Wonderbolts A team underwent.” His focus on the young pegasus doubled. “They have limited positions, and accept only the most passionate and brilliant of flyers. They want the best; so much so they cover all costs while you are under their tutelage.

“This is their application form; they are very hard to get a hoof on, even with my connections I only managed six. Think it over VERY seriously, as you shall be leaving us if you are successful; talk it through with Twilight as well as Starlight Glimmer. But, this application form is yours if you wish to proceed.”

It was with reverence that the young pegasus filly accepted the sheets of paper from her senior.

“Now, for you two. You both have come on leaps and bounds in your studies; achieving some of the highest scores in the history of my wife’s family’s orphanage. I dare say we’ll soon be running out of things to teach you; even our nurse, Miss Kind Heart, has stated to me that she’s teaching you both spells that our seniors struggle with.”

With a wing he pulled out two sets of forms and laid them out in front of both unicorns.

“These are application forms for the prestigious Gifted Unicorn University located in Canterlot. Despite the name it starts accepting truly talented unicorns from a young age; covering all the education you will ever need. Or at least that is what their brochure claims.”

He folded his hooves on his desk. “I’ll be honest with the two of you; I do not know terribly much about the university. However its reputation certainly precedes itself; it is by far the most respected of unicorn schools. Because of that their intake is as tough as the academy Rainbow is applying to; and unlike Rainbow they expect you to pay through the nose for the honour.

“Not everything is lost for you two, however. Within these forms are also applications for their scholar program, where they supply you with a bursary. It comes with expectations, so even if you are successful with the bursary you are expected to work for it.”

He leaned back in his chair and let out a weary sigh, “You’ve got time to think things over fully; but they’ll need to be filled in and sent off by the end of the month at the very latest. Come to me, or any of the staff really, if you need any additional advice, or help with those applications. If you do fill those in and get to the examination stage, then we shall pay for your expenses to get to the respective cities.

“I wish you luck and hope you make the decision that is right for you.”

The mountain city of Canterlot; once upon a time it was the heart of the old Kingdom of Unicorns, now the capital city of Equestria, a gift for the unity of the tribes. Others would say it was a guaranteed way to ensure that unicorns stay in charge. Few would say, however, that the city was not the beautiful gem it aspired to be.

The streets were wide and entirely cobbled, the buildings themselves are all made out of marble and detailed in gold and purple highlights. The store fronts were made out of large single panes of glass for easy viewing of what is inside. It is a city of wealth and opulence.

Even with the weather as bad as it currently was, the city of Canterlot was very impressive.

It was a small group of three that made their way through the main gates of the second most prestigious place in the city. Benches and fountains were scattered around the grassy lawns that decorated the courtyard; walkways leading to the many different buildings had their own sign posts to help direct ponies to their destinations.

Those were not needed for this group, as they were already following others that had made the pilgrimage to the primary building within this complex.

At last out of the rain, the three felt a wave of magic wash over them that removed the majority of the water from their bodies. There was a cloakroom of to the right hand side; clearly being operated by a group of teenage students.

The scent of the ages was clear to the three of them as they made their way through the building; it was similar to old pages and dry stone. As they delved deeper, the opulence they were expecting wasn’t there; it was clear that this place did not need to show off. The old stone corridors with their trim of almost black woods spoke volumes of its history and just how important this place was.

Eyebrows were raised at them when it was found that the both unicorns were here for the junior entrance exams. But all the paperwork was in order, so it was with slight reluctance that the two potential students were allowed through to the first stage.

“Now, Miss Twilight. This is the final examination; all you must do is hatch the dragon egg resting there.” Twilight found herself the last filly to be granted access to this room; even Starlight had come and gone. Her face did not look reassuring and she refused to talk about the test.

The unicorn who spoke to was the oldest of the four sitting in the third row of a curved auditorium; seven seats deep and each row held over a dozen more seats. This was a large lecture hall and she found herself on display in the middle of it all.

Her examiners were all very well-known professors and scholars in magical circles. Braces Britches, the head of the Telekinetic school. First Folio, lead lecturer in magical theory. Professor Flintheart, senior lecturer in Runes. And finally the pony who had spoken to her; Crystal Clear, senior lecturer and authority figure for Magical Applications.

“You have up to thirty minutes to complete this task.” Twilight gulped, but nodded her head in understanding. “Your time begins, now. Good luck.”

Immediately Twilight’s mind began to race; dragons were one of, if not the, most magical resistant races known on Equis. Physical attacks over magical was what was used to deter dragons from raiding Equestria.

She almost launched a piercing spell at the oval polka dot purple object; when she remembered her task was hatching the egg, not cracking it.

Her mind flew through all the spells she knew; she tried Telekinesis since Braces Britches was an examiner. Nothing. She tried several different heating spells, thinking a mother dragon would use her fire breath to hatch their young. Again, nothing.

She tried lightning magic, well the spell Spark, as a means to get magic deeper into the egg. Still nothing. Her mind searched through her spell catalogue, she tried the Mend spell just in case it was reversing the magical effects. Clearly not.

Her mind was going around in circles; she could feel panic beginning to grip her. She could just make out someone announcing that five minutes had passed. Her breathing was quickening at a worrying rate and she started to feel the beginning of a magical surge; whiteness was starting to form on the edge of her vision and her legs were starting to tremble.

“TWILIGHT!” The voice startled her, and her world froze as she latched onto the mental voice of her sister.

“Rainbow! Its no good! Their last test is impossible!”

“Twilight, calm down; there’s no way they would give you an impossible task. You know what they want; they’ve already told you everything you need to know. Like you tell me to do, repeat the question and focus only on the relevant pieces of information; also make sure you keep in mind any extra details they gave you. If going head on isn’t working then try something else, think outside the box.

“I know you can do it!”

Twilight stopped everything and took a deep breath and re-evaluated the task and what she was told. ‘Thirty minutes to complete this; that’s a generous amount of time. Clearly this is something that will take a while to complete. Throwing spells isn’t working; let’s see if there is anything that’s preventing my magic from hitting the egg.’

The few detection spells she knew and cast on the egg showed nothing; however when she tried the basket she found some runes carved into the handle, hidden from sight. She smiled, while she did not know what most of them did; it was thanks to the few that she could recognise – as well as their position within the arrangement – that lead her only one logical conclusion, this could only be a transfer matrix. Her magic was being diverted away from the egg.

She let out a smile as she tried varying her magic, trying to find a spell or wave length that the diverter would not interfere with. ‘Just simple channelling of magic is ignored. Huh, is it really that simple?’ with nothing to lose and a future to gain, Twilight tried her latest thought.

Time ticked by and the lecturers were getting board. For the last fifteen minutes this strange filly had just stood there with her horn glowing in her magical aura. The rune instruments had initially shown real promise in this candidate; basic to intermediate spells used, sure, but the power behind them was noticeable. At one point it even dangerously spiked.

But now there was nothing; no spells, and no movement from the candidate.

With only five minutes to spare the unicorn on stage stopped her horn glowing, and opened her eyes, apparently satisfied.

Crystal Clear cleared her throat, “Are you givin–” she was stopped by a sudden and loud crack.

All eyes were drawn to the egg nestled in the basket; a clear line could be seen on the shell. Others followed and webbed out from the initial sight; in a matter of seconds the shell was covered in cracks. A pin could be heard dropping, no pony dared to interfere with what was happening.

Then, the egg shattered and the fragments were scattered around the wide eyed, purpled scaled, green finned baby dragon. It was alive and very much out of its former cocoon.

“YES!” The unicorn on stage cheered herself as she looked at what she had achieved. The clock on the wall said she still had time to spare.

This broke through the stunned minds of the examiners. “C-congratulations Miss Twilight. It, appears you passed. Please make your way out of the examination hall and return to your guardian. We shall be in touch with your results shortly.”

Twilight thanked the examiners for their time and left the room with a hop in her step.

The carriage was swaying back and forth as it was pulled along by the iron locomotive at the front of the convoy. The trip was quite long and uneventful and while the excitement of travelling by rail kept her going at first, this far into the journey made it a long time ago.

Rainbow was with four other pegasi and Race Control as they sat quietly together, with another pegasus staff member. Miss Snow Bank was a strict, but fair member of staff who taught Equestrian.

Just like with her sister and Starlight, the orphanage could not afford to bring excess students on these excursions; so she was on her own. At least physically, she could still talk to Twilight over the connection they shared. Right now Rainbow had her eyes closed as she listened to Twilight read the second edition of Daring Do to her; it was only the third time she had read it.

The weather was pleasant from what could be seen as they travelled along; there was a light sprinkling of fluffy white clouds to break up the blue of the sky. It was almost picturesque.

The train carriage lurched suddenly and very noticeably; luggage was knocked off their racks and passengers were flung from their seats. It was only thanks to lightning fast reflexes grabbing the edge of her seat that prevented Rainbow from being flung.

The others in her group weren’t so lucky; it looked like Miss Snow Bank’s wing was sprained, and a few of her classmates bashed their heads on the window. Race Control looked to be the only other pony in their group that managed to get through the incident unscathed.

It took some time tending to injuries and looking after other ponies before one of the trains conductors came by and informed them of what had happened. Apparently something had happened to the tracks and it wasn’t noticed; the train engine was now derailed and they were going to be stuck there for hours.

“Rainbow, calm down; there’s still time, and you’re a pegasus. Fly the rest of the way to Cloudsdale. This is just another obstacle blocking you; and who taught me how to overcome such challenges?” Twilight was right.

“We can fly there. We’ve still got time!”

“Fly? The conductor just said we’re an hour and a half away still; and that was going at the trains pace. Sure we still got time, but could you keep that pace up for a whole hour and a half?” It was a red furred pegasus that shot her idea down. Rainbow had seen her around the orphanage, but never did catch her name.

Bickering continued, and threatened to escalate, when a faded orange wing was raised; Race Control wanted silence, he got it.

“Rainbow, are you sure, are you certain, you want to try and fly all the way to Cloudsdale? This will be nothing like you’ve ever attempted before, and our timeframe is tight; there will be no stops. You can apply again for next year’s intake; there are other ways to get into the Wonderbolts.”

Her eyes said it all, but Rainbow still gave a single firm nod. “I’m sure. I’m getting in this year.”

“Anyone else? Alright, Snow Bank stay with the rest of our wards; and if the option presents itself, start making your way back. There’s no reason to go any further, and the try-outs will probably be wrapping up by the time they sort this all out.”

He gathered his saddlebags from under his seat, silently thankful that they hadn’t moved. He took a quick look at the golden memento pocket watch, before looking over at the still determined filly.

“Sigh, alright. I’ll be teaching you on the wing how to glide using updrafts; we’ll need them if you are going to have any energy left for the try-outs. We also do not have a compass, so we’ll need to follow the track to prevent us from getting lost. At least until we can see the city. Lets go.”

The journey was exhausting; both mentally as well as physically. The methodical and precise nature of flying without flapping your wings, planning when to flap for the greatest benefit; even the control of the angling of her feathers was tested to the limit of her abilities, and then some.

Far off in the distance, they could make out the floating city made of cloud; with the Rainbow Factory acting almost like a lighthouse. It was a rejuvenating sight, and had spurred student and teacher on; but that was almost half an hour ago. It felt like it was just as far away as it was then.

Race Control pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time once again; he cursed. He looked over at his student; she had come a very long way.

His left wing cramped again; he was too old to be flying for so long. They were running out of time, and he could not go any faster.

“Rainbow,” he shouted over the wind, silently glad that it still sounded strong. “Stop there, I need to give you my saddle bags.”

“Sir?”

“We’re running out of time, and I can’t go any faster. Once we’ve secured the bags you’ll need to almost double time it in order to get to registration before it closes. They will not allow you to sign in if you are late. They are military and this is the first test.”

Once the bags were secured Race Control gave his student a reassuring smile. “If possible wait for me, but if not its ok. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Now go!”

Rainbow was exhausted as the majestic city floated underneath her, but she couldn’t enjoy the view and she was beginning to panic. She was lost, she couldn’t see the stadium and there were no distinct markings other than the Rainbow Factory off to her right.

“Twilight, I can’t find the stadium!”

“Rainbow, you’ve still got time, and I can help you navigate. I’m in the library.”

“Still?” Twilight’s voice was reassuring and confidant, it helped calm Rainbows swirling emotions.

Rainbow could feel the eyes roll as Twilight gathered what she needed. “Ok, where is the Rainbow Factory to you? You should be able to see it wherever you are.”

“To my right; like maybe two or three on a clock if I’m looking at 12.”

“Alright, I understand. Hmm, ok if you fly a little more to the left, it’s on the other side of the city. Apparently its quite obvious thanks to its size.”

Rainbow listened and flew in the direction Twilight gave her. Cloudsdale was bigger than either filly thought, but eventually they saw what was clearly a stadium.

‘There it is!’ She flew right for it, aiming for the main entrance where she could just make out a set of tables.

She landed with enough force to dislodge some of the compacted clouds. Her legs wobbled and her back was cramping something fierce, she had never flown so much at one time before.

“Ma’am, are you ok?” The voice was a little croaky, but it was very familiar to the young filly. She looked up and came face to face with an orange mare with mane of spiky fire; it was Sargent Spitfire from the Wonderbolt A team. Her idol, role model and exactly the pony she wanted to grow up and become.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh. You’re Sargent Spitfire!”

The mare raised an eyebrow at these antics, “Uh, yeah? Can I help you?”

“OH! Right, is registration still open?”

“For the next few minutes, but it closes precisely at two thirty. No exceptions.”

Rainbow’s face relaxed and she let out all of the stress she had built up, “I made it.”

“Excuse me?” The mare said as she looked around for anypony else; it was almost strange how quiet the surrounding area was.

Rainbow didn’t notice, she was trying to look through the saddlebags on her side. Eventually she gave up and took the saddlebags off for easier access. “AH HA! Here it is,” Rainbow pulled out a thin paper folder with her name on it. She gave it one final look to confirm it was hers before she hoofed it over to the older mare.

“And this is?” Spitfire asked as she used one of her wings to take the folder.

“My registration form and acceptance letter, I’m pretty sure it is anyway.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Yeah, I’m here to become a Junior Cadet for the Wonderbolts!”

“Ma’am, you can’t become a Junior Cadet.” The words were said with absolute finality and with a cold edge.

“What! Why?!”

“Because the Junior Cadets are for colts and fillies, children; you are clearly not a child.”

“What? B-but I am. I just turned ten at the end of March.”

The older mare levelled a fierce glare at Rainbow, causing her to flinch and take a step back. “Pull the other wing. Do you really expect me to believe that you are ten?”

“I-I-I mean, yeah. I-I know I’m big for my age, but I haven’t ev–”

“Big for your age?! You’re as tall as me!” Rainbow blinked and indeed noticed she was staring right into Spitfire’s eyes.

Rainbow gulped, this was nothing like she was expecting. She had wanted to meet Spitfire since forever; she was just so cool and daring, and awesome. But it wasn’t supposed to go down like this, she wasn’t supposed to be looking at her like this; they were supposed to become friends.

“I don’t know what kind of sick game you are trying to play, but it stops here! You are not getting past me.”

Rainbow was trying to be brave, trying to keep her emotions in check as all her teachers back at the orphanage had taught her. She was desperately fighting the urge to cry in front of her role model. “I-If.”

“I will not allow some sick freak even near the Wonderbolts!” A chime sounded behind Spitfire, causing her to smirk. “Times up. No more applicants will be accepted. Better get out of here before I have you arrested for remaining on military property without just cause.” Spitfire flung the file right into the face of her opponent, never once even looking at the name on the folder.

Rainbow’s world was crashing down around her; she hiccupped and a whine escaped her ever tightening throat. Her breathing was erratic as she fought not to cry, her lip was trembling as she fought so hard with herself; then she felt it slip, felt her grip release on her magic.

A wave of heat radiated out of Rainbow, causing Spitfire to take a step back and shield her face. She pulled her wing back a second later and noticed that the strange mare had vanished, a trail of fire the only sign of where she went. “Freak.”

Spitfire was surprised to see a small trail of black smoke; looking down she noticed that the paper folder had instantly turned to ash. This raised a surprised eyebrow, and its brother joined it when Spitfire noticed that the compacted cloud itself had scorched hoof prints within it and was smouldering. That pegasus had just set alight a cloud.

Spitfire wanted nothing more than to forget about that crazy encounter when she turned and found the saddlebags were still sitting there. They were a little scorched, but otherwise in good condition still, if just a little worn.

“Hey wait, I recognise these.” She looked over them and found a familiar Cutie Mark embedded into the front flap, a white fluffy cloud with a checker flag sticking out of it. Her concern grew a little more, and she was about to look through the bags when she heard her name being shouted.

An old Stallion landed nearby, panting quite hard and looking exhausted. “Spitfire, pant, good to see you. Did, phew, did Rainbow make it? Did she make it before the deadline?”

Seeing the stallion caused Spitfire to smile. “Race Control. I’m sorry but I don’t know who you’re talking about? But you should have been here earlier; there was this freaky mare trying to get into the event. Bloody peedo.”

The stallion finished regaining his breath and looked back at the young mare. “Rainbow is a filly under my care. Light blue fur, rainbow mane. I didn’t see her as I flew over, so I’m hoping she didn’t get lo–”

“Wait, are you serious! That’s the description of that freak of a mare who was trying to get in!”

“What?”

“Yeah, just a few minutes before you got here; this freaky mare tried to get in, claiming to be ten. I sent her packing, and she just about set herself on fire before flying off.”

Race Control paled considerably, his eyes going very wide. “Fire?! Oh no. Where did she go? WHERE?!”

“Jeeze, calm down. She flew off in that direction. Hey, which reminds me; have you been teaching anypony how to make flame trai–.” She couldn’t finish her question before the stallion frantically flew off in the direction pointed out to him.

Spitfire was annoyed at his reaction, and his rudeness; so she took flight and chased after him.

Rainbow wasn’t hard to find; she had flown down to the nearby open field, with very little vegetation.

Race Control let out a sigh when he saw this, “good girl Rainbow. You remembered to get away from other ponies.”

“Hey what’s the big idea? And what’s happening over there?! Should I go get help?” Spitfire had followed and sounded frustrated and angry.

The field looked like it had a candle in it, but on a truly massive scale. The tip of the flame reached higher than a typical tree, and its width looked like it could fill a large room. And there in the centre of it all was a small shape.

The two pegasi landed as close as they could; but the heat being emitted was intense, so they were still a dozen meters away.

“No normal amount of water would put that fire out. I’ve seen these flames melt steel. There is only one pony who can calm that down, and it looks like she’s already there.”

Spitfire looked over to the flames once again, and indeed noticed a second pony inside of the bonfire. “Who’s that? How is she managing to survive in there?”

“That’s her sister, Twilight.”

“Sister? That can’t be right? I can’t make out any wings.”

“…Twilight’s a unicorn.”

“Unicorn? Your orphanage is a strange one…So what happened, anyway? Why were you so late?”

“Our train derailed an hour and a half from Cloudsdale station. Out of all my applicants that got accepted to the try-outs, only she was willing to fly the rest of the way.”

“And she’s still able to make that? Man she’s powerful.”

“She’s not making that, at least not deliberately. Sigh, this is heart break. Honest and painfully true heartbreak.” He gave Spitfire a glare out of the corner of his eye, “You must have made quite the impact on her.”

“Hey don’t go blaming me for this! I thought she was a freaking paedophile!”

“It was stated in her application form, and the acceptance letter mentioned her abnormal height had been noted and taken into consideration. Also if you looked past her height; you’d have seen that her wings, while large, are still underdeveloped and haven’t sprouted her adult feathers. Sigh, I always said to your father that you can be too rash and hot headed at times. Heh, it runs in the family after all.”

By now others had noticed the giant fire and had started bringing rain clouds over to try and stop it. Small burst of steam could be made out here and there, but it had no effect at all.

“You best get back to the stadium. They must be looking for you?” Spitfire heard what wasn’t being said but nodded her head in acceptance.

She paused as she finished turning to leave. “Hey, grandpa; could you tell her I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to hurt a filly. Maybe, she could try again next year?”

He grunted but couldn’t hold back his tongue. Hot headedness ran in the family and she had badly hurt one of his wards. “She idolised you, you know? You and the Wonderbolts. I don’t know what she’s thinking right now; but I suspect trying again next year is at the very bottom.”

He didn’t turn around to see his granddaughter fly off; he kept his eyes firmly on the fire, and his two wards within.

The door to his office opened after he gave permission for the pony to enter. A new day brought with it new problems and he suspected he knew exactly how this meeting was going to unfold.

“Ah, Starlight Glimmer and Twilight. Thank you both for coming so quickly.” He turned to the bigger filly; his eyes turning soft. “How is Rainbow today?”

Twilight flinched slightly, but it was a question she knew was going to be asked. “Rainbow’s. Sigh, she’s currently redecorating out room; and I’m pretty sure we will be visiting the kiln later on.”

“Sigh, I suspected as much. I won’t keep the two of you long; I can imagine you both have things to do. These arrived earlier today for you both. I think you can guess where they have come from.” He passed over two identical envelopes to the young unicorns.

Silence filled the office as they read their results. It was Twilight who broke the silence. “I’ve been accepted, and managed to succeed in getting the bursary as well. Term starts the first of September.” Her brow furrowed in confusion. “But I am requested to arrive at least a week sooner? And they won’t tell me why in the letter? Huh.”

Starlight was quiet, her ears were pressed against her head; she only spoke when she felt eyes on her. “I-I’ve been accepted as well; but due to unforeseen circumstances they are unable to offer a bursary. T-They state that they understand my p-predicament and are willing to delay tuition but do expect it paid in full in a timely manner. Sniff, I-I can’t go. I can’t pay those fees in only a year.”

Her vision was watery, but it still came as a surprise when her letter multiplied in her hooves. Starlight blinked in confusion and looked up as she saw Twilight get up from her chair. “Take mine,” was all she said before she quickly left the office; slamming the door behind her.

“T-Twilight? WAIT!”

“Miss Glimmer!” Starlight froze in place at the tone she had just heard. She shivered, she had never heard Race Control raise his voice before. She turned to face him and saw something that was a very rare sight to see upon his face; sadness. He was gentle when he told her to retake her seat.

“Miss Glimmer. You have been with us for a few years now; tell me, have you ever seen those two apart for long?” she shook her head, no. “We may feel it strange that two ponies of different tribes call themselves sisters; but I have no other words to describe how powerful their bond is. Maybe it is still not strong enough. I’ve known them since they were in diapers; they are literally inseparable if they so choose to be. We had no option but to allow them to share cots and beds until they wanted their own; and I suspect that is because we do not offer larger mattresses.

“Twilight was going to refuse this invitation; that you needed it has actually helped her, in a way. At least this way she feels like she is helping out a friend. I suspect Rainbow will already be objecting the decision; but if the tables were reversed, all that would be different right now is who would be turning down the invitation.

“Miss Glimmer, I cannot tell you what to do when it comes to this; but if you are willing to listen, I would suggest you accept the gift Twilight has offered you. Allow her this feeling of helping out a friend, so she can endure what her sister is suffering through.”

Starlight was quiet and timid, her eyes misting up again; but she nodded her head, and crushed both letters to her chest.

“Very well; I shall contact the university and let them know the situation.”

“I can’t do this!”

“Yes, you can. You got in, just like I did. The only difference is that they gave me a bursary; which I gifted to you.”

A billow of steam was expelled from the train, obscuring the red carriage. The platform was filled with ponies of all tribes coming and going; families saying their goodbyes, or even welcome homes.

“But they needed you for something. I can’t take that from you at least.”

Twilight shrugged her shoulders, “Whatever it was I’m sure you will be just as good at it. They’ve never actually told me what they need me for, so I guess it can’t be just something only I can do.”

“Still…”

“Hey” Rainbow butted in, stopping the argument she knew was moments away from starting up. Again. “Do me a favour and actually spend some time outside of their library, ok? It was hard enough getting the two of you out of the orphanages one. I can only imagine how hard it’ll be with a university sized one.”

It was a sad giggle that Starlight promised to spend time out of the library.

The train whistle blew, letting all remaining passengers know that it was about to depart. Starlight turned to leave, but paused. She quickly spun around and launched herself at her two friends; doing her best to hug both of them at once.

“I’ll come back whenever I can. I want all the stories; the good, the bad, and the boring. And I’ll teach you all that I can.” She felt two sets of hooves wrap around her as her friends returned the gesture. “You’re the best friends I’ll ever have.”

“Try to make some others at least.” Twilight replied as she squeezed just that little tighter.

A second whistle called the trains departure and Starlight had to quickly scamper into the door, just before a conductor came by and closed it.

Rainbow and Twilight kept waving until the train was just a spot on the horizon. “Well, I guess that’s that; both of our dreams leaving us thanks to a train.”

“Looks like it.”

The two were silent for a time.

“Hey Rainbow? There is a silver lining to this, to us being ten still.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well, we’ve still got lots and lots of time to find a new dream.” She turned to face Rainbow. “How about this time we find a dream we can do together?”

“Yeah, like maybe actually finding our Cutie Marks.” She looked over to their respective flanks. Both were still as unmarked as they can get.

The two slowly set off, back to their orphanage. Back to their home.

“Hey, do you think we could become Daring Do?”

“Giggle, only if you stop hating History as much as you do. She is an archaeologist after all.”

Both fillies laughed together, taking off into a gallop as they raced each other back to the only home they knew.

Chapter. 4 – Reunited in Canterlot

Chapter. 4 – Reunited in Canterlot

Ten years later.

It was a beautiful day; the sky was clear, the birds were chirping in the trees and the sun was warm and inviting. The air may have been perfumed by the scent of flowers, but it was over ruled by the rich, sweet smell of fresh pastries.

Canterlot was gleaming; the marble city was all the brighter on sunny days such as this. It was not forgiving, however, and to ponies that spent more time inside reading than going outside exploring, it was quite uncomfortable. It was a reason why Starlight was sitting inside and away from the large windows that made Donut Joe’s such an inviting place.

“So, where are these so called friends of yours? It’s just that I’ve never met them before and I’ve known you my whole life. You’d think I would have by now if they existed. The only time you leave Canterlot is for a few days around Hearths warming, and at most two weeks in the summer. But even then you’ve not done that for a couple of years now.” The voice belonged to a young purple dragon who was currently sitting beside his caretaker and best friend, Starlight Glimmer.

The mare in question has flourished during her time in Canterlot; gaining in confidence as her magic grew. She was now proud to be a researcher at the very university she once studied at; being offered the job along with guardianship of Spike the Dragon. That she had been all but raising said dragon from the start of her education help with this decision.

Currently the two of them were sitting in a horseshoe booth with a drink and, obviously, a donut in front of them. Spikes already had a few bites out of it, while Starlight’s remained untouched.

“They’ll be here; ye of little faith. They’ve probably just been held up at the museum.”

“Uh huh. Yeah, you have two friends who are giants and work as archaeologists exactly like Daring Do. Starlight, you can tell me I won’t judge; are you feeling ok? I mean you have been working really hard recently; maybe it’s time to have a vacation?”

“Oh, hush you; I’m fine really. I know it sounds a little weird, especially if the rumours are true about the next Daring Do novel, but they really are real. We grew up together in RC Orphanage until I got accepted into GUU.”

“Yeah, that I could believe; but what about all the rest of the stuff you’ve mentioned? Like how one of them is a crazy good self-taught Spell Crafter, or how the other one has a lifelong season ticket for every Wonderbolts show? You’re the one who keeps telling me exactly how dangerous Spell Crafting and Testing is, “he shuddered. “I really did not need to see those pictures of spells gone wrong, by the way.”

“Look, we’re both curious what your dragon fire can do; but without the proper theory and safety precautions, you could get seriously injured.” Starlight tried to interject in her defence.

But Spike ignored her as he continued on, “and yet this Twilight can do it with no problem; showing you several spells you can only just about manage. You do know the university rates you as one of their most powerful unicorns, right?”

Starlight rubbed her foreleg, “well yeah.”

“And then Rainbow; are you seriously telling me she has a life time season ticket for every Wonderbolts show? Those must be worth their weight in Platinum; heck I didn’t think they even existed until you told me your friend Rainbow has one.”

“Y-yeah, that story is a bit of a personal one. Typically the seat goes to our old orphanage; but if Rainbow ever does want to use it she’ll tell them far in advance. It’s how we got to see your first ever show, remember.”

Spike’s face morphed into a distant smile, “yeah it was incredible.”

Starlight nodded in agreement, “Winning my ticket through that school wide competition was tough; but again it was thanks to my friends and their uniqueness.”

The snort from Spike clearly hid a small laugh. “Yeah, its thanks to their apparent undetectable gems embedded in their chests that you had learnt so many obscure detection spells. So obscure that your teachers failed to protect the ticket from several of them, allowing you to find it first.”

Starlight shrugged, “it got me noticed.”

“Yeah, but are you really telling me that you can’t detect them with any of the spells you know? You must know every detection spell the GUU library has by now.” His face lit up, “hey maybe I could tell you stuff about them.”

“Oh?” Starlight raised an eyebrow at her charge, “and just how were you going to do that? Lick them?”

Spike had the decency to blush, at least a little. “H-hey, at least then you’d know something about the strange gems.”

“True, but I don’t know how it will help if I know they taste like strawberries or bananas.”

“Simple. I find other gems that taste similar and you can start comparing with them. Maybe do the more intense stuff on those so as not to accidently hurt your friends.”

Starlight blinked; that was not actually a half bad idea.

“Maybe next time; as it stands I have a new spell or two I’m hoping they’ll let me try first.” A wave of giddy energy surged through Starlight. “Oooh, it’ll be so good seeing them again; it’s been years!”

“Seriously, how come you don’t see them more often? And how come I haven’t ever met them before now? They really do sound like good ponies.”

“Life, unfortunately. They both doubled down in their studies to make sure their dreams weren’t squashed a second time. They also developed a small phobia of trains; for a few years they refused to get on one at all. Thankfully they grew out of that; or else they wouldn’t have been able to become their adventurous selves.

“As for you not meeting them until now; well the university wouldn’t let you leave initially. Then when they gave me full guardianship over you those two had already gone off to Marshall College to study Archaeology.”

Starlight’s eyes glanced over to the main door as her peripheral vision caught sight of something long and purple appeared above the door frame. That the background chatter of customers reduced significantly also tipped her off. “Well looks like they’re here at last.”

“Huh,” Spike turned around and saw two ponies walk in; both wearing sand coloured dusters that covered the full length of their bodies. The jackets were identical and reached past their tails; though one clearly had a set of holes for the very large sky blue wings of the pegasus. The purple unicorn had to keep her head lowered so that her long horn would not scrape the low ceiling.

“Wow, are those your friends? You weren’t joking about them being big.”

Starlight’s smile held a watery edge. “Yeah, that’s them.” she stood and waved to the two ponies who were clearly looking for her. It was the pegasus that caught sight of her first and nudged her unicorn companion. Not that it would have taken them that much longer to notice the two, they really could see over everypony in the building.

“Hey Starlight! How have you been!” Starlight had slipped out of the booth with the slightest of effort, quickly coming round to the front before latching onto her two dearest friends. She may have had to momentarily become bipedal to wrap her forelegs around their necks, but she got both of them in a single hug. Forehooves of purple and blue wrapped around her with ease, mimicking her gesture.

“I-I’ve been doing well thanks. The university has me very busy. Oh, but let me introduce you.” She managed to pull away before gesturing to the lone dragon still sitting in the booth. “Rainbow, Twilight this is Spike, my number one assistant; Spike these are my best friends in the whole world Rainbow and Twilight.”

“Hello Spike, nice to finally meet you; we used to hear stories about you all the time. Sorry Starlight for not seeing you in a few years, but it was a big break for me and Rainbow.”

“Not at all; after everything you did for me I can wait a year or two for the two of you.”

By now Starlight had shuffled back around the bench to her original seat next to Spike. The two other mares gave her a stare. “You chose these seats on purpose didn’t you?”

“No, no of course I didn’t, Rainbow.” Starlight feigned innocence and slight hurt. “These were the only ones available when we got here. Even now it looks like booths are the only seats available.” Sure enough every seat was taken other than a select few. “Besides,” Starlight added, clearly thinking of something cheeky. “How else can I help you two stop growing? It’s only going to get harder for you both if you go even further past the average earth pony stallion. Hmm, I’d guess by now you’re both breaching said stallions by about twenty five percent, give or take.”

“Ha Ha. Ha, now if you could convince my horn of that, then you’d actually have my thanks.” Twilight replied as she brought a hoof up and rubbed the back of her neck.

“I can’t believe you just worked it out.”

“Hey I’m curious. Just like those gems of yours in your chests; I’ve got a few more spells I want to use now. I’m sure I’ll get something this time.”

“Thanks but no thanks. I don’t feel like being a guinea pig this time round; maybe next time.” Twilight agreed with her sister at Starlight’s pouty silent request. She huffed in response and folded her forelegs together.

It was a slow and careful operation as the two squeezed themselves into and then around the bench. Twilight volunteered to go in first and to sit next to Starlight, with Rainbow following after; this way there was a quick way out if Starlight or Spike needed anything.

Knees were bashed, curses were spoken under breath; Starlight actually levitated the two drinks into the air to prevent any more spillage. The bench itself squeaked and groaned more than a few times before finally Twilight and Rainbow were fully seated and as comfortable as they could be. It was quite an amusing sight, and Spike had to refrain from giggling a few times; though he did notice that the two large ponies took extra care to keep their duster jackets in place.

“Say Spike,” he looked over to Starlight, and he could almost read exactly what she wanted him to do. “Sure Starlight, I can get their orders; what would you two like?”

“Before you even start, Twilight, this is the least I can do for you two. You could both order the entire menu and I’ll still be happy to do so.” Spike saw that this was clearly a topic that was brought up time and again; and judging by the sigh that came out of the purple unicorn’s mouth, she always lost. The slight sniggering that came from the sky blue pegasus also added credence to his reasoning.

It took nudges from both Starlight and Rainbow for Twilight to actually reveal her full order; it was as substantial as the pegasus she was sitting next to. He raised an eyebrow and had to actually write it down on a spare piece of parchment before heading towards the counter.

“It’s good to see I know you two so well. So is what I heard true? Did you two seriously venture into the Griffon Lands to retrieve the lost shield of Flash Magnus?”

“Wow, news travels fast; I don’t think it’s meant to be fully announced for another six months. They’re still combing over it for authenticity.” Rainbow responded with confusion.

“I know. They’ve confirmed that it is the right age for his clashes with the Griffons; and there are clear marks that can only come from their claws. I even think they found a few barbs that match his recorded DNA.”

“Wow you know more than we do.”

Starlight shrugged. “Well, it pays to be a part of the team examining the shield I suppose.”

“Wait,” Twilight cut in. “You got onto the team examining the shield? How did you manage that?”

“While I specialise more in ancient legends; I am still a known figure in carbon dating. They asked me to look at it to determine its age.

“So, are you here for long?”

“I’m back!” Before either of the two sisters could answer Starlight’s question the young dragon was back from his quest; laden with a tray in front of him, covered in over a dozen donuts and several drinks. “Man you two can eat. I suppose it’s not surprising though; considering, well yunno. I put it on your account Starlight, just like you asked me to do.”

“Thank you, Spike. I see you got yourself another one as well, or do you think one of my friends enjoys rock hard pieces of gem.” She had a raised eyebrow and looked at him accusingly; he grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “I’ll just have to make sure you get some more exercise then; wouldn’t want you to get fat now, would we.”

“W-well how come they get so many then? I’m still growing too.”

Starlight smirked. “They have also been known to go for days with only the grass on the ground to eat. When I said they were archaeologists like Daring Do, I meant it. They choose to go to locations that are deemed too hazardous for ponykind; and with almost no supplies too.” She said the last part with a slight glare at her dare devil friends.

Rainbow shrugged, “It makes things more interesting; and you’d be surprised how heavy sufficient supplies actually are, even for us. Anyway to answer your question Starlight, we can be.”

“Mmm, we will be heading south into the Badlands for our next journey. Canterlot museum has a few artefacts of ancient ponies from the outer edges; they’ve commissioned us to delve deeper. They’ve supplied us with a few clues to locations that may prove fruitful, as well as areas to look out for; but really it sounds like we’re going to do a lot of leg work for ourselves.” Twilight sighed. “I’ll need to go over what they’ve given us and try to narrow things down a little; as it stands we could be wandering around the top third with all they’ve given us. Hmm, is everything alright, Spike isn’t it?”

Twilight had been using her magic to supply herself and Rainbow the sugary treats; and ever since her horn had lit up, Spike had been staring at it the whole time.

“OH, uhh n-nothing.” He sheepishly grabbed his second donut and started to nibble at it while looking away from all of them. Starlight just shrugged her shoulders when Twilight raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

The conversation continued on with general gossip, and stories of good times. But eventually cramp started to make itself known, and the friends needed to move.

Twilight smirked at Rainbow before she teleported herself out of the booth instantly and returned on all four hooves. “Bet you wish you could do that?”

“Yeah, about as much as you wish you could fly with wings.” Rainbow snarked back as she shuffled out of her confinement. With a lack of a sister next to her, there was more room to manoeuvre with. But the process was still fraught with cursing and sore knees.

Before long the small group was out of the store and Rainbow let out a sigh as she stretched all six of her limbs. “Aww, man it’s been ages since I’ve been stuck like that for so long.”

“Rainbow, be careful or you’ll be picked up for indecent exposure.”

“Oh come on Twi; it’s not like your enjoying lifting your head properly or anything.”

“True; and while horn size is a unicorn attraction point, it pales in comparison to a pegasi’s wing span.” Twilight’s face was as featureless as stone, but her eyes screamed mischief. Rainbow just rolled her eyes at her sisters antics.

“So where are you two staying tonight?”

“The museum has a set of barracks; we’ll be crashing there for our stay in Canterlot.”

“Yeah, it’s empty right now; so it’s like we have our very own hotel room in the heart of Canterlot. Well take care Starlight; let’s meet up tomorrow for breakfast or something?”

“Sure Rainbow. I’ll drop by the museum around eight. Take care guy’s.” The parting of the two groups was delayed with hugs goodbye but eventually it was just Spike and Starlight.

“Hey, Starlight?”

“Yes Spike?” It was a few minutes into their walk to the university; well Starlight was walking, Spike was on her back, apparently lost in thought.

“That unicorn, Twilight?” Starlight nodded, “I think I know her from somewhere. She feels familiar.”

Starlight blinked in confusion at the statement. Her mind went back to her childhood in search of answers. “As far as I’m aware she’s never been to the university more than once in her whole life. And I believe that was before you were born.”

Spike nodded but said nothing; his mind was focused on trying to remember a faraway past that could really only be felt.

“Need anything else?” A new day brought everyponies favourite pastime for the two sisters; work.

“No, these should do for now. If you could look through that one for anything relevant, it will be useful.” Twilight was deep in work mode and Rainbow knew the only way through it quickly, was to help in whatever way she could.

Both mares were sitting down in a private study room within Canterlot City Archives; a letter of reference from the director of the museum gave them access to tomes most ponies would never believe existed. They wore their, now trademarked, sandy coloured dusters; even in the confines of the room.

The four wooden chairs belonging to the room were off by the far wall, while the table set out in the middle was filled with over a dozen books along with quills, ink, and parchment. The two occupants were on either side of the rectangle and for ease and comfort both were sitting on the carpeted floor.

This morning’s breakfast with Starlight was a happy, tasty, distant memory. Spike had not joined them this time, but Starlight assured the two of them that they hadn’t offended him at all.

But then everypony had to return to the grind; Starlight had a paper she was working on and of course Twilight and Rainbow had their own work to do.

Rainbow read through her reference tome; scanning pages trying to find anything useful to their current project. The few sections that sounded promising were written down on a piece of paper that then acted like a book mark; Twilight would go over it again when she was ready.

Like this both parties got what they wanted out of all this research; Twilight’s planning was detailed and spanned a vast array of variables, and Rainbow got to skim through to the good parts.

They worked like this for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon before they finally called it time for a break.

Rainbow looked over the battlefield, at the piles of books they had torn through; it always surprised her. Every time they worked like this it still amazed her how much they actually got done.

“So have you managed to reduce our search area?”

“I think so. I’ll need to cross reference a little more; and triple check those geological studies, but I think we can safely ignore the western areas entirely.”

“Wow really? That’s a big area to just remove.”

“It’s thanks to a few of the references you found actually; they helped me collaborate a few missing links, ruling places out. Sigh, there are a few more areas I would like to rule out; they really are in the middle of nowhere. But so far nothing’s preventing me from doing so.”

“So, currently, how long is this expedition going to take?”

“To explore it all? Rough guess before the research it was about three to four years, with what I’ve managed to figure out, more likely a year to a year and a half; and that’s if the ruins are cooperative.”

“Which they never are. Man, this is going to be another long one.”

“Hopefully not; the biggest problem is that the area is just so uncharted. The wilderness has expanded all over the lower areas of Equestria. No, the biggest annoyance is that we will need to take supplies with us this time. Reference materials at least, though I suspect water and rations as well.” Twilight commented as she focused on her magic. She had a baker’s dozen worth of papers that she was currently organising and sorting before finally placing them neatly into a waiting saddlebag.

“Aww man, that’s going to reduce our profits; those things are expensive. And heavy. Ish”

“Rainbow, we are not tight on funds. If fact, apart from giving to RC Orphanage, we have very little if any outgoing costs. We’re actually doing pretty well.”

“Pretty well’s not good enough. I want us to have a cloud mansion to retire in; preferably somewhere quiet, neither of us are fans of big cities.”

“You could probably build it now. Compacted cloud can’t be that expensive, it’s just water.”

“Pfff, it’s not the building costs; it’s the planning. As soon as they hear you want anything made with compacted cloud, suddenly everything else has shot up, like, five hundred percent.”

Twilight looked over to Rainbow in shock. “Oh, my, god. You have actually looked into this, haven’t you?”

“W-well, yeah. As much fun as it is travelling the world; I can’t see us doing this forever. We’re going to need a fool proof plan for the future, and I just want to be ready for it.”

Twilight walked over to the rainbow maned pagasus and embraced her in a big, overbearing hug. “Oh, Rainbow. I am so sorry; you have clearly been in my company for far too long.” Deliberately and methodically, Twilight used a forehoof to stroke her sisters mane repeatedly; much to her captives displeasure. “To think that you are actually worried for our futures and have already taken steps for a comfortable, nay, lavish retirement. Oh it does make me feel so conflicted.”

By now Rainbow was actually trying to get out of her sisters surprisingly strong grasp. “Ok, OK I GET IT. Geeze, clearly somepony has been around me too much; I don’t remember you ever being that sassy or sarcastic.”

Twilight laughed and hug Rainbow again, though this one was considerably more natural. “Oh, Rainbow; I think we’ve both done wonderful and horrible things to each other. Especially if you believe that you were the only one of us who has already got plans in the works for our futures.”

Rainbow smirked, “Never doubted you’d already have something going; it’s why I felt I needed to contribute something.

“Anyway, what’s the plan? Lunch?”

“Yup; after that, we’ll see. We will need to do a bit more research; but as you said to Starlight yesterday, there is not a real rush.”

The two left the Archive to find that the weather was turning; pegasi could be seen arranging clouds to block out the sun. From what Rainbow was able to figure out the rest of the day was going to be overcast, with light showers in the evening. Unless something drastic happened, or a wave of chaotic weather washed over from the Everfree Forest.

The slow trot around the marbled city was fascinating; statues of notable ponies through history were scattered all over. All three tribes were on display, but certainly the majority were unicorns. Passing a tour group, Twilight had to reframe from correcting the tour guide about King Blueblood the sixth.

Architecturally the city was impressive, mostly built in white marble and detailed in pale purples; it certainly was a testament to its origins. The newer areas of the city were built with more modern designs; it was almost possible to see when each section was built just by the design of the buildings. Something that Twilight would mention as they passed particularly interesting examples of this phenomenon; it was something that Rainbow was doing her best to subtly ignore.

But one thing both were trying they’re hardest to ignore were the stares of other ponies. Sure most of these city ponies seemed lost in their own worlds, or barely gave them a second look; others were not quite so generous however, and some just flat out gawked.

Twilight and Rainbow both knew they were very different compared to other ponies – that they called themselves sisters was clearly one of the subtler differences from the others – and had come to accept that about themselves. But that still didn’t mean they liked to be reminded of it so rudely.

So far no dining establishment was grabbing their attention; being travellers of the world they had subjected themselves to dishes from all over, experiencing everything from very good to the very bad. The unfortunate side effect of this was that they unfortunately found themselves, if not picky, then simply not sure what to have when it came to their home grown affair.

Everything they passed sounded fine, but nothing truly called out to them.

So they continued on; passing the exuberant central government building for all of Equestria. Rainbow said she could feel all the hot air they were spewing from where they stood; Twilight was sure she was only half joking.

Democratic voting was the way of the country, apparently; with the winner being the first pony past the post, as it were. There was a representative for each region of Equestria and they formed together into larger herds; with the largest herd running the country. Typically it was a fight between only two, but sometimes smaller herds joined together to give the large ones a run for their bit.

Then there was the old Castle of the Unicorn Kingdom; it was still used today, Equestria still had a monarch – a king at this moment in time, King Blueblood the eighth – but they were more a figure head and diplomat, rather than wielding any real political power. The true political power of Equestria came from the elected officials, officially anyway.

“This is not really working, is it?”

By now mid-afternoon was becoming a past memory and still they were wondering, trying to find something that they both wanted to eat. “No, not really.”

“Hey, you wanna go back to that all you can eat joint we saw and try and eat them out of food? I mean at this point we might as well combine both lunch and dinner together.”

“Meh, sure; though I’m getting a new book to read before we do. I want at least some entertainment while I drift in and out of a food coma.”

“Sure thing; I’ll come along, but I’m not getting a book though. Honestly I’m looking forward to a good long nap.”

With an actual goal finally worked out, the two ponies headed back towards the more commercial area of the city. It was nice being able to do this, to not have a destination or a set goal in mind. But both ponies could feel the itch to explore beginning to build once again. It was made worse as several not so subtle ponies loudly whispered about them as they passed by.

They may not have a fixed deadline, but both of them came to the same conclusion; they won’t still be in Canterlot in a week. Two at the most.

Chapter. 5 – What’s in a Hat?

Chapter. 5 – What’s in a Hat?

“What is wrong with you two?” Starlight asked out loud as she looked down at the two beached whales resting in Canterlot museum barracks; the area reserved for treasure hunters and archaeologists. She had managed to talk her way in when it had been over a day since her two friends had surfaced.

“It. Was a good idea. At the time.” Rainbow tried to defend herself, Twilight just groaned.

“So what, is this the third place you two have been banned from?”

“Fourth.” Came a weak response from Twilight. “First one in Canterlot though.”

Starlight shook her head, a small part of her was honestly surprised the beds they were lying on had not yet collapsed. “Sigh, sometimes I wonder if you two have actually matured in the slightest in all these years? Anyway there was a reason I came by other than concern; I’ve been invited to a party my associate Moondancer is having, and she said I could invite a friend or two to come along with.”

There was not a lot of enthusiasm emanating from her two friends, be it because of their self-inflicted condition or because of the idea of a party. Starlight panicked. “It’s not until the end of the month, so you’ve got some time to make up your minds.” She couldn’t bring herself to say that she wanted them to be there.

“End of the month? It’s certainly a possibility. We’ll give you a definite answer when we can move again.” It was the best Starlight was going to get out of them. She has never seen them like this in the flesh; but the stories they told her of it, suggested they could be out of action for another day or so.

“Well do you need anything, before I leave you to your digesting?”

“I’m good thanks.” Rainbow wriggled slightly, making the wooden bed creak noticeably, but otherwise appeared quite content; even if the duvet was only covering the bottom half of her body.

“Do you have a book on you? I’ve already finished these two.”

Starlight smirked, “Of course; it’s not fiction but hopefully it’ll do.” Her saddlebag was already being opened by her magic as she spoke; revealing a modern looking textbook.

“Ooh; the latest edition of runes and their applications. Thanks this will do nicely.”

“I will need that back; and in one piece, it’s the universities.”

“Don’t worry; grunt, I’m not going anywhere for a while yet.” Just like Rainbow, Twilight had her duvet covering the lower half of her body. Unlike Rainbow though, Twilight was much more awake and was already engrossed in her borrowed text.

Now with the knowledge that her two friends were alive, and at least somewhat well, Starlight made her way back out of the building. ‘Sometimes I really do think those two are still fillies.’

The sun was raised over Equis, and with it a blessing was given to the city of Canterlot; for exiting the museum for the first time in several days was Rainbow and her sister Twilight. Both still had a slight waddle to their gait, but it was difficult to completely tell due to their long body covering duster jackets. They were both still sluggish; but they were on their hooves, and able to face the day.

“Ok, I want to go get a timetable from the train station; I want to know how many times a month there is a train down to the Badlands. Or if there is a train that far south.”

Rainbow snorted, “I seriously doubt there is a train that goes that far. If I was to guess the best we’ll get is a train down to Dodge City.”

“Which means there will be an awful lot of desert to traipse through before we even get to the Badlands. We’re going to need more protection than just our jackets for that.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Hat’s for one thing, hats with large rims. They’ll reduce the amount of sun that we’ll be exposed to, as well as giving our eyes some much needed shade.”

“Twi; hate to break it to you, but we’ll never get clothing here. Or need I remind you that we got these dusters when we were in the Griffon Empire.”

“Sigh, I know Rainbow, but we’ll have a much harder time without them. Keep an eye out while we walk; you never know we might get lucky.”

The two continued their path down to the train station. The streets were as busy as ever for the Capital of Equestria; and while the vast majority of ponies they passed were in their own little worlds, the two unusually large mares could still feel eyes upon them. The feeling was unnerving.

“I wish I didn’t say to Starlight we could stay a while.”

“I know what you mean, Rainbow. Still; she’s all but family, and we’d stay if she asked.”

“Yeah. Almost without complaint too.”

It was some time later before the train station came into view. They had to go through to the lower stratums; where the buildings were not quite as grand in appearance, they were built closer together and overall it was just more densely packed. The main avenue, where they were currently walking down, was still impressive; but if you were to detour, it lost its grandeur very quickly.

A small time queuing and a short chat later, and they had a booklet of all the trains and their scheduled running times.

“Hey, there’s a train down to a new frontier settlement called Appleoosa. It seems to be a monthly supply run, but if it’s in here then it must also take passengers. Hmm, looks like it leaves a week on Monday.”

“That works for us. We should have everything sorted by then, right?”

“I’d be amazed if we weren’t, Rainbow; and if these track maps are anything to go on, we should be saving at least a couple of days trekking. It does mean we will probably need to buy our supplies here.”

“If you wanted reference materials we were going to have to anyway. Come on lets grab those tickets; no point coming back here if we don’t need to.”

“Hey, wait.” Twilight was looking into a shop’s window; a clothing store, judging by the mannequins on display. It was a small establishment, with only a single window to display their wares; but even to an untrained eye it was clearly finished to a high standard.

“Huh? What, you want a fancy dress?”

“It’s the hats on the mannequins; wide brimmed, high quality. Sure they’re not nearly suitable for where we’re going, but everything else fits; I’m wondering if we can commission this place to make us a couple of hats for what we need.”

“I mean, sure I guess. As much as I teased earlier; I do think you’re right about needing them. But we’ve basically got a week; do you think they’ll be able to make them in time?”

“Only one way to find out.” Twilight said as she pushed open the door and walked inside, having to duck to prevent her horn from hitting the doorframe.

The door opened with the light tinkle of a bell; revealing a small, if spacious room. Coloured in pink and purple fabrics the walls were decorated in such a way to suggest that they had just walked into a large exotic tent. The room had a high ceiling to add an additional air of grandness and opulence to the interior.

Over in the far left corner was a raised platform with two sets of large oval mirrors on each wall. A suspended fabric roof above the platform wielded several spotlights angled to minimise shadows on the platform.

The other walls held racks and mannequins showing off the proprietors skills with a needle and thread; including a sizeable number of hats in all shapes and styles. Exactly what Twilight was hoping to find.

As she walked in Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Ah; you know it’s funny how much I find myself appreciating high ceilings.”

The comment was to Rainbow, but it was the only other unicorn in the shop who giggled. At first Twilight thought she was a customer, due to her looking through a rack of dresses; but by that reaction, she deduced it was the owner.

The mare was almost porcelain white; her mane and tail had long flowing curls of deep indigo. Her horn was lit in a magical aura of ice blue, and as her giggle suggested, her voice held the accented sophistication of high society.

“Giggle, why thank you, darling. I am glad somepony appreciates the architecture of days gone by. The modern trend for low ceilings may be practical, but it lacks grandeur I feel. Now, how can I–” The mare turned around and finally looked at her new customers.

She found her eyes level with a sandy coloured jacket covering a pony’s chest. Blinking in confusion she trailed her eyes higher and higher, before finally resting on the face of a purple unicorn mare who’s horn reached higher still. She couldn’t refrain from gulping. “W-well I can certainly see why you’d find high ceilings important.

“Ahem, my name is Rarity Belle, proprietor of the Canterlot Carousel; the boutique that allows one to look chic, unique and magnifique. How can I help you today, miss?”

“Twilight, and I was hoping to speak to you about a commission for my sister and me.”

“Sister?” Rarity blinked and made her eyes move away from the unicorn; finally noticing the equally large pegasus standing just behind the unicorn. The rainbow’d maned pegasus had a very large grin plastered on her face and was using a wing tip to wave at the wide eyed unicorn.

“Ah, cough, forgive me I did not see you there.”

“I noticed.” Was all the pegasus said. The Cheshire cat grin on her face, however, spoke volumes.

“Right; well, you said something about a commission?”

“I did. My sister Rainbow and I are going to be travelling down to Appleoosa. I noticed the wide brimmed hats on display in your window and–”

“Say no more; I understand entirely. Mares of your, physique, cannot simply buy off the shelf. Well why don’t you both join me for a spot of tea in the kitchen; we can discuss what you are looking for in greater detail there.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t wan–”

“We’d both love to.” Rainbow had stuffed a hoof into Twilight’s mouth, allowing her to but in. The glare from her sister washed over Rainbow like water on a ducks back.

Rarity, either did not notice the antics between the two, or chose not to say anything as she turned around and headed towards the stores register.

Twilight finally managed to remove Rainbow’s hoof from her mouth and glared at the pegasus; who merely responded with a grin and a wink.

“If you’d like to follow me through here.” Rarity had pulled an inconspicuous curtain aside to reveal an archway leading deeper into the building.

Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s antics before following Rarity through the hallway and towards the residential part of the store.

“So how can I help?” The trio were sitting around a solid rectangular wooden table, with cups placed in front of each pony. The kitchen of the property was spacious and felt homely. There was wood, the walls were painted in a warming yellow, the floor was tiled in black and white checkers and the counter tops was made out of speckled marble.

“We’re both archaeologists, and we’re going to go investigate some ruins in the Badlands. Twi here realised the conditions are totally different from what we’ve had to deal with before. So far we’ve got most things sorted, but when it comes to sun protection we’re missing one big things; hats, or head protection really.”

“I see, I see. So you’re looking for function over style.”

“I’m afraid so. We’d still like something that looks good, don’t get us wrong. If we cared so little, then I’d just whip up something crude with my magic. But we are looking for something robust.”

Rarity smirked, “don’t worry; it’s not a problem at all. Though I do prefer creating something beautiful that strikes at the heart of whoever I created it for; I have been known to dabble in other styles and exotic materials. Some of my more fabulous dresses are even studded with jewels.”

The other two ponies in the room blinked. “You put jewels in a dress. As in embedded within the fabrics?” Twilight was at a loss; why would ponies want such uncomfortable things poking them as they move around.

“Oh, yes. You’d be surprised how well I can incorporate them into a design; you’ll never even know they’re there. But that will have to wait for another time, even though I would love to get the two of you into one of my more fashionable designs.”

The sound of a door opening distracted everypony; eyes were drawn to the back door where a silvery white young filly was entering the kitchen. Judging by the saddlebags, it was easy to conclude she had just finished school for the day. “Rarity, I’m hom-AH!”

“Sweetie Belle! Calm down. These are two new clients of mine, Twilight and Rainbow. This is my sister Sweetie Belle; I take care of her when my parents are out on an excursion.”

The small filly gulped. “Uh, Hi.” She was clearly nervous, but there was curiosity there, a simple one that only children could get away with. “Wow, how’d you both get so big?”

Rainbow smirked, “By eating all our healthy greens of course.” She looked at the filly in an over the top and exaggerated way. “I dunno Twilight. I don’t think she’s eating enough of them.”

The filly pouted, “I do to!”

“Really? So you don’t want to become bigger than your big sister?”

“Gasp, you can do that?”

“Sure you can; just look at the two of us. But you gotta look after yourself; plenty of healthy food and exercise. And it takes commitment; it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, it will take a long time. But if you keep at it…” Rainbow finished by pointing to herself and Twilight. The filly looked on in wonder, actually beginning to believe it was possible.

“Sweetie dear, why don’t you go and start your homework while I finish up here.”

The spell was broken, “Ok, sure.” Was the quick response before the filly started to move deeper into the shop/home combination.

She paused in the doorway, however. Her back was to the table and sitting guests, so no pony could see her face; but by her body language she was clearly confused. That fact was confirmed when she turned to face the table where the three adults where sitting.

“Umm, is there,” a disgruntled sigh was let loose along with a shake of her head. “Can I help?”

The blink of confusion from the older sister was a clear indication to both Twilight and Rainbow that this was a rather strange request. Before Rarity could say anything, however, the attention of all the adults must have gotten to the little filly; because she ducked her head in embarrassment before running out of the room as fast as she could.

Silence filled the kitchen for a minute or two as what just happened went through everyponies heads.

“So, I take it she does not offer to help very often?” Rainbow was the first to work through what just happened.

“Hmm? OH.” Rarity brought herself to the here and now. “No, it is rather rare for Sweetie to ask to help. Sigh, the last time she did it caused quite a delay as I had to show and repeat myself before she understood what I needed.”

“Well,” Rainbow continued. “Perhaps there’s a new game out she wants? OH, or maybe there’s a friends birthday coming up? How about, OOF–” before Rainbow could properly build up in excitement, she received an elbow to the ribs; stopping the train of over imagination.

“Forgive her; Rainbow just loves kids.”

“It’s quite all right. Sweetie Belle does indeed help me out for a few bits to spend; and she could use some encouragement to get out more.”

“Interesting Cutie Mark she had there. A three shaded shield with a star in the centre. I wonder what it means?” Rainbow couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m afraid I cannot say. She was with my parents when she got it a few years ago; I was still here making a name for myself at the time. She won’t even tell me how she got it; said she swore to her friends never to reveal anything before slamming her hoof to her mouth and running off to her room.

“Anyway, if we keep getting distracted we’ll never get anything done. So just talking to the two of you, I’ve come up with an idea or two that should be exactly what you need. Let me get the measurements I require, and then I can get started.”

“Certainly, and what sort of time frame are we talking about?”

“Hmm; let me think, custom job, source the right material and enough of it. There is that order for Mrs Carrot, I also need to start on that. I’d say ten days to finish the job.”

“Twilight’s ears drooped slightly. “Is there a chance we could have them done in a week?”

“A week? Hmm, I could delay a few pieces, ah but that one is already behind. I’m afraid it would be quite tight for me, I’m afraid. I could get it done by the end of day eight if that’s helpful; though I will charge you a premium rate for the quick service.”

“That sounds doable, thank you.”

“Not at all; we best get those measurements then. I’ll need to place an order for materials as quickly as I can. Oh, and you’ll need to show me your Cutie Marks as well.”

“Huh, why?”

“Why so I can embroidered it onto your hats of course! It’s not a lot, but it adds just that extra detail and personalisation that allows me to make a piece that is truly for each and every pony.”

“Uh, I don’t think that will be necessary, honestly.” Twilight stated with a wave of her hoof. “You said it yourself this was going to be difficult to finish our order inside of our deadline. I would rather have it completed on time sans the Cutie Mark, than needing to wait longer for a bit of embellishing and miss our train. Besides I think these will be plenty our own; unless a mare wants to feel like a filly trying on their parents clothing again.”

Twilight could still see that the seamstress was about to object so she compromised. “How about this; once we’re finished on our excursion, we’ll come back and you can finish our pieces then.”

Rarity’s expression softened but was still not completely satisfied. “Very well, just for expediency. But I WILL expect you to present yourselves as soon as you have completed your trip.

“Now normally I would ask that you stand on the platform there, but in this case I feel it would suit us better if I stand on it.” And with that the seamstress gathered a notepad, quill, and measuring tape and got to work.

“Well, that’s that. Also took far longer than what I was expecting. So what’s the plan now?” the day had progressed quite a bit more than either pony had expected.

“Well, its thanks to you and accepting that cup of tea. What was that all about anyway?”

“Hehe, she couldn’t stop staring at your horn. What was it you said the other day about unicorns and attraction points?”

“Sigh, I should have known you’d keep that under your belt. But back to what to do now,” her horn lit up as a simple spell was cast, causing purple coloured numbers to appear in the air. “So we’ve still got an hour and a half before the stores start to close for the day. Should we keep up with the supply gathering and place a few more orders?”

“Like what? I don’t think we even know for sure what we’ll need.”

“True, but long lasting food and water at least; I know purifying spells, sure, but we may not even find a water source.”

“Fair. But that also means you’ll need to check our saddle bags; make sure the expansion charms are still working.”

“That I can do at my leisure; I might even be able to improve them a bit thanks to the Rune book Starlight let me read yesterday.”

“Yeah? That’d be useful; less hassle with extra bags. Remember our first trip and the blasted cart?” Rainbow shivered, “never again.”

“Yeah, that definitely wasn’t my greatest ideas ever. But we survived.”

“Yeah, barely. If both of us weren’t so strong; we’d have been toast.”

“Enough of my past mistakes; let’s go arrange some basic supplies and then this evening we can plan out exactly what we’ll need.” Twilight trotted off, heading deeper into the commercial district.

Chapter. 1 – Making Friends

Chapter. 1 – Making Friends

The wind was blustery, but the sky was crystal clear and as blue as could be. The air, while warm, held a nip that would strike when a pony wasn’t looking. Certainly fall was underway; the leaves were striking in their colours, but not yet willing to leave their trees.

The sound of childish laughter travelled with the nippy air; enticing a smile from anypony who heard the noise of children happily playing and having fun.

But if one were to listen a little harder, they would find that not all of what they heard was pleasant.

On the border of an industrial estate was a large stone building, boxy in shape with a large black iron fence surrounding the structure along with a grass covered courtyard. The yard itself held the odd piece of playground equipment – such as a worn and rusting round about, or a clearly questionable set of monkey bars – and using all this space and furniture were equally dishevelled children.

Young colts and fillies of the three tribes were running around and playing with each other; and while their smiles were bright, the eyes were not quite as shining. For these children were of the lost and forgotten. These children were orphans.

The grounds were, while maintained, in poor condition; the building itself was clearly old and refurbished into what it is today. Red bricks stained with decades of life made up the walls; with many large multi panelled windows placed in rows to break up the otherwise featureless wall. Several had single missing panes; a few were completely covered in wood.

The roof allowed the building to stand out a little; it was steeply peaked and slate grey, with small jutting out stone dormers and several large chimneystacks each containing a dozen pots.

Life at RC Orphanage was a tough life, but there were three square meals a day, and the building was large enough to allow shared bedrooms, rather than dormitory living. Individual items, on the other hoof, were a very rare commodity; and like anywhere were the children outnumber the adults by a significant margin, there is a bullying problem.

“HEY, GIVE THAT BACK!”

“Oh yeah? What you gonna do if I don’t? Huh?”

Following the edge of the red bricked building the grassy courtyard leads to a small outcrop of fruit trees. The children are not supposed to be playing around them; but the pegasi children enjoy the height, others like the shade, and of course, rule breakers like the seclusion.

A large earth pony colt can be found holding a book out of reach of a much younger looking unicorn filly. She attempts to jump for it a few time, but each time the bigger colt ensures her prize is just out of reach. Standing off to the side are another two earth ponies; both smaller than their ring leader, but sniggering and jeering at the distress of the young filly.

“Come on then, use your magic. Use that superior unicorn magic of yours. Cause there’s no way you’re reaching it and I sure ain’t giving it back.”

The purple furred filly scrunched her face in concentration, narrowing and focusing her eyes on the stolen object, but all she managed were a few sparks out of her horn.

The three colts around her just laughed at her all the harder upon seeing her attempt. “That the best you could do? Well I think this book’s doing you more harm than good. I best take it away from you.”

The filly tried at reach the book once again, and almost got a hold of it; but in retaliation the canary yellow colt pushed her to the ground with noticeable force.

The colt then exaggeratingly opened the book and flipped through the pages at random. “What even is this? There ain’t no pictures and the writings small. No wonder this thing was doing you no good.” He smiled evilly down at the floored unicorn, “I don’t think it’ll do me any good either.” Then without hesitation he dropped it, pages down, onto the damp grass from the rainstorm the previous night. “Oops.”

The dark mane’d filly reached out to the book, still hoping to save the piece of literature. Her hoof was within touching distance from her prize when the bully struck again, slamming his foot onto the book and narrowly missing the smaller hoof.

“HEY!” Before the yellow colt could start grinding the book into the ground a shout came from the corner of their home, causing all four of the ponies to look over.

The shout came from a pegasus filly, fur sky blue in colour with a long dishevelled rainbow mane. She spread her larger than average wings and launched herself toward the group, arriving within a fraction of a second.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, huh?” the pegasus said as she came right up to the bully and stared at him, eye to eye.

The colt blinked and took a step back, removing his foot from the defenceless paperback. “Buzz of and mind your own business, air head!”

“Hah, that’s rich coming from you; or are you too dumb to realise that I’m in your class, Custard Cream?”

The colt flinched at the mention of his name, but still held his ground. “And? What so good about that? Just cause you’re in the lowest class of the year with me, you think that’s worth bragging about? At least I’m not a ten year old blank flank, like you!”

The pegasus rolled her eyes at his attempt at a snipe back, “I’m eight, moron!”

This caused the opposite effect than the pegasus wanted, “HA! Your eight years old? Tell that to someone a bit more gullible. Everypony knows that Pegasuses are the shortest of the tribes; you gotta be eleven or twelve at least!”

She snorted back, “yeah? Guess what else everypony knows? Pegasi also have some of the meanest right hooks of all the tribes. We’re built for speed, so we’re nothing but muscle. You? You look like you’ve been sneaking into the kitchens every night for a year.”

That seemed to hit a nerve as the earth pony, Custard Cream, launched his left hoof aiming for his opponents face. The swing went wide over her head as the pegasus ducked down, before she used her own forehooves to push the earth pony away.

He rolled head over tail from the single strong shove before being stopped by the hooves of his fellow earth ponies.

When the hooves finished helping Custard Cream up he batted them away, before he faced his opponent once more. Now away from those piercing magenta eyes, he saw something strange in the chest fur of the pegasus. Between the blue strands was the sparkle of a red gem no larger than a single bit, buried and resting flush with her skin.

This is what clicked within the bullies mind; this is what told him who this pegasus was.

It must have been clear to everypony there when the bit dropped, “I see you actually do know who I am?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of you, Rainbow. You and that other freak with a gem in her chest; going against your tribes and claiming to be sisters.”

Rainbow’s eyes flashed and her mouth pulled back into a snarl. “We are sisters.”

Custard Cream smirked, he found her weakness. “Oh yeah, the stories are all coming back to me now. The two freaks found near some Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. The crazy idiots who won’t be separated. The two stupid losers who would rather be together in this pit than be adopted.”

“Don’t call us that.”

“But then it’s no wonder, I mean really who would want two blank flank freaks and all the freaky stuff that happens around you two. Especially that fake sister of yours.”

“Don’t you dare!”

His smirk grew predatory. “Yeah, I heard she’s a real piece of work, a walking bomb. Always–”

“THAT’S IT!” Rainbow spread her large wings out and attempted to strike out at the bullies. Unfortunately she underestimated how wet the grass was and slipped, face planting into the dirt.

The three earth ponies laughed as they ran off, back around the building and out of sight. The enraged filly was about to fly after them when something stayed her hoof. She felt the present of an invisible hoof resting on her shoulder; it was familiar, comforting and help her calm down.

Rainbow took a deep breath in before slowly letting out both the breath and along with it, her anger.

“Are you ok?” Rainbow turned to face the smaller filly; she was still on the ground but had retrieved her book and was currently looking over it in distress.

She flinched and backed away a little however when she realised that she now had the undivided attention of the pegasus. Rainbow saw this and couldn’t help but feel a little sad at the reaction. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you or anything.” She noticed the poor condition of the book. “Is it going to be ok?”

The purple filly looked again at her saviour and, while not completely reassured, felt like indeed she was not in any danger. “It’s not mine. I borrowed it from the library.” Her voice was soft and defeated, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’m going to get banned for this.”

“Hey now, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” She caught a glimps of a few pages sticking out in such a way to clearly state they’ve been badly ripped; her reassuring smile faltered a bit at the sight, though it reset itself.

“Hey, I bet my sister could help you out.”

“Sniff, really?” A spark of hope filtered through the unicorns eyes as she looked up at the taller pegasus. “Does she have any spare bits I can use to fix this?”

“Rainbow!” Before the pegasus could respond the voice of her sister came from behind her. Running towards the two was another unicorn, lavender furred with a mane the colour of night and a single pink stripe going through it.

It took no time for her to reach the pegasus and the two nuzzled each other in greeting. The unicorn was the same height as the pegasus and her build was very similar, only being slightly less athletically developed than her apparent sister. But apart from a deep purple gem embedded within her own chest, there was nothing else that said these two ponies were sisters.

“Hey Twilight, I noticed Custard Cream picking on this filly so I came to help. But the damage was done and her books been damaged. Think you can fix it?”

The filly unicorn on the floor was confused at seeing the closeness of the two; but her eyes were fixed on the other unicorn. Her horn was a lot longer than was normal, already reaching the length of an adults horn, despite being about half their height.

“I think so. I’ve managed to get a hang of the Mend spell Miss Kind Heart has been showing me.” Her violet eyes moved to the filly on the ground, “May I see your book, please?”

Those eyes were full of kindness and had an aura of wanting to help, it was all but impossible for the youngest filly to do anything else but show this Twilight unicorn the damaged book.

“Hmm, some water damage and a few ripped pages; though not completely torn out.” The kind smile turned into one of confidence, “Yeah I can fix this; if you could hold it still.” Her eyes narrowed and her tongue stuck out in concentration as she focused.

There was a moment of silence were nothing happened; and it stretched to almost uncomfortable levels, before Twilights horn glowed in a Raspberry coloured magical aura. The magic enveloped the book and with slow deliberation the hanging pages pulled themselves back into the book, before the darkened wet stains began to fade. It took a few minutes, but eventually the precious treasure was as good as new.

With the spell complete the bigger unicorn stumbled back a pace or two as she let out a tired sigh. The pegasus called Rainbow was by her side in a moment, a wing over her back and helping to support her sister.

“I knew you could help.”

“Heh, I’m glad I could. Rainbow, I felt you getting angry; is everything alright?”

“Just that bozo getting under my skin a little; nothing I couldn’t–”

“THANK YOU!” Their conversation was stopped by a small pale purple missile slamming into the two. “THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!”

“Heh, sounds like she enjoys books almost as much as you do.”

Twilight smirked at the pegasus, “Na it sounds like you when someone gives you a Daring Do novel.” She looked down at the younger filly “You’re very welcome. What’s your name anyway, I don’t think I’ve seem you around before?”

The smaller unicorn stepped back a pace or two and it was here that Twilight was able to get a full look at the filly. Her coat was a shade or two lighter in colour than her own, as well as the main colour in her mane. What separated the two, besides the height difference, was that instead of a pink stripe the other unicorn had a teal stripe in her mane. “My name is Starlight Glimmer. I’m seven years old and yeah, I’ve only recently arrived here since my last orphanage closed down.”

“Well my name is Twilight and this is my sister Rainbow. It’s nice to meet you Starlight Glimmer.”

“Umm…” Starlight started fidgeting with her forehooves, clearly fighting between being polite and asking a question.

“Ha, she’s like you when wanting to know something and can’t bring herself to ask.” Rainbow said as she lightly shouldered the standing unicorn. “Well go ahead, lets here the questions you’ve got. Let’s see if there are any we’ve not heard before.”

Twilight wilted slightly at Rainbows brashness, but couldn’t bring herself to disagree.

Starlight still looked a little nervous about asking, but the curiosity clearly got the better of her. “Are you two really eight years old?”

The two blinked in unison before Rainbow let out a small snigger, “not surprising. But wasn’t the first question I was expecting.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Yeah we’re both eight. According to nurse Kind Heart, when we were brought here she gave us a full check-up, including a spell to determine our age since we were too young to know.”

Starlight’s eyes were wide, “But you’re both so much bigger than me and I’m seven.”

At this the two shrugged their shoulders. “Dunno. We’ve always been big for our age.” Rainbow chimed in.

“Miss Kind Heart is too busy to look deeply into it, since she’s the only nurse here. We’re healthy and that’s all that matters to the rest of the caretakers.”

Starlight frowned in thought before her eyes landed on the other odd thing about the two. “Do you think it has anything to do with those gems in your chests?”

“Dunno again. We’ve always had these here, as long as we can remember. They can’t remove them and no spell Kind Heart has tried can even see them.”

The three fillies talked back and forth in the shade of the trees before the inevitable clang of a bell caused them to pause.

“Well, that’s play time over with for now; we better get inside.” Starlight said as she started to walk towards the corner.

“Hey Starlight, Uhh...” Rainbow hesitated and looked her sister, who nodded encouragingly. “Would you like to be friends?”

Starlight looked back at the two. “I dunno. I mean you both seem really nice; but won’t we get in trouble if we, yunno.”

Rainbow’s ears flattened as she heard the uncertainty in the fillies voice. “Its ok if you don’t wanna be friends with me. But can you at least be friends with Twilight?”

The pain was as clear as day to the youngest filly. The longing and sacrifice was just as obvious. It sparked something within young Starlight, an air of defiance to societies norms.

“Yes, I would like to be both of your friends.” The smile that radiated from Twilight was bright and the complete opposite to Rainbow’s look of shock and gobsmack.

“See Rainbow, sometimes you just gotta trust ponies. But anyway, we really better get inside; we’re already going to be late.”

The three friends ran off, the two larger ones keeping the pace set with their newest friend. The main doors were within reach and Rainbow glanced back to make sure Starlight was still there, when she noticed something that caused her to freeze in place.

“NO FAIR!”

Twilight and Starlight both skidded to a stop and watched with confusion as Rainbow pointed out what was wrong. “Starlight’s a year younger than us, but she’s got her Cutie Mark! Twi, how come we still don’t have ours?!”

Twilights head whipped around and her eyes froze at the sight of her new friends flank. Sure enough the image of a single purple star with a wavy teal trail escaping out of the top greeted her vision. Disbelief was quickly replaced by shock, before finally settling on a frown. One that was identical to the one found on the pegasi’s face.

Starlight giggled at her new friends antics, before dashing off ahead of them; not wanting to receive a detention. She giggled again as she caught joint grumblings on the wind as the slackers quickly caught up. For as large and intimidating as the two first appeared, they really were just a couple of fillies just like her.

“So how did you get your Cutie Mark, Starlight?”

It was after dinner time and the three new friends were working together as a part of the clean up crew; they were too young to be trusted cleaning dishes, but they were helping clean the tables of any stains from the meals of the day.

Starlight paused in her attempts to remove a particularly stubborn yellow stain to look over to her new friend Rainbow; her face a little hesitant. “My Cutie Mark? W-well it wasn’t quite as amazing as most everypony else’s stories.”

“Why? Was it something boring, or simple?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to manipulate a brush around the table Starlight was cleaning.

Starlight shook her head, “no not boring; almost the opposite actually.” While she said those words, her tone of voice told the two other fillies that it was also a bit of a sad story as well. “You see at my last orphanage, before it was closed down, I had a friend who got his Cutie Mark really early by reading books on magic theory. I was happy for him, and jealous, but then he started helping me try and find my Cutie Mark as well.” A small sad smile worked its way into Starlight’s face as she fell into memories from not too long ago. Before we got very far though, he managed to get adopted thanks to having his Cutie Mark at such a young age. So I tried even harder, reading all the time since we had so much in common; but nothing was working.”

Two warm bodies appeared on either side of her as she continued to stare at the recently cleaned tiles. “If it’s too sad, you don’t have to tell us.” Twilight’s soft voice said by her shoulder; but Starlight shook her head.

“I’m almost done, and this parts a bit cooler. So anyway I was in the park trying really really hard to learn magic when I blew up.” That was not what the two ponies beside her were expecting to hear.

“Blew up? But you’re here talking to us right now and I can’t see anything wrong with you at all.”

“My magic blew up, Rainbow; the ponies that helped me said it was a magic surge.” She shuddered, “I can still feel the surge of power, the taste of magic; it was brilliant, very scary but brilliant.

“Thankfully the guard and medics got to me quickly and saved me; and it was when I was being checked over that I saw I had my Cutie Mark. Giggle, I think I almost gave the medic looking after me a heart attack, I squealed so loud in surprise!” That got a laugh from her two friends beside her, and it help Starlight get past her earlier melancholy. “So yeah, that’s my Cutie Mark story.”

“That was cool; I just wish blowing up worked for us as well.” whatever Starlight was expecting to hear from her friend Rainbow, talking about blowing up was not what she was expecting.

“What do you mean blowing up isn’t working?”

Twilight gave Rainbow a sharp glare, causing Rainbow to flinch before returning it with apologetic eyes. Starlight noticed the byplay and was about to apologise, but Twilight shook her head, slowly. “You told us your story; I think its fair we tell you something about us.

“You see, its not just our size that’s weird about us; we’re also strong magically. Nurse Kind Heart thinks its thanks to our powerful magic cores that’s making us grow so big; but, when we get very upset or really excited we also blow up.”

“Yeah,” came Rainbow’s sombre agreement. “I don’t get it too bad, cause I’m a pegasus; I just have to not get too worked up with my emotions. But Twi here, she’s a unicorn like you; I bet you can imagine how often she’s missed judged her output of magic, or it spikes, and causes a problem.” Starlight shivered at the thought; while she hadn’t mentioned it in her tale, the area of the park she lost control in had clear scorch marks from where her magic arced. The epicentre even had a dip in it where grass and dirt used to be.

“Director Race Control has been very good to us; getting us help with controlling our emotions, and getting extra magic lessons for Twilight. But sometimes no matter how much we try, we slip up; but when that does happen we’ve been taught just what to do and we get to the kiln as fast as possible.”

“The kiln?” this was a part of the building Starfire had no recollection of; and she had just had a tour of the place a day or two ago.

It was Twilight who took up their talk; her voice was more upbeat, but the ghost of shame and worry could still heard if you listened carefully. “The RC Orphanage used to be an old pottery factory; it was abandoned for some time before Director Race Control changed it into an orphanage. Its why the north wing is off limits as well as some rooms here and there; they’re not being used and so are blocked off.

“Me and Rainbow share a room not far away from the closed off north wing, away from everypony else who sleep down in the south wing; because that’s where the big industrial kiln is. Like everypony else we’re not allowed to go there whenever we want; but whenever we feel ourselves beginning to, blow up, we head for the kiln.”

Starlight’s eyes widened with realisation and before Twilight could go on to tell her why, Starlight filled in the gap herself. “Oh I get it. A kiln is like a giant insulated oven; so you two go in there just before you lose control and once you’re in there you can calm down without causing too much damage.”

Twilight beamed, “exactly right!”

Rainbow, however, let out a moan, “Aww man, another egghead! How is it I get surrounded by ponies who’ll be happy to spend all day in the library!”

Twilight burst out laughing; the boulder of tension on her shoulders evaporating with each gulp of air. Starlight, however, was a little put off at the comment; until she noticed that Rainbow was giggling along with her sister. What little annoyance Starlight had at the comment disappeared when she too started to join in with the laughter.

Her new friends were certainly weird, and perhaps even a little dangerous to be around if their story is true. But then she found herself smiling more today than she had done since Sunburst got adopted.

It was good to have friends again.