Since I was not welcome at the animal sanctuary because I made Discord nervous, I was left to wander Ponyville by myself. How wise it was to let a twelve-year-old wander around an unfamiliar town by themselves was highly questionable, but this was Equestria, and Equestrians had different ideas about these things.

I wanted answers, and there was a giant crystal tree that had the princess who knew more about magic and strange artifacts than anyone else.

It took a little while to get there, but it wasn’t that difficult, considering anyone could see it from anywhere in town. It made it easy to tell where I was in town no matter how I wandered about. I was told Skytree was like that, just look at the tree and you’d know where in town you were.

There were ponies taking pictures outside the castle. They were using old-style cameras, really old ones with flashes that weren’t phones, like the ones that would have been used back on Earth nearly a hundred years ago. Equestria was weird when it came to technology. They had access to Earth technology, easy access, especially since companies on Earth were eager to expand to Equestria, and Equestria had abundant thaumically active materials that sold for extremely high prices on Earth, even in small quantities. I had seen on the map that Ponyville had a gem mine. That one little gem mine was probably worth all the oil fields in the Middle East combined because those were thaumically active gems. Ponyville’s residents could be living like kings and queens, but trade with Earth was limited, especially when it came to Equestria’s rich resources. Of course, I was only going by what Hannah had told me. Hannah cared much more about that kind of stuff than I did. Still, if she was right, it was kinda strange they didn’t sell more to Earth and buy more advanced technology with the proceeds.

I walked up to the doors, and not knowing what else to do, I knocked. The tourists seemed shocked. Did I just do something wrong?

The door cracked open and a pink earth pony mare with a purple mane stuck her head out.

“Princess Twilight has no scheduled appointments for today. State your business,” the mare said gruffly.

“I was hoping to ask the princess for help regarding a magical artifact, or maybe get access to her library to research if she wasn’t available,” I replied.

She frowned. “Name?”

“Turnip Jones,” I answered.

“Name of the artifact?” she asked.

“I don’t know what it is called,” I answered.

“Do you have it with you?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Brief description of the artifact’s appearance and known abilities?” the mare continued.

“Are you able to help me?”

“I’m noting all information to present to the princess and she will decide. I repeat, a brief description of the artifact’s appearance and known abilities?”

I sat down and made some gestures with my forehooves. “Um, a stone, pearly white, about this big, and it is shaped like a bent pyramid. It glows when I touch it but not when others touch it. I don’t know exactly what it does, but someone mentioned it will enhance my abilities and learn my nature.”

“Are you researching out of academic curiosity or do you have a pressing concern regarding the artifact?” the mare asked.

“Um, both?” I answered.

“What is the pressing concern?”

“I’m concerned it might be dangerous, and I was told that others may want to steal it, but wasn’t told why. Oh, and Discord is suddenly afraid of me, but I can’t confirm it is because of this stone, but it is the only unique thing I can think of that I have a connection to that might make him afraid.”

The mare raised an eyebrow at me. “Discord is afraid of you?”

I nodded. “He said I had something connected to me that gave him the shivers and made him nervous, but he didn’t elaborate. He sent me away and told me to stay far away from him.”

“Well, that’s a new one,” the mare replied. “Alright, wait here while I go find out if the princess will meet with you.”

“Oh…you don’t have a messenger or something for that?” I asked, a little surprised.

“The princess keeps a very small staff. It is me, the pony who cleans, and the royal book putter-upper,” the mare answered.

“Don’t you mean librarian?”

She shook her head. “No, I mean book putter-upper. The princess has a habit of leaving books scattered everywhere and she needs somepony to put her books away. Likewise, I’m the pony who interviews ponies at the door rather than a guard because the princess doesn’t like the idea of having a guard.”

That would explain the lack of uniform. I wondered if she called the maid a maid or just the pony who cleans.

The not-a-guard-but-very-much-a-guard left and I waited. A few of the tourists started taking pictures of me. Perhaps Princess Twilight didn't get that many petitioners and me being here was a rare occurrence. That didn’t bode well. That meant she must only deal with urgent matters, and I would hardly call my issue urgent.

As I was bracing myself for disappointment, the door reopened, fully this time.

“The princess has agreed to see you,” the not-guard announced.

The tourists took more pictures of me, and all the flashes were slightly blinding. The flashes were enough to make me hurry inside. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust after the camera assault, but when they did I was left questioning them. We were in a large room that was larger than the base of the tree. Furthermore, it had doors that didn’t line up with any exit outside, which indicated there was even more to this already impossible floor. Oh, and there were windows, because of course there were windows when there were no windows visible outside.

“The Earthlings call the castle the Tardis Tree, and talk about somepony called Doctor Who, and things called police boxes, though I don’t understand the meaning of any of that,” the not-guard explained, noticing my shock. “You have an Earthling name, do you understand it?”

I shook my head. “Might be an old-timey reference. I don’t know what that means.”

“Pity,” the not-guard said, sounding legitimately disappointed. “Oh, well, follow along. The princess is in the fifth library.”

“How many libraries are there?” I asked.

“Twenty,” the mare answered, and started walking towards a door. “Don’t worry, library number five is close by.”

We went through one of the side doors and a short distance down what looked to be a ling hall there was an open door. Within, Princess Twilight was seated at a table with a massive stack of books, reading one of them.

The princess looked up as he entered. “Hello there! Turnip Jones, was it? Jones sounds like it is a name from Earth. Is that where you are from, or are you from New Eden?”

“I’m from Earth. I’m the first earth pony attending Celestia’s school,” I answered.

“Oh! Applebloom had mentioned to me she had an earth pony student. I am pleased to meet you!” Twilight said cheerfully. Her smile then slipped. “It seems you are also the foal that had one of the truestones react to him. I wasn’t given the details about who it was, but it must have been you by the description that you gave my attendant.”

I finally had a name for the stone, a truestone. The fact that the princess knew about the incident and what they were called, and was willing to tell me at least that much was enough to get me excited.

“I never intended to touch the stone or go looking for it. I-” I started, but Princess Twilight held up a hoof to silence me.

“I understand. Headmaster made an error in allowing you all to touch the truestones, one he has already apologized for to me and the other princesses,” Princess Twilight said. “What’s done is done, and can’t be undone. We just have to accept it happened and adjust to it.”

“What is a truestone? And why is Discord afraid of me?” I asked.

“I honestly don’t know why Discord is afraid of you. Although, he hasn’t actually had any contact with Truestone owners that I have observed. Truestones could be considered a force of absolute order, or at least, a fragment of absolute order. If so, that might make anything focused on chaos uneasy,” Princess Twilight replied, although most of that seemed to be her speculating to herself. “As for what a truestone is…that requires some explanation. Do you understand how thaumically active materials work?”

I shook my head. “I only know you can do magic with them or turn them into artifacts.”

“That’s true, if a bit simplistic,” Princess Twilight agreed. “Thaumically active materials have trace amounts of thaumic matter, that’s concentrated thaumic energy. By trace, I am talking about particles, not even the size of atoms. We as magical creatures also have these particles in us. They are what allow us to utilize magic.”

“Not even the size of atoms?” I asked in confusion.

She nodded. “Not even the size of atoms. Now, a truestone is different. The entire thing is concentrated thaumic energy, one big piece of it. It is one of those particles of a colossal size and scale. It radiates thaumic energy on a large scale as well. That trunk you found them in was no ordinary trunk. It was a device that hid that thaumic radiation. Due to the level of thaumic energy they radiate, they can enable the casting of very massive spells.”

“Which is why people would want them,” I concluded.

She nodded again. “They are very dangerous if the wrong person obtains them. Fortunately, only their owners can utilize the Truestone’s full strength, but anyone can utilize some of the strength of a Truestone, even if not the owner, and even at diminished power, they are still extremely powerful. This gets further complicated if a truestone ends up finding its owner and building the bond. It can cause the truestone to be…how should I put this…it can cause the truestone to be disagreeable with anyone who tries to use it in a way the owner wouldn’t approve of, actively resisting use or refusing to work. They aren’t alive in any traditional sense, nor do they communicate, breathe, eat, or reproduce, but the ones that find their owners have personalities, and their personalities reflect what they learn over time from their owners.”

“And why did this stone decide I was its owner?” I asked, surprised that we were talking about these stones like they were able to make decisions…maybe they could.

“It didn’t decide, it came into existence to be your truestone. In theory, everyone has a Truestone, waiting to find its owner. It's just that almost none of them will ever be united with their truestone. The truestones come from someplace VERY far away, and have to be found and brought here. They have no method of traveling on their own. There’s no easy way to reach where they come from, and acquiring those ones you saw was a major undertaking that isn’t likely to be repeated anytime soon. In terms of probability, the majority of those ones we have will still never find their owners.”

“Headmaster did say something about that,” I replied. “But mine found me, and one found him. So something seems weird about all of you saying they can’t find their owners.”

The princess’s ears sagged. “You’re right. It does defy the odds, and I have no idea how it is being done. It isn’t just you and Headmaster, there are others that were acquired that found their way to their owners, two of them on the very expedition to get them! There’s an intelligence at work, and we don’t understand it or its intentions. Given what has already happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if every single truestone we obtained ends up finding its owner at some point, even though that should be statistically impossible.”

“And you don’t want them to find their owners? What’s wrong with them finding their owners?” I asked.

“Finding their owners can lead to unlocking their full potential, and that’s dangerous,” Princess Twilight said nervously. “The longer a truestone is with its owner, the more its power is unlocked to be utilized by the owner. If the wrong type of person is the owner, they can do horrible things on a massive scale with their truestone. Also, someone can force a more benevolent owner to do things for them. This is why you aren’t to ever let anyone know you have bonded with a truestone. There are people out there who would not hesitate to try to capture or coerce you into doing their bidding. The truestones are dangerous enough if the wrong people get them while still not finding owners, they are far more dangerous if they have an owner and that owner is doing the bidding of someone vile or is someone vile.”

“That explained what Luna said to me,” I replied. “She wants a good owner for the truestone, someone who wouldn’t use that power for selfish purposes. It would also make the truestone resistant to anyone else trying to use it for the wrong purposes because it would refuse to do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Princess Twilight smiled. “That’s very perceptive of you. That’s good, because that means your truestone will become perceptive as well, and more aware of someone trying to misuse it.” Her smile slipped again. “Still, sorry for saying this, but you’re very young and your personality and beliefs haven’t fully solidified. I, like her, believe it’s best to keep you separated from your truestone until you’ve grown up a bit more. You’re also far more vulnerable than an adult, and we don’t want anyone foalnapping you and trying to force you to do things for them. You need to focus on friendship, being a good pony, and maybe pay a little extra attention in any class that might help keep you safe from harm, all while keeping information about the truestone to yourself. Can you do this for me?”

“Where do they come from? Can’t the bad guys just go get more of them from wherever you got them?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, when I said very far away, I meant it. They’re from your universe, but not your planet, and the planet they’re from is extremely far away, even by outer space standards. It took a spaceship with an alicorn powering it to reach it and return. They don’t have the kind of tech that went into making that ship and they don’t have that kind of power to get it across multiple galaxies. I doubt we will be making any future expeditions since it’s a massive undertaking and the planet, though uninhabited, has perils that are threats to even alicorns.”

What?

“How did you even know about this place, or the stones, or how to make the ship, or how to get there?” I rattled off in rapid succession. None of these details made sense.

She smiled. “We had an informant and guide who isn’t likely to be friendly to anyone trying to get the truestones for malicious purposes. As for why we got them, that’s something I’m afraid I’ll have to keep the full details from you for now. All I can say is there is something big coming in a few years, and we need every resource we have available to deal with it. The Elements of Harmony, alicorn magic, and all of Earth’s technology are not going to be enough on their own for this threat. Don’t worry, we have a plan, and the truestones are a small but important part of that plan. This is a colossal undertaking and will require humans and ponies working together with all their talents and ingenuity to succeed. You may be called upon to help when the time comes, as may many of your friends, and the details will be given to you then. You should hopefully be grown when that happens…if our calculations are right. If they’re wrong…well…let’s hope they aren’t.”

“And I suppose I’m supposed to keep that to myself too, even though my friends may be called to help as well and putting themselves in danger,” I said, more than a little angry.

She gave me a sad look. “Turnip, everyone is in danger. If we fail, that’s it, no more Earth, no more Equestria. Everyone’s life is at risk. What is coming is a threat on a level that neither Earth or Equestria has ever faced, and I have faced a lot of potentially world-ending threats. I know how serious this is. Whether you and your friends help or not, failure means the end for everyone. There will be no one hero if we win, it will be a collective effort, but that still requires all our best and brightest doing their part. We have a better chance of success the more we have working people to save us. Any single person’s participation could mean the difference between victory or defeat.”

I stepped backward. “And they might come for me if they know I have a truestone connected to me?”

“No,” she answered. “What’s coming doesn’t care about you or your truestone. People that might want to hurt or control you are motivated by greed, ambition, or desire for power. I call those types the villains of the year. They’re definitely bad guys, and a threat to be taken seriously, but they are ultimately in as much danger as everyone else. What’s coming is motivated by unwavering hatred. It doesn’t particularly care about you, me, the book-putter-upper, or anyone else; we are all equal targets, and equally just ants to be squashed. Me and my friends can’t overcome this foe on our own. You have to keep this secret, we can’t let fear of what is coming overwhelm us. The more people know, the more chance panic can spread, and if there’s too much panic, it can hinder our efforts to stop this. Please, promise me you’ll keep this private, at least for now.”

My ears sagged. “Why are you telling me then?”

“Because I am trusting you, and unlike your friends, you can’t seem to leave well enough alone,” she answered. “Also, unlike your friends, you have a truestone connected to you, and that is a valuable resource we need. I’m unsure if your friends will be called upon to help or not, although I suspect they will, but you definitely will be. Knowing that, I feel you are owed at least some limited explanation. You went seeking answers, so you’re getting them, and the burden that comes with knowing. Let your friends live a little longer without that burden and just be happy foals learning their lessons in school. The harsh reality of what is coming may upset that innocence all too soon. Don’t worry, they won’t be unprepared. The change in administration that occured at your school this year was no accident.”

I could see it. They placed a truestone owner in charge of the school and a spymaster who was very picky about who to admit as the admissions counselor. Luster Dawn was a student of Princess Twilight’s who had fought major villains in the past. They gave us the CMC founders to help us foster close friendships. They gave us someone with direct ties to Princess Celestia’s government in Raven Inkwell. Neighsay kept the illusion that everything was school as usual since he’d been involved with education administration for years, but they didn’t put him in an administrative role. Baxter Stockman had lots of knowledge about Earth tech which could be important if human tech was also a part of this. Psychic Calm was the one who had possessed the truestones and was one of Luna’s adopted descendents. As for Glitter Drops…I didn’t really know much about her, but I’m sure she contributed to the overall goal as well. Everything helped prepare me and my classmates for the coming conflict without being overt about it.

Looking down, I answered. “Alright. I’ll keep it to myself, for now.”

“Be the best friend you can be. Take time to appreciate your friends and know that we are fighting for everyone, including them. I have work to get back to. My aid will show you out. It was nice meeting you, Turnip.”

As I was leaving, I had continued to think about how everything was being carefully planned, and wondered why had I, an earth pony from Kansas, been included as part of that plan long before they realized I was going to be the owner of one of those truestones? I could find reasons for each of my classmates being there, but I made no sense.

The only answer that was plausible was someone had known one of the truestones was mine and had put me in a place to come in contact with it. Newman said that someone had said I might be important. Who could have known, and if even the princesses had no way of knowing who owned what truestone, how had this person known? Newman was unlikely to reveal her source, so I saw no way of finding out.

I’d keep the secrets I was entrusted with, but I was going to be watching the faculty closely with a new perspective on what was really going on.

Author's Note

Another week having worked 60 hours. I am very sore and tired.