Sunset Over Equestria

by Vict0r1994

Chapters

Chapter I: Prologue
Chapter II: The Canterlot Letter
Chapter III: Aristocratic Power Play
Chapter IV: Black Clouds Over Equestria
Chapter V: The Invisible Hoof
Chapter VI: The Codex Tenebrarum
Chapter VII: In Vino Veritas
Chapter VIII: "The Equestrian Dream"
Chapter IX: Proletarian Chores

Chapter I: Prologue

Author's note: This is my first Fanfiction story, so I would appreciate any reviews and grammar corrections if necessary, as English is not my native language. I hope you like it, and I'm looking forward to your feedback! Thank you for reading.

It was a regular summer evening in Ponyville. Discord had been stopped long ago and the Changeling forces were defeated in the battle of Canterlot and scattered afterwards as a result of Shining Armor's protection spell, so ponies could now finally mind their own business and enjoy their lives without worrying about dangerous foes.

The wind was blowing slowly through the green branches of the trees, as the serene songs of the birds accompanied it in a warm and peaceful summer symphony. Even the Ever Free forest stood now calm and less creepier than usual, being illuminated by the warm rays of a setting sun. All the artisans and workers in the city were doing their job happily, whether they were creating stylish dresses, bucking apples until sundown, collecting honey from bees while singing with the birds, lending books to other ponies, baking and selling delicious cupcakes or making sure the sky is clear and no raining clouds would settle over the colorful industrious town. Even the hoofsteps of the ponies echoed through the peaceful atmosphere in Ponyville, being interrupted only by the chattering of the residents from time to time.

Nopony seemed to predict what terrible danger lied ahead of them. Nopony knew that a new threat to the happy lives of the ponies everywhere was rising in this very moment in the far away lands of Canterlot, a threat from which not even the wielders of the elements of harmony could save them from – a threat which was about to tear apart all of the Equestria they knew and loved, a threat which was not a mythical creature or a monster, but a pony, a pony who was about to write the darkest pages of history ever seen by pony eyes.

They were all just simple pawns, unaware of the dark political games at the Imperial Palace in Canterlot, or at least most of them were as it was about to turn out. The monotonic atmosphere was suddenly broken as the door of the library was shut open and an apparently said and alerted baby dragon sprinted through the streets. His quick steps echoed in the beautiful sleepy town as he ran faster and faster, with an expression of fear and disbelief on his face.

The Baby Dragon bursted open the door of Carousel Boutique, but before he could even gather up the energy to speak, the young mare inside greeted him "Why, hello there Spike! It's quite peculiar you showed up in the precise moment when I needed you, but now that my Spikey-Wikey is here, I am going to ask your opinion on this fabulous dress…" She couldn't finish the sentence, as the Baby Dragon stopped panting, took a deep breath, and, with a blank expression on his face, similar to the one of a pony who saw Night Mare moon for the first time, starred right into her eyes, and said the words anypony in Equestria expected to hear the least "Rarity, I don't have time! It's an emergency! Princess Celestia has… died."

Upon breaking the news to her, he barely could keep himself from crying as he saw the shocked look on the face of his beloved friend for whose happiness he was ready to do anything, even to give his precious fire ruby only a few months ago. As he noticed Rarity was speechless, he proceeded to saying with pain in each word "We just received a letter from Canterlot, and…" he struggled not to sob, but a few tears slipped from his crystalline eyes "and Twilight told me to get everypony at the library, so that… so that we could read the letter to all of you! What's even worse is that they suspect…" he stopped as he could not speak the next word without taking another deep breath "murder!".

Rarity could not believe the words she had heard from the baby dragon, and, with a horrified expression, told him "This is impossible! Who would do such a horrible thing as murdering the princess?". Spike shrugged in an innocent manner, and added swiftly "We should go get the other girls as well! You'll… hear the details when we gather at the library."

The two ran to the Sugarcube Corner, then took Pinkie Pie with them and visited Sweet Apple Acres, and so on until all their friends joined the group and ran towards the library. Fluttershy was the last to be informed, and cried out of both fear for such a horrible deed and sadness all the way to their destination. The sky darkened as the Sun set under the horizon, ending both a day, and an era in Equestrian history, a glorious era of light and friendship which lasted more than a millennium, while a dark sky of uncertainty and danger enveloped the lands in its unholy glow.

Chapter II: The Canterlot Letter

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike all sat in a circle with looks of disbelief, horror, sadness, shock and even fear on their faces. Nobody dared to break the silence at first, as the only words spoken since they entered the building were Twilight's "Come in!" greetings, and then they all waited for her to bring the letter and an explanation.

Twilight brought the letter with her magic from a higher shelf in her library, but before she could speak a word, an orange pony let out a big sigh and broke the silence "Ah just can't believe it! I mean, who the hay would wanna' kill 'Lestia?"

"And who COULD do it? I'm still going to kick its sorry ass and throw this… monster in the jail where it belongs, but it mustn't be a normal pony to beat the princess! In fact, I don't even think it was a pony!" yelled Rainbow Dash with anger.

"Nonsense, darling! How would a monster penetrate the defenses of Canterlot? As a matter of fact, I believe it must've been some sort of accident! I refuse to believe that such…" Rarity let out a sigh of disappointment, and then continued angrily "lowly evil creatures actually exist in Equestria!".

Even Pinkie Pie was deprived of her usual cheery and bouncy attitude, and asked them with fear in her voice, "Does this mean it will be night FOREVER? Like, forever ever ever ever ever ever ever? How will we have happy cheerful parties if we can't keep track of the days for long, and if there will be no warm sunrays?" She then bursted into tears, and Applejack asked, while conforting her "And how the hay am Ah 'pposed to buck apples if trees'll 'ave no light for growin'?".

Fluttershy was already scared stiff, but she winced when hearing Applejack's enquiry, and asked in a very shy and pained voice with tears in her eyes "Does this mean the plants will die, and the cute little animals in Equestria will all starve, just like everypony else?"

Twilight was simply overwhelmed by the huge amount of questions being directed towards her, and in an attempt to calm everypony, she told her friends briefly "Please stop! All of you! As much as this pains and concerns us, we have to try to be reasonable about this, so please just… just listen to me." She sighed, and then continued with the so-desired answers "First of all, they suspect she could've been murdered because she was found dead in her personal bedroom with an empty broken glass near her hoof and basically no physical injuries, which eliminates the option of an accident! Second, the castle was very well defended, so only somepony from the inside could have done it", she then let out a sorrowful sigh "or at least that's what the letter says." She got her previous analytic tone again, and then she proceeded to saying "And third, there will be no eternal night, as princess Luna knows as well how to bring about the night and the day."

Twilight stopped talking a little bit after answering the questions of her friends, and then opened the scroll of the letter, saying "Now, there are some strange facts about this letter, and I'm going to be sure to ask Shining Armor and Luna about them as soon as we arrive in Canterlot, but until then you should listen closely." After ending the sentence, the magenta mare unfolded the scroll and started reading:

"Esteemed Mrs. Twilight Sparkle,

It is with great pain in my heart that I have to announce you that my beloved cousin and your tutor, Princess Celestia herself, has passed away. She has been found deceased in the imperial bedroom of the Canterlot palace this morning, with an empty broken glass near one of her fore hoofs and no injuries whatsoever. This would indicate the even more painful possibility of her being poisoned by somepony inside the palace, and the authorities will know whether this is true or false immediately after the few drops of wine on the floor will be analyzed in a chemical laboratory. Meanwhile, your brother is doing a huge investigation by interrogating everypony who was in the palace last night, and princess Luna is busy bringing forward the night and the day and practically devastated by the death of her sister, so the burden of informing you and your friends about this tragic event has fallen on my shoulders, her less known cousin, Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire.

Let me end by saying that you, the wielders of the elements of harmony, are all invited to the funeral of our beloved princess tomorrow, and are welcome to stay at the palace until the crowning ceremony of the new ruler at the end of this week.

With great respect, Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire."

As soon as Twilight ended, the other mares all asked in a chorus who is this duke they never heard about, and she didn't even have enough time to answer until Applejack asked her one more thing "And why did 'e 'nvite us to the crownin' of a new ruler, and not a new princess? Doesm't 'e 'xpect Luna to be crown' the new leader?"

Twilight pondered the question a little bit, and realized she didn't think about this earlier, but was interrupted from answering by a suspicious Pinkie Pie, "Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this Goldengem, and Pinkie sense NEVER lies!".

Twilight was still thinking, but, looking to all of her friends, she added "Girls, let's not jump to conclusions like that! We can't assume out of the blue that this so-called Goldengem is a bad person, but there are a few strange things about this letter. First of all, it is strange that a pony we never met has taken the time to tell us the bad news instead of Luna or Shining Armor. Second, how comes he is Celestia's cousin, and none of us ever heard about him? This letter has been sent directly from Canterlot, but what if this Goldengem doesn't actually exist and it is all a lie and some kind of ambush for us. After all, think about it! The writer, whether his real name is Goldengem or not, knew that we are the wielders of the elements and might want to get us out of the way, so we will have to check some books about the Canterlot royal family. Third,"

Before she could talk about the last peculiar aspect of the letter, Rarity interrupted her. "Actually, Twilight, Duke Goldengem is a real pony. I once designed a dress for his wife, but good gracious, I had never known of their royal origins! I remember that their family holds a big estate in Eqvancashire, a small province to the Northwest of Canterlot."

"Hmm. Well, that's going to help us, but we still don't know if the writer isn't an impostor, so we'll have to contact Shining Armor and see if the rumors are true. Spike,"

The baby dragon brought a parchment immediately and replied to her shortly "I'm on it, Twi. What should I write to Shining Armor?"

While Twilight was dictating Spike the content of the letter, Fluttershy sighed sorrowfully and told Rainbowdash quietly "I just hope this writer is an impostor and it is all a lie… I can't believe something like that could have happened to our dear princess, and I'm scared for all her little innocent animals as well, like that Phoenix bird she brought in Ponyville!".

Rainbow Dash tried her best for comforting her, but it wasn't really the job she was cut out for, as she told Fluttershy "Don't worry! If this is real, we will find the killer and give him the hell he deserves! We won't let him harm anypony from now on!"

As soon as Spike sent the letter, Twilight continued her speech "And third, well, the third aspect is Applejack's observation. Why crowning a new ruler and not a new princess? Maybe he has hopes for the throne as well."

"Well, Ah don't 'now 'bout that, Twi. If your brother tells 'ya that all's tru', we should go to the funeral and talk to 'im tomorrow. We'll see what 'appens in Canterlot and we'll make'n impression 'bout this 'pposed murder and this Goldengem there!" said Applejack.

"Well, we can't possibly know what he meant by that, and we might've been just been a little paranoid with this tragedy and all."

Spike agreed immediately "You tell me. This was waaay too much for all of us during one single night!"

The dragon seemed sleepy, but his eyes shut open when he heard Rainbow Dash saying "Twilight, are you and Spike… going to… live again in Canterlot now that Celestia isn't here? That really wouldn't be cool!" She didn't show her emotions, but the other five mares could see how the element of loyalty was the most affected by the possible breakup of their group.

Twilight replied in a somehow flabbergasted manner "I hope that will never happen… All my friends are here."

Hope? HOPE? That was certainly not enough, especially for a very scared little dragon who made friends for the first time in Ponyville and, at least the way he sees it, found the love of his life! Twilight would miss this place, but Spike's heart was buried deep into this town, in a heart-shaped fire Ruby carried by his loved one. He starred dreamingly at Rarity, beginning to think that he could never get the chance to see her again or to really confess his feelings. He was ready to fight every duke or princess in the world to stay here, even risk becoming a rampaging dragon for it! He was not going to be some joke of the Canterlot snobs again! This was all a nightmare! His world couldn't be ruined so quickly! Celestia's death, and now his departure from Ponyville? This couldn't be real!

"Spike?" Did he just hear Rarity's voice calling? Maybe this was all just a bad dream after all and he could wake up! He slapped himself trying to check as he heard the blurry voice again "Spike darling, what are you doing? Are you okay? Twilight tried to talk to you but you didn't answer!" He came back to his senses to see his concerned friends around him. It wasn't a dream. He was hoping for this outcome and he was lost in his thoughts, but it wasn't.

Twilight giggled for a second at the sight of the sleepy confuse dragon, and told everypony "Let's just call it a day and get some rest! Spike won't resist any longer, and tomorrow is going to be a very hard and busy day if this is true!" With this last sentence, all of them went to sleep, waiting for the last beam of light which could save them from drowning in an ocean of darkness – Shining Armor's answer.

Chapter III: Aristocratic Power Play

Author's Note: Some of you might wonder why cameras are huge in this story, or why there is no TV/Radio like in other fanfics. The answer is, because I find the MLP: FiM universe to be historically set somewhere between the late Victorian Era, (1880-1890) and WW1 (1914-1918), as there are no cars, land transportation is based on steam trains and carriages and the Canterlot clothing resembles 19th century fashion, but there are still cameras, which point to a more recent timeframe than the 1880's!

Shining Armor didn't provide the salvation the six mares and the dragon hoped for, and they were already on their way to Canterlot. They were still sad about what happened and scared about what could happen, so the voyage was mostly pleasant and quiet, as the beautiful equestrian landscapes they could see around the railway helped them relax and forget about their problems.

Pinkie Pie intervened from time to time attempting to cheer up the rest of the group, with remarks such as "Don't worry Fluttershy! Now you'll get to see your animal friends once again, and maybe you could adopt Philomena and we would all have not only birthday parties, but also rebirth parties!", "Aren't you excited about seeing your BBBFF again, Twilight?", "Isn't it exciting to meet another member of the royal family, Rarity?", "I bet that those Canterlot party ponies will simply love our cheering up Apple pies Jackie!" or "Come on Dashie, if this duke is really a bad pony, it'll be duper-duper-cool to play him some of our classic pranks!". She managed to get some smiles from her friends, but nothing more. Deep inside, even she was still horrified by what had happened only yesterday.

Twilight was endlessly thinking about the murder and making up her mind on what to ask or propose to Shining Armor in the little time they would get together. Spike looked through the window and listened patiently to the sound of the wheels of the train on the tracks in order to forget about his fears, but he kept peeking on Rarity once in a while. He had a powerful urge to talk to her about his feelings before it would've been too late, but the comforting sound of the wheels on the track and the beautiful forests, along with his fear that she would most probably refuse to accompany him in Canterlot because of her friends and business, thus breaking his heart, kept him from doing so.

Raibow Dash could not think about anything else other than the treacherous pony who killed the princess, and how she would imprison even a member of the Wonderbolts with no resentment if he/she were the traitor.

Applejack always felt Celestia could have done more for the poor ponies of Equestria, but she did her best to repulse those thoughts now that Celestia was dead. Still, despite the fact that she didn't realize it, deep in her soul, she felt frustrated that her cousins had to drag huge plows over crops tirelessly to earn their bread, or that her grandmother worked an entire life, having to face the dangers of the wilderness quite often, just for a modest living, while the Canterlot elites surrounding Celestia eat caviar in their luxury mansions without working for a day.

Applejack loved to work in the orchards, to feel the wind on her coat and the warm sunrays on her mane, and to do something productive with her time in general, but she found it unfair that Lords, Dukes and other Royal family members lived in opulent luxury because of the taxes imposed on poor independent farmers, or because of the wealth created by the equally poor industrial workers of Mane-Hattan, Beerlin, Livelpoor or Celestgrad. Those thought were hunting her constantly, as she was the element of honesty and couldn't lie to her friends about how she felt. "No. Ah'm not lyin'! 'Lestia was a wise leader and Ah always 'preciated her. Ah just didn't agree with all the things she did, but Ah respect'er! Ah really do!" She kept telling to herself, and she was right after all! She appreciated Celestia's care for all the ponies and animals in Equestria and her peaceful manner of governing, but, for some strange reasons, she felt that she was hiding from her friends something inside of her. Something which was better left unspoken off, and this feeling of lying tortured her mercilessly.

The journey continued in a contemplative atmosphere, and as they arrived at the Canterlot train station, an apparently strong stallion approached them, "Are you the wielders of the elements?", he asked.

The group answered affirmatively, and the stallion proceeded with the introduction "General Ironfist of the Equestrian armed forces at your disposal! I have direct orders from the duke to escort you to the palace and ensure your safety on the way!", said the stallion with a very serious and somehow authoritarian expression.

"Ah'm sorry, but ensure'ur safety? We can take care of ourselves! We're the wielders of the elements after all." said Applejack, pretty annoyed by the officer's attitude. The general told her that since the murder Canterlot is overcrowded with soldiers, as public safety has been proven to be very low by this tragic event, and thus his assistance was necessary.

They followed him to an already prepared carriage, and left towards the palace. They found out that Ironwill's words weren't an exaggeration at all, as they could see soldiers on every single street their carriage passed through. Fluttershy was scared by the general's facial expression, the fact that a cold-blooded criminal was in the city and could be anybody, including him, and the waves of marching soldiers so much that she cowered under the carriage's bench and, while shivering violently, said to herself in a low register "This is all just a dream Fluttershy! It's all a bed dream and you'll wake up with Angel and your friends! You aren't scared by all these armed guards who could be the evil killer! You aren't scared… You aren't scared… You aren't scared" She continued shaking her head while repeating this phrase, while her friends struggled to make her feel safe.

As they arrived at the palace main entrance, they were greeted by a black Alicorn with a sapphire-blue mane and a shining pile of golden coins as a Cutie mark "How wonderful to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle! It is unfortunate we were brought together by such a tragic occasion, but I hope this mutually undesired circumstances won't set our relationship to a wrong start! I am Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire, and it is a great honor to meet you and your friends. Poor Celestia always talked about you…"

Goldengem sighed in a nostalgic manner before Twilight replied "Thank you for the invitation! You don't have what to worry about sir. No matter how tragic this event is, we won't direct our anger towards anypony."

As Rainbow Dash muttered a short "Stuck-up annoying snob…", Rarity added immediately "Oh my, how could you imagine something like that, dear sir? Rest assured that such petty behaviors are below us, and we will do everything we can to honor princess Celestia in this harsh times. By the way, my name is Rarity, and it is an honor to make your acquaintance!"

Goldengem turned towards her and replied with a short "It is a pleasure to know you too, milady, but I have other guests to welcome as well, so please excuse me! The Commander is waiting for you in the throne room."

Spike threw him a mean look as he left towards a carriage, and saw him gritting his teeth and muttering something he couldn't understand. "Hmm, I guess he doesn't like formalities as much as he pretends to." Said Spike while scratching his head. Initially, he thought that this fancy rich Alicorn was trying to impress Rarity with his royal manners, but his hidden reaction seemed a little bit awkward to Spike. "Maybe you are right to suspect this pony, Pinkie Pie! I definitely don't like him." said the purple dragon.

As they walked through the halls, Pinkie Pie replied with an expectable "Of course I'm right! Told ya! Pinkie sense is neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever wrong!", but the others rolled their eyes as they knew Spike's real reason for not liking the duke.

The six mares and the baby dragon trotted to the throne room, where they saw a tired-looking Shining Armor writing something on a notebook with his magic, and talking to some other guards in the same time. "Brother?"

As Twilight called him, he stopped from his activities, turned around, and ran towards his beloved sister so that he would hug her. "Oh, Twi, you can't believe how happy I am to see you here! This investigation is very tiresome, and I do certainly need a break!".

"Tiresome? Are there really no clues?" Twilight asked with a concerned expression on her face.

"On the contrary! It all seems to add up too easily! After I interrogated everypony who was in the castle that night, no more than 4 sources point towards a maid as the assassin, and her plan seems too naïve for a royal assassinate!" added Shining Armor.

"How so?" asked Twilight intrigued. "

Well, four ponies saw her giving Celestia the same glass of wine which was found broken in her own room that night, she wasn't seen by anypony while she poured the wine, all the evidence in the room suggests Celestia died immediately after drinking, as there are no hoofprints anywhere else except the door handle and some parts of the carpet which lead to the body, and it happens that the maid is the only suspect until now and one of Luna's employees, which arises even more suspicion towards her, as many Canterlot residents still have a fresh memory of Nightmare Moon." said Shining Armor. "Yet, if she really was the killer, she wouldn't have been stupid enough to let four ponies see her, and the fact that the time spell from the palace's library has been stolen in the same night gives her a stronger alibi, as one of the witnesses saw her go to her room for sleeping after she gave Celestia the glass, and we have confirmation from the librarian that the time spell was still there at 11 o'clock sharp, and the events concerning Celestia happened about an hour earlier!" continued the commander of the royal guards.

"Sir, the chemical analysis of the wine is complete, Sir!" a soldier told Shining Armor.

"Roger that, private! Report your findings!"

"Sir, yes sir!" yelled the soldier so loudly that Fluttershy rolled on her back. "The Chemists have diagnosed the wine to contain a deadly quantity of jellyfish venom, identical to the one used by the tribes in the eastern Zebralands for defense. The Scientists said that given the proportion of poison introduced in the liquid, she should have died in approximately 40-50 seconds from ingestion with no external bleeding or vomit. She was also incapacitated to speak or walk towards the door due to the painful effects of this venom, which contains both poison and allergens. That's all they said, sir! Here's the detailed report!"

"You're free to go soldier!" said Shining Armor after taking the report, and then he turned his head towards Twilight again. "Do you see what I mean by this? It all fits perfectly with the suspect's profile! Two weeks ago, princess Luna went on a diplomatic state visit to the Zebralands, and Lightningrose, our suspect, was one of the few servants to accompany her!"

"So you're saying the case is too easy to resolve for a royal assassinate, so it must be an intelligently designed setup. Interesting… Then, your most important question should be – who would be the most advantaged pony by both the death of the princess and the maid?" replied Twilight.

A veil of silence enveloped the group for a few seconds, until Pinkie Pie decided to speak up "This means we shouuuuuld… INVESTIGATE!" She got her detective hat and her magnifying glass just like in the train ride towards the deserts contests, and, just when the rest were about to ignore her, she continued with a suggestion in a cheerful tone. "We should interrogate the suspect and see if anybody would want to harm her!"

"I'm afraid that's not possible! She is already held under custody on account of the suspicions and only the guards are allowed to question her! Maybe I'll get you there with me tonight, as everypony will be distracted by the funeral, but until then, we'll have to cope with the current information we have. I shouldn't even be talking to you about this." said Shining Armor without attracting any attention towards them from the rest of the guards.

"Speakin' of the funeral, don't'ya think you can lead us to… see 'Lestia for one more time before she is going to leave this world 'rever? Ah think we 'serve to see'er after what we did together for Equestria." Said Applejack with sorrow.

"What the hay are you talking about? Can't you see Fluttershy is already scared over the limit about this? We can't let her see Celestia's body!" answered Rainbow Dash angrily. Rarity intervened in an attempt to cool down the spirits. "Ladies, please! This is not a way to behave while we are invited at the very building Equestria has been ruled from for more than a millennium! Fluttershy is mature enough to make a decision for herself. Would you mind seeing Celestia darling?"

"No… I wouldn't! I would like to say goodbye to her!" said Fluttershy while letting a few tears drop from her eyes.

"See girls, this is not a proper reason to argue as a lady. And Twilight, based on the books I red about royalty in other kingdoms, assassinations occurred quite often for taking power, so in case this Lightningrose is not guilty and somepony indeed set her up, then that pony could have done it to discredit Luna, and thus be able to take the power." continued the white unicorn.

"That was exactly what I was thinking, Rarity! Brother, who would be the next successor to the throne after Luna?" asked Twilight confidently.

"Well, that would be Goldengem. And now that I think of it, the law states that as long as the first successor to the throne is suspected to be guilty of a crime, the second successor will gain the power at least until the first one is proven innocent!" said Twilight's Brother with amazement at the discovery. "But the only problem with that statement is that Goldengem wasn't even in Canterlot that night!" he stated afterwards.

"That is indeed a problem, but as an Alicorn, he could both fly and use teleportation spells, so we should definitely keep an eye on him." his little sister told him.

Pinkie Pie ended the conversation with a loud "I TOLD YOU" , and then Shining Armor led the group to Celestia's body, which seemed to be sleeping rather than dead. The bedroom was crowded with huge cameras from different local and national newspapers, and the dreadful scent in the air made the scene even more horrible than anything they witnessed before, including the chaotic Equestria Discord once created.

Still, something different from the horrible sight caught Twilight's eye. "Brother, is there no spot of wine on Celestia's coat? This was red wine after all, and although she broke the glass near her front hoofs, there is no crock of glass in her skin and not a single drop of wine on her coat! A very unlikely scenario…".

"We noticed that ever since we started the investigation, but it's not even nearly strong enough evidence to prove Lightningrose is innocent." Twilight nodded, and tried to continue her analysis of the scene logically, although it pained her a lot to see her mentor dead.

The shocked and pained expression in Celestia's eyes, the unchanged bedroom, her starring at the ceiling with no life force inside her – it was all too sick for the six mares, who didn't resist too much time in the room, and left a few seconds after Twilight's remark.

Later, Shining Armor took them to their rooms so that they could rest a little bit until the funeral, which was about to take place in the evening. He thanked the six mares for their kind assistance, and said he will try to keep an eye on the duke in the meantime. He also expressed concern that the media wrote every available detail about the progress of the investigation, and the possibility of Luna's guilt was already causing some stir throughout the Equestrian capital, but this time the six mares and the small purple dragon couldn't do anything. They had to sleep after a tiresome journey, and then think about a way of discovering the criminal and recovering the time spell –which weren't easy tasks at all.

The Equestrian senate could decide right in those moments to make Goldengem prince, while he could've been the killer himself! It was all a mystery for now, but Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were determined to find out who was behind this murder and serve Equestria justice.

Chapter IV: Black Clouds Over Equestria

It was a silent night. The bells from the town clock, which pointed now to 9 P.M sharp, and the crickets in the royal gardens were performing along with the mourning voices in a morbid orchestra, bidding adieu to the founder of the city itself, the beloved princess Celestia. Enormous crowds were gathering at the gates of the palace in order to see the princess when she would be taken to the newly constructed mausoleum in the Royal Gardens. The Pegasi Air Forces generated a commemorative rain over the entire city, but the public near the palace didn't seem to be disturbed by this issue, and neither did the guards protecting the palace doors.

Inside, everything was already prepared and the funeral was under way. Celestia's body has been taken from the crime scene early in the afternoon, and was already dressed and placed in a luxurious coffin with her name engraved with gold letters on the front. The coffin occupied the place where the former throne used to be, on a special stage installed for this ceremony only. Many seats filled what used to be the Throne room a few days ago, and the invited ponies went, one by one, to the podium on which the coffin was placed for saying a few words about Princess Celestia.

The seven friends from Ponyville were attending the funeral as well, and Twilight, despite the fact that she planned to sneak up with her Brother to Lightningrose's cell, could not help herself from crying at a few speeches and bringing her mentor a last tribute. "There, there, Twi. I know how much she meant to you, but we can't bring her back now. You said it yourself…" Spike told her while stroking her mane with his claw in an attempt to comfort her.

"I – kn – ow-" replied Twilight between sobs and tears.

"Oh, come on Twilight. We can bring her back. We'll just have to find the spell scroll and take it back from the thief! That's all!" said Rainbow Dash.

"But if it's destroyed? What if she – is – gone – for – ever - ?" asked Twilight demandingly without stopping from crying.

"She won't be! Even if it means I have to fly with dragons or… if Angel has to eat carrots, we'll do everything to help the princess! I know that what happened with the princess is heartbreaking, but we will always be here to help you, Twilight!"

Fluttershy's words made Twilight cry even more, as she hugged the yellow pegassus and muttered a "Thank you guys! I don't know what I would do without you".

"You're welcome, darling. We know Celestia has been very close to you, and we will do our best to bring her back." replied Rarity, while barely resisting her own urge to cry. They all joined a group hug immediately after that, and continued to watch the ceremony as it unfolded.

Twilight wasn't the only one to be affected by the other ponies at the palace, but Applejack, on the other hoof, wasn't touched by the sad speeches, but astonished by the chorus of clinking glasses and sometimes even laughs which came from the other side of the hall. Luxury wines and foods could be served in crystal glasses and silver dishes from buffets in the backside of the room earlier in the evening, and some visitors still indulged in drinking and eating during the ceremony. For some of them, the funeral was nothing but a visit at the Imperial palace. She was always disturbed by the injustices in the world, and seeing how careless someponies could be even about Celestia's death, the princess everybody in Equestria loved just a few weeks ago, she got scared about what could happen if the country fails in the wrong hoofs…

For a moment, she even started thinking how many poor ponies in the countryside could have been fed with the money spent on those useless beverages, but she quickly snapped out of it for comforting Twilight along with the others in a hug. After all, a friend in need is a friend indeed, and that was one of the moments when Twilight needed her the most. "Don't ya worry, Twi, it'll'be all right!" she said with half a mouth as she peeked on the disrespectful elitist faces mocking the princess with their behavior. Even Pinkie Pie managed to stay silent and serious, but they couldn't!

Many words have been spilled at the grave. Many tears as well, and many flowers of the utmost scarcity covered the plaque with "Princess Celestia" written in gold in the following moments. More than an hour did the same ritual happen over and over again, but, at least for Twilight, it was the longest hour in her whole life. The "Crème de la Crème" of the Equestrian society competed in bringing the former Princess the most beautiful and exotic of attributes, in a more or less sincere manner, and after one would finish a flamboyant speech, the same waves of applauds would echo repeatedly due to the great acoustics of the throne hall.

Senators, lords, famous poets and writers, judges, ambassadors and even Sapphire Shores - the "pony of pop", or Prince Blueblood were present on the podium. Blueblood could not help himself from posing in front of the audience a few times, as he was a distant relative to Celestia and seemingly didn't care too much about her. "I can't tell how one could be so selfish in order not to respect his deceased relative! This kind of inadequate behaviour is an offense to every shrewd of decency in this world!" Rarity commented on the prince's attitude with a slight touch of anger in her voice. Twilight was actually one of the only ponies who didn't live in Canterlot and had the chance to address the audience a few words about Celestia.

The six mares and the purple baby dragon all understood that this show was mostly a theater to attract sympathy from Luna or whoever was going to be the next ruler, but their attention was suddenly drawn to the stage when a familiar figure stepped on the podium. It was nopony else but Duke Goldengem of Eqvancashire, who could have been, based on what they knew, the killer. It was merely a possibility, but some of them, specifically Spike and Pinkie Pie, sensed something dangerous in this strange character. It was also quite awkward that he chose to speak last, immediately after Luna, as Equestrian tradition dictated the closest relative had to have the last word on such occasions.

"What is he doing here? Will this stuck-up fancy Alicorn speak after Princess Luna? That's it, I'm going to rub the floor with", but before Rainbow Dash could finish the sentence, Twilight dragged her back to her seat.

"Rainbowdash don't! I know he is being rude, but he might have some important message for the audience, and besides, we don't have to attract too much attention to us if I am going to sneak at the military headquarters with Shining Armor when they go to the Mausoleum!" said Twilight, this time in her serious normal voice.

Goldengem threw them a glance, as he heard some noise coming from their seats, but then readjusted his pitch, faced the entire audience, and then proceeded with the speech everypony waited for.

"Dear ladies and gentleponies,

The death of princess Celestia has been a shock for all of us, and even more when we were to find that she was murdered. Many of you already addressed her wonderful messages tonight, and reminded us of her great deeds in 1002 years of Equestrian history, so I will be brief and get to the topic of my intervention quickly, as I find it to pointless to try to put the cherry on the cake now." He let out a sigh of sorrow, and proceeded. "I always loved my cousin and I will continue to love her forever, but sadly, I had to be the last to speak in this ceremony, not because I have to pay her another tribute, but because I have an important announce to make. As I'm sure you are all aware, a suspect is already being held at the military headquarters on suspicion of murdering Celestia.

Still, the real problem our kingdom faces is the fact that our suspect, a young mare by the name of Lightningrose, works for princess Luna for a very long time and even acquired the poison she used for killing my cousin during a visit to the Zebralands along with princess Luna, and this situation practically forces the royal guards to suspect her as well for complicity, and according to the Equestrian laws written by our dear princess Celestia in the year of 31 A.N.M.B, Luna can't lead the nation unless she is proven to be innocent, so we'll have to wait for the results of the investigation."

Twilight and her friends understood where he was going with this, and they did not like it at all.

"In the meanwhile, the next successor to the throne, in this case me, is to be appointed prince for the limited period of the investigation, and is to remain prince for life lest the first successor, in this case Luna, should be found innocent. I didn't write this law nor did I ask for this privilege, but trusting her judgement is the least we could do now for my poor cousin…" Goldengem turned around and looked at the coffin for a few seconds, and let two tears, possibly false, flow down his cheeks before proceeding. "But there is no time to cry now! Soon, the royal burrier will perform the anti-degradation spell on her body and we'll wave goodbye to her, so we have to be strong and prepared to go on with our lives!"

There was already a lot of rumbling in the room, but at this point, Luna interrupted the noise with her Canterlot voice. "SILENCE! Cousin, we 'lowed thou speakest the last to make your announcement, but we can swear thou that we are not a part of this horrible crime, and a princess's word is not to be questioned!"

Goldengem seemed shocked at first, like most of the ponies in the room, but then replied calmly. "But cousin, this are the national laws of Equestria, and the senate already agreed in their meeting tonight that your crowning should be postponed to the end of the investigation, just in case. Don't you want to honor your sister's will?"

At this question, Luna commented even more vehemently. "Honor 'Tia's will? By letting thou rule ye country? 'Tia would have NEVER wanted that to happen, and we don't either! This ponies don't know how thee were in the past, cousin, they don't know thy true face, but we do! Thou art greedy and hungry for power, Goldengem! Thou art not fit to be prince!" Her Canterlot voice still scared most of the ponies in the room, but Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spike were now listening very closely.

"What? These accusations are preposterous! I produced wine on my estate for the ponies of Equestria to enjoy for centuries, and everypony knows that! I never tried to obtain power or destroy the competition!" answered Goldengem much more angrily than earlier, drawning some attention to himself.

"Then why did 'Tia banish thee to thy lands in the north 7 centuries ago, cousin? What did thou do earlier? How did thou rule over Horsingham? Tell those ponies thy truth! Celestia feared thy ways of leading, and thus banished thou to the back-then remote province of Eqvancashire! TELL THEM!"

Goldengem pondered the answer for a little bit, and then answered softly. "I'm another pony now, cousin! Everypony in Equestria can confirm it. I made some mistakes in my youth, as I'm sure many of us did. You yourself were Nightmare Moon out of jealousy, so I don't think you are in the position to talk about hunger for power! If you aren't guilty, you'll become princess after the investigation is concluded, so you have nothing to worry about."

Princess Luna looked at the scared public, and then at some guards who were ordered by a senator to surround her. She nodded in agreement, but told Goldengem in a lower register: "We know what thou canst do, and we will be watching thee. Ye have been warned, my loyal servants! Ye made a mistake ye will regret, ponies of Equestria!"

The soldiers backed away, and Goldengem added swiftly. "Thank you for understanding, cousin. Now, if you'd allow me to continue…" He adjusted his pitch again, and hid the smile on his face as he saw Luna leaving the room before he began to speak.

The six Ponyville mares and the purple dragon were all silenced and flabbergasted by the scene, and they started suspecting Goldengem much more than earlier. Everypony around them was simply scared by Luna and words such as "mad", "Nightmare Moon" or "murderer" could be heard in the rumbling of the audience in the room, but they, as the wielders of the elements of harmony who cleansed Luna, knew she was normal now and that her warnings had to be taken seriously.

Twilight exchanged looks of concern with her brother and started to wonder about Goldengem's medieval deeds, clearly making up her mind to talk to Luna as soon as possible after Lightningrose.

Applejack felt her fears about Equestria falling into the wrong hoofs coming to life after Luna's worrying speech, but still hoped that Goldengem wasn't too greedy and that he really changed.

Meanwhile, the duke continued. "As I was saying… I'll have to take the burden of ruling Equestria for the period of the investigation, which might last for entire months considering the lack of evidence the Commander of the royal guards told me about for answering my enquiries regarding the crime. In consequence, I might be able to implement certain… reforms in all this time. Princess Celestia's rule was indeed a very good one, but many financial resources were wasted on unproductive sectors of the economy, while the entrepreneurial initiative was suffocated."

Some questioning looks were directed against him from the public, so he decided to make his point quickly.

"There are no rights to have other ponies working for you unless you are a royal family member, and funds are allocated for free medical services or even for people tasked to write friendship reports!" Twilight grew more and more concerned about this speech, and remembered Rainbowdash's supposition that she and Spike would be sent back to the magical academy in Canterlot. Goldengem didn't look at her, but she knew this new leader was nothing like Celestia now, and said to herself that she has to focus on the murder and prove Luna innocent or bring Celestia back as quickly as possible.

"There are many ponies who work in Equestria and could pay for their medicine, so I am going to give ponies the liberty to own means of production and develop Equestria industrially! I will also withdraw unprofitable expenses such as free healthcare and education, and direct the money produced by the state-industries and the farmers and artisans taxes to loans given to entrepreneurial ponies who have ideas to start businesses, and to investments in the research of modern weapons. Tell me, how is it normal a mighty modern nation like ours still has to fear dragon assaults?

We can research better modern weapons, eliminate taxes on weapons production and buy them at higher places so that businessponies would invest in the sector and so that we would modernize our military quickly, and destroy the dragon threat once and for all! I can build a wealthy powerful Equestria, where everypony will have the liberty to produce wealth, and own any type of national businesses. We have the technology to replace artisanship and small farms with industry and massive modern farms, but Celestia didn't do it for protecting the many ponies at the bottom of the social scale.

I will change Equestria! I will make this city shine in glory, and our nation reign over the world, Canterlot residents! The will be no constraints on the free market any longer! We will build "The Equestrian Dream"! This are my plans for the future, but for now, we shall all commemorate the death of my dear cousin.

Oh, and please, enjoy the rest of the evening!"

The opinions regarding Goldemgem's speech varied from pony to pony, but many aristocrats in the room seemed happy about the ideas. Applejack could barely keep herself from arguing with Goldengem after she saw how he was ready to dispose of the poor ponies of the country, but Twilight reminded her that they had to stay unobserved to get the chance to investigate the murder any further, and did it for her friend.

She was angry beyond limits at the selfish Alicorn who was ready to take away every right the poor ponies of Equestria had, starting from the education of her sweet little sister Applebloom, and maybe ending with Twilight's job! She felt like she could just project the duke through the window and pierce his coat with the spear of a guard for the greater good. Even Discord was better than him, but she refrained her angry thoughts, and listened to the voice of reason – Twilight in this case. Only if they kept secretly researching the murder could they get rid of the tyrant.

Fluttershy didn't even know what to think after all what happened in the room in this night, and Spike was shaking continuously since the phrase about "destroying the dragon threat once and for all". Ponies always laughed at him and had stereotypic attitudes towards dragons, but now that the Prince of Equestria wanted to conquer the Dragonlands, he felt more endangered than ever before. Rarity, although she did not admit it, was scared about Twilight losing her job and Spike moving back to Canterlot. She was never mesmerized by the little dragon as he was by her, but over the years, she developed feelings for the little fellow who was always there to help her and who loved to see her happy more than every treasure in the world – literally. She peeked on him secretly, and took comfort at the fact that he did it too, realizing the sad feeling was mutual.

Raibow Dash did not even understand most of the speech, as she hated those "fancy terms" Goldengem used. "So, Twi, what did this guy say exactly? I hate it when they speak egghead-ian, and it seemed important!" she asked through the rumbling of the public as they all followed the Royal Burrier and the coffin outside the palace.

"He wants to make ponies pay for everything and to take my job at the most summarized level, but I should get out of the crowd now to go with Shining Armor. The others will tell you the rest!" Twilight replied quickly.

"That's just Great! I knew this fancy egghead couldn't be trusted!" said Rainbowdash angrily.

The long convoy headed through the halls of the palace towards the exit to the gardens, and the other five mares covered Twilight as she left the group and ventured towards the palace's military headquarters accompanied by her brother. While this happened, Pinkie Pie saw Goldengem getting out of the convoy as well, and followed him silently to see what he was up to. "Ha! So I was right again! He is hiding from the rest of us and must be some kind of evil pony!" she said while observing the duke talking to a soldier, and giving him some kind of paper. "What is that? Wow! Investigating is fun! That must be some secret letter about the murder or… or… a declaration of war against the dragon emperor!"

Pinkie Pie was thinking aloud, and was close to getting discovered at the last part of her sentence. She managed to hide though, and followed the soldier intently. "Pwew! That was close!", exclaimed Pinkie Pie after she escaped the two guards sent by Goldengem to investigate by hiding behind columns. The first strange thing she observed was the fact that the soldier carrying Goldengem's mysterious letter sneaked by the other guards, and finally got out of the palace. "Why is he hiding? And what is that mysterious letter? I am close to solving a NEW MISTERY! Yay!" thought Pinkie Pie while following him to the main gate.

Could Pinkie Pie really solve the mystery? The duke waited for the opportunity to be alone until giving that piece of paper to a soldier, so it might contain evidence against him.

The soldier with the letter left the palace and faded in the night like a ghost, but he was watched from the doors by a pink earthpony who planned to discover his secret.

Chapter V: The Invisible Hoof

Pinkie Pie was ready to leave the palace and follow the only pony who could have the missing piece of the murder puzzle, but her heart stopped beating for a second as she heard hoofsteps behind her. It could have been one of those guards the prince sent after her, and this thought haunted her and froze her hoofs to the ground. She could not move, she could not scream and she could not turn around and face the danger. She laughed in front of danger many times, but never did she witness murder before and neither did she have to face the ponies who committed it. Her eyes widened and her pulse increased as the sound of every step on the hard, cold floor, sent shivers through her ear and her entire body. She just hoped for a miracle as her Pinkie Sense did not prevent a disaster, but the murder scared her so much that she even doubted her Pinkie Sense now.

"Who knows in what sort of creepy dungeon will I end up? And I'll leave my friends alone when they need me to cheer them up the MOST! There'll be no friends, no talking, NO CUPCAKES… it will be a NIGHTMARE and I'll by eaten by the giant magically mutated rats which the evil prince will create for the sole purpose of devouring equine flesh to satisfy his pleasures, or, even worse, have prisoners fight to the death in underground dark arenas!"

The most horrible fantasies unfolded in her mind for a few seconds at an unimaginable pace, but she just sat there and waited for it to happen. If she was to run away, the soldier could never get her as her speed was high enough to catch Rainbowdash atop of a mountain, but what would happen to her friends once the "evil prince" finds out that she was the one spying on him? Something bad could happen to them, and she would never allow that! Also, her "unexplainable" disappearance might give Goldengem the chance to paint her as Lightningrose's accomplice and have her banished from Equestria. No! She could not run, and she was able to feel a cold and calm breath behind her. Her pinkie sense wasn't activated yet, so she put all her hopes into it, while waiting for the doom.

She could already hear the scary evil guard telling her "Madame, you are under arrest for crimes against the Equestrian…"

"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" A much more familiar, warmer and shyer voice than the one she expected came from behind her.

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy!" She then yelled loudly and hugged the yellow pegassus. "You can't believe how happy I am to see you! Uh Oh! Too loud! The soldiers! The messenger! Quick Fluttershy! We've got to catch him now before he escapes with the secret global conquest plans from the evil prince! Come on!"

"Messanger? Global Con" but before Fluttershy could process the information, Pinkie Pie dragged her outside on the streets of Canterlot before the guards could stall them at the gate with questions regarding their endeavors.

"Faster Fluttershy! The messenger went to the Royal boulevard!" yelled Pinkie Pie as they surfed between crowds of ponies to get him.

"Okay Pinkie Pie… But… what messenger?" She asked with a curious look as they were galloping on the street, but as she saw Pinkie Pie stare at her, she added a short "Sorry for asking if it annoys you!"

"No time to explain. There he is!" said the pink pony excitedly, and the Pegassus followed her in what seemed to be an endless pursuit, as their target observed he was being chased and accelerated at a very high speed.It was a long and narrow hall with a desk at one end, a door at the another, five cells on the left side of the door and nothing else than cold grey concrete on the right. Four of the cells were empty, with so much dust on the metal beds and the small wooden chair and table inside that one could think they weren't used in years, and indeed this was the case. Two flags of the kingdom of Equestria stood high above the entrance, giving the colorless deserted image of the room a more formal touch. The dust hovered in the air making it hard to breed, but the fears of the pony inside the occupied cell were the ones which made it even harder, at least from her perspective. She was a green pegassus with a curly turquoise mane and two golden corn-made brooms as a cutie mark, but nopony visiting the room would be able to notice these details, as she was cowered in a dark corner of the cell, standing still with a grim expression on her face. She did not mind the dust, the loneliness, the depressing silence broken from time to time by the hoofsteps of the nearby patrolling guards or the moans of pain and sorrow and the screams of madness coming from the… other side of the prison. Nopony ever walked those halls, except for the guards and the worst criminals in Equestrian history, and all she could think about was that she told the authorities nothing but the truth, and yet, this might be her ticket to that horrible place!

Who could've done this to her? She was a simple pony who loved cleaning two days ago, and now she was Princess Celestia's supposed assassin, and she could not understand how this had happened. She knew the witnesses and the evidence pointed, for now, towards her, but she couldn't come up with a story which would explain who set her up and how did he/she do it! The depressing atmosphere, along with the powerless feeling of being surrounded by dust and filth without being able to clean it felt like a deep sadistic torture for her, and because of it, her mind even started to think that she was after all the killer.

There were all those stories about double personalities and unconscious sociopathic insight she heard from the royal psychologist every now and then, so what if she did poison Celestia? No! This were all the hallucinations of her mind! This couldn't be true! Right? She couldn't live the rest of her entire life in the most horrifying place in all of Equestria! Even an execution would've been more merciful, but she was innocent so she didn't deserve any punishment!

Lightningrose's mind was constantly raving as two ponies opened the door to the small "preventive arrest" section of the prison, where she was being held. Twilight and Shining Armor managed to get past the guards in the military headquarters without any problems, contrary to what Shining Armor expected, as nopony dared questioning him with the faked expression of anger on his face.

As they finally arrived, they stopped at the door for a brief moment, and started a short conversation.

"All right brother, what do we know? I'm here to find more leads for solving this mystery, not to question whether she's innocent or not, but I must know what did she tell you up to this point so that I wouldn't waste time asking the same questions you did." Said Twilight in a hurry.

"Well, she was very cooperative and seemed not to defend her case at all, which is quite strange for a murderer. She told us she was in the kitchen that night for helping her best friend, chef Sweetcakes, with closing the kitchen after dinner, which is true according to the chef. She could do it because she usually cleaned Luna's personal quarters after midnight, while the princess is on the watchtower. Also, she told us that she advised her friend to go home, as Sweetcakes looked very tired that night – which was confirmed again by the chef and her husband -, and continued cleaning alone. After a while, Princess Celestia saw her, and, as she didn't talk to her for a very long time – which was confirmed by Luna -, came by to say hello. Celestia told her she had a very bad day, and, to alleviate her bad disposition, Lightningrose proposed her to drink a glass of old red wine from an already opened bottle which was on the table. She said that the bottle couldn't have been poisoned by the chef or any waitress at the royal cafeteria as many ponies already drank from it, and this turned out to be true as well after the chemical analysis of a wine sample from that very bottle – and she had no reason to make this one up as it basically puts the blame on her!" replied her brother in a long speech.

"Not necessarily! Did she see the princess walking straight to her room? Maybe somepony poisoned her drink on the hallway…"

"That is the only hope she clings on at the moment. Celestia thanked her for being kind and told her that she was going to drink the wine in her room as she was pretty tired, waved goodbye, and Lightningrose didn't see her after she walked out the door. I mean, didn't see her alive…" Shining Armor laughed for a second at his attempt to a little humor, but observed that Twilight wasn't really in the mood for joking, so he proceeded with the information.

"She also seemed oblivious about the existence of jellyfish poison in the Zebralands, which could be easily interpreted as a stupid way of defending herself, and the witness who saw her go back to her own room could only prove that she is not likely to have stolen the spell as well, but doesn't help her at all with the murder accusations."

Twilight nodded and walked straight to the cell occupied by the green pegassus along with her brother. She wondered at first why most cells are empty, but then remembered that Shining Armor already told her that, as criminality is very low in Equestria, this is the only prison in the whole city of Canterlot and except the times of the civil war one millennium ago, it never got filled with prisoners. As she approached the metal bars of the cell, she saw Lightningrose hidden in the shadows.

"Hello there! My name is Twilight Sparkle, this is my brother Shining Armor, and we are here to help you!"

Lightningrose grew fearful as she saw Shining Armor's military uniform, because, after all, more questions could bring even more evidence against her. But for her carelessness, she wouldn't be in this filthy cell now fearing eternal darkness! She shouldn't answer more questions if she wanted to be free, or should at least try to invent some credible alibi, but nothing came to her mind, so she decided not to answer and hope the two ponies standing in front of her would go away. She wasn't informed about any further interrogation, so she still hoped that that wasn't the reason of their visit.

To her misfortune, the words "We'll only ask you a few questions" came out of Twilight's lips, but the continuation was the one which really surprised her - "about the ponies who could have set you up and what you saw that night."

"Do you really think someone set me up? Do you really believe me?" asked the green pegassus with tears of shock and even happiness in her eyes.

"Yes, both of us do. But we don't have much time to spend here, so I need you to give me three honest answers to my questions. It is the only way to discover the real killer!" pointed out Twilight.

After taking a deep breath and coming to the front of the cell, Lightningrose answered her. "I just wish I could go back in time and stop all of this from happening… Fine. Which are the questions?"

"First of all, I must know whether there was anypony left at the cafeteria, and by anypony I mean ANYPONY, before Celestia came in. Maybe a waitress who could barely see you from a distant table, or a filly who sneaked up to steal some cupcakes… Could somepony you recognized see you when you poured the wine in Celestia's glass, apart from the witnesses down the hall?"

"Well, there was really nopony inside the cafeteria, but I saw many faces passing down the hall while Celestia was with me. Why would you be interested in the persons who saw me?"

"I have a theory, but it's far from confirmation yet. So, nopony else, except our 4 witnesses, saw you?" asked Twilight again as if this was a crucial issue.

"Yes, nopony did." Replied Lightningrose confidently.

"Hmm… interesting. Okay. Second, did any of the four witnesses know you, and if the answer is yes, what was their relationship with Princess Luna and Duke Goldengem? In case you are not familiar with the witnesses, one of them is an unicorn royal guard called Silver Horn, the second is an Earth pony diplomat called Whitecollar, the third is a pegassus senator called Champagneflow and the last is another Earthpony, this time a young royal tailoress who goes by the name of Peachy Blossom. Now, what can you tell us?" Asked Twilight in a very intrigued manner.

Shining Armor knew his sister was trying to establish some kind of murder complicity likeability hierarchy of the suspects with this question, but he couldn't figure out how any of them could be responsible yet, as they couldn't predict the maid would give Celestia a drink, so they could not have poison in their possession. Could they really get it fast enough? Maybe he was too impressed by Lightningrose's innocent appearance… Still, his sister had some kind of theory involving Luna and Goldengem and couldn't get another chance to be here, so he didn't say a word and let her continue.

"Well… I know the diplomat and the tailoress. Both are lovely ponies! I went to the Zebralands together with Whitecollar, and she was even nicer than mistress Luna sometimes. She never ordered me to do anything, and although she was very formal, she even gave me some money to buy local souvenirs. Mistress Luna had a good relationship with her, as I remember her praising Whitecollar for being quite a shrewd negotiator, and I also saw them laughing together many times during the visit. I don't know anything about her relationship with Goldengem though."

The green pegassus stopped for a few seconds, and then proceeded. "As for Peachy Blossom, she is Sweetcakes's smaller cousin, and I can assure you that she is not the killer! I met her a few times, and she is always shy, nice and polite. She takes refuge in sewing and in making clothes, and that's why she became a royal tailoress. She fixes everypony's clothes pro bono and lives only on the state-paid wage she receives monthly, unlike the other royal tailors… She never complained about money, and she isn't even capable of hurting a fly, so I'd never suspect her! She's such a dearie!"

Lightningrose's answer didn't seem to convince Twilight to overlook these two suspects, especially Whitecollar as she could obtain the poison as well and her relationship with Goldengem was unknown yet. The magenta mare nodded as if she was testing theories and piecing the info together, and finally broke the silence with one last question.

" You said that about 10 minutes after Celestia went back to her room, you walked back to yours as well. I've spent some time in this palace myself, so I know that in order to reach the servant quarters from the cafeteria, you have to pass by the Imperial bedroom. Now, listen to me carefully: Did you hear anything from inside the bedroom when you passed by it? Like, maybe, hoofsteps? Or any kind of noise?"

"Hoofsteps… yeah, heard'em! Heard'em hoofsteps, but I forgot to tell the guards, as they didn't ask about the latter events of the night. There were constant hoofsteps inside, but I just assumed the Princess was circling around and thinking. Now, I answered all your questions. Can you get me out of here pony? I can't bear this place any longer, and what is the last question good for anyway?" asked Lightningrose with a slight touch of anger in her voice. It was obvious to Twilight that she was losing her patience because of the fear of being sentenced to execution or life arrest and because of the feeling of uncertainty and lack of understanding she experienced, but regardless, Twilight answered calmly to the green pegassus's enquiry.

"Solving the mystery…" she said as she nodded again in silence.

"But this doesn't make sense. Sorry to bust your bubble sis', but there were no hoofprints around the room – they were only in between the door and the body" Shining Armor interrupted them, and then looked towards the prisoner. "Didn't you hear them from another room? Are you sure?"

"I damn sure am! What does it mean?" asked the prisoner with even more curiosity now that she hear about the contrary evidence.

"Many things… You might've heard Celestia or the killer, but what is sure is that the wine you gave her wasn't the cause of the death. I'm still not sure about my theory, so I can't tell you now, but you've been very helpful Lightningrose. Thank you very much, and we'll do all we can to get you out!" said Twilight.

"Can you explain to me what is happening here, sis'? I didn't believe you when you found out about Cadence, and I probably won't believe you know but… can you at least give me a chance?"

"All in due time brother. We've got to go back to the funeral before somepony notices our disappearance, and tomorrow, Spike and I will have to check the Library for books about hoofprints erasing spells. I think I just understood what happened here…" said Twilight as she was walking back towards the entrance, while Shining Armor followed her and refrained from asking more questions. He knew how uncommunicative his sister used to be when investigating, and it seems to him that some things never change. As the big metal door closed shut, the only hopes of a green pegassus leaved the room as well. She remained a prisoner of darkness, loneliness, filth, and now, after this strange unexpected visit, a prisoner of curiosity as well. Still, if it hadn't been for this odd conversation, she would've been hopeless, so, in a certain way, she was thankful to this magenta pony she had just met and her soldier brother. At least somepony out there could save her and uncover the truth… but what was it?After a long and tiresome chase, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy found themselves in the Canterlot industrial quarters, a rather big and less known part of the city. Stretching towards the mountains near the city, the industrial quarter doesn't have the glamour or the luxury of the historical center. It wasn't surrounded by a 1000 years-old wall, crowded with fancy carriages or filled with luxurious homes, parks and a huge palace. It had narrow streets, tall apartment buildings housing the masses of workers at the nearby factories, lots of travelling ponies struggling to reach their destination without bumping into somepony else and also many freighter carriages. It had a grimy look even in the night, because, despite the fact that it was emptier now, clouds of grey smoke covered most of the sky and the darkness on the poorly electrified streets combined with some unpleasant smells coming probably from the sewers here and there did their best to make this side of the city an undesirable destination. The commemorative rain was the last element painting a desolated modern landscape which seemed to be antagonistic with happy countryside settlements such as Ponyville, and it was this desolated grey mass of stone, coal, cement, steam and heavy metals which pumped the engine of the equestrian economy. Many freighter trains were hauling in the distance, as the tears of a colorless world were dropping regularly from the skies. Poverty was visible at first sight, but during Celestia's rule, all the ponies living here and working in the state industries earned a decent wage which allowed them to go to the countryside quite often for some relaxation, and soon enough, this was going to change.

The two ponies arrived here after approximately an hour of chasing the soldier sent by Goldengem, but they had lost his track in the maze of streets and buildings called the industrial quarter.

"Where did he go? He was behind that carriage ten seconds ago! Fluttershy, fly above the city and search for him!" yelled the Pinkie pony in desperation, and then begged her pegassus friend to do it with an enthusiastic "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!" followed by a cute long "Pretty Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaassse!".

"I - can't! I – am – too – tired! I'm – sorry – Pinkie – Pie!" said Fluttershy while panting and resting a little bit after a long time.

"But you have to! If you don't, the evil prince is going to attack the Dragonlands, steal all their riches with his army and then proclaim himself the emperor of the world and replace everypony with a race of obedient ponydragons he would create magically to rule over both lands! Or maybe he'll just send his granny a letter we won't know about because we lost the courier…" Pinkie Pie scratched her chin with her forehoof a little bit, but then bursted again into talking "Either way, the fate of equestrian rests in your wings! We need to know what is his secret!" continued the pink pony.

Fluttershy regained her composure in this short while, and tried to give her friend the same answer. "I really can't Pinkie Pie. I'm so so sorry… but I can barely gallop right now, and flying is harder!" Despite her pleadings, Pinkie Pie did not take no for an answer, and she finally hovered over the streets in a surveillance flight. There was no sight of the soldier they followed in the surroundings of their position, but it didn't take long for Fluttershy to see him on a small alley between a steel factory and a warehouse not far to the north, and to her surprise, their target was not alone now. He walked towards a blue unicorn in a royal guard uniform who was circling around as if he was waiting for somepony.

Fluttershy pointed the right direction to Pinkie Pie, advised her to be quiet with a short "shh!" accompanied by a gesture with her forehoof, and then approached the alley in silence and hid on the balcony of a warehouse office only two floors above the ground in order to hear their discussion, but it was not the first words which shocked her, but the face of the blue unicorn wearing uniform. "He" was actually a "she", contrary to what the shy pegassus thought at first, but, more importantly, had a familiar face she could never forget.

Pinkie Pie was so shocked by the sight that she even forgot to hide after the discovery, but managed to crawl in silence behind a huge box in the end, as she kept her eyes peeled on the blue pony. She could not believe what she saw, because that unicorn was certainly not a part of this murder even in the strangest scenarios she had imagined. The great and powerful Trixie was standing in front of them disguised in a military uniform!

Fluttershy glared in awe over the balcony fence, and could barely process the information in the first few seconds. What was Trixie doing here, and why did she wear a military uniform? There was no way that selfish unicorn could take orders from somepony else, so she was obviously disguised. Was she working with the duke? Many questions haunted her mind, but couldn't wake her up from the shock until Goldengem's courier broke the silence.

"Sorry for being late, but I had to get away from two… problematic ponies."

"Do you have it? Trixie's time is valuable."

"Yes. Take it, and retrieve all the money from the account at the national bank of Blackburg, Eqvancashire, as soon as your train arrives there early in the morning! Nopony has to see you around the palace, so you'd better teleport directly to the central station. The uniform might work in massively populated areas like this one, but the elites in the center of the city know the guards and could start asking questions about you!" said the courier while handing Trixie his special item, which was, contrary to what Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie believed in the first place, a check.

"Trixie knows how to work undercover, you puny guard! Trixie doesn't need your advice." Answered the blue unicorn angrily before snatching the check from the soldier's mouth with her magic.

"I'm just following orders here. The duke sends you his regards, and is very pleased with your… accomplishments. After you get the money, be sure to disappear! Nopony can find you."

Without another word, the blue unicorn's horn started glowing, and within a few seconds she disappeared traceless, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind her. The two friends waited for the dust to clear and for the courier to leave, and only then did they speak to each other. Thunders could be heard in the distance, as Pinkie Pie watched her pegassus friend and suddenly changed her shocked expression into a very excited one.

"Just wait until Twilight hears about this!" said the pink pony cheerfully. They both thought that they made a huge step towards solving the mystery, but were Trixie's "accomplishments" really related to the murder? None of them knew for now, but they had to go back and tell the others about this.

Author's Note: This chapter's title is a refference to Adam Smith's "invisible hand" concept, which represents the market intervention in the economy, and as Trixie's intervention was "invisible" to the rest of the ponies, and she worked for Goldengem who wanted to implement a capitalist agenda in Equestria... I thought the correlation might work. Oh, and please fav or follow if you like the story!

Chapter VI: The Codex Tenebrarum

Was the glass of wine really the cause of the death, how the authorities suspected? Could Lightningrose have lied to her last night about the hoofsteps in Celestia's bedroom, and was it true that she had poisoned the wine? Those were questions which haunted Twilight's mind when she got back to the funeral and even after she got in bed, but Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy's discovery about Trixie's "undercover work" for Goldengem gave her more confidence in her theory, and helped her sleep over the night. After all, the maid couldn't gain anything from Celestia's death, even if she were careful enough not to be discovered, while the duke could get limitless power over Equestria out of it… And now his secret deal with Trixie, which happens to be a pretty powerful magician? Twilight had no doubt anymore. The facts were already pieced together in her mind, but this last piece of news just inspired her the confidence she needed. The last blurry thing were the hoofprints erasing spells, which she vaguely remembered about from a book she red a long time ago, so she had to go to the library first thing in the morning to make some research.

It was all clear for Twilight, all clear except for this last detail. She was so nervous that she could barely wait for spike to wake up and help her, but she needed an assistant if she wanted to be efficient, so she kept slowly pacing around the room from sunrise until her little dragon friend would be awake. She did also fear the fact that without solid empirical evidence, the authorities might discard her theory without considering motives and probabilities as factors, especially now that Goldengem was the new ruler, and evidence was really hard to come by in this case.

After a long morning for the magenta mare, she and spike finally headed to the library.

"Come on Spike, we need to hurry. We've got lots of research to do!"

"Yay…" Replied the baby dragon without the slightest hint of sharing Twilight's enthusiasm, underlining his sleepy and passive attitude by letting out a yawn afterwards.

"Spike, focus! We've got a tight morning schedule, and we should check our equipment in the next two minutes of walking. Let's see now: Parchments?"

Spike yawned again for even more time, and then added a long and seemingly bored "Checked"

"Quills?"

"Checked"

"Ink?"

"Checked"

"Now that should be all for taking notes. Now about further planning in case we have to spend some time looking for information elsewhere and thereby modify our daily, weekly and monthly schedules. Do we have the schedules?"

"Oh, for Celestia's sake Twilight! Why do I have to carry a soccer field's worth of meters in parchments all over the palace? I just want to…" And just before he could finish his sentence, the little dragon closed his eyes and fell on the floor snoring.

"Spike! Come on! We're going back! We need to be prepared for anything, and right now we'll have to delay the whole daily schedule by approximately 3 minutes for going back and taking the schedules with us!"

The little dragon immediately jumped back on his feet after Twilight yelled at him, but he knew how eager Twilight used to be when she had to put her theories to the test, especially concerning such an important matter, so he didn't get mad at her, and simply replied with a "Great. Just great!"After a thrilling research, at least from her perspective, Twilight didn't manage to find a way to reverse a hoofprint erasing spell. On the other hand, she found out that the spell was pretty hard to perform, so there aren't a lot of unicorns who would be able to do it, but Trixie was probably one of those who could. Her friends joined her and Spike after breakfast, as they were all welcome to stay in Canterlot for three more days according to the invitation, and there weren't really much things to do now that the whole city was mourning Celestia.

"I still can't believe you persuaded Rainbow Dash to come help us with our work, guys!" exclaimed Twilight with surprise and enthusiasm.

"Hey, it's not like I became an egghead! The Wonderbolts are nowhere to be found, and it was either this or helping the royal air forces maintain a boring mourning rain over the city… So what do we do?" answered the blue-coated Pegasus.

"Well, you could start by reading those books!" said Twilight while pointing to a pretty tall pile. "Or by helping Spike get down the books in the rare spells section which is up there and hard for him to rea…"

Twilight didn't even finish the sentence, and a thunder like beam of light got all the books in that section down, along with Spike's ladder unfortunately, but the rainbow-like coloured beam had turned backwards and caught the baby dragon before he could hit the ground.

"You mean those books? No problem amiga!" Said Rainbow Dash after pointing to the fallen books.

"Yeah, Ah think she meant getting those books, not hitting everypony 'round 'ya with'em." Pointed Applejack sarcastically when she got out of a big pile.

"Calm down everypony! This is FUN!" said Pinkie Pie while bouncing up and down through the books. "ooooh. Hey look, a spooky book with yellow pages and creepy letters!" added the pink mare while bringing a very big book with thick covers which made a huge cloud of dust when Pinkie dropped it on the floor.

"cough cough Hey, I cough cough didn't observe this earlier. Where did you find it Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight curiously.

"I think it was cough cough hidden in that locked drawer on the top shelf, hidden by the rest of the books." Replied Rainbow Dash.

"Locked drawer? I'm sorry dear, but all I can see up there is a hole." Pointed Rarity in her distinctive calm and elegant manner.

"That's because my cool flight made the door break and fly with the books! By the way, nice catch AJ!" After these words, everypony turned to see an Applejack who also got a wooden door and a lock out of the pile.

"Thanks, Dash, but Ah think 'ya should be more careful next'ime. 'Ya may get the 'hole shelf down." Replied the orange Earth pony in a humorous tone.

"What can I say? One of the disadvantages which comes with a super-cool high speed… You draw in objects like a Tornado! Are you okay A.J?" said Rainbow Dash in a boastful manner at first, but continued by expressing concern for her friend.

"It's o'right! Nothin' but a pile'o'books hit me in the end!"

"Guys, I think Rainbow Dash just made a huge discovery! This book seems to be written in an older unspoken form of Equestrian, and the table of contents says there is a reverse-spell for magical hoofprint erasing from page 369 to 375!" realized Twilight, but before she could search for it, the librarian, an old White Earth Pony with a burgundy mane, interrupted them.

"Stop! You can't read that book! That's the Codex Tenebrarum, an encyclopedia of dark magic written by a group of sorcerers supporting Nightmare Moon during the Equestrian Civil War. There is only one copy of this book remained in the whole of Equestria, and there is a reason why it is hidden!" said the librarian while taking the book off their hoofs. "The law strictly forbids any use of this book without princess Celestia's approval, and now, without king Goldengem's approval! The magic inside is so powerful and dark that it could rip off the all the love and goodness from a not-too-skilled unicorn who tries to use it! The legend says all those who did without the proper magical abilities turned into soulless carriers of evil and doom, pretty much like Nightmare Moon, which could kill entire legions of changelings because of the hatred and lack of love they emanated!"

"That sounds scary, Twi! Maybe we should just look in the other… dozens of books for your spell!" Said Spike while trembling and cowering behind the Magenta mare.

"Cut it out Spike! It's just a legend! There's nothing to be afraid of!" Twilight told Spike in a warm register.

"Yeah. That's what you said about Pinkie's twitchy tail as well, and remember what trouble that got us in?" asked the baby dragon with serious concern.

Twilight didn't answer this second question, which was probably rhetorical, although it made a pretty good point, and in turn spoke to the librarian.

"So this is a copy of the famous Codex Tenebrarum? The real Codex Tenebrarum? The one that was lost during the magical battle of Hastlings during the 1066th day of the civil war, when Nightmare Moon's Unicorn legions planned to use the dark magic to envelop the whole Celestial army in a magical shield which would tighten up until every celestial unicorn was crushed to pieces, but their plan was stopped by a huge rampaging dragon? They had to stay atop of a mountain in order to see the whole battlefield, but because the cover of the book was encrusted with precious stones and they were close to the Dragonlands, a huge dragon attacked them and stole the book, and it has never been seen afterwards… There really is a copy of that ancient magic encyclopedia?" Said Twilight excitedly, impressing all the ponies around her, including the librarian.

"Well, I see you are quite familiar with our history… Yes, that Codex Tenebrarum, and if you are so well documented about it, you should know it is way too dangerous to use. Come here with the king's approval, and then we'll talk!" replied the librarian coldly while turning her back and leaving back to her desk with the book.

"But Goldengem would neva' give'us'is approval!" shouted Applejack from behind.

"Not my problem!" answered the librarian in the same cold register.

"Look, I have a theory regarding Celestia's murder which involves Goldengem, and that book might be our only chance to prove it. It is for the good of all Equestria to find the truth! Would you like to live under the rule of a murderer?" said Twilight bitterly.

"Pretty Please! I'll invite you to our justice-serving party as a special guest if you help us!" added Pinkie Pie while widening her pleading eyes in front of the white-coated mare.

"Murderer? I've never considered that, and it sounds important, but I just can't. If I were to be caught, or if you lose your soul because of it… It is simply too dangerous!"

"Please! I can handle it! I am the element of magic. And it is just a harmless spell which shows magically erased hoofprints!"

"Nothing in that book is harmless! There is indeed a spell which shows erased hoofprints from what I remember, but this is not its sole purpose. It undoes all good magic ever performed in the target area, and it also blocks further uses of good magic in the zone. Moreover, if not controlled well, the target area could immediately extend to the size of the whole palace or downtown Canterlot!"

"How I said, I can control it. I am the element of magic and the fate of Equestria might rest on this spell!"

"And how comes you red this forbidden book? I thought you said nopony could read it without the ruler's approval!" pointed Rainbow Dash to the rest of her friends.

"Well that's true, but as the Royal Librarian, I stumbled across that book two decades ago, not much time after I started working here, and I asked Princess Celestia for permission to read it. Besides, it's not like I could go around and try the magic with my Earth Pony invisible horn…"

The six mares laughed at the librarian's joke, but as there seemed to be no way of obtaining the book peacefully, Twilight checked for any guards nearby, crossed her eyes with Rarity, and after a quick tilt of her head, she froze the old mare into place, while Rarity used her magic to levitate the book in front of Twilight and open it at the right page.

"We're sorry this had to happen darling, but Equestria is not going to save itself without our help, and besides, your mane looks dazzling in that purple aura!" Said Rarity letting an innocent chuckle in the end.

"WHAT? All the 7 pages are… missing!" observed Twilight immediately.

"How is that possible? Ah thought that'rawer was locked! Ah even'ave the broken lock here!"

"Maybe the lock was already broken when Dashie passed by… Maybe this is why the door broke up so easily…" Said Fluttershy quietly.

"Yeah. Great ahdea Fluttershy! The assassin must've stolen both of'em spells to destroy the possibility of bein' discovered!" Concluded Applejack.

"When's the last time you checked the lock darling?" asked Rarity while hovering the book opened where the broken pages were in front of the white-coated earth pony.

"It's impossible! I do it weekly, and it was ok just a day before the assassinate!"

"A day before you say? Well, this doesn't infirm Fluttershy's hypothesis… There's no need for this force field anymore. I'm sorry we had to do it, but I have to ask you two more questions before we let you go."

"Fine, what is it?"

"First, don't you remember the spell yourself, or know somepony who red the book recently and might remember it?"

"No. I am the pony who red it most recently, and the spell needs a one page-long old equestrian incantation in order to be performed. Nopony but Celestia or maybe Luna could know it."

"Luna, you say… We needed to talk to her anyway. Ok, and second, could anypony steal the time spell before the library was closed? This is very important since the assassin wouldn't have stolen it an hour after the death of Celestia if she could do it earlier."

"No, since the time spell was on that shelf facing my desk directly. I would've noticed anypony trying to steal it while I was here. Now, would you please release me!"

"Of Course. Sorry for your trouble! Come on guys, we have to find princess Luna urgently!"

"Yes, she knew all those nasty things about this so called duke's rule, and now she could help us with the spell too. Race you to her royal apartment A.J!"

Chapter VII: In Vino Veritas

The six mares and Spike arrived at Luna's apartment in no time, only to find her temporary servant inside, and to be pointed towards a Coffee Shop in downtown Canterlot. They also learned that Luna left there this morning to meet with Cadence, and that she didn't get much sleep in the last days and needed coffee to resist. When they had arrived at a nice café facing a park, they found out that the servant did not lie at all. They saw only Luna inside, drinking a cup o'coffee all by herself, but the dark circles under her eyes pointed towards a lack of sleep from her part.

"Wow. I didn't look like that since I walked through the dangerous wastelands outside Equestria to search for my dragon brethren! The swamps and the forests out there are so dangerous that I couldn't sleep a moment in them…" stated Spike in a somehow obvious attempt to impress some unicorn.

"Oh, poor little Spikey! That's what happens when you don't listen to your friends and leave us for the wilderness!" Said Rarity stroking the little dragon's head without any reservation, although he was the one pleased about it.

"Ok. We should go inside. She'll probably be happy to see some friendly faces!" noticed Twilight without knowing how many truth lied in her words. Many fancy ponies passed bye with their monocles and toppers in the rain, but none of them stopped in the coffee shop. Even the ones who were already there moved to the other side of the main room just to avoid Luna. She was feared again. The wind carried the "Equestria Daily" through the air with its wet pages or the scared voices of the ponies who red it, both of them warning about Luna's possible involvement in the assassinate and the unsuccessful cleansing of Nightmare Moon. The rain wasn't just commemorative for Luna. She was said, she was alone, she had lost the mare she loved the most in this world since she was cleansed by the elements of harmony, and, even worse, she was suspected of murder complicity and the queendom had fallen into the hands of Goldengem, whom she knew really well. It was raining outside, just like it was raining in her world, and although she was the princess of the night, now the grey wet atmosphere and the lead-heavy silence enveloping the streets did nothing but empower the pain she was feeling and deepen the limitless depression she was falling in.

The drops of water would just hit the old cobbled roads over and over again on a sluggish manner outside, and the whispering voices inside would never stop making quiet remarks of fear about her, solidifying the air she was breathing, and turning it into a mentally suffocating atmosphere of lead, along with the depressing yellow colour of its precipitates. There seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel, no oxygen to help her get past the clouds of tireless and infinite work, no hoof to be lend to her for resisting the greedy ambitions of Goldengem and the hostile popular vision, and for completing the chores of bringing both day and night. When she saw Twilight Sparkle and her friends, it was indeed a relief.

"Twilight Sparkle? We did expect thou here! What is it what thou wishest to speak of?"

"Hello there, princess Luna. My friends and I would like to wish you condolences for the death of your sister and our beloved queen, as we didn't get to talk at the ceremony."

"Yes. The death of Princess Celestia pained us greatly, and it probably did even more so in the case of your serene highness, so we would all like to express our deepest compassion for you and her royal majesty in these troubled times. We know you are not responsible for the terrible occurrences at the palace, and, as the civilized members of equestrian society we are, we wanted to share our thoughts." Added Rarity to make the message more suited for a royal heir in her opinion.

"That's exactly what Twilight said…" muttered Rainbow Dash for herself with a sense of boredom as she got carried away by Rarity's speech.

"Thank ye all for thy concern, but something tells us that this is not the sole purpose of thy visit. Are we right?"

"Yes, you are right princess. We are here because we have serious reasons to suspect duke Goldengem of being the stallion behind Celestia's murder, and…"

Princess Luna's anger was visible when Twilight brought up the subject, and she couldn't keep herself from interrupting the Magenta unicorn in the end.

"Of course Goldengem is the stallion behind the crime! He got absolute power over Equestria because of it, and ye don't know how hungry for power he is! Back in Horsingham, while we were banished on the moon and controlled by our darker side, he ruled with an iron fist. He took all the lands of the peasants in the kingdom under his feudal domain and turned them into serfs. He used the guards to appease them and destroyed their houses to extend his maize and wheat fields, so that he would get more wealthy and live in a luxurious castle which could rival Celestia's. Peasants were forced to live in tents, work all day long, and die of exhaustion or military appeasement sometimes, and that was all at the countryside! In the town of Horsingham, he had imposed huge taxes on artisans and merchants, so that they would be all replaced by big workshops or trading companies mostly owned by the lords. He would also kill everypony trying to report to Celestia, and for decades, he ruled as a tyrant, despite the fact he was just a governor. Peasants and craftsponies lived horribly alike, as he only favoured the elites! When 'Lestia found out about him and banished him to Eqvancashire, he defended by saying he "made the county richer", and now he's doing it all over again!"

"You mean'e just got over with'it? If Ah were Celestia, Ah would've banished'im to the moon for so much injustice'nd evil!" said Applejack angrily.

"'Lestia already had resentments about our exile, orange one! He was family as well, so she forgave him. We do understand thee though, as we would've done the same from 'Lestia's position! She was too forgiving!"

"That was awful! I wonder what did he do to the poor critters who lived in the houses and the fields… I bet they suffered just as much as the ponies." Said Fluttershy with a saddened expression of her face.

"But even if he didn't, such a horrible lord is certainly not worthy of the name! He may have royal blood under his coat, but he certainly doesn't have a royal etiquette or a generous heart!" said Rarity while still being in shock

"And the way he stabbed Celestia in the back after she made him governor and trusted him… He deserved to be banished for insubordination! Princess Luna, you are the rightful heir to the throne, and we will be loyal to you if this two-faced murderer unleashes his terror again!" said Rainbow Dash, agreeing with Applejack on the matter from a different motive.

"Yeah, he was a big big MEANIE! I bet nobody made him extra-sweet delicious heartwarming magnificent mouth melting ninth cloud taking perfect CUPCAKES!" said Pinkie Pie emphasizing the last word with a loud scream. "If somepony did, I bet he wouldn't have been like that! HEEEEEYYY! I know what needs to be done. Everypony wait right here!" The pink mare had disappeared in a cloud of smoke and burst through the doors of the café's kitchen, followed by a chef's scream and many colliding pots and plates.

"I'll go fetch her before she scares the cute little mice in there… I'm on my way." The yellow Pegasus almost whispered these words, but the silence in the almost empty room helped her friends understand.

"I'd worry more about somepony kicking us out because of that" noted Spike in an attempt at a joke, but the fact that he saw two big stallions kicking Pinkie Pie out of the kitchen and approaching their table made him swallow his tongue. Yet, the two stopped before advancing any further, and looked at Luna with their facial expressions slightly changed.

"The boss didn't say the crazy pink pony is friends with Nightmare Moon! What should we do?" Asked one of them almost in desperation

"You should run and never look back again, because Nightmare Moon is going to catch you!" said Pinkie Pie scaring them, and then going back to the kitchen with Fluttershy trying to stop her.

"Huh, we can't take this anymore, Twilight Sparkle! Thou witnessed the reaction of ponies when they saw us. Everypony fears us now, and it is all the fault of the manipulating duke!"

"About that… I never got to finish that last sentence regarding Goldengem and his complicity in the murder. You see, we could expose him if" but Twilight got interrupted again by the screams of a certain pink pony.

"Come, Pinkie Pie! This is not the Sugar Cube Corner… We can't bake cupcakes here." Fluttershy told Pinkie Pie as she was dragging her back to the table.

"But I have… to… make… my… extrasweetdeliciousheartwarm ingmagnificentmouthmeltingni nthcloudtakingperfect CUPCAKES!"

"How I was saying, we could expose him with a magic-erasing spell from Codex Tenebrarum, but the pages with the old-equestrian incantation were missing, and we thought you could remember it, since you were… Nightmare moon when the book was written." Twilight knew this was a delicate topic, so she tried to sound as polite as she could.

"Codex Tenebrarum? We're sorry Twilight Sparkle, but we can not help thee with this issue! We were Nightmare Moon back when we took part in writing that vile book, so if thee needest a spell listed there in thine investigation, we should look for it in Nightmare Moon's memories, which are lost deep in our subconscious."

"So, is there no way you would remember it? It is one of the only ways to expose the duke." Twilight insisted.

"We couldest remember it, but Nightmare Mood wouldest posses us again if we were to search unto her memories without power, and we are exhausted now! It is way too dangerous to help thee Twilight Sparkle! We hadest to bring about both day and night, and our magical powers art consumed! We didn't sleep for days, and although princess Cadence offered to help us now with the night watch, those dark memories are still too strong!" Princess Luna finished the phrase with a saddened look on her face, as she remembered now the cruel unspeakable things she did in the past.

"We understand. Thank you for your time, princess! Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, let's go! We'll eat lunch in a nice restaurant and meet Shining Armor this evening!"

"Yes, it was a most pleasant conversation, your highness, and let me assure you that we will do everything in our power to serve justice and give your majesty her rightful throne! Especially if your majesty could give us just a tiny little title like"

"Rarity, what the hay? Ah think we're done here! We can't wait for'ya until 'ya'll be a duchess or somethin'!" Applejack hurried the blue-eyed unicorn before she could trigger Luna's Canterlot voice of enragement, (or at least that's what she was thinking, as, after all, Luna had just told them that she detested Goldengem for being a greedy Machiavellian pony, and Rarity's desire for an aristocratic title was greedy) and the six ponies trotted their way out of the café.It was dark outside. A fool moon stood graciously at the epicenter of a mosaic of illuminating stars, in a heavenly picture which seemed to honor the goddess of the night as she walked towards her room for some rest. The whole sky resembled a strange modern chandelier, shining asymmetrically in all directions and guiding the lonely path of the almighty princess of the night – the strongest alicorn of all Equestria. It was somehow ironical that Nightmare Moon had craved for that impressive title for centuries, but it brought only sadness to Luna.

24 hours had passed since the funeral, and this was the reason which caused the commemorative rain to stop and the sky to look pure and bright again. Princess Cadence made her way towards the watch tower in the cold night air, accompanied by her husband, with whom she parted ways on the castle walls. Shining Armor entered a small guest room, where 6 other ponies and one baby dragon already waited.

"Sorry for being a little late guys, but I waited for Cadence so that we would go to the castle together."

"No problem BBBFF. What's important is that you are here now and we can begin! First things first, we need to recapitulate the facts" said Twilight happily.

"Oh boy!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she expected a very long boring speech from her friend.

"Hey, every detail is important guys! This is the murder of," Twilight stopped letting out a sigh, and then proceeded "Princess Celestia after all. Every lead is important and you should pay attention to my clues, as you might have new ideas!" She finished the sentence with a hint of anger in her voice, and silence now reigned over the room. Everypony knew how important Celestia was for the magenta unicorn, and Rainbow Dash herself seemed to be interested now.

"Good. First, we found out that the time travelling spell had been stolen as well, which means only that the assassin wanted to make sure his plan couldn't be stopped by anypony from the future, as theft is very rare in Equestria and it is very unlikely this was a coincidence. Second, when I arrived with Shining Armor in the imperial bedroom, I noticed that although the broken glass was very close to the body, there was no fragment of glass and no drop of wine on Celestia's coat, while there were plenty in other directions, which could only mean that the glass had been dropped there when the princess was at a bigger distance. Sure, this could have meant that Celestia tried to put the glass on a table after she drank some wine, and as soon as the poison kicked in she failed to levitate it any longer. In her last moments, she could have crawled accidentally towards the broken glass, but the other clues led me to believe something else. Third and fourth, there were the discoveries made by Pinkie and Fluttershy – that some ponies at the palace, like the messenger they followed, worked for Goldengem and that Trixie, a powerful magician, performed a task for the new king."

"Yay! Hear that Fluttershy, we've got two clues! TWO! Nopony's a better investigator than Pinkie Pie!" The pink mare started bouncing around the room while repeating the phrase "we've got two clues!" in a cheerful way and making Spike dizzy with her fast circling around, as dragons were naturally slower and lazier creatures than ponies, mostly because of their size but also because of their reptilian genes. Still, the intervention of a certain beautiful mare whose voice could just carry the little dragon to the highest depths of the sky without learning to flap his wings replaced the dizziness with blushing and many antagonistic feelings such as compassion on one side, and a broken manly pride for not standing up for himself on the other.

"Pinkie Pie, stop! You're positively knocking the little fellow of his feet! Isn't that right, spikey-wikey?"

After a little chuckle, the dragon answered hesitantly with a quick "Sure!". He was at a loss of words afterwards, at least until he finally managed to look the mare in the eyes and answer with a much warmer, profound and somehow passionate "Thank you, Rarity!"

Spike didn't know where this new tone of his voice came from, but he felt a warm sensation coming from deep within as he kept starring at Rarity, and even Twilight seemed to pay more attention to the baby dragon now. His feelings for Rarity where known to Twilight since the first time she arrived in Ponyville, but she mostly neglected them as they resembled an innocent childish crush. Regardless, things had changed since Rarity saved him from becoming a rampaging dragon. He started thinking more about her, paying more attention to his looks, reading a few romantic novels and even poetry while he was supposed to help Twilight from time to time, and now this mature different voice? Her little assistant might really be in love, and this thought concerned Twilight a bit. If Goldengem was to remain King, and if Luna's description of his goals was real, then he might just want to get rid of them because of their "dangerous" investigation, and a mature enamoured dragon would do anything to protect his love, and might even turn feral if something would happen to Rarity. Twilight loved her friends more than everything in the world, but she also felt responsible for Spike as he grew up with her, and the thought of not being able to protect him from danger because of his strong affections sent shivers down her spine. No, she could never cope with that, and there weren't many prospects for a bright future in her mind. If Shining could convince the other chief investigators that Goldengem should be labeled suspect, then she would have nothing to worry about, but she did not have a great lot of evidence or witnesses on her side, and the picture of a world like the one Luna described at the café was sticking in her head.

"Very well. Where was I? … Right, the fifth clue. There was this witness who saw Lightningrose, the main suspect, go back to her room about 10 minutes after she served Celestia the drink, and Lightningrose told us that she had heard hoofsteps in Celestia's room. Sure, she could have lied, but I checked with that witness today, a young tailoress named Peachy Blossom, and she confirmed Lightningrose's statement about the hoofsteps."

"Maybe, but it still doesn't make sense sis. There were hoofprints only between the body and the door. There's no way the princess could've moved only a few yards in 10 minutes!"

"Exactly! But she moved much more than a few yards. In fact, she was probably still alive. Why? Well, my sixth clue was the fact that the only spell which could reverse hoofprint erasing spells disappeared too, and theft is extremely rare in Equestria, so it is most plausible that the assassin needed it gone. Now, if Lightningrose was the killer, why would she need to steal that spell, as she is a Pegasus and she couldn't have erased hoofprints in the first place? So, somepony else did it, and that pony needed to be a unicorn or an alicorn. Then, there comes the fact that Trixie performed "undercover work" for Goldengem, who had gained the most from both Celestia's death and framing one of Luna's sevants, and needed to disappear unseen as fast as possible. We have two witnesses for that, and they are, after all, elements of harmony, so the investigators should believe them. And even if they don't, Goldengem would still be a suspect, as he could have done it himself. A powerful unicorn like Trixie could use a teleportation spell without much difficulty, and as the authorities concluded that the bottle of wine Lightningrose used wasn't poisoned, we can deduce that the princess wasn't poisoned at all by the glass of wine, but by an infiltrating Trixie after she drank it and fell asleep."

"After she fell asleep? But it doesn't make sense! Why were there drops'o'wine on the floor if… Twilight, ar'ya' suggesting that the 'hole scene was set to frame Lightningrose, an'then the hoofprints erased?"

"Precisely! Think about it. Why else would hoofprints erasing be necessary? The killer fooled us all. One of Goldengem's ponies saw Lightningrose pouring the wine, the message reached Trixie, and then she used the same type of wine to poison Celestia in her sleep, as I can't imagine anypony defeating Celestia otherwise. Afterwards, she broke the empty glass, poured drops of poisoned wine on the floor, took Celestia's body to the middle of the room and erased any incriminating hoofsteps so that the blame would go to Luna. Her only mistake, which actually gave me this idea in the first place, was that she had broke the glass and poured the wine before she actually moved the body!"

"Wow, Twilight, it all ads up! I would've never suspected you coming with such a good theory in only one day of investigations!" Shining Armor took his sister in a tight hug after he said these words. Despite the fact he didn't admit it, Twilight had helped him a lot, and this was the brotherly way he could show his appreciation. He then proceeded with a more worried tone "The only weakness of your theory is that it relies upon the fact that the pages from Codex Tenebrarum couldn't have been stolen by somepony else, and Goldengem's supporters may use it as an excuse."

"Well, they might, and that's why I was desperated to reverse the hoofprints spell and get solid proof… You should at least persuade the investigators to consider it, and Goldengem will already by a suspect!"

"I'll try, sis. All I'm saying is most of them are rich high-ranking officers, and although many of them trust me, some might support the new king."

"Yeah, we all 'now Canterlot's full o'stuck-up'onies, but what Ah don't understand is why woul'Trixie kill for money! Ah mean, she was boastful'n'all, but she was a simple travellin' magician in the end! She was an'artist, a selfish'owmare who performed to make a livin', not a killer!" Applejack could imagine Goldengem doing everything conventional pony society would regard as evil from what she had seen herself and heard from princess Luna's description, and maybe partly out of disgust. Lies and unfairness were two of the things Applejack rejected the most, and Goldengem was defined by both of them, and the things she loved most on this world were her friends and her family, which might be both endangered by him considering the investigation and how he treated peasants! She was ready to do everything to protect her friends and her family, and she always desired a fairer and better Equestria for all the hardworking ponies she knew, while Goldengem seemed to be her pure opposite. He could commit any kind of atrocity for power, but not Trixie. Sure, Applejack didn't like the blue unicorn at first, and she believed her friends wholeheartedly, but she couldn't understand why Trixie would do it. After the blue mare left the town sad and with all her gear destroyed by the Ursa, she somehow pitied her sorry fate. Sure, Trixie tried to humiliate her, but the fact that they left Trixie with absolutely nothing gave her bad feelings of guilt and resentment several times.

"Yes, she was a big meanie to everypony, but she was alone and she didn't have a home… I don't know if I could be friendly if somepony took me away from my home, Angel and all my cute little animals. She was just mean, but she wasn't a bad bad pony! And even yesterday in the alley, she seemed sad to me." noticed the shy yellow Pegasus.

"Well, maybe it was just a coincidence! Maybe that two-faced traitor was the murderer, and he paid Trixie for something else, like teaching him hard eggheadish spells." Replied the other Pegasus.

"It's not totally impossible, but it is pretty improbable. Also, as I forgot to tell you, I discovered that Goldengem has a winery at his estate and Eqvancashire, a bottling factory in the port of Zanzebra, which is in the eastern Zebralands, and is one of the main suppliers of wine for the Canterlot palace, so he could easily get both the wine and the poison.'

"Well, let's just hope it will be enough Twi!"

"Yeah, we'll give the throne to a 100% cooler pony, a pony who deserves it!" replied Rainbow Dash with enthusiasm.

Everypony inside Twilight's room was now pretty excited about the possibility of giving Luna her rightful throne, maybe with the exception of Twilight who still dreamed to find Trixie and get back the time spell to save her tutor. And there was another pony who was unhappy about making Goldengem a suspect - a certain general by the name of Ironfist that secretly listened at the door and was now heading towards the throne room with an evil smile on his face…

Author's Note: Ok, this is all for now! More chapters are coming soon, but don't forget to comment or favorite the story if you like it. How I said in the prologue, I will appreciate every review!

Chapter VIII: "The Equestrian Dream"

Author's note: I changed general Ironwill's name to Ironfist, so that he wouldn't be confused with Iron Will, as the names were truly similar and this is only a heads-up for the previous readers of the story. Also, I have to say that the beginning of this chapter is going to be very descriptive, and you might not like it as much as the ones to come, (sorry for that) but the information was needed to create a clear social background for the further chapters and it is essential for understanding the rest of the story, so you MUST read it! - to paraphrase Rarity :)) Enjoy, and please tell me about spelling/grammar mistakes! I'd really appreciate it!

The next few days in Canterlot passed by very quickly for the six mares. Shining Armor was accused of treason and plotting against the regime after Ironfist reported the events of the night to Goldengem, and was removed from both the position of chief investigator and captain of the royal guards, being replaced by the very pony who betrayed him. He was demoted to the rank of general, and was not able to propose Twilight’s theory anymore. Goldengem motivated his actions publicly by saying that there is no evidence to support Shining’s theory and that “Political instability and conflictual tendencies in the military which might lead to a devastating civil war are the last things Equestria needs in these troubled times”, but, as this statement was heavily criticized by many officials, including some chief investigators who were still loyal to Shining Armor, he was forced to show his first display of tyrannical leanings early on in his leadership.

Many ponies agreed to the fact that there was no real evidence to prove Lightningrose’s guilt either, needless to say that Luna’s involvement was merely a supposition and also a very improbable one, so Goldengem went over public opinion, replaced every opposing chief investigator with politically subordinated officers and after no more than a week staged a full anti-Lunar coup d'état in the senate, consolidating his power and increasing his number of enemies in Canterlot for a short period. The removed senators organized protests for the crowning of Princess Luna as the new ruler of Equestria in the aftermath of the autumn coup of 1002 A.N.M.B, but as time passed and the reforms Goldengem implemented benefited their businesses and increased their wealth, most of them started to support the new regime.

In only a few months, several edicts changed the face of Equestrian society. Public education and healthcare budgets were cut down to 0, all trade unions were illegalized and many safety regulations removed, taxes decreased almost to the point of nonexistence so that the economy could develop at a faster pace, and many investments in expensive agrarian and military research were made. The farmers of Equestria initially enjoyed the low taxes and the prospects of a brighter future, but all their hopes were shattered by the prices they had to sell their products on. The much-richer aristocrats modernized all their means of agricultural production by building irrigations and purchasing fertilizers and machinery, thus making the way of hard work of the peasants obsolete. The country Earth Ponies could never afford the newly invented modern tools of production and were forced to work tirelessly for their bare survival, many of them choosing to sell their lands and come into cities where industrialization was at full scale.

They would get a dangerous or poorly paid job there, and some of them had been forced by the circumstances to employ their little fillies as well. Competitive entrepreneurs like the FlimFlam Brothers grabbed several apple orchards, and started monopolizing the whole national cider market with their almost instantly-generated low price cider, sending thousands of Apple family members out of business. In less than three years, because of their flourishing business which sold both cider and cider-making machines to other big landowners, they expanded into apple sales on national scale as well, and provided a tough competition for the small farmers of the country.

As Goldengem aspired to the riches of the dangerous Dragonlands, military production and research companies were granted special privileges such as non-taxation and lack of any kind of safety regulations, and the invention of the rifle and the first artillery guns came pretty quickly, offering the possibility of a very dangerous Earth Pony and Pegasus army which could accompany the magical divisions of Unicorns. In order to colonize those barbarian territories and steal their riches, the king needed a very strong and expensive army which could literally face “the flames of war”, so he did also enact the “decree of the everlasting sun” before December 1002, interdicting the generation of snow from the weather factory, and stipulating that all winter-related holydays (like the New Year or the wrap-up) are due to be cancelled forever, just like the winter itself, in order to achieve bigger harvests and generate even more economic growth at the expense of the poor. As these directives were followed suit by the weather factory, many opposition and protest movements erupted over the nation, but none of them grew popular as they had all been brutally appeased by the military, the methods the regime used varying from simple beatings to imprisonment or even lethal gunfire every once in a while. Ponykind had never faced such a tyrannical regime, powered by the greedy thirst for gold and blood of a leader who did everything to achieve more power, even if that meant concentrating all the wealth in the hands of a rich elite.

Champagne was pouring in crystal glasses in Canterlot, while the ponies of Equestria were living in poverty and were constantly struck by pandemics such as malaria due to the lack of proper health care. By 1006 A.N.M.B, the preparations were over, the needed coal and gunpowder resources secured, and the war against the Dragonlands had begun. Ponyville did not escape the marauding reform either. Twilight had lost her job as royal student tasked to write friendship reports immediately after they arrived at home and remained nothing but a librarian, Rarity’s business went bankrupt as big clothing companies produced their commodities on assembly lines now and she didn’t want to leave Ponyville to take a designer job, Applejack suffered from the same problems as every farmer in the country, Rainbow Dash did not have to clear the now more-restricted weather anymore and was left unemployed, Pinkie Pie had fewer and fewer clients at the Sugar Cube Corner after Filthy Rich’s Mc’cupcakes expanded in the little town with a new bakery, and Fluttershy was devastated when massive deforesting was started at the beginning of 1004 A.N.M.B for the construction of the new Ponyville diamond mine, jewelry refining plant, ammunition plant and the auxiliary apartment buildings for these facilities, as thousands of forest critters were left homeless. A new Ponyville was being built, and it didn’t resemble their nice, quiet and happy home any longer. The home of the elements of harmony was thrown in disharmony by greed and lust for power, and, at least according to a still happy and humorous Pinkie Pie, Discord could take lessons on chaos from Goldengem, as chocolate rains are much tastier and better than plagues and “NO HEARTH’S WARMING EVE PARTIES!”…

Had it not been for Rarity’s gem finding spell and Spike’s eager contribution in collecting them, all these vicissitudes would have affected the group just as much as the rest of Equestria. However, it was not the case, and the gem-selling business, along with a few luxury dresses Rarity was able to sell from time to time, provided enough income to help the less fortunate members of the group and to finance the group’s endeavors.

Since the first day the six mares got back home, Twilight red everything about the Codex Tenebrarum and made trips all over Equestria to search for the original and for Trixie, but her effort proved to be fruitless. Months of tireless research passed by, but the ancient book remained a mystery and the mare who probably stole the pages and the time spell was missing and was nowhere to be found. It was like Trixie vanished from existence, as nopony knew anything about her whereabouts since Celestia’s death, not even the representatives of the Bank of Eqvancashire in Blackburg! Her friends helped or accompanied her in every possible task, as they were all saddened by what happened to ponies everywhere because they couldn’t solve the puzzle of the Royal murder. Even Shining Armor would come from time to time to check on the progress and help with information.

Despite being buried in work, Twilight observed that her bigger brother was somehow distant and confused every time he came in Ponyville, and one winter night she persuaded him into telling her what thoughts haunted his mind. A wind of change and unholy warmness of February blew in from Cloudsdale, stroking the mane of the two unicorns over the once-frozen fields of a quiet little provincial town, now peculiarly disguised in a sick poison joke of endless green.

“It’s horrible, Twi! It’s just… too much. So, so much! Yesterday, I was tasked to “stop” some ponies who protested against the no-winter holidays reform in Manehattan “by any means possible”, and I was even ordered to use lethal spells against the protesters! Yet, I made a pledge to protect this nation, to do anything for its interests and its well-being and to serve its government, no matter how bad or good it is, so I had to finish my mission. A good soldier must serve the nation, but a good brother must always help his little sis, and those things can’t happen simultaneously any longer! Celestia knows Twi that I love you more than I love everything in this world and I will never betray you or stop helping you, but I love my country too and I don’t know what to do! I want to join the underground Lunar resistance and stop fighting my fellow ponies, but my soldier obligations won’t allow me! You know that I’d never cross my word Twi, so I have to serve Goldengem as well as long he is the ruler…”

“Brother, you swore to protect Equestria and the well-being of everypony, and those are the very things Goldengem destroys! Cutting Health and Education budgets for the military and offering privileges to the elites until the farmers are starving and the middle class is destroyed are all attacking the well-being of Equestria! By betraying him you won’t even betray the government you should serve, as the rightful government of our country opposed him and was dissolved this autumn! Shining, you were always my BBBFF and I love you too more than the light in my eyes and the sun on a cold winter day, and this is why I tell you that you should stop following these orders! You can protect Equestria by helping the few remained Lunar rebels in Canterlot give the throne to the rightful heir or by helping us get the time spell and bring… Celestia back, not by working for a heartless monster who destroys everything. You are the best, Shining, and I’ll always trust you!” Said the magenta unicorn while pulling her bigger brother into a tight hug and letting her tears flow.

He was rendered speechless by the reaction of his beloved sister, and did nothing else but letting out a sigh and pulling into the hug as well. Before parting ways, he looked Twilight in the eyes and tried to force a smile on his visibly pained face.

“I’ll always be here for you Twi, and if Goldengem ever threatens you, I’ll fight him and all of his armies to protect you, but for now, I must obey my government. An honest stallion never crosses his oath.”

These were the last words he said before leaving that night, and the white unicorn never mentioned the cruel deeds he was forced to commit in any other meetings. The first year had passed, leading to no breakthroughs in the research of the six mares, exactly like the second or the third one.

Many things happened until the year of 1006 A.N.M.B, like Big Mac’s recent recruitment in the armed forces after the apples realized that they could no longer live only on their farming earnings, or Spike’s growth in height of approximately 10 inches which allowed him to stand almost at the same level Twilight or Rarity did, although he was far even from becoming a teenage dragon.

It was a nice spring morning in Ponyville, and Applejack and Fluttershy were heading back home after a meeting at the library. Fluttershy would usually go home with Rainbow Dash, but as the blue pegassus didn’t show up at the meeting today, she left with the other pony who lived in the town’s outskirts.

“I just can’t believe what happened all this time, Applejack! The princess gone, our beautiful forest cut down, Ponyville becoming unsafe with all this soldiers and grumpy scary ponies in the new quarter… It’s really bad. I have to take care of thousands of animals now that their former home is gone, and I’m really worried about your brother now that he left to fight the big, mean and scary… dragons.”

“Don’t worry Fluttershy! Ah’m sure Big Mac’s gonna’be just fine! He’s a strong stallion.” Said Applejack partly to calm herself, not only to confort her friend.

“Anyway, ah don’t how ah’m goin’to buck’em apples now. Ah’ve got a full orchard to harvest, and ya know how’ah handled that much apples by mahself last’ime.”

“You should ask Rainbow Dash. She is a good friend in need, and we don’t want you tired again.”

“Ah know… An’now that that magical items shopkeepa’ from Blackburg sent us a letter ‘bout Trixie, Twilight may need me to go an’investigate, and mah family needs help too. What the hay? Ah should go ask Rainbow Dash, but Ah s’ppose she might be busy today as she didn’t show up.”

“She said that they needed her at the Wonderbolts Academy. The instructors were mobilized in the war, and the best students have to train the new recruits themselves for a few days, but she’ll come back in one or two days. I need help too with finding a few rabbits who ran in the Everfree forest when their home was destroyed. I, I… I’m afraid they will starve or be eaten by some horrible beast in that scary Celestia forsaken place.”

“Ah can help you with that. Winona and me make a great team when it comes to tracking livestock… ah mean, animals.” Applejack corrected her mistake after she met a seemingly furious gaze from Fluttershy, and her friend’s face lightened up immediately.

“You would? Oh thank you so, so much, Applejack! But I wouldn’t want you to let your family down. You are busy with the harvest, and”

“No worries sugarcube! Ah’d neva’ miss a chance to help a friend. Besides, this’ll be an easy task if Ah can find somepony to help me buck those apples today. Ah don’t have the time to wait for Rainbow… Hey, what’s all that fuss about?”

The two turned their attention towards a nearby street which led to the new quarter. Several shouts could be heard from the far end of the street, and a very big crowd of ponies was amassed in front of a huge building with big cylindrical furnaces.

“I don’t have any idea. That is the place where they make ammunition for their evil killing machines. I don’t want to go there. It’s a dark and… dangerous place.” Pointed out Fluttershy with fear in her voice.

“Come on Fluttershy! Ah s’ppose takin’ a look wouldn’t hurt anypony. Maybe the new ponies ain’t so friendly’n happy, but Ah still think we should help’em if they’re in trouble, and get to know’em better!”

“Okay. I just hope the soldiers with evil killing machines aren’t the cause of the problem. A look wouldn’t hurt us, but they can.”

“It’s okay, sugarcube. Nopony’s gonna’ be shot in mah town! Not even if that fancy tyrant comes’here wit’his own gun. It’d be mah pleasure to buck the hay out of him!”

“If you say so. Pinkie Pie said the new ponies are nice too, but the soldiers and some of them seem a little bit dangerous.” Concluded Fluttershy with resignation as she couldn’t stop her justice-loving friend from intervening. She also wanted to help any pony in need, even the ponies who lived now on what used to be the house of her animal friends, so she was supporting Applejack’s decision, but she feared the fact that Goldengem might order his ponies to dispose of them if they kept meddling in his affairs, like searching for Trixie and helping his opponents in the same time.

As they got closer to the factory’s main entrance, they saw a big group of ponies gathered in front of the plant with several banners, and a considerable number of soldiers standing close-by and shooting cold looks at the workers. The workers seemed to be led by a crimson earth pony with a golden mane, who kept shouting protest slogans from the middle of the group. The two mares could not see his cutie mark, as many ponies, even some fillies, stood alongside him, but they could hear some kind of song when they got closer.

We won’t work another minute
We won’t work another minute
If the fillies are still beaten
If the fillies are still beaten
And the strike we will not stop
And the strike we will not stop
Till the wages don’t go up!
Till the wages don’t go up!
Basic rights is all we wanted
Basic rights is all we wanted
Trade unions must be founded!
Trade unions must be founded!

Every phrase was sung at first by only one pony, and then a chorus of hundreds of ponies would follow. This description of the working conditions made Applejack’s conception of Goldengem even worse. Some members of her family were now working in factories, and she knew they had a 12 hours workday, a wage which isn’t big enough to feed an entire family and machines where clumsy or even negligent ponies could get their hoofs chopped, but the employment of fillies and corporal punishment upon them? That was a new low.

After the song, the crimson pony proceeded immediately with a lecture which seemed to be addressed to the ponies around him.

“We will never go back to work unless they make some concessions! Not a hoofstep back, comrades! We work 12 hours a day at very high temperatures and humidity only to get a miserable wage which forces us to employ even our little fillies if we want to afford medication or a bed we could sleep in! Many of us had to sell their lands and bring their families to their new homes, and those can’t even afford to feed everypony properly! The food is cheap and plenty now, sure, but our wages are so low that we can’t afford anything else! Businesscolts such as Fancypants, Flim and Flam or Filthy Rich expand their business empires and their luxury mansions every day because of the wealth we create, while we have to see our fillies remaining uneducated and hurt in acid spills or beaten if they take a break! There’s no backing away! We are the engine of Equestria, comrades! We want the rights Celestia gave us, or the proletarians will rise up!!! We’ll stand in solidarity with the workers of Manehattan, Stalliongrad, Canterlot and all of Equestria until this tyrant falls in the fires of revolution!”

After this mysterious crimson stallion finished his passionate speech, a wave of sounds which could be described as a hybrid of cheers and battle cries erupted from the crowd, apparently putting the soldiers on alert.

“Silence! There is no negotiating! Strikes are illegal according to the decree of the reformation of labour, and we will use force if you don’t go back to work immediately! This is the last warning, slackers!” An officer who had just arrived shouted this words, but the crowd reacted by cheering more vehemently and by starting to shout in chorus “We won’t back away!”.

Annoyed, the officer whispered something to another soldier, and in a few seconds, without other words, he shot a bullet in the air to calm the spirits, and then addressed the protesters.

“Very well, you lazy slackers! You asked for it! If you don’t go back to work immediately, we’ll open fire on the fillies on charges of collective insubordination! You don’t believe me? I sent a team to infiltrate the building on the other side so that they could aim at the fillies in the back. Sergeant Lonely Flyer, take positions and order your team to ready their weapons!”

“Sir, yes sir!” replied a voice from the inside of the building, where a handful of soldiers could be seen aiming their guns at the crowd.

“This is a shameless abuse!” “Murderers!” “How could you?” “Mindless slaves of the tyrant!” or “Please, spare our fillies gentlecolts! They did nothing to you!” were just a few of the cries which could be understood in the desperate rumbling of the workers now.

“Hold on a sec officer! The mayor’ll neva’ approve this ‘buse, and neither do Ah and mah friend here!
We’re elements of harmony and your king needs us, so you’d better stop now! Right partner?” Said Applejack with a lot of confidence, while Fluttershy seemed to be shaking behind.

“Well, I guess. You are really mean, sir!”

“Damn sure he is! Nopony ain’t gonna’ be shot in our town!”

“Stay out of this miss! This is not your business and I receive orders only from my superiors, not from the “elements of harmony”. Your princess died a long time ago, and so did your power! Now you pile of slackers will either get in the factory and work, or your fillies will join this loudmouth’s princess! Soldiers, seize their leader!”

Applejack could barely keep herself from bucking the officer’s flank, but she knew that the Goldengem’s ponies were capable of anything and she priced the lives of the little fillies too much to risk it. She could just imagine Applebloom being forced to work into a factory 12 hours a day and shot by some heartless pony! The little fillies seemed just as innocent as her sister, only a lot dirtier and sad. What kind of heartless beast would threaten to kill them only to achieve its goal?

“Applejack, we should go! We can’t help them now! We will when we find evidence and bring the princess back!”

“Ah s’ppose we can’t, but when will we find evidence, Fluttershy? Ah can’t let ponies be treated like that, ‘specially helpless’ittle fillies! Ah guess… Ah guess Ah’ll just help’ya with the bunnies and hit the hay then.”

The workers returned in the factory defeated, while the leader was fired and hit a few times by the soldiers. The two mares left the street before seeing the end of the scene, but a certain stallion followed them panting heavily.

“Miss, Miss! Wait up! I never got the chance to thank you for trying to help us! I’m Redstar!”

“Well howdy there stranger! Ah’m Applejack, and this fine mare here is Fluttershy, one of mah best friends! Say, aren’t you the pony who led those workers?”

“I merely organized them, Applejack! I wouldn’t say I was their leader. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now as they fired me and I won’t be able to do it anymore. Again, thank you very much for trying to help us. Both of you! It was a very kind gesture.”

“No problem. Hey, are ya by chance lookin’ to earn a few fair bits now that they fired ya?”

“Well, in fact, I do. Why?”

”Ah happen to be a farmer, and ah need some help buckin’ trees and pullin’ carts. Ya seem to be storng’nough to handle it, so, interested?”

“Count me in! I’m eager to work as long as it for the good of the common pony folks of Equestria! You don’t even have to pay me. I know how those big landowners give you a hard time, and it’s the least I could do after you tried to protect the fillies back at the plant!”

“Ah have a feelin’ you and Ah are gonna get along just fine, partner! I appreciate how ya stood up for the poor pony folks back there!”

Applejack parted ways with Fluttershy at the river, and promised to visit and help her later now that she had got some help for bucking apples. Afterwards, she and Redstar went down the way to Sweet Apple Acres. She hoped to get to know this mysterious stallion better, and maybe they could even become friends as he seemed to be a hard-working social justice-advocating pony as well.

The sun was getting up on the sky, and the two Earth Ponies were trotting towards the wide green orchards of the apple family, unaware of the importance their meeting will have in Equestrian history.

Chapter IX: Proletarian Chores

Author's note: I know that this story might seem a bit political at this point, but that is not the most important aspect of the story! The political theme will just create more tension in the story and explore the characters to a higher extent, and I mentioned earlier that I perceive the MLP universe as being set cronologically somewhere in the late Victorian era, when many new progressive ideas tried to change the face of the world, especially in Absolute Monarchies like czarist Russia or imperial Germany, which resemble Goldengem's Equestria.

Although it was a sunny morning, Ponyville was covered by a thick layer of grey clouds, stretching from the top of the furnaces at the ammunition and jewelry processing plants over the whole town, including some of the Sweet Apple Acres orchards.

The factories were towering over Ponyville as monuments of modernity, but they were painting the happy town’s sky in a desolated grey of monotony, lifelessness, and, more than everything, they were casting the shadow of darkness over the coloured little town and dreadfully suppressing its spirit. Ponyville was succumbed to industrialization and crowned by its eternal pillow of grey clouds. As these clouds were actually smoke from burning and melting operations, no pegasus could clean the sky, and the melancholic image of a poor desolated community replaced the burgeoning little town which shined at the edges of the Everfree forest in the days of old. The distant hauling of the freighter trains pumping Equestria’s booming economy could be heard quite often now, and their steampower did not hesitate to do its part in blackening the heavens. A new world unfolded before the eyes of ponykind, and its grey steam resembled the dreadfulness of the corrupted society in which it was born.

The drum-like sound of apple bucking perforated the silence of an oppressed world, livening up the atmosphere at the outskirts of Ponyville, where two earth ponies quickened the pace of the nature’s song in a spectacular duet of hind legs kicks and happy work.

At first, Redstar couldn’t keep up with Applejack, but he tried his best not to fall behind as he got the hang of the job. The two were bucking neighboring rows of apple trees so that they could talk at the same time, and were enjoying their time together despite the fact that they were working so fast most ponies would’ve got tired only by watching them. Redstar was a relatively big stallion, being very close to the size of Shining Armor, and in spite of his strength which could rival Applejack’s, he was rather slow compared to the orange mare. She stopped occasionally to wait for him, but they were still working very fast for the alien, untrained-non-apple-family-member-belonging eye.

“YEE-HAW! That’s some good apple buckin’ we’re doin’ out here, partner! So, what’s your story? Ah haven’t seen your face’n town b’fore, so I s’ppose your new in ponyville!”

While panting heavily close behind, the crimson pony took some time to catch his breath and collect his thoughts, and then shouted from behind.

“Well, it’s not too much really! Wait up a little bit! I was born in a poor family from Livelpoor. My parents couldn’t afford sending me to college, so I became a worker at a furniture factory. I spent a lot of the few money I earned on books as I wanted to know more about the world than what I learned in elementary school and wanted to help solve its problems, and that’s how I found the writings of Charles Darwing and Kolt Marx. Their works, but especially the latter’s, changed my vision about the world and inspired me to become a trade-union representative and start fighting for the rights of the workers in all Equestria. That was prior to Celestia’s death. After Goldengem took over, the demand for furniture wasn’t as big as earlier as the wages went down, and the owner decided to close the establishment and invest in something else. That happened last month, and that’s when I left the big city and came in Ponyville!”

“What were those books ‘bout? Ah saw ya aren’t really Goldengem’s best friend, and Ah’m guessin’ ya weren’t as peaceful as a haystack under Celestia’s rule either, so Ah’m a little bit curious ‘bout your ideas! What rights were’ya fightin’for?” said the orange mare between the loud noises of hit wood and falling apples.

“ The principle isn’t hard to understand. As a farmer, you probably know that labour is the most important factor for creating wealth.”

“Hmm… Well, Ah guess so. Apple pies are more ‘xspensive than’em apples, planks than wood, an’every costly product must be built from cheaper raw materials, so ya first need labour b’fore ya can sell anything, and more labour adds more value to goods… Where ya’ goin’ with this?”

“You’ll know immediately, but, first,” the crimson earth pony stopped and kept panting for a few seconds, before he gathered the energy to pronounce the rest of the sentence coherently.

“could we rest a little bit under the shade of this tree when we talk? Running and talking at the same time is tiresome, and we won’t have enough energy for the rest of the orchards if we do it!”

“Sure thing, partner! Ya might be right ‘bout that, but we sure as hay won’t finish it lickety split if we stop. It may even take till sundown!” The orange mare took her hat off and started eating an apple to relax and chill up a little bit, while a light morning breeze from Everfree fluttered her golden mane in the air and caressed her long tail. Some spring flowers were carried by the wind around her in a sublime picturesque manner which could only bewitch any stallion, and make him see the pristine beauty of a mare whose warm heart usually clouded her looks in the eyes of other ponies. Redstar couldn’t find his words at the pulchritudinous sight of the orange mare lying in the wet grass between beams of sunlight and blossoming flowers. An endless ocean of green surrounded her from all sides, flowing peacefully like the song of the turtle doves which echoed through the branches of the tree behind her. He was not only rendered speechless for a few seconds, but he was afraid his affectionate gaze might be wrongly interpreted. This mare seemed to be a really good person and a very pleasant company, and Redstar thought that having her friendship and maybe, someday, something more, would be an honour for any stallion. Many thoughts flew across his mind, but he was soon interrupted by a voice.

“Sooo… Ya’ were sayin’?”

“Right… hehe. Sorry for that!” He readjusted his voice, and went on with the explanation. “So, wealth is created by labour, and under both the Celestian and post-Celestian system, the ponies which produced wealth by both direct ways of physical work or indirect ways of planning and organizing, are not the ones acquiring most of the wealth they produce – the company shareholders are. For example, in a factory where 500 ponies work in shifts and 20 ponies organize the process, the surplus value the ponies add to the raw materials the owner buys goes in small part to invariable costs such as electricity and machinery consumption, in another small part to wages, and, more than half of that value becomes the profit of the owner. The proprietor is entitled to the wealth produced by all the employees without having to do anything, and what is the rightful wealth of the employees is shamelessly spent by him or her, and the situation is the same on the agricultural properties of the landlords, where the peasants are exploited by the aristocrats!”

“Ah agree wit’ya here, but the owners’ave to get back their bits too! A factory’s not easy to buy.”

“Nopony says they shouldn’t do that, but they take much more! Look at the shareholders at Flim & Flam Cyder Corporation to see the clearest example of this situation. They were only two travelling merchants before they invested their bits in the huge Appleloosa terrains they own now, and nowadays, they’ve got their own skyscraper headquarters in Manehattan and their own vacation villa in the Hollywing hills of Los Pegasus, while the workers they brought in Appleloosa barely afford to pay rent! And all rich businessponies did, after all, win much more bits than they paid.”

This particular example brought some unpleasant memories back into Applejack’s head, but she had other more important problems now than thinking about how she and her family could have lost Sweet Apple Acres.

“Ah s’ppose that has to be right, but what do ya propose we do? Ah was as well a little bit disappointed by the inequal’ty in Equestria even b’fore Goldengem took over, but Ah knew princess Celestia and she did a lotta good too! There were some problems sure, but hey, nothin’s perfect, and she didn’t deserve bein’ overthrown! That mare had a good heart.”

“I only said that her rule had its bad aspects as well, not that she needed to be overthrown. She was a much better leader than Goldengem, but she still had absolute power and allowed for ponies to exploit each other. She had the final say in the government, and wealth wasn’t fairly distributed back then either. In big cities like Canterlot or Livelpoor, many ponies like my family had to live in bad conditions even back then. She praised the ideals of love, harmony and friendship, but what harmony is there in a class divided society? Kolt Marx argued that the only way to build the celestial utopia of love, harmony and friendship is to destroy the tyrannical monarchic system and bring social justice. He proposed that the big agrarian properties and urban companies should by nationalized by the state, so that the profits would be invested in social services, growth of production and higher wages rather than luxury goods, and that the state should be ruled by trade union representatives elected by the workers and the peasants themselves along with their families and replaced once a few years so that none gets thirsty for power. He argued that there should be only self-employed ponies, like the free farmers, the bakers or the artisans and state-employed ponies, and besides this, that everypony should elect the government ruling the state. Just imagine, apart from the social justice this alternative would bring, how many advancements could a so-powerful state make! The economy could develop at the pace it does now, and the distribution of wealth would be even better than the celestial one, and this is why I support this idea!”

“Ah don’t know what to say… It sounds good’n’everything, but many of mah friends and a big part of Equestria would just want to get Celestia back by finding that time spell! Ah mean, a little dreamin’ doesn’t hurt anypony, but she was a decent leader n’we need an alicorn to rise the sun! If we were to rebel and take the power rather than try to get’er back, why would Luna still bring ‘bout day n’ninght?”

“She’ll probably prefer to do it for a government chosen by the whole of Equestria than for a cruel tyrant she hates.”

“Hmm… Probably true. Princess Luna’s a good mare too n’sees’er power to control day n’night like an obligation to ponykind.” Applejack stopped talking for a few seconds and scratched her chin thoughtfully, until she finally decided to proceed with a more saddened look in her deep and sincere green eyes.

“Ya know, most of mah family was impoverished by Goldengem’s reform, and Ah am skeptical whether we can find the time spell any longer or not…” 3 years and a half had passed since the Canterlot funeral, and the young mare had serious doubts Princess Celestia could be rescued any longer. This alien idea of the crimson stallion before her eyes also had its charm, a peculiar appeal of liberty and change. Applejack had thought about a more classless society occasionally, and the idea of a chosen government seemed to be a sweet fragrance carried by the winds of justice. Celestia was a good ruler and Luna might’ve been one too, but monarchies are hereditary, and giving them power might be just a way to delay the rise to power of tyrants like Goldengem or probably horrible rulers like Blueblood.

“Ah always wanted a more just society in Equestria too, and although mah friends strongly believe in Luna or Celestia, maybe we shoul’do somethin’ ourselves! Ah ain’t gonna sit here doing nothin’ while other Apples and the fair ponies of mah country are sufferin’, only hopin’ to get that time spell somehow! Ah like how you think, partner, but are there other ponies who wanna achieve your ideal?”

“There are many of us in the big cities, and some I convinced at the factory here in Ponyville! In fact, we have an underground organization which planned all the strikes in the last year, and our objective is to overthrow Goldengem and build a socialist regime of ponies everywhere, but we don’t have any way to get weapons and we would need more supporters for a revolution! I will be killed and maybe even tortured for information if a soldier ever hears this Applejack, but you are a good mare, and even if you don't join our struggle, I know that I can trust you!” Redstar looked deep in Applejack’s crystalline eyes, and although he knew this mare only for a few hours, he felt that he could see a true friend in her.

“Ah’ve got nothin’ to do with any soldiers besides mah brother, and nopony has to worry ‘bout’im. He only’nrolled to help us through this harsh times, n’he ain’t much of a talker either. Besides, Ah’d always keep a secret to protect a pony from this new “king” and his vengeance!”

“Thank you. Hey, whether you’d just like Celestia back or the more radical change I and the Workers Nationale’ fight for, we still have the common goal of helping ponies resist against this oppressor, and we might collaborate with each other sometime!”

“Ah’d love to! The only thing Ah don’t like ‘bout your idea’s the fact that a revolution’s violent and many ponies may be killed by the troops in one… Ah b’live that a violent movement can’t be the best way to help ponykind, and if mah friends figure out how could they get the time spell this time, Ah won’t hesitate to help’em. Ah’d like to live in the Equestria ya want to create, but Ah’d only help ya if bringing back Celestia is not an option. Ah want to do something for mah family, mah friends and mah fellow ponies now, b’fore the king ruins all of their lives any further and spills more innocent blood, and if Ah can’t do that peacefully, then Ah’d help ya’. Your goal is a noble one, and if it can be achieved, Ah’d be glad to be a part of the movement tryin’ to reach it.” Applejack finished her phrase in a much warmer and thoughtful voice than she used to address strangers.

She wanted nopony to get hurt, but after all she’d seen in the last few years, she feared that many more will if Goldengem isn’t stopped soon, and she felt somehow that if only a short time of struggle and suffering was needed to save everypony, to give her family back their lands and release them from the burden of hard work without reward, to stop the decimating war in the dragonlands and the abuses forever and to build the better world she always dreamed about, it was a price worth paying. She tried to avoid that thought for now, as it wasn’t her decision in the end, but what this big crimson pony said certainly helped to grow the seed of hope in a better future into a strong idea in her head, and the orange mare was captivated by the possibility of being part of something bigger than her, than the elements of harmony or than anypony else – being part of the rewriting of history, and the dawn of a new, better era.

Redstar never dreamt of the wealth and vexation the rich ponies in Canterlot enjoyed, and didn’t join the socialist movement for having a better life himself. No, he liked to work in the chilly air outside like he was doing now and to read from time to time, but he always felt empathy for the ponies around him, and growing in the dirty cobbled streets of the Livelpoor port made him understand that the only way to help the ponies you care about was to stand up and fight.

He learned that lesson a long time ago, when he was a little filly like Applebloom, the girl he saw at the barn here at Sweet Apple Acres. The playground of the school he learned at was going to be demolished for the expansion of the shipyard’s warehouses, and no filly in his classroom had a say about it. That was the first time when he convinced ponies to unite and stand up for their rights, and the first time in Equestrian history when a group of fillies gathered in their playground in protest, raising banners and shouting slogans. The story made it to the Equestria Daily, and Celestia herself considered it so heart-warming that she told the warehouse owner to build someplace else, and that was the moment when he got his cutie mark of resistance of the down-trodden ponies of the world. The detention days he got afterwards at school and the corporal punishments ordered by his grumpy very conservative teacher taught him that it is hard to bring change peacefully. From that moment, he was guided in life by his passion for the ideal of change, and, after he red Marx and especially after Goldengem became king, for the revolutionary ideal.

Yet, now he had strong feelings for something else, or, better said, for somepony else. Her appealing warm voice and intentions of doing good, her deep green eyes shining in the sunrays coming through the branches above and her friendly nature and countryside accent had a certain charm attached to them, and gave the strong stallion a feeling he didn’t experience before.

They looked at each other for some time, and the lack of words seemed to say more than any words could. The silent symphony of the bending grass below their hooves, the lonely rustling of the wind and the song of the turtle doves simply pushed their gaze to one another, but he realized that not breaking the silence might be inappropriate.

“Well, I think we’ve still got a lot of apples to buck! Race you till the end of the row!” The stallion had regained his energy during this break, running much quicker than earlier and starting to hit trees with tremendous force.

“All right! Ah’ll see you there!” The orange mare sprinted through the soft grass, and the two worked tirelessly for the rest of the day. Applejack had promised to help her friend Fluttershy as well, so Redstar promised to finish the last sections by himself. Applejack invited him to a glass of cider and a nice piece of apple pie the next day, as she had to leave earlier, and, when the work was done, the big earth pony headed quietly to his apartment, doing his best not to wake up the ponies at the barn.

Just a short question: I mentioned "Charles Darwing" earlier, and I've got an idea about a fanfic which would depict a scientific analysis of Equestria in three parts: the evolution of earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi and alicorns; a Newtonian analysis of gravity and the way physics work in the Equestrian solar system and, last but not least, a logical explanation of unicorn and alicorn magic using some basic quantum physics (and maybe a few sci-fi references and Dr. Whooves). The whole thing would be a comedy, and I'm curious whether anybody would be interested to read something of the sort. Would you?