Chapters As I said, I never made it back to my apartment.
Fate had it in for me too much. I did however make it back to the complex where it was located. It was there I noticed something very odd and it was also there that I performed an amazingly stupid stunt.
As I got closer to my apartment, I noticed something odd dangling from the strung up power lines leading into the main building. It looked from afar like a particularly fancy piece of cloth. I at first dismissed it as nothing of importance and kept walking towards my door. However my eyes kept getting drawn back to it. It looked particularly fine and as I neared it looked as if it had some jewels hanging from its corners. However it had gotten hung up dangerously close to one of the transformers. Un-daunted I climbed the stairs of the flat gray building to get an even better look at it. The cloth was covered in intricate spider web-like patterns at key points; I noticed were more of the odd jewels. The overall color of the cloth was a deep royal color with the pattern in what looked to be golden threads. All this came down to my razor-sharp mind is: Whoaaa! Snazzy!
Naturally I decided to drag the thing down. Somebody had either lost something that probably cost more than my car, which actually isn't saying much, or my apartment complex had royalty visiting that had just lost their napkin. All I knew was I had to retrieve it if anything to get a better look.
My vantage point from the second story seemed like the better location to try and retrieve it from. However I needed something to try and reach out to it with. Not completely brain-dead, I cast my eyes about for a piece of wood or some other non-conductive material. At the same time, I made sure noone was around to witness my stunt. Oddly enough even the couple I always heard talking through the very thin walls, which rarely seemed to shut up and even more rarely ever left to complex for any reason outside of near starvation were absent. All the vehicles were gone. Even the always-blowing winter wind was still. The apartment felt more like part of an abandoned ghost town, than my normally snug home away from home.
Eventually my roving eyes came to rest on an abandoned utility cart left in front of room 206. Odd, Raymond the Janitor almost never left his cart alone for more than five minutes. Oh well, negligence to the rescue yet again. I jogged up to the cart and grabbed the broom off of it, making a mental note to return it quickly before he got back. The old coot is pretty stingy about thing like that. Now armed with my trusty weapon, I sauntered back down the hallway, footsteps ringing off the concrete floor and ceiling.
Once back at my vantage point, I tried reaching for the cloth again. It took about 3 tries to even touch the infernal thing, my inability to judge distances well striking once again. So then I had an excellent idea that seemed to come right out of a book. The Darwin Awards, to be honest, under the section, "Stupid things people do but still somehow survive."
Leaning as far out over the railing as I could I made one last go at it. Finally! The broom made contact with the cloth. Using the brush end I was able to catch the cloth on the fibers at the end and lift it off. Here is where I made the one phenomenal mistake that would shape my life forever.
After I got the cloth off the line, I brought the broom back over to me. At this point, I had perched my self on the rail my back to the drop below and brought the broom head close to examine my prize. It was royal purple in color and the pattern was in gold as I had noticed before. It was about the size of a handkerchief and seemed to be made fine cloth, like silk or something equally fine. The crystals were in little brackets affixed to the cloth at specific intersection points in the pattern. In the center was one giant one, an intriguing light blue color. To make sure I wasn't getting fixated on some random piece of bling, I decided to reach up and touch the center jewel to make sure it wasn't plastic or some cheap knock off material like cubic zirconium.
The moment my hand touched the cool blue stone, a bolt of pain jolted through my body. It was like every single nerve in my system was being struck by lightning! Normally your hand would jerk back from the muscle spasms, however my fingers had apparently never been told this as they were clenched over the stone in an electrified death hold.
My balance on the railing at that point was shot and I started to tilt back, unable to maintain my balance with my body in lock down.
Finally it was too much for my poor body and I proceeded to tip backwards over the rail backwards. Still blinded by the after image and reeling from the seizure, I felt the shift in balance and the sensation of free fall. My vision finally cleared up for me to see my body had rotated just enough for me to see the rather unforgiving asphalt rushing up to greet my face.
With a snapping discharge and a crash akin to a peal of thunder ripping through the air, a unicorn mare materialized above her new point of impact and promptly face planted into it. Bouncing up a bit from the impact, she came up short on something and proceeded to run face first into the unyielding surface again.
Dazed from the impact and wondering how she was still alive, the unicorn decided to just lie there for a moment and catch her breath. Her eyes remained shut against the visual assault the cursed cloth had wreaked upon her, the unicorn simply sat there and tried to pull herself together.
Finally, eyes still closed, she decided to make a mental checklist of all the parts of her that weren't broken. Both arms and both legs seemed fine. Her head she wasn't so sure of. It was sensitive to touch and doing so unleashed a whole new wave of pain. Maybe a fracture or hopefully a concussion, she pondered. "At least I landed on something I don't use that much," she croaked out.
At last she decided to open her eyes. Then promptly closed them again only to open them a second later. Experimentally, she blinked several times and then squinted her eyes at the impossible sight before her. Yup, still there. Instead of finding herself lying on the asphalt parking lot of her apartment complex and gazing at the amazing sight of a four lane highway near Atlanta, she instead found herself staring at an awesome vista that nothing could have prepared her for.
The surface she stood on wasn't flat asphalt but was instead a curving golden surface. That wasn't what caught her attention though it was the view beyond. To her left, instead a parking lot, she found towers and spires on a lower level than her, though once she considered that, the unicorn figured the surface she was standing on was the roof of a tower and from the height, likely the tallest one. Looking back she found the other towers as well as the one she sat upon were actually part of the same building, like a palace or cathedral.
To her right however was a sight almost guaranteed to give anyone acrophobia. In that direction was what looked to be a several thousand-foot drop to a valley floor far below. Scooting away from the edge a bit, she looked into the valley. In the distance she could make out the lights of what was either a very small city or a fairly large town. Looking up the unicorn was astounded by a beautiful view.
Despite the impossibility of it instead of being early morning as it had been at home, here then sun as about to set, bathing everything in rich, fiery, warm orange hues as it disappeared over the horizon behind her, bring in the twilight hours. This accompanied by the beautifully designed if eccentric palace and the mountains to her left, the heart stopping drop to her right and the lights of the little town in front of her as well as the incoming night complete with a full moon far beyond briefly stole her breath away with it's majesty.
After staring at the sight for a while she finally called her brain to order. Yes it was pretty, she admitted, beautiful even, but there was something far more appealing to her, which was the idea of not sleeping on the roof of a freaking castle god-knows-where with deadly drops on all sides, with the drop to her right being the worst. She needed to get down and soon before night made it to dark to move safely.
Getting up however she noticed something quite wrong. First of all, she couldn't move. Second, standing up was putting a heck of a strain on her back. So she decided to sit down again. However doing so she noticed something quite bizarre. When she put her hands down to steady her she heard a very distinct clopping noise. Looking down solved that mystery real quick. She had hooves instead of hands.
Voices floated from within the tower on the breeze to her ears.
"Perfect," she muttered. "Not only am I a freaking horse, but now I'm upside down by my new tail and I have an audience. Here's hoping I'm not in Mexico."
Looking up (down for anyone right side up) she noticed a small balcony extending from the ivory white tower and the voices were obviously nearing the entrance since only now she could make out what they were saying.
"Celestia, sister, doth thou truly believe that anyone could truly harness the power to break not only the Veil, but to also be able to initiate a long distance teleportation spell through it?"
The lone unicorn dubbed that feminine voice with it being so loud, confident, and even a tad arrogant "Miss Imperious." Another feminine more mature voice, confident and motherly responded.
"Luna, I share your doubts, but I truly do believe that with a magical anchor on the other Side, they could conceivably be able to pull off such a feat. I'm quite astonished they were able to not only penetrate the Veil, but also establish such an anchor so quickly."
The first voice returned, sounding concerned. "True it is quite a feat, but however the implications of that rogue experiment are quite…disturbing. While a long range teleportation spell can be useful, why couple it with a spell powerful enough to penetrate the magical field that permeates this plane of existence?"
A pause in the conversation was enough to shake the lone mare. She'd been so intent on the conversation inside she'd forgotten about her awkward positioning. The amount of blood rushing to her head was making her head throb with pain.
Now she wanted to just get down and find a way back to home. And preferably a way back to being a primate as well. First she needed to actually get back up to the roof to disengage her tail, as the amount of blood pooling in her head now was starting to make her a little loopy. "I'm Batmane!" she rasped, barely able to hold back her laugh.
Without warning the balcony door swung wide open. Two indistinct shapes emerged from the palace interior. The larger of the two was practically white in color, while the other being almost blending in with the newly emerging night. Both had nebulous hair and…. tails? The mare barely concealed her gasp.
The two creatures below her were almost the same as her except they had horns and wings. The white one with the multi-colored hair was looking over at the other with a mild look of reproach in her eyes. She finally spoke revealing herself to be the second more mature speaker.
"Luna, while I agree that we must be careful in how we use our magics, you mustn't become too cynical of what our ponies are attempting to do. I agree the use of those two spells in conjunction to each other is indeed odd, we mustn't jump to conclusions yet."
The midnight blue creature briefly bowed her head "I know, sister. It is just that I do not want to run the risk of potentially drawing something here. We both know that this world is dangerous enough for our subjects without inviting whatever may exist on the Other Side."
The conversation briefly stopped as they both gazed out at the countless stars beyond. "Oh Luna, You have outdone yourself tonight"
The dark horse practically preened. "Thank you sister. It's always nice to have someone to appreciate your work, even if it is just one."
The one known as Celestia gave her sister a teasing look. "Yes, if by just the one you mean, me, Twilight Sparkle, the entirety of the Equestrian Astronomers Guild, and all the ponies making ready for the Winter Solstice Celebration, then I guess it is one." Luna playfully buffeted her elder sister with her wing, "Silly you know what I mean. The one that matters, you. It's something I should have realized long ago."
The lone unicorn took the ensuing hug between the two sisters as an opportunity to end her temporary career as a piñata. Swinging her legs back and forth, she eventually built up enough momentum to grab the roof with her teeth. The tiny clacking sound of teeth on the gold leaf clad roof covered by a fresh wave of laughter from the two sisters below.
With her new mouth hold, the mare was able to drag herself up once she got her two front hooves on the rim. The mare lay there for a while, allowing her blood to redistribute itself a little more evenly. Once she felt well enough once again she inspected her tail to see just how it could get so thoroughly stuck as to support her entire weight for what seemed an hour. What she found shocked her.
Whatever spell brought her here obviously didn't work well with whatever spell was used to turn her into a pony as her tail wasn't stuck underneath a shingle or caught on a support. The last few inches of her tail was merged with the roof itself. After a moment of deliberation she set to work gnawing on the strands of hair to free herself. It was tough going as she quickly found out that the individual strands were surprising robust. Finally she raised her head in triumph and swished her newly liberated tail with its newly shaggy end from side to side. Screw split-ends, she was finally free.
Still there were many questions about herself and this strange place she found herself in. Questions like "Why am I a horse" and "Where is this place" assaulted her mind. She'd noticed before that her coloration didn't fit with the equines of her home. Her coat was a cream color and her tail as she couldn't help but notice was a few shades lighter than the dark alicorn's coat below. Looking back over the sides of the tower she realized that her situation hadn't really changed. Despite her overwhelming urge to just shout out to the two winged unicorns below, she stayed her tongue.
"I don't know what they are, who they are, whether I'm trespassing just by being here, or if they are the reason I'm here in the first place," she reasoned before stifling an immense yawn that threatened to expose her to the two below.
"I NEED sleep." She grumbled to herself. With no place to go, but down, the unicorn mare quietly got as close to the center as she could and decided to do what she'd always done in a situation with no immediate answer: Sleep on it and brainstorm in the morning. Ignoring the fact that she literally just had breakfast, the sleepy mare settled down for the night, praying it wouldn't rain.
Morning broke as the sun rose over the horizon, bathing the world in its rich glow. The sun's rays shone upon the golden towers of Canterlot, practically igniting the countryside with the glow from the white palace. This rich splendor however was lost upon a certain unicorn mare who was awakened by the sun so rudely bouncing one of its golden rays off the roof of the tower upon which she rested and directly into her eyes.
Jerking awake she was briefly overtaken by panic. This was definitely not her apartment! Briefly the scared mare wondered if she'd gotten drunk last night and crashed somewhere on the way home. Eventually, the rest of her mind caught up to her. No, she wasn't sleeping off a hangover in a rose bush somewhere (that had been an experience!); she was still on top of Don't Look Down Castle, with its weird winged unicorn inhabitants.
She shivered briefly at the remembrance of exactly what the regal looking pair had been talking about. Teleportation, rogue magical experiments, and something about a Veil. It sounded a bit too much like magic to her. On impulse, the mare looked down at herself. Speaking of the impossibilities of magic and weird horse creatures, she still was one.
That particular mystery continued to unfold a little more. Looking down at herself brought her attentions to the shadow of something sticking up straight off her head. Bringing a hoof up, she felt the long horn she had somehow missed sticking out of her face like a knight's lance.
While striding around the perimeter of the tower, a plan started to form in her head. It would require some agility, a decent rate of speed, and precision timing, all of which she had never really had before in great amounts and all in a body she had been in possession of for a couple hours, most of which were spent sleeping. The unicorn's best bet was the balcony below.
Unfortunately that presented a problem to her. The edge of the tower's roof hung over the balcony by a couple feet. Had she had some rope and her hands, she simply could have tied one end around the narrow tip of the tower and rappelled down. Since she possessed neither, the mare was limited to the stupidly dangerous options, a choice she had been well acquainted with in the past.
Like using a broom to retrieve what was apparently a magical cloth and sitting on the rail on the second floor , a small portion of her mind grumped at her.
Taking a few breaths to help calm herself and then steeling herself with the comforting thought that if she missed she would have a several hundred-foot drop to lament on her bad aim, she started galloping. Badly. She had tried walking around on all fours a little earlier to get used to the new body, but a few moments of walking around a curved roof didn't make for good practice. Not too mention she didn't wish to risk unnecessary attention until she was inside. Walking around on four legs was akin to moving about on hands and feet to a human, only having all four legs a similar length gave her better maneuvering.
The hooves were likely one the weirdest things she had ever felt. She could feel pressure on them but little else. It was like walking on one's finger and toenails. An apt comparison if her biology classes had been right about equine anatomy.
Now she was at a full gallop, using all of the very little practice she had to put as much speed on it. Maintaining her speed while keeping away from the edge of the roof was quite taxing, but she labored on, pushing her legs as fast as she could. Any thoughts of who might be down below and how they'd react to her intrusion were pushed to the side. That would come after she had descended.
Her course traced a spiral around the tower's roof, each lap taking her closer to the center and higher on the tower. Finally at the highest point she could reach without falling, she cut across her path and barreled towards the section of the roof over the balcony. Just before she reached the edge, the unicorn stabbed her hooves down and rotated her backside out and over the edge. At that point she thrust her rear hooves forwards and allowed her weight and momentum to throw her towards the balcony below. For once, one of her plans worked!
The daring maneuver she had concocted had her coasting through the air toward her desired destination. In fact, the stunt worked too perfectly. The speed of her descent now working against her, the unicorn found herself flying forward into a rather ornate glass door.
The Guard cast his blue eyes left and right, scanning for any sign of his brethren in arms and armor. When none were to be found, he allowed himself to break the guards' number one rule: Never smile. The reason for his smug smirk became clear when his rendezvous rounded the corner. Together they marched into their designated "meeting" place.
Laying down on the silk bed in the now empty royal bed chamber of Princess Celestia , she now beckoned to him teasingly, a coy look in her eye. Eager as a greenhorn to please, he practically bounded onto the bed from the doorway. Grinning slyly at him, the mare leaned in for a kiss. At that moment, the ornate balcony door promptly exploded, interrupting the two wayward lover ponies. A blue and white projectile literally came screaming in through the small hailstorm of glass shards.
The unicorn mare came in for a three-point landing. Her two rear hooves and her backside landed first, sending her skidding through the ornately designed room to slam into the foot of the bed. Covered horn to hoof in the silken sheets, the mare leaped up, crying out in the most authoritative voice she could muster. "FREEZE! INSPECTION NINJA!"
Needless to say, the guard and the maid were quite surprised at her entrance. The sudden entrance of the "inspection ninja" had left both locked in place as if time itself had frozen around them. The earth pony maid looked as if her mind had either broken or had involuntarily shutdown at the shock of being caught in the act. The guard's eyes shifted quickly from left to right, like a wild animal looking for a way to escape. Finally he drew himself up and mastered the emotions trying to work their way across his face.
"Who are you and what is your reason for breaking into these royal chambers! Speak quickly!" He bellowed out. Thankfully where his brain had failed him in his embarrassment, his training kept him grounded.
Taken aback at the force of his voice, the unicorn's mind floundered. Despite all that was happening as well as the adrenaline rush from having thrown herself off a tower, the idea of horse royalty brought her up short.
The reality of the situation she found herself in now crashed into her. Talking ponies meant more than not being in kansas any more. Like it or not she was in their land with no clue as to what she was doing or where she wanted to go.
Since telling the truth would likely get her thrown into a crazy horse insane asylum, briefly wondering what that would be like, the unicorn opted for the more unconventional method of getting out of the castle. The ability to talk was a sign of intelligence which is a double-edged sword that in turn can be used against opponents.
If the creatures were anything like humans, they had faults that could be exploited. Faults that those with intelligence tended to fall into. Faults like laziness, greed, lust-...The mare's eyes flashed around the room taking in as many details as possible like the opulent chamber she found herself in, the still-dazed mare on the beds and the fact she was wearing a maid's outfit and the armor of the fuming guard in front of her.
Adjusting the sheets over her face so she could see, the mare made her way around to the maid's side of the bed. A huge smile barely visible with her make shift mask over her face, she propped her front hooves on top of the rich red silken sheets.
"Wanna hear a joke?" She inquired. The guard's stoic face momentarily shattered into a look of confusion. Encouraged by his confusion, she powered on. "Have you heard the one about the guard and the maid about to get it on, on top of their leader's bed?"
The maid and the guard waited. Then waited a bit more. Finally the shaken maid, her grayish brown mane looking all the more frazzled, spoke up. "Aren't you going to tell us the punch line?"
Still trying her best to imitate the Cheshire cat, the unicorn initiated phase one of her plan, Operation Last One Out. "Normally, yes. But in this case you two get to determine the punch line."
Twin looks of understanding dawned on the two ponies face. In the case of the maid, this was followed by an expression of relief. For the guard however, his faced quickly darkened. "You dare blackmail a Royal Guard! I can get you sent to the dungeon for that, not to mention trespassing in the Princess' quarters!"
Seeing the armored pegasus start to raise himself from the bed, the masked unicorn made one last desperate stab at freedom. "And how, pray tell, will you explain finding me in the princess's quarters?"
The guard faltered. Pressing her advantage, the mare drove on. "Even if your maid friend over there were to remake the bed and stay quiet there'd still be the matter of where you've been this whole time. Not to mention a stray hair from either of you would put suspicion on what either of you have said." Taking a breath, she continued the verbal onslaught. "Yes, you could probably land me in the dungeon, but if that's the case you may well end up there with me. You really want to risk your career for that?"
At the mention of his career, the Pegasus guard's head finally bowed in defeat. "Yes, I won!" the mare crowed in her head. Then seeing the defeated look on the guard and the maid who looked as if her heart was about to detonate. "Then why do I feel like such a jackass?" she wondered briefly.
***
She'd never been a mean person much in her life. Yes, she had her rare moments that couldn't be explained away by "it was that time of the month." Still she generally tried to get along with everyone. Seeing these two before her that she had just used in such away caused her stomach to knot. Still she had to get out of this castle. While she did want to learn what had brought her here, she had absolutely no desire to find out from the two creatures, Celestia and Luna from the night before.
Especially now, since if what the guard had said was true, at least one if not both of that duo was royalty. Something inside her burned, warning her away from the attentions of those two. Shaking her head, the unicorn noticed the maid and the guard was now looking at her with vaguely concerned looks on their faces.
"Great, they think I'm a lunatic already. Shame I haven't told them where I'm from and how I got here yet." The unicorn gave her head another shake and made a mental note to stop talking to herself. By now the guard's eyebrow had risen so far it practically disappeared under his golden helm. The unicorn had to fight the urge to face hoof. She hadn't just said that out loud, had she?
"Anyway, let's just get this out of the way. I didn't mean to be here, I don't want to be here, and I don't even know the way out of here. And YOU are going to help me out."
The maid looked as if the hoof pointed at her had just grown nine heads, all resembling Nightmare Moon sticking her tongue out at her in a childish manner. "M-me?" the maid stammered. "Why not him? He could surely show you the way out just as well as I can." The maid shivered as she spoke.
The unicorn dispelled that notion with a shake of her head. "Um, no. Not happening. While I'm sure he knows the way about, I don't trust him to not march me into a jail cell." The guard answered her suspicions with a snort.
The maid mare looked at him briefly and spoke up again. "An-and I won't? What makes you think I can be trusted to get you out over him?"
Sheets still draping her form, the unicorn walked over to the maid and then laid her horn on top of the other's head. Nose to nose, the unicorn's magenta eye's drilling into the maid's light blue eyes. The guard, not sure what to make of this odd behavior, slowly started over to the pair. Abruptly breaking off the impromptu staring contest, the unicorn shifted her piercing gaze to him. While he stopped, the guard was unfazed and glared back at her.
Shifting her eyes back to the maid, she finally answered the maid's question. "I don't. I think however that you will take an opportunity to get out of a sticky situation and go with it. As will I." Her eyes softened. "So basically I'm going with you since we're on the level there. I don't want trouble, I just want out of the castle. Once we're there, I'll go on my way. Both of you will be off the hook and we'll all be happy."
Even the guard, despite his misgivings couldn't help but be somewhat pleased with that solution. Despite his desire to arrest this mare, he couldn't think of a way to do so that wouldn't end with his hard-won position in the Royal Guards going down in flames.
"And you, good sir!" He started at the voice, looking back at the mares he realized they had been talking to him for a few seconds. The masked mare was looking at him.
"Yes?" He returned trying to hide the fact he hadn't heard what they said.
The unicorn continued. "You, sir, will go off in the other direction from us. That way you can pretend you never saw us. Before you split however, check the hall for us." Not the most elegant plan, he thought, but it worked.
Stretching his wings, and then resettling his armor so it wouldn't interfere with his flying, the guard poked his head out the door. After making sure the hallway was clear on both sides, he waved to them and then winged out the nearest window. He really needed a drink and a donut.
***
Watching the guard's egress, the unicorn motioned to her tour guide. "Now it's our turn. You know the drill."
The maid nodded her head. "I'll take you through the lesser traveled areas and away from the throne room and let you out one of the side doors." Satisfied, the unicorn nodded. "There's just one problem, miss." The maid's voice took the mare by surprise as she walked towards the door.
Turning back, she answered. "And what would that be?"
Gesturing towards her, the maid replied, "I think they'll notice if you're walking about in Princess Celestia's bed sheets."
The unicorn once again felt the immense urge to face hoof. She'd gotten so used to the anonymity the disguise allowed her, she had forgotten she still had it. Even then the mare was loath to give that anonymity up. "Ok, new plan. YOU walk in front. Don't look behind you at me. Don't even try to look at my reflection."
This bizarre demand startled the maid. Who after all was so paranoid about being seen? Apparently the masked mare saw her confusion. "It's for deniability."
The maid looked at the cloaked figure inquisitively, who rewarded her with a fierce glare. "Deniability? Why?"
Gesturing at herself, the unicorn replied. "Basically if you haven't seen me, you can't describe me to guards. If you can't describe me they can't lay the blame on you if I get caught outside." This seemed to satisfy the maid.
***
After losing the sheets, the maid averting her eyes the entire time, the pair made their way down the through the castle. The unicorn was truly happy she had the maid as a guide since the twisting corridors, stairs, and the occasional empty chamber had her completely lost. She could easily see how someone could spend an entire lifetime looking for the damn bathroom.
Rounding one corner caused both ponies hearts to almost stop. Entering from a door almost nearly hidden by the curve of the hallway a large navy blue pony appeared. The unicorn recognized the rather tall figure almost instantly as one of the mysterious speakers from the night before.
Looking at her guide, she found no help coming from that quarter as the maid had prostrated herself before the figure that seemed rather lost in thought at the moment. Deciding the best thing to do now would be to blend in, she promptly joined her companion on the marble floor, hugging the wall as best she could and doing her best to look inconspicuous.
"ImarugImarugIamrug!" The mantra running through her mind as she vividly imagined herself as one of the ornate rugs she'd seen placed around the palace.
Eventually the regal figure looked down at the maid. "How many times dost thou wish to ignore our orders to cease thy prostration everytime we enter a room?"
"It-it's tradition, Princess Luna!" If the unicorn hadn't been immediately behind the maid, she was sure she wouldn't have heard the maid's tremulous reply.
Princess Luna shook her head. The maid was right it was tradition but as she recalled not all traditions survived over time and quite frankly this prostration was a bit off putting. "We must insist you do not do it in our presence. A simple bowing of thy head will do for us." The maid nodded her head. Something about this particular mares attitude was off. The princess couldn't quite put her hoof on it. She was definitely scared of something.
"What illness has struck our vassal, we must ask?" The princesses' question seemed to strike something in the pony.
Standing up she answered. "I'm just heading down to the ground floor to aid in cleaning the throne room while your esteemed sister takes her lunch, your majesty."
Somewhat satisfied, the princess started walking down the hall the duo had just come from. Sighing with relief the maid suddenly realized the princess had never addressed her mysterious companion. Deciding to break the unicorn's rule, she looked behind her. The mare wasn't there! Before she could do anything something poked her in the chest. Looking down she saw the horn."Wha-how?!"
Sensing her a voice replied from beneath the maid. "I slipped underneath your skirt when you got up off the ground to speak to the princess."
The maid's eyebrows rose. "Surely I would have felt something."
The answer came with no hint of humor or irony. "Told ya I was a ninja."
AN: Much thanks to SoundofRainfall and Determamfidd for prereading for me. You've been a big help guys!
After the run in with the dark princess, getting out of the Palace was relatively easy. The only other witness to the strange duo was a rather fantastic phoenix that was soaring down the hallway with a guard's helm in its talons. Said guard, a pegasus was too fixated on retrieving his equipment from the mischievous creature to look at a mere maid and her cream-colored shadow. The phoenix itself dismissed them as it was having too much fun playing keep away with the guard.
The maid lead the unicorn lower and lower in the castle until she finally stopped in front of a rather plain door. Not looking back at her charge the maid, spoke. " This doorway is used by the servants when waiting on guests. It will take you to the main hall. From there you can get out quite easily." The mare in question frowned at this change of plans. "I thought you were going to lead me to one of the side doors out of the palace? Why are you telling me to leave through the main entrance?"
The maid spoke quite readily this time, logic for once being on her side. "Because all the side entrances are guarded. Since they are used much less frequently than the main entrance, anypony leaving through them would be of far more note than someone coming and going in the always-busy main hall. And you did stress less attention earlier." The maid's rather cool rebuke warned the mare that her guide was at the end of her tolerance for this enforced partnership and therefore her usefulness was at an end.
"Ok, thank you for helping me get down from there. I can get out from here." The maid started at the rather flippant statement. Forgetting herself she once again looked behind her. Too late, the door was already closing behind the mystery mare. Blinking at the sudden disappearance, the maid started walking back towards the kitchens. Suddenly her head shot back up. "By Luna's Mustache! The window!" Turning, she bolted back up the flight of stairs trying to think of a plausible explanation for the busted glass door and the glass shards all over Celestia's bedroom.
Later that night when Celestia, the Solar Princess, was finally retiring to her bedroom for some much needed rest, she discovered a colossal mess in the bedroom. It was covered in broken glass! At first quite alarmed, the Princess was about to call for a guard to search for thieves, her eyes fell upon a sight that despite the situation, made her laugh aloud. There sitting at the foot of her impeccably made bed, was a single baseball. Laughing to herself, the princess used her magic to simply restore the door. Setting a record of her favorite song I am glad, Cause I'm finally returning back home on an antique record player, the solar princess decided to sit back and read some of the other elements of harmony's letters about friendship.
Back in the present the unicorn mare made her way through the main hall. It was packed with ponies! The maid had said it would be busy, but she hadn't expected this! Most of them were unicorns with the occasional earth pony here and there. The only pegasi present were the omnipresent and ever dour looking guards. Almost all the ponies were wearing lavish clothing. Distracted by the display of brightly colored unicorns wearing clothes, the mare promptly ran into the backside of another pony. Unfortunately, it had been a gray waiter pony carrying fine wine and hors d'oeuvres for the elite class to occasionally pick at. The platter on the pony's back went flying into the air. Even more unfortunately it didn't stay there and promptly came back down, showering the socialites with food and wine. The uproar was deafening. Ponies leaped this way and that to avoid getting their rich clothing soiled. Mares shrieked their dismay, while the stallions reared back in anger at the disruption. Seeing this two of the Royal Guard left their positions at the main door to restore peace. Eventually the ponies quieted down and moved back.
The area where the platter had landed was littered with bits of broken wine glasses and food. Every now and then a mare or stallion would look at their now stained clothing and cringe. Several of the onlookers looked on with sympathetic eyes, while most of them simply stuck their noses right back in the air. One group lead by a rather large unicorn with a blue mane and a moustache decided to take their leave of the party. When asked where he was going, he replied in a cultured voice. "It's been pleasant to see you all again, but I simply must get back home. We've had some excitement now, so we'll be off." As his sycophants chortled, a cream-colored unicorn mare silently attached herself to the group. None of them noticed being too busy try to curry favor with the unicorn that cleared wielded no small amount of influence on the upper class. The mare decided that tagging along with this group would get her outside without too many questions asked. Making sure to not lag at the rear of the group, she plotted her next move.
The mare, right after running into the unfortunate waiter, had immediately dropped to the floor and did the best impression of a pony slithering away as she could. That had been relatively easy with the silver food platter in flight. Most of the other ponies nearby were too busy making sure it wouldn't hit them. Upon reaching a corner of the room she resumed standing, the crowd of ponies serving to block her from the guard's eyes. From there she watched the spectacle unfold. As things had died down after the guards restored order, she had slowly inched her way towards the door. When the unicorn stallion and his entourage had started towards the door, she'd been close enough to attach herself to his group rather easily.
Snapping her mind back to task, the unicorn pondered about what to do in the short term and the long term. Looking at the sky, she noticed her slow descent from the castle and then the excitement at the main hall had taken up most of the daylight. She didn't really want to sleep on the streets of a city like this, even if it was populated entirely by ponies. She'd need someplace to rest and think some more. Her stomach growled. Another problem. She hadn't really eaten since her rather light morning snack at McDonalds, which seemed like ages ago. The only other food she had eaten in that time was a rather adventurous snack in the form of an unspoiled hors d'oeuvres she had rescued from another platter-bearing waiter near the corner she had taken refuge in. So food and water were things she needed to secure immediately.
Looking around at the group of ponies around her moving at a rather sedate pace she noticed they had gone fairly deep into the part of the city reserved for the Nobles. The mare decided to stick with the group, reasoning as long as she was with them no one would notice her as she scouted for a place to stay and potentially a place to get food. "I'm sorry to excuse myself from you all so early, but I simply must retire for now. Good evening to you all." The voice of the central unicorn cut through the mare's ruminating. Startled she looked up and realized the entourage was now in front of a rather large manor and was in the process of breaking up, each pony that made up the group leaving in pairs or alone to their own homes. The unicorn stallion himself was speaking to an elegant unicorn mare with three fleur-de-lise on her flank.
Noticing the odd symbols, she wondered if that was the pony equivalent of a tramp stamp. The mare decided it wasn't at first, thinking any high society probably would condemn tattoos of any sort. Looking at the stallion talking to the elegant pony, she noticed he too had something on his rear, in his case, three crowns. Now the mare started wondering if it was just these two. The only other ponies she had seen had been at night initially. The maid and the guard had worn a pony version of a maid's outfit and armor respectively. As she recalled, she hadn't seen the dark princess's mark the second time when Luna had accosted the maid in the hallway. The mare hadn't been in a good position to see Luna's mark as the maid's underside had been in her way. Then later at the party in the main hall, all those ponies had been wearing lavish clothing that mostly covered their flanks. The mare looked down at her own rear. Nothing. Just plain expanses covered in her new fur.
"Ahem. May I help you with something, madam?" The voice jolted the mare out of her inspection of her rear. The unicorns had finished their conversation and had then noticed they had a guest still sitting outside their doorway. The unicorn opened her mouth to say no, but thanks for the consideration, when her brain caught up and silenced the refusal. Having no dirt on these two like she had with the maid and the guard and no will to use someone like that again she opted for telling a semi-truth.
"I'm from far out of town and on the trip here I lost not only my luggage, but every single coin to my name." Seeing both the unicorn's eyebrows shoot up at her story so far, she decided to legitimize her story a bit. "I decided to go up to the main palace to see if there was anyone there who could aid me." Now the stallion watched her with a look of scrutiny.
Either he wasn't buying it and believed her to be a thief, or he was and suspected her of being an eloquent beggar. Quickly she changed tack to dissuade him of either. "I didn't get to ask that many at the party with the excitement and all. After that most of them simply ignored me." She didn't mention she had done her best to avoid detection. "What are you saying, miss?" The stallion still looked unmoved though he was far less suspicious. Deciding to take the dive, the mare responded. "I just ask for a place to stay the night. I don't ask for food and water. I just want someplace to sleep." The stallion still seemed unmoved and even raised a hoof as if to dismiss her until his companion laid a delicate hoof on his shoulder. A playfully fiendish look passed from her to him. "Alright." He relented. Turning to back to the mare, he spoke. "We can let you stay in one of our spare bedrooms one or two nights if you need. We'll even throw in breakfast tomorrow." The mare was stunned at that generous offer. Granted, her knowledge of nobility and upper class society was limited, she couldn't help think that such generosity wouldn't come without a catch. She couldn't help but smile in thanks, though she couldn't prevent a skeptical look from crossing her face. "Thank you for your kindness, Mister….?" "Fancypants is my name. This lovely mare to my right is Fleur-De-Lise." Said mare bowed her head in acknowledgement.
The mare's mind chose that very moment to freeze up. Fancypants? He had no pants! In fact, what would ponies even know of pants? Everyone else wore mostly jackets and dresses. Fancypants himself sported what looked like a tuxedo or a blazer. Fleur was the first pony so far she had seen that didn't wear anything. Noticing her host's look she realized she had been sitting there a thinking for a while. Shaking her head slightly she finally greeted them in turn.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fancypants and Miss Fleur-del-lise." The light pink pony, while striking some bizarrely acrobatic poses on her husband's back, waved a hoof. "Just Fleur will do, my dear." "Ok. I am Amber."
“Amber you say? What an odd name. Don’t you think so, Fleur?” Fancypants’ statement took the unicorn mare by surprise. She’d just given her first name out of habit to the unicorn pair. The pink unicorn, Fleur-De-Lis, was nodding her head.
“Quite odd, Fancy.” The unicorn pair was still sitting at the threshold of their manor, a rich warm light spilling out of the open doorway into the cooling air of night. Still seated on the cobblestone pathway to the house, the mare decided to defend her name or at the very least find out what was a normal name to these ponies.
“What’s wrong? Is my name really so odd?” she asked. Looking around outside, the stallion motioned for Fleur and his visitor to follow him inside.
Once the door was closed he spoke. “Nothing is wrong just so much as it is odd. I take it you are not originally from Equestria are you?” Deciding to just go along, Amber nodded her head. “Ah. I see. I imagine you are probably from one of the older unicorn bloodlines from the old country so long ago.” Seeing her expecting look on her face, Fancy pants continued on. “Around here it’s custom for many ponies to be born with one name and after earning their cutie mark, some families will allow the child to either change their name to something new or add a new word to their name. Some ponies will even take both names as their own and allow one to act as a surname.”
“I remember one unicorn, a musician, who did just that, Fancy.” Fleur interjected. “I believe she was born with the name Heartstrings and after earning her cutie mark, a lyre, took on the name Lyra.” By the end of her sentence, Fleur had once again struck a bizarre pose. After a moment of holding it, she relaxed and continued speaking. “I remember it mostly as she played with the Royal Musicians at the celebration of Twilight Sparkle’s graduation from Celestia’s trusted pupil to the Silver Pinnacle.”
“What’s the Silver Pinnacle?” Amber couldn’t help but ask, praying it wasn’t something that was common knowledge. However, the white unicorn seemed to think it was a legitimate question.
“The Silver Pinnacle is a newly founded order of mages whose goal is to study the full potential of magic.” Fleur-De-Lise attempted to stifle a girlish giggle but was unable to. “Technically it was going to be publically announced to all of Equestria, but Princess Luna counseled her sister, apparently telling Celestia that without a great many eyes on the new group of mages, they could perform more ranges of magic. Mostly Illusion magic which starts to break down once people realize it’s being used and people’s perception shifts.”
Fancypants’ blue eyebrow rose above his monocle. “And how do you know all of this, my dear?”
Fanning herself with a hoof, Fleur grinned again. “Oh let’s just say Canterlot Palace has very thin walls.” Turning his attention back to the other mare, he continued their earlier conversation. “As dear Fleur has mentioned there are some ponies that will take both names. In fact I believe her Majesty’s former pupil added Sparkle to her name upon receiving her cutie mark.” Amber could only guess the cutie marks were probably the symbols on Fancypants and Fleur-De-Lis’s flanks.
Seeing her turn back to look at her own blank flanks, Fancypants spoke up again. “I see you have no cutie mark of your own.” The mare flinched at that. “Don’t worry, m’dear. The constrictive roles and jobs of the old lands will do that. Doesn’t allow for much self-discovery. While a mare of your age not having a mark is pretty rare, the few cases I’ve heard about ponies not having it were usually visiting ponies from our ancient homelands of Eurohipp.” Seeing her stunned expression and misinterpreting it as shock at not being the only one at such an age without a cutie mark. In reality her mind was once again revolting against the names of this place. Canterlot? Equestria? Eurohipp? It didn’t help her mind that when Fancypants has said it, she had at first thought he had said Europe.
“So again why is my name odd?” She decided it was time to get back to the main point. Oddly enough it wasn’t Fancypants that answered but Fleur. She leaned over Fancy’s back to loom at her before speaking. “Most ponies’ names describe them to a degree even if the name doesn’t describe the cutie mark. Amber, while a pretty name, doesn’t describe you very well.” The unicorn in question had to stop herself from mentioning that if caught in an emotional moment that she could be quite sappy. Instead she offered the last thing she wanted, her last name, Mayberry. Not that she was ashamed of it. She just didn’t like the idea of being on a last name basis with everyone. Granted she was by no means used to this country/world’s customs, but she didn’t feel comfortable just giving her last name to everyone instead of her first. Still if it would keep the excessive questions at bay, she’d do it.
“If you’d prefer, I do go by Mayberry most of the time.” Looking at her navy blue mane and tail, Fleur smiled. “It fits much better, I think! Fancy?” The stallion nodded. “I quite agree. Though I must ask what’s a Mayberry anyway?” Shaking her head, the newly rechristened Mayberry shook her head. “I don’t know, sir. What are pants?”
As they walked through out the lavishly decorated manor, Mayberry couldn’t help but admire her surrounding. Much of the furniture was ornate and carpet rich and plush. Many items were gilded in gold. Fancypants and Fleur obviously had some hefty coin. As she followed her now silent guide, a new thought came to mind one that she couldn’t get out. When Fleur stopped at one door and told her it was her room for the next two nights if she needed it, Mayberry decided to chance it and ask the question burning in her mind.
“Miss Fleur?” Her host’s head swiveled back to her gaze at her. “If you were named for your cutie mark, what was your name before?” There was no mistaking the blush that quickly spread across Fleur’s cheeks before just as quickly disappearing. “Let’s just say one of the many pluses of having a tradition where a pony can change her name to fit her better. Like being able to get rid of an embarrassing name like Horsetencia which my mother thought was a good name for a filly for some reason.” She turned back to head to the room she shared with Fancypants and stifling another yawn, Fleur bid the mare a good night and headed off to bed.
The bedroom was quite nice as with the rest of the house. Mayberry imagined it was for when important guests were staying or perhaps family. Hoping onto the plush bed, she decided to plan her next move. From what Fleur had mentioned this Silver Pinnacle was probably her best bet for figuring out how she had gotten there. Unfortunately it sounded like it was an elite circle of mages. Mages, magic it made her head pound from the impossibilities. Mayberry covered her face with her hoof, trying to let that sink in. It shouldn’t be possible at all. Pulling her hoof from her face, the unicorn stared at the appendage. It this point continuing to deny something when the evidence is literally in your face would be a fast track to insanity. Practically crossing her eyes to do so, she looked at her horn that marked her as more than just a bizarrely colored horse.
“Ugh, this is too much for me!” She declared, flopping backwards on the bed. Leaning her head to the side she stared at the candles off to the side she wondered just how much magic had replaced technology. “Ugh, even more magic. Now I’m a horse, surrounded by talking intelligent horses, pegasi, unicorns and ruled by two princesses who seem to be both of the latter.” She pondered that point. She’d seen the two princesses together at a time where daylight was fading, but even she couldn’t have missed the majestic wings and the lance-like horns coming from both of their heads. How were they different? She’d seen the winged guards flying patrols at different levels of the palace. At the party in the main hall she had seen unicorns levitating glasses from the trays. As for the third type, like the maid she had blackmailed, what did she have, super walking abilities; the power to cut through grease and to scrub the dishes clean?
Quickly she snapped herself back to task, while also noting her inability at staying on task had apparently made it through her surprise transformation unscathed. “Right, first thing to do is find out how to contact those blokes at the Silver Pinnacle. From there I can find out how I got here. If it’s by pure accident, maybe I can convince them to send me back.” Looking at her four hooves in the air, she amended. “If I can convince them I’m not a pony but a human.”
Sitting up, she thought about it even more. “No, one of them should know I’m a human because otherwise I’d have landed on that roof as myself.” She shuddered at that idea. Mayberry knew she never would have made it down then. “Ok, so one of them knows I’m a human and where I landed there are a bunch of guards and one of them has had a close encounter with me.” Her eyes widened in realization. The guard didn’t need to say where he saw her, just the fact he did see her in the palace would start a search for her! If they couldn’t find her there, they’d spread the search to the city itself. Her choice was obvious. She had to skip town.
“Ok, first I’ll need a way out of this city.” Thinking back, Mayberry dimly remembered that earlier that evening that one of Fancypants’ entourage had mentioned how well their family’s railroad was doing. OK that was a start. All she would need was a ticket for a train ride somewhere else. Thinking back to the day before, she remembered seeing the lights of a rather large town or a small city a good distance away. That would do for now. Shame she didn’t know the name it’s name for when she went to buy the ticket. A lump formed hi her stomach. To buy her ticket, she needed money. The obvious thing would to ask Fancy or Fleur for some, but she was already resting on a sign of their generosity. Asking for money didn’t feel right. Plus, she thought, Fancypants is no fool. He’d be pretty suspicious of someone asking for train money. Heck asking anyone for train money would point out her goals to the searchers.
“IF there are searchers,” she murmured. “I could just be acting way too paranoid.” Still, caution had gotten her this far it wouldn’t hurt to continue to do so. First, she needed money. Money could get her food, shelter, and a ticket. She didn’t want to ask Fancy and Fleur for theirs and she sure as hell wasn’t going to steal from them. Still, she imagined that in a city as rich as this she could, say, appropriate limited funds from the unwary. Still doing so would make her feel pretty bad. “I know!” She thought. “I’ll target the richer guys! A few of them would likely not notice a coin or two missing here and there!” Glad for once she had kept her thoughts inside her head instead of out loud. Her plans finally given form, she snuggled into the bed, careful not to impale the pillow on her horn. Sleep came easily then.
The next morning she was still snoozing when a servant knocked on the door. After she announced she was up, the servant walked into the room and quickly drew her a bath. She hadn’t really noticed the facilities the night before; she had been so busy planning. Thanking the servant, who promptly exited the room, she sauntered over to the freestanding porcelain basin. Dipping a hoof in turnout not to be a very good way of judging temperature so she soaked the rest of the limb in the water. Thankfully it was quite warm. Climbing in, she looked around for soap. This lead to another problem; how does one soap up with hooves? She found she couldn’t very well hold it with her hooves.
“How the heck do I do this?” She wondered. Mayberry figured unicorns probably used levitation to do so and since she had no idea how to use magic, she made do with pinning the soap bar down and scrubbing her hooves against it to get them sudsy. She then ran her hooves across her fur to get the soap in her coat. It was a bizarre feeling at best. Like washing your hair with numb hands except without the ability to work it in with your fingers. Thankfully, the shampoo or whatever it was for the mane and tail came in a glass bottle she found she could easily hold in her mouth and pour on her tail. Her mane was cleansed in the same fashion as the rest of her coat. Standing, she did her best to drip-dry before grabbing a towel with her mouth. A firm scrubbing with the extra absorbent towel got her coat, mane, and tail mostly dry. Wrapping the towel around her head and mane to get the rest of the water out, she went to climb out of the tub.
“Fancy, maybe we should replace that old tub upstairs with one that ponies won’t trip on the side while getting out.” Fleur’s eyes caught her husbands. “Not a bad idea. Fell out of that one myself several times before we moved it up there.” A clopping sound down the stairs announced the arrival of Mayberry as the dark blue maned unicorn walked into the dining room. “Sorry about that. I tripped as I was getting out.” A polite laugh answered that. A pink aura surrounded Mayberry’s horn as Fleur magically pulled a chunk of wood off of it. Fancypants gave a tolerant smile as he called over a servant. “Have the carpenter, Buzzsaw, come by and replace that plank whenever he’s next available.” Seeing the cream mare’s sheepish smile, he laughed. “One of the downsides of being a unicorn isn’t it? Can’t turn this way or that without having to worry about putting someone’s eye out.”
Fleur smiled. “I dimly remember Princess Celestia mentioning another was never being allowed into those inflatable castle’s they have at parties sometimes without having this ridiculous cork being shoved onto your horn first.” This brought a hearty guffaw from Fancypants and a snort of laughter from Mayberry. “How would she know that?” The question was one shared by Fancypants and Mayberry, with the latter actually voicing it. Fleur’s smile widened further. “Oh something about seeing it first hand at a party.” A short pause and then she continued. “But at one of the parties at the palace, one of the few Princess Luna attended, she said first hand actually meant that Celestia had actually climbed into one at the behest of a bunch of foals. No one had dared mention the cork to her highness and predictably Her Majesty’s horn pierced one of the columns.”
At this point in the story Fancypants was trying his best to remain dignified, but at that point in the story, a laugh escaped him. Encouraged, Fleur continued. “When that happened she jerked her head back and her crown went flying and unfortunately pierced the main air cushion. Soon Her Majesty was surrounded by a deflated castle with the roof draped over her head and a bunch of foals who were about to start crying.” Even Mayberry had to laugh at the thought of the dignified figure she had seen that night covered in such a situation.
“What happened then, my dear?” Fancypants asked while wiping away a tear of mirth with a hoof before replacing his monocle. “Weeeeeell,” Fleur began drawing out the word for dramatic purposes. “After that, Her Majesty used her magic to capture the wind and used that to reinflate the castle after which she resealed it and promptly asked everyone to forgive her little mistake.” “How long ago was this anyway, Fleur?” the stallion’s question threw her off momentarily. “I’d say maybe one hundred years ago.”
Mayberry had to stop herself from spitting applejuice across the table. “A hundred years? How does either of them remember that?” At that Fleur’s face momentarily fell. “Princess Luna mentioned it was one of the things she noted while in exile on the moon. Said it was so Classic Celestia, that the memory of it somehow managed to pierce the haze Nightmare Moon had put over her vision and memory.” Mayberry cocked her head. Exile? On the moon? Well it made some sense to exile someone named Luna on the moon from some perspectives.
Excusing herself from the table, having had eaten her fill during the humorous recounting of their ruler’s run in with inflatable castles, Mayberry made for the front door. Once outside she made a mental note of where the manor was and made for the center of town. She figured the best place to look would be at the market where ponies where likely to spill coins. It turned out to be for the best. The market was full of ponies, both the high-class aristocrats and many of the lower class worker ponies. It wasn’t too hard to quickly get about 10 gold pieces just from looking at the ground. That instantly got her something she desperately needed. Horseshoes. This variety was much thinner and was often painted to match the pony’s coat. The best part was the shoes were imbued with magic that made manipulating objects with hooves possible. Not with the dexterity of hands, but it did allow her to pick up objects. Overall they made her task of acquiring a bit more coin much easier.
“Ok, now I can at least pick things up, time to go for the big fish.” With that thought in her mind she cast her eyes about for some of the upper class. She fervently hoped one of them would get careless, but unfortunately many of her upper class targets were very tight fisted for hooved creatures. “No wonder they’re so dang rich,” she thought. “They never let any thing go! I bet they leave hoof prints on every coin they do spend.” Her venture to gather enough money for a train ride out almost ended in failure until she heard the heard the sound she’d been hoping for all day. An urbane voice, obviously used to giving orders, could be heard calling for more wine. From the sound of it, who ever it belonged to had already consumed a sizable amount if the slurring of words was any indication.
Following the drunken voice, the mare came across what looked like an upper class bar. It seemed to be predominantly younger adults of both genders, though like everywhere else she’d seen so far, there were more female ponies than males. The voice could be heard quite clearly now and it seemed to be coming from the roof patio. Easing her way throw the mash of bodies, the unicorn managed to ease up the stairs without anyone noting her. Sitting at one of the table’s surrounded a swarm of weary waiters sat a large white unicorn with a blond mane. His mark was that of a compass, so Mayberry figured him to be either a rich explorer or an insanely successful cartographer. It didn’t matter to her as only one thing merited her attentions and that was the very large bag of coins sitting on the table. Deciding to bide her time, the mare planned her next move.
"A toasht to me!" slurred a loud voice. Along with this proclamation a large white unicorn with a blonde mane gestured magnanimously with his wine glass, sloshing his expensive wine onto the table. As he gestured to a waiter to refill his glass, a silent observer sighed in exasperation at such antics. Mayberry was less than enthused by her target's inebriation. Yes, it would make his judgment poor and his reflexes poorer when the time came, but the same time it made the blonde-maned unicorn stallion incredibly obnoxious. This was the third toast in as many minutes, each toast being to less and less worthy items. The first was a toast to socks, a fact that made the observing mare facehoof from her hiding spot, behind some large decorative vases lining the roof dining-area's edge.
"First it was pants and now it's socks! What's next?" The whisper was inaudible due to the unicorn stallion's increasingly verbose toasts. The mare winced as the most recent one was to loose mares. She couldn't wait to part from this disgusting creature with his money in tow. At this point she probably could have, but the beleaguered ever-present waiters were presenting a major obstacle. As tired as they looked the mare was sure they'd see her sneaking up to the table. It became increasingly obvious the best time to strike would be as he left. Getting to her hooves, the mare made her way downstairs to prepare her cunning trap.
Mayberry bolted down the narrow passageways that snaked in between the buildings in this section of the city. A bag of gold dangled in her teeth and the puffing of someone not too far behind. Her "elegant" plan had consisted of calling the stallion from the passageway in her best "I'm a pretty pony" voice. When the drunken unicorn lurched the corner, he got a crash course on Canterlotian pottery when the mystery mare promptly smashed a large vase over his skull. Grabbing the coin purse in her teeth she had bolted, knowing that any second now someone could pop their head down the passageway and see what had transpired.
Prince Blueblood staggered to his feet, a pounding pain in his head. Any sensible pony would have immediately called to one of the omnipresent pegasi guards, their golden armor a common sight on the streets. However, the Prince's pride had taken far more damage than his thick head. He, Prince Blueblood, distant nephew of the Princesses of the Sun and the Moon, Celestia and Luna, bested by a mere mare? He'd never live it down. Taking matters into his own pampered hooves, he'd bolted off after the delinquent. He could hear the clatter of the other pony's hooves on the pavement. Good, that meant it was either a unicorn or one of those lowly earth ponies. A pegasus would've immediately taken off with their trophy. He barreled down the alleyway towards the thief, his progress slowed by the occasional stumble, his inebriation taking their toll on him.
Turning one corner he barely caught a look at the last part of the thief's flank and tail. The shadows made it impossible to tell at the range and from such a short glimpse what the mare's coloration were. However he could see his quarry had a light colored coat and a dark colored tail. No telling if it was a unicorn or earth pony though. Suddenly he heard voices, lots of them too. That meant the culprit was about to emerge into one of the main markets or one of Canterlot's main roads meaning there'd be plenty of witnesses to his capture of a criminal. He could almost imagine the praise that would earn him, as well as put in a few points with his aunts, whom he seemed to alienate every few months or so. Rounding the last bend, he spotted his quarry. A lightly colored unicorn with a dark mane and tail stood in the path looking directly at him with large blue eyes. Not thinking about how many ponies that actually described, he leapt at his prey! "Oof! Hey! Release me at once, you ruffian!"
Mayberry watched the spectacle from a side passage adjacent to the one she and her pursuer had been running in. She'd stopped suddenly and had dived to the side passage as quietly as she could, praying her hooves wouldn't give her away again. It had worked, the stallion had charged right on ahead and tackled some unfortunate pony, whose sole crime was wrong place, wrong time.
She knew that she should run, knowing that one of the pegasus guards could happen along at any moment, but the mare couldn't help but stop to watch the scene between the drunkard and his victim unfolded. It seemed like they knew each other to some degree. The unicorn mare the stallion had bowled over was livid, her blue eyes boring into her attacker as she shouted something at him about his oafish behavior. The blonde unicorn didn't back down and was accusing her of stealing from him while acting like a common strumpet.
"Ok, now that was dumb of him." Mayberry mused to herself. Even from her dark alcove, she could see the blood drain from the unicorn mare's face at such an accusation. Predicting the likely outcome, Mayberry quickly retreated from the area. Sure enough, moments after she trotted back up the alleyway, she heard an explosion of sound. Unable to make out the words, she retreated from the scene.
Realizing carrying the purse around would mark her as a criminal, the mare made her way back towards the bar. Reaching the spot where she had brained her target with a vase, she put the purse on the ground. Removing as much as she could from the hefty sack, she left the rest. Surely tickets and food couldn't cost too much. Maybe if she just paced herself and rationed her coins, she could make do for a while with what she had managed to procure.
She swept away the shards of broken crockery with her hooves as best she could. Moving the tiniest pieces to the darkest corners of the alleyway, she grabbed the larger pieces in her mouth and deposited them in trash receptacles and even a few cases, into shrubbery. She went back to the corner with the purse and arranged it so it looked like the purse had simply been dropped. All the while doing this, the unicorn kept a wary eye on the sky and the ground for any guards. A few over flew the very entrance, looking like they were either heading for the bar or the commotion being sent up by the two quarreling unicorns.
Satisfied with her work at erasing the evidence as much as possible, she scooped up the pile she had set aside earlier for herself and left the immediate area, knowing that eventually someone would think to check the alleyway. Making her way down through the maze of backstreets, she decided she'd had enough of skulking around and set off for a quieter section of the city. Eventually, she found her way to a nice fountain area, which seemed to be relatively vacant, only having one or two other ponies. Fortunately most of them seemed to be either busy or had their noses too far up in the air to see her.
Setting the coins on the ground, Mayberry divided them up into four small groups. Carefully, she placed a hoof over a pile at a time, making sure that the pile was small enough to fit in the concave part of her hooves. She wanted to be able to walk without them clinking against the ground and giving her away. With the help of her new horseshoes, the mare could use all four hooves to carry the coins, a feat that would roughly analogous to a human using both hands and their socks to hold their money. Not the most elegant solution, but at least it would do until she got where she wanted to go.
Looking around, Mayberry found she was quite lost. She didn't have a map of the city to help her locate the train station. The mare figured she could ask Fancypants if she went back to his manor that night until she remembered that there was a group of mages who might be looking for her soon. Asking Fancypants where the train station was might send off a redflag for him. With a jolt, Mayberry realized she should probably be more wary of Fleur-De-Lise, whose knowledge of the city and the supposedly secret mage organization called the Silver Pinnacle was quite extensive. Mayberry remembered Fancypants hinting that such knowledge was quite hard to come by.
"Great, I'm staying with a bigshot member of the local nobility and he wife may well be a female horse version of James Bond." She groused at her misfortune. Laying down on the outer wall of the fountain, folding her legs underneath her, Mayberry amended her judgment. "Then again, she seemed quite nice and she was the one that convinced Fancypants to let me stay." The mare's mind quickly turned to ideas of how to pay them back. One thought barged into her mind "They aren't the only ones I'll owe. At some point I'll really need to find some way to pay back that unicorn fellow from earlier."
Tilting her head back, she stared at the majestic mountain that the city cantilevered out from. With a start Mayberry realized she had her first hint of where to look for the train station. Recalling a time, back when she was a human, a good ten years in the past, she remembered one of the vacations she'd taken with her family. They had taken a scenic train ride through the mountains. Upon recollection, she also recalled similar rides in at least three other states. One thing they all had in common was the train always hugged the mountainsides. So if she made her way closer to the mountain the city was built on, Mayberry reckoned she would find the station.
Jumping off the wall, she set forth at a brisk pace. After a quick once around the fountain to make sure her hooves were holding the coins, the navy-maned mare set off towards the mountainside. On her way there she passed all manner of ponies. Upon getting closer to the mountainside, Mayberry realized she was seeing more and more of the regular ponies and many of these had earthier colors than the pegasi and unicorns she had seen before. Sure there were still ponies of various hues around, but now she was seeing more tans and greens. She took that as a good sign. If these ponies were the ones that performed the heavier labors in this society with their stockier builds than their cousins, that meant these were likely workers that loaded and unloaded whatever the trains brought to the city.
The white stone and gold roofs of the upper city slowly gave way to much more colorfully painted wooden buildings. As much as it seemed a fire hazard to Mayberry, she couldn't help but smile at the much livelier atmosphere here. Whereas the unicorns above moved at their own sedate rhythm, this are was practically charged with the amount of activity. The earth ponies and pegasi here were much more vibrant and full of energy.
However, Mayberry noted one thing that made her worry. She was going to stick out much more in this crowd than among the nobility, due to something she realized should have noticed back with the maid and the guard. She was taller than most of these ponies. Her back was higher than most of these ponies and her legs seemed slightly longer too. She hadn't really noticed as when she had been in Fancypant's manor as both Fancypants and Fleur-De-Lise had been slightly taller.
Thinking back to her close encounter with the dark princess (whom, she noted, her mind kept coming back to), Mayberry remembered the Princess had been considerably taller than the maid, having towered over her even when the maid was standing. Even earlier she remembered the elder sister, Celestia, had been considerably taller than even her sister. "Wait, why are those two so tall compared the rest of these ponies? I mean, they aren't like an inch taller, but several feet taller. That's pretty ridiculous." Upon remembering what Fleur had said about the longevity of the two, she dismissed it as a side effect of an extraordinarily long life.
"Ahem" At the sound of a throat being cleared, Mayberry realized she was blocking the pathway of a team of ponies carting a bunch of barrels through. Stepping to the side to allow them to pass, she looked about her for a ticket seller. As the barrels passed by she caught the scent of what smelled like apples. The smell made her stomach rumble. Still before she ate, Mayberry decided to grab her ticket first.
Finally spotting a ticket seller who was working at a fast pace, she tried to make up her mind about how far to go. Her intended goal was the village/city in the valley below. Considering it's proximity to the city, she figured the apples were likely from there. So upon reaching the ticket master who inquired as to her intended destination, Mayberry found herself saying she was heading out with the group of apple sellers. The pony behind the counter mentioned it would be a three-day ride. Despite thinking that was a bit long of a ride for her destination, the unicorn mare found herself relinquishing a surprisingly small amount of her coins. Apparently the fellow she had relieved them of had coin of considerable worth as she saw other ponies paying for the same ride with considerably larger amounts of silver coins.
Making her way back outside, the mare found her way over to a food vendor selling what looked like caramel coated apples. Laying a coin down on the counter, the vendor passed her two of the sweet treats. Grasping them in her right forehoof's magical horseshoe, she thanked the tan stallion and wandered towards the train. On her way, she passed a sight that both astounded and yet relieved her.
Two vanilla colored unicorn males with reddish manes were magically wrestling a massive wheeled machine onto a flat train car, with the help of a team of rather burly stallions. The sight of two unicorns about her size made her feel slightly better. She'd noticed that a lot the unicorns around here were smaller than her. Turning her attention back to the large red and black machine, Mayberry pondered its purpose. It looked like a primitive car minus the roof. It had two barrel-like tanks attached to it and two large class containers. The inclusion of smoke stacks and a Jacob's Ladder confused her as to what powered the device.
Shaking her head, the mare turned her back on the awkward machine and climbed aboard the train to enjoy her caramel apples. Afterwards she explored the train a bit, finding much of it was similar to the trains from her memory. Laying down in her bunk in the sleeping car, she took a quick nap. Quick because she immediately felt as if the moment her head hit the pillow, the train's whistle went off. Shortly afterwards, she heard the conductor calling the other passengers to board. Getting up, she trotted back to her seat to see what other passengers there were. The two unicorns from before climbed aboard. They wore blue and white pinstriped vests as well as straw hats. They chatted animatedly to one another. Mayberry guessed that from their identical looks and familiarity with one another that were likely family if not brothers.
The rest of the passengers were the regular ponies, not a single unicorn or pegasus were amongst them. As they took their respective seats, the train's whistle blasted out one last time. Then, with a lurch that left those still walking about staggering, the train started forward. As they started on their journey, a hay-colored colt in a Stetson hat and what looked like a leather vest stood up. "Next stop!" He called loudly while waving his hat. "Aaaaaappleloooosaaa!"
"Sid'down, Braeburn. We know where we're goin'. No need to tell us!" The hay-colored pony did as he was bidden, his exuberance at heading back to 'Aaaaaaappleooosa!' momentarily deflated at the sound of the cranky voice. Placing the hat he'd been waving back on his head, he plopped down into his seat. Looking about the train compartment he noticed a few other passengers that he didn't usually see on the regular apple shipment to the capital city of Canterlot. All three of the new passengers were unicorns.
The first two he could recognize anywhere. Braeburn had gotten an earful from his cousin Applejack about the two hooligans, Flim and Flam, who'd tried to run Sweet Apple Acres out of business. The colt shivered at the memory of how worked up AJ had gotten just talking about the two, despite it having been several years at least since the incident. However, Braeburn knew the duo of red-maned unicorns were no threat to his families' business. In fact they were going in for a partnership!
The twins' ingenuity with machines coupled with Appleloosa's resources meant that together they could rake in more money by distributing to nearby cities than they could as competitors. The only thing that seemed to threaten the plan had been some hesitance on the Lunar and Solar Princess' parts. Something about worry how the Apple family's monopoly was expanding too much. Braeburn didn't understand the situation very well.
Eventually they had relented and allowed the partnership to happen after Princess Luna had Flim and Flam change their claim of seventy-five percent of the profits to a mere fifteen percent allowing the Apple family to take the majority considering the operation was dependent on their apples. The two had agreed readily, remembering the premature destruction of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 7000 at the horn of Princess Celestia during a demonstration of its abilities in Canterlot.
The rumor-mill had it the machine had created a sound that had effected the white alicorn the same way a hoof dragged across slate effected others. The resulting flash of light from her horn had been followed by a tremendous explosion as the machine was torn apart. Despite her actions, Celestia still thought of her ponies first, shielding them with her magic. The World Famous FlimFlam brothers had beat a hasty retreat from a very relieved Celestia as she had sat massaging her ears.
The SSCS 7000 reduced to charred bits of wood, melted metal and flash vaporized cider, the brothers had felt their luck had run out until a scroll of apology had come from the Princess complete with a sum of gold to aid them on their next project. After a complete overhaul of the design to eradicate the noise that had doomed it's predecessor via destruction by princess, the brother had finally completed the design just in to receive the offer from Appleloosa.
After watching the two brothers chat animatedly with each other for a while, Braeburn switched his attention to the last passenger, who was currently asleep. From his vantage point at the front of the car, he couldn't tell what gender the pony was, partially because the pony's dark blue mane was draped over their face. What the earth pony did know was the pony was a unicorn due to the long horn sticking out the blue mess of a mane. Said horn was currently propped against the window, the right side of the unicorn's face was pressed up against the window, canting the head at what looked like an extremely uncomfortable position.
Braeburn was starting to wonder if the pony was actually asleep when a curve in the train track caused the pony's head to slide off the window and backwards over the back of the seat. Now he could see it was a fairly pretty mare. However with her head canted back as far as it was now, coupled with her long neck, the cream-colored mare started to snore. Loudly. Braeburn winced at the sound. The loud snores very quickly drew the attention of everyone within hearing distance. In this case that meant the entire car.
"By Celestia's Beard, th' lass can snore!" An ancient gray stallion rasped in surprise. It was Hard Cider, one of Braeburn's older and more distant relatives who the family had brought in to lend his long years of expertise to the new project. "Sounds like a pack wild boars in th' middle of one of dem bison stampedes."
"It's buffalo, uncle." Braeburn automatically corrected him. The colt however agreed with the old pony. The stentorian sound coming from the mare was enough to drown out the rattling of the train.
"Maybe someone should wake her up and let her know she's disturbing the whole car!" One of the unicorn twins had spoken. Braeburn couldn't tell if it had been Flim or Flam who had spoken up. Still they had a point. Sighing, the gold-maned pony got up and trotted down the aisle towards the source of the horrendous noise. Sliding into the empty seat in front of the mare, he reached over and put a hoof on her shoulder. Shaking her slightly, he whispered "Ma'am?" No response from the mare. Shaking her a little more vigorously, he tried again "Ma'am? Can you wake up?"
Finally, tired of his nephew's rather weak attempts at awakening the mare and exasperated at her tremendous snoring, Hard Cider, the curmudgeonly old stallion, walked up down the aisle. Everypony else in the car watched the elder pony come to a stop next to the seat. Suddenly Hard Cider reared back and stomped his fore hooves down. The loud CRACK of his hooves on the wooden floor accompanied by his shout of "Wake up, young'un'!" finally elicited a response from the mare. Mayberry jerked awake at the sound, hooves flailing. "I'm awake! The answer is 89 to the square root of coconut!"
Noticing where she was, Mayberry looked at the old pony standing next to her. Hearing what sounded like a snicker, she looked to her right at the seat in front of her. Braeburn's face was centimeters away from hers. Unfortunately, as her face swung into line with his, her long horn cracked the poor pony along the right side of his head.
"Gah! My face! What'd you do that for?" Holding a hoof to his sore head, Braeburn shot a glare at the mare. "What do you mean? Your face was in my space." the mare retorted. "Anyway, why'd did you guys wake me up?"
"Oh it weren't nothin'. Yer snoring was drownin' out the engine and some of us would like to get some shut eye around 'ere." Even with the pain of the accidental blow from the unicorn, Braeburn winced at his crotchety uncle's sarcasm. Mayberry couldn't help but blush. It wasn't the first time someone had been disturbed by her snoring. Granted she didn't snore unless her head was canted back, but that wasn't quite the answer her professor had wanted when it happened in her economics class.
"I'm sorry about that. Must have drifted off." Mayberry took the time to explain she had been about to catch some sleep in the sleeping car when the final call for boarding was made. With the passengers coming aboard, she figured she go back and see who all had boarded.
Afterwards the stallion and his uncle returned to their seats. Pressing the end of her nose against the window, the unicorn mare admired the view. The train hadn't gone too far from the city, as when she looked out the window she could see it a mountain back. The glittering palace with its immense array of spires and towers dwarfed the city below. Looking at the rich city, Mayberry could have sworn she saw the top of Fancypants Manor. As much as she wanted to get home, the mare truly wished to pay back the two for their hospitality. Maybe at the same time she could find a way to pay back that louse of a horse with the compass mark. Even if the unicorn wasn't the most pleasant being in the city.
Hours later a certain Prince was still entangled in the mess the absent Mayberry had accidentally caused. Prince Blueblood found himself backed into a corner figuratively speaking. The blonde-maned pony had escaped the fracas in the market a few hours prior. After he had jumped onto what he had thought was the thief, the prince instead found himself with his fore legs wrapped around an exceedingly irate Rarity. Still believing she was the pony who had assaulted him with a vase and then had the nerve to steal from him, the drunken pony had accosted the fashionista.
Blueblood winced as he looked out at the city from his room in the palace. He'd definitely said a few things that no civil pony should ever accuse a lady of, especially in public. Even in his drunken state before, the prince had known he'd just crossed the line at the look on the mare's face. Shortly afterwards, Blueblood found himself trying to weather a dressing down of proportions he'd never experienced before from anyone even Aunt Celestia. The elegant and ever so polite Rarity verbally ripped him asunder calling everything from his intelligence to his taste in women into question.
The unicorn stallion had hoped she'd fall into the trap of calling his bloodline into question so he could turn his exceedingly distant relation to the princesses on her. However Rarity had neatly avoided that verbal pitfall. Blueblood never got to hear what she thought of his choices in life and he admitted he probably never wanted to. Thankfully, right as the fashion designer had been about to share her opinion, the Royal Guards had shown up to investigate the disturbance. Calling Rarity to silence, the two pegasi guards asked for an explanation for the two's shouting match.
Blueblood had tried to accuse the mare of stealing from him, but unfortunately Rarity told the guards he had practically attacked her while she was looking about the market stalls before the Prince could get a word out. Finally finding his voice, the stallion defended himself, claiming that a pony with colors similar to Rarity had smashed a vase over his head and had run off with his coin purse. Rarity interjected at the end that was a waste of a perfectly good vase.
The two guards prevented the two from getting into another row, asking either if they had any witnesses. Blueblood had none whereas Rarity was able to call on the entire market place as witnesses. Several stall vendors supported Rarity's story, saying she had been at their stalls and couldn't have been the villain.
The guards then inspected the alleyway at the Prince's instance and lying at the very corner where he had been attacked was the Prince's coin purse. A quick search found no evidence of a smashed vase. Blueblood was certain the purse was lighter now, but couldn't say how much had been stolen as he'd simply scooped up a small amount from his safe in his room for a quick drink at the bar. With no evidence to go on and the coin purse found, the two guards released him while informing the Prince they were going to inform the captain of the guards of the disturbance.
Now Blueblood sat in his suite in the palace, moping. Of course the disturbance in the market place would eventually reach the Princesses' ears and true to his estimation, one of them had asked them to speak to either one of them at some point today about his behavior otherwise they'd both come down for a talk. Blueblood was now biding his time. He was hoping to get Princess Luna shortly after Celestia had surrendered the throne to her for the night.
While he had never truly spoken to her outside of some formal occasions, Blueblood was willing to face Luna's displeasure over her elder sister simply because if it came to punishment Celestia's familiarity with him would result in a more personalized punishment meant to strike at his personal vices. Vices which Blueblood valued too much to relinquish.
Finally deciding that Aunt Celestia had probably retired for the night, Prince Blueblood walked to the gold plated doors of his suite and opened them and suddenly stopped. On the other side, a guard waited there to remind him of the Princesses wishes. The usually pompous stallion merely nodded his head in acknowledgement and headed towards the main throne room. Stopping at the massive gold-clad doors, the unicorn nodded his gold-maned head at the grey unicorn guard to announce him.
"Presenting Prince Blueblood to see their royal Highnesses." the Guard bellowed out. The volume of it, meant to cut through the murmur of crowds, caused the prince to wince before he realized what the guard had said. Sure enough, both Princesses Celestia and Luna were present. In fact, it looked as if instead of waiting for Celestia to hand control over to Luna for the night, Blueblood had actually interrupted them in the middle of it.
"Ah, Prince Blueblood, I was expecting you to drop by at some point today." Princess Celestia spoke first slightly stressing the last word. It was now late evening. Blueblood tried appear nonplussed. "I apologize if I inconvenienced you, your Majesty. I decided to wait so I wouldn't disturb court." Almost immediately after he said the words, Blueblood knew he'd firmly planted his hoof in his mouth. He simply looked up at the throne. Princess Luna was already seated in the throne, her imperious face devoid of any emotion. Her bat-winged Night Guards in their stylized armor had already replaced their golden-armored counterparts.
Since Princess Celestia had already passed the mantle of leadership on to her sister for the night, the white alicorn was seated a little below the throne. However her height put her head on level with Luna's. The Lunar and Solar Princesses were looked over the little Prince in almost the same way a predator sized up a potential meal. Finally it was Princess Luna who broke the silence following Blueblood's excuse. "We have heard thou created a significant disturbance in our city this day Blueblood." Celestia continued for her sister "Not only that you accosted the Element of Generosity herself and accused her of stealing of all things. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Blueblood could feel the displeasure practically rolling off from the two Princesses. He'd known he had screwed up, but now the stallion realized he had accused one of the Elements of Harmony of going against her very Element. The unicorn decided telling them what had happened and hoped for the best. As Blueblood explained how he had heard someone calling to him after he had left the bar and when he went over to investigate someone broken some crockery over his head, grabbed his coin purse and ran.
"Why did you simply not call a guard to go after the pursuer?" Princess Celestia interrupted. "After all the thief could have been a dangerous criminal. Why risk yourself?" Blueblood had no real answer to that. "I do not know. I was still quite drunk and the thought the crook might pose a threat didn't cross my mind. I wanted to accost the criminal as a way of proving myself" Both Princesses seemed mildly surprised at the Prince's blunt yet honest reply. The white stallion could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile on the elder sister's face briefly.
Encouraged somewhat he forged onward. "After the thief brained me and took off, I decided to chase after them. I caught a glimpse of their flank and tail. Even though I couldn't see well enough to tell what color they were exactly I know their tail was a dark color and their coat was a much lighter color." Blueblood hoped they'd see his reasoning there.
"Could thou not see the villain's cutie mark? This time it was Princess Luna who had interrupted him. Shaking his head, the Prince replied, "Nay, your majesty. Whoever they were, the thief was too fast for me to see their mark."
"Nephew, if all this is true then why then were the guards unable to locate any evidence of this….attack." Celestia nodded her head towards one of her ever present guards to emphasis her point. Blueblood had actually thought about this. "It's possible that during my….altercation with the Element of Generosity, that the thief circled back and erased any evidence." Fighting the urge to use his hoof to mop his forehead and betray his nervousness, the unicorn continued. "After all the search was a cursory one at best and probably wouldn't turn up any evidence if the thief had hid them well enough."
"What of thy purse?" Princess Luna spoke again her voice as imperious as ever. Waving a dark blue leg capped with a silvery blue horseshoe in a grand gesture towards the Prince, she spoke again. "Thy purse was found in the very spot the guards searched and it still contained gold." Blueblood shivered a tiny bit at the tone of her voice as well as its volume. It was by no measure the infamous Royal Canterlot voice she'd used many years before when she had returned, but it was still quite loud.
Mistaking his reaction as something else, the Lunar Princess leaned towards the stallion, making it seem as if she was towering before him despite the fact he still sat at the base of the ramp leading to the throne. Princess Celestia cocked an incredulous eyebrow at her sister's scare tactics. It wasn't like Luna to resort to such a threatening demeanor like this. Celestia had heard of the bare bones of their nephew's most recent shenanigans from Luna. The guard captain had brought up the issue with Princess Luna, as she had been free at that particular moment.
Adopting a bored expression, Celestia began to inspect her golden shoes. They were a bit scuffed on the very bottom, but were in good condition over all. Every couple years or so, she needed new shoes. Instead of wasting her people's tax dollars to have new ones made, the Solar Princess opted to recycle them. After all gold was gold no matter what condition it was in. It was a simple matter of using her magic to melt down the old shoes and recast them as new ones. Plus sizing them was easier to do when the metal was soft. It was simply a matter of manipulating the still hot metal around her hooves and then cooling them.
Blueblood didn't know what to think at that moment. Aunt Luna seemed quite upset at him and yet Aunt Celestia was looking at her shoes for some reason. For the life of him, the Prince couldn't figure out what fascinating her so about her shoes. Even Luna broke off glaring at her irritating nephew to give her sister a look of exasperation. After a few moments of intense hoof and shoe related introspection, the Ruler of the Day turned her attention back to Blueblood and Luna.
"Thou art in need of a farrier, Celestia?" Luna gave her sister a sardonic look. Blueblood hoped Princess Celestia didn't hear the snicker that had tried to erupt from his throat.
"Blueblood, you have still not told us why your purse was found at the seen of the supposed crime with your gold still inside." The Sun Princess ignored her sister's teasing and addressed the issue at hoof.
Clearing his slightly tightened throat, the stallion responded. "While my purse was indeed there, it was significantly lighter than when I had left the restaurant." At this point the white alicorn had slowly descended the ramp, walking up to the Prince. "And yet you don't know how much was stolen? That's incredibly irresponsible for someone with access to the royal treasury." By now Celestia was mere inches in front of Blueblood, her magenta eyes boring into Blueblood's cyan eyes. The Prince couldn't help but notice how tall she actually was at this point.
She stared deeply into his eyes for a moment seeming to peer directly into his brain, the Princess abruptly broke off her stare. "Prince Blueblood, you have behaved quite poorly today. You've embarrassed the Royal Family and have accused one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony of going against her very Element. On top of that, you have been abusing your position as Prince far too much recently. It seems almost every other month, my sister and I are having to speak to you again about your constant misbehavior." Breaking off from her tirade for a moment to glance at Princess Luna, who acknowledged her with a tip of the head.
"We hereby suspend thy allowance and title as Prince until thou has proven to us that thou art worthy of such an honor. We shall allow thee a two-month period to prove thyself capable of worthy of such an honor. Begone, we will speak again if and only if you do this." A raised hoof on Luna's part and a freezing blast of air swung the throne room's doors open, startling the guards outside. Just as the golden armored grey unicorns went to rush into the room a dejected and deflated Blueblood exited.
"A little heavy-hoofed, don't you think Luna?" Celestiia asked the dark blue alicorn. "Perhaps, but maybe this will teach him restraint and control." Luna brushed aside her ethereal blue hair. "Also you weren't there to hear exactly what Blueblood said to Ms. Rarity. Several of the shopkeepers were able to recall a good part of what he said."
Despite the fact she still didn't quite agree with Luna's reasoning for her fairly harsh punishment, Celestia wasn't going to undermine her sister's authority by continuing to question her decision. "Did you get the memory of the thief from him?" Celestia asked.
Luna gave her beloved sister an enigmatic smile. "Oh yes. He wasn't lying about one thing. There was a thief. Perhaps the same one who stole the Arcane Lexicon from the Royal Mage's vaults."
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The two-day ride to Appleloosa was an exercise in extreme boredom for one particular mare. When the two brothers Flim and Flam weren't performing impromptu musical shows, the Apple family that took up most of the cars yakked her ears off about apples surprisingly enough.
Mayberry had been shocked to figure out she was not heading to the town she had spotted from the tower but a town even further away. Thankfully she'd hidden her surprise well enough. It truly didn't matter to her after all. In fact it her mix up may have helped her out. If what the Apple family said was true, Appleloosa was much further away from the capital, Canterlot. Despite the fact the name of the capital made her want to bang her head against the window, the unicorn figured that something had gone her way for once.
Still the names of this place were driving her crazy. Appleloosa, Canterlot, Equestria, and from what the pony named Braeburn had said, the town she had been trying to get to was named Ponyville. Ponyville. Mayberry wasn't certain, but she was quite sure the old country that Fancypants had said was named Eurohipp* was a horse pun as well.
The mare was kind of wary of her companions at the moment, mainly due to her outburst earlier. At hearing Canterlot's name, she'd burst out laughing, telling the family to tell her about the Mare in the Water next. That'd had drawn some strange looks her way. After a long awkward silence had filled the car, a cantankerous grumble from the gray old stallion she'd heard Braeburn call Hard Cider about strange ponies from Manehattan. A short scream followed by a loud crashing noise had scared the entire car. When questioned about that, Mayberry had covered her overreaction by sheepishly saying she'd spotted a huge spider.
Hours later the train rumbled on. The setting sun disappeared behind the mountains on which the capital stood, gleaming in the dying light of day concluded the first day of travel. Mayberry sat in the car, watching the golden rays yield to the oncoming display of the twilight hours.
The train actually passed through her original destination of Ponyville, the name still causing her to wince. The train had stopped for a few minutes to unload a few passengers and some cargo. The cream-colored mare figured she could have jumped off at that point, but she figured she might as well go all the way. Heck if there were pony mages or guards on her tail, then Ponyville would likely be the first town searched. So Appleloosa was actually a better option.
Mayberry wondered what she would do once there. While she did have some gold from that buffoon of a cartographer (or at least she thought he was from the compass rose on his rear) the mare figured it would be a good idea to earn some as well. While she did want to get back home, Amber didn't believe that doing so would be at all simple and would likely take some work. In all likelihood she'd be in this world for a while. A job would be a good step in the right direction.
Casting her eyes towards the front of the train, Mayberry noticed the pony called Braeburn. After she had brained him accidentally with her horn shortly after the train had left, she'd apologized to the stallion. They had introduced themselves. The crotchety old uncle of Braeburn's, Hard Cider, had already excused himself and found his way back to his seat. After they'd introduced themselves, Braeburn and Mayberry had talked for a bit about themselves. Mayberry stuck to Fancypant's assumption of her being from the old country for her background. When asked for specifics, she told him that even in Eurohipp she'd been moved about quite a bit as a filly so even then she didn't know too much. It was a fairly weak reason, but the eclectic stallion seemed to buy it.
The conversation eventually turned to Mayberry's lack of a cutie mark. Mayberry noticed Breaburn's eyes looking at her flank and at first she was going to tell him 'eyes up front' when he mentioned it. Once again the wealth of information from Fancypants proved invaluable to her. Mayberry told Braeburn pretty much the same thing Fancypants had said about the restrictive roles of the old country and how they didn't allow for much self-discovery. The unicorn mare mentioned how someone had said she'd likely find her cutie mark while in Equestria.
After they talked for a while, Braeburn had gone back to his seat. Mayberry promptly struck up a conversation with the only other unicorns on the train, Flim and Flam. The two brothers told her their long story of how they started a little traveling business.
For the most part the brothers sold whatever little knick-knacks they could. At other times, the two would peddle the wares of a supplier and split the profits amongst themselves. It hadn't been until they had passed through Trottingham that they had first encountered ponies that were suffering from cider-withdrawal, the local farms unable to keep up with the massive thirst for cider the ponies had. Flim and Flam had ventured over to the beleaguered and overworked farm to learn more. There they learned the farm still persisted in using their ancient and outdated methods of creating cider.
Mayberry was still trying to wrap her mind around why ponies would love cider so dang much. Flim (or was it Flam?) told her of how the line for cider had extended for almost a kilometer. Here her mind suffered another one of its freeze ups. Not only did the ponies have a tremendous thirst for cider, but they were willing to wait about two to three hours at best for it?
"Ok, before we go any further, would it be considered weird if I told you I'm not a big fan of cider personally?" Mayberry couldn't help but ask. Following that statement the car went silent. The unicorn mare could practically feel the eyes of ponies from the front of the car boring into her like lasers.
"Not at all, miss!" The mustachioed brother spoke up this time. "In fact my brother and I usually don't drink it." Seeing her incredulous look, the other brother cut in.
"At most we taste it to make sure the quality is good. Outside of that we don't drink it. Why drink what you can sell?" That made good sense to her. She decided to ask them what they were going to Appleloosa for.
"We're wanderers by nature, but after our last and er….rather costly demonstration in Canterlot which ended in the destruction of our previous machine, we decided to take no chances and decided to partner up with these ponies." The brother with a mustache gestured towards the Apple family at the front of the train car. "We'll man the machine and they'll provide us with the best cider-making apples. Most of the money will go to the Apples for farm expenses, but with the demand for cider, it doesn't matter."
The train rolled on into the night, many passengers retiring to their respective sleeping cars, a certain unicorn mare quickly assuring her fellow passengers she wouldn't snore this time.
As Luna raised her moon higher into the sky, a rather strange anomaly appeared before Princess Celestia as she was about to get into bed. The white alicorn looked up from the scroll she had been reading before she felt the surge of magic. As she watched a thin dot of violet light appeared above the balcony outside.
Getting up, she crossed over to the restored door and pushed it open with a gentle tap from her magic. The tiny point of light drifted down to the balcony and as it touched, a miniature vortex of similar points of violet light exploded out of it with a flourish. Celestia raised her wing reflexively to protect her face, the magic in front of her something entirely new to her. She slowly and cautiously lowered her wing, ready to raise it at a moment's notice. The lights were still there slowly rotating in place.
"What is this? Some kind of joke?" Celestia had always been one for small playful pranks, but this seemed a bit much. After all who would waste so much magic on a mere prank? While remaining warely of the magic display in front of her, Celestia closed her eyes and concentrated.
Expanding her senses outward, the Princess could sense magic. This ability allowed her to pinpoint who was using magic, what spells were being cast, and where the caster was. It had been infinitely useful to her in the recent years for her. More than once she had found herself using this very spell to hunt down a certain unicorn as a filly. Overtime experience simply told her to just check the deepest parts of the library and almost every single time, the Princess had found that little filly, wrapped up in a blanket as snug as can be protected by a small fort of books with whatever she was reading right in front of her.
This time however, the spell didn't work as planned. It was unable to identify the spell being cast and the caster was nowhere to be seen. That last part disturbed the normally unflappable princess. Unicorns had a limited range in which their magic worked, the magically weak could only use spells within a few feet and struggled to lift an object up to 4 feet away. Even her student Twilight, a unicorn of immense potential was limited. The greatest feat she managed was lifting an Ursa Minor and depositing the beast 3 kilometers away in it's home.
"Maybe the spell isn't working properly," she mused to herself. Dropping some of the filters she had in place on the spell to prevent interference from outside sources, Celestia once again extended her magical senses. Unfortunately, this led her senses to encounter an overpowering source of magical energy emanating from the throne room. The result was similar to staring into the sun without protection.
Magical senses momentarily overwhelmed, the Princess of the Sun was forced to admit that enhancing her senses to such a degree and then looking in the general direction of her sister, whose role as goddess and princess of the night made her a fount of unlimited magic, may have been a foalish mistake.
Opening her eyes and locking them on the still swirling anomaly, the Solar Princess decided to simply study the matrix of this spellwork. Upon drawing closer however, the tiny points of light stopped swirling and started to shift. One by one the points of light found their place. Celestia likened the event to watching one of those 3D puzzles Twilight liked so much as a filly solving itself. Finally the last point in position, Celestia found herself face to face with a unicorn pony made up entirely of magical lights. Then it spoke.
"Dear Princess Celestia…"
Celestia started at the construct mentioning her by name. She didn't have much time to think on it before it spoke again.
"Dear Princess Celestia," it repeated in its weird androgynous voice. "Is this thing working properly? Oh pony feathers." The thing's head sank down as it talked. For a few seconds the magical construct froze in position. Suddenly it's head jerked back up. "Princess Celestia are you there? Please respond. It's Twilight."
"Twilight?" Celestia looked over the construct. With a small smile playing about her serene visage, the alicorn realized she should have at least recognized the familiar glow as she had seen that characteristic glow many times over the past three decades. "Twilight, my faithful student, it's been too long. What is this new spell?"
"Princess!? Good! The sending worked!" The purple construct started prancing in place with it's caster's self-evident glee.
"Twilight, I truly admire your talents at spell-weaving and this new spell of yours is quite an achievment. However as proud as I am of your accomplishment, I must retire for some sleep tonight." The Princess's caring yet stern voice brought the prancing lights back to order.
"I'm sorry, Princess. I got a little off-track. I figured with your unexpected letter last night that I'd wait until I made sure everything with this spell was safe and ready to test. What was it you wished to speak to me about?" All through out this the lights never ceased their prancing. Only now Celestia couldn't tell if it was excitement, agitation, or her beloved student's restlessness.
"A few days ago, Luna and I detected what seemed like a long range teleportation spell. Where it was directed is unknown."
Twilight's construct ceased it's prancing and assumed a position so striking similar to one Twilight herself used when she was taking in every single word someone was saying. The likeness was so similar, Celestia felt a small pang of regret it wasn't her violet protégé herself seated in front of her. Even such an amazing facsimile conjured by her brilliant student was a poor replacement for the one pony Celestia would call family outside of Luna.
"I'm sorry, Princess, but what do you mean by unknown?" Celestia noticed at this point that as the conversation progressed, Twilight's creation started taking on features closer to its creator than the stock pony form it had originally assumed. Celestia could only guess that the spell was being remotely modified by Twilight to become more personalized.
"What I said, I meant, Twilight." Celestia couldn't help but smile at the enigmatic statement. She could practically feel the questions no doubt burning inside of Twilight. Casting her eyes to the darkened sky with purple hues, Celestia relented and told Twilight the rest as she admired her sister's masterful work with the stars. "The reason why it is unknown is the location of the spell's focus wasn't in Equestria. Whoever cast that spell found a way to pierce through the Veil." Looking back at the construct, Celestia continued. "Though it is embarrassing to admit, even to ourselves, Luna and I have been unable to discern who cast the spell. We would ask for the aid of the Silver Pinnacle in this, however we are not sure if it was one or many of the group who cast such a spell."
The construct's approximation of eyes widened in understanding. "So you want me to help find out who cast the spell?"
Celestia bowed her head towards her astute student's creation. "Yes. While we encourage the Silver Pinnacle with experimentation, there needs to be some degree of caution. Luna has already expressed her concern for this recent experiment to me and while I find it fascinating myself, I understand her reasoning. Who knows what such an experiment will pull into this world?"
Twilight's light golem nodded its head. "I understand. I think I may know how they are powering such a powerful spell too."
"How so, my student?" Celestia wondered if such a source may also be what was powering Twilight's spell.
"Recently, as we were mapping the flows of magic, we noticed something quite odd. At regular intervals and in specific locations all over the planet, there are places were the flows of magic cross. Every single one of these locations corresponds with legends and tales of wild magic. The closest is in the Everfree forest!"
The Solar Princess couldn't help but smile. "That might explain why all those centuries ago, Luna was so insistent that our third palace be built there on the grounds of 'It feels right.'"
Looking over at the glowing stand-in for her student, Celestia decided to experiment with it. Walking up to it, she raised one of her alabaster hooves, having shed her royal vestments for the night. Waving her hoof a few inches from the construct's face, the curious alicorn watched for a reaction. Sure enough its head and eyes followed her hoof.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you without your shoes or that big crown thingy, Princess."
Plastering on a grin, Celestia attempted to hide her embarrassment at being caught by her student. Clearing her throat, Celestia asked the question that she'd wanted to ask the entire time. "What is this new spell, Twilight? I've never seen the likes of it before."
"Oh! It's a new type of sending. Kinda like Spike's ability to send letters only this spell allows for entire conversations to be held instantly from extreme distances!"
Celestia frowned with concern, hoping her reproachful look could be seen by Twilight. "An amazing spell, but something like this and at the distances you mentioned, the drain on your magic must be tiring at best. I don't want you to hurt yourself in your zeal."
"I thank you for your concern, Princess. However, I planned for that. Remember those magical nexuses I mentioned? I've tied a small amount of a small nexus that I've based my secret lab around to power the spell. Eeeeee! I've always wanted a secret lab!"
Twilight's Sending was now bouncing about the princess in a very familiar fashion, drawing a nostalgic smile from the Princess. Even if she had graduated to the most celebrated and secretive of the ranks of her mages, Celestia still saw glimpses of the little filly she had taken under her tutelage so long ago. Still smiling she still had one question she wanted to ask. "Twilight, where exactly is your new secret lab? And is it really secret if the Silver Pinnacle mapped out all the nexuses. Especially if they happen at regular intervals."
Twilight ceased her bouncing at the question, her simulacrum so far away doing the same. "Well technically the large ones happen at regular intervals. Some medium to smaller nexuses form in a wide radius around the large one. Kind of like how a maelstrom will sometimes cause little eddies or even whirlpools to form as water flows around rocks and other obstacles. The one I based my secret lab around and over is a medium sized one near the edge of the large nexus on the Barrier Mountains on the far coast of the Zebra homeland."
Celestia did a mental calculation of her student's relative location. Relative to Canterlot Palace, it would be past the mountains that marked the border of most of Equestria. Past there was a rather barren land, with only a few brave ponies daring to form settlements there. Some had even made peace with the local buffalo there. Past that land was a range of fairly small mountains. Aside from a few dragons and the rare chimera, not much lived in them. Beyond them were the zebra homelands, some parts of which were verdant and green while other parts were vast grasslands. Even further out, almost half the world away was the monstrous and forbidding mountains that Twilight now called home.
Celestia felt a momentary small stab of sadness that her student was so far removed from her, before realizing with a start her ever so clever Twilight had just invented a new and innovative way to still spend some time with her. Suddenly she found herself stifling a yawn. While she didn't need sleep as other ponies needed it, the Solar Princess was not one to pass up an opportunity for it as it left her feeling fresher in the morning.
Seeing her mentor's need for sleep, Twilight wished her a good night and apologized for forgetting the time difference. Before she released her spell, the violet unicorn promised to keep an eye open and an ear to the ground in regards to the mysterious teleportation spell. After doing so, Twilight paced around her lab admiring her work.
The room was circular in shape with living spaces built into the places she had hollowed out of the rocks with her magic. The living spaces consisted of platforms and caverns, which were linked by sturdy wood bridges reinforced with metal. Interspaced were several workplaces. While there were torches placed in sconces in the larger caverns, for the most part it was unneeded. Most of the lab was bathed in bright violet hues.
Dominating the center of the lab, forcing everything to be built around it was a dizzying drop. Twilight thought it looked as if some great force had bored a hole into the crust of the world. However instead of fading into darkness, a brilliant light seethed and surged below. The aura emanating from the nexus lit the lab up better than a thousand torches.
Twilight often found herself looking down at the almost mesmerizing display whenever she was deep in thought. When she had originally found this place, the light below had been a chaotic mix of greens, blues, purples, yellows and reds. However the moment she had used her horn to magically probe the nexus, Twilight found that the nexus quickly shifted it's colors to match her characteristic magical glow.
Once again staring into the nexus, Twilight murmured, "What is the council up to now?"
*Eurohippus is an ancestor of modern horses and was remarkably small for an equine. So yes, Eurohipp is yet another punny name.
The rising sun once again found itself at odds with a certain unicorn mare as it rose into its position in the sky. Somehow an errant ray of light was beaming straight through the windows of the sleeping car and straight into her eyes yet again. An intense battle of wills raged between the massive star and the unicorn too comfortable to move from her current position. Eventually, during a stroke of brilliance, Mayberry simply rolled over. Before she could congratulate herself on outsmarting the sun, the mare found herself falling off her bunk.
The Apple family was already up, rising before the sun having been ingrained into them during their foalhoods. Now the family was having a quick meeting on how they were going to start out the new cider operations and how soon they could get everything that was needed for cider production. For the most part, many wondered how quickly they could get things set up. The Brothers, Flim and Flam were noticeably absent from these discussions.
Hard Cider was in the middle of a long-winded lecture of the intricacies of cider making to his nephew, Braeburn, whose eyes were starting to glaze over partially from the old stallion going a little too in-depth and boredom when a loud crash resounded from the mare's section of the sleeping car. Grateful for any reason excuse himself from Hard Cider who didn't even notice his absence, ranting on at length about automation in cidermaking to a pole.
After a quick knock on the door to the mare's section, Braeburn stuck his head in and promptly had to suppress a fit of laughter. Two earth ponies, one tan mare and the other a light blue, were in the process of extracting a suitcase from a rather embarrassed Mayberry's horn which had punctured through to the other side of the case. Now, both of the earth ponies had a hoof on the unicorn's chest and pulling with their teeth in unison.
Braeburn, having guessed where this was going, smartly stepped to the side of the doorway as the suitcase suddenly came free. True to his guess, the three mares rocketed apart, the unicorn flying backwards to land upright on one of the beds. The two other mares were propelled backwards towards the doorway. The light blue mare found herself lying in the hallway with a bemused Braeburn who offered her a hoof up. "Ah was comin' to check and see if you ladies were up yet, but it seems rather unnecessary now. Breakfast should be arriving soon."
Back in the cabin, Mayberry was extracting herself from the pillow now impaled on her horn. The night before one of the twins had asked her if longer than average horns ran in the family. She'd no idea how to respond to that so she had merely suggested it had actually come from her mother's side. Then the Twins breached a subject she was fascinated by and yet simultaneously frightened by: magic.
Considering she had a horn, Mayberry figured that as a unicorn, she should have some magical abilities. Fleur and Fancypants had used it effortlessly when she had breakfast with them. The mare had wondered just how much unicorns could do with their magic. Fleur had mentioned that one of the Princesses had used it to banish her sister to the moon at one point. At any length, Flim and Flam had merely mentioned using magic to start up the machine. She wondered how exactly magic was used to run something like that. Was it similar to a boiler, utilizing magic to heat water instead of using fire to heat the engine?
The unicorn's stomach rumbled at her, reminding her she hadn't put anything in it since the night before. She'd had tried something called hayfries. The taste had been an experience in and of itself. It had smelled very similar to french-fries from back home and the taste was somewhat similar, however there was still the underlying taste of hay to the food. Surprisingly enough it tasted considerably better than the time she had some fall in her mouth as a kid during a Halloween Hay-ride. Mayberry attributed that to the fact that she probably had a taste and dietary needs more fit for an equine.
She trotted to the dining car to grab her some breakfast. On her way there, she glanced out one of the windows. The sun was well on its way to it's zenith. The trains path had taken them out of the mountains and into the valley the evening before. They'd passed through the rather large town of Ponyville just as everything was getting dark, so she had never gotten a good view of the place she had tried to escape too originally. Now the train was zipping past some wide-open plains of grass. Resuming her march to satisfy her stomach, Mayberry wondered what Appleloosa would be like.
Eventually, the cream-colored unicorn made her way to the dining car. She stopped with her magenta eyes wide open. The wooden car was filled with wooden tables with wooden benches for seating. Couple with the fact that the car was filled with fur-coated ponies with long tails made out of the same fibers, the dining cart looked like a pyromaniac's dream-come-true. This rather drastic observation would probably been overlooked if it wasn't for the twin monstrous stoves heated by fire merrily belching a fat column of smoke out through a chimney in the roof. As Mayberry watched, the smokestack's joints would occasionally release a tiny spurt of smoke into the air.
So distracted by the potential for disaster this particular wheeled firetrap posed, the mare almost missed what many of the ponies were eating. Eggs. Not a single piece bacon or sausage to be seen as some tiny part of her had held out for, though she briefly wondered if she asked for such if the ponies could really claim the moral high ground while they were eating the unborn offspring of chickens. Even so, her stomach wasn't relenting. It wanted something in it plant, animal or otherwise.
She faded into the back of the line without drawing any undue attention to herself. Even now, she couldn't bring herself to stop avoiding attention as much as possible. Some of the issue was even now, after several days of talking to and generally interacting with these ponies, who seemed nice enough, Amber couldn't bring herself to trust them. Through no fault of theirs, she admitted. It was mostly due to the fact she still felt at odds with this world. So many things were unnervingly similar to her world and yet so different. Not too mention she still immensely freaked out by her own body. Each time she had woken up, she had hoped she would be back home, but a look into a mirror or a simply at what should be hands dismissed that.
Eventually, the line progressed to the point Mayberry could go ahead and order a plate of eggs and an apple fritter. Grasping her plate with her teeth, which drew an odd look from the chef, she trotted over to an empty booth, which a group of Apple family mares had just vacated. Upon setting her plate on the table, the unicorn mare found herself in a bit of a conundrum. How do you eat food with no hands? The caramel apples had come on a stick, the hors d'oeuvres at the castle and the meal at Fancy and Fleur's mansion having been vacuumed down as quietly as possible when nopony was looking. Now she found herself in public once again and no idea how to act.
Studying her plate, Mayberry decided that apple fritters were probably the closest to finger food she could get. Her hoof hovering over a one of the fritters, a new thought came to mind that proceeded to complicate things even more; how does one eat by hoof when one has been walking around on them. Mayberry cast her eyes over the rest of the ponies in the car. Most simply ate by hoof as she was planning on doing. However, her fellow unicorns, Flim and Flam, ate using their telekinesis to manipulate their forks. Feeling embarrassed, she simply decided to go ahead and eat the fritters by hoof, cleanliness be damned. Next came her eggs. Aping the earth ponies once again, Mayberry simply used her horseshoes to pick up a fork and used it as she would as a human. She managed to hide her awkwardness due to lack of fingers by using her mane as a curtain. With her plate cleaned off and her stomach finally silenced, the mare trotted up the passenger car. Maybe she could brainstorm on what she could do once at Appleloosa.
Twilight Sparkle circled around her lab once again. She had contacted the council of the Silver Pinnacle at the tower the order was named for. An imposing yet graceful sight, the tower shone a blinding metallic silver in Celestia's sunlight, and sent dazzling reflections all over the nearby country side. The tower was located on the mountain range opposite from the range upon which Canterlot was perched. With the width of the valley nation of Equestria between her and her mentor, Twilight felt quite odd.
Her Princess has tasked her with finding out who was utilizing the power of one of the world's magical nexus to penetrate the magical field known as the Veil. The planet's natural magical field, as Sparkle came to understand it, is what created the Veil. It acted as both power source and barrier. To be able to break through it required excessive amounts of magical power and the end result of doing so utilizing conventional means would be both highly unstable and very short lived due to using magic to manipulate the very nature of magic. Eventually the spell work would either fall apart simply due to the staggering amounts of magic needed to maintain it or sometimes the very elusive and fae nature of magic itself would cause it to become unreliable. Spells require definition of what the caster desires to be the result to work. Magic, especially the raw untamed magics of the world, defied definition on many levels. Despite their many years of study, the true nature of magic was still far beyond even the most intelligent and powerful of unicorns.
Twilight Sparkle acknowledged this and yet, if what Princess Celestia had said was true, then they had a spell caster out there who could not only pierce the Veil, but establish an anchor in the other world as well. To do establish an anchor anywhere required time, meaning the spell piercing the Veil had to be stable and exceedingly powerful. So powerful, she suspected, that it had a direct tap into a nexus. Directly tapping a nexus for, while not forbidden, was still frowned upon due to the fact much was still not known about them and how interfering with them directly might interfere with the world.
"Still it might explain why nopony felt such a spell." She pondered aloud to her empty lab. Upon her arrival at the Silver Pinnacle, Twilight had tried to find out what she could about who was doing what experiments. Several unicorn mages were experimenting with the classical elements of Water and Fire. Earth and Air magics were still very much the domain of the earth ponies and pegasi respectively. That fact seemed to severely irk certain members of the council, to have certain aspects of magic shut off to them due to race. This did lead to several earth pony and pegasus volunteers that worked with them and allowed the mages to study just how their magics worked.
A few ponies of that research team still suggested seeing if they could get one of the Princesses, who could purportedly use the magics of all three races, so they could study how the magic's worked in unison with one another. However the Princesses' busy schedules disallowed that.
Twilight had gone all over the silvery tower looking for ponies and answers. None had heard of a spell of such proportions ever being done and a few had pointed out that they should have felt the magical emanations. That had been a point that Twilight couldn't dismiss. Some unicorns were so in tune to magic that they could actually feel when it was being cast. Twilight was one of them and was quite certain the Princesses were as well. The Silver Pinnacle had the largest amount of these magic-sensitive unicorns in its halls.
Twilight had pondered for several days after her aborted attempt to find out who was casting the spell. She kept coming back to the point that none of them had felt anything. Eventually the lavender unicorn figured that she didn't feel the magical resonance from the spell most likely due it being cast far more subtly than was commonplace.
Sparkle was in the middle of trying to recall which mages hadn't been in the tower when she visited when the sensation overtook her. The sensation she had described to Pinkie Pie several years back as a combination of brain freeze from eating too much icecream and a tooth ache centered in her horn. Someone was using magic and a lot of it if she could feel it over the ambient background resonances created by the nexus her lab was centered around. The sheer amount of magic going into it was staggering.
All around Equestria unicorns ceased what they were doing in astonishment. Some of the more sensitive ponies even whimpered at the sheer volume of magic that was being drawn upon. Princess Celestia was at a meeting when the sensation over took her like a tidal wave. The officials and representatives, who had ceased their bickering at the twinges of magical resonance, rushed to their Princess' side who seemed paralyzed by the force. The guards, finally having something to do, leapt to the Princess's side to ensure she had breathing space.
In another part of the castle, a midnight blue alicorn leapt from her bed, yelping in pain. The outburst was shortly followed by a pain-enduced tirade that made the bat-winged Night Guards, who had been rushing to her aid, back away from the door in shock. Glancing at each other, the guards knew that their efforts to shield their Princess from the more boorish ponies was completely unnecessary as it seemed she already knew every single word they had wanted to shield her from. In fact judging from the language Princess Luna now used, they were witness to a few choice words long lost to the sands of time.
Abruptly everything went quiet in the room. Worried that something may have befallen the Princess of the Night, the two guards rushed to open the door. No sooner had the doorknob clicked open, they heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side. Wide-eyed, the older pegasus looked at his compatriot.
"I'm regretting this already."
Back in the meeting room, Celestia had recovered mostly from the initial shock brought on by the magical resonance's assault on her horn.
"Thank you, everypony, for your touching concern for my well being. Despite the circumstances, I am feeling much better now." Celestia had barely had time to give everpony present a genuine and very broad smile when the shockwave hit.
"CELESTIAAAAA!"
The force was enough to blow all the assembled ponies clear off their hooves. Pegasi in the air reacted as if an invisible wall had struck them. To compound upon the chaos, the windows were blowing out all over the castle. Picking up her dazed subjects off the ground and depositing them back on their unstable hooves, Princess Celestia bid them a hasty farewell and dashed off towards her sister's tower. Half-galloping, half-gliding through the halls, Celestia found the closer she got to Luna's room , the worse the damage became. Windows had been blown out of their frames and royal servants had been picked up and deposited in a very dazed state.
Upon reaching Luna's tower, Celestia started to add parts of the castle's actual architecture to the list of casualties. The decorative stone columns that once graced the hallway to Princess Luna's private bedchamber now littered the opposite end of the hallway. Bits of broken wood and cloth were mixed into the debris, the force having ripped furniture and the dark blue banners depicting a crescent moon upon a field of stars, Luna's crest, from their places. Luna herself was in the hallway, tending to her two unconscious Night Guards. They seemed to be okay, however the armor that had once adorned their bodies now rested among the pile of debris at the other end of the hall. Celestia could only guess they were "lucky" enough to have witnessed the Royal Canterlot voice being used at full volume.
Trotting up to her sister, Celestia heaved a sigh of relief. Her head ached abominably from the ongoing resonances, but as much as she wanted to find out about it, her sister came first. Giving her sister a reassuring nuzzle, who jumped at the sudden touch, Celestia couldn't help but give a small smile. No matter what airs she gave herself, Luna would always be Luna to her. Luna looked up from her guards with an apologetic look upon her face.
"I'm…..I'm so sorry, Celestia. When I woke up thanks to that spell, I lost control of myself."
"It's not too bad. While it's important to maintain control, under these circumstances, I fully understand how it must have seemed." Celestia couldn't bring herself to be mad at her sister for this incident. Had their places been switched, Celestia could only prayed that Equestria came out unscorched.
Abruptly, the two sisters broke their embrace as the magical resonance reached its peak. Luna spoke first.
"A thousand bits that Twilight is at this moment, has figured what this spell is about?" She couldn't help flashing an impish grin at her sister.
Celestia stiffened at first, then relaxed. Wafting her wings about to clear some of the dust from the broken masonry, she shook her head. "I don't think she's that fast...two thousand that she'll have a theory in her next letter." Luna looked skeptical so Celestia added an amendment. "And that's if she sends the letter within the hour. Luna smirked and after brushing her now dusty ethereal mane away from her eyes with a hoof, she extended it. The Sister's horseshoes gave a small bell-like chime as they shook on it.
******************
Minutes before Twilight Sparkle was rushing about her lab. She needed to finish preparing to initiate her newest spell. It was to be her crowning achievement. Despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but add a little skip to her pace. Who knew her work would prove useful before she even showed it to the world? Everything set up and in place Twilight double-checked everything. Then with a flash of her horn, she set her newest spell in motion. Now to sit back and let the data flow in. Checking to make sure everything was working properly, which included making sure her own nexus was still stable, Twilight gathered her thoughts. Despite no real leads as to who was doing this, Twilight would now very soon how they were doing it, which in turn reveal to her the why. Time to write a letter.
"Dear Princess Celestia…."
AN: In this story unicorn's horns are more than just a way to cast magic. They in turn almost act like an ear, "listening" for when magic is being used. Review your hearts out, maties!
The horizon blazed with the yet to rise sun's light, silhouetting the distant mesas against the lightening skyline. At this time all of Equestria was asleep except for the two Princesses going about their duties as they had since the world's creation. Well, almost all of Equestria was asleep.
"Up and at 'em, everypony!" The clanging of the triangle slowly roused the sleepy ponies from their beds. Many got up and went about their daily chores getting ready for either breakfast or for the daily workload. However a few ponies were reluctant to rise, far too comfortable in the cozy beds to want to move. The orange pony pressed an ear to the closed door of one bunkhouse and upon hearing the telltale snoring of at least one of the slow-rising ponies, nodded to her younger sister. On cue the pony took a huge gasp of air and started playing the bizarre instrument. Ponies fairly bolted out of their bunks, awakened by the low droning and eerie wailing noses that now filled the air.
"Huh, that sure woke 'em up, Applebloom." The orange pony adjusted her hat, which been blown askew with the frighten ponies passing, with a quick nudge with the triangle still gripped in her hoof. "Though I think it might be illegal to wake up ponies with bagpipes these days."
The mare she spoke to was almost as large as her and was almost just as well muscled. Coated in olive fur with a reddish mane, many ponies at first glance thought the mare was a relative of a pony by the name of Cherry Jubilee from the town of Dodge Junction. This however was the sister of the famed Element of Honesty, Applebloom, an accomplished carpenter/architect in her own right as her cutie mark of a saw crossed with a pencil with an apple background could attest. Her fillyhood friends had often joked it made her look like a pirate. It was this filly who simply laughed and heaved the ungainly sack with pipes over her back with one last note wheezing out of the instrument.
"It's one way to get their attention." She replied with an impish smile. "I mean did you see how fast they got up once I started playing?" Her sister couldn't help but laugh. After a second, Applebloom joined in. Together they started walking towards the mess hall that had been erected to help feed the influx of ponies that the Apple family had hired on to aid with their harvesting.
As they walked, the younger looked back towards the wooden bunkhouses, which had been constructed for the same reason as the mess hall, with a slight frown on her face. Eventually she decided to speak her mind. "AJ, why did you bring all those ponies from Ponyville? You've always said in the past that our family has always managed to do just fine wth the harvesting and tending the crops. Why bring in ponies that aren't family in now?"
Applejack didn't answer immediately. Instead she reached up with a hoof and adjusted her hat one last time, the new hat not quite being broken in yet. While similar to her last one, this one had a band around it's top with apples on it. As refined she may be, Rarity could make a new Stetson hat far cheaper than the others and with greater quality. Applejack remembered her old hat fondly, but a short time back while on a mission given to the Elements of Harmony by Princess Luna, her hat had ended up in the armored belly of a drakewyrm.
The beast had been displaced from it's normal volcanic home by a rather aggressive iron dragon and had found it's way to the town of Trottingham, incinerating a large portion of a forest on it's way. After successfully turning the beast in the direction of an unclaimed volcano, Rarity had offered a rather forlorn looking Applejack to make her a new hat. To the farmpony, it was another symbol of her friendship and how ponies support one another when they need it.
With that in mind she answered, "To be frank, Bloom, we need the help." Seeing her sister about to say something, Applejack stopped her questions with an upheld hoof. "We need the help of ponies who can help us without it interfering with their own jobs. Which is why we're hiring instead of just inviting our family over to help. Most of them are harvesting too."
Applebloom's young face still didn't look convinced. Applejack chuckled. "Remember all those years back to that one Applebuck season where I thought I could do the entire harvest by myself and didn't accept help from no pony? It wasn't until Twilight pointed out all the damage I had done while trying to do everything myself that I decided to let my friends help?" Her sister nodded. "Well it's kinda like that. Only this time with it's not Sweet Apple Acres that needs the help, but Appleloosa."
Applebloom thought on that as they walked. At the threshold of the messhall, the fragrant smells of baking, apples, and the building's own piney scent set her stomach to rumbling. Deciding to drop the subject, she stepped into the forming line for breakfast. Few words passed between the two until Applebloom and her sister had grabbed some pancakes, some pastries and two glasses of applejuice and had sat down at one of the tables to eat. Before chowing down, Appljack gave her chair and the table an experimental rock with her hooves.
"Good job on the furniture, Applebloom. These things are as solid as a rock!" Applejack gave her sister a proud smile. The mare smiled back, happy to see her hard work was appreciated after these long days of working. Her attention had been divided between designing and constructing the new mess hall and the bunkhouses and furnishing the furniture meant to go in them.
"Thanks, AJ. I figured I'd make them nice and strong so I wouldn't have to keep coming back to fix chairs and the like." That said, she promptly dove into her food with the intensity of a feeding frenzy of sharks. Applejack was about to admonish her when her own belly cut loose with a growl that sent several nearby ponies scampering under their tables in fear of a dragon attack. With a carefree shrug, the blonde pony simply joined her sibling in her ravenous attack on all things edible.
A short time later, after the two ponies had checked to make sure everyone was going about their task, Applebloom found herself checking the time.
"Hey, sis, what time is the train due in?" Following her sister's faze, Applejack looked over at the clock tower.
"Oh, our train should be rolling in just a short while. Looking forward to getting back home?"
"Mmmhmmm!" The younger pony acknowledged with an empathetic smile. The grin faded at the odd look on her elder sister's face. "What's wrong?"
Giving her head a shake that almost sent her new hat into the dirt, Applejack let out a snort.
"Just kinda worried about who's arriving on the train. I know that they're supposed to be partners, but I still don't trust those brothers. Especially not after they almost cost us our farm."
Applebloom prodded her sister's foreleg.
"Aww, come on. It can't get that bad. We already know what they're like. What's to worry about?"
Applejack was about to reply when an echoing whistle made it's way across the barren plains on the land. Soon a cloud of smoke appeared on the horizon. By now it was late morning so Applejack could just barely make out the metallic glint in the distance. Instead of voicing her lingering concerns, she turned to her sister who was absently trying to push her red hair out of her face. Applejack waved a hoof in front of the distracted mares face to get her attention.
"Hey Applebloom, go grab our stuff and meet me at the train platform. It looks like the Pony Express is back from its haul to Canterlot. I'm gonna go round up some ponies to help offload the train."
With a crisp salute, Applebloom galloped off towards their cousin Braeburn's house where they had been staying during their trip, house watching as well as organizing the newly hired ponies and providing them with housing being the main reason they had come.
Her sister now occupied, the orange mare galloped to the town's one train station in the hopes of roping in some off-duty locomotive pullers to help with the heavy lifting.
By the time Applebloom had rounded up the few belonging they had brought with them, Applejack had a team of five large stallions to help off-load. Soon after the two sisters met up again at their appointed meeting spot underneath the platform's awning, another loud blast sounded from the ever-closing train.
Now Applejack could make out the team of exceedingly muscular stallions pulling the black mass of the iron locomotive behind them. She smirked as a memory of a certain lavender unicorn who'd nearly had a fit at the inefficiency of the system was floated to the front of her mind. The farmpony knew Twilight had a point when she mentioned how illogical it was to have a team of stallions pulling the very engine meant to and fully-capable of hauling the train cars under it's own power. It was just that the Steam-haulers, as they were known, were exceedingly proud of their massive strength and before the new steam egines had been put into service, had hauled the goods to Canterlot along the tracks all on their own without the engine giving them that extra pull during the ride up the mountains. So instead of replacing the teams, the ponies had simply opted to have Steam-haulers pull for the most part, with the locomotive providing an additional push on the mountains. Doing so kept the fuel and maintenance costs for the engines fairly low.
Soon enough the train pulled into the station. The team Applejack had organized leapt forward to help offload what cargo the train had brought back. The mare aided in offloading empty apple crates and barrels. After dropping one crate into a pile, she shot an ill-tempered look at the black and red contraption that dominated one of the flatbed cars.
Sure enough as the passengers started to leave the train a familiar pair of ponies exited one of the passenger cars and made their way back towards the machine, waving to two of the off-loading team to help them. Applejack, seeing only one of the stallions start to make his way over, trotted over to help them with a smug smirk across her face. As she closed with the unsuspecting entrepreneurs, she started to think of the different questions she wanted to put to the two to make sure her family wasn't being cheated.
"Outta th' way, everypony!"
With hardly any warning, a large suitcase shot from the door of the last passenger car just as Applejack was crossing in front of it. The suitcase barreled into the unsuspecting farmer with enough force to shove her back several feet on her hindquarters. Momentarily dazed by the encounter with flying baggage, Applejack quickly regained her senses.
"Ok, who launched a darn suitcase at my face!" the orange pony demanded, as she reached down for her hat which had flown off. Oddly enough, the hat didn't stick to her hoof as expected. Bringing her hoof up to eye level, she inspected it. No, she hadn't thrown a shoe; the thin "U" shaped piece of magical imbued iron was still there. "Oh ponyfeathers. Looks like I need to replace this thang. Wonder if any of the others are low as well." She tapped her back hooves against the ground. For many ponies the shoes on the rear hooves were spares for when the magic wore off of the front hooves. All it took was a quick trip to a farrier or failing that, finding a unicorn to help remove and then replace the shoes. Applejack could do without them for the moment. Grabbing the hat in her teeth, she gave it an expert flip into the air and allowed it to lazily float down onto her head.
"Ok, who launched that suit case at me?" She demanded again as she approached the car. Her only answer was a wheezy cackle as an elderly lead gray stallion hobbled off the train. "You did that on purpose, didn't you, Uncle Cider?" The accusation practically dripping from her voice was unmistakable.
Before the irate mare could say anymore a golden-blur rocketed off the train and collided with her.
Dazed by the most recent blow, Applejack looked up at her assailant.
"Hiya, cousin!" The blurry face above her quickly came into focus to reveal the ever-grinning face of Braeburn.
"Git off, ya lump! I can barely breath!" Applejack could barely wheeze the phrase out, her diaphragm being compacted by her non-to small cousin who'd parked himself on top of her chest and stomach. Laughing good-naturedly, the stallion hopped off his cousin-turned-celebrity. For the second time in as many minutes, the mare found herself levering herself off the ground, ignoring Braeburn's offered hoof. Adjusting her hat, which had miraculously stayed on this time, she greeted her cousin properly. "So are you finally back in town, Burn? Anything interesting happen on the trip?"
"Oh nuthin." He chirped flippantly. "Just an ordinary trip to Canterlot to help drop off the last load of apples and to pick up our partners over there." Sure enough, Braeburn's hoof was pointed at the red and pale yellow colored brothers, who was conversing with the single stallion that'd come to their aid. Some part of Applejack's mind noted how they looked like they could be kin to Applebloom.
"Oh right. Those two." Applejack's face was grim. Turning to her cousin, she gave vent to her worries. "Braeburn, what makes you so sure those two can be trusted?" The pony's eyebrows shot up at this. "I mean, we almost lost our farm to them varmints and now you want to make them your partners?" Now Applejack was walking slowly towards Braeburn her voice slowly rising in intensity. "If they had merely thought to serve the ponies of Ponyville the cider they had made before speeding up the process while making even more off OUR recently lost apple trees, we'd have been homeless and jobless!"
Suddenly, Braeburn's normally cheery face faded into a cold frown. The change was so sudden it took the farm mare by surprise to see her normally unflappably happy cousin's personality to take such a turn.
"We are not fools, AJ. When the town decided to go into business with those two, we all knew the risks, but it was agreed among us to let them at least try." Now it was Braeburn's turn to advance on his cousin, his voice remaining quiet but with definite steel in his tone. "Those two are definitely ponies to be watched. Fortunately a certain pony who's apparently got a vendetta against them warned us of their ways."
Applejack was surprised at the outburst, but quickly recovered and attempted to regain the upper hoof in their argument. "Now wait just a second-" She got no further as a resounding crash echoed through the area, everypony present quickly looking towards the source.
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 8000 now sat half on and half off the flatbed train car, the FlimFlam brothers trying their best to levitate the heavy metal machine with the help of the burly helper earth pony.
Applejack watched the scene unfold before facehooving. "Oh for the love of Celestia. Braeburn, you mind putting this discussion to the side for now while we get this fixed up?" Braeburn favored her with a chill look before suddenly breaking out into his characteristic face-splitting smile before trotting over. Shaking her head, her normally bound blond ponytail having come loose during the repeated impacts. "That colt is so weird at times."
Just as she started trotting over to aid, she caught a glimpse of another mare as she walked by. Applejack normally wouldn't have noticed the cream colored mare who was busy admiring the town, but the presence of a horn on her head caught her eye.
"Hey you!" Applejack called as she tried to get the mare's attention. The mare looked around startled at being addressed. Applejack could have sworn she saw a wild look in the mare's eyes as she looked around, but the unicorn's long blue mane made it hard to tell. "Hey, you there! The unicorn!" The unicorn's head turned to face her. Now that the orange pony knew she had the mare's attention. "Get your flank over there and help them move that thing!" The mare nervously nodded and trotted over to the FlimFlam brothers.
Figuring that the unicorns, Breaburn, and the Steamhauler had the situation in hoof, Applejack trotted over to retrieve her and Applebloom's luggage. Grabbing the packages and bags in her mouth, she quickly boarded the train. After putting her bags up and checking to see where she and Applebloom would sit, the earth pony started to make her way off the train to gather her sister.
Hearing a sudden gale of familiar laughter, she was greeted by the sight of her sister suffering from a case of paralysis via giggles. Turning to see what had her sister laughing so hard, a sight greeted her that quickly had Applejack snickering at first. A split second later, the farmer was on the ground beside her sister laughing as well.
At the back of the train, the unlikely team of a trio of unicorns, her cousin Braeburn and the unmistakable hulk of the Steamhauler pony, were still trying to free the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 8000 from it's predicament. Flim and Flim's green aura surrounded the rear half of the machine, which contained most of the larger components. The lighter half was already off the train and the main problem the ponies had was to get the rear half off the train car without damaging it and without crushing anypony.
The task should have been fairly easy with the magical might of three unicorns, but as Applejack watched, holding her sides, the unicorn mare from before was on the train car, balancing on her hind legs miraculously as she heaved and pushed on the immobile machine. The spectacle drew in a few of the town ponies passing the station. What was slowly making the surrounding ponies laugh were the face's the mare pulled as she continued her valiant efforts to move the one and a half ton machine with nothing but her own hooves.
Despite the mare's antics, Flim and Flam made use of the few times she managed to make the machine bounce as leverage to slowly ease the gargantuan hunk of metal and wood off the train. Wiping the sweat off her face with a hoof, the mare parked her flank on the rear of the machine. A mischievous grin shot between the two brothers as the machine finally settled to the ground with a jolt, toppling the unsuspecting unicorn off the back. Stifling yet another laugh at the mare's expense, Applejack trotted over to offer the unicorn a hoof up.
"Nice job at unloading that hunk of metal. What's yer name, partner?" Applejack, asked as she extended a hoof for a quick shake.
"Oh, It's Mayberry." Came the response.
Applejack noted the mare's odd look at her extended hoof. With a sigh, she lowered it. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just unload the dern thing with your magic instead of acting like the class clown?" Applejack's irritation working it's way into her tone and face, quickly replacing any hint of mirth the pony had just displayed
Seeing this change the mare, Mayberry, quickly slumped in place. "I-I don't know any. My parents never taught me and I never had any official classes."
Mayberry waited for the answer. She wasn't proud of it, but she knew that the best lies were usually the truth. A quick study of this newcomer made the unicorn feel uneasy. This orange pony seemed pretty formidable to her. "I bet she could kick in a car door with those legs." She mused quietly. Amber waited for the earth pony's reply, noting the warring emotions on her freckled face.
Applejack couldn't believe it. A unicorn with no magic? That was like a pegasus that couldn't fly. Leaning forward, she squinted at the mare. With a hoof, she moved the mare's mane out of the way so she could see the horn better, earning her a glare from Mayberry at the intrusion of her personal space. The pearlescent spiral horn seemed intact. It was a little long for her size. Applejack knew from Twilight that the length of a unicorn's horn was no indication of magic potential or casting ability. Seeing nothing wrong with the horn and knowing grabbing a unicorn's horn and yanking it was just asking to either get gored in the eye or getting one's teeth bucked out, Applejack released Mayberry's mane with a weak grin.
Despite her amazement at a unicorn not knowing how to use magic, Applejack couldn't help but feel a stab of regret at her words. "Good job, AJ." She thought to herself. "She's probably sensitive about that and I just made a show of it in front of everypony."
When she looked over at the crowd, Applejack noticed a familiar if unusually ecstatic looking face, a thought entered her head. "Now, don't you fret none, darlin. I have just the friend to help you out." Applejack proclaimed as she motioned to the pony she'd noted a second before, one of the Ponyville hirelings, over to her. This new mare was also a unicorn.
Mayberry looked up, the tone in the cowpony voice giving her hope. "Really?" Magic was the one thing in this new world she really wanted to learn about, but hadn't felt that she'd ever have to chance to. She couldn't help but feel optimistic with the confidence this orange pony exuded.
"Sure! My friend here can teach you the ins and outs of basic level magic in no time!" Applejack couldn't help but grin. "So say hello to your new teacher." The unicorn at her side grinned maniacally.
Mayberry decided to imitate the earth pony's earlier hoof gesture. Extending her right front hoof in she introduced herself. "Hi! As you heard earlier, I'm Mayberry. Who are you-" Her sentence was cut off as the mint green unicorn bolted forward. Planting her snout into the larger mare's neck she inhaled deeply taking in the scent of the cream colored fur. Looking up at the mortified Mayberry the same manic grin plastered across her face, the unicorn spoke up.
"I know what you are!"
AN: Sorry for the long wait, mates. Will try to beat back the rest of this writers block.
"I am going to die." The nervous officer's face betrayed his thoughts. Gone was the stoic, almost bored look that was so commonly attributed to the Royal Guards. This particular guard could only look on in silence at the destruction before him. Even after a week, a fine layer of rock dust from muted the once vibrant colors of the castle. The heavy and magically reinforced door had been ripped from its deep-seated hinges and cast aside.
The guard officer watched as even more guards scoured the room the door had once warded for evidence. Both Night and Royal guards were included in this search, the dark and heavily stylized armor of the former contrasting sharply with the gold and rather simple armor of the former. This did not matter to him. It had been on his watch that the theft had occurred.
So used to seeing civilians and even his subordinates quell under his stare, the officer now practically melted under the intense gaze of his liege, Princess Luna. He had heard of a pony that had stared down a cockatrice once, but the look the princess leveled at him now with her glowing pupil-less eyes threatened to bore a hole clear through his very soul.
"Tell us once again how a spell that capable of rending this door off it's very hinges was completely missed?" the Princess inquired, her voice gaining an earthly echoing quality to it. The officer winced. No answer he had currently to that question would satisfy the princess. He had to try at any rate.
"I don't know, Princess. All I know is when I was on my rounds, I simply found the door like this." At the point, he fought the urge flex his wings, a nervous tell for many pegasi he had learned. "No sounds were heard and as her Highness has mentioned, no magic was detected that night."
"What thou says is true." The Princess's face finally relaxed a minor degree. "Whoever committed this theft didn't use magic. At least not directly."
The officer's face once again betrayed him. How does one use magic indirectly? Most unicorn's needed to directly manipulate objects with their magic.
Seeing his confusion, Princess Luna heaved a sigh. "Magical artifacts. To be specific, objects that have been imbued with magic to have certain magical effects." Still seeing a look of incomprehension on his face, the dark blue alicorn fought the urge to facehoof. She felt as if she was teaching a foal the basics of magic. "Look at your hooves more the most common use of those methods."
Inspecting his right fore hoof, the officer spoke without thinking. "So they broke in using horseshoes?" Almost immediately he realized what he had said and winced. Several Royal guards looked up from their search efforts as the felt the ambient temperature in the room drop.
Mastering her emotions, no matter how much she wanted to vent her frustration on the pony in front of her, the princess instead finally indulged herself a facehoof at her officer's idiocy.
"No, commander, whoever perpetrated the crime did not break in using horseshoes." Looking back up at armored pegasus, she went on. "Continue your search of the area. If you find anything even remotely suspicious have it taken to one of the Silver Pinnacle's mages for magical verification. And commander?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Please brush up on magical enchanting. Unicorn or not, you need to know that if you wish to continue to command our guard."
With an acknowledging salute, the officer trotted off. Heaving a sigh, Princess Luna continued on her way to the throne room to speak with her sister. It had been her intention to do so before, but she had decided to stop by the scene of the recent break in the vaults first.
Upon entering the throne room where her sister currently was supposed to be holding court, Princess Luna was greeted by the odd sight of Princess Celestia presiding over a large amount of ponies. What made the scene so extraordinary was that every single pony present was wearing a hat, the more outlandish the better seemed to be the theme. Celestia herself was wearing a large, fuzzy, purple top hat that threatened to be knocked loose by her ever-flowing mane as she looked over at the new arrival.
"Luna! It is a pleasure to see you at this time, sister. Did you forget what day it is?"
The white alicorn's broad smile clued in the night princess that the hats were likely one of her sister's infamous pranks. This one seemed to be targeted at the large amount of nobles in the room. Sir Fancypants himself had a fedora, while his lovely wife Fleur-de-lise outshone almost everypony in a gaily-colored sombrero.
Stifling a laugh, the younger princess removed her crown before transforming it into a black bowler hat, which she quickly perched on her head.
"Excuse my intrusion, sister, but I wished to speak with thee about our recent incidents. In privacy perhaps."
Catching the look in her sister's eye, Celestia dismissed the crowd of ponies who quickly filed out of the large room. Luna quickly held out a hoof to stop two of them.
"Mr. Fancypants and Lady Fleur, please remain here. I have a feeling you may have a role in our discussion here."
Neither of the unicorns could refuse a direct command from either Sister and so they bowed their heads swiftly in acknowledgement, the motion almost causing Fleur's sombrero to fly off.
As soon as all the nobles were out of the room, Princess Luna spoke up. "Sister, we would like to personally over see the investigation of the theft from the Mage's Vaults. Perhaps with our magic we can trace the thief that stole the Arcane Lexicon."
"My sincere apologies for interrupting, Princess Luna, but what is this Arcane Lexicon?" Fancypants couldn't help but ask.
"It is an ancient artifact that acts as a focus for magical casting as well as a repository for certain arcane knowledge." The dark blue alicorn's face quickly hardened. "It is also one of the few remaining links Celestia and I have with our parents."
For once the ever suave and under control Fancypants felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine under his coat. Any and all information of the mysterious parents of the Princesses who had come and gone eons ago, leaving behind a planet seeded with life and magic as well as two alicorn fillies who were kept asleep until the time the world bore forth intelligent life for them to watch over, was strictly controlled.
It wasn't illegal to inquire into the nature of the divine sister's parents, but at the same time Luna's face had become grim and foreboding, her sister's face also hardened. It was definitely not a subject they wished to pursue and thus Fancypants quickly obliged them by changing the subject.
"If the investigation is in your hooves, Princess Luna, then I'm sure the culprit will be found quite quickly and brought to justice. However, may I inquire as to why Fleur and I are needed here? We are hardly investigators by any stretch of the imagination." Fleur, who had remained quite all this time, chuckled at that last thought.
"I believe I know what my sister wants." Said Princess Celestia with a knowing smile. "Fanypants, you are one of the most influential ponies in Equestria as you well know, but I believe it is actually your wife, Fleur, that my sister wishes to talk to."
"Indeed." The Night Princess continued from her sister. "Believe it or not, but Lady Fleur-de-lise is among the best connected unicorns, her area of expertise not being the gain of monetary resources. "
The white unicorn stallion just looked confused.
"What I mean is her resources mainly include a vast information network." The dark alicorn shot the startled Fleur a rather predatory look coupled with a smile any shark would be proud of. "A network I fully intend to capitalize on to catch our little thief."
Taken aback at the younger princess's intensity, it took the noble a moment to collect himself. As he did so, he couldn't help but wonder if his missing houseguest may be linked to this theft.
Knowing better than to withhold what could be potentially helpful information from the two sisters, Fancypants cast a quick look at Fleur. The light-pink unicorn, a being of elegance and intelligence, which was a major part of his attraction to her, looked ruffled at the Princess's declaration. However Fancypants couldn't help but wonder how much was her truly being flustered and how much was an act. Catching his eye, Fleur paused a moment and then nodded.
Clearing his throat, he decided to take the dive. "Ahem, your majesty, we may actually be able to help narrow your search a bit."
At this both Princesses looked at him, Celestia's top hat finally losing the battle to gravity and toppled to the floor.
"How, pray tell?"
"Just a mere few days ago, Fleur and I encountered a strange pony on our doorstep. She asked if we could let her stay in our house. Even said any location would do."
From the significant looks the sisters exchanged, Fancypants wagered they were indeed interested in this mare. He hoped it was just a misunderstanding as she had seemed pleasant enough if a bit uncoordinated, and standoffish at times. However if she were the culprit then his and Fleur's harboring the criminal without telling the authorities would have had dire consequences. Best tell what they could.
"This pony, describe them for my sister and I, please."
Fancypants readjusted his monocle as a delaying tactic as he gathered his thoughts.
"It was a mare. Unicorn. Slightly shorter than I. I think she was a little stockier too." Fleur offered, taking some of the heat of off her husband who nodded gratefully.
"Coloration? Cutie mark?" Celestia asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"She had a coat that was either white or cream colored. Dark blue mane and tail, neither of which have seen a comb in a decade at least. As for her cutie mark, amazingly enough for a mare that age, she didn't have one!"
Celestia's well-trained face almost betrayed her surprise for once. She quickly cast a wide-eyed glance at her sister.
"Does a unicorn pony with that coloration sound familiar, Luna?"
Luna's ethereal dark blue mane undulated as she nodded.
"Indeed. That sounds very much like the same culprit that attacked our nephew Blueblood with a vase and robbed him. Neither of you are to repeat that by the way." She added, leveling a hoof at the high-class unicorns. The couple could only nod, digesting the information that pompous priss, Prince Blueblood, had gotten mugged. Fancypants could only admire the gall of whoever did that whereas Fleur-de-lise silently vowed to shake hooves with the mare should they ever meet again.
"Is this mare still at your manor, Fancy?" Celestia asked, using the same nickname he often used at parties and other high-class gatherings.
The stallion shook his head, "No, your majesty. She up and left the next day. I will say one thing in her defense. She came into our mansion with nothing but the fur on her back."
The younger princess looked skeptical, whimsically tapping her hoof on the floor as she thought. "She may have hidden the lexicon prior to arriving at your house. Did she say where she was from?"
"No ma'am. I guessed from the old country from her lack of a cutie mark."
Princess Celestia finally descended from her throne, retrieving her top hat as she did so. Floating it back into place, she joined the three other ponies.
"How long ago was she there?" The Solar Princess asked, unaware her hat was once again in danger of falling.
"It was the same night of the disturbance in the castle's main hall. She stayed that night, broke fast with us the next morning and left shortly after."
It was Luna's turned to look startled. "That was the same day our nephew was mugged!" The irony that had Blueblood caught the thief that day as a way to prove himself, he may well have apprehended a thief that had broken into one of their most secure vaults was not lost on her.
Before Luna could ask any more questions, her sister held up a hoof calling for silence.
"We have discussed this in great detail now and I can easily see it taking up on the rest of the day as well. I need to reconvene court to finish up today's matters and I imagine you two…" Here she leveled a hoof at Fanypants and Fleur. "I imagine the two of you could use a break from all this."
The two nodded wearily, getting grilled for information by goddesses being somewhat tiring. With a smile, Celestia dismissed them. Turning back to Luna, she spoke.
"You don't need my permission to head an investigation personally. However even if this mare is the thief, since there is the chance she is not, justice has changed since the last time you took a personal role. Procedure now is considerably more thorough now. Another change is punishment and treatment of what few prisoners we have is fairly tolerant. It doesn't take much to make our little ponies reform.
Luna gave her elder sister a flat look. "So I am to go soft on this pony even considering what she has taken from us?"
"Yes!" The blue alicorn's wings flared in her fright at the sudden steel in her sister's voice. Her face softening, Celestia continued. "There are more reasons to this than just we don't want any of our subjects getting hurt any more than necessary. For one, getting answers for questions like "Where were yo taking it?" and "Why steal it in the first place."
Her sister nodded at this so the sun goddess continued. "Take only a small amount of guards if you must leave the city. If she is the thief, seeing too many of them will make her more cautious. Be patient and she may reveal more than just her intentions."
Now the Night Princess spoke up. "You expect that somepony else is involved, sister." The white alicorn simply smiled and pointed a hoof at her horn. Luna knew what she meant. The massive surge of magical energy that had awoken her so rudely just a few days ago which had eventually subsided until it was indiscernible against the background magics of Equestria.
With a sigh, she cantered to a side-door in the throne room, pausing as celestia signaled to let the awaiting crowd and their fleet of funny hats ack in. Luna smirked. It was days like this she could fully understand why her sister would want that extra laugh.
"Those eyes! Those eyes! Why is this green abomination so attached to me?"
That thought hurried through Mayberry's mind as her magical, minty mentor managed to creep her out even more. Applejack and her sister had left on the train just a few hours ago, completely and blissfully unaware of the odd behavior of the pony she had "assigned" to teach the unicorn magic.
Any excitement and wonderment over learning to use magic was quickly overturned in favor of an uneasy feeling about her new teacher. It hadn't taken long before that became fear and eventually full-blown horror. The pony was insane!
After her unsettling introduction of smelling Mayberry's neck and then proclaiming to know what she was, things had rapidly gone downhill from there for then came the tests. Lyra, as she finally introduced herself, wanted to check everything from body weight to horn and leg length. All the while, the green unicorn kept muttering something under her breath. Then the real shock came.
Having completed her most recent lap around the larger pony, Lyra backed up with a thoughtful look on her face.
"I wonder if the reason you're that size is because humans are inherently bigger than us equestrians. The whole conversion of mass thing."
Later when she thought about it, Mayberry was quite glad Lyra had at least had the presence of mind to take her inside of one of the empy cabins before the inspection and her dropping of that little bomb. She couldn't imagine what her face looked like at that point.
"H-human? What do you mean?" She stammered as she backed away from the unicorn.
From the way her assigned teacher's face lit up at that, Amber knew she had made a grave mistake. The smaller unicorn's horn lit up in an soft green light and Mayberry was forced to duck under several items that came whizzing down the stairs from the sleeping loft. The objects were revealed to be books that quickly assumed a very slow orbit around their mistress.
Eyes darting from book to book, the mare finally sent one of the books floating over to her captive audience, who was entranced by the show of magic. The book opened up and several pages fanned to the side to reveal an illustration of a human on one page.
"Humans are a species of advanced primates with an incredible capacity for intelligence that's equal to or even more so than us ponies!"
"And you believe I'm one of these "humans" on what basis now?"
Despite what she had just said, Mayberry had to admit it was an odd experience discussing humanity with a pony while wearing the shape of one. It also made for a bizarrely hard choice. Did she admit to being human and just go along with this seemingly unstable pony or should she just play dumb? She had no idea if humans were common knowledge here or what the other inhabitant's reaction to humans would be.
The green mare smiled even wider in response to the question Mayberry had forgotten she had asked. "I have my methods."
"Ooookay…..At any rate, my main concern here is to learn magic from you so I can earn my keep around here easier. The unicorn hoped she could call the nutty pony back to task.
"Oh right. That." Lyra brought her right hoof up to tap her chin as she thought in a surprisingly human gesture that took the other pony off guard.
"Ok, I'll tell you what. I'll show you magic, if you help me out."
The other pony considered Lyra's proposition: magical training in trade for helping out in an undefined manner.
"It's a deal as long is whatever I help you with isn't too dangerous, or weird."
"Excellent! Magic training begins tomorrow morning!" Lyra exclaimed, happily clopped her front hooves together.
Mayberry nodded and then froze as a new thought occurred to her.
"Uh, any idea where I go to get a cabin assignment?"
Lyra's grin reached even further.
"No need. There's only one cabin left with room for another pony."
The other mare looked surprised. "Oh really? Which one?"
Extending a hoof towards the large mare, who flinched away, Lyra snickered.
"Welcome aboard, new roomie!"
"Buck me."
AN: Next chapter= Ponies teaching humans.
It had only been a few hours since the pony known as Applejack had left her with an insane unicorn to teach Mayberry the ways of magic, but it felt like an eon had passed. After the initial shock of meeting her new magcal mentor, the mint green pony had pulled her off towards one of the log cabins before trying to inspect her more closely.
It had been then that she learned that the crazy unicorn known as Lyra believed Mayberry was human. While technically accurate, the former-human believed it was a better idea to deny it until she had a better idea of how humans were viewed as a whole by ponies. Now however her first lesson in magic was starting.
Pacing back and forth in front of Mayberry Lyra launched into her introduction to magic.
"Ok, listen up, horse-monkey! Magic isn't just some tool like your spoons and hammers! It takes finesse and practice to even so much as lift a pebble!"
Mayberry's good-humor at watching Lyra march back and forth in front her like a pony-sized drill instructor evaporated at the horse-monkey remark. No matter how adorable that had looked, it wasn't cute enough to justify being called that. Before she could object, Lyra pointed a fore hoof at a series of different sized rocks resting on the cabin floor.
"All right. First exercise. Speaking of pebbles, let's see how well you can pick up one of those stones. Now remember the key to learning magic is concentration. When ponies are first learning about magic, it really helps if you are capable of hyper concentration."
A quizzical look from her student halted her explanation. "Ok, what is it?"
Mayberry wasn't sure how to voice her question at first. "It's just that….all I have to do is concentrate? There's no tapping into power hidden deep within? I mean this thing didn't really have an instruction manual, so how do I know when I've got the magic flowing?" She asked, tapping her horn with a hoof.
Her teacher looked thoughtful for a moment. "Concentration is certainly a large part of it. And before you ask, no, merely thinking about something will not cause it to burst into flame."
Mayberry put down the hoof she had raised in the air. The green unicorn continued on. "Magic comes when you enforce your will onto an object. Think of your horn as an extension of your will. You reach out and grab things with it just as you would as a human."
Mayberry awarded her a flat, unamused look at that last part. Grinning sheepishly, Lyra hurried on. "Ok new first lesson. We're gonna make your horn glow. No lifting rocks, we're just going to see if you can channel magic. Now just concentrate and focus everything on your horn."
Mayberry nodded once before starting. Now it was the horse-monkey's turn to shine! Practically crossing them to do so, Mayberry locked her eyes on her own horn and began to concentrate on her own horn. Studying every detail of her own horn, she committed each to memory; every groove, the angles of the spiral, the faint pearlescent shine that was only visible in when the light hit it in a certain manner.
She concentrated on all this while visualizing a mental image of a fist closing with as much force as humanly possible. So intent was she on pouring her will into her horn, her legs started to quake as she clenched all her muscle in her zeal.
All through out this, Lyra watched on with a grin, barely suppressing her giggles. The look of concentration scrunching up her face, eyes crossed staring at her own horn, body tense. Lyra could barely stop herself from laughing. The mare in front of her looked all the world as if she was suffering from a truly horrendous case of constipation.
Completely unaware of this revelation of Lyra's, Mayberry continued on. Slowly but surely the very tip of her horn began to spark and fizzle. At the very tip, a small faint pulsing light appeared. Encouraged, the unicorn threw even more of her will into the effort. Eventually it became a constant glow, an icy blue in color that soon traveled to the base of the horn.
"Now you're getting it!" Lyra exclaimed clopping her hooves in appreciation for the herculean effort put forth by her student. "Now that you've gathered your magic, now try lifting up one of those stones."
Mayberry nodded once, before wrenching her eyes from the blue glow eminating from her horn. She was already ecstatic at just making her horn glow, but now she wanted to see if she could actually use magic to accomplish tasks.
Glaring at the smallest stone, she imagined it lifting up. Nothing. Not discouraged so easily, she tried again, imagining the rock lifting into the air. The pebble resolutely stood its ground against the unicorn's rather wimpy magical assault.
Seeing Mayberry's troubles, Lyra interjected with some advice. "Remember, when unicorns pick up or manipulate objects, the objects always glow with that unicorn's same magic. So before trying to lift it up again, imagine the glow of your magic enveloping it first."
"Right, become one with the pebble. Be the pebble. Got it." Mayberry was oddly proud to see Lyra stumped by a human reference she had no chance in hell of understanding. The mare quickly turned her attentions to the pebble once again. "Alright, rock, it's just you and me."
"And me!" Lyra piped up not wanting to be left out.
Mayberry awarded her with a flat look, her horn still glowing, before turning her attentions on the rock. Lyra's advice in mind, she imagined the glow from her horn molding itself around the stone. To her delight, the pebble started glowing the same icey blue as her horn. The soft glow quickly grew in brilliance almost becoming blinding.
"Right. Now that you've got it, imagine it lifting in the air as if you were using your hoof."
"Got it!"
The tiny, gray stone soon started wobbling then slowly but surely rose into the air. Mayberry tried to stop herself from jumping with joy. After a brief mental struggle, she simply let it happen.
"Whoohoo! I've done it!" Her magic dissipated from the stone, but her horn remained lit up. Scooting over to Lyra, she raised a hoof in the air.
"Come on, Lyra! High-five!"
The mint unicorn actually looked blank for a moment before breaking out into the biggest and most genuine smile Mayberry had seen on her yet. Only then did the unicorn realize what she had just said. Her right hoof still in the air, she facehoofed with the other.
"I don't suppose you'll be forgetting that any time soon?" She asked the ecstatic unicorn.
"Nope!" Then she stopped, looking at Mayberry's still raised hoof. "Why are you doing that?"
Mayberry looked at her hoof. "Oh, that. I asked for a high-five and you left me hanging. Come on, might as well do it now."
Lyra looked at her own hoof a second before enthusiastically clopping it against Mayberry's. The human-turned-pony considered asking for one down low before dismissing it. Bizarre, obscure human greeting rituals could wait she had just performed magic!
"So what else can we learn?" She asked enthusiastically. The mare couldn't wait to add more magic to her repetoire.
Lyra stood up and stretched. "First we learn the special lesson of dinner!"
"Wha-Why?" Mayberry asked, surprised at having her magic lesson getting cut off so soon.
"Because, silly-filly," Lyra teased her in a sing-song voice. "magic isn't learned over night. You have a good start so far, but I wouldn't even say we've scratched the surface of teaching magic. Speaking of which you need to power down your horn sometime today"
Mayberry looked down at her hooves. She was still maintaining the glow on her horn mainly because she didn't want to lose the feeling of using magic. The mare wanted to argue with the other unicorn to keep going, and even opened her mouth to say such when her stomach unleashed a vicious growl.
Lyra giggled at the shocked expression on the cream-colored unicorn's face. One downside to using magic constantly when first learning is you burn through a lot of energy before you learn to control how much magic is needed to lift something. That's something only experience can teach."
Lyra paused for a moment. "For example, you almost blinded both of us when you went to pick up a pebble. You don't need that much magic to do that." She picked up the pebble in her own magic. The faint mint green glow around the pebble was just strong enough to be seen as the rock floated into an upraised hoof for illustration.
Mayberry blushed beneath her fur. Lyra certainly knew how to make a point. "Ah, I see" was all she was able to say.
Lyra was pacing by the front door to the cabin. "Come on. We need to grab something to eat. Plus we need to grab our work assignments."
Finally powering down her horn, Mayberry shifted several stubborn strands of her navy blue mane out of her eyes. "Work assignments?" She asked. Given Lyra had just shown her how much she didn't know about magic, the unicorn fervently hoped she wouldn't be assigned any tasks where she would be expected to use her magic.
"Yup! Work assignments! You didn't expect to earn your keep by sitting around, learning magic do ya?"
Mayberry answered Lyra's question with a roll of her eyes.
"Good girl! Now let's go-"
"LYRAAA!"
At that moment the door to the cabin flew open, practically burst off its hinges as a new mare, similar to Mayberry in coloration except with a pink streak in her mane stomped into the cabin. The earth pony was similar to Lyra in size, but now seemed to soar over the two frightened unicorns as she stormed over to the pair, the cabin shaking each time the angry pony stabbed a hoof down.
"Lyra, where in Celestia's flank, have you been all day?" She shouted. The mint unicorn quailed under her glare.
"I've been tea-"
The earth pony didn't let her continue. "I was out there bucking apples all day! I was hoping you'd do the same, but some of the other ponies said you went galloping off with another mare this morning! Explain yourself!"
The unicorn turned to her pupil for aid in this sticky situation, but the other mare had vanished into thin air!
Trying to still her pounding heart, she tried her best to explain the morning's events to her friend.
"Bon-bon, I got recruited by Applejack to help another unicorn out this morning!" She blurted out, raising her hooves above her head. Bon-bon merely stared at the strange display of defense.
"What do you mean 'help out'"? Bon-bon practically growled. The hidden Mayberry marveled at the concept of a growling pony.
"I was helping her learn magic! She didn't know any when she showed up on the train earlier." By now Lyra had curled herself up into a defensive ball.
"A unicorn that didn't know magic? You're pulling my tail aren't you?" Bon-bon asked the green furry ball with a horn poking out off to the side. "And stop doing that! By Luna's Mustache, you act like I'm going to hit you or something."
Lyra slowly uncoiled herself. Glancing around the sparely decorated room, she wondered where her apprentice had gone off to.
Turning her attention back to the newcomer, she answered. "I'm not kidding. This new pony rode the train in from Canterlot this morning and didn't know a lick of magic whatsoever."
The earth pony's expression softened. "How'd you find this out?"
Lyra chuckled as she remembered. "You know the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 8000?" Bon-bon nodded, recalling having seen the mechanical monstrosity puttering around town as the two brothers performed tests to see if it had any problems after the ride.
"Well when they went to unload the thing, they came up short on ponies. Long story short, AJ recruited this unicorn to help them move the thing and instead of using magic, she tried doing it the earth pony way."
Bon-bon winced. That machine was not exactly a lightweight. "She's lucky she didn't herniate an organ or something."
Nodding, the unicorn soldiered on with her story. "Applejack saw everything and thought she was clowning around. And then it came out in front of the whole town, that she didn't know magic."
Bon-bon's mouth dropped open. She knew Applejack was about as direct as a pony could be, but there was such thing as tact. On the other hoof, how was she supposed to know? For all the farm pony knew, it was just some full-of-themselves Canterlotian making fun of earth ponies. She shook her head and skewered her friend with a withering glare.
"If all of this is true, then where is this pony that you're supposed to be teaching?"
Lyra opened her mouth to say the unicorn had disappeared when Bon-bon had first shown up, then shut her mouth when she realized how stupid it sounded. It was unneeded however. As Bonbon stared at her, silhouetted by the open door, a large shadow descended quietly from the ceiling behind the earth pony.
"So?" Bon-bon prodded, suspicion growing in her voice. "Where is she?"
The earth pony jumped as a new voice responded. "Right behind you."
The dark shadow loomed over the frightened pony, the sunlight bouncing off it's mane revealing it to be a dark blue.
"Ahhhhhh! Nightmare Moon!" the pale pony shrieked, backing away from the fearful apparition towards her friend. "Lyra, help!"
"Um, Bon-bon, aren't you overreacting a little?" asked her friend, an aquamarine unicorn with a lyre-shaped cutie mark.
The earth pony gave her friend a shocked look; unable to believe the unicorn could be so calm at the return of one of Equestria's greatest fiends. The unicorn looked right back at her, a concerned expression on her face.
"Um, am I interrupting anything?" A new voice inquired. Fearfully, Bon-bon faced the source. Sitting right behind her in the doorway was a cream-colored unicorn mare. What little of her face that wasn't obscured by her long dark blue mane, was covered in shadow.
Lyra decided to defuse the situation and jumped in. "Nope! In fact I think introductions are in order. Bon-bon, this is my new student in magic, Mayberry!"
Not wanting to let Lyra's efforts go to waste, Mayberry offered her hoof to the other mare, hoping to make the best impression she could. "Hello! Sorry for the scare I gave ya."
Smiling her usual manic smile, Lyra introduced the other mare. "And this is Bon-bon, one of my oldest and best friend a pony can have."
The earth pony seemed shaken at best, not sure how to react to this new mare. Anger seemed appropriate at first due to the scare she had been given by Lyra's student, but eventually decided against it. No need to cause strife needlessly.
Hesitantly, she accepted the proffered hoof shake. After a moment they broke contact and Bon-bon started to relax a bit more. Eventually she decided to ask the question she'd asked the other unicorn.
"So, Mayberry, if it's not too personal of a matter, is what Lyra said true? Can you really not use magic?"
Mayberry nodded her head, "Sadly, yes. Up until a few hours ago, I didn't know anything about magic." She briefly considered expanding upon her reasons for that, but decided against it. Hoping Bon-bon would see it as not wanting to talk about something so embarrassing, Mayberry changed the subject, wanting a bit more time to work on her backstory.
"So, Bon-bon, what do you do here anyway?"
It was a rather wimpy attempt on the unicorn's part, but in truth it hit on a subject she sorely needed information on: what jobs were available here.
Lyra had mentioned the Apples, the main family here in Appleloosa was the driving force behind the town's expansion and that they were hiring on new workers to aid with their cider production. The downside, according to Lyra, was the Apple family was one of the oldest pure earth pony family lines and that they were sticklers for doing things earth-pony style. No magic and no flying.
Truthfully, Mayberry wasn't to worred about the no magic as until mere hours ago she hadn't even know how to use magic. Heck she still struggled with the most basic levels of levitation something most unicorns did almost instinctively. What she was worried about is if she might get stuck on one of the very few unicorn specific jobs.
Again, according to Lyra, while the Apples stuck closely the earth pony style, they also weren't foolish enough to deprive themselves of magic.
Mayberry prayed to whatever forces were out there to not be stuck with the Flim Flam brothers. She got along well with them, but unlike Lyra, who was zrazy enough to have guessed at what Mayberry was, she felt they wouldn't likely buy any story she came up with about why she didn't know magic.
Right as Bon-bon opened her mouth to respond, a triangle range out as somepony called. "Come and get it!"
All three ponie's heads turned towards the main mess hall as a crowd of ponies formed at the doors.
"Dang it! I was hoping we could get there before the crowd." Griped Lyra, upset at the perspective wait for food. "Come on, you two! Let's at least get there before that bunch eats everything."
With that, the three ponies exited the cabin and headed towards the large building. After waiting what felt like an age to Mayberry's rather irate stomach, they finally made it inside. It was the typical 'walk with your tray' food conga seen in many cafeterias. The human-turned pony guessed that something's are just universal.
As the line progressed, Mayberry found her tray loaded down with several items. She'd asked Lyra and Bon-bon for some ideas of what to try. Lyra thankfully had the presence of mind not to ask about human dietary habits, something Mayberry didn't really want to talk about since in her human body, meat had been a big favorite of hers.
On her plate, Mayberry had the hay fries she'd gotten before on the train as well as some apple fritters. A daisy sandwich as well as a slice of apple pie and an apple turnover finished off the meal.
Bon-bon had been surprised at the small mountain food heaped onto Mayberry's plate and was even more amazed when the unicorn not only managed to eat it but actually went back for more.
"Where is she putting it all?" Bon-bon murmured in awe as the unicorn helped herself to a similar sized helping. "I'd be surprised if all that doesn't go to her flanks!"
Lyra quirked an eyebrow at the earth pony before laughing. "Nope! It's all going somewhere else. Her horn!"
Bon-bon awarded her old friend with a flat look.
Laughing, Lyra explained. "Today was her first day learning magic, remember? That's never easy and in many ways it's like a pegasus learning to fly. We unicorns use a lot of energy harnessing the magical power that flows through the world."
Bon-bon's eyes widened in comprehension as she caught on. "Oh! So it's basically like magical muscle building! She has to replace all that energy. I guess that makes sense."
"And it'sh making meh eat like a pig," groused Mayberry as she walked up to the table with the tray in her mouth. Bon-bon and Lyra looked up at her, their conversation put on hold.
"I know I told you to not over do it with the magic earlier, but try holding your plate with your magic." Lyra counseled.
"Can I lighten it up a bit first? I don't want to make a mess and I'm still kinda hungry."
The mint unicorn gave the pony equivalent of a shrug. "Sure. Heck if you want, you could try manipulating your food with your magic as well. Most unicorn's do that."
Mayberry started to assume her look of utter concentration until Lyra cut her off. "Also, you need to learn to use magic without looking like you're trying to pass your spine."
"LYRA!" Sputtered Bon-bon after a perfect spit take. Only a hastily summoned napkin, glowing faintly green, saved Mayberry's meal from tasting like apple juice. "Could you be any more crass?"
"I don't know. Want me to try?" The unicorn retorted, her amber eyes radiating innocence.
"No!" Bon-bon would likely have said more if an apple fritter, now brilliantly glowing an icy blue, hadn't exploded showering all the ponies at the table with it's delicious contents.
Slurping her own face clean in the most cartoonish way possible, Lyra laughed at the aghast look on Bon-bon's face and at the sheepish grin on Mayberry's. "Again too much magic being put into picking something up. Let me guess you were trying to grip it?"
Her student nodded, looking as if she wanted to sink into the floor from embarrassment. Bonbon had simply wiped her face clean with a spare napkin, the red cloth covered with bits of apple fritter and was now trying to rake other pieces from her blue and pink mane.
Lyra heaved a sigh. "Well, at least you've seemed to have gotten used to calling up your magic. I'm just glad you were trying to pick it up, and not heating it. That would have ended badly."
Mayberry nodded, her mind vividly called up images of her and the other ponies being seared and blinded as pieces of flaming apple fritter rained down upon them.
Thankfully Lyra interrupted that train of thought before it got to the mess hall burning down and then collapsing crushing everypony inside.
"Helloooo! Equestria to Mayberry! Give it another try, but with less magic."
Nodding, the mare turned her attention towards another apple fritter. Slowly the magical field enveloped the treat.
"ok good, now start lifting it up as you did the pebble."
Under Lyra's guidance, the apple fritter rose into the air. Before Mayberry could start even thinking of floating it over so she could take a bite out of it, a sharp stomping interrupted her concentration. Not a second later, it too exploded showering the ponies with food. Mayberry's face fell, half at her apparent failure and half due to the fact that had been the last apple fritter. She'd grabbed the last two on her second trip since everypony else had already gone through the line.
Bon-bon simply heaved a resigned sigh before cleaning her face and mane up again. Lyra on the other hoof, was quite angry.
"Ok, who's the smartflank that did that?"
The room had already been fairly silent for a while, as the ponies present had watched Mayberry's attempts at magic. Seeing the normally relaxed and happy unicorn's livid face, a multitude of hooves were hastily leveled at the culprit, a weakly grinning and exceedingly guilty looking Braeburn.
Having been found out, Braeburn started stuttering as he tried to explain himself.
"Well… uh, I was just… I didn't mean to … IthinkIleftmyhouseonfire! Gotta go!"
Before the stallion could make a run for it, a green field enveloped him, lifting him off the ground.
"Hey! What's the big idea?"
Mayberry gloomily wondered if she should go for the old "Hay is for horses" joke, before Bon-bon tapped her on the shoulder.
"Why don't you just finish up what you have left before it gets cold."
Not seeing an argument against that reasoning, the dejected mare dug into her food, the especially tasty apple pie and apple turnover helping to lighten her mood a little.
During this, Lyra was busy expressing her displeasure to the captured Braeburn.
"Why in Equestria did you go and do that?" She grated at him, giving him a small shake magically to emphasize her point. "The last thing anypony needs is to be distracted when they're trying to learn!"
"Oh come on! I didn't mean to distract her! I was tryn' to encourage her with some applause!"
"And you could wait to do it afterwards?"
The stallion fidgeted with his hooves for a moment and with sigh, apologized. "Okay, okay. I admit my timing was horrid and that my applauding didn' help none. Could you put me down?"
Lyra gave him the evil eyes before finally relenting and lowered him to the ground. However she still had something to say.
"Ok, but next time could you hold off on any applause or praise until we're done?"
Putting a hoof over his heart, Breaburn promised not to distract them again while practicing and that he'd warn the other ponies to do the same.
The drama finally concluded, the few remaining ponies in the mess hall filed out.
After everypony else had left, Bon-bon, Lyra, and Mayberry started walking towards the door. Lyra broke the silence.
"So, Bon-bon, just so this doesn't shock you later on, Mayberry is gonna be rooming with us for awhile. All the ponies that showed up on the train earlier already had assigned bunks and since we're the only ones with an extra bed open, she's going to be joining us."
Finally having freed her mane and coat from the scourge of apple fritter bits, Bon-bon merely nodded. Seconds later, she asked, "No offence, but you don't have any really annoying habits do you?"
Mayberry thought for a bit and then answered. "It depends on what you mean by annoying. I stay up late and sleep in. I'm by no means a morning person and I don't function too well when I do get up until I get something to eat. I keep my area clean. Oh and I snore under certain conditions. Pretty badly too."
What Mayberry didn't say were some of her worst habits, but now with level of technology demonstrated to her so far, these ponies didn't have to worry about someone watching movies until three and then start playing music pretty loudly at four in the morning. More than a few people had gotten rather mad at her for that.
The earth pony took a few moments to digest that load of information. The only truly bad point that stood out to her was the snoring and the slow to wake up. Bon-bon knew from experience that ponies in Appleloosa were expected to rise early so they could get to work in the orchard, which usually consumed most of the day.
"Ok, aside from the 'getting up late,' you should be fine. Welcome aboard."
AN: This one in and another on the way. The reason why? Because I've been bloody slow on the updates. Sorry about that and thanks for sticking around.
As the guards left the stately mansion, they bid it's occupants farewell. "Your mansion is clear. Have a good night, sir."
"You two sirs as well." Fancypants the unicorn returned. For the past few hours, several teams of guard ponies had gone from house to house, questioning the occupants if they had seen a certain unicorn mare and after questioning, searched the households for clues as to where the troublemaker maybe.
This raised the ire of several nobles who threatened to take this breach of their privacy to the Princesses themselves. However even the most stubborn among them acquiesced when told the mare they were searching for was likely a talented thief who had taken something of utmost value to Celestia's School for Talented Unicorns.
The search continued as teams from both Lunar and Solar Guard corps swept the city. Pegasi teams flew circuits over the city, scanning for any thing amiss. Pairs of unicorn guards searched high and low, directing seeker spells through anything they came across. Crates, boxes, vases, anything that might be used to hide somepony or stolen goods. Earth pony guards accosted any pony they met, questioning them and searched the buildings.
Up in Canterlot Palace the search itself was under scrutiny by the two Princesses.
"Luna, when I turned the investigation over to you, I was hoping you'd be a little more subtle than this. With the guards questioning everypony they meet and searching pony's houses, the ponies are terrified."
Leaning back onto her onyx throne, the dark blue alicorn nodded in acknowledgment.
"I understand your concerns, Celestia and I am sorry for the scene, but I stand by my decision for the search. If we don't catch the thief soon, then they may be able to escape the city. If they haven't already."
The elegant Regent of the Sun arched an eyebrow at her sister, her rose colored eyes meeting Luna's cyan ones. Before either could speak what was on their minds, a pegasus lunar guard rushed into the room, almost face-planting when he tried to bow as he entered.
"Your majesties, we have found something of grave importance," He blurted out as he stood trying to catch his breath.
Both Princesses brightened considerably.
"Is it the item we seek? Asked the darker alicorn excitedly, an almost foal-like look of glee on her face.
Here the guard stumbled, shuffling his hooves. "No, ma'am. It's not so much a thing as a who."
"Then you've caught the actual perpetrator?" This time Celestia spoke, a mixture of relief and shock coloring her normally controlled voice.
The guard looked between the two princesses before lowering his head. "It is unknown, you majesties. The body was found just moments in one of the back alleyways, near one of the fountains. She was gored to death and had her neck broken. From what my officer said, it looks like she's been there for awhile."
The relieved look on the ruler's faces shattered at the grave news and was quickly replaced with looks of grim determination.
"A body? So murder? I cannot remember the last time I've heard of such a heinous crime occurring in our fair city. Do you, Celestia?"
Closing her eyes for a moment before reopening them, the elder sister nodded.
"It was quite a few years back. Several generations I believe. However it is not unheard of in the less policed towns across Equestria. Most ponies do not have it in them to go that far." She explained before turning her attention from her sister, to the guard.
"Go and rouse every member of the guard not currently sweeping the city. Lunar and Solar guards alike, we need to hunt down whoever did this."
With a crisp salute, the guard departed towards the barracks, leaving the two sisters alone in silence.
"Who do you think it was?" Luna asked softly. Moving closer to her, Celestia wrapped her wing around her in a hug. Giving her a consoling smile, Celestia replied.
"We will find out soon enough and hopefully find the pony responsible for this before any more of our subjects can fall victim to them."
"Do you think it's the same pony?"
"Hmmm?"
Heaving a sigh of exasperation, Luna repeated herself. "Do you think it's the same pony that stole the lexicon? The timing of it's disappearance and a murder are too close together to be mere coincidence."
"I think you're right, Luna." Stated Celestia with a thoughtful look on her face. "Which means that some how this pony is linked to the lexicon. But how?"
Standing up from the throne, Lun spread her wings and glided towards the door to the throne room. She stopped at the threshold, one hoof on the door as she turned towards her sister.
"Coming, Celestia? There's one way to find out. Plus it'll do our citizens some good to see us out and about ensuring their safety."
With that, Luna shoved the door open and exited, her sister right behind her. They walked in silence towards the main gate for a while before Celestia spoke up, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"What are you willing to bet they'll treat us like we're glass and act as if we shouldn't see such a sight?"
"Not taking that wager, sister," said Luna without looking back. "They coddle us like we're infants. It's as if they remember none of the stories of how we survived on our own in Equestria before their ancestors even came here."
Instead of navigating the maze of alleys, the two rulers simply spread their wings and soared towards their destination. Spotting the location of the crime was easy enough even in the darkness. The dim lights from the lamp posts flashed off the armor of the guards moving through the darkness.
Upon alighting, the Princesses actually found themselves accosted by an overly zealous guard.
"Who goes there? This is a restricted area!" The guard challenged the two large shadows that just landed near him.
"Two of the three unicorns with wings, private." Luna quipped sarcastically.
"Your Majesty! I'm sor-" An upraised hoof from Princess Celestia cut the guard off.
"No offense taken. I'm happy to see such vigilance in our guards especially given the circumstances. We'd like to view the body and the crime scene if you would be so kind as to let us pass."
A sickly look passed over the Guard's face. "Yes, ma'am. Though I warn you it is a pretty grisly sight."
The two princesses walked towards a large gathering of guards. Accosting one, Luna quickly recognized him as the same officer she'd spoken to before.
"What is the situation here?" She inquired officiously.
"From what we can tell, a murder. The victim is a light gray unicorn mare. Purple and white striped mane. Her cutie mark is three purple stars. Cause of death: She's been gored at least twice through the rib cage. The largest wound is behind the right fore hoof and the other wound is smaller but similarly located on the opposite side."
Princess Luna was impressed. He may have not been the brightest when it came to magic, but he got to the point in a quick and concise manner. Looking over to her sister, Luna felt an icy touch grip her core. Celestia looked as if she had been run through. Concerned, she asked, "Celestia, what is the matter?"
Ignoring her, Celestia trotted quickly over to the guards surrounding the prone form on the ground. Without question, the guards parted, making way. Stepping up to the body, the elder princess took one look at the corpse before bowing her head.
"I'm so sorry, Twilight."
And now: How my brain works will trying to break writer's block.
"You there, Guard pony, what is your name?" Princess Luna inquired. The chosen guard shivered in his midnight blue armor before answering.
''Dark Sky, your majesty."
The Princess of the Night nodded in acknowledgement. "I have a request to make: Slap my ass."
As she spoke the Princess turned her flank towards the guard.
"Wha-what?"
"Come on! Come on! Do it now!"
In lands far removed from Equestria, beyond the grasslands of the Zebra homeland in the immense and jagged Barrier Mountains, a terrific storm raged. Unlike any other storm, this one remained immobile and yet was quickly growing in power as jagged purple lightning jumped from one darkened cloud to another.
Far below ground, the very fabric of reality found itself on the loom of one especially talented pony. Twilight Sparkle long ago had embarked on a journey to create a spell that could forever change how pony-kind would look at the world and now she was nearing the culmination of her work.
As a little filly in under the tutelage of Princess Celestia, Twilight had loved to read books. Getting to attend special classes with the Princess had lead to the added bonus of being able to look through the Royal Canterlot Library, a nexus of knowledge renowned through out the world for it's extensive and often one of a kind collections.
At that young age, Twilight had been delighted at the thought she might be allowed to partake in some of this knowledge that almost nopony else had access to. Now later on in life, as she reflected on it, Twilight felt sadness. Most of that knowledge could be put to good safe use if it wasn't for its complexity.
In the end she suspected that there were many cases where such knowledge had faded from existence. The thought of entropy claiming such knowledge galled her to her core. She loved accumulating knowledge and sharing it, the thought of losing knowledge went against every fiber of her being. Yet books can decay if neglected, spells could come undone by purpose or simply losing the necessary power, and ponies died taking information they alone knew to the grave.
Shaking herself from her darkening thoughts, Twilight looked around her secret lab. Everything seemed in place. With a flash from her horn, Twilight summoned an image of an apple. Leaning close enough to it, she could smell the ethereal fruit. Putting her tongue to it she could taste the fruit's juicy core and feel the smooth waxy surface.
When the lavender unicorn stared at the fruit itself long enough, equestrian script would appear in the air next to it, information on what it is, it's taxonomy, growing conditions, and other related fruits. With a blink the red apple became a bright green one. Delighted, Twilight tasted it again. This time it was slightly less sweet with a bit more of a tart taste.
"Excellent!" She murmured to herself. "The imprint will even call up different types of apples."
Twilight Sparkle couldn't be more pleased with herself. This would be her legacy to the world. Undying knowledge. Books could be destroyed, but magic itself was indestructible. Her spell allowed her to imprint the very essence of an apple into the heart of magic itself. The best part was that once a pony knew how to use the spell, they could call up this ethereal apple as well no matter where they were. There were downsides to the spell in that it could record something simple like an apple, but past that it was incredibly hard to imprint say an apple pie into magic. It seemed as if the processes and separate components of the pie would effectively confuse the magic.
Twilight wasn't put off though. After all an apple was in itself components put together through different processes. She just had to figure out how to do so and see how far she could push it. Apple first, apple pie second, and hopefully one day she could imprint something far more complex such as a steam engine.
Basking in the purple light emitted by the exposed magical nexus far below, Twilight experimented with several others objects. She'd summoned the essence of an iron bar to make sure the spell would work on inanimate and inorganic structures as well.
"I need to find a way to make these things solid." The unicorn mused to herself, idly waving a hoof through the image of the iron bar as she read through a spell book.
So caught up in her research Twilight didn't notice the small magical tug as the anti-teleportation field she had used to ward off unwanted and unexpected guests did it's job.
Back in the throne room of Canterlot Palace, a white alicorn watched with dismay as her letter to Twilight reappeared in front of her. Seared onto the outside was the message, "I'm sorry, but Twilight Sparkle is busy right now and wishes to not be disturbed. Please try again later."
Massaging her head, Princess Celestia considered her options. Send it back to Twilight with a little more magic behind it to pierce the spell and potentially startle her while she may be performing experimental magic or do what her heart told her to do in the first place and deliver the dreadful message herself.
Thinking a bit longer, Celestia admitted it may be for the best the message was returned. She knew Twilight had been angry at Shining Armor for inviting her to his wedding in such an impersonal manner, so the Princess didn't wish to see the unicorn's reaction to learning of her mother's death in such a manner.
Taking advantage in the afternoon lull in court appearances, Celestia looked to the two gray unicorn guards at the base of the dais upon which her throne sat.
"Guards, I'm afraid I must tend to a matter right now. I may not be back for some time so inform the rest of the guards so there's no confusion."
Both guards saluted in one crisp movement. "Yes, ma'am. Should we cancel court for the rest of the day or see if Princess Luna is awake to take over?"
The alicorn's wings twitched as she grimaced at the thought waking up Luna early. She knew for a fact it was the same if as when she was woken up at night, which the more veteran guards jokingly referred to as "poking the hydra."
"No, just cancel court and inform my sister of this when she wakes. She'll understand what I mean."
With that, Celestia leapt into the air, pumped her mighty wings once before her horn glowed with a golden light and she disappeared.
Across the world in the dark and forbidding mountains, a flash of golden light strobed across the jagged gray landscape as the Princess showed up in all her glory. Which was cut short as the Princess quickly found her mane, coat and tail soaked in a relentless downpour.
Laughing lightly at the coincidence, Celestia took off. She knew Twilight's secret lab was in this general area and the mass of dark clouds overhead with flashes of purple lightning were a good indicator the purple unicorn was nearby. Celestia quite enjoyed flying through the driving onslaught of rain. It had been sometime since she'd flown and the rain felt good after a long day in court explaining the murder to the frightened nobles.
Sensing a build up of energy in a nearby cloud, the princess readied herself for a trick she had not pulled in millennia. Not even a second before the lightning bolt ripped through the air, Celestia cast her spell and quickly found herself flying through the air at unspeakable speeds, as she rode atop the lighting bolt.
Releasing it, Celestia found herself right above what she expected was Twilight's lab. Extending her senses as she had before, the ruler of the day found herself looking at a massive multilayered shield several meters underneath what looked to be an extinct volcano.
"Really, Twilight? A secret lab under a volcano?" Celestia laughed to herself. Circling overhead, the alicorn finally located the opening to the lab itself clever hidden in the valley between the volcano and one of it's monstrous neighbors. Several illusion spells were layered over the entrance. Most depicted a blank gray stonewall, while two other spells did the real work. Celestia felt her eyes wanting to slip off the wall and felt a tremendous urge to go home.
"Nice work, Twilight." The Princess admired the unicorn's handywork. It was Twilight all over again. Masterfully cast and included at least three redundant layers of spells to make sure the illusions were maintained. However Celestia found herself in a tough situation. It seemed the spells were made to only allow Twilight herself in and even screened against changelings. That and having no way to contact her pupils, Celestia didn't see a way in that didn't involve shattering Twilight's defensive spells. The spells were woven too tightly to subvert. Heaving a sigh, Celestia's horn glowed brightly as she tore away both the illusions and the defenses, an apology to Twilight already on her tongue.
A distant "Ahhhhhhhh!" told her that the volcano's inhabitant had been alerted to her presence. As she stared at the ironclad door built into the wall, she could hear the frantic clacking of hooves on stone. Soon enough, an extremely ruffled looking lavender unicorn burst through the doorway clad in a pristine labcoat, her face livid with anger.
"All right, who's the wiseflank that did thi- PRINCESS CELESTIA!" The unicorn skidded to a halt on the stone floor. "Wha-what are you doing here?"
Princess Celestia could help but smile. "I came by because I needed to talk to you, Twilight. And the usual missives weren't working."
"Oh. Ok then. Why tear down my defensive measures and illusions though?" Twilight asked in a subdued tone.
"You forgot the doorbell."
AN: Yes! Liking the shorter chapters. Much easier to get them out faster. Next up will be an update for In Pursuit of Trouble.
"Lieutenant, any progress on the investigation to report?" Princess Luna asked, her voice booming across the throne room. It had been only a short time ago that the Princess had awoken to take the throne for the night. The Lunar Princess was not surprised when she heard that her sister wasn't there. The navy blue alicorn didn't envy her sister's duty of breaking the news of the death of Twilight Velvet to her only daughter.
"The investigations continue, Princess Luna. No solid evidence for who the perpetrator was," responded the pegasus officer to the question she had almost forgotten she had asked.
"However, we have found a few more pieces to the puzzle. One of our unicorn guards cast a detection spell over the fountain itself using blood from the corpse as a base. It turned out positive. Whoever attacked her washed off their horn or weapon in the water."
Princess Luna nodded, sending waves rippling through the flowing blue fields of stars of her mane. "That is just common sense. The villain could hardly walk through the city with blood covering their head. Anything else?"
"Nothing at the moment, Princess."
Luna studied the guard for a few moments. It was the same one who had shown such ignorance of magical enchantments before and yet proved to be rock solid with an eye for detail when faced with a gruesome murder. Her next question failed to catch him off guard.
"How fares Captain Shining Armor?"
Rolling his shoulders with a clatter of armor, the lieutenant's reply, while mostly neutral was tinged with sympathy. "The death of his mother has hit him and his father hard."
"Indeed," the princess murmured in a low voice. A nervous cough from below caught her attention. "Yes, guard?" She asked, annoyance slipping into her voice.
"Permission to speak candidly, ma'am?"
It was an odd request, Luna thought, but waved a hoof for him to continue.
"Why did you inform the Captain of his loss in such a blunt manner, milady?" The guard asked in subdued tone, wincing when he saw the Princess's body stiffen.
"Thou art a bold one, indeed!" Luna boomed, the sudden volume increase and antiquated speech making the guard shiver in fear. Unknown to him, Luna had been asking herself the same question ever since then and the guard's question made her feel worse.
-The night before-
The knocking on the door was urgent, however the two stallions inside barely registered it as they discussed their missing family member.
"Dad, are you sure there is nothing you might have forgotten? Anything that might tell us where Mom might have gone?" Shining Armor's urgent voice betraying his concern. His mother Twilight Velvet had been missing for several days now and quite frankly it terrified him. He trained his entire life to become a guard and would gladly face down many foes, but the fear he felt now wasn't a foe so easily beaten. Ponies don't just disappear.
"I'm sorry, son. I've told you everything I know. Surely you can pull a small detachment of guards to help sweep the city for her!" The older blue unicorn looked at his son in desperation.
Clad in his lavender and gold captain's armor, Shining Armor was about to respond when the door to the house shattered under a fierce blow. Stalking through the broken wood remnants of the door came the familiar shape of the local night goddess followed by her bat-winged guards in their characteristic blue armor.
"I'd apologize for the door, but I'm not feeling too patient right now."
"Princess Luna!" Both father and son chorused before dropping into deep bows, not noticing from their position the princess rolling her cyan eyes in exasperation.
"Raise, my subjects. We have much to discuss and it is most annoying when ponies try to converse with their nose to the ground."
Shining Armor and his father, Nightlight, raised their head's to meet the Princess's gaze.
"What is it that you require of us, princess?" asked Nightlight, preempting his son.
Princess Luna didn't answer immediately. Instead her horn was surrounded by a blue glow as she picked up the pieces of the door and restored it. With a nod, her two guards exited the house before she set it back in place.
The only distraction for her out of the way, Luna finally faced the two unicorns. She gave the elder pony a glance before locking eyes with Shining Armor. "There has been a murder, I'm afraid, the first in a very long time."
Nightlight couldn't help but feel nervous. The Princess was here in his house and now news of a murder in Canterlot! He was in the middle of a mental prayer for his wife's safety before the terrible truth dawned on him. His son must have put it together about the same time if the way Shining suddenly sagged as if his armor weighed ten-times heavier was any indication.
Seeing their distress, Luna merely nodded. "Yes, the victim was Twilight Velvet. I'm terribly sorry. She was stabbed twice and her neck was broken. We are in the process of looking for the killer now, but unfortunately, whoever did this has been pretty thorough."
Somehow learning how their loved one had died and that the murderer was still loose didn't cheer the two ponies up.
Feeling the two needed time to grieve, the alicorn left the house and headed back to the castle.
Back in the throne room, Princess Luna dismissed the Lieutenant. This left her some time to brood before ponies started to show up for Night Court. Most of it was ponies wanting to know more about the murder.
Despite Luna best efforts, some of the guard must have talked. After a glance at the stoic and tight-lipped guards, the Regent of the Night changed her mind, decided it was more likely her sister had decided to go ahead and head off a panic by addressing it directly rather than covering it up.
Just as the last group of worried but inquisitive ponies was heading for the door, a brilliant gold light flashed through the throne room. Several ponies panicked and rushed out the door while other's recognizing it as a teleportation spell simply shielded their eyes. The guards remained impassive as did Luna.
The golden light quickly faded revealing a rather bedraggled looking Celestia. Her mane and tail, now dry, had not seen a comb since her soaking. Her coat looked as pristine as ever however the look on Celestia's face told everypony she couldn't care less about her appearance.
The younger sister, seeing the look, motioned for the ponies to go ahead and leave.
"Guards, leave us."
At the order, the pegasus and unicorn guards ringing the throne room bowed and exited. After the doors closed behind them, Luna leapt into the air and glided down to her sister.
"Celestia, art thou ill?" The Night Princess knew her sister wasn't likely sick from any disease, but even alicorns weren't immune to illness of the heart.
"I'm fine, Luna," Celestia insisted. "It's just that Twilight took the news hard. Real hard and I'm worried about her."
"Bring her here then." The younger alicorn stated flatly.
Celestia shook her head. "It's not that simple, Luna."
The Night Princess smiled and nudged her morose sister with a wing.
"Yes, it is, big sister." Luna ribbed Celestia playfully before conjuring up a brush. "Now is the time for family. When was the last time Captain Armor saw his sister? What about her father?" As Luna spoke, she brushed her sister's mane and tail until it regained it's usual shape and flow.
Celestia arched an eyebrow as she thought. "It's been months at the very least. Perhaps even a year now. She left shortly after the Changeling Treaty and hasn't been back since."
"See? This is the best time for family so they can be there for one another."
Celestia, seeing the logic behind her sister's reasoning, soon bowed to her sister's idea. "I see. I'll retrieve her tomorrow."
The elder alicorn thought for a moment before smiling. "Hey, Luna, would you like to see what Twilight has been working on? I was astounded at the idea myself."
"Show us then, Celestia." Luna giggling at Celestia's frown at her use of the Royal "We."
With a flash of her horn, Celestia summoned forth the forms of an iron bar, an apple, and a simple pulley."
"Conjuration? Celestia, we've seen that before."
It was the Solar Princess's turn to smile knowingly. "Not quite, Luna. Unlike conjuration, this is a bit different. Twilight has found a way to imprint the very essence or idea of an item into magic itself."
Luna simply stared at her sister in surprise before catching herself. Thinking she responded. "I think I see. Conjuration only summons pre-existing items." Here she held up her brush in her magic as an example "Whereas these items before you aren't truly there."
Celestia beamed at her sister. "Now you got it. Try licking the apple."
Feeling vaguely foolish for licking the air, Luna did so. "By the moon! It actually tastes like an apple!"
One by one Luna examined the objects. She tried licking the iron bar which got Celestia laughing. Her hooves passed through them if she tried to touch them, though by putting her hoof beside the rope on the pulley and moving it up and down, Luna was able to see the simple machine work. Satisfied, Luna nodded to her sister.
"Your student has truly out done herself this time, Celestia. I wouldn't have ever thought to this with magic. I will not be surprised when her name is as synonymous with magic as Starswirl the Bearded, if not more so."
The older alicorn smiled, accepting the praise on her student's behalf. "I'm sure Twilight would be thrilled to hear that from you, Luna. Perhaps when she comes here the three of us can try out some new spells. After all it not far the Silver Pinnacle gets to keep her all to themselves."
"Oh yes. Them." Princess Luna's voice lost the sisterly familiarity from before. "Speaking of the Pinnacle, Celestia, I will just say it: I don't trust them. Whatever caused that magical spike and that teleportation spell couldn't have been done without them noticing, I know it."
Before Celestia could come to the defense of the mages that served Equestria, Luna continued. "You must have noticed that they been working on teleportation spells to transport a pony from a town to town or say Ponyville to Trottingham while weaving the spell from that tower of theirs."
"LUNA, PLEASE!" Celestia finally blurted out, hoping to interrupt the torrent of words. True enough the outburst rocked the younger sister onto her rump. It was only then that Celestia sheepishly realized she had accidentally used the Royal Canterlot Voice. Extending a gold-shod hoof to her sister, she apologized.
"Er, sorry. At any rate, Luna, the ponies at the Silver Pinnacle are supposed to be testing spells like these. I'm glad you are vigilant, but there's a difference between vigilance and paranoia."
Her sister gave nodded in acknowledgement, sending wave through her sparkling mane, though Celestia caught the look in her sister's eyes and knew Luna was far from letting o of the issue. While she won the battle, she hadn't won the war. However a win was a win and the Night Princess bowed to her solar counterpart at least this once.
At Luna's insistence Celestia taught her sister how to summon the magical projections. The night-loving pony had an idea that had been biting at the back of her mind since Celestia first showed her Twilight's newest work. Now on a suspicion, she cast the spell but with a few variations.
Horn glowing with an azure light, Luna watched her sister's impassive face shift slowly to surprise to sadness when she found herself facing a familiar light-gray and purple pony. Throat tightening, Luna herself had to start blinking to keep away the tears as she admired Twilight Sparkle's final farewell to her mother.
"Come on! Pull faster, Mayberry!" The excitable green unicorn exclaimed as she bounced in place on top of the wagon. The unicorn she was addressing heaved a world-weary sigh.
"Maybe she'll fall off from all that bouncing." Mayberry wondered idly as she struggled to pull the heavy wagon.
It had been an interesting start of the day. Bon-bon, the cream-colored earth pony friend/lover of her magic teacher, Lyra, had taken it upon herself to be both unicorn's alarm clocks.
A heavy buffeting by pillows later, the three ponies had left to grab some breakfast. Breakfast itself had been uneventful, as Mayberry managed to make it through the meal without causing her food to detonate with her magic, and instead ate it earth pony style as she had before.
Lyra had advised against magic use at breakfast since she didn't want Mayberry wearing herself out magically before she could do it the old fashioned way. Now the two found themselves working the orchard as a team. One of them pulled the wagon while the other levitated down as many apples as possible into the wagon.
"So why am I the one pulling not just this wagon again?" Mayberry asked between breaths. Lyra stopped her bouncing and leapt onto the seat of the wagon eliciting an indignant "Hey!" from her charge and promptly ignoring it.
"Several reasons. First of all, you have a larger frame than me, so pulling the wagon is easier for you than it would be for me. Second, and I apologize for the low blow, you can barely levitate an apple fritter without it exploding much less harvesting up to fifty apples at a time."
Mayberry would have liked to protest, but was too out of breath from hauling the now nearly filled wagon to do so. Instead she simply gave heaved another sigh and tugged against the harness again. Legs shaking from a mixture of exhaustion and the heat, she threw all her weight against the straps. The heavy wagon resisted for a bit but eventually started to slowly trundled forwards.
She and Lyra had been doing this particular haul-and-harvest job for several hours now. The human-turned-pony had tried to convince the mint menace to let her take a quick nap several times through out the day, but unfortunately, the human-obsessed mare turned out to be a harsh taskmistress in more than just magic. Lyra kept her student working nonstop despite Mayberry's objections.
Finally the setting sun signaled the teams of ponies that it was time to pack it in. Still panting and heaving at the wagon harness, Mayberry cursed the sun for moving so slow. She could have sworn the celestial orb had intentionally slowed its path across the sky just to spite her throughout the day.
Leaving their wagon behind with a team of earth ponies to unload, the duo headed for their bunkhouse to freshen up and in Mayberry's case, perhaps catch a nap before supper. Lyra trotted along beside her as they headed for the small cluster of cabins. The larger mare was just relieved that the cabins were just a short trip down the hill from the town. As they walked into their cabin, Lyra spoke up.
"Hey, great job, May! Think you're up for a magic less-"
Lyra got no further before the larger, wearier unicorn answered the unfinished question by accidentally toppling over onto her teacher.
"Gah! Can't breath! Mayberry, get off!"
The only answer from Mayberry was a small snore, the mare having literally fallen asleep standing up before finally heeding the call of gravity.
The mint unicorn was not defeated so easily, however, and quickly started to shove and lever the larger mare off of her. Normally she'd have used her magic to levitate the sleeping pony off of her, but the long day of working in the hot sun, not to mention excessive use of her levitation spell left her feeling like her horn was about to fall off.
So the musician pried, pushed, and squirmed to escape the lethal clutches of the Slumbering One, but it was to no avail. Flopping back on to the floor, Lyra just hoped Bon Bon could help her out when she came back, whenever that was.
"Hey, Lyra! Mayberry! How was your first day of work..." Bon Bon stopped as she stepped through the cabin door, her eyes going wide at the spectacle in front of her before narrowing back down and pinning a certain green unicorn with a lethal glare.
"Lyra Heartstrings, what in Tartarus are you two doing?!" She ground out, punctuating her words with a stomp as she closed with the two.
Weary of the look in her marefriend's eyes, the unicorn decided the best course of action was to simply tell the truth.
"Hey Bon Bon, I was hoping you'd show up. I've been pinned here for... about an hour." Lyra said pausing as she guesstimated the amount of time she'd been pinned under her own student. "May here collapsed from exhaustion and guess who didn't move fast enough?"
Stoney silence answered her. Lyra decided to switch tracks and try a different tactic. Covering her eyes, she let out a dramatic sob. "Save me, Bon Bon! I don't want to die crushed underneath Titanoflank, Scourge of the Apple Orchard.
"Ah'm narf fat." Came the automatic if dozy mumbled reply from the freshly awakened pony. "Jerst behg-boned."
Mayberry attempted to get up, but a mixture of still being mostly asleep and her unfamiliarity with the body despite her time as a pony, turned the simple act of placing all four legs underneath her and levering herself off the other mare into an uncoordinated jumble of legs, manes, and tails.
"Gah! That's my tail you're standing on!"
"Ow! Get yer 'oof outta my face, Lyra!"
"Easier said than done. My back legs have gone numb because SOMEPONY fell asleep, pinning them underneath her "big boned" body!"
"Move more, nag less, ya nag."
"Hey! That was uncalled for, horse-monkey!"
Bon Bon watched on in fascination as the two unicorns struggled to extricate themselves from one another. "I wasn't even aware pony bodies could bend like that! How did you two klutzes manage to accomplish anything today?!"
Eventually, the pair of unicorns sorted themselves out, though not without a multitude of scraps and bruises from accidentally horn prods.
Casting a look over her disheveled mane, coat, and tail, Lyra sat down and as Mayberry watched, summoned a brush to her. "Well, that was an adventure!"
Mayberry could only nod, the speech center of her brain still trying to fully come back online. Despite her short nap, she was still incredibly tired. "We managed just fine. Like before, I pulled the wagon all day and Lyra plucked the apples.
Yawning, Mayberry flicked a hoof towards Lyra's brush. "How do you do that anyway?"
Confused, Lyra looked at the brush she had been using to comb her light green tail and mane. "Ummm. It's a brush. You know. You brush things with it."
Mayberry facehoofed. "No, no! I mean how did you call that brush to you?"
Bon Bon saw how Lyra's face lit up at that, groaned and did her best to vacate to a friend's nearby cottage so she didn't have to listen to two unicorns dive into what looked like the beginnings of a very long magic lesson.
One magic lesson later, Mayberry as confused as well as unsatisfied with her answer. Lyra had told her how to teleport stuff to her, but that didn't help her in the least as teleportation of any kind was still far beyond her capabilities. Heck merely manipulating objects and levitating them strained her abilities to the max.
No, what she really wanted to know was the mechanics of how teleportation worked. Not that it would help her get home, but at least provide a picture of what happened to bring her to this world.
Lyra watched her student as she mulled over the complex spell. She knew very well why the other pony wanted to know more about teleportation and while Lyra hadn't quite gotten the wealth of information about her native species out of Mayberry, she could sympathize with the mare. A whole new world where species thought to be legend existed and having to experience a society she hadn't known to have exist before in a body that wasn't her own? Lyra shuddered at the thought.
What she didn't get was why Mayberry was a pony. The former human pretty much said she had literally landed on Canterlot Palace's roof as a pony. So bodily transmogrification as well? Some pony was definitely behind this. But who?
"Well this is a mystery." Lyra mumbled almost inaudibly. "So you were catapulted out of your world after touching a magical hanky and the next thing you know, you're sitting on a tower roof as a pony?
The unicorn mare nodded. "Yes. Did I mention the butt-clenchingly long fall to the valley floor off one side? And that I did fall off it while I was freaking out about being a pony?"
Her teacher's jaw dropped. "You what?! How did you survive?"
Mayberry held up her tail, the gnawed end of her tail fully on display. "Well, I had a bit of a life-line. Apparently the last part of my tail got phased into the roof."
Lyra dumbly looked at the tail. "So how did you get free?"
"let's just say pony tails are tougher than you think to chew through and that those hairs really like to get stuck in between your teeth." Mayberry reached up with her hoof and pulled cheek to the side, displaying a few stray hairs still stuck between her teeth.
"Ewwww!" Lyra gagged. Out of courtesy, her horn lit up with a minty green glow as she plucked the stray hairs out.
Mayberry smacked her lips a few times before running her tongue over and around her mouth, feeling for more hairs. After finding none and noting that her mouth lacked the gap in-between the front teeth and the molars that terrestrial horses and ponies had, she nodded towards her friend.
"Thank you! I had no idea how to get that out of my mouth without fingers! Also don't ask me why, but I half expected your magic to have a wintergreen taste to it."
Lyra could only guess what "wintergreen" was, but silently hoped it wasn't any nasty.
Both ponies were silent for a moment before Mayberry spoke up again. "What happens if two spells cast on the same object?" She asked, thinking of how she was teleported and transformed at the same time.
Lyra got off the floor they had been sitting on as they talked and trotted over to her bed before hopping on it and laying down again, tucking her legs beneath her. "It depends. If it's done by the same pony, nothing other than what both spells are meant to do."
"If it's two or more ponies?"
"Then it depends on what spells are being cast and if the spellcaster's have harmonized with one another."
"Harmonized?"
"Yup. Not harmonizing spells can cause both spells to not work properly."
"Meaning?" Mayberry urged.
Her teacher heaved a sigh. "Meaning all sorts of things. I don't mean to be vague, but what exactly happens is determined by hundreds of factors. What spells were being used, how much magic went into each spell, how adept is the caster and so on and so forth."
Lyra looked thoughtful for a moment. "But usually most of those variables tend to come down to "How big will the explosion be and how fast can I run?""
Satisfied at least for the moment, Mayberry stood up from the floor and arched her back while thrusting her front hooves out in front of her. It was an awkward pose, but much like her cat, Sasha, and her dog, Jake, she was able to get a very satisfying stretch out of it, and a series of pops sounded from her back. Standing up, Mayberry looked herself over. She was still a cream colored mare, with a dark blue mane and tail. And her flank was still blank.
"Do you think with me being…well, me, that it's just not possible for me to get one of whatchyamacallits?"
Her teacher merely looked at the golden harp on her own green flank and shrugged. "Maybe. I take it humans don't get cutie marks."
The tall mare snickered at the name as she climbed into her own bed. The guys around here must have a hell of a time trying to make getting a 'cutie mark' sound masculine.
"No, we don't. At most we have something called tramp stamps and they are usually obtained after ingesting a lot of alcohol and mostly at the urging of equally sloshed friends."
Both ponies laughed at this before a resounding knock on the cabin's door interrupted them.
Without thinking of what might, Mayberry's horn lit up. The doorknob (Why do ponies have round door knobs?!) lit up with the same icy blue color before twisting and promptly snapping off.
"Too much magic, May." Lyra deadpanned from her bed where she was currently burrowing underneath the covers. So far only her rear and the pale green tail stuck out.
"Sorry. Come on in!"
Hearing the conversation from the outside, Bon Bon facehoofed and groaned. After a day of bucking and hauling apples, her rear half felt as if it would fall off if she bucked one more thing. With no other choice, Bon Bon turned her back to the door and wound up and…fell backwards into the cabin as her hooves failed to reach their target. "Wha?"
Only then did she realize that the door was surrounded by a familiar green magic.
"Sorry, Bon Bon. May accidentally broke the doorknob off so I had to open the latch with my magic before letting you in."
The earth pony took a breath and held it, counting as she calmed down. "Fine. I came here to grab you two for supper since the supper triangle got run over by a wagon earlier."
Moaning like the freshly awakened dead, Mayberry and Lyra climbed out of their respective cocoons made from their covers and lurched after the earth pony.
"Wait, why are you moaning?! I hauled your tail all day!"
Canterlot was a buzz with activity even later into the day, but one melancholic purple unicorn failed to notice this. Twilight Sparkle was too deep into her own depressing thoughts to appreciate much of anything lately.
Despite the fact she left Canterlot at a fairly early age and before having spent most of her time in the Palace or with her teacher, Twilight had always depended on her family to be there for her and now a vital piece of her family was gone.
Twilight knew that ponies had to die at some point, but she had at least figured to have a decade or two with her mother to come to terms with it. Her mother had been a very active member of Canterlot, as well as a member of the Mage's Guild that pre-dated the Silver Pinnacle. It just didn't seem fair that her mother was taken away from all those ponies, including her family so soon.
Stuck in her thoughts, the unicorn wandered mindlessly through the palace. Both her brother and her father had already resumed their duties around Canterlot. Twilight had promised both Princesses that she'd stay another week or two visit with them and to cope with her lose before heading back to her highly isolated lab. They meant well, but this only lead to Twilight having more free time than she knew what to do with.
"Hello, Twilight. How fares thee?"
"Hmm?" Twilight started at the familiar voice. A familiar dark blue pony stood before her in the hallway. It seemed her wandering hooves had taken her in the general direction of the Princesses' Quarters. "Oh hello, Princess Luna. I hope I didn't disturb you or anything."
Princess Luna smiled warmly. "Not at all, Twilight. How about walking with me?"
Twilight barely nodded her head before falling in alongside the Princess. Luna watched her in silence wondering how to best breach the sensitive subject at hoof. Fortunately for her, Twilight spoke up.
"Princess, may I ask a question?"
"Yes?"
Twilight looked nervous for a moment before she continued. "I-is it true what ponies are saying about…my mother?"
The alicorn winced. In the two weeks after Celestia had retrieved Twilight, the two Royal Sisters had tried to keep the murder as quite as possible. Not hide it completely but to give the family time to grieve and some time to recover. None of the small family was anywhere near being over their grief, and the Sisters had tried to encourage Nightlight and Shining Armor to take more time off to spend with each other. It worked for a day or two, but it seemed to Luna that the entire family dealt with grief by busying themselves.
Nightlight poured even more time into his work as a Royal Astronomer while Shining Armor became about twice as vigilant in his duties as a guard captain and Luna herself had caught Twilight at least once in the library researching the multiple stages of grief. The Princess of the Night was tempted to add a footnote in the text of yet another stage, Exasperation.
Remembering Twilight's question, the blue mare nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, that's what everything points towards."
Despite her grave words, Luna congratulated herself on the inside for not mishandling the news as badly as the time she had informed Twilight's remaining family. Checking herself she continued. "And that is actually why I'm her Twilight. We have gotten a lead."
No sooner than those words left the princess' mouth, did the unicorn's head shot up. Luna was momentarily taken aback by the intensity of the gaze her sister's pupil gave her.
"Really?! What is it?" Twilight asked. Her body became taught as she waited. Luna waited for a second, fully aware of the mare's less than stellar mental history. There. As Luna watched, Twilight's left eye twitched rather noticeably.
Acting quickly to head of any shenanigans, Luna summoned a pail of water from the moat and promptly poured it over the unicorn.
"Gah! Cold! P-p-p-princess! W-what was that for?!"
"Your mental health of course."
"How does freezing cold water help my mental health?!" The soaking mare asked indignantly. Careful to avoid slipping on the now slick marble floor, she began magically pull the water from her fur.
The princess was completely unapologetic as she silently stifled her giggles and adopted an authoritative voice. "Thou were starting to show the initial stages of one of thy little mental breakdowns and now is not the time for such absurdities, Ms. Sparkle."
Twilight couldn't help but wince. Only her status as the Element of Harmony and several time savior of Equestria had kept her little "episodes" from become more than just one of Ponyville's many quirky stories.
Princess Luna pretended not to see this and continued on. "As I was saying, recently we received a lead from one of Shining Armor's investigative teams. A tall unicorn mare matching the description of the thief that attacked Blueblood paid for train tickets to Ponyville that very same day with coins stamped with Blueblood's house sigil on them."
Twilight suddenly understood. "She attacked Blueblood to get the funds to get out of the city!"
"She attacked more than just Blueblood." Luna intoned darkly. "The alleyway she attacked him in has a branch that leads directly to the fountain where your mother was found."
Twilight felt as if her heart had just fallen out of her chest. "This thief is the one responsible?"
At this the Moon Princess shook her head. "That unfortunately is unknown. Even newer evidence via residual magical resonance suggests that at the time there were three unicorns in that area. It seems our thief had some contemporaries. The truly odd thing is we have the magical signatures of those three unicorns, one of which is thy mother. There should be a fourth, the thief herself, but from what we can tell, the thief was magically inert."
"Wait, wait!" Twilight interrupted, rubbing a hoof against her head as she tried to process this latest information. "To be magically inert, this unicorn would have to have never used magic. Ever. Even as a foal, which almost every unicorn does to a degree."
"Indeed. Which is why we are concerned. This is no ordinary thief and the fact there are more of them worries us even more."
Twilight looked sheepish. "What now? Are you going to go after her?"
"Of course. We are here to ask thee if thou wishes to join us in bringing justice to these ponies. We-uh I mean I thought it might help provide some closure for you."
Twilight smiled, touched that the Princess had thought of her then she stopped. "What about Shining Armor, Cadance, and especially Princess Celestia? Won't they be….well angy at being left out of the loop?"
The Night Princess gave her a confident smile. "Well of course they would. However we shall simply be catching them to bring them back here."
"In that case, I'd be honored, Princess!" Twilight said with all the confidence she could muster.
Ten minutes into the flight towards Ponyville in Princess Luna's custom chariot, Twilight felt less confident and more air sick. The Princess of the Night's gothic looking chariot was far faster than anything she'd ever ridden in before and with night falling, Twilight couldn't even see the ground to help keep herself oriented.
After their conversation Princess Luna had gone on to inform her sister of their plans. Celestia had been surprised to say the least but allowed it only after extracting as many promises from Luna to keep herself and Twilight safe from harm.
After seeing how concerned her sister was, Luna had then called in a favor to get out of Night Court and to allow her sister some rest. Plus for Princess Cadance it was a chance to get some much needed experience.
Then they had departed towards Ponyville, first stop on the suspected train's route. It was then Twilight started having second thoughts. It hadn't taken much to start chipping away at her confidence. Just an idle thought on the likely fates of the ponies involved with this plot. Arrest and jail time were the punishments for thievery but what of murder? Twilight didn't know off the top of her head and she was hesitant to ask the Princess. In the end curiosity won out.
"Princess?" Twilight asked softly. The Night Princess didn't seem to hear at first as she stared ahead until Twilight made out a blue ear being rotated towards her in the failing light.
"Um what's the punishment for murder?"
A worried look crossed the royal's face. "I think currently it is either stone imprisonment or death."
"Stone imprisonment?" Twilight asked, suddenly worried about something a certain draconequus had said many years before upon breaking out of his stone prison.
"Yes," Luna replied "tis a sentence created by my sister in her hesitance to slay any creature and thus waste a life."
Twilight almost smiled before seeing the expression on Luna's face. "Her heart is in the right place, but ultimately in the worse cases, death would a mercy. Three centuries as living stone, forced to endure the elements and watch each day pass by slowly knowing that thou will never see thy friends and loved ones again."
Twilight suddenly started coughing violently, before finally spitting out the rathe large bug that had flown in her open mouth.
"That's horrible! Is that what we did to Discord and what we tried to do the Changeling Queen?!"
Luna nodded. "In Discord's case, he needs to be reigned in. However he has neither friends nor family and as an immortal, is better suited for such a passage of time. Despite our treaty with the Changelings, good job on that by the way."
Twilight blushed at the unexpected praise thankful the night hid it.
"As for the Changelings, we know so little about them, that just by simply imprisoning their queen in stone might have actually lead to their extinction." At the horrified look on the unicorn's face, Luna amended herself. "May. No guarantee though."
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. Both the crime and the punishment seem equally harsh. Where are we going to stay for tonight anyway?"
Whoosh! A brilliant orange and red fireball plowed through the air, just barely missing the chariot. Twilight's head followed the ball of fire a second before turning her head to warn the Princess they were under attack. Before the words made it out of her mouth, the fireball in question turned around in mid-air and bolted towards them again. It was nearly upon them when Twilight realized what it was.
"P-Peewee?!" Sure enough, the young phoenix, now a large male flew alongside the chariot a short ways before alighting on the Princess's horn, much to her amusement.
Twilight was shocked. "Ah! No! Bad Peewee! The princess is not a perch!"
Luna laughed as the chariot coasted in to its destination. From their elevated position Twilight could see the light pouring out of the very familiar tree that housed the library she had spent some of the best years of her life in and in the open doorway, several familiar silluettes waved to them.
"Girls!" Twilight didn't even wait for the final touchdown before leaping off to greet her friends. Luna watched the exchange of hugs and laughter with smile. Had any pony been a little closer, they may have heard the Princess of the Night whisper, "Welcome home, Twilight."
A mountain range away and a good part of the country away, a different group of ponies were heading to bed, including two very chatty unicorns and one very exasperated earth pony.
"So you were mind-controlled by the Changeling Queen?" Mayberry asked, "What was that like?"
The other unicorn paused. "Well, it was kinda like everything the Queen said to us either in person or telepathically was the single greatest idea in the world and to make it work, you must do everything by the letter."
Mayberry paused. "Seems more… subversive than I thought. I always figured mind control would be brute force for some reason."
Lyra shook her head fervently. "Oh no! Mind magic only really works when the pony in question is completely clueless. The moment they suspect they are under control, then the spell starts to break down."
"So it's based on perception?"
"Yup! You certainly grasp the theories behind magic well enough if you have trouble learning it."
Mayberry wasn't sure how to take that. "Um, thanks? I guess."
By this time the trio had made it to their cabin and Bon Bon was ready to hit the sack.
Tapping her hoof against the floor for their attention, Bon Bon pulled a small piece of paper from her saddlebags. "Ok, you two. Your assignment tomorrow is to help harvest the north field. I'm on kitchen duty tomorrow so we all need to get some sleep."
The two unicorns nodded their assent and they all climbed into their different beds.
"Good night, Bon Bon. Sweet dreams Mayberry"
"Good night, Lyra. Sleep well, Mayberry."
….
"Mayberry?"
A loud snort and faint rustle of sheets revealed that the large unicorn had already heeded Bon Bon's words.
The other two ponies followed her into slumber land shortly afterwards.
The next morning, everypony woke up and set about their various tasks. Mayberry and her odd teacher began hitching Mayberry to the wagon while Bon Bon headed to the kitchen.
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Princess Luna practically had to peel Twilight Sparkle away from her friends to plan their day. Twilight's disappointment quickly dispersed as she was reminded what they were looking for. Thinking quickly, she turned one specific pony for help: Headbaker Pinkamina Diane Pie.
Sitting down with the pink earth pony at the table n the center of the library, Twilight outlined what she needed from the mare that knew everypony in town.
"Ok, here's the deal, Pinkamina. Princess Luna and I are looking for at least one new pony in town. A unicorn mare with a pale coat and a dark mane and no cutie mark."
Scratching her head with a hoof, the party pony finally replied. "That's a pretty tall order, Twilight. Do you know how many new ponies come to town everyday?"
Twilight nodded in resignation. That was one thing she had expected, but had hoped the baker could help her out somehow any way.
It still boggled Twilight's mind just how much the once hyperactive pink pony had mellowed over the years. She was by no means an old mare, but it seems with age came maturity that slowly brought the mare down to a less frenetic pace. Hay, she even wore her mane differently. Instead of a pink poof, it was a straight silky mane that Rarity absolutely adored working with.
"Howdy, Twilight! What brings you to these here parts?" A new voice interrupted them as an orange pony with a wearing a banded Stetson hat stepped into the library.
"Applejack! I'm so glad to see you!" Twilight cried happily as she galloped up to give her old friend a hug.
"Whoa, there partner! No need to run me over!" the farmer chided with a hint of humor in her voice.
"Sorry! As to why I'm here…let's just say I'm…. looking for somepony."
The cowpony heard the pause in her friend's voice as well as the slight change in tone. Something was up, but since it involved not only Twilight, but Princess Luna who she had seen lounging on the upper outside balcony like some giant cat, Applejack wasn't going to pry.
"So who you looking for? Spike? He's still in the Everfree with that green dragon feller. Been visiting him ever since they smoothed thing out awhile back."
All the ponies remembered that and had stood outside the cave, waiting with bated breath for the larger dragon's reaction to Spike's peace offering. Rainbow Dash had been waiting, crouched like polychromatic panther ready to spring into action to support her friend. It was the most she could do since flying him out of there since his natural growth spurt rendered him incapable of being carried.
Thankfully, the elder dragon had accepted his gift and begrudgingly accepted Spike as friends, spending some of his time teaching Spike about dragon lore.
"You know he'll be crushed to have missed you if he doesn't come back soon."
Twilight merely shook her head. "After we finish with what we are doing, I'm going to come back to spend time with you guys."
Applejack and Pinkamina gave her a smile and a hug each before Twilight continued.
"The pony we are looking for is, as I mentioned to Pinkamina, a pale colored unicorn mare with a dark mane and tail. Pretty tall in build and oddly enough, no cutie mark…..Applejack, is something wrong."
The earth pony's blush told them the truth even before Applejack ever spoke up. "Umm. Yeah. I met a pony that fit that description to the letter. No cutie mark, pale coat, and everything."
Twilight's eyes grew wide. "Really?! Where?" She urged, the volume of her voice drawing the Princess in from outside.
Applejack backed up a bit at the sudden switch in her friend's manner. "Appleloosa. Those brothers, Flim and Flam, were trying to get that monster of a machine of theirs off the train and I pretty much told her to help them out. I thought she would use her magic, but instead she simply pushed and pulled and basically looked as if she was trying to give herself a hernia."
"So this unicorn didn't use her magic?" asked Princess Luna.
AJ had never really felt at ease with royalty and answered as truthfully as possible. "No ma'am! I asked her afterwards and it turned out she didn't know any at all. Considering I asked her in front of the whole town, I felt pretty stupid."
Twilight merely blinked. "Really? How were you supposed to know that? A unicorn never having used magic is hardly the norm."
Applejack would have answered but Princess Luna interjected. "I'm sorry, but time is of the essence. Twilight and I must find this pony at once so we must leave as quickly as possible. With that she gestured for Twilight to follow her and galloped over to her chariot and hopped in.
Twilight followed her, but as soon as she was in the chariot the unicorn turned back towards her friends and shouted, "We'll be back soon and I'll tell you everything then!" as the craft accelerated and then took off.
Pinkamina and Applejack waved to her and just before the two were out of sight, Twilight witnessed Pinkamina's whole body quake like never before. Standing up woozily, the pink mare's mane and tail suddenly poofed outwards.
AN: That took way longer than I ever want to have between chapters again and you have my sincere apologies for that. Other than that, things are starting to snowball a bit more now.
"Oh my, I'm pretty sure that was a doozy!" shouted Twilight Sparkle over the rush of the wind as Princess Luna's chariot rose above Ponyville.
"A 'doozy?' Thou art certain? It looked as if yon mare suffered a seizure to mine eyes."
Twilight winced at the Princesses words. Either the alicorn spoke in that antiquated fashion when she felt under stress or Luna's modernization wasn't coming along quite as smoothly as the Sun Princess would have her believe.
The Princess didn't notice as her eyes took on a fervent gleam that made the lavender unicorn draw away. "So this is how my friends feel when I start acting crazy!" she thought silently.
"Doozy or not, it is of no importance to us now." Luna boomed, "A criminal most foul awaits us at Appleloosa! Guards! Make best speed for said pioneer town!"
The bat-winged guards nodded in unison and pumped their wings as fast as possible. The black, dagger-like form of the Lunar Chariot shot off towards the rising sun like a dark arrow, taking with it one cackling princess and one nauseous unicorn.
The chariot ripped through the air above the desert at a frantic pac.
At the now visibly exhausted guard's best speed the trip didn't take as long as the trip to Ponyville had the day before. Even now Twilight could see the wooden buildings that made up the foremost pioneer town in Equestria.
The sight was a nostalgic one as it dredged up memories of her friends, stampedes, horrible music, and pie. Lots and lots of pie. So much so that the conversation between Luna and Twilight turned to favorite pies to pass the remaining time.
"I personally like pumpkin pie, though apple pies are nice. What about you, Luna?"
The Princess thought for a moment. "Pecan pie. So crunchy and flavorful."
Twilight shot her a sardonic look. "Oh really, I would have thought you'd like a moo-"
The princess's face quickly lost all traces of her earlier good humor, her cyan eyes turning stern and unforgiving. "Tell us, Twilight, canst thou survive a three hundred meter fall?"
"Um…..no?" came the very hushed answer.
"Indeed. Now think. Doth thou really want to finish that joke?"
"What joke?"
"Exactly."
The two ponies rode in awkward silence before the Princess spoke up again.
"Now remember as soon as we touch down, we get serious. What do ponies say these days? "Let's get dangerous"?" The dark blue pony sat back on her haunches as she tried to remember. She could have sworn she had heard somepony say that.
"I don't recall anypony ever saying that…sounds catchy though." Twilight offered, feeling the slight fear she had felt moments before ebb away, only to be replaced by steely resolve. "Anyway, I've devised a search plan for us. Princess, you have the town…"
"What?! But We are clearly better suited towards sweeping yon fields which is where the thief is likely hiding." Luna protested as she raised a hoof to steady her crown as the now descending chariot was jostled by some minor turbulance.
"Yes, but the town will know you are here very soon if they haven't sighted us already. You'll need to keep them from panicking while at the same time organizing a marehunt."
The Night Princess had no answer to that as she clacked one silvery blue shoe against the metallic bottom of the chariot. "Oh fine." She relented, her voice momentarily sounding less like an authoritative princess and more like a resentful teenager. It didn't last as Luna cocked her head in puzzlement. "How doth thou propose to apprehend the villain?"
Twilight offered her best and most confident smile. "Our thief may be good at hiding, but she lacks one thing: Magic. If she is truly magically inert, then she should be fairly easy to subdue."
Luna wasn't impressed with her confidence. "She may be magically inert, but her cohorts definitely were not. Watch thy step with these ponies, Twilight. Magically skilled thou may be, these ponies have shown a willingness to kill and as we love our sister greatly, it would grieve us to tell her of thy demise."
The princess allowed her mask of authority to drop for a moment. "Not too mention I'd lose one of my first friends since my return. Be careful, Twilight."
The unicorn nodded bashfully, touched by her Princess's concern.
The chariot gave one last bounce as it touched down just outside of town. Both ponies exited the chariot. Twilight started towards the orchard at a trot. The princess paused for a moment as she watched the other depart. "Night watch over you, Twilight." With that murmured blessing, she took to the air and flew towards the town.
"Maybe I should have let the princess do this?" Twilight muttered to herself as she checked yet another empty row of trees. She had been so busy trying to divert the Princess that she had failed to take into account just how large the orchards were.
Still as she searched she shook off her doubts. The Princess would take swift justice into her own hooves. While Luna wouldn't go against her sister in this matter, she'd be sure to swiftly apprehend their quarry and take her back to Canterlot. While Twilight wanted justice done, she wanted to hear the answer to her burning questions from this pony's mouth. "Did you kill my mother?" and "Why did you steal from the Princesses?"
Twilight silently swore that she wouldn't rest until she got the answers she wanted. However in some dark corner part of her mind, the place where all ponie's darkest desires reside, some small part of her was certain of the answer and wanted this pony for another reason entirely. If this pony had killed her mother, Twilight would make sure she never threatened another pony again.
***
Deciding that it would take too long to check each row one by one, Twilight instead looked for ponies to ask, hoping that the excuse of "Royal business with the Princesses" would be enough of a deterrent to prevent them from doing something foalish, like warning the thief of somepony from Canterlot looking for them.
As she walked through the green trees looking for her quarry, Twilight noticed that the orchard had fallen oddly silent as if waiting for something. There! A sudden build up of magical energy, very similar in fact to the surge a few days before that had caused panic across Equestria! As the sudden increase in the ambient magic that caused a sharp painful twinge to her horn that caused her to yelp, she heard two similar yelps nearby.
It took her a second to comprehend it before a wolfish smile spread across her face. While pegasi and earth ponies would feel the magic, only unicorns could feel it with such acuteness as to cause pain. She had found them!
Heedless of any danger, the purple unicorn took off like a thunderbolt, her hooves pounding heavily into the rich soil as she charged towards the source of the sound. So elated was Twilight upon spying a tall pale unicorn mare with a dark navy blue mane and tail through the rows of apple trees that she completely disregarded not only the familiar mint green unicorn sitting atop the wagon her prey was pulling, but the fact all the gathering magic was being focused on their location, forming a vortex of swirling blue light around them.
"You!" Twilight shout as she leapt at the stunned pony, fully intending on knocking her to the ground. Gone was all uncertainty in her mind, the sight of the mare in front of her had crystallized her resolve. Just as she leapt however, the world ground to a halt. Suspended in mid-air, Twilight's mind raced as she tried to figure out what was going on. Lyra could only look on in awe at how saturated the area around them had become with magic. The last of them, Mayberry, was just starting to wonder what was going on before she recognized the dreadful tugging sensation.
"Oh shiiii-!"
The unfinished shout hung in the air as all three unicorns, their cart were teleported to regions unknown, leaving only a smoldering crater in their wake.
The robed stallion calmly watched the teleportation reception core. Long title for basically a room that just received items targeted by the long-range teleportation spell. The room itself was rather foreboding with its flat dark gray metal walls. Still he had insisted on getting them installed as one never knew what might come out of a long-range teleport and if all his long years had taught him anything, it was that caution must be taken at every turn. Inside were three ponies. Only two interested him at the moment. Caution still in mind, he manipulated magic-dampening rings onto the unconscious pony's horns from his hidden observation platform.
The elder mage thought for a moment, slowly stroking the beard protruding from his hood with a hoof before shrugging. "Might as well stuff them in the room with the beast." He mused, his dry, crackling voice betraying his great age. Underneath his hood, his horn flashed orange three times. In the room below all three ponies disappeared.
This done, the cloaked pony looked over at the small mountain of dirt and an amazingly intact wagon. Teleporting himself down into the room, he trotted over to the wagon. Taking great care not to stumble in his cloak, he climbed up and peered in. "Hmm. I wonder if our other guest is fond of apples." With a shrug, he floated three of the delicious fruits into a pocket.
Turning to the door nearest to him, the anciant pony walked out. After all things were finally underway and there was a large amount of spell crafting and casting that required his trained eye to accomplish.
In a separate room behind some truly formidable bars, three groggy ponies slowly awoke. Seeing Mayberry starting to rise, Twilight quickly gathered herself. "Stop right there!"
"Who? Wha-? Mayberry mumbled as her brain desperately tried to catch up to what was happening.
"You're the thief from Canterlot, aren't you?!" Twilight spat out, trying her best to glare holes into the other unicorn, before snorting steam in a reasonable imitation of a rampaging bull.
"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Asked Lyra, completely baffled by this turn of events. "Mayberry has been with me in Appleloosa for the past couple weeks. Mayberry nodded her head vigorously, hoping that this insane purple unicorn was talking about some other theft than her stealing that cartographer's gold, which was currently buried outside of their cabin.
Twilight practically danced in agitation as she stabbed a lavender hoof at her. "This pony has been accused of theft, stealing an ancient artifact that belongs to the princesses, and most recently, committing or helping others to commit of equicide!"
Lyra drew back as if faced with a viper. "Whoa, Hhold on there! That's some pretty nasty accusations to be throwing out, Twilight."
The blood drained from Mayberry's face at that accusation. Stealing money was one thing, but actually killing one of these creatures was another. She'd admit it, if she was in her true form, Mayberry would have been hard-pressed to not hug every single one of these creature. Harming them, much less killing one made her stomach churn.
"I'd never hurt anybody like that!" She yelled at the two, desperate to convince them.
Lyra made a lowering motion with a hoof. "May, volume. We're not that far away."
Twilight wasn't having it however. "We'll see about that at the trial. The Princesses will see if you are guilty or not." With that her horn took a lavender glow before quickly dissipating.
"What!?" Twilight yelped as she brought a hoof up to her horn as magical feedback painfully wracked her horn.
"What the?!" Lyra shook off her surprise as she lit up her horn experimentally. The glow of magic surrounded her horn before painfully dissipating as well. "Ow! Magic inhibitors!"
Mayberry, seeing the effects of trying to use magic, declined to see for herself if she had one of those inhibitors on. Not that she could do much aside from lift small rocks and blow up apple fritters as her magical studies had slowed down a bit, what with all the field work and such.
"I guess we'll do this the hard way." Growled the purple pony as she started pawing at the ground with a hoof. It was lost on her foe who, from her expression, found the gesture either adorable or just funny as she started laughing.
Just as Twilight Sparkle was about to start her charge, a minty green hoof wrapped it's self around her neck, holding her back. "Um, Twilight. You don't have your magic. Are you really that desperate to pick a fight with a pony almost twice as big as you?"
Mayberry had been thinking the same thing. While working in the fields left her usually too tired to do anything but the most basic of spells, it had helped her get into better shape than she had ever been in her life as a human and she was pretty active then. Any fat she'd had after the tranformation had been quickly disappeared during the time it'd take to get used to the food these ponies ate and the heavy work at the orchard had piled on lean muscle over the weeks. Apparently pulling very heavy wagons with tons of apples and an overly excited unicorn pretty much every day for a couple weeks was good exercise. Who knew?
"Hey if she's still game, I'll oblige her." Said Mayberry with a hint of challenge in her confident voice. Unheard by either of the other two was the small plea to not take her up on her bluff. While she may be stronger and larger, Mayberry did have the disadvantage of still not being truly used to her body. If this Twilight was used to fighting hoof to hoof, it didn't matter how much muscle she had if she didn't know how to use it.
Occasionally Mayberry would trip up then fall flat while walking, having forgotten temporarily which hoof to put down next. This had given her the reputation of being a bit of a klutz to most of the town ponies, while the town doctor had mentioned after one particularly bad fall, that she believe Mayberry might suffer from a neurological disorder that put her body at odds with her brain. The pale unicorn whole-heartedly agreed on the inside. She mentally referred to it as "Alien-ape-trapped-in-pony-body disorder"
Thankfully, Lyra hooked a companionly foreleg around her old irate friend. "Come on, Twilight. Chill out and let's talk first."
Sparkle didn't want to agree at first, but eventually the anger that gave her that manic energy was quickly burning itself out taking her strength and willpower with it, leaving Twilight feeling hollow inside. She hadn't thought she obsess over catching this pony so much. It just seemed so right though! This pony was exactly what the Princesses were looking for!
Mayberry sat and watched the two for a second before throwing a hoof in the air like an overgrown foal at school. "Could you tell me why ponies would think I'm a murderer? Kind of a hefty accusation to be throwing around willy-nilly." She looked Twilight dead in the eyes. "Especially without proof !"
Twilight flinch away from the accusing stare too reminded of her brother's wedding wheree she had done something similar before. The unicorn deflated a bit, her head and heart becoming downcast.
After a short silence she started talking. "A couple weeks ago, somepony mugged Prince Blueblood and apparently stole a hefty amount of money from him. They didn't down knock him out completely as he got up and chased them, catching glimpses of the thief. While that pony got away, we later found the route they likely took to get away. This included a small park."
Twilight's eyes teared up as her voice began to shake. "That's were they found my mother's body. You match both the description and you did take the train from Canterlot in that time period. The timing is to close to be mere coincidence!"
Twilight sniffed as she tried to conquer the tears that just wouldn't stop coming. Even through tear-blurred eyes, she could see the looks of horror on the other two's faces. Lyra's mind couldn't comprehend how anypony could do such a horrendous thing and quickly moved to comfort Twilight.
Mayberry, on the other hand, struggled under several horrendous shocks. The first and least of these was the realization that she had mugged a PRINCE of all things. Not a cartographer, but a damn prince! That on top of the news that there had been a theft major enough that the Princesses themselves were searching for her, coupled with the fact that that nice scenic park she had stopped at was the site of a murder! She may have well passed the actual murderer! The revelation that the murdered was this pony's mother hit Mayberry harder than she would have thought. Noone should lose a family member like that.
Questions quickly formed in her mind. "Could I have prevented that?" she asked herself. No, she was still new to being a pony at the time and likely would've only gotten herself killed. Still it unnerved her to know that in the time that she had a nap on the fountain that a murder had transpired.
Oblivious to Mayberry's meeting of internal affairs, Lyra continued to hug and sooth Twilight Sparkle who had broken down into heaving sobs after finishing the tale. It was obvious to the green unicorn that her friend was still healing from her mother's death. Loss like that doesn't disappear in mere weeks. Lyra remembered when she had lost her own mother to horn cancer years before. She hadn't been for to answer the door for at least a month, much less tracking down a suspected criminal who might have ties to the death.
Anger grew within Lyra. Not at either of her friends but at Princess Luna. It was obvious Twilight wasn't over her mother's death, making Luna's recruitment of the mare callous in the extreme in her eyes. The unicorn knew the Princess meant well, trying to distract Twilight from her grief, but sometimes ponies needed time to grieve. The unicorn said nothing though and simply let her friend cry on her shoulder.
***
The night passed uneventfully as far as they could tell from their subtereannean prison. They had slept in a pile of pony near the front of the cell to be nearest to the light. However it was an short fitful slumber that was oft interrupted. Twilght dreamt of her life and time in the castle followed by bouts of guilt at having ignored her mother so much during the magical time she's had with the Princess. Lyra dreamt of Bon-bon and home, while Mayberry dreamed she was back in her body as the Dread Pirate Queen of the Caribbean.
The rest of the time passed slowly as Mayberry and Twilight tried their best to avoid each other as best they could. Eventually the needs of the body became more demanding as a low growl rumbled through out the room, shaking the very air with it's bass rumble. This shook Lyra from her comforting Twilight. "Wow! Mayberry, you must be really hungry!"
Mayberry shot a look of dread at the other two ponies. Even Twilight had been roused from her weeping by the noise. "I was really hoping that was you, Lyra, because while I am hungry….that wasn't me."
Something very large shifted in the pitch dark half of their cell. Twilight tried lighting up her horn again to illuminate the cell but as before failed with a pained yelp. In a panic the ponies tried their best to escape the confines of their prison but the best they could do was huddle up against the bars waiting for whatever monstrosity to come forth to eat them.
"No." the low voice echoing from the darkness was familiar to Mayberry, but in her near-blind panic, she didn't recognize it. "That was me." It continued.
Low thumping noises heralded the beast's approach. Practically melding with the bars, eyes darting furtively around for any sign of escape or a way to defend themselves, the three unicorns could only watch in horror as the beast made it's way towards them. Just enough light was entering the cell to see something , but the creature stopped just outside of their sight. Without warning, it rushed forward and effortlessly lifted Mayberry into the air as she squealed in fright, closing her eyes waiting for the inevitable.
"Easy there, girl." Soothed that same maddeningly familiar voice. This time the identity of the voice clicked as she stared into the now-exposed face of the beast. The voice and face were her own.
Author's Note
Chapter revision for the win! Of all the chapters, this one bugged me the most, so quite a bit was changed to improve the story.
Mayberry stared in shock at the human that now held her in the air. The unicorn mare shuddered in the firm grasp it had on her. It's like looking in a mirror, she thought as she studied her own face as it studied her in return before speaking.
"Hey, Mrs. Ed, why the long face?"
Mayberry would have face-hooved if she could. Yup, the human in front of her had her horrible sense of humor too.
"Th-this is impossible!" Mayberry finally said, stuttering. The human cocked an eyebrow at that. "You're me! How's this possible?!"
"Ok, what? You lost me, horsie. I'm the impossible thing here? What about you? You look like you were designed by a drunk Tex Avery!" the human retorted as she prodded the unicorn in the stomach hard with an accusing finger.
"WHAT?!"
The word erupted from Twilight's mouth as she stalked away from the cell's bars to glare at the beast before her. The creature turned towards her as if it had forgotten she was even there. Steeling her nerves, Twilight marched towards it. As she closed the difference in size between the creature she had just yelled at and herself increased. She was just a few inches higher than it's waist!
Unwavering, Twilight assumed her best impression of her mentor's authoritative visage.
"Put that pony down right now, miss!" she shouted. Surprisingly enough, it did, setting Mayberry on the floor gently who promptly sat down with a hard 'thump.'
Twilight nodded sagely as she would for a young foal. "Very good, now-Eeeeeep!"
The words had barely gotten out of her mouth before the creature had grabbed her and picked her up instead.
"Hot damn, you critters are cute!" It crooned as it picked her up and hugged her.
"Let me go!" Twilight cried as she thrashed against the creature's hold. No use. It held her with her legs facing away from it's body so she couldn't hit it and the magic-cancellation ring on her horn kept her magic subdued.
"Please?" Twilight asked, her tone wheedling.
"Fine" It said grumpily, setting her down giving the unicorn a small pat on the head.
Twilight quickly re-adjusted her purple and now somewhat disheveled mane with a hoof. "Now that's out of the way, we can get down to business-"
"Oooo! Another one!"
Eventually, things settled down and Twilight and Mayberry now found themselves sitting with against one wall directly across from their rather large cellmate who sat cross legged against the other, one hand idly stroking the pony in her lap. Lyra had no reservations whatsoever about their new friend and had practically leapt at the human as it reached for her.
Twilight immediately took charge. "Ok, with that bit of goofiness out of the way, now may we get down to business?" They all nodded. "Thank you. First off, what in Celestia's name are you? I've never seen a being like you before."
"I'm (She's) human."
Twilight frowned at Mayberry and Lyra who'd answered at the exact same time. "Ok, how and when?"
Lyra gave the purple pony a smug grin. "Well, if you recall, I've been into cryptozoology for ages. You know, monsters and creatures from old legends thought to have actually existed at some point in time. At any rate, I came across several references to a tall bipedal ape with intelligence either rivaling or surpassing ponies. So naturally I'm fascinated by the thought of these amazing beings and have spent years trying to figure out if it's true or not. I seem to remember you disbelieving me, Twilight. Now who's the mad pony?"
"You still are." Mayberry deadpanned.
Twilight rubbed her head with a hoof, feeling as if her brain was going to claw its way out of her head and escape. "Ok, Mayberry. What about you?"
"I'm a human."
Twilight blinked in confusion before asking, "Come again?"
The pale mare sighed. "I'm human. Or was. To be specific, I was this human."
"Wat?"
This time all three of her cellmates looked at her in utter confusion. The human spoke first. "I'd think I'd recall something like that."
"But it's true!" Mayberry persisted. "I have memories of my family and friends back home!"
Twilight shook her head. "This is too much for me. Intelligent apes and crazy ponies claim they're supposedly mythical creatures. Ok, let's try this again from the top. I'm Twilight Sparkle, professor at magic and student of Princess Celestia!"
"And the polisher of Her Golden Clodhoppers!" Lyra intoned with a mischievous grin on her face causing Twilight to scowl. "I'm Lyra Heartstrings and all I have to say now is….a little to the left."
The human smiled as her hand drifted to the requested location.
"OoOoh yeah!" Lyra sighed as she practically melted into a state of bliss on the human's lap.
Finally, Mayberry introduced herself. "I'm Amber Louise Mayberry. I'm from Atlanta. You may call me Mayberry."
"How, by Poseidon's great blue crank, do you know my name!?" The human exclaimed, almost upsetting the sleepy unicorn in her lap.
"I told you! I'm you! Heck for all I know you're some unicorn in my body!" Mayberry retaliated, pointing an accusing hoof at the human.
"That would make sense," Twilight mused aloud.
The human crossed her arms. "Just one problem. I have the same set of memories."
"Oh really? Where did we eat just before coming here?"
The human shook her head, her messy nest of auburn hair flying about her face. "McDonald's. And sorry, but that doesn't work. I should be asking you these questions."
"It's true!" Lyra piped up from the humans lap. "By the way, what should we you?"
The young woman frowned. "Until we sort things out, just call me Amber."
Mayberry let out a disgruntled snort. "I still think we need to establish which one of us is the real deal. I don't want to be going about with an imposter in my body!"
Amber glared at her, before throwing her head back with a laugh. "Impostor?! Ha! You're the one that needs to do the proving!"
"ENOUGH!"
In an instead Twilight confronted Mayberry, her face practically shoved into the taller unicorn's face. "Enough! We are prisoners here and you two are bickering?!"
"Please excuse my identity crisis, Ms. Sparkle," Mayberry shot back. "But I would kinda like to figure out why I'm a pony and why there's my human self is right here in this- Where ever the hell we are!"
Lyra looked up at the human in question from her lap. "Why are you here anyway?"
"Been here ever since I got teleported here." Amber grunted, most of her attention on the still arguing unicorns.
Mayberry started. "You mean after touching that weird cloth with the jewels that was on that powerline?"
Quirking an eyebrow, Amber merely nodded before reaching into her jeans' pocket to pull out a very familiar cloth.
Mayberry was by her side immediately. "That's it! After I took this down and touched it-"
"We fell backwards off the balcony and were teleported here!" Amber finished.
Mayberry frowned, before starting to fidget with frayed end of her tail. "Except I was teleported to Canterlot."
Amber's faced scrunched itself into a disbelieving frown. "Canterlot? Oh God no! Please don't tell me this world isn't a never ending horse pun!"
Mayberry's frown slowly disappeared only to be replaced by a mischievous grin. "Ponyville, Canterlot, and Appeloosa are the names to some of their towns and cities. I checked a map on the way to Appeloosa and saw other towns like Trottingham, Hoofington, and Las Pegasus!"
With each name Amber flinched, raising her hands as if to shield herself from the names. "Please no more! The puns, the horrid puns are too much! Mercy! Uncle!"
Mayberry chuckled a bit. The unicorn made a show of inspecting her hooves a bit before she fired the last salvo. "And one elderly pony thought I was from Manehatten."
The human's only response was to wrap Lyra in a hug. "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."
"There. There." Said Lyra in a soothing voice, patting the human on the top of her head with a hoof. "It's not all bad. Equestria is a pretty nice place."
Amber could only groan. "Et tu, Lap Pony?"
Twilight watched the others antics for all the while making mental notes of how the stories of the supposed human-turned-pony and the "human" correlated on several parts.
While they seemed to fit quite well, and this "Mayberry" seemed to know quite a lot about the human's world and life, Twilight couldn't bring herself to believe the story without some further proof.
Perhaps the human was a replacement of the original or perhaps the pony was a magical construct that had the human's memories imprinted on it. Either way, the reason why anypony would even bother doing such an odd thing eluded her.
What caught Twilight's attention was Mayberry mentioning that she was sent to Canterlot instead of ending up in the cell with the human. That struck Twilight as most suspicious, but what could she do about it? Her magic was nullified and the cell doors looked quite sturdy. What she needed was a plan and unfortunately she would probably need help.
Twilight made a mental checklist of her three cell mates.
Lyra, while a very eccentric pony was still quite talented at magic. Nowhere near Twilight's level, but good enough to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. While she had been in Ponyville, Lyra had been one of the few ponies she could talk to about magic too without confusing her. Here Lyra had apparently ingratiated herself with the human and the pony that that she was a human. Twilight valued friendship as much as any other pony, but those three could be a potential problem.
Her next potential ally was Mayberry. This pony either had some serious mental issues or really was a human originally. Either way, she was also a potential thief and murderer. While Twilight embarrassed herself earlier with her accusations, the appearance of the human was quite effective in distracting them from it. She'd need some time to think about things, but she also not going to let this pony out of her sight.
Magically, this mare was near useless. Twilight had seen more magical potential out of Sweetie Belle in her youth as a Cutie Mark Crusader than this pony. Not that it mattered now with the magic inhibitors on their horns.
An idea popping into her head, Twilight quickly checked her hooves before letting a frustrated groan. Her shoes were gone and she was willing to bet the others didn't have theirs as well and no pony in their right mind would let anyone's teeth get near their horn no matter what was at stake.
Finally there was the human. Twilight didn't even know what to think about her. Amber seemed nice enough, but the memory of being picked up so easily haunted her. This creature could very easily become dangerous if it wanted to. Not to mention that Amber was pretty big when sitting down, allowing Lyra to sit on her lap like an overly large cat.
When the human stood up, the top of her head was would have only been an inch or two higher than Amber's waist. Sparkle would have been willing to bet Amber would have to look down to look Princess Luna in the eye. Still the human might find a way to make herself useful. Plus even if they could leave without her, she didn't deserve to be locked up like an animal.
Finally finished with her mental calculations Twlight roused herself to full awareness only to find all three of her…companions looking at her, just barely able to hold back their laughter at something.
"What? Do I have something on my face" asked Twilight, raising a hoof to her face.
"You could say that." Said Amber with a smug grin, twirling what looked like a fat cylinder with a black top in her fingers. Lyra stopped staring at Twilight to watch this feat of dexterity.
"What?!" Twilight trotted over to the one sink in the cell and looked in the mirror. Staring back was a pony with a black curly mustache as well as a black monocle. Twilight touched her face and looked at her hoof. Black ink was smeared across it.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny." She groused as she turned on the tap. After washing and scrubbing her face clean, Twilight turned to the peanut gallery once again.
"Enough funny business. It's time we discuss our plans to escape."
Author's Note
Sorry for the delay again, but life and college rose up in tandem to crush my creativity for a while. Don't worry about this story dying however. I may take some time to do it, but I will continue to update no matter what. Especially since a year of my life has gone into this, so I'm not leaving it unfinished.
Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, mates. Please review and give some feedback so I know what to fix.
"Wait, what?!" Twilight yelped.
Lyra simply smiled at her reaction. "I said we already came up with a plan to get out of here."
Mayberry chose this moment to chime in. "Yeah, got it all figured out while you were spacing out over there." She wouldn't admit it, but the expression on the other unicorn's face was priceless as well as cute. Hopefully, Amber, the human version of her would restrain herself from hugging the befuddled pony too much.
Mayberry's concerns proved misplaced when Amber remained seated as she addressed the lavender unicorn. "Yup. And believe it or not, but it is actually pretty well thought out. We just need any insight you might have on this place and it's guards to make it work."
Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia and Professor of Magic, simply sat down with an audible 'thump.' They had already planned it out? But organizing and planning was usually her thing!
"Hellooo! Where-ever-the-hell-we-are to Ms. Ponypants! We're waiting for your input!"
Amber leaned forward to snap her fingers in front of Twilight's eyes. The gesture successfully managed to get both her and Lyra's attention.
Lyra's eyes continued to watch Amber's hand "Doesn't that hurt when you do that?"
"Nope, but we're getting off track. Ms. Sporkle do you have any information we could use about this place?"
"Yeah!" Lyra chimed in. "I mean aren't you an honored member of the Silver Pinnacle?"
"Silver what now?" Amber interrupted.
"The Silver Pinnacle, a group of mages dedicated to advancing our understanding of magic far beyond what we currently know," answered Twilight. "And yes I am a member, though I'm rarely here so there's not really much I can tell you."
"Really?" Amber asked her tone flat and un-amused "I mean magic? Come on you've got to try harder than that."
"You're here aren't you?" asked Lyra. "I mean how else could you arrive here from your world."
"Why I'm here is a mystery, true, but it doesn't mean magic was involved."
Mayberry gave her human counterpart a very dead pan look before very pointedly looking at the pearlescent lance protruding from her own head. Doing so pretty much require crossing her eyes, but it got the point across.
The woman relented before such a persuasive argument "Ugh, right. Talking ponies in the form of unicorns. Don't question it, right?" Mayberry flashed her the widest grin her equine face was capable of.
"There, there" soothed Lyra, patting Amber's arm with a minty hoof. "I know it's bit much to swallow but it's true. I've been teaching Mayberry over there magic."
"Riiiiiight. Anyway, we're offtrack again. Since we haven't seen hide nor hair of a guard, we can assume they are either watching us remotely or just don't care enough to guard us. Either way, let's start phase one of Operation GTFO."
Pushing Lyra off her lap, Amber quickly stood to her full height before staggering back a few steps. "Whoa, stood up too fast again. You ready, horse-thingies?"
"Hey!" chorused Twilight and Lyra together.
"We are not horses! We are ponies! Right, May?" said Lyra, looking to her oddly silent companion for support.
The pale unicorn simply shrugged. "Eh. You've been calling me "horse-monkey" since day one."
"Good lord, stop bickering and let's blow this joint!" Amber exclaimed before grabbing up Twilight in her arms. With the first argumentative pony secured, she rushed at the cell door to deliver a powerful kick. As the ancient door burst from it's rusty hinges, the human ran through with a cry of "We go!"
"Freedom!" cried Lyra and Mayberry as they piled through the narrow door in pursuit of their friend.
***
"We're not lost!"
"We are to lost!"
"No, we're not!"
"Yes, we are! Tell her, May!"
"Where we again?"
Amber groaned, shifting the pony she was still holding in her arms. Her passenger, Twilight Sparkle, had apparently calmed down enough to argue with the mint green unicorn, Lyra or "lap pony" as Amber's mind now labeled her. Lap pony, the next sensational pet! She shook her head to clear it. "So what do we do now?" she asked, "I mean it's not like we can just wander these dark corridors all day long. It's a miracle we haven't run into any guards. Not too mention as soon as they notice we're gone, they'll come looking for us."
Lyra stopped to ponder. "We need an informant."
From her perch in Amber's arms, Twilight huffed. "Have you got one you've been hiding?"
"I got it!" Lyra exclaimed, the proverbial lightbulb appearing above her head. "We'll make one! Twilight, you remember that charming colt, Dawnstar, right?"
"The one everypony kept insisting looked like a male version of me….NO! Nononononono!" The unicorn tried her best to scramble away from the green light that rushed from Lyra's horn, but Amber held her firm.
After the glow from the cast spell faded, Mayberry and Lyra beheld her work. Where Twiliht once was, a limp male stallion dangled from Amber's strong grasp.
"Yeah, you might want to fix this," Said Amber in a voice considerably lower than normal. "And soon."
Mayberry couldn't help but stare in awe. Her human self was hot as a dude! "Awww! Not fair! How come you're an absolute hunk as a dude instead of being….well me as a girl!"
Lyra blushed. "I might have added a few qualities to the XX to XY spell not normally there.
Silenced reigned for a short time before being toppled by Mayberry's newest and most hesitant question. "O-Kay….Why do you know such a spell?"
"Experimentation purposes!"
"You don't say."
"Not like that!"
"What does Bon-Bon think?"
"She's quite hap-No!"
Both Amber and Mayberry chuckled. At her own masculine laugh, Amber wordlessly pointed at Lyra's horn and then back to herself. Getting the hint, Lyra's horn flashed once more.
"Ah. Much better! Mirror please."
Another flash and a mirror appeared in Amber's hand. She gave the unicorn a nod of thanks and began her inspection. Face? Check. Nose? Check. Ears? Check. Eyes?..."Why are my eyes gold?"
Lyra's face flushed again. "No reason!"
"The spell resets your eye color?….so you cast that male spell on yourself?"
Lyra's horn simply flashed again. Gray-green eyes. Check.
"Right. Now that everything is in order and Lyra's kinky sex life has been examined (Hey!), we can get on to business. Twilight or should I say Dawnstar, are you there?"
The curled up form on the ground shivered. "Never again."
Amber leaned over to hear better. "Excuse me?"
"Never again!" the male voice of 'Dawnstar' said again. "We shall never speak of this again!"
The lavender unicorn stallion walked over to lyra and jabbed a large hoof into her chest. "The moment I find the way out, you change me back Lyra! I don't know why Amber pulled the magic inhibitors off you and Ms. Mayberry, but when I get back I want to be a mare again and this wretched thing off my horn!"
"Deal!" Lyra agreed with a carefree smile.
Still grumbling the stallion turned and stalked off up the hallway.
"Wow, what a grump!" Lyra exclaimed, wiping her brow with a hoof.
Mayberry nudged her with a hoof. "To be fair, you did turn her into a stallion against her will."
"I guess," Lyra deflated a bit. "Still did you see that length! Daayumn!"
"Lyra!"
"I mean the horn!"
"LYRA!"
"The one on her head!"
"Oh." Mayberry 's fur was unable to hid the blush now spreading across her cheeks.
"Yeah, but her penis was pretty big too."
Amber's palm promptly met her face. "Good lord, you two are horrid! I don't want the mental image of the penis of a mare who I've just flopping about in my mind! Just…ugh!" Amber shuddered. "Anyway, you might want to have that mare spell fired up for when she gets back."
***
After about ten minutes of waiting the sound of hooves galloping towards the intersection where the trio rested roused the two ponies and the human.
"Someponies coming!" said Lyra in a stage whisper. "they sound like they are in a hurry!"
"Is it Twilight?" whispered Amber.
"Unless she brought two friends, I doubt it. Listen!"
"Search the area! The prisoners escaped!"
The trio felt as if their stomachs had plummeted towards the planet's core.
"They know!"
"Think it was Twilight?" asked Mayberry
"Maybe. They couldn't logically keep her here against her will for too long. She's the former student and practically the surrogate daughter of Princess Celestia!"
"…..Who?"
"Oh right. You wouldn't know of her. One of the Diarch's of this realm and raiser of the Sun."
Amber opened her mouth to object, but Mayberry stepped in having had this conversation with Lyra multiple times. "She's a physical goddess, magic, and we've got incoming!"
With that curt explaination, three pegasi stallions in the armor of the Solar Royal Guard came thundering around the corner. The guards barely had time to even notice the very suspects they were looking for before a burst of green light flashed bowling the stallion in the middle over, sending him head of hooves into the wall.
The other two guards skidded to a stop. "Halt, criminal scum!" shouted Swordstorm, the youngest and most recent bearer of the most classic "I'm the new guy" name in the guard, his most authoritative voice. He was technically overstepping his authority but his superior didn't object oddly. Instead his light blue eyes bore into the magenta eyes of the largest of the two unicorns.
As the two eyed each other, the reckless guardspony screamed "For the Princess!" and charged valiantly into battle with the large creature. Amber answered his heroics with a roundhouse to the face landing her foot solidly with the side of his head. The heavy impact jarred Amber's leg and set the young recruit's armor to rattling as he crashed to the floor, joining his companion in unconciousness.
The last of the three, the officer broke off the staring contest with Mayberry to check his companions. Seeing that they were fine, he looked back up angrily. "You are all under arre-"
"I know you!" Mayberry blurted out, finally recognizing the eerily familiar stallion. The anger drained from the officer's face and his wings drooped from his sides as he recognized that voice and those eyes. "I see we meet again, Inspection Ninja," the dread creeping into his voice.
Eventually the group emerged from the underground labrynth into the daylight. When Amber, Lyra, and Mayberry looked back at the mountain that they stood in the shadow of, they could see the silvery spire piercing the heavens.
It hadn't been easy, getting the story from the guard, but piece-by-piece, the trio had bled him of the information they had wanted.
Apparently the second Princess who had been searching with Twilight for some criminal had felt the magical surge of the teleportation and had gathered a few guards to go and reclaim the unicorn. Upon entering The Princess had inadvertently run into 'Dawnstar' who was in the middle of questioning the mages. Easily recognizing Twilight, she had removed the spell and magic inhibitor after a few comments that had left the unicorn's cheeks aflame with embarrassment. From there, the guards fresh from Canterlot had split up to search for the escaped ponies and the "human."
Lyra had then thanked the guard for his help before Amber knocked him out with a well-placed hammerblow to the back of the skull.
"Man, my foot and my hands hurt! What are those guards made out of? Steel?" groused Amber as she massaged her hands. Lyra and Mayberry trotted along beside her.
"You did notice the last fellow was wearing a helmet before you dropped him, right?" asked Mayberry, her tone teasing.
The human frowned. "I guess that's true. Aches like hell." She looked around at the rocky slopes of the mountain. "We are way too exposed out here. If those bird-brained guards can fly we'll get caught in no time." A quick glance down the slope showed how close they were to the treeline. "Come on, if we can get to those trees we'll be fine."
"Lead the way!" piped Lyra as she pranced behind the human. "Coming May?"
"On my way." Came the answer as the tall mare slowly picked her way down the mountain. "Gah! Stupid hooves are not meant for this!"
***
After severable stumbles on Mayberry's part forced Amber to carry the mare down the slope, the trio finally made it to the tree line.
"So what now? We need a plan" Lyra as the group stopped underneath some evergreens to rest.
The unicorn promptly curled up next to Amber, who'd sat down with a thump with her back to one tree
"That seems to be the theme of the day doesn't it?"
Amber simply shrugged. "I dunno. The only one's that would know why I'm here are the jackasses back at the Pinnacle and they weren't exactly the most helpful bunch."
"What about the Princesses?" Lyra's question hung in the air. Both Mayberry and Amber looked thoughtful, though the green unicorn could feel the other mare's anxiety.
"I don't know," Amber said slowly, "I mean if they can help us get back that'd be freaking awesome, but at the same time will they actually help us? I mean, if an alien creature showed up and asked for help getting home in my world, they'd be strapped to a table and dissected like that!"
Mayberry's face strained. "Must….nitpick…..stupid….comment!" A hand reached out and batted her ears playfully.
"Quiet you." Amber scolded with a smirk on her face. "Anyway, it might be a good idea for at least one of us to go speak to them."
"If that's our plan, then why did we knock out the guards that were supposed to bring us to the Princesses?"
Amber and Mayberry stared at Lyra in silence.
"Uhhhhhh" Amber offered helpfully.
Mayberry offered a slightly different answer. "We want to meet them on our terms, not drug before them by the guards like some criminals."
Lyra smiled, clopping her front hooves together. "An excellent idea!" Her expression fell quickly though. "What about Twilight? She definitely does not like you for some reason."
"Perhaps I can be of some assistance there." A new voice rang out from behind the trio. As they turned and looked in shock, an old man, bedecked in worn blue robes and a battered wizard's cap perched atop his head, struggled to free his robes from the clutches of a bush.
Finally freeing himself, the old man strode up to Amber to offer his hand. "Greetings, fair lady! I...I….I appear to have forgotten my own blasted name."
Author's Note
Read my most recent blog for information as to what's happening for awhile.
Updated to fix some detail issues.
"I think it began with "M" mused the old man under his breath.
"Merasmus?" Chirped Lyra in a cheery voice.
"Was it Ming the Merciless? Magellan?" offered Mayberry.
Amber's hand met her face with a loud smack. "How about Merlin, you furry goof balls."
"Ah! Merlin! That was it! Thank you, my fair lady, for saving me from my own senility." The old man managed a decent bow, his old bones practically creaking as he did.
"Merlin?" Mayberry gasped. "You've got to be kidding me! You'd have to be over four hundred years old!"
The old man looked embarrassed, wringing his battered hat in his hands. "Tis actually closer to seven hundred. This land has a way of keeping elders about. I think it's something to do with the magical field around this world."
Amber shook her head. "Sorry, but I need a better explanation than that. There's got to be a better reason than just "magic"!"
A tap on her thigh brought her eyes down to the mint green unicorn grinning manically up at her.
Amber took the hint and sank back down to the ground. "This place makes no sense. First, I'm brought here by a magical napkin and then I'm imprisoned like some animal by animals for several weeks only to be jail busted by three freaking unicorns, one of which thinks she's me and suddenly, Merlin the wizard! I'm done."
With that she flopped onto her back. "Wake me up when the nurses are done with my padded room."
The others watched her tirade in stunned silence.
"Is the lady ill?" Asked the elderly man.
Mayberry looked thoughtful. "No, I think it just too much for her to handle. The world filled with intelligent ponies was probably pushing it. I think it was magic and having someone here that knew King Author that tore it."
The old man's eyes brightened up at that. "Ah! Young Arthur! How fares his kingdom?"
"Did you miss the part about it being seven hundred years? The time of King Arthur and his Knights has come and gone. Kinda sad that chivalry has replaced by politics." Mayberry broke off with a massive yawn. Stumbling down a mountainside in fear of getting caught had made her exhausted despite her human counterpart carrying her the rest of the way.
"Ha!" Merlin rasped out. "Don't give me that. It was politics that forced me to act." He chose a tree of his own to lean against. He moaned as his back creaked. "Don't worry about the guards. I've already put wards in place to protect this place."
Mayberry looked at him. "Ok, obvious question. Why are you here?"
The old mage's face turned sad and weary. "I came here seeking a solution, salvation for a dying world. Something that I've worked on tirelessly for years with nothing to show for it."
Mayberry watched Amber from the corner of her eye. From the way the mop of auburn hair had shifted, she was listening in.
"And this problem was…?"
Merlin's eyes grew sad. "The magical field around Terra was dying at an exceedingly fast rate. I did my best and tried to trace where it was going but I got caught up in the force that was draining magic from our world. I fell unconscious and awoke here."
In a flash Amber was sitting up. "Whoa, hold on a second. You're telling me that our world had magic too!?"
The old mage nodded. "Yes. And a powerful force it was."
Amber's eyes grew wide before growing suspicious. "But something from this world drew the magic away?"
"Yes." The old man grimaced. "Only once I was here and felt the magic growing stronger did I realize what was happening. I was furious, but the events in motion could only be slowed not stopped. I did my best to halt it, weaving spell after spell and brewing potions to enhance my strength so that I may hold back the tide of stolen magic. Alas, it was like trying to hold back the ocean."
Mayberry couldn't help but look hurt. "So this is why magic died in our world?" She asked.
At this the old man winced. "I knew it would be weakened considerably, but not completely stolen!" He went on to utter something under his breath, but Mayberry couldn't hear it.
Amber paced back and forth. Mayberry couldn't help but give her a weary look. She knew herself well enough to know that she only paced when extremely agitated. She could only hope her human half wouldn't decide to do something too drastic.
"Augh! Why is this so complicated?!" Amber grumped as she continued pacing. "Seriously, before I would have said magic was nothing but smoke and mirrors and whatever it is Penn and Teller do. But now I find out that magic is not only real, but that it got stolen?"
Mayberry interrupted her with an upheld hoof. Amber paused in her pacing as the mare turned back to Merlin. "Ok, here's the thousand dollar question: Who stole our magic and what can we do to reclaim it?"
The mage looked startled at the question before a smile slowly crept across his bearded face. "The thieves are none other than one of the Princesses of this world. Celestia. Just short of a thousand years ago, she apparently expanded her reach to other worlds, seeking the power to seal this world away from the dangers of the universe. From what I've heard, she did this after the banishment of the younger princess as a safeguard."
"Princess Celestia would never do that!" blurted out Lyra, her loyalty to the throne forcing her to speak. "She's not the kind of pony to just steal somepony's magic!"
"Maybe not somepony's magic, but someone's. " muttered Amber with a glower.
"Or more than likely she did it unknowingly." Said Merlin in an attempt to quell any arguments. "After all, this world and Terra are effectively mirrors of each other as I've learned."
Mayberry cocked her head. "What do you mean?"
The old mage gestured between her and Amber. "For example the link you two share."
"Like why she has MY memories?" Amber pressed. Mayberry couldn't help but give a huff at the emphasis.
"Exactly. For the most part, beings on this world have a mirror image here. My counterpart was one of the first ponies I met here."
"Most but not all? What happens if someone who doesn't have a mirror image comes here?"
Merlin's brow furrowed as he thought, one hand idly twisting the very end of his long white beard.
"I'm not sure. It's a very rare occurrence thanks to that infernal Veil of Celestia's. In your case, I believe the young mare here…"
"My name is Mayberry," the unicorn offered.
"Young Mayberry here may have been magically generated by the mirror effect upon your arrival and given a copy of your mind."
"What." Said Amber in a flat tone.
"Magic, deal with it." deadpanned Lyra.
Mayberry looked thoughtful. "I guess that works. I don't have any memory of a pony life before we came here."
"And it's impossible for even the most talented mages to create a thinking mind out of nothing." Said Merlin as he adjusted the rim of his hat so that it would shield his eyes from the sun.
Amber leaned over and poked the pale mare in the shoulder. "This is some pretty heavy stuff for you. Think you'll be ok?"
Mayberry nodded. "I think so. It'll probably take some time to soak in before I really freak out. Thanks."
The college student smiled. "No problem. After all, I always did want a pony."
"Really?!" squealed Lyra as she hopped up into the air between them.
"Augh! Personal space, Lyra! Out of the bubble!" Mayberry gave the smaller unicorn's flank a shove with her own.
"So what do we do now?" asked Lyra as she stumbled over onto Amber's lap, who promptly started petting her.
"We could ask Celestia's help in returning our magic." Amber asked. "Though I'm not sure how well she'll react to that request."
"Yeah, not too mention her student really didn't seem to like me. You heard her, she accused me of killing her mom!"
Merlin pushed his hat up with one gnarled finger, his eye locking on the mare's. "You may well have, miss. I can see the magic on your mind. You've been under a geas for quite some time now."
Author's Note
AN: Sorry for the long delay, folks, but life was not good to me for quite sometime. First up was jaw surgery and that killed any attempts at creativity for awhile. Then afterwards when I started writing a new story named Queen's Vengeance in an attempt to get back into writing, it took on a life of it's own. Now I'm writing this chapter short so I can put myself in a better position for writing. To make up for it, we have several new revelations and one new problem. Also don't fear the cliffhanger as the next chapter is already underway so it should be up next week.
Thanks again for your patience!
Well, questions are in and it’s about time I actually did some writing since Precalculus is no longer being a massive timesink. First up are the questions from the ever patient Fanfiction users, who were informed of this Q&A back in the very tail end of May.
Wolf Girl811
so the last update is gonna be like a mega chapter like all the other update are gonna look small to it kind of update? aww it gonna end already!?
Ans: Last question first. Not at this time, I actually two other stories, both on FimFiction (which haven’t been put on Fanfiction.net) that I want to finish first. If I do a sequel however, it will be considerably shorter.
As for the first two, actually that’s a no as well. After talking with two fellow author’s I realized that the size of a chapter big enough to wrap everything that’s happening up in a satisfactory manner would be gi-frigging-normous. So I’ll go back to my original plan of just trying to wrap everything up in the next few chapters.
Smoking Tacos (who warned me early on a chapter so large would be an immense undertaking)
“Is the main character based off of you? Will there be firearms used in the finale?”
Ans: No, Mayberry (and by extention, Amber) is actually based off a group of people that I’ve known over the years. The name Amber is actually the name of a very old friend of mine so I thought it was fitting.
As for firearms, as Equestria has never shown to have anything more than Pinkie’s Party Cannon, I’m leaving firearms out. Amber will have to find a way to get past the magic of unicorns using her head.
Now for the FimFiction users (who I only recently informed of the Q&A because I am derp)
Langly
“Only thing I'm wondering about is the magical races of earth. Did they all die out?
With the disappearance of magic, many of Terra’s (So called because the world of Gen 4 is also called Earth) magical species either went into an involuntary hibernation, the magic their own bodies emit helping them stay hidden. Others, however, either regressed and became something more adaptive or were eliminated by humans and other natural factors. Which of these groups that Terra’s unicorns and pegasi fall into, I have not yet decided though I‘m leaning towards hibernation.
As for ponies, they’ve always been ponies on Terra.
Randomfacts137 (who got me back to work on this with a poke. People, please feel free to do this as I will get distracted sometimes)
“Were there magical races on Terra?
As with the above question, yes there were magical races on Terra.
As for the Veil, part of her reasoning was Luna was possessed by something not from their world. A possession very similar to King Sombra’s (not the same entity), so Celestia erected the Veil to protect her world from outside forces like that ever again.
And the Mane 6 will appear. Princess Celestia hasn’t been idle while Twilight and Luna were away and has summoned the rest to help Twilight with her grief.
FinalFan
“Is magic really totally dead on Earth, or did it just get so weak that nobody could keep up the practice of doing magic and the dregs are lying forgotten or unnoticed?”
Magic for the most part, is gone on Terra. The only linger magic left is emitted by Terra’s hibernating magical creatures or buried deep in sites of worship that humanity no longer frequents.
….basically our planet has gone BYOM
That’s it for the Q&A, folks! Hope that helps clarify somethings and it did help me think of a few new ideas that will help out.
Before anyone could ask what a geas was, Merlin's hand glowed as arcane symbols came to life on the wizard's cloak. Moving swiftly for a man nearly eight hundred years old, Merlin closed the gap between him and Mayberry, grabbing her face with his glowing hand.
Lyra and Mayberry's human self had leapt up at the sudden movement but pulled back in surprise as similar symbols appeared on their friend's forehead, centered underneath her horn. With the appearance of these symbols, the mare's body started jerking and twitching as the old mage battled with the offending magic
Encouraged by his progress, Merlin pushed even harder, working with magic's innate elusive behavior to fray the spell. Without warning, the old man reeled back from a heavy blow to his stomach. As he tried to catch his breath and hold his own spell, he caught another blow, this one a quick jab to the ribs. Merlin glared at his assailant. Mayberry's eyes looked straight back him, a dead, lifeless quality to them.
"Let the mare go, Star! She's delivered what was needed!" he demanded as he feebly deflected another blow from the mare's forehoof. Sweat beaded on his brow as his mind tried to cope with the strain from the spell.
As the body wound up for another blow, a mint glow surrounded the offending limb. Nodding a desperate thanks to Lyra, Merlin pushed on. Suddenly all resistance stopped. One by one the geas defenses failed before it's main matrix shattered. Mayberry slumped to the ground, out cold.
Heaving a tired chuckle, the mage sank back as the ethereal shreds of magic disappeared into the aether. Before he could sit down, strong hands grabbed his cloak and hoisted him bodily back to his feet.
Amber glared at him as Lyra simply watched on in disbelief. "What the hell is your game, old man," Amber growled as she emphasized her words with a shake.
"Amber, what are you doing? Asked Lyra, her tone both confused and worried.
The woman's eyes didn't leave Merlin as she answered. "Don't you think it's a bit odd that a magical legend from my world is hanging around the headquarters of a bunch of magical eggheads? Especially after what he said about the magic from my world being stolen? Now on top of that we have mind control and someone named "Star""
Lyra tilted her head in thought. "Wait….you mean he's in league with them?!"
"Pretty much."
"Well of course I am! I never gave up on my quest to restore magic to Terra!" The mage grumbled as he struggled in Amber's grasp. "Milady, please! Release me and I shall explain!"
Setting the wizard down, Amber crossed her arms. "Ok, out with it."
Straightening his robes, he started.
"Back when I first came here, I tried my best to undo whatever was absorbing our magic. As I told you earlier I failed and Princess Celestia stole the last of our world's precious magic. I wandered this world for years, in an exile of my own making. There was only one course of action for me to take: I needed to bring the magic back.
I figured if I could study this world's magic enough, that I could find some way in the future to restore our magic to it's rightful world. Sadly, I needed information. So I, the Mighty Merlin, consul and mentor to King Author, was reduced to a magical thief. I'm sorry to say I used my abilities to obtain books, scrolls, and several artifacts to further my understanding of how the magic of this realm worked. It was these sadly necessary thefts that led to my chance encounter with my mirror self. He had followed a subtle tracking spell on one of his journals. By the time I noticed it, he was already knocking at my door.
Needless to say he wasn't pleased with me stealing his journals and spells and we had a bit of a battle. Upon it's conclusion I somehow managed to convince him of my cause. While he was rightflly very skeptical and slow to believe at first, he eventually relented. He was no fool and hadn't risen to his legendary status by being blind. He and several of his colleagues noticed the massive influx of magic.
I told him my intent to return the magic and I was gratified to see he was sympathetic to my cause. I can only guess he thought how terrible a world without magic would be."
"It's not that bad."
"Hush! Let him tell the story!"
"After this we worked tirelessly over the ages to find out just how that thief managed to perform such a feat. Imagine our surprise when some of our oldest text mentioned something called the Arcane Lexicon."
"How original."
"Shut up!"
"After learning about this ancient repository of magical knowledge we knew the source of the spell. If only we could get a hold of it ourselves, then we could tear down the Veil and release the magic back. Sadly, Celestia had secreted the Lexicon away, sealing it behind magical seals that she herself had crafted and guarded by her most elite guards, though most knew not what they guarded. To make this task even harder is an ingenius spell woven by Celestia herself. This particular defense used one's own magic and spells against them, unfortunate as most unicorns use their magic instinctually. A very special thief was needed, one without the magical skills to do so. And that is where I believe your friend came in."
Merlin sat back and caught his breath. Both pony and human stared at him with looks of shock on their faces, before a look of comprehension dawned on Lyra's face.
"That's why Mayberry didn't know magic! She was your inside agent!"
The old man nodded, his misshapen hat flopping as he did. "Yes. When that experimental teleportation spell accidentally brought milady here, it also caused this unicorn to be formed. I can only guess that my colleague and his associates saw an opportunity and placed a control geas on her then before teleporting her to Canterlot."
"And you are ok with this?" Amber asked archly. "I mean they just mind-controlled her into committing crimes. If what she's said is true, the guards have been hunting her this whole time!"
Merlin's face twisted into a grimace. "I cannot fathom why he thought a controlled pony would make a more effective thief. Nor why he would use one of the most forbidden schools of magic to do this."
His eyes locked onto Amber's. "I must see him. Despite his actions, we are much closer to achieving our goals now. Come. There is a back way into the Pinnacle. Tis the route I take whenever I visit him."
The young woman frowned, gesturing at her unicorn counterpart. "And what about what he did her? He can't get away with doing that to an innocent."
"Wait!" Mayberry shouted, her voice causing Merlin to stop in his tracks. "What was that you said earlier?
The wizard looked back at her. The recently risen unicorn leaned against Lyra for support. The tall mare's eyes had a haunted look in them.
"Before whoever that was took over, you said I might well have killed the purple unicorn's parents. Why? Why he make me do that?!"
The old mage bowed his head. "I do not know. It is but one more thing for him to answer for."
Mayberry looked to say more, her eyes becoming watery until a large hand put itself on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Amber. She never would have thought herself as being a somber person, but looking at her human self now, she found herself reconciling her personal image of herself as a goofball with the grim looking human.
"I'm fine." She lied, shrugging her shoulde to dislodge the hand. No such luck. The moment the hand was knocked off, Amber stooped down and picked up the protesting pony for a hug.
"No. You're not, May." Said Amber, her voice neutral. A small smirk lifted one corner if her mouth. "Don't lie to yourself."
"Besides we'll give this mean old Mr. Star a piece of our minds." Piped up Lyra from the ground.
Amber and even Merlin nodded their agreement. Mayberry couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks, guys. It's just…I know I didn't do it on my own, but if I hadn't been there maybe she'd still be alive."
"That's arguable." Merlin muttered as he looked for some sign of his usual path. Finding what he wanted, he continued in a louder tone.
"If the poor mare was killed, then she did something that must have endangered some project of Star's."
Taking a narrow rocky path, the group quickly left the tree cover behind leaving them exposed. Despite the wizard's earlier assurances that the Guard couldn't find them thanks to his magic, Mayberry and Amber kept a nervous eye on the sky.
Their caution didn't go unnoticed by their guide.
"We are quite safe as I said before." He said, not stopping. "Nopony can see us from above. We are quite safe."
Suddenly the group stopped as the shadows of the rocky mountain side slithered from the places to form a pool of pitch black on the ground.
"What of alicorns, mage?" Asked the Princess of the Night as she stepped out of the pool.
AN: A long ass wait followed by a cliffhanger. Sorry about that, mates! However with Luna in place, things can get rolling. By throwing Luna in there, all my old ideas that kept getting stuck are now officially out the wind! Now I'm just gonna fly by the seat of my pants!
Also I'll be replacing the laptop that all of D:E has been written on. It has served me well since 09, but now I need a new comrade!
Waking up has always been the lousiest part of the day for me. It marks the end of the time for dreams and adventures and the beginning of the day in which we must dispense with dreams and rejoin the rest of the world for a few hours. For me that morning it meant waking, glaring at the clock for a bit, and then rolling over and going back to sleep.
The clock wasn't having any of that and exactly 6:30 started blaring out music at that point. Rolling back over to address the cheeky machine I considered my options. Hit the sleep button or just backhand the thing into the wall like I had its predecessor. I chose Option C: Actually getting up.
After emerging from my comfy cocoon of blankets I staggered into the doorjamb and then into the bathroom, showered and brushed my teeth. Afterwards I got down to a very pressing issue: Breakfast. Being the thoroughly odd person I am I decided to go the "lazy" routine of riding my bike to the nearest McDonalds for a mcbiscuit as opposed to grabbing a bowl of cereal.
After a quick ride down the street to the nearby intersection, near which my destination was located, a few stoplights, and a quick one-finger salute to the genius that damn near flattened me while talking on his phone, I arrived at my destination. I went in and slapped down the money on the counter. Jose, a friend of mine quickly brought out my order without me saying anything. No need really considering I always get the same thing. It being so early, Jose came out and we shot the breeze for a bit. In actuality this meant he expounded on his life, how his girlfriend got him a new watch for his birthday the weekend before, and how much it sucked to be on the morning shift all the while never letting his sunny demeanor and ever present smile slip. Noone should have that much energy in the morning.
On my part I sat back stuffing my face with the occasional comment in the right place. Moments later I was back on my bike heading home where I fully intended to merge with the couch for a few hours before heading off to my classes at the nearby college. I never made my date with the sofa as fate had a different plan for me.
Destination Equestria Q&A
Destination Equestria Q&A
Sorry for the false start, but sadly this isn't the 22nd chapter though I truly can promise it's on it's way.
So you're probably wondering why I'm doing mentioning this in this manner. Mainly because that's really the only way it'd get noticed since my blog is a ghost town. First up I wanted to let the people who've stuck around that their patience is being rewarded for putting up with an author who updates spastically at best.
So yes, Chapter 22 is in the works and I originally intended it to be the end of the story, wrapping everything up in one go. However upon discussion with some fellow authors, I realize it would be stupid massive and would have a higher chance of being rushed.
So why this little update? I'm going to try doing something a fellow author did and go for a question/answer session. Multiple questions are allowed and can be about anything in the story provided it's not something spoilery. So after this, update I'll post the answers and then Ch 22.
The reason for the QA is basically to help rejuvenate the creative spirit in this story as I work on Ch 22.
So ask away and thank you once again for putting up with my late updates!
Also thanks to randomfacts137 for poking me about this. I have a horrid tendency to get off track. In this case it was made wore by a precalculus maymester . Freaking ow.
My apologies once again and please, feel free to plant a boot up my ass to get me in gear.
