Persona: The Harmony Arcana

by Xain Russell

First published 6th of August, 2013

A MLP:FiM and SMT: Persona Crossover ~~ Wayfarer has just moved to Ponyville, but his new life is having a tough time getting underway as strange dreams, powers, and creatures invade his life, and the lives of everypony around him.

Ponyville-- a mostly quiet, rural town in the heart of Equestria. Wayfarer has arrived here from Baltimare, seeking a new life under the watch of Princess Twilight Sparkle's almost completed castle. His new start is interrupted, however, when he and the Princess are attacked by strange creatures while inside the castle, only to be rescued by the reemergence of a forgotten power: Persona. As the town, and indeed all of Equestria, are thrown into turmoil, Wayfarer and his new friends must learn to harness this power and work together to face the Shadows as they spread across the country.

(Takes place during Season 4)

Chapter 1: The Fool

The clacking of a train pierces the night. Wheels turned in tandem, carrying the three car locomotive to it’s destination somewhere under the starry night sky. All around there was nothing but empty fields as far as the eye can see, the grass swaying in the slipstream of the passing engine, gleaming under the moonlight like waves in the ocean.

You opened your eyes to find yourself in the last car of the train, just before the caboose. The walls to your left and right are lined, not with windows, but with doors that give off a faint blue glow. Each door is unique in it's size and style, but every one of them has a heavy handle with a large lock on it. The back wall, where there would normally be a threshold to the next car, looks like the inner workings of a grandfather clock. A rather calm and practiced voice draws your attention to the center of the room.

“Oh my, it would seem we have a visitor!”

In the center is a satin couch curved around a table. Seated on the couch are three humans, all giving you a very welcoming stare.

“Welcome, to the Velvet Room.” Says the one in the center. He's dressed in a fine black suit and tie, his spindly hands adorned with clean white gloves. His eyes look as though they are attempting to escape from his head and shoot past his very long nose. Grey hair frays and twists uncontrollably around his bald head and behind his pointed ears.

“My name is Igor, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. These are my assistants; Agatha,” Igor gestures with a hand toward the woman to the right, dressed in a similar, yet azure coloured suit and tie with a matching cap covering her red hair. She nods to you with a faint smile and you notice her yellow eagle eyes.

Igor waves his other hand to the identically dressed man on the left. “And her Brother, Agero.” Agero, like his sister, simply nods in greeting. Igor then beckons you forward. “Please. Come join us why don’t you?”

You approach the empty table and take a seat across from Igor, who then brings forth a deck of cards from seemingly out of nowhere.

"This room exists on a different plane of existence then the one you hale from," Igor explains. "It is a world caught between dreams and reality. Mind and Matter. A world where, ordinarily, only those bound by a 'contract' may enter." A wide, and slightly unnerving smile cracks across his face.

"Tell me, do you believe in fortune telling?” He asks as he shuffles the deck in earnest. “It’s been so long since I’ve read the cards for someone such as yourself. It’s been mostly humans for the last thousand some odd years.” You watch as seven cards fly, all by themselves, from the top of the deck and land face down on the table. “So, to whom do I owe the pleasure of unveiling the future too?”

You see no harm in telling this strange man your name, so you give it to him.

“Hmm… I see.” Igor smiles and nods. He seems intent on engraving your name into his memory. Satisfied, he turns his attention to the cards. “Let’s take a look, shall we?” Igor snaps his right hand and one of the cards flips upright. “Hmm… the card foretelling the immediate future is The Wheel of Fortune in the inverted position.”

Igor looks at the card as if it had personally offended him. “It seems that a great change will soon occur in your life that will affect the world around you. However the event that causes this change will undoubtedly be… unpleasant, to say the least. You may feel helpless, confused, and at the mercy of forces outside of your control. You must remember though, that life is full of both ups and downs, and that if you make it through this change you may become stronger for it. And speaking of which, let us look to the future beyond.” Igor snaps again and another card flips over. “Temperance, in the upright position.”

Igor smiles up as he translates. “Like I said, there are both ups and downs in life. Beyond you and your world’s bout with misfortune, there are lights of hope that gather around you, seeking to help and guide you. These lights may be familiar to you, or they may be lights you’ve yet to encounter. It is imperative though that you remember to be patient. Harmony and friendship is within your grasp, but you must be open to them.” Igor chuckles at this. “And now we turn to the distant future. Where will these bonds take you I wonder?” For a third time, Igor snaps and a card turns over. “The Tower, in the inverted position.”

Igor looks very serious as he reads. “This card represents chaos and destruction, and in the inverted position it represents inevitability. It seems that there is something that you must face many moons from now. And no matter how many friendships you gain, you must face it alone.” Finished with the reading, Igor waves his hands over the table, the three cards flip back over, and all seven cards fly back into the deck.

Agero leans toward you and looks into your eyes. “If I may, you have a very interesting life ahead of you.” he says, speaking for the first time. “Igor has told us stories of others he has read the cards for, people who have visited the Velvet Room and left to change the world in spectacular ways. I hope that you will do the same.”

“And we will be there to aid you.” Agatha adds. “However, though we wish you the best of luck and desire nothing more than for you to succeed, we do expect something from you in exchange.” Agatha lays a book on the table, opening the cover to pull out a piece of paper. She then pulls a pen out of her pocket and places both objects in front of you.

“In exchange for helping you through the coming trials,” Igor starts. “We simply request that you take responsibility for all your choices and actions. By signing this contract, you agree to these terms, and you will be welcomed to the Velvet Room with open arms, any time you like.”

You look down at the paper in front of you, reading it over. There are only a few lines that inform you of your responsibility to your choices, with no other strings attached, in return for the services the Velvet Room offers. Your mind runs over Igor’s predictions as you reach for the pen. The coming misfortune, the growing of bonds with others, and the inevitable confrontation. You scrawl your name on the line at the bottom of the page.

“Wayfarer”

Agatha smiles and takes the page from you and slips it back into the book. Igor looks over you, as if measuring you up for the first time. He then closes his eyes and chuckles again. “You remind me of some young people I used to hold contracts with. So mature about taking responsibility.” You feel your eyes drooping a bit and Igor seems to take notice. “It would seem our time is up. We will discuss these matters further when next we meet.” You can’t keep your eyes open any longer and you fall backwards, a voice whispering above you as you continue to fall.

“Farewell.”

~~~

“Attention all passengers!” The Conductor, standing at the front of the train car, called out in a very loud and attention grabbing voice. “We will be arriving in Ponyville in approximately ten minutes! Please be sure you have all your personal belongings!” The Conductor then walked through the door behind him to the next car.

As ponies all around began to shift and reach for their bags stored above their heads or below their seats, Wayfarer looked out the window to the surrounding countryside. The train was traveling through a narrow valley between the Foal Mountains and Rambling Rock Ridge. The area was rather flat, yet dotted with many trees and the occasional farmhouse.

Wayfarer shook his head a bit, trying to shake off the lethargy of his nap. The trip had been long and tiring, but the destination was just minutes away. The idea of finally settling down in a quiet little town brought a small smile to his face, but not without some trace of sadness. Wayfarer had grown up in Baltimare, a city not known for its peace and quiet but was none the less a cultural center of Equestria. For as long as he could remember, it had been his home, but lately he'd felt a sense of wanderlust. Something in his blood commanded him to pull up the stakes and move away. The few friends he had were sad to see him go, but none of them were in a position to object to his decision. They'd grown so far apart in recent years, and Wayfarer felt that he had lost all connection to such a loud and confusing place. So, with nothing more than his saddle bags and a train ticket, he'd left Baltimare behind.

The sound of squealing brakes signaled the train's arrival, and soon it came to a stop at the Ponyville station. Strapping on his saddle bags, Wayfarer departed from the train along with several other ponies, who all dispersed as quickly as possible. Wayfarer looked around as he stood in the middle of the platform, hoping to find an information board or something that might tell him where he could bunk for the night. Out of the corner of his eye he spoted a map of Ponyville nearby, which didn’t really help, but it did point him in the direction of town hall. Thinking he might have better luck there he joined the other ponies and stepped out of the station, heading in the direction of the center of town as the train that brought him there whistled and prepared to depart.

The trip to town hall was brief, but it gave Wayfarer the sense that this was a very lively town, despite its size. He passed through what seemed to be a marketplace, filled with stalls that seemed to sell every fruit and vegetable under the sun. Still more stalls had trinkets and nicknacks for everyday life, some necessary, others merely curiosities. A lot of the ponies shopping around seemed quite content to waste the day away chatting amongst themselves and the venders. It was clear to Wayfarer that this was the type of town where everypony knew everypony else.

When he arrived at town hall, he found it to be rather empty, save for one lone mare at the front desk. He approached her and was greeted with the sound of a quill scratching its way across the page, which halted once he reached the desk as its wielder looked up with a friendly smile.

“Can I help you with something?” The mare said, straightening her glasses with a smile.

“Well,” Wayfarer started. “I was wondering if you could direct me in the direction of a motel or something? Or if anypony had any rooms for rent?”

The mare’s face scrunched up in concentration before she spun around to a filing cabinet and began digging through it.

“We don’t keep any records of anypony opening up their homes for travelers, and from what I can tell the one motel Ponyville has is being used to house the ponies working on the castle.” She looked up at Wayfarer as she pulled out a file. “You’re not with them, are you?”

“No, I’m just moving here from Baltimare.”

The mare nodded as she looked at the number written on the front of the file. “I’ll call the motel and see if there are any vacancies. Please have a seat over there.”

She pointed at a row of chairs not to far away and Wayfarer trotted over to them. He removed his saddle bags and tossed them on the seat next to him. He hadn’t brought much with him from his old life, not that he had a whole lot to begin with. All that he had was a sack of bits and a few necessities, such as a toothbrush and toothpaste, some nice clothes, a hair brush, just to name a few. The one thing he brought with him that wasn’t something he needed was an old deck of fortune telling cards that he’d had since... for a long time.

The door behind the front desk suddenly opened, drawing Wayfarer’s attention. A pony with a purple coat and dark purple hair trotted out of the room, followed by another pony who looked a lot older, with grey hair and a tannish coat.

“Thank you very much for your help Miss Mayor.” Said the purple pony. “I’m sorry to spring this on you the day before the festival, but it was sort of sprung on me as well.”

“Don’t think anything of it your highness.” said the tan mare as she bowed low. It was at this point that Wayfarer noticed the purple pony had both wings and a horn.

"An Alicorn!" Wayfarer thought with amazement.

The Alicorn gave a very embarrassed chuckle before waving a hoof at the Mayor “Please Mayor Scroll! You don’t have to call me ‘Your Highness’, just Twilight will do.”

“Oh, yes of course Your Hi- I mean, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled before turning and noticing Wayfarer looking over at them. Wayfarer tried to avert his eyes, he didn't want to seem rude for staring. Twilight walked over to him however and greeted him with a sincere level of enthusiasm. “Oh, Hello! Are you in town for the Starfall Festival?”

Wayfarer was only able to give a confused look before the mare behind the front desk interrupted. “I’m sorry sir, but it would seem the Fine Feathered Motel is booked for the whole week, you’ll have to ask around town to see if anypony else has open rooms.”

Wayfarer’s ears drooped a bit at this before he shrugged and grabbed his bags again. “Guess that’s that then” he said as he tightened the strap.

“Wait,” said the pony called Twilight. “There’s room in my library, you can stay there if you want.”

Wayfarer looked at her with a bit of surprise. This town really was friendly if its citizens were so willing to just invite strangers into their home out of the blue like this. “I, umm,” he mumbled for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking right at Twilight. “Thank you for your offer, I’d very much appreciate whatever room you can offer me. I’m Wayfarer.”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She reached forward and offered a hoof shake to Wayfarer, which he gladly returned. “Come on then, let’s get you settled in.” The two walked out of town hall and back into the sunlight, Wayfarer following Twilight as she led the way.

“So, are you here for the Festival?” Twilight asked, repeating her previous inquiry.

“No," Wayfarer said, shaking his head. "I’m actually moving here from Baltimare. I needed a place to stay while I got my self, you know, established.”

“Well I’m sure there are plenty of ponies here who would gladly offer you a job," Twilight smiled encouragingly. "And you can stay at the Library as long as you need to.”

“Thank you very much,” Wayfarer said, then hesitated for a moment, before deciding to add “Your Majesty.”

Twilight stopped in place, she turned to Wayfarer with a look of exhaustion, “Please, just Twilight will be fine.”

Wayfarer felt a little ashamed at himself, this was obviously a touchy subject for the mare so he nodded and acquiesced to her request. “Of course Twilight.”

Twilight smiled wearily and continued to lead Wayfarer to her library home. Wayfarer was surprised yet intrigued to find that the building had been made out of a rather large tree. It reminded him of an old fairy tale about a tree of knowledge. As they approached though, Wayfarer suddenly felt tired and his vision started to blur.

“Ugh!” he grunted as he shook his head back and forth.

Twilight looked at him with worry. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I think I’m just tired.” He shook his head a few more times, but the lethargy continued. He felt like something was pushing against the back of his head.

“I didn’t think the train ride from Baltimare would be that exhausting.” Twilight said as she pushed open the front door to let the two in. The spacious front room felt very warm and welcoming, helped by a fire crackling in the fire place across the room. In front of it sat a small purple and green figure reading from a book, and at the sound of the door opening it looked around at them.

“Hey Twilight! How’d your meeting with the Mayor... go....” he barely got the question out before he noticed that there was another pony with Twilight.

“It went very well Spike,” Twilight said. “Could you do me a favor and fix up a room for Wayfarer here? He’s going to stay here for a while while he gets settled into Ponyville.”

Spike raised an eye at this before shrugging and walking forward with an arm outstretched. “Wayfarer huh? I’m Spike, nice to meet you!”

“Umm, same here.” Wayfarer said as he placed his hoof in the creature’s claw, giving it a hearty shake before Spike ran off to some other area of the house. Wayfarer turned to Twilight before voicing his question “Was that a Dragon?”

“It was indeed.” She said with a smile as she walked over to the fireplace to pick up the book Spike had left behind. She turned it over and looked at the cover before shoving it back on one of the shelves. She then looked back to Wayfarer and asked, “Would you like some dinner before you catch a nap? It’s a little early but I know how unpleasant going to bed on an empty stomach can be.”

Wayfarer’s belly gurgled loudly at the mention of food. He placed a hoof over himself before looking back to Twilight, “That would be nice, thank you.”

The two trotted into the kitchen, Wayfarer leaving his bags behind in the front room, and started preparing a simple spaghetti dinner. Spike came in a few minutes later and lended a helping claw. Soon their meal was ready and they returned to the front room to eat. Wayfarer felt a little awkward about how quickly his hosts had welcomed him into their home, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he sat down and dug into his dinner.

“So what brings you to Ponyville?” Spike asked through a mouthful of noodles.

“Spike,” Twilight whispered, accosting the young dragon. “Manners.” Spike rolled his eyes and swallowed his food, still staring at Wayfarer.

“Well,” Wayfarer started. “I just felt like I needed a change of pace.”

“It’s quite a change of pace moving here from Baltimare.” Twilight said. “This is about as far from the big city as you can get short of Appleoosa or Dodge Junction.”

“Not like this is a quite town though,” Spike laughed. “Not with you here anyway’s Twi!”

Twilight blushed and looked away. “This town is known to draw in a bit of excitement, but I wouldn’t say it’s because of me.”

“I don’t mind some excitement,” Wayfarer said. “But Baltimare is just, obnoxious.” The three laughed a bit at this before settling down and staying quiet for a few moments, letting the merry crackle of the fire fill the silence before Spike piped up again.

“So are you excited about the Starfall Festival?" He asked. "There’s going to be hundreds of comets passing over! Twilight keeps checking her telescope every few hours to make sure it’s ready.”

“Only because I don’t want to find out that the lenses are .005 millimeters off when they start to fall.” The purple mare explained. “What if I miss the chance of studying the surface of McNeigh when it passes over?” Spike rolled his eyes and went back to shoveling large amounts of pasta into his mouth.

“I’ve actually never heard of the Starfall Festival,” Wayfarer admitted. “What is it?”

Spike stopped filling up his mouth and Twilight looked at their guest in shock. “You don’t know?” She asked. “It’s only the biggest parade of Comets ever! It only passes over once every ten years! But because of light pollution from the big cities, Ponyville is one of the few places in the country where you can still see it clearly!”

“Oh, wow!” Wayfarer said, his interest peaked. “When exactly does it start?”

“Well the Festival officially begins tonight, but the Comets could start flying over anywhere between tonight and a week from now. We won’t know until they get here.”

Wayfarer couldn’t help but get a little excited himself. If what Twilight said was true, then he’d be treated to something that would put last year's Horseshoe Bay Fireworks Show to shame. But when he opened his mouth to voice his excitement, all that came out was a very long yawn.

Twilight, giggled at this and offered to take Wayfarer’s now empty bowl. “I think you ought to go rest up now. Don’t worry, if the comets come tonight I’ll be sure to come and wake you up. You got his room ready, right Spike?”

“Yes ma’am!” The dragon said with an accompanying salute.

Wayfarer gave a very tired sigh and went to his saddle bag, pulling out a small sack that jingled with coins. Before he could give it over to Twilight, she shook her head at him.

“You don’t have to pay me rent,” she said with a smile. “I invited you here free of charge. Besides, what do I need money for?”

Wayfarer blinked as he remembered who he was dealing with “Right, royalty.” He thought as he pushed the bag of coins away, then picked up his saddle bags and walked toward the door Spike had passed through earlier. He turned around however when another question came up. “If you’re royalty, then why do you live here in Ponyville?”

Twilight smiled and said, “I may have grown up in Canterlot, but Ponyville is my home, I have friends and family here, I couldn’t just leave it behind.”

“Not like we won’t have our own bit of Canterlot right here in Ponyville in a few weeks!” Spike said, looking out the window.

“Even after the Castle is finished Spike,” Twilight said “It might still be awhile before we can move in.” She then looked around the library with a sad look about her. “I’m going to miss this Tree.” she continued to look around before she caught Wayfarer’s eyes. “Oh, sorry, the room is down the hall, second on the right.”

Wayfarer nodded and left the two to themselves. Once he was in his room, he dropped his saddle bags next to a tiny bed and then immediately collapsed onto it, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to him.

~~~~~

Wayfarer found himself laying on top of a grassy hill in the dead of night, the stars twinkling above him as the wind rustled the grass around him. Sitting up, he looked all around himself, but everywhere he looked there was nothing but a sea of green.

“So, you’ve arrived...”

Wayfarer turned to see a cloaked figure standing behind him. The figure walked forward, not revealing their face from beneath the cloak’s hood. Cautiously, Wayfarer backed away from the figure, who then halted their approach.

“You don’t seem to remember me. That’s fine, you will in time.”

The figure sat down, silently watching Wayfarer in the darkness. Wayfarer soon began to allow his eyes to stray from the figure, looking again to the vast fields surrounding them.

“You seem lost. Don’t fret, we all get a little lost sometimes. Even you, the Fool, The Traveler, The Beginning. But finding your way is often just a matter of picking a path and following it.”

As the figure spoke, the grass beneath them began to fade away, revealing a path that stretched far into the distance in either direction.

“But which way should you go? What if you go the wrong way?”

The figure chuckles as Wayfarer continues to look at it in confusion.

“I’m sure if you stay here long enough, someone might come this way to point you in the right direction.”

Wayfarer’s eyes felt heavy. he couldn’t help but feel a peculiar sense of Deja Vu.

“Until that time, sleep. I’m sure your guide will come soon. Take care, my little pony.”

~~~

*TAP TAP TAP*

“Hey, you awake yet?”

Wayfarer’s eyes pried themselves open, the morning sun streaming in and nearly blinding him. He groaned and sat up in bed, his silver mane falling haphazardly over his eyes. “Y-yeah Twilight, I’m awake.” He grumbled as he rubbed the sand out of his eyes.

“Alright, breakfast is ready whenever you are.” the sound of hoof steps signaled her departure.

Tossing the sheets away, Wayfarer rolled out of bed and opened up his saddle bags. He didn’t have a closet in this small room, so he hung his button up shirt over the foot of the bed for now, then he placed the deck of cards and sack of bits on the bedside table, leaving the rest in the saddle bags on the floor. As he began to walk out he looked back to his button up, deciding that if he was going to go job searching today, he might as well make a good impression.

Wayfarer walked into the kitchen as clean cut as possible. His hair was still a mess, but he usually let it fall however it pleased anyway. Twilight looked over to him when he walked in, a little surprised to see him wearing something more formal than what ponies usually wore around Ponyville.

“And where are you off to in that getup?” She asked as Spike lifted a plate stacked high with pancakes onto the table.

“Is it too much?” Wayfarer asked, looking around at himself.

“Not at all," Twilight shook her head, then went for the flapjacks with a fork. "It’s just that even our most fashionable ponies in Ponyville will often forgo wearing anything.”

“I just want to make a good first impression when I apply for a job,” Wayfarer explained.

“Quick to the punch are we?" Twilight chuckled. "Maybe I can help you find a job that would interest you.”

“Don’t you have another meeting with the builders today, Twilight?” Spike asked, sliding five flapjacks onto his own plate.

“Oh shoot that’s right!” Twilight said, groaning a bit. “Sorry Wayfarer, looks like you’re on your own for today.”

“I can show him around.” Spike volunteered.

“Oh Spike, I couldn’t ask you to do that," Twilight said, looking worried at the prospect of depriving the dragon of something. "I thought you wanted to see the castle too?”

“Uhh, Twilight," Spike said, raising an eye. "I’ve seen it once a week for the last four months. Not like a whole lot has changed. Besides, how is he supposed to know what he wants to do if he doesn’t know what there IS to do?”

Twilight bit her lip, trying to decide what to do. “Alright Spike, you can give him the grand tour. Bring him by Sugar Cube Corner around lunch, we’ll let Pinkie Pie blow off some steam.”

“You sure that’s a good idea Twi?” Spike asked, suddenly looking a bit worried himself.

“We made Pinkie Pie promise not to throw any welcome to Ponyville parties for any of the ponies who come to work on the castle, or the one’s that arrive this week for the Starfall Festival." Twilight grimaced and rolled her eyes as a thought came to her. "She’s probably suffering from Party withdrawal at this point.”

“Yeah she did look a little twitchy when I saw her the other day," Spike added, the worry on his face becoming clearer.

“Umm, what are you two talking about?” Wayfarer asked, fearing the two were planning something.

Twilight waved her hoof absentmindedly. “It’s just one of our friends, she likes to throw parties. A lot. Usually it’s Birthday’s, Cutecineras, or ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ Parties.”

“That’s... interesting,” Wayfarer said, not sure how he felt about a party being thrown for him by complete strangers.

“Don’t worry, Pinkie Pie’s harmless..." Twilight smiled, but quickly turned to try and hide her discomfort. "Most of the time.”

Wayfarer sat down and the three ate their fill. Twilight left almost immediately after they were done, leaving Wayfarer and Spike to clean up before heading out.

“So where to first, Mr. Tour Guide?” Wayfarer said as Spike locked up the Library.

“Well, what are you good at?" Spike asked inquisitively. "Your cutie mark doesn’t really say much about what your special talent is.”

“Honestly." Wayfarer tossed a glance at his gold and azure Compass cutie mark before turning back to Spike. "I’m not too sure about it myself. I do know I’m good with my hooves.”

“Yeah, you must be if you could get those clothes on without a horn. Hey, that gives me an idea!” Spike started walking away from the library, beckoning Wayfarer to follow. “We can try Rarity’s boutique first!”

The two started towards the south edge of Ponyville in relative silence, save for the few moments of small talk.

“The comets didn’t come last night,” Spike said looking around at the sky. “Twilight would have been up all night waiting if Luna didn’t send a message saying she’ll let her know when the comets would arrive.”

“I’m actually thankful for that," Wayfarer said. "I didn’t really have a good night’s sleep.”

“Bad dreams?” Spike asked.

“No, just..." Wayfarer didn't really know how to describe what he'd seen last night, it didn't exactly make a lot of sense to him. "Odd.”

The two finally arrived at a highly decorated building that looked like it belonged in one of the more sophisticated Equestrian cities. The sign on the front door said it was closed, but Spike started rapping on it anyway when they reached it.

“I’m not quite ready to open yet!” Came a voice from inside. “Please come back in about half an hour and I’ll be ready to dazzle you with whatever garments you need!”

“Rarity, it’s Spike.”

After a brief moment of silence, the door opened wide dramatically to reveal a white unicorn with an elaborate purple mane. “Oh, good morning Spike! Do come in!” She then turned up to see Wayfarer. At first she looked at him in surprise, but then smiled as she looked him over. “And who, might I ask, is this?”

“I’m Wayfarer, I just moved here.”

“Pleasure to meet you Wayfarer, I’m Rarity, and if you’re looking for some new apparel, then you’ve come to the right place." Rarity then stepped slowly around Wayfarer, appraising the clothing he was already wearing. "Though I must say you already seem to have very nice attire.”

“Thank you," Wayfarer said, happy that his choice to wear something nice had impressed at least one pony. "But I’m actually here to inquire about any job openings you may have?”

“Is that so?” Rarity said as she raised a hoof to her chin, contemplating the stallion before her. “Well I usually do all the work here myself, and if I do ever require help it’s usually Spike who I call on.” Out of the corner of his eye, Wayfarer could tell that Spike was blushing deeply as he looked up at Rarity. “I usually only work with dresses as well,” Rarity continued. “So I don’t know how much help you could offer me. Do you have any experience as a tailor?”

“None at all, I’m afraid," Wayfarer admitted.

Despite this, Rarity smiled at Wayfarer. “I’m sure there’s somepony in this town that you could work for, but I’m afraid that I don’t have a place for you here. You look like a strong and healthy young stallion, why don’t you try the Apple Orchard to the west? They may not appreciate your fashion sense as much as I do, Darling, but a very good friend of mine works there and I think she could use the help, even if she won’t admit it.”

“That sounds like a plan," Wayfarer said. "Thanks.”

“You sure you don’t need any help today, Rarity?” Spike asked, barely containing any of his obvious infatuation.

Rarity turned to Spike, giving a slight pout as she berated him. “Spike, you weren’t thinking of ditching this fine Gentleman here just to come and help me, were you?”

“Oh, n-no! Of course not!" Spike looked flustered as he turned away, cheeks red with embarrassment. "I just, umm... I’ll be going now, c’mon Wayfarer.”

Rarity chuckled as Spike began to jog lightly away, she then nodded to Wayfarer. “Do feel free to come by whenever you need something Darling, just because I mostly make dresses doesn’t mean I can’t whip up a nice suit or something.”

“Thank you Miss Rarity," Wayfarer said with a nod. "It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Pleasure was all mine my dear. And welcome to Ponyville!” With that, Rarity went back into her shop and Wayfarer turned to catch up with Spike.

~~~~~

“Sorry Spike.” Said the orange pony with a cowboy hat. “Fraid Ah don’t have any work for yer friend here.”

“You sure about that Applejack?” Spike asked incredulously.

“Now Ah know what you’re thinking,” The farm pony said as she walked over to a nearby tree. “Ahm not so stubborn as to forget Applebuck Season. I AM going to need help with that, specially with Granny Smith the way she is, but that’s not til after Summer, so it’s a long ways off.” She turned around and bucked at the tree, knocking a fair number of apples into the surrounding buckets. “Sorry Mr. Wayfarer, but if you’re hankering for work, you’re gonna have to look elsewhere.”

“I understand Miss Applejack.” Wayfarer said as he stared at the now filled buckets.

Applejack rolled her eyes as she walked over to another tree. “Ah don’t need any of that ‘Miss’ nonsense. Just ‘Applejack’ will do fine.”

“Oh, right. Will do.”

She chuckled as she bucked the next tree. “Well nice meet'n you. Take care Spike.”

“See you around AJ!” Spike said as he and Wayfarer turned and walked off the orchard.

“Where to next?” Wayfarer asked, trying to hide a bit of disappointment.

“uhhmm...hehe." Spike chuckled ashamedly. "‘Quills and Sofas’?”

~~~~~

“Thank you for your time Mister Breezy” Wayfarer sighed as he walked out of yet another store. He and Spike must have visited almost a dozen places that morning, looking for someone who might be hiring. Now the two were once again walking down a crowded street, heads hung low in defeat. “Well at least I’ve got a pretty good idea of the town’s layout now.” Wayfarer said as he looked around at all the stalls selling food. His stomach grumbled slightly at the sight of a carrot stand.

“Guess we ought to head over to Sugarcube Corner then.” Spike said as his stomach began to growl as well.

After a few more minutes of walking the two found themselves in front of what looked like a life size gingerbread house. As they approached the entrance, Twilight came around the corner, levitating several scrolls around her and reading them very intently. Somehow she managed not to run into anything or anyone, and even seemed to notice Spike and Wayfarer without even looking up.

“Hello you two,” she said as she lifted up a quill and scratched something out. “You have any luck finding a job, Wayfarer?”

“Not even volunteer work.” He said simply, shaking his head slightly.

“Don’t get too discouraged,” she said, shoving several scrolls into her saddle bags. “Even if you can’t find one now, one’s bound to show up sooner or later.”

“Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Wayfare said dejectedly as he pushed on the sweet store’s door.

A cheery bell jingle announced their entrance, and the scent of pastries and other confections greeted them as they walked into a small front area. A few tables were placed off to the side, with a few patrons already present and enjoying their afternoon treats. A counter showing off fresh baked goods sat directly across from the door, everything from cupcakes to pies to cookies were on display and making Wayfarer's mouth water slightly. Behind the counter was a blue mare with a swirling pink mane, wearing an apron.

“Welcome!” she said as the three walked up to her. “How can I help you today?”

“We’re looking for Pinkie Pie, Mrs. Cake.” Twilight said as Wayfarer and Spike began to eye the edible arrangements in earnest. “Is she around? We have a surprise for her.”

“I’m afraid not Deary." Mrs. Cake said. "She bounced out of here this morning, saying something about the tips of her ears itching.”

“Oh boy,” Twilight moaned. “Wonder what that one means.”

“One what means?” Wayfarer asked, pulling his attention away from a particularly scrumptious looking cheese cake.

“Oh nothing," Twilight said with an exasperated sigh. "Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

“Umm, okay...” Wayfarer looked around once again and then decided to ask, just for the heck of it. “Mrs. Cake?”

“Yes Deary?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any job openings, would you?”

“Oh, I’m afraid not. Me and my husband run this business ourselves and we don’t normally let anyone help us with the baking. Pinkie Pie being the exception of course.”

“I see.” Wayfarer let out a sigh before adding. “Could I get a lemon danish please?”

“Of course you can Deary.”

~~~~~

With a small lunch in hoof, the three left Sugar Cube Corner. The danish helped relieve Wayfarer of some of his disappointment, but he was starting to wonder if moving here was the right idea.

“So where do you think Pinkie went Twilight?” Spike asked.

“I have a hunch,” Twilight responded as she pulled out one of the scrolls again. “I just hope she hasn’t made too big of a mess of the place.”

“Is it just me?” Wayfarer asked through a mouthful of danish as he looked around at the now empty streets. “Or does it seem awfully quiet around here now?”

Spike and Twilight shared a look with each other at that. Twilight shoved the scroll back in her bags and picked up her pace a bit as Spike smirked at her.

“How many ponies do you think she invited over?” Spike asked her.

“Oh no,” Twilight mumbled to herself as she went from walking to a light jog. “Oh no oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Wayfarer asked as they neared the library.

“I can’t leave that Library unguarded when we move out Spike!” Twilight said almost hysterically. “Who knows what might happen to it?”

“Twilight! Relax!” Spike said, trying to get the alicorn to compose herself. “Breath in. Breath out. Remember?”

“Not now Spike! I have to make sure my books are safe!”

“Twilight!” Spike yelled as he stepped in front of her, stopping her just before the Library’s front door. “Would Pinkie really let something bad happen to your things just for the sake of a party?”

“What are you two going on about?” Wayfarer said as he walked past them and put a hoof on the door. Slowly it began to creak open, and Twilight’s eyes went wide in horror.

“WAYFARER NO!”

As the door swung open, Wayfarer found himself in the grasp of several hooves as they dragged him inside, surrounding him in a mob of what must have been dozens of ponies. Before he could even respond to this invasion of his personal space, he was pushed out into a clearing in the crowd, right in front of a large table stocked with party favours. Above the table was a large banner that said “Welcome to Ponyville!” And directly behind the table was a small blue cannon pointed up and over the crowd.

“What... What is all this?” Wayfarer asked, absolutely baffled by the sudden sensory overload.

Wayfarer’s confusion only intensified when the cannon exploded, showering the whole room with confetti and releasing a pink blur that landed right in front of Wayfarer and transformed into a smiling, curly maned pony who launched right into a song.

"Welcome welcome welcome

A fine welcome to you!

Welcome welcome welcome I say how do you do?

Welcome welcome welcome

I say hip hip hurray

Welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville today!"

With her song over, the cannon once again shot confetti over a now cheering crowd. The cannon pony then pushed Wayfarer over to the table where a large cake awaited him. “Hope you like lemon!” She said, ignoring the look of complete dumbfoundedness on Wayfarer’s face “Oh who am I kidding? Of course you like Lemon! You’ve got it all over your face silly! I mean who would have a lemon danish and not like lemon? That’d be like me eating a Chimmicherrychanga when I didn’t like cherries! But I DO like cherries! especially with a milkshake when they’re covered in whip cream!”

“I...I...” Wayfarer stuttered as the abruptness of it all took away his capacity for speech.

“OOH! I think I’ve rendered him speechless!" The pink menace said. "That’s okay! My parties do that sometimes! You’ll be able to talk again after some cake. Want a big slice or a small one? I’d go for a big slice personally.”

“PINKIE!” Twilight yelled as she struggled through the crowd to the table.

“Hi Twilight! Thanks for letting me throw a surprise party for your new house mate!”

“How did you even know about that?!” Twilight said with no small amount of frustration.

“Pfft, duh! Left eye twitch, achey shoulder, itchy ears!" Pinkie accentuated each of these random body spasms with a live demonstration. "That means Twilight’s going to let me throw a party for some random stallion that she let stay at her library until he can find a job and get his own place!”

Twilight stared at the pink pony with a look of disgruntled surprise. She sighed and just shook her head. The crowd had stopped looking towards the table and had moved to mingling with each other. Some of them would move to the table to procure some refreshments or try to say hello to Wayfarer. But Wayfarer’s attention was on the crazy pink creature in front of him. He felt incredibly uncomfortable in this situation, and he only had one word to say to this pony.

“Why?”

“Why did I throw you a super ginormous party to welcome you to Ponyville?” Wayfarer simply nodded, and she answered with yet another tangent. “Because my Pinkie Sense told me that Twilight was going to let me throw a party for some random stallion that she let stay at her library, and I knew that if you were some random stallion then she probably only just met you. And if she only just met you then you were probably new here! And I always throw parties for any new pony who moves here because if they’re new, then they haven’t met anyone yet, and if they haven’t met anyone yet, then that must mean they don’t have any friends here, and that’s no good! So I throw a big party with a whole bunch of ponies for them to meet and make friends with! Speaking of which, Hi I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”

Wayfarer was almost overwhelmed by this somewhat annoyingly long introduction. He felt like yelling, or at the very least running somewhere that wasn’t so crowded. He was about to do both before a large slice of cake was shoved under his nose. Pinkie Pie looked up expectantly at him, he reluctantly picked up a fork and took a bite of the cake. Immediately, everything seemed to calm down. He took a deep breath and looked at the mare in front of him, who for the first time seemed content to let someone else talk.

“My name is Wayfarer. I’m from Baltimare.”

Pinkie smiled at him, then put the plate down. “See! Told you your voice would come back after some cake!”

“Pinkie.” Twilight said, seemingly calmed down as well. “Why didn’t you ask me before you decided to hold a surprise party for him? I was bringing him by Sugarcube Corner so that you could do just that!”

“But it wouldn’t be a surprise for him though! It’d be one for me!” Pinkie then noticed Twilight’s irritation. “Oh okay. I promise to ask you first before throwing surprise parties in the library. Cross my heart and hope to fly! Stick a cupcake in my eye.” she accompanied this odd promise with a hoof gesture across her chest and then covering up her eye.

Wayfarer, a lot more at ease now that the initial shock had passed, picked up the rest of his cake and started to dig into it. As he did, several more ponies came up to greet him, including Rarity and Applejack. Applejack was accompanied by a small yellow filly who looked ecstatic to be there.

“Howdy Wayfarer!” the farm pony said to him as she approached. “Any luck with that job hunt?”

“No, unfortunately.” He took another bite of cake “But I’m sure something will come up, sooner or later.”

“How bout if something came up now?” The mare smiled as she turned to the little filly next to her. “This here is my little sister, Apple Bloom. I just picked her up from school and I thought we’d come join the party.”

“Is she going to offer me a job?” Wayfarer asked, smiling down at Apple Bloom as she smiled right back at him.

“Heh heh, nope. But her teacher sure will! Miss Cheerilee is looking for a helping hoof at the school house. She asked me about it, but Ahm too busy with the farm to do that sort of thing. But then Ah thought about you and told her there was a smartly dressed stallion from the big city looking for a job and he might be interested.”

“A teachers assistant?” Wayfarer asked. “But I don’t have a teaching degree. I’ve never taught anypony anything.”

“I think it’s more of a janitorial job then a teaching job," Applejack clarified. "She’s been taking care of that place all by herself for the longest time, and I think she just wants more time devoted to her students.”

‘Finally a lucky break!’ Wayfarer thought to himself, but his smile must have conveyed the thought to Applejack because she smiled right back.

“You might want to go by early tomorrow, Ah think she'd probably want to meet you first before you get the job, seeing as you’re new here and all.”

“That doesn’t seem to have bothered anypony in this town at all to be honest.”

“Yeah, we’re a mighty friendly lot in case you haven’t heard.” She tipped her hat and left with Apple Bloom in tow.

The party continued on for several hours, during which Wayfarer was introduced by Pinkie Pie to nearly everypony in the room. He tried to remember all the names he was told and match them with a face, but it was nearly impossible, especially when he could have sworn there were identical twins scattered amongst the crowd. It also didn't help that he would start up conversations with a few of the guests, but then he was quickly shoved onward by Pinkie, who seemed determined to make sure Wayfarer had as many friends as possible.

Eventually however, a familiar lethargy began to creep up his back. He felt tired from all the walking around and talking he’d done today and really just felt like taking a nap.

“Umm, Pinkie Pie?” Wayfarer tried to say as the pink party pony lead him over to two pegasi in the corner.

“Wayfarer, these are two of my bestest friends in the whole world! Rainbow Dash,” The rainbow maned pegasus just smirked and nodded. “And Fluttershy!” The one with the pink weeping willow hair bowed her head and muttered something that sounded like a hello.

“Pleasure to meet you both.” Wayfarer said as he tried to blink away the tiredness in his eyes. This seemed to catch Fluttershy’s attention as she looked at him with a slight degree of worry.

“Um, are you okay mister Wayfarer?” she asked a little louder than her greeting.

“Heh, I think Pinkie’s partying is too much for him. Too bad.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Don’t worry,” Wayfarer said as he shook his head around “I’m just tired is all.”

“Oh, well, Pinkie?” Fluttershy said, turning to Wayfarer’s captor. “Maybe you should let him go take a nap, or something?”

“Aww, but there are so many more ponies that he needs to meet!”

“I’m not going anywhere Pinkie” Wayfarer said, putting a hoof to his head. “I can meet them some other time.”

“But you’re going to take a nap! I’d say that’s going somewhere!”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said as Wayfarer shook his head roughly. “You look more than just tired, are you sick or something?”

“I... I might be..." Wayfarer couldn’t take much more of this. He felt like he was going to collapse at any moment. "I’m going to bed now...”

“But Farey!” Pinkie moaned. “This is your party!”

Wayfarer was too tired to be annoyed by the nickname Pinkie had just given him. He just shook his head and turned to walk out of the room. He was about half way there when he ran into Twilight and Spike.

“Going to bed?” Twilight asked.

“Y-yeah, I feel like-” Before he could finish, Spike let out a huge belch and a small jet of green fire. Wayfarer flinched at the sudden spark but his expression quickly turned to confusion when the flame consolidated itself into a small scroll.

Twilight took the scroll in her magic and unfurled it. After reading it over she smiled and yelled out over the audience. “Hey everypony! I just got a letter from Princess Luna! She says that the comets will start to fly over tomorrow night!”

There was a large amount of cheering going on when this announcement was made, but Wayfarer didn’t join in. He slowly trotted out and down the hallway to his room. He almost didn’t make it to the bed before he fell unconscious and he was taken away by his dreams.

~~~~~

Wayfarer once again found himself in the grassy fields, waiting on the dirt path. The hooded figure was nowhere to be seen, but there was another figure walking down the path towards him. The figure seemed familiar, but Wayfarer couldn’t tell who it was.

Suddenly, a voice seemed to wring out from the figure, not as a yell, but as a calm and collected voice that seemed to reverberate across the distance between them.

“I am thou... Thou art I...”

~~~~~

Wayfarer’s eyes snapped open. By the looks of the light coming through the window, it was early morning. He didn’t even hear any birds singing or anything. He looked at the clock and, sure enough, it was half past four in the morning. He sighed as his hooves hit the floor, he’d fallen asleep in the one nice outfit he had and he was going to go ask this teacher named Cheerilee for a job. For a moment he thought about going to Rarity’s boutique to see if he could borrow an iron or something to try and fix his disheveled look, but that went out the window with how early it was. She wouldn’t be open, let alone awake.

“Maybe Twilight knows how to fix this.” he mumbled as he took off the button up and overcoat. As he set the garments on his bed he noticed the stack of Tarot Cards he’d left on the bedside table. Chuckling to himself, he decided to check his fortune.

Wayfarer didn’t put much stock into fortune telling, he just found the practice to be good for a laugh or an interesting talking point. As he laid out the cards on the floor though he couldn’t help but get a weird sense of deja vu. He then turned over three of the cards to reveal the Inverted Wheel of Fortune, the Upright Temperance, and the Inverted Tower.

Wayfarer suddenly had a flash of a room that seemed to glow blue, with he and three others there with him. He clutched at his head as the image faded away. Quickly he regained his composure and put the cards away. His breathing was heavy as he stared out the window towards the horizon as the sun’s rays began to peak over the trees and mountains. His mind twisted and turned, trying to comprehend what was going on. The strange dreams, the headaches, now flashes of other places? He shook his head a few times and looked back to the window sill, where a little blue butterfly had perched itself.

Wayfarer sighed as he looked at the creature. “Wish I could be as carefree as you little guy.” With that he walked to the bathroom and prepared himself for the day.

~~~~~

“Why’d we have to be up so early again?” Spike moaned as he walked alongside Wayfarer.

“Because I need to meet with Cheerilee before the school day starts.”

“And I had to come because?”

“I still don’t know my way around quite yet.”

“Fine, whatever.”

After Wayfarer had gotten freshened up, he’d found Twilight up and about as well. Thankfully she’d been able to sort out his wardrobe... somewhat. He’d still have to visit Rarity later, maybe have a second outfit made. After a bit of breakfast, Twilight woke up Spike to have him show Wayfarer the way to the schoolhouse, much to the dragon’s irritation, and now the two were traveling down the well worn path out of the main hub of Ponyville. As the two turned a corner, The schoolhouse came into view, the sun just barely peeking over the side.

“Looks like nopony is here quite yet.” Wayfarer said as he and Spike stopped at the end of the fence bordering the road and school’s playground.

“Then you should have just let me sleep in.” Spike yawned, leaning against the fence.

“We can’t be that early, can we?” Wayfarer looked around, hoping to see somepony walking around. “Let’s knock and see if they’re inside.”

Wayfarer trotted up to the front door with Spike dragging his legs behind him. Wayfarer rapped on the door a few times then stopped to listen for any hoof steps on the other side. After a few moments of silence, he knocked once more, just to be sure, and almost immediately there came the sound of frantic shuffling and the rush of hooves towards the door. Wayfarer and Spike took a few steps back before the door swung open and revealed a very disoriented looking fuchsia mare, who starred at the two with wide eyed shock and worry.

“What time is it?” She muttered, as if afraid of the answer.

“About half past Six,” Wayfarer said as he looked over the disheveled mare. “Umm, are you Miss Cheerilee?”

“Half past Six,” she said under her breath. “I’ve got an hour to get ready before my students arrive. Oh I must look like a mess!” She looked to Wayfarer as if she’d only just noticed him. “I-I’m sorry, can I help you?”

“Actually, I was told by the guardian of one of your students that YOU needed help.”

“Wh-What are you... Oh right, the notice I sent out yesterday.” She sighed and turned back into her School house, Wayfarer and Spike following behind. “I am Miss Cheerilee, yes. And are you the new arrival everypony’s been talking about? Sorry I couldn’t come meet you at Pinkie Pie’s party yesterday, but as you can see,” she gestured to her desk, which was stacked high with papers and books. “I’ve been rather busy.”

“That’s not a problem. I’m Wayfarer.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Wayfarer.” Cheerilee said as she raised a hoof to shake his, which Wayfarer responded in kind with. “Now, I’d planned to give a full interview with anypony who came to follow up on my request for help, but we’re a little short on time, and I desperately need someone's help right now.” She began to rummage around her desk, looking for something. “If you can handle what I give for you today, short notice, then consider yourself hired.”

“Just tell me what needs done.” Wayfarer said, his voice brimming with confidence.

Cheerilee simply smiled at that as she took out a blank sheet of paper and a quill and began scribbling on it.

“Luckily, everything needed for today is already here.” She said as she scribbled away. “But I still need to run home and make myself presentable to my students, as well as pick up my lunch and eat at least SOMETHING for breakfast. Oh, I wonder if Applejack has opened up her apple cart yet? In the meantime,” she hoofed over a completed list to Wayfarer “If you and Spike could get started on this list?”

“Hey, why me?” Spike said, still looking slightly tired.

“Because I’d like to have somepony here I know to watch him for me. Sorry Wayfarer, but I really expected somepony I actually know to take this job.”

“I understand.” Wayfarer said, nodding to her as he looked at the first few tasks on the list. “That’s the broom cupboard over there right?”

Forty-five minutes later, Cheerilee came back through the front door, looking slightly out of breath, but a lot more focussed and organized. A large paper bag hung from her mouth as she looked over the job Wayfarer and Spike had done.

The floor had been swept of debris from the previous day, and all the foal sized desks had been straightened and lined up in neat rows. Her front desk had also been cleared, most of the paper set in baskets for her to organize herself when she got a chance and the books dispersed to all the students desks. The chalkboard was cleaned, the pencil holders around the room resupplied from the stock in the storeroom, and all unneeded books placed back on their proper shelves in alphabetical order.

Cheerilee was actually surprised the two had managed to do most of what she had assigned them before she got back, and she walked over to the two as they cleaned the windows, setting her lunch on her desk.

“Colour me impressed,” she said, catching the two’s attention.

“Don’t be too impressed,” Wayfarer said, nodding over to Spike “He did as much work as I did.”

Cheerilee looked between the two and smiled. “Honesty. I like that. You’re hired, Wayfarer.”

Wayfarer couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief at that. “Thank You Miss Cheerilee.”

“Just Cheerilee will do nicely.”

“I seem to be getting a lot of that lately.”

“Can I go now?” Spike said impatiently as he set down a bottle of window cleaner.

“Of course you can Spike. Thank you very much, and give my regards to Twilight.”

Spike grumbled something about sleep before he walked out of the front door. Wayfarer picked up the window cleaner and went back to the windows while Cheerilee went to the stacks of paper, sifting through them and pulling out what she needed.

“My students will be arriving shortly,” Cheerilee said as Wayfarer finished and placed all the cleaning supplies back in the broom cupboard. “Sh-Should I introduce you to them? Just so they know who you are?”

“Umm, I think so?”

It did seem prudent that Wayfarer introduce himself, especially since Cheerilee had apparently never had somepony to help around the schoolhouse like this before. But Wayfarer didn’t have much experience with children and he wondered how they would react to him. He was honestly expecting to be so far behind the scenes that they wouldn’t even notice him.

His thought’s were cut short when the front door opened and an orange filly with a red mane walked in with a very light yellow and orange maned one. Both of which seemed to be talking animatedly before they walked in and saw Wayfarer.

“Good Morning Firelock and Ginger Snap!” Cheerilee said in an almost sing song voice.

“Morning Miss Cheerilee.” The two said as they took their seats, still staring at Wayfarer.

Several more foals began to walk in, until the class was filled with almost twenty fillies and colts, including Applejack’s little sister Apple Bloom. they all seemed to start gossiping about Wayfarer, speaking in hushed tones to each other while they waited for everypony else to be seated.

“Alright my little ponies!” Cheerilee said to the class, immediately silencing them. “I’d like you all to meet Mister Wayfarer. He’s going to be helping out around the school house. He’s also new to Ponyville, so why don’t we all give him a big Ponyville Hello!”

Wayfarer seriously doubted that these tykes could give him the same sort of hello that Pinkie Pie did, but he smiled all the same when they all chimed together “Hello Mister Wayfarer!”

Wayfarer nodded his head a little and returned the greeting to them. He was a little surprised though when one filly’s hoof shot up.

“Where are you from?” She asked in a genuinely curious voice.

“Oh, umm, Baltimare.”

“What’s it like there?” A colt in the back asked.

“Loud and crowded.”

“What’s your Cutie Mark symbolize?” A little white unicorn asked.

“Ummm...”

“Did you have a special somepony in Baltimare?” asked an orange Pegasus next to Apple Bloom. All Wayfarer could do is look shocked at that question as Cheerilee decided to cut short her students inevitable bombardment of personal inquiries.

“Alright, that’s enough.” she said calmly. “Mister Wayfarer has work to do, so let’s let him get to it!” She handed Wayfarer another list that had him cleaning up the basement, and he walked out, letting a few polite farewells follow him.

~~~~~

The rest of the day passed without issue. After cleaning out the basement, which had a working printing press and typewriters that needed maintaining, he found himself outside. He cleaned the other side of the windows while the fillies and colts ran outside to play, some of them rushing over to ask if he’d join them. He almost said no, but Cheerilee walked over and said it was fine, which ended with him kicking Hoof balls for the foals to try and catch until Cheerilee called them back in for afternoon classes.

After a few more hours working out on the grounds instead of inside, the school bell rang, signaling the end of classes. A herd of foals charged out the door as Wayfarer was putting the finishing touches on a bush that was long overdue for a trim. Some, mainly the group that he played hoofball with, waved good bye to him, and as the last of them galloped away he put away the trimmers and walked back inside to find Cheerilee getting started on grading papers she’d been handed that day.

She looked up at the sound of Wayfarer’s hoof steps and gave him a big grin.

“Thank you so much,” she said as he went over to the broom cupboard to grab a broom and make one final sweep of the classroom, which somehow had gotten just as dirty as it was when he and Spike had got there. “I’ll go and make sure you’re placed on the school payroll as soon as I’m done here, which thanks to you won’t be all that long!”

“Glad to have helped.” Wayfarer finished up his cleaning duties and, after making sure there was nothing else he could do to help her, left Cheerilee’s company to head back into town.

The whole village seemed to have exploded since that morning, as it looked like a regular fairground in town square as he walked through. All the decorations had a star theme to them, and there were more than a few ponies who had their telescopes out and ready for tonight. Wayfarer decided to go straight back to the library, but as he started to walk down the road to Twilight’s place, he was accosted by a familiar Pink somepony, who decided to greet him by tackling him to the ground.

“Hey there Farey!” Pinkie Pie said as Wayfarer lay on his back. “Isn’t this all so exciting! I mean I’ve always like fireworks but how often do you get to see the sky make its own fireworks?!”

“With you around Pinkie, I don’t think it's that rare.” Wayfarer moaned as he got back onto his hooves, shaking the stars out of his eyes. “And please don’t call me Farey.”

“Why not? I thought it was a great nickname!”

“It really isn’t," Wayfarer said, doing his best not to scowl.

“You’re no fun sometimes, you know that?”

“Is there a reason why you had to tackle me like that? or was it just to give me a headache?”

“It wasn’t supposed to give you a headache at all! It was supposed to make you feel liked and part of my circle of friends! Speaking of which, we’re all over at Sugarcube Corner right now enjoying starbit cupcakes and Twilight thought you’d be getting done with work by now so she sent me to go find you since I’m really good at finding ponies in a crowd like this!”

“Well, I don’t feel like eating sweets right now," Wayfarer grumbled. "I was going to go back to the tree house and-”

“Why would you go there? Spike and Twilight are at Sugarcube Corner like I told you silly!”

Wayfarer sighed, resigned to his fate as he started to walk in the direction of the sweet shop.

As soon as the two arrived, Pinkie hopped over to the table with all her friends, proudly saying over and over how she found Wayfarer. He felt rather embarrassed to be dragged here by the hyperactive pony, but he sat down amongst the group and joined in conversation.

“So Wayfarer,” Rarity spoke up. “How was your first day on the job?”

“It was fine,” he said simply, but decided to go into a bit more detail when Rarity gave him a look that told him to go on. “Me and Spike got there and cleaned out the classroom while Cheerilee went to run some errands before the day started. Then she introduced me to her students, I went and cleaned some more. Her students wanted me to play with them at recess, and then... that’s pretty much it.”

Rarity nodded to herself and took a cupcake from the plate at the center of the table. “I hope my sister didn’t cause you any trouble at all, did she?”

“Sister?”

“Oh, she’s a little white unicorn with a curled periwinkle mane. Probably sat near Apple Bloom?”

“Oh yeah, she was one of the the foals that tried to barrage me with questions when I introduced myself. I think she asked me what my Cutie Mark meant.”

Rarity sighed to herself and looked at the ceiling. “Of course Sweetie Belle would ask that.”

“Where are the Rowdy Rough Girls anyway?” Pinkie Pie asked. “They’re missing out on free cupcakes!”

“Probably trying to figure out the telescope I gave them.” Twilight said. “I offered to show them but Scootaloo said they’d figure it out themselves.”

“Speak’n of telescopes and star gaze’n,” Applejack said “Where were you planning to set up yours for tonight? That old hill top we usually use?”

“Actually,” Twilight said, getting really excited “I was thinking about using the south tower on the castle.”

“Up that ludicrously high stairway?” Rarity scoffed.

“You expect us to carry that huge telescope to the top of that thing?” Rainbow Dash said, almost as indignantly as Rarity.

Twilight blushed a bit and lowered her head “N-no! Not that one! Just one of the smaller ones.”

Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes at that. “What’s wrong with the hill Twilight? It’s not like the comets are going to look that much closer.”

“Alright, fine!” Twilight said giving into her friend’s arguments. “I’ll just go up there with Spike later tonight by ourselves.”

“Me?” Spike said, picking his head up from the table. “Ughh, fine. Can I go get a head start on all the sleep I’m going to miss?”

“Um, isn’t that what you’ve been doing?” Fluttershy asked. Everypony started to laugh save for Spike, who just looked annoyed, and Fluttershy, who looked slightly confused.

“Alright Spike,” Twilight said. “Go get your rest, I’ll wake you up before we leave.”

“I’ll go with him,” Wayfarer said as Spike got up. “I feel like doing some reading if you don’t mind.”

Pinkie Pie looked a little disappointed at that but Twilight waved the two off and they made their exit.

“You really going to read, or were you just trying to get away from all of them?” Spike asked.

“I said I was going to read.” Wayfarer said simply.

~~~~~

The sun had started to set when Twilight finally came home. Wayfarer had found a book about the comets they’d be seeing tonight and was sitting near the fireplace with it. Twilight nodded at him before she started to trot up the stairs.

“Spike!” She called “I’m back! Let’s go!”

Wayfarer made to put the book back on the shelf he’d found it on, but he thought it would be something good to have so he placed it in the two cart wagon Twilight and Spike had prepared for tonight. The first cart had been filled with baskets of snack food, a half dozen books that probably went into a lot more detail about comets then the one Wayfarer had, several small telescopes, and behind in the second cart was one more rather large telescope. Spike trudged down the stairs, still looking a bit tired, and Twilight followed behind with a few more books from her own room.

“Ready to go?” she asked as Spike went to grab the wagon’s handle and start pulling it out the door.

“Yep.” Wayfarer said as he got behind the wagon and helped move what must have been a heavy load for such a little dragon.

The trip over to the designated hill wasn’t that bad, even when they started going up the incline. As they neared the top, they saw groups of ponies had already spread themselves all around, some with telescopes, some with snacks, very few if any with actual books. When they reached the top they were greeted by the rest of Twilight’s friends and three little fillies, Apple Bloom, and who Wayfarer guessed to be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

“Hey everypony.” Twilight said as she and Spike began to unpack, tossing glimpses at the sky every now and then. “Has it started yet?”

“Nope.” Applejack said, tossing her gaze up as well. “Saw a couple of fall’n stars and what not, but no comets.”

Twilight hurried to get her telescopes out and set up, checking their alignments one last time, before the first signs of the celestial bodies in question appeared. At first they thought it was another falling star, but then it started getting bigger and brighter. Everypony started to ooh and ahh as the first comet, Pathfinder, stretched it’s dusty tail across the night sky. Twilight almost turned into Pinkie Pie as she latched her eye to the telescope and started spouting a continuous stream of facts about this particular space rock. A few minutes later, a second, shorter comet appeared, then another, and another, until the sky looked like a group of Pegasi were dragging aurora borealis over their heads.

“It’s beautiful!” Rarity cooed when Twilight finally stopped trying to carefully examine every single comet that appeared. “Oh I’ve just GOT to try incorporating this into my new design!”

“Golly.” Was all Applejack could say as she pulled off her hat.

Eventually the entire hill went completely silent as everypony became mystified by the site above them. The spell, however, was broken almost two hours later when the sound of three little snoring ponies drew their attention. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo seemed to have fallen asleep standing up. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash laughed a bit at this before deciding it was time for the six of them to go home. Fluttershy mentioned that she ought to check on her animals before she went to bed and started to walk away as well with a very sleepy sounding good bye. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Spike, and Wayfarer were the only one’s left, until Spike too fell face forward to the ground, fast asleep.

“Oh, Spike.” Twilight said, shaking her head. “I guess seeing the comets from the tower can wait till tomorrow.” She started to pick up the little dragon when Pinkie Pie hopped up to her.

“Why don’t you just have Wayfarer help you with your comet study thing?” Pinkie suggested.

Twilight froze and lifted a hoof to her chin thoughtfully.

“I can take Spikey home for you!” Pinkie Pie continued as she picked up Spike and placed him on her back. “Don’t worry your pretty princess head about him!”

Twilight turned to Wayfarer and asked, almost with pleading eyes. “Is that alright with you?”

“Of course,” Wayfarer said as he made to start cleaning up the remaining snacks and books.

Twilight gathered up all the materials in her magic and placed them back in the wagon before separating the two carts and giving the first one to Pinkie Pie while she and Wayfarer took the second one with the big telescope.

“Take care of him Pinkie,” Twilight said as Pinkie started to hop down the hill, somehow without disturbing Spike “We’ll be back in an hour or two.”

With that, Wayfarer and Twilight headed toward the mountain side where Twilight’s castle was being built. Wayfarer didn’t really know how he’d missed the structure, but Twilight told him that she didn’t want it to overshadow Ponyville, so she had commissioned it to be inconspicuous by blending in with the mountains.

The light from the comets seemed to set the whole castle on fire as they approached it. Though it didn’t look nearly as big as Canterlot, Wayfarer could see that it was just as grand and regal. Surrounding the castle was a three story wall that was already being patrolled by a battalion of guards, even though the castle itself was still uninhabited.

“Halt!” One of the guards shouted from the front gate as Twilight and Wayfarer approached. “Who goes there!”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” She said, drawing herself up to her fullest height, which wasn’t even as tall as Wayfarer, let alone the guards. “And her friend, Wayfarer. We’re here to observe the sky from the highest tower.

The guard looked from Twilight to Wayfarer, examining him for a moment before nodding slightly. “OPEN THE GATE!” he yelled over the wall.

After a moment, the portcullis began to slide upwards, and the Guard ponies bowed their Princess through. The castle grounds didn’t exactly match the splendor of the castle, but Wayfarer guessed that landscaping was one of the last things on the to do list. Entering the castle proper, Wayfarer found the numerous tapestries and intricate marble carvings much more interesting. Twilight led the way, shining a light from her horn, through the corridors and up flights of stairs. The wagon had to be lifted with Twilight’s magic, which she didn’t mind. Soon they were ascending a long spiral staircase, every now and again the windows would reveal their progress. Eventually they arrived at the top of the tallest tower, and all of the surrounding valley was revealed to them.

“Whoa...” Was all Wayfarer could manage as he looked over the town and country side, the comets lighting up the world like Hearths Warming Eve.

Twilight didn’t even bother looking at the scenery and just went to work setting up her telescope again. She made a few adjustments before turning to Wayfarer.

“Do you like it?” she asked, catching his attention.

“I love it.” He said as he turned to face her. “I’ve never been up this high before.”

Twilight simply smiled and nodded before turning to her saddlebags and pulling out a notebook and quill. She stuck her eye onto the telescope and began to observe one of the comets, every now and then she looked to her notebook and scribbled something down. Wayfarer started to get uncomfortable after a while and he started to wonder why she’d brought him up here if she could handle the note taking herself. He sighed and returned to looking out over Ponyville, watching as one by one the street lamps and windows went dark.

“There they go,” Twilight said after a while.

Wayfarer looked up and saw the sky was mostly clear of comets by now. “Is that it?” he asked as the lights descended across the horizon.

“No, they’ll come back around a few more times before they leave for another ten years.”

Wayfarer looked around and realized just how dark it had gotten. With no light from the comets, the town, or even Twilight’s horn, the top of the tower was almost pitch black.

“I guess it’s a new moon out tonight.” Twilight said as she noticed the darkness as well and casted her gaze about for the moon. Not spotting it, she relit her horn. “Don’t worry, we’ve still got this. We can find our way through the castle again no problem.”

Something started to stir beneath their hooves. The castle seemed to be shaking, and the tremors were growing in intensity.

“What... What’s happening?” Twilight cried as the rumble of the earth reached their ears. “An earthquake?!”

Wayfarer looked to the town and saw that lights were starting to come back on, meaning the townsfolk were feeling it too. Twilight grabbed hold of her precious telescope, trying to keep it steady, and Wayfarer rushed to help her, only to have the tremors set him off balance and toss him to the floor. As soon as it had started however, it ended. The quiet stillness returned. Wayfarer looked up and around before locking eyes with Twilight.

“Are you alright?” she asked, releasing her telescope.

Wayfarer nodded, standing back up and looking around. The town seemed to return to life again.

“M-Maybe we ought to head home now.” Twilight said as she moved to pack her telescope away.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” Came a defining shout as three figures shot over the precipice of the tower.

“GHAA!!” Twilight yelled as the shout startled her. “Captain Precision Strike?”

“Are you hurt Your Majesty?!” a guard pegasus wearing ornate armor asked as he and the other two landed on the tower. “We felt the Earth begin to move and feared for your safety!”

“I’m fine Captain. Please return to your post.” Twilight said flatly.

“But Your Majesty!” The guard’s face filled with worry, obvious even in the dark. “I must insist we escort you out of the castle!”

“I am FINE Captain!” Twilight shouted. “PLEASE return to your post!”

The guards looked at each other before the captain sighed. “At once Your Highness.” and with that, the captain and his troops departed.

“tch!” Twilight spat as the three flew away. “Why can’t they just leave me alone? I don’t need their protection everywhere I go!” She went back to her telescope before sighing and turning away. “It’ll be fine here till tomorrow. Let’s go.”

The two began to descend back down the staircase, Wayfarer following behind while Twilight set a very brisk pace.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Twilight said as their hoof steps echoed around them. “I just... wish things hadn't changed so much.”

They reached the bottom of the steps and began to navigate the corridors again. Wayfarer looked around, trying to find something to say to Twilight, but the purple shaded walls didn’t give him any idea of how to comfort her... wait....

“Twilight.” Wayfarer said suddenly. “Turn off your horn.”

Twilight spun around to look at Wayfarer with a confused look. She did as Wayfarer said and just continued to stare at him. “What?” she asked as she looked around the softly lit hall. “Why did you want me to turn off my.... light...” She spun around again, noticing now that the castle was full of an eerie purple glow. “How is that possible?!” she said in a panicked voice.

Wayfarer felt a chill go up his spine and spun around to look at the corners of the room. Something seemed to be moving around in the shadows. “Twilight," he said. "I think something’s in here with us.”

“No, that can’t be right. Everypony who works here leaves before sunset! And the guards patrol the halls twice before they shut the gates!”

The shadows continued to stir, until Wayfarer realized that the spots of darkness were actually growing and stretching towards them. Wayfarer was about to suggest they run when all of a sudden his head seemed to explode with pain.

“Aughh!!” He cried as the shadows reached closer.

“Wayfarer!” Twilight then saw how the shadows were behaving and began to tug on her companion. “Let’s go!”

But Wayfarer couldn’t move, he was in too much pain. It felt as if something was trying to burst from his skull.

Then he heard it. The Voice from his dream.

“I am thou. Thou art I.”

“Wayfarer come on!”

The shadows began to rise from the floor, forming into grotesque blobs of some opaque substance. Masks seemed to be the only solid feature on them as they rose up, hands forming and reaching out from their bodies.

“The time has cometh. Open thine eyes, and call forth what is within!”

“Wayfarer!!” Twilight moved forward to try and defend him. She began to pool magic into her horn as the creatures approached, then she unleashed it upon the leader. It seemed to work as a hole was carved out of the blob, but then the hole immediately filled in, leaving Twilight stunned.

Wayfarer blinked once, then felt something fall out of his shirt. He looked down to see what looked like one of his tarot cards. Gently he picked it up and turned it over. It was blank. Twilight began to huddle close to Wayfarer as the creatures surrounded them, tears in her eyes as she began to yell for somepony to come and help them.

“P... Per...” Wayfarer mumbled to himself, staring at the card.

Twilight looked to him with fear in her eyes. “Wayfarer?”

Wayfarer began to look up, a smile forming on his face as the card began to glow.

“Persona”

A bright light erupted around the two. The shadowy beasts recoiling a bit before a massive spear impaled the creature Twilight had blasted. The monster faded into a cloud of red, the rest backing away as the light faded to reveal a bipedal creature hunched protectively over Wayfarer and Twilight.

“W-What?” Twilight stuttered, looking up at their savior. “What is that?”

The figure rose to its full height, pulling its spear out of the ground and spinning it around before taking a battle stance, eyeing the remaining creatures. Its face was covered by a mask adorned with feathers and intricate carvings, its arms and legs were thin, metallic looking and ending in feet and hands that looked segmented. It was adorned with a yellow garment that went down to its ankles only on one side, and it carried a pack on its back that seemed to be close to bursting. Underneath the pack, Twilight caught glimpses of a tail that seemed to be that of a scorpion’s.

Twilight looked over to Wayfarer, who was wearing a confident smirk as he eyed the monsters, as if daring them to come closer. Eventually they did, and the figure was quick to eradicate anything that tried to come near the two beneath it. Its spear swinging this way and that, swatting or stabbing at the creatures. One got lucky and pounced on the figure’s shoulder, clawing at it. The attack seemed to transfer to Wayfarer, who brought a hoof to his corresponding shoulder in pain, before the figure ripped the monster from him and drop kicked it across the room. Wayfarer recovered quickly and looked to the last remaining creatures, staring at them intently as the figure moved to face them.

“Ekchuah!” Wayfarer shouted as the figure waved its arm in the direction of the creatures, sending a gust of wind at them that seemed to slice right through them.

The creatures disintegrated and left Twilight, Wayfarer, and the figure that saved them alone in a quiet corridor. Twilight continued to stare as the figure began to disappear in a beam of light, Wayfarer staring at it with a look of admiration.

“What is that thing.” She asked once again, a little softer as she tried to recover from what had just happened.

Wayfarer simply stared into the light as it finally faded away. Looking down he muttered that word to himself again.

“Persona.”

After a moment of silence, Twilight picked herself up and walked over to Wayfarer. She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head side to side. “Did you... summon that thing?” she asked. Wayfarer looked over to Twilight, feeling slightly warm as he nodded to her. Twilight looked around, searching for anymore of those creatures. “Are they gone?”

“I don’t know.” Wayfarer said, his smile fading as he too started to look around.

“Well I’m not waiting to find out. Let’s get out of here!”

The two made tracks out of the castle, leaving through the front door and out into the grounds. But before they could make it to the gates, Wayfarer’s lethargy caught up to him again. He stopped half way there, Twilight doing the same when she noticed something was wrong.

“Wayfarer?”

“S-Sorry, I feel a little...” He couldn’t finish that sentence before he collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.

Author's Notes:

Oh boy. Here we go. First Fanfiction ever.

I was more then a little nervous when I decided I wanted to do this, if only because anyone who's played the Persona games knows just how long they can get. That and I don't have an editor.

Which brings me to a favour I'd like to ask of you all who read this: Don't be soft on your critiques. I want you to tell me of any mistakes I make, so that I can 1. fix them, and 2. learn from them.

I don't know when the next chapter will come, as this one took three rewrites over the summer to finally get to the point that I was happy with, and I'm starting school again soon, as well as job hunting. I'll try to keep you up to date, but given my past record with something like this, expect a hiatus or two... hundred... before I'm finally done with this thing.

[edit 9/23/13] Spaced out the paragraphs to make it easier on the eyes

Chapter 2: The Wheel of Fortune

You feel the floor vibrating beneath you, the gentle clacking and whir of metal gears moving at high speeds ringing in your ears. As you open your eyes, you find yourself once more on the train car with Igor, Agatha, and Agero. They look to you with smiles on their faces as Igor beckons you forward.

“Welcome, to the Velvet Room.” the long nosed man says as you walk forward to take your seat. “Do not be alarmed, you are fast asleep in your own world, where your ordeals have caused you to become weary. I have called you here from your dreams, but rest assured, you are safe.”

“Congratulations.” Agatha exclaims. “You have awakened to your power, and as promised, we will now explain to you our role in your journey. First however, we’d like you to have this.”

A small point of light appears above the table and descends. By the time it touches the surface of the table, it has turned into a small silver key.

“This, is the Contractor's Key,” Igor explains “And it will allow you to return here, to the Velvet Room, at your own discretion.”

“From this point on,” Agatha says, “you are officially our guest here in the Velvet Room. We exist here for the purpose of insuring that you reach your greatest potential, by helping you, our guest, foster control over your new powers.”

“The power we speak of,” Agero says. “Is that of Persona. And your Persona, is that of the Wildcard. It’s ability is like that of no other. Just like the number zero, it is empty, yet filled with infinite potential.”

“The Persona,” Igor continued. “Is a side of you that you may call forth in times of need. Think of it as a mask that you wear as a sign of your determination to face the various difficulties of your life. Persona is the ability to control one’s own heart, and the heart is strengthened through bonds with others. These bonds must be nurtured by becoming involved with the lives of those around you, developing your Social Links with them. And it is the power of these Social Links shall determine your Persona’s abilities.”

You still feel a bit confused by all this, but Igor simply smiles at you and nods knowingly.

“I can see that this is a lot to take in.” He says as you once again feel yourself being pulled away. “When you form a bond with someone, you will know. And when you do, return here, and we shall further explain to you this power you’ve been granted.”

Wayfarer blinked several times as he attempted to ascertain his whereabouts. He remembered the fight in the castle, and making it out into the courtyard, but beyond that was a blank. He sat up and found that he had somehow made it back to his bed in Twilight’s house. He turned his head to look out the window and guessed it must have been early in the morning. Tossing the covers off himself, Wayfarer slipped out of bed and went to the door, only to find it locked from the outside. He knocked a few times, yelling for Twilight to come let him out, and after a few minutes he heard the rattle of keys and the clunk of a lock.

The door opened to reveal Twilight, looking very tired and worn out. “Sorry Wayfarer.”

“What was that about?” Wayfarer asked as he looked from her to the door handle and back.

Twilight fidgeted a bit before answering. “I umm... Last night, after I teleported us back here when you collapsed, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia about what happened. She wrote back saying we needed to stay put and not tell anypony about what happened.”

Wayfarer raised an eye at that and just continued to stare at her. That didn't answer his question about the locked door on his room, and judging by her nervous aversion to looking in his eye, the reason was not something she was proud of.

Twilight looked a little worried as she added, “She also said she’d be arriving this morning after she checked the castle.” She then started to pace back and forth in the hallway, mumbling to herself. “Oh what if those monsters got her! Why didn’t she want me to tell anyone that I was attacked?” She turned to Wayfarer with confused eyes. “Why did she tell me to keep you from going anywhere?”

That got Wayfarer's attention. He could understand staying put until someone could explain the situation, but locking him up? As for Twilight's other muttered questions, he couldn’t say anything, because the same questions were going through his head. ‘What WAS all that last night?’

A knock came at the door and Twilight rushed away to answer it, Wayfarer following behind her at a slower trot. Twilight almost tore the door off its hinges in her rush, which would have made her flush even more as Princess Celestia walked through the threshold. Wayfarer gulped when he saw her, this was the closest he'd ever been to the Solar Matriarch. He'd only ever seen her at a distance when she passed through Baltimare for the annual Summer Sun Celebration, or the odd casual visit to the city. He'd known she was beautiful, no pony in their right mind could claim otherwise, but standing in the same room with her had an almost overwhelming effect on him. Her presence, her stature, the mass of magical energy that even he could feel as she entered, he could barely restrain himself from dipping into a bow and was slightly appalled with himself that he did.

However, as the door closed, leaving several guards and curious onlookers outside, her radiance seemed to dull dramatically. Wayfarer could still see her as his Princess, but he no longer felt compelled to simply drop to the floor before her.

“Twilight.” the white alicorn said simply.

“Princess Celestia, what’s going on?”

Celestia held up a hoof, then started to look expectantly around the room. “Is anypony else around? Spike perhaps?”

“No, he’s with Rarity,” Twilight said quickly. “He tried to get me to tell him what happened and I bribed him with a trip to Rarity’s if he stopped asking.”

Celestia nodded and turned her gaze to Wayfarer. “I take it you are the pony Twilight has been housing?” Wayfarer nodded once. “And you were also there last night when Twilight was attacked?” He nodded again. Celestia walked forward and leaned down to look Wayfarer straight in the eye as she asked another question, “And to protect her and yourself, you summoned some sort of creature to fight for you?” Wayfarer swallowed a knot in his throat and nodded again. “I see. What is the creature’s name?”

Wayfarer thought it would have been hard to remember, but the name came to him as quick as if it was his own. “Ekchuah.”

Celestia stared at him for a moment before turning back to Twilight. “What did this thing look like?”

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered the scene. “It walked on two legs, it had a spear and wore some sort of mask. It also had a backpack and a scorpion’s tail.”

Celestia let out a breath and began to pace around the room. Wayfarer and Twilight shared a look, not sure what to say, or if they should even say anything. Celestia looked to be in deep thought, just as at a loss for words as they did. Every so often she would toss a glance at Wayfarer, as if expecting something from him, though for the life of him he couldn't imagine what. Finally, she looked as if she’d found the words to say, just before there was another knock at the door. Twilight went and answered it, revealing a tall... thing... that looked like a mismatch of ten different animals. Even his eyes looked like they were two different sizes.

“Have we discovered the guilty party behind last night’s incident?” The creature asked. “Have we decided whether or not we’re all doomed yet?”

“Discord,” Celestia said with a hint of distaste. “You’re late.”

“I’m never late my dear Celestia," Discord smirked as Twilight closed the door behind him, her expression mimicking Celestia's. "Everypony else is just early.”

“Hmph, as you say," Celestia grumbled. "We’ve barely started anyway.”

“See! No harm done!” Discord cried as he took a seat in the corner.

Celestia scowled at him before looking to Twilight again. “Twilight, I’m afraid I’m going to have to postpone any further work on your castle until further notice.”

“I figured as much Princess,” Twilight responded with a look of fear and confusion on her face. “But what WERE those creatures? Why didn’t my magic work on them? Should we be evacuating Ponyville?”

Celestia hesitated for a moment, before attempting to answer Twilight’s questions. “When it comes to the creatures that attacked you, I have only guesses as to what exactly they are. However, I can tell you that evacuation is not necessary, I’ve sealed the grounds with a powerful spell, much like the one placed on Canterlot Tower.”

“You mean the one you used to protect the Elements of Harmony?” Discord smugly asked. “The one that failed to keep me out?”

Ignoring him, Celestia continued. “Rest assured, nothing is getting in or out of that castle without my say so.”

“But how did they get in there in the first place?” Twilight asked, adding another question to the list.

“That, my dear Twilight, I can answer." Celestia tapped the floor with her hoof, garnering Twilight and Wayfarer's attention to the wooden surface. "The earthquake last night does not appear to have been a natural occurrence. The creatures have worked their way through the bottom of the castle, creating a large crevasse beneath it.”

Twilight’s expression was not getting any calmer with any of this news, in fact she started pacing. “Oh this can’t be happening! Monsters burrowing into the castle! What do I do? What do I DO?!”

“We,” Celestia said calmly. “Will remain calm. We will figure this out, together.”

Twilight froze and looked to the elder alicorn, then slowly took in and released a breath to relax herself. “Okay, calming down now. What do we do?”

“First,” Celestia said “I want to see these creatures first hand. For that, it appears that I will have to go to the castle at night.”

“W-why at night?”

“Because when I went to examine the castle this morning, I didn’t find a trace of these creatures you described Twilight.”

Twilight's ears flattened against her head. “Then why do you believe me?” She asked.

Celestia smiled. “Because I trust you Twilight. You wouldn’t lie about something like this, or about the way Wayfarer was able to fend off your assailants.”

“You mean with that thing he summoned? What do you know about it?”

“It will be easier for me to explain tonight when we arrive at the castle.” Celestia looked around at the three others. “I expect you all to be there at around Ten O’Clock. We will enter into the castle at about that time. Until then, please go about your day as normal, and don’t tell anypony what has happened. Discord?” She turned to look directly at the patchwork creature, who was absentmindedly blowing multi coloured smoke rings into the air. “Come with me.”

“Ugghh, fine," Discord whined before getting up and following Celestia to the door. "Not like I have a choice do I?”

Celestia and Discord left the library, letting Twilight and Wayfarer stand in silence for a while before Wayfarer remembered he had someplace to be.

“AAUUGGGHHH!!” He screamed, startling Twilight so bad she jumped into the air. “I’m late! It’s only my second day and I’m late!”

“What are you,” Twilight started to say in annoyance before she caught on and started to panic as well. “OH SHOOT! YOU’VE GOT WORK!”

Twilight quickly shut her eyes and started to focus magic through her horn. Wayfarer was about to ask what she was doing when there was a sudden flash. A moment later, Wayfarer blinked a few times and realized that somehow the two had made it all the way to the Ponyville Schoolhouse in the blink of an eye.

“Warn me next time you do that!” Wayfarer yelled as he shook his head and tried to regain his balance. Then he heard a few shrieks from around him and, looking about, he saw that he and Twilight had appeared amongst a group of foals heading inside the building.

“I’m sorry!” Twilight said, to both Wayfarer and the foals she’d scared.

“What’s going on out h-” came a stern voice as the front of the school opened to reveal Cheerilee, who stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Wayfarer and Twilight. “Oh, Wayfarer! And Twilight! Good Morning!”

Wayfarer shook himself once more and looked to Cheerilee with apologetic eyes. “Good morning to you as well Miss Cheerilee. I’m terribly sorry about being late. I had business with the Princess that needed to be taken care of.”

“That, and he took a bit of a bad fall last night!” Twilight interjected, smiling very unconvincingly. “We went to the Castle in the dead of night, couldn’t see where he was going and took a tumble! It's my fault he's late, Cheerilee.”

Wayfarer restrained himself and didn’t give any signs that what Twilight was saying was false, not that Cheerilee needed any as she raised an eye at Twilight.

“Well, alright then,” She said, turning to Wayfarer. “I had half a mind to fire you after being late this morning, but if you had business with Twilight I guess I could let it slide this one time.” She then turned back to Twilight and gave her a very annoyed look. “Please give me forewarning whenever you intend to keep my help captive.”

“Oh, umm, yes of course!” Twilight said “Well, now that he’s here I guess I could go now. See you two around.” With that she turned and galloped away, leaving a group of very confused foals in her wake.

Cheerilee just rolled her eyes and shook her head before replacing her cheery disposition that she always wore around her students. “Alright my little ponies, and Mister Wayfarer, let’s all get to work!”

~~~~~

Today proceeded much like yesterday. Wayfarer cleaned whatever needed cleaning, entertained the foals during recess, etcetera. After classes were over and Cheerilee dismissed her students, she then requested that Wayfarer deliver an order to a supply store as well pick up a few things for tomorrow, and sent him on his way as well.

After running errands, Wayfarer didn’t really know what he ought to do while he waited for his meeting with Twilight, Celestia, and Discord later that night. He guessed that Twilight would be preparing herself, physically and mentally, and he had no idea where the other two would have gone. He settled for wandering about the town until nightfall, taking in the sights now that the festival was officially in full swing.

Many ponies seemed to have last night’s earthquake on their minds, as Wayfarer heard many accounts of ponies being shook from their beds or of flower pots having a rushed encounter with the ground. Wayfarer kept his mouth shut, like Celestia requested of he and Twilight, but at the same time he felt like wondering why exactly they had to keep this a secret. “Avoiding a panic perhaps? Ponies will eventually get curious as to why work on the castle has stopped and we have to tell them something.”

Wayfarer’s wonderings had him wander right into something very soft with a lot of give. Backing up, he realized that he’d just walked into a wall of fabric, suspended in the air by a blue aura.

“Oh do excuse me Darling!” Came a familiar voice as the fabric was moved to the side to reveal Rarity. “Oh hello Wayfarer. So sorry about bumping into you like that.”

“It’s not a problem Rarity. I should have been watching where I was going.” Wayfarer started berating himself for not noticing the towering stack of multicoloured fabrics.

“And where, may I ask, are you going without your handsome get up?” She asked looking up and down at Wayfarer, who just now realized that he hadn’t had time to put on his button up that morning.

“Oh, well, I was in a bit of a rush and didn’t have time to put it on”

“Didn’t have time? My dear Wayfarer, there is ALWAYS time to look your best.”

“Well if that’s the case, think you could help me out? If I’m going to be wearing something nice every day, I’m going to need a few more outfits.”

Rarity almost flipped with excitement at that. “Then let us waste time no longer! To the Boutique!” She then started to make haste to her shop, carrying the tower of fabric all the way.

Following after her, Wayfarer couldn’t help but notice how the tower seemed to teeter back and forth, and thought it best to lend the mare a hoof before she dropped some of the expensive looking fabrics.

“Miss Rarity? Would you like some help with that?”

“Oh what a gentlecolt you are!” She sighed as she dropped the whole stack on his back. “now be careful with them, they’re VERY expensive.”

Wayfarer’s knees started to buckle as the weight pressed down on his back. This wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, and he almost told that to Rarity before she gave him a VERY thankful look. He sighed heavily as he started walking behind her. How he managed to get the tower to the shop without dropping a single bolt of fabric, he had no idea.

She showed him where to drop the fabrics and then began to usher him into her studio. “Now, what exactly were you looking for? A nice suit? Something like your other attire? I can’t imagine those long sleeves are terribly comfortable during the summer. Ooh, speaking of which, would you like a smart coat for when fall arrives?”

“Actually Miss Rarity, I’m having second thoughts.” Wayfarer said as she listed off some of the outfits she could make for him. He feared she might be a little over enthusiastic about all this, and he only had the money for a few extra sets of clothes. The last thing he wanted was to take up another job, as the fabric mule for this seamstress.

“Oh no no no I insist you stay and let me fix you up a few ensembles! It would be my pleasure!”

Wayfarer sighed and dropped his head, figuring he could at least let her contemplate the design of his outfits.

She pulled out a measuring tape and began taking Wayfarer’s measurements, all the while asking him all sorts of tiring questions, like what the stallions and mares in Baltimare wore this time of year. It felt so monotonous that he didn’t even realize she’d stopped taking measurements and had moved to a drawing table, still asking questions.

After almost an hour, Rarity finally stopped pestering him and asked Wayfarer to join her so that she could show him what she came up with. There was a get up that looked like the one he already had, only in addition to the button up there was also a jacket with an absurdly large collar. There was also a very sharp looking suit, a winter jacket, a cloak, and... “a Nightmare Night costume?” All told there looked to be almost a dozen different outfits, and Wayfarer certainly wasn’t going to be able to afford all of them.

“Umm, Miss Rarity? I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pay for all of this. Could you just give me that one?” He pointed to the button up and jacket combo. “I should be able to give you pay for that.”

“Pay?” Rarity said, looking at Wayfarer with a bit of confusion. “Whatever do you mean darling? You carried all that fabric for me and you’ve been such a delight to talk to! First one is on the house, and I won’t hear another word against it!” Wayfarer opened his mouth to argue but Rarity just waved her hoof dismissively. “I’ll expect compensation for the others if you so choose to receive them, but I simply cannot allow you to walk about without the look that so obviously defines you!”

Wayfarer sighed. He wasn’t one to turn down free stuff, but still. “Okay then. If you’re sure. Thank you Miss Rarity.”

“Think nothing of it darling! Now out! I have work to do if I plan to get this to you by tonight!” And with a smile Rarity shooed Wayfarer out of her shop. As he walked away he could have sworn she’d started singing.

With the promise of fresh clothes for tonight’s expedition into the castle, Wayfarer walked back into town, looking about at all the ponies going about their daily routine. He never really understood the appeal for some ponies to do the same thing day in and day out, but he supposed that it must have a sort of charm to it, especially in a small town like this.

“Hey Wayfarer!” came a shout from above him. Looking up he saw a single cloud hovering over him, with Rainbow Dash hanging over the edge. “Heard you almost got fired this morning!”

“Who told you that?” Wayfarer asked as Rainbow Dash zoomed off of her cloud and landed right in front of him.

“Scootaloo. I promised her a flying session after school today, and she said Cheerilee was going to fire you for being late, except apparently you had business with ‘The Princess.’” She turned her head to the side and glared at him. “What sort of business?”

“We had an accident at the castle last night.” Wayfarer said simply. “The princess wanted to make sure I was okay.” “Partly true,’” Wayfarer thought “Celestia probably wanted to know if I was okay to be around.”

“You know she hates being called ‘The Princess’ right?”

“Wrong princess.” Wayfarer thought to himself. He didn’t think Celestia would like it if he started telling everypony that she was in town on royal business.

“So if you were in the castle last night,” Rainbow Dash inquired further “Would you know why there some sort of force field around it?”

“Oh boy” Wayfarer’s expression of surprise must have gave Rainbow Dash the impression that he didn’t know because she kept going.

“Yeah! So I’m doing my morning exercises, and I pass over the castle and spot one of Twilight’s telescopes on the highest tower! I thought it was weird for her to just leave that there so I tried to fly down and check it out. Next thing I know I fly into some sort of invisible wall! What’s with that? Are they really that mad about me flying too close to the castle that they put a bubble around the place?”

“She thinks it’s to keep her out.” Wayfarer realized “Well if I were the guards I don’t think I’d be too happy about unauthorized ponies flying about. That’s a bit of a security breach isn’t it?”

“Security?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “There’s nothing in there yet! What would anypony take from inside?” She rolled her eyes and jumped back into the air. “Whatever, guess I’ll just have to find a new flight schedule if they insist on keeping that thing up. Later Wayfarer!”

“Later.” Wayfarer gave a half hearted wave at Dash before he turned and almost ran into another pony. “Oh, excuse me.” “I’ve really got to start paying better attention”

“It’s fine.” The mare said in a way that made it sound like it wasn’t fine. She was a rather tall pegasus with locks of green hair and a turquoise coat. Her wings were larger than average, and there seemed to be a smaller secondary set just behind the main wings, giving them an almost butterfly esk look.

She stared at Wayfarer with a look of disdain before casting a gaze after Rainbow Dash and then back to him again.

“I couldn’t help but overhear what that loudmouth was saying though,” she said sternly. “What was that about the Castle being in a bubble?”

“Thanks Dash,” Wayfarer thought to himself “Now all of Ponyville will probably find out about it” “Extra security.” Wayfarer said simply.

“From?” The pegasus pressed.

“One rouge pegasus.”

“Security that tight sounds more like protection from a Changeling attack rather than one simple minded pegasus." The mare put a hoof to her cheek and gave Wayfarer a surprisingly sultry stare. "What is our Princess up to in there?”

“Nothing.” Wayfarer was starting to wonder about this pegasus’s line of questioning. “She’s probably in her library studying.”

“Studying what?”

“Heck if I know. Anything. Everything.” Wayfarer decided it was time to stop talking to this pony before she asked any more questions about Twilight and the castle. “I have to go now. Sorry for running into you.”

“Where is Twilight Sparkle’s library?” The mare asked, again giving Wayfarer a provocative look, as if trying to seduce the information out of him.

“Why do you want to know?” Wayfarer turned and started to walk away, in a different direction then the library.

“It’s not everyday you get to meet a princess. And I’d certainly like to meet her.”

Wayfarer did not like the tone of voice she said that in. This mare was definitely laying on the vixen act way too thick, probably believing Wayfarer to be some week willed stallion. He turned down an alley way, and tried not to look back to see if she was following him. Honestly he didn't need to, she was so close that he could almost feel the heat coming off of her.

“Rather rude of you to walk away from me like that,” She said as she matched his pace. “Are you a friend of Twilight Sparkle’s?”

Wayfarer remained silent. The unnerving air of this pegasus was starting to make his skin crawl. They walked out of the other end of the alley way, and Wayfarer shot his eyes around, looking for a means of escape. He saw Sugarcube Corner and made a beeline for it. “If Pinkie Pie can’t get her off my tail then nothing will.”

“I’ve heard many things about Twilight, and her friend’s as well. Have you met her friends?”

“Yes,” Wayfarer said “And you’re about to meet one right now.”

The mare almost looked excited before she looked up and saw where they were headed into. She stopped and glared at the gingerbread house like the very design offended her.

“What’s the matter?” Wayfarer asked. “I thought you wanted to meet Twilight’s friends?”

She turned her gaze at Wayfarer and gave him the same look of disgust before giving a humph and spreading her wings. She leapt up into the sky and bolted off to the east, away from Twilight’s Library.

Wayfarer watched her go, shaking his head. “This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

“I think that’s why I like it here so much.” Pinkie Pie said as she poked her head out of the front door. “Hey there Wayfarer! Can I get you anything?”

Wayfarer shook his head. “No thank you Pinkie. I’m just going to head home now.”

“Oki Doki! I’ll see you later Wayfarer!” The door closed up again and Wayfarer headed straight back to the Library, watching the skies for any sign of that creepy pegasus.

~~~~~

“You sure we’ve got enough supplies Twilight?” Wayfarer asked sarcastically as the two left the Library, him wearing the new outfit Rarity had brought over, and Twilight with saddlebags strapped over her wings. It was almost time to meet Celestia and Discord at the castle, the sun had set and the comets were starting to make their appearance again.

"Why? Do you think we should bring more first aid kits?” Twilight asked, her saddlebags bulging under the strain of all the medical supplies and scrolls for note taking.

“No I just... nevermind.”

They left just as everypony’s attention was fixated on the stars.Twilight’s other friends were hanging out on the hill again tonight, along with Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, so they wouldn’t have to worry about them. They made their way through town, Wayfarer looking this way and that to make sure nopony followed them as they made it to the outskirts.

He hadn’t told Twilight about that creepy Pegasus from earlier today, mostly because she was too busy preparing for tonight to listen to anything he said, but partially because he didn’t want her to worry about one stalkerish pegasus.

They arrived at the front gates to find Celestia and Discord waiting for them. Celestia had a long wooden case with her, and Discord was looking around at the comets with bored indifference.

“Ahh, there you two are.” Celestia said as they approached. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as we can be Princess.” Twilight said, nudging her saddle bags. “I hope”

“There’s only so much preparation you can do for something like this Twilight. Sometimes you just have to trust yourself to think on your hooves.”

“Can we get on with this?” Discord said.

Celestia turned and walked over to the gate guards. “Could you open the gates for us please?”

“OPEN THE GATES!” the Guard yelled. The portcullis began to lift, and as soon as it had raised high enough Celestia ducked under it and stepped into the castle grounds, her horn glowing slightly to open a hole in the protective spell. The others walked through as well, and as soon as they were through, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing, and the gate closed behind them.

“Now then,” Celestia said as they walked to the front doors. “I believe you have more questions Twilight? I think I might be able to answer the ones you have concerning our friend here.” She gestured a hoof to Wayfarer.

“Well, Princess, I’m still a little confused about what he did.” They started up the stairs to the front door. “What sort of summoning spell did he use? And how did he do it when he’s not a unicorn?”

“It wasn’t a spell Twilight. At least, it wasn’t a spell in the way that we are familiar with.” Celestia pushed the doors open with her magic and they all stepped inside before she closed them back again. “The power he wields is called ‘Persona’. It is a very ancient, very powerful ability, that even I thought had been lost forever.” She stopped in the middle of the foyer and turned to Wayfarer. “Show us your Persona, if you’d be so kind.”

Wayfarer stepped forward and faced Celestia. He didn’t really know what he was supposed to do, but he closed his eyes and tried to search for that same feeling he had last night when he summoned the thing that had protected him and Twilight. He took a few deep breaths, then opened his eyes to find that same tarot card floating before him, only now it was no longer blank. With a determined look, he swatted at the card with his right hoof, shattering it like glass as he shouted out “Persona!”

The area around him flashed again, and the same figure from before, Ekchuah, appeared behind him. It stood completely still, not even its eyes moved as it stared straight ahead.

Looking from the Persona to Wayfarer, Twilight mumbled a question. “Is there something wrong with it? Why isn’t it moving?”

“Wayfarer has yet to give it directions,” Celestia said as she stared in awe. “He called it only to call it. Nothing more.”

“Not bad,” Discord said with an air of amusement. “Not great, but I suppose it will have to do.”

“How do you know all about this?” Twilight asked, looking around at everyone.

“Because Twilight,” Celestia said. “I had this ability once as well.”

Twilight just gaped at Celestia at this. Wayfarer was more than a bit surprised as well, but quickly zeroed in on one particular word she used. “You said you had this ability, you don’t anymore?”

“No. That’s why Discord and I came back here this morning, we spent the day trying to summon our Personas. To no avail it seems.”

“Ahh who needs those specters anyway?” Discord said, waving his eagle talon around dismissively. “You’ve got all the powers of chaos on your side!”

“Are you saying you’ll actually bother helping us then?” Celestia said in an accusative tone.

“Eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmeeeeerrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaahhhhhggggg maybe.” Discord shrugged uncommittedly.

Celestia’s eye seemed to twitch a bit as she shook her head. She looked as though she was at the end of her rope with Discord. Looking to Twilight, she brought out the long case and presented it to the younger pony. “Twilight, I will not have you go in there without some form of protection, so I would like you to carry this with you.” The case snapped open and Twilight leaned forward to examine the glistening rapier inside.

“A… sword?” Twilight asked, looking up to Celestia. “But, I’ve never even used a sword! Much less even held one!”

“And hopefully you won’t need to.” Celestia said as she levitated the sword and scabbard, attaching the later to Twilight’s back and letting Twilight take hold of the blade itself. “But I would rather you have something rather than nothing. However, I still implore you not to go wandering off and to stay near the rest of us.”

Twilight continued to stare at the blade as she slowly began to move it around. Sighing, she sheathed the sword and looked over to Wayfarer. “My magic, it didn’t do anything to them last night. What good is a rapier going to do?”

“You’d be surprised how far a very pointy object can go.” Discord said, almost sadistically.

~~~~~

The group began its expedition into the castle. For a while, there was nothing but the soft hum of Twilight and Celestia’s magic as it they lit the way. Wayfarer looked around at the walls as they went, noting that the castle was completely dark, and there was no sign of the erie purple glow that illuminated the castle during last night’s attack.

“Twilight, do you know what time it is?” Wayfarer asked.

Twilight gave him a look of confusion before shaking her head. “I don’t have a pocket watch or anything on me.”

“It’s almost a minute to Eleven O’clock.” Celestia said without diverting her attention from what was in front of her as she led the way into the west corridor.

The corridor had a row of windows that gave a good view of the valley. Not as good as the tower, but still enough for the group to see that the Comets were already starting to disappear. The moon itself was barely a sliver now, and it wouldn’t really provide any more light than it did last night.

The four began looking through room after room, searching for some sign of the inky black monsters, only to find darkness in every single one and nothing more. Wayfarer was almost reminded of the Snipe hunts he participated in with his friends back in Baltimare, and how the thrill of the hunt had made him forget that what he and his friends had been searching for was nothing but a myth. Now, however, the thrill was tinged with the fear that at any moment one of those things would rise out of the corner’s to grab at him.

It was almost an hour later when something finally happened. The castle got noticeably brighter, and the light cast by Celestia and Twilight no longer seemed needed.

“Curious,” Celestia said as she and Twilight turned off their magic. She looked around the empty hallway, paying attention to the dark corners. “Wayfarer.”

“Yes, Princess?” Wayfarer said, stepping forward.

“Be ready to call him.”

The hall was completely silent, their eyes darted every which way in an attempt to catch the first glimpse of any shadow with ill wishes. The minutes rolled by and nothing happened, until Discord yawned loudly, freaking all of them out.

“Not that this isn’t fun or anything, but could we get a move on?”

The other three looked at each other and agreed that standing around like this wasn’t getting them anywhere.

“Keep your eyes peeled.” Celestia said as she stepped forward.

Twilight’s eyes continued to bolt around. She seemed visibly spooked by all of this. Eventually her eyes looked into Wayfarer’s, who she stared hard at before jogging forward to catch up with Celestia.

“Princess,” she said as she fell in stride with Celestia. “I have another question.”

“Yes Twilight?”

“What does it take to get a Persona?”

“Hmm… well there are several ways of getting one, none of them pleasant, but they require that you have the potential to do so in the first place.”

“And Wayfarer has that Potential?” Twilight asked, looking back at the pony in question. “And you and Discord as well?”

Celestia nodded in confirmation.

“Would… I have the potential?”

Celestia stopped and sighed as she turned to Twilight. “Even if you do have the Potential Twilight, unlocking this power would be a very challenging ordeal. You may come out of it a changed pony, or worse you’d be full of doubt about who you are. I do not want you to have to face that if you don’t have to.”

“Princess, please.” Twilight said with a hint of a smile. “Wayfarer was able to summon his Persona without some harrowing ordeal. I’m sure I could handle it!”

“Well aren’t we full of ourselves?” Discord bemused as he floated over Twilight. “Our little Princess thinks she can face anything!”

Twilight’s mouth twitched slightly as she looked up at Discord “Don’t call me 'Princess' please. And I’m not so overconfident that I don’t know my limits.”

“Yes, overconfidence would be more of Rainbow Dash’s thing wouldn’t it? I’m warning you Twilight.” Discord put on his best serious face as he looked Twilight in the eye. “Your friend here got off easy. It makes me wonder if that was really the first time he ever summoned his Persona.“ He leered over at Wayfarer with a smirk before eyeing Twilight again. “You are not prepared, Princess Sparkle Twilight.”

Twilight twitched again “Princess Celestia said there are some things you just can’t prepare for. I just have to trust myself and think on my hooves. And please, don’t call me Princess.”

Discord snorted at that. “Is that a sore spot for you? Being called by your title? You think you’d have gotten used to it by now.”

“Discord,” Celestia said, stepping forward. “If she doesn’t wish to be addressed as ‘Princess’ then she doesn’t have to be. She asked you to stop, now stop.”

“Ha! Why’d you bother giving her that title if she doesn’t want to use it?” Discord’s eyes lit up at that. “Tell me Celestia. Did you even bother asking dear Twilight if she WANTED a pair of wings strapped onto her back?”

“SHUT UP!” Twilight yelled, her horn glowing brightly as she prepared to shoot a blast of magic at Discord.

The Draconequus froze for a moment before dropping to the floor and backing away with his hands in the air. “My apologies Miss Sparkle. That was rather low, even for me.”

Twilight took a few deep breaths before turning away from Discord and walking away. Celestia, her face suddenly filled with fear and worry, started to follow after her, and that's when voices started echoing down the hall.

“Princess Twilight is so much more beautiful and regal with her new wings.”

“How lucky this town is to have a Princess who know’s the ponies of Ponyville personally!”

“She’ll make a fine ruler of Equestria, maybe even greater then Princess Celestia!”

Twilight’s eyes shot all around her, trying to discern where the voices were coming from. “Who’s there?” she yelled, “Who’s saying this?” Then the voices were suddenly recognizable as Twilight’s other friends

“Twilight really is such a beautiful pony now with those gorgeous wings of hers. Now if only she’d let me do something with her mane.”

“Twilight’s wings are AWESOME! She’s a natural flier too! Getting her out of that Library from time to time to learn some new tricks will do her some good!”

“Rarity? Rainbow Dash?” Twilight whimpered.

The dark corners of the hallway began to stir around Twilight, drawing the attention of Wayfarer and Celestia.

“Ooh! Now that Twilight’s moving into that big old castle, I wonder if she’ll let me throw parties there! Not like those stuffy Canterlot Parties, REAL Parties with cake and confetti and balloons and everything!”

“The castle grounds are going to look beautiful when they’re done. Maybe Twilight will get some rare exotic birds to stay in the gardens! She’s so lucky to have such a wonderful place to live.”

“Pinkie… Fluttershy… I… I...”

The shadow’s began to rise up, their arms and masks growing out of the walls and floors.

“Twilight!” Celestia shouted as she tried to rush forward, only to be blocked by a group of Shadow’s rising up before her.

“Twilight becoming a princess is the best thing that ever happened to her. Boy howdy, I can’t wait to see Ponyville in a few years, she’s going to make us all so proud.”

“Applejack…” Twilight looked like she was about to burst into tears as her legs trembled beneath her “You all think this was what’s right for me… but I’m… I don’t...”

“Sniff sniff… Oh, these wretched ponies! What do THEY know about me?”

Everyone looked up at the new voice, it sounded close. Standing in the middle of the hall was what looked like another Twilight, dressed in a beautiful gown with her mane all done up under an intricate crown. She looked about at her dress with some level of disgust “Making me a Royal! What the hay was Celestia thinking?” The other Twilight spat in a way that sent a cold shiver down Wayfarer’s spine. “Why would anyone want ME as their Princess? Especially after all the trouble I’ve caused Ponyville!”

“Who… Who are you?” Twilight cried as she stared at her dopleganger.

“Why, I’m you!” The other Twilight said with a smirk and started to trot away down the hall.

“Wait!” Twilight yelled as she lept through a gap in the shadows to follow her other self.

“Twilight, NO!” Celestia called as she tried to follow as well. But the Shadow’s wouldn’t let her pass as hands started to grab at her mane. “Get OFF!”

A blinding light radiated from her horn, causing the Shadows to retreat back slightly, though still blocking Celestia from chasing down the two Twilights. She reared up on her hind legs, bringing her front two down on the nearest shadow, smashing it in an explosion of black dust. Another group of Shadows seemed to have sprung up behind them as, when Wayfarer turned to look at him, Discord was swatting left and right at the Shadows with a golf club.

“Wayfarer! Go after them!” Celestia yelled as she bucked another Shadow before it could recover from her flash of light. “Please!”

With no further insistence needed, Wayfarer called out, “PERSONA!” Ekchuah appeared in front of him and swiped his spear in a wide arch, summoning a gust of wind that caused all the Shadow’s to fly backwards, slamming into walls or the floor. Wayfarer began to charge forward, Ekchuah following beside him or leading the way, stabbing or kicking through the shadows as they struggled to recover. Wayfarer continued to run for what seemed like forever, until he finally came to a large door that stood ajar. Cautiously, he slipped through the opening. He found himself in what looked like the throne room. Twilight was standing at the foot of the stairs that led up to the throne itself, where the other Twilight was sitting.

“Well look who decided to show up! One of our loving subjects!” The other Twilight put as much venom into those last two words as she possibly could.

“Stop that!” Twilight yelled, stomping her hooves. “Who do you think you are? Using my face and voice like that!”

“I told you, I’m you!" The false Twilight laughed as she spun around, showing off her attire and flapping her large wings. "See the flowing dress befitting my ROYAL stature? See the wings forcibly sewn onto my ROYAL back?”

“Celestia didn’t force them on me!”

The other Twilight laughed coldly at that and smirked down at her opposite “You and I both know that’s a load of horse apples. But I guess it’s my destiny as a princess to have things forced on me, isn’t it?”

“It’s not my destiny to be a Princess!”

“Ahh, but it IS! Remember? Celestia sang a whole song about it! And Celestia is ALWAYS right!” The other Twilight’s smile quickly turned into an ugly scowl that made the real Twilight step back a bit. “And she is such a PAIN about it! Why did she have to act so happy when she was defiling my body? Did she think she was doing me a favour or something?”

“She was making me a Princess! Who are you to say if it was right or wrong?”

“Right or wrong for who? Equestria? Who cares about Equestria? I’m the one who had some tripe about destiny forced onto me! I didn’t want to be a princess! I just wanted to be with my friends!” Other Twilight lifted the crown off her head and tossed it down the stairs, spitting after it. “But I guess even my friends think it’s better for everyone if I just go along with my so called destiny. So much for the Magic of Friendship!”

The real Twilight screamed as she charged up the stairs, drawing out the sword as she went. “How DARE you! I don’t care if you DO have my face and my voice! YOU ARE NOT ME!”

The blade came down in a wide arch towards the other Twilight’s head, only for it to stop short. Other Twilight smirked and, with a flick of her head, sent Twilight flying back down to the foot of the stairs, where she landed with a dull thud.

“Twilight!” Wayfarer yelled, rushing forward to Twilight’s prone body. Skidding to a halt, he picked up her head in his hooves. "Are you alright? Say something!"

“No…” She moaned through tear filled eyes. “Not me…”

The other Twilight began to laugh hysterically, calling Wayfarer's attention to her as a shroud of darkness seemed to envelop her. “You’re right! There’s no way I could possibly be an obedient little sheep like you! I’m my own self, and I’m going to carve my own destiny!”

The darkness seemed to explode out from the center, revealing a large multicoloured wheel like structure with a distinctly female creature, wearing a darker version of other Twilight’s dress, hanging by its neck by a chain from the center.

“I am a Shadow! The true self!” The creature proclaimed, it’s eyes covered with a blindfold, which it seemed to stare right through and at Twilight and Wayfarer. “ And the Wheel of Fortune is MINE to control!”

The wheel behind Shadow Twilight began to spin, picking up speed until the colours blurred together. She raised her right arm, which Wayfarer noticed ended in some sort of arrow, sharpened down to a blade. Pointing it up into the air, the wheel stopped suddenly so that the arrow was pointing at a lightning bolt shape with a black background. The wheel then began to glow as the Shadow pointed its sword arm at Twilight and Wayfarer.

With little time to spare, Wayfarer lept over Twilight and commanded Ekchuah in front of them, blocking the brunt of the electrical shock wave that shot forth from the Shadow’s arm. The Persona twitched and spasmed as the bolt of lightning ravaged through it, the pain transferring to Wayfarer, who felt as though every fiber of his being was being set on fire.

“GRRAAAAHHHHHH!!” He screamed as he was forced to the floor. Ekchuah fell to one of his knees, bracing himself with his spear.

“Hmph, Pathetic!” The shadow taunted as the wheel began to spin again. “Why are you even bothering to protect her anyway? She’s passed her peak, what more does she have to live for other than to be Celestia’s slave?”

“No you’re wrong!” Twilight yelled, violently shaking her head as she tried to rise up from the floor. “Celestia is my mentor! And I'm her faithful student! You’re wrong! You’re wrong! YOU’RE WRONG!”

This only made the Shadow laugh harder, Twilight's distress only spurring her on to higher levels of cruelty. "And if her friends want a Princess so badly, I'll give them a Queen! I'll show them how great a ruler I can be, when I carve a new destiny for THEM!" The wheel stopped, again on a thunderbolt, and the Shadow aimed to fire once more.

Wayfarer quickly got back to his hooves, looking up to the Shadow before calling to his Persona. “EKCHUAH!”

Ekchuah stood back up, stabbing his spear into the ground before clapping his hands together. Light seemed to radiate around them as a second bolt collided with an invisible barrier inches from Ekchuah’s face… before shattering the barrier and sending both the Persona and it’s wielder flying. Wayfarer landed next to Twilight, while Ekchuah slammed into the back wall.

“But you," the Shadow said, pointing directly at Twilight now. "You're so afraid of what the future might bring that you'd willingly be lead along by a leash! Honestly, if you think about it, I’m probably doing you a kindness by ending your miserable existence!”

“STOP IT!” Twilight cried as Wayfarer once again rose and started to slowly walk towards the Shadow. “This can’t be real… this isn’t happening. I… I can’t do this!”

“Twilight” Wayfarer said to her, calling her attention “We can do this, just remain calm.”

The Shadow laughed and began to spin the wheel again, preparing yet another lightning strike. On the far wall, Ekchuah pried himself off the vertical surface and limped over to join Wayfarer in staring down their adversary.

“You don’t seem to get it! Her life was over the moment she discovered her special talent all those years ago. Celestia molded her to be her puppet, and then when Twilight was ripe for the picking, Celestia took a perfectly good life away from her and bound her in servitude to Equestria!”

“EKCHUAH!”

Wayfarer’s Persona hefted his spear up and tossed it at the wheel, clearing right through it and pinning the structure so that the Shadow was pointing at a picture of an explosion backed with green.

“What the…” the Shadow looked up in surprise, just before half the wheel seemed to explode, dropping the Shadow to the floor “AAUUGHHHH!!! IDIOT! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!”

“Now!" Wayfarer yelled, his confidence surging. "Give it to her Ekchuah!”

With a sudden burst of strength, Ekchuah sprinted up the stairs, closing the gap between him and the Shadow, and delivering a mighty punch to the beast’s face. The Shadow stumbled as Ekchuah withdrew his spear from the wrecked wheel and swinging it in the direction of his stunned opponent. A mighty burst of wind tore through the throne room, ripping apart the shadow. As it fell, it seemed to disintegrate until their was nothing left but a Twilight look alike laying motionless on the floor.

Silence rang through the now still throne room. Ekchuah faded away as Wayfarer turned to look at the real Twilight. She was still huddled on the floor, but her sobbing had stopped. Wayfarer approached slowly.

“Twilight?”

“Why…”

Wayfarer spun around quickly to see the other Twilight standing there, looking as if the world itself had come to an end.

“This isn’t what I wanted. Everypony’s going to either look at me with respect I don’t deserve, or hatred that I was given so much without even trying.” Tears began to roll down her face as she began to sob. “No one will look at me as ‘Twilight’ anymore, just ‘Princess’ or ‘Her Majesty.’ Celestia… she ruined everything…”

Wayfarer turned to see Twilight getting to her hooves. She looked at her Shadow with a mixture of fear and confusion. “You… you’re not…”

From the open door behind her, Wayfarer saw Celestia and Discord staring at the three of them. Celestia looked horrified, Discord just shrugged and walked off.

“Twilight.” Wayfarer said. “Even if what this thing says is true, so what? You’re still you right?”

“I… but…”

“Are you upset with Celestia for what she did?” Wayfarer could see the pain on her face as she struggled out her answer.

“Deep down… I guess am.”

Wayfarer saw Celestia’s head tilt down out of the corner of his eye. “And are you willing to forgive her?”

“Of… course I am!” Twilight shouted. Celestia looked up in shock at this. “She’s… she’s been like a second mother to me. She’s a great mentor… and a great friend…”

“Twilight…” Celestia moaned, making her presence known to the young alicorn as tears began to stream from her tired eyes “I’m so sorry…” Twilight whirled around to look at Celestia, and looked as though she was going to charge forward and embrace her, but Celestia raised a hoof to stop her. “Please… Take care of her first…” Celestia said as she pointed to Twilight’s other self.

Twilight stared at her for a moment before nodding and turning back. The Shadow was waiting for her, a look of sad desperation on its face.

“You were right.” Twilight said to the Shadow. “I feel chained down by the weight of this ‘destiny’. I wasn’t given the time to consider it before it was given to me, and I allowed myself to believe it was what I wanted, when it really wasn’t. But I realize now that I can’t go on thinking that all my life is just me being dragged around by fate, because if I believe that for even a moment, then it might as well be true. My destiny is what I make of it. It’s mine to change or follow as I see fit.” After a moment of hesitation, Twilight stepped forward and embraced her other self. “Or maybe, it’s for both of us to change or follow as we see fit. After all, you’re me, and I’m you.”

The Shadow nodded into Twilight’s shoulder before it closed its eyes and faded into light. The light rose and rematerialized into a tall, bipedal creature, wearing a robe similar to the Shadow’s dress. In her left hand she carried a large, spiked circlet that she gripped from the center. In her right hand she carried a cornucopia filled with all manner of treasures and fruit. Atop her head she wore a crown engraved with runes, and across her eyes was a ribbon that wrapped around her head and trailed down her back.

Twilight looked up at the figure and smiled. “This… is my Persona?”

The figure nodded as she faded back into light, leaving behind a card that floated down to Twilight before it turned to light as well and disappeared into her chest. She held a hoof to herself as the light dissipated.

Twilight began to laugh to herself, even as her eyes began to water again. She turned with a smile to face Celestia, only to find she wasn’t there anymore.

“Princess?” She called out. “Where’d you go?”

Twilight and Wayfarer started to walk towards the door when Discord popped his head around the corner.

“We’re sorry.” He said. “But your princess is in another castle. Or whatever… point is she’s not here anymore.”

“She left?" Twilight asked. "Why?”

“Probably feeling sorry for her self. If anypony needs to face their other self it ought to be her.” He looked around expectantly. “But it seems as though the party’s over and the shadows have all crawled back under their beds. C'est la vie.”

“But, how do we get out?”

“Are you doubting my powers again Miss Sparkle? Celestia’s little plastic bubble couldn’t keep me out before and it sure won’t keep me in!”

“Then lets get… get out…” Twilight took a few steps into the hall and collapsed almost immediately.

“Ughhh.” Discord sighed, rolling his eyes as he picked up Twilight by her saddlebags, then snapped his fingers.

A flash of light temporarily blinded Wayfarer. He blinked a few times and found himself back in Twilight’s library. Spike was there, looking at Discord with a great amount of fear as he deposited Twilight unceremoniously onto the nearby couch.

“Twilight!” The little dragon shouted as he rushed to Twilight’s side. “What did you do to her Discord?!”

“Now that’s rather rude of you Scales! Thinking that it was me who made Twilight tucker her self out gazing at space junk all night.”

“My name is Spike.”

“Whatever Spot.” Discord waved dismissively as he walked to the door. “Just let Purple Smart sleep if off, she’ll be fine in the morning. In the meantime, I’ve got to go see a rabbit about a pocket watch.” Discord opened and slammed the door shut before Spike could even form a response.

“Augghhh, I HATE him! He’s gone from a total menace to being a total annoyance!”

“So, just a different type of menace?” Wayfarer asked as he walked forward to take a seat opposite of Twilight.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Spike mumbled as he unbuckled Twilight’s saddlebags and set them next to the couch. “So what REALLY happened to Twilight?”

“She got tired, just like Discord said.”

“Mmhmm.” Spike looked from the door, to Wayfarer, to Twilight before shaking his head and sighing. “Did she remember to grab her telescope? Rainbow Dash said she left it on the tower.”

“Oh, uhh, no we forgot it again.”

“And what’s with the invisible force field over the castle? Rainbow Dash was complaining about that at one point.”

“Security from Ponies who fly too close.”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Rainbow Dash.”

Spike rolled his eyes again and then gave a loud yawn. “Well, I’m going to go back to sleep again. Night Wayfarer.”

“Good night Spike.”

The dragon climbed the stairs and Wayfarer heard a door shut a few moments later. Wayfarer leaned back in the couch, exhaustion creeping up his back as he too gave a big yawn.

“Wayfarer?”

Wayfarer looked over to Twilight, who seemed to have pulled herself back to consciousness, even though her tired eyes made it clear that she needed to go back to sleep.

“Are we home?” She asked as she tried to lift her head and failed. Wayfarer nodded once. “Oh, okay… hey Wayfarer?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for protecting me.” She smiled and laughed to herself. “How embarrassing, I had a sword and everything and I… oh, I dropped the sword” She didn’t seem too worried about that as her eyes fell closed again.

“Don’t worry about it Twilight, you don’t need it any more. Remember?”

“Heh, yeah, you’re right. I can fight like you now.” She paused and frowned a bit. “I can right?”

“Not just like me, WITH me.” Wayfarer stood and walked over to Twilight. “You’re going to be great. Just you wait and see.”

Twilight’s smile came back as she gave her last comprehensive words. “Thank you.”

The sound of careful breathing filled the room as Wayfarer walked to the hallway, dimming the lights as he left. As he returned to his room, he couldn’t help but feel the sense of gratitude Twilight had towards him. Until this point he didn’t really see her as a friend, but he felt that, after tonight, there really wasn’t another word to describe her now. He couldn’t help but smile as words rang through his head when he clambered into bed.

“Persona is the ability to control one’s own heart, and the heart is strengthened through bonds with others. These bonds must be nurtured by becoming involved with the lives of those around you, developing your Social Links with them. And it is the power of these Social Links shall determine your Persona’s abilities.”

Author's Notes:

I'm going to be honest with you. Something about this chapter doesn't sit right with me. It's like a portrait that I KNOW is off center, but no matter how many times I try to fix it, nothing seems to work. It's at this point that I think that I need to get an editor or a prereader or something.

So once again I look to you guys to be brutally honest with me. What's working? What isn't working? Am I drawing too much from the Persona series? Not enough? Am I going to fast? Too slow? Please give me your honest analysis, because Celestia knows I can't seem to give one to myself.

Chapter 3: Daily Living - May 11th

“Welcome, to the Velvet Room.”

The voice of Igor rings in your ears before you can even open your eyes. As the Velvet room comes into focus, your eyes trace over the couch and you notice that you are alone with the long nosed human. Both Agatha and Agero are nowhere to be seen. Igor seems to notice your confusion about this and dismissively waves a hand.

“Do not worry about those two. I often send them off on errands whenever their assistance is not required. Now then, shall we pick up from where we left off? I see you have made a bond with someone of the Fortune Arcana. Very interesting.” With a flick of his hand, Igor summons a tarot card between his thumb and middle finger, like the ones he used on your first visit here.

“Through your bonds, you may discover other facets of yourself that you were unaware of, and because of your nature as the wild card these facets may grant you different abilities.” Igor snapped his fingers around the card, causing it to shatter. An image of a woman covered in tattered rags of black and white, with a midriff that seemed to be nothing more than a wheel, appeared on the table in front of him.

“You have the potential to hold within you many different facades, and you must learn to use them through many trials and nurture them through bonding with others.” The image of the woman disappeared in a ball of light, which flew towards you and faded into your chest. “We of the Velvet Room will be here for you as well. Do you still have your Contractor’s Key?” Igor asked.

You feel around your jacket and locate the key in your pocket. Looking to Igor, you nod once.

“From this point onward, I will only call you in your dreams if there is something very important for us to discuss. Otherwise, you must use that key to find your way back to this room. Please return when you have forged and strengthened more bonds, so that we may add their power to your own.”

Igor smiled as, once again, your eyes fell and unconsciousness took you.

“Until we meet again, farewell.”

Wayfarer walked into the front room of the library to find Twilight sitting in the chair he’d left her in last night, sipping on a mug of hot cocoa with the blanket draped over her. She was staring intently into the fire place, where warm flames flickered about, her eyes not even giving Wayfarer a notice until he had joined her on the couch.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice was a little soft today.

“Morning,” Wayfarer responded.

There was an awkward moment of silence between the two. Wayfarer’s thoughts were focused on the night before, and he could tell it was the same for Twilight. Her face contorted in what looked like a mixture of both deep thought and shame. Wayfarer wondered how it must have felt to see all of her worries and fears about life manifest into a mockery of herself, and then vocalize every one of those doubts not just to herself, but to others as well. Wayfarer sighed, he imagined that the experience must have been incredibly demeaning for her, like washing dirty laundry in public, only a thousand times worse.

“Last night,” Twilight said speaking up. “it wasn’t a dream… was it?” Wayfarer shook his head no. Twilight sighed and placed her mug on the side table before pressing her hooves to her face. “I’m sorry you had to see that. The other me.”

“It’s alright,” Wayfarer said, “We’ve all got baggage like that.”

“You don’t…” Twilight said quietly. “Unless that WASN’T your first time summoning your Persona the other day.”

Wayfarer shifted in his seat. It HAD been his first time. But then, why didn’t HE face some shadowy version of himself? Did he really not have any problems with himself? He never thought of himself as “perfect”, or “happy with his life”. That’s part of the reason he came here to Ponyville, because he wasn’t happy.

“I don’t know Twilight,” he said, shaking his head before turning to her with a smile. “But hey! It’s a good thing I could summon it at all! We wouldn’t have survived against your other self if not for Ekchuah!”

“What even was that?” she wondered out loud. “That ‘other me’? She was nothing like those, hideous blobs of darkness. Why did she take my form? Why is she now my… Persona…” Twilight looked down at her hooves, the realization that she now wielded ancient magic lost to even Celestia was causing her to shake slightly. She moaned in frustration and looked up at the ceiling.

“Ughh, my head hurts,” she mumbled as she rubbed her temple. “Oh, where did Princess Celestia go? I have so many questions!”

“Do you want to go find her?” Wayfarer asked.

Twilight hesitated for a moment and shook her head. “No, she probably wants to be alone right now, and I’m still exhausted from last night.” She then turned to look directly at Wayfarer. “Listen, what I said, when I was barely conscious last night, about me fighting along with you? I’ve got to be honest.” Her ears flattened against her head and she shifted a bit. “Part of me, REALLY does not want to go back in there. If I ever see those… THINGS again, it’ll be too soon. And… I REALLY don’t think I’ll be any good in a fight.”

“Then you don’t have to,” Wayfarer said standing up. “Celestia said she and Discord once had Persona’s of their own. Maybe they’ll learn how to summon them again.”

“Maybe…” Twilight blinked a few times before she let out a yawn. She shook her head a few times before getting up herself. “Well, I’m going to go sleep in a real bed. It’s a Saturday so shouldn’t you have the day off?”

Wayfarer shook his head. “Cheerilee mentioned something about a school event and asked me to come in today. I guess I owe that to her after coming in late.”

“Alright, well you’d better get a move on then.”

It was about half way through the morning, but Wayfarer arrived at the school house almost half an hour before the students did this time, much to Cheerilee’s thankfulness. Today was supposed to be something of an open house. The school year had only just started and the students were going to bring their parents in so that Cheerilee could give them a rundown of what the fillies and colts would be learning this year. While Cheerilee explained this to Wayfarer, they took the time to stack the chairs on one side of the room to make room for all the ponies that would be coming, after which the supplies Wayfarer had ordered arrived and Cheerilee put him to work storing those.

Wayfarer finished that and was walking out of the storage cabinet when a familiar drawl called out in greeting.

“Howdy Cheerilee! Howdy Wayfarer!”

Wayfarer turned to see the front door swing shut as Applejack walked in with her sister Apple Bloom.

“Good morning Applejack and Apple Bloom!” Cheerilee greeted

“Hello,” Wayfarer said simply as he placed a few more pencils in one of the drawers at the side of the classroom.

“How are you hold’n up there Wayfarer?” Applejack asked. “Been hearing talk about someth’n that happened two nights ago, up at the castle with Twilight, or was that just Rainbow talk’n up a storm again?”

“I had a bit of an accident on our way out," Wayfarer explained, repeating the same story he and Twilight had been feeding anyone who asked. "It’s hard to see sometimes in there. I’m fine though, nothing’s broken.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that," Applejack said, smiling as she crossed her fore hooves. "Wouldn’t want you get’n hurt before you’ve even been here a week. Wouldn’t make Ponyville look like a very safe place now would it?”

“I’m fine Applejack,” Wayfarer said reassuringly. “Thank you for your concern.”

“Think noth’n of it!” Applejack beamed at him before turning to Cheerilee. “So how long do you think this’ll take Miss Cheerilee? Me and Apple Bloom still got a lot a morn’n chores to go through.”

“Not long at all Applejack," Cheerilee said. "I’d say an hour, hour and a half at most.”

“Plenty of time to get the new irrigation channels flow’n by lunch time!” Applejack said excitedly. At this point, more foals and their parents were starting to come in the front door. Wayfarer turned to Cheerilee to ask if he was still needed.

“Miss Cheerilee,” Wayfarer said, stepping up next to her. “Is that everything for today?”

“Yes,” she replied. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d hang around and let me introduce you.” Wayfarer nodded and obliged to her request, taking a place next to Applejack as the room began to fill.

After the front door had been closed for the last time and the last group of ponies took their place, Cheerilee went into what sounded like a very practiced spiel about what this year would bring for the fillies and colts. A sense of Deja Vu washed over Wayfarer when Cheerilee introduced him as “her assistant” to the assembled ponies. There were a few polite greetings to him, though some didn’t even bother, and he noticed that it was usually the families that included the foals that didn’t applaud for him on the first day. Wayfarer didn’t really mind it, after all his job was basically the school house’s maintenance worker or janitor, or some combination of the two.

Cheerilee continued on for a little while longer before she opened the room to questions, of which there were very few and none that really concerned Wayfarer. The attendees were then thanked for their time and dismissed, Applejack nodded her hat to Wayfarer and shuffled out with Apple Bloom. “C’mon Apple Bloom.” The farm pony said. “Let’s see if Big Mac was able to keep them trouble make’n beavers away from the creek this time.”

A few ponies came forward to talk personally with Cheerilee, so Wayfarer gave them space and walked to the other side of the room, where he was accosted by a familiar looking white unicorn filly.

“Hey there!” She shouted cheerfully.

“Hello,” Wayfarer responded. “You’re… ummm… Sweet Berry?”

The little unicorn giggled at that. “No! I’m Sweetie Belle!”

“Ahh! Yes! Do excuse me Sweetie Belle. Now, can I help you with something? Where are your parents?”

“They're trying to talk with Miss Cheerilee right now,” Sweetie Belle said, pointing over to a pair of jubilant looking Unicorns who were talking very animatedly with Cheerilee. “And you didn’t answer my question!”

“Your question?" Wayfarer asked, confused. "What question?”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes with a look of irritation. “My question from the day you came here. About your cutie mark!”

“Oh!” Wayfarer exclaimed, looking back to the mark on his flank. “Well, it’s a compass.”

“Like one of those things Rarity uses to draw circles?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No, that’s a drawing compass,” Wayfarer explained. “This is a directional compass.”

“Oh, so that thing that always points North?”

“That’s it. Only this is like the one you’d see on a map. It tells you which way to orient it.” Sweetie Belle just stared at Wayfarer for a moment.

“'Orient' it?” She asked, clearly never hearing such a word before.

Wayfarer sighed and went to grab a sheet of paper and a pencil. Taking one of the desks down as well, he placed the paper on the desk and started to draw a rudimentary map on it, with a compass up in the corner labeled with the four cardinal directions.

“Okay,” Wayfarer said to Sweetie Belle as he finished. “See this little mark down here?” he pointed to the compass and Sweetie Belle nodded. “That’s a compass, like mine. It tells you which way is North on a map, as well as south, west, and east. Now there are also compasses with needles that spin around, they always point North no matter how you turn them. So if you take one of those and place it on a map, you could turn the map so that the compass on the map and the needle are both pointing north. Now the map matches up with the landscape and you can figure out how to get where you’re going. That’s called orientation.”

“Oooh!” Sweetie Belle said as a smile creeped over her face. “So does that mean your special talent is pointing North?”

“No," Wayfarer said with a half hearted smile. "I think it just means I have a good sense of direction.”

Truthfully, he didn't know what exactly his cutie mark was for. He couldn't remember how he got it, so finding out what it was for was a bit difficult. He did have a knack for knowing how to get to places without being there before, but he had always chalked that up to living in a big city, where memorizing street names and landmarks was pretty much a foregone conclusion for anyone who spent more than a month there. You could give him a full address and he'd be able to give you clear and concise directions even if he'd never heard of the establishment in question.

“Could you still tell me which way is North?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Wayfarer thought for a moment then walked to a window and looked at the sky. The sun was getting higher, but it was still early enough for him to tell that it had risen from the direction the school house faced. Smiling, he turned to Sweetie Belle and pointed to the right side of the building.

“That way is North,” he said confidently.

“Wow!” Sweetie Belle said with awe. “How can you tell?”

“The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.” Wayfarer explained. “So if you can see the sun and it isn’t around noon, you can tell which way is which.”

Sweetie Belle looked like she was about to dive face first into another batch of questions before her parents finally collected her. She and Wayfarer waved goodbye to each other as she walked out the door with a hint of disappointment on her face. There were a few more ponies that Cheerilee had to talk to, but eventually she and Wayfarer were the only two left. Wayfarer looked around and was once again about to ask if he was needed before Cheerilee beat him to the punch.

“Mister Wayfarer, are you busy today?”

“Oh, umm, not really. Did you need something?”

“Well I was wondering if you’d join me for lunch. I know it’s a little early, but we haven’t really had a chance to talk about much other than work and I wouldn’t mind a nice chat with you. If that’s alright with you that is.”

Wayfarer couldn’t help but hear the word “Date” reverberate around his head for a moment before squashed that idea right then and there. “Of course," he said. "I haven’t really been to any of the local restaurants other than Sugarcube Corner. Maybe you could introduce me to one?”

Ten minutes later the two were seated at a very nice looking outdoor cafe. Most of their conversation as they waited for food just turned out to be small talk, though Cheerilee did sprinkle in a few questions that Wayfarer felt were more appropriate for a job interview. It dawned on him that that might be the reason for her invitation. He owed it to her anyway, so Wayfarer didn’t call her out on this and just allowed her to ask whatever questions she desired.

“As a teacher I’ve been exposed to all sorts of impressionable minds with so many dozens of questions," Cheerilee recounted. Wayfarer nodded, he’d gotten a glimpse of that first hand. “To most ponies," she continued. "This would be an annoyance, but I find it wonderful how much some of my students yearn for knowledge. Even the ones that don’t like to show their interest can’t help but perk their ears up whenever something new is introduced. It’s a pity that most ponies don’t carry that hunger with them into adulthood no matter how much I try. Why do you suppose that is?”

Wayfarer tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips, thinking to himself carefully about it before giving what he hoped was a satisfactory answer.

“Lack of interest," he said, shrugging. "Or complacency. Most ponies are fine with the way they live until something else calls for their attention. If they don’t need to know about it, they don’t bother to ask. Personally I think ponies devote too little time to extending themselves and their minds into fields they might not take great interest in but may, in the long run, benefit them. Sweetie Belle, for example, doesn’t seem the adventurous type, but she might be very happy one day that I taught her how to use a map and compass.”

“Oh, is that what you were showing her while I was talking to her parents?”

“Yeah. Well, it started as a question about my cutie mark and then by association it turned into a lesson about orienteering.”

“Wonderful!” Cheerilee beamed, laughing pleasently. “My janitor is a learned pony!” The two laughed and continued to talk as their lunch arrived. After a half hour, the two finally stood and prepared to part ways.

“I think I made the right decision hiring you,” Cheerilee said as she extended a hoof for Wayfarer to shake. “You’re fairly smart and intuitive, and you’re very kind to both me and my students.”

“The same could be said for you Cheerilee.” Wayfarer said as he returned the hoof shake.

Cheerilee smiled and added “Between the two of us working together, my students might keep their curiosity a little longer than the rest of us.” she laughed again as the two released each other’s hooves.

Wayfarer felt that that last bit was a little corny, but he couldn’t help but appreciate Cheerilee’s words and praise, and he felt a small bond form between them.

The two said their goodbyes and started on their way, Wayfarer once again at a loss of what to do today other than wonder about town. “I’ve got to get a hobby or something.” He thought out loud.

“What do we do for fun?” Rainbow Dash said, repeating Wayfarer’s question to her.

“That’s what I asked.” Wayfarer said as he watched Rainbow bounce a ball off her head again and again. He’d found her as he was walking through the park during his musings, and he thought she might point him in the right direction of what to do in this town when school got out.

“Well, when I’m not on weather duty I’m usually practicing new tricks or taking naps. That, or hanging out with my friends.” She stopped bouncing the ball and instead started to balance it on the tips of her wings. “What did YOU do for fun in Baltimare? Go to fancy parties or something?”

“No, I’m not that stuffy.” Wayfarer said, chuckling a bit. “I DID like going to the theatre sometimes, but that was once every few months. And unfortunately, I don’t think there’s even a theatre out here.”

“Well,” Dash said with a thoughtful expression. “Sometimes Cheerilee’s kids put on plays, but I don’t think those are the type of performances you’re looking for.”

“Yeah, I’ll probably be seeing all of those anyway. Cheerilee will more than likely want my help with those.”

“Hmmm…” Rainbow Dash tapped a hoof on her chin, looking around at the tree and sky for a moment before looking back to Wayfarer. She looked him up and down, seemingly sizing him up for something, before her eyes went wide and she started to grin. “I HAVE been talking with AJ about starting a sports team in Ponyville, but we haven’t really put much thought into it.”

“Sports team?”

“Yeah you know, like Hoofball or Soccer! Something like that!” She was starting to look a little excited now. “Yeah that’s perfect! I have to go find AJ and see if she’s still interested!” And with that, Rainbow launched her ball into the air before taking off and catching it as she flew away, leaving Wayfarer to stare after her.

A sports team didn’t really sound all that bad, now that Wayfarer thought about it. He’d played a little bit of soccer with his friends, but he didn’t recall ever being all that good at it. Still, it might be fun having a group of friends that he could hang out with on a regular basis, even if none of them ended up being any good at whatever sport they played.

‘It’s something to do I guess’ Wayfarer thought.

He continued to wander around the park a bit, until he walked clear out of town. There weren’t any houses this far out, but there were a lot of trees. Not so densely packed as to be a forest, but definitely a lot greener than the rest of Ponyville. It almost looked like an orchard, but he knew he wasn’t anywhere near Sweet Apple Acres, so he assumed it was some sort of grove. The green of the surrounding flora was suddenly broken by a bolt of red hanging out of one of the trees. As Wayfarer got closer he saw that it was a tail, which was connected to a very bored looking draconequus.

“Discord?” Wayfarer said cautiously as he approached. Discord stopped plucking what looked like caramel apples off the tree he was in and looked down at Wayfarer with blank eyes.

“Hello there Mr. Wayfarer,” The draconequus said as he broke one of the apples in half, letting a little blue bird out. “How are you on this dull and dreary day?”

“I’m uhh, fine. What are you doing all the way out here?”

“I could ask you the same thing, but since you asked first I suppose I should answer first. I’m doing nothing.”

“Nothing?” Wayfarer asked, tilting his head.

“Isn’t that what ponies do when they’re bored? They do nothing. Maybe complain about how bored they are but aside from that, don’t most just sit and twiddle their hooves until something exciting happens?”

“Well, I guess?” Wayfarer walked around the tree and watched as Discord cracked open another apple to reveal a rather large gem stone, which he inspected carefully before tossing it into the air and letting it explode into confetti.

Discord looked down from his perch at Wayfarer, now with curious eyes. “Now before you give your answer, may I ask another question of you?” he said.

“Umm, sure.”

“Why aren’t you running away in fear at the sight of me like all the rest?”

“I… wait, what?”

Discord rolled his eyes and leaned back in the tree. “Ever since I made my first grand appearance in Ponyville last year and made their lives a bit more exciting, most of them have been less than welcoming. Which is a shame because if I’m going to live here the LEAST they can do is not treat me like a horrible monster anymore. I mean if Fluttershy of all ponies can forgive and forget then I don’t get why the rest have to be such sticks in the mud.”

“You’re friends with Fluttershy. Really?” Wayfarer hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk with Fluttershy, but he had gotten the feeling she wasn’t very sociable to begin with. But being friends with a mismatched creature of chaos was not something he would have guessed from the yellow pegasus in a million years.

“Your surprise is unwarranted," Discord said. "She’s not as unapproachable as her wallflower nature might lead you to believe. She is the lone exception to the rule of ‘Everypony Hates Discord.’ That is until you came along. So again I must ask, out of the vaguest of curiosities, why?”

Wayfarer didn’t really know what to say. Sure Discord seemed rude, and the way Celestia and Twilight treated him made it obvious he could be a handful. But Wayfarer hadn’t seen him do anything excessively wrong since he’d met him. Wayfarer considered that might be in part to how little time the two had been exposed to each other, but that still wasn’t a reason to dislike him, OR like him for that matter.

“You haven’t really given me a reason to like or dislike you.” Wayfarer answered. “You just seem really bored all the time.”

“And there’s a reason for that!” Discord shouted as he dropped from the tree. “I used to be the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony! I ruled all of Equestria with near omnipotence! But now if I so much as make it snow during the summer I’ll be turned to stone again!”

“Well…" Wayfarer said, grimacing as his eyes flicked back and forth as if the forthcoming solution was blatantly obvious. "Don’t make it snow during the summer.”

Discord glared at Wayfarer before continuing his tirade. “I suppose that’s easy enough for you, but I am capable of doing just about anything I please with merely a thought! It’s just that now there are consequences for doing so. Consequences that I find most unpleasant. To have that much power and not be able to use it to its fullest potential, do you have any idea how maddening that is?”

Wayfarer contemplated that question for a moment. True he couldn’t imagine what it must be like to have as much power as Discord was suggesting he had, but at the same time it’s not like Wayfarer himself had never been bored. Heck he was sort of in the same boat right now.

“Ever think about getting a hobby?” Wayfarer asked.

Discord raised an eyebrow at that, then started to scratch at his head. “Well I used to torment ponies just to see how far their sanity would go before it cracked like an egg, but that seems to be out of the question at the moment.”

“I was thinking something, you know, constructive. Like… sports!”

Again Discord gave Wayfarer a look of annoyed disbelief. “I was never really good at sports. Sports tend to involve working with a team, and it’s difficult to work in groups when you’re omnipotent.”

Wayfarer couldn’t argue with that, but that wasn't his only suggestion. “Well, what about the arts?”

“The arts? Like painting?” Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly he was dressed up in a very poofy and frilly outfit from the Equestrian Renaissance, complete with beret. He snapped his fingers again and suddenly he was holding a can of paint and staring down an easel with a fresh canvas on it. He held out a hand with his thumb up, eyeing the blank space, before grabbing the bucket with both hands and flinging the contents at the canvas. The paint made contact and started to run down the surface, leaving a very distorted image of Discord’s face. He then walked to the piece and began to examine it.

“Eh, not my best work.” He said as he picked it up and tossed it into a trashcan that had appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared after the painting landed in it with a thud. “You see? There’s nothing fun or satisfying in doing something so… ordinary. I NEED chaos! I need to mess with ponies’ heads every now and then! That’s what’s really exciting for me!”

Wayfarer didn’t really know what to say to that. Discord obviously needed some sort of outlet, but Wayfarer was at a loss at what sort of productive things the God of Chaos could do to occupy his time.

“Well, I suppose I’ll go see how Fluttershy’s latest critter tea party is going.” Discord said in a rather defeated tone. He rose up from the ground a bit and started to float away, before he stopped and turned his head around to look at Wayfarer again. “So what were you doing out here all by your lonesome?”

Wayfarer sighed and kicked the dirt a bit with his front hooves. “Same as you I guess, a whole lot of nothing.”

Discord stared hard at Wayfarer for a moment before smirking. “One would wonder why anypony would move to such a boring little town.”

“Too much excitement isn’t necessarily a good thing. though this town does seem to lean more towards the side of ‘ordinary’, at least during the day.”

Discord smirked again before turning his head back around and continuing on his way. “Be thankful for that little bit of excitement in your life Wayfarer, because the way Celestia was talking this morning convinced me that she was prepared to drop the sun on the castle and be done with it after last night’s fiasco.”

Wayfarer watched as the draconequus flew off, unable to stop himself from feeling a bit of camaraderie with him. Discord did have a point: on it’s own Ponyville didn’t seem all that exciting. It was certainly a relief from the hustle and bustle that drove Wayfarer away from Baltimare, but at the same time he missed the theaters and art galleries and music halls and all the other things that made big cities so enjoyable.

“I’m sure we’ll both find some way to entertain ourselves.” Wayfarer thought to himself. “I mean there’s a royal living here and they’re building a castle! How long before this town has a Concert Hall or Amphitheater too?”

The moon was rising high into the sky, the sun only an hour into its rest below the horizon. Most of Canterlot’s residents were either returning, or had returned, to their homes to retire for the night. The perfect time for a small chariot to slip away unnoticed.

“Just how long do you plan on staying in Ponyville, Sister?” Princess Luna asked as she watched Celestia load several boxes onto her chariot.

“I have no idea, Luna,” Celestia responded. “It may be a few weeks, a few months, perhaps even a year. It doesn’t matter, because I have to be sure.”

“Sure of what?” Luna asked, raising an eye at her solar counterpart.

“Sure that this isn’t another one of my mistakes coming back to threaten my subjects.”

Celestia strapped down the final box and then turned to her sister. Celestia wasn’t wearing any of her ornate attire. She planned on disguising herself as a common citizen before she reached Ponyville so she could walk around in the open. So the crown, horseshoes, and necklace were all left in her quarters and she had prepared herself a transformation spell beforehand. Even her guards were being left behind this time, the chariot being pulled by her own magic.

“I still don’t understand why that means you don’t want me there as well.” Luna said. “If memory serves, it could very well be my mistake as well. You are not the only one who has debts to pay, Sister.”

“You have paid for your mistakes ten fold Luna, and I won’t let you pay anymore.”

Luna's anger began to flare. "I've done so much damage to the citizens of this nation, and even after a thousand years of exile I still came back with the intent to try and over throw you. Will you not let me help you make up for that? Even if it's what I desire?"

“Especially if it’s what you desire," Celestia retorted. "If you still feel so guilty for your actions after I and our subjects have forgiven you, then continuing to pursue that guilt will only do you harm. I will not let you fall into that hole again Sister."

"And yet, I'm supposed to let you fall in yourself?" Luna grumbled as she stared at Celestia. The two continued to eye each other until Celestia sighed and climbed aboard the chariot. “Can you at least tell me one thing?” Luna asked. “What are you hoping to find in this ‘crevasse’ beneath Princess Twilight’s Castle?”

“I am hoping to find nothing," Celestia admitted. "I’m hoping that this is nothing but a hive of monsters that I can easily banish to Tartarus.”

Luna was silent for a moment before asking a similar question. “What are you expecting to find?”

Celestia was silent for even longer before she replied “I don’t want to think about it.”

“Sister…”

“Canterlot is in your capable hooves Luna. Please don’t hesitate to write if you need any help.”

“Sister,” Luna said as she stepped up next to the carriage. “Will you do the same if YOU need assistance?”

Celestia didn’t answer as she cast the spell to send the chariot forward and then up into the sky, leaving Luna to stare sadly at the silhouette as it disappeared into the clouds.

Author's Notes:

I think from this point on I'm going to keep the chapters short, unless it's something big, like another pony joining the party.

The next chapter should come out quicker than this one, as the EQD Artist Training Ground is over, so I can focus on writing, and I already have a good start on it.

As always though, I'd like to get all of your feedback on this, both the good and the bad. And if anyone is interested, I'd like a prereader. Preferably someone who's used to reading long stories.

Also, I'm thinking about including links to Persona music where they would be relevant. Yay or nay?

Chapter 4: The Sun

Wayfarer woke up from yet another restless night of sleep. Not from any odd dreams, those had seemed to stop after the first few evenings, but because Twilight had decided to throw a slumber party. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy had all chatted away from the moment they came back from their last bout of stargazing until VERY late at night. Wayfarer was grateful to most of them for respecting his desire to sleep, but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash seemed to think he and Spike should join them. Spike outright refused on the grounds of not wanting anything to do with that “girly nonsense” as he called it. Wayfarer on the other hoof wouldn’t have had a problem with it, if his legs didn’t feel like brittle twigs from walking aimlessly all over town that evening. By the time he got back to the library all he wanted to do was sleep.

Wayfarer was just glad he didn’t have to get up early for work as he dragged himself out of bed and into the hallway, where he was greeted by the smell of cinnamon and maple syrup. He followed the delectable scent all the way to the kitchen, where the remainder of Twilight’s friends were all sitting around her table, with a large stack of french toast at the center.

“Good Morning to you Wayfarer.” Rarity said as she levitated three golden brown squares off the stack and carefully arranged them on her plate. “Goodness you look a mess! Did you not sleep well?”

“Not really," Wayfarer said as he twisted his neck around to work out the last kinks of sleep. "Thanks for that by the way Rainbow Dash," he added, throwing a glare her way.

“Sorry if I didn’t want you to miss out on the fun,” Dash mumbled.

“My apologies Wayfarer,” Rarity said, casting her own annoyed look at Rainbow Dash. “It was not my intention to rob you of your beauty sleep.”

“It’s fine Miss Rarity, I don’t have work today anyway,” Wayfarer said as he took a head count.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were nowhere to be seen, so he assumed they had left already. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy were at the table, and Twilight was levitating all the cooking supplies back into their cupboards. Spike was apparently still asleep as he was also absent.

“Well don’t just stand there,” Rainbow Dash said as she stabbed her fork right through what looked like a dozen pieces of toast and hefted them onto her plate. “Take a seat! I got awesome news!” Rolling his eyes a bit, Wayfarer sat down in between Rainbow Dash and Rarity, just as Twilight took her seat next to Fluttershy.

“Alright,” Rainbow began as Wayfarer also helped himself to breakfast. “Remember yesterday when I told you about my idea of starting a sports team? Well I talked to Applejack too and she says she’s in!” Wayfarer just stared at her and nodded, waiting for her to say exactly what sport they’d be playing.

“AJ said she might be able to convince her brother Big Macintosh to join, and her cousin Caramel Apple.” Rainbow continued. “So we’ve got five ponies so far! And if I can get Snowflake, Thunderlane, and Cloudchaser that’s eight!”

“That’s great Rainbow,” Wayfarer tried to interject “But what are we-”

“I WOULD like a few more Earth Ponies, but I don’t know very many outside of the Apple Family and the Cakes,” Rainbow Dash said, ignoring Wayfarer. “And as for unicorns, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a unicorn play sports actually. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, most of them are pretty egg headish.”

“Uh, Rainbow?”

“Excuse me Rainbow Dash,” Twilight interrupted. “But there are plenty of unicorns who play sports.”

“Chess doesn’t count as a sport Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said dismissively.

“It is too a sport!" Twilight protested. "And I’ve seen unicorns play contact sports too you know!”

“Do you know any that live around here?” Dash said doubtfully.

“As a matter of fact.” Twilight smirked. “I know several! There’s Allie Way,”

“She’s a bowler. I’ve never seen her play anything else.”

“There’s Comet Tail.”

“Can’t catch a ball to save his life.”

“What about Holly Dash?”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth for a moment before closing it again and tapping her chin with a hoof. “Okay, that’s one. But she’s a ‘Dash,’ and there’s only room for one of us on this team.”

“Rainbow Dash?” Wayfarer said, raising his voice a little.

“Yeah?” She said, turning to look at him.

“What sport are we going to play?”

“Heck if I know," Dash shrugged. Everyone in the room looked at Rainbow Dash with disbelief before simultaneously rolling their eyes. “What?” Dash asked, looking around.

“Darling,” Rarity said. “Don’t you think you should actually decide what your little team will be doing before you start forming it? That seems like an important thing to know.”

“Is it?” Dash asked. “I figured we’d just do everything. Hoofball, Soccer, Track.” Then something seemed to click in Rainbow Dash’s head, a light bulb was all that was missing from her over excited expression as she looked right into Wayfarer’s eyes. “OOH! IDEA! What if we put a whole team together to compete in the Equestria Games!” Wayfarer could have sworn he heard a pin drop in the silence that followed, before Rarity and Twilight erupted into uproarious laughter. Rainbow Dash turned and just glared at the two. "What's so funny?" She asked indignantly.

“I-I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said. “But the ponies who enter the Equestria Games train for YEARS to be as good as they are. And the Games are next Summer.”

“That’s plenty of time to get ready!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Maybe for you,” Rarity said. “But what about some the other ponies you plan on roping into this. Can you really see some of them competing in something as prestigious as The Equestrian Games?”

“Snowflake, Thunderlane, and Cloudchaser are all on the same Wonderbolts team as me!” Rainbow argued. “And if anypony is fit to compete, it’s a Wonderbolt!”

“You’re on the Wonderbolts?” Wayfarer asked in surprise.

“Yep!” Rainbow Dash said, puffing out her chest proudly, before deflating a bit and adding. “Well, I’m still in training. And so is the rest of my team… and it’s not so much a team as it is a group of probationary members.” She scratched her head a bit as her eyes shifted. “Okay so none of us are really a part of the Wonderbolts quite yet.”

“Still, that’s pretty impressive Rainbow Dash,” Wayfarer said. “I’ve been a casual fan of the group for years. I got to see them perform a few years ago when Baltimore hosted the Summer Sun Celebration. I really hope you get a spot, you must be really good.”

“Thanks!” Rainbow Dash said as she offered her hoof to Wayfarer, which he then knocked his own hoof against. “So who’s your favourite Wonderbolt?” She asked.

Wayfarer froze for a moment. “Uhmm, I don’t really know any of their names so I can’t really say.” Rainbow looked at him incredulously. “I said I was just a casual fan.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “But even Twilight knows a few of them, and she’s BARELY a casual fan!”

“Actually Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “I only really know a few members names because of how often you talk about them. I doubt I’d even be able to point out Soarin or Fleetfoot from the rest of them if you asked me.”

“Same for me.” Rarity said. “Though I will admit that I might know them a little better because of how often I read up on the derbies in Canterlot.”

“Same for me too.” Fluttershy said quietly, reminding Wayfarer that she was indeed still there.

“So… I’m pretty much the only one here who knows all the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow said with a slight hint of disappointment.

“Mhmm.” Everyone mumbled in affirmation.

“And I’m pretty much the biggest Wonderbolts Fan in all of Ponyville?”

“Probably anywhere outside of Canterlot or Cloudsdale.” Rarity said.

Rainbow paused for a moment before asking another question. “Do you guys think the average pony on the street would know any of the Wonderbolts?”

“The average pony?” Twilight said, pondering the question “Well, I’d definitely be able to pick out Spitfire, but she’s almost the face of the entire organization.”

“Rainbow Dash, what are you getting at?” Rarity asked. Rainbow sat still for a while, staring at her unfinished plate of food. Eventually she looked back up with an obviously forced grin on her face.

“Aah it’s nothing!” She said, standing up. “I’m going to go find Snowflake, Thunderlane and Cloudchaser and see what they think. Catch you guys later!” And with that she zoomed out of the room and out the front door before any of them could manage a farewell. They all looked at each other with varying degrees of confusion as Spike walked in with an overtly loud yawn.

“Oh, good morning Spike!” Fluttershy said.

“What’s so good about it?” Spike grumbled as he took the seat Rainbow Dash just vacated. “You know you guys make it really hard to get some shut eye around here? Next time you decide to have a slumber party, say something before hand so that I can make plans to crash at somepony else’s place?”

“My apologies Spikey Wikey.” Rarity said. Wayfarer had just shoved the last bit of his food into his mouth and almost spat it back out in laughter before he managed to choke it down.

“Spikey Wikey?” He said, barely containing a grin. Spike ignored this and dug into Rainbow Dash’s forgotten breakfast.

“So why was Dash out of here in such a hurry?” He asked through a mouthful of toast. “She looked a bit tense.”

“I don’t know Spike.” Twilight said. “Somepony might want to talk to her though and see what’s up. We probably said something that she didn’t like.”

“Well seeing as I’ve finished the brunt of my orders,” Rarity said, also standing up. “And since I have nothing else to do today, I suppose I can go and see what’s bothering our star flyer.” She looked at Twilight and Fluttershy in turn. “No offense to you two of course.”

“None taken,” the other two said in unison.

“Good bye then,” Rarity said as she dropped her empty plate gently into the sink on her way out. “Thank you for the lovely time Twilight.”

The remaining four sat in relative silence, continuing to eat their breakfast, until Spike started to gag slightly. Wayfarer noticed this and was about to slap a hoof across the dragon’s back before Spike belched out a small jet of green fire, which materialized into a small scroll. Twilight plucked the scroll out of the air and was about to open it when something caught her eye.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked. “A letter from the princess?”

“I think so,” Twilight said. “But it’s addressed to Wayfarer.”

Both Twilight and Wayfarer looked very confused as she handed the scroll over to him. He undid the seal and read the few short lines scrawled on the paper.

Wayfarer, please come to the Cafe on the north edge of Ponyville, alone. Ask for “Sunny Skies.”

Don’t tell Twilight where you are going.

Wayfarer stared at the scrap of paper for a while, turning it over to see if there was anything else. When he didn’t see anything he looked up at Twilight, who was staring right at him.

“What am I SUPPOSED to tell her?” He thought as he rolled up the paper again. “Guess I’ll just have to wing it.”

“What did it say?” Twilight asked as he got up.

“Ummm… Celestia wants me to go take care of something involving ‘you know what’.” Wayfarer said, hoping that would keep Twilight from asking any more questions in front of the other two.

“Oh,” Twilight said, shifting her eyes over to a slightly confused Fluttershy and Spike. “Does she need me too?”

“No, she just asked for me. I’ll see you around guys.” Wayfarer made tracks for the door, shoving the note in his pocket and hoping that Twilight wouldn’t try following him. Thankfully she didn’t and the door closed behind Wayfarer and allowed her to try and explain things to Fluttershy and Spike.

The cafe was like the one he’d had lunch at yesterday with Cheerilee, only it seemed a bit newer and more upper class than that one. A unicorn waitress approached Wayfarer as he entered and greeted him with a smile.

“Hi! Can I find you a table sir?”

“Umm, I’m looking for ‘Sunny Days’?”

The waitress nodded and looked down at the clipboard she was carrying. After a moment she smiled and looked back up.

“She’s waiting for you in one of the outdoor booths. This way sir.”

The two made their way through the mostly empty cafe and out a side door to what looked like a large gazebo combined with a green house. It too was empty save for a lone white pegasus with pink hair who was gazing out into the empty fields surrounding Ponyville. She turned as they approached and grinned, waving Wayfarer over to her.

“Here he is ma’am!” The waitress said as Wayfarer sat down with a look of confusion on his face. “Would you like to order something now?”

“That would be nice. I’d love a Lavender Lilly Salad if you’d be so kind.” The pegasus said with a voice that Wayfarer immediately recognized.

“And you sir?”

“Umm, I’ll uhhh…” Wayfarer stuttered for a bit. He'd already eaten breakfast, but that fact was way out of his mind as he tried to figure out what was happening. “I’ll have the same…”

“Alrighty then. They’ll be out in a few minutes.” The Waitress then walked back inside, leaving Wayfarer and the strangely familiar pegasus alone to stare at each other.

“So you managed to get my note without Twilight seeing it?” The Pegasus asked.

“Celestia?” Wayfarer said in a shocked whisper.

The Pegasus simply nodded and laughed. “Please, call me Sunny Days. I take it my disguise is convincing enough?”

“Very. Except for your voice," Wayfarer said. "I was able to recognize it. It’s… Princessy I guess you could say.” Celestia frowned a bit at that and pursed her lips for a moment before smiling again.

“How’s this?” She asked. “Not as ‘Princessy’ any more?” Her voice still sounded similar, but the calm and soothing quality of it was replaced with a more excitable and uplifting beat and pitch. Before it sounded like a mother conversing with her child, now it was like a long time childhood friend, eager to catch up after a year's absence.

“Better,” Wayfarer said. “But why are you trying to disguise yourself to begin with?” Celestia sighed and leaned her head back.

“I like being able to walk around without everypony rushing up to me and bowing," she explained. “It tends to slow me down at the most inopportune times. I was only able to get around town the last few days because of an invisibility spell, but I don’t want to have it up all the time.”

“Why not?” Wayfarer asked “That seems more convenient to be able move about without being seen.”

“In most cases, yes. But being able to walk around unobstructed is only a part of why I’m using this form.” She paused and looked up at Wayfarer. “Tell me Wayfarer, how is Twilight?”

“Umm…” He paused, not sure of what to say exactly. “Well she had a sleepover last night and seemed pretty chipper this morning.”

“And what about yesterday morning,” Celestia asked with the slightest hint of pleading in her voice. “How was she then?” Wayfarer hesitated and looked around, there was nopony in earshot, which he suspected was the reason Celestia picked to meet at a high class cafe early in the morning. He sighed and told Celestia what he could.

“She’s confused,” He said. “Which I can understand because, frankly, so am I.”

“You two must have a lot of questions,” she sighed, averting her gaze.

“We do,” Wayfarer said with a nod. “And she really wants you to help answer them.”

“Answers are something I can give," Celestia said as she looked to the side, fully away from Wayfarer. “But… not now. I am conflicted, and I can’t guarantee I can give adequate answers when I am in such a state.”

Wayfarer hesitated for a moment before nodding and leaning back in his seat. He really wanted to dive into questions, but he understood that this was probably a trying time for her. Better to give those decisions and answers the time to be contemplated, instead of rushing to give them too early early and only confuse everyone further. Wayfarer was willing to wait, but something told him that Twilight would be more anxious to have their questions answered.

“So, how are you enjoying life in Ponyville?” Celestia suddenly asked. Wayfarer looked surprised for a moment before answering.

“Oh, umm… it’s quaint, I guess," he shrugged. "Kind of miss some of the draws of a large city though, like the theatre and what not. But it seems like a quiet place to live.” Celestia tried to hold back a snicker at this. “What?”

“Sorry, but Ponyville only SEEMS quiet," she said. "It’s a town that has a knack for being caught in the middle of things.”

“Yeah, Spike and Twilight said something similar when I moved here, but I didn’t really think much of it.”

“Trust me Wayfarer.” Celestia said with a smirk. “If Twilight’s letters are anything to go by, this quaint little town is anything but quiet.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

The waitress returned soon after that and delivered their food. Celestia was quick to dig in, with all the grace of somepony who was taught how to be graceful and apparently chose to ignore it. Wayfarer however barely touched the plate in front of him.

“Something wrong with your food?” Celestia asked. “I’ll admit the lilies don’t taste fresh, but otherwise it seems alright.”

“It’s not the lilies.” Wayfarer said. “I just got done with breakfast."

"Ahh," Celestia said. "Sorry, I should have guessed you'd have eaten already. Don't feel the need to continue or anything if you don't want to."

"It isn't just that," Wayfarer added. "I was... thinking.”

“A dangerous pastime," Celestia said with a faux serious tone. She then smiled and waved her hoof in a circle. "Though a necessary one. May I ask what about?”

“About Twilight’s…” He stopped and looked around. He still didn’t see anypony, but he lowered his voice anyway. “Her shadow. Her other self. I was thinking about what it said.” Celestia sighed, looking at her plate for a moment before pushing it away and giving Wayfarer her full attention. “It said that you…" Wayfarer hesitated, he didn't want to accedently offend Celestia with this line of questioning, but he knew it would nag at him if he didn't pursue it. "It said that you ‘forced’ wings on Twilight. Is she not a natural born Alicorn?”

Celestia shook her head and answered back, forgoing Wayfarer's whispered tone. “No, she isn’t. I gave her a book with an incomplete spell. A spell that harnessed a magic most of my court mages could never understand: Friendship. Twilight was able to complete it, and with a little push from me, it turned her into an Alicorn.” Celestia turned her head to the side. Not daring to look at Wayfarer. “I didn’t tell her what the spell would do though, or give her the choice to accept what was happening to her. I just did what I thought was right for her and Equestria.”

“Do you still think it’s right?” Wayfarer asked.

“I don’t know. She was almost killed by her Shadow because of that decision, and yet she accepted it and forgave me anyway… but that doesn’t make it right. All the trials and tribulations she’s gone through these last few years just made her seem like she was ready. Now it seems I was mistaken.” She snorted in self irritation. “Might as well add it to the growing list of horrible mistakes I’ve made as princess.”

“It’s only a horrible mistake if you let it be,” Wayfarer exclaimed.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Twilight said it herself when she accepted her Shadow. If she believes she’s chained to her destiny, then it might as well be true. And the same is true if you believe that your mistakes only weigh you down.”

Celestia stared at Wayfarer for a moment before a smile broke over her face. “That’s very… wise of you, Wayfarer. But answer me this: Should all mistakes be forgotten so easily?”

“I didn’t say forgotten. Forgiven might be a better word.”

“Yes, well, either way, my past and my mistakes tend to have lasting repercussions. I’ve done many things in the nearly fifteen hundred years I've lived, and I imagine I’ll do many more before my hourglass finally runs out.”

“And I’m sure by that point," Wayfarer said, smiling in an attempt to try and cheer Celestia up. "You won’t be leaving with regrets.”

“Debatable, especially if you ask some of the nobility in Canterlot,” she humphed at this and shook her head.

“I take it they aren’t a pleasant bunch to deal with.”

“That is an understatement if there ever was one," Celestia said, her voice turning stern. "To them, my very rule is a mistake. Many believe I should be more like my sister: Strict, stoic, and stone faced. But that is not what Equestria needs, and it’s not what I need.”

“And… what is it that you need?”

Celestia paused a moment before allowing a small smile to crease her face and answering. “Fun. I need to be able to walk outside and enjoy the spring showers. I need to be able to crack jokes every now and then to lighten the mood. And,” She stopped suddenly, before giving a look of great indigence and frustration. “And I want to be allowed to flirt with whoever I wish!”

“W-what?” Wayfarer gasped, trying hard not to crack a smile at this decree.

“I may be a Princess, but I am also a pony just like the rest of them, and I too wish for companionship!” Celestia looked to Wayfarer, with a trace of sadness in her eyes. “I am hundreds of years old and I’ve been through many great ordeals in that time. Is it so much to ask for a little fun now and again?”

“No,” Wayfarer said without hesitation. “It most certainly is not.”

Celestia blushed slightly at that, then started to giggle despite herself. “Thank you Wayfarer,” she said, standing up. “You’ve been very kind to listen to my worries. And I promise you that, when I’m ready, I will listen to the worries of both you and Twilight.”

Celestia decided to not wait for the waitress to come back with the bill and just pulled a sack of bits from her bag and dropped it on the table with a resounding thud. The two then made their way out the back and, after walking a ways together, parted ways. Wayfarer grinned to himself as he walked. He felt that he’d somehow connected with the Princess of the Sun, and he realized that both her and Twilight probably needed the same thing right now, somepony treating them as ponies rather than princesses.

With a newfound spring in his step, Wayfarer started to seriously consider Rainbow Dash’s Sports Team idea. He decided to go find her and help in setting this club up, then he realized he had no idea where she lived. Stopping in the middle of the road, he started to scratch his head and look around. “hmm… She said she talked with Applejack about it. Maybe I ought to go ask her.” Turning down a different road, Wayfarer started to head out of town. However, as he passed the last house on the street just before the road stretched into the fields, he noticed something rather peculiar. Mrs Cake, the baker from Sugarcube Corner, was walking back in from out of town, looking very distressed.

“Wonder what’s up?” Wayfarer thought as the baker approached.

“Hello Mrs. Cake,” Wayfarer said. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh no, not at... well maybe, I don’t know Deary,” She mumbled, shifting about and glancing all around them. “Umm… have you seen my husband around?”

“I don’t think I’ve even met your husband yet," Wayfarer said, scratching at his head. "What’s he look like?”

“He’s tall, sort of gangly, he has a yellow coat and a short orange mane.”

That didn't ring any bells for Wayfarer. “Hmm… sorry, I haven’t seen him.”

Mrs. Cake slumped a bit at that. “Oh, alright. Never mind then, he’s probably out shopping for baking supplies. Sorry to bother you deary.”

“Do you need help looking for him?” Wayfarer asked, starting to look concerned.

“Oh no no. I’ll be alright. You have a good day Wayfarer!”

“Umm… you too Mrs Cake.”

The baker then turned and started lightly jogging the rest of the way into town, leaving Wayfarer to simply stare after her for a moment before continuing on his way. The buildings and ponies were sparse out here, and soon they were replaced entirely with row upon row of apple trees. The fence that bordered the massive grove and the dirt road seemed to stretch on forever, broken only by a tall sign that read “Sweet Apple Acres”.

As Wayfarer passed the boundary line and into the orchard proper, he was almost trampled by a small group of familiar fillies that rushed out of the trees and across his path. When they realized they’d just passed somepony, they stopped and turned to look back at him.

“Hey Wayfarer!” All three of them shouted.

“Hello Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. Are you three enjoying your day off?”

“We sure are!” Apple Bloom said as they pranced over to Wayfarer. “Sweetie Belle was going to show us that oriental thing you showed her yesterday!”

“Orientation,” Wayfarer corrected.

“Ohhh, I thought it was something like that.” Sweetie Belle mumbled as she started to dig through her saddle bags, pulling out a metal compass. “Could you show us how you did it? I ummm, can’t really remember everything.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rolled their eyes as Sweetie Belle gave Wayfarer the compass.

“Do you have a proper map?” Wayfarer asked.

“Sure do!” Scootaloo said, now going to her own bags. “We made it ourselves!”

The map she pulled out was just a series of admittedly well done crayon drawings. However, there was no map key, no gauge of distance, and no way of telling north.

“Uhh,” Wayfarer stammered as the three looked up at him expectantly. “I hate to burst your bubble girls, but this isn’t a ‘proper’ map.”

“Well of course it is!” Scootaloo declared, rolling her eyes and laying the map on the ground. “Look, here’s where we are: Sweet Apple Acres! And here’s Sweetie Belle’s sister’s shop, and Twilight’s library!”

“How far is it from here to Carousel Boutique?” Wayfarer asked pointedly.

“Huh?” Scootaloo said, giving him a weird look. “What are you talking about? It’s just down the road and closer to the center of town.”

“And would I be able to tell that from this map?”

“Why would you need that?”

“Because if you had handed me this map before I got off the train, I would have thought that Ponyville was a small group of about five buildings and a pond, and that Sweet Apple Acres and Rarity’s shop were right next to each other.”

Scootaloo paused for a moment, then looked at the map, then looked around her at all the trees, then back to the map, then back to Wayfarer with a very annoyed look. “Well… we don’t have enough paper to fit the whole town in just one map!”

Wayfarer just sighed and smiled before turning to Apple Bloom. “Where’s your big sister?" He asked. "Maybe she’s got a map you can use.”

Apple Bloom shrugged, then pointed over at the farm house. “She’s in the house talk’n with Granny Smith about someth’n.”

“Great. I wanted to talk with her anyways, so lets go.”

The three of them nodded and started trotting in between the trees toward the bright red house. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom seemed to be excited, but Scootaloo was lagging a bit behind, tossing Wayfarer really cross looks every now and then. Wayfarer was confused by this, and even looked behind himself the first few times he noticed it, thinking she was glaring at something behind him. It didn’t last long before they reached the house and Apple Bloom pushed open the front door to let them all inside.

“Hey Big Sis!” Apple Bloom yelled into the big house.

“Shush!” Came a voice from upstairs. “Granny Smith is taking her nap now Apple Bloom.” Applejack trotted down the steps with a burly red stallion following behind her. “What’cha all want? Oh, howdy Wayfarer!”

“Howdy to you too Applejack.” Wayfarer said before pointing over to the stallion. “I take it you’re Big Macintosh?”

“Eeyup.” He said simply, swishing a bit of wheat in his mouth side to side as he analyzed Wayfarer.

“Pleasure to meet you," Wayfarer said, stretching a hoof out in greeting. "I’m Wayfarer.” Big Macintosh simply nodded and took Wayfarer's hoof in his own, giving it a hardy shake before he walked passed the lot of them and out the door. Wayfarer staring after him for a moment before looking over to Applejack.

“Don’t mind him,” She said. “He’s the strong but silent type. Now what are y’all up to?”

“I ran into these three on my way over here,” Wayfarer said. “They asked me to show them how to orient a map, but they don’t have one of the town that’s to scale. Do you have one?”

Applejack pursed her lips in thought for a moment. “Never had a use for one, seeing as we’ve always lived in this town, but I MIGHT have an old one somewhere in the attic. Wait right here and I’ll go look’n for it.” With that she climbed back up the stairs and out of sight. Wayfarer and the other three moved to the table in the kitchen, where Wayfarer was bombarded yet again with questions.

“So how’d you get your Cutie Mark?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Honestly, I can’t really remember.”

“What?!" Apple Bloom shouted in shock, before she covered her mouth when she remembered she had to be quiet. "But that’s like, the most import’n thing in a pony’s life! How can you NOT remember it?”

“I had an accident some time ago,” Wayfarer said. “A lot of my life before hoof is pretty much a blur because of it.”

“Aww, that’s so sad!” Sweetie Belle said, she honestly looked close to tears. “I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t remember most of my life.”

“You have a hard enough time remembering what happened last week.” Scootaloo mumbled, making Sweetie Belle’s cheeks puff up and glow red.

“Well what did you do for a liv’n before you came here?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Odd jobs mostly.” Wayfarer said, shrugging his shoulders. “Whatever needed doing basically.” Applejack came back down stairs a few minutes later with a rather old looking bit of parchment in her mouth. She placed it on the table and allowed it to roll flat in front of them all.

“This is a map of Ponyville from about fifty years ago, back before even I was around.” She said as the three fillies began to pour over the sheet of paper. “Because of that, it ain’t exactly accurate anymore. I reckon the town is about a third bigger than it was back then. But Town Hall is on there, and so is the farm house.”

“Is our School on here?” Applebloom asked, eyeing the tiny squares.

“Nah,” Applejack said, pointing at an empty spot on the map. “That was built around the time Big Macintosh was born.”

“Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea!” Sweetie Belle cried out. “Why don’t we add the school and all the other places missing on the map!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo said “That’s sure to get us our Cutie Marks!” All three fillies went for the map at the same time, but their mouths closed on empty air as Applejack rescued it from being torn in three directions.

“Oh no you don’t!” She said, rolling the map back up protectively. “This is a piece of Ponyville history right here! I ain’t lett’n yall draw all over it with crayon or whatever. You want to make a map of Ponyville, I suggest going to Twilight and asking her for a book on map making.”

“Cartography,” Wayfarer said.

“Gazuntite,” Sweetie Belle said.

“No, ‘Cartography’ is the study and practice of map making," Wayfarer explained. "If you made a map of Ponyville, that would make you ‘Cartographers’.”

The three beamed at this and glanced at each other before taking in a big gulp of air. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CARTOGOPHERS!” the three yelled at the top of their lungs, making Wayfarer and Applejack’s ears flatten against the side of their heads, as they rushed out of the house.

Applejack shook her head and sighed. “Those three," she grumbled. "Sometimes they make me want to pull my mane out.”

“Why’s that?” Wayfarer asked.

“They got a hard time putt’n two and two together sometimes,” she bemoaned. “I’ve been hint’n to Apple Bloom that if she want’s her Cutie Mark so bad that she needs to stop with all this crusade’n and just find someth’n she LIKES do’n.” Applejack tightened her grip on the map and tapped it against her neck twice before heading back to the stairs to put it away. Wayfarer hesitated a moment before following after her.

“But surely there’s nothing wrong with trying new things? Is there?” Wayfarer asked.

“Nothing at all!” Applejack said. “Scept they’re so focused on get’n their Cutie Marks that you got to wonder how else that might be affecting them. Apple Bloom used to have a good friend named Twist, but then Twist got her Mark and now I never see the two together. It’s as if Apple Bloom don’t think of her as a friend any more.” Applejack pushed open a door at the end of the hall that led to a room with a bunch of boxes and old furniture. She moved to an ornate chest that had been left open and set the map inside, then closed the chest back up and turned to Wayfarer.

“I am glad that my sister still has friends who are in the same boat as her, but part of me wonders if they’d find their Cutie Marks faster if they weren’t tripp’n over each other’s hooves.” Applejack went wide eyed at this and suddenly looked guilty. “That was a horrible thing to say. But consarn it if it ain’t true! I’m more anxious about my little sister now than I’ve ever been! And poor Granny Smith’s condition ain’t help’n matters!” Applejack stopped, then trotted over to the door and raised her ear up into the hall. Wayfarer joined her and, somewhere in the house, he could her the gentle snoring of some other pony in the house. Applejack sighed and started to walk back to the stairs.

“I’m sorry to dump all that on you Wayfarer,” She said quietly. “Ain’t noth’n you need to be worry’n about though, they’ll figure it out sooner or later.” The two stepped quietly down the stairs and continued out the front door. Applejack started heading into the orchard and Wayfarer followed. “Was there something else you needed Sugarcube?” She asked.

“Actually, I came by hoping you could tell me where Rainbow Dash is. I’ve decided I wanted to help her organize this sports team of hers, and she seems like she needs somepony with a level head to help her out with that.”

Applejack stopped and turned to Wayfarer, a sad sort of smile on her face. “I don’t think Rainbow Dash is in a fit state to talk about that right now,” She said. “She came by this morning and started quizz’n me about her favourite flying team, The Wonderbolts. She tell you about that?”

“How she’s on the team?” Wayfarer said. “Yeah, she did.”

“Yeah, well, I answered all her questions as best I could but she didn’t seem too happy when it was over with. Actually she looked sort a terrified. Flew off yelling something about more training before I could even ask her what was wrong.”

“That’s what she did this morning too. Rarity said she was going to talk to her.”

“I don’t know what good it’ll do, but I hope she can help Dash get over whatever’s bug’n her. Well I got to get back to work, nice chatting with you Wayfarer!” The two waved good bye and parted ways. Wayfarer left Sweet Apple Acres and retrotted the same path that brought him there.

It was Mid Afternoon when Wayfarer found himself near Sugar Cube Corner, contemplating the idea of going in for a refreshment. He allowed his eyes to wonder about the buildings and the passerby, not really paying attention, until he saw a familiar looking Pegasus atop a flower shop across from the Cake’s sweet shop. It was the creepy pegasus mare from the other day, eyeing the ponies in the street, occasionally tossing irritated glances at Sugar Cube Corner.

“What is she up to?” Wayfarer thought as he glared at her.

She then looked over at him and, for a brief moment, their eyes locked. She then proceeded to take to the air and fly off in another direction. Wayfarer pursed his lips, deciding that he was going to let Twilight and Celestia know that it wasn’t just in the castle where weird things were happening. Speaking of the princesses, Wayfarer tore his gaze away from the roof tops to look back at the crowd, only to notice that Celestia, still in her disguise, was walking up the road to Sugarcube corner. Wayfarer almost waved at her, but then noticed she had a bit of a nervous look about her. Looking past her, Wayfarer saw that Twilight wasn’t far behind.

At first Wayfarer thought Twilight had found out about Celestia’s disguise, but then he saw that she was still hanging out with Fluttershy, and the two seemed more focused on each other than on Celestia.

Wayfarer walked over to Celestia as she was passing, her eyes shifting over to him before glancing back at Twilight and Fluttershy.

“Something wrong?” Wayfarer asked as he matched the quick pace of Celestia.

“I saw them coming toward me up the road,” She whispered. “I don’t know, I just panicked and started walking the other way!”

Wayfarer nodded and tilted his head at Sugar Cube Corner.

“Take a corner booth in there, I was thinking of going in anyway.”

“I think that’s where they’re going.”

“All the better,” Wayfarer said with a smirk. Celestia didn’t look to happy about that but went ahead inside all the same. A moment later, Twilight and Fluttershy caught up to Wayfarer.

“There you are!” Twilight said. “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Really?” He said with confusion. “What for?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, before shifting her eyes over to Fluttershy and then leading the two into Sugar Cube Corner. Aside from them, Celestia and Pinkie Pie, the establishment was practically empty. The three of them took one of the corner booths on the opposite side of the bakery from where Celestia was. Pinkie Pie was quick to bound up to them after they’d taken their seats.

“Hi’A everypony! What can I do for you!”

“We’re fine for right now Pinkie.” Twilight said. “Come back in a few-”

“Actually I’d love a chocolate shake right about now Pinkie,” Wayfarer interjected.

“Ookie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie said. “How bout you Fluttershy? Anything Sweet and Sugary for you?”

“Umm… I think I’d do alright with some orange juice… or something.” Fluttershy mumbled with a smile.

Pinkie gave a big smile of her own and bounced away. Twilight rolled her eyes at Wayfarer before finally speaking. “What did that note from Celestia REALLY say?”

“I told you, Celestia needed me to handle something,” Wayfarer said.

“Uhhuh,” Twilight said, giving him a disbelieving glare. “Then why did the Castle Guards say that nopony had entered the castle since the other night? And why did Mrs. Cake say she saw you walking toward Sweet Apple Acres when we asked her?”

“Because I didn’t go into the castle and because that’s where I went after I was done with Celestia,” Wayfarer said that all a little too fast and nervously. “I ran into Mrs. Cake when she was looking for Mr. Cake.”

Twilight actually looked a little confused at that. “Did she tell you how long she was looking for him?”

“No," Wayfarer shook his head, then rubbed a hoof against his chin. "I think she said he was out getting baking supplies.”

Twilight pursed her lips at that before shaking her head a bit. “Never mind, that’s not really important right now. Look, do you know where Celestia is? I wanted to talk to her.”

Across the store, Wayfarer saw Celestia shift around uncomfortably. “I’m sure she’s around," he said.

Twilight sighed. “I just want to know if it’s okay to let the others in on, you know what.”

“Um… Twilight?” Fluttershy said. “If this is something Princess Celestia told you to keep a secret, then I’m okay with not knowing.”

“But…” Twilight started, before hesitating and dropping her head and whispering. “I need somepony to talk to about this.” Celestia seemed to have heard this, because she sighed and took on a look determination before trying to get up from her table, only to be blocked by Pinkie Pie.

“Here you go Princess Celestia!” Pinkie Pie shouted, startling both Celestia and the other three. “One slice of Super Double Mega Triple Chocolate Cake!”

Everypony turned to stare at Pinkie with wide eyes, Celestia’s eyes filled with complete and total shock. “W-what?” Celestia stammered.

“Your cake! Just like you wanted!” Pinkie Pie said, oblivious to the stares she had drawn. “Hope you like it! Oh, and I love what you’ve done with your mane!” Pinkie hopped away after that. Leaving Celestia looking like a cornered mouse as Twilight gaped at her.

“Celestia?” Twilight asked in surprise. Celestia looked like she was about to make a bolt for the door when said door suddenly swung open, letting in a very distraught looking Mrs. Cake.

“Hi Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie said, her smile faltering slightly. “Did you find Mr. Cake?”

“You mean he didn’t come back yet?” Mrs. Cake almost yelled in a terrified voice. Pinkie simply shook her head, her smile completely falling now. Mrs. Cake let out a sorrowful moan and slumped to the floor. “He’s gone!” Mrs. Cake cried. “My Husband! My darling Carrot is gone!” Twilight and Celestia managed to pull their eyes off of each other at this point and turned to look at Mrs. Cake.

“Gone?” Twilight said, getting up. “What do you mean ‘gone’?” Mrs. Cake sobbed a bit before looking up at Twilight.

“He-He said he had a delivery to make early this morning,” Mrs. Cake said through her tears. “He said he’d be back in only half an hour!” She dropped her head back down and clamped her eyes shut. “But no one has seen him since he left this morning! I’ve looked everywhere and asked everypony who might have seen him! But he’s just GONE!” As Mrs. Cake continued to sob, everypony began to gather around her and offer kind words.

“Mrs. Cake, I’m sure Carrot Cake is alright.” Fluttershy said. “He has to be somewhere in town right?”

“We’ll help you look for him Cup Cake” Twilight said. “I’ll go gather up some of the guards from the castle and we’ll start forming a search party.”

Mrs. Cake shook her head. “It won’t help,” she moaned. “He left me. All because of some stupid argument.”

“Argument?” Wayfarer asked.

“He’s been acting strange ever since we came back from that Bakeoff in Manehatten. We… I asked him about it last night and he stormed out. He wouldn’t even tell me what he was so upset about!”

“Ughh, come on Fluttershy,” Twilight said, tapping Fluttershy on the shoulder. “let’s round up everyone else and see if we can’t track him down. It sounds like he’s just sulking somewhere. Mrs. Cake, where did he make the delivery?”

“That’s another thing, the address of the order is for one of the older homes way out of Ponyville.” Mrs. Cake shakily got back to her hooves and walked over to the back counter, where a ledger of sorts was sitting, then showed Twilight the address of the latest entry. “It was the first place I looked when he didn’t come back, but that home is completely abandoned!”

“...Alright then.” Twilight took the ledger and ran her eyes over the address, committing it to memory. “Change of plans. Fluttershy, you go round up the others, Wayfarer and I will check out this house again. Pinkie, stay with Mrs. Cake. If Mr. Cake comes back, come find us.” Wayfarer was about to ask Celestia if she could help when he noticed that Celestia wasn’t there anymore.

“Hey,” He said. “Where did Sunny run off to?”

“Who?” Twilight said as she and Fluttershy turned to leave. Wayfarer sighed and walked over to join them, taking the note out of his pocket and showing it to Twilight.

“Celestia wanted to talk to me and see if you were alright,” he finally admitted. “She doesn’t seem ready to talk to you yet though, Twilight.”

Twilight shook her head and handed the note back to Wayfarer. “If you see her again before I do, ask her if she can speak to me as soon as possible. I have something to tell her.”

“Alright, but first, Mr. Cake.”

“Right," Twilight nodded, then turned to Fluttershy. "Think you could be quick about this?” The pegasus nodded once and started to fly off. Twilight and Wayfarer began heading out of Ponyville toward the foothills of the surrounding mountains, where there were still a few homes, but most of them looked like no one had lived in them recently. After a while, they came to one that seemed in serious disrepair. The windows were boarded up, the front door was hanging off its hinges, and a lot of the straw on the roof had been blown away. Cautiously, the two approached the front door. They looked at each other for a moment before Wayfarer lifted his hoof and knocked lightly on the door. They waited for almost a minute without any answer.

“You sure this is the right place?” Wayfarer asked.

“This is the right address.” Twilight said as she knocked on the door, a little harder than Wayfarer. Still no answer.

“What pony would live here?” Wayfarer said as he banged on the door again.

“From the looks of it, nopony. There aren’t any signs of life at all.” Wayfarer and Twilight waited a little longer and still no answer. “Ughh! This is pointless!” Twilight grumbled. “Nopony’s here, let alone Mr. Cake!”

Wayfarer pounded on the door once more. With no response, he shrugged, and they turned around and started to walk away, just in time to avoid the door as it fell down and grazed their tails. Both of them jumped away as the door hit the ground with a thud. A cloud of dust seemed to follow the door downward as the two slowly approached the entrance way and looked inside.

“Hello?” Twilight shouted. Wayfarer stepped over the threshold and looked through the dust filled air to the front room. “I don’t think we should go in, who knows what kind of mold or spores could be in that dust?”

“Twilight, look.” Wayfarer said, pointing at the floor where the dust looked like it had been disturbed recently.

“Are those hoof prints?” Twilight asked as she too joined Wayfarer across the threshold.

“It looks like they were dragging something away.” Wayfarer said, pointing at the thick line of cleared dust between two sets of hoof prints.

The two looked at each other with sudden fear flooding their eyes. “Mr. Cake!” They started to yell as they quickly followed the trail through the house until they were in the basement, where the trail abruptly disappeared underneath a small throw rug. Twilight tore the carpet up to find a trap door, which was also torn away from the floor by her magic in a cloud of dust. They looked down into the darkness, there was a tunnel that sloped downward, where the ground was marked with more hoof prints.

“Where do you think this goes?” Wayfarer asked as they stood at the edge.

“No idea.” Twilight said. “But I think we’ll find Carrot Cake at the other end.” With that, the two jumped into the hole, Twilight’s horn lighting up as they began their long trek through the tunnel.

Princess Celestia didn’t take the disappearance of her subjects lightly. Even if it was just a misunderstanding, she couldn’t ignore the chance that one of her ponies might be lost and scared somewhere, or worse that some other pony had taken them against their will. However the anxiousness she felt as she passed through the shield around the castle was only exacerbated by the recent happenings in Ponyville over the last week.

“This was how it started before,” she thought. “Ponies disappearing without a trace. Oh please let this JUST be a misunderstanding. Let Twilight and her friends find this Mr. Cake out and about somewhere.” As she entered into the castle proper, she lifted the invisibility spell she used to get past the guards and casted a life detection spell. All around her she felt the presence of minor life forms, insects and spiders mostly, but deep down below the castle she felt a twinge of something more.

“By the Sun and Moon.” She murmured as she rushed to the nearest stairwell and began her descent. She quickly found herself in almost total darkness. Her eyes darted all around, wondering if the Shadows were there, watching her. Soon she was in the wine cellar, rows of empty cider racks filling the room. Carefully she pressed on, until she found what she was looking for, a large crack that ran over the floor and the back wall. It was big enough for her chariot to just barely squeeze through.

The Life Detection spell was still telling her that something was down there, so she approached the edge and looked down, only to find that it looked like the crack had started to fill with water. The light from her horn casted her reflection in the pool, her beautifully regal form staring back up at her with sad eyes.

“Oh Celestia,” she said to herself, closing her eyes. “What’s become of you? Afraid of your beloved student, jealous of your sister, annoyed with your own subjects?” She sighed, looking back at her reflection and wondering what she could have possibly done to prevent this all from happening. “Maybe… I just need to take a break.” She continued to stare at her reflection for a long time before she noticed something.

“I’m still in my disguise… THAT’S NOT MY REFLECTION!” The not reflection of Celestia suddenly smiled and blinked once up at her, revealing yellow eyes filled with malice and mirth. The Shadow then began to rise out of the water, which turned out to be just an illusion, and out of the pit. Laughing hysterically, the fake Celestia backed the real one away in shock, right into an empty cider rack.. The Shadow then stepped lightly onto the floor, halting her laugh and looking down at Celestia.

“Hello my subject…” the Shadow said “Are you alright? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.” Celestia could only stutter as she looked up at the dopple ganger, shrouded in darkness as it looked down at her with nothing but cruel amusement.

“I… You…” was all she could get out.

“Aww, what’s wrong? Are you frightened of me?” The Shadow laughed once again, stepping forward. “Well, that’s alright. If I can’t get love, I guess fear is the next best thing.”

Twilight and Wayfarer hadn’t been walking for long when the tunnel finally opened up into a much larger cavern.

“Oh no,” Twilight moaned as she dimmed her horn light. The cave was lit up just like the castle was during the nights when the shadows attacked.

“We’re under the castle aren’t we?” Wayfarer asked as he stood next to Twilight.

“We need to find Mr. Cake and get out of here,” Twilight said, gulping nervously. She quickly started to gallop forward, Wayfarer sticking close behind. Eventually the cave started to change, Wayfarer noticed that the walls were becoming more smooth and straight, like a hallway. Soon the cave looked more like a twisted version of the castle above. “What in Tartarus IS this place?” Twilight said as she too noticed the change.

“TWILIGHT LOOK OUT!” Wayfarer screamed as a Shadow leapt out of the darkness. Twilight gasped as she skidded to a halt and jumped back. The Shadow slithered toward them, and was joined by several others. When they were a few meters away, they stopped.

“What are they doing?” Twilight whispered, not taking her eyes off of them. Suddenly, the Shadows seemed to stretch upwards, then a set of wings grew out of them and the rest of the mass followed up, morphing into the shapes of birds.

“SCRAAAWW!!” They cried as they lunged at Twilight and Wayfarer.

“PERSONA!” Wayfarer yelled, stepping in front of Twilight. Ekchuah appeared in a flash of light, skewering three of the birds at once and slamming them against a wall, disintegrating them. The remaining bird shadows backed off as they were joined by a few reinforcements.

“Ahh Pony Feathers!” Wayfarer cursed as he counted out over two dozen shadows approaching them. “Twilight, I don’t think I can handle all these-”

“PERSONA!” Twilight yelled as she charged out from behind Wayfarer. Her Persona flew out from nowhere, tossing her circlet down the hall. The wheel began to shoot out bolts of electricity, killing most of the shadow’s in their way. As the way cleared, Twilight ran through the remaining numbers.

“Come on Wayfarer!” She yelled back as her Persona followed her.

“Right!” Wayfarer responded. “EKCHUAH!” Ekchuah began spinning his spear around, causing a gust of wind to blow through and take out the remaining shadows. Wayfarer then took his chance to gallop forward, catching up with Twilight. As they ran, they noticed a lot of branching path ways. “It’s like a maze in here” Wayfarer said as Ekchuah blasted another group of Shadows that tried to ambush them out of one of these other corridors.

“Just keep a look out for Mr. Cake!” Twilight said. They ran for what seemed like hours, blasting through every Shadow that got in there way. Every now and then they’d find a dead end and had to double back, once they even found a set of stairs leading downward.

“It’s blocked.” Wayfarer said, eyeing the gate that was formed around the stairs. “There’s no way through.”

“Then that’s probably not where Mr. Cake is.” Twilight said. “Let’s keep searching.” Finally, the two came to an open room with pillars arranged in lines. From the corner, they heard a sorrowful moaning, cautiously approaching they found a yellow earth pony stallion curled up against the wall, muttering to himself.

“Mr. Cake!” Twilight exclaimed. “We found you!”

“Liar…” Mr. Cake mumbled. “She lied… not mine… NOT MINE!”

“M-Mr. Cake?”

“Twilight! We’ve got more company!” Wayfarer barked, making Twilight turn around to see a very large Bird Shadow wearing a mask with a crown shaped top.

“Oh dear,” Twilight gulped.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Wayfarer said

“You’re right! Let’s go! TYCHE!”

“It’s not possible.” Celestia whispered as her shadow smirked down at her. “I have a Persona! I shouldn’t be seeing you!”

The Shadow merely laughed again at that. “My dear Sunny Skies, what are you going on about? You don’t have a Persona! I did once, but things have changed. I have changed. I’m not the mare I was all those years ago. So innocent, so pure, and so optimistic about the future.” The Shadow sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, how naive I was to think the ponies of Equestria would love my sister and I, together as equals. How naive was I to think that she and I could rule together. Bah! I should have realized that there can’t be two rulers of a kingdom! One will always be admired and adored more than the other!” Celestia shook her head, regaining her composure at this and stood up, releasing her disguise so she could look her Shadow in the eye.

“You’re wrong.” Celestia said, her voice brimming with confidence. “Though my subjects in Canterlot may not approve of my methods, I know that there are ponies out there who think I have done the best that I could as there ruler. I will not be so easily swayed by you, Servant of Darkness!”

The Shadow snorted at this proclamation. “Is that so? And how do you know this? Have you talked to them? Asked them how they feel? You know they’ll just lie to you, because they’re too afraid to tell you the truth. The truth that they think you’ve ruled for long enough. But you’ve heard the whispers in Canterlot, who’s to say they aren’t saying the same thing everywhere else?” The Shadow’s reverberating and demented voice changed to a mocking pitch as she imitated the nobel’s of Canterlot “‘Poor Princess Luna! Trapped for a thousand years on the moon, just because she wanted friends!’ ‘What gave Celestia the right to overthrow her own sister and take her place as sole ruler of Equestria?’ ‘Princess Luna wouldn’t have sat by while our country was in danger and let children do all her work!’ ‘Celestia is such a deviant for flirting with Fancy Pants! She should be acting with dignity! Not tossing herself on every stallion that passes her eye!’ What a load of horse apples! Do those foals not realize how much I’ve sacrificed?! The loss of so many friends and family members, all for them!” The Shadow’s eyes were filling with rage and hatred, the dark aura around her flaring up. “Well fine then! I don’t want the crown anymore! All I wanted was to be respected for all the suffering I put myself through for their sake! But no! They prefer to ignore my misery and dote on Luna, when she’s done NOTHING for them! I hate them! I hate Luna! I hate Equestria!” The room suddenly grew quiet, aside from the heavy breathing of the shadow as she glared at Celestia. With a sigh, Celestia walked forward. There was no denial or fear in her eyes, only sad acceptance.

“You’re right.” She said simply. The Shadow looked at her with shock. The darkness around her calming a bit. “I get… upset… when all I’ve done, all the love I’ve given to my subjects, means nothing to them. But I have so much more to give to them. And I’ll give it no matter what.”

“W-what are you saying?! They don’t care for you! Why should you care for them?”

“Because I love them.”

“WHY?!”

“Because… I just do. And nothing you say will convince me otherwise, because I know what you are.” Celestia stopped right in front of the Shadow, their eyes locking in each other’s gaze. “You are my fears, my doubts, and my misery. I don’t need you to tell me how I feel, because I tell myself those things every single day.”

The Shadow stared back at Celestia, completely dumfounded. Eventually she slumped down to the floor, her body trembling as the aura of darkness seemed to fade away. Gently, Celestia draped a hoof around her doppelganger, laying its head against her chest.

“... It hurts, whenever I have to hear somepony talk so lowly of me. But I know I can live through it, because I know when I see the smiles on my subjects’ faces, that they love me back. I don’t need to ask them, when I can just see it. They’ll forgive whatever mistakes I’ve made… I just have to remember that I can do the same.

The Shadow began to sniff as she fought back tears. “What must I do then?!”

Celestia stayed silent for a moment before she smiled. “Maybe we do need a break. Right here in Ponyville. Both of us. You and I. I and you.”

The shadow nodded against Celestia’s chest as it disappeared in a pillar of light. The light dimmed and the form of a woman garbed in a pure white dress, with red hair that stretched flowed around her, blocking her eyes from view. She held a staff in one hand that carried a lantern at the very top. The Persona then disappeared into the light, becoming a card, which then floated down to Celestia’s upturned hoof.

Before the card could disappear, Celestia waved her hoof and summoned her Persona back.

“PERSONA!” Gnowee appeared at her side, ready to assist her. “Show me the one who is lost in the darkness below us.” Celestia said. Gnowee nodded and tapped her staff against the floor. The lantern immediately burst into light, shining on the wall across from them. Where the light hit started to move around, like one of those moving picture shows. Through it, Celestia could see the form of a very distressed looking stallion, but she could also see her student and her friend fighting a rather large shadow.

“Not a moment too soon.” Celestia muttered before calling out through the light. “Twilight, Wayfarer, can you hear me?”

The fight with the giant bird shadow wasn’t going well for Twilight and Wayfarer. The beast was just too quick and it darted around behind the pillars too quickly for them to hit it. Worse yet, it seemed as if none of Ekchuah’s wind attacks were even effecting it.

“Horse apples!” Wayfarer yelled as Ekchuah’s spear got stuck in the wall when the shadow dodged out of the way. “Why isn’t this working?”

“TYCHE!” Twilight yelled, her persona tossing her circlet around one of the pillars to try and land a hit, only for the Shadow to swoop around and avoid it. “It’s avoiding everything we throw at it!” Suddenly the bird stopped for a moment in midair and shrieked at the two, radiating blue light out of itself as its wings flared out. Then it launched itself forward and flapped its wings down hard at the two, sending a gust of wind over them. Wayfarer was able to keep himself steady, but Twilight was tossed back a bit by the gale. Frustration was beginning to set in, and the two were starting to get desperate.

“Go away consarnit!” Wayfarer yelled at the Shadow. Ekchuah finally yanked his spear out and lunged at the creature, bringing his weapon around in a downward strike, only for it to just barely miss. The Shadow responded by clawing at Ekchuah’s arms with its talons, tearing at both him and Wayfarer’s flesh. “AUUGGHHH!”

“Wayfarer!” Twilight cried out.

“Twilight, Wayfarer, can you hear me?” Came an echoing voice that seemed to come from every direction, even from within their own ears.

Twilight spun around at the sound of Celestia’s voice, but she was no where to be seen. “Celestia? Where are you?”

“I’m in the castle above you," Celestia explained. "I’ve regained my Persona and I can see the two of you down there.”

“Aughh, That’s cool and all,” Wayfarer said, struggling to stand back up. “But we’re in a bit of a situation. We’ve found Mr. Cake, but a nasty-piece-of-work Shadow found us! We can’t hit it with anything!”

“I can see that. Hold on.” Celestia was silent for a moment while Ekchuah and Tyche took up positions in front of Twilight and Wayfarer, glaring in the direction of the Shadow, who was once again radiating a blue light. “That’s it! It’s casting a spell to improve its evasiveness! You have to find a way to counter it!”

“How do we do that?” Twilight asked as she sent Tyche to fire some lightning strikes at the Shadow.

“I don’t know,” Celestia admitted slowly.

“Terrific.” Wayfarer mumbled. His eyes wandered to Ekchuah, who was still guarding over the three ponies. “I don’t think he has any abilities that could help us.” Then he looked over at Twilight, who was staring anxiously at the battle in front of her “Same goes for Tyche. Ughh! If only we had access to more!” Suddenly the bird cried out again as it avoided another attack by Tyche, who had moved closer to try and land a hit. It countered by diving at her, digging it’s talons into her flesh.

“AUGHHH!!” Twilight screamed as pain brought her to her knees.

“TWILIGHT!” Wayfarer yelled.

Then the world halted. Everything seemed to have frozen. A voice rang through Wayfarer’s ears, a memory of a train, and a man.

“Through your bonds, you may discover other facets of yourself that you were unaware of, and because of your nature as the wild card these facets may grant you different abilities. You have the potential to hold within you many different facades, and you must learn to use them through many trials and nurture them through bonding with others.”

“...right.” Wayfarer thought as realization flowed through his mind. Taking a deep breath, time returned to normal. With a glance at his Persona, he summoned up the strength he used to bring forth this creature, then called out to it. “CHANGE!” Ekchuah seemed to explode with light, leaving only a tarot card behind. “FORTUNA!”

The card shattered and the light reformed into a woman with a wheel for a midsection, garbed in black and white cloths. The woman razed up her arms, then lowered them down to point at Twilight, who was barely able to keep her head up at this point. Suddenly, light swirled about her and the pain was lifted from her body, allowing her to stand up straight again.

“Wh-what just happened?” Twilight gasped, staring up at the new Persona floating beside Wayfarer.

“FORTUNA!” Wayfarer yelled again. Fortuna’s arms once again pointed up and then down, this time at the Shadow, who prepared to dodge whatever attack was sent at it. But the attack never came, instead a blue light surrounded it, then cascaded downward rapidly. The Shadow seemed to move slower at that point, allowing Tyche to finally connect with it, slashing her circlet downward. The shadow cried out in pain as it tried to flap away.

“Not this time!” Wayfarer yelled. “Let’s see how YOU like it!” Once more Fortuna pointed her arms out, now at Tyche, who was bathed in the same blue light, only this time it cascaded upwards and Tyche was suddenly moving a lot faster. The Shadow swatted its wings down at her, only to completely miss as she sidestepped to its side.

“Twilight!” Wayfarer called. “Finish it!”

“Right!” Twilight called back. “TYCHE!” Tyche swiped her circlet around once more, bathing it in electricity as it did so. The bladed ring cut right through the Shadow, and an instant later it was gone in a burst of red smoke. The room grew quiet as the echoes of battle died down. The ponies looking at what they’d done with relieved surprise as their personas disbanded.

“We… WE DID IT!” Twilight cheered, rushing to Wayfarer and pulling him into a hug. “That was incredible! How did you do that?”

“I don’t know! I just did it!” Wayfarer was almost as ecstatic as her at the moment.

“I’m so proud of you,” Celestia’s voice said. “But now isn’t the time for celebration, you still need to get Mr. Cake out of there.”

“Oh gosh that’s right!” Twilight gasped as she released Wayfarer and scurried over to Mr. Cake. “Mr. Cake! Are you alright?”

“Not… mine…” The stallion mumbled.

“He’s out of it,” Wayfarer said. “What do we do?”

“I can tell that you aren’t that far down.” Celestia said. “The Shadows should have dispersed a bit after all that. You should be able to find the stares without much trouble. In fact, I might be able to guide you to them.”

“You can do that?” Twilight asked.

“With Gnowee, there is much I can do for you now.”

“Alright, then lets get a move on.” Wayfarer joined Twilight by Mr. Cake and, after a bit of struggling, they managed to get him on Wayfarer’s back. “Lead the way.” Celestia began giving them directions through the maze, until they found the staircase leading upwards. They had to go through two more levels before they were finally crawling out of the crevasse in the castle wine cellar. Celestia was standing there, her Persona still by her side, awaiting them. Smiling, she disbanded her Persona, then approached Twilight.

“Twilight.” She said softly, before pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m ready to talk now, if you are.”

“I am.” Twilight said. “And I’m ready to listen now, if you are.”

Author's Notes:

First off, I need to apologize for how long it's taken to get this out to you guys. I've finally started working and it's only recently that I've finally got into the groove of things. I never want to have to keep you guys waiting like this, so I'm going to strive to make better use of my time when it comes to this sort of thing. Hopefully my inconsistent work schedule won't hold me back too much in that regard.

As for the chapter itself, I once again feel like it's missing something but I don't know what. If any of you guys can point it out, I'd be very grateful.

Here's to the next chapter, whenever that may come.

Chapter 5: Fruit of Knowledge

“Oh thank Celestia you found him!” Mrs. Cake shouted as Wayfarer walked into Sugarcube Corner with the now unconscious Mr. Cake on his back. Celestia and Twilight walked in behind him, Celestia back in her disguise as Sunny Skies. “What happened to him?” Mrs. Cake said, gasping at the state her husband was in and rushing to him.

“We found him outside of Ponyville,” Wayfarer said walking to one of the benches, allowing Twilight to pull Mr. Cake off of him. “He passed out a little while ago.”

“Oh my Sugar Plum!” Mrs. Cake cried as she kneeled down next to him. “Please tell me you’re alright! Tell your Honey Bun you’ll be okay!” Mr. Cake was still for a moment before his face twitched and his eyes cracked open.

“Honey Bun…” He mumbled. “Must you be so loud? I feel like I’ve been hit all over with a croquet mallet.” Twilight and Wayfarer glanced at each other for a split moment before Mrs. Cake embraced her husband in a very tight and very tearful hug.

“OH Carrot!” Mrs. Cake sobbed “You had me so worried!”

“Worried?” Carrot strained out as Mrs. Cake squeezed the air out of him. “What do you mean? I told you I was making a delivery!”

“Yes! But you didn’t come back! I looked everywhere for you Deary!”

“I… wait… what?” Mr. Cake stumbled as he finally looked around at his surroundings. “How did I get back here so quickly? Wait… Why is it dark outside?!”

“Memory loss,” Celestia whispered next to Twilight and Wayfarer. “I don’t think he’ll be able to tell us what happened to him past the point he left to make the delivery.”

“Won’t hurt to ask,” Twilight said stepping forward. “Mrs. Cake, I’m sorry, but could I ask Carrot something please?”

“Of course deary!” Mrs. Cake shouted pulling back from the embrace. “You brought him back! So ask away!”

“What do you mean brought back?” Mr. Cake asked, his confusion only growing. “What in sam hill is going on?!”

“We found you… near the castle.” Twilight started. “Do you know how you got there? What do you remember after leaving Sugarcube Corner this morning?”

“Oh, well let’s see," Mr. Cake started rubbing the side of his head, wincing slightly. "I remember walking out of town to the address. I remember because I kept telling myself that this was probably a crank order, because nopony lives in those houses anymore! Then I remember walking up to the door of the house and knocking then… that was it.”

“That was it?” Twilight asked.

“That was it,” Mr. Cake repeated. “I can’t remember a thing after that. I don’t remember going anywhere near the castle though.”

“Who cares!” Mrs. Cake yelled, pulling Mr. Cake back into a hug. “You’re back with me! That’s all that matters!”

“I think that’s our cue to leave, Twilight,” Celestia said.

Reluctantly, Twilight turned away and she, Wayfarer and Celestia headed for the door, only to be stopped by Pinkie. “Sooooo, do you need me to find you now or later Twilight?” She asked

“Huh?” Twilight said, lifting a tired eyebrow.

“You said to come find you if Mr. Cake came back!" Pinkie explained. "Well he came back, do I still need to find you?”

Twilight sighed. “No Pinkie, that’s alright thanks. But if you could go tell the others that we’ve found him and they can stop looking, that’d be great.”

“Ookie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie said, bounding out the door.

“Wait a minute!” Celestia said, following her out. Pinkie stopped and Celestia whispered something in her ear. Pinkie smiled at whatever she heard and just hopped away.

“What did you say?” Wayfarer asked.

“I… I asked her how she knew who I was.” She said, looking confused as the poofy pink pony pranced away.

Twilight just sighed again and started walking in the direction of the library. “It’s Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it.”

Celestia looked dumbfounded at that statement. “But she… And you never…" She sighed, deciding that it was probably better to not question it. "Okay then.” The three of them made their way down the nearly empty streets of Ponyville. By now, everyone was probably sitting down for dinner, the thought of which made Wayfarer’s stomach growl viciously. The sound reached the princesses’ ears and brought their attention to their own stomachs, which replied with their own noisy growls.

“eh heh…” Twilight chuckled to herself. “I guess it’s been awhile since that late breakfast. I hope we’ve still got something at home. Oh, umm, Princess Celestia?”

“Sunny Skies.” Celestia whispered to Twilight.

“Oh, sorry. Umm, do you want to join us for dinner, Sunny Skies?”

Celestia smiled at that. “I’d love to Twilight.” Twilight seemed to exhale a breath of air that she'd been holding in, then she glanced over at Wayfarer before she slowed her pace. Noticing this, Wayfarer did the same so that they both fell slightly behind Celestia and were walking side by side.

“Something up?” He whispered.

“Well, no,” Twilight said, her expression fascinated and yet obviously confused. “It’s just rare to see Celestia act so… casual. It’s a little unnerving I guess.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Wayfarer said with a confident smile. “I mean why wouldn’t a 1500 year old immortal princess act like a normal pony every now and then?” Twilight shot him a raised eyebrow, his smile faltered a bit before he continued. "Okay, it IS a little weird. I've always seen her as a beacon of perfection and grace, but all day she's been determined to act like everyone else. Just another small town mare. But, I don't think it's bad or anything, right?"

"No it isn't, I guess," Twilight mumbled.

“C’mon you two!” Yelled Celestia, who’d already cantered a bit ahead of them. “I’m hungry too you know!”

Twilight looked a little stunned at this, but picked up her pace nonetheless. “I guess I'm in the same boat. She's always been my ruler and mentor. And while I've always seen her as a friend, I just have this image of her in my head. I expect her to be more, you know, authoritative.”

“Do you WANT her to be more authoritative?” Wayfarer asked, casting a glance in Celestia’s direction. “Personally, I like her more when she’s happy and content and not staring into my soul, judging every word I say and how I say it.”

Twilight actual snickered at that. “Yeah, I won’t lie, when she told me to lock you up, I thought she was going to come and take you to some sort of magic research facility and have unicorns run tests on you to see how you were able to use magic when you’re an earth pony. But looking back, that seems rather ridiculous.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, hey Sunny!” Wayfarer said, raising his voice and trotting up to Celestia, who was staring up at the sky as she walked, marveling at the star field above her as the last traces of her sun drifted below the horizon. “Why DID you have her lock me up?”

“Hmm?” Celestia said, pulling her attention away from the sky to look at Wayfarer.

“That day we first met," Wayfarer elaborated. "You had Twilight lock me in my room while I was asleep. What was that about?”

Celestia’s face seemed to droop and she blushed slightly at that. “I apologize, It was a precaution I felt was necessary, given my previous experiences with Persona users.”

“I take it they weren’t a very pleasant bunch?” Wayfarer asked.

“...You could say that. But we can discuss that after our bellies are full!” She said as her stomach growled loudly again. The three continued on their way, arriving at the library a few minutes later. When they walked inside, it was to find a very distraught Spike running about trying to catch several books that had sprouted wings and were flying too and fro, knocking other books off the shelves and in general making a mess of things.

“Come back here!” The dragon yelled as he leapt up to try and nab one of them, only for it to drop to the floor as its wings disappeared, leaving Spike to tumble to the ground, landing tail up against the wall. He growled loudly as he looked upward and shouted. “Will you quit it Discord!”

“Now now my little draconic friend.” Discord said from the ceiling as he lounged there on his back. “You never said the magic word!”

“Discord!” Twilight and Celestia yelled at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” Twilight demanded. “And why are you tormenting Spike?”

“Oh hello there Twilight, and you as well Wayfarer and Celestia.” Discord said, turning to greet the three of them. “I was just in the neighborhood and I heard something about somepony going missing, thought I’d go see what all the hubbub was. And what a surprise to see the three of you walking out of the Castle… without inviting me!”

“Discord. Put. The books. BACK.” Twilight said.

“Oh and there you go forgetting the magic word too," Discord shook his head, tutting his tongue with disappointment. "Now I see where Spines got such rude manners!”

“My name is Spike!” Spike yelled as the books started to flock around him and occasionally hit him on the head.

“Whatever Spork.” Discord said, attracting more glares from the three newcomers. “But you should know I don’t take kindly to being bossed around, especially by someone as small as you. So when I come by to chat with Sunny Days, or whoever Celestia is pretending to be, and company about something important, I don’t want to be called a ‘freak’ and a ‘monster’ and told to get out immediately. Now, what’s the magic word?”

“PLEASE! Please stop!” Spike yelled.

“Please?" Discord scratched his chin in thought before shrugging. "Nope, I’m afraid that isn’t the magic word. Care to guess again?”

“DISCORD!” Celestia yelled, her forehead starting to light up.

“STOP IT!” Twilight yelled.

“PINEAPPLE!” Wayfarer cried. Everyone stopped what they were doing, even the books, and turned to look with confusion at Wayfarer, who was looking up at Discord. “Is the magic word ‘Pineapple’?”

Discord sighed and went back to stroking his beard. “Close enough,” he said, snapping his fingers and setting everything right again. All the books were back on their shelves, all the decor fixed or placed back in their proper place, and Spike was picked up and set right side up. “No hard feelings Spyro?” Discord said to Spike as he snapped again and placed a very large ruby in Spike’s claws.

The dragon looked at the gem with wide eyes before glaring up at Discord. “My name is Spike.”

“Of course it is! You’ve only told me that three times already. Now run along Sparx," Discord said, shooing the small dragon out of the room as his voice suddenly turned serious. "The grown ups have a LOT to talk about.”

Spike still looked very annoyed, but he turned and walked up the stairs anyway, tapping the ruby in various spots to check if it was real. Discord turned back to the other three, who were looking close to murdering him at the moment.

“What?” He said indignantly. “I. Am. BORED! How else am I to make use of my time when you all decide to just leave me behind. I thought this was the sort of thing you freed me for in the first place!”

“It is!” Celestia shouted, stepping forward. “But one of the conditions for letting you go free was that you no longer used your powers to abuse and harass the citizens of Equestria. I should have Twilight and her friends put you back in stone right now!”

“Then be done with it!” Discord said, falling from the ceiling and looking Celestia dead in the eyes. “Or tell me what your plans are for me. Either way, I need SOMETHING to do with my existence or I’m going to go mad! Or madder as the case may be!”

“My plans are my own. But rest assured I have a use for your abilities. I give you leniency because of that, and all I ask in return is that you behave yourself!”

The two continued to glare at one another before Discord finally threw his hands in the air. “Fine, be secretive if you must. Goodness knows you have practice with that. But could you at least give me a playmate or something? Someone who I can poke and prod till my heart’s content?”

“Absolutely not!” Celestia balked.

“I’m game,” Wayfarer said simply. Again, all eyes went to Wayfarer, and again, he only stared at Discord. “I’ve spent time with Theatre ponies and Artists of all kinds, I’m no stranger to madness.” Wayfarer smirked up at the spirit of chaos. “Just don’t bother me when I’m at work, you might scare off Cheerilee’s students.”

“Deal!” Discord said, rushing forward to take Wayfarer’s hoof in his talon and shake it violently. “I promise I won’t regret it!”

“Wayfarer,” Twilight said, eyes filled with worry. “Are you sure about this? I mean this is Discord we’re talking about! Discord the liar! Discord the egomaniac!”

Discord’s head turned over his neck till he was looking at Twilight upside down, giving her a big pair of puppydog eyes. “Discord the miserable, Discord the desperate! I promise I won’t ruin this chance by messing with your coltfriend’s mind TOO much.”

“C-COLTFRIEND?!” Twilight screeched.

“Anyway, I’ll make plans for him later.” Discord said, tussling Wayfarer’s mane before teleporting over to one of the couches by the fire place. “For now, I am content. So my dear Celestia, I believe you’re ready to let our little ponies in on one of Equestria’s darkest secrets?”

Celestia sighed, finally dropping her disguise and then walking to the fireplace. “That I am, but first…” She then turned around and locked eyes on Twilight. “I’m going to offer you the choice Twilight, and this offer will remain for the rest of your days. Do you want to be a princess of Equestria, the Alicorn of Friendship?” Twilight stared at Celestia for a moment before letting her eyes dart around in deep thought. “You don’t have to answer now. Just know that I can change you back if you desire.”

“No,” Twilight said. “I’ve already made up my mind. This is who I am now.”

Celestia gave a slight look of worry. "Are you sure Twilight?"

"I'm positive."

Celestia sighed, bending her head away from Twilight. “I feel like I’ve taken so much away from you, how is it you’re able to forgive me so easily my faithful student?”

“Princess,” Twilight said, approaching Celestia. “I can forgive you because you didn’t take anything away from me at all. In fact I feel the exact opposite as you do.” She smiled as Celestia looked to her with confusion. “I’m grateful to you for giving me this chance to be more than just a powerful unicorn living in a small town library. It feels like the day you first charged me to live here in Ponyville to study the magic of Friendship, like a whole new world has opened up to me.” Discord made a gagging face at this that only Wayfarer managed to catch. “You may have done this to me without asking,” Twilight continued. “But I feel I would have said yes anyway. That’s why I forgive you, because I’m ready and willing for the first day of the rest of my life. And I know my friends are ready to stand by me the whole way. Not because I’m a princess, but because I’m their friend.”

Celestia was quiet for a moment before smiling as well. “You are so lucky to have friends like that. And I am so lucky to have a friend like you Twilight.”

Twilight blushed slightly at that. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Me calling you friend?”

“No... well, yes.”

“Can we get on with this?” Discord said. “This level of sappiness is going beyond my ability to resist gagging.”

"Very well then.” Celestia said. “But Twilight, don't hesitate to come to me if you ever have a change of heart. And with that out of the way," Celestia started, settling herself in front of the fire. "I have a tale to tell."

"Long ago, when Equestria was still just newly founded by the three kingdoms, an Alicorn mare of power and wisdom that dwarfed even my own had risen to the throne: Queen Rosetta. She had seen the might of The Fire of Friendship and wished to fuel it to it's peak, and ensure that her kingdom and subjects would never know strife again. She reasoned that the Fire would grow as the bonds of unity were strengthened, so she reached out to the other kingdoms of the world and offered to share the prosperity. Over time Equestria was joined in harmony with the Dragons, Minotaurs, Gryphons, and even the Changelings. Rosetta’s reasoning was correct, and the Fire grew so strong that it became a part of the world itself. Thus began the first Golden Age of Equestria.

"However, even with the land itself overflowing with harmonious energy, it could not stop the horrors that spawned right under our very noses. A foul creature of darkness, nightmares, and chaos appeared in a small town not far from where Ponyville is now. We knew not where it came from or what it truly was, only that it cared nothing for life or happiness. We could only call it what it was: The Beast. It was a creature that emitted a form of magic never seen before, one that made it resistant to our own magic. It's immense size rivaled only its hunger as it spread over the countryside, consuming all in its path.

"As it approached the then capital city, Rosetta issued an evacuation of the entire population, including the Royal Family and Court, which included me, my sister, our parents, and Discord. In the panic that soon followed when The Beast finally caught up, most of the escapees were caught and devoured, leaving only twenty two of us left.

"We wandered in the desert alone for what must have been months, a black shadow in the sky following us where ever we went. We'd gone past giving up hope when we stumbled on an oasis, filled with flora and fauna of all kinds. We surrendered ourselves to the idea that we weren't going to survive, and decided to spend our last few days in relative comfort. We immediately went to the center of the thriving grove, where the largest apple tree I had ever seen stood, and we all ate our fill of its golden fruit. And in doing so, we sealed our fate.

"During that night, the fruit caused us to dream of eternity. We saw everything. Our minds filled with all the secrets of the cosmos, and in the morning it was ripped from us just as easily. Few of us could remember any details, but those who did were blessed greatly by the knowledge. For a moment we humored the idea of survival, only to have it denied when The Beast surrounded us.

"We were ready for the end, we were standing on the doorstep of oblivion, when the youngest amongst us, the Archmage's apprentice, stepped forward and shouted defiantly at the darkness. A light surrounded him, and as it faded, he was joined by his Persona. One by one, the rest of us found the courage to stand with him, and we too were joined by Personas. The Beast was forced back, and we saw our chance. Over the course of the next year, we traveled across Equestria, our Persona's shining a brilliant light that made the Beast crawl into the crust of the earth, where we sealed it for what we hoped would be forever.

“We were heralded as heroes the world over, the races of the world calling us by a name of mysticism: “The Arcana.” Once more the land prospered, and a new city was built over the place of our victory, where The Beast was sealed in the earth. Queen Rosetta, exhausted from leading the group’s campaign, elected to step down from her spot as ruler and handed her crown down to her only child: My and Luna’s mother, Princess Solianna. Our mother declined it however, believing herself unworthy, and so the crown fell to me and my sister. In celebration of our victory and of the coronation of their new rulers, the citizens built a castle at the city’s very heart, where it could be seen from miles around: The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

“Luna’s and my rule reflected that of Queen Rosetta’s, as we strived to rebuild what had been lost, but it was also the shortest reign in Equestrian history. Nary a year after we’d taken the throne did our citizens begin to disappear in alarming numbers and frequency. As we investigated these incidences, the earth below us began to shift. At first it was only small tremors, but by the end they had become catastrophic earthquakes. It was only then that we discovered the two were linked, The Beast was stirring again, and someone was dragging our subjects down into the earth to feed it sustenance.

“We were outraged and terrified by this revelation, but our horror only grew when we discovered the culprits: Our fellow members of The Arcana. The Beast had wormed its dark magic into their minds, slowly corrupting them to its will until they began to undo the victory we’d worked so hard for. Determined to stop them and the Beast once and for all, we called on the only source of magic left to us capable of working the miracle we needed: The Harmonious Magic of the world, sewn by the Fire of Friendship that Rosetta had built.

“However, the results were not what we desired. Because we were drawing on this magic in sorrow over the loss of many of our friends and family, the spell Luna and I casted to put a stop to and revert the Beast’s advance instead became a curse. In less than an hour, a massive swath of our kingdom had bloomed into a dense forest, burying the Beast and the corrupt members of the Arcana beneath its roots, sapping their strength. The City was lost to the flora and fauna, falling into ruin until only the castle was left, and the forest itself became a corrupted land filled with monsters that none dare enter. Today, we know the Forest by the name Everfree.

“In the end, only four of us were left. Luna and myself, Discord, and the ambassador of the Crystal Ponies, King Sombra. The years that followed, were not any better, as I’m sure you could guess. Sombra had turned out to be the most corrupted of us all, a literal shadow of his former self. Discord went mad, taking the country for himself until Luna and I stopped him, and just when I thought it was all finally over, Luna was lost as well.

“I don’t think I ever felt more alone then I did in that moment.” Celestia said as her story came to a finale. “My friends and family, all dead or trapped by my own hooves. In shame, I secluded myself at the top of what is now Canterlot Mountain, foolishly allowing Equestria to fall apart as I did nothing but wallow in misery whilst guiding the sun and moon across the sky. I waited for death to claim me on that peak, only realizing months later that the Apples that had blessed us with the strength we needed had also cursed us with Immortality. I think that was the point my mind finally broke.”

“And I missed it?” Discord said in a very disappointed tone. “Aww, what was it like?”

“... Enlightening. It gave me a new appreciation for life and death. After about half a century I finally came down from my solitude and rejoined society. Most ponies were happy to see me, though there were a lot who felt I had abandoned them. They were right, and I admitted as such to them, but my conscience demanded that I fix what I had done. And the rest, as they say, is history.”

“It is.” Twilight said. “Your rule after the defeat of Nightmare Moon is well documented, but nothing before that is even mentioned! Why haven’t I heard of this ‘Beast’ before now?”

“... I burned the records of it,” Celestia said, the shame of the act clear on her face.

“You... burned them.” Twilight said in flat shock.

“Yes.”

“You burned history books.”

“Almost all of them I’d say. The few that I found in later years were stored in a restricted section of the Canterlot Archives.”

Twilight remained quite again for a moment before she found her voice. “You burned books.”

“It wasn’t the proudest moment of my life Twilight," Celestia confessed. "I thought the best thing to do was to erase such a dark period from the pages of history. I came to regret that decision in time, but I didn’t see the point of dragging it back up after a thousand years of peace.”

“... You burned… Books.”

Celestia sighed. “... I’m sorry Twilight.”

Twilight sat there, staring at Celestia in horrified silence, clearly unable to get over the fact that the elder princess had committed such a travesty against literature. Seeing that neither of them were capable of continuing the conversation on their own anymore, Wayfarer cleared his throat.

“As interesting as that story is,” he said. “How does it relate to now? I mean, yes, you were able to use Personas to defeat some eldritch abomination, but me and Twilight never ate any fruit to get our powers. And what about the Shadows? You never mentioned them.”

“Both are true,” Celestia said. “I never saw anything like the Shadows when we fought the Beast. My best guess is that they are some form of extension of its being, because they seem to feed on our negative emotions and thoughts, much like how the Beast would whenever it drew near. We would always hear voices of things we didn’t want to hear, things that made us despair even more. How they are becoming our Persona’s now however, is still a mystery to me. It all seems to indicate one thing though, The Beast is returning. The kidnap of Mr. Cake was just more evidence to support that fact.”

The room was silent for a while. Even Discord was still as he twiddled his thumbs and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. “You know, he said. "There’s always the chance it could be something completely different, it doesn't have to be that thing."

“I’m not willing to take that chance," Celestia said. "I don’t think any of us are.”

“But… we have Personas though!” Twilight said, a slightly hopeful smile struggling to lift her face. “We can fight it!”

“There are only three of us, at the moment, who have discovered their Personas.” Celestia said. “Discord has the Potential, but nothing to show for it.”

“Gee thanks,” Discord sneered.

“It took twenty two of us to have a chance to fight back against the Beast, if it returned now, at full power, we wouldn’t survive.”

“Wh- What about the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight desperately said.

“The Elements are the Harmonious Magic in its purest form. But even so, they are only six little gems worth of it. We are talking about a creature that turned my Sister, among many other more powerful beings, to its cause. Equestria’s soil is not laced with the amount of magic it had when we created the Everfree Forest.”

“... so it’s hopeless.” Twilight murmured as she dropped her head.

“Not necessarily.” Celestia said. “If the Beast has been breaking itself apart in order to create these Shadows, then-”

“It’s just making itself weaker!” Twilight said, hope coming back to her eyes.

“Precisely.” Celestia said, nodding. “The Everfree has greatly drained the Beast, and sending these Shadow’s to the surface must be its last desperate attempt to reclaim our land for itself. The fact that it was able to burrow itself to a place unaffected by Everfree is a testament to its determination. But as long as we stand our ground, we can defeat it. There is, however, one other problem: Mr. Cake’s Kidnappers, they know about the Beast. And I would bet my crown that this won’t be the last time they try this. So for now, our objective is to find the culprits and put a stop to them before they kidnap anyone else.”

“...That might actually be rather easy.” Wayfarer said. “I already have an idea who it might be.”

“You do?” Celestia and Twilight said at the same time.

“Yeah, I mean it might just be a coincidence, but there’s this weird Pegasus mare that I had a run in with, and who I saw earlier today watching Sugarcube Corner. When I first bumped into her she seemed to be really interested in finding Twilight, actually being a little creepy about it if you ask me.”

“Coincidence or not,” Celestia said. “This sounds like somepony we would need to keep an eye on. If you see her again, go ahead and invite her to see Twilight, then bring her to me. If you can’t manage that, just call out for Gnowee, we’ll hear you and know to come find you.”

Wayfarer nodded. He was actually rather hopeful that all this would be solved by finding this pegasus again. But even then, coincidences did happen, and he wasn’t about to demonize this lone pegasus on only an assumption, even if she did make his skin crawl. Regardless though, he still had a few questions to ask Celestia.

“The Arcana,” he said “Are they-”

“They were the basis for the twenty two Major Arcana of a standard Tarot Deck,” Celestia said. “I didn’t even notice it until a couple decades ago, I never cared much for fortune telling you see.”

“Uh huh… What about what I did during the fight with the bird? I swapped Personas.”

“I saw, and I have no idea how you managed it, so your guess is as good as mine.”

“My guess is probably better actually.” Wayfarer considered as he thought of the dreams he’d been having. “I’ve got one more," he said aloud. "Have you ever heard of The Velvet Room?”

“The what?” Celestia asked. “No, I’ve never heard of such a place, what is it?”

“Nothing, just something I’ve been hearing a lot about recently.”

The room was silent again for a moment before Celestia smiled at Wayfarer. “Are you asking me out on a date to some Coffee shop or something?”

“N-no!” Wayfarer stammered as his stomach roared out in a desperate cry to be fed. “I’m asking Twilight if we can eat now! I’m starving!”

“Well that didn’t go as expected,” said a hooded figure as she eyed the small little town below her.

“Well perhaps it would have gone better if you had covered your tracks more carefully my dear,” said another hooded figure as he leaned against a rock formation. “You DID basically tell them where we kidnapped the baker when you gave them the address.”

“How else were we going to lure that idiot out without alerting anyone?”

“How should I know? Maybe you should have used your shapeshifting powers Miss Changeling.” The first hooded figure hissed at the second as she turned to him, lowering her hood to reveal a mask that covered most of her face save for her large eyes and molting hair, which intricately traced her hard black carapace.

“Do not pretend to be the wiser one here! Ever since that worthless so called ‘Queen’ decided to advertise her swarm’s presence in Equestria, everypony and their mother is being taught how to recognize one of my kin, even in disguise!”

“Still, you could have used a bit more tact.”

“Don’t insult me. Let’s go, the others will be waiting.” And with that, the two slinked away into the darkness.

Author's Notes:

No matter what is revealed to us on Saturday, or into the future of the show for that matter, this is the back story I'm going to stick to. Maybe when I need to go back and fix plot holes I'll change it up a bit.

Speaking of plot holes, I still expect you all to be tough as nails when reading this story. If you see something that's off, TELL ME!

Hopefully I can get another chapter out as fast as I did this one, but at work I've been asked to take extra hours a lot lately, so it's up in the air when I might update next.

Chapter 6: Daily Living - May 13th

Wayfarer had somehow managed to get up this morning completely rested for once. The previous night had only ended after a verbal scuffle between Twilight and Celestia. Celestia, as it turned out, had been in Ponyville since the night before and had slept out in the fields under the stars, something she had said was a refreshing experience. However, Twilight was appalled that her fellow princess and mentor didn’t have a roof over her head, and so offered her the only other bedroom not taken up by another guest: Twilight’s. Celestia had tried to tell her that it wasn’t needed and that she was fine sleeping on one of the few large cushions that the Library had scattered around, but Twilight wouldn’t submit. Wayfarer even offered to vacate the guest room and take the couch, but both of them refused. In the end, they both took one of the cushions, leaving Twilight’s bed empty.

All of this had only come after Discord made another minor mess of Twilight’s library in an attempt to get under her skin. At first he’d left the others alone so that they could eat dinner in peace, but as soon as they came back into the front room of the library they found most of the walls covered in intricate diagrams detailing how exactly Discord was going to drive Wayfarer up the wall. Wayfarer had almost regretted his decision to be a “playmate” for the Lord of Chaos when he saw “Plan Q”, which took up most of the area above the fireplace and included several mathematical formulas Wayfarer was sure didn’t exist in Equestria yet. Celestia was ready to chew Discord out again when he decided to split and take all his plans with him, saying something about Fluttershy calling for him.

It had been a weird night all things considered, but now Wayfarer was up and well rested and on his way down the road to the school house, “Bright eyed and bushy tailed” as he called it. He was just making the last approach when he was joined by Rarity and her sister Sweetie Belle.

“A very good morning to you Wayfarer!” Rarity said.

“Good morning to you as well Rarity, Sweetie Belle.” Wayfarer responded. “You two are out early.”

“Yes, it IS rather unusual for me to be out and about at this hour, but our parents are leaving on a train for yet another one of their trips, so I had to go pick up Sweetie Belle. And seeing as we would have had to leave my boutique immediately after getting there in order to get her to school on time, I figured it would be better to just bring her directly to the school house.”

“But we could have dropped off my things!” Sweetie Belle said.

“And I told you we could pick them up when I came to get you this afternoon. I still have a key to Mother and Father’s house.” Sweetie Belle huffed. She obviously wasn’t fond of the idea of going to school early. “So then,” Rarity said looking back to Wayfarer. “I hear tell that you, Twilight, and some other third pony found Mister Cake yesterday. All of us were dying to know what happened and Pinkie Pie sure wasn’t a big help. Could you perhaps fill us in on the details?”

Wayfarer did his best to feed Rarity the same story they told Mrs. Cake yesterday. Mostly the truth, but just leaving out the bit about the castle. Somehow Wayfarer thought Rarity could tell he wasn’t telling her the whole story, and she probably wanted to know more about this “Sunny Skies,” but thankfully she didn’t push. Instead she moved on to the next gossipy topic on her list.

“So when can I expect you in my shop to start work on your next ensemble? I simply cannot allow such sleek designs go unexecuted.”

“When I need them, and when the money’s right.” Wayfarer said. At this point they’d reached the school and he was holding the door open for Sweetie Belle. “At the moment, neither of those have happened. Thank you for the offer Rarity, but I’ll come to you when I’m ready for new clothes.”

“Oh, Pish Posh! A dashing stallion like you deserves more than just one nice outfit. Ahh well, C'est la vie. Have a good day you two!”

Wayfarer had just finished oiling the playground’s carousel when Cheerilee released her students for recess. Immediately Wayfarer was set upon by the same foals who had asked him to play hoof ball last time, and asked him to play with them again. He was watching them go after a particularly long kick that he didn’t even think he was capable of, when he felt somepony poke at his side. He looked down to see all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders looking up at him.

“Hey girls.” He said. “Can I help you with something?”

“Ah hope so.” Apple Bloom said. “Cheerilee is having us write somethi’n about the comets we been see’n every night, but we can’t remember some of their names.”

“We were hoping you could help us with that.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah, since you’re so smart.” Scootaloo said, rather sarcastically.

Wayfarer looked over at the fillies and colts he was just playing with, and they seemed to have forgotten him as they started playing keep away with each other. “Sure, I’ll lend you a hoof.”

The three quickly started describing comets and things, asking for their names and such. Wayfarer was actually surprised he could remember so many from Twilight’s little tangent about them.

“What was that first one called?” Apple Bloom asked. “The really big one that kept lead’n the rest?”

“That would be Pathfinder.” Wayfarer answered, this one he actually remembered a few more details about. “While the other Comets are known to come around at varying times, Pathfinder is only seen during the Starfall Festival, and is always the first one to be seen. It’s like the drum major for a marching band.” The three were nodding at this when something caught their attention just over Wayfarer’s head and their eyes went wide with fear. Wayfarer was about to ask them what was up when one of the other foals screamed and he spun around.

“Are you working right now?” Said Discord as he smiled down at Wayfarer. “Because I’ve got something to try out on you, Mr. ‘I’m no stranger to madness.’”

“The school bell hasn’t rung to release the students yet.” Wayfarer said calmly as the Cutie Mark Crusaders cowered behind him. “Come back then, and if Cheerilee doesn’t have anymore work for me, then I’ll come play your little games.”

“Very well then. I will withdraw for the moment, but just so you know, Fluttershy will be joining us. She said she wanted to be there in case I do something you regret.”

“That’s fine. Now go, you’re scaring the kids.”

“Moi?! Scaring children? Oh perish the thought! I’d never do such a thing!” Said children had all rushed to the school house, banging on the door and begging Cheerilee to let them back in.

“Just go, please.” Wayfarer said as his boss was almost trampled when she opened the door to see what all the fuss was about. Discord simply rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, disappearing in a bright flash.

“Is he gone?” Sweetie Belle said after a moment as she and the other two came out from behind Wayfarer.

“What was that creep doing here anyway?” Scootaloo asked. “And what was that about you playing games with him?”

“He needs someone to mess with,” Wayfarer explained. “So I volunteered.”

“What!?” The three fillies yelled.

“But he’s mean!” Sweetie Belle said.

“He’s annoying!” Scootaloo said.

“He’s evil!” Apple Bloom said.

“He’s a bad influence on everypony,” Cheerilee said from behind the Crusaders. “And I think spending time with somepony who stands up to him will do him some good. I wish you the best of luck Wayfarer. Now come along girls, I think recess is over now.” The three gave Wayfarer worried looks before they joined the rest of their classmates inside. Wayfarer sighed and went back to checking on the rest of the playground equipment for the rest of the day.

“He’s probably going to swoop me up the moment I walk out the door.” Wayfarer said as the last few kids left the School House.

“Not if he thinks you’re still busy helping me.” Cheerilee said, casting a few glances at the door, as if expecting the Lord of Chaos to come barging through at any moment. “You could come help me run some errands or something.”

“Thanks, but I’ve made my bed, so it’s time to go lie in it.” with that he made his way to the front door, silently praying to the sun and the moon.

Cheerilee waved worriedly at Wayfarer as he turned the handle on the front door. As it swung open, he cringed and closed his eyes shut, and awaited the inevitable. And waited. And waited. slowly he opened his eyes and saw that no one was there. He stepped fully out of the school house and looked around. Discord was no where in sight, but he did spot a note tacked to the fence. Slowly Wayfarer approached and tore the note away.

“Come and meet me at Fluttershy’s Cottage when you’re ready. Bring snacks.”

~Discord

Wayfarer stared at the note for a moment before sighing and starting down the path back to the center of Ponyville.

“You’re do’n what now?” Applejack said as Wayfarer paid for a bushel of apples.

“Hanging out with Discord and Fluttershy.” Wayfarer repeated

“Alright, Fluttershy I don’t have a problem with. But why would you want anything to do with Discord?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Wayfarer said. “I’m starting to see why so many ponies dislike him though, after what he did to Spike last night and how he scared off Cheerilee’s students.”

“Hold up. What did he do to Spike?”

“Pestered him with flying books until I said the magic word.”

“Humph, well Ah can’t say that’s as bad as the stunts he pulled when we first met, Ah do think Twilight needs to write a letter to the Princess about that.”

“If you mean Celestia, she’s already way ahead of you Applejack.” Wayfarer said as he scooped up the bag of apples and set them on his back. “Celestia agreed to let me take this chance and see if we can’t give the guy an outlet for his… um… hobbies.”

Applejack tapped at her chin, looking around thoughtfully for a moment before tossing a glare at Wayfarer. “When was this?”

“Last night,” We responded simply.

“After Mr. Cake came back?”

“Yes.”

“Did Discord have anyth’n to do with that?”

“None from what we could tell.”

“Who’s we?”

“Celestia, Twilight, and me.”

“... is the Princess here in Ponyville?”

“I’ve got to go now Applejack, thanks for the Apples. Hey can you point me in the direction of Fluttershy’s home?”

“Yeah, it’s that way, out near Everfree.”

“Thanks, see ya around.”

“Uhh, yeah, sure, not a problem.”

Wayfarer made his way back out of Ponyville, looking for Fluttershy’s cottage. He finally found it as he followed a shallow stream. Once again he was fascinated by the fact that a building had been made out of what looked like a still growing tree, only instead of a tree made for a knowledge seeker, this one looked like it was grown to house mother nature herself. As he approached the front door, several animals poked their heads out of various hiding spots, and soon Wayfarer admitted that his assumption of nature living here might not have been very far off.

Wayfarer knocked twice on the door and, after a few moments, it gently creaked open to partially reveal Fluttershy, who then opened the door all the way upon recognizing who it was.

“Oh, Wayfarer!” she said in her demure little whisper of a voice. “So nice to see you again. Discord’s been waiting for you.”

“Does he live here with you?” Wayfarer asked as he stepped inside.

“Yes… well, sort of… I mean he sort of just comes and goes. I tend to just give him whatever space he needs.”

“Which isn’t much when you’re an omnipotent being such as myself.” Discord said from the inside of a lamp that he had shrunk himself down to fit in.

“Uh huh.” Wayfarer said as he tossed the bag of apples onto a nearby table and then approached the Draconequus. “Well, let’s get started shall we?”

“Quite.” Discord said and snapped his fingers.

A bright flash of light filled the room, forcing Wayfarer to clamp his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he found himself in what looked like one of the museums from Baltimare save for the fact that it was completely empty. Discord was standing next to him, at full size, wearing a nice suit and bowtie. Fluttershy was no where to be seen, so Wayfarer assumed he’d left her behind.

“Well there goes the only thing keeping him in check around me.” Wayfarer thought to himself “Celestia give me strength.”

“You see Mr. Wayfarer,” Discord said. “After our little meeting the other day where you tried to get me to use my powers for more constructive purposes, Fluttershy insisted I do more paintings for her. I told her there wasn’t any fun in it for me, but she persisted, to the point of asking why I didn’t try painting without my powers.” Discord snapped again at this and the walls were then filled with frames and filled canvases. Wayfarer stepped forward and started to look over all of them. “I thought, ‘Why not?’ and decided to give it a whirl, though I must confess I was a bit annoyed that I couldn’t replicate the beautiful works I could with my powers, no matter how many times I tried.”

Wayfarer took a while to respond as he stared at the mess of colours and unnatural shapes that lined the walls. Each ‘painting’ seemed to get worse and worse, devolving into what looked like mud splattered all over the canvas. Slowly he turned to Discord with a very flat look on his face.

“You suck,” Wayfarer said. Discord simply sighed and materialized a garbage can and started plucking all the ‘art’ off the walls. “Umm… sorry.”

“No, no. You're right,” Discord sighed as he folded up one pictures into sixteenths, frame and all, and dropped it into the can. “With my powers life holds no challenge, but without them I doubt I’d last a day.” Something Celestia said last night chose that moment to pop into Wayfarer’s head, and he wondered if it might be a good lead to follow.

“What sort of stuff did you do before you became the Lord of Chaos?”

“I’ve always been the Lord of Chaos, Mr. Wayfarer.” Discord said as he tipped over another frame and allowed the painting to just poor out of it and into the garbage can. “It was just after I ate that accursed fruit I was able to make some REAL chaos. All the universe a stage for me, experiencing what true madness could be like. It was, as Celestia put it, ‘enlightening.’”

“Still, what did you do before that?”

“I was in a band.”

“Wait, really?” Wayfarer asked, honestly surprised.

“Yes, my old man thought it would do me some good to have a more sophisticated aspect to my life. At first it just seemed like another one of his futile efforts to curb my habit of making people’s lives more exciting, but admittedly I did start to enjoy it after a while, especially when I got a chance to compose my own work. I think that’s how I ended up meeting the royal family, Princess Solianna was one of the clarinetists for a few years and tried to convince me I had a future as a professional fool. Or was it a politician? I can never tell the difference.”

“... So,” Wayfarer asked hesitantly. “Can you still play?”

Discord dropped the can of discarded portraits and stroked his beard for a moment before snapping a Piano into being. He slowly approached it and stared at it for a while before finally sitting down on its bench and running his talon over the keys, occasionally pressing them down every now and again.

Wayfarer stood behind him, watching silently as slowly Discord started hitting keys faster and faster, adding his lion’s paw into the mix, and soon he started to play something with actual melody. After a while of experimentation, he lifted his hands from the piano, cracked his knuckles, and started to play in earnest.

The song started soft, notes cascading around like rain, before building up suddenly to a bold and somewhat demented sounding declaration of vanity. It continued to flow up and down in its intensity, but always there remained an undertone of off kilterness. The song seemed to radiate madness, but in a way that also made it irrefutably beautiful. After a couple of minutes, Discord stopped and raised his hands up once more.

There was silence for a moment, before Wayfarer gently started clapping his hooves together. Discord turned around, looking slightly confused at this.

“Catchy.” Wayfarer said. “In a twisted sort of way.”

Discord smirked at this. “Well of course. Do you think I would have impressed an amphitheater full of air headed nobles with anything less than ‘catchy’? Oh how all those stuck up and pompous types thought I was going places.” His grin only deepened as he reminisced of days gone by. “Boy was it a shock to them when they found out I was the one who planted Poison Joke in the Royal Gardens.”

“Oh jeez,” Wayfarer sighed. “Bet they loved that.”

“They actually demanded Queen Rosetta put my head on a pike. She, thankfully enough, was a good sport about it all. My only punishment was being crowned Court Jester for a year. So I guess Solianna was right, I DID have a future as a politician.”

“What about your band?” Wayfarer asked.

“Oh they went on without me. I might have been the most talented member amongst them but I’m sure they thought they were much better off.”

“It sounds like you didn’t really enjoy being a part of it.”

“As I’ve said, I found it rather difficult to work in groups to be honest. Yes I enjoyed being the center of attention, I admit that, but even when the spotlight was on me I had to return it to someone else eventually. That was the whole point of the Poison Joke scheme, to take attention away from the upcoming wedding of Princess Solianna and her harlot, Prince Artemis. Oh if you thought the nobles were mad, Solianna almost strung me up with her own two hooves.”

“You ever want to go back?”

“To ruining everypony’s day just for the fun of it? Oh you have no idea.”

“No I mean, the music.”

Discord went back to stroking his beard in thought. “That’d be a nice change of pace, but really now, who would want to come to a concert to see ME perform?”

“After what I just heard, I know I would.” Discord froze and just looked down at Wayfarer in surprise. His face twitched slightly, almost as if a genuine smile was trying to force its way out.

“Well,” Discord said, twiddling his thumbs. “Thank you.”

“Funny, and here I thought you were going to try and drive me insane.”

“Oh what fun would it be if I started trying to break my new toy the moment I got it?” Discord said, smirking to himself. “I actually want you to last my friend.”

“Now, let’s go check up on Fluttershy. I’m sure she’s probably chomping at the bit right now.”

“Why did you leave her behind in the first place.”

“I’ve spent countless hours with Shutterfly, I don’t feel I need to spend that much more now that I’ve got you.”

Discord snapped his fingers again and they found themselves back in Fluttershy’s cottage. Fluttershy had lined up a whole bunch of woodland creatures and seemed to be giving them some sort of lecture.

“Now it’s imperative that we find them as quickly as possible.” She said, her voice sounding particularly stressed as she spoke to the assembled creatures with her back turned to Discord and Wayfarer. “Who KNOWS what sort of things Discord could be doing to him right now! Oh I hope we can find them before Farey gets turned all grey!”

“Have you been talking about me with Pinkie Pie?” Wayfarer said suddenly, making Fluttershy jump in surprise. “Because I thought I told her I didn’t like that nickname.”

“Fare- I mean Wayfarer!” Fluttershy cried as she rushed forward and began circling him. “You’re okay aren’t you? You don’t feel like doing anything mean to anypony right? Or saying really bad words about anypony?”

“Hmm…” Wayfarer hummed in mock contemplation. “Nope, not feeling particularly nasty or anything.”

“Dear Fluttershy, I thought you had more faith in me then that?” Discord said in a very hurt sounding voice. “Are you saying you don’t trust me with one of our friends? All I did was show him my art work, he hated it by the way, thanks for the suggestion.”

“O-oh…” Fluttershy mumbled. “I-I’m sorry. It’s just… I was worried that something might happen after I found all your plans on my table last night.”

“Oh poppycot! Those were just silly little doodles. I’d NEVER do anything that might make our little Wayfarer go so helplessly mad that he wouldn’t be able to complement me on my masterful piano work.”

“Oh, well that’s good to… Piano work?”

“Why yes Fluttershy, he seemed to rather like my piano solo, even if I am a bit rusty.”

“You played music?” Fluttershy said excitedly, her eyes going wide.

“Why, yes, I suppose I did, might actually play more since he liked it so much.”

“C-can I hear it?” Fluttershy asked. “Maybe I could bring some of my bird friends in to join you as well?”

Discord really seemed to give this some thought, casting a glance to Wayfarer who nodded in earnest.

“I’d love to hear more.”

“Aww what the hay!” Discord said, summoning up the piano again. “Strike up the band Fluttershy! Let’s set the town on fire!”

“Oh, umm, how about we… you know… not? Why don’t we play something… nice… and quiet?”

“I make no promises my dear.”

Wayfarer ended up spending a good few hours at Fluttershy’s cottage, listening to her, Discord, and a full orchestra of woodland creatures make some of the best music he’d heard in a long time. Sure it couldn’t match an actual orchestra, prepared with actual instruments and rehearsal time, but it was, as Fluttershy put it, nice.

He returned that evening to Twilight’s library to find her and Celestia pouring over what looked like blueprints.

“What are those?” Wayfarer asked as he joined them.

“Blueprints to the castle.” Twilight said. “Me and Celestia have been looking over them to make sure we aren’t missing any secret entrances.”

“Secret entrances?”

“Yes.” Celestia said. “While you were busy, Twilight and I went to the abandoned house you two entered the Castle through and we sealed it up. Then we thought we ought to check and see if there were any other ways in or out.”

“I did add a few other entrances into the castle other than the front gates when I first designed the castle,” Twilight said. “But none of them exist outside of the walls.”

“Meaning the only way our kidnapper has of dragging ponies into the caverns below is by digging directly into them. And if that is how he or she plans to strike again, then there’s not a great deal we can do to head him or her off.”

“And without more clues,” Twilight added. “We don’t really have any leads as to who the kidnapper might be. And I haven’t seen that strange Pegasus you mentioned yet either.”

“If she is still around,” Wayfarer said. “She probably won’t be so eager to try again so soon after her last attempt failed.

“But if she IS trying to resurrect the Beast, then time is working against her. She’ll NEED to make another attempt soon if she wants to make any progress.”

“...so what do we do?” Wayfarer asked.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do except keep a watchful eye out,” Celestia said, rolling one of the blueprints up. “I wrote to my sister last night and filled her in. I also asked her to warn me if any ponies start disappearing elsewhere.”

The three sat in silence for a while until Twilight softly spoke up. “Celestia? Can I tell my friends about this? If the Elements of Harmony could help us, then shouldn’t we be ready for that?”

“I’m afraid I must still advise against that.” Celestia said. “I know how devoted your friends are to you and to this town. What do you think they’ll do if you tell them what is happening?”

“They’ll probably demand to come with us if anypony is ever kidnapped again.” Twilight said sadly.

“And without a Persona, who knows what might happen to them.” Celestia said, nodding. “We’ve been lucky so far, but we shouldn’t rely so heavily on luck when Equestria’s safety is at risk.”

“Sooo… we wait?” Wayfarer asked.

“We wait.” Celestia confirmed.

Wayfarer sighed and went to one of the bookshelves, pulling out the first interesting book he could find, and settling down on the couch, ready to wait as long as he needed to.

Author's Notes:

Chapters getting shorter and updates getting later. Not a good sign.

I don't know why but I've always seen Discord as the musical type, in fact I've a sneaking suspicion that most crazy people have a love for classical music. Not that I'm implying you NEED to be crazy to like Classical music, I'm just saying that I think characters like Discord, The Joker, Kefka Pallazzo, ets. would feel right at home at a good piano or pipe organ.

Chapter 7: Daily Living - May 14th and 18th

Today marked the end of the Starfall Festival. Ponies everywhere were now taking time to disassemble all the booths and decorations while still more were boarding trains to head back home. Wayfarer was filled with an odd sort of feeling as he passed by the station and saw ponies packing into the passenger cars. It had been a week since he’d arrived but it felt more like a month with all the things that had been happening. When he arrived at the schoolhouse he was quick to get back to work, and Cheerilee was quick to inquire about his state of mind.

“How did it go yesterday?” Cheerilee asked as she stowed away some of her own decorations.

“Better than I thought it would.” Wayfarer responded. “Turns out Discord’s a classically trained musician.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was kind of surprised too.” As the students arrived, Wayfarer prepared to move out of the classroom, but not before he overheard two of the students gossiping over something.

“I heard the construction workers were heading over to Princess Twilight’s house today.” Said the pink one to her friend. “Daddy said they’ve been pretty mad about not being able to get back to work even when they’re so close to being done. I don’t see why they’re complaining, they got time off for the Starfall Festival while we still had to come into school and learn about stupid space junk. I mean, who really cares about comets anyway?”

Wayfarer rolled his eyes, shaking his head and trotting out before he heard anymore.

It seemed like Wayfarer was becoming the go to playmate of a lot of ponies these days, to the point where he started getting pulled in two different directions towards the end of recess, with one group of foals asking him to play tag and another trying to get him to help them with their homework. He tried his best to give attention to the lot of them, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t in his job description to spend time with the students, but for some reason he couldn’t resist saying yes to them when their eyes got big and they pushed out their bottom lips.

“That’s cheating.” He thought when they first tried this on him. Eventually they returned to the school house, leaving Wayfarer alone to check the fences along the road for any loose boards.

“Hello there Wayfarer!” Came a voice from down the dirt path. Wayfarer looked up to see Celestia, in her Sunny Skies disguise, trotting up to meet him.

“Hello Sunny. How are you doing?”

“Actually, I feel rather good.” She said with a smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve taken an actual break. And even though I’m only here because of you know what, I still can’t help but enjoy the lack of ponies rushing to me with trivial political troubles.”

“Like Taxes?”

“That seems to be the ONLY thing they seem to care about sometimes.” Celestia said. “Especially my layabout of a nephew, Prince Blueblood. When I suggested lowering taxes now that we have a surplus, his only argument against it was that it would cut into his allowance!”

“You have my sympathies.”

“Thank you. So when do you get off? Twilight is spending time with her friend Rarity, and I just got done with some business at the castle.”

“What sort of business?”

“Well I’ve decided to have Gnowee scan as much of the caverns below as possible, every day, just to make sure no one is down there. I shudder to consider the idea that our foe prevailing just because of a lack of diligence. Anyway, I was wondering if you might join me for a trip to Sugarcube Corner, I never did get to try that cake.”

“It’d be my pleasure. I’ll be done here in a few hours, I’ll meet you over there.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll see you later then Wayfarer.”

Cheerilee only had a few other things for Wayfarer to do after the students were released, then he was off to Sugarcube Corner. As he entered into the establishment, he immediately saw Celestia sitting in the same booth she had before, conversing with Pinkie Pie. As he approached, he caught the tail end of their conversation.

“Now I have your word you won’t tell anypony, right Pinkie?” Celestia asked.

“Of course!” Pinkie Pie almost shouted. “Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye!” Celestia couldn’t help but snort at the silly promise and gestures as Pinkie made them. “Though I don’t really know why I’d HAVE to tell anypony.” Pinkie continued. “It’s so OBVIOUS who you are! Oh! Hi Farey!”

“My name is Wayfarer.” Wayfarer said flatly as he sat down across from Celestia. “Please don’t go spreading that nickname around, I REALLY don’t like it.”

“Okey Dokey Lokey! Would you like a slice of cake too? I could whip up another lemon cake with extra icing if you want!”

“A chocolate shake would do just fine Pinkie,” Wayfarer said. Pinkie smiled and bounced back behind the counter.

“I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have the Unicorn’s Guild in Canterlot have her examined.” Celestia whispered as Wayfarer sat down. “Whenever I’m around her I can’t help but feel some sort of… unease.”

“She seems harmless enough.” Wayfarer responded. “I mean, yeah, she’s a little spooky at times. But I wouldn’t say she’s dangerous.”

“I don’t think she is either.” Celestia said with a smile. “She’s the bearer of the Element of Laughter. I don’t think she could hurt a fly.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that, what are ‘The Elements’? You and Twilight mentioned them the other night and I was a little confused.”

“They’re crystallized harmonious magic that bonds with a pony or ponies and then resonates with their spirits to create miracles.” Celestia said matter of factly.

“...oh. Well that makes sense. I guess.”

“They’re magic gems grown from a magic tree. Simple enough for you?”

“... grown from a Tree?”

“They’re just magic Wayfarer,” Celestia said with a chuckle. “Don’t think too hard about it.”

“Ughh… you sound like some of my old unicorn friends. Always making things sound more complex than they actually are.”

Celestia giggled at that. “Oh I could probably teach your friends a few things about magic that would make their heads spin.”

“Ooh! That sounds like a neat trick!” Pinkie Pie said as she placed a slice of cake in front of Celestia and a shake in front of Wayfarer. “You think you could show me?” Celestia and Wayfarer just stared at the confections in front of them, letting their shocked gaze slowly turn to the smiling mare beside them.

“Pinkie.” Wayfarer said. “We just ordered what we wanted only a minute ago.”

“Actually it was only about fifty three seconds!” She said excitedly.

“How did you do that?!” Celestia and Wayfarer balked at the same time.

“Well I had some practice the other day when you two came in and ordered pretty much the same thing you did now!”

“But we… you couldn’t have…” Celestia stammered.

“Thank you Pinkie.” Wayfarer said. “They look great, regardless of how creepily fast they were made.”

“Thanks Wayfarer!” Pinkie exclaimed before turning to Celestia. “So how about that head spinning trick?”

“It’s… umm, a figure of speech.”

“Ooooooooohhhhh. I thought your disguise was going to include being a magician! Though I don’t see how that would work now that I think about it. Oh! You could be the world’s first Pegasus Magician! With a magic wand and everything!”

“Pinkie, I’m just visiting, remember?” Celestia murmured through gritted teeth as she pulled Pinkie’s head and ears down. “I just wanted to keep myself hidden and right now you’re putting a wrench in that plan.” Celestia casted a few glances around her to the other patrons, some of whom were looking their way in curiosity. Pinkie looked around too and then turned back to Celestia with a more serious look on her face.

“Alright, mums the word then.” Pinkie said in whisper. “I’ll plan your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Sunny Skies’ party with the utmost discretion.”

“Thank you Pinkie… wait, what?!”

“Woops! looks like it’s break time! See you guys later!” Before Celestia could say anymore, Pinkie once more lept back behind the counter, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Really?” Celestia said as she leaned back into her seat. “Even when I’m in disguise I get thrown celebrations? That’s just… aughh!”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Wayfarer said, reaching for his shake. “She did the same thing to me, and apparently she does it to every new arrival in Ponyville.”

“You think there’d be a few ponies who wouldn’t respond well to that.” Celestia said as she dug into her cake.

“I don’t know, I haven’t asked.”

“Probably something I should ask Twilight.” Celestia spooned a large helping of cake and icing into her mouth, then her eyes went wide as dinner plates as she swallowed. “OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS AMAZING!” Wayfarer smirked at that, then started to laugh when she looked around and apologized to all the ponies that had spun around to glare at her. The two continued in silence as Wayfarer slowly drained his glass and Celestia did her best to savor every bite of her cake. Eventually she set her spoon down and gave a contented yet sorrowful sigh. “I should have just asked for the whole cake instead of just a slice.”

“Don’t you think that would have been a bit much?” Wayfarer asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“You can’t tell me when I’ve had too much!” Celestia said in a mock angry voice before snorting into a fit of giggles. “My sister would have rolled her eyes at that. She would have told me to control myself, lest ponies start talking about how my flanks are getting bigger.” Wayfarer started to blush furiously at that and turned his gaze to look anywhere but at Celestia.
“You don’t think I’m getting fat… do you?” she said, turning her laughing face into a very serious looking one.

“I… UM…” Wayfarer stuttered.

“Oh don’t be so jumpy!” Celestia laughed. “I’m just teasing you. You can take a bit of teasing right?” Wayfarer smiled embarrassedly, nodding his head slightly as he looked over at Celestia. “There aren’t a lot of ponies I could do that to back home. Everyone’s so stuffy and straight faced. There are a few exceptions thankfully. Like Fancy Pants, he’s a famous… heh, actually, I’ve no idea WHAT he’s famous for. Just that he always shows up at the biggest of Canterlot gatherings with about twenty other ponies surrounding him.”

Celestia seemed to have fallen into reminiscing at this point.

“I finally got a chance to talk with him without anyone else butting in, and he turned out to be quite the gentlecolt. I asked if he might be interested in meeting with me again, and unfortunately another one of the party goers caught that and thought I was asking him out on a date. The next morning my sister brought me the paper and, well, you can imagine the backlash that followed.”

“I don’t get it. Are you not allowed to date or something?”

“Not with stallions who are already taken.”

“Oh… Did Fancy Pants do anything about it?”

“He did his best to try and convince ponies that it was just friendly conversation, but not even he could sway the majority of the Canterlot elite who already didn’t see me in the best of light. In the end he sent a message to me saying we shouldn’t be seen together again until the ponies of Canterlot realize how silly they’re being. This was almost a month ago, and I’m not going to lie, but getting a break from all that is refreshing to say the least. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”

“It’ll pass.” Wayfarer said with a smile. “I’m from Baltimare. I know how high and mighty some ponies can get, but I also know how fickle they can be. They’ll find something else to gossip over.”

“Hopefully. I just wonder how they got this way in the first place?”

“Lack of having to do the hard work themselves?” Wayfarer suggested. “Never learned to just go with the flow? I’d almost say take a leaf out of Discord’s book and do something spontaneous to them when they least expect it.”

“I’m not about to go that far just yet.” Celestia said with a disapproving look. “Still, a little excitement never hurt anyone, if the Grand Galloping Gala from a few years ago was any indication. And speaking of parties,” she stopped and looked over to the counter, where Pinkie Pie had disappeared earlier. “Should I go to Pinkie’s party for me?”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be surrounded by people who aren’t rushing up to you and bowing?” Celestia hesitated for a moment before smirking and looking back at Wayfarer.

“You’re right, it would be nice to take the time to live like a regular pony. Thank you Wayfarer.”

The two continued to chat some more as evening drew near. Eventually Celestia stood and Wayfarer followed. They left Sugarcube Corner in relatively high spirits, wondering aloud just what excitement Pinkie was going to spring on ‘Sunny Skies’.

Wayfarer and Celestia walked through town on their way back to the library, all the decor and booths gone without a trace, finally giving them a good look at the place when it wasn’t lit up like Hearth’s Warming Eve. It seemed even more simple and laid back then Wayfarer had thought.

As they arrived at their destination and stepped inside, they found Twilight, Spike, and Rarity gathered around sipping at tea. Rarity looked up at them when they entered and almost choked on her drink.

“Wayfarer! There you are… and with a mare I see.”

“Don’t get too excited Rarity.” Twilight said, barely looking up from the book she had splayed out in front of her. After another sip of tea though she lifted her head up, pursing her lips in thought. “Umm… Sunny? Can we talk really quick?”

“Of course Twilight.” Celestia said as Twilight closed her book and stood. the two walked out of the front room, leaving Wayfarer, Spike, and Rarity alone.

“So who’s this lucky girl?” Rarity asked teasingly.

“A friend from Canterlot.” Wayfarer answered. “What kind of tea is that?”

Rarity’s eyes lit up at the mention of Canterlot. “Is she a pen pal or something?”

“No I only just met her. The Tea?”

“Honeybrush darling. Go on, have some and tell me about this friend of yours.”

“It’s not nice to gossip about people you haven’t met yet.” Wayfarer said as he claimed a spare cup and had Rarity poor him some of the steaming tea.

“I can’t help it. It’s in my nature.” She set the teapot down and took another sip of her own. “This wouldn’t happen to be the same mare who helped you and Twilight with Mr. Cake would it?”

“Perhaps.”

“Oh stop being so secretive.”

“Stop being so nosy.”

“Nosy!” Rarity scoffed. “I am NOT ‘nosy’! I am curious!”

“Ugghh, fine. Her name is Sunny Skies, she’s here on business, and yes she’s the mare who helped me and Twilight. Happy?”

“... Drink your tea Wayfarer. You’re becoming a little snippy.” Wayfarer snorted and took a swig of his tea. It reminded him of Earl Grey, but slightly sweeter.

“So…” Wayfarer started. “How’s Rainbow Dash doing?”

“She’s acting like a child. Insisting she hasn’t trained enough and pushing herself beyond what she’s capable of. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up in the hospital with a broken wing again.”

“Did she say what exactly was bugging her?”

“Not a word, only that she needs to train more. I say she’s right where she ought to be as far as the Wonderbolts are concerned. Honestly I’m surprised Spitfire hasn’t had her performing yet.” Wayfarer sighed and drank more of his tea. Celestia and Twilight came back some time later, both looking slightly uneasy.

“Rarity.” Twilight said, sitting back down. “I can go to the play with you.”

“Oh wonderful darling!” Rarity said, clapping her hooves. “I was hoping you’d say yes.”

“Play?” Wayfarer asked.

“One of my connections in Canterlot,” Rarity explained. “Managed to get some extra tickets to the first summer show of ‘Wicked’ at the Fabulous Fox Theatre! And as a way of saying thank you for giving him a bit of friendly advice about his new line of suits, he sent them to me.”

“You’re going to Canterlot?” Wayfarer asked, turning to Twilight.

“It’s only for half a day.” Twilight said quickly. “Next Saturday, I’ll leave right before lunch and be back before the sun even goes down.”

“So sorry we can’t bring you along Wayfarer.” Rarity said. “But I only have three tickets, and the third one is going to Fluttershy.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Wayfarer said. “I saw ‘Wicked’ when it went on tour last year. Besides, I think my presence will be required here in Ponyville.” Wayfarer casted a glance at Celestia, who quickly nodded to him.

“Well then I guess that’s that then.” Rarity said as she stood up. “Thank you for the lovely afternoon Twilight, remember to mark your calendar for next Saturday. Good night all.” Rarity stepped out the front door as a chorus of goodbyes followed her. Celestia shifting slightly around as she looked at Twilight.

“Is there something going on I should know about?” Spike suddenly said, reminding everyone he was there. “Or are you just going to keep hiding whatever big secret you three and Discord have going on?”

“It’s nothing you have to worry about Spike” Celestia said.

“No, but when you guys keep telling me to leave when you want to talk about it, it makes me think it has something to do with me. And if Discord’s involved, that makes me REALLY nervous.”

“It’s not about you Spike,”Twilight said. “Don’t worry.”

The days after the end of the festival seemed almost eerily quiet in Ponyville. Wayfarer chalked it up to just being too used to city life, but there was the nagging feeling in the back of his head that at any moment he’d be dragged back into some other dilemma, either at the castle or by Discord. The Draconequus in question, surprisingly enough, seemed to try and keep his requests for Wayfarer’s company infrequent, as Wayfarer had only had to go and meet with him and Fluttershy one other time during the entire week. Now the weekend had arrived and Wayfarer was almost begging for something to happen. He quickly learned that that wasn’t something you should wish for when something very pink and very excitable once again leapt in front of him while he was walking around town.

“Hi again Wayfarer!” Pinkie shouted.

“JEEZ! Oh… Hi Pinkie.” Wayfarer said as his hoof flew up to his chest to try and relax his heart. “What are you up to?”

“Making final preparations for Sunny Skies’ welcoming party.”

“Oh, you’re still doing that? I expected Twilight’s library to be party central again on Tuesday night.”

“Twilight wouldn’t let me.” Pinkie said, her ears drooping. “Said something about Sunny not needing one. And I said that that was silly and that everypony needs a Welcome to Ponyville party. But she said that Sunny wasn’t staying and I should treat her like all those ponies who came to work on the castle. Then I asked if she meant I should treat Sunny like she’s a big tuff and burly stallion and Twilight just looked at me weird and shook her head before walking away.”

“Uhhuh… So where’s the party going to be?”

“Right here!” Pinkie said, raising to her back legs and gesturing all around her self.

“Here?” Wayfarer said, looking around in confusion. “In this street?”

“No silly! Here as in here in Ponyville!”

“Well, obviously. Wouldn’t be much of a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party if it wasn’t IN Ponyville.”

“I know right? It’d be like a ‘Welcome to the area around Ponyville that isn’t actually Ponyville’ party! Ooh! I should try that some time!”

“What I meant, Pinkie,” Wayfarer said. “Is where in Ponyville is the party going to be?”

“The better question would be, where ISN’T the party going to be! And the answer is Twilight’s house. Per Twilight’s request, the Party will happen anywhere BUT the Library!”

“So what are you going to do? Decorate the whole town? Didn’t we just have one of those parties?”

“No, I’m not allowed to cover the town in confetti and streamers again after last time. I’m just going to put Sunny up on a float and drive her all around town so that everypony can meet her! It’ll be like a parade!” Wayfarer just stood there, staring at Pinkie as she smiled at what she must have considered to be a brilliant plan.

“Pinkie,” Wayfarer said, doing his best not to slap a hoof against his face. “You do realize that ‘Sunny’ is trying to get away from that sort of thing?”

“Really? I thought Celestia was the one trying to get away from parades and stuff.”

“Well yes, but I think you’re getting a little confused Pinkie. Just ask Sunny before you try and force her into this insane idea of yours, and if she says no, then don’t push the issue. Alright?”

“Aughh! You two are such party poopers! And I thought Sunny would have liked a big crazy party thrown for her instead of those snooty ‘so-called’ parties they hold in Canterlot! That Garden Party wasn’t any fun at all!” Pinkie huffed off in annoyance, leaving Wayfarer alone in the middle of the street again, until an unfamiliar tan unicorn Stallion with messy black hair appeared next to him.

“What’s got her mane in a twist?” the stallion said, giving Wayfarer a confused look, which Wayfarer returned.

“I’m sorry,” Wayfarer said. “Do I know you?”

“Oh Wayfarer I’m hurt, how could you not recognize your bestest friend in the whole world.” Wayfarer finally recognized the voice and his eyes started to go big.

“Discord?”

“At your service,” the stallion said with a short bow.

“What are you… why are you…”

“‘Sunny Skies’ is allowed to walk around town without ponies groveling at her hooves. I thought maybe ‘Scrawl’ could do the same, only without ponies running for the hills at the sight of him.”

“... ‘Scrawl’?”

“Yes?”

“Augghh. Alright, whatever ‘Scrawl’, what do you want?”

“Just wanted to take a walk around town, enjoy the sights and sounds of the simple country folk… oh who am I kidding, I’m bored again.”

“You’re going to have to put tonight’s recital on hold I’m afraid. I need to go to Pinkie Pie’s welcome party for Sunny and make sure she doesn’t torment her.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted telling Discord immediately, as his face turned up in a smile that just screamed dastardly plans. “No. Please, for the love of the sun and the moon, don’t ruin this for her.”

“Oh very well.” Discord said as he turned to leave. Wayfarer sighed, before trotting over and walking along side Discord.

“I can spare a little time for you,” Wayfarer said. “But when Pinkie strikes up the band, I’m out of there.”

Pinkie’s party, thankfully, wasn’t nearly as overblown as Wayfarer had feared. It was still overblown but at least Celestia wasn’t the centerpiece of her own party. The float turned out just to be a mobile confections table that made stops at some of Ponyville’s landmarks. It was more than a little weird having to walk everywhere in order to stay with the party, and Wayfarer had the sneaking suspicion that Pinkie wasn’t happy with how many party goers she lost during the transition to each location. Aside from that, the party was fairly enjoyable, and even Celestia looked to be enjoying herself. The only major gripe Wayfarer had though was that, once again, Pinkie just had to show the guest of honor around to everyone, and Celestia was interrupted several times when trying to start conversations with the ponies she was being introduced too. The frustration was evident on her face by the fifth time it had happened, and at that point Wayfarer was ready to roll out the rescue wagon. However, on his way over however he ran right into another pony.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t…” He stopped in the midst of his apology when he realized who it was. “Rainbow Dash?” Dash looked up at Wayfarer’s face and he saw that she really didn’t look so good. Her eyes had bags under them, and her mane was a complete mess. Even her head looked like it was having trouble staying up as it bobbed slightly.

“Oh, hey Wayfarer. Great party huh?” She said, trying to force a grin onto her face.

“Jeez Dash, you look like a mess,” Wayfarer said, looking her up and down, taking stock of her current appearance. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Umm… What day is it?” Dash asked, almost slurring her words.

“Saturday.”

“Oh, good. It’s only been about two days since I last slept.”

“ONLY two days?” Wayfarer said with shock. “What are you doing here then? Go home and sleep!”

“No. I want to be here to welcome the… the…” dash lost her train of thought for a moment, then her head slumped down so far that Wayfarer was just about to reach forward and catch her before her head snapped back up to attention. “I WASN’T SLEEPING MA’AM!” She yelled.

“Dash,” Wayfarer said with annoyance. “Seriously. Go to bed.”

“NO! I can keep going Captain! I’m gonna be the best Wonderbolt there is! You’ll see!”

“Dash! Snap out of it!” Rainbow Dash snapped her head to look right at Wayfarer. for a moment the two just stared at each other, before Dash slumped a bit and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” She said before giving a large yawn. “You’re right. I REALLY need some sleep right about now.”

“Good,” Wayfarer said, relieved that he got through to her. “You really seem out of it. You need me to walk you home?” Dash snorted at that and looked at Wayfarer with irritation.

“No,” she said with prideful irritation. “I’m not that tired.”

“Alright, whatever. How bout I just come by your place tomorrow morning to check up on you, we can talk over that Sports Team Idea.” Rainbow seemed to perk up slightly at that.

“... yeah, actually. That sounds like a good idea. I’ll- I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Wayfarer watched as Rainbow Dash did her best to drag her hooves out of the crowd. He hoped a good night’s sleep was all she needed, but the idea that something else was up was going to be bugging him until tomorrow morning. Turning his attention back to Celestia and Pinkie, Wayfarer made his way back over to them just in time for Pinkie to push her party victim over to another group of ponies to introduce her too. Thinking on the fly, he called out to them.

“Hey Pinkie!” He yelled at her as he approached. “I think we’re running out of punch.”

“Oh no! I thought I told Berry Punch not to drink so much this time!” Pinkie rushed off at that and Wayfarer took her spot next to Celestia.

“I’ll try to keep her busy, feel free to enjoy yourself.”

“No, wait.” Celestia said, putting a hoof on his shoulder while a grin slowly covered her face. “I have an Idea.”

She pointed over to a building with a jesters hat for a roof, and after a moment of thought, Wayfarer started to grin too. fifteen minutes later the Party was moving again, traveling in the direction of the center of town, by then Pinkie had scolded Berry Punch - who it turns out actually did drink all the punch - restocked the punch bowl and glasses, and was back to introducing ‘Sunny’ to everyone. Meanwhile, Wayfarer had some of the materials from the joke shop and was busy enacting the rather harmless prank Celestia had come up with, and then Discord showed up still disguised as Scrawl.

“Spicing up the party I see. What happened to not ruining this for Sunny?”

“It was her idea actually.” Wayfarer said as he discreetly poured a packet of lightish blue dust into several glasses of punch, then taking up one and leaving most on the table amongst the untampered ones. As Wayfarer walked off to find Pinkie and Celestia again, he caught Discord take up one of the glasses and start examining it.

Celestia was once more being introduced to several ponies by Pinkie, but instead of trying to start a conversation she relented to Pinkie’s obsession and let her do the talking. Wayfarer stepped up next to Pinkie and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Thirsty Pinkie?” he said as he held up the glass he’d taken.

“I am actually! Thanks Fare- Wayfarer.” Pinkie took up the glass and quickly started to down it. She licked her lips as a look of confusion started to cross her face.

“That’s funny, it tastes kind of like Numb Tongue Tablets. But that would be silly, those don’t tass goo ab aahhh.” Pinkie’s eyes went wide as she looked down at her tongue to see that it was hanging limply out of her mouth.

“AHHHHGGGGG!!” She yelled, her eyes going crossed before running off in the direction of the party table.

Several of the ponies in the immediate area started to laugh at this, while Celestia and Wayfarer just giggled at each other.

“That will give us, what, fifteen minutes?” Celestia asked.

“Maybe less, I kind of shared the wealth.” Wayfarer said smiling despite himself. “Come on, it’s time for part two.” Celestia raised an eye at this and followed Wayfarer back to the table, where Pinkie had caught site of Discord with several bags of prank supplies he’d somehow obtained. Celestia was confused for a moment before her eyes went wide and she turned to Wayfarer.

“Is that...Discord?” She asked quietly.

“It is.” Wayfarer said as both he and she started trying their very best to not burst out into laughter right then and there, and ruin the one sided shouting match now in progress.

“Mpthhh PThhh MAhh Thaaahhh!” Pinkie said.

“Sorry, I’m a trifle deaf in this ear, try opening your mouth a little wider when you speak.” Discord responded. Pinkie then pointed over at the punch bowl and then at her mouth several times as she tried to get more words out. Several ponies got what she was trying to say and those that had punch with them immediately dropped their glasses.

“If you mean to accuse me of having something to do with your speech impediment, I’m afraid you have the wrong prankster.” Discord then tossed a glance over to Wayfarer, who had a hoof in his mouth trying to keep back a howl of laughter. “Why don’t you go accuse Mr. Wayfarer and Ms. Skies for a while, I’ve got a few cheap party gags to try and get some entertainment out of.” Discord harumphed and walked off in a mock dignified way, while Pinkie turned to glare at Wayfarer and Celestia.

“Guilty as charged.” The two said. Several ponies laughed and started to clap their hooves while Pinkie sat and started to slap her tongue with her hoof, trying to get some feeling back into it. Wayfarer and Celestia walked over to her with semi apologetic looks on their faces.

“You alright Pinkie?” Wayfarer asked. Pinkie rolled her eyes and nodded her head slightly.

“Id wahhd kinnna hunnnah.” She said, a small little smile crossing her face.

“Give it another two or three minutes and try saying that again,” Wayfarer said, snickering. The smile disappeared and she glared at him. “It was Sunny’s idea, I swear.”

“Yeah I’ll take the blame on this one.” Celestia said. “At least it got a laugh out of some ponies.”

“You think you could get away with that in Canterlot?” Wayfarer asked.

“Ha! Not a chance in Tartarus! Although…” Celestia looked down at one of her hooves, then took a lock of her pink hair and looked at it. Then she smiled as a rather devious idea entered her mind. “I don’t think the guards can technically arrest a pony if she doesn’t exist.” Wayfarer and Pinkie looked at each other and grinned at this.

“Now that would be a fancy party I wouldn’t mind attending.” Wayfarer said.

Rainbow Dash had her face planted firmly into a pillow as her head raced around itself in thought and doubt. She hadn’t been this unsure about herself since the time her first application to the Wonderbolt Academy had been turned down. That, however, she was able to shake off with the thought of “There’s always next year.” and thankfully that thought had proven true, as her very next application had been accepted. This particular moment of doubt, on the other hoof, was something else.

“What’s the point.” she mumbled to herself as she turned over to stare at the ceiling, the corners of her eyes starting to water. “No one will even care if I’m a Wonderbolt, so why bother.” The shadows in her room seemed to grow all the darker when she said this, and a figure outside her window couldn’t help but grin before taking off silently into the night.

Author's Notes:

I've been feeling very conflicted about this story to be honest. On the one hand I think it's a story worth telling, on the other hand it's VERY hard to come up with a year's worth of material when you don't really know where it's all going to go.

I want to keep at this, but I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit if I want to keep people's interests, which means cutting out a good chunk of stuff, and unfortunately the first thing on the chopping blocks in this story are the social links for the side characters. I will do my best to pull a "Persona 4: The Animation" and just abbreviate them, but I can't guarantee that.

I DO feel like I'm learning from this. And even if this story turns out bad, the least I can say is it gave me some experience that a desperately needed.

Chapter 8: The Magician (Part 1)

Wayfarer was standing under a rather large cloud, looking up at its intricate columns and rainbow waterfalls that dissipated into the air like mist before they hit the ground. He’d never been to or even seen the great Pegasus cities of Cloudsdale or Las Pegasi, but if they were built anything like this one structure, he’d have to pay them a visit one day.

“I think Fluttershy and Twilight’s houses have some competition.” Wayfarer thought as he looked down at the scrap of paper he’d got from Twilight that had the address of Rainbow Dash’s house. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” He yelled up at the cloud house. He stayed quiet for a few moments before calling again. “Rainbow Dash! You home?”

“What are you doing here?” Came a voice from behind him. He turned around to see Scootaloo, who was looking up at him with annoyance.

“Oh, morning Scootaloo,” Wayfarer said, ignoring the less then pleasent look she was giving him. “I’m just looking for Rainbow Dash.”

“Why?”

“I just wanted to talk with her. But it doesn’t look like she’s home.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelled up. “C’mon! Today’s the Sisterhooves Social! You promised you come with me!”

“Sisterhooves Social?”

“Rainbow Dash!” The two stood in silence for a while with no response.

“Well,” Wayfarer said, trying to find a reasonable explanation for this. “If she had something planned for you two today, maybe she went by your house to get you?”

“She was supposed to come and get me half an hour ago!” Scootaloo said. “RAINBOW DASH!”

Wayfarer felt the hairs on his neck start to prick up slightly. “Oh no. Please, don’t tell me.” Taking a deep breath to make sure his voice remained calm, he turned to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, when did you last see Rainbow Dash?”

“Huh?” She said, looking up at him. “Yesterday at Pinkie’s party. She looked kind of down though, but she said she’d come today!”

“Not good. Not good at all.” Wayfarer thought as panic started to set in. “Scootaloo, Why don’t you go hang out at this Social thing, I’ll go look for Rainbow Dash.”

“Why? Where do you think she is?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find her, don’t you worry.”

Without letting Scootaloo respond, Wayfarer dashed off back to the library. On his way there he kept muttering Gnowee’s name over and over again, hoping Celestia really could hear him and would meet him halfway. Thankfully, she did, and she brought Twilight along with her.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Celestia asked.

“Castle, now!” Was all he got out as he started running towards the fortress with the other two hot on his tail. After they passed the guards and got into the castle, Celestia immediately summoned her Persona, closing her eyes as she did so.

“Wayfarer, what’s going on?” Twilight said. “I thought you said you were going to go talk with Rainbow Dash about your sports club or whatever.”

“I was,” Wayfarer gasped. “But she wasn’t home, and then this filly, Scootaloo, showed up and said Rainbow Dash was supposed to pick her up for some kind of get together or something. And, I don’t know, I just assumed the worst!”

“What, you think… HERE?!” Twilight yelled and started swinging her head every which way and prancing in place. “Oh no, oh no, OH NO!”

“You can relax.” Celestia said as Gnowee faded away. “I don’t sense any presence of any kind below the castle. I’m sure Rainbow Dash is still in town.” Twilight stopped in place, hesitating for a moment before breathing in and out deeply. Wayfarer, on the other hand, still looked slightly frazzled

“But- she… I… Ughh…” Wayfarer stuttered. “I’m sorry, I just… I don’t know, panicked.”

“I understand Wayfarer.” Celestia said, approaching him and putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Having to wait is becoming a very strenuous ordeal, and if it will set your mind at ease, I’ll keep scanning the castle just in case. Why don’t you two go out and look for her in town.”

“Y-yeah.” Wayfarer and Twilight left through the front gates, Wayfarer’s head hung low. “I’m sorry Twilight, I probably scarred the hay out of you.”

“I’d rather have that then find out one of my friends has been taken away.” Twilight said. “Let’s just find Dash and make sure everything’s alright.” The two wandered around town for the next hour, asking everypony if they’d seen Rainbow Dash since last night. Most of them admitted that they hadn’t seen Rainbow Dash in a while, and the only one’s that seemed to have seen her regularly were pegasi on the weather team. All of them were quick to point out that Dash had been acting funny lately, and asked Twilight if something was wrong.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” Twilight always responded. Their search brought them back to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake were busy with customers.

“Oh! Good morning dearies!” Mrs. Cake said as they walked in. “Thank you again for bringing back Carrot. He’s been feeling so much better since then!”

“That’s great Mrs. Cake” Twilight said. “But have you or Pinkie seen Rainbow Dash anywhere today?”

“I’m afraid not Twilight. I actually haven’t seen her since you and Pinkie’s other friends gathered in here last week.”

“I… I saw her yesterday before the party.” Pinkie said, biting her lower lip. “We were talking about... stuff... and then she flew off. I was going to go throw her a don’t be such a downer party today after I was done with work. Oh no! Has she gone missing too?”

“We don’t know yet.” Wayfarer said, looking curiously at Pinkie, who was somewhere between nervously swaying and worriedly fidgeting, before another pony arrived.

“Message for one Miss Pinkie Pie?” Came a voice from the doorway. A lanky Stallion in a postal worker’s uniform entered in and approached the counter. “I was told to deliver this directly to Miss Pie.”

“That’s me!” Pinkie said, waving her foreleg around before bounding over the counter. “Who’s it from?”

“One Miss Rainbow Dash.” The mail carrier said as he hoofed over an envelope addressed to Pinkie. “Said to bring it right to you. Have a nice day ma’am.” Pinkie tore open the letter and started to read, Wayfarer and Twilight waiting patiently for her to finish. But the longer she read the more her face seemed to sink, until tears started to form around her eyes.

“Pinkie?” Twilight said stepping forward. “What’s it say?” As Pinkie looked up at her friend her hair seemed to deflate slightly, and she choked back sobs as she tried to answer.

“D-Dashie went back to Cloudsdale.”

Twilight, Wayfarer, and Pinkie stood quietly at the edge of an obstacle course where several pairs of ponies, including Applejack and Rarity with their sisters Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, were running around enjoying the early summer day. The bright and cheery light high in the sky seemed to be mocking them, and the three felt like intruders on their friends’ happiness, but someone had to tell them. Out of the corner of his eye, Wayfarer saw Scootaloo rush towards them. Sighing to himself, he turned and braced himself for the no doubt crushed expression he was going to give this little filly.

“Did you find her?” Scootaloo asked, her face filled with anticipation. “We might have missed the obstacle course, but we’ll get ‘em in the Tug O’ War!”

“Umm. Scootaloo?” Wayfarer said hesitantly.

“Apple Bloom was making big talk about how strong her sister is, but Rainbow Dash beat her that one year they had the Iron Pony Competition!”

“Rainbow Dash isn’t coming,” Wayfarer finished. Scootaloo paused mid praise and looked up at Wayfarer, her eye twitching slightly.

“W-what are you talking about?” Scootaloo said, confusion slowly inching across her face.

“She went back to Cloudsdale.” Wayfarer explained, trying to avoid the filly’s eyes. “I’m sorry.” Scootaloo just stared at him for a moment before she scowled and lept at him, headbutting his chest with as much force as she could muster.

“Liar!” she yelled. “Where is she! Where’s Rainbow Dash!”

“She… left this morning.”

“NO! Rainbow Dash wouldn’t do that! Where’s my sister? Tell me!”

Wayfarer looked around them as a crowd started to gather, all of them with concerned looks on their faces. He didn’t know what to do as he just stood there and let Scootaloo continue to try and push, pull, and hit the truth she wanted out of him. Twilight and Pinkie Pie looked about as heartbroken as he felt as they just looked on. Eventually Scootaloo backed off and just glared at Wayfarer with tear filled eyes. There was no way he could have braced for that.

“Buck you!” Scootaloo yelled as she turned and kicked dirt at him and ran off through the crowd.

Wayfarer sighed as he turned back around. The crowd on the other side of the inclosed area was cheering as Rarity, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle crossed the finish line. The four left together covered in mud and grape juice and started to walk around the course as another group got ready to start. Upon noticing the other three however, they started walking their way.

“Hey there y’all!” Applejack said as they drew near. “Wasn’t that somethin? Don’t think we ever had a tie before!” Her smile faded as she saw the miserable looks her friends were carrying. “Why the long faces? What happened?”

“Where’s Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked around. “She said she and Rainbow Dash were going to be here.”

“Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle?” Twilight said. “Can you go find Scootaloo and make sure she’s alright?” The two fillies took one worried look at each other and bolted off in search of their friend.

“Come on.” Twilight said to Rarity and Applejack “Let’s go get Fluttershy. She needs to hear this too.” Fifteen minutes later, Wayfarer, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy were all gathered in the library, Twilight holding the letter Rainbow Dash sent to Pinkie Pie.

“Dear Pinkie Pie,” She read. “I’m sorry to do this to you and our friends, but this last week has been one of the worst of my life. I’m no longer sure about myself, or the decisions I’ve made, and I need some time to clear my head. So I’m going back to Cloudsdale for a while. I’ll see my folks again, maybe stop by the Wonderbolt Academy, and then go have a chat with some old friends. It’ll only be a month at most, then I’ll come right back, but I really need to sort things out. You can tell our friends I’m leaving, but please don’t all get in the hot air balloon and come visit me. I just need some time off to myself. Sincerely your friend, Rainbow Dash.”

“That’s it?” Applejack said, her voice tinged with irritation. “She went running off without telling any of her friends and broke Scootaloo’s heart just cuz her head’s a little fuzzy right now? What in the hay is that mare thinking?”

“I’m not even sure she knows herself Applejack.” Wayfarer said. “It seems pretty evident she’s just as confused as we are, if not more.”

“And like you know thing one about her?” Applejack scowled. “You haven’t even been here two weeks. Half the time you’re clean’n up a schoolhouse, and the other half you're get’n chummy with the Spirit of Chaos! What do you know about our friend, huh?”

“Applejack, please.” Rarity said. “We’ve all had those moments where we’re not sure about ourselves and we need to do a little soul searching. Wayfarer is right, Rainbow Dash is just having a crisis of identity. And if she wants to be alone to sort it out by herself, then we should respect her wishes.”

“Well she doesn’t get to sort it out by herself!” Applejack spat. “How many times have we made the mistake of not take’n our friends’ problems seriously and it come’n back to bite us? Ah ain’t lettin it happen again.”

“And what exactly are you planning to do?” Rarity asked, scowling.

“Ah don’t know, but ah'm gonna do somethin!”

“You can do something by not doing anything.” Wayfarer said. “This is something Rainbow Dash has to deal with on her own. It would be worth more to her if she found the answers herself and didn’t have to be told them.” Wayfarer looked Applejack in the eye as her face softened a bit. “You can take her problems seriously by being there for her when she comes home.” Wayfarer could tell the farm mare was having an intense internal debate with herself, as her eyes twitched back and forth and the corners of her mouth twitched as if she wanted to say something. Eventually, Applejack sighed and turned to leave.

“Fine then. Ah’ll give her a month, then Ah’m gonna drag her back home whether her head’s screwed on right or not. Now if y’all will excuse me, Ah’ve got a social to get back to host’n.” Applejack slammed the door shut behind her, leaving the other five in complete silence.

“I’m sorry.” Wayfarer said. “I didn’t mean to get her mad.”

“Don’t fret about it.” Rarity said as she made for a couch and took a seat. “Applejack may not think it, but deep down she want’s ‘everything just so’ just as much as I. Throw one aspect of her life out of balance and she’ll move mountains to try and fix it.”

“She sounds like the last pony I’d ever want to cross,” Wayfarer concluded.

“And to an extent you’d be right.”

Wayfarer sighed and looked around himself. Twilight was still looking over the letter, reading it again and again. Fluttershy was looking around awkwardly, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Pinkie Pie looked down right destroyed.

“You alright Pinkie?” Wayfarer asked, walking over to her.

“Th-this is all my fault.” She sobbed.

“Good gracious darling,” Rarity said. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

“I… I… I couldn’t cheer her up yesterday. If I’d only tr-tried harder to make her smile, maybe she wouldn’t have left.”

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight sighed “Rainbow Dash was probably past the point of being cheered up. I’m sure you did what you could, but Dash more than likely already had her mind made up about leaving, regardless of what you did.” That didn’t have the desired effect Twilight was probably hoping for, as Pinkie’s hair deflated even more.

“I’m going home.” Pinkie said.

“Oh, Pinkie I’m sorry I didn’t mean-” The door was shut before Twilight could even finish what she was going to say.

“It’s funny.” Rarity said. “How quickly one friend’s unhappiness and confusion can spread to the others.”

“You can say that again.” Wayfarer said as he too walked over to a couch and fell haphazardly onto it. “I feel like horse apples right now.” The awkward silence continued to perforate the air as Fluttershy and Twilight also joined the other two. After a while Rarity seemed to have enough of the somber silence.

“So tell me Wayfarer, when you went to go see ‘Wicked’ was it Volante Frost who played Nightmare Moon?”

“Hmm?” Wayfarer mumbled, looking over at Rarity in confusion. Rarity just stared back pointedly, silently asking him to help her try and make this day slightly less unhappy. “Oh, uhmm… yeah I think so. She’s had that role since the show started right?”

“That’s right, and I’ve heard she’s been doing a fabulous job of it.

“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.” Wayfarer grinned, the memory of a unicorn dressed up in blue and black singing out the musical’s signature piece clearing some of the dreariness from his mind. “Really if you’re not crying by the end of the first act, then I might just have to deny I know any of you.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Cheerilee asked as she sipped at her coffee.

“Okay fine,” Wayfarer sighed. “I’ll admit I’m more than a little stressed out as of late.”

The two had just gotten off from a particularly slow day at the school house. Cheerilee had handed out a test that ended up taking a good portion of the class time, and Wayfarer was left outside with very little to do that hadn’t already been done. He’d become almost obsessive compulsive with the hedges in his search for something to occupy his time. Now the two were at the same Cafe they met at before, discussing life as of late.

“I’m not surprised,” Cheerilee said. “Having to live with Twilight while she’s having to deal with those construction ponies. I heard they were threatening to just leave if they weren’t allowed to finish their job.”

“Yeah, I got a front row seat to that yesterday. Twilight told them that the quarantine on the castle was an order from Princess Celestia and that shut them up really quickly.”

That had been an interesting half hour, especially after they left and Celestia started venting about their disrespectful attitude towards Twilight. The two had agreed though that they needed to do something about this quickly before the nobles in Canterlot got word and demanded an inquiry into Celestia’s “Time Off.”

“What is going on with the Castle?” Cheerilee asked.

“Honestly, I’m sketchy on the details myself.” Wayfarer said, while still thinking to himself that it was still partially true.

Wayfarer had tossed a few ideas at Celestia and Twilight for temporary fixes, including allowing the workers into the castle only during the highest point of the day and having Twilight, Celestia, and Discord be on site at the same time. Celestia admitted that this was probably their best option, but that still meant that the shield would have to be brought down briefly to allow them in and out, giving the kidnappers a chance to sneak somepony inside. Wayfarer then pointed out that they already found a way around the shield before and would more than likely do so again. They continued to discuss alternatives until late at night.

“Well I hope Twilight can find some sort of compromise with them.” Cheerilee sighed. “I need her help with something and I’d hate to add something else to her plate.”

“What do you need?”

“Well, a couple of my students asked me today if there were any magic teachers in Ponyville and unfortunately I had to tell them no. Ponyville is primarily an Earth Pony town, there aren’t that many unicorn ponies and even fewer who’d probably be willing or capable of teaching. That’s why I was considering asking Twilight if she could come and help me out.”

“I don’t think she’s so busy that she can’t stop by and lend a hoof.”

“I need more than a hoof, I need somepony who can devote a good amount of time to my students just like I do. I can’t ask Twilight to do that for me if she needs to focuss on other matters.” Cheerilee pursed her lips and tapped her hooves against the table, thinking deeply about her dilemma. “Maybe… Maybe there’s a book I can find. I might not be able to do magic myself, but I can at least try to give my students an idea on how to do it.”

“That seems like a reasonable approach. Can’t say I’ll be of much help, but I’ll still ask Twilight if she could come and give some aid.”

“Oh I’ll just ask her myself when I go to her Library. Thank you Wayfarer.”

“Not a problem Cheerilee.”

“We’ve come to a decision.” Celestia said when Wayfarer returned. “We’ll give your idea a shot, but If we’re going to be within close proximity of the Shadows at regular times, I think we might want to try improving our skills with our Personas. We’ll start going into the castle regularly and train ourselves.”

“You mean go looking for Shadows just for the sake of fighting them?” Wayfarer deadpanned. “You’re kidding right?”

“Would you rather be completely unprepared?” Celestia asked.

“No, I’m just not that enthusiastic about this plan.”

“Oh come now Wayfarer.” Discord said as he pushed in the doorway behind Wayfarer. “Where’s your sense of adventure? Diving into the depths of the darkness, fighting hordes of monsters as we plunder the expanses of gloomy passages? Sounds like fun to me!”

“This plan also has the benefit of exposing Discord enough to perhaps awaken his Persona.” Celestia explained. “We’ll need all the help we can get, and right now he’s the only one we know has the Potential.”

“What about your sister, Luna?” Twilight asked.

“I can’t ask her to leave Canterlot,” Celsetia said, shaking her head. “Somepony needs to be on the throne to keep order.”

“Was it tough Celestia?” Discord taunted. “Handing over all your political power to your sister, who if I’ve heard correctly is currently the favourite ruler in Canterlot?”

“I trust my sister more than I trust myself, and FAR more than I trust you.” Celestia responded.

“I’m hurt Celestia… no seriously, I have a back ache from walking around on four legs all day.” Discord proceeded to start twisting and bending in all different directions, his spine popping occasionally.

“In any case.” Celestia said. “We’ll start tomorrow evening, and we’ll go till midnight. Is that acceptable?”

“That’s alright.” Twilight said.

“I still don’t like it, but I’ll be there.” Wayfarer said.

“Fine, but don’t expect any miracle summonings.” Discord said.

The gates of the castle closed gently behind the three as they entered, the halls eerily quiet as the sun set in the world outside.

“So where do we start?” Twilight asked.

“Let me do a quick survey of the caverns first.” Celestia said. “PERSONA!” Gnowee appeared by her side, her staff glowing softly as Celestia closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

Wayfarer turned to look around the grand foyer. Everything looked the same as the last time they were in here, except for one new addition: a blue door that stood next to the staircase. Curiosity gripped Wayfarer as he stepped forward, his pocket glowing to match the door until he was right in front of it.

“Wayfarer?” Twilight said. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s with this door?” Wayfarer said, just loud enough for Twilight to hear him.

“Door?” Twilight asked, eyes darting around the area Wayfarer was staring at. “What door?” Slowly Wayfarer lifted his hoof to the doorknob, then pushed the door open.

“Ahh, Welcome to the Velvet Room.”

You find yourself once more in the sapphire passenger car of the Velvet Room. Igor is there, as are Agatha and Agero.

“It has been a while since our last encounter, have you made many bonds since then?”

Agatha smiles and pulls out her book again, placing it on the table and opening it.

“Since your last visit,” She states “You have forged bonds of the Priestess, Tower, and Sun Arcanas.”

As she spoke, Three cards flew out of the book, arranging themselves on the table. The cards then shined a projection above them of Cheerilee, Discord, and Celestia.

“These new bonds,” Agero said. “have unlocked new facets of your self, and as such you’ve gained new Personas.” The Projections of your friends flash and become three new figures.

Cheerilee became a woman dressed in green and gold, wearing an ornate headdress and carrying a sitar. Discord became a man clad in red armor and a yellow cape, wielding a spear as he rides atop a black horse. Celestia became a white and blue snake with large wings and fiery red eyes.

“These three are yours to call upon in times of need.” Igor states. “but continue to strengthen your bonds and you will find that more powerful Personas will answer your call.” The balding man then grins. “And when you feel the strength of these three are not enough, you may choose to call on us in the Velvet Room instead, and perhaps we might be able to assist you and your comrades.”

“The stars are gathering around you.” Agatha says as the cards return to her book. “And one of particular radiance is drawing near. The Magician struggles to find its way in the fog, show it the light, and its power will become yours.”

“Until we meet again, farewell.”

Wayfarer blinked as he lifted his hoof from the door. he turned to see Twilight looking at him with confusion.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“C-can you see a door here?” Wayfarer asked.

“There’s no door there…” Twilight said, now visibly worried. “Are you feeling alright?”

“They can’t see it.” Wayfarer thought. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, it’s nothing.”

“But you were just-”

“Alright everyone, listen up.” Celestia suddenly said. Twilight took another glance at Wayfarer before turning to give Celestia her full attention. “I’ve been able to faintly see the layout of the caverns below us, but only to a certain distance. However the past few days have made it clear that the caverns below us are not static pathways. They are moving and changing from day to day.”

“But how is that possible?” Twilight asked. “That much seismic activity would cause earthquakes on a daily basis.”

“That would be the case,” Discord said stepping forward. “If they were normal cave systems, and I’d hazard a guess that they’re not, are they?”

“No, they aren’t.” Twilight said. “They look like the halls of the castle, only… evil.”

“It’s the Beast’s influence.” Celestia said. “It’s reached the surface far faster than I thought it would. It’s possible that the caverns below us aren’t even real, just an illusion brought to life by the Shadows.”

“And you want us to go in there?” Wayfarer said. “Again, this sounds like a REALLY bad idea.”

“A bad idea,” Celestia agreed. “but a necessary one. Come on, let’s go.”

Pinkie Pie was laying on her bed with one of her pillows clutched tightly in her forelegs. She’d barely moved from this position since she’d gotten home on Sunday, save for getting food and for personal hygiene. Her pet alligator Gummy was laying on the bed next to her, eyes staring off into the distance and occasionally blinking alternately.

“I think my tummy hurts Gummy.” Pinkie said, planting her face into her pillow. “But it’s not the ‘I ate too much’ kind of hurt.” Gummy’s only response was to blink both eyes at the same time.

Pinkie lifted her head back up and looked to her dresser, where several pictures of her and her friends stared back at her. The one with just her and Rainbow Dash stared particularly hard at her though. The picture was of the two in the air, Rainbow Dash flying with her wings and Pinkie Pie floating next to her suspended from a cloud of balloons.

“I kept my Pinkie Promise Dashie.” She whispered. “But why does keeping this one feel so wrong?”

“Aww come on Rainbow Dash! Tell me what’s got your mane in a twist.” Pinkie said, her voice a mixture of both worry and mirth.

“I just… I’ve been thinking…” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the ground and poking her hoof at it. The two were in some sort of garage, where Pinkie had taken up shop in preparing for the day’s festivities. She was loading the confections and snacks onto the mobile party table when dash had walked in.

“Oh is that all?” Pinkie said with a giggle, before pulling the cover off one of the cakes. “Well here! The party hasn’t started yet, but how bout some cake to clear out all those nasty thought bubbles!”

“Pinkie, please, I’m not in the mood.”

“And we can fix that! You just need to come to Sunny Skies’ big ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ Party and spend time with your friends!”

“Pinkie.”

“Want me to make you your own cake? I can whip one up super fast! I’ll even put your Cutie Mark on it so that it can be fast like you!”

“PINKIE PIE!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Not every problem can be solved with parties and cake!” With a snort, she turned around and started to walk away from Pinkie and her crazy contraption. “I don’t know why I thought you would listen, you can’t take anything seriously can you?”

“That’s not true!” Pinkie said, all the mirth in her voice now gone. “I’m sorry, c-can you just tell me what’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash stopped and sighed, dropping her head to the ground.

“I’m… not sure I want to be a Wonderbolt anymore,” Dash admitted.

“WHAT?!” Pinkie screamed.

“SHHHH!!” Dash hissed, pressing the tip of her hoof to her lips Keep it down will ya?”

“Oh, sorry, but… you don’t want to be a Wonderbolt? I thought that was your dream though.”

“Yeah, a dream me and hundreds of other pegasi share.” Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment before kicking dirt up with her back hooves and reeling back around to face Pinkie. “It’s not fair! How am I supposed to stand out when there are so many others trying to crowd the top! How am I supposed to stand out when the pony currently at the top is SPITFIRE!?” She stamped her hooves around, lifting up a cloud of dust and dirt around her as she continued to vent. “I want to be the best there is! I want ponies to look at me and cheer! I want the Wonderbolts to admire ME for a change!” She snorted again and panted as she began to tremble all over. “Is… Is that too much to ask?” Rainbow Dash continued to pant until she noticed that Pinkie Pie had moved in front of her, smiling gently as she held out a piece of cake. Dash stared at the pastry for a moment before her eyes went wide with fear.

“Oh Sweet Celestia…” she muttered to herself. “I’ve turned into her…”

“Who?” Pinkie asked. Quickly Rainbow Dash swatted the slice of cake away, sending it toppling to the ground. She backed up a few steps, staring at Pinkie Pie, who stared back with confusion.

“I’m so sorry Pinkie. I… I don’t know what came over me.”

“Dashie.” Pinkie said looking down at the now ruined slice of cake before looking back up at Dash with a smile. “It’s okay. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

“No, Pinkie, I ment-”

“Please come to the party Rainbow Dash.” Pinkie whispered, almost pleadingly. “It’ll make you feel better to be around all your friends, you’ll see.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at her, unsure of what to say. She sighed and put her head back down again. “Okay, I’ll be there.” That seemed to cheer Pinkie up immensely.

“Great! And We’ll get all our friends together and sort out all your worries together. Because that’s what friends do! Help each other out when they’re feeling saddy waddy!”

“No.”

“...No? That’s not what friends do?”

“No, Pinkie, I want this to stay between the two of us right now. I don’t want our friends knowing I blew up like that. That was… REALLY uncool of me. Can you promise we won’t talk to them about any of this until I’m ready?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Pinkie nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye… I’ve been making a lot of Promises lately.”

“You’re not going to start breaking them are you?”

“Never.”

Pinkie groaned again and rolled onto her back, letting her now completely straight mane cascade all around her as she covered her face with the pillow again.

“What am I gonna do?”

A rather portly Shadow that looked like a dog wearing a police uniform with a hole through its chest exploded as Tyche sent lightning coursing through it. Another one near by suffered a similar fate as Ekchuah hooked his spear through its chest cavity and sent it on a collision course with the wall.

“This is actually a lot easier than I thought it would be!” Twilight said as she directed her Persona toward a slightly larger police dog Shadow, who fell just as easily as the last.

Discord, who was hanging back with Celestia and her Persona, rolled his eyes. “Well when you’ve got Celestia telling you their weaknesses of course that would be the case. Try playing on expert mode and stop using the guide book.”

“Let’s not.” Wayfarer said simply as Ekchuah finished off the last Shadow. He and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, they’d scoured almost three whole floors so far and were starting to get a little tired.

“What time is it?” Twilight asked.

“About half past Eleven.” Discord said, pulling out a cartoonishly large pocket watch from nowhere.

“I think that’s enough for tonight.” Celestia said. “Wayfarer needs to get up early tomorrow and the rest of us need to go let the Construction Ponies know that they can enter the castle now.” With a general nod of consent, the four started to make their way back out. However as they ascended the staircase to the first floor, another Shadow popped out from around the corner. It was a golden hand that scurried around like a spider, and the moment it saw them it started to crawl in the opposite direction.

“Ughh!” Twilight said, shivering slightly. “That’s so CREEPY!”

“Why is it running though?” Wayfarer asked. “Shouldn’t it be attacking us?”

“Oh it’s just playing hard to get.” Discord said as he took to the air, following after the disembodied hand. “Come now, don’t be shy, you handy little hand thing!” The hand thing turned around suddenly and snapped its fingers, letting loose a bolt of energy at Discord, and sending him flying into the opposite wall. The draconequus looked forward in shock, his body embedded into the wall. After a moment he coughed out a cloud of dust. “Ow.” He said simply as he dropped to the floor.

“So much for easy.” Wayfarer said as he turned to look at the Hand, which had disappeared from sight.

“Should we go after it?” Twilight asked. “That one seemed too powerful to just let it roam free this close to the surface.”

“It also seemed rather cowardly.” Celestia commented. “I don’t think it will bother us, but we’ll keep an eye out for it.”

“It’s like a regular freakshow down here.” Wayfarer said. “Every one of these things just messes with your mind when you look at it.”

“Did you expect the spawn of evil to be a swarm of pretty Butterflies?” Discord said as he finally got up.

“No… I guess I just didn’t know what to expect.”

“Then don’t be surprised if we ever run into a six armed monstrosity riding a rocking horse, or something like that. Expect the unexpected, as the saying goes.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“You’re right though.” Twilight said as they started back on their way out. “There seem to be a lot of different types of Shadows down here. It might be a good idea to try and catalog the one’s we run into. What their strengths and weaknesses are.”

“Not a bad idea Twilight,” Wayfarer said. “But do you really think these things are worth studying?”

“They’re a threat to Equestria and its citizens Wayfarer.” Twilight said matter of factly. “Of course they’re worth studying.” The four finally made their way out of the castle just as the clock was striking midnight. From outside, the castle didn’t look to have changed at all, but Celestia shuddered as she sensed dozens of Shadows crawling up to prowl about the corridors.

“I’ve already posted a notice that the Library will be closed, so you shouldn’t have anyone coming in today.”

“Yes Twilight.” Spike said with a hint of annoyance.

“And there’s plenty of food in the fridge for lunch and dinner, or you could go out somewhere, you know where the bits are.”

“Yes Twilight, this isn’t the first time we’ve done this.”

“Make sure you go to bed at a reasonable time. I should be back before then, but who knows what could come up.”

“Twilight, How many times have you left me to fend for myself? Many times. I think I know the drill by now.”

“Twilight, Darling.” Rarity said from behind her. “We’re going to miss our train. I’m sure Spike will be fine for a few hours.”

Twilight looked down at the little dragon and sighed. “You’re right. Sorry. What’s there to worry about? You’ve got Wayfarer to look after you now.”

Spike rolled his eyes at that. “I don’t need a babysitter Twilight.”

“And I’m not going to act as one.” Wayfarer said from the couch as he hoofed through a book of Musicals. “Especially when said baby is a twelve year old fire breathing dragon.”

Twilight pursed her lips and probably would have said more if Rarity didn’t start tugging on her saddlebags.

“Train darling,” the fashionista said.

“Right, well, see you tonight you two.”

“Have fun Twilight.” The two boys said as Rarity and Twilight finally left.

“So what now?” Spike asked.

“Well… all their talk about the Musical they’re going to got me thinking. Are there any music stores here in Ponyville?”

“Uhhh… Maybe?” Wayfarer looked away from his book and raised and eye at Spike. “What?”

“Really?” Wayfarer said. “You seemed pretty knowledgeable about the town when you gave me the tour, but you don’t know if there’s a music store?”

“I’m not that into music is all.” Spike shrugged. “I’m not even really affected by the spontaneous group song sessions that seem to happen a lot in this town.”

“You mean the Mystic Melody?”

“Is that what it’s called?”

“Well according to this book,” Wayfarer said, flipping through the book again. “It has several different names: ‘Music of Harmony’, ‘The Spirit of Symphonies’, ‘Melodious Resonance’, ‘Dancing Fever’, stuff like that.”

“Jeez, you’re sounding more and more like Twilight everyday,” Spike said, rolling his eyes.

“Is… is that a bad thing?”

“I guess not, but I have a hard enough time dealing with one brainiac.”

Wayfarer looked down at the book, not to keep reading, but to think about the act of reading. He’d picked up and read through quite a few books since he’d moved in. Understandable, as he now lived in a library. But even when he lived only two blocks from the biggest library outside of Canterlot, he didn’t read nearly this much. It did feel like a nice time spender, but still he felt like he should be out about town doing things. Closing the book and putting it aside, he got up and started heading for the door.

“Regardless,” He said as he opened the door. “I would like to see if I can get any records or something, I’m sure somepony knows where the music store is if there is one.”

As it turned out, the Music Store, if you could call the small building that, was just down the road from the library. The little bell on the door announced Wayfarer’s arrival to all of two ponies there: The shop clerk and, to Wayfarer’s surprise, Discord.

“Good morning.” Mumbled the shop clerk.

“Same to you.” Wayfarer said as he stepped over to stand next to Discord. “Morning Scrawl.”

“Why yes it IS morning. How observant of you.”

“Uhuh.” Wayfarer leaned in close and whispered to Discord. “See anything good?”

“Not a single record in this place has managed to catch my attention. I applaud the ponies of Equestria for being able to fabricate some semblance of music using only the sound of magic and splicing vocals over each other to the point of unrecognition, but it gets grating on the ears at times. I mean listen to this.”

Discord pulled one of the records from the shelf and brought it over to a turntable. Setting the disc in its place and placing the needle down, he hit the play button and soon the store was filled with hums, beeps, and thuds. The chorus of seemingly random noises were also joined by a heavily altered voice that didn’t seem to actually be singing anything, rather it just added to what Wayfarer thought was supposed to be music.

“It’s… interesting…” He said as his ears danced around, trying to see if he was listening to it wrong.

“It’s most of what’s in this store,” Discord grumbled. “And everytime I think I’ve found a nice string piece, the speakers get nearly blown out when the ‘wubs’ start up.”

“If you don’t like what we’ve got,” The store clerk said in irritation. “Then leave. And let us ‘young ponies’ enjoy our music old man.”

“OLD MAN?!” Discord yelled, trotting over to the clerk. “Age has nothing to do with it! You are free to enjoy whatever sounds please your earholes! But would it kill you to mix it up a little? Where’s the symphonies? Where’s the folk songs? Where’s the Hokey Pokey Polka?”

“Hokey Pokey Polka?” The store clerk asked, raising an eye. “That’s a thing?”

Discord snorted once and turned to leave. “I don’t have to put up with this!” He pushed open the door and the turned dramatically around and lifted his hoof into the air “Time to revive the greatness that is Oompah!”

Galloping away, Discord left the other two in silence. Wayfarer turned to the turntable again, taking off the record and showing it to the clerk. “You got any more by this artist?”

“Huh? What? Oh… DJ Pon3? Yeah we’ve got a lot of hers.”

“And do you have the soundtracks to any musicals? Like Wicked?”

“Uhhh, you mean theatre music? Why would we have any of that stuff here? No one listens to that.” Wayfarer was following Discord out after that. “Philistine.” He mumbled. With that idea sunk fast, Wayfarer fell back on his usual routine: Walking around aimlessly. He was joined sometime later by Celestia, who came in from overhead from atop a cloud drifting lazily over town.

“How are you doing Wayfarer?” She asked as she landed next to him.

“Been better. You?”

“Just keeping an eye on the town, looking out for that Pegasus you mentioned.”

“Any sign of her?”

“Not of her specifically, but we may have another suspect.”

Wayfarer almost stopped walking at this news. “Who?”

“I don’t have a ‘who’ but I do have a ‘what’.” She pointed up to her forehead and explained. “I have a spell running that searches for any unusual magic in the area, and I found that all around town there’s a trace of what I believe to be Changeling magic.”

Wayfarer actually did stop at that. “Ch-Changeling?”

“Yes, and a very skilled one at that.” Celestia looked around to see if anypony had heard them, then motioned for Wayfarer to keep walking with her. “They’d need to be to keep themselves hidden so well. I’ve got hundreds of guards all over Equestria, both in plain sight and undercover, who are trained to identify a Changeling in a crowd of ponies. So far this is the first time I’ve heard of a Changeling in Ponyville, so it must be very proficient at hiding itself from our usual detection methods.”

“How DO you tell a Changeling apart from a Pony?”

“The simplest way is to just pay attention. If you see a pony walk past you, then you see the same pony walk past a minute later, that should tip you off. There’s also a spell for detecting certain types of magic, but the effectiveness of that spell depends on the pony casting it.”

“So this Changeling is both skilled at hiding its magic, and is probably wearing a face not from Ponyville?”

“Correct.”

“Is it possible that our mystery pegasus and this changeling are one and the same?”

“Definately, which makes it all the more important that we find her. I won’t have another invasion on MY watch.” The two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice that they’d walked right out of town. Neither of them mentioned this when it finally dawned on them, they just continued to walk.

Wayfarer hadn’t been this far out in this direction, he’d heard from somepony that there was a pond or lake that ponies liked to visit for a swim but that was about it. The pond in question soon came into view and, at first glance, it looked as though nopony was around. Then he saw the silhouette of somepony underneath a nearby tree, two someponies in fact. Celestia saw this as well and ducked into a bush and then dragged Wayfarer into it as well.

“Shhh!” She hissed at him before he could open his mouth. “My spell is sensing something off from one of those two.”

“Is it a changeling?” Wayfarer whispered back. The two peaked through the branches over at the ponies beneath the tree. One was laying on the ground, her straight mane blocking her face from view. The other was rather tall and wearing what looked like a cloak of some kind. Celestia’s forehead started to glow gently and suddenly she and Wayfarer could hear the mystery ponies talking.

“I can understand your confusion.” The cloaked one said in a low, deep, yet calming voice. “Your friends are more important to you than anything, anypony can see that. But you shouldn’t believe so resolutely that the feeling is mutual.”

“But… but they're my friends…” Said the pony on the ground. The voice sounded somewhat familiar to Wayfarer, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out who it was.

“Of course they are my dear.” The tall pony said as he too sat on the ground. “But they have their own lives, their own dreams. Can you really expect them to stay around forever? Friendships are fleeting, they last long enough to affect us, then they’re gone, just like that.” he then dipped his head down low, turning his gaze away from the other pony. “I’ve lost friends as well. Some faded away with the passage of time, others ripped away far too soon. Still more betrayed my trust and decided I wasn’t worth keeping around.”

“That… That’s horrible.” said the straight maned pony.

“There is no greater despair then the feeling of betrayal. But that despair turned to strength for me, and it could be the same for you. You have such power within you, power that, with your strong will and unfailing determination, could be used to change the world into something more than what it is now.” The cloaked figure rose back up. “Why don’t you come and let me show you?”

Wayfarer almost stood up at that and charged the shade of the tree. Half the stuff he heard sounded like philosophical nonsense to him, but all of it sounded creepy as all Tartarus. There was no doubt in his mind that this cloaked pony had something vile up his robe, and Wayfarer wasn’t having any of that. But then the other pony stood up quickly and began to back away, out from under the tree. Her face now casted in the sunlight revealed her to be Pinkie Pie.

“Wha-What? No! What are you talking about?” She stuttered. “I’m not going anywhere! I’m staying in Ponyville with my friends! I’ve got to be here for Rainbow Dash!” The cloaked pony was silent for a moment, before he started to speak again, not in the calm voice of before, but now in a voice filled with hate and anger.

“How DARE you! I am The Emperor! I offer you advice and help when you are so lost in a fog that you could not hope to find your way out on your own, and instead of throwing yourself at my hooves with praise and thanks, you tell me ‘NO’!?”

“Uhmm… yes?”

“FOALISH MARE!!” The stallion roared, so loud that his hood flipped back, revealing a violet spiked mask that covered most of his head, save for the single navy blue horn that jutted out from the center that began to crackle and sputter violently with black, purple, and green energy. “Away with you then!” Celestia and Wayfarer lept from the bush and rushed toward the tree. Pinkie Pie turned to try and run away before the crazed pony shot his dark magic at her, only barely missing her and instead igniting the grass in front of her in a wall of black fire that began to encircle her.

“Pinkie Pie!” Wayfarer shouted as he tried to increase the speed his legs were moving at.

The fire began to form a bubble around Pinkie, shielding her from view and dragging her down into the ground. Wayfarer yelled out as he lept forward, only to land in the grass as the last flames died out.

“NO!” He shouted as he began digging at the earth. Celestia, overflowing with rage, retook her towering alicorn form and lit up her horn as she faced down ‘The Emperor.’

“What did you do to her?!” She said, her voice trembling with anger. “TELL ME!” The Emperor stood there, his face blocked by the mask, and then sighed as his hoof slapped against an eye.

“Well that’s just great. So much for my natural charm and charisma. Tartarus, I’m never going to hear the end of this from Empusa.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH PINKIE PIE?!”

“Yeaaahhhh, could you two just forget you saw or heard any of that? I’m kind of in a whole lot of trouble if you don’t.” A bolt of energy shot from Celestia’s horn, and one of the spikes on The Emperor’s mask went flying to the side, leaving a smoldering stump. “...You haven’t changed a bit Celestia, still just as quick to anger as ever.” His horn lit up again with dark magic and flames began to surround him. “Your precious little pony has been delivered to the castle to become a feast for my Mistress. You’re welcome to join her, I’m sure she’d love to have you especially, traitor.”

The flames engulfed him and Celestia started firing on the fire ball as it rose up and started flying away, over the Everfree Forest.

“Come back here!” She shouted. “Come back!”

Silence fell over them. Not even the wind dared to speak up as Celestia glared at the sky in frustration and Wayfarer at the ground in shocked disbelief.

Chapter 9: The Magician (Part 2)

“PONY FEATHERS!” Celestia cursed, shooting a blast from her horn and slicing clean through the tree, sending it down with a crunch of broken branches and rustling leaves. “We had him RIGHT in front of us and we let him get away!”

“We can deal with him later!” Wayfarer shouted, getting up from the ground and rushing to Celestia’s side. “Right now we have to get into the castle and get Pinkie Pie out!”

Celestia paused, stifling her heavy breathing, and inhaled deeply as her posture abandoned her aggressive stance. “You’re right. Save Pinkie, THEN kill that no good son of a diamond dog!” Celestia’s horn flashed suddenly and immediately they found themselves outside of the castle. The guards’ heads snapped up in surprise as they went for their spears before realizing who had just appeared.

“Princess Celestia!” One of the guards shouted, coming to full attention.

“We need to get through.” Celestia told them. The guard nodded and quickly turned to yell at the guards on the wall before Celestia waved dismissively at him. “Don’t bother with the gate, we’re going over.”

“O-over?” Wayfarer said before he was suddenly hoisted into the air by Celestia’s magic while she flapped her wings down once, shooting the two up and over the wall, passing right through the dome. Celestia landed gracefully in the grass as Wayfarer stumbled slightly when she let her magic go a moment too soon. “Warn me next time you do that!”

The two galloped into the castle, almost tearing the doors off their hinges, then made their way into the cellar. The silence that permeated the room filled with rows of empty wine racks almost seemed to try and worm its way into their skulls as they made their way to the back and looked into the blackness of the Crevass’s depths.

“PERSONA!” Celestia shouted as she leapt into the crack in the earth. Gnowee appeared over her and began shining light from her staff all around them.

Wayfarer followed right behind her, landing on the cold floor of the labyrinth just as Celestia was running off. “Hey wait a minute!” He shouted. “Consarn it, PERSONA!” Ekchuah appeared as Wayfarer rushed to shorten the space between him and Celestia. “Let me take point!” he yelled. Celestia growled at this, but slowed her pace to let Wayfarer catch up. “How far down is she?” Wayfarer asked.

“... 30 floors.” Celestia said simply.

“What?! Celestia stop!” The two halted in the middle of the distorted hallway. Celestia looked down at Wayfarer with some degree of irritation. “30 floors?! We can’t go that far on our own!”

“Of course we can!” Celestia declared. “We have to!”

“Getting ourselves killed isn’t going to help Pinkie Pie!” Wayfarer pointed out. “We need Twilight! Tartarus, even with her we might not make it!”

“You don’t know that,” she said.

“I’m not dense!” Wayfarer yelled, stomping a hoof to the floor. “I noticed that the Shadows got stronger the farther down we go last time we were in here. How am I supposed to take them down by myself?”

“You’re not by yourself! You’ve got me!”

“Yes, I do. But your Persona isn’t capable of launching an offensive, is she?”

“...no, Gnowee’s power is strictly analysis of creatures and landscapes.”

“Meaning you’d be almost useless when the fighting starts.”

Celestia seemed to shake with anger as the direness of their situation truly hit her. “Then what do you propose we do? We can’t wait for Twilight because Pinkie will be dead by then!”

“We don’t know that!”

“We don’t know anything!” Celestia shot back, then her eyes got wide and fearful. “I… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do… Oh godess this is worse than the last time. At least back then there were others I could depend on, but here? I just… don’t know…”

Wayfarer sighed and shook his head “Let’s just calm down and think…” he said. Slowly he began to pace back and forth, wracking his brain for some solution. They needed help, but Twilight was probably at Canterlot by now. Discord still didn’t have a Persona, so he was almost as useless in this situation. They needed answers, and Wayfarer couldn’t think of anywhere they could get them. Except... “Help.” Wayfarer whispered as desperation and despair started to close in. “Somepony help us.”

“Is there anyway I might be able to assist you?” Came a voice from behind them. They spun around to see where the voice had came from, Ekchuah brandishing his spear and pointing it down at the perpetrator. The spear ended up aimed right between the eyes of a very relaxed looking pony with red hair, wearing a blue suit and hat with a smug smile on his face.

“Who- What?!” Celestia sputtered. “How did you… WHO ARE YOU?!”

“Just a simple servant my lady. And bound by a contract with young Sir Wayfarer here, I am here to give him whatever help I can give him.” Wayfarer’s jaw dropped as he finally recognized the blue suit as the same one the brother and sister in the Velvet Room wore.

“AGERO?!” Wayfarer said in disbelief.

“At your service.” Agero said. “We told you we’d give our help if you just asked.”

“You two know each other?” Celestia asked, her gaze flicking between the two stallions. Eventually she sighed in frustration and started to walk off. “By my Grandmother’s Reign, this is becoming too much.”

“Is this a bad time?” Agero asked with genuine concern.

“No!” Wayfarer shouted. “I mean, no, we really do need your help right now! Our friend is trapped somewhere beneath us and we need to get her out, can you help?”

“...ehh… help get her out?” Agero asked. “No, that’s not within my power to do so.” Wayfarer groaned in irritation as well. “What I CAN do is tell you that the pony known as Pinkamena Diane Pie is not in immediate danger.”

“Not in immediate danger?” Celestia growled, spinning around and marching right in front of Agero, bending down her neck so she could look him dead in the eye. “She’s about to be fed to a fifteen hundred year old monster and you tell us she’s not in ‘immediate danger’?!”

“Well she isn’t.” Agero said simply. “She’s currently unconscious on the thirtieth floor down, and in her comatose state she’s completely invisible to the Shadows.”

“And how do you know that?” Celestia demanded.

“Because I exist between the realms of consciousness and unconsciousness. My master won’t shut up about the intricacies of the mind and how it affects the world around it. Pinkie’s mind is at an almost complete black out, she might as well be a corpse to the Shadows at this point. They’ll only start to converge on her once she awakens, which if my calculations are correct, she will do so on the night of June the First. You have until then to get to her.”

Wayfarer and Celestia stared at Agero for a moment, then looked to each other.

“June first. That’s a week from today.” Wayfarer said. “We have time to work our way down.”

“That’s if this friend of yours is telling the truth.” Celestia said, tossing a glance at Agero

“I cannot tell a lie to a guest of the Velvet Room.” Agero said.

“I’m not questioning your own truthfulness,” Celestia said. “I’m questioning whether or not what you believe to be the truth is actually the truth.”

“Ahh Princess, surely you should know by now that the truth isn’t always the same from one person to the next? Yes, what I say IS what I believe to be the truth, only because this is what my master has said, and as cryptic as he sometimes is, he’s never been wrong. ”

“And if your master is wrong?”

“If he’s wrong, then Miss Pie will be lost.” Agero said. “But he’s never wrong.” Celestia sighed and looked once more to Wayfarer.

“You’re right.” She said. “As we are right now it would be next to impossible to save Pinkie. Twilight would help us even the odds in our favour, but how can we be sure that Pinkie will last that long? Should we trust that she will?”

Wayfarer hesitated, doubt filling every fiber of his being.

“This is your decision then Wayfarer.” Agero said “Just remember, you are obligated to accept responsibility for all of your actions and decisions. So what will it be?” Wayfarer looked at Agero and his confident face. The contract bound the denizens of the Velvet Room to help him in any way they could. He didn’t know why, but he knew that they would uphold that agreement and wouldn’t steer him or his friends wrong. Wayfarer inhaled deeply, his decision made.

“I trust your judgement Agero. We can wait until Twilight returns.”

“Good, I’ll have my sister deliver a message to her immediately. Until next time Wayfarer.”

“Wait a minute.” Celestia said stepping forward. “I want to see this ‘Velvet Room’ with my own eyes, take me there.”

Agero smiled as he began to fade away into the darkness, his voice echoing as if being spoken from a distance. “Maybe one day Celestia. You seem like you’d make an interesting guest.”

“Oh this is going to marvelous!” Rarity swooned as she looked out the window. Canterlot had just come into view, and she, Twilight and Fluttershy were bouncing up and down in anticipation. Then the sound of squeaking wheels interrupted their giddiness. The train began to slow down and the chairs began to shift backwards and forwards.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, looking about in confusion.

“Oh we can’t possibly make an emergency stop NOW!” Rarity cried. “We won’t make it to the show on time!”

“Calm down Rarity.” Twilight said, getting up from her seat. “I’m sure it’s nothing.” Rarity pursed her lips and stared out the window as their destination stopped getting closer. Then she slowly turned her head back to Twilight.

“Say, Twilight?” She said. “Do you think you could send a letter to the Princess and ask her to send assistance?”

“Do you see Spike around anywhere?” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

“Does SHE need a magical dragon to send you letters?” Rarity asked, rolling her eyes back.

“Well… no,” Twilight said, blushing in embarrassment. “But she hasn’t taught me that spell yet. And I really haven’t had a reason to learn it yet.”

“Well you certainly have a reason to know it now!”

“Okay! I’m sorry! I’ll ask Celestia about it when we get back to Ponyville.”

Rarity raised an eye at that. “You mean when we get to Canterlot, right?”

Twilight’s eyes dilated for a half second before she answered. “...yes.” Rarity and Fluttershy looked at their friend with confusion, Rarity going so far as to scrutinize Twilight’s expression for the faintest trace of something amiss. “I’m going to go talk to the conductor.” Twilight said quickly as the train finally came to a halt. “You two stay here I’ll be right back.” The other two shrugged and nodded as Twilight made her way to the door to the next car. Passing through, she was recognized by several ponies who started asking her what was happening.

“I’m going to go talk to the conductor.” She said over and over again. “Please remain calm.” Eventually she made it to the front of the train and entered the engineer’s cabin. A single earth pony mare with deep red hair wearing a blue uniform was staring out the window and past the front of the engine

“Excuse me miss?” Twilight said. “Why has the train stopped?”

“My apologies Princess.” The Mare said without even looking at Twilight. “But we’ve run into a bit of a road block.” The mare stepped back from the window and let Twilight take a look. They were traveling along the side of a cliff face, and a little ways in front of them was what looked like a chunk of earth and trees that had been cut from the top of the cliff and dropped right in front of them.

“Oh, I think I can help with that.” Twilight said with a sigh of relief as she went to open the door. The other mare stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder however.

“I wouldn’t go out there just yet Princess,” the mare said. Twilight turned to look at the pony, finally noticing her eyes which were as yellow and had the same pinprick pupils as her shadow self. Twilight’s own eyes grew wide at this.

“Who… are you?” Twilight asked softly.

“That’s not important right now. Just know that I’m here to assist you, as per the request of Wayfarer.”

“You know Wayfarer? I… I don’t understand. What do you mean he requested you to assist me?”

“Well the original intention was for me to tell you that your friend Pinkamena Diane Pie has been kidnapped, is being held beneath the castle in Ponyville, and will be devoured by shadows in approximately seven days.”

“Oh… wait WHAT?!”

“Now however I am here to make sure you and your friends get to Canterlot in time for your show. I’m sure you three will have a lovely time.”

“But… Pinkie… YOU HAVE TO TAKE US BACK!”

“And have you miss one of the best musicals of the last few years? Certainly you jest.”

“I don’t care about the musical! You just said one of my best friends is in danger!”

“I also said she had seven days until said danger is actually a threat to her. Trust me when I say that, at the moment, Miss Pie is perfectly all right. Now about this landslide…”

The blue suited mare stopped talking as a glowing purple horn started pointing at her face. The owner of said horn looking ready to tear the train in half.

“Who. Are. You.” Twilight said as she pushed more magic into her horn.

“Ughhh, fine, if it’s THAT important to you. My name is Agatha, Denzine of the Velvet Room and keeper of The Compendium. I’m currently in a contract with your friend Wayfarer, and therefore duty bound to assist him in his journey so long as he accepts responsibility for his actions. Is that an adequate summation of who I am?”

“No, because half that I didn’t even… wait, did you say Velvet Room?”

“Yes, that is where I am from.”

“He… he mentioned the Velvet Room before…”

“Yes, I’d be surprised if he didn’t. I mean why would he keep the most powerful resource available to him and his companions a secret? That would be rather counter productive.”

“But… I… ugghhh! What am I doing! I have to get back to Ponyville!”

“Miss Sparkle please, I am telling you there is no rush. Pinkamena will still be among the living after your show is over. If you really MUST rush to save her, you may do so after you and your friends have seen Volante Frost sing about how bright her future is. I’m sure they’d be VERY disappointed if you just decided to leave them here and go home.”

“They won’t if I tell them Pinkie’s in trouble.” Twilight growled, heading for the door back to the passenger cars. “Don’t know why I let Celestia tell me not to tell them.”

“She told you not to tell them,” Agatha said “Because they would insist they come with you.”

Twilight froze at the door, hoof hovering just above the handle.

“I admire your loyalty to your friends and their loyalty to you. But that exact loyalty will spell doom for them if you let them in on what exactly is going on. You know they have no protection from the Shadows, they WILL die if they follow you.”

Twilight dropped her hoof to the floor, then dropped her head to the door. She closed her eyes as tears began to leak from them. She was stuck and she knew it.

“You promise Pinkie will be alright?” She mumbled.

“By my master’s incredibly long nose, I swear it.”

Twilight took in a deep breath and lifted her head. She wiped away the tears as she turned back around to face Agatha, who was smiling in a very comforting way.

“Alright.” Twilight sighed. “But we’ve still got that landslide to deal with. I’m sure I can lift it all away if I could get closer.”

“And I’m sure you could.” Agatha said, walking back to the window. “But that’s not a natural shift of earth and trees Miss Sparkle. Someone caused it with the intention of blocking the tracks.”

“Why?”

“Probably to lure you out.”

“Lure me… why me?”

“Umm, maybe because you’re a Princess?”

“...Oh, right.”

“Still, If it was a group of ponies, they probably would have attacked the train by now. Which means it’s more than likely just one pony waiting to ambush you.”

“How would they know I’d be the one to go out?”

“They must know you, about how helpful you try to be to your fellow ponies. They’re probably hiding in the rubble, waiting for you to come out by yourself and then take you by surprise.”

“Hmm… then why don’t you come with me?”

“I can’t do that! Someone has to stay at the control of the train!”

“The train isn’t going anywhere.”

“Maybe so but this is my post, I can’t just leave it!”

Twilight gave a very annoyed stare at Agatha and briefly wondered if pulling her Princess title would do anything. Somehow she doubted it and just snorted at her, walking to the door out of the train and pulling the handle.

“Princess please.” Agatha started.

“Don’t worry.” Twilight said as the door slid open. “I’ve got a detection spell for this sort of thing. Thank you for warning me, that’s all the help I’ll need.”

Twilight hopped down from the train, the gravel crunching beneath her hooves. She looked around her, then casted the motion tracking spell. She then became acutely aware of a pony pacing in the passenger car, telling her that the spell was indeed functional. Slowly and carefully she began to make her way towards the large amount of loose ground and foliage that had piled up in front of the train. Every few steps she stopped and looked all around her, until she was standing directly in front of their obstacle. Breathing deeply, she reached for more magic and started surrounding as much debris as she could in her mystical aura, trying to shift it up and away from the tracks. After almost a minute though, the tracking spell started to warn her about something approaching from the right very quickly. Immediately she halted all of her magic and ducked, just in time to feel something fly over her, grazing her wings. The sound of more gravel being displaced told her that whatever just attacked her had landed, so she lept up and spun to get her assailant into view.

“I’m impressed Twilight Sparkle.” The dark turquoise pegasus said in a holier than thou sort of voice. “Or should I call you Princess Twilight Sparkle now. Not that you deserve it though, you’re HARDLY what I’d call ‘Princess’ material.”

Twilight continued to glare at this pegasus, something about her feeling off, and not just the fact that she attacked her.

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded “Are you the one Wayfarer said was looking for me?”

“I don’t know who this ‘Wayfarer’ is, but yes. I’ve been SO anxious to meet you again Twilight Sparkle. Now be a dear and stand still.” The rouge pegasus smiled and revealed a pair of sharp fangs glistening with a toxic looking substance. “My venom needs to be injected in a specific vein in order to effectively paralyse you.”

The pegasus once again lept at Twilight, who instinctively shot a bolt of magic at her to try and send her flying. But the bolt never found its mark and instead rebounded off a fiery green barrier that briefly appeared in front of this fanged fiend. In surprise, Twilight hesitated too long and was sent onto her back as her attacker made contact. Twilight felt hooves against her chest and looked up just in time to see a demonic set of teeth plunge toward her neck.

“Get away from her you Ruffian!” came a shout as a powder blue bolt of magic blasted the Pegasus off of Twilight, saving her from being injected with whatever foul concoction was laced into those fangs.

“Rarity!” Twilight coughed as the fashionista rushed to her friend’s side.

“Twilight darling are you alright?”

“I’m fine! just get away from her! It’s me she wants!”

“Well than she’ll have to go through me and Fluttershy. Though I doubt we’d have to provide such a challenge for her, as she seems to be in retreat.”

Twilight, now getting to her hooves, looked up to see Rarity pointing to a rapidly shrinking dot approaching the horizon. She then felt a pair of hooves quickly running over her neck as her vision was filled with a very distraught looking Fluttershy.

“She didn’t get you did she?” Fluttershy panicked. “I didn’t think vampire ponies were real! Oh that was the most horrible thing I’d ever seen!” Once she was sure Twilight didn’t have bite marks, she pulled her into a tight embrace. “I thought I lost you!”

“Fluttershy, I’m alright!” Twilight gasped “But I won’t be if you continue cutting off my air flow!”

“O-oh sorry.” Fluttershy said as she released Twilight.

“What in the name of Equestria was THAT all about?” Rarity said, scowling in the direction the attacker had fled.

“She… She said she met me before.” Twilight said.

“I’d hoped you wouldn’t keep such horrid company as that Twilight.”

“That’s just it! I’ve never seen her before in my life!” Twilight racked her brain for a memory of anypony she might have met like that pegasus, but none came to mind. But those fangs and that horrible smile DID remind her of something. “I think… I think that might have been a Changeling.”

“Good gracious!” Rarity said, lifting a hoof to her mouth.

“B-but that means,” Fluttershy mumbled as she started to shake. “It might have been one of her’s!”

“Yeah… HER’S.” Twilight said. “The Changeling Queen’s!”

“You know I don’t believe we ever got that horrible witch’s name.” Rarity said. “She loved talking so much I’m surprised she didn’t mention it.”

“Not like it matters,” Twilight huffed, moving back in front of the pile of earth and wood. “She doesn’t deserve any name other than ‘Witch’ after what she did. Now come on,” She looked behind her to her friend’s smiling confidently at them. “We’ve got a Musical to see!”

Twilight, now filled with adrenaline, made quick work of the rest of landslide. The three walked back to the train and got onto the engine.

“Alright Agatha! We’re ready to go!”

“Agatha?” said a burly stallion in a blue and white striped shirt at the controls. “Who’s that?”

Twilight froze, then looked all around the compartment in surprise. “Where’d she go? She said she couldn’t leave her post.”

“Who Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

“Agatha! She said she was the conductor.”

“Uhh, nope.” said the very confused looking stallion. “That’d be me your majesty.”

“But she was here when I came up from the passenger cars!”

“Your Majesty, I was the only one up here.” The stallion was now looking very worried now. “I told you about the landslide and you went out to go and clear it. Then your two friends rushed in and out the side door.”

“Darling are you sure that brute didn’t hurt you?” Rarity asked.

“I’m fine! Look, there was a mare here when I came up, she was wearing a blue suit and hat!”

“Blue suit and hat?” Rarity said, looking to Fluttershy, who looked back at her, before both looked back to Twilight. “Did she also have bright red hair and yellow eyes?”

“Yes! You saw her?”

“Well, yes. She came into our passenger car and said you needed our help and told us to get to the front of the train as fast as we could.”

“But… but that’s… not possible!”

“Uhmm, miss?” the Conductor said. “Thank you for clearing the debris, we can get back under way now. Maybe you should go back with your friends and lie down for a bit.”

“I… yes, I guess I will do that.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy made their way back to their car as the train once more came to life and began chugging forward to Canterlot. Twilight stared at the floor the whole way back, completely lost in thought. When they got back to their seats, she looked around, hoping to see Agatha somewhere around, but there was no sign of her.

“When we get back to Ponyville,” Twilight thought “Wayfarer’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Say it.”

“No.”

“SAY IT!”

“GET OUT OF MY MANE YOU PEST!”

“I’m not leaving you alone till you admit you screwed up!”

“Petulant child, if you recall we BOTH screwed up! YOU put them on their guard, and I failed to be aware of my surroundings! I’d say yours was the bigger botching of a mission!”

“At least I got my sacrifice into the castle before they realized what was going on!”

The two hooded figures continued to bicker to one another as they trudged through the forest. Night was only just beginning but with how dark it was it might as well have been midnight on the darkside of the moon. Their hoods were down, but both wore masks. The taller one wore the mask of the emperor, still damaged from his run in with Celestia. The shorter was wearing a rosy coloured mask with gold trim in the general shape of a heart, with an expression of despair that contradicted the changeling’s giddy demeanor.

“So Emperor,” she sneared “How are you going to explain this to Judgement and the others? Your wife already thinks you're to blame for my less than stellar results, what do you think she’ll say when she hears about you ruining your own plans?”

“She won’t say anything.” The Emperor said. “She’ll just bludgeon me to near death.”

“And I’ll be there to make you feel all better, right?”

“Humph.”

The two continued to walk until they entered a small clearing. At first glance, and probably at a few glances there after, it looked no different from the half dozen other clearings that they’d passed through already. The Emperor walked over to a tree and pulled down several branches in a seemingly random order, until the ground began to shift and the grass lifted up a few feet away from them, revealing a staircase down into the darkness.

“After you.”

The stairway took them deep into the earth, their way lit by black fire torches that lit up when they drew near. After about five minutes they entered into a long hallway with large ornate doors on either side. Each door was marked with a picture of a mask like the ones they were wearing and a roman numeral. Odds on the left, evens on the right, and increasing as they went further down the hall. At the end there was one last door, bigger than the others and marked with a Roman Numeral Twenty one. In front of the door was another figure in a cloak, facing away from the two and pouring over a very thick leatherbound book.

“You two have certainly made a mess of things.” The figure said.

“Apologies Judgement.” Emperor said. “We’ve just had a string of bad luck is all. Celestia still remains as prudent as ever when it comes to the safety of her subjects.”

“And you are just as egotistical and heavy hoofed as ever. I am dissatisfied by your efforts, both of you are relieved of duty until further notice.”

“Hmph, very well than.”

‘Judgement’ turned another page, remaining silent for a time before speaking again. “This pursuit of ours requires tact and cunning, something I mistakenly believed the two of you had. As such, ‘Death’ and ‘Moon’ will take your place.”

“What?!” Emperor said indignantly. “Those two don’t even have physical forms anymore!”

“Exactly why they are such perfect agents for this task. And I believe they deserve a chance to shine given recent events.”

Emperor grumbled, turning away and heading for a room back towards the entrance.

“Empusa.” Judgement said to the cloaked changeling as she too turned to leave.

“So rare to hear that name nowadays.” Empusa said. “What’s the occasion?”

“As you are no doubt aware, Queen Chrysalis is becoming active once more.”

“So soon after her dismal failure. I’m surprised my kin are even still around.”

“What will you do?”

Empusa remained silent for a while, then she turned to face Judgement, lifting up her mask as she did so to reveal two mismatched eyes, one fushia, the other turquoise, both widened with barely repressed glee.

“I will lead the swarm back down the right path to glory, and I will insure that she is punished for her crimes… if, of course, that pleases you.”

“It does. Empusa of the Lovers Arcana, return to your kin with my blessing, and the blessing of Miseria.”

Empusa bowed low to Judgement and turned to leave back up the staircase. Judgement, whose attention was still on the book, turned another page to reveal an illustration of a many faced monstrosity.

“...the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed.” Judgement whispered with a smile.

Twilight entered her home after waving good bye to both Fluttershy and Rarity, who both walked away humming one of the songs from the Musical. Wayfarer and Celestia were sitting next to the fire, and looked up at Twilight when she entered with somber faces. She looked at both of them and sighed before sitting down between them.

“What happened?”

Wayfarer and Celestia brought her up to speed, from the moment she left to now. Twilight remained silent through the whole thing, but glanced at Wayfarer several times before attempting to avoid eye contact with him. When they were finished, she told them about what had happened on her way to Canterlot.

“So that door you mentioned seeing.” Twilight said after their summary came to a close. “That was real?”

“Yeah, but apparently only I can see it.” Wayfarer confirmed

Twilight nodded. “Agatha called you a guest, and you signed some sort of Contract?”

“It was something about accepting responsibility for my choices. I didn’t really understand it, but it seemed simple enough.”

“Contracts rarely are so simple Wayfarer.” Celestia said. “I want to see this deal you signed with my own two eyes.”

“Admittedly I thought I was dreaming when I first entered the Velvet Room, and the next few times there after. I didn’t start thinking it was real until I managed to summon a second Persona.”

“Perhaps they are the reason you are capable of doing so.”

“That’d be my guess, but the head guy, Igor I think he’s called, is just as cryptic as Agero said.”

All three of them remained silent for a while, until twilight inhaled deeply and brought up their biggest concern at the moment.

“Well now that I’m back, we should go get Pinkie Pie out. I don’t care if she DOES have a week before she’s in any real danger, I want to get her out now.”

“No.” Wayfarer said simply. “I’m sorry Twi, but you look completely frazzled right now. What we need is a good night’s rest, tomorrow we’ll prepare ourselves a little better and round up Discord. Then we’ll go get Pinkie out.”

“But… ughh, you’re right. I’m beat right now, and I was worrying so much that I almost couldn’t enjoy the play.”

“Almost?”

Twilight smiled in spite of herself. “Almost.”

Pinkie Pie was dreaming. She might have appeared lifeless to the shifting dark forms around her, but her mind was gently humming even in her comatose state. She dreamed of being back on her family’s rock farm, her curly mane bouncing in time with her as she moved rocks onto a cart along with her two sisters. She was humming a merry tune, trying to lighten up the atmosphere created by such a dull and meaningless chore, but her two sisters just glared at her.

“Pinkie.” The sister known as Inkie said. “Why do you always have to be so ‘happy’ all the time? It’s getting annoying.”

“What kind of question is that?” Pinkie responded with a smile. “Why SHOULDN’T I be happy all the time?”

“Because you work on a rock farm Pinkie.” The sister known as Blinkie said. “You’re not supposed to be happy.”

“Well that’s silly!” Pinkie said. “Everypony has the right to be happy no matter what they do for a living! You two seemed to like being happy whenever I threw my parties!”

“Those...’parties’ made us feel weird.” Blinkie said. “It was like somepony else was trying to get us act like fools, against our wills.”

“That’s called happiness!” Pinkie said, smiling at her two siblings. “That’s when you forget about your troubles for a bit and just enjoy being with other ponies!”

“And then what happens when the party’s over?” Inkie said, with a bit of bile in her voice. “You get us all ‘happy’ and then we go right back to doing what we’ve been doing, only now we’re doing it for longer because your party went and delayed us. You can’t just forget about your troubles Pinkie.”

“Well no, not permanently.” Pinkie muttered. “But maybe for a little while.”

“What’s the point then?”

“Th-the point?”

“There’s no point! No point to fun! Or happiness! They’re just distractions from the reality of the world! You’re cruel Pinkie, teasing ponies with pipe dreams like that! What would your friend’s think of you!”

“M-my friends?”

Pinkie felt something behind her and she spun around, her straight mane flipping around with her, until a very furious looking Rainbow Dash came into view.

“YOU CAN’T SOLVE EVERYPONY’S PROBLEMS WITH PARTIES AND CAKES!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Pinkie’s body shivered, and this small movement caught the attention of some of the Shadows. But when she failed to move again, they went back to crawling about aimlessly.

By mid day, everypony in town seemed to have realized that Pinkie Pie had disappeared. No one was more distraught than Mrs. Cake though, she’d actually closed up Sugarcube Corner, though everypony could still hear the occasional wail of despair when they walked past. Which made Wayfarer, Twilight, and Celestia flinch when they did. Discord just looked annoyed when he looked up and the upper floor window of the life size gingerbread house.

The four of them had spent the day gathering what would hopefully be unneeded medical supplies for their journey. Celestia had even sent a letter to her sister last night, asking for some Mana Crystals to be sent to her.

“They give unicorns an extra boost to their magical abilities.” She explained. “I thought it might not hurt to try them with our Personas.”

Twilight’s other friends, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, had once again formed a search party to look for Pinkie, but in order to keep them out of the loop, Twilight had to decline joining them in the actual search. She said she would be coordinating the search alongside Sunny Days, which for some reason made Applejack look really annoyed but didn’t seem to phase either of the other two.

Either way, the assembled group were now gathered inside the castle, ready to begin but distracted for a moment by an unexpected guest.

“Ready to go on your little rescue mission?” Agero said from the bottom of the stairs. “Then let me give you something to maybe lend a hand.” He waved his hoof and a large green and gold archway appeared on the opposite side of the foyer from the Velvet Room door. “This handy little thing will bring you back here if you decide you’re too tired to carry on. Even better, it can bring you back to any floor you’ve already reached, so you won’t have to go quite as far every time you need to come here.”

“That’s… amazingly helpful.” Twilight said with a grin. “Thank you!”

“Anything for such a cute little pony.” Agero said, making Twilight blush something fierce.

“Oh… well thank you…”

“Wasn’t talking about you.” Agero said as he locked eyes with Wayfarer and gave a VERY lecherous looking smirk.

“Oh… my…” Wayfarer thought.

“Best of luck you lot!” Agero said before fading away to nothingness.

“He seems like a swell guy.” Discord said. “Creepy, but swell.”

“Regardless,” Celestia said, examining the archway. “If this thing does what he says it does, it will undoubtedly save us some frustrations in the future. Now come along then.”

The journey down started out unremarkably. The few Shadows they saw during the first three floors scurried away at the sight of them. Discord wanted to chase them down, but after last time he decided against that.

When they hit the fourth floor things started to pick up again. A few Shadows that looked like tables ambushed them on floor six, and on floor ten they ran into a shadow that took the form of an armored knight riding a legless horse. After both these battles, the group had to stop and try and catch their breath. Celestia passed around water and a few Mana Crystals. The Crystals it turned out actually DID help their Personas, as after casting so many spells of their own it was making their summoners feel… not tired, but drained.

“Ughh.” Wayfarer groaned after chugging a bit more water. “How much more?”

“It’s floor ten, another twenty to go.” Celestia said

“I don’t think I can do it. And even if we get there tonight, we’ll be in no shape to do anything if Pinkie DOES happen to be in danger.”

“Are you suggesting we just give up?” Twilight asked, slightly angrily.

“No, I’m suggesting we go back and recuperate ourselves, then pick back up from where we left off tomorrow.”

Twilight gave Wayfarer an irritated look before responding. “Another five floors, then we’ll call it a night.”

“You just hate it when he’s right, don’t you Twilight?” Discord smirked at her.

“Shut it. You’re not being very helpful yourself you know!”

“It’s not MY fault if my magic doesn’t affect our squishy hosts!”

“Then why do we bother bringing you? We haven’t gotten you to summon your Persona in all the times we’ve been down here, instead you just make snide remarks at all of us!”

“Maybe I’m just too content with my life. Yes I’m bored, but I don’t have any crippling mental problems like the rest of you.”

“Enough.” Celestia said. “Five more floors sounds reasonable. Let’s go.”

Wayfarer felt exhausted the next day, which Cheerilee seemed quick to notice the moment he walked in.

“Goodness Wayfarer, you look awful.”

“Yeah, I was up till almost midnight helping look for Pinkie.”

“I’d heard she’d gone missing, oh dear. Do you think she might have gone back to her family’s rock farm?”

“No, we’re pretty sure she’s still… wait, Rock Farm?”

“I was a little confused when I’d heard that too, but yes Pinkie Pie used to live and work on a Rock Farm before she came to Ponyville.”

“That’s…” Wayfarer didn’t know what to say. First off the very concept of a farm for rocks baffled him, and secondly the idea that Pinkie Pie would even be associated with something that sounded so boring as a rock farm REALLY baffled him. “That sounds so UN-Pinkie Pie.”

“Well apparently she felt the same way. Well, I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. For now, I have a lesson to get to. I found a book on understanding magic, and I thought I’d try sharing it with a few of the students.”

Wayfarer nodded and got straight to work. Even if he was feeling a little lethargic at the moment, he was determined to put his all into his tasks.

“PERSONA!” Wayfarer shouted at the approaching serpentine creatures. A sharp gust of wind rushed through them as Ekchuah swung down his spear right out of the starting gate.

“PERSONA!” Twilight echoed, sending tyche to follow up with several bolts of lightning, which the serpents seemed to just shrug off. “Electricity doesn’t seem to work on them!” Changing tactics, Twilight then commanded Tyche to support Ekchuah, boosting his strength with a spell. The resulting followup attack from the masked warrior tore through whatever was left.

“Nice one Twilight!” Wayfarer yelled.

“Three more incoming!” Celestia yelled. Another two serpents came around the corner, followed by a large flying paper fish.

“Looks like one of those old Neighpanese kites.” Wayfarer remarked.

“Give me a second,” Celestia said, shutting her eyes as Gnowee shined her light on the flying fish monster. “I’ll see if it burns like one.”

“Right, EKCHUAH!”

Ekchuah once again blasted a current of air through the corridor, tearing up the serpents but leaving the fish kite, which took this opening and sent ice crashing down on Wayfarer.

“Grahh!!” Wayfarer flinched, bracing his front legs to try and keep himself standing. “COLD! VERY COLD!”

“LIGHT A FIRE UNDER IT ALREADY!” Discord yelled swinging his arms around as if he was actually fighting.

“Agreed!” Celestia shouted. “It’s weakness is Agi skills!”

“What skills?” Wayfarer yelled back, still trying to shake off the layer of ice coating him.

“Fire! Agi is fire!”

“Oh, right! CHANGE!”

Ekchuah’s form cracked and shattered before being replaced by another serpentine creature, this one pure white with wings.

“QUETZALCOATL!”

“Bless you!” Discord shouted.

The flying snake creature inhaled deeply before hissing loudly and shooting a spray of fire at the paper fish, igniting it immediately before it disintegrated into nothingness.

The corridor was silent once more save for the sharp intakes of breath from both Wayfarer and Twilight.

“So...huff… how close are we?” Wayfarer asked.

“We’ll be hitting floor twenty five in a moment.” Celestia said.

“Five more…” Twilight whispered. “Are we ready for it? Or do you think we should turn back for the moment.”

“No, we’re on a roll now.” Wayfarer said as the battle high caused him to grin. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, so let’s plow through this thing.”

Twilight smiled and started dashing forward, quickly being followed by the others. “Hang on Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted. “We’re on our way!”

Pinkie heard something. It sounded like her friend Twilight. She could hear her, feel her approaching. Pinkie wanted to see her, and her mind started to fight against the comatose state she was in. The Shadows, already restless from all the commotion going on in the floors above, took notice to this. A consciousness was making itself known, right in the midst of them. They slowly began to surround the presence as it continued to grow stronger, the structure of the room shifting as they began feeding off the emotional energy Pinkie was radiating off of her, and even more started to show up as the struggling mare began to awaken.

Pinkie's eyes fluttered open, but it was so dark around her that at first she wondered if she'd opened them at all. Her hair covered over her right eye as she rose up from the ground and she tried to flip it back and out of the way. As she did so, the darkness suddenly lifted and her eyes were filled with an eerie reddish glow that seemed to come from every direction. The room she was in seemed like a large ball room, with banners and columns stretching the entire length of the hall. at one end was a large statue of an alicorn, surrounded by a still pool of water.

"W-where am I?" Pinkie whispered to herself as she got to her hooves. Slowly she moved toward the statue, looking at it with both fear and curiosity. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

"Is anypony there?"

"Who's that?" Pinkie said, her head darting around.

"Who's that?"

"Oh," Pinkie said, ears drooping a bit. "I'm just talking to myself again."

"You really need to stop doing that."

"I know, I wouldn't want to scare my friends again."

"You already scare them quite a bit you know."

"I... scare them?"

"Hm hm heh heh... I think it would be more accurate to say WE scare them. After all," A figure stepped out from behind the statue, walking along the edge of the pool until she came into the light, revealing it to be a doppelganger of Pinkie Pie. "I am you."

“Hold on a minute.” Celestia said. The party stopped and turned to look at her as her face started to fill with fear. “I’m feeling something. Something powerful. On the 30th floor, with Pinkie Pie.”

“What?!” Twilight shreeked. “B-but I thought… those Blue Suited snakes LIED to us!!”

“Really?” Discord said. “Because I didn’t see any of those serpents wearing suits. They DID make the male and female symbols look rather dashing though.”

“SHUT UP!” Twilight yelled at him.

“Reign it in Twilight!” Wayfarer yelled. “Nothing’s changed! We’ve just got to double time it now!”

“They said seven days!” Twilight said, almost balling at this point. “They said she’d be safe!”

“TWILIGHT!” Wayfarer shouted, getting right up in Twilight’s face. “We can deal with them later! But Pinkie’s in danger NOW! So let’s go!”

Twilight stood motionless for about five seconds before she turned and started bolting down the halls, completely ignoring several Shadows as they appeared until one dropped from the ceiling right in front of her. She didn’t even stop when she commanded Tyche to send lightning right through it and several other Shadows behind it. The others followed as closely behind as they could, or dared. Wayfarer tried to aid her by cleaning up whatever survivors she left behind, but she was like a freight train going at full speed without any breaks.

Pinkie stared at her other self in disbelief, and the Shadow looked back with cold, half lidded eyes as she jumped off the edge of the fountain. Her hooves clacked against the floor slowly approaching Pinkie with an air of ill intent.

"Oh what's with the frown? What happened to the smiling little ball of energy that everyone loves to laugh at?"

"I... I don't..."

"Oh look! I've made her speechless!"

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"I told you, I am you... you are me. As for where we are, isn't it obvious? We're at a party!"

"Party?" Pinkie said in confusion, her head twisting around to look at the still empty and barren room. "What party?"

"Why, your party of course silly! Everywhere’s a party with us around! Warzones, political court rooms, funerals. We take our enjoyment of life where ever we go!” The shadow laughed at this. It wasn’t a cheery laugh like Pinkie was used to hearing with her voice. It was… evil. That was the only word Pinkie had for it: Evil.

“I don’t understand.” Pinkie said. “How could you be me? Did I use the mirror pool again?”

“Pfft, no silly! Those were just poor quality replicas of the genuine article. Me? I AM the genuine article.”

“N-no… I’m the real Pinkie!”

“We’re BOTH the real Pinkie! The only difference being that I actually know what others say behind our backs!”

“W-what are you…”

Then Pinkie started hearing voices around her. They were echoing as if said from a distance, but Pinkie heard them loud and clear.

“I, I had to tell someone.” said the voice of Mr. Cake. “But when I told her, about my doubts about Pound and Pumpkin, she just laughed at me. Consarn it. Why did I pick PINKIE of all ponies?”

“ANOTHER party? Jeez we just had THREE yesterday! And even one the day before that! Doesn’t she realize that someponies have things to do?”

“Why isn’t she taking any of this seriously? Ponyville’s in danger and she’s making popcorn!”

Pinkie’s head was sagging down and her eyes were slowly getting wider and wider. “No… that’s not… it can’t be… how they feel…”

“She left us.” said the voice of her father. “Her grandmother isn’t even buried yet and she goes running off to Celestia knows where. Someday she’ll have to learn that life isn’t the party she thinks it is.”

“D-daddy?” Pinkie whimpered. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… i’m sorry…”

“I should have told her before I left.” Came one more voice, one that Pinkie immediately recognized.

“Dashie?!” She gasped. “W-what did you want to tell me?”

“I should have told her… Pinkie… she’s such a pain in my flank.”

Pinkie’s mouth almost dropped off her face.

“I really thought I could be friends with her. But other than a good laugh, what has she actually done for me? She’s… like the comic relief in a Daring Doo book. Rarely helpful, and more often than not the cause of a lot of problems. And worse yet, I have to keep acting as if I like being around her all the time, or she’ll feel bad and then suddenly I’LL be the bad guy.”

“I’m a… pain?”

“She’s just… so… RANDOM! I can never tell what she’s thinking, and when I ask her for help I can’t always get a guarantee she’ll take what I want seriously. She’s… just so difficult to be a friend with. Sometimes I wish she’d just disappear.”

“No, no that’s a lie! This can’t be… Dashie’s not like that!”

“Awww… so sad. I feel so sorry for myself.” The Shadow said, faking tears. “Actually it’s kind of funny when you think about it.”

“How… how is this funny?!” Pinkie yelled as tears started to fall from her face.

“Don’t you see? They all think that you CARE about what they think. They think you CARE about their problems. But we both know you don’t. You just want to have a good laugh or twelve and hope that the reality of life doesn’t come interrupt your wild rumpus.”

“No… that’s not right… I DO care about other ponies! I want to make them smile!”

“Yeah right, how long are you going to keep THAT lie going? You just want to drag all of them down into your madness so that you don’t have to be so alone. But everypony goes back to reality eventually, and you’re stuck wondering how to get them to stay put.” The Shadow was now circling around Pinkie, smirking down at her and occasionally licking her lips. “You can’t bare to think about reality, so you run away, but you hate being alone, so you try and get others to ignore the pain of life and come join you. I’m sure Granny pie would approve of how you’ve laughed in the face of what frightens you most: the pain of reality.”

“S-shut up!”

“Heh! Yeah, just go ahead and try to pretend like what I’m saying isn’t what you’ve been thinking for the last eight years! Go ahead and tell me that you HAVEN’T been running away from the loss of the ONLY member of your family that you thought truly understood you!”

“I’m not running from anything! You’re lying! Who are you?!”

“Heh heh ha ha ha!! I already told you! I’m you. Your Shadow. And there is NOTHING I don’t know about you.”

“...no… NO! That’s not true! You CAN’T be me!!”

The doors at the other end of the ball room exploded open at that moment. Pinkie flinched and turned to look at the direction of the blast, while her Shadow just smiled psychotically down at her.

Twilight, Wayfarer, Celestia and Discord all ran into the ballroom, slightly haggard but no worse for ware. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath before looking up to see the two Pinkie Pies in front of her.

“Pinkie Pie!” She shouted.

“Oh look, our friends are here! Hello everypony! I was just telling me about how I’m not her, isn’t that right me?”

“I… I…” Pinkie stammered.

“Pinkie! Don’t listen to her!” Twilight yelled, rushing forward.

“No? Well how about you tell them the REAL reason Rainbow Dash ran away?”

“What? N-NO!!” Pinkie screamed. “I made a Pinkie Promise I wouldn’t say anything!”

“Well looks like I’M going to break that promise. Rainbow Dash deserves it for snapping at her best friend like that! What a miserable excuse for a Wonderbolt! Why doesn’t she just forget all her dreams and have a nice batch of cupcakes with me! Forever, and ever! Like the good friends we are!”

Pinkie had finally had enough of this as her fear turned to rage. “NO! You’re not me! You’re NOTHING like me!”

“PINKIE!” Twilight cried out when she was almost within foreleg’s length of Pinkie, just in time to get blasted back by the Shadow as an aura of darkness began to spin around her. The wind roared around the room, tearing the banners as the maniacal laughter of the shadow reverberated all around them.

“Yeah that’s right! I am me now! I’m not you anymore! I’M MY OWN SELF!”

The cloud of darkness enveloped the shadow, shielding it from view, as it gradually got bigger and bigger. Wayfarer had rushed over to Twilight to help her up from being knocked to the ground, and now both he and she were staring at the blackness with fear. Then the cloud lifted and a monstrous many armed being emerged.

“I am a Shadow! The true self! Life will be filled with either Misery or Happiness, so drop your pathetic lives and join me in bliss!”

The creature walked on two very thick legs that carried a body with almost a dozen arms sticking out of it. The top two limbs were covering up the monsters eyes, leaving only a lipless smile visible on its face, framed by long pink hair that flowed all the way to the floor. The next six arms each carried a cage with what looked like stuffed recreations of Pinkie’s friends, including Wayfarer, all tied up with what looked like streamers. The bottom two arms were carrying two large blue cannons, both of which were pointed at Twilight and Wayfarer.

“Oh SHOOT!” Wayfarer yelled, throwing himself over Twilight as the cannons fired. Before they could get blown to bits by two balls of fury confetti, Celestia grabbed them with her magic and pulled them safely away.

“Where’s Pinkie?” Twilight yelled as she frantically got to her hooves and looked around. She finally spotted her back behind the Shadow, laying against a column she’d been thrown against.

The Shadow began to lurch toward them, it’s cannons glowing slightly as they took in energy for another attack.

“So many Friends, all suffering from life. But I’ll protect them, just like any good friend would do!”

“She’s going to let off another fireball!” Celestia shouted. “Lay down the beating now while she’s charging it up!”

“Right! PERSONA!” Wayfarer and Twilight yelled together. Ekchuah and Tyche erupted forth, flying at the Shadow and avoiding the cages as it swung them around to try and land a hit. Ekchuah ducked under one swing and managed to jab his spear into the arm that aimed for him.

“Got her!” Wayfarer yelled.

“Is that right?”

The Shadow pulled its arm down quick and pinned Ekchuah against her chest. The opposite arm came around as well and both started to try squeezing the life out of both Persona and summoner. Wayfarer howled as the pain transferred to him. Tyche rushed around and tried to get the arms to let go by repeatedly striking them, but eventually she got swatted away by a cage, leaving Wayfarer to collapse to the floor.

“Gha!” He grunted in frustration. “You want to put the squeeze on me? Fine, we’ll play it that way! CHANGE!”

Ekchuah shattered and was replaced once again by Quetzalcoatl, who was thin enough to escape the Shadow’s grasp and then wrap itself around an arm, biting down on the wrist and constricting the limb. In response, the Shadow brought up one of it’s cannons and pointed it at the winged serpent at point blank range.

“Time to get bake’n!”

Fire engulfed both the Persona and the Shadow’s arm, but instead of seizing up in pain like he expected, Wayfarer only felt a tingle. When the fire halted and the Shadow realized that all she’d done was burn the stuffed figure in the cage, she howled in frustration and slammed the captured arm into the same column Pinkie was under. Debris began to fall while Wayfarer flinched from the impact. Tyche landed over Pinkie and attempted to shield her as the pillar finally snapped in half.

“Twilight get her out of there!” Wayfarer yelled.

Tyche swooped Pinkie up in her arms just as the top half came down on her. She braced her legs and just barely managed to stop herself from being crushed, but now both her and Pinkie were pinned.

“You see!” The shadow boasted. “Look at all the pain and misery you could have avoided! Why do you cling to a life filled with sorrow?!”

“Because that IS life!” Wayfarer shouted. “CHANGE!”

Quetzalcoatl shattered and turned into the red armored knight and black horse. The knight jumped from his steed and went to help lift the pillar off of Tyche. The Shadow barely noticed this as she directed her attention to Wayfarer.

“Life is sorrow? Then why do you even bother?”

“Because it’s not just that!” Twilight said, stepping over to join Wayfarer as her Persona began to rise back up again. “Life is excitement and disappointment! It’s meeting some and saying farewell to others. It’s being happy sometimes and sad other times. Life is ups and downs, and it’s because of these ups that we keep fighting through the downs. And nopony knows about the ups better than Pinkie Pie!”

“T-Twilight?” Pinkie murmured from within Tyche’s grasp.

Both Tyche and the Red Knight were standing up completely, a large chunk of the pillar held above them. Pinkie looked at the scene around her, from the Shadow, to the Personas, to her friend’s standing defiantly in front of their foe. Then she saw the cage that the Shadow had burned earlier, and though the stuffed figure inside was still heavily charred, she could still tell it was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash… She’s going through some down times…”

“No, life is either misery or bliss! It can’t be both!”

“Yes it can,” Celestia said as she too walked forward “And yes it is. I see it all the time, when my subjects lose somepony they care for, they are sad, but they still try to remember all the joy that pony brought to them. And I would be shocked if Miss Pie didn’t have hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of ponies remembering her for generations to come.”

“Jeez, you all sound like a self help book right now.” Discord bemoaned. “Yes, Pinkie’s the light in the darkness, the joy of ponies everywhere, the living embodiment of sugar and caffeine! Can we just throw the pillar at this thing now?”

“Wait, what?”

The Shadow turned around just in time to let a large chunk of stone collide with her with the force of a locomotive. The pillar sent her down to the floor, giving them an opening for another attack.

“Let her have it Eligor!” Wayfarer shouted

“You too Tyche!” Twilight yelled.

Both figures lept into the air and came down on the Shadow’s face, swinging their weapons in a wide arch as they did so. When they made contact, the Shadow cried out in pain and exploded in a cloud of darkness, leaving only the original Pinkie look alike in its place.

Everyone gathered around the Shadow, Tyche dropped Pinkie down next to it, and it opened it’s eyes to look sadly up at her.

“Pinkie?” Twilight said. “Are you alright?”

“I- I don’t know yet.”

“You’ll never know.” The Shadow said. “Misery is always there, no matter what. To fight it is meaningless it seems.”

Pinkie, for the first time since she woke up, allowed herself a small smile. “But… that’s why the world needs ponies like me.” The smile disappeared as she sighed, closing her eyes she continued. “Yes, I’m afraid of losing the ponies I care about, I want to surround myself with friends to keep out the pain of being alone. But that pain isn’t even there anymore, it hasn’t been there for a long time.” Pinkie sat down next to her shadow, looking down at those piercing yellow eyes. “I have friends who love me just as much as I love them, and I work hard everyday to make sure that they have a silver lining to even the worst of bad days. Yes, there will be bad days, for me, my friends, and everypony else, but that doesn’t mean every day will be bad. And… I want you to know… that this day doesn’t have to be bad for me or you… or us.” Pinkie brought her hoof to the Shadow’s face, lifting it up slightly. “Chin up, I don’t like seeing my face all sad like that. You’re me, I’m you, so start acting like it.”

The two Pinkies smiled at each other as light enveloped them, leaving only one Pinkie and a towering figure in front of her. The figure wore a party hat with a long flowing ribbon, and a wreath around her neck and face, hiding all but her eyes which were filled with boisterous glee. Her outfit was somewhere between a ball gown and a sailor’s outfit, and over her shoulder she carried a large anchor that, on closer inspection, turned out to be a party cannon slash crossbow combination.

The figure faded away into a ball of light that then bonded with Pinkie Pie, her smile widening her face and her hair slowly inflating back to its usual curly and uncontrollable self.

“Laetitia.” She said. “That’s a really pretty name.”

Pinkie then chose that moment to fall over, landing on the floor as she started to snore loudly. Twilight rushed to her side and checked her, sighing when she decided her friend was alright.

“She’s alright…” Twilight whispered. “Thank goodness.”

“Not only that,” Celestia said. “But she’s awoken her potential. She can summon a Persona now.”

“Okay, now I’M irritated at my lack of progress.” Discord said, making a face of mock disgrace. “I mean seriously? SHE get’s a persona before me?”

“All the more reason to work harder at it.” Wayfarer laughed. “Now come on, lets get out of here before the rest of us fall over.”

Author's Notes:

Aaaannnd Part 2 of 3! I seriously didn't think this arch would take this long, but for the first time it's as if the words just came to me, and they just kept coming. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere, and hopefully that means more frequent updates that I feel more sure over. So I guess that means I can stop throwing pity parties for myself.

However I'm STILL looking for harsh but fair criticisms from you lot. I'm considering sending this fic to EQD after the next Chapter, but I want to make sure it's up to snuff before I do so. So come on guys, lay on the reviews!

Chapter 10: The Magician (Part 3)

Twilight, Wayfarer, Celestia, and Discord were all back at the Library. It was almost Midnight, and they’d only just gotten back from dropping Pinkie Pie off at Sugarcube Corner. Mrs. Cake’s ecstatic cries of happiness would have probably woken up the whole town if her husband hadn’t shoved a hoof in her mouth before she could start freaking out. Now the four were sitting around the fire, half asleep, wondering where to go from here.

“We have to talk to Agatha and Agero again,” Wayfarer said. “Find out what happened in there.”

“You seem to put an awful lot of trust in those two Wayfarer.” Twilight said as she gently placed an ice bag on her head, wincing at the chill before sighing as the beating in her head started to settle down.

“I know, I know… but they seem to know more at this point then we do. So we don’t really have much choice but to go to them for information.”

“So what are you waiting for?” Discord said. “Call em up!”

Wayfarer sighed and was about to start whispering to himself when there came a knock from the door. Twilight stood and started walking towards it.

“Who could be knocking at this time of night?” She said as she swung the door open wide, only to find no one on the other side. She looked out and all around but didn’t see a single pony. “Huh.” She said as she closed the door and turned back around. “There was nopony- WHAT THE HAY?!” Standing in front of the fireplace were Agero and his sister Agatha, both standing side by side and looking extremely nervous as they looked everywhere but the eyes of the assembled ponies.

“Um… nice house you have here Miss Sparkle.” Agero said awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Agatha said, examining a crack in the floor. “Very… bookish.”

“How did you two get in here?” Twilight demanded.

“Oh, we came in when you weren’t looking.” Agatha said, as if it were obvious.

“Were you the one’s who knocked on the door?”

“Kind of, we really just made it sound like we did.”

“...why?”

“We didn’t want to be seen by any one outside.”

The irritation fuming off of Twilight was actually causing some distortion in the air around her. Wayfarer was sure she would have burst into flames if she didn’t immediately start calming herself down.

“Alright. Fine. Whatever.”

“We apologize if we did anything to upset you.” Agero said, sounding very distraught at the moment.

“Upset?” Twilight said. “No I’m not upset! I’m furious! You said we had seven days to rescue Pinkie! That she wouldn’t be in any danger until she woke up on June 1st! Explain why she woke up early and almost got killed by her Shadow!” Agatha and Agero, poked at the floor with their hooves for a moment, casting nervous glances at each other until they were ready to answer.

“We… uhh…” Agero mumbled. “We might have forgotten to mention that due to the high level of psychokinetic activity below the castle, there was the possibility that when you started to get near Pinkie, she would feel your minds approaching and attempt to wake herself up.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked in anger. “‘Psychokinetic Activity’?”

“Correct.” Agatha said. “Surely you all have heard the voices? It’s the Shadows trying to use your thoughts and memories to make your emotions go berzerk… until…”

“...until?”

“Until those emotions overtake you.” Agero said somberly.

“And then they devour what’s left.” Agatha finished. Twilight stood there in silence for a long time, sorting this new information out into a few mental spreadsheets, graphs, and bullet point lists. Eventually she sighed and looked back to the Twins.

“So what now?” Twilight said. “We’re no closer to finding out who’s behind all this. All we know is that he wears a black cloak and a mask similar to the ones the Shadows wear. And that doesn’t really narrow down the list very much. We also have a Changeling after me who may or may not be involved in some way.”

“I’d say you actually have quite a bit there.” Agero said with a smirk before Agatha punched him in the shoulder.

“Shut up you idiot! We’re already in hot water with the master as it is!”

Wayfarer raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?” he asked. Agero and Agatha turned to look at him, and then their worried and uncomfortable expressions came back in full force.

“We uhhmm, MIGHT have overstepped our boundaries over the last few days.” Agero admitted.

“We’ve apparently been giving you a bit more help than we were supposed to.” Said Agatha.

“Our master was busy with some errands of his own you see?”

“We were getting bored waiting for you to drop by.”

“Then we heard you call.”

“We thought we could give some advise.”

“And maybe lend your friends some help.”

“But then he came back last night.”

“And we found out we were not only wrong in giving you so much intel.”

“We were also wrong exposing ourselves and the Velvet Room’s existence to your friends.”

“In other words.”

“We’re poor Velvet Room attendants.”

“And master has banned us from ever traveling to this world without his permission.”

“Indefinitely.”

The two’s flip flopping back in forth made Wayfarer’s eye twitch slightly. “So what you’re saying is you can’t help us with this anymore?”

“Oh, well there are still a few things we can do for you.” Agero said, cheering up a bit.

“For one,” Agatha said. “We’ll be able to make contact with you whenever someone has been taken into the crevasse, informing you of how far down they are and how long before the Shadow’s take them.”

“That’s something I guess,” Wayfarer sighed.

“But,” Agatha continued. “We won’t be coming to give you a heads up if something like what happened to Miss Sparkle on the way to Canterlot happens again. If something happens to you in this world, then it’s not in our jurisdiction. You’re on your own.”

“Well I wasn’t planning on depending on you two protecting me.” Twilight said with a huff. “My friends did a better job of protecting me than you did.” Twilight and Agatha glared at each other for a moment before Celestia interjected.

“Like she said,” Celestia agreed. “We weren’t planning on needing help like yours. What you’re offering though is helpful enough, but I’m guessing there’s a catch of some sort?”

“Yes.” Agero said. “We’d appreciate it if you didn’t spread rumors about the Velvet Room to your friends slash subjects. Rumors have a bad habit of making our master’s life difficult. It’s not a demand, he just wants his business to remain hush hush.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Celestia said. “So, if you’re banned from this world indefinitely, why are you here now?”

“Trying to cover our flanks.” Agatha said flatly. “We really do need to get back though. I do sincerely hope this isn’t the last time we see each other though, and we apologize for making such a mess of things.”

“Don’t apologize.” Wayfarer said. “You’ve been a great help, regardless of what inane rules your master has set up for you.” The two smirked at this and bowed low.

“Until we meet again.” They said simultaneously as they disintegrated and flew up the chimney.

“Ooh! What a wonderful way to get around!” Discord said, making himself disintegrate and slither away out under the door like some sort of sand creature. The remaining three looked at each other, their eyes barely keeping open as exhaustion started to make itself known.

“I think it’s time for bed now.” Twilight said with a yawn.

Wayfarer didn’t feel very well when he woke up. He contemplated going to bed early the following evening to try and catch up on sleep, then dragged himself out of bed to start getting ready for the day. Twilight wasn’t any better off, and Celestia was still asleep in a particularly fluffy pillow chair in one of the reading areas. Spike on the other hand was just a ball of fire that morning, something that Wayfarer was a little surprised to see since the little dragon enjoyed sleeping in more than he did.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Wayfarer asked as he walked into the kitchen to find Spike humming some sort of tune as he poured a bowl of cereal.

“Oh, morning Wayfarer,” Spike said happily, before turning around to see just how tired Wayfarer was and frowning. “Jeez you look BEAT. What were you three doing last night?”

“Looking for Pinkie, same as the rest of the town.”

“Oh, right. Did you find her?”

“We did, she’s back home no worse for wear, but if you think I look tired you should see her.”

“I knew she’d turn up sooner or later.” Spike said, grinning as he started shaking a jar of ‘Diamond Dust’ on his cereal. “I mean, it’s Pinkie Pie. There’s no way she’d disappear from Ponyville for long!”

“You’d be surprised kid.” Wayfarer thought. “So what have you been up to through all this insanity?”

“Huh?” Spike said, too distracted by the glittering dust.

“What have you been up to?” Wayfarer repeated.

“Oh.” Spike finally looked up, then put the jar down and scratched at his chin. “Well umm, I’ve been hanging out a lot more with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom, but that’s about it.”

“Why don’t you go to school with them?”

“Home schooled,” Spike explained. “First by Celestia, now by Twilight.”

“Is it weird being in the same house with them?” Wayfarer asked.

“No, why would it be?”

“Didn’t they have different ways of teaching you? I’d imagine they still act like your mentors whenever you’re around.”

“Sort of. But Twilight always taught me things by learning about them as with me, and Celestia always tried to get me to learn how to do things on my own with only a few hints here and there. Really the two sort of blended together, the only difference being that Twilight often got side tracked whenever something new came up. She’d forget the thing we were supposed to be learning and just keep following wherever her books led her. I usually just ended up sticking around for the ride.”

“And it sounds like it must have been an interesting ride.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“What are you too going on about in here?” Twilight said as she walked in.

“Spike was just telling me what a horrible teacher you are.” Wayfarer said with a completely straight face.

“Was not!” Spike said. Twilight glared at Spike for a moment before rolling her eyes and going to the pantry for her own breakfast.

“Oh, speaking of teaching,” Wayfarer said. “Cheerilee wants to know if you could lend her a hoof with something.”

Twilight’s ears perked up a bit at that. “Oh?”

“Yeah, she’s got a few Unicorn foals who want to learn magic, but apparently there’s no teacher for that here?”

“Sounds about right,” Twilight nodded, pulling a box of oats out. “From what I’ve seen the Unicorn foals usually get taught by their parents or another relative. But then there’s the foals whose parents are just too busy for that. And then there are the few rare cases where two non unicorns have a unicorn foal. In a small town like this, I don’t know where they’d learn. I take it Cheerilee wants me to try and help with that?”

“Well she seems to think you’ve got enough on your plate as it is and decided to try teaching from a book. I just thought I’d ask for her.”

Twilight pursed her lips at that.

“Teaching magic is a little harder than just reading things from a book.” She said. “Every Unicorn has their own special kind of magic that matches their special talent. Sure, most can do basic levitation, but I imagine most of Cheerilee’s students will want something more than that. They need an actual teacher with experience using magic.”

“So, somepony like you?” Wayfarer asked.

“I’ll need to think about it,” Twilight responded. “I’ll talk to Cheerilee when I get the chance.”

“Alright. Well I’d better get going then. I might have to rebuild the school though if Cheerilee’s dealing with a lot of first time magic users.”

The school bell rang loudly as the students stampeded out of the building. Some of them waving farewell to Wayfarer as he stood near by, waiting for them to clear out so he could talk with Cheerilee. As the last foal dashed out the door with a hardy “Later Wayfarer!” he walked inside only to find Cheerilee with her head on her desk and her hooves resting on top.

“Miss Cheerilee?” Wayfarer said, walking up next to her. “Something wrong?”

“I blew it.” She mumbled. “The book didn’t do me any good.”

Wayfarer sighed at that, then reached for the book on her desk entitled ‘Magic Made Easy’. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He said, turning through the pages. There were a lot of diagrams and archaic looking formulas on every page. It certainly didn’t LOOK like magic made easy. In fact he doubted much of this stuff would make sense to most ponies, even if they WERE unicorns.

“I felt so embarrassed when I tried to explain it to Dinky Doo.” Cheerilee said “I think that’s the first time I ever failed to teach somepony something.”

“Oh come off it.” Wayfarer said, slamming the book shut. “I’m sure this isn’t the first or the last time you’ll come across something you didn’t understand. You gave it your best shot and that’s all anypony can ask.” Cheerilee lifted her head up to look at Wayfarer. He took a few steps back when he saw her glaring at him.

“I’m a teacher.” She said simply. “It’s my job to insure that every one of my students gets the education they need to succeed in life. If I fail at that, then what good am I?”

“Who said it has to be you, let alone by yourself. I talked with Twilight this morning and she said she’d think about coming in and lending a hoof.”

“I’M their teacher. NOT her.”

“That’s right,” Wayfarer said pointedly. “You are. But you can’t teach them magic. You need help.” Cheerilee opened her mouth to yell at him again when there was a knock on the door. The door opened up wide and in walked a pegasus and a little unicorn foal following behind her.

“Hello Miss Cheerilee!” The Pegasus mare said with a very wide smile. “I’m not interrupting something am I?”

“Oh, umm, hello Miss Doo.” Cheerilee said, straightening herself up. “No, no, you’re not interrupting, please come in. Can I help you with anything?”

“Not at all. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for trying to teach Dinky magic. I’ve been trying to find a teacher for her and, even if you aren’t a unicorn, I appreciate how devoted you are to my little muffin and her friends that you would at least give it a try.”

Cheerilee’s eyes widened for a moment before her face sunk slightly. “T-thank you for that. I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.”

Miss Doo just smiled even bigger before turning her gaze down to Dinky. “Well Dinky? Was she any help or not?”

The little unicorn nodded up and down really quickly. “You were! I didn’t even think about magic like that book explained it! I’m sure I’ll get a hang of it now! Thank you Miss Cheerilee!”

Cheerilee opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to find words other than “You’re welcome.”

Ignoring Cheerilee’s obvious confusion, Miss Doo then turned to Wayfarer, who then noticed that the pegasus’s eyes were slightly crossed. “You must be Mister Wayfarer! Dinky’s told me all about your wicked hoof ball kick strength. I’m her mother, Derpy Doo, and it’s very nice to meet you!”

Wayfarer smiled as she reached a hoof out, which he immediately returned in a hearty shake. “Nice to meet you as well Miss Doo.”

“‘Derpy’ is fine.” She said with a slight blush. “‘Ditzy’ works too, but I’m pretty sure there’s another ‘Doo’ in Ponyville with that name. Anyway, thank you for giving Dinky’s teacher a helping hoof. Both with the school and with her students, I want you to know I appreciate that from you as well.”

“You’re very welcome, Derpy.” With one more smile from both mother and daughter, the two walked out of the school house. Leaving Wayfarer to shoot an ‘I told you so’ look at Cheerilee. “You gonna keep beating yourself up after that?” He asked somewhat smugly.

Cheerilee stared at the door for a few moments and then sighed. “I’ll give Twilight a formal request for her to come and teach as soon as possible. Thank you for your help Wayfarer.”

“That’s what you pay me for.”

“Are you trying to be a smart alek today mister?”

Wayfarer left the school house a little while afterwards and started making his way back to the library, when something caught his eyes. He was passing through the marketplace when he saw a peculiar stall across the road. The stall was covered with all sorts of vials and plants and other assorted alchemical ingredients and tools, as well as odd decorations like tribal masks and instruments. Curiosity got the better of him and he approached. At first he didn’t see any pony running the stall, but as he got closer he heard the tinkling of glass under the counter. He started taking a closer look at all the weird voodoo stuff hanging around him, unable to decide if he was creeped out or fascinated by all of this.

“Is that a customer whose presence I sense?” came a muffled voice. “Be patient a moment and our business may commence!”

“Actually your shop just caught my attention.” Wayfarer called back. “I’m only browsing at the moment.”

“Then browse away my pony friend.” The voice was given a face as the proprietor made herself visible. “And let me know of troubles I may mend.”

Wayfarer’s mouth dropped slightly at the sight. A pony with black and white stripes and a mohawk was behind the counter. she wore an earthy brown cloak which covered most of her body, but still left her face and the golden rings around her neck quite visible. Her blue and angular eyes seemed to pierce Wayfarer’s soul and, for a moment, he considered running as fast as he could from this strange pony and never look back. Reason calmed his senses however and he reached out for a greeting.

“Hello… that’s a, uhmm, nice look you’ve got going on there.” He said. “Yeah, real smooth Wayfarer.”

This pony didn’t seem to mind as she chuckled under her breath. “I take it you are new to this small little town? It’s been a while since my appearance brought a frown. My name is Zecora. A zebra am I. You need not be frightened of me or be shy.”

“Oh sweet Celestia she rhymes.” Wayfarer thought. Bucking up his courage, he cleared out his throat. “Umm, hello Zecora. I’m Wayfarer, and yeah, I just moved to Ponyville a few weeks ago.”

“Ahh! You are the traveler Twilight told me of! Moving here in hopes this town fit like a glove.”

“That one was bad.” Wayfarer said. “You REALLY stretched for that rhyme.”

Zecora gave a full blown laugh at that, catching the attention of several other passerby's. “It’s not that easy to speak in such banter, but such is the life of a zebra enchanter.” Wayfarer had to laugh at that one. He felt rather silly now of feeling off around this mare, but if Twilight knew her, then she must be alright.

“Hello there Wayfarer! Hey Zecora!” came the voice of said unicorn.

“Speak of the Princess and she shall appear” Wayfarer thought with amusement

“Ah Twilight Sparkle! How are you this fine day” Zecora asked.

“A little tired honestly, probably should have slept in.”

“I have just the thing, take this to whisk exhaustion away.” Zecora said, pulling out a small vial from a case marked ‘Yawn-B-gone’

Wayfarer’s jaw once again dropped. “Did you just rhyme through a conversation with another pony? How’d you do that?” Zecora just smiled knowingly at Wayfarer as Twilight dropped a few bits on the counter and grabbed the vial. She started to pull on the stopper when she suddenly stopped and shrugged before putting it in her bag.

“I’ll keep it for when I’m really tired and not just kind of tired,” Twilight said.

“Be glad that potion has not an expiration date. You may use it whenever you are in a lethargic state.”

“Thanks Zecora. So what were you two talking about?”

“I just wandered in.” Wayfarer said. “Your friend has a rather unusual selection.”

“Unusual, yes. But useful even more.” Zecora said as her face suddenly went serious for a moment. “You’d be wise to take note and prepare for what’s in store.” Twilight and Wayfarer looked at each other, then back to Zecora with worried looks.

“Uhh, what do you mean by that?” Wayfarer asked. Zecora sighed and crossed her forelegs over the counter, looking from one to the other and back again.

“I’ve lived in that forest of gloom many a year, but even in there many whispers reach my ear. I’ve heard the earth and trees speak to me, of horrors and villainy right out of a dream. Take care of yourselves in the coming moon, for I fear a nightmare may be upon us soon.” Twilight and Wayfarer just stared in silence for a moment, before Twilight nodded at her zebra friend.

“Thank you Zecora,” Twilight said. “We’ll be careful, just make sure you do the same.” Twilight started to walk away from the stall, but then turned and looked back with a gentle smile. “And if whatever it is makes the forest too much for even you, always know that you are welcome here in Ponyville.”

Zecora nodded and a smile finally returned to her face. “Thank you Twilight for your kind words, I may just come calling if trouble ever stirs.” Twilight and Wayfarer nodded to Zecora and left her and her stall. After they were out of earshot, Wayfarer turned to Twilight.

“She lives in the forest?!” Wayfarer asked in awe. “The Everfree Forest?!”

“She’s a lot tougher than she looks.” Twilight said.

“But, still, with what’s lurking beneath her?”

“She can probably tell somethings stirring under the trees. That’s what she was talking about, with the trees and the earth whispering.”

“And the coming moon? What does that mean?”

“A ‘moon’ is equivalent to a month, more specifically a full lunar cycle. She’s either saying trouble’s coming during the next month, or at the turn of the Cycle.”

“The full moon?” Wayfarer asked, trying to remember what phase the moon was in at the moment.

“Or New Moon, depending on culture,” Twilight pointed out. “The point is, she can tell something big is coming, and soon.”

“Then… maybe…”

“Maybe?”

Wayfarer kept silent for a while, a thought filling up his mind as he walked. Twilight had almost been taken away, and no one would have been able to do anything about it if the Velvet Room hadn’t interfered. With their help in a far more limited position, they’d have to keep a close eye on each other past this point. Heck, EVERYPONY in Ponyville should be watching each others backs from now on. Going anywhere alone was pretty much an open invitation to get kidnapped. It made him shiver slightly, and he casted a glance at Twilight again.

“Maybe we ought to adopt the buddy system from now on.” He said casually.

“What?” Twilight laughed. “Whatever for?”

“Think about it, everypony who’s been kidnapped or was attempted to be kidnapped was always alone and unprepared. Maybe none of us should be going anywhere alone anymore.”

Twilight gaped at him for a moment before grimacing. “You’re probably right. Maybe I can convince the Mayor to make that an announcement advising travel in groups in and outside of town.”

“It might take some weight off of our shoulders. And I’d like to know that you’re safe.”

“Yeah that sounds like a good… wait,” Twilight smirked as she realized what Wayfarer had said. “You want to make sure I’M safe?” Twilight smirked at Wayfarer as his entire face flushed red.

“I um… yeah, you and everypony else I mean.” Wayfarer turned his head away from Twilight as she started chuckling under her breath. “So-how-has-your-day-been?!” he said very quickly and very loudly.

Twilight laughed a bit more at that before answering. “It’s been fine. I visited Pinkie Pie, and she’s still really tired. She has occasional bouts of consciousness before she just falls back to sleep.”

“Maybe you should give her that potion you got from Zecora.” Wayfarer suggested.

Twilight bit her lip slightly at that and looked back to her bag where the vial was. “I’m a little hesitant to try anything to force her to wake up. This might be more than just her physical body recovering, her mind might be in an exhausted state as well. I think the best thing to do would be to wait this out.”

“Seems like a smart move.”

They continued walking for a bit before Twilight smirked at him again. “So who do you want to buddy up with then?”

“Can you drop it please?” Wayfarer said, face lighting up once more.

“Rest assured Cheerilee, I’ll be there on Monday. You don’t have anything to worry about!”

“Thank you Twilight. I’m just sorry I didn’t come to you sooner. I’m sure the Unicorn students will be thrilled to see you.”

“And I’ll be thrilled to see them. See you then Cheerilee!”

“See you Twilight, and you too Wayfarer.”

The library door gently closed as Cheerilee left. Leaving Twilight, Wayfarer, ‘Sunny Skies’, and Spike alone again.

“So how long are you going to be on vacation again Princess Celestia?” Spike asked as the two of them sat together pouring over a book of what looked like unfinished maps. Celestia had insisted though that they were complete enough for her to trace out the path of the Great Dragon Migration.

“Until I no longer feel like a haggard old mare.” she sighed as she tapped on the peak of a mountain range. “You said you ended up in a volcanic mountain crater when you followed the migration, correct Spike? I think it might have been this one. It’s a real hot spot of dragon activity.” She giggled at her pun as Spike glared at her. “What? I thought it was funny.”

“Whatever, since you seem to know so much about dragons, you think you could tell me more about them?” Spike asked excitedly.

“Most of them spend their life time’s being rude and greedy brutes, much like the adolescents you ran into.”

Spike’s excitement seemed to disappear in an instant at that. “Oh…”

“However,” Celestia continued. “There are a few exceptions, like Sickle, the Frost Dragoness of the North, and Ray of the Southern Isles. Both of them I would consider to be decent Dragons. Still rather mean, but good hearted none the less.”

“Really? Awesome!” Spike hopped up from his seat and fist pumped. “Can we go meet them some time?”

“Of course we can Spike. Just give them another couple of decades to wake up from their nap.”

Once more Spike’s enthusiasm went out the window as he growled in frustration and allowed himself to fall backwards onto the floor. “Just my luck.”

“Why are you so intent on finding nice dragons anyway Spike?” Wayfarer asked.

“Because he has self identity issues.” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “He’s wanted to meet his own kind and figure out what it means to be a dragon for a while now. He got that chance a couple months ago, and saw first hand what they were like: petulant, rude, greedy, dumb as a ton of bricks, jerks.”

“They can’t ALL be jerks!” Spike moaned. “Those were just teenagers. Maybe if I found some adult dragons to talk to…”

“Spike,” Twilight said exasperatedly. “Greed is what makes Dragons grow strong, of course they can all be jerks. Otherwise they’d be as small as you. And then how long do you think they’d last around other dragons?”

Spike looked more than a little crestfallen at this. Wayfarer couldn’t blame him though, he himself had humored the idea many times to venture out into the world to find his own kinsponies. His amnesia of the first ten years of his life tended to put its hoof down whenever that idea came up however. A knock on the door broke them out of their stupor though, and when Twilight went to answer it, Applejack came in looking short of breath. When she looked up though it was as if she’d just won first place at the rodeo.

“Guys, phew,” she panted slightly before righting herself up with a smile. “Pinkie’s up and adam! She’s prancing around town trying to make up for lost time! And if you have even a lick of sense, y’all better get out here and join her!”

Twilight smiled brightly at this, then turned to the rest of them. “You heard her! Let’s go welcome back Pinkie!”

Pinkie’s ‘Back from my sleepy time, sorry to make you all worried’ party was in full swing at the town square when they arrived. Crowds of ponies were all arriving to see for their own eyes that their beloved party pony was back and fit as a fiddle. Wayfarer, Twilight, Applejack and Celestia weaved through the mass until they found Pinkie, who was talking with a pair of ponies very animatedly.

“The last thing I remember before waking up this morning was going out for a walk near the swimming hole.” She was saying. “After that everything’s all fuzzy. Not cat fuzzy, where everything feels soft and tickly, but fuzzy like when somepony jumps up in front of a camera just as the photographer is taking a picture and it comes out as big pink blob you can’t recognize!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight said in greeting. “So glad to see you awake again!”

“I’m glad to see me awake again too!” The two ponies Pinkie was talking to said goodbye and Celestia whipped her head around to see if anypony else was approaching to try and talk with her.

“Pinkie, can we have a word?” Celestia said, leaning close to her.

“Sure thing Sunny! Whats on your mind?”

“Actually I was hoping we could talk in private?” Celestia asked. Applejack raised an eye at this, and probably would have asked what was going on if a certain distraction didn’t conveniently sprout out of the ground at that moment.

“Applejack of Apple!” Discord said as he pulled himself out of the soil. He had foregone his own disguise for today it seemed, though he had added a large mass of green leaves and apples around his head so that when he exited the earth it looked as though an apple tree had instantly grown in their midst. “I just came from your orchard and I must say the place looks so much better with all the orange trees I planted.”

“Or-ORANGES?” Applejack shouted.

“Yes indeed.” Discord said as he lifted the leaves and apples off himself and tossed them into the crowd. “They’re also some of the tastiest oranges I think I’ve ever had. Maybe you should ditch the whole apple thing, since your orchard seems to enjoy growing Citrus rather than Pome.”

“Ahm going to buck you into next week ya varmint!” Applejack roared.

“Well there’s no need for that sort of language.”

“I swear, if even ONE of mah Apple trees is a touch out of place, we’re send’n you back to that stony prison of yours!” And with that, Applejack dashed back through the crowd, drawing a few stares, who then turned to see Discord and immediately started backing away. Discord looked rather smug with himself and bent down to Celestia, cupping his ear with a claw as if waiting for her to say something.

“Did you REALLY plant orange trees all over her orchard?” Celestia said exasperatedly.

“Your welcome. And no, they’re pears. I was lying about the orchard liking citrus fruit better. Now go on and have your little chat with pink horse.” Discord then sank back into the ground, leaving everypony in the immediate vicinity in stunned silence, save for Pinkie Pie who burst out into laughter after only a moment’s pause.

“Hnnnhehehe! He- He just sank into the ground!” She laughed uproariously “Like quicksand! Hehehe hahaha!!” Twilight gave a sigh and a small smile before placing a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“Good to see you really are back to normal Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Or as normal as you can be I guess. But we really do need to talk to you, so can you come with us?”

“It won’t be too long will it?” Pinkie asked, looking around at the ponies gathered around.

“I promise, it won’t take long.”

Pinkie nodded and the four moved inside Town Hall, which was looking pretty empty at the moment. Even the pony at the front desk who had been the first in this town to meet Wayfarer was no where to be seen. Twilight waved the others over to an unused and unmarked office, filled with nothing but dust, a desk, and some empty filing cabinets.

“Now then,” Celestia said as Wayfarer closed the door shut behind them. “Pinkie Pie, do you really not remember anything between the time you went for a walk and when you woke up this morning?”

Pinkie blushed and lowered her head a bit. “No. I remember everything. And I think I’m going to be giggling at the ghosties for the next few nights.”

“Giggling at the… what now?” Wayfarer asked.

“Oh, well you see, when I was a little filly and-”

“Not now Pinkie.” Twilight said with a sigh.

“Oh, sorry. Anyway, I remember everything that happened. The creepy pony in the mask who found me under the tree next to the swimming hole that me and Dashie always play in, the freaky castle with the other me who turned into a big scary monster, and Laetitia! I remember her too! I just thought since you were all keeping it a secret, I should keep it a secret too.”

Celestia let out a small sigh of relief. “Thank you Pinkie, that saves us a lot of trouble.”

“But what was that scary monster thing that looked like me? And who was that pony in the mask?”

“We’ve been trying to answer those questions ourselves Pinkie,” Celestia said “But we have next to nothing on the masked pony. The creatures under the castle, on the other hoof, we’ve had a bit more luck with. We’ve been calling the creatures like the one that took your form ‘Shadows’. Though the one you saw was just one of the hundreds, if not thousands of Shadows roaming about the labyrinth beneath Ponyville. For the last few weeks, Twilight, Wayfarer, and I have been fighting against them with our Personas. It was using this power that we were able to save Mr. Cake and yourself.”

“And… I have this power now?”

“You do.”

“Does that mean I can help you?” Pinkie asked excitedly. Celestia paused for a moment, and Twilight nervously glanced between the two of them.

“You may.” Celestia said simply. “But only if you want to. And you must understand that this isn’t a game. Ponies’ lives hang in the balance.”

“And that’s why I want to help.” Pinkie said, her face and voice turning very serious. “The other me was right. I can’t fix everything with parties. I have to work for those happy moments, and I’m prepared to work harder than I’ve ever done if it means everypony can have those happy moments.”

Celestia smiled at that, clearly happy with Pinkie’s resolve. “And you will not have to work alone, you have us as well.”

“Pinkie.” Twilight said with a slight waver of worry. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes indeedy Twilight!” Pinkie said, returning to her excitable tone of voice. “You know me! Always looking for ways to make ponies smile!”

“The most important thing to know about magic.” Twilight said to a group of young unicorns. “Is that it both is and isn’t your own strength. Magic comes from the world around you, bolstering the strength you have inside you. Take for example this apple.” She placed an apple on the center of the table she and the young ones were gathered around. “I could lift this apple under my own strength, without any magic at all. But using magic would make it exponentially easier. With magic, I could use the same strength moving this apple normally, as I would, say, moving a stack of books.” A great number of textbooks lifted off the shelves under Twilight’s magical aura and began to fly about. “It’s important to know your own strength, so as not to overexert yourselves.”

“But how are we supposed to do magic in the first place?” One of the filles asked. “I can’t even lift an apple!”

“That’s the second most important thing about magic. Using it is like using any other muscle in your body, you have to exercise it. You won’t be lifting tons of books during your first go, so we’ll start small.” Twilight placed a few bits around the table, at least one for every foal present. “Now, I want you to focus on the coin. I want you to imagine them lifting up into the air like the books. Go on give it a go!”

Every foal looked toward their coin, and it was obvious where every one of them was in terms of skill. Several of them lifted their coin like it was no big deal. Others, like Dinkie Do, only managed to make their coins wobble a bit. Then there were those whose coins remained stubbornly on the table, no matter how hard the unicorns trying to lift them scrunched up their faces. Sweetie Belle was one of the later, and it looked as if she was attempting to make her skull pop out of her face.

“You’re not focusing on the coin.” Twilight gently criticised. “You’re trying to find some way to force it when it should just come naturally for you. Sweetie Belle look at me.” Sweetie Belle stopped trying to flex every muscle in her face and turned to Twilight. “What are you imagining? Describe how you see the coin lifting up.”

Sweetie frowned and looked at the coin. “I’m imagining magic coming out of my horn and picking it up.”

“You're focusing on your horn?”

“No, I’m… oh…”

“Try it again. This time, ignore everything but the coin, and just visualize it lifting up. And you don’t need to try and pop a blood vessel either, I’m sure Rarity wouldn’t like that.”

All the other foals had stopped to look at Sweetie Belle as she looked to her coin again. She glared at it with a determined look in her eye, taking in a deep breath, then once more trying to make herself explode, all while still keeping eye contact with the coin. Then her horn sparked gently and the coin shifted an inch.

“I MOVED IT!” She shouted in excitement. Then her horn lit up and the coin shot off the table, barely missing two colts, and bounced off the handle of the broom Wayfarer was holding as he watched from nearby. It landed on Cheerilee’s desk, who looked over to the group in surprise. “Oops.” Sweetie said quietly.

“I guess I should add that to the growing list of important things about magic.” Twilight said with slightly amused anxiousness. “Once you know your strength, take care to keep it under control.”

“I’m sorry Twilight!” Sweetie Belle said in a panic.

“It’s alright Sweetie! You should have seen the first time I tried to do any serious magic.”

“What happened?” A rather lanky colt asked.

“Oh, well, heh heh…” Twilight laughed nervously as she rubbed her neck. “I umm, I turned my parents into cactuses and destroyed part of Celestia’s School for Gifted Young Foals.” Several of the students laughed at that, causing Twilight to blush slightly. “Well, Shall we continue?”

Twilight’s little lesson ended around noon, which she promptly left at. She and Celestia needed to be at the castle before the construction workers got there to insure that their safety was secured. Progress on the castle had finally gotten some major headway again, and from what Wayfarer had heard, it sounded as if they’d be done within the week. This little tidbit of news had made Twilight VERY happy indeed, but at the same time it caused some worry between her and Celestia, who were now concerned about how best to proceed with the opening ceremony. They didn’t want anypony to get into the castle until they were sure the Shadow infestation was cleared out, but they knew that somepony in Canterlot would raise Tartarus if they didn’t open the gates with a glorious ball.

Wayfarer didn’t have any idea’s for getting out of this one, but fate had been good to them so far, and he was hoping that something would come up. In the mean time though, he had a problem of his own, one that was starting to become a bane on his entire being. So sure was he that this irritation was going to haunt him forever, that he actually yelled at the chalkboard in frustration.

“Confound this wretched blackboard! I’ve seen train engines that clean easier than this thing!”

Cheerilee snorted in surprise and laughter at this over reaction to some tough spots. “That Chalkboard is quite old, I wouldn’t be surprised if those spots have been there since the LAST teacher taught here.”

“That couldn’t have been all that long ago.” Wayfarer mumbled, once again spraying the chalkboard with cleaner before taking a rag to it.

Cheerilee put her chin in her hooves, looking nostalgic for days gone by. “It’ll be twenty years next spring.”

Wayfarer froze, turning slowly to Cheerilee, who just smiled at him. “How… old are you exactly?”

“I’m not saying.” She laughed at him.

“Because that’s about as long as I’ve been alive! And you…” Wayfarer stopped, hesitated, then turned back to the chalkboard before finishing. “You look good for somepony who’s probably going on forty years.” Silence. Then he heard the shuffle of papers and the clearing of a throat behind him.

“Thank you,” Cheerilee said quietly.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Wayfarer gave up on the chalkboard and decided to move on. The books needed reshelving, dust bins emptied, inside of the windows cleaned. All of which was done without a word from either of them over the course of almost twenty minutes.

“She’s really good at the teaching business.” Cheerilee finally said. “Twilight I mean. I wonder if she would have considered that a possible career, if she hadn’t become a princess.”

“From what I’ve heard,” Wayfarer said, glad to have a better topic to talk about. “She prefers to be the one being taught and not the one doing the teaching. Though I admit I wouldn’t have guessed that from the way she handled herself today.”

“Yes. The way she held their attention the entire time, the way she managed to keep them involved. I wish I could have been that good when I first started.”

“Well, if it’s any comfort, you certainly seem to be that way now.”

“If only that were always true. I always have at least one problem student who just refuses to behave or apply themselves, and in this class I have four such students.”

“I can only guess who they are.”

“Please don’t,” Cheerilee sighed. “It’s unprofessional for us to talk about the students like this so casually anyway. This sort of thing should be reserved for the teacher, the student, and their guardians. I don’t think the school maintenance worker is on that list.”

“Agreed. But once again, I think you don’t give yourself enough credit. Just keep telling yourself: ‘Twenty Years’. Twenty years of foals smiling at you when you teach them something new.”

“Twenty years… yeah…” The nostalgic expression appeared on her face again. “You know, maybe I should check in on some of my old students. There are more than a few I see go out and I wonder where they’re headed.” She stepped out from her desk and trotted over to the storage closet. After a minute, she returned with several large folders. “Why don’t you clock out early today Wayfarer, you’ve got everything done that needed to be, so I see no reason to keep you here any longer.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes, go on shoo! I’ve got memories to revisit! Just make sure you get the outside of the windows when you come in tomorrow.”

Wayfarer walked out of the school house the next day to the sound of music playing somewhere in town, loud enough to travel all the way out to him. It only got louder as he walked towards the center of town, and soon he found the source. A large crowd of ponies had gathered in town square again. At the center of the mass was a large wagon with what looked like a pipe organ with a dozen different instruments attached to it. It wasn’t a surprise to him, or anypony else who was lured there by the sound for that matter, to find Pinkie Pie at the helm of the strange steam powered device, playing some of the most jovial carnaval music Wayfarer had ever heard. And apparently the music even had lyrics that Pinkie sang loudly to the assembled onlookers.

Wayfarer didn’t think he could take much more of this song, but darn it if it wasn’t a charming ditty. Pinkie continued to sing about many of the ponies of Ponyville, rarely mentioning names and leaving the audience to laugh and guess at who she could be musing about. Wayfarer couldn’t help but notice though that she seemed to be avoiding singing about herself.

“No. I’m afraid that just won’t do.” he thought, stepping forward with a smile and clearing his throat.

The Music stumbled a bit when Pinkie tried to control her own laughter, giggling and snorting at Wayfarer’s simile before getting back into tempo and joining him in the second verse.

“Spreading the joy all night!” She sang.

“Spreading the joy all day!” he replied.

“You mind telling me what that was all about?” Wayfarer asked sometime later as he helped Pinkie roll her crazy contraption away. She had continued to sing for over an hour, the same tune over and over again. Wayfarer thought he was going to go insane and, for one horrifying moment, he wondered if that had been her plan all along.

“You mean you don’t know?” She said with a comical gasp. “How could you not know?”

“I’ve been here a month Pinkie, and it’s not like you ponies tell me when stuff happens. Let me guess, it’s some sort of celebration that ONLY Ponyville has that I, a humble stallion from Baltimare, would never know about?”

“It’s Doo-Dah Day silly!” She exclaimed as they approached her ‘Party Shed’ as she called it. “The day when we celebrate all the things that make us happy!”

“That’s… convenient timing. Considering what we went through last week.”

“I know, right?” She bounced over to the door and started to pry it open, causing an earsplitting creek to send chills down Wayfarer’s spine. “So I thought to myself, those meany Shadows can think they can make my friends sad all they want. I’ll always be there to remind them what makes them smile!”

“And, pray tell, what about when YOU need a pick me up?”

“That’s what I’ve got my friends for.” She returned to Wayfarer’s side and the two wheeled the device inside the shed. “It’s like… It’s like what Mr. and Mrs. Cake keep telling me what their marriage is like. It’s a game of give and take: I make you all smile, and in turn I know I can count on all of you to make ME smile.” The two gave one big heave as they pushed the back wheels over the shed’s threshold.

“So you’re saying you’re married to Ponyville?” Wayfarer said with a chuckle.

“No, I’m…” She paused for a moment, then gave a giggle. “Well, I guess I AM in love with Ponyville.” The one pony band tapped against the back wall and the two of them moved to lock down the wheels in silence. With the instrument secured, they exited the shed, and Pinkie closed the door with another loud creek, then she turned to face Wayfarer with a gentle smile on her face.

“Ponyville has been my home ever since I ran away from the farm as a filly. I used to host parties nonstop, trying to stave off the dreariness of working on a rock farm. Eventually everypony got tired of it… sept for my Granny.” Tears started to form around her eyes. “I didn’t know how to handle it when she died, so I did what I always did and tried to smile it away. At that point my family had had enough and demanded me not to throw another party.” Pinkie wiped her face clean, still trying to maintain her smile in spite of her story. “I lasted a week before I caved in. I ran away from home and came here to Ponyville, where I threw the biggest party I could. Since that day I’ve only stopped partying three times. Eventually I wrote a letter to my family, telling them where I was, they visited and made sure I was alright, then went home. I’ve made sure to visit them a lot though since then. They’re my family and I could never ever just let them go.” Again she rubbed at her face, her eyes growing slightly red. “And that’s been my life. Party from dawn till dusk. Hoping I wouldn’t ever have to feel sad again. But, now I know it’s okay to be sad sometimes, it’s okay to cry. It’s being able to pick yourself up afterwards that really matters.” Pinkie shifted in place for a moment before closing the distance between herself and Wayfarer, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you for helping me realize that.” Wayfarer stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, until he raised a hoof and gently patted the back of her head. Slowly he smiled and started to chuckle in his breath.

“Pinkie, can I ask you something?” Wayfarer said. “Are those tears of sadness or joy?”

“Both I think.” She admitted as she released Wayfarer. She lifted her hoof to clean her face again, but Wayfarer shook his head to stop her.

“Let it go.” he said simply. “If it’s okay to cry, then let it go.”

Pinkie stared at him for a moment, before slowly lowering her hoof. She turned around, still smiling even though her lips were twitching, and opened back up the shed again. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her, leaving Wayfarer outside to look around as Celestia’s Sun slowly approached the horizon. Then came the fierce wailing from inside the shed. Wayfarer stood there, barely able to hear it through the soundproofing Pinkie had installed, and waited patiently for her to cry herself out. When she did finally come out, she was still wearing a smile, but this one didn’t falter or twitch. It was a smile filled with confidence and joy, and one that Wayfarer couldn’t help but replicate.

“Feeling better?” he asked

“Yepperoni!” Pinkie said. “Feels like I just cleaned up a carton of spilled milk! Although I don’t think that’s something worth crying over.”

“I don’t know,” Wayfarer said with a smirk. “If it’s the last carton and you REALLY want a glass, I could see somepony crying over that.” The two laughed a bit at that.

“Thank you for being a good friend Wayfarer.” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

“Pinkie, you’re without a doubt the oddest pony I’ve ever met, but the thanks is mutual.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Empusa the Lover said from her place in the tree just outside the entrance to her and her comrades’ lair.

Emperor turned around to scowl at her as the entrance closed behind him. “The next New Moon approaches, I’ll be banished to Tartarus if I miss those foals get their comeuppance! Judgement and Empress can blow all the steam they want, but I’m going.” He turned away from the Lover’s perch and stormed off.

“My how bold of you!” Empusa mocked as she flitted down to join the Emperor in his march.

“And what of you? I thought you were going off on some mission to reclaim your swarm or some other nonsense?”

“Oh I am, and have been, working on that. However I can’t go waltzing into the hive after being gone for so long. They’d suspect me before I even made it through the front door. I’ve been gathering intel, planning my first move you know. I was just in the neighborhood and felt like dropping in to say hi.”

“Goodbye.” Emperor said stiffly.

“Oh come now, don’t be like that. You’ve got another four days before New Moon. Why don’t the two of us go spend some time together.”

“We just spent a month scouting out Ponyville together. I’ve had enough of your company.”

Empusa bumped herself into Emperor’s side, looking over and winking at him, even though he wouldn’t see it through her mask. “Well I haven’t had enough of yours”

“By the sun and the moon!” Emperor growled. “Go bother some other stallion with your wants and desires!” Suddenly Empusa placed herself directly in front of him, stopping him with a hoof.

“No other stallion compares to you,” Empusa said, her voice low and wanting. “My Emperor.” Emperor stayed silent for a moment before turning his head slowly to look at Empusa. “Come on. I want you,” The changeling said, her voice dripping with seductive intent. “Right here, right now. For old times sake?”

Emperor began to push back against Empusa, directing her towards a clearing. “Thirty minutes.” He said with irritation. “Then we part ways. Got it?”

“Fine by me, ‘your highness’.”

Author's Notes:

Oi vey. Didn't I say I was going to keep this one short? I didn't even get to where I wanted to in the story yet before I decided to cut myself off! Oh well, something to look forward to for next time I guess.

Also, I hate writing for Zecora. Occasionally I'll get a good line or two for her, but most of the time it sounds kind of forced. Same goes for the "Doo-Dah Day" song.

And for those of you caught off guard by the ending scene, I DID rate this story as 'Teen' for a reason. Don't worry, that's about as 'raunchy' as this story will get, and even then it'll only happen twice in what I have planned. That 'Teen' rating I gave this story was just a precaution I felt I needed to take.

Chapter 11: The Cracks begin to Show

Wayfarer had a hard time grasping exactly what he was listening to. Discord’s piano was generating a myriad of sinisterly jovial sounds that would have sounded more in place as the background music for an evil clown in some demented theatre production. Even more than the first piece Discord had played for him, this one had an air of of complete abandonment of one’s sanity, and it fit the chaotic entity’s personality to a tee. Beneath the quick and clean strokes of the keys, Wayfarer could also hear Discord humming out a counter melody, at times loud and boisterous, at others too quiet to possibly hear.

With one last crash of his claws to the keys, Discord went completely still and awaited the response from the gathered crowd. Said crowd was only five ponies, Wayfarer and Fluttershy of course, but they were also joined by Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and ‘Sunny Skies’. Wayfarer and Fluttershy, after a moment’s hesitation, gently started to clap their hooves, even though they were wondering if they should have been clapping for such a performance. Pinkie on the, other hoof, went all in and started to furiously clap as a big smile crossed her face.

“That was so cool Discord!” Pinkie said. “Scary, but cool! I had no idea you could play so well!”

Discord rose from the piano and turned to give a bow. “Thank you, thank you, you’re all SO kind.”

“As much as I loath to admit it,” Twilight said as she slowly lifted her forelegs to politely applauded. “That WAS pretty good. If a little unnerving.”

“Agreed.” Celestia said, then leaned over and whispered into Twilight’s ear. “I suppose I should have known better. Afterall, he and my mother were both part of the Royal Equestrian Orchestra before The Fall.”

Discord continued to bow even after the applauding stopped. “No no, please! DO go on!”

“I’d rather not.” Celestia said as she rose to her hooves. “Twilight and I are needed at the castle now. Finishing touches are being made and we don’t want to keep the construction ponies waiting. Come along then Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight tried to stifle a laugh at that as she blushed and followed Celestia away from the grove near Fluttershy’s house, where the impromptu concert had been held. Discord pursed his lips at them and shrugged, sitting back at the piano and pressing some keys at random.

“Unnerving she calls it. Bah!” Discord harrumphed. “Young people today, she probably listens to pop songs about love and friendship in her spare time.”

“Actually she sang a love song for her brother and sister in law for their wedding!” Pinkie said. “It was so pretty! And it was especially cool for Vinyl Scratch to provide the background music!” Discord stopped hitting notes, then slowly turned around to look at Pinkie with a face that screamed ‘You have got to be kidding me’.

“Oh how I do so weep for this generation.” He said, draping the wrist of his lion arm across his forehead. “Is there not a single pony in this wide world who yearns for the gentle hum of a bow across violin strings, or the boom of a sudden brass entrance? Am I doomed to be inundated with this irritating buzz of random noise known as dubstep?”

“For the love of Celestia.” Wayfarer groaned. “If you hate it so much, why not go see if the Royal Equestrian Orchestra still exists? I’m sure they’d be glad to have a former member return to their ranks.”

“With my reputation?” Discord said, cocking an eyebrow. “Highly doubtful.”

“You won’t know unless you ask.”

“I-I can go get some paper for you to write a letter to them.” Fluttershy said. “I’m sure they’d love to have somepony as talented as you play for them Discord.”

“That’s even if they still exist.” Discord said, spinning in his chair and suddenly obtaining a violin. “And after two apocalypses and a thousand years, I wouldn’t bet money on it.”

“Well then ask Celestia.” Wayfarer suggested. “If anypony knows about Equestria’s biggest symphony, it’d be her.”

“Again, you’re missing the crucial detail that nopony in their right mind would let me perform for an audience of hundreds, given my track record since my last major jailbreak. That’s not even considering what sort of havoc I caused when I WAS in the orchestra. And besides,” He drew the bow across the strings, forming a low, almost sorrowful note. “I don’t like being part of a group, especially if I end up being just another handsome face in the crowd. In that case I prefer being at the head at the very least.”

“Then why not form your own Orchestra?” Wayfarer said.

Discord stopped and stared blankly into space. “That… might work… But still, what of my reputation?”

“Don’t you have a disguise or something now?”

A light bulb appeared over Discord’s head. A real one, that he looked up at with annoyance and flicked his eagle claw at, sending it into a tree where it shattered. “Again you have proven to have a sense of ingenuity about you Wayfarer. It’s a wondrous idea. Now if only I had an actual theatre to play at.”

Again Discord drew his bow across the violin strings, only this time it pulled right into another jovial song. This one however was without the demented and insane tones, it sounded like a celebration piece. This time Wayfarer was able to visualize something to go with the excited fiddle: Rolling green hills, dotted with cliff sides that sloped down into deep blue oceans. He could see crowds of over excited young ponies stampeding over the emerald highlands, dancing and singing and roughhousing all the way. Wayfarer couldn’t place it, but for some reason tune reminded him of a place across the sea that he’d only dreamed of seeing with his own eyes. Then it clicked.

“This is Maredonian music! From the Coltish Highlands!”

“Haha! Yes! This particular piece was written by Wabbajack the Insane! Boy did HE know how to make a Spirit of Chaos feel welcome!”

Wayfarer didn’t have an alarm clock, but he thought he did when he woke up that morning. The earth was rumbling beneath him, shaking him gently from his slumber. Bolting up, he looked around as everything in his room began to dance across whatever surface it happened to be on, and outside his room he heard the tell tale thuds of books dancing right off their shelves.

Wayfarer leapt from his bed and into the hallway, almost running into Celestia, who looked almost as panicked as he did. He opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but just as soon as it started, the shaking stopped. The two of them stood in silence, looking about, half expecting the trembling to start up again. A minute later they both let out a sigh of relief.

“Can we please let that be JUST an earthquake and NOT something under the castle?” Wayfarer moaned as they entered the front room, just in time for Twilight and Spike to come rushing down the stairs.

“Are you two alright?” She asked, then she caught sight of all the books that had been knocked to the floor. “Oooh, and I just reshelved those!”

“Relax Twilight.” Spike said as he went to pick up a few fallen tomes. “At least nothing important fell.” The cuckoo clock on the wall chose that moment to drop from its perch on the wall, hitting the floor with a sharp crunch. Twilight looked at Spike with a grimace and he shrugged and smiled embarrassedly.

“Sorry. Odd, this is the second earthquake we’ve had in the span of a month.”

“The last one was a little more intense though.” Twilight said as she walked over to the clock to see if she could salvage it. Her voice got a little hopeful as she added. “Maybe it’s just a small aftershock, nothing to really worry about?”

“We can’t just assume that.” Celestia whispered to Wayfarer. “Let’s go make sure nothing’s going on below, just to be safe.”

Wayfarer nodded and was about to go get his clothes on when a burst of blue flame came roaring in through the mail slot and shot at Celestia. The flame coalesced into the form of a scroll, which dropped itself in front of her. Biting her lip, Celestia picked it up and began to read it. Wayfarer shrugged and continued back to his room. After getting his covers and heading back into the hallway, he heard a scream of frustration and anger from the front room. When he entered, he saw Celestia crumple up the scroll and toss it away.

“Stubborn old foals!” she shouted.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Twilight said, rushing to Celestia’s side. Celestia, realizing she’d just lost her cool in front of her subjects, took a few controlled breaths and turned to look at Twilight with tired eyes.

“I’m afraid our business at the castle will have to be put on hold,” Celestia said. “I must return to Canterlot immediately, something has come up that demands the presence of both my sister and I.”

“S-Should I come too?” Twilight asked.

“No Twilight, I’m afraid your presence won’t help me. Now I must go, I will try to make it back here before sundown.”

“Wait, Celestia.” Twilight tried to say as Celestia disappeared in a flash of light. “But… Aughh! What was that about?”

“Maybe we could find out in her letter?” Spike said, walking over to where Celestia had thrown the offending parchment.

“Spike! That’s Celestia’s private letter! We can’t just go reading through her things!”

“How else are we gonna know what’s going on? And besides, she’ll probably tell us the whole story anyway when she gets back, so why wait?”

“Because it’s rude!”

“Fine, close your ears then.” He said as he unfolded the letter. Twilight didn’t close her ears though, but she did bite her lip and look nervously out the window as Spike began to read aloud.

“My Dearest Sister Celestia,

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that your suspicions about the Court of Canterlot Nobility have been proven to be correct. This morning, one of the senior members of the court, a unicorn stallion by the name of Fancy Pants, came to my throne room and informed me that the Court was planning to bring a movement to Parliament today that would undermine our rule. They intend to make an argument that you have ruled Equestria as High Princess for too long and that the crown should be moved to a more suitable leader, who they believe to be me. Normally I would not bother you with the actions of the Court, as both you and I know that they rarely get there way in matters of government, but unfortunately they also have the support of many of the Canterlot elite, as well as the upper classes of Manehatten, Baltimare, and Las Pegasus. I intend to confront the Court on this issue when they bring it to Parliament today at two o’clock, but I feel that my success will depend on you being there to defend yourself, as they’ve only decided to make their move now, when you are on ‘vacation’, because they fear facing you directly. Personally, I am insulted that they do not fear me as such, but that is beside the point. I know you are busy with a matter of grave importance, but if you don’t come back now, we may end up facing enemies from both below and within Equestria.

Yours truthfully,

Princess Luna”

Wayfarer and Twilight both stood in shocked silence, mouths slightly agape, as Spike looked over the letter again in confusion.

“I don’t get it.” He said. “What’s this mean?”

“It means, Spike,” Twilight said, voice teeming with rage. “That a bunch of snooty, stuck up, rich, unicorn supremacist, MORONS are questioning Celestia’s rule to such a degree that they’re trying to dethrone her!”

“But… why? Celestia’s been a great ruler! Why would they want to dethrone her?”

“Because apparently some ponies don’t agree with that assessment.” Wayfarer said. “She said something about even her own nephew giving her trouble.”

“Blueblood.” Twilight grumbled with acid in her voice. “Why do I get the feeling HE’S behind this?”

“You know him?”

“Idiot thought the reason Celestia made me a princess in the first place was to make sure HE had a wife of his own! Can you believe that load of horse apples?!” Twilight collapsed onto the couch, groaning in annoyance at the behavior of her fellow noble ponies. Wayfarer and Spike exchanged looks before moving to join her.

“So now what?” Wayfarer asked.

“Now we wait. We can’t do anything without her, so we’ll have to wait for her to come back before we can go to the castle.”

Celestia was sitting in her usual spot in the Parliament courtroom: A slightly elevated and cushioned podium next to the Prime Minister’s chair. On her other side sat her Sister with a very stoic look on her face. Celestia herself was barely able to keep her irritation off her own visage, but over a thousand years of rule had given her enough self control not to let even a twinge of her anger show. However after everything that had happened in the last few months, even she wasn’t sure if she was going to make it through this without finally cracking.

The court room itself was split in half down the middle, with a podium at its center, facing the Princesses and the Prime Minister. On either side there were a series of seats filled with at least thirty ponies in each one. All of them had the same blank stares on their faces as they looked directly forward, only moving to blink or breathe.

“Guards,” The Prime Minister spoke. “Bring in Prince Blueblood and the Representatives of the Court of Canterlot Nobility.”

The guards stationed on either side of the doorway closed in on each other and began pulling open the large doors, allowing four very pompous looking Unicorns to step inside. At the front of the group was a white coated and blond maned stallion with a smirk on his face. He and his companions all some how managed to walk to the stand in unison with their eyes closed, adding to the arrogant look that they shared. When they came to a stop at the stand and opened there eyes up and saw the princesses, their smug faces immediately dropped and were replaced with fear.

“A-Aunty!” The white unicorn stuttered as he looked at Celestia.

“Hello Blueblood.” Celestia said in the most pleasant and kind voice she could muster.

“W-what are you doing here?”

“Is it not my duty to attend court sessions when matters of Government are being addressed?”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Prince Blueblood.” The Prime Minister said in a tone of irritation. “You requested an audience with Parliament to make a request of us concerning the Princesses. Tell us what you want or leave at once.”

Blueblood looked from Celestia to the Prime Minister and back again, swallowing a nervous lump in his throat as sweat started to run down the side of his face. Behind him the other three unicorns were in no better shape as they looked at each other, silently discussing whether they should call off everything now and bolt.

“Uhm, actually Prime Minister Iron Gaffle.” Blueblood wheezed out. “On reflection, I think my request may be a tad inappropriate at this time. I’m sorry for wasting your time, but I think we should go.”

“Go?” Celestia said, trying hard not to laugh at Blueblood’s predicament. “I cut my vacation short to come and listen to you and your friend’s ideas for the future of Equestria, and now you don’t want to share with us? Come now, tell us what’s on your mind.”

“I-I don’t think you’ll agree with us.”

“Oh? And why is that? Is it because you’re unhappy with my behavior as of late and you want to dethrone me?”

If Blueblood’s face could have gone any whiter at that point, it would have. The three behind him started quaking as their eyes locked on Celestia in fear. All around the courtroom, ponies had started whispering to each other, confused as to what the Princess was talking about. Minister Gaffle picked up his name sake and rapped it thrice on his stand, bringing the din to a hault.

“How- How did you-”

“Not everyone in your little group agrees with you Blueblood. Now tell us what you want, and let’s put an end to it.” Blueblood swallowed another lump in his throat and turned to look at his companions, who were whispering to themselves.

“It had to be Fancy Pants!” One of them quietly raged.

“No doubt! How could he do this to us?”

“The Princess must have seduced him or something, all the more reason to go through with this!”

The three of them turned to Blueblood with confident looks, egging him to go on. Blueblood turned back to the monarchs with a less assured look and began to plead his case to the assembled ponies.

“We of the Court of Canterlot Nobility come to you all today to discuss a matter of importance to the welfare of our great nation.” Blueblood recited from his well practiced speech. “We feel that the Crown Princess, Celestia, Alicorn of the Sun, is unfit for her title and should be removed from power, effective immediately.” Blueblood quickly closed his eyes and tried to cover his face with a hoof, awaiting the stinging pain he half expected his aunt or aunts to rain down on him.

“Which title?” Celestia said simply.

Blueblood blinked and looked back up to her with confusion. “Huh?”

“You said I was unfit for my title, which one were you referring to? Crown Princess? Or Alicorn of the Sun?”

“O-oh… ummm… Crown Princess?”

“I see.” Celestia mockingly nodded in understanding, then looked back to Blueblood. “Would you care to elaborate please?” Blueblood looked around in surprise. Surprise that he wasn’t dead and surprise that he was allowed to continue with his proposal.

“Umm, alright.” He coughed once to clear his throat and then continued. “You once told the ponies of Equestria that you rule for them, and it is their wishes and benefits that you strive for. That is why you established this parliament in the first place, to insure that all of your subjects would be heard. However, recently you have begun to either ignore or disrupt several campaigns and bills brought forward that you did not agree with, without giving them the proper attention of this government. You have abused your power as supreme monarch of this country several times in the last decade and a half. We of the Court of Canterlot Nobility feel you are no longer acting in the best interest of your subjects, and therefore we humbly request this Parliament to acknowledge Princess Luna as the new High Princess of Equestria.”

The room was completely silent at this point. Many of the ponies in the stands were looking to each other with varying degrees of emotion. Some looked like they agreed with Blueblood, others looked like they thought he was off his rocker. Nopony spoke however, until the Prime Minister sighed and made his response.

“That is a rather bold request Prince Blueblood,” he said, eyes squinting down at Blueblood. “Tell me, Princess Celestia has ruled over us for nearly a thousand years. And even if you were only alive for the last thirty five years of that, why now of all times do you rise against your own aunt?”

“Well… uhmm… because… because she instituted yet another Princess without consulting anypony about it.”

“And there it is.” Celestia thought with a sigh.

“I was not aware I had to consult with anyone when I named a new leader for this country.” She said out loud. “Especially since I did it before with Princess Cadence. Nopony seemed to be upset about that if I recall.”

“I was.” Blueblood mumbled just loud enough for Celestia to hear.

“And why is that? Is Cadence not every bit the good ruler I said she would be?”

“That’s not the point! You did it without asking!”

“And I’m not sorry for that.” Celestia said, standing up. Every eye turned to her as she walked to stand in front of her nephew, who looked up at her with an extremely worried look on his face. “Please continue. What else have I done to upset you so?”

“Y-you keep blocking the tax increases that the ponies of Canterlot need.”

“For what? New roads? Indoor swimming pools? Perhaps more airships for you to christen? Why should I tax the hard working ponies in Ponyville, Appleoosa, and Hollow Shades for these things?”

“Because they’re nothing but filthy Earth Ponies and that’s all they're good for!” Blueblood shouted. A moment later he realized what he just said and his ears flattened to the side of his head. “I… I mean…” One of the ponies in the stands stood, with as much dignity as he could muster in his hornless head and wingless back.

“The court recognizes Minister Gravy Boat of Manehatten.” Prime Minister Iron Gaffle said.

“I humbly request the removal of Prince Blueblood and his racist and bigoted comments from this court room.”

“All in favour?”

“AYE!” Screamed the entire room save for the five ponies at the center.

“But- but I…” Blueblood stuttered as the guards approached him and the other three.

“Prince Blueblood.” Iron Gaffle said. “Your request has been heard. We will discuss it in due time, but for now, good day to you.” Blueblood’s entourage started to walk through the door compliantly, but he continued to stare at his aunt, who was giving him the most disappointed glare she’d ever given him.

“Tyrant…” He whispered as the guards tried to get him to move. “That’s what you are. This whole Parliament is a farce! You do whatever you want, regardless of others! You’re a TYRANT! You’ll never give up your crown! TYRANT! TYRANT!!”

Blueblood continued to scream at Celestia, even as the guards gave up on escorting him out and just picked him up off his hooves, tossing him out the door. His screams could still be heard however as another set of guards dragged him away.

“My apologies for that Iron.” Celestia said as she, Luna, and Iron Gaffle sat in Gaffle’s office.

“You have no need to apologize Your Majesty.” The elderly unicorn said as he rested his head in his hooves. “But I think it’s time you put a leash on that no good nephew of yours.”

“I know. I should have done it long ago, but I’m going to cut his allowance to only the bare essentials until he can learn to behave himself.”

“Somehow I think that will only enforce his claim that you’re a tyrant, Sister.” Luna said.

“He had a point though.” Gaffle said sadly. “You may have the power and right to act without consulting anyone, but the last few decades I feel you’ve been listening to Parliament’s counsel less and less. I don’t have a problem with it, as I trust you completely, but think of how that might look to the common citizen of Equestria. I don’t mean to question you Princess, you’ve always done what’s best for your ponies, but it seems like you’re not letting us do our job sometimes.”

“I am sorry for that as well Iron.” Celestia said.

Iron Gaffle sighed, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. “This isn’t the end of this. Mark my words, there’s going to be a lot of angry ponies in this city. Thank the Sun and Moon the Summer Sun Celebration is coming up. Maybe they’ll all forget about it during the preparations.”

“About that.” Celestia said. “I’m going to move it to Ponyville this year.”

Iron Gaffle looked up from his hooves at Celestia, glaring at her as if she’d grown three extra heads. “No. You’re not. Do you WANT to start a revolution? You need supporters in this city, not enemies. Moving the celebration THIS close to the date will just give the Court of Canterlot Nobility more ammunition against you.”

“I don’t care. There are more important things going on right now than some celebration.”

“Are you referring to your vacation? Because if that’s the case I’m going to actually give consideration to Blueblood’s request.”

“Iron, do you believe for even a moment that what I’ve been doing for the past month has just been vacation time?”

Iron opened his mouth to respond, then quickly closed it and sighed, putting his face back in his hooves. “No. I don’t. You NEVER take a vacation.”

“Something is happening to Equestria Iron.” Celestia said somberly. “Surely you felt the earthquake earlier today? I can’t give you all the details, but I can tell you that Ponyville is at the crux of it. I can’t come back to Canterlot long enough for preparations, so it has to be in Ponyville, if at all.”

Iron Gaffle sighed heavily again in frustration. After a moment he looked up to his monarchs. “I understand. Luna and I will handle preparations here then, you just be here for the actual ceremony.”

“Excuse me?” Celestia said. “Did you not hear what I said?”

“I did Your Highness. But as you said, something is happening to Equestria. You may have noticed it, given Blueblood’s increased desire to tax the lower classes, but we’re on the brink of a Class War. There’s a rift forming, and we need our leaders to put on a strong, unified face to keep it from tearing Equestria apart at the semes. I’m not asking for you to be here for a whole month, or even a week, just the day of. You raise the Sun, then go back to Ponyville, less time than you were here for today.”

Celestia gave a sigh herself and turned away from her most trusted advisor. She’d have to be blind not to realize the truth in his words, but still she only saw it as another distraction from putting an end to the horrors trying to literally tear Equestria apart.

“Sister.” Luna said, putting a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. “It’s alright, we can do this. Let’s just take this one problem at a time shall we? Go back to Ponyville, I’ll send you a letter tomorrow with an update, okay?”

“... okay. Alright.” Celestia rose to her hooves and walked silently to the door. “I’m wondering if this crown is even worth it sometimes.”

Blueblood was in his room, tearing apart everything not nailed to the floor. He was as infuriated as he’d ever been in his life, except ten times more so.

“She can’t do this to us!” he yelled to no one. “Stupid Mud Pony Loving Aunt! Makes me wish the Unicorns of old had just blasted the other races into the dirt instead of making fwends with them. Unicornia sounds like a better name for a kingdom anyway!” He kicked aside a chair and then flopped himself onto his oversized bed. “Even aunty Luna is siding with her. It’s not fair!”

“Life is so rarely fair.” said a voice from nowhere.

Blueblood sat up and looked around. “Who’s that? Who are you?”

“I? I am but a Shadow of the Moon.”

A cloaked figure materialized out of one of the dark corners of the room. It carried with it a small draft as cold air flowed around it, rustling its garb enough to show that the intruder didn’t have any physical legs or body to speak of. The chilly breeze reached Blueblood and caused him to shiver slightly as he looked at the ghostly apparition before him.

“W-what do you want? Leave me alone! I’ve had a bad enough day already!”

“Oohhh… poor baby prince…” The figure mocked. “Looking up at his aunts and cousins and wishing he could fly with them too.” The figure began to hover towards the terrified prince, the cloak trailing behind it and dragging across the carpet.

“GUARDS!” Blueblood yelled, looking to the door. “GUARDS! GET IN HERE!”

“They won’t come for you. I’ve cast this entire room in silence, so it’s just you and me, my little colt.”

Blueblood leapt from his bed, trying to keep as much distance from the figure as possible. “What do you want!?”

“The same as you, Little Prince. I want to rule Equestria. It’s my right, just as much as it is yours.” The cloak stopped right over Blueblood’s vacated bed, the displacement of the sheets showing that the invisible pony had laid down on them. “But we’re not the only ones who deserve to rule, there are others. And we’ve all been waiting so long for our chance.”

Blueblood stopped trembling at this, his fear now mixed with curiosity. “What do you mean? You… You could help me?”

“We could… but first you must help us.”

“...I’m listening.”

“Good, then listen well, because you’re about to go spelunking.”

Celestia teleported into the library just as another tremor was happening. Wayfarer and Twilight, already on pins and needles because of the shaking, jumped up in surprise when the flash of light announced her arrival. She took a moment to steady herself before looking to the other two.

“Has it been like this all day?” she asked.

Both Twilight and Wayfarer nodded vigorously in order to make their response visible against all the shaking the earth was doing.

“This is the third one since you left!” Twilight said.

“Then we need to go to the castle now. Twilight, go get Pinkie Pie, meet us at the castle. Wayfarer, we’ll go get Discord. Let’s get to it!”

Emperor and Empusa were situated in the mountainside with a good view of the castle courtyard through the dome. Both were laying down in a grassy spot, with Empusa huddled up close to Emperor.

“You were right Emperor.” Empusa said smugly. “This is VERY exciting. I can’t wait to see how they fare tonight, how bout you?” Emperor remained silent, staring intently at the castle. “Ohhh, you still sore about that Love Bite I gave you the other night?”

“It hurt. Alot.” he mumbled angrily.

“Oh it couldn’t have hurt that much! You’re still alive aren’t you?”

Emperor grumbled something incomprehensible. They stayed in silence for a few minutes before they noticed a few figures walking toward the castle.

“Here we go!” Empusa said excitedly.

“Oohhh!! I’m so nervouscited!” Pinkie Pie said as the guards let them through the front gate. The earth then chose that moment to give another small tremor. “And I think the ground is nervouscited too!”

“Your Majesty.” One of the guards said as they passed. “I implore you, the castle is not a safe place to be during an earthquake!”

“And where is safe during an earthquake corporal?” Celestia asked coily. “Don’t worry, we won’t be in there for long. Hopefully.”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said, leaning close to her friend as they walked. “You sure you don’t want to back out now?”

“Nothing doing Twilight!” Pinkie said. “I said I was going to help, so I’m going to help!”

Celestia’s shield and the front gate closed behind them and they slowly made their way to the front door.

Suddenly the ground cracked and the earth let loose its greatest quake yet. Everypony stumbled to the ground as they lost their balance.

“Hang on everypony!” Wayfarer yelled as the violent quaking beneath them steadily got more and more intense.

The crack in the ground began to widen and pull apart, separating Pinkie, Twilight, and Wayfarer off from Celestia and Discord. When the crack has almost ten meters across a large hand rose out of the depths and grabbed onto the edge of the hole. Then another hand joined it, and another, then another, until six hands were lined up on the edge of the crevasse. A massive lizard like creature pulled itself up and out into the now completely wrecked courtyard, it’s head adorned with an over sized wizard’s hat that covered its eyes, but not the rest of its face, which was hidden by a mask. The creature crawled toward Wayfarer, Twilight, and Pinkie as they got to their hooves, roaring out at them as ice crystals formed along its back.

“I don’t need a bigger hint then that!” Wayfarer yelled. “Quetzalcoatl!” The winged snake sprung forth in a blast of light and let loose a stream of fire over the scalie Shadow, causing it to howl in pain and stumble backwards.

“Ooh! Ooh! My turn!” Pinkie shouted. “Laetitia!” Pinkie’s crossbow cannon wielding Persona slammed onto the ground and then lept at the lizard, firing round after round at the dazed creature and pushing it backwards into the pit.

“We got it!” Twilight yelled.

A gust of wind roared up from the pit, carrying the Shadow with it on wings made of the wind itself. The ice crystals were gone, and whatever flame was left was being blown out by the wind.

“Aww pony feathers.” Wayfarer cursed as the lizard brought its wings down, sending another powerful gust of wind ripping through them and their Personas.

Wayfarer and Pinkie Pie were sent back a few feet, but Twilight was sent flying as she howled in pain, she and Tyche landing a ways back behind them.

“Oh that’s it!” Wayfarer grunted as he sent Quetzalcoatl in for another barrage, Laetitia following up behind. The fire shots they made had little to no effect this time however, and the shadow sent another blast of wind in retaliation. Wayfarer and Pinkie joined Twilight on the ground, only to look up and watch as the Shadow’s back erupted into flames.

“It’s changing its strength’s and weaknesses!” Celestia yelled from the other side of the crevasse. “Keep on your hooves!”

“Alright, well if this guy likes changing strategies, then we will too! Change!” Quetzalcoatl exploded into fragments of light, which then came back together in the form of a woman with a sitar.

“SARASVATI!”

The woman made one aggressive strum across her instrument and ice descended on the shadow. The fire on its back faltered, and then it attempted to try and get away from them by trying to leap onto the walls surrounding the castle. The guards who had been watching fled in either direction as the beast slammed into Celestia’s bubble shield and fell back to the ground. The shield rippled around the point of impact, and across the chasm Celestia almost collapsed under the strain of holding it together.

“You aren’t getting out of here that easy!” Twilight yelled. “Let him have it Tyche!”

“Twilight wait!” Wayfarer yelled back.

Tyche rushed forward, coating its bladed wheel in lightning before flinging it at the Shadow. The Shadow in turn began generating electricity of its own just as the wheel made contact with it. The creature howled at them as it quickly got to its hands and rushed forward, curling into a ball of lightning and rolling in their direction. All three of them scattered in different directions, but Twilight was unlucky enough to still be in the path of destruction. Once more she was flung to the side as the Shadow uncurled itself and lunged at her.

Twilight, dazed from the impact, looked up as her attacker hunched over her. Its mask cracked along the mouth line until it split completely, revealing a pitch black hole that swirled with a sickly tinge of purple and green. Out of its maw snaked a tendril of darkness, lashing out to grab hold of its prey.

“AHHHGGGGG!!!!” Twilight screamed as she realized what was happening.

“TWILIGHT!” Wayfarer yelled, quickly getting to his hooves and rushing forward.

“Do you require my assistance?” Came the familiar voice of Igor in Wayfarer’s head. “I believe it’s time I showed you what our true purpose is in your quest.”

In his mind’s eye, Wayfarer could see the Velvet Room, the center table glowing with power as Igor waved his hand over it, causing two tarot cards to appear on its surface and a circlet to form from the surrounding light.

“SARASVATI! FORTUNA!” Wayfarer shouted as he charged. The two personas dwelling within him began to flicker into existence, instead of bursting into light. The same circlet appeared in front of him, and as he passed through it, the two persona’s shattered the circle behind him, fusing into one single entity. The new Persona erupted into flames, shooting forth at high speed and landing a kick right to the head of the shadow before it could scoop up Twilight.

The Shadow went flying into the front door of the castle, and the Persona landed in the grass in between it and its summoner. The flames surrounding it died down to reveal a woman wrapped in a black gown highlighted with gold frills and jewelry.

Wayfarer galloped to Twilight’s side helping her to her hooves. “You alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” She said dusting herself off. “Just a little shaken up is all. Is it still alive?” In answer, the shadow rose out of the wreckage of the front door, moaning in pain as ice once again covered its back.

“I’ve got this one!” Pinkie said as she bounced in front of the other two. Laetitia joined Wayfarer’s Persona, then brought her crossbow up to the ready. “Hey Meany! Laetitia says she’s got a special party favour for you!” The crossbow began to take in energy, the cannon barrels glowing red hot as it prepared to unload its attack.

“Sati!” Wayfarer yelled. “Give her a boost!”

“You too Tyche!” Twilight yelled.

Tyche and Sati stood next to Laetitia, before casting spells to boost her attack’s power. By now the Shadow was drawing closer, ready to continue fighting.

“SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR!” Pinkie cried out as her Persona’s attack reached critical mass.

The resulting blast from Laetitia’s crossbow tore right through the Shadow, and what was left of the front door. The surrounding area lit up like a bonfire the size of Sugarcube Corner, raising the temperature past even Celestia’s comfort levels. Everypony averted their eyes at this point, waiting anxiously for the light show to end so they could see the final product of their efforts.

After about twenty seconds the fire finally cooled down, leaving nothing but smoke coming out of the front of the castle and the barrel of Laetitia’s crossbow. The shadow was completely incinerated, not a trace of it was left for their or Celestia’s eyes. After a few minutes of stunned disbelief at what they’d done, Pinkie smiled and started to bounce around, laughing hysterically.

“Guess you’re going to have to cancel that Dedication Ceremony for the castle, eh Twilight?”

Behind Emperor and Empusa’s masks, their jaws were trying to drop to the ground. The light from that blast had caused even them to avert their eyes. Emperor stood up suddenly and started pacing back and forth.

“Why are we even bothering now?” he growled loudly. “They’re only going to get stronger! So why don’t we just throw in the towel and call it a life?”

“Quit your belly aching!” Empusa said, getting to her hooves as well. “We’re still getting more powerful as well! And there’s still only three of them, not counting Princess Support Unit, compared to our seven! Maybe more if Moon and Death can actually get new members!” Empusa put out a hoof and stopped Emperor’s pacing, then brought herself close to him and ran her other hoof down his side. “We may be down my dear, but we’re certainly not out. Now run on home sweetie, I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

The changeling then took to the sky, buzzing away from the Emperor as he lifted a hoof to his neck to rub the spot where she’d given him a ‘Love Bite’ during their time together.

“That hurt A LOT.” he grumbled again before disappearing in a blast of black fire.

Gust Strongwind trotted through the halls of the lavish theatre he and his troupe of performers worked at. His destination was the Performance Hall, where his boss was holding auditions for their upcoming tour of “Hinny of the Hills”. Under his wing was a stack of files he’d been collecting and studying over the course of the day since he’d gotten back from Ponyville early that morning. Some of the files detailed all the seismic activity that had occurred in the area of Ponyville over the last two decades, others concerned any disappearances of townsfolk that had happened in the same time frame.

Gust Strongwind stopped in front of the Performance Hall, where he could hear the latest auditioner belt out the final few lines of one of the try out songs. He ran a hoof through his spiky steel grey hair and made sure his uniform was on straight. When the song was done he immediately entered the large theatre and zoned in on his boss, Court Drama, as he gave a respectful clap to the pony on stage.

“Bravo my dear. You did wonderful.” Court said as the performer took a bow and trotted off the stage. Gust took a seat next to him as he sat back down. “I think I just found our Hinny!” Court whispered excitedly to Gust.

“Very good sir, can’t wait to see the play when it comes out.”

“Oh don’t be such a flank kisser Strong.” Court said with a chuckle. “So how was Ponyville? Make any new friends?”

“Too busy with work sir, not even sure anypony saw me.”

“Pity, you ought to settle down with a nice mare Strong, you ARE the Lovers Arcana afterall.”

Gust coughed and pulled at the odd looking collar around his neck. “I’ve been trying sir, no luck so far.”

“Ahh don’t worry too much about it, you’ll find Mrs. Right someday. Now, to business. What’s the news?”

Gust looked around to make sure the theatre was indeed clear before starting on his debriefing. “It’s as we feared sir. Another crevasse has opened, and this one looks to be a little more active than the rest.”

“Casualties?”

“This is where it gets exciting sir.” Gust smiled. “Nopony has died yet, there have been a couple of disappearances, but so far the ponies in question have either been accounted for or came back a few days later.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware we had a team stationed there.”

“We don’t sir. The Persona Summoners there are unrelated to us in anyway. They’re Independents.” Court Drama sat up straight and looked directly at Gust. “And sir,” Strong said as his smile grew wider. “Two of the summoners? They’re Princesses Celestia and Twilight Sparkle.”

“Well Banish me to Tartarus… The original Sun Arcana is back in action?”

“It would appear that way sir, and it’s possible the Tower Arcana could be as well.”

“Discord?”

“Yes sir, but I’ve only ever sensed four Persona, and none of them felt like a Tower.”

“Hmmm… what of the other two?”

“A baker is filling the role of the Magician, and a school maintenance worker is the Fool, though it appears he might also be a wild card.”

“Fascinating. Are they using Evokers?”

“I don’t know sir, but it doesn’t feel like it.”

“Hmmm…” Court Drama hummed as he sat back in his seat. The two sat in silence for about a minute before Gust spoke up again.

“Sir, if I may, might I request you send my team to Ponyville as back up?”

“Backup? Whatever for? They seem to be doing fine on their own. Besides, isn’t your ‘team’ just yourself and two new recruits?”

“But sir, they barely managed to contain last night’s Shadow out break before they were able to destroy it. Add to it that the Princesses have no idea that this isn’t an isolated incident, and I think we’re well within the need to send a minimal T.A.R.O.T. Squad in to support them.”

“You worry far too much Strong. Very well, I will consider your request, but I intend to wait until the next new moon to see it the situation deteriorates any further. In the meantime, take a few days off. Go find a nice Filly Friend. Or a Colt Friend, whatever floats your boat.”

Gust sighed, then stood up to leave. “Alright Sir. If you insist.”

“I do insist. Now go on, shoo, and give my regards to Vivid and Hourglass.”

Author's Notes:

So many new players in this dangerous game. Whether they know what game they're playing or not, that is to be decided.

Decided against submitting this to EQD. Gonna wait until I make the featured box on the front page before I even attempt that... IF I make the featured box that is.

Still wanting more constructive critiques people. I won't get better if no one tells me what I'm doing wrong.

Chapter 12: The Chariot (Part 1)

Ponyville was in a bit of chaos after the events of the night before. All the lights and monster cries coming from the castle had caught more than a few ponies' attention, and something had to be said to ease the townsfolk’s worries. So after a brief meeting with the Mayor, ‘Sunny Skies’ and Twilight announced a meeting in front of Town Hall, which many ponies were quick to answer to and soon the square was filled with almost everyone in town.

“Hello everypony.” Twilight said from her podium to the assembled crowd of Ponyvillians. Everypony either looked confused or worried as they gave her their full attention. “As you are probably aware, there was an… incident… at the castle last night. In order to clear up any questions you might have, or any ridiculous rumors that might have sprung up, I have come before you to offer up an apology in place of the real culprit of last night’s excitement.” Twilight suddenly looked very annoyed as she went into her explanation. “You see, our ‘friend’ Discord wanted a playmate, and decided to summon up a Giant Salamander in the middle of the Castle Courtyard.”

Groans and sighs of irritation echoed through the crowd along with the occasional shout of negativity towards the Draconequus, who unbeknownst to everyone was actually in the crowd. Under the guise of ‘Scrawl’ he glared up at Twilight with his own look of annoyance.

“Please settle down everypony,” Twilight continued. “Rest assured, Discord has already apologized to me personally and promised to repair the damage his pet did to the castle. Nopony was injured, and the creature has since been sent back to where it came from.”

“Throw that troublemaker out!” yelled one of the ponies in the crowd.

“Turn him back to stone!” Yelled another near where ‘Scrawl’ was standing.

“He’s already been dealt his punishment.” Twilight said calmly. “Please be patient with us everypony. Neither I nor Princess Celestia expected him to be reformed in a day, but he IS making progress. Now if there aren’t anymore questions, that is all.”

“What about the earthquakes?” A pony nearer to Twilight asked.

“The earthquakes are nothing to be worried about. None of the one’s yesterday or last month were strong enough to do any damage to any building in Ponyville.”

“Why is there still a shield encasing the castle?”

“Unnecessary precautions directed to me from Canterlot. I assure you that I’m not aware of the reason for this order other than because they wanted it. Anything else?”

“Do you know where Princess Celestia has gone?”

“Vacation. Didn’t say where.” The questions halted there and, after a few more minutes, Twilight bowed to the crowd and bid them farewell. She and ‘Sunny Skies’ turned and went back inside Townhall, where Wayfarer was waiting. A few minutes more and Discord stepped inside.

“When in doubt. Blame Discord.” He said with a sneer. “What great friends you are.”

“I’m sorry Discord.” Celestia said. “But what else were we going to tell them?”

“The truth? That there’s a hive of monsters right under their hooves? No I guess it’s better just to throw me under the chariot and just add to my horrible reputation.”

“I’m sorry! But we can’t tell them!”

“Why not? They seem to do just fine living next to the Everfree Forest.”

“Nothing’s trying to get out of Everfree though! Whatever lives in there tends to stay in there!”

Both ponies trotted right up into each others faces to continue yelling at one another. Eventually Mayor Ivory Scroll walked in with her assistants and saw the cause of the commotion. She looked as though she was about to interrupt before Twilight looked her in the eye and did a sweeping motion with her hoof across her neck. Getting the message, Ivory and her cohorts quickly left the room, leaving Celestia and Discord to blow off steam.

“How long do you think they’ll go at it?” Wayfarer asked Twilight

“Don’t know,” she answered. “I’ve never seen either of them act like this.”

“Please.” Discord said rolling his eyes. “We both know you want for chaos just as much as I do. I see it in your eyes, you’re bored of your life, and quite frankly I don’t blame you.”

“You don’t know thing one about me you insufferable pest!” Celestia shot back.

“Why don’t we just leave them to it.” Wayfarer suggested, moving for the front door.

“Y-yeah.” Twilight said, following behind him. The crowd had wondered away at that point, save for Twilight's other friends. All of them stood at the bottom of the steps to Town Hall, looking rather apprehensive at the moment.

"Twilight." Applejack said. "Was any of what you said the truth?"

Twilight pursed her lips and sighed. "It's... as close to the truth as I can tell you." Applejack looked on the verge of anger as her eyes shifted to Wayfarer. Shorting in frustration, she shook her head and looked back to Twilight.

"I've got a barrel of apples that me and Granny Smith need to make into pies," Applejack said. "You... You want one?"

"Uhmm, sure AJ,” Twilight responded.

Applejack nodded and started to walk in the direction of her orchard. "I'll bring it by later." The group watched as the farm mare trotted away, with her head hung low.

"I think she's still upset about Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said.

"It's been almost a month." Rarity said. "Few more days and she'll be comindeering the hot air balloon."

"Rainbow Dash will come back." Pinkie said confidently. "Give her a day or two. She said she'd be back in a month, and if anypony could keep a promise like that it's Dashie."

"I hope your right Pinkie." Twilight said as she and Wayfarer descended the stairs. "She still hasn't taught me how to fly, and apparently I'm supposed to for the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Oh dear, that's coming up soon isn't it?" Rarity said. "Well there are plenty of other pegasi in Ponyville darling, perhaps one of them could teach you?" Rarity then jerked her head in the direction of Fluttershy, who saw this and quickly began shaking her head.

"Oh no! I... I couldn't!” Fluttershy said. “I'm not that good a flyer anyway! I couldn't possibly teach you how to fly!"

"Fluttershy." Twilight said with amusement. "You're a great flyer. I think you more than proved that when you helped get the rainwater to Cloudsdale during the last Rainy Season. But if you don't feel comfortable teaching me, I understand. As long as Rainbow Dash gets back in the next few days, we'll have plenty of time to work with these things." Twilight gave her wings a few experimental flaps, lifting herself a few inches off the ground before landing a little unsteadily. She blushed a little before turning to look at Wayfarer.

"Guess that explains why I've never seen you use them before." He said with a shrug.

Twilight's blush deepened as she looked away. "You noticed?"

"Didn't really think much on it to be honest, just thought you were more comfortable on the ground."

"Well I am. How I was able to fly after the Coronation is a bigger mystery then Pinkie's Pinkie Sense."

"Well duh! Silly!" Pinkie Pie explained. "Didn't you feel the gust of wind Celestia gave you with her magic when you lept off the castle in your excitement? You nearly gave all of us a heart attack when you did that by the way!"

"I-I DID?!"

"You did darling." Rarity said with a nod. "For one heart stopping moment I honestly thought you were going to have the shortest rule of any monarch ever." Twilight's face now looked like a freshly picked tomato, and Wayfarer looked like he was about to burst into uproarious laughter before she turned and hit him.

"You keep quite!" She said angrily. "I'd like to see you do any better when you find yourself with a new pair of wings!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He said, allowing himself to chuckle a bit as he rubbed the spot where her hoof had collided with him.

"What a filthy place!" Blueblood declared as he followed his spectral guide through the tunnels long since stripped of their precious jewels. "Why are we meeting your 'friends' in such a deplorable location!"

"Secrecy and subtlety are the keys to the beginning and end of every great kingdom." The empty cloak said. "No pony loyal to the current regime would dare come down here. Thus it is the perfect location for us to conduct our business."

"But WHY must we go so deep!" Blueblood shot back. "We have been traversing these mines for hours now and I'm tired of it! No Kingdom is worth this!"

"You are quite right,” The Cloak said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Any Kingdom worthy of greatness should be built on being lazy and unwilling to make any sort of sacrifice."

"I do not care for the tone of your voice, now answer my question."

"My friends live deep in the earth, where the light cannot reach them. They thrive on darkness, but even the thinest ray of light will sap them of their strength."

"Then what good are they?" Blueblood responded viciously. "Equestria lives in the light of my aunt's Sun."

"Perhaps during the day." The Cloak said with a hint of mirth. "But in the night, Equestria's only light is the Moon and stars. And though their power is strong, their wielder is weak. Luna shall be the first to fall to our rule, and then we'll see where that gets Celestia and her precious sun loving subjects."

"Hmph, you wouldn't happen to be one of those insane cultists who follow Nightmare Moon would you?” Blueblood asked, laughing under his breath. “Not a very good role model if you ask me. Defeated by peasants, what a disgrace." The Cloak turned around violently, coming within inches of Blueblood's face as he flinched backwards.

"Nightmare Moon," The figure growled "Deserved her crown more than you. You sniveling greedy coward!"

"How DARE you!" Blueblood responded. "I am not afraid of you! I am not afraid of Celestia! I fear no pony or shade that walks on this earth!" The cavern seemed to explode with laughter at that. The echoes bounding off of Blueblood's ear drums until he tried to flatten the outer lobe against the side of his head, and even then it did nothing to block out the horrible sounds of mirth coming from every where around him. "Who is that!?"

"My friends." The Cloak said, pulling away from Blueblood and into the shadows.

"Wait a minute!"

"What a pig." came an etherial voice as the laughter died down. "Thinks he can woo any mare who catches his eye just because he's a prince? Well maybe, if he didn't treat them so poorly when he finally got them."

"Prince? What exactly is he a prince of?" Came another voice. "Prince of greed and lechery perhaps, I'd hate to see what would happen if he was given any REAL power. Thank Celestia she's kept him down all these years."

"WHO IS SAYING THAT!?" Blueblood yelled. "I'LL HAVE YOU HUNG FOR SUCH INSOLENCE!"

"Celestia should never have taken him in." Came a voice familiar to the enraged prince. "He's rude, insensitive, and cares nothing for anypony but himself. He's a horrible prince, not like my Shining Armor."

"Cadence?" Blueblood murmured as his rage continued to build.

"How could Celestia be related to that... thug!" came the voice Blueblood recognized as the former Captain of the guard, Shining Armor. "To think that he's got alicorn blood running through his veins. What a waste of power, that it be given to someone with no concept of responsibility."

"FOOLS!" Blueblood shouted. "I was born into royalty! I deserve every bit of power I gain! You two should be bowing to ME!"

"I will NEVER give him a chance." This voice was one that Blueblood couldn't place, yet still he recognized it. "How dare he think that I was destined to be his bride! What an outrageous assumption! Rarity was right, no good could ever come from being around him. And to think, she actually had a thing for him! Well as far as I'm concerned, he's no prince, and he's certainly not MY prince!"

Every mussell in Blueblood's face seemed determined to tear as he scowled at the shadows. "You... you're the NEW princess! The one who doesn't know her place! Well I'll show you, I'll show ALL of you!!"

"I never thought I'd admit it to myself." Said the voice of Celestia. "I always thought I might be able to change him. But Blueblood... is a disgrace to his ancestors."

"Shut up..."

"He doesn't deserve his title."

"Shut up!"

"He needs to be removed."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"Is that all you can say?"

Blueblood turned around to find his own face smirking at him.

"How childish. Whining and complaining about how horrible your life is when the only REAL problem is that horrible monster looking back at you in the mirror."

"What in Tartarus? Who are you?!"

The Shadow laughed and smiled at his other self. "I'm you. Your Shadow. I know everything about you. I know how much you yearn for power, but you have no ambition to use it to its fullest. You only see it as a means to get what you want, but power means more than just material goods. Power means control over the ponies below you. Power means responsibility. And we both know that you fear responsibility above all other things. But the two are not mutually exclusive. To have one is to have the other. Quite a conundrum eh?"

Blueblood fell to his haunches as the Shadow approached him, his mouth opening and closing in shock as he tried to find the words to discredit this imposter.

"Well? Cat got your tongue?"

"SHUT UP!"

Again the Shadow laughed at Blueblood. "Aww, is the poor spoiled brat afraid of his own shadow? Face it, you wanted to rule, to have power, but you're too afraid of what that truly means because you've never experienced actual power before in your life. So stop throwing tantrums and just live your easy life in the castle, away from the politics and the glamor that being royalty gives you. Because that's all you really want right? The easy life? Where you don't have to sacrifice anything? Where you can be as lazy as you want? Doesn't that sound like a nice and fulfilling life? And hey, who knows, maybe Celestia will take back what she said about you being a disgrace to your ancestors. After all, if you're locked in your room for the rest of your pathetic existence than you can't POSSIBLY embarrass them any more!" The Shadow now stood over the whimpering and huddled mass that was Prince Blueblood, staring down at him with an amused and satisfied smirk. "Well? Gonna just lie there like a pissant and cry some more?"

"How DARE you..." Blueblood mumbled as shook. He raised his face up enough to look himself in those cold yellow eyes. "You... You are not me..."

The look of victory and arrogance on his own face was the last thing Blueblood saw before the caverns fell into darkness.

Pinkie Pie was banging on the door at rapid speed that morning. She seemed so determined to get somepony to answer the door that when Wayfarer groggily opened it she didn't even slow down her assault and proceeded to start knocking on Wayfarer's head for a few seconds before she noticed what she was doing.

"Oops." She said meekly, backing away from the now open door. "Sorry."

"That's okay Pinkie." Wayfarer groaned, lifting a hoof up to rub at what was undoubtably going to be a future bump on his noggin. "What's got you so excited that you had to drop by and give me a concussion at five in the morning?"

"Ooh! Right! So remember yesterday when I bet that Dashie would be back any day now? Well I would have won that bet! Dashie just got home five minutes ago!"

"And you know this how? It's almost five minutes from here to Sugarcube Corner."

"Knee twitch and an itchy back means somepony who's been gone a while has come home now! And who else do we know who's been gone for a while? So come on! Go wake up Twilight and Spike! We've got a Welcome Home Party to throw!" Pinkie zipped off at that, leaving a very confused Wayfarer to go and rouse the others from their sleep.

"Couldn't have waited another two or three hours?" He mumbled to himself.

Around half an hour later, Wayfarer, Celestia, Twilight, and the rest of Rainbow Dash's close circle of friends were headed down the road to an area just outside of Ponyville. It wasn't the same route that Wayfarer had taken a month ago, but he assumed that as a cloud house, Rainbow's home tended to move around a lot.

Pinkie Pie was carrying a saddle bag bursting at the seems with more party supplies than Wayfarer could possibly imagine getting stuffed into that tiny little space. When he asked her about it, she'd mentioned something about a party cannon... which Wayfarer couldn't see anywhere and couldn't have possibly fit in her bags.

"Sigh... It's Pinkie Pie... don't question it..." he thought with some degree of trepidation. When they arrived at Dash's home, Twilight summoned up a large magical platform and beckoned everyone onto it.

"Sure you'll be able to lift all of us?" Celestia whispered to her.

"It's only about a hundred feet up, I'm sure I can get it." Twilight said with confidence.

Pinkie was bouncing about the platform in excitement once everypony was on and it started to rise up. Everypony could tell she was holding back a great big 'hello Rainbow Dash' in her attempt to keep their arrival a surprise. Once the magical lift was even with the path in the cloud leading to the front door. Pinkie of course was the first off, then everypony else followed. Wayfarer and Twilight were the last off, but as he stepped onto the cloud Wayfarer felt gravity pull him straight through it.

Wayfarer gave a panicked yelp in surprise as his vision was obscured by a puffy white void. His hooves flailed to find something to grab hold of, but nothing came within reach. Thoughts of becoming uncomfortably intimate with the ground a hundred feet below were starting to rush through his mind when he realized he wasn't falling anymore. Something had grabbed hold of his back legs and now he was rising back up out of the white death trap.

"I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!!" Twilight frantically yelled as her magic lifted Wayfarer. "I completely forgot about the Cloud Walking spell! I'd already casted it once on everypony else but never on you! I'm so so SO SORRY!"

Twilight was almost on the verge of tears as Wayfarer waved his hooves back and forth, trying to get her to calm down. "It's alright Twilight! I'm alright!" He kept saying.

"It's NOT alright! You could have been killed and it would have been all my fault! I'm so STUPID!"

"Twilight! The blood's rushing to my head! Just cast the spell and let me down already!" Twilight froze in her hysterics, then sighed and casted the cloud walking spell on Wayfarer before setting him down gently on the cloud's surface. Wayfarer took a few steps around to make sure the spell actually worked, then turned back to Twilight with a slight blush and smile. "Thanks for the save Twilight."

Twilight blushed as well and let her eyes dart back and forth. Behind Wayfarer, the rest of the group were either giggling under their breath or putting a hoof over their chest as they sighed in relief. Celestia was doing a pained combination of both.

"Some pony want to tell me what you all are doing here?" Came a voice from the front of the house. Everypony turned to see a very tired looking yet good spirited Rainbow Dash.

"RRRAAAIIINNNBOOOWWW DAAAAASSSHHHH!!!" Pinkie Pie cried as she literally launched herself at her friend. Dash looked positively terrified for a moment before she and Pinkie disappeared into the house. A loud clatter signaled their landing as the rest of them rushed inside to see the damage that had been done. For Wayfarer that was a little easier said than done, as the entire place looked as though it hadn't been taken care of in months, even BEFORE Dash had left. So telling the mess that Dash and Pinkie had just made of Dash's kitchen from the rest of the mess proved to be almost impossible. Wayfarer even noticed Rarity's eyes widen a bit as she surveyed the room.

"I missed you SOOOOOOO MUCH Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie yelled as she attempted to squeeze the air out of her captive.

"I -urk- I missed you too Pinks,” Dash said through the imbrace. “But could you PLEASE loosen up before my eyes pop out of my skull!"

"Oh, umm, sorry."

The remainder of Dash's friends gathered around the two. Wayfarer and Celestia stood back a ways and gave the six ponies plus Spike a chance to enjoy being reunited again. Then Pinkie released Dash and went for her bag.

"I hope you don't mind an early morning Welcome Home Party Dashie!" She shouted as she pulled a cannon out of her saddle bags, causing Wayfarer's mouth to just fall to the floor and Celestia's eyes to widen slightly. Pinkie then placed the cannon on the floor and aimed it into the front room, which she and Dash had flown through on their way in, and pulled the cord on the back, sending confetti, streamers, and numerous other party favours around the room, landing perfectly on tables and couches as if they'd been placed there by hoof. She pulled the cannon around and fired it again across the kitchen, where food and a cake landed equally perfectly on the table.

"I'm done." Wayfarer said to himself as he sat down in the corner of the room to try and contemplate the idea of a world where a pony could so casually defy the laws of physics.

The party went on much like a smaller version of Wayfarer's own party when he first came to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash mingled with her friends, trying to catch up on a month's worth of events, and yet being strangely tight lipped about her own month. Everypony seemed to notice this, but no one brought it up, although Applejack was defiantly the most intent on needling something out of her fellow athlete.

"Soooo RD?" The Farmer said to Dash at one point. "Did ya'll manage to 'sort things out' while you were in Cloudsdale?"

"Umm, yeah. Guess you could say that." Rainbow Dash said before shoving a ton of cake in her mouth.

Applejack waited patiently for Dash to VERY slowly chew through and swallow her cake before asking a follow up question. "What sort of 'things' needed sort'n out?"

"Oh, you know." Dash said staring at Applejack's forehead instead of her eyes. "This and that."

"Didn't think 'This an that' was worth make'n the little filly that looks up to ya'll mighty upset that you weren't at the 'Sisterhooves Social' last month."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth briefly before she shut it and looked away ashamedly.

"Applejack." Fluttershy said in the tone of a mother scolding a child. "That wasn't very nice."

"Ah agree!" Applejack said. "So if she has any common decency, she'll go find Scootaloo today and apologize to her. But right now I'D like some sort of explanation, thank you very much!" The entire room was silent at this point. Everypony was looking at either Applejack or Rainbow Dash, save for Pinkie, who was looking at the floor. Dash lifted her head up and looked at each of her friends, before sighing and admitting defeat.

"The morning after the sleep over,” Dash explained. “The last night of the Starfall Festival, I asked Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Wayfarer if they knew any of the Wonderbolts besides Spitfire. They all said no, and I realized something. That even if I became a full fledged Wonderbolt, nopony is going to know my name save for the very VERY die hard fans like myself." She looked back to the floor and continued. "That's not what I wanted. And so I... I..."

At first, Wayfarer thought he heard Rainbow Dash crying as she struggled to tell them what she'd done. Then he realized that the sobs he was hearing were actually restrained fits of laughter. Rainbow Dash lifted her head up, a very manic smile plastered on her face as she proclaimed her actions loudly and proudly to all of her friends.

"I quit the Wonderbolts."

Anypony who was holding something, whether it be food or party favours, immediately dropped it in shock. Nopony moved, or even breathed, they just stared at Rainbow Dash as if she'd just confessed to committing treason against the crown. For once, Pinkie Pie wasn't the first to do something as Applejack finally broke the silence.

"You did WHAT?!?!" She yelled. "How could you DO something like that?! Being a Wonderbolt is your dream! It has been ever since Ah met you!"

"Well not anymore!" Rainbow Dash said with overt enthusiasm.

"But, WHY?!" Twilight asked.

"Why?" Dash laughed, as if the answer was obvious. "Do you know how many pegasi are members of the Wonderbolts? Officially, and not probationary?"

"Uhmm..."

"Since its induction," Celestia suddenly said. "The Wonderbolts have had a total of 1368 members, only five hundred and twenty-three of which have been flight leaders, and fourty-five of those have been head of the organization, which is the position currently held by Spitfire."

"Exactly!" Dash proclaimed. "Hundreds of ponies have already done it, and done it better!" She snorted in irritation and slumped to the floor. "Why should I try so hard to be 'the best' when so many others have already been 'the best'."

"That's a load of horse apples and you know it Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said. "You have a DREAM! You have something to shoot for! That's a lot more than what some ponies can claim!"

"And what are the chances they'll ever get there huh? Or that somepony will do it first?"

"Why does that even matter?"

"IT MATTERS!" Dash yelled as she stood up and got right up in Applejack's face. "You of all ponies should know how awful it feels getting second place!"

Applejack looked like she was about to blow a gasket, but she didn't respond. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out.

"C-come on girls." Pinkie Pie said trying to get between the two. "So what if Dash doesn't want to be a Wonderbolt anymore! That just means she can spend more time here in Ponyville! You know, with her friends!"

"I'm not so sure this one is my friend anymore." Rainbow Dash said, glaring at Applejack. "It seems like she thinks I'm some sort of idiot for making my own choices! That or she WANTED me gone from Ponyville."

"Consarn it Dash!" Applejack yelled as she tried to push Pinkie out of the way. "I care about you! Why would I EVER try and come between you and what you want?"

"You're doing a pretty good job of that right now!"

"You're a darn foal! I bet your folks were just as shocked and disappointed as us when you told them you gave up on your dreams!"

"My Mom didn't give two bits and my Dad actually supported what I did!"

"Then both of them are horrible Parents!"

Wayfarer only barely caught what happened next as once again two ponies were launched through the front door. Rainbow Dash had gone from zero to thirty when she tackled Applejack into the front lawn, sending the two of them tumbling.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity cried as she and the others rushed out of the house. "Stop that at once! Stop it I say!"

"Get off of it you two!" Wayfarer yelled as Fluttershy just shook her head and cried.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Twilight screamed as she grabbed both of them in her magic and pulled them apart.

"Take it back!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "TAKE IT BACK! JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY-" Dash froze mid sentence as she realized what she'd just said. Applejack, who had let Twilight pull her away from Dash without resistance, suddenly tried to break free and get back to fighting.

"AH'M GONNA BUCK YOU IN TWO RAINBOW DASH!"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Twilight yelled again, forcing her two friends to the cloud and pinning their limbs against the soft surface. "What in Equestria has gotten into you two?! You're supposed to be friends! Now start acting like it and apologize!"

Applejack simply grunted as she tried to turn her head to look at Rainbow Dash. Dash just looked horrified as she twitched her eyes from Twilight to Applejack and back again.

"WELL?!" Twilight asked impatiently. Dash was gone half a second later as she sunk right through the cloud. "What the- HEY!" Everyone save for Applejack galloped to the edge of the cloud just in time to see Rainbow Dash pull out of a dive and fly off at full speed over the country side.

"Where is she!?" Applejack yelled from her still pinned position. "Where'd that rotten, no good, cloud headed, feather brain go?!"

"She's gone... again." Twilight said, ears flopping down. She then turned around and walked over to Applejack, releasing the spell as she went. "You mind telling me why you thought pestering her like that was a good idea?"

"Ah wanted answers!"

"We all did! But we were at least tactful enough to wait for when she was ready to tell us!"

"Why come back at all if she wasn't ready?!"

"Because she probably wanted to see us again! And why did you think it was necessary to insult her like that? You've been increasingly agitated and impatient with everyone lately, maybe it's not just Dash who is a little feather brained right now."

"Or maybe those two just need to stop listening to the little voices in their heads." came a call from around the side of the house. Looking at each other in confusion, all of them walked around the cloud structure to find Discord in a golf cap and vest swinging a 9 iron around at several floating golf balls. One swing found its mark and sent a ball flying into Ponyville. Discord whistled and lifted his cap as he watched the sphere go, until it hit town hall and turned the entire building pink.

"Strike!" He yelled triumphantly, pumping his lion fist and turning to face the rest of them. "I think I might just join the Equestrian Games now."

"Discord..." Twilight mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"Heard there was trouble in paradise." Discord said as he swung at the remaining golf balls, which all seemed very intent on not being hit. "Thought I'd drop by and see if there was anything a good friend like myself could do to help."

"Good friend? Hardly." Rarity huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Any help you could give would be appreciated Discord." Fluttershy said. "You know, as long as it's actually helpful."

"How do we know he isn't the cause of this?" Applejack accused. "He could have discorded Rainbow Dash at some point!"

"You are as blind as you are deaf Applejack." Discord mused as he sent another golf ball soaring through the air. "Rainbow Dash is as colourful as ever. I had nothing to do with her sudden lack of motivation in life. Perhaps you should ask the voices what they think?"

"What voices?"

"Oh come now,”Discord said. “I'm sure YOU'RE hearing them. I've been hearing them, Twilight and Pinkie Pie have heard them, and I'm pretty sure half the town has been hearing them too." Applejack turned and looked at Pinkie and Twilight in turn, while both of them shot a glance at each other. She ignored this for the moment and tossed her head back at Discord.

"I'm not hearing anything!" She furiously denied.

"Really? You don't hear them when you're baking with your grandmother? Or when ever someone is obviously keeping secrets from you?"

Applejack's eyes widened briefly before she snorted and turned around. "Ah have no idea what you're talk'n about. Twilight, can you get me off this cloud now? I need to go home and start on my chores."

"Yes, take your friends home Twilight." Celestia said, not taking her eyes off of Discord. "I think the Spirit of Chaos and I need to talk." Everyone looked at each other in confusion for a moment before shrugging and walking over to the edge of the cloud.

"Except you Wayfarer." Discord said before Wayfarer could get on the magic platform as Twilight created it. "I like having you around, you're a really good listener." Wayfarer turned to Twilight and, after a moment, rolled his eyes and went over to join Discord and Celestia. Twilight looked worried at the three before stepping on the platform herself and lowering it downward. As she did so, she mentally did a head count and realized they were one short.

"Hey, where's Pinkie?"

Celestia didn't immediately start asking questions once the platform was gone. Instead waiting until Discord decided to explain himself.

"You are forgiven for your outburst yesterday." Discord said casually. "Though I'm still miffed about taking the fall for the fiasco of the other night." Celestia remained silent. "I know it must burn you up not being able to see every little thing that's happening to your kingdom, but I'm afraid no pony has that sort of power, not even me."

"Discord."

"You want to know what I meant by the voices, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Very well. If you recall, those charming ponies in the blue suits mentioned that the Shadows like to feed on emotions and then use them against their victims by whispering things to them. Things that make those emotions even stronger."

"That can't possibly be happening to Rainbow Dash and Applejack!” Celestia said. “They've been nowhere near the Castle!"

"True, but it's not like they need to be."

"...no... that's impossible... that would mean..."

"The Beast's influence is growing,” Discord said. “And from what I've been feeling over the last week, its power grew exponentially roughly two nights ago."

"When we fought that Shadow..."

"Correct."

"But how? Nopony has been taken by the Shadows yet."

"Not here at least. I told you I didn't have the power to see everything in your kingdom, but I can see somethings." He quickly grabbed a golf ball that had hovered too close to his face and then lifted it up in between his fingers, revealing it to now be a simple white egg. "And I can see that your dear Equestria, isn't looking too good." The egg suddenly cracked as Discord applied pressure. "Where there's one crack, there are bound to be more."

Celestia stood in silence as once again the weight of the world suddenly made itself known to her. "By my Grandmother's Light." She whimpered.

"Are you getting all of this Wayfarer?" Discord asked as he tossed the egg over the side of the cloud.

"I guess." Wayfarer said. "But if there are other cracks in the earth where Shadows could get out, then why haven't we heard of them till now?"

"Now there's the happy news to this little tale of misery and woe! Tell me, why hasn't anypony in Ponyville found out about what's happening?"

"Because we've been covering it up and saving ponies that get kidnapped... wait, are you saying-"

"Yes I am! My little Persona users, I propose to you that you are not alone in your pointless struggles. There is more than likely a ragtag group of ponies watching out for the huddled masses. Unfortunately they either don't have enough staff on hoof or are unaware of some openings in the earth that our enemies are using to feed their master." This revelation put a spark of life back into Celestia and Wayfarer's eyes. At last, some GOOD news. However...

"Wait." Wayfarer said. "You mentioned that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were hearing voices, why just them and not Rarity and Fluttershy?"

"Who says they aren't," Discord said.

"...what exactly does that mean for them?"

"It makes them prime targets for the Pony in the cloak you and Celestia saw kidnap Pinkie Pie," Discord answered. Wayfarer and Celestia looked to each other in horror, then turned back to Discord in anger.

"You couldn't have mentioned this sooner?" Celestia yelled. "Rainbow Dash is out there all on her own! She could be getting taken right now as we speak!"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Discord said smuggly. "Our pink little ball of fire flew after her in some sort of whirligig when no pony was looking."

"Pinkie Pie went after her?" Wayfarer asked. "The LEAST experienced Persona user we have is protecting her?!"

Discords face drooped slightly at that. "Well now that you mention it, maybe we DO have a reason to worry."

Rainbow Dash had flown all the way to Rainbow Falls, near the peak of a mountain several miles out of Ponyville. It was a place she usually only visited when she needed a reminder of how awesome she was, but now it didn't seem to be any comfort to her what so ever. She'd thought that her friends would understand what she had done and why, but none of them offered a word of encouragement to her, or told her that she'd done the right thing. And Applejack, possibly her best friend in the whole world, had gone so far as to get into a hoof fight over if with her.

"Maybe I should have stayed in Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself from her spot on the edge of one of the larger pools of rainbows.

She watched as the bright colours swirled around each other, never mixing into one solid hue. It was a mesmerizing sight, which was why this place, despite being somewhat secluded, was a popular spot for hikers to visit. Rainbow Dash remembered the last time she was here, it had been with Rarity, Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It had been a lot of fun spending time with all of them, especially after she made her promise to Scootaloo. Rainbow, shoved her face into her hooves and groaned at herself. She'd messed up a lot in the past, but not going to the Sisterhooves Social with Scootaloo was probably the biggest blunder of her life.

"Some big sister I turned out to be."

She wanted to disappear, to just fade out of existence. Anything would have been better than wallowing in this endless stream of confusion and uncertainty. Everything she'd ever done up to this point in her life was called into question, all the wonders of what she should or shouldn't have done pounding down upon her head. Tears started to leak out of her eyes as she yearned for things to start making sense again, for somepony to tell her what she needed to do. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when somepony else joined her at the edge of the multicoloured pool.

"Good Morning." said a voice. Rainbow Dash looked up to see a pony in a black cloak sitting next to her. The pony chuckled a bit as she looked down into the water. "Been a while since I ever said that with any degree of honesty." Rainbow Dash was about to tell the pony to go away, but something about her new companion stayed her tongue. She huffed and set her head back in her forelegs, looking away from the cloaked pony. "Something on your mind?"

"Why do you care?" Rainbow Dash asked bitterly.

"Who said I did?" The pony laughed. "But you seem lost, so I thought I'd ask."

"I'm not lost."

"Oh? Well then where are you?"

Rainbow hesitated for a moment before answering "Uhm... here?"

"Where's here?" The cloaked pony asked.

"Rainbow Falls."

"Ahh yes... rather apt name if you ask me." Again the cloaked pony laughed, something about it sending a slight chill down Dash's spine. "Tell me... are you falling Rainbow Dash?" Dash whipped her head about to look at the pony next to her, who was now looking directly at her. Under the pony's hood was a mask, the right half of which was completely black and featureless, save for a small opening for the eye to see out, the other side being a dark blue, with the shape of a crescent moon surrounding the eye opening.

"H-How do you know my name?" Rainbow stammered.

"Oh Miss Rainbow Dash, I've known you for so long now. I've seen your heart, and I know what you want, what you desire." The Cloaked pony stood and Rainbow Dash looked down to see that the pony had no legs. At this revelation, Dash also stood up and backed away, not taking her eyes off what she now thought was a ghost of some kind.

"W-who are you? What do you want?"

"I am The Moon. And I am here to guide you through the Darkness."

"What?"

"You are lost in a sea of uncertainty, tension, anxiety, and fear. And try as you might, the waves continue in their attempts to drag you down. Let me light the way towards the shore, is that not what you want?" Dash just gaped at The Moon, waiting for her to continue, but she just stood there, staring from behind her mask. She gulped heavily, the inability to see this mysterious pony's eyes made her quite nervous. But still, she couldn't think of a reason not to hear this pony out.

"What exactly are you offering?"

"What ever you want Rainbow Dash." The Moon said in a soothing voice, slowly drifting towards Dash as she did so. "Fame? Fortune? A throne to call your own? I can get it for you. All you need to do, is ask."

Dash stared back at the unseen eyes, not even reacting to the figure's sudden approach. "What's the catch?" she asked.

"Catch? What's the catch?" The Moon mocked. "Silly girl, I only want to put an end to your misery. You have no use for it, so why wallow in it when I can take it away?" Dash's mind was starting to become hazy and less focussed as The Moon's mask came within inches of her face. Her thoughts came back to her desire to disappear, that anything would be better than this ocean of doubt. And the more she thought, the more this cloaked apparition's offer tantalized her.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Came an echoey cry over the mountain.

Dash snapped out of the fog in her mind and looked to the sky, and through the mist she saw a familiar flying contraption whizzing ever closer.

"Pinkie Pie?"

"Ughh, I'm going to kill Emperor when I get back." The cloaked pony grumbled as she retreated backwards. "His mistake is going to be the thorn in our side."

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash said, looking from the pony next to her to Pinkie and back again.

"Don't listen to that meany!" Pinkie Pie cried as her whirligig descended for a fast and hard landing.

"Pest!" The Moon shouted. "Begone with you!"

"What's going on?" Rainbow Dash yelled. Pinkie Pie hit the ground with the force of a run away bull, gouging out a large swath of the earth before coming to a stop a few feet away from Rainbow Dash and The Moon. She hopped off her ride and gave a furious growl at the cloaked pony, who's only response was to stand perfectly still and scowl through her mask at this intrusive pink pony.

The two stared each other down for a while, neither moving while Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between the two with bewilderment before turning over to look at Pinkie.

"Uhh... Pinks? What are you-"

"Not now Rainbow Dash." Pinkie interrupted. "We're having a stare down!"

"By the tree of knowledge you are insufferable." The Moon sneered. "Go home, I'm sure your friends are waiting for another one of your ridiculous parties."

"They are! I just came to get the guest of honor! Now why don't YOU buzz off! Dashie's got better things to do then spend a week in a creepy old castle!"

"Castle? What?" Rainbow Dash said, still unsure of what was happening.

"Well it's not really old now that I think about it." Pinkie thought out loud, pursing her lips. "I guess spending a week in a creepy NEW castle doesn't sound as bad. But I'm sure Dash doesn't want to do that either."

"ENOUGH!” The Moon roared out, sending her cloak fluttering. “You are an annoyance and a mistake! One that I shall rid the world of right now!" The Moon stamped an invisible hoof down to the ground and suddenly an off putting purple glow began to radiate in a circle around her, swirling about in a vortex as a card suddenly appeared in front of her. "MELINOE!" The Moon cried out as the card shattered.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were blown backwards as a towering figure appeared explosively behind the cloaked pony. The figure was clad in a dark navy blue dress, speckled with white so that it looked like the night sky. The figure was split down the middle so that one side was completely black, and the other completely white. Her face was featureless and bald, save for part of the black half crossing over slightly to form the shape of a sneering mouth. She carried with her a staff topped by a replica of a full moon, with several tendrils breaking off from the main shaft to intwine around it.

Pinkie Pie looked up at the figure with fear and perplexity. "A Persona? B-but she's the bad guy! She can't have a Persona!"

"You'd best right that egregious assumption my dear." The Moon mocked as her Persona began approaching Pinkie Pie.

"L-LAETITIA!" Pinkie shouted, summoning her own Persona to her side and placing it in between herself and the oncoming enemy. Laetitia then raised her crossbow up, pointing it right at Melinoe's chest, stopping her in her tracks.

"Oh how cute!" The Moon laughed as her Persona swatted the crossbow away and then brought the same hand around to slap Laetitia in the face. Recovering quickly, Laetitia swung her crossbow around caught Melinoe in the shoulder, then pulled her back and placed a heavy punch into her stomach.

"You're not taking Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie yelled as Laetitia landed hit after hit to her opponent's gut. "I won't let you!"

"YOU LITTLE FOAL!" The Moon shrieked. Melinoe grabbed onto Laetitia's fist before it could throw another blow at her, then her staff started to spark, and then her body and Laetitia's erupted into a lightning storm.

Laetitia and Pinkie jerked about violently until the assault ended and both of them crumbled to the ground. Laetitia vanished in a flash of light, and Pinkie was left looking across the singed grass over at a stunned still Rainbow Dash, who stared back in disbelief.

"Dashie." Pinkie murmured as tried to get herself to stand. "Run away..."

"Pathetic." The Moon said as her Persona disappeared. She walked over to Rainbow Dash, then turned to look over the eastern horizon, where the sun had only just risen and was beginning its morning climb. "A new day is dawning Miss Dash." She said as her cloak began to billow and a blueish cloud began to emit from beneath it. "You should enjoy this, for it will be the last sunrise of your miserable life, and the first of something...more."

The cloud began to swirl around the Cloak and Rainbow Dash, breaking the later's stupor just long enough to try and reach out for her friend.

"PINKIE PIE!"

"RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie cried as the last of her admittedly massive reserves of energy tried desperately to get her body to obey her commands, before Rainbow Dash disappeared and the cloud whisked her and her captor away.

"...Rainbow Dash..." Pinkie mumbled as she finally lost consciousness.

Author's Notes:

Aaaaaannnnnd we just passed the hundred thousand word milestone! Yay!

Chapter 13: The Chariot (Part 2)

Pinkie awoke with a start, bolting upright as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

"RAINBOW DASH!" She screamed, startling five other ponies who were in the room with her. She was in the Library, laying on a couch and covered in a blanket, which slumped to the floor when she jolted to a sitting position. She turned and her eyes found Twilight, who she then launched herself at and tackled to the floor. "Twilight! There's another mean hood pony! She's got Dash! We have to save her!"

"Pinkie Pie! Calm down!" Twilight shouted as her eyes flicked over to the side. Pinkie followed her gaze and saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were also in the room, along with Wayfarer and ‘Sunny Days’. Pinkie locked eyes on Rarity and Fluttershy for a moment, before she shook her head and went back to staring intently at Twilight.

"Please! We have to go now!" She pleaded, struggling with her desire to help Rainbow Dash and her promise to keep what was going on a secret from the only two in the room who were left clueless.

"Go where exactly Pinkie?" Rarity said as she stepped forward. "And what did you mean by 'She's got Dash'?" Pinkie's ear twitched in annoyance at herself, but she ignored Rarity's inquiry and continued to plead to Twilight using only her eyes. Twilight sighed and nodded.

"We'll go right now Pinkie, but first, could you please get off of me?" Pinkie hesitated for a moment, then backed off and sat down on the hardwood floor. "Rarity, Fluttershy?" Twilight said as she got back to her hooves. "Could you... leave us for a bit?" Rarity looked shocked at this request, then disgusted as she turned her nose up and sat down right where she stood.

"No." She said incredulously. "I'm staying right here until somepony explains what is going on!"

"Rarity, please." Twilight started to say. "I don't want you two to get involved with th-"

"EXCUSE ME?!" Rarity yelled, again looking at Twilight as if she'd just slapped her. "How dare you insinuate that I wouldn't want to be involved! Something is most obviously wrong with both Rainbow Dash and Applejack, to the point where they start throwing kicks at one another! Then Wayfarer and Sunny Days arrive carrying Pinkie Pie, who looks as though some ruffians have taken a croquet mallet or twelve at her! And you don't think Fluttershy or I would want to be involved?!"

"I didn't say that!" Twilight shot back. "I said I don't want you involved!"

The two glared at each other for a moment, before Fluttershy took a few tentative steps forward and sat down next to Rarity. Twilight's shoulders slumped as she looked back and forth between the two, her face slowly growing more and more distraught and desperate as she did so.

"Well, WE want to be involved." Rarity said firmly. "So you had better give a very good reason why we shouldn't."

"Because I forbid it." Celestia said suddenly stepping in between the three.

"Really." Rarity said, sneering angrily. "On whose authority?"

"On my own." ‘Sunny’ said as a flash of light enveloped her, and replacing her form with that of Celestia.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Rarity shouted as she and Fluttershy quickly stood back up and bowed low before their ruler. Celestia looked down at the two for a moment, considering them one after the other. Sighing to her self, she took a hoof and lifted their heads up so that she could look them in the eye when she spoke.

"I know you two care deeply for the well being of your friends and your home,” She said gently to the two of them. “The things you all have accomplished on your own within the last year is proof of that. But neither of you are equipped to survive the places where we must travel to save your friend. That is why I cannot allow you to accompany us. I cannot guarantee your safety, and even if you do return home, you may not be the same pony who joined us. I can't even say what state Miss Rainbow Dash will be in when we bring her back."

"With all due respect your highness," Rarity said. "I question what sort of horrid state she's been in for a while now."

"Regardless, I still must forbid you from following us, for your own safety." Silence fell over the Library as Fluttershy and Rarity fidgeted in there spots. Then Fluttershy took in a deep breath and looked Celestia straight in the eye.

"No." She said confidently.

"...No?" Celestia said confusedly as everypony else just gawked at Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry Princess Celestia, but I'm going."

"I've already told you why I can't let you do that."

"And I don't care,” Fluttershy said defiantly. “Rainbow Dash is one of my oldest and best friends. And, I'm sorry Princess, but I care more about her than I do about you." Now it was Celestia's turn to gawk at the mare before her. Fluttershy looked every bit as surprised at her self as everyone else, but she didn't back off or whimper in fear, she just stood there, staring into the eyes as one of the most powerful beings in the world. And then Celestia smiled.

"I think that might be the first time somepony has ever said something like that to me," Celestia said with a hint of amusement. "Did you mean it?"

Fluttershy swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. "Yes."

Celestia turned her gaze over to Rarity, who looked as if she was about faint. "And I'm guessing you feel the same way?"

Rarity broke into a bit of a sweat at that question as she struggled to find an answer. "I-well, there's- she... I... yes... yes I do princess."

Celestia closed her eyes, still smiling as she sighed and shook her head. "So that's what it feels like. Can't say it's a pleasant experience, but I suppose it had to happen sooner or later." Rarity and Fluttershy traded a perplexed look as Celestia opened her eyes and gave a sad smirk to the both of them. "I hope you can forgive me for what I'm about to do."

Celestia's horn flashed with magic again and suddenly Rarity and Fluttershy's eyes rolled upward as they both collapsed together on the floor. Another flash and Celestia turned back into Sunny Skies before turning around and heading for the door.

"Come along then." She said "That sleep spell will only last a few hours, and I hope that coming back with Rainbow Dash will be a suitable apology."

When the four of them arrived at the castle, the guards didn't even hesitate and they had the gate lifted up just as they passed under it. One of the Guardsponies tried to get Twilight's attention however.

"Princess. I have assembled a detachment of guards. I insist you send them inside instead of yourself."

"That won't be necessary Captain. Send them back to their posts."

"But your majesty it is far to dangerous for you to-"

"Captain Airlift,” Twilight said. “You have your orders straight from Celestia, now have one from me: Stay at your post unless told otherwise." The grizzled Pegasus looked ready to argue before the shield around the castle closed shut in front of him, giving him no choice but to do as he was told.

"I want him found! Do you hear me? Find that no good nephew of mine this instant!"

Luna's voice carried through out a good portion of the castle as at least thirty guard ponies rushed from the throne room and scattered in different directions. Luna started pacing back and forth as her rage started to consume her. Near by, the royal assistant, Kibitz, was looking over a rather long scroll of parchment, muttering to himself about the princess's now ruined schedule.

"I'm afraid this search for your nephew will push back the meeting with the representatives from the Cloudsdale Weather Factory," The elderly specs wearing unicorn said as he crossed off a few items on the agenda. "We'll have to skip dinner in order to make up the time I'm afraid."

"No one has seen that wretch in almost twenty four hours," Luna muttered as she did her best to wear a ditch into the marble floor. "Which means he's either been kidnapped or he's just making trouble for us again. In both cases, I'm going to tan his hide when we find him."

"Well that might take a while, so might I suggest taking care of some of the less pressing matters on your to do list while we wait?"

"Ughh. Very well Kibitz." She sighed as she stopped her pacing and approached her overly strict time keeper of an assistant. "I swear, I'M going to need a vacation when Tia comes back."

"Your Majesty!" cried a guard as he came rushing in. "We found him! He was wondering about the lower corridors!"

"Excellent!" Luna shouted as she made a u-turn away from Kibitz and his mile long schedule. "Get me a cauldron of boiling oil and send for a cook from the gryphon empire!"

The guard's eyes went wide and he glanced between the Princess and Kibitz. "Are- Are you serious your majesty?"

Seeing the dismay on the guard's face, Luna rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, I wasn't... not entirely." The guard still looked nervous. "Just bring him here." A few minutes later, Prince Blueblood was escorted into the throne room, flanked by four guards, who all turned and left as soon as their charge was presented to the Princess.

"What is the meaning of this!" Blueblood said as the doors swung shut. "Am I not even allowed to roam the castle anymore?"

Luna scowled at the upstart prince for a moment before she started to approach him. "A few hours ago, your servants came and informed me that you hadn't been seen since yesterday morning, when you told them you were going out for a walk. Your bed hadn't been slept in, none of the cooks had gotten any requests from you, and even your friends at the Court of Canterlot Nobility had no idea where you had gone. Where have you been, and why were you down in the lower corridors?"

Blueblood glared at his aunt, then smirked at her. "I guess the idea of a 'One Night Stand' would be a bit foreign to you after being gone for a thousand years."

Luna raised an eye, then turned to look at Kibitz. "What is he talking about?"

"Oh, well uhm. He was probably spending the night with a mare or something."

Luna's eye remained raised for a few moments before the other eye joined it. She turned back to Blueblood with disgust and brought herself to her full hight. "Such debauchery is unfitting of a member of the royal family! You've once again smeared the title given to you!"

"Like it matters anymore," Blueblood sneered. "I'm giving up my claim to the throne."

Luna opened up her mouth to respond before she fully registered what Blueblood had just said. "You- wait, what?"

"I don't want to sit on the throne anymore,” Blueblood said.” You and Aunt Celestia can keep it for all I care." Luna's mouth opened and closed several times as her face contorted in confusion. She looked back at Kibitz again, who just shrugged in surprise.

"You... don't want to be royalty anymore?"

"Oh no, I would very much prefer to remain a Prince, but I see no reason to become a ruler when I already have all I already want: Money, Power, any mare I could possibly want. So why bother antagonizing you and Celestia if it's going to get me nothing but trouble?"

"So you've decided to just be a lazy good for nothing from now on, is that it?"

"Have I ever been anything less?"

Luna's eyes narrowed at that. She scrutinized Blueblood for a moment before snorting and turning away. "Do whatever you please than, but somehow I doubt this sudden change in attitude will last."

Blueblood bowed low to his aunt and made his way out of the throne room. "Thank you Princess, now if you'll excuse me, I have a vacation to plan." Luna scowled at the word 'Vacation' and snorted in annoyance. The doors opened and shut behind Luna's back. She stood still for almost a minute, deep in thought, before she went and rang the bell next to the throne, summoning one of her guards into the room.

"Yes Your Highness?"

"Get someone to tail Prince Blueblood. I want to know if he's up to anything suspicious, so I'd prefer a unicorn trained in stealth and subtlety."

"Yes my lady." The guard left just as quickly as he entered, then Luna took her place on the throne. She continued to stare off into space in deep concentration for a while afterwards, until Kibitz came up beside her seat, his face taught with worry.

"Your Majesty? Is everything alright?"

"No Kibitz. I'm certain that there are a good few things at the moment that are the exact opposite of 'alright'. Get me a scroll and my quill, I need to send a letter to my sister."

Wayfarer lifted his hoof from the door of the Velvet Room. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Celestia and Gnowee in a trancelike state, and Twilight and Pinkie standing nearby. Pinkie hadn't seen what he was doing, but Wayfarer thought that it was unlikely that she didn't know that he WAS doing something. He walked over to Celestia and whispered to her.

"Agero says Dash is on the 50th floor,” he informed her. “That's twenty from where we left off with Pinkie."

"We should have an easier time of it with her here," Celestia said.

"What about Discord? Is he not joining us?"

"No. Twilight was right, he's been almost completely useless to us. At least now we wont have to deal with his annoying quips all the time."

"Yeah, now we just have to deal with Pinkie's."

"C'mon you guys!" Pinkie yelled with a determined look. "Are we going or not?"

"I think she's too serious at the moment to really think of quips for us." Celestia said as Gnowee and her lead the way over to the teleportation gate.

The golden arch shinned green and the four of them disappeared, only to reappear suddenly in the same room they'd found Pinkie in. All the damage done to the room was still there, but at the end of the hall, where the statue of the princess used to be, there was now a stairwell leading deeper into the ground.

Pinkie shivered slightly as she looked at the destruction around her, then she spotted the stairs and burst off into a gallop towards them. "I'm coming Dashie!"

"Pinkie! Wait for us!" Twilight yelled as the others galloped after her.

Rainbow Dash hadn't been there long, but in her dreams it might as well had been an eternity. She was standing on her father's back, her little filly hooves placed on top of his head as she strained to get a better look at the sky where her heroes were zooming to and fro over the vast crowd. She oohed and ahhed with everyone else as Spitfire and her team made the sky explode with colour and lights. Suddenly the fire maned leader swooped down and buzzed the crowd, going right over Rainbow Dash and her father's heads.

"Yeah! Spitfire!" Dash cheered.

Suddenly the scene changed. Dash was no longer with her dad, but she was still surrounded by hundreds of other ponies as they all scrambled to leave the show field, the hum of excitement still there as they chatted about the show. Dash was ducking in between their legs as she struggled to find her way out and get to the tent where the Wonderbolts were staying between shows. A picture of Spitfire was clutched in her mouth, and she desperately wanted the current rising star of the most elite flight team in Equestria to sign it.

The crowd never seemed to thin out though, there was nothing but a mass of legs in every direction. Dash started to panic, she tried to leap into the air and fly away, but there was no room for her to take off. She started to spin in place, knocking into several ponies who started to yell at her and make her even more anxious. She was about to start crying when a pony who didn't notice what he was doing shoved her to the side, right through a hole in a temporary fence set up for the event.

After shaking herself off and getting her bearings, Dash saw that she was now in the VIP section, right next to the very tent she was looking for. Excitedly, Dash ran around the side and saw a group of ponies crowding in around Spitfire and some of her fellow team mates. Camera's flashed as some ponies with notebooks asked questions. Eventually, a couple of burly pegasi started to push the reporters away, allowing the Wonderbolts to retreat toward their tent. Dash took that moment to rush forward, stopping just short of Spitfire.

"Hey now!" she said in surprise. "Where'd you come from?" Then she noticed the picture in Dash's mouth and smirked. "Oh I see, sneaking in just to see us huh. You know we don't do autographs for another hour right?"

Rainbow Dash fidgeted a bit as words failed her, all she could do is murmur and make puppy dog eyes as she held out the photo. Spitfire sighed and rolled her eyes before turning to the skyblue stallion next to her.

"Soaren, go get me a quill would ya?"

"Sgt Gale's gonna have your flank for this." He said as he went off into the tent.

"Like I care what that old wind bag says! I got fans to please!" Soaren came back out with a quill and some ink, which Spitfire took and turned back to Rainbow Dash. "Who am I make'n this out to kid?"

"R-Rainbow Dash Ma'am!" Dash squeeked out.

"Don't call me Ma'am kid, I ain't a drill sergeant quite yet."

"Oh jeez, you as a drill sergeant. I can already see the membership numbers dropping." Soaren joked as Spitfire scrawled her name and a message to Dash on the photo.

"There, now hurry and get out of here before Hail and Sleet come back." Spitfire said as she whipped her head around to see if the two tough looking pegasi were back yet.

Rainbow Dash nodded and started running back to the hole she'd fallen through to get into the VIP area. Before she rounded the tent corner though, she turned back around and shouted back at Spitfire.

"Can I be a Wonderbolt someday?"

"If you're good enough Kid! You'll never get anywhere if you're not!"

Dash nodded again excitedly, then quickly dived back around the tent when she saw the guards coming back. She squeezed through the hole in the fence again to find the show field almost completely cleared, save for a few stragglers, and a VERY frantic looking father searching for her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Her father shouted as he rushed towards her. When she was within foreleg's reach he snatched her up and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank the Sun and Moon you're alright!"

"Dad! Dad! I met Spitfire! She signed my picture!"

Her father pulled back and looked at the Photo then back to Dash. "You're not in trouble are you? I mean, yes, you are in deep trouble for slipping away without me, your mom is going to be furious with the two of us."

"But Dad! She said I could be a Wonderbolt someday! She said if I was good enough I could be a Wonderbolt like her!"

He sighed as his daughter continued to get excited. "That's great honey. C'mon, let's go home."

The scene changed again, it was some time later at the Junior Speedster Flight Camp. Rainbow Dash was laying back on the peak of a large cumulous cloud overlooking the rest of the camp. Next to her was a Gryphon with tan fur and white feathers that had a slight purple tinge to their tips. The sun was setting in the distance and the two had their eyes glued to the sight.

"You know we're going to get in trouble for breaking curfew Dash," Gilda said matter of factly.

"Meh, who cares,” Dash shrugged. “Not like that lame-o counselor of ours could even catch us. We'll be back in our bunks before they even call lights out."

They continued to marvel at Celestia's light as the clouds started to roll in over head. Dash looked up and laughed, Gilda looked over with a raised eye and Dash pointed up at one cloud in particular.

"See that? See how the light makes that one look like it's on fire?" Gilda nodded and smirked. "Doesn't it look like Spitfire?"

Gilda's smile fell away as she looked back at Dash. "You're kind of crazy about her aren't you?" she said.

"Am not!" Dash said. "She's the greatest flyer in Equestria! And someday, I'm going to be as great as her!"

"I’m sure you will Dash," Gilda said with a bashful smile, though in a tone that made her sound doubtful of Dash’s boast.

"I WILL! And then Everypony will look up at me and cheer my name! Just like they cheer hers!"

Gilda rolled her eyes and let her head fall back into the clouds. The two went quite as the Sun started to disappear behind the horizon, casting the landscape below them in shadows through a cascade of reds, oranges, and yellows. Soon the light was all but gone, and the darkness of night began to creep up behind them.

"You really think ponies are going to cheer for you?" Gilda asked as the two unfolded their wings.

"Cheer? G, they're gonna build STATUES of me."

As the two leapt from the cloud, it twisted and turned behind them until it turned into a small neighborhood on the edge of Cloudsdale, in the dead of night. The scene had shifted again, only this time it was years later. Dash was strapping on saddle bags packed with everything she owned, then she slipped through the front door and into the night.

"Where do you think you're going?" came a voice from behind her. She turned to see her mother, looking very upset with her.

"I'm going with Fluttershy to Ponyville Mom." Dash said resolutely. "Don't try to stop me."

"I'm not. I already know trying to talk sense into you is pointless."

"I can join the Weather team there, I'll still have the required hours of work for the Factory when I send in my application to the Wonderbolts."

"And what makes you think they'll pay attention to the application of a pony living in a back water town like Ponyville? hmm?"

"Because I'll be the best! By then, I'll be good enough to join! And it won't matter where I'm from!"

Dash's Mom shook her head at this. "You'll never be the best if you keep clinging to groundlings and weak flyers like that friend of yours. You belong to the sky Rainbow Dash, just like the heroes you worship so religiously."

Rainbow Dash stayed silent for a moment before spreading out her wings. "The sky goes where I do Mom." And with that, she took off into the wild dark blue void.

All around Rainbow Dash the Shadows shifted, closing in on her as she slept, sensing that somepony was there.

"45th floor" Twilight gasped. "We're almost there."

To her side, Wayfarer looked on the verge of collapse, and on her other side Pinkie wasn't looking much better. Behind them, Celestia had pulled out three more Mana Crystals for all of them, as well as a bushel of apples.

"We've made it far you three." She said as she passed out the supplies. "There wouldn't be any shame in going back and resting up before trying again tomorrow."

"No." Pinkie said. "We can do it! WE CAN DO IT!" And just like that she was off again.

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted irately as she galloped after her.

Pinkie led the three down another flight of stairs, which led to a rather large doorway styled around the same sort of aesthetic of Cloudsdale and Rainbow Dash's home. Wayfarer and Twilight gave each other a confused look, but Pinkie didn't so much as bother to slow down and she pushed her way through. Hesitantly, the other three followed.

"...okay," Wayfarer said as he looked at the new surroundings. "Where are we now?"

Gone were the erie castle hallways of before. Now it looked like they'd stepped right onto a fair ground of sorts, though admittedly it was hard to tell. Tents as tall as ten ponies formed long corridors and trying to look in between them was impossible because there were even more behind them. Celestia looked up at the sky and frowned.

"We're still underground." She said. "I don't feel any of the sun's warmth here, and the clouds are impossibly still." She pooled some magic into her horn and shot a bolt at the sky, only for it to hit something just below the tops of the tents. At the moment of impact, the sky seemed to ripple outward, briefly replacing the oddly grayish blue overcast with something more akin to what the four would assume the sky would look like if it suddenly caught fire.

"Well... That's ominous." Wayfarer said as the sky returned to its incredibly dreary appearance.

"Hey look over here!" Pinkie said as her attention was caught by a sign advertising some sort of event. "'Come see Rainbow Dash, High Queen of Awesomeness, as she performs the greatest feats of Arial Acrobatics the lowly failures of her kingdom will ever see in their miserable lives.' ...um, what?"

"'High Queen of Awesomeness?'" Wayfarer questioned, raising an eye at the brightly coloured sign with a depiction of Rainbow Dash adorned in silver armor at the top.

"That... sort of sounds like Rainbow Dash..." Twilight muttered. "Except for that last part... 'Lowly failures of HER kingdom?' it almost makes her out to be some sort of tyrant."

"It says she's preforming at the Museum of Equestrian Aeronautics," Celestia said. "Or what passes for the museum in this place."

"What is all this anyway?" Twilight asked, circling about and scanning the tents.

"It must be an illusion created by the Shadows. Like the voices, it's probably meant to get an emotional response from who ever gets trapped in here."

"So, is this a place from Dash's memories?" Wayfarer asked.

"If it is," Twilight said. "It's from before I met her."

"Me too." Pinkie said as she stared up at the sky. "We need to find Dashie soon so she can make all the gloomy clouds go away, cause they're giving me the willies right now."

"Attention lame'os of Equestria!" Came a voice from over the intercoms, making the four jump. "The show is about to begin! So please make your way to the Equestrian Museum of Aeronautics for the greatest display of awesomeness you will ever see for the rest of your uncool lives!" Everyone looked at each other with confusion, occasionally looking at the intercoms to see if the voice would say anymore.

"Was that... Rainbow Dash?" Wayfarer asked.

"It... sounded like her." Twilight said.

"Well... you heard the lady!" Pinkie Pie said. "She's at the museum. So lets get over there before the show starts!" The other three shrugged and they started to make their way through the maze of tents. Though the surroundings may have changed appearance, the cramped space still made them feel like they were still in the underground labyrinth below the castle. It was unnerving, especially when they didn't see any Shadows wondering about. Eventually though, they found an opening in the tents that led out to a performance field, and they let out a gasp at what they saw.

There must have been hundreds of ponies gathered before them, all of whom were starring intently away from them, towards a large stage in front of an even larger building. None of them moved even an inch, and the air was so still that even the multicoloured balloons and streamers everywhere seemed to be waiting in anticipation for what was to happen. As the four stepped out of the tents, a lightning bolt seemed to strike the stage, casting it in blue smoke. A figure rose as the cloud settled, and the entire crowd remained silent as the object of their attention addressed them.

"Look upon me failures of the land. Am I not the most awesome pony in all of Equestria?"

Rainbow Dash stood on stage, wearing an ornate set of black and silver armor. Her face was uncovered by any sort of helmet, instead she wore a laurel matching her protective garb. For a moment, Wayfarer believed it really was Rainbow Dash, then she opened her eyes and, even at a distance, he could see those horrible yellow pits that had come to signify exactly what they were dealing with.

"It's her Shadow." He murmured, just before the audience began chanting.

"RAINBOW DASH! RAINBOW DASH! RAINBOW DASH!"

"Yes! That's it! Say my name! Remember it! Remember ME! Because I'm the one who fills your life with awe and fascination! I am your queen!"

"RAINBOW DASH! RAINBOW DASH! RAINBOW DASH!"

"Jeez and I thought the real Rainbow Dash had an annoying ego." Twilight said as they watched the Shadow continue to strut about the stage, boasting to her fans about how godlike she was. "Heck, Trixie wasn't even this bad!"

"Who?" Wayfarer asked.

"Not important,” Twilight waved off. “C'mon, Dash has got to be back stage, or in the Museum proper." The four started to push their way through the crowd, trying to get to the side of the stage instead of approaching dead on. Everywhere they went, they heard the shouts of every pony around them as they all but sang praises to Rainbow Dash's name, even when the Shadow was throwing insults at them.

"Yes! Yes! I am the greatest pony in all of the history of forever! You are unworthy of the amazingness I shine down on you failures!!"

"She sure likes to call ponies failures." Pinkie said.

"But even though I am great, there are those who doubt my awesomeness."

The chanting stopped, and once more silence reined over the field. Wayfarer and the others stopped as well, turning to look up at the Shadow, who was starring right back at them.

"They have the gall to call themselves my friends. They think they're on the same level as me!" The Shadow laughed at that before its face went completely serious. "But I don't need friends, especially friends who hold me back!"

"Uhmm, guys?" Pinkie said, tugging at Wayfarer's shirt.

"What is it Pinkie?" He said without looking back at her.

"These ponies don't have faces."

Wayfarer and Twilight both took their eyes off the Shadow and turned to see that Pinkie was right. Everypony on the field save for them only had the vaguest shape of a pony's head and muzzle on their neck, but the eyes, mouth, and nostrils were completely missing.

"Maybe I should show them how much their loyalty and friendship really means to me!"

All at once the faceless ponies all turned into a viscus black goo that barely retained the structure of a pony before they started to melt away. The team of four, nearly jumped out of their coats as the former false ponies began to gather and merge together in front of the stage. The towering shape of a bipedal creature began to rise up, and a deep blue mask with soulless eye holes and expressionless face erupted from the forehead. The creature then solidified into a dark-skinned being resembling a Persona. It wore nothing except gold boots and tights, exposing its muscular legs, arms and torso. From behind the mask sprouted a mane of blonde hair, and on the creatures face was an equally blonde goatee. Wayfarer would have laughed at this Shadow's appearance, if it wasn't also two stories tall.

"Give em' a good pile driving for me won't you big guy? I've got another guest to take care of," Shadow Dash said as she walked behind the stage curtains and out of sight. The large Shadow she left behind immediately started to oblige as it lifted one of its elbows and started tilting over, letting gravity carry the whole thing down towards Wayfarer and the others.

"MOVE!" Celestia cried as the four of them split and ran away from their titanic foe just as it hit the ground and caused the area to quake.

At this point, Wayfarer noticed that the fairgrounds had changed dramatically while their attention had been held by the horrors in front of them. The entire area looked completely desolate now, as if the grounds had been abandon for years, and the sky had taken on that burnt look from before as a more permanent feature. As such, several downed tents were now available for the four to cower behind while the Shadow quickly got back to its feet.

Pinkie and Wayfarer had ended up behind the same cover, and after a moment of trying to catch their breath Pinkie looked over the top of the pile of cloth, rope and wood to get a good look at their enemy.

"Hey Wayfarer!" She said. "Doesn't that thing look sort remind you of that one professional wrestler? Hulk Haygan or something?"

"Not the time Pinkie! Get down before he sees you!"

"But I think I've got an idea how to take him down! If he's anything like the real Hulk, there's one pony he won't be able to ignore!" Pinkie quickly gathered up some streamers from the ground, particularly ones that were red and yellow, then started tying them around her forelegs.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?"

"Getting in touch with my inner Distrucity!" She said manically.

"Your what?"

"No time to explain!" Pinkie said as she tied a few more streamers around her eyes like a mask. "It's time to get Foked!" she cried out with a super intense face, before snorting and laughing at herself. "That means 'focussed'."

"...whaaaaa?" was all Wayfarer could get out before Pinkie leapt out from behind the tent and started running towards the Shadow, who was just about to kick over the tent that Celestia and Twilight were behind.

"HOAK HAYGONE!!" Pinkie yelled out at the monster. "FEEL THE POWER OF THE SUPERIOR SOLDIER!!"

The Shadow quickly turned to look down at the loud mouth pony below him, taking his attention off the Alicorns' hiding spot.

"EXIT STAGE LEFT!" Pinkie continued to shout. "EXIT STAGE RIGHT! THERE IS NO PLACE TO RUN! ALL THE FUSES IN THE EXIT SIGNS, HAVE BEEN BURNED OUT! AND THE NORMAL PONIES, THE PONIES WE COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND, ARE TRAPPED IN HERE WITH US! LOOK INTO MY EYES HOAK HAYGONE! YOU. SEE. NOTHINGNESS! YOU SEE NO REASONS FOR QUESTIONS! YOU SEE NO ANSWERS! FOR THERE IS NO REASONING, IN THE THINKING OF THE SUPERIOR SOLDIER!" and with a mighty clearing of her sinuses, Pinkie's insane ramblings halted.

The Shadow didn't seem impressed by this overblown and incomprehensible speech, but a visible target was more appealing to it than a none visible one, so it started for her instead of Twilight and Celestia.

"PERSONA!" Twilight cried. Tyche leapt out of their hiding spot and jabbed her chakram deep into the Shadow's back. As it stumbled, Tyche followed up with a bolt of lightning, causing it to twitch and spasm before collapsing to the side.

"PERSONA!" Pinkie Pie responded, continuing to yell in that incredibly hoarse voice. Laetitia spun her crossbow around as she too leapt into the air, then dropped herself and the barrel of her weapon down onto the Shadow's head. "LOAD THE PARTY CANNON WITH ESSPRESSO! LOAD IT WITH THE WORDS!!"

Laetitia and the Shadow then erupted in fire, leaving only her as the other disintegrated in the inferno.

"GRRRRRR!!" Pinkie growled even as the field grew quite again. "GRROOOWWLL DESTRUCITY GRAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Okay Pinkie, dial it back a bit." Twilight said as she walked over to her. Pinkie straightened up and started giggling like mad as she took off all the streamers.

"Pinkie Pie." Wayfarer said as he and Celestia joined the other two. "You scare me sometimes."

"As long as its only sometimes." Pinkie said, beaming at all of them. "Now lets go catch up to Not-Rainbow-Dash before she gets away!"

Rainbow Dash's eyes shot open. All around her was this faint blue light, radiating from the stained glass windows all around her. It looked as if she was in the Equestrian Museum of Aeronautics, a place she'd visited many times when she was a filly. The windows here featured the image of the greatest flyers in history, going all the way back to General Firefly, the founder of the Wonderbolts. However as Dash rubbed her eyes and took a closer look, none of the windows were displaying anypony she knew... actually, they were. They were all of her.

The sound of hoof steps grabbed Rainbow Dash's attention, and from out of the darkness she heard a voice.

"Pretty awesome aren't they? The spitting image of Perfection!"

"Who, are you?" Rainbow Dash said as she stood up. "You that creep who brought me here? If you think I'm going to let you get away with hurting Pinkie Pie, then you've got another thing coming!" The voice chuckled as the hoofsteps drew closer.

"Why would you care what happens to her? That's like caring about what happens to an ant. Come on Rainbow Dash, we both know you're so far above her and her stupid party obsession."

"What'chu say?” Rainbow Dash snorted, stomping her forehoof on the cold floor. “I'm not going to take some hooded ghost thing bad mouthing my friends! Come out where I can see you!" The voice burst in to a laugh that echoed all around the room. It was so high pitched and cracked so badly that Rainbow Dash's spine made an attempt to leap right out of her back.

"Friends? Oh that's hilarious! You need friends like a sledge hammer to the wings! Tell me where you think you'd be right now if it weren't for your so called 'friends'?"

"No where worth being! Now I thought I told you to come out and face me you coward!"

"Hmph, so willing to give up your dreams for the sake of others. You ever wonder if that does more harm than good?" A figure clad in black and silver armor stepped out of the darkness. Rainbow Dash took a few steps back as she saw her own face starring back at her with furious yellow eyes.

"Wh-what? Who are you?" Dash nearly screamed as shock, confusion, and rage started to poor into her.

"Me? Well, I'm you. Your Shadow. I am everything you aspire to be, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash's mouth hung open as she tried to process what was going on. She tried to look away from the Shadow, to try and pretend it wasn't there, but she couldn't go even a second without allowing here eyes to stray over her own face. The armor the Shadow was wearing was almost identical in form to the set Rainbow Dash wore last year for the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant in Canterlot, when she played Commander Hurricane, save for the silver laurels. The cold yellow eyes of the Shadow never so much as flinched as they starred back at Dash, and it took her a while before she noticed that the Shadow didn't even blink.

"Am- Am I dreaming this?" Dash asked warily.

"Would it even matter if you were? You'd probably just ignore it for the sake of your friends anyway."

"What in Celestia's name are you going on about?"

"I'm going on about what you truly want most in life. The thing you tried to throw away and ignore, even though deep down it almost killed you to do it. Think hard, and try to remember what it is you've always dreamed of having. It isn't to be a member of the Wonderbolts, that was always just a means to an end, no what you want most is to be loved." The Shadow began to walk around Rainbow Dash, like a hunter searching for an angle on its prey. Dash began to walk in the opposite direction, tentatively trying to keep her distance from the unnerving dopleganger as it continued to speak.

"The sort of love you can't get from just one pony, or even a half dozen ponies. You need the love and attention of thousands of Ponies, you need all of Equestria to turn and see just how awesome you are. Any less and you might as well not even exist. But look at where you are now! Stuck in some back water village, barely getting anywhere with your so called 'Wonderbolt Career', and all because you couldn't listen to mom and stay in Cloudsdale. No, you just had to follow that worthless, ground loving, pathetic excuse for a Pegasus."

"SHUT UP!" Rainbow Dash cried as she launched herself at the Shadow. Her attack proved fruitless though when her armored foe quickly side stepped her. Dash went right past her other self, who then grabbed her by the tail and swung her over head and back down to the floor, hard. Dash's entire right side erupted in pain as her head made contact with the floor, but she barely had time to register it before the Shadow swung her in a wide arch, flinging her across the room, right into one of the stain glass windows. The window cracked, but didn't break completely, leaving Rainbow Dash to fall limply to the floor.

"And you are just as pathetic. See how strong I am? How superior I am? That's from following my dreams, no matter what the cost! And now, all of Equestria will bow down to ME!"

At this last word, the Shadow stomped its hoof down with such force that the floor started to crack. Then the window Dash had been flung into shattered, showering fragments of glass all around her. The other window's followed suit until the floor around the edge of the room was covered in a full rainbow spectrum of sharp edges.

Rainbow Dash picked herself up, wincing at several deep scratches the glass had given her, and thanking Celestia that none of it had actually stabbed her. She looked around the room now and realized that the glow from behind the windows was actually coming from some sort of machinery that looked like it belonged in the Weather Factory.

"You're a failure." The Shadow said, slowly slinking its way toward Dash with malicious intent plastered all over its face. "It's time you payed your toll, and fueled MY success."

"Not on your life!" Came a shout from the end of the room.

Both Rainbow Dashes turned to see four ponies rush out of the darkness to join them. Pinkie Pie led the way in, looking ready to tear the Shadow apart.

"Dashie doesn't owe you anything!" She yelled out.

"Pinkie?" Dash whimpered in fear. "N-NO! STAY AWAY!"

"It's alright Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. "We're here to take you home!"

"You don't understand!" Dash cried, panic stricken. "She's a monster! She... She's not-!"

"NO! Don't say it!" Celestia shouted.

"HEH HEH HA HA!! No! Go right ahead! Tell them who I'm not! I've already proven I'm superior to you, while you've once again proven to yourself, to all of us, that you're not fit to fly like a pegasus!"

"No!" Dash screamed as the machinery in the windows began to turn on, no longer radiating just blue, but every colour of the spectrum.

"You don't deserve those wings anymore! I'm the greatest flyer in Equestria! And I did it without any friends to slow me down. When you stand before a legend like me, you might as well not even exist at all!"

"STOP IT!"

The machines started to ooze brightly glowing streams of solid colour out onto the floor, surrounding all six of them as it lit up the room.

"You're a disappointment! Now admit it to me! ADMIT IT TO YOURSELF!"

"NOO!! YOU ARE NOT ME!!"

"NO!" Twilight and Pinkie howled as they rushed forward to try and get between their friend and the Shadow.

The two were flung backwards by the shockwave however when the Shadow began to rise up, cackling triumphantly as dark energies surrounded her. The cloud exploded, revealing a towering figure in sickly grey armor, riding on a chariot pulled by several very broken, defeated, and faceless pegasi, each a different colour of the spectrum. The figure's helmet was open to reveal a black void with two piercing red eyes staring back at them. In it's right hand was a sword with a sickle like curve to its tip, in its left was the reins to the chariot and a large shield with a mirror like surface that was heavily cracked.

"I am a Shadow, the true self! And no matter what the cost, I WILL be superior!"

"Pony feathers!" Wayfarer yelled as he and Celestia back pedaled to put some space between themselves and the Shadow, only to find out that their way out was blocked by scalding hot pure spectrum goo.

Twilight and Pinkie were getting to their hooves nearby, then together they shot a stinging glare at the Shadow and simultaneously summoned their Personas.

"TYCHE!"

"LAETITIA!"

Both Personas launched themselves at the Shadow, placing a direct kick against the grey knight's shield, which then sparked with energy before blasting outward at them. Twilight and Pinkie slid backward slightly at the feeling of being kicked in the chest, then turned to look at each other.

"Don't attack the shield!" They both yelled at the other. The Shadow then swung its sword down, sending a shockwave of air blades right at them.

"EKCHUAH!" Wayfarer yelled, placing his Persona right in the path of the attack. The spear wielding Persona took a defensive posture, but it didn't help much when what felt like dozens of swords began slicing at it and, in turn, Wayfarer.

"GHHAAAA!!" He cried as the pain hit him. It was too much, he felt as though his very soul was screaming to leave his body and flee the agony inflicted on him. Ekchuah's arms dropped as the assault ended, and everypony watched in horror as the Persona's body fell forward and shattered like the stained glass windows when it hit the floor. Wayfarer legs collapsed beneath him, and he would have hit the floor completely if Celestia didn't quickly rush to him and wrap her forelegs around him.

"Don't you dare!" She cried. "I'm not letting any of my subjects die today! Do you hear me? I ORDER YOU NOT TO DIE!!"

"What a joke, all this fuss over one little worthless pegasus! The flock has no need for mediocre flyers! So why don't you just roll over and die already!"

"SHUT UP!!"Came a high pitched shout. Rainbow Dash, from out of nowhere, leapt up onto the Shadow's back and rapped her hooves around its neck.

"AUGH! Cut that out you dweeb!" The Shadow flung its arms this way and that, trying to reach the rainbow maned pegasus on its back, but the bulky armor kept it from reaching that one spot it needed to.

"You're not me!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "None of it's true! Take it back you faker! TAKE IT ALL BACK!!"

"GRAAHHH!!" The Shadow yelled as it tried a different tactic, slashing blindly at itself with its own sword. "Kill you! I'll kill you! Whatever it takes!"

Realizing the danger she was in if she stayed attached to the Shadow, Rainbow Dash leapt off its back as another sword swing just barely missed her. But then the Shadow flung its other arm around, knocking Dash to the floor with its shield. With its prey now stunned and defenseless, the Shadow raised its sword one more time, ready to end it. But then a bright light flashed in front of it, Gnowee stood before if with her arms spread wide in defense of Dash. The Shadow flicked its eyes over at Celestia, who had laid down Wayfarer's barely conscious body and stepped forward, eyes determined as she looked from the Knight to Rainbow Dash.

"On your hooves soldier." She said sternly.

"Wh-what?" Rainbow Dash

"You heard me Private Dash! On. Your. Hooves!"

"Y-yes Ma'am!" Dash stuttered as she pulled herself up.

"Humph. Soldier, as if." The Shadow smirked before it brought its sword down onto Gnowee.

"AAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!!!!" Celestia screamed as her Persona was shattered immediately by the impact.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Rainbow Dash yelled, rushing out of reach of the Shadow before it could aim another strike at her.

"YOU...WITCH!!" Twilight cried as both her and Pinkie sent their Personas forth again. This time, Tyche flung an electrically charged chakram at the Shadow and Laetitia shot a blast of fire that shrouded the chakram, speeding its flight and creating a firestorm of power that buzz sawed right into the Shadow's shield. It held for about two seconds before the mirror like barrier shattered, allowing the wheel of fire and lightning to cut right through the Shadow's arm, torso, and sword, before finally blowing up the rest.

The Shadow made an unearthly wail as the blaze consumed it, then a pillar of light erupted from the center, blasting away the fire, and leaving nothing but the other Rainbow Dash to fall to the floor, its laurel falling off and rolling away. When they were sure the dark part of Dash's mind was no longer a threat, Twilight and Pinkie rushed over to Celestia's side. Rainbow Dash was already sitting there with her head hung low, and Wayfarer had regained enough feeling back in his legs to crawl over to them.

"I'm alright." The downed princess said. "Just a little sore, give me a minute and I'll be right as rain."

"Th-this is all my fault." Rainbow Dash said, trying to fight back tears.

"Miss Dash, please don't lie, it's unbecoming of a pony under my command."

"B-but I-"

"Why..."

Rainbow Dash's head snapped around to see herself standing there, tears freely flowing from those yellow eyes.

"She's a failure... she gave up on her dreams..."

"Rainbow Dash." Celestia said. "Look at me."

Dash, rather reluctantly, tore her eyes away from her other self and looked into Celestia's.

"Few ponies remain sure of their dreams after so many years. There are points when even I question the plans I've made and the goals I strive for. The failure doesn't come from questioning yourself, or from not achieving what you set out to do, nor from being afraid that things might not work out the way you planned." Celestia then gave Dash a warm smile. "The failure comes when you stand still, when you never follow your dreams at all. Pick a heading, and fly Miss Dash. I have a feeling you're pretty good at that." Rainbow Dash sniffed, then wiped her nose on her foreleg. She nodded, and then stood up to face herself.

"You're right." She said. "I wanted to be loved. I felt as if the world was ignoring me. Everything I ever did... I thought for sure would land me where I wanted to be one day. But, my reward never came, and then suddenly, I wondered if it would ever come. I was afraid. Afraid of letting down my friends... my family... myself. Afraid that... I wasn't good enough. It was the worst feeling in the world, and I thought, maybe if I didn't try at all, things would be better." Dash turned and looked at the four ponies behind her, then looked down ashamedly as she returned her gaze to herself. "But that idea sucked, and it made sure everyone was disappointed in me. Friends, Family, Myself, Everyone. And now I'm back at square one, wishing I could take it all back." She smiled and approached her other self, then slowly wrapped her forelegs around the Shadow's shoulders. "I guess I should start right here huh? What do you say? Think we can still be the greatest flyer in Equestria? You and me? Me and you?" Dash felt a gentle nod against her shoulder, and the Shadow began to fade away into light.

A Persona in light blue, silverish armor appeared before her. The armor covered her torso, her forearms, and the bottom half of her legs. Beneath the armor was pure white chain mail, and around her waste was an armored skirt of similar colour to the armor. In her hands was a longsword, and strapped to her back was a flawless mirror shield. Her face was completely uncovered, her hair was short and white as the driven snow, her eyes red not with rage, but a passionate fire as she smiled confidently down at her summoner. After a moment, the Persona disappeared, and the light drifted down to join with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow took in a deep breath and smiled, but it was a smile tinged with sadness. "We've got a long road ahead of us." Then her strength left her, and she started to fall to her side.

Twilight caught her before she hit the floor, then she and Pinkie lifted her back up and prepared to carry her home.

Author's Notes:

I've been having a rather rough time of it lately, so I haven't really had a chance to work on this until last week. Let it never be said that I'm a quitter though. I know a good idea for a story when I see it.

And before anyone even asks, yes, the miniboss fight with the Gigas Shadow, particularly Pinkie yelling like a crazy person at it, is a reference to the late WWF Wrestler: The Ultimate Warrior. I never much cared for wrestling, but I was highly entertained by the antics of The Warrior. Many Thanks to Linkara and the Spoony One for introducing me to him and his craziness. I'd planned to do something like this since I started writing this story, as I found the Gigas Shadows' resemblance to Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior's greatest rival, to be a source of great amusement. When I heard about UW's death earlier this year, I was a little upset, so to honor his memory and his batshit insane ramblings, I decided to move ahead of schedule and include this fight in the next Dungeon Dive. So long Warrior, hope Parts Unknown are treating you well, you psychotic SoB.

Chapter 14: The Priestess

It was nearing midnight when they finally carried Rainbow Dash out of the castle. All of them looked and felt completely exhausted. Dash was unconscious on Pinkie's back, being watched over by Twilight. Celestia and Wayfarer had to lean against each other just to stay standing, every step sending a twinge of pain up their spines. The guards were clearly in a panic when they saw the state of the group, but Twilight and the others ignored their constant offerings of assistance and just kept walking. The streets were deserted, and only a few windows were alight with late night activity, so they had to depend on the stars and the moon to guide their way.

When they reached the library, Twilight noticed that the front room and bedroom lights were still on. The door creaked open and she sighed at the site of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike all there waiting for them. Spike was holding a scroll in his claws and was looking nervously at Rarity, who looked ready to kill the ponies that were now entering. As it was she settled for walking up to them and eyeing each one as they entered. When Pinkie walked in with Rainbow Dash, her scowl died a bit, but returned in force when Wayfarer stepped through the threshold with Celestia.

"I'm going to give Dash your bed for tonight Wayfarer." Twilight said as she and Pinkie trudged into the hallway.

"That's fine." He muttered. Wayfarer and Celestia now stood in the middle of the room, with Rarity directly in front of them, looking from one to the other with utter contempt for both of them. Neither seemed to want to meet her eyes.

"I'm going to do this now before my nerve leaves me," She said simply before she raised her hoof and brought it right across the side of Celestia's face. Celestia didn't say anything as her cheek turned red and started to sting, she just turned her head down to stare at the floor.

"I deserved that." She mumbled after a moment.

"Yes! You very well did!" Rarity said as tears started to flow from her eyes. "Thank you for bringing back Rainbow Dash safe and sound, but if you ever write off my feelings for my friends again, I will... I... I don't know what I'll do, but you won't like it!"

"If it means your safety, then I think I can live with that."

Rarity snorted and shook her head, turning away from the two and taking a seat next to Fluttershy. "You have a letter." She said curtly, nodding her head over at Spike.

Spike hopped up from his spot and handed the letter to Celestia. He stood there awkwardly for a moment while she undid the seal, before running off up the stairs to bed. He passed Twilight and Pinkie on the way out, who had returned from the guest room and headed straight for the couch opposite of Fluttershy and Rarity. Celestia's eyes scanned the letter, her face scrunching up in irritation and confusion the more she read, till eventually she sighed and rolled the parchment back up.

"What's that?" Twilight asked.

"Letter from Luna." Celestia said as she walked over to a writing desk, setting down the scroll and picking up a blank sheet and quill. "Apparently Blueblood has given up his schemes of removing myself and or Luna from the throne. She didn't buy that and thinks he might be up to something, so she decided to let me know. It's nothing really that important, not right now at least."

"Does this mean you can sit down and tell us what in the name of Equestria is going on?" Rarity said, obviously still very irate about the whole thing.

"No." Celestia said as she started to write out a response to Luna. "I trust the two of you can keep it a secret, but if I tell you what we're doing you'll be inclined to try and follow us, and I'd rather not put you under a sleeping spell every time we have a crisis that needs our attention."

Rarity just got more flustered at this before Twilight tried to calm her down. "Rarity, if you won't do it for your own safety, will you promise to not get involved for our sanity?"

"Ugghhh!" Rarity groaned. "You want us to help you by NOT helping you? Twilight, I think you are forgetting that you, me, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack are the wielders of Equestria's greatest line of defense. Whatever horrors you are facing I'm sure would be much easier to handle with The Elements of Harmony."

"If that were true, then why do you think we haven't used them yet?" Twilight pointedly asked.

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, then thought about it for a moment and sighed in defeat. "You must have a reason... I suppose."

"We do, and I'm begging you,” Twilight pleaded. “Please trust that we know what we're doing.” Rarity remained silent, but refused to make eye contact with her friend. Glancing around, Wayfarer noted that nopony seemed to want to look anyone else in the eye at the moment. Rarity sighed and got to her hooves.

"I suppose that's it then?” Rarity said. “Fine, I've taken up enough of your time today. Coming Fluttershy?"

"Oh, umm,” mumbled Fluttershy. “I guess so. Good night everypony." The two made their leave from Twilight's library, closing the door none too gently as they disappeared into the night. Pinkie then made to get up as well, but was also followed by Twilight.

"Let me walk you home Pinkie. After today, I think we really should start traveling in pairs."

"That... actually sounds like a good idea." Celestia said as she took the now vacant couch, her completed letter clutched in magic. "I'll write out something to post around town tomorrow, after I get some shut eye." The letter suddenly burst into flames and went flying out the door as Pinkie and Twilight opened it again.

"I'll be back in a flash." Twilight said as she shut the door behind her. Wayfarer took that moment to drop on the opposite couch that Pinkie and Twilight had left. He and Celestia starred across the coffee table at each other, too tired to really do anything else.

"You alright?" Celestia asked.

"I'm a little numb,” Wayfarer grumbled. “But otherwise, I'm still here. You?"

"I've had worse." She chuckled. "And I'll probably have worse by the time this is all over."

"That's a positive thought." Wayfarer sighed. Pain wasn't really a foreign concept to him, he'd had his fair share of instances where he or some random act of fate had done bodily harm to him. But tonight's ordeal had certainly been the worst for him, unless something happened before his memory loss. He shuttered slightly at the idea that more pain might be lurking in his future. "You've seriously had worse?" he asked out of curiosity.

"That might have been the sixth closest to death I've ever come." Celestia said, adjusting her head slightly to rest her chin on a couch cushion. "And two of those have been in the last couple of years. This was definitely an unpleasant night, but it's far from the worst situation I've ever been in."

"I... think... that was my first time coming close to death."

"I would hope. But why would you say 'you think'?"

"I don't remember anything from my childhood, so it's possible something might have happened then."

"... I can't really remember my childhood either. Fifteen hundred years is a long time, so it was inevitable that some memories would fade, but it still hurts when I can't even remember the day I learned to fly, or when I raised the sun for the first time on my own." Celestia grimaced as her lost memories flitted about her, teasing her to try and reach out to them. "I'm so old. Old enough to have changed who I am dozens of times over. But you are still young. You shouldn't have lost your memories, you should have been allowed to stay the pony you were."

"It doesn't really matter to me to be honest." Wayfarer said. "I am who I am now. Who ever I was before is gone now and there's no use looking for him." Celestia opened her mouth to say something, then decided to stay herself and instead nuzzled her muzzle into the pillow.

A flash of light announced Twilight's return. She started to stagger towards the steps to her room when she saw the two laying on her couches.

"Wayfarer, take my bed. I'll take the couch."

"How about no." Wayfarer grumbled.

"I'm not doing this again. It's bad enough Celestia has to sleep on an over sized pillow instead of a proper bed, but that couch is ancient! You're going to wake up sore and I don't think Cheerilee will be happy if you come to work in that sort of state."

"I'm going to wake up sore either way. Keep your bed Twilight."

Twilight stood at the foot of the stairs for a moment before walking over to Wayfarer and grabbing his tail in her magic. She dragged him off the couch with a thud and started to lug him over to the steps.

"Twilight! Let go!"

"You're getting a good night's sleep! You and Rainbow Dash both!"

"I'll be fine! Let me go!"

"Take my bed!"

"No! You need it more than I do!"

"Stop being stubborn about this!"

"Right back at you!"

"Fine! We'll both sleep in it! Alright?" Twilight looked down from the steps to glare at Wayfarer, who was hanging onto the bottom stair, trying to keep himself from being dragged up the flight. His grip loosened a bit when he heard her proposal, he turned his head around slowly to glare back at Twilight and raised an eye at her.

"Seriously Twilight?" He said in his most deadpan of voices. Twilight looked confused for a moment before her eyes went wide and her face went beet red. She dropped Wayfarer's tail and started backing up the steps, nervously laughing as she went.

"Or YOU KNOW... you could, stay DOWN HERE! On the COUCH! Away from ME! YOU KNOW! Eeep!" She tripped over the last step in her haste and then made a scramble to right herself and rush away. Wayfarer heard a door slam, then the sound of somepony trying to stifle a fit of laughter. He turned his head back around to look at the couches and gave Celestia an evil eye.

"It's not funny." He said as he got back up and returned to his previous position across from the giggling white mare.

"Oh you're right." She said with a hoof over her mouth. "It's hilarious. And it'll be even funnier when her Brother finds out.

"Yeah. That's what I need right now. An over protective brother thinking I have the hots for his sister." Wayfarer groaned into a pillow, mumbling out a half hearted Good night to Celestia, which she returned before turning out the lights.

"What do you mean she's sick?" Scootaloo shouted loudly at Wayfarer as he walked down the road to the school house, with the Cutiemark Crusaders hot on his hooves.

"She caught something bad in Cloudsdale and she needs to recuperate." He replied. "Give her some time alright?"

"Is it serious?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Not deathly so, she really just needs to sleep it off is all."

"Like she don't do that all the time already," Apple Bloom said. "If she ain't working with the other weather ponies or practice'n her fly'n, she's usually nap'n in one of our apple trees."

Scootaloo just grimaced at the ground in response. She had rushed over to the library that morning just as Wayfarer was dragging his hooves out the front door. She demanded to see Rainbow Dash before Twilight stepped out as well and berated her for trying to skip school, then sent both her and Wayfarer on their way.

"It's not fair." Scootaloo mumbled. Wayfarer didn't say anything to that, in part because he partially agreed with her.

"Aww, come on Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said in an attempt to cheer up her friend. "You've been down in the dumps for a month! Rainbow Dash is back now! You should be happy!"

"Well... I don't feel happy," Scootaloo sighed.

"Why don't we try see'n her AFTER school?" Applebloom suggested.

"That's even if we HAVE school," Sweetie Belle said as they drew closer to the School House and saw that a small crowd of foals were gathered around the front door.

"Why aren't they going in?" Applebloom asked.

"Hey it's Miss Cheerilee's janitor!" One of the foals said as they crossed into the school yard. "Maybe he knows what's going on?" Wayfarer was then surrounded by a mass of confused children, all clamoring to question him at the same time.

"Hold up! I just got here!" He said as he tried to make his way to the door. "Where's Miss Cheerilee?"

"We don't know!" Said one filly.

"She left a note on the door though." said another. Wayfarer, after finally getting the kids to back off, went to take a look at the note in question. 'Classes canceled' it said.

"Well, that's informative." Wayfarer mumbled.

"She's never canceled class before!"

"Yeah even when she got sick she just had somepony else come and teach us."

"What do we do?"

"Go home? I don't think my mom will believe me if I tell her Cheerilee canceled school."

"Quite everyone." Wayfarer said calmly, getting the children's attention. "Does anyone here know where Miss Cheerilee lives?"

"Uhhmm... at the school?” One colt said. If Wayfarer wasn't legitimately worried about Cheerilee, he might have actually laughed at that.

"I know where thee livths!" Said a curly maned filly with a thick lisp. "Thee livths a few houtheths away from me!"

"Great. Can you give me an exact address? I'm going to go see if she's okay, the rest of you all should head straight home. Let your parents know something's up. Alright?" There was a general nod and murmur of understanding before the foals started to trot away, save for the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the filly with the lisp, who gave Wayfarer the address he needed before she joined her other classmates.

"Go on then you three." Wayfarer said to Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Can we go with you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't think so,” Wayfarer said, shaking his head. “I really don't think your parents would want you three wondering about without knowing where you are." All three of them looked at each other with confusion before turning back to Wayfarer.

"My Parents are still on their trip," Sweetie Belle said. "And Rarity never really asks me where I go as long as I don't cause trouble."

"My... Brother and Sister usually just ask that Ah get home before supper." Apple Bloom said. "And that Ah make time to do mah chores."

"The lady at The Home says I need to be back by curfew and that's it." Scootaloo said.

Wayfarer raised an eye at this, looking at each filly in turn with confusion and a hint of incredulousness. "So you three just roam around town all day without any supervision?" The three nodded. "Well I guess that's one of the joys of living in a small town where everypony knows you... but still, I think your guardians would like to know what's going on. So run on home then." The three fillies shoulders slumped as they all murmured agreed and started to trudge their way back to their respective homes. Wayfarer stuck around the school house for a minute or two to make sure no late comers showed up, before he too left the empty building behind.

The walk over to Cheerilee's house was short and to the point, but Wayfarer had a feeling that the following conversation would be anything but. The house itself was a relatively small, one floor abode, with all the curtains drawn closed. There were a lot of Marigolds and Fuchsias in the flower boxes under the windows, which for the most part looked well taken care of, so Wayfarer reasonably felt assured that Cheerilee hadn't just up and left town within the last three days. He stepped up to the door and knocked three times on the wood, calling out his employer's name.

"Cheerilee? Miss Cheerilee are you home?"

Wayfarer heard a bit of shuffling from inside and almost caught one of the curtains being pulled back slightly before the door was creaked open. Cheerilee stood there looking like she'd just gotten out of bed after a horrible night's rest. Her mane was in shambles and her coat was frayed in some places. The bags under her eyes turned from purple to an unfriendly maroon, and the eyes themselves looked ready to snap shut at any moment.

"Good morning Wayfarer." She mumbled before stretching out her mouth into an overtly loud yawn. "What are you doing here this early?"

"Wondering why school was canceled." Wayfarer said. "As I'm sure half of Ponyville will be when they hear about it."

"Oh." Cheerilee said simply. She looked from Wayfarer's face to the ground, eyes darting back and forth like she was in deep thought. She lifted her head back up and stepped aside. "Well come in. I just put a pot of coffee on the stove, you want some?"

"That'd be nice, thank you." Wayfarer said as he took in the sight of Cheerilee's front room slash kitchen.

The entire room looked about as neat and tidy as Twilight's library. Everything had its own place, nothing was where it shouldn't be. That was until he saw the table, which was the exact opposite. It looked as though she'd taken one of her filing cabinets and just turned the whole thing over on the table's surface, and then she'd tossed her typewriter onto it as well in what little space was remaining.

"Were you writing something?" Wayfarer asked.

"What? Oh yes, I was writing a letter to one of my old students. Did I mention them yet? Moved to Manehatten to work at a museum?"

"Well you mentioned wanting to write to them,” Wayfarer said, racking his memories. “But I don’t think you mentioned Manehatten."

Cheerilee nodded to herself and went to go check on the Coffee. Wayfarer continued his examination of the front room, noting with some degree of surprise that there were very little personal effects in the room. He could have very well walked into another library, or a small coffee shop with how little of Cheerilee's personality showed in the room. That is until he spotted a shelf that had several photo albums lined up, each having a label designating about three years each, going back about Twenty-Five years. Wayfarer grabbed the first one and cracked it open.

He was greeted by the smiles of about a dozen fillies and colts, as well as two older mares. One was obviously a much younger Cheerilee, with a very frizzy mane and wearing hoofbands of all things. The other was a much more subdued looking mare who looked to be getting on in years.

"I was only 16 when that photo was taken." Cheerilee said from behind Wayfarer, making him turn his head to see her carrying a mug of coffee for him. "I was technically only a Teachers assistant, but I considered myself an educator all the while." She took the album and hoofed over the coffee. She placed the book on the already crowded table and started to absentmindedly flip through it. "There he is."

Cheerilee turned the book around for Wayfarer to see as she pointed a hoof to a picture of a very young colt. The picture itself was too faded to really make out the colour, but he looked very tan with spiky dark brown hair. "Little Pocket Watch. Wanted to be an Archeologist."

"Is he who you're writing to?" Wayfarer asked.

"Mhmm." Cheerilee said, closing the book and setting it back on its shelf. "He's got a cousin still in Ponyville, Time Turner, he works at the local clock shop. I went by the other day to ask if Turner had heard from Pocket. He said he was doing great, then he gave me Pocket's address so I could write to him." Cheerilee moved back to her type writer, sitting down and staring intently at the almost filled page. "I wanted to ask how he was doing, if life and work was treating him well..." She hung her head slightly. "If I'd prepared him enough for what 'life and work' entailed."

"You still hung up on that?" Wayfarer asked.

Cheerilee smiled and tore the letter out of the type writer, placing it with three other pages before folding them into thirds and then reaching for an envelope. "We all have our hang ups, some less obvious to us then others." She stuffed the letter into the envelope and sealed it shut before turning to Wayfarer. "And I blame this particular one on you."

"Me?" Wayfarer said incredulously. "What did I do?"

"You gave me enough free time to actually think and consider what the future holds for my students, and whether or not I was giving them what they needed to succeed. Without you I'd be too busy to even consider the notion... thank you for that."

"Uhm... you're welcome, I guess."

Wayfarer was on his way back to the Library when Pinkie decided she didn't like how alone he looked and decided to jump out the window of Sugarcube Corner as he walked by.

"Hi'ya Wayfarer!" She said as she matched his gate.

"Hello Pinkie. Got a day off?"

"Nope." Pinkie said. "But the Cake's schedule is always more of a suggestion for me."

"Really." Wayfarer said with a flat stare. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"Well I do tend to work a lot even when they DO give me time off, but that's because baking is second only to hanging out with friends in the 'Things that make Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie' category."

"I would have thought Partying would be number two on that list."

"Silly!" Pinkie snorted as she got in front of Wayfarer and started walking backwards. "Partying is something I do ALL the time. It's more of a way of life than anything. Partying is more like the unspoken number zero of 'Things that make Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie.'"

"Partying: The philosophy of Pinkie Pie." Wayfarer snorted as he rolled his eyes. "Sounds like one of those weird, new age, spiritual cleansing books the ponies in the Baltimare shopping district try to sell."

"Ooh! You mean like fortune tellers and stuff?"

"Yeah, that's it! Except I don't think you'll be trying to convince ponies to 'Rid yourselves of all your worldly possessions' or any of that horse hockey."

"Yeah no, definitely not. Especially if candy is considered a worldly possession! Can you imagine having to give up candy?!"

"Oh the horror." Wayfarer deadpanned with only the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"No more peppermints!" Pinkie cried out. "No more taffy or gumdrops! No more Dragon's Beard or Gummy Bears or Carmel or Toffees or Licorice or... or..."

"Or chocolate?" Wayfarer helpfully suggested, though from the way she reacted he might as well had told Pinkie everything she knew and loved had been destroyed in an instant.

"NOT THE CHOCOLATE!!" Pinkie screamed and threw herself at Wayfarer's hooves, stopping him in the middle of the street and causing everypony in the vicinity to turn their heads in the two's direction, before realizing who was making the commotion and going back to what they were just doing. "Please tell me the fortune tellers won't come to take my chocolate Wayfarer! Say it ain't so!"

"Pinkie! Relax!” Wayfarer said, pushing Pinkie off. “I'm sure the tambourine wielding fiends like chocolate just as much as you do!"

"Oh okay!" Pinkie said, dropping the over dramatic waterworks and standing back up. "I was afraid I'd have to get rid of my 'Madam Pinkie' stuff! That would have bee a waste of a good character!"

Wayfarer shook his head and continued to walk. "Really Pinkie, who doesn't love chocolate?"

"I don't know... but they're probably not of this world!"

"Well you'd better get back to Sugarcube Corner and make sure those other worldly fortune tellers know what they're missing."

"Hey that's a great idea! Thanks Farey! See ya around!"

"IT'S WAYFARER!!" He shouted off at the pink blur that sped off back the way they came.

"Well, Discord finished putting the front of the castle back together." Celestia said as she walked in the front door around dinner time. "Now we need to find a way to have the opening ceremony without actually letting anypony into the castle."

"Good luck with that." Wayfarer said before spooning a mouthful of egg fried rice into his maw.

"I suppose we could have the party out in the gardens." Twilight said as she broke apart her chopsticks. "But I think ponies will want to see the inside one way or another."

"You guys keep talking like I'm not in the room." Spike said, struggling to correctly hold his chopsticks. "It gets kind of annoying you know." Twilight and Celestia shared a look of guilt before turning to Spike.

"Spike." Twilight said. "We-"

"Don't worry about it." The dragon said as he sighed and dropped the Chinieghs utensils and followed Wayfarer's example with a fork. "I heard what you all said last night. I promise I won't go running after wherever you guys go when Ponies disappear. I'll be sure to send a letter to Princess Luna if you're ever not there when I wake up." Spike froze for a moment before looking up at Twilight with a twinge of fear about him. "Please don't ever not be there when I wake up."

Twilight leaned over and embraced Spike in her forehooves. "Don't worry, I'll be alright Spike."

Wayfarer started to tap his own fork against the table in thought. From all they'd seen, the Shadows don't even really appear in or around the castle until around midnight. During the day, and even partially into the night, they keep to the underground. But then again, just because they hadn't seen one during the day doesn't mean they weren't lurking in some of the more inward rooms of the castle, where no sunlight at all reached.

"Well if we had the Ceremony all through the day, we'd be less likely to have any incidents." Wayfarer said. "Some extra security probably wouldn't go amiss though."

"What good would they do against the shadows though?" Twilight pointed out. "Our magic doesn't work on them, remember?"

"Magic, no." Celestia said. "But conventional weaponry does work. Discord took out more than a few with just a golf club, I'm sure a battalion of well armed guards would be able to sweep the castle of any Shadows still lurking about in the daytime."

"Are you sure about that?" Twilight asked. "I mean no offense, but the royal guards don't have the best track record when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Well that's what peace time does to a country's military,” Celestia said. She then started to chew on the ends of her chopsticks in thought. “Go long enough without any significant incident and they become complacent. Your brother's been on a bit of a crusade to get that fixed for goodness knows how long."

"Shining? Yeah he told me once before I came to Ponyville that Guard training was a little lax. It doesn't surprise me he'd want to make improvements even after retiring from being Captain."

"Maybe we should get him to come take care of security." Wayfarer said.

"He's probably too busy in the Chrystal Empire for that." Twilight said, ears flattening against her head. "Plus I wouldn't want to take him away from Cadence for too long."

"I'm sure your brother could spare a few days down here for that." Celestia said. "This is your castle after all, I'm sure he'd want to make sure it's safe for you. But whatever the case, the Ceremony will have to wait until after the Summer Sun Celebration." Her face scrunched up a bit before she continued. "The Elite of Canterlot and other cities will probably want to attend, and at the moment they're busy with the Sun Celebrations in their own towns."

"Well there is the week between that and 'Breezy Beaches Week'" Twilight said, looking over at the calendar on the wall. "We'll have to discuss that with Mayor Ivory at some point I guess." Dinner continued over more idle chatter, before the four of them felt the call of their night caps and bedsheets.

There was a crowd at the school house when Wayfarer arrived the next morning. He recognized a lot of the ponies present as the parents of Cheerilee's students, and Applejack. Cheerilee herself was standing in front of the school addressing the group as she ushered in the foals.

"Again, you have my apologies. And I promise all of you that the next time I have to take a leave of absence, you will all know long in advance. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to play catch up with my students." She let in one more student before trotting inside, letting the crowd disperse back into town.

"Hey." Came a familiar southern drawl as Applejack approached Wayfarer. "Applebloom said you went over to Cheerilee's yesterday. What happened to her?"

"She didn't say?" Wayfarer asked, only to have AJ shake her head slightly. "Well, she just needed a day off is all. She needed to take care of some personal business."

Applejack snorted at that. "Lot of ponies start'n to skiv out on work just to sort out 'Personal Business'. Someponies can't afford to just do that sort of thing on a whim you know?" She hesitated a moment before turning her head to the side and looking away from Wayfarer. "Listen, I'm sorry you had to see me and Rainbow have it out like that the other day. Wasn't fair to you or my friends." She then turned back to look at Wayfarer with a stern look in her eye. "But Discord was right, somethin funny's go'n on round here, and I have a hunch that you, Twi, and that Sunny Skies character are in on it."

Wayfarer started to sweat a little as Applejack took a step forward and got right into his face. Her green eyes seemed to be judging every facial feature and twitch for even the slightest hint of guilt, and Wayfarer had a horrible poker face. Rarity and Fluttershy were one thing, with the exception of Rarity slapping Celestia, they hadn't gotten physical with their anger. And most of their displeasure was directed at Twilight and Celestia then him anyway. Applejack on the other hoof seemed to be constantly on the line with whether or not she actually liked him, and from what he'd seen the farm mare could easily buck him into next week if she wanted to. Luckily for him, Applejack wasn't ready to shatter his jaw quite yet. She sighed and turned away from Wayfarer, heading back to the road.

"Yall just make sure Twi's safe you hear me? She's not just important to Ponyville anymore, she's important to all of Equestria. You got that?"

"Yeah." Wayfarer said, exhaling a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. "Yeah, I got it."

As the students piled out of the classroom at the end of the day, Wayfarer couldn't help but smile over at Cheerilee, who looked at least twice as happy as he did at the moment. She'd been on cloud nine almost the entire day, joyfully answering questions and spending time with her students. Her smile had become almost infectious by the time lunch had rolled around, to the point where even the grouchiest kids in the class were grinning along with her. Some of the kids had asked her what she was so happy about, and she would just respond that she was glad to be back with them.

The front door closed shut gently as the last filly left, then Cheerilee started to chuckle under her breath as she walked over to her desk.

"Okay, I'll bite." Wayfarer said as she sat down. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Pocket Watch wrote back." Cheerilee said as she pulled out a folded up sheet of paper. "Probably the best start to a day I've had in a long time."

"Already?” Wayfarer asked. “Didn't you send that letter only yesterday?"

"I know, I was surprised too. But that's Pocket for you. I remember he'd turn in assignments the day after they were assigned, even when he had weeks to work on them."

"Oh boy, a Teachers Pet eh?"

Cheerilee snorted in laughter at that. "No no no, nothing like that. He just loved doing things on time. He loved the freedom that getting things done and out of the way allowed for him. It was all about finding something to do and doing it right then and there, just because he could." Her eyes darted over the letter, occassionally smirking at something she read as another good memory came back to her. "He kept moving forward, no matter what. And I realized that I should be doing the same." Cheerilee reached for the letter's envelope and turned it upside down, and a small pin fell out. It looked like a single smiling flower, like it was lifted right from Cheerilee's cutie mark.

"What's that?" Wayfarer asked.

"It's one of the pins I give to my students during the last year they attend my class." She said melancholically. "Or to be more accurate, the pins that the previous years students give them. It's a bit of a ceremony I have at the end of the year, each of the graduating class picks a student a year younger then them and pins this to them, sort of like the passing of the torch from one to another. Pocket moved away with his family half way through the year and never had a chance to pin this to a student." She lifted the letter up again with a smile, reading a little more from it before looking up at Wayfarer. "He asked me to give this to what ever student didn't get one this year." She stepped forward with the little button in her hoof. "Unfortunately everypony DID get one this year, so I guess I should give this to you."

Wayfarer felt a slight pressure over his chest as Cheerilee stuck the pin to the lapel of his shirt. He looked down at it and smiled, before puffing out his chest and posing like a soldier who'd been awarded some sort of high honor. Cheerilee chuckled at that.

"Don't forget to make sure that gets to one of the students at the end of the year, Alright?"

"You can count on me Miss Cheerilee."

She smiled and looked around the classroom, which already looked cleaned and tidy even before Wayfarer started cleaning. "You know what? It seems a little redundant having you come in every day just to clean. I want you to start taking Tuesdays and Thursdays off from now on. Don't worry, I'll adjust your pay accordingly."

As the day drew to a close, Wayfarer returned to the Library in high spirits. His soul felt as light as a feather, and he sensed that something had changed inside him. Dinner passed with conversation of the coming week, Twilight saying that Rainbow Dash had briefly awoken and was able to eat something before falling asleep again, Spike trying to convince them that he was feeling bumps in his back that he thought were his wings finally coming out, before they were again called to their beds for the night.

Wayfarer was staying up a little later than usual, curled up on the couch under a reading lamp and reading from a book that Twilight had suggested to him. The sound of shuffling hooves from across the room stole his attention as he looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing in the doorframe to the hallway.

"Dash?" he asked, uncertain if she was even fully conscious. "Something wrong?"

"No," she mumbled. "Just stretching my legs. I'm not used to sleeping for this long, it feels off."

"I can imagine."

"Yeah... I want to go take a flight and stretch my wings, but I'll probably end up falling asleep while airborne if I do that." Rainbow walked over to the opposite couch and collapsed on it. "Why don't you take the guest bed tonight? I think I've hogged it enough."

"Hey now, you need it more than I do."

"No, I don't. I can sleep almost anywhere. I once spent a night in one of AJ's Apple trees and woke up perfectly rested." Wayfarer still wasn't convinced. "Do it, or you'll be the first thing I sic Andraste on when I can finally stand on my own for more than five minutes."

"Alright, fine." Wayfarer sighed as he got up. "But if Twilight gets miffed at me, I'm blaming you."

"Duly noted... hey."

"Yeah?"

"What's with the pin on your shirt?"

"Oh," Wayfarer touched at the pin. "Just something Cheerilee gave me."

"Kind of ruins the whole, 'Too cool for you' look you've got going on."

"Heh, yeah I guess it does."

Wayfarer walked back to the guest room and pulled the pin off, placing it gently on the shelf before pulling off the rest of his clothes. As he turned to the bed, he caught site of his tarot deck. Smiling, he pulled the first card off the top: The Priestess. He placed the card with the button, then laid himself down and drifted off to sleep.

Blueblood, after giving the two unicorns tailing him the slip, galloped lightly through the alley ways as Luna's moon raised high over head. By the time his pursuers realized he wasn't on the train bound for Las Haygas, they'd already be too far down the tracks to do anything about it. He turned the corner and found the pony he was looking for. Moon was standing in her usual black cloak, staring up at her namesake from across the street from Blueblood. Slowly he walked over to her and stood by her side.

"Do they suspect anything?" she asked.

"Of course they do,” Blueblood snorted in annoyance. “They always suspect my actions no matter how innocent."

"I suppose that was unpreventable," Moon said. The two stood in silence for a while. A nearby street lamp flickered on and off a few times, but other than that the night was dead still.

"So what are my orders?" Blueblood asked.

"Judgement wishes for you to stay in Canterlot. With three of the four princesses away from the capital, you are next in line for the seat of power should anything go wrong. And things WILL go wrong, I can assure you."

"You have a plan?"

"I always have a plan my dear. Soon I will put Luna out of commission myself, and you will be there to take charge. Celestia will be too distracted with other things to be able to return, so you and I will have all the time we need to fulfill our role unhindered by either princess."

"And that role is?"

If Moon could smile through her mask, she would have done so as she levitated another set of black robes and a mask from her bags. "Why, to bring sustenance to our master of course." Blueblood picked up the mask and looked into the slits that were meant to be eyes. The mask itself was shaped like a shield, was coloured a yellowish gold and had no other features aside from the eyes.

Blueblood turned the mask around and place it over his face before drawing the cloak around himself.

"Welcome to the Shadow Arcana." Moon said. "Blueblood of the Chariot."

Author's Notes:

I'm deeply sorry for how long it took such a short chapter to come out, but I'm afraid such is life.

Chapter 15: Daily Living - June 13th

Wayfarer was quickly shooed away from the schoolhouse by Miss Cheerilee around noon, to the disappointment of the foals who had gotten used to dragging him around during after-lunch recess. With a free afternoon ahead of him, he started contemplating about where he'd like to quell the rumbling in his stomach. Just as he was about to make his way over to Sugarcube Corner, however, a shadow of a pegasus flew over head.

"Hey there!" ‘Sunny Skies’ called as she swerved around and landed next to Wayfarer. "I thought you still had work today?"

"I did," Wayfarer said. "But Cheerilee opted to kick me out till tomorrow."

"Well shoot." Celestia said as she turned and frowned at the basket she had nestled between her wings. "And I was going to come visit you and the foals during lunch break. I brought some egg sandwiches for you and everything."

"You made me lunch?" Wayfarer asked as Celestia joined his walk into town.

"Thought it would be nice seeing as you left that measly daffodil and daisy sandwich on the kitchen counter."

Wayfarer grimaced at the reminder of his lapse in memory that morning. After getting read the riot act by an extremely irate Twilight when she found Rainbow Dash on the couch, Wayfarer was held up longer than he would have liked. In his rush to get out and get away from the infuriated alicorn, he'd completely spaced on grabbing the single sandwich he'd made before his assailant had found him. It left him wondering how in Tartarus he was going to make it through the afternoon, until Cheerilee found out and told him to take the afternoon off.

"Was Twilight still mad after I left?" Wayfarer asked hesitantly.

"Very much so." Celestia replied with annoyance. "And Rainbow Dash slept through the whole thing, so she had no way to confirm that you were telling the truth."

"Not like Twilight would have been any happier if she had."

"She's... complex like that." Celestia said simply. "But enough about that, where would you like to have lunch?"

"I was thinking about Sugarcube Corner, but then you showed up. And I think it might be a little rude to just bring food already made to a restaurant."

"Quite. How about a little hill outside of town?"

Wayfarer nodded and the two of them began to skirt around the edge of the village, coming to a relatively open expanse with rolling hills from edge to edge. They ascended a taller ridge and came to find a rather gorgeous view of the mountains and Canterlot. All around the light breeze was causing the grass to wave and crest like a sea of green, the clouds overhead lazily following in the same direction.

Wayfarer whistled at the site as he slowly turned his head and took a full panoramic look at his surroundings. "Wouldn't get a sight like this in Baltimare."

"I imagine the ocean would provide just as good of a view." Celestia said as she pulled the basket off her side and pulled a picnic blanket out.

"Nah, too flat. You can't see anything but sea and sky." He took one of the corners of the blanket in his mouth and helped to straighten it out. "Here though, the horizon actually has shape and character to it. And the way Canterlot just sort of towers over everything... it's sort of awe inspiring." Celestia sighed and gazed up at the castle hanging almost precariously from the side of the highest peak in Equestria. Wayfarer couldn't tell if her expression was one of longing or animosity, but she definitely looked tired as she contemplated her home.

"Tell me Wayfarer," she said as she sat down and propped open the basket. "Have you ever heard the saying 'It's lonely at the top?’"

"I have," Wayfarer said as he took one of the sandwiches Celestia offered. "And I don't really agree with it."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I think loneliness is the fault of those at the top who are too afraid to come down."

Celestia smirked at that before her face slumped into a more melancholy appearance. "It's true, as rulers my sister and I had to grow up away from 'normal' ponies. And after her fall from grace a thousand years ago, I was in no rush to immerse myself in the everyday lives of my subjects for some time. I did eventually amend that, but those lonely months at the top of the world are engraved into my memory. I... well, let's just say I wasn't very excited when my subjects decreed that my place of isolation would be the perfect spot for my forever home. Still, that mountain has had just as many good memories as bad ones."

"I'd like to see it someday."

"Oh, don't worry, you will." Celestia said, smiling. "You're friends with two of Equestria's royalty. We'll find a reason to drag you up the mountain eventually."

"I'd rather take the train thank you." Wayfarer said with a mock sneer, making Celestia chuckle.

The two sat for a while in silence as they ate, watching the grass flow and the clouds roll by. Eventually the sandwiches were gone, and all that was left was the quiet breeze.

"Sunny?" Wayfarer said hesitantly.

"Hmm?"

"...Celestia... how did you do it?"

"Do what?" Celestia asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Survive. You said it yourself, fifteen hundred years is a long time. Impossibly long even. At best, an average earth pony would live to see a hundred and fifty. But... a millennium and a half of life... how did you do it?"

"... oh." Celestia looked at the blanket and started to take a keen interest in the stitch work. "Well... I changed. I changed who I was. The pony you see before you is not the same pony who was ruling a hundred years ago, or the one that was ruling a hundred years before that. I even doubt I'll be the same one that's ruling a hundred years in the future." Celestia stood and reached for the corner of the blanket. Seeing what she was doing, Wayfarer grabbed another corner and helped her fold the sheet back up.

"We experience so much stimuli in our lives that our ways of thinking and behaving are almost constantly changing." She continued. "Given enough time, we become completely unrecognizable. My sister will tell you that, when she came back, she had a hard time adjusting to the fact that I was capable of smiling when around my subjects. I still don't think she comprehends that I can actually laugh around them as well." She sighed as she pushed the blanket back into the basket and re-saddled it on her back. "I was a stranger to her, yet at the same time I was the only one she could talk to or trust to any degree. Heh, she's lucky she didn't come back six hundred years ago, that would have been awkward."

"Who were you six hundred years ago?"

Celestia's face went red and her eye widened for a moment before she answered. "I umm... I was quite the... 'cuddle bug' at the time."

"... you... cuddled a lot?"

"Not... exactly..."

"...oh... OH... OOHHHH!"

"Yeah, could you NOT mention that to anyone? That little detail seems to be skimmed over a lot in my unofficial biographies, and I would prefer it stayed that way."

"Oh don't worry," Wayfarer said hurriedly as he drew a hoof across his mouth. "my lips are sealed."

Wayfarer and Celestia's arrival back at the library was greeted with a rather loud growl from Twilight. Not, however, at them, but rather at the clock on the wall that she had opened up to reveal its inner workings.

"Stupid clock!" She yelled as she levitated a book up to her face and flipped through a few pages.

"What's wrong?" Celestia asked as she and Wayfarer walked over.

"Ugghh! Ever since that earthquake knocked it off the wall it's been freezing up every other day! It's driving me up a cliff!" She huffed as she snapped the book shut and tossed it over her shoulder, narrowly missing Wayfarer's head as he ducked under it. "And that book on clockwork hasn't been any help!"

"Why don't you take it to a clock shop?" Wayfarer suggested. "Surely they can fix it up?"

Twilight spun around and gave Wayfarer a look that would kill if indeed looks were capable of doing so. He took a few steps back as Twilight lifted the clock off the wall and pushed it onto Wayfarer's back. "Great idea Wayfarer! You get right on it!"

"Me?! I don't even know where I'd find a shop like that!"

"Time Turner's store is a few blocks to the west. Now get going!"

"Jeez who bucked your apple tree?"

"Take a wild guess Wayfarer!" Twilight snapped.

"Twilight." Celestia said simply, getting the alicorn's attention. "We need to talk. Wayfarer, go ahead and get that clock fixed please."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Wayfarer huffed as he rushed out the front door.

Wayfarer practically walked with his head down the whole way to Time Turner's shop. He didn't imagine any pony liked being yelled at, but that didn't stop him from making a mental note of how much he particularly disliked it. He couldn't decide whether or not Twilight was within her rights to be mad at him, she was only looking out for her friends after all. On the other hoof however, such venomous anger at such minor things didn't exactly make him feel welcome.

He shook his head and tried to push his frustration out of the way. 'Celestia will take care of it' he thought.

Wayfarer pushed open the door at ‘The Clockwork Emporium’ and was assaulted by the noise of what must have been thousands of ticking clocks. Every type of timekeeper was there and active: grandfather clocks, sundials, water clocks, self regulating hourglasses, carpus watches, pocket watches, coo-coo clocks, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It was a regular menagerie of clocks, packing the store so tightly that Wayfarer had to walk on hoof tip just to get to the counter, where a tan earth pony with dark brown hair was staring intently at a standard hourglass.

"Umm, excuse me-" Wayfarer tried to say before the stallion lifted a hoof to silence him.

The two waited as the hour glass ran out, at which point the tan pony groaned and picked up the tiny glass object. "Still too much sand." he said in a very thick Great Bitan accent as he placed it on a work bench behind him. "I swear this one is determined to be a millisecond too late."

"You can tell how fast or slow an hourglass is? Just by looking at it?" Wayfarer asked, highly impressed.

"Of course I can!" The pony said as he spun around to face Wayfarer. "I am Time Turner! The finest clocksmith in all of Equestria! Time is my name and my game good sir, so how may I be of assistance to you?" Wayfarer noted that Time Turner had an hourglass cutie mark and smirked.

"Well I've got this wall clock here," Wayfarer explained as he placed the slightly heavy device on the counter. "It took a bit of a fall during those earthquakes and now it's not working right."

Time Turner pursed his lips as he inspected all around the clock, tapping on its sides and manually turning the minute leg around. He stopped to look long and hard at the face, before he closed his eyes and nodded intently. "One of the springs is bent. And I'm pretty sure several cogs are out of alignment."

"You can tell that without even opening it up?"

"Do I have to tell you my name and occupation again?" Time Turner laughed as he hoisted the clock over to his work bench. "Not to worry. I'll have this old girl right as rain in a jiffy."

"Thank you." Wayfarer said.

He turned away from the clocksmith and took stock of what else was behind the counter. Aside from a few more clocks, some of which had extra legs or different numbers to designate time. Beyond that there was a collection of other clockwork gizmos and gadgets. Most of them Wayfarer couldn't hazard a guess as to what they were, as they just looked like a jumbled mess of gears and springs. There were a couple of things that looked like wind up toys, one looked like a segmented metal slug or worm of some sort, and another looked like a salt shaker with, of all things, a plunger and an egg beater sticking out of it. The only other thing of note was a dusty glass box that displayed a single pocket watch with a lot of archaic designs across its front. At the base of the box was a plaque that simply read 'Time waits for no one.'

Wayfarer continued to admire the odd doodads of Turner’s shop until he heard the door open again. He turned around to see the grey, wall eyed pegasus he'd met at the schoolhouse a while back, as well as a mare with a light yellow green coat and curly pink and blue hair.

"Oh! Hello Mr. Wayfarer!" The pegasus said excitedly as she took excruciating care when walking through the precariously positioned clocks. "You remember me?"

"Umm, you're Dinky Doo's mother right? Derpy Doo?"

"That's right!" Derpy said as she and her friend made it to the counter. "And this is my neighbor, Bonbon."

"How do you do." Bonbon said with a polite smile.

"I'm doing well thank you. I'm Wayfarer."

"Pleasure is all mine."

"So what are you doing here Wayfarer?" Derpy asked before peering over the counter at Time Turner. "Doc giving your clock a tune up?"

"I'm not a doctor." Turner said simply as he closed up the clock and carried it back over to the counter.

"Course you are Turner!" Derpy said with a giggle. "You take sick clocks and you make them all better! Ergo, you are a Clock Doctor!"

Turner just smiled and shook his head. "Well in any case, this little beauty is all patched up and ready to go."

"Great." Wayfarer said, reaching into his pocket for his Bits Bag. "How much do I owe you?"

"Twenty, my good sir."

Wayfarer placed the requested amount on the counter for Turner to sweep up into a drawer, then returned the now fixed up clock to his back. "Many thanks." He then turned to leave, but found the path out blocked by the two mares.

"So I was thinking, Wayfarer." Derpy said. "You're still pretty new in town, and I haven't really seen you hang out with anypony aside from Twilight Sparkle. So I was wondering if you might be interested in our weekly poker night?"

"Poker night?" Wayfarer said, raising an eyebrow. Behind him he heard Time Turner sigh and then he caught Bonbon roll her eyes out of the corner of his own.

"Seriously?" Turner said exasperatedly. "As if Bonbon, Lyra, and I weren't easy enough targets, you gotta drag some other poor pony into your black hole of bits and dignity?"

"Yeah, Derpy." Bonbon said with an incredulous look. "Does he even look like the sort of stallion who has bits to spare?"

Derpy's ears drooped slightly and her cheeks grew slightly pink. "Come on guys, I'm not that good am I?"

"Yes," the other two said simultaneously.

"Don't get me wrong." Bonbon added. "Lyra and I enjoy coming over, but we always anticipate leaving at the end of the night with our wallets a little lighter. And I think Mr. Wayfarer has other things he'd rather spend money on."

"Not really." Wayfarer interjected. "Twilight won't accept any payment for room and food. I get almost everything I need from her. So... sure I'm game for a little poker every now and then."

Derpy looked ecstatic at this, while Bonbon and Turner just shook their heads.

"Your money." Turner said.

"Great!" Derpy exclaimed. "We meet every Saturday night at my place. I live on Stirrup Street, in the sea-blue house. You can't miss it."

"Alrighty then." Wayfarer said. "Well, better get this thing back to Twilight now. Thanks Turner."

"My pleasure, come back any time chap!"

"Oh and bring snacks!" Derpy yelled as the front door swung open and closed.

'Poker huh?' Wayfarer thought as he readjusted the clock before walking back to the library. 'That ought to be interesting. They all seem like nice ponies too.'

Wayfarer was surprised to see Twilight standing outside of the Library when he returned. She was prodding the dirt with her hoof and looking rather anxious. When he walked up to her, she turned to stare at him for a few seconds before sighing and lifting the clock off of his back, setting it gently by the door.

"Can we take a walk?" she asked quietly.

Hesitating for only a brief moment, Wayfarer nodded and allowed her to lead the way. They trotted slowly through town in silence, not a word said between them as they walked clear out of town, opposite of the open expanse that he and Celestia had had lunch in. Finding themselves in the foot hills in between Ponyville and the small mountains that interlocked with White Tail Woods, they stopped at the top of a rise, where Twilight turned and looked back the way they came. Following her line of sight, Wayfarer also turned to look back at Ponyville. The town was silhouetted against Canterlot Mountain, and to their left, just visible against the smaller line of mountains, was Twilight's castle.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, then turned to look at Wayfarer. "This is my home." She said simply. "I may have grown up in Canterlot, but Ponyville has felt more like the place I belong then the capital ever did. The ponies here are just as much my family as my parents or my brother, I care about them more than anything else." She paused for a moment to look back to the town again. "A year ago, I came here living under the impression that I didn't need other ponies to be the best I could be. Since then I've seen dozens of times how wrong that assumption was. I've faced so many dangers and hardships with Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash that I'm always nervous about what life might throw at us next. But this?" She gestured over over to her castle. "Everything that's happened in the last two months... it's beyond everything else. This isn't a conqueror wanting to take Equestria for themselves. The Shadows, these cloaked ponies, they don't want to rule... they want to destroy." She turned back to Wayfarer as her body began to shiver and her eye grew wide. "I'm more scared now than I ever was facing Nightmare Moon, or Discord, or the Changeling Queen, or even Sombra!"

"Oh come on." Wayfarer said suddenly. "You honestly believe these Shadows are worse than the Changelings?"

"I do."

"... why?"

"... The Shadows... they were in my head..." Twilight's shaking started to grow in intensity at this point. "They knew just the right things to say to make me deny the part of myself I was most ashamed of... and I'm still hearing them!" She collapsed to her haunches and shook her head, clearly on the verge of tears. "They keep pointing out every little flaw, every little mistake! And I'm forced to just accept all of it! I keep feeling like I've failed my friends! How am I supposed to live like that? How is anypony supposed to live with that?"

"Twilight..." Wayfarer said gently. "Stop it. It's not the Shadows whispering these things." Twilight looked up in confusion. "It's you. You're looking for mistakes and flaws, so of course you're going to find them. Everypony doubts themselves from time to time, they just have to accept that those doubts are there and then work to make things better."

Twilight looked at Wayfarer and just shook her head. "It can't be that simple," She said.

Rolling his eyes, Wayfarer sat in the grass next to the conflicted princess. "Alright then, I'll bite. Dr. Wayfarer will see you now, you'll excuse me if I don't have a couch for you to lay down on. Tell me what's on your mind, Miss Sparkle."

Twilight stared at Wayfarer for a moment, before she let out a heavy sigh. "I'm just... confused. I told my Shadow that my destiny was mine to choose, but I have no idea what my choices even are! More importantly, how will my friends factor into it?" She cast another worried glance to Ponyville. "If my friends can't be a part of my 'destiny' then it's not a destiny I want."

"Well than you're pretty well off," Wayfarer said encouragingly. "From what I've seen, you've got some pretty close friends. I bet they'd follow you to Tartarus and back if you thought that's where your destiny would take you." That got a bit of a smile out of Twilight.

"But still," she said. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a vast ocean without a compass or map to guide me."

"Well... it's not like you need those anyway. Long as you've got wind in your sails you can go where ever you want. And besides," Wayfarer pointed up to the sky, where the sun was slowly descending. "Even in a featureless ocean, you still have the sun to guide you when you need it."

Twilight's eye seemed to spark at that, as if some great yet blindingly obvious truth was revealed to her. She smiled and started to chuckle under her breath, until it burst forth into full blown laughter. "And I thought I said corny lines!"

Wayfarer shrugged and smiled too. "Nothing wrong with corn. Doesn't go as well with wine as cheese does, but hey."

The two continued to smile and stare at the valley around them, the sun casting a magnificent array of colours across the mountains and tree tops. They talked with each other about more inconsequential things, Twilight managing to worm out a few stories from Wayfarer about his life in Baltimare, just as she was beguiled into telling him of her adventures in the year since she moved to Ponyville. Eventually the conversation died down and the wind began to pick up. Twilight stood and let the breeze toss her mane and tail about.

"I think the wind is telling us to go home now," She said simply.

"You feeling better now?" Wayfarer asked, standing as well.

"A little." She replied. "Still mad you let a half conscious Rainbow Dash talk you into taking the guest bed while she took the couch, but that's hardly the sort of thing to get in a tizzy about. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

And with that, the two returned to the library, replaced the now fixed clock on the wall, and joined Celestia and Spike for dinner. All the while they were unaware of a certain dark turquoise pegasus watched from the shadows cast by the setting sun, sneering as she plotted her next move.

Luna and Iron Gavel walked in stride with each other through the corridors of Canterlot Castle, both on pins and needles. Preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration were in full swing, they'd be more than ready come next week, but still there was a bit of an underlying tension within the walls of the capital. Gavel was distracted by the chaos amongst the Canterlot Elite that Blueblood's recent actions had caused. Blueblood had vacated his post as head of the group, leaving a power vacuum that many were anxious to take. Without Blueblood though, the organization practically had little to no power, and while that should have made Gavel happy, it didn't. Why would Blueblood willingly leave a group that he himself founded in complete disarray? It made absolutely no sense to the Prime Minister.

Luna had her thoughts diverted by something a little less definable. Ever since the night Blueblood briefly disappeared, she'd felt a strange presence in her halls that simply didn't belong. Now had it been simply a ghost or spirit, that would have been one thing, but Luna felt like this mysterious presence was familiar to her. She often tossed a glance behind her or did a double take at any mirror she passed, sure that somepony or something was there, following her about. But there was never anything there, and that just made her even more nervous.

Both ponies had begun attributing the nasty feeling they were having on the only culprit they could: Prince Blueblood. Neither of them could stand to see the self important smirk he wore these days, even more than before because now both knew he'd put some sort of plan in motion and were desperate to try and figure it out before this plan could pick up steam.

"This is going to drive me up the walls." Iron Gavel said. "What's his game? He's given up almost all of his power to, what? Put us into a false sense of ease?"

"That might be part of his plan." Luna said. "But I think he's got something bigger up his fetlocks than simple plans for seizing the throne."

"What makes you say that if I might ask?"

"I've been seeing things. Things that aren't there when I take a closer look. And there's a familiar feeling I've been having sense he made his little announcement. I don't think he's alone. I think he's got a shade or spirit working with him."

"A spirit? Really, Princess Luna, Nightmare Night is still a long ways off."

"I'm serious, Gavel. If he's made some sort of deal with a creature from Tartarus-"

"Then it will backfire and he'll be out of our manes,” Gavel said. “Blueblood isn't that tactful or powerful though."

"Still, I'd rather not have to deal with another jail break. Especially not after what happened when Cerberus got loose."

"Yes, I shudder to think what would have happened had Princess Twilight not returned that mutt before anything truly nasty got out."

"Agreed. Well, the night draws near. I must bid you farewell for now, Prime Minister."

"Good night, Your Majesty." Gavel said as he bowed and continued on his way while Luna headed for her personal quarters.

Luna had decorated her place with many an odd assortment of trinkets. Her driving curiosity to catch up with all she'd missed during her time in the moon had led her to pick up every strange device that caught her eye. Her former mentor and friend, Starswirl the Bearded, had a similar interest in gadgets and gizmos, though he usually invented such things himself. One such device that Luna owned was a scale model of her moon, which changed phases as the real one did and would glow in the dark when charged with sunlight beforehoof. It was a lovely little thing that Luna kept on her bed stand, so that her celestial body was always visible, no matter where the real one was in the night sky.

She passed this device and her four-poster bed and stepped out onto the balcony, summoning her strength for the evening ritual of raising the moon while her sister, where ever she was, moved the sun over the opposite horizon. The great pale crescent rose before her, along with the thousands of stars she'd placed so carefully in the sky many thousands of moons ago. Her father had taught her the wonderful art of star forming, her first constellation still proudly hung in the north to this day. She remembered her father telling her it was beautiful, even when she claimed it was ugly. Now she looked at the arrangement of white lights and saw that her father had been right, though she still felt that she had gotten the visage of Starswirl completely wrong.

With her duties fulfilled, the princess turned to get some shut-eye before she had to awaken early the next morning. She took a moment to glance at her mirror, and once more she saw the figure that wasn't there. She didn't look away this time though, she had the phantom in her sights now and she wasn't going to lose it. Glaring, she approached the mirror and spoke to whoever this apparition was.

"Creature of shadow. I am Princess Luna, Lady of the Night and of the Moon. Who are you? What business do you have in my castle?" The figure said nothing, but its cloak shifted slightly, revealing a mask under its hood. Luna glared even more intensely at this, deducing that this was one of the same hooded ponies that Luna had read about in Celestia's letters to her. "Are you the one causing trouble in my lands? I shall warn you now, you will not succeed. Thou's plan will be foiled by my sister and her protege, and your pact with Blueblood will end in naught but miserable disgrace and failure."

The shade laughed softly at this before it started to move out of view. Luna attempted to keep the figure in the mirror, but eventually she lost sight of it. She turned and scanned the room, but saw nothing out of place or otherwise strange. She cursed under her breath for not gaining any information, then summoned a bit of magic in her horn to scan for anomaly or intruder, before putting up a force field that would keep the shade out if it ever tried to return in the middle of the night.

Luna then climbed into bed, duly aware that her encounter just robbed her of any desire to fall asleep. She didn't fear the creature though, she only feared its purpose and plans. She wrapped herself in her covers and turned her self to look at the softly glowing moon replica, only to notice a peculiar pattern had appeared on the globe's surface. It was a pattern she had become all too familiar with from all the history books dated in the time of her banishment. Quickly she shot from the bed and took hold of the small moon, but the pattern had disappeared just as quickly as the figure had.

Author's Notes:

I apologize to you all for the lack of any updates to this story in the past few months. Life is busy. C'est La Vie.

On the positive side however, I'd like to thank and welcome my friend Red Sage for helping to edit this story. Expect a lot less butchering of english grammatical rules in the coming chapters.

Red Sage and his own stories can be found over here - http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Vermilion+and+Sage

Chapter 16: June 14th - Rain, Fillies, and Crash Landings

It was raining when Wayfarer awoke. He could hear the patter of raindrops against the window and the slight rustle of the tree's leaves even before he opened his eyes to see the dark grey morning outside. It wasn't exactly pouring, but he quickly decided he would need a coat or jacket of some sort before he left for the schoolhouse. Sighing, Wayfarer sat up from the couch and started reaching for his button up and overshirt, only to find that both were missing. He heard the shifting of hooves behind him and looked over the side of the couch to see Rainbow Dash wearing his clothes.

"Not gonna lie, these are pretty snazzy." She said with a smirk. "Sort of like those suits the con artist ponies wear in those stage shows. You aren't a con pony are you Wayfarer?"

"No." Wayfarer said, getting up and walking over to Dash. "But I do like to keep myself looking nice and presentable, so I'd like those back please."

Dash smiled and quickly got the outfit off. "You sound a lot like Rarity. Do you really care that much about how you look?"

Wayfarer took both articles of clothing, then took a moment to straighten the button-up's collar after Rainbow Dash had popped it for some reason. "To be truthful, not really. It's just a carry over from living life in the big city. Everyone in Baltimare likes looking prim and proper, It tells people you're capable of taking care of yourself on a regular basis."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Meh. Honestly I'd rather look cool than presentable."

"Duly noted." Wayfarer deadpanned as he slipped his forelegs into the button up. "So how are you feeling Rainbow Dash? Are you done sleeping like an Ursa in winter?"

"Oh yeah, definitely!" She responded while rolling her head and neck backwards and stretching out her legs like a cat. Wayfarer counted at least five joints cracking before she stood up straight again. "Been out of the air for way too long, time to put these babies back to work!" She flapped her wings a few times, causing a slight breeze to blow Wayfarers hair around.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Came Twilight's voice as she descended the stairs, Spike right at her heals. "Especially seeing as you still have yet to really show me how to use mine."

"Morning Twilight. Morning Spike." Dash said. "And yeah, we've been putting off your Flying 101 classes for long enough!" She then leapt into the air, did a flip, and started hovering in place with a proud look about herself. "Dash is back, feeling better than ever, and ready to get a Princess flying straight by the end of the month!"

Twilight smiled sheepishly at that. "Actually, Rainbow," she said hesitantly, shifting her front hooves around. "I'm going to need to be able to fly by the end of this week."

Dash dropped a bit in altitude at that, but she still smiled none the less. "Not a problem." She said nodding to herself with conviction. "We'll just have to get started right away!" Then she looked out the window and remembered that it was raining. "Oh horseapples." She groaned as both she and her smile dropped to the floor.

Twilight laughed nervously. "Ehh, maybe we should discuss my lesson plan over breakfast? You must be starving, Rainbow Dash! You barely ate anything in the last few days."

Rainbow's stomach chose that moment to give a large gurgle in the affirmative. She prodded her belly gently to try and get it to stop, but the protesting moans would not be denied. She smiled sheepishly and ran a hoof through the back of her mane. "Yeah, a little breakfast would be nice right about now."

The four of them moved to the kitchen, where the library's other guest resident was already present. The sight that beheld them when they walked in was enough to make all of them stop and stare with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Celestia, in her towering alicorn form, was at the stove, cooking up a storm. Her magic holding onto two frying pans, one with eggs and one working on pancakes. Both had a spatula accompanying them as they stirred and flipped the contents of the pans. She was wearing a pink turtleneck that looked two sizes too big, even on her, and her usually flowing mane was tied up in a loose plait that hung at her side. To her left, ten empty glasses had flown out of the cupboard in her gold magic aura and were lined up in front of two cartons, one of milk and one of orange juice. The cartons alternated pouring themselves as they traveled down the line of glasses, until an equal number of them were filled with either liquid. The glasses were then joined by five sets of tableware as the entire assortment was carefully arranged on the dining table. The milk and juice cartons were placed at the center, followed by plates of pancakes and eggs.

Celestia turned around, turning off the stove, and gave the assembled ponies and dragon the biggest, most welcoming smile Wayfarer had ever seen on her. "Good morning, my little ponies! And good to see you up and about at last miss Rainbow Dash!" She walked over to the table and shoveled the eggs and last couple of pancakes on top their respective plates, and then placed the pans back on the stove to cool down. Finally she went to the icebox and fished out the syrup, butter, and a few assorted fruits. When she turned back around and saw that Twilight and the others were still standing there with their looks of surprise, she giggled. "Well come on! Breakfast isn't going to eat itself, no matter how long you stand there with your jaws open!"

'Surreal' was just about the only word Wayfarer could come up with for this situation. Celestia, The High Princess of Equestria and the most powerful being in the world, was in the kitchen making breakfast. She was acting like a mother would for her foals, as if it were just another regular occurrence. Deciding it would be better to just roll with it, he did his best to shake the surprised look off his face and took his seat at the table. Dash, Twilight, and Spike following after.

"Chalk this up on the list of things I would never have imagined happening to me." Dash whispered to Wayfarer when she sat down.

"Celestia, are you alright?" Twilight asked.

Celestia smirked and then sat down herself. "Yes, Twilight, I am perfectly fine. I just felt that after having you and Spike prepare all the meals around here, I wanted to take my turn at it." She helped herself to a few pancakes, a scoop of eggs, and a banana, all while smiling like a little filly who got away with stealing cookies from the cookie jar. "And it was the perfect excuse to stick it to my head maids and show them that I am perfectly capable of making my own meals."

"So this is an act of rebellion?" Wayfarer said with bemusement.

"Exactly." Celestia said, then took a swig of her orange juice before continuing. "Do you know how long it's been since I made breakfast for myself? Five years. Last time I tried, it was when I felt like getting a head start on a rather busy day. The head maids threatened to fire the kitchen staff for not being there when I needed them. Like I'd drag my poor cooks out of bed at four in the morning like that."

Wayfarer and Spike both picked up their orange juice and raised them in the direction of Celestia. "Fight the power." They said in unison.

That seemed to break the tension in the other two, and they all laughed together before digging into their morning meal. It was all delicious of course, and despite having work, Wayfarer took several helpings of Celestia's cooking. When he was finally done, he looked up at Celestia to see her smiling at him. Something in the back of his head tingled at that, like a memory trying to break its way through. But it passed as quickly as it came, so with a mental shrug Wayfarer stood and said his farewells before heading out the front door for work, only before remembering rather abruptly that it was still raining. Rainbow Dash quickly followed him however, with a rain poncho in tow.

"Oh, right." Wayfarer laughed as he took the tarp and swished it around himself like a cloak. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no prob." Dash said, scratching at the back of her head. "Listen, you think we could talk later? I-I mean when you find some spare time?"

"Me?"

"Well, and Twilight, Celestia and Pinkie too."

"Ah... Yeah okay, we'll find time to talk."

Rainbow nodded and smiled thankfully before heading back inside.

Wayfarer was at a loss of what to do after the students had arrived that morning. He'd cleaned and helped Cheerilee prepare the place as usual, but with the rain he would pretty much be stuck in either the classroom or the cellar. Cheerilee, rather than send him off for the day, decided to see just how good he was with children. She'd noticed him helping her students during recess with whatever math or science problem they had, and had been curious to see if they could capitalize on that within the class itself. To that end she declared what she called an 'Independent Study' day, which involved her pulling a large mobile bookshelf out of storage and letting the children have at whatever books they could grab. Wayfarer was then pulled in several different direction by fillies and colts asking him questions about this or that. He got stuck for an especially long time with the Cutiemark Crusaders, who had found a book on pioneering. By the time lunch had rolled around, he'd taught the three how to tie at least a dozen different knots and lashings.

"We could build an entire fortress with this stuff!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she and her friends pulled out their lunch boxes.

"Can you imagine how cool the clubhouse is gonna be with a lookout tower?" Apple Bloom replied with an equal amount of cheerfulness.

"We'll make it so tall we'll be able to see all of Sweet Apple Acres!" Sweetie Belle cried out.

Wayfarer smirked at the three. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, would probably get tied up in the rope if the tangled mess of string and linking logs they were using was any indication. Apple Bloom on the other hoof actually had a knack for it and had managed a successful tripod and A-frame. Wayfarer chalked that up to being from a farming family, she probably knew half this stuff before hoof.

"What else is in that book, Wayfarer?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Let's see here..." Wayfarer mumbled as he hoofed through the pages.

"Miss Cheerilee!" came a call from the other side of the room. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo have been hogging Mr. Wayfarer to themselves!"

Wayfarer looked up and turned his head toward the direction of the call, seeing two little fillies waving over at him. He looked back at the Cutiemark Crusaders to see them with the most uncharacteristically angry faces he'd ever seen on them. Cheerilee must have noticed this as well because she walked over to them with a stern look.

"Now girls," She started. "Diamond Tiara's right. Mr. Wayfarer has got you on a good start it seems, let him go help out the other students."

"Yes Miss Cheerilee," the three girls said sadly as Wayfarer got up from their table.

Wayfarer hadn't had much experience with the two fillies who were now waving him over to them. He'd heard more than a few venom laced remarks shot at them from some of the other students, but so far he'd not had any trouble with them. When he sat down with them however...

"Bet you're glad to get away from the blank flanks for a bit, huh Mr. Wayfarer?" Said the one Cheerilee had identified as Diamond Tiara.

Instantly, Wayfarer felt a strong compulsion to get right back up and get as far away from these two as possible. They both radiated an improbable aura of bellicose, to the point where Wayfarer was convinced that these two could not possibly be real fillies. Normal foals could not make a pony dislike them this fast - with just one sentence - it just didn't happen. Taking a deep breath and swallowing the sudden buildup of bile in his throat, Wayfarer put on his best fake smile for the two.

"Do you two need help?" he asked politely.

"Yeah, umm, like," The other filly, Silver Spoon, started. "There's this word here we don't understand? And like, we needed you to translate it, or something?"

Nails dragged themselves down a chalkboard in Wayfarer's mind. He looked down at the book the two had, it was a History of the Manehattan Theatre. "Alright, what word is it?"

"Bohemian." Diamond Tiara said, turning the book to show Wayfarer the page. "The book says that the Manehatten Theatre has had several acting troupes use their stage. The biggest and most successful one is called 'The Tarot Actors,’ and the book says that they started out as a group of traveling Bohemians. So what's a Bohemian?"

Wayfarer took the book and read the page they were on for himself. It was an entire section on a troupe called The Tarot Actors, and how they came to call Manehattan their home. There was even a picture of the group when it was first founded ten years prior. All of the ponies, and a few scattered gryphons, were assembled in front of a large wagon. They all wore varied and eccentric clothing, and they all had a red bandanna tied around their left forearm. Wayfarer could barely make out the word T.A.R.O.T. on the bandanna.

"Bohemians." Wayfarer started. "They are people who don't have a permanent home. They travel around in wagons like the one in the picture. Some of them are merchants, and others are performers. These Tarot Actors probably got tired of wandering and decided to put down roots in Manehatten."

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked at him with confusion before Silver spoke up. "So they're homeless ponies?"

"More like the whole world is their home," Wayfarer said, trying to make it sound more grand than these two probably thought it was.

"Yeah, homeless ponies." Diamond Tiara sneered before she snatched back the book and slammed it shut. "This is even more boring than usual, Silver Spoon."

"Everyone else seems to be having fun." Wayfarer said, looking around at the other foals pouring over their books while eating their lunch.

"No one asked you." Diamond Tiara said scornfully before waving her hoof in a dismissive way. "Aren't there some windows you need to clean or something?"

Wayfarer took that to mean they were done with him, so he got up and slowly walked over to the supply room. He found some of the bottled water Cheerilee kept in there and downed a good half of one in a single go. He then counted backwards from ten before downing the rest. Feeling considerably less annoyed, he exited back into the classroom and continued helping the foals with their studies, and keeping as much distance as possible from the two monsters disguised as fillies.

It was still raining when classes ended, so Wayfarer, lacking anything to do on the inside, was let go at the same time as the students. He ended up walking down the road alongside the Cutiemark Crusaders, who were all wearing matching maroon ponchos with a blue and yellow symbol on the side.

"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are the worst!" Sweetie Belle cried out when they'd put a good distance between themselves and the school house.

"It'd be unprofessional of me to say anything in response to that." Wayfarer said, though with a tone that made it clear he had quite a few things to say.

"Huh?" Sweetie Belle said, cocking her head to the side.

"It means he can't say nothin' about it or Cheerilee'll get mad at 'im." Apple Bloom said.

"Right." Wayfarer said. "So I would appreciate it if you three would just bring your concerns about those two to Miss Cheerilee. Honestly the fact that they tossed around a phrase like 'Blank Flank' so casually is disconcerting enough as it is."

"Disco what?" Scootaloo asked.

"It means unsettling, or not right."

"But we've told Miss Cheerilee!" Sweetie Belle said. "And no matter what she does those two never quit!"

"I'll ask her about it then, okay?" Wayfarer assured them.

"Really?" The three asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? I'm the janitor! Got to keep school clean and presentable for you guys right?"

The Cutiemark Crusaders giggled at that and rushed Wayfarer for a quick group hug. "Thank you Mister Wayfarer!" They all chimed together.

"Wayfarer is just fine girls, no need to call me 'mister' or anything." Wayfarer sighed. He was starting to get a little tired of that.

"Sure thing!" Apple Bloom said as they let him go. "Hey, do you think you could come over to the farm and help us with more of that pioneer'n stuff?"

Wayfarer raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the steel grey sky. "I don't think you three want to do that in the rain, do you?"

"We could do it in the barn! There's plenty of room in there!"

"Yeah there's that." Wayfarer said, smiling. The Cutiemark Crusader's excitement at learning something new was, quite frankly, infectious. It didn't take much more than looking at their bright grins before his own childlike enthusiasm kicked in and he laughed. "Alright, I've got a couple hours to spare. Lead the way!"

When Wayfarer got back to the library, soaking wet and covered in mud and hay, he found much of the front room in disarray. It was like something heavy had been flung against the walls and bookshelves. A moment later, Wayfarer flinched as said 'heavy something' came out of the corner of his vision and collided with the couch. The couch flipped over with a loud crash and a moment later, Wayfarer heard a groan that could have only belong to Twilight. Rainbow Dash was hovering over head with a despairing look in her eyes.

"Well, I guess a crash landing is still a landing." Wayfarer closed the door behind him and hung his poncho on the coat rack, then scraped as much mud off his hooves as he could on the welcome mat.

Twilight groaned again as Celestia tipped the couch back upright. Several books were in Celestia's magical grasp, obviously trying to keep up with whatever chaos Twilight was causing.

"How's she doing, Rainbow?" Wayfarer asked as he too started to pick up shattered bits of the clock he'd just got fixed and books Twilight had displaced from the shelves.

"She can get in the air now," Dash said as she brought a miserable looking Twilight back to the center of the room. "It's staying in the air that's a problem. She either isn't flapping hard enough and she just falls back to the ground, or she flaps too hard and sends herself in some random direction."

"I'd say take her up to the clouds and teach her Baby Bird style," Wayfarer said with a chuckle. "But the clouds don't look particularly friendly right now."

"That's what we would have done and will probably do tomorrow. But like you said, I'd rather do that when we don't have to deal with the rain." She sighed and then gave a very irritated grimace at no one in particular. "I swear, I'm gone a month and the Weather Team falls to pieces."

"I'm sorry, but, 'baby bird style?'" Twilight said with confusion.

Rainbow Dash's frown disappeared and she smiled excitedly at that. "We're going to take you up to the clouds when it clears up and drop you off them a few times! You'll learn how to fly like a champ in no time!"

Twilight looked like she was going to faint at the idea of being dropped from hundreds of feet in the air. "Oh... fun..." she murmured.

"Don't go Fluttershy on me Twilight!" Dash said, lightly punching her friend. "Me and Celestia will be right there with you the whole time, we won't let anything bad happen to ya!"

Twilight looked over at Celestia, who smiled and nodded reassuringly. Twilight took a deep calming breath and nodded to herself. "If that's what it takes to get me flying by the Summer Sun Celebration, then so be it."

"That's my winged egghead!" Dash cheered. "Now come on, let's see your take off again!"

Wayfarer stayed in the front room long enough to watch Twilight take a few more falls before he decided he might as well get dinner started for them. Spike was way ahead of him though, so all Wayfarer did was lend a hoof here and there until it was time for the other three to join them. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful night.

Author's Notes:

Two updates a week in a row! How many wanna take a bet how long that'll last!

I'm going to start trying to do more short chapters, mostly because I feel my problem is that I'll start writing a chapter and then I don't finish it for a long time. Shorter chapters might help with that, but we'll see.

Thanks again to Red Sage for editting and putting up with my inability to punctuate dialog correctly.

Chapter 17: June 15th - Pegasus Wings and Poker Chips

"Hey Twilight," Wayfarer said offhandedly as he and Twilight washed the dishes from morning's breakfast. "I forgot to mention the other day, but Derpy Doo and her friends invited me to their weekly poker game tonight."

Twilight took a moment to smile and laugh under her breath before responding. "Okay, but I'm not using my Royal Privilege to reimburse any bits you're likely to lose." She passed him a freshly cleaned plate for him to stack with the others in the cupboard.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to go spending money I'm not prepared to lose."

"Well Derpy probably needs it more than you do anyway. The post office pays well, but not enough for a single mother. You got any other plans for today?"

"Aside from watching you get pushed off of clouds for a while?" He smirked as he looked out the window at the almost clear skies. There was still a cloud here and there, but nothing substantial enough to pick up where yesterday's weather had left off.

"You're a jerk sometimes, you know that?"

"I won't disagree with that." ‘Sunny Skies’ entered the room with a look of annoyed exhaustion. "The Mayor is here, Twilight, she wanted to talk with us."

Twilight groaned and dropped her dishes back in the sink. "Can you handle the rest of this, Wayfarer?"

Wayfarer nodded and the two of them left. It didn't take him long to finish up though, with Rainbow Dash back in her own home that left only the four of them to clean up after. Ten minutes later they were back, Wayfarer was in the fridge eyeing a strange unmarked container of some tasty looking home grown grass. The temptation to test his courage and bite at it almost overtook him, when Twilight looked over his shoulder and, seeing what he was eyeing, pulled him back.

"You're not eating that, Wayfarer." Twilight closed the fridge door and turned to Wayfarer with bemusement. "It's grown from some seeds Zecora gave me, and I'd rather not test its effects on you."

"Fair enough." Wayfarer shrugged. "What did the mayor want?"

"The opening ceremony for my castle is going to be on the eighth of July." She said. "That's the day after the end of Breezie Beaches week, and two weeks after the Summer Sun Celebration, so we should have plenty of time to prepare."

Celestia nodded at this. "I'll send a letter to Shining Armor asking him to come down that week to help with security. We're going to make sure nothing goes wrong, Twilight, I promise you that."

"A promise is about all anyone can give at this point." Twilight sighed. "Whatever happens will just happen. Not a whole lot we can do."

"Then we'll just do what we can and then hope for the best," Wayfarer, thinking to himself, looked down and tugged at his button up in thought. "I guess I'll probably need a suit or something for that, right?"

"With all the snooty Canterlot Ponies that will be there?" Twilight said with a hint of distaste. "Yeah, some formal wear might not go amiss."

"Then I guess I'll stop by Rarity's before I go over to Derpy's tonight."

"Sounds like a plan. Now come on, those clouds aren't going to get any lower." Twilight sighed with a great deal of apprehension.

Twilight plummeted from the skies at least five times before she was finally able to pull out of her dive and keep a steady altitude, and it took another few failures before Twilight managed to get it. Pinkie Pie turned up in a cheerleader's outfit to try and motivate Twilight into succeeding, Rarity and Fluttershy joined in with slightly more restrained support, and Wayfarer caught a glimpse of Applejack watching from the edge of the field they'd chosen to practice in. By noon, Twilight was almost capable of keeping herself steady. She was still wobbly in the air, looking more like a distressed cat being hoisted into the sky than the graceful alicorn princess she was. When she tried to land and say hello to the newcomers, she stumbled and face planted into the dirt. Applejack took that moment to walk over and help her up.

"Looking good up there Twi."

"Thanks Applejack, but I feel like a stranger in a strange land when I'm up there. I keep thinking I've gotten used to having an extra set of limbs, but I suppose that isn't something you just 'get used to.'"

"Ya'll get it eventually."

Rainbow Dash then landed a bit of a ways away, averting her gaze from Applejack as she did so.

"Rainbow."

"Applejack." Rainbow hoofed at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Applejack sighed before walking over to Rainbow Dash and giving her a big hug, surprising the prismacolored mare. "It wasn't fair for me to needle you like ah did. And ah certainly had no right to say what ah did about your folks. Ah'm sure they're both great and supportive pegasi." Applejack smiled for a moment before she let it drop into a frown. "But you still need to find Scootaloo and apologize to her."

"Oh, yeah. Right... now?" Applejack nodded. "But I've still got to help Twilight learn to fly by the end of the week!"

"I can afford a short break, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "Go find Scootaloo."

Rainbow Dash swallowed a lump in her throat, then nodded and took off into the air, soaring into the heart of Ponyville. Applejack turned to look again at Twilight, this time with a sullen frown on her face.

"Now I figure it's your turn for a grill'n, Twilight."

"What do you mean, AJ?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I mean, what happened to Rainbow Dash after me and her had that scuffle? I heard tell that she was sick, but when I asked Rarity and Fluttershy about it they said you brought her back at a round midnight, with you, Pinkie, Wayfarer, and Sunny Days or whatever looking mighty beat up."

Twilight shot an angry look over at Rarity and Fluttershy. Rarity looked smug, and Fluttershy looked very apologetic. "Applejack, I told both of them that I couldn't fill them in on what happened. Even Princess Celestia told them to drop it."

"The Princess? She was here?" Applejack asked.

"I've been here for a while." Celestia said appearing behind Applejack and making everypony present jump five feet into the air.

"Princess Celestia?!" Applejack nearly screamed as she spun around. "When did-"

"I'm growing tired of repeating myself." Celestia said firmly. "Applejack, you, Rarity, and Fluttershy cannot get involved. For your own safety, I am begging you three to stop digging into this. Conversation over."

"But Princess!" Applejack started before Celestia put her hoof to her lips.

"No," the Solar Matriarch said simply. She then pointed at both Rarity and Fluttershy, who looked ready to jump in and start arguing again. "No." All three of them sighed heavily.

"Well, I guess that's that then." Rarity shook her head and turned to leave with unrestrained annoyance. "Good luck with your flight lessons, Twilight."

"See you, Rarity." Twilight waved a hoof at the dressmaker, remorsefully.

"Hey wait up, Rarity." Wayfarer nodded a good by to the others before trotting over to the ivory unicorn. "You said you wanted to work on more of my outfits right?"

Rarity turned her head as she walked to look at Wayfarer. She smiled slightly before responding. "I guess I have the time to get started on them. May I ask what your looking for darling?"

"I need a nice suit." Wayfarer tugged at his button up again. "I wear this casually, but I need some formal wear for when we coronate Twilight's castle on the eighth."

Rarity nodded. "I can get something done before that. You're going to be sitting on a waitlist for a while though, I have a number of orders ahead of you. It's summer, so you know all the mares are going to want their sundresses before Breezie Beeches Week."

"Sort of strange for an inland town to celebrate a week known for sand and the ocean." Wayfarer pointedly looked around at the lush green fields and rolling hills. "I mean, isn't that the point of Breezie Beeches Week?"

"Well, yes, but It's not as if ponies can't take a trip to the coastal towns if they truly wanted to," Rarity explained. "It's more of a traditional name than an actual obligation for ponies to go to the shores."

"Well, in any case, thank you for taking the time for me, Rarity. When do you need payment?"

"An upfront will be needed before I start of course, I'll just ask for that when I'm ready to begin. I'll also have a better idea for when I will have it done at that point." Their business concluded, Rarity then turned to walk in a more direct line to her boutique. "Until then, have a nice day, Wayfarer."

"You too, Rarity." Wayfarer waved goodbye as he made his way into the town proper. Figuring he might as well pick up some snacks or something for the Poker game that night, he started heading in the direction of the marketplace.

On his way however, he caught up with Rainbow Dash, sitting next to a very cross looking Scootaloo in front of a large house. A sign hanging over the front door identified the building as "Ms. Poppin's Home for those Without." Deciding it was probably better to skirt around the two and let them have their conversation in peace, Wayfarer started down an alley that would take him the long way around to the market. But before he could disappear from the shadow of Ms. Poppin's home, he heard Scootaloo call out his name.

"Hey, Wayfarer! Can I ask you something?" Yelled the filly. Not wanting to get involved with a private matter, but at the same time not wanting to be rude and ignore them, Wayfarer sighed and then turned back around, walking over to the two pegasi.

"What do you need, Scootaloo?" he asked, noting that Rainbow Dash looked rather crestfallen.

The filly opened her mouth to ask her question, but then stopped and looked down, as if she were reconsidering. But then she looked back up with a bit more confidence and spoke. "Did you leave anypony behind when you left Baltimare?"

Wayfarer raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at Rainbow Dash, who's eye twitched. "Why are you asking?"

"Well, Rainbow Dash left Cloudsdale, then she left Ponyville to go back, and then she left Cloudsdale again to come back to Ponyville. And she's leaving ponies behind when she does it. So I wanted to know if you did too."

"I..." Wayfarer started before stopping. Truth be told, he didn't know what he was supposed to say, or what Scootaloo wanted him to say. In the end he figured truth might make a good answer. "No. I didn't leave anyone behind. I had friends, but we'd grown apart from each other. I didn't have anything keeping me there, so I left."

"But, Rainbow Dash had things keeping her here and in Cloudsdale!" Scootaloo said. "So why'd she leave?"

"Good question." Wayfarer turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Why did you leave?"

Rainbow stayed quiet for a long time before she looked right into Scootaloo's eyes and answered her question. "I left Cloudsdale the first time because my best friend had left. It felt right for me to follow her, to make sure she'd be okay, you know? To be honest, she might have been my only friend in Cloudsdale at that point, so leaving wasn't exactly hard." She paused, glancing over to Wayfarer before continuing. "I left Ponyville because... well, I don't really know why to be honest. It seems so silly in hindsight, but I'm not the one who got hurt because of it." Dash sighed, then wrapped a wing around Scootaloo. "I came back because I missed my friends and my little sister. I'm so sorry for abandoning you like that, Scootaloo. It wasn't right for me to leave you hanging at the Sisterhooves Social. I promise you, I'm going to make it right."

After a moments hesitation, Scootaloo embraced Rainbow with her tiny forelegs, nuzzling herself into Rainbow's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're back big sis."

"Good to be back Scoots. Now go on, I think I pulled you away from something important with Ms. Poppins."

"Ughh." Scootaloo groaned. "She's probably going to sing another song with a really hard to say name again! Can't I hang out with you today?"

"Sorry, sport." Rainbow tussled Scootaloo's mane. "I'd love to, really I would, but I need to get back to teaching Twilight to fly."

"Oh, alright," Scootaloo bemoaned, before standing and walking up to the front door of Ms. Poppin's.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash called to her. "I'll come and get you tonight and we can go get a smoothie at Sugarcube Corner, sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo shouted in excitement. "See you latter, Rainbow Dash!"

Dash waved goodbye to the little pegasus as she pulled the door open and slammed it shut behind her. Rainbow sighed, scratching at the side of her fore leg and looking over to Wayfarer. "Thanks."

"Uh, don't mention it?" He said, unsure of what exactly he had helped with.

"I'm no good with kids," Rainbow mumbled as she started to walk off. "Scootaloo is cool though, but still." She looked over her shoulder and rolled her head in a gesture that indicated she wanted Wayfarer to follow her.

"Did you want to talk about it?" Wayfarer asked, rolling his eyes as he trotted over and matched Rainbow's walking speed.

"Nah." Rainbow said. "But trying to tell an eight year old that life doesn't get clearer when you grow up can be really hard. I need somepony I can bounce my big thoughts off of, somepony who can take the words in my head and make them make sense to me."

"I'm not a psychiatrist." Wayfarer said simply. "I just have a knack for listening to what ponies are saying."

"Listening is okay. Celestia knows I can really run my mouth when I need to."

"Ain't that the truth." Wayfarer muttered, before getting a forehoof to the shoulder.

"Anyway," Rainbow said, slightly irritated. "Do you think I can fix what I've done to Scoots?"

"Doesn't seem like there's much more to fix. She seems to be thrilled to have you back." Wayfarer said, raising an eyebrow. "The way she reacted when you left though, she must think very highly of you. She even called you 'Sister.'"

"Yeah, that started a while ago. The two of us had gone out on a camping trip with Rarity, Applejack, and their sisters. Then after I saved her from going over a waterfall she confessed how much she admired me, how much she felt I was a big sister to her." Rainbow Dash's mouth twitched to the side, almost as if the idea of being a big sister both amused and embarrassed her. "I was... flattered, to say the least. I knew she liked me enough to help start a Rainbow Dash fan club, but thinking of me as an older sibling? That felt... I don't know, but it felt good! I felt like I had to be even more awesome than ever before, if only to make Scoots feel happy. But then..."

"But then you realized that your dream wasn't taking you where you wanted to go," Wayfarer said calmly. "That you weren't feeling happy."

Rainbow Dash nodded slightly. "What my other self said, it was completely right. I needed to be the best, to show to everyone that I should be remembered for all time, but failing at my dreams seemed to be an even worse fate than not having dreams at all."

"Failure is a big deal with you, isn't it?" Wayfarer asked.

"It is for every Cloudsdale Pegasus. We grew out of a race that thrived on battle. We were once soldiers and protectors, a military on every level. If you failed, you didn't just fail yourself, you failed the flock. That was over a thousand some odd years ago, but it's still the way some ponies think."

The two had made it to the outskirts of town by this point, opposite where Twilight was learning to fly. Rainbow Dash stopped and turned to look at Wayfarer with an almost solemn look about her.

"You ever hear of the legend of the Rainbow Factory?" she asked.

"Is that the name of your band?" Wayfarer joked, trying to bring some colour back to the colourful mare. It worked a little, as she smirked a bit at his sarcastic question.

"No." She responded. "It's an old mare's tale told to scare fillies and colts. Like Slendermare and the Headless Horse. Moms would tell their foals about the Rainbow Factory, where pegasi who couldn't fly would be sent. They'd cut off the unwanted foals wings and throw the rest into a machine that made rainbows."

Wayfarer blanched at that. "Excuse me?" he said with disgust.

"That's the straight and simple description. The actual legend is a lot more... graphic."

"And ponies told their children this story?!" Wayfarer nearly shrieked.

"Yep." Rainbow said with a straight face. "That is, until Celestia caught wind of it and made it illegal by labeling it as child abuse. Didn't stop some parents... like my mom."

"Oh jeez," Wayfarer mumbled.

"Yeah, and now you know what the deal was with other me and all that rainbow goo." Rainbow sighed and looked off at the horizon, in the direction of Cloudsdale. "I love my Mom, I really do, but I hated how much she pushed for me to be perfect. Every time I made a mistake when I was young, she'd remind me of how the factory would take my wings away. Even when I left, she told me I was being senseless, that I belonged in the sky and not on the ground." Dash was silent for a moment before she cracked a wide grin and turned back to Wayfarer. "But I remember what said to her, 'The sky goes where I go.'" She flipped her wings open and wide, showing them off just as a light gust of wind conveniently blew past them. "And no matter how much I fail, I won't let anyone take my wings away. I mean, how else am I going to teach Scootaloo to fly or perform with the Wonderbolts if I don't have my wings?"

"And what about the Wonderbolts?" Wayfarer asked. "You quit, remember?"

"Nopony quits the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash said proudly. "They just go on extended leave."

Wayfarer smirked and shook his head. "Somehow I doubt Spitfire will buy that."

"Then I'll just have to prove myself to her!" Rainbow Dash said as she started to pace back and forth. "The Equestria games are a year away! If I can win gold, then Spitfire will see I'm more devoted to my dream then ever!"

"Well, it sounds like a load of wishful thinking to me, but hey, I'll be sure to cheer you on regardless."

"Yeah! You'd better!"

It was around seven o'clock when Wayfarer decided to head over to Stirrup Street, his saddle bag laden with fruits and chips. The sea-blue house that Derpy lived in definitely stuck out amongst the beige homes that made up the bulk of Ponyville. He walked up to the front door and gently knocked. A moment later, a smiling Derpy Doo opened the door.

"Hey! You're early!" She said, beaming.

"Well you didn't give me an actual time to come over, you just said Saturday night."

"Oh, whoops." Derpy, chuckling to herself, stood aside to let Wayfarer in. "Guess that would have been helpful?"

"Mayhaps." Wayfarer stepped inside and took a look around the humble abode.

The inside of Derpy's home was plain, yet warm and inviting. There was a lot of blue everywhere, the same shade as the outside. The molding, the door frames, the counter tops in the kitchen, all of them were blue. The ceiling was a deep navy, specked with lots of tiny white dots molded into pointed stars. The white walls were mostly barren, save for the occasional photograph of Derpy and her daughter, or either of them smiling at the camera by themselves or with another pony. There was one near the entrance of Derpy with five other ponies, two of which Wayfarer recognized as Time Turner and BonBon.

"You have a nice home,” commented Wayfarer.

"Thank you." Derpy said. "It isn't much, but I've made it work for me and my little muffin.

"Moooooommm!" came a whining call from the hall. "Don't call me that in front of him!" Wayfarer turned to see little Dinkie Doo step out with a pouty, blush coloured face. "What if he tells everyone at school!"

"I would never!" Wayfarer said with mock surprise at such an accusation, before noticing that Dinkie was wearing her own saddle bags.

"You got everything?" Derpy asked her. "Pinchy's mom will be here to get you soon."

"Yes mom." Dinkie said with a hint of exasperation.

"Okay, just checking." Derpy chuckled, before another knock came from the door. "Speak of the vintner." She said as the two of them went back into the entranceway. After a moment Derpy came back in. "Why are you just standing there like that?" She laughed when she saw that Wayfarer had barely moved from where she'd left him. "Go on, take a load off!"

"Dinkie got a sleepover or something?" Wayfarer asked as he removed his bags and dropped them next to a chair.

"Yep, every Saturday." Derpy smiled, pulling a hardwood box out of the closet. "It became such a regular thing that when we needed a new place to play Poker, I offered up my home as a venue."

"That's nice of you."

"I try." Derpy placed the box on the table and pulled out stacks of poker chips and a deck of cards. "We used to play at Octavia and Vinyl's home. You saw the photo in the entrance of me and my friends? Octavia was the pretty one with the bow tie, and Vinyl was the one with the crazy blue hair. Anyway, they moved away to Canterlot a while back for their jobs." She placed the last stack of chips on the table and pushed it up against the others. Apparently she pushed it a little harder than she meant to, because every other stack toppled over and sent the chips scattering over the table. "Fudge," she deadpanned.

The door chose that moment to knock again. "I got it." Wayfarer said, standing up again as Derpy started meticulously stacking the chips again. He walked out into the entrance way and pulled the door open for Time Turner.

"Good evening, Ditz- Wayfarer!" The clock-maker stumbled. "You're early!"

"As are you, Turner." Wayfarer said as he stood aside.

"I always come over a little early to help set up." Turner said as he smiled and walked inside. He then glanced over at the kitchen quickly before leaning in to whisper something. "Poor girl usually needs it. She's got a big heart and a big brain, but she was cursed with four left hooves." On cue, the sound of poker chips collapsing once again onto the table could be heard, followed by a well placed expletive. Turner shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "Come on, maybe you can help out too."

Half an hour later, the other two guests had arrived: Bon Bon, and her marefriend Lyra. Lyra immediately reminded Wayfarer of Pinkie Pie with the seemingly permanent smile stretching her face out. He was thankful, however, that she didn't have Pinkie's desire to vocalize every thought that came into her head.

"Pleasure to meet you Wayfarer." She'd said when they introduced each other. "Been hearing a lot bout' you. Takin' care of all the little tikes at school and help'n out Miss Cheerilee, right good of you!" Her slight hint of an accent and green colour scheme gave Wayfarer the feeling that she might have been from Doneighgal. He then made a mental note to never drink cider with this mare.

"Really I was just looking for a job,” Wayfarer responded. “If Cheerilee thinks I'm good with foals, then I'm happy to help out with them too."

"Good on ya." Lyra nodded. "Me? Never really liked kids."

"Doesn't stop you from acting like one." Bon Bon said with a smirk as she sat down at the table, setting a small sack of gold in front of her.

"Oi! No point in being grown up if you can't act childish every now and then!"

"Too right." Turner said, shuffling up a deck of cards. "Now, if we would, let us commence with the weekly robbery of our wallets by one miss Derpy Doo."

"Oh haha." Derpy deadpanned. "Deal the cards already Doc, Wayfarer is probably eager to get plucked."

As it turned out, Wayfarer was pretty capable of handling himself against Derpy Doo. Bon Bon was the first out after she called a bluff on Turner and tried going all in, only for it to backfire when he put down Two Kings to make a full house. Lyra went next in much the same fashion after Derpy pulled a Flush. Time Turner decided to cut his losses an hour in with barely a fourth of what he'd brought, leaving Wayfarer and Derpy to try and stare each other down.

Wayfarer was proud to say he'd manipulated his poker face rather well over the course of the game, but the one pony he was having a hard time fooling was Miss Do. She pushed him down a fair amount, but every now and then he was able to win a big enough pot to keep going. It was a battle that would be talked about for ages, or at least for the next couple of days before being quickly forgotten.

Now though he was practically on his last legs, and as he looked at his last few chips and glanced at the measly three of clubs and five of hearts he had to the Queen, Jack, and 10 of spades on the table, he knew this was probably it. Then the moment of truth came, and Derpy flipped her cards to reveal an Ace and King of Spades.

"Royal Flush." Turner whistled. "Guess that's game."Derpy smiled brightly as what was left of Wayfarer's chips, and consequently his money, went to her.

"Should have followed your lead and dropped out." Wayfarer said to Turner.

"Told you she'd clean out your wallet." Turner laughed. "Though I'll admit you lasted longer than I expected you to. What a way to end the night."

"You're telling me." Wayfarer sighed. He could see the end result coming a mile away when that queen showed up, but he kept praying that Derpy wasn't that lucky. "I'm glad I came though. This was a lot of fun."

"Glad you thought so!" Lyra said. "Now you me and Bonny can all hang out in the losers circle together!"

"Does that mean you'll come back next week?" Derpy asked excitedly.

"If I've got the bits, sure." Wayfarer said with a shrug. "I've got to make a payment to Rarity for a new suit though, so I might be a little light next time."

"Oh I don't think you'll have to worry." Bon Bon said. "Rarity is always so lenient on that sort of thing. She's the sort who isn't happy about a job unless the customer is too. For better or worse." She had a look that said she was remembering something she'd rather not remember.

"Well, I trust and respect her enough to pay in full if I can."

"Ain't that the great thing about small towns?" Derpy said, looking up from her spoils of the night. "We can all trust each other."

There was a general nod of affirmative at that. Wayfarer hesitated in thought for a moment before he nodded as well. The night continued on in idle conversation for another half hour before it was finally time to leave. Wayfarer said his goodbyes before heading out into the night and back to the library, where Twilight was waiting with a look of giddy pride. She'd managed to stay in the air for at least ten minutes that afternoon. The day ended well for everyone it seemed, but Wayfarer was more than glad to hit the hay early. Tomorrow looked to be as busily empty as today was.

Author's Notes:

Out a little later than I would have like, but that's probably because Red Sage needed to give me a lesson on writing dialog.

Many thanks to him for that and all the editing he did!

Like my work? Help support me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/XainRussell

Chapter 18: Absinthe, Crusading, and Armor Plating

Sundays on Market Street were an odd time period, Wayfarer had found. It was like a roller coaster of activity at all times. Not in that there was always excitement, but that there were long stretches of time were little to nothing happened, before a wave of ponies seemed to flood the street. They buy what they need for the coming week, then disappear as fast as they came, back to their homes or to the open fields around Ponyville to continue their day off. Wayfarer managed to arrive during one of the intervals of calm, a bag of bits and a list in his pocket of things Twilight needed him to pick up for her.

The last thing he needed on the list was a special brew of tea mix from Zecora, so he was on the hunt for the zebra's tent of oddities. The tent itself seemed to change location from one appearance to the next, making Wayfarer wonder how Zecora kept business going if she was so inconsistent. He found it eventually however, nestled between a stall selling a multitude of different flowers, and a less permanent looking establishment that seemed to selling imported cherries from Dodge Junction.

Stepping up to the stall in question, Wayfarer looked around for Zecora, not knowing which of the many many jars scattered about contained the needed tea mix. "Hello?" he called out.

"Wayferer!" Came a call from the flower shop next door. Zecora came out from the almost forest like displays with a rather odd looking potted bloom. "Forgive me my absence! I needed this Anise for my Absinthe."

Wayfarer's left eyebrow rose at that. "Absinthe? As in, 'I'll get you so drunk you'll start hearing colours' Absinthe?"

Zecora laughed as she ducked under the tent flap to stand behind the counter, placing the Anise flower next to her. "True a brew of Absinthe would make your head flip, the purpose of this drink is not to sip. Absinthe makes a good changeling detector, as they find it hard to resist its sweet nectar."

"Why would you go looking for changelings?" balked Wayfarer.

Zecora's eyes squinted as she explained herself. "I spotted one bug in my neck of the wood, and I intend to run it out before it causes no good. Though I do not deem to call one of another race a pest, I fear if I don't find it no pony will find rest."

Wayfarer frowned in thought. There wasn't much doubt in his mind that this Changeling might be the same one that had been buzzing about Ponyville since not long after he got here. Now that its cover was blown, it must have been hiding out in the forest instead of in town where Celestia or one of the Guard ponies stationed here could catch it.

"You want me to tell the guards or Twilight about it? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to help out."

"Do not trouble yourself with my personal crusade," chimed Zecora, waving a hoof dismissively. "In what way today may I provide you with aid?"

Shrugging, Wayfarer pulled out the list and read aloud the tea Twilight wanted. "A bag of 'Narcissus Oolong Tea' if you'd please."

"For one Miss Twilight I presume? I'm sure there was some next to the crocodile rheum." She turned and began shuffling through all manner of potion making ingredients before she pulled out a small jar of dark brown powder and placed it on the counter. "And here we are, from Chiniegh far. Narcissus Oolong Tea, to ease the ills that be."

Wayfarer looked at the zebra incredulously. "You sound like an advertisement for the stuff when you rhyme like that that."

Zecora smirked with a self satisfied smile. "Am I not advertising it to Twilight and you? Now seven bits will be your due."

Rolling his eyes, Wayfarer pulled out the sack of coins and dropped the requested amount in front of Zecora as she hoofed over the jar. "Thank you Zecora. And don't hesitate to ask me or Twilight if you need help with that Changeling."

"You warm my heart with your kind words. But I feel assured in my own girds."

Wayfarer dodged an incoming book tossed his way by Spike, who was standing at the top of a latter thumbing through a shelf of books. "Uhh, Spike? I thought your job was to keep the library looking nice, not making it a mess."

"Oh, sorry Wayfarer." Spike, finding what he was looking for, climbed down from his precarious position and hefted a large book above his head. He ran towards the coffee table and slammed the tome down on it before cracking it open and scanning the table of contents.

Curious of the dragon's actions, Wayfarer walked over to join Spike. "What's that?"

"A bestiary. It names all the known races of Equestria, both civilized and uncivilized, and how they're spread around. I was wondering if it made any mention of dragon settlements."

"I thought dragons were a migratory race." Wayfarer raised an eyebrow as Spike turned a few dozen pages until he landed on an entry for Fillydelphia. "Besides, I doubt a creature that grows to three times the size of this tree and hoards twice its weight in treasure would be able to live with dozens more of its kind."

"But they do! Well, at least the one's I met did. They didn't haul that much treasure around, but there must have been hundreds hanging out in that volcano to the southeast."

"Hundreds?" Wayfarer swallowed a lump that had suddenly gotten caught in his throat. "And Celestia just lets them migrate over midland Equestria?"

"Yep." Spike froze mid page turn and lifted his head in a pondering manner. "Actually, that is weird. I mean she sent Twilight and the girls to remove just one dragon from the Smokey Mountain. Why would she let them fly over Equestria?"

"Let who fly over Equestria?" Celestia poked her head out from the hall. Wayfarer's mind nearly collapsed in on itself when he saw she was wearing a frilly apron with the phrase 'If you can't take the heat... RUN!' written on the front. "Dinner's ready by the way." Wayfarer shook his head around a bit to jumpstart his brain, then followed Spike and her into the kitchen.

"Why do you let dragons fly over Equestria every hundred some odd years?" Spike asked.

Celestia hmmed at that. "It's part of an old treaty with them we have. I allow them to cross over my lands, and in exchange we receive payment for it, provided they don't cause any damage or harm on their way over."

"What happens if they do cause harm?" Wayfarer asked.

"Oh, they don't." Celestia smiled, but Wayfarer could have sworn her hair flared like fire for a moment. "They know what happens when they do." Spike and Wayfarer took a seat as Celestia pulled a lasagna out of the oven. Spike immediately cut out a slice of the pasta when it hit the table, while Celestia and Wayfarer awaited for it to cool to something more bearable for their non fire resistant tongues.

"What sort of payment do the dragons give?" Wayfarer asked with genuine curiosity. "Money and Gems?"

"In abundance." Celestia nodded. "It's one of the reasons I feel safe in keeping taxes so low, despite others complaints to the contrary. I am given other things as well. Sometimes I get old treasures, once thought lost to the ages. Other times I might receive favors and what not. And then there are times when I'm given much more surprising things." Celestia looked down at Spike and smiled warmly. "Like you Spike."

Spike nearly had a mouthful of lasagna go down the wrong pipe at that. He choked and sputtered slightly before he managed to set himself right and respond with a very reasonable, "WHAT?!"

"It's true. During the migration before the last, about seventy years ago, the dragons thought a few eggs would suffice in place of gold and gems. They of course never mentioned that the eggs were duds, but it didn't take much to figure it out. Save for one though. That one I held onto, knowing I could hatch it myself at any time, but preferring to use it as a test to find a new student. Many prospective young unicorns came and attempted to hatch the egg, but few came close to doing so. There were two who even managed to come close to accomplishing this goal." Celestia stopped for a moment and seemed to become rather somber for a moment before continuing. "One, of course, was our dear Twilight. She was the only one out of hundreds who could bring you out of your shell Spike. And I think you know the life you and Twilight were able to lead because of that."

Spike sat with his mouth gaping as he stared at Celestia, shock and awe at one of the questions of his existence being finally revealed to him. "Whoa... Why didn't you-"

"Say anything?" Celestia finished. "You never asked, and neither did Twilight. I was always willing to tell you if the question ever popped up, because I knew you'd want to know eventually. But to my surprise, neither you nor Twilight spoke up, not even after the last dragon migration." Celestia looked over to the hallway with a half confused expression. "Speaking of Twilight, where is she?" The two boys looked at each other and shrugged.

"I haven't seen her since I came back from errands,” Wayfarer said. “You Spike?"

"Same here."

"Hmm." Celestia pursed her lips before standing up. "You two enjoy dinner, I'll go have a look around for her." With a flash of light and a nod of goodbye, Celestia teleported out of the kitchen.

"Well that was certainly interesting." Wayfarer, deciding the lasagna was cool enough for him now, cut out his own slice. "Didn't figure the dragons would be so essential to our economy. Bet that was a bit of a shock to you too, eh Spike?"

"Yeah..." Spike poked at his food a few times, something clearly doing the same to his mind. "The dragons thought I was a... 'dud?'"

Wayfarer, a fork full of pasta half way to his mouth, sighed and shrugged before continuing on with his feeding. "Their loss."

"Huh?"

Wayfarer swallowed and then smirked at Spike. "I've heard enough about dragons to have a pretty good idea of what they're like: greedy, short fused, and not easy to get along with. You on the other hoof, Spike, are kind, helpful, and always trying to be friendly. If even a third of all dragons were like you, they wouldn't have the bad reputation they've built over the centuries. Consider yourself lucky to have been raised away from all that."

Spike smiled widely. "Thanks. But, I do still wish I could meet with at least one dragon who I could talk with."

"Hey, you never know. We've got one good hearted dragon living amongst ponies, who's to say there aren't any more?"

"The history books." Spike grimaced went back to poking his food. "I'm sure if there had been other dragons living with ponies, Celestia, or somepony else for that matter, would have heard of them. I mean it's not like theres a whole section of Fillydelphia where they all live. That'd be really stupid."

Wayfarer chuckled and went back to his food. "Well, regardless. You still got your friends here in Ponyville."

"Yeah... I do."

.

"Thank you again for helping with the foals, Wayfarer," Cheerilee said as she dragged an eraser across the black board. "You really are a life saver."

"Not a problem, Cheerilee," Wayfarer said. "But there is something I'd like to talk to you about if you don't mind."

"You're not about to ask me for a pay raise are you?"

"No. Actually it's about two of the foals. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?"

Cheerilee froze. She sighed and then dropped the chalk eraser in a bin next to the black board. She then turned and gave a tired look to Wayfarer. "I am aware of their... behavioral problems, Wayfarer. But there is only so much I can do with them at school. I've sent numerous notes to their parents and given countless hours of detention, nothing seems to get through to them. If I had their parents support, maybe more could be done, but I don't ever get any responses to my letters and every time I bring it up during parent teacher conferences, they laugh it off as 'kids being kids.' So, if you have any suggestions, feel free to voice them, because I am out of ideas."

Wayfarer sighed. He was afraid that would be the case. It seemed odd to him though that such a nice man like Filthy Rich, who he'd met several times in his wonderings around town, wouldn't take a more vested interest in his daughter's school life. Especially when accusations of bullying were being tossed around.

"If that's all Wayfarer, you're free to go." There wasn't any of Cheerilee's usual joy in that sentence. It seemed to be filled instead with remorse and frustration, like she knew she was fighting a battle she'd already lost.

Wayfarer turned to leave and gave a very somber goodbye as he did so. "I'll see you on Wednesday, Cheerilee."

~~~~~

"How'd it go Wayfarer?" Sweetie Belle asked as she and the other two Crusaders led Wayfarer through Sweet Apple Acres.

"Poorly. Cheerilee has done everything she can, and I don't think any more letters to Diamond and Silver's parents will help matters. I think it's best if you three just ignore them. They just want a reaction, so if you deny them that, eventually they'll stop."

"Letters to their parents?" Apple Bloom mumbled. "You mean the ones they throw away before they even get home?"

Wayfarer could have face hoofed at that moment. Of course those two would do everything in their power to appear as pleasant as possible to the only people who mattered, including destroying evidence. "Have you told Cheerilee about that?"

The three looked at each other, then slowly looked away ashamedly. "Uhmm, no?" Scootaloo mumbled.

"That might be a good place to start don't you think? Let Cheerilee know tomorrow and see what happens. I'll take the heat Wednesday when you tell her I've been talking to you about this."

The three nodded to him. "Okay."

"Alright, so what are you three dragging me out here for this time?"

Sweetie Belle did a cute little skip and jump as she took the lead of their little group. "We thought of a great new idea to get our cutie marks!"

"And you're going to help!" Scootaloo added.

"Oh, joy."

"Don't worry Wayfarer," Apple Bloom said. "It ain't nothin too dangerous."

"See, unless you three are training to be members of the royal guard,” Wayfarer said. “your special talents shouldn't be anything remotely dangerous."

"But where's the fun in that?" Scootaloo asked accusingly. "Rainbow Dash says life needs to be filled with excitement! You have to enjoy it until the very last bit!"

"Yeah," Wayfarer mumbled. "But sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone."

"Huh?" The three say at the same time, tilting their heads in confusion.

"Nevermind, just something my english teacher used to say. Alright, what's your plan girls?"

After putting up with the crusaders' nonsense for a few hours, Wayfarer tiredly made his way back to the library, hoping for a nap and possibly a hot meal. However the fates didn't seem to keen on that idea, so they dropped Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in front of Wayfarer when he opened the front door.

Pinkie jumped right up into his face with an over excited hello prepared. "Hi'a Fare-"

"If you call me Farey one more time, I will hit you."

That just seemed to make Pinkie smile more and giggle. "Oh you wouldn't hit a girl," Pinkie fluttered her eyelids and made a pouty face. "Would you?" Wayfarer took that moment to turn to Rainbow Dash, who had walked within hoof's reach of him and Pinkie, and slugged her right in the shoulder.

"Ow! Hey!" Dash shouted indignantly.

"Sorry,” he said. “Just proving a point."

Rainbow squinted her eyes at Wayfarer and sneered at him. "Yeah? Well now I'm going to prove one!"

Faster than Wayfarer could blink, Rainbow Dash had one hoof against his chest and another under his left foreleg. With a grunt she pulled him around and over her shoulder, then stood up on her hind legs, flipping over and slamming Wayfarer down to the floor. He barely registered the fact that his back was now in pain before Rainbow placed a hoof on his gut and posed like she had defeated some great beast.

"Point made?" Rainbow asked as she smirked. "Or should I repeat myself?"

"NO! No, you've made your point very clear... also, ow."

Pinkie snorted and started laughing just as Twilight and Celestia walked back in. They stared at both Wayfarer and Rainbow's position with mild shock and confusion.

"What is going on here?" Twilight asked, making herself known to Rainbow Dash.

Dash quickly took her hoof off of Wayfarer and turned around, scratching the back of her head embarrassingly. "Oh, uhhh. Heh heh, I was just teaching Wayfarer here a lesson."

"Yeah," Wayfarer coughed as he got back up. "Don't poke the hornet's nest, you might get stung."

Pinkie stopped giggling long enough to add her own thought. "I thought the lesson was, boys shouldn't hit girls."

"No, the lesson was, Wayfarer should know better than to hit a black belt and not expect retaliation." Rainbow smirked and flexed her forelegs, emphasizing to Wayfarer that she was a lot stronger than her thin frame would suggest.

Twilight just gawked at the three, Celestia giving a bemused look as she shook her head slightly. "Okay," Twilight said slowly. "Well, it's good you're back now Wayfarer. We needed to ask you something."

Wayfarer rolled his still aching shoulders. "Okay, lay it on me."

"Well we needed to know if you had any problem with Rainbow Dash joining us on our... 'Rescue Team' I guess you could call it? With her, it'd bring the total number of Persona users we have to five."

"Hey I'm all for it. She certainly gave me a good indication that she could handle herself against the Shadows. She didn't even hesitate to tackle hers when it was attacking us."

Celestia smiled and turned to look at Dash. "Then I guess that settles it,” she said. “We'd be delighted to have your help Rainbow Dash."

Dash did a hoof pump and jumped up to do a little flip in the air. "You won't regret it guys! Now come on!" She cried as she rushed for the front door.

"Wait, w-what?" Wayfarer stuttered.

"Let's go right now! I wanna see what Andraste can do!"

Celestia nodded and followed the overtly excited pegasus. "Yes, I too would like to gage the ability of Rainbow's Persona. And now seems as good a time as any.

Wayfarer's exhausted body and mind chose a few expletives and tossed them at nothing in particular, then sighed as he too walked out the door, Pinkie and Twilight following behind. "Well it has been a while since I last went to the Velvet Room. Igor probably has half a dozen new Personas for me."

~~~~~

You step inside the Velvet Room for the first time in what felt like months, the clacking of the train down the tracks that led to nowhere welcome you. You turn your head left and right to see Agatha and Agero, but in between them Igor is surprisingly absent.

"Oh, hello there." Agatha smiles warmly to you as you take your seat at the rounded table. "Unfortunately, our master is not in at the moment. He has stepped out to deal with some matter or another."

"But rest assured," Agero said. "Just because he is not around, does not mean we cannot assist you. Sister, the compendium?"

Agatha pulls out her large tome and sets it on the table, flicking it open as several cards flew out from its pages. "You have been busy as of late. Not only have you strengthened the bonds you already had, but you have forged several new ones and gained there power: Kaiwan of the Star," A black and white star shaped creature with the face of a man and wildly frayed purple hair and beard appears as one of the cards shattered. "Take-Minakata of the Hanged-Man," An armless demon wearing white clothes and ropes draped around his limbless torso appeared next. "Zouchouten of the Chariot," Another demon, complete with both arms this time, adorned in white armor, and some sort of duel ended relic clutched in its hand. "And Principality of the Justice." An angelic figure wearing an ornate dress of green and blue and wielding a staff with a cross atop. All four figures bow to you before disappearing.

"And what's more," Agero said as he picked up one of the cards and showed it to you. The face of Miss Cheerilee smiles at you from within the face of the card. "With a powerful bond being forged with one aligned to the Priestess Arcana, it would seem that Scathatch, the Scottish Warrior and Teacher of Heroes, has joined you as well." The card shatters in Agero's hand before reforming into a miniature woman with a large red hat and cloak that covers most of her pale face and body from view. The woman also bows to you before vanishing.

"We hope these will be of great use to you." Agatha closes the compendium and lifts it back up from the table. "Now, is there anything else we may do for you today?"

"Where IS Igor?" You allow the question to fall from your lips before you can stop it.

Agero and Agatha look at each other nervously before Agero speaks. "Truthfully, we know not where he goes when he disappears like this."

"But rest assured," Agatha continued. "Nothing in this room happens without a reason. This room is tied to your fate just as your friends are tied to you through your bonds. Whatever reason our master has for leaving, it is to assist you on your journey."

Satisfied with the answer for now, you turn and leave the Velvet Room.

~~~~~

"Get anything good?" Twilight asked as Wayfarer walked back over to her from the blue door that none of the others could see.

"Five new ones," Wayfarer said. "And one of them is supposedly really powerful."

Twilight frowned slightly. "That power might come at a cost. Just be careful, alright?"

"Are we done yet?" Rainbow yelled from the hall that led to the cellar. "Let's get moving!"

~~~~~

Andraste, as it turned out, was slightly different in comparison to the Personas of Wayfarer, Twilight and Pinkie. Where as theirs each had an element associated to them like wind, lightning or fire, Rainbow Dash's Persona seemed to focus solely on physical attacks. Rainbow didn't seem to mind, in fact she rather enjoyed the fact that Andraste preferred getting up close and personal with her foes.

"Persona!" Rainbow shouted as they turned a corner and spotted three more hapless Shadows waiting to get body checked by a twenty five foot tall armored machine of destruction. As the sword wielding knight plowed its shield into the first, it swung its blade around in a wide arc that sliced clean through the other two. The first dropped to the floor just as the remains of the others disintegrated, then Andraste finished the job by stomping her foot down on the creature.

"This is so AWESOME!" Rainbow yelled out as she bounded around in circles.

The other four Persona users, out of breath from chasing Rainbow around, finally caught up just as Andraste was doing her own triumphant fist pump. "You think...huff... you could slow down a bit Dash?" Wayfarer gasped.

"No way! I'm on a roll!"

Celestia shook her head. "No, he's right Rainbow Dash, rushing ahead like this is going to get you into trouble. If you're going to help us, then I insist you stay by our side at all times when we're down here."

"With all due respect Princess Celestia, I'm not twelve."

Twilight whispered into Wayfarer's ear, "Well you sure act like you are sometimes." Wayfarer snickered at that, getting a scowl from Rainbow.

"Fine, whatever. I know how that friendship report will go." Rainbow rolled her eyes and lifted a hoof up, rotating it around as she continued. "I'll say I don't need anyone's help, then I'll get over run by more than I can handle and get my butt kicked, you four will run in to save me and I'll learn the value of teamwork or something. I'd rather skip all that if that's okaaaaaAAAAAHHHHGG!!" A bolt of lightning arced through the hallway and struck both Andraste and Rainbow right in the tail end, dissipating the Persona and sending the pegasus flying past her friends and landing in a heap behind them.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelped in surprise as two Shadows that looked like giant snakes, with the standard male/female gender symbols hanging about their necks, swam right through the air at them.

"I don't think I want to know what those guys are supposed to represent. Sati!" Wayfarer's fire bathed Persona appeared and shot several large balls of flame at their attackers. The Shadows reeled backwards as they were engulfed in fire, but they were able to pull themselves together long enough to shoot another round of electricity at them.

"I got this! Tyche!" Twilight yelled as her Persona appeared in front of Sati to take the brunt of the oncoming attack. Tyche was unfazed by the assault, and responded with her bladed wheel, tossing it at the snakelike Shadows. The high spinning weapon tore through one, but unfortunately missed the other.

"Shoot!" Twilight cursed. Wayfarer prepared himself to launch another attack and finish off the remaining enemy. But before he could do anything, Rainbow sped past himself and Twilight, rushing the Shadow and calling out to her Persona.

"ANDRASTE!" She cried out. Once more her knight appeared, raising up its shield in defense as the Shadow sent a third volley of lightning out. This time however, Andraste's shield caught the arc and rebounded it back at the shadow. Even with its resistance to its own element, the snake was too weak to withstand its own attack and was thoroughly obliterated by it. With that, the hallway fell silent, and all five Persona users glanced at each other before Rainbow started to laugh under her breath. The laughter spread to Wayfarer, then to Pinkie and Celestia, and finally Twilight.

It was a sign that they were all too exhausted to carry on, even with the adrenalin rushing through their blood. With a nod from Celestia, the group retraced their steps and left the castle, satisfied with their efforts that night.

Author's Notes:

my editor, the great and wonderful Red Sage, is in the middle of moving right now, so at this time this chapter is unedited. As such if you happen to find any glaring mistakes please don't hesitate to let me know.

Chapter 19: Assistance Please

Feeling a bit peckish, Wayfarer was once again hanging out in Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was busy with customers, so she wasn't able to run her mouth off with him as much as she would have liked. She did however have just enough time to deliver a chocolate shake to Wayfarer before he'd even ordered one. Shrugging, Wayfarer grabbed the beverage and leaned back in his chair to start pony watching.

With the Summer Sun Celebration just days away, the climate had become, while not uncomfortable, very warm. Ponies were coming into Sugarcube more to get a break from the heat than for any actual business, but the Cakes were still happy to bring water to any pony who looked more than even a little bit flush. The Crusaders had rushed in with their manes plastered to their coats by sweat, begging for ice cold snow cones, which they ate alongside Wayfarer before dashing back out with hurried goodbyes. Rarity walked in sometime later for an iced sweet tea, waving a fan against her face all the while. She stopped long enough to let Wayfarer know she was ready to start on his suit; she just needed him to drop off the down payment.

About an hour later, the lunch rush had ended. Pinkie hopped over to Wayfarer's table and landed in the chair across from him.

"Hiya, Wayfarer!" She greeted him, Wayfarer silently thanking her for not using the nickname.

"Hello, Pinkie. Busy day?"

"Ugh, the busiest!" She groaned and bent herself over the back of the chairs, draping her forelegs at her sides. She kept this pose for about three seconds before springing forward with a broad smile. "But that just means I get to see all my friends today!"

"Always a bright side, huh?"

Pinkie nodded excitedly, and Wayfarer smiled in bemusement. The two continued to talk about how hot it was, what sort of treats were the best for staving off the heat, and in general just enjoying each other's company. All told, Wayfarer felt this was one of Pinkie's more manageable days, like a brief calm within the near constant party storm she constantly carried around with her. After debating the potential cooling factors of popsicles versus sherbets, a mare walked up behind Pinkie Pie and gently tapped on her shoulder.

"Excuse me Pinkie?" The mare asked as Pinkie turned to her. "My little Lilly Locks just got her Cutie Mark yesterday and we were wondering if you'd be interested in helping to host her Cutecinera. Are you available on the 25th of June?"

Pinkie's face practically lit up as her smile attempted to encompass the entirety of her face. "Of course I can help! How could I possibly skip out on making sure somepony got the absolutely bestest party after something so super special awesome as getting their cutie mark!" The mare gave a small yet slightly perturbed smile at this before Pinkie calmed down enough to ask her own question. "But wait, why are you waiting so long? Why not have it today? Or tomorrow? Or right now?"

The mare's smile dropped slightly as she explained. "Oh, well Lilly ended up getting her cutie mark rather suddenly and at a bit of an inopportune time. We would have it today, but we already had plans to leave and visit relatives for the Summer Sun Celebration. We're certainly going to have a get together for it as soon as possible, but she still wanted a party with all of her friends. And I think you know how hard it is to say no to little fillies when they pout like she did."

Pinkie nodded vigorously before springing into a flurry of more party specific questions: balloon colour, cake flavors, how many tons of confetti they'd need, est. Wayfarer ended up tuning out most of it, but he got the gist that Pinkie really did not skimp on anything when it came to planning a party. A few minutes later, the mare left and Pinkie tried to dislocate her shoulder when waving good by.

"That sounded like a lot of work."

Pinkie giggled as she settled back into her seat. "Not really. I'm always prepared for a party. I was super serious when I asked if she wanted to have the party right now! Nothing less for a pony with a brand new cutie mark!"

"Sure wish I could remember my Cutecinera." Wayfarer grimaced as he leaned back in his seat, rummaging through his mind only to find the vacant lot that was his childhood. "Shoot, I wish I could remember what I did to get my cutie mark."

"Ooh! Wanna hear how I got my cutie mark? It might help you remember!"

Wayfarer smirked and shook his head. "Maybe some other time Pinkie. I'm sure it's an interesting tale, but I doubt it would help me remember anything."

Pinkie pursed her lips in deep thought, tapping a hoof to her chin as her sugar laden brain worked. Suddenly, she squeed and reached all the way across the table to grab Wayfarer by the collar of his shirt and drag him right to her face.

"IDEA!" She shouted. "What if you came to Lily Lock's party! Maybe the sight of all the foals having fun and celebrating will remind you of the time YOU were a foal!"

"Oh, jeez, umm..." Wayfarer's eyes twitched and flicked all around his peripheral vision in hopes of seeing someone who could save him from the pink party planning monstrosity that had a hold on him. "Thanks Pinkie, but I'd rather not take the spotlight off of some poor foal's party just on the off chance it might cure my memory loss."

"Aww, you wouldn't be taking the spotlight!" Pinkie said as she dropped Wayfarer onto the table, his muzzle slamming into its surface with a dull thud. "You'd be more like the one holding the spotlight! You'll be my party assistant!"

Wayfarer groaned as he felt the grain of the table top against his cheek. "Oh. Joy." He lifted his head and looked up at Pinkie with tired contempt. "Is it too late to turn back time and prevent myself from walking in here for just a milkshake?"

"Not unless you load your last saved game silly!"

"...what?" That was all Wayfarer could get out before Pinkie once again had a hold on him, wrapping her forelegs around him in a big bear hug.

"We'll make this the best party ever! And then we'll have another party to celebrate you remembering!"

Wayfarer couldn't respond; his lungs were being crushed. However, through all the pain, he did appreciate what Pinkie was trying to do. No pony ever really cared this much to try and help him recover his memories, and he couldn't help but feel a flutter of happiness somewhere in his gut. Definitely a welcome act on behalf of Pinkie.

After Pinkie had released Wayfarer from her grasp and let him continue on with his day, yet another one of his friends saw fit to ambush him not long after he'd departed Sugar Cube Corner.

"Sup' Wayfarer!" Rainbow Dash shouted right behind Wayfarer's head after sneaking up into his air space. The sudden and very loud greeting caused Wayfarer to jump at least a meter into the air. Stumbling as he tried to land on all four hooves correctly, he looked up and glared at Dash when she started to laugh at his reaction.

"Yes, that's VERY funny, Rainbow Dash,” he said with annoyance. “Now give me a moment to let my heart climb down from my throat and then I'll listen to whatever request you're about to ask of me."

"How do you know I'm going to ask you for something?" Rainbow asked as she wiped away a tear of joy earned at Wayfarer's expense.

"Call it a guess."

"Yeah, well, you're right, I do want to ask you for something." Rainbow settled on the ground and smiled proudly to herself, like she'd just come up with the absolute best idea ever. "Remember when I was tossing around the idea of starting a team to go to the Equestria Games and prove myself to the Wonderbolts? Well, I've been thinking, and I figured 'hey, me and the other Wonderbolt trainees in Ponyville are already the fastest around, why don't we start a relay team!'"

"That's..." Wayfarer pursed his lips as he thought about it. "That's actually a really good idea."

"Of course it is! And I'm the fastest flyer in Ponyville, bar none! Winning the relay should be a snap for us! And the best part? That's the competition that Spitfire always competes in!"

"Ahh, I see," Wayfarer said as he realized what Rainbow's intentions were. "Not only do you want to win gold, you think beating Spitfire at her own game will show her that she has no choice but to make you a Wonderbolt."

"Yep!"

"It's a solid idea," Wayfarer said, nodding his head. "But that still leaves the fact that you already quit. I'm sorry Dash, but the Wonderbolts are part of a military. You can't just say 'I quit' after getting that far and then expect to be let back in just because you prove you can fly fast."

Rainbow's ears drooped a little at that and she shuffled her hooves around. "I know. That's why yesterday, after Twilight and I were done with her flight lessons, I asked her to help me write a letter to Spitfire. Twilight said to tell her that I was having an... 'existential crisis' I think she called it. I was tired and confused and just needed a little time off to get my head straight. Then Princess Celestia found us and offered to write up her own letter vouching for the fact that I was... 'Dealing with an issue of identity,' and that Spitfire should ignore my resignation request."

Wayfarer nodded while pursing his lips. He shrugged and said "Well, I guess that's about as much as you can do."

"I haven't gotten a response back yet, but with two of Equestria's princesses on my side, there's no way Spitfire can say no!"

"Perhaps. But either way, you said you needed something from me? I'm not a pegasus, so it's not like I can join your team or anything."

"I know, that's why I want you to be our team manager!"

"Team what now?" Wayfarer deadpanned. 'Great, first I'm Pinkie's party assistant, now I'm going to get roped into managing a team for the Equestria Games!'

"Team manager! And you're first job as team manager is going to be helping me pick two more pegasi to fill out the team. I've already decided on Thunderlane and Cloudchaser as our best bets!"

"Soooo you've already done my job then?"

"No, I still need you to come and be there when I ask them to join! Now come on, we're wasting time!"

Rainbow then took Wayfarer by the hoof and started dragging him along, completely oblivious to the pained expression on his face.

'C'est la vie' Wayfarer thought to himself.

Wayfarer stood next to Rainbow with a barely restrained look of 'how-did-I-get-into-this-mess?' on his face. She merrily walked up to the front door of the house they had arrived at and knocked twice upon it, then turned to Wayfarer with a big smirk.

"Other than me, Thunderlane here would probably be the last pony in Ponyville to turn down an opportunity to impress the Wonderbolts!"

"He a big fan too?" Wayfarer asked.

"Heh, well you kind of have to be if you want to BE a Wonderbolt. But he needs to impress them because he's been falling behind in his test scores."

"Huh, and you? What about your test scores?"

"Aced every practical exam they threw at me!" Dash's face then twitched slightly. "Not so much on the written portions, heh heh.” The front door finally opened to reveal a black coated stallion with off white and greenish grey hair. He looked rather surprised to see the two of them, but he grimaced when he saw the smile on Rainbow Dash's face.

"Heeeeyyyy Rainbow..." He said slowly, in a way that screamed that she was the last pony he wanted to see right at that moment. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Got a bit of a proposition for you!" Dash said, oblivious to Thunderlane's nervousness. "You see, I was thinking, the Ponyville Wonderbolts should form a Relay team to compete in the Equestria Games. And you are absolutely one of the ponies I'd want on that team!"

"Oh, really? That's um... nice and all Rainbow Dash."

Wayfarer raised an eyebrow at this. Something seemed really off and even if he wasn't interested in being a team manager, he still wanted to make sure Rainbow Dash was successful in this venture.

"Thunderlane?" Wayfarer asked suddenly. "Is something up?"

"Huh? Oh, well, it's just weird seeing her smile like that. You know, considering."

"Considering what?" Dash asked, now thoroughly confused. "And why wouldn't I be smiling! I actually had a great idea for once! And I want you and Cloudchaser to be a part of it!"

"Wait, haven't you heard yet?"

"Heard what?"

Thunderlane looked like he was starting to panic. His eyes darted every which way, looking for a way out, as if he was terrified at how Dash would react.

"Well," Thunderlane finally spoke. "I got a letter this morning from Spitfire. You've been suspended, pending an investigation into your apparent 'Mental State.'"

Rainbow Dash could have helped plow the fields of Sweet Apple Acres with how low her jaw dropped.

Wayfarer sighed, discouraged but not surprised. "Told you Spitfire wouldn't forgive so easily."

"B-but the Princess..." Rainbow tried to find her voice, and having no luck.

"You're not going to have a psychotic break on me, are you?" Thunderlane asked cautiously. "Honestly I'd rather me and my little brother not know what a crazy Rainbow Dash is like."

"I'm NOT crazy!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I just had a bad day! I wasn't thinking straight! I... I... suspended?” Thunderlane nodded slowly as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. Rainbow Dash just stood there, staring at him in disbelief. After a few moments, she blinked a few times and, very quietly, stuttered out her request again. "O-okay... umm... well, that doesn't mean we can't still form a relay team and compete in the games... right?"

Thunderlane scrutinized Rainbow for a good while before he started to back up and grabbed the door handle. "It's... a nice offer Rainbow Dash, but I'll have to decline. Maybe you should try getting your head together first before you try doing anything big again."

"Now wait just a minute!" Wayfarer started before the door was quickly closed in his face. "What in Tartarus?" Rainbow Dash, not waiting for Wayfarer to follow, started to trot away quickly. Wayfarer spun around, sighed in mutual disappointment, then started after her. "You going to be alright?"

"No," Dash said simply.

"Well... maybe Cloudchaser will join you. C'mon let's go ask her."

"Wayfarer, if it's all the same to you, I think I'm just going to go home." Dash glanced up at Wayfarer, and he briefly saw that her eyes were already looking a little red. "Sorry I dragged you along for nothing."

"Dash," Wayfarer said, stopping her by putting a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sure there are other ponies who'd be willing to help you out. You've probably got dozens of pegasus friends who you could turn to, go talk with them."

"What's the point? I'm probably going to go home and find that letter from Spitfire that Thunderlane was talking about."

"You're not fired, Dash, you're under an investigation. Celestia's probably going to follow up on her letter, you just need to give it time. Hey, look at me." Dash lifted her head up a little and gave Wayfarer her full attention. "You screwed up. It's something we all do. But you're doing the best you can to try and make it right. But at the moment, the ball is in Spitfire's court right now, you need to wait for her to make the next move. So do yourself a favor, and stop worrying about the things you can't control."

Dash just stared up at Wayfarer's eyes, slowly she squinted them and began to scrutinize him. "Are you a changeling?"

"I- wait, what?"

"Or I mind reader? Cause you seem to know exactly what to say to get ponies to calm down. Almost like you know what they're feeling."

"Uhmm, last I checked I wasn't capable of such a power, and if I was I'd probably be opening a psych clinic instead of slumming it in the boonies."

"Oh, you really think so low of Ponyville?" Dash smirked. "Big city colt thinks he's better than the little valley town? I mean yeah, Cloudsdale's got it beat for looks, but we have a princess living here!"

"In a library. With a castle that's infested with monsters. Not the sort of modern accommodations that would set Equestria on fire."

"Yeah well, just you wait. We'll have all sorts of fancy high brow stuff here in a few years. Then we'll see how 'boony' this place is."

"I'll hold you to that, but you know what would really help Ponyville stand out as a modern town, aside from the fancy high brow stuff?"

"A Wonderbolts team! You're right Wayfarer!"

"I was going to say a comic book store, but yeah I guess a Wonderbolts team would be nice too. Guessing that means I can expect to see you at the Equestria games?"

"Naturally! I'll find a couple of pegasi willing and able to fly with me even if I have to recruit Fluttershy!"

"That poor girl competing in the games? Rainbow Dash, such cruelty!”

"I need your help." Discord said simply, his head popping out of the bushes as Wayfarer walked out of the school house. Wayfarer, surprisingly enough, didn't appreciate the ruler of chaos's sudden appearance, and the subsequent panic attack it caused. As Wayfarer tumbled to the ground and started hyperventilating, Discord stepped out of the bush and gave him an odd look. "Are you having an episode? Should I call an ambulance?"

"Shut up and let me find out where my heart got lodged at this time!" Wayfarer took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down from the second panic attack in as many days. "Okay. What do you want?"

"I need you to come with me to the music store we were at about a month ago. I'm afraid that's probably the only place in town where I could ask about local musicians."

"Going through with your Orchestra idea?" Wayfarer asked.

"Yes, but I can't just go knocking door to door like one of Jenova's witnesses. I need to narrow my search for talented musicians, and that store seems to be the best place to start."

"Last I checked, neither of us made a very good impression on the store clerk.” Discord didn't respond to that, instead opting to take up his disguise and lead Wayfarer into town in the direction of the music store. When they arrived, Wayfarer was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face perusing the shelves.

"Hey Lyra," Wayfarer said with a smile. The mare in question looked up at the mention of her name and then smiled back.

"Oi, nice to see you again Wayfarer! Look'n for some jams?"

"Oh great it's you two again." The store clerk moaned. "I thought we didn't have any good music? You didn't seem to like our selection of Dubstep."

"Turn Table, lad, be nice." Lyra stepped over to the counter and tussled the clerk's hair.

"We aren't here to buy anything," Discord explained. "I'm here looking for local musicians who'd be interested in joining my symphony. I need ponies with talented hooves, preferably with ACTUAL instruments and not that cluster bomb of noise and altered voices."

Turn Table sneered at Discord, muttering something under his breath about "Old Timers." Lyra shot him an angry look before looking back to Wayfarer and Discord.

"Bit of a dodder if you ask me. Not a whole lot of musicians in this town, sorry to say. I mean there's me," she smiled and turned to the side to show of her lyre cutie mark. "And then there's Meadow Song, he plays the acoustic guitar, Pinkie Pie know's how to play a ton of instruments... and that's it really. Anyone else who plays an instrument probably only does it as a hobby and not someth'n they're actually good at."

"Oh well isn't that peachy." Discord grumbled as he turned away and looked amongst the shelves, passing over the massive section of modern music. Lyra frowned as her eyes flicked back and forth between Discord and Wayfarer. She seemed to consider something for a moment before she stepped over to Discord and tapped on his shoulder.

"You know," she began. "I know a few musicians in Canterlot who might be interested in coming down to Ponyville for some work."

"Really now?" Discord asked, looking at Lyra as if she'd offered him the 'Participation Award.'

"Yeah, this is their home town, so I'm sure they'd love to have a band here!" Lyra smiled for a solid few seconds before she turned her lips up in a pout. "But then again, they might be a mite busy. They're looking for actual work, ya know, with professionals? Maybe if you had something I could tell them about to wet their appetites?” Discord leered at Lyra, he could obviously tell that she had something up her metaphorical sleeves. Turn Table snorted from across the room, getting the three customers' attention.

"If you're talking about Vinyl and Octavia,” He said. “I wouldn't bet on it. Those two deserve a lot more than this snob can offer."

"Good sir," Wayfarer spoke up with the most snobbish accent he could muster. "I'll have you know that this stallion once played in the Royal Equestrian Orchestra and is quite a fiend on the piano! He could play his way out of a concrete crate if need be!"

"HA! With a piano? Oh that I've got to see!" The clerk walked back from behind the counter and went to a back room, where he pulled out a full keyboard powered by several shimmering gemstones and attached to a large amplifier. "Here you go old timer, hope this isn't too modern for you."

"Modern." Discord mumbled under his breath as he walked up to the keyboard, his eyes getting a glint of red from his true form. "I'll show YOU modern!"

"You may want to step back," Wayfarer said to Lyra as he began to pull her away from the rig. Turn Table, standing right in the line of fire, stared down both the amp and the pianist as if daring Discord to try and impress him.

Discord lifted his forehooves up and placed them on the edge of the keys, looking down at the store clerk with an evil grin as his horn ignited. Around Discord's hooves formed a pair of ethereal claws reminiscent of his draconequus form, and from his back sprung two more clawed limbs that also placed their fingers at the keys. Underneath the keyboard, Wayfarer also spotted some of the magic taking hold of one of the dials on the amp, clicking the volume all the way to eleven.

What followed was a near impossible sounding cacophony of notes that wrung through the store at such rapid speed that it was as if a hailstorm was striking the keys rather than a four armed pony. Wayfarer was sure that no instrument was ever meant to be played this fast, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Discord was pumping chaos magic into the keys as well. Turn Table was nearly pushed over by the constant barrage of tiny shock waves generated from the amp, his mane actually fluttering slightly as the song continued. It went on for nearly three and a half minutes before it started to calm down... and then at four minutes things got crazy. At this point, Wayfarer was definitely certain that no instrument ever created by pony hooves could make the sort of noise that Discord was making with that piano. It sounded like a piano, but it was more chaotic than anything he'd ever heard, and yet it wasn't disturbing or haunting, it was beauty in its most extreme form. The air itself was vibrating, knocking things off shelves and causing the other three ponies' manes to rise as if static was coursing through them.

Finally, after more than seven minutes, the beast gave its final roar and blasted the hapless store clerk into the opposite wall. Discord lifted his ethereal claws from the keys and allowed them to dissipate. He smiled mockingly at the pony who had questioned his ability, then placed his hooves back to the ground and began to swagger about the store like he owned the place. The store clerk whimpered slightly as he lifted himself out of the pile of records that had fallen off the wall with him.

“That…" He said on the verge of tears. “Was the most metal thing... I've ever heard."

Lyra and Wayfarer were similarly stunned. The two of them stood stock still for nearly a minute before Lyra began to trot stiffly to the door.

"Excuse me, I have to write a few letters."

Discord continued to prance about the destroyed store until Wayfarer, finally out of his stupor, stepped in front of him. Wayfarer gestured his head toward all the carnage his companion had caused and then gave him a knowing smile.

Discord rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll tidy up."

As his horn began to glow again, the store seemed to run in reverse as instruments and records leapt from the floor and back onto the walls, damage repairing itself as needed. With the store fixed, Discord then lifted Turn Table up and tossed him unceremoniously back behind the counter.

"There. Good as... well I doubt this place will ever be as good as 'new', but whatever.” With that, the disguised mischief maker stepped out the door, with Wayfarer following closely behind.

"That was... wow."

Discord snickered to himself, clearly proud of the impression he'd left on Wayfarer, Lyra, and the hapless Turn Table.

Once Wayfarer had extracted himself from Discord's presence later that evening, he made a beeline to the library, just arriving in time to catch Twilight, Spike, and Celestia closing up the tree house.

Celestia smirked as he drew near. "I thought you were going to miss us."

"Sorry," Wayfarer said as he caught his breath. "Discord held me up."

Rolling her eyes, Celestia nodded and led the way to the train station. Twilight walked up next to Wayfarer and held something out to him in her magic.

"Here, figured you might need a key so I had a spare made for you." Taking the key in his hoof, Wayfarer gave a confused look to her. "Oh right, it's for the library. I'll only be gone a couple days, but I'd like to know my home is in good hooves during that time. Don't worry too much about ponies coming to check out books, they'll probably be too busy with preparations tomorrow. Oh, and don't let me come back and find the place a complete disaster.” Chuckling, Wayfarer stowed the key in his pocket.

They reached the station in about ten minutes time, and were greeted on the platform by the rest of Twilight's friends.

"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" Fluttershy asked as the five of them took turns giving Twilight goodbye hugs.

"Ponyville needs you all to stay and help with getting ready," Twilight explained, shaking her head. "But the celebration starts a day early in Canterlot, so Celestia and I are expected to be present. That won't stop us from leaving after the Sun has risen the day of, though. It's just for two nights, then we'll come right back to Ponyville."

Nodding and cheering farewells, the crowd of friends moved aside and allowed Celestia and Spike to board the train. Twilight hesitated for a moment, giving Wayfarer a worried look. Wayfarer, for a split second, felt a chill run down his spine. It was like somepony had whispered a curse in his ear and he could feel it in his very soul. He stared back at Twilight with his own look of worry, but all she could in offer in return was an apprehensive gaze before she turned and boarded the train herself. The whistle of the engine blew and the station workers closed up the coach doors. The wheels gave a few quick turns before they finally caught and started to pull the vehicle forward. Wayfarer, still trying to discern what exactly he felt when he and Twilight locked eyes, slowly started to follow the train for a few steps before he reached the end of the platform and had to stop. Watching the caboose pass by, he couldn't help but wish he'd jumped onto the train as well.

Later that night

Meditation was an important part of the day for the Empress. It gave her the chance to think and kept her in a calm and stable state of mind. And when you were the wife to a lecherous idiot like the Emperor, keeping calm was a twenty four hour struggle. The many failures of the Emperor and Empusa within the last few months had pushed her into a near constant state of quiet rage, and the last thing she wanted was for that rage to boil outward, especially not in front of Judgement. Today had been a particularly awful day however, "Death" had come to visit, so the usual meditation time was being extended long into the night.

She could almost feel as if "Death" was still fluttering about her in the air, his shadowy body making that ungodly noise as it moved. And then he tried speaking, and all that came out would be an echoing moan, like the dying roar of a distant dragon. It was annoying, Death was annoying, and Empress wished he'd crawl back into whatever cave he came out of. But she refused to let that be what was on her mind right now. There was nothing on her mind, she was as calm as she could possibly be. Her bare room was quiet, serene even, there was absolutely nothing that could disturb-

A mighty rumble, like thunder, trembled the stone above her, until a sudden crash earth and rock exploded out.

Empress's bloodshot eyes snapped open, she looked up at her ceiling just in time to see a large black root smash through from the earth above. The root was covered in sickly turquoise thorns that threatened to tear at her coat and mane if it got too close. But before it could so much as reach out at her, Empress's body began to radiate heat on par with a roaring bonfire. A flare of fire shot from her horn and incinerated the plant limb, only for another five to descend through the hole to take its place. Her eyes took on the look of unbridled fury that she was trying so hard to quell, and moments later her entire room was charred black by the sudden explosion of flames. But that didn't seem to work as well as she wanted, as the wall opposite the door was ripped apart by more thorny vines. With all thought of containing the solar flare's worth of power and anger trapped inside her gone, Empress lunged into the tangle of vines and began immolating the bramble.

The door to Empress's room slowly creaked open, Emperor and Judgement stood in the opening and watched as a tunnel was carved out of the earth as Empress's fiery wrath pushed the vines back. It didn't stop vines from coming through the ceiling in her absence however. Emperor looked on with fear and disgust as his wife worked, but Judgement's focus was on the vines.

"When I get my hooves on that Draconequus," Judgement muttered as their own fury began to grow. "I'm going to feed him to the Dark Mother personally."

Author's Notes:

Long story short, I've been busy this summer, on top of hitting a creative dry spell, and did not have the time or desire to work on The Harmony Arcana. I apologize to you all for that, but I do have a solution.

For those of you unaware, I have a Patreon. And starting in a few weeks, I'll be uploading weekly update chapters for my $3 and up patrons. The chapters will be Patreon exclusives for one month before I post them here to Fimfiction. I'll be posting a short chapter preview here on fimfiction when that starts. So If you guys want to get the next run of updates as soon as possible, or just want to support me, head on over to my patreon and toss a few bucks my way! https://www.patreon.com/XainRussell

Also, Special thanks again to Sage for editing!

Bonus Chapter: Initiation of Moonlight

Vivid Dreams hadn’t been this nervous since the day he joined T.A.R.O.T. two years ago. Today was the day he stopped being a grunt and got to move up in the world, but first he had to prove he could handle it. He ran some magic through his horn and adjusted the device around his neck as it hummed gently, like it was trying to relax him and keep his mind off of what would happen if he screwed this up. He looked up to three sets of eyes who were watching him sternly from the third row of seats in what looked like an arena. Behind them were dozens more, some looking uninterested, others looked comforting and supportive. Vivid gulped as one of the front three finally spoke.

“You are Vivid Dreams, formerly of the Eastern Isles, correct?” said the red Pegasus mare in the center, her voice rough and loud.

“Yes Madam Short Temper,” Vivid responded, tension finally broken and the silence lifted.

“And you are here to apply for the title of ‘Moon Arcana’?” Asked the Unicorn to Short Temper’s right, Sharp Reflection, his eyebrow lifting slightly. “The title formerly held by one of the most respected members of this organization, Starlight Mist?”

“Those are mighty big horseshoes you’ll have to fill,” said the earth pony to Short Temper’s left, Silent Voice, her face still stern even if her voice conveyed interest. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Confidence building, Vivid looked her in the eye as he gave his response. “Yes Ma’am.”

“Very well than,” Sharp said as his telekinesis took hold of a document and brought it up to his eyes. “Let's begin your evaluation. It says here you were able to summon your Persona on you first try?”

“Yes Sir,” Vivid responded, proud of this accomplishment.

“And then you proceeded to spend almost a month in the infirmary afterwards?”

“Yes, Sir.” Vivid responded, slightly less proud.

The three took their eyes off of Vivid for a moment to shoot each other a look of doubt. They then gave this look to Vivid before speaking again.

“I trust you realize that this organization is no joke,” Short Temper said simply. “T.A.R.O.T. was founded for the purpose of protecting Equestria from forces that no ordinary pony, gryphon or even a dragon could possibly understand. Let alone fight against. As one of T.A.R.O.T.’s top officers, you’ll need to show the utmost discipline when wielding your Persona, lest it harm you or someone else. Is there someone here who can vouch that you have obtained a sufficient level of control over your other self?”

“I can!” Came a shout from the assembled audience. A grey Pegasus with emerald green eyes stepped down into the arena. He walked over to Vivid and gave him a confident smile and wink before turning back to the three ponies above them.

“State your name and position please,” said Short Temper.

“I am Gust Strong-Wind, of the Lovers Arcana.”

“And you claim you can vouch for Mr. Vivid’s strength of will?”

“I do, I’ve known Vivid since he got off the boat at the age of thirteen. He’s brash and impulsive, and if I might add has a bad habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeves, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a more honest pony anywhere short of the Princesses. What’s more, I’ve never seen him stiff on his work, he always does what is expected and then some.

“But most importantly, and most relevant to our current gathering, he knows himself. He has his doubts, who among us doesn’t, but he searches for answers with the same vehement drive that Starlight Mist did. I say he’s ready to carry the facade used to overcome life’s hardships."

There was a bit of muttering in the audience, even the three forward ponies began to discuss the situation with each other. Finally, the room quieted down and the three judging ponies smiled down at Vivid.

“Show us.” Silent Voice said.

“S-Show you?” Vivid stumbled, slightly confused.

“Your Persona.”

After a bit of hesitation Vivid nodded and then took his stance, bracing himself as he closed his eyes and focused. Gust backed off a ways, confidently keeping his eyes on Vivid as the device on the unicorn's neck began to hum even louder. The air around Vivid began to glow a light blue and his clothes began to flutter, before he took in a deep breath and shouted out a single word.

“PERSONA!”

The device sparked with new life as the hum increased to a full on rev. Vivid gasped as it felt like his spirit was being pulled out of him, his head snapping back as the device seemed to explode, light beaming out of the gemstones attached to either side. The room filled up with wind as the light seemed to form a shape in front of Vivid, the audience looking on unperturbed. The light began to solidify itself into the form of a bipedal creature, its body shrouded in a black cloak wrapped tightly around its body. The figure’s face was covered by a mask, with one eye closed and the other wide open, that stretched past its ears and nearly hid all of its spiked black hair. floating on either side of it were two more masks, one depicting a white dragon with blue eyes and gold trim around the edges, the other was a changeling with red eyes and silver trimming.

As quick as it all began, the light show ended and Vivid’s head fell back down as he gasped for air. The figure stood tall, glaring at each face in the small crowd, some of whom reached an uneasy hoof up to their necks to feel at devices similar to Vivid’s. No one moved or spoke for a good long while until Silent Voice stepped forward.

“Who is this, Vivid?” she asked.

“This – gasp – Is Ikelos” Vivid said, struggling to maintain the figure for as long as possible. Silent Voice joined Vivid and his Persona at ground level and eyed the beast as it eyed her.

Her face scrunched up in thought as she voiced her observation. “It seems to have taken a lot out of you.”

“Yes,” Vivid responded, legs starting to shake.

“Are you certain you have control over it?”

“Yes, I – gasp – I do!”

“Let’s put that to the test then, shall we? Mr. Firebrand!”

Vivid glanced up as a unicorn with a deep red coat and slicked back yellow hair made his way down from the stands and joined them in the arena. The stallion had a rather jovial smile on his face, and nodded to Gust as he passed him. When he stepped in front of Vivid, Silent Voice spoke again.

“Vivid, you and Firebrand will engage each other in combat with your Personas. We’ll see then if you have the control you and Strong-Wind claim you have.”

Silent Voice turned and left to rejoin the judges panel. Gust however, walked over to Vivid and whispered into his ear.

"Relax, you're letting your mind focus on too many things. Drop the disguise and-"

"No," Vivid responded. "There is no disguise. This is who I am, so I either do it like this or not at all."

"Alright, your funeral." Then Gust also rejoined the audience, albeit in a much closer spot than before. Firebrand, stepping carefully around Ikelos, even as the Persona glared at him, approached Vivid and then held out a hoof. Vivid, still a little jittery, lifted his own hoof and shook Firebrand's.

"Good luck man." Firebrand said.

"Thanks, you too."

"Oi! Firebrand!" Gust shouted from the sidelines. "Don't break him, please!"

"You really think I'd give him more than he could take?" Firebrand responded as he took a position opposite Vivid in the arena. "I was a member of the Royal Guard! I know how far I can push someone before they break!" There was some laughter in the audience, then Firebrand turned to face Vivid and gave a friendly smirk. "Seriously though Mr. Dreams, you're in good hooves. Go ahead and make the first move."

Vivid was rather surprised by that offer, especially given that Firebrand had yet to even summon his Persona, but he also wasn't going to say no to it.

"You asked for it! IKELOS!"

The cloaked Persona leapt at Firebrand, its masks glowing brighter and gathering energy. Then the masks began to rotate around until the dragon mask was in front, and then it unleashed a mighty torrent of flame.

"HELIOS!" Cried out Firebrand.

A tall figure wearing light armor and a Spartan helmet exploded out in front of him, raising a shield with an inverted V on its front to defend Firebrand from the assault. The helmet had what looked like a massive swath of hair made of fire sprouting from the back, and the armor itself had a sun insignia on its chest. Helios pulled a short sword out of a sheath at his side and then braced himself as Ikelos' attack connected.

"Shoot!" Vivid yelled as he realized his mistake.

"Really?" Firebrand laughed as the blaze flared harmlessly over Helios. "My name is Firebrand! Did you think my Persona would be ice based?"

"Fine! Then try THIS!"

Ikelos halted its barrage of flame and then switched the masks around. The changeling mask took point and then a blast of cold air erupted outwards, freezing the floor in front of him. Firebrand and Helios both jumped to the side as icicles began to shoot upward from the spots where the ground had froze.

"So you can use two different elements," Firebrand mused. "Not bad! Not bad at all!"

Helios charged forward, dodging around as Ikelos continued to spray ice across the floor. The fiery haired Persona slashed with its sword, trying to catch Ikelos in the side. But Ikelos bent almost entirely in half and avoided the blade's tip, then began back stepping away and preparing another icy blast. Helios chased after, swinging his sword in every direction, but always just barely missing as Ikelos bent in seemingly impossible ways in order to evade his attacker.

"Ughh!" Firebrand growled. "It's like a wet noodle!"

Jumping back as far as he could, Ikelos brought the changeling mask forward again and unleashed yet more freezing air. Helios raised his shield, but it didn't take long for crystalline shards of ice to form around it and poke dangerously at his skin. Then the attack stopped, and not a moment later Ikelos leapt into the air once more and then dropped on top of Helios' now brittle shield, shattering it into pieces.

"Yes!" Vivid shouted.

However, in his preemptive celebration, Vivid allowed Helios a chance to recover, and the warrior brought his now free arm around and backhanded Ikelos right across the face, sending him spinning like a top and sprawling to the floor. Vivid felt the impact in the side of his own face and was almost sent flying as well. He gasped out, trying to regain focus and keep Ikelos from fading out, but his brief lapse in concentration caused something else to flicker and fade.

"Curious," Short Temper said to the other judges. "The boy seems to be struggling just to take in breath, and yet his Persona is well under his control."

"He's multitasking," Silent Voice said. "He isn't just trying to keep his Persona going, he's trying to keep his disguise from falling. Look, you can see it in his eyes."

Vivid's eyes, normally a dark brown, started to flicker and briefly flash a distinctly purple hue. Shutting his eyes tight and shaking his head, Vivid took back control and got Ikelos to pick himself back up. Ikelos got ready to shoot more ice, but Helios was already upon him, swinging his sword down and slicing the changeling mask in two. Then Helios jumped up, bringing a leg skyward and kicking Ikelos square in the jaw, once more sending him to the floor.

Vivid was forced to flip backward as the link between himself and Ikelos transferred the force of the impact to him. Ikelos nearly imploded right then and there with how badly Vivid's focus was shattered, but by some miracle he managed to retain enough concentration to stop it from doing so. Vivid picked himself up, his violet eyes glaring over at Firebrand, who no longer had a joyful smile on his face.

"You fight well," the veteran Persona user said. "But I just took out your only weapon against me. Are you ready to surrender?"

"Not yet," Vivid grunted as he forced Ikelos to stand once more. "I'm not done yet! Or did you not notice that Ikelos has three masks?"

Firebrand looked confused for a moment, before he looked back at Ikelos and saw that the mask he was actually wearing had started to glow purple. A dark sigil appeared beneath Helios, with purple fire rising from the edges.

"Darkness," Firebrand said with annoyance. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"MUDO!" Vivid shouted out.

Ikelos' open eye flashed and the sigil surrounding Helios flared up... only to then shatter catastrophically a moment later.

"W-what?!" Vivid stuttered as he and Ikelos' last ditch spell failed.

"Full of surprises," Firebrand said, his smile returning. "But maybe not luck." Helios raised his sword, and a blinding gold sigil appeared beneath Ikelos. Exorcism slips appeared and surrounded the masked Persona, and their glow combined with the sigil's nearly blinded all present. "HAMAON!"

Helios' spell did not fail as Ikelos' had, the sigil's light shot upward, obscuring the persona from view for a brief moment before Ikelos shattered into a thousand tiny blue shards. Vivid himself started to spasm as if he were being electrocuted, and when it all finally stopped, he was forced to listen to one more taunt from his opponent.

"Game. Set. Match."

And with that Vivid collapsed to the floor. The sound of clapping from the audience reached his ears, but it was muddled and felt very far away. He felt like he had just run three miles nonstop, he could barely look up to see Gust leap back into the arena and rush over to him.

"Oi! You alright?"

Firebrand approached as well, a bit of worry on his face. "Sorry about that," he said. "But you sort of escalated it to that point and I couldn't help myself. Need a hoof?" Vivid grunted appreciatively, lifting a hoof to take Firebrand's as Dust brought a wing around to help hold him up.

"I thought I said don't break him," Gust said sternly to Firebrand.

"You don't give him enough credit," Firebrand shot back. "This stallion is a tough one. He'd be great in the Royal Gua-" He stopped as he looked back at Vivid, or more specifically, Vivid's eyes. "Hey, your eyes."

Vivid blanched and quickly shut his eyelids, trying to get his eyes to change back to their regular brown.

"You have a point," Gust said, ignoring Firebrand's last comment. "But I guess that's just his mother's influence."

"Alright, we've made our decision," came the voice of Sharp Reflection, drawing the three's attention back to the audience. Firebrand and Gust, after insuring Vivid could stand on his own, let go of him and allowed him to walk forward and receive judgement.

"Vivid Dreams, the Ten of Cups, you have displayed a great amount of control over your Persona, to the point of keeping it stable after several major blows to both it and yourself. Normally this would assure you a spot as one of the Major Arcana... However, it is clear to us that Strong-Wind's claim that you 'know yourself,' is more than a bit of an exaggeration." Vivid could hear Gust shuffle uncomfortably behind him as Short Temper continued. "Whatever burden you are carrying in your heart right now, is a weakness our enemies will not hesitate to exploit. What will happen when you first face a Shadow, and you hear the voices of your own self doubt being shouted at you? Will you be able to accept them? Or will you fall into misery, just like Starlight Mist did? The three of us believe that the risk is too great, and that you are not ready to carry the facade used to overcome life's hardships."

Disappointment wracked through Vivid's body, deafening him to the sound of another pony coming down the steps and approaching him. He had failed, and he’d have to wait until the next Moon Arcana had died before he’d get another chance. The tears were beginning to flow down his muzzle when he felt a hoof come to rest on his shoulder. Vivid looked up to see Court Drama, leader of T.A.R.O.T., smiling down at him.

"That being said," The greying earth pony declared. "I think we need to make an acceptation in this case." Court removed his hoof and looked up to the three confused judges, as well as the equally confused audience. "Times are changing. Ten years ago we would have ran and hid from the monsters beneath our hooves, but now we are more established in our position then we have ever been. We haven't lost a single civilian to the Shadows in nearly two years, and that is because of hardworking ponies like Starlight Mist, Strong-Wind, and Firebrand. Ponies who knew the risks and still ran headlong into their own fears and sadness, knowing it might cost them their lives." Court Drama's face turned stern as he eyed each and everyone in the crowd. "But the Shadows' reach is lengthening, their strength growing all the time, now more than ever. Something is on the horizon, and we need to be ready to face it. We need every able bodied Persona User out there protecting Equestria. Even when some of them might not be ready."

Court Drama turned back to back to Vivid and looked him dead in the eyes. "There aren't enough ponies with the Potential to be picky when one has a few... anxieties. T.A.R.O.T. is always willing to help, to lend you our strength, when you ask for it, but we can't wait for you to figure out yourself. So what do you say? Are you ready to lend us your strength in return?"

Vivid looked back at Court Drama, and after the briefest of hesitations, nodded. "Yes Sir."

Court smiled, then placed a hoof on Vivid's shoulder.

“Welcome to the Major Arcana,” He said in a congratulatory tone. “Vivid Dreams of The Moon.”

Author's Notes:

I wanted to have a short little bonus bit dealing with the other group of Persona users, but "short" ended up being almost the lenght of a regular chapter.

This chapter was based off of one of my original ideas for this story. It focussed more on a large group of OCs rather than any of the show's characters. However, as much as I like writing original characters, I wanted to do something with the mane 6. So I shifted gears and went more towards what we have now. However, I still like the idea of T.A.R.O.T., so they'll get their chance in the spotlight of the main story soon enough. So yes, for all intents and purposes, this Chapter is canon, just not really all that important to the story at large.

Special thanks to my good friend Josh Scorcher for letting me use his OC, Firebrand. I liked the idea of the Sun Arcana clashing with the Moon Arcana, as well as getting the chance to pit two greek gods against each other.

Chapter 20: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 1)

Wayfarer didn't wake up as gracefully as he'd hoped that morning. Someone was shouting and jostling him around, and continued to do so until finally his eyes opened and he looked above him to see a very distressed looking Pinkie Pie.

"Finally! You sleep like an Ursa Minor!" The panic in her voice roused Wayfarer to full awake and alert status.

"Pinkie? What's going on?"

"What's going on?" She nearly screeched. She pulled Wayfarer out of bed and hoisted him against the window so he could see what was going on. "THAT'S what's going on!"

Wayfarer had to rub the sand from his eyes to be sure that what he was seeing was real and not just delusions brought about by sleep deprivation. All of Ponyville, or at least the portion he could see from his window, was being overrun by huge, jet black vines with sickly green thorns protruding from them. The vines were quickly entangling the buildings and decor, wrapping about them like an octopus's tentacles. One of the vines sprouted near the library and slammed against the window, badly cracking it and startling both Pinkie and Wayfarer as far back as they could go.

"Exit stage left!" Wayfarer shouted, tearing open the bedroom door and leading the escape from the library.

Outside wasn't any safer though, as some of the smaller vines made a grab for the two whenever they tried to stand still. One managed to snare Pinkie and caused her to start hollering in distress before something very fast and very blue severed the vine and freed her.

"You two alright?" Rainbow Dash hollered as she ascended back skyward and tried to punch apart a very dark looking cloud that also had thorns sticking out of it. She got zapped by lightning for her trouble and decided that shying away from the terrifying clouds was a better option.

"We're fine, just a little spooked." Wayfarer looked around at where he and Pinkie were standing and made sure to stomp down hard at whatever vines were just sprouting. "What are these things?!"

"No idea, but they look like they're spreading out from the Everfree!" Rainbow Dash declared, pointing a hoof in the forest's general direction. "Nothing we do seems to stop them though! I tear up one and like a dozen more take its place."

"And that's not the only thing not so right about today!" Pinkie said, putting a hoof under Wayfarer's chin and lifting his attention to the sky itself. Wayfarer's eyes went wide as his mind tried to reconcile what his eyes were seeing.

"By the Sun and Moon." The sky looked as if both night and day had split the heavens in half. The Sun was high in the east, but the Moon was also high in the sky to the west. This was more than just the light of dawn or dusk, this was a celestial improbability.

"Something must have happened to the princesses," he pondered out loud. "We have to establish communication with Canterlot!"

"Already on it!" Dash yelled as she started pulling a vine away from the door of a nearby house. "The mayor sent one of the guards, they should be there soon if not already! Once Twilight and Princess Celestia get here, these vines can say their prayers!"

'Somehow, I doubt the situation up there is any better than it is down here.' Wayfarer thought to himself.

Twilight had her face pressed against the window of her guest room, dumbstruck at the sight of both the Sun and Moon fighting over control of the sky.

'How is this possible?' She thought desperately. Quickly she tore her gaze away from the outside world and ran to Spike's side, prodding at him to try and rouse him from his slumber. Grumbling, Spike lifted his head and blinked rapidly to try and rid the sleep from his eyes.

"Is it morning already?" he asked, stretching his arms.

"I don't know," Twilight said with panic in her voice. "It could be, but it could still be night! But that's just it! Look Spike!" Eyes fully open, Spike laboriously rolled to where Twilight was pointing. Suddenly, the last of his drowsiness fell from his eyes as he beheld the state of the sky.

"Wow... What's going on?"

"I'm not sure Spike. Come on, we need to find Princess Celestia!" Twilight swiftly swooped up Spike and tossed him to her back, dashing out the door of her suite with Spike barely getting a firm grip before they hit the stairs.

After descending the stairs and bursting out the front door of her tower, Twilight was greeted by the sight of dozens of ponies gathered in the square, looking up at the sky with varying degrees of confusion, fear, and panic. Twilight was about to start galloping in the direction of the central castle, when all of a sudden one of the mares in the crowd pointed to her and called out.

"Princess Twilight will know what's happening!" Everypony present spun about to look at Twilight and then rushed forward like a group of foals clamoring for their mother's attention, each of them beginning to vocalize their panicked questions as they crowded into her personal bubble.

"Princess, what's going on?"

"Where's Princess Luna?"

"Where's Princess Celestia for that matter?"

"Is the Summer Sun Celebration canceled?"

Twilight's already heightened levels of panic started to increase as more and more ponies grouped together.

"Well you see," she stumbled. "I really don't... there should be a logical explanation for this."

"Your Highness!" Came a gruff call louder than the crowd as one of the Royal Guards pushed through. "Please, I need you to come with me, quickly!"

Nodding, Twilight allowed herself and Spike to be rescued from the anxious gathering. The guard led her safely to the central castle and into one of the side hallways, where another Guard quickly shut the door to prevent anyone else from getting in.

"I apologize for this your majesty," the first guard said. "But I'm afraid we have some grave news."

'What could possibly be graver than the sky being torn apart?' Twilight thought with trepidation.

"It's Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna,"

"They're gone!" The second guard shouted.

Twilight gasped as the feeling of ice ran down her spine. "Gone? What do you mean gone?!"

"Both of them disappeared at some point last night and no one has been able to locate them!"

Twilight's mind entered a state of emotional free fall at that point. 'Last night?' she thought. 'The train arrived late... Celestia and I were together until long after the sun had gone down... then I started freaking out over forgetting things back in Ponyville... Celestia sent me to bed and then-' Twilight's mental recounting of last night was interrupted by the guards however, who decided to add yet another layer of stress to her morning.

"When we realized the Sky was in disarray, we assumed that something had happened to them. As such, we came to you."

"For me?" Twilight stuttered. "But why?"

"The Royal Guard takes its orders directly from the Princesses," The first guard said before both of them stooped into a bow.

"With Luna and Celestia missing, and Princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire, this leaves us at your command."

"My command?" Twilight was beginning to feel rather nauseous.

"Yes Princess, we await your orders."

"Quickly Princess! What do you wish for us to do?"

Twilight simply stood there, staring at the two guards. She'd been a princess for a good few months now, but now was the first time the weight of that title truly dawned on her. She could give orders, and it was expected that they would be followed. There had been moments where the guards at her castle in Ponyville would ask her for something, or asked for her to make judgements on certain matters, but she had always felt that her responses were nothing more than suggestions or opinions. Never had she stopped and thought that her words were akin to the law. And now when it looked as if the other princesses, her friends, were in danger, she was expected to lead Equestria's forces in their absence. She took a deep breath, composed her face into a look of dignity, stood straight up and made her commands.

"I want you to continue the search for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Find out what happened to them, and report back to me should you find any evidence as to where they might have gone."

The guards, rising to attention, saluted to her and then rushed out the door to rally up another more thorough search party to find the missing princesses. With them gone, and her left alone with only Spike, she relaxed and sighed. Spike smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Way to go, Princess."

"Thanks Spike, but if you could do me a favor and give me some space, I'm starting to feel a little sick. Ooh, I really hope ordering troops around doesn't become a regular thing."

The door then opened once more, Twilight and Spike looking up to see who it was and groaning with annoyance as Prince Blueblood strode into the hall. He looked almost as annoyed as they did, as if they were at fault for the chaos outside.

"Princess Twilight. The sky is a mess. I don't know what sort of prank Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna are pulling, but it isn't funny. I demand they fix it this instant."

"Sorry Blueblood," Twilight said in a voice that had not an ounce of sincerity in it. "We're working on fixing it right now."

"Bah! Where are they? If they think I'll put up with them ruining my beauty sleep, they've got another thing coming."

"Are you kidding me!" Spike shouted. "Equestria might be in danger and all you care about is your beauty sleep? No wonder Rarity called you a royal pain."

"So? Why should I care about Equestria?" Blueblood snorted as he walked past Twilight. "It isn't my kingdom. Now I don't care who does it, but someone needs to put the sun and moon back in their proper place!"

"For your information," Twilight snarled, "Princess Celestia and Luna are out taking care of whatever it is that's happening, right now, as we speak. They care about putting this right too."

"Wait," Blueblood paused and turned back to look at Twilight. Something in the corner of his eye seemed to waver as he did so. "Are you saying that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna aren't here?"

Twilight, miffed that she'd allowed that little slip, pressed on. "As I said, they are fixing the sky right now. And until they return, I'm in charge."

"You? Bah."

"Yes, me. Now if there's nothing else, I have a city full of frightened citizens I have to-"

"Princess Twilight!" Came a shout as the doors burst open. In ran a very tired looking Pegasus guard, who Twilight recognized as one of those stationed in Ponyville. "News from Ponyville!"

Mentally bracing herself for more bad news, Twilight stood up straight once more. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Well, you see," the guard said, still trying to catch his breath. "The Everfree Forest is... invading!"

Twilight's eyes went as wide as saucers. Her entire body started to twitch and her legs began to move forward in an almost automatic fashion. Spike gave her a worried look before hopping back on top of her. He started to run a claw over her shoulder, trying to get her to calm down as she walked past the guard.

"Y- Your Majesty?"

"I have to go!" Twilight said with a shaky breath as the doors were flung open and she broke into a mad dash. The guard, shocked at her sudden departure, chased after.

Blueblood, however, remained behind. He smirked as the doors closed themselves and turned to look into the shadows nearby. The ghostly figure of Moon slunk out of the darkness, slowly pacing in an irregular path towards Blueblood as the area above her head started to glow a pale blue.

"I'm impressed," Blueblood commented. "You took out both Celestia and Luna in one night. So what's our next move?"

"Shut up you foal!" Moon screeched in a quiet rasp. "I need to send a message to the others and you are breaking my concentration!"

Blueblood took a step back, then huffed in annoyance at Moon's outburst. "Is there something wrong?"

"Something is always wrong," She muttered to herself.

~~~~~

Judgement, standing at the altar within the main hall of their hollow, gently tapped a hoof in impatience. In front of them stood the Emperor and the Empress, both looking just as irritated as Judgement was. All around them the walls were being cracked and punctured by the vines and thorns, only for the plants to then be incinerated by a blast from one of the three's horns. Every now and then, one of them would toss a glance at the doorway at the end of their lair, only to give a low growl upon seeing no one enter.

Finally, the doors burst open and allowed a pitch black mass of cloud to maneuver inside. It crawled along the edge of the ceiling, weaving in between the fissures until it reached the place where Judgement stood.

"It's about time you showed up, Death!" Emperor shouted. "We've only been waiting nearly ten hours for you to report back!"

"Silence," Judgement said sternly. The cloud extended to the side of Judgement's head and started to make incoherent and echoing moans. Judgement scowled after a few moments, then shooed the cloud away. "It would seem the vines have spread beyond the forest. Ponyville is under assault, and other settlements on Everfree's borders are at risk as well."

"And the Dark Mother?" Emperor inquired. "What have these wretched things done to her?"

"I can feel her presence waning faster than ever. It would appear that this plant is strangling her life away just as the forest itself has done for a millennia. What's more, Death has passed on a report that the Princesses of the Sun and Moon have also disappeared."

"So at this point, the vines are everyone's enemy. Definitely sounds like Discord's doing."

"So why don't we simply track him down and finish him off!" Empress declared. "He's not worth anything to us and he's too powerful to be captured and contained!"

"And that is precisely why we can't do anything about him," Judgement said coldly. "Much as I'd love to recruit him to our cause or else eliminate him entirely, we are incapable of doing either as it stands right now. The best we may hope for is that he never regain a Persona. Regardless, I doubt killing him would put an end to these vines. Nothing short of a jolt of Harmonious Magic will wither them completely, the chaos that flows through them is too strong."

The room went silent for almost a full minute at this. Emperor was the first to speak up, his voice filled with dumbfounded rage.

"Are you seriously suggesting we allow those... children to unleash the magic that trapped the Dark Mother in the first place, on the thing that is currently expediting her death?! That could destroy her as well!"

"If the Harmonious Magic was capable of killing the Dark Mother, it would have done so when Celestia and Luna harnessed it a thousand years ago. Mayhaps it will strengthen the curse and push our plans back, but I would rather wait another thousand years to free her rather than lose her entirely."

"If she will even last that long," Empress snorted, her disbelief showing. "She only managed to break a portion of herself free ten years ago, and since then she's only been spreading herself thin."

"Nevertheless, we don't have much choice in the matter now do we?" Stepping down from the altar, Judgement strode past the other three and began making their way to the lair's entrance. "Death, continue to keep an eye on Ponyville. I have a feeling that Princess Twilight will be returning sooner than she expected. Emperor, Empress, stay and see if you can't keep the vines from destroying what's left of the Sanctum."

"And what of you?" Emperor asked with a scowl. "Where are you going?"

Judgement paused, then turned to smirk at Emperor. "I'm going to go see an old friend about a tree."

~~~~~

"Princess, please wait!" Shouted the guard as Twilight dashed out into the courtyard. "Ponyville is far too dangerous for you to return to! Please send a detachment of troops instead!"

Twilight whirled around, Spike almost flung off before he could grab hold around her neck. "My home and friends are in danger! I refuse to stay here and do nothing! Prime Minister Iron Gavel can handle things in my stead, but Ponyville is where I'm needed right now!"

"But your Highness!" The guard shouted, but Twilight was already unfolding her wings.

"Hang on Spike," she whispered to her passenger. Spike gripped tighter around her barrel.

"Ooh, where are the seat belts on this thing?"

With a mighty whomp of compressed air, Twilight shot herself into the sky. Her wings flapping as fast as they could to try and increase her speed.

"Are you sure you can make it?" Spike shouted over the roar of the wind.

"I have to make it Spike! Whatever's going on, we may need the Elements of Harmony to fix it!"

'Oh I hope it isn't as drastic as that,' Twilight thought to herself. 'If this is the Beast's doing, there's no telling what using the Elements would do!'

~~~~~

From a balcony overlooking the courtyard, Blueblood and Moon watched as Twilight took off into the sky. Snorting, Blueblood tossed an annoyed glance back at the sun and moon.

"You sure this isn't your doing?" he asked his companion.

"I barely have the strength to hold a physical form, let alone take down both Celestia and Luna and wrest control of the heavenly bodies from them. So no, this was not mine, nor any of the others' doing." Walking away from the balcony and into the shadows of Blueblood's unlit suite, Moon continued. "I informed Death of the situation, he'll have passed it onto Judgement by now."

"Why don't we just kill Iron Gavel now?" Blueblood asked as he followed her. "With the princesses gone away from Canterlot, taking out the Prime Minister would put me in charge."

"Because, you fool," Moon spat as she paced. "I don't have many doubts that Twilight Sparkle and her friends will succeed in rescuing the lost Princesses. If they return to find Gavel dead and you on the throne, you'll be incinerated on the spot."

"Then what do we do? Sit around and waste this opportunity?"

"Until I get word from Death or Judgement, yes."

"Bah!"

~~~~~

"This is becoming a bit of a problem," Wayfarer deadpanned as he stared out of the library window at the chaos growing outside. A couple of guards from the castle ran by, trying to use their magic to dispel the vines. However, a few of the vines sprouted peculiar looking buds that bloomed and shot spores at them. The guard's magic then turned against them, tearing a banner off a nearby light post and swooping them away with it. Wayfarer's eyes bulged out and he quickly closed the blinds and turned back to the library proper.

"Okay, we've gone past 'problem' and gone straight to 'catastrophe.' you all found anything yet?"

In addition to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Rarity, FLuttershy and Applejack had also met up at the library. The six of them were turning the place upside down in search of explanation as to why the Everfree forest was suddenly encroaching beyond its borders, however, their search was turning up fruitless.

"Not a single pony pick'n thing!" Applejack swore, tossing another book into the air, where Rarity caught it and placed it down gently.

"Have you had any luck contacting Celestia or Twilight, Wayfarer?" The seamstress asked after tossing Applejack an annoyed glance.

Wayfarer gestured to the bottle of dragon fire sitting on a shelf next to the window that Celestia had given him. Nothing. I drop a letter in and all I get back in responce is a message saying that 'My contact is either offline or has blocked me.' Whatever that means."

"Ooh, I really wish they were here right now," Fluttershy bemoaned. "They'd know what to do."

As if in response to Fluttershy's wish, a very loud yet distant cry of panic reached their ears, bellowing out until, with a massive burst of magic, Twilight teleported into their midst. She was still going at speed however and crashed right into Rarity's stack of books, with Spike flying off her back and right into Fluttershy's outstretched fore legs.

"Fluttershy," Wayfarer said as he ran over to dig Twilight out of the book pile. "Remind me to hug you later."

Fluttershy blushed but didn't comment. Instead, she, Spike and the other four gathered around Twilight and dragged her out of the books.

"Thank goodness you're here!" Rarity proclaimed. "When you and Princess Celestia didn't respond to Wayfarer's letters, we started to fear the worst!"

"The worst is unfortunately what we might have," Twilight said as she looked around at her friends. "But what about all of you? Are you alright? Is Ponyville alright?"

"You mean, aside from all the vines destroying things and harassing everypony?" Rainbow Dash asked sarcastically. "Meh, same old same old."

"Oh no, how bad is it?" Twilight asked as she went to the front door and pulled it open.

Suddenly, a massive vine pushed its way into the library, tossing Twilight aside and ramming right into Applejack. Applejack was sent flying into a book case and ended up in yet another pile of books. With a rage filled cry, Applejack leapt from the heap and pushed back against the plant, shoving it right out the entrance and slamming the door shut behind it.

"Get'n real tired of this horse manure!" She yelled. "Twi, please tell me that you know what's going on and that Princess Celestia sent you to help take care of it."

"Well," Twilight said, suddenly growing nervous. "Y-you see, um, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are... are..."

"They're gone!" Spike shouted out, causing everypony else to gasp in shock.

"I have no idea what happened to them," Twilight continued. "But I have a few suspicions as to who might be responsible." She then tossed a knowing look over at Wayfarer, who got the hint and swallowed nervously.

'If this is another kidnapping by those hooded ponies,' Wayfarer thought. 'Then we're in a lot of trouble. Without Celestia, we won't even be able to track where they are under the castle, let alone fight the Shadows! But... how could they have overpowered both Celestia and Luna, unless they had Shadows with them... horse apples, there's too much we don't know!'

"Yeah, I've got my suspicions too!" Rainbow Dash declared, knocking Wayfarer out of his thoughts as she rushed over to a glass case with the Elements of Harmony stored inside.

"You do?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly.

"Duh! It's Discord! The sky is split in half, the weather is all weird, and the vines are affecting everypony's magic! This has his cloven hoof prints all over it!"

"He only has one cloven hoof," Fluttershy pointed out softly.

"C'mon Twilight! Open this case and let's send that no good trickster packing!"

"Hear hear!" Rarity affirmed.

"Wait a minute guys," Wayfarer said. "Discord is a lot of things, but I don't think he'd actually hurt anypony." Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow gave him a disbelieving eye roll, but he still continued. "Besides, he's been getting really excited about starting his symphony. Why would he throw that away by doing something like this?"

"Um, because he's the Spirit of Chaos and that's just what he does?" Applejack pointed out.

"Oh come on girls," Fluttershy said, "Discord has been on his best behavior the past few months. I say we give him the benefit of the doubt."

"In any case," Twilight said as she undid the lock and lifted the glass surrounding the Elements. "Asking Discord about what's going on might be a good place to start. But no turning him to stone unless we're sure he had something to do with this."

With her magic, Twilight took the Elements and placed one around each of her friend's necks, save for Spike and Wayfarer.

"Everyone ready?" She asked, heading for the front door, only to turn around and head for the back door instead.

"Give me a moment," Wayfarer said as he dashed back to his room. A few seconds later, he came back wearing his button-up and over shirt. Everyone stared at him incredulously, but he just smiled at them. "What? You all have your fancy jewelry, I wanted my shirts."

"You did look a little incomplete without them," Rarity admitted as everyone else rolled their eyes again.

"Now are we ready?" Twilight asked impatiently. Everyone nodded. "Then let's go find a draconequus."

~~~~~

The massive maw of a cave stood before Judgement, mist rolled all around its hooded figure and the sound of wind echoed throughout the gorge it was standing in. Judgement eyed the edges of the cavern, noting the increased amount of vines in this area. With a huff of annoyance, it made a move to enter. But before it could place even one hoof into the darkness, the cloud of shadow that was Death swirled down from the forest and approached.

"I take it the Princess has come home?" Judgement inquired. Death gave an unearthly response that Judgement took as an affirmative. "Good. Now, go make sure they actually make it here in one piece."

Death gave another howl that sounded like anger and disappointment.

"I know you'd rather they all die, but right now we need those accursed Elements of Harmony. And what's more, all of them are still viable sacrifices. I'm sure you'd rather they die in the Dark Mother's mouth than at your own hooves?"

Another disgruntled murmur from Death in his distorted tongue.

"Fine, very well than, you may have the honor of personally feeding the Princess and her pet dragon to Mother, if your petty desires are that important to you."

Death made a noise that wasn't dissimilar from laughter and finally left Judgement's presence. Silently, the cloaked pony entered the cave. As it made its way deeper, a gentle rumble could be felt from within the earth. Judgement couldn't help but chuckle to itself.

"Impatient, aren't we? I promise you, my dear, you'll be out soon, but now is not the time."

A soft glow seemed to fill the cave as Judgement got close to the end. With a spiteful smirk, they beheld the glow's source as a giant, crystalline tree wrapped from top to bottom in vines.

"Yes, we'll be together again in due time."

Chapter 21: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 2)

Twilight, Wayfarer, and the others had gathered in the clearest spot in town that they could find. Forming a circle, the Element bearers looked to Twilight for instructions.

"Alright, Celestia gave me this spell to summon Discord from wherever he might be, hopefully it works."

The six of them began to gather magic and focus it into their necklaces and Twilight's crown. The wind around them began to pick up as the gems began to glow. then they were gently lifted into the air and a stream of rainbow lights began to flow around them, connecting the Elements to each other. Spike hid behind Wayfarer's legs as Twilight's eyes glowed a brilliant white and the rainbow began to spin in a vortex at the center of their circle. After a few seconds of howling wind and flashing colours, the whirlwind began to dissipate. Then everything stopped, the only sound left was that of Discord strumming at a few keys on a baby grand piano and muttering to himself.

"No, no, that won't do. That's-" When he realized what had happened, Discord stopped and spun about to look at everyone. "Oh well if this isn't a pleasant surprise!"

"Discord," Twilight said with a modicum of displeasure. "We need to talk."

"Oh why certainly Twilight!" Discord snapped his fingers and the piano disappeared to be replaced with a table and set of fine china. Twilight found herself teleported to the opposite side of Discord as he started pouring tea.

"So how is Pinkie Pie these days? She still throwing parties?"

"Discord, enough!" Twilight shouted, jumping up onto the table so she could get to eye level with him. "We have a crisis on our hooves!"

"Oh, you mean the vines everywhere?" Discord asked, gesturing to the plants in question. "I was going to say that I liked the new flora you introduced to Ponyville, but I could see how an aggressive non-indigenous species could reek a little havoc."

"Yeah, the same sort of havoc you are known for!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying right up into Discord's face. "Admit it! This is your doing!"

Discord looked around at all the accusatory faces and then started to sputter in mock hurt.

"Wait, you think that I- oh, OH, how could you?" Discord's eyes got big and watery as he gave a puppy dog like pout in Fluttershy's general direction. "Blaming me for some supposed wrongdoing? I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

"W-we are friends Discord!" Fluttershy pleaded. "It's just that, well, who else could or would do something like this?"

"Such baseless accusations!" Discord cried out, laying the back of his arm across his eyes and leaning his head back in a very dramatic manner. "After all the hard work you all put into reforming me, you really think I'm so untrustworthy that I'm your first suspect when rotten fruit hits the fan?"

"Oh please," Applejack said, snorting and stomping at the ground. "This fits your bill to a T! Even you gotta admit that this stinks of your rotten fruit!"

"Hmph!" Discord snorted as he dropped the fake tears and scowled at the farm pony. "I'll have you know that I've been in my studio since yesterday! Any and all chaos I've wrought has been in the privacy of my own home! Maybe if you earth ponies used that green hoof you're always so proud of on that forest, it wouldn't feel the need to start taking over your town. Now if you'll excuse me," Discord added as he turned and started to walk off with his nose held high in the air. "I have better things to do than stand around and have hooves pointed at me."

"Wait," Twilight said, hurriedly jumping off the table and galloping over to stand in Discord's way. "The vines aren't the only problem. Luna and Celestia have gone missing."

Discord's ears perked up at that. "Really now? Well that explains why the sun and moon are having a tug of war with the sky right now. But as I said, any and all chaos caused by me in the last twenty four hours was confined to my own private quarters. So if you plan on blaming me for that as well-"

"I wanted to ask you if you would help us," Twilight said simply, yet genuinely. Everypony looked a little shocked at this sincere request to the lord of chaos, and almost half looked sure that Discord would refuse. "If you really aren't the cause of all this, than help us set it right and find the princesses. Please?"

Discord looked down at Twilight and scratched his chin with a curious expression. Eventually he sighed and threw his hands into the air. "Fine, but only because you asked nicely, Sparkle Twilight."

With that, Discord took on a tan coat and matching deerstalker cap. From the coat he pulled a comically large magnifying glass and started scanning the ground with it. He kept his head and eyes low to the ground as he strutted forward, and didn't even stop when a house got in his way, he just walked right up its side. At the top, he turned the magnifier into a telescope and began sweeping the town with it.

"Well they don't appear to be in Ponyville," he said, causing everyone to groan in agitation.

Next, Discord teleported back to the ground, now wearing a doctor's outfit and stethoscope. He placed the headset in his ears and ran the chest piece along the gravel.

"I also don't hear any tell tale hearts talking. In fact," Discord tossed the stethoscope away and placed an ear directly on the ground. "I don't hear any talking at all. Guess we can rule out the possibility of the Princesses being taken to the mole ponies' underground labyrinth."

Like a lightbulb going off, Wayfarer got the hint that Discord was trying to pass on. 'The Princesses aren't underground... so their disappearance and these vines have nothing to do with the Shadows! I don't know whether to be relieved or even more worried.'

"For ponies sake!" Applejack shouted. "If you're not going to be helpful than you can just skedaddle! We ain't got time for your nonsense!"

"Nonsense?!" Discord yelled back. "I'll have you know Miss Applejack that Mole Ponies are a very real- WHAOOHOHO!" Discord pulled his head up, and a vine came with him as it tried to burrow into his ear. He grabbed hold of the blackened plant and yanked it out, shaking his head around. "Well that felt weird."

Applejack rolled her eyes and started to walk away. "C'mon y'all. We ain't get'n anything out of this one."

"Hold your horses!" Discord declared, placing the vine lose to his ear. "I think it's trying to communicate with me."

"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie cooed in wonder. "You can understand the Everfree Forest? Are you a tree whisperer?"

"Hush Pink One!" Discord said, pointing his talon at her. "And I shall speak for the trees!" Turning his head in concentration, Discord started to 'listen' to the vine, nodding in understanding even as it flailed about and tugged at his ear. "Uh huh. Yep. Of course. Oh, Naturally! Alright, I've got it!"

"It told you where to find the Princesses?" Fluttershy asked excitedly.

"Of course not Fluttershy!" Discord said as if she's asked him the stupidest question in the world. "It's a vine, it can't possibly communicate with anyone, no matter how hard it tries. Now if it was a mushroom that'd be a different story. No, I just came up with a brilliant idea."

"Oh, joy," Rainbow Dash bemoaned.

"These vines are obviously the cause of your problems," Discord pointed out, tugging on the plant. "If you follow them back to the source, you might just find what you're looking for!"

"How in Equestria are we supposed to follow this eyesore of a mess?" Rarity inquired. "The Everfree Forest is dense enough on a normal day, but now? It'll be like trying to find the end of a ball of yarn twenty five miles long! And there's a hundred other threads of the same colour mixed in!"

"Oh trust me," Discord said smugly as he started knitting some of the vines together as if they were yarn. "It'll be much harder than that. But why don't you ask someone who lives in the forest for help? Like your zebra friend?"

The vines Discord was knitting formed an arrow that pointed over at a bramble of thorns. Out from the entanglement, laden with what looked like all of her belongings was Zecora.

"Zecora!" Twilight shouted as she and the others left Discord behind and rushed to the shaman's side. They began lifting things off of her sides and helping her out of the harness attached to a severely over packed wagon. Zecora herself looked very tired and weary, as if she had to fight tooth and nail just to make it out of the forest alive. She collapsed as soon as she was free of her burdens and look sadly up at Twilight.

"From my home, I was forced to flee," she said, casting a glance back at the forest. "This wood grows too dangerous, even to me."

"Zecora," Twilight began pleading. "You know the Everfree better than anyone, do you know what's causing this? What the source of these vines is?"

"The source of our troubles, I know not." The group gave a sigh of dismay at this, unsure on how to proceed. "However," Zecora continued with a smirk as she picked herself back up."That will not stop me from looking with all I've been taught." Zecora went back to her wagon and began rummaging through the many potions she had with her.

"This plant, I've never known in my life. Which makes me think it was born in times of strife. To find it's center in this forest frontier, one needs to see with eyes most clear."

From the clutter of her wears, Zecora pulled a vial of some unknown purple liquid.

"This potion, when drunk, would give you such a vision, but only when given one important provision."

"Provision?" Twilight asked. "What do you mean?"

"This potion, you see, can show you an answer, of where you may find a source of this cancer. But only when blessed by in Alicorn's power, will this substance allow you then to scour."

Twilight seem to get the message, but several other faces still looked confused.

"So I use Alicorn magic on this potion, and then when I drink it, it'll show me what we need to know?"

Zecora smiled and nodded, and all confusion on the faces of Twilight's friends vanished, save for Wayfarer's.

"How..." He started to ask. "No, strike that, where did you get this potion, and how did you know that it only works with an Alicorn when there's only four of them?"

"Who cares about that?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Go ahead and zap it Twi, and let's see if it works!"

Twilight nodded and started pushing magic into her horn. Wayfarer continued to stare at Zecora for a bit while she looked back at him with a knowing smile. Then Twilight's horn ignited with a magic that definitely did not look like her own, drawing Wayfarer's attention back to her. She then sent a small blast of eerie black and green and purple energy at the vile, and its contents changed from purple to white.

"While it is now burning bright," Zecora explained as Twilight cautiously lifted the potion. "You will be gifted with sight beyond sight."

Nodding again, Twilight took a large swig of the potion, smacking her lips after bringing the brew away. For a moment, nothing happened.

"Uh, Zecora?" Twilight started. "How long does this –"

Suddenly, Twilight's eyes shot open and began glowing bright white. The potion's magic taking effect as it altered her perception of reality and brought her mind almost completely from her body.

When the intense energy behind her eyes finally faded, Twilight blinked several times and looked around. She was no longer in the middle of a vine ridden Ponyville, surrounded by her friends, but now she was alone in the center of a throne room that looked as though it had been abandoned for years.

"H – hello?" Twilight called out. "Where am I?"

"So, you've finally come," came a cold yet very familiar voice from behind one of the two thrones at the end of the hall.

Twilight swung about, her eyes darting up to the raised area where the seats of power stood, and was shocked to see Princess Luna staring intently down at her.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight said in both relief and confusion as she took a few steps forward. "Where are we? Why did you and Celestia disa-"

"Not another step!" Luna yelled, causing Twilight to freeze in place. "You had your chance. We could have ruled together, but no, you betrayed me! You betrayed all of them!"

"B- betrayed?!" Twilight squawked. "Luna, what are you talking about?"

"You are alone now," Luna said, causing even more hurt confusion for Twilight, who was at a total loss at understanding what Luna was talking about. "Everyone we've ever known or loved is dead now because of you! You've allowed misery to take everyone thus far, save for me!"

The air seemed to grow thick with dark magic as Luna punctuated this last sentence by bringing her hooves down hard onto the stone floor, causing it to crack all around her. The cracks continued up the stone wall behind her, until it reached the stain glass window and shattered, revealing the daytime sun.

"And now," Luna said dramatically as she rose into the air. "You've allowed even me to be taken."

Outside, Twilight could see the moon rising up from the horizon alongside Luna, until it began to obscure the sun and cause a solar eclipse. When the last of the sun disappeared behind the moon, every bit of light in and outside of the castle dimmed dramatically. From every shadowy corner, and even from the moon itself, tendrils of darkness lurched forward and begin to envelop Luna until she was wrapped tightly in a ball of dark energy that crackled and glowed with malefic intent.

Twilight could only look on in shock and terror as the sphere exploded, revealing an altered princess of the night behind. Luna's coat was now jet black, her hair like a cold and lifeless night sky. Her eyes shot open to reveal snake-like irises, and she laughed maniacally enough to show that her teeth had become sharp and jagged.

The dark alicorn descended until she stood proudly in front of the twin thrones. Snickering, she looked down at Twilight as the younger princess felt all warmth and life leave her body.

"Nightmare Moon," Twilight whispered faintly.

Again, Nightmare Moon chuckled, and briefly her turquoise eyes turned bright yellow before turning back.

"I am a shadow," she proclaimed. "The true self."

Chapter 22: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 3)

“This can't be happening," Twilight said with the trembling voice. She slowly backed away from Nightmare Moon, doing her best not to just turn tail and run, lest she expose her back to the dark Alicorn and become nothing more than a moving target. "Why would you do this, Luna? Why would you turn back into Nightmare Moon?"

“Luna!" Came a shout from behind Twilight. She spun around and saw, to her great surprise, Princess Celestia, standing tall and stern as she glared up at her sister.

Nightmare Moon growled as she descended from the raised platform, then shot a magical blast of neon blue energy from her horn and blasted a hole in the ceiling, sending debris down on both Twilight and Celestia. Both of them dived out of the way, Twilight's poorer reflexes causing her to hesitate too long before the impact sent her sprawling to the floor while Celestia took to the air.

“Princess Luna! Please stop!" Twilight yelled as she stood back up, ignoring the pain in her side from being knocked down, and rushing forward, only to have her way blocked when Celestia landed right in front of her.

"Beast," Celestia growled. "You've already lost. Your servants are buried with you beneath the forest. Your power sapped and sealed away. Even the turncoat you planted within our ranks has been frozen in the ice forever!" Celestia’s rage flared and her horn began to pulse and glow with the energy of the sun, causing the darkness around them to retreat and Nightmare Moon to flinch."You have no way of achieving victory now! I refuse to allow you to claim any more of my family! Give me back my sister! Give me back Luna!"

"Foal!" Nightmare Moon shouted as her own horn began forcing the darkness to fight back against the light. "There is no Luna anymore! There is only the shadow my greatness casts on the world as it blocks out your precious light! There is only the fear and awe of our subjects as they bow before us! There is only I! Nightmare Moon!”

The two titans continued their magical struggle between each other, forcing light and darkness to clash in the center, creating a distinct line between the two with an almost sunlight esk glow on one side that gave way to near pitch blackness on the other. Twilight could only watch helplessly as they battled, unable to interfere as the opposing energies continued to tear the castle apart.

Cracks traveled up the walls as the opposing forces pushed outward and against each other. Several windows fell to pieces and tapestries ripped apart in the gale force winds. But with an extra push, Celestia looked as if she were gaining the upper hoof. She took a few tentative steps forward as her magic began to overwhelm Nightmare’s. Nightmare glared viciously at her enemy as the struggle of maintaining her attack visually drained her. But then, with a frustrated roar, Nightmare Moon called out a single word.

"PERSONA!"

Celestia and Twilight’s eyes shot open in surprise as a towering figure appeared behind Nightmare Moon, carrying a massive bow and wearing a flowing blue overcoat. The coat was open at the front, revealing a simple frock and giving from the Persona the freedom of movement she needed to charge forward and bring her bow down on Celestia’s spell. However, the bow rebounded off the field of light, only causing minor discomfort for Celestia.

"That is Luna's Persona!" Celestia cried out. "How dare you send Diana, My sister’s fighting spirit, to strike at me!”

"It is not her’s anymore!" Nightmare Moon shouted back. "I am the true self, I control the façade now!”

With that, Diana dropped her bow and began screaming as she clutched at her head. Her body began to tear at an invisible seams, until a pair of arms shot upward, right out of her mouth. The grotesque display continued as the arms then grabbed the sides of Diana's mouth and tore her entire being a part.

A new persona stood where Diana's scattered remains fell. She too wore blue in a form hugging dress, speckled with white dots like stars in the sky. Her skin was half white and half black, her face featureless and bald. The outline of a sneer was all that could be seen on the figures visage as she bent down and picked up Diana's discarded bow, transforming it into a staff with a full moon adorning the top.

“Melinoe!” Nightmare Moon shouted, commanding the Persona to once more attack Celestia. Melinoe brought her staff down on Celestia’s magic, causing it to shatter.

Celestia leapt backwards into the air to avoid the attacker's follow-through; Twilight had to duck for cover in order to avoid being smashed. Celestia, her face filled with both rage and sorrow, glared down a Nightmare as the dark alicorn started to laugh.

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes, doing her best to stem the flow of tears.

“Luna," she said out loud."I know you're still in there. I know you're still hurting, but I can help you. Whatever pain and misery drove you to do this, we can fix it, and then it will all, finally, be over.”

Nightmare Moon looked up at her sister without a shred of amusement. She snorted and turned away.

“You foal, you don't even realize it." Nightmare Moon’s words caused Celestia to open her eyes and look down in confusion. Nightmare lifted her head and snarled, shouting out with great fury and hate. "YOU are the one that pushed her to this! You left her alone to become a pariah, whilst you and your precious subjects danced in the sunlight!" Nightmare grimaced and began charging her horn again, while Celestia could only look on in terrified realization. "And now, we can all be alone, FOREVER!”

Nightmare unleashed her attack, which Celestia narrowly avoided by rising up and over the blast of magic, only to fly within range of Melinoe’s staff as she swung it around. Eyes going wide as she realized she only had milliseconds to spare, Celestia reached into herself and made a desperate plea for help.

"PERSONA!" She shouted.

A massive figure appeared between Celestia and Melinoe, raising an equally massive shield to protect its summoner. Twilight blanched as she looked up at the unfamiliar Persona. It wasn't Gnowee, not even close. This Persona was clad and pure golden armor, underneath which she wore crimson chain mail which was just visible through some of the armors hinges. The Persona held aloft a shield of similar gold and red coloring that was almost as tall as the Persona itself. In its right hand was a sword that was separated into different segments that floated around a center gem at the crossguard, shaped like a sun.

“Amaterasu!" Celestia cried out. The persona used its shield to push Melinoe back to the ground, then Nightmare shot another blast at Celestia, causing her to flee out of the hole in the ceiling, Amaterasu following close behind.

“And where," nightmare called mockingly. "Do you think you're going?”

Nightmare Moon and her Persona followed, taking off from the ground and into the moonlit sky. Twilight, still very panicked and in shock, also took off in pursuit.

The battle between Celestia, Nightmare, and their Personas, was beyond anything Twilight had ever seen in her life, at least not from her mentor. Nightmare flew in the wake of Celestia's flightpath, shooting beams of magic with complete disregard for what she might hit. As Celestia dove to and fro to avoid the shots, much of the outside structure and decor of the castle was obliterated. Statues that would have stood for hundreds of years were suddenly turned to dust and rubble or sent careening to the ground. At every turn, Melinoe would lunge to try and cut Celestia off, only to be stopped dead as Amaterasu body checked her into a wall with her mighty shield. Melinoe would, at times, follow suit with Nightmare Moon and fire bolts of electricity at their quarries, destroying even more of the surrounding landscape as the attacks missed. Trees ignited like giant torches, the stone walls charring where the attacks struck, and windows blasting inward as the sudden change in air pressure caused them to shatter. Any bolt that came near hitting Celestia would be redirected back by Amaterasu, who used her sword like a giant lightning rod. All of this, Twilight watched from a close, yet safe distance, just out of the line of fire. She noted that Celestia and Amaterasu we're making no attempt to return fire, preferring to stay on the defensive as they flew around the castle.

Soon the four of them had ascended above the structure, Nightmare Moon and Melinoe having separated and placed themselves on either side of Celestia and Amaterasu. Melinoe charged at the solar matriarch, lightning running through her staff as she prepared to strike. Amaterasu readied her shield to block the attack, but at the last moment Nightmare Moon shot one more attack, not at Celestia, but at Amaterasu. The bolt of magic struck first, making both the armored persona and her summoner flinch. Melinoe took advantage of the two's slip in concentration and successfully landed a blow to Amaterasu, conducting a lightning strike directly into her and causing Celestia to freeze and sputter in midair. Nightmare moon, smiling gleefully, fired another magic beam at Celestia, and this time the attack found its mark.

With a scream of pain that made every ounce of blood in Twilight’s veins freeze with shock in terror, Celestia lost the ability to stay airborne. She plummeted back through the hole in the throne room she had exited out of, and even over the roar of Nightmare Moon’s triumphant laughter, Twilight could still hear the sickening thud of her mentor's body hitting the floor.

“CELESTIA!!” Twilight cried out, breaking from her shock and diving back into the throne room and landing right next to Celestia’s unmoving form.

Twilight fell to her haunches. She lifted her forehoof several times, as if to reach out to Celestia and touch her side. But every time she pulled back, unable to bear the misery she would feel if she couldn't find a pulse.

"Why," Twilight sobbed, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "Why would Luna do this?"

Twilight sat there as silence ruled over the destroyed throne room. Her sobs and despairing moans echoing off the walls over and over again, like there was a crowd of ponies there, also lamenting the fall the princess of the sun.

Then, something shifted. The feathers of Celestia’s wings twitched, then the full wing folded up against her side. With trembling legs, Celestia rose, her face somber.

“Celestia!” Twilight cried in relief. "You're okay!"

Celestia did not acknowledge Twilight; she simply looked up at the hole in the ceiling, where Nightmare Moon was waiting.

“Oh Luna,” Celestia said, her own tears beginning to fall. “If what she said is true, that I am the one who drove you to this, then I pray that one day you will forgive me for what I am about to do.”

Celestia’s horn begin to glow, and her magic revealed a trap door at the center of the room. From below, a five pronged alter arose, each branch of the statue carried a large gemstone that spun around on its own volition. Celestia took to the the air again and examined them with regret, Twilight gawked at them as realization suddenly dawned on her.

"The Elements of Harmony," she muttered. "But that's how they looked in… in the past.”

That explained it, why neither Celestia nor Nightmare Moon seemed to respond to her. The potion that Zecora had given Twilight was showing her events that had happened a thousand years ago, on one night in particular.

“This is the night you banished her,” Twilight realized sadly. She watched as Celestia collected each Element, then flew to the top of the structure and touched the stone sphere that adorned it. Her magic glowed around the sphere and the sixth element appeared from within, joining the other five as they began to rotate around Celestia.

As the stones begin to increase in their speed, Celestia began to glow with the radiance of a hundred suns. Without a single flap of her wings, she began to rise back out of the throne room. Nightmare Moon was waiting, ready to resume fighting as her mouth curled into a snarl. But before she or her Persona could attack, Celestia spoke.

"I can't allow this to go on. You are putting my subjects at great risk, and if I have to sacrifice my own wants to spare them from the misery you would inflict upon them, then so be it.”

Nightmare Moon, completely disregarding Celestia's words, sent Melinoe forward, then followed up with her own attack by pushing all the magic she could through her horn. Celestia responded by raising the elements of harmony in front of her, with the first five surrounding the sixth. The five then shot beams of light that connected with the starburst shaped gemstone, which combined their energy with its own and fired an intense blast of light and color right at Nightmare Moon and Melinoe.

Melinoe was disintegrated almost immediately as the beam engulfed her, then Nightmare Moon’s attack collided with it and held for less than a few seconds before the Light of Harmony pushed back against it. No matter how hard Nightmare tried, she couldn't gain control over the struggle, and soon the light began to engulf her as well.

“Nooo!” Nightmare cried out as he disappeared completely. The beam of light then bent upwards and headed straight for the Moon. After a moment, a rainbow colored shockwave blasted out from the heavenly body, and slowly the image of a horned mare appeared among the craters.

Their purpose complete, the Elements deactivated one by one. Celestia slowly glided back into the throne room, her face bereft of any sort of expression. As her hooves touched down, Twilight ran forward, unsure of what to do as merely an observer of this long gone time.

Then, each of the Elements fell out of Celestia’s grip. Five of them lost their color and morphed into gray, lifeless, stone spheres that hit the floor with a resounding thunk. The sixth one, the Element of Magic, hit the ground and fell apart like it was made of sand or ash.

"It's just like she said,” Celestia murmured tearfully as he watched a small draft carry what was left of the Element away. “We're all alone now.”

Twilight couldn't take it anymore. She was rearing up on her hind legs to embrace Celestia, to let her know she wasn't alone, to tell her how much Celestia meant to her. But Twilight was losing focus, the world was disappearing in a flash of light, and the last thing she saw was Celestia’s violet eyes lose their color and overflow with sorrow.

~~~~~

Twilight blinked several times before the bright white glow lifted from her eyes. She placed a hoof on her forehead to steady herself before getting the bearings on her surroundings. She was back in Ponyville, still covered in vines, and in the same place in the same position she was before she drank the potion. Her friends were all gathered up in one spot, looking at her like they’d just seen a ghost.

“Uhmm,” Twilight murmured as she looked at everyone’s wide eyed expressions. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Maybe because ya’ll were muttering something fierce while you were in that trance of yours,” Applejack explained.

“And the uncontrollable sobbing,” Pinkie Pie added. “Don’t forget about that!”

“We were really worried,” Fluttershy said, eyes still filled with almost tearful concern. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said as she started to pace. “I just, I need a moment.”

“Sounds like you went for quite a ride,” Discord chimed in. “Couldn’t help but overhear you mention Celestia and Luna a few times while you let the faucets behind your eyes run. I take it you got to see one of the princesses' darkest secrets?”

“Not really a secret to us at this point,” Twilight said, giving Discord and annoyed look. “I saw the night Celestia had to banish Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. It was like watching the world fall apart.”

A somber silence fell over the group for a moment, then Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Well, what does that have to do with what’s happening now? Zecora said the potion would show you where the source of the vines is.”

“Perhaps,” Zecora said, stepping forward with the potion in her grasp. “More of the potion must be taken, to find an answer if I’m not mistaken.”

She hoofed the potion back to Twilight, who took hold of it and looked around at all her friends, who nodded supportively. With another well measured gulp, Twilight’s eyes once again flared with light.

~~~~~

Twilight didn’t find herself in any sort of recognizable environment this time, in fact she probably would have thought Zecora’s potion was causing her to hallucinate if it wasn’t for the fact that Celestia and Luna were there with her. Taking a better look around, Twilight realized that she did recognize where she was, or rather she recognized the overall motif of her current location.

All around her was like a psychedelic wonderland: the rolling hills had a checkerboard pattern of blues and pinks, the sky was purple and the clouds a neon green. There were fish of all species and colors flying through the air like they were avians, and all of them were strangely distorted in one way or another: an extra eye here, a few dozen misplaced fins there, and a couple with limbs that certainly didn’t belong to any fish or bird that Twilight had ever heard of. Buildings were being balanced upside down on their rooftops, or else were simply spinning around in the air like gravity had been selectively turned off. Twilight had only one word to describe what she was seeing: Chaos.

“Now this this reeks of Discord’s handy work,” Twilight mused out loud as she thought back to her and her friend’s first encounter with the Spirit of Chaos, and how he’d turned Ponyville into a similar looking vortex of nonsense.

Celestia and Luna started walking through the checkered hills, looking all around them with disgust and apprehension. Twilight galloped a bit to catch up and then matched their speed as they began talking.

“Sister, “ Luna said. “Are you sure we cannot try and convince him to stand down? Must we truly retake the throne by force?”

“Luna, for all we know, he’s in the same boat that Sombra was in.” Celestia frowned and used her magic to tighten the straps on her saddle bag. Twilight took note of the fact that both Celestia and Luna looked ragged, as if they’d been traveling for a long time. “He will be far too powerful to be contained in the earth by our own strength if that is the case. And even were he not controlled by the Beast, do you really believe we could talk down the Lord of Chaos from doing whatever he pleases?”

“I know, but, it’s just that, Mother always spoke so highly of him, and he always seemed like the one most determined to see the threat of the Beast vanquished. I just cannot see him falling to the will of another like that.”

“I know, Luna,” Celestia said somberly. “But the same things could have been said of all of us. Every member of the Arcana was so talented and strong and so willing to give themselves up to protect Equestria, that we saw ourselves as untouchable and incorruptible. In the end though, you see how far all that moxie took us.”

Luna looked like she was about to respond, but then the sound of crazed laughter echoed over the next rise. Casting a determined look at each other, Celestia and Luna stepped up their case, with Twilight following unseen.

The world opened up to a more flat expanse, dotted with several homes. The clearing was a maelstrom of hecticness, everything was the physical embodiment of a non sequitur. And at the center of it all was Discord, sitting on a throne and watching the chaos he’d wrought unfold.

“This is the day they turned him to stone.” Twilight concluded to herself out loud.

The two sisters walked right up to the foot of the hill Discord had sat himself upon as his vantage point, their faces filled with tension. Discord smiled gleefully down at them, then rose from his throne and threw his arms wide, as if greeting an old friend.

“My dear ladies!” He cried out. “Oh, it has been far too long! You should have told me you were back in town, I would have made dinner arrangements! How was your trip? Is Sombra still filled with doom and gloom?”

“Sombra has been sealed within the ice of the north,” Luna explained coldly. “He had gone mad like the others and had forced our hooves.”

“And now it seems that you have done the same Discord,” Celestia said. “We are only going to give you this one chance. Return control over to Luna and I, restore Equestria to its former state, and leave these lands for all time.”

Discord, unsurprisingly, looked hurt at Celestia’s demands.

“Leave?” He asked, disbelievingly. “But this is my home! Where do you expect me to go? And where else could I possibly have this much fun spreading chaos and disharmony?”

“Your ‘fun,’” Luna scoffed. “Is causing naught but distress and misery for our subjects! You will acquiesce to our demands, or you will meet the same fate as the rest of the Arcana!”

“You know,” Discord mused, stroking his beard. “One might look at this situation somewhere down the line and might make the assumption that the two of you are performing a coup d’etat. I mean, first you blame all the other rulers of Equestria for some misplaced subjects and use that as an excuse to bury them and plant a forest on top of their grave. Then you go around toppling whoever’s left, thus leaving only the two of you, unopposed, as the rulers of Equestria.”

“Sombra had enslaved an entire race,” Celestia said sternly. “His actions resulted in the loss of both the Crystal Empire and all of its people. They disappeared into the nothingness with one last cruel spell on his part. And you, Discord, saw fit to turn Equestria into your own personal playground when our backs were turned. What my sister and I do is for the good of all!”

“Keep telling yourself that, Celestia,” Discord said. He then vanished in a flash of light, only to then reappear at Celestia’s side. “But consider this, how much longer before the two of you decide the other isn’t fit to rule either and you banish her ‘for the good of all?’” Celestia and Luna threw a glance at each other, but otherwise did not comment. Discord continued, twirling some of Celestia’s hair around his fingers. “You know, the three of us are all that’s left of our respective races. We’re all going to be living very long lives, and something tells me they’re going to be longer than we could even imagine.” He leaned himself against the solar princess, much to her growing rage. “It’s going to get pretty lonely, you sure you don’t want to keep me around? I’m positive I could make for great company.”

“Away from her!” Luna shouted as she began charging her horn. “Neither of us have any desire for your ‘company!’”

Discord groaned, but returned to his throne. “Fine, be that way, but it isn’t like it matters. Do the two of you really believe you can stand up to me? I’m not some steely black unicorn with a god complex. I’m a real, flesh and blood, bender of reality. How do you possibly think you could win against this?”

The card of a Persona fell into Discord's outstretched paw, his entire body flaring with power as he smiled from ear to ear.

"JOKER!!" He cried out, crushing the card.

A heavily disfigured Persona rose up behind Discord's throne. Every limb seemed to have twice as many joints in it then it should have, bending its arms and legs in grotesque ways. He wore a pure white suit highlighted at the wrists and ankles with a pattern of black and yellow triangles. He also wore a large jester's hat of the same coloration with tassels that hung all the way to the small of his back. His face was scarred and slashed many times over, even to the point of one eye being hidden under an eye patch, but he still smiled in a horrifyingly toothy grin.

Blanching for a brief moment, Celestia and Luna leapt backwards as Joker lunged forward and slammed his fist into the ground where they were standing just moments before. Discord laughed uproariously, pulling a bag of seeds out to munch on like popcorn as his Persona attacked. Joker swiftly followed the two princesses around, smashing through whatever it could to try and reach them.

"Amaterasu!" Celestia cried out the moment she got a chance. Her own Persona materialized and blocked a kick from Joker with its shield.

"Diana!" Luna shouted, following her sister's lead. The archer Persona appeared and quickly let loose three arrows in succession. Joker, pushing Amaterasu away, snatched the projectiles out of the air, then snapped them in half and tossed them aside. Discord's laughter grew and Joker made a dash right at Luna and Diana.

"This is just too much!" Discord shouted, waving his arms around in glee and scattering his seeds every which way.

The three Personas continued to dance around each other, fire and lightning arcing every which way, but Joker agilely evading every attack the other two launched at him. Luna, in a fit of rage, threw all sense of restraint away and commanded Diana to attack Discord directly, shooting a lightning infused bolt at him in the middle of a laughing fit.

Her attempt was in vain, however. Joker, once again, caught Diana's arrow, but instead of discarding it, he rushed over to Amaterasu and embedded it into her shield. The shield exploded spectacularly, sending both Personas flying in opposite directions.

Celestia and Luna continued to try and gain the upper hoof on Discord, but he and his Persona seemed perfectly content in just taunting them, tiring and frustrating the two while he wasn't even winded. Eventually, the two princesses were left barely standing and out of breath, both of them out of ideas on how to take down Joker.

With a heavy sigh, Celestia recollected herself, standing up straight before, to everyone's surprise, dispelling her Persona.

"Sister! What are you doing?!" Luna shouted out.

"I warned you Luna, and I was right," Celestia said, not taking her eyes off of Discord. "Discord is too strong for the two of us, we simply cannot beat him like this. It's time."

"Giving up so soon?" Discord said dejectedly. "And it was just getting good!"

Luna, after a moment's hesitation, nodded and also dispelled her Persona. The two princesses walked forward, until they stood before both Discord and his Persona, who were smiling wickedly down at them. Then Celestia and Luna undid the clasps of their saddlebags and pulled out six familiar looking gems.

"And what, prey tell, are those?" Discord asked, barely restraining more laughter as he tossed the bag of seeds aside and stood up.

"The Elements of Harmony!" Celestia declared. "The last of the Harmonious magic left in Equestria!"

"It doesn't matter how much more powerful than us you are," Luna said as the elements began to rotate around both her and Celestia. "Whatever power the Beast gave you is nothing compared to the might of Harmony!"

"Wait," Discord said, looking at their serious faces with bemusement. "You think I'm doing this for big, tall, and inky?"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other in confusion, before Discord let loose his loudest laugh yet.

"I'm not being controlled by some eldritch shadow monster! All of this is because of my own chaotic genius! No, when I heard the whispers in my ears telling me to bring sacrifices to 'the Mother of Misery,' I got out of dodge immediately. I didn't want to stick around while my so called comrades in arms waltzed into a deathtrap! Why would I give myself up to something that's just going to destroy everything? You can't have chaos when everything is destroyed!"

Celestia and Luna's confusion turned into fury and anger as the Elements spun faster and faster, until there was a ring of light surrounding the two.

"You did all of this," Celestia said through gritted teeth. "For your own selfish laughs?! You ran away when we needed you the most?!"

"UNACCEPTABLE!" Luna shouted hysterically.

Discord continued to laugh as magic began to sphere around the princesses. Then a massive rainbow of magical energy shot upwards and arched back down at Discord, who continued to scoff obliviously. When the spell struck, Discord's body quickly froze in place as it was rapidly encased in stone, a permanent laugh etched onto his face. Then the magic exploded outward, shattering Joker like a rock through a stained glass window. The shock wave blasted outward, undoing all the chaos that Discord had created. The light blinded Twilight, and everything went white.

~~~~~

When she came to, she was in yet another unknown location. It was a large cavern illuminated by a bright bluish glow. Celestia and Luna were there, looking up at a giant crystalline tree that seemed to be the source of the light. The tree was marked with pictures of the sun and moon on its trunk, its branches each held a gemstone that Twilight recognized as the Elements of Harmony. And at the center of the tree was...

"My cutie mark," Twilight whispered, looking up at the six pointed star with both wonder and confusion.

"The Tree of Harmony," Luna said in awe. "The only remnant of the Harmonious Magic left."

Celestia, with her magic, began picking the Elements off of their branches.

"Are you sure about this?" Luna asked worriedly.

"We need a way of defeating Discord, and any other members of the Arcana that managed to escape our curse on this land," Celestia explained as she opened up the center star burst and pulled out the Element of Magic. "We may have been able to just barely defeat Sombra, but it came at an awful cost. We still have need of the Harmonious magic, and these Elements and this tree are the only sources left of it in Equestria. So until the Fire of Friendship burns bright again and the land is once more infused with Harmony, we will keep the Elements close to us."

"But what of the curse?" Luna asked. "Will the tree alone be able to hold the Beast back?"

"I'm sure of it. I can feel its strength, like a thousand locks on a diamond chest. And so long as that strength remains, this forest and our curse will remain as well." Celestia carried the Elements over to Luna and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry sister, soon it will all be over. Then the two of us can rebuild Equestria to be the land of Harmony our grandmother Rosetta wanted it to be."

With that, Twilight's vision went white again, and the world faded away.

Chapter 23: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 4)

"You alright?" Wayfarer asked as once more Twilight's eyes flickered and dimmed, the blinding white light dissipating as she descended from whatever high the potion had brought her to.

"Y-yeah," Twilight stuttered as she tried not to faint from dizziness. "That one was a trip, and not at all what I was expecting."

"What did you see?" Spike asked as the rest of them looked expectantly at Twilight.

Twilight pursed her lips in thought and looked around at all her friends. There were a lot of things in these visions that were not her stories to give, secrets in them that she'd already sworn not to tell. But it was brutally obvious now that what was happening was intrinsically linked to Celestia, Luna, and Discord's time as members of the Arcana, as well as the Beast and the creation of the Everfree forest itself. All of which Celestia had asked her to keep a secret.

'Does it even matter at this point?' Twilight thought to herself. 'Secrets aren't going to save Celestia, Luna, or Equestria. And besides,' she eyed each of her friends in turn, who were staring back in confusion at her hesitation. 'If we can't trust them, who can we trust?'

"I saw Celestia and Luna encase Discord in stone for the first time," she explained. "I also saw them find and take the Elements from the Tree of Harmony."

"The Tree of Harmony?" Rarity asked. "What in Equestria is that?"

"It's... well it's a magic crystalline tree near the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters."

"You think that might be the source of the vines?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, Applejack," Rarity laughed. "Why would the source of the Elements of Harmony also be the same place these horrid plants came from?"

"Because," Twilight continued. "It's also where Celestia and Luna used Harmonious magic to place a curse on the land."

Rarity turned to Twilight and looked like she was going to respond, but she stopped when she fully processed what Twilight had said. She simply stared back with confusion, along with everyone else.

"What." Rarity said flatly, not so much a question as much as it was a dumbfounded reaction.

"The Everfree Forest isn't a natural phenomenon," Twilight said. "It's the result of a spell that the Royal Sisters cast more than a thousand years ago."

"But- but why?" Fluttershy stammered.

"Celestia told me that there was some sort of creature that came out of the earth to destroy Equestria, and the only way they could defeat it was by sending it back and sealing it up, then they created a forest that would drain its life away. According to my visions, the Tree of Harmony is like a lock that keeps the creature buried and the forest under control."

"Not really doing its job very well than, now is it?" Rarity complained, her face scrunching up in annoyance.

"Something must have happened to it," Twilight mused. "Like the lock is rusting or something."

"So you're tell'n us," Applejack started, with a very irate look on her face. "That yet another thousand year old someth'n or other is coming back to cause a ruckus? First is was Nightmare Moon, then Discord, then Sombra, and now this? What other skeletons are going to come out of the Princesses' closet? Are we going to have to deal with Celestia and Luna's long lost Ma and Pa? Does Discord have a twin sister we should be worried about?"

"I assure you Applejack," Discord said as he popped out from under the farm pony's stetson. "Had I a twin sister that survived the extinction of the Draconequus race, we would have heard about it. She would have sent a friendly monster or twenty my way as a way of saying 'how dare you forget my twenty fifth birthday you big stupid-'"

Applejack grabbed her hat and whipped it around to the side, dislodging Discord and sending him flying. Placing it back on her head, she looked over at Twilight with annoyance.

"So this curse is what's causing all these vines? And we can't just un-curse it because it'll also release some monster? Don't see what the problem is with that, not like we haven't tumbled with plenty of monsters in the past haven't we?"

"Not like this you haven't," Discord said as he sat up from the ground where he landed. "This monster is like the mother of all monsters that came after it. I was there when our dear Sun and Moon Princesses did battle with it, and even with twenty other equally powerful beings alongside them they still only just beat the horrible beasty back into its hole. Believe me when I say that you'd much prefer that the curse ran its course before you dispelled it."

"And leave the sky a complete mess and the Everfree forest to grow out of control?" Applejack shot back. "No way, no how!"

"Enough!" Twilight shouted. "Applejack, we don't need to undo the curse in order to set everything right. If something is wrong with the Tree of Harmony, we just need to fix it and then it'll go back to keeping the Beast and the forest in check."

Applejack opened her mouth to argue some more, but then simply groaned in frustration. "You're right," she said as she calmed down. "I'm sorry, it's just that this sort of thing is getting a might frustrate'n."

"Quite," Rarity agreed. "But, as we are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we should see it as an honor to serve our friends and country in a way only we can."

"I second that!" Rainbow Dash shouted enthusiastically. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go save that tree!" With one big united cheer, Twilight and her friends began a mad dash towards the Everfree Forest.

"Au Revoir!" Discord shouted, waving a handkerchief at the departing ponies and dragon. "I promise Ponyville will be mostly intact when you return!"

"Are we sure it's alright to just leave him here?" Rainbow Dash asked the others. "He's bound to cause trouble while we're gone."

"Gotta have a little more faith sometimes RD," Wayfarer said as he matched her pace. "Not like he can do anymore damage than the vines have already done."

"Yeah, y'all got a point there," Applejack said. "I guess you're- hey, wait a minute! Why are you tagging along?"

Wayfarer turned and gave Applejack an incredulous look. "Seriously? My friends and landlord are going on a dangerous, potentially world changing mission, and you're asking me why I want to come and help?"

"Well it's just... you're just... we're all-"

"It's because I'm a stallion isn't it?" Wayfarer said in mock offense, causing Applejack to stumble slightly and Rainbow Dash to start uproariously laughing.

"What? No!" Applejack blushed as she regained her step. "But you don't have an Element of Harmony. How are you going to help when things start going sour?"

"Relax, AJ," Rainbow Dash said. "He's a lot more up to snuff than he looks. Give him a shot and he'll pull a few cards out of his sleeves."

"Is that so?" Applejack skeptically asked, eyeing the sleeves of Wayfarer's coat. "Well I guess we'll just see about that then."

Wayfarer hadn't been anywhere near the Everfree in all the time he'd been in Ponyville. Sure he'd seen it from afar whenever he visited Fluttershy's cottage or on his usual wanderings through town, but the murmurs and rumors of monsters were reason enough to give the woods a wide berth. Now Wayfarer had another reason to stay away from the accursed forest: the place itself was absolutely terrifying. They hadn't even gone in yet and already his eyes were darting about the trees, looking for any sort of inequine shape or eyes peering out of the darkness at him. And that was another thing, the sky might have been half night, but it was still almost as bright out as late morning. Inside the forest however, light almost didn't seem to exist. Past the first few rows of trees, Wayfarer couldn't see anything more than the outline of a tree limb or trunk, and that scared the horseshoes off of him more than any rumors of Manticores or Cockatrices. And then of course there were the vines that coiled around every tree like massive pythons.

"Seems like only yesterday we were headed into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony," Rarity said, she and everyone else completely oblivious to Wayfarer's internal state of mild distress. "Now we're going in to find the source of the Elements themselves."

"Yeah," Twilight responded. "And it seems like only yesterday I was stubborn and foolish enough to believe that I could find them on my own, that I didn't need friendship to succeed."

"Well you came around eventually," Applejack said with a hint of fond recollection. "Don't know what we would have done if you hadn't. Probably would have had to sell the farm, eternal night would have ruined our crops someth'n fierce."

"And we got some fabulous accessories out of the deal as well!" Rarity said, gently adjusting her Element as she did. "Oh, and a chance to meet that delightful river serpent, quite the gem himself if I do say so.

"And a chance to show off how awesome I am!" Rainbow Dash boasted. "You know, by not accepting those phony Shadowbolt's offer and proving to Nightmare Moon that nothing in the world would make me leave behind my friends!"

"Ooh! I hope we run into that baby Manticore again!" Fluttershy added. "I bet he's grown up all big and strong now!"

"I hope there's more ugly trees for us to laugh at!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "I've come up with a half dozen reprisal songs for us to sing if the occasion ever came up again!"

Applejack and Twilight looked at the other four with raised eyebrows, before turning to each other and giggling. Twilight confidently looked into the forest and started walking in, the others following right behind.

"I don't know what we're going to face in here," Twilight said. "But I do know that this time I can count on my friends, this time we do it together."

A general nod of affirmative came from the other five mares, while at the back of the procession Wayfarer and Spike just made despondent glances at each other.

"You ever feel like a bit of an outlier when they get like this?" Wayfarer asked the dragon.

"Meh, you get used to it." Spike responded.

It was an achingly long half hour later that Wayfarer's nerves had finally calmed down. Nothing, not even the vines, had done anything to try and stop them. The darkness was still causing a bit of unease, but it was manageable. That, and the quietness was starting to become a lot more noticeable, a fact that Fluttershy of all ponies seemed to become aware of first.

"So Wayfarer," she asked, breaking the silence. "What were you planning on doing this summer? I mean, now that school's out and everything."

"Huh, yeah that's right," Wayfarer muttered. "In all the excitement today I completely forgot that school was over with. I've got nearly four weeks free of any sort of responsibility." Wayfarer pondered the prospect for a while, then gave a rather indecisive shrug. "Well if it weren't for the fact that Twilight refuses to take rental payment from me, I'd probably be looking into getting a temporary summer job. As it is, I'm not really sure what I'll do. Probably try to read right through Twilight's library or spend some time at the watering hole."

"Well there's my castle's inauguration on the eighth of July," Twilight said. "And Breezie Beaches Week before that. You'll find something to fill your time."

"Speaking of which," Rarity said. "What's to become of Golden Oaks Library when you move out?"

"I'm going to give the key back to town hall and hope whoever they get to replace me knows what they're doing. Who ran the library before I came to Ponyville?"

"Some old mare who moved to the retirement home a week or two before you got here." Applejack answered.

"Guess they'll have to find someone new then," Twilight said with a slightly melancholic tone.

"What about me?" Wayfarer asked. Everyone's heads turned to look at him with, at first, confusion, and then contemplation.

"Well," Twilight said slowly. "I was thinking you were going to come live at the castle after we moved out, at least until you found your own place. You know, same plan as before?"

"Uh, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said bemusedly. "I think he's actually suggesting that he takes over the library in your place."

"Oh! Well," Twilight seemed to consider it for a moment before smiling. "We'll see."

There was a round of giggles and smiles, especially from Wayfarer. Truth be told, the idea had been in the back of his mind for a while now. He'd walked around Ponyville and seen the occupancy rate of the homes in and around town enough times to know that he was probably going to have to build his own home from the ground up. Taking over the library would fix that issue, and now it would reassure Twilight that the library would be left in good hooves. And besides that, Wayfarer had gotten used to falling asleep with the scent of old paper and fresh ink in the air, he would have missed that if he had to move anywhere else.

The conversation and laughter died back down to silence. And for a good minute, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Wayfarer didn't really notice anything wrong with this, but apparently the others did.

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy spoke up again as her eyes started to dart around. "Is it just me, or has the forest been even quieter than usual?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Wayfarer asked. "Doesn't that mean nothing's waiting in the shadows to jump out and eat us?"

"You would think," Rarity said. "But you'd also think there would at least be the sound of insects or the wind blowing in the trees. But there's nothing."

"It's silent as the grave," Twilight said.

"Don't use that phrasing please," Spike begged. "That's just wishing for something awful to hap-"

"AHHHH!!" Pinkie screamed, pointing into the trees. "Eyes! I saw eyes! And not the friendly yellow eyes that just want to say hello! But creepy lime green eyes that just scream evil!"

Everyone jumped and then bunched up into a tight circle, all eyes facing outward, most looking to the place that Pinkie had pointed out. Nothing moved, no one even breathed as they stared into the darkness, looking for whatever it was that had startled them. Wayfarer felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as the seconds ticked on, he could feel the stare of something out there, even if he couldn't actually see who or what was doing the staring. Eventually, Applejack gave an exasperated groan and turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie," she said frustratedly. "Are you just trying to scare us? We're already on pins and needles as it is without you making us jump at nothing."

"But I did see something!" Pinkie Pie said. "It was a pair of big green glowing eyes!"

"Zecora did mention that she saw a changeling in here the other day," Wayfarer said.

"Oh, now you tell us," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.

"Let's just keep moving," Twilight said. "Maybe whatever it was won't bother-"

Twilight stopped short as a low rumble reached their ears, which grew louder and louder as the earth began to shake beneath their hooves.

"Earthquake?!" Rarity shouted as they all braced themselves.

The shaking only lasted a few more seconds before it ceased. Everyone looked at each other, eyes filled with unease, there hooves gently moving and feeling the ground, unsure it it would start quaking again.

"M-maybe it's just the vines moving around?" Twilight hypothesized, though the look she gave Wayfarer suggested that wasn't her main theory.

"There's been all sorts of earthquakes in the last few months," Fluttershy pointed out nervously. "All my little animal friends have been so frightened, I just can't-"

A mighty thunder like crack resonated out from the ground as the tremors returned with even greater intensity. Everyone was immediately thrown to the ground as the earth split apart, like a giant opening its maw. The crevasse diverged right through the middle of the group, leaving half of them on either side as the gap quickly spread to almost five feet in width.

Wayfarer's grip on the ground began to slip as the edges of the tear began falling inward. He backed up as quickly as possible, grabbing Spike by the tail as he did so and dragging him away. His gaze flitted around to the others, watching them retreat from the opening as well. Save for Twilight, who was in the crevasse, holding on to the edge for dear life.

"Twilight!" Wayfarer cried as he sprang upright, only to be sent back to the ground by another violent shake. Helplessly, Wayfarer watched as Twilight panicked in her attempts to get out, her wings flapping out of sync, her forehooves digging at the ground in front of her.

"Hang on Twi!" Applejack yelled as she and Pinkie Pie started crawling to their friend's aid. Before they could reach her though, a large, very old looking tree next to the crevasse, began to topple over right on top of them. Pinkie Pie, seeing this, grabbed Applejack by the tail and yanked her back with a brutal jerk. Applejack went sailing over Pinkie's head, and Pinkie, in a startling defiance of physics, got dragged along with her. The tree crashed into the ground, barely missing the two, but cutting them off from Twilight. The ground around the tree, now loose from all the roots being pulled from it, made it easier for the quake to shake apart what little ground Twilight was able to hold onto. In a moment that made Wayfarer's heart stop, he watched as Twilight's support fell away and she tumbled out of sight.

The earth, seemingly satisfied with having claimed a victim, slowly stopped shuddering again. With the ground stable, everyone rushed to the edge of the crevasse, watching their step to avoid falling in themselves.

"Twilight!" Rarity called into the hole.

"Twilight! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy yelled.

"Consarn it! Say Something!" Applejack cried.

Silence. The seven of them stared into the darkness with bated breath, waiting for some sort of response. After a very pregnant pause, the sound of a groan reached their ears, then Twilight's voice drifted up to them.

"I'm alright!" She called. "I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding in a few spots, but I'm alright!"

There was a collective sigh of relief, then Applejack rushed to a nearby tree and began pulling a vine from it.

"We'll have you out of there in no time Twi!" She called out.

"Are your wings alright?" Rainbow Dash yelled into the hole. "Can you fly out?"

"The crevasse is too narrow!" Twilight's voice responded. "I tried fanning out my wings to slow my fall and they buffeted against the sides!"

"Speaking of which," Rarity said, giving Rainbow Dash an irritated look. "What was stopping you from flying to the crevasse and catching her before she fell?"

"I would have," Rainbow responded. "But Fluttershy panicked and grabbed me before I could do anything!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Fluttershy tearfully repeated over and over.

"Oh shoot, sugarcube," Applejack said, carrying over the first few vines for their improvised rope. "Once we get her out of there it'll all be water under the bridge."

Twilight's fall had, thankfully, been a short one. The landing was rough, but most of the damage had been done as she fell along the sides of the chasm. Her voice, as she reassured her friends of her condition, had echoed all around her, telling her she'd fallen into a cavern. After standing up and doing a few quick stretches to see if anything else was injured, she sparked her horn and illuminated her surroundings.

At first, it seemed like a very standard hole in the ground: lots of dirt and rock, uneven surfaces, and a stalagmite or stalactite here and there. But as her horn's glow grew brighter, she noted that the cavern was nearly wide enough for several pegasi, perhaps even ones as big as Celestia, to fly through comfortably, wing tip to wing tip and then some. She also noted that while the walls were indeed rough, they seemed to curve up and around the ceiling in a uniform shape, like they'd been hoof carved that way. Finally, Twilight looked toward either end of the chamber and saw that her light was only going so far. She realized at this point that she was in a tunnel, one that felt eerily similar in size and build to the corridors beneath Ponyville castle, where the Shadows nested.

"Oh no," Twilight whimpered before she tilted her head up and called out to the others. "Whatever plan you have to get me out of here, I'd appreciate it if you did it fast!"

"Hold on Twi," Applejack called back. "Just got to make sure these vines aren't going to snap when we pull you out!"

Twilight directed her attention back to the darkness reaching out to her from either direction. She focussed her light into a single beam and pushed it as far as it would go, determined to see danger coming long before it got within grabbing distance of her. Her breathing slowed down and deepened as she tried to remain calm. Her attention darted back and forth, staring ahead for no longer than a few seconds before looking the other way. Her ears twitched, searching for even the slightest sound of movement.

Then something started muttering, a voice, as if far away, echoed around her and in her head. The muttering slowly grew louder and more coherent, until she could pick up a few words here and there. Twilight flattened her ears against the side of her head, trying to block out the voice, but it was like the voice was coming from within her now and would not cease. When the voice finally solidified, if whispered only a few words, right into her ear, like whoever it was was right behind her.

"Hello little filly. Are you lost?"

Twilight felt like she'd been dipped into a pool of ice water. The voice reminded her of her mother's, but the reverb and echo that she'd come to associate with the voice of a Shadow removed any semblance of warmth or compassion, replacing it with only a horrible hunger.

"Any time now please!" Twilight called upwards as she jumped away from the spot she'd been standing in and spun about, but there was no one there. The sound of something crawling along the ground sent her attention back down the tunnel, where several Shadows had appeared and were inching towards her. "Get me out of here!"

"Twilight? What's wrong?" Rarity called back.

"Oh don't cry," the tunnel's voice said as the Shadows began to morph and change. "You'll be with Mother again very soon."

Above the crevasse, the others were weaving together the vines for their rope, when Twilight began to shout in panic they started calling out to her again.

"What's happening?!" Fluttershy cried. "Are you alright Twilight? Say something!"

Once again there was a moment of silence, then Twilight called out for help with one word, not to her friends, but to herself.

"PERSONA!"

A flash of blue light burst from the crevasse, followed by an eruption of lightning that sent everyone flying away from the hole.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack shouted when she picked herself back up.

Then the earth started to shake again, but not in the long, continuous tremor like before. This time it was more like shockwaves caused by something heavy striking the ground.

With almost no hesitation, Wayfarer rushed to the edge of the crevasse, picked up the vine rope, and against the cries of the others, leapt into the opening.

Within moments, Wayfarer found himself in the tunnel, where dozens of Shadows of different shapes and sizes were trying to dog pile Twilight and Tyche.

"Persona!" Wayfarer shouted as he swung into the fray. Ekchuah crashed into the ground, scattering Shadows about before unleashing a gale of sharpened air. Wayfarer backed up to cover Twilight as Ekchuah did the same with Tyche. A circle started to form around them as Shadows came from all sides to surround them. The two Persona users shared a glance, before crying out their familiars' names, commanding them to battle.

"Tyche!"

"Ekchuah!"

Wind and lightning criss crossed through the tunnel, the two Personas dancing around casting spell after spell and mowing down the enemy numbers. It was like a hurricane of destruction, with Twilight and Wayfarer at its eye. The floor began to flood with the Shadow's goopy remains as they were whittled down. Ekchuah used the now slick surface to slide back and forth, swatting the remaining Shadows with his spear or occasionally a fierce backhand whenever they foolishly tried to flank him. Tyche, using the slight conduciveness of the substance, arced electricity across the floor, zapping several Shadows at once. Soon all that was left were a few larger creatures that seemed far more resistant that the small fry. But any intimidation factor the stragglers might have had meant nothing to Twilight and Wayfarer. Smirking confidently, the two of them, moving in sync, stepped forward and shouted in unison.

"PERSONA!"

Ekchuah and Tyche, mimicking their summoners' movements, raised their weapons and raised up a powerful maelstrom. Wind and thunder roared through the tunnel like a cyclone, the shadows were torn apart by claw-like blasts of air and incinerated by electrical talons that grabbed hold of them. The gale carried their charred and bisected remains into the air and blasted them into the darkness. The thunder echoed back at the two ponies, and then, silence.

After a moment of tensely held breath, Wayfarer and Twilight sighed. Then they started to pant and giggle, looking at each other with utmost amusement as they tried to recover from a lack of oxygen. They didn't realize it at the time, but both of them were so focussed on not dying that they barely had time to breath during the entire scuffle. Now as air filled their lungs, they both could barely restrain themselves, before the sound of Applejack calling for them brought the two back to their senses.

"You two have ten seconds to get your flanks up here and explain what in Tartarus that was all about, or I'm coming in there and bucking the answer out of you!"

"Cat's out of the bag," Twilight said sadly, though still with a smile on her face. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"I think we might have destroyed the rope with all that magic we were swinging around," Wayfarer pointed out, not being able to find the vines he'd swung in on. "Hold on, I've got an idea. Quetzalcoatl!"

Ekchuah, in a flash of light, shifted into the shape of a winged serpent. Twilight allowed Tyche to disappear as she and Wayfarer climbed on top of Quetzalcoatl. The snake then used the claw like tips on the joints of its wings to climb the walls back into the crevasse. Twilight and Wayfarer held tight to the Persona's scaled hide, so as not to fall or graze their heads against the opposite wall. Unfortunately, Wayfarer didn't take into account the reactions of the others to a giant snake crawling out of the ground their friends had fallen into. Rarity's scream when Quetzalcoatl's head rose into view could be heard for miles around.

"What in the name of Celestia?!" Applejack swore.

"Girls!" Twilight called trying to reassure her friends as she and Wayfarer came into view. "It's alright, it's just us."

Rarity and Fluttershy weren't listening thought. Rarity had fainted and was now being fanned by Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy was currently bawling into Rainbow Dash's side as the later patted her on the head. Only Applejack and Spike's attention were on the two as they dismounted the serpent. Applejack's mouth was wide open in disbelief, and it nearly fell completely off when Wayfarer allowed the snake to disappear.

Spike stared at Wayfarer for a few moments before shaking his head violently, as if trying to dislodge whatever was making him hallucinate, then he walked over to Pinkie and Rarity to see if he could help, leaving Applejack to fumble her words about.

"I... What was... when did you..." The farm pony stuttered as she tried to collect her thoughts.

"You all wanted to know what's been going on?" Twilight asked. Applejack blinked in surprise, Fluttershy pulled a teary eye away from Rainbow, and Rarity seemed to instantly revive herself. "Come on, we can talk on the way."

Chapter 24: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 5)

"Ah... Don't know what to say," Applejack admitted as Twilight's story came to a close. They'd walked a fair distance since they left the crevasse, but time had almost flown by unchecked as the princess spun her tale of monsters and familiars. "This is a lot to take in ah reckon."

"That's putting it mildly, darling," Rarity said, her face creased in thought.

Twilight, with some interjections from Wayfarer, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, had told Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Spike absolutely everything that had happened since their fateful trip to the castle during the Starfall Festival. Pinkie and Dash had actually remained relatively quiet, especially during the parts concerning their Shadow selves. Had the others not been so enraptured by Twilight's account, they probably would have rushed them with questions and reassuring words, if their sideways glances to them were anything to go by.

Twilight had even given a slightly abridged version of the story Celestia had told them about the original Arcana, filling in the blanks of her earlier explanation of The Beast. She also went into greater detail about the visions she'd received from Zecora's magic potion, making mention to Discord and Nightmare Moon's comments about the aftermath of the Arcana's downfall.

"B-but I don't understand," Fluttershy whimpered. "Why couldn't you tell us any of this?"

"Celestia didn't want anyone else to know," Twilight said. "It wasn't exactly a happy time period in Equestria's history, she even admitted to - ugh - burning records of those days before Luna's fall to try and cover up what the Arcana had done. That's why we only seem to ever hear about threats like Sombra or Discord after they come back from their imprisonment. What's more, telling people that there's a giant soul eating monster right under our hooves would have caused a panic, and Celestia thought that if we could avoid that and just take care of the problem on our own, it'd be worth keeping it a secret. She... also made the point that if any of you found out, you'd put yourselves in danger trying to help me."

"But we should have!" Fluttershy responded, putting a bit of distraught anger into her normally calm voice. "We're your friends! No matter what, we can and will help you!"

"No you can't!" Twilight yelled, stopping in her tracks before looking embarrassed at her outburst and quietly explaining. "These Shadows, they aren't like anything we've ever faced. They're immune to our magic, and come in such huge numbers that conventional combat would be ineffective at best. Without a Persona, you'd be defenseless."

"Alright fine," Applejack huffed as they started to walk again. "Then we get our own Personas first and then we help you out. We're not letting you go through this without the help of all your friends, Twilight. Didn't you say before we came into the forest that you could count on us? That we were all in this together?"

"I know, Aj, but getting a Persona just isn't that simple!"

"Who says it ain't?" From what I gathered, we just gotta go into the castle and face an evil version of ourselves. We've faced plenty worse than that! Heck, Discord even warped our minds to be the opposite of what our Elements represented, you can't tell me that's worse than looking in a mirror."

"Trust me AJ, it is," Rainbow Dash said, surprising everyone. Her face looked downtrodden and fearful, and Applejack stared at her for a moment before chuckling.

"C'mon RD," she said. "I'm sure whatever you saw wasn't that bad."

"I almost got Celestia and Wayfarer killed! All because I was too short sighted to look at myself and admit how screwed up I was!"

"But that wasn't you though, right? It was just some monster wearing your face and spout'n nonsense!"

"No Applejack," Twilight said. "These Shadows are us. They come from inside us, they're like the little voice in the back of your mind that says things you don't want to hear, the things you push away and hide from yourself and others. Imagine the thing you like least about yourself given physical form, your form, then imagine it pushing all of those little doubts and negative opinions of yourself to the surface, laughing about it the whole time, until it finally kills you with your own self denial. That's what you're asking us to let you face, and I'm sorry Applejack, but I can't let you do that to yourself."

Applejack, unable to look Twilight in the eye now, just glared at the ground in front of her, watching her front hooves come in and out of view as she muttered. "Ain't noth'n like that go'n on in my head. I think I know myself pretty darn well."

"Do you?" Fluttershy asked, catching everyone's attention. "If Pinkie, Rainbow, and Twilight were unsure enough about themselves to be in danger, what chance do we have?"

"Darling," Rarity said in disbelief. "Are you actually saying we shouldn't try and help them?"

"N-no! I'm just saying, that Twilight has a point. And I... I'd rather not know what horrible things I have to say about myself."

Rarity and Applejack looked at each other, for a moment they looked determined to keep arguing, but then something clicked and suddenly they didn't look so sure of themselves anymore.

"Well," Applejack said, going back to staring at the ground in front of her, focussing on putting one hoof in front of the other before looking back up and nodding her head over to the group's lone stallion. "What about Wayfarer? You didn't say anything about his Shadow."

"I didn't have one," Wayfarer said. "My Persona just... came to me."

"Now if that ain't a massive convenience," Applejack said, looking rather disbelieving.

"I'm not going to pretend that doesn't confuse the hay out of me too," Wayfarer said. "I remember hearing a voice telling me to call out to them, and suddenly I'm commanding around a twenty foot tall bipedal thing with a spear and wind powers. Near as I can figure out, this power was just... given to me."

"Uh huh," Applejack said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't know what's worse, the idea that you might be lying and you've had all of us played for fools since day one, or that you're telling the truth and you've got someone playing favourites. Either way, this doesn't really inspire a whole lot of trust with you Wayfarer."

"Applejack," Twilight bemoaned.

"If it makes you feel any better, Applejack," Wayfarer said. "Celestia didn't really trust me either at first." Applejack's eyebrow raised a little more at that, and Twilight just looked confused.

"How do you figure that?" Twilight asked.

"She told you to lock me up the night I got my Persona, remember? When she came the next morning she looked at me like she thought I was going to attack her at any moment."

Twilight, remembering back to that day, pursed her lips and nodded. Applejack, looking at the two in turn, also pursed her lips in thought.

"But she trusts you now?" The farm mare asked unsurely.

"I think saving Twilight from her Shadow and the little talks we've been having since then have put me in a better light then whatever one I was in when we first met." Wayfarer paused for a moment, then added, "I'm not angry about any mistrust she might have had. I was a complete stranger with powers that she hadn't seen since, well, the times when Equestria was at its darkest."

"Well," Rarity said, walking up close to Wayfarer and matching his stride. "I say that your actions since coming to Ponyville have been nothing short of commendable. Not only are you quite the gentlecolt to everyone from Twilight to Cheerilee, to the school children, to even that rogue Discord, it seems that you are also very brave. The way you leapt into that chasm with complete disregard for your own safety, and it wasn't even your first time doing so?" She smiled, lifting her chin up and continuing with all the dramatic flourish of a professional storyteller. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were one of Celestia's knights, sent to help slay evil wherever it goes, whilst still making time to provide and care for the ponies under your charge!"

"A knight?" Wayfarer scoffed. "Me? Rarity, I think you've had your nose pressed into too many romance novels."

"I don't know," Rainbow Dash said, snickering as she came up on Wayfarer's other side and prodding him with a hoof. "Couple months of boot camp and you wouldn't look out of place with the royal guards. Though to be fair," she added, her laughter getting louder. "You'd probably wipe the floor with most of them."

"Rainbow Dash," Rarity said in mock offence. "Are you speaking ill of Canterlot's noble defenders?"

"Maybe a little," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "I mean, how many times have we had to save the day while they were getting knocked on their butts?" She then looked over her shoulder and grinned at Twilight. "Even Shining Armor is 0 for 2 in that regard."

"Oh ha-ha," Twilight sneered at the two as they started to giggle. "We can discuss Wayfarer's impending knighthood later, we're here."

The tree line had at long last broken. They were now standing on the edge of a large gorge, across which stood the ruins of an ancient castle, which Wayfarer assumed was the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. The group stared in awe at the castle, some out of nostalgia, others out of fear. After a moment, their attention trailed elsewhere, searching for the tree that Twilight had described.

"Any idea where we should start look'n?" Applejack asked, looking to Twilight for guidance.

"It's going to be underground," Twilight said, peering into the gorge. "The princesses were in a cave or something when they found the Elements."

"Well if I were a betting mare," Rarity said, pointing to a spot in the corner of the gorge where the fog was starting to lift. "I'd say it's where all those vines are leading into."

Following her hoof, the others saw that, indeed, there was a large hole in the wall of the gorge, at the very bottom, where dozens of thick vines were growing out of.

"H-how are we supposed to get down there?" Fluttershy asked.

The sound of several thuds and grunts of pain reached their ears, drawing their attention to the sight of Pinkie Pie tumbling down a flight of stairs that were carved into the rock face. Her fall continued for a good ten seconds before she finally came to rest at the bottom. She looked up at them with a wide grin, waving at them to follow.

"Take the stairs, silly!"

Rolling their eyes, the rest of them followed, albeit in a much more controlled descent. When they reached the bottom, they cautiously headed for the cave entrance, eyeing the vines around it as if they'd reach out and ensnare of them at any moment. At the mouth of the cave, they paused, a chill running down their spines. With a nervous gulp, Twilight stepped over the threshold and led the way in. She recognized the shape of the passage from her vision, though the light seemed a lot more dim than before. As they rounded the corner, they saw it: the Tree of Harmony. The massive magical tree was only a shell of its former glory now, its glow had all but extinguished, its luster had faded, and its limbs were wrapped up tightly with vines. The vines were visibly tightening and slivering around it, as if they were strangling the neck of an elderly pony. Several mares in the group made despairing moans as they beheld the decay and corruption, Fluttershy in particular looking very distraught.

"It's dying," she said quietly.

"And you've arrived not a moment too soon to save it," came a voice from the base of the tree.

Everyone looked down and gasped at the cloaked figure as it rose from its seat before the tree. It turned around to face them, its black cover never failing to hide every inch of the pony, save for its white horn, sticking out from behind a mask. The horn reminded Wayfarer of Celestia, but while the tone of Celestia's coat and horn gave off a sense of purity, this figure's horn was like a petrified tree branch; dead and lifeless, its colour drained away by time or disease. The mask was also white, with the upper left corner painted a contrasting black. The dividing line between the two tones crossed over the left eye, or rather, where the left eye would be if it was there. The only features of the mask were a slit for the right eye, and another over the mouth that curved upward in a smile. The figure itself was huge, as big as Celestia if not bigger, and it moved with the same fluidity and grace as the Solar Monarch.

"Welcome young ones," the figure said politely. "I've been expecting you." The voice was rather odd, the tone was both light and deep, as if it were both ageless and yet so very young. Wayfarer couldn't tell if it was male or female, it could have been either.

"Who- who are you?" Twilight demanded as the figure stepped forward. The figure paused however, seemingly contemplating the answer before speaking.

"I am the first, and the last. I am he who bares a thousand names, she who wears a thousand faces. I am what's left, maybe even all that ever was. I am the Dark Mother's Herald, and I am here to speak for her." The figure bowed low to its assembled audience, keeping its head low to the ground for a few seconds before looking up and laughing mirthfully at their confused faces. "I assume you were looking for something less flowery? A simple word that you could refer to me as?"

"Th- that'd be nice," Fluttershy said before flinching back when the figure looked at her.

"Well, as I said, I go by many names. Most would be gibberish, or at the very least meaningless to you. The names I bare with any recognizable meaning would, sad to say, be far too telling to those meddlesome sisters and that foolish draconequus. I will be holding onto those names for now, lest I spoil the big mystery too soon." The figure started to pace in though, Twilight and the others watching it carefully, if not with a degree of bewilderment.

"I suppose I'll just have to come up with a new name," the figure laughed, before standing up straight with an air of professionalism and reintroducing itself. "As Herald of the Dark Mother and Speaker of her desires, I choose the name of 'Hunger,' after my mother's most, hehehe, defining characteristic." 'Hunger' bowed again, still chuckling under its breath as it did so.

"This guy's loco in the coco," Pinkie Pie whispered to her friends. "And coming from me, that is saying something." The others nodded as Hunger rose back up again.

"This, 'Mother,'" Wayfarer started. "Are you referring to 'The Beast?' The monster that Celestia and Luna defeated over a thousand years ago?"

"I would never use such vulgar terms for our dear mother," Hunger replied. "She is no monster, merely the means by which we are all liberated from this world."

"Liberated?" Twilight scoffed in disgust. "What sort of backwards thinking is that? How does killing people equate to liberating them?"

"Because, my dear, this world is a prison." Hunger's voice seemed to lose some of its peacefulness, slipping into ill-restrained anger. "We're all trapped behind mortal bars for all our lives and we never really noticed it. But I've seen the outside of our cage, and it's far more appealing than your Equestria. After she's been revitalized and properly fed, the Dark Mother will lead us there, freeing us from this prison!"

"Okay, loco in the coco might not be accurate," Pinkie whispered, even though no one was really listening now. "Insane might be a better way to put it."

"Is that what you're doing here?" Twilight asked, her anger starting to flare. "Messing with the Tree of Harmony to free your 'Mother?'"

Hunger lifted hoof to its chest in mock indignation. "Moi? My dear Princess, I assure you, while I may loathe this tree and all that it stands for, I have done no harm whatsoever to it."

"Yeah, sure," Rainbow Dash scoffed. "You're not the first one to claim innocence today, and I'm not buying it."

"I'm assuming you refer to Discord? How could you possibly trust that bumbling coward over me?"

"I wouldn't trust either of you as far as I could throw you!" Dash shouted in response.

"Well I trust him," Fluttershy spoke up. "And I say, I don't believe he'd do this. Not after all the progress he's made."

"How ingenuous of you," Hunger said flatly. "Your trust is misplaced, but that is neither here nor there. You're intentions are to 'fix' the Tree of Harmony, correct?"

"Yeah, Applejack said, stepping forward and hoofing at the ground like she was about to charge. "And you ain't going to stop us."

"Well of course I'm not!" Hunger said. "I have no intention of stopping you, I want this nonsense done and over with so that my subordinates and I can continue with our mission."

"You want us to fix the tree?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Well, 'fix' isn't the right word. The Tree itself is perfectly fine, it's been doing its job of sealing my Mother and controlling the forest quite well." Hunger turned to look at the tree, glaring at the vines that covered it. "But these vines are a parasite, throttling the life from both the Tree and the Dark Mother. If left alone, both will be dead before the next new moon, and all of my plans will be left to rot, undone by your inaction.

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise as she started to put the pieces together. "You want us to help you save the creature threatening all of Equestria?"

"It's not like you wouldn't get anything out of helping her as well," Hunger laughed. "You'd be giving Equestria more time before Mother and I free it. Could be months, could be centuries again. But these vines are destroying Equestria now. They have all of us, you, me, even your beloved princesses by the neck."

"So we stop them now," Twilight elaborated, scowling at Hunger. "And we can save Equestria and the Princesses, but also give you and the Beast time to recover and try again. Or we can wait and let the vines kill the Beast... as well as maybe even the Princesses and Equestria."

"Very astute of you, Princess Sparkle!" Hunger congratulated. "So now you have a most divisive choice to make: Death by the Mother's hands, or by the Vine's coils."

"Doesn't seem like much of a choice to me," Applejack boasted. "I don't believe for a moment that this Beast or Mother or whatever you call it can't be beaten by a rainbow of friendship or two. I say we fix the tree and then show this shifty schemer who's boss!"

Hunger howled with mirth at this declaration. "Oh the ignorance!" It laughed. "You won't be shooting rainbows at all once you've returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony!"

"E-excuse me?" Twilight stuttered.

"Oh come now, how were you expecting to save the tree? The vines are too widespread to do anything less than give back to the tree what Celestia and Luna stole from it."

"B-but we need the Elements!" Twilight cried. "They're the only defence Equestria has right now! If Discord goes rogue again, or if the Beast manages to rise again,"

"Then there will be nothing to save you," Hunger said with a delighted sneer. "But that's just it isn't it? You're fighting against the inevitable, against Equestria's destiny. Whether it be you or your decedents, someone will have to face the Mother, without the Harmonious Magic protecting them. I suppose fighting impossible odds is nothing new for you, but I'm afraid you won't be able to just 'friend' the problem away this time."

Twilight was frozen in place. She and her friends were facing an almost impossible decision, trapped between unfavorable outcomes on both sides. She wondered briefly if this was how Celestia felt all those times she was forced to banish friends, family, and former allies for the sake of Equestria. This was unfair, and Hunger knew it. Twilight could almost see through the hooded figure's mask, a face filled with mocking laughter staring right back. Twilight turned to look at her friends and saw that their expressions mirrored her feelings.

"B-but we can't!" Rarity said. "The Elements have been protecting Equestria before even us! We can't just give them back!"

"What about the vines!" Applejack interjected. "How much of Equestria will we lose if we just let them grow all over! They've already taken Ponyville, and we don't have any idea how long it'll take before this 'Dark Mother' is gone and it's safe to put the elements back!"

"How will we even be able to get back here in the first place?!" Rainbow Dash wailed, starting to panic. "We can't stay out here for weeks! And if we leave, we'll have to travel an entire countryside of forest just to get back!"

"But how are we going to stop the Beast without the Elements?" Fluttershy asked, tear starting to flow from her eyes. "And I don't want that responsibility to fall to my foals or grandfoals if it comes back after we're gone!"

"Forget the Beast," Spike added. "How are we going to keep Discord under control without the Elements? Who's to say he won't turn on us the moment we walk into Ponyville without them?"

"Did anyone forget the Princesses?" Pinkie Pie shouted. "They could be anywhere! They could be starving or lonely! And no pony should have to go through that for weeks!"

Every eye then turned to Wayfarer and Twilight, neither of which had spoken a word. Twilight hesitated in silence for a moment before looking to Wayfarer.

"What do you think?" she asked solemnly.

Wayfarer's thoughts immediately went to Ponyville. All those ponies who he'd come to call friends would lose their homes if they waited, to say nothing of the Princesses, who could be in mortal peril right now as they debated. All of Equestria would erupt into chaos if the vines reached Canterlot or any other big city, and without the Princesses there'd be no one to lead them through it. There was always Twilight, and while Wayfarer had faith in her as a leader, he had proof that the nobility was unlikely to follow her, and the last thing an Equestria in chaos needed was its most powerful citizens squabbling over a leader. They needed Celestia and Luna back, and he needed to protect his friends. Losing the Elements was the only sticking point, without them they would need to find another means of stopping the Beast should it rise to the surface.

"We don't have a choice," he rasped, then licked his lips. "Give the Elements back."

No one, not even the ones vouching for this path, looked happy about his decision. Twilight sighed and then sparked her magic, pulling her tiara from her head. Slowly, she focussed the magic on the starburst gemstone and pulled it free from the head piece. She then went to each of her friends and pulled the Elements out of their necklaces. Applejack took a moment to caress her gem before Twilight claimed it.

"I know this is what needs to happen," She said. "But that don't mean it feels right. The Elements are what brought us together, they're a symbol of our friendship. Giving them up like this, it feels like we're giving up a part of ourselves."

Twilight looked into Applejack's eyes for a brief moment before she pulled her into a tight embrace, which was swiftly joined by the other four ex-Element bearers.

"They're just a bunch of shiny rocks," Twilight said, barely audible from the center of their group hug. "I think the bonds we share are symbol enough of our friendship."

The five let go of Twilight and allowed her to turn around and walk towards the Tree of Harmony. Hunger was still standing there, eyeing the lot of them. Twilight put on a defiant face and stood as tall as she could before the cloaked pony.

"Don't think for an instant that this means you've won," Twilight said. "We'll find a way to stop you, together. That's all the magic we'll ever need, and it's a magic you'll never understand."

"Believe me Princess," Hunger said. "I understand it a lot better than you give me credit for. I've made the mistake of underestimating the power of bonds before, and it won't happen again." Hunger bowed once more before a circle of black fire erupted around it. "It was nice meeting you, Princess, I look forward to our next encounter." And with that, the cloaked figure vanished.

With nothing else standing between her and the tree, Twilight took a few tentative flaps of her wings and rose into the air, until she was level with the centerpiece of the tree. The Elements rotated around her once before flying off to the ends of the five branches. Looking back at her friends, Twilight waited while they all smiled and nodded to her, then took a deep breath and laid the gems back into the tree.

As the tree began to glow brighter, the vines loosened their grip and an aura of light began to envelop them. Then they started to disintegrate, specks of light were all that remained as the tree was finally released. Light traveled down the vines, until it reached two brambles that had been tucked into the corners of the cave. The tangles of vines were torn apart, and at their centers lay Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

"Celestia! Luna!" Twilight cried with joy, turning her attention away from the Tree of Harmony. Her happiness slowly evaporated however, when Celestia looked up at her, not with relief at being free, but with complete and unabashed horror.

"Run." Celestia said, just barely loud enough for Twilight to hear.

Twilight gasped, the earth was shaking again, sending loose chunks of rock falling from the ceiling, forcing her to dive and dodge away. She caught sight of the tree and watched in terror as the sky blue gems turned jet black. The darkness grew upwards through the trunk, then along the branches till it reached the Elements.

"RUN!" Celestia shouted, putting whatever energy she could into getting off the floor and away from the tree.

Twilight tore her eyes from the tree long enough to turn away and make a beeline to her friends. Celestia and Luna hobbled away just fast enough before the ground in front of the tree fractured. When they reached the rest of the group, they started to use their wings to try and push them out of the cave. But everyone's focus was stuck on the tree now, and they froze as the Elements were forcefully ejected and ensnared by mire like tendrils of darkness.

"I-I don't understand!" Twilight cried out. "Wha-what's happening!?"

"The Beast is rising!" Luna shouted. "We must leave this place, now!"

"B-but... I thought I... Oh what have I done!"

"Twilight," Celestia said, staring sternly into the young alicorn's eyes. "This is not your fault! Don't believe it is for even a moment! Now please! We need to go!"

The shaking of the ground made it hard to walk, but they all began moving as fast as they could towards the exit. But before they could go far, the ceiling began to crack and shatter, sending boulders the size of small houses down in front of them, blocking their escape. Celestia and Luna's horns sputtered as they tried to lift or blast the debris out of the way, but nothing more than a few sparks of magic could be summoned up. Seeing this, Rarity and Twilight lit up their own horns to try and help, but a sudden cry from Spike made everyone turn around. More mirelike tendrils and miasma were rising from the crevasse, first six, then a dozen, then three dozen. A few of them coalesced into one that then split at the end into five spindly appendages, before crashing to the ground in the shape of a massive claw. The same thing happened again at the other side of the crevasse, two massive arms now twitching on the ground as they tried to claw whatever was in the pit up into the cave with them.

Then the head started to appear, the remaining tendrils flailing out behind it like hair. As more of it rose, Wayfarer realized with no small degree of disgust that the head looked like the skull of a pony, with all the skin and muscle torn away. The miasma covering the skull oozed and dripped, just like whatever substance the Shadows were made of before they took their true forms. The teeth were less like pony's teeth and more like that of a dragon's, sharp and made for tearing things apart. The slime like substance in the Beast's mouth had solidified into a tongue-like appendage that flailed about on its own, seeking to grab at something, anything, to pull inside. The eye sockets looked completely empty, until a yellowish glow grew within them and flittered about until it locked onto the ponies currently cowering beside a pile of rubble blocking the exit. With a hiss, an unearthly voice filled the cave, though the jaws of the creature did not move.

"So... Hungry... So... Alone... Too... long... My children... Where are my children!?!?"

The last words were practically screamed into their ears as the Beast tried to pull itself up right, only to collapse to the ground again. After a moment, one of the clawed limbs reached outward, inching closer to the ponies before falling much too short of them to be of any harm.

"It-it's unstable..." Celestia said, a smidgen of hope making its way into her voice. "It must have torn itself apart just trying to get out before the Elements reasserted themselves over it!"

"Is- is it dying?" Fluttershy whimpered, her bulging eyes still staring at the Beast as its head rose up and its eyes glared right at them with hunger and hatred.

"No," Celestia said, her voice finding the commanding air it always had during the endeavors below Ponyville Castle. "Right now it's doing everything it can to rebuild itself, but it is vulnerable!" She rounded about to look at Twilight and Wayfarer. "If we attack now, we might be able to force it back into the earth!"

Twilight and Wayfarer, at first terrified and immobile, suddenly found the nerve to stand up straight and nod. The Beast was rearing up, using its arms as support, its head nearly touching the top of the cave. It looked down at them, seemingly ready to try and grab at them again. But Celestia, Twilight, and Wayfarer were ready as well, they stepped forward, with fear and courage warring in their hearts. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, glancing at each other for confirmation that the other was willing to join them, nodded and placed themselves on either side of the other three.

"Wait!" Rarity cried out. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Luna," Celestia said calmly. "Keep them back."

Luna nodded and fanned out her wings, herding the other three ponies and dragon as far from the oncoming fight as possible. The five left staring up at the Beast took one more deep breath, then called forth what was within.

"PERSONA!"

Chapter 25: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Part 6)

"Miss Miseria?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you look so sad all the time?"

I look down at the little colt. Head full of questions, eyes reflecting my own despair. Consider lying to him, telling him about exhaustion, day to day workings of running a home for orphaned foals. Small part of bigger picture, ignoring bigger misfortune I'm doomed to live with. I stay silent. Colt still staring up at me. Wish he'd just go and play. Thinking on it, I realize he shouldn't even be here.

"I thought you had lessons with Clover the Clever today, little one," I say, unconvincingly dodging the question with my own. "What are you doing here?"

Colt looks even more disappointed. Find myself wanting to send him away, but then he responds.

"Archmage Clover sent me home," Colt says. "She wanted to spend more time with her old mentor."

Starswirl the Bearded. Former Archmage. Retired. Got old way too fast for his own good.

"Why don't you go play with the others, okay?" I say to the colt.

The colt looks upset at this. Wants to talk about my problems. Adorable, almost heartwarming for a foal that age to worry. Not his problems though. He'll grow up and find someone special. Someone who he can have his own foals with. He's lucky. He's not broken. He's not me. My problems, not his.

He hesitates, but obeys my request to go be with the other children. My Children. No, not my children. Care for, but not mine. Too broken, too alone, to have my own.

Stallion enters, led by one of my employees. Says he's here to see me. I look over him, wears a black cloak and a mask shaped like a butterfly. Says he has a gift for me. Liar. Not a gift, it's a curse. I hate him, or I will hate him. Wished he'd gone away. Wished he'd never come back. Wished I'd never accepted his gift.

~~~~~

Andraste's sword cleaved through the half dozen tentacles of darkness that had Ekchuah in their grasp, separating the spear wielding Persona away from the Beast and bringing Wayfarer back to his senses.

"What the hay?" Wayfarer murmured after a few moments of rapid eye blinking.

The initial charge hadn't gone too well. Tyche and Laetitia had electrocuted and shot the Beast's arms, causing them to flinch back and gave Ekchuah and Andraste a chance to strike at its chest. Their blow had caused the Beast some pain, but it had also almost gotten them stuck as they strained to pull their weapons out of the liquid skin. They managed to get free just as the Beast's hands reached down to grab at them, but as they dodged around to attack its side, tendrils had burst out of its skin, shooting outwards and ensnaring Ekchuah. Some sort of energy surged out from the Beast and caused Ekchuah to start spasming. Wayfarer had suddenly found himself unable to move as his vision dimmed and his eyes glazed over. Flashes of places and ponies he didn't know were injected into his mind, and what felt like minutes turned out to be a very brief yet painful five seconds.

"Wayfarer!" Rainbow Dash shouted as he held his head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "You alright?"

"I'm fine!" He shouted back, whilst commanding Ekchuah to put some distance between himself and those tendrils. "Just don't let it touch you!"

"No arguments there!"

The Beast raised its left hand and everyone braced for it to drop and try to claw at them again. However, instead of making a downward swipe at them, the entire arm started to crackle with electricity. Twilight, realizing what was about to happen, placed Tyche in front of them just as a bolt of lightning arched right at them. Tyche's arms rose up, and rebounded the arc away, then wound up and tossed her chakram through the air. The bladed wheel spun about until it sliced clean through the wrist of the beast's raised arm. The Beast howled in pain and the arm fell to the ground.

"Wayfarer! Rainbow Dash!" Celestia yelled as beams of light radiated out of Gnowee's staff and marked several key spots along the fallen limb. "Attack here!"

"Right!" The two of them yelled.

Andraste and Ekchuah, criss crossing over the arm as they dashed past each other, sliced over the spots that Gnowee was indicating. The arm exploded apart at the wrist, elbow, and upper arm, then the rest of it simply melted away, back into the pit.

"Yippee!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up and down a few times in celebration. Then the Beast's shoulder grew dozens of tendrils that began reforming its lost arm. "Aww, rats."

Laetitia brought her crossbow up and started firing at the stump of regrowing arm, Bolts of fire and steel tore through the black flesh to no avail as the tendrils wove together. Ekchuah tried firing wind spells at the other arm, either to make it drop so he and Andraste could repeat the process, or at the very least distract the Beast from the process of regenerating. Unfortunately, the Beast seemed to pay no heed to his efforts as the wind sheared off and the regrowing arm made it all the way to the elbow before he gave up.

"Ughh! This isn't working!" Wayfarer groaned loudly. "Change!"

Principality, the angle-like Persona that wore a blue and green toga and carried a staff, took Ekchuah's place. Raising its staff into the air, Principality prepared an attack. A circlet of light appeared under the beast's left arm, and then three massive spell sheets rose up to surround it. Principality slammed its staff down, signaling the spell to activate. At first, it seemed to work, the tags exploded and a beam of intense light seared through the Beast's arm. However, when Wayfarer changed his Persona back to Ekchuah, and he and Andraste went to go and slice off that arm as well, the now healed right arm swung about and collided with both Personas, sending them flying into the cave wall. Wayfarer and Rainbow Dash nearly collapsed to the ground as the pain transferred to them, but they rose up and stood their ground, commanding their Personas to do the same.

Celestia, now sweating slightly as their efforts were thwarted, turned to Gnowee. Gnowee’s staff once more radiated light over the Beast's form, like a searchlight, trying to find some sort of weak spot. But there was nothing, no elemental forces it was weak to, and no areas they could attack that would send the whole thing back into the crevasse.

"Celestia," Twilight whimpered as the two turned to look at each other. "Please tell me you have a plan or something?"

"I- I don't know!" Celestia said, Gnowee's searchlight darting all over the place. "We don't have the strength or numbers to force it back ourselves, even in its weakened state! And we don't have the Elements to--" Celestia froze, she looked past the Beast and saw that the Elements were still suspended in front of the Tree of Harmony, kept from returning by the Beast's tendrils. Celestia smiled as a glimmer of hope rekindled in her eyes. "Or maybe we do."

"Celestia?"

"The Elements!" Celestia shouted at the other four. "Destroy the strands of darkness keeping them out of the tree! If I'm right, the Elements can still revitalize the Tree of Harmony, the curse will reassert itself and drag the Beast back into the earth!"

With a plan that only sounded half crazy, the four nodded and set their Personas up in a formation akin to their initial attack. Laetitia and Tyche shot fire and lightning low at the Beast's sides, causing it to double over and keep its arms low. Andraste and Ekchuah ran forward and leapt as high as they could, kicking off the walls and ceiling and landing right behind the beast. Andraste leapt at the Element of Loyalty, swinging her massive sword around and repeatedly slicing up the tendril holding it back. The tendril fought back, trying to twist about and entangle the assaulting swordswoman. But Andraste was too quick, and after much of the coiling limb was cut away, she stabbed her sword into the socket. Pulling away from the tree branch, the Element was finally able to settle inside and, with a flash of light, returned its portion of the tree to its original blue colouration.

Ekchuah had followed suit, spinning his spear around like a pinwheel as he jumped directly into the tendril. The spear shredded the tendril apart, pieces flying every which way before disintegrating. The Element of Honesty then found its place in the tree, erasing more of the darkness that had afflicted it.

The Beast, realizing what was happening, roared out and attempted to turn about and attack Andraste and Ekchuah. The two Personas leapt away from the Beast's flailing arms and tendrils. The Beast followed the two around the cave, shooting its tendrils out at them as they ran across the walls,barely missing them and embedding deep into the rock. Meanwhile, Laetitia and Tyche ducked under the Beast's arms, leapt over the crevasse, and picked up where the other two had left off.

Latitia wasted no time bringing her crossbow to bear and unleashing a torrent of flame on the tendril holding onto the Element of Laughter. The coil could put up no sort of resistance as Latitia grabbed the Element and slam-dunked it right through the ashen remains of the tendril and into the branch. Tyche didn't even bother with preparing any sort of attack before jumping to the branch and grabbing the tendril, sending thousands of volts into it. The cord was atomized almost instantly, and the Element of Generosity was free to reattach itself to the tree.

With four Elements secured, the Beast began to thrash about even more violently than before, putting everyone in danger despite Luna's best efforts to keep the noncombatants safe and those on the front line doing all they could to dodge and focus on controlling their Persona's at the same time. Rainbow Dash commanded Andraste back to their side. Andraste dropped her sword and pulled out her mirror-like shield which formed a barrier between everyone and the Beast.

Ekchuah, darting in between tendrils, giant arms, and falling rocks, returned to the tree. Just as he was jumping over the crevasse, more tentacles of darkness shot up from the depths to try and grab him. Before they could do so however, a gout of flame, courtesy of Latitia, burned through all of them. Latitia continued to use her crossbow flamethrower to incinerate any more tendrils that came near, giving Ekchuah and Tyche a chance to finish the job.

Ekchuah unleashed a sharpened gale of wind to slice up the cord holding the Element of Kindness, and Tyche tossed her chakram into the final one, freeing her summoner's Element of Magic.

"Go back to Tartarus!" Twilight yelled as the final Elements returned to the tree and the last of the darkness was expunged from it. "And take your despicable masked friends with you!"

The Six Elements, now firmly placed in the center of the tree, began radiating an intense light. The beast started howling out in rage as the light spread to the rest of the tree and then into the ground. Tendrils of light instead of darkness rose up from the crevasse, grabbing hold of the beast and wrapping around it like chains. The beast struggled against its binds, but could do nothing more than scream as it was slowly pulled back down into the abyss.

With one last quake of the earth, the crevasse began to close, the last howls of the Beast fading into echoes, until finally, with a resounding crunch, the breach was sealed. A few more rocks tumbled from the walls and ceiling, but soon the cavern was silent and still. The light began to retract back into the tree, leaving no evidence of the crevasse in its wake. Finally all that was left in the cave was a stunned silent group of ponies, and the healthy glow of the Tree of Harmony.

Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence, she jumped into the air and began whooping and hollering in excitement.

"Whooo! Yeah! That was amazing! Did you see the way Andraste just went whoosh! Shwooo! Swinging her sword around like that! And then Latitia with her flamethrower crossbow! And they were running on walls and dodging those weird tentacle things and AHHH! HAHAHA!!"

Pinkie Pie started laughing uproariously alongside Dash, bouncing up to the Pegasus and giving her repeated hoof bumps.

"That was the most spectacular thing I've ever seen!" Spike yelled out as he, Luna, and the others joined the Persona users.

"You did it!" Applejack cried, tackle hugging Twilight with tears in her eyes. "Ah told yall we wouldn't have anything to worry about!"

Fluttershy, in a rare display of unabashed excitement, joined Rainbow Dash in the air and grabbed hold of her hooves. The two giggled and laughed as she spun the both of them around, before Pinkie leapt up and wedged herself between them, dragging them back to earth and landing in a pile of laughter and tears.

Wayfarer was too busy watching everyone else dance about and hug each other to notice Rarity sneak up to his side and take his face in a hoof. Before he could ask what she was doing, she gave a soft kiss on his cheek causing his entire face to light up with a bright red blush.

"Yep," she said, giggling at his reaction. "Definitely knighthood material."

"I second that," Luna said, smirking at Wayfarer before adding. "Of course, we only knight members of the military. We may think about changes, won't we sister?"

"Oh yes, huff," Celestia said with an exhausted smile. "I'd say he's earned some sort of commendation or - oh my, I need a moment."

Celestia fell to her haunches and started taking deep breaths, the sweat on her brow now obvious in the glow of the Tree of Harmony.

Something creaking in the general direction of the tree caught the group's attention. For one heart stopping moment, Wayfarer thought the Beast was ready for round two, but curiosity overtook fear as they saw a large blue flower grew out of the ground just below the tree. With cautious wonder, they approached the flower, just as it was blooming out. Inside the massive blossom was, of all things, a chest, seemingly made of the same material as the Tree of Harmony.

The chest was large and round, big enough in fact that an average adult pony could fit comfortably inside. Around the chest were a number of keyholes, which Luna counted out as she circled the chest.

"One at the top, seven around the middle, and... fourteen under that... Twenty-two in all. Sister, that's-"

"The number of members in the original Arcana," Celestia said.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked. Celestia didn't respond right away, she took the time to walk around the chest for herself, examining it from every angle before sighing.

"Some magical theorists believe that the magics of the world have a degree of sentience, that magic can think and act on its own during miraculous circumstances. Maybe... this is a gift from the Tree of Harmony, from the Harmonious magic, as a way of thanking us. This is most extraordinary indeed."

"Well," Rainbow Dash said. "What do we do with it?"

"Nothing. We don't have the keys to open it, so there's nothing we can do. But I don't think the Tree of Harmony would give us a mysterious locked chest if it didn't think we could find out the secret to opening it. For now though, I feel we've all had a long enough day as it is. It's high time we returned home."

"What about that big cave in?" Applejack pointed out.

"I've got it," Twilight said with a confident smirk. "Should be easy now that we don't have an eldritch shadow monster breathing down our necks."

~~~~~

'Anger' was not a word that Judgement would use to describe itself right now as it stood at its altar in the cloaked ponies sanctuary. Judgement was angry when the Dark Mother tried to eat Twilight Sparkle on her way to the Tree of Harmony, almost ruining their plans entirely. Now though? Anger was too soft a word. Judgement was incensed, enraged, furious beyond belief. The Dark Mother's impatience was like a self destroying prophecy. Rising up to try and free itself in the fraction of a second when the Tree of Harmony was resetting the curse had torn her apart so thoroughly, that it was a miracle she wasn't dead. But now, she might as well be for how much of a wreck she'd become.

"Almighty idiot," Judgement whispered in cold wrath. "That's what she is."

The doors at the other end of the hall barged open, Emperor and Empress walked in followed closely by Death.

"The vines have disappeared," Emperor reported. "There's no sign that they are or ever were a blight on this earth."

"Death filled us in on what happened at the Tree of Harmony," Empress said."'Hunger' is an awful name to go by if you ask me."

Judgment made a noise that was somewhere between a hiss and a growl. Empress and Emperor flinched back, but Death continued forward until it was a low hanging fog around the base of the alter.

"Do not antagonize me right now! All of our efforts in the last decade are about to go up in smoke! All because that addlepated wretch couldn't be patient enough to stay where she was and let us do the work! No, the fool has to go and tear herself apart only to get shoved back into her bottle! And now, there's no guarantee she'll survive long enough for us to bring her out!"

"Excuse me?!" Emperor said, stepping forward. "How dare you speak of her that way! I do not care how powerful that way! I do not care how powerful you think you are, you are the Dark Mother's servant, same as us!"

Judgement made the same growl again, its eyes visibly glowing from behind its mask. Emperor flinched, but did not move backwards again. Seeing this, Judgement took a moment to compose itself, standing up straight and clearing its throat.

"I am no one's servant," Judgement said. "But you are right, I should not let anger cloud my thoughts and temper my words."

Emperor, seemingly satisfied with this response, returned to Empress' side before he spoke again.

"So what do we do now? Surely this setback is not so damaging that continuing on isn't a fruitless option?"

Judgement remained silent for a moment, lost in its own contemplation. Then it cracked open the large tome that sat upon the altar, flipping to a page around a third of the way through. Judgement stared at the page, carefully thinking through its plan. They couldn't afford any more foul ups, they would need to increase the aggressiveness and frequency of their plots in order to provide enough sustenance for the Dark Mother. However, at the same time, they would need to add a massive jolt of power to make up for the time lost. Sighing, Judgement closed the book.

"Much as I am loath to take a page out of my enemies' play book, I may have to resort to a rather dirty trick used against me in the past." Emperor and Empress looked at each other in confusion before Judgement summoned up a circle of black fire around itself. "Continue on as we have been, as if this day did not happen. I will return before the next new moon, hopefully with good news."

"Wait a minute!" Emperor yelled. "Where are you... going?"

But Judgement was already gone. Away from their sanctuary, away from the Everfree Forest, away from Equestria all together.

Chapter 26: A Midsummer Knight's Dream (Finale)

The walk out of Everfree was, thankfully, more uneventful than the walk going in. Everyone was in high spirits, even the five that were suffering through some exhaustion. With the vines gone and the sun and moon back in their proper place, the preparations for tomorrow's celebration could continue, though not without a few temporary repair jobs along the way. While most of the Ponyvillians in the group would have loved to stay and assist with all of that, it was generally agreed amongst them that all ten of them wanted to get on a train and go back to Canterlot with Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Spike.

"You really think that after all of this," Rainbow Dash started to complain, "those snooty tight wads in Canterlot are going to make a fuss if Twilight's not there? Why can't she just celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration here in Ponyville?"

"Unfortunately, most of Canterlot has a hard time accepting the fact that there are other cities and towns out there," Celestia explained, grimacing slightly. "They barely acknowledge the existence of Ponyville, and I assume that has something to do with Twilight and her castle."

"But that's why it's important for Twilight Sparkle to be there and be seen," Luna added. "Hopefully when the elite of Canterlot finally accept her as royalty, they might take a more vested interest in Ponyville."

"So... politics?" Twilight asked with a rather tired and disgusted air.

"Scoff if you must Twilight," Luna continued. "But when Ponyville becomes a center of cultural development and growth, I imagine you'll be thankful for the political sway a visit or two like this to Canterlot will bring you. Think of it as a chance to get the rich and powerful to actually be responsible for once and invest in you and your neighbors’ home."

"Yes, who wouldn't love more stuck up ponies like the Rich Family living in town," said a bush the group was just making their way past. Like a rapidly growing tree, Discord rose out of the bush with a smug look about him. "We could always do with a few more Diamond Tiaras and Silver Spoons, am I right?"

"Discord," Celestia said, her face slipping from happy to annoyed in barely a fraction of a second. "I don't know whether to be glad or furious that we ran into you here. We need to have a little talk about today's events, because I'm sure you have a lot to say about them."

"Talk about what?" Discord shrugged, then pointed over to Twilight and her friends. "As I told them after they threw some baseless accusations my way earlier today, I haven't made any attempts to cause chaos at all for some time now."

"While that may technically be true," Celestia said, her temper starting to flair. "I know how much you love to dodge the truth when given even the slightest bit of leeway. You could have easily put together something like this a while back. So give me a straight answer to this, Discord." Celestia's eyes had started to redden and her hair was moving around like fire instead of gently swaying in a nonexistent breeze. "The vines, did you plant them? Yes or no."

Discord looked around at everyone's faces, most of them either teetering on the edge of anger or way past that and into full on rage. Fluttershy was looking desperately at him, not wanting to hear an affirmative to Celestia's question. All of them were staring daggers at him in some shape or form however, as if daring him to admit that he'd betrayed their trust in him.

"Yes," he finally said, sighing in defeat. "I planted the Plunder Plant vines."

A sound akin to a tree snapping in half was the only warning Discord got before Twilight teleport tackled him in the chest. The force of the impact forced the air out of his lungs and sent him to the ground. Then Twilight landed right on his ribcage and leaned her head in close to his, showing him her pure white eyes and flailing ethereal hair.

"YOU IDIOT!!" She cried out, her voice echoing around her with intense volume. "You could have told us about this! You could have stopped the vines! We wouldn't have had to give up the Elements if you had! We have nothing now! No way of protecting Equestria if something like you threatens it again! Was this your plan?! Put all of us in danger so you'd never have to be put in stone again?!"

"Woah now, Twilight dear," Discord started as he grabbed Twilight's horn and hoisted her up as he got back to his feet. "If you'll let me explain,"

"Let her go!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she and the others advanced on Discord with murderous intent on their faces.

"Everyone please!" Discord said, holding up his free hand defensively. "If we could all just sit down and talk about this,"

"You were supposed to be our friend!" Fluttershy cried as her tears started to flow freely. "I thought you'd changed!"

"Ha!" Rarity scoffed. "Changed? Nothing's changed! He's still as boorish and self centered as the day we met him! He's been leading us on the whole time!"

"I ain't gonna stand for that nonsense any more!" Applejack said through gritted teeth. "Elements or no Elements, I'm gonna knock that big stupid snaggle toothed grin clean off his face!"

"It was a mistake to let you out of your imprisonment," Celestia growled as cold fury and burning hatred radiated off of her in equal amounts. "If you think I'm going to listen to one more lie from you, then you've got another thousand things com-"

"I SAID SIDDOWN!!" Discord howled, sweeping his now glowing hand around and forcing all of them backwards into a seated position. They tried to rise up again, but their haunches had been glued to the ground by magic. All they could do was glare up at Discord with seething hate as he held them all captive. "I am talking! And you will listen!"

Discord's visage had seemingly changed to match his current level of anger. His hair had spiked upwards, his already sunken in eyes got even darker, the fur around his face and neck became ruffled and unkempt, and his snarling mouth revealed two rows of sharp, dragon like fangs and teeth. No one was willing to glare at him for very long as these changes made the formerly jovial face look absolutely terrifying. After a moment of enraged hyperventilation, Discord took one last deep breath and wiped his hand over his face, changing it back to a more calmed expression. He slowly lowered Twilight to the ground, where she gave him a disgusted look.

"Sit," Discord said calmly to her, gesturing her towards the others before adding, "please."

Twilight, after hesitating for a moment, walked over and sat next to Celestia, before joining her in trying to make Discord's head explode by glaring intently at him. Discord coughed once, ignoring the anger he'd gained from his captive audience, and launched into his explanation.

"Now, as I was saying. Yes, I planted the seeds that grew into the vines. Yes, I very well could have told you that little detail, but that would have lead to you threatening to trap me in stone again if I didn't undo the mess they'd caused. But even if I had told you and you issued an ultimatum to me, I still wouldn't have gotten rid of the vines."

"Is chaos really that important to you than?" Luna asked with a scowl. "You'd rather everyone lose if you can't win?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Discord laughed, his light hearted demeanor returning. "You all are just the happy casualties caught in the crossfire! I only need the Beast to lose if I can't win!" Discord snapped his fingers and a large projector screen appeared next to him. "Since the day that wretch dragged its ugly face out of the earth centuries ago, it's done nothing but cause misery and despair for every living creature. When I do that, it's funny, and doesn't end in the death of thousands and the near extinction of several races. What's the point of chaos if no one's around to witness it? So you can see why I'd be willing to do just about anything to destroy it."

The screen started showing a countdown, like it was from an old time movie, then it showed Celestia and Luna , wearing saddle bags and looking ragged. Twilight recognized the scene from her potion induced vision of the two of them fighting Discord. The footage skipped a bit until it showed the actual battle, focussing on the Persona's leaping around for a moment before panning over to Discord eating from the bag of seeds.

"My original intention for the Plunder Plants," Discord explained, pulling out a pointer and directing their attention to the seeds that were being scattered about. "Was for them to ensnare the Princesses, the Tree of Harmony, and the Beast, should anything happen to me that I hadn't counted on. The vines would drain away all of the Princesses magic and use it to strangle the life out of both the Beast and the Tree."

The film showed several cartoonish depictions of Celestia, Luna, the Tree of Harmony, the beast, and the vines. The vines wrapped up all four of them and then poofed into white clouds, leaving skull and crossbones where the beast and the Tree were, and a very tired looking Celestia and Luna, all the colour having been drained from them.

"All obstacles in the way of taking my place as the undisputed ruler of Equestria would be dealt with in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, there were two things I failed to anticipate: the strength of the tree and how long I'd have to wait before I was set free. My plunder plant seeds should have sprouted a week after I planted them, but it would seem that the Tree of Harmony did its job of controlling the forest a bit too well."

Footage of the seeds trying to sprout under the Tree of Harmony played, some magical force holding them back.

"I imagined it would take maybe a decade or so before I managed to free myself. Even if Celestia and Luna were still in power at that point, the loss of their magic would have made them a cake walk. But instead, I woke up not ten or twenty years later, but over a thousand years later. Worse still, I find out that not only did my seeds not sprout, but the Beast and the Tree of Harmony were still chugging along their merry way. I don't think I need to remind all of you what form my plan of vengeance took after that. I will admit, my little temper tantrum last year might have done more harm than good, I should have immediately started making efforts to permanently kill the Beast. But, instead, I used what little time I had to focus on my lesser enemies. I ignored the rampaging elephant headed straight for us and for that, I am sorry."

"Sorry?!" Rarity indignantly screamed. "You wanted Equestria all to yourself! You warped our minds so that we couldn't use the Elements! You turned all of Ponyville on its head! What gives you the right? If the Beast truly was your intended target this whole time, then why drag everyone else down with it, if not to take Equestria for yourself?"

"One question at a time please!" Discord said, before smirking in a very unamused way towards Celestia and Luna. "Though to be fair, that's a question for your princesses as well." The two ponies in question twitched in unison, as if Discord had struck a rather uncomfortable nerve. "Now where was I? Oh yes, then came your rather generous offer of redemption, my subsequent rehab with Fluttershy, Twilight's accession, blah blah blah. I'd resigned myself to the fact that we were out of time. The Tree of Harmony was on its last limbs, and without Personas or the Princesses' willingness to surrender their magic to me, we really had no way of even trying to stop the Beast. So I decided, better to live in ignorance and enjoy the life you have left, rather than worry about what terrible fate awaits at the end."

"You knew from the onset that the Beast was active again?" Twilight asked. "Why didn't you say anything after the first incident? Wayfarer got his Persona, didn't that prove we still had a chance?"

"Actually, from what I can tell, the Beast has been active for nearly ten years now, But the reason I continued to remain silent even after Wayfarer got his Persona was that I didn't think it mattered. Again, it took over twenty Persona users to defeat the Beast the first time, what good would one or two do against it? No, some part of me thought it was a kindness to keep you ignorant, at least until the status quo changed in your favor. Which brings us to today."

The projector screen showed the Tree of Harmony, without the Elements, shining brightly. Suddenly, the tree's glow flickered and died, and then dozens of vines began sprouting out of the ground and wrapping about the tree.

"I was just as surprised as all of you to find that my plunder plant seeds had finally sprouted, I'd thought they'd withered away long ago. And so I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I knew that eventually someone would point the blame to me, and I'd be expected to fix everything. However, with the Tree of Harmony out of power, simply removing the vines would have given the Beast a red carpet walkway to the surface. I couldn't let that happen, and I had a sneaking suspicion that getting hit with your rainbow special beam cannon might undo it as well. So I did what I do best: I bent the truth. I led Miss Sparkle here into believing that the Curse that created Everfree in the first place was the more likely suspect, encouraging her to seek out the Tree of Harmony and recharge it with the Elements."

"But why didn't you just tell us?" Twilight said. "Why set up this elaborate gambit to trick us when you could have just told us what we needed to do?"

"Because if I admitted to letting the plants grow, indirect kidnaping of the princesses, refused to fix the problem myself, and then told you that the only way to put everything right was to give up the Elements, you wouldn't have believed me. If I got you to figure out on your own what needed to be done, you would have done it in a heartbeat. And I was right wasn't I? So now the vines are gone, the Tree of Harmony is restored, the Princesses are back with us, and best of all," Discord pulled out his stethoscope and started listening to the earth again. "I still can't hear the voice of the Beast, meaning either it's dead or just mostly dead." Tossing the doctor's tool away, Discord rose up and snapped his fingers, releasing everyone from their seats and causing the projector screen to disappear. "As thanks, I expect my face to be printed on special edition thirteen-bit coins."

Everyone was quiet as they stood up again. They all looked at each other with disgruntled faces, Celestia and Luna in particular looked more than a little miffed about the whole situation. None of them resumed their rush to try and cause Discord any sort of bodily harm though.

"I still want to be mad at him," Applejack said to Rarity.

"Quite," she responded, nodding.

"Oh come now ladies," Discord said picking the two up in his arms. "Take joy in the fact that you were right about me being a manipulative cad, I know I would!"

"Discord," Celestia said calmly, pulling Rarity and Applejack out of his grasp with her magic. "You're sure you can't feel or hear the Beast anymore?"

"Positive, although that doesn't necessarily mean we can drop our guard just yet. We still have some evil hoodies to take care of, and I'd keep an ear or two to the ground for a good long while just to be sure said horrible beastie doesn't pull a surprise rebound and get the drop on us."

"Noted. What about the labyrinth under the castle?"

"Hmm..." Discord hummed as he absentmindedly tapped his feet against the ground. "Nope, that one is still there, might even have a few straggling Shadows skulking about. Definitely want to have that cemented over before Twilight's little house warming party."

Celestia sighed, clearly exhausted, both by today's events and by the thought that there was still more to come. She looked up at Discord and said something she never thought she'd ever have to say to the chaotic lord.

"Thank you, Discord." Everyone, including Discord himself, gawked at her as she continued. "And I'm sorry. You're a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and even that doesn't rightly do you justice. I've long since abandoned all entertainment of the idea that I might one day understand you and your actions. But it's clear to me that, in your own special way, you are fighting on our side. I just wish you wouldn't make it seem like that wasn't the case in times like this."

Discord grimaced and scratched the back of his head, trying hard to avoid Celestia's eyes. "I'm... sorry as well. At least for the whole, trying to dethrone you and plunge Equestria into eternal chaos bit. You have to understand, I was having a total psychotic break at the time."

"Would you... like to talk about it sometime?"

Discord's eyes rolled around until they were staring at Celestia. He raised an eyebrow at her and deflected the question with his own. "Shouldn't you be headed back to Canterlot? Maybe before the stuffy nobles start losing their minds?"

"...Another time then," Celestia sighed as she started walking back into Ponyville. "Come along everyone."

The procession of ponies proceeded past Discord, most of them averting their gaze from him out of annoyance, though a couple, namely Celestia and Pinkie, did give him an acknowledging nod or smile to him. Fluttershy stopped and gave him a brief hug, before wiping away the last little residue of her tears and following the others away. Twilight also stopped to give a mumbled apology to him for attacking him, but left still just as annoyed as the others.

Wayfarer was the only one left, but something kept him from accompanying the others. He looked up at Discord curiously, a thought coming to him as two glared at each other.

"Something on your mind, half pint?" Discord asked raising an eye at Wayfarer.

"Well, you said before that you thought it was a kindness to hide the truth from us, but from what I can tell, you've never really been one for courtesy. So why would you care, after everything you've done to antagonize them?"

Discord considered Wayfarer for a moment, then sighed. "Things... have a tendency to break when given the right amount of pressure. But just because they're broken doesn't mean the pieces aren't still there."

"So... you're saying you're broken?"

"Hmph, aren't we all broken in some way or another?" Discord turned away from Wayfarer, sternly looking in the opposite direction. "Your friends are waiting for you, go on, shoo, vamoose, allez-vous en!"

Wayfarer hesitated for a moment, but nodded and left, following after his friends before they could move out of sight and leaving Discord to stew in his thoughts.

"Happy Summer Solstice Mr. Strong Wind!" Court Drama cried out joyfully as the pegasus in question entered his office. Gust Strong Wind flinched at the loud greeting, he was still on edge after the chaos of yesterday. He recovered quickly and gave a smile back to his boss as approached his desk.

"Same to you sir," Strong Wind said before dropping his smile and taking a more formal stance. "I have the reports in from Canterlot and Ponyville, I was wondering if-"

"Oh please, Gust," Court Drama said, waving a hoof dismissively. "Today is a day for Celebration! Work can wait until tomorrow. On days like this, stallions like you should be out on the town, getting sloshed with cider and mead!"

"I have plans to go bar hopping with Vivid, Firebrand, and Infinity later."

"See! There you go!"

"But sir, I really think you should see this." Strong Wind pulled some folders out of his saddle bags. He opened one of them and placed it on the desk in front of Court Drama. "There was a massive spike in our Shadow readings out in the Everfree Forest. Two of them to be exact, one C level rupture, and then an A level about an hour later. Though personally," Strong Wind pointed at a graph with two noticeable spikes on it, with the second one going right off the page. "I think we may need to rewrite the scale."

"And you're sure these are accurate?" Court Drama asked, his joyous tone dropping entirely in favor of a more serious scowl.

"Well unless all five of the sensing crystals I left there earlier this month have all simultaneously failed at the exact same time, then yes, I'm sure."

Court Drama stared down at the graph for almost a full minute before he stood and started to pace around his office, contemplating the ramifications of the data they'd gathered. After a few dozen laps around his desk, he went to the voice pipe on the wall, sliding it open and speaking into it.

"Would someone please send the Fortune Teller up to my office ASAP please? Thank you."

He then went back to pacing as they waited, mumbling things under his breath as he continued to occasionally pick up some of the files that Strong Wind had brought and perusing through them. They didn't have to wait long before the doors opened again. A mare with a light blue coat and bleached white, bowl-cut hair walked in. She wore a dark blue sleeveless dress and matching blue shoes and hat. She walked with an air of aloofness, her yellow eyes wandering around the office without a care before landing on the two stallions and smiling at them.

"A most wonderful evening to you gentlemen," she said pertly. "What need did you have of summoning me here?"

"Well miss," Court Drama said. "I don't know if you were aware, but there was an incident yesterday."

"Are you referring to how the sun and moon dueled for control of the sky?" The mare said excitedly. "Oh, what a wondrous display it was! Power struggles such as this are oh so rare, but it seems as if the sun has claimed dominance at the moment, the moon will have to wait her turn I guess."

"Uhmm, yes, well that wasn't the only incident that happened yesterday." Court picked up the graph and showed it to the mare. "It would seem that for a brief time, the Beast was above ground. It isn't even a new moon, and yet the barrier was weakened just enough for it to pass through."

"My my my," The mare said as she took the graph to examine herself. "Someone seems to have made quite the farces... flatus? Fricassee? Oh that word always seems to give me trouble."

"Fracas?" Strong Wind suggested.

"Yes! That is the word! Thank you, Gust."

"Please," Court said. "I wanted to ask for your advise. It seems obvious that the small group of independent Persona users in Ponyville are the ones who took down the Beast before it could fully rise again. But the town is becoming a hotspot of activity. Any other crevasse where Shadows lurk would normally only be a problem at new moon, but this one seems nearly twice, if not three times, as active. I ask you, as our oracle and fortune teller, do you have any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Well offer them your aid of course!" The 'oracle' said with exuberance. "Assemble the troops as it were, and go forth into battle!"

"Thank you, oracle," Strong Wind said, tossing a slightly annoyed side glance at court Drama.

"Alright, alright, Strong," Court said. "You get your wish, we'll assemble the Caravan and then you can take a minimum T.A.R.O.T. squad into Ponyville to provide assistance to the independents."

"Excellent!" the oracle said. "I shall accompany you, it'll be nice to read the cards for some other Persona users for a change."

"Are you sure?" Court asked. "Ponyville isn't exactly a cultural hub, I thought you said you preferred to be where there were lots of people?"

"No, I said I liked to be where all the excitement is!" She took a very dramatic pose, stepping forward and tossing her head and mane upwards, a boisterous smile plastered across her face. "And I, Elizabeth, and my fabulous T.A.R.O.T. Theatre performers will bring much excitement to Ponyville's already very exciting life!"

Author's Notes:

And thus we come to the end of the Summer Sun Celebration arc. I'm going to take a bit of a break from writing for a bit, but when I come back I'm going to do some serious editting of the first dozen chapters. Reading through all of them I realize that there were a few ideas I had while writing them that are now obsolete and I'd like to take them out. I'll probably have all that done right after Thanksgiving, and then I'll be submitting the story to Equestria Daily. Also, I have a new cover image to replace the old one, thinking about replacing it every year with an homage to one of the Persona game's cover arts.

Chapter 27: Sunrise

Wayfarer dreamed he was back in the empty field of grass with a bare path that stretched in opposite directions all the way to the horizons. The wind caused the grass to sway in waves like the ocean, and the blue light of the moon reinforced this illusion. Wayfarer watched the hypnotic scene, wondering if the calm serenity might make him fall asleep standing up. A particularly strong gust of wind caused the grass to quickly whip t one side, dislodging a flock of butterflies from their perch. Each butterfly glowed a different colour against the night sky. As they flew over Wayfarer's head, one of them, a sky blue one, descended and landed on the tip of his snout. He stared cross eyed at the butterfly, and for a moment, for reasons even he didn't know, he wondered if the butterfly was happy. He wondered if it dreamed like he did, and what it might dream about. He closed his eyes, he smiled, and then he wondered what it was like to be the butterfly.

"Do you remember me yet? Do you remember... anything?"

Wayfarer slowly returned to the waking world, his eyes flittering open as the rising sun poured light into his room. Exhaling softly, he closed his eyes again and turned over, drawing his sheets closer in pursuit of their warmth. He didn't really feel like going back to sleep, but he found the prospect of spending the rest of the morning in this zen like state, laying there with only his thoughts, the warmth of his bed, and the summer sun, to be a rather appealing idea. He'd stay there until Twilight came and knocked on his door, informing him that he'd just slept half the day away. And he felt perfectly within his rights to do so, after all, there wasn't any school, and he'd just spent the last two days preparing for and participating in the Summer Sun Celebration, not to mention that whole "saving Equestria" thing he helped out with. Being lazy didn't seem like too much to ask after all of that.

Still, there was the other half of the day that he didn't intend to sleep through. It was Saturday, so he had poker night with Derpy, Time Turner, Lyra, and BonBon. He wondered how they all fared when the vines had attacked. As far as he'd heard, there hadn't been any injuries at all during the course of the chaos. But that didn't mean they wouldn't have suffered any emotional or financial pain. He imagined that Derpy's daughter might have been more than a little upset about the whole affair, and he shuddered to think of the price Time Turner would have to pay if one of those vines had gotten into his shop. Wayfarer considered stopping by and checking up on them, he'd see them later that night but it'd be nice to see them, just to make sure they were holding up well. Then it struck him that he didn't know where Lyra and BonBon lived or worked, he'd have to ask about that tonight.

Turning over again and tightening the sheets' wrap around him, Wayfarer pondered the other options he had for the today. Twilight had gone on at length yesterday about how she was going to turn the library upside down for any information about that mysterious chest that the Tree of Harmony had given them, despite Celestia's constant hints that she should just let it go and enjoy the celebration. Celestia, conversely, was almost trying to avoid the party herself, and if the bags under her eyes were any indication, it was probably to find a bed or something. In fairness, none of them had slept in what felt like days, and with everything that had happened, perhaps it was Celestia who really deserved a lazy day.

Wayfarer picked up his head, glancing up at the window and the sunlight shining through it. Sighing, he thought to himself, "Every day is probably an early start for her," then he dropped his head back to his pillow. "If she's up to it, we should hang out today or something. There's a bowling alley in town, maybe we'll go bowling." He smirked at the idea of Celestia in a pollo and skid proof horseshoes, trying to roll 12 pound balls down a waxed floor just right so they'd hit their mark and knock over all ten pins. "Yeah, let's go bowling."

Wayfarer's thoughts continued to circle around like this until there was a gentle knock at the door.

"Hey," Spike called as Wayfarer sat up. "Twilight's busy studying, so she asked me to check if you're still alive."

"I am indeed alive," Wayfarer responded as he looked over at his clock. "Ten thirty," he mused to himself. "Probably could have killed another hour, but I'd be having lunch for breakfast at that point." Tossing the covers aside and hopping out of bed, Wayfarer stretched his limbs out, popping several joints as he did so. "Another wonderful day in paradise."

Reaching for his usual attire, Wayfarer decided to forgo the overcoat and just stick with the white button up. It was getting too hot even for that though, so he rolled up the sleeves to his elbows before walking out the door.

Celestia, Twilight, and Spike were all gathered in the front room. Twilight was lifting dozens of books off the shelves at a time, some she barely gave a glance, others she took the time to skim through. Celestia was laying on one of the couches, her head laying across her forelegs which hung over the side of the chair. Occasionally she levitated a mug of what smelled like freshly brewed coffee to her lips, taking one large gulp each time before lowering it again. Spike was following behind Twilight as she worked her way around the room, catching any books she didn't want and placing them back on the shelves.

Wayfarer walked over to the couch across from Celestia's and laid down on it in much the same way that she did. He watched Twilight and Spike work for a bit before turning to look at Celestia. She didn't look too bad for someone who had been sleep deprived for the better part of three days, one of which she spent in a tangle of thorns. Her eyes were a little dark and her hair didn't wave about as energetically as it normally did, but she was far from looking exhausted or unwell. She took another gulp of her coffee as she stared blankly at Twilight, then her eyes flicked over to Wayfarer and she smiled when she saw him looking back. She tipped the mug to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Wasn't feeling like tea this morning," she said. "This instant stuff isn't too bad, want a cup?"

"Sure," Wayfarer said, moving to get up before Celestia waved a hoof at him.

"Don't move," she said, sparking her horn. "I'll get it."

A coffee pot, a spare mug, and a couple containers of cream and sugar flew out of the kitchen. Celestia fluidly maneuvered everything around as she filled the mug, as well as topping off her own, then added carefully measured amounts of cream and sugar. One generous magic stir later and both mugs were being placed in the hooves of either pony. Everything else was sent back to the kitchen as Wayfarer gripped tightly onto the handle of the mug.

"Thank you," he said, giving Celestia a smile that she returned in kind.

"You're welcome," Celestia responded as she dispatched the magic around Wayfarer's mug. Wayfarer's foreleg tingled as some of the residual magic brushed gently over the back of his hoof. Wayfarer shuddered slightly at the touch, like electricity had briefly coursed up the limb. He looked over at Celestia, who merely smiled, slightly wider than before.

"Ughh!" Twilight groaned loudly as all the books she was carrying were dropped unceremoniously to the floor, barely missing Spike as he dodged aside. "Nothing! Not even a mention of the Tree of Harmony! Oh why didn't I visit the royal archives when we were in Canterlot?"

"Because we were too busy playing a game called 'Politics.'" Celestia said calmly, before softly blowing over the opening of her mug and sending steam billowing away.

"It was a waste of time!" Twilight grumbled as she started re-shelving books at random. "All they wanted to know was how I planned to 'modernize' Ponyville, or if I had plans to move back to Canterlot after the Everfree Forest attacked! I've only been a princess for a few months and already I feel like I'm being taken advantage of!"

Wayfarer saw the sides of Celestia's mouth twitch, but pretended he didn't notice and just sipped from his coffee.

"It's like Luna said the other day," Celestia said. "You can gain a lot of political favor if you play their game well. Don't let them take advantage of you, you need to take advantage of them."

Twilight grimaced as her eyes narrowed in thought. "That... doesn't sound very princess like."

"I know Twilight," Celestia nodded emphatically. "But you'd be surprised how much good I've done by coercing ponies with pockets too deep for their own good into putting their bits to something worthwhile."

"You'll figure it out Twi," Wayfarer said. "You just need a good poker face is all." Twilight made a very disgruntled looking face, her mouth quivered slightly and her eyes twitched. Wayfarer gave a nervous laugh. "Needs work, you might want to ask Derpy or Time Turner for tips."

Twilight gave another groan before sitting down on the floor. "In any case," she said. "The books I need aren't here. They might not even be in Canterlot now that I think about it."

Celestia tapped a hoof against her chin, her eyes lighting up in thought. "Well," she murmured as an idea came to her. "I may know a place where you might find such a book."

"You do?" Twilight said, hopping up and darting over to Celestia. "Where?"

"I"d rather not say, Twilight," Celestia responded. "Not at the moment anyway. You've deserved a break, we all have. Try to relax for a bit."

"But Equestria might still be in danger! I can't relax while those hooded ponies are still out there doing something nefarious! What if that chest holds the answers?"

"Then it will reveal them to us when the time is right." Celestia said confidently before she took another swig of her coffee and let Twilight stew in her impatient fury.

"Ffffffine," Twilight sighed, turning to the door. "C'mon Spike."

"Where are we going?" Spike asked as he finished putting a few more books back and leapt from the top of the latter he was using.

"We're going to go relax," Twilight said, pushing the front door wide with a bit more force than necessary. "At the bookstore."

Spike groaned, but diligently followed after her. Celestia and Wayfarer watched the two of them with bemusement as they walked out, Spike slamming the door shut with an equal amount of frustration that Twilight used to open it. Celestia smiled, but shook her head as she went back to nursing her cup.

"So," she asked. "What were you planning on doing today?"

"Well," Wayfarer started, smirking at Celestia. "I was thinking we could go bowling."

"We?" Celestia asked with a confused smile. "Is that the royal 'We,' or are you inviting me along as well?"

"I mean, yeah, if you wanted to," Wayfarer averted his eyes and took a big swig of his own coffee. When he looked back to Celestia, her smile had gotten even bigger and her hair had started moving with its regular zeal. "I'll take that as a yes?"

~~~~~

The bowling alley, while not the most luxurious of places, was actually a step above what Wayfarer was expecting. He was honestly surprised in general that Ponyville even had a bowling alley in the first place. But then again, establishments just seemed to pop up in this town whenever they were needed.

The inside of the building smelled of wax, both from the glossy lanes and the glassy looking bowling balls lining the back wall. The frequent sound of ten pound spheres and pins clattering against each other echoed around the open space, usually accompanied by the cheers or groans of the other patrons.

Celestia in particular had a tendency to whoop and holler loudly, especially after the first five rounds when she finally got the hang of the game. At first, she had awkwardly flung the balls down the lane, but after careful observation it didn't take long before she was striking every round, much to Wayfarer's mortification.

"Now I know where Twilight learned to master everything she tried so easily," he grumbled after her first bagger.

"Oh don't be so upset," Celestia said as she sat down next to Wayfarer and waited for him to stand and go next. "You're doing just as well as I am!"

"Four strikes in a row is worth more than four strikes apart," Wayfarer sighed as he stepped up to the lane. Celestia quickly grabbed their score sheet and did some quick math in her head before her mouth formed an O.

They continued to play for a few hours, Celestia earning a perfect game on the third time around. The resulting mob around the two by their fellow bowlers was a sign that it was probably time to leave. The alley's owners insisted on a few photos and for "Sunny Skies'" name to hang on a "Wall of Champions," which Celestia agreed to with a bit of embarrassment, before they finally extracted themselves from the building.

"I hope my sister finds that photo one day," Celestia said with a giggle. "She'll be mortified."

"Celestia of Equestria," Wayfarer mumbled good naturedly. "Princess of Bowling."

Celestia nearly lost all composure as her fit of giggles turned into uproarious laughter. A few ponies around them turned to look incredulously in their direction before rolling their eyes and continuing on their way.

"Oh... Oh Ancestors!" Celestia gasped. "The court of nobility would have a stroke if they saw me bowling!"

Wayfarer, suddenly overcome with a desire to let this silliness continue, took up a very posh stance, lifting his nose into the air and pouting.

"Your Majesty!" Wayfarer declared. "How dare you associate with lowly common folk in such a base and dishonorable sport like bowling!" Celestia had to actually stop walking and shoved a hoof in her mouth to try and stop her laughter. "Their obsession with giant heavy balls is unbecoming of a princess, who is so far above the rest of us! Please, let me grovel a bit more and then complain at the same time!"

Celestia was actually crying at this point. Wayfarer soon joined her in her mirth, their shouts causing other ponies to stop and look on in bewilderment. When at last they calmed down, Celestia looked around and blushed as she realized how obnoxious she and Wayfarer were being. Shaking her head and giving one last giggle, she looked to Wayfarer and gave a smile.

"I miss being able to do this," she said with an air of nostalgia. "Just being able to walk about among my subjects. Talking with them, getting to know them, laughing with them." She looked away, still smiling. "But if I spend all my time like this, I couldn't possibly give Equestria the focus it needs. I need to work for the many, and not just interact with the few."

"Nothing stopping you from doing both," Wayfarer pointed out. "It doesn't have to be an extended vacation, but a few days out of every month to come down and rebel against what Canterlot expects of you, that doesn't sound like to much to ask."

"You don't know them like I do," Celestia said. Sighing, she looked back at Wayfarer, her smile turning a bit more mischievous. "Still, I'll relish this chance to 'rebel' while I have the chance, just as long as you rebel with me."

"I don't have anyone to rebel against," Wayfarer smirked. "But sure, I'd gladly be your partner in crimes against nobility."

"Hmm, I thought you'd say that."

Author's Notes:

I know it's been a while, but I ment what I said before. I believe in this story, so no matter how long it takes, I will get through it.

You'll also note the "Social Link" picture at the end. I plan on drawing up pictures like this for athe rest of the chapters, both past in present.

Finally, I've sort of lost contact with my usual editor. If anyone would be willing to take his place, that'd be awesome.

Chapter 28: Anyone got any 2s?

After parting ways with Celestia, Wayfarer stopped by Sugar Cube Corner to grab another heat beating milkshake. Pinkie tried to rope him into something called the "Mega Cupcake Challenge," a test to eat a tower of cupcakes that reached almost to the ceiling. Wayfarer doubted he had the diligence or courage to attempt such a task, so he politely declined.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack caught up with him not long after that, talking about plans to head to the coast before Breezy Beeches week officially started. Avoiding the crowds seemed like a nice idea, one that he promised to give a lot of thought to. The two then wandered off in the direction of Rarity's boutique, presumably to bring the idea up with her.

The hours whittled away until finally it was time to head over to Derpy's for poker night. Recalling the directions he'd followed last week, Wayfarer headed for the blue roofed house, and was surprised to see a luxurious looking chariot parked out front with two burly pegasus stallions at the reigns. Lyra, and two more mares that Wayfarer didn't recognize, were chatting up the stallions, before the grey mare with a black mane hoofed over a bag of bits to them. They bowed and then took off down the road and into the sky as Wayfarer drew near.

"Oh, hey Wayfarer!" Lyra said excitedly. "Glad you could make it again, I'd like to introduce you to some friends of mine. Remember when we met in the music store the other day and - Scrawl, was it? Your pal Scrawl tore the place up with his piano? I told you I had some friends in Canterlot who'd be interested, and here they are! This is Octavia." Lyra gestured to the grey mare with a pink bowtie, who smiled and gave a polite curtsey to Wayfarer. "And her roommate Vinyl Scratch." The other mare, her coat white and her hair electric blue, didn't really acknowledge the introduction. She was wearing a pair of headphones that seemed to block out all noise and was bobbing her head in time with the music. She also wore a pair of purple sunglasses that obscured her eyes and most definitely made it difficult to see anything with the sun so close to the horizon. Octavia nudged her in the side and she stopped bobbing long enough to actually look in Wayfarer's direction. She smiled, lifting her glasses up to give him a look, before nodding and winking at him. She then went back to listing to her music intently.

"Don't mind her," Octavia said, her Bitanian accent almost as thick as Lyra's Marish or Time Turners Coltish. "Vinyl just can't stop working, so she takes whatever project she's got wherever she goes."

"It's fine," Wayfarer responded, reaching a hoof out. "I'm Wayfarer, it's nice too meet you."

"Pleasure is all mine, Wayfarer," Octavia said as she took his hoof and gave a very dainty shake. "Lyra says you have a friend who's looking for musicians to form a band here in Ponyville? Seems like an interesting venture, Ponyville has has always been a bit lacking in the way of fine arts."

"That's why she spends so much time in Canterlot," Lyra said, rolling her eyes. "Not enough fancy, hoity toity types here at home to play for."

"As I recall," Octavia said smugly. "You were one of those hoity toity types yourself not to long ago."

"Pfft, that's been years now," Lyra waved a hoof dismissively.

Octavia merely smirked and shook her head. "Quite. Shall we adjourn to Derpy's kitchen now? I'd love to talk more about this band and our mysterious composer, but I believe we have some bits to pay out to the mare of the house."

The four of them approached the front door, with Derpy opening it up for them before they could even knock. She gave a high pitched squeal of excitement at the sight of Octavia and Vinyl, pulling them both into a hug and dragging them into the house. Time Turner and BonBon were already seated at the table, but they too felt the need to rush forward and give the two musicians a big welcome.

"Yes, yes, it's good to see you all as well," Octavia said, smiling as she readjusted her bowtie and ran a hoof through her hair to make sure it was still straight.

All seven ponies took their seats around the kitchen table. It was a little crowded with two extra ponies, but they were able to make do. Time Turner started dealing out cards while BonBon divvied out the chips, everyone seemed to be starting small tonight with only a few dozen bits worth. Small talk, at first, revolved around a general status update concerning the aftermath of the day before the Summer Sun Celebration. Nobody was seriously injured, a few broken windows here and there but overall none of their homes or businesses were damaged. Time Turner had actually spent the day protecting his workshop from the plunder plants with the assistance of several very large canisters of weed killer. It didn't prove very effective at actually stopping the vines, but it did force them away from the clock maker's precious wares. Lyra and BonBon had shoved furniture against the doors and windows, laughing it off as an excuse to do some redecorating when the crisis was over. Derpy and Dinky had miraculously been spared the worst of it, Discord of all people had built a brick wall around their house when a few of the bigger vines came calling.

Wayfarer made a mental note to thank the draconequus when he next saw him.

Conversation then moved to what Octavia and Vinyl had been up to since moving to Canterlot. Octavia's contract with her usual ensemble had ran its course and she was waiting for the owners to come to an agreement on whether or not to bench a few of the veterans and let some new blood in. That was mostly why she came back to Ponyville when she received Lyra's letter, if she was going to be benched, then she would like to have an alternate source of income to make up for it.

Vinyl didn't have much to say, which ended up being because she was mute. Wayfarer felt a flutter of shock in his stomach when he realized this, but Vinyl simply gave him a big smile, which convinced him that she was not losing any sleep over it. Vinyl had been letting her music do the talking at shows, both big and small, all over the country. Her records were selling like hot cakes, and much to Octavia's irritation, Vinyl had been the one to finish paying off the loan on the house the two were sharing.

"I feel like I should be the responsible breadwinner between the two of us," Octavia bemoaned. "That's how it was when we still lived here in Ponyville. It feels weird to have our roles almost completely shifted around. Not that I look down on Vinyl's profession or feel envious of her success, hardly. It's just that I feel like I'm not pulling all my weight."

Vinyl then took this moment to shoot Octavia a skeptical look from across the table, before giving her a cocky grin and making a few gestures with her hooves and head.

"Hmph, you're right," Octavia smirked. "If I was paying all the bills I wouldn't have any savings to waste here."

"So what about this symphony I hear Lyra talking about?" BonBon asked, steering the conversation back to the goings on around Ponyville. "Wayfarer brings some crazed looking unicorn to the record store and wows Lyra and Turn Table with... what did you call it sweetie? A 'Death Waltz?'"

"That is the only way I could possibly describe it," Lyra said as awe creeped into her voice. "He may have magic to give him an edge, but I've still never seen a pony manipulate an instrument like that. It was insane!"

"So," Time Turner said, peeking over his hand with a raised eye and staring right at Wayfarer. "Who is this pony?"

All eyes were on Wayfarer now, he had to hold back a nervous gulp as his mind panicked to find a reasonable story. He doubted that Lyra, Octavia, and Vinyl would want anything to do with Discord if he told them that's who Scrawl was. He didn't want to ruin Discord's chances of finding a hobby that he could use to quell his chaotic urges. Taking a subtle deep breath, Wayfarer told them a half truth.

"I met Scrawl here in Ponyville," he said. "He played a few... Less elaborate piano pieces for me, Fluttershy, and Twilight, then he got the idea of restarting the Royal Equestrian Orchestra."

"The Royal Equestrian Orchestra?" Octavia asked. "I'm part of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra, if that's what he meant."

"No, he's probably referring to Equestria's Royal Orchestra," Time Turner said. "Not sense the days of Starswirl the Bearded has their been an Orchestra composed of people from all over the country. Not just ponies, but Gryphons, and Minotaurs, and even Dragons as well If you can believe it. It wasn't exclusively Canterlot, it was a symphony for the masses, by the masses."

All the eyes were now on Time Turner. Derpy even cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"What? I love history. And the Royal Equestrian Orchestra is from a part of History that's been all but lost to the ages, sadly. I think it's very ambitious of your friend Scrawl to try and reform it."

"Well if it's as important as all that," Octavia said with a wondering smile. "Then I'd be honored to take part. I'm in."

"Count me in too!" Lyra shouted. "I don't think I'll find a better test of my harp skills!"

Vinyl raised a hoof and pumped it in the air several times before slamming it to the table and giving everyone a big toothy grin.

"She says she's in as well," Octavia translated.

"All in?" Derpy asked inquisitively.

"I'm not much of a musician, but I'd like to help as well," Time Turner agreed. "I'm in."

"Me too!" BonBon said.

"Scrawl already roped me into this," Wayfarer said bemusedly. "So I guess I'm in too."

"Good, everyone's in," Derpy said, before smiling mischievously at everyone. "Show your hands."

A cold chill went down Wayfarer's spine, and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, they had a similar reaction.

"I asked if you were all in," Derpy repeated. "And you all said yes." She then dropped a royal flush on the table. "Anyone got me beat?"

No one did. It was the most brutal loss of the night.

Author's Notes:

Quick Chapter tonight.

To those interested in being an editor, I ask that you provide some previous work for me to look through, whether that be your own writing or another story that you've edited for. I'm looking for editors, not prereaders.

Chapter 29: Where Changelings Roam and Quilts get Sewn

"Good Morning, Zecora!" Wayfarer said happily as he approached the stall of the zebra in question.

Zecora, who'd been looking away from Wayfarer, jerked her head upwards and turned to look at him. Her eyes seemed slightly glazed over, eyelids drooping, and her mouth hanging agape. She let loose a very wide yawn before shaking off her obvious exhaustion and smiling back at Wayfarer.

"Morning, yes Wayfarer, it is indeed. But 'good' is not a word I'd concede."

"Something wrong?" Wayfarer asked. "Did the vines do a lot of damage to your home?"

"All that and more, though that's easily fixed." Zecora grimaced, then turned to walk back into her stall, where Wayfarer followed. "My other problem though had results that are rather mixed." She placed a plant up on the table that Wayfarer recognized as another Anise. "The bug took the bait, and the trap as well. Hardly before I'd even started to ring the dinner bell."

"Ahh, the changeling?” Wayfarer asked. “I think we may have ran into him while the girls and I were in the forest."

“Somehow I doubt they are one in the same,” Zecora said, frowning. “In fact I wonder if this Changeling is in fact tame.”

“What makes you think that?” Wayfarer asked, raising an eye at that. From everything he’d seen and heard of Changelings, they were all the sort of creature to feed first and be nice never.

“As I said, the changeling took the bait,” Zecora explained. “But it actually came back after a small wait. When my back was turned, trying to locate it, the bowl was returned with a fresh coat of spit. If they intended me some ill will, I doubt they’d replace it after eating their fill. Shyness is the diagnosis I’d render here, an illness born of an intense fear. But hunger will force even the most timid critter, to risk its life to approach, dine, and skitter.”

Wayfarer took a moment to translate before responding. “So, the Changeling ate the flower, which you had in a bowl, then gave the bowl back when it was done, and you think this means it’s not out to hurt anyone?” Zecora nodded, smiling. “Alright, so, what are you going to do? If there’s a changeling roaming around then we need to catch it. Even if it doesn’t want to hurt anyone, no one is gonna rest easy if they find out. Wouldn’t it be better if we got it to, I don’t know, go home?”

“Perhaps, but for some, home is not often a choice we make, sometimes it comes down to where body and mind are less likely to break. Do you not wonder why I am here, and not somewhere my own kin are near?”

“Well,” Wayfarer said, unsurely. “Not really, no. I’ve only known of you for a few weeks, I haven’t really had a chance to think ‘why is a zebra here in ponyville?’ But since you brought it up I’m guessing there is a reason?”

“A very good reason, I would say,” Zecora said. “Where I came was no longer safe to stay. I’d prefer to keep my tale at that, it’s not appropriate for a friendly chat. But my own experiences have taught me this, no one is ever away from their people unless something’s amiss. This Changeling is hiding from something, far from home, and if I could converse with it, I’d prefer that then let it roam.”

“You… want to talk with it,” Wayfarer said slowly.

“In lieu of demonizing it and sending it to a prison? Yes, that’d be the first step, of which a need has risen. What’s more my friend I turn to you, could you help me with this plan construe?”

“Me?” Wayfarer said, a little more loudly then he meant to. He looked around to see if anyone else was listening in on them, but the street was thinly populated this morning. “Gosh Zecora, I’m not sure. Why don’t you get Twilight or Fluttershy to help you? Wouldn’t they be of more help?”

“Possibly,” Zecora said, tapping her chin. “But I need someone with daring and an open mind, I don’t want uninterested timidness or inquisitiveness unkind. You seem like a better fit, so it’s you I hope will take the hit.”

“Add this to the increasing list of things I can’t say no to helping out with,” Wayfarer thought. Sighing, he nodded to Zecora. “Alright, fine, if you really think I can help.”

“Excellent, I shall call on you when the time is right, until then do not fret and seem so uptight.”

Twilight and Celestia were out for the day, leaving Wayfarer alone with just Spike for company at the library. In spite of the nearly two month's he'd spent under his and Twilight's roof, Spike still seemed like an unknown to Wayfarer. Always just sort of... there. Wayfarer had only just realized this after his and Spike's moment of bonding prior to heading into the Everfree during the plunder plant fiasco. The idea that Spike "just got used to" being an outlier in Twilight's group of friends concerned him a bit, and he probably would have addressed it at the time had the fate of Equestria not been at the forefront of his mind. Sitting in the front room though, reading up on "101 Ways to Enjoy Breezy Beaches Week," Wayfarer thought it'd be a good time to bring it up.

"What'cha reading Spike?" He asked, trying to remain as inconspicuous about his intentions as he could. Spike seemed to jump at this in surprise, and Wayfarer caught sight of something stuck in between the pages of the book spike was supposedly reading.

"Wha?" The dragon nearly shouted. "O-oh, it's just the umm..." he looked to the cover of the book and cleared his throat. "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicker."

"Who's he?" Wayfarer asked, smirking at Spike's flustered expression.

"Umm... he's ahhhh..." Spike stalled for almost a half a minute as he panically flipped through the first few pages. "He's a very famous pony!"

"What's he famous for?"

"I don't know!" Spike finally cried out, slamming the book shut and snorting. "Alright! I wasn't actually reading it, happy? Gosh I wasn't expecting an Equestrian inquisition!"

"Spike, relax," Wayfarer said, putting his own book aside and walking over to Spike. "I'm yanking your tail, I just asked what you were reading. So unless you've got something you're not supposed to have, I'm not gonna judge you for it." He paused to give Spike a chance to speak up, but all the dragon did was shuffle in place. Wayfarer frowned slightly at that. "Spike are you even old enough for that sort of magazine?"

"It's not like that," Spike said. He sighed, then slowly withdrew the magazine from the book and showed Wayfarer the cover. Instead of mares wearing provocative garments and advertising scandalous interviews, the magazine was covered with a photo of a patchwork quilt and boasted of having the widest selection of threads and fabrics available for order.

"'Thread Bare's Thread Wares,'" Wayfarer said, reading the title. "'All the tools you need to start a memory quilt of your own.' Oh I get it." Wayfarer smiled knowingly at Spike. "You wanna make something for Rarity, don't you?"

"No!" Spike said rolling up the magazine nervously. "Well, yes, but that's not what this is." He tapped the magazine in the palm of his claw, again shifting around nervously. "I want to make a memory quilt... for me."

"...Really?" Wayfarer asked.

"I know!" Spike said in frustration, crossing his arms and looking away with a fierce blush. "It's super girly and not something a boy should want to do. You can say it."

"I'm not saying that," Wayfarer said sternly. "Because that's a load of horse apples."

"Huh?" Spike said, looking up at Wayfarer.

"Spike if you wanna sew a pink frilly dress with hearts on it, more power to you. I think that's great you want to have a personal long term project, and a memory quilt sounds neat. Where'd you ever think that was something a boy shouldn't want to do?"

"I... umm..." Spike unrolled the magazine slowly and took a momentary look at the cover. "I guess I've still got the Dragon Migration thing on my mind. I really don't have a lot of 'guy' friends. It's just been Twilight and the others, and before we moved here from Canterlot it was the mares in Twilight's study group. Twilight's brother is the closest thing to a guy friend I've ever had, but he left for the Guard Academy while I was still trying to learn the alphabet, so we aren't as close to each other as he is to Twilight." Spike tossed the magazine onto a side table and folded his arms again, though looking much more bereft this time.

"I miss hanging out with him on a regular basis," Spike continued. "Shining Armor got me interested in comic books and 'Ogres and Oubliettes.' But Twilight and her friends don't seem interested in those things, so I've picked up a lot more of their interests. Like, sewing and picnics and baking. But those aren't things I ever saw Shining Armor or any other boy do. And then there's the way the dragons during migration treated me. Not just that I wasn't 'dragon' enough for them, I could care less about what I am. I just... thought maybe I should be more like them in other ways. You know, being tough and strong."

"And you think the two are mutually exclusive to each other?" Wayfarer asked, raising an eyebrow as he reached over to pick up Spike's sewing magazine. "You think you can't like comic books and sewing? You think that liking picnics and baking means you can't be strong like Shining Armor? Spike, just yesterday I saw a stallion with more mussel mass then I think is healthy walk into Aloe and Lotus' Day Spa wearing a pink staff uniform. That guy looked plenty strong and yet seemed determined to enjoy his job gussying up ponies."

"Spike, I implore you," Wayfarer finished, putting a hoof on Spike's shoulder and smiling. "Don't bring into Equestria whatever nonsense those dragons put in your head. Just keep doing what you like doing, no one who matters is gonna care if it's 'girly' or not."

Spike smiled, clearly relieved by what Wayfarer had said. "Yeah, you're right! I'm sure there are plenty of other dragons out there who will know how to appreciate a well sewn dress or a nice picnic! I'm not gonna waste time on those losers!"

"He still seems really fixated on the whole 'dragon' thing," Wayfarer thought. "Hopefully it'll eventually stop bothering him."

"Hey," Spike added. "Do you think Shining Armor would be interested in helping me start my Memory Quilt? I'd like to keep it a surprise for everyone else, you know?"

"I'm sure he will," Wayfarer responded. "Now, what was this you said about Ogres and Oubliettes? What edition do you have?"

You could have lit up all of Canterlot with how bright eyed Spike became at that moment.

Author's Notes:

Soooooo yeeeaaahhhhh... It's been a while.

I did not mean for this to happen. To disappear for over a year and leave this story just hanging there. That was not my intent and I deeply apologize to everyone, I can only strive to try harder and press on.

So why such a short chapter ? Well, I wanted to get back in the swing of this story with something small before I try to write another big chapter. And yes, the next two chapters will be pretty big. Maybe even the next few chapters after that as well, I have the next two in story weeks planned out and things are about to get hairy again.

Thank you all again for your patience, hopefully the next chapter will be out in a week.

Chapter 30: Prankster's Day Off

Wayfarer didn't know which was scarier as he walked through town with Celestia at his side. It was either the fact that Celestia was grinning ear to ear or the fact that she wouldn't tell him what was so funny. Wayfarer got the feeling that even if he knew what had put the Solar Matriarch in a good mood, it'd just make him more nervous. Then again, that smile and occasional evil laughter would probably haunt his nightmares for weeks to come.

"And I thought the Beast was bad," He thought to himself. "Luna's probably gonna have a busy month keeping my dreams in check.

At last the two arrived at their destination, and Wayfarer was still a little on edge when he saw the bell hat roof and the jack-in-the-box sign. The prank shop: a favourite locale for foals of all ages, though most notably Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Wayfarer sighed, having a pretty good guess as to what direction this day was going in. Celestia ignored him though and quickly began rushing about the store, grabbing numerous gag objects and shoving them onto the counter of a store clerk who looked even more concerned about Celestia's manic expression then Wayfarer did.

"Uhh... Sunny?" Wayfarer said, stepping in front of the disguised Alicorn as he did. "Would you kindly fill me in on what exactly your battle plan is? Also you are really scaring me with that grin, could you tone it down a bit?"

'Sunny' seemed to snap out of a trance at that point, like she was previously caught in a high brought about by a cupcake spiked with way too much sugar and Wayfarer's concerned face was the insulin shot she needed. Her smile disappeared for a moment, then came back with much more restraint.

"Sorry," She said, calmly walking back to the counter, where the store clerk was desperately trying to keep the mass of products from toppling on top of him. She effortlessly pulled a few items off the top and placed them in seemingly random locations near the middle, which instantly balanced out the precarious mound and saved the clerk. Sighing in relief, the clerk spared a quick glare at Celestia before ringing up her purchases.

"Now," Wayfarer said, smirking with bemusement at Celestia. "What's this about?"

"I'm glad you asked, 'partner,'" Celestia responded with her own smirk. "We're going to have some fun with Twilight and her friends! Now that I've been in Ponyville for a while, I think I've got a pretty good idea what pranks will float well with them."

"Oh boy," Wayfarer said, rolling his eyes. This was going to be an interesting day, he was definitely sure of that now. "Alright, When do we start, and who's first on your hit list?"

"I started this morning, and as for my first victim, why, it's you silly!" Celestia said, grinning evilly again as she pulled out her coin purse to pay for her purchase.

"What," Wayfarer said simply, before quickly turning and twisting around, looking all over himself and trying to find out what she might have already done to him. Seeing nothing, his thoughts went to his room back at home. "Sunny, what did you do?"

"Oh you'll see," she giggled. "But trust me, it's not going to be that obvious."

Their first stop brought them outside of Ponyville, to Fluttershy's cottage of all places. Now of Twilight's circle of friends, Wayfarer was certain Fluttershy would be the least receptive to practical jokes, but Celestia insisted that she be the first pony they pranked. Wayfarer was now hiding in the bushes, keeping an eye on their target as she walked around her yard, feeding a number of larger animals. Out of the corner of his eye he'd see Celestia flying up into the sky bringing down cloud after cloud, zooming them into Fluttershy's backyard whenever her back was turned. Some of Fluttershy's animals must have noticed this, because eventually they began pulling at her hair and tail, pointing at the house and chittering loudly. Celestia took this moment to return to the bush with Wayfarer, smirking about whatever she had done.

"You sure this isn't going to send her in a panic?" Wayfarer asked as he watched Fluttershy walk behind the cottage.

"Well," Celestia said mischievously as her forehead started glowing. "Maybe for just a moment."

From the other side of the house that Fluttershy went around, a long train of clouds snaked into the front yard. The animals were all startled by this, especially when the clouds started forming limbs and a face. Wayfarer oohed in surprise as the world's fluffiest and friendliest looking dragon ever scuttled into the cottage just as Fluttershy was rushing back out front. The animals started squeeking and crying and jumping around, gesturing towards the door where the cloud dragon was looking out of. Fluttershy gave a eep in surprise when she saw it, falling to the ground and doing her best to disappear behind her hair and wings. The dragon waited there in the doorway for a while as she cowered, before snaking its head back out and giving a confused sounding purr. Fluttershy peaked up through her bangs, then the dragon sprayed her with a mist of water. Fluttershy lept back, at first terrified, then confused. The dragon started panting like a dog, pulling the rest of itself out of the cottage and wagging its tail. Fluttershy cautiously walked up to it, then it dropped its head to the ground at eye level to her. It blew another mist at her, causing her to flinch back again, then it started bounding around the yard and off the top of her cottage. Fluttershy just watched the bewitched cloud formation with bewilderment as it darted around, occasionally spraying water into the air.

"Discord?" Fluttershy called aloud, flicking her head every which way.

"Right here my dear," The draconequus said, popping into existence right next to her. The cloud dragon then sprayed a full jet of water at him, soaking him entirely. "I see you've made a new friend," he said with annoyance as he pulled a towel out of his ear and started drying himself off.

"It's not one of yours?" Fluttershy asked. The dragon took this moment to examine Fluttershy's flowerbeds, spraying a bit more water into them.

"No," Discord said. "It's way too 'sunny' to be one of mine."

Wayfarer could swear that Discord's eyes were staring right at him and Celestia at that moment.

"So was that one for Fluttershy or Discord?" Wayfarer asked as they hopped over the fence that bordered Sweet Apple Acres. They'd left the cloud dragon to keep Fluttershy company, she seemed to be warming up to it when they left, giggling at it hiding under bridge and pouting when it made Discord angry with another jet of water.

"Little of column A," Celestia said. "Little of column B. Come on, I've got some really good ideas cooking for Applejack."

"And what would that be?" Came a voice from up in an apple tree. Rainbow Dash poked her head out from the branches, with an accusatory grin on her face. "What are you two scheming?"

"Just some harmless gifts for you all," Celestia said. She reached into her saddle bags and pulled out an unassuming looking can with a plastic lid. "Here you are Rainbow Dash, this one is for you!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and grabbed the can. after a moment of examining it, she raised an eye at Celestia. "Really Princess?" She asked with a dead stare. She opened the can and was not in the least bit phased when four cloth covered springs sprung from the inside. "Canned snakes? Laaaammmmme. C'mon, where's your A material?"

"Believe me Rainbow Dash," Celestia said, smiling pleasantly. "I only have A material. And those were only canned snakes before I got ahold of them. Enjoy your gift now!"

"Wha-" was all Rainbow Dash could get out before the 'canned snakes' sprung into action.

All four of them had remained aloft in the air after they had shot out of the can, but now they were all encircling Rainbow Dash. She dropped the can and was about ready to bolt into the sky before one shot forward and latched onto her foreleg, then another went for the opposite limb. The surprise caused Rainbow to lose her balance and fall from the tree, front first. The springs quickly slipped themselves onto her legs like socks, then when her forelegs hit the ground, the magic springs bounced her back into the air, where the other two springs were waiting to slip onto her hind legs. Regaining her composure, Rainbow extended her wings and started to hover in place.

"What the hay?" she said, looking at her new accessories with immense confusion. "What are these?"

"Spring Socks!" Celestia said excitedly. "I thought about how Pinkie Pie bounces around like she's made of rubber and wanted to recreate the feeling for other ponies! Go on give them a shot!"

Rainbow Dash looked at Celestia like the princess had finally snapped and gone off the deep end. "Eh..." she said worriedly. "You do know I can fly right? What's the point of bouncing when I can fly?"

"Oh don't be a kill joy," Celestia said. "Just try them."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed, snapping her wings to her back and letting gravity take control of her. The moment she hit the ground, the Spring Socks propelled her back into the air, sending her right over Celestia and Wayfarer. "Whoa!" she gasped, resisting the urge to spread her wings again as she headed back to the ground. "This is-" she tried to say as she bounced again. "A lot harder-" She said as she bounced off the side of a tree. "To control-" She bounced right onto the fence and into the fields outside of the orchard. "Then I thought!"

"Say hi to Fluttershy and Discord for us!" Celestia shouted before bursting into laughter. "Oh, I'm patenting that one! Come on Wayfarer, times a wasting!"

Wayfarer and Celestia snuck through the trees of the orchard, keeping an ear out for the sound of trees getting kicked or any other sort of farm work that Applejack or her siblings could be in the middle of. The repeated thud of hooves against wood caught their attention and led them to a clearing where Applejack was kicking, not her trees, but the side of a very large wood container. Her brother Big Mac was holding up the side of the structure while Applejack kicked nails into it. Apple Bloom was nearby, holding a bucket of nails whilst she watched the other two work.

"Alright," Applejack said, swiping sweat from her brow. "That oughta hold a while longer, least till we can build a whole new one. How we do'n on time Apple Bloom?"

"Just short'a noon Sis," Apple Bloom said, setting the bucket aside. "You wanna get started on the south east field? "

"Nah, we're ahead of schedule, I say we take a nice long break at the waterhole. C'mon, let's rustle up some grub and then go for a swim." All three Apples walked away toward their farm house, leaving Celestia and Wayfarer to come out of their hiding place and into the clearing.

"Ooohh," Celestia hummed. "My inner trouble maker is giving me an idea!"

"You're really starting to worry me, Celestia," Wayfarer murmured under his breath, shaking his head.

"What sort of trouble are we talking about?" Came the bubbly voice of Pinkie Pie as she leapt right out of the wooden container the Apples had just been working on and giving both Wayfarer and Celestia heart attacks. "Is it a mean kind of trouble or a fun kind of trouble?"

"Is Sweet Apple Acres just the place to be at the moment?" Wayfarer asked in a wheezing voice. "And why were you in Applejack's barrel, silo, thing?"

"Oh, I wasn't," Pinkie said. "I just made it look like I jumped out of it. Anyway, I was just having my late morning cupcake when my nose got itchy and teeth got chattery, which meant some of my friends were doing some hard core pranking and hadn't invited me. So I followed my nose to Fluttershy's house where a fluffy dragon was helping her feed the animals and Discord was being all grumpy, then me and Dashie bounced into each other on my way here and she said you two were doing some practical jokes, then she bounced away with springs attached to her legs which looked super duper fun. Then I got here and found you two!" After finishing her long winded explanation, Pinkie turned her head to the side and made the biggest puppy dog eyes to Wayfarer and Celestia. "Sooooooo..." she pouted, making sure to quiver her lip. "Can I help pull some prnaks?"

Wayfarer looked to Celestia, who in turn looked back at him. Neither of them seemed particularly keen on upsetting Pinkie when she put on a face like that. With a sigh, Celestia nodded. "Alright, you can join us. BUT," Pinkie was half way into the air in her leap of joy when Celestia stopped her. Celestia then smirked and pulled out a cupcake of her own and handed it to Pinkie. "You have to eat this first."

Pinkie took the cupcake and started to examine it, pulling at the wrapper and sniffing the frosting. "Is this the prank you had in mind for me?" She asked, the disappointment evident in her voice.

"It is," Celestia said. "Now eat it."

Rolling her eyes, Pinkie shrugged and shoved the entire pastry into her mouth. After barely a chew or two, she swallowed it, then waited to see what sort of effects it would have on her. After almost half a minute, she confusedly looked at Celestia. "I don't feel that different," she said, though she definitely sounded different. "W-what?"

Wayfarer could not stop himself from falling backwards in laughter. Never had he heard something so ridiculous in his life then the sound of Pinkie's voice drastically dropping in timbre.

"Low Tone Tablets," Celestia explained, trying her best not to join Wayfarer in his joyous outburst. "Creates the same effect as breathing in sulfur Hexafluoride, only for much longer and without the risk of asphyxiation. It'll fade away in a couple of hours, but until then I recommend not screaming at anyone, you may terrify the dickens out of them." She then tried to get Wayfarer to stand back up and get over his sudden laughing spasm, but she herself could resist no longer and started snickering uncontrollably as well.

"You think this is funny?" Pinkie asked, her face turning sour and angry. "I sound like a monster now! You've turned me into a monster!" Celestia and Wayfarer's laughter stopped almost immediately as they turned to look up at a seething Pinkie. "And if I'm going to be a monster," she continued, her grinding teeth and frown slowly upturning to a vengeful smirk. "Then I might as well act the part! By taking over all of Equestria! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!"

The silence that followed was defining. No one moved even an inch, until both Celestia and Wayfarer burst into laughter once more. Had that low, murderous proclamation come from anyone else, it might have been horrifying. Coming from a pink, bubbly, fluffy party pony though, it was nothing short of ridiculous. Pinkie Pie grinned and started laughing herself, the monster voice caused some mood whiplash, but that only made them laugh harder.

"C'mon you two," Celestia said, snorting with mirth. "Let's get this stuff ready before Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh come back.

The water hole in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres wasn't anything special. It was certainly big enough for a pleasant swim, but more often then not Applejack and her siblings used it for the purpose of refilling barrels of water for tending to crops farther away from the farm house. The three Apple siblings were running full tilt towards it at the moment, Big Mac hesitating for the briefest of moments to drop their picnic basket. The three of them leaped into the crystal blue waters at nearly the same time, disappearing in massive splashes. After a moment, the three reemerged, giggling and laughing as they bespattered each other, not realizing that they'd all undergone a change in color. Wayfarer, Celestia, and Pinkie all stepped out of their hiding spots, laughing just as hard as the Apples, save for Pinkie, who was doing her best to restrain her demonic chortling. The Apples looked up to see them, smiling all the way, still unaware of anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey y'all," Applejack greeted them. "What's so funny?"

"You three," Celestia said, pointing to them. "Though I must say, red is definitely not your color Applejack."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that, then lifted a hoof to look at her coat. She was now as red as Big Macintosh and, turning to look at her siblings, she saw that Apple Bloom was now orange with blonde hair and Big Mac was now yellow with red hair.

"What in tarnation!" Applejack swore as she started scrambling out of the waterhole. "What'd y'all do to us?"

"It's called 'Colour Swatch Swap,'" Celestia said, bringing out a canister of what looked like laundry detergent. "Swaps the colours of whatever you throw into it. We had to put almost the entire jug into the pond just to make sure we got you."

"You put that stuff in our water?!" Applejack shouted, angrily stomping over to the three pranksters. "What's that stuff gonna do to our crops? And how long does it last?"

"Calm down Applejack," Celestia said, waving a hoof dismissively. "It's nontoxic, lasts only a few hours, and if that's too long for you, it comes off with untreated water. You and your apples will be fine."

Applejack snorted and looked ready to argue more, but the sound of Apple Bloom and Big Mac going back to splashing each other and laughing about their sudden colour change, distracted her. Rolling her eyes she went to the picnic basket and grumpily pulled out the blanket and food. "I look like a burnt tomato," she grumbled.

"What's all the commotion over here," Came a voice Wayfarer was unfamiliar with. "I thought you three was gonna have some fun, not go yell'n at each other." A very old looking mare came into the clearing. Her hair was white and her coat was lime green, she wore an orange neckerchief and had an apple pie cutie mark. Wayfarer hadn't met her in person yet, but it was pretty obvious to him that this was Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac's grandmother, Granny Smith.

"Howdy Granny," Applejack said with annoyance.

"What in the," Granny Smith started as soon as she saw her grand daughter, then she smiled and started to chuckle. "Applejack sweetie I'd say somepony left you out in the sun too long."

"Oh the sun certainly had something to do with it," Applejack said through grated teeth, eyeballing Celestia as she and Pinkie leapt into the watering hole as well, swapping their own colours with each other.

Wayfarer walked over to Granny Smith and Applejack, giving the later an apologetic look before reaching a hoof out to Granny. "Hello, I'm Wayfarer."

"Pleasure to meet'chu, Wayfarer," Granny Smith said, grabbing onto Wayfarer's hoof and giving it a hardy shake. "Heard a bit about ya from Apple Bloom and Applejack. You sound like a respectable fella, so I hope their not just spin'n yarn about ya."

"I do try my best," Wayfarer said with a shrug. Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Celestia, and Pinkie chose that moment to get out of the water and join them.

When Granny Smith caught site of Big Mac though, her eyes went wide and she placed a hoof over her chest. "Goodness," she said as she looked at her grandson like she'd just seen a ghost. "Big Macintosh, with your coat and hair all switched around like that, you're the spittin image of your pa." She got really quiet as she just stared at Mac, then she looked to Applejack and gestured to her. "AJ, give Mac your hat for a second." Applejack did so with a bit of confussion, and when Big Mac put the hat on Granny Smith started to tear up.

"Consarn it," she said, wiping the tears away. "Whose idea was it to do this to y'all?" Celestia slowly raised a hoof, nervousness in her eyes as she did so. "What's your name girly?"

"Sunny Days, ma'am," Celestia responded.

"I don't know whether to hug you or hit you for make'n an old woman cry like this," Granny Smith said, shaking her head. "It ain't right for me to see my son again before I even crossed over to the other side." She sighed, still staring at Big Mac. After a while she smiled at them all. "Y'all keep enjoying your day, Big Mac, you and your sisters better be the right colours before you come home, ya hear?"

"Eeyup," was all he said.

Granny nodded once, then headed back into the orchard. The tension in the group was palpable, everyone looked really uncomfortable now.

"You really do look like Pa, Big Mac," Applejack said. Immediately Mac grabbed Applejack's stetson and pulled it over his eyes, but he couldn't hide his smile.

"I'm sorry," Celestia said, kicking at the dirt. "That didn't go how I thought it would."

"Aw shucks Miss Days," Apple Bloom said. "It was a good prank! We all look ridiculous right now." She then took a glance at Applejack and snorted. "Plus, I ain't got any memories of my Pa, so," she hesitated for a moment, then tackled Big Mac's side with the biggest hug she could muster.

"I need to leave before my heart implodes," Wayfarer thought.

"Well, we'd better eat and then get back to work," Applejack said. She then turned to Wayfarer, Celestia, and Pinkie, scratching the back of her head as she did so. "Sorry I snipped at you three. Apple Bloom's right, you got us good.

Celestia smiled, then bowed to Applejack. She turned away, and gestured to Wayfarer and Pinkie that they should leave now and give the Apples some time alone.

As they left the clearing, Wayfarer was barely able to pick up Apple Bloom asking the other two what their parents were like.

"So we've given Fluttershy a new friend," Wayfarer said, counting off all the pranks they'd pulled off so far. Pinkie and Celestia were currently standing in a creek they had been passing on their way into town, washing their correct colors back into their hair and coat. "We've turned Rainbow Dash into a bouncy ball, discovered that Pinkie Pie can make even a voice straight out of Tartarus hilarious,"

"I'm a pretty pink princess!" Pinkie shouted, her deep voice making that statement even more ridiculous. "I'M CADENCE!"

All three of them had to stop what they were doing for another round of laughter before Wayfarer continued. "And finally we've reconnected the Apple's with the memory of their father. This is going better than I thought it would."

"Glad you think so," Celestia said, leaping out of the creek and onto the bridge to stand with Wayfarer. "So who should we visit next? Rarity or Twilight?"

"Definitely Rarity," said a lamp post next to the bridge, which then turned into Discord. "You want to save the best for last, so I say you finish with the ringleader."

"Hello Discord," Celestia said politely, if not friendly. "Enjoying the new friend we left you and Fluttershy?"

"Well right now she's cuddling with it in the sky over her cottage," Discord said. "Which left me to deal with this." At that moment, he raised a claw and caught a very fast, very loud, and very blue ball of hair and feathers. "Is this your handy work?"

Rainbow Dash was shaking and muttering to herself as she hung by her hind leg from Discord's grip. He rolled his eyes and tossed her into the creek alongside Pinkie Pie. As soon as the cold water splashed over her face, Dash shot up and gasped for air. Looking around her in a near panic, she finally locked eyes on Discord, who merely waved at her before she rushed at him.

"I'm gonna kill you!" She cried out.

"Oof, that wasn't very Y-7, Rainbow Dash," Discord said as he ducked under her pounce. "Maybe instead of saying 'kill' you should say something like, 'deal with' or something along that line."

"What did you do this time?" Celestia said, rolling her eyes.

"I merely improved the design of your wonderful socks," Discord explained as he dodged another blow from Rainbow Dash. "Instead of just her hooves, I made her entire body turn to rubber, then I tossed her here all the way from Fluttershy's cottage."

"That's almost a kilometer and a half away!" Celestia gasped.

"Yes!" Discord said, grabbing Rainbow out of the air. "And as you can see, she's completely unharmed."

"At least with the socks I had some degree of control!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "What you did took all control away from me! Let's see you go that fast and be unable to stop yourself! I was terrified!"

"You'll never get to be an astronaut pony with that attitude."

"Can you just leave me alone and go back to doing whatever it is you do when no one wants you around!" Rainbow Dash then bit down hard on the arm that was holding her, getting Discord to immediately drop her.

"Fine! I can take a hint." Discord snorted and started folding himself in half, then again and again, until he could no longer be seen.

Rainbow Dash looked like she was a bomb set to explode. Pinkie quickly rushed to her side and started rubbing Dash's shoulder blades. "Easy Dashie," Pinkie said. "Think of something nice, like how good Soren looks in his Wonderbolt uniform, or how good Spitfire looks in her Wonderbolt uniform." Pinkie then turned Rainbow Dash's head around to look at Wayfarer. "Or how good Wayfarer would look in an Wonderbolt's uniform."

"Nah, let's not," Wayfarer said, waving a hoof. "Spandex probably agrees with me about as well as the colour red agrees with Applejack."

Pinkie and Celestia laughed at that, but Rainbow Dash's attention was on Pinkie. "Pinks," she said. "What the hay is up with your voice?" That got everyone laughing again.

"Well, I know something that'll cheer you up Rainbow Dash," Celestia said. "Why don't you come with us and give Rarity her 'gift.' What do you say?"

"I say that sounds like fun, what do you got in mind?"

Rarity's boutique was bustling with activity. The mares of Ponyville were coming in to pick up their finished sun dresses and beachwear, and Rarity was reaping the rewards of her hard work. Wayfarer felt kind of bad about interrupting a successful business day, so he had managed to convince the other three not to go all out on this one, to which they thankfully agreed. Although what they came up with instead of wrapping up Carousel Boutique in water soluble streamers felt less like a prank towards Rarity and more like a prank towards him. He entered in through the front door, greeting a few of the customers as he walked around the edge of the store towards a phonograph in the corner, playing some gentle music. The phonograph was near a window, where outside he could see Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie peaking in. Rainbow flicked one of her primary feathers up in a gesture of "Go get em!" to Wayfarer.

"Why Wayfarer!" Rarity said, approaching him. "What a pleasant surprise! Are you here for your suit?" The three outside the window ducked out of sight, and Wayfarer had to restrain a sigh as he began his part in this scheme.

"That's the plan Rarity," he said, turning to give her his full attention. "But if you're too busy I can always come back later."

"Nonsense," Rarity said, pulling him through the crowd to a raised display surrounded on one side by mirrors. "In fact, I'm certain some of these mares would be interested in giving their thoughts as well." Some of the other customers giggled at that, and Wayfarer felt blood rush to his face. "Now," Rarity continued as she magicked out a rack filled with suits of different designs and colours. "Before I create a custom ensemble for you, I'd like to get a better idea of what suit 'suits' you. So I hope you don't mind playing dress up with me for a bit."

"N-not at all Rarity," Wayfarer stammered, trying to ignore the six other mares eyeing him as he pulled off his button up. Through the window, he caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash zooming past. Suddenly, a mass of cloth was roughly shoved over his head, and after a bit of struggling, his head popped out to see Rarity forcing another button up and a black vest onto him.

"Hmmm..." she hummed, ignoring the annoyed look Wayfarer gave her as he adjusted the shirt on his forelegs. A few ties flew off the rack and she held each one up to his head to compare the colours of his mane and coat to them. "Definitely not green." She said with disdain, tossing away the offending tie. "Red? Ehhhh... no. Yellow isn't very flattering either, though I guess that would go with your Cutiemark. Hmmm... speaking of which." She then held up an azure blue tie and oohed at it. "Now that one works rather well. What do you think ladies?"

"Oooh! Yes!" One of them said.

"It really pops against the steely grey of his coat!" Said another.

"And complements his hair too!" Said a third.

"Well that settles it," Rarity said with a smirk as she started wrapping the tie around Wayfarer's neck.

"Now hold on," Wayfarer said, holding a hoof up and preventing Rarity from preceding. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Wayfarer, darling, trust me," Rarity said with a bemused look. "I've done this song and dance many times. Blue is definitely your colour, anything else would clash horribly with either your mane or your Cutiemark."

"Well," Wayfarer said, casting a glance at the window again. Celestia was peeking in, she smirked and gestured for him to keep going. He sighed, he'd have to keep this going for a bit. "I was thinking of... purple?"

Rarity pursed her lips, then looked to her clothing rack. She pulled several different 'Purple' ties out and started holding them up like before. "No, no, absolutely no." She then held up one that matched her mane. She seemed to realize this and slowly smiled at Wayfarer before whispering at him. "You're not trying to impress me, are you?"

"W-what?" Wayfarer hissed back. "No! I just like purple."

"Oh you do?" Rarity said with a smirk. "Purple like my mane, or Purple like Twilight's coat? Or..." She glanced knowingly at the window. "Purple like a certain alicorn's eyes?"

"WHAT!" Wayfarer shouted in his head. All he could do is grin nervously, hoping Rarity was just fishing for something ridiculous and didn't actually know who was outside at that very moment.

"Lilac it is then!" Rarity shouted, bringing the appropriate tie up and threading it tightly under the button up's colar. "I think the blue looks better on you, but this isn't half bad either. Although we may want to think about giving you pants as well, as this still clashes with your cutiemark. Ladies? What do you think?"

"Meh," one of them said.

"It sort of blends with his coat," said another.

"Doesn't go with his hair as well," Said a third.

"Well that settles it," Rarity said as she finished tying the full Windsor knot. "You have horrible colour coordination Mister Wayfarer."

"Ughh..." Wayfarer said.

Half an hour later, Wayfarer was paying the upfront charge for a custom made tie, vest, button up, pants, and jacket. Rarity did not go easy on Wayfarer's wallet this time, though she did promise to throw in an extra tie of his choice when he realized how much better he looked with a blue one. Stepping out of the boutique, he was almost immediately pulled away by Rainbow Dash, Celestia, and Pinkie Pie. He barely had enough time to look back and see that the entirety of Rarity's shop was coated in the single most garish shade of pink he'd ever seen in his life.

"I think she knew I was sent in to distract her," Wayfarer groaned at the three of them once they were a ways away. "So when she comes around demanding I scrub all of that off her house, I'm sending her your way Celestia."

"Don't worry," Celestia said. "Like the streamers, the Properly Pink Pastel Paint is water soluble. All Rainbow Dash and I have to do is place a few rain clouds over her house and it'll be back to the way it was."

"So now all that's left is Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly. "C'mon Sunny, what do you have in mind for her?"

"Nothing much, just a tea party."

Rainbow Dash's wings stuttered for a moment, then she scoffed at Celestia's suggestion. "A tea party? How is that a prank?"

"You'll just have to wait and see Rainbow. But I promise you, this'll be the best one yet."

The four of them Returned to Twilight's library, Spike was waiting beside the door examining one of his claws. "You're a little behind schedule," he said as they approached. "And you've got two more ponies with you."

"What, we weren't allowed to tag along for the ride?" Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe we should be pranking you next Spike."

"Nah, Celestia already got me this morning." He stood up and started to walk away, and as he did his spines, which each seemed to have grown ten feet in length, dragged along behind him. Celestia snorted, then led the way into the library.

Twilight was there waiting for them, a smug grin on her face. All around her the library seemed completely different, everything that could be nailed down had been nailed down, and everything that couldn't be nailed down was taped down with enough magic tape to build a boat out of. A scroll of paper trailed behind Twilight, out of the front room, into the kitchen, and Wayfarer assumed through the hallway because the other end came back around into the front room and up the stares to Twilight's loft. With a last flick of her quill she checked off something on her list and then started rolling it back up.

"I've checked every nook and cranny of the house and prank proofed everything I could," Twilight said proudly. "You won't get me like you got Spike and Wayfarer, Celestia."

"Wait, she already got you?" Rainbow Dash whispered to Wayfarer.

"Apparently," he responded. "Although I'm not sure exactly in what way she 'got me.'"

"You've been busy I see," Celestia said, smirking back at Twilight. "Why don't you join me for tea? As congratulations for thoroughly trouncing my attempts to pull the wool over your eyes."

"Why of course," Twilight said, before turning to head into the kitchen. "I'll pick out what brew we use though."

"Naturally," Celestia responded.

"Oooh, I've got chills," Rainbow Dash muttered. "What's she gonna do? What's she gonna do?"

Half an hour later Rainbow Dash got her answer. Twilight's completely unaltered cup of tea clattered to the table, her dumfounded look of confusion the greatest prize Celestia could have hoped for in response to her brilliantly thought out and masterful plan. Rainbow was grumbling in frustration whilst Wayfarer and Pinkie laughed uproariously, falling to the floor in hysterics. Celestia merely sipped from her own tea with a look of absolute triumph.

"Nothing?!" Twilight shouted, her voice cracking in shock. "You didn't leave anything for me? B-but Wayfarer's shirt, and Spike's spines, you pranked me by doing nothing?!"

"I didn't need to," Celestia said. "I knew just by planting the idea that I might try and prank you today would cause you to spend half the day trying to undo whatever it is I'd done or otherwise prevent what I'd do. So I merely allowed you to do what you do best, imagine a problem where none exists and prepare for anything and everything. You could have easily bested me by simply playing along and waiting for the prank to come to you."

"Uggghhhhhhh!!" Twilight groaned, slamming her face into the table.

"Congratulations Twilight," Pinkie said, her voice finally returning to normal. "You played yourself."

"Honestly, that was kind of a let down," Rainbow said. "I was expecting something flashier."

"Dash," Wayfarer said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "The best practical jokes are catered directly to the person getting pranked. Anyone can startle someone or mess with their belongings or their person in a humorous way. Celestia just got Twilight to 'Twilight' right into her prank! That's hilarious!"

"I wouldn't laugh too hard, Wayfarer," Celestia said, finishing up her cup of tea. "You still haven't seen what I've done yet."

Wayfarer's smile immediately dropped. Slowly he picked himself up off the floor and headed into the hallway, stopping at his door and carefully reaching for the knob. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, wincing in preparation for whatever it was that was in store for him. Nothing happened, nothing looked out of place, no traps were set on the floor or behind the door, everything looked fine. At first, Wayfarer thought Celestia had pulled the same prank on him as she did on Twilight, he even went to the mirror and examined himself again. Then something Twilight said about his shirt got him to once more examine his person. He pulled off his button up and checked the inside, finally noticing that there were traces of blue powder sprinkled in the seems and hems.

"Wayfarer?" Celestia called from the kitchen. "When would you say you got dressed this morning?"

"Ummm," Wayfarer said, staring at the blue dust still. "Right before breakfast? So about eight thirty?"

"Give it another few seconds then."

Wayfarer pulled his attention away from his shirt and looked back to the mirror, and as he watched... nothing happened. Baffled, Wayfarer started to leave, but not before his legs and eyes betrayed him and forced him to walk right into the wall with a loud thunk.

"What the-" he said as he tried again, this time walking into the wall on the opposite side of the door. "Ow!"

"Wayfarer?" Celestia called again, this time sounding concerned. "What happened?"

The sound of her getting up and walking his way reached Wayfarers ears. He stood still, trying to focus on the door, one step at a time he tried to walk through it again, but with each step the position of the door seemed to subtly change, like every movement caused the world to rotate, but standing still kept everything balanced. Vertigo started to set in as his panic grew, out of desperation he flung himself at the wall to try and find something solid to anchor himself to, only this time he actually made it through the door and crashed right into Celestia.

"Ow," he said again as the two of the collapsed into a heap on the floor.

"What happened?" Twilight said as she rushed into the hall.

"Blue powder," Wayfarer said as he closed his eyes, trying to focus with his ears instead and finding out that the direction of sound wasn't staying still either. "Messed with my eyes and my ears."

"Blue powder?" Twilight asked.

"Poison Joke," Celestia explained, pulling herself out from under Wayfarer and then immediately latching her hooves around him. "I put it in his shirt this morning, but I've never seen it have an effect like this.

"The hay is Poison Joke?" Wayfarer asked. He was annoyed with Celestia for doing this to him, but at the same time grateful that she cared enough to hold onto him. Some part of him was actually afraid he'd fall away if she let go.

"It's a plant from Everfree," Twilight said, rushing away. In the distance he heard a door open, then water running. "It causes different effects on different people," she yelled over the din. "Little jokes that play off each persons personalities and abilities. Like it makes my horn all wobbly and useless."

"And it turned my wings upside down," Rainbow Dash added.

"And made my tongue swell up," Pinkie responded. "And it made Applejack really tiny and Rarity look like a mop and Fluttershy sound like Big Mac!"

"But that's all harmless stuff," Celestia said. "It doesn't scramble your senses like this!"

"Maybe I'm allergic," Wayfarer mumbled. "Or maybe the Everfree Forest just hates me. The feeling's mutual honestly."

"Wayfarer I'm so sorry," Celestia said, Wayfarer could feel her body growing back to her alicorn form. She gently picked him up and started carrying him away, until the running water sounded like it was right next to him.

"It's fine," He said. "Just tell me you have a cure."

"I keep a bottle on hand at all times," Twilight said. "After the first incident we had, I didn't want us to have to make a trip to Zecora's every time this happened, so I have her herbal remedy right here and ready to go."

"Good," Wayfarer said. "Lay it on me, I'd rather not stay like this for longer than I have to." Celestia lowered Wayfarer into what he realized was a bathtub, but as she pulled away the feeling of vertigo started to return. He quickly grabbed onto her hoof and held on. "Sorry, he said, but I'd rather not drown myself in addition to everything else." He didn't hear a response, but Celestia didn't pull away. The sound of something else being poured into the bath reached his ears, the still running tap mixing it up good.

"Where's your shirt Wayfarer?" Twilight asked. "I'm going to run some tests on it, see if Celestia didn't just get a bad batch of Poison Joke."

"It's on the floor of my room," Wayfarer said. Things were already starting to calm down, the sound echoing around the bathroom retaining a level of consistency. "Please tell me we don't have to burn it."

"It should just wash out with the remedy." And with that, Twilight left the bathroom, leaving Celestia and Wayfarer alone.

"I'm sorry," Celestia mumbled again.

"It's fine," Wayfarer grunted. "Nothing's broken, just a little dizzy now, and a little terrified that the world is gonna just fall away from me."

"Not while I'm around," Celestia said as she gripped onto Wayfarer's hoof. He could hear an edge of self loathing in her voice. "So stupid, I shouldn't feel like this is my fault, Poison Joke shouldn't do this. Urgh, I should have tested it before giving it to you."

"You couldn't have known. If that stuff is just supposed to cause harmless pranks, then you can't blame yourself for not knowing it'd react differently to me."

Celestia sighed, then was silent for a moment. Wayfarer opened his eyes, the world thankfully staying still as he turned to look up at her. He tried to give her a smile, but she still looked down. "Next time," he said. "Stick to just filling my room up with balloons."

That got her to smile back a bit. "Deal," she said quietly.

Chapter 31: The Lock Box

It was just before lunch when Wayfarer, Twilight, all of her friends, Spike, and Celestia found themselves at the train station awaiting the arrival of Twilight's elder brother, Shining Armor, and his wife, Princess Cadence. Wayfarer hadn't been told much about Shining from Twilight or Celestia other than his talent as a shield caster or his reliability as Captain of the Royal Guard. Spike on the other hand had told him enough for Wayfarer to make the assumption that Shining had to be some sort of massive dork underneath the royal armor.

Just as the nearby clock struck half past eleven, the roar of an engine reached Wayfarer's ears, only it was a lot heavier then the trains he was used to. As he looked up the tracks, he was stunned to see what looked like a train incased in crystalline armor, blue smoke billowing up from its stack and whistling loud enough that he almost felt the need to cover his ears. As it came to a halt in the station it hissed out a large amount of steam from underneath, clearing away almost as quickly as it came once the doors of the front most car slid open. Two guards wearing crystal armor that put even the Canterlot guard's gold armor to shame stepped out, followed by a tall, handsome stallion with a pure white coat and blue shaggy hair. Alongside him stepped out a mare with a light pink coat and a flowing mane stripped with yellow, purple, and a darker shade of pink. These two were obviously Shining Armor and Cadence, Wayfarer was just about to bow to the two when Shining Armor suddenly shouted out.

"Twiley!" He tossed his bag away, Cadence catching it in her magic with a bemused sigh, and rushed into the assembled crowd. He grabbed hold of Twilight and lifted her up in the air, spinning her around once before dropping her back to the ground and giving her a proper hug. "I wanted to come back immediately after the Summer Sun Celebration when I heard what had happened but stuff got crazy in the Crystal Empire and I'm just so glad you're okay!" The stallion looked like he was on the verge of tears, confirming Wayfarer's suspicions on Shining's dorkness.

Twilight giggled at her brother's enthusiasm. "I'm alright Shining, and it's good to see you too big bro."

"Hey, can I get in on this?" Cadence asked as she gently put her bag and Shining's down and approached. She seemed more restrained then her husband, but then she pulled both him and Twilight into a hug that seemed even tighter than Shining's. When she pulled away, there was a brief moment where she just smirked at Twilight as she smirked back, before they suddenly started dancing and clapping their hooves together in rhythm while singing a limerick.

"Sunshine! Sunshine!
Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves,
and do a little shake!"

Wayfarer gaped at the display for a moment, simultaneously confused and yet blinded by how ungodly cute that was.

"It's good to see all of you as well," Shining said, looking to the other ponies and dragon. "And I take it this is your new friend?" He asked when his eyes fell on Wayfarer.

"Yep," Twilight said, leading Shining and Wayfarer together. "Shining, this is Wayfarer, Wayfarer, Shining Armor."

"Pleasure to meet you Prince Shining," Wayfarer said, bowing his head slightly.

Shining snorted at the formality, shaking his head and smiling. "Just call me Shining dude." Shining looked over Wayfarer's shoulder, when he saw Celestia, he merely nodded his head to her. "Miss Sunny Skies."

"Prince Shining Armor," Celestia said. "I trust the trip was pleasant."

"The trip, yes. Getting out of the Empire, not so much."

"Oh no, " Twilight said. "Is something wrong?"

"The opposite really," Cadence said. "Things are going so well with the new government that when Celestia asked us both to come down, we thought it'd be a great opportunity to try and give our new Prime Minister a chance to take the reigns. But him and the rest of our cabinet were sent into a panic at the idea. They don't seem to believe in themselves as much as we do, so while Shining is going to be here for your castle's coronation, I'm afraid I'll be going back and forth to make sure everything's going well back home."

"Speaking of the castle," Shining said, his smile turning to a serious frown. "I'd like to see what we're dealing with now."

"Later," Celestia said, turning away and walking down the steps of the station. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm famished. I'd love to get a hayburger, what about all of you?"

Shining looked rather confused at that, then turned to his wife, who looked equally confused. Shrugging, Shining turned to his guards and asked them to bring their stuff to Twilight's library. "And bring the other thing to the Castle, if you don't mind." The guards nodded and got back on the train.

Cadence and Shining followed after Celestia, then the rest of their entourage followed suit. Twilight and Spike kept pace with Shining and Cadence, the four of them catching up on each other's lives. Wayfarer could hear Spike talking excitedly to Shining about Ogres and Oubliettes, to which Shining looked backwards to Wayfarer and gave him a big grin.

"They make a lovely family," Rarity commented. "I wonder if Cadence and Shining plan on adding their own little foal eventually?"

"I don't know when they're going to find time for that," Applejack said. "Running an entire kingdom and raising a little bundle of joy? Heck I had trouble just raising Apple Bloom and running a farm at the same time. Sure I had Big Mac and Granny, but still, I don't envy the stress parents go through when taking care of their little ones."

"But Apple Bloom only had you, Big Mac, and Granny Smith," Fluttershy said. "Cadence and Shining armor will have an entire kingdom to help them with making sure things run smoothly. That might be why they're so determined to get the Crystal Ponies to be able to run the kingdom themselves, so that they can have time to raise a foal."

"Yeah Applejack," Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe if you asked for more help when it came to running Sweet Apple Acres, you wouldn't be so stressed out."

Applejack glared at Rainbow for that, but otherwise did not comment.

They arrived at an establishment simply called "Hay Burger," and once again Wayfarer was surprised at how many places in Ponyville just seem to not be there whenever he's not looking for them, but the moment anyone needed them, there they were. "I'm convinced there's a theatre and a museum here somewhere, even if I can't find them," he thought with disdain. As they walked in, it also hit him how surreal it was that three alicorn princesses, a prince and former Captain of the Guard, and their entourage, were all eating at a fast food joint made for commoners. The ponies working behind the counter seemed to realize the weirdness of the situation as well, even if they couldn't see Celestia for who she really was, and started to panic as the party walked in.

"Ayum... ummm... Patty?" One of them stuttered. "Are you seeing this?"

"No need to get up in a tizzy everyone," Celestia said. "Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor just need something quick, then we'll be on our way."

"Oh I hope they have decent salads here," Rarity bemoaned, eyeing the menu. "I'd rather not have those greasy burgers in my system."

"You kidding me Rares?" Rainbow Dash smirked. "The grease is the best part!"

"You think an athlete like yourself would want to keep yourself healthy at all times, but whatever, it's your colon."

With bellies full and the restaurant staff thoroughly lost, the party finally headed over to the castle. Since the last time Wayfarer had been there, it had felt almost deserted. The guards remained, but the construction crews had finished their work and moved on. Now maids and staff were moving themselves in and decorations were being added, but Celestia and Twilight had insisted that the maid staff sleep away from the castle for their safety, at least until the proper defenses were added, and hopefully that would happen today. The Guards from Cadence and Shining Armors train were there, a large box carried between them.

"What's that?" Twilight asked, eyeing the box.

"Celestia asked that we stop in Canterlot on our way here to pick this up," Cadence explained.

"It's got a very 'Ancient Equestria, do not mess with this, very dangerous' vibe to it," Shining Armor added. "Luna said not to open it without Celestia."

"Come," Celestia said as she opened the bubble and led the party in. "I'll show you what it is."

The inside of the castle was more lively then Wayfarer had ever seen it. Staff were cleaning the months' worth of dust and debris left by the construction crews and replacing it with beautiful banners, carpets, tapestries, and other works of art. Many of them merely gave the royals a bow before going back to work. With barely over a week left before the coronation, there was still a lot to do.

"This place is really coming along," Applejack said, admiring the decor.

"Ooh yes it's all marvelous Twilight!" Rarity added, swooning at the stitch work on one of the tapestries.

"I can't wait to host some rock'n house parties!" Pinkie giggled.

"Pinkie," Fluttershy said. "I don't think that's what Twilight's castle is for."

The group descended into the deepest levels of the castle, right to where the wine cellar used to be. The room had been emptied, all the shelves moved to another location that had been refurbished to act as a wine cellar, making the whole room look like a crypt instead. The only thing that remained was the crevasse, and even with the Beast's defeat during the Summer Sun Celebration, everyone could still feel the chill and stale air rising up from within. The light that all the unicorns were shining seemed to stop just short of a foot into the hole, and Wayfarer could have sworn that somewhere down in that darkness he could here labored breathing.

"Alright, now that we're here," Celestia started. "Here's the full story."

Celestia spent as brief a time as she could explaining all she could to not just Cadence and Shining Armor, but also Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike. Everything, from the the Beast rising up during Equestria's first Golden Age, to the original Persona wielders, all the way to recent events, filling in the holes that Twilight had left out when she had tried to explain things to her friends during their trip through Everfree. Shining Armor kept glaring into the crevasse as she spoke, as if resisting the urge to jump in himself and start blasting apart everything that moved. When Celestia was done, he looked up at her and asked the question every non Persona user had asked.

"How do I get a Persona?"

"As I said," Celestia sighed. "Without fruit from the tree of knowledge, it seems that you'll have to face against a fabrication of yourself created by the Shadows and accept them into your heart no matter what they say. And they will say a number of horrible things, they'll spill every dark emotion and memory you try to hold in the back of your mind. I'm not going to allow any of you to go through with that if I can help it, which is why I had this made." She gestured to the box.

"But what is it?" Twilight asked again.

"It's called a lock box. I sent a request to some of my most trusted artificers, blacksmiths, and mages to have it forged for me after I first got a look at the crevasse." She pulled the lock box to the center of the room and tapped her horn to a panel on its front. "Normally I'd have Luna here to help me with its activation, but Cadence and Shining Armor's mastery of Emotional Magic and Shield Magic will be a much better fit for our purposes. Now, if you two would join me."

Cadence and Shining stepped to either side of Celestia as the box started to unfold. At it's center was a pure white gem bigger than Wayfarer's head. Everyone else oohed at the sight of the gem, especially Rarity and Spike. Celestia, Cadence and Shining began powering their horns, channeling massive amounts of magical energy into the gem, charging it like a battery. The gem began to radiate light and power so great that everyone had to shield their eyes. Suddenly the box began to rise, attaching itself to the ceiling, then it started unfold even more, stretching out to the walls, then down to the floors, then right under their hooves. The room now looked like it was made of solid gold, with the gem embedded in the ceiling acting as a lamp. The crevasse was only briefly covered before row after row of steps dropped down into the darkness. Behind everyone, the door turned into an ornate vault hatch, with a single keyhole at the center of the tumbler wheel. The magic stopped flowing from Celestia, Cadence and Shining, and the three had to steady themselves as exhaustion hit them.

"Are you three alright?" Twilight asked as everyone else rushed to ensure the royals were okay.

"We're fine Twilight," Celestia said. "We just had to put everything we had into it in order to make sure it was secure."

"More like it sucked everything we had out of us," Shining said irritably. "Excuse me Celestia, but could you have given us a warning about that?"

"My apologies, the gem is enchanted to absorb latent magical energies, both from its surroundings and from ponies who come in contact with it, which is why Luna told you not to open it. But now the box is self sustaining, and only the most powerful of Shadows will be able to make it out."

"But how do we know it works?" Fluttershy asked.

"The other day I asked Discord to give it a test run when we were done setting it up, he should be trying to break in at any moment now."

As if on cue, a loud bang resounded from the left side of the room, everyone save for Celestia jumped in surprise. Another bang followed soon after, then another. There was a brief moment of silence before something started rapidly hitting the walls. The hits came from every which way, some bigger than others, others smaller but in concentrated patterns. This went on for a few minutes before stopping. One final pause, then the biggest hit of all slammed into the vault door. Satisfied, Celestia walked to the door and slid a key into the keyhole. The wheel turned and the sound of many gears spinning could be heard. The door finally creeped open, and on the other side was a very tired looking Discord, leaning on the head of a massive sledge hammer, a number of power tools and heavy machinery crowding the hallway.

"You know," he said, gasping for breath. "I'm known for wanting to stay out of the box, but nothing makes me want to get in a box more than telling me I'm not allowed in it."

"I take it you tried everything?" Celestia asked with a smirk.

"Are you kidding me? I tried to pull the box itself out of the castle, but it's so ingrained into the crevasse now that it's like trying to pull Canterlot Mountain out from under Canterlot! Even I can't do that!"

"Good to know." Celestia then turned to Shining Armor. "Shining, get some rest. Tonight, you, myself, Wayfarer, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and whatever Guards you've brought will start sweeping every inch of this castle for any remaining Shadows. We may have put the cap back on the bottle, but we still need to clean up the spilt milk."

Author's Notes:

I lied, there isn't going to be anymore big chapters before we get back to plot. You guys have waited long enough. I skipped over three days worth of social links to get us here, and I'm gonna skip over another two so we can get to Breezy Beaches Week.

Next time, the Tarot Theatre Caravan comes to Ponyville.

Chapter 32: Ars Longa Vita Brevis!

"Shining's back at the castle again," Twilight said as Wayfarer joined her, Cadence and Spike in the kitchen. "I think after all the excitement Friday night he's become paranoid about hunting down every last Shadow."

"If anyone would make for a good Persona user," Wayfarer said as he fixed up his own breakfast. "It'd be Shining." The hunt Friday night through the castle had proven that much. While magic had no direct effect on the Shadow's, Shining was very good at finding ways around that. Wayfarer was particularly impressed by the way he was able to destroy the smaller, goo like Shadows by activating a bubble shield inside of them. The expanding air blasted them apart and a quick shot of fire from Pinkie and Laititia took care of the remains. He got especially good at it when they got to the throne room and found the sword that Celestia had given Twilight all the way back before the fight with her Shadow. It was placed back in its sheath and leaned against the throne, none of the construction workers or the maid staff had mentioned it to them, and Celestia had started theorizing that because they'd lost it during the point where the castle seemed to be altered by the presence of Shadows, they would only find it when they returned at the same time. None of that made any sense to Wayfarer, and he would have asked Twilight to try and explain it, but she had been busy being appalled at the idea that she'd just forgotten a gift like that. Regardless, Shining had cast aside the spear he'd been using and took up the sword instead, he seemed much more at home with it and his strikes became that much faster.

Wayfarer smiled as he reminisced. "He's a heck of a lot more of a fighter than I honestly expected from a royal guard."

Cadence nodded, smiling knowingly. "Well, Celestia didn't name him Captain of the Royal Guard for nothing. He's stronger and smarter then the rest of them. But even so, there are still threats to Equestria that even he can't handle on his own, and after being rendered helpless twice within the span of a month I think that's bruised his ego a bit."

"He probably wants a Persona now just to prove he can still hold his own," Twilight said sadly. "But I don't think his pride is worth hurting himself."

"Twilight, trust me," Cadence said, waving a hoof dismissively. "You, Celestia, and Luna don't give him enough credit. That thing with Chrysalis and getting his magic jammed by Sombra was just bad luck. He can handle any mission Celestia gives him, if she would give him one, which she has. He'll pull through on this one, I just know it."

"I hope you're right," Twilight said.

"In the mean time, today's the start of Breezy Beaches Week! We should absolutely find something fun to do in town, got any ideas?"

"Well," Wayfarer said as his ears twitched a bit, the sound of music playing outside had grabbed his attention. "It sounds as if someone is already putting something together."

The other three paused to listen as well. A jaunty sounding flute made itself known somewhere. "Is that Pinkie Pie?" Twilight wondered aloud. after a moment more of listening, he shook her head. "No, Pinkie's got a lot of instruments, but not that many."

The sound of the flute had grown into a cacophony of other sounds. It sounded like dozens of instruments were playing now, way too many for one pony, even Pinkie Pie, to play. Looking out the window Wayfarer saw that several other ponies that hadn't left for the coast had opened up their doors, trying to decern where the growing music was coming from just as they were. Tossing a glance at each other, Wayfarer, Twilight, Cadence and Spike decided to abandon their breakfast and investigate.

Walking from the library, the four joined a march of other curious ponies as the music continued in a joyous, almost circus like canter. Along the way, a few other familiar faces joined them in the crowd.

"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash called as she pushed her way towards them, leading Rarity in her wake. "Twilight, did you know anything about this?"

"I don't even know what this is."

"It's a parade!" Came the enthusiastic shout of Pinkie Pie as she bounced out of the crowd somewhere ahead.

"What she said," Rainbow Dash remarked. "I flew over, and there's at least forty wagons rolling into town, and some of them are as big as a house!"

Soon enough, they'd reached Ponyville's main street where, indeed, dozens of wagons in a myriad of different shapes, sizes and colors paraded up the road. Each wagon was pulled by anywhere between one and six ponies, with the bigger wagons, the ones Rainbow had correctly described as house sized, being pulled by even more. All the ponies pulling looked like their payload was nonexistent, waving excitedly at the onlookers. Every pony was dressed up in costumes that ranged from subtle to bombastic, similarly as diverse as the wagons. On top of every other wagon was the source of the music: dozens of ponies, and a smattering of other races including zebras, gryphons, diamond dogs, and to everyone's shock, what was most definitely a changeling. Each of them were dolled up in their own costumes, and each had an instrument of their own. It was quite the sight to behold.

When the procession finally came to a stop, many of the wagons had lined themselves up around the edge of the town square. Some of the wagons, namely the huge ones, continued on, right out of town to the open fields outside of Ponyville. The wagons that remained were carefully parked away from every place of business and residence, then once everything was situated, the music took one more crescendo before dropping off. Then it all came back with a more triumphant sounding tune as the wagon pullers joined in as a full chorus.

"Come one! Come all!
Drop your tools and taunt the guards!
Give boredom your best regards!

Come one! Come all!
Close Town Hall and the school yards,
Go break out your Tarot cards,
Then come join our Band of..."

"BARDS!"

With a mighty shout and boisterous laughter, the most flamboyantly dressed pony of them all leapt from one of the smaller wagons as it unfolded like a giant puzzle box. The pony, a pegasus with a smile that could rival Pinkie Pie's, galloped over to the crowd and began singing in earnest as the wagon pulling choir began dissembling and unpacking the caravan.

"Every now and then our Caravan comes round!
Every now and then we go and raise a town!
Every frown we see will be turned upside down!
Once again, the bohemians have arrived!
Here is where the cards told us to travel next!
Here is where we'll play and sing and deal the decks!
Everyone will find their fancy with the Band of Bards!"

The wagon ponies had gathered around one of the largest remaining wagons at the center and took a rope in their mouth, pulling apart the sides from the huge coach and quickly folding out a large stage. The stage was complete with curtains, spotlights and around twenty more ponies and other creatures. All of them leapt down stage just as the last board fell into place and immediately joined in as the colorfully dressed pegasus continued his song.

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis!"

"All the finest arts and authors!"

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis!"

"Musicians and plays we offer,
Creative types come and join our flights!
That's the way the Caravan delights!"

"What in the world has stumbled into our quiet little town," Wayfarer deadpanned as he stared up at the stage. The stage ponies began dancing in increasingly acrobatic movements, leaping and catching and swinging each other in a choreographed display that he'd never seen the likes of.

"Ars Longa..." Twilight said aloud in thought. "I know that phrase from somewhere."

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis," Celestia repeated as she came up from behind them, her eyes glimmering with delight. "It means 'Art is Long, Life is Short.' It's old Ponish. Very old Ponish. It is the motto of the Great Equestrian Bohemian Caravan, and it seems like they've chosen Ponyville for their next show. You all are lucky, the Caravan hasn't performed for ten years now. This a very pleasant surprise indeed." They're attention was brought back to the stage as the dancing performers leapt away from the edge to allow the Pegasus to return to the center and continue his song.

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis!"

"Paint the world with joy and wonder!"

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis!"

"Play your songs as loud as thunder,
See the world as crazy as we do!
Eccentrics become the helmsman,
No one throws a wrench in our plan,
That's the way the Caravan delights!

Come one! Come All
Hurry Hurry! Here she comes!
Hear a song pass through her gums!

Come one! Come All!
Come hear that her voice does ring!
let your heart and joy take wing!
Sing dear Hourglass, SING"

With the final note, the pegasus leapt high into the air, and dozens of other pegasi and some gryphons pushed a row of clouds over head, dimming the sunlight immediately and letting a spotlight shine down on the curtain. From behind the drapes stepped an earthpony mare with a coat the color of white sand and hair that looked more like gold than anything. She was dressed in a white button up and a vest of Lapis Lazuli blue with matching boots on her hind legs. Around her arm was a red band with black lettering on it, Wayfarer could only make out the letters T, A, and R. The crowd went silent as she slowly walked across the stage, the music changing rather suddenly from a jovial beat to a simple guitar riff. When she reached the edge of the stage, violins joined the guitar, and she finally opened her mouth and sang.

"Dreamless dorm, ticking clock,
I walk away from the soundless room.
Windless night, moonlight melts,
My ghostly shadow to the lukewarm gloom.

Nightly dance of bleeding swords,
Reminds me that I still live."

Somewhere, a set of drums and several trumpets joined in as she belt out the chorus of her song.

"I will burn my dread!
I once ran away from the god of fear,
And he chained me to despair!

Burn my dread!
I'll break the chain,
And run till I see the sunlight again!

I'll lift my face and run to the sunlight!"

The instrumental accompaniment backed off again, a menacing bass line repeating over and over before a gentle piano echoed back her melody.

"Voiceless town, tapping feet.
I clench my eyes, in the bright light.
Far in mist a tower awaits,
Like a merciless tomb, devouring moonlight."

The instrumentals came back in full force as she started to gracefully prance about, dancing in acrobatics on par with her companions, getting the crowd to cheer her before backing down once more. The simple guitar riff from the beginning played once more, leading back into another verse.

"Clockwork maze, and unknown
In frozen time a staircase stands.
Shadows crawl on bloodstained floor.
I rush straight ahead, a blade in the sands.

Cold touch of my trembling hooves,
I close my eyes to hear you breathe."

The echos of the songs tag line resounded around through the air, until once more, the instruments flared up, empowering her final chords.

"I will burn my dread
This time I'll grapple down that god of fear,
And throw him into hell's fire!

Burn my dread
I'll shrug the pain
And run till I see the sunlight again!

Oh I will run, burning all regret and dread,
And I will face the sun with the pride of the living."

And with a final bow, Hourglass backed away, the audience gave a polite applause, but Wayfarer could tell that they, much like himself, were a little perturbed by those lyrics. none of them had much time to contemplate that however as the Pegasus returned to the stage and started singing his own song again. At this point Wayfarer realized that he too had a red band around his foreleg like Hourglass', but looking around, none of the other performers had one. It became apparent that this brightly dressed stallion was introducing acts, as he only sang a few more limericks before another stallion stepped on stage. His hair was brown and his coat a dark grey, he also wore a red arm band. His act was bringing out a large blank canvas and several dozen cans of paint, his magic lit up and the paint flew through the air in mesmerizing patterns before hitting the canvas. The act of painting had become a show in itself, and before everyone's eyes he had quickly painted something that, while not exactly a masterpiece, was definitely good for how quick he had done it. A few more acts followed, including a brick red stallion who played trombone, a steely grey stallion who did impressions, a really dark grey mare who read out some well written if not slightly disturbing prose, and finally an old man who could juggle without the need of his horn. All of them wore that same band around their foreleg.

The old stallion remained on stage after his act, bowing to the audience's applause as the previous performers and the pegasus who introduced them stepped out. "Let's give another big cheer for the mares and stallions of the TAROT Theatre! Here to announce the return tour of the Great Equestrian Bohemian Caravan and their Band of Bards!" The crowd gave the requested cheer as all the performers bowed again. "And lets give a big thanks to our master of ceremonies this week, Mr. Gust Strong-Wind!" The pegasus bowed again, smiling with the barest hint of a blush. "Now then, as leader of the TAROT Performers, I, Court Drama, do hereby officially hand the reigns of this shindig over to Gust, and I'll let him carry the torch from here."

Court Drama bowed out, letting Gust Strong-Wind step forth again. "Thank you, Court. And thank all of you for a much appreciated welcome! We're glad to be back on the road after ten years of silence. The Great Equestrian Bohemian Caravan is back to delight your senses through the finest of arts. We invite you to peruse the crafts we've brought for you, learn a thing or two about being a craftsman yourself, or just stay right where you are and enjoy the myriad of performances we have planned here on the center stage. Please, enjoy yourselves, and have a pleasant Breezy Beaches Week!" With another cheer from the crowd, the ponies disembarked from the stage, save for Gust, who stayed just long enough to announce the next act: a preview of a play directed by Court Drama called 'Hinny of the Hills'.

"Wow," Wayfarer said simply. "Is this just something they do? Visit towns and start a fair completely out of the blue?"

"Indeed," Celestia said. "They used to travel Equestria, stopping in every town and paying a very lucrative amount of money to essentially take control for a week. But they haven't brought the caravan into a single town in the last ten years. At most a wagon or two would ride into the market place, fill up on supplies, then leave. I'd assumed it was because a large chunk of them had settled down in Manehaten to form the TAROT Theatre Troupe."

"Well," Rarity said looking around as the crowd either moved to the wagons or got closer to the stage. "Why don't we have a look around? I'm certain my fellow artists and I are eager to share ideas." She laughed under her breath, then led the others away to the circle of wagons.

Each wagon was loaded with curiosities both familiar and exotic. Some had booths to purchase commissions from an artist, one was selling books written by the gryphon behind the table, another few had Zebra's trying to teach ponies to talk in rhyme like them. Rarity insisted on stopping at every booth, and no one really complained, even Rainbow Dash oohed and ahhed at the works of art that had been brought or were being created before their very eyes. Eventually, they ran into Fluttershy, Applejack, and Shining Armor, who had come into town to see what the fuss was about.

"I remember hearing about this!" Shining said as he looked around with wide eyes. "Mom said she met her writing teacher at one of these!"

A few of the wagons hadn't been able to fit in town square, so they trotted down main street a ways to where a few more had set up shop. There weren't as many ponies gathering around these, so it was a bit quieter here. Quiet enough that they caught an argument going on through the open back door of one of the wagons.

"Cmon Chitin," came a deep yet energetic voice. "You can't hide in here all week."

"Incorrect." This voice was high pitched, but Wayfarer couldn't tell if it was male or female. "I can, in fact, remain here. I also posit that it will be safer for me to do so. The ponies will not appreciate my presence."

"And they never will if you don't talk to them! Think about it, you might just be the first positive experience these ponies have with your kind! So come out of this wagon and say hello!"

"Ughh... Very well, but you'll need to give me extra feedings after all of this."

"Not a problem, we'll have you looking like a healthy drone in no time."

The owners of the two voices stepped out of the wagon. The first was the stallion who did the quick paint demonstration on stage, who looked like he thought nothing in the entire world could be wrong with this day. He descended the steps and smiled up at the door, waiting for his companion to come out. By chance he glanced at Wayfarer and Twilight's party, and immediately his sunny disposition dropped like a rock. He turned to the wagon and looked like he was about to voice some concern before a changeling stepped out of the wagon.

"What is with that look on your face, Vivid?" The changeling asked before it looked up and saw what had caused the stallion worry. Whatever it was expecting by walking out in public, it probably wasn't running into Cadence and Shining Armor. Wayfarer turned to see that Shining looked ready to murder the changeling, and Cadence was about five steps away from a panic attack. "Nope," the changeling said simply, hesitating for only a moment before it bolted off the wagon and galloped down the street. Shining immediately started pursuing it, chasing it down with all his speed even as the painter stallion called after them.

"Wait! Stop! Don't hurt them!" The pleads fell on deaf ears as Shining tackled the changeling to the ground and started binding it with magic. Then the stallion tackled Shining off the changeling. "They're not gonna hurt anyone! They're a good changeling!" The changeling in question almost bolted again before the stallion quickly jumped off Shining and onto it. "Chitin stop! You're just making it worse!"

"I told you it was a bad idea Vivid!" The changeling called Chitin screamed. "Probability of successfully conversing with an average pony while undisguised? Zilch! Nadda! Not happening!"

"What in the name of Tartarus are you doing?!" Shining yelled as he got to his hooves. "That's a changeling! It needs to be brought to Canterlot!"

"Not this one!" Vivid yelled, his stocky form easily holding Chitin down. "Chitin belongs to the Caravan, they answer to Court Drama and Elizabeth!"

"Did someone say my name?' Came a familiar voice. Everyone turned to see that Court Drama had approached them. Shaking his head, he passed over everyone to pull Vivid off of Chitin. "You two know better, no roughhousing in public, people will get the wrong idea."

"He started it!" Vivid sneered, pointing at Shining Armor. "He scared Chitin and then tried to arrest them!"

"I scared them?!" Shining sneered right back at Vivid, staring him down. "You do know what that thing is right? It's a changeling! You know, the things that kidnapped my wife, brainwashed me, and then tried to take over Equestria? Ever heard of them?"

"Oh yeah, sure," Vivid scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Let's blame an entire race for the crimes of one group! Maybe if the Royal Guard weren't all a bunch of pansies-"

"Vivid, enough!" Court Drama said sternly. "Go take Chitin over to our wagon, and stay there until I come to you."

Vivid continued to glare at Shining Armor for a bit before snorting in irritation and then leading Chitin away, but not before Wayfarer heard him mumble a few obscenities. "Load of horse apples, so flipping racist, should have been a hippogryph."

Shining looked like he was about to go after them, before Cadence stepped in and stopped him with a hoof pressed against his chest. She looked into his eyes and shook her head, silently telling him to let it go. Shining growled a bit, then sighed and backed off, allowing Cadence to step forward and address Court Drama. "You do understand," she began. "That there is an ordinance in place that demands that all Changelings must be caught and brought to Canterlot for questioning about the events surrounding the wedding of myself and Prince Shining Armor?"

"I am aware," Court Drama said. "I played a lawmaker on broadway once. I've kept up a vested interest in Equestrian law ever since. I'm also known for choosing to interpret the law in my own way, namely that the ordinance only really applies to changelings that know anything about the event in question, which Chitin does not. Therefore, I, and many other members of the Caravan, saw no reason to bring them before you, or your fellow princesses."

"I don't think interpreting the law is your job," Shining said angrily. " I believe that's the business of the ministry and the princesses."

"Quite right," Court Drama nodded. "But seeing as the ministry and two of the four princesses are not here, I'll leave that to Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight Sparkle to decide." Twilight looked surprised that she was suddenly getting roped into princess duties out of the blue like this, and a quick glance at Cadence told Wayfarer that she was just as unprepared for this. "I would ask," Court continued. "That you be lenient with Chitin. When we found them, they had no memory of the invasion of Canterlot, nor of any plans to do so. They couldn't name their queen, nor where their hive was. We saw no reason to hand him over to the authorities after that, especially since, after a bit of experimenting, we were able to more than satisfy his feeding needs. We of the Caravan are open to all races and walks of life, doesn't matter if they're a pony, a gryphon, a diamond dog, a dragon, or yes, even a changeling."

Cadence and Twilight looked at each other, neither really sure what to do. Both of them tossed a glance to Celestia before turning back to Court Drama. "Can we have some time to think about this?" Twilight asked.

"Are you asking me or telling me, princess?" Court gave them a knowing smile, and yet it was not unkind or mocking in any way.

Realizing her flub, Twilight cleared her throat and spoke up with authority. "Princess Cadence and I will convene and discuss this and then get back to you before the day is done."

"In the meantime," Cadence added. "Please confine the Changeling to one of your wagons. If we catch them out again we'll summon guards to escort them to Canterlot."

"A reasonable request." Court Drama nodded, then bowed before the two of them. "I await your swift and merciful decision, your majesties. Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to keeping the show running smoothly." And with that he was off.

Shining wasn't exactly happy. "What is there to discuss?" He demanded angrily. "It's a changeling, it's dangerous. Letting it roam free is like letting a tiger loose in a sheep inclosure. What's to stop it from feeding on someone?"

"Court Drama said they found a way to feed it," Spike said, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Shining. "I'm just saying, maybe the tiger won't want to eat the sheep if it's already full."

"And how do we know that they've found a way to feed it? They could all be under it's influence or something."

"Well, umm..." Fluttershy mumbled. "Have you detected any mind control spells?"

Shining Armor opened his mouth, then immediately snapped it shut. he sighed irately, then addressed that question. "Ughh... No, I haven't. But again, I ask: How do we know they're capable of keeping it fed?"

"Its legs," Wayfarer spoke up, grabbing everyone's inquisitive stares. "I thought changelings were supposed to have holes in their legs, like they were decaying away. I didn't see any holes in Chitins' legs, so maybe that means they're healthy and well fed?"

"I did notice," Rarity added. "That, and that its wings looked far more glossy and less torn up then the one's that invaded Canterlot."

"Ooh!" Fluttershy spoke up, suddenly getting excited. "When a Gem Beetle has a healthy diet, their carapace actually starts glowing when brought into sunlight. It's why they only live in caves so as not to alert predators. Maybe the changelings actually look really pretty when you give them lots of love?"

"And besides!" Rainbow Dash said, suddenly swooping up Spike and presenting him to Shining like a prized trophy. "Every dragon we've ever run into has tried to maim us or otherwise acted like a total jerk, but you don't see Spike acting like that. Who's to say there aren't some good changelings out there?"

"Alright!" Shining shouted. "I get the point. Celestia, what do you think?"

Celestia had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, her hoof tapping her chin in thought. At the sound of her name she raised her head up with a start as everyone looked to her. "Oh no," she said, suddenly smiling. "I'm not going to tell you what you should do. I'm on vacation, remember? This one is all up to you, Cadence, Shining, Twilight." The three of them looked at each other unsurely. "Though I will admit I'm curious as to the process of how they feed the little bug, if indeed they are. Oh well, guess that's a mystery you three will have to solve for yourself. Good luck! I'm off to enjoy a play!" And then she left, chuckling to herself. Everyone else just sort of looked at each other in bewilderment, sharing confused looks and shrugging shoulders.

"Well I guess we'd better go deal with this," Twilight said, disappointment at missing the fair for a day evident in her voice.

"Do you want me to come with?" Wayfarer asked.

"No, Celestia's right, we should be able to handle this ourselves."

"We should probably talk to some of the other Bohemians," Cadence suggested. "I saw the Changeling playing an instrument in the band when they rolled in. Maybe they'll be good character witnesses. And even if the changeling is brainwashing people, there's no way it could have gotten to everyone in the Caravan before someone noticed."

"And I'll have a spell ready to confirm whether they are or not," Shining added. "I'm not letting anyone else fall victim to those things while I'm around."

So with a wave of goodbye, the group dispersed to either continue enjoying the fair, or to start an investigation. At the end of the wagon line on main street, Elizabeth poked her head out of her velvet blue fortune teller's tent, her lips pouting in disappointment as she watched the ponies she'd been waiting for walk away. "Oh drat," she said. "I almost had em."

Chapter 33: Gust

The second day of the Caravan's stay in Ponyville started much like the first, a big loud musical number which served as an introduction for a few opening acts, followed by Gust Strong-Wind introducing the first of many more performances and "workshops" as he was calling them. Wayfarer would have been there with Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence, but those three had left early that morning to deal with the changeling called Chitin. Yesterday the three had decided to allow Chitin to mill about the fair on a few conditions, namely that they would be escorted by a royal guard. Further, Chitin would not be allowed to use his shapeshifting magic and would remain undisguised for the duration of their time in Ponyville. Court Drama had debated that demand, as Chitin was supposed to help with a few performances that required their shapeshifting abilities, but Shining wouldn't budge on that one. Lastly, Chitin would have to submit themselves to Shining's interrogation. Even if the Caravan had asked all the pertinent questions themselves, Shining was determined to hear it all for himself. One last thing they did before granting Chitin amnesty was that they had to demonstrate just how Chitin was being fed. Shining and Twilight seemed unwilling to explain the process, their blushes saying a lot more than their silence, but Cadence just started laughing uproariously before elaborating that Chitin was essentially the Caravan's "Cuddle Bug." There was apparently a list of volunteers that offered their beds every night to Chitin, where they would take on the volunteer's biggest fantasy and provide... comfort. That was just about all Wayfarer was comfortable hearing.

So instead of the Sparkle family, Wayfarer was instead hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Fluttershy had seen a delightful stained glass maker yesterday and commissioned her to create butterfly shaped window ornaments for herself and all her friends. The gryphon in charge had said she'd only be able to make two ornaments for her while in Ponyville, but promised the other four before the end of the month. The first one The gryphon completed was Rainbow Dash's, thus why Fluttershy was dragging Dash along with her.

"Come on Rainbow," Fluttershy said, leading a disgruntled Dash by the wing. "The little ornaments that Gwendalin showed me were just so adorable, I know you'll love this!"

"Flutters," Dash groaned. "You do know I don't go out for things that are 'adorable,' right?"

"It's adorable the way you think that matters," Wayfarer said, earning an annoyed scowl from Rainbow. "Just let Fluttershy have this, I bet it'll look nice regardless."

They approached the booth with all the stained glass, the Gryphon was speaking with another customer at the moment, which gave Wayfarer time to admire her craftsmanship. Most of it looked like they belonged hanging in the halls of Canterlot, just on a much smaller scale. The gryphon immediately recognized Fluttershy and presented Rainbow's butterfly to her. Fluttershy and Wayfarer oohed at the design, Rainbow rolled her eyes before giving it a look and going wide eyed. Wayfarer only knew a few butterfly species off the top of his head, and the ornament looked like a swallow tail of sorts, only its wings were far more jagged and flamelike. The actual pieces of glass making up the butterfly were beautiful swirls of analogous colours focussed around the 6 colours that made up Rainbow's mane. There really was only one word for it, as Rainbow demonstrated.

"Cooooool," she whispered.

"Glad you like it," the gryphon said with a smirk. "Had to forge a lot of new glass last night for this beauty, but I'd dare say she was worth it."

The gryphon handed Rainbow the ornament, which Rainbow took gently into her hooves as if afraid the mere act of touching it would shatter its beauty. She stared at it for a while as Fluttershy made small talk with the gryphon, eventually Rainbow took it by the loop of string and pulled it over her head, letting it hang from her neck. She winced as some of the points jabbed into her coat, but she smiled through the pain and looked up at Wayfarer.

"Ho-how does it look?" She asked.

"I don't think it's meant to be a necklace Dash," Wayfarer laughed. "But it does look pretty awesome."

"Indeed it does!" Wayfarer and Rainbow turned to see Gust walking up to them, admiring the ornament. "Gwendalin is a wizard with her claws, and even I think that's some of her best work. You three enjoying the festival?"

"Oh, yes!" Fluttershy said, joining them. "You all are so very talented! I wish I could be creative enough to make stuff like this."

"What are you talking about Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked with bemusement. "You're already one of Ponyville's best singers, now you wanna be an artist too?"

Fluttershy started to curl into herself and blush. "I-I'm not THAT good."

"Sure you are! You just have stage fright is all. Hey," Rainbow turned to Gust and pointed at him. "You're a big shot theatre guy right? How do you get over stage fright?"

"Well," Gust said, tapping his chin. "It doesn't happen overnight. It only happens in baby steps." For some reason this made Fluttershy smile at Gust. "An important thing to remember though is that, when you are on stage , you need to focus on the reason you're there instead of on the crowd of eyes watching you. My reason for being on stage has always been to make people smile and laugh, and occasionally make people cry if I'm part of a more somber production. But you don't have to be on stage to be a performer. Heck, you don't even have to put yourself out there just because you're an artist. If you enjoy singing, dancing, drawing, writing, or whatever, it doesn't have to exist for other people's consumption. It could exist exclusively for the artist to enjoy."

"Heh, you know, I would say, 'But where's the fun in that!'" Rainbow Dash sighed, rolling her eyes. She then smiled and wrapped a hoof around Fluttershy and pulling her into a one foreleg hug. "But I can dig it if you just wanna sing to animals Fluttershy. Not everyone wants to be the in the spotlight like me."

"Exactly," Gust said, nodding. "Show offs like you, Miss Dash, and myself belong in front of an audience. with all those ponies cheering our names and worshipping the ground we walk on." He smirked knowingly at that, even as Rainbow seemed to falter in surprise. "Am I right?"

Rainbow looked terrified for a moment, and Wayfarer was now eyeing Gust with no small amount of suspicion. "Well," Rainbow said slowly. "It's like you said, we have to go on stage with a purpose."

"Of course, of course." Gust tilted his head a little, raising an eye. "But what's your purpose for being on stage Miss Dash?"

Rainbow was actually starting to look a little annoyed at this line of questioning, but she answered with confidence. "I'm an adrenaline junky I like going fast and showing everyone my stuff. It gets the blood pumping to perform death defying stunts."

Gust Strong-Wind seemed satisfied with that answer. He smiled and nodded again, before turning away. "Well, I need to get back to work then. It's been nice chatting with you all, please enjoy the rest of the Festival."

Rainbow Dash snorted in irritation, walking off with Fluttershy and Wayfarer in tow. "Nosy punk. Who does he think he is asking all those questions?"

"A talent scout, maybe?" Wayfarer suggested. "Don't let him get to you Rainbow, I've met enough theatre ponies to know that they're all eccentrics. Ooh is that a funnel cake stand over there?"

They hurried over to the confection vendor, letting their thoughts of Gust blow away. As they left the Glass cutter's stand in their wake however, Elizabeth rushed up to Gwendalin, thoroughly out of breath. The gryphon just stared at her with confusion until Elizabeth calmed herself. "Is the chariot here?" She asked desperately. "I followed the butterflies and the cards said that the chariot would be here!"

"Miss Elizabeth," Gwendalin said with exasperation. "You can't come running over here every ten minutes shouting nonsense. You'll scare away all my customers. Now, go back to your tent and tell some sweet filly that she'll meet her true love some time in the near future."

"Oh I've just done that," Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. "Though this filly will inevitably run into a myriad of misfortune when her father suddenly loses all his wealth, thus beginning a long train of tragedy that will teach her the value of honest work and lead her to the mare she is destined to be with. Although she didn't seem to like the idea of being with another mare for some reason, or the train of tragedy. Perhaps I should have called it a deluge of drama then?"

"Elizabeth, go back to sleep."

Chapter 34: Hourglass

"I gotta say," Pinkie Pie admitted to herself, Applejack and Wayfarer. "I feel kind of self conscious about this festival. I mean, I've thrown some pretty big parties, but nothing like this."

"Well if every party you threw was this big Pinkie," Wayfarer pointed out. "You'd probably be arrested for being a menace to society. As it is, you're just hoofing the line."

"Gotta agree with Wayfarer on this one," Applejack chimed in. "If I'm being honest though, this festival couldn't have come to town at a worse time. Harvest season is starting soon and my family needs to sell off our remaining stock to make room for the new crop."

"I'm beginning to see why people laughed at the idea of me moving here to try and get some peace and quiet." Wayfarer sighed, shaking his head. "If the town isn't in danger then there's a party going on. And if neither of those are happening, then someone is dealing with personal drama that I somehow get ropped into."

"But we rope you into it because you're just so good at listening!" Pinkie said happily, pouncing at Wayfarer's neck to give him a big hug. "That's why we like you silly! Hey, you should be the town shrink!"

"No thank you." Wayfarer pushed Pinkie off him with an annoyed look. "I like you guys, but I think you deserve a professional doctor, and not just a really good friend who will listen."

"What?" Applejack snorted. "You think none of us are right in the head? I'd say I'm pretty well adjusted all things considered."

"AJ, no one is completely right in the head. But I will say that out of all of our friends, you've got a pretty good handle on things."

"Mighty kind of you to say Wayfarer," Applejack said, tipping her hat. "But I'd say Rarity and Twilight are pretty solid too."

"Rarity, maybe. Twilight... well, you weren't there when her Shadow manifested. I do worry about her sometimes. Especially when she needs to address her Princess duties."

"Like right now?" Pinkie asked, pointing over to the other side of the plaza.

Through the crowd, the three of them could spot Twilight, four royal Guards, and the Changeling from the other day, Chitin. It looked as though she was talking animatedly with the bug pony, and occasionally she would stop and Chitin would respond with a short answer, at which point Twilight would start up again. Her excitement was understandable, this was the first docile Changeling she, or possibly anyone in Equestria, had ever seen. So as long as Shining Armor wasn't going to clap them in irons and drag them back to Canterlot, Twilight was going to have only a few more days to satiate her curiosity about the race. The four guards with her were a little more excessive than the one Chitin was required to have if they were going to walk around the festival unbothered, but Wayfarer suspected that was on Shining's orders just for Twilight's protection. Twilight didn't seem to mind though, which did surprise Wayfarer a little bit, as she always seemed to resent the idea of a personal guard following her. The chance at discovering new information was probably overshadowing that little pet peeve of hers.

"That's different," Applejack said, looking slightly disgusted about the changeling. "That's not her being 'Twilight Sparkle: Princess of Equestria.' That's her being 'Twilight Sparkle: Egg Head.' And that's the Twilight who we know and love. And even if she's had some... 'episodes' in the past, she's alright now."

"But 'Twilight Sparkle: Princess of Equestria' is still part of who she is," Wayfarer said. "And that's the part that worries me."

"Talking behind your friends' back like that seems a little rude if you ask me," said mare as she joined the three of them. Wayfarer recognized her as Hourglass, one of the TAROT Performers from Monday's opening act.

"And eavesdropping seems even more rude," Applejack said with annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to say hi, and ask if you were enjoying the Fes, I do apologize for overhearing you."

"The fez?" Pinkie Pie asked. "What fez? I'm not wearing a fez. If there's a fez, then somepony should be wearing it. Fez's are cool."

Hourglass chuckled at that before correcting Pinkie. "No, not 'fez' with a Z, I'm talking about 'fes' with an S! 'FES', as in Festival? You get it?"

"Oooohhhhhhhh," Pinkie said, then after a moment tilted her head in confusion. "I don't get it."

"It's cool, not everyone does. So, you three having fun?"

"Oh yeah! Loads of fun!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing around a bit. "I'm the resident party planner and this is supper dupper work you guys have done!"

"Well it's nice to know we have the stamp of approval from Ponyville's party animal! Right on girl!" Hourglass beamed as she held up a hoof in the familiar gesture of asking for a 'Hoof bump,' which Pinkie happily obliged to. She then turned to look at Wayfarer and Applejack. "What about you two? How are you enjoying the Fes?"

"Well it is a lot of fun," Applejack said hesitantly. "But I got a business to run, and all my customers are here at your little get together. If I don't sell the rest of my apples by the end of the month, that's gonna be a heavy loss for my family."

Hourglass looked like she'd just gotten slapped in the face. Wayfarer was about to tell Applejack that there's such a thing as being too honest, and Applejack herself looked to be ready to apologize, but before any of them could do anything, Hourglass' expression went from hurt to determined. She quickly looked around the crowd and, spotting who she was looking for, bolted off. Within moments she was dragging back a very confused looking Court Drama.

"Hourglass?" The elderly stallion stuttered. "What in blazes?"

"Bank book," she said. "Now. We're buying our food rations in apples this month."

"Oh you don't need to-" Applejack started.

"Shut up and take my money!" Hourglass shouted.

"Pretty sure it's my money," Court mumbled as he fished out a ledger from his side bag. "How many barrels can you spare miss Applejack?"

"Shoot, I'm actually trying to get rid of them." Applejack explained her situation again.

With a nod, Court Drama wrote something down in his ledger and gave it to Hourglass. "Go give this to the Quartermaster, then round up some stallions who aren't busy and bring them over to Applejack's stall with whatever money the QM gives you. Buy as many apples as you can with it and bring them back to the fridge wagon. And be quick about it, you're next performance is in an hour."

"Thank you sir!" Hourglass saluted at Court Drama, took the ledger, then pulled him into a hug. She then grabbed onto Applejack and started pulling her away. "C'mon Miss Jack, let's find some strapping young stallions to watch us girls do all the heavy lifting!"

"Say what now?" Applejack said before being dragged off.

Wayfarer and Pinkie just stared off at them in bewilderment.

"Nicest girl I've had the pleasure of teaching," Court Drama said, chuckling with bemusement. "A bit too intense at times, but she's always looking out for everyone. Whelp, enjoy the festival you two."

"Thank you," Wayfarer said, still a little weirded out.

"By Mister Drama!" Pinkie shouted with a wave. "So what do you wanna do now Wayfarer?"

"Well we've seen pretty much everything the 'Fes' has brought in. Three days is sort of the perfect amount of time for this sort of thing, I've no idea how they're going to fill out another three days before everyone gets bored."

"Well duh, haven't you seen the signs everywhere? They're trying to get everyone in Ponyville to try something new, then on the last two days everyone is going to exhibit their stuff!" Wayfarer blanched at that and spun around to look in the direction of the stage, where there was a large sign advertising the closing ceremonies and exhibition. Pinkie continued with a giggle. "We should probably be looking for something to get our hooves dirty in. I'm thinking about learning how to write poetry!"

"You?" Wayfarer scoffed. "A poet?"

"I can write a limerick with the best of them Wayfarer," Pinkie said proudly pulling out a feathered beret from seemingly nowhere and placing it atop her head. "It isn't that strange."

"I guess that's true." Wayfarer wasn't even going to comment on the hat or where it came from.

"Maybe you should try painting or something? You seem really good with your hooves, might be right up your alley."

"Nah, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, I'd like to try something more obscure."

"Alright, but don't get too obscure, I've already staked my claim as Ponyville's biggest weirdo."

"Well at least you admit it. See you Pinkie."

The two waved goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. Wayfarer headed down the same road that they had met Chitin and Vivid Dreams on, finally getting a good look at just what was down that way. The booths there were nothing that extraordinary... save for one at the end. A large blue tent with black stripes caught his attention, something about its familiarity drawing him in. He was a few feet from the flap when he noticed a sign hanging off the front.

Out searching for the Fool, the Sun, the Fortune, the Magician, and the Chariot. If you need your hoof red, there's a painting workshop at 4 O'clock. Also, he's not the one you're looking for, they'll actually be at the painting workshop too.

"Fortune tellers," Wayfarer muttered, shaking his head. "Guess I'll try my hooves at painting then, I guess."

Chapter 35: Vivid Dreams

"So how is the whole Changeling situation working out, Twilight?" Rarity asked as she, Twilight, Spike, and Wayfarer walked among rows and rows of amateur paintings.

The exhibition had started, and many Ponyvillians it seemed had taken up painting over everything else. They'd set up the displays on sheets of drywall, arranged in an empty field near the Caravan's encampment to resemble an art gallery, only with a lot more grass and a clear view of the sky. Most of it was very low quality, as to be expected, but there were a few pieces that even Wayfarer could tell were made by ponies that had real potential behind them. That did not include his own however. His rendition of Twilight's tree was barely recognizable, but he certainly enjoyed the experience regardless. Twilight was a bit miffed that she was so busy with the changeling yesterday that being part of the exhibition hadn't even crossed her mind, so Rarity's question seemed to annoy her more than anything.

"It's doing well as it can be," she sighed. "Chitin is actually very polite and well spoken. They've been answering all my questions to the best of their ability. But that doesn't mean much since, apparently, Chitin is separated from something called a 'Hivemind' and has trouble recalling even basic information about Changeling Social structure. They said that, as a drone, his queen didn't think he needed any important information, so they were pretty much a blank slate when the Caravan found him."

"That's kind of freaky," Spike said, shivering. "Being a puppet with no personality of your own, just... existing? How could anypony live like that?"

"Well I guess being a blank slate at least means they have no desire to hurt anyone, right?" Wayfarer asked.

"There is that." Twilight nodded, then something caught her eye. She made a sharp turn away from the other three and walked up to a very peculiar painting. It was an abstract work, swirls of blacks and greens vortexing into its center, drawing the viewer in with its eerie yet mesmerizing pattern. Looking down at the introductory label at the bottom, she hummed in bemusement. "Speak of the devil."

The label read 'Hivemind ~by Chitin'

"I thought the exhibition was just for Ponyvillians?" Spike asked aloud.

"Oh no," came a voice from behind the group. They turned around to see Vivid, the pony who vouched for Chitin on the first day. "It's open to all ameteur artists. We've been teaching Chitin all sorts of things since we picked them up, little guy just soaks it all up like a sponge." Vivid joined the other four in examining the painting the changeling had made. He tilted his head to the side, pursing his lips in thought. "Though I must say, the images they render when they paint are never really all that clear. They can paint objects from real life, but it all looks like blurry photographs. His abstract stuff is his best work, they said it's the best way they can find to explain their, 'changelingness.'"

Twilight oohed at that and summoned up a quill and parchment and started to take notes of the painting.

"Hey, listen," Vivid continued, his ears flopping to the side in embarrassment. "I wanted to apologize for acting the way I did the other day. I get really protective of my friends sometimes, specially Chitin. Thanks for giving them a chance your highness."

"You don't have to apologize," Twilight said, not taking her eyes off the painting. "Wanting to protect our friends is completely natural. That being said, you did assault a member of the Royal Guard and the Royal Family, so if you want to apologize to someone, maybe Shining Armor should be the pony you look for."

Vivid snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'd get right on that, but at the moment I'm busy helping out with the exhibition. We honestly didn't expect so many ponies to go for painting over everything else. Heh, Gust and Hourglass are probably grumbling with jealousy right about now."

"Do excuse me," Rarity said, catching Vivid's attention and smirking at him. "While it is very polite of you to offer up an apology, I believe you may have skipped a step and failed to give us a proper introduction."

Vivid seemed very flustered at that, especially when Rarity batted her eyes at him for added effect. "Oh, ummm, my name is Vivid Dreams. I'm from North East Isles. The Coltish Highlands to be exact."

"I thought I detected the slightest hint of an accent from you!" Rarity stepped closer to Vivid swinging her hair to the side a bit. "Well, Mr. Dreams,"

"Please," Vivid said, suddenly taking a step towards Rarity in turn and giving her a smirk of his own, surprising her. "Just Vivid, 'Mr. Dreams' sounds exceedingly corny."

"That it does," Rarity responded, recovering from Vivid's approach as she brought a hoof up to his purple neckerchief and lifted it up, pretending to examine it's stitchwork. "Well, Vivid, shouldn't a handsome and well dressed stallion be chomping at the bit to give a sincere and heartfelt apology to someone he's wronged?"

"That he should," Vivid hummed, lifting his own hoof and taking hold of Rarity's. "If you happen to find a 'handsome and well dressed' stallion, do let me know, because all I see right now is a lovely mare with the most awe inspiring violet mane I've ever seen in my life." Once again Rarity lost her focus as Vivid gave her a sultry glare. "I'm sorry, I seem to be getting lost in those sapphire eyes of yours. What were we talking about, Miss...?"

"Rarity," she breathed out heavily, before clearing her throat and doing her best to turn the charm back on. "Just Rarity, if you please."

"I do please," Vivid said, before bending his neck and placing a small kiss on her hoof. Immediately Rarity pulled back shock, and like a magic spell breaking Vivid went into a panic. "Oh jeez I'm sorry! Was that too much? I didn't mean to go that far! You just started trying to charm me and, and then I just assumed I could flirt back and I should have just realized that wasn't what you wanted and... and... I'm sorry." He trailed off, crossing his front hooves and doing his best not to look in Rarity's general vicinity.

"No no no!" Rarity quickly said, quickly stepping forward and placing a hoof on Vivid's shoulder. "I was just... unprepared for you to try and out charm me! Usually when I do that stallions just fall at my hooves! You're the first pony to actually try and turn it back on me. You're..." Rarity paused, then she giggled a bit. "You are rather good at it."

"Th-thanks... I guess?" Vivid said, still obviously nervous. "I have some... mentors, I guess you could call them. They were just supposed to teach me about the arts and how to talk to people, but they would flirt with me all the time and they sort of encouraged me to flirt back. I shouldn't have taken that sort of familiarity with you though."

"No, I started it. I'll take the majority of the blame." Rarity continued to smile at Vivid, who eventually smiled back.

"Your mane, it really is beautiful though."

"And you are a legitimately handsome stallion, Vivid."

"That is very kind of you to say." Vivid shuffled in place, a blush started to creep through his grey coat. "I promise I'll go find Prince Shining Armor as soon as the exhibition is over and give him an honest apology for hitting him. But I do have to remain here for now... say, umm, would you mind terribly if I asked you for something?"

"What is it?" Rarity asked.

"Would you model for my next painting? You can have the finished piece when it's done, I'd just like to see if I can capture that hair of yours."

Rarity smirked and brushed a hoof through her mane. "Trust me darling, no acrylic in Equestria could capture beauty such as this."

Vivid laughed at that. "Maybe just a fraction of it? It can't hurt to try, right?"

"No, it most certainly wouldn't." Rarity sauntered up to Vivid's side and pushed at his shoulder. "Could we do it now? You just need to hang around here for the exhibition, but that doesn't mean you can't still paint while we wait."

"I actually have some of my supplies here now. Let's find a place with a little less hoof traffic though, I don't want to get in anyone elses way."

"Of course, lead the way good sir!" As the two unicorns walked in step with each other, Rarity turned to Twilight, Wayfarer, and Spike and called out to them. "Don't wait up you three!"

Wayfarer and Twilight shook their heads in bemusement. Spike, however, looked like he was about to blow his top. Behind them, Elizabeth stepped around the corner, a confident smirk on her face as she approached them. She looked absolutely giddy, right up until Court Drama stepped in front of her.

"Miss Elizabeth," he sighed in exasperation. "You've been neglecting your tent since we got here."

Elizabeth tried to push Court out of the way, her annoyance clear in her voice. "I've been waiting for one of these new Persona users to walk into my tent. But not one has seen fit to grace my presence with theirs!"

"Shhh!" Court hissed as he started to push her away. She relented and allowed herself to be lead away from the crowds. "If you're so excited to meet them, then you can come with me, I'm going to have a word with one Miss 'Sunny Skies' and one Mister 'Scrawl,' but after that, you go back to your tent and tell people their fortunes."

"Very well then," Elizabeth huffed. "But I simply do not understand all the cloak and dagger going on."

"Because," Court said, his eye flicking over to town hall, just in time to see a figure disappear from it's roof. "Trust is hard to build when your allies were being toyed with before you arrived."

Chapter 36: The Tactical Arcana Response and Obliteration Troupe

While the rest of Ponyville was distracted by the fair, Town Hall was left empty and quiet. Even the large gathering room was vacant, though that was by design today. With the exhibitions happening outside, Town Hall was now the perfect neutral ground for conversation. Court was busy admiring some of the decor, while Elizabeth stood in the center of the tall chamber, impatiently tapping a hoof against the floor while they waited for the other two participants of their secret meeting. Court had sent a carrier to deliver the message to Sunny Skies half an hour ago when they had secured the premises, but whether or not they would show up was questionable. However, soon enough, the doors creaked open for just a moment before quickly clicking shut. Sunny Skies and Scrawl entered in, Sunny looking stone faced yet calm, while Scrawl just looked bemused at the proceedings. Court Drama rejoined Elizabeth and gave the friendliest smile he could to the newcomers.

"Glad you two accepted my invitation for a chat," he said, even as Sunny lifted the invitation in question and read from it.

"Dear Princess Celestia," was as far as she got before she looked up with a dubious glare at Court Drama. "Let's just start there, I don't know what gave you the impression I could deliver this to Princess Celestia, as I'm here for Princess Twilight. If you wish, I could summon her instead, would that be preferable?"

Court laughed nervously. "No, it's definitely Princess Celestia and Discord I wanted to speak to. And I have reason to believe the two of you are them."

"Oh? And what, pray tell, would lead you to that conclusion?"

"Your Majesty, I'm not here to dance around the issue." Court grimaced, not in annoyance, but concern that this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. "If you want me to explain myself, I'd be happy to cast off all disguises and answer all questions, but I've a distinct impression you are in a position where trust isn't going to be given lightly." Sunny didn't speak, merely waited for Court to continue. Sighing, Court Drama proceeded. "My associate, Gust Strong-Wind, has a rather peculiar ability as a pegasus. He can see when an individual has a certain something about them, something that hasn't been seen in Equestria for a thousand years. At least, until we came along."

"So your pegasus saw something in me that shouldn't be there," Sunny said. "And that makes you think I'm Princess Celestia."

"Not just that," Court explained. He nodded over to Elizabeth, who took the opportunity to wave pleasantly to Sunny. "Elizabeth here is also blessed with peculiar powers. She can see through people and know them better than they might know themselves. She's been following you, your pupil Twilight Sparkle, her friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Wayfarer. She's been chomping at the bit to tell you your fortunes and refers to you in particular as 'The Sun.' Both her and Gust have confirmed to me that you are indeed Princess Celestia, and that you and your entourage are wielders of a long lost power known as Persona."

Sighing, Celestia finally dropped her disguise, with Discord following suit. The two of them closed the distance between themselves and Court, towering over both him and Elizabeth. "Very well, you've caught me, so now I'll just continue onto the next bit of your letter." Levitating the message back in front of her, she started to read again. "We are aware of your current campaign against the Shadows and wish to provide aid. We realize that this might generate some degree of mistrust and we are willing to provide evidence that we are on your side if you will hear us out. Please come to Town Hall at three PM ets. ets." Celestia rolled the note back up and looked down at Court. "If you know about the Shadows and Personas, then I can only guess that the two of you are Persona users as well."

"Yes," Court Drama nodded. "As well as Gust, Hourglass, Vivid Dreams, and a few other members of our Caravan."

"The members of TAROT?"

Court nodded again. "The Tactical Arcana Response and Obliteration Troup. We've been protecting Equestria from the Shadows for ten years now."

That caught Celestia off guard, her eyes went wide with surprise. "Ten years? That's not possible! Surely I would have noticed if this was happening by now. The earthquakes, the disappearance of my subjects, Persona users active again!"

"Yes, well, we have been doing a good job keeping it all a secret from Equestria as a whole, it hasn't been easy, but we've done our best."

Celestia's eyes narrowed, it was as if she were trying to glare a hole through Court's head now. "The last Persona Users I knew, before Twilight and her friends, tried to destroy all of Equestria. They were friends and family, and I did whatever I had to do to stop them regardless of how much it hurt. So I ask you, right now, why I should trust you? Especially now that you reveal that this has been going on for a decade and you've been hiding it from me."

"That is actually my doing," Elizabeth said as she stepped forward. "I am Elizabeth, I am the Teller of Fortunes and the Traveler of Journeys."

"Wait," Celstia said, eyeing up Elizabeth's dress, her boots, and her hawkish yellow eyes. "That outfit, I've seen something like it before. Do you know of ponies by the name Agero and Agatha?"

Elizabeth pursed her lips in thought, humming to herself before providing an answer. "Those names are not familiar to me, but if they wore garments similar to my own, then I might hazard a guess that they are like me and not of this world."

"Not from... I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"Perhaps we should start from the beginning then," Court Drama suggested. "Elizabeth has taught us many things about the way this world works. Many things she's said still confuse myself and my fellow members of TAROT, but maybe you can understand it better than us. Elizabeth, if you would regale us with your story?"

"It would be my pleasure," Elizabeth began.

"I come from a place between Dream and Reality, Mind and Matter, as my former master would describe it. It is a place that exists everywhere and nowhere at the same time, so long as there are people to be connected to it. The collective unconscious, or to be more specific, I come from the Velvet Room. It is there that my master and his creations, including myself, would help cultivate the power of the Wild Card with contract holders. There have been many contract holders, innumerable even. One of them, I became quite attached to, and when he went away, I set out to find him, abandoning my duties as a Velvet Room attendant. I have been on many a journey ever since, each journey ending in an answer, but never the answer I was searching for.

"Ten years ago, of your time, I happened to stumble on this most wondrous world of yours! The flow of the collective unconscious was strong here, as if it were resonating with thousands of minds, millions even. I believed that such a strong core of spirit would be a good place to start my next journey. When I arrived, I ingratiated myself with the Bohemians of the Caravan. It wasn't that difficult, they loved my fortune telling skills and adored my eccentric storytelling.

"We'd stopped in a valley not far out of Manehatten. The Caravan had planned to stop there for it's usual bounds of gaiety, and to restock out coffers. But one of the children strayed too far off the beaten path and fell into a vast cave system. A number of individuales, myself and Mr. Court Drama included, went looking for the child and descended into the cave. There, I was most surprised to find shadows snooping about. I'd thought they were only tied to one world, but it seems that they've infested many worlds in fact! So I took the lead and dispatched them post haste with my Personas, saving the child and returning to the safety of the Caravan."

Court Drama took up the narrative from here, his face solom. "When Elizabeth explained the Shadows to us, many felt the need to inform you and the guards as soon as possible. However, as she said, Elizabeth advised against it."

"The Shadows are attention seekers as it were," Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "I told Court and the others that the more minds that were aware of the Shadows, the more power they could accumulate. If the ponies of Equestria started hearing voices in the back of their head, they might just chalk it up to everyday anxiety and and worry. But if they knew about the Shadows and their effect on people, everyone would panic at every little stray thought that went through their head, and the misery would just make the Shadow's that much stronger."

"So Elizabeth and I," Court continued. "And a number of members of the Caravan, took it upon ourselves to try and eradicate the Shadows and discover their reason for existing in our world. We set up shop in Manehatten, Elizabeth gave us the designs for devices that allowed us to summon our own Personas, and for the last 10 years we've been to every corner of Equestria in our mission. Since then, we managed to recover some lost tomes that detail the time period before the fall of Luna a thousand years ago, and the identities of the original Arcana, as well as their mortal enemy: The Beast."

"A rather plain and uninspired name if you ask me," Elizabeth said. "I would have called it 'The Great Misery' or 'The Biggest Most Awful Most Tragic event in Equestrian History."

Celestia did not immediately respond, she seemed to enter a sort of meditative trance as she considered what she might do next.

"I guess you were right to try and hide the nature of our work Celestia," Discord said. "Maybe letting Shining Armor, his garishly coloured Wife and all those guards in on the big secret wasn't the smartest idea?"

"The Beast suffered a great blow during the Summer Sun Celebration," Celestia shot back. "I'm not so ignorant as to believe the danger on that front is over, but I do believe our attention should be on the ponies who have accelerated it's return in the first place. The Cloaked Ponies." She turned to look at Court Drama and Elizabeth. "Do you heard of an individual who refers to themselves as 'The Hunger'?"

Elizabeth seemed to go pale for a moment before she pulled out a thick book and started to hoof through it. "I've known only one person whose Arcana was 'The Hunger.' But he cannot be here, it is impossible for a mortal such as he to pass from one world to the next. Did this individual give any other name?"

"No," Celestia said. "Only that they've gone by many names before, none of which we would know."

That did not help Elizabeth's expression.

"Elizabeth?" Court said, putting a hoof to her shoulder. "What is it?"

"There are many entities who claim to have many names," Elizabeth explained, closing her book with a sigh. "None of them very pleasant. Until I know for sure what is pushing these events forward, I could not give you even an inkling of what they could be."

"Well," Court said, looking to Celestia. "I imagine you have many other questions about our efforts over the last ten years, but that is the long and short of it. Would you be willing to trust us enough to join forces?"

"I still have no idea who you are," Celestia said. "I have only your word that you have Equestria's best interests at heart. What if you are in league with the cloaked ponies?
What would I do then?"

"Unfortunately, we have nothing other than our word that we are not your enemies. Why else would we ask you to come here so we could make ourselves plain? We seek to protect Equestria just as you do, and we have the means to do so!"

"...Show me. Show me, as the old phrase goes, the means to overcome life's hardships."

Court sighed, then reached into his pocket to pull out a small device that he then attached like a collar around his neck. On either side was a blue sphere radiating weird energies that Celestia couldn't identify. Elizabeth stepped a bit away and Discord joined her. Court's collar began to buzz and humm with a combination of electrical and magical energies. The air in the hall began to move cyclically around him, he glanced up at the windows with some concern before looking at Celestia.

"Be glad there's some daylight out, otherwise the light show might attract some attention." With a sharp intake of breath, Court then shouted out "ENOCH!!"

Magic exploded out of the collar around Court's neck, accompanied by a loud cracking noise that Celestia worried would carry outside. The familiar energies of a Persona Summoning swirled around the two of them, until a tall figure in white with winged greaves and bracers arrose. A chain was attached to the Persona's neck, flailing around in the gust of energy. On its back were another set of wings, but they were neither feathered nor made to look like bat wings. They were shaped like hoops that had a few spiked points jutting out of the opposite side from where they connected to its body. The figure, Enoch, gave a bow to Celestia, then quickly vanished back into the whirlwind of magic, which dissipated just as quickly. Court seemed completely unaffected by whatever effort he must have put into that brief summoning.

Celestia started to pace after a moment, muttering thoughts to herself. None of the other three thought to interrupt her, though Discord did smirk and summon an egg timer. He wound up the device then handed it to Elizabeth, who took it in her hooves with curiosity and watched as the timer ran down. When it finally dinged, Celestia turned around.

"I have an idea." She then realized what Discord had done and rolled her eyes. "Court, you are to have your Persona users report to me and Shining Armor tomorrow afternoon. You will be invited into the castle, with us as your escorts, to the place where the Shadows lurk. You will show us how you deal with them, and then I will place each of you in the protective custody of the Royal Guard. You will not be allowed to return to the Caravan until after the night of the 8th."

"Ah," Court nodded in understanding. "Then you recognize the significance of that night, and why we've chosen to come now of all times?"

"What?" Celestia said with confusion. Court Drama seemed just as confused.

"You... you do realize that the 8th is a New Moon? And that Shadows are at their strongest then? Because of the lack of yours and Luna's protective lights?"

It was quiet enough that one might be able to hear the world's smallest pin drop. The horror on Celestia's face was almost comical if the situation wasn't so bad. She was only thinking about the coronation of Twilight's castle, and how much she wanted that night go go well. But now she was acutely aware that she had inadvertently planned such a momentous occasion in possibly the single most dangerous time she could have done so. Every un-princess like swear word her mother had ever told her never to utter was now desperately trying to escape her mouth.

Chapter 37: Preparations

"I'd like to thank you all for joining us this morning," Court Drama said from his place at the top of the stairs. To his left was Princess Celestia and Shining Armor, to his right stood Elizabeth. Below them, looking apprehensive yet attentive, were Twilight, Wayfarer, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Discord, and the rest of the T.A.R.O.T. persona users, including Gust, Hourglass, and Vivid Dreams. "T.A.R.O.T. and myself have already done a dress rehearsal, as it were, a few nights ago. I'm glad to see you all are in tip to shape."

"It has been a while," Wayfarer heard Vivid whisper to Hourglass.

"Indeed Mr. Vivid," Court said, startling the younger unicorn. "T.A.R.O.T. hasn't had a full blown operation since early Spring, and I'm glad to see you are excited about it."

The members of T.A.R.O.T. chuckled, Vivid cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"To be fair, Sir," Hourglass said as she roughly threw a hoof around Vivid's shoulder. "This is his first gig since joining up. Only natural for him to have some pre show jitters."

"It's your first real gig too Hourglass," Gust responded with a smirk. "So you'd be wise of you not to try and upstage the rest of us quite yet."

"Alright that's enough," Court said as another round of chuckles erupted. "We're here to keep everyone safe tonight. As many ponies are coming from all over Equestria tonight, the mass of collective unconscious energy is going to be like a dinner bell to the Shadows. If we're not prepared, or if we slack off, some pony might get hurt. So treat this just like every other mission: with a degree of seriousness."

"Pardon me Sir," Twilight spoke up, stepping forward and asking her question more to Celestia then to Court. "If the New Moon grants the Shadows strength, why not move the coronation to another date? We've waited this long, what's another week or two?"

"I've toyed around with that idea Twilight," Celestia sighed. "I even wrote a letter to both Luna and Prime Minister Iron Gavel asking what they thought about the logistics of moving a royal gathering like this. They both said, and I reluctantly agree, that the nobility that's already here in Ponyville and the one's still in Canterlot would likely set both on fire when they start rioting. Especially when we can't give them any sort of reason why we delayed it."

"Mass Collective Awareness of the Shadow's existence gives them strength just as the New Moon does," Elizabeth explained. "If you warn the people of the danger, all your efforts on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration may be rendered unbuttoned." Everyone looked at her with confusion at that, even her. "Unfastened? Untied? Unzipped? Something along those lines."

"So we need to pretend like nothing is wrong while we work behind the scenes," Discord surmised. "You all take your cover as showman quite literally I must say. The audience only sees the play on stage but never thinks about the crew working behind the curtain to ensure the production goes smoothly."

"And a good actor," Hourglass spoke up. "Can improvise should anything go wrong and keep the illusion going."

"Hah!" Discord laughed. "Wonderous! I like you lot already."

"So our actors," Court said, drawing their attention back to himself. "Will be Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and her friends. While T.A.R.O.T., Prince Shining Armor, and his platoon of Royal Guards will be our crew. We will be down in the labyrinth, drawing attention to ourselves and keeping the Shadows far from the surface. Discord, you will have to play both positions tonight. No one would notice you popping in and out of the party, so you will be perfect for relaying information between the two groups. Unlike a normal play, we won't have any cue's about what is going on on stage, so our communications expert, Infinite," A grey unicorn wearing a black peacoat and a beret stood up straight at the mention of his name. "Will be waiting in the lock box for you to give him reports, and so that he might report to you our status."

"Ughh," Discord growned. "My role is the carrier pigeon? I'm hurt good sir. A talent such as I deserves a grand role to play, with my name up in lights on the marque!"

"Hey, don't think of it as a carrier pigeon," One of the other T.A.R.O.T. members said. "Think of it as that one character who keeps popping up to riff on the action and make snide comments to the audience."

Discord tapped his chin for a moment in thought, before turning in a seemingly random direction and speaking to the air. "In hindsight I knew they were playing me for a fool, but the chance to follow in the footsteps of famous comedy routines was too great to pass up." Discord then turned back to Court Drama and rolled his eyes at him. "Very well, if I am to be the comic relief then I suppose I might as well."

"Good to know," Court said. "Now, places everyone, the show starts early when the servants, cooks and guests start showing up."

Carriages and chariots started lining up early outside the gates to the castle around an hour before the party was officially supposed to start. Royals, Nobility, important business leaders, celebrities. Anyone who might be interested in getting into the good graces of Princess Twilight Sparkle or to be the first to invest in the development of Ponyville now that there was a Princess with her own castle there. The Nobility especially looked eager to get inside, though Wayfarer guessed that the longer they stayed in Ponyville, the more concerned they might be that they'd actually have ton converse with commoners. Wayfarer couldn't help but smirk at that idea though. There was no guest list for this gathering, all were welcome, including the citizens of Ponyville. Even a good chunk of Applejack's extended family were expected to show up, which was sure to just twist the ears of every pony of high standing there.

Inside the castle, the throne room, banquet hall, gathering hall, and foyer were quickly filled with tables of food, seating arrangements, ice sculptures and even more decor then normal. Three bands, the absolute best provided by the Caravan, were busy warming up in there respective halls, adjusting their instruments to fit the acoustics of the room. Pinkie Pie was talking with one group to try and get them to play more upbeat music for dancing, but they could only promise her so much, even if they did seem sympathetic to her efforts. Cooks were still in the kitchen preparing more food as servants brought them out to the tables, helped along by Applejack and her family. Occasionally the servants would all check their uniforms for even the slightest stain or wrinkle, or Rarity would beat them to it and immediately fix what was wrong with their appearance before skipping off with excited glee. Fluttershy and some ponies from in town were debating about the garden, while in the sky Rainbow Dash and the weather team were cleaning up the last few clouds they'd brought in for one last sprinkling of water to keep all the flora looking good.

Everything top side was going smoothly, even Cadence managed to make it back after a quick return to the Crystal empire. "They didn't even notice I was there," She giggled. "They're doing just fine now that they realized the sky wasn't going to fall without me or Shining there."

Celestia and Twilight smiled at that, but all three Princesses were a little disappointed that Luna would not be joining them. "She's been nervous about leaving Canterlot unguarded ever since the Summer Sun Celebration," Celestia explained. "That, and large social gatherings still make her slightly uncomfortable."

While preparations for the party continued, down below Wayfarer and Discord had joined Infinite and Shining in the Lock Box. "We have a few Maya's straggling in the upper levels, but everything seems all clear," Infinite said as his Persona, a man with a disc for a face and speakers in his arms and chest, kneeled at the head of the stairs leading into the darkness.

"Maya?" Wayfarer asked with confusion.

"They're what we call the little blob Shadows," Infinite said.

Some static came over the speakers on Infinite's Persona before the voice of Gust came through. "We've got Laughing Tables and Venus Eagles on floor 12. Seems they got the message though and aren't keen on sticking around to say hi."

"Let em' go for now," Court Drama's voice responded. "We can't blow all our energy now before night falls. If they get to floor 10, turn them back."

"Roger that," came Gust's acknowledgement.

Infinite turned to Wayfarer and Discord and nodded. "We got it covered, come check back in when the sun finally sets."

"Cool beans," Discord said before picking Wayfarer up by the neck of the brand new suit Rarity had made for him. "Come, let's go usher in the audience."

With the stroke of six o'clock and the chimes of the clock tower, the gates to Twilight's castle, at long last, opened to the ponies of Equestria. The carriages carried their passengers all the way to the front steps before letting them out and departing, making room for the next in the line to do the same. Dozens of carriages came through before one without any ponies pulling it came to a stop. Three very tall unicorns wearing masks stepped out, the middle one flicking her horn and causing their ride to disappear.

"Are you certain this is a good idea?" The dark blue pony wearing an intricate cape and suit patterned with stars said. "You didn't really fill us in on what you brought back with you from your little trip, Judgement."

"Come now, Emperor," The middle pony said. Her outfit was slightly off white and layered with stiff outcroppings, like freshly made scrolls of paper. Behind her trailed a dress of owl feathers with highlights of ink. "This is supposed to be a night of fun and socializing! besides, don't you have faith in me?"

"If I said no, would that matter?"

"Of course it would! It would matter greatly when I consider throwing you into Mother's mouth when she rises."

"Then yes," Emperor sighed with annoyance. "I have absolute faith in your abilities."

"Good," Judgement said sweetly, before turning to the last member of their trio. "And you Empress? Do you have faith?"

Empress did not say anything, she merely grunted in affirmation before adjusting her own dress, which looked like someone had sewn fire into the white fabric.

"Excellent, now, let's proceed, we're drawing attention to ourselves."

Farther back in the line, a group of pony villains had foregone the need for a chariot or carriage and were simply walking up to the gates of the castle. With them was a turquoise pegasus mare with wings that looked like a second set was attached behind the first, making them look like butterfly wings. The mare looked way to serious for the crowd of excited party goers, with her sullen expression and determined trot. As she neared the gate, a unicorn guard off to the side caught her attention. He was channeling a spell that expelled illusions and revealed the true form of things, a spell the pegasus knew was used to catch changelings. She'd foreseen this though, and had met this particular guard before he had gone on duty earlier that day. She had cast her own spell on the guard, and now, with a brief flash of green in her eyes, she activated it. The guard's spell dropped just long enough for the pegasus to pass under the gates and into the courtyard.

She finally relaxed and smiled, looking more like those around her now that she had gotten in undetected. She held back a laugh, though she desperately wanted to cackle at the foolishness of her prey.

"Soon, Sparkle," She muttered to herself. "I'll have my vengeance soon."

Chapter 38: Revelations (Part 1)

The party truly started almost an hour after the gates opened. So many people wanted to make their first priority saying hello to Twilight and try to engage her in conversation, that she almost missed her appointment in the dining hall to give the first toast and christen the castle proper. When she got there, a flood of ponies came in behind her and made claim to any open table they could, and even then, for every seat filled there were at least two more ponies standing. Twilight didn't realize how vast the crowd was until she'd reached the table where all her friends had gathered and turned around. the sea of colour, at first, looked to be too daunting for her, but then a reassuring touch from Cadence seemed to set herself at ease. With a deep breath, she took hold of a champagne glass and lifted it into the air. immediately the hall grew silent and all eyes were on her.

"A toast!" She cried out to the crowd. Those with glasses took this moment to raise them, following Twilight's lead. "First, to the hardworking mares and stallions, who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making this beautiful castle a reality." A small group of tough looking ponies, representing the much larger group of construction workers that weren't present, stood and acknowledged the princess's thanks. "You put up with a great many delays on my part, for that I am sorry and eternally grateful. I could not ask for a more beautiful home." Everyone in the room cheered at this, some more passionately then others. "Second, to the people of Ponyville, who made this town such an amazing place to live, that I could not imagine a better place to stand as a Princess of Equestria. This last year has meant more to me than any other." She looked around as the cheering started again, making sure to look each of her friends in the eye just to emphasise how much they meant to her. "And finally, to all of you here. Thank you for joining me for what my friend Pinkie Pie would call a housewarming party. I hope you all enjoy yourselves!" Everyone finally drank from their classes, then the cheering began anew.

"I wouldn't actually call this a housewarming party," Pinkie told the table. "That'd require more balloons and streamers and flashing lights and Vinyl shaking the foundations with her newest song." Everyone smirked at that.

Luna was, at that moment, putting the finishing touches on the early hours of her night sky. The glow of the sun was nearly gone, what little could be seen of the moon was just cresting over the far mountains, and the stars were twinkling into view one right after another. From her balcony, she looked down into the valley below Canterlot, where she could just barely make out Twilight's castle aglow in the darkness. She sighed and turned back into her room to prepare for some early night royal business. She honestly did regret not accepting her sister's invitation to join her, Twilight, and Cadence, but she also knew that after an hour or two she'd get tired of the crowd and wander off to some lonesome corner of the gardens with a glass of cider to enjoy the rest of the night in peace. Her time was honestly better spent performing her Royal duties and then moving directly to her favourite part of the night since her return from the moon: flying about the realm of dreams, watching her subjects spin great clouds of wonder and mystery, and sweeping away nightmares that troubled their rest.

Oh, how she regretted not taking advantage of her access to the dreaming world before her fall to Nightmare Moon. It seemed silly to her now to think that her subjects had no interest in her when there was a whole world waiting for her to be a part of. Her subjects these days were always so thankful and overjoyed to have her visit their dreams, especially the children. Nothing made her happier then giving the fillies and colts of Equestria a friend to talk to about their troubled day time hours, but she would often lament that there were only so many hours in the night and so many dreams she wished to visit.

"I wonder if I could teach others to do walk the dream world as I do," Luna once again mused to herself. She smiled at the idea of having a school like her sister's, where she could train gifted unicorns to help her protect the dreams of her subjects. The idea kept her mind occupied as she quickly left for the throne room, eager to get started. Her eagerness, however, distracted her just enough from noticing that a particularly long shadow was following her down the hall.

As the night wore on, Gust, Vivid, and Hourglass were starting to get bored. Not exactly tired, but their focus was admittedly starting to slip. No Shadows had shone up for nearly an hour now, not even the tiny ones that run away at the very sight of you. It didn't help that they were the team highest up in the labrynth, meaning that most Shadows would have been dealt with before they even got close to them. Hourglass at least had something to do to keep herself occupied, she was humming along to a song in her head, occasionally appraising and rehumming parts over and over again. It did get a bit annoying, but Gust and Vivid knew better than to interrupt her when she was in the middle of formulating a new song. Vivid wished he had a talent that he could practise while working too, but drawing and writing while you need to be paying attention to your surroundings didn't sit well with that.

"Sooo..." Vivid said, breaking the silence and turning to Gust. "What do you think of Celestia's Persona group?"

"Not much too think," Gust responded simply. "They're just like us. Eclectic and determined to find the bright side in everything. We might be a little better organized though, but we've got dozens and dozens of people in our organization, while they're only five."

"But you've got an idea of what their Persona's are like, right?"

"Only what their Arcana is, everything else I'd have to actually see them first to make any judgements."

"Kay." Vivid went back to being silent for a while before another question popped up. "What do you think of Miss Rarity?"

"The one with the swirly purple hair?" Gust asked, raising an eye. "I haven't even spoken to her, you'd know more about her than me."

"I know that, but..." Vivid hesitated for a moment. "Do you think she's cute?"

Gust rolled his eyes. As they reached an intersection, the trio stopped and Gust's collar began to glow and hum. "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!" He shouted out. A Persona wearing a rough jacket and a masquerade mask with a butterfly half and a batwing half appeared behind them. A similar Persona then appeared in front of them, only his mask was reversed. One Persona stayed behind while the other wandered off, seemingly unconcerned with anything.

"R.G. hasn't seen or heard anything the last three times you sent him out," Hourglass said pointedly. "Why don't we just go wait by the stairs for Infinity to give us a ring?"

"I don't suppose it matters," Gust muttered an admittance with a nod. "Gods I wish I was up in that party right now."

"You may get that chance," said the voice of Infinity in their ears. "Court and Marionette are both reporting that the number of Shadows on the lower levels are dwindling quickly. It's not quite midnight yet, but if this trend continues then we might be able to retire a few of you around one o'clock."

"The party will be over by then!" Vivid bemoaned.

"This is strange," Gust said, ignoring Vivid. "It's almost midnight on a new moon, the place should be crawling with Shadows. What is going on?"

Twilight's party was going swimmingly so far. Though her friends had desperced to enjoy the party themselves, she did surprisingly find some enjoyment in meeting some of her more well off subjects from out of Ponyville. She, Celestia, and Cadence hd moved to the throne room, which had become the defacto place to mingle with them at this point. Some of them were, as she had expected, only there to rub elbows with someone powerful in hopes of currying favor with her. But many also seemed genuinely interested in providing support, not just to her, but to Ponyville as well. Twilight was already making promises to introduce a few looking to conduct business to those who would would need it most, she suspected Applejack would be ecstatic to know that ponies all the way from Manehattan and Baltimare wanted to buy her apples.

Elsewhere, Wayfarer was just people watching in the halls. He mingled with a few ponies here and there, but no one really took notice of him. He passed by Time Turner, who was showing a collection of timepieces to some intrigued looking Canterlot ponies. He managed to catch that the time was nearing midnight, and a tinge of worry raced up his spine. If anything was going to happen, it'd be happening soon. He said a silent prayer to whoever might be looking out for them, and then Discord suddenly sprang into existence right in front of him.

"I'm hungry," He said simply, even as ponies all around him started to gasp in horror. "You hungry?"

"Not really," Wayfarer responded, just before Discord booped him on the nose and teleported both of them to the dining hall. There were a few more gasps, and a loud declaration of startled surprise from Applejack.

"What in tarnation!" She cried out.

"No need to panic," Discord claimed before he summoned a plate to his lion hand and started making a tower of food at the table they'd landed next to. "I'm just here for the horderves, then I'll be out of your hair." Everyone was looking at him nervously, save for Wayfarer and Applejack, who just shook their heads in exasperation. Wayfarer noted that Applejack had a plate as well, filled with food that her family had brought.

"Met a fella who seemed interested in my handiwork," she explained. "Told him I could bring some for him to try for himself. Actually, could you lend me a hoof Wayfarer? I'll need another plate." Wayfarer shrugged and acquiesced to helping her out.

They left Discord to continue building his tower, which was almost as tall as he was now. They weaved in between the crowd, until they reached a table with a single pony seated at it. Wayfarer stopped dead, his body turning to ice and his eye widening in horror. He recognized the pony, or rather he recognized the mask he was wearing. It was purple, with spikes along the top that looked like a crown. He was the one who had kidnapped Pinkie Pie back in May, and Wayfarer couldn't have been more sure until The Emperor opened his mouth and spoke with that same calm demeanor he used to try and tempt Pinkie that had merely been a front for the pompous rage he had behind him.

"Ah, there you are Miss Applejack. Goodness you weren't joking about how much you had to offer." Then he noticed Wayfarer, and his calm smile slipped for barely a fraction of a second. "And you brought a friend."

"Wayfarer, this is Mr. Artemis," Applejack introduced. "Mr. Artemis, this is... Wayfarer are you alright, sugar cube?" Her normally joyful voice turned to concern once she had noticed Wayfarer's expression.

Before Wayfarer could say a word though, The Emperor's magic took hold of both him and Applejack, clamping their mouths shut and forced them to walk forward and take a seat with him at the table. He took the plates of food from them and took a few bites. Humming sweetly, he smiled at Applejack even as she scowled at him.

"I'm impressed Applejack. These are quite good, you should be proud of your family's work. I imagine our Mother will think you taste just as good when we feed you to her." He continued to sample the food the two trapped ponies had brought him, chuckling under his breath as he did so. "Earth Ponies. Tending the fields are just about the only thing you lot are good for. If you were unicorns, you could free yourselves easily and shout for help, but instead you get to sit there and listen to my well practiced monologue." He then turned to Wayfarer and sneered at him. "You've humiliated me and my companions enough I think. I need to keep you alive long enough to feed you to Mother, but that doesn't mean I won't make sure your remaining hours are filled with agony and despair."

The magic surrounding Wayfarer started to twist his ear around, threatening to tear it right off. He couldn't even whimper in pain, much less cry out for help. Suddenly, a loud clatter drew The Emperor's attention away from Wayfarer and to the opposite side of the table from himself.

"Ah! Good," Discord said as he swung his head around the tower of horderves to look at them. "You found a table." When his eyes landed on The Emperor though, the mirth in them was quickly replaced with confusion, then seething anger. "Artemis," he grumbled. "You shouldn't be here."

"Really?" The Emperor said, scowling back at Discord. "I was under the impression that this party was open to all?"

"It isn't open to the dead." Discord's claws were scratching deep cuts into the table, but Wayfarer could also see that Discord was actually starting to sweat.

"Well," The Emperor laughed as he picked up another apple treat from his plate. "As you can see, I'm not dead, despite Celestia and Luna's best attempts."

"Then allow me to fix that!" Discord sent the entire table, and all the food, flying into the air. With nothing left between himself and the Emperor, Discord flung himself forward, magic crackling at his fingertips and a burning fury in his eyes. Just before Discord made contact though, The Emperor's eyes flashed brightly and a wave of magic blasted Discord away from him. The force of the explosion was so great that it sent Wayfarer, Applejack, and all other attendees within a ten foot radius sprawling. Discord, getting the worst of it, was sent flying over the crowd like a cannonball, straight through the stained glass window overlooking the gardens. The hall was filled with silence until the table Discord sent flying finally crashed into the ground.

The Emperor didn't waste anymore time and grabbed at Wayfarer and Applejack again. "Come along you two," he said with aggravation. "We have a few more guests to collect before the ceremony can truly begin." He then looked back to the shattered window as a haze of pitch black fog started to expel itself from beneath his cape. "Death, finish off Discord and pick up any others you find on your way to the throne room."

The fog seemed to laugh at this as it gathered itself up and shot out the window as well.

Down in the Gardens, Discord was pulling himself up from a pile of shattered glass, a piece of which he pulled from his side with a wince of pain before he noticed there were dozens of other shards still lodged in him. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and blew, the remaining glass launched itself out of him. A distressed cry behind him drew his attention, Fluttershy stood there with a few shards arranged around her.

"Whoops, my apologies Fluttershy," Discord said as he stood up and rolled his shoulders. "Don't have time to talk though, I have to catch up with an old friend." Before he could so much as leap into the air however, another voice called after him.

"Wait!" Shining Armor called as he drew close. "I was getting an update from the perimeter guards when I heard the window break. What happened?"

"Let's just say that, even for a party with no official invitations, we have an uninvited guest. Go and inform our crew mates in the lock box that they're wanted center stage." Discord made to leap back up to the window, but then the black fog smacked him back down to the ground, right between Fluttershy and Shining. Looking up, the three watched as the fog descended around them, laughing uproariously. Discord leaned up again and rubbed his neck as the fog blocked out the lights from the stars and the castle. "I know that laugh," he said solemnly.

"So do I," Shining responded, gritting his teeth.

"Good," the fog growled as a pair of blood red eyes, surrounded by purple and green miazma materialized out of the darkness. "Then introductions are not in order." Around the eyes, a face took form. A red curved horn, a dark grey coat and billowing black mane, followed by a neck and forelegs encased in polished metal armor. On his back was a red furred cape, but everything else beneath it remained incorporeal. The demented looking pony laughed again as Shining's eyes filled with a burning hatred while Fluttershy's filled with fear and panic.

"S-S-S," She stuttered before she managed to finally scream out the fiend's name. "SOMBRA!!"

Rarity looked on in fear and confusion as she watched Rainbow Dash suddenly get yanked out of the air. A unicorn with a mane and dress of fire had simply walked up to Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, and herself and, without and provocation, kicked Pinkie in the side and sending her flying before she turned her attention to Rainbow. Now the psychotic mare was dragging the both of them together and tying them up with a rope of magic. Rarity started forward as she finally gathered her senses and addressed her.

"What is the meaning of this!" She shouted, drawing eyes of what could only be literal fire to her. "H-how dare you attack my friends! Release them at once!"

"No," the fiery mare said simply as she started to drag Rainbow and Pinkie's unconscious forms up the stairs. "I'm not interested in making a big production out of this like my husband, so I'm just going to tell you once to come with me to the throne room or else I'll drag you there as well."

Rarity hesitated, looking around the foyer at the other party goers, but also at the many royal guards just standing there with their jaws on the floor. Incensed by their inaction, Rarity roared in frustration, wrenching at least six spears out of the guards' hold with her magic and javelining all right at the mare holding her friends. At first she thought they'd found their mark, but just as they came within a foot of the mare, they were incinerated to ash. The mare stopped and looked back at Rarity, obviously not amused by her feeble attempts to stop her.

"I only need you and your friends alive," the mare said as she raised a hoof, lighting it on fire as she did so. "But I can show them a bit of pain if you are really that determined to resist me."

Rarity took one horrified look at Pinkie and Rainbow, before she snarled in anger and approached their captor. "Fine, I'll come with you. But if you lay one hoof on them, you won't live to speak of it tomorrow."

"Bold words for a weak wingless one like yourself. But you've got several lifetimes to go before you could even hope to stand against me, Soliana of the Flames."

"Wingless?" Rarity scoffed as she looked at Soliana's back. "That's rich coming from you." But even as she said that, she saw something moving beneath Soliana's dress, something she noticed immediately as a sign of a pegasus wearing something without holes for their extra appendages. Fear gripped Rarity's heart as her eyes traveled from Soliana's back, to the horn on her head.

"Enough of your worthless chatter," Soliana snarled. "Move, before I burn every worm in this room."

Luna, completely unaware of the crisis quickly unfolding in Ponyville, was finishing up the very last of her royal duties. With as much speed as she could without breaking royal decorum, she placed down her quill, bowed to the last of the evenings sycophants, and made for the doors. Before the guards could even reach for the handles to open the threshold and let her pass, they opened themselves and allowed Blueblood of all ponies to step forth. Luna's excited prance turned into an annoyed slouch before she collected herself and stood proud before her nephew.

"Blublood," She said sternly. "Do what do I owe this visit?"

"My apologies Aunt Luna," Blueblood said, bowing to Luna. "It seems I've interrupted you in your rush to playing around in children's dreams, I understand how... important that is to you." His tone made it seem like he didn't think it was important at all, much to Luna's annoyance. "However there's one last pony who wishes to speak to you, she says she's an old friend of yours?"

"What?" Luna said, looking passed Blueblood into the hallway and seeing no one. "Who are you talking about?"

"She's actually been here the whole time," Blueblood chuckled as he took hold of the doors in his magic and quickly closed them. "You've been very close to her actually."

"One might say," came a voice from beneath Luna's hooves. "You and I are closer to one another than anyone in all of Equestria."

Luna looked down and watched as her shadow grew in length and darkness, swinging around behind her until it connected her with the throne she had just vacated. Luna turned around and glared as the shadow grew into the shape of a pony, seated on her throne and chuckling at her. Every guard in the room brought their spears to the ready, Luna's secretary dropped the scrolls she was carrying and bolted for the side entrance, which she only just barely got through before the door slammed shut and magic blue chains wrapped around its front, as well as the doors of the front entrance.

"I know your voice," Luna said, stepping toward the upstart pony seated on her throne. "But I must confess I'm confused as to how you can still be here... Nightmare Moon."

The pony flipped off her hood and revealed a masked face, it was translucent and devoid of any features, but a black horn did shoot up from behind the mask and a blue cloud filled with stars began flowing behind her head. It truly could be none other than Luna's evil alter ego.

"In the flesh," Nightmare said, before smirking and looking at herself. "Well, maybe not flesh per say, but despite you and your sister's best efforts, I am still here."

"How," Luna questioned. "The Elements of Harmony ripped you from my body and left you without a host. You should have faded into nothingness without me."

"True, but I have friends who taught me how to maintain my presence here on this plane. You may remember King Sombra? He's still around as well and he's taught me quite a lot."

"Curse you," Luna snarled. "You creatures of darkness never stay down, do you?"

Nightmare laughed at that. "No, as long as the Dark Mother of Shadows remains, her loyal servants can never truly be destroyed."

"Of all ponies, I did not expect you or Sombra to bow to a higher power than you. You certainly didn't feel like listening to Celestia a thousand years ago."

Nightmare hissed in annoyance. "Celestia is not more powerful than us, she's not even our equal! We easily smited her last we fought, and if not for the Elements of Harmony, she would have failed! And now that her pressious student has given them up, there is nothing that can stop us!"

"My goodness you can monologue," Blueblood said. "Do we really have time for this? It's nearly midnight, and you won't have a better chance at this."

"Quite right Blueblood, thank you."

Luna rounded on Blueblood, powering up her horn to strike at him. "I knew you were a filthy traitor!" She shouted. "But to ally yourself with creatures like this? You truly are beyond even Celestia's light you ungrateful whelp!"

"Now calm down Aunt Luna," Blueblood said with a chuckle, his own horn lighting up as well. "I've no intention of fighting you for your kingdom. As I said months ago, I'm more interested in simple pleasures then I am of ruling. Nightmare Moon on the other hand has been waiting to sit with you on the seat of power at long last. Would you deny her that wish after all you two have been through together?"

"With every fiber of my being," Luna promised. "Guards! Seize the former Prince Blueblood and bind him in the most uncomfortable irons at your disposal. Nightmare Moon is mine."

"How brave of you," Nightmare said as Luna approached her, the guards advancing on Blueblood. "But even you must realize you are at a disadvantage. It's New Moon, where the moon's light is completely gone, and with it, much of your power is gone as well."

"I'm aware, but the same must be said for you as well."

"Ha! Oh no dear Luna, you'd be wrong in that regard. For you see, my power is strongest in the darkness. As the light of the moon fades I grow!" With that, Nightmare moon, shed the last of her cloak. Across the hall, Blueblood shot his magic at the chandelier which illuminated the throne room, severing its magical power source and casting them all in darkness. Luna and Nightmare had no trouble seeing, as the night was there element, but the guards had essentially been blinded. "Before this night is done, you and I shall be one again, and I shall stand as the True Self once more!"

In the throne room of Twilight's castle, herself, Cadence, and Celestia were still conversing with ponies from far and wide. A flutter on unease was manifesting in the pit of Twilight's stomach though, as if she could feel that something was going wrong. She looked to the other princesses and could tell that they were feeling the same, even if they were doing there best to retain a calm outward appearance. None of the three noticed, however, a figure closing in behind Twilight. Excited bloodlust filling the turquoise pegasus' movements as she silently drew a dagger from within her simple dress. Before she could do anything however, another stepped in front of her.

"I admit, I did not expect to see you here," Judgement said. "I'm vaguely interested in speaking to you one on one later, but for now I'd appreciate it if you abandoned your current schemes until mine have been completed first."

"W-what?" The pegasus stuttered as she hid the dagger away. "I've no idea what you're talking about. Now, step aside."

"And let you stab poor Princess Twilight in the back?" Judgement snickered. "Sorry, I've got important plans for her. Now why don't you run back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Or can't you? It seems someone took your place while you were gone, my queen."

Whatever the pegasus was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Without any further hesitation, she withdrew her dagger again. A flash of green erupted from her forehead, revealing a gnarled black horn. She attempted to shove Judgement out of the way with her magic, but Judgement merely grabbed hold of her and tossed her to the ground with a thud that silenced the entire room as it echoed about. The Princesses spun about to see Judgement holding the pegasus down with her forehoof, laughing coldly at her captives struggles.

"What in the," Twilight started, before she got a good look at the pegasus' face and gasped. "That's the mare who tried to kill me when me, Rarity, and Fluttershy went to go see a play in Canterlot! She's a changeling!" The guards in the room quickly surrounded Judgement and the changeling, pointing their spears down at the pinned assassin. Celestia ignored them for the moment and picked up the dagger, dropped by the changeling when Judgement subdued her.

"It appears to be coated in a poison of some kind," Celestia said as she examined the weapon. "My thanks, you just saved our lives."

"For now, perhaps," Judgement said cryptically. Before Celestia could ask her what she meant, she continued. "Now, drop the pathetic disguise girl, and show us all the miserable state you are in." The changeling hissed and snarled, but Judgement continued to put pressure on the creature's neck. "Adorable, that a weak little thing like you, barely holding onto life as it is, would attempt such a flimsy assassination. Oh you must be desperate to redeem yourself in the eyes of your swarm."

"You know nothing!" the changeling shouted. She pointed furiously at the princesses. "They took away our future! We're all dying of hunger because of them! Blood for blood! The only way I can return to my subjects is if it's with Sparkle's head!"

"Enough of this!" Celestia shouted, charging up her horn. A blast of magic finally forced the changeling to lose her disguise, her body elongating outward beneath Judgement until her black carapace and matted hair spilled out before them. Her head snapped forward to bite at Judgement's leg, but Judgement's other hoof smacked her back down. "As I thought," Celestia continued. "The Queen of the Changelings."

"Chrysalis," Judgement chuckled. "You look awful."

Twilight could definitely see that Chrysalis was even more horrendous looking then the last time they'd fought each other. There were even more holes in her legs this time, to the point where she was amazed the lower halves hadn't just snapped off. Her wings were nothing but tattered strips now, and her hair was broken and frayed so badly that it would have probably been a better idea to just shave her scalp. Twilight honestly wondered if she was really looking at a corpse at that moment.

"Guards," Celestia said. "Take her away."

"That won't be necessary," Judgement said. "She's more than welcome to stay for the real party."

Celestia scowled as she walked around Judgement to get a good look at her face. "Who are you?"

"My dear Celestia, don't you recognize me?" Judgement looked up and finally removed her mask. Deep red hair spilled out, and eyes of a dark rainy day looked back at Celestia. Celestia nearly screamed in horror as recognition forced her to take half a dozen steps back.

"No!" Celestia cried. "No no no no NO!"

The doors to the throne room were blown open with a mighty crash. Ponies panically scattered to the walls to clear the way as two more tall unicorns walked in, dragging behind them Wayfarer, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity.