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.