"Wednesday morning at five o'clock
As the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more

She goes downstairs to the kitchen
Clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside, she is free"
Lennon & McCartney -The Beatles

It was Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock as the day began. It was still dark out. Twilight had spent the night packing and preparing the library as she made ready for her departure. Before sending Owlicious to Fluttershy’s, the young pony sat with him in her lap. She pet his head and talked quietly to him. She felt her tears come and pulled him close and hugged him to her, bending her head down over him. For the first time since Applejack awoke, she quietly cried. Owlicious understood and snuggled into her. She cried for how she would miss him, she cried for having to leave her home, she cried for how much she missed Spike, and she cried for how alone she felt.

After a bit, when she finally felt ready, she opened the window through which the little owl had first entered her life so long ago and sent him off..

She re-read her note, hoping it would say more than she’d written...

Dear Everypony,

Wonderful news! When I came back to the library yesterday to get some things I wanted to bring to Applejack’s party, I found a special delivery letter from the Archeological Department at the University of Canterlot. It was an invitation to join an archeological dig, but not just any dig. The chief researchers believe they may have found Equestria's first settlement - where Smart Cookie, Private Pansy and Clover the Clever along with Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane had first struck ground and declared it the nation of Equestria! There is a cave nearby and several of the artifacts that they have unearthed suggest that Starswirl the Bearded himself may have conjured several of the most important spells ever conceived at that very spot!

The second party is leaving for the site in the next days. The location is a closely guarded secret and if I want to join them it’s crucial that I meet them before they leave. I’ll be catching the 6am train north to Manehattan and meeting them there. so I won’t have a chance to say goodbye to everypony.

I don’t expect to be gone for more than a couple of weeks. Mayor Mare has the list of ponies who take care of the library when I’m away. The site is so remote and so secret that I won’t be able to contact you. Owlicious will be staying with Fluttershy and Spike wrote and said that he and Rarity will be away at least another month, possibly two.

As you can all imagine, I’m incredibly excited at this opportunity to be part of history and as soon as I can, I’ll contact you and let you know what’s happening and when I’ll return.

I’m so glad Applejack is back and she’s healthy. Take care of her.

Love,

Twilight.

Wearing her saddlebag and pulling a wheeled suitcase behind her, Twilight quietly turned the backdoor key and stepped outside. She placed the note in an envelope on the library door and then went to Dr. Stable’s and left a note there for him and Big Mac.

At 5:15 am she stepped aboard the train and found a seat in the empty car. She watched the station recede as the train pulled away.

It was still dark at 7am when she got off at a station. She went into the small bathroom on the station’s porch, locked the door and sat down. The purple glow that enveloped her was dark, and rather than the small shimmering sparkles that usually accompanied magical aura’s, tiny lights appeared and started to glow brighter, then suddenly went out. Twilight was in deep concentration, recalling the spell she had memorized yesterday afternoon.

After dropping out of the “parade” that was headed to Sweet Apple Acres, she had gone to the castle of the two sisters, deep in the Everfree Forest and found the room she had come across that fateful day when they had all been sucked into Spikes comic book. After they’d returned from defeating Mane-iac, they’d eaten lunch and talked excitedly about their adventure. After theri big adventure and their large meal, most of them had settled down for a short nap. Twilight wasn’t tired and went exploring alone. She’d discovered a door behind a black curtain. The symbol on the door was an ancient one that Twilight recognized. She opened the door and peered inside. It was not much bigger than a closet and contained nothing but shelves full of books. All the covers were black and the titles were all ancient symbols. She thumbed through one and found dark spells. They were outlawed and books and texts that contained them were thought to have been destroyed. She was going to tell Princess Celestia but had decided that she wanted to learn some things about them before they were destroyed and put a spell on the door, locking it.

Now, back in that room, she began to look for a spell that she was almost certain she would find. It was one of the most illegal spells ever created.

It was a shape-shifting spell.

Innocent and simple versions of these spells were commonly used for entertainment, and what made them legal, was that they employed visual tricks of light and shadow to do a very impressive and quite believable job of allowing something or somepony to appear to change it’s shape. There were even time limits that prevented the spell from lasting too long.

The spell that she was looking for actually changed matter and took a fair amount of magic to use. It was outlawed and the penalty for using it was usually incarceration for a period of time. There was one particular use that was thoroughly outlawed and carried a mandatory sentence - a permanent loss of magic.

That was if it was used for the purpose of evasion. Specifically evading agents of the law from the royal family. There was a spell that the two sisters could cast that would be intercepted by all creatures in Equestria under the effect of a shape-shifting spell. The creatures would be commanded to return to their normal form for a period of one week and to report to or get word back to Canterlot that they had heard and obeyed and were waiting on the word of the monarchs.

If you were being sought, then you would be notified. If the pony for whom they were searching did not report, a warrant for their arrest would be issued. There would be a trial and if found guilty, the creature would be permanently stripped of their magical powers.

The only thing that the practitioner could not change, was their cutie mark and their voice. Twilight felt the changes taking place over the surface of her body. Her mane and tail changed to a light brown and her coat to dark grayish blue. She styled her hair with bangs like Pinkie’s sister Maud. She was able to add to her cutie mark and convert it to a compass rose and she changed the color of her luggage and the emblem on her saddlebag.

When she stepped out of the bathroom it was still dark, though looking back down the tracks, she could see a lightening of the sky in the east. It would be brighter far back there in Ponyville now, though it would not be sunrise for a little while yet.

The next train rounded the far bend and slowed as it approached the station. The conductor took no notice of the dark brown pony as she stepped aboard the last car of the train and gave him her ticket.

She sat down and looked out the window. For a moment she turned around looked down the center aisle at the window in the door at the back of the car. As she saw that first hint of light in the east, a humorless smirk formed on her lips.

“Hm - Twilight.”