“Say, Twilight, what did that strange knight-Pony give you, anyway?”
“It’s some sort of box, Spike. It doesn’t look too fancy. Just regular wood with some carvings and a lock. But… I don’t have a key?”
Hopping off his cushion, the purple lizard lifted the box and inspected it. To an unknowing eye, his actions were those plucked from thin air. You could say it looked as if he had no idea what he was doing. Scratching the wood? Sniffing the hinge seam? It all seemed like a ploy of some sort.
“Spikey, what are you doing?”
“Shh, Rarity, give me a moment.”
“Twi, what in tarnation is he doin’?”
“I have no idea myself.”
“I said quiet! I’ve nearly got something!”
A small scratch-n-sniff of the case. A peek inside the lock. A small burst of fire?
“Spike! What are you doing! You’re going to burn the… wood?”
And sure enough, a look on his face smug enough to put even The Great and Powerful Trixie to shame, the box remained unscathed, bathed in a cyan glow.
“Just as I thought! Mahogany core with oak casing. Enchanted by a level seven protection ward. This isn’t just any box, it’s a Magical Vault! I don’t know about the lock though…”
Twilight levitated the wooden case towards her closer. She was definitely impressed with the dragon.
“Well done, Spike! I didn’t know you knew how to test for those!”
“I gotta do something to keep myself occupied in the library while you’re out…”
“Thanks.”
On much closer inspection, it was clear that the etchings and carvings on the wood were not for decoration. The style followed the PKM residue used by nobles. Whoever cast the enchantments on this box was certainly no amateur in the arcane. The size of the box belied its true weight. Even though she was using her magic to keep it in the air, she could feel its mass under gravity trying to bring it crashing to the floor. In reflection, it was incredible how that alicorn stallion managed to keep it in his saddlebag and maintain a solid composure for so long. The box itself measured no bigger than 12 hooves by eight hooves by four hooves, yet it seemed to carry the world inside it.
“So… how’re you gonna crack the lock?”
“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash… It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before. I’ll need to spend a while analysing it yet.”
“Well, we’ll be here until you go home. So if you ever need us for anything, come get us!”
“Thanks, Pinkie. I will.”
The five mares trotted, single file, down the stairs. Even though they had no knowledge of the tragedy in question, they were still distraught themselves after seeing one of their best friends crumble – more than once – and become reduced to a crying mess. They were there for comfort her, and that’s what they would do. It was just difficult to help someone who doesn’t realize themselves that they need it.

As Celestia’s sun gave way to Luna’s moon, Twilight relinquished her task of cracking the lock to the mysterious case; whatever was inside was important, that much she could tell. Slowly, repressive thoughts wormed their way back into her mind.
“Oh… If I had known him better in the past few years I would’ve known what he was like… I would’ve known what he was thinking when made this…”
Going from nodding to pacing to frenzy to foetal, Twilight didn’t even notice the tears leaving her eyes until they started soaking the box itself. Not a second later, to further solidify her snap to reality, a series of green horns poked its side out of the doorway.
“Twilight… Are you coming to eat?”
Can’t let him see me like this. Wiping the tears from her eyes in the subtlest manner possible, hiding the cracks in her voice, Twilight walked over and patted the dragon on the head as she walked down the stairs.
“I’m fine. Progress on the box is slow, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Let’s grab a bite.”

“How are you coping, buttercup?”
“Still a little shaky, but I think I can spend a night without crying now.”
The mood was vastly different from what it was last night. Granted, it would still have gone over like flatulence in a church were Pinkie Pie to throw another of her impromptu parties, but smiles could now be had, and conversation was no longer jagged and heavy. In a sense, the recovery process had begun.
“That’s good to hear. Nothing’s happening tomorrow – your father and I are attending the Military Hall for his decommissioning. Perhaps it’s for the best if you and the girls have a day off to unwind. Tomorrow is the public’s chance to offer wishes and respect to him. After all, he was the most public figure amongst the Power Nine. It would be a tragedy if ponies around missed a chance to wish their beloved hero farewell one last time.”
The cyan hoof on Twilight’s back was unexpected, but more comforting than imaginable.
“It probably is for the best you take some time off. You’ve been stressing out a lot over this issue.”
“I know. I’m trying my best to cope. It’s just… I don’t know if I even have enough energy to break down again, even though I know it’s inevitable.”
The solemnity in her tone draped the room in its weight, a blanket of snow on the crisp field of recovery. Regardless, the scenery around them hadn’t changed. The Sparkle house was still standing. People were still going about their everyday business. Granted, with the loss of a national hero, a few were still in mourning and a few others were still shaken, but to every other pony, today was another day in routine. There was no massive shock to their daily lives, no massive change to the way their days went. And yet, to a small purple mare, it was taking all her willpower alone to prevent her world from capsizing onto her head for a fourth time. It wasn’t that she wasn’t able to pull through – being Twilight, it would be better if the ordeal could pass over with as little pain in as little a timeframe as possible. Of course, due to many newly surfacing thoughts and emotions, combined with a mysterious alicorn and box, her problems were compounding as rapidly as a swarm of parasprites.

That said, it’s always in our times of greatest despair that the silver lining of hope shines through.

“Hey Spike, coming Pony Joe’s?”
“Huh? Oh, sure Rainbow Dash. Give me a second. What about Twilight?”
“She’s waiting for us by the door. It was her idea to go.”
The very sentence twisted and mangled itself within Spikes brain for a good minute before it could finally process itself. Twilight wanted to stop working on something and go outside to do something that wasn’t study? Were they even talking about the same Twilight Sparkle at this point, or did the funeral toll too heavily on her?
“Uhh… Um… Okay…”
Downstairs, all of Spike’s fears were debunked. Twilight’s mane was not a hair out of place; there wasn’t a single vein on her head that didn’t belong; her eyes weren’t bloodshot, but normal. She was completely fine.
“Let’s go, Spike.”
“Okay…”
Not that his apprehension wasn’t justified, but to say that something was odd wouldn’t have been much of a farfetched claim. It wasn’t until they actually reached the doughnut café did it all become clear.

“Wassup, Spike?”
“Hey, look who it is! Long time, no see, firebreather!”
During Twilight’s short time in the public classes at the magic school, Spike made acquaintances with most of the other dragons around the higher class’s students. Over time, only three or four could he call friends.
“Aeris, Zeph… What are you guys doing here?”
“What they always are, of course.”
And going completely unnoticed behind these other young dragons, were two unicorns, each conversing with the other ponies, breaking the train of speech only to interject.
“Rift Shock? Sunlight Cage? Did Twilight call you guys here?”
“That she did, little man. We knew she was home – we were there at his funeral service. He was a friend of ours too, y’know. In any case, we spoke after the ceremony, and Twilight said she’d get in touch to hang out again like old times. You know, to take her mind off the troubles and stuff.”
The pink dragon sat herself next to a red unicorn stallion with a blue mane. Rift Bolt was a genius in pyromancy. It was evident from his cutie mark – a stopwatch with four hands – that he’d become an adept at time magic also. As for Caged Sun, the grey mare with a green dragon companion, she had earned her talent in magical engineering long before the ponies graduated the Princess’s Academy.
“So you guys are helping her with the box?”
“Well… trying. To be fair, we’re usually the ones coming to her for help, not the other way around.”
“And my magic isn’t strong enough to reverse time far enough to ask Frost Nexus how to unlock it.”
It was clear that Twilight was doing well – she had the ability to ask for help herself, while also using it as an excuse to see some old friends. It would be wrong to say all her troubles were gone, but she was definitely dealing with a smaller portion.

“…Could you believe the gall? Professor Drain utterly smashed him and put him in his place. Oh man, was I pleased to see that…”
“…So Zeph, what’ve you been doing?”
“Eh, same old. Helping Cage with her new power source ideas. Most of them require a large spark to get going, and it just so happens our dragonfire is the right frequency…”
“…Mah apples growing four times faster? So you mean, four times th’apples per season...?!”
“…Oh, I r-really don’t think so… I mean, Angel’s such a problem to deal with- OH but don’t let that discourage you, it really is a rewarding thing…”
The conversation topics varied vastly, the mood in the place as chipper as it was at the beginning. All was well, and like all reunions, a good time was had by all. Doughnuts were consumed and coffee was drunk. Not too long later, however, did the pragmatic mare turn back to Twilight Sparkle.
“So about this box. Mind if I see it?”
“Oh, sure. Here.”
“Wow, sure is heavy. Didja try shooting a firebolt at it?”
“Not everything can be solved with incineration, Rift…”
“You never know…”
In behind the semi-serious pyromaniac’s banter, Sunlight Cage was running all of her short-term analyses and calculations. Her glasses started to shine as she ran through more and more processes, her brain outmatching even the most powerful of machines.
“That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“The lock isn’t magical. Well, not in the traditional sense. It doesn’t tick any boxes, and nothing I know works on it. It’s the first I’ve ever seen.”
“So what do I do?”
“Beats me, darling. But for once, I reckon Rift Shock might just be right – brute force may just be all you need. From what I can tell there is a whole lot of machinery in there though, so you may want to be careful, otherwise the box will be sealed permanently.”
“I see. Thanks, Sunlight.”
“Always a pleasure, darling.”
The mares and stallion continued their playful conversations all through the afternoon – stopping only when Pony Joe himself asked them to leave so that he could close up for the day. Bidding their farewells and making promises to come down and visit Ponyville, the two groups parted ways, each equally happy, but none as happy as Twilight herself. Progress had been made, and after the public service tomorrow, she could finally see what it was her brother left for her.

“Brute force? Twilight you couldn’t even wrestle yer way outta a haystack.”
“I’m sure that’s not what Sunlight meant. She’s usually roundabout when it comes to these things. Besides, what kind of lock would it be if you could just smash it against a wall and open it?”
As if to emphasize her point, but also with a small shard of hope, Twilight threw the box against the wall. While not entirely expecting it to open, she would’ve been overjoyed if not a little sheepish had the lock come undone. And of course, it stayed fast. The only after-effects of her action was a small brown mark against the wall.
“See?”
She puffed her chest, somewhat proud, yet also disappointed that it didn’t work. Deflating just as quickly upon realizing the box was no more open than it was when she had received it, Twilight sighed, almost in resignation.
“Well… at least I don’t really have to think too hard.”
“I have an idea!”
Taking the momentary silence, along with a number of confused glares as acceptance, Pinkie Pie hopped up, snatched the box out of Twilight’s magikinetic grasp, and in one fell swoop, shoved the circular lock hole onto Twilight’s horn. It took everypony a good few minutes to allow what just happened to sink in, even amidst Pinkie’s chaotically expectant smile.
“Uh…”
“Fire away, cap’n!”
The box was snugly fit onto Twilight’s horn. It could come loose, no question, but at this moment in time, the purple unicorn resigned herself to give it a shot – she was plum out of ideas, and the least she could do was take Pinkie’s ridiculous conjecture for a spin.
“Fire what?”
“Anything!”
After a few more moments of failing to decipher Pinkie’s mind, Twilight decided to just throw off a small light-beam spell. While it was difficult to concentrate with the weight of a huge box on her head, she eventually found her focus, and blasted a minor pulse of energy into the box.

What happened next probably surprised everypony in the room. Pinkie Pie included. Just like it was made out of paper, the lock clicked open and fell away, leaving only the spring-loaded arms in the box keeping the contents from spilling out all over the floor.
“Oh. That worked.”
Utterly flabbergasted, Twilight reached for the box and removed it from her head – forgetting entirely that she was an arcane adept. Looking at where the lock had been, a small hitch mechanism also helped to secure the box. On the bottom half, a small pin with a hole; on the top, a rotating arm with a small protrusion, poking itself halfway through the pin on the bottom. Even though the mechanism and engineering was simple enough, the quality of the metalwork showed that it was crafted by a master artisan.
“What’s inside?”
“Let’s find out.”
Regaining the use of her common sense, and hence magic, Twilight eased the box open, feeling the tension as the box tried to resist giving up its secrets. After some more force, the arms locked themselves into place, and the box held itself open, surrendering all that it held.
“Paper? Why would someone lock away paper?”
“It’s not just any paper, Rainbow Dash, they’re letters. Look.”
Levitating the top sheet of parchment out of the box, the handwriting on the paper became evident, even if the message itself had not been rolled up like a typical scroll.
“Well, shouldn’t you read it dear?”
“I suppose. I don’t know why my brother would leave me letters, of all things, but it can’t hurt to find out…”

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

How are you, dear sister? I heard from Mother and Father that you passed the entrance exam for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted and Talented Unicorns. That’s incredible! I’m so proud of you. You have no idea how much of an honour it is – the acceptance rate for that school is lower than that of the Military Academy, and yet the pass rate is much greater. You really are one of a kind. I knew since we were young that you had something special. I’m just glad I taught you to control your magic before, otherwise we could be in a whole different situation!

I’m doing rather well. I assigned myself my own task today, and it sadly wasn’t that much of a success. There was a report of a leaky dam in Fillydelphia, but I got there a little too late. Most of the town was already destroyed by the time I got there, and all I could do was help the recovery stages. But the good news is, having drained the city of excess water much more quickly, they were able to get under way with good progress. By the time you get this letter, they should already be done!

There’s just something I’m a little worried about. Rapier Slim, the Captain, seems kind of edgy. I don’t know if it’s because of me or what, but I get the feeling that he’s going to lose it and just pass over one day. Which is a shame because he can be a nice character at times. I hope you’re making sure you avoid crazies at your school – knowing you though, you’ll probably want to experiment on them! Haha, I kid.

Anyway, I have no idea if this letter will reach you or not, but until then, keep working hard – you’ll always be the little sister I know and love.

Your brother,
Frost Nexus

P.S. enclosed is a jar of your favourite peanut butter from Manehatten. I was up there for some small format duties and brought this back for you.

“Twilight? Darling, are you okay?”
“…I… He…”
Flutteryshy and Pinkie Pie had already prepared the incoming tissues, cushions, and ice cream, expecting another full force eye-waterfall from Twilight. While the torrential downpour didn’t occur, the cushion itself did come in handy, breaking the fall of a near-paralytic Twilight Sparkle.
“Are you okay?”
“…He wrote to me, all this time.”
The blizzard in her mind had returned, this time, rather than bringing tears, it brought with it a flurry of emotions. Her thoughts tumbled and roiled in her brain, harder and more violent than ever before. Individual feelings and emotions were clashing with each other, the inner workings of her mind forming a symphony of chaos and destruction, with no clear sign of ending. Eventually, the pain got the small pony’s head, and before she could say any more, her vision went dark.