Chapter 12: Meek but Fleet

The first part of Princess Celestia’s letter to Twilight was in response to her request, on Rarity’s behalf, for accommodation in Canterlot. Rarity had been planning to go to Twilight’s hometown to gather some materials that could not be found in Ponyville, or anywhere else in Equestria outside of highly-specialized cities like Manehatten. Princess Celestia’s response was that she could place a room at Canterlot Castle at Rarity’s disposal for the duration of her stay.

It was in the second part of the letter than Princess Celestia invited Dusty for a consultation regarding his transformation. The princess had arranged it so the colt could accompany Rarity, or perhaps, given his relative size and physical strength, it was the other way around.

While Dusty could have easily, and quickly, flown to Canterlot in elemental form, his arrival could have been more easily marked that way. Besides that, an Alicorn was an extremely rare sight, and a male Alicorn an entirely unique one. Dusty would make a tempting target if he traveled on his own, whether potential criminals knew that he was a capable caster or not. If he traveled with Rarity, who had the air of an accomplished businesspony, there was less chance of mischief.

Rarity had seen the letter and the entirety of its contents – and, in fact, she was carrying it in one of her saddlebags. Neither, therefore, was surprised to see the other. What surprised Dusty was the sheer volume of Rarity’s luggage, which consisted of dozens of parcels and bags. The Unicorn was also taking Opalescence along. In turn, what surprised Rarity was that Dusty carried only a pair of saddlebags, neither of which was completely full. He also had a lightness about him that had not been there before, but Rarity could not ask about it because she did not know who might overhear their conversation on the train, and she did not want to be indiscrete: no ordinary pony should know that it was Gearhead, posing as a distant relative to Equestria’s ruling family.

That said, it wasn’t as if they were silent during the ride into Canterlot. Rarity had questions about what the Crusaders were on about when nopony else was around, and Dusty, because he had become a Crusader, had answers. Naturally he had to try to answer in the way that a colt would, for the benefit of any listeners.

“Don’t tell me you’re starting to fall for my little sister,” Rarity said, after the fifth time Dusty had mentoned her without mentioning any of the other members by name.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not in any position to say,” he said, his voice free of sarcasm. “B’sides, I thought you’d be most interested in hearing what it was your little sister’s been up to. It’s not easy keeping them entirely unhurt, you know, being so impulsive together.”

“Like going into the Everfree Forest at night?”

Dusty nodded. “Well, you know them better than I do, in the sense that you’ve been around them longer. But their actions are less filtered around other ponies their own age.” He paused. “Actually, it could be worse, considering how much everypony wants to prove themselves to their peer group the most. And what marks that more than getting one’s cutie mark?”

“It’s hard not to feel that pressure,”

“I don’t mind, so long as it doesn’t have any of us headed down a waterfall or into similar danger… again,” Dusty thought of their encounter with the Hydra, which had been precipitated by Crusader activity.

Rarity might have been thinking of a similar instance. “Well, I’m thankful you’re there to keep them relatively safe, or at least to rescue them from danger.”

“I’ll continue to do my best on that account,” despite my many limits, Dusty didn’t have to add. There was a great need, despite his apparent flippancy, to find a work-around to his activation limit, as well as the sudden time-outs. If, for example, he could put his power activation on hold and have it recover some time while it was on hold, that could help a great deal. After all, if he allowed his power to exhaust itself over the full five minutes, he had to wait a full five minutes more before he could use it again. That was a long time in which to stand by and do nothing.

On the other side of the spectrum, he didn’t want to be standing around with his power active minutes after it was needed, waiting for it to time-out. That was why, despite their utility, Dusty tried to avoid using spot spells, since even the simplest of spells activated his power, and its countdown. This was most annoying when a friend wanted him to use magic.

Princess Celestia herself was waiting for them at the station when the train came in. She also had a small honour guard, which included Shining Armour, watching more discretely. “Oh, what an honour!” Rarity gushed.

“It’s not exactly going to go unnoticed,” Dusty muttered.

“So you’re not excited to see me, Nephew?”

“Of course I am, Aunt Celestia,” the younger Alicorn allowed for an awkward hug, then the princess turned and led the way up to the castle. “You know I don’t like to cause a fuss, though.”

“Hm? What happened to ‘Auntie?’”

“Just a sign I’m growing up, but if titles matter to you so much, Princess…”

“They don’t matter quite so much, with family,” Princess Celestia said. Dusty decided that it was a good thing Luna wasn’t there to pick his mind at that moment, because otherwise she’d have been able to report Dusty’s sarcastic thought to her sister. Then again, since Luna could get into dreams at long ranges, Dusty guessed that her not being in the immediate vicinity didn’t really matter.

“You’re the one who asked for me,” Dusty said, “so today I get to play guest.”

“Ah, but there’re the house rules to follow,”

“Ah,” but only once I partake of your hospitality, Dusty thought. He noticed that Princess Celestia was leading him and Rarity up an external staircase. It was still within the palace walls, however it meant that there were not any interior passages or guards to pass. It also meant that a guest in these rooms could be kept out of the way. They arrived at a double set of doors, which Princess Celestia opened to reveal a large suite bedroom, with an en suite bathroom.

“Oh my, do I really get to stay here?” Rarity asked.

“I was only too glad to provide you with these accommodations when I got Twilight Sparkle’s request.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” Rarity continued to gush. It was a rather opulent and well-appointed room. Dusty would have thought it would be right up Rarity’s alley. Or whatever the gregariously glamorous substituted for alleys. Promenades, maybe? Rarity was, surprisingly, kissing Princess Celestia’s hooves, which was making the princess look very uncomfortable. She tried to wave it all off as not such a big deal, but Rarity wouldn’t stop thanking her.

“Come, Nephew, we have much to discuss,” Princess Celestia said to Dusty, and led him away from the suite and the still overly-thankful Rarity. The two of them passed one of the castle staff on their way out. He was trying to carry all of Rarity’s luggae, and doing a valiant job.

Princess Celestia led Dusty to an inner room between the throne room and her own private quarters. Both Shining Armour and Princess Cadence were waiting for them there, a fact which made Dusty sigh in exascerbation. “How many more of the ponies I didn’t want to see me like this will?” He asked.

“Probably three or four more than you want,” Princess Celestia said.

“I’m afraid we’re already well over that limit,” Dusty said.

“We promise we won’t treat you with any less respect than you deserve, even if you do look adorable,” Cadence said.

“Just remember what I can do when I put my mind to it, right?”

“You know, I still find it hard to believe you took that witch down on your own,” Armour said.

“The facts change not,” Dusty said. “Anyway, why’d you summon me? I was getting a valuable lesson in play.”

“We’ve been helping Princess Celestia’s research teams in their efforts to find a way to reliably revert you to your normal form,” Princess Cadence said.

“Unfortunately, the closest thing we’ve found is the transformation spell you already started to learn, and this sort of transformation isn’t what it was supposed to do,” Armour said.

“It could be something entirely new, if the circumstances under which I completed the spell were different from any other time it was attempted, successful or otherwise,” Dusty said.

“If it’s new there won’t be a precedent set, which means no previously-recorded incident. No literature,” Princess Celestia said.

“That’d annoy Twilight to no end,” Dusty said, looking at Armour. “It would also mean I have to find my own way back, with my current abilities.”

“It’s a shame my Failsafe Spell doesn’t work on you,” Princess Celestia said.

“That just means there’s nothing to safeguard from failure,” Dusty said. “The transformation doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing that can simply be cast off. If it was, I’d have reverted to form when the spell expired. Instead, my change has already lasted over several days.”

“So we need to figure out what you can do before you can transform back,” Armour said.

“If there’s nothing promising in the research, then there’s no way I can find an argument against that logic,” Dusty said.

“Unfortunately we’ve already scoured the entire library,” Princess Celestia said. “Twilight Sparkle reports similar results from the Golden Oaks Library and the material recovered from the old castle.”

“Which leaves the good old trial-and-error method,” Dusty said, “but I do not enjoy leaving myself powerless after an attempt. Could I have some time to figure out a little trick before we get started?”

“Certainly, I wasn’t thinking of getting started immediately anyway,” Princess Celestia said. “Feel free to enjoy Canterlot as a colt for a few hours.”

“Shining Armour has guard duty to attend to, but I’d be happy to show you around,” Cadence said. They all knew that Gearhead was familiar with some of Canterlot, but this was little Stardust’s first actual appearance in the capital. It wouldn’t do to have him appear to know too much, to those ponies actually paying attention. And those were the ones they would most want to convince of Dusty’s identity.

“As you wish,” Dusty said, dipping his head. The others smirked, but Cadence led the way out anyway.

As Dusty toured the palace grounds and surrounding city with Cadence, he was aware of the stares they were collecting. He knew how they looked: a pair of Alicorns out for a stroll, and yet one was great-niece to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The other was a blank-flank from who-knew-where, and… a male? The speculation would soon be rampant, and propagate throughout the city.

Disregarding all that, Cadence showed Dusty to all the places nearby where a colt might entertain himself. This kind of tuning to another’s needs shouldn’t have surprised Dusty at all, considering he knew that Cadence had been Twilight’s foalsitter, and that the Unicorn had enjoyed their relationship. At the end of their outing, Cadence even brought Dusty to a sweet shop. He did not want to admit that he didn’t really have a sweet tooth, so he simply accepted what she bought for him, then they headed back to the palace.

There were still several minutes before Dusty would have to go to the training room to meet up with the others, so he asked Cadence to go ahead of him while he went to check up on Rarity. She seemed to be getting ready to go out. “Did you want to ask me something, Darling?” She asked, inviting him to sit beside her on the rather expansive bed.

“Oh, I was just wondering if there might be some way to put my magic on pause.”

“You’ve already tried not casting, right?

“Yes, but my time continues to run whether or not I cast anything at all. I could call on my power and wait. I would still time-out.”

“What if it wasn’t focus itself, but another spell?”

“Switch? Standby? No, that could work,” Dusty said aloud. “Thanks, Rarity.”

“Anytime, Darling.”

“I should get going,”

“I’d love to come watch, but I’d better be on my way as well.”

“I’m not sure you’d want to watch this, anyway.”

“Remember,” Princess Celestia said, “the exercise is to determine the limits of what you can do.”

“That way we can see if there’s a combination of your skills that we could use to turn you back,” Luna said.

“Yeah, so don’t throw everything you’ve got at us all at once,” Armour said.

“Oh, I think I’ve got the concept,” Dusty strapped his gemstone dagger to his leg on an adjusted belt. He had modified the dagger’s design, so the teeth on the half-gear were pointed, and longer, like the rays of the sun. The blade, regardless of its length, looked like an extended center ray. Like him, Armour had brought his buckler and dagger. The Unicorn would probably refrain from using his weapon until after the Alicorn drew his own.

But magic was not Dusty’s first play this time. He charged forward a few steps, then started to weave back and forth, as he had seen the Dullihan do. When Cadence started providing covering fire for Armour’s charge, Dusty leaped into the air, calling on his flight just as he reached the peak of his jump. The resulting energy release made him seem to jump a few feet higher into the air, but that was just the jump in his speed.

Dusty jinked, spiralled, and flipped through an evasive routine. Armour couldn’t get any closer to him than he already was, but Cadence could give chase while she continued to fire, so now it was Armour who was covering her. She got close, working with Armour to try to herd Dusty into a corner, but then he dove for the ground, making dust fly on impact.

A thick fog suddenly expanded from the area of impact. Armour and Cadence remained separated, with little idea of where the other was because the fog also dampened sound to a certain range. Neither could be certain that they would not fire and hit the other instead of Dusty.

Stardust had no such limitation, suddenly coming out of the fog at Armour’s left flank in full Agile Form, clad in white, unadorned armour and a helmet with a shallow V-visor. The stargem dagger was extended to its full length, and constantly absorbing magic power into its center even as Stardust swung it at Armour.

Armour himself expanded his shield, which he had on his left leg. It became a triangular tower-style shield, similar to the one on his cutie mark, and it easily deflected Stardust’s swing. But the speed of his delivery and his fast follow-through continually forced Armour back. Armour drew his sword with his tail and started to fight back with both forelegs. He fired a signal shot high into the ceiling, then started trying to hit Stardust with magic blasts as well as physically.

Armour was far from the only one with this idea. Stardust was enhancing his speed with his magic, and his swings were a blurring combination of diagonal slashes and wicked thrusts, each carrying a little magic to boost its impact. Stardust spun, flipping his sword over his left hand to cover himself more fully as he fended off Cadence’s magical attacks, and then he leaped back into the fog, vanishing.

Not this again, Armour groaned inwardly, sword and shield at the ready as he swung left and right. Something came slowly out of the fog ahead of him – an Alicorn in flight using the ground as a guide. He relaxed slightly when he saw it was Cadence, and they moved together so each was covering the other’s back. Cadence continued to fly, each wingbeat driving the fog further back.

The fog suddenly melted away, and Armour and Cadence cast about until they located Stardust – back in his colt form as Dusty – moving very slowly and cautiously from Armour’s two o’clock. Before anything else could happen, Armour started to unleash an unrelenting salvo of magical blasts. Dusty started to deflect them with the still-extended sword he was wielding in his mouth. Cadence took a turning jump, and unleashed a round of blasts from her own horn. Dusty leaped back into the air.

Suddenly he was balancing upside down from the middle of the ceiling, formations like an open flower behind him. He transformed from pony to human, but left off the armour this time in order to leap directly at his targets right away.

Armour and Cadence raised overlapping protective barriers, but Stardust swung his sword, which was suddenly glowing red, anyway. Armour thought it would simply glance off the shield, and the impact would cause Stardust to lose his balance, but instead it tore right through Armour’s purple shield, and bounced off of Cadence’s blue barrier. The blade bounced back, and Stardust looped back into the air.

As Stardust came down again, but in a slightly different position, his arcing sword changed from red to orange, and ripped through Cadence’s barrier instead. Before Armour could counter with some magic blasts, Stardust hit the ground and sprinted to the right, circling around at high speed, and never slowing, as he charged back in, covering his approach with some Magic Arrows, which the other two had to counter with magic blasts.

They were both unprepared, as Stardust charged directly between them, easily swinging his sword in a single continuous horizontal slash that switched from his right hand to his left. Lightning energy traveled along the blade and into Armour and Cadence, paralyzing them temporarily. Stardust took three steps past them, turned, and reverted to Dusty form, but came back into a range where he could tap either’s horn to neutralize them.

“What was that?” Cadence asked. “Last time you couldn’t keep up with the both of us.”

“I learn from my experiences, and besides, when I activate my powers together they get a big boost. So anything I can do now is probably more potent then its equivalent otherwise.”

“I would not say that,” Princess Celestia said. “Your Geomancy is noticeably more powerful as Gearhead. But otherwise, yes, you are more powerful as an Alicorn. Nor do you need vocal incantations, except for higher-level spells.”

“It’s a shame spell power isn’t the factor keeping you from reverting to form,” Luna said, “or you’d already be able to solve your issue.”

“Well then, I’ll just have to keep looking,” Dusty said, returning his dagger to its scabbard.

“In the meantime, you can partake of some of Canterlot society’s best until it’s time to return to Ponyville.”

“My thanks, ‘Auntie,’” Dusty said.

When Dusty went to check in on Rarity again, she was on a tear, quickly fleshing out a new design. “I’ll show them something worthy of Canterlot,” she was saying.

“’Them’ who?”

“Jet Set and Upper Crust!”

“And they’re the type of ponies to whom you want to prove your skills? Not Photo Finish or Hoity Toity?” These were fashion ponyalities to whom Rarity had already proven herself, thus why Dusty chosen to drop their names.

“Proving myself to Jet Set and Upper Crust could mean really big things for me here in Canterlot. Plus, they called Ponyville ‘a little bit country,’ and I won’t stand for that!”

“I don’t get it: Twilight’s from Canterlot, but does that make her some sort of debeutente?”

“She certainly doesn’t act like Upper Crust,” Rarity said.

“I wouldn’t like her if she did, by your account. You don’t need to prove yourself to ponies who stick their noses so high into the clouds they can’t catch the scent of potential.”

“Oh but it will be so easy to prove myself,” Rarity said. “I have the skills and knowledge, and it will set Jet Set and Upper Crust back, and seed my reputation here in Canterlot at the same time. You brought merchandise here to sell during your training sessions, so you can surely understand.”

“I understand. I’m just concerned you’ll end up getting carried away by it all,” Dusty said.

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m sure I can handle it. Besides, it gives me further motivation to create this dress for Twilight’s birthday.”

“When is that?”

“Don’t you know? You live with her,”

“She hasn’t spoken about it around me,”

“Ah, well it’s this weekend.”

“I’ll have to get her something. I suppose she’d enjoy a book, but what volume could one get that she doesn’t already own?”

“Why not simply make something for her?”

“Unless it’s something shaped, it’ll vanish when I time out. I’ll think on it.”

“In the meantime, I’ll need some supplies for this,” Rarity said.

“I’ll come with you. Maybe I’ll find some inspiration at one of the shops.”

“In that case, we’d better take Opal with us,” Rarity said. She gently took hold of the cat with her magic. It was more so the cat wouldn’t startle and try to scratch her later than because she was worried about hurting her: Opal was tougher than she looked.

Although Rarity was a Unicorn, and not an Alicorn like Cadence, the three of them still made quite the scene as they made their way around the shops. With her design in mind, Rarity knew exactly what supplies she needed, and she even adapted her ambitions to other materials that she spotted and thought could work.

Rarity carried most of her parcels using her magic, but Dusty had been smart enough to empty his saddlebags so he could help out without using magic: he knew that if he did use magic to carry anything, he would drop them if they didn’t get back to the castle within five minutes of him reaching out to pick up the parcels in the first place. And it took more than five minutes to get to the first shop. Dusty increased his carrying capacity by carrying another two parcels on his back, between his wings.

Rarity was leading the way back to the castle when she literally bumped into a couple who were most certainly high society types. The parcels Rarity had been carrying dropped, scattering their contents – except for the one the other mare had to pull off of the stallion’s head, causing Rraity to immediately identify him as ‘Fancypants.’ Dusty put his parcels down and started to gather the loose supplies before they could be taken by the wind.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Rarity was saying to Fancypants. “I didn’t see you there. I’ve just got so many bags, and I was trying to get back to my suite at the castle, and—“

“You’re staying at the castle?”

“The Princess invited me to stay in one of her suits,”

“You know the Princess?” And her protégée, Dusty thought.

“A pony with expensive tastes, I see,” the glamorous-looking mare said, using her own magic to send a parcel back to Rarity. Since Dusty didn’t have his magic active, he couldn’t tell what colour her magic aura was. He was slightly surprised that, given her fleur de lis cutie mark, she did not speak with a French accent.

“Oh it’s for an ensemble I’m making for a friend. Her birthday’s in a few days.” Since all the bags were collected and under control again, Dusty picked up his own bags and started following Rarity past the elite pair. “Again, I’m so sorry for bumping into you like that.”

“I’m not,” Fancypants said. “You’re obviously somepony worth bumping into.” Dusty had to give the Unicorn stallion some credit for rolling with the entire incident without getting his metaphorical feathers ruffled. “Listen, I have a VIP box reserved for the Wonderbolts Derby this afternoon. Would you be so kind as to join me and a few of my companions there?”

“Me?”

“But of course, my dear.” The invitation clearly left Rarity somewhat flustered, but she agreed all the same. She doesn't have any reason to refuse just one invitation, Dusty thought. And if she was concerned for her reputation, the word of somepony so well known that Rarity knew him on sight would only do good things for it. So it was a good thing Rarity took the opportunity to introduce herself when Fancypants offered it, as he was leaving. His mare companion was a few steps behind, but she quickly caught up. Dusty wondered if she had actually gotten caught up in the act of her own preening, and that was shy she had fallen behind. Canterlot nobles, he caught himself thinking of them somewhat disdainfully. Fancypants and his immediate acceptance was somewhat to his credit, however he had only done so after Rarity said that she was connected to Canterlot royalty. Dusty didn’t know in which direction to weigh things. “You can bring your younger companion,” Fancypants said.

“Oh why, thank you!” While Rarity continued to gush, Dusty decided to ruffle as few feathers as was possible.

Back at Rarity’s suite, the Unicorn carefully proceeded to lay out the pros and cons of attending the Wonderbolts Derby. It was only by listening that Dusty learned that Rarity considered Fancypants the most important pony (or perhaps just Unicorn) in Canterlot. Rarity wasn’t feeling the crunch in regards to Twilight’s dress just yet. “I can lend a hoof with the dress if you really end up needing it,” Dusty said.

“Thank you for the kind and extraordinary offer, but I doubt it’ll be necessary.”

“You forget I’ve designed apparel of my own, so I can be quite effective.”

“I’ll keep your offer in mind, but in the meantime, lets go acquaint ourselves with Fancypants!” Rarity jumped out of her closet wearing an elaborate red hat, and proceded to squeal in delight. Dusty cringed slightly.

Rarity led the way to, and through, the stadium next to the castle, where the derby was taking place. Dusty saw that the vast majority of the crowd was composed of well-to-do ponies. He could not see under all of their hats, but he believed that the greatest majority of the attendees were Unicorns. He even spotted Lyra Heartstrings and Minuette in the crowd as he climbed the steps after Rarity.

Near the VIP box’s stairs, Dusty noticed Rarity glance quickly toward two ponies sitting nearby, and tentatively identified them as Jet Set and Upper Crust, the two to whom Rarity wanted to prove herself the most due to the earlier incident. As Rarity batted her eyes at the Royal Guard acting as a bouncer for the box, Dusty wondered if merely opening his wings would be enough to grant a pass. He was spared the consequences of doing so when Fancypants came down to get them. Or to get Rarity. Dusty was trying his best to remain as her shadow unless it became appropriate to do otherwise.

Rarity seemed startled to see the small group of Fancypants’s companions coming toward them as soon as they spotted their friend, and skittered to the side. Obviously these elite were excited to see Fancypants. “Everypony, this is Rarity.” The others didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, but as soon as Fancypants mentioned where she was staying, they got interested.

Fortunately they did not get much further than that, as the mare doing announcements for the derby got started, and everypony began to move to the window to watch. The other elite ponies followed Fancypants in his support of Rapid Fire. Dusty mentally rolled his eyes, knowing that –

“I doubt he stands a chance against Hasty Hoof,” Rarity said. Exactly, Dusty thought. Spitfire and Soarin’ were also lined up to compete, but neither could fly faster than Hasty Hoof. It was in her name. Rarity was spared having to explain until the race was over, when she explained that Rainbow Dash knew that Hasty Hoof may be small, but her speed was higher than that of the others.

“And who is this ‘Rainbow Dash?’” One of the mares asked.

She just said that Dash’s a friend, Dusty thought. He couldn’t imagine why Rarity seemed so stumped for an answer, but felt her reluctance to be ridiculed. “Rainbow Dash is the most recent winner of the Best Young Flyers Competition, and the only Pegasus alive to be able to perform the Sonic Rainboom. As an aspirant to the Wonderbolts, Miss Dash knows each member quite thoroughly.”

“And you are..?”

“Also a friend. They call me ‘Dusty.’”

“Oh, what an… unpleasant name.”

“My thanks for putting it so politely,” Dusty said without missing a beat.

“Well,” Fancypants said, “if a pony knows the Princess and the Best Young Flyer champion, she is obviously somepony worth knowing.” The others immediately murmered their assent.

Sheep, Dusty thought. Is this what Canterlot’s aristocracy is like? Following in the whims and wishes of the more important ponies? If so, I’ve no idea why ‘Lord’ Vines wants to be like them. Rarity, meanwhile, was practically overflowing with joy at Fancypants’s approval. Well, there were some aspects of this stallion that appealed to Dusty as well, like his openess and his willingness to step in and smooth any ripples in the water.

While Rarity began to attend different events put on by members of Canterlot’s high society, Dusty returned to the library to see if his fresh eyes could spot something the research teams had missed. Of course, Princess Celestia had told him to attend some of the events himself, however there were some to which Rarity was suited to attend and he was not. Those were the ones he skipped, while he watched Rarity’s performances on the other occasions.

On one of the former occasions, Dusty happened to find a short passage on the use of magical energy. It stated that it should be theoretically possible to direct all of one’s generated magical energies to be harnessed and used solely for the purpose of a particular spell. What this meant was that Light Magic should only generate light effects. The same would be true for other spells, especially the elemental ones, which were normally accompanied by big flashes and sounds.

This made sense to Dusty on some level, because a more seasoned Unicorn ought to be able to focus her or his energies into, say, a magic blast, in a way that would mximize its force while minimizing the leak into the light that made the blast visible, sound energy that made it audible, and any heat energy byproduct.

This also meant that every Unicorn and Alicorn of whom Dusty was aware did not use their power as efficiently or effectively as it was possible to do. They were all wasting some portion of their power in order to create what was effectively a light show. Naturally, Dusty was not innocent of this either.

Dusty imagined that if he could learn to use his energy more efficiently, he could also learn to make his magical aura invisible even to those who could sense it, like Twilight. This would mean that he could avoid tipping his hoof to potential opponents, but he guessed that by the time he mastered efficient energy use, he would be Gearhead again. Or at least, that was his hope. Still, they would be applicable lessons. Dusty continued to look for further notes on the subject, but this seemed to be the only one. He would have to resort to trying it out on his own.

Dusty continued to find volumes by Spring Onion, Starswirl the Bearded, and other Unicorns of varying degrees of fame. Many of the spells and potions they detailed had been beyond his power as Gearhead, but if Dusty wanted to truly test his limits, he would have to use these spells as the test – as long as he could understand the spells well enough to bring them off successfully, and as long as it was not a spell that asked for something like somepony’s soul in exchange.

As he had noted before, Spring Onion specialized in combat spells, almost all of them Elemental Magic. He was a master of the delayed and unincanted spell, but he also had other utility spells, like ones that could refresh his allies.

Starswirl specialized in transformations, but not in the type that Dusty wanted: this was taking one thing and changing its nature into something completely different: apples into oranges, leaves and rocks into clothes, but not Unicorns into Alicorns, or so it seemed.

Starswirl’s direct protégée, Clover the Clever, had studied a different area of magical expertise, but this one carried its own reasons for being interesting: enhancing one’s own mental abilities. The boost was, naturally, quite temporary, but it could be useful for situations where that boost was beneficial and required. It would be like the boost in clarity Gearhead seemed to get when Discord was present.

The more time Dusty spent with the Canterlot elite, the less they made him want to stick around, because they held themselves as being above others. By a ridiculously-large degree, if the angle of their upturned snouts was anything by which to judge. This behaviour reminded Dusty too much of Vines, who treated all other Verdants except for Father and Mother as lesser beings, and all non-Verdants as being lesser still – except for Gearhead, who was at the borrom of the pyramid because he could not farm at all.

Dusty enjoyed Ponyville far better than Canterlot, because recognition there seemed to be based in merit far more than in one’s social status – except if you were a school-aged foal, because then the ‘elite’ were typified in Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

Dusty did agree with Vines to some extent: a pony’s worth had to be defined by what he could do, the type of contribution just had to be widened. Still, monetary contribution simply was not a lot. That was why Father’s use of the East Field would grate on every traditionalist on the Council. Finally, there was the problem of placing merit on somepony because of who they were. Titles mattered little to Gearhead, and in personal interactions the same seemed to be true for Luna, Cadence, and Armour. If you were a friend, they didn’t care about being treated like a pair of princesses and the Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. Dusty enjoyed their company far more than those of a handful of wealthy, snooty Unicorns. Even Rarity was treading the line, without even knowing it.

After a time spent in the company of ponies he was rapidly coming to dislike in rather strong terms, Dusty would retreat to the library, wondering when he could go home. While his research was interesting, and often extremely insightful, it was also becoming repetitive. Maybe his childish body was beginning to affect his judgement?

Some time later, Dusty returned to Rarity’s suite, so see how she was getting along with the dress she was making for Twilight. He was starting to prepare to head back to Ponyville, and wanted to see if he could lend a hoof, so he was surprised to see her writing a letter to Twilight, while speaking aloud.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Dusty asked.

“Oh Darling, I’m sure she’ll understand. Besides, this could mean big things for me.”

“Well, I guess that’s up to you to decide. For me, Ponyville is a much more desirable destination, so I’m planning on leaving at the next convenient opportunity. Can I help you with anything?”

“No, that’s quite alright. I have everything under control.”

“If you say so,” Dusty said, and when Rarity didn’t have a rejoinder, he left to pack and meet the next train back to Ponyville.

Dusty had hoped that Rarity would return to her senses enough to be able to meet him at the station, however he scoured the entire platform and every car without spotting her. By the time he realized that she was not there, the train had already left for Ponyville. Of course, he could just fly back to find out what was going on, but what would be the point? Rarity was a mature adult, so surely she had made her decision with all the consequences in mind – after all, she was the type to weigh the pros and cons of all of her options against each other to decide on her most beneficial action. In this case, maintaining the reputation she had as an up-and-coming socialite in, admittedly, the center of Equestrian culture, seemed to be more important than a party to celebrate the anniversary of one of her newest friend’s birth – not that Twilight would not eventually come to understand the choice. Dusty sincerely hoped Rarity would get the chance to repair any damage done.

Dusty pondered what could be more important to him: Gearhead’s reputation as a gadgeteer of high quality, or his friendships, both as Gearhead and as Dusty. Before coming to Ponyville, his answer would have been his reputation, but that was because Gearhead had not had many friends of whom to speak. He saturated the market with his gadgets, did whatever research he could, and moved on. That had been the entirety of his life these past ten years, and Gearhead could not claim to be satisfied with that anymore.

Before he had come to Ponyville, Gearhead had had business acquaintances, ponies with whom he had agreements, but he could not call these ‘friends,’ not in the way he could call the Elemental Six or the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or his gaming buddies ‘friends.’ And what had he known about intimate relationships beforehand? Just the support he had gotten from his parents and from Big Sister Ivy, curiosity from the soon-to-be Prism Flight, and Dawn and Dusk's mutual support.

When Dusty got into Ponyville, he got another shocking lesson about friendship: upon receiving the letter from Rarity expressing her regret at being unable to make it back to Ponyville in time, Twilight herself decided to accommodate Rarity’s apparent needs: she asked Pinkie Pie if it would be okay to move the party to Canterlot, and she asked Princess Celestia for a place in which to hold the party. Pinkie immediately agreed, and Princess Celestia immediately granted permission to Twilight to use the Great Hall.

As everypony helped Pinkie pack her party favours, Dusty came up with a simple, and hopefully effective, plan. The reasoning behind it was simple: Without a warning, both parties (so to speak) would be in for a big surprise: Opalescence was not ill, and Twilight had decided to keep the relocation a surprise, and thus had not sent a reply to Rarity, even by normal mail.

As soon as he was able, Dusty quietly detached himself from Twilight and the others as they chatted and prepared in their car. Dusty moved forward, toward the engine, and when nopony was looking he moved to a window. As he opened it he whispered his incantation to transform into light, and took off. So as not to alarm the Royal Guards, he decided to fly along a high trajectory, which was not a big deal, time-wise, since he was traveling at the speed of light.

Dusty’s landing, however, would be a big deal. He pulled up just before he met with the ground, and flew toward the door to Rarity’s suite. As he did so, he began to decelerate and return to his solid form.

Which was why he made a loud ‘THUD!’ when he crashed, face-first, into the door. Dusty was still shaking it off and stumbling about when Rarity, curious and halfway into one of her fancy outfits, opened the door. “Did you miss your train, Darling?” She asked, blinking at him.

“Nah, I caught both of them,” Dusty said, finally stable again. Thank Celestia for that reflexive defensive magic, he thought.

“’Both?’”

“Good, you’re paying attention. Because I’ve limited time to tell you: Pinkie’s moving Twilight’s party.”

“To where, pray tell?” Rarity moved closer, which took her outside the doorway.

“To here,”

“To Canterlot?”

Dusty looked straight at Rarity and the door behind her. “Here,” he said.

“Here?” Dusty watched as comprehension dawned. “Oh my, here?”

“Eiyup. And now I’ve got to get back to the train before anypony misses me.”

“You cannot be serious,”

“How serious do I look?” Dusty transformed into his light form again and shot up into the sky, and then out toward the train, leaving Rarity wondering since when he could do such a thing. Which was funny, considering he’d been in Light Form before, when she had found one of his caches.

Dusty found the train a mere three minutes after he had left it, but somepony had already closed the window he had used earlier. Being as careful as possible to avoid being spotted, he rematerialized beside the train in flight and opened the window to get back inside. He then used his telekenesis to close the window again, and then put his powers back into standby, and hoped Twilight had not noticed anything, or if she had, that she would not bring it up. He then made his way back to the car where he found the friends still chatting amiably, as though nothing had happened.

Which was true, as far as they should be concerned. The rest was up to Rarity.

Dusty winced when he saw how Rarity had improvised with Opalescence, dumping her underneath a tap just to give her the appearance of illness. At least she had gotten out of her gala clothes and stepped into something more plain. Of course, ‘plain’ was relative, especially when one was speaking about Rarity the Unicorn. Fluttershy rushed in to tend to the sick cat, and then everypony headed downstairs.

“When I told Princess Celestia that we wanted to move the party here, she gave us free use of the Gala Hall right away,” Twilight said, beaming. “I wanted to do it outside, originally, but she said there’s another party going on there.”

“Oh my, the Garden Party,” Rarity muttered.

“Isn’t it just fancy-pants?” Pinkie Pie said.

“Where?!” Dusty winced, as clearly Rarity couldn’t hear the lack of capital letters. “I mean, how did you ever decorate so quickly?”

“Party canon!” Pinkie whipped a canon with a flower painted on each wheel out of nowhere, and fired, spreading confetti, streamers, and other party favours everywhere, including on Rarity’s somewhat modest dress. “I never leave home without it,” the Earth Pony continued, oblivious to Rarity’s nervous twitching. Dusty would have loved to know how Pinkie did that, as it might be a useful place to store his core system and all its paraphernalia, but then he remembered: this was Pinkie being Pinkie Pie, so nopony else could probably do it.

As the party continued, Rarity started to mix excuses to cross over to the Garden Party a few seconds at a time. Dusty decided to cover for her if it became necessary, but the wildness of the pony’s excuses soon made doing so impossible. It was a good thing Twilight was so understanding of Rarity’s business savvy, or perhaps that she was naïve enough to believe that Rarity would not ditch her friends without very good reason.

It was unfortunate that, while everypony else understood what Rarity was trying to do, they wanted to join in in their own way. Dusty had been to enough high society events in the past few days to know with absolute certainty that these friends from Ponyville would end up damaging Rarity’s reputation simply by association. “I don’t think this is that kind of party,” he said, standing between the others and the door, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash bulled their way through.

As expected, the disaster immediately began to unfold: Applejack started weeding; Fluttershy invited an assortment of animals to sing; Pinkie added her hyperactive flourishes to the party; Rainbow Dash started challenging ponies left and right; Twilight, herself from Canterlot, started dancing awkwardly to the music she’d brought out with her. Dusty himself had to duck or dive out of the way whenever Pinkie or Dash bounced or flew by him. He was near Twilight when it got very close to becoming Rarity’s nightmare scenario, with Upper Crust and Jet Set asking where Twilight had gotten her dress, which still had not reached its final stages when Twilight had spotted it.

Fortunately, Fancypants saved Rarity by calling it ‘charming,’ while Twilight had called it ‘functional.’ Unfortunately hearing that everypony who was crashing the party was from Ponyville was like hearing that they were from some hick-town to these elite, yet another reason why Dusty disliked them so. Fortunately, Rarity chose this moment to finally stick up for her friends, and Fancypants backed her up again. But Dusty still did not like Fancypants calling his friends ‘charmingly rustic.’ After all, when all was said and done, he had been born on a farm. But he was not Gearhead at the moment, so Dusty held his tongue. But he had much about which to vent to whoever might listen when they got back to Ponyville!

Before they left for Ponyville once more, Luna pulled Dusty aside. Besides being an available ear, she also had a couple questions for him. Dusty answered as honestly as he could, given the fact that he could not know how long he would remain in this form. Then, Luna sent him home with the others. Next Chapter: 13. This Too Shall Come To Pass Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 3 Minutes