Rainbow Dash flew as fast as her wings could take her. Tears were streaking through the air behind her coming from her own eyes, as she made her way to Princess Luna’s Castle. It had been a month since everything started and she had desperately wished that she had come sooner. The Annual Equestrian Royal budget and Trade Summit had been going on for some time now, and both Princesses were not to be disturbed as they carried out their royal duties. Spike was with them, and unfortunately, that small issue may cost one of her best friends her life. She landed in front of the guards at the gate, and gave herself a moment to catch her breath.

“Halt! Identify yourself!” The guard in golden armor stated.

“My name is Rainbow Dash, and I’m one of the Elements of Harmony! I have to talk to Princess Celestia right away! Her student, Twilight Sparkle is in big trouble, and only the Princess can help!”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Dash, but the Princesses gave explicit instructions not to be disturb-“

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS DYING, AND ONLY THE PRINCESS CAN SAVE HER!” Rainbow Dash screamed, tears streaming down her face once again.

“NOW LET ME THROUGH, OR I’LL GO THROUGH YOU!!” She screamed again.

She took a low stance and prepared her wings to fly at the guards. The guards each took a defensive position, until another voice rung out.

“Rainbow Dash, is that you?”

She looked over the gate and saw Shining Armor. Her short-term prayers answered, as she threw herself into the gate with everything she had.

“SHINING, TWILIGHT IS IN TROUBLE, SHE MAY BE DYING! YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME TO THE PRINCESS RIGHT NOW!!! PLEASE!” Rainbow begged.

Shining Armor’s eyes widened.

“Let her though,” He said in a calm voice. The guards each stepped out of the way, as Shining opened the gate and Rainbow rushed inside.

“What happened?!?” Shining said, as he and Rainbow Dash took off as fast as they could towards the main part of the palace.

“We don’t know, Shining! Twilight has gone through some sort of change! Like, physically! I don’t understand what’s happened, but Twilight isn’t Twilight anymore! We just hope the Princess can do something!” Rainbow exclaimed.

SIX WEEKS EARLIER…

Twilight Sparkle was excited. She had been to this wing in the Royal Canterlot Library before, but did not get a chance to spend a significant amount of time there. She was a bit preoccupied at the time with saving Equestria from some unknown disaster that she had went back in time to warn herself about. It turned out that she had gotten herself worked up over nothing, and had left without spending any significant amount of time there. Now that the wedding was over, she had decided to stay in Canterlot to do some research in the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing.

“Some of these tomes look amazing! I can’t believe I rushed out of here after that whole fiasco,” she thought to herself.

Twilight pulled each book from the shelf meticulously, and as she read, piles started to form around her. She had been reading about ancient spell theory, when she caught a glance of another text out of the corner of her eye. She trotted over to the shelf, and used her magic to dislodge the text from the corner of the bookcase.

“’Teleportation and Mathematics: A Guide.’ Huh. Now this looks interesting,” she mused as she magically flipped through its pages.

What she found astounded her.

“The combination of these computations and spells are incredible! How come I’ve never heard of this before?” She wondered.

When she flipped to the back, she saw an unfinished equation. Twilight was never one to back away from a scholastic challenge, and immediately started to think up solutions to the problem. What had intrigued her most about this was the drawing underneath the equation. It looked like some sort of diamond shaped pod.

“Hmm… I wonder what that’s for?” She spoke aloud.

“What is what for?” An Angelic voice asked.

Startled, Twilight whipped around and was relieved to find her mentor, Princess Celestia walking through the wing’s entrance. Twilight gave a quick bow of respect, and smiled towards her teacher.

“Princess, it’s so great to see you! Thanks again for allowing me back into the Star Swirl Wing. These books are fascinating!”

Celestia could not help but smile as she saw her prized pupil glow with exuberance.

“Of course, Twilight Sparkle. You are my most gifted student, why should you not be granted access? However, I have come to speak with you about something,” the princess stated.

“Yes, Princess?” Twilight said as a curious expression crossed her face.

“As you know, the Annual Budget and Trade Summit is being held at my sister, Luna’s castle this year. It is going to be a very busy time for us, as there have been many new trade developments that will affect Equestria’s commerce and royal budget. It will take about a month, maybe six weeks, and I would like to borrow Spike to be my personal assistant while at the Summit.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are you sure Spike is ready for such a responsibility, Princess?”

The Princess simply smiled. “I believe his time with you has made him quite responsible enough. I and my sister will need him to relay messages to and from the various groups that will be working at the summit.”

Twilight wanted to object. She quickly put the thought out of her mind, however. After all, the Princess was making this request, and this would be a huge opportunity for Spike. She would be lonely not having him around, but it was only for a month or so.

Twilight smiled, “I’ll let him know as soon as I get back to Ponyville. By the way, Princess, is there any way I can take some of these books back with me? If Spike is going to be with Luna and yourself, I’d love to take the time to study some of these more in depth.”

The Princess nodded, “Take whatever you like, Twilight. Just make sure to be careful. Some of these books are quite old. Although, with the wedding, some modern texts may have found their way in here.”

“Of course, Princess. You know how much I treasure books. I would never let anything happen to them. Thank you so much!” Twilight stated.

Twilight bowed, as Princess Celestia made her way out of the library. Twilight looked back down at the book she was reading. ‘This is going to be fun to try and figure out. With an equation like this, I could travel anywhere in Equestria, and not be bound by the limits of my magic. I still wonder what this diamond-like pod is…’