Now, when Twilight first saw that light in the distance, her mind, naturally, conjured up all sorts of ideas as to what it might have been. This was, after all, the exact place that Celestia herself told her to go, so of course it should be special. Foremost in her mind was the image of some wise old hermit, living meanly in the wilds, or perhaps the abode of some famous mage. What she had not been expecting, however, was a tavern. Built of stone and timber, this place, dubbed "The Corner Ale", according to the sign that hung above the front door, certainly looked cosy enough, even if such a place wasn't usually on Twilight's list of go-to locations. And speaking of whom, the young girl simply stood outside of it, staring at it intently, all while Spike, having finally caught up with her, stood by her side, as always.

"Well...at least it's something," he remarked.

But, before Twilight had a chance to respond to that, the doors of the tavern flung open, and one of it's patrons, an older man, began to stumble out of it. Twilight and Spike took an instinctive step backwards as he approached, but it soon became clear to the youths that this fellow was already well beyond any assistance from them at this point, as evidence by the idiotic grin he gave.

"Are...are you my Mommy?" he asked drunkenly.

And just like that, he collapsed, face-first, right into the ground. Needless to say, Twilight and Spike were rather taken aback by this unexpected turn their journey had thrown at them. Even so, they both knew without saying that this was, at the end of the day, the only place within miles that they had come across with any people in it. They did not speak to one another, but, one look at Twilight's face made it clear to Spike that she intended to go in there, leading to a long sigh on his part. Twilight, in the meantime, took a few calming breaths, before finally taking a few steps forward. Raising her hand, she pushed the door of the tavern open, and finally stepped inside, with Spike following her as usual.

The interior of the place was about as busy as one could expect. Men and women from all over the kingdom seemed to have gathered here, from a few rough-looking mercenaries sitting in the corner, to some prospective adventurers at the bar itself. The tavern was awash with the loud chatter of a hundred different people, and Twilight and Spike could barely hear themselves think because of it. Still, they entered in earnest, making their way past several other patrons to get to a small table in a relatively quiet corner. Sitting down, they continued to look around the place, Twilight growing ever more concerned as she did so.

"I...I was not expecting to come to a place like this."

Spike nodded, though tried putting on a smile for her sake.

"Well, at least the place has some...er...character."

"That's one way to put it."

The arrival of the second voice caught both youths off-guard, and their heads spun in the direction of the one who had spoken. There, standing beside their table, was a girl a few years older than Twilight, who was wearing what could accurately be described as a tasteful tavern girl outfit, mostly light-blue in colour. However, this stood in stark contrast to her hair, perfectly straight, which was a dark shade of pink and stopped just past her shoulders. She smiled to both of them, and yet, there was something about that smile that the two couldn't quite put their fingers on. Had they been asked to describe this girl, the term they'd have come up with would be "happy, yet tired-looking". As for the mystery girl herself, she placed a hand on her hip, keeping up her smile as she looked from one to the other.

"You're both new here, aren't you?"

Although hesitant at first, Twilight soon nodded to that, eliciting a brief giggle from the girl.

"Nice to meet ya. Name's Pinkie. So...what can I get ya?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, only to suddenly gain a look of realisation. Swiftly, she leaned in closer to Spike.

"Do you have any money with you?"

To that, Spike looked to her with widened eyes.

"What?! No! You know Mother never lets me near any gold!"

Looking somewhat embarrassed that she had failed to remember such a fact, Twilight slapped her hand against her forehead, all while Pinkie looked on with amusement. The tavern girl waited patiently for her newest customer to get her thoughts in order, and when Twilight finally did speak, it was with a somewhat nervous tone to her.

"Um...I don't suppose there's any free drinks here...is there?"

Now, in most cases, one would expect that somebody working in a tavern would be rather upset or offended by such a question. But this did not seem to be the case with Pinkie, who simply kept that same smile as she answered.

"Two glasses of water it is."

And with that, she was off, heading straight for the bar, no doubt to get their drinks. As for Twilight and Spike, they stayed sitting, watching all of the other customers in silence. A few times, it looked as if there was going to be some kind of dispute or even brawl about to occur, much to Spike's amusement, but with each case, all it took was Pinkie clearing her throat to gain the attention of the customers in question, at which point any chance of a fight soon disappeared. Naturally, Twilight was intrigued by this, but was unable to question it, as Spike then leaned in to speak with her.

"So...what do we do?"

To that, Twilight let out a sigh.

"I...I don't know, Spike. This is the only place we've seen all day. I was hoping there'd be some clue, some sign of where we're supposed to go, but..."

She didn't finish, but then, she didn't need to. Spike already saw the disappointment in her face, and was, in turn, feeling quite down himself. However, before either of them had an opportunity to do anything about this situation, Pinkie returned to them, and, as promised, was carrying two glasses of water. After placing them at their table, she brushed aside a few strands of pink hair from her face before speaking up.

"You just let Auntie Pinkie know if there's anything else ya need, okay?"

Spike and Twilight nodded to that, and in response, Pinkie was about to turn and leave them. However, before she did so, Spike's eyes widened, and he spoke up.

"Wait!"

Both Pinkie and Twilight were taken aback by this outburst, causing Spike to look a little embarrassed. But, after clearing his throat, he spoke to the tavern girl.

"I...I don't suppose you know about any really important...um...magical stuff around here, do you?"

Twilight, eager to hear an answer to such a question, turned to Pinkie also, just in time to hear the latter let out a hearty laugh.

"Magic? Here? Kid, the only stuff around here even close to magical is when people actually remember to pay me my tips."

Needless to say, the other two looked disheartened by this, looking down at their as-yet un-drunk glasses of water. Pinkie noted this immediately and, for a moment, her smile faltered. She appeared deep in thought for a moment, and then, as before, her smile returned in it's fullest, and she reached forward, placing one hand upon the shoulder of both youths, gaining their attention.

"Tell ya what. We've got a spare room upstairs that's just gathering dust right now. If you're on your way somewhere important, you can always stay there for the night."

Looking to her, Twilight gained an appreciative smile.

"That's...that's very kind of you."

To that, Pinkie let out a brief scoff.

"Pfft! It's nothing! Just being a good host."

Twilight continued to smile at that, resulting in a nod on Pinkie's part, after which she started to move away once more, ready to deal with her other customers. As time went on, and the night truly began in earnest, the patrons began to thin, as indeed did the water in Twilight's glass. As things became quieter and quieter, however, she continued to look less than enthusiastic about their situation, something which Spike did not fail to notice about her. Sighing, he reached forward, gently placing his hand upon hers, causing her to look up at him.

"Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure things will be better in the morning."

Even in spite of everything that had happened, and the lack of any real success thus far, Twilight couldn't help but smile at her friend's attempts at comforting her.

"I hope so, Spike. I truly do."