Groaning, Fluttershy snuggled into the soft bed while throwing the blanket over her head. It was early – waaaaaay too early even for her. The birds hadn't even began the dawn chorus for Celestia's sake! Tugging the fabric tighter around her shoulders, a happy sigh escaped as she enjoyed the soft mattress . It was so much comfier than her own bed at home and it beat sleeping on the bed of leaves and grass she had constructed for ev-

The fire!

Leaping out of the bed, she flared open her wings to glide only to be thrown off balance and slam into the ground. Rubbing her head with a hoof, a whine escaped. With bleary eyes, she looked around the room, wondering what in the world happened and where in the world she was. At the unfamiliar sights and sounds, her wings snapped shut as though chained to her body. Through the hyperventilating and fear, she groped for her disguise with the single mindedness of a prey being hunted.

As the familiar tingling spread through her body, so did a calmness she rarely experienced. It was as though she was being slowly lowered into water – just the way the calmness came in waves, washing away the nerves until all that was left was a stillness reminiscent of a frozen world. Through that all encompassing silence, Flutter cast her gaze over the room, examining each potential exit and item. With the grace of a tiger, she moved towards the corner before settling down. It was this single spot that allowed her to view three out of the four windows and the door simultaneously while being half sheltered by the bed.

Taking a deep breath, Flutter began looking over her body. A couple cuts and a particularly nasty bruise on her hind leg, but not-

Her wing. What happened to her wing? It was completely missing. Normally blind panic would have overrun her, but submerged as she was, she could only gaze on in alarm as tears spilled over. The sky was taken from her. She'd never fly with her birdies, never soar with Rainbow Dash, never play amongst the clouds. If it were possible to splinter her soul, she imagined it'd feel something like this.

Why had she agreed to removing a wing?

In the back of her mind, she knew why did it, but for once she didn't want to be understanding. She didn't want to be meek and nice and be all, 'Oh, I understand, it's perfectly fine, don't mind me.' She wanted to blame somepony, anypony for what had happened. But there was no other pony to blame. There was just her and her own stupidity...

Before she could follow that particular train of thought, the hoofsteps approached. Jumping onto her hooves, she crouched low, wing slightly open. Creaking open, Flutter relaxed slightly at the sight of Zecora. It was only when Angel hopped into the room did she truly relax completely, but even then she kept a close eye on the zebra and her wing unfurled incase she needed to move back quickly.

"Fluttershy? Or have I been deceived by these old eyes?"

Reaching down, Angel stroked the top of Angel's head absentmindedly. "Any other pegasi you know with a missing wing?"

At the bitter undercurrent in her words, Angel looked up with a concerned frown, but Flutter merely gave him a sad little smile and whispered, "Mommy's fine dear, don't worry, she's perfectly fine."

She turned her attention back to the zebra before her. "Last night my coat was yellow, this is just a mere precaution for when I leave. I have no doubt my friends are anxious to find me, but I didn't want to leave without saying thanks so... thanks... I guess."

"Now that your thoughts are no longer clouded you are uncertain of your decision. But where do you plan on going in your mission?"

Chuckling, Flutter stretched out her limbs properly before making her way towards the door. "As if I'll tell you that. I thank you for saving me, but that does not mean I'm going to tell you everything, after all, you may be working for Nightmare Moon."

"When I learnt these herbal remedies, I took an oath to help all those in need. Please, allow me to follow so I may help you in your good deeds."

"Well your herbal cures would be useful and if there were two of us collecting the necessary ingredients we could make a lot more medicine a lot faster..." Flutter looked down at Angel. "What do you think Angel?"

The white bunny merely shrugged in response before going back to nuzzling her cheek lightly.

"I suppose it's fine. How long before you're ready to leave?"

"As long as it takes for you to take a sip of this." Zecora pulled out a vial of green liquid. "You lost a lot of blood and this will help replace what your body misses."

Taking a massive gulp, Flutter had to resist the urge to throw up. "Dear Celestia that was horrible! Zecora, I know medicine is meant to taste bad, but next time you brew something up, I'm going to give you pointers on how to make it taste nice without losing the healing properties." She gagged once more at the taste it left in her mouth. "Though that's new. You'll have to teach it to me sometime."

Chuckling softly, Zecora opened the door and stepped outside. A couple seconds later, Flutter followed and together, without even a backward glance at the half burnt house, the two made their way through the dangerous Everfree Forest. But not before Flutter decided to give a timber wolf a belly rub much to the dismay and shock of Zecora. That's one facial expression Fluttershy would treasure forever.

"I need to talk to you." It wasn't a question, it wasn't a request, it was an order from Captain Spitfire. "Alone," she added with a pointed look at the filly by Rainbow Dash's side.

"Sorry Scoot's, but seems like this is important." Leaning down, the Element of Loyalty gave Scootaloo a gentle nuzzle. "And next time please try to learn the formulas and their application as well as the physics behind flight."

"But it's so boooooring!" The book slammed shut causing the adults to wince. "I thought you'd teach me how to fly, not all this useless egghead stuff."

"I'm going to tell you something my mother told me." Dash lowered herself to look Scoot's in the eye. " 'If you don't do the maths you'll get yourself killed.' Have you ever wondered why I've never been seriously injured despite all the crashes I've been in? It's because I made sure to calculate everything beforehand to make sure I could do it and that if I did crash I wouldn't be going so fast or whatnot that I'd kill myself. Do you want to know why I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat? It's because I know how the wind behaves. I work with it, not against it. Trust me Scoots. Please?"

With a dejected sigh, she nodded. "Alright..." Then to Dash's surprise, the filly through her arms around her idol and hugged her tight. Without another word, she trotted out the door leaving Dash with a bewildered look on her face.

"Anyways... you wanted to talk to me Spitfire?"

"Yeah, I did." The hostile yet sad tone took Dash by surprise. "When did you meet her?"

"Her?"

"Crimson Skies, our old Wonderbolt's captain." Dash opened her mouth, but Spitfire cut in, "And don't try to deny it. It was Soarin's comment yesterday that got me thinking about it. You remind me of her far too much for it to be pure coincidence. You've trained under her at sometime because the way your training Scootaloo is exactly how she used to drill us."

Silence.

"I don't kn-"

Dash was violently slammed against with Spitfire above her. "Don't you bucking lie to me. How do you know Crimson Skies?"

"I'm telling yo-"

The backhoof snapped her head to the side. "You will tell me Rainbow Dash." Her voice was like ice. "She was like a mother to me and then one day she just upped and vanished. Retired without warning and disappeared."

A sad sigh escaped as Dash closed her eyes and slumped against the wall. Then she spoke in a voice so soft, it was barely a whisper, but in the stillness of the room, it might as well be an explosion. "She was my mother."

"What."

"She had a one night stand with some pony while drunk and got pregnant. That's why she quit. You know how the media are, she'd been torn apart in a second and then once I was born they'd tear me apart. She didn't want me to live in that cut throat world." Opening her eyes, Dash stared at Spitfire straight in the eyes. "She hid out in Ponyville then when I was seven, she decided to get herself killed by tackling a feral storm by herself... Loyal to the end," she added with a bitter laugh. "What kind of loyalty is that!? Leaving her kid alone to fend for herself while she goes off and dies a hero. I love her, but fuck her and fuck her brand of loyalty."

"Dash..."

"No!" Spitfire was suddenly slammed against the wall with an arm across her throat. "Don't you dare pity me! And you better not tell anyone else about this. Got that?"

The arm was suddenly gone and Spitfire collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath as Dash looked on. A part of her was horrified that she had physically assaulted her idol, but with the anger and frustration running through her, Dash simply didn't care. This was the one thing nopony was meant to know about her.

Licking her dry lips, Spitfire spoke in a hoarse voice, "Why?"

"Why?" All that negative emotion suddenly drained out of Dash's body and all the dull pain of standing on her hooves slammed into her full force. Slumping onto the ground, the blue pegasus stared up at the roof that was far too close for comfort. "Have you ever been pitied? Have ponies treat your different just because of something that happened in your past? I don't want to be defined by it, I don't want it to influence me for the rest of my life. How would you like it if you got into the Wonderbolt's over some other pony because your mother was some famous captain?"

"It's no-"

"You sure? The only reason I stayed the captain of the weather division for so long is because of who my mother is and what she has done. They brush off my faults because I didn't have a proper upbringing or some crap like that. So buck off Spitfire and leave me alone." Despite the pain in her hooves, Dash stomped out the room with the barest hint of a limp. First she almost gets killed, now this. What in the bucking world could g-

"Fluttershy? Where ha-" Her fillyhood friend turned around and Dash's jaw dropped. Her wing was gone. Just gone. A shudder ran through her body and the cyan pegasus' wings wrapped tighter around her body as a pained whimper escaped. "Are you... are you okay?" Those words were horribly weak even to her own ears.

Flutter simply nodded with a small smile. "I'm perfectly fine. Never was much for flying anyways."

Sigh. "Can you at least drop the disguise? Please?"

"The disguise?" She looked down at herself and blinked. "Oh, sorry." Closing her eyes, the pink coat faded to yellow.

"What happened?" Try as she might, Dash couldn't tear her eyes away from her friends back.

"I... um..." Shy looked over the ponies staring at her. "Maybe we should talk about this privately? I mean, it's just... The others probably want to know as well, you know?"

Nodding slowly, Dash walked over to Shy and draped her wing over. Sure, it looked like it they were dating or something, but it would at least hide her missing wing from prying eyes. Hushed whispers reached her ears and General Rainbow Dash gave gossipers the most withering glare she could manage. The chill that permeated the room would have made a manticore pause.

Then, in total silence, the two pegasi walked out the door towards the makeshift meeting room they had set up. It wasn't nearly as fancy as the one they had lost since Rarity wasn't around – which was a good thing. Slipping inside, Shy's face turned red at the 'subtle' smirks and knowing looks from Spitfire and Applejack. The wing clenched around Shy as Dash tried to ignore the anger that was shimmering just beneath the surface. If it wasn't her mother, it was her sexual orientation.

Screw it.

Her mouth opened. A hoof pressed itself gently against her lips. Looking over, Shy shook her head slowly before stepping out from under the blue wing. It was so warm there, so safe, but she had to do this. She couldn't be afraid. Not anymore. There was only shocked silence as her body came into view.

"Sugarcube... what in tarnation happened to ya?"

Shy gave a small chuckle and took her seat by Spike. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Will you be alright? Maybe Twilight has something in one of her books. I mean, she's studied some pretty advanced healing magic in the past." That wide eyed innocence from Spike sent pangs of sadness through Dash as she took her own seat. Why didn't she ever get to have that? Have a mother figure she could trust completely?

"Well that's part of why we're all here right?" said Dash. "Come on Applejack, spill already."

"Well..."

"Wait!" All eyes turned to Spike. "Gilda and Silvia aren't here yet, plus I need to contact the others."

Applejack shook her head. "Silvia's still in the media ward and Gilda hasn't left her side, apparently she won't get out for another five days. She really overdid it with that mass teleport."

"And what others?" asked Spitfire. "Also, you're meant to stay off your hooves Dash."

The same glare that was used outside was directly solely at Spitfire, but it was no Stare. The Wonderbolts captain merely stared back in defiance. That was until a burst of blue flames light up the entire room making everypony jump back.

"Whoa! Dear Celestia, give us warning before ya do tha' next time," grumbled the only earth pony in the room.

"As cool as it is, I have to agree." Leaning forward, Dash watched as the flames began to spilt in two before rippling as though it was a liquid. "And since when could you do blue flames?"

Collapsing back into his chair, Spike gave a trembling smile. "Since now."

"Applejack! I am gone for less than a month and just look at your mane and coat. It's utterly ruined – do you realize how much work I'll-"

"Oh hay no..." A look of utter horror and despair was plastered all over Applejack's face.

"- have to put in it to make it even slightly presentable? And Fluttershy darling, you look as radiant as ever, I so do miss our weekly spa me- Whatever happened to your wing?"

"Well... I kinda, that is..." She gulped and ducked behind her mane. "It sorta got trapped under a tree so it had to be cut off." At the look of shock on everypony's face she quickly added, "Don't worry, it was done by a friend and I didn't feel a thing."

"You know what would cheer you up?" Dash opened her mouth to reply the obvious reply, but could only stare at the sight of a soot smeared Pinkie Pie who had a pair of welding goggles around her neck. "A party!"

"Wait Pinkie, don't touch the... por...tal...?" Spike just sat there, eye twitching as Pinkie put her hoof through the portal to had everyone a slice of cake. "That's impossible! That's scientifically impossible! You should be burnt, your hoof should be burnt. Your hoof should have touched the fire and then gone out the other side."

"She's Pinkie Pie," said Dash sagely before adding, "And stop being such an egghead."

"Awwww, Dashie always the says the nicest things. And what did you do Applejack? You look like you wrestled an alligator, I should know I've done it before. He was all "Rawr," and Gummy was all "Meep," and I was all like "You shall not pass!" And then- Oh... wait... no, that was the other time with the oatmeal. Nevermind!"

"Can we just get on with this?" Sweat trickled down Spike's brow. "I can't keep this up forever you know."

"I'm terribly sorry dear. Please, start." Everypony nodded at Rarity's pronouncement.

"Okay, first of all, Applejack had some news on Twilight," said Spike as he leafed through his notes.

"Gosh, I don' know Spike. Maybe we sh-"

"Oh man up Applejack!" snarled Dash. "Just bucking tell us already." Sigh. "Sorry, bad day."

"No, mah fault." Closing her eyes, AJ let out a slow breath before saying in a whisper, "Twi did this."

" 'Did this?' I'm sorry dear, but you'll have to be more specific than that. Unless you mean- But surely-!"

"Ah'm sorry, but Ah'm not." Applejack finally looked up and met everypony's eyes. "Twilight was the one who gave meh all these injuries."

There was a beat of silence.

"What." All eyes turned to Dash. "This is some sick twisted joke right? You're talking about Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. You know, purple mare, pink stripe in hair, personal student to Celestia? The one who risked her life to save us all?" With each word she spoke, her volume increased until it was a shout. "Is this some sick joke!?"

"Cal-"

"NO! I will not calm down!" All that anger and frustration suddenly boiled over. "This is a trick. A trick by Nightmare Moon to make us think Twilight abandoned us. Well I'm not an idiot and I'm not going to fall for it. I'm the bloody Element of Loyalty and I. Will. Not! Abandon my friends. Something that all of you seem have no troubl-"

"Rainbow... please..."

Though it was spoken as a whisper, it managed to cut through the haze that had filled Dash's mind. With trembling hooves, she sat back down, staring at Spike in surprise who was being nuzzled and hugged by Fluttershy.

"I'm fine Fluttershy." Giving her a reassuring smile, he broke away from her embrace.

"Are... are you sure?"

"Yeah... Twilight always told me to gather all the facts before making any judgments so that's what I'm going to do. And getting emotional... well... that's not going to help is it?" Shuffling his papers, he pulled the quill out from behind his ears and gave it a twirl. "Now I'm going to ask you exactly what happened. Did she say anything to you? What exactly did she say?"

"Some phewy 'bout doing what's best for Equestria."

"And she wasn't lying?" At Applejack's nod, Spike pressed his questioning. "What exactly did she say?"

She hesitated before letting her hat fall forward to shield her eyes. "She said that... that..." Her voices trembled and the first tears hit the table. "That she waited for us and we failed us. She... she blamed us and she..." At that point she lost it completely, sobbing uncontrollably on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Her- Her wounds... Th- Th- They were everywhere, all over her body, it was... "

Moving slowly, Dash wrapped her arms around the sobbing mare and soon everypony joined in. Even Pinkie reached a hoof through to brush Applejack's mane. There was no mention of parties and no talking. For those brief seconds, only Applejack mattered. Not Equestria, not Twilight, not Nightmare Moon. Just Applejack.

"Ah'm fine... Ah'll... Ah'll be alright..."

They heard, but they didn't care. It was as much for them as it was for her by that point.

"If you don't want to continue you don't have to," said Spike softly, not quite looking her in the eye.

"No. It's fine. Y'all deserve to know." Taking a deep shaky breath, she returned Fluttershy's tender nuzzle. "She said that we were weak. That a single Element Bearer could match an army and that the closer a person is to their element, the stronger they become."

"That's it!" Spike's sudden yell made everypony jump. "Oh Twilight you smart mare, if you weren't like family to me I could kiss you!"

"Spike! Such an uncouth thing to say."

"Heh, sorry Rarity, but you'd want to kiss her as well if you knew what I knew." The grin on the little guy's face was infectious. "Everything Twilight told you was the truth right?"

"Yeah..."

"Think about it, you hold the Element of Honesty, everything she told you was the truth. The entire truth. A truth that hurt and then made you accept it. When we first arrived in Ponyville, she went straight to the library to research the Elements of Harmony while I did her duties and when I got back, she never had the chance to tell she found because she stayed up all night researching and didn't want to be distracted. But she just gave us a wealth of information and told us she's on our side.

"She hit you with a truth you would fight and forced you to accept it. She wanted you to realize that a truth, no matter harmful, is still a truth and should be accepted as such. She was trying to make you stronger. After all, the closer you are to your elements the more you'll be able to tap their power and the stronger you'll be."

"So I have to throw more parties?"

For the second time that day, a look of horror appeared on Applejack's face except this time it was shared by everypony except Spitfire and Spike.

"No!" Four voices cried at once.

"It means you have to bring joy to those around you," said Rarity.

"Yes! And parties aren't the only way of doing that right?" asked Dash desperately.

"I suppose so..." Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. There was a sudden explosion in the background, throwing her to the ground and when Pinkie popped back into the field of vision, she was coughing smoke and had somehow managed to get welding goggles over her eyes in time. Taking them off, the part of her face that wasn't completely black were the two perfectly round circles around her eyes. "Oopsies, that wasn't meant to happen. I really hope that wasn't the cupcakes. I'll be right back."

"Cup... cakes...?" Spitfire could only stare at the blue flames. "I hope she's feeding those to the enemy."

"Does this mean I have to give away money? I can't exactly do that you know, I am financing this whole operation," asked Rarity.

"Well you can be generous with more than money. Like time or whatnot," supplied Spike. "I remember Twilight getting into a massive debate over it once with Celestia."

"Hm... that's certainly true." With sigh, Rarity suddenly stood up. "I'm sorry dears, but there's a particularly large order I have to work on. Please send me a transcript of whatever you'll be talking about for the rest of the session."

"I don't really think there's anything else we need to talk about anyways?" Applejack cast a curious glance to Spike.

"There are a couple of items, but nothing we can't take care of ourselves," replied Spike while looking at his notes. "Oh! Before you go, I think it'd be a good idea to send dad over, I haven't seen him in ages and it'd be safer."

"Next time I see him I'll definitely bring it up. Also, keep an eye out for Lyra. She should be arriving within the week."

"Lyra? Ya certain sugarcube?"

"Positive. Take care dears and Applejack darling, next time we meet I will be taking care of that mane of yours." Somehow, that last sentence sounded more like a threat and less like simply spending time with somepony.

The two portals closed down and as the topic began turning to minor details, Dash slipped into the background with a frown. What did it mean to be more loyal? Hay, she was already totally loyal. She was loyalty. When they heard Applejack's news, they immediately began to believe. Who spoke out in Twilight's defense? That's right, she did.

Loyalty...

Did that mean she should have gone to save Twilight when they found out she was staying at Canterlot? But doing so would mean putting herself at risk and if she died or got captured they'd be one element down. If that were to happen, Equestria would be lost forever. No – she made the right choice. She had to be loyal to Equestria first. Plus, dying would not have been loyalty to her friends anyways.

Of course. She was loyalty, she represented loyalty. It was the others who were too weak. It was so simple, so straight forward. Biting her lip to prevent the chuckle from escaping, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She was Rainbow Dash, coolest pony ever. Obviously the others were at fault...

Obviously...

Why did I feel so normal?

I had fought one of my friends, cut her up so badly it could be considered tortured, gave her a lecture that could have potentially broken her spirit, and the only thing that stopped me from killing her was the fact that some pegasus managed to save her at the last second. I even justified why killing her would have been the moral thing to do. What kind of monster was I?

Stepping out of the shower, I let the red liquid drain away. Grabbing a towel, I dried off my body making sure to get the space between my collar and neck. More than once, I winced when I reached a particularly tender area. Sure magic could heal, but it only went so far – "It's magic, not a miracle," as one professor used to say.

With a sad sigh, I finished drying off and stepped out of the bathroom. I didn't want to be back here in this library, it reminded me of the last time I spoke with Princess Celestia and how we fought. I thought Canterlot was bad, but here in the Ponyville Library, everything that used to be came crashing down on top of me. At least Canterlot had memories of Celestia, memories I could draw on to give me strength and reassure myself I was doing the right thing. But here...

”P- P- Princess! What are you going here?"

"Why to check on you my most faithful student..."

I watched in silence as the phantom princess approached me. The way her hoofsteps were louder than usual and how she moved with tense muscles rather than her usual grace – she was angry, but being the stupid mare I was, I didn't see that at the time. Instead, I was busy coming up with insane ways she could punish me.

"I- I... I can explain!"

"Explain? All I see is a filly studying. Tell me Twilight Sparkle, does that need an explanation?"

"Well you told me to check on the Summer Sun Celebration and..."

Turning away, I threw myself onto my old bed and wrapped the pillow around my head. I didn't want to see it or hear it anymore. I knew where it was going and what was going to happen, I could already hear the yells echoing in my ears. But worse than that, I could see that look of disappointment in her eyes.

"I am disappointed in you Twilight Sparkle. Now, go out there and make some friends. Making Spike do your job for you isn't very nice of you."

"... No."

"Pardon?"

" No. I'm... I'm sorry Princess, but I believe Nightmare Moon is a serious threat and I will treat her as such. From everything I've managed to piece together, her first course of action will be to attack you and then bring about eternal night. Both are serious threats. If... If nothing happens then you can send me back to magic kindergarten or whatever punishment you feel is adequate. But please, I have to do this. I have to prepare for the worst."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out the memory. I conjured up the tortures I suffered under Nightmare Moon, the hollowness after my first kill, the nightmares that kept me up all night. Despite my best efforts, the words still floated through the fog of my suffering.

"Order me? You order me to make friends!? I- You- Gah! You're not my bucking mother, I don't have to listen to a word you say!"

"Twilight Sparkle, language! And you will go out and make some friends even if I have to personally force you to."

"Get out! Out, out, out!"

"No! I-"

SMACK!

"P- Princess, I'm sorry. So sorry, please I did-"

"No my faithful student... it was my fault. I'll... I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait! Prin...cess... But... But... I'm sorry... Please don't leave me..."

Tears flowed freely. I had hit her. Hit the Princess. Why? Why did the last meeting we had have to be us fighting? I didn't mean to. Do you forgive me Princess Celestia? Please say yes...

Lifting my head from the tear stained pillowed, I gazed out at the moon. I'd willing be beaten half way to death and back again just to find out where Celestia was then I'd give the remaining pieces of my broken life to free her. With a sigh, I flopped back down and rolled onto my back. As I did so, a black book caught my eye. It rested on top of my desk as though it was meant to be there, but I knew for a fact that I did not own such a book, and considering it didn't have a title or author, it couldn't have been from the library.

Grabbing it roughly with my magic, I gave it a hard jerk and caught it in my mouth as it flew over to the bed. Putting it down, I cracked it open to the front page where three simple words jumped out at me, "I forgive you." Though it was not signed and though it was written in my writing, I knew exactly who had written it. The question was, how? How did she know?

Several things clicked at once and my jaw dropped. Surely not. She sent me to Ponyville where the other element bearers miraculously lived together and miraculously knew each other and let me live in a library where the book pointing towards the resting location of the Elements of Harmony miraculously could be found. I knew she was a master of planning, but even she wasn't that good.

Was she?

A simple look down told me that yes, she was indeed that good. Drying my tears, I quickly skimmed through the book. She had written it in the form of a diary and most entries were useless fluff that could probably be found in any filly's diary, but every so often there'd be references to a book or two that she had apparently read. Every single book mentioned could be found in the Royal Canterlot Library, my bedroom or Celestia's personal study. Pulling out a sheet of paper and a quill, the books were quickly jotted down.

Frowning at the list before me, the books seemed to be completely random with no real theme in place, they ranged from Daring Doo novels to scientific inquires into the ecology of dragons to magical research papers. There had to be a clue in there somewhere. Going back through the journal, I quickly wrote down the entry dates next to each title in the margins and peered at the list.

Maybe the day and month related to a word and letter? With a new sheet of paper, I quickly went through with my theory only to end up with a string of unintelligible letters. No matter how I tried to break them up though, it always ended up being nonsense. Then again, that was obvious and if Nightmare Moon found the diary and suspected then she'd find that out in no time flat as well. That been said, Celestia always loved hiding things out in the open.

Groaning in frustration, I pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and looked at the book titles and dates. Maybe I was completely off track, maybe it had nothing to do with tho- Wait, not every entry had a book associated with it and some had two, perhaps there was significance in that? And since she'd probably want it to be specifically deciphered by me, there was probably something in my memory associated with it...

No. Bucking. Way.

Scrambling out of bed, I reached under my bed and pulled out my actual diary. A quick flick through the pages revealed what I had expected. Certain dates were the same in both and not just in a potentially random manner either. No, those dates were important ones. Like when I got my first lesson, the time we went out together for ice cream, when she took time off to look after me when I was sick – it was all there.

Going back to my original sheet of working, I crossed off all the irrelevant dates and tried again. This time it wasn't a jumble of letters. This time I came out of it all with the name of a book. This was what she wanted me to find and knowing her, this fake journal I found would be useful in the future once I found said book. Looking down at the pages of paper that I had gone through in my frantic workings, I knew hiding them all would be too difficult and considering how hot it was today, a fire would draw too much attention. That left me no choice. Shredding the paper up, I tossed the first batch into my mouth and began chewing.

At least I won't have to cook dinner tonight.

There was a polite knock on the door and in a frenzy, I stuffed the rest of the paper into my mouth while simultaneously putting the books into my saddlebag. Running down the steps two at a time, I threw open the door all the while chewing away and gulping down the paper as fast as I could manage.

"Twilight Sparkle." The look in Nightmare Moon's eyes sent fear through my body. Did I say something to Applejack that tipped her off?

Stepping into my home, she looked around the room before her gaze slide back to me. "I heard of your fight with the manticore and Applejack. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the report I received from Nightwish, though I would have preferred it if you did a bit less taunting next time."

"Yeah well, sue me."

Rolling her eyes, she began browsing through the theoretical magic section, picking out various books to flip through. "Despite your rudeness, I came here to reward your actions."

Putting down the book, she leaned forward, pointing her horn directly at mine. A bolt of blue magic jumped from hers to mine and I felt heat flow through my body. A second later there was a soft clink as the suppression ring around my horn dropped off. Blinking in surprise, I reached out for my magic and found that well deep inside me. A massive grin split my face and I had to resist the urge to jump up and down in joy.

"Do not make me regret my decision Twilight Sparkle." With those parting words, she walked out the door. "Oh, I'm also borrowing this book on the magical advancements over the past one thousand years. This is a library right?"

Nodding mutely, I could only watch in confusion as the mare skipped down the road with her nose buried in the book. With a shrug, I closed the door and went back to my bedroom. Settling down at my desk, I reached for my personal spell book only to find it missing. For the second time that minute, I grinned in pure joy. Spike had taken it with him when he escaped with the others then – smart little dragon.

Maybe, just maybe this entire situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed.