Sunburst tried to sit up, but the hoofcuffs behind his back were at an awkward angle that kept him from doing more than slouching forward unless he wanted to end up dislocating his shoulder.

“If you cooperate with our investigation this will go much more smoothly,” said the dark-suited pony, barely visible in the gloom. Even if Sunburst still had his glasses, the bright light shining in his eyes would have made the rest of the room impossible to make out.

“I don’t even know what you want,” Sunburst said. “I’m an Equestrian citizen! I have rights!”

“You’ve been working closely with Doctor Twilight Sparkle for a number of years now,” the suited pony continued, ignoring Sunburst. “We’d like to get your perspective on a number of events.”

Solar Year 988

“Whenever you’re ready, Miss Sparkle,” the proctor said, checking something off on her clipboard.

Twilight looked up at her parents in the gallery. They smiled down supportively. It didn’t help calm her pounding heart. It was the biggest, most important day in her life, the day that would determine if she got into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The written test had been one thing, even if she’d barely been able to keep the quill in her grip as she wrote down answers in her shaky hornwriting.

“And I’m supposed to… hatch it?” Twilight asked, looking at the huge egg. It was even bigger than she was. Almost the same color purple, though.

“That’s correct,” the proctor replied. “You may use any method you wish.”

Twilight swallowed and nodded. She bit her lip, thinking. Maybe a warming spell? Or was she just supposed to crack it open?

“Any time you’re ready,” the proctor prompted her, sounding annoyed. Twilight’s cheeks flushed red as she realized she’d just been staring at the egg for several minutes without doing anything.

Twilight took a deep breath and held it, her horn sparking, the aura pulsing as she strained to gather up enough magic to cast a spell. The stress was making her little heart beat like a hummingbird’s, and she could feel it, just out of reach.

“You can do it, Twilight!” Her mother was cheering her on. That made it even worse. She was going to fail in front of everypony. She could never cast a spell correctly when ponies were looking - even when she did it right it took her ten times as long as it should have to get it formed perfectly.

It had been one of many reasons Magic Kindergarten had been like being locked away in Tartarus. The other reasons had four hooves and laughed every time she tried to answer one of the teacher’s questions in detail or do the increasingly-difficult magic exercises.

They should have gotten easier and easier but instead, they seemed to just get harder every time. Her brother said it was stress and she needed to relax, but how could anypony relax when their entire life was on the line?

She pushed, straining for that last inch, trying to cross that gap that separated her from her magic.

There was a spark, and everything vanished in blinding light and pain.

“I think she’s starting to wake up!”

Twilight groaned. Her whole body felt dry, itchy, and empty, like she’d been running a marathon in the desert.

“Mom?” She asked, opening her eyes and looking around.

“I’m right here, Twilight,” the gray mare said, grabbing her hoof and squeezing. “Oh thank the stars. We were so scared…”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“I’m afraid something went wrong in your entrance examination.”

Twilight sat up straight at that voice. Princess Celestia took a step forward, her presence filling the room in a way that even her size couldn’t match.

“I spoke to the doctors,” Princess Celestia said, in carefully measured tones. “I’m so sorry, Twilight Sparkle. You had a very serious magical surge, and nopony was able to stop it until it flared out on its own.”

“A-a magical surge?” Twilight asked. She gingerly touched her horn and winced. It was still there, but it felt numb, all pins and needles.

Celestia sat down next to the bed. “Your body tried to focus more magical power than it was ready to handle. Did you learn about leylines in your studies? I’m told you’re quite the reader.”

“They’re conduits for magical energy through the body,” Twilight said. “They join the various chakra of the thaumatobiological system, centered at the wellspring and branching to the brow and heart chakra in all ponies and then from there to other locations depending on the tribe of the pony--”

“That’s right,” Celestia said, cutting off Twilight’s memorized passage. “And they can be, in rare cases, damaged. Sometimes it’s the result of a birth defect, but most commonly because of injury.”

“Something happened to my leylines?” Twilight asked, quietly.

“I’m afraid that because of your magical surge a huge amount of damage has been done,” Celestia said, putting a wing around the foal. “I’ve already ordered the doctors here to do everything possible to try and help you, but I’m afraid…” She closed her eyes. “You will likely never be able to cast spells again, Twilight. The connections to your wellspring are almost entirely severed.”

Twilight’s heart jumped, almost stopping.

“Because of your condition, it’s… also likely you will never get a cutie mark,” Celestia continued. “I’m so sorry, Twilight.”

“N-no!” Twilight gasped, her eyes blurring, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“The important thing is not to lose hope,” Celestia said. “You’re still young. It’s possible they could heal, at least in part, in a few years time. Even if they don’t, there are many unicorns who lead perfectly happy lives--”

“No!” Twilight repeated. “I won’t accept that! I-I will get my magic back, no matter what!”

“Nothing is impossible,” Celestia said, cautiously. “But you need to be prepared to--”

“I will find a way,” Twilight said, firmly, with the stubbornness of a foal.

Celestia sighed and stood. “I hope you do. Even if you don’t, though, there is always a place for a pony like you, Twilight. You’re one of the most intelligent fillies I’ve ever met. I saw your test scores, and I’d like to offer you a full tuition to the School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“How am I even supposed to take classes when I can’t do magic?” Twilight asked, bitterly.

“It’s entirely possible to get a doctorate purely on theory and research, two things that I know you already excel at,” Celestia assured her. “Your life is only beginning, Twilight. You get to decide what you do with it, but I think you have much you can still offer the world.”

“Twilight, thank the Princess for her kind offer,” her mother whispered.

Twilight glared at her for a moment, then looked away. “Thank you, Princess.”

Celestia nodded. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll give you some time alone with your daughter.”

The Princess stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her before she started breathing again.

“I hate having to give bad news,” Princess Celestia said, in a whisper.

“How is she?” Cadance asked, from where she was waiting next to the door.

“Upset,” Celestia said. “Partly at me, but it’s for the best. It’s terrible news for anypony to hear, especially such a promising young pony.”

“You look like you feel guilty,” Cadance said.

“I do,” Celestia admitted, starting down the hallway. Cadance glanced at the door, then followed. “I should have been there at the school. Instead I was halfway to Cloudsdale responding to an emergency report from the EIS. I didn’t get there in time to do anything, and I wasn’t here to help a pony that needed it.”

“Cloudsdale?”

“There was some sort of temporal disturbance. The only witnesses were foals.” Celestia sighed. “I could have let the agents there take care of it, and then I would have been here to stop Twilight Sparkle’s surge…” she shook her head. “Too many what-ifs.”

“If you want my advice, the best thing is to look forward instead of back,” Cadance offered.

“You’re absolutely right,” Celestia agreed. “And I hope Twilight can do the same. I’ll keep an eye on her. I expect great things, and I’ll make sure she has every opportunity I can give her to prove me right.”

Now

Sunburst looked at the glass of water they’d put on the table in front of him. With the suppression ring on his horn and the hoofcuffs it might as well have been a hundred miles away. They’d just put it there to mock him.

“Now, from what we can tell, your first meeting with Doctor Twilight Sparkle was at the school. You were a few years ahead of her, I believe.”

“Nopony was ahead of her,” Sunburst said, trying not to think about how thirsty he was. He didn’t even know how long he’d been in that dark room. A day? Two? Maybe it had only been a few hours.

“Oh?”

“She’s a genius. Even back then, everypony knew it. Just because I’d been in school longer than her didn’t mean I was closer to graduating. She’d skipped ahead half a decade of classes by the time I’d even learned her name…”

Solar Year 994

“You got almost everything right,” Sunburst said, looking down the list of answers. “The one thing you have wrong here is that it was Neighpon, not Thesselonia, that supported the Lunar Rebellion. Remember, they hadn’t reformed the government yet.”

“Right, right,” Moondancer said, groaning. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize!” Sunburst said. “This would still be an A! You’re going to end up with almost a perfect grade in the class, at this rate.”

They’d been studying for two hours already in Donut Joe’s. Sunburst couldn’t complain -- he was only getting paid in pastries and coffee but that was practically all he’d spend money on anyway, as a student.

“Almost perfect isn’t good enough,” Moondancer said, putting her head down on the table and taking off her thick glasses, pushing empty cups of coffee away. “I need to get it all absolutely right if I want to ask the professors about testing out of the 200-level class.”

“You want to test out of it? Why?” Sunburst asked.

“Well, um…” Moondancer blushed and looked away. “You have to promise not to tell anypony.”

“As your official history tutor, I promise nothing you tell me leaves this room,” Sunburst assured her. He looked around. “And I won’t tell anypony else in the coffee shop either, even if they ask nicely.”

“Thanks,” Moondancer said. She sat up and looked around, as if expecting spies. “It’s because of Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight Sparkle? Is that one of your teachers?” Sunburst asked.

“No, she’s another student. We have a lot of advanced classes together, but she’s going to start the grad-level courses and I need to get in the same courses or else I’ll never see her again!” Moondancer picked up her glasses, cleaning them absently. “S-she’s really brilliant, and I want to show her that I can keep up with her if I try hard enough.”

“Brilliant, huh?” Sunburst smiled. “I think you have a crush.”

“Maybe a little one,” Moondancer admitted. “It’s about proving it to myself, too. If she can do it, so can I!”

“Sunburst!”

The young stallion turned, and his jaw dropped in surprise.

“Starlight?!” He gasped. The pink unicorn pulled him into a hug with her magic, almost crushing him with her tight grip.

“I knew it was you! I’d recognize you anywhere!”

“Can’t… breathe…” Sunburst gasped out.

“Oops!” Starlight blushed and dropped him. “I sometimes forget how fragile ponies are. Tell you what, how about I treat you to some lunch?”

“Neighponese?” Sunburst asked.

“You don’t like seaweed?” Starlight asked, as she added a dangerous amount of soy sauce to her mushroom stir fry.

“No, it’s just kind of an odd coincidence,” Sunburst said. “I was tutoring somepony and- it’s not all that important.” He blushed. “Are you visiting Canterlot? It’s really good to see you. I know I haven’t been great about writing letters…”

“You’ve been awful about writing letters,” Starlight corrected. “And if you weren’t my best friend I’d be really peeved, but I’ve been kinda busy too. I’ve actually been in town for almost a month now, but the Princess has kept me running around too much to get a day off until now.”

“The Princess?!” Sunburst’s eyes went wide, and he jerked to his hooves, knocking over his teacup. Starlight caught it in midair, even saving the contents before they could hit the ground.

“Didn’t you hear?” Starlight smiled smugly. “I’m her new personal student.”

“You’re her--”

Starlight rolled her eyes and Sunburst was surrounded by her magic. He sat down, body not entirely under his control.

“There we go,” Starlight sighed. “Let’s not cause a scene. I’m still trying to make a good impression on Princess Celestia. I’m sort of on probation until I prove I can handle the academic side of the job. The raw power I’ve got in spades, but she wants me to be more well-rounded.”

“That’s really great, though,” Sunburst smiled. “This is huge! I knew you had the talent to get into the school.”

“One in a million,” Starlight agreed, shamelessly. “So what’s this about being a tutor? Should I be jealous?”

“Oh, no need to worry,” Sunburst laughed. “She’s already got her heart set on somepony named Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight Sparkle…” Starlight’s expression fell. “I heard about her.”

“Seems like everypony has but me,” Sunburst joked.

“She’s dangerous,” Starlight warned him. “Tia is always talking about her. Half the time I think she wants to put her in prison and the other half of the time I think she’s going to replace me.”

“Then let’s talk about something else,” Sunburst said. “I want to hear about you, not other mares. What’s been going on back in town since I left?”

Starlight grinned. “Well, you remember that clock tower we used to have?”

“Used to?”

“Let me tell you how I figured out my special talent wasn’t mechanical engineering…”

Sunburst looked over the grant papers again. He hated having to beg the school for money, but even if he could get the funds himself (and he couldn’t unless he wanted to get a job and stop sleeping entirely) he needed lab space even more, and that was something he needed permission for. The one time he’d tried doing things in his dorm room it had gone poorly. They weren’t thaumatically clean, and, well, with so many unicorns practicing spells in one building with unshielded walls…

The fires had been purple. He wasn’t even sure what would make fire turn purple, but it also smelled so bad that everypony was having to sleep in the gym for a week until the cleaning staff could air everything out.

The door to the room slammed open.

“You ingrates totally lack vision!” Spat the young pony in the doorway. “This is important research!”

“It’s expensive and unnecessary,” corrected a serene voice from within, though it was tinged with a heavy dose of annoyance. “This is an order of magnitude more than you require, and we will not be allowing you to conduct research on cadavers. Necromancy is strictly against the school rules.”

“It isn’t necromancy! I need to study thaumobiology in a real subject, not just charts that haven’t been updated in a century!”

“That is more than enough, Twilight Sparkle,” said the voice from within.

Sunburst cautiously looked around the open door. The panel of professors within were largely cowering away from Celestia, who was standing with her wings half-spread, like she was ready to pounce, or trying to intimidate the pony in front of her.

Somehow, though, the teenage mare she was confronting loomed almost as large in the mind’s eye, despite the difference in size. She was obviously totally unafraid of the Princess.

“I am always happy to grant reasonable funding requests, especially from you, but this is not reasonable and I do not like having my generosity abused,” Celestia said. “Your request is officially denied. If you still want to pursue research, spend a week and come up with a more reasonable request and I will listen to it. Until then, you are on academic probation. Again.”

“You can take your academic probation and--”

“Miss Sparkle I suggest you choose your next words carefully.”

Twilight growled and threw her papers to the floor, stomping past Sunburst and slamming the door behind her.

“Stupid Princess…” Twilight mumbled, her voice shaking as she held back angry tears.

Sunburst took several quick steps back as Twilight took a deep breath, sniffling and rubbing her eyes before putting on a set of glasses nearly as thick as Moondancer’s. She glanced at him and quickly composed herself.

“What do you want?” She asked.

“N-nothing,” Sunburst said. “I’m just, um, the next appointment.”

“Ah,” Twilight said. She narrowed her eyes. “I recognize you. You’re Moondancer’s history tutor.”

“Sunburst,” he said.

“Mm.” Sparkle nodded. “If you want to get anything approved I suggest you wait a few minutes for them to calm down. Then again, they’ll probably approve anything right now just to spite me.”

“You, um, didn’t make a good impression on them, I think.”

“I’m used to making poor impressions, Sunspot. I don’t care as long as I get what I want in the end.” She turned on her hooves and stomped away.

“Sunburst,” he corrected, too quietly for her to hear, as she left.

“I don’t know what you see in her,” Sunburst said, as he ate another donut. “She was even yelling at the Princess!”

“From what I understand they’ve known each other personally since she was a very young foal,” Moondancer said. “I guess they’re just familiar like that. The rumors are that Princess Cadenza even used to foalsit for her.”

“For Twilight Sparkle?” Sunburst blinked. “But why?”

“I don’t know,” Moondancer admitted. “Somepony in her family must be really important to get that kind of royal attention. Just… give her a chance. She’s a good pony. She’d never admit it, but she hates being alone.”

Now

“And that was your first encounter with Doctor Sparkle?” The agent asked.

“My grant was approved, in case you were curious,” Sunburst mumbled.

“That was shortly before she graduated. Her activities started to become extremely difficult to track around that time,” the pony continued. “She’s on record as graduating in 997, with a sterling academic record and without a single professor writing her a letter of recommendation. She burned almost every bridge.”

“She always said that they kicked her out and threw a diploma at her to keep her away,” Sunburst said, smiling faintly.

“Her thesis, the Universal Harmony Project, was classified and restricted by orders of the Crown. Do you know even I don’t have clearance to read it?”

“It would probably be a little dry if you didn’t have the background,” Sunburst said, trying to sound coy. “If you ask nicely I’ll get you the annotated version.”

“You graduated a year later, I believe, still ahead of the average. Your own record is quite impressive. Did you keep in touch with any of your school friends?”

“I know Moondancer graduated at the same time I did, but I lost track of her after that for a few years. Starlight and I sort of lost touch with each other again. She never had time to do anything except study…”

Solar Year 998

“I wasn’t expecting all this,” Moondancer said, as Twilight held open the chain-link fence with her hoof, letting her through into the construction zone. “And you did all this in just a year?”

“Put this on,” Twilight said, giving her a hard hat. “Your mind is your most valuable asset, and we can’t afford any bumps.”

Moondancer blushed at the compliment and put it on, securing it tightly.

“This was the least expensive plot of land within a few miles of the capital,” Twilight explained. “It used to be a mine for the crystals under the capital, until the sinkholes opened up and the company was sued into oblivion for unsafe mining practices and failure to secure mineral rights. I’m converting the barracks and office into lab space.”

“This is more than just converting a few buildings,” Moondancer said.

“Some of the experiments I have planned could involve high-energy magic. I need to add secure walls and doors,” Twilight said, dismissively. “And this far from the city I don’t need permits. It’s extremely convenient.”

“Where did you get all the money for this?”

“I was able to secure a few government grants. Not much, but enough to get started.” Twilight pushed past construction ponies carrying plates of armored glass and turned a corner to a mostly-finished office. “Please sit. I’d offer you tea but…”

“N-no, it’s okay,” Moondancer assured her.

“I was pleased to see your application,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you. There’s a lot going on right now and it took some time for my partners to do their own background checks on you to make sure you could be trusted.”

Moondancer’s ears perked up. “Partners?”

“They helped me secure the land, and they’ve been very useful in making sure I stay informed.” She paused. “They’re willing to trust you, if I personally vouch for you. Anything you do to betray them would come back on me. I’m taking a risk in doing this.”

“I won’t let you down,” Moondancer said. “But…” she shuffled nervously. “You aren’t doing anything wrong, are you?”

“Mm. No. I wouldn’t think so. As long as my plans proceed smoothly, the end result will be far better for Equestria than if I did nothing.” Twilight took a deep breath. “Just please, keep an open mind until everything is explained.”

“You’re afraid,” the unicorn -- it was easiest to think of it as a unicorn, even if it hadn’t been one when she walked into the room -- said. It sounded amused.

“I’m not--” Moondancer started, trying to deny it. It was not an easy thing to deny, down here in the mines, with blue eyes in the dark watching her every move.

“Don’t lie, please,” the unicorn said. She was tall, with a pristine white coat a few shades cooler than Celestia’s. “I can taste your fear. It’s natural for prey to be afraid in front of a predator.”

“This is Queen Chrysalis,” Twilight said. “She’s been sponsoring me to help fill in the gaps where my own funding is insufficient.”

“Luckily for Sparkle, my people have little need of bits.” Chrysalis smirked.

“I sought her people out based on old research papers that described them in detail,” Twilight said. “They can transform into unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies…”

Chrysalis indulged her by transforming as Twilight spoke, wings and horn appearing and disappearing.

“And alicorns, of course,” Twilight finished. Chrysalis turned into Celestia for a moment before dropping back into her normal, hole-ridden form.

Moondancer shivered.

“Their ability to use the magic of all the pony tribes fascinates me. They actually rearrange their own leylines! It’s not precise enough to emulate cutie mark talents, but it’s quite elegant.” Sparkle smiled.

“The flattery has helped keep her in my good graces,” Chrysalis said. “I never thought I’d say this about a pony, but she is exceptionally efficient. If her plans work and I recoup my investment, I’ll be quite pleased. If not…” Chrysalis smiled, showing fangs. “I’ll find another way for her to repay me.”

“We’re leaps and bounds ahead of where Celestia thinks we are,” Sparkle said, leading Moondancer into a workshop. Strange devices covered every surface, from incomplete bodysuits to sets of Royal Guard armor with boxes bolted to the sides to bundles of wire and cable in the rough shape of a pony. In the very center of it all was a ponyquin with prosthetic wings secured to a harness and a thick row of vertical fins running down the spine.

“What is all this?” Moondancer asked.

“Rectifiers, mostly,” Sparkle explained, pulling on a lab coat. “They’re designed to force magic into artificial leylines and align them to a pony’s body. I haven’t had much luck with changing existing leylines, but creating new ones seems much more fruitful.”

“Creating new leylines?” Moondancer tapped her chin. “But where would you get the magic from?”

“I’m working on a solution to that. For now, I have thaumatic batteries.” Sparkle frowned. “It’s not nearly enough. The best design I have only lasts a minute, and the suits burn out even before that. I need ponies who can help me, ones that know more about magic than Chrysalis’ changelings.”

“W-well, I was top of my class,” Moondancer offered.

“Some of the highest scores recorded,” Sparkle agreed. “And you’re one of the few ponies that… doesn’t mind working with me.” She looked away, embarrassed. “I know I can be difficult.”

“You get frustrated easily.”

“Especially with stupid ponies, yes. One more reason I need smart ponies around me. Most of the changelings have an education roughly on par with being raised by wolves.”

“And you promise you aren’t going to, like, go insane and try to destroy Equestria?” Moondancer asked, her tone light but really only half-joking.

“I plan on saving it. Tell me, how much do you know about Nightmare Moon?”

“I know it’s a legend.”

“She’s very real. And I have a plan to save Equestria from her. Let me tell you about Operation Tabitha…”

Now

“We’re still not sure how much she managed to hide from us,” the agent said, sitting down across from Sunburst. He could make out a little more, now. She was a mare, a pegasus, and clearly getting tired standing up and looming while asking questions.

“She probably hid almost as much from me,” Sunburst admitted. “You know I didn’t even see her for a long time, right? I was working on my own post-graduate stuff at the School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“We know. Unlike Doctor Sparkle, we have pretty good records on you. Your relationship with Starlight Glimmer made you a person of interest. At the time you were considered extremely low-threat and a possible asset.”

“What am I now?”

“We’re still deciding that. The result of this interview will tell us if you’re going to walk out of here with a medal or a prison sentence.”

“What’s your personal opinion?”

“I think we should lock you up anyway until it’s all over. No offense. I’d give you a nice prison cell, though. One without rats.”

“Really nice of you.”

“Trust me, it’s nicer than some ponies would want any of Doctor Sparkle’s associates to get.” She shuffled some of the papers on the table. “I’m sure you remember the disappearance of the Mare in the Moon?”

“One of the great mysteries of the time,” Sunburst nodded.

“And you personally looked into it. Let’s talk about that…”

Solar Year 1000

Sunburst groaned as he stumbled to the door. His room was covered in papers, empty coffee cups from Donut Joe’s, and books. His head was just as cluttered, and pounding in time with the knocks coming from outside.

“One minute…” he mumbled, reaching for the knob. It opened just before he had a chance to do it himself.

“Hey, there you are!” Starlight said, looking far too happy and chipper for the morning after one of the longest nights Sunburst could remember. Maybe being Celestia’s personal student came with access to some kind of secret super-coffee.

Starlight waved her hoof in front of his bleary eyes and he realized he’d been staring for a few seconds without saying anything.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice croaking. “I was kinda up all night--”

“Everypony was!” Starlight teased. “It was the Summer Sun Celebration. Can I come in?” She pushed past him without asking permission. “Wow! Looks like you’re way ahead of me. These books are all on lunar astronomy, right?”

“Um. Also optics, but that didn’t go anywhere…” Sunburst mumbled, closing the door.

“I knew you were the right pony for the job,” Starlight said. “Celestia has asked me to investigate the mystery of the mare in the moon! And I could use some help. You’ve always been good with research, and the big mare is always telling me I need to rely on my friends more…” She smiled widely.

“Well I can’t say no if it’s an order from the Princess,” Sunburst said, yawning. “Can we stop for coffee before we go to the library?”

“We’re not going to the library. We’re going somewhere much more fun.”

“This is not fun,” Sunburst said.

“Doesn’t it remind you of home?” Starlight asked, stopping to gesture grandly at the town. It was certainly small enough that a single motion managed to more or less indicate the whole place.

“I’d say it’s a hamlet, but they have a Hayburger Princess, so I think it’s technically a village,” Sunburst commented, yawning and sipping at the awful coffee they’d gotten from the fast-food place. “And the Princess really thinks we’ll find clues here?”

“She gets these visions,” Starlight explained. “She seemed really disturbed about this one. I think the disappearance of the Mare in the Moon is some kind of prophecy. She spent the whole night looking like she was waiting for the other horseshoe to drop.”

“That sounds bad.”

“Sure, but then… nothing happened.” Starlight frowned. “She seemed even more worried about that. It’s like she wanted something bad to happen, and when it didn’t…” Starlight shrugged.

“Like studying for a big test and then the professor cancels at the last minute?” Sunburst guessed.

“Yeah!” Starlight nodded. “That’s a good way to put it. All dressed up and nowhere to go. I asked her how I could help and she sent me here looking for clues.”

“Where do we even start? If we were in Canterlot we could ask around the Observatory, but I doubt there are many astronomers here.”

“I have a hunch,” Starlight said, leading Sunburst into a building that looked like it had been built using more sugar and frosting than brick and mortar.

“Is that from Hayburger Princess?” Asked a blur of pink that managed to appear between Sunburst’s eyes and his glasses. “Oh wow, I think you’re the only pony I’ve ever seen drinking their coffee! Especially since we don’t usually allow outside food or drinks.”

“Um--” Sunburst said, as the cup was taken from his magical grip.

“Try this instead!” A mug was pressed into his hooves. “You’ll thank me.”

Sunburst squinted down at it.

“Oh! You’ll want these!” The glasses were placed back on his face, and the mug resolved into something brown and swirled, with whipped cream on top. He looked up at the pink thing, which was apparently a pony, though he’d never seen one quite so… poofy and excited.

She wiggled her eyebrows and gestured at the mug.

Sunburst took a sip.

“Oh wow, that’s good,” he said, in surprise, looking down at it again. “Chocolate and coffee?”

“Espresso and hot chocolate with a little cinnamon and nutmeg!” The pink pony smiled. “I’ve been trying out a lot of coffee drinks!” That probably explained the way she was vibrating. “I’m Pinkie Pie! You two must be new in town!”

“We’re just visiting,” Starlight said. “But yeah, we’re new. Do you know a lot of ponies around town? We were looking for somepony and I could use some help.”

“Sure! I know everypony!” Pinkie grinned.

“We’re looking for somepony?” Sunburst whispered. Starlight ignored him.

“Have you seen this mare?” She pulled a photo out of her saddlebags and gave it to Pinkie.

“Oh.” Pinkie frowned a little. “I remember her.”

Sunburst craned his neck to look. The photo was a mare he hadn’t seen or thought about in years, a purple unicorn with thick glasses and a lab coat. Doctor Twilight Sparkle. The picture looked recent, and like it had been taken without Doctor Sparkle being aware of it.

Pinkie gave the picture back.

“She was really grumpy and in a hurry,” Pinkie said. “She had a bunch of really unfriendly ponies with her, too. They wouldn’t even try our free Summer Sun Celebration cupcakes! What kind of pony can resist free cupcakes?”

“Definitely not a normal one,” Starlight said, with a small, sympathetic smile. “Do you know if she’s still in town?”

“No, she went into the Everfree Forest,” Pinkie said. “You don’t think she’s in danger, do you? Usually, I plan birthday parties but I bet I could do a really great search party! Is cake or pie more appropriate?”

“It’s okay,” Starlight assured her. “I’m sure she’s fine. Did any of the other ponies give their names?”

“No. It’s weird, actually.” Pinkie leaned closer. “They didn’t seem normal. Maybe because they were with the government.”

“The government?” Sunburst asked.

“The pony in charge was named Kevin. He said they were with the Equestrian Information Service, Division Six.” Pinkie explained. “Oh! Were they not allowed to have cupcakes because they were on duty? That seems like a really awful job.”

“I’m sure it was nothing personal,” Starlight said. “In fact, can I get a half-dozen to go? We could use a snack since we’ll be taking a little walk.”

“What flavor?” Pinkie asked, running behind the counter. “We’ve got yellow cake, chocolate, red velvet--”

“Surprise me,” Starlight said. “I like surprises.”

Pinkie’s grin went even wider, somehow.

“Blueberry, ginger, and rose petals should not work together this well,” Starlight groaned, as she bit into the cupcake, tossing the paper wrapper into the woods. “That mare knows how to bake better than the palace chefs!”

“Starlight, are you sure we should be here? If the EIS is involved…” Sunburst looked around the woods nervously, the possibility of government agents not really the danger forefront in his thoughts. Everypony knew about the Everfree. Ponies who went into it didn’t come out.

“They aren’t,” Starlight said, with absolute assurance. “There is no Division Six.”

“How do you know that?” Sunburst asked.

“Just trust me on this one.”

“And what about Twilight Sparkle? What’s she got to do with it?”

“I had a hunch. Of course, there’s one big problem.” Starlight took another bite of the cupcake. “Twilight Sparkle was in Canterlot, not here. Her brother’s in the Royal Guard and was with her the whole night. Either she figured out how to be in two places at the same time or else something really funny is going on.”

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Sunburst asked.

“That pegasus said it was this way,” Starlight said. “And I gave her three cupcakes, which I’m starting to regret. These are really good.”

“I’m just not sure if she’s reliable. I mean… she said the animals told her there was something scary. That’s kind of…”

“It’s kind of the only lead we’ve got,” Starlight said. “Besides, she seemed nice, and she confirmed what that baker said about Twilight being here.”

“Do you smell that?” Sunburst asked.

“No. All I can smell right now is ginger and berries.”

“It’s something burned,” Sunburst said, looking around. “That way, I think.” He pointed, and they pushed through the brush until the trees suddenly cleared out, the smell of smoke getting stronger. The ground gave out under Sunburst’s hooves, loose dirt and rocks sliding down a steep slope.

“Careful!” Starlight yelled, grabbing Sunburst when he started to trip. “Looks like we found something.”

They looked into the crater, as big as a house and surrounded by burned foliage, then at each other.

“Meteorite?” Sunburst guessed.

Starlight’s horn lit up. “No way. Not with these magical readings. Whatever happened here was big. Really big.”

“Big enough to worry Celestia?” Sunburst asked.

“Definitely,” Starlight agreed. “And there are hoofprints all over. There had to be at least a dozen ponies here before us.”

“Those EIS members?”

Starlight picked something up, a black shard of something that looked unpleasantly organic, covered in green goo.

“Maybe,” Starlight muttered. “But I don’t think they’re on any government payroll.”

“There’s more over here,” Sunburst said. “It looks like they set fire to something.” There were perfect circles of ashes and blackened grass in the clearing.

“The magic signature is really weird,” Starlight said. “Can you grab some samples? I’m gonna take a look around, then we’ll get out of here.”

“Before it starts to get dark, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Starlight smiled. “We definitely don’t wanna spend the night.”

Now

“We went back to Canterlot after that,” Sunburst said. “I did research on it for a little while but I had my own studies to worry about and I sort of lost track of things.”

“Starlight Glimmer kept you out of her official report to the Princess,” the agent said. “Did you ask her not to mention you?”

“No. I wish I could have helped more.”

“I see,” the pegasus tapped her hoof on the table idly. “And not long after that, you were offered a job to work with Doctor Sparkle. Is that true?”

“Why are you even asking when you know the answer?”

“It’s how you answer that interests me,” she said. “Why did you take the job? You must have known that whatever she was doing, it was dangerous.”

“Definitely dangerous,” Sunburst agreed. “It even got me foalnapped right off the streets of Canterlot and dragged into a dungeon somewhere. I wasn’t even able to get lunch before your goons grabbed me.”

“We used to rely on Shining Armor for reports on Doctor Sparkle, but he was… never in her inner circle. She kept him too far from her real secrets. She didn’t trust him. And then with his death…”

“He was a good stallion,” Sunburst said, quietly.

“Until his sister killed him.”

“Sombra killed him,” Sunburst corrected.

“All of Sombra’s magically-controlled slaves were freed. If she’d used non-lethal force, he’d be with us today.”

“You weren’t there.”

“No. But you were there, for almost every awful thing she did. Why would you work for a pony like that?”

“She’s a genius,” Sunburst said. “At first it was exciting. We were doing things in practice that hadn’t even been theory a few years before. We didn’t even have to answer to anypony! We just worked and tested things and let them blow up or fail because we learned more going quickly and making mistakes.”

“So that was it? All you cared about was the work?”

Sunburst looked up at her. “We saved Equestria a bunch of times. You might not like our methods -- I didn’t even like our methods -- but we did it.”

“Somehow.”

“Sparkle was an awful boss. She was constantly demanding and yelling, I think I was working twenty-hour days and she’d probably try and get Celestia to add an extra hour in the day if she thought she could get away with it.” Sunburst smiled grimly. “But she was almost always right.”

There was a knock on the door.

The agent blinked in surprise.

“Nopony is supposed to-- why don’t you just relax and I’ll see who it is?” She smiled. “Maybe somepony is here to offer you a better job. Sparkle won’t be in business for much longer.”

Sunburst glared at her as she stood, the suited pony opening the door.

“What are you--” before she could finish asking, a blast of cyan and gold magic slammed her into the far wall.

“Whoops,” said a familiar voice from the doorway. Starlight walked in, checking the corners of the room. “Used a little more force than I meant to. I’m sure she’ll be fine. Concussions are practically a way of life for pegasi anyway.”

“Starlight?” Sunburst asked, surprised.

“Long time no see!” Starlight smiled sadly. “I, uh. I’m here to rescue you.”

“Rescue me? But-- aren’t you on their side?”

“When it comes to my friends, there’s only one side,” Starlight said. “This is probably going to look really bad when I have to explain it to the big mare later, but I’m not going to let you end up dead or in a dungeon.”

Starlight’s horn flashed, and the hoofcuffs snapped. Sunburst groaned and moved his stiff shoulders, trying to get the ache out of them.

“Celestia is acting totally nuts,” Starlight whispered. “I don’t know everything, but I know it’s not going to be safe anywhere around here. I’m getting you out of here.”

“I don’t think we can just walk away,” Sunburst said, while she worked the ring off of his horn carefully.

“There isn’t a pony alive who can stop me,” Starlight said. “We’ll leave Equestria, go see the world. Zebrica, Griffonstone, the Dragon Lands, Saddle Arabia… I’ve always wanted to travel anyway.”

“Starlight--”

“Don’t, okay?” Starlight’s smile fell. “I know… I know you’re in love with somepony else. I’m doing this anyway because I’m kinda stupid and… I guess I wish I’d spent more time with you and less with Celestia.”

“I wish I’d made more time for you, too.”

“Let’s save the sappy stuff for after we’re in Zebrica. I don’t know how long the stun spells are going to last and I’d really rather not have to fight my way out,” Starlight smirked.

“You should have been more worried about the alarms,” said a tired voice from the corridor. Starlight froze up and turned slowly to look behind her.

Princess Cadance looked like she hadn’t slept for a week. Her eyes were heavy, and even her wings were disheveled.

“P-Princess, what a surprise to see you here…”

“Don’t,” Cadance groaned. “I’m not here to stop you. I disabled the alarms. Being a Princess does have some perks.”

“You disabled the alarms?” Sunburst asked, surprised.

“I know it’s not a lot of help, but I can’t do anything drastic yet,” Cadance said. “Celestia has been… she’s not acting like herself. I need to keep her from doing something we’ll all regret. After what happened with Sunset I can’t even talk to her.”

“Are you going to tell her about this?” Starlight asked.

“I won’t. She’ll find out anyway.” Cadance pointed down a corridor with her wing. “There are no guards that way. It leads out to a canal that empties into a waterfall. You can use it to get out of the city without being seen. Shiny and I used to use the canals all the time when we wanted to avoid the rest of the Guards talking about us.”

“Thank you,” Sunburst whispered. “About Shining Armor--”

“I already know,” Cadance said, shaking her head. “I know a lot of the awful things that happened. Twilight is still like a little sister to me, though. I know how much it hurt her, doing all those things. Not just her heart, but her soul. You need to warn her that Celestia is coming for her. With the war over, Celestia is going to crush her and her dreams, and I don’t even know why. It’s like… Twilight did something to personally offend her.”

“I’ll warn her,” Sunburst said.

“There isn’t much time,” Cadance said. “Tell her I forgive her. For everything. In case I can’t tell her in person.”

“You’re going to do something stupid too, huh?” Starlight asked.

“I’m the Princess of Love,” Cadance said. “I’d do anything to protect the ponies that I care about.”

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I know how history paints me and my very brief rebellion.

Most ponies can't even hear me anymore. No, that's not quite correct. Most don't know I even exist, even though I've done so much for all of you.

Over the last thousand years and all the millions of ponies who have been born and lived and died, all of them had dreams that I sent them. I wanted to make Equestria a better place. It slowly has gotten better.

Did you ever wonder why every invention is local? Why amazing, advanced technology appears with no precedent? It's because ponies see it in their dreams. Dreams I sent them. Ponies forget things, and they don't write everything down, and even some things that are written down are censored. I don't forget. I take the best and brightest and inspire them.

This has been good, and bad, I admit. Skyscrapers and night clubs are monuments to progress, but ponies have also cleared forests for lumber and done terrible things in the name of ambition.

You now confront the basic problem of morality. Is it better for ponies to conform and fit it, or excel and let their inspirations guide them?

Society only works because ponies make an effort to fit in. They used to move as a herd, just following whatever strong leader made the first move. Now they have rough edges. They have desires of their owns. They have cutie marks for talents in what they want instead of what they were born into.

Some ponies never fit in. They have a talent their family doesn't approve of. They dream of things they can't have. The bigger the dream, the more likely it is to be crushed by reality. But if ponies didn't have big dreams, where would we be today?

Well, probably not the moon, but that's not the point.

My question is, was my sister right, or was I?