Dear daughter,

I have received your message. Before I say anything further, I should mention that I’m disappointed in you, gallivanting through the city without any care in the world. Your presence there is supposed to be a secret. Everlight has shown that he doesn’t play by the rules. I cannot oppose him while knowing that it may be putting you and your sister in danger. If you don’t care about yourself, at least think of Sweetie Belle.

Now about your meeting with Twilight Sparkle. While it doesn’t justify you breaking my orders, I can’t deny that contacting her is a great opportunity. It pleases me that she remains free and I want you to assure that it will stay that way. The fact that she is free is a heavy blow against Everlight’s reputation as a leader. Furthermore, I’ve launched a wide search for the assassin that Twilight Sparkle had described. Finding them is a real possibility, unlike her plan of finding some magical artifact—

Rarity shook her head in disagreement as she went over her father’s letter. Lord Belle seemed to rely on intrigues too much; there was always a chance that Everlight would try to seize power by force if his machinations were exposed and the noble Houses turned against him. Having a powerful weapon at their disposal would be quite handy in a situation like that. Shifting her position on her hard chair, Rarity resumed reading.

—however, I’m willing to contact somepony in Canterlot to help you. He works in the city hall and he owes me a favor. When he finds any information about those House Moonlight’s descendants you’re looking for, he’ll send a message to me and I’ll resend it to you.

As for your bodyguards, under no circumstances should you let them know you’re in contact with Twilight Sparkle. This is too dangerous a secret to entrust to a mercenaries like them. In fact, I’m considering sending a few ponies from my personal guard to replace those two, since they were so useless in stopping you from leaving the cottage.

Until that moment comes, I’m allowing you to leave the cottage to meet with Twilight Sparkle on your own — the orders for the guards are in the envelope — but I urge you to be extremely careful about moving through the streets. Make sure that nopony follows you back home. Apply some disguise if you must.

Please, keep me updated on any developments. I will do the same. You can send your message back with the courier.

Putting the letter away, Rarity let out a sigh of relief. He had reacted much better than she had feared he would. His scolding had managed to make her feel slightly ashamed, however. There was no point in needlessly endangering her filly sister. Even though Rarity didn’t share his paranoia, she swore to herself to never leave the cottage without a good disguise, something she should have thought of herself.

Rolling up the parchment, Rarity put it into one of the drawers of her table. Then she took a blank one from another and unfolded it on the table before her eyes. She froze for a moment, compiling her thoughts. Dipping a quill into a bottle of ink, Rarity began to write her answer while the courier her father had sent waited patiently outside of her little office.

The last rays of the setting sun colored the marble buildings of Canterlot in a reddish hue. Twilight tried to focus on that pleasant view as she trotted on the now familiar street, her hooves clopping on the old pavement, their sounds drowned out by a cacophony of dozens of other ponies moving alongside her, despite the late hour.

Most of her life Twilight had spent alone in the tranquility of a study, so she couldn’t help but feel nervous among the crowd. Back in the Academy, she also always kept herself away from any gatherings — nothing good ever waited for her there. Going through that street for more than a week, however, Twilight had began to get used to the feeling of ponies around her.

Of course, she could have chosen some side alley rather than the main street to make her way to the library, but she didn’t. It definitely would have been easier for her to avoid the problem, but in the end it would do her no good, so instead Twilight decided to deal with it head on. Still, when the stream of ponies thinned out once she got to the Academy’s gate, the unicorn couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Twilight went past the security pony as per usual, flashing him her library card that Midnight had arranged for her. It granted her free access to the library, so she didn’t have to sign up for a temporary pass like she had on her first visit. It helped to keep her night stays there a secret, since she didn’t need to sign out on her way out.

It didn’t take Twilight long to reach the library. Saluting to Starswirl’s statue at its entrance, the unicorn climbed the stairs and entered the ancient building.

Midnight Star perked up his ears upon seeing her come in — the only sign of enthusiasm he had shown. By a mutual decision, they both maintained the illusion of being strangers in public. With a poker face, Twilight approached the counter.

“Greetings,” the stallion said formally. Lowering his voice, he continued in a warmer tone. “How was your day?”

Twilight let out a nervous chuckle. “The same as yesterday — slept until midday, grabbed something to eat, then practiced some magic… Nothing special.”

Midnight nodded, suppressing a sigh of envy. At least Twilight had gotten some decent sleep. For the past week he hadn’t gotten a lot of it, what with helping Twilight in her search for most of the night and then having to work the double shift in the library. The rector had promised to find somepony to take the load off, but that had been a whole month ago.

“What about yours?” Twilight asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Midnight shrugged. “It was alright. No worse than usual at least. Anyway, here you go.”

Saying that, he levitated a key to his office to her. Accepting it with her own magic, Twilight proceeded to go there. She usually stayed in it to safely wait until the library’s closing, which would be in less than an hour. She didn’t sit there idly though, using this time to go through her notes on what she knew about the artifact.

And it wasn’t reassuring.

While the Amulet was powerful, it seemed to drive the ponies wielding it to insanity. That was why while her new ally, Lady Rarity, was working on finding the descendants of the House Moonlight, Twilight decided to look into her second-best choice — the Elements of Harmony.

However, knowledge about them was scarce. The artifact — or rather the artifacts — had been lost centuries ago. They had been wielded by the Sun Goddess herself during her reign and had disappeared around the time she had. Twilight assumed that she had taken them with her or at least hid them very well.

If her conclusion was right, would it even be possible to reclaim them? Twilight Sparkle wasn’t certain. That was the reason she had put her hopes into finding the Alicorn Amulet in the first place. But it wouldn’t do to have all your eggs in one basket. Having some alternative wouldn’t hurt, especially considering the Elements were a magnitude more powerful than the Amulet.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts as well as startling her.

“Twilight? The library is empty,” Midnight’s voice announced from the outside. “You can come out.”

Relaxing, Twilight grabbed her journal where she kept her notes and went to meet Midnight.

While both of them slowly made their way to the closed section, they had a little chat about today’s events. Then Midnight shared his frustration about the rector as Twilight tried to console him. In turn, Twilight decided to open up herself.

Being a fugitive and a scapegoat for a crime hadn’t been easy for her, but Twilight could handle it as long as her mind was set on working out the solution to that problem. But not being able to see her family, especially her big brother because of that was the worst.

“I’m so sorry, Twilight,” Midnight said, lowering his ears. “My problems seem so insignificant now… I shouldn’t have complained.”

“I don’t mind,” Twilight shrugged. “That’s what friends are supposed to do, right? I always shared my problems with my brother.”

Midnight held his gaze on Twilight. “Thank you for considering me your friend.”

“Oh, don’t mention it,” the mare answered, flickering her ear. “I mean, you’re helping me, how could I not?”

Midnight was grinning despite feeling tired as they entered the closed section together to begin their work.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful.

As usual, they took a bunch of books she thought would have some new information about the Elements. Obviously, they didn’t read each of them fully, quickly skipping through the pages, searching for certain key words instead. Unfortunately, nothing they had found been helpful so far.

Midnight had long since fallen asleep when Twilight grew too bored to continue. After going through hundreds of books throughout the last week, she felt like it was getting her nowhere. Maybe what she needed was a new approach. Rather than trying to find something about the Elements directly, perhaps she should learn about the pony who was claimed to have wielded them — the Sun Goddess.

Twilight knew that she had a whole cult of followers sprawling all over Equestria. Her own parents used to take her to a temple to praise the Sun every Sunday, but the mare herself had never been a big believer. Twilight didn’t deny the fact that she had once ruled Equestria — it was an established historical fact after all — but she saw no reason to worship her.

She may have been a great ruler in her time, but then she basically abandoned Equestria and left it to its own devices, leaving the ponies without her guiding light. Because of that, Twilight had always been reluctant to read about her. The fact that all the books on the topic were of a religious nature, glorifying the Goddess to no end, didn’t help matters.

But now Twilight had to tuck her emotions deep down and get to it. She spent the next few hours doing exactly that.

Most of the books about the Sun Goddess had been written long after her departure. Just as she had expected, they depicted her with such veneration that Twilight found herself cringing. She was interested in cold facts rather than overblown stories of her supposed achievements. Nopony could be that perfect!

If those tales were to be believed, the mare was an actual Goddess that used to walk upon the earth. Her power was immeasurable. The sun and the moon themselves answered to her. No enemy of hers could stand against her wrath and hope to live. Even Nightmare Moon, the fabled demon from Tartarus who had tried to shroud the land in eternal darkness, was told to have been defeated by the Goddess.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, re-reading the last bit. It mentioned the Elements of Harmony as being instrumental in Nightmare Moon’s defeat. However, it didn’t elaborate on that, so Twilight sighed in exasperation, shoving the book aside. She might return to it later, but the way it was written reminded her more of a fairy tale than an actual historical account of the events.

After caressing her tired neck muscles, Twilight got off her chair and simply trotted in place, allowing the blood flow to restore faster. She had been there for a long time already. Levitating the book back to its shelf, Twilight checked her watch — it was around the time that Midnight should be opening the library.

The stallion in question, however, was nowhere to be seen. Twilight focused on remembering when she had last seen him. It had likely been in the closed section, which Twilight had had to abandon, since it mostly contained books about magic rather than history.

Returning to the closed section, Twilight swept over it with her eyes, noticing Midnight almost at once. This place was pretty small in comparison to the open section, so it wasn’t hard. Bookshelves with the rarest books were spread out along its round walls, while most of the room’s free space was taken up by reading tables. The stallion was sleeping at one of them with his head buried in a thick tome.

Approaching him, Twilight gently tapped him on his shoulder. He jerked awake at once, looking around with a wild stare until he focused his attention at the mare that had disrupted his slumber. Midnight blinked a couple of times, trying to drive the sleepiness away.

“Twilight? What do you want?” he asked grudgingly.

“Oh, nothing… Except that you’re almost late for the opening.” Twilight smirked, seeing his eyes widen in terror.

“Oh, buck!” He jumped — almost fell — off his chair. Tossing the ancient tome he was reading back into its place on the shelf, he hurried out of the room before Twilight could utter another word.

The mare followed close by, barely containing her laugh.

As Twilight hid in the office again, the first ponies entered the place — early students, wishing to get some studying done before their classes started. She waited for a couple of minutes before carefully venturing outside. Midnight had already settled behind his counter, enjoying his morning tea with crackers.

“I have to go now,” Twilight said, approaching him.

Midnight sighed. “Yeah, I know. You think she’ll show up today?”

The mare shrugged in response. Every morning at a specific time, she had been waiting at a certain cafe. Lady Rarity was supposed to meet her there, once she found out about the House Moonlight’s descendants. Twilight hadn’t trusted her enough to reveal her inn address at their first interaction, though now she admitted that it had been a bit silly. The lady obviously had other plans than simply capturing the ex-court mage.

“I hope so,” Twilight said, tapping her hoof on the floor. “It’s been a week. Well, I’ll tell you if anything happens in the evening.”

Having said that, Twilight waved and was on her way. Midnight waved back melancholically, watching his friend leave while he had to stay.

Midnight loved the library and the work here was alright, but he was sick of spending most of his time here. If it had been bad before, with Twilight’s arrival it had gotten even worse! He didn’t resent her for it, of course. In fact, spending time with her had been a silver lining to his routinely boring days.

Sighing deeply, he switched his attention to an approaching student who obviously needed his help.

Rarity scrunched her muzzle in disgust. She almost ended up spitting the liquid that was presented to her as tea, but decided that wouldn’t be proper in a public place. As she forced it down her throat, Rarity promised herself to never get anything in that poor excuse for a cafe as long as she lives.

It was a simple place near the Academy, which was why Twilight had proposed it as their meeting ground. Rarity foolishly agreed, not knowing what she was stepping into. Perhaps she should bring up choosing a more upper-class place once Twilight arrived.

As if summoned by those thoughts, the mare in question entered the dining hall. Few ponies besides Rarity were there at this hour, so Twilight noticed the lady immediately. The latter waved to her in greeting.

Twilight approached the table and dipped her head.

“Lady Rarity.”

“Miss Sparkle,” Rarity emulated her.

Twilight gasped, drooping her ears and darting her eyes towards the other clients in the hall. After a brief surprise, Rarity had realized her slip.

“Somepony could have heard my name!” Twilight whispered furiously, taking a seat opposite Rarity.

The white mare cast her eyes down, murmuring an apology. Thankfully, nopony seemed to be paying them any attention, so Twilight relaxed slightly.

“Have you got some news?” she asked.

Rarity nodded with a flicker of a smile. “Of course, darling. Why else would I be here?”

After that, she revealed to Twilight what she had learned from her father’s contact in the city hall. It had taken the pony a whole week to deliver the address they needed, but he had made it. Rarity imagined the archives must have been quite messy if it had taken him that long.

“That’s great news!” Twilight exclaimed, feeling growing excitement. Finally, some progress.

“I’m happy to help, dear,” Rarity gave her a warm smile. “However, I wish to come along when you pay them a visit.”

Twilight’s grin faded, replaced by a puzzled expression.

“You do? Why?” she asked. Though she accepted the idea of Rarity helping her with information, Twilight hadn’t expected the lady to do the actual investigation work.

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Rarity waved her hoof. “I just want to help. If I know anything about ponies, they won’t just tell us anything without some encouragement.”

Although it was part of the reason why Rarity wanted to go, another one was that she had simply grown bored of being stuck in her cottage. Experimenting with the sewing machine had taken some edge off of her, but she missed social interaction with high society. In that light, meeting with the last members of a fallen noble House would be killing two birds with one stone.

“Well, if you want,” Twilight shrugged, accepting Rarity’s offer.

“Splendid!” the lady exclaimed happily. “We shall go right away.”

Twilight was taken aback by her enthusiasm. She wasn’t quite ready to go right now, not without a list of questions she had compiled with Midnight’s help. Unfortunately, the list was back at the library.

“How about we do that in two hours instead?” Twilight offered, noticing some disappointment flicker on Rarity’s face until the mare forced it away. “I need to get my notes first and make sure I didn’t miss anything.”

“That would be acceptable.”

Before leaving, Twilight asked Rarity a few questions about the king. Being out of loop for so long, Twilight was desperate to know about his current condition. Unfortunately, Rarity couldn’t say anything that would make her happy — as far as she knew, King Hearth was still in a coma with no signs of improvement.

Even if there were any, however unlikely that might be, Everlight would make sure they didn’t stick. Rarity kept that particular conclusion to herself, however. Being the smart mare that she was, Twilight would have realized the same thing on her own.

An uncomfortable silence hung over the table.

“Well, I’ll be going then,” Twilight said. “Meet me here in two hours.”

The two exchanged their goodbyes and the disguised mare left the cafe, going back to the library. Rarity watched her go as she weighted her options. She briefly considered waiting for Twilight here, but she dismissed that idea in favor of checking out a few nearby shops instead.

Putting on her large chapeau that shadowed her face nicely, Rarity paid up for her order — including a tip in the sum, even though the cafe didn’t deserve it — and left the place behind.

Rarity had hardly noticed as the next hour flew by, so engaged was she in choosing a fabric she wanted to buy. There were quite a variety of options, each having their unique qualities and uses. The process was complicated by Rarity having no idea what exactly those were, so she ended up taking a sample from each, even the most expensive ones.

Not stopping at that, Rarity also picked a bunch of different threads, needles for hoof — or rather magic — stitching and plenty of more supplies necessary for her new hobby.

“New at dressmaking?” a mare behind the counter asked in a pleasant soft voice.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Quite,” the mare chuckled. “We only have a small number of regulars who usually buy that much at once — all of them are known dressmakers in Canterlot. Have you opened your own business as well?”

Rarity shook her head, smiling back. “I’m afraid not. It’s just a new hobby of mine to pass the time, that’s all.”

“Oh, I see. That’s nice too. My name is Silver Thread, by the way. What is yours?”

Rarity took a brief moment to recall her alias. “Rose,” she answered simply.

Silver Thread arched her eyebrows, expecting a continuation, but none followed. The shopkeeper didn’t pry, however. Rarity patiently waited while the salespony assessed her purchases to count how many bits she should charge for them. It ended up being a sum that would shock most of the shop’s clients, but Rarity didn’t bat an eye as she casually put the required bits on the counter.

“Thank you for your visit!” Silver Thread smiled politely. “Would you need some bags to carry everything?”

“Yes, thank you, darling.”

Stacking her purchases into a few big bags that she was holding in her magic, Rarity left the shop in a bit of a hurry. There was still time to get to her cottage to drop her stuff off before rushing to the meeting with Twilight, but just barely.

As soon as she was gone, Silver Thread’s smile vanished, being replaced with a frown as she tried to remember if she’d ever heard of a pony named Rose among Canterlot’s nobility. The elegant mare was obviously from a wealthy family, which limited the number to a very few options. However, none of them had a pony who would match her description. It piqued her curiosity.

Thankfully, she remembered her cutie mark well, so Silver Thread decided to ask her friends about that mysterious mare.

Rarity was on edge on her way home.

She wasn’t sure her chapeau was a good enough disguise. Perhaps she should have put on some heavy makeup as well… But that would get her more attention instead. The mare tried to console herself that it was unlikely anypony would recognize her anyway — unless she ran into some of her classmates from the Academy — but that was just as unlikely, since most of them had returned to their own homes in other cities. No, her identity would be perfectly safe, as long as she avoided interacting with other ponies too much.

Finally, Rarity approached her cottage. Opening the front door with her key, she stumbled in and dropped all the bags on the floor. She sighed in relief — carrying so much at once was really straining her magic. Lotus appeared almost instantly, gaping at the mountain of bags that Rarity had brought with her.

“What is that?”

“Oh, I just did a little shopping,” Rarity said with a tired smile. “I’m in a hurry though, so will you please carry that into my room? I expect to be back by the evening.”

Lotus nodded, not asking any questions despite her curiosity. It was the first time Rarity had left the cottage after her father’s letter. Lotus had no idea what was going on, but the guards had no trouble letting her out completely unprotected now. She and her sister Aloe had various theories, but they didn’t know if any of them were true.

Finishing her business at the cottage, Rarity hurried back to the cafe. Luckily, the streets were half-empty. As she cantered through the street, she had a strange feeling in her belly — a thrill of adventure.

Glancing at her watch, Rarity sped up even more. She would be cutting it close — Twilight was likely waiting for her. Pursing her lips tightly, Rarity concentrated on running. Her guess proved true once she reached the place ten minutes later.

“Here I am,” said a winded Rarity upon seeing Twilight inside. “Fashionably late, as they say.”

Twilight waved her hoof, taking a sip of her beverage. Rarity hoped it wasn’t tea. “Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. “I didn’t specify the exact time the meeting would take place anyway.”

“If you say so, dear.”

The two mares exited the cafe once Twilight had finished drinking her cup of coffee. According to their information, the House Moonlight’s descendants lived in a poor neighborhood of Canterlot. Practically slums, especially compared to the district where Rarity’s cottage was.

Neither of them knew the city well, so they had to ask random ponies for directions. With their help, it didn’t take the mares long to find the neighborhood.

There wasn’t a specific line that separated the rest of the town from it, but the further inside they went, the more buildings were showing signs of neglect. Shops were a rare sight, though some ponies were selling their goods right on the sidewalks.

Unlike the main city, ponies here rarely wore any clothes, though Twilight and Rarity weren’t any different from them in that regard. Wearing clothes on a daily basis was something only Canterlot was known for, after all. Their clean coats differentiated them from the local inhabitants just as much, however.

Too bad I couldn’t take along Silver Armor and Blazing Shield for this trip, Rarity thought regretfully, noticing another unwelcoming glare from a passer-by. That would be one of the few cases that those two stallions would actually be useful in something other than serving their charge in a more intimate way.

Rarity noticed that Twilight was nervous as well. Her eyes darted from one stranger to another, her horn glowing in a dim light, barely noticeable in the sunlight, but ready to unleash all kinds of magic if somepony did more than just glare.

Finding the exact house they wanted proved to be a difficult task. There weren’t any street signs to speak of, so they had no choice but to ask a few decent-looking ponies until they found one who showed them the way. Grateful to no end, Rarity even gave him a few bits for the trouble.

Soon, the two were finally standing in front of a two-story building. It appeared to be in even worse condition than its neighbors, with boarded windows on the first floor. If they were in a better neighborhood, they would have assumed it was abandoned.

Rarity and Twilight exchanged a glance.

Keeping her expression steady, Twilight walked up to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on it loudly. After a minute of waiting, it had become obvious that nopony had heard her. She repeated, knocking even harder this time, but to no avail. Trying to open the door, Twilight made sure it was locked.

“Maybe it’s the wrong house?” Twilight asked, feeling her hope slipping away.

Rarity thought for a moment. “No, I think it’s the right one.”

The door burst open, startling them both. Twilight yelped, stumbling back the stairs and landing on her haunches, while Rarity gaped at the figure that appeared in the door frame.

It was a unicorn with a lump, dirty coat of light blue color. His entangled mane hung over his eyes, likely obscuring his vision. Its condition made Rarity wince in almost physical pain. The stallion was wavering slightly, observing his visitors in silence.

“Hello,” Twilight greeted him, recovering from her fall. “Are you Lucky Mo—”

“Are you the whores?” he interrupted her midsentence.

Twilight stared at the stallion dumbfounded while Rarity narrowed her eyes, suppressing her anger. If somepony else had dared to utter an insult like that to her, her father would make sure that their whole family felt the consequences of that mistake. However, that pony was at the very bottom already.

Shoving her personal feelings into a box, Rarity glanced at Twilight, who stood with her mouth open as if about to say something. All of her strategies hadn’t prepared her for anything like that though, so she was struggling to find an appropriate response.

It was time to take the situation into her own hooves.

“No, we’re not,” Rarity stated firmly, answering the stallion’s original question. “Let us come in.”

Pushing him aside, she led Twilight into the house before he could stop them. Lucky looked at them, blinking stupidly while trying to assess the situation. Rarity could smell a stench coming from him, suggesting heavy drinking

“We’re here to discuss your House’s history, sir.”

“H-history?” the pony repeated. “What…”

Rarity sighed. She had suspected that they wouldn’t be able to learn much from this excuse for a noble. But giving up without even trying would be simply unacceptable, so Rarity pressed on.

“Well, do you have a place where we could sit down and talk about it civilly?” Rarity asked, taking in her surroundings.

They were standing in a small, dusky corridor, illuminated by a dim crystal that probably hadn’t been recharged in years. There was only one way ahead to an open doorway that led into some kind of guest room. Without waiting for their host to answer, Rarity trotted there herself, tugging the docile Twilight alongside her.

She heard the unsteady clopping of the stallion behind them.

Upon entering the room, Rarity scrunched her muzzle from the stale air reeking of alcohol and other stuff she preferred to not think about. She reached for the curtains with her magic, throwing them aside to let some sunlight into this gloomy place. Then she pushed the window up, enjoying a fresh breeze blowing inside. It made breathing in here somewhat bearable.

“Much better, don’t you agree?”

Rarity turned to face Lucky, who stumbled into the room, almost planting his face on the board floor if not for Twilight’s quick reaction. Straightening up, he threw his mane back and gave Rarity an eyeful.

“If you’re not the whores, then get the buck out,” he ordered, waving his hoof back at the exit, which almost caused him to fall again.

Twilight’s face reddened. She stepped aside from the stallion.

“We’re not… whores, but please, we want to ask you some serious questions!”

Lucky glanced at her, swishing his tail in annoyance. “Not interested.”

“It’s about the Alicorn Amulet,” Twilight added, taking another step back.

The stallion’s expression quickly changed from annoyance to surprise and then to anger.

“What? Why are you interested in that damn thing?”

“That is none of your concern, Lucky,” Rarity stepped into the conversation. “We’re aware that your House, such as it is, once possessed the Amulet. That’s why we’re here. So let’s make a deal — you tell us everything you know about the Amulet and I’ll give you enough bits to order however many whores you want. If some poor dear would be desperate enough, that is.”

Rarity added the last sentence only for Twilight to hear. Lucky’s expression turned thoughtful. He sat on his haunches and Rarity could practically hear the gears turning in his brain. With a hiccup, he finally looked at Rarity once again.

“How much will you pay?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. She levitated a small purse she had brought just for that purpose. She passed it to Lucky who didn’t manage to catch it, dropping it onto the floor. He opened the purse with his mouth and carefully examined its content — there were no less than a hundred of bits.

“It’s a deal,” he smiled, exposing his half-missing teeth.

Rarity forced a fake smile in return. She gestured Twilight to take the lead — it was her turn now.

“Okay, let’s begin then,” Twilight said, glancing at Rarity. She gave her an encouraging nod.

Taking out her list, Twilight began asking the questions she had prepared. The stallion’s answers were hard to understand, but he seemed to be answering them to the best of his abilities, if Rarity was reading him well.

He admitted that his grandfather had somehow acquired the Amulet. Lord Moonlight used this newfound power for the benefit of his House, winning duels with his longtime foes, thus proving to more important nobles that his family was to be reckoned with. Soon, he began making powerful allies among them, making deals and advancing his relatives to positions of power.

That continued until one day he killed his sister in a fit of rage. After that, the leader of the House became moody and violent, punishing his servants for even small mistakes. He forsook his duty to the family, spending days inside his manor. One day he simply dismissed his guards and disappeared.

The lord had been missing for days and when he returned, he had no Amulet with him. He refused to say anything about that. Without the powerful magic of the artifact to back them up, his House failed to uphold its deals with the other nobles and quickly lost its position among them.

“…two months later the bastard committed suicide.”

Twilight had run out of questions a long time ago, having to improvise as the story went along. Now she had run out of things to ask. She took a minute to digest all the new information.

It was obvious to her that Lord Moonlight had been emotionally unstable. Whether it had been due to the artifact’s power or not didn’t matter for now. He had likely blamed the Amulet for his sister’s death, so he had decided to get rid of it.

“I think Lord Moonlight must have hidden the amulet somewhere,” Rarity said, coming to the same conclusion. “Didn’t he?”

“Well, yeah…” he nodded. “That’s what they all thought. My father searched for it his whole life. Obviously, he failed.”

Disappointment and despair welled up in Twilight’s chest as she realized all that. The lord had been gone for days, so he could have hidden the Amulet anywhere in Equestria! It was foolish to hope for anything by coming here, but that had been her only trail… Her ears folded, betraying her feelings.

“Did Lord Moonlight have any diary or journal we could read?” Rarity asked hopefully.

Twilight’s ears perked up. It was a good idea!

“Sure, but there’s nothing useful in it,” Lucky shrugged. “My family has been searching for the Amulet for decades, you think they didn’t check it before?! I wouldn’t be living in this shithole if they had found it!”

Driven by a wave of emotions, the stallion bucked the nearby table, causing its leg to break in half. The table crumbled as all the bottles fell on the floor, breaking and clanging loudly. Rarity winced at such a mess unfolding.

“Your House had a whole century to get back on its hooves without the artifact,” she said with contempt. “So you only have yourself to blame.”

Lucky drew in a breath, furrowing his eyebrows heavily.

“Get the buck out of my house!” he yelled in a fit of rage, making a few threatening steps towards the mares.

Rarity scoffed. The stallion was barely standing on his hooves and posed little to no threat to her. Even without her guards she was sure about her ability to handle him.

“I need the journal,” Twilight said nervously.

“You need to learn some respect!” Lucky roared, switching his attention to her and continuing his advance.

He didn’t stop when she lit up her horn, suspending him in the air before her. The pony wiggled his limbs helplessly, letting out snarls of rage, but Twilight kept him that way for a full minute until he finally got tired and simply hung limp in her magic.

“Will you behave if I let you down?” she asked calmly.

The stallion nodded in defeat.

Twilight gave Rarity a glare when the mare opened her mouth, preventing a snarky comment from leaving it, turning her attention back to Lucky on the floor.

“I need the journal, please,” Twilight repeated her request. “We will pay for it, aren’t we?”

Twilight raised her eyebrows at Rarity. With a theatrical sigh, the lady levitated another purse of bits, dropping it near Lucky. It was her personal one that she kept for emergencies. Lucky reached out his hoof, pulling the purse close to his belly. Slowly, he got back on his hooves.

“I’ll give you the damn journal, alright?” he said. “It’s not like I have any use for it. Just wait here.”

Wavering on his hooves, the stallion exited the room through the other door, disappearing into the darkness. While he was gone, Rarity walked up to Twilight, a blush of shame on her cheeks.

“I’m sorry for my behavior,” Rarity apologized to her. “This place is getting on my nerves — it’s simply repulsing!”

Rarity glanced at a half-eaten piece of bread covered with mold, shuddering on the inside. Why couldn’t he have thrown it into the trash can instead? This pony didn’t deserve the right to be called a noble just for his grubbiness alone!

Twilight nodded. “I don’t like it in here either. Thank you for your help by the way, Lady Rarity.”

“Don’t mention it, darling!”

Ten more minutes passed. The two mares began to grow impatient. What was taking Lucky so long? After five more minutes, they finally decided to go search for him. Illuminating the way with their horns, Twilight and Rarity followed the way he had gone, wondering if it was some kind of dumb trap.

The actual reason was far more mundane.

Upon entering the basement, they found the stallion snoring on his back near an overturned box. A bunch of books were spread out on the floor next to it. Twilight guessed that one of them was the journal they were looking for. She considered waking up Lucky, but changed her mind when her eyes fell on one particular book.

It wasn’t the journal, but the name on the back was quite intriguing — Real Modern History by Elegant Lore. Despite its name, the book looked far from modern. Its thick leather binding was telling Twilight that much — they didn’t make any books like that anymore. It had signs of wear and tear on it, likely accumulated by decades of use.

What surprised Twilight, however, was that she did not recall seeing such a book or an author in the library. She had gone through the history shelves just earlier tonight, so her memory about that was still fresh.

Twilight’s heart beat a little faster. Levitating the book to herself, she opened the first page. It was hoof-written — one more proof of the book’s ancient nature. It could easily be centuries old! And to think that a book like that was collecting dust in some drunkard’s basement… It was simply heart-breaking.

She checked the remaining books, looking for the journal. She found it nearby, but no more unique books like the first one. Most of them were relatively new with a lot of copies going around, so she just put them aside.

“Just take the journal and let’s go, Twilight,” Rarity hurried her along. She wasn’t comfortable in this damp, dark basement.

Twilight nodded, quickly tucking both the book and the journal into her large saddlebags. She didn’t feel bad about basically stealing the book — the stallion now had enough bits to buy his whole library as it was. She felt like she would find a much better use for this book anyway.

The two mares made their way out of the basement, stepping their hooves very carefully to avoid waking up Lucky. They froze as he stirred on the floor, snorting loudly, but then he became quiet again. They continued. As soon as they had gotten upstairs, they bolted for the exit.

Only when Twilight was able to smell the fresh air outside did she fully realize how awful it smelled inside. She took a lungful and simply stood there, enjoying a breeze. Rarity was doing the same by her side.

“It’s sad to see a House fall so low,” she commented when she caught her breath. “Makes me wonder if nobles are all that better than commoners.”

Twilight glanced at Rarity with a slight frown. “Well, I’m a commoner and my experience with nobleponies hasn’t been exactly great so far.”

Rarity shifted uncomfortably, cursing her big mouth.

“I’m sorry, darling, I meant no insult by that,” she attempted to smooth over the incident. “Obviously, there are lot of good ponies among the commoners. All of my servants are commoners and they’re very good at their jobs—”

Twilight twitched her tail, drooping her ears slightly, and Rarity stopped, noticing that her words weren’t helping matters. After muttering a simple sorry, she went quiet.

“That’s fine, I guess,” Twilight said, forcing herself to ignore Rarity’s words. After all, the mare had been pretty helpful so far. “Well, I’m going to get back to the inn and examine this journal.”

“Would you mind telling me where you’re staying?” Rarity asked. Noticing Twilight’s hesitation, she decided to push a little. “Oh, come on. It’s just a matter of trust.”

Deciding that she may as well share her address, Twilight did so. The lady was right — if she trusted her enough to keep her identity hidden, revealing her location wouldn’t be any different. Of course, Twilight learned where Rarity lived in turn.

After that, they briskly trotted away from the house, closing the door behind them. It took them much less time to leave the bad neighborhood behind, now that they weren’t searching for anything. Thankfully, nopony gave them any trouble along the way.

“Well, today was definitely exciting,” Rarity smiled as they were about to go their separate ways. “I’ll pay you a visit tomorrow morning, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, go ahead. Hopefully, I’ll be able to learn something of use with this journal.”

Twilight didn’t sound hopeful, but she didn’t want to despair before she had gone through the journal page by page. There may be some clues to the Amulet’s location. Even if there weren’t, it wasn’t the end of the world, she told herself.

The two said their goodbyes and went in different directions, with Twilight returning back to the inn, while Rarity went back to her cottage.

“I’ve found the Amulet,” Twilight whispered excitedly, her face mere inches away from Midnight’s.

The stallion stared into her violet eyes with his blue ones. He was so lost in them that he was barely able to comprehend her words. When he did, however, his brain began working again.

“W-what? How? Where?” he sputtered in shock.

Looking around to make sure that nopony was going to disturb them, Twilight quickly retold Midnight the events of the previous day and the following night. She hadn’t been sleeping as usual, busy with her new find.

The journal appeared to be a boring compilation of facts from the old lord’s life, up until the moment he had found the Amulet. In his personal diary, Lord Moonlight revealed how awful he had felt after he had to kill somepony to get it, but he considered the Amulet worth it.

The next pages were filled with his excitement over this newfound power and the rise his House was experiencing. However, the further along Twilight got, the harsher the lord became. He was harshly criticizing his servants, his family, even the king himself for the smallest and pettiest of reasons.

Until one day he killed his sister after an argument.

That event seemed to have taken a huge toll on his mental health. The entries became more sporadic and rambling. The last entry was a day before Lord Moonlight had disappeared. After reading it, it had become a confirmed fact for Twilight that he indeed was planning to hide his treasure, blaming it for all his troubles.

No one should have this accursed thing! I’ll tuck it deeper than Tartarus itself if I have to, but I’ll make sure nopony would ever use it again.

The pages were empty after that. At least, they seemed to be at first glance until Twilight thought to scan it with the Perfect Sight spell. It helped the unicorn to notice an interesting detail – the last few pages had been cut off. It had been done so cleanly that it would seem like there weren’t any pages at all, but she could see it clearly now.

Her Perfect Sight spell allowed her to pick up on things she would miss otherwise, including an imprint left on the opposite page. It was pretty faint, but Twilight was able to make out the writing. It took even her a while to decipher what was written with some missing bits and pieces, but when she did, she was fully rewarded for her trouble.

Day 5 of the Platinum Month.

I’ve done it. I’ve lost all the mercenaries and almost died myself, but thanks to this accursed Amulet, I managed to get through every obstacle on my way. How ironic, considering that I did it all to get rid of it for good. The tunnels around me look natural and untouched by hoof. I think I’m the first one to venture so deep. The dangerous creatures that hide in the shadows are afraid of me after tasting the Amulet’s magic on their wicked souls, but I’m not sure if they will let me through on my way out.

Day 11 of the Platinum Month.

I’m back on the surface!

I don’t know how I managed to get out, but I did it without the Amulet! It seemed to boost my natural magic for quite a bit, since I wouldn’t have made it otherwise. Its influence is fading now and I feel greatly weakened, but leaving the Amulet behind was the right decision.

“...So you see? It’s so obvious now. He hid the Alicorn Amulet in the caves beneath Canterlot!”

Finally Chapter X is released!
I hope you enjoyed it.
Now important announcement.
I have to take a hiatus in releasing new chapters for a month. I'm not stopping writing, of course. In fact, I do that to write ahead so if I get some new idea, I would be able to make nececcary editions before it's published. I will return with the new chapter in September, 8.
Would that be okay?