The weather in Canterlot was simply divine.

At least one positive side of being stuck here, thought Rarity.

Such warmth was quite typical for Canterlot’s autumn. Rarity was happy that she was able to enjoy it properly instead of being stuck in the cottage, even though it was just for a few hours while Sweetie Belle was having her daily nap. Aloe was in on their plan, so she stayed back to keep Rarity’s little sister from finding out they were away. She was just too young to be trusted with a secret like that.

As the group walked through the streets of the city, a stylish chapeau gave the lady some shade in the bright sun, while her companions remained exposed to the sunrays. After wandering for a bit, Rarity, Lotus and their guard, Silver Armor, were finally approaching the gates of Starswirl’s Academy — their final destination.

“Purpose of the visit?” a bored security pony asked them, stepping out from his booth.

“The library, dear,” Rarity smiled at him. “Lovely uniform, by the way.”

The stallion flustered at being complimented out of the blue. Even though hundreds of visitors passed through each day, the ponies would barely exchange a single word with him, let alone praise his uniform, which was sad for him at times, if he was being honest.

“Oh, thanks!” he smiled back. “I actually iron it every day before work! It’s nice that at least somepony appreciates it. Well, just sign here and you’re free to go.”

He levitated a journal out of his saddle bag, offering it to the mare. Rarity did as requested and prompted her companions to do the same. Obviously, none of them used their real names. Afterwards, the security pony gave each of them a pass.

“Don’t forget to sign out on your way back, please.”

“I won’t. Thank you, darling.” Rarity grinned, taking the card in her magic. “Have a good day.”

The trio trotted past the gate and deeper into the Academy’s grounds. The place was akin to a small village in its own way, housing thousands of students that had come from different cities to study here. Of course, only nobles — or rich unicorns — could afford it.

Even with such a limited pool, the Academy had produced a good number of powerful wizards, including Everlight. Rarity herself had graduated from the Academy just a few years prior, though she was far from an actual wizard. Most of the students had chosen the basic course and thus didn’t get the right to be called one.

Lotus looked at the buildings in the distance, impressed.

“Is it all just one Academy?” she asked Rarity in awe.

“Indeed, darling,” the mare smiled in return. “It’s the most prestigious one in Equestria.”

It didn’t take long for the group to find the library. It was exactly where Rarity remembered it, not that she had expected the ancient building to move, of course. She and her companions quickly climbed up the stairs and entered.

Rarity shuddered slightly — it was chilly here, especially after the pleasant warmth of the street. She glanced around, quickly locating the counter, and approached the pony she assumed was a librarian, who was looking at them expectantly.

Contrary to what she remembered, the librarian now was a young dark blue stallion of her age. She couldn’t see his cutie mark from where she was standing.

“Here’s our pass, darling,” Rarity flashed a card before his eyes.

The stallion barely paid it any attention, looking at the mare in front of him instead. “You’re free to enter. Do you need any help?”

“I would appreciate that,” Rarity smiled. “I have to admit, I’m not as familiar with the library as I perhaps should be. Let me introduce myself, I’m Lady R—”

Rarity stumbled, getting a sharp elbow to her ribs. She glared at Lotus, who flattened her ears, but a moment later Rarity realized her slip. You’re supposed to be incognito, silly filly! — she chided herself.

“Excuse me,” she said out loud. “As I was saying, I’m Lady Rose. And you are?”

The slightly surprised stallion looked between Lotus and Rarity, but then shrugged. It was none of his business.

“My name is Midnight Star,” he said. “So, what can I help you with?”

“Oh, I’m looking for some book on the topic of dressmaking, or something similar,” Rarity explained. “Would you know something like that?”

Midnight nodded. “Sure. You should find it in the “Crafts” section.”

He told Rarity the relevant row number. The mare thanked him and went on her way, Lotus and Silver Armor following her just a step behind. As soon as they had gotten out of the librarian’s view, Lotus caught up with Rarity, having a distressed expression on her face.

“I’m very sorry I hit you, Lady Rarity,” she said, her accent being more pronounced. “I just wanted—”

“Nonsense, darling,” Rarity interrupted her mid-sentence, causing the mare to sink to her haunches. “No-no, I’m not mad at you! In fact, I thank you for preventing me from foolishly revealing my name.”

Rarity helped Lotus to stand up, giving her a warm smile. She smiled back uncertainly.

“I’m still sorry,” she added.

“It’s alright, dear,” Rarity reassured her, going so far as to give her a light pat on her shoulder. “Though the next time do try to be more gentle.”

Unseen by either of them, Silver Armor, who was standing behind them, shifted his hindlegs uncomfortably, remembering the same words being uttered by Rarity the day before in the heat of the moment, so to say. The stallion quickly switched his attention to the books around him — the public library wasn’t the place to indulge in such memories.

“I definitely will, Lady Rarity,” Lotus answered, now more at ease.

With that issue out of their way, the group continued making their way between the bookshelves to their desired row.

Most of the students were keeping a good distance from their company, likely because of Silver Armor’s intimidating expression — the stallion was glaring forward, doing his best to keep his eyes from flickering towards Rarity’s tail. He wouldn’t be manipulated again!

However, a lone green mare was so engrossed in choosing a book that she hadn’t even noticed them approaching. Seeing as she was standing right in the middle of their passage, Rarity had no choice but to disturb her by lightly tapping on her back.

The mare jumped with a startled yelp, dropping the book she was holding in her magic on the floor. She stared at Rarity with wide eyes, flattening her ears against her skull. Rarity was taken aback at her extreme reaction — she even felt ashamed for scaring the poor pony like that.

“Terribly sorry for startling you, but would you mind letting us pass?” she gave her a gentle smile, trying to sound as polite as possible.

“Eh, sure, of course!” the mare bobbed her head up and down.

She took a step back and to the side, freeing the passage. However, Rarity hesitated. The mare’s voice sounded strangely familiar. It took Rarity a moment to place it, but when she did, she drew in a heavy breath. She shot a quick glance at the mare’s flank to confirm her suspicions, but unfortunately her large saddlebags were covering her cutie mark.

“May I ask what book you are looking for?” Rarity asked to justify the delay, while taking a mental note of the mare’s stature, mane style and coat color.

It obviously wasn’t that of Twilight Sparkle, but she could swear that the voice belonged to the pony she had met in the village not so long ago. Rarity was good at remembering these kinds of things, considering that she had to keep track of hundreds of important nobles in her head, lest they get upset at her for not remembering their names.

“I’m just looking for some light reading,” the unicorn shrugged, raising her eyes to meet Rarity’s.

Rarity glanced at the shelf, which was filled with thick tomes about Equestrian history. She couldn’t help but chuckle nervously – light reading indeed. However, hearing her voice again made it blatantly obvious — in front of her was Twilight Sparkle, the fugitive who was accused of having poisoned the king, even if she looked different at the moment.

“Well, I’ll leave you right to it,” Rarity forced a smile, making her way past Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle watched with concern as the group went past her.

She remembered the two of them — the white unicorn and her large companion. Her name was Rarity Belle, a member of one of the great houses, and the stallion was probably her bodyguard. It was hard to forget their encounter in the village where Twilight had first stopped for the night. It was a weird coincidence to be meeting them now, just a few days after the last time.

Or was it really a coincidence?

What if the mare had been following her for the whole time?

What if she wasn’t who she said she was?

So many questions and so few answers, Twilight thought in frustration. I need to find out more about her.

Of course, she couldn’t simply ask the pony those questions. Neither was it wise to tail them — the ponies in the library would notice Twilight’s strange behavior; she didn’t want to attract any attention. Twilight’s eyes lit up when a better idea entered her head.

She had been practicing the muting spell for the whole night until she managed to get it right, getting only a few hours of sleep. Twilight didn’t really think she would need it so soon, but now was the perfect opportunity to use it. Concentrating on the spell, she cast a bubble of silence around her and another one on top of a bookshelf next to her. Stomping her hoof on the floor, she made sure that no sound could be heard from it.

That was the easy part.

Gathering as much magic as she could, Twilight used it all in a flash, teleporting into the bubble on top of the shelf. No sound could escape to betray her — a little spark of light was the only thing that betrayed her casting, but thankfully it had gone unnoticed in the library full of unicorns.

Keeping the bubble around her, Twilight crawled to the edge until she saw Rarity and her company below. She tried to listen in to their conversation when she realized her mistake — her spell didn’t allow any sound to enter the bubble! Twilight hadn’t considered it to be a problem before, but now she cursed her shortsightedness.

Thankfully, with the nature of the spell known to Twilight, it was a matter of a few seconds for her to change the formula. She recast the spell with a new configuration that allowed sound to enter, but didn’t allow it to leave her bubble. But the group had gotten out of her earshot by the time she was done.

Growling in frustration, Twilight had to repeat the same routine as the first time, reappearing on the shelf directly above them. Swiveling her ears down, she listened to their conversation.

Rarity walked in silence, trying to comprehend what had just happened. All of Equestria was looking for Twilight, but here Rarity had simply stumbled into her for the second time within a week. If it really was Twilight and not just her bored mind playing tricks on her.

“Do know that mare, Lady Rarity?” Lotus asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Rarity shook her head.

“I thought she looked familiar for a moment, but I was mistaken,” she lied, mimicking an embarrassed smile. “It happens with me sometimes.”

Lotus seemed to believe her. Rarity wasn’t happy about lying to her maid, who was almost like a friend to her, but she wasn’t foolish enough to be sharing such information, especially not in the presence of Silver Armor. The stallion was a mercenary. Rarity had no illusions about him keeping this secret if he learned about Twilight. After all, the bounty on her head was much higher than whatever her father was paying him.

Unseen by anypony, Twilight, sitting on the shelf directly above them, sighed in relief at Rarity’s words. Still, she continued to follow the group just in case as they made their way through the labyrinth of book rows.

Rarity, though, had lost any interest in books, with Twilight occupying her thoughts. Every day that she remained at large was a blow to Everlight’s reputation, weakening him in the eyes of his fellow nobles. Lord Belle could use that to convince more of them to join his side.

Maybe Twilight would even know something that would help to incriminate Everlight. Most of the nobles still believed his tales, but if they had proof that he was behind the poisoning… Intrigues and political struggles were common among the nobles, but actual assassinations were considered a dirty move. He would lose a good number of supporters.

Rarity simply had to talk with Twilight!

When she and her company had finally found the Arts and Crafts row they had been looking for, Rarity absentmindedly searched through the titles while trying to come up with a plan to somehow get rid of her companions. Lotus she could deal with, but Silver Armor would be a challenge.

“This book may be what we’re looking for, Lady Rarity,” Lotus caught her attention, pointing at the book she was holding.

Rarity threw a brief glance at its cover, giving her maid a nod. “It’s lovely. We’ll take it.”

Lotus tilted her head.

“Don’t you want to check it first?” she asked.

“Ah, yes, of course, darling!” Rarity smiled, ripping the book off from Lotus’ grip with her magic and quickly flipping through the pages.

The book actually had a lot of images with instructions, so it would definitely be useful for their sewing practice. However, Rarity was more interested in how she could use the book to distract her maid for the moment. She gave the book back to Lotus.

“That’s exactly what we need, dear,” she nodded, not even having to lie. “But I really need to use the lady’s room. Would you mind checking out this book at the counter?”

“Me?” Lotus opened her eyes wide. “But the librarian would probably ask for my name and address…”

Rarity winced. She had no excuse for forgetting how this library worked. Of course every new member would have to provide a valid name and address! And with her being incognito, she would be treated as a new member. After giving the situation a bit of thought, she sighed.

“Just get that book to the counter and wait,” Rarity told Lotus. “I’ll be joining you shortly.”

Lotus nodded and they parted their ways.

With her maid dealt with, Rarity only needed to lose Silver Armor. She quickly made her way to the bathroom, remembering its location since her time at the Academy. Obviously, Silver Armor had to stay outside, so Rarity entered it alone. As it turned out, the whole place was unoccupied at the moment.

Despite the library itself being centuries old, the bathroom had been renovated often. It was up to the highest standards — there could be no other way with the Academy being full of nobles. It had a bunch of private cabins and a row of sinks to wash your hooves in at the opposite wall.

Rarity approached a mirror above a sink and took her sweet time with adjusting her mane that had been slightly disturbed by the wind on their way through Canterlot’s streets. She was still trying to come up with something to distract her bodyguard. While she was using the toilet for its actual purpose, an idea formed in her head.

The mare couldn’t contain her grin.

Quickly washing her hooves, Rarity quietly approached the door. Slowly cracking it open, she peeked outside — Silver Armor was still waiting there for her, just as she had expected.

Lighting up her horn, she caressed the stallion’s crotch. Silver Armor stiffened immediately, opening his mouth in surprise. Suppressing a giggle, Rarity rubbed along his shaft. Her bodyguard finally understood what was happening, his eyes focusing on the bathroom door.

Being caught in the act, Rarity trotted out without stopping her magical ministrations, flashing her teeth at the reddening stallion.

“Lady Rarity, what are you doing?” Silver asked, mixed feelings on his face. “We’re in a public place.”

Rarity winked.

“I know, isn’t it exciting?”

Having said that, she sped up her magical hoofjob. A lot of ponies would struggle with such fine control of their magic, but for Rarity it was like a second pair of hooves. Even better, in fact. She couldn’t see what was happening under the stallion, but she could feel his cock reaching its full length. If somepony were to walk in on them right now, Silver Armor would be quite embarrassed.

“It’s… unacceptable,” he muttered, letting out a whinny.

“As you wish,” Rarity grinned, ceasing her magic at once.

Silver Armor looked at her with a hurt expression, arching his eyebrows almost comically.

“Why don’t you finish it in the bathroom, darling?” Rarity offered helpfully. “I’ll be waiting for you here.”

The bodyguard silently nodded and without wasting any time rushed into the stallion’s room. Rarity hoped it would take him at least a few minutes, so she would have enough time to do what she needed to do. Sure, she could have come up with a less perverted plan to distract him, but what would be fun in that?

As soon as Silver Armor had closed the door behind him, Rarity bolted out of there, moving in the direction where she had last seen Twilight.

Twilight observed Rarity from above for a while, listening to her every word. The noble mare didn’t show any signs that she had recognized Twilight, at least not to her friends, so eventually Twilight relaxed. When Rarity sent her servant to the exit, Twilight finally decided that she’d been eavesdropping long enough.

Though it looked like a false alarm this time around, Twilight decided to be more careful from now on, just in case. Until she could properly hide her cutie mark, she wouldn’t even take off her saddlebags, lest somepony recognize it like Midnight did.

While Rarity and her bodyguard went to the bathroom, Twilight quietly teleported back to where she had started. She was slightly winded — using so much magic in such a short time wasn’t easy even for her. By her estimates, she had spent almost half of her mana pool by using those spells.

It was a good thing that Twilight’s pool was naturally larger than that of a regular unicorn. If it weren’t, she wouldn’t be able to cast it more than once.

Keeping herself closer to the shelf, Twilight resumed examining the books one by one. A lot of them were just copies of those she had read back in Birminghoof, but sometimes she would see unfamiliar titles as well. While Twilight doubted she would find something useful for her research here, she needed to do something while she waited for the evening.

A Complete Guide to the Noble Houses of Equestria by Smart Quill was the book that grabbed Twilight’s attention. Her knowledge about the nobility was severely lacking, but seeing as she’d been getting involved with a lot of nobles lately, it would be beneficial to learn more about them. “Know your enemy”, as the famous saying went.

Making her choice, Twilight giddily levitated the book off the shelf. It was quite a thick tome — the book would keep her occupied until the evening. Stuffing it into her saddlebag, Twilight turned around and trotted to the reading room, looking forward to indulging in her favorite activity.

Just as she neared the corner, however, another mare jumped out and the two crashed into each other with a loud bang. Both ponies stumbled backwards, rubbing their heads simultaneously. Twilight groaned, feeling annoyed at such irresponsible behavior.

Somepony could have lost an eye!

She glared at the mad pony who dared to run around the library like a foal and drew in a heavy breath. It was none other than Lady Rarity!

Rarity slowly collected her wits. Her head was aching from a harsh bump, but she had nopony to blame for it but herself. She glanced at the pony she had bumped into to offer her sincerest apologies, when she noticed that it was Twilight Sparkle herself. Or the pony she had assumed to be Twilight Sparkle, at the very least.

It was a bit ironic, considering that at their first meeting Twilight had bumped Rarity’s head on the door.

“Excuse me… Miss Sparkle,” Rarity said, smiling to reassure the mare. She would have preferred a slower approach, but Silver Armor’s “distraction” wouldn’t last long, so she had to take the bull by the horns. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk to you, that’s all.”

Rarity kept up her smile, even when Twilight slowly backed off, lighting up her magic. A panicked thought flickered in her mind — being the Court Mage, Twilight could wipe the floor with Rarity — so she froze in place, trying her best to appear friendly.

Thankfully, the green unicorn in front of her stopped as well, looking at Rarity with a frown. Using the opportunity, Rarity decided to push Twilight’s thoughts in the right direction.

“My father, Lord Belle, and I both believe in your innocence,” Rarity stated firmly. “You probably know that my father and the king were friends, so it was easy for him to see through Everlight’s lies. We want to help you.”

“You do?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

“But of course, darling,” Rarity gave her a warm smile.

Twilight’s frown deepened again. She wasn’t so naive as to trust Rarity’s words just like that. As far as her experience with powerful ponies went, they never did anything freely. There was always a catch.

“What do you want?” she asked curtly.

“To talk, just as I said.”

“Talk about what?”

“Well, I want to help you,” Rarity said. “Everlight is our enemy as well, so it would be wise to at least discuss what can we do about it.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “I guess there’s no harm in talking…” her eyes narrowed. “But why are you alone?”

She snapped her head back as if expecting to be ambushed from behind. Seeing nopony there, Twilight looked back at Rarity.

“Calm down, darling,” Rarity said, taking a step back. “I wanted to speak with you alone. They’re good ponies, but I can’t trust them with a secret like that.”

Twilight stayed on edge, but at least she no longer looked ready to unleash some devastating spells. Frankly, Rarity would have preferred to slowly put Twilight at ease with a cup of tea, but time was pressing on her. Silver Armor would be finishing his business in the bathroom soon and go looking for her. The last thing Rarity needed was her bodyguard stumbling on them.

Even though Twilight was disguised pretty well, the risk was there.

“Look, how about we meet here tomorrow around noon?” Rarity asked, tackling the issue directly. “Take that time to consider my offer.”

As soon as Twilight gave her a nod of agreement, Rarity rushed back to the bathroom, hoping that Silver Armor was still inside.

Luckily for her, the stallion was just exiting when Rarity appeared behind the corner, slightly panting from her running. Silver looked at her with a question in his eyes. Having no better explanation, Rarity simply winked in return, hoping that the stallion’s mind would get the wrong idea.

“It’s time to leave, dear,” Rarity said when she got closer.

Silver Armor nodded. Moving past him, Rarity trotted first, knowing that he was followed right behind her. With the view she was offering — who wouldn’t?

When they finally made their way out of the book maze, they found Lotus waiting for them near the counter, just as Rarity had ordered. The librarian ignored her, doing his own business. Rarity couldn’t see exactly what.

He raised his head to look at Rarity.

“Ah, Lady Rose. I’ve already told your servant that I can’t let you borrow the book without you being a member,” Midnight Star said. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t make those rules.”

Rarity nodded. She had expected something like that to happen, although it was pretty annoying. Of course, there wouldn’t be any Lady Rose in his record, but there would definitely be a Lady Rarity. She could have easily confirmed her true identity in order to get this book. However, though it was unlikely Everlight would somehow catch wind of her staying in Canterlot that way, Rarity saw no point in taking an unnecessary risk for a book she didn’t even need.

“Maybe another time, darling,” Rarity said to Midnight. “Keep the book.”

Having said that, Rarity gestured to her companions and walked to the exit without looking behind her. Lotus arched her eyebrows, trying to understand what had just happened — first her lady had gone to great lengths to get out of the house, but once she had found the book she wanted, Rarity had given up so easily.

In turn, Rarity’s mind was focused little on any book as she thought about tomorrow’s meeting. Obviously, she had to be alone there. Sneaking out of the house would be difficult without the guards noticing, but not impossible if she had the key. She glanced at Silver Armor, who was wearing the key on a small chain around his neck.

She already had a few ideas about how to get it.

Twilight was in a similar situation. It had been two hours since her encounter with Rarity, but she had barely gotten through the first hundred pages of her book about nobility. It was difficult to concentrate on reading with her mind full of doubts.

She had been on edge ever since Rarity had left, half-expecting the guards to break into the library at any moment to seize her, but everything had remained peaceful as always. It gave a few points to Rarity, making Twilight more inclined to meet with her again.

It was a calculated risk, after all. She would have her teleport spell at the ready if something went wrong, but having help from one of the most powerful noble houses in Equestria wasn’t something she could afford to ignore right now.

The prince was on her side, sure, but there was the issue of his questionable personality. Even though he had helped Twilight to escape, he had done it for his own benefit, since nopony else would have been able to help with his half-baked plan. The prince had never been clear on what exactly he was going to do once he got those artifacts.

Now that the initial shock of the first few days had passed, Twilight had some time to think. Though she was excited at the prospect of finding one of the long-lost artifacts, she had to wonder if doing that was the right way to deal with Everlight.

That’s why I should hear what Rarity has to offer, Twilight thought, returning to reading. Maybe there is a better way to deal with this mess.

Having reached a decision, she was finally able to relax. She spent the rest of the day reading that book. Good thing she had brought some sandwiches — otherwise she would have starved to death. Midnight had attempted to talk with her a few times, but seeing the mare so concentrated on her reading, he didn’t have the heart to interrupt her.

When the evening finally came, Twilight had gotten through most of the book. Her head was brimming with new knowledge that needed sorting — a feeling she enjoyed greatly.

She had even read about the House Everlight belonged to, though only one paragraph was dedicated to it. Apparently, his House was pretty small and had never had any prominent members until Everlight came along, becoming the Grandmaster of the Elite Unicorn Union order and member of the High Council. Now he was the regent, though his methods of achieving it had been downright despicable.

Suddenly the bell rang, signaling the library’s closing hours.

Sighing, Twilight bookmarked the page she was on and closed the book, levitating it into her saddlebag. The students around her began to pack as well, leaving one by one as they did so. Twilight held back though until she’d been left completely alone. A couple of minutes later Midnight approached her.

“Well, my shift is almost over,” the unicorn said. “I need to check the place in case somepony is still here and then I can let you into the closed section.”

Twilight yawned. “Great!”

She joined Midnight in his task. As they quickly went through the building row by row, Twilight shared what she’d learned from today. House Star was mentioned in the book as well, though just like with Everlight, not much was said about it.

“I’m surprised somepony remembers our family at all,” Midnight shrugged. “We’re not as rich as we used to be. They barely scraped up the money to get me into the academy…”

Twilight drooped her ears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to upset you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Midnight waved his hoof. “It’s not your fault. I know that you aren’t from a rich family yourself, aren’t you?”

Twilight nodded curtly, being put slightly on edge by his words. A lot of students used to tease her about the fact that Twilight was from a family that wasn’t even nobility. Though Midnight had never been among them, the topic was still sensitive for her.

“Let’s just finish this quickly,” Midnight said, lowering his ears a bit.

The next couple of minutes went by in silence. With nothing to distract her, Twilight started to feel drowsy. Her steps became automatic and she didn’t even notice when they had arrived at the doors to the closed section.

“—Twilight? Are you okay?”

Twilight jerked in surprise when Midnight’s hoof touched her shoulder. The mare shook her head, blinking a few times. She was exhausted after spending the whole night studying the muting spell, and the whole day of reading hadn’t helped matters, not to mention the whole ordeal with spying on Rarity. Still, there was no point in backing out now, when her goal was just a step ahead.

After all, pushing herself to her limits was nothing new to Twilight.

Putting on a confident smile, the mare nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about… something. Anyway, let’s get to it!”

Ignoring Midnight’s doubtful gaze, Twilight trotted in through the door that he had opened.

Before going back to her cottage, Rarity and her companions had stopped for a small dinner in a local cafe. It was a fine establishment, the one that Rarity had always gone to during her own time in the Academy. Feeling a bit nostalgic, Rarity had ordered the same dish she had always enjoyed in the past.

While she was eating, Rarity thought about what she was going to write to her father. Even though he’d be angry at her disobeying his orders so blatantly by leaving the cottage, Lord Belle would definitely need to know about Twilight.

The message had to be secure, though. She couldn’t just send a regular letter through the Royal Mail and risk it being read by other eyes. It was well within Everlight’s authority to arrange something like that. There were private messengers, of course, but they would charge a lot.

However, there was no other way.

After wrapping up at the cafe, the company went straight for the cottage. The whole trip to the library had taken just a few hours, which Sweetie Belle had spent sleeping, thankfully. As soon as Rarity had gotten inside, she retreated into her room to write the message.

It didn’t take long. She already knew what to say, so she just had to assemble it into a coherent letter. Admitting her fault to her father, Rarity spared the guards by claiming she had escaped without their knowledge. Hopefully, he wouldn’t reprimand them too much.

With the writing done, Rarity went to find one of her guards.

“Blazing Shield! Just the pony I’m looking for,” Rarity smiled, walking into the guest room. “But where’s your partner?”

The stallion straightened, looking at Rarity with caution. The events of the previous night were probably playing out in his head.

“He’s busy,” he answered curtly. “Do you need something, Lady Rarity?”

“As a matter of fact, I do!”

Rarity quickly explained the task to him. Blazing Shield frowned when she admitted to revealing the fact that she had been outside to her father, but Rarity assured him that she had excluded the guards’ involvement, however involuntary.

He didn’t seem entirely at ease, but he agreed to get the letter to the messenger. Rarity flashed a grateful smile, giving him the sealed envelope with their House’s symbol — a gemstone — stamped on the wax.

“Here’s the money,” Rarity said, giving him a small pouch of bits. “Hopefully it will be enough. You can take the spare change if there’s anything left.”

Nodding, Blazing Shield went to warn his partner about his departure while Rarity fetched Lotus, who was doing some more thorough cleaning around the cottage. Together, the mares went into Rarity’s room.

With nothing better to do, Rarity decided to resume her attempts at dressmaking. Though she couldn’t really make a lot of progress without at least some tutorial, at least it provided Rarity with a nice way to spend the time. She found the process to be soothing for her nerves.

“Too bad we couldn’t get the book,” Rarity complained to Lotus, examining the result of her hard work. It was pitiful at best.

Lotus winced when she glanced at it briefly.

“Too bad,” she confirmed.

Rarity sighed.

Perhaps her reluctance to use her real name in the library had been overly cautious. Everlight couldn’t have spies everywhere — it was only going to lead to paranoia. Now she was doomed to struggle, producing absolute garbage! Crumbling the poor excuse for a blouse with her magic in disgust, Rarity threw it aside.

“I’m sorry, Lady Rarity,” Lotus said, casting her eyes down. “Would you like some tea?”

“That would be splendid, darling,” Rarity flickered a thankful smile at her maid. “Add extra sugar, please.”

Nodding, Lotus left the room. With a groan, Rarity fell on the couch. She picked up the piece of clothing she had made in her magic, examining it with a scrunched muzzle once again. It was supposed to be a simple blouse, but it was so distorted and disproportional it may as well have been made for a minotaur.

Rarity was about to rip it apart when another idea struck her. Widening her eyes in excitement, Rarity jumped off the couch with renewed energy, rushing to the sewing machine. She quickly loaded up a new set of fabric. The solution seemed obvious to her now.

With a slightly manic smile, Rarity began to create.

Soon Lotus got back, carrying a silver tray with a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits — just like her Lady liked — but Rarity didn’t even notice her in her creative rush. Smiling at seeing her so engaged, Lotus set the tray on the table nearby.

It made a little clang, so Rarity finally noticed the mare, her ears perking up in excitement. “Ah, Lotus! Come here, darling.”

The maid did as she was told, intrigued. She stood motionlessly, while Rarity took her measurements, marking the fabric according to them. It took some time for her to get it right, and then Rarity dove into her work again, forgetting all about Lotus for the moment.

Lotus simply shrugged and settled next to Rarity, watching her working. There was something mesmerizing about observing her manipulate the different pieces of fabric, stitching them together one by one.

At some point, Rarity realized that the end result wasn’t going to be the one she had hoped to achieve. While it soured her mood a bit, she assured herself that it was to be expected to get a less than perfect result on the first few attempts. At least it was an improvement over the first version.

Her tea had long gone cold when Rarity was done. With a critical eye, she inspected the new blouse.

“That looks great, Lady Rarity!” Lotus exclaimed, looking at her creation with admiration.

“Don’t be absurd, darling,” the lady smirked. “It’s not something I would ever show myself with in public.”

She levitated the two versions of the blouse together — the difference was much more glaring. Taking the proper measurements had been quite obvious in hindsight, but Rarity, having never done anything like that in the past, was wondering how many mistakes like that she would still make.

Without that book — probably a lot, Rarity thought.

Finally taking a cup of tea, Rarity took a few gulps. She winced — it was cold and she despised cold tea. Looking at Lotus, she gave her an apologetic smile. “Would you mind getting me some more tea?”

“Wake up, Twily.”

Twilight grudgingly tore her head off the page of a book that was serving as her pillow. It seemed like she had fallen asleep sometime during the night, right in the middle of her research. She wasn’t surprised — it wasn’t the first time it had happened — but it was still annoying.

“Did you just call me Twily?” she asked in a drowsy voice, raising her eyebrows at Midnight.

He stepped from one hoof to another. “Well, yeah… I’m sorry. I was way out of line—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “It’s just that only my brother has ever called me that before. But I don’t mind you doing that as well.”

“Thank you,” Midnight smiled in relief.

Getting off her chair, Twilight stretched her whole body. It made her feel somewhat better, driving the morning stiffness out of her limbs with a pleasant popping sound. She straightened out and looked at Midnight, who was staring. Noticing her attention, the stallion blushed.

“It’s time to open the library,” he said a moment later, his voice slightly elevated. “You’d better hide in my office, since some ponies like to wait in front of the doors, so there will be some questions if they see you here first.”

“Alright.”

Twilight grabbed the book she had slept on in her magic and followed her friend into his office. It was a small room with most of its space being taken up by a table, cramped with tons of scrolls and papers.

“Sorry for the mess,” Midnight said. “I haven’t found the time to sort it out yet.”

Twilight nodded silently; her brain hadn’t fully awoken yet to bother. Luckily, Midnight had some coffee around that he generously offered Twilight, which made her quite happy. While Midnight was getting ready to open the library, Twilight was enjoying a hot cup that woke her up fully.

When she was done, she carefully put the empty cup down, frowning slightly at the mess. It disturbed her on a deep level. Picking up one of the scrolls, Twilight examined its content. Then she did the same with another, putting it down close to the first one.

It didn’t take her long to sort out everything in three neat stacks, according to its importance.

Satisfied, Twilight placed the book she had read just before falling asleep on the now clean table. She sighed. The book itself was pretty much useless, just like countless of others she had checked before. It was interesting by itself — a large study on the known artifacts — but she hadn’t learned anything she needed.

What she needed to find was some clues about the artifact’s current location. According to the story, the legendary Alicorn Amulet had belonged to a number of different noble houses throughout history, giving each a considerable boost in power and influence.

It never stayed that way for long though, as that kind of power attracted a lot of unwanted attention. One way or another, houses were losing the Amulet, only for it to resurface in another house’s possession a few decades later. But all the books agreed that it had been lost for good about a century ago. Nopony had seen any signs of it ever since.

“Wait a second…” Twilight mumbled, taking out her book about noble houses.

Scrolling quickly through its pages, she found the chapter about one particular House she had read about yesterday — House Moonlight. It was one of the smaller chapters, since the house had been pretty obscure until its sudden rise in power. Was it a coincidence that its rise began just a decade after the Amulet had last been seen?

Its success hadn’t last long, with the House Moonlight declining after its head had taken his own life. The Amulet was never mentioned, but Twilight could see similar patterns to those houses who had owned it openly. If her guess was right, it was the last house that had had the Amulet in its possession. According to the book’s author, the House’s descendants lived in Canterlot.

That made Twilight excited. She checked the date of publishing — the book had been written only a couple of decades ago. Those descendants could still be living in Canterlot. Obviously, they no longer had the artifact, but maybe they had some clues about what happened to it.

Once she had the chance to do so, Twilight shared her idea with Midnight.

“It sounds good,” he nodded, after she had finished explaining. “Though Canterlot is a big city. Did it say where exactly they live?”

Twilight drooped her ears a bit. “Well, no. The author didn’t specify that, but I know their name, so we could ask somepony.”

Midnight shifted uncertainly. “I don’t know, Twilight… I’ve never heard of them and I’m from a noble family myself. We can ask for some information in the city hall, I guess, but I’m not sure how quickly they’ll answer. If at all.”

“Well, I have an idea of who might help us with that,” Twilight said slowly. “But I’ll be more certain once I talk with her.”

“Her?”

Twilight told Midnight about her short meeting with Lady Rarity yesterday. Midnight listened with interest, but frowned when Twilight described the mare.

“I remember her,” Midnight nodded. “She was here with two other ponies. Though she introduced herself as Lady Rose to me…”

Twilight hesitated in confusion. Why would Rarity pretend to be somepony else? It was suspicious to say the least. Maybe that pony was in fact pretending to be Rarity. After giving it some thought, Twilight dismissed that idea — it made no sense.

No, she was quite certain that it was indeed Rarity, but for some reason she didn’t want to reveal her real name to Midnight. Perhaps she was here incognito for some reason. What reason that may be was a mystery.

Midnight looked at Twilight in concern. “What’s wrong, Twilight?”

She explained her thoughts to Midnight. He listened to the mare in confusion. It was all so complicated. When Twilight had finished, she glanced at the clock hanging on the wall — it was almost noon, the time that Rarity had offered to meet her.

“Well, I’ll have to ask her herself,” Twilight said firmly.

“Yeah,” Midnight agreed. “Be careful, though. It may be some trap.”

“I’ve thought about that,” Twilight shrugged. “She had the chance to catch me off-guard yesterday, so I shouldn’t have to worry about her trying to capture me at least. But I can’t really afford to refuse her help, even if it comes with some strings attached. Speak of the devil…”

The door to the library opened and Lady Rarity trotted in. She was alone today. Approaching the counter where Twilight and Midnight were chatting, she stopped just a few feet away.

“Hello,” she said, flickering her eyes at Midnight. “May we talk in private, please?”

Rarity was slightly winded after hurrying to the library as fast as she could. She had managed to get out of the cottage unnoticed thanks to Lotus, but she didn’t have much time. The escape had been rather simple, if a bit crude — she had simply climbed out of the window. The fence around the cottage had magic alarms, but she had managed to steal a key from one of her guards to disable it.

“Okay,” Twilight said, twitching her ear. “Where?”

“There is a nice cafe nearby,” Rarity said. “We can talk freely there.”

Twilight nodded. Midnight kept silent throughout the conversation. The mare hoped he would keep it that way — she didn’t want Rarity to know that they knew each other, just in case something went wrong. Flickering a quick glance at the stallion, Twilight returned her attention back to Rarity.

“Lead the way,” Twilight said.

The cafe was the same one where Twilight had had her coffee with Midnight. She had her teleport spell ready, though so far it seemed like Rarity was telling the truth about her intentions.

“Well, here we are,” Twilight said as soon as they had both settled on their chairs. “You said you could offer some help?”

Rarity had to delay the answer as the waiter approached them. She ordered a cup of tea with biscuits.

“I did,” Rarity nodded when the waiter was gone. “Although I admit that my capabilities are quite limited at the moment.”

Twilight tensed up.

“They are?”

“My father sent me and my sister to Canterlot, in case Everlight decides to do something bad to us,” Rarity explained with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “I’m basically hiding here, just like you. But I’ve already sent a message to my father, so I’m sure we can arrange something. Do you need a safe place to hide, maybe?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nope, I have a pretty good place already.”

“I assumed as much,” Rarity nodded.

They discussed such mundane matters for a while, slowly getting a feel for each other. Rarity was a bit frustrated at Twilight refusing her offers to help, and so far she hadn’t revealed what she had really been doing in the library. Rarity suspected that the mare had some plan other than spending her life in hiding.

“So, would you mind telling me what really happened to the king at least?”

“I guess I can do that,” Twilight agreed.

She told Rarity about the assassin that had sneaked through the window and Everlight’s later admission that he had been behind that. The mare frowned when Twilight skipped through the details of her escape, but didn’t push for more.

“So he just flat out admitted that?” Rarity raised her eyebrows.

Twilight shrugged. “He didn’t think I would escape.”

“I see,” Rarity said. “Well, as I said, Everlight is our enemy too, so we’ll help you against him. My offer about arranging a safe place for you will always be open. Besides that, my father will spread rumors about your innocence, using the facts you’ve shared. That would undermine Everlight’s position among the nobles.”

Twilight sat silently for a while. She was disappointed.

“Is that really all you can do?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yes,” Rarity drooped her ears. “Unless you know something that would prove Everlight’s involvement for certain, the only thing we can do is to slowly convince his supporters to switch sides.”

Twilight nodded. That made sense, but as she thought about it, it wasn’t really better than Blueblood’s gamble with the artifacts. But what if they combined both of the plans?

“I’m looking for a weapon,” Twilight blurted out.

Rarity looked at her in surprise. “Oh? In the library?”

“Well, I’m actually looking for some information on how to find it,” she elaborated. “You see, there was an old artifact that basically worked as a powerful magic amplifier, but it’s been lost for moons. I’m planning to find it and use it against Everlight.”

“That… sounds a bit crude,” Rarity winced. “Not to mention that it won’t help you to clear your name. But I guess that might work if you’re ready to accept that fact. I promise my House’s full support in arranging a new life for you afterwards. If Everlight is dealt with, Prince Blueblood would assume the throne as he should have in the first place. It would certainly be better for Equestria, as silly as it sounds.”

Twilight fidgeted in place. She had skipped the prince’s actual involvement in her escape and that he had pretty much guaranteed the official removal of all accusations against her. Not to mention that the prince was planning to use the artifact himself, though she wasn’t quite sure about that part.

She didn’t know if the nobles would accept it though, but with them accepting Everlight’s regency with a live heir, it wouldn’t be a big surprise. However, there would be time to think about details like that once Twilight had the artifact on hoof.

“A new life sounds good,” Twilight said.

Afterwards, Twilight explained to Rarity more about the artifact she was looking for and the clues she had already found. Rarity was determined to help as much as she could with that. Twilight’s way may have been crude, but it was definitely effective.

“I’ll see what I can learn about those ponies you’re looking for,” Rarity said. “You don’t have to do it all alone, darling.”

Twilight’s reputation would be destroyed completely — not a big loss considering that everypony thought she had poisoned the king — but once Everlight was dead, Lord Belle would have enough power to help Prince Blueblood assume the throne.

With a king like that, most of the influence would belong to the High Council, which in turn would basically belong to Lord Belle, with there being nopony else who would oppose him.

“Thank you, Lady Rarity,” Twilight bowed her head politely, finally remembering some manners.

“You’re quite welcome, darling.”

Enjoy another chapter!