Chapter 3 – Finding new Elements
Looking at a map of the station she'd found, Twilight navigated the six ponies through Babylon 5, receiving odd glances from various aliens. All the while, Twilight was also casting a location spell, finding the closest telepath on station. The relative quickness of the blinking of her horn tracked how close they were, the faster, the closer. Twilight looked cross-eyed up at her forehead, turning her head this way and that trying to find a faster beeping. That was when she bumped into someone.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Twilight said, looking ahead to who she'd bumped into. Her horn was blinking so fast she could feel it, and she knew this must be the telepath. A tall, brunette woman in a black PsyCor uniform said, "It's quite all right…" before turning around to see who'd bumped into her. She looked down to see the blue-maned unicorn standing there, apologizing profusely for her stumble. Her horn had since stopped blinking, and after she'd finished apologizing she asked, "I'm sorry to intrude, but are you a telepath? I've been looking for one and…" "Yes, I am. Why?" asked the woman, wondering what a purple talking horse would want with a telepath. "Long story short, we'd like you to be a crucial part of the station's defense," said Twilight. With that, she levitated the trunk that held the elements off of Applejack's back, where they'd been carrying them the whole way, opened it and levitated the tiara and Element of Magic over to the woman. "Please, feel free to scan me for any information you need. I'd be happy to help you, Maria," said Twilight, walking in front of her and sitting down. The woman looked moderately confused. "In all my years in the Cor, I've never had anyone volunteer for a scan. And… How'd you know my name? Are you a telepath as well?" she asked. "You… could say that," said Twilight.
Eventually, Maria agreed to do a scan. Twilight closed her eyes and placed her horn on Maria's forehead. When she asked what she was doing, Twilight simply stated, "Just trying to help." The scan was just about the easiest she'd ever done on anyone, and everything was neatly organized as if sorted in a file cabinet, unlike most people's minds which are a messy jumble you have to search through to find anything. She saw Equestria, the Princess's letter, the inside of the pod, a whole lot of books, and… wait. Re-reading the letter, she found why they needed a telepath. This unicorn must think that she was 'magical'. Completing the scan, Twilight took her horn off of Maria's forehead and asked, "Well? Did you find anything useful?" "More than enough," said Maria. "And of course I will help you and your friends find new users for the other Elements."
After the seven friends had been walking for about five or ten minutes, Maria turned a corner, but reflexively yanked herself back and said to the other six, "Everypony stay back," using her new Equestrian terminology she'd picked up scanning Twilight, "I don't know what that was, but I'm not sure we want to find out." Apparently using a spell to see around the corner, Twilight was shocked when she saw two light blue magical missile-like objects sailing down the long hallway. At the end, she saw a pony with a bright orange mane and tail with red streaks in it. The pony was a grayish white color, and as the pony turned around and ran Twilight saw something. "I know that cutie mark," Twilight muttered, searching her apparently extremely organized mind for the name of the pony. "Mist Flare…" she finally said.
"Who?" They were back in Twilight's quarters, where Ivanova had been waiting for them. When she'd seen the telepath they brought, Ivanova shuddered at the sight of the PsyCor badge that was all too familiar to her. They were now gathered around the dining room table, sharing dinner. Twilight had made daisy sandwiches for all the ponies, and had some spaghetti ordered in for their two human friends. "At least I think that's who it was, I can't be sure," said Twilight in response to Pinkie's question. Twilight had told them all who Mist Flare was, that she met her as a filly at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and that even then Mist Flare was a terrible bully. She never bullied Twilight in particular, but Twilight had stood up for a few of the foals she tormented. Mist Flare had something to do with this, but no pony nor person knew quite what it was.