It was beautiful. Or it was going to be, anyway, as soon as they got past these stairs.

Much time had passed since that small incident on the mountain. So much time, the moon had beaten the sun back hours ago. Unlike last night, however, their path was perfectly lit by the orbiting orb in space, so they chose to continue onwards. It would be worth it. Seeing Canterlot all lit up at night was always worth getting pumped up about.

As of now, Pinkie and her crew were taking the last few steps upward, which would officially get them off of Uppeak Mountain and into the city. Having never been up this way to Canterlot before, her friends listened as Twilight explained that this would take them to the same station that the train led them to. That was cool. Pinkie knew just where that was, so getting to the archives would be easy!

Reaching the last step, Pinkie looked around in awe. Twilight wasn't lying—the stairs literally led inside of the station. It was pretty quiet in there that night. Some ponies were sweeping, while others were rushing to get to the vending machine, while Pinkie was pretty sure that one over there was trying to make it look like he was working. Oh, well. She wouldn't rat him out, anyway.

The train wasn't at the station right now, making the whole thing one giant, grey, empty building that happened to have tracks running through the middle of it. Twilight took the lead from Pinkie, happily spouting, "Come on!" while skipping toward the exit. It figured Twilight was happy to be back home after everything that's been going on these days.

The large doors to the place were already wide open, letting in sweet nighttime summer air. Just outside of them was a white-furred Royal Guardspony, identified easily by the golden armor that was weighing him down. They must be really strong ponies to be able to wear that all day. "Good evening, sir!" Twilight greeted as she walked past. Maybe she knew him? To Pinkie, they all looked the same.

The guard studied the three of them for a moment before donning a polite smile. His voice was crystal clear, like he trained day and night to get it that way. "You have good timing. The princess has asked to have an audience with you."

"What?" Twilight questioned, stopping in her tracks. "I didn't get a letter or anything..."

"It is not of importance. She merely asked for you to stop by the castle the next time you were in town."

"Huh. That's strange." Twilight seemed to forget any strangeness about it. Instead, she beamed and turned to continue on her way. "Oh, well! We're headed that way, anyway. I wonder what the princess wants to tell me?"

She didn't get very far. The guard cleared his throat. He got her attention fully when he spoke up again. "Actually, she requested to see Miss Pie."

Pinkie felt a surge of adrenaline. She'd never been individually asked by a princess to hang out before! What did she want? Maybe a party? Pinkie could certainly break her no-party streak for a princess. ... Oh, but Twilight. The poor unicorn's mouth dropped open. She must have gotten whiplash from how fast she turned around to look at him. "What?!" she screeched, "But-but I'm her student! She—"

"I'm only relaying a message, ma'am," he said professionally. "Miss Pie is allowed to invite as many friends as she wishes. Enjoy your stay at Canterlot, ladies."

Pinkie Pie bounded forward, finding it hard to contain her excitement. She passed Twilight a ways, then turned around to face her two friends. "Ooh, I know! I'll invite you two! I mean, you're already here!"

Applejack set a hoof around Twilight's neck and slowly led her on. She was still watching the guard, like it was somehow his fault the princess didn't want her. The purple mare's reaction caused Applejack to chuckle before she turned her attention to the other pony. "I appreciate it much, Pink, but it doesn't sound too crucial that I'm there, and honestly, I ain't much in a reading-dusty-books kinda mood right now. Why don't you two go on without me, 'n I'll see if I can't find Rarity in this here jungle?"

"Yeah... Yeah, sounds good," Twilight responded, apparently just now getting over her shock. "I think I remember Rarity telling me where her shop is. It should be across from a small diner. We'll meet up there in an hour, okay?"

"I'll be there," promised Applejack. She tipped her hat in farewell, then trotted off in the opposite direction of the castle.

"C'mon, Twilight!" Pinkie started hopping away. "Let's go see what the princess ignored you and wanted me for!"

The pink pony could hear hoofsteps thundering on the pavement behind her. There was a loud, angry growl too. Twilight must have been upset about something.

There was a certain fascination one could have with Canterlot post dusk. The ambient street lights, all of the late night parties going on (none of those snooty "may I have another hors d'oeuvre, please?" kind of parties that this place had during the day), the romantics taking a stroll with their fillyfriends. It all combined to create an inspirational setting. The fact that the place stayed so active during the evening was interesting enough. Ponyville wasn't really like that. This was like Ponyville squared.

Of course, they did have a purpose for coming here. As much fun as sight-seeing sounded, they needed to get to the Canterlot archives. The Royal Chamber would be a quick get-in, get-out deal so they could spend the maximum amount of time searching for information.

The guards had been instructed to let Twilight or any of her friends into Canterlot Castle without a hassle. They removed the spears they used to block the front door to allow Pinkie Pie and her companion access. Bouncing and humming, Pinkie was thrilled to be back inside of the royal palace once more. It was so... royal-y. Practically everything was made from marble; the floors, the walls, and all the statues shared the trait. She didn't get much time to snoop around on her own before being found by a passing henchpony. "Ah, Miss Pie. The princess is expecting you."

He ushered the two of them down a hallway. Before they got far, Twilight mumbled, "So we've heard..."

Down that hallway, up some stairs, and down another hallway was something Pinkie had come to expect from this place: a set of giant doors. They had some intricate design carved into them, possibly supposed to be the sun and moon rising. It wasn't possible to get a good look at it before the unicorn stallion leading them opened the doors with magic.

The throne room contained inside was of unbelievable beauty. A silk red carpet, plush on the hooves, was rolled from this side of the room to the complete opposite. Windows, decorated with midnight blue satin curtains, started at neck-length and extended up to the very tall ceiling, giving an unrivaled view of the city of Canterlot in two directions. The carpet led all the way up to the humongous chair at the back of the room, which at the moment was occupied.

Resting on the royal throne in a rather un-royal manner was a deep blue-colored pony. She was taller than any other in the room, even if it was hard to tell with her current position. Her back legs were dangling off the right hoofrest, while she leaned her back against the left one. Grasped in her magic was a small black box that was emitting its backlight on her, noticeable even with the light from the chandeliers above them. Whatever was on the black box's screen was engrossing her; she didn't even turn her head when the doors swung open.

"My princess," the guard said in introduction, "Miss Pie and Miss Sparkle."

"Yes, thank you," the princess replied in a rather distracted tone. "One moment, please."

The guard bowed, then let himself out. Meanwhile, Twilight gasped, which held Pinkie's attention while they waited. "Of course!" she cried, mostly to herself, "It was Princess Luna! There's no way Princess Celestia would ask for someone besides me!"

"Yup!" Pinkie agreed for the sake of dropping the subject.

A few seconds passed consisting of nothing but Princess Luna waving the black box around, madly making a clicking noise with one of the triggers on it. Just as Pinkie decided to take a step towards the window to see what the view was like, the dark pony shouted without warning, "Aha! Scoundrel!"

Finally, she used her magic to gently set the black box on the floor right next to the throne. She leaped from her seat, quickly adjusted the small crown that sat on her head, and beamed at her guests. "We welcome you to Canterlot Castle! Welcome, Pinkie Pie. It is good to see you, Twilight Sparkle."

Out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie saw her friend bow in respect. It was the only thing that made her remember that she should do it, too. She only got halfway down, however, before Luna interjected.

"No, no!" she spoke, waving a hoof dismissively, "This is not a royal meeting. This is a meeting amongst friends! Please, call us simply Luna."

"Okie dokie, Simply Luna!" greeted Pinkie, nearly snorting in laughter at her own joke. "What did'ja wanna talk about?"

Twilight tried chuckling at the terrible joke, but it came out awkwardly. She didn't remember starting out any meeting with a princess with a phrase like that.

Luna was smiling. She must be enjoying the relaxed nature of her friends! Given her position, that probably didn't happen much, Pinkie thought. "We wished to thank you face to face for your assistance, Pinkie Pie."

"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight chimed in, incredulous. "What did she do?"

The princess glanced briefly backwards to the item on the floor. "Our box of entertainment confronted us with a puzzle most challenging, so we implored advice on what is known as 'the message boards.' Our friend Pinkie Pie was swift in guidance! With her aid, we conquered the puzzle and furthered our quest!"

"Oooh, that!" Pinkie giggled. "That puzzle's easy cheesy once you remember what idols go where!"

The brighter shade of unicorn felt forced to fall back a few steps. Her mouth was gaping. "Is this... even happening right now?"

"Truly, it is!" the royalty responded with glee, not picking up on Twilight's disbelieving tone. The grin on her face continued getting wider as the conversation went on. "To show our appreciation, we have decided to give you anything in Equestria that you wish!" She quickly went on, "Of course, only that which is in our power. Our sister has even granted permission for you to use our entire castle for one of your parties! Does this not sound amusing?!"

Pinkie felt touched inside. The prospect of a few hundred square hooves of all party was a dream she never thought could come true. Reality was always there waiting, though. They had a lot of work to do still. And besides that, it crossed her mind that it might be troublesome to gather all of her friends for it. A party spanning all of Canterlot wouldn't be worth it if she couldn't keep her five friends happy. "Aww, that's really sweet of you, Luna! But I'm afraid everything I'm missing right now is out of reach even for your royal hooves."

Luna's mood fell considerably. She stared at the bittersweet smile on Pinkie's face, then to Twilight, then back at Pinkie. "Oh, b-but... surely there is something we could help you with?"

Twilight moved forward to take point in the conversation. "Actually, Princess—err, Luna, we just need to visit the Canterlot archives for awhile."

"Oh." She still seemed disappointed. Pinkie felt bad, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Twilight did speak the truth. Luna seemed to just now remember she was a princess and tried to regain some composure. "Oh, but of course. May we ask what you are researching?"

By now, Pinkie was ready to preach it loud and proud. Not even the princess of the night's opinion of her would change her mind. "We're looking for the reverstone! It's supposed to let ponies travel back in time. Any information we could dig up on it would be super useful."

"The reverstone... ?" Luna echoed.

Twilight coughed to politely clear her throat. "Pinkie's speaking a little brashly, Princess. We don't even know if it's real or not, so if you haven't heard of it, don't be—"

"Oh, no," Luna cut in. She was no longer sad; she was far too intrigued for that. "Believe us, Twilight Sparkle, we have heard of this."

Twilight blinked. Once. For the next thirty seconds. "You what," she eventually spoke.

Pinkie's grin was nearly blinding. It only continued to grow as the princess went on. "It is an ancient relic indeed. One shrouded in much mystery. We are very curious how you have come to know of its existence."

Twilight hung her head and sighed. Pinkie Pie was already bouncing around her in a circle singing, "I told you! I told you!" Working up some effort, the unicorn spoke over her eccentric friend. "You wouldn't believe us."

The answer seemed to be disregarded. Luna began walking toward the ponies, her strut an elegant one. "Come," she spoke. "You won't find any information about it in the archives. Follow us to Celestia's and our private library."

-TRS-

Out on the streets, things weren't going as successfully. Applejack was sure half of her allotted time had passed by already, and she still hadn't found her unicorn friend or the fashion shop she was supposed to be running. That diner that was supposed to be across the street was sounding pretty good, too. All the pretty lights, while nothing compared to the beauty of a night at Sweet Apple Acres, at least kept her attention on something that wasn't her growling stomach.

Finally, after taking two more random turns at crossways, she glanced across the street and saw a quaint restaurant. Even working towards the middle of the night, all of the lights were on. She was going to get some dinner tonight after all. But first, she traced her gaze back to the side of the street that she was on. Like clockwork, it was sitting there waiting for her; the name might not fit the structure anymore, but she only knew of one pony who ran a store called Carousel Boutique.

Applejack galloped forward, racing for every second she might be able to catch the pony inside. It was totally dark inside, which was a bad sign. The cowpony couldn't even take a stab at where the other might be living these days.

As she got closer, she discovered there was a single pony standing in front of the shop. Having already been shrouded in the darkness of no immediately local lights, it seemed a bit excessive that the pony was wearing some kind of cloak, too. The cloth was more like a shaggy, brown rag than anything else once AJ got a look at it. This one had come to a good spot to find new threads, at least.

She ignored the mystery character for the time being to peer inside the shop's window. Hard as she tried, nothing could be found in there. It was too dark for that. As she pulled away from the glass, a bright white sign with red lettering caught her eye. It was taped to the inside of the window next to the one she had stopped at. "For sale," it read.

For sale?!

"The hay—" Applejack spun around. The covered pony was still sitting on the sidewalk waiting for her. "Pardon, ma'am. You know what happened to this here store?"

There was a slight delay before she got a response. "I'll tell you what happened. The owner was a dreaming fool, that's what happened."

Applejack narrowed her gaze at the shadowy face of her conversational partner. The sound of that voice... No, that couldn't be mistaken, even here in Snootyville. The farmer suspiciously raised her eyebrow. "... Rarity?"

-TRS-

"Our favorite is the sniper rifle, Pinkie Pie! The sound it creates is most satisfying!"

Luna led on as Twilight and the never-ending bundle of energy next to her followed. They were being taken to the depths of the castle, below where most any guest was allowed to visit. Even Twilight herself had only been down here several times at most. As they traveled downward, the sights got less spectacular. The rooms and hallways, many in number as they were, looked like they could be found in any home in Canterlot. Everything was less regal and stiff, and more homely. They had already passed by Luna's room—at least, Twilight guessed it was, considering the countless posters and miniature cut-outs of fictional characters taped to the outside door. They were just now walking down the stairway that would lead to the private library, and Twilight was getting irritated with the discussion's direction.

"Umm, Luna... would it be possible to stay on topic?"

The princess looked back at the pleading unicorn with a confused expression. "Is the topic not of fictitious weapons of domination?"

Twilight's left eye twitched. Unfortunately, she was talking to royalty, not Pinkie Pie; raising her voice here meant a month in the dungeon. She restrained herself and replied, "Actually, I was thinking more about the reverstone. What else do you know about it?"

Celestia's sister cleared her throat. "Ah, yes. We apologize, Twilight Sparkle. We do not get to often speak about our... hobbies."

They had finally traversed the ground necessary to reach the library. The room was of an incredible size; twelve extra large wooden bookshelves sat an exact distance away from each other, each with enough space for a comfortable couch to read on and plenty of room extra. The walls were painted a heavy teal, which complimented the old-feeling maroon rug that blanketed the floor. There was no decorations of any kind, save for the everyday lighting fixtures attached to the ceiling. Twilight needed to hope it was organized somehow, as it could take months to go through all of these. Not that she would necessarily mind that herself, but her friends might.

Luna trotted forward at a slow pace, allowing herself some time to respond to Twilight's inquiry. "Regrettably, we know little about the reverstone itself. There are known educated guesses of its origin, along with folktales. There are several myths of adventurers going in search of this item. None of them ever returned. They could have gotten killed in their journey, or perhaps they did find it, then never returned to the present time. However..." She stopped walking, then turned around to face the other two. Her tone returned to curiosity. "These are all things that happened during our time. Noble as you are, all of you are far too young to remember such things. How did you say you've heard of it?"

Twilight was going to let Pinkie field this one. Looking over at her, she found the pink mare rubbing her hoof into the dusty carpet. She looked more nervous than usual. "I think, when I was just a baby Pie, my mama had this book that she would read to me. It had all sorts of adventures in it. It was so long ago, I barely remember it at all."

Her friend was now watching her with growing intrigue. Pinkie had mentioned something about reading about it way back when, but she sounded so unsure of herself at the time. Admittedly, Twilight thought, this part of the story still wouldn't have made a believer out of her. Still, it seemed like a notable part of their adventure.

Pinkie continued, "The only one that really stuck to me was a story about time traveling. It just seemed so cool!" She moved her attention from shying away over to Twilight. "Then, when I was writing that story for Dashie, some parts of that book started coming back to me. I wish I could remember more of it... like if the adventurers ever found the reverstone, and where."

"Most fantastic of tales!" Luna cried, now smiling. "Come, Pinkie Pie. We have little, but we can share what we know."

The princess started off again, trotting towards the far right wall. Twilight didn't hide her smile as Pinkie darted after her. So there was just a touch of personal curiosity hidden within the objectives for this quest. Not that there was anything wrong with that. As Twilight took up the rear of the trio, she thought of the fact that rather than Pinkie's strange mind, they were on this journey because of a children's bedtime book. And this whole thing still made no sense to her.

"There is a race intertwined with the reverstone," Luna lectured. "You won't be able to go far looking for one without finding the other."

"Do you know what the race is?" spoke Twilight, catching up.

"Yes, though they have been long lost to this day. Translated now, their name would be 'werebears.'"

Twilight suddenly found herself glued to the spot she was on. Pinkie gave a high-pitched gasp, which was what Luna noticed. Turning around, she hastily asked, "What is wrong?"

The two friends shared an uncomfortable look at each other. "Luna..." Twilight began.

"... They aren't really as lost as you might think."

The two recalled their run-in with the werebears. Pinkie kept quiet on anything about Sam for the moment, which was fine; they had plenty to share in the meantime, especially what Applejack said about capturing ponies. By the time they had finished, Luna was as stunned as Twilight had been a moment ago.

"What..." she started, but seemed to change her mind, "We are... not sure how to react. We had taken no notice of this at all. Perhaps our sister should be notified..."

Twilight couldn't agree more with that. Princess Celestia would see to it that what happened to Applejack would happen to no other pony. However, for the moment, this princess would still suffice. "Do you know anything about those beasts, Princess? Where did they come from? And what are they weak to?!"

Luna closed her eyes, then sat where she stood on the floor. It looked like there might have been cobwebs at the place in her brain where she stored this information. It likely didn't get accessed much. "Long ago, during our time, they lived in what is now the Everfree Forest, just as many other creatures did. However, soon after our sister began her rule, they threatened to create war with all of Equestria for their own purposes. That war, however, never came to pass. The werebears vanished. Some say they found a home in Zebrica and have stayed there ever since. Before the story you shared with us just now, we believed they had simply gone extinct." She sighed in fatigue, no doubt brought on by the revelation. "Regarding weaknesses, we know little, Twilight Sparkle. Equestria never had need to fight them, after all."

"Before now," Twilight corrected. "They must be planning to return after all this time! Why else would they be so close to Ponyville now?"

"So..." Pinkie cut in. She used her hooves to draw lines in air; the way she was staring at them in wonder, Twilight somehow had little doubt that Pinkie could actually see the invisible marks. "If the werebears are real, and they lived in Zebrica, wouldn't the reverstone... ?"

"Pinkie, the werebears are plotting to take down the princesses!" she growled at her companion, "We don't have time to look for a mystical rock that still might not be real!"

The pink mare didn't seem upset at all that Twilight was yelling at her. (Did she even notice?) "We don't know that for sure. And why waste time when we know where to look? If it took those big 'ol bears a thousand years to move from Zebrica to Ponyville, who knows how long it could take them to attack?"

Twilight broke away from Pinkie, pleading instead to the princess for assistance. "Do you see what I put up with every day?" she asked.

Despite her mood, Luna offered a polite, royalty-like chortle. Just as Twilight was about to gloat that the princess of a nation was in her corner, Luna spoke up. "Actually, we believe Pinkie Pie has a very dangerous, but excellent idea."

She couldn't be serious. What had that black box done to their princess of the night?

Her jubilant smile dropped. As much as she liked to joke around, this princess could be as to-the-point as the one Twilight knew... which meant that hadn't been some kind of disturbing joke. "You shouldn't put your life on hold for something that hasn't happened yet, Twilight Sparkle. However, there is a perhaps more important reason. We do not know what werebear activity is like in Zebrica. We are on fine terms with them, but share little news with each other. Your visit to their land could reveal the werebears' plans, should they have any." She winked at Pinkie. "Naturally, there is little reason not to search for the reverstone while you are there."

The inclusion of a smile during the last part dropped immediately as Luna continued, "That is not to say that the dangers of a journey there can be overstated. You could perhaps trigger a reaction from them by your mere presence. Should it come to that, our kingdom will be heavily prepared. Make sure you and your companions, too, are prepared."

"We understand," Twilight agreed. A part of her unconscious mind didn't want to budge until she heard Celestia's opinion, but waiting that long—until morning—might not be an option.

"Great!" Pinkie shouted. "Gotta go, see ya!"

"Wait!" Half surprised she had managed it, Twilight actually got Pinkie to stop on the first stair leading upwards. How did she run that fast? The unicorn gestured toward Pinkie's saddlebag, then said, "Don't you think we should show that book to the princess?"

"Oh, sure." Pinkie made her way back to the group of two at a much more natural pace. While walking, she ducked her head into one of the brown bags over her side and eventually came out with the book that had the blank diamond on its cover.

"What is—oh."

That was an odd reaction for someone to have towards a book they hadn't even opened yet. It seemed that out of politeness and little else, Luna grabbed hold of Pinkie's book with her magic and levitated it over. As she flipped through a few pages, her expression was unreadable, and eventually, Twilight got too curious. "What is it, Princess?"

"It's just..." Luna took a break from Pinkie's book to glance behind her. A bookshelf was there, and before long, one of the items contained inside of it glowed the same dark blue as the other one had. It rushed its way over to the group by itself, where Luna showed it off. The cover: a large diamond. "We brought you here to show you this book, but it appears you already have a copy. This is all that we have anymore regarding the werebears."

Pinkie looked back and forth between the two copies. The one from the library seemed in considerably better condition than Sam's, though that made sense. "But what's in it? We couldn't read a thing."

"Sadly, no pony can," Luna answered, watching her personal copy floating in the air. "It is a language familiar only to werebears. We have tried many times to hire those that could translate it, but none were able to. Only one set of characters kept appearing. We have heard they translate to the word 'reverse.' Unfortunately, aside from the correlation to the reverstone, that means little to us."

"Reverse, huh?" Twilight pondered.

"That's messed up backwards!" Pinkie grabbed hold of her own copy of the werebear reading material and set it back into her bag, giggling at her own joke all the while. "Come on, Twilight! We got a lot to tell Applejack!"

"A train should be arriving soon," informed Luna, relaxing a bit from all of the dark explanations she'd been giving tonight. "We shall pass along that they are to escort you to Zebrica."

Pinkie shrieked, "That's perfect! We'll get there in no time! Thanks a bajillion times for all the help."

"Of course, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie was practically gone before Luna had even finished speaking, leaving naught but a trail of pink wind behind her for a moment. The other, however, wasn't as ambitious. She knew she didn't hide her concern well as she turned to look at the last pony in the room besides herself. "Princess Luna? Before we go, there's one more thing I want to ask."

"Anything at all," was Luna's response. It was difficult to tell, but it almost looked like the princess was sad her company was leaving. It was probably just Twilight's imagination, though.

She had a flashback to her time in that werebear cave. Those books she had seen. Specifically, one of the first ones she had spotted. "Do werebears have any sort of history with... lying?"

Any happiness Luna was exuding stopped immediately. By now, it was a safe guess that she was no fan of these creatures. "You are probably familiar with their physical might, Twilight Sparkle. Rest assured, they are bred masters of deception far before they get so strong. It was once said to never trust a breathing werebear. What makes you ask that question?"

The image in the librarian's mind changed. It was now of a certain giant, four-legged creature covered entirely by a black coat. Even the voice that the creature had sounded crystal clear in her head. With effort, she huffed a sigh. "No reason, really. Thank you, again, so much for all of the help." Whether she wanted it or not, Luna was getting a respectful bow. "Pinkie and I will let ourselves out."

Twilight looked up to see a smile and a nod from the princess. She turned and galloped away, forced to pray that Pinkie wasn't causing too bad of a mess wherever she had wandered off to. Once she made it up a dozen or so steps, she heard hooves rushing across the floor downstairs.

"Inform us of your return!" Luna called up to her, "We shall purchase many party hats!"

"I'll let Pinkie know she has a party to plan," she replied.

Twilight found it hard not to grin all the way to the exit after that.