CHAPTER EIGHT

"Twilight Sparkle."

The unicorn's eyes widened in surprise as she came face to face with her beloved teacher. "Princess…is everything all right? How did you find me?"

"I did not come here to find you." The alicorn took a step in Twilight's direction. "I was tracing an influx of magic back to its source. This is the source."

"Oh…wait! You're saying you felt that…all the way in Canterlot?"

"Indeed." Celestia pursed her lips. "Twilight…just finding you here is bad in the first place, but when you are already under suspicion…"

Twilight blinked. "Under sus – Princess Celestia, are you suggesting that I made this…hole in the world…happen?"

"I got a letter from Spike not an hour ago," the Princess said, conjuring a scroll out of thin air and unrolling it. "Read it."

Twilight took the letter with her magic and began to scan the scribbled paragraph.

Princess Celestia,

I found Twilight the other night looking up Starswirl the Bearded's mirror laws. She didn't say why – just that she suddenly was interested in them. Then, this afternoon, she went to Fluttershy's house. When I got to see her again, she had four ponies with her. I didn't know them, and they seemed really strange. Then, at Pinkie Pie's party for the new ponies this afternoon, she ran off. I don't know where she went, but Rarity said she felt a funny tingling in her horn. I think something's up with Twilight. I really need your help.

Signed,

Spike.

Twilight couldn't breathe. Had Spike really been so suspicious to her involvement in the appearance of Grojband that he'd ask the ruler of Equestria for help? She felt her breaths starting to come faster and faster, tears starting to build up in her eyes. Was that the real reason that Spike had disappeared?

"Is your assistant right, Twilight? Did you do these things?"

The unicorn hesitated. "The letter is very accurate, but –

"Then you see why I have reasons to suspect you, my student. Reasons that even I can't overlook at this point in time." The alicorn's voice hardened, but her eyes remained soft. "I must ask you to come with me."

"Princess Celestia, you have to understand, I –"

"I don't like this any more than you do, Twilight, but there will be time for questions and answers later. For now, you will be taken to Canterlot and placed in a high-security room in the palace for interrogation."

Twilight stamped her hoof on the ground. "How have I done anything that compromises the peace of –"

"Twilight, I will not tolerate any more of this!" A pair of bushes rustled at the edge of the clearing as Celestia took a deep breath and composed herself. "There is no other way to know the truth about this matter, and if you have learned…secrets…you are not yet meant to learn, then I will do everything in my power to help you understand them. But if you do not come to Canterlot with me for interrogation –"

"Hold it right there!"

A blast of rainbow-colored energy blazed into the clearing and planted itself in front of the small purple unicorn. "She's not going anywhere, Princess!"

"Rainbow Dash, I understand your feelings of loyalty, but –"

"Twilight's not going anywhere where she'll be locked up! I may be loyal to you and to Equestria, but I'm also loyal to my friends. And if the ruler of my land plans to put my friends in prison, then I'm gonna stand against her, whatever it takes!"

Applejack galloped out of a bush and stood with Rainbow. "Sorry about this, Princess, but Rainbow's right. We aren't gonna let anypony put Twilight in jail. There have been too many times when we all lost faith in her, only to be proven wrong when she saved us at the last minute. It's time we trusted her a little more."

"That's as may be, but if she has nothing to hide, better to prove it where she cannot be disbelieved."

The bushes twitched, but stopped before anypony could notice.

"Thanks, girls," Twilight choked out, her head a mix of good and bad feelings, between Spike's and the Princess's betrayal of trust and her friends' belief in her. She wished she'd remembered to write to the princess earlier, when everything could have been explained easily, but now it was too late. No matter what she said, with this much evidence there was only one logical route Celestia could take – taking custody of the prime suspect. Who just happened to be Twilight.

"If I must, I will take all of you in for questioning. I don't want it to come to that, but if my suspicions are correct…" The Princess closed her eyes, lost in a silent reverie. "At the very least, Equestria is in mortal danger."

Twilight took a deep breath, prepared to submit to the Princess's interrogation. It was the simplest solution, and she really had nothing to hide, since she was planning to reveal the existence of Grojband anyway. But as she opened her mouth, Rainbow Dash flew up into Celestia's face.

"Over our dead bodies."

That one little phrase thickened the tension in the clearing until Twilight was sure it had frozen everypony to the ground. Applejack's eyes flickered from alicorn to unicorn to Pegasus; Rainbow Dash's wings seemed to flap in slow motion. Twilight's heart slammed out an ominous rhythm in her chest, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth, somehow unable to take back Rainbow Dash's claim. Oh, Rainbow Dash, you've done it now…

Celestia blinked at the unicorn, her expression unreadable. "Very well; I will offer a proposal. Twilight, you have one week to apprehend the true culprit of this incident and prove your own innocence. If you cannot…" The Princess turned away. "You will be brought to Canterlot and made to tell us anything you know about this incident. And I assure you, if it was your doing, you will be banished from Equestria, like those before you who have threatened our gentle peace."

Twilight opened her mouth again, but Rainbow Dash had already answered. "Challenge accepted, Princess. Twilight will make it happen, even if she has to leave Equestria to do it!"

"I hope so, Rainbow Dash. If she cannot, the Elements of Harmony will be compromised, and Equestria will be without its greatest protection." Celestia turned, glancing at Twilight over her shoulder. "Remember that harboring fugitives is, on its own, a punishable offense. Choose wisely, my most faithful student." Then, bending her knees and unfurling her wings, the Princess leapt into the air and soared into the budding evening sky.

Twilight stared at her friend for a moment longer as the Princess's form vanished into a patch of clouds. "R-Rainbow…"

"Aren't you gonna thank me? I saved you from a quick one there. Can you imagine? Prison? If I were you I'd climb the walls! Thank goodness I was there to get you out of tr–"

"RAINBOW DASH!"

Rainbow stopped mid-sentence. Twilight's eyes had narrowed, steaming with anger, and magic glowed at the end of her horn. "I was going to submit to the Princess. I didn't have anything to hide. I was just going to tell her about Grojband in the first place. I would have been declared innocent."

"But Twi…"

"And then you had to go and ruin everything! Now I'm in bigger trouble than I was before, and you're all involved! You've just managed to make the problem worse!"

Applejack stepped forward. "Twilight, sugar, listen –"

"I know you thought you were doing the right thing, but –"

"Twilight!"

"It really didn't help the situation at all –"

"Twilight Sparkle!"

Applejack's hoof slammed straight into Twilight's mouth. She took a deep breath. "Ah'm sorry about Rainbow's impulsiveness. But you know that's just how she is! She wasn't tryin' to do anythin' but keep you safe. We all were."

Rarity emerged from a bush, towing Pinkie, Fluttershy and Grojband with her. She put on a brave face, but Twilight could see that she was still shaken about Spike's disappearance. "What was so wrong about Rainbow's actions? She simply stood up to the princess to keep you from incarceration!"

Twilight dislodged Applejacks' hoof from between her lips. "Actually, the Princess was going to ask me about some mysterious circumstances regarding this hole in the fabric of Equestria." The unicorn gestured at the black orb hanging in the air. "I didn't have anything to do with it, so it would have been no pressure to let her question me."

"Actually, Twilight, did you hear what she said there at the end? About harboring fugitives being against the law?" Rainbow Dash pointed a foreleg at the confused members of Grojband. "Technically, they're fugitives. You actually could end up in jail if we're found with them."

Twilight opened her mouth, but realized that she couldn't come up with a retort for that. Rainbow was right; the Princess had said that, and Twilight and her friends could be in serious trouble if they were caught hiding four ponies from a mirror world.

"So, are you saying that we're…illegal aliens?" Kin asked, grinning mischievously. When Twilight nodded, he slapped Laney a high-hoof. "Oh yeah!"

"Look, we're really sorry, Twi," Applejack said, patting the unicorn's shoulder, "But Ah really think we should get to Fluttershy's and talk this all over. Together. We're goin' ta back you all the way, y'hear?"

Twilight looked up at her friend through teary eyes. "Thanks, girls, for calling me out on my mistake and everything. I really would have screwed up there, huh." She sniffed and, knees trembling, stood. She turned to Grojband. "Endangering Equestria is one of the worst things a pony can do, and if the princess thinks you're really that dangerous, I think it's safer if we keep you out of her hooves and get you home."

Fluttershy set out a steaming kettle and two sets of chipped ceramic cups. "Anypony want some tea?" she asked, carrying the tray into the living room.

Twilight poured out a stream of piping hot tea into one of the cups. "Thanks, Fluttershy," she said gratefully, blowing on it to cool it off. "And thanks for letting Grojband and me stay in your house tonight."

"Really, it's no trouble." The yellow Pegasus took her own cup of tea and sat next to the violet unicorn. "It's more secluded than the library or Sweet Apple Acres, and it's closer to the…um, hole. In the forest."

"Speaking of which –" Laney paced back and forth along the edge of the carpet. "What are we gonna do about that? How will we get home before the week is up? And if we can't, how will we figure out who actually brought us here?"

"I was going to ask that," Corey asked, raising his hoof.

"On the same note…" Rainbow Dash stood up and looked Laney straight in the eye. "Now that I'm thinking about it, what is Princess Celestia is right? What if they are dangerous – spies that are here to scope out the territory before they take over Equestria?"

Applejack stood. "Rainbow…"

"Excuse me, but that's a complete and total lie. We didn't ask to come here, we just showed up," Laney snapped.

"But you could be lying. We don't know you well enough to know if you're telling the truth or not," Rainbow retorted, her wings lifting slightly in anger.

"Oh, is that so?" Laney pushed her forehead against Rainbow's, eyes blazing.

"Girls!"

The two separated, guilty looks on their faces, as they turned to Rarity. The white unicorn nursed a teacup while sitting on the sofa, her white-furred cheeks still stained from crying. "Now is not the time to be arguing. We have to work together if we want to keep everyone safe."

Twilight stood, setting down her tea. "She's right. Rainbow, I don't think Grojband is going to hurt Equestria, but something else from their world might. We have to send them home and close the hole so that nothing else dangerous can get through."

Rainbow and Laney glared at each other, but exchanged a curt nod. As they did, Rarity screwed up her eyes and burst into tears. "Oh, Twilight…I just can't stop thinking about poor Spikey-Wikey! I do hope he's all right…"

Pinkie Pie looked up from the floor, where she sat across from Kon, playing continuous games of tic-tac-toe. "Don't worry too much, Rarity! Spike always comes back. We'll find him really soon!"

The unicorn sniffled, sending a grateful glance at the pink Earth pony.

Applejack set her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Ah think the first thing to do is to talk to someone who might know somethin' about weird magic. Someone who might have some information we could use."

"I couldn't find anything that useful in the books at the library," Kin said, adjusting his glasses. "And I looked through all of the books about mirror world theories and unusual magic."

"Who do we know who could help us?" Fluttershy asked as she stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea. Twilight thought for a moment, considering all the possibilities. Princess Celestia was out, and probably Luna by default. There wouldn't be time to contact Cadance before the week was up. That left only one pony who could possibly be of assistance.

"Get some sleep, everypony," Twilight said, trotting toward Corey and Laney, who sat next to Rarity on the couch. "Tomorrow, we're going to Zecora's."