"...My name is Clarity Bell. The Princess sent me here to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration." She rolls up the to-do list and tucks it into her saddlebag; it doesn't exactly have a map.

"It's nice to meet you!" he says earnestly. "I'm helping Guiding Star with the decorations. Well, I was, I'm on lunch break. Spare me a ruby? I'm kidding, I can find 'em myself. Who-all are you supposed to talk to, do you know? I could introduce you!"

"...Er. The first thing on my list is finding Cheery Cherry Orchard to see how the food is coming along."

"Oh, sure, I know where that is!" says the (apparently very excitable) dragon. "Lemme show you! Crash and Cordy are great, I bet you'll get along. It's really easy to get along with Cherry Cordial."

"That sounds... good? Okay, where is it?"

"This way!" He commences leading her down the street, towards the edge of town. "It's not far. And they have the best cherry pie in all of Equestria. So you're from Canterlot? Me too! Well, I grew up there, anyway. I live here now." He gestures around at the buildings of Ponyville. "I like it here, but sometimes I miss seeing new ponies every day. So I'm sorry if I'm coming on a little strong here. If you want me to slow down the constant yammering, just say."

"I'm from Canterlot, yes. I don't mind you talking, but I'm not sure why my presence is so exciting just because I haven't been here before."

"Well, you're new," he explains. "So I don't know you. So you're interesting! I like not knowing things, it means I get to find them out."

"I'm not going to be here long," Clarity points out.

"So? Maybe I won't find out a lot, and maybe it won't be that useful after you go back, but neither of those is the point. I'm very journey-over-destination that way."

"Okay," says, Clarity. "Up to you. I don't know what you want to know, though."

"Well, how about why did the Princess send you to check out the preparations?"

"Well, I'm her student, and she seemed to think I needed a job to break up my routine or something, and this was one she had going spare."

"Makes sense! What's it like being her student? What are you learning?"

"Magic, principally, although occasionally she suggests other things for me to study, anything from geography to history to astronomy."

"Nifty," says Joy. "Do you like it, is it fun?"

"I do, or I'd quit and do something else."

He giggles. "You know, it's funny, but not everypony manages to figure that one out. What's something fun you've learned?"

"I can teleport! There's a range limit and I have to see or know details about where I'm going, or I'd have gotten all the way to the orchard myself without the carriage, but I can do it under the right conditions and I'm working on those constraints."

"Niftier and niftier!" he says, impressed.

"There's also a little problem with momentum - it's more complicated to cast the spell if I'm moving and I can't land with momentum attached to me at all. Obviously Celestia can teleport any way she likes, but it's a worthwhile exercise to figure out the details myself as long as I don't need to do particularly sophisticated teleporting for some kind of emergency."

"Makes sense. That's really cool. You are really cool," he declares.

"Thank you."

"Excellent. Hopefully everything will be in order. Thank you for showing me the way."

"You're welcome!" His tummy rumbles; he glances down an upcoming fork that leads away from the orchard and into some rocky hills. "Now I really better go grab lunch. See you later, Clarity!"

Joy takes wing and heads into the hills.

"I'm Clarity Bell, and I'm here because the Princess asked me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. My list suggests you're in charge of food; how's that coming along?"

"Perfectly," Cordy assures her. "I can show you my checklists if you want."

"I'd like that, thanks."

Clarity waves a forehoof at the raccoon and then follows Cordy. "Do you prefer Cherry or Cordial? I'm guessing Cherry is a family name?"

"Good guess! I go by Cordy," she says. "Cordial's fine too. My aunt Cherry Crash goes by Crash. And this is Sebastian, my secretary." The raccoon smiles.

"And I usually go by Clarity, but I'll answer to Bell and it's not a family name. Is there a lot of secretarial work around a cherry farm?"

"I like to be organized. And I'm not just a cherry farmer; I also take census for all the miscellaneous creatures around Ponyville."

"That would take a lot of paperwork, yes. How did you wind up with both jobs?"

"One's the family business; the other's my talent," she explains. "I can communicate with anyone and anything. So it just makes sense that I should be the one to count them all."

Clarity nods. "What are the numbers useful for?"

"Statistics. Records. If there's a hundred new bunnies born every year for three years and then one year it's only fifty, that probably means something's affecting the bunnies, and it might be a good idea to find out what. Things like that."

"That makes sense. Can't have depleted bunny populations."

Clarity peers at the checklist. "The muffins and truffles will be finished by the time the celebration starts, yes?" Spinach salad, daisy sandwiches, watercress fritters, biscuits, looks good. Drat, now she's hungry.

"Yep. The last batch of muffins is in, and my aunt is working on the truffles. I was just getting Seb's report on how Streak and the birds are doing with their rehearsals, by the way, and everything seems to be coming along fine there."

Clarity peers at her list. "Oh, you're pulling double duty, I see."

"In a sense! Silver Streak helped with the cooking earlier, and I introduced her to the choir and got everybody started."

"I'm glad to hear they're doing well, though I'll still want to look in on them personally. Is it all right if I sample one of the extra cherry danishes?"

"Knock yourself out," says Cordy, with an inviting gesture to the relevant table.

"I know where to find the best cooks," says Cordy. "Did that list come with a map, or would you like directions to the rehearsal?"

"It did not come with a map, so if you could tell me where to go I'd be much obliged."

Cordy nods. "If you head back to the road and turn left, away from Ponyville, then keep on going down the main road until you see a side road on your right opposite a pond on your left, rehearsals should be a little ways down that side road. I can get that written down for you if you prefer."

"I've got it," says Clarity, who always has a pencil and a notebook on her. "Back to the road, left, side road on the right opposite a pond. Thank you very much. Can I have a spare carrot slaw to go?"

"Absolutely," says Cordy.

And so Clarity waves and floats a carrot slaw in its little bell pepper bowl from its friends and trots off back to the road, where she turns left, turns right, and proceeds onward from there. While munching both slaw and bowl.

Rather than interrupt the music, Clarity waits nearby to listen to the song. It's very pretty and the mood is appropriate for the celebration. (Her slaw is gone now, so there are no impolite munching noises.)

"Hello. I'm Clarity Bell, and the Princess sent me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. It sounds like you have everything handled, music-wise?"

"Entirely," she agrees. "It seems you have inspected the food already; what remains on your itinerary?"

Clarity looks down at her front to see if there are crumbs or bits of dressing in her fur, but sees nothing. "Uh? ...Next I'm planning to look in on the decorations, to give whoever's clearing the sky extra time to get it done before I'm breathing down their mane." She peers up at the sky; it's not exactly crowded with clouds, but it doesn't look cleared.

"That would be my sister Brightblaze. When you're done inspecting the decorations, you'll find her in the tower on the far side of town, immersed in some project and having thereby forgotten what time it is and possibly what day. But it will not take her long to clear the sky, so as long as somepony reminds her with a few minutes to spare, all will be well."

Clarity writes down these directions. "If you're that sure she's forgotten perhaps I should just visit her next anyway."

"The town hall is directly between here and home, along the main street; you won't lose anything by stopping there first," she explains.

"All right. Well, don't let me keep you from rehearsing any more," says Clarity, and she turns to go.

"Goodbye," says the pegasus, and she picks up her violin again and turns her attention back to the choir.

Off Clarity trots towards the town hall. She is well ahead of schedule and should have plenty of time to research the warning.

The town hall looks pretty decorated! Appropriate sun symbol banners are hung from hither and yon, and streamers and crepe paper are strewn and elaborately knotted around other things, and the unicorn who seems to be handling this is in the process of arranging flowers to tuck into convenient loops of ribbon left when the bows were tied. "Oh! Hello!" she exclaims when Clarity approaches. "I'm Guiding Star." She slots a bouquet of camellias into a bow and cinches it up, then nods at her work and lets the golden magic fade. "You must be Clarity! Joy said you were going to come check things over. What do you think?"

"It looks pretty close to done, very tasteful, very neat... What else are you planning to add in the time you have left?"

"Well, all the bows are getting flowers. Do you think we've gone overboard on the colors? The florist thought we were going overboard on the colors. The idea is that the main color in every bunch of flowers matches its ribbon and the others complement it, and as you can see the ribbons are arranged in rainbow order."

"I probably would've been skeptical if I'd gotten a pitch in advance but it seems to be working okay in practice. Is the interior similar?"

"Oh yeah! Come on in." Guiding Star leads Clarity into the hall, which is indeed decorated similarly to the outside - "But we went with slightly darker colors because it's supposed to be nice and dim in here for the sunrise to be all the more dramatic, you know?"

"Makes sense. You're sure everything's going to be ready in plenty of time, right?"

"Oh yes. My special talent is seeing the future! Something could still go wrong, my spell's not perfect, but I know we can get everything done well in advance because I checked."

"...Really. I have a particular interest in magic, how does your spell work?"

"Well, it takes a little while to cast, and then I get a picture of a likely future around wherever I'm going to be or sometimes somewhere else if I try really hard! It's basically 'the future if everything goes according to plan', I think, but I've never had a serious magic-type pony go over it with me. It can get thrown way off if somebody makes a choice that wasn't just about decided on when I cast the spell. Joy's trying to tone down his wackiness for the day so I can use the spell to see how the decorations will turn out before we invest all the labor in putting them up, but usually he throws me way off, and other ponies can too."

"I hope my arrival hasn't thrown a horseshoe in your predictions."

"Nope! If you're from Canterlot you must have left hours ago, the spell's had plenty of time to catch up. Wanna see me cast it?"

"Yes please!"

"That's good to know. Where is Joy, is he still at lunch?"

The named party sticks his head and one arm in an open window, high above them. "I'm up here, beribboning the roof! Hi!" He waves.

"Hi!" Clarity calls back. "Well, it looks like you have everything handled here."

Joy disappears back out the window to continue beribboning.

"Thanks! You've probably got more stuff to check, huh."

Just as Streak promised, there is a tower on the far side of town, some distance down the road from the main cluster of buildings and set a little ways back from the street. As Clarity approaches, mysterious sounds emerge: clanging, clinking, and a crackling whoosh almost like a strong wind.

"Just a miiiinute!" calls a voice that is similar to Streak's, but used very differently. In four syllables, this pony has varied her tone more than Streak did in her and Clarity's entire conversation.

Okay then. Clarity stays put for a minute.

"Hi, you must be Brightblaze. I'm Clarity Bell, and the Princess sent me here to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration -"

"Well, it's technically very early in the morning tomorrow, but the sky should be cleared, and you're on my list as responsible for that."

"Unorthodox, but efficient. I've never seen boots like that."

"That's 'cause I made 'em!" she says, tossing her head. "That's what I do. I make things. Cool things that do stuff. Runs in the family - my dad's been trying to invent self-propelled flying carriages since he was my age."

"Huh. That would be pretty cool if he pulls it off," says Clarity. "Are the boots magic?"

"Nope! I can explain how they work if you've got a few years," she says.

"I'm not going to be in Ponyville that long, alas."

Blaze giggles. "That's okay. Anyway, nice meeting you! Have you checked on everypony else? My sister and Cordy are doing the food and music; I can't remember who else is doing what..."

"I've looked in on your sister, Cordial, Guiding Star, and Joy, yes."

"Is that everypony? I think that's everypony. So what are you gonna do now?"

"It's everypony on my list, anyway, and I'm supposed to be staying at the library until after the celebration, at which time I'll go home."

"That sounds kinda boring. Unless you really like books, I guess. Do you really like books?"

"I do, as it happens, really like books."

"Good, then you're all set! Have fun!"

"...Any chance I could get directions to the library?"

"I'm the worst at directions," says Blaze. "But I can show you the way!"

"That works too, if you don't mind!"

And Clarity follows along. "Does this kind of boot you've developed have a name?"

"Not yet. I'm not that great at naming things."

"How much of the speed was them and how much of them was actual flying? I mean, could a unicorn or earth pony fly if one had a set?"

"Iiii haven't tested it with a unicorn or earth pony," she says. "For the very good reason that I have wings, so if something goes wrong, I can still fly. But in theory, yeah, anypony could do it no problem."

"Huh. If I were sticking around longer I'd offer to take them for a spin on the grounds that I can teleport."

"I'd have to make you your own set, anyway, the other problem is that I need my special talent to operate them - I deal really well with fiddly little things," she explains. "I guess you could use magic or telekinesis or something but these ones," she taps a hoof against the ground, "are designed to work purely by hoof. And they're very fiddly."

"Thanks!" She points a hoof at a building that just came into view; it appears to be made of a single large tree. "And there's the library."

"Great, thanks!"

Clarity lets herself into the library, intent on following up on that prediction as soon as she's worked out the categorization.

"Uh... among other things. I'm in Ponyville on an errand for the Princess and I'm supposed to stay here until tomorrow."

"Oh! Okay," says the little pony. "That's odd, I wonder why the library? I guess it's free and everything, but... are you usually a librarian?"

"No. I like books, but I'm not actually a librarian. I do need to do some research incidentally, though." She starts peering at some shelves, trying to figure out what organizational system is at play here. "I'm Clarity Bell, by the way."

"I'm Blueberry! What are you looking for?" she asks, standing up. "I've been coming here practically my whole life, so I know where everything is."

"Unfortunately I was interrupted by the errand so I don't have much to go on. Key words include -" Clarity produces her current notebook. "Mare in the Moon, or, Nightmare Moon; and the Elements of Harmony." What kind of classification system is this? It doesn't seem to be arranged by author or in subject groupings. Is this literally alphabetical by title? Wow.

"Oh, cool, that's exactly what I needed. Who organized this place? Is it, in fact, alphabetical by title less leading articles, or is there some nuance that I'm missing?"

"The last librarian organized it. But then she moved to Manehattan. The shelves that are alphabetical by title are because there's no author recorded for those books; if you start over there," she points a hoof, "it's nonfiction alphabetical by author, then fiction alphabetical by author that stops over there and starts again up there on the next floor, then a bunch of things that Page Turner never got around to filing properly in no particular order on that shelf way up there."

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" inquires Blueberry.

"More or less. It's not as complete as one might hope, but it's probably the best thing available right now."

"What did you want to know about the Elements of Harmony?"

"I saw them referenced in a book I was reading earlier and wanted to follow up; I wasn't strongly expecting to find any particular facts because I didn't know what they were."

"Oh, I see. The book is kind of vague. It talks about how powerful they are, but not what they're for or how to use them. Not much of a reference guide, if you ask me."

"It really isn't. I don't suppose there's another book mentioning them that you've run across?"

"I can't think of one offhoof, but I haven't read every book in this library," she says. "Just most of them."

Clarity looks around the vast array of books in the library. "You must read pretty fast," she says, trotting up to the top floor where the librarian living quarters are to finally offload her saddlebags.

"I do!" agrees Blueberry. "I like reading."

"Do you want to take over for the old librarian when you grow up?"

"That would be nice!"

"I guess the library would have to stay unstaffed for quite a while to still have the position available in a few years, though." Clarity locates the disorganized shelves and scans them in case there's something else Elements- or Mare-in-Moon related but finds nothing.

"Maybe I should start early, then."

"Well, you clearly know how to perform at least one librarian-designated task already, I would have spent hours looking for that book on my own."

Blueberry looks smug.

"...you sure?" says a voice from the back of the crowd.

- her guess is confirmed.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat doesn't look much like Celestia.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces."

"Your subjects?" cries an indignant pegasus. "What the hay did you do with our Princess?"

Her sister yanks her out of the air by her tail and sits on her to prevent further outbursts.

The newcomer chuckles. "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am? Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I know who you are," Clarity says loudly before the alicorn starts trying to forcibly remind anypony of her identity. "You're Nightmare Moon."

Well, that sounds inconvenient.

Clarity forces herself not to break into a canter that will guarantee her a timewasting trip over her own hooves as she makes for the exit. She doesn't know any part of Ponyville well enough to teleport there without looking straight at it in better light than that of the stars and the suddenly blank-faced moon, so on hoof it'll have to be. She doesn't know for sure if the contents of her saddlebags are going to be useful in the Everfree Forest - actually, she'd put her bits on 'no' - but while this is an emergency, it is not an emergency on a scale of minutes and so she's going to go ahead and take the precaution.

"Nightmare Moon equals Mare in the Moon equals banished sister of Celestia, could theoretically be defeated with five mysterious and one extra mysterious objects that can maybe be found in an old castle in the Everfree Forest," Clarity recites, not breaking stride.

"And you mean to go get them? Sounds reasonable. I'll help plan the expedition," says Cordy. "We should bring Guiding Star and Silver Streak for informational purposes, and Brightblaze would be good to have along in case of trouble, plus there's no way she'll stay behind if her sister is going."

"I... was not expecting to have company, but if you're any good with large predatory animals on top of little singing birds I'd be glad to have you, and Guiding Star makes sense too, explain the others?"

"You saw Streak's cutie mark? She answers questions," says Cordy. "Solves mysteries. Finds out facts. If we find the Elements of Harmony and can't figure out what to do with them when we get there, it's a good bet she'll be able to offer some insight. And I'm sure you've seen Blaze fly, when she cleared the sky; those boots of hers will be good to have around if it comes down to a fight of some kind. As for large predatory animals - I did say I can communicate with anything."

"Okay, you can all come if you want, but - at your own risk. I feel bad enough that I didn't successfully get Celestia's attention with my warning; I'm sure you all know, living right here, more about the forest than I do, but still." Here's the library; Clarity opens it up and collects her saddlebags.

"Believe me, I'm aware of the risks." She cocks an ear at the sky and adds, "Oh good, Streak must have heard us."

The named pony circles in for a landing in front of the library -

- followed a moment later by her sister, boots and all.

Guiding gallops up presently too. "Why are we all going to the Everfree Forest with Joy?" she demands.

"What, Joy, too? Why don't we bring the entirety of Ponyville?" mutters Clarity.

"No, nobody else comes, just the five of us and Joy. But why are we going?"

"We're going to find some mysterious objects Clarity read about that she thinks might help defeat the scary night pony," says Cordy.

"Okay, but Joy'd better behave himself or I'm not going to be that much help tracking them down - I wonder where he is."

"Well, he wasn't on the shortlist for invitations, so if we just head for the forest now he'll probably find us on the way, won't he?" reasons Clarity, and she starts off.

The pegasus twins follow, Blaze in the air and Streak on the ground.

"We're going to the Everfree Forest to find artifacts that may or may not still be there, may or may not prove usable, and may or may not help, and apparently you're joining us."

"Sounds like fun," he says. "Count me in." He matches course with Blaze.

Guiding stops, casts her spell, and presently reports: "I see us all in the forest with all our limbs and everything. Joy, behave, okay?"

"Do my best!"

"Okay, here goes, I guess!"

And in they go.