Sunny awoke with a yawn and a stretch, with the roof of the tent coming into view. Sitting up, she removed the top half of her sleeping bag and rolled onto her feet, seeing that Izzy was already up. She walked out of her tent and saw the Zipp and Pipp already over by the fire with Izzy making hay cakes for breakfast, and Hitch was coming out of his one-pony tent and immediately went for the coffee.
Aside from what they just needed to prepare breakfast, they had spent the latest part of last night packing up and getting ready to return up the mountain. While there was undoubtedly more to go over in there, they had already collected just about as much as they could reasonably carry; the gems combined weight, even when split amongst the five of them, increased the weight of their packs considerably, and the rough forest terrain was nowhere near suitable for a wagon. That, and Pipp's battery packs were beginning to run low, which meant light sources were becoming quickly finite in there.
"Smells delicious, thank you." Sunny greeted as Zipp passed her a plate, and Hitch came over and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Don't know about you fillies, but I am looking forward to getting back home." Hitch said, sipping the steaming beverage.
"It's certainly been an enlightening couple of days, that's for sure." Zipp agreed.
"It's a good thing I have those gems to get back to Maretime Bay, otherwise I don't think I'd ever leave." Sunny admitted.
"Well, you've certainly showed me what is so exciting and adventurous about archaeology and history." Pipp told her. "Let me know when you've got everything ready in that museum, and we'll be the first in line."
Their breakfast was interrupted by the sound of approaching hoofsteps...
...Armored hoofsteps?
Indeed, their attention was drawn to the north, and a pair of golden armored pegasi, one sky blue and the other mint green, came through the treeline, coming up to their campfire and coming to a halt. The gear on their backs suggested they were here for awhile.
"Can we help you, sirs?" Sunny asked.
The guards exchanged curious glances, if but for a moment.
"Apologies, ma'am, I assumed we were expected. Zoom Zephyrwing, Detachment from the Fifth Zephyr Heights Regiment. My partner, Thunder." Zoom said, motioning to the sky blue pegasus.
"Ah, now I remember you two. From... Before." Sunny said, recalling her first time coming to Zephyr Heights, and proceeded to excitedly bombard Thunder with questions about pegasi during the elevator ride up to the castle.
"Ooh yeah, the shield!" Izzy enthusiastically added.
Zoom gave a curt nod. "Yes ma'am. I hope you're doing well. As this forest is within the Zephyr Heights provincial limits, Queen Haven has elected to mark this... tree... And the surrounding area, as a site of historical significance. We are the first of four rotating shifts that will keep watch over it around the clock, until a suitable traveling path can be made through the forest."
"Surprise," Pipp told Sunny. "I knew you were a little nervous about me posting my videos about this place, so I asked mom what we could do to keep an eye on it."
Sunny smiled at her friend.
"That's really awesome. Thank you so much, Pipp. That does put my mind at ease a little."
"Hope we're not going to crowd you." Thunder said.
"No worries. We're just about ready to break camp. We'll be out of your manes in about an hour." Hitch told them, as they went to unload their gear in the next closest clearing.
"I don't know about all of you," Izzy began, finishing off her hay cakes. "But when I get back up there, I have an appointment with the dungeon."
"Izzy, have you ever thought of, oh I don't know, an actual spa?" Zipp asked.
"Is the dungeon still free? I pick dungeon."
Again, a very good job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and possible future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. Really appreciated Pipp being thoughtful enough to talk to her mother about having the exploration site better protected with a couple of guards showing up just as the gang was getting ready to get back home. Also liked the gang's dialogue between the two guards (and Izzy's recognizing them from the earlier adventure). Also got a decent laugh out of Izzy's point about how hard it is to tell the Zephyr Heights castle dungeon apart from an actual spa.
Well it looks like the others are heading back home after discovering the castle and it looks like pipp ask her mother if one of the guards Mark the area for historic things which that was pretty nice of her and the ending that was pretty funny their dungeon it's not that scary but anyway I wonder what else are they going to do next
Ooh, nice job
Shouldn’t it be Fungeon instead of Dungeon because the dungeon doesn’t even look like one
Reminder that Zoom isn't a "Sir," though perhaps she gets mistaken for a stallion quite often.
Pfft! The dungeon over a day at the spa? Logical and saves money.
I love how some people are physically threatened by spas, learning to dance, My Little Pony and other "girly" "things"
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I would assume it's a military outfit where protocol is "Sir" unless specified by the officer specifically.
Izzy...you are adorable and deserve all the happiness.
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With what I've got planned?
...Yeah, probably.
*click*
Hitch awoke in his sleeping bag crowded and weighed down as he crawled out he counted . . .
6 lizards
9 bunnies
56 mice
34 morning doves
4 gophers
5 rats
2 weasels
7 sparrows
1 vulture
He wondered why cute little critters were attracted to him.....
family tree?
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This would have been perfect in hindsight.
i wonder there facing a new ice age that would explen why the water level of the sea and river so low
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btw i want to see them eat real hot dogs like pinkie did and given that bride was wearing a tuna can for a hat they do make meat prodacts
Hmmm, now that they have the Castle, the School should be somewhere relatively close by (follow the stream?) and then there's the town ...
Anyone remember relative directions from the town hall?? Sweet Apple Acres is on the opposite side of the town from the Castle with Fluttershy's place between them (and the Everfree off that side away from the town). Rarity's Boutique and Sugar Cube Corner should be close to the center, the train station on the opposite side of the Everfree ... (I think) Any other landmarks missing??
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i hate to tell you this but they are just pile of rubble now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAoM909LuLE
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but the school how ever given its made of stone and other stuff like that it would have become a cave system or something like that
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And this invalidates their location how? Whether or not any walls are left standing is a question of how much time has passed, though the foundations of those buildings could still be there (unless it's a longer timescale) ...
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I will be answering this somewhat in forthcoming chapters.
Suffice to say, the castle is largely the only structure left standing from Ponyville. Everything else was completely overtaken by the forest and vanished from untold decades and centuries of rot and decay.
Apologies if that wasn't made clear from the camping scenes. From a distance, the castle looks like any other tree, albeit the largest one in the area. It only looks 'crystal' from the inside.
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Ah, timescale is important, decades would leave plenty of structures, centuries less so though large stone/metal objects (spa boilers?) might though with this being the Everfree [how did the two sister's castle remain so long within the Everfree then?] ...
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It all entirely depends on passage of time.
And honestly, that's one of the things that even Friendship is Magic did a very, very poor job of conveying.
I remember the Season 4 premiere and going, "wait, ONLY a year has passed?"
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To be you honest all animated TV shows share this issue, to some degree all stories. We have no idea how much time has passed in a fictional world between events unless we are specifically told how long. we don't account for every second or even every day in the story, as the mudane parts and uneventful days don't have much to do with the story.
For example a lot of articles, videos and such on the TV show Friends will make the statement Ross Geller is a terrible father, based on the fact his son appears in very few episodes, the conclusion being he doesn't spend time with his son. But that's not a fair assessment we only see the characters in the context of episode with only 26 episodes per season every day of these characters lives is not showcased only about 13 of the 8760 hours of their year are represented assuming all the events of a season are across a single year. How many of the 8757 not spent with his friends does he see his son? We don't know,cause it's not relevant to the story. Is it really suppriseing all the events we see in the 9 Seasons of FIM didn't happen of the course of 9 years of the character's lives? Also FIM noted the passage of time in both years and moons, with no explanation of how many days comprise a moon or and equestrian year. Is a moon a week? A month? Is a year 12 Moons long? More? Less? How long is a Equestrian day even?
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It also had to do with episode order too.
First we got Winter Wrap up, then two episodes later we got Fall Weather Friends.
So either those two episodes were out of order (likely) or eight months passed.
For me, the only thing I really want them to look at more is the Mirror portal. It deserves to be studied and probably forced open like twilight did
Wow they got a lot of stuff to take back to the home huh and it's a good thing pipp called them here nice and I guess Izzy likes the spa at the dungeon
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I just realized something: The reason the Zephyr Heights dungeon is so luxurious is because Queen Haven planned for if she got imprisoned all along!
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Pretty much , the only show that did otherwise was Startrek... if you figure out how stardates work (and they are inconsistent between installments)
It's half.
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Hitch was also awoke by what he thought was his phone, but it was a buzzard that really buzzed.
"Is the Dungeon still free?"
And at first I was a little confused about NOTHING being in the castle, given how Egyptian tombs have a full stock of items. Then I remembered that the castle isn't in the desert, and has plenty of openings for moisture to come in, and not insulated against seasonal temperature changes.
But I will say that while this explains organic matter, it doesn't explain things like metal. Even corrodible metals like iron or bronze would leave fragments around to mark out, for example, the corners of a bed frame.
Then again, I don't believe that we have a confirmed discovery of a bedroom or the kitchens. And of course there's the matter of looting in the years and decades after Ponyville was abandoned.
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To the author: (others quoted for context)
It is never to late to edit.
Not sure we need that 'that'
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Fixed, thanks!
It was a tennis ball Izzy.