//------------------------------// // Chapter V // Story: Journey to the center of Equestria // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// A violent shock was the very first thing that went through the very body of Twilight. In response of it, she moved it in all sorts of manners. Manners that perhaps weren’t all too good for her, especially when she flew through the air. Mere fractions of a second later was her face met with the cold, hard floor of her room. Which resulted in the anthrony giving off a deep groan of utter discomfort. There had been days where she had been awoken a lot easier but that day belonged to perhaps one of the rudest awakenings she had ever experienced in her entire life. Her hands hoisted the body back up. The mare then assumed a sitting position before the head laid down on the side against the mattress. Twilight was a lot at that point in time, but awake she wasn’t. Not even close to be actually. Yet the duties of the day were knocking at her doorstep. Perhaps not literally, but in her mind was every last trouble already bursting its way through. Matters that didn’t really matter anymore to her like whether or not Burning Spring had actually gone to the lesson of the battlemages, or how he was actually doing. All sorts of those kind of things rushed through her mind. Matters she didn’t even wanted to think about if she had to be honest. The body got turned a quarter way before both of the arms were laid crossways on the warm and solid mattress. The head was placed on top of the forearms while the hurricane of thoughts inside of Twilight’s mind continued to rage on. A hurricane that needed to be brought down before she would be doing anything else. “Focus Twi, you have to focus on their given task,” she mumbled in a tired voice towards herself. That was just before a small yawn managed to escape her lips. Not even the sun had peeked over the hills yet which meant it was either the middle of the night or just before the dawn. It got her an idea that may or may not have actually helped her in an attempt to lower the hurricane. The head rose itself up from the forearms and she looked over to her window. The horn calmly charged itself within the magical aura before the curtains were moved to a side. The darkness of the night and the majestic light of the moon itself fell in her room. Within seconds had the mare gotten her hooves down to the ground and she stood straight against the bed. Her nightie waved with calm in the wind that always managed to get through to all of the small little cracks within the walls and window. Her hands were placed behind her back while she approached the window sill. There did her eyes began to just look over the nightly peace just before a calming sigh was released through her nostrils. Something about the everlasting darkness of the night managed to calm her down a lot more then what ever else inside of the entire world. Something within that grasp of the unknown, Twilight could have found her peace. As unusual as it seemed or sounded, many of the soothsayers actually had to admit the fact they also felt that way. The longer the mare gazed towards the moon itself, the calmer her mind seemed to become. From that hurricane of thoughts there was only a small breeze left which only carried the most important thoughts to her. Thoughts that mattered, like the quest given to her. “How am I able to do all of this, let alone with five more of them?” Twilight questioned to herself. A deep sigh was released afterwards. Ideas flowed through her mind, but no good one’s came. The mulberry unicorn turned away from the window and glanced over her desk where she saw the notes of two nights ago. Almost instantly she remembered what she wanted to do with it all, but deep inside of her knew that it couldn’t have been that way. “No, the fault lines don’t walk in the area’s hit, only in the mountain chain it does.,” said Twilight in a tone of confusion. She had rushed over to her desk and looked to something. Both of her eyes were placed firm upon the map of the land. She had placed her index finger upon the chain of mountains while the rest of the places hit by tremors were marked with a red coloring. “Either new lines are coming out of nowhere, or there really is something below the soils,” she mumbled to herself. A fist was slammed into her desk in all of the frustration. The eyes of the mare were closed with force. The watery lines of tears could be seen through her eyelashes. She was at the verge of crying when she was already thinking that it was impossible to complete the task given to her. Yet she knew that with crying, there was nothing to be gained whatsoever. So one of her hands wiped away the beginnings of the tears before she released a deep sniff through her nose and exhale through the mouth. “O-Okay Twilight, keep yourself together now. There’s nothing that can’t be done. You have their guidance after all,” she pleaded to herself with the genuine hope that it wasn’t going to be misplaced at all. “A shower, I need a shower to refresh myself…” Together with those words did the anthrony leave her desk and disappeared within the bathroom. Not even a minute later could the water be heard splashing against her body and the floor as silence came from her. There wasn’t much that could be done other than to get her thoughts back in one straight line. ~~~~                       Many minutes would have passed before Twilight finally killed the seemingly endless stream of water that would be hitting her body and began to dry herself off from the thoughtful shower. Words couldn’t really figure it out for herself as she just couldn’t place everything on one solid line. When the anthrony finally left the bathroom was there only a towel to be found around her body. While both her hair and tail were still dripping from the waters. Her eyes looked over to the stuff that was on her desk before she remembered something. Something vital and it hadn’t been remembered before. She could have declared herself crazy on the spot as to why she hadn’t come up with it before. Something inside of her made gave away the near crystal clear images and memories of the events as they happened in the garden of the goddesses. Twilight was almost dumbstruck that she even remembered the locations that were given to her. She knew how to walk to them, but she still had not a clue of where they could possibly have been. Her mind was unique in that aspect, she could be walking almost blindly to a place. Though when asked to give direction to it, it became almost impossible to do. The images of the conversation and the locations were shooting past her eyes as if there was nothing else upon her mind. With the towel still wrapped around her body she took place behind her desk and allowed the waters to be dripping and traveling down her mulberry skinned legs as an arcane set of drawing items were conjured in. “How could I have been that scattered that I forgot about that very fact?” the mare mumbled to herself. She then began to draw eagerly. Everything that was on her mind was drawn out before her. From the beginnings of the meeting to the point where she was sucked back to her own plane of existence. ~~~~                       Hours later were both Wishful Star and Sky Comet ready to head over to Dolicho’s room. The stallion had assured the mare that he was a good guy and she believed him on his word. Also mostly because of the fact that he wasn’t wounded or eaten from the previous night. Together they walked through the castle with their attire a bit more casual than on other days. Not a care in the world did the two of them seemed to be having as they calmly hummed the same song together. Which eventually caused them both to giggle. “I didn’t knew you know that little song,” Sky chuckled up as he looked over to Star. “I may not be having heard it all the way, but my mother is a fan of classical tunes so I may or may not have picked up a few notes myself,” replied Star with a silly smile going across her lips. In a split second had her entire expression changed again. “Oh help…” “Hm? Oh no,” answered Sky. He turned his attention forwards and saw exactly the cause of Star’s change in emotion. Somewhere in front of them and coming towards them, walked the stallion himself. The stallion who had almost died if it weren’t for Twilight. “Burning Spring, in a battlemage attire?” Sky Comet whispered to himself before she quickly shook his head. “Impossible.” Yet the stallion that was walking towards them released only a deep and loud huff that they had to move aside. Which the two students did gladly. So without any further word did the stallion move passed them before disappearing in another hallway. And leaving two confused students together. “But that, that couldn’t have been, how did he?!” Wishful Star sputtered out. She couldn’t even formulate normal sentences at that point. The sheer shock of seeing perhaps the biggest quack of their class being transported over to the strict classes of Beatrix Lulamoon wasn’t something they both had expected to see that day. “Well, from the looks of it, it seems to be that way actually. I mean, he wore the attire for them, he headed into that general direction. I think, we’re finally rid of him,” summed Sky up. He turned back to see where Spring had been going too. Yet neither of the two wanted to set in a wild goose chase for nothing. “Finally!” Wishful Star exclaimed happily. She just took the stallion by both of his cheeks and forced her lips upon his. Sky Comet’s eyes went as wide as they possibly could have become before the he tried to work his way out of her hold. Seconds later it was Wishful Star who released the kiss and made a couple of disgusting sounds. She almost wanted to clean her mouth and tongue. Sky Comet wiped his lips clean with a forearm before looking over to the mare. “What’s your problem?!” he questioned to her in a genuine surprised tone before noticing the massive blush upon the mare’s cheeks. “Let’s say I am really happy that he is finally gone and that we never speak of this again. Ever. Understood?” Star replied to him with a blank face. She dared to watch the stallion in the eyes. Who could only be giving a nod to her words. “Good, shall we go back to Dolicho then?” “Yeah, let’s do that. As if there wasn’t enough strange stuff going on already,” muttered Sky when he walked past Star, only to receive a fist on his shoulder. “Ouch, where was that good for?!” “I just needed to be doing that in order to release some frustration. Sorry for it by the way,” the mare said in a tone that was semi meant and semi playful. Which drove the stallion up to a point where he didn’t knew what she actually meant with it. So all he could do was to give a shrug before leading her to the room of the zebra stallion. “Miss Star, sir Comet, welcome into my humble home,” said Dolicho after he had opened the door of his room and allowed the two of them to enter. Once the door was closed again they could both feel the entire change of atmosphere again. The change that meant they weren’t in Equestria anymore, but in a well-constructed hut in the middle of the Great Plains. “Dolicho, this is, a-amazing,” was all that Star could say. The mare took every single inch of the room to her. From the sand on the floor to the cauldron in the middle with the crisping fires, to the shelves filled with potions and last but not least, the masks of traditional zebra rituals. “Why, why haven’t you said anything about all of this to the class?” “Because, little Wishful, Equestrian anthronies are a lot quicker done with their predicaments about another species. You barely manage to accept the three species you can be. Adding zebra’s into the mix would only make things more complicated,” he explained to her. He also pointed them both to a couch like a true gentlecolt. “Though it has come to my attention that you have a particular interest in our culture, which brings me to the following question: why haven’t you approached me before?” It was a question that was rightfully asked by him. Yet the unicorn mare had the greatest of difficulty to find an answer upon it. “Perhaps it’s because, well, you know I can be from time to time. A bit of a loose cannon and, every time I wanted to ask you there was something else that came in between. Either this bozo here, or something else.” “Hey! Don’t blame me for it,” replied Sky with a quick snarl. Though Dolicho just erupted out in laughter. Somehow he found it funny, while the stallion didn’t really saw the humor into the matter yet made the decision to just go with it. “A rather valid reason if I may say so. So go ahead, what is it that you like to know?” he said before he wandered to the shelves of potions. His eyes quickly scanned each labeled bottle before he took a few out. “I’m an open book when it comes to our history.” “Well in that case,” the mare began. She stood up and walked over to the shelves of potions as well. “I would love to know what most of these are and what uses they have.” It would be the very beginning of a long day of getting to know pretty much the entire zebra history and culture. Something that was exciting for one and perhaps a lot more boring than anticipated for the other. ~~~~                       Twilight had laid down each of the drawings. A deep and content exhale was being released from her nostrils. She had done it. In just a couple of hours’ worth of time had she made picture perfect drawings of the scenery in her mind. Though most of them were immediately burned again as they didn’t hold any actual value to the unicorn. The burned drawings were mostly those of the garden itself, images she didn’t wanted to show to any other being out of nothing but utter respect for the goddesses themselves. Before her remained four images though. Four images of the four places she was set out to be visiting and gather the beings for her quest. There was however, one small problem. The fact that not even Twilight would have been able to face. She had not a clue where they actually laid. Sure that the map was laid out in her mind, but she didn’t knew which image was which location. Another deep groan was the result of it as the unicorn leaned back in her chair and pulled the towel up just a little bit more over her chest. “The only downside of living your life in a castle like this, you don’t know anything of the world,” she spoke to herself. Then she finally stood back up. Her arms removed themselves from the towel which then dropped to the ground as she walked back to the bathroom with a gentle sway in her hips. “Good thing I know somepony who might be able to give a bit more inside information on the locations,” she chuckled to herself before the towel was levitated towards the bathroom and the door closed itself. Soon enough did the mulberry unicorn leave the room again. But that time she was all made up and ready to actually present herself to the world outside. Which was exactly the thing she would be doing if everything worked with her. The arcane drawings upon her desk were folded up and stored away inside of her mind. Though the map of Equestria remained where it had been for days already. “I’m not sure if I am even going to be using it again,” she mumbled to herself in a calm tone. Only to then turn herself away from it again and gave a small shrug. If she would be needing it again, she knew where to find it. For the time being there were more important matters that were on her mind. Matters that made the relations perhaps a little bit too close for most anthrony’s their liking. But for Twilight was it a literal heaven. The door closed itself behind her and her blue robes were once again following her every step. She wandered through the castle with her hands behind her back. Noon was about to be called in and the mare realized just how much time she had spent drawing all of her artistic works. It was almost a bit of a shame that she couldn’t place it anywhere to show the rest of them all. Not that it really mattered to her though. Twilight was more than happy with the fact that she could be throwing them away. She was a researcher and thus known to the fact that once something had expired, there was little to no reason to actually keep it laying around. Years of experience had taught her that it would only become a mess. Yet the drawings were specific, too specific even. Specific dates of specific times of day and all drawn from the field of view of an anthrony about her size. “So I have to be in the exact spot as the drawing, in order to find those with whom I’m going to be travelling?” Twilight then realized to herself. One of her eyebrows shot up almost right afterwards. It was an insane idea, but perhaps it was the only idea that would have actually been able to work on the matter. The unicorn gave a gentle shrug before she reached the place of her destination. A place which she could have visited a lot more in the past actually. It was the office of nopony else then the captain of the celestial guards. The one stallion to whom she could tell all of her problems and always find soothing words for the wounds. ~~~~   The unicorn knocked a couple of times on the door and began to wait for an answer of any sort. Anything would have been better than the eternal silence she sometimes surrounded herself by. “Who’s there?” a male sounding voice was heard from the other side. It’s neutral tone didn’t fool Twilight one bit. The mare knew exactly who spoke those very words. “Who do you think that it is?” she answered in her signature tone. A little giggle was being released straight away. Inside of the office could the stallion be heard laughing as well before the door was covered within a light bluish magical aura. Soon enough the door was swung open and Twilight entered the room. The place she ended up in was the office of the captain of the celestial guard and it was shown in every possible way. Lots of sunlight were allowed into the room as the pillars next to each window were plated in perhaps the finest gold there was. Yet despite it, it was thought to be a massive sauna as the overall temperature of it was rather comfortable. When the door was closed behind her did Twilight place both of her hands on the back of the chair in front of the desk where the stallion sat behind. A stallion with a white skin and three toned blue colored hair. “Well, aren’t you going to hug me?” she said to him with a teasing grin that went gently crossing her lips. “You? Never in my life,” the stallion returned just as teasingly before he stood up. “Instead I’m going to show you something else.” Before Twilight even knew what would happen next were the strong arms of the stallion found around her. She was lifted off of the ground a bit, just like that. Twilight herself erupted out in a massive chuckle before she wrapped her arms around the stallion. “Hey big brother.” “Hey little sis,” he replied to her before giving a small peck on the cheek. “How’s life for you? Where have you been sitting actually, that might be more appropriate.” The two let go of one another as Twilight walked over to the chair her brother sat in before, and bluntly allowed her bum to land into it. “Well, I have been going around and about like you. Doing what I’m supposed to be doing really. Which did leave me with little time for you I’m afraid,” answered Twilight while her brother sat down in the other chair. “Oh did you now? Well that’s indeed good to hear, yes. And you do know that sitting in my chair, might end up giving you a five day trip down to the dungeon, right?” he said with a small grin forming below his nose. “You wouldn’t send your own sister down there. Besides, you know I am not going to destroy anything, right?” Twilight said in response. The stallion erupted out in a gentle chuckle. He gave a nod towards her before the stories of what they had done previously to their encounter came loose. “Hey Shining Armor, can I, tell you something a bit personal?” Twilight eventually dared to ask. But only after their conversation had died down a bit. The stallion was of course a little bit confused by whatever she could be meaning, yet gave her the benefit of the doubt. “Sure, go right ahead, what do you want to tell, Twily?” replied Shining Armor to her. He prepared himself for the absolute worst to come. But what he got was something he never could have expected. For the entire tale of Twilight actually venturing up to the garden of the goddesses and the quest that was given to her simply baffled him. It baffled him but also worried him a lot more then he gave away on first instances. “You know I am not the first one to deny your ascend to it, but I do find it unusual that they give such a quest to one like you. No offence but these tremors are a real menace. Anthronies are dying out there and you have to stop it?” repeated Shining Armor. He couldn’t believe the facts as they were presented to him. Both of his hands traveled through his hair while a small groan came from his mouth. He knew his sister had a nick for trouble, but he never saw that one coming. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, as it would mean that you have to defy their very will. What I am going to say though, is that you need to be careful along the way. I know you haven’t traveled much outside of these walls but trust you old brother, nothing is what it seems. Anthronies lie to you in a manner as if they are selling the truth. You have to keep your eyes open for that,” warned Shining Armor to her. There was one little thing that came to him. Something actually made him think about the facts and perhaps, how he could be changing it. “What if I go with you?” “What?!” Twilight exclaimed before she rose up from her seating. The stallion also rose up and placed both his hands upon her shoulders. “Hey, hey, hey, no need to get that mad, especially at me. You said they instructed you to gather five other beings for the quest. What would you say if I’m one of them?” Yet as a response could Twilight only be shaking her head at first. Even though she wanted to take her big brother with her, something about him didn’t feel right. As if he wasn’t ready for the journey to be made. “No, I, I can’t ask that of you Shining. You’re needed here a lot more then that I need you there and you know it. No, they also gave me something else. Something that I need to show you,” she said before her horn charged itself up. The captain of the guard released her from his hold and patiently began to wait whatever would be revealed to him. It were the drawings that were made viewable for the unicorn stallion and as they appeared in the thin air before him, his own magic brought each one close. “So you can find your companions here, on these drawings, Twily?” he said in a tone almost reeked of disbelief. Shining Armor had a hard time accepting the fact that simply drawings could locate any other companion for it. Twilight gave a nod to him. She would have answered his question with a confident tone. “Yes Shining, I know that I can find them there. The only question that I still have, is the reason why I came here, to you,” were the words that she said. “I knew it, I knew there was something you needed from me. You almost never come to visit me here unless you require something. So, spit it out, what is it that you need from me?” Shining replied to her. He looked over the images and right into his sister’s very eyes. Simply waiting for the answer to come. Twilight looked back into his eyes with a deep glance before she nodded calmly. “I want you, to make from these images actual locations. Can you figure out, where in Equestria they actually are?” the mulberry mare asked while she wiped a small strand of her mane out of her eyes. Shining took each of the images into his own magic and spread them out over the desk before he dropped his body back into the chair. The formal attire he wore wrinkled a little bit as he repositioned himself within it before giving his eyes the time to look at everything. ~~~~                       Minutes of silence went through the office of the captain. Not even the normal guards dared to interrupt the two of them. Silence had become their greatest friend and while her brother was looking over the images, Twilight made use of the time to look through the windows. The office was shaped in half a circle and thus gave a near perfect view upon the valley that laid below. Not to mention the endless stretching plains before it would be consumed by the woods of Everfree. Something about those woods did gave her the creeps. It had always done and gave her that for as long as she could remember it. Yet she was safe up there, in the castle of Canterlot. Her eyes looked as far as they were allowed and in the far distance she saw the one city where only stories came about. The capital of the pegasi themselves, Cloudsdale. A city that was born from the ancient days and still used to that very day. A city of both pride and mystery, the pegasi were always ready to go head on in any attack. From the three races, they held the highest moral for any kind of war to be fought. Of course it was all just something stupid in the eyes of Twilight, but she had to admit that their city looked amazing in the afternoon sun. “I think I have them all figured out, Twily,” said Shining eventually. He brought the mare out of her concentration with his words. Twilight turned herself back around from the window and even walked up to her brother. She place one of her hands upon his shoulders while the other was used for support as she gently made the bend over to the desk. “So, tell me where they are please. You have me rather curious here,” the mare replied to her brother as a smile came to her face. But for the words that were coming next, there wasn’t much in the world that could have actually been able to prepare her. With a deep sigh had Shining Armor pointed to the first one. “This one here, is right here in Canterlot. It’s the harbor at the other side and foot of the mountain. I couldn’t make out a name of the vessel. But it seems to be one of the bigger ships that anchor there. Think about the size of the Everlasting Sun.” “You mean the heavy gunned frigate?” questioned Twilight. She got only a nod out of her brother. “Alright then, that’s easy to remember. What about the other three?” Shining Armor laid the first image upside down. Then he tapped his index finger upon the second one. “This one is in Cloudsdale, which is always on the horizon at this time of day before making its way back to the south. I dare to say it is the air force base, but I may be wrong. It has something to do with their military parts though. Doesn’t look like any of the weather factories.” “And you know that because..?” Twilight teased him before a giggle was being released. But the stallion couldn’t really laugh about the matter. He had heard things about those very same factories that were better left untold to his younger sister. Instead he decided to go with a much more safe answer. “Regular inspections have granted me the opportunity to visit them every now and again,” he calmly said to her. He turned the image upside down. “I hope you got it, it’s Cloudsdale’s military department, where exactly I do not know.” Twilight nodded to the words before he pointed to the third one. “This one looks to me, like it’s the hospital for wounded soldier that’s found along the way of Cloudsdale from Canterlot. Judging the coloring of the room you see and the way the walls are made, I just have that hunch. Haven’t been there a lot myself thankfully, but more often than not I had to look up a wounded soldier there.” The stallion closed his eyes when he tried to actually visualize the entire place before him once more. “Yes, it’s that hospital. One ran by a very nice mare, if I may say so. Very kind and knows just about everything, for a pegasus that is. Exceptions of the rules are everywhere.” Twilight rolled her eyes off to one side. She was having enough of his rambling about that mare. She knew where to look for and that was probably the most important part of the thing. Yet it still remained one more image. And that was the image which Shining Armor hated the most. Yet he couldn’t let his own flesh and blood down, not with the land on the line. “And what about the last one? Have you been able to discover where that is?” Twilight asked him. She was getting more and more curious about it. Yet the captain of the guard released another sigh through his nostrils. “I have discovered its location yes, but I’m not happy that you have to be going there, Twily. Absolutely not happy about it,” he spoke to her in a concerned tone. His eyes closed themselves for a minute. Once more had the silence taken over their place and Twilight couldn’t fully follow just where her brother was going to with his words. “Big brother, it is place something bad?” she brought out almost in the tone she had when she was a foal. It only added more to the guilt that Shining carried as he had to tell her what kind of place it was. Though it had to be told, even if it was devastating for his heart. The eyes opened up again and they turned over into Twilight’s direction. “Yes Twily, it’s someplace bad. Terrible even. This right here, it’s a pirate town at the eastern shores of Equestria, a lawless place where the gun and drinks are mightier than logic and reason. I don’t know who you try to find there, but I warn you. And I mean this with the whole of my heart.” He stood up from his chair and took Twilight’s shoulders with the both of his hands and looked her deep in the eyes. “Whatever you plan in that coconut of yours, do not go alone to that very place, alright? They’ll be eating you raw before you know it. Promise me, promise you won’t go alone,” he begged of her. It was rare for Shining to carry such fear and worry within his voice, which meant all the more to Twilight that he meant his words. Which resulted in her saying the only words she could, “I promise, big brother.”