• Published 14th Feb 2014
  • 4,650 Views, 35 Comments

Twilight Goes to Dalaran - Leila Drake



Twilight Sparkle, the princess mage of Equestria, is stranded on a foreign world. Her hopes lie on a mysterious city in the sky and her new, strange friends.

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Level 10 - Research for Yourself

Twilight's eyes lit up and she beamed.

"Wow, this is amazing! This library is even bigger than the Canterlot Royal Library! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!" She spread her wings and inspected the shelves, looking for the number the librarian had mentioned, and completely ignored Tak and Priest.

Priest turned to the elf. "I think she is going to be occupied for the next two months."

Lady Eventide frowned. "It seems that way. If you need anything, you may ask Mr Cordelius. I will tell you when Lady Proudmoore is ready to talk to you. I have one more question, though."

Priest raised the part on his face where his eyebrows used to be.

"Could you tell me what spell has been cast on you? I'd like to try it on a... colleague of mine..."

Tak laughed and said, "I think I'm going to get some food. See you later." He left, shaking his head slightly and grinning.

"You can ask the one who cast it", said Priest and pointed at Twilight who flew around and took books from the shelves with her magic. The undead turned on his heel and followed Tak.

"Excuse me, Miss Sparkle", said Lady Eventide.

The alicorn flew down to her and levitated a pile of books onto a nearby table. There was a spark in her eyes and a spring in her step as she approached the librarian.

"Yes?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Now that your companions have left, I can talk openly. Do you have a moment?"

Twilight's smile died and she nodded.

"Let us sit down", suggested Lady Eventide and sat on a carpet.

Twilight took a carpet that floated next to the table. "I am listening", she said.

The lady took a deep breath, then said slowly, "I am sorry but even if she were here, Lady Proudmoore would not help you to open a portal to another world. It is just too risky."

Twilight's ears stiffened and she frowned. "I see. Lady Eventide, I want to assure you I really just want to get home. If I can open a portal, I would not keep it open if you don't want further contact... even though that would be a pity. My mentor would understand this decision for sure. But why did you wait with the truth until my friends are gone? I am not keeping any secrets from them. They might have an idea how to do this on my own."

"They are Horde", said Lady Eventide simply. "They cannot be trusted as far as the High Council is concerned. But your species is unknown to us. That's why I need to evaluate you and your position before taking further steps."

Twilight shook her head, then started to pace around. "I don't get it! First you say that we won't get any help soon, then you grant me access to your books, then I won't get help after all and now you are saying 'before taking further steps'! If you do not or cannot help me, please just tell me. This constant change is starting to get me upset and when I'm upset it's hard to concentrate and how am I supposed to find a solution this way?!" She stopped in front of the Lady and stared at her with flaring nostrils.

"I am not allowed to help you with your request", said the elf, seemingly untouched by Twilight's display of irritation. "However, if you give me some time, I will still try and figure something out."

"I'm sorry", said Twilight and blushed as she realized her own behavior. "I guess I lost my temper for a moment."

Lady Eventide raised her hand and conjured up another glass orb. This time it was a red one and it was significantly smaller than the truth orb from before. It glowed and pulsated. Red and orange mists were dancing inside it. She gave the orb to Twilight and said, "I need to leave now but I will return tonight. If you have an urgent question, feel free to use this orb to contact me."

Twilight took the orb with her magic and levitated into her bag. "Thank you", she said.

The lady rose and bowed. "Have a good evening, Miss Sparkle."

She cast a spell and was gone before Twilight could answer.

- - -

After hours of reading, Twilight had learned a lot about portals in Azeroth. She discovered that most mages could cast simple portal spells that opened paths to the capital cities. She found short-ranged teleportation spells, also called Blinking Spells which didn't really help her since she was already able to do that.

Then she found a tome that described the opening of a giant dark portal to another world, followed by a bloody war between the invading orcs and the human kingdoms. The book did not describe the spell that had been used so it wasn't of any use either. It had some gory woodcut images which Twilight tried to overlook while flipping through the pages.

She kept searching and discovered more simple spells and history books on interdimensional wars. One book was about a blue-skinned bipedal species called the Draenei who used a vessel or "spaceship" to travel between worlds. They had crashlanded and, eventually, joined the Alliance. Since her resources were limited and she had no idea whether Azeroth was another planet or another dimension entirely, this option was out of the question.

Her search went on and on and it was getting late. Twilight was just starting to wonder when her friends would come back from their trip to the city center when she heard a pair of hooves and bony footsteps on the library floor.

She looked up and smiled sadly.

Tak and Priest waved at Twilight and beckoned her to join them for dinner.

As they sat down on the carpets, Twilight said, "Lady Eventide and I had an interesting talk after you left."

"Let me guess: She declined your request", said Priest harshly.

"Well", replied Twilight slowly, "kind of. She said Lady Proudmoore wouldn't help me but she would try to think of something anyway. I think I am beginning to get an idea why she hesitated."

"Hm", mumbled Tak, chewing slowly. "The Dark Portal?"

"Yes", confirmed Twilight. "The last time a really big portal got opened it lead to a terrible war and losses on all sides. Ever since there have been many wars involving demons, undead and all kinds of monsters, dangerous dragons and so on.

"Azeroth is almost falling apart and a new world connecting to this world so torn with war is... not exactly high on the Kirin Tor High Council's priority list. I can see that now. In fact, I can hardly understand how I could dare to ask for something like this in the first place." She hung her head.

"I think I might have... to face the fact... that I'm never going to s-see my home again. Or my friends."

Twilight started sobbing and turned away.