The Castle Canterlot:
Interlude 2
“Under the Princess’ gaze, do I swear to faithfully execute the Office of Speaker, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Equestrian Nation.”
—The Oath of Office for the Speaker of the House of Ladies
The peace that the Revered Speaker had managed to instigate did not last long. Shortly, the battle lines were drawn once more, right down the same lines they always were. The ever-present factions were once more taking hold as topics were discussed and solutions proposed, it was downright normal, all things considered.
Except, of course, for the dragon in the room. There was no princess. There had never not been a princess before. There were no contingencies for there not being a princess. Rule-by-committee was ‘working’ as far as it went, but it would not last. An empty throne called to be filled. Many could not but see themselves upon that seat, but others… a few particular ponies, went further, imagined how they would do things different… better… at least than those across the battle lines.
The day wore on, time marked only by the ticking clock. Fatigue and the lack of light wore on all and before long the crowd inside the throne room began to thin. There was, after all, only so much that could be done.
It was perhaps an hour before dinner when the tide changed.
Her Serene Highness, Goddess of Love, Sovereign of the Crystal City, Heir to the Lunar throne, Heir-Apparent to the Solar Throne, and Foalsitter to Twilight Sparkle, Princess Cadence Invictus appeared upon the Solar throne in a sharp crack and flash of magic. She did not stay long, saying only that in the morning, no matter the state of Sol, she would take her aunt’s place until such time as she returned. In the meantime, court was formally adjourned. With that, those who had remained, left, the princess leading the privy council to a private room while the rest simply went home for some much needed rest.
As final as her arrival might have seemed, it came hours too late . The seeds of doubt, already sown, sprouted deep roots, filling heads and dreams with the possibility that maybe, just maybe…
6938420
I know, right? If I could ignore that little bit of doubt, I'm sure I'd be making twice as much for half the work.
6961395
Because there's zero indication at any point that they rested, got hungry, or got lost, and several episodes in Season 4 (which came out before this chapter did) show that the castle isn't further than a couple hour walk from Ponyville at the most (and could easily be less than an hour via walking).
6962388
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. You cannot prove that they didn't get lost, only that the show did not explicitly display them getting lost.
As to the travel distance in later episodes, I highly doubt they took the same route, seeing as it would be rather silly to intentionally fall into a ravine.
6962553
Actually, in terms of fiction like this, absence of evidence often IS evidence of absence. This is not real life, where everything exists and is consistent no matter what the focus is, it's a story where the creators only show the most relevant and important parts. There's no evidence that they weren't abducted by aliens, kept in stasis for a month, and then mind-wiped, but does that mean I should consider it remotely plausible? No, and the same goes for them becoming hungry enough to need to eat, tired enough to need to rest, or getting significantly lost. These were not hardcore survivalists who would be able to live in an abnormally dangerous forest for days on end without preparation, they're young adults who were thrust into a sudden adventure the likes of which they had never been on before.
A different route that turns an hour-ish (or less, given how fast Twilight caught up to the others in S4E02 and escaped the Timberwolves in S5E26) trip into a half-dozen or multiple-day trip, when there's no indication of them getting noticeably lost? I don't think so. They might not have taken the 100% fastest and safest route, but being that close, the castle would be easily visible by simply going above the tree line, and Rainbow could check their position and bearings at any time they needed.
6962576
Why not? Sounds like an interesting start to a story.
This is exactly my point and why you are wrong. Everything that happens must be important to the story being told, thus all unimportant events are left out. Things like eating, drinking, and bathroom use are left out unless there is a point to it. What I am saying is, 'The story would not change whether it took them fifteen minutes or three days.'
Also (using your logic), Rainbow didn't or couldn't fly above the trees to find their bearings as she didn't do that in the show.
A few other points:
In their later trips, they already knew where the castle was and how to get there, making the trip much shorter.
The forest itself has become significantly different since finding the Tree of Harmony and returning the Elements, becoming less dark and foreboding.
Finally, with NMM actively acting to keep them away, she could have easily slowed them down in any number of ways that the show didn't have the time or desire to cover.
6965500
Them needing to rest, eating, or getting lost are absolutely important enough to at least be implied in some way, to show that the journey was long and arduous (beyond the hazards set by Nightmare Moon), but they weren't. Rainbow checking above the trees would only be important to show if they get lost, which they weren't implied to do; I only mentioned it as a way to show that them getting so lost that they took 2-10+ times longer than later excursions is essentially impossible.
There's also the fact that the Everfree Forest is dangerous, and the six mares are very inexperienced. For them to be in there for more than a couple hours, you have to think it's remotely plausible for them to not only have no problems getting food, no problems finding shelter, to coincidentally avoid everything too dangerous, and come out with no noticeable injuries whatsoever (Twilight was protected, but the other five weren't), but for them to do it for dozens of hours. It's a hard enough pill to swallow for them to completely escape harm for a couple hours, and assuming they were in there for ten times that makes it so much worse. These ponies were not hardened survivalists, who could find food and shelter in a dangerous forest like the Everfree; they're six young mares who have never done anything like that before. Take six random 20-something humans in real life, tell them to take a three day hike through a dense forest with wild wolves and bears with no food or shelter, and see just how many of them get through at all, let alone with no real injuries, exhaustion, or hunger.
Again, we were shown the attempts by Nightmare Moon to interfere; if she had done so in more ways, it would have been shown. In addition, there's absolutely nothing indicating that the forest became less foreboding after the elements were returned; the only effect bringing the elements back was shown to have was eliminating the plunder vines, and regardless, the tree still had it's magic during the events of Nightmare Moon's return.
The castle is close to Ponyville, extremely tall, and surrounded by a huge clearing. There is very little chance that any pony from Ponyville who could fly would not know where it was, and all six of the mane six already knew about the ruins. They didn't bother to look up where it was, bring any maps, or any such thing that would imply they weren't sure where it was, either.
6965853
You are utterly and completely wrong about the forest changing. Rewatch Castle-Mania.
For everything else you are taking assumptions and trying to state them as facts. Stop it. I am not saying that within the canon of the show, it took more than a few hours. What I am saying is that there is enough left unsaid that leaves open the possibility that it was far long.
6966471
I have rewatched Castle Mane-ia. Nothing there shows that the forest changed; the times they traveled in that episode were the only times we saw them go through the forest to the castle in the daytime, so it would naturally look different to every other time we saw said journey (which were either during the night, or during S4E02's day/night combo).
So am I; in my original post, I said "almost certainly", which is not 100%. However, it's close enough that it's definitely what the writers were going for, and in the context of the show's canon only, it's nearly impossible for it to have taken close to as long as in this story, which is where I was explaining Meh's assumption that Twilight & co took only a single night came from. It doesn't matter to me if this story has them take multiple nights instead.
Ahh man. Silly nobles and bureaucrats, getting ideas.