My Little Pony: Quest for the Forbidden temple

by IceStorm

Chapter 1: It begins

The following morning, Princess Celestia raised the sun from Golden Oaks Library, and Ice Storm was one of the first ponies otherwise to awaken. She looked out to look at the awakening sky that dawn was bringing forth, and the weight of the task had started to sink in. Princess Celestia, the ruler of the Equestria, had just placed the fate of the entire ponydom in her hooves. She looked to the winds that blew through some of the trees outside. The branches swayed and creaked as they gusted around them.

“I guess everything is up to me now. Finding the right ponies, and finding the best way through the forest without losing anypony in the process,” she spoke to herself in a moderately serious tone. “I just hope that this doesn’t end up being a mistake… there are many more qualified than I to undertake something like this…” She finished as glanced around the library. As she did, there were a few ponies that stood out to her.

The first pony that stood out was a blue pegasi, one that was much darker of a blue than her own. She seemed to be very muscular, but that wasn’t what attracted the icy mare to her. No, Ice Storm was more focused on the very heavy plate armor that the mare wore that was held together by scale mail. Each plate was made out of a bright white piece of iron, and it looked as if each one had been outlined in gold. The centerpiece of the armor was a large gold and white breastplate that had a winged shield as the crest in the center, and the pegasi’s wings were covered in a similar armor, but were forged to have what appeared to be blades at the wing crests. This mare looked like she had definitely seen a lot of front-line fighting in her time, and would be somepony worth having on the team. Ice Storm approached the mare.

“Before you ask, I was already planning on coming with you,” The armored mare spoke as she got close. “My little sister… She is… one of the tragedies of this accursed wind so far, and I’m not about to let something like this remain at large. My honor as a Greyhoove will not allow it,” she spoke before looking at the icy mare. “My name is Iron Wing Greyhoove, Night Guardian from the Ponyville watch tower. I am to presume that from what I gathered from what Princess Celestia said last night; you are Ice Storm, and an ice mage yes?” Iron Wing asked, more for conformation than anything.

Ice Storm nodded. “Thank you. I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to face, so I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure either. I just got transferred here from a small village outside Hoofington not too long ago. I haven’t really had time to learn the area that well yet” Iron Wing stated in a simple tone. “That being said, I am ready to leave whenever you are. Just give the order, and I will follow.”

That comment made Ice a bit more uneasy than before. Did she really want to be the one controlled everything? It was an enormous weight that was placed on her and she could only hope that all the weights didn’t eventually break her. She was of course, but only one mare. How could everypony be so sure that she would have all the answers when she herself was sure that she had any at all? “Alright… get a grip of yourself. Celestia thinks you can do this… and the armored one is willing to follow, so you don’t have anything to worry about. Just get a few more ponies and we’ll be okay…” she thought aloud to herself.

About that time another blue pegasi came over. This one had red shield as his cutie mark with a gold outline and a white start in the center of it. “I would like to join you for this quest as well. While I personally don’t have any pony in particular that I would be fighting for, fighting for everypony who can’t is enough for me,” the stallion said to her in a proud voice extending a hoof. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Storm. I am Alex Knight, run of the mill Ponyville weather Pony.”

“Likewise. As I was telling the mare over there, I can use all the help I can get. This isn’t something that I’m one hundred percent certain about myself, so the more ponies that I have that are willing to help, the better,” Ice Storm explained as she looked around to see another unicorn stirring and seeming to get supplies together. The unicorn seed to have a goldenrod colored coat and just barely a lighter shade of such for his mane and tail. His cutie mark was a golden eight point star with two spots in between each point with the exception of the one closest to his flank. She walked over to him. “Hello, my name is Ice Storm, am I to presume that you are coming as well since you are awake so early?”

“Well, yes. My name is Daylight, and I am a private investigator from Manehatten. I was actually just passing through Ponyville on the way to Las Pegasus in order to work on a few leads out there for a few clients of mine. I must say though, whatever is causing so much of a disturbance as locking ponies in a coma, is worth far more of an investigation than a few petty thefts or attempts at blackmail,” the unicorn responded.

Ice couldn’t really blame him. Of course, it was impossible for her to tell exactly what it was he was capable of. However, if he was some sort of investigator, then perhaps his keep eye would be able to pick up on hints to where the elusive temple was hiding. Of course, having a keen eye would help in just about any situation that they could be in during their travel through the forest. She looked back towards the other two began contemplating how to best handle everything. “Hmm. Alright, Iron Wing, Alex, and Daylight, I’m heading to the crest of the hilltop on the lone path that leads into the forest. I will begin looking over and planning things there. Whenever you have finished getting ready, meet me there,” she stated.

“I am ready to depart now. The more time we waste getting ready is less time we have to get this done,” Iron Wing retorted also making her way towards the door of the Library. “That being said, I agree we should take our planning outside where we have a bit more room to work with…” she said looking around to all of the ponies who were groggily beginning to wake up. “No doubt it will start getting a bit… cramped in here soon,” she finished.

“I am right behind you as well Ms. Storm. I already have everything I need,” Alex said while moving towards the door as well.

“Likewise,” the goldenrod unicorn stated as he now stood in front of her as well.

“Alright then,” Ice stated putting her saddle bags on. “Let’s get moving,” she said leading them out of the library.

The streets of Ponyville were just as eerily quiet as they were the day before. In fact, if anypony didn’t know better, one would have suspected that Ponyville had been completely deserted and was now nothing but a ghost town. “A thought that may be true if we don’t succeed…” Ice muttered under her breath. There were still a few gusts of wind that whenever they blew by, mad Ice Storm, and the rest of the group a bit uneasy. As far as they knew, every gust of wind contained the dangerous winds that could permanently encase ponies in a deep sleep. It wasn’t something that they took lightly too. They may be immune to it for now, but they knew that the ponies that they were on this mission for weren’t.

Once they were at the top of the hill, Ice Storm took the map with the circled region out of her saddle bag and she began to look everything over. “Alright, so, taking a look at this… I believe that the safest route possible is to go through the old Moon Palace first. It's a sturdy place of shelter that is surrounded by a cliff side all the way around. It has multiple layers of security for us, and will give us time to decide what to do next. The area that Celestia circled is rather large, and we will need some extra time to try to figure out the best way of finding something that, for all we know, could look like anything.” She stated.

“Otherwise, it would guide us directly through Froggy Bottom Bog. Unless somepony that I'm not aware of has gotten that Hydra that lives there out, that's not an option. Then of course, if we go the longer way, directly to the west we risk running into the Ursas. Personally, I don't want to go any closer to those things than I have to. Unless anypony else knows a way that I didn’t think of, I think going to the Moon Palace is the best option.” Ice finished.

“That sounds like a solid plan. Although, I don't know much about this Moon Palace. Is it connected with Princess Luna?" Alex asked her.

“To my knowledge, it's actually connected to both princesses. If my memory serves me correctly, it's where Princess Luna and Princess Celestia lived before Luna's banishment. I never did ask Luna why her sister left the Moon Palace, but then again, that was a part of Luna's past that I'd rather not have to make her retell. It was bad enough for her to live through it once and still, a millennium later, be suffering the consequences from it. I would love to go much further into detail about Princess Luna herself and how different she is from everypony's blatantly misconstrued beliefs of her, but that can wait until we are in a safer position and once we've gotten some dirt behind us,” she concluded waiting for everypony else to speak up.

Iron just kind of gave the unicorn a raised eyebrow when she started speaking of the princess. "Well, it looks like you have good knowledge about this place and it´s dangers. Since, as I mentioned in the library, I don´t know that much about this area. So, I will trust you. Also your plan sounds very well thought out. This Moon Palace may be a good landmark. If somepony gets lost we can meet at the palace to regroup. Just one tactical suggestion: I don´t know you’re the extent abilities at all, but I think the strong ponies should protect the front and the back of the group." Iron Wing suggested, trying to keep a tactical advantage. Daylight seemed to agree with the mare on both fronts.

“Speaking of that fact,” Daylight mentioned in reference to what Iron Wing had said. “We should probably inform everypony of what our abilities are and to what extent they are at so that we know what we have…” Daylight started getting caught off by a voice from behind them.

“Wait!!” a rather quick green stallion yelled as he tried to catch up to the group. “Sorry I’m late! I would have been here sooner but well…” the green stallion mentioned thinking back to his family, all of whom currently being affecting by the curse that the winds had placed on them. “I couldn’t really do anything without making sure my family was okay first. I don’t really know how I can be of much help, but I will help in any way that I can,” he finished. “Oh, the name’s Electrobolt, by the way.”
“I completely understand,” Ice sympathized with the earth pony. Of course, she didn’t really have anything of a family to check on other than her mother in Canterlot. If Celestia was here though, she was fairly certain that she was fine. She doubted that Celestia would leave Canterlot completely unattended. She then turned to Iron, Alex and Daylight again. “I agree, we should all explain what our strengths are so that we can play to them effectively. My personal strength is my namesake. As long as it is ice related, I can pretty much do whatever I need to with it. I also know how to materialize it using the water that’s naturally in the air and around us,” she explained.

“Well, as you can all see I am wearing a huge armor. That’s not just for show. I was trained within the Canterlot garrison as a guard. I know military tactics, scouting and combat. But my specialty is my strength. I can lift huge weights into the air because I trained for years on construction sites. Even with this armor on I can fly with full potential, but I am not a fast flier." Iron Wing told them.

“And my special talent is creating light, although I can provide healing as well should the need arise for me to do so. To what extent I cannot say as I have never actually pushed the limits on my healing magic, but as far as a light goes, I can keep a light on for a decent amount of time before I need rest,” Daylight mentioned.

“I'm pretty quick on my hooves myself, and even faster in the air. I can take the back to cover everypony. I've taken my share of licks in the past back when I was just a colt in Fillydelphia.” Alex explained to everypony, getting a nod from the group.

“I'm pretty good on my hooves, and my reflexes aren't all that bad, either but… that’s about everything that I have…” Electrobolt added.

“Hey, don’t worry about anything. After all, having a pony that is light and nimble is an advantage regardless of the situation. This will probably be especially important once we actually find and get to the temple so that’s exactly what we need,” Ice smiled at the stallion trying to encourage him. Looking at everypony else she took on a bit more of a serious tone.

“Alright then. Alex, as you requested, you will be following behind us and watching our flanks. Iron Wing, due to your suggestion earlier I would like you to be in front of me as we march through. Daylight, you will be on my left and Electrobolt on the right. I will take the center since I’m the one with both the compass and the map, and it would be the easiest place for me to be heard from regarding navigation,” she explained, giving everypony the formation that she wanted to move in.

“Oh, and before I forget, we will eventually have to cross a river, and if I remember from speaking with Rarity, there is a sea serpent that lives in the river. As long as we are nice to him, we shouldn’t have any issues crossing though, and we might even be able to convince him to watch our flanks once we’re past. That being said, if unless anypony else has any objections and everypony else is ready, Iron Wing… Take us in.” With there being no other objections, the group started moving towards the forest, and passing through the treeline.