A Magical Odyssey

by Yoh_3

The Twelve Meet

Chapter 2
The Twelve Meet

Twilight Sparkle sat in the the largely empty main hall, reading an early essay penned by Starswirl the Bearded detailing his theory behind one of his most famous contributions to Pony society, the Animorphic spell. A read that Twilight herself would describe as interesting, if a bit dated. If any other pony were asked their opinion on the work their immediate reaction would probably be 'Starswirl the who-now?'

Rainbow Dash was one such pony. All six of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony had been summoned to Canterlot by Celestia with little to no reason why other then they had to meet a group from the kingdom of Alkarzar. The six had been herded into the main hall with assurances that the group should arrive in about 30 minutes. An hour and a half went past with no signs of the foreigners. Now, most of them had been able to busy themselves while waiting; Twilight with Starswirl's theory, Fluttershy and Pinkie with 873 games of tic tac toe (all won by Pinkie), Rarity with her drawing the newest design for her next dress. Applejack hadn't quite been so successful with finding something to distract her, however she was also able to sit quietly with the hope that the wait wouldn't be much longer. Rainbow Dash, however, after finishing the one Daring Do book she had brought, had swiftly grown irritated and taken to pacing, with frequent glances out the windows.

"Where in the Hoof are they!" Rainbow shouted, her last strand of patience frayed through.

Twilight looked up from her reading, a look of disapproval on her face. "Rainbow, Calm down. Just have patience and I'm sure they'll be here soon."

"I have been patient, for an hour and a half, now where are they. I mean, for Celestia's sake, there's so many other things we could be doing. I could be perfecting my newest, top secret trick. You, Twilight, could be... doing whatever egghead thing you do," a flush of annoyance crossed Twilight's face, "Applejack could be bucking her apples, Rarity could be making her dresses for whatever hoity-toity customer she has."

"Actually," Rarity interrupted, "Uppercrust just put in an order that darling new sundress, you know the purple one with the-"

"Yeah, whatever," Rainbow said, cutting off Rarity before she could continue, "and Fluttershy could be watching her animals, or whatever else she does, and Pinkie... Hey! Where's Pinkie?!"

Fluttershy looked up from where she had been considering her next move to see, that, indeed, Pinkie had disappeared without a trace. A few cursory glances from the five remaining ponies confirmed one thing. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen

---

A carriage plodded into Canerlot, one mismatched, obviously thrown together with unskilled hands, wheel clunking every couple of feet or so. The Carriage was being pulled by two ponies, who were readily identified as royal guards to Princess Celestia herself. The two guards appeared flustered, like they were terribly late to the party, and they were the guest of honor, or, at least, the ones being pulled in the carriage were.

Six humans sat in the carriage, six humans that anypony with working knowledge of countries outside of Equestria would be able to identify as mages of the kingdom Alkarzar. However, not many would able to name their importance to Alkarzar. These mages were widely recognized as the six most powerful mages of their generation back in their home country, the six personal students of King Asher. It was widely believed that all six would all be frontrunners to succeed King Asher when the time came. However, earlier that day, during their journey from the Capital of Alkarzar, Kilif, to Canterlot in fact, they all found out they were lousy as handymen.

In the carriage the six sat on opposite sides, three facing the other three. On one side sat Pastel, her face full of wonder as she stared out the window, sketching anything and everything she could. Next to her was Shade, who was attempting to reread Princess Celestia's letter to King Asher through squinted eyes gained after a couple sleepless nights. Next to him sat a mage in icy-blue robes, his white-blonde hair cut short. He breathed evenly as he read the letter over Shade's shoulder, his breath easily visible, like he was sitting in a climate much colder then Equestria on the verge of it's Summer Sun Celebration. This is Arctic, the oldest of the group. Across from him sat a young lady in a set of olive-green robes and hood. Her frizzy red hair was cut just above her shoulders. She stared, bored, out the window at the passing buildings and the ponies that stopped to stare, casually tapping her finger against the sill, a little bzzt sound issuing forth every other tap or so. Meet Sparks, the first of the mages to start her tutelage under King Asher. Across from Pastel sat another young lady, this time in dark blue robes. Her light brown hair looked like she had dunked her head into a pool of water and it had stayed wet permanently. She sat slumped forward slightly, a quiet snore escaping her lips. This is Torrent, and she doesn't say much. Finally, across from Shade, sandwiched between the two previously mentioned young ladies, sat a gentleman in orange-red robes. The air around him seemed stuffier and dryer, as if the air around him came from a house who's hearth had been kept lit when no one had been around. He had been impatiently tapping his foot for the last 20 minutes of their journey. This is Cinder, and he was not a happy camper

"Remind me, why are we doing this again?" Cinder asked, irritation evident in his voice.

Shade looked up from his reading, bleary eyed. "You've heard the letter, same as all of us, Cinder. Princess Celestia seems to have a theory about who stole The Solar Staff and, for some reason, she needs to see all of us in person."

"Yeah," Cinder said, crossing his arms, "but why? Why are we going to see the princess and these six ponies, why can't they just came to Kilif and tell us her theory there."

"Their Summer Sun Celebration is in two weeks," Arctic responded, "she can't just up and leave with such an important ceremony that close, just as King Asher couldn't if he was summoned when The Feast of Independence was a week away. Besides, our investigation back home has turned up nothing, we need as much help as we can get."

"But that's my point, Arctic," Cinder's irritation growing in his voice, "we should be back home looking for clues, not having some tea party with a pony princess while some second rate mage heads our investigation."

"You do know Track is heading the investigation while we're away, right?" Arctic inquired, a small smile sneaking it's way onto his face.

Cinder seemed to shrink a little bit. "T-track's the one heading that right now?" Cinder asked in a small voice. Arctic nodded while the others tried to keep their snickering under control. Cinder gulped and looked around, like he was making sure no one else was listening. "Y-you won't tell her I called her second-rate, right?" Torrent chuckled a bit, before performing a very good impression of a whip crack, flicking her finger at the same time. "Oh, shut it, Torrent." Cinder huffed, which caused everyone else to burst out laughing.

"Arctic's got a point, Cinder," Sparks said, after recovering from the giggling fit, "we do need all the help we can get, and the investigation's in safe hands with Track and Sentinel back home."

"I guess your right," Cinder conceded, "I'm still not happy about this though."

"You don't have to be happy about it," Shade said, trying to rub some tiredness out of his eye, "you just have to listen to what she has to say."

The carriage trundled to a stop in front of Canterlot Castle. "We're here, sirs and madams." One of the guards called into the carriage. Cinder was the first one up and out, muscling past Pastel and Torrent.

"Well," he said, opening the door, "let's go meet this-" he was suddenly cut off when a shower of streamers and confetti blindsided him, catching him completely off guard. A Pink Pony about half the size of him seemed to materialize of out of nowhere, her poofy, Candy Cotton like hair bouncing, the silliest looking smile ever plastered onto her face.

"Surprise!" she shouted, throwing even more confetti in a festive manner. The six mages were a bit confused to say the least.

---

Pinkie Pie bounced into the main hall to many a confused glance, smile still stuck on her face. Twilight was the first to speak up.

"Oh, there you are Pinkie, we were wondering where you we-" she stopped speaking when six unfamiliar creatures in robes followed Pinkie in. They all seemed to be staring at Pinkie with confusion, accept for the one in dark-blue robes, who seemed to be trying to stifle a little smile. All six froze in place when they noticed the other five ponies in the hall.

"Ahem," the gray robed creature cleared his throat, "um, hello, um, sorry if we're late, our, uh, wagon broke down, hit a rock the wrong way, and we're not exactly carpenters."

"Oh, it's no problem." Twilight replied, "So, I assume you're the mages from Alkarzar."

"You assume correctly," he smiled, "My name is Shade," he pointed to himself, "and these," he motioned to the other mages, "are my friends. This is Pastel," Shade indicated the young lady in the yellow robes.

"Hiya." Pastel waved.

"Arctic," Icy-blue,

"Greetings." Arctic muttered.

"Sparks," Olive-green,

"How ya' doing?"

"Torrent," Dark-blue,

Torrent, for her part, just giggled and waved.

"and Cinder." Orange-red,

"Yeah, whatever." Cinder growled flippantly. Rainbow Dash arched her eyebrow at Cinder's response, which Cinder returned.

"It's nice to meet you all." Twilight said, ignoring the silent exchange between Rainbow and the red robed mage. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," Cinder let out a little laugh, which earned him a elbow to the ribs from Arctic and a glare from Rainbow Dash. "and this is Applejack,"

"Howdy." The orange cow-pony tipped her hat.

"Rarity,"

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Fluttershy,"

"Um, hello." The little yellow Pegasus tried to make herself as little as possible.

"I think you've all met Pinkie Pie,"

"Oh, yeah," Shade laughed, "by the way, Pastel, you still have a bit of confetti in your hair."

"Oh, really?" Pastel shook out her hair, causing a couple slips of confetti to fall from it.

"You got it."

Twilight laughed before finishing up, "and Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, hi." Rainbow continued to glare at Cinder.

"So, can you tell us why Celestia called us here?" Twilight pried.

The six mages shared a confused glance. "You mean," Arctic started, "she hasn't told you yet?"

"Pray tell, what hasn't she told us?" Rarity said, her air of dignity adding a bit more weight to the question.

"That she had a theory about who stole The Solar Staff."

"The Solar Staff has been stolen!?" Twilight suddenly shouted, causing everyone to jump. Her five friends stared at her, confused. They had little knowledge of Alkarzar between them, and none of them had any idea of what this 'Solar Staff' was.

"Indeed it has." The Ponies and mages turned to find that Celestia, crown Princess of Equestria, had slipped in with no one noticing. All of them kneeled, slightly embarrassed that they hadn't seen her at all. "And I'm sure that you all have many questions, but seeing how it is nearly noon, and I'm assuming that none you have eaten, I think it would be a good idea for me to explain the situation to my subjects and my theory to you over lunch."

"That's kind of you to offer, your Majesty-" Shade started, raising up.

"Just Celestia will do." Celestia interrupted.

"Celestia," Shade amended, "but we would like it very much if we could get back to our search as soon as possible, and I don't think any of us is particularly hungry." As if just to contradict him, a growl emanated from the stomachs of the five other assembled mages. Shade glanced back, and annoyed expression on his face. "You tell your stomachs," he said, completely seriously, "to keep out of this." All the assembled Ponies and mages burst out in a jolly laugh, sucking out all the seriousness that may have been left in the room.

"I can appreciate that you want to get back to your search," Celestia said, stifling a grin, "however, I must insist you stay for lunch." With that, the regal princess turned and walked out of the room. Shade shot a glance at Twilight, who just shrugged her shoulders and followed her princess out, her five friends following her. After a moment hesitation the six mages followed suit.

---

The mages and ponies found themselves seated around the table in the formal dining room. The lunch had been slightly more vegetarian than the mages were used to, but they still enjoyed it none the less. Celestia had just finished explaining the situation to the six ponies, with an occasional interjection from one of the mages.

"So let me get this straight." Applejack said, adjusting her hat. "This Solar Staff, an important artifact to your home and a gift to Equestria, was stolen two days ago? You two," Applejack motioned towards Shade and Pastel, "were attacked by the varmints that stole it while you were guarding it?"

"Uh-huh," Shade confirmed, "I was there to relieve the previous guard for the night, and an hour later Torrent would've relieved me. 'Course, Cinder was supposed to be guarding the staff at the time, not Pastel." Shade shot Cinder an annoyed glare.

Cinder scratched the back of his head and shied away from Shade's glare. "I said I was sorry." Cinder muttered.

"Anyway," Twilight said, bringing attention back to what they had been discussing, "after securing the castle, you launched and investigation which, as of yet, has turned up no clues?"

"Other than they were obviously Humans with Equine accomplices, pretty much." Sparks said.

"Which," Shade said, turning his attention to Celestia, "brings us to why we're here. You said that you had a theory of some kind and that these six," Shade motioned towards the ponies, "would somehow help us find The Solar Staff."

"Yes I do, however I would like to hear a couple of leads you might have turned up." Celestia said, her voice betraying nothing.

"Oh," Shade was slightly taken aback, "well, one of the first theories was that Equestria was involved somehow." There was an outcry from the six ponies.

"It got shot down pretty quickly though." Arctic added, quelling their hosts.

"Yeah," Pastel continued, "it just didn't make sense. I mean, why steal something that you're going to get in a couple days anyway?"

"Exactly." Shade said. "The next theory was that this was some kinda inside job. That one some of our mages, for one reason or another, stole the staff, hiring some random ponies for a getaway."

"But," Sparks said, holding up a finger, "we went through our records, and all the individuals with similar talents that the intruders displayed all had watertight alibis. We were in middle of trying to form another one, when we got your summons."

Celestia had leaned back, eyes closed, nodding her head while they had explained their flawed previous theories. When they finished she cracked her eyes open just a little bit. "All the theories would make sense, if it wasn't for the evidence to the contrary, however, you seem to be ignoring a more... obvious explanation."

The non-celestial attendees shared a glance.

"A more obvious one... princess?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, a group that would hold a grudge with your country, one that hasn't held a particularly friendly relationship with ours." Celestia said, setting the idea in front of them.

Shade closed his eyes in concentration at the same time the lavender unicorn did. They thought for a minute before both their eyes snapped up, an epiphany dawning on both of them at the same time.

"Shangdai!" they said in unison. Their respective friends gave them inquisitive looks.

"Shangdai?" Arctic asked.

"Yeah, Shangdai." Shade said, a plan already forming in his head. "25 years ago it's a magical powerhouse, Alkarzar being one of it's important colonies, not only for its resources, but for any military operation. It's self sustainable, it's got easily guarded borders, and easy accesses to many of it's old enemies. Suddenly, there's a revolt in the perfect colony. People born and raised there sick of not having any say in how it's governed. So what, it's a rebellion fueled by mostly farmers and peasants. Not a whole lot of skilled combat mages in that lot. It was predicted that the rebellion would be squashed just like that." Shade snapped his fingers for emphasis. "For the most part, that looked exactly like how it was going to go down."

"But," Arctic said, seeing where Shade was going with this, "someone pops up right at the projected end of the war, The Battle of Evergreen. A certain mage in pristine white robes appears, in his hands he holds a staff topped with a fiery red ruby. The officials probably laughed it off, some peasant whose trying to make some kinda big showing. Suddenly this 'peasant' fires off a beam of white hot energy that takes out half of the Shangdai forces. They are stunned. They see this mage getting ready to fire off another one. They want nothing to do with that. They take off running, tails firmly between their legs. This mage turns out to be the future king of Alkarzar, Solar. Just two months after the battle all semblance of Shangdai is forced out of Alkarzar, leaves Solar king, and gives Shangdai a hell of a reason to hate Alkarzar. Without Alkarzar, they're forced to tone down their ambitions, leaving them much less powerful than they were before. Any old blood would be left seething after that."

"And, I don't mean to butt in here," Pastel added, "that mage that nearly took Shade's head off the other night gave off a distinctly old blood feel, if I do say so myself."

"There's something else to take into consideration." Twilight said, inserting herself into the mage dominated discussion, "Shangdai and Equestria has always had a notoriously poor relationship with each other. So our two countries recent correspondence might come across as a slap in the face to them. The agreement to give us The Solar Staff might have been the last straw. Not wanting such a powerful item to fall into the hands of someone they see as their enemies, they might have taken the chance to steal The Solar Staff, perhaps hiring the ponies to throw us off their trails. Plus, from what I've read, the current prince of Shangdai, Steel, served as the general at The Battle of Evergreen."

Sparks coughed then, bringing them out of their formation of the theory. "Okay, so we've got a motive for Shangdai, possibly a grudge, possibly sanctioned by the prince himself, however, we're missing something right now. Evidence."

Shade groaned, rubbing his chin. "Solar's Robes you're right. But we've exhausted our search back in Kilif, we'd have to continue our investigation in Shangdai if we wanted to get anywhere."

"Well that shouldn't be to big of a problem," Cinder grunted, "we'll just request that we continue our investigation in Shangdai, and if they refuse then we can take a pretty good guess why."

"Not good enough," Shade said, "if we do request that they'll know that we're suspicious, meaning they can take whatever move with The Solar Staff they may have done anyway, or if they do allow us to investigate they have ample warning, allowing them to hide any sort of incriminating evidence. No, we have to get into Shangdai without anyone being the wiser, to get into Shangdai undetected we'd have to head right through the heart of the Everfree Forest, then through The Terra Mountains. The mountains are bad enough, but the we'd never make it through that ever twisting and ever treacherous maze that calls its self a forest without some kinda guide."

"Which," Celestia said, breaking the silence that she'd occupied since setting the original idea before them, "brings us to why my personal student and her friends are here." The six mages glanced at her, questions in their eyes. "I'm sure you remember when my sister returned a couple years ago."

Cinder snorted, "Oh yeah, we remember. A insane Alicorn trying to plunge the world into eternal night isn't something you just forget about in a couple weeks. King Asher was this close to sending in the troops, when, out of the blue, the sun just comes up. The only reason why I got was that Luna got cured of whatever madness had over taken her."

"Well, what you weren't told, was that six courageous ponies journeyed into the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements of Harmony, which they then used to cure my sister." The was a bit of shuffling from the six ponies, various levels of bashfulness on their faces. A spark of recognition played across Shade's eyes.

"By Solar's Crown, I can't believe I didn't recognize you. You six, you're the Elements of Harmony. The ones that cured Luna two years ago, the ones that banished Discord nearly a year ago, the ones that sent the Changelings and their queen packing just three months ago. It's an honor to meet you all."

Twilight cleared her throat, trying to overcome the embarrassment. "Really, we're more like the wielders then the actual Elements. Also that last one was more my brother and his wife, Cadence."

Shade smiled at their modesty. "Well, it's still an honor to meet you."

"Okay," Cinder said, clearly not as impressed as Shade, "so they have an admittedly good track record, how exactly are they going to help get into Shangdai?"

"Wait," Arctic muttered, "you said that they've been in the Everfree Forest, right?"

Celestia nodded, a small smile on her lips.

"Y-you want them to be our guides, don't you?" Pastel asked. The eyes of the six ponies popped open wide and they glanced towards their princess.

"Only if you and they have no qualms."

The six mages sat considering for a minute. "Well," Arctic said, his eyes closed "we definitely need to get through the forest."

"And," Shade added, "we'd look less suspicious with them then if we just showed up by ourselves."

"So," Celestia said, "I assume you'll accept their help."

"Only if they're willing to extend it." Pastel said.

The ponies shared a quick look and a nod before returning their attention to the mages.

"Well shoot," Applejack drawled, "we're always willing to help folks in need."

"Plus," Rainbow added "if this Solar Staff is as dangerous as you say it is, you're going to need our help."

"Thanks, I think." Cinder said, arching his eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

"But," Twilight said, holding up her hoof, "we need to stop by Ponyville to prepare first."

"That's probably for the better, none of us are really packed for a long trip. By the way, we're going to need some supplies, hope that's not to much trouble." Shade said.

"Oh, no trouble at all darling," Rarity assured, "in fact, I've been working on a travel bag designed for humans, all of you will be perfect to test them."

"Okay, wait a minute," Cinder called, bringing attention to himself, "what in the name of Solar's crown are we doing, just sitting here, when we should be getting ready to sneak into Shangdai?"

"He has a point." Sparks said, getting up.

"That he does." Shade agreed, raising up himself. Shade turned towards Princess Celestia and bowed. "Thank you Princess Celestia, for all your help."

"You are most welcome. I wish you luck on you journey." Celestia said. Shade nodded his thanks before turning and walking out of the room, his comrades in tow. "Oh, and Twilight," Celestia said, as Twilight and her friends got up to follow. Twilight turned towards her, a question in her eye. "Stay Safe." was all Celestia said.

"I will, Princess." Twilight said, before following her friends out of the room.

---

Shade and his friends had been left waiting at the fountain in the town square of Ponyville while Twilight and the others had set off to prepare. They'd arrived to a few stares and a bit of muttering, but much of the town had moved on after a couple minutes. Shade was standing there, feeling like he'd forgotten something, when Pastel whispered to him.

"Hey, Shade." Pastel was looking down at her sketch pad, where she was drawing, in fine detail, the town hall about 20 feet away.

"Yes?" Shade replied.

"There's a green unicorn over there. I think she has a lyre for a cutiemark."

"Yeah, so what?" Shade asked, confused.

"Well, she's been staring at us for about ten minutes now."

Shade glanced up to see that, indeed, there was a green unicorn with a lyre cutimark. She was also, indeed staring at them, with the strangest look of joyous rapture on her face. She was standing next a mare with a white coat and a blue and pink mane. She happened to have a particularity embarrassed look on her face.

"So there is. What do you think she wants?"

"I don't know." Pastel said, not looking up. "Try waving at her."

Shade waved, half-heartedly, at the green unicorn. She proceed to faint with the most blissful look on he face. Her friend sighed and started dragging her away.

"That was weird." Arctic muttered.

"Yeah." Shade said, still a bit confused. "Hey, do you guys feel like we're forgetting something?"

"Well," Arctic said, an unsure look crossing his face, "now that you mention it yeah. Almost like we were supposed to write something."

Shade smacked his forehead as the realization came to him. "Oh by Solar's Robes, we forgot to write our report to King Asher." The other five mages groaned. It had been drilled into their heads at a young age to always report back to King Asher and they'd totally forgotten.

"Hey, Torrent," Cinder sighed, "you won't mind writing the report, will you?" The other mage just shook her head before producing a piece of paper and a quill from her sleeve arm. She started explaining the situation and their plan to the king. That's when the six ponies came back. They all had saddle bags slug across their backs, their buckles resembling the cutiemarks of their respective owner. Behind Twilight floated six identical messenger bags.

"Okay," Twilight said, "this should be all that you should need." The six bags floated over to their respective mage, where they were casually grabbed and slung over their shoulders. "They have enough food and water for seven days, basic survival equipment, and a guide to the flora and fauna known to be found in the Everfree forest."

"Right," Cinder said, adjusting the strap on his bag, "hey, Torrent, hows that report coming?"

Her only answer was pull her wand out, something that looked like it had been fitted together using conflicting pieces of wood, and touching the report, it disappearing in a flash of light.

"Good," Arctic remarked, rubbing his hands together, "well, if that's everything, I think we should be on our way." Arctic moved to take a step away.

"Hold your horses," Applejack barked, "I know that they're probably traditional and all, but you folks really shouldn't be traipsing around in the forest in those robes."

Six mages glanced down at their floor length robes and then back to each other. Then, confusing the ponies, they started laughing.

"Oh man," Arctic laughed, "we're forgetting everything today, aren't we?"

"Oh yeah," Shade said, before gripping the collar of his robes with both hands, "on the count of three?"

"Sounds like a plan." Pastel said, doing the same with her robes. The other 4 mages followed suit.

"One..." all the mages, except for Shade closed their eyes, "two..." Shade closed his eyes, "three..." there was a flash of light. When the ponies worked the spot of their eyes, they could see that the robes the mages had been wearing were replaced with comfortable looking traveling cloaks, all of them the same color as the robes they had previously worn. They noticed that all of the mages wore a leather chest plate under their cloaks, but they decided not to comment on that.

"Marvelous," Rarity said, amazement in her voice, "however did you create a set of robes that could change into cloaks at will?"

"Well," Sparks said, "we didn't. These are actually the creation of the royal seamstress, Stitch. We don't quite know how she did it, but she did. All we have to do is feed a bit of magic into them, and, poof, they change."

"Oh, I simply must know how she does it." Rarity declared.

"She'd probably be willing to show you how, you know, if you ever meet her."

"So," Shade said, halting the fashion talk before it could continue, "is there any more objections before we start?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nope, you folks look ready to take on the Everfree forest."

"Good," Shade said, turning, "then let's get this show on the road." With that he took a step forward, one step closer to finding The Solar Staff.

---Author's Notes---

I'd like to preemptively thank the new editor for this story, Longshot, he has already given me some good advice and I'm sure he'll continue to do so.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a book about Abraham Lincoln slaying vampires to read.