7. Of Wizards, Shards and Glowing Peaks
As consciousness and feeling began to slowly seep back in Twilight’s body, the first thing she was aware of was the warmth of sunlight on her fur. It must be dawn, she thought to herself. The next sensation she noticed was the dryness of her mouth. Licking her lips, as if to seek out any moisture remaining, she at last forced her eyes open and raised her head. “Ugh, my head’s pounding…”
“You did hit your head rather hard,” said a comforting voice somewhere nearby. “Here, drink up.”
A canteen of water hovered into her view, enveloped in a yellow aura of magic. Twilight graciously accepted it, greedily gulping the cool water down. Once her thirst was satisfied, she passed the now half-empty canteen back and stood up.
“Better?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Starswirl…”
Then, her voice caught in her throat. Finally her vision cleared and she saw her friends anxiously gathered around her. Once they saw recognition shining in her eyes, they relaxed and smiled. But it was the pony in the middle that caught her attention and rendered her speechless.
Starswirl the Bearded smiled at her. “Good morning, young miss Twilight.”
The unicorn blinked. She blinked again. And again, and yet, the image of the stallion that stood before her, impossible as he was, refused to waver or fade. Her knees began to wobble as she fought the urge to collapse again.
“Woah now! Easy now, Twi,” Applejack cried as she leapt forwards and caught the pony on her shoulder before she could flop down on the ground.
“B-but… that’s impossible! You can’t be here,” Twilight babbled as she found her footing once more. “You’re Starswirl the Bearded! The greatest conjurer of the pre-classical era! Founder of over two hundred spells!”
“You clearly know your history,” he replied as he sat down by a small campfire off to the side, placing his pointed hat on the ground beside him.
“But you’re dead!”
Starswirl looked up at Twilight, his wrinkled face betraying nothing.
“Sorry… But still, you’ve been dead for more than a thousand years,” muttered Twilight as she deftly approached the old stallion. His only reaction was a calm smile.
“Indeed. And yet, here I sit for all the world to see. Equestria is a strange place, is it not?”
Applejack came to join them, standing between Twilight and Starswirl.”Sure as sugar it’s strange. But I’ve never heard of somepony from hundreds of years ago suddenly comin’ back to life.”
“Yeah, how can we be sure you’re the real Starswirl?” Rainbow joined in.
The stallion was unfazed, however. “Well, feel free to interrogate me until you are satisfied that I am who I am.”
Twilight delved deep into her mind, seeking out the most obscure, unknown thing she had learned about the great unicorn scholar. Not something from a book however: anypony could pick up a book and study the history of Starswirl. No, instead she thought back to her study sessions with Princess Celestia. Having been a personal friend of the ancient wizard, the Princess had told plenty of stories that nopony but herself would have known. Including a few rather embarrassing titbits about him.
“Okay, if you really are Starswirl the Bearded… What was Princess Luna’s nickname for you?”
He tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment, before answering, somewhat hesitantly, “I believe it was…uh, ‘Hairy Potter’, referring to my beard and my studies of amniomorphic spells, was it not?”
Twilight nodded dumbly. “Yeah…that’s correct.”
In the brief silence that followed as the unicorn tried to wrap her head around the indisputable fact that a unicorn that had been dead centuries ago was sitting before her, Pinkie Pie jumped past her and plopped herself down next to Starswirl.
“Ooh, so that must mean you’re, like, a bazillion years old or something! What’s that like? I mean, Granny Smith is the oldest pony I know before you, but you don’t actually look as old as her. What was Equestria like hundreds of years ago? Did they have ice-cream back then? What kind of music did you have…” the hyperactive mare rambled on until Starswirl firmly put his hoof to her mouth.
“I shall answer your last questions first. Music of my day was usually very simple, all flutes and drums and lutes… though I could never quite understand how ponies could play a lute with hooves. No, as I recall we did not have anything called ice-cream, though the name intrigues me. If you have any, I wouldn’t mind trying it,” the old pony replied rapidly. “As for being a…ahem, bazillion years old as you so eloquently put it, that’s a frank overstatement. At best, I’d say I am around a thousand, one hundred and ninety years old, if we are including the years between my death and now.”
“Eleven-hundred and ninety? Land sakes, I hope I look that good when I’m that old!” joked Applejack, before returning to tending the slowly recovering Twilight. “Ya okay there Twi?”
Twilight nodded and moved to sit down across the fire from Starswirl. “Alright, so we know it’s you. It may not make a lot of sense, but that’s the fact of the matter. So, my question is, why are you here?”
Starswirl absentmindedly stroked his beard for a moment before saying, “You best all sit down. And perhaps get yourselves some breakfast. This may take a while.”
The six ponies obediently sat down in a circle around the now dwindling campfire. Twilight smothered the dying flames with a clump of dirt before conjuring up one of her own magical fires. As they sliced up their last small loaves of bread for toast and chopped up a couple of apples to share, Starswirl told his story:
“I suppose first of all I should tell you, Twilight Sparkle, that your departure from Canterlot did not go unnoticed. Her majesty Princess Celestia is fully aware of your quest, and what you are seeking.”
Twilight gulped. “Oh…Um, she’s not… angry or anything, is she? That I went off without telling her first?”
The old unicorn shook his head. “No, not at all. In fact, she rather envies you for some of the things you will see on this quest. And I must agree with her,” he added with a wistful look at the surrounding area. “The lands this far north are quite lovely, especially this time of year.”
He paused a moment to accept a slice of bread and a few segments of apple from Fluttershy, who sat on his left. “Ah, thank you very much, Miss...?”
“Oh, um…” Fluttershy stammered and stumbled timidly on her words, to nopony’s surprise. “I-I’m Fluttersh…”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Erm… It’s F-flutter…
Starswirl batted at his ear with a hoof. “Oh dear, is my age catching up with my hearing?”
“Her name is Fluttershy,” Rarity helpfully said.
“Ah, I see. Well, thank you very much, Miss Fluttershy.” Starswirl finished. The only reply Fluttershy could muster was a near-silent squeak.
He hastily cleared his throat and continued. “Well then, as I was saying, you can relax, miss Twilight. Celestia is not angry at you. But she is a tad worried.”
“About what?” Twilight asked, leaning forwards slightly.
“She’s worried about what you might run into out here.”
“Heh, why’s she worried?” Rainbow Dash said, proudly thrusting out her chest. “We’ve faced plenty of nasty stuff around Equestria, and we’ve kicked the flanks of every single one of ‘em!”
Starswirl’s face became grim. “Because what she is worried about is not from Equestria. Something has emerged from lands far to the South. Something that she thought defeated and imprisoned for all eternity.”
“Yeah, no offence to the Princesses, but they’ve got a bit of a bad record for imprisoning ancient evils,” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
Twilight shot her a silencing glare before turning back to Starswirl. “Go on, continue.”
“Anywho, I trust that if you are seeking out the Tears of Gaia, that you have read my writings on the subject?”
Twilight nodded. Starswirl continued, “Then you will remember the events that led to them being formed, I presume?”
“Yeah, the war against the Draconequi and the coming of the…” But Twilight trailed off as realisation hit her like a comically oversized mallet. “You mean… the Blight?”
Starswirl nodded solemnly. “Indeed. The Princesses have come to the conclusion that somehow, the Blight has regained much of its former strength, and is on the move once more.”
“But where could it have been for the last thousands of years?” asked Rarity.
Starswirl replied, “As I recall, it was trapped with Discord when he was first imprisoned. However, the Princesses did tell me that Discord did recently break free, which is a troubling thought in itself.”
“But we turned him back to stone!” Rainbow countered. “That creep’s an ornament in the Canterlot gardens now!”
He took a bite from his slice of toast, munching on it thoughtfully, before continuing. “Yes, but Discord and the Blight are not one and the same. Discord was only its host. I can only guess, but I’d guess that when you were about to turn him back to stone, the Blight fled his body. I suppose that brings us up to now,” he finished, sitting back.
“And now, this Blight thing’s back,” muttered Applejack. “Hey Starswirl… one thing I never quite got, what exactly is the Blight s’posed to be, anyway?”
“Nopony knows for sure.” Starswirl replied. “The only ponies around who still remember it are the Princesses themselves, and as much as I have tried they refuse to go into great detail about it. As best I can discern, however, it is some sort of entity or force that takes hold of its victims and changes them. Corrupts them into monsters.”
“Like those yellow-eyed things that attacked us!” cried Twilight suddenly.
“Yellow-eyed things?”
The six ponies nodded as they thought back to the strange cloaked creatures that came after them a few nights ago. “Yeah, at first we thought they were just ponies under those cloaks… but some of them had claws, spines, fangs, antlers, beaks, you name it!” Rainbow replied.
Starswirl nodded thoughtfully, mumbling to himself for a moment. From within his cloak he extracted a small wooden pipe and popped it in his mouth, removing it every now and then to blow a smoke-ring, much to Pinkie Pie’s awe. Not because he could blow smoke rings, oh no. Rather, it was because she had seldom seen a pipe that did not blow bubbles. “Hmm… So the Blight is here in Equestria. That’s rather troubling to know…”
“Okay, that does answer a few questions,” Twilight interrupted. “But you still haven’t answered my question: Why are you here?”
Starswirl smiled again. “Straight to the point, I see. An admirable trait to be sure, Miss Twilight. I am here because Princess Celestia was worried about you. That, and what may happen if the six of you are not careful. You see, the Blight in its present state seems weak, doing little more than attempting to sustain itself and infect as many poor creatures as it can reach.”
His smile changed to a dark and serious frown as he leaned forward a bit, the firelight exaggerating the shadows on his face. “But if the Tears of Gaia were to fall into its grasp, that would be enough power for it to spread everywhere…”
“Y-you mean it could… take over all of Equestria?” Fluttershy stammered.
“You underestimate the potential of the Blight’s power,” Starswirl replied, shaking his head. “Equestria would just be the start. Cervidas, the Dragonlands, Caneighda, the Frozen North, even across the Eternity’s Crossing to Zebrica and the Griffon Kingdoms…”
“Don’t forget the Crystal Empire.”
“The… The Crystal Empire? Hah, by my beard!” Starswirl suddenly let loose a loud and strong peal of laughter. “So that disappearing Empire finally showed up again then? Incredible!”
His laughter, however, was cut off as Twilight very loudly and pointedly cleared her throat. Starswirl checked himself and carried on. “Ah, yes, where was I? Oh yes… the Princesses sent me to help you and generally keep the six of you safe. Whatever your reasons are for seeking out the Tears of Gaia, it is vital that it is kept as far away from the Blight as possible.
“But if you have indeed encountered them this far north, then they are far too close for comfort to the hiding place,” He finished, before popping his pipe back into his mouth.
Rainbow Dash was the first to get up. “Then we gotta get going! The sooner we find this thing, the sooner we can get it away from the Blight!”
Five of the other ponies nodded in agreement. Twilight, however, remained seated, her mind hard at work putting together all the facts. “Actually… I’m starting to think twice about this whole journey.”
“What?!” Applejack was gobsmacked. “But this whole trip was yer idea in the first place! Don’t you wanna find them Tears?”
“Indeed!” Rarity added. “It’s not like you to turn away from a chance to learn something new!”
Twilight held up a hoof. “This is different though. You heard what Starswirl said, if this Blight thing gets its hooves or claws or… whatever it has, on the Tears, it’d be a disaster for everypony! We should just leave well enough alone and head back home.”
“Oh it’s far too late for that, my dear Twilight.”
All eyes returned to the old stallion, who was extinguishing his pipe and donning his hat once more. “The six of you have come this far already, and if your little skirmish with the Blight a few nights ago is any indication, they know of the Tears and are seeking them out themselves. Our only choice now is to continue on with all haste, and pray we reach them before the Blight does.”
Rainbow Dash flew above him and patted him on the top of Starswirl’s head, flattening his hat a moment. “I like your attitude, Mr the-Bearded! Let’s get a move on!”
With that she hovered overhead at the head of the group, leading the ponies along the pathway to the mountains. Starswirl followed close behind, but not before casting a rather bemused glance at the headstrong pegasus and re-pointing his hat, all the while muttering under his breath “Mr the-Bearded?! Honestly, some ponies…”
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie followed behind, and Twilight joined them after hastily putting out her fire.
“Heehee, ‘my dear Twilight’, I’m gonna use that one,” giggled Pinkie as she bounced along, her mane nearly hitting the overhanging branches above with every bounce.
“C’mon my dear Twilight, keep up.” Applejack playfully called back.
Twilight tied her cloak around her withers and hurried after the giggling column, trying her best to hide her blushing as she shouted back in mock-anger, “Oh be quiet, the pair of you!”
By the time the noontime sun hung directly above, the travelling party had passed through the foothills at last, and reached the first steep slopes of the Crystal Mountains. They were still rather close to the ground, and so patches of grass and dense shrubs grew here and there. But the rest was gravel, earth and rock everywhere ahead. And all around, and much to Rarity’s infinite delight, were the delicate telltale signs of veins of crystal.
“This land is gorgeous,” Rarity voiced her thoughts aloud for the third time that day. “Almost makes this agonizing hike up a mountain worth it… Speaking of which, how much farther?”
“Dunno. Hey Twilight, what’s the riddle say about how far we go up into these mountains?” Applejack relayed the question to the front of the band where she was walking alongside Starswirl, filling him in on their journey so far and discussing with him the meaning of Rowanoak’s riddle.
“I’m just figuring that out actually.” Replied the unicorn. “The next bit of Rowanoak’s poem says, ‘Where the green meets whitest snow, there the second step doth lie.’ So I guess we just keep going straight ahead until we hit some snow.”
Rarity peered up ahead at the high peaks that loomed overhead. Most of what lay ahead was nothing but slopes of purple-grey stone, dotted with patches of earthy-green grass. But miles ahead up the mountains, there she could see the first white patches on the mountainside. Rarity sighed with weariness, wrapping one of her many scarves around her withers, and pressed on.
Twilight, meanwhile, slipped her maps and charts away in her bags and concentrated on the road ahead. She could see their destination from where she stood, and the path was clear. Pausing for a moment, she turned and gazed down in the direction they had come. The foothills stretched for miles far below them, with streams and patches of trees scattered among the green slopes. She could see the swamplands where they had encountered the kelpie, enshrouded in mist. And far away, almost out of view, stood the solitary hill and the river that led to Neighagra Falls, the place Rowanoak called home. So far away.
It was another couple of hours before the seven ponies finally reached the first patches of snow on the slopes. And Rainbow Dash was the first to know, as there came a cold, wet sound smacking sound from where she was flying above the group.
Pinkie Pie scampered off along the snowbank, giggling as the blue pegasus chased after her, snowball in hand and shaking the snow from her face. “Oh I’ll get you for that, Pinkie! C’mere!!”
But Pinkie did not stop or even slow down. In fact, she somehow managed to stoop for another clump of snow, squeeze it into a snowball and fling it at Rainbow Dash, all at full cantering speed. However, her aim was off this time, and the snowball whizzed past, just to the left of Rainbow’s flapping wing. Her aim was no better, however, as the snowball intended for Pinkie Pie instead knocked Applejack’s hat clean off. And with that, the game was on!
Applejack and Pinkie teamed up, tossing and bucking snowballs at Rainbow, all the while frantically dodging the icy projectiles as they were magically flung by Rarity. With a gleeful laugh, Twilight bounded into the fray, her magical aura already enveloping balls of snow from the ground.
Starswirl, however, simply stood by and watched the battle as the laughing mares threw snowballs hither and yon. Sitting down on a nearby outcrop of rocks, he pulled his cloak around him and shook his head. “Honestly, you’d think they were little more than foals.”
Any further musings he may have had were interrupted as a stray snowball came careening out of the sky, and landed slap-bang in his face.
The snowball fight died down in an instant as the six mares stared in shock. Starswirl showed no emotion, staring blankly as blobs of snow dripped off his face and droplets ran down his beard. Twilight’s ears drooped in shame and she timidly began to approach the silent stallion, an apology forming in her head…
Which then promptly vanished as she saw a devious grin creasing his face. “Then again, it has been over a thousand years,” he whispered as he telekinetically scooped up a snowball and trotted straight at the mares.
By the time seven very exhausted ponies sat on the rocky copse, another of Twilight’s magical fires melting the snow from their fur and cloaks, the sun was beginning to fall behind the horizon. While the others relaxed by the campfire, making conversation among themselves, Twilight sat with Starswirl, as they attempted to decipher the last lines of the riddle:
“Look to the Shard in moonlight’s glow,
To seek the jewel of Gaia’s cry.”
“Well, we’re at the point where the snow meets the grasslands, so I suppose this is where we’re supposed to ‘look to the shard’,” Twilight said. “The question is, what shard? This whole place is made of nothing but rocks and crystals, there are bound to be shards of it all over the place! Which one do we look to?”
Starswirl looked around himself, before peering intently at the parchment on which the riddle was written as he puffed away at his pipe. “Hmm…Well, here’s something that might be of note. You say Rowanoak wrote this herself? Well notice here, when she wrote the word ‘Shard’, ‘twas with a capital S.”
“Oh yeah! So we’re not looking for a shard, we’re looking for The Shard!” Twilight scribbled a hasty note of the discovery down on a separate scroll. “But what about ‘Moonlight’s glow’? Do you have any clue what that one might mean?”
The bearded stallion took another puff. “That remains to be seen. If I were to guess, I’d suggest we keep our eyes open when the moon comes out.” Standing up, he headed over to where Applejack and Pinkie were putting together supper. “In the meantime, I am absolutely famished!”
The pair had put together a simple meal of bread and cheese, grilled together over the fire. Applejack, in a stroke of immense good fortune, had discovered a small patch of dandelions growing at the base of the rocky copse, and added them to the sandwiches. Simple, but indisputably delicious.
As they dined, Twilight found that she could no longer keep to herself a question that had nibbled at her mind ever since she had awoken to find Starswirl standing before her. “Hey, Starswirl?”
“Mmm?” He mumbled through a mouthful of grilled cheese and dandelion. He quickly swallowed. “Mmph, sorry. What is it?”
“I was just wondering. How did the Princesses do it? Bring you back to life, I mean? I once read that life and death was one thing magic had no power over.”
Starswirl put down his sandwich for a moment. “Oh, is that what they tell you these days?”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Twilight, cocking her head.
“Well, allow me to answer you with another question. What do you think would be easier to keep a unicorn from doing: A spell that they know exists, but are expressly forbidden from ever using, or a spell that they don’t know exists at all?”
Twilight was still a little confused. “Well, the second one obviously. How would you perform magic that you don’t… Oh.”
Then it came to her, the meaning of his words. There was magic that had the power over life and death. “The Princesses kept it a secret…”
“Indeed, my dear Twilight,” he replied. “Their Majesties used an ancient magic that only they knew. As a matter of fact, I recall Celestia saying that she and Luna personally destroyed all notes concerning such magic, the moment they had mastered it themselves. That is how they resurrected me. Or rather, I supposed… reanimated, would be a more appropriate word.”
“Reanimated? Why?”
“Well, quite simply, because I am not truly brought back to life. Not permanently, at least. They poured a tiny portion of their own life-force into my body, enough to keep me alive until my task is done.”
“Your task being accompanying us and helping our quest, right?” asked Twilight. Starswirl nodded.
Both ponies became silent for a time, pulling their cloaks close against the building winds which sent their manes and tails billowing in front of them, and bit at their coats. As she gazed out in the direction they had come, Twilight saw a light in the distance. On the shadows of a high mountain peak on the horizon, she could see a shimmering white light on the mountainside. Even from this far away, on the very borders of the kingdom, one could still see the shining glory of equine civilisation that was Canterlot. Slightly nearer, on the plains between the Crystal Mountains and the Equestrian capital, were tiny specks of a warmer yellow light, no doubt small villages and settlements dotted about the flatlands. Somewhere out there is Ponyville, she thought to herself. Somewhere out there, Spike is probably snuggled up in his basket in the library. I sure hope he’s doing alright.
Of course he’s alright, said another voice in her head. He may only be a baby dragon, but he’s more mature than one would expect of his age. And once you get those Tears and get them safely back to Canterlot, you’ll be able to see him again.
Twilight lay down on the stony copse and rested her head on her forelegs. Not far to go now.
Through her closed eyelids, she noticed a silvery white light from above. Opening her eyes, she looked up and saw above her head, Luna’s shining full moon, bathing all below it in gentle white. Twilight hoped inwardly, that Luna knew how appreciated her night was becoming. Most ponies still preferred the safety of their beds during the dark hours, but everypony held a certain appreciation for the beauty of the moon.
But another light shone too, from behind her. She turned around on the spot, and her eyes went wide as dinnerplates.
Towering high above the plateau where they rested, was a glowing mountain. Its peak stretched high up into the clouds, but from the mountaintop, and to a lesser extent across the entire mountain, there came an eerie glow of blue and white.
“Ithildin…” whispered an awestruck Starswirl from behind her.
Twilight turned from the amazing sight a moment. “Huh?”
“Oh, that was the old Deerfolk’s name for it. I suppose you’d know it better as Lapis Meridium.”
The young unicorn gasped. Of course, Lapis Meridium! One of the rarest gems in all of Equestria, said to only be found in a single place in all the land.
“A mysterious and magical crystal, which is said to only mirror the light of a full moon,” Starswirl continued. “And therein lies the final resting place of the Tears of Gaia.”
As the moon was briefly hidden behind a cloud and the glow faded a moment, Twilight then realised just how much her head was tilted back, just to see the top of the mountain. “So, that’s our way to go tomorrow then…”
“Indeed.”
Around mid-afternoon the next day, the band of ponies were a good three-quarters up the mountain, though their ascent was slowed by the winding path they were forced to take in order to scale the sheer side of the peak. The sky was clear and cloudless, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were forced to join their earthbound friends on the mountain, the wind was blowing so fiercely. So the ponies leaned into the side of the mountain, doing all they could to avoid being blown off into a sticky demise on the ground far below.
Twilight pushed with her hooves through the ever deepening snow on the mountainside, Starswirl trudging on behind her. They were heaving themselves up a particularly steep rise of stone, the Lapis Meridium completely invisible in the daylight, somewhere under the thick blanket of frost. The unicorn pushed forwards with another step and felt with delight, her hoof levelling out.
“Hey, it flattens out here!” she called out to her friends below. A ragged cheer greeted her good news as the seven ponies made one final push forwards, until everypony was standing on the ledge.
“Wowsers! This must be the highest mountain in Equestria,” Pinkie said as she peered over the side at the mountains below.
Applejack nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised it ya were right, Pinkie. Even the Smokey Mountain wasn’t this high up!”
As they rested on this ledge, Rainbow Dash felt the winds die down considerably, to a point where she could actually take to the air and fly a bit. As she exercised her wings by doing a few loops and spins around the ledge, she had an idea.
“Hey, while the wind’s died down a bit, how about I look around a bit, see if there’s anything worth checkin’ out?” she called to the others below.
Applejack was hesitant. “I dunno Rainbow, remember what happened last time you went scouting out alone?”
“Aww c’mon Applejack,” Pinkie replied. “That was a kelpie in a swamp! What could be out here?”
Twilight nodded. “She’s got a point. I doubt there’s anything else lurking about on this mountain other than us.”
Rainbow grinned and took off like a shot. Taking an arcing path around the mountain, she looked over every possible angle of the mountainside, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. It was only as she made a second pass around the peak, that she spotted something just around to the right of where the ponies sat.
“Hey, I think I see something!” she cried as she made her return flight. “Just around the mountainside, there’s another big ledge, with a cave in the rock!”
Twilight leapt upright. “A cave? You’re sure?”
Rainbow nodded. “Positive. And it sure as hay didn’t look like a natural cave either. It was really smoothly carved into the rock, a big square doorway. And there was something carved above it, some funny lookin’ squiggles.”
Twilight had already packed her things up and was ready to go. “Lead the way, Rainbow Dash.”
When the travelling party came to the second ledge, and stood before the carved stone opening, Twilight became certain that this was where they were to go next. Starswirl felt it also, and even Rarity; as if some silent voice in their minds was saying, without words, that what they sought lay inside that cave.
Twilight and Starswirl examined closely the strange markings and symbols that were engraved into the stone around the doorway, but to little success. Neither the young student nor the ancient wizard could decipher or even so much as recognise the glyphs.
“Well, I haven’t a clue what these carvings mean, but I am sure they’re important.” Starswirl muttered as he stepped back to examine the doorway in full. “Either way, I can say with almost complete certainty that this is the way to go.”
Fluttershy quivered as she stared into the darkness of the cave. “W-we have to go in th-th-there? But who knows what’s in there!”
“She’s right; it could be a trap of some kind! How do you even know the Tears are in there?” asked Rainbow.
“I’m not sure,” Twilight replied. “But I’m just getting this really strong feeling that the Tears are in there.”
“Yes, I feel it too. It’s rather like when I’m using my gem-finding spell, I just feel drawn to any that are nearby… I’m getting a similar feeling now, and it’s pointing straight into that cave.” Added Rarity.
“And I, as well.” Starswirl lit up his horn, bathing the cave entrance in yellow light. “Perhaps only we unicorns can sense it. Besides, did you see anything else indicative of where the Tears might be, Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus shook her head. “Nope. The only thing I saw on the mountain was that entrance.”
The stallion shrugged. “Then there’s nothing else for it. In we go!” and with that, he led the way into the cave. Twilight followed swiftly behind, and the rest followed after.
Within the cave, the tunnel was remarkably smooth and neatly-carved, as if the tunnels had been cut into the rock a matter of months ago. In the mingled blue, yellow and magenta lights of the unicorn’s magical auras, the tell-tale sparkle of gemstones and crystal could be seen every now and then in the walls. Only the possible reward of the Tears being at the end of the tunnel kept Rarity from conjuring up a pickaxe and hacking away at the cave walls.
“So, do you think we’ll just find the Tears in some room at the end of this tunnel?” Twilight whispered, her voice still echoing around the caverns.
Starswirl shook his head. “I very much doubt that such a powerful artefact would be that easy to take. I bet my hat that something will be there to stop us, some sort of spell or enchantment meant to stop would-be thieves. Be on your guard my dear Twilight, who knows what might await us...”
The walk through the tunnels was silent for a long while. Ever straight ahead it went, not up or down, not left or right. Surely they would come right through to the other side of the peak soon.
But then, Twilight saw with mixed apprehension and excitement, there was a dim light up ahead. Picking up her pace to a trot, her friends followed suit, the cavern echoing with their hoofsteps on the stone. Gradually the light grew stronger, until an end could be seen to the tunnel. Their rot turned into a canter. Their canter turned into a gallop.
“We did it girls! We found…”
All seven ponies then skidded to an immediate halt as they reached the end of the tunnel. The three magical lights fizzled and flickered a moment before going out.
To say that their breath was taken away is no description at all. There were no words left to express their staggerment and shock. Their eyes grew wide, and their knees grew weak.
But none of these strange things could tear the ponies’ collective gaze away from the monstrous, crimson coloured dragon that was shackled by a long heavy chain to the wall. Smoke seeping from its nostrils, is lay sleeping just beyond the burning lamps. Or rather, had been sleeping.
For it is a little-known fact that all breeds of dragon, be they drake, serpent or wyrm, are inherently suspicious and very protective of their own. Because of this fact, they often sleep with one eye half-open.
And this eye happened to be glaring straight at the seven ponies who had just woken him up.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Oh God...this won't end well.
You are using Enochian?
OO
1845602 Bonus points if you can translate it.
Also, expect a few more fantasy/mystical languages and alphabets to crop up. Just wait until we reach Burzkala and Cervidas and suchlike.
*reads the glyphs* TO ANYPONY ATTEMPTING TO STEAL THE TEARS: DO YOU LIKE...MMMMM... BANANAS? -Trollestia
"Tharos requiescit intus parcite lacrimis sunt tua"
I think I translated that right, not sure.
"Tharos rests inside spare your tears."
Not sure if right.
1849508 A for effort and a pretty close guess, but not quite...
Oh, and by the way, a very happy Hearths Warming Day to all my readers out there. Make it a good one!
1850424
Argh so close, curse you google translate!
And Happy Hearths Warming!
I invisioned Starswirl having the voice of Patrick Stuat XD
1871213 Wow, great minds do think alike it seems. I originally thought of Sir Ian Mckellen, but I don't wana make the Starswirl/Gandalf parallels too blatant.
Humm.
Terah rests within spare your tears?
1908426 Just wait and see. The next chapter may explain things.
So the Deerfolk speak Sindarin now?
I hope this dragon is nicer than Smaug.
2014598 Read on and find out. And yes, the Deerfolk do indeed speak a language very similar to Sindarin. If you recognise that, you might want to take a closer look at some of the strange words that Maugoth and his gang have been speaking, see if you can recognise those.
Hairy Potter... Harry Potter! Starswirl the Bearded is Harry Potter as well as Gandalf and in my head sounds like Peter Cullen. Why? Because that's an awesome combination!
Yep. Definitely Gandalf.
I really like the Tolkien-esque nature of this story very much, especially with the mountain glowing in the moonlight and the dragon in the cave like Smaug and Starswirl's Gandalf-ness.
Interesting, you're using the WTWE map?
"Tharos requiescit intus parcite lacrimis sunt tua"
That's definitely Latin. Time to figure this out.
Tharos: Only mention of Tharos anywhere is some sort of butterfly, and os is the plural accusative (direct object) of the second declension.
Requiescit is the third person present form of requiesco, which means "to let rest" in its only transitive form. Verbs go at the end of sentences in Latin.
Tharos intus parcite lacrimis sunt tua requiescit.
Intus: Adverb, inside.
Tharos parcite lacrimis sunt tua intus requiescit.
Parcite: I refrain with the accusative form or I spare with the dative form. I'll find out which when I get the meaning of the other words.
Tharos lacrimis sunt tua intus requiescit et parcite.
Lacrimis is the Indirect Object or Prepositional Object (of prepositions indicating manner or separating) form of lacrimo, or tear.
Tua is your.
Sunt is are, and it has no place within this sentence. Piecing this together: Let the butterflies rest within and spare your tears. Or maybe switch butterflies and tears, but that would be weird. I suggest you rearrange the sentence in the correct Latin form:
Tharos intus requiescit et tuae lacrimis parcite.
Latin analysis complete.
EDIT: After reading the next chapter, the sentence structure is still the same, but the translation is not: Let Tharos rest within and spare your tears.
Okay, I have to admit, Celestia and Luna hoarding necromantic secrets (and occasionally using them) is pretty amusing.
Dragons, Hydras, Quarry Eels, Cockatrices, Diamond dogs, and those are just the first two seasons.
Anyway, I like what I am seeing of Starswril here. He is acting very much like Gandalf (I seem to be the only one who is thing Sir Ian Mckellan), wise but not just going to give you all of the answers. Making sure that you can figure it out for yourself. Also, I love the fact that he isn't above it all, and that he knows how to have fun, wich seems to match his personality in the comics (Interestinly enough, this was before reflections) Also, teriffic job on making the ressurection spell a rare and almost impossible item to use with particular useage. This helps prevent plot holes like "Why hasn't Applejack asked him to use that magic on her mom and dad?" "Why is Twilight worried? She is a powerul spell caster, I think using that ressurction spell should be easy to her."
My only problem is that you tried to put in the Crystal empire here. In the previous chapter, you saud "There are no trains that go north" when, i you add the empire to the mix, there are. Now while I applaud aditional continity from the series popping up here an there, you really didn't have to mention it.