> Myth Chaser and the Secret of Starswirl
>  by Myth Chaser
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Heavy panting and the crunching of leaves and grass could be heard as a tan-colored stallion sprinted through the trees as swiftly as he could, rushing alongside the river not too far from him. Saddlebags rested at his sides, the strap wrapped around his midsection, and an empty gun holster was strapped to his hoof. The loud boom of a gunshot sounded in the air, quickly followed by a few more, making the stallion duck his head down in hopes of dodging the bullets. He saw splinters of wood break from the bark of the trees ahead of him, warning him of his perilous situation. There were a few calls out to him from his pursuers.

“Stop!” shouted a masculine voice.

“Come back here!” called another.

How cliche, he thought. Don't these guys read books? Nopony actually stops when you say that. Especially if you're shooting at them. He watched carefully where he was going, not chancing a glance behind him. His saddlebags pounded hard against his sides as he ran through the forest. The stallion could hear the hoofsteps behind him getting louder, letting him know they were catching up. The wind whisked by quickly, blowing through his brown mane, his tail flowing right behind him.

His eyes were focused ahead, spotting a fallen tree laying on the ground. He leaped over it, not losing any speed. A low-hanging tree branch; he ran right underneath with his head hung low. Then the ground was gone and nothing was in front of him. As his eyes widened and he saw he was coming to the edge of a cliff, the pony slowed down, digging his hooves into the ground to come to a halt.

The stallion turned, ready to run in a different direction, but found himself face-to-barrel with a pistol, held up to his face by one of his pursuers, a zebra mare who wore a grin on her face. “You're a quick one, aren't you?” she asked. The gun was strapped to her hoof, resting on it securely with the trigger in the right position to shoot with just a flex.

Now that he was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, the stallion was sure he was cornered. There was no way she would miss if she took a shot now. “For a moment there, I thought you were actually going to get away,” the zebra admitted just as the other two pursuers finally caught up and placed themselves to either side of the stallion, trapping him between them and the cliff side.

The first was a dark, black-feathered gryphon, with a bow and arrow, the arrow notched and aimed with the string drawn back, ready to fire. One of his wings were bandaged, the reason why he wasn't flying. The other was a dark blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane and tail, panting heavily as his magic held a spear in the air, the sharp tip aimed at the cornered pony.

Caught, the tan earth pony stallion just took a seat, feeling the saddlebag shift down his back from the weight of what lay inside.

“Alright, alright. You caught me. Now what?” He looked at the zebra. “Going to kill me? Throw my body over the cliff so nobody will ever find me?”

“Sounds like a plan, considering the importance of what you've just stolen from me, Myth Chaser.”

“Stealing?” Myth Chaser laughed, gesturing to his gun that she held. “Oh, you're one to talk.”

The mare grinned and lowered the pistol as she took a step back, the gryphon's arrow and the unicorn's spear both still at the ready. “How about a trade? You can have your gun back, in return for that artifact.”

All three looked at her in surprise. The gryphon spoke up. “Ma'am, are you sure you want to do that?”

“For once, I'm in agreement with the gryphon," the unicorn said. “That seems like a pretty dumb thing to do.”

“No worries, boys,” the zebra mare said. “I know what I'm doing.”

Myth grinned. If he got his gun back, he'd be able to fight and get himself out of this, with both the gun and the artifact. With a nod, he accepted the trade. “You've got a deal. On one condition, though. Gun comes first.”

“As if.” The gryphon laughed. “There's no way that—“

“Sure,” the zebra mare quickly agreed, slipping the gun's straps off her hoof.

“...what, really?” Myth had to do a double-take. “You'll give me my gun that easily?”

“Sure.” She now had the gun unstrapped and held it up for him to see. “You want your gun back, I want my artifact. It's only fair. The boss did say she wants that thing back no matter what it takes. But, just in case...” She then slid the ammo clip out of the pistol and tilted it, emptying it of every bullet, watching the sleek bullets clatter to the forest floor. After that, the zebra then put the empty magazine back into the pistol and tossed it to the stallion's hooves with a smile.

“Smart mare.” Myth Chaser smiled as he reached for the gun and slipped it into the side pocket of his saddlebag, closing the flap over it.

“Now hand over the artifact.”

The stallion sighed, rolling his eyes. “Alright. You gave my gun back, I guess I should—“

“Shut up." The zebra stomped a hoof. "Hand over... the artifact.”

“You're no fun.” Myth then reached to his belly, and almost immediately heard hooves shuffling, the unicorn stepping toward him and seeing the spear come closer as well as the gryphon pull the arrow back up to aim at his head. “If you want the artifact, tell your goons to cool off,” he told the mare, nodding to the gryphon and unicorn.

“...calm down, you two,” the zebra commanded the two males. “He's got nowhere to run.”

With that, the gryphon eased up on his bow and lowered it, but kept the arrow notched so he could ready and fire at a moment's notice. Along with that, the unicorn pulled the spear back toward himself, deactivating his magic as he took the spear in hoof. It was dead silent.

“Thank you.” He then reached to his belly again once they relaxed, and unbuckled the strap on his saddlebags. The way he was sitting, his back arched down, the bag ended up sliding down along his back and slid over the edge of the cliff, falling behind him. Myth turned his head, looking down behind him, making sure the bag had slipped over the cliff side like he wanted. He then turned to look back to the zebra, gryphon, and unicorn again. They all stood there, mouths agape in surprise at what just happened as they looked at him. “Oops.” Myth grinned smugly.

“What have you done?” the zebra mare questioned, beginning to step toward him.

He stood up. “I believe I just outsmarted you.”

“Why, you little...”

Myth Chaser smirked and gave a salute. “See you later, fellas,” he said, just before he quickly turned and jumped over the cliff. Fellas? Did he really just say that?

Now, the tan earth pony was free falling, the wind rushing through his brown mane and tail, making him feel a bit cold, his hooves outstretched in front of him, looking down below him at the lake he was going to land in. He knew the zebra mare wouldn't have the courage to take this jump. The gryphon wouldn't dare try to fly with his injured wing. And the unicorn... Well... Myth had seen that wimp fight one on one.

He looked back to where he'd jumped from, seeing the three peering over the edge down at him. He chuckled as the zebra mare then smacked the unicorn on the back of the head, no doubt scolding him for not using his magic to catch the stallion before he got out of range.

The fall was quicker than he'd anticipated. Just as he looked back in front of him, he saw he was about to hit water. Myth quickly took a deep breath and prepared himself. Then...

Splash.

He resurfaced soon after, and squirted a little water from his mouth like a colt, and chuckled. Looking around, he spotted a blue pegasus mare with a black mane and tail standing at the side of the lake, watching him. Myth kicked, swimming over to her, and crawled out of the lake with a limp, panting as if he were out of breath and groaning in pain. “Agh... Help me. I... I-I can't walk... I think a broke something.”

“Oh shut up.” The mare giggled, throwing a towel at his face. “You're fine.”

Myth chuckled as he got up. He knew she wouldn't have fallen for his joke. He did that kind of thing to her all the time. “You catch the bag, Snaps?” he asked, grabbing at the towel she gave him and starting to dry himself off.

“Yeah." She reached behind a tree and brought out the same saddlebag Myth had dropped over the cliff side. “Got it right here.”

“Perfect.” He shook the water off his body and dried off his face. He then draped the towel over his neck. “Didn't I tell you the plan would work?”

“Yeah, you were right.”

“Aaaand...?”

“Don't make me say it...”

“Say it, Snaps." He nudged her in the side. "Come on. A deal's a deal.”

With a groan, Snapshot rolled her eyes. “And you're the ultimate mastermind and overall genius of the family and I shall forever worship the ground you walk on. There, I said it. You happy?”

He laughed and ruffled a hoof through her mane as he passed by her. “Very.” Myth went to the saddlebag and reached in, pulling something out.

“Is that the artifact?” she asked, joining him at the bag as she fixed her mane from the ruffling.

“Sure is.” He smiled, holding it up for her to see.

What he held in his hoof was a small, circular, disc made of gold with runic symbols etched into it. In the middle was a thin needle-like object jutting out from a short stone in the center.

After a few moments of the two looking at it, the mare snatched it out of her brother's hoof and looked at it closely. “Well, what is it?” She looked at Myth curiously.

He just shrugged. “No idea. But...” He snatched it back from her and stuffed it into his saddlebag. “We'll take it back home and wait for mom and dad to get back. They'll tell us what they know, and maybe we can finally start to understand why they sent us to get this.”

“You mean to tell me, we came all the way out here, hiked up these mountains, through these forests, and you risked your life, nearly getting shot... to get something that you don't even know what it is?"

"Hey, you know as much as I do about all of this, okay? Mom and dad asked us to get this thing, and that's it. I'm not even sure they know what it is."

"Yeah, yeah..." she muttered, frustrated that they didn't have a clue what they just risked their lives for. 

"Let's just get back home and wait. We'll find out what this is all about when they get back."

“Hold on a bit, this place looks perfect for some shots." She made her way to a nearby rock where another saddlebag rested. 

“Aw, come on, Snaps... Again? We've stopped to let you take pictures a dozen times.”

“Hey, I came with you all the way out here and helped you out with your little heist. The least you could do is sit back and let me get some pictures,” she said as she pulled her camera out of her bag, popping off the lens cap and hooking the strap over her neck. “Oh, and... 'See you later, fellas'? That's really what you said?”

“It was a spur of the moment thing." He waved her away. "Just shut up and go take your pictures. And hurry back. The sun's about to set.”

With that, Snapshot smiled, gave a little nod, and with a strong flap of her wings, took off into the air with her camera.
> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With an exhausted sigh, Myth shut the front door behind him. Snapshot had already left him to go get her pictures developed, and with their parents still on their trip to Canterlot. He was alone for the moment, and completely fine with that. It just meant he got to have some peace and quiet for a little while. This was a good time to take a seat and examine the artifact more closely. Maybe search through some of his dad's books to find something about it.

Setting his bag on the floor next to the door, he took out the artifact and brought it to his bedroom, leaving the door open. His room looked to be a mess; papers with sketches, maps with pins stuck to certain places, and open books left on certain pages, all strewn about somewhat randomly in his room over his bed, the floor, and even the desk. Mom's really gonna get on to me if I don't clean this up... he thought to himself. Eh, I'll do it later.

Taking a seat at the desk, he turned on the desk lamp to give himself some light. He'd been wracking his brain the whole trip home trying to figure out what this thing was, but he had no clue, and it's not like he could keep it out in the open the whole time. No way, others would be curious about it and possibly try to take it from him to find what it leads to themselves!

The artifact was circular in shape, about half the size of a dinner plate if he had to guess, seemingly made of gold. Upon closer inspection, he found it was actually just a golden-colored stone. Holding it in his hooves, he turned it, looking at the runic symbols etched around the edge. He'd studied foreign languages and text since he was little, and he had no idea what this stood for. Either it was some ancient language he never understood, or it was some secret code made up so no one else could read it. Seeing the needle protruding from the center he had to wonder if it could be some kind of compass, with the symbols being different directions for the needle to point, but it didn't move on its own to point in any specific direction like a normal compass would. He should know. He knew a lot about compasses. He did have one as part of his cutie mark, after all, next to a green gem to show his love and talent for adventure and treasure.

Myth sighed and got up from his seat, heading over to his bookshelf. His eyes scanned over what he had. Some books written by his mother, journals he had written, a few potion recipe books... Then he pulled out a book focused around runic text, meant for translating. Along with that, he also grabbed some paper and grabbed a pencil. Setting back at the desk, he moved the artifact close to the paper and started copying down the symbols etched into it in a ring by the edge, and moved on to draw a quick sketch of the object itself.

The earth pony then set the artifact aside and flipped through the pages of the book in search of anything that looked similar. Gryphic... No. Zebrine... No. Yakyakistani... No.

Time went by as he searched through the book, looked through other books of his, and found nothing. He was starting to get frustrated. With a groan, he sat upright in his chair and rubbed at his aching head, messing up his mane in the process. There's got to be something about this somewhere!

“Find anything?”

He looked to his doorway to see his sister looking at him. He shook his head. “Nothing yet. I don't know what the deal is. These symbols don't match anything in any of my books. I can't even figure out if it's a compass or something else entirely. For all I know it could just be some ancient toy that won't work anymore.”

Snapshot walked into the room and looked over his shoulder, seeing that he'd copied the symbols onto paper and sketched it. “Well, I doubt that. If it was just some toy, you wouldn't have gotten into a fight with that zebra and her guys.”

“Yeah... I guess we'll just have to wait for mom and dad to get back.” Myth got up from his chair and turned off the desk lamp. 

“I'm sure he would. He is a lot smarter than you.”

“Rude!” Myth gave his sister a playful shove as they shared a laugh. “Anyways, how did those pictures turn out? Anything good?” He passed by her through the hallway and into the living room.

“Oh, yeah.” She nodded, following after her brother and reaching into her bag. She pulled out a photo album, setting it down on the table. She scooted it toward him for him to take a look. “They actually gave me a discount this time, because I come by so often.”

“Sweet. Was it a good deal?” He started flipping through the pages of pictures, showing their whole trip. Snapshot had taken so many pictures of the train ride, the hike, the camping, and all the scenery. He had to admit, she was good at those scenery shots. The waterfall at that lake didn't look nearly as pretty as the pictures made it look.

She nodded. “Half off.”

Myth's ears perked up and he looked up at her in surprise. “Wow, seriously?” He then turned his attention back to the pictures and turned to the last page, showing an aerial shot of the camp the zebra, gryphon, and unicorn had been at. “What did you take a picture of their camp for?”

Snapshot shrugged as she sat down beside him. “I figured you might like to have it. You know, as a reminder of your first successful artifact find.”

“What do you mean first? I've found plenty of things!”

She shook her head. “Things that dad hid around the house and throughout town for you don't count.”

He opened his mouth again to retort, but stopped and gave a little chuckle. “I guess it is my first real find. Thanks, Snaps.” He leaned over and gave her a one-hoofed hug. “Appreciate it.”

“No problem.” She smiled.

Myth then pulled out of the hug and looked down at the picture. Seeing the zebra in the picture from above made him think. “Hey... While you were flying over the camp, you didn't happen to overhear them talking about anything, did you?” 

Snapshot thought for a moment before shaking her head. “Hmm... No. Why? You got a crush on that zebra or something?” She nudged him in the side with a playful smirk.

Myth chuckled at the teasing nudge. “No, of course not. I mean, she was pretty, but I tend not to fall for anyone that tries to shoot me.”

“Fair enough. Being shot at would be a deal breaker for me, too. So why'd you ask?”

“Well. I didn't realize it at the time, but... When we were at the cliff...” He looked at her. “She said my name.”

She gave a little laugh at that. “Yeah? So what?”

“Well... I don't know.” He got up from the couch, thinking as he made his way to the kitchen. “It just seems weird.”

“What about it is weird, Myth?” she asked, following him into the kitchen.

The clinking of glasses sounded as Myth pulled one out and held it under the sink, pouring himself a glass of water. “She couldn't have known my name. You never encountered them, so I know they wouldn't have gotten it from you. And I know for a fact that I never mentioned it. Know what I mean?” He took a sip.

Snapshot was silent for a moment as he explained, pouring herself a glass of water in the meantime. “Yeah, that's... That's weird.”

Myth nodded, staring down in his glass of water thoughtfully. “Makes me a little nervous. How could she have known me? What else could she know?”

“We could always see if we can stay with Winter and Star until mom and dad get back, if you're afraid they know where we live,” the mare suggested, drinking her water quickly.

“Nah. I doubt they could know where we live.” His stomach growled just then at the mention of Winter Chill, and he looked to his sister. “Speaking of Winter, you want to get something to eat? It's been a long trip.”

“Are you kidding?” Snapshot laughed. “We've been eating nothing but those granola bars and apples the whole time we were gone. I could use one of her sundaes!”

Myth laughed at that and downed the rest of his water before setting the glass down. “That sounds pretty good.” He went out into the living room again and picked up his saddlebags, slipping it on and strapping it in place for the bags to hang at his sides. “Could probably stop by Page's bookstore on the way back. I could use an updated book of maps.”

With a nod, Snapshot agreed, strapping her bags on as well and leading the way out the door, with Myth locking it behind them. “Sounds good. I'd like to pick up the new book in that Fogborn trilogy.”

“I'll have to take a look at that series sometime. I've heard good things.”





Ding. 

The bell rang, signifying the entrance of a new customer. The two ponies took a quick look around, seeing that the shop wasn't quite busy just yet.

“Hey!” A mare's voice greeted Myth and Snapshot as they walked in. A white unicorn mare stepped out from behind the counter, wearing her black apron with her name tag pinned on her chest, identifying her as Winter Chill. She tucked a stray blue-highlighted hair of her multi-colored mane behind her ear and smiled as she approached the siblings, her blue eyes locked on theirs with a friendly gaze. “I didn't think you'd be back in town already. How was the trip? Find what you were looking for?”

“We sure did!” Myth answered. “Neither of us have any idea what it actually is though."

“Well I hope it's something good. I'd hate for you two to have made that long of a trip for something useless.”

“I doubt it's useless.” Snapshot chimed in. “Some group beat us to it and nearly killed Myth over it when he stole it from them.”

Before Winter could respond, a filly cried out in excitement a few tables down. Myth, Snapshot, and Winter turned to look in time to see a young orange unicorn rushing to them with a big smile. She jumped up at Myth first.

“Snapshot! Myth! You're back!” she shouted happily, hugging them each in turn.

“Hey, Ember!” Myth greeted, chuckling as he hugged back, and let her go to hug his sister. “How have you been?”

She hugged Snapshot tightly and smiled, sitting on her haunches in front of them. “I've been good! Mom said she was going to make me a sundae for me and Lance!”

Snapshot giggled at that and looked over to the white mare. “Make that two?"

Winter nodded with a smile. “Sure thing. And what can I get for you?” She turned to Myth.

“I'll take the same.”

“Three sundaes coming right up!” she chimed. As she headed back behind the counter, using her magic to get out some bowls and spoons, Myth and Snapshot followed Ember over to the table she'd been sitting. There they found a dark red colt sitting there quietly with a smile. The orange filly slid into the booth, scooting herself next to her blue-and-white-maned earth pony brother.

Snapshot smiled at the sight of the two young siblings together. “Wow, you two are getting so big.”

Lance stayed quiet, but smiled. He always was a quiet colt. Not really shy, just... quiet and polite. Ember was smiling happily and nodded. “Dad says we're old enough to go camping! We're going to camp at the lake next weekend!”

“He's just taking you on that camping trip, Ember, remember?” Winter reminded her, making her way over with three bowls of sundaes levitating in her magic. She set one down on the table between her two kids for them to share, and gave the others to Myth and Snapshot. “He wants to spend some time alone with his little girl.”

Ember giggled a little and nodded. Once Winter set the spoons in front of them, she and Lance both began to dig in to their ice cream with happy looks on their faces as they enjoyed the treat.

“Aw, you didn't have to bring the sundaes to us,” Snapshot pointed out. “We would've come and picked them up at the counter.”

The mare shook her head. “Nope! You two just got back from a long trip, and knowing you two, you haven't even stopped to rest since you got off the train. Plus, how about I make this on the house, huh?”

“Oh come on. At least let us pay for it. You deserve it!”

“No, I insist!” Winter giggled, nudging his sundae closer to him. “Try to pay for these and I'll just sneak the bits back in your bag.”

Myth chuckled. “No fighting you. Thanks, Winter.” He then picked up his spoon and went to work on his ice cream.

“We appreciate it,” Snapshot said in between bites, not even looking at the mare, her attention more focused on the ice cream, happily eating the delicious treat.

“No problem.”

“So, where's Tenzo anyway?” Myth asked before taking another bite.

“My monthly order of napkins hasn't shown up yet. It's a week late. He just went to find out why it hasn't shown up yet. You must have just missed him, he left right before you got here.”

There was a moment of silence after the answer as the ponies all enjoyed their ice cream, and then Winter perked up again. “Oh, yeah!” Quickly, she used her magic, levitating her saddlebags up from behind the counter and brought it over. Digging into the pockets, she searched for a moment, and then pulled out an envelope, holding it out toward Myth. “We got this yesterday. It's addressed to you and Snapshot, though. Must have been delivered to us by accident.”

“Oh, thanks for holding onto it for us.” Myth put his spoon down and took the envelope. There was no return address on it, leaving it a mystery as to who it was from. He opened it and pulled out the letter, finding a picture hidden behind the paper.

Hope you two had a good trip. I suspect you'll be back by the time this letter is delivered, as long as things went well. Your father and I are still here in Canterlot, and from what he's mentioned, it seems like we've stumbled onto something big! You should have seen his reaction when he found out what we've been tracking this whole time. I would tell you what it is he's found, but he wants it to be a surprise for when we get home. Plus, I'd hate for this letter to get in the wrong hooves, and get the information, so we'll tell you both everything when we get back. We can hardly wait to get back home and get you two on board.

Myth, try to contain your excitement when we tell you what it is we're looking for. I just know you'll be as excited as your father is right now. And Snapshot, you better get a good camera ready. Trust me, you'll want to take some pictures when we find it. This will be all over the news and magazines, and I'm sure they would appreciate the photos.

Your father wants to stay another day or two to check out the new museum exhibits, so we'll be staying here a few more days. We'll see you when we get back! Oh, and... enjoy the picture. I'm sure you two will get a laugh out of it.

The letter wasn't signed at the bottom, but it was obvious who it was written by. Myth and Snapshot's mother, Pen Scribe.

“Oh boy, looks like mom and dad finally found out what's waiting for them,” Myth explained to the ponies at the table. “And they're going to be in Canterlot for another couple days to check out some museum exhibits.”

“The museum was dad's idea, I'm guessing?” Snapshot finished up her sundae and wiped her mouth off with a napkin.

“You guess correctly.”

“So what's the picture?” she asked, noticing that Myth held one behind the letter.

He pulled the picture out from behind the letter and set it in front of the paper to look at. Almost immediately, Myth let out a chuckle and leaned over to show his sister, making her laugh a little at the sight. The picture showed a stallion similar-looking to Myth, with a tan coat and brown mane and tail. The only differences between them were that his dad was darker shades of the same color, wore a ring hanging on a cord around his neck, and he was a pegasus while Myth himself was an earth pony. Fortune Hunter was in the Canterlot library with an excited smile on his face, hugging a book tightly in his hooves. After the context their mom had put into the letter, it was obvious that it must have been the book that helped him find out what they'd been hunting for this whole time.

Winter smiled at the reaction and gave a little giggle as well when Myth showed it to her. “Must be something pretty big. I've never seen him like that before.”

“Neither have I.” Myth shook his head. “I can hardly wait to find out what it is they've found.”

“Heh. Well you won't have to wait long,” Snapshot said, patting Myth on the back. “Considering the delivery time between Canterlot and Ponyville, and the letter arriving yesterday, I'd say they'll probably be back tomorrow or the next day.”

Interrupting the conversation, the orange filly sat up, putting her hooves on the table. “Mommy, can we have more ice cream?” Ember asked, ignoring the ice cream dribbling from her chin.

With a little giggle, Winter took a napkin in her magic and wiped her daughter's face off. “Maybe after dinner. I wouldn't want you and Lance to get a tummy ache.”

Ember tried not to show her disappointment, but then felt a nudge in her side. Lance was smiling at her. “How about we go see Aunt Star? She said she had a surprise for us.”

“Oh yeah!” The filly perked up and slid out of her seat, letting her brother slip out of the booth as well. “What do you think it is?” she asked him as they walked out of the restaurant.

“Now I'm curious!” Myth exclaimed, turning his attention from the siblings to their mother.

“That's what you said about that artifact that nearly got you shot, Myth.” With a giggle, Snapshot nudged him in the side. “'Curiosity killed the cat', right?”

He nudged her in return with a chuckle. “Well I'm not a cat, am I?”

“It's just a little tent in the backyard. Since Tenzo is taking Ember on that camping trip next weekend, Star wanted to have a little camp out back for them both tonight, so Lance doesn't feel left out.”

“Aww, well that's sweet of her,” Snapshot said with a smile.

Ding... The chime of a clock in the restaurant sounded on the hour.

Myth scooted out from the booth. “We better get going if we want to get those things from the bookstore before Page closes up for the night.”

“Right.” Snapshot slid out with him. She gave the unicorn a hug. “It was nice to see you again, Winter.”

“It was nice to see you too.” She smiled, then turned and gave Myth a hug as well.

“Tell Tenzo we said hi,” Myth told her as they pulled out of the hug.

The two siblings gathered their bags and made their way to the door. “See ya later... fellas.” Winter's voice called out to them. Hearing this, Myth stopped in his tracks in the doorway, resulting in the mare letting out a giggle before she went back to her work, cleaning up tables and taking orders from new customers.

The stallion looked to his sister, seeing her holding back a laugh of her own. “I told you not to tell her about that!” He remembered how she wanted to tell Winter about it in a letter, for her to read before they got back home. He didn't think she would actually go through with it.

Snapshot just laughed. “I couldn't help it!” she shouted, taking off running to the bookstore.

Her brother chased after her. “I can't believe you!”





A black unicorn mare sat bored at the front counter, tapping her hoof as she looked around at the few ponies in the silent store. She was a bit worn out now that the day was almost over, but after the rush of all the sales from the latest Fogborn book the last couple of days, the lack of customers she had now seemed so... dull. With a look in the mirror beside her, she took a look at herself, taking a moment to fix her curly, blue mane, noticing it had a stray hair out of place. Her heterochromia made her smile. Having a green eye and a blue eye made her feel unique, like one of those characters in a book she read a few years back where the ones with special abilities were marked with eyes like hers.

Ding. The bell chimed above the door.

Page Turner glanced over to greet the customer, but stopped short when she saw who it was.

“Myth! Snapshot!” She waved to them from her spot behind the counter. “It's been so long. Can I help you find something? Please? I need something to do."

The two approached her with a laugh. 

“Nice to see you too, Page,” Snapshot greeted. “I actually came to pick up my pre-order of the new Fogborn book.”

“Oh, right!” She reached under the counter and pulled out a brand-new hardcover copy of the book in question, making the blue pegasus smile wide in excitement. “You're going to love it. No spoilers, but I think it's a great ending for the trilogy. And what about you, Myth?”

“I don't suppose you have anything on any runic languages, would you?”

“Hmm...” the unicorn tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. “If I do, I probably would have put it over in the languages section."

With a nod, he turned and headed for that section, hearing Snapshot and Page start to talk about those books. I've got to check that series out... Sounds like a good read. He thought to himself.

Approaching the languages aisle of the store, he scanned over every book. Soon his eyes came across the spine of a book with symbols on the side. Grabbing it, he opened it to quickly scan through. It just seemed like a copy of the same runic symbol books he had at home, but with some new additions that his didn't have. He smiled and closed it, carrying it with him. Maybe one of the new additions would match the symbols on that artifact! If not, at least he'd still get to read up on some more runic languages.

Continuing on to a different section, Myth found himself looking at atlases, maps of different parts of the world. Most seemed the exact same that he always knew about, aside from one or two that seemed to have added newly-marked hiking trails through mountains and forests. He picked out a few at random, carrying them back to the front counter.

“...hardly believe how the final battle actually happened,” Page was saying as the stallion returned, still in a conversation with his sister about the books they were discussing. She turned her attention to him as he returned. “Find everything okay?”

“Sure did." He smiled and set a stack of four books on the counter.

“Good.” Page smiled, starting to go through them, scanning the codes on the back and totaling up the cost.

Myth counted the bits and set them on the counter as she slipped the books into a plastic bag. “Been busy lately?”

Page Turner shrugged. “Kind of, it was really busy for a while when I got some new releases in stock, but the last couple days have been pretty slow.”

“Everypony's probably at home, reading." Snapshot slid her new book into her bag. 

“Guess so. I still get enough business to stay open, of course, but it'd be nice to have some more ponies to talk to about some books we like.”

The two stepped aside as a pink colored pegasus mare approached and paid for what they were getting. Myth looked over the counter to Page and made a suggestion. “Maybe start a book club?”

“A book club, huh...?” she thought about it.

“Oh yeah, that's a great idea,” Snapshot jumped in. “Assign the group a book to read each week or month, and discuss your favorite parts and what you liked when you're all done.”

The pegasus that had approached to pay for her animal and pet care books, smiled wide at the discussion. “If you do start a book club, I'd sure love to join.”

“See?” Myth gestured to the pegasus as he looked at Page. “Already got somepony that would join.”

The pink mare giggled and nodded. “Yeah! If you do end up starting it, I'd be happy to put up a few posters for it around my store during the grand opening.”

“Grand opening?” Snapshot's attention turned to the new pony out of curiosity. “What are you opening up?”

“Pet store,” the pink mare answered with a smile. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a flier, showing the ponies. “Collars, leashes, toys, pet food, cages, pet beds... and pets, of course.”

“Explains the books about animals you just got,” Page pointed out, gesturing to the books still on the counter, already scanned and priced, and looking at the flier handed to her. “Fauna Paws' Pet Store grand opening...”

“Yeah... Name's still a work in progress. This is actually the only flier I have, just as a basic design. I'd like to use something that doesn't have my own name in it, so I'm waiting for the right name to hit me before I make lots of copies.”

“Ooh.” Snapshot smiled wide. “I'd love to stop by during the opening and take a look around.”

“Oh, you have a pet?” Fauna Paws perked up with interest.

The pegasus gave a little chuckle and shook her head. “We don't have a pet, actually, but I would love to come by the store sometime if you ever need help.”

Myth nodded. “I'd sure like a pet sometime too, but with all the traveling our family does, I kind of doubt any pet we get would get the love and attention it deserves.”

“Ah. Well, if you change your mind, I'd be happy to help you pick someone out. Just come on by when you get the chance.” As Fauna said this, she gathered her now-paid-for books and started to head for the front door. She stopped in the doorway and looked back to them with a smile. “I hope to see you all stop by sometime, even if it's just for a chat.” She then waved goodbye and stepped out, leaving the bookstore.

There was a short moment of silence after that before Page spoke up. “It's about time to close up. You two can stick around a while if you'd like. Browse around for more to read or something.”

“We should probably be getting home,” Snapshot said.

“Yeah, I'm beat," Myth said. “Been a long trip. I might stop by again tomorrow, though.”

The unicorn smiled at that and nodded. “I'll hold you to that.”

Myth and Snapshot both gave a little laugh, picked up their books, and went for the door, ready to get some sleep.





Knock, knock, knock.

The noise woke up Myth and Snapshot from their sleep in the middle of the night. They came out of their bedrooms to meet in the living room, yawning and with messy manes.

“Ugh, who could be here at... four in the morning?” Myth asked tiredly, looking at the clock. “Did you invite somepony over or something?”

Snapshot shook her head with a little yawn. “If I was expecting somepony, I wouldn't have gone to bed.” She flopped down onto the couch, laying her head down. “Could you answer it, please?”

Myth Chaser rubbed at the back of his neck as he went to the front door and opened it to find a unicorn stallion in a police uniform. He looked at the visitor, feeling more awake now that there was a cop at the door. “Can I help you, officer?”

“You two Myth Chaser and Snapshot?” the stallion asked.

“Yeah, that's us,” Myth confirmed, stepping aside to show his sister laying on the couch.

“I'm sorry for waking you,” the stallion interrupted, pulling out a wallet and holding it open, showing his police badge. “Name's Silver Cuffs. May I come in for a moment?” The tone in his voice told them that they might not like what he had to say, but surely it was something important if he showed up this late.

Snapshot got up from the couch when she heard that, suddenly not so sleepy anymore upon seeing a police badge. “Um, sure." She started fixing her mane the best she could with just her hooves.

Myth stepped aside to let him in, shutting the door behind him. “What's this about?”

The cop seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact with the two ponies for the moment. “It's about your parents, Fortune Hunter and Pen Scribe...” He trailed off, the news he was about to share seeming to affect him as well.

The two siblings looked at each other, a bit worried now. Nopony had ever come to the house to tell them something about their parents. Especially a police officer.

“What happened?” Myth asked. “They're not... arrested or anything, right?”

“No. I'm sorry to say, but... this is much worse.” Silver Cuffs shook his head. He then looked up to them with a look of sorrow on his face. “I hate to be the one to tell you two this. Your parents are dead.”
> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Your parents are dead.”

The words seemed to echo in Myth Chaser's mind. Trying to process the information, he fell back onto the couch cushion, unable to stay standing any longer.

Snapshot stayed standing for the moment, looking at the officer with a look of heartbreak spread over her face. “D-... Dead? What happened?”

The cop moved over in front of the coffee table, taking a seat. “They were on a train, reportedly on their way here from Canterlot. The train's braking system failed and it took a turn too fast...” he explained, glancing at Myth Chaser, making sure it was okay to keep going before he continued. “It derailed from the tracks, and toppled over the edge of the cliff. The fall itself was too much for anypony to have possibly survived... If they had, then... the fire would have done it.” The looks on the two ponies' faces showed that didn't understand that part, and he quickly explained. “The fuel sparked and caused an explosion. Nobody on board survived.”

Myth sat up, leaning forward, and pressed his hooves to his head as if he could hardly handle what he was hearing. The pressure in his chest made it hard to breathe as he felt the need to cry. If anypony else had told him that his parents had died, he wouldn't have believed it. His dad was tough! And his mother was always with him so he kept her safe! Yet here they were... being told about the train being derailed from a braking failure, and told by a police officer...

Silver Cuffs then reached into the pocket on the chest of his suit and pulled out a small, clear, plastic bag. “It may not be much, but... this was recovered from the crash site.”

He then pushed the bag forward across the table. Snapshot gasped at the sight of it, lifting a hoof to her mouth as tears fought their way free from her eyes. Myth's heart sank even further when he looked up from his hooves to the bag sitting in front of him. If there was anything that could prove their parents' deaths, this was it. Inside the plastic bag was a black leather cord tied to a silver ring which was inscribed with runic-looking symbols.



Snapshot and Myth Chaser smiled happily, the two foals sitting together on the living room floor, playing a game together as they looked up at their dark blue coated earth pony mother walking up to their dad, with a small gift box in her hoof with a little bow tied on top.

The dark gold pegasus stallion, Fortune Hunter, raised a brow at the sight of the gift. “Kinda small, don't you think?” he teased.

Pen Scribe smiled at that, holding the small box up in front of her husband. “Just open it.”

He chuckled softly and accepted the little gift, beginning to untie the ribbon on top. “Really though. I got you that big typewriter and you bring me th-”

“Oh hush,” Pen interrupted as she giggled, watching his face. His eyes lit up as the lid came off and he saw the ring inside. Fortune Hunter lifted the silver ring in his hoof to find it was also tied to a black leather cord. He looked at the runic inscription and smiled.

“What is it, dad? What did she get you?” Myth asked, running up and looking curiously, with Snapshot coming up beside him, eager to get a look as well.

“It's a ring, with a cord so I can wear it as a necklace,” Fortune explained, holding it down for the two foals to look at. “Your mother got it inscribed with our motto. See? Adventure Lies Ahead.” After the young colt and filly got a good look, he then lifted it up and over his head to wear around his neck, dangling just down to his chest.

“Happy Anniversary, Fortune,” Pen said with a smile, coming closer and wrapping a hoof around him in a hug.

“Happy Anniversary, Pen,” he replied, hugging her in return, followed by a loving kiss to her lips. Once he pulled back, he smiled, looking down at his new necklace. “I'll never take this off.”



And it was true. Their father never took off the necklace. Not for any family outings. Not for classy restaurants. Not for adventures. Aside from when he went to sleep, while he set it on the nightstand beside the bed, it never came off. If he wasn't wearing it now, then...

After a moment of silence, Snapshot was able to speak again. Looking up at Silver, she managed to ask, “How did... How did you know this was his?”

“Fortune was a good friend of mine a while back. I never saw him without it.”

Myth got up and began to walk away, feeling like he needed to get away from the ring for a moment. He went to the entryway before he turned around, staring at the ring like it was his worst fear... and technically, it was, since it was there without his dad wearing it. He couldn't even speak, feeling like his stomach was in his throat.

Silver Cuffs then got up, leaving the bagged necklace on the table. “I'm sorry, you two. I... have more families to speak to tonight.” The unicorn went over to the front door and opened up, stopping to look back to them. If either of you have any questions, or... just need to talk, come by the station. I'll make time for the two of you.”

With a nod, Snapshot led him to the door. “Of course. We will. Thank you.”

Silver gave a small smile. “Try to get some sleep. You'll feel better once it's sunk in.” He then left, dreading the rest of the night, informing more families of what happened.

Snapshot closed the door behind him and turned the lock. Turning around, she was ready to ask if Myth was feeling okay, but saw him disappearing into the hallway, leaving for his bedroom without a word. With tears running down her cheeks, the pegasus wiped a hoof over her eyes, drying them for the moment. Walking over to the bagged necklace, she looked at it, lifting the bag in her hooves. She opened the bag, letting the ring slip out into her hoof.

The mare looked over to the entry table beside the front door, seeing their framed family picture. She went over, bringing the necklace with her. Tears streaming down her face, she let out a sob as she looked at the picture, knowing she'd never get to see her parents for real again. Snapshot then set the ring down on the table, letting the cord lay on the table, circled around the photo. “We're going to miss you two. So much...” she muttered as she looked at her parents in the picture.

She thought for a second about going to check on Myth, but thought it better to leave him be for the night. He would have stayed if he wanted to talk. Snapshot felt like she needed to be alone right now, too, and with how late it was, the two needed to sleep, if they could.




One Week Later


It had been a busy week. The train from Ponyville to Canterlot was already back up and running. No damage to the tracks meant easy replacement, just putting new train cars on and keeping it going. Of course they tested the brakes and everything to make sure it was completely safe so nopony would fear having to ride.

The two went to the bank to find out about their inheritance, surprised by just how much money actually was in their parents' shared account. They knew their parents had no money problems, but they didn't expect quite this much. The inheritance money was split fifty-fifty between the two.

The two of them would easily be able to continue the payments for the house, resulting in them deciding to keep it. They didn't mind sharing the home with each other. Myth would probably be spending a lot of time out on adventures anyways, and when Snapshot wasn't with him she would have the house to herself for any photography sessions.

They had sent out letters to friends and family, informing everybody of what happened, and invited them all to the funeral. The funeral had come and gone fairly quick. With no bodies recovered, there was no burial made. Fortune Hunter and Pen Scribe's names were inscribed together on a tombstone, stating their birth-to-death years. Myth and Snapshot gave a little speech together about their parents, and every pony said their goodbyes and left flowers. Family and friends all came, though the family had to leave back to their homes all over Equestria right after.

Now, the two siblings sat side by side at a table in Winter's restaurant with her, Tenzo, and Winter's pink-haired twin sister, Star Shimmer. Lance and Ember had their own table to make room for all the adults to eat together, Lance digging into his fries as Ember showed him her new flame cutie mark she had gotten during her camping trip with Tenzo. All ponies were dressed in black, having just finished the funeral. Winter had invited them all over to the restaurant for a free, private dinner with the whole restaurant to themselves, offering to make them anything they wanted.

“I'm sorry your family didn't stay around after the funeral,” Star apologized to the siblings as her sister set down everyone else's plates of food, burgers and fries for everyone at the table.

Snapshot nodded, wiping at her eyes with a tissue. “It's fine. Everypony needs to get back home. We didn't expect them to just cancel their plans to come stick around for a while.” She then pulled her drink closer, taking a sip.

“The important thing is they came,” Myth said, nibbling at one of his fries.

The group ate in silence for a short moment, nibbling their fries, biting their burgers, and sipping their sodas. Then the orange stallion, Tenzo, spoke up. “Do you two need a place to stay for a while?” he asked. “Just... to have somepony around?”

Winter nodded at that, looking over to them. “Yeah, you're more than welcome to come stay with us for a while if you need to.”

Myth and Snapshot exchanged glances and each shook their head, with Myth answering. “No, that's okay. We'll be fine.”

“Thanks for the offer, though,” Snapshot added with a little smile.

Every pony went back to eating silently, unsure of what to talk about. They had talked plenty at the funeral and were practically out of conversation topics for now. Until Winter remembered last week. “Uhm... Did you ever figure out what that thing was, that you found last week?” she asked, hoping to maybe get their minds off the funeral for a moment.

Myth's ears perked up at that and he shook his head. “Uh... No. I actually forgot all about that thing.” He hummed in thought for a moment and shrugged. “I think my guess about it was it could be some kind of compass, or something. Maybe even a weird kind of map that I don't understand. I'll have to take another look at it to remember.”

“You could bring it by my place sometime and I could check it out,” Star Shimmer spoke up. “If it's a compass or map, I'm sure I could confirm that for you.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot you're into compasses and maps for more than just astronomy stuff.” Myth chuckled. “I'll bring it by tomorrow night, if you don't mind. Don't have any night-sky things you're looking out for?”

The pink-haired unicorn mare shook her head with a smile. “Nope. I'm totally free the next few days. I'd be happy to help out, if I can.”

Myth had a smile on his face now, eager to find out for sure if that golden, round artifact thing actually was a compass or some kind of map. If it was, that might help lead him on a path to figuring out how to read it, and what it lead to. If not, he was at a loss.

Snapshot had a small smile on her face as well, now that she was seeing her brother happy and smiling again. It had been a week since she'd last seen him smile. He must have really liked adventure stuff if that's what it took to get him this way.

The group continued eating and talking, Snapshot asking Tenzo about how the camping trip with Ember went, glad that they had gotten to go. He explained that it was a fun time of swimming and playing games, and he helped Ember use magic for the first time, getting her a cutie mark for fire magic when she started their campfire herself.

Spending this time together with close friends sure seemed to help Myth and Snapshot cope with the loss of their parents.

It wasn't much longer before the siblings were ready to head home. It was beginning to get dark out by now. It had been a long day at the end of a long week, and the two were ready to get back to their lives now that everything concerning their parents' deaths was taken care of. Inheritance, home ownership, funeral...

Exiting the restaurant, Myth and Snapshot shared hugs with Star, Winter, Tenzo, Lance, and Ember. Winter locked up and the groups split up. Winter and Tenzo taking their two kids back home and Star going back to her own place, probably ready to stare at the sky all night to make more star maps.

Upon returning home, Myth flopped down on the couch, ready to fall asleep right then and there, not even caring that he was still wearing his suit for the funeral. Who could blame him? It was a long day!

“I'm gonna get to bed. You staying up much longer?” Snapshot asked as she pulled the hair tie out of her mane to let her ponytail down.

“Probably about half a minute,” Myth muttered, his face buried into the couch cushions.

His sister managed a little laugh at that and gave him a little pat on the back. “At least try to get out of that suit before you pass out.”

“Nnnh...” he groaned, waving a hoof at her, wanting her to just go so he could get to sleep.

She left with a yawn, heading down the hall. Myth heard her flip her light switch on before closing her bedroom door. Just as he was getting up to head to his own room, there was a knock at the door. He groaned lightly and went to answer. Upon opening the door, he saw Page Turner, their friend from the bookstore, holding a little plastic bag in her hoof.

“Hey. Sorry if I woke you,” she apologized quickly.

“You didn't,” Myth said. “Snaps and I just got home. What's up?”

“I just wanted to come by after work and say sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral.”

“Oh, don't be. We understand. You had some author coming for book signings today, right? Can't cancel or reschedule that kind of thing.”

Page nodded, glad that they were understanding about it. “Yeah. That's another reason I came by. The author was the writer of the Fogborn books that Snapshot likes. I figured... since she couldn't come to the signing, I could ask the author for a signed copy of the newest book in the series to give to her. When I told him Snapshot couldn't make it because she was at her parents' funeral... He insisted on giving her this.” With that, she held the plastic bag up for Myth. He took it curiously and took a peek. Inside was a boxed set of the entire Fogborn series. “He signed each one individually, and said to tell her that he's sorry for your loss.”

Myth smiled softly, and a bit tiredly, at that and set the bag aside. “Thanks, Page. She'll love it.”

“I thought so,” she said back, smiling. Her ears then perked up in remembrance. “Oh! There's something for you, too.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a tattered, leather covered book. Myth took it curiously and looked it over. It was worn and torn, showing signs of age or rough handling, and looked to have some dirt sticking to it.

“What's this?” he asked, looking back up to her.

Page smiled knowingly. “Open it.”

Myth did as told, his curiosity getting the better of him, and opened to the first page. His ears perked up when he saw what was there. Hoofwritten on the first page was his father's name, Fortune Hunter, and Myth recognized it as his journal. Not his only journal, but the most recent one he got last month. Meaning this journal was all about the latest artifact they had been hunting down. He looked back to Page, wondering how she got it.

Before he could even ask, she explained. “Officer Silver Cuffs gave it to me. I saw him at your house and I told him you weren't home. When he said he had something for you, I told him I could bring it by later. He said it was found in the train wreckage and thought you might like to have it.”

Myth smiled softly, looking back down to the book and flipped through the pages quickly, seeing it was mostly blank, only two or three pages containing any writing.

“Thank you for bringing this by,” he said, smiling and moving in, pulling her in for a hug. “This means a lot to me, and I'm sure to Snaps too, when I show her.”

“No problem,” Page said, hugging back tightly and even patting his back until Myth pulled away. “Anyway, I'll let you get to sleep now. You look exhausted.”

“I am.” He chuckled tiredly, giving a little nod. “Have a good night, Page.”

“You too.”

With that, she turned and left, on her way home, and Myth closed the door, grabbing the plastic bag with the books for Snapshot. He brought it down the hallway, knocking on his sister's bedroom door and waiting a moment before peeking in, seeing her sleeping quietly in bed. Myth stepped inside and silently set the bag down on her desk so she would see it when she woke up.

Myth then returned to his own room, got out of the tuxedo he'd been wearing all day, and lay in bed with a comfortable sigh, falling asleep in no time.




The Next Morning


The golden colored stallion yawned tiredly as he poured a glass of orange juice, waiting for the toaster to give him his breakfast, when he heard a squeal come from down the hallway. He grinned, knowing Snapshot must have seen the books brought by for her.

Soon enough, the blue pegasus rushed down the hall and tightly hugged him. He laughed and gave her a one-hoofed hug in return. “What's this for, Snaps?” he asked.

“The books, ya goof!” she shouted. “When did you have the time to go get me a boxed set of the complete series all autographed?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I didn't.” Snapshot broke the hug, looking at him curiously until he explained. “Page brought it by last night after you went to bed. She wanted to get you a signed copy of the latest book since the author was there yesterday for the signings. Apparently she told the author you couldn't make it because of the funeral, and he insisted on giving you that complete series instead. She said to tell you that he said he's sorry for our loss.”

“Aww. Well that's sweet of him,” she cooed softly, smiling. “And her, for asking for a book in the first place.”

The single slice of toast popped up from the toaster at that moment and Myth grabbed it with his bare hoof. “Yeah, and that's not all.” He took a bite from his toast, walking in to the living room and took a seat on the couch, gesturing to their dad's journal he left on the table last night. “Silver Cuffs found dad's journal in the train wreckage and gave it to Page for her to bring over.”

“Have you looked through it yet?” she asked, clutching her boxed set of autographed books to her chest.

“Not yet,” he answered with another bite of his breakfast. “I was going to go through it today. Care to read through it with me?”

Snapshot shook her head. “As much as I love mom and dad, I really want to finish reading this last Fogborn book before I go back to my photography stuff tomorrow. Mind telling me about the adventure later?” she asked, getting up from the couch.

He chuckled and nodded. “Sure. You go read your book, nerd,” he said teasingly, finishing off his toast as Snapshot went back to her room.

Myth then picked up Fortune's journal and went to his own room, cleaned up by now, figuring he owed it to his mom to clean up after himself like she had asked. His mom's books lined the top shelf of his bookcase against the wall, followed by his dad's past journals that he liked to read every now and then. Those journals were much more intact, thanks to not going through train wrecks.

The stallion took a seat at his desk, setting his dad's latest journal down, and opened to the first page. He began reading...

First entry:
By now, I know that you two, Myth and Snapshot, are the only ones that read these journals. I usually write these just to get stuff down so I don't forget, but this time I'm just going to write this like I'm talking directly to you, alright, kiddos? Hope it doesn't make this stuff a worse reading experience for you two.

First thing's first... Your mother and I are onto something big this time. Sure, I say that every time and we just come home with some old bone of an extinct species or ancient urn or something. Not this time. This time? Well. Let's start from the beginning, huh?

Believe it or not, this one started because of your mother. Yeah. Pen was doing some reading about magic to better understand how it works for her next book she's going to write about a unicorn. In researching this, she of course came to read some stuff about Starswirl the Bearded. Who wouldn't come across him when reading about magic, right?

Well here's the thing.

Starswirl had a secret. A secret so big, nopony knows even to this day, exactly what it was. But apparently during his time giving Princesses Celestia and Luna magic training for raising and lowering the sun and moon... Celestia saw Starswirl and Luna coming and going from the castle every night, and neither of them would say what they were doing, nor explained why they couldn't tell her.

What was Starswirl hiding? Why did it involve Luna? Why couldn't they tell Celestia?

No idea. But there's one thing that Pen and I do know.

Whatever this big secret of theirs is about, it involved some hidden place that nopony other than them have ever visited. Any questions about this to Luna have apparently been avoided, or otherwise met with her requesting not to be asked about it any further.

If a Princess and one of history's most powerful wizards were the only two ponies ever to visit there, then there must be some reason...

That's what we're going to find out. Myth. Snapshot. Your mother and I did some research, and found something out.

There's a trail to find this location, and it starts with some artifact hidden somewhere in the mountains to the north of Canterlot. We don't know what this artifact is or what it does. We just know the beginning of this adventure starts with that. So your mother and I are sending the two of you to look for it. In the meantime, we're heading to the Canterlot library. We think we can find more information in the Starswirl wing of the archives.

Hopefully we'll find more information there.

That was the end of the first entry. Myth was sitting up, more interested now than he was before he started reading. “Huh...” He glanced over, looking at the artifact his parents had sent him and Snapshot to recover. Reaching over, he took it in his hoof and looked over the round, golden disc, still curious about the runic symbols and the needle. “So you've got something to do with Starswirl the Bearded, huh...? And Luna. Some.... secret place.” Myth then reached to the knob-like part in the center that the needle was jutting out from. It looked like it could be turned, but when he tried, it didn't budge. What was this thing?

He turned back to the journal, hoping that maybe his parents had found something out. But, upon turning the page, he found that a page had appeared to be ripped out. Everything after that was blank. He sighed and sat back in his seat at the desk. Only one entry, and it only started with that first trip that Myth and Snapshot had taken? Their parents were really just starting out on this adventure. With nothing more than a story about a secret area that nopony knew about it and the rumor about an artifact that nobody knew what it did.

But now, Myth's interest was piqued. If it was just about some random location, he wouldn't have paid any more attention to it. But the fact that it was a location known only to Starswirl the Bearded and Princess Luna... and they refused to speak about it to anyone, even Celestia herself... Something was up. Myth wanted to know what it was. He had to know.

“Did you find anything in the archives...?” Myth muttered to himself, curious if his parents were able to find any information.

“Did you say something, Myth?” Snapshot asked from his doorway, catching him by surprise.

He turned and looked back to her. “Just, ah... thinking out loud.”

“Something interesting?”

Myth nodded, looking down in thought. “Yeah...” He then closed the journal he had just read and looked up at Snapshot. “Think you can get out of your photography work for a while longer?”

His sister looked at him oddly and shrugged. “Maybe. What for?”

“I want you to come with me,” he said, getting up from his seat and grabbing his black saddlebag, lifting it up onto his bed. He pulled the green gem-shaped strap up to open one side of the bag and packed their dad's journal into the side along with the golden disc artifact.

She chuckled lightly, watching her brother pack his bag. “And... where, might I ask, are we going?”

In the other side, he packed a bag full of bits along with his ID, toothbrush, toothpaste, and any other necessities he could think of.

He looked over to his sister. “Mom and dad were onto something. And they were just getting started. I want to continue their adventure for them. See it through to the end, and find the answers they were looking for.”

Snapshot's ears perked up at that and she smiled. She'd had fun on her last trip with him, recovering the artifact their parents asked them to fetch. How much fun would it be to continue a full on adventure started by their parents? “Count me in.”

Myth smiled, glad that she agreed to come along, and watched her leave to her room to pack her own saddlebag. He turned off his light and carried his bag into the living room, setting it beside the front door so he could wait for his sister. Standing there by the door, he saw the family picture. Him, Snapshot, their parents. Standing together in the living room, and all smiling happily together. A fairly recent picture. He then saw the necklace laying there that Snapshot had placed around it.

He reached to the necklace, taking the ring in his hoof. He clutched it closely while looking at the picture. This was his dad's adventure. The ring in his hoof was his dad's necklace, given to him by his wife, Myth's mother, Pen Scribe. This necklace was a part of his dad.

It was in that moment that he made the decision. As he lifted the necklace up, he slipped the black leather cord over his head and around his neck, letting the ring hang down and against his chest. He wasn't going to let this necklace be a reminder that his parents were dead. He was going to keep it as a reminder that his parents were always with him, in his heart.

“That looks good on you,” Snapshot complimented, a smile on her face as she walked up to her brother, seeing him wearing their father's necklace.

Myth smiled and looked in the mirror at the house entryway, seeing his reflection with the necklace on. “You think so?”

The pegasus came up beside him, nodding as she looked at the reflection with him. “So... Where are we heading?”

The stallion reached to his bag and slid it up onto his back, the bags hanging at his sides, and strapped them in place. “Canterlot. I'll tell you what I know on the way.”

She nodded and opened the front door, her own bags resting at her sides, strapped in place as well. “You go ahead to the train station and get our tickets. I need to let the magazine editor know I won't be around a while longer.”

“Alright. I'll see you there. And, hey... Snapshot?”

“Yeah?” she asked, looking back at him.

Myth smiled, looking to his sister, and cited their parents' motto. “Adventure lies ahead.”
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“You know, you still haven't told me what this is all about,” Snapshot pointed out as she and Myth Chaser stepped out through the open doors of the stationed train, bags dangling from their backs against their sides.

It was true. He had been so enraptured with reading and rereading his father's journal during the train ride, he'd completely forgotten to get his sister caught up with what exactly they were doing. She knew for certain that they had decided to continue their parents' adventure, and that it had something to do with the artifact they had gotten. But she had no clue what was going on that had Myth so intrigued.

Myth took a quick look around Canterlot as they exited the station. It felt strange being back here. He hadn't seen Canterlot since he and Snapshot had finished their college years. It felt different somehow, and yet so familiar. He began the walk through the streets, his memory leading him and his sister on the path to the public Canterlot library.

“Come on, Myth, don't leave me hanging,” Snapshot said, following after him. “You said mom and dad were onto something, and from the excited look on your face, I can tell it must be big. What's going on?”

“I'm not exactly sure myself,” Myth responded. The pegasus looked at him for a moment, confused. If he wasn't sure, then why had they just traveled all the way to Canterlot? Before she could ask, he continued. “The entry in dad's journal didn't say a whole lot, but it was enough.”

“Care to elaborate?”

The stallion smiled lightly as he thought back to the journal. He practically had it memorized after reading it over and over again on the train ride here. “Dad said this adventure started because of mom. She was studying unicorn magic so she'd better understand it for her next book. He said it was supposedly about a unicorn.”

Snapshot waited a second for him to continue, not sure where this was going yet. “And...?”

“And, mom got into some stuff about Starswirl the Bearded,” Myth added.

“Naturally. Can't get into anything magic related without reading something about him.”

Myth nodded. “Exactly, and while she was researching, she came across something. Dad went on to mention how they discovered that Starswirl had some big secret that nopony in Equestria knows about, except for Princess Luna.”

Snapshot's eyes widened a bit at that news. “No one?” she asked.

“Not even Princess Celestia herself,” he answered.

“Well what was it?” the pegasus inquired, a bit of excitement being heard in her voice.

“That's just it, it's still a secret. Dad said that some ponies that have found out have asked Princess Luna about it, but she always avoids the questions and asks that the topic not be brought up again. Especially around Princess Celestia. But dad did say that whatever it was, it involved some special, hidden place that apparently Starswirl and Luna have visited.”

“Think it could be some sort of training area where Starswirl was giving the Princesses magic lessons for their duties?” Snapshot asked.

Myth shook his head in reply. “Doubt it. If that was the case, Celestia would have known something about it too. If it was a magic training area, then why for only Luna, and why keep it such a big secret from all of Equestria?”

Snapshot pondered that for a moment. “Fair point.”

The two ponies took a turn and stepped in between a pair of large stone unicorn statues, walking up a small set of steps to make their way through the large, open doors of the public library.

“Any ideas on what it could mean?” Snapshot asked in a hushed, library-mandated tone.

Myth just shook his head no. He'd thought about several ideas during the train ride but debunked each one once he thought about it. He wasn't sure what Starswirl would do with Luna but not want Celestia or the rest of Equestria to know about.

The two made their way through the halls to come to the Starswirl section of the library. The wizard had had so many notes and journals on all the spells he knew of, along with spells that he had created himself, and even some spells he had been in the process of working on before his death. Shelves upon shelves of books, journals, and scrolls were lined with the famous unicorn wizard's knowledge of spells, and writings of his own life. The shelves were set up to form a sort of circle, surrounding an area of several tables. At the tables were ponies of various ages. If they had to guess, these ponies were probably students from middle school and high school.

It was just as Myth and Snapshot remembered it. They were reminded of their school days when they'd had to come here to study Starswirl for history classes, and had come to help their unicorn friends when they did research for their magic classes. That must be what these ponies were doing.

“Where do we start?” Myth muttered, just barely loud enough for his sister to hear as he gazed around at the dozens of long, tall shelves stocked full of Starswirl's knowledge.

Snapshot let out a light sigh, getting the feeling of homework and research washing over her. A quick glance at the clock on the wall showed it was only about midday. They had a lot of time today to look around.

“Myth? Snapshot?” a familiar voice called with a bit of a hushed tone.

The two turned to see their white-coated, black and pink maned unicorn friend. “Star?” Myth asked. “What are you doing here?”

Star Shimmer approached the siblings, carrying a few scrolls in her magic, lifting them a bit to show she came to gather some stuff. “Doing a bit of snooping. Hoping Starswirl knew anything about astronomy that might help me out. You come to have me take a look at that artifact already?” she asked, glancing at the clock, remembering that Myth had mentioned coming by later that night.

“Oh!” Myth gasped loudly, having forgotten that Star had offered to try and let him know if the artifact they had was some sort of compass. He mouthed a quick 'sorry' to the ponies that gave him an annoyed look, wanting a bit of quiet in their studying sanctuary. Myth then turned back to Star. “I almost forgot about that.”

Star gave a light chuckle. “No problem. Well hey, since you're already here, how about I take a look at it now?”

“Here?” Snapshot asked, giving a quick glance to the ponies studying at the table. It was obvious that she figured an artifact involving some big secret about Starswirl should probably be kept secret, at least until they knew what it was.

Star and Myth followed the pegasus pony's gaze. “Best get somewhere more private,” Star agreed, then waved a hoof for the two to follow, leading them down an aisle between shelves and to one of the tables in a back corner. She set her scrolls next her bag on the table and set it all aside against the wall.

Myth Chaser dug into his own bag and took a quick look around before slipping the object onto the table's surface in front of the unicorn.

Star Shimmer took the round object in her hooves. The mare ignored the runic symbols, having no clue what they were anyways. Upon seeing the red needle coming from a slit, she reached to the cylindrical bit of golden-colored stone coming from the center and tried to turn it. It looked like it was a dial to try and turn the red needle to aim at the runic symbols, but when she realized that it wouldn't turn, she frowned.

She then turned the entire object, seeing how the needle stayed fixed on the same symbol and didn't move to match any particular direction. The unicorn then closed her eyes and focused her magic on the artifact. A light pink glow surrounded her horn along with the object. There was a brief moment of her sitting there, a look of amazement showing on her face even with her eyes still closed and concentrating on the item. “Wow... This was definitely touched by a powerful unicorn's magic,” she muttered, setting it back down to the table and looking up to her two friends.

Myth and Snapshot looked at her with confusion. Star pointed to her horn and explained. “Unicorns with powerful enough magic talent can usually sense a sort of magic print left on things that other unicorn magic has come into contact with. I don't have that much talent to sense that sort of magical wavelength, but even I could feel it on this thing,” she told them, looking back to the artifact. “Strong, too. No doubt in my mind, it belonged to Starswirl... It felt sort of strong, like it was used often... but also sort of faded, as if it hasn't been touched by magic in ages.”

The siblings exchanged excited glances. They'd had no idea that this artifact used to belong to Starswirl. No wonder that zebra and her crew had stolen it from them in the forest, and had gone through so much trouble to get it again once they stole it back...

“...but what is it?” Snapshot asked.

Star just shook her head, unsure of the answer. “I can't tell... I can see why you would think it's a compass of some kind, because of the needle,” she said, pointing at the red pointed needle protruding from the center. She then picked it up and turned it again, showing that the needle didn't turn. “But if it's a compass, it wouldn't stay stuck in one spot like this. It should turn to stay locked in a single direction. North and South Pole and all that jazz, you know how compasses work. So, if it was a compass, it's either broken, or needs some kind of magic to activate it, which would just be bad design, in my opinion.”

She set it down for a moment in thought. “Only thing I can think of is that it's some kind of lock. You know, like how we had on lockers at school, putting in combinations? But if that was the case...” Star Shimmer put her hoof back to the cylinder coming outward from the middle of the disc-shaped artifact and tried to turn it again. “It should be turning.”

Myth sighed a bit and sat back in his seat, feeling a bit frustrated. Not with Star, but with Starswirl, or the artifact... or both? Why would anyone make something so strange and so impossible to figure out? Thoughts ran through his mind, trying to piece things together. He and Snapshot had so little information as to what this object was, or what it did. Any information their parents had was now gone with them... They were starting from square one.

Then his ears perked up suddenly and he sat upright, turning the artifact around for him to look at again.

“Something come to mind?” Snapshot asked.

“I'm so stupid,” he said. He looked at the two mares, eyeing him with confusion. “Dad said in his journal that this was the beginning of a trail to figuring out Starswirl and Luna's secret.”

“Right,” Snapshot mentioned. “But we don't know what it is, so we're still stuck here at the beginning.”

“Well, I might know what it is,” Myth said. He then dug into his bag and pulled out the roughly handled, torn journal. He opened it to the first page and quickly skimmed before setting it down and pointing at the words as he read aloud. “Whatever this big secret of theirs is about, it involved some hidden place that nopony other than them have ever visited.” He looked back up and explained further. “This big secret involves a hidden location, and this thing has something to do with it,” he mentioned, tapping on the artifact.

“So you think...?” Snapshot trailed off.

“It's got to be some sort of combination lock, then,” Star confirmed with a smile. “I mean, what else could it be? And if you're saying what you're after is some big secret, that would explain why it won't turn right now. Starswirl would want it to be difficult to use. He'd make the lock to this secret location unable to work without the right magic, and I'm willing to bet it has something to do with these runes.”

The three ponies shared smiles for a moment, glad that they had figured out the mystery. This artifact was certain to be some kind of lock. But to where...? And what made a mere location so secretive that it had to be locked away? If it was just some activity that Starswirl and Luna did, the location shouldn't matter much. Was this location infused with some sort of special magic? Or a gateway to some special place? Myth was even more curious now than he was before.

Star Shimmer looked up at the clock hung on the wall and began to gather her things, placing the scroll she'd found in her bag for her to check out and take home. “I've got to go. I hope I helped you two out.”

“Oh, you did,” Snapshot told her.

“Big help, Star,” Myth added. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” The unicorn smiled and gave each sibling a hug. “Hope you two find what you're looking for,” she added before she took off.

Myth and Snapshot sat at the table. He looked over the artifact again while Snapshot read through the journal entry real quick, eager to know what all their dad had written.

“Hey...” Snapshot muttered, pointing at the journal, right where it seemed a page had been ripped. “There a page missing?”

“Yeah, I noticed that earlier,” Myth answered. “I'm sure dad tore it out for some reason. Probably one of those charcoal rubbing things, you know? Where he puts the paper over something and runs a pencil all over the page to copy the texture on the page.”

“Huh... Maybe.” Snapshot shrugged it off and slid the journal back toward her brother. “So what next?”

Myth sighed lightly and stared at the artifact. His main focus was now on the runes etched in around the disc in a similar way to how numbers were on a combination lock. “I say... If we can figure out what these runes mean, maybe we'll find our way to the next part of the trail.”

Snapshot smiled. “So we just narrowed down the search to just runes?”

He shook his head. “The runes would be a good start, but we can't rely on just those. We'd need to look for anything involving Starswirl's favored locations, and if we're lucky, something about him and Princess Luna.”

The pegasus looked around the large area at all the shelves of Starswirl focused scrolls and books, and sighed. “This is going to take a while.”

Myth slid the journal and artifact back into his bag and nodded. “Yeah. Better get started.”




Several hours later


Myth had his chin resting on his hoof with a look of boredom as his eyes scanned left to right across the latest bit of parchment, reading something about Starswirl's fascination with traveling around Equestria, hoping to find anything even remotely hinting at a hidden location that Starswirl wouldn't want to talk about further. The stallion gave a little yawn, starting to get a bit tired. He wasn't used to sitting still and reading endlessly like this. It felt like he was back in school, doing more research.

“Anything yet?” Snapshot asked, returning to the table her brother was at.

They had decided to split up across the section earlier to try and find any information they could about what they were looking for, ending up with them reading at different tables after a while. It had been nearly three hours since they had last said anything to each other.

Myth gave another little yawn and shook his head. “Not yet.”

Snapshot sighed as she took a seat across from her brother, flopping her head down onto her hooves. “Who knew finding a secret of somepony so well known all over Equestria throughout history would be so difficult?”

He gave a chuckle at that. “You're the magazine photographer. Isn't finding out secrets about famous ponies kind of your thing?” he teased.

The pegasus rolled her eyes with a grin. “That's paparazzi, Myth. You know I'm with the nature magazines.”

“Didn't happen to find any secret locations that might require a magical lock while taking photos of nature, did you?” he asked hopefully, knowing full well she wouldn't have.

“Man, I wish...” Snapshot sighed. “Starswirl really isn't making this easy on us at all.”

“It's a secret to all of Equestria, and has been for decades. What hope do we have of figuring this out?”

“Uhm...” a new voice muttered, coming from a mare. The two looked up to see a unicorn mare approaching them. Her coat was tan in color and her mane and tail were a mix of bronze and gold. Her eyes a beautiful shade of blue. “I'm sorry, but did you two say something about a magical lock? And... Starswirl?”

Snapshot and Myth exchanged glances then back to the unicorn.

“Who wants to know?” Snapshot asked.

“My name's Jewel,” she answered, reaching a hoof out for a shake.

“Myth Chaser.” He reached in for the first shake, followed by his sister doing the same.

“Snapshot.”

“I'm a bit of a fan of Starswirl's, and I thought I might be able to help you two. You said something about a magical lock?” Jewel asked, looking to Myth.

Myth glanced over to his sister, unsure if they should let this stranger in on their knowledge. Snapshot gave a little shrug as if to say 'go for it.' They were at a dead end anyways. If this unicorn couldn't help, it's not like they'd be stuck any more than they were already, and if she could, then they'd have a lead to follow... So Myth reached in his bag and pulled out the artifact, sliding it across the table toward Jewel.

“As far as we can tell, it's a magical lock to some secret location that Starswirl went to frequently,” Myth explained.

“The one he went to with Princess Luna every night during his lessons to her and Princess Celestia?” Jewel asked with a bit of excitement, proving she had quite the knowledge about the story of that little secret, causing the two siblings perk up a bit as Jewel gazed at the lock.

She stared at it like it was quite the treasure, leaving it on the table, as if she didn't feel worthy to touch it after Starswirl had.

“Exactly,” Myth answered. He pointed to the symbols etched into the stone. “We have a feeling that finding out what these symbols are would help lead us to the next clue.”

“Any ideas?” Snapshot asked a bit tiredly.

Jewel picked up the lock in her magic, eyes suddenly widening a bit. Myth and Snapshot figured she'd picked up on the magical print that Star had mentioned. The unicorn gazed over the symbols, running a hoof over them as she inspected the artifact. Then she smiled. “Actually, yes.”

Myth and Snapshot perked up instantly at that answer. Any ideas about what these symbols meant would be a big help.

Jewel set the artifact back down to the table, so gently. “I've seen these symbols before,” she told them. “It's a sort of coded language that Starswirl made up for himself so he could write his most precious secrets in a personal journal. So that even if ponies found his journal they wouldn't decipher it.”

“Can you show us?” Myth asked her excitedly.

“What's in it for me?” Jewel asked suddenly.

The two siblings paused at that question and looked to each other. This mare had seemed so nice and now she suddenly wanted something in exchange for what seemed like voluntary help?

“Well... what do you want?” Snapshot asked, expecting the unicorn to ask for a payment for the information or something.

“Hmm...” Jewel hummed in thought for a moment and then smiled. “I want to come along.”

“Huh?” Myth inquired.

“I'm a big fan of Starswirl and his history, and the idea of this huge secret he and Luna have been keeping from all of Equestria has been on my mind ever since I first found out about it. Wherever this secret location is, I want to be there to see it when you two find it,” Jewel told them. She then turned to show them her cutie mark, a blue gem and a pick axe. “Plus, I might find some gems along the way.”

Myth and Snapshot looked to each other again and leaned in closer to talk about this situation in a private whisper.

“Think we can trust her?” Myth asked.

“Not sure. I don't know how to feel about somepony who listens in on others' conversations and jumps in to help like this...” Snapshot told him.

Myth shrugged. “Well, without her we'd be stuck here doing more and more research until we hopefully find whatever it is she's seen the symbols in.”

“Yeah...” Snapshot bit her lip in thought and took a quick glance at Jewel, who was watching them patiently. “She looks friendly enough... Your call, I guess.”

The stallion took a moment to think things over, and took his own look at the unicorn mare. She was looking at the two, expecting them to say something to her. Myth then shrugged and held out a hoof to Jewel. “Deal.”

Jewel smiled at the answer and met the stallion's hoof with her own, giving a firm shake to seal the deal.

“So, you going to tell us where you've seen the symbols before?” Myth asked.

The unicorn nodded in response. “They were on a book on display for a short time in a museum. The book was closed, but you could still see the cover, and it was covered in these symbols.”

“Great, so it used to be in a museum and probably isn't there anymore,” Myth said with frustration.

“Not exactly. It might not be on display anymore, but it was there just the other day. Odds are that they still have it, and I know someone that could get us access to it, or even tell us where it went, if it's not there anymore.”

Things were looking up. Snapshot and Myth smiled, now glad to have met Jewel. Not only did she know about the symbols, but she knew someone at the museum who could get them access to the very book that would help them? Score!

“Perfect. Where to?” Snapshot asked.

“Manehattan,” Jewel answered, and looked up at the clock, showing it was late in the evening now. “Ugh, but the train won't be back here until morning tomorrow...”

The siblings each looked up at the clock as well, and looked to each other, thinking the same thing. They hadn't thought about the fact that they might have needed to stay in Canterlot overnight. They didn't arrange anything with Star about staying at her place, and they sure didn't want to barge in now and ask to stay the night. She seemed like she'd be busy. They'd just be a bother.

“Guess we should get a hotel room for the night,” Snapshot suggested.




Later


The three ponies arrived at the hotel not long after their meeting at the library. Myth and Snapshot were at the front counter, trying to get a room for them to stay in. The stallion behind the front desk had checked and told the siblings that they were booked full, leaving Myth and Snapshot wondering what to do. They could go ahead and ask Star for a place to stay the night if they had to.

Jewel heard this and stepped up to the concierge. “Well... I have a room. Could they stay there with me?”

“I suppose so, but the cost for two more ponies will be added to your bill, Miss Jewel."

“You don't have to do that, Jewel,” Myth told her. “We can just stay with our friend, Star.”

“Oh, it's okay. I've got plenty of bits,” she chimed, pulling a sack filled with bits out of her bag and placing it on the counter with a little jingle of the golden coins. “Besides, you said something about her being busy tonight, right? Probably best not to bother her.”

He looked to Snapshot, wondering what they should so and she just gave a little shrug. “I'm pretty exhausted already, and I don't want to interrupt Star's work.” She then looked to Jewel. “How about we pay you the extra cost we'd be adding to your bill?”

“Sure, fine by me.” Jewel scooted the bag of bits toward the pony with a smile. “That enough?” she asked.

The concierge opened the little bag and counted out the bits, and nodded. “Sure is.” He then pulled an extra key for the same room and handed it over to Myth. “Enjoy your stay, everypony.”

Jewel smiled and turned, leading her two new friends to her room. A quick elevator ride brought them to the top floor and the siblings followed the unicorn down the hall. Jewel unlocked the door and led the way in.

The room they entered had two large beds, along with a sliding glass door leading outside to a balcony and a couple of wooden doors, one for a closet, and the other presumably to the bathroom that separated the room from the other room.

“You two can stay in this room,” Jewel told them. “I've already got my stuff in the other room anyways.”

“Thanks,” Myth told her, slipping his saddlebag off his back and setting it beside the door.

“Not that it's any of our business,” Snapshot spoke up, “but why did you get one of these double rooms anyways?”

“Last room that was available. I would've thought they'd have another available for you two by now, but I guess this will work out, right?”

Snapshot, fine with the answer, gave a light nod. “I guess so, yeah.”

Myth had dug out the artifact lock from his bag and now lay back in the bed closest to his bag, apparently deciding that bed was his for the night. He held the lock above him, gazing up at it in thought, so very curious about everything, wondering what they might find.

Snapshot gave a little giggle at the sight and turned back to Jewel. “Maybe leave our doors to the bathroom open, and only close when someone's in there?” she suggested, not wanting anyone to walk in on someone else.

“Good call,” Jewel agreed with a nod. “Guess I'll see you two in the morning then. Night.”

Jewel turned, walking through the connecting bathroom into the other room, leaving both doors open like was suggested.

Snapshot slid her own saddlebag off her back and set it beside the second bed on the other side of the room from the one her brother lay in, and then walked over to the little kitchen area of the room and grabbed a plastic cup the hotel kept stocked there. “What do you think of Jewel?” she asked Myth a bit quietly as she filled the cup with some water.

“I don't know,” Myth replied, still staring up at the artifact in his hooves for the moment. The look on his face showed he had a lot on his mind. Why wouldn't he? This had been a long day, and there was exciting stuff lying ahead. “Why do you ask?”

“Something just didn't feel right about her to me. I don't know, I might be paranoid, but... I feel like it was too much of a coincidence for us to meet her the one time we're at that library, and she just happens to know about something we were looking for...”

“I can see why you'd be paranoid, I guess. But I don't think she'd do anything. I'm not getting any bad vibes from her.”

Snapshot gave a little sigh, looking down into the water in her cup. “Guess you're right... You always did have a pretty good judge of character.” She then looked over to Myth. “If you can trust her, I guess I could try to.”

“Not saying I trust her, but it's also not like we should keep an eye open tonight or anything,” he told her.

The pegasus gave a little nod and sipped at her drink of water, then made a sound of disgust. “Eugh... Warm water.” She set the cup down on the counter and started heading for the door. “I'm going to get some ice. Maybe a little snack on the way. Want anything?”

Myth shook his head. “Nah, I'm good.” He tossed the room key to his sister so she could get back in. Catching the key, Snapshot left the room, closing the door behind her.

Myth Chaser got up from the bed then and set the artifact up on one of the shelves on the wall beside the door, just above his bag. He was tired, but not quite ready to fall asleep yet. A bored look around the room showed him the glass doorway to the balcony. He went over and slid the door aside, stepping out onto the balcony.

Taking a seat, he looked out at the stars, briefly wondering what Star would be looking at, before his mind shifted back to the adventure he was continuing for his parents. He sat there in silence for a moment, thinking about his parents, and wondering what they'd be doing together as a family right now if they'd still been around.

Would they be taking a short break from this very adventure, sitting at home and laughing about something? Would they be out at dinner? Playing a family game? Each thought made him smile softly.

Then he heard a light knocking on the glass of the balcony door and he turned to see... Jewel. The unicorn was peeking out at him. “Can't sleep?” she asked, stepping outside to join him, her horn giving a faint light so they could see better.

Myth shook his head lightly and turned back to look out at the stars. “Lot going on lately. Kinda hard to want to sleep right now.”

“I've got a feeling we're on our way to uncovering Starswirl's secret. I've been looking up to Starswirl since I was a filly... I can't sleep, knowing I've got something like that to look forward to.”

Myth chuckled softly at that. “I know what you mean. This is a pretty big deal.”

The two smiled and went quiet. A short moment before Jewel broke the awkward silence. “That... pony doesn't really like me, does she?” she asked.

“Who, Snaps?” he asked. “Why would you think that?”

“I heard her talking to you a bit ago... Saying something about not trusting me.”

“Oh... yeah. Well. Don't take it too personal, but... we did only just meet you not even an hour ago and you're just the perfect pony for us to meet at this time. Felt a bit-”

“Too much of a coincidence?” she finished for him, with a nod. “I get it. If it helps, I just happened to be there doing a bit of my own research on Starswirl. Hoping he might have some kind of spell to make gems sparkle a bit more beautifully...”

Myth smiled softly at the explanation. “You mentioned something about wanting to get gems earlier. Any reason?”

“Oh, I have my own little jewelry shop in Manehattan,” she answered. “I like to find my own diamonds and jewels to use rather than try to find someone to buy from. Makes them feel more personal if I cut them down to shape myself.”

“You don't wear any jewelry yourself, though?” Myth mentioned, glancing at her ears, hooves, and around her neck, searching for any sign of jewelry.

Jewel shook her head. “I prefer to make it for others.” I think it's pretty, but... I just don't think it'd look good on me.”

“Huh. Weird. Cause I could see you with maybe a ear stud or two, or a necklace.”

The unicorn smiled softly. “I don't think I'd like to get my ears pierced for some studs. Depending on the necklace though, I might give it a try...”

Myth gave a little chuckle at that, then looked back up to the stars.

“Think your girlfriend would want something?” Jewel asked.

“Huh?” He looked to her, a bit confused by the 'girlfriend' comment.

“Your girlfriend. Snapshot?” Jewel clarified. “I have some stuff in my bag in my room if you'd like to get her a little gift.”

Myth paused for a moment, staring at Jewel and then let out a chuckle. “No, that's okay. She's not much for jewelry anyways. Besides... she's my sister. That would be weird.”

Jewel's ears perked up in surprise. “Sister?” She laughed with an embarrassed little blush spreading over her cheeks. “No way! I never would've guessed. You two looked so cute together, I could have sworn you two were a thing.”

He laughed in return and shook his head. “Nope, we're siblings.”

“Good to know.” She giggled lightly. “Don't tell her I thought that about you two?”

“Deal,” he chuckled.

“Good.” She smiled, feeling like she and Myth were good friends already.

The two sat there together for a bit, then, after a moment, Jewel had grown curious enough to ask, “So what got you two into this whole Starswirl secret anyway?”

Myth rested his hooves up on the balcony's railing and he gazed down at the city of Canterlot below, seeing that ponies were still wandering the dimly lit streets. He sighed softly. “Well. Our parents were the ones that actually started it. My mom was researching unicorn magic for a book she was going to write, and came across some stuff about Starswirl, and she and my dad found something about how Starswirl and Princess Luna would always sneak off together in the night.”

Jewel sat there beside him, listening to him curiously.

“My dad's an adventurer like me, so naturally he wanted to do everything he could to find out. He and my mom managed to find out that the beginning of a trail to finding that hidden location started with the lock, so they had me and Snapshot go find it.”

“So, that's how you ended up with the lock?”

Myth nodded. “Yeah. We didn't know what it was when we got it, but we just realized recently before we met you that it was a lock. Probably needs some kind of unicorn magic to help it activate though.”

“So... If your parents started this adventure and you two were joining in... where are your parents?” she inquired.

Myth paused for a moment and gave a slight frown. She'd hit a bit of a nerve there. “They, uh...” he cleared his throat, trying not to get too choked up. “They passed away. Recently. They were in a train wreck...”

“The one about a week ago?” she asked, her heart aching already. When he nodded, she frowned even more and put a hoof on his back. “I'm sorry to hear that...” she trailed off, giving his back a little rub as she looked up to the stars, as if hoping that his parents were up there, watching over him and Snapshot.

“It's fine,” Myth said, shrugging her hoof off of him. “I'm proud of my parents for everything they've accomplished. They did so much with their lives.”

Jewel gave a faint smile, but still felt heart broken. “Well, that's good.”

Myth nodded lightly, and the two sat in silence for a moment, again, the weight of the conversation hanging over them. Then he took a deep breath and looked to her. “What about your parents? What do they do?”

Jewel took a moment as she let that question process in her mind. “My dad passed away about a year ago, and I never knew my mother. Dad told me she died not long after I was born.”

“He talk about her much?”

“Sometimes. He would say the usual things like how great she was, and how much she loved me, and all that... But he didn't want to say much more than that.”

The slight creak of the hotel room door opening sounded behind the two ponies and they turned to see Snapshot walking back in, carrying a bucket of ice.

“I'll, uhh... See you guys in the morning,” Jewel said, and gave Myth a quick pat on the back before passing by Snapshot and retreating back to her room.

Snapshot watched the unicorn curiously and then looked back to Myth. “I didn't interrupt something, did I? I can leave if you two want to be alone for a bit,” she teased with a bit of a smirk.

Myth rolled his eyes at his sister and he stepped back inside, closing the glass door to the balcony behind him. “We were just talking.”

“Yeah? What about?” she asked, setting the bucket of ice in the hotel room's sink, and prepared her cup of water again, this time with ice.

“Our parents, mainly.” Myth made his way back to his bed and lay back. “She's a good pony, Snaps. Any worries I had about her have faded away. She's a good friend.”

Snapshot sipped her water and smiled at how cool it was now, and followed it up by downing the rest, then went to her own bed. “You're putting her in the friend zone already?”

Myth chuckled at that and yawned. “Shut up and go to sleep.”
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Myth Chaser and Snapshot slowly wandered in the darkness of the underground cave. The two ponies each had flashlights shining as they looked around the large area, causing the faint sound of splashing as they walked along the damp cave floor. The blue pegasus shook her hoof dry. 

“Are you sure this is the right place?” she asked, looking around at the rocky walls and ceiling, getting the uneasy feeling that it might collapse at any moment if they were to talk too loud or even bump into the wall.

“Yeah, this has to be it,” Myth answered, glancing around the cavern. “I checked and double checked the map. This cave is exactly where dad said it would be.”

“Well I don't see anything other than rock,” Snapshot replied. “This doesn't look like the kind of place that would hold some amazing relic.”

“If dad says it's here, I believe him. He hasn't been wrong about anything so far.”

Snapshot sighed a little. “Right.” She paused a moment, taking a few steps, and then looked over to her brother, shining the light on his face to see him in the darkness. “Any idea what we're looking for, exactly?”

Myth just gave a shake of his head and shrugged. “I guess anything other than rock?” he suggested, giving a pebble on the ground a little kick, having no idea what to do from here. He looked over to his sister. “Look around. Maybe there's a small passage or something that we're not seeing yet that leads to more of the cave.”

His sister just gave a shrug and went in a different direction then him. Splitting up seemed like a decent idea, as long as they didn't get too far apart and lose each other. The mare gave a bored sigh as she looked around, gazing over the walls for any kind of cracks that might be hiding a path deeper into the tunnel.

Myth Chaser seemed a bit more patient as he glanced around, scanning the walls and even the damp ground, hoping for any sign to make itself known to him. Any clue at all. His flashlight flickered a little. He gave it a shake, adjusting the battery within, and stopping the flickering.

“Don't suppose you've found anything yet?” Snapshot asked after a short while, shining her light toward him to let him know where she was.

“Not yet,” he called back.

“I hope we find something soon... I don't want to be in here any longer than we need to.”

“Scared of the dark or something all of a sudden?” Myth teased with a grin, not taking his eyes off the rock wall in front of him.

“No,” she shot back. “I'm scared of a structurally unsound cave that's already covering my back in dirt and could possibly collapse in on us at any moment.”

“Don't worry about that, Snaps. Look, we can still see the entrance of the cave over there,” he gestured over to the dot of white light in the distance. “If we see or hear anything that might be warning us of a collapse, we can make a break for it and get out before anything happens.”

“I guess so...” she muttered. Suddenly her flashlight flickered. She gave it a little shake. Then shook it again. The light dimmed, and finally died out. The pegasus groaned. “Great, my flashlight's dead.”

“Oh, well come over here” Myth said, turning to look back at her. “I've got another battery you can-”

He stopped mid-sentence and did a double take, turning back. Did he just see something...? Myth slowly scanned his light back and forth across the area, looking back to where he thought he saw something other than rock.

“Hey, Myth?” Snapshot called to him, her voice now right beside him, the pegasus wanting to stay close to light. “Battery?”

Myth suddenly saw it again. He kept his light on it. It appeared to be something bright yellow, possibly golden, peeking through a tiny space in between some rocks. He approached the pile of rocks against the wall and started pulling them aside, letting them roll to the ground beside him. A smile grew on his face.

“Think I just found it,” Myth told her. He then reached to the object and lifted it up. He got a quick glance at it, noticing the thing he had found was golden and round in shape, before his own flashlight flickered and the light died out.

It made sense both flashlights would go out around the same time. They'd gotten them both new and used them both at the same times.

Sight of the artifact disappeared, but he kept it in his hooves. “Won't be able to see where the batteries are in this darkness...” Myth muttered. He then sighed. “Let's head back outside.”

“Don't have to tell me twice,” Snapshot said excitedly, quickly making her way toward the light coming in the cave from outside. Myth followed after her, using the sound of her hoofsteps to tell where she was walking and avoid any slippery spots.

It was only a few minutes before they were back at the mouth of the cave, coming back out to the forest. Snapshot shielded her eyes from the sunlight as she got back out. She froze in place. Myth bumped into his sister, distracted by trying to get a better look at the artifact he'd just picked up. He looked up when he bumped into her, about to ask why she'd suddenly stop in front of him, only to see what she saw.

Standing in front of Myth and Snapshot was a zebra mare. To the zebra's left was a male gryphon, body mostly dark gray feathers but the same golden beak and talons they'd seen on every other gryphon they had come across in their lifetime. On the other side of the zebra was a unicorn stallion with a blue coat and dark blue mane.

They all looked at Snapshot and Myth as if they hadn't expected to run into them, especially here directly at the mouth of the cave. The zebra's violet colored eyes looked directly into Myth's brown gaze before shifting down to what he held in his grasp. The artifact. The zebra then smiled and looked up to the tan colored stallion.

“Well now. Seems you just made my job all the more easy,” the zebra stated, and grinned. She gave a little nod and the gryphon reached forward to grab the object that Myth held.

Myth pulled it away protectively. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “What do you want?”

“That artifact, of course,” she answered. “Just hand it over and we'll be done here.”

“And if I don't?” Myth asked in return.

“Myth,” Snapshot urged, not wanting to cause any trouble. When he looked to his sister, she gave a little nod towards the gryphon, showing Myth what she saw. The unicorn now held a spear up in his magic, the sharp, metallic point aimed directly at them.

The zebra grinned, noticing the surprise on Myth's face when he saw the spear. She then held out her own hoof for the artifact, silently grinning as she waited for the stallion to give it to her.

“Just give it to her,” Snapshot said with fear in her voice, her eyes locked on the pointed spear the unicorn held in his magic. She wanted nothing to do with this crew.

Myth looked down at the artifact for a moment as he thought about the situation. He had a gun holstered to his hoof that he'd brought to fight off any wild animals they'd find in this forest. He could pull it out and fight. His father had taught him some basic fighting moves as a sort of hobby back home. Snapshot was never interested though. She didn't know how to fight. It would just leave him outnumbered one to three...

He then looked back to the zebra. With a defeated sigh, he reluctantly held the artifact out. She took it from him with a sort of smile Myth only ever imagined on villains that got their way in books that he read. The zebra packed the golden disc object into the bag she had dangling at her side. “Good...”

Myth Chaser and Snapshot noticed the gryphon give a nod to the side, gesturing for them to leave. The two turned and began to walk away, before...

“One more thing,” the zebra stopped them. They looked back to her. She looked to the unicorn. “I want the gun,” she said. before looking back to the siblings, as if just to be a bully to the two kids she bumped into.

Myth wasn't fast enough to do anything before the pistol was pulled out of its holster by the unicorn's magic, and levitated over toward the zebra. Myth turned as if about to shout, but was stopped by Snapshot, giving him a shake of her head, asking him not to cause any trouble.

He sighed angrily and continued to walk away with his sister, hearing the mixed laughter of the zebra, gryphon, and unicorn.

Once they were out of sight, the two stopped and Snapshot looked to her brother. “Thanks for not trying to fight. I could tell you wanted to.”

“They don't have any right to do that to us,” Myth said angrily.

“It's alright, Myth. We'll just get back home and explain this to mom and dad. They'll understand.”

He looked back in the direction that they came from, the gears in his mind turning as he thought about what had just happened, and what he wanted to do. Then he looked to his sister. “You know what? No.”

“Huh?”

“We're adults now, Snap. We don't need to be running back home to mom and dad anymore just because something was taken from us.”

“Myth-”

“I'm not letting those guys get away with stealing that stuff from us just because they threatened us. They're just a bunch of bullies.” Snapshot looked to her brother, seeing the anger in his eyes. He wasn't done with that zebra and her crew. She could see that he wasn't about to walk away, no matter what she said to him. “

We found that artifact on our own,” Myth continued. “They can't just take it from us. And they can't just take my gun like that. I don't care who they are.” Snapshot stared at her brother, hoping she could think of something to say to make him change his mind.

Before she could say anything, he turned and began making his way back in the direction they'd just left.

“Myth, please don't-” Snapshot started, jumping in front of her brother and stopping him in please. “Just... If you really have to do something, at least think it through first. Those guys have weapons, and they outnumber us. Plus, who knows how many others are with them? They could have someone guarding their camp or something.”

Myth stopped, looking up at her as she talked to him. She looked at her brother with pleading eyes, hoping he wouldn't do something stupid just cause he's angry.

With a sigh, he sat himself down and tried his best to calm down at least a little.

There was a long moment of silence as Snapshot stared at him, wondering what was going through his mind as Myth stared blankly down at the ground. He then looked up with a little smile. “I've got a plan.”




Jewel was on the edge of her seat. She was sitting across from the two siblings and staring at them, intrigued by what they were telling her. The three were currently on the train making their way for Manehattan. The unicorn had grown curious as to how the two had gotten the artifact in their possession in the first place, and had ended up asking once they boarded the train. “Wow...” she said in awe. “What happened next? I mean, obviously, you got the lock back, but... how?”

Snapshot gave a little giggle at the question, taking a quick glance out the window and seeing Manehattan not too far off in the distance. They'd be arriving in a few minutes. She then looked back to Jewel. “Well, Myth came up with a plan. We followed them back to their camp.”

“We overheard them talking and the zebra said something about getting the artifact ready to take to her 'boss'. No idea who she meant,” Snapshot stepped in. “Anyways. Myth had me circle around the camp to the other side. I'd be a distraction.”

“Right. I just asked her to make some kind of distraction to keep them busy. Next thing I know, Snaps just randomly screams at the top of her lungs like she saw something from her worst nightmare. I was worried something happened to her, but then I saw her flying up in the sky not too long after, giving me the signal that she got them all away and they hadn't seen her. They'd be looking for a pony in trouble when there wasn't one.”

Jewel gave a little laugh at the thought. “That probably spooked them.”

Myth grinned and nodded. “I hope so. Anyways, I took that chance and ran into one of the tents. The one that I saw them take the artifact into. Snapshot took off to go back into hiding, and I grabbed the artifact. Then as I'm exiting the tent, I hear someone shout to the others that I was there. I would've tried to look for my gun too, but I guess the zebra still had it. Next thing I know I'm sprinting at full speed through the forest with the artifact tugged away in my bag and they chase me all the way to a cliff beside a waterfall.”

“Oh crap,” Jewel gasped, her ears perking up at the realization of where this was heading. “You jumped?”

He nodded. “Not before I tricked the zebra into giving me my gun back.”

“Jeez, you two are awesome,” she said in awe. “I don't think I could ever do something like that.”

That was when they felt the train lurch forward a bit, hitting the brakes and slowing to a stop a moment later. A look out the window showed that they had arrived in Manehattan.




The trio arrived at the Manehattan Museum a while later. Jewel was leading the way with Myth and Snapshot following close behind. Myth looked around at the tall buildings curiously, though made sure to pay attention where he was walking, so as not to bump into anypony or cross in front of the taxi carriages. Snapshot mainly glanced around street level, taking quick looks in the windows of shops they passed by.

“Oh, look!” Snapshot exclaimed, pointing up at the sign over the local theater. “Curtain's in town!” Myth looked up where she was pointing. Above the doorway to the local theater was the marquee, showing the title of some stage play, followed by the director’s name. Beneath the title, it was shown that the play was starring Curtain Call.

“She's really making a name for herself,” Myth said with a chuckle.

“Someone you know?” Jewel asked, coming back to stand by them as she looked up at the name.

Snapshot nodded. “Yeah, she was my roommate during college. Great friend.”

“Looks like the play is premiering next week,” Myth pointed out, looking to the poster on display next to the entrance.

From what he could tell, it looked like Curtain Call was going to be the main role in a fantasy/adventure play. The mare on the poster was dressed in a dark brown cloak most likely made of leather, with the hood pulled up over her head, and a face mask covering her muzzle. This kept most of her head covered, though left her eyes and forehead exposed, showing she was a white-coated unicorn with an orange mane and matching orange eyes, along with her horn giving a faint yellow glow, lighting her way in the darkness of the night. The background showed the start of a castle looming in the distance. At the bottom of the poster was the title of the play. Fall of the Empire.

“Oh, we should definitely check it out!” Snapshot exclaimed excitedly. “It would be cool to see her again.”

“Sounds good. Looks like it'd be an interesting play anyways,” Myth admitted. “I'd probably see it whether she was in it or not. But for now, we have other business to take care of.” He stood back up and gestured for Jewel to continue leading the way.

“Right,” Snapshot got back up and began to follow.

It had been another few blocks of walking. The large city was bustling with lots of busy ponies making their way through the crowded streets. It was a wonder that the three ponies didn't get separated in all the chaos.

Myth Chaser, Snapshot, and Jewel made their way to the museum, walking in the front doors, and approached the front counter. Jewel asked if her friend was working today. Someone by the name of Astrid, if Myth and Snapshot had heard it right. When it was confirmed that this Astrid person was indeed currently working at the moment, the three ponies paid their admittance fees and entered the museum.

“So, who's Astrid?” Myth asked curiously.

“Friend of mine,” Jewel answered simply. “She's a tour guide. Knows a lot about pretty much every exhibit in the museum. If anyone can help us find where the book is, it's her. And with luck, maybe she can get us some private access to it so we can find out what we need to know.”

Myth smiled at the thought. What would they have done without this pony? They might still be stuck back in Canterlot researching Starswirl, and if they had made progress and found out about this book, they might not be able to get access to it, or find out where it went. They were lucky to have met Jewel!

Myth and Snapshot continued following after her as she led them through the museum. The siblings looked at the exhibits curiously. It was pretty much what one would expect to find in a museum. Old objects that had big historical significance in some way. The items were kept safely in some protective glass cases. Something that Myth and Snapshot found odd though, was the guards. There were lots of guards. Way more than they would have expected.

“Are there usually this many guards?” Snapshot asked a bit quietly.

Jewel hadn't seemed to notice this, but once Snapshot asked, she took a look around, noticing what they saw. She shook her head. “No. I usually only ever see three, maybe four, guards whenever I come. But... now that you mention it, there does seem to be a lot.”

There were so many security guards around, the ponies could see several just from one spot, and when they rounded the corner, they'd find several other guards. Each area of the museum seemed to have multiple security guards on watch.

After making a few turns, they came to another area, noticing that it also had guards, but an extra two more than other exhibits. This was probably due to the fact that this area was a bit crowded by the tour group. He couldn't see the guide, hidden from the view of the crowd she was leading, but he could still hear.

“Is she still around?” someone in the group asked.

“No pony knows for sure,” the guide's feminine voice called from in front of the group. “In creating her eighth enchanted artifact, Meadowbrook seems to have disappeared.” Myth's ears perked up at that. He'd heard the name before. Meadowbrook was a great unicorn from the East, who magically enchanted artifacts that she created for special uses before she was never heard from again. Everyone assumes that the unicorn had died while on one of her expeditions around Equestria, but no body has ever been recovered, and no trace of where she might have gone.

“Historians and investigators have been searching for years in hopes of figuring out what might have happened to her,” the guide's voice continued. “But as of now, it's like she's just vanished into thin air. Fascinating, isn't it?”

The group all muttered words of agreement with each other, apparently entertained by what they'd learned.

“This concludes the tour!” the guide said cheerily. “Feel free to wander at your leisure as long as you'd like, and if anyone has any questions about something, please feel free to come find me.”

The group separated at that point, splitting up in different directions. Most ponies seemed to stay in the Meadowbrook exhibit, looking at the items on display, appearing to be copies of the mage's journals, pictures of objects that could only be assumed were the eight enchanted artifacts, and various others. Meanwhile other ponies left the area to look around at other things.

When the tour group split up, Myth and Snapshot finally got to see who it was. To their surprise, they saw a gryphon. She had a furry body of blue, her wings being a darker shade of blue. The feathers on her chest and all over her head were a creamy white, just like the hair on the end of her tail. Her beak and talons were the same golden color they'd seen on any other gryphon they had ever spotted. She was dressed in a sort of light gray suit, the uniform she was supposed to wear while working.

She looked over to the trio who remained where they were, her blue eyes landing on the golden-colored unicorn, Jewel. She smiled wide and approached with her arms out for a hug. “Hey, Jewel! How've you been? I haven't seen you around in a while. Who's your new friends?”

Jewel smiled widely and accepted the friendly hug. “I've been doing well, Astrid.” She then stepped aside and gestured to Myth and Snapshot, introducing them. “This is Myth Chaser, and his sister, Snapshot.”

Astrid held her clawed hand out toward the ponies for a shake. “Nice to meet you two. My name's Astrid.”

The siblings each accepted the shake, the sensation of being grabbed by talons feeling strange to them. “Nice to meet you, too,” they each said.

“So how do you two know Jewel?” the gryphon asked.

“We just met yesterday,” Myth answered. “Met in the Starswirl the Bearded section of the Canterlot library.”

“Ooh, what kind of research were you doing, if I may ask?”

“That's sort of why we're here,” Jewel stepped in, lowering her voice so the guards wouldn't hear them. “You remember that stuff I told you about Starswirl the Bearded? And his big secret with Princess Luna?”

“Sure do,” Astrid confirmed. “Make some kind of break through on it or something?”

“Getting there,” Myth answered. “Snaps and I found an artifact that our dad says is the beginning of a trail to finding the truth behind the secret.”

“Right, it seems to be some kind of magical lock,” Jewel added. “The problem is, we have no idea what to do next because it's got these strange symbols all over it.”

“That's where you come in,” Snapshot jumped in. “Jewel said that she recognized these markings from one of the pages she saw in a book that was on display here.”

“Oh, Starswirl's journal?” Astrid asked, looking to her unicorn friend.

Myth and Snapshot looked to Jewel quickly in surprise. She hadn't mentioned that the book they were talking about was Starswirl's actual journal. She'd just said it was a book! The fact that it was his own journal, and it had the symbols was even better!

Jewel smiled and nodded. “Exactly. We were hoping that you could get us a bit of privacy with the journal.”

Astrid frowned a bit and shook her head. “Sorry guys. Can't do that even if I wanted to. You might have noticed the extra security?” she pointed out, gesturing to the guards around the room. “They're here cause there was a break in last night. The glass case was shattered to pieces all over the floor and the journal was taken.”

Myth sighed at this news. He'd been relying on the hope that he would get to see the journal and now it was gone! “Any idea who took it, or where it might be?” he asked.

The gryphon just shook her head. “Nope. No clues left as to who could have been here. Police investigators didn't find anything.”

“I think I have a guess,” Jewel said, looking back to Myth and Snapshot. “You were just telling me about that one zebra and her crew you guys met. If they were after that artifact, surely they'd be after the book too, right? If they had someone with them that knew about it?”

“Makes sense,” Snapshot said. “But we never got their names and have no idea where they'd be. They could be anywhere in Equestria by now.”

“Ma'am?” a pony asked, approaching the gryphon. “I've got a question about something in the Comet Tail section...”

Astrid gave a little nod to the pony, then looked to Myth and Snapshot. “Sorry guys. Hope you can figure something out.” She then turned and followed after the pony that had asked for her, being led to the other area.

Jewel gave her gryphon friend a wave, then sighed as she turned back to the siblings, walking with them as they began to make their way out of the museum. “Well, now what?”

“Back to the Canterlot library?” Snapshot suggested.

Myth stood in silence for a bit, feeling a bit of pressure as the two mares waited on him for an answer, like he was in charge of this whole situation. “I... guess we could stick around a while. See if the police end up getting the journal back?” he suggested. “I doubt Starswirl would've written about the symbols in anything other than his journal, so unless we can get that back, I think we're at a dead end.”

“Good point...” Jewel agreed. “If this secret of his is really so big, he'd probably only write it in his personal journal, if anything.”

“So, next stop is the hotel then?” Snapshot suggested as the trio exited the front doors of the museum, coming to a stop.

Before Myth could agree with his sister, Jewel jumped in. “You could stay at my place if you'd like. I've got a couple guestrooms.”

“That's okay,” Myth said. “You don't have to do that, we can get a room at a hotel.”

“You could, but you have no idea how long you'll be sticking around,” Jewel added. “Don't want to end up paying for a whole week all for nothing, do you?”

Snapshot looked over to her brother. “She's got a point there.”

Myth paused for a moment. She was right. They might be in Manehattan for a week, or longer, waiting for a journal that might not even be coming back, or doing more searching at the Manehattan library. They would be here a while... “I guess you're right. You really don't mind us staying with you?”

“I don't mind at all,” Jewel said with a smile. “Care to head there now?”

“Sounds good to me. Not like we really have anything else to do right now.”

“Speak for yourself,” Snapshot said with a bit of a laugh. She had her saddlebag open, reaching in and quickly pulling out her camera. “I hear the central park here is gorgeous. I want to go get some pictures.”

“In that case,” Jewel reached her magic to her bag, opening the flap and digging through the contents, pulling out a notepad and a pencil. She quickly wrote down her address and tore the page off, handing it over to Snapshot. “Here's my address. You can meet us there when you're done.”

Snapshot took the paper, taking a quick glance before slipping it in a pocket in her bag. “Alright, thanks. See you there soon. Shouldn't be more than an hour or so.” She then strapped the camera around her neck and took off in the air with a strong flap of her wings.





“I have to admit, I was expecting a house when you invited us to stay at your place,” Myth said, breathing a bit heavily as the two of them approached the top of the stairs. “You know, because you sell jewelry. Wouldn't that get you quite a bit of money?” He noticed that they had climbed all the way up to the top floor of the apartment building, and realized she was leading him to a penthouse apartment. The biggest and best of any kind of apartment he'd seen.

“I considered a house, but this apartment building is much closer to my store than anything I'd looked at,” Jewel explained as she led him down the hallway and began to unlock the first door on the left. “Plus I like the exercise I get with the stairs.”

“Yeah, I can see you getting some good exercise out of that,” Myth said, panting lightly. He was usually in good shape, but climbing up flights of stairs to the tenth floor was tiring to someone not used to it.

Jewel pushed the door open and made her way inside. “Make yourself at home,” she told him, then headed up a set of stairs to the side of the door. Myth took a look around, already in awe of what he was seeing. He'd never been in a penthouse apartment before, so he didn't know what to expect.

One wall was pretty much all glass, a window with a great view out at the city. Myth noticed a door at the side leading out onto a balcony just outside the glass wall, with a few small tables and chairs outside. Inside, white couches surrounded a glass coffee table on the dark wood floor. Behind the furniture of the living room was a kitchen area set up like a bar with a few stools lined up along the counter and the oven, stove, and sink against the wall behind it. The kitchen area was between two sets of stairs, both leading up above the kitchen area to a sort of balcony.

Curiously, Myth made his way up one side of the stairs, the ones that Jewel had just gone up. He stood at the balcony, looking out at the living room and at the nice view out the window to the city of Manehattan. He noticed it was aimed out in the direction of central park. Turning away from the balcony, he was met with a wall that made it seem like a sort of one-walled hallway. There was a door on the far left wall, one on right, far right, and two on the wall directly in front of him. They were all open and showing that, from left to right, was bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, and then the fourth bedroom at the far right, where Myth could see Jewel unpacking a few things from her bag. He could only assume that far right bedroom was hers.

“Nice place,” Myth called over to her.

She looked up and smiled to him, giving a little laugh. “Thanks.” She pulled a few scrolls out of her bag, setting them aside, presumably on a desk she had in her room. Jewel then came out of her room and returned to Myth. “I guess since Snapshot's not here, you get first dibs on which guest room you want,” she told him, gesturing over to the two doors at the left of the bathroom.

“They any different?” Myth asked, making his way over to the rooms.

Jewel couldn't help but giggle softly. “Not really. Aside from the window out to the city in the left room, they're pretty much the exact same.”

“She can have the room with the window,” Myth decided without even checking. “She'd appreciate the view better than I would.”

He then made his way to the right guest room and set his bag on the bed, taking a look around the room. The walls were painted a light beige, with the same dark wooden floor the living room had. The bed had the same beige-colored blankets over the white sheets, and white pillows rested against the black headboard. Next to the bed was a nightstand the same black as the headboard, matching the dresser against the wall.

Myth set his bag down beside the bed and came back out of the room. “Thanks for letting us stay a while. You really didn't have to.”

“It's no trouble,” Jewel assured him. “I don't use those rooms anyways, and it could be nice to have some friendly company for a while.”

He smiled in return. Myth went back to the balcony looking over the living area and gave a little sigh. “Well, what now?”

“Hmm...” Jewel tapped a hoof on her chin in thought at the question. She didn't exactly have any board games they could play, or any cards... Wow, she needed to get some things for when she has company over or they were going to get bored quick. “You hungry?”




A freshly made pot of spaghetti sat on the stove behind the counter. Jewel had explained that she didn't usually cook too often. She was a jeweler, after all, not a chef, but spaghetti was one of the easiest things for her to make. In front of them were empty, messy plates, both of them having finished their food a moment ago.

“So anyways, we used to jump out from behind corners, or out of the closet and scare each other whenever we could. Nothing seriously scary or anything, just a sudden surprise, for fun” Myth continued, telling her a story about him and his sister when they were younger. “And one day, she was in the backyard, waiting for me to pass by the sliding glass door that leads outside. She was hiding next to the door, and when I passed by...” Myth laughed a bit at the memory.

“Yeah?” Jewel asked, urging him to continue, a smile on her face as she eagerly waited to find out what he thought was funny.

“The glass door happened to be closed. So when I passed by the door, instead of jumping inside to scare me, I heard her start to let out a roaring sound at me, and I looked in time to hear a sudden thud on the glass and see her smack face first into the glass door and bounce backward,” he explained, making Jewel laugh as well. “I fell to the floor in a fit of laughter and she came in, rubbing at her head with a dumb grin, and told me she meant to do that.”

This sent him and Jewel into a laughing fit for a moment.

As they were coming down from their laughter, Myth noticed something behind Jewel, seeing a slip of paper slide in through the mail slot of Jewel's door. He pointed it out to her. “Looks like you got mail.”

“Huh?” Jewel turned, spotting the paper as well. “Weird time to deliver mail,” she said, looking up at the clock hanging on her wall. The mare got up from her seat at the bar and went over, picking the paper up. She took a look, flipping it over. She froze for a moment.

Myth noticed her eyes widen and a look of fear spread over her face. “Jewel?” he called to her. “Something wrong?”

Jewel rushed to her door, quickly opening it wide and stepping out in the hall. Myth jumped from his seat, ready to follow her, but she stopped just outside the door and looked back and forth in both directions of the hall, as if looking for whoever just slipped her mail through the door. Whoever it had been was already long gone. “What's up, Jewel?” Myth asked, standing in the doorway.

She turned back inside, closing the door behind her. “You're not going to like this,” Jewel told him, holding the 'mail' toward him.

Myth got a glimpse of something red on the back, and looked at her strangely as he took the slip of paper. He found that it was actually photo paper, used for printing a camera roll's pictures. When he looked down, he saw the photograph, and what it showed made his heart sink immediately.

Snapshot was looking at the camera with tears welling up in her terrified eyes, about ready to cry if she hadn't been already. It was a full body picture of her, tied up securely with rope binding her hooves behind her back, her legs held tight together, and rope around her midsection, keeping her wings tight against her sides. Along with all of this was a white cloth tied tightly over her muzzle.

Myth flipped the photo over, his heart pounding as he was filled with conflicting emotions of fear for his sister and anger at whoever was holding her hostage. On the back of the picture was some writing in red ink. It showed an address, followed by a message.

If you want her back alive, come alone. 
Bring the artifact.

> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Myth Chaser had grabbed his bag, stuffed the artifact inside, and was making his way down the stairs. He'd just been starting to reach for the doorknob when Jewel stopped him. 

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I'm going to give them the artifact.” 

“Don't you think we should take this to the police?” 

Myth shook his head at that and lifted the note they had received, pointing out the message. “See this? It says come alone. And if they're watching us close enough to know where we would be, they've got to be keeping an eye on us. If we go to the police, they'll know, and then what will happen to Snaps?”

“Think about that. They want this artifact so badly they were willing to kidnap Snapshot, and had tried to kill you when you got it back from them in the forest. These guys are willing to do anything just to get their hooves on the artifact.”

“Yeah, and they're going to kill Snapshot for real if we don't hand it over.” Myth reached for the door again. 

Jewel stepped in front of him, blocking his way to the door and keeping it shut behind her. “My point is, if they're willing to kidnap and murder, they're obviously not good guys. They have some kind of evil intentions, and this artifact is a big part of it. They might give Snapshot back, sure, but who knows what they're going to do next?”

Myth paused for a moment, thinking about that. She was right. Anyone willing to kidnap and try to kill just to get a lock must have some malevolent intent. They must know something about Starswirl's secret that nopony else seems to know. Something bigger was going on here than just their curiosity about a location... 

“I don't care,” Myth answered after a moment of silence, pushing Jewel aside and forcing the door open, stepping out into the hall, beginning to make his way toward the stairs. “We can worry about what they're up to after that. Head to the police. Hell, we can even take this to the Princesses themselves, if we think they're up to something big. All that matters to me right now is getting Snaps back unharmed.”

Jewel sighed, watching the stallion walk through the door to the stairwell.

Myth let the door shut behind him, and began making his way down the steps, his mind clouded with worried thoughts of what the zebra and her crew would do to his sister if they didn't get their way. A short moment later he'd hear hooftseps jogging after him and Jewel was soon at his side, her own saddlebag strapped over her back and hanging at her sides. 

“Guess we'd better hurry.”

“'We'?” Myth asked, stopping in place on the stairs. “Jewel, this whole thing is mine and Snapshot's problem. Not yours. Can you stay back at your apartment? I don't want you getting hurt.”

“And I don't want you getting hurt,” she replied, turning back to face him, a few steps below where he was. “You already risked your life just getting the artifact back from them in the forest. Who knows what you might do to get your sister?”

“I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm just going to do what they say and give them the artifact, get Snaps, and get out of there.”

“You can say what you want,” Jewel said, “But I'm still coming with you.” She grabbed the note out of his hooves in her magic and continued her way down the stairs, leaving Myth where he was.

Myth gave a little sigh. He really didn't want this unicorn to get hurt because of something they started. There was no way he could talk her out of coming along, though. That much was certain. 




Myth and Jewel made their way through the streets of Manehattan rather quickly, the mare leading the way seeing as Myth didn't know his way around this city. They didn't want to keep these villains waiting. Who knows how long they'd wait before hurting Snapshot, or something worse? 

They were going so fast, Myth accidentally cut across right in front of someone on the sidewalk, stopping them in their tracks, and he heard a voice shouting to him from behind. “I'm walkin' here!”

Myth shouted back an apology, then looked to Jewel and couldn't help but laugh. “Never thought ponies in Manehattan actually said that. I thought it was just in stories for comedic relief or something.”

Jewel laughed in return. “First time I've heard it for real.”

They continued onward. Another few blocks and they approached a large building. It looked to be a warehouse. Out in front was some sign saying the property was for sale. It looked run down and beaten up, as if it had been abandoned for some time.

“This the right place?” Myth asked, looking to Jewel.

She pulled out the note they had been sent and unfolded it, reading the address and confirming it. “Yeah, this is it. Why an abandoned warehouse?”

“Makes sense to me,” Myth said with a shrug. “It's not like they'd welcome us into their home or anything. An abandoned building like this seems like a good place for secret meetings like we're in for.”

He had a point there, Jewel thought. “Shall we?” she asked, making her way to the front door. 

Myth followed after her. Where else would they have gone? It's not like the note said to head around back or anything. The front door was the obvious choice. The metallic door was blue and had a note providing information for whoever would be interested in buying the property. At about eye level on the door was a sort of horizontal slit, like what Myth had seen in pictures about secret clubs or organizations. He briefly wondered why a warehouse building would have this. Maybe they stored expensive things inside and wanted to check who was at the door before letting them in? It sounded weird to him, but it was all he could think of. 

The door gave a metallic clang when he knocked. Almost immediately, as if someone inside had been waiting, the hatch opened up to reveal a pair of purple colored eyes. Around them, Myth and Jewel could see a bit of dark blue. Myth immediately guessed it was the unicorn stallion that was usually with the zebra. 

The two ponies outside wait a moment, seeing the pony inside was checking them out. Myth rolled his eyes. “We didn't bring any weapons if that's what you're looking for,” he told him. “I just came to get my sister back. You can have the artifact.”

The eyes gave him an annoyed looked through the hatch before it closed. The door gave a click as it was unlocked, and then pulled inward, opening. Inside was the unicorn stallion. He was dark blue, his mane and tail even darker, almost black. And the purple eyes looked them over again. “Follow me. And don't try anything stupid,” he told them, gesturing to the spear held in his magic with the pointed tip aimed at them. 

Myth and Jewel stepped inside, the door closing with a clang behind them as they followed behind the stallion. The looked around curiously, having never been inside a warehouse before. It was basically exactly what they'd heard about. Concrete floor and walls. Lights hanging from the ceiling to light the way. The shelves were mostly emptied, though still held many wooden crates. It seemed that the previous owner of the property was still in the process of emptying the building. Late at night as it was now, though, the owner and workers were nowhere in sight. 

They'd be back in the morning to continue, Myth assumed. The two ponies followed the unicorn past many wide aisles of shelving, before he rounded a corner. It seemed they had chosen a random aisle until Myth and Jewel saw what they were here for. Snapshot was sitting on the floor. Her hind hooves tied together in front of her, ropes around her sides to keep her wings held down, and her forehooves tied behind her back, tying her to a shelf. Her ears perked up when she heard hoofsteps and she looked up, seeing her brother and Jewel were here to get her. Her mouth was still covered with the tied, white cloth. She seemed to struggle a bit, wanting to get out of her bindings. 

Standing beside her was the gryphon. A dark gray body and a face and chest of white feathers. Upon seeing the pegasus struggle, he reached a clawed hand down and aimed the sharp talon at her throat and looked to her with similar purple eyes to what the unicorn had. This action made her sit still. 

Sitting in a chair on the other side next to Snapshot was the zebra. She appeared to be flipping through the pages of a book with interest until the pegasus mare's struggle alerted her to the unicorn approaching with the two ponies behind. She closed the blue-covered book, with a golden runic symbol on the front, and slid it down into her saddlebag. Jewel got a look at it, and noted that it was Starswirl's journal from the museum. 

The zebra got up from her seat. The unicorn stood to the side and Myth spoke up. “Let her go,” he said, glancing to his sister. 

“Artifact first,” she said with a smile. 

Myth reached to his side, flipping up the flap of his bag and reached a hoof inside. The unicorn readied himself with the spear and the gryphon seemed to tense up a bit, his sharp talon pressing against Snapshot's throat. 

Myth rolled his eyes at their sudden tensing, and looked to the zebra. “They're pretty jumpy, aren't they?” he asked.

The zebra just gave a small chuckle at that and waved a hoof for them to calm down, telling them, “He's not going to do anything stupid with his sister in danger.”

She looked back over to Myth as he pulled the artifact out from his bag, holding it up to let them see the disc-shaped lock, the red needle still pointed directly up at the same symbol it's always been. The zebra's purple eyes gazed over it and she smiled. 

Why were all their eyes purple? 

“Good. Now hand it over,” the zebra commanded.

“Let her go first,” Myth replied.

“I don't think you're in any position to be giving orders,” she told him, gesturing to his sister. “Artifact first, then you get your sister.”

She had him there. He couldn't try to force them to do anything. Not when they had something more important to him. Myth glanced over to Jewel, wondering if he should give in or try to get Snapshot freed first. Jewel just gave a little nod, letting him know to do as they asked.

Myth sighed and set the lock on the floor, giving it a little kick to slide it over toward the zebra. He didn't want to get closer to her than he had to. Just to be safe. 

The zebra mare picked it up and examined it for a moment, then smiled and nodded to the gryphon. He moved his talons to the ropes and cut the pegasus free. 

Snapshot got up, yanking the cloth off of her mouth, and nervously passed between the zebra and the unicorn to get to her brother. She threw her hooves around him in a tight hug. “Thanks for coming,” she told him. 

“Of course,” he'd reply, hugging his sister, glad she was safe. 

“They didn't hurt you, did they?” Jewel asked

She shook her head as she pulled back from the embrace, wiping a tear from her eye. “They said they'd kill me if you didn't bring the artifact...”

“Well,” the zebra mare said, breaking up their little reunion. She was examining Starswirl's lock as she spoke. “As promised. Snapshot for the artifact. Thank you, Myth Chaser, for-”

“How do you know our names?” he asked suddenly. 

“Hmm?” she'd ask, looking up toward him.

“Before, in the forest. You called me by my name. Even though neither Snapshot or I had mentioned it, you knew me. And just now, you referred to us both by name,” he explained. It was time he found out why. “How do you know who we are?”

The zebra mare smiled. 

It was the same smile Myth had always imagined on villains he read in books. The same smile that Myth remembered the main character in his favorite book series, Quilldragon, had written about hating so much. They had explained that it showed the bad guy knew a lot more than you did. He got the same feeling now that he saw it for real. 

“How observant of you,” she'd said. The mare then slipped the artifact into her own bag, in place with Starswirl's journal. She then pulled out a piece of paper. One edge was torn. She looked over and turned it so the writing would be facing toward Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel. “If you must know... We learned about you two while reading your father's journal.”

Their father's journal? But Myth was in possession of his dad's journal at the moment. He had been ever since it was brought to him back at home. Then he realized it. The torn edge on the page the zebra held showed that it had been torn out. He and Snapshot had noticed that a page appeared to be ripped out of the journal. They hadn't paid any attention to it, but this explained why it was missing. 

“You met our parents?” Myth asked.

“Certainly. They're both so smart. Your father in particular.”

“What happened?” Snapshot asked, confused and curious. “How did you know our parents?”

“The short version? Your parents found some information we needed at the Canterlot library. We took it from them by force. We needed that information for ourselves, and they happened to have it with them. They apparently found out what we were up to and contacted the police. We were raided... Only the three of us managed to make it out without getting caught,” she explained, looking over to the gryphon and unicorn. “Unfortunately, the information was left behind and taken into police custody.”

“Yet you still knew about needing Starswirl's journal,” Jewel pointed out curiously. 

The zebra nodded. “We lost the information from the library, sure. But there was writing about it just as good.” She looked to Myth and Snapshot. “Your father's journal. I tracked them down. I managed to steal the journal and tore out the page we needed. Put the rest back so he wouldn't know it had been taken until it was too late. I overheard them talking, though... I didn't like what I heard.”

“What?” Myth asked.

“They'd followed us to our hideout. Your mother and father had overheard our group having a talk. They found out who we were and what we were up to.” The zebra gave a sigh, and lifted her saddlebag up over her back to hang down and at her sides. “We did what had to be done. It's a shame. We don't like to kill, but... They knew too much. They'd just get in the way.”

Jewel looked over to Myth and Snapshot. “I thought you said they died in a train wreck.”

“They did,” Snapshot replied, just as confused. 

Myth nodded. “The train's brake system was flawed and the train took a turn too quickly. It derailed and flew over the cliffside...”

The zebra just smiled that same evil smile. “Seems I did a good job making the cut brake line look like an accident.”

Snapshot was feeling the anger rise within her. She'd been thinking her parents had died in a tragic accident, and now she found out that they were purposely killed... “You killed our parents,” Snapshot said, taking a step forward. “You killed all the innocent ponies on that train just to get our parents?”

“Small price to pay,” the zebra said simply. 

Snapshot, filled with anger at how casually the zebra talked about the mass murder, gave a strong flap of her wings, thrusting herself forward at the zebra. She'd managed to tackle the mare to the ground, causing her to drop the journal page. The pegasus reeled her hoof back, and brought it down, delivering a hard punch to the zebra's jaw. She pulled back again, only to be stopped before she could give a second blow. 

Her hoof couldn't move. She couldn't move at all. Then she was lifted up, and a look back showed that the unicorn stallion had grabbed her in his magic, lifting her up. He looked mad, and violently threw the pegasus backward. Snapshot's back roughly hit the storage shelving, and she let out a gasp. The force of the impact caused an unsteady crate to fall from where it was stacked above her, falling over the side of the shelf. Before anypony could react, the heavy wooden crate came down to the ground with a loud slam.

Snapshot yelped in pain, letting out a scream. “My wing!” Myth and Jewel raced over to her side. 

The zebra got up, rubbing at her punched jaw, with the angriest look they'd ever seen on her. “If you're smart, you won't do that again,” she threatened. “And you'll stop trying to interfere with our plans, or else it'll be you in the dirt next.”

The zebra turned back and began making her retreat. The unicorn and gryphon kept their eyes on the three ponies as they backed away, following after their leader. 

Snapshot was whimpering a bit at the pain shooting through her wing. Myth and Jewel pushed at the crate together, using all the strength they could. It took a moment, but they soon managed to push it off of Snapshot's wing.

Myth cringed. Jewel covered her eyes, feeling her heart break. Snapshot looked over, and the moment she saw her wing, the pain seemed to intensify. Her feathers were ruffled, out of place, and the spine of the wing was bent horribly in two places, in the wrong direction.





Snapshot lay in the hospital bed, resting her head down on the pillow as she lay back, trying not to whimper at the dull ache in her wing. It was wrapped in bandages, and held tight in a cast against her side.

Myth and Jewel had carried her together, rushing her to the nearby hospital as quickly as they could. Snapshot had had tears streaming from her eyes from the most intense pain she'd ever felt in her life. She'd had sprains and bruises before, but they weren't as bad as this. 

The doctor was in the room with Snapshot and Myth, pointing to the x-rays of her wing and explaining to them that the bone in the spine of her wing had been snapped in two places, right in the spots where her wing was bent. 

“Unfortunately it's so bad, there's not so much we can do,” he added sadly. “We can't completely mend the bone back together. I've applied a spell to relieve the pain for now, but it'll return eventually. Aside from that, and keeping your wing in place with the cast, there isn't anything else we can do.”

“How long will I need to have the cast?” Snapshot asked. 

“Normally, it would be about three months. But in my experience, pegasus wings seem to heal quicker than other limbs. So my guess would be about two months. Two and a half tops,” the doctor answered. 

He paused for a moment, waiting for another question if they had one. They didn't seem to have anything else to say.  “That's about it. I suggest you try to get some rest,” he said to Snapshot. “The nurse will be checking in on you every now and then to see how you're doing. If all seems good, you'll be out of here in the morning.”

Snapshot smiled at that. “Thanks, doctor.”

He just gave a smile and walked out the door, leaving the siblings alone for now. 

Jewel stepped in before the door could fully close, setting her bag down beside the door. She carried three cups of water in the light blue glow of her magic, and smiled over to Snapshot. “Feeling better?” she asked, levitating one cup over to her, the other toward Myth, who sat in the chair over in the corner. 

Snapshot nodded with a smile. “Much. He gave me a pain relief spell. Said the pain would come back eventually. Hopefully it won't hurt as bad when it does.” She took the water and drank down a sip. 

“I meant your hoof,” Jewel said with a grin. “That zebra's face made it look like your punch really hit hard.” 

Snapshot couldn't help but laugh at that and rub at her hoof. “That did hurt a little, actually. I really need to toughen up.”

Jewel giggled a bit. “Well, I'm glad you're okay in any case.” She then looked over toward Myth.

Myth had been silent for most of the time they'd been at the hospital. He sat quietly in his seat in the corner of the room, looking thoughtful as he stared down into the water. 

“What are you thinking?” Jewel asked, stepping toward him and taking a seat in the second chair beside him. 

Myth looked up, having hardly noticed Jewel had returned, even though he held the water she gave him. “Just trying to wrap my head around it all,” he said. “The whole thing about our parents being killed... Not by accident, but... targeted.” 

“Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself,” Snapshot added. “Seems so unreal...”

Myth nodded, and took a sip of his water. “It's only made me more curious, though. She said they had to kill our parents because they learned too much. I'm just wondering... What exactly did they learn about that got them targeted like that?”

“Right,” Snapshot agreed. “They're up to something big. They have to be.” 

The three stayed silent for a moment, trying to think. 

The zebra had mentioned that killing every pony on the train had been a small price to pay to kill their parents, in order to keep a secret that had been found out. What was so big that an entire train-worth of innocent ponies seemed like a small cost?

“What took you so long anyways?” Snapshot asked, breaking the silence. She was looking to Jewel. “You were gone for quite a while just to get a few cups of water.”

“Oh! Yeah.” Jewel's magic lifted her bag over to her and she opened the large flap, pulling something out. “I went to get this,” she said, holding up a piece of paper with one edge torn. 

“You went looking for them just to get the page back?” Myth asked, quickly worried that Jewel would endanger herself like that just to get their dad's journal page. 

She shook her head with a little laugh. “Of course not. The zebra dropped it when Snapshot tackled her. I guess they forgot about it when they left. I went back to the warehouse to get it.”

“Well, what's it say?” Snapshot asked.

Jewel just shrugged. “I didn't want to read it. It's your parents, not mine.” She handed the page over to Myth. “I just figured you guys would want it.”
> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Second entry:
Your mother and I are currently at the Canterlot library. As I'm writing this, Pen is writing a letter to send back home to you two. I'm sure you already know what letter that is. You're going to read it before we get back home anyways. She's telling you about how we found what we're looking for and we want Snapshot to have a camera ready to bring along, because we've found just what we're looking for. I told her to purposely leave out details in it so we can explain everything ourselves. Sorry about that, Myth Chaser. I bet you're dying to know what we know. You'll have to wait until we get back.

It took a full day of searching through the Starswirl wing, but we finally found something that mentions what we were looking for. We found a book with some blueprints for some enchanted items Starswirl created. Inside is a blueprint of the artifact. The one that I sent you two to go get from the forest. You must be dying to know what it is. Like I said, we'll explain everything when we meet back up with you two at home. I also want to get the information written down here too, in case we need to check back on something later. 

The blueprint of the artifact seems to confirm what I'd been suspecting. The artifact is a combination lock. A lot like one you'd find on a locker. The symbols around it acting in place of the numbers. Inside the dial, where the needle comes out, is some kind of gemstone. From what we can tell, it looks like that dial won't turn unless a certain spell activates the magic within that gem. We might need Winter or Star, or some other unicorn for this, so hopefully they'll be willing to come help out with that part when we need it. Maybe Page, since she reads a lot of books, and might know some of Starswirl's spells. 

Anyways, we don't know what the symbols on the artifact stand for. We can't find any translation here. But we do know where a translator might be. Starswirl's own journal. There's been some talk around Canterlot that his journal is being put up for display in the Museum of Magic in Manehattan. An addition to the Starswirl exhibit. 

We need to get into that museum and hopefully find a way to get some access to that journal. If anything has the translations for Starswirl's runic language, it would be that journal. I'm even willing to bet he'd provide coordinates to the secret meeting ground he shared with Princess Luna. 

That's about all we know for now. That artifact you two went to get is a lock, it has a gemstone inside the dial that requires a specific spell in order to be used, and the translation of the symbols is most likely in Starswirl's journal, along with the correct combination needed. 

This all has me even more curious, though. Sure, Starswirl and Princess Luna have a secret, and it's linked to this secret area they always sneak off to, but why is there a magical lock? If this location is such a secret, nopony would know where to look anyways. Why keep it locked up? What were they keeping out? Or, what gets me more excited... What were they keeping in? 

Do Luna and Starswirl have something they're keeping hidden away in this place? The thought has me so giddy, I hardly even want to keep writing in this journal, because I just want to keep moving and get there as soon as I can. You guys probably saw how excited I am in the picture your mother is sending with her letter. I can only imagine how excited you two will be. 

We're going to be staying here in Canterlot for a couple of days. There's some new museum exhibit being put up that caught my eye and I want to check it out while we're here. Nothing to do with what we're looking for. I'm just interested. Once we're done, we'll be heading home right away. We want you two with us for the rest of this adventure.

This is exciting, isn't it?



Myth finished reading the new journal page aloud, and paused for a moment, thinking over what he'd just read. He looked over to Snapshot, still laying in her hospital bed. 

“He didn't mention anything about that zebra, or either of her goons,” Snapshot pointed out, confused. “And the zebra said that mom and dad found out what they were up to, and they learned too much... That's what got them killed. Why didn't he say anything about them?”

“Well he did say he was writing it from Canterlot library,” Myth explained. “I guess this was before they ran into each other. Maybe he was going to write all about that on the train, but... never got the chance.”

Snapshot sighed and lay her head back on the pillow. There was a short moment of silence as they thought about that. There could have been a third page for the journal, if the train had gotten just a little farther. Any information about this zebra and her crew would've helped out right about now. 

“Still want to take this information to the police?” Jewel asked, reminding him of their talk earlier. She still sat beside him. “Or even to the Princesses?”

Myth paused for a moment to think that over. He had been willing to tell the police or Luna about the zebra, and explain everything about the group trying to find out her secret with Starswirl. But the fact that the zebra herself was responsible for their parents' deaths made his heart pound. She'd made this personal. They killed his parents. They hurt his sister.

He shook his head in reply. “No.” Jewel and Snapshot exchanged surprised glances and looked back to him. “I know we probably should. It would make things so much easier if Luna took things into her own hooves, but...” He sighed. “I know it sounds selfish, but I really want to know what this big secret is. If they're willing to kill just to get the artifact back, it must be something big. Right?”

“Are you crazy?” Snapshot asked. “They killed all the innocent ponies on that train just because their secret got out to two ponies. If they're up to something so big it makes that mass murder a 'small price to pay' then we have to tell the Princesses. They could be up to something that threatens all of Equestria. And you want to avoid telling them just to find out Starswirl and Luna's secret?”

“I know it sounds stupid and selfish of me,” Myth admitted. “But I have to know. Whoever this zebra is, she made it personal by targeting our parents, and hurting you. I want to screw them over. I want to ruin everything they've working for.”

“I can understand that,” Jewel agreed, looking down at the journal page in her hooves. “If it was my parents on that train, I'd have wanted to ruin the zebra's work too.”

“Yeah. I wanted Snapshot back unharmed, and in return they could have the lock. But...” Myth looked over to his sister, laying in the hospital bed with a broken wing wrapped in a cast. “They didn't keep their end of the deal. Why should we keep ours by letting them have the lock?”

Jewel smiled at him. 

The two ponies looked over to Snapshot, staring at them like they were both insane. She really wanted to take their information to the Princesses and let them deal with everything themselves. An entire train of ponies was murdered and the zebra just shrugged it off like it was nothing compared to what they'd eventually do... This made her think that all of Equestria was in trouble. But her brother and their new friend both seemed to want to deal with it on their own. 

She sighed. “Fine. I think you two are insane for wanting to do this on our own, but... I guess I agree. I want to ruin things for them too...” she admitted. “But if things get out of control-”

“If things get out of our control,” Myth interrupted, “I promise we'll head straight to the Princesses and tell them everything straight away.”

Snapshot smiled, comforted by the thought that her brother was willing to inform Luna and Celestia if they had to. “So what next? It's not like we have a way to find them.”

“Actually...” Jewel cut in, holding up the journal page with a smile. “We do.”

“How?” Myth asked, confused as she held up the page. “He didn't mention them or give a map to anywhere or-”

“The artifact is a combination lock,” Jewel interrupted him, rereading a small portion of the journal. “A lot like a lock you'd find on a locker. The symbols around it acting in place of the numbers. Inside the dial, where the needle comes out, is some kind of gemstone.”

She then smiled, looking up at Myth and Snapshot, who both stared at her in confusion. They were waiting for her to continue. “It's right there,” Jewel said, gesturing to the page. “There's a gem inside the artifact.”

“Am I missing something?” Snapshot asked, looking over to her brother.

Myth stayed silent for a second, just as confused as his sister, until he realized what Jewel was thinking and he began to smile a bit. “You really think you can do it?” he asked her.

Jewel's grin widened and she nodded. “I think so.”

“Would either of you care to clue me in on what you're talking about?” Snapshot asked impatiently. 

“I can find the lock,” Jewel told her. “Your dad says there's a gem inside the dial. That on its own is enough for me to start looking for it.”

“And why's that?” Snapshot asked, still lost.

“I'm a jeweler, remember? It's my business to find stuff like that all the time. I'm so accustomed to it, I sometimes detect them without even trying.” She then nodded her head to Myth's bag as an example. “Like the emerald Myth has in his bag.”

Snapshot looked over to Myth. “You have an emerald?”

Myth shifted his gaze to Jewel and whispered to her. “That was supposed to be a surprise...”

“Really?” Jewel asked. “How come?”

“Why didn't you tell me you had an emerald, Myth?” Snapshot asked. “You know how much I love them.”

Myth sighed and walked over to his bag, pulling out the emerald. It was fairly small. He held it up to his sister. “I wanted to save it and get it cut down to a necklace for your birthday. You can have it now though, if you want.”

“Aww...” Snapshot smiled softly, and gave it back to him. “If that's the case, you keep it for now. I'd love a necklace with an emerald.”

“Sorry for ruining the surprise...” Jewel said, regretting bringing it up in the first place. “But, back to what we were talking about. If I'm actually trying, I can find a gem anywhere in the city.”

“There's got to be tons of jewelry all over Manehattan, though,” Myth pointed out. “How are you so confident you can find the one specific gem in the lock?”

That was a good point... She was good at finding gems, but there were so many ponies in Manehattan, with all kinds of jewelry, it could be hard to locate the right one. 

“What about Starswirl's magic print?” Snapshot asked. “If that gem was filled with Starswirl's magic all the time, the print on it has to be a lot stronger than what Star felt on the outside of the artifact. Maybe if you search for jewelry and a powerful magic, you'd lock right on to it.”

Myth smiled widely. Star Shimmer had explained this before. Unicorns could detect a magical print left by another unicorn, even more easily when left by one as powerful as Starswirl himself. Star had detected it on the artifact when they let her inspect it. But if the real abundance of magic was on the gem hidden inside, then what Star felt was just the tip of the iceberg. Jewel would find it no problem. He looked to Jewel for a response.

“That's a great idea,” Jewel said. “I'd need a good vantage point, though. Somewhere with a good view of the whole city.”

“Like the roof of this hospital?” Myth suggested.



Myth let the door shut behind him as he followed Jewel outside onto the rooftop. Their movement activated the motion sensors, turning on the rooftop lamps. To their surprise, there were a few tables and chairs up here. Probably for ponies to get some fresh air, or have some lunch. It was late at night, bringing a bit of a chilly breeze to the two ponies that were there now. Myth smiled at the feeling. H always liked the cold more than warmth. 

The unicorn walked over to the edge of the roof, looking out to the city. Her mane waved a little in the cool wind and she just smiled. The lights of the city looked so pretty to her. Almost like jewels sparkling in the night. 

“Whoa,” Myth said, joining her at the edge. He hadn't expected such a big, busy city to look so beautiful at night, but there were so many lights. Multiple colors shining in the night. A look outward to the coast showed the lights reflecting in the ocean water. 

“I've never seen a view like this before,” Jewel admitted. 

“You live here. How could you not?” Myth asked her, unable to shift his gaze away from the city lights.

“The view from my apartment looks out to Central Park. It's mostly darkness. Plus my store is street level.”

There was a moment of silence after that answer. The two ponies stood together at the edge of the rooftop looking out at the multicolored city lights, enjoying the sight. Myth couldn't remember a time he'd had this sort of view. For him it was usually the starry sky. 

Jewel's horn began to glow a faint blue and she closed her eyes to focus as she began searching. As her magic reached out across the city, she detected jewelry all over, magic prints left behind on most things. She just had to keep looking and hope she'd eventually come across a gem with such a powerful magic it would be obvious that it was Starswirl's. 

“Jewel?” Myth spoke up. She looked over to him, though her horn continued glowing as she searched. “Thanks for all the help. We'd be lost without you,” he said, looking over at her and giving her a small smile.

“You're just saying that,” she replied.

“I'm not. Without you we never would've known about Starswirl's journal being on display at the museum. We wouldn't have come to Manehattan... We'd still be in Canterlot searching for information we'd probably never find.”

“You two are smart. You would have thought of something,” Jewel assured him. 

“And coming with me to get my sister back,” Myth added. “You really didn't have to come.”

“I wanted to,” she reminded him. “I wanted your sister back safe and sound just as much as you did. I don't want anything terrible happening to either of you.”

Myth smiled at that. “Thank you, Jewel.”

Jewel smiled softly. “You're welcome.”

The two caught each others' gaze. Myth staring into Jewel's blue eyes as she stared back into his own brown ones. Neither knew what the other was thinking or feeling in this moment, but they each felt their own heart pounding in their chest. 

Jewel broke eye contact, looking away. “Uhm... I should really focus,” she said, gesturing to her still glowing horn, reminding him why they were up here in the first place. “You can head back down to your sister, if you want.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I'll head back.” Myth backed off toward the door. “You going to be alright up here on your own?” he asked.

The unicorn mare gave a nod. “I'll be fine. I'll come down a little later and let you know if I find it.”

“See you then.” Myth smiled. He held eye contact with the mare for a short moment, unsure if he should say anything else. Before the moment could get any more awkward, he backed off through the door, letting it shut behind him.

Even in the coldness of night, Jewel felt a bit of warmth on her cheeks and she couldn't help but smile after that moment the two had just shared. She still felt her heart pounding away in her chest. Was she starting to like him? She had only just met him and his sister not too long ago, but she already felt some pretty strong feelings... She stood there for a moment, letting that thought linger before finally closing her eyes and shifting her focus back to her task. 



It felt like nearly an hour had passed in silence. Focusing on her search, she'd run it through her mind what she was detecting. A sapphire bracelet. Emerald necklace. Ruby on a ring. A diamond earring... It felt weird, scanning the entire city at once, inspecting all the different jewels she could find. She almost felt like she was spying on ponies, though she knew she didn't see or hear any of them at all. 

The sound of a pen scratching on a piece of paper reached her ears, surprising her. Confused about what she heard, she looked over to where she heard the noise. Myth was sitting at one of the rooftop tables. He leaned over the table, writing in an open book set in front of him. “When did you get back up here?” she asked. 

Myth perked up and looked over to her. “About a half hour ago,” he answered. Seeing the confused look on her face, he explained. “Snapshot took some pain medicine and fell asleep. I didn't want to do anything to wake her, so I figured I'd keep you company up here. That okay?”

“Of course,” she answered. “But... half an hour? Why didn't you say something?”

He chuckled at the question. “I didn't want to disturb you. You looked so focused.”

Jewel smiled softly at that, which soon faded. “Sorry about earlier.”

“Hmm?”

“I ruined the surprise for your sister. About the emerald. I shouldn't have mentioned it. I feel awful for ruining her birthday surprise.”

“Oh, don't worry about it,” Myth said with a smile. “Her birthday is so far off, she probably would have found it before then anyways. At least this way she hasn't seen it as a necklace.”

“Guess that makes it better.” Jewel smiled. “If you'd like, I could make it into a necklace sometime.”

“Would you? That would be great. Don't suppose you have a birthday gift discount, though, huh?” he asked a bit playfully.

Jewel giggled softly at that. “In fact, I do. But for you two, I'll make it free. Least I could do after ruining the surprise.”

“You sure you want to do that?” he asked.

“Of course.” Jewel smiled. 

“Thanks. That sounds great,” Myth said, turning his attention back to what he was doing before. 

She glanced to the book he was writing in. It piqued her curiosity. “You write?”

“Not usually. I just... thought I'd continue my dad's journal. I'd hate for it to go to waste with only a page or two used.”

“That's a nice idea. Your parents started this. Only seems fitting you guys finish it for-” She paused, her eyes closing once again as she snapped back into focus. 

Myth sat up. “Got something?”

“Small gemstone... An inch, maybe two, in diameter... Seems like a ruby. Got a huge amount of magic imprinted in it.” Her horn gave a little pulse of light then stopped glowing and she looked back over to Myth with a smile. “No doubt about it. That's Starswirl's artifact, for sure.”

Myth got up from his seat at the table, stepping over toward her at the edge of the roof. “You remember where it is?”

“I put a tracking spell on it. I still sense it right now, with nothing else to distract me from it.”

“Can you take me there?” he asked, slipping the journal and pen back into his bag. 

“Of course,” she said with a nod, and started heading toward the door, ready to head back inside. “We can head there in the morning.”

Myth stayed by the ledge, looking out to the city. 

“What?” Jewel asked, looking over to him. He looked over to her with a certain look on his face. The two stared at each other for a short moment. She could see in his eyes what he was thinking. “Really? You want to go tonight?”

“What better time?” he asked. “They wouldn't be expecting us to come at all, after that threat, right? Plus we're under the cover of night... I already got it from them in broad daylight in their own camp. Sneaking in at night should be easy.”

He had a point. Night would be the easiest time to sneak in. But could he get the artifact and the book? They'd need both or they'd be just as stuck as they were before. 

“The longer we wait, the more likely they are to get out of the city and we'll lose track of them,” Myth added. “We can't wait for tomorrow. In case they leave sometime tonight or in the morning...”

Another good point... Jewel ran it through her mind for a moment. If they waited until tomorrow, they might already be out of Manehattan, and who knows where they'd run off to next? With a sigh, Jewel nodded in agreement. 

“You're right. If we're going to get it back, we need to move now.”
> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Myth was curiously looking around as he walked alongside Jewel through the streets of Manehattan. He would have thought the sidewalks would be nearly empty, but found that there was just as many ponies as there had been in the day. Neon signs were all that lit the streets, advertising various shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. 

Jewel's horn was surrounded by its faint blue glow as her tracking spell stayed locked on to the artifact she had managed to locate moments before. They had thought about letting Snapshot know they found it and were going to get it now rather than wait for morning, but decided against it, agreeing together that she needed to rest. If all went well, they would be back by the time she woke up anyways.

“You okay?” Myth asked, resulting in the unicorn looking to him. “Like, it doesn't strain you to keep that spell going so long, does it?”

“Not at all,” Jewel answered. “If anything, it would just be the actual focus I'm putting into using the spell that would tire me out. And the closer we get, the less I need to focus, since my magic doesn't have to reach as far.”

“Interesting,” he replied, glancing upward to her horn. “I've always been fascinated with unicorn magic. Would you mind teaching me about it sometime?”

“What do you want to know?”

Myth shrugged. “I don't know. Just... how it works, I guess.”

“That's an easy one,” Jewel said. She figured she may as well explain what she can while they walked. The artifact was still a few blocks away anyways. May as well pass the time with a conversation. “Unicorns are born with magical energy stored within their horn. With practice, a unicorn can control that energy and project it outward and manifest it in various ways. Most of the time, while using a spell, the energy that was projected out wants to return back to the unicorn's horn, where it belongs. That moment when energy is returning to the horn while also being sent out for a spell, is what causes the horn to glow like mine is right now.”

Myth glanced up at her horn, looking at it with new understanding, then looked back to her. “So is that why, when you levitate or grab something with your magic, that same glow is surrounding the thing you're carrying? Because you're pushing energy into it while it's also coming back out and returning to your horn?”

“Exactly.”

“Cool...” Myth said in awe, glad to finally understand more about the subject. 

The two continued to walk in silence as Myth processed the information. Some ponies seemed to give Jewel a curious look as they passed. 

“You said the energy wants to return back to your horn 'most of the time', though. What about when it doesn't? What causes that?”

“Oh, that's usually one of two things. Either a spell for destruction, or creation. A magic blast, for example, is a destructive spell, and the energy gets spent when it makes the explosion. Creation is the same way. The energy is spent in order to create the object out of thin air.”

“It's possible to create objects out of nothing?” Myth asked.

“Theoretically, yes,” Jewel answered. “But it's never been done. To do something like that requires a ton of magic as compensation. I read something once about Starswirl gathering together with a group of other wizards about as powerful as him and even with all of their magic combined they found it impossible to create something as simple as a blade of grass.”

“Wow. That really is a lot... So I guess it won't be possible to see any unicorns creating an entire building in an instant, huh?”

Jewel laughed, then replied. “Yeah, that would be pretty difficult. I'd love to see something like that, though, just to see that it is possible.” She then stopped and looked at a building they had come to. “Here?”

Myth looked up to find they were in front of an apartment building with several floors. “The artifact is here?” 

“Yeah,” she answered. “Top floor.”

“What now?”

Jewel smiled and walked over to the side of the building, with Myth following behind her into the alleyway between the two buildings. She looked up at a fire escape and grabbed at the ladder with her magic, pulling it down toward them. “This is perfect,” she told him as she began climbing. “There's glass windows above the top floor apartments. We can get in that way.”

“How do you know that?” Myth asked, starting to climb after her.

“I looked at some top floor apartments here when I was looking for a new place.”

The two climbed up the fire escape in silence, trying to keep their hoofsteps as quiet as they could on the metal steps so they wouldn't disturb anyone. Myth let Jewel lead the way, since she was the one that knew exactly where they were going. They did their best not to stay by any window longer than they had to. When they finally reached the top, Jewel stepped up onto the roof, with Myth climbing up beside her. 

Myth took a quick look around. The rooftop was flat and had a few doorways that would lead inside as well as about a dozen sets of glass panels standing upward from the roof. Some of the roof windows were propped open, letting in the cool night air. 

“Which one?” he asked quietly. He didn't want to be heard by anyone in the apartments. 

Jewel's horn glowed once again and she walked, passing a few sets of roof windows before approaching one. Myth followed after her. 

The entire ceiling of the room was made of the large window roof. The two hid themselves the best they could as they peeked in through the glass. The lights that hung from the beams above were off but the dim light of the moon and stars lit the room enough for them to see inside. They knew immediately that they were at the right place. Once they looked inside, they both saw the artifact. It lay on top of an unorganized pile of papers on a desk. He saw a set of steps worked into one of the sloped walls from one of the roof window's glass panels and leading down to the floor. 

“I'm heading in,” Myth whispered, standing up.

“No,” Jewel said, pulling him back down to her. “I'll just use my magic to pull the artifact up to us.”

“We need the journal too,” Myth mentioned. “And we can't see the book anywhere in there from up here. Without Starswirl's journal, we're right back where we started.”

Jewel looked at him silently and sighed. “You're right. Just... be careful.”

He smiled and nodded. “I'll be fine.”

Myth got up again and went around the roof window to the glass panel that had the built-in set of stairs right below it. Jewel came over with him. He was glad to find that the panel didn't seem to have any kind of lock to keep it shut. Opening it slowly, he propped it up and waited a moment, gathering his nerve. He then gave Jewel a reassuring smile before he began to climb down into the room. He made his way down the steps as quietly as he could. He didn't want to make any noise, even something as quiet as a creak of a floorboard. 

Once at the bottom, he made his way to the desk against the opposite wall and grabbed the artifact, holding it up for Jewel. She grabbed it in her magic and pulled it up toward her, slipping it into the pocket of her bag before looking back down to Myth.

Myth had made his way to the door and pressed his ear against it to try and figure out if anyone was in the next room. There was. He could hear a couple voices having a conversation. 

“They won't be of any trouble to us anymore,” a familiar voice said. Myth recognized it as the zebra mare's voice.

“How are you so sure?” an unrecognizable voice asked her. A female voice. At this point Myth had no idea if it was a pony, zebra, or gryphon. They seemed to have everyone working together. “They already stole the lock away from you once before. Who's to say they won't do it again?”

“We made it very clear what would happen if they were to cross us again, ma'am,” the zebra said. “We even left the pegasus with a broken wing to make sure they got the point.”

“I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it,” the voice replied. “You did manage to get the lock back with relative ease. And I must applaud you on the museum heist. The police have no leads, from what I have heard. Well done, Askari.”

“Thank you, ma'am,” the zebra replied. Myth smiled at this. He finally had a name to match the face. Her name was Askari! “What's next?”

“Next, we need to figure out the location this lock is meant to gain us entrance to,” the voice answered. 

“And how do we do that?” Askari asked. “Isn't it supposed to be a huge secret?”

“Of course it is, but Starswirl must have mentioned it in this journal.” Myth heard the sound of a book being set down on a table, followed by its pages being turned. His heart sank. The journal was out there with them... “I want you to search every page. Read every single word. Do not hesitate to come inform me, once you've found it.”

“Yes, ma'am. Right away.”

Myth heard hoofsteps walking away, followed by another door being shut. Then he heard other hoofsteps coming toward him. He jerked back and quickly made his way up the steps and out the window with the quietest hoofsteps he could manage, hurriedly telling Jewel to put the artifact back quickly. The zebra would for sure notice if it was missing. 

Jewel did as she was asked and pulled the artifact back out of her bag, her magic lowering it back into the room and setting it back on the pile of papers on the desk where they'd found it, then quickly and quietly closed the roof window like they'd found it, just in time to see the door in the room open and the zebra, Askari, enter. 

“What's going on?” Jewel asked Myth without taking her eyes off the zebra.

“She was talking to someone in the other room,” Myth replied. “Apparently that lock and the journal are all we need. Whoever she was talking to said that Starswirl must have written the location somewhere in his journal, and she wants Askari to read every page.”

“Askari?”

“That's her,” he said, pointing through the window at the zebra. 

Askari set Starswirl's journal on the desk beside the artifact. There were bags under her eyes and she let out a yawn, exhausted from her day. She took a glance at the bed over at the far wall as if thinking about sleep. She shook her head and took a seat at the desk instead, opening the journal to the very first page to start her reading. 

“So if we can just get the lock and the journal-” Myth started.

“We'll be set to go,” Jewel finished, with a smile. 

Myth nodded and peered back down at the zebra in her room. “We just need to wait... She looks so tired, she's bound to fall asleep soon.”

The two stayed at the window, peering into the room and watching the zebra intently. They kept as silent as they could manage, watching and waiting for the zebra to fall asleep. She leaned her head on one hoof as she tiredly read, her eyes scanning back and forth as she read every word. Then she'd turn a page, and read everything. Askari would occasionally yawn and glance over to her bed against the far wall, so very tempted to lay down and just rest for a few minutes. She knew if she did, though, she'd just fall asleep and get yelled at by who she was talking to earlier. 

Myth and Jewel watched for a couple hours. They felt uncomfortable sitting and laying on the rooftop, and bored out of their minds. They had never imagined that sitting around waiting would be even more boring than what they'd imagined. The two even began to feel colder and colder as the chilly night air made them shiver. 




The next thing he knew, Myth was being shaken awake. “Myth. Myth, wake up,” Jewel called to him in a hushed tone. 

He didn't remember falling asleep, but as he woke up, he sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “Huh? What happened?” he asked sleepily, looking around and finding that it was still late at night. 

“You fell asleep for a little while,” Jewel said. 

“Sorry,” Myth apologized. “Guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“That's okay,” Jewel replied. “We've got a problem though.” 

She pointed through the window and Myth looked to see that the zebra was at the desk, her head resting down on Starswirl's journal. The zebra's eyes were closed and she was breathing lightly. It looked as if she'd barely managed to read halfway through the book before falling asleep. 

“Crap. That is a problem.”

Jewel nodded. She then reached into her bag and pulled out the artifact to show him. “I already got the lock, but that journal's going to be tough to get with her laying on it.”

Myth reached to the closed window and opened it back up, propping it open. “Alright,” he said. “You lift her head with your magic, and I'll grab the journal.”

Before Jewel could attempt to say anything in return, Myth made his way down the steps into the room.

He crouched low on the floor and began quietly crawling his way towards the sleeping zebra mare. Once he was beside her, he looked up at Jewel to make sure she was ready. Her horn began to glow, and the same glow surrounded Askari's sleeping head.

Myth watched as the zebra began to slowly, and carefully, lift up away from the journal. His heart was racing with the fear that she would wake up at any moment to catch them both and alert anyone within earshot. When her head was far enough away from the journal, he held a hoof up to Jewel to stop. 

She stopped, watching as the stallion reached his hoof underneath Askari. Myth paced himself, taking his time as his hoof gently slid the journal away from the zebra. Upon retrieving it from underneath her, he gently closed the journal, the noise of the pages unnerving him. He carried the journal and began making his way toward the steps, ready to head back up. 

That's when everything came crashing down. “Hey, Askari, I was told-” a stallion's voice started as the door opened, bumping Myth in his side and catching him off guard. “Hey!” the stallion shouted. It was the unicorn that was usually with Askari and the gryphon. Askari sat up in the chair, looking around for a moment upon being woken up so abruptly.

Myth was frozen in fear as the two stared at him, with Jewel watching from above. “Uhh... Hey,” he said, as casually as he could muster. “What's up?” 

The unicorn stallion yanked the journal out of Myth's hooves and the zebra jumped at him, pinning Myth to the ground. Myth decided against trying to fight back. It would just make things worse for him. He subtly looked up at Jewel. They hadn't seen her yet. He wanted to tell her to run, but if he did they would know for sure she was there. He wanted her to leave without him. Once they found out the lock was missing, they wouldn't dare hurt or kill him. Not until they knew where it was, at least. 

Jewel seemed to read his mind. She quietly closed the window back how it was, making sure the zebra and unicorn didn't see or hear anything where she was, and Myth saw her back away with a worried look on her face, hoping he was going to be okay. 

Askari had one hoof on Myth's back, holding him to the ground, her other hoof wrapped around one of his own and giving it a bit of a painful pull backwards toward her. “How did you find us?”

Myth grunted at the pain when she pulled his hoof. “Hey! Easy. That hurts, you know!”

She pulled on his hoof and pushed him to the ground even harder as she repeated the question with a growl. “How did you find us?” 

“Wouldn't you like to know,” Myth said smugly. He looked back to see that the unicorn was searching around the room, as if looking to see if he was the only one here. 

“I told you what would happen if you were to interfere again,” the zebra said, reminding him of her threat to make him and the others join their parents in death. “Star Gaze.”

Myth winced a bit, preparing for something to happen to him. Nothing. He looked back to Askari on his back. “Star Gaze,” she repeated, looking back at the unicorn behind them. Star Gaze must have been his name.

Star Gaze looked over to the zebra with a surprised look. “The lock's not here.”

“What?” Askari looked back down to Myth. She tugged his hoof back further. “Where's the lock?” she asked angrily. 

Myth chuckled in response and smirked. “Guess you can't kill me now. Not if you want Starswirl's lock back.”

The zebra gave a mad growl, tempted to see how easily she could rip the stallion's hoof off his body. 

“Should I get the rope?” Star Gaze asked, looking to the zebra for his orders. 

Askari kept a firm hold on Myth for a moment, staying silent. “I have a better idea,” she answered. She then let go of Myth's hoof and backed off of him. Myth got up, rubbing at his shoulder and looking to the zebra curiously. She then shoved him toward the desk and made him sit in the chair. She grabbed Starswirl's journal back from the unicorn and put it on the desk in front of Myth. “I'm not sitting in here all day reading it myself. You do it.”

“Why would I do your work for-”

“Read it,” Askari repeated firmly. “After that, then we'll send a note to your friends to come trade you back for the lock.”

“Why should I?” Myth asked. 

“Your choice, Askari said. “Either read the journal, tell us what we want to know, and we'll send them a note so they will come save you, or I could have Star Gaze here pay them a little visit himself...”

Myth stared the zebra in her evil, purple eyes for a moment before he sighed and turned to face the book. “Fine,” he gave in. “What am I looking for?” he asked, flipping the book open to the first page.

“Don't play dumb,” Askari told him, then flipped the pages back to where she'd left off earlier, not wanting him to waste time looking through what she already read. “You know very well what to look for.”

“Well duh,” he said as disrespectfully as he could, looking at the zebra. “What am I looking for exactly? Coordinate numbers? The name of a location? A map with a big red X that marks the spot? Do you know anything about what to keep an eye out for?”

Askari just forcefully turned his head to look down at the book. “Anything related to any location.”



Myth sighed in boredom as he read through Starswirl's journal. Askari was out of the room, having left Star Gaze to keep him under watch. She figured a unicorn would have no trouble keeping him under control. Star was even sitting on the bed, a few feet away from him. He could just throw Myth against the wall in an instant if he had to. He wouldn't make it to Star quick enough before he'd be blasted back. Myth knew that, and made no attempt to escape. 

Night had already passed. The room was filled with sunlight by now, showing Myth that he had been here all night. He wondered what Jewel had done after she left. Would she wait for Snapshot to be released by the doctors and come here together? Would she go to the police? 

The door opened behind Myth with a slight creak, alerting him. Myth turned to look back. Askari had been the one to open the door. “This is him, ma'am,” she said before stepping aside. 

Taking her place in the doorway was a unicorn mare. Her coat was a dark gray, like charcoal. She had a curly purple mane and tail, matching the same purple as her eyes. Great, more purple eyes. Myth was quickly starting to get sick of seeing the color purple from all these baddies. 

“Him?” the mare asked the zebra without taking her eyes off of Myth, speaking as if she didn't believe it. “He hardly looks capable of sneaking in here in the middle of the night.” 

Myth recognized her voice from the night before. She was the mare that the zebra had been talking to. He recognized the voice, but felt offended by what she'd said. What about him made him look like he wasn't capable? 

“He's a tricky one,” Askari pointed out. “He's the stallion I told you about from that journal page. That adventurer's son.”

“Ah, yes... Myth Chaser, I believe,” the unicorn mare said. She seemed to notice the journal was laid on the desk in front of him, wide open, and she turned to glare at the zebra. “And why is he reading the journal?”

“I'm having him read it to find the location Starswirl's lock is meant for,” Askari answered. 

The mare stared at her for a moment before grabbing the journal in her magic and slamming it closed, making Myth jump in surprise since he hadn't been watching it. The unicorn then levitated the book back to Askari. “You do realize that he might already know the location, right? And he could be stalling for time while he waits for his friends to come rescue him so he can lead them there without us.”

“I... I didn't-” Askari started.

“You,” the unicorn mare interrupted, turning her attention back to Myth. “What do you know?”

Myth kept his mouth shut for a moment, taken by surprise to have the attention back on him so suddenly. “Uh... Well, I'd know more if I could keep reading that journal.”

The mare's horn glowed a faint purple color. She pulled out a knife, held by the handle in her magic, and brought the tip to Myth's throat threateningly. He hadn't noticed it until then, but the mare had had the knife set in a sheathe that was strapped around her hind leg. She looked at him with an angry gaze in her purple eyes. “What do you know?” she asked again, more firmly. 

Myth gulped a bit as he felt the tip of the steel blade poke at his throat. “I just know about Starswirl's lock,” he admitted. “It requires some certain spell to even activate it, and it's for some secret location that Starswirl and Luna would always sneak off to.”

“I don't think I believe that,” she told him, nudging the knife against his throat with a bit more pressure. 

“I swear,” he said fearfully, his heart racing faster than it had ever been before. “I don't know the combination. I don't know the location. I just know that the lock needs a spell to gain entrance to some hidden location the Princess and Starswirl would go to all the time.”

“Anything else?” 

Myth shook his head in answer. He was scared to move much more than that for fear that she might plunge the knife straight through his throat if she thought he might try to make a move against her. 

The unicorn mare gazed in his eyes for a moment, searching for the truth. She was already sure that he knew they were the reason his parents were dead, since Askari had informed her of it before. If he was hiding anything else from her, he was doing a very good job at hiding it. His eyes were looking down at the blade, hoping to have it away from him soon.

The mare smiled. “Good.” The knife was pulled back away from him, and the unicorn gave a little smile as she slid the blade back into its sheath on her leg. “You're free to go, then.”

Everyone looked to her in surprise. Askari stared at her from behind, Star Gaze gasped from his seat on the bed, and Myth's jaw was wide open.

“Ma'am, are you sure that's-”

“Of course I'm sure,” the unicorn answered casually, interrupting Askari before she could finish. She kept her eyes on Myth as she spoke. “He doesn't know anything. And if we ever see him again, around anything even remotely related to what we're doing... This knife will be the least of his worries.”

The unicorn mare stepped aside in the doorway, giving him space to pass by so he could leave. 

Myth cautiously stood up, looking to Askari and Star Gaze to see what they would do. They just kept their mouths shut, looking to the unicorn mare like she was crazy. He then went to the doorway and felt a hoof on his chest, stopping him. He looked to the unicorn mare, seeing that it was her hoof stopping him. 

“And of course,” the mare said, “I ask that Askari come with you to retrieve the lock that rightfully belongs to us.”

Myth looked to Askari and sighed, defeated. He nodded. “Of course.”



Snapshot was finally released from the hospital, the doctors satisfied that her wing would heal nicely in a few weeks' time. She and Jewel were walking out the front entrance together. Jewel had waited until they were leaving to begin explaining what had happened, when she was cut off by the sight of Myth approaching them. 

“Hey guys,” he greeted them, expressionless. Walking at his side was the zebra mare, Askari. 

“Uhh, Myth,” Jewel said, glancing next to him at the zebra. 

“Don't worry,” Myth said. “She's not going to hurt us. She's just here for the artifact.”

“We're just... giving them the lock?” Jewel asked.

“My boss held a knife to his throat,” Askari explained. “He told us everything he knew, and she did not wish to kill him. He does not know enough for the murder to be worthwhile.”

“That's... odd,” Snapshot said. “I thought you were the boss.”

Askari shook her head and stepped forward, holding her hoof out. “Just give me the lock and I will be on my way.”

Jewel took a step back, glancing to Myth, wondering what to do. They were three against one right now. They could take her on and get away for sure.

“Just do it,” Myth said sullenly. “I give up. They win.”

Jewel frowned at this. “But-”

“Lock,” Askari said firmly. 

Jewel sighed. “Fine.” She reached into her bag, pulling out the artifact. She levitated the disc-shaped golden-colored stone artifact over. The black needle still pointing up at the same symbol it had always been. “Take it.”

Askari took the artifact and looked it over for a moment, then smiled. “Thank you.” She turned and began to walk away. She stopped and looked back to them. “Remember what the boss said,” she added, before walking down the sidewalk, heading back to her boss. 

“So that's it?” Snapshot asked. “We're just giving up?”

Myth ignored what his sister asked and just looked behind him, making sure the zebra was long gone before he looked back to Jewel. “I'm glad you gave them a fake.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “You knew it was fake?” she asked. “I was going to tell you later.”

Myth chuckled. “The real artifact has a red needle. The one you gave her had a black one. How'd you make a copy that accurate?”

Jewel smiled. “I'm a jeweler. I work with stones and do engravings all the time. I managed to chisel my own gold-colored stone to the right shape and engraved the symbols in. I didn't have anything red for the needle though... You don't think they'll notice the change to black, do you?”

“Well, it fooled Askari. But her boss is a unicorn, and I'm betting she'll be able to tell pretty quick that it doesn't have Starswirl's magic print.”

“What's going on?” Snapshot asked, more confused than she had been earlier. She'd missed a lot while she was asleep.

“I'll explain everything later,” Myth said. “For now, we need to get out of Manehattan. Quick. Before Askari's boss figures out the lock she's got is a fake.”

“What about the journal?” Jewel asked.

Myth smirked. “We don't need it anymore. I saw the coordinates for where we need to go. Starswirl is a genius with his codes, but I saw right through it. I doubt they will.”

“We still need it for the combination to the lock, though,” Jewel reminded him.

He laughed lightly. “The journal doesn't have the combination. The lock does.”

“What?” 

“I'll explain later,” he said again. “Right now, we need to catch the morning train to Canterlot. It should be leaving soon.”

He took off without another word. Jewel followed right behind. Snapshot stood in place for a moment, feeling more confused than she'd ever felt before in her life. 
> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel were all on the train, feeling more relaxed now that the train had already departed, bringing them away from the zebra's crew and the unicorn. Once aboard the train they made their way through until they found a car empty of passengers, leaving them alone to talk in private. 

“So, let me get this straight,” Snapshot spoke up, adjusting her position in her seat and looking to her brother, sitting in a seat across the aisle from her. “The zebra's name is Askari. That unicorn guy's name is Star Gaze. And there's another unicorn now that seems to be their leader?”

Myth nods in reply. “Even Askari seemed to be afraid of her. Didn't catch her name though, so she's still a mystery.”

“Wow... And she was pretty scary to begin with. For her to be cowering, I can't even imagine what that unicorn is capable of... And she held a knife to your throat?” 

“Yeah,” Myth replied, leaning his head back and pointing a hoof to his neck. “She had the tip pressed right up against my throat, asking me about what I knew. Of course I didn't want to die right then and there, so I told her I knew about Luna and Starswirl having some kind of secret, something about a location hidden away somewhere, and it involves the artifact to unlock it.”

“And she let you go?” Jewel asked, sitting in the seat behind Myth. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Myth replied. “Apparently I didn't know enough to be of any trouble to them, and they didn't want the trouble of dealing with a dead body, so they just let me go.”

“But you didn't tell the whole truth,” Jewel said. “About what all you knew.”

The stallion couldn't help but grin. “If I'd said everything, I'd probably be dead for sure.”

“What do you know?” Snapshot asked, leaning against the back of her seat and looking at her brother curiously. 

Myth chuckled a little. “I know it was pretty stupid of them to let me read Starswirl's journal and then let me go without interrogating me more horrifyingly about what I know.”

“Well, what did you read in the journal?” Jewel asked, eager to listen.

“Most of it was theoretical stuff about some spells. Stuff like inter-dimensional travel or even time travel. Impossible stuff, really. But then I got to the stuff about him and Luna and focused on it some more. I don't have what he wrote down memorized or anything, but from what I understood of it... He asked Princess Luna for a favor. One that apparently only she would be capable of helping him with.”

“What was it?” Snapshot asked impatiently.

“He didn't go into detail,” Myth answered. “But whatever it was, he was taking her to this secret location to do, under the cover of night. And he told Princess Celestia not to follow them. This was between him and Luna, and they would tell Celestia about it once they knew more, but in the meantime it would only put her in danger.”

“So something at this location is dangerous?” Jewel asked. 

“He didn't go into detail about what the danger was,” Myth replied. “Just that it was a danger to Celestia if she were to follow them. But here's what interests me. Whatever the favor was he had been asking of Luna... he regrets. Starswirl wrote so much about his regret for asking Luna to do what she was doing, and he had to put their experiment to an end. So he created the lock to seal away the location and had a long journey to find a safe, hidden place to hide it.”

“Experiment...?” Jewel muttered curiously.

“Again, he didn't go into detail,” Myth said quickly. “Some kind of experiment between Starswirl and Luna, it takes place in some location that he didn't want to name even in his journal, and Starswirl regrets the whole thing. His journal doesn't explain anything about what the experiment was or why he was starting to regret it.”

“This is scaring me,” Snapshot said. “Do we really want to be going somewhere that Starswirl regretted bringing the Princess for some unknown experiment? There could be something serious there. Especially if he ended up having to seal it away behind a magic lock so nopony could ever go there again.”

“Yeah,” Myth agreed. “I'm pretty scared about it, too, Snaps... But aren't you still curious?”

Snapshot stayed silent for a moment, looking to the floor of the train car as she thought about the question. Was she curious? She was curious to know what the big deal was, and how everything fits together... But if there was something so dangerous it made a powerful wizard regret messing with it, maybe they shouldn't be messing with it either. 

“Well, I say we still go,” Jewel said with a little shrug. “I've had this secret of theirs on my mind since I was a little filly. It'll kill me if I had this opportunity to get some answers and ended up quitting so close to the end goal.”

“That's how I'm starting to feel,” Myth said. “Plus, we pretty much decided to do this for our parents. We both agreed to see their adventure through to the very end.”

Snapshot looked back up to her brother again when he mentioned their parents. She remembered back before they left home, when they'd talked about it. Myth had seemed so eager to finish their parents' adventure for them, and she'd felt in her heart that she would be willing to face anything they might come across to do it. The stakes were so high now. They were getting into some serious stuff. There was something in her, though, that made her want to keep going. 

“What do you think, Snaps?” Myth asked, looking to her sister. “Your call. Want to call it quits, or go through with it?” 

She wasn't sure if it was her own burning curiosity or something else entirely, but she wanted to continue. She wanted to find Luna and Starswirl's secret place and find out what their big secret is. 

“Let's do it,” she said, putting a smile on her face, and getting a smile in return from Myth and Jewel. 

“So what about the combination for the lock?” Jewel asked, looking to the tan stallion. “You said we didn't need the journal for it.”

“Oh! Right. The lock actually has the combination in itself,” Myth responded.

The unicorn gave a confused look and dug into her bag, slipping the golden-colored artifact out. She looked over it with a strange look and passed it over the seat to him. “Well, please explain. Cause I've looked over it plenty of times and I haven't seen anything like a combination.”

“Because you don't know exactly how to look at it,” Myth said with a chuckle. 

He set the disc down on the seat, holding it down to the cushion, and pulled at the knob of the dial. With a click, the knob popped off, revealing it was hollow inside, providing space for what lay within. Inside was a sort of metallic-looking mechanism. The metal was connected to the red needle, and formed a circle, surrounding a red gemstone. Myth grabbed the ruby from its place, bringing the artifact into three separate pieces now; the hollow dial piece, the ruby, and the disc with the metal mechanism and needle. He took the red gem and held it up, inspecting it. The ruby was shaped like a typical diamond would be; a circular top that came down to meet at a sharp point at the bottom. 

Keeping it in his grasp, Myth turned and opened his bag, reaching in and pulling out a flashlight. Jewel and Snapshot exchanged confused glances before looking back to him. He flipped the switch a few times, making sure the light actually worked. Aiming the flashlight, he shined the light beam at the door of the train car, and smiled. It seemed plenty bright enough for him. 

The next thing he did brought out an awed gasp from both Jewel and Snapshot. He held the ruby up to the flashlight with the flat, circular top of it pressed against the glass of the flashlight, causing the light to shine through the gem and shine a pretty, red glow on the door, with light reflecting around inside the gem and shining the red glow all over the wall and seats. 

“Wait, what's that?” Snapshot asked, gesturing with her hoof along a pinkish line that ran along the wall of the train car. 

“That's what we need to look at,” Myth said. He moved the ruby and flashlight closer to the wall, shrinking the large glow down and bringing the line smaller with it. 

Once close enough to the door, the three ponies would see the red glow in the shape of the circular top of the ruby. Inside the circle shape were five sort-of-familiar symbols in seemingly random positions. Myth rotated the ruby in his hoof. It moved the symbols around until they recognized them as numbers. Numbers one, two, three, four, and five, to be specific. The numbers were a pink color within the reddish glow. They'd been cut out in the ruby so they could be seen when shone like this. The numbers were scattered in random positions though. The five was shown at the top of the circle. Going clockwise from there, the numbers were three at the right position, one at the bottom right position, four in the bottom left, and a two at the top left, then back to the five at the very top. 

Jewel gasped when she saw this. “No way...” 

“What's it mean?” Snapshot asked, confused about the numbers and their random positions. 

Before Myth could even ask her to do so, Jewel grabbed the disc piece of the artifact with the symbols and needle on it. She held it up against the door, in the path of the light beam shining through the ruby so that the glow and the numbers were now overlaid on top of the golden-colored disc. She rotated it so that the needle was pointed straight up, just as it was supposed to be. 

Then Snapshot gasped at the realization. When the red glowing circle of the light shining through the ruby matched up with the circular edge of the disc-shaped artifact, she saw it. The numbers one through five lined up with certain symbols on the lock. 

“That's our combination,” Myth said with a grin. “Bottom right, top left, right, bottom left, and then the top.”

“That is genius...” Snapshot said in awe. 

Jewel gave a laugh. “You weren't kidding, Myth. The lock had the combination. We had it the whole time.”

Myth then turned off the flashlight, setting it back in his bag. “Nobody would ever think to check for the combination to a lock inside the lock itself, let alone engraved into a gemstone so tiny you have to do that to see it.”

“And he wrote about it in his journal?” Snapshot asked.

“Sort of,” Myth answered as Jewel handed him the pieces of the artifact and he put them back together, with the ruby in its metallic setting with the dial set over it, pressing it down until it clicked into place, returning the artifact back to the way it was before. “I don't have it memorized word for word, but what he wrote was something along the lines of, 'The code lies within the heart.' I remembered dad said something about a gem being in the center of the lock, and I figured that gem must be the heart Starswirl referred to.”

“That's amazing,” Jewel said, still giddy about what they just discovered. “I knew Starswirl was smart and all, but that's some Daring Do kind of thing I wasn't expecting from him.”

“Yeah. So we've pretty much got almost everything we need,” Myth said. 

“Almost?” Snapshot asked. “That's not it? We have the lock, the combination, and you said you know where the location is. What are we missing, exactly?”

“The spell,” Myth reminded her. “Dad mentioned in his journal that the blueprints for the lock said something about needing a spell to activate the lock so you're even capable of putting the combination in. Starswirl confirmed that in his own journal, it only works with a specific spell.”

“Oh, right,” Jewel sighed. “We don't know exactly what kind of spell it needs, so we need to find that out... And I guess I'll have to learn it, since I'm the only one of us that could cast it.”

“So that's why we're heading to Canterlot,” Snapshot said.

“To find the spell, hopefully in the Starswirl archives,” Myth confirmed with a nod. “And to also visit Star.”

“You want to visit Star Gaze?” Jewel asked. “Why would you-”

“No, no,” Myth interrupted with a chuckle. “Star Shimmer. She's a friend of ours. And if we're going to find that location, we're going to need a map. I know the coordinates, but it's not like I can put the numbers to a location without seeing it on a map.”

“Fair enough,” Snapshot said. “So now what?”

“Well,” Myth sighed, looking out the train window at the scenery. “We've got a long way to go until we get to Canterlot. This is as good a time to rest as any, right?”

It had been a while. They were pretty much nonstop since they got to Manehattan the afternoon before. They'd gone from the train station to the museum, to Jewel's penthouse where they had dinner, to the warehouse where Snapshot was kept hostage, then to the hideout, all the way until now, back on the train the next morning. It had been all day and night for the two of them, meanwhile Snapshot had gotten sleep for most of the night while she was in the hospital for her wing... She was rested up and ready to go. 

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Jewel said, kicking back and laying herself across the train seat and resting her head on her bag, using it as a pillow. “We'll probably have to go hiking through a forest or something anyways. I'm definitely not doing that half asleep...” 

Myth let out a long yawn and lay himself across his own seat, deciding to rest his head back on his own hooves, with his bag on the floor next to him. He then looked over to his sister. “You staying up?” 

Snapshot nodded a bit and smiled. “Yeah, I pretty much just woke up right before we left. You go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you guys when we get to Canterlot.”

“Sounds good.” Myth lay his head back down and let out a tired sigh, closing his eyes for some well-deserved rest.




Myth could feel his body being shaken. “We're here,” Snapshot's voice said, a bit muffled as it sounded like she had a mouth full of food. 

The stallion sat up, yawning as he tiredly rubbed at his eyes. The train was still moving but a look out the window showed that they were in Canterlot and the train was slowly coming to a stop to the station just up ahead. He looked over to see Jewel already awake, her magic running a brush through her messy mane, while also chewing on some snack bar. 

“I got us some snacks from the food car,” Snapshot said. Looking back to his sister, he saw her holding a packaged snack bar to him. 

“Thanks,” Myth said, smiling tiredly. 

He took it while running his other hoof through his mane, quickly fixing up the mess his sleeping had caused. Not feeling quite hungry at the moment, he slid it into the side pocket on his bag to save for later. 

The train screeched to a stop and the horn sounded out loudly, signaling everyone on board that they had arrived. The three ponies got up from their seats, strapping their saddlebags on, and made their way off the train and to the station. 

“Where to first?” Snapshot asked. 

“I want to go ahead and get the map and mark the coordinates, so I won't have to worry about forgetting it later,” Myth said.

“I'll go ahead to the Canterlot library,” Jewel said. “There's a lot of spells to go through.”

“You can go ahead with Jewel if you want,” Myth said, looking to his sister. “I'm just getting a map real quick and I'll meet you two at the library.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Snapshot agreed. “Say hi to Star for me.”

Jewel and Snapshot then turned away, making their way toward the library. Myth turned as well, taking a look around and then heading in the opposite direction, toward Star Shimmer's shop. 

It was only a few blocks away. He approached, noticing the signs for discounts on certain items. Looking up he'd see the tall building with a balcony near the top, and what appeared to be a large dome roof that looked like it could be opened up. He recognized it as an observatory. He didn't remember Star having an observatory last time he was at her store. She must have had it installed recently. An astronomer like her needed a good place to watch the sky. 

He walked inside, hearing the familiar chime of the bell at the top of the door. He started walking, having not visited the shop in a while. The store looked pretty focused around camping and hiking. There were tents, sleeping bags, fishing rods, bags, flashlights, bug spray, compasses, and pretty much any other items that someone might want or need for camping out, or even just hiking. Along the back wall were shelves lined with boxes of telescopes and replacement parts for them. 

Spread throughout the store were tents that were set up, showing examples of how big they were and what they looked like, along with telescopes for customers to look through, up at the ceiling which was painted black and had glowing star stickers to mimic the night sky. 

When he got toward the back of the camping/astronomy store, he found Star at the register. The white unicorn mare looked bored out of her mind, leaning her head on a hoof on the counter top as her pink colored eyes scanned through a magazine she had held up in the pink glow of her magic. 

“Slow day?” Myth asked, approaching the counter. 

Star looked up from the magazine and smiled, closing the magazine and setting it down by the register, giving Myth a peek to see that it was an astronomy-themed magazine. “So far, yeah,” she answered. “It's usually like this in the mornings.”

“Ever think about opening later in the day then?” Myth asked. 

“Tried it,” Star replied. “But I don't really have much to do in the mornings, and I figured I may as well open up earlier so the few customers I do have can get what they need.”

“Fair enough.”

“So did you and Snapshot finish that quest of yours yet?” Star asked. “Figure out the big secret and all that?”

“Not yet, but we're getting pretty close,” Myth said with a smile. “We got the combination we needed for the lock. Snaps and Jewel are at the Canterlot library trying to find the right spell we need to activate it.”

“Who's Jewel?” 

“Oh, she's a new friend of ours,” Myth answered. “We actually met her just after you left the library when you helped us figure out the artifact was a combination lock. She's a big fan of Starswirl's stuff and she's been a huge help so far.”

“She sounds pretty nice. Is she cute?” Star asked with a teasing grin. 

Myth blushed almost immediately and awkward rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable with answering that about a new friend. 

Star giggled at his reaction. “Aww, Mythy's got a crush?” she asked teasingly. “That's so cute! I can't wait to meet her.”

“I-It's not like that!” he replied, perhaps a bit too defensively. “We're just friends.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you are.” Star grinned, and decided to let it go and change the subject. She didn't want to embarrass him too much. “Anyways. What can I do for you? Take a look at some new artifact or something?”

“Uhm...” Myth cleared his throat, trying to cool off the warmth in his cheeks. “Actually, I need a map. I've got some coordinates, but I need to see where they are exactly, and how to get there.”

“Easy enough,” Star said. She pointed to the side, showing Myth an area dedicated to maps. “Should be right over there somewhere.”

Myth went over and started looking through the inventory. There were star maps, maps of the ocean floor or well known underground tunnel systems, and maps for places around the world, varying in scale depending on what a customer needed, ranging from the whole world down to certain towns and cities. 

It took him a while of searching before he finally found a map of the right scale he was comfortable with that also contained the latitude and longitude coordinates he was looking for. 

He sighed when he tracked down the coordinates to find where they would be heading. “Looks like we're hiking up the mountains,” he said, rolling up the map back the way it was and wrapping the tie back around it to keep it wrapped into a scroll.

“Mountain hiking? Yikes...” Star said. “Sounds like you'll be needing some hiking equipment.”

“Seems like it,” Myth agreed, turning and looking around Star's store, seeing the various tents, sleeping bags, and other camping necessities. “Good thing I'm in the perfect store to get what we'll need.”
> Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A glance up at the sun showed it was about mid-day by the time Myth Chaser left Star's store. He carried the bag of equipment on his back, making his way toward the Canterlot library to meet up with Jewel and his sister. He hadn't got much more than what he figured three ponies would need while hiking; three empty canteens for water, some food, a large tent and three sleeping bags, along with extra batteries for the flashlights he already had, and various other items that might be of use. 

In general, the full bag of supplies wasn't too heavy for him, especially knowing that the weight would be fairly distributed between him and the two mares once they meet up. If they had been with him, they might have gotten some other things to bring with them. Surely what he got would be enough. He got water and food to last them a few days, and from the look of the map, it wouldn't even take that long to make a round trip where they were going, if they kept a decent pace.

Myth felt a little exhausted after making his way to the library, having to stop just inside the doorway to rest for a short moment and cool off in the air conditioned building. Making his way to the Starswirl archives, he found that there didn't seem to be as many ponies around this time compared to when they were last here. Made sense to him, since school was out today. Nobody wanted to do schoolwork on the weekend. 

Snapshot and Jewel were sitting at a table in the back corner of the room. They hadn't noticed him, but he saw that both of them were smiling, and whispering to each other. He went over, more than happy as he took the heavy bag of camping supplies off his back, noticing that they stopped their conversation when they saw him approach. 

“What's all that?” Jewel asked, looking at the large bag as Myth sat down across the table from them. 

“Camping equipment,” Myth answered. “Got the map, and it looks like we'll be doing some hiking. Figured we'd want to set up camp on the way up and maybe on the way back.”

“Sounds fun,” Snapshot said with a smile. “We haven't been camping in years. Get any marshmallows?”

Myth chuckled at that. “Wouldn't be camping without them.” He looked over the table they were sitting at, seeing the many papers of Starswirl's magic spells. “You two find the right spell?”

“Think so,” Jewel said, gathering a few pages together and pushing the rest aside. “We had to wait for you get here with the lock though, so I could actually test the ones we found.” 

“Oh, right.”

Myth leaned down toward his bag, pulling out Starswirl's lock and setting it on the table. Jewel took it in her hooves, her eyes scanning over it for a moment, looking back over the symbols that Starswirl had etched into the surface. 

Jewel closed her eyes to concentrate. Her horn began to glow as a blue stream of magic flowed from her horn and connected to the artifact, directly into the dial piece and pushing through to get at the gem inside. 

For a few moments it seemed as if nothing would happen. Myth was about to suggest trying another spell until he heard it; a slight click came from the artifact, like the mechanism that he'd seen the gem sitting in had moved. Another few seconds passed, and another change happened. Each runic symbol along the surface of the lock began to give a faint red glow one by one until they were all glowing at once. Then another clicking sound from the dial. 

Jewel was smiling as she heard the clicks, assuming it was working, then opened her eyes as the glow surrounding her horn faded away, and she slid the lock across the table toward Myth for him to try. 

Myth took the disc shaped artifact, looking over the glowing red symbols. Jewel wasn't doing a spell anymore, yet the symbols still glowed. It was like the artifact just needed to be charged up like a battery. Nervously, he reached a shaky hoof to the middle piece, onto the dial, and gave it a little twist, his heart nearly skipping a beat when it actually moved, seeing the red needle move from the top-most symbol to the top right. 

“Well,” Myth said, turning the dial again to point the needle back up to the top-most symbol to keep it in mind which symbol should be at the top when they need it. “That was it.”

“It worked?” Snapshot asked, a hint of surprise in her voice. 

“Yep,” Myth replied, looking over to her. 

“Wow.” Jewel gave a little laugh. “That was easy. We didn't even look that hard for it.”

“Really?” Myth asked. “Where did you find it?”

“Well we were looking through the scrolls on the shelf of spells,” Snapshot explained. “As luck would have it, the scroll for this spell just happened to fall to the ground next to me when I was putting one back where it belonged.”

“Huh... Well that was easy,” Myth said. 

“Yeah,” Jewel said. “Whatever works though, right?”

“Sure, I guess,” Myth said with a shrug. “I just thought we would have been here longer. We didn't exactly find what we needed here last time.”

“Well it's about time we had some good luck on our side,” Snapshot said, sitting back in her seat. “The journal was stolen from the museum before we could get to it. I was kidnapped and got my wing broken. Myth was caught breaking in trying to get the journal and was taken hostage... It feels nice to have something go our way for once.”

“Yeah... I guess I'm just feeling kind of paranoid,” Myth admitted. “They'd been keeping such a close eye on us from the start, you know? Who's to say they aren't still keeping an eye on us?”

“They aren't that smart, Myth,” Snapshot said. “Like you said, Askari wasn't smart to let you read the journal in the first place, and she wasn't smart enough to know that the artifact Jewel gave her was a fake copy.”

“Plus we were watching out the train windows to make sure they didn't follow us,” Jewel added. “With all three of us keeping an eye out, surely one of us would have seen if any of them were following us. They're still in Manehattan. We're all the way in Canterlot. If by chance they do know that we came to Canterlot, we'll already be long gone from here before the next train.”

“That's true,” Myth said, giving a smile. It made him feel a lot better to know that they hadn't been followed onto the train, and that they'd already be out of Canterlot before they could arrive if they did figure things out. “We should probably expect that they did figure out we came to Canterlot to continue, though, and will be on the way as soon as possible.”

“Time to go camping then,” Snapshot said, being the first to get up from her seat at the table. 




Several Hours Later


The sun was starting to set. Myth, Jewel, and Snapshot each carried their share of the camping supplies to lighten the load as fairly as they could, with each carrying their own sleeping bag, canteen, and flashlight, with Myth carrying the tent. 

The three ponies were deep in the forest, starting to make their way up the mountain. It was such a large mountain, it didn't seem very steep at all. They'd been following a hiking trail for a few hours but a look at the map showed Myth that they had to stray off the trail to head in the right direction. 

The sun was still out, but slowly setting down on the other side of the mountain, covering them in the darkness of the large shadow. It had cooled them off from the scorching heat of the sun. They'd managed to hike a bit further without the exhausting heat to slow them down. 

“It's getting darker,” Snapshot spoke up after a couple hours of silence, her voice weak and tired. “We should probably set up camp soon. Get a campfire going before it gets too cold.”

She was right, Myth thought. It was already getting chilly from hiking so high up on the mountain. Night would only make it colder. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Let's find a good open spot and set up camp while we still have some daylight to see what we're doing.”

The trio agreed on that plan. If they were going to set up a campfire they'd need a good clearing so the fire wouldn't reach the trees too easily, and give them enough space to set up the tent. 

Soon enough they found the right spot. The clearing wasn't extremely large, but big enough for what they needed. With just enough daylight to be able to see, Snapshot and Jewel began work on setting up the large tent while Myth went searching for firewood. 

When all was finished, the sun had set beyond the horizon completely, leaving them in the darkness of the night, and the three had a nice looking campsite just in time. The tent was set up and looked like it had been done perfectly. It wouldn't fall even with them giving it a vigorous shake to test it, so it was stable enough to stay up tonight when they slept inside. The campfire was burning pretty well with a pile of firewood at the ready to keep it burning for as long as they needed, and the three ponies all agreed that the fire was set up right so it wouldn't spread and burn everything. 

They'd been fortunate enough to find that there was a small babbling brook nearby, letting them refill their near-empty canteens with the fresh, clean mountain water. They would also be able to use the water to put out their fire when they were done. 

Now all three ponies sat around the campfire on logs that Jewel had brought over with her magic. They each held a stick in their hooves with a few marshmallows stuck onto the ends, roasting them over the open fire. It felt peaceful, sitting there with the faint crackling of the flames and the water flowing over rocks in the nearby brook. 

Myth felt a nudge at his side, and he looked to his sister who sat beside him. She nodded in Jewel's direction, drawing his attention to her. Myth looked over to Jewel, sitting quietly as her blue eyes seemed so focused on the marshmallows on her stick. She sat on the ground with her back against the lock, finding it more comfortable to lean back than try to sit up. 

“Roasting marshmallows around an open campfire...” Snapshot whispered to her brother, quiet enough to keep Jewel from hearing them. “Cold air of the night... The peaceful sounds of nature... So many stars and a bright full moon in the sky...”

“What are you getting at?” Myth asked softly, feeling his cheeks begin to grow warmer. 

“You know what I mean,” Snapshot said. “You like her, right?”

“I...” Myth paused for a moment, thinking that over. 

“I've seen the way you look at her, Myth,” Snapshot told him. “You're crushing on her so hard, even if you won't admit it.”

Myth looked over to Jewel, who was staring too intently at her marshmallow. He thought back to his times with Jewel so far. Their talk on the hotel balcony, the moment on the hospital's rooftop... He remembered how he'd almost been tempted to kiss her on that roof, when his heart had skipped a beat with them so close together. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

“Make a move then,” she said back. “You're a great guy, I bet she likes you too. You'll never know unless you say something, though.”

Myth sat there silently, leaning forward as he roasted his own marshmallow, trying to think of what he should say. A few moments had gone by. Snapshot waited to see what her brother would do. He seemed lost though. He needed some help... 

“Beautiful night,” Snapshot spoke up, breaking the silence.

“Definitely,” Jewel said, taking a quick look up at the night sky. “Never really get to see so many stars like this in the city.”

Snapshot smiled and subtly nudged her brother in the side again. She'd just opened up the conversation. Myth didn't say anything. Not because he didn't want to talk, but more because he didn't know what to say. 

“Too bad we didn't get a view of the sunset,” Snapshot said, keeping the talk going. 

“I'm sure that would've been amazing,” Jewel agreed. “You probably could have gotten some good pictures of that, huh?” 

“Probably,” Snapshot answered. Then a grin grew on her face. She knew just what her brother needed. “Actually...” she trailed off.

The pegasus pulled her marshmallow-impaled stick away from the fire and got up from her seat. She pulled off the single marshmallow and popped it in her mouth, giving it a quick chew as she went into the tent behind Jewel. When she came back out, she had her saddlebags hanging at her sides, strapped around her midsection, and her camera hung from around her neck. 

“Where you going?” Myth asked curiously. 

“I'm going to take some nighttime shots,” Snapshot said. “I don't get night scenes too often.”

“Good luck,” Jewel said, bringing up her stick and poking a hoof at the marshmallow to check how done it was. “Hope you can get some good pictures.”

With Snapshot behind Jewel, she looked over the unicorn's shoulder to her brother, quietly mouthing the words 'talk to her' and then left the campsite, leaving her brother alone with Jewel. 

Myth had watched her walk away, only just then realizing what she had done. She'd just left him alone with Jewel so they could talk in private. 

He and Jewel sat on opposite sides of the campfire in silence, roasting their marshmallows, each bathed in the orange glow of the fire. She was keeping an eye on her treat, looking more concentrated on it than anypony usually would. 

“You okay?” Myth asked. “You look pretty focused.”

“Yeah,” Jewel said with a little laugh. “I, uhh... Have to admit, this is my first time camping. And... first time roasting marshmallows. I'm just not sure what I'm doing.”

“Really? You and Snapshot seemed to set up the tent pretty easily. I figured you knew what you were doing.”

“She did most of the work,” Jewel admitted. “I just kind of... read the instructions to her. How do I know when this is done?” she asked, watching her marshmallow. 

“Depends on how you like it, I guess,” Myth answered as he got up, moving to sit at her side to see how close she held it to the fire. It looked like she was holding it kind of far from the flames. “You need to hold it in closer than that, though, or it'll take forever.”

Jewel lowered her roasting stick a little. “How's this?”

“That can work,” Myth said, moving his own stick where she could see it. “I usually do mine about closer, though. Right around here... Just close enough for the tips of the flames to barely lick at it.”

She moved hers in closer, to the point where Myth had suggested. 

“Good. And just start rotating it. Get it toasted evenly on all sides,” Myth said. 

Jewel did as he told her, turning her marshmallow around. “And I can try it at any time?” she asked. 

He nodded. “I like it best when it's just starting to turn a light brown. Snapshot likes hers darker.” He watched as Jewel seemed so focused, staring at her marshmallow. Myth gave a little chuckle. “Relax. It's not going anywhere. Just keep it in place, keep turning it, and just check on it after a minute or so.”

She smiled softly and took her eyes off of her treat, looking over to Myth. “How'd you get so pro at this?” 

“Our parents used to take me and Snapshot camping all the time when we were little,” he answered. “They taught us everything about making the best campsite. Managing the fire, where to set the tent, the best place to set up...”

“Bet you would've made a great coltscout,” Jewel said teasingly. 

Myth couldn't help but laugh lightly at that. “My dad tried talking me into that a few times, but I'd rather learn everything from him.”

“He was good at this sort of thing too, then?” she asked, glancing at her marshmallow, seeing a slight darkness starting to form on the end. 

“Yeah. Not just camping, either. He knew all kinds of wilderness survival stuff. Taught me how to read a compass, how to use the stars to find what direction we're going... That sort of thing.”

“Was he a coltscout captain or something?” 

“No,” Myth said with a chuckle. “Dad was an adventurer, like I am now. He liked hunting down ancient relics and artifacts... Stuff that should be in museums and all that.”

“Sounds like a great guy,” Jewel said. “What about your mom? What did she do?”

“She was a writer. Wrote a few books. She mainly stuck around my dad though. Never let him travel the world without her.”

“She write anything I might have read?” 

“Maybe,” Myth answered with a shrug. “She pretty much took inspiration from her adventures with my dad, and made up some bad guys and supernatural elements.”

“She wrote Daring Do?” 

“As cool as that would've been, no,” Myth answered. “Something similar to that, though.”

“I'd love to read her books sometime,” Jewel said, pulling her marshmallow away from the fire and bringing it close to her, seeing that the light brown color of the roasted sugary treat seemed even all around it. 

“After we're done here, I'll let you borrow them if you want. She gave me and Snapshot each free copies of everything she wrote.”

“That sounds great. I can't wait.” Jewel said, and her magic pulled the treat off the pointed end of her stick. She blew on it to cool it off a bit, and slipped it into her mouth to get her first taste of roasted marshmallow, letting out a happy sigh at the delicious taste as she ate the sticky, chewy treat.

She swallowed it down and licked her lips, smiling to Myth. “Oh, that's so good.”

Myth chuckled a little, pulling his own marshmallow off his roaster and happily swallowing it down. He grabbed the bag of marshmallows, poking another onto his stick and offering her another. Jewel took it in her magic, sticking it in place on the pointed tip of her thin branch. 

The two sat there for a moment in silence, slowly turning their marshmallows in the campfire. 

“So... You like me?” Jewel asked suddenly without looking away from her marshmallow. 

“Huh?” Myth asked in return. 

“You like me?” Jewel repeated, turning her attention to look to Myth. “Earlier, before Snapshot left, I heard you two talking.”

“You did...?” Myth asked, feeling nervous already, his heart racing quickly. 

Jewel nodded. “Crushing on me so hard you couldn't even admit it to yourself, right?” she asked, practically repeating what Snapshot had said. 

Myth was quiet for a moment before he let out a sigh. He'd been caught. “Yeah,” he admitted, his cheeks turning warm as he blushed deeply. He looked away from her, to his marshmallow, feeling too shy to look her in the eye for now. “You're just... You're such a great mare. You listened when I talked about my parents. You helped me get my sister back when she was kidnapped. We just keep getting put in these moments where we're alone together for a while.... I just... You're so beautiful, and smart, and kind, I can't help but like you so much.”

Jewel listened to him talk, her own heart racing a million miles an hour as she heard what he had to say. She looked back to her marshmallow when he looked away from her, not wanting to make him uncomfortable by staring at him.

“I'm sorry,” Myth said. “I understand if you don't like me the same way.”

Jewel stayed silent for another moment. It was killing him that she wasn't saying anything back. He wasn't sure what more to say, and he didn't want this to ruin the friendship that they had. What was she thinking right now? He wanted to say something more to get her to talk, but what could he say? He already said what was on his mind.

“Well,” Jewel finally said. “I... can't say that Snapshot was wrong.”

“About what?” Myth asked. 

“About me,” Jewel answered. “About... how I like you too.”

Myth looked up seeing that she was still watching her marshmallow. There was a small smile on her face and he saw a slight blush starting to form on her cheeks, though she didn't want to look away from her food yet. Not because she was scared of burning it like before, but because she seemed just as nervous about their moment as he was. 

“You do?”

“From the moment we met, actually,” Jewel admitted. “I... saw you in the Starswirl section of the Canterlot library and... thought you were cute. You were with Snapshot though, and... you know, I didn't know you two were siblings. I thought you were together. I didn't want to intrude on that, so I didn't say anything...” 

Jewel looked up after getting that out, her eyes meeting with Myth's. Her blue eyes locked with his brown ones. 

“Then I heard you mention something about Starswirl and a magical lock,” Jewel added. “I figured you and I could at least become friends, and I took that chance to come talk to you, since I know about Starswirl and thought I could help out.” 

Myth thought back to that moment. His mind raced through all of their private moments together, seeing them with new perspective now that he knew she liked him from the start. He realized that she seemed to be looking at him most of the time. When she found out he and Snapshot were siblings, Jewel had seemed quite a bit happier and said it was good to know. That moment on the rooftop when he'd wanted to kiss her... Had she wanted to kiss him then too? 

His attention was brought back to her, and he noticed that she was leaning toward him, and he found himself doing the same, moving closer to her. Their eyes both came to a close as their lips made contact, bringing them into their first kiss together. He didn't know about her, but this was his first kiss in general. 

She felt the soft caress of his hoof along her cheek, making her heart skip a beat. Her lips felt so soft, and warm... The kiss had only lasted a few seconds, but they each felt like it had been an eternity. 

When they eventually pulled away from each other, Myth saw that Jewel's cheeks were bright red in a hard blush. She gently bit into her lower lip, thinking about what to say. Myth smiled, gazing into her eyes. 

“Was that okay?” Myth asked, worried he wasn't good since it was his first time kissing someone. 

Jewel smiled and nodded. “I couldn't have hoped for a better first kiss,” she said, admitting that it was her first as well. 

He couldn't help but smile, gazing into her eyes as his hoof caressed over her cheek more. Jewel leaned against his hoof, enjoying his touch.
> Chapter Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The sound of two voices talking stirred Myth awake from his sleep the next morning. He had slept on the dirt that night rather than in a sleeping bag. He'd been too tired to unroll it by the time he was ready to sleep. He sat up and yawned, rubbing at his eyes. Sleepily looking around the campsite, he found that the tent had already been taken down and Snapshot and Jewel were packing the parts away back where they belonged. 

“Morning, sunshine,” Snapshot said when she noticed Myth was awake. “Have a good sleep?”

“Yeah,” Myth answered with a tired smile, running a hoof through his mane to fix it up the best he could for now. He then got up and started packing what was left. “How'd you sleep, Jewel?”

“Good,” Jewel answered simply with a blush spreading over her cheeks.

“Very good, I'd say,” Snapshot said with a chuckle. “She was mumbling something about you in her sleep, Myth. I think she was dreaming about you.”

Jewel's blush grew brighter as Snapshot said that. “After last night, how could I not?”

“What happened last night?” Snapshot asked. “You two were already asleep by the time I got back.”

Myth and Jewel were both blushing as they thought back to last night, remembering their first kiss by the campfire. Their hearts started racing again just thinking about it. 

“Details, you two,” Snapshot said, eager to find out what she missed.

The two glanced at each other. They figured they should say something now before the pegasus starts to assume something more adult happened. 

“We kissed,” Myth finally said. 

“Aww,” Snapshot exclaimed. “So are you two a thing now? Boyfriend and girlfriend, or what?”

“Oh, um...” Myth looked to Jewel for an answer. Were they? They didn't even have a date yet, unless last night counted... What should they think of each other as?

“I'd... like to think so,” Jewel answered hesitantly, looking back to him. 

Myth smiled softly, and put a hoof around the unicorn, pulling her in against his side. She slid her hooves around him in a hug, smiling back. 

“Aww, you two look so cute together,” Snapshot said with a sweet smile. “Anyways, are you two ready to go? I bet you two are more excited than I am about what's waiting for us.”

“Of course!” Jewel exclaimed excitedly. “I've been hearing stories about Starswirl's secret since I was a little filly. I'm dying to know what's really going on.”

“We better get going then. Shouldn't be too much farther,” Myth said, looking around the campsite. “We have everything?”

The tent was down and packed away, the fire was put out, the sleeping bags rolled back up and put in their bags...

“Seems like it,” Jewel answered. 

With that, Myth pulled their map out of his bag and started leading the way. It was still early in the day, with the coolness of night still left over and the sun just barely beginning to warm them up. They left the campsite, the logs surrounding the fire pit. 





Several times, the three had to stop so Myth could figure out exactly where they were going. He was good with reading maps, but in an area that was all trees and rocks, he had to keep making sure they didn't take a wrong turn or end up walking in circles. All three ponies were glad nobody else complained about their hiking, even as the day slowly grew hotter. They made small talk as they walked. 

They had learned that Jewel was used to hiking and nature walks, as she went out searching for gems of all kinds all the time. She was pretty comfortable with being in deep, dark caves. With Myth being the adventurous stallion he is, he and Jewel would probably wind up being in caves often anyways, whether it's looking for gems or artifacts, or some other thing.

After several hours of hiking through the wilderness, Snapshot was ready to ask for a break. She wasn't as used to walking as much as they were, since she normally was able to fly. With her wing broken though, that wasn't an option. She'd been holding back complaints, but now her hooves were really starting to ache and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go.

“Almost there,” Myth spoke up. “Should be just around here...”

He led the two mares through a thick area of trees, finally arriving to a small clearing. It was a fairly small area, no bigger than their campsite had been. 

To their left was a cliff side, and to the right, the opening of a cave. The three ponies stopped in the clearing and Myth checked their location on the map, lining up the coordinates where they were, with the coordinates he had memorized from Starswirl's journal. 

“We're here,” he said, with a big smile, and looked back up to see the large cave entrance. 

“How in the hay did Starswirl and Luna make it from Canterlot to here and back every night...?” Snapshot asked, a little out of breath as she made her way to the edge of the cliff, curiously taking a look down to see that Canterlot was far below them at the bottom of the mountain. It was practically a dot with how far up they were. It would be a long way to go to get back down once they were done here. 

“They teleported,” Myth answered simply, joining Snapshot at the cliff to check out the view. “That's my best guess, anyways. No way they could hike up this far and go all the way back down every night.”

“Wish I could teleport,” Snapshot said, her heart aching at the thought that they'd have to be hiking the whole way back down the mountain later. Surely they'd camp out again on the way, which could be fun, but she was already dying for a shower and a comfy bed to sleep in. 

“Found something,” Jewel said, her voice echoing out from the cave. 

The siblings both turned to look, finding that Jewel had already entered into the dark cave, holding a lit flashlight in her magic. Even with the midday sunlight, it was difficult to see very far in. The two joined her in the cave, turning on their own flashlights to look around. 

They came to Jewel's side, finding that she was running her flashlight over a white stone-like wall, with a crack running down the middle, making them assume it was a large set of doors. In the crack, at about head height, was circle inset. The same size as the magic lock, Myth noticed. 

“Perfect,” a feminine voice said from behind them. 

Surprised, the three ponies turned to see who had joined them. The three were met with Askari and Star Gaze, with the dark gray, charcoal-colored unicorn mare in between them. The zebra mare and blue unicorn stallion each held up their own guns, pointed at the three ponies, stopping them from moving. The dark mare in the middle let her horn glow brightly, flooding the cave with light. 

“Gun,” Askari said, glancing down to the holster on Myth's hip. “Hand it over.”

“Don't try anything,” Star Gaze said, keeping his own pistol aimed at Jewel, keeping the magic user as his priority.

Myth slowly reached back to his gun, pulling it free of its holster and setting it on the ground, kicking it over. The dark gray mare took it and put it in her bag. 

“How'd you find us?” Myth asked, his eyes locked on the mare.

The unicorn smiled and approached him, getting just as close as she had been before, when she'd had the knife to his throat. She brought her hoof up to the ring on his necklace. “I put a tracking spell on your dear father's necklace last time I saw you.” She then let it fall and moved his chin to make him look into her purple eyes. “I saw it in your eyes back then. You knew more than what you were telling me.”

“Darn,” Myth said. “And here I thought I was a good actor.”

“Not quite good enough,” she replied, giving his cheek a playful little pat. “You're pretty good at figuring stuff out though. Askari's had the journal for a couple days and didn't find the coordinates that you managed to find in a few hours.” She then looked back to the zebra with a little glare.

Askari looked away from her, seemingly ashamed that she couldn't get work done as fast as her leader had hoped for. “I'm sorry, ma'am.”

The unicorn mare sighed, rolling her eyes. “I know. You've said it a dozen times.” She then looked over to Jewel and smiled. “Good to see you, again, Jewel. I wasn't aware you'd be with these two.”

“What do you mean again?” Jewel asked. “I've never met you.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Silly me. I forgot you might not recognize your own mother after all these years.”

Myth and Snapshot gasped, looking over to Jewel in surprise. Jewel just shook her head. “You're not my mother. My mother's dead.”

“Dead?” the unicorn asked, laughing again. Her horn gave a purple glow as she opened her bag with her magic, pulling out a picture. She moved it over to her Jewel. “Take a look.”

Jewel looked at her curiously for a moment and turned her attention to the picture when it was given to her. She saw her two unicorn parents standing beside each other, hooves around each other in a hug as they smiled for the camera. Her father was blue with green eyes and the same blonde mane and tail that she had.  Her mother was gold-coated just like her, with blue eyes and a blue mane tail. 

She shrugged and looked back up to the dark gray coated, purple-eyed mare with the purple mane and tail. “So what? It's my mom and dad. I've seen this picture hundreds of times.”

“Look at the cutie mark,” the unicorn replied simply. 

Jewel rolled her eyes and looked back to the picture, gazing at the cutie mark on her mother's flank. A blue magic swirl with a darker blue star and a little white twinkle at the bottom. She looked back to the dark gray unicorn mare who was now showing her own flank. She had the same cutie mark, only the magic swirl and star were now purple shades rather than blue. 

“Believe it now, my little gem?” the mare asked.

With a gasp at the last part, Jewel looked up to the unicorn. “What did you say?”

“My little gem,” the mare said with a smile. 

“Does that mean anything?” Myth asked, looking to Jewel.

“That's what my dad used to call me all the time,” she answered.

“So... She really is your mother?” Snapshot asked, coming over to her side to take a look at the picture she still held. 

“No,” Jewel said. She let Snapshot take the picture as she locked eyes with the unicorn mare. “I don't consider you my mother anymore, Gem Shine.”

The unicorn took a step back in surprise at being called Gem Shine. She hadn't heard that name in a while. “I go by Moon Shine now.”

“Either way, you left your family,” Jewel said. “You're not my mother. A mother is supposed to take care of her family. Raise her child, love her husband, help keep a roof over our heads... You left just after I was born. We struggled to keep our house. Dad was working two jobs every day to make up for you being gone. He was never home. He was breaking his back for us, and you just ran off and let it happen.”

Moon Shine gave a little sigh. “You could never understand how difficult it was for me to have made that decision to leave you. But I had to.”

“Why?” Jewel asked, taking a step forward, looking at the mare angrily. “What could possibly have been more important to you than your own family?”

“Nightmare Moon,” Moon Shine answered. 

There was a moment of silence after that answer. Jewel was looking at Moon Shine, confused. Myth and Snapshot exchanged glances, standing back and letting the conversation continue. 

“Nightmare Moon?” Jewel asked. “She hasn't been around for over a thousand years. What does she have to do with anything?”

Moon Shine sat herself down. “It's not about what she used to be. It's about her group of followers that are still around today. Us,” she said, gesturing to Askari and Star Gaze behind her. “Bringing her back with the crystal.”

“Crystal?” Myth asked curiously. 

“You should know about it,” Moon Shine said, looking over to him. “You read Starswirl's journal. You know what's in this cave.”

“I don't,” Myth replied. “You stopped me before I could finish the whole thing.”

Moon Shine hesitated. She had thought that he had read the entire journal. Learned about what Starswirl's experiment with Luna in this cave really was. Why he regretted it... Her horn glowed purple again and she opened Myth's bag, retrieving the real copy of Starswirl's artifact, and pressed it to his chest forcefully enough for Myth to grab at it. “Then let's go see it, shall we?” 

“Wh- You think I'm going to open the door when this has something to do with bringing back Nightmare Moon?” Myth asked. “No way.”

“I think you're going to open the door because you have guns aimed at you and we'll kill you all if you don't do it,” Moon Shine said.

“You wouldn't get inside if you killed us,” Myth said. “You don't have the combination for the lock.”

Moon Shine smiled. “Oh, yes I do.” She projected light onto the surface of the stone door, drawing all their eyes to it. 

Her magic was projecting a sort of video onto the door and everypony watched as a projection showed Myth, Jewel, and Snapshot on the train. Jewel was holding up the artifact surface and Myth held the gem inside with a flashlight shining through, showing the numbers over the runic symbols on the artifact. A recording of Myth's voice sounded throughout the cave, stating clearly, 'That's our combination. Bottom right, top left, right, bottom left, and then the top.' The projection then faded away and the ponies turned back to look at Moon Gaze, who was smiling at them. 

“Open it and I'll let all three of you live, and you'll be under my protection. Make me do it...” She gestured a hoof for Askari. The zebra stepped forward, and pressed her gun right up against Snapshot's head, making the pegasus give a scared whimper. “And she dies, right here, right now. Because of you.”

Moon Shine then pointed toward the door, lifting Myth in her magic and turning him around to face the door, directly facing the circular inset where he knew the artifact was meant to go. When Myth glanced back toward his scared sister, the zebra pressed the barrel of her gun more firmly against the side of Snapshot's head, warning that she'd be killed instantly if he made any wrong move. 

Myth sighed, defeated. He'd always tried tricks to get out of bad situations. He always had plans... But this time, he was stuck. That gun was fully loaded, and it certainly wouldn't miss with such direct contact. Plus there was the unicorn stallion aiming another gun at Jewel. And Moon Shine had his own gun in her bag. All three of them were armed, meanwhile he, Snapshot, and Jewel were defenseless. He couldn't think of a way out of this. Not without any of them being shot. 

He placed the artifact in the circle of the door. “Do the spell,” he said, looking back to Jewel.

Before Jewel could react, Moon Shine cast her own magic into the artifact, performing the spell that Jewel had had to learn. This took Myth by surprise, looking back at Moon Shine. He figured if she had set him up to lead them straight to these coordinates, with the artifact, and the combination, surely she set them up to find the spell. Maybe that was why Snapshot and Jewel had found it so ridiculously easily.

The runes on the artifact began to glow the same faint red as the ruby that was inside the dial. One by one they lit up, until they all shone brightly, indicating it was activated. 

Myth turned the dial, pointing the red needle to each needed symbol in the correct order. Bottom right. Top left. Right. Bottom left. Back up to the top. There was a faint click when it came back up to the top, and the light of the symbols died out. 

With Moon Shine's horn still illuminating the cave, everyone watched as the crack in the stone wall parted a few inches. Myth gave it a push and the door swung open, revealing a stair case leading downward. As the door opened fully, he saw torches on the walls illuminate on their own, shining brightly to light the way. 

“Move,” Moon Shine ordered. 

Myth was frozen. As the door opened and the torches lit up, he'd felt a wash of something bad pass over him. Like there was something bad waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. 

Moon Shine grabbed the gun out of her bag, her magic levitating it over to press against the back of Myth's head. “I said move.”

Myth gulped nervously. He was curious what was down there. What was the crystal that Moon Shine had mentioned? But at the same time, he was terrified. Just the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as soon as he opened the door was telling him they should leave right now and never come back. Especially if this had something to do with the return of the evil Nightmare Moon. 

“I have a bad feeling about this...” Myth said with a clear tone of worry in his voice. 

Snapshot let out a whimper at that. Her brother had always been the brave one. Even as he jumped from that high cliff to escape Askari, he'd done so with total confidence and joked about it afterward even though he could have died from such a dive. But now he sounded completely terrified. 

“Go,” Moon Shine said, more intense. 

He did as she said this time and took a step forward. Askari then gestured for Snapshot to move, followed by Jewel.

Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel entered through the large doorway, one by one feeling the intense sensation of something bad as soon as they passed through. They all wanted to run, but they had no choice but to press onward, with Moon Shine, Askari, and Star Gaze following behind them, each keeping guns aimed at the three ponies in front of them. 

After several steps downward, the large stone doors closed behind them with a loud bang, the noise echoing ominously through the cramped space as they walked down the very steps that Starswirl and Luna used to take every night... until Starswirl regretted it. 
> Chapter Eleven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Their hoofsteps echoed through the cramped tunnel with each step down the dug-out staircase. Myth couldn't speak for his sister or for Jewel, but he was personally feeling terrified. The sensation of dark power seemed to grow stronger with every step they came closer. Moon Shine had said something about this involving Nightmare Moon, and some sort of crystal. She and the other two with her were followers of the dark alicorn... He had every reason to be terrified already, but this evil feeling coming from the bottom of these stairs made him dread what he was going to see. 

There was still something he didn't understand though. She looked different now than she did in the picture. She used to be golden with blue eyes, a lot like Jewel does now, and with a blue mane and tail. Now she was dark as charcoal and her eyes, mane, tail, and cutie mark had all changed to purple. 

“So why the change?” he asked Moon Shine, breaking the silence in hopes of getting his mind off of the terrifying sensation of darkness powering over him. 

“What do you mean?” the dark unicorn asked in return.

“In the picture,” he said, “you looked different than you do now. Why change your appearance?”

“When I joined the group of Nightmare Moon's followers,” Moon Shine explained, “I had to prove my loyalty by allowing some of the magic to reside inside of me. We all did.”

“And that dark magic changed you?” he asked curiously, looking back at the three behind him, Snapshot, and Jewel. 

“Yes,” the unicorn answered simply, with a nod. 

Myth finally understood. That had explained why they all had purple eyes. They'd all been effected by Nightmare Moon's dark magic. His thoughts returned to the increasingly frightening malevolent energy they were approaching. 

Looking down at the stone staircase they were descending, he noticed the gray stone had slowly began to turn black the further they went. The same went for the stone-lined walls. Even the flames in the torches had changed from their normal orange color to a purple, lighting the tunnel with the color of Nightmare Moon's magic. This made his heart sink. 

The cramped tunnel walls finally opened up as they reached the bottom of the staircase. Upon reaching the end, the group was met with a pair of large double doors. Myth and Jewel opened them together to find a large, circular room made of the same blackened stone the stairs had turned into. Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel stopped in that instant as they gazed in awe around the enormous room.

Several pillars reached from ground to ceiling to support the mountain from caving in from above. On each pillar was a purple-flamed torch, bathing the room in their purple light. 

The most amazing thing, however, was a crystal in the very center of the area. A large, dark purple crystal floating several feet in the air, with a set of stair steps leading up to a platform just beside it, as if meant for somepony to interact with it. The crystal seemed to be emanating dark magic, as if it had been stored full of too much of it. 

“What is this...?” Snapshot asked. It had been on Myth and Jewel's minds as well, but she had been the first to ask it out loud. 

“The Nightmare Crystal,” Moon Shine answered, a smile on her face. 

Myth couldn't understand how she could be smiling with such an overwhelming sense of darkness filling the room. From what he could tell, that power was coming from this crystal.

“This is what Starswirl brought Luna down here for every night?” Myth asked. 

“Indeed,” Moon Shine said. She stepped past the three ponies, her gun still in her magical grasp. She stood in front of the three ponies, her eyes transfixed upon the purple-glowing crystal. 

“What for?” he asked nervously. 

“Starswirl had discovered this crystal many centuries ago,” Moon Shine began to explain, not once taking her eyes away from the floating crystal as she spoke. “He felt the terrifying dark magic emanating from it, and saw how it was corrupting the mountain around it, turning it black as night. He built this room around it, enchanting the walls to contain the dark magic within until he could find a way to vanquish the darkness once and for all. Even then, the crystal's source of dark magic still seeped through the cracks. It was overwhelming. As a last resort, he asked a favor of Princess Luna.”

Myth thought back to what he'd read in Starswirl's journal. At least the entries he'd gotten to read. He'd mentioned asking Luna for a huge favor, and eventually regretted it. 

“Starswirl asked Luna to come down here with him,” Moon Shine continued. “He wanted her to absorb the crystal's dark magic into her body, and to purify the corruption with her own powerful magic. He would have done so himself, but her alicorn magic was far superior to his. So she would stand a greater chance of success. Luna agreed to aid him. Each night they came here, she would take some of the dark magic into herself and crush the darkness with her pure magic.”

“Why do I get the feeling this turns out badly?” Myth asked. 

Moon Shine smiled at that. “She always thought she had vanquished every last bit of the dark magic she absorbed every night. But she never did. Each night, there was a small remainder left behind. Over time, she began to have nightmares about the darkness. Starswirl gave her lessons in dream walking so she could take control over the dream world that haunted her. It didn't help though with the real world threat that the dark magic of the crystal gave her. Little by little, the darkness was taken into her body, sneaking its way into her soul. Luna grew more and more corrupted until finally...”

“She turned into Nightmare Moon,” Myth finished for her, finally understanding. “That's why Starswirl came to regret his decision to ask this of Luna. He was inadvertently responsible for Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon...”

“No wonder Princess Luna never talks about it when asked about her secret with Starswirl,” Snapshot said. 

“She didn't want to ruin everyone's judgment of the amazing Starswirl...” Jewel said.

“And they never told Princess Celestia about it when they were coming down here every night, because they didn't want to worry her,” Myth added. 

There was a moment of silence as the three ponies let the information sink in. It was hard to believe. They'd always thought that Princess Luna had been overcome with sheer jealousy of her sister and that was the single driving force that drove her to becoming Nightmare Moon. To find out that she was actually corrupted by dark magic from this crystal... 

“So what's your plan?” Myth asked, looking over toward the charcoal unicorn, drawing her attention. She looked away from the crystal for a moment to look at the stallion. “Get a shard of the crystal and go corrupt Princess Luna into becoming Nightmare Moon again?”

Moon Shine scoffed at the assumption. “Don't be silly.”

“Huh?” Askari asked. “But, ma'am, that... That actually was the plan.”

“Hmph... 'Was' being the keyword, Askari,” Moon Shine said, and turned her attention back to the crystal, beginning to approach it.

“What do you mean?” Star Gaze asked, lowering his gun away from Jewel as he looked at his leader in confusion. 

Moon Shine approached the small stair steps, making her way up as she looked up at the large crystal. With her standing so close to it, it was clear just how large it really was in comparison. The floating crystal had to be nearly a dozen times larger than the unicorn herself. 

She ascended the stairs without hesitation and stood on the platform near the bottom of the large purple-glowing crystal. 

“Nightmare Moon was so very powerful, wasn't she?” Moon Shine asked, an unwavering gaze locked on the crystal floating in front of her. “And yet... She only had a small amount of the Nightmare Crystal's power residing within her.”

“Ma'am?” Askari asked, just as confused as Star Gaze was, though keeping her own gun against Snapshot's head as she looked over to Star Gaze, wondering if he might know anything of what Moon Shine was about to do. 

“What could she have become if she had so willingly accepted the entirety of the Crystal's magic?” Moon Shine asked rhetorically. 

Her hoof reached up and rested on the smooth, purple surface of the Nightmare Crystal. Her eyes closed and she leaned her head down, bringing the tip of her horn against it. 

Before anyone could say a word, there was a blinding flash of white light from where Moon Shine stood. With the surprise of the flash, Askari and Star Gaze had dropped their guns to cover their eyes with their hooves, with Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel shielding their eyes as well. 

As the light died down and their eyes adjusted, they looked to where Moon Shine stood on the platform, seeing her horn glowing a bright purple, with a connection of purple-colored magic flowing from the dark crystal and into her. 

Amazed by the purple glow lighting the room, Askari and Star Gaze didn't seem to realize they had dropped their weapons; neither did the three ponies they were holding captive. As they watched, they could see Moon Shine's body slowly beginning to grow. At the same time, the crystal's purple-ish glow began slowly fading as its magic was absorbed into the unicorn. 

After a few moments of this, the crystal glowed no longer, and fell to the ground, apparently emptied of all magic that had resided within it. Moon Shine's hoof moved back to the ground and she stayed still, standing in place. Her body appeared to be shuddering as she attempted to gain control over the powerful magic she had just taken. 

Moon Shine turned around then, her eyes still closed. Her head twitched just like the rest of her body, her horn appearing to spark with the incredible power of the magic. Her body lifted itself from the ground, hooves leaving the surface as she floated upward into the air with her hind legs dangling beneath her. 

Her dark gray horn began to darken, covering in a pure black color. The darkness spread over her body, changing her charcoal-colored body into the same black, though leaving the purple of her mane and tail untouched, as if the dark magic would have made it that color anyway. 

Askari took a step forward, trying to inspect the unicorn from a distance. “Ma'am?” she asked. “Moon Shine...?” 

Upon hearing her name, the unicorn's eyelids snapped open, the purple irises looking distant as if her mind was someplace else. Askari, Star Gaze, Myth Chaser, Snapshot, and Jewel all watched as Moon Shine's pupils changed from the normal round shape to a more slitted look; the same way Nightmare Moon's eyes had been. In a quick flash, a pair of wings burst forth from the tall unicorn's sides, spread wide and large. 

The wings gave a strong flap, and the newly-formed alicorn version of Moon Shine was now hovering in place. Her eyes seemed to come back into focus, her mind returning. A smile spread over the alicorn's lips as she looked to her hoof, seeing how she had changed straight black. 

“This power...” Moon Shine spoke after what felt like an eternity of silence. She looked to her other hoof. “It's incredible.”

“What have you done?” Askari asked. 

Nearly instantaneously, the alicorn was in front of Askari, hooves planted to the solid ground as she towered over the zebra mare, nearly three times as large. The surprise of the instant teleportation made the zebra jump back, falling onto her flank. She'd seen unicorns and even the alicorn Princesses teleport before, but it usually took a second. Moon Shine had been more instant than that.

“Say again?” Moon Shine asked, looking down at the zebra with a cold stare. 

The zebra gulped, eyes filled with fear as she looked up at the large alicorn towering over her. Bravely, she repeated herself. “What have you done?” she asked. “W-We were supposed to corrupt Luna and transform her again.”

Moon Shine's long horn surrounded itself in the purple glow as she picked the zebra up from the ground, bringing her eye level. “That pathetic Princess had her chance. Don't speak her name in front of me again.”

Scared for her safety, the zebra quickly nodded in understanding and let out a relieved sigh as she was set back down to the stone floor. 

Moon Shine then looked over to Star Gaze. “Anything you'd like to say about this?”

Star quickly shook his head, taking a step back as his ears cowardly pinned back against his head. “N-No, ma'am.”

Snapshot took a step back out of fear, feeling her hooves trembling as she looked at the alicorn. Myth gulped nervously, his heart racing. He thought back to stories he'd read of Nightmare Moon; how terrifying she had been to meet in person... How powerful her magic had to be to force Celestia to use the elements of harmony to ban her to the moon... 

He trembled as he thought about how Nightmare Moon's power was a mere sliver of that crystal's magic. Now Moon Shine had absorbed the magic as well... except she had absorbed it all, and didn't seem to have any plans to attempt crushing the evil power and purifying herself. Nightmare Moon would be nothing compared to this new alicorn. 

	Click. 

Everyone's attention turned toward the sound, seeing that Jewel's horn was surrounded by her blue magic glow, holding one of the two guns that Askari and Star Gaze had dropped, the barrel aimed toward Moon Shine, a little glow surrounding the trigger, ready to pull at a second's notice. “Don't move,” Jewel said, keeping the gun aimed at the alicorn. She pushed the other pistol over toward Myth, sliding it across the ground.  

Moon Shine smiled, turning to face her daughter. “Or what?” 

“Or I'll shoot,” Jewel said, trying not to let her fear sound out in her voice, though the shaking of her hooves showed she was just as scared as Myth and Snapshot were. 

“How cute,” the alicorn said. “Askari, get your gun back.”

Askari looked up at Moon Shine like she was crazy. There was no way she was going to reach Jewel and get the gun away from her without getting shot in the process.

Noticing the zebra's hesitation, Moon Shine looked at her. “Do it,” she commanded, then looked back to Jewel. “She won't shoot.”

The zebra looked over at Jewel, trying to see if she was willing to pull the trigger or not. Jewel returned the gaze, eyes focused on the zebra, though keeping the alicorn in her peripheral just in case. Askari knew she had to do something. It was either make a move for the gun Jewel had, or risk making Moon Shine angry and experiencing something far worse than being shot. 

After gathering her nerve, Askari took off at a full speed sprint toward Jewel.

	BANG!

The gunshot sounded quickly, with a brief muzzle flash, the loud crack echoing off the stone walls as the zebra stopped in place, her eyes wide. Askari shifted her gaze downward, finding a gunshot wound in her chest with thick, red blood already drooling out from the hole. She looked back up to Jewel, the unicorn seeing that Askari's eyes looked drained, life fading out of them. 

Askari's legs buckled underneath her as she clutched a hoof at the wound in her chest. Jewel could see tears welling up in the zebra's eyes. Whether it was from the pain of the shot, or from Moon Shine's betrayal was unclear. “Tell my daughter...” Askari said weakly. “I'm sorry I wasn't around.” 

Jewel's heart ached at that as the rest of Askari's body fell the floor, lifeless, her blood dripping from the open wound, spreading over the hoof that lay in front of it, coloring Askari's hoof with red.

Jewel felt a tinge of regret from pulling the trigger. Even if Askari had been bad, she still had a family. She had someone she cared for, just like everyone else. Tears welled up in Jewel's eyes as she imagined a young child, and possibly a husband, heartbroken over Askari's death. All because of her.

“Star Gaze,” Moon Shine said, calling on the unicorn stallion to do something. 

He looked up at her fearfully, tears rolling down his own cheeks, apparently having been more attached to the zebra than Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel had realized. “Are you crazy?”

Moon Shine shot a look down at him. “Are you defying me?”

Star stepped back fearfully, ears pinned back to his head as he looked over at Jewel. The unicorn mare was now hugging Myth Chaser as she cried over what she'd just done, the stallion rubbing her back in an effort to comfort her, while the pegasus patted her back soothingly. 

Star Gaze looked back up to the alicorn towering over him. “I... I-I...” he stammered. He gulped nervously, looking up at Moon Shine, staring her dead in the eyes. “Yes.”

“What?” Moon Shine asked, lifting the stallion up in her magic, her nose pressed to his as she looked at him angrily.

“Yes,” he repeated, a bit more clearly. “I'm defying you.”

The alicorn glared at him. “Then you're no longer of use to me,” she said. 

Crack. 

The sound was gut-wrenching for the three ponies as they watched Moon Shine's magic grab around Star Gaze's head, and give a sudden twist, snapping his neck. The unicorn stallion was then dropped from her magic, thudding lifeless to the ground with his head twisted the wrong way. 

The alicorn then looked over to Jewel. “I'm impressed with you,” she said casually, folding her large wings against her sides as she smiled. “I didn't think you had it in you to kill that useless zebra.”

“Don't,” Jewel replied with pain in her voice, her head resting on Myth's shoulder as she hugged him.

“Don't what, my little gem?” Moon Shine asked. 

“Don't act so casual about this!” Jewel shouted back, pulling away from Myth's embrace as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Don't act like Askari's death meant nothing! Don't act like killing Star Gaze doesn't change anything! Don't call me your little gem!”

Jewel sobbed as she said all of this, her heart aching in her chest as she tried to focus her magic on holding the gun, weakly levitating it in front of her. She sat back down, rubbing a hoof over her eyes to wipe away the tears. 

“How dare you talk to your mother that way,” Moon Shine said.

“You're not my mother,” Jewel said quietly, looking up at the alicorn several feet away from her. “So stop acting like it.” 

She raised the gun back up, aiming it toward the alicorn. Moon Shine stared at the unicorn in surprise. Shocked to be looking into the barrel of a gun held by her own daughter. 

BANG!

The sound echoed off the walls for a second time as Jewel took the shot. 

Jewel, Snapshot, and Myth all looked away as soon as the trigger had been pulled, huddling together as the bang echoed around the stone room. They waited a moment, waiting for Moon Shine's last words and the sound of a thud.

It never came. 

Jewel eventually looked up, trembling at what she saw. Myth and Snapshot looked as well, and Snapshot gasped. 

Moon Shine stood in place, horn aglow with purple. In front of her was the bullet from Jewel's gun, suspended in mid-air. The alicorn crushed the bullet in her magic and let it drop, clattering to the ground at her hooves. 

“I can't believe you would do that, Jewel,” Moon Shine said. 

As the black-coated alicorn began stepping closer, Jewel's magic squeezed the trigger several more times, desperately trying to stop Moon Shine in her tracks. Instead, each bullet was caught in Moon Shine's magic, suspended in mid-air before they could reach her. All the while, the alicorn walked closer and closer, catching every bullet Jewel fired at her.

	BANG! BANG! BANG! Click... Click click...

The gun had run out of bullets. Jewel dropped the weapon. It was of no use anymore. Instead, she pushed Myth and Snapshot back behind her, and her own horn glowed blue, and fired a blast toward Moon Shine, who was quick to teleport out of the way, appearing in the air with her wings flapping to hover in place above the three ponies, resulting in Jewel's magic firing past and causing a violent, destructive blast at the far wall behind the alicorn, leaving a bit of a crater in the stone. 

Angry at the unicorn's attack, Moon Shine reared her head back, gathering magic in her horn before firing her own purple blast toward Jewel. 

Quickly, Jewel concentrated her magic, and a flash of light transported her, Myth, and Snapshot out of the way, teleporting the three of them behind one of the pillars, and hearing the destructive blast of magic crash into the ground where they'd been a second ago. The three peeked around the pillar, seeing the crater Moon Shine had caused, several times larger than the one Jewel had caused, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt, pebbles of stone raining back down around it. 

The alicorn began looking around, realizing the three had transported out of the way. Before they could be spotted, Myth, Jewel, and Snapshot hid back behind the pillar. 

“What are we gonna do?” Snapshot asked in a hushed voice, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily, trying not to panic. 

“You two go,” Jewel said, pointing in the direction of the large double doors they'd come in through, still left open from when they arrived. “I'll hold her off while you two get to the Princesses. Tell them what's going on. Maybe they can do something.”

“Are you crazy?” Myth asked. “I'm not leaving you here alone, Jewel. Besides, it'd take all night just to get to the bottom of the mountain, let alone get to the castle and get to the Princesses and explain everything. By the time we could get to them...” he trailed off. He didn't want to think about Jewel being killed. 

Jewel knew it was practically suicide. There's no way she could defeat an alicorn. Especially one far more powerful that Nightmare Moon could ever have dreamed to be. She'd be killed eventually, but maybe she could buy Myth and Snapshot some time to get to the Princesses. She studied a lot of Starswirl's spells, after all. She knew some spells she could use. 

She pressed her lips to Myth's, giving him a deep, passionate kiss and pressing her chest to his so he could feel her heart beat for him. When she broke the kiss, she smiled to him. “You got us this far, Myth. I know you two can get to the Princesses. I believe in you.”

“Jewel-” 

Before Myth could say another word, Jewel teleported herself, leaving the two alone behind the pillar. Myth and Snapshot peeked around the pillar, seeing Jewel revealing herself to Moon Shine. 

Jewel fired an offensive blast of magic towards her. The alicorn put up a protective bubble in front of her, deflecting Jewel's blast to the side to explode against the wall. 

“Where are the others?” Moon Shine asked, looking down at the lone unicorn.

“Long gone!” Jewel shouted, firing another pair of magic shots, only for Moon Shine to deflect them in various directions as well. 

“She can't do this on her own,” Myth said to his sister. 

“We need to go get the Princesses,” Snapshot said, trying to peel him away from the pillar where he watched the magic fight. 

“I'm not leaving her,” Myth said defiantly. “She'll be killed.”

“You don't have any magic, you can't fly, the guns won't work on Moon Shine, and my wings are broken so I'm in the same spot as you,” Snapshot said. “What are we supposed to do?” 

“I don't know,” Myth replied, coming back behind the pillar and sitting with his back against the stone. 

He sighed and started looking around the large room, hoping to find something, anything that could help them while destructive blasts were scattered around the room. There was nothing! Just pillars, walls, torches, the crystal, the guns, the two dead bodies... 

The crystal. 

Myth stared at the empty, lifeless crystal for a moment, then looked to Jewel and Moon Shine's fight. 

The two were teleporting all throughout the room, firing blasts at each other, along with some spells that seemed to try tracking the other, and bubbles deflecting or outright stopping any blasts that did hit against them.

“You're so magically talented!” Moon Shine shouted in between attacks. “How are you standing up against me so well!?” she asked angrily.

“I learned from Starswirl's scrolls!” Jewel replied as she put up a barrier, protecting herself. When Myth looked closer, he could see that Jewel was looking tired, the strong magic she used was starting to exhaust her already, she appeared covered in dirt and rubble as if she'd narrowly escaped a few attacks. 

“I have an idea,” Myth said.

Before Snapshot could even attempt to ask about it, he stepped out from behind the pillar and sprinted his way over to the gun still laying on the floor, the one that hadn't been fired and still had bullets. He hooked it up onto his hoof and aimed it up at the alicorn. He shouted loudly, “Moon Shine! Over here!” When the alicorn stopped her magic against Jewel and looked toward Myth, he fired a few bullets at her, which she easily deflected with a laugh, thinking it foolish that Myth would try something he knew wouldn't work.

“Myth, what are you doing?” Jewel shouted. “I told you to go!” 

Moon Shine glanced at Jewel and grinned. “He really cares about you, Jewel.” Jewel looked up at the alicorn. “And you care about him, don't you?”

The alicorn then turned, her eyes focusing on Myth Chaser. Her horn glowed, building up a spell, then fired a powerful blast down toward him. 

“No!” Jewel screamed, teleporting herself in front of Myth, quickly putting up a protective bubble. 

The impact of Moon Shine's spherical magic blast hitting against Jewel's barrier knocked her and Myth backward. Jewel grunted and groaned, her eyes shut tight as she concentrated and focused her weaker magic into holding back the blast. Finally, she managed to deflect the powerful spell, sending it back up toward Moon Shine. 

This took the alicorn by surprise, and made a direct hit, slamming the her backward and hitting against the wall, making her let out a grunt from the impact.

Jewel took the opportunity and teleported her and Myth away from their open spot to bring him back to the pillar where Snapshot waited. “What are you doing, Myth?” she asked angrily, but hushed so Moon Shine wouldn't find them so easily. 

“I have a plan,” he replied, with a smile. “Remember what you said when you were giving me that little lesson about magic?”

“What are you talking about?” Jewel asked.

“You told me that while using a spell, the magic that was projected out wants to return back to where it belongs,” he said. “What happens if its original source of magic, like the unicorn's horn, is destroyed?”

“This isn't time for a magic lesson,” Jewel said, barely managing to stop herself from shouting.

“Tell me,” Myth practically commanded, his hooves gripping Jewel by the shoulders tightly to make sure she didn't waste any more time.

Jewel rolled her eyes. “When the source is destroyed, the magic is destroyed with it. Nowhere to be found. What are you getting at?”

Myth turned Jewel around and pointed a hoof past her, turning her attention to the large crystal that lay on the ground. “The original source of Moon Shine's magic. Destroy that, and she's done, right?”

Jewel's eyes widened as she looked at the crystal, then looked back to Myth. “You're a genius.”

He grinned proudly. “Thanks. Now go. Take that thing out!”

Jewel smiled and teleported herself back out into the open. She didn't want Moon Shine finding Myth and Snapshot while she worked on the spell to break the Nightmare Crystal. She came out just in time to see the alicorn getting up from the ground, more angry now that she'd let herself get hit by her own magic. Her eyes focused in on Jewel, seeing the unicorn's attention wasn't on her anymore. Jewel was gathering magic in her horn, looking at the large crystal on the floor. 

Moon Shine was confused at first until she quickly realized what the unicorn was thinking. Destroy the crystal and all the magic she absorbed from it would be taken away. “No!!” 

Gathering enough magic in her horn to destroy that big of a crystal would take a few moments, Jewel thought, but she had to do it. Destroying the crystal would be the only way to defeat Moon Shine. As she built up the magic, preparing the blast, she glanced up at Moon Shine and saw she was gathering up her own magic, much quicker and much more powerfully. 

The alicorn's attack was fired first. The large ball of glowing, purple magic thrown toward Jewel while she continued building up her own mass of energy in her horn.

Myth glanced back and forth between the huge ball of energy and Jewel who was still building up her magic for the attack. “Come on, come on, come on...” 

It seemed it would hit Jewel before she would get her spell ready and launched. Myth jumped out from behind the pillar and started running toward them, more than willing to sacrifice himself to save Jewel. 

He was too slow. The blast made contact with Jewel and she was out of his sight as the large ball of energy ground itself into Jewel. 

“No!” Myth shouted, fearing the worst. Had the magic already killed her? Or was it something slow and painful?

“I'm okay, Myth!” Jewel cried out. 

Myth perked up and he stepped to the side, walking around so he could see from a different angle. Jewel had given up on building her own attack, and had a blue magic barrier around her. She had an eye closed, showing her struggle as she fought back against the blast that pushed toward her, the clash of the attack against her barrier making sparks. Her other eye glanced back and forth between the blast and the crystal. 

“You can do it, Jewel!” Myth encouraged. “I believe in you!”

Cracks appeared on Jewel's magic barrier, much like a glass window would crack with enough pressure against it. Jewel audibly whimpered as it seemed to hurt her.

Moon Shine was still up in the air, focusing her attention on the blast, her horn glowing as if adding more and more power to the sphere of destruction, trying so hard to break past Starswirl's spells that Jewel was using. 

“Agghhh!” Jewel let out a pained scream and there was an explosion. 

A blinding flash of light lit the entire room for several seconds as everything went quiet. 

As the white light died down, Myth kept his eyes in the place Jewel had been standing, and saw that she no longer stood there. She'd been thrown backwards and was now on her back, unmoving, and her horn sparking like it had been overused. A trickle of blood could be seen dribbling from the base of her horn, down the side of her forehead.

“J-Jewel...?” Myth called to her weakly, afraid to run to her and confirm that the worst had happened. “Jewel? Are you okay?” 

Jewel didn't move. Snapshot came out from behind the pillar, running over to the unicorn. 

Thud. “Oof!”

Myth looked over to the sound, finding that Moon Shine had fallen out of mid-air, seemingly head first as he saw her body falling back to lay flat on the ground. She was no longer an alicorn. Her wings were gone, and returned to her normal-sized unicorn form, and her black body reverted back to the dark charcoal color. 

He glanced back to where the Nightmare Crystal had been, finding that it wasn't there. Instead, there were shards of the crystal scattered all across the place it had been. Jewel had deflected Moon Shine's blast at the Nightmare Crystal. But it seemed, in the process, she'd also somehow been hit by it herself. 

Myth looked down at his hoof, seeing the gun still strapped on and ready. 

Moon Shine whimpered painfully. Her mane all messed up, dirt and scuff marks all over her body, making her look so beaten up and weak. Her hooves trembled as she tried to lift herself up, only to hear a single click, and feel metal against the side of her head, looking up to see Myth pressing his gun against her head. She froze, looking up at him. 

Trying to use a spell caused her horn to give a pitiful spark of energy. Then, unexpectedly, a crack formed. The unicorn let out a pained whimper and a tear formed in her eye. 

Myth looked down at the unicorn, firmly pressing the barrel of the gun against her head, ready to shoot any moment, but giving her a chance to say some last words.

“She's alive,” Snapshot's voice called to him. 

“What?” Myth asked, not taking his eyes off of Moon Shine.

“Jewel. She's still breathing,” Snapshot told him as she lifted Jewel up onto her back to carry her. “She's alive, just unconscious. We need to get her to the hospital quick.”

Myth looked down at Moon Shine, his heart not feeling as broken as it had a moment ago. There was a chance Jewel could live. But they had to leave now if they'd want any chance of getting her to the hospital in time. 

He pulled the gun away from Moon Shine's head, and slid it into his holster on his hind leg. It fit perfectly, amazingly he'd wound up getting his own gun back. “You stay here,” he told her. “We'll send the royal guards to come get you. That is if Princess Luna doesn't come get you herself.” 

Moon Shine lay her head down, knowing she was defeated. Without her horn allowing her to use any magic, and no physical strength of her own, or any weapons, she was beaten. It was no use to try and leave before the guards got here, assuming she even had the strength to run.
Myth turned and walked away, moving toward his sister and sliding his back under Jewel as well, helping Snapshot carry Jewel's unconscious body as they walked through the double doors, closing them behind them and ascending up the steps.

They were exhausted, but they had to get Jewel to the hospital. They didn't care that it would be a long walk up the stairs and all the way down the mountain to Canterlot's city limits. It was the least they could do after all she had been through. Fighting an alicorn dozens of times more powerful than Nightmare Moon couldn't have been easy... They planned on walking all day and night, nonstop, until they got Jewel into a hospital, no matter how exhausted they got on the way. 
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jewel's eyes finally fluttered open, the brightness of the room nearly blinding her. She groaned lightly as she tried to lift a hoof to shield her eyes. The unicorn felt a bandage wrapped over her forehead, right over the base of her horn. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she found she was laying in a hospital bed, angled upward. 

Feeling a weight on the bed beside her, Jewel looked down to see Myth was sitting on the floor beside her, his head resting on top of his hooves on the bed as he slept. She smiled weakly at the sight.

“He hasn't left your side for even a second.” She looked over to see Snapshot. The pegasus was sitting in a chair in the corner with a magazine opened on the hoofrest beside her. Snapshot smiled at her. “Good to see you awake. How you feeling?”

“Feel like I died,” Jewel said jokingly, with a weak, tired voice.

Snapshot laughed lightly. “You almost did. Doctors said it's a miracle that you survived, considering the power that blast had in it.”

“The doctors know?” she asked. “Do they know everything?”

“Just that you were in a magic duel,” Snapshot said. “Princess Luna said she doesn't want us telling others you fought an evil alicorn and saved Equestria. Something about protecting you from the fame and all that.”

Jewel sighed lightly and relaxed against the bed. “So, Princess Luna knows about what happened, huh?” 

Snapshot nodded. “Yeah. She's grateful to you for destroying that Nightmare Crystal. Even offered to do something for you sometime, if you ever have a special request.”

“That's sweet,” the unicorn said with a smile. She tried moving her hoof again but still had to fight and strain to do it. “Ugh... Am I really that exhausted?”

“Doctors said you would be. You've been passed out for a week.”

“A week!?” she asked, panicked as she looked down toward Myth laying at her side.

Snapshot giggled lightly at the panicked reaction. “Just kidding, Jewel. You've only been out for a day or two. The doctors said you'd be tired because you used all your magic in one go like that.”

“Yeah,” Jewel sighed, relieved that she hadn't actually been unconscious for a week. That would have been worrisome. She leaned her head back on the pillow of her bed. “Won't get to use any magic for about a week, right?”

Snapshot nodded in response. The doctor had explained to her that unicorn magic would take about a week or so to recharge after such overuse, such as what happened to Jewel when she overused her magic for the final barrier against Moon Shine's attack. 

“So Myth hasn't left my side this whole time?” Jewel asked, tiredly reaching a hoof over to rest on his sleeping head, running her hoof through his mane.

Snapshot smiled. “Not at all. He's been so worried about you.”

Myth seemed to relax a little as he felt a hoof running over his mane, and he mumbled lightly as the sensation stirred him from his slumber. “Mnnh?” He tiredly raised his head, and instinctively looked over to Jewel. He perked up quick as soon as he saw Jewel was awake. She smiled at him and he was quick to lunge forward, hugging the unicorn tightly. “Thank goodness you're okay!”

Jewel gasped as pain shot through her body. She hadn't realized how sore she was until he hugged her. “E-Easy!” she pleaded. “I'm feeling really sore.”

“Sorry,” Myth said, pulling away from the mare. “I'm just glad to see you awake.”

“I'm glad to see you, too,” Jewel said. She smiled. “Snapshot said you haven't left my side this whole time?”

Snapshot went back to reading through the magazine she had open beside her, deciding to let the couple talk. 

Myth felt a light blush spread over his cheeks and nodded. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“Aww, that's so sweet of you. I'm fine, Myth,” she said. “Just feeling sore right now.” 

“I'm surprised that's all after what you went through,” Myth replied. “I'm impressed with you, Jewel. I didn't know you had the kind of magical ability to go against an alicorn, let alone one that much stronger than Nightmare Moon.”

“I didn't think I could,” she admitted. “I guess Starswirl's spells are more powerful than we give him credit for.”

“It may have been his spells, but it was still your magic putting them to use,” Myth told her. 

“I guess so.” Jewel shrugged. “So what happened after I deflected the blast? I assume we beat Moon?”

Myth nodded. “Yeah. We left her down in that cave and Princess Luna had some royal guards go retrieve her.”

“She's alive?” Jewel asked. “You didn't kill her?”

Myth shook his head. “I couldn't bring myself to do it. It's fine though. Her horn was cracked, so she couldn't do any spells. We don't have to worry about her using magic anymore. Plus she'll be in Canterlot prison for life.” 

“I can live with that,” Jewel accepted. “As much as I hate her for leaving me and dad... I never really wanted her to die.” 

There was a short moment of silence. As Snapshot turned the page in her magazine, Jewel looked over to her. 

“What are you reading?” Jewel finally asked her. 

Snapshot looked up. “Oh, uh... Just an article about some of the most fun places for camping,” she answered. “I figured we could use a nice camping trip after all the excitement.”

“Sounds fun,” Jewel agreed. “Maybe rent out a lakeside cabin for a couple days?”

“Sounds good to me,” Snapshot said, then looked to Myth. “What do you think?”

He nodded in agreement. “We did take ownership of that large cabin by the lake that mom and dad got a few years ago. We could invite everypony to have a few days of fun.”

Jewel smiled. “I'd love to meet all of your friends. Maybe I could see if Astrid would want to come too.”

Myth and Snapshot smiled and agreed, the three ponies finally able to relax after several days of excitement, happy to have plans for a fun and relaxing trip with friends. Jewel was excited to get to meet all of their friends. If they were anything like Myth and Snapshot, she knew she'd come to love them all just the same.


The End