> Quest for the Key of Harmony > by Yurl 18 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter I: Forest Over Yonder > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle was organizing books onto her big shelf that was across the wall of the Castle room when Twilight heard a noise and saw that her flank was glowing! Twilight flew down to the Cutie Map and waited for Rainbow and Spike to get here because their icons were also on the map. Rainbow Dash burst through the door and stood next to the map waiting for Spike, Spike finally got into the room and even though Spike was in the Castle and Rainbow was who know where, Rainbow dashed so fast to the Cutie Map before Spike even got the chance. "Where are we going! Where do you think we are going?" Rainbow said to Twilight waiting for a response. "I...dont know, The Cutie Map says its outside of Equestria so we are going to have to go pretty far." (Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike ventured far and wide and finally reached the end of Equestria, they found themselves at the edge of a Forest, It looked a lot like the everfree Forest) Twilight and the Pony and Dragon with her decide to go into the Forest not knowing what awaits them. They walk for a short period of time before they hear a rustling noise behind them, the three of them turn around and the Forest enterance is gone. They start to panic as their only way out is gone because there is a magical barrier above the Forest to protect it from harmful weather that is present outside of Equestria. All three of them run back to where the enterance disappeared to find nothing, the Forest looks like it goes on forever and ever with no end in sight, their only option is to keep going and hope to find something. The trio turn a corner and find a clone of Twilight, except that the clone has no wings and its fully black with no discernible features other then its shape. "AAH!" Spike shrieked as he jumped back. "Woah, It's a clone of you Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew over the clone while staring at it. Rainbow wasn't looking where she was going so she bumped into a tree. "Ow!" Rainbow said as she fell backwards. "How is there a clone of me? How is it fully black, that doesn't seem possible!" Twilight said staring at the pitch black clone of her. "How, why, what!" Twilight says freaking out. "Calm down Twi, It isn't even moving. Will it even move?" Rainbow tells Twilight Sparkle Flying over her. "I don't know, but we have to be safe, we don't know what this is." Twilight tells the pony with the rainbow mane flying over her. The two ponies and dragon decide to walk past the clone trying to avoid it as much as they can. They reach a river with a big bubble around it. "What is that?" Spike asks the purple pony to his left. "I don't know" Twilight says as she flies up and gets close to it, she reaches her hoof to it and it passes through it without any trouble, "Hmm... it must be safe then." Twilight flies into it and once she enters the bubble her wings disappear like that one time Discord make their wings disappear all that time back. "AAAH-oof!" she says as she hits the floor. "Twilight!" Rainbow dash and Spike yell as they go up next to Twilight as both of their wings disappear too as they enter the bubble. "Are you okay?" Spike asks Twilight as he stands next to her while the blue pegasus helps her up, "Yea-ow" Twilight says getting up, "This bubble must use some magical forcefield that removes anycreatures wings" she says looking at her back where her wings once were. "You look like the version of yourself a very long time back!" Spike jokes nudging Twilights side. "Ha..ha very funny, you can't be talking" Twilight says with her eyelids half-closed. "How do we get across this river if we can't fly?" Rainbow asks Twilight, "There's some vines hanging down so I think we can cross this river by swinging across them," the purple pony says pointing at the vine. "Those vines look preetyyyy weak Twi, I don't think that would be safe." Rainbow comments. "Well you can swim right?", "Yeah I can, we all can" the purple pony replies. "Although this stream is pretty fast so falling in wouldn't be safe." "I'll go first!" Spike yells and runs towards the vine- "Wait Spike!" Twilight yells as Spike jumps on the vine, -"WOOOO!" Spike yells as we swings across and lands perfectly on the other side. "I....Could've carried you with my magic Spike" Twilight says hoof-palming her face, "That's boring!" Spike says "Hurry up and get over here, I don't wanna wait any longer." "My turn!" Rainbow says running towards the vine, she jumps, holds on the vine, and swings on the vine. SNAP! The vine snaps and Rainbow dash tumbles down next to Spike "OW!" Rainbow yelps as she hits the ground. "Twilight!" Spike yells, "How are you going to pass now!" "I think I can carry myself" Twilight guesses as her horn illuminates and a magical aura appears around her. "Ghnn!!!!" Twilight groans as she lifts herself up and slowly carries herself to the other side. "Gnn-AH!" Twilight yells as she falls over the water and holds on to the ledge, "TWILIGHT!" Spike and Rainbow yell as they grab onto the purple ponies hooves and lift her up strugging to get her up. They manage to get Twilight up onto the grass as they collapse onto the ground. "That was too close Twilight!" Rainbow Dash warns her friend infront of her. "Yeah...but lets keep going!" Twilight tells both Rainbow Dash and Spike. The three of them had managed to pass the dangerous river with Twilight almost falling in, they reached the end of the Forest and they seem to have reached the end of up the bubble, they exit the bubble and their wings magically appear back. They look up ahead and it seems to be a desert, a very...long...desert. Looks like their next adventure will be a very hard one... > Chapter II: Dry-Dune Deserted Desert > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We...have to cross that?" Rainbow asks Twilight, "I can already feel the heat and we're at the end of the forest and not in the desert!" "What other choice do we have Rainbow?" Twilight replies slowly walking towards the desert. "Wherever we are going must be important if the Cutie Map is calling for us." As they enter the desert a wave of heat hits them like a train. "Phew! Its hot!" Spike says waving his hand at his face like a fan, Spike looks back and notices the Forest is gone and it looks like an endless desert in all directions, "Uh...Twilight, the- the Forest is gone." "What do you mean gone Spike, we were just in i-" Twilight says as she turns around, her eyes widen, "Oh its...really gone..." "I guess everything is just diseappearing behind us" Dash comments, "Weird..." Spike adds to the rainbow-haired ponies comment. "Somethings off..." Twilight tells both Dash and Spike, "Like what?" both of them say in correlation. Twilight tries teleporting a couple steps forward but her magic aura won't appear. "I- I can't use my magic?!" Twilight exclaimed touching her horn, "WHAT?" Spike yells. "This must be a no-magic zone" Twilight guesses, "I don't think we'll need magic." "Atleast we still have our wings right? Rainbow Dash tells Twilight. "I bet I can make it to the end of this desert in 10 seconds flat!" "No, we should stay together just incase anything bad happens." Twilight warns Dash grabbing her tail just as she's about to fly away, "Augh okay..." Rainbow groans flying down and walking next to Twilight. They had been walking for around 15 minutes when they heard a rumble. "What in the hoof is that?" Twilight says looking around, "WHAT IS THAT!" Spike yells pointing towards a bump in the ground, the bump turns bigger and a giant worm with super-sharp teeth slithers out and screeches. "AAH!" all three of them scream and run along the path that is through the desert. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the giant worm makes an eir piercing screech and starts chasing the trio. The trio runs as the slithery creature chases them, "LOOK!" Twilight yells as she points towards a little hole in the ground, they run towards the hole in the ground and jump into it. "SCREAAEEECH!!" the monster screeches and puts its mouth over the hole, its smelly breath which smelled of mold, must, and dead roadkill gusted into the small hole causing the 2 ponies and dragon in the hole so start coughing and covering their noses. The monster tries biting down but the hole is too small for the monsters mouth to fit. "EW, its breath smells horrible!" Spike says pinching his nose. "How are we going to get out of this?!" Rainbow Dash who is in a state of panic asks Twilight. The purple pony tries charging up a beam to shoot at the monster but she realized she doesn't have her magic. "I guess we wait it out" Twilight replies. The 3 of them decide to go to sleep and wait it out. A while later... "Twilight, Twilight wake up Twilight!" Spike yells in Twilights face, "Five....more...minutes mom" Twilight replies sleepily, "I'm not your mom, the monster is gone" Spike tells his purple friend, the purple alicorn shakes her head to get her sleepiness away and looks up, there is no more noise and its super quiet, the sun hasn't risen yet so it's still decently dark outside. The three of them get up and out of the hole and look around, "Huh, looks like the monster is gone!" Dash exclaims. They go on and follow the bath continuing their desert adventure. As they walk on the path, it gets a little too quiet so Rainbow Dash decides to strike up a conversation asking Twilight, "So Twilight, how is the daring do fanfiction you're making going?" "Pretty good, 33 people have bought a paper copy from me already!" Twilight says grabbing a copy out of her bookbag and handing it to the blue pony next to her. "Here, try and read it." "Oh cool thanks Twi" Rainbow says grabbing the copy and starting to read it. "Oh oh oh I made a story do you wanna read it?" Spike asks Twilight. "Sure!" the purple pony replies. "Its in your bag" Spike says grabbing the book out of Twilights bookbag, "I put it in there just in case!" "How is this hard cover, is this what you did with your chore money?" The academically gifted pony asks her baby dragon, "Maybe..." Spike replies sheepishly. "Hmm this looks interesting" Twilight says reading out the title, "Blood of The CHIM-" "-ERA" Spike says interrupting Twilight, "Yeah I know doesn't it sound so interesting?," "Well....Yeah..." Twilight says trying not to break his heart even though she doesn't like the title that much. "What is that?" Rainbow asks pointing towards a building with text that says 'Here for Deers'. "Hm, lets see if anypony's there." Twilight says as they walk over to the building next to the path. On the outside the building is a small 1 story building with a rusty sign displaying the places name, on the inside there's a bunch of ponies and other never before seen creatures chilling out and talking to eachother. "Man I'm hungry, can we eat something here?" Spike asks, "Yeah sure" Twilight responds. The three of them walk up to the counter. "What can I do for you?" The bartender who is wearing a leather jacket and an eyepatch asks in a deep tone. "Do you have any hayburgers?" Twilight asks the pony on the other side of the counter, "Sorry ma'am, but we just ran out, you CAN go out back and get some hay in one of the bags out there and if you do get it then ill give you a hayburger." Twilight goes out back and tries to find the hay, she looks behind the trashcan and its not there, she looks behind the pile of trash and its not there, she looks behind...a dead animal...and its not there, then she finally looks behind the dumpster and there it lies, a pile of hay stored in a white grocery bag. "That doesn't seem very sanitary..." The purple pony thinks to herself as she grabs the bag and walks back in the store. "I got the hay!" Twilight tells the dark gray pony with the eyepatch and leather jacket, "Great..." the bartender says "let me cook it up for you" the bartender adds grabbing the bag and heading into the back. A couple minutes pass, and then, the kitchen door slams open so hard that one of the rusty door hinges almost breaks off, "AAh!" Twilight shrieks as the door slams against the wooden wall. "Here's for food ma'am..." the dark gray pony says handing the hayburger to her with a sly grin plastered on his face. "Thanks!" the purple pony says to the bartender as she cuts the burger into 3 peices for each of them and hands one to Spike and Rainbow Dash. "Lets eat this on the road, we must hurry!" Twilight exclaims as they exit the building. "Have a good day...ma'am..." The bartender says quietly as the three of them leave the building. They finish their hayburgers and come up on a small hill, they decide to go over it since it isn't that steep. They climb up the road and reach the top, they look down and see the clone once again! "Woah its the clone!" Spike yells and points, "Not againnnn..." Twilight groans as she walks to the clone with Spike and Rainbow following behind her. "If you have the proof, then you may shake my hoof..." The clone says in a pitched down and distorted version of Twilights voice. "Have the proof?? What proof???" Twilight asks the clone, Twilight expects a response but no words come out of the clones mouth. Twilight shakes the hoof of the clone and the clone dissipates right before their very eyes and a Large...Village-like town appears out of nowhere somehow, "Woah, there has to be normal ponies here...and....Its r-r-r-really cold here too" Rainbow Dash says chattering her teeth. The Trio go into the village/town to see if there's anything of importance there. [To: Brightford Village >] > Chapter III: Brightford Village > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The three of them, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike head into Brightford via a cobblestone path which is lined with houses made out of stone and wood, a couple shops here and there, and a small hotel for residents to stay. "There's a hotel! We could stay there" Spike suggests pointing at the hotel, "No Spike, we must make it there as quick as possible." Twilight says "Lets keep going." "Ugh alright..." Spike groans as he digs his face into a power ponies comic. Twilight looks around and realizes there are ponies staring at them and whispering opon themselves. "Its Princess Twilight Sparkle!" a pony 'whisper-yells' as they run inside, "someone get the sheriff!" another pony yells as they run away from the three of them. Twilight looks around, "Hmm, they seem to be scared of me...?" "Do you think it's because you're an alicorn?" Spike suggests pointing at her wings, "Maybe..." Twilight says as another one of the ponies cowers behind a crate, "Hey, No need to run." Twilight says softy as she walks to the pony hiding behind the crate. "Get away from them!" a pony with a cowboy hat goes. "I'm not gonna hurt anyone, why are you all scared of me?" Twilight says sadly looking at the sheriff. "We ain't fond of yer' kind, alicorn!" the sheriff pony exclaims as a couple other ponies walk out and stand next to the sheriff pony. The sheriff pony and the ponies standing next to him start chasing the trio. "Ah!" Twilight yells as the three of them run from the mob, "What are we gonna do Twilight?!" Spike yells, "RUUNNN!" Rainbow yells as Twilight charges up a teleport. Poof! all three of them get teleported and end up in a house, "U-uh...HE-" a pony is about to yell as Twilight uses a spell to silence them, "I'm not gonna hurt you, just tell me, why is everyone scared of me?" Twilight asks undoing the silence spell. "W-w-well, a couple moons ago, a rouge alicorn came and attacked, is what the sheriff tells everyone...what I remember a little bit is where they had an uh, I think...Alicorn amulet? I don't know what it was called exactly." the pony tells the trio, "Do you know what they looked like?" Twilight asks the scared pony, "I think they had a blue coat and a lighter blue mane?" "Trixie!" Twilight 'whisper-yells'. "we'll get going" Twilight says as they head outside. "Hey sheriff, over here!" Twilight yells to get the mobs attention, "Its the alicorn, get them!" one of the ponies in the mob yells as they run towards the purple coated alicorn. "Everypony freeze!" Twilight says as she uses a spell to freeze the mob. "What do you want alicorn?" one of the ponies yells, "What are you gonna do, enslave us?" another pony yells. "No! I'm not gonna do that stuff, no alicorn would ever do that stuff, I got some insight on who attacked you from one of the ponies I met here and...It wasn't an alicorn, It was a pony using something called an alicorn amulet which makes the bearer extremely powerful, they must've got the amulet and used it to attack you ponies, where we come from got attacked by that same pony, the description of the pony who attacked you matches the one who attacked us. Twilight says unfreezing the mob. "So no alicorn actually attacked you!" Spike yells. "I...do remember them having something around their neck..." one of the ponies says, "I don't even know if they actually had wings!" another pony says, "Well then..." the sheriff says, "If you ain't evil then, I gotta apologize..." the sheriff walks up to twilight, "I'm sorry for us trying to attack you and saying that we ain't fond of yer' kind, I sher' do hope you forgive us." the sheriff says grabbing his hat, putting it on his chest and looking down. "I forgive you, just don't go around doing that to anypony." Twilight warns the sheriff pony, "What is your name?" "Me?" the sheriff pony says, "Well...I am Sheriff Withdrawal, you can call me Lawful Withdrawal." "Very nice to meet you, I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship!" Twilight says looking at the once-mobbing ponies. The sheriff puts his hat back on his head, "Well I've never introduced you to this village, this is Brightford village our forever home!" The sheriff points to the statue in the middle of the village, "that's a statue of Brightford Villa, the old mayor of this place, once he died then I took over as sheriff and mayor and named the village after him, but everyone jus' calls me sheriff." "Oh, how long ago did he die" Twilight asks, "Oh uh well if you don't mind me asking" she says sheepishly, "It was 1 year ago, there was a horrible thunderstorm and he was fixing a metal pole for that shop" he points over to one of the shops in the village, "...and the metal pole managed to get struck by lightning which caused him to die." "That sounds horrible!" Rainbow dash yells as she puts her hooves on her face, "Yeah.." Lawful says as he looks at Spike, "Oh, so you have a baby dragon? That's nice" Lawful adds. Later... "Well we'll get going, goodbye everypony!" Twilight says waving goodbye as the trio leave the village. "Well that was fun Twilight, except the part where they tried to mob us" Rainbow says as she flies over Twilight, "How far do we ha-" Bump! "Ow!" Rainbow Dash yelps as she falls to the ground. "What the..." "Woah its the clone" Spike says as the clone who is floating in the air immediately teleports to the ground. "Why do you keep following us clone?" Twilight asks the clone, this time she doesn't expect a response but surprisingly, she gets a response. "Do thou' agree, that we both want the key?" the clone says as it starts slowly melting into the ground, "Wait!" Twilight says as she tries to grab the clones hoof, but once the purple ponies hoof touches the clones hoof, the trio hears a sizzling sound and the clone starts screaming and slowly sinks into the ground with a gurgle noise. "What...what was that?" Spike says scratching his head looking up at Twilight, "I don't know, but, we have to keep going" Twilight adds as she walks down the path surrounded by a wheat farm on the left and right with the village behind them. The trio head down the path. Where will the trio go next? Leave your guesses in the comments