Now alone within a pitch black and musty room, armed with only a small lantern to light up whatever’s a half-metre ahead of her, Twilight found herself adventuring into the basement of the abandoned shack on this seemingly deserted island. Whatever was ahead was a complete mystery. As the purple alicorn blindly wandered into the unknown, she reflected on picture she revealed.
“It was a map of the known world,” Twilight muttered to herself, the handle of her light held by her teeth.
It wasn’t just any ordinary map, and Twilight knew that well. It was one that extended out towards the west and beyond the Outer Kingdoms. Accurately depicting the fabled Old World, somewhere that has only been mentioned in legends, this map was one of perhaps three in the world. Barely any pony had ever even dared ventured out there, let alone charted it. The distant sea and lands bore dangerous weather and tales of horrific monsters.
But the questions remained. So how did this stallion do it and what was with the red writing scribbled on it?
“Where is it?” Twilight repeated the writing.
Twilight’s mental recap was interrupted however by a sharp force smacking her forehead. The pony yelped in shock and backed up, dropping the lamp onto the floor. Rubbing her now pulsing headache, Twilight looked at what hit her and saw it was another lantern, hanging from some ceiling boards. It was put out though. She grabbed a nearby stick and carried some fire from her light to the hanging one, lighting it up. It wasn’t easy in her disabled state, but Twilight managed. To her surprise, it had a lot of oil inside of it, and the light immediately illuminated a large portion of the room. Twilight could then see that she was in the center of a massive underground dock of sorts. A stream of subterranean water ran through one side of the room, leaving the raised stone floor as a sort of platform. The floor, walls, and ceiling around the cave was made of chiseled stone, covered in vines and tiny brown mushrooms. Seeing eight more unlit lamps surrounding her, Twilight slowly lit them as well before flinging her burning stick into the river.
With the area now fully lit, the curious mare looked over to the river. In the new light, a large, sleek, ship was revealed in the middle of the dock, anchored to a wooden post on the floor. It had three great dark- grey sails attached to three stubby masts, all of which almost covering the entire top of the grey and blue painted vessel. The ship was no higher than ten metres tall and twenty metres wide, but had an odd length of just over fifty metres in length. Sporting only five cannons on each side and barely enough room for storage, a galley, and a single cabin, it was a bizarre boat. Twilight was intrigued by the unusual water vehicle.
“This thing looks like a racing boat. Custom, clearly…” Twilight commented.
Squinting her eyes towards the bow, Twilight read the inscribed title of the ship.
“Lightning Rod.”
Twilight looked around at the rest of the basement area and saw a long table against to the opposing wall. It was covered in dusty papers and books, all strewn across every inch of the table. Interested in this new sight, Twilight walked to the long wood table. Upon closer inspection, several maps and charts on the table and nailed to the wall behind were completely coated in a layer of black ink stains and red letters and symbols.
Jumping up and down, Captain Korsan bolted into his bedroom with the Diamond Eyes in his claws, approaching his large golden organ next to a giant king-sized bed. He saw that the organ was in operation, its keys moving on their own and its bellowing music played. With a mightly kick of his hind leg, the automatic organ stopped.
“I need silence!” The captain excitedly barked before hurrying into the library behind the bedroom.
He shoved away all previous items on the main table onto the floor and set the Diamond Eyes down together at the far end of the table. He grabbed a lit lamp at the side of his chair and held it up to the ceiling with one hoof. He then grabbed his crossbow with the other and fired a bolt into the handle, lodging it into the wooden ceiling. The brown stallion swiped several books from nearby bookshelves and creates four supports with them, stacking them up to almost to the ceiling roof. Korsan immediately darted back to the Diamond Eyes and gently set them on top of the book stacks. The combined diamonds refracted the light into white, glowing symbols, projected onto the golden tabletop, just like what happened outside.
“Where’s the Ancient Trihearth language reference book?!” He giddily exclaimed to no pony.
Twilight looked over the open books at the center of the table below a lantern and read what appeared to be a journal entry.
Day 186 of Exploration Exhibition #4 of Madenison Island
Over the past weeks, I have been searching the seas for signs of the ancient island kingdoms of Trihearth across all exterior tier waters of the Old World. Although I have not found the legendary island, I have found something even better. On my travels, I have uncovered a Rosetta Stone at the bottom of a trench, one that translates the writings of the ancient citizens of Trihearth to its most recent incarnation that has been passed down by the Cystic Family, a family to have claimed roots in the elusive island multi-nation, for generations…
“There it is!” Korsan cheered as he grabbed a red woven book near the top of a shelf.
With the tip of his claw holding the top of it, the pirate captain flung it down and grabbed it with his hind claws. He hobbled over to his chair and tossed it to his upper claws as he sat down. Rarity peered through the open door to the library and watches her captor wriggle like a foal as he pried the old writings free from their years of abandonment on a shelf.
He muttered to himself, “Let’s see, let’s see, where to start…”
Why I bring this up is not only a matter of history, or anthropology, but of another legend that has been rumoured across land, sea, and air: Alicorn Island, one of the most mysterious locations on our world, if it even exists on our world. It is said that anypony to come in mere contact with its treasured water at the center of it will gain the angelic flight of a pegasus, the arcane magic of a unicorn, and the earthly power of an Earth Pony. However, this is purely rumour and speculation, and we don’t know the true effects of the mystic waters or its application methods. Of course, even that’s a sketchy idea. The only ponies said to know of the true details of the island were the ancients of Trihearth. These details though, may have been wiped out completely by the fabled sinking of the island. However, with this discovery, we may be able to find the truth about the island. And perhaps, even gain from its unknown magic properties linked to it…
Korsan leapt from his chair, striking a pose on the golden tabletop. He’s cracked the code.
He triumphantly declared, “Finally, finally! After so many years of searching and searching, I finally have the means of which to find that island, give me what I deserve, and fix everything. I will finally make my family proud of me! I know it, they’ll be so proud once I show them my magic. They’ll forgive me, they’re glorify me, they’ll respect me, they’ll accept me. And with my ship, my crew, and my complete self, we shall do great things for the world, I know it. Mother, father, brother, sister, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, grandfathers, all of my ancestors, this is the day of Korsan Arasinda Maden’s true birth!”
Perhaps even my own family can benefit from it. My nephew, pity his soul, has been born of a dire deformation. And although my kin have come to terms with it, the poor lad will never truly be accepted as one of us. And although my efforts of trying to lift the colt’s spirits are worthy, even my own son and wife have come to despise him for his ill fate. If the powers of Alicorn Island hold true however, I may be able to save my nephew, and rewrite his fate. Only time and fate will tell.
-Alexander Tas Maden
Twilight, overcome with shock, dropped the book to the ground. A whole slate of dust popped from the cover and scattered on the cold stone.
“Maden?!” Twilight explained upon reading the authour’s last name.
This stallion who had lived on this island and may hold the key to the long sought-after Alicorn Island was a relative of Korsan. Frantic to find some more insight about this relative of Korsan, Twilight flipped through the pages of the journal, only seeing crossed out notes, equations, and absolutely destroyed pages. Eventually, she finally came across another written entry that she could read.
“Almost there,” Korsan cheered as he rapidly flipped through the pages of the shedding book. “Just have to find the right pages…”
Day 911 of Exploration Exhibition #4 of Madenison Island
It’s no use, despite countless attempts and workarounds for over two years, I can’t uncover the secrets of Alicorn Island. And it’s too late as well. From what I’ve heard via letter, my nephew, he, ran away a few weeks ago and never came back. I’ve consider returning, but to what? My wife and son probably won’t recognize me since I’ve been gone for so long, I’ve lost all of my assets in Equestria, and my brother, my only brother, disappeared as well just a week ago. I may not be able to live with myself after this has all happened. I may abandon this shack and live amongst nature as a mindless animal to escape this insanity I can’t bear. Whoever finds this, if you find me alive, leave me be. If you find me dead, tell no pony. Tell no pony that I even existed actually. What are you even doing here anyways? Leave! The more you gain interest in the Alicorn Island, the more you destroy your own life! LEAVE!!!-Alexander Tas Maden
Listen, if you’re still reading this, you still want to pursue the Alicorn Island. There’s nothing I can do to stop you. Instead, let me make it easier on you, perhaps give you less time to realize that you’re just wasting yourself doing this. In the event in which the original book is not here, I have made several copies of the Rosetta Stone and donated them to some of the most backwoods black markets in the world. There, somewhere, you’ll find the translator. However, what you need to find, and what I didn’t find, is an artifact, a map, that’ll lead you to Alicorn Island. I don’t know where it would be, but knowing the ancient rituals and cultures of Trihearth, it will be difficult to find. No matter how much reverse engineering you do, no matter how hard you try to find some loophole, another clue, or just empty searching you do, you’ll never find that wretched island. May good luck fall upon you, whether you do find it, or just realize that it’s a waste of time.
-I Don’t Exist
“Oh my gosh…” Twilight gasped. “I feel so sorry for him, wherever he is.”
Fortunately, the original copy of the translator was with Twilight. Next to the journal was an old red book, opened up to a random set of pages. Looking at the symbols, Twilight recognized them as the symbols that came from the Diamond Eyes.
“Don’t worry, Alexander, you’re work’s not going in vain.” Twilight declared.
Using her memory to recall the symbols and her studies of the language of Trihearth passed down by the Cystic Family, Twilight begun to decode the map.
“In the blackest of night,
And the empty of gone,
Stands one splendid island,
Known Alicorn Island,”
“Beyond distorts of space,
Beyond sand grains of time,
Past creature of great length,
And thinnest of all paths,”
“All inside a grand trench,
Of no magic nor flight,
To be called as a leak,
To be known as the Breach,”
“And inside the dark heart,
And through a second pulse,
Thou will find the treasure,
Of Alicorn Island,”
“Blessed be you many things,
The wings of gentle flight,
The power of the earth,
The divine magic horn,”
“Applied to thou as said,
Taketh one single touch,
By hair or bone or flesh,
And do within post haste,”
“Which all be given you,
As the moon strikes the sun,
And the sun strikes the moon,
In unified balance,”
“But take heed this warning,
Thy Equivalence Law,
Reigns above all no stock,
What form or fate you hold,”
“If thou pass the creed,
And takes to his new form,
Then fate shall then ensue,
No matter of thy past,”
“As all is said and done,
Then thou art free to go,
To pursue the riches,
Known Alicorn Island.”
“So it’s there.”
Korsan slumped back into his chair upon finishing the translation. Silently, he processed what he had read, still oblivious to Rarity’s presence.
“The Breach,” he said to himself again. “I would’ve never figured it be there. From our current position, that would at least be a week's travel. Will my crew even be willing to go there? It’s a forsaken death trap.”
“The Breach?” Rarity’s voice whispered out loud.
The captain jumped from his chair in surprise, quickly noticing his partner peeping from the doorway.
“Oh, it’s only just you.” He breathed in relief.
“Sorry.”
“Apologies are on my part, I should’ve been paying attention. What was your question?”
“The Breach, what is that?” Rarity asked.
Before the caped stallion replied, he reached over to a shelf behind his chair and pulled out a thick, black book.
He explained, “The Breach is… well… No pony really knows what it is. Some claim it’s a portal to Tartarus, others say it’s a sacred gateway to a place beyond and worse Tartarus, certain tales call it the mouth of a great beast, obscure folk lore points to it as the edge of the world. The best science can come up with is that it’s some form of chaotic rip in the fabric of reality. Either way you look at it, the Breach is a giant, bottomless canyon that spells out trouble for anypony or anything even close to it.”
Korsan slowly opened the book and held it up to Rarity, showing a wall of text on one page and a sketch on the other, showing what appeared to be a large, black crack in the middle of some ocean. The white mare loudly gulps on sight of the large abyss presented.
“See, impossible for fear to not strike your heart.” Korsan said.
“So does that mean you’re going to give up?”
In instinctive response, the stallion slammed the book close with his claws.
“No, I’ve gone too far.” He confidently declared.
Twilight stumbled backwards from the table as the chants of the verbal map and shrills of headaches echoed in her head after a long session of translating.
“The Breach?” Twilight muttered to herself. “So that’s where Korsan’s going to go as soon as he figures it out, if he hasn’t figured it out already…”
Recalling from her first entry of the shack, an idea came to Twilight’s head. She immediately headed up the ladder and returned to the front room. The excited pony returned to the map she saw and located a large black crack in the Old World section of the map. In small text, it read.
“The Breach”.
This was her goal, her chance to getting to Korsan and saving her friend.
Twilight bolted back down into the basement area and ran towards the docked boat. She grabbed the rope around the pole and pulled it, releasing the ship. Twilight quickly hopped behind the stone wheel and took control. Lightning Rod lightly bashed into the sides of the underground port a few times before quickly accelerating into the cave tunnels ahead. Light jumped across the water to Twilight and her new ship, leading her to the outside world.