For nearly 4 days, Twilight and Sunset have gone over at least a hundred books in the library and haven't found and trace of evidence linking to the mysterious alicorn known as Zoor. Though they did find a few books about Starswirl the Bearded, the books only had magic spells and potions he created. Sunset feels like she's not going to be able to find much about Starswirls past, but Twilight keeps on searching book after book from each and every bookshelf in the library.
Twilight refuses to rest for even one second and sometimes forgets to eat. During times like this, Spike would have jumped in and have her take a break if he were there right now. Hour after hour, her mane starts getting a little messy and unkempt and almost feathered out. However Sunset knows her limits and when it's time to relax for even a few minutes before she would resume helping Twilight out. With Spike gone for the time being, she fills in for him by giving Twilight a pillow and some food.
But there was another reason why Twilight refuses to sleep. She's afraid that she might have that nightmare where Spike is a full grown rampaging dragon and attacks her. She's even afraid that Spike is probably transformed back into that very same dragon right now. If Twilight ever starts to get paranoid it becomes a difficult challenge for Sunset to help try calm her friend down. Nevertheless, Sunset never believes in giving up on her friends especially when Twilight and her friends once saved her back in the human world.
But something strikes Twilight as odd and casts her paranoia aside for now. Her curiosity gets the better of her when she realizes something about Starswirl. Something she overlooked. She dashes over to one of the bookshelves and finds a book about Starswirl's real former apprentice. Sunset goes over to Twilight, still concerned about her friend and how she refuses to sleep.
"Twilight, maybe I should do some research on this. You haven't slept since we started this task." Sunset says.
"I don't have any choice, Sunset!" Twilight replies in a cranky mood, "This is the only book in my library that'll maybe help us get a lead on Starswirl!"
Her attitude makes Sunset back off a bit. "Sorry Twilight. I'm just worried about you. I'm worried about you just as much as I'm worried about Spike. Just go and get some sleep and I'll take over with the research for a while, you'll feel better when you've rested up your eyes. It's not healthy to stay up countless days researching and give your brain a chance to recover."
"But... the nightmares!"
"Just take a cup of water with you to your room. It helps to at least sooth you when you go to bed."
Twilight wants to argue back, but she lets out a yawn, too exhausted to even try now. She agrees to take some time off of her research and teleports to the kitchen and gets a cup of water. She teleports into her bedroom soon afterwards and climbs into bed, taking a few sips of her water before tucking herself into her soft, comfy pillow, falling asleep quickly.
Now that Twilight is asleep, Sunset grabs the book Twilight found and reads it from page to page, being careful not to miss any important info she might miss. She only hopes that the princesses are having much better luck at finding info on Starswirl the Bearded than she is.
Of course, in the city of Canterlot and inside the archieves of princess Celestia's castle, she and Blaze Burn are steadily going over each book related Starswirl. However they can't seem to find any books or records whatsoever on Zoor, but they have learned to grow plenty of patience over the years. The same can be said for Celestia's sister, princess Luna, whom was introduced to Blaze Burn before they began their search.
"Honey, I've got a question," Blaze Burn says.
"What might that be?" Celestia asks.
"Exactly how much is known about Starswirl? Forgive me for "living under a rock" but I hardly knew much about the stallion since I've lived in the village since birth."
"Starswirl was a very gifted and very talented unicorn who created and mastered over 200 spells. He even convinced our old enemy Scorpan to help stop his evil brother, lord Tirek. He was also able to help banish these three sirens from Equestria and into another world."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. My sister and I were there to witness it all. I could tell you more, but we've still got to find out more about him and if he had Zoor as his apprentice."
"But I just can't understand it! If he had an apprentice, then why can't we find anything about her? There has to be some kind of clue we're overlooking. But I still can't quite put my hoof on it." Blaze Burn says
"That's because Starswirl never took on Zoor as his apprentice," Luna says, "His former apprentice was a unicorn named Clover the Clever, one of the founders of Equestria. If you're going to have any luck finding out about his real apprentice, you should start your search on Clover. This might be a hunch, but I think Clover might actually be the main cause of Zoor actually existing!"
"Are you sure about this, Luna?" Celestia asks
"As I said before, it's just a hunch," Luna replies.
Celestia feels as if her sister might be telling the truth and considers the possibility. She walks over to the shelf where there should be past records of the founders of Equestria. She finds a few files on Clover the Clever, but most of them are just records about her personal life and how she was under the guidance of Starswirl until the day when her time came to breathe her last breath.
'Strange... why do I somehow get the feeling Clover was hiding some kind of secret from us that she didn't want anypony to know about? Could it be that she might have done something that she wasn't suppose to and if so, what could she have possibly done?' Celestia thinks to herself.
Just then, Luna thinks of an idea that might possibly give them a lead and addresses Celestia, "Sister, perhaps it would be best to send in Twilight and Sunset to have a look at our previous castle, there could be some books about Clover that we have yet to find out about."
"I've already asked Twilight and Sunset to do research in the library at Twilight's castle. However, I think I'll have two of our new guests explore the castle. Do you think you can act as their guide?" Celestia asks.
"Of course. When they're ready, I'll be waiting for them by the castle entrance," says Luna. She walks out of the archieves and disappears in a flashing light.
In one of the guest rooms, Shadow Force can be heard snoring heavily on one of the guest beds. Eternal Flames and Heat Blitz think he's probably having some kind of nice dream or the bed is just that comfy, but they can't concentrate on their own things with him snoring so loud.
"Heat Blitz, you got a spare pillow I can use to quiet down that blasted snoring of his?" Eternal asks.
"No and isn't he going to suffocate if you muffle his snoring?" Heat asks back.
"I've been covering his snoring mouth for years and every time I put a pillow over him, boom! He never seems to run out of air, so I'm sure he'll live through it."
"I hope you're ri-" Heat says before he's cut off by Shadow's loud snoring. "Ugh! If he snores any louder than that, he's most certainly gonna blow out my ear drums!" he says, slightly annoyed.
"That makes two of us," Eternal replies.
Thankfully, there's a knock on their door, waking up Shadow from his little nap. He adjusts his eyes until he can see better and gets off the guest bed. He walks over to the door and opens it. Eternal thinks it's something important the moment he sees that it's his mother Princess Celestia.
"Eternal Flames, can you come over here? I need to ask a favor of you and Shadow Force. This might require some help from the both of you," Celestia says. Eternal walks over to the doorway towards his mother and Shadow Force curious of what she wants from him and Shadow. "Your father and I are still looking for some info on Starswirl the Bearded but all we've found is some history about him and his former apprentice, Clover the Clever, who was once one of the founders of all Equestria. I need you and Shadow to go to this old castle in the Everfree Forest with Luna and find out as much as you can about either one of the two ponies I mentioned so can I count on you to do that for me, son?"
"Yes mother!" he replies immediately.
"Hey, as long as I get to do something useful, I'm game," Shadow shrugs.
"Excellent. Follow me to the entrance and I'll let Luna take over from there. After all, you still haven't met her yet and it will be a great experience to get to know my sister." Celestia says, slightly joyful. The two stallions follow the princess through the castle and made their way down towards the main throne room and near the castle entrance where the two stallions eyes lock onto a beautiful midnight blue alicorn mare.
Eternal and Shadow walk up to Luna and bow to her. "So you're Princess Luna?" Eternal asks. Luna nods with a small smile and earns a bow from both stallions. "It's an honor to meet you."
"We're very pleased to meet you, princess," Shadow says.
"I'm flattered by your respectful manners, but perhaps we can skip the introductions and move forward. The clock is still ticking and we must hurry to me and my sister's old castle!" Luna implies. Eternal and Shadow stand up and walk closer and get taken by surprise by her whistling. A pair of Royal Guard pegasi arrive with a carriage and land in front Luna, Eternal and Shadow Force. "Hop on," she says.
The stallions obey and get onto the carriage with Luna. She tells the guards to take them to the entrance of the former castle of the royal sisters. Their wings spread out wide before finally taking off as fast and steadily as they can, trying not to knock any of the passengers over. On the trip, Luna can't help but glance at Shadow Force and sees a strong resemblance to King Sombra in him. From his dark gray fur to those red eyes and black mane, there's no doubt in her mind that Shadow Force is King Sombra's son. It only becomes more clearer to her about who his actualy mother is, but she chooses to stay quiet about it.
Luna decides to cast her worries aside for now and just focus on taking the boys to the abandoned castle but casting aside her worries is a task easier said than done. Shadow can tell that Luna's feeling stressed and whispers to Eternal mostly because he thinks Luna doesn't feel like explaining some personal problem that probably doesn't concern him whatsoever.
"Psst, Eternal," Shadow whispers.
"What?" Eternal whispers back.
"Something's up with the princess. She just gave me this look for no reason."
"What kind of look?"
"I don't know how to describe, but it's kind of the same as the one you get from a mother who's worried sick about her child's well-being or something."
"Well, Shadow, I just don't know what to tell you, maybe the moment she layed her eyes on you made her go on a trip down memory lane. It never hurts to at least ask her what's wrong."
But asking Luna will have to wait as the carriage comes to a complete stop at the entrance of the abandoned castle and just the sight of it makes Shadow's and Eternal's jaw drop. Luna taps both of the stallions on the shoulders, getting both of their attentions immediately.
"We can do a little sight-seeing some other time, but right now you boys should follow me, I'll take you to the archieves and you can start your search there," she says.
"Of course, princess," Eternal and Shadow say in unison.
Luna leads them inside the castle. The two young stallions eyes scan the entire place around them. The floors were covered with small amounts of rubble and large boulders. The walls had torn up banners like there was struggle a long time ago. Eternal Flames' curiosity couldn't be ignored, but at the same time he can't ignore the princess' orders so he keeps on following Luna farther into the castle.
They start walking up a flight of stairs and come across a room full of old books and some lost personal records of some of the deceased ponies in Equestria. None of the records have any info on Starswirl naturally, but none about the one who calls herself Zoor.
Luna stops in the middle of the room and turns to the boys.
"Now, boys, as my sister has already told you, if you find out anything about Starswirl or Zoor whatsoever, let us know and we'll be on our way here. I wish you both the best of luck." Luna bows her head to her nephew and his friend before teleporting back to the entrance and gets on the carriage and orders the guards to fly straight back to the Canterlot Castle. They obey without question.
With the princess of the night getting back to her business, Eternal Flames and Shadow Force take the liberty of going over the archieves. Well, mostly it's just Eternal. Shadow barely gets through half of a book and after that, he just yawns and slams himself on the floor with a loud thud, snoring.
"Blast it all, Shadow, this is no time to be napping on the job now get up!" Eternal shouts. Shadow's eyes shoot wide open and lifts his head up quickly and accidentally hits his head with Eternal's.
"AAH! Sweet Celestia that hurts!" Shadow shouts, rubbing his head.
"Well next time, control those sleeping urges when you pick up a book!"
"I can't help it if I always fell asleep in class when I was younger! Reading is boring!"
"Maybe so, but it can sometimes kill time if you've got a creative mind."
"Kill time? Yeah right! Sleeping and training kills time! Not like you'd understand with your overworking flank!"
"My flank?! You dare speak of a prince's FLANK?!"
Shadow stands back up and locks his forehead with Etenral's. The two stallions growl and glare at each other for a moment until they realize they're getting worked up over nothing. They back away from each other and take deep breaths and look at each other.
"Sorry, bud. I guess I'm still exhausted and a bit cranky. It's difficult for me to keep my eyes open after that long trip from the village, you know?" Shadow says.
"I know. I've been on edge, too. Although I'd say I'm always on edge almost all the time. I guess I'm just concerned for Spike and hope he's unharmed. When we were coming to this brand new place, my body was tired and wanted to sleep in the night, but my brain was just working into overdrive. But it's no excuse for me to lash out on you, so I apologize for my rude behavior, Shadow."
"Hey, no worries about it. We all get cranky sometimes. But right now, I think since you're practically always up, why don't you sleep in and I'll get to work on the books."
"No, Shadow. You haven't had much sleep either, I can handle a few more hours of reading."
"Uhh, I don't think so "chief," you're gonna sleep and that's that. If I end up passing out again, then at least I tried to do my part and the books'll be all yours to read until I wake up."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Now take a nap, buddy. You've earned a little brake."
"Very well then. I'll leave it up to you for now." Eternal's reassurance make Shadow nod. Eternal kneels down and lays on the floor and slowly closes his eyes. Shortly afterwards, Eternal emits these semi-loud snores which only meant he had stayed awake that long last night.
"Poor guy." was all Shadow could say. He lights up his horn and levitates a book up to his face. The book he's reading has some info on Starswirl and a few hidden and forbidden spells he had created. Shadow Force himself is well aware of these forbidden spells being that he once used a few of them back home. Even now he wishes he could take it all back but the past is the past and he paid for his mistake.
He can feel his eyes getting heavy with each page he was reading, but with sheer determination, he managed to somehow brush off his drowsiness. Cover after cover, he still tries hard to search for any clues about Starswirl or Zoor and comes up with nothing.
At the Castle of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle still sleeps soundly up in her room. The advise she got from Sunset earlier has somehow done the trick. But with Sunset, she still can't find any leads on Starswirl in the book Twilight had picked out and was getting frustrated by the minute.
"Ugh, I just don't get it! How am I suppose to find any solid clues if all I'm reading about his Starswirl's personal life, what in Celestia's name am I overlooking anyway?" Sunset asks herself in frustration. Then by some miracle, an idea finally hit her. "Wait a second! Maybe the answer isn't hidden in Starswirl's peronal life at all, but maybe it's hidden somewhere in the spells he and his apprentice created long ago. I don't know if that book is in here, but it's still well worth trying to find it."
Luckily for Sunset, Twilight was very organized with her library books and had them all marked down from A to Z among other things. Thank to that, Sunset finds the book on the many spells made by Starswirl and the additional spells made by one Clover the Clever.
Sunset begins to read the book from page to page. She was making sure not to read the spells out loud, aware that some of them are activated when reading them aloud. Some of the spells were very dangerous if they were read very carelessly like Twilight did before she became a princess.
For the first 45 pages, Sunset found nothing too serious until she came cross the page that said "Warning: Forbidden Spells, Do Not" but the rest of the warning was smudged. Sunset could already guess that it was warning her never read any of the spells out loud. As a precaution, she heeded the warning and read the page inside her head very carefully.
Some of the spells had different magical strength enhancements that could either strengthen a unicorn's physical and mental abilities, but the price was a near death experience that almost took Starswirl the Bearded's life a few years early when he was still alive. Other spells either had the ability to increase magical abilities, but would corrupt the user's mind. A spell very similar to the Alicorn Amulet's abilities.
Minutes later, Sunset was about to read the last page in the book, but finds out there's a page missing and a message that was written by Starswirl himself.
To any future readers out there
I strongly suggest you do not find the missing last page to this book. I've lost my apprentice because of this terrible spell she had created. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave it alone. I did this to protect the lives of innocent ponies both in my time and the ones in the future. All I ask is for you ponies to stay away from this hidden spell, not for me, but for your own safety.
Signed Starswirl the Bearded
"What kind of spell was he talking about and how did it make him lose his apprentice? Maybe I should alert the princesses about this. I've got a terrible feeling this is all linked together somehow. I don't know how it is linked together, but I can just somehow feel it." Sunset says to herself. She didn't want to lose the book, so she brought it along with her upstairs and into her bedroom. She sets the book down on her desk and grabs out a sheet of paper and a quill, writing down her message to the princesses.
Meanwhile, out in the dragon kingdom, the dragons spent most of their time eating from their gem hoards or bathing in a pool of hot lava or just plain rough-housing. But their day was interrupted by one alicorn and her hypnotized dragon slave. All of the dragons recognized Spike, but became hostile and territorial and approached the pony that was with him.
"And just who do you think you are?!" One dragon said.
"Yeah, what makes you think you can just trespass here without permission from Dragon Lord Ember?" Another dragon asks, gripping Zoor. The dragon was replied by a grip to his neck by Spike's claw and was blown back by Spike's roar and increased fire breath.
"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing, Spike?! She's the enemy!" The dragon said, getting up. Zoor looked at them with an evil grin and chuckled to herself. "Quick! Alert the dragon lord!" he said.
Three of the other dragons unfolded their wings and flew off to the castle.
"Oh, I don't think so," Zoor says. She opens her mouth, vocalizing her voice. Her voice created a frequency that reached all the dragons in the area. They all covered their ears, trying to drown out the sound with their roaring, but it was no use. Spike was already hypnotized so the didn't affect him at all.
Within moments, every single dragon had fallen under the spell of the Song of Dragons and gathered around their new sinister leader, Zoor. She lets out a menacing laugh as the dragons, including poor little Spike, all bowed down to Zoor.
"All hail Zoor!" the dragons chanted.
"That's right! BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!!!" Zoor shouts, grinning at her new dragon servants.