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// Chapter 2: The journey begins 
// Story: The Timeless Hollow 
// by Warrior of Vale 
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The journey begins








"Can you see anything?" Silver Spoon groaned, struggling to speak as she tried adjusting her stance, not an easy task with Diamond Tiara standing on her back.
The pink filly craned her neck and peered through the window of the Cutie Mark Crusaders fort, not really able to see anything from where she was.
"Not really..." she hissed, still trying to see inside, and keep her balance. "I think they're just talkin- OH PONYFEATHERS!" She stopped mid sentence and fell off of Silver who looked around then at her, startled and alarmed.
"Hurry" Diamond grabbed her hoof and yanked her away from the window quickly, "wait wha-" Silver started protesting as her glasses threatened to fly off but Diamond crammed a hoof in her mouth and shook her head as the window was tossed open and they heard a voice come through it.
"Gettin' mighty stormy out there, by the look of things."
Judging from the drawl in the voice it was probably Applebloom who had opened the window just to look outside, causing both Diamond and Tiara to sigh with relief.



Some more voices were heard and Diamond shrugged her shoulders, "it sounded like they were going over their past failures to me." she giggled slightly, a somewhat cruel lilt catching her voice.
"Celestia knows they've had a lot of those." Silver snickered alongside her as she adjusted her glasses again.
Suddenly the window slammed shut as a mighty gust of wind picked up, ruffling both of their manes ferociously and causing the tree that the fort was on to shake slightly.
"What in Equestria is going on now? There isnt supposed to be any storms tonight." Diamond got up on her hind legs and peeked into the fort cautiously.
Her whole body froze and she went rigged, causing Silver to frown and poke her flank once, "what do you see now?"
"Uhmm...Princess Luna."
"What?!" Silver gasped and clambered up as best she could, she'd never admit it to anyone but she was a huge fan of the darker princess, something about the mare was so...regal, and beautiful. She wasnt as comfortable around others as her sister, Celestia, but that was part of her allure.
"Seems like Luna has a task for them," Diamond whispered, inching closer to the window. 



Inside the treehouse the hush that had fallen from Luna's arrival continued as all three fillies stared in awe at their princess.
Luna stared back at them, unsure on how to proceed, a thousands years on the moon had made her less than accustom to talking to other ponies. She looked around nervously then gave them a strange lopsided smile.
"Are you three....quite alright?"
Scootaloo was the first to get her nerve back and she nodded quickly, "well we were kinda waiting for you to tell us what exactly you wanted, you did just barge in here you know."
"Now thats just rude scoots! She's a princess!" Applebloom gasped, shocked at the ease Scootaloo had with being snarky.
The exchange only made Luna chuckle though and she held up a hoof, "It is quite alright Applebloom, we- that is to say, I enjoy the ability to speak freely with my citizens, and I'd ask you to do the same."
"Well if that's the case then how about you give us an idea on what it is you want us to do." Sweetie belle finally spoke up in her warm squeaky voice that invited comfort and conversation.
Luna nodded curtly then took a seat near them, folding her wings behind her back and looking a bit more comfortable, "there is something I wish for you to recover for me, from the Everfree forest. It is an object of considerable power and I very much want it back in my possession."
"You want us...to get it? Why can't you get it?" Scootaloo cocked her head to the side, unsure of what was going on.
Luna's expression darkened slightly and she shook her head, looking glum, "I'm afraid that I cannot, the object that I seek is deep within the bowels of the ancient royal castle. The castle my sister and I used to occupy before our....differences came into light. There is nothing for me there but overwhelming sadness."
"Then why not ask the grownups?"
"I feel that this journey is one that the young should embark on, if I'm not mistaken the three of you are still on your search for your own special talents yes?"
There was a begrudging confirmation from the three girls who looked none too pleased about the question.
"What better way to discover yourselves and strengthen your bonds of friendship than with an adventure?"
"But what if our sisters find out we're missing?" Applebloom mused, deep in thought, "or Rainbow dash!" Scootaloo gasped soon afterwords, "wait...Rainbow would think that's cool, nevermind!"
"Celestia and I will assure them that you are quite alright." 
"Oh so Celestia knows about this too?" Sweetie Belle looked a little relieved at the thought of that but Luna looked around nervously and tried passing a terrible poker face by them.
"...Celestia doesn't know does she?"
"No...she does not, but i would inform her immediately if anything regarding your families came up."



The three girls huddled together across the tree fort and began discussing this offer.
"I'm game" Scootaloo blurted before anyone could say anything, Sweetie Belle giggled at that and Applebloom facehoofed in exasperation, "oh of course, well... ignoring Scootaloo, what do you think Sweetie?"
The marshmallow white filly pursed her lips then glanced back at Luna who waved a hoof, "I don't know... It sounds fun to me, the cutie mark crusaders aren't supposed to fear anything! All in the name of our cutie marks right?"
"I suppose..." 
Before Applebloom could continue though the door to their tree fort burst open and Pip stumbled over the last step, his trusty sword still in his mouth. 
He saw the three of them and cheered then looked over at Luna and immediately his eyes went wide and the cheer got cut in half.
Luna stared at him sheepishly and almost looked like she was blushing, "good evening young Pipsqueak. How are you doing?"
Pip gulped then bowed down low, "just fine milady, I came here with an urgent message for the girls."
"Well then, by all means" Luna gestured a hoof and tried to not appear so awkward.
"Applebloom!" Pip gasped, remember his message, "I overheard Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon earlier, they were talking about crashing your sleepover here, thought I'd come to save the day and whatnot."
"Oh?" Luna blurted before Applebloom could respond, when everyone looked at her she pointed a hoof to the window and opened it using her horn. "I was wondering who these two were"
Her horn began glowing brighter and everyone heard a loud squeal from outside the window as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got pulled into the fort effortlessly."
"HEY! let me down this instant!" Diamond wailed, kicking her legs and struggling against the magic.
"Oh dear..." Silver sighed, holding onto her glasses as she turned in circles, suspended in the air.
"Friends of yours?" Luna asked as she put the two girls down gently.
"Not exactly," Scootaloo scowled staring at Diamond who refused to make eye contact.
"Just classmates with a mean streak" Sweetie Belle spoke up to keep her more abrasive from saying something she'd regret.
"Perfect! Now you have three more companions that could join you!" Luna beamed brightly, excited by the idea.
"Wait what?! No way I'm joining these dorks!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed as she picked herself up from the ground looking extremely displeased. 
Pip however looked incredibly interested, "join them? like... on an ADVENTURE!?" Judging from his voice he could barely contain his excitement, this is what he'd been waiting for.



Luna sat them all down around her and explained exactly what she needed, Pip agreed to participate immediately much to Scootaloo's glee.
Sweetie Belle had her issues but agreed to go so long as Luna promised to explain it all to her sister, Applebloom quickly gave in after that.
Diamond Tiara wanted nothing to do with them but Silver Spoon kept staring at Luna and mentioned that they couldn't exactly turn down a request given directly to them by a princess.
"I don't see why we would have to go with a bunch of blankflanks is all" Diamond moaned, her petulance showing her voice.
"Your only options are going of your own volition or me making you go, think of it that way." Luna winked at the snooty filly who scowled back at her.
"Honestly I don't think we'd be too upset if those two stayed behind..." Applebloom mumbled, barely audible.
"I know I couldn't care less. Maybe they'll get eaten in the forest!" Scootaloo's eyes brightened at the thought which caused Diamond to balk and Silver to sigh heavily.
Luna gave them a couple moments to talk it out, not that it helped much, but eventually Diamond Tiara gave in, knowing full well that she was gonna be forced along anyways.
"As a sign of goodwill I'll allow you to travel through my shadow gate directly to Zecora's cottage, she'll be able to help you from there." Luna flapped her mighty wings conjuring up gusts of warm wind and her horn shone again as the shadow from the corners of the room congregated near them then lifted themselves off the ground to create a hazy doorway.
"You talked to Zecora about this? You really thought it through huh?" Pip snagged his sword up off the ground and slid it into the belt he often used to hold it, so he could speak easier.
Zecora has been nothing but a great help to me, when I came to her about this problem it was she who suggested I ask you to go. She has great confidence in you."
The next couple minutes were filled with everyone getting anything they thought they'd need, Applebloom tied some food up in a bag which she then tied to a stick, Sweetie Belle got their crusading capes and tied them to her friends and Scootaloo simply folded up her scooter.
Diamond sulked near a corner while Silver Spoon peppered Luna with questions, the princess was not used to the attention however and mostly just mumbled shy answers or avoided them altogether.



"So what are we looking for exactly? You explained that its in the ancient castle that the adults found the Elements of Harmony, but what is it."
Luna thought about the question for a moment then answered, "as for its shape I cannot say, its been known to change from time to time and from bearer to bearer. What you will need to do is move beyond the grand hall in the castle and down into the central garden. From there you'll have entered a hollow, the way forwards will be easy enough to see from there. Everything after that is up to you brave six ponies."
"awright then, lets get outta here" Applebloom lifted her hoof and her two friends bopped their hooves together, joined quickly by little Pip who cheered as well.
The four of them dashed through the gate and were gone.
Silver turned to Diamond who grumbled something and rolled her eyes. "Its ok diamond, I'll be here the whole time," she mumbled softly. The pink filly glanced at her for a moment and didn't say anything but instead nodded slightly then was gone.
"Good luck young one" Luna called as Silver adjusted her glasses one last time before stepping into the gate.




The gate itself was a bit underwhelming, but cool nonetheless, it was like stepping into the shade on a hot day, the air around them got colder and they could see their breathe as little white puffs of air. To the sides was just black space and in front of them was a white light, exactly like a tunnel, a couple moments later and they were standing outside of Zecora's cottage, just beyond the limit of the Everfree forest.
After the three of them Pip popped out, lost his balance and tumbled slightly, he managed to get up and scoot to the side as Diamond and Silver stepped through the gate which then closed without any hesitation.
With perfect timing Zecora's door swung open and the friendly shaman-esque zebra stepped out.
"Ah young foals, welcome to the start, the beginning of  the journey on which you embark."
"Evenin' miss Zecora" Applebloom bowed politely and smiled brightly.
"We were told that you could help us?" Sweetie Belle asked, peering into the cottage curiously.
"That I can little one, many a brew i have, or perhaps a potion." She reached her head into the satchel around her waist and pulled out a small bottle with dark blue liquid in it.
"Should you find yourselves in need of help, pour this liquid near what it is that might make you yelp."
She handed the bottle off to Sweetie Belle who put it in her own satchel.
"Thanks a lot Zecora!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she revved her wings with anticipation.
"Yeah thanks a ton" Sweetie Belle did a little hop and chased after the orange filly.
Zecora smiled and patted each of them on the head as they passed by her and beyond her cottage, into the Everfree forest.
"Lets go then Diamond" Silver put a hoof on her friends shoulder then nodded when she looked over at her. "I'm sure your father will understand, he'd want you to listen to a royal princess."
Diamond Tiara heaved a large sigh then squared her little shoulders and took off after the group, with Silver right behind her.

And that was the start of their journey