"Huh. So that's what it was like up in those caves," Saffron said, hooves folded as she listened in interest. "Can't say I ever thought of that, though I guess it makes sense that mountains would be full of them. Still, I wonder how you made it through without getting turned back..."
"Maybe the mountains' magic can't extend caves?" Maple suggested, perking her ears. "It must be hard to make a tunnel look like it goes on forever."
Saffron shrugged. "Can't be harder than an entire row of mountains going on up on the surface. Still, it could be." She flicked her well-groomed tail in thought. "The way I see it, there's three ways she could have done it. One is she already has a writ and was too young to remember getting it. No idea how you'd get something that rare and not be told later, though. Second is what you said. Maybe whoever enchanted the place just didn't think to enchant beneath it. And third is that the magic reacts to your intentions somehow. If she was really running away, caring more about where she was leaving than where she was going... What if they only turn back folks who are in there because they're trying to get to the other side?"
Starlight furrowed her brow. "I don't know," she sighed. "I didn't know a thing about them going in, I told you. All I know is the part I was in was rainy and had a lot of trees. I guess it would have been kind of nice, if you were prepared for the weather and wanted to be alone..."
Maple smiled. "Well, you weren't completely alone. You had that book, right?"
"Oh." Starlight blinked, standing up. "Right. Wait here."
She got up and trotted off, both mares looking after her, and quickly returned with Sosa the Explorer's journal held in her teeth. "Here," she said, giving it to Saffron. "I found it in the mountains. I gave it to Shinespark, so you'd have to ask her if you want it. It's really boring, but maybe you'd care about it."
Saffron lifted the book, skimming the intro, her eyes widening. "Is this authentic? It's got some traces of preservation magic. Someone definitely didn't want it getting old..." She delicately flipped through several pages, showing far more care and reverence than Starlight had ever given the thing. "Heh. Imagine writing poetry about mountaineering. Says he used pitons and rope to scale that whole initial cliff face. That's a climb that must've taken from dawn until dawn. We've got maps, expedition logs..." She shook her head. "This nutcase writes about building a portable brewery up there. Sosans and their alcohol. And look. Here's more about that theory of his, founding Ironridge right between Grandbell and Infinite Glacier. And aww, lookie there. He's even got some religious symbolism and mathematical theories to back it up. That's almost cute."
"I skipped the diagrams," Starlight volunteered. "The poetry was boring, but at least it made sense."
"Here's the Emblem of the Nine Virtues," Saffron continued. "He's got it... What is this?" She suddenly squinted, holding the book sideways and furrowing her brow. "Huh. Well, this is the weirdest theory I've ever seen."
Ears perked, Starlight and Maple both moved closer to look over her shoulder. The book was spread open in a two-page diagram, dominated by the familiar hexagon-triangle emblem further inscribed within a circle, with some space separating the edges of the circle from the furthest points of the triangle. But a thick black line sliced horizontally through the circle about two-thirds up, just below the top three points, Aldenfold written neatly beneath it. The top right point of the outer triangle was labeled Garsheeva, the top left Unicornia, and the point between them, the top point of the hexagon and the only other above the line, marked simply with an arrow and a question mark. None of the points below the line were labeled.
Starlight blinked, certain she had dismissed this image thousands of times in the mountains as meaningless and never looked at it again. But now that Saffron drew her attention to it... "Those are the mountains. Is this supposed to be a map of the world?"
"I suppose it is," Saffron remarked, still staring intently at the pages. "This here's pretty obviously the Empire, and Unicornia is supposed to be the old city Infinite Glacier was built on top of after the valley froze over two thousand years ago. At least, that's the story to hear my old mentor tell it. And it's true that the Aldenfold is pretty straight..."
"And the circle?" Maple asked, tilting her head.
"Well, that would be the edge of the world." Saffron shrugged. "I guess you two wouldn't have heard a whole lot about it, Riverfall being near the center of all this. It's nothing to write home about. It's kind of a hemisphere line that stretches around to the north and meets the Aldenfold in Everlaste and again far to the west. Stuff just gets barren and sort of stops. There's no wind or rain, no clouds, plants can't grow... It gets flat and featureless, except for cracks in the ground that sometimes burn with these intangible, temperatureless red flames at night. And eventually it gets colder and colder, and the air gets thinner until it's hard to breathe. I hear it's a pretty view, but it's just a place everyone kind of ignores."
"So he thought this symbol was related to a map of the world, though," Starlight said, looking at the pages again. "And everything south of the mountains is Equestria?"
Saffron turned to the books too. "Looks like it. Seems to be some writings here about the geometric precision of the distances from these two cities to the edge. Looks like if the circle kept up its proportions and the triangle did too, he's saying there'd be a third spot at the south, the last point on the triangle where everything lines up perfect to have the things centered in each other. I kind of want to call him crazy. But you think this is related to how he positioned Ironridge so precisely?"
"It is," Maple whispered. "Because Ironridge had a crystal palace, and Grandbell does too. There must be others at all these other points. And... wasn't there a table in the palace we visited with this symbol on it too? I remember one of the dots being differently colored. What if that was a map showing where we were on the symbol?"
Starlight continued staring at the diagram. "So there are three of them above the mountains, and six below. And we're in the corner?"
"Well." Saffron stood up. "I have to say, I know what my dreams will be filled with tonight. This is bizarre and fascinating. Can't say it's left me in the right mood for storytelling, unfortunately..."
"That's okay," Starlight promised. "Maybe we need to spend time rereading this book as well..."
"I'd recommend it," Saffron advised. "If that crazy idea's true, it's the kind of discovery that could make any history buff your best friend forever. No one knew why Sosa thought there'd be something special out there, but these palaces you're talking about aside, this idea with the emblem is really something." She brushed her mane back. "Though, uh, maybe don't talk to it around too many religious types here. The Empire knows how to tolerate Yakyakistan, but they'll still look at you like crackpots if you go on telling the wrong folks about someone else's theology. Garsheeva and the yak church are sort of rivals, and this is sort of Garsheeva's home turf."
"Right." Maple smiled. "Are you leaving?"
Saffron stretched, getting to her hooves. "Think so. I'll see if we can't get something together to do tomorrow, once the tournament preparations are sorted. I'll drop by and tell you how it-"
A loud knocking interrupted her from the door to the deck above. It didn't sound friendly.
"Oh, what now?" Maple whispered, ears pressing back.
Saffron frowned. "Mind if I get it?"
She didn't wait for approval, Starlight hurrying after her and Maple close behind. Starlight lit her horn on the landing, following upward as the door slid aside... revealing Meltdown, silhouetted by the storm, flanked by a cabal of professional guards and backed a sphinx who was a head and a half bigger than normal, watching with glowing eyes and the colorations of Garsheeva.
"Uhhh... Good evening, Your Eminence," Saffron greeted, immediately sinking into a bow.
"What do you want?" Starlight challenged, letting her horn go out but keeping a dangerous eye ready.
"Do not be afraid," Meltdown commanded. "We have come for someone who is hiding here."