I was brooding.
There was no other way to describe it. I didn’t know if it was the memory of the Storm King Ambassador’s smile that was eating at me or the fact that we had basically zero intelligence on him or the land his empire had conquered. I was reminded of North Korea in that zero news reaching the outside world was likely an indicator of dark secrets being held inside the borders. I sighed, stopping my repetitive motions with a mane-brush. I had been zoning out for probably ten minutes, just staring at myself in the mirror as my mind wandered.
I tossed the brush onto the counter. Well, was I the pony that thought about every problem sideways or not? Time to get unstuck.
I trotted out of the suite my wife and I shared, Penny matched my pace to my left. As we entered an empty hallway, I said, “Send a message to the dungeons. Have Chrysalis summoned to the interview room. I have new questions for her.”
“Mmmmmm… Mmmmmmmmmm…”
I stopped to look at my bodyguard. She was tilting her head from side to side, giving off a non-committal sound like she wanted to voice a protest but couldn’t make herself do it. Of course, I knew when and where she would contradict me in private at the drop of a hat— anywhere on the face of Equus.
I arched an eyebrow. “Care to share your thoughts, Penny?”
She gasped. “Oh, thank you so much for asking, Your Splendiferousness!”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile. Definitely a tactical mistake to teach her that word.
Penny continued. “I recommend you visit her cell. She can’t reach you because of the wards and shields in place, and it’s just more… cozy.”
Yeah, sure. ‘Cozy’ had nothing to do with it. But I decided to trust Penumbra’s judgment. Maybe she had heard that Chrysalis’ recent mood was such that she would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to a royal appointment. Not exactly conducive to getting the answers I wanted.
I nodded. “Lead on.”
When we arrived at the bottom level of the dungeons, the four guardsponies snapped to stiffer attention. The two unicorns were apprentices from the Guild of Mages and settled for giving me a respectful head-nod. I noted that both kept their horns dimly lit in preparation for any spell they might need to cast at a moment’s notice. The steel-banded nullstone door to the prisoner’s room was open. A faint, multi-colored wall of magic stretched across the doorway. The image of the room beyond wavered a bit, like looking through the shallow water of a pond. What I saw on the other side made me blink. My brain refused to process what I was seeing.
“Explain,” I said.
That got Chrysalis’ attention long enough to give me a disappointed look. Then her eyes went back down to her hooves to continue the pattern she was knitting.
Penny said, “The cleaning pony enters yon Royal Chambers on a weekly basis, though only after Her Majesty allows her to. A few months back, Her August Pricklishness was in an especially cranky mood and forced Reef Knot to wait. Well, being one who valued her time, the earth pony mare shoved one of the mages out of his chair and took out her knitting. For some reason, this captured The Divine Egg-layer’s interest like nopony’s business. After getting the yarn and needles cleared through Security, The Royal Loom has been churning out yard after yard of that scarf.”
“You don’t say,” I responded. The captive queen’s demeanor looked more than a bit like my maternal grandmother when she was knitting, especially the displeased frown that meant the children were being too loud again.
“Yep. Reef Knot brings down her knitting group to the interview room every Wednesday night and the elderly mares gossip and tell stories. Everypony appears to have a good time and our Illustrious Bug of Crafting seems to genuinely enjoy their company.”
Well, that was certainly unexpected. I wondered if this was purely a matter of convenience for the captive queen or if she was forming genuine friendships. A glance at her wings confirmed that this was probably not the case.
I continued to study her for a couple of minutes. Looked like I would have to get the conversation rolling. “I take it you find knitting relaxing? Enough to resist the urge to strangle all the idiots surrounding you?”
Chrysalis didn’t look up but she gave the hint of a smile. “You do understand... the idiot part at least. While we're on the subject, I need you to be silent so I can finish this line.”
I held my tongue as she slowly worked along the top layer of her scarf. Unsurprisingly, she continued onto the next line.
I waited until she was halfway through before saying, “I'm wondering what you know about the Storm King.”
Her hooves paused for a moment then resumed. After a few seconds, she said, “Why do you ask?”
“I thought your intelligence network may have gathered some useful information on what he is like. You see, his Ambassador has been invited to our upcoming Friendship Festival. We might get lucky and the Storm King himself will show up.”
Her hooves lurched and the pattern deformed. The top few layers now had some parts loosened while others had their slack taken out. She’d have to pull those lines out and redo them.
Chrysalis set the work down. She still would not meet my eyes. “That would not be advisable.”
“And why not?”
The Queen went twice to pick up her knitting work and stopped herself each time. After that, she sat mute.
I faced the hallway, slowly walking away. “Fine. Perhaps I will bring him down here and do the introductions when he visits. Goodbye, Chrysalis.”
“Very well!” I heard from behind me. I turned around, returned to my spot in front of the door and sat down. The changeling was still lying in the center of her cell, but she was looking at me now, a displeased frown on her face.
“The Equestrian Hive Queens meet every twenty years. At my first, I took an immediate dislike to one queen in particular— Dactylia of the Southern Wastes. Each of us would trade insults and boasts, warning the other not to get in the other’s way. The reason for our hostility soon dawned on both of us. Out of all the changeling queens, only the two of us shared the same level of ambition for bettering our hives.”
“The Southern Wastes Hive’s understanding of all forms of magic was superior to every other hive and their jealously guarded secret. In exchange for an exorbitant amount of stored love, they supplied all the remaining hives with what appeared to be common pony artifacts, but they could be activated by changeling magic. The items had special capabilities essential for infiltrators and completely undetectable by ponies. Thirty-nine years ago, Dactylia gave me the pinnacle of her hive’s achievements. She instructed me how only a queen’s magic could activate the spell woven onto the surface of a circular crystal plate. This allowed us to see and hear each other through a link to the companion plate despite the great distance between us. Dactylia accomplished what no pony mage ever had! We scheduled a time to talk once each month, assisting each other whenever feasible now that we were safe from the ears of other queens.”
Her frown deepened. “Six months ago, Dactylia told me about her plans. Her drones were poised to infiltrate and replace key ponies in the city of Sisophon, and by doing so, expand the edge of her hive's territory. However, in the matter of a single day, a warlord named The Storm King conquered the town and closed it off. The last drone to escape could find no trace of those ponies that used to be in charge, rendering worthless years of intelligence gathering. Dactylia confided that she still planned to send disguised drones to scout out the town in a few weeks. She would learn what kind of opportunities could come out of this new power in the region.”
She swallowed. “The following month, I returned to my chambers at our arranged time…”
“I am not to be disturbed.”
Both warrior drones saluted as I marched past, shouting “Yes, My Queen!” even as I shut the door.
I cast a sound-dampening bubble around me. My brief time with Shining Armor had been very educational. I was impressed at the sheer variety of effects that could be overlaid onto a simple shield spell. I had applied his techniques to changeling shields with moderate success, teaching the modifications to my children. I smiled. Perhaps when we met again, I could thank him properly.
I wiped my grin away. Such idle fantasizing was beneath me when there were more important matters at hoof. “It is time.”
I lit my horn, feeding the energy into the four protrusions on the front of the plate. The pale yellow crystal slowly turned dull gray, spreading out in translucent rings from the center. I waited with increasing impatience as the featureless surface continued to stare back at me. This was unprecedented. Dactylia was even more obsessed with punctuality than I. She had never failed to power-up her side of the link after a dozen seconds. Now it was approaching five minutes.
Just as I was about to cut off my supply of magic, the center of the plate rippled with dark and light expanding circles. It was about damn time. I prepared a particularly biting insult to hurl at the only changeling queen I considered my equal.
My words died in my throat when a blinding beam of light shot into my face, dazzling me for a moment. I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the radiance shining from the disk. Once I could see the scene properly, I didn’t understand what I beheld. The unfamiliar room where the companion plate rested was brightly lit. Why had Dactylia moved it? A glance upward showed a large hole in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to stream into the chamber. Looking around the area, I felt my stomach drop to my hooves as I finally recognized it. This was the queen’s quarters. The plate was still on the table in the center of the room. A queen’s chamber was always positioned at the deepest part of the hive to provide the greatest protection. Now Dactylia’s was exposed to the elements.
Before I could consider this further, I heard the sounds of steps come through the disk. Someone walked by the left side of the table where the companion plate sat as it always had. He was in no hurry, turning to face me only after reaching the front of the table. I had seen a corpse of his species before, so I had no trouble recognizing him as an adult yeti male. The pair of glowing blue lightning bolts on his chest armor removed any doubt who the yeti was—The Storm King. His fanged smile got wider as he slammed the butt end of his staff to the ground. He stood there, studying me with wry amusement on his face. He was waiting for something… some sort of reaction from me.
That’s when I noticed the head of his gnarled wooden staff. A glowing blue crystal was nestled near the top, and rising from the highest point of the crystal...
I gasped. It was Dactylia’s horn, emitting the same blue-green color that I had seen countless times when she was alive.
My hoof lashed out, shattering the disk and breaking the connection. I stood there for I don’t know how long. My first thought was to chastise myself for showing weakness to this warlord. That quickly gave way to concern for the safety of my hive.
Turning, I used my magic to dump the pillow out of a nearby silk pillowcase. The makeshift sack was then filled with the remains of the crystal disk. I released my hold on the shield spell, causing it to disappear with an audible pop. Opening the door to my chambers, I turned to the guard on the right and thrust the bag into his chest. “Pronotum, fly this over the Sparkling Sea. Continue until your power gives out and you plunge into the ocean. Only then can the hive be safe again.”
“My Queen!” He grabbed the pillowcase in his magic and galloped down the tunnel.
After the sounds of his hoofsteps faded, I turned to the remaining guard. “Elytron, you will follow Pronotum with your obscuring spell active. If he hesitates in his duty, you are to kill him and carry out his orders. If he is still flying over the ocean after a full day, only then will you return to inform me.”
The warrior drone disappeared from my sight, but I could still feel his presence through my link to the hive around me.
I heard, “My Queen!” followed by more hoofsteps down the hallway.
Chrysalis ground her fangs while I waited. She appeared to be choosing her words carefully. “There are very few beings on Equus for whom I hold a small amount of respect. But there is only one I fear and hate in equal measure.”
A longer pause. “If you deliver him to me, I give you my word as Queen that I will commit a year of my life to the service of all ponies.”
That gave me a pretty clear indication of exactly how much animosity Chrysalis had for the Storm King. Not that I could carry out her wish and stay true to the tenets of Harmony. That was a non-starter.
Still, I had to respond. “I understand.”
This time, I did not turn back as I trotted up the hallway. We only had a few weeks to prepare. Where was a good place to start?
“Penny,” I asked, “tell me. Do foals go through fire-drills at school every year?”
Do you know how big the Crystal City’s library is? Well, I do now. It was a good reminder as to how it was the capital of an empire once upon a time. It must have collected works from over half of Equus at the minimum and stored them on the myriad of shelves on the several floors that comprised the edifice. No wonder it was one of Twilight’s favorite places to visit. I should have known better when she asked me if I would help look for Star Swirl’s journal there. If a book fiend like her couldn’t narrow down a search to something manageable even with the help of the librarians, then there had to be a valid reason. Sheer quantity was that justification. My wife’s dour expression when I told her that I’d be happy to help Twilight in her task was now explained. She wasn’t going to let me live this down soon because I hadn’t consulted her before agreeing. Trixie was feeling a lot more clingy and jealous of our private time as she grew more gravid, and she had known, or at least guessed, that this task was going to consume all of Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, no time was wasted in traveling there due to the handy-dandy portals.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if we had found that dratted book. With the help of the Dread Archivist (his title being a link to the Empire’s warmongering past), Twilight and I checked out the more precious and obscure works. We examined every book, journal, tome, compendium, lexicon, treatise, opus… and thesaurus! All to no avail. The map table showed it was here in the city, but I could say with weary certainty that it wasn’t in this library. Cadance insisted that it was not in the castle’s bibliotheca (Hey! I learned a new word that I’ll never use again!), so we returned empty-hooved to Ponyville. For the moment, we were stumped.
When Sunburst unexpectedly arrived at Canterlot on Thursday and barged into Day Court and asked for a private audience with the Triarchs, we were worried that something had happened in the Crystal Empire and he had been sent to warn us. One hastily ordered recess and summoning of Twilight Sparkle later, we were both relieved and astounded by the news that he brought.
Sunburst said, “I spent days examining and cataloguing all the crates of books that I bought on my last visit, but it was only when I finally got around to opening the mystery barrel that I uncovered this.” He produced a book from under his cape, opening it with his magic. Twilight, Trixie, and I crowded closer to look at it.
“You found it!” Twilight gasped.
“It was in your possession all this time,” I groaned.
Sunburst looked chagrined. “If I hadn’t gone on my buying spree, it would have still been here in an antique store and easily located.”
Trixie said, “Now that you have it, what do you plan to do with it?”
Twilight enthused , “Just think of everything we can learn! Secrets from the past unlocked. Rash, unfiltered theories on the innermost workings of magic itself. Conversations with fantastic beings from undiscovered dimensions. Spells Star Swirl may have been working on. What he liked to eat for lunch!”
It seemed Sunburst had tapped a well of imagination that our Book Princess visited frequently. “How about we begin with turning to the end of the journal to see if there’s a clue to his disappearance?” I asked drolly.
Twilight blushed a little. “A-heh. Oh, yeah.”
“Allow me,” I said, reaching for the book. There was less chance of any time-wasting distractions if I kept it out of the hooves of two of the nerdiest ponies in history. I riffled through the pages until I came to the last of the writing. I opened my mouth to read what was on that page before realizing that it was absolute gibberish to me.
With a smirk, Twilight took the journal back out of my possession. “Unless you suddenly know how to read Olde Ponish, I suggest that you leave that to either Sunburst or me.” She looked at the open page and stared aghast. “This has to be the worst horn-writing I’ve ever seen.”
I chuckled. “It looks like ancient languages aren’t the only bar to comprehension. This Star Swirl must be like doctors – their writing gets worse the more they learn.”
The alicorn stuck her tongue out at me and then resumed trying to read the scrawls which veered up and down as they marched across the pages, seeming to battle each other to gain more precious space than their counterparts. She hesitantly began, “Let’s see… umm… ‘Strength, Bravery, Beauty, Healing, Hope, and Sorcery…. Myself and the other Pillars of Equestria… were gathered together by… umm… another to maintain and share the light of… these powerful ideals. But we soon… came to believe that the pony… who had brought… us together only wanted that power… for himself. Cast out and… alone, this power-mad pony turned… to darkness to… ahh… satisfy his thirst. Transformed into a pony of shadows… he returned for revenge, to… extinguish the Pillars’ light… to rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I… must make a… umm… grave sacrifice. But we will leave behind a seed… in the hopes that… one day, it will grow into a force to… stand against the darkness… for all time. We must now face the… fiend with the only plan we have. I only hope that will be… enough.’ ” She looked up at us. “That’s it – his final entry.”
I felt a bit uneasy. Another world-threatening menace? Experience told me that those loved making encore appearances. “A pity Beardie liked to wax poetic instead of putting in some more explicit detail. I’d like to know more about this Pony of Shadows.”
Sunburst said, “Whoever it was, he seems to have disappeared along with the Pillars.”
“Perhaps there’s more on the subject in the rest of the journal?” Trixie suggested.
Sunburst grinned. “Of course! Think of all the reading, the research, and cross-indexing! It will be awesome!”
I said, “It sounds like you two have got your work cut out for you. Let us know what you find out and how it relates to all the other tokens the map table had us chasing. Meanwhile, Trixie and I have Day Court to continue. Twilight, we’ll handle the afternoon meeting with the Griffonstone Ambassador.”
“Uh-huh,” was the only reply that I got. Twilight and Sunburst were already huddled over the book and losing themselves in its words. Trixie rolled her eyes and headed back to the throne room. As I followed, I made a mental note to let Thorax know what had happened so that he could at least attempt to fetch his preoccupied wife later.
The next day, Twilight sent a message to us requesting the day off from Day Court. Because of her position as Princess of Friendship, she was occasionally called to action at odd times, so we had flexibility built into our schedules. Trixie and I didn’t mind the infrequent times that we took over Twilight’s duties for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we got to take days off for ourselves later while the alicorn handled everything for a while. Secondly, the random changes to the Triarchs on court duty tended to rattle the nobles who had their strategies built upon petitioning a specific princess. I liked to keep them on the tip of their hooves and pull the rug out from under them whenever they tried to undermine us.
On this occasion, I wasn’t sure if I shouldn’t be a little bit irked. Rather than going to confront some problem that only she and her friends were qualified to meet, it turned out that she was holed up with Sunburst, Moon Dancer, Thorax, and Spike researching anything to do with Star Swirl’s journal. When Saturday rolled around, she was still busy and had roped in some of our friends to help. As Rainbow Dash was away on training exercises with the Wonderbolts, there seemed little reason for me to make my usual weekend visit to Ponyville. Instead, Trixie and I indulged in a few different activities together including attending a street fair (which would have been a lot more fun without a retinue of Royal Guards around us), watching a new play at the Canterlot Theater (Trixie loved it but I’m still trying to figure it out), taking in a hoofball game at the stadium (I don’t know how Trixie managed to fall asleep during the final quarter of that thrilling match), and having breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the revitalized Restaurant Row.
I was startled by the degree of change there. Gone were all the signs with the 3-hoof ratings and the boring sameness of window dressing. Now, each establishment was competing to outdo the others with their wildly varied offerings and eye-catching exteriors. Judging by the crowds, they were doing quite well, trading on their previous reputation as the place to dine, and then keeping their customers by having cuisine to back up that claim. The Neighponese restaurant had excellent sushi, nigiri, sashimi (popular with pegasi), and other staples of that style of cooking. I tried to gross out my wife by eating sea urchin (which I despised), but she gamely munched down three pieces for my one. Fortunately, Penny saved my bacon by snarfing down my last two pieces before I could weakly protest. Not sure exactly why she did me that favor. Maybe she saw it as a threat… to me getting sick all over the table. Or perhaps she just liked the taste and took advantage of my hesitation. Regardless, I knew better than to ask because I would not get a straight answer.
The Prench establishment retained some of its previous haute cuisine atmosphere but served food that was genuinely enjoyable. Fortunately, the wait staff was considerably more polite and responsive than the previous time I visited. I’m willing to excuse high prices and a long wait in return for great service and delicious food. The Germane restaurant had a delightfully wide-ranging menu, plenty of beer and cider, and cheerful bustling staff. Add to that the wonderful atmosphere that only happens when you are in a room full of ponies all having a great time. I promised myself that I would try out each of the other restaurants in the near future to see what they were offering to compete with their neighbors.
When Monday morning arrived with no sign of Twilight, I left Trixie to enjoy her lunch while taking Starlight Glimmer with me to visit Friendship Castle. While I actually enjoyed the leisurely trip by train to Ponyville on my weekend trips, I did not have the luxury of time today. Thankfully, we now had the benefit of a portal to give us instant access to Ponyville’s most garish edifice. So, it was only a minute later that Starlight and I found Twilight and company in the castle’s library. Everypony looked tired and haggard, reminding me of how I looked in the mirror after spending ages in the Crystal City library’s multitude of chambers, searching for the book that triggered this latest bout of insomnia.
“Hey, everypony,” I said. “Guess which princess is due at court in less than half an hour!”
Twilight groaned. “We still haven’t figured out what happened to Star Swirl yet!”
“You’ve been at it for three days but this puzzle has lasted a thousand years – it can wait.”
“But I feel that we’re so close now!” the alicorn objected. “It’s just that we keep getting stuck due to not being able to read large chunks of text because we can’t decipher Star Swirl’s appallingly bad writing!”
Twilight sounded both frustrated and disappointed that her idol was anything less than perfect in any way. I almost hated to drag her away from her quest. “I’m sorry to hear that. However, you can continue your efforts later. You have about twenty-five minutes to have something to eat and drink, freshen up, and be on time for the afternoon session. I even brought along Starlight to help me drag you back if you’re reluctant.” My personal advisor was the only pony I knew that stood a chance of out-stubborning the purple alicorn. I looked around to Glimmy to get her to back me up, only to find her squinting at the journal that was propped open on a table.
“Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge,” she read, or something like that. I had no clue what she was actually saying.
Twilight apparently did though. She raced over to the unicorn’s side, exclaiming, “The Temple of Ponehenge! You can read that?!”
“The horn writing’s pretty awful, but it’s nowhere near as bad as mine.” She lowered her head and continued, “Towar dol grimlic of Fola Firgenbeorg?”
Sunburst excitedly translated, “At the base of Foal Mountain!”
“Ooser endemest scield.”
“Our last stand,” finished Twilight. “That’s it! That’s where we can finally uncover the truth behind the disappearance of Star Swirl and the Pillars of Equestria!”
I facehoofed and groaned. “You were supposed to help me, Glim-Glam. Now I’ll never get her back to Canterlot.”
Twilight gave me a triumphant grin. “We’ll set off for Ponehenge right away.”
I gave her a flat look. “It’s seriously called that?” I sighed. “Okay. Just give me ten minutes to square this with Trixie and grab my saddlebags.”
“You don’t have to come with us, Mark,” Twilight said.
“And let you traipse off without somepony to rein you in? Oh, no! I don’t think so, Twi.”
Foal Mountain is pretty big. The area around the base of the mountain is absolutely huge. While the journal had said that Ponehenge was at its base, there wasn’t any hint as to specifically where it was. Thus, we spent hours searching through thick forest after we arrived via the nearest portal. Twilight, Penumbra, and I did an aerial search while Fluttershy hovered over the ground-bound members so that we wouldn’t lose track of where they were. We did methodical sweeps of sections of the area, concentrating on where we suspected it should be. I was beginning to think it was a lost cause and the structure had been obliterated by centuries of weathering. Then Twilight gave an excited cry.
“Look there! I think that’s it!”
She pointed to the southwest where I noticed a small interruption to the canopy. We flew over and spotted six standing stones nearly completely overgrown by the surrounding trees. Settling down in the middle of a well-like structure at the center, we looked around more closely.
“We’ve found it,” Twilight said. “While it’s obviously falling apart, the shape matches the sketch in the journal.”
“Sure looks like it,” I agreed. What else would look like a pony pun of Stonehenge? “I’ll go guide everypony over here.” I realized that I was basically talking to myself though. Twilight was already focused on tearing away the vegetation and examining the ancient ruins.
I took off again and caught sight of Fluttershy with my keen pegasus eyesight. Handy in this sort of situation. It took Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Starlight about half an hour to make their way through the dense underbrush to join Twilight. Sunburst was nearly beside himself with excitement but Twilight was subdued.
“I haven’t been able to find any clue about what happened here,” she complained. “Everything is so overgrown and decayed.”
Rarity regarded the structure with some concern. “This looks like an even bigger challenge to clean up than Mistmane’s garden.”
“I’m not sure if some of these standing stones are safe,” Fluttershy said, poking at one of them. A piece obligingly broke off and she blushed and tried to hide it. The mare delicately shoved it back in place before anypony noticed and turned around with an unconvincing smile. The piece, of course, fell out again.
Sunburst wiped away some moss and dirt from the stone in front of Twilight, revealing the faint remains of some ancient script carved thereon. “I’ve never seen these kinds of runes before. Have you?”
“No, I haven’t,” the alicorn replied. “Otherwise they might give us some idea of what purpose they served. I wish there was a reference to these symbols in the journal, but there’s nothing.”
I said, “Do you think that maybe they aren’t written down because that would be the equivalent of us including the modern alphabet in one of our own journals?”
Starlight said, “You have a good point, Mark. We could copy all of the runes and research them back home.”
Twilight brightened. “That makes sense. Spike – my quill and paper, please.”
As the drake started digging into his backpack, Twilight put the journal down on the platform in front of one of the stones to prepare to transcribe the runes. No one expected the cover to suddenly start glowing. Then the book flew open and a swirling light grew up out of it. I felt the magic it exuded even as it resolved itself into the image of a bearded unicorn wearing a distinctive hat and cape. No prizes for guessing who it was.
“Star Swirl? I can’t believe that you’re here!” exclaimed Twilight.
“I think that’s just a magical projection, Twi,” I said gently, not wanting to disappoint her too much.
Sunburst said, “I think you’re right. They’re probably all just recorded images.”
He pointed to the other stones where more magical holograms of ponies were forming – very familiar ponies from the illustrations in Star Swirl’s journal. Abruptly, the wizard’s image lowered his horn and a beam of magic streamed into the well in the middle of Ponehenge, complete with sound effects. Okay, that seriously rocked! A startled Fluttershy squeaked loudly and tumbled off of the well and backed away. Then a dark shape grew out of the well and coalesced into the form of a large featureless winged unicorn, dominating the area. If this wasn’t the Pony of Shadows, I don’t know what else could have qualified so well. Then it started laughing malevolently.
“You summon me at your peril, Star Swirl! Once I defeat all of you, this realm will be consumed by darkness, just as I was so long ago.”
Dark tendrils shot out of the demonic pony, lashing around each of the Pillars of Equestria. They struggled with their constraints even as the Pony of Shadows continued to gloat while we could only watch in horror.
“Drawing me here only makes me stronger. You will never defeat me!”
Star Swirl’s magic snapped his bonds and he stood up straight. “We did not come here to defeat you.” He levitated his hologram journal and a burst of magic shot out to the Pillar on his left, striking Flash Magnus’ shield and then continuing to the next hero. It made a connection with each of the Pillars’ tokens before completing the hexagon. As the beam worked itself around, the tendrils of smoke retreated back to their owner .
“What are you doing?” demanded the shadow pony.
The sorcerer repeated, “As I said, we did not come here to defeat you. We came to contain you!”
The magic aura within the cordon that had been formed grew stronger and brighter, making us squint. Then all the participants rose up into the air as the spell reached its crescendo and the Pony of Shadows howled. Then there was an explosion and they were all gone, their tokens falling to the ground and the magic that displayed them dissipated. Star Swirl’s journal snapped shut and an eerie quiet settled around us as we all stood there stunned by the display.
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. “Well, Twi, I think we’ve learned what happened to the Pillars. Now what?”
Back at Twilight’s castle, we began discussing the events at Ponehenge.
Sunburst said, “The sheer power of the spell that banished the Pony of Shadows left an impression on the structure that was triggered by Star Swirl’s journal.”
“So, what happened to the Pillars?” Rarity asked. “Wasn’t the goal to get rid of that awful demon?”
Twilight’s ears were flattened and her eyes downcast as she replied morosely, “Isn’t it obvious? Star Swirl and the others sacrificed themselves to save Equestria.”
“That was one of the most incredible feats of magic that I’ve ever seen,” enthused Starlight, oblivious to Twilight’s depressed mood.
“I agree,” Sunburst said. “It’ll probably take years to figure out how Star Swirl did it.”
Twilight perked up. “Maybe if I can recreate the spell—”
I cut her off. “You’re not going to spend months working on something from ancient history. You have responsibilities, Princess Twilight. Trixie and I aren’t going to cover for you indefinitely.”
The alicorn cringed a little. “You’re right, of course.”
I nodded. “If you aren’t at Day Court tomorrow, Starlight and I will be back to drag you there – no excuses this time.”
She waved a hoof in capitulation. “Fine, fine. I’ll be there.”
I turned to Penny and Starlight. “Let’s go. I have a wife to placate.”
Twilight barely lasted the week out. She had the morning session of Day Court that Friday, and the moment that it was done, she shot out of the throne room with all the decorum of a six-year-old filly fleeing the scene of a misdemeanor. She didn’t even pause for lunch. When Trixie, Starlight, and I arrived at Twilight’s castle that evening, Spike informed us that she was holed up in the library with Moondancer. I poked my nose in there briefly, observed the piles of books surrounding the mares as well as the plate of uneaten food that Spike must have provided, and concluded that it was pointless to try to talk with her right then. However, this was her free time and I had no cause for complaint. One other did though.
“Mama was supposed to tell me a story before bed!” whined Nyx.
“Can’t daddy Thorax do it instead? Your mom’s a little busy right now,” I said, unimpressed with Twilight’s neglect of her daughter.
“He’s at his hive this weekend.”
Drat. Bad timing. “How about if Auntie Trixie and I tell you one instead?”
“Oh. Okay.”
I had no trouble convincing Trixie to help out. She was getting very maternal lately – not that she needed much of an excuse to tell one of her over-the-top tales. I usually ended up acting out some scenes with the help of a little magic. Way more than we needed to do, I admit, but good practice for when we had a foal of our own.
Because my other friends had already found Twilight preoccupied even before my wife and I had arrived in Ponyville, there was no long evening gathering as we often had. Only Rarity joined us for dinner and both she and we decided to make an early night of it.
I wish that I could say that I was surprised to find that Twilight was still in the library the next morning. The only things that had changed were the number of books piled up, a half-eaten bowl of oats sitting on one of the piles, and Moondancer passed out in one of the chairs.
“Trixie thinks Twilight is going to be a barrel of laughs this weekend.”
“We could always kidnap her and take her to the spa with us,” I suggested.
My wife gave me a flat look. “Do you truly think that will make a difference?”
I sighed. She had a point. You could take the Book Princess away from her library but you couldn’t turn off her brain. She would probably keep worrying at the problem even while submerged in the bubbling waters, only to teleport away when something occurred to her. On its own, that might not be so bad, but she was just as likely to take half the water with her. Don’t laugh – she’s done it before. Aloe and Lotus have a special extra charge to refill the tub just for her.
We found Nyx despondently toying with her oatmeal. Looked like she knew what her mother was doing too. As I was in my pegacorn form now, I decided to go into full “Auntie” mode.
“Good morning, Nyx.”
“Mornin’,” she murmured.
“Is something bothering you?”
The alicorn filly pouted. “Mom promised to play with me today, but she’s too busy.”
“I see.” I looked at Trixie and she seemed to read my mind. She nodded and I smiled back before returning my attention to Nyx. “How about you, me, and Rainbow Dash go visit Cloudsdale instead?” I expected Rainbow to be here this morning. Hopefully, there would not be any last moment Wonderbolt stuff holding her up.
Nyx brightened. “Really?”
“Yep,” I replied with a grin.
“Oboy! When can we go?”
“Well, neither of us have had our breakfasts yet,” I pointed out.
Nyx picked up her bowl and spoon and started to shovel the food into her mouth as quickly as she could. Table manners were definitely an area where she took after her mother.
I chuckled. “Take it easy. Spike hasn’t even brought out mine yet. Besides, we’re both going to need plenty of fuel to have fun today, right?”
She nodded at breath-taking speed.
Thankfully, Dash arrived just as I was finishing my repast. As always, she was eager to start our aerial antics. However, I said, “Change of plans, Rainbow. We have a special filly to entertain today.”
“Huh? Whaddya mean, Mark?”
“You and I are going to take Nyx to the fair at Cloudsdale.”
“But that’s mostly foal stuff!” she objected.
“And Nyx is a foal whose mother is too busy to take her herself,” I replied with a pointed look.
Fortunately, Dash took the hint.
“Oh, right. Okay, this could be fun.”
Rainbow warmed up to the idea eventually. I helped stoke her enthusiasm by challenging her. While Nyx had wings of her own, she had no hope of keeping up with us, so one of us had to carry her. I bet Rainbow that she couldn’t carry the filly and still beat me in a race to Cloudsdale. Sucker! Of course, I couldn’t really consider myself the winner, though, as Nyx let out a long, happy scream – thrilled at the breakneck speed we travelled. Didn’t that mare ever have to stop to breathe?
We ended up spending more time at the fair than I originally thought we would. The three of us actually had a lot of fun. I had to revert to stallion form to fit on the rides, but it had the side benefit of not attracting as much unwanted attention as my Celestial form. We ate the usual amount of junk food (too much, of course!) and played many of the games. Nyx won a plush doll of Princess Trixie, of all things! Maybe they’ll have a Prince Mark one next time. I’m not envious – really!
The alicorn filly was exhausted by the time we got back to Twilight’s castle. Her mother was still busy, but Nyx just conked out immediately. After tucking her into bed, I went down to join my wife. Our friends had gathered for dinner, so Dash and I related how we spent the day with Nyx, and Trixie told us about her day with Rarity. Pinkie tried to get Twilight to join us but I doubt that she even heard her friend. Then we had to cheer Pinkie up. I was going to have to have words with the alicorn once this current bout of monomania was over.
The next morning, Trixie and I spent the day in town. There was a new play that had just begun at the Ponyville Theater that we decided to attend. That was followed by lunch at Cloverleaf Café. Then we headed back to the castle. When we got there, we were met by a very concerned young dragon.
“Where’ve you been?” Spike asked.
“Why? What’s happened?” I said, instantly concerned.
“Twilight burst into the map room where Big Mac and I were setting up for the Ogres and Oubliettes game this evening, shouting, ‘I've figured it out!’ ”
“Figured what out?”
“She said that she thinks she understands Star Swirl’s spell that banished everypony.”
“Oh. Maybe now she’ll calm down and get back to her other responsibilities.”
“No, you don’t understand. She told me to gather all our friends. She says she intends to release Star Swirl and the Pillars from limbo.”
I stared at Spike in growing dread. “Please tell me she figured out how to do that without releasing the Pony of Shadows too.”
Spike just shook his head.
“Horse-apples!” I galloped to the daggerscale portal room, Trixie and Spike hot on my heels. I was brought up short when Twilight emerged, followed by Sunburst, Starlight, and the rest of the Element Bearers. For a moment, I thought disaster had been averted, but then more ponies followed the others. Six ponies whom I’d only seen illustrated in books. Ponies with very grave expressions on their faces. The bearded wizard looked around before rolling his eyes.
“So, this is what passes for a royal palace nowadays,” Star Swirl said disdainfully. “I suppose it befits children who play with magic they don’t understand.”
Twilight cringed.
I said, “Tell me you didn’t set the Pony of Shadows free.”
Applejack replied, “Sorry, Mark, but we have ourselves a mighty big problem.”
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