Chapter 18: No Guarantees
Twilight and the Princess had spent a good portion of the night chatting and sharing stories while they looked for a way to return the lost humans back to their world. However, Twilight had fallen asleep sometime during that time while Princess Celestia stayed strong throughout most of the night, but eventually decided it would be best to retire as well for a few hours before she was due to raise the sun. She was the Princess after all, and she had many obligations and responsibilities to tend to. Doing them half asleep was something she did not want to have to do. She allowed Twilight to sleep where she was lying, slumped over on a couple pillows on the ground, since she didn’t want to disturb her. She went and fetched a blanket and gentle placed it over her before crawling into her bed.
A thought hit her as soon as she placed her head on the pillow. She remembered an old legend about an ancient tome that the great pony magician, scientist, and astronomer, Starswirl the Bearded, had created long ago. It was meant to be a powerful, long-range teleportation spell that could take up to fifty ponies with one go to almost anywhere in the known world, a great feat during the time. Perhaps, if used in a certain way, the spell could send the humans back to their world. However, it had some… problems. Due to some rather horrid outcomes to some of the users and the lack of accuracy to the intended location, it was scrapped and hidden from the rest of the world. Although it was risky, it was exactly what they needed. She remembered reading a story about that legend that told of the suspected location too... but what was it?
Princess Celestia pushed those thoughts into the back of her mind as she slowly drifted off to sleep. It could wait for one more night.
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A lone figure walked slowly through the woods in complete silence. He knew where he needed to go, and what he needed to find… but his sense of direction was off greatly. Probably due to the effects of being stuck in a half-dead limbo for the past couple thousand years. He had been seeing more and more of those ponies in the gold armor flying around the woods, no doubt looking for the one responsible for leveling that patch of woods a few miles wide.
He had been walking through these woods for the past two days, even since he met that other human in the woods, the one with the odd accent and language. He almost regretted killing him. It wasn’t every day you find a human out here, and perhaps he would have stayed with him and maybe even helped him. At least he could have gotten more information out of him. He didn’t know how much things had changed in his absence, and the more he knew, the better. Judging from the fact that he didn’t remember guards in gold armor, he figured that there must be some form of government now, or a military. Probably both.
His thoughts were cut short when he stumbled upon what he was looking for. Pieces of rock and cobblestone were littered all over the ground. As he walked a little further, a portion of a wall came into view. A little further, and another wall. Eventually, an almost complete castle stood in front of him. It had seen better days, that much was for certain. It was missing giant chunks and looked as though a strong breeze would topple it. It had a great history, this place. A history that he had almost unearthed. Maybe this time there won’t be any interruptions.
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After a very rough night’s sleep, the sun slowly rose above the horizon, shining into the room where the five humans were. After a couple of minutes, everyone began stirring.
“Man, I wasn’t able to fall asleep to save my life.” Truck said groggily as he slid off of the bed.
“Same here.” Frost agreed.
“I slept fine.” Sandman said as he stood up from the other couch. “Maybe we should switch spots every night. Truck probably didn’t sleep well because of his ribs and that splint, and you two had to sleep on the floor.”
“Yeah, I would enjoy sleeping on the couch. This floor is made out of marble. Hard to get comfortable sleeping on a damn rock.” Grinch said, followed by a nod from Frost.
“Hang on… where is Andrei?” Sandman asked as he looked over to the vacant couch next to him.
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“I don’t see why this is necessary…” Haybrun asked tiredly.
“Almost every single one of the recruits beat you in buck power! Where I come from, that is unacceptable! You are their captain! You should be stronger than all of them!” Andrei said angrily.
“If I do this can I go back to sleep? I didn’t get any last night…”
“Yes, you can if you beat a 28.8, the highest score they got.”
Haybrun then went and bucked it again, resulting in it reading a 28.5
“28.5, you didn’t beat it.”
“Sweet Celestia… I just woke up!”
“I don’t care.”
After two more tries, Haybrun hit a 28.9
“There… you can go now.”
“If you didn’t have the Princesses favor…” Haybrun mumbled to himself as he walked out of the training room.
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“He better not be causing trouble…” Frost said angrily.
“Yeah… for his sake.” Sandman responded.
“Well… I am sure he will turn up. It’s not like he wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb anywhere he goes, but I am starving. Any idea on how we can go get food?” Truck asked, his stomach growling at him.
“Can’t we just go get it? We are all captains after all. I’m sure we could find some form of kitchen, or have one of the guards lead us to it.” Frost asked.
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea… I mean, if we have guards with us, I am sure the Princess wouldn’t mind.” Sandman responded. “Here, I will go ask.”
Sandman got up and went to the door. There were always two guards outside the door, so he could ask one of them. When he opened the door, he wasn’t expecting to see what he did. There was one guard at the door, but it didn’t look like the rest of the ones he saw. It was a dark grey pegasus, but it had bat wings much like Swift Wind. Its mane and tail didn’t look normal either. It was wearing a dark blue chestplate and helmet and had yellow, almost glowing eyes.
“What the hell?” Sandman shouted out a little too loud, causing the guard to jump a little and spin around quickly. The other humans shot up and rushed to the door at the sound of Sandman yelling.
“Oh… humans.” He said in a deep, guttural voice.
“What are you?” Sandman asked, receiving agreements from the rest of his squad mates behind him.
“I must be the first Lunar Guard you have seen, yes?”
“You certainly don’t look like the other ponies I have seen around here… what is a Lunar Guard?”
“I am part of the Ruler of the Night’s personal guard. The other guards wearing golden armor are the Ruler of the Day’s guard.”
“You mean Princess Luna and Princess Celestia?” Grinch asked from behind Sandman.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Why haven’t I seen more of you?”
“Two reasons. We patrol the castle at night, when most are asleep… and…” He begun, but stopped short.
“And the other?” Sandman asked, interested.
“Almost all of us are gone.” He finished, staring at the ground.
“Gone? You mean dead?” Truck asked, but instantly regretted it. The Lunar Guard turned and shot glares of hate at him.
“Yes…” The guard mumbled hatefully.
“I’m sorry… we shouldn’t be pestering you like this. We are kind of new around here, in case you didn’t notice.” Sandman said, trying to remove some of the tension. It seemed as though it worked, since he sort of calmed down.
“Yes, I know. I am sorry… it is a rather sensitive topic for us. But… anyway, did you need something?”
“Uh, yes actually. We were actually wondering if you could lead us to the kitchen or mess hall… basically anywhere we can get food.” Sandman asked rather sheepishly. It was kind of awkward that they almost insulted the guard and now were asking him to go help them get food.
“My shift is almost over, but I…” He began, but was cut off when another Lunar guard walked up to them, followed by none other than Andrei.
“Well, look who decided to show up.” Frost said.
“Sorry, I had some unfinished business with Haybrun I needed to settle.” Andrei responded.
“Usually, when someone says they had ‘unfinished business’ with someone, it never ends up being good.” Sandman asked accusingly. “What did you do?”
“Hey, I didn’t do anything to him. I just wanted to make sure he was stronger than the new recruits.”
“You made him redo his buck power test, didn’t you?” Grinch asked without emotion.
“Yes, I did.”
“Why didn’t you say that the first time?” Sandman asked, relieved.
“It sounded better the other way.” He responded, resulting in Sandman facepalming.
“Shifts up, Night Weave.” The guard leading Andrei said to the guard Sandman had been talking to. With a nod, they both turned and walked away down another hallway. A few minutes later, two guards wearing gold armor turned the corner and approached the huddled group outside the door.
“Night Weave said you wanted to go to the kitchen to get some food?” One of the guards asked.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Ok, if you will follow us then. We will lead you to it.”
“Thank you.”
The group was lead down around five hallways, passed the throne room, and eventually ended up in the kitchen. Needless to say, their presence there was rather… unexpected. Some of the ponies who were working dropped what they were doing and just gawked at them for the longest time. It wasn’t the best experience they had. After gathering up some food, which once again consisted of fruits and vegetables with water, they headed back up to their room to eat. Along the way, however, they were stopped by none other than Princess Celestia.
“There you all are.” She said, letting out a sigh of relief. “I was getting worried when I did not find you in your room.”
“Sorry, Princess.” One of the guards said as he bowed. “They requested that they were lead to the kitchen to gather up some food.”
“It is quite alright. Next time, however, please inform me or leave a guard near the door who can give out that information.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“Anyway, I have some things to discuss with you humans. Please, follow me.” She said as she turned and began trotting down the hallway. The group soon followed as well with the guards at the Princess’s side. After a few minutes, they ended up in what appeared to be a giant library.
“I wish to speak to the humans in private.” Princess said to the 2 guards. They both bowed and exited the room, closing the doors behind them.
“I have some good news for you all.” She said with a smile on her face. “I believe I have found a way for you all to return to your world.”
Hearing those words, all of them began to start cheering and sharing high fives with one another.
“Ok, ma’am. What is it?” Sandman asked happily.
“There is a tome that was created long ago that was meant for long range teleportation. If I could alter it a little, I believe I can change it to send you back home. There is, however, one problem… well, actually… two problems.”
“What would those be, ma’am?”
“One, it was never used because it sometimes did not reach the intended location and sometimes even killed the users…” She said, causing everyone’s smiles to drop.
“And the other, ma’am?”
“I do not have it here with me.” She responded.
By this point, everyone was irritated that she basically just got their hopes up for nothing.
“Well that isn’t very helpful then, is it?” Andrei said angrily.
“Where is this tome, ma’am?”
“At first, I did not know… but I believe I now know where it may be kept. There is an ancient castle that used to stand in what is now the Everfree forest. I know not of its current condition, for I have not been there in over a thousand years. Nor am I 100% certain that this tome is there.”
“So… what does this mean, ma’am?”
“The Everfree is a very dangerous place, even for my own guard. I hate having to risk this, but I believe that it is our only option. I can have some of my pegasi guards fly to it, but if they encounter trouble, there won’t be much they can do in the way of offense or defense. Under the canopy, pegasi cannot fly very well. Plus, it is very hard to find things in the Everfree due to the thick canopy of trees overhead.”
“So, are you trying to say WE need to go get it?” Andrei asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. You have weapons that can deal with almost anything you may encounter. I will only ask two of you to go, and you will be escorted by some of my guards and some of the ESDF if you feel as though they would be good choices.”
“Hang on, can’t you just like… teleport there?” Truck asked.
“No, not at that distance, and you have to know exactly where it is. I am not certain of its exact location, and what things may have changed. If I tried, we all may end up inside of a tree or on the edge of a cliff.
“Oh lord…” Frost said as he facepalmed.
“Is this the only way to get back?” Sandman asked.
“As far as I know, yes.”
The group exchanged glanced with one another for a moment, as though they were telepathically giving their opinions with one another. Sandman was the first to speak again.
“I guess we are in then. I will go, who else will go with me?”
“I got your back.” Frost said almost instantly.
“Ok, Grinch, Truck, and Andrei will stay here. You want to take some of the recruits?”
“I don’t think it is a good idea.” Frost responded.
“Neither do I, but I would like having backup.”
“If I had to pick, I would say Storm Breaker, Wise Free, Swift Wind, and O’Tipsey.”
“I agree with all of those… but why O’Tipsey? He was the drunk.”
“He is strong as hell.”
“Eh, makes sense. Ok, we will take them.”
“What are we going to do while you are gone?” Grinch asked.
“You all are going to take the rest of the recruits and do another training session. Do what you see fit.”
“Got it.”
“I shall have Haybrun and a few of my own guards go with you.” Princess Celestia said as she pulled a roll of paper off of one of the shelves. She set it down on the table and opened it up. It was a map of Equestria. She pointed a hoof to the Everfree forest on the map, and man was it HUGE. It took up a good portion of it.
“Assuming my knowledge is correct, it is somewhere around here.” She said, circling a section of it off with a hoof.
“What is the scale?” Sandman asked.
“Every inch is approximately three miles.”
“Damn… this place is around twelve miles off! That’s around twenty klicks away…” Frost said, obviously a little skeptical about going that far on foot through rough terrain.
“It will take a while, that is for sure. Round trip of fourty or so klicks.”
“Well… might as well get going, eh?” Sandman asked. “I will go get the ammo, you go round up the recruits.”
“Roger that.” Frost said as he exited the room.
Sandman grabbed the map and proceeded to walk out of the door. It certainly wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but hey, if it had a chance of getting them all home, he was willing to risk it.
“Talk about shoddy intel…” He mumbled to himself as he exited the room.