The day dawned, as the day was needed to for the day to begin, and it was a lovely day to dawn into indeed as, despite the snow and frost, the sun shone and left everything looking beautiful. As the sun rose, so did our heroes, and as they sat up out of their beds and looked out into the light, it soon became clear to them they needed to start their day, even though it was very early.
"Mistmane," Starswirl commented, as he checked his spell repository, "I must again raise the question of Flash Magnus and Somnambula, as it seems they are trapped in the same place."
"Their appearance in that recording would suggest that," Mistmane replied. "And your recording has some additional clues that mine doesn't. And speaking of those clues, shall we try to analyse them again now that we don't have a nutcase with some soldiers chasing us?"
"Good idea," Starswirl said, and he brought up the message, which began to play as normal.
To all units receiving this transmission; I am in need of support. Somnambula and I were... able to survive her wrath, but now we're trapped."
This was the point where the recording stopped and the angle moved over to Somnambula. Starswirl slowed the footage down and noticed suddenly that Somnambula was mouthing something in addition to the confusing text that was already there. "42, 12, 46.9. 122, 43, 08.6."
Numbers?" Mistmane asked. "What does that mean?"
"Of course!" Starswirl said, as he jotted the numbers down. "These aren't just any old numbers! They're coordinates to somewhere! Perhaps the location of Somnambula's clue!"
He then floated a map into position, and converted the numbers into a grid reference. "42°12'46.9"N 122°43'08.6"W is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, where we are now. 42 degrees north puts us a fair way south of our current location, and 122 degrees west moves us into the interior. Scan further down, and that puts us in..."
Mistmane trotted over to look at Starswirl feverishly plotting their position on the map. "Any closer?"
"Yes indeed!" Starswirl replied, as he drew an X on the map. "The location that Somnambula mentions in the recording is in a town in southern Oregon, which, if my checking is correct, is Ashland, Oregon."
"I wonder why she'd put a clue there?" Mistmane asked. "Such a green place seems really out of her comfort zone. She does like the desert, after all."
"We all need a change of scenery at times," Starswirl admitted. "Myself included. And getting to see the great outdoors has been a nice change from the towers and castles I normally call home. We need to continue our journey towards these coordinates to solve this mystery."
"Wait a moment," Mistmane interrupted. "We are both very tired, and have been travelling for a very long time, very long distances on all of these previous days. I suggest we slow down and take a day of resting. And this city certainly has plenty to see based on this magazine."
"What?" Starswirl asked. "Time is of the essence! We can't just stop and gallivant around cities whilst our friends are in trouble?"
"What use are we to our friends if we're unable to help them because of tiredness?" Mistmane replied. "Traditional philosophy emphasizes the importance of balancing work and rest as a great virtue- you do two much of one or the other, and you fall ill."
"I suppose one day of breaks can't hurt," Starswirl admitted, defeated. "So, shall we go and get our breakfast?"
After the pair hand enjoyed a very nice breakfast, they went back to their rooms, collected the items they would need for their day out, and then headed downstairs and out of the hotel entirely. Mistmane glanced up at the signs and almost immediately figured out where to go. She took them to the west of their current position, and then took two right turns in rapid succession. After a left turn, followed by another pair of right turns, they found themselves at an elevated building with a strange concrete structure above them. Machines seemed to glide through the air on this mystical structure, and Mistmane led Starswirl up the ramp to the top of the building just as another strange machine rattled into the platform. Without a second thought, Mistmane boarded. Starswirl found such behaviour bizarre.
The machine rattled along through the sky past impossibly tall buildings and through the centre of winding streets towards its destination of... well, they didn't actually know. All they did know was that the journey didn't take very long, and they soon got off in another place, where a massive tower stretched before them.
"By Clover the Clever's Clogs!" Starswirl exclaimed. "How do they build structures so big? That tower is far taller than the Observatory Royal in Canterlot, and that is the tallest structure in all of Equestria- even with its mountaintop position factored out of the equation."
"The creatures of this world clearly have access to different materials than the ones we can use. There's a lot more metal in use in these buildings, I noticed," Mistmane replied, before they boarded a lift within this tower and went to the top. Having spent a while at the top, they came back down, and headed west once more, before a right turn and two lefts, and then arriving at a strange building which had more of those tracks running through it, alongside very odd architecture.
It was a museum devoted to popular culture, and so they went round it. Once done there, they headed south and turned right, before turning left and stopping in front of a pair of barriers in front of iron rails. It soon became clear why, as a set of those machines, coloured this time in orange, yellow, and black, rattled past with lots of things behind it. When it had cleared, another went the other way, this time with a machine painted red and silver with yellow lining on the front. Once it had gone, they crossed the road and found themselves on a giant wheel so big it almost reached the sky.
Their day done at last, the pair headed back to their hotel to rest. Starswirl spent some more of the night puzzling over the strange occurances and evidence he had found, but overall the day had been a much needed rest, for the pair had an exceptionally difficulty journey tomorrow.