//------------------------------// // The Journal // Story: Legends Never Die // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// As it turned out, escaping Zephyr Heights would prove to be much more difficult than previously. The angry mob that had stormed the palace weren’t leaving until the queen and princesses were captured and killed. This only made Queen Haven more reluctant to let her daughters leave, until it got to a point where she wouldn’t allow them to go at all, out of fear for their safety. Sunny listened to the argument as she read and shook her head. If they didn’t come to a solution, the rebels upstairs would hear them and follow their voices to their hiding spot. She sighed and looked up at Hitch and Izzy, both of whom were pouring over books, trying to find something that could have caused the three pony tribes to separate. “Hey, Sunny? I think I might’ve found something interesting,” Hitch said slowly, sounding as though he were unsure of it, but it was good enough for Sunny. She trotted over there quickly and read over his shoulder as Izzy marked her place in her book and joined them. “The Windigos?” Sunny asked. “What are those?” “They’re creatures of ice and cold, and they feed off of fighting and hatred,” Hitch paraphrased, pointing to the paragraph he was reading from. “Says here that in really Ancient Equestria, all three pony tribes were separated like they were a week ago, and the Windigos came back, nearly destroying their home. So the tribe leaders came to Equestria in search of a new land, but as they ended up in the same place, they naturally started fighting again. It was only when the leaders’ number twos were able to come together that the Windigos were defeated, and harmony was restored. The Windigos came back during the Guardian of Harmony’s time, and they defeated them once more.” “Windigos?” Zipp asked, coming up behind them. “If they feed on hatred and mistrust, why didn’t they come back when the pony tribes separated again?” Her eyes were red and puffy, like she’d been crying, and blazing with anger, the stretched-thin layer of forced calm doing little to quell her fury. Her mother and sister were behind her, Haven looking regretful, Pipp looking shocked and hurt. She looked at Zipp, her mouth open like she wanted to ask a question, but Zipp interrupted her before she could say anything. “Forget it, okay?” she snapped quietly. “Just forget it.” Pipp winced and pulled out her cell phone, checking social media for any updates on the angry mobs. Whatever she saw must not have been good, because she quickly put it away. “Did you find anything interesting?” she asked with fake cheerfulness. “A bit,” Hitch said, briefly summarizing what he’d found out about the Wendigos. “Hm. That is strange,” Haven admitted, her eyes flitting to Zipp, who refused to look at her. Haven’s ears drooped, and she let out a quiet sigh. “I wonder why they didn’t come back. You know, given recent events.” “Does it matter?” Zipp asked curtly, her voice tense. “It still doesn’t explain Sunny’s map.” Haven saw where this was going and quickly left, signaling to her guards to follow and leave the five friends alone. There was a bit of awkward silence. “Hey, uh, Sunny? I think I found a book that might be interesting,” Izzy said, desperate to break the silence. “But, uh, it’s kind of hard to read, you know, since it’s hoof written. I thought that, since your dad’s journal is also hoof written, that you might be able to, you know, read it a bit easier than I can.” It was just an excuse to draw their attention away from the tensions between the royals, but Sunny was glad for it. She followed Izzy to where the unicorn had constructed a fort of books, complete with a water slide, but without the water. Sunny wasn’t entirely sure how that worked, but she’d learned a long time ago never to question Izzy. The purple unicorn reached into her fort and dug around for a moment before retrieving a purple book with a crest on the cover. It sort of resembled the crest on the shield that Zipp had found, but it was a little different. Instead of the other gems sitting between the points of the star, they formed a horseshoe around it. Sunny carefully picked it up, holding it delicately in her hooves, afraid to break it. She flipped to the first page, read it, and her jaw dropped. “Izzy,” she whispered, “where did you find this?” “Over here,” Izzy said, pointing with her horn to a box sitting off to the side. “There’s a whole bunch of them in there, so I thought it must be important, or the Ancient Equestrians wouldn’t duplicate it so much. This one seems to be more of an original copy. I never actually got started on reading it, though. What does it say?” Sunny flipped through pages, unable to speak. Here was proof of everything she believed in, here was proof that her dad was right. “This was written by the Guardians of Harmony,” she said quietly. “Look, here are their names: Princess Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. I… I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this. Izzy, this is amazing!” “So… is there anything interesting in there or not?” Hitch asked, he and Zipp and Pipp coming up next to Izzy, all looking at Sunny curiously. “If it was written by the Guardians of Harmony, it must be important, but does it help with our current situation or not?” Sunny reached one of the last entries in the book and scanned through the passage. “Actually… yes! Look, this is about how the Windigos came back when everypony was separated! Huh, it says that it wasn’t just ponies…” She went back to the beginning and reread the page with more attention. “I don’t understand everything here, but this is a huge discovery,” she concluded. “Maybe this is what my dad wanted us to find! Something that could help us on our quest to find out what happened!” “Wait. Sunny, flip back a few pages,” Pipp said suddenly, completely serious. “And… stop! Right there! Look, a page is torn out! Here, give me your map.” She held out her golden hoof, and Sunny passed her the paper. Pipp unfolded it and held it up triumphantly. “See, the edge is ripped! Which must mean…” She carefully inserted the paper into the book Sunny was holding, lining the torn edges up. “Look!” “They fit?” Sunny said, her voice filled with wonder. “Oh my stars, Pipp, this is huge! H-how did my dad find this map?” She gasped. “He must have known about this journal! This is what he wanted me to find with the map! He must’ve been unable to get the whole book, so he grabbed the map, hoping that he could find the places on it, but he disappeared before he was able to! And then he wanted me to unite the pony tribes so that when I found the map, it would be safe for me to get the journal! Guys, do you know what this means?” “That we can stop reading books now?” Hitch asked, stretching his neck. “Now we can follow this! Find the places on the map, find out what happened to the Guardians of Harmony, and find out how to bring all three pony tribes together!” “How did you find out about the journal and the paper?” Zipp murmured to Pipp. “I’m a social media pop star. I pay attention to detail,” she replied, holding her head high and looking smugly at her sister, who just rolled her eyes. Sunny slipped the journal inside her bag and ran to the hot air balloon basket, almost hit the lever, then remembered what was up there. She seemed to deflate, but her excitement remained. “We’ll leave at sunset,” she decided. “We can’t delay any further. The longer we stay here, the more danger we’re in, and the more danger the rest of Equestria is in. We have to get out of here.” Pipp and Zipp glanced at each other, worry in Pipp’s eyes, defiance in Zipp’s. She pulled her younger sister aside and whispered something to her, something that definitely didn’t decrease Pipp’s worry. She bit her lip and ruffled her wings like she always did when she was nervous. The rest of the ponies decided to take a quick nap before they had to leave, Sunny refusing to let go of the journal. She slept while hugging the book, careful not to drool on it. When her friends saw this, they just sighed and smiled, knowing that, given the circumstances, this could be seen as normal Sunny behavior. When she awoke to find that it was only a few moments from sundown, she spent the rest of the day carefully studying all of her dad’s artifacts and knick-knacks, looking for clues as to where they might be beheaded. She wished they could take it all with them, in case they needed it, but that would be way too much. Thankfully her dad had drawn all of them and logged all the information about them in his journal. The last rays of sunlight disappeared from the window as the sun sank behind the horizon, and Sunny went around, waking up her friends. She left Queen Haven be, as she knew that it would be too much for the queen, watching her only two daughters leaving. She also didn’t wake any of the guards, and instructed her friends to be as quiet as possible. “Zipp,” she whispered, “do you know of any ways out of here? You know, besides the obvious one.” She jerked her head up at the grate in the ceiling. The former pegasus princess nodded and wordlessly led her four friends to a pair of tall doors hidden in the corner. “I’ve never been able to get them open,” she said quietly. “They’re too heavy for me, and they’ve been shut for a long time.” Sunny grabbed the handle in her mouth and began to tug on it. The rusty metal taste filled her mouth, and it felt like she was going to pull her teeth out, but she kept pulling. Her friends also pitched in, either pulling on the other door or helping Sunny with the first one. The doors groaned and creaked, but after a lot of slow, grinding noises, they finally swung open at the pace of a snail. Zipp turned around when she thought she heard something, and spotted Cloudpuff sitting a little ways behind them, his head tilted to one side. He noticed what they were doing, and started barking. “What is it with that dog always interfering with our daring escape missions?” Izzy asked sarcastically, clamping her hoofs over her ears. “He’s going to wake up the whole palace if we don’t quiet him down!” Sunny said. “Quick, Hitch, can you do your animal magnet thing?” Hitch groaned and started forward. “Hey, uh, little dog? Do ya mind quieting down for us? Please? We’re kind of trying to save the world, and if we get caught, it’s really going to put a damper on our plan, so… You know, just be quiet, okay?” Cloudpuff stopped barking the instant Hitch started talking. He blinked, flapped his wings, turned around, and walked back to Queen Haven, who was blessedly still asleep. “Phew. Let’s try to do this with as few close calls as possible,” Pipp decided. “Come on, everypony, we’d better get out of here before… before my mom wakes up.” She looked like she wanted to say something else, but a quick glance at her sister changed her mind. “We can take the route that we took last time we all needed to escape Zephyr Heights. I wish history didn’t keep repeating itself… At least I got to finish my song this time.” The door to the station deposited them out on a back alleyway that must have once been a major street, as there were still abandoned shops alongside the dirty road. Pipp, who surprisingly knew a lot about Zephyr Heights (Zipp preferred to explore the places around Zephyr Heights), led them through the winding maze of back alleyways and sidestreets, ducking into the shadows whenever somepony was close. The five of them finally reached the secret tunnel that Pipp had led them out of the city the first time, only now, the entrance was guarded by two pegasus rebels, with badges that said, Down With the Monarchy and a picture of a big X through Zipp, Pipp, and Queen Haven’s cutie marks. Zipp dragged them behind a dumpster before the pegasi could see anything, wincing as she spotted the badges they wore. “Great,” she whispered, “what do we do now? How do we get past them?” “Couldn’t one of us talk to them?” Izzy asked, and Zipp shook her head. “Me and Pipp are wanted fugitives as far as they’re concerned,” she said, “and Sunny’s been all over ZBS since magic returned. And Izzy, you’re a unicorn. You saw what happened to that store! Pegasi hate unicorns now. And Hitch - wait, what are you doing?” Hitch looked up from where he was digging in a box and sighed. “I cannot believe that I am about to do this,” he muttered. “Izzy, I need you to make something that looks like a pair of wings. And preferably quick. Oh, and can they look good on me? Like, not something that clashes with my mane or-” “Hitch!” Sunny said, a little too loudly. The pegasi rebels looked around in confusion as Sunny shoved her hooves in her mouth. When the rebels finally decided that it must have been the wind or something, she kept talking, in a voice so hushed that they could barely hear it. “Hitch, what are you doing? You can’t just waltz up there and pretend you’re a pegasus! What if they figure out that it’s all a hoax and try to arrest you?” “Pfft, they can’t arrest me, I’m the sheriff! Besides, I haven’t done anything illegal… yet. Anyways, Izzy, is it ready yet?” “Almost,” Izzy replied, digging around in the box with a glue bottle. “I wish I had more feathers or something that looks like them, but once I made a model of the Crystal Tearoom with nothing more than a couple of pom-poms, three popsicle sticks, and a box of curly macaroni.” “Izzy, you probably can bring all three pony kinds back together with a box of macaroni,” Zipp said as her sister smothered giggles. “Hey, maybe we should try that…” “I’m still not entirely on board with this plan,” Sunny said hesitantly. “Hitch, it’s too dangerous. Maybe we should try talking to them or something less drastic.” “Do you really think that’ll work in this situation?” Hitch asked, raising his eyebrows at Sunny. “Yeah, okay, no, I knew it was never going to work, but I was just trying to come up with ideas!” Sunny protested. “Relax, it’ll be fine. Hey, can pegasi say mayonnaise?” All five ponies covered their mouths to smother laughs, remembering how Hitch saved them in Bridlewood by saying “mayonnaise”. “No, you should be fine,” Zipp said once they’d calmed down a little. “Just… be careful, okay?” Hitch nodded and grabbed the pair of folded-up wings Izzy had managed to craft, strapping them on so that, in the dim light, no one would be any wiser. He pulled out a fake stick-on mustache and slapped it on, and Sunny rolled her eyes to try and hide her amusement. The pegasi rebels looked up and saw a strange pony approaching them, but it was obvious that he was a pegasus, so one quick look between them was enough to make them relax more. “Hey, stranger,” the first rebel said, “which side do you support?” “What?” the strange pony asked, tilting his head. “Do you support the monarchy or the citizens of Zephyr Heights,” the second rebel clarified, shoving his companion. “We have orders to arrest monarch-supporters, so chose your words carefully.” Now it was the first rebel’s turn to shove the other. “Shut up, you idiot,” he hissed. Hitch raised an eyebrow at the two bickering pegasi. This could actually be very useful. “I’m for the rebels, of course,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Obviously. Those royals have been exercising power over us for too long. None of the other tribes have monarchs, so why should we? It sets us apart from the other tribes, makes us look stronger and more united through a strong royal figure that’s always tried to give us hope that things could get better, even if her methods were questionable. No, they’ve got to go.” The two rebels exchanged a glance. They’d never thought of it that way. “Well, if you put it that way,” the first rebel said slowly. “Well, of course you’re right to rebel against them,” Hitch continued with more confidence. “Absolutely horrendous, what they’ve been doing. I mean, saving the world? Bringing back magic? How awful!” “I guess the princesses did help bring back flying,” the second rebel said to the other. “Maybe executing them for treason is a bit much, after all they’ve done for us. And I guess Queen Haven wasn’t so bad…” “You fellows should go do something a bit more important,” Hitch urged. “Perhaps you could help guard the main entrance to Zephyr Heights, to make sure none of those pesky earth ponies show up. Or worse, those high-and-mighty unicorns. Can you imagine if they were sympathetic to the monarch’s cause? You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?” Obviously conflicted, the first rebel slipped off down the alley. The second one looked like he wanted to say something, thought better of it and followed his friend. As soon as they rounded the corner and disappeared, Sunny, Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp poked their heads out of their hiding place and trotted up to Hitch, who was pulling off his phony wings and wiping glue off his flank. “Urg,” he muttered. “Izzy, next time, maybe tone down the glue.” Sunny tackled him with a hug, knocking him to the ground, and he grunted. “Yeah, okay, I get it, you love me, okay, you can get off now,” he said in a strained voice. “Sunny, seriously, I can’t breathe!” “Hey!” a voice shouted from behind them. The ponies turned around and saw the second pegasus rebel, standing at the end of the alleyway and glaring at them. “You’re under arrest!” he yelled, pawing at the ground. Izzy stood in between them and lit up her horn, which sparked and spluttered but finally lit. “You guys go. I’ll be right behind you!” “But, Izzy-” Sunny started as Zipp and Pipp dove into the secret passage. “Just go!” she cried over her shoulder, her eyes focused on the pegasus, who was now cowering in fear. “Hey, buddy, if you’re not careful I’ll fry your brain! You’d better leave and get some reinforcements before I do some crazy mind-control stuff!” Hitch pulled Sunny into the tunnel as the pegasus shrieked and ran off, and Izzy joined her friends as they raced out of the city, on the run again.