//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Pony Veracity // by keithsterling //------------------------------// "Hmm? I have never seen those ponies before? But if you are here your imperial highness, then those ponies are friends. I am Princess Luna Borealis, co-ruler of ancient Equestria along with my sister." Luna said politely in a regal voice, looking at the fifth pony lying on the cot and looking up. “The co-ruler of ancient Equestria!" Sunny's friends say simultaneously, shocked as Luna knelt down by the cot and unfolded her large dark blue feathered bird wings from her back as her feathers began glowing. “I see their two competing spirits in this earth pony mare mind. Huh! One of those spirits is Queen Twilight Sparkle (gawk in disbelief). Do any of you know just how dangerous having an Alicorn spirit like Twilight in her!?" Luna said hotly as her hand stopped glowing, and she lifted it off Sunny Starscout's forehead. "We do, Luna, but we don't know why Queen Twilight Sparkle's spirit was reborn in this particular earth pony mare. She is no unicorn." Justice explains as Luna's gaze softens as she knows Justice would never lie to her. "Let me try to find out," Luna said as she placed her hand back on Sunny Starscout's forehead, and her hand started to glow once again. “Argyle Star shine!” Luna said as Hitch’s face glazed with shock. "That is Sunny father's name!" Hitch exclaims. “So her father? It seems that Miss Starscout's father is the descendant of Twilight's student Luster Dawn Star Shine, the unicorn that refused the Mantle of Leadership for Equestria, causing the three crystals to shatter. So it looks like her spirit seeks out the descendant of her student maybe to fix her mistake." Luna explains as everyone gasps at once with the information that Luna relayed. "By my light! Cadence, I need a heart crystal to extract Queen Twilight Sparkle spirit from Miss Starscout's soul! The emotional breakdown is getting worse in this earth pony!" Luna calls, her voice edged with tension. "Went I enter the sarcophagus, I only had one created, and that is the one that keeps Miss Starscout stable! I am too far from the Crystal Empire to create a second heart crystal!" Cadence explains as she struggles to control the quivering in her voice. "Uncle, you are the fastest of all of us! Can you fly to the Crystal Empire and get me a crystal?" Cadence said, hopeful as stress lines form on Justice’s brow. "I can! But I would not know what Crystal to take! I am not versed in white crystal magic like you and Blueberry! If I pick the wrong one, it could be catastrophic!" Justice said, anxious as the tension started to build in the mess tent. "Every pony! Stop this right now! This not helping the situation right now!" Blueberry said in a concise royal voice cooling down the tension in the tent. "Father, the tree that Twilight old castle is in is made out of crystal, correct?" Blueberry asked "Yes," Justice answered. “Cousin, can we use that Crystal to make a heart crystal?” Blueberry asked “I suppose? Any kind of crystal can be made into a heart crystal if I can't get hold of Crystal from the Crystal Empire." Cadence answers as Blueberry look toward her aunt Luna. "I know what you are thinking, my young niece? That would be perfect; it would be a familiar object for the spirit and would most likely go to it.” Luna explains as Blueberry smiles. "Then I'll make a trip to the castle," Blueberry said, stopping in front of the tent flap went Hitch say stop. "I am going with you, your highness," Hitch said "I will go to, your highness," Zip said “We will stay here with Sunny.” Izzy and Pipp said "Very well, let's get going; it's quite a hike to the castle. That forest area is very dense because it is so close to the castle." Blueberry said as Hitch and Zip joined Blueberry to make their way to the castle of Friendship and crystal tree. Meanwhile, in the sizeable octagon-shaped room on the castle ruins' second basement floor, the two finely decorated large stone altars with rectangular frosted crystal sarcophagus. The first rectangular frosted crystal sarcophagus begins to glow with intense light. A moment later, the unmistakable sound of grinding gears echoing in the room as the lid of the first rectangular frosted crystal sarcophagus slides off. It crashes to the ground on one side of the sarcophagus releases great billows of puffy white clouds inside the casket; through the clouds reaching out was a large white with a hint of pink well-manicured five-fingered hand with dark blue nail polish. It is followed by a groaning sound from the figure inside the sarcophagus before weightier pip-plops of bare feet on the floor are heard. As the clouds began to clear, standing beside the casket was a breathtakingly gorgeous white with a hint of pink Alicorn mare with golden blonde mane and tail. She yawns once as she lifts her left hand and stares at the gold ring on her fourth finger. Her perfect 6ft 5in equine figure was attired in some kind of strange bodysuit that ended just above her knees. Her perfectly shaped white with a hint of pink long legs were bare as she walked upon reasonably large, long, full, thick and plush white with a touch of pink luxurious bare feet with dark blue toenail polish. Her large white with a hint of pink feathery bird wings was folded on her back. This Alicorn mare was Princess Celestia Silverlight, the wife of Imperial Prince Justice Silverlight and the mother of Aurora, Somnus and Blueberry Swirl Silverlight. Celestia Silverlight's stomach growls upon seeing the fresh food sitting on the small table in front of her. She walks up to the table with the utmost grace of a royal Alicorn, grabs a fresh apple from the fruit bowl, and takes a bite out of the apple when she finishes the apple and holds another one. In a few hours, Celestia ends her meal, and without a very unladylike belch, Celestia makes her way to the room with seeing pool in it. “Burr it cold," Celestia exclaims as a chill runs up her perfectly shaped white with a hint of long pink legs for the cold stone floor of the room as the soles of her feet have warmed up since emerging from her sarcophagus. 'If I use my magic right now, it is only a matter of time before my husband and my foals sense my magic and know that I am awake. It's not like I don't want to hug my family; I miss them so much. But right, I have no idea what the circumstances of Equestria are. So this seeing pool should help.’ Celestia thought, passing her large hand over the seeing pool to scope out all of Equestria without using her goddess-level magic. "Besides, I am pretty used to walking about barefooted went I was at the palace," Celestia commented as she continued changing the scenes around the new Equestria in the seeing pool learning about the unique circumstances of her land and getting used to the chill. Its been about an hour since Blueberry, Hitch, and Zip made their way to the abandoned Castle of Friendship; due to the forest being left unattended for so long, the woods surrounding the abandoned Ponyville settlement has grown into a jungle area. This has forced the group to hack their way through the dense foliage with the machetes they are carrying. With one all-mighty swing of her machete, Blueberry cuts through the underbrush, and the team emerges in an open area with a dried-up fountain with a sculpture of rearing up earth pony. "Hitch and Zip, let's take a five-minute break here! We still have a good half-hour trek ahead of us before we reach the abandoned Castle of Friendship at the edge of the settlement.” Blueberry explains as she sits down on the edge of the fountain and crosses her legs, one knee tossed casually over the other. "Their no argument here, your highness," Zip said as she plopped down on the ground in front of Blueberry, tired. "Huh?" Hitch exclaimed, watching Blueberry untie her boot and remove it before pulling her sock off and begin rubbing the soreness out of her perfectly shaped and sized palatial light blue immaculate and symmetrical barefoot from the hike. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Hitch? You are staring at me?" Blueberry asked as she casually continued rubbing her sore foot, and Hitch watched. “Your highness…” Hitch said as Blueberry softly snorts at Hitch. "Blueberry, please, I am only your highness if I am wearing my gowns and crown for court duty," Blueberry said politely as Zip chuckles into the back of her hand. "Blueberry, I think I know what hitch was going to ask," Zip said as Hitch shook his head. “You are not the typical royalty like in Zephyr Heights. You are more real." Zip commented as it caused Blueberry to chuckle as she continued rubbing her sore foot with her hand. "It's because my father was a knight for my mother before he married her," Blueberry answers as she places her barefoot on the soft soil before crossing her other leg and removing that boot and sock so she can rub her other sore foot. "Well, you two let eat before we continue on our way to the abandoned Castle of Friendship," Blueberry said as she used the clean rainwater inside the fountain to wash her hands. As Blueberry, Hitch and Zip finish their lunch and Blueberry puts her socks and boots back on, they leave the area of the dried-up fountain with a sculpture of rearing up earth pony and continue their trek to the abandoned Castle of Friendship on the edge of the settlement. The moment the area is clear, a pair of filthy slenderly gracefully rounded gorgeous shaped light magenta ten and one-third inch long bare feet. The feet had chipped and faded jewel-tone deep azure blue toenail polish steps into the area, leaving her barefoot prints in soft soil. The bare feet belong to an excellent looking light magenta-coloured young adult Alicorn mare with shoulder length gradient of light cerise to pastel violet with light arctic blue highlighted mane and tail. Her 5ft 4in shapely equine figure was attired in torn and tattered deep cobalt blue knee-length sheath dress. On top of her head behind her horn was tarnished gold crown. Folded on her back were her medium-sized light magenta-coloured feathery bird wings. 'That was my cousin Princess Blueberry Swirl Silverlight, but I don't know who those other two ponies are, and my uncle told me to be very careful Equestria is not the same?’ The young adult Alicorn mare thought, watching her cousin and other two ponies make their way to the abandoned Castle of Friendship on the edge of the settlement. (Several weeks after the shattering of Queen Twilight sparkle’s three crystals) As the snowstorms started to worsen from the last windigos in Crystal Empire, I was severely injured from battling the windigos. With my strength slowly draining away, I head to the only place I might find help, the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville as Canterlot was in chaos as the magic that was holding together the city had failed. Went I arrived at the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville, it was dead quiet, no pony around. I walked into the Castle of Friendship, my heels click-clack on the crystal floor of the hallway before I passed out from my wounds. It had been about several weeks after securing the three Princesses sarcophagus at the Castle of Royal Pony sisters in Everfree forest. I informed my foals that I was going to scout out the remains of Equestria and try to find that magic storybook that their mother wanted me to secure. It was next to impossible to safely search for the magical storybook with the fear of the other tribes at its height. So I suspended my search for the magic storybook and continued my survey of Equestria. On my way back to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters after my latest reconnaissance survey of the Dragon lands and Griffonstone, both places dead, I decided to scout more of the Castle of Friendship before heading back to my foals in Everfree forest. As I finished exploring the second floor of the castle where the living areas are, I spotted the body of a pony lying on the ground in the hallway from the second-floor landing. I flew down to the body and was shocked to find the young adult daughter of my niece Cadence. Princess Flurry Heart Sparkle was severely wounded, so I quickly scooped her up and took her to one empty bedroom. The wounds were so bad trying to get her to the castle of the Royal Pony sisters would make things worse. So after laying her down on the bed, I tore her pumps off her feet and set to work trying to stabilize her wounds. I quickly sent word back to Aurora to send me Blueberry to help me stabilize Flurry Heart wounds. My younger daughter Blueberry arrived a few minutes later with all her emergency medical equipment. Trained as a Solar Guard emergency medical pony paramedic; she quickly took care of Princess Flurry Heart Sparkle, and I assisted her. Went Blueberry stabilize Princess Flurry Heart Sparkle wounds we spoke for a long time. Before sending word to my oldest daughter Princess Aurora Silverlight, she is the designated Princess of the Sun with her mother incapacitated and the only one that can decide the next course of action for Princess Flurry Heart Sparkle.