//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The end of the line? // Story: The Odyssey of Sunlight Blaze, Rise of a Hero, Volume 5: Quest for the past. // by Justafanfictioner //------------------------------// Sunset and Sunlight were in the Mayor’s office, comfortably installed on matresses, as she told them about Nova Dusk. “If i remember correctly, said the mayor. She left the town about 3 years ago, heading for Saddle Arabia’s capital. One of my friends in the big city helped her during her time there. His name is Flashy Hooves, he’s an influent politician. You will find him at his private residence. Give him this letter and he’ll let you in. There, you might ask him what he knows about her.” “Thank you, said Sunset. Thank you so much!!” “Well then, said Sunlight. Let’s go to the capital!” They said goodbye to the mayor and left the building. They headed for the station and asked for two train tickets for the capital. They then get on the train and arrived in the city a few hours later. The duo asked the people around them for directions to the adress Mayor Gold gave them. One of them told them to order a cab to get to his residence. So they ordered one and headed for what they discovered was a luxurious mansion. They paid the driver and walked to the gates. Sunset pushed the button next to the doorgates and heard a voice. “May i ask what business do you have with my master?” asked a mare, who was visibly the mansion secretary. “We are friends of one of his friends, answered Sunset. We want to talk with him!” The communication was suddenly cut. They saw a guard coming in their directions. “They are two, said the guard. They are both Unicorns, from Canterlot, i would suppose. One is a stallion and the other, a mare. They look very similar to each other, they are probaly related. How do we proceed?” Sunlight teleported to the other side of the gates. He put the guard to sleep and opened the gates for Sunset. “I wish you wouldn’t be so impatient” said Sunset. Sunlight opened the front doors of the mansion and entered. “Who are you!? Asked a mare who seemed to be the mansion’s receptionist. You have no permission to be here!” “Give this letter to Mr. Flashy Hooves, said Sunlight. We’ll wait there...” She gave the letter to a maid passing by. “Bring this letter to our Master” told her the receptionist. The maid obeyed and left. Ten minutes later, the mare at the reception received a call. “Our master want to see both of you, she said. Blue Berry, Rasp Berry, please lead our guests to our master.” The two siblings followed the maids inside the mansion for a couple of minutes. They stopped walking. “Our master await you on the other side of the room” said Blue Berry. They looked at each other and entered the room. “Welcome, Mr. Blaze, Mrs. Shimmer, said Flashy Hooves. Please take a seat. Any friends of my friends are my friends!! Before we begin, do any of you want a drink?” “I’m fine” answered Sunlight. “Me as well” answered Sunset. “Alright, then, said the politician. Time to tell you what i know about your mother...” “One question, said Sunlight. You worked in politic, right?” “I was the mayor of the city for the last 5 years, answered the rich pony. I left the position quite recenty, so i would say i’m an ex-politician now. Now, about your mother, Nova Dusk. The mayor Prima Gold told me in a letter that she wanted her existence to be kept secret from an individual that was tracking her down and that i was the best placed for it. So, i hired her as one of my maidens. She was one of the best that ever worked for me. I’m saddened she left 4 years ago.” “Do you have any idea where she went next?” asked Sunset. “All i can tell you is that she left the city heading to the north, answered Flashy Hooves. So, now that we’re done, i wish you two good luck finding her. Blue Berry, Rasp Berry, please take our two guest to the exit.” Once outside the mansion, the pair headed north. After two hours, they reached the limits of the city. In front of them were seemingly endless fields. Sunlight put on his battle suit and asked Sunset to hold on to him well. He took off and flew at high speed to the north. One hour later, they saw what looked like a small village under them. They landed and went to visit it. The townspeople saw them enter and hid in their houses. “What’s their problem? Asked Sunset. I expected people from Saddle Arabia to be mefiant toward us, ponies. I would understand staring at us and back away, but hiding in their houses? Something is wrong.” “It’s no coincidence, said Sunlight. Our mother was running away from something tracking her down. There is high chances of her hiding in this village. Maybe the thing that his after her did something to the villagers that make them fear Unicorns...I can’t shook off the feeling that something is wrong with our quest...” A bunch of angry villagers surrounded them with various tools and weapons. Sunlight sighed and took of all their weapons using plant magic. He then burned them. “Did a Unicorn, a mare, asked Sunlight, looking like us, happened to live in this village, by any chance?” “Yes, and she cursed this village, said a stallion. I am the chief of this village, Steel Horn. If you are looking for her, she left 2 years ago, leaving behind her a terrible cataclysm that swiped our village and wiped out our population.” ”Poor them, said Sunset to Sunlight using telepathy. They were collateral damages in this story. But they confirmed she indeed passed here.” Sunlight looked at the chief. “I’m really sorry for what happened to your village, he said. Indirectly or not, our mother caused you a lot of pain and suffering.” He used his magic to make a small moutain of gemstones appear next to him. The villagers were surprised and some were crying of joy. “Take this as a late apology gift for what happened to you, he said. Oh, do you know where she was heading when she left?” “She continued to the North, said the chief. So it’s likely she went past the limits of our Kingdom. Are you sure we can have that treasure?” “Of course, he said. There’s plenty more were that came from. But tell me more about this cataclysm that touched your village...” “Pure chaos, said one of the villagers. Our houses were burning, lightning was striking everywhere, the earth was shaking like crazy, then a terrible flood took us by surprise, despite being no lake around, followed by an ice storm that destroyed our food supplies...All of it happened in the span of single day!!” “That sound to me like Elemental magic, said Sunlight. The lightning, the earthquakes, the fire, the flood and the ice storm...It could be the work on an elemental magic caster or of a magical arftifact granting control over them. Either way, this was of magical cause. Unicorns are the rare beings that can use such magic...” “Thank you for your help, said Sunset. Well, we will be on our way, now...Sorry to have bothered you” “Please stay, at least for the night, said Steel. We can at least do this much to repay your generosity...” They accepted to stay in the village for the night. Sunlight showed the fillies and colts flashy and simple magic tricks to amuse them, avoiding to use elemental magic. Sunset was being courted by both young and old stallions. ”There is one last thing i can do for them” thought Sunlight. Laying in a bed. The next day, shortly before dawn. Sunlight used elemental magic to make the soil more fertile and improve the crops quantity and quality exponentially. Sunset was near him, ready to leave at any moment. “This will be my final gift to them, he said to her. Now, let’s get going before they wake up...!” The two unicorns left the village heading north. They reached the limits of Saddle Arabia in the morning. In front of them was miles and miles of rocky terrains. “So, she went this way, said Sunlight. That road must lead to the rocky moutains. It’s the perfect place to disappear from society. The villagers said that she left their village two years ago.” “Do you think she’s still living in those moutains?” asked Sunset. “There’s high chances of that, answered Sunlight. But those mountains are vast, finding her won’t be easy. And it’s if she’s still here. Luckily, i can have many of my clones use earth detection to scan the moutains for traces of life.” They continued walking and reached the moutains. Sunlight made a dozen of copies of himself and sent them scouting and scanning the mountains. The pair waited for many hours and one of the clones made it back. “She lived here, alright, said Clone Sunlight to Sunlight. I found a base and judging by how much the stone was wore down, someone lived here for almost 2 years. That mean that this was our mother’s base. If i had to guess, she probably left the moutains no more than a couple months ago.” “Good job, said Sunlight to Clone Sunlight. We at least know she was there until recently. It is unlikely she returned in Saddle Arabia. What’s to the North of the moutains?” Another clone came back to the camp. “Sea, answered the second clone. Lot and lots of water.” “And what’s to the East and West?” asked Sunset. “To the East, a vast desert, answered a third clone, who just appeared. To the West, a dense forest.” “Right off the bat, said the original Sunlight. We can scratch off the Sea to the north and the Desert to the East. Those two places are way to dangerous for her to travel through. That only leave the forest to the West.” “Where does that forest lead?” asked Sunset. Sunlight disposed of the clones, since they were done there. “Only one way to know, he answered. We’ll have to break through it” The pair left the mountains to head to the west, where they saw a big forest after two hours of walk. “Let’s do this, said Sunlight. I still can’t shook the feeling that we are doing this the wrong way, though. But we came too far to back up now. Are you ready?” “I am” answered Sunset. They entered the forest. Sunlight immediately started analyzing the surroundings to look for any traces of pony activity. 3 hours in, Sunlight found a pony-sized shelter, now occupied by little animals. “So, i was right, said Sunlight. This shelter was made using magic. Our mother was here, no doubt about it.” Another 6 hours in, Sunlight noticed the remains of a shelter and a campfire. This time, he had the confirmation that Nova Dusk passed there. They took 3 days to finally get out of the forest. “Finally, said Sunset. We made it out of that forest...Wait, are we on the borders of our kingdom?” “Yes, answered Sunlight. We went all that way just to come back to our kingdom...Ugh...” “So, we are to the West of Equestria, he said. The Unknown West. Canterlot should be to the East if we keep going straight ahead. She could have went anywhere from this point...Think, Think, Sunlight...Canterlot’s at the East of our location, The Yakyakistan, at the North and Las Pegasus, at the South.” “Maybe we should just give up, said Sunset. If she went through all that trouble to disappear, then she probably don’t want anyone finding her.” “If she really wanted to disappear, said Sunlight, she could have gotten rid of her presence in Saddle Arabia. Don’t you think that everything up until now might have been staged by her ? That all the messages we found and the person we met, that lead us to this exact moment, we’re all planned by her? That’s the feeling i’ve got since we started this quest. Or if not by her, by someone else?” “We’ll know when we find her, said Sunset. If we find her” “Wait, why didn’t i thought about it sooner? Said Sunlight,who suddenly had a moment of illumination. Of course!! The answer was beside me all along...” He looked at Sunset. “Me? She said. What do you mean?” “You are the key to find our mother! Said Sunlight. All the leads she left behind her had for goal to set on a false course the one that was tracking her down. She indeed went to Saddle Arabia and lived there for years. The Mayor Gold and the Mayor Hooves were in with her. For some reason, i can detect the magic aura of magic beings, and i believe yours must be similar to the one of our mother. By casting this spell on you, and then casting this one right after, i can create a magic trail that only i can see, to another being with a similar magical aura.” “Do it, then” she said. Sunlight obeyed and casted the first spell at her. Then, he casted the second one in the air. A trail of magic showed to him. “This way, said Sunlight. Follow me.” They followed the magic trail for hours and were surprised that it was leading right in Ponyville. More, precisely, in the Friendship castle. Sunset’s hinch was confirmed when the trail of magic ended above the portal leading to C.H.S. “Wait, said Sunset. Wait...No, don’t tell me that...” “Yes, said Sunlight, who started laughing. She’s living in Canterlot, our Canterlot.” “Wait, did you knew about this?” she asked, mad. “Well, sort of, said Sunlight, smiling. Discord told me she was living in our world. But i really wanted us to go on an adventure together.?” Sunset calmed down and smiled. “I know, she said. But still, how long did you knew about that...” “Before we even started this epic adventure, answered Sunlight. Anyway, we were gone for almost 2 weeks, i wonder if our friends are okay...” “I’m sure they’re fine, said Sunlight. The thing i’m worried about is the moutain of work waiting for us...”