//------------------------------// // XXI September // Story: Twilight's Blog // by Frith //------------------------------// Am I Blue? Sept 1: The ache is mostly gone now. I get just a little reminder when I get up after a few hours of reading and when I climb the stairs. This "magical tree chest castle" has a lot of stairs. I also have a bit of bruising where my saddle bag strap was digging into my back and sides. Nothing to worry about. I thought to keep my Haycartes' Treatise on Ponies open and nearby. Somepony keeps closing it and re-shelving it. Maybe Owlowiscious. I got lucky and Moondancer appeared today while I was nearby. Even as a moving illustration in the page margins I saw that she looked tired. She told me to keep an eye open for a news release from the Cultural Hippology Museum in the local 'papers. She, Professor Clarity Quest and staff from the museum have been working hard to set up the Epona exhibit and it's nearly ready. As for her research papers, they're still undergoing the peer review process. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Beat The Heat Sept 2: We had a scorcher today. It's probably one of the last truly hot days of the summer. The days are getting shorter as summer moves toward fall and the midday heats lose their intensity. I knew it was going to be hot again today because it was already quite warm when I went out on my balcony to greet the dawn. Far away in Canterlot Princess Luna had lowered the moon and Princess Celestia was raising the sun. I decided to get an early start on my morning stroll and beat the heat. My wandering led me through the fields of fresh grass glistening with dew. It is growing vigorously and now reaches halfway up my cannons. My passage left a wet trail of bent stems slowly springing back as I circled around to Ponyville. There the early morning streets were quiet except for a few other ponies out attending to their pursuits. The clip-clopping of my dew-softened hooves on the hoof-hardened ground and the muted mumbling of stabled ponies raiding the pantry in their cottages was all there was to hear. Cafe Hay was just opening and I stopped for their specialty, a croissant and a tiny cup of coffee. I drank a few cups while reading about kleptoparasitism. Around me Ponyville was coming to life. Pinkie appeared like magic, suddenly at my table. I put down the article, ordered a few more croissants and we had breakfast together. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° A Hard Rain Sept 3: We had heat and rain today. We were next on Cloudsdale's route and they sent us steady showers over the fields and a pounding rain in the middle of town. A hot rain downpour! That was just too much to resist. I galloped through the drizzle into town to join the crowd frolicking in the rain. I slowed down to a hurried trot as I got near, to look a little more mature and to avoid slipping on the wet ground and landing on my face. It was quite a crowd too. Ponies of all ages giggling and splashing like colts and fillies, colts and fillies squealing with delight, and foals all eyes and ears, not making a sound at all. We all got soaked. We looked like wet mops of every color, wet mops with giant silly grins. The smell of wet ponies and mud was all around and it smelled wonderful. The clouds drained quickly and snickering pegasi peeled them away, sending sunbeams and rainbows our way. Pinkie led the crowd in a cheer for Cloudsdale for this wonderful surprise, then the chattering crowd broke up as everypony headed for home and a towel, myself included. Out in the fields, a light rain was still falling. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° A Falling Star Sept 4: Moondancer popped up in my open copy of Haycartes' Treatise on Ponies, looking more haggard than ever. She didn't stay long, but she told me that the Epona exhibit will open in little over a week from now and that she's sending me ten tickets. That will save me and nine other ponies from the lineup to get tickets, but not from the lineup to get in. She suggested that I should arrive early and be prepared to wait for hours in line. Then she vanished before I could ask her anything. I think she could use a vacation. Ten tickets! Tomorrow I'll go around and see who wants to go with me. We should probably aim for the first day or so. I suspect that as more ponies realize just how important this is to us all, the lineup will only grow longer. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Press Release Sept 5: Sure enough, there was a press release from the Cultural Hippology Museum in Canterlot that was picked up and printed by the Ponyville Express today. The paper devoted the entire page three to it. It announced the opening of the exhibit next week, gave a taste of the historical importance of this find, with pictures, talked of the ongoing restoration, and to beat their own drum, the article stated that never have artifacts of such an important pony been on display since the traveling Star Swirl the Bearded exposition. What caught my eye was the caveat that due to the delicate nature of the artifacts, only 50 ponies will be allowed into the exhibit halls at a time. That must be why Moondancer thinks there could be lineups. So far Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy are going with me to see this exhibit. Both Rarity and Rainbow Dash were out of town when I went calling. I'll try again tomorrow. Spike is unsure. What if there's dust and he sneezes? I'm not sure what to say to that. Starlight Glimmer is waffling. Moondancer will have given tickets to my Canterlot friends, so I'm not sure who else to invite. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° The Tickets Sept 6: I saw both Rarity and Rainbow Dash today. They don't have any obligations scheduled for next week, so they're in! That makes six of us. I think Spike should come with us, but I can see his point about the dust. I remember what happened to my Astronomer's Almanac. I guess I'll have to see if the museum halls are dust free (and that the dragon sneeze trees aren't in bloom!) before encouraging him to soak up this important piece of pony history. Starlight Glimmer isn't all that interested in ancient pony cultural history. Maybe if there was a Bridleway musical about Epona she'd consider going. This means I still have four extra tickets. I could send two to my parents and two to Princess Cadence and my brother. There's no expiration date. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° I’m Always In This Twilight, In The Shadow Of Your Heart Sept 7: My ten tickets from Moondancer arrived in the mail this morning, just after I'd come back with the morning newspaper. I'd already started reading the latest report on the upcoming Epona exhibition. The paper stated that early sales of tickets has been brisk and that there are lineups stretching around the building. The exhibit doesn't open for another 5 days. So the museum will be setting up more points of sale to keep up with demand. They remind ponies that the tickets are not day or time specific, that they'll still have to wait in line to get into the museum hall. This morning I went and delivered a ticket to each of my friends and mailed two to my parents and two to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. Then this afternoon Spike burst in with a scroll and a ticket from Princess Celestia. Apparently there will be a vernissage the night before the exhibit opens. It's an exclusive affair, just for top patrons of the museum and members of state. That includes me. That put me in a bit of a bind. Avoid the crowds and see these important historical artifacts in person with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, or brave the crowds and share this deeply bonding experience with my best friends. Or to put it another way, choose between Princess Celestia and my friends. Lose an opportunity to get closer to the Princesses or distance myself from my friends. It was not an easy decision. I couldn't just cancel out. This is no party, no Grand Galloping Gala. I couldn't just walk away from the presence of the All Mare, especially after our escape from Winter with the help of what might have been her, in part or in spirit. I can't walk out on my friends after all we've been through. I can't. It hurts to say no to Princess Celestia. I wrote back to Princess Celestia. I wrote that I've learned that I can't take my friends for granted. Keeping my friendship strong requires commitment and keeping close. I am the Princess of Friendship and without my friends, I am lost. I must walk the same path as my friends. Because it is hard. I have learned, time and again, that the hard path builds rapport, in a way that the easy way out doesn't. So I told her no. I gave the scroll and the ticket to Spike and he sent them back to Princess Celestia. She wrote back almost immediately. She wrote that she understands my decision. I went back to my study room and closed the door. Not half an hour later, there was a tapping at my door. I looked over as it was gently pushed open, revealing the worried looks on several faces. Starlight Glimmer and Spike came through the door first, bearing a big pot of my favorite tea and a tray heaped with cups and cookies. Following them were Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Here to cheer me up and to plan ahead. The room brightened, the tea smelled good and I felt a little hungry. The hugs helped. Before he turned in for the night, I gave my number one assistant an extra hug. What would I do without him. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° She's Got A Ticket To Ride Sept 8: Dash wants to be the first in line, but it's too late for that. In the paper I read that some ponies had started to wait in line at the museum door as of yesterday. Five days early! That's just nuts. I got a Haycartes call from Moondancer. She'd just learned of the VIP vernissage and she wanted to know if I was going to that. I told her of my difficult decision. Turns out she wasn't going to the vernissage either. That's reserved for Prof Quest, the head of Hippology and a few other bigwigs. She's going with our Canterlot gang, although they haven't decided when yet. The lineups are insane. The museum can't print tickets fast enough and if this keeps up, ponies will be holding onto tickets that they won't be able to use for months. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° There's A Star Mare Waiting In The Sky Sept 9: I had a particularly lucid dream last night. I dreamed that Epona was watching over me while I slept. She walked silently toward me, and although my eyes were closed, I could see her approach. As she drew close, I could smell her sweet breath and I could feel her warmth. I heard a low rumble and I could taste warm milk. Although her lips didn't move and she didn't utter a sound, I could hear "I will always watch over you". The words wrapped me like a warm blanket. I opened my eyes and looked up from my bed. Her eyes were full of stars. Back in Canterlot, it seems there are more nutty ponies there than I thought. They have now lined up in the hundreds. At 50 ponies an hour, I hope, it'll probably take all day just to process that crowd. That is unless the museum extends its hours, but even then, maybe we should wait until the first of the crowd goes through. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Once In A Lifetime Sept 10: I'm reading the newspaper a lot these days. Today it reports that the museum will be open for longer hours for the Epona exposition, but still not more than 50 ponies will be allowed into the halls at a time. Meanwhile the lineup has doubled. Rainbow Dash is getting antsy. She landed on my balcony, out of the blue, and said we should get in line now. I told her that this isn't like Applejack's sweet cider, the museum isn't going to run out of artifacts to display. That earned me a well deserved hairy eyeball. From the looks of it, we're going to be camping in the streets of Canterlot. I thought only undergraduates did this type of thing. Maybe I should wear a hat and shawl to avoid attracting attention. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° We'll Be Dancing, Dancing In The Streets Sept 11: Rarity is shutting down her Ponyville boutique for a few days and everypony else has made arrangements as well. Spike and Starlight Glimmer are watching over the castle, although it's not like it could catch fire or anything. I've packed my bedroll, books, candles, quills and ink, bits, my ticket... Best to make the best of this, tomorrow we're going to camp out in the streets of Canterlot like the silly fillies we are. Oh, but I can't wait to get to see the treasures Moondancer has been working on again, and to show them to my friends! I do feel like an undergraduate pony again, waiting for fresh new classes to start! °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° It Doesn't Matter What You Wear, Just As Long As You Are There Sept 12: I'm off to catch the morning train to Canterlot, to go wait in line for Celestia knows how long with all of my best friends. This is going to be an unusual friendship experience! It could be days before I get back. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° (To Canterlotward hadde she goon, to wenden on a pilgrimage she be foond. Tomorowe come again whan hoomward fro Canterlot she shal be, here in this place arreste.) °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Creature Comforts Sept 14: We're back from Canterlot. We saw Epona after waiting in line for days. I'm feeling a bit drained. I'm going to hit the hay early. It's going to feel good to sleep in a bed again. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° The Serpentine Circus Sept 15: When we arrived in Canterlot it was still morning and our train was packed. There were booths selling museum tickets there at the station and we had to push our way through the throngs to get out to the street. Then it took a while to find the end of the line. So many lines turned out to be ponies waiting to buy tickets or get into a restaurant or catch a taxi. Ponies with tickets would see a line going around a corner and stop there, and soon many more ponies would line up behind them. It was a madhouse! We almost got fooled a few times but fortunately there were palace guards everywhere and they told us where to find the end of the real line to the museum. They were out in full force, directing ponies, planning out the path of the line, keeping it from looping and overlapping, and controlling the flow of ponies at street corners and entrances to avoid blocking traffic. When we got to the end of the line, we sent Rainbow Dash out to follow it to make sure it was the right line. It was. The line itself was like an enormous festival crossed with a picnic and a camp ground. Everypony knew that they were in for a very long wait, but that it would be worth it. Every so often, the guard ponies would let a number of ponies cross a street and catch up with the line segment on the other side. We'd pick up our blankets and bags and various items we'd scattered about and scramble to keep up until we reached the next stopping point where we'd settle down again. That'd happen about every hour while the museum was open, with a few surprise moves when the guards made other adjustments further up the line. It's a good thing that there were six of us. That made it easy for one or two of us to skip out on errands and such the like without losing our place in line. We didn't have to skip out that often, some enterprising ponies had hitched themselves to carts laden with food and they were doing brisk business along the line. Pinkie dashed off to a restaurant she and Rarity had discovered and brought back some of the most amazing soup I'd ever tasted. We also bought doughnuts from Joe's cart. Pinkie brought some board games and a miniature version of ring toss, Dash had a few volumes of her Daring Do collection, Rarity and Fluttershy debated fashion and came up with some pretty wild designs, I had a few books, including my copy of Treatise on Ponies in case Moondancer called, and Applejack made friends with all of our neighbors. We slept out there on the street. The museum had extended its hours from eight in the morning to nine at night that first day, then from six in the morning to midnight on the next day. Even when the museum was closed, the line would keep moving for a few hours more as ponies gave up and went home and the guards filled the gaps. I didn't get much sleep that first night. Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie slept in their bedrolls on the pavement, but Rainbow Dash coaxed a few clouds down to street level and made beds for Fluttershy, me and herself. This was a new experience for me, I'd never slept on a cloud before. I was a bit worried I'd somehow fall through. I offered to cast the cloud walking spell on Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and our neighbors, but they all said no. They'd rather sleep while safe on the ground. The next morning we were still far from the museum. Everypony's spirits were still good, but we were all feeling surprised that we were still out in the streets with no end in sight. After breakfast we took turns going to my old residence to take a bath. I amused myself by looking up tidbits on the places the line was taking us in my Thornhoof's Brief History of Canterlot book. Rarity and Fluttershy took a quick trip to Rarity's boutique and came back in fresh hats, all the better for roughing it in the streets. Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were engaged in an all out ring toss war. We ate too much rich food from the passing carts. I took short naps when I could. Celestia set the sun, and with the moon high in the sky, the line stopped for a few hours. Soon after sunrise we were moving again, usually about twenty paces, then we'd stop. Nap, sketch, read, chat, eat. Traveling musicians, acrobats, fire eaters, poets and other ponies looking for an audience found us, captives of the line. So did everypony with something to sell. It really was a circus out there in the streets of Canterlot. A circus and a fair rolled into one. I think Pinkie was taking notes. While we were stopped and a blues band was serenading our street, Moondancer popped up in my open Treatise. I told her where we were and she said she was coming right over. I told her to bring tea. None of these food carts had hot tea of any description. I guess I was getting a little cranky after two days of going nowhere. Moondancer found us, and she brought Minuette, Twinkleshine and enough tea and tea cups for everypony. I'm not sure who or which I was more happy to see, the tea or my foalhood friends. Moondancer and Minuette apologized for the lineup (which is not their fault) but they said we were getting close. We'd probably get in that same day. Or maybe not. But we were close! At least the tea was hot and soothing. They stayed and chatted a while and Applejack introduced them to our impromptu neighbors. That way the ponies following us didn't get the impression these three were jumping into the line. Moondancer was mum about describing the exhibit to us, but she did say that some of the scrolls on display were getting perceptibly lighter and more legible already. We ordered an early lunch from a few carts and had a picnic with Moondancer, Minuette and Twinkleshine before they left. Soon after, our part of the line turned a corner and we could see the museum steps down the street! At six in the evening, we finally left the hubbub and hustle of the crowded steps and I stepped into the museum. The peace and quiet of the hall washed over me and I forgot the two and a half days of waiting I'd endured. We left our packs and bedrolls at the counter and with our street camping neighbors, left the silent carpet and stepped into the first room of the artifacts of the All Mare. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° In The Dark I Can Hear Your Heartbeat Sept 16: The first room was made to look like the dry cave in the San Palomino Desert where Dr Clarity Quest had discovered the All Mare's tomb. It was dark with fake rock walls and scattered here and there were archaeologist's tools. We were drawn to the far end of this "cave" to where light was entering the room through a small doorway. The first artifacts were in there. That next room was made to look like a replica of a chamber in Epona's living area and tomb. The ceiling was adorned with gently glowing swirls that cast light on white walls bearing a repeating motif of three red roses. There were photographs taken at the site, and protected by glass, artifacts such as an ink well, a wash basin, bowls cracked with age and use, and storage jars from the kitchen. Near the jars were fresh examples of what they had held so long ago. Spices, flour seeds and rolled oats. There were also planks and core samples from the planks compared with core samples from trees and wooden items of known age. The patterns matched up with tree ring growth patterns from over a thousand years ago! We walked through another doorway into a room featuring reproductions of the murals from the site. In here were displayed furniture and cloth. There were decayed samples of textiles, carefully preserved, and recreations of what scholars thought the clothing, blankets and coverings looked like when they were new. Then there was the scroll room. In there, the walls were lined with large excerpts of text, written in modern script but spelled out phonetically, verbatim as it had been gleaned from the scrolls. The first display was of a writing desk, magnifying eyewear and an inkwell. And then there were dozens of scrolls on display, on loan from the archives of ancient literature in the Royal Canterlot Library. Some were partly unrolled, floating in delicate magic fields and catching the light so ponies could glimpse the faded writing on the brown cracked paper. Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack were attracted to the shining gold scrolls, one in fragments, showing how time had caused cold welding of gold on gold. Signs in big glowing letters read "do not disturb! Haycartes only!" A Haycartes spell has never been known to damage a book or scroll. I went over to the paper scrolls. I could see a few pony outlines wandering on the brown paper, looking faded and a bit lost. I concentrated on an unrolled scroll that looked less ravaged by time than the others and used the Haycartes' spell. It was like listening to rocks sliding in a strong wind! It was very hard to make out any words. I could only see a thick brown fog and a hoarse, jumble of words, like an old pony muttering under her breath. I took a few steps and the fog cleared slightly. I could see a small white mare nuzzling a newborn pegasus in a vast grassland. Her newborn pegasus. I heard a name whispered from behind my ear. Zephyr. Nopony was behind me. The pony coaxing the pegasus to her feet jingled as she moved. She had silver bells braided into her mane. Her flank was bare. Then the brown fog closed in on me and I felt that I could hardly breathe. It was like plowing through mud while somepony whispers in your ear but the accent is so thick you can't make out what they're saying. I had to get out. I left the scroll and trying not to choke on the dust that clung to me still, I went over to Rarity and the others to tell them what I had seen. To move us along and make room for the next 50 ponies, doors were closing behind us. We followed the crowd though a doorway over which was painted stars and three white keys on a deep, midnight blue wall. This was the final chamber. There were just two exhibits on display here. The crystal light and Epona herself. The All Mother, resting as she had been found, on her bed of decayed cloth and straw, stretched out in repose. We barely glanced at the light, glittering brightly with the hearts and minds of so many ponies focused here. We all headed to join the herd crowded around Epona's glass chamber. The museum had placed her display case in a low spot with a mini-amphitheater all around. It was as if she was going to wake up at any moment and give us a lecture on pony history. I sat down, most of us sat down in the raised seats. Some ponies lay down on the floor by the display case so they could look up at her on her bed. It was so quiet I could hear ponies catching small breaths. Some were trying to stifle coughs. We all stared until our eyes watered. Scattered in the straw there were quite a few colored beads and I counted at least fifty little silver bells shaped like rose buds. At the edge of the bed were four small gold slippers. Here and there, a strand of pure white hair. All too soon, the museum guards announced that our time was up. We had to leave. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Hello Silence My Old Friend Sept 17: Oh, peace and quiet, how I missed it! After days on end of living in the streets with hundreds of ponies all around and still hundreds more in a stationary parade twisting off in either direction, I've had the echo of their voices and presence in my mind for days. I've felt like I could bump into a buzzing crowd of ponies just down the corridor every time I'd get up, or like there were hundreds of ponies waiting just outside my chamber door. I even got up to look a few times. That's just about gone now. Finally. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Remembrance Of Things Past September 18: My friends have been pretty quiet since we got back. They've been catching up on work for the most part, but I think that like me, they're still processing what we went through. I went to the Everfree Forest to share what I had seen and learned with Zecora. She's not fond of crowds and it's not her All Mother who has been brought to light. It's unlikely that she'll go to see the Epona Exposition herself. But she has a keen interest in all things pony. I'd brought a couple of loaves of fresh baked oat bread, so we shared some toast and a few pots of tea. She listened patiently while I rambled on about the whole three day's experience. Epona's bones still haunt me. She was so small. She died alone, and so long ago. She was Mother to us all. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Harvest Sept 19: I dropped in on Applejack this afternoon. She's bucking McIntosh apples now and I helped her bring in what she'd harvested. She thinks that the apple ripening trifecta needed to make sweet apple cider is due in about a week. I got treated to sweet corn, fresh alfalfa and apple pie hot out of the oven. Autumn isn't due for another three days but the early harvest is on. Tomorrow I should see what treats I can find at the market for my pantry. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° I'm Ready For A Trip Sept 20: I need a distraction. Filling my pantry with lots of fresh produce that we now have to eat before it goes bad did not meet criteria. I think a hike through the Everfree and a picnic in the Carerfilly Castle ruins could give me focus and help clean out some of that surplus food. I'll see who wants to come with me. Maybe I'll find some exciting old books to borrow from the library in the ruins! °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Chagrin-lea Sept 21: I received a letter in the mail from Moondancer. No, she still hasn't taken the Canterlot gang to see the Epona Exposition, the crowds are still daunting. She's doing restorative work on Epona's written artifacts, but while working on Epona's scrolls, Moondancer has branched off into research on fantasy and legends. Some of Epona's writing suggests a pony Chagrin-lea over the Western Sea, a lost grassland paradise somewhere, hidden by magic and populated by ponies. This does not sound like Daring Do's discovery, but just the fact that Daring found such a pony civilization within our own borders makes the possibility there might be others all the more plausible. For instance, dare I ask, where are the Alicorns hiding? Perhaps across the Western Sea? Will the birth of Flurry Heart draw them out? Are they angry that Celestia and Luna left them? Would Luna's conversion into Nightmare Moon and the dangers of majesty confirm their desire to remain hidden away? So many questions! Yet another excuse to visit the library in the Carerfilly Castle ruins. So far, Starlight Glimmer is joining me, as is Spike. I saw Pinkie and she's keen to go for the picnic and to play with the "Organ to the Outside". I'll see Rarity, Applejack and hopefully Dash tomorrow and I'll ask them then if they're up for a picnic. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° So Long Summer Surprise Supper September 22: Pinkie sprang a So Long Summer Surprise Supper for all of us in Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Rarity had a grand time decorating her showroom in autumn colors with unfurled bolts of cloth hung like undulating waves along the ceiling and walls. She had all her manequins decked out in splendid fall outfits, posed like they were watching over and commenting on the supper. She set a long table for eight with her best dining ware and Pinkie and Applejack provided the feast. So for the three of them, it wasn't really a surprise, and for the rest of us, it was mostly a question of where and what Pinkie would do to welcome fall this year. The food was excellent and abundant. Even Starlight Glimmer had too much to eat. Right now I think the picnic tomorrow will just be a light lunch, but I know that by then I'll be hungry again, so maybe not too light. Yes, the picnic is on! Rarity is coming with us, but not Applejack or Rainbow Dash. Dash has a prior commitment and Applejack has a harvest to keep up with and she has several dozen pies to bake. Rarity plans to pick up another tapestry to mend and study and Fluttershy wants to see the sporadic signs of fall as we walk through the Everfree. Earlier today I dropped in on Zecora to see if she would like to join us, but she wasn't in. I left her a note. I'll swing by there on our way tomorrow to see if she got my note. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° (Citizens of Ponyville, don't panic. Twilight has just stepped out. She should be back soon. We hope.) °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Through The Wringer Sept 26: I'm home. I'm so very tired. Spike has been waiting on me from head to hoof. I just got out of subacute care in the Crystal Empire. I will write a journal entry about what happened later. Applejack brought me a jug of sweet apple cider. The crab apples have ripened and I'm missing the harvest. It was very good. It takes three kinds of apples to make good apple cider. Sweet, tart and bitter. The apple family uses McIntosh, ambrosia and crab apples. Zecora came by. She hadn't been with us on our picnic and she hadn't learned that I'd had vanished until a few days ago. She left me some teas to promote rest and to give me strength. I've been sleeping very well. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Lost In Translation Sept 27: I'm feeling better. My friends have all been over to see me today. They've told me of some of the panic and searching that happened when I disappeared. They didn't stay long. I'm still so very tired. So what happened. We'd had a light picnic in the throne room of the Carerfilly ruins. It's our favorite spot, open to the sky, right below the twin thrones of Celestia and Luna, with the tapestries that Rarity had mended gleaming in the light. Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike were off selecting a tapestry to study and mend, Pinkie was serenading us on the Organ To The Outside, and Starlight Glimmer was nose deep in a book she'd pulled off the shelves with a dozen others piled to either side of her on her reading table. Zecora wasn't with us, she was still not home when we'd dropped by on the way to the castle ruins and my note was still on her door. So I took down my note. There would be other picnics. I'd found a really faded and dogeared book in the Princess's hidden reading room. I discovered it behind some other books when I'd pulled a fat book on stone masonry off the shelf. I guess it had fallen down behind them and had been forgotten. Not only was it old, but it looked well loved! This could only mean it was worth reading. I sat down to see what it was about, but it was not easy. The text was hard to read and when I read the same passage twice, I seemed to get a different narrative. I figured that was because it was nearly illegible. Well, I know for a fact that faded texts can be read using the Haycartes spell! So I cast that. I found myself in a yellowing, brightly lit plain of short grasses and wilting flowers. I couldn't see the sun but I could feel it beating down on me like it was midday. That was strange, but what struck me was how empty this book felt. Usually, with Haycartes you can feel the intent of the author. It's very useful for understanding the story and concepts they're writing about. Here there was none of that. Everything was vague and aimless. From my spot among the bleached grasses and flowers, I could hear murmurs and the playful calls of young ponies, but they were muffled and nopony was in sight. I couldn't see more than three lengths in any direction and yet I felt like I was supposed to be in a wide open space. I took a step and found myself at a precipice, at the top of a narrow winding trail going down. I took another step and I was halfway down a cliff face. Below there was mist and the sound of crashing waves, to my right, a cave. I went in. I heard the rumble of falling rocks behind me and I leaped forward to avoid getting hit by an avalanche. I dove straight into the jaws of a dragon. I screamed as I got engulfed in flames, only to find myself panting and wild-eyed, cowering in a yellowing, brightly lit plain of short grasses and wilting brown flowers. Then I tried to get out of the book and couldn't. All around me was the sound of playing foals, far away and unseen in the yellow grey mist. I decided to settle down and wait. As soon as my belly touched the ground, the light went out and the foal voices vanished. Instead, there was rustling noises in the grass. Could be mice. Could be a rabbit. Could be something a lot worse. I'd just been whisked out of a ball of fire and the fresh memory of sulfur and burning hair was suddenly almost all I could think of. I kept very still. I heard a deep rumbling and the sound of grass getting ripped out of the ground. Some rustling. A stop. Ripping. Deep, whistling breathing! Grinding teeth! Sniffing! A deep, grumbling growl and something gigantic loomed out of the murky air right behind me! I screamed and shot out of my crouch at a full gallop and straight into an orchard. I careened around a stand of gnarled apple trees, my heart in my teeth and looked back. Nothing was following me that I could see or hear. I smelled the air for clues, but if there was any spoor, it was masked by the sickly sweet smell of very ripe apples. Suddenly I was very hungry. Again I attempted to get out of this book, to no avail. I tried not to panic. I'd found the book around mid afternoon, and while I was trapped in the book, my friends had decided it was time to go back to Ponyville. They soon found my saddle bags and the books I'd pulled from the shelves and taken into the reading room, but they didn't see me. They wandered the library, then the castle, then the castle grounds looking for me and calling my name. They couldn't find me. They kept searching until it got dark. They were so worried that Spike sent a message to Princess Celestia. The Everfree is a dangerous place. Princess Luna arrived with her personal guard and they took up the search. My friends collected my things and headed for home. They were sick with worry. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° A True True Friend Helps A Friend In Need Sept 28: Picking up where I left off. Must document everything. I had fled in panic and I was suddenly in a gnarled, unkempt orchard that smelled of overripe apples and I was hungry even though I'd just eaten not long ago. So I looked around for somewhere safe to stand or hide. Some high ground where I could see anything coming my way and that would have escape routes in all directions. All I could see were old, twisted apple trees. But no apples. I was really getting hungry. I was on sloping ground so I walked uphill, looking for a clearing. I reached the edge of the orchard, beyond that the ground continued to rise. At the top of the hill I could make out the shape of a tree, or trees, or a very large bush. A big bush at a top of a hill would make a good place to hide and see danger approach, so I moved toward it. The smell of apples was stronger here, the rising ground was littered with them. I was stepping gingerly around the windfall of apples when a gentle creaking noise coming from the top of the hill brought me to a stop. I stared intently ahead. The tree at the top of the hill looked oddly familiar, like I'd seen it before, or something like it. I was sure it was some kind of willow. I stopped. It was moving, like in a breeze, except that there was no wind. Especially not enough wind to make it sway like that! It was a whipping willow! A really big one. As I turned to go back into the orchard I heard a hissing noise, I dug in my hooves to launch myself down the hill. I heard the crack and felt the lash across my back. A leafy tendril grabbed at my leg and sent me tumbling. I rolled, flailing and kicking down the hill as the tree sent more hissing branches after me. As I crashed back through the gnarled trees I felt a yank on my right wing and a flash of pain as the willow pulled away with half my flight feathers. A few dozen apples rolled past me and I followed them into a gully, out of reach, I hoped, of the willow. The pain was intense, but so was my hunger. So I ate an apple to distract myself from my bloodied wing. Suddenly it was day again and my wing was as good as new! I tried to get out of the book again, but to no avail. I was no longer hungry, but I was starting to feel the strain of maintaining a Haycartes' spell. I had to get out of this story. By the light of day I could see long willowy branches feeling around among the trees in the orchard around me. That explained how the apples got up the hill. I didn't want to wait around until the willow found me again. I picked up a bunch of the apples that had rolled downhill with me and since I didn't have saddle bags, I tucked them under my wings. I went downhill. An orchard meant a farm, and there might be ponies with clues on what I should do. Hopefully fictional ponies, not trapped ponies. I wanted out. If I could figure out what this book was about, maybe I could make all the right decisions and get out. I eventually found a farmhouse, or what was left of one. It was flickering in and out of sight, sometimes made of stone and peat, sometimes out of wood, sometimes looking like a smouldering ruin. I turned left and into a blinding fog. I was on a cobblestone road in a mountain pass and it was starting to rain. It was a dirty, stinging rain. I moved forward, hoping for shelter and a place to rest. I'm not sure how time was passing in the real world or at what chapter of the trap I was in when Starlight Glimmer picked up my things and headed for Ponyville. If she hadn't, I shudder to think that I could have ended up as a line of smudged fading text in that book. "Here Lies Twilight Sparkle". Moondancer came by today, all the way from Canterlot, just to visit me. She and Starlight Glimmer were waiting by my bedside around mid-morning with warm beet pulp soup and alfalfa crackers. Breakfast of champions. They each told me in turn their side of the search and rescue. Starlight went first. Back at Carerfilly, when Starlight Glimmer and the others were looking for me, Starlight had first looked in the reading room that I had been using but did not find me in there. After wandering around the castle calling my name for a few hours, she came back and looked through the open books I had been reading for clues. She found the book in which, unbeknownst to her, I was trapped, but she soon gave up on trying to read the faint text. When the search party was called off, she gathered up the books I had selected, put them in my saddlebags and carried them back to Ponyville. Spike had sent a message to Celestia who in turn sent Luna with a search party to the ruins to continue the search. That failed. Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer felt that there had to be a clue to my disappearance in the books I was reading, perhaps some spell I might have found and tried. She opened them all in her room and spent all evening and a good part of the night looking for hidden writing, instructions, hidden pages, anything. That night she woke up with a start, fully expecting to see me standing by her bed. But nopony was there. Three more times she thought she heard my voice, but when she opened her eyes, there was only darkness and the stony silence of her castle room. What's worse, the voice was getting weaker. The next morning Starlight Glimmer tried again to read the faint, smudged text. Even by the light of day it was hard on her eyes, the letters writhed across the page like they had been written by a pony who had been fighting to stay awake. The text kept changing so that flipping back and forth from the same two pages gave unlimited options. Forty pages in she saw my name in the wavering script, something about panting from exhaustion in a ruined underground maze. Starlight Glimmer realized that this book was key to getting me back. Either I had found a spell in the book that had sent me somewhere, or I somehow I had become trapped in the book, and since turning the page changed the text, she took the precaution to keep that page open and to not read further. News of my disappearance in the ancient library of some castle ruins had reached Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and the ears of Moondancer. She caught the first train to Ponyville and galloped to the Friendship Castle to get the details from Spike's mouth. Instead she found Starlight packing her saddlebags with the intention of consulting with Sunburst in the Crystal Empire. If any pony could find out what it was about this book that caused me to vanish, she was sure it would be Sunburst. Moondancer went with her and carefully read through the legible books I had picked out at Carerfilly on the train ride there. At Sunburst's house Moondancer and Sunburst puzzled through the first few pages of the book while Starlight stared at the page where my name appeared. Sunburst recognized the writing style as a classic "Find Your Fate" storybook. Once you knew that, you could see that Find Your Fate was written on the spine. But this volume was special. It had been modified into a magical Find Your Fate book. Instead of having the reader skip ahead to a certain page number corresponding to a choice they'd made, the book changed to fit their mood and desires. It rewrote itself, page by page. Fortunately, every pony up to now wanted to find me. Unfortunately, they didn't expect it would be easy and they thought I was lost, or trapped, or both. So, I was. My expectation was that the book was hard to read and everything would be murky, so I got stuck in the murk. Moondancer and Sunburst skipped ahead to the open page where Starlight had found me, and since that was what they wanted, I was still there, but sinking up to my belly in muck. They kept that page open and hoped I wouldn't go anywhere while the three of them came up with a plan. Moondancer guessed right in that the Haycartes' spell is what that put me into this mess. Sunburst put forward that we'd better pull me out before I reached one of the messy ends that are possible outcomes in the Find Your Fate story genre. Starlight suggested we continue reading while wishing the book-trapped me found herself refreshed and at an exit. Moondancer thought that was risky. The reason I was tired was because I was also trapped in a Haycartes' spell. The only way to fix that was to get me out of the book. I'll finish telling this story, both stories, later. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Abridged To Safety Sept 29: I woke up this morning to find a hot pot of Zecora's tea by my bedside along with a big basket of fresh grasses, fruit and cupcakes, left for me by my friends. Everypony is still getting up earlier than I am. But I'm feeling stronger! Rarity decorated the basket and there was a big get well card signed by everypony. I think Pinkie had everypony in Ponyville sign that card. There are so many overlapping signatures and hoofprints on it that it looks like a stampede had run over it. I still slept most of the day away. Back to what happened. I didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved to have lost that farmhouse. I probably wouldn't have dared to enter a building that was that erratic. At least I wasn't in the field of brown grass and flowers. I still couldn't see further than a dozen lengths in any direction and I was getting tired. Even after months of practice, I can usually only do Haycartes for several minutes. Thirty minutes, tops. I wasn't feeling the usual effort involved in a Haycartes spell in this book, which I took to mean that I was getting better at it. But I was wet from the rain, getting tired and I couldn't exit the book! I couldn't keep this up forever. At the top of the pass was an alcove carved into the cliff wall along the side of the road. There was a dry sandy area under that overhang, big enough for six ponies to take shelter. I went in there to get out of the rain which was now falling like sheets. A pair of rock lobsters scuttled out past me and opened their gill chambers to the falling rain. I felt my pasterns sagging from fatigue. I wanted to hunker down and rest on the dry sand but there might be other rock lobsters lurking here. They're hard to see against the rocks. Instead I pulled out an apple from under my wing and took a bite. I nearly choked in fright. A rock wallaby hopped down from a nook it had gnawed in the rock wall under the ledge and it moved toward me. I wanted to bolt, but at the same time I was fascinated by how it moved. It walked with a curious pendulum gait, swinging its hind legs forward both at the same time between the tripod of its tail and front feet. It was followed by another rock lobster. "That's close enough", I managed to growl with my mouth full. It stopped, sat up and made grabby motions with its front paws. The claws looked diamond tipped and sharp. So I tossed my bitten apple to it. The rock wallaby grabbed that and gnawed it to pieces, attracting a swarm of rock lobsters. Alarmed, I tossed it another apple as I backed up into the rain. I swallowed the apple in my mouth and everything went black. Not completely black. My eyes adjusted to a dim glow emanating from wet areas on the walls, ceiling and floor around me. I was in a corridor. There were no windows or doors and no signs indicating a direction to travel. Just rock. Wet rock. The air was stale. I decided that it was less stale in one direction, and I set off that way. The corridor turned sharply left, then right, then right again, the right a third time, then after a while, right again. I got to thinking, eating an apple has caused a scene change twice. What if I eat another apple? I had two left. I pulled one out, took a bite and swallowed. I didn't see or smell any difference. I was still in a rock corridor with muck on the walls, and the muck was sticking to me. Every so often the corridor would branch and I'd chose left or right, by smell if I could. There were no dead ends. Just dank and darkness. I could feel myself fading still. I ate the rest of the apple, but that didn't help. The muck was getting worse. My hooves were making sucking sounds now with each step, and sticking. I stumbled a bit and where I touched the walls, heavy muck peeled off and clung to me. I couldn't shake it off. I dropped my last apple somewhere along the way. The muck was climbing up my legs and coating me from head to hoof, crusting over my legs until it was so thick that my legs rubbed together as I shuffled on. It was so heavy. I was so heavy. I had to rest. I had to keep moving. I was getting pulled down and I couldn't see where I was going. I knew I'd never get out. I stopped and cried out to Epona. I don't know if she heard me. I was so alone. Sunburst tracked down an Editing Spell and a Friendship Bridge spell and suggested that they isolate the page I was on and use the Friendship Bridge as a lifeline. Moondancer, since she is adept with Haycartes', would go in after me, and when she'd extended the Friendship Bridge spell to me, they would both pull her out and me with her. They had to decide quickly, because even though they hadn't read further, I was nearly asleep on my feet and sinking deeper into the muck. Moondancer and Starlight learned the Friendship Bridge spell, the three of them linked hooves, and Starlight cast the spell. Then Moondancer cast the Haycart's spell, subtly and gently, focusing tightly to the Friendship Bridge as she reached into the open page and out to me. The muck was closing in over my back by then and I was slipping in and out of consciousness. In a brief moment of lucidity I felt something pulling at my mane. I opened a bleary eye and saw Moondancer's ear flicking against a grey sky, then I felt the bridge. My friends! Here to pull me home. Moondancer had my mane in her mouth and she hung on grimly as she pulled herself back out of the book, and me along with her. There was a wet sucking sound followed by a pop! and I fell out of the story and landed on top of three ponies, generously showering them in brown muck. Then I must have gone unconscious. While Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst rushed me to the Crystal Empire Medical Center, Moondancer cantered to the Crystal Castle to tell Princess Cadence that I had been found and rescued. Moondancer took the book to the Canterlot archives to be studied. I'd been trapped in it for about twenty hours. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`° Turning The Page Sept 30: I was up with the dawn today. I was ready to get out of bed and get back to the fun things in life, so I started with my morning stroll. Even though it's only been a week, I could easily see that the grass is taller than when last I went for a morning stroll. There is less than a moon to go until the third cut harvest. To get back into harness, I started with some light reading. Daring Do And The Eternal Flower, a safe, old favorite. Then I had a surprise visit from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! They had come to see me while I was in critical care and unconscious at the Crystal Empire Medical Center. I don't remember that, obviously. Now they were over to see how my recovery was going. Princess Luna stated that there are some dangerous books in the old library, or potentially dangerous if read without knowing what you're getting into. Not all of them are locked away like the Inspiration Manifestation book that Spike had borrowed a while back, and subsequently destroyed by eating it. (Good riddance!) Princess Celestia told me that the the book that had trapped me started out as a normal Find Your Fate book. It was a book that Luna and Celestia had both read many times. At some point, while they were still quite young, they decided to make it better. They combined a dreamreading spell with an elements of style spell, an editing spell and randomizing spell. That didn't work out so well. The magically enhanced book would unfold the story in a way that reflected the fears and dour moods of the readers, it did not make for a relaxing read anymore. So the princesses lost interest in it, shelved the book and forgot about it. Now it's in the enchanted book section of the Canterlot archives. That mix of spells hadn't aged well in the centuries that the book had lain forgotten. The book itself was not made of the best paper, and as it degraded, so did the enchantment, until it was in the faded mess that I had found it in. A fine trap for an inquisitive pony. °Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°Øo.¸¸.•*´¯`°