“So, where are we going?” Hugo looked back and forth between Sunny and the map, a very confused look on his face.
Sunny sighed. “I don’t know,” she said for the millionth time. “I’m trying to find a pony that I’ve only seen in my dreams - and the only place I saw him was in this kind of in-between world that was like I was floating in the night sky - but something tells me he’s not waiting above the clouds.”
Hugo clutched his head and adjusted his glasses. “That makes no sense,” he said. “There’s nowhere on here that could be anything like that.”
Lukas cleared his throat, and every creature’s attention was shifted to the yak. “I was just wondering, what kind of pony did you see?”
Sunny studied his face. “Why, have you heard something like that?”
He shrugged and blew his hair out of his face. “There’s an old story,” he began, “that when Equestria was ruled by ponies who controlled the sun and moon, the throne was passed to a pony who needed a magical amulet to move the celestial bodies. But she had many other responsibilities on her mind, so she constructed a massive clock in a tower that she hid from every creature else that controlled the sun and moon for her. But when her reign ended, a guardian was chosen to watch over the tower - the expected - and to deliver messages from the future - the unexpected. A pony was chosen to watch over both, and no one has heard from this guardian in over a century.”
As he finished his story, Sunny paced the zeppelin. They were hovering over the Crystal Mountains and slowly drifting south with the wind. The more she thought about the tale and what she had seen, it seemed to fit. “Where was this tower and guardian?” she asked Lukas, and he shrugged.
“In a place that nopony had ever been, where the day ended and the night began,” he recited. “That’s what the legend says, anyway.”
“That’s what we’re going off of here?” Hugo threw his claws in the air. The map slipped between his fingers, and Ash caught it before it could fly away. “An old legend that none of us have even heard?”
“The world’s been isolated for years,” Kailani reminded him gently. “And legends always have a basis of true fact.”
“What about there?” Ash had been studying the map, and she now pointed a claw at an area on the paper. Every creature dashed around behind her to see where she was indicating: a peninsula jutting off the edge of the map and full of mountains and forests. “The ‘Undiscovered West’, it’s called. Isn’t the west where the sun sets?”
“Where a day ends and the night begins,” Sunny whispered to herself. “In a place nopony has ever been.” She turned to Hugo. “Can you set course for the Undiscovered West?”
The flightless griffon sighed and took the map. “Let’s go find some mysterious tower,” he said reluctantly, and every creature cheered as he stalked over to the wheel and turned them ever so slightly to direct them southwest.
Even as they flew forward, Sunny couldn’t help but glance behind her. The north was consumed in a massive snowstorm right now, but she remembered seeing the place where her friends were - if she closed her eyes right now, she could imagine it, could imagine what they were doing, and wanted more than anything to join them.
But she had to do this right now. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew that she had to find this pony who had only appeared in her dreams twice.
As the Undiscovered West approached, all the creatures except for Hugo (who was at the wheel) and Lukas (who wanted to help but couldn’t, as his bangs kept getting in the way) stood at the railing, scanning the ground below them for any signs of the mysterious tower from Lukas’ story.
Kailani stood at the front, her wings slightly unfolded as the wind rustled her mane. She frowned at the horizon, then called to Hugo, “That mountain peak over there. Once you pass it, you’ll find a valley that you can only find if you’re looking for it, and the tower’s there.”
Hugo blinked. “How do you know that?”
She paused. “I don’t know. I’ve just got this feeling.”
He shrugged and directed it in the direction she had pointed in. Just before the zeppelin was about to cross over the mountain peak, it hit something in front of it, and came to a shuddering stop.
Sunny clung to the railing to keep from getting tossed around as the ship rebounded. She looked up to see a large pink shield appearing as ripple effects spread out from where the zeppelin hit it.
There was something about this magic that felt… familiar.
“There’s no way we can get through this!” Imara cried, landing back on the deck. “I don’t think your magic would be enough to get this whole thing through!” she told Sunny.
“Look!” Little Braveheart pointed to something over the side of the ship, and they all ran over to see where she was pointing. “See that slight indentation right there?” Sunny squinted but couldn’t quite make out what the buffalo was referring to. “That must mean there’s a cave or… or a tunnel that leads right in there!”
Sunny and Hugo exchanged a look and shrugged - it couldn’t hurt. Hugo gently landed the zeppelin in front of the mountain and offered to stay with the ship, Kailani also staying behind in case he needed backup. Sunny followed behind Little Braveheart as she led Sunny, Brooks, Imara, Lukas, and Ash up to the side of the massive mountain. Little Braveheart pushed aside some rocks, Lukas helping her with that, and they eventually revealed a long, dark tunnel that went down into the mountain and disappeared.
“Let’s hope this goes where we want it to go,” Imara said nervously, turning into a lightning bug to provide some light and following Little Braveheart into the darkness.
Sunny hoped as well. With every step she took away from her friends, she had to combat a feeling that grew stronger and stronger that said they needed her.
But her mission was to unite the tribes. And, as she looked around her, Sunny knew, with a sense of pride, that she hadn’t completely failed that - the tribes had been united. Or, at least, one member from each of them. And she would have to hope that would be enough.
The tunnel eventually sloped upward and evened out just in time for it to come out into a large valley, perfectly circular, with twelve rope bridges leading across a massive canyon at regular intervals so that it looked like a clock from above. And in the middle of the valley stood a white tower, tall and thin, spiraling up into the sky so high that Sunny had to squint to see it. She and her friends stood in awe, until Imara pointed at the base of the tower. “Look!”
A pony was sitting next to the tower, his hoof placed on the smooth white stone with an expression that Sunny couldn’t read from this far away - but she thought it looked like a longing of some sort. The fading sunlight caught the stallion’s midnight blue coat and deep purple mane, and Sunny gasped.
“That’s the pony I’m looking for,” she whispered. “We found him!”
“I can’t believe this is real,” Lukas said in a hoarse voice, literally holding his hair out of his face so he could see better. “The legend was true.”
“Well, of course it’s true!” Imara reappeared, laughing, and spread her wings. “Come on! Let’s go say hello!”
“Imara, WAIT!” Sunny called after her, but the changeling was already across the canyon. Sunny ran across one of the bridges, her eyes so focused on her friend, who was now diving around the tower and doing all sorts of tricks that Zipp would have been proud of, that she ran right into somepony.
“Ack! Sorry,” she said hastily, stepping back and rubbing her head. Then she noticed who she had bumped into. “Wait… it’s you!”
The dream pony blinked, and as his eyes swept her, his mouth dropped. “You’re here! You - you’re actually here! Wait, are you?” He reached out a hoof and gently prodded her, but she remained. “You’re here. This isn't a dream! Oh, wow, that is… this is…” He shook his head and took a deep breath, sticking out his hoof. “Hi. My name’s Midnight. I would have introduced myself before, but I have been instructed that the messages are more important than the introductions.”
Sunny took his hoof. “I’m Sunny, and these are my friends.” She gestured around her, where the other creatures had surrounded her. “This is Imara, Ash, Little Braveheart, Brooks, and Lukas.” All the creatures either waved or said “Hi” or “Hello” to Midnight.
“So… you did it then.” The look on his face was ecstatic. “You really united them all… not just the ponies, but all the tribes.”
“Um… yeah. About that.” Sunny rubbed her arm sheepishly. “You see… we may not have united all of them. Because, right now, we know that the changelings, at least, are preparing for war against ponykind because of a massive misunderstanding, so… it’s not as great as you make it sound.”
Midnight blinked. “But it is!” He waved his hoof at the assembled creatures. “Don’t you see what you’ve done? For the first time in over a century, all the tribes are represented here - with you. The last Sparkle. It all makes sense now!”
“What does?” Little Braveheart asked, voicing the question in all of their heads.
“The message,” Midnight explained, which didn’t explain anything. He bounced to his hooves, and Sunny noticed how strange his eyes were - they looked kind of… crystally. “Can I show you around? It’s been literally years since I’ve had any visitors, and you will not believe how bored I am.”
“I mean…” Sunny looked around at her friends. “Sure? I think we have time for a quick tour.”
Midnight squealed like a little foal (he kind of reminded Sunny of a foal from the way he acted, like all the social isolation had prevented him from maturing like other ponies) and led the way to the tower. Sunny noticed how there was writing on the base, some of which matched the writing on the little scrap of paper that Midnight had given her back with the Legion of Doom so she could escape.
“This is the Tower of Day and Night,” he said grandly. “Twilight Sparkle - your ancestor,” he added, pointing to Sunny, “-built this tower when she was ruler of Equestria so she wouldn’t have to worry about the rising and setting of the sun when there was so much else to do. She put a magical amulet in the center, and the rest of the Tower acts like a giant clock, activating the amulet when it’s time for the sun and moon to rise or set.”
“What’s that writing on the bottom?” Lukas asked, walking slowly along the base of the tower so he could read it.
“Ah. You see, when Twilight created the Tower, she did not anticipate what was to come - how unexpected the world would become.”
“The tribes separating,” Sunny whispered. “Magic vanishing.”
Midnight nodded. “Luna, who used to be one of the two rulers of Equestria, did see this, and she saw how important it would be to protect the continuity in this world - give the ponies something to cling to that would always stay the same, no matter what. She also knew that she and her sister, who sometimes received visions of the future, would not be around forever to warn ponies and other creatures about what was to come. So Luna sent out a dream message to multiple different ponies and creatures across Equestria, asking them to come meet her at the Tower.
“One of my friends was a yak - we would frequently meet, since we both lived so far north - and he told me about this dream message he had gotten. And when I heard it, I just sensed… that it was for me. So I came down here and found the Tower, and Luna gave me this.” He gestured to the pendant he was wearing, a pale crescent moon carved out of a shimmering white stone.
“It’s part of the Tree of Harmony,” he explained proudly. “Don’t worry, Luna assured me that it would not harm the Tree. But she infused it with a little bit of her magic, so now I occasionally receive messages from the cosmos that I distribute via dreams.” He let the pendant drop to his chest. “No big deal.”
“So… what’s the writing do?” Lukas persisted.
“Oh!” Midnight looked slightly flustered that he had gone off on such a detour. “That just explains what the Tower does, and why it must be protected. I’ve also written down all the messages I’ve received over the years.”
The way he looked when he said that - so sad and lonely - made Sunny wonder how long he had been here, how much he had sacrificed. She was struck by an idea, and she began slowly, “You know, if you want, you could-”
Midnight froze. The sun had set and the moon had risen, and now his moon pendant was glowing, rising ever so slightly off his chest and hovering in the air. The silvery light coming from the moon made the earth pony seem like he was glowing, illuminating each individual hair on his head with a shimmering sheen. He closed his eyes and looked so at peace, and then it was over. The moon crystal dropped again, thumping against his chest as he opened his eyes and quickly sought out Sunny.
Seeing the panic in his eyes immediately told Sunny that something wasn’t right.
“Darkness in the north,” he recited, a far away look in his eyes. “They fight, but they need help.”
His eyes met Sunny’s, and she felt her heart plummeting.
“Your friends are in danger.”