//------------------------------//
// Episode 26: Forever Free Family Pt 2 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Season Three 
// by Captain_Cosmos 
//------------------------------//

Frost waited until she was sure nopony would see her enter, before she quietly slipped into the Castle of the two Sisters. She navigated into a secret hallway that she was sure none of them had found. Once she was sure she was alone, she pressed a stone and a secret passage opened up. She slipped through it and found herself in a room with a single table in it. She made sure the passageway was closed before she stepped up to the table, onto a pad, and lit her horn.

The pad and the table flowed as they responded to her magical signature and the table lit up, projecting a map of the entire world on its surface. “Thank you mom and dad.” She commented as a few dots appeared on the map. A red dot and a few blue dots. “Ok…Aqua and Refract are at Camp Little Hooves, Fleur is in Canterlot getting ready to move, me and Sparkler are here at the castle, and the only active Ultra Monster should be Ron, who is in the castle as well.” She said. “And Clear Cut is here keeping an eye on Sparkler as well. Yep. All dots are accounted for.” She said with a smile. She went to dim her horn, but before she could, a new dot appeared at the Castle of The Two Sisters. A new blue dot. “The heck?” Frost asked, confused. “A new dot? But that shouldn’t be possible.” She said as she looked closely at the new dot. She knew exactly how this table worked and what it could pinpoint

Right then, her pendant glowed, and a Crystal projection of Clear-Cut appeared next to Frost. “Frost, Sparkler is in the Everfree forest.” He said.

“Yeah.” Frost responded. “I know. I was nearly caught when spying on her.”

“What?!” Clear-Cut asked. “Frost, you can’t take risks like that.”

“Yeah. I know. But we may have a new problem. The Medley Table just sprouted a new blue dot. Making one more dot then should be there.” Frost told Clear-Cut.

“What?” Clear-Cut asked. “But…that would mean…”

“Yeah.” Frost responded. Both of them stared at the new dot. Both of them fully aware of what it could mean. After a few moments of looking, Frost dimmed her horn and the world projection vanished. “I’m going to investigate.” Frost said.

“No, I will do that. You need to get out of the castle before you’re seen.” Clear-Cut responded.

“I know this castle better than you do. Plus I’m smaller and blend in better with the castle. Sorry dragon boy, this one’s mine.” Frost responded, cutting the connection from her Pendant. She snuck out of her little hideout and back into the open Castle. “Either it’s one of the Mane 6, or somepony new just arrived here.” She commented as she moved quietly.





Elsewhere in the Castle, Sparkler was exploring more of the castle, she was alone with her thoughts. Which drifted back to what she had seen. I definitely saw a tail tip in the window… She thought. She was running through who it could have been. Surely it wouldn’t be one of her winged friends. They knew they didn’t have to hide from her. Maybe it was a new pony she HADN’T met? But who would want to watch them.

Soon, something happened that made her forget about the mystery pony. “Sparkler…” Said a voice that echoed through the castle.

The sudden ominous voice spooked Sparkler and she stopped in her tracks. “W-who’s there?” Sparkler asked, looking around.

“Sparkler…” The voice responded, after which, a secret passage opened up right next to her, spooking her even more.

Sparkler stared at the open passageway, debating what to do. “Sparkler…come to me…” The Voice said.

Sparkler didn’t know what compelled her to listen to the ominous voice. But for some reason, she took a step forward, and another, and another, until she entered the passageway the passage closed behind her, and she kept walking forward. The Ominous summons acting as a kind of guide, telling her the way to go. As she progressed, Sparkler had her horn lit, both for light and for defense. I wonder if I should–Oh… Sparkler was about to wonder if she should have contacted Twilight, but before she could, she came into an open cavern, and she saw something that she had never seen before, but most certainly HEARD about. A crystal tree, with 5 branches and different colored gems within each branch. It was something that she knew could only be one thing.

“The Tree of Harmony.” Sparkler whispered.

The tree glowed as she heard the Ominous Voice again. “Sparkler…Come to me…” Sparkler’s eyes widened as she pieced together that the TREE was the one summoning her. At that moment, she horn pulsed Twilight telling her where she was.

Sparkler: Ok, you’re probably not going to believe me, but I’m being called by the Tree of Harmony. I’m in its chamber now.

With that done, Sparkler stepped closer to the tree. Curious as to what it was doing.

She opened her mouth to say something, before the star in the middle of the tree, which she figured was the Element of Magic, glowed brightly and shot a beam directly to her horn. When the beam connected with her horn, her eyes glowed bright white and she Crystalized right then and there.

Witnessing this was none other then Clear-Cut, who was hiding behind a crystal formation. He witnessed what was going on with outright confusion and curiosity. What the claw is that tree doing? He thought.

Twilight meanwhile flew out of the castle and down to the Cave opening which led to the Tree of Harmony. Sparkler’s Horn Pulse was surprising, but she knew better than to question her sincerity, especially since the tree had called to ponies before in the thousand years since its creation. She entered the cave and turned the corner to see a sight she was not expecting. The Element of Magic was connected to Sparkler’s horn via a beam of energy, and Sparkler was crystalized, and glowing. “What the heck?!” She asked frantically. “Sparkler what’s going on?” She asked.

Within the castle, Frost was busy attempting to find that newest dot. Still baffled that such an occurrence was possible. If there’s another Medley out there, why didn’t the table detect them until now? She thought. She couldn’t place it, but she had a bad feeling about it. Simply BECAUSE the dot appeared now Vs when she started using the table.

To be continued…