Corner hoof,
It has been a few days since Misty was able to convince them to help them in their quest, but so far, she has eaten ten sandwiches and read five romance stories, two adventures, four children, and half a horror story. She will never look at a cupcake the same way again, ‘What kind of pony writes a horror story with the deceiving title of cupcakes anyways?’ Misty shivers at the memories before she puts down her current book, “So uhm, Aaron,” She calls to him as he looks over his shoulder, “I have been meaning to ask. But why don’t we use maps to find Canterlot instead of reading these endless books?” She taps the cover of the book,
“Oh, great idea Misty,” Aaron replies, dripping with sarcasm smiling, “Why didn’t I think of that? In fact, why didn’t the twenty other ponies with much big budgets than we have thought of that.” He tosses papers in the air littered with the notes of past research teams who have also searched for Canterlot, “Oh wait! They did. And what did they found? Nothing!” He shouts, causing the others to jump a little,
Misty waves a hoof in a defensive manner, “Ok, I get it. Sheesh, I just thought I would ask,” She grumbles at the end as Aaron groans, slumping onto the floor,
“No, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that,” He rubs his head, “It just nothing is making any sense,”
“What do you mean, Aaron?” Sunny asks tilting her head,
“After comparing the research notes to the stories that I have read, along with the notes of the last researcher in Maretime Bay. I have concluded that Canterlot is located somewhere southwest of Maretime Bay. However, if you look at the map of Maretime Bay,” He points to a blackboard holding a map showing the location of Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood, “The only thing out there is the ocean. The researcher also came to the same conclusion that Canterlot is a lost nation on the other side of the ocean and had made multi journeys to this lost land but were unable to find anything that points to Canterlot. However, I notice something significant that is missing from all these reports,”
“And that is?”
“The mountain,”
“What mountain?” The girls asked in unison,
“Exactly my point. I am talking about the mountain in which Canterlot was built into was never mentioned in any of their reports,” Aaron goes over his notes as Sunny and Misty try to make sense of what they're hearing,
“Wait,” Sunny shakes her head, “Canterlot was built into a mountain!”
“More like it was hanging on the side of one. For some reason all the researchers thought that Canterlot was a huge castle on a hill for some reason,”
“Are you sure about that?” Misty adds, scratching the side of her head, “I have always heard that Canterlot was a castle on a hill,”
“Trust me, it was on the side of a mountain,” He replies, not looking up from his notes,
“If that is true, then how come we only know it on a hill!”
“Without a living witness or a written testimony, it is very easy for facts to change over time. I can only guess that somepony went through an awful lot of trouble to remove Canterlot from history. That is why we are going through stories. No matter how hard somepony tried to erase something. Somepony must have come from there at one point and have told their children about it, and so on and so forth.” Aaron goes back to the blackboard holding the map before he reaches into his saddle bag and puts up his own map of old Equestria next to it. Aaron made this one before coming here just in case he ever needed it, and he is glad he did, “But that doesn’t explain why I am having so much trouble finding it since I have an accurate map of Equestria when Canterlot was still the capital,” Sunny ears perk up as her eyes widen, “Not to mention that none of the researchers notes landing sites match up with any of the coastal lines of Equestria,”
Before Misty could say anything, she was sent spinning around in the air before falling to the ground because of one alicorn mare. Who was not going to let anything get in between her and a new piece of history. This also includes running over and standing on top of Aaron like he was a rug as she got a good look at the map. “Aaron! Where did you get this map!? I have never seen such a detail map of old Equestria like this one before,” She asks before noticing the lack of response, “Aaron?” Sunny looks around, trying to find him, only to see Misty getting up from the floor, shaking her head,
“You mean your new rug?” Misty points to Sunny’s hooves and the blushing Stallion,
“Ah, Aaron!” She jumps off him, “You, ok?”
Aaron shakily gets up, “Ye… ye,” He slaps himself, regaining his focus, “Yeah, I am fine,”
“Sorry about that. Got a little carried away there,”
“It’s ok, anyways. We are back at square one, so what to do?” Aaron stares at the blackboard as a cheery voice sings a random tune and enters the room,
“Hi, everypony,” Izzy waves at them before setting down her bags and starting up packing,
Sunny smiles moving next to her friend, “Hi Izzy, what you got there?”
“Lunch,”
Aaron sighs and stares back at the maps, “I am good. You ponies go ahead and start without me,”
“Ah, Izzy,” Misty lifts a yellow cupcake with a nut on top of it, “What is this?”
“A pineapple upside down nutcake,”
“Don’t you mean a pineapple upside-down cake?”
“No, this is an upside-down pineapple nutcake,”
“Let me guess; the ingredients are a pineapple on top of a cupcake with a nut on it?”
“No, silly. This is a cupcake with bananas in it with a nut on top of it.”
Misty almost drops her cupcake in shock, “Why are there bananas in an upside-down pineapple cake?”
“I ran out of pineapples,”
“No, thank you,” Misty puts down the cupcake causing Izzy is whine a little,
Aaron smiles, shaking his head, trying to make sense of what he is hearing. ‘What kind of pony puts bananas in an upside-down pineapple cake?’ Aaron chuckles a little before he looks intently at the maps in front of him, “Upside down? Wait,” He whispers to himself before rotating the map with the three cities upside down and comparing it with his own. His eyes widen as he stares at what he sees, “It can’t be!”
“What is it, Aaron?” Sunny asks, putting her cupcake down as well,
“How could I not see this!”
“Aaron, talk to us,”
“Thanks to Izzy’s cupcake,” Izzy smiles at being mentioned, “I notice that Maretime Bay fits on my map of old Equestria in the northeast portion,” He taps the spot on the map before dragging his hoof to where Canterlot was, “Which means that Canterlot is truly to the southwest of Maretime bay.”
Sunny gasps in surprise, “So everypony was going in the wrong direction!”
Misty brain hurts before she shakes her head, “This makes no sense. How can a pony get the directions on a compass wrong?”
“Not unless the directions on the compass were changed without them knowing,” Aaron says without hesitation,
“What?”
“Think about it. If you wanted to hide something, what better way to hide something than to change which way is north and which way is south? However, this makes no sense since everypony knows that the sun sets in the west and rises in the east.”
“Ah, Aaron,” Izzy interrupts, “The sun sets in the east and rises in the west. Everypony knows this,” The other mares nod in agreement,
“What! Does anypony have a compass on them?!”
Izzy reaches into her saddle bags and puts out a small compass, but before she can say anything, Aaron grabs it and rushes outside with Sunny right behind him. Izzy blinks at her empty hoof before Misty speaks up, “Izzy, why do you have a compass with you?”
“Why, just in case I get lost. I know where to go, of course,”
Misty groans face hoofing herself, “Why did I ask?”
Aaron testing the compass with the direction of the sun five times, and he has confirmed that Izzy's statement was indeed correct. The directions on the compass haven’t changed at all. The needle is still pointing north; however for some reason the sun is setting where it is supposed to be rising. This revelation causes rage to build up inside him. This is the same guy that was able to hide from everyone while stealing attracts without getting caught, find his way out of any forest with nothing but a knife and a stick, and did not think to check the compass, “OF ALL THE-
The author has decided not to include the words that Aaron shouted due to the age restriction of this story. Let’s say that Aaron has a bad potty mouth and leave it at that. Back to the story,
Ponies stare with wide eyes in shock at Aaron huffs, catching his breath as Sunny stands next to him, flabbergasted. She notices the ponies staring at them as parents covering their children’s ears while some of them have fainted after hearing what he said. As the ponies start returning to their business, Sunny is finally able to get her bearing. She takes a deep breath and says in a calm, commanding voice, “Aaron,”
He looks at her, “Yeah,”
*Slap!*