//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Starcoder // Story: 40 Years // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Starlight poked at the flat glowing box on the dresser. She had forgotten what it was called. A phone? Yeah, a phone. Twilight and her younger friend, Sunny, had given it to her in case she would need it to talk to any one of the groups. So she texted Pipp saying she needed some proof that Grogar was real. Pipp replied soon after with a video of a conversation between Grogar and a pony with a light yellow mane, green eyes, and a red coat. She also sent a bunch of things Starlight didn't understand.  omg tfw recording 😱😱 Starlight stared. She blinked. Well, she had the proof. It was all she asked for, whether it came with new words and pictures or not. All she needed now was a way to show a whole crowd one tiny screen. If only she could silence them and turn the volume all the way up. Wait. Spike. Spike had the power to silence the crowd! He had respect, very much unlike her. If he could just silence them all for just a minute, she could play the video and make sure they all heard it. With a smile, Starlight called out, "SPIIIIIKE!" It had been what felt like three hours in the snow, and yet there was still no luck of finding a bell part. But there was no turning back now. Still, nearly half of Hitch's group felt as if it would be best if they turned back.  Hitch looked at the rest of them. Gusty said she was too weak and tired to make a gust to push them all. StarSong felt too weak to even sing, and that was her favorite thing. Bon Bon said she could make it and that she would never give up, but Hitch could clearly see that her energy was starting to drain, too. Applejack looked like she was in the best condition of all of them, even Hitch himself. Hitch knew that he looked about as tired as Bon Bon. Maybe even more exhausted. A few more minutes and Hitch chimed in, "How do you all feel about a break?" The others looked at each other with relief and fell to the ground on top of each other as if they were acquainted with one another very well. Friends, although each came from their own world. They had been marching side by side, equal distance between them, hooves digging into the snow with each step as they searched for a part of the bell. And for the most part, they had done that for no reason. Hitch came to realize this as he lay in the snow, sitting up to make sure he wasn't just hallucinating because he wanted this journey to end. No, if he was right, this was a cave very similar to the one that Gusty the Great had hidden Grogar's original bell in. But if that was true, there was also some force of magic blocking the cave. That meant no one could get through. He took one more glance at his group. They were staring at him and had followed his staring, so now they were staring, too. There really was a cave, and there really was a chance. A chance this journey would end and a chance they would fine a broken part of a bell. There was a big chance. Applejack walked up to the cave, everypony staring at her. No one dared to talk. No jinxies, as Izzy liked to word it. She lifted her hoof and poked a forcefield... That was nonexistent. Sunny grinned. She was on an adventure. And, no, not just another one in her dreams. A real live adventure with a real live hero, alicorn princess of the past, and the actual Princess of Friendship! Twilight Sparkle was intrigued by Sunny's story. She was also confused, and that was for sure, because she kept asking questions since she couldn't understand. Honestly,  the questions probably just made her even more confused. Through a text exchange with Hitch, she believed that the first shard of the bell was found. And with a smile that could easily be seen by her four other group members, Twilight, Misty, Twilight Two, and Bright Eyes. Misty had to be snuck into the group because Zipp refused to let her be anywhere near her or her friends. "Don't worry, Zipp," Sunny had assured her. "We've already got our teams assigned." What Zipp didn't know was that Misty was assigned to be in a group. Twilight's group. That way, she could watch over Misty to make sure she didn't try any funny business. But Twilight was high on a second chance for her, and so was Sunny. Sunny wanted to call Zipp and confront her, but she feared that she would find out about Misty's presence and act terribly. She had given her phone to Starlight Glimmer back at the castle to make sure that she could communicate, so she now had a backup phone. It was one of the older models: her dad's. Since she didn't want to talk to Zipp, she opened her chat with Hitch. YOU: how's the search going? HITCH: dunno- we split the group YOU: think ur close? There was no response for a little while after that, so Sunny tucked her phone away and glanced at Twilight. "Why are we here?" "I know this would be better suited for Pinkie or Rainbow Dash, but here we are, in Griffonstone. Welcome, and I hope you all have enough strength," Twilight said, trying to be encouraging while she was scared herself. Sunny put on a brave face, but in reality, she was twice as scared as Twilight was. Twilight Two hugged her friend Bright Eyes, and Sunny opened her arms for Misty to fall into. When Misty finally did so, she risked sneaking a look at the phone. Hitch had responded: HITCH: ... HITCH: well- HITCH: talk later. bye. Gusty pushed the forcefield that was slowly forming with as much wind as she could possibly conjure up in the limited time she had. Hitch tried to use plants to pull the walls outward and create more space. Applejack came just in time, holding a shard of the bell, smiling as if she had just won every competition against Rainbow Dash and gotten money from it to support her family. Her friends. The citizens that needed help right now. The shard had an interesting design in it. Hitch thought it was like a stop sign. Applejack said it was an eye. Grogar's eye, with a squared shape. She tapped it and it glowed faintly. She and Hitch eyed each other.  Hitch was speechless. But he wasn't wordless. He texted Sunny. YOU: WE'VE GOT IT! SUNNY: woooo!!! SUNNY: get over here!! Hitch would've texted back saying he would come immediately, if he had not just spotted another perfect hiding spot just a few miles away.