//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Setting Out // Story: Daughters of the Purge // by Nebula Star //------------------------------// Chapter 8: Setting Out *** “You be safe, okay,” Twilight said hugging Rainbow tightly and not really wanting to let go. “And listen to Daring when you do find one of the ruins; don’t just charge in. If she tells you to be careful then you had better be careful!” “I know, Twi,” Rainbow said returning the hug. She was ready to go, with her saddlebags packed with all the supplies Daring had suggested she bring. “I’ll be careful. And we’ll contact you when we find each prison before we go in and contact you immediately if something goes wrong. You said these things should work just fine underground right?” She nodded finally ending the hug and sitting back. “They work off of magic so it shouldn’t matter what’s in between.” “Yeah, so we could even keep you updated on each trap we come across. Worse comes to worse, you have Bloom or Rekaj turn back time and warn us.” “There’s still a risk… if either of them use the reset spell then they can’t reverse past that point.” Rainbow snorted. “What are the chances that one of them will happen to use the reset spell in the few minutes or so that we’re trying to get past a trap? We’ll be fine, Twi.” “Just be careful okay, I’d rather not have to rely on Rekaj’s magic. I still don’t know all its limitations.” “I’ll be careful.” Rainbow said, looking her in the eyes. She then smiled and leaned in giving her a quick but affectionate kiss. “See ya when we get back! You be safe on your trip to Canterlot. Really, I think you’ll be in more danger. At least we have a cheat sheet for getting past the traps.” Twilight giggled. “We’ll be safe.” With a grin, Rainbow turned and went to where Daring waited at the door to the library. It was still early enough that there wouldn’t be many ponies out yet, which was by design. Daring was in her full gear and easily recognizable. “You ready then?” She asked Rainbow as she approached. “Yep, let’s get going, we’ve got a long flight ahead of us.” Daring nodded in agreement then looked past her to Twilight. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t get in over her head.” “Thanks Daring; you be safe as well.” “As safe as I can be,” she agreed. “We’ll keep in touch.” With one last wave, she stepped outside followed by Rainbow and they both took off into the early morning sky, flying north. With a sigh, Twilight closed the door behind them. Part of her wanted to fly with them for the first little bit, but she had her own trip to get ready for. The fillies were already up and getting showered, and Spike was cooking some oatmeal for them to have for breakfast before heading out. Taking off and skipping most of the stairs, she headed up to her own room to check her own packing one more time. ~~~ “Why do we not simply fly?” Winter Belle asked as they waited on the platform of what Twilight had told them was a train station. “Tis not that far.” She said gesturing up to the mountain where the castle was clearly visible. Spike had pointed it out to them on the walk to the station and told them that it was Canterlot, where they were going. It was mostly impatience that made her ask; while there were a few other ponies on the platform, most hadn’t done more than give her and her sister curious looks. “Because I thought you girls might enjoy a train ride.” Twilight told them smiling. “Plus, I find the ride up the mountain relaxing, and we’re not in a hurry.” She didn’t bother to mention that taking the train also allowed Feather to bring more than just pegasus guards giving the pegasi a bit of a break. She knew that she and Rainbow tended to work her pegasus guards rather hard. “I want to see the train.” Dawn Melody said looking around. “When doth it get here?” “It should be arriving any minute now.” Spike assured them. Winter looked around as well but didn’t see anything. “Thou didst say it is a machine made to carry ponies along those tracks, correct? Would it not be quite large then? A train whistle sounding in the distance had them both looking down the tracks in time to see the engine coming around the last bend before the stretch coming into the station. Twilight watched with a smile as both their eyes widened seeing the several passenger cars that followed. “Tis huge!” Dawn said excitedly. “Yes, how doth it work? Is it magic?” Winter asked looking back up at Twilight. “No; it’s an Earth Pony invention, so there’s no magic involved. It actually runs off of steam.” Twilight explained. “Steam?” “Yes, the engine has what is called a boiler where water is heated to make steam. The steam builds up pressure in the boiler that is then used to power pistons that turn the wheels, making it move.” Twilight explained. “Stand back a bit, we’ll have to wait for ponies to get off, before we can board.” They watched as the train slowed, finally coming to a stop perfectly lined up with the platform. A moment later the doors opened, and a number of ponies exited the train. Winter and Dawn kept close to Twilight, but otherwise seemed alright. Even when a few ponies noticed Twilight, and hastily bowed. Something which tended to make Twilight sigh once she’d acknowledged them and gotten them to continue on their way. Finally, they were able to board the train and found their seats in a private cabin of one of luxury cars. Twilight had found it impossible to buy just a general ticket since her coronation. When traveling with her friends, she’d always have one of them buy the tickets, but this time with just her and the fillies, there just wasn’t any getting around it. A few minutes after they’d gotten settled in their private compartment, with Feather and the guard stationed in the connecting halls, the train lurched and began on its way up the mountain to Canterlot. “So when we arrive, we’ll be heading to my parents house first.” Twilight said, reviewing the plan for the trip. “Then in the evening we’ll be going to the castle to meet with the princesses, that way Luna will be able to meet you as well.” “You didst say Princess Luna was the night princess?” Dawn asked. Twilight nodded. “Yes, so she’s usually just getting up in the evening.” “What is she like?” “Luna is… well she can be a little intimidating appearance wise; but she’s really a kind and noble pony. She works very hard to ensure ponies can sleep peacefully; both by guarding them through the night as well as watching over their dreams and helping them overcome their nightmares.” “She doth wield dream magic?” Winter asked, sounding surprised. Twilight nodded. “Yes, in fact she’s quite powerful with it. Have you had any experience with dream magic?” “Yes…” Winter said softly. “Mother didst teach me some.” “Right... I suppose she did know quite a bit about dream magic, didn’t she.” Twilight said awkwardly. “I would like to learn more.” Winter went on, not wanting to dwell on it. “Doth thou suppose she would be willing to teach me?” “Perhaps; you could ask.” Twilight assured her. “I mean I could teach you the magic; but I don’t really have much experience using it; not like Luna.” “You know dream magic?” “I know spells and techniques; but like I said, not much experience in actually using it.” Twilight shrugged. “Luna also has a lot more balanced connection to dream magic; with only a small bias toward the nightmare/chaos side; while I’m almost exclusively connected to the harmony side.” “Most ponies doth tend to be more harmony.” Winter agreed. “I am stronger with the harmony side of dream magic as well. Though mother called it ‘peaceful’; she didst not like calling it harmony.” Twilight looked at her surprised. “Really? Because even the oldest records I’ve seen that spoke of dream magic always referred to the two sides as Nightmare and Harmony. Recently we’ve recognized nightmare side as chaos magic such as Discord wields, but as far as I know the harmony side of dream magic has always been called harmony.” “Mother didn’t like Harmony.” Dawn said softly. “No she definitely didn’t.” Spike agreed. Winter nodded. “Twas only mother that refused to call it harmony, others in our time didst call them nightmare and harmony. She also didst not like teaching it; she focused on nightmare magic in my lessons.” “Huh… I wonder why.” Twilight said, thinking for a moment. “But thou didst say that Princess Luna is stronger in the nightmare side of dream magic?” Winter asked curiously. Twilight smiled and nodded. “Yes, in fact that’s part of the reason for her rather intimidating appearance. She’s strong enough with nightmare dream magic that it actually shows outwardly. You’ll see when you meet her. She really is a very kind-hearted pony though.” Winter looked at her curiously. “Doth she like looking intimidating?” “I don’t think so, but it’s a side effect of her gaining more dream magic, so she’s decided just to accept it since she doesn’t want to lose that power.” “Can she not simply change her form?” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked, confused. “Well… mother could change her form however she wished. She didst teach me some as well,” she blushed slightly. “I didst use it a little.” Twilight stared at her. She’d never even considered that, but it was so obvious! Of course, Achlys could change her physical form! How else could a gray alicorn become a lavender unicorn; she’d completely transformed her entire body when she went into hiding. And Twilight knew the spells to do so; she could teach Luna to transform back into her old self! Except… no that wouldn’t work would it… “I don’t think that kind of transformation would work for Luna. Or rather, it would, but the first time she used her dream magic it would transform her back.” “Oh. I see. Yes, that doth make sense.” “I’ll have to ask her. I could still teach her transformation spells, if she doesn’t already know them; but she might not think it’s worth it if she’s constantly having to transform back.” “Oh, Wow!” Dawn said suddenly looking out the window. Winter looked to see what she was looking at, but didn’t see immediately what had caught her sister’s attention. “What?” “Look! Tis a city in the clouds!” She said pointing. Winter looked up at the clouds as well and her eyes widened. “That’s Cloudsdale.” Twilight told them without having to look herself. “It’s the largest cloud city in Equestria and the nation’s primary producer of weather.” “Tis a pegasus City?” Dawn asked curiously. Twilight nodded. “Primarily. There are a few unicorns that live there using cloud walking spells that help maintain some of the weather machines, but otherwise it’s just about all pegasi. Now that I think about it, Pegasi didn’t really build whole cloud cities back in your time, did they?” Winter shook her head. “I didn’t think so. That was something they started doing when the tribes divided after you were imprisoned. Back then it was for safety from the other tribes. But these days it’s mostly for weather production. As a cloud city, Cloudsdale is mobile and can move around Equestria as needed.” Twilight explained, gladly answering the fillies’ questions. ~~~ Traveling the city didn’t bother the fillies too much. They stuck close to Twilight and Spike, but they didn’t seem overly nervous. The group did draw a lot of attention from the ponies of Canterlot, but most of that attention was focused on Twilight, Spike and their guard escort. Mostly Spike really, most of the ponies of Canterlot were used to Royal guards. By the time they reached Twilight’s family home, Winter didn’t think more than two or three ponies had even realized that she and her sister were alicorns. And even those she wasn’t sure about. When they reached the house Twilight knocked waiting for her parents to answer. They of course, knew that they were coming, and it was only a moment later that the door opened. “Twily!” The off-white unicorn with a white and purple striped mane exclaimed happily. “Hi mom!” Twilight said, stepping forward to give her mother a quick hug. Velvet returned it gladly, then stepped back. “Come in, come in!” She said then called over her shoulder; “Night Light, they’re here!” Without a word, Feather took up position near the door while the rest of the guard spread out around the house finding unobtrusive positions to keep watch. Twilight just gave the captain an approving nod and led the way into the living room. Winter and Dawn followed with Spike closing the door behind them. A moment later a blue unicorn stallion that Winter knew must be Twilight’s father, joined them. Smiling, Twilight greeted him with a hug as well. “Hi dad!” “Good to see you, Twily!” Twilight held the hug a moment more then stepped back next to the fillies. “So. Introductions! Mom, Dad; this is Winter Belle and her little sister; Dawn Melody.” Twilight said indicating each of the fillies in turn. Then turned to the fillies. “This is my mom: Twilight Velvet. And my Dad: Night Light.” “We are pleased to meet thee.” Winter said politely, and she and her sister both gave small bows. “Oh! We are as well!” Velvet said smiling warmly, “I’m a little confused though… Those aren’t the names Trixie mentioned.” “Oh, well when I was filling out the paperwork to register them as citizens, I realized it was the perfect opportunity for them to change their names if they wanted, and they both did. So when they decided what they wanted their names to be I went ahead and registered them with the new names.” “I see.” Velvet said smiling. “Well, it is wonderful to meet you both!” “Miss Trixie was here?” Dawn asked, looking up at her curiously. “Oh yes! Trixie and I are old friends.” Velvet told them. “I trust she got back to Ponyville alright?” Twilight nodded. “Yes, and she got started on some community service work today. Hopefully it will improve her standing with the ponies there, seeing her trying to make amends.” Velvet shook her head. “Part of me can hardly believe Trixie was the performer you told us about all those months ago. Another part of me can see it all too well.” “I still can’t believe the two of you were best friends. Even after I found out that she was in your graduating class, I didn’t even consider that you might have known her.” Velvet smiled for a moment more, then shook her head and turned back toward the fillies. “So why don’t you tell us a little about yourselves?” Winter glanced over at Twilight, unsure what she should say. “What doth thou wish to know?” “Well, what do you like to do for fun?” “Oh… uh…” Winter looked at Dawn. “We didst not have a lot of time for fun.” “There must be some things you enjoy doing…” Winter and Dawn glanced at each other again. “Well Dawn doth love to sing…” ~~~ Though they were a bit nervous at first, the fillies soon opened up to the unicorn couple telling them about some of the things they’d enjoyed in the past; Winter even mentioned a unicorn friend she’d once had though Twilight noticed a bit of sadness in her voice when she did. Velvet noticed as well and didn’t ask more when Winter seemed reluctant. Then, when it came to light that they hadn’t had anything like cookies in the time the fillies came from, they’d spent the afternoon baking together. By the time evening came around, both of them were completely at ease with Twilight’s parents. That Twilight had once spoken of Princess Celestia as a second mother to her went a long ways towards easing Winter’s nerves when it came time to meet the princess. And Dawn, sensing as much, began getting excited to meet the princesses. Excitement that was only enhanced as they made their way to the castle. The guards were expecting them and directed them to the dining hall where Luna and Celestia would be waiting. With their charges under the protection of the castle’s day and night guards; Feather took the opportunity to give her subordinates a break while she checked in with the rest of Twilight’s guard. Only about a third where in ponyville as there wasn’t anywhere for the rest to stay in the small town. The rest were still stationed in Canterlot until the barracks at the new castle was finished. The fillies looked around in awe at the grandeur of the Canterlot palace as Twilight led them through the halls. “Is that thou!?” Winter asked, stopping in one hall pointing toward one of the many stained glass windows; the one commemorating the second defeat of Nightmare Moon. Twilight smiled. “Yes, it is.” “Who’s the dark alicorn?” Dawn asked looking up at the window as well. “That’s… well that’s Princess Luna, but at the time she’d been overtaken and corrupted by her darker emotions and called herself Nightmare Moon. That’s depicting when my friends and I used the Elements of Harmony to heal her and turn her back into Princess Luna.” Twilight explained. Winter looked up at the window a moment more then looked toward the next one down the hall. “That one doth include thee as well. Is that when thou didst fight Discord?” “Yes. I’m afraid my friends and I have kind of overtaken this hall with our accomplishments.” Twilight said blushing a little. “This one does not include thee…” Dawn said looking at the next window down the line. “Who is this baby dragon.” Spike laughed. “That’s me.” She looked up at him in surprise. “Thou art too old!” “That’s how old I was before I got my memories back.” He told her with a smile. “I thought about having Twilight change me all the way back to that age again, but I didn’t really want to go back to not having wings.” “Oh, I see. What is that heart.” “That’s the crystal heart.” Twilight explained. It is a powerful artifact that protects the Crystal Empire…” It took them several minutes longer than it normally would have to get to the princess’ dining hall. But eventually they reached their destination and the guards let them in. Celestia and Luna both looked up from where they were seated at one end of the long dining table. “Twilight!” Celestia said, smiling happily as she got up to greet them, Luna following suit. “Hi… Celestia!” Twilight said, still feeling a little awkward not using her title, but quickly crossing to room to give her mentor a hug none the less. Celestia gladly returned the hug. “I must say, I was rather surprised when I got your letter.” “Pleasantly so, to be sure.” Luna added. “Yes definitely.” Twilight smiled stepping back and gesturing for the fillies to come forward. “Celestia, Luna, I’d like to introduce Winter Belle, and her sister Dawn Melody.” She said then turned toward the fillies. “Girls, this is Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.” “We art pleased to meet thee.” Winter said bowing, but Dawn, with a huge grin and mischievous glint in her eye stepped in front of the royal sisters. “We art thine elders, so thou doth have to do what we say!” Winter looked at Dawn in surprise then glanced up at the princesses worried about how they’d react. Celestia just looked at the filly smiling. “Oh, you mean you’re going to take over running Equestria?” Catching her sister’s meaning, Luna’s eyes widened, while she too smiled. “Could it be true? Hath we found somepony to take over the extremely time-consuming and difficult task of running the kingdom? Can we finally retire!?” Dawn didn’t miss a beat. “No, thou doth have to do as we say, and we doth say that thou must continue to rule the kingdom!” “Alas, right when I didst believe us free from our toil.” Luna sighed dramatically. Celestia giggled. “It is a pleasure to meet both of you.” “Indeed, and I’m glad to see to see that the hardships you’ve endured have not crushed thy sense of humor.” Luna said leaning down and tapping Dawn’s snout with her wingtip. It was then Dawn noticed one of the details of the night princess’s appearance. “Thine eyes…” Luna smiled, her small fangs glinting in the light. “Quite unique, are they not. They give me excellent night sight.” Dawn looked up at her for a moment more consideringly, then smiled in return. “I like them, tis different.” “Well thank you.” Luna said, glad that she didn’t seem frightened by her appearance. “Actually, on that subject; Luna, have you tried any permanent transformation spells to change your appearance back?” Twilight asked recalling the conversation on the train. Luna sighed. “Yes, I have.” “Do you change back whenever you use your dream magic.” “Indeed.” Twilight frowned. “I thought that might be the case. I don’t think any of the transformation spells I know would work any better. I suppose it was worth a shot.” “Do not concern yourself, Twilight. Ponies are getting used to my change in appearance and it is not without its benefits.” Luna told her waving the matter aside. Nodding, Twilight smiled. “Well on the train ride, we were talking and Winter Belle told me she’s learned a little dream magic, and wouldn’t mind learning more, if you think you have time.” Luna looked at Winter with interest. “Truly, not many have a strong enough connection to the dream realm to properly wield dream magic. Are you able to?” Winter looked up at her and nodded. “My connection tis stronger than most, though not nearly as strong as thine.” “Well, perhaps I shall have to make some time to teach you. It has been far too long since I had an apprentice in dreaming.” Before they could get into further discussion, Celestia cut in. “Why don’t we all sit down, everypony, we can talk while we eat.” She said smiling. Luna grinned. “Yes, indeed. Let us not let the cook’s hard work grow cold.” ~~~ Rainbow stretched her wings, groaning a bit as she felt her muscles protesting the long flight. She never was an endurance flier. Oh, she could practice for hours with the Wonderbolts, but that was usually just short bursts of flying and stunts, often with breaks in between when they would critique their performance. Not flying non-stop for multiple hours carrying gear. But they were here now and had already finished setting up camp. It would be their base camp while they searched the surrounding mountains for the prison that was supposed to be in the area. In a natural cave, according to the notes Starswirl had left. Daring had already gone for a short survey flight to see if she could spot any of the landmarks that had been in the notes. Daring had told her that the alicorn in this first prison that they were searching for was one of the worst, and that she really wanted to make sure the prison was holding. After hearing just the crimes Daring remembered from the list, Rainbow had to agree. With nothing more to do, Rainbow gathered some wood to start a fire. She was just getting ready to light it when Daring got back. “You find it?” Rainbow asked as she landed. “Nah, but I did find a rock formation northeast of here that I think might be one of the landmarks that was in the notes. It’s a bit worn down now, but still looks close enough to the sketch.” She said stretching her wings a bit. “We’ll look for the cave in the morning when we have more light.” Rainbow nodded. “Sounds good.” “I also spotted a small village in the valley to the south.” “Really?” They both knew that there was nothing on the map, which meant the village had to be fairly new and possibly undocumented. “Think we should stay there for the night instead?” “Nah, it’s just a tiny little place; one road with a row of houses on each side. There’s no way they have an inn. We’d just end up staying in our tent anyway. Besides, if I’m right about that landmark, it’s even further from where the cave is supposed to be.” She got into her saddlebags quickly searching through them and got out some camp cooking gear. “Let’s get this fire going so we can have a hot meal before turning in. Should be an interesting day tomorrow.” “Yeah, more exciting than today anyway.” Rainbow said striking a match. “But hopefully not too exciting.”