The journal of one Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire gave Sunset hope that it would fill in some of the gaps between her last correspondence with Twilight and her arrival through the mirror into the current generation.
But as it turned out, Princess Flurry Heart didn't get out all that much.
"This doesn't tell us a whole lot more than we already know; she goes weeks... Months... Years, in-between entries," Sunset commented as she flipped through the pages, making mental notes of the dates of the entries. "Guess ruling up here must have been pretty mundane."
"Even back in Twilight's days with the rail network getting all the way up here, yeah, the Empire was pretty isolated from the rest of Equestria," Sunny replied as she was going down another row of books as Sunset sat and flipped through the Princess' journal.
"But ponies like Opaline are exactly what we need to be on the lookout for, Sunny. Megalomaniacs who think they're better than everypony else, be it by birthright, or whatever higher power they believe in."
Sunset was hoping that Sprout was keeping an eye on Misty. She still didn't know nearly enough to make any sort of accusations, and getting the young mare to open up to her would likely take time; time that they possibly didn't have.
"Alright, this one is almost ready to go," she heard Zipp call.
"I'll go let Onyx know," Jasper called, after helping the pegasus put the lid on the large container and latch it. Sunset closed the journal and dropped it into her saddlebags, coming back out into the main concourse to see Zipp push the full container down the floor.
"Need any help, Zipp?" Sunset asked.
"Nope," the pegasus replied after briefly turning to the unicorn. "CanterLogic designed these to be easy to move fully loaded, with low-friction casters."
Regardless, Sunset followed the crate out and helped move it down the stairs to the Scouticus, and assisted in getting it loaded into the back.
"Miss Shimmer!" Sunset heard, turning to see Misty coming down out of the front door of the residence she and Sprout had been going through.
"Misty?" Sunset asked, going halfway across the street to meet the unicorn, seeing she had a book in her hooves.
"I-I remember what you said about specific spellbooks, and I found this one on a bookshelf in there," Misty said, holding out the book to Sunset. The headmare looked down at it, and accepted it, immediately turning it sideways and looking at the bottom of the binding.
V
Sunset took a breath.
"You've got a good eye, Misty. Great job, and thank you. Let me know if you find anything else," Sunset told her. Misty nodded with a smile before turning to head back inside the residence, as the headmare silently watched, before looking down at the spell tome once more.
Sigils, Seals, and Shields
Incantations for Masters of Combative and Defensive Magic
She flipped through the first few pages, quickly determining that these were high-level spells where the timing was much more important, and the consequences much heavier.
And thus the plot and puzzle thickened, the pieces shifting. If Misty was here at the behest of somepony else, they weren't interested in high-level spells if she was bringing them right to her. Artifacts, perhaps? Those were equally dangerous, especially if you didn't know what you had. But they were also considerably more rare. If Flurry Heart's final letter was accurate, the entire city evacuated; did they take the artifacts with them, or were they still here, buried in the snow?
If they were, they would be just as hard to get to as Misty's motivations.