//------------------------------//
// The Tower of Enlightenment 
// Story: The Tome of Knowledge 
// by Warrior of Vale 
//------------------------------//


 The Tower of Enlightenment 






"Ah Twilight, as on time as ever, good that makes things easier." Luna dismissed her portal with a shining flick of her horn and gave the group a very curt nod as Twilight beamed with pride and bowed slightly, "I'm never late princess, that would make me tardy"
"Oh no, tardy!" Scootaloo feigned horror and squeezed her cheeks in between her hooves causing Twilight to shoot her a dirty look.
Luna ignored their exchange and turned her attention to Applebloom who was sitting upright, attentive and alert.
"Has Twilight told you anything about what I have to say?"
"Not yet, she mentioned something about Starswirl the bearded though right before you arrived." 
"Good, that makes things easier for us, er... me to explain."
"Explain what exactly?"
"Please do tell us princess, I'm dying to hear about Starswirl." Twilight scooted forwards on her rump to sit next to the children.
Having been quiet for the past several minutes was taking it's toll on Pip as he started fidgeting around behind the group and once Luna glanced at him with a concerned look he could hold it in no longer.
"Are we going on an adventure?! Please tell me that we are, I need to go on another one!" With a mighty leap he flew over Diamond and landed head over hoof with a thump at the hoof of the princess.
Luna looked down at her excitable subject with a smile then nudged him up to his hooves.
"Yes young Pipsqueak, I have another task for you fillies, and now more than ever time is of the essence."
With a cry of glee Pip leapt back over Diamond and snatched his sword up into his mouth before swinging it wildly, barely missing her Tiara.



With another flick of her horn Luna plucked a pillow from the corner of the cabin and sat on it comfortably then turned her magic into shining a beam at the ground.
The magic pooled into a circle on the wood then began to vibrate and take shape, forming and rising before eventually coalescing into a cylindrical shape.
"A...tower?" Sweetie Belle squeaked softly as she tilted her head and peered at the shining magical shape.
"Not just any tower Sweetie, this is the Tower of Enlightenment."
Luna paused to see their reactions to this news but the six foals just stared at her blankly, it was only Twilight who suddenly sat up rigidly and let her mouth drop open.
"S-starswirls tower?" She whispered, voice lost in her amazement.
"The one and only."
"B-but..." Twilight sputtered, struggling to find her voice now, "that's imposs-"
"Impossible? Why? Because it's been lost somewhere in the folds of time?" Luna spoke up quickly, interrupting Twilights stuttering with a slim smile.
"Well... yes."




The princess let her magic drop and the tower crumbled slowly in front of them then seeped into the slats of wood, "you are not incorrect by saying that, but things are a bit different from what you've been taught."
Her horn lit up again, this time creating a mountain with a crater shaped hole at the top.
"This is mount Featherfall, named thusly because not even the strongest of pegasi could fly to it's summit, and at that very summit is where the tower lies." 
"I bet Rainbow Dash could! Or the Wonderbolts!" Scootaloo leapt to her feet and flapped her minuscule wings mightily.
"This mountain is even beyond their great flying ability, the air is too thin at the top for a pegasus to continue breathing normally enough maintain flight."
"Yeah well, Rainbow still could." Scootaloo remained adamant despite the other fillies rolling their eyes at her, Pip just kept prancing behind them.
"How would be able to breath up there then? And where is Featherfall? I don't recall ever reading about it before." Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and looked distraught that she had no knowledge of this place.
"There is of course, a spell in place at the top that allows you to breath, it'd be pointless to have anything up there otherwise. I don't imagine it's name would be in any book though. This was a long time ago and the mountain has since faded from existence, I'm sure it's just another nameless mountain out there to anyone else."
Diamond Tiara gulped audibly and paled as she caught onto what Luna was suggesting, "you want us to...climb this insufferably tall mountain?"
Her comment caused Luna to let out a rare peal of laughter before shaking her head and letting the mountain fade away.
"Not at all, I will be gating you to the summit, Right outside of the tower."
"Outside? Why not inside?" Silver Spoon spoke up curiously.
Luna narrowed her eyes grumpily and sighed at this, "that old fool put a protective spell on the walls of the tower, no one can teleport inside."
"Starswirl!" Twilight shouted, immediately excited again.
"No really?!" Scootaloo feigned extreme excitement then fell back onto her rear laughing when Twilight quickly sputtered and glared at her.


"If even you can't get us inside then how exactly do you think we'll be able to enter? We're hardly the most potent of magic users." Sweetie Belle looked between them all and pursed her lips tightly with uncertainty in her voice.
"I think you'll find it quite easy to enter once you're there. You can simply just walk through the door."
"Then why don't you just go?" Scootaloo narrowed her eyes curiously, completely oblivious to how rude she was being to the princess who only smiled back at her. Usually only Scootaloo got away with all her arguing, simply because Luna enjoyed the fillies spunk and drive.
"If I could I think I would have done so already. While you young ones can enter freely I'm afraid someone like myself or Twilight would be barred from entry. The spell in place is very picky about who can enter and who cannot, but you'll see that when you get there."
Tired of waiting Pip finally pushed passed Diamond who protested loudly and began hopping around the princess. "C'mon then! Lets get a move on, pop open one of your portals!"
Luna looked around the room at the children then to Twilight who was pulling a saddlebag shut. "Are you prepared Twilight?"
"About as prepared as I'm gonna be, go ahead princess."
With a smooth flick of her mane Luna's horn flickered then sparked brightly with her magic and fired a beam towards the corner of the clubhouse. It wavered for a moment then began to draw lines down to the ground and connected at the bottom, forming a long oval shape with no exact center.


"This is where we part ways little ones, I'd be of little help to you up there and I have business that needs to be attended to. I wish you the very best of luck and you can go knowing that you are the only ones who can accomplish this."
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gazed at the shimmering portal nervously then looked back at Twilight who smiled reassuringly. "I'm right behind you, don't worry."
"I don't see why we have to go," Diamond whined at the three crusaders and Pip vanished into the gate leaving her and Silver alone with Twilight and Luna.
The dark mare lowered her head and gazed into Diamonds eyes calmly. "Diamond Tiara, I assure you. There is a reason for you to join them on this venture. The same goes for you Silver Spoon. There are things that only you two can do. Without you the others would be quite lost. They need you and I need you."
Diamond stared back at her princess for a moment and looked like she was about to complain again but instead shut her mouth and nodded silently. 
"We'll do our best princess." Silver promised before nudging her friend affectionately and following her through the gate.
"Watch over them Twilight, your role is smaller than theirs but no less important. If this is to succeed then they're going to need your wisdom and guidance. I'm trusting this to you."
Twilights chest swelled with pride and she bowed down low for a moment. "It's an honor Luna. I'll be seeing you again soon."
And like that, she vanished into the gate as well.


As per usual the trip took less than a moment. It was the same as walking through a doorway into the next room over. One step and you're there. There happened to be on top of a mountain this time though. A cold windy one.
The area they all stepped into was flat for the most part, tall crags rose up from the ground about a hundred feet out, walling them in at the summit.
Smack dab in the center of the summit was the Tower of Enlightenment. Perfectly cylindrical it stretched up into the blue sky casting a shadow over them all. It was hewn from completely white stone and as such stood out from the dark greys and browns of the mountain. The sun glinted off of it making it shimmer mysteriously as they approached.
"I can't believe I'm here right now, this is amazing" Twilight gushed, eyes wide as she craned her neck in an attempt to see the top.
"Oh boy oh boy oh boy!" Pip bounced up behind them and put a hoof on the wall of the tower as if expecting something magical to happen.
"There's no door." Sweetie Belle cocked her head slightly then trotted a little further out and looked around the side, "not over this way either."
"Then how the hay do you get inside?" Applebloom knocked a hoof on the stone as well but nothing happened.
"It's a magical tower. I think we can assume that something magical has to happen for it to open." Diamond flicked her mane back and trotted the opposite way before letting out a small "aha" and gesturing to an area around where they were.


"Starswirl..." Twilight murmured as she approached where Diamond was pointing. There was a small door-like entrance on the other side that went in a few feet then came to an abrupt walled stop. On the stones in front of them was a symbol of three swirls all curling around each other. "This was his crest, or at least that's how it is in the books."
"So this would be the best bet at an entrance!" Scootaloo rapped a hoof against the symbol but nothing happened.
"Or maybe not...kinda dark in here"
"Let me give us some light!" Sweetie Belle grinned and furrowed her brow in concentration before her horn lit up with a warm glow. As light filled the tiny tunnel two strange devices could be seen on either side of the symbols which immediately caught their attention.
"wuzzat?" Pip stared at the two shapes curiously then looked over at Twlight who was studying them as well.
"If research is correct those are magic lamps, Unicorns could put their basic light spells in those little orbs you see hanging from the candle like things. Sweetie Belle, try flicking your light onto one of them."
Sweetie Belle nodded and stuck her tongue out in concentration as her tiny light hovered above her horn and wobbled to and fro. 
"Just ease it away from you, like you were breathing on a piece of paper to make it float away" Twilight coached as the young unicorns light wavered a bit.
With a bit of struggle the light floated further from Sweetie's head and zoomed lazily over to the magic candle. The device sucked in the orb of light quickly then flashed brilliantly and lit the tunnel up far more than her tiny light had previously.
"There you go, good job!" Twilight patted her pupils head then conjured her own light and maneuvered it over to the opposite candle with ease.
Now that they could see the tunnel a lot better it quickly became apparent that there was a lot more at work there than just some symbols etched into the stone.


Before they on either side of the swirls and below the lights were four holes, two for each side. Each hole was small and placed adjacent to the other. Around the holes they could see deep lines that curved at the top making a door like shaped around them.
"What do you reckon goes in these then?" Applebloom walked up to the holes and tried looking inside but couldn't see anything at all. 
"They're roughly hoof shaped I suppose" Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses then cautiously inserted both of her hooves inside.
"Looks like you have to put both your front hooves inside... and push?" Silver Spoon tried it out and was met with a quiet clicking noise. Twilight tried doing the same on the other side but her hoof was too large to fit. 
"And only foals can do it?" Her voice was curious now as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "That doesn't make sense really, I doubt anyone your age would've had any reason to come here..."
"Well we'll have time to wonder why that is after we've gotten inside then!" Without warning Scootaloo pushed passed Twilight, abandoned caution and jammed her hooves into the other side.
"Scootaloo no! We don't know what's gonna happen!" Twilight threw out a hoof but it was too late, Scootaloo pushed in and there was the same clicking noise followed by a rumbling and shaking of the wall.
"w-whoa!" Scootaloo tried pulling her hooves out but the deep indent around the holes twisted and the ground under them shifted in a circular motion forcing Scootaloo and Silver to be dragged around as the wall shifted and slammed back into position, with both fillies caught on the other side.
"C'mon Sweetie, do the same thing!" Applebloom tried fitting her hooves into the holes but there were none on this side. They were locked out and the others were locked in.