//------------------------------//
// Act Two Chapter One 
// Story: Burnt Offerings 
// by Spike the Scribe 
//------------------------------//


Act Two: Festival and Fire



Lost Coast Road, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Dawn


Applejack and I caught up to Dash and the others quite quickly, despite their head start. Rainbow, who of course took the lead once she saw the chance wasn’t in her prime condition, so catching up to her wasn’t an issue. Also their group left a trail behind easily visible for AJ, so finding them wasn’t a problem at all. The way the farmpony put it: ‘y’all left behind a trail so darn visible, that a timberwolf  with acorns for eyes could easily followed y’all’. That little friendly jab of course prompted an immediate response from Rainbow, who not so subtly implied some rather embarrassing things concerning my and AJ’s sudden urge to stay behind and ‘put out some flames’. Suffice to say we both were blushing up a storm by the time she finished with us.

The trek through Tickwood turned out to be quite easy now that we had an idea where to go. While last time we were stumbling in the dark in hopes of finding either a way out of this crazy forest or finding one of our friends, now we had a clear goal in site and a source of light to boot. As much as it pains me to admit it, the sunrods our suspicious acquaintance had provided us with proved to be an exceptional boon in our endeavor. Their bright glow not only was a great light source, illuminating the path ahead of us, but it also must've kept most of the potentially dangerous wildlife away from us. The only creatures willing to approach the two luminous rods were moths, and they were more than welcome company, putting Fluttershy at ease and distracting Pinkie Pie from doing anything too random and hurting herself more than absolutely necessary. All in all it seemed that we were finally getting somewhere, both literally and figuratively.

As per the word of our deceptive benefactor, getting out from the forest wasn’t that hard after we knew where to go. The distance however… I’m beginning to suspect that either ‘Einael’ lowered the numbers he gave us, or that local yards and miles were not the same around these parts as back home. From what I remember him saying, the way to the forest edge should not be longer than three hundred yards from where we started. We passed at least double the amount before the trees even began to thin out. Still, we didn't complain –we were getting out of this crazy forest after all, and we all were thankful to finally do that, Rarity probably the most.

The moment we exited the forest we were greeted by almost complete darkness. The two activated sunrods we were carrying weren’t enough to illuminate anything beyond their maximum limit of forty equestrian yards (I think I’m going to start to differentiate those from the local, in case they really are any different). True to the hunter’s word, the night was at its darkest just before dawn, and we just happened to leave the woods at that precise time. Still, something as trivial as that wasn’t going to make us stop, so the girls and I got a move on and continued our trek to what hopefully was going to be safety and Twilight.

First order of business was locating the so called ‘Lost Coast Road’. As I already mentioned, it was utterly dark at this hour, and none of us, not even the keen eyes of Pinkie Pie were able to locate it from the small hill the forest was located on. Figuring out that the road must've been somewhere further ahead we began our descent, eyes open for any trace of what could have been called a highway. That however didn’t deter me from taking at least a glance of the night sky.

Now I’m in no way an expert on stars and constellations, the extent of my knowledge ending on a few larger constellations and the general assertion that the night sky is a pretty thing to watch. Still, even I could tell that something was clearly not right with what I was seeing. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t find any of the familiar star alignments from back home. That made me ask myself: how is something like this even possible? There were only two possible answers to that and both were quite frightening to say the least. Either we were on the opposite side of the planet, where from what I remember Twi reading the night sky was rumored to look quite differently, or we were someplace else entirely.

Could I be watching Celestia’s sun right now and not know it?

My pondering on the possibility of us ending up somehow on a completely alien planet was cut short by a triumphant ‘aha!’ courtesy of Rainbow Dash. One quick look on the place she was pointing at was enough answer –she found the road. Dimly illuminated by the glow of the sunrod she was holding, the pathway wasn’t anything extremely out of the ordinary. Just your typical dirt road, the likes of which there are hundreds back in Equestria. Practically the only visible difference was that it was significantly wider than those back home, but that could be just to accommodate proportionally bigger wagons. The locals were after all bigger than ponies. Hm… There is one thing I didn’t think about though. If the locals have wagons, than did they pull them themselves, or did they have a different way to drive them?

We didn’t dawdle in one spot for too long. Taking our guide’s words to heart our small group took a left turn once we reached the road and followed it to what must've been the west. During about that time Fluttershy finally became winded after carrying Pinkie Pie and passed her to Applejack, who quite quickly figured out how to make carrying the pink mare easier for herself. Long story short, Pinkie ended up clutching at AJ’s back, her hind legs, or rather only legs right now in the farmpony’s grip. I’m not entirely sure why, but my brain supplied me with a term for it: ‘piggyback ride’, tough what did it have in common with pigs I don’t have the slightest clue.

The trip towards what we hoped was Sandpoint was not an exciting one to be sure, which considering the situation we were in was really fortunate. The Lost Coast Road gave the impression of being a rather well-kept highway; the dirt was well-trodden upon, indicating it was often used, and the lack of ruts indicated that either whatever wagons went this way were light, or that the road itself didn’t get too muddy and/or was repaired frequently. Thanks to that we could for the most part enjoy our journey and take in the sites, even if we weren’t able to see all that much in the dark. We could dimly make out the shapes of some steep, broken hills, most probably the Ravenroost if I’m not mistaken looming to our left, and I believe we passed an abandoned-looking shack at some point, but those really were the highlights of the trip. Oh, and maybe the fact that at some point we could pick up the faint sound of the sea coming from our right. The road had to be called the ‘Lost Coast Road’ for a reason. All in all however, it was a rather peaceful trip, quite enjoyable even.

After about half an hour of walking the night sky began to brighten up a bit, a clear indicator that the sun was just beginning to rise. The horizon behind us began to light up and the stars that just moments ago dotted the night sky were slowly flickering out, outshone by the growing twilight glow. Funny… I live with a mare that is practically named after this yet I never took the time to actually observe sunrise, always asleep at this wee hour of the morning. Guess I was missing out on quite the spectacle for all those years.

With the sun slowly rising the sunrods we were carrying were becoming more and more unnecessary. With each passing minute their light was becoming dimmer in comparison to the ambient light the closest star was providing. By the time the sun dawned on the horizon, they were practically useless to us, barely even lighting up anything in a ten hoof radius around them. After a bit of consideration and unable to figure out if it was even possible to turn those rods off we decided that we might as well discard them and be on our way without them. The sun provided enough illumination as it was.

With the coming of the dawn it was as if the world opened up to us. As we were walking we were able to take in the sights more clearly, and let me tell you –they were incredible. Don’t get me wrong, Equestria was a beautiful place with its rolling hills, rounded mountaintops and lush green fields, but this was something quite different and to take a page from Twilight’s book –fascinating. Hills weren’t just rolling slopes, as some of them were ragged and ruptured, looking more like the badlands than anything, Still, they were covered with fresh green fields of grass, here and there spotted with patches of multicolored flowers and from time to time by a lone tree, making them look quite alive. And the sea to our right… something unbelievable. I admit, I was only once at the seaside, Horseshoe Bay to be exact, but even so what I could see from the road was something breathtaking. If this whole Sandpoint place was a coastal town than our deceptive benefactor was quite right –it must be a beautiful place.

As the night gave way to the sun we were slowly nearing our destination. The road we were traveling on was gently veering to the left, passing by the ragged Ravenroost hills and leading us ever further west. Once we passed most of the small range we noticed the first signs of civilization, that is beside the road we were traveling on. Some three or four equestrian miles away from us there was a plume of dark gray smoke reaching into the sky, slowly dissipating as it was gaining altitude. Our first reaction on seeing that was to think it was some kind of faraway forest fire, but it seemed too concentrated for that, so we concluded it must've been some kind of industrial smoke. And as we knew only of one town in the immediate vicinity we quickly figured out it must've been Sandpoint. So, having our destination in our sights we continued our trek with renewed vigor.

The rest of our walk towards Sandpoint proved to be uneventful. Aside from the sun scaling the celestial sphere and dispelling the night shadows nothing noteworthy happened, and it was becoming clear that some of us, mainly Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were getting bored. The pink mare amused herself with asking a volley of questions to her unfortunate listener –Applejack. I actually recall something about kumquats and cherry changas, but I can’t be sure about that, trying to tune her out. Rainbow for her part looked like she was about to start pulling her hair out of boredom, and only the constant waves of pain from her injured side were keeping her from running off ahead of us. Fluttershy and Rarity seemed not to mind, though I think Rarity was moments away from beginning to complain about the distance we had to walk. To be completely honest, I was with her on this one. The distance was definitely larger than three miles already, and we had yet to even see the town, let alone enter it. That just proved it for me –the locals used different, larger units of distance.

I was seriously beginning to wonder if we were getting any closer to this Sandpoint. I mean the cloud of smoke seemed to be getting bigger and closer with each step we took, but we’d yet to see the town itself. As if that wasn’t enough, the road began to climb up a slope of some kind and a tick grove began forming to our left. It almost seemed like if the nature itself wanted to hinder our advance for some reason. Yet the plume of smoke was getting bigger and ticker by the minute, so we must've been getting closer.

Finally, after climbing the slope I’ve mentioned before and following the road as it unexpectedly made a turn to the left we saw it. Down below us, as the slope we were climbing for the last few minutes began to gently fall we could see our destination.

Behind a rather short stone wall lay a small town, not that different from Ponyville back home. A multitude of simple wooden houses stood huddled together, dirt streets running between them forming the town’s communication arteries. Here and there a gray plume of smoke was coming from chimneys, and the one larger, darker cloud reached out from what could only be described as some sort of foundry. A larger stone structure stood close to the town’s walls, clearly recently built as it gave off the impression of being new and fresh. Yet the most captivating site of the town was a large, tall and clearly toppled tower standing at the town’s far end, just over a cliff, overlooking the blue-green see. In its prime it must've been really, really tall, for even from this far away it was clear that the ruin was taller than Twilight’s old tower back in Canterlot. Was it a ruined lighthouse of some sort? That remained to be answered.

The girls and I gawked at the site before us for quite some time, taken by surprise by the town’s appearance. It seemed to be a quiet, cozy little settlement, yet the obviously ruined tower and the newly built stone structure gave the impression that this town had more to it. I mean stone was used quite scarcely in Equestria; apart from castles and the occasional fort most buildings were made out of wood with bricks and concrete being the less popular but still seen from time to time building materials. From what we could see from our perch on top of the hill we were also able to notice that the streets were quite busy even at this early hour, the locals sprucing up their hometown and obviously preparing for something.

The silence that befell us was interrupted by Rarity, who was the first to snap out of the dazed state we all found ourselves in:

“Well I do have to admit: I wasn’t expecting anything like this.” She said, gesturing at the town below. “Einael’s explanations led me to believe it would be a more… rustic community.”

“An’ what’s that supposed ta mean?” AJ asked suspiciously, looking at the unicorn. “What’s wrong with rustic?”

“I didn’t say anything was wrong with it Applejack, I just said I pictured it that way. You can’t argue with it: the walls, the stone building of that size, even that old, repulsive-looking ruin gives the impression this is no farming community.”

“Yeah, but the ruined tower isn’t that bad.” Rainbow decided to butt in. “If anything, it looks awesome, way cooler than any ruin back home.”

“Even ‘ye old Royal Castle’ in Everfree?” Asked Pinkie from her perch on AJ’s back, bouncing excitedly at the prospect of going down there.

“Well… maybe with the exception of that place, but it’s still pretty sweet.”

“Um… I guess the town looks… nice enough.” Added Fluttershy in her small voice.

“So then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I proclaimed and started walking down the slope towards the walls, the girls following me moments later.

The road led us straight to the gate in the stone walls. It wasn’t anything fancy –a simple double door wooden gate that stood open at the moment. Not too far from it stood a guy in what appeared to be some kind of armor: a shirt apparently made out of a multitude of interwoven metal rings and some pants made out of leather, and with a short mantle the color of burnt orange draped around his shoulders. It was quite obvious he was a guard of some sort. He seemed to be fast asleep, barely standing upright as he was leaning on a short spear and snoring softly, letting a bit of drool fall from his open mouth and onto his short, blackish beard, clearly pointing out his gender as male. We ignored him for the most part, and we were about to pass through the gates when we noticed we were lacking somepony.

Rarity managed to slip from us as she saw something that picked her interest. After we took a look around in search of her we noticed, that she stood not far away from us in front of a small signpost in front of the gatehouse. Walking up to her and checking what exactly got her that interested we noticed what was on the sign we initially overlooked. There, on a wooden plank were words written with black paint, forming a short message:


Welcome to Sandpoint!


Please stop to see yourself as we see you!


Below it there was a small mirror attached.

“Hm… I can’t say I’m exactly comfortable with the way I look, but I suppose I can manage.” We heard Rarity say to herself as she was examining her reflection critically. “I could’ve ended up looking far worse. Still, it most definitely is an odd feeling, not having a coat. And I definitely need a bath after that horrid forest, not to mention a change of clothes. I do hope there is a spa around here.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Muttered Rainbow rolling her eyes. Still, curiosity took over and she too decided to check how she looked in the mirror, almost forcibly pushing Rarity aside to check. After a moment of looking at her own reflection she dragged a hand trough her hair and smirked. “At least the hair and eye color is right. Wouldn’t be much of a Rainbow Dash without the rainbow part now, would I?”

It seemed that once the girls discovered the mirror all of them wanted to actually check how they were looking for themselves. Those that didn’t look in it until now quickly formed a line, and all of them had something to say about their new looks. Most of them however were quite similar in undertone: it’s strange looking like that, but we’ll manage. They probably hoped that it was only temporary and that once we reunite with Twilight she’ll be able to change us back. In all honesty, I hope she would be able to do just that; even if I had spiky green hair and green eyes, I still missed my spines, scales, slits for pupils and most importantly my tail and fire.

During the little commotion the girls were acting loud enough to wake the guard up. With a startle he gasped and looked around, just as if he didn’t know where he was, but after a moment he must have remembered and calmed down. Once his black eyes fell on us he looked at us oddly and approached us, still holding his spear, but in a non-threatening manner.

“Who’re ye?” He asked, sounding a bit annoyed. He had a strange accent, like if he was from Edinspur. Seizing the opportunity Rarity decided to be our spokesmare.

“Greetings my good sir. Let me introduce myself: I’m Miss Rarity, and I and my friends would like to enter your fine town, if that’s not a problem.” She tried to sound as polite as possible and ignore what the guy was wearing, probably making an effort not to comment on how horrid she found his uniform to be looking. In response however the guard looked at us with a raised eyebrow and commented:

“Well, ye look like shite.” …Okay, I was not expecting that. This guy most definitely doesn’t mince words. It also had a quite comical effect on Rarity; that flabbergasted expression was simply too much. To be quite honest, most of the girls reacted similarly, but thankfully to a lesser extent. The first to recover was Applejack, and she glared at the man from beneath her stetson.

“What’d ya call us?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“That ye look like shite.” He repeated impassively, like if her glare didn’t have the slightest affect on him. “What’d ye do las’ night, wrestle a boar or sumthin’? Seriously, ye look like ye spent the night in a forest, an’ tha dirtiest shitehole in it ta boot.”

“Yeah, let’s… let’s go with that.” Rainbow answered, also shaking off the shock at being addressed like that and now actually sniggering at the guy’s direct way of speech. Rarity was still flabbergasted.

“So… what ‘bout letting us in now?” AJ inquired, figuring that the guard wasn’t actually insulting us but bluntly summing up our appearances. The guard grimaced at that.

“Ye bloody travelers ain’t gonna give a man a bre-eak.” He yawned at the end, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He turned around, his metallic shirt jingling softly as he went to the guardhouse, and shot a look at us. “Well, what are ye waitin’ fer, an invitation? Ye gotsta sign in before I can let ya go.”

We exchanged a few confused glances, but in the end we all decided to roll with it. As strange as signing in to be let inside town sounded, we figured that these creatures might have different customs than we had back home. Maybe it was customary to sign in? Well, whatever, we were too close to Sandpoint to let a grumpy guard deter us.

And Rarity still was flabbergasted.

“Right, ye gotsta give me yer names so I can sign ‘em in tha daily traffic list.” He explained, pulling out a leather-bound tome and a crude looking pencil and flipping through the pages. “Bloody annoyin’ if ye ask me. ‘Specially if sum loon of an elf decides ta come an’ visit in tha middle o’ the night. So: names?”

Without further ado we gave the man our names. At least most of us did, Rarity still seemed unable to speak. Of course Pinkie Pie had to make a game out of this and from her place on Applejack’s back she began spelling her full name… backwards. The guard looked at her oddly and then shot a look at us, as if asking what was her problem. We quickly supplied him with her real, short name. However, by the time we all gave him our names he finally snapped the book close and looked at us in such a way, that made it clear he was not amused in the slightest.

“Seriously, I only asked ye to give me yer names, an’ what do I get? A load o’ hogwash, that’s what.” He muttered darkly and pointed an accusing finger at us. “Ye think this is funny? Well, do ye? ‘Cause I can tell ye right now that I’m not amused in tha slightest. What kind o’ bloody name is ‘Rainbow Dash’? Yer givin’ a statement or sumthin’? An’ ‘Fluttershy’? I’ve heard a load o’ strange elven names lass, but ain’t one of ‘em as bizarre as that one. An’ ‘Spike’? What are ye, a dog or a halflin’?”

The rant took us completely by surprise. The guard seemed to be actually working up a temper, and for reasons unknown he decided to comment on our names out of all things. From what he was saying it seemed that they sounded alien and bizarre to him for some reason. But if that’s the case than why didn’t this whole ‘Einael’ or whatever his real name was say something about it. Clearly he must have known…

Must have known…

Know…

That motherbucker…

“Tha only halfway normal names I get from a pink gnome, a purple haired half-elf an’ a hat wearin’ Ulfen lass.” The guard continued his rant undeterred, still looking at us like if we had played a cruel joke on him, focusing most of his ire on AJ for some reason. “An’ even so, yer tryin’ ta tell me that yer name is Apple Jack? I don’ know how drunk ye folks must have been ta name a lass with a lad’s name. Or are ye jus’ tryin’ ta make me angry, ‘cause if so than ye done a bloody good job.”

The guy officially overdid it. The jab at her parents made AJ go absolutely livid, and she was looking like she didn’t want anything more than to buck this guard all the way to the next century.

“Ya better take back what ya said ‘bout mah folks or Ah swear Ah’m gunna make ya wish ya were never born.” She said in such a manner that it sent shivers down my spine. AJ sounded so intimidating while saying that, that even the guard just couldn’t ignore it and looked at her slightly frightened, backing up from her involuntarily. He quickly composed himself however and glared back at her.

“Yer treathenin’ me, lass?” He asked through clenched teeth, trying to sound as intimidating as Applejack. Unfortunately, the slight shiver in his voice betrayed him –he was weary of AJ. Nonetheless, he tried his luck. “Do ye know who yer dealin’ with? If ye do so much as try an’ lift a hand against me I’m gunna make sure ye won’t be able ta take even a step in town, ye hear?” Okay, that was a legitimate threat. Still: why did this guy just suddenly decided to start a verbal fight with us, Applejack in particular? Were our names really such an issue? Or was this guard just acting like a total jerk for no good reason? Whatever the case, the guard didn’t seem to be backing out anytime soon, and that could prove a problem.

It could, but it didn’t.

“Hey, Ernie! Sorry I’m late, I’ve ran into old man Belor and he insisted I… am I interrupting something?” Came a younger sounding male voice from behind the gate. One glance there was enough for us to notice a younger looking, clean shaven man in a similar outfit to the guard we were arguing with. A second guard I reasoned, probably here to change his older colleague. From the way the older of the two cringed, he wasn’t exactly fond of the youth.

“How many time do I hafta repeat myself: it’s Ernestal Caletti for ye, ye dolt.” The newly dubbed ‘Ernie’ spoke with clear annoyance, turning around to the newcomer. “Ye call me ‘Ernie’ one more time an’ I swear to Gorum I’m gunna smack ye silly.”

“Yeah, whatever man.” He waved him off, walking up to him and shooting us a quick look. “Let me guess: girl problems?” The elder of the two sputtered for a moment and glared at the youngster.

“Ye cheeky bastard. Why I ought ta…”

“I know, I know, ‘you ought to tear me a new one’. You say that at least ten times a week.” The younger interrupted him with a bored expression, rolling his eyes. After that he looked at his elder and with arms crossed on his chest he said: “Look: it’s clear that you have a problem with those galls, so I’m willing to take that problem off your hands. I’m here to change you, and I’m willing to take over from here, even though if Belor knew about this he would most probably shift me to latrine-duty for a year. So, what do you say?”

I’m not entirely sure if I, or we for that matter should feel insulted by that or not. We weren’t the problem, it was that prejudiced gate guard that was the problem! The girls however didn’t say anything, only watching the whole exchange, some of them in wonder, other silently fuming at the older of the two, and Fluttershy cowering behind the rest, trying to look as small as possible. It was after all a possible way to get rid of Grumpy McGrumpson as Pinkie Pie would no doubt call him.

The original gate guard considered his proposition for a bit and finally shrugged. “Bah, the Hell with it. Ye want ta wrangle with these lasses than be my guest. I need a stiff drink an’ a warm bed anyway.” And with that he started marching off into town, leaving the spear in the waiting hands of the youngster. The new guard sighed at the behavior of his older colleague, running his free hand through his short, black hair, and then turned to us, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry for Ernie, he tends to be a bit grumpy after night shifts. I trust he didn’t gave you girl’s too much trouble?” He said in a friendly manner. He already seemed to be of the more likable sort.

“Well… if you count out he insulted how we look, made fun of our names and threatened not to let us in town than no, he was most definitely a cool guy.” Rainbow decided to answer his question, using sarcasm as her weapon of choice. Hearing that the new guy shook his head in annoyance.

“Seriously Ernie, you never cease to amaze me.” He muttered, after which he added loudly: “I’m really sorry for that, he tends to speak his mind, and is easy to anger. By the way –nice hairdo, really catches the eye.”

“Em… yeah, thanks.” RD replied a bit abashed, not used to somepony or someone for that matter complimenting her hair out of all things. Come to think of it, was this guy flirting with her, or was he just polite? In either case, that’s like all kinds of weird right there.

Boy am I grateful RD can’t read minds.

“Okay, so I’m guessing you were getting ‘booked in’ when Ernie snapped.” The guard continued as if nothing happened. He reached out for the same book the former guard was supposed to write our names in and opened it on the last page with anything written on it. “Okay now, let’s see… ‘Spike’, ‘Fluttershy’, ‘Rarity’, ‘Apple Jack’, ‘Pinkie Pie’ and ‘Rainbow Dash’? I’m beginning to get why Ernie reacted the way he did.”

“An’ what’s that supposed ta mean?” Asked AJ, who managed too cool off from her earlier ‘outburst’. That last remark however could possibly spark her anger once again.

“Well, aside from ‘Apple Jack’ those sound more like nicknames to me. By the way, who’s Jack?”

“Ah am.” He looked at AJ with a surprised expression.

“No offense, but I was actually expecting the little guy to say that.” He gestured at me. “Jack’s a guy's name,  unless it’s a diminutive for something. Or does it mean something in Skald?”

“An’ how do ya suppose Ah should know?” Applejack asked defensively. This conversation was becoming more and more problematic by the minute, and if somepony doesn’t do something real quick than we may be in a lot more trouble than it’s worth it.

“’Jack’ is actually an old and scarcely used way of saying ‘strong’ or ‘healthy’.” …Pinkie Pie. Do I even have to say more?

While the girls, especially Applejack herself looked at the pink party pony in astonishment, the guard seemed to adopt a more thoughtful expression. After a moment of pondering Pinkie’s words however, as the surprise of my friends wore off he nodded slowly, as if coming to some kind of conclusion.

“Yeah, that does seem to be about right. I never was a linguistics specialist or anything like that, but I think I heard someone use that term in that context. I think it was old man Quink who said that.” It looked like if he was talking more to himself than to us, or rather thinking aloud. For a moment there we even thought that he forgot about us, so we had to force a response out of him, just to be sure.

“Ah, sugarcube? Aren’t ya forgettin’ ‘bout sumthin’?”

“Wha… oh, yeah! Sorry about that, got a bit sidetracked there. Sooo… If you’re Jack, and you are obviously ‘Rainbow’…” He accented the word, clearly not taking it all that seriously and more in terms of a nickname, just like he suggested earlier. After that he began pointing us out and asking if he was getting our names right, which for the most part he did. It wasn’t that big of a surprise in the end really, the girls either looked like their names suggested or acted the part in Fluttershy’s case. 

After he checked every name from that logbook or whatever that book was meant to accomplish the guard shut it, mentioning someone named Belor and that it was going to be a load of laughs seeing his reaction to the names. After that he looked at us with a friendly smile on his face and said:

“Now, having that out of the way, let me be the first to welcome all of you to the fine town of Sandpoint, the Light of the Lost Coast. You all came just in time for the celebration of this year’s Swallowtail Festival, and as it’s also the day our new cathedral is being consecrated I can assure you that you’re in for a real treat.” He said all that in a welcoming manner, so full of energy and enthusiasm that he resembled a Pinkie Pie on a slow day, and that’s hyper for any normal pony. It was almost impossible not to smile back at him. However, something quite important came to my mind, and I decided to act upon my hunch.

“Listen, um… didn’t quite catch your name.” I began a bit clumsily. The guard looked at me from his impressive stature and after a moment facehoofed (no idea how they call it around here, ‘facehanded’?).

“I completely forgot. Here I am, asking about your names and I didn’t even introduce myself. My name is Titus, Titus Murciani.” I nodded as he bowed slightly, making a mental note that local names indeed seemed to differ greatly from those back home.

“Yes, well, Titus? I was wondering if it was possible for you to check something for us in that log you keep around here.” The guard looked at me with surprise, but nodded nonetheless.

“Yes, it’s no problem at all.” He said slowly. “Are you supposed to meet with someone in Sandpoint?”

“Why yes, yes we are.” Answered Rarity for the first time taking a more active role in the conversation and swiftly noticing what my angle was. It’s actually surprising how saying that she looked ‘like shite’ affected her if she only just came to. “You see, we were separated from our dear friend, and we believe that she went this way. If you could be a dear, could you check if she came through this gate?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes to maximize the effect of her request. I think I actually saw the guy blush when he noticed that… I suddenly felt a strong wave of dislike towards this guy.

“O-of course ma’am.” He stuttered slightly and began frantically leafing through the log, shooting glances at the fashionista and blushing from time to time. Only after a moment did he realize he didn’t exactly knew what he was looking for. “Em… what’s the name of your friend?”

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.” I answered, gaining his attention, and what’s more important –averting it from Rarity. Titus seemed once again to be surprised by the name we provided him with, but shrugged it off. “I really shouldn’t be that surprised with your names by now. Still –an odd name to be sure. What race is your companion?”

“Elf… I think.” Was my reply, though the last part I added under my breath. We couldn’t be sure if the ‘Einael’ wasn’t just pulling our legs when he said she was of his kind, or if his kind really was called ‘elves’. It seemed however that it indeed was a valid answer, as the man nodded as if he finally understood something.

“Should’ve known. That’s a directly translated name, isn’t it? I know some elves tend to do that when talking with non-elves. Probably has something to do with that tongue-twisting language of theirs and their dislike of others butchering the pronunciation… ah, here she is!” He exclaimed quite loudly, pointing at a name in the logbook. “Twilight Sparkle. She came here a few hours ago, probably with another elf at the same time, though where she is right now I don’t have the slightest clue. I would try in the inns in town. The closest one, The White Deer is just on the other side of the gate. Three stories tall, first floor made out of stone, two life-size wooden deer standing over the entrance, you can’t possibly miss it. Alternatively she might be in the Rusty Dragon, that’s downtown, I’m sure someone can point you there better than me. But before you go anywhere, I would advise talking to Father Zantus to see about those wounds. They seem rather uncomfortable, and I’m sure Pops won’t take a copper out of you for the help, at least not today.”

We exchanged surprised glances at that. Why was this guy directing us to some kind of priest? Didn’t they have doctors or something? Or did he think that Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s conditions were so bad that the only thing left to do was wait for the inevitable? Whichever was true, both possibilities sounded rather frightening.

“Um… why do you think we should… em… go to this Father Zantus… if you don’t mind me asking?” Surprisingly it was Fluttershy who decided to inquire about that. In her typical shy fashion she asked almost too softly for the guy to hear her, but apparently he was gifted with quite keen senses, as he heard her without any problems.

“Well, Pops’ the best healer around. He’ll be able to get you up and running in no time. Plus, he’ll do that for free, at least today he will. It’s a big day for him, and he’ll do whatever he can to make it the most memorable and perfect day of his ministry.” He said that half-jokingly, but it was clear that he had his trust in whatever medical skills this ‘Father Zantus’ possessed. Well, might as well try. And at least we knew that Twilight was here, so that was something.

Guard Titus didn’t stop us for much longer, he only pointed out there to find the priest he was talking about and wished us a nice stay. All in all the guy seemed okay to me, tough he could go without drooling over Rarity. That’s my job… wait, what?

Once we passed the town’s gate we found ourselves practically face to face with the building that must've been the White Deer Inn. It fit the description that the gate guard provided us perfectly with the two wooden deer carvings standing over the main entrance and the stone-built first floor. However as we decided to take Titus’ advice we stayed clear of that place for now and headed towards the chapel and see this Father Zantus first. As it was most easily the biggest structure in town, maybe with the exception of that ruined tower, finding it wasn’t that big of a problem. All we had to do is follow the road and keep our eyes out for the trio of domes crowning the place of cult.

“That could've went better.” Rainbow Dash commented once we were out of Titus’ earshot. The girls looked at her, some nodding in agreement, others not so much.

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad Dashie. Titus seemed to be a nice guy.” Pinkie was the first to respond. Rainbow shook her head at that.

“Yeah, he seemed pretty cool, but that other guy, what’s his face… Ernie. Well, he was a total flankhole, and of the biggest verity.”

“Rainbow Dash, please, spare us your creative invectives.” Rarity reprimanded the cyan mare. “Some of us have standards and do not wish to hear such distasteful insults.”

“Hey, you can’t say you didn’t think that of him Rare, admit it.” RD replied with a sly grin plastered on her face. Rarity shot her an annoyed look.

“Oh, please, I would never stoop down to such petty insults.” She defended, but that only served to widen Rainbow’s grin.

“Even after he told that you look like…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” And suddenly RD had a Rarity straight at her face, looking with an almost crazed glint in her blue eyes, just as if she was ready to lose it at any moment. Rainbow took a step back, just to be on the safe side as the fashionista began breathing heavily and clenching her hands into fists angrily. “That ruffian had the audacity to insult the way I look in the most horrid way he could come up with. I admit, in this soiled dress and after spending a full night in the midst of… ugh… nature… I don’t expect to look that fabulously, but to compare me to something like that?! Why I should hunt him down and tell him what I think of the way he looked, that shaggy excuse of a stallion…”

“Easy there sugarcube, don’t ya work up a temper on us.” Applejack tried to calm her down, however she looked like if she didn’t want anything more than to join her in her search. “We don’t want no problems with the authorities.”

“Well, I don’t expect you to understand what it means to be insulted that way to me Applejack, but how can you be so calm when that thug insulted your parents?” Rarity asked incredulously, unwittingly bringing what mood AJ managed to salvage down. With a dark look to her eyes she replied in a monotone voice:

“Ah try not ta think of it.” The way she looked combined with her voice, devoid of any emotion was enough to calm the fashionista down and actually make her look ashamed.

“Sorry, I should’ve known better than to bring that up.” She said apologetically. Applejack shook her head gloomily at that.

“Don’t mention it.” Was all she said as she let go of Rarity. She looked really down right now, enough so that Pinkie was able to sense her falling mood and try to work against it. From her position on the back of the farmpony she tightened her grip on her and embraced her in a warm, if not awkwardly positioned hug. Still, it was enough to lighten AJ’s mood a bit, as she smiled softly and turned her head so she could look at her passenger. “Thanks, Ah needed that Pinkie.”

“No problem-o, I always have a free ‘cheer-me-up’ hug for all my friends.” Pinkie replied with a smile of her own, not a wacky grin but a genuine smile. That look however quickly morphed into one of excitement once we reached town square. “Oh, oh, lookie there! Their already setting up the festival! This is going to be so much fun!”

And right she was; some of the early risers already set off to work at preparing what must have been a long awaited festival. Multicolored tents were being erected around the square and some of the locals (as in both Sandpoint-locals and this-place-in-general-locals) were setting up stalls with merchandise, probably wanting to sell their wares during the festivities. There were also long tables being set along the edges of the place, probably food stands and such, and I think I even saw a few games being set up, most noticeably what must have been a sack race. All in all, it really did look like it was going to be fun.

The square itself was placed directly in front the cathedral, with a few wide, easy to scale stone stair leading the way towards the entrance. The place of cult itself looked quite impressive as well; from the place we were standing we could see it was built in an interesting mix of romanequine (or whatever’s the local name) and gothic architecture, crafted out of light gray stone. The front of the cathedral was decorated with stained glass windows, especially with two really big ones. The one to the left depicted a young, almost completely naked blue and green female rising out from crashing waves, trying to touch the outstretched hand of an old, gray man, hanging upside down from a storm cloud. The other presented yet another female, this time clothed in what could only be described as a loose gown, holding a violet rose in her hand and with multiple-colored strands running along her chestnut-brown hair. It looked quite impressive, but it also left me confused as to what exactly did those stained glasses present.

Figuring that our best bet in finding this Father Zantus fellow was to check inside the cathedral we did just that. After climbing the few steps in front of the temple we opened the large, wooden doors sealing the entrance shut. Entering slowly, we looked around, taking in the inside of the cathedral with interest while searching for the priest. I really must say this, but the inside of the church was even more impressive than the outside: the stained glass windows were coloring the inside of the place with a multitude of soft colors, and many of the decorations themselves were a sight for sore eyes. Nothing too flashy and nothing that would needlessly distract any followers from whatever were the local religious rites. I also noticed two separate altars, each of them with different religious symbols on them, just like if they were dedicated to two separate deities. Come to think of it, it’s actually strange being inside a cathedral; back in Equestria organized religion wasn’t something that popular, not while having an immortal sun goddess-like as your ruler.

“Hello! Is anypo…anybody in here?!” Not finding anyone in the immediate area Rainbow Dash decided to speed up things a bit. Her voice echoed loudly through the cathedral, amplified by the local architecture. The echo didn’t even had the time to pass when we heard an answer coming from what must have been the opposite side of the church.

“Give me a moment, I’ll be right with you!” The voice, however deformed by the echo, was clearly male. Satisfied with  the answer the girls and I waited for who we assumed was Father Zantus. After but a few moments the unmistakable sound of footsteps reached us, and from behind a bend came forth a figure in a strange looking garb.

The man approaching us wore what looked like a folded robe the colors of blue and red, dotted by artistic representations of the sun dyed an appropriate yellow color. The robe itself wasn’t anything eye-catching and it looked quite modest, yet it was enough to pick Rarity’s interest and most probably give her some ideas for new outfits of her own. The nice looking attire however wasn’t able to mask the fact that our host had problems walking. He seemed to be favoring his left leg, leaning on it most of the time, and his gait was lurching sinisterly. His face however was smiling at us brightly from behind a sun-bleached goatee.

“Sorry you had to wait.” He started off with an apology, again leaning on his left leg. “Still getting used to how big this place is. Now: what can I help you with?”

Well, he seemed nice enough, though that gait of his was off-putting. Are we really going to leave RD and Pinkie Pie in the care of someone like this?

“Em… we were told that ya can help us with sum of our injuries?” Started Applejack uncertainly. Her words however brought a bemused expression on the man’s face, and he looked at us with surprise.

“Who, me?” He asked, which of course brought only more confusion. “Who told you that? I’m no good with healing, not my pair of shoes.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you Father Zantus?” I asked suspiciously, feeling that something was not right here. And my suspicions were correct, as the guy looked at me with downing comprehension.

“Oh, no, no, no, I’m not Abstalar, no.  I’m Naffer Vosk, ancillary priest of Sarenrae and the local gravedigger. Abstalar is responsible for health issues of our community. He’s keeping our guests company right now and is preparing for his big day.” He explained, referring to who I’m assuming is Father Zantus by his first name. Seeing how the locals had names so different from the ones back home I was led to suspect that ‘Father’ was more of a title than an actual name. But I digress –the newly dubbed Naffer took a look at us, focusing mostly on Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and nodded to himself, figuring something. “Best I take you to him though, that bump doesn’t look too well, as well as your side miss. Follow me.” And he turned around, mentioning us as he lurched deeper into the cathedral. Shrugging we did as we were told to.

Our priestly guide with a sinister gait led us towards what I was assuming was the northernmost part of the cathedral. We passed by numerous seats placed here for the convenience of the followers and by an inner atrium, connected to the rest of the church via a multitude of doors and clear windows and which housed a circle of standing stones of some kind, looking like an ancient place of cult. After a few moments of slowly following the obviously disabled priest we got to the northern wall of the church, and following his lead we passed through one of two doors placed on it, leading to if I’m not mistaken the living quarters.

Stone made way for wood here, and the moment we stepped down a few short steps from the elevated cathedral level we all felt more at home. Being in a wooden structure was all the more comforting for us than walking inside a stone one, at least it was for the girls. I didn’t have any issues with it, though that might have something to do with my dragon instincts. Oh well, the point is once we entered the living quarters the girls seemed to loosen up and were slowly beginning to chat amongst themselves, mostly wondering if this whole Father Zantus was really going to help them and what to do after we’re done here.

Naffer led us through a number of hallways, checking inside some rooms from time to time in search of his superior. In the meantime I was looking around, remembering something our guide said earlier. He mentioned that Father Zantus was keeping company to some guests, but didn’t elaborate on it. It might've seemed silly of me, but for some reason I felt that it could be Twilight he was talking about. It would make things easier on us, that’s for sure. So, the first opportunity I’ve got I slipped away from our little group and began looking around on my own.

I started my search from the hallways Naffer passed by not looking in them. Figuring that Twi might have been still in a room lent to her in one of those halls I started to crack open all the doors I could and taking sneak peeks inside them. All I managed to find however was a kitchen, a study, and two bedrooms, all empty except for one cat lying beside a furnace lazily. It was becoming frustrating pretty quickly.

Dejected with my failures I decided to look for the girls and rejoin them before they notice my absence. Problem is, I didn’t know where they went. I knew I forgot about something! Just my luck…

I wandered the wooden halls aimlessly, wondering exactly how large this place really was. Already I got the impression that this place was at least as large as the cathedral. I was becoming more and more convinced I’ve got lost, and with that the first signs of panic began setting in. Looking around frantically in search of any sign that would lead me towards the girls I noticed a door hanging slightly ajar, and without thinking much I rushed towards it and opened it up, entering without looking.

When my eyes finally caught up with my feet I realized I was standing in the entrance to a dining room. A large, oaken table stood in the center of this room, surrounded by matching wooden chairs. The air in this room was filled with the aroma of freshly made breakfast, most probably scrambled eggs with onions if my nose wasn’t deceiving to me. Most noticeably however there were two figures sitting at the far ends of the table, though once my eyes fell on one of them I instantly forgot all about the other. Long, pointy ears; straight, dark purple hair with two streaks of different colors; eyes almost completely dominated by dark pupils yet still possessing noticeably purple irises. There was no mistaking it.

“Spike… Is that you? What are you doing here, how did you get here?”

I found her!