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// Chapter 2 - A Short Mystery 
// Story: Professor Layton and the Equine Amulet 
// by The Maelstrom 
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"Professor!" Luke shouted in excitement as Layton's face grew determined.

"Wha-? B-but how!?" Diana questioned as she continued to stare at the empty case in disbelief, her left eye twitching as she muttered something about how the 'Museum's Ticket' was gone from her very eyes

Suddenly one of the patrons decided to speak up over the whispers of the room, "Oi! Why are we all just standin' here gawking when we have Professor Layton here? Surely he's already solved this little mystery!" The rather portly man said as the rest of the patrons agreed.

Layton's smile returned to his face, "Alright, let me take a look."  He said as she adjusted his hat and walked over to the empty glass case. The Professor looked around the pedestal a few times, the silence in the room so thick, one could cut it with a knife.

Finally, Layton moved away from the pedestal, "Knowing the museums tradition of order, I can say that the Amulet was stolen before the gathering started, due to the cloth covering the case was off by forty five degrees." Layton deduced, "Unfortunately, that means there isn't much of a clue to go on-" Suddenly Layton was cut off from his thoughts as he slipped in a puddle and fell right onto the ground.

"Oh my," Tara said, covering her mouth as she and Luke helped the Professor up, "I'm quite alright, bit odd how there's now a- what's this?" Layton said, noticing the puddle he slipped in shimmered and sparkle as if it was just glue and glitter.

Now both Luke and Tara were looking at the pretty puddle, "It's like it just appeared like-"

"Magic..." Tara cut Luke off as something clicked in her mind, instantly she stood up and started looking around the puddle, before long Tara started walking off, bent over, as she continued to stare at the ground following a trail of the glittery gunk.

A few seconds after Tara disappeared behind a corner she called out for the Professor and Luke, and pretty soon the trio was looking at a steel door marked 'Shipping & Receiving' 

"The puddle just continues under this door. This requires investigation!" Tara commented before grabbing onto the door's handle and the trio entered the room.

The room was maze-like with the amounts of crates it contained, the trio followed the trail of glitter until it stopped right in front of two large crates.

"Professor, what do you think is in these crates?" Luke asked, 

"Only one way to find out," Layton responded as he and Tara each opened a crate, which was surprisingly easy due to neither crate being sealed. 

Each crate was filled with packaging peanuts, and each has an identical necklace placed right on top, both necklaces bore a striking resemblance to the canvas painting

"Look Professor! It's the Amulet! But, why are there two of them?" Luke commented as the three of them looked over the two amulets

"My guess is that whoever was going to steal the Equine Amulet, also wanted to swap the real one with a very convincing fraud. Trying to figure out which one is the right one seems to be quite the puzzle" Layton said as he put a hand to his chin in thought

"I can figure it out." Said Tara after a few seconds, at the Professors and Luke's curious faces, she continued, "A long time ago, back when this Celtic Civilization was still around, they worshiped a pair of God-like beings. The Equine sisters they called them, and they believed that they were the reason the Sun, Moon and Stars went along their paths. The Civilization wanted to communicate with their Gods and after many years of practicing magic, they created an Amulet that will let them visit the world of their Gods."

Tara stopped and looked at the two gentlemen in the eyes, "I'm...from that world."

Both Layton and Luke were taken aback by this, though while Layton only responded with a tip of the hat and a mutter of "Interesting", Luke half-shouted "You're an God!?"

Tara looked away slightly, "Well, no. In my world, there are two Princesses who control the Sun and the Moon. I have reasons to believe that these are the same Gods this civilization was talking about."

Now it was Layton's turn to speak, "So, Tara, in this world, you're ruled by winged horses?"

"Actually, most of us are ponies. Pegasi, Unicorns, Earth Ponies. My world is also inhabited by Gryphons, Dragons and all sorts of things, Professor." 

"Quite interesting, Ms. Streinhart..." Professor Layton remarked as he looked over the two amulets again, but was cut off by a small cough from Tara.

"Actually...my name isn't even Tara Streinhart..." She said, again gaining puzzled looks from the two, "I had to change my name to avoid suspicion, my real name is Twilight Sparkle."

"I can see why it would make people question you" Luke commented, while Layton was deep in thought.

Finally, he spoke up, "I see you did your research, Ms. Sparkle, but...If you are from your world, how did you end up here in London?"

Twilight looked so relieved that someone like the Professor actually looked like he took her tale truthfully. After adjusting her glasses, and she continued "Five months ago, I was tasked to look over a set of artifacts known as The Elements of Harmony from my mentor, Princess Celestia. After doing a few research tests on it, I must of accidentally activated some sort of 'Thief Guard' spell on it and after a bright flash of rainbow light, I found myself in a field in this body. And for the past five months I've been living in London, going to Gressenheller, and hoping something would come up that could help me get home."

"And that would be the Equine Amulet." Layton deduced,

"Exactly! That's why I bought myself a ticket to this event,so I can ask Ms. Phantasima if I could do some research with the Amulet. Hopefully understanding it's magic enough to get my back home" Twilight finished, before picking up one of the Amulets and saying, "This is the one."

And before anyone could say anything, Twilight put the Amulet on around her neck, instantly, a strange wind blew through the windowless storage room, as well, a magenta aura surrounded Twilight's hands. A half a minute passed before Twilight took off the Amulet and handed it to Professor Layton, who was still a bit in shock. 

"We better return this to Ms. Phantasima before anything weirder happens" She said as Layton nodded in agreement and the three of them returned to the main exhibit room.



And that was only the beginning! After we returned, Layton was congratulated but then the fame was shifted onto Ms. Sparkle, who we agreed to use her fake name, who was pleasantly surprised at the recognition. Then the Equine Amulet was revealed properly to everyone in the room, and then it progressed like any other social gathering in upper-class London. 

I'm afraid that I can't tell you much more right now, I'm almost out of writing paper. But I'll write back to you what happens next as soon as I can. Take Care!

Your Friend,
Luke