“So where are we going to go?” Twilight asks she white princess walking beside her as they walk through shady caverns that are the halls of the palace, only lit by the spell floating inches above Twilight’s horn. “Is it an ancient abandoned ruin of the previous capital of Equestria? Or maybe some deep cave sealed by complex magical seals?” Twilight’s excitement is overflowing, the glow of her horn reflected in her wide eyes, a bounce in her step as she races ahead of Celestia, breath huffing from her rushed speech.
“You need to take what Luna told you more literally Twilight,” Celestia’s voice sounds unexpectedly distant to the energetic filly. She turns to see the princess stopped outside a deep blue door, it’s color completely indistinct in the night blue halls of the lunar quarters of the palace. The crescent moon engraved into the door sparks a memory in Twilight’s mind.
“Is this Luna’s old room?” The question bounces between mentor and student as Twilight retraces her steps to stand beside Celestia, who continues to obverse the door. ”I thought you said we were going somewhere dark and magical.”
“I said we were going somewhere no pony has gone in one thousand years,” Celestia’s lips form a smile at the still confused face of her student. “I locked Luna’s room when she left, it hasn’t been opened since then, almost one thousand years ago.” The disappointed filly sighs, rolling her eyes.
“So I’m guessing there’s some powerful magical seal I need to unweave to open the door?” The excited filly bounces around in front of the door, inspecting every inch of it for signs of magical tampering.
“I didn’t lock it with anything complex,” Celestia stands relaxed, her amused eyes chasing the purple pony bouncing beside her. “I simply told no pony to enter the room, so none have.” Twilight deflates, gathering herself to return to Celestia’s side.
“So we just go in?” Twilight’s tone conveys her disappointment. Celestia nods, giving Twilight leave to spark her horn to life, twist the ornate, crescent moon handle and push the door into the darkness. Twilight follows the princess inside, switching her mental focus to an image of a candle flame, the form needed to channel a weak light spell. Even with her horn aglow Twilight can’t see past the white rump directly in front of her.
“Is there some kind of aura in this room?” Twilight questions the princess while twisting her neck to and fro, trying to see past the wall of black surrounding her.
“Yes, but it is not malicious in any way,” Celestia assures her student as she turns to face her. “Luna set it up long ago, before the reign of Discord, because of her nocturnal habits. She needed to sleep through the bright rays of my Sun so she created a barrier that it could not pierce.” The princess disappears into the blackness.
“Uh, Celestia? Where did you go?” Twilight’s answer is the rush of curtains being pulled back. Her vision returns as moonlight spills into the room, pushing aside the darkness and allowing Twilight full view of the night princess’s untouched dwellings. A bed clothed in night-sky exactly like Twilight’s own is pushed back against the far wall. As Twilight steps closer to examine it she notices it shimmering. Extending a hoof and disrupting the sheets send the stars dancing away from the disturbance.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Celestia’s voice is filled with the same awe Twilight’s mind contains. “Magi wove it for her. It is a living picture of Luna’s sky, I also received one also but my sky is rather lackluster compared to this.”
“It’s beautiful,” Twilight breaths as she continues to prod the blanket of stars, chasing them round the bed with her hoof tip. Celestia giggles at the young filly her student has transformed into before joining her, running her white hoof across the soft surface of the twinkling bed clothes, ignoring their goal for the moment. They continue for a few moments before Celestia restrains herself.
“We need to remember why we came here Twilight,” Celestia’s gentle tone returning, wide smile constrained to the soft one her lips usually hold, lips slightly upturned.
“To look under the bed?” Twilight’s feeling of foolishness fades away as she lifts her recent playtoy, revealing books. Thick tomes tightly stacked underneath, filling every cubic inch of space under the bed. “So these books contain what we need to save Luna?” Twiligh2t questions as she lifts her gaze to meet Celestia’s, eye twitching as she resists the urge to grasp the closest book.
“I assume so, but you know as much as I do about this,” Celestia admits. “I haven’t been inside this room since my sister left, I’ve never seen any of the books before.” Celestia wiggles a black tome covered in stars out of the bed’s grip. Opening it, she brings it closer to Twilight so the leaning unicorn can attempt to decipher the mess of symbols covering the pages. Twilight squints her eyes at the page, searching for symbols she’s learnt.
“Is that one hide?” Twilight voice is unsure as she points to a black square drawn inside another. Celestia rewards her student with a nod. “Then this one is rubble?” Uncertainty still held in Twilight’s words.
“No,” Twilight scrunches her eyes in self-annoyance, mentally setting the ancient language for homework. “You were close though, just missing the context. This symbol means ruins. This book is a detailed account of ancient ruins hidden in the Everfree forest. It appears to be written in Luna’s hoof writing.” Celestia deposits the book she currently holds onto the carpet, pulling another book from underneath the bed, almost identical as the last only thinner. “I believe these are writings of Luna’s research across Equestria, somewhere in here must be the information we need.”
“So we have to read all of the books?’ Twilight’s eyes beg Celestia to confirm her hopes.
“I think the complex language these books are written in might be too much for such a young filly,” Celestia jokes. “Maybe you should get some rest while I study my sister’s writing.” The disappointment creeping into Twilight’s eyes quickly shatter the princess’s attempt at playing with her student. She ruffles a comforting hoof through Twilight mane, “I’m sorry Twilight that was cruel of me to jest, of course I would love your company.”
“Thank you so much Princess,” Twilight exclaims, raising her snout to nuzzle the princess’s hoof. Twilight turns the book Celestia abandoned towards her, magically turning the cover, eyes moving from one symbol to the next as she slowly translates each page. Celestia opens the book resting in her hooves, skimming through the page of a language second nature to her, tutting occasionally at her sister’s messy writing.
★★★
Celestia looks up from the book she is studying, a yawn pushing its way out of her mouth. Her pupil fell asleep an hour ago, drooling over the page she had collapsed onto. Twilight now lies cuddled against Celestia’s side, breathing softly in her peaceful sleep. Celestia continues the search with heavy lidded eyes, nothing found so far.
They had been through almost half of the books under Luna’s bed, Celestia managing ten for each Twilight read, and they had found nothing that could help Luna. Twilight had difficulty translating several of the books she had chosen, and had reluctantly piled them beside Celestia. The princess turns the final page, closing the book lying at her hooves. She yawns again, promising herself that the next book would be her last for the night.
Reaching for the closest unread tome she finds herself pulling one off the top of Twilight’s pile. In her tiredness her unstable hoof accidentally lets the book fall and bounce off the thick carpet. It lands face-down next to Twilight’s ear, the thump rousing the sleeping filly.
“Princess?” The tired Twilight cracks her eyes open sharing a yawn with Celestia. “Did you find something?” To Twilight’s disappointment Celestia shakes her head.
“I was going to read one last book before going to bed myself,” another yawn interrupts the princess, stretching her tongue and scrunching eyes she pushes through it. “Do you wish to join me?” Twilight shrugs off the yawn Celestia passed her, nodding. The book in front of them glows purple as Twilight magically flips it so they can read.
“Oh,” Twilight murmurs. “This was the first book we looked at. It was filled with so many symbols I don’t recognize, so I, stopped.” Twilight turns away from the princess ashamedly. Celestia caresses Twilight’s chin, bringing her eyes back to face her own.
“No need to be ashamed of your failure Twilight,” Celestia comforts her student, nuzzling her mane. “What matters is you tried, and hopefully you learnt something. Now let me read this as a bedtime story for the both of us.” Twilight’s eyes brighten at ‘story’ and she snuggles in close to Celestia, eyes on the pages before her.
“The Everfree forest is a mysterious place filled with many wonder,” Celestia read softly, answering any question Twilight has about certain symbols, sharing yawning fits with her student. The book is filled with mostly speculation and details of the old ruin Celestia already knows. The sleepy filly next to her constantly rubs her drooping eyes in an effort to maintain consciousness.
“Chapter seven, the summoning focus of my sister,” Celestia pauses, perplexed. She doesn’t remember building a structure for the use of summoning during her time spent at the Everfree castle millennia ago. Twilight startles at the lack of Celestia’s reading lullabying her to sleep.
“What is it Princess?” Twilight groans, still fighting off sleep.
“Just something I don’t recall,” Celestia’s voice is strained as she sifts through her endless memories, searching for anything related. “I’ll just keep reading, maybe it’ll stimulate something. My sister Magi,” Celestia’s realization forces and ‘oh’ from her mouth. “My sister Magi had built a great stone pyramid in the depths of the castle. It’s base was hexagonal in shape with a summoning platform situated at each point of the base. I attribute it’s survival in the ruin the became of the old castle because of the depth it is situated at. I had to explore into Magi’s old chambers and climb down many sets of stair, all of them new to me.”
“Princess what is a summoning focus used for?” Twilight questions the princess, punctuating her sentence with a yawn.
“Teleportation, interdimensional travel, bringing ponies back from beyond the dead, the use of a focus are numerous, but the basic principle is the movement of an entity from one place to another. It seems like my sister developed one that could channel great power, she couldn’t possibly think to do that,” Celestia thinks aloud for a moment before noticing the look of confusion on Twilight’s face.
“I’m sorry Twilight, let me explain. When my sisters or I return to the celestial bodies we represent our physical bodies are stored somewhere inside. I think Magi may have intended this focus to be used for the purpose of pulling our physical bodies from the place they reside in. To pull a body from it celestial objects grasp without forming a connection with the sister would require immense power. Power you can’t produce on your own, no matter the training.” Celestia’s gaze focuses on the moon, as if her answers lie there.
“What will we need Princess?” Twilight’s eyes have perked up, forgetting sleep in the exciting details they had discovered. The words bring Celestia’s eye’s back to the book, still lost in thought.
“I think we may need some kind of supportive magic,” Celestia speaks her mind finally. “An ancient artifact or a cache of stored energy perhaps. I think it would be best if we saw this structure for our own eyes, to assess exactly what resources we have. Perhaps it is no longer there, it has been over one-thousand years since this was written. It could be completely destroyed by now,” Celestia sighs as her minds trawls through imaginary events that could have happened. “However it’s our only hope for some time, and our only connection to my two missing sisters.”
“So how far is the flight?” Celestia giggles as Twilight’s eager comment is half-yawned.
“We aren’t leaving till tomorrow Twilight,” Celestia’s tilts her head, thinking. “Or maybe till the day after. There are many things I need to organize before going on a short vacation like this. However those worries can wait till tomorrow, for now we both need some rest.” Celestia’s comforting, white wing curls over Twilight’s comparatively small, purple body. Snuggling into the feathers surrounding her Twilight nostrils are filled with the smell of her teacher. A soft smell lulling her to sleep.
It smells like-
★★★
Finally the day had come, the day Twilight had been dreaming of all week. It had taken Celestia many days more than predicted to organize the necessities for her absence. Meetings, paperwork, all things that kept Celestia from attending her lessons.
Twilight’s company for the week had been an old book Celestia had pulled from the archives. The only progress Twilight made the first day was staining the book with her tears, she never realised how much she loved the motherly, older mare. Twilight’s drive to learn overcame her longing, making her way through half the book of spells. Spells that focused energy into magical devices over a period of time to allow for another spell of great power to be released in an instant.
When Celestia returned with news that they could leave the next day, she had found the room empty, but for a book and a floating stone eye. The eye bobbed it’s way towards the princess, it’s runes glowed and Twilight faded into vision, finished work with the hidden movement focus. When Twilight heard that they were leaving tomorrow she rushed to her teacher, squeezing her long snowy forelegs while repeatedly exclaiming ‘Yes’. Celestia’s voice had joined the commotion with laughter followed by a suggestion for a celebratory tea party.
Twilight’s wait for the next day to come kept her up half the night researching a spell on induced sleep. The magic had caused her to oversleep, resulting in the rush she is experiencing now.
“Books, where are my books?” Twilight questions herself as a purple glow upends her room. “I’m sure I had them here last night.”
“Honey,” Her mothers faint voice is barely registered by Twilight. “Your books are down here.” ‘Books’ catches her attention however. Twilight slams her door open, magically packing her bag as she scramble downstairs, trying to keep the nervous concoction inside her from boiling over. The sight of her missing books helps her settle, quickly nuzzling her mother goodbye Twilight finishes her packing and races out the door.
“Oof,” miserably rubbing her nose Twilight is sure she opened the door this time. Looking up her eyes meet Celestia’s radiant smile rather than a wall of wood.
“Good morning Twilight,” Twilight evaporates, collapsing on the floor. “Mrs Sparkle,” Celestia ignores Twilight’s reaction and finishes her greetings. The shocked filly clambers to her hooves.
“Why? How?” Twilight’s breathy words are met with a giggle from Celestia and an embarrassed glance from her mother.
“I simply wanted to visit the home of my precious friend Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia’s playful smile and sultry eyebrows have Twilight rolling her eyes and Mrs Sparkle nervously backing away, leaning closer Celestia whispers, “I noticed you were running a little late from my perch outside your window, so I thought I’d save you the trouble of walking to the palace.” Twilight’s burning cheeks elicit a giggle from Celestia.
“Uh, goodbye mom,” Twilight calls shakily back into the house as she steps out the door into the crisp, sunny morning. Her mother peeks out of the kitchen, returning the farewell before retreating away from Celestia’s too friendly stares.
A golden carriage waits for them at the end of the cobbled street, Twilight’s hooves being dampened by the dew coated stones. Teacher and student climb aboard and the bright white pegasus flyers beat their strong wings, pulling them into the air.
“So where are we going?” Twilight questions as the pair float over cloud tops.
We are heading to a small village that borders on the edge of the Everfree forest,” Celestia explains. “We’ll be staying there for a day or two, before traveling into the forest and camping a few days together outside the ruin.”
Twilight grows bored with the never ending white layer passing underneath, trying to snatch flashes of the world below through the gaps in the clouds. She catches sight of a blue streak between the green plains, a river that flows down from Canterlot mountains, snaking ahead to be swallowed by the Everfree. The clouds end abruptly, allowing Twilight full view of the breathtaking landscape.
“The countryside is beautiful, isn’t it?” The playfulness is gone from Celestia’s voice, replaced by awe. “No matter how many years I live I will never grow tired of this.” Celestia waves a hoof across the landscape, eyes still drinking it in. Twilight nods, slowly, not wanting to break the perfection of the moment. A splatter of unnatural colours in the distance catches her eye.
“Is that where we’ll be staying,” Twilight’s asks as her foreleg directs Celestia’s gaze towards the blob.
“That is it,” Celestia confirms. “I’ve heard it’s town holds some of the nicest ponies Equestria has to offer. They call it Ponyville.”