//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - A Clue and a Clubhouse // Story: The Quill of Eternity // by Written Dreams //------------------------------// “Twilight, don’cha think it‘s really strange that the next clue is at Sweet Apple Acres?” Applejack said as she ran next to Twilight, Rainbow Dash flying to the unicorn’s right as Applejack ran to Twilight’s left. Twilight Sparkle paused for a moment as she continued looking ahead before her head turned towards Applejack and she nodded, “It really is strange… I suppose it makes more sense as to why nopony has been able to find the Quill of Eternity for the last thousand years seeing as how the only way the clue could be followed is if one of the hunters…” Her gaze turned down as more thoughts ran through her head, “Perhaps some of the hunters had the same visions that the pony who made the clue had?” Rainbow Dash was flying upside down, doing a backstroke as her wings flapped keeping her airborne and flying at the same pace as the other two mares, “Yeah but if they didn‘t have that vision then there‘s no way they could find it.” Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash with a nod and smiled to herself, “That was a smart move… it‘s possible that he had no way of knowing that what he saw was a vision of the future or not but he must have believed that it would become a real place in the future leaving the quill safe for a good nine-hundred years or so when Applejack‘s family settled there.” Twilight then looked back to Applejack with a smile and nodded to her, “Applejack, do you know where that X was pointing on the tablet?” “From what I could tell, I reckon that‘s the spot right next to the tree-house way out there in the orchard. Ah know where it is so it shouldn‘ be that hard findin‘ the place.” The mares had run through a good portion of the night and had rested for several hours before continuing their trek back towards Ponyville, choosing to run alongside the train tracks they had ridden on whilst they came out to Appaloosa the first time. The tracks were composed of solid ice, however, a complete contradiction to the heat of the sun overhead. It was high noon the next day when the three mares returned to Ponyville, each of them looking around slowly at the chaotic town. Rainbow Dash had ceased flying when they had entered and was trotting along at Twilight’s right as she slowly looked around, “Looks like Discord‘s been playing around a bit with Ponyville…” The buildings in Ponyville resembled chess pieces and the ground below them was comprised of many enormous squares of alternating black and white, those of a chessboard. The three paid the new landscape of their town little heed as they continued on to Sweet Apple Acres, which, apart from the massive apples contained on the threes, was still unchanged from the last time Twilight had visited it to restore Applejack to her former self. Applejack paused as she watched Big Macintosh digging random holes and jumping around wagging his tail while barking occasionally and turned to Twilight tilting her head, “Hey Twilight… think ya‘ll could bring mah brother back the same way you brought back all of us?” Twilight looked in the colt’s direction, pausing as she watched him minding his own business and acting like a dog before she slowly shook her head, “I can‘t use the memory spell on him AJ… He wasn‘t changed by Discord‘s influence…” She lowered her head as she brought a hoof to her chin, “How can I explain this… He is… like the town. He‘s become an object under Discord‘s powers. If he were still able to talk and it was only his mind that was changed I could restore him but it‘s all of this chaotic magic that‘s making him act that way…” She stopped walking as she looked up at Applejack’s face, “Do you understand?” Applejack had a look on her face like she was trying to process what Twilight had been telling her before she looked back over to Big Macintosh and then back over to Twilight, her expression having changed to one of determination, “Well then I reckon we‘d better hurry up and find out what that next clue is so we can stop Discord and bring everypony back to bein‘ normal again!” Applejack then took off into the orchard of apple trees, followed closely by Twilight and Rainbow Dash. After around three minutes of running Twilight and Rainbow Dash came to a halt as they saw Applejack had stopped near a few apple trees and was looking up at something. Twilight gave her an odd look as she walked over to Applejack’s side and tilted her head towards the farm pony, “Erm… Applejack?” Applejack raised her hoof towards the tree-house and Twilight followed the gaze of the shocked earth pony before her own eyes widened. The tree-house was in pristine shape, even the apples above it being of normal size. Rainbow Dash flew up to the window a moment later before turning her head quickly towards the other two, “They‘re here! And they‘re okay!” The door to the clubhouse opened a few moments later and Scootaloo rushed out, tackling Rainbow Dash off the balcony and she fell on her back, the little filly nuzzling her happily and Sweetie Belle stood at the balcony as well smiling to them all, “We‘ve been waiting for you guys!” Applebloom leaped off the balcony, running over to Applejack and looked up at her for a moment before nuzzling her warmly, the farm pony embracing her with a hoof as Sweetie Belle trotted down the ramp from the clubhouse and smiled at Twilight who seemed utterly shocked to see them, “How did… how are… Huh!?” Applebloom giggled as she looked to Twilight and her embrace with Applejack ended, the farm filly looking to each of them whilst Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash joined them, “Come on inside the clubhouse and we‘ll explain everythin‘ to ya.” Neither of the three mares could argue and soon the six ponies were inside the clubhouse, the ground floor just big enough to hold them all. Applejack laid to Twilight’s left while Rainbow laid to her right. Applebloom laid opposite Twilight, Sweetie Belle laid opposite Applejack and Scootaloo laid opposite Rainbow Dash. Twilight let out a slow breathe before smiling lightly towards Applebloom, with a quizzical expression on her face, “Okay girls… why is the tree-house so… normal?” Applebloom spoke up, a bright smile on her face, “Well… when all of that chaos stuff started happenin‘ we found mister Discord on his throne and talked to him asking him the same question. Since we… uhh…” Applebloom looked down with a bit of an embarrassed blush on her face, Sweetie Belled continuing where she left off, “Back in the gardens at the castle the three of us… we got into a big fight in front of the statue of mister Discord and it… made him escape a little faster than he would have.” The three fillies looked down out of embarrassment but Twilight shook her head with an understanding smile, a shocked look on the pegasus and earth pony at her sides, “Girls it‘s not your fault. Even if you did speed up his release a little he still would have escaped eventually. So what did he tell you when you talked to him?” Scootaloo spoke up next, looking across to Twilight as the other two fillies had brought their heads back up as well with grateful smiles on their faces at Twilight’s understanding, “He said that since we helped him escape faster that he would leave us alone as long as we didn‘t bother him. The tree-house was something we asked for and he gave it to us.” Twilight Sparkle gave a contented nod as did Rainbow Dash and Applejack before the farm pony spoke up in response, “So I guess ya‘ll know why we‘re here then? Ya‘ll seemed pretty certain we would show up here.” Applebloom nodded to her as she stood up and trotted over to the side, bringing each of them an apple to eat, “Mister Dreams told us when he came back here looking for the clue himself. And we guessed that ya‘ll would be lookin‘ for the quill as well and would be comin‘ here too.” Applebloom gave a bit of a sigh before smiling gratefully, “And we‘re all really happy ya did show up… we didn’t know the first place to start lookin‘ for ya.” Applebloom brings a hoof to her chin before smiling lightly, “We might‘ve even tried followin‘ those clues ourselves to try and find mister Dreams if ya‘ll didn‘t show up!” Twilight gave a bit of a giggle as she imagined the crusaders going through what they had already done, “Something tells me you‘d probably succeed in the end. Oh!” Twilight smiled brightly, her front hooves clopping together as she raised her head more, “Applejack mentioned that you took Written Dreams here after he had come to the barn to have Applejack prepare him with food for his journey. What did you need him for?” The three fillies paused for a moment as they looked at each other for a few moments before they all nodded in unison and stood up yelling in perfect unison, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER STORYTELLERS YAY!!” “Come on mister Dreams! We‘ll get there soon if ya run faster!” Written Dreams let out a laugh as he ran after the filly, catching up to her and ran by her side as they ran through the orchard, “Okay, I‘ve caught up with you. Now will you please tell me where you‘re taking me?” Applebloom slowed down after a few more moments and smiled up at the pegasus happily before pointing up at the clubhouse in the large tree ahead of them. Written Dreams raised an eyebrow as he looked towards it before he brought a hoof to his chin and smiled brightly before looking back down to the little filly, “I‘m intrigued. So we‘re going inside?” Applebloom gave a happy nod before motioning for him to follow her and she walked up the ramp before pushing the door open, Written Dreams following her up the ramp and he ducked his head slightly before trotting inside with her, “Girls I‘m here! And I brought a friend with me!” Written Dreams looked around carefully as he entered the clubhouse, as if taking in every single detail around him before he looked to the open room in front of him, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sitting on the floor looking over a map of Ponyville. They looked up to Applebloom upon hearing her words before they both stood up and grinned walking over to him and looked up at him as Written Dreams sat down before them, “This here is Written Dreams! Ah found him talkin‘ with mah big sis Applejack at the barn!” “And what might your names be? I‘m quite curious as to why I was brought here…” The three fillies lines up, Applebloom in the center with Sweetie Belle to her right and Scootaloo to the farm filly’s left before they all shouted in unison, each saying their own name, “Ah‘m Applebloom!” “Sweetie Belle!” “And I‘m Scootaloo!” They then spoke in unison, their voices much louder then before, “And we‘re… THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Written Dreams smiled as he watched them, clapping his hooves together as he watched their display, Applebloom walking over to him and smiling up at him after they had finished, “Mister Dreams I was wonderin‘… since ya told mah big sis ya like writin‘ so much that maybe… you could write about us?” Written Dreams paused as he heard her request, looking from Sweetie Belle to Scootaloo before he looked down and stopped in his tracks seeing Applebloom giving him an absolutely adorable, pleading look as she looked up at him. Written Dreams was silent as he looked down at her for a few moments before a warm smile spread across his face, “I believe my heart may have just melted. But if I‘m going to write about you three…” He laid down and smiled towards them, “Tell me a bit about what you all do here. Judging by the name of your group I‘m guessing what you do is try to discover your cutie marks?” Scootaloo stood with a grin, trotting over to him before nodding, “Yeah! We try anything and everything we can think of in order to find out what our cutie marks might be!” Written Dreams nodded as he saw Sweetie Belle had also moved close and smiled seeing the three fillies only around a foot and a half from him looking up at him with bright smiles, “That seems like it could make for an excellent read girls.” He turned his head, reaching into his bag before he withdrew a roll of parchment and a quill and ink, “Let‘s start off by listing off everything you girls have tried. And please don‘t leave out any details.” The girls took several hours telling Written Dreams about their adventures in attempting to obtain their cutie marks, the pegasus writing quickly with the quill in his hoof as he listened to them, his ears twitching on occasion and a warm smile on his face throughout the entire retelling of their crusades. After nearly five hours the girls seemed to have worn themselves out, putting real emotion into their retellings with various quick body movements and acting. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had fallen asleep and Written Dreams had draped a wing over each of them as they were at his sides and he looked across to Applebloom as he set down his quill, “I‘m sure you have a lot more stories to tell about your adventures but the girls seem to have drifted off Applebloom…” Applebloom gave a light smile as she was standing a few feet away from him and giggled lightly, “I knew they‘d think you were great mister Dreams… but we spent so much time talkin‘ about ourselves that you never got any time tellin‘ us anythin‘ about yourself.” Written Dreams smiled softly towards her and he watched as Applebloom laid down in front of him, looking up at the pegasus with her big adorable eyes, “Well I‘m on my own quest, for a mythical artifact known as the Quill of Eternity. I‘m going to be following a big string of clues that I‘m sure are going to be bringing me all over Equestria. I‘ve actually just come from the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters far in the Everfree Forest.” Applebloom’s ears perked as the pegasus spoke of the forest and she spoke softly, “Miss Zecora lives there. And mah sis Applejack told me about when she an‘ her friends went there ta‘ fight Nightmare Moon.” Written Dreams paused for a moment as she said the name of the Mare in the Moon but he then smiled softly down towards her, “Sounds like it would be an interesting story to hear. As I arrived there I soon found the first clue in my own search for the quill although… it might take some research to find out what it means.” Applebloom tilted her head with a curious look as she stared up at the pegasus, taking in his every word, “What did it say, mister Dreams?” “Well… it said ‘The Sunny Ruby’ although I‘m rather baffled as to what it might mean.” Applebloom paused for a moment as she brought a hoof to her chin while looking down to the floor, “Sunny… Ruby…” She seemed to pause for a moment, “Ruby… Sunny… Sunny Town?” Applebloom’s expression darkened immediately and she looked up at Written Dreams with a look of dread, “Mister Dreams… I know what the clue meant…” Written Dreams gave her a rather unnerved look, seeing her happy demeanor turning so gloomy in an instant, “Could you tell me about Sunny Town?” Applebloom let out a slow sigh as she looked up at Written Dreams, “A little ways after you enter the Everfree forest there‘s a really overgrown path off to your left… at the end of the path is Sunny Town… it‘s… a cursed town at night… all of the ponies… they turn dead and start walking around like zombies… but that only happened after I went into this house really far north of the town…” Applebloom paused, her expression turning to one of utter terror as she fell silent. Written Dreams stared at her for only a moment before reaching out and embraced her tightly against his blue coat, “It‘s alright Applebloom… whatever you saw in that house… it‘s all the way back in that forest.” Applebloom clung tightly to him for a good seven minutes before she slowly let out a sigh and moved away around a foot before laying back down, “I know… I hope to never go back there…” Written Dreams tilted his head a little as he looked across to her, “So everything was safe till you entered that house?” Applebloom slowly nodded towards him, “Okay. I‘ll keep that in mind while I‘m there then. Is there anything else you feel you should let me know?” Applebloom thought for a moment before she slowly shook her head and smiled gently, “There was a pony… she had a deep red mane and a grey coat… she seemed really sad. Like she was really regretful about whatever the ponies there did to get cursed.” Written Dreams nodded silently as he took in everything that Applebloom said, reaching out and patting her head with a gentle smile, “Alright then. I‘ll see what I can do to find out more about her and perhaps a bit more about the town itself. I should probably head out there now so I can find the clue and get out before anything bad happens.” Written Dreams smiled softly as he brought his hoof around Applebloom, embracing her closely as he closed his eyes, “Thanks Applebloom, you might have just saved my life.” The pegasus stood after another few minutes and said his goodbyes to Applebloom, telling her to say goodbye to the other two fillies after they had woken up for him before he walked out the door of the clubhouse and took off into the sky flying towards the Everfree Forest. “An‘ that‘s everythin‘ that happened when he got here the first time.” Applebloom said as she smiled towards the three mares. Applejack narrowed her eyes a little as she looked towards Applebloom, “Applebloom… ya never told me about headin‘ into Sunny Town.” Applebloom let out a sigh as she looked down for a moment before looking back up to Applejack, “Sorry fer not tellin‘ anypony about it but…” She hanged her head, “I didn‘t tell anypony else ‘cept for mister Dreams. I woulda told ya too if I knew ya were gonna head in there too…” Rainbow Dash looked over to Applejack and tilted her head a little, “Hey AJ give her a break. What if you were still a filly and saw everything that she saw? That would be… really traumatic!” Applejack nodded slowly and embraced her little sister with a smile, “I can‘t say ah‘m mad at ya for not tellin‘ yer big sis… it really must‘ve been scary for ya.” Twilight smiled softly as she looked across to the three fillies, “Girls do you know where the clue is? If Written Dreams came back to find it then I‘m sure you must have seen him find it.” Scootaloo stood with a smile and walked over to a chest over to the side with three locks on it, “We actually put it in here after mister Dreams dug it up with us last time he was here.” The crusaders all stood and each walked over to the chest before facing away from it and they all gave a simultaneous buck, all three locks clicked open at once and the lid opened, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack walking over to the chest and they peered inside. The tablet fit flat inside of the chest and depicted on it were many dragons all flying together across the tablet, a few breathing flames down towards the ground and far off to the right was a large crater, a few dragons perched around the rim whilst one or two were depicted inside along with an arrow pointing to the inside of the crater. Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked at each other before the unicorn turned her head looking at Applejack, “I don‘t know where this could be…” “Ah-hem.” The three mares blinked as they heard the crusaders clearing their throats in unison and turned around seeing Applebloom holding out a book in her mouth. Twilight’s horn was engulfed in a billowing aura as the book floated over to the three of them, “Mister Dreams gave us that book after he looked at the clue and told us he got it from the castle when he was in Canterlot.” Twilight tilted her head as they heard Applebloom’s words and the book opened, the pages turning with her magic before she nodded, the picture on one of the pages nearly identical to the tablet’s picture, “It says that this is the landing point for all dragons on their migration path… Hopefully there won‘t be any there… Let‘s see… Although next to nothing is known about dragons… their migration path…” Twilight eventually fell silent as her eyes slid from side to side before her eye twitched, “That‘s… really far. Girls… would you mind telling us about the second time you met Written Dreams before we leave? Seems like this clue could take several days for us to reach it.” Applebloom smiled softly towards them before she nodded, “Course Twilight… but ya‘ll think you could spend the night here with us at least? Ya really look tired…” Rainbow Dash chuckled as she looked around, the pegasus standing next to one of the windows, “I‘m okay with that… I mean, if you three have a deal with Discord to leave this place alone I can‘t really think of any safer place.” Applejack simply nodded and Twilight looked towards the three fillies as she smiled warmly, “Okay then, we‘ll stay the night here with you. It‘ll be nice to get a good night‘s sleep for once…”