CHAPTER 3
THE MISTAKE OF FAILURE
//alternate equestria\\
In Starswirl`s library, Twilight and Rainbow had found a blue oval-shaped portal. Of course, Rainbow wanted to go through it and find tons of monsters to beat up, but to no avail. They ended up in the same run down open pillar room as Pinkie pie and Fluttershy. Who, at the time had investigated the strange pony, Sombra:
"What?! Its- Sombra!" Pinkie pie squealed, which startled Fluttershy.
"Ugh... We should go now-"Fluttershy was stopped when the soft grey unicorn began to get up, mumbling some words under his breath.
As soon as he looked up, a frown covered his face.
"What?! How are you...".
"Oh, us? Were trying to find that piece of mirror from the portal because it is lost, and -huff- fluttershy here found a pretty swirling picture which brought us here!" Pinkie pie widely smiled.
"Ugh..." Sombra sighed.
" You should leave, NOW" he grimaced and looked away, growling.
"Uh-ugh! Nope! were gonna stay with you until we find that piece of glass!" Pinkie pie saluted in a military manner and shouldered Sombra.
"I swear..." Sombra began to walk away... while Pinkie and Fluttershy followed, the yellow pegasus shivering as they entered the thick treeline of pines and oaks.
Meanwhile about an hour later, the purple alicorn and blue rainbow haired pegasus walked onto the mossy stone.
"Where are we?" Twilight questioned herself aloud.
Rainbow flew into the air to see if she could find anything familiar. She halted, jaw dropping.
"I think I have an idea. Hey you remember, oh I don`t know, helping to save equestria from two evil sisters..." She called down to Twilight.
"Were HERE?!" Twilight flew into the air next to rainbow. "Oh Celestia... help me".
"OK..OK. Were on a quest here... lets do it." Twilight did an attempt to conjure her spell from earlier, but ended up only casting a fizzle of purple sparks.
"Um.. I think that portal may have done a number on my magic"Twilight breathed.
"Great. Just great" Rainbow dash whined. "Were stuck in a fake boring world, with no way to get the mirror and- oh. That creep sombra`s probably lurking around a corner somewhere".
"Rainbow!" Twilight shot her a look.
"What?" The fast flyer smiled. Twilight took to walking on the ground while rainbow dash searched above her, as a seeker, and a bodyguard.
// our equestria \\
"Rarity?" AJ worriedly called out as she checked every stock and store in the shopping district.
"Rarity!!!".
Apple jack rounded a corner and totted down Chrine road for the fifth time.
"Hey, um... miss?" Apple jack walked up to a glass shard dealer, who was currently putting together a mosaic out of amethyst and red stained glass.
"Hmm?" The mare responded without looking up.
"Heh well you may know a mare around here by the name o` Rarity..." Apple jack began.
"Oh yes! my best costumer, this here piece i`m making is actually one of her custom orders!" The mare smiled and did a high pitch giggle.
"A` would`a guessed... You see a`m looking for her at the moment. Have ya seen `er `round here lately?" AJ asked.
"Oh well, surprisingly no!" the shopkeeper responded, now looking a little down.
"Oh! if you see her tell her she can come by any time to pick up her..."the mare brought out a slip of paper.
"um... Right. Her sapphire glass dragon claw and green and teal stained crystal cube."
"A` will if A` see `er. Bye!" Apple jack galloped away, running to a random street to look again for Rarity.
If she wasn`t shopping by NOW, then where could she be? Apple jack looked up and shuddered as she saw the sun begin to set and the moon begin to rise. Shopkeepers began to close up for the day. She didn`t have much longer...
// alternate equestria \\
Stargleam studied the willow she had slept against last night. It was peculiar in a way as, unlike all the other trees, it wasn`t dead or overgrown, just blooming. Nor did it have showing roots, but again, all the others did... Stargleam did a light outline of the tree, and then began to get the tight details of the bark, looking for a symbol... somewhere...
"I mean- this tree! it`s weird!" she thought to herself. "Almost too weird, too alive"...Way too alive for a place identical to the Everfree forest!
She spotted an etching in the bark. Getting closer, she saw it resembled the shape of an eagle, a simplified eagle with a four sided diamond
in the middle, a too much like the alicorn amulet. She levitated it out, accidentally dropping the mirror at the same time.
"Oh!" She levitated the shard to her. She stared at it, lost in thought all of a sudden.
Though while she held up her mirror piece, it gave off a shine, reflecting any light it could find into the sky.
And by any unlucky luck (yeah) Rainbow dash was flying overhead, completely unaware of Stargleam. That is of course, until she caught a glimpse of the reflecting light.
"Thats- HEY!!!" She dove for the light blue unicorn. Stargleam looked up just in time to see a cyan blur speeding towards her.
"Eek!" She quickly dropped her magic on the mirror, though the pegasus didn`t notice this. Stargleam`s magic had shifted, and she closed shut her magenta eyes, preparing for an attack. No attack came, that is though, the item she had her magic wrapped around was suddenly gone. She opened her eyes to see the red glint of a ruby in the currently cheering pegasu`s hoof.
"Oh YEAH!!!" Rainbow dash cheered, as she landed in front of Twilight, who honestly wasn`t far through the woods from Stargleam.
"What now, Rainbow?" Twilight asked as she glanced at the brush around them.
"Oh well, guess what I found!" Rainbow grinned widely.
"Um... I`ll guess you found ANOTHER one of those dumb alive clouds?" Twilight guessed.
"..." Rainbow gave off an awkward frown, which made Twilight laugh.
"No. I found..." She pulled held up an object with her eyes closed.
"Where- how did you get a hold of THAT!!!" Twilight worriedly yelled.
"What? the mirror? some light blue unicorn had it and- oh." Rainbow dash face hoofed herself. In her hoof, was an iron carved eagle amulet, which bore in the middle of it`s chest a red ruby.
The alicorn amulet.
Stargleam stared in suprise. A cyan coated pegasus, which must have had rainbow hair, she thought she saw, had just rudely swooped down from the sky and snatched up the amulet.
"No! Stupid! er!" Stargleam yelled. She just lost her chance to see what was in this fake tree, what wonders were hiding behind.
"I could break it open..."she thought aloud. Wait, no. She couldn`t risk breaking anything inside. She didn`t even know how old this was!
Why would the pony had even wanted her alicorn amulet anyway?
Stargleam shook her head and picked up the piece of mirror, glad it was still safe. Putting it in her saddle bag, she made sure to leave a mark here. She levitated a stick to herself, then let out a sliver of magic, which poured on and into the stick, making it glow a faint blue.
Then, she left, unknowing she was headed for the same castle that the pegasus and her pony friend were headed too...
Pinkie pie had been constantly annoying the evil king. He kept turning and either glaring or biting at her.
So, she`d gotten used to calling him "Mr.Grumpy pants". Fluttershy just trailed behind, head held low, tail tucked between her legs.
A few bunnies and birds either followed or shiveringly rode on her, as they were just as scared of the dark unicorn.
"Err... Just. Stop!" Sombra growled as he looked into the brush... Something was different...
"Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope and nope!" Pinkie pie protested. She pulled a balloon out of thin air and attempted to tie it to Sombra`s tail.
"Huh- ugh no!" he jumped away.
"Aw... well I`ll wear it then!" the pink earth pony happily put the string of the balloon around one of her mane twirls, and seemingly calmed down somehow. They trotted along until a silhouette of a castle appeared before them... Though Sombra didn`t notice, as he was focused on the ground in front of him, staring at his hooves.
Fluttershy began to mutter something but it was drowned out to a small "There`s something up there...". Too low for Pinkie pie OR Sombra to hear.
"Hey! look at that mr. Grumpy pants!" Pinkie called out.
"Cotton candy! er Pinkie pie! PLEASE... just be quiet!" The dark grey stallion stopped in his tracks as he almost bumped into a white figure.
Backing up, he noted it to be of one of his marble statues of a mage soldier pony in hind legged stance.
"Oh dear discord no..." He muttered. Not this place.
Not his castle.
"