//------------------------------// // Adventure to the north // Story: The Fall of Starswirl the Bearded // by Kinogirl //------------------------------// Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro and all characters credited to Lauren Faust and the design team at DHX Studios The party moved as fast as they could manage, but huge swathes of the land had been turned to various things that were hard to walk through. “It would be so much easier to fly.” Lightning Shield grumbled as he struggled through a patch of maple syrup. “If only we could.” Celestia said, attempting to remain positive despite the fact that she was now covered in pudding, cotton candy, chocolate milk, and this latest obstacle, maple syrup. Some of it was on her wings; her flying would be hindered even if they could take off for more than thirty seconds. “Yuck! What would I not give to have a road made of soap again?” Luna observed as she flapped her own wings forlornly. “Or a nice warm bubble bath.” Celestia said. “Oh yes, that would be wonderful.” Luna said with a sigh. Finally they reached road that was made of dirt once more. Now with firmer ground they could move faster. “It’s going to take us forever to catch up with the king this way.” Lightening Shield stated. “Look how long it took us to reach the base of the mountain, and it looks like the polka dots are heading north.” “We can’t fly and I dare not teleport in this.” Celestia said as she looked out across the distance they had to traverse with worry. “We might end up inside a mountain or such with everything out of place.” Luna added. “Princess watch out.” Sombra yelled as he bumped Luna to the side a moment before a pie the size of a house landed where she had been standing. “Thank you Knight Sombra.” Luna said, feeling relief but her heart was still beating fast at the near miss. “It’s kind of funny.” Lightening Shield said as he poked a hoof at the pie. “As random as this magic is, for the last hour everything has been food related.” “It’s lunch time.” Celestia replied. “Starswirl is obviously hungry.” “Good job he’s only hungry.” Sombra said under his breath. “Let’s not think about that at present.” Luna said perturbed. “Quite.” Celestia agreed. “Come, hopefully we can cover several miles before we rest for the night.” “If we have control over when that may be.” Luna said as the sun shot across the sky and vanished before the moon rose bringing the night. “The sun and moon are still our domains Sister.” Celestia said firmly. “Then why are we not controlling them?” Luna demanded. “We can see by moonlight. Trying to take control at this point will only lead to us exhausting ourselves.” Celestia said warily. “Are you sure?” Luna asked. “Yes. We shouldn’t concern ourselves with the trivial; we have to go to the root of the problem. Once we have reasoned with Starswirl then we can put the world back to right.” Celestia explained. “Of course.” Luna agreed. “Your Highnesses, up ahead!” Sombra gasped. There was a thick tangle of vines, spiked with purple thorns that blocked the path ahead. They stretched for miles in either direction; it would take an age to travel around them. “Sister, is that…” Luna began. “The Everfree Forest has broken its bounds.” Celestia finished. “I thought that the balance of harmony kept it at bay.” Luna whispered. “But harmony has been disrupted, chaos rules at present.” Celestia said with the mild annoyance that she had not thought of this sooner. “It’s going to add hours onto our journey time.” Lightening Shield observed. “Not if I can help it!” Luna said firmly with a stomp of her hoof, and lightening flashed overhead. Luna’s horn glowed as she built up the magical potential before sending a bolt of light blue magic into the heart of the vines ahead. There was a hiss and squeal as if the plants were in pain. The vines retreated, leaving a path ahead. “Come.” Luna said, motioning with her head. “Be careful.” Celestia said and followed her sister as she readied her own magic, she didn’t trust the plants. “Commander Lightening Shield, keep to the centre of us. Knight Sombra, would you be so kind as to bring up the rear.” Lightening Shield moved to the centre, although he felt disgruntled that he couldn’t do much to help since he had no magic to wield. Princess Celestia and Knight Sombra readied their magic for defence while Princess Luna opened a path ahead with her magic. They were making good progress, but the thorn forest seemed to go on forever. They’d travelled about half a mile when Luna’s magic suddenly stopped cutting through the vines ahead. In fact they thickened and the vines behind suddenly closed in. Celestia shot a ray of golden magic through the vines that were closing in behind. Sombra shot a beam of magenta magic to the vines ahead, but it was no use, the vines were closing in fast. Lightening Shield took to the air, there wasn’t much room but he got enough leverage to kick at the vines. They reeled back slightly, creating a big enough hole for them to leap through. “Sir Sombra.” He called. Sombra nodded and leapt through the gap. “Clear.” He called. “Your Highnesses.” Lightning Shield said as he pointed to the hole. “Luna.” Celestia said, shooting at a vine creeping across the floor. Luna leapt through the hole, followed closely by Celestia. Lightening Shield made it through just as the vines began to close the gap. “This way.” Sombra called and he blasted another hole through the vines. They moved in this way, unicorn magic, alicorn magic and pegasus mite, creating the pathway they needed until they stumbled out onto a plateau. A big full moon overhead cast silvery shadows on the gulf filled with swirling mist. Across the canyon was a castle, tumble down, covered in moss. “What is that?” Sombra asked, his breath showing on the cold air. “Mother’s castle.” Celestia replied. “It’s where we lived before she became Monarch of Equestria.” “How did it get into that state so soon?” Sombra wondered. “Without an occupant the forest could encroach upon it, causing the castle to become a jumbled ruin in no time at all.” Celestia explained. A howl came from the forest, followed by others. “Timberwolves!” Luna exclaimed in fright. “Come, we must press on. The forest looks normal toward the north. We can find the road again.” Celestia stated. They pressed on, through the Everfree Forest that seemed almost as peaceful as Whitetail Wood compared to the thorns they had to go through earlier. Still it took them hours to find the road again. The sun and moon had changed over several times but now the sun was up and it lit their way along the road north. They’d been travelling for many hours however and it was time for sleep. Lightning Shield scouted ahead for a perfect campsite, one that would put them out of sight of the road, but not too far away. He found a spot and they set up camp. The guards took watch between them, even though Celestia insisted her shield would protect them. Anything but basic magic was failing, so a shield spell might fail and the guards would rather be safe than sorry. They set off once more on what would have been the next morning, but the moon was still up, the sky dark. They began along the road again, making it five miles before they encountered another obstacle. Where the village of Neighbourough should have been there was now Ponydimonium. Every building was floating in some capacity, but the villagers didn’t seem to notice. They were throwing a big street party, held on the back of a giant purple dragon. The dragon was caught in a syrup pit and couldn’t get free. It was thrashing about, but it only made it sink more, and the ponies on its back continued their party. “Help me!” The dragon called, and Princess Celestia recognised her voice. “Sapphire?” She called, and galloped around to the dragon’s head. “Princess Celestia?” Sapphire replied. “I’m stuck. I can’t get out of this, whatever it is, and these ponies, aghh.” She winced as a big earth pony danced on her head. “Are giving me a headache.” “I’ll break this party up!” Lightning Shield announced. “Be careful, you have no idea what these ponies might do.” Celestia warned. “Will do Your Highness.” Lightning said with a salute before he leapt into the air, beating his wings furiously to gain as much height as he could before they inevitably folded once more. He made it onto the upper part of the dragons tail and scaled her back until he reached the partying ponies. “Ok ponies, party’s over.” Lightning called as he jumped up on the table. The ponies ignored him. He charged up to the head of the table where a stallion with a paper crown on his head was sat. “I said the party’s over!” Lightning said firmly as he hit the cup out of the stallion’s hand. “Now all of you get down, or the dragon will eat you like bugs.” The ponies ignored him. He butted the head pony and he tumbled backwards. Lightning continued this until the pony slipped off the side of the big dragon’s body. The stallion opened a big red and white umbrella and drifted down to the ground. “Party’s moved!” The stallion yelled from the ground and all the other ponies leapt off the dragon, floating down on umbrellas. They moved in a single line, following the head pony over to a nearby meadow where they set up tables and chairs and began their party anew. Lightning moved fast to buck all the furniture off the back of the dragon. Then he leapt off himself, his wings holding long enough for him to glide safely to the ground. Now without the ponies on her back, Sapphire was able to drag herself out of the syrup pit. She slumped down when she was clear, taking a moment to catch her breath. The two princesses worked fast to clean all the treacle from the dragon’s purple scales. Once she was clean Sapphire pushed herself to her feet. “Thank you.” She said with a bow. “I didn’t want to hurt the ponies, but they wouldn’t leave me alone.” “We understand Lady Sapphire.” Princess Celestia said as she bowed in return. “Where are you all going?” Sapphire asked. “We are following the chaos trail north in the hope it will lead us to King Starswirl.” Princess Luna explained. “That’s what I was doing too.” Sapphire replied. “Perhaps we could travel together. If you all hop on my back I will get you there faster. I believe we are going to the Crystal Empire.” “We would be ever so grateful.” Celestia said. “Then hop on.” Sapphire said as she lay down on the ground. Helping each other the four ponies scrambled up onto the big dragons back. Once they were safely on her shoulders she began walking forward on all four legs. She began to pick up speed until she was running almost as fast as a pegasus could fly. The miles fell away beneath her claws and within hours the party found themselves on the border of the Crystal Empire. “Where are the northern lights?” Luna gasped. “The crystal ponies must be feeling agitated.” Celestia replied. “They cannot power the Crystal Heart if they’re unhappy.” “Of course.” Luna said sadly. “I think this is the place I should leave you.” Sapphire said. “The crystal ponies are not keen on dragons after that whole business with old Snork up in the Crystalline Mountains. Besides, if he knows I’m here he might take exception.” “We would hate you to be in harm’s way.” Celestia said. “Take care on the road dear friend, hopefully we’ll have this all fixed soon.” “Good luck.” Sapphire wished them before she darted back down the road lest Snork sensed her presence. “Shall we?” Celestia asked and began walking toward the path that led down to the vast plain of the Empire. “We’re just strolling in?” Sombra asked. “We come in the name of peace.” Celestia replied. “Besides, it’s the only safe route into the northern mountains. We either walk through the Crystal Empire or traverse the steps with the risk of falling into hidden ice canyons.” “The Crystal Empire it is then.” Lightning said cheerfully as he began to follow the Sun Princess as she continued on her journey down the mountain. Luna spared a smile for Sombra. “Come my Knight, they cannot deny us passage, and if not, at least we asked.” Luna said before she began following her sister. Sombra paused for a moment, he felt uneasy, but he couldn’t explain why. He sighed and began following the others regardless, for he had vowed to protect his princess.