There were only a few places in the entire world where star-spiders could survive in the wild. Since most of those places were overseas, The Everfree Forest seemed like the logical place to start the search.
Zecora led Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack, following Steel’s tracks until they got to a rocky trail that couldn’t form hoof prints.
“What now?” asked AJ.
“There is a clearing rather close that a visitor might make his home,” said Zecora.
Rainbow Dash shot out ahead, but AJ grabbed her by the tail. “Whoa there,” she said, her voice muffled. She spat out Rainow’s tail after the pegasus settled down. “We stay together,” said AJ. “’Sides, don’t none of us know where that clearin’ is.”
“Are you ok?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, but the bitter edge in her voice said otherwise. “Let’s just kick this guy’s flank. Sooner we get back the amulet, the sooner we can get back to Fluttershy.”
Apple Jack motioned for Rainbow to get low as they got closer to the clearing. Zecora took the lead and they kep hidden in the underbrush as the trees parted. Out in the moonlight, a camp-fire crackled under a cauldron, cooking vegetable stew. Three tents stood around it. Only one pony was visible; the big earth pony, Steel, sat on his haunches and sipped stew directly from a wooden bowl.
“Is that him?” Twilight whispered.
Zecora nodded.
“Alright, let’s do this,” said Rainbow, and she shot off toward the earth pony.
“Wait!’ said Twilight.
Rainbow crashed into Steel, knocking him into the campfire. Steel yelled as he rolled around in the dirt, smothering the fire that singed his tail and sword-shaped cutie mark.
The mares, Nightshade and Lydia, rushed out of the other tent as Zecora, AJ and Twilight caught up. Seeing Nightshade, Rainbow forgot all about the hurting Steel and charged the other pegasus. Twilight’s force field saved the reckless pony from taking a needle to the neck and the two pegesi slammed into each other rolling in the dirt.
Zecora squared off with Steel and Twilight faced Lydia while AJ galloped over to help Rainbow Dash. Twilight saw that Lydia wasn’t wearing the amulet.
“Where is it?” Twilight asked.
Lydia’s horn flared up and the unicorns prepared to fight, but they stopped as the flap flew open on the third tent, flapping from a breeze that came from inside.
A dark unicorn in a hooded robe strode out onto the camp. Twilight saw how their adversaries’ eyes all darted toward him immediately. The unicorn’s horn glowed red as he used his magic to yank Nightshade away from her two attackers. The mare’s muzzle was split and bloodied from Rainbow’s vicious beating. Rainbow and AJ both tried to charge, but the dark unicorn summoned a wall of fire to block their path.
“Prince Umbra, thank you,” said Nightshade.
Steel growled like a diamond dog as he tackled Zecora. With Twilight distracted, Lydia hit her with a burst of magic. The mare’s magic wasn’t nearly as powerful as Twilight’s, but it hit her square in the barrel and knocked the air out of her.
Rainbow flew over the fire wall and bat her hooves against the male unicorn’s force field. “Get out here and take what’s coming to you!” Rainbow shouted at Nightshade. “I’m going to make you pay for hurting Fluttershy!”
The prince looked down at Nightshade. “I poisoned one of them,” Nightshade explained.
“Is she alive?” asked Umbra.
“You’d better hope she is, or I’m gonna rip your horn off!” said Rainbow.
Twilight’s purple magic knocked both Lydia and Steel to the ground. Everypony could see that Twilight and her friends were going to win. Umbra calmly magicked a glass bottle of pink liquid out from inside his tent. He raised his voice so that everypony could hear. “This is a potion brewed from the Exquisite Magic Flower. This potion will save your friend.”
Steel and Lydia stood up on shaky hooves.
“We want the amulet and horn,” said Twilight. “Give them back!”
Twilight’s force field stopped Lydia and Steel from getting closer to the prince. Umbra sat the bottle in the dirt. “The bottle’s yours if you back off. You could fight me for it, but you’ll risk breaking it.” His voice dropped low. Somehow it reminded Twilight of a wolf, if wolves had speaking voices. Somehow it sounded predatory even when making an offer of truce. She hesitated, considering her chances of winning the fight and escaping with the glass bottle intact. Fluttershy would probably be ok without the potion, but she couldn’t be sure.
Umbra raised a rock over the bottle.
“Alright!” said Twilight. She dropped her force field. Lydia and Steel brushed the dust off of themselves and moved closer to Nightshade and Umbra.
“What in the hay do y’all want with those things?” AJ asked.
“They’re my inheritance,” Umbra said, simply. The prince and his ponies teleported away, leaving the bottle behind.
Zecora opened the bottle, examining the contents closely. “I believe the prince spoke true and this is indeed a healing brew.”
“Rainbow, get it to Fluttershy,” said Twilight.
Rainbow popped the cork back into the bottle and took off. AJ, Zecora and Twilight looked around at the abandoned tents.
“Of traps, we should all beware. They may have left some nasty snares,” said Zecora.
“Everypony, be extra careful,” said Twilight.
The ponies split off with Twilight searching Umbra’s tent. For an alleged prince, his tent was sparsely furnished. Only a bedroll and a chest.
Twilight opened the chest, keeping her force field up in case of traps. Even with the tenseness of the current situation, Twilight felt her heart leap at the sight of her favorite thing: books.
There were only a few, but they were clearly old. Very, very old. From a time when all books were hoof-written and they didn’t stitch the pages into the binding. Twilight flipped through a few, finding fascinating early scientific notes on herbs and potions that she would be sure to look through later, but a book in black was the find of the century, both for their current situation and in general.
She shut the book up in the chest and picked it up with her horn magic. She forced her excitement down so that she could examine the implications of what she’d found. She’d have to mentally prepare herself for the dark secrets she was about to uncover.
Somehow, it never occurred to her that King Sombra might have kept a journal.