Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter XCIII

The question that was being asked to the unicorn wasn’t one where she particular had thought about often in the gears of time. For it literally came out of nowhere and she initially didn’t knew how to actually reply upon it. Sure she could have just shunned it off and pretended that it never had happened. Yet the more she looked into his eyes, the more there was this mysterious pull towards them. The mare almost had gotten lost within his eyes as she shook her head a couple of times.

Once more were the beliefs questioned and she had to pick a side. Things never could have done easy and that happened to be once more proof upon the fact. A deep sigh was given off by the unicorn before she shook her head. Her wet strands of hair moved in thick clusters from side to side as she began to just wander over the deck in silence.

“I understand it isn’t a question that you get every single day, so I give you the time to think about it, lass,” the old stallion spoke before his attention was turned to the skies. Something high up there had captured his attention as he seemed to actually be missing something. One of his eyebrows rose up before the lips curled up into a smile. “Here it comes.”

Twilight turned her attention back to him with another gaze of utter confusion. “W-What? Here comes, what? You mean my answer upon your question?” she questioned to him with a face that spoke of utter confusion. Not much seemed to continue to make sense within the mind of the unicorn. It almost seemed as if everything came just crashing down upon her like that.

As much as she wanted to argue with the stallion of old, there really wasn’t the place nor the time to do such a thing. She held a great respect for the old sailor who they basically granted his final voyage upon the ocean. That little fact alone was one that captured her attention more than any.

Yet Twilight shook it off as she realized the same thing. Among the silence she too noticed that something had gone missing. She had lost the track of time itself and that was perhaps for the better as the drizzle had stopped falling down. The fine rain that had plagued them during the first couple of minutes –or possible hours– of their conversation had moved along with the rest of the storm.

Though Twilight still didn’t knew what else could have been coming. So many ideas went through her mind, but she remained silent as the ocean. Perhaps the stallion was just suffering from sleep deprivation? After all that had happened, it was a possible candidate for it. Though at the other end he seemed to have been perfectly capable in doing his things again.

Her eyes watched over the clouds that covered the night skies while she remained standing upon her spot. It were the eyes that were granted all the time in the world to witness whatever would be coming. Unless it indeed was the answer upon the question that came.

The matter was just so confusing to her for the moment. She didn’t had a single clue about where she had to look or what she had to do. The old sailor chuckled up softly before he gently shook his head. “You have much to learn, young soothsayer. The beauties of the world are out there, for those that have the patience to witness them,” he said to her with a calm smile.

Once again seemed Twilight to have been struck by something that couldn’t have been truly explained. She wanted to reply to his words, but didn’t found the appropriate words for the matter. She opened her mouth for just a little moment in order to say something, but all that got out of it was just a small gasp for air.

The mouth was then just closed again like that, then she shook her head. She didn’t had the mental strength to argue with the stallion at that hour in the night. She felt that she had become tired. Tired enough to fall asleep at any given moment. But the old sailor had perhaps one or two more surprises for her in store.

One of his arms pointed upwards to the skies and just stayed there. The unicorn followed the arm and watched to whatever could be seen. Her eyes went wide and she felt as if she could hit herself right in the head in the moment. How could she have missed something that was from the scale that she saw?

It was high above her that the clouds were breaking. Just breaking into tiny little plucks as the storm continued to travel along. Though behind those very clouds it could be seen. The massive object that was often associated with the tides of the ocean and somepony perhaps a little bit special to Twilight herself.

And behind the clouds it became visible again for them all to see. The massive rock high in the skies revealed itself once more to the unicorn. The moon itself became visible and provided enough light for the two of them. It even managed to cast a shadow upon the deck.

Two shadows that belonged to their living masters, locked in both time and space until they were allowed to move. But they could only move as their masters allowed so. Locked in a life of mimicking, shadows could only do as their master commanded them to do.

Just the sheer sight of the massive moon over the water from the ocean were a beautiful sight given to Twilight and the old sailor. Perhaps that was the reason of why he wanted to sail out one more time? The sheer size of the moon was unique for the time of year and only witnessed by very few actually.

Somehow did most of the ships always seemed to be missing the giant moon in the skies at certain times of year. Most likely they wouldn’t have noticed it because of the fact that they were sailing under clouded skies.

That storm that tormented them would have been the direct reaction of the world upon the moon’s massive size. Nature and magic worked hand in hand, but the anthronies didn’t have any control over it at all. A thought that was both fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

Yet the matter still was unresolved. Twilight still hadn’t answered the question that was asked by the old stallion. And she wasn’t a hair wiser about his words. It was a lose-lose.

The unicorn turned her attention back from the moon and closed her eyes for a moment. She wanted to bathe within the light of the massive rock in the orbit of space for just a moment longer. A deep exhale was then released through her nostrils as the eyes opened up again.

Once more was she allowed the wonderful sight of the moon but gently turned her attention over to the old sailor. He still stood against the mast but quickly removed himself off of it. The shadow that he carried danced along with him as he looked once again to the unicorn. The mare smiled back to him for the moment.

Until her eyes were caught by something. Something that moved behind the stallion. Something that was behind the stallion moved and it wasn’t his, hers or any other being’s doing. None of the other mares were awake in the hour that they were and that only left Twilight and the old stallion. The unicorn turned as pale as snow for a couple of seconds before she just shook her head vividly. She must have seen it wrong, right?

But she couldn’t have seen it wrong. She knew what she saw in the moment and her eyes scanned off the entire deck. There was something within the corner of her eye that moved. Something that she could have best described as a black shadow. A black shadow that darted over the deck of the vessel in the light of the moon.

“Black shadow, black shadow,” the soothsayer repeated to herself a couple of times.

Even though her tones were low, the old stallion could still hear the very words that she spoke to herself. An eyebrow was raised up by him once more as he gained the curiosity to know the finer details about it all. Yet the guts to just plainly ask her what she saw wasn’t there. That, or he didn’t wanted to know what she saw.

“Black shadow, black shadow,” the unicorn continued to repeat just before she snipped her fingers a couple of times. But her attention always laid focused too high. The unicorn looked to things that were at her eye level. She had to look down, down towards the wooden floor that was the deck. A mysterious voice inside of her head actually whispered that to her.

She didn’t even knew that the voice was there and thought to have automatically glanced downwards. Only to see something that she had never expected. For the shadow of the old stallion had literally changed. It had changed into that of a being that was thought to have been long dead. A being that once claimed to be power, but didn't succeed in beating the gears of time.

The worst of it all? Twilight knew the name of the being that she saw within the shadows.

“Starswirl the Bearded?” she asked almost with a terrifying whisper in her voice. If the old sailor happened to be Starswirl, everything that they knew could be changed forever. The most powerful unicorn in the time of the equine Equestrians had survived the gears of time and had forged a new body for himself. That was the way it seemed at least.

The eyes of the unicorn shifted back over to the earth anthrony body of the sailor who calmly removed himself from the railing. “I don’t think that the answer upon my question shall be given today, lass, seeing how you’re so shocked right now,” he said to her with a gentle smile. Without a further word he placed his hands behind his back and nodded gently to her. Only to then proceed upon the route towards his cabin.

The old stallion had managed to baffle the unicorn more than she had been during the whole of the trip. Words tried to make their way out of the mouth she had, but there wasn’t anything useful that came out.

Only once he had opened the door of his cabin did the mare realize how small her window of time had become. “Wait!” she almost yelled towards him. Yet halfway through the word she realized that the rest of the mares were still asleep.

“Hm?” was released by the old sailor as he turned back around. “You’re able to my question, lass?” he asked to her with a curious expression within his eyes. He perked his ears when he became curious to what she had to tell him.

“You’re, you’re Starswirl the Bearded, aren’t you? Ancient old unicorn thought to have been just fiction, right? Y-Your shadow showed me, a, a unicorn with a beard,” she spilled to him.

“Lots of anthronies have a beard and a horn, that doesn’t make me him in any way,” the stallion replied almost coldly. If Twilight didn’t know any better, it would have seemed to her that he tried to avoid the subject matter.

So there most likely would have been only one shot at trying to get him to cooperate with her. And that was to answer the question that he had asked her. “To, answer your question, I do believe in reincarnation, yes. Some friendships and bonds exceed death and always seem to return in one form or the other. Perhaps our view on the subject of reincarnation are different, but I do believe in my version of it. So answer me, are you Starswirl the Bearded?”

The words of the unicorn were demanding. She needed the answers upon the matter more than anything in the moment. That was perhaps the greatest strength that the unicorn carried within her. The ability of wanting to know the answers upon the questions she had by almost any means possible.

The old stallion released a gentle sigh through his nostrils before he closed the door again. The unicorn was glad that he hadn’t stepped through it. For it meant to her that they could be talking to one another for a little bit longer. “Our views upon reincarnation are indeed different, but they do come down upon the same fact, I give you that lass,” he spoke to Twilight in a calm tone. His eyes were focused once more upon Twilight as he gave her a gentle smile.

"The answer upon your question though,” he started before he pointed to the mare. It almost felt as if he wanted to make sure that she would have understood what followed next. “Is something that may have to be hidden from the world. Time stops for nopony and always ticks. Who knows, perhaps I indeed am Starswirl the Bearded, but who isn’t to say that you’re his daughter, reincarnated?”

In essence was the answer upon the question asked by Twilight was just a massive ‘maybe’ on the whole matter. There wasn’t any clear indication about what it was and what it wasn’t. Twilight wanted to continue asking what it was, but she didn’t had the right questions anymore. She had asked the most direct question that there was in her books and he just answered it with a maybe.

The only thing that the mare could have done in the moment was to throw the towel in the ring. She had to give up on the matter and accept her defeat. She had lost the battle of knowledge but she hadn’t lost the war. “Then,” she began with some difficulty within her voice, “I bid you a good night, good sir.”

“The same can be said for you, lass. Have some good night rest and think about home, for you’ll be seeing that soon enough again,” the old stallion said to her before he opened the door to his cabin again. He then just walked through it and closed the door again, allowing Twilight to remain standing there for a moment longer.

“Yeah, home,” she whispered to herself before she turned her attention away from the door. Her eyes rolled over to the doorway that would have brought her below decks and made the decision to get some much needed sleep in her hammock. Who knew, perhaps it was her who was suffering from the effects of sleep deprivation?

The mare walked down the stairs with a quiet set of hooves before she stood again upon the floor. Once more there were quiet steps made as she didn’t wanted to wake anypony up. Though the heavy hooves upon the wood always seemed to be having a massive problem.

But by luck or skill had Twilight managed to walk her way over to her own hammock and hoisted herself into it. The mare closed her eyes while her hands were placed down upon her chest. The legs were crossed over each other and she began to breath calmly. Naturally there were all sorts of thoughts going through her mind. Thoughts that she even thought about for some time.

In the end of everything had the unicorn enough of everything and she would have fallen asleep. How long she would have been travelling away was a fact that couldn’t be said beforehand. She could have slept for about an hour, but also for half a day, she didn’t even wanted to know it.

A massive yawn was released by the unicorn before she finally felt to drift away. The thoughts became less and less as the mare sunk deeper into the realm of dreams. There would give herself the time to remember the words of the stallion properly. As well as trying to identify exactly who he possibly happened to be.

The eyelids of the unicorn began to tremble gently as the golden reddish rays of the sunlight once more made contact with her skin. A deep groan was given off by the mare as she turned around in her hammock. There was one little problem, she slept in a hammock. And with the amounts of turning and twisting that she did, it would have been a matter of time before she forcefully removed herself out of it.

And she woke herself by giving a knock to the floor. Another groan was given off by the unicorn as she had met the hard, wooden floor of the deck. The unicorn hoisted herself up after all of the thoughts and all the dreams had just vanished. Most likely they would have been stored somewhere within her mind, but not on a place where she could have easily reached it.

The hands rubbed all over the face while she noticed that her clothing was in fact dry, which meant she had been asleep for quite the couple of hours. Though how many hours she didn’t know in the moment. The body of the mare rose itself up as one hand continued to rub over it. The eyes were closed numerous times as the rheum was taken ever so carefully out of them.

There was a sheer collection of that that usually didn’t happen to be there in any normal circumstances. Then again, what had been normal about everything to begin with? The mare made some rather uncomfortable sounding noises as she tried to clean herself up to the best of her abilities in the hope that it all could have been forgiven by herself.

The longer she seemed to be working on her own appearance, the more she realized the fact that the remaining four hammocks were emptied as well. “What time is it?” the unicorn asked to herself as she walked over to the stairs leading to the top deck. Though she did happen to make the deadly mistake of looking straight into the outside world.

Her eyes were still used to the darkness of the space she was in and the overload of light was something that caused both of her eyes to be shut straight away. Not to mention the instant headache that she gained from it as well. Another grumble of anger was released by her as she shook her head from side to side.

Everything wouldn’t really be working together from the moment she woke up. It was just going to be one of those days again. The unicorn rubbed through her eyes once more as she heard the voices of the other mares upon the deck.

The calming winds indicated that they were sailing again at a moderate rate, she needed information though. Information about everything and only the mares could have provided that, or the old stallion. In the matter she trusted the mares with whom she had travelled just a little bit more than the old sailor.

The unicorn sat down upon the stairs for a little minute while she every so often stared to the skies above. To her knowledge must it have been somewhere along the lines of noon. The sun shone its light almost straight on the ship. There also wasn’t a cloud to be seen upon the skies and that pleased the soothsayer. For it meant that they had left the storm far behind them and it would have been a literal smooth sailing.

The unicorn thought that she had sat down long enough for the headache to have vanished from her head. So the only thing that she could have done was to just make her appearance upon the deck of the vessel. It was her time to tell the world that she was still there as well.

The mare wandered up to the stairs once more and appeared on the top deck with a little bit less than actual fresh expression upon her face. The lack of a good splash of water in her face had done a terrible job to her actually. Nonetheless could she still see everything fine and she felt awake.

“Ah, look who we have there!” the voice of the old stallion spoke. Twilight’s attention turned over to him with a gentle smile before she made a gentle nod with her head. The nod was returned by the captain as he adjusted the helm once more.

“About time I got out of the hammock, didn’t I? Tell me, how long have I been sleeping, if I may ask?” she asked to him as straight as she could. As much as Twilight wanted to ask any of the other mares, he seemed to have been her best choice in the moment. For even though she heard the other mares, she couldn’t actually see them.

Her question was something that caused the stallion to actually frown a little bit upon. He had to think about the fact of how long she had slept. That alone couldn’t have been a good thing at all. The unicorn already began to fear for her dear life as she hoped that he would say half a day.

But the reply that she would have gotten out of him blasted everything straight out of the window. “I would say about a day and a half, lass. But don’t you worry about it. Your friends need you more then you need me in the moment. Over at the bow, we’re close enough to see it,” he said to her before he pointed to the bow of the vessel.

The unicorn made a gentle bow to him before she turned around to go over to the bow of the vessel. Twilight had a thousand and one thoughts going through her head as she finally saw the remaining four members of the company standing there.

All of them –including Pinkie Pie– were looking at something. Something that was blocked by one of the sails for Twilight’s very own. So in silence she continued on with her path and walked underneath the sail. Then it became known to her just to what they were all looking. The feelings of Twilight rushed through her like mad as she couldn’t believe the sights that she saw.

Within the cloudless skies it could clearly be seen. Still a little bit away in the distance, but it was there. The soothsayer couldn’t believe it herself though. She brought a hand to her mouth as only the tips of her ring, middle, and index finger were placed upon her lips.

Yet that sudden gasp for air that was given behind them caused the rest of the mares to turn themselves around to face Twilight. All of them were of course happy that she still could be found within the realm of the living. Though the time to give her a warm welcome wasn’t really there. They all had something else to look forward to.

Far off in the distance it could be seen, the home of the soothsayers and perhaps one of the most amazing looking buildings in the whole of the land. The castle of Canterlot stood there with unlimited pride and majestic upon the top of the mountain, as it had been standing upon for so long already. Twilight couldn’t help herself as she wiped away a small little tear.

The unicorn had left the place so long ago but then she could almost smell it again. The unicorn soothsayer was almost back home again. She could almost say that she had done what needed to be done. That was a massive relief that came off of her shoulders. She was close to just dropping by at her home that the emotions were literally going through the roof.

And everypony else almost appeared to share that same thought. They were almost ready to make their own departures from the company and leave the adventure behind them for what it was. To let it wait for it to become a great tale that they could tell at an age of old. At least that was the plan for Twilight, though said plan was doomed to fail from the get go. For both of her parents as well as her brother naturally wanted to know the finer details.

Though it didn’t matter to her in the moment. In the moment had she only eyes for the castle on top of the mountain. The unicorn was almost back, almost back to what could have been considered her comfort zone. One of the few places within the realm of existence where she felt that she actually belonged. To her, there was no better place.

The little vessel maneuvered its way through the massive vessels of both merchant and the very navy itself. Even though there was no scheduled arriving date for the little ship, there wasn’t anything from the navy itself that came to investigate. Just the sheer size of the vessel also helped out with that. Or lack thereof.

Not to mention the fact that if it wanted to do harm, it wouldn’t have been sailing that casually into the port of Canterlot. So everything seemed to have been normal for it to pass through the first security checks. That didn’t mean that whenever it would do something harmful, there wouldn’t have been severe consequences for the crew.

All of the sailors were still oblivious to the fact that admiral Applejack herself was actually sailing aboard the vessel. But the admiral didn’t minded it too much actually. She loved to just sail in for once without being recognized by any and all. The rest of the mares were just happy about the fact that they could be sailing in without too much of a problem heading their way.

~~~~

Eventually had the little ship found a place where it could dock and did so with both great precision and accuracy. Twilight used her magic to tie the ropes that would secure the vessel to the dock and Applejack was then the one who lowered the boarding ramp. With her being the first one to walk down from it as well.

The earth anthrony gestured to them all to remain onboard as they had entered the port illegally and unannounced. Which meant that the mare had to set a couple of things straight with the customs. Another interesting fact could have been that she never actually took off from the boarding ramp. Instead she just remained standing upon it with her hands behind her back.

All of her weapons had been taken off and they were safely stored in the void storage for the moment. Though there was no mistake that it was the actual admiral Applejack. Not too many anthronies carried a leg like she did. It wasn’t all that much later that two officers and a rather stern looking anthrony all came into their direction. The glasses on the official looking anthrony were set right as the questioning could begin. Everything went with the normal procedures to make sure they would legally be able to set a hoof in Canterlot harbor.

But the waiting was the part that killed it for most of them, especially for Pinkie Pie. The lamia needed to move, slither around like the creature that she was. Only problem happened to be that she couldn’t. To the customs clerk was she an animal that they were trying to bring into port. To which Applejack would rectify that costly mistake from his department.

In order to take the attention away from the fighting anthronies did Twilight point to the castle at the top of the mountain. “There Pinkie, that’s where you’re going to live as well, together with me and a couple dozen other anthronies that you might like.”

Pinkie’s attention was indeed then turned away from both the admiral and the clerk. But when she turned into the direction of the castle, there was a new feeling that came to her. A feeling that made it seem as if she couldn’t believe the words that were said by Twilight. Of course had she seen the castle already at sea, but that time she looked at it from the harbor’s point of view and it only made it look even more interesting, as well as intimidating.

For the lamia almost turned into actual stone as she looked upon her new ‘home.’ She couldn’t have believed it that that was going to be the place where she would continue to live her life in. There was a natural enjoyment that came from deep within the soul of the lamia, as well as another question. A question that she wanted to have answered before anything else would have happened.

“W-Why Twilight? Why do you, take me into your home?” Pinkie asked, baffled as she was.

The question had been asked a couple of dozen times before during the trip already and the answer would always have been the same. Except that that time Twilight gave a little bit more context to her words. The time had fallen upon her that she finally would have revealed the possible true reasons of why she would take Pinkie Pie in with her.

Yet the words wouldn’t have been too easy for her to say. “It’s, how do I put it simple,” the soothsayer mumbled to herself before she placed her focus upon Pinkie Pie. “It’s that, well, since you can’t go back into the surface of the earth anymore and also have gotten used to our world, I think it would actually be for the better.”

Pinkie wanted to interrupt the soothsayer who then silently shushed her. The story and the reasoning behind everything still wasn’t done. “I’m not going to keep you as some kind of pet or experiment, I’m not that cruel. No, you shall live your life as you see fit and, if you like and want to, may actually choose a location of your own to stay once the time is there. Once anthronies won’t think too differently from lamia’s anymore and accepted their existence.”

“So…” Pinkie started while tried to fit all of the puzzle pieces together as they were. “You’re going to, protect me?”

The similarities were of course naturally drawn from the experiences that they had within the caverns. And Twilight could only have nodded a massive yes to those words. “After how you have protected all of us in the caverns, it is the least I can do back for you. But if you want to go back underground, don’t you ever hesitate to say so. I’m not going to keep you against your will.”

“And risk becoming chum again? Uhh, no thanks, Twilight,” added Pinkie quick.

The soothsayer understood the direction that the lamia came from and wanted to speak up again, but she was cut off. The metalized thumping upon the wood of Applejack’s iron hoof caught all of their attention. They could only have hoped that the admiral had some good news for them all. They were so close to getting to shore and just wanted to take it with both hands in order to get on the mainland again.

The hopes were set high while the preparations for disappointment were made by each of them in silence. Nothing had come easy to them so far, why would it change within that moment?