• Published 20th Feb 2015
  • 3,682 Views, 176 Comments

Journey to the center of Equestria - Rarity Belle



Tremors of the earth itself plague the land of Equestria. Soothsayer Twilight hopes to stop them with some help. Together with five strangers, she must travel to a place where nopony has gone before. They must go to where it all began and stop it.

  • ...
17
 176
 3,682

PreviousChapters Next
Chapter XCV

Pinkie was guided over to the room of Twilight herself. Once she opened the door, the lamia just shot straight into it for whatever reason. It was a rather curious matter that they hadn’t seen a single other being as they walked through the castle. Perhaps they were all busy with other things? The thought stayed until Twilight realized just what time it happened to be. Then it hit her like a wall.

When she walked into her room, she had brought a hand to her forehead and placed it gentle upon her scalp. She realized the time that it was and could literally have been hitting herself in the head with it all. The lessons were still ongoing and the trainings were still happening. They had arrived at perhaps the loneliest hour that the castle ever would have ever been.

The door had been closed behind the unicorn, who let out a sigh of recognition. Twilight then pointed that Pinkie could lay down on the bed if she wanted to. Twilight herself pulled the chair of her desk backwards and took place into it. Another deep exhale was released through her nostrils while Pinkie curled up on herself on the bed. The two of them never seemed to lose one another out of their sights as Twilight just sunk once again in her thoughts.

The lamia wanted to make a comment about it all, but made the decision to not say a word. The last thing that she wanted was for Twilight to have gotten angry at her. Though with Pinkie’s lack of knowledge upon the world above, there was actually one question that stood out to her. One question that caused her to think about something else. The question of just who this mysterious commander in chief happened to be. The question of just whom Shining Armor happened to be.

It was a natural rightful question but she still didn’t wanted to bother the unicorn with it too much. The lamia closed her eyes for a moment as she wanted to get some shut eye for the day. She was used to the darkness of the caverns below and not the lights of the bigger world. Twilight noticed that fact clearly and she charged up her horn a little bit in order to close the curtains that allowed the light to fall in.

Mere seconds afterwards did she caught the peaceful sounds of the lamia asleep within her ears. It caused a gentle smile to have been formed upon her face. Then Twilight would have shaken her head from side to side with a couple of light motions. The unicorn left the chair for what it was and summoned a small arcane scroll. Upon it she wrote that she would be gone for a little while but that Pinkie didn’t had to worry about anything.

The soothsayer only hoped that she would have taken the advice to do such a thing as she discharged her horn completely. The arcane scroll was placed upon a spot where it easily could have been seen by the lamia before she left the room again.

Twilight had to find her own flesh and blood to set everything straight when it came down to the matter of Pinkie Pie. She wanted that the lamia became a full Equestrian citizen with all the rights that naturally came with it. Though such a thing was perhaps a lot easier said than in fact executed. Not to mention the fact that she had to tell her brother pretty much everything from what happened during her journey.

At one end it felt good to her that she finally would have been able to see her brother again, at the other it felt like a massive chore that she needed to fix up. The mare released a gentle exhale through her nostrils as she remained standing before the closed door of her room. The strength that was required to take another step forward just wasn’t there in the moment. The unicorn tried her utmost best to move forwards but she just wasn’t allowed for whatever reason.

For almost a full but ever so slow passing minute did she just remained standing there. The unicorn closed her eyes on multiple occasions when hundreds of thoughts would have crushed upon her mind. All sorts of things were thought about. Not only matters that went together with the travels of the company though.

No, the unicorn was also thinking about how she would continue her life after all of it. How she would have been able to continue teaching the arts of making the ascend to the plains of the goddesses like that. Though all of those worries would have been there for later. She had to focus upon one task at a time. The task that she had to do in that very moment was to find her brother.

So the strength was gathered by the soothsayer to make that first step. To make that first step in order to not just find her brother, but also tell him exactly what he needed to know on the matter. Her eyelids were opened again to reveal a set of eyes that showed a great amount of determination for pretty much everything. She wanted to continue upon the quest she had given to herself. The one little quest before she would fall back into her normal life.

The unicorn had to find her brother, no matter what. The second step had been placed and then followed the third one, the fourth one, the fifth one and so forth. She was on her way to make it to the office of her brother. There wouldn’t have been any turning back, by dinner would the entire castle have known that the mare had returned to them. That fact alone was actually more frightening than having to confront her brother.

The mare came closer to one of the many corners she had to take in order to reach the office of Shining Armor. Though she had sunken too deep into her thoughts to notice the other set of hooves that came from the other side. She stroked her chin a little bit whereas the eyes were only aimed at the floor. The unicorn soothsayer had been stuck in her mind ever since she began.

Closer and closer she came to the corner, up to the point to where Twilight would have literally crashed right into the other being. The eyes were closed by them both when they felt the force of impact and were sent backwards. Whatever had caused them to fall behind like that, it wasn’t something that either of the anthronies seemed to have been liking.

“What for the devil… Look where you’re going next time!” the voice of a stallion filled the air. A voice that was angry about the fact that some other being had straight up crashed into him.

“Ow, my head,” mumbled Twilight to herself before she caught the words in her ears. “I should watch out?! How about yourself?!” Her words were spoken in a mutter that sounded everything but happy or glad about anything. The unicorn rubbed her head a couple more times before she tried her best to stand back up. Out of everything, that event had to happen?

Her eyes opened once more and they looked with a double in their views. She saw everything double but could easily had made out some blue hair and white skin. The stallion on the other end seemed to remain just utterly silent for whatever reason. He too had gotten back up and couldn’t believe what he must have seen.

“What’s the matter? Never seen a soothsayer look like she’s going to travel the land or something?” Her harsh comment was thanks to the fact that everything was still pounding inside of her head and turning around. Twilight needed to have a little bit of time before her vision would have been returned to normal.

“Not one that looked an awful lot like my own sister,” the voice of the stallion spoke in return to her some seconds after she had made her comment.

The voice became clear to the unicorn mare in the moment. She couldn’t have thought about it even if she wanted but that voice just seemed to belong to nopony else then Shining Armor. How big would the odds have been that he crashed right into his little sister? The soothsayer shook her head from side to side and closed her eyes firmly.

She needed to have the focus back in her eyes and that was perhaps the only way that she knew how. The unicorn came back to a standstill and slowly opened up her eyes again. She had to be certain that what she saw was actually there.

First there was a set of hooves covered in armor, two legs covered in armor, a chest covered in armor, but the head was free of it all. And that head was exactly the one she was looking for. The unicorn mare blinked a couple of times to herself as she slowly began to realize that her own brother was standing right in front of her.

Tears of joy sprung in both of their eyes fractions before they opened their arms. Shining remained standing on his spot as the little sister just ran straight for him. Before he knew it had her hands been wrapped around him and he did the same. A massive hug between a brother and a sister was given off as the stallion couldn’t believe what he saw.

"Oh how I’ve missed you, sis!” Shining Armor spoke to her. He couldn’t express the amount of happiness that was going through his body in the moment. Everything seemed to have fallen right upon the places that they needed to be. he had his sister back. Not to mention that she most likely carried some good news with her as well.

Everything was just perfect in his eyes. He stroked a little bit through her hair before the words were whispered in her ear. “Shall we go to my office, to catch up on your tale?” he asked to her in a gentle tone. The last thing he wanted to do in the moment was to just destroy the hug. To him it felt just so good that he finally was able to hold his sister again.

The eyes of the stallion remained closed for the time being while the feelings of relief that surged through him could all have been released just like that. He had been worrying about the unicorn ever since she had left, but then she was finally back again. From the glances that he had made she seemed to have been alright and that caused all of the feelings to just melt away.

Even with everything going on, there still was something that caused him to be truly worried. He felt that there was something lurking within the shadows of the walls. Something that he had never seen before in his life nor had even heard the rumors from. Something was spying on them from deep within the shadows and it wasn’t a good feeling at all.

The peaceful moment that the brother and sister had with one another could have been broken just like that. But the captain of the royal guard wouldn’t have done anything without reason. As much as he hated it, he broke the hug with Twilight who reacted a little bit baffled. She didn’t understood why he did it and before she knew it, she was found behind him.

Confusion struck her even more as the stallion drew his sword. His eyes went from right to left as he watched over the shadows. “Come out, and I promise you that no harm shall be done,” he spoke in a loud and clear tone. Whatever was lurking to them, it better came out.

The eyes of Twilight shrunk even deeper before she seemed to have turned as pale as snow. There was something that didn’t felt right to her in the matter. It was impossible for any of the Dark Witches to have found her already, right? But even if they had discovered her, she would have been able to detect their black magic, right? Nothing seemed to have been certain in the matter as it was and that just terrified Twilight. She was home again, survived everything that was thrown at her, she didn’t dare dreaming that something would have gone wrong there. Though it appeared to be so.

The eyes of the soothsayer went from left to right as well and she charged a spell of her own. If it was indeed a Dark Witch that was spying upon them, Shining’s sword wouldn’t have stood a chance of surviving it all. No, black magic had to be fought with either white or black magic to counter it. Metal would just have become chum for it.

In their ears they heard something crawling, slithering almost. A heavy body seemed to have dropped itself upon the floor and made its way into the light. What was revealed to them was something that caused a true expression of horror upon the face of Shining Armor. Out of everything that he could have expected, he hadn’t prepared for that.

Out of the shadows came a being with whom Twilight was actually fairly well-known with. The unicorn’s eyes went wide as she discharged her spell and quickly made way from behind Shining’s back. Though where her brother had hoped on the fact that she would have just gotten out of the way, the mare stood right in front of him.

“I know what you think, I know what your instincts say, but please listen to me!” Twilight exclaimed before anything stupid would have happened. “I know this creature!” Those words alone were some of the most unexpected ones to have ever been caught in the ears of Shining Armor.

Yet the stallion placed his sword against the ground and allowed her to continue her words. “That’s, that’s Pinkie Pie. A friend of mine who we managed to pick up during our time in the caverns below the land.”

The stallion looked over the eyes of his sister and towards the lamia that just sat there, curled up upon her body and not posing any threat of any kind. At least in the moment. “You, picked her up?” he asked her just to be certain about everything. Twilight nodded and in that moment he knew that there was no chance of change to happen. So he just sheathed his sword again but still demanded some explanation from his sister. He had accepted the fact that she would have to undergo the journey without a question, yet the lamia was something else entirely.

“Long story short, I’m offering her a home as she is being hunted back in the caverns she lived. I’ll tell you everything at your office, it’s a delicate manner,” said Twilight in a quiet tone to her brother. The mare didn’t had the desire to tell him everything in the moment they were in. There simply wasn’t any time to do such a thing for them all. Not in the hallways of the castle at least.

Shining Armor rose one of his eyebrows in response to the words that his sister spoke. To him it seemed to have been complete and utter madness what she said, but he couldn’t talk her way out of it. Only one question remained and Twilight could see it right in his eyes. The question wasn’t even asked before the answer was already given to him. “Yes, she happens to be civilized. Or at least, in her own manner. She isn’t going on a murder spree or anything, anytime soon,” added Twilight in the hope to reassure her brother.

Even though there were some doubts visible within the eyes of the captain of the guard, he still had to take the words of his sister for what they were. He could only have placed his trust in her if she wanted to keep on trusting him. The silence was maintained by the captain before he nodded.

With just that simple gesture of silence was Pinkie invited to walk too, or slither along to the office of the captain of the guards. That of course caused a massive feeling of relief within the lamia, but she knew that she still had to answer to the questions that the two of them were probably having for her.

The three of them wandered through the castle almost at a near leisurely pace. The words were exchanged between both Shining Armor and Twilight herself. They were brother and sister after all and they had the right to know the things that had happened in the meantime. Though the questions seemed to mostly have gotten from the unicorn then from the stallion.

The answer that Twilight would have given him was constantly the fact that he would hear it once they were in his office. The matters that she had to talk about were perhaps a little bit too much on the shocking side of everything and he really had to sit down before she would speak anything about her journey.

Which was something that he could have understood. But he had to tell her everything that had happened within the walls of the castle. Which resulted in him telling basically the brief version. Everything had turned out for good as there were only some slight complications. Outside of those though, there really wasn’t anything else that he could have said to her.

There was of course the fact that the students asked when Twilight have returned to give them a teaching again but that question was one rightfully asked. It caused the unicorn to chuckle softly to herself before she shook her head. Perhaps the suddenness of the journey that she had made wasn’t the smartest of ideas.

Then again, she never would have realized when she would have returned to the castle. If she would have returned at all to begin with. Yet those last couple of words were never spoken by the unicorn. Instead she only thought about them for a little second or two.

Pinkie Pie just slithered behind the two of them in silence. She didn’t had the desire to call any more attention upon herself then she already had done. With her hands behind her back it also seemed like she hadn’t anything planned that could have been seen as some kind of threat for them all. Which meant that the other guards they passed wouldn’t have pried their eyes too much upon the lamia.

Once they were finally in the office of the captain of the guard would Pinkie have closed the door behind her and curled up to form her own seating once more. Twilight and Shining both took place in a pair of chairs as the question was being asked. “I have told you everything that you need to know about the castle. Everything that has happened within its walls have been shared to you. So I ask you, little sister, tell me everything about your journey. Leave no detail out,” he said to her. If he only knew the journey down to every details as they were in reality.

Twilight nodded calmly as she took a deep inhale. It was the time of no return. She could have said all that she wanted in the hope that he would release her from the words, but the stallion was persistent. She knew her brother perhaps better than anypony else outside of her own parents. He wouldn’t have just given up on the matter. He would have known all of the facts about the journey.

So the only thing that Twilight could have done was to tell him exactly what had happened to them as a group. The words were released from the lips of the unicorn as the stallion hung upon them. Silence had taken him over as he placed his arms crossways over the desk while his body leaned in further.

He had perked both of his ears towards her, in order to hear what exactly the unicorn had to tell him. Tales of bravery, cowardness and the unimaginable all left the mouth of the soothsayer. Twilight indeed didn’t leave a single detail out. Even her dreaded possession was not left out of the equation for obvious reasons.

The stallion had just dropped himself back in his chair in the end of it all. He leaned further and further backwards. The eyes were standing in a literally baffled expression as he couldn’t believe everything where his sister had been going through. The stallion even had to make a couple of blinks to make sure he had heard everything correctly.

“And now, because she’s hunted down beneath the earth, you meant to tell me you want to protect her?” Shining Armor asked of his sister. He still didn’t seemed to fully understand of just why Twilight wanted to have taken up the right for the lamia. If his sister was determined about it, it perhaps would have been for the better to have expected it. Perhaps there were still things that she hadn’t told him yet.

Mystery had always followed the soothsayers wherever they went, so that chance was still highly likely to be there. Perhaps there was something so gruesome that it just couldn’t be shared with anypony else. Or there would have been a revelation greater than life itself. Either way, Twilight nodded with her head as she seemed to be really determined about her words. “There’s no way that you can change my mind, Shining Armor. She’ll probably have to live in my room for the time being, but I gladly have her as a roommate,” said Twilight to her brother.

“Well, it’s your party. I can’t change your mind and you seem to be hell-bent over it, so I guess I better start to inform the guards that we have a new resident in the form of a lamia going around and about,” commented Shining Armor, therefore basically giving permission.

“Thanks Shining,” the soothsayer spoke to him in a truly humble sounding tone. She was genuinely glad that the stallion wasn’t making too much of an actual fuss about it all. She knew that he had a good heart, but it was usually just overridden by the deeds that he had as a captain of the guard. Any kind of threat had to be examined for everything.

Though the stallion still happened to have another fact that seemed to be haunting his mind. There was something about the tales that she told him that just creeped the living daylight out of him. Something about her words, showed a massive growth to Twilight as a being. Something that he had never actually expected to happen to her.

For as he had listened to her words, there was the massive amount of danger that they had encountered in such a short amount of time. The weeks in which they had been gone would have been nothing for the anthronies that lived their normal lives. Yet in those very few and precious weeks had the mare encountered things that ranged from a simple flintlock pointed at her to being possessed of the actual devil herself.

Shining Armor was baffled once more and just didn’t even wanted to believe the words anymore. He wanted to believe that they were just some kind of fairy tale that could be told to fillies and colts before they would have gotten to sleep. But no, the words that his own flesh and blood told him were actually the truth.

Everything that she had told that had happened had in fact happened. The look within her eyes gave it all away. There was that glance within them that he had never seen before in her eyes. The glance that only could be given by an anthrony that had been going through so much that it in fact changed the soul in one way or the other. He could have only hoped that in Twilight’s case everything had gone right.

Even though the devil herself had released herself out of Twilight’s body, there most likely would have been little traces left of the being. Little traces that could eventually be taking a hold of the soothsayer. Though that worry would have been one he rather didn’t think about. There were countless more matters that he had to think about. All in order to lighten up the mood in one way or the other.

None of them knew just how much time had been going by. All of them knew however that there had been an awful lot of time that had gone by for the moon stood high in the skies. The glasses that had been shared between both the captain of the guard and the soothsayer were exactly right before they both stood up. Shining Armor had seen that his sister was tired and that her mind had been worn out by everything.

He would have done her more wrong than good to have kept her in his office. So the stallion let them out and they would be on their way again. Though the stallion actually joined himself with the two of them. Even though she was more than safe within the walls of the castle did the stallion still felt as if he was her responsibility. At least until she laid back in bed that was.

Silence was maintained between the three beings as they wandered to the room of the soothsayer. A room that had to be at the other end of the castle. Not a fact that was particularly liked by Shining Armor, as he had to wander all the way back again as well.

~~~~

Though to every trip, there had to be an end, and so to the trek to Twilight’s room. The soothsayer released a deep yawn that came forth straight out of her soul. She was both mentally and physically tried about it all. The stallion had spoken about the fact that he would have gone with them to make up a bed for Pinkie. Given with how tired Twilight seemed to have been, the captain of the guard was perhaps a little bit better with magic in that moment.

Pinkie just appreciated the thoughts that were given to her. The lamia just followed the two of them again. She was new to the castle so slithering in front of the two of them, perhaps wasn’t the smartest thing that she could have done. The lamia did remain silent once more though. Why she kept herself so to herself was another mystery, but one that could have easily been explained.

The longer the lamia stared towards the walls and everything, the better her memory of it all would have become. She would remember which corridors she had to take and what would have been the fastest route to get to some place.

The hand of Twilight laid itself down upon the doorknob and she turned it to open the door of her room. Once again hadn’t they encountered too many beings which was actually a relief. Even though there was curiosity about the return of Twilight Sparkle, they all realized the fact that she needed her sleep as well. Which meant that they would be getting some form of information out of her at a later given date.

Nothing to complain about in their eyes actually. The unicorn soothsayer released another yawn before the door crashed against one of the many bookshelves that had been filling up her room. A shock went through the three of them before the soothsayer just walked further. She knew where it was from and didn’t gave it too much thought.

Twilight, Pinkie and Shining Armor all three walked through the doorway before the stallion charged own his horn a little. Yes, he was tired too, but his magic would have been a little bit more controllable than his sister’s. So within the blink of an eye did he summon a mattress and a blanket for Pinkie to sleep upon.

Who in return gladly made use of the service. She was naturally only used to the cold rocks and the comfort of the moss, so it must have felt great for her to sleep on something that was properly soft. And if she didn’t like it, she could have just as easily laid down on the ground or just the blanket.

Twilight herself had crashed down into her own bed and already seemed to have been vast asleep. The stallion chuckled a little bit to himself before he stroked a bit through his sister’s hair. There was no amount of words in the words that would have been able to justify the feelings of pride that he had in the moment. His little sister had done so much for the land of Equestria, it caused him to only smile like a big brother should have been doing.

The stallion continued his stroking for a couple of seconds before he planted a gentle kiss upon her forehead. “Sleep tight, Twily, you need it from the looks of it. Sleep tight and place your worries behind you, for the journey you ventured upon is over,” he whispered to her before making his departure from the room.

The door then fell back within its lock and Pinkie’s eyes lit up for a moment in the darkness. But in the end had even the eyes of the lamia faded away into the darkness while she curled up upon herself. The lamia closed her eyes again in order to get the much needed sleep she too required. Shining Armor seemed to have been an alright stallion, that alone caused her to have been a lot more comfortable.

Shining Armor himself never went straight over to his office again. Instead he spend some time just wandering through the halls of the castle in silence and without aim. With his armor still on, he had placed his hands behind his back and the eyes were about halfway closed. There were once again no words for the feelings that were going strength through his heart.

He had to take the time to just lay it all off for a little moment and to shed a much needed tear. The stallion came to a standstill and glanced out to the world outside before a single tear managed to make its way down his cheek. The captain of the guard finally released a much softer side of him to the world.

The tear was followed by another one and together they made their way down to his chin before they would have fallen to the ground. The stallion couldn’t help himself but to cry of happiness. Day by day had he prayed to the goddesses that they would have brought Twilight back to safety. And that had actually happened. “Thank you,” he whispered to the window. Or better said, through the window and to the world outside.

He couldn’t believe that his little sister had managed to return in one piece and only more tears left his eyes. Naturally there were guards that asked him how he was doing. They had never even seen the stallion crying like he did. But they never would have gotten any kind of answer out of him. They all got the same silent treatment for him outside of a couple of sniffs.

They didn’t understood what had happened, but the tears didn’t seemed to have been from sadness. What had managed to make the rough and tough stallion cry like a foal was a question that they all had for him. Yet the answer they most likely would never know if it laid to him.

PreviousChapters Next