Beyond the Skies

by FrostTheWolf

Scroll 33- Ancient Teachings (Part 1)

Author's Note:

As the dust from the events of the last chapter begin to settle, the two newcomers (Trevor and Raquel) have a few particular questions on their mind that they don't know the answers for. Calvin offers to help and knows of a place where they can hopefully find some, but in the process, ends up learning something that's... difficult for him to come to terms with.

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Truth is a funny thing. Does it live in the world? Or in the Mind? Is it constant, or can it bend?
-Savathûn, The Witch Queen (Destiny 2)

Beyond the Skies- Ancient Teachings (Part 1)

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By the time that the Skyshifter had finally gotten what he felt was enough rest and left the comforts of his own room, Calvin realized that the castle was not as busy as he thought it would be. Earlier, he heard the voices of several different creatures from downstairs echo throughout the halls. Now though, it seemed kind of quiet, as he began to slowly make his way downstairs. After everything that happened the other day with a group of changelings that tried to impersonate Twilight and her friends, Calvin thought that today would be a day to try and take it easy.

Though, as he realized once he was at the bottom of the stairs, it seemed like fate had other plans in store for him. “Oh, hello, Calvin.”

Much to his surprise, Calvin was greeted by the sight of not only Twilight, but also that of the twins, Trevor and Raquel. Not only that, but there were plates of food in front of them, too, and another plate that was empty and unoccupied. “H-Hello,” he said, glazing over at the twins before looking back at Twilight, “Am I interrupting something?”

“Not really,” the alicorn shook her head, “Your friends only came down a little while ago, and since they haven’t had anything to eat, Spike offered to make pancakes.”

That had him blink for a moment, before raising an eyebrow, “Is that all?”

“Well, your friend was trying to help answer some questions that we had,” he heard Trevor speak up, “Since we don’t know that many things about where we are, Sweetie Belle thought that Twilight could help bring us up to speed. That, and both of us were kind of hungry.”

That had Calvin look back at each of them with a look of confusion and curiosity as he walked over towards the Cutie Map, “Up to speed on what though?”

“A little bit of everything, you might say,” Raquel soon spoke up, “Though, to be honest, I still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that we’re in another world entirely. It’s just so… well-”

“Different?”

“I was going to say strange, but that works, too,” she shrugged her shoulders, “Twilight helped clarify some things that you told us the other day, such as where exactly we are, and informed us more about the town’s residents, so to speak.”

Around that point, that was when Trevor took it upon himself to continue, after he drank some water, “However, there are still a few things that we haven’t had the chance to ask yet. If you like, you can join us-”

“Um… I hate to interrupt,” Twilight spoke up before the young teen had the chance to answer, “But unlike you two, Calvin hasn’t had the chance to eat yet.”

“What about afterwards?” the Skyshifter asked, “I mean, it shouldn’t take too long for me to get some breakfast, if Spike is still in the kitchen-”

“Way ahead of you on that one,” they heard the sound of Spike’s voice from the kitchen as he came out with a tray of hot pancakes. When he was close to the Cutie Map, Twilight took it upon herself to pick some of the pancakes up with a levitation spell, to set them on the empty plate. “That should be everything for now, Twilight, unless anyone needs anything else?”

“Would you like to join us, Spike?”

“Thanks for the offer, Twilight, but I’ll pass,” he replied, “I already got something to eat earlier, and I still need to clean up the kitchen.”

That answer actually confused the alicorn a bit, as she looked back towards her assistant “That really shouldn’t take too long-”

“Twilight, the changelings that occupied the castle while we were captured by Chrysalis weren’t exactly neat and tidy, by any means,” the dragon deadpanned, “They left quite the mess in here, so handling the dishes from breakfast is not the only thing that I’m cleaning up.”

“Do you need any help?” Calvin was the next one to speak as he looked back at him.

Spike just smiled for a moment, before shaking his head, “While it is going to take me some time to get this all cleaned up, it’s nothing I can’t handle. Besides, I’ve helped clean up bigger messes whenever Pinkie Pie prepares an unexpected surprise party for somepony out of the blue.”

“Pinkie Pie?” Trevor asked, “You mean that one pony we met who’s rather energetic and has a mane and tail that looked like it was made of cotton candy?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” Spike nodded, “Ponyville’s residential party planner extraordinaire. She personally takes it upon herself to make sure that anypony who’s new to Ponyville feels welcomed, even going as far as to throw a surprise party for every newcomer that arrives in town. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s preparing one for the two of you right now.”

Shortly after he said that, the young dragon went back towards the kitchen to start cleaning up. Yet, his words left quite an impact on the twins. Raquel herself seemed to be lost in thought and was trying to make sense of everything as she looked back at Twilight. “Is… everything he said about your friend true?”

“Yeah, it’s true,” Twilight nodded, “And before you ask, it’s better if you don’t think about it too much. I learned the hard way of what happens if you try to make sense of anything Pinkie does.”

At first, it looked like the princess’ response left the twins with more questions than answers. Yet, they decided to just go along with it and ask some other questions, while Calvin ate his food. Most of the things that the twins asked about were on subjects that were either very commonplace in Equestria or stuff that he knew about already. They even asked more about Twilight herself, along with her friends, since the twins had the impression that they must be rather important if someone wanted to try and kidnap them in the first place.

Though, there was one particular question that caught Calvin’s attention, as he was close to finishing his meal. However, it wasn’t something that either of the twins asked, but instead was a question asked by Twilight, “So, out of curiosity, what exactly can you two… well, do?”

For a moment, Trevor blinked as he looked back at his sister briefly, before turning back to the alicorn, “I’m sorry. W-what are you talking about?”

“Well, the two of you arrived here like Calvin did when he first arrived, so I thought that you were Displaced, like he was-”

“And what exactly does that mean?” Raquel now asked, who was just as confused as her brother was.

At that point, Calvin felt the need to stop eating and speak up as he looked towards the twins. “That part is kind of difficult to explain, but I’m going to try anyway. We aren’t exactly the only ones who had this happen to us.”

Both of the twins blinked for a moment and looked back at him, rather confused by what he meant. “What, you mean like there are other humans here, too-?”

“No, no. That’s not what I mean at all,” the Skyshifter shook his head, before an idea came to mind, “Have you seen that one Spider Man cartoon where he’s fighting alongside other different versions of Spider Man? Think that… but each one of them come from their own Equestria, no two people or worlds are the same, and they either have some kind of power they can control or end up becoming a particular character they were dressed up as. The term ‘Displaced’ basically means anyone that falls into that category-”

“So, what? Like an Isekai?” Trevor asked, folding his arms as he looked towards Calvin.

“…What the heck is that?”

“I’ll… tell you when you’re older,” he immediately backpedaled on that statement, just as Raquel came up with her own response to what the two of them had been told. “So, wait just a minute. You’re telling me that this has happened to other people like us? How exactly would you know about that?”

“Well, I ended up meeting a couple of them,” Calvin nervously replied, “Sometimes, they either end up coming here, or I get summoned to them. It’s… complicated.”

At that point, a different question was asked by Trevor as he looked back towards Twilight, “Okay, but what does this have to do with us though? I mean, sure, we might have arrived in Equestria the same way Calvin did, but that doesn’t mean we have powers now… right?”

For a moment, Twilight straightened up from her position on her chair as she tapped her hoof to her chin. From where Calvin was sitting, he could see that the alicorn was deep in thought and trying to think of a response. After about a minute, that was when she looked back to the twins and lowered her hoof. “Have the two of you noticed anything different, per se? Like, you have something that you didn’t have before?”

“Uh… with all due respect princess, you’re going to have to be a bit more specific.”

At that, the princess let out a small breath, “Well, this is more or less a theory, but hear me out. I think that when someone ends up getting Displaced, they undergo a change that varies between each individual. In the case of Calvin, his change is that he happened to find himself in possession of an artifact that’s linked to his powers, that being the pendant he wears.”

Immediately, the Skyshifter realized what the alicorn was trying to say, but was a little puzzled by it, “So, wait… Are you saying that they… might have something similar?”

“To be perfectly honest, there are a couple of different possibilities for what that change may be that I had to rule out, because of what little information we have,” she replied back, before looking back to the twins, “So, back to my earlier question, I was asking if either of you noticed anything different that could possibly signify some kind of change. It doesn’t matter if it's something similar to Calvin or completely different, but-”

Before she had the chance to finish, that was when Raquel chose to interject, “Actually, there may be one thing that’s different.”

As she spoke, Raquel placed her arms on the table and pointed towards her left wrist, “Before my brother and I came here, I used to have a bracelet that was a gift from my grandmother. However, it wasn’t until after Calvin found us and we were at the orchard yesterday that I noticed that it had been replaced with this one. I tried to take it off last night, but it felt as if some kind of grip was tightening around my wrist and fighting back.”

That not only surprised both Twilight and Calvin, but also her brother. “Sis, are you saying that it’s… alive somehow?”

“H-Honestly, I have no idea what it is or what’s going on,” she retorted, before looking towards Trevor’s right arm, “The only thing I do know is that it’s not just me. Y-you have one, too, yet it looks nothing like mine at all.”

For a moment, Calvin watched as Trevor’s body twitched briefly. Yet, he soon let out a small breath as he brought up his right arm. Like that of Raquel, he also wore a bracelet. However, not only was it on the opposite wrist, but it appeared to be forged from metal instead of woven from cloth. “You’re right on that. Yet, this feels less like a bracelet and more like a shackle, if you asked me.”

“Have you tried to take it off?” Calvin asked. His question was answered by Trevor trying to remove the band on his wrist, only for him to be rather unsuccessful. He was able to move it around, but getting it off his arm was something that couldn’t be accomplished. “Okay, never mind then.”

“If I have to be honest, I’m not entirely sure how helpful this is,” Trevor shrugged his shoulders, “I mean, if these things are supposed to be some kind of artifact, like with your necklace, then we weren’t exactly given any instructions on how to use it. At this rate, these look more like fashion accessories.”

However, much to the surprise of everyone that was present in the room, Twilight actually had something to say. “Actually, that might be more helpful than you might think,” the alicorn commented, before shifting her gaze over to the young teen next to her, “Calvin, out of curiosity, how exactly did you find out about your abilities and what your pendant can do?”

“Well, when I first ended up here, it was something that happened by accident, and honestly, I had no idea what was going on,” he admitted, “However, when Master Eon told me more about the pendant and what I could do, things started to make a bit more sense and not sound as scary as I thought it was.”

That had Raquel blink for a moment, as she looked at him in confusion, “Master Eon? Who is that?”

When Calvin heard that, that’s when he realized something. Neither of the twins knew anything about the Skylands at all. Yet, Master Eon was more than likely the only person who could practically help them out. Yet, trying to tell the twins about the Portal Master would do little compared to actually meeting him in person.

“Hey, Twilight?” Calvin spoke as he turned towards the alicorn, “Do we have anything going on later today?”

“Nothing in particular comes to mind,” she replied, before looking back to him, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, given the subject of the conversation right now, I think it would be a good idea to pay Master Eon a visit. Perhaps he could help Trevor and Raquel the same way he helped me, when I first arrived here.”

---

When Trevor and Raquel were told that they were going to visit someone that could help them, the first immediate thought that came to their minds was that this ‘master’ that Calvin talked about was just some other pony that lived in town. They would just go to visit, see if they could help with their situation and then come back to the castle afterwards. However, not everything was as simple as the two of them thought it would be. Instead of heading outside, Calvin and Twilight led the two of them in a rather different direction.

“Wait a second,” Trevor spoke up, “You’re telling us that in order to meet this Eon guy, we need to go through the door in the castle’s basement?”

“Well, it’s the only way for us in order to actually visit him,” Calvin explained to his friend as Twilight opened up the doors for them as a bright light began to emit from the door.

“Does he live in the basement or something?”

“Wha-? No, no! By the Elements, no,” the Skyshifter immediately retorted, “It’s… You’ll see what I mean once you come on through.” Shortly after he said that, Calvin took it upon himself to step through the door first and have the others follow him. There was a bit of hesitation from the twins at first, but after Twilight trotted through the doorway, they chose to follow in afterwards.

Yet, whatever it was that they were expecting to be on the other side of the door was immediately blown out of the water once they had stepped foot inside the M.A.P. for the first time. What they expected to possibly be just another room inside Twilight’s castle was something completely different as they stared at the endless sea of sky and clouds, as floating islands were seen all around them. Some were held together by vines and nature, while others had more mechanical contraptions, with technology that was unlike anything on earth.

“Calvin, w-where are we?” Raquel asked, just as he turned back towards her and her brother.

“Welcome to the Skylands,” Calvin replied, “It’s quite a lot to take in, but to answer your question, we are inside what’s called the Mysterious Ancient Place… or M.A.P. for short.”

“Wait a minute, isn’t that the setting of-?” Trevor asked, only for his question to be interrupted/answered by a nod from Calvin, “Okay, how-?”

“Well, some time after Calvin first arrived here, we ended up learning that the Skylands are practically right above Equestria, after Rainbow ended up breaking the magical barrier between them by accident… long story,” Twilight answered, “It’s only been recently that some creatures in the Skylands have become aware of Equestria’s existence, and vice versa. However, as of right now, the only real way in order to enter the Skylands properly is through the door in the castle basement. Probably for the best, so that nopony ends up stumbling upon a way in by accident.”

That led to Raquel asking a much different question, “How does this relate to this Eon guy though?”

“Master Eon is a Portal Master and seen as both a teacher and mentor to the Skylanders,” Calvin replied, before he started to walk towards the center of the M.A.P. and have everyone else follow him, “He lives over at Skylander Academy and the entrance is not that far from here.”

To Raquel, that started to make a little bit of sense. Yet, there were still quite a few questions that she wanted to ask first before they arrived, “Is… there anything we should know about this place ahead of time?”

“Well, the academy is home to a variety of people from all around the skylands,” the skyshifter told them, “Though, just having me tell you about it is nothing compared to actually being inside. You’ll see what I mean.”

Shortly after that was said, Calvin continued to lead them over towards their destination. When they arrived, the twins found themselves staring at what looked to be a clock tower with sealed doors, along with strange symbols that were carved along an archway that was above the entrance. Compared to some of the other buildings that they had seen around the area, this tower looked like something that would be found in a medieval storybook. Yet, for being an academy, the tower looked much smaller than either of them expected.

“Uh, Calvin? Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Yeah, this is the entrance to the academy,” Calvin assured the twins, before looking at them with a raised eyebrow, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, it looks… a bit smaller than what either of us expected,” Raquel admitted, “I mean, how are we going to go through the doors?”

“Oh, this isn’t the actual academy,” Twilight now spoke up, “Believe me, I got confused by it as well. This is more or less what you might call the ‘front entrance’, and to head on in, we don’t exactly go through the doors.”

That left Trevor with a different question altogether as he looked back at the alicorn, “Then, how exactly do you get in?”

“That is actually much simpler than you might think,” Calvin added, before walking up to a platform that was in front of the castle and had a blue glowing circle in the center, “You just step on this, and then, after a few seconds, you end up at the academy’s doorstep. Here, let me go on ahead and show you how it works.”

As soon as he said that, Calvin took the initiative and stepped onto the center of the platform, just before he disappeared in a flash of blue light. Not long afterwards did Twilight do the same thing, as the twins watched the alicorn disappear as well. While it may have seemed simple to many who would come in and out of the academy, when it came to Trevor and Raquel, there was a bit of hesitation at first, since this was something completely new to them. It wasn’t until a couple of moments after Calvin and Twilight had stepped through that they decided to go forth and step into the center of the platform.

In a matter of seconds, Trevor and Raquel found themselves arriving in what looked to be an open courtyard, with several different stone buildings that were farther in the back. However, what caught the attention of the twins right away was not exactly the academy itself, but the creatures that called it home. Some of these creatures appeared to be molten lava dogs, lifeforms that looked to be either made from plants or trees, a rock golem that had crystals coming forth from its lower arms, and dragons of different shapes and sizes.

It was enough to leave them speechless.

“Welcome to Skylander Academy,” they soon heard their friend say as Calvin walked up to them, “It’s… well, nothing like what school was back home, but it’s still a very nice place to come and visit. What do you think?”

“It’s a lot to take in, that’s for sure,” Trevor remarked, before he looked to the Skyshifter and noticed something, “Hey, where’s Twilight? I thought she came in with you.”

“She went on ahead to try and find some of the staff members on campus that might know where Master Eon is. That way, we don’t have to wander around all over the place in order to try and find him,” the Skyshifter replied as he took a look around the courtyard, “If it were me, I would want to show you around. But, with everything going on, that will have to wait-”

Before he had the chance to finish, Calvin was blindsided, as he was sent tumbling onto the ground. At first, both Trevor and Raquel were startled by the sudden turn of events. Yet, when they went over to try and help him up, they found that another creature was responsible for knocking him off of his feet: a particularly young lava dog who seemed to know Calvin rather well.

“M-Master, you’re back!! W-Where have you been!?”

“D-Dusty, was that necessary?” Calvin asked, letting out a breath as he propped himself off the ground with his elbows, “It’s only been a couple of days-”

“But it felt like forever since I last saw you!!” the pup cried, before burying her face into his shirt. Yet, with her attention fully focused on Calvin, Dusty wasn’t aware of her surroundings and didn’t notice who was with him when she charged in and knocked him onto the ground. The young lava dog was only made aware of their presence when Raquel chose to speak.

“Uh… Calvin, are you alright? Who’s your friend?”

The lava dog’s ears twitched briefly, before it slowly turned its head and looked back towards Raquel. Once she made eye contact, the pup’s body slowly began to shiver, before she nervously tried to speak. “M-master, who-?”

“There you are!!” another voice spoke up as Calvin saw the Fire Skylander named Hot Dog race over towards where Calvin was sitting at. “I’m so sorry, Calvin! I tried to have her stay calm, but when we saw Twilight pass by earlier, Dusty immediately ran off and started looking for you-” It was while he was speaking that Hot Dog himself now noticed the twins as well, “Oh, uh… hello there.”

Around now, the Skyshifter felt that some necessary introductions were in order, so that nothing would spiral out of control. “There’s no need to apologize, Hot Dog,” Calvin assured him, before he had Dusty get off of him, so he could stand back up. Once he was up on his feet, he looked down to find that she was hiding behind his legs, before looking towards the twins, “Dusty, these two are my friends, Trevor and Raquel. They’re rather nice, and I trust them, so you can, too.”

Despite his attempts to try and comfort Dusty, she still seemed a bit hesitant to say anything at the moment. Yet, it didn’t stop one of the twins from trying to get on her level and say hello, “Hello there, Dusty.”

Instead of saying anything in response, Dusty just backed away a bit further as the Skyshifter that she saw as her master let out a chuckle, “Don’t mind her. She’s… rather shy around new people that she hasn’t met before,” he said, before looking down towards the lava dog, “Hey, Dusty, I’m going to need you to be patient and wait with Hot Dog just a little bit longer, okay? After we’re done meeting Master Eon today, then you can find me, and we’ll head back home.”

The lava pup couldn’t help but let out an adorable pout in response, before looking up at Calvin, “O-okay, master. I-I can wait.”

The young teen smiled, before he patted Dusty gently on her head and watched as both of the lava pups scurried away. Yet, it was when they were farther away that Trevor had a question for Calvin, “Uh, Calvin? Why is it that burning puppy called you ‘master’?”

“That is a bit hard to explain, and personally, I’m still not used to Dusty calling me that,” the teen shrugged the back of his head. He wasn’t sure if they had enough time to explain the whole story, since Twilight could come back at any moment. So, he had to briefly summarize everything from the twins, “A while back, I had to rescue her and her siblings from a very bad situation. However, in doing so, Dusty became rather attached to me in the process, so I promised Master Eon that I would look after her and try to help her the best I can.”

While it seemed that Raquel was fine with the explanation, Trevor wasn’t entirely buying it. However, before he could press any further, the three of them heard the sound of magic and a distinct pop behind them, as Twilight teleported nearby them. “Alright, everyone, I got some good news. Master Eon is free at the moment, so we can see him right now, if everyone’s ready.”

“By all means, lead the way.”

Twilight only nodded her head as she began to lead the three of them towards the towering spire at the far end of the campus. While the academy had various rooms that were used by both students and teachers, the spire they were heading towards served not only as the personal chambers of Master Eon, but also partially served as an operations room, when it came to the faculty members assigning missions to the Skylanders. Calvin himself had been there twice: the first being when he was with Princess Celestia, back when Rainbow Dash accidentally tore a massive hole in the sky with a Sonic Rainboom, and the second being when he overheard about the captured Skylanders at the MaguDome, and how he volunteered to rescue them. Yet, unlike the last two times, he wasn’t there to take part in any missions this time around.

Instead, he and his friends were there to see if Master Eon could shed some light on a mystery they came across, in a field which the Portal Master might have some expertise with.

Once the four of them had arrived at the front of the spire, the doors parted open for them, as the group stepped inside. In the center of the chamber was a table that was roughly around the same size of the Cutie Map, back at the castle of friendship. In the center of the chamber was the veteran Portal Master that they came all this way to visit, who happened to turn towards them once he heard the sound of the doors.

“Hello there, Master Eon.”

“Greetings, young Calvin, and to you as well, Princess Twilight,” the Portal Master said, before he turned his attention to who else was with them as he looked towards the twins, “I see that you have a couple new companions with you as well. If I may ask, who are you two?”

At first, the twins were a bit nervous to respond. Yet, after a couple of moments, they had a response to Eon’s question. “I-I’m Trevor Arlott, and this is my sister, Raquel.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Eon kindly replied as he shifted towards Calvin, “Now, out of curiosity, what is the reason you wanted to see me? Is it something with regards to your training, or did you need my help with something else?”

“Actually, it’s the latter,” Calvin commented, “My friends here recently arrived the same way that I did some time ago. To keep things simple, Twilight & I think that both Trevor and Raquel have some kind of special trinket on them, similar to how I came here with my necklace. Given how you had helped me previously when we first met, I was wondering if you could try and help them.”

“I see,” the Portal Master said, scratching his chin for a moment as he looked towards the twins, “If it is okay with the two of you, may I see these trinkets?”

“That’s not exactly easy,” Raquel told him, before both of the twins lifted up their arms to show the bracelet that was wrapped around their wrists, “We’ve tried to take these off already, but we can’t. It’s like it’s… resisting, if that makes any sense.”

“Hmm…” Eon replied, sounding a bit surprised as he looked towards their wrists for a brief moment, before he redirected his gaze back to the twins, “Have either of you noticed any other effects, aside from that?”

Both of them shook their heads, before Trevor began to speak, “Not really. Yet, we’ve only been here for almost two days, and yesterday was rather busy.”

Calvin watched as Master Eon nodded his head and walked back along the edge of the table in the room, “Well, what you have described so far is something that I’m not entirely familiar with. However, the academy does have a number of resources that could help us narrow things down.”

Then, the Portal Master looked across the table and towards the other side of the room, “Hugo!!”

Immediately, one of the doors on the other side of the room swung open, and a familiar Mabu rushed over from the other side. Yet, he seemed to be solely focused on Master Eon, for he didn’t even take the time to acknowledge anyone else that was in the room. “I-I’m here, Master Eon! Did you n-need me for something?”

“Indeed, I do,” Eon told him, “I want you to bring back any books you find in the library that involve ancient and magical artifacts. If you can, look for anything that specifically references magical adornments of any kind. Take your time and don’t rush yourself.”

“Will do, Master Eon! I’ll start looking right now!” Hugo proudly stated, before he turned around and quickly raced out of the room.

“Who… was that just now?” Raquel asked.

“Hugo is my assistant and also one of the staff members in charge of the library at the academy. I’m confident that he’ll find what I asked for,” Eon replied, before turning back towards the twins, “In the meantime though, there is another question that I wanted to ask you while we wait for his return.”

Both Trevor and Raquel looked back at one another with a puzzled expression, before they turned their attention back towards Eon, “What’s that?”

“How did the two of you end up acquiring the bracelets you now possess? Do you recall anything in particular that happened before your arrival?”

That was a question that Calvin hadn’t even taken into consideration. However, he and Twilight were quick to notice that the mere mention of it didn’t quite settle right with the twins. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

“I believe we have some time before my assistant returns,” the Portal Master insisted, before motioning for everyone to take a seat at the table, “Besides, any information that either of you provide can help us get closer to finding an answer.”

As everyone began to take a seat, Raquel let out a deep breath. She looked to her brother for a moment, before glancing over at everyone else and then redirected her attention back to Master Eon, “Well, before we found ourselves here, we were… doing something that was a bit reckless.”

---

Over the course of twenty minutes, Trevor and Raquel tried their best to recall as much as they could about the events leading up to them waking up in Equestria. While it wasn’t exactly easy for them to recall every particular detail, what they did share to Calvin and the others helped them piece together more of their story. From what they shared, what started as the two of them wanting to find answers about how he had disappeared led to them stumbling across something far more complicated, and shortly after they ended up getting caught, they blacked out and found themselves in the Everfree.

“Well, that was… not what I was expecting,” Twilight was the first to speak, shortly after the twins were finished with their tale, “So, you went to try and see if there was anything inside that place with regards to his disappearance… and you were caught? By who?”

“That’s the thing. We don’t really know,” Trevor replied back, “We heard them, but we couldn’t see them at all. Everything was a blur afterwards, and before I knew it, I woke up next to my sister on the forest floor. The only name that was mentioned was that of their pet cat, and I doubt that would help us in any particular way.”

Before the alicorn and the Portal Master had the chance to comment, Calvin decided to speak up and ask something else, “Well, if that’s the case, then may I ask a different question? There was something that I wanted to know that I think only you guys can provide the answer for, if that’s okay with you, of course.”

“What’s that?” Raquel asked.

It took a bit for Calvin to try and ask what was on his mind. There were so many things that he wanted to ask, yet he found it difficult to say it at that moment. So, given the subject, he chose to ask the first thing that came to his mind that was the most important thing. “Is my mom okay?”

At first, the twins didn’t say anything. While the question might’ve been simple, it was difficult for either of them to form an ideal answer for their friend. Yet, it did not stop them from trying anyways. “She’s… doing alright. When I last saw her, your mom was still hopeful that she would be able to see you again, after being gone for so long-”

“Wait,” the Skyshifter interjected, his attention focused on the twins, “So long? What do you mean? How long have I been gone?!”

Raquel was caught off guard by that, since she was under the impression that he knew about how long it had been since he came here. Yet, based on his response just now, something didn’t quite feel right. “Calvin, how long has it been since you first arrived here?”

“More than a year… I think,” he said, before he glanced over to Twilight, “Does that sound right?”

“Over a year and a half,” Twilight helped clarify as she looked over towards Raquel, “In a couple of months, it would be two years. Why do you ask?”

At that, Raquel looked over to her brother, as he chose to take a turn to speak, “Calvin, I’m sorry, but there’s no easy way to tell you this. You’ve been gone much longer than you think.”

As Calvin said that, a feeling of unease and worry began to sink in. Nervously, he shifted his gaze over to Twilight, before he looked back at both Trevor and Raquel. With hesitation lingering in his voice, he asked one more question. “H-How… long?”

In response, Trevor closed his eyes and let out a deep breath as he tried to keep himself composed, before he opened his eyes and began to respond to his friend, “Calvin, back home, you’ve been gone for four years.”

In an instant, the whole room went silent. Calvin could only stare in shock and disbelief, as the realization of how long it had been since he disappeared began to sink in. The thought that his mom had been waiting so long for him to come home again was too much for him to bear, as tears started to roll down the sides of his face. “F-Four… y-years? No… no, no, no. T-that can’t be-”

While it was the right thing to do, Raquel couldn’t help but feel very sorry for him. Back home, some time after Calvin’s disappearance, she had gotten to meet his mother and learn more about his family. One particular thing that she learned was that because Calvin’s father was never really around, he had a very close relationship with his mother, so hearing that he had been separated from someone he really cared for much longer than he originally thought must have been hard for him.

So, considering everything that Calvin had done to help her and Trevor in their time of need, Raquel took it upon herself to help him this time. Moving from her chair, she walked over towards where her friend was seated. Before the young teen had the chance to say anything, that was when she tried to say something.

“I’m really sorry, Calvin. I can’t imagine how you feel right now,” she said, before gently placing a hand on his shoulder, “But if there is a way to let you see her again, I promise I will help you find it.”

That was something that he honestly did not expect to hear her say. “Y-you would? W-why?”

At that, all Raquel could do was give him a small smile, “Because no matter who you are, family is important. With how long it has been since you last saw her, you deserve to see her again. And I want to make that happen.”

Now, Calvin was trying to dry the tears that came down his face as he looked back towards her and tried to clean himself up, “T-Thank you. I-”

If Calvin had the chance, he would go a step further and hug her, right on the spot. However, just as he was about to do that, the doors to the chamber opened, “Master Eon, I’m back with the books you asked me to-” the mabu scholar proclaimed as he set down a few different tome’s, before he noticed what was going on, as a nervous expression emerged on his face. “U-um… A-am I interrupting something?”

All Master Eon could do was chuckle in response, before the Portal Master looked towards each one of his guests. “Actually, I believe your timing couldn’t be better. Now, let’s take a look at what we have here.”

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