Made Of Magic

by EmeraldRing

Chapter 12: A Castle Found

"Hey, hey. It's okay, it's okay. What those ponies did was awful and wrong, but what's done is done. Would your mum and dad want to see you crying over them or would they want you to be strong and be happy?" Mystic tried to comfort Oak Leaf.

"I-I don't know how,"

"It is hard, I lost my parents, but I never knew them, so I can only half understand what it must be like for you, but I know my parents would want me to smile and not let myself be hindered by their death, that is, if they are dead, I don't know if my parents are actually dead or not,"

"Mystic, you're getting of topic," Shining hissed to his sister.

"Sorry, just, remember that they will always love you and want you to be happy,"

"O-okay, I can do that," a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. Mystic and Shining smiled with the timberpony, glad to see her smiling again. However, they both knew that Oak had nowhere to go, her pack either split up or dead and ponies turning her away, so they invited her to join them on their journey and then go home with them, knowing their foster parents wouldn't mind. Oak Leaf agreed, grinning with joy and bouncing around, questions about her soon-to-be home and parents and where they were going.

"Alright, one question at a time," Mystic attempted to scold her but couldn't bring herself to do it properly, too happy to see the filly so energetic and excited, "We live on a farm really close to an animal shelter, I work there as a dog walker on the weekends, and we also have huge fields that are great for running in, me and Shining practice our jumping there. Our foster parents are great, they really do their best to make sure we're happy. I'm sure they'll take care of you too," Mystic said, describing home the best she could.

"That sound amazing! I can sort of talk to dogs too, because I'm part timberwolf, do you think I could help out at the shelter?" Oak said, even more excited to get back to their home.

"Of course, we can always use an extra pair of hooves at the shelter," Shining said, knowing that Oak would be welcomed.

"Oh, and we're going to the castle that's here in the forest, if you hadn't noticed already the animals are freaking out about something, we came here looking for the book that can tell us why," Mystic explained, "Do you know a shortcut? We really have to hurry," Mystic said, urgency taking over again.

"Yes! I do, I do! Follow me!" Oak Leaf said, exuberated that she could help. Mystic and Shining had to speed their regular pace a bit because of Oak's fast pace, but they didn't mind, they were going to get to the castle quicker anyway.

"You know, I wonder how a pile of books could help us? What we're looking for is in a library,” Shining wondered.

“Don’t look at me.”

"I think what you're looking for is the book of...of..I can't remember, but it was a common legend in my pack that there was an alicorn made of pure magic trapped inside, there is also supposed to be a book that holds an alicorn made of evil magic, they keep balance in our world. Or, that's what the legend says," Oak explained.

"Hmm, it's possible," Shining said, "I guess we'll find out when we get there,"

---

While walking through the forest Oak, Shining and Mystic had no idea of what was watching them or what could be lurking in the shadows.
“NO! How could they of made it this far. It makes no sense.” The voice paused. “Wait, could they possibly be the children from the prophecy, no surely not, then how did they escape and survive everything I did to get rid of them?” A loud voice ricocheted around the book museum and almost cracked the shelves that the books were stored on.

---

“Come on Oak Leaf, we must be close now,” Shining tried to comfort the shaking filly (he was still confused that a half timberwolf, was scared of the forest).

“I know. It’s just, I, I don’t know. There is just something about this place, I, I just don’t know what it could be,” Oak wobbled. This made Shining even more confused and muddled. The forest really did have mysterious, misty ghosts that blocked your path and the sun was completely hidden by trees and fog, but Oak had been raised here, so it shouldn't scare her.

“Now, where is that castle?” Shining said to himself.

“Don’t look at me,” Mystic said.

“I’m not,” Shining retorted.

"We're nearly there, I promise," Oak intervened, not wanting the two of them to start fighting.
Continuing through the forest Mystic and Shining realized how much they missed the dogs and animals from the shelter, they had never been away from them for this long, and new that they wouldn’t feel half as scared as they do now if Red and Woody were there with them.

"Are you two okay?" Oak asked, not liking the fact that the ponies that had cheered her up, given her a name, accepted her and given her home, sad.

"Yeah, we're okay," Mystic reassured.

"We just miss the animals," Shining said, his voice portraying his sadness. Mystic nodded, agreeing with Shining.

"Well, you'll see them soon because look ahead, we're here," Oak said joyfully, pointing at something just ahead of them. Mystic and Shining followed her hoof but couldn't see anything through the mist, "Oh, right, I forgot that I have better eyesight than most ponies, but it is there," Oak laughed at her own mistake. Mystic ran ahead to double check, telling Shining to wait with Oak.

"So, do you know what you mum looked like?" Shining asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah, she had a really pretty silver mane, kind of like yours, and a blue coat, her cutie mark was a pawprint, I think. My dad looked like an ordinary timberwolf but bigger because he was the pack leader, he also had the traditional markings of a pack leader," Oak said, happy that she could recall how her parents looked.

"Cool! What do the markings actually look like?" Shining asked, knowing, now, that she didn't mind talking about her parents.

"Just like my markings, but his were.....red! Yes, they were red," Oak said, pointing to the blue markings on her back that were a beautiful combination of lines and circles.

"Wait...if those are the markings of a pack leader then..."

"Yep, I was going to be the next pack leader! Isn't it awesome!" Oak almost shouted. Just then Mystic came running back and skidded to a halt.

"Wow, your eyes can see really far Oak," Mystic panted. Oak beamed with pride and strut forward telling the siblings to follow her, she knew where she was going. Both Mystic and Shining laughed quietly at the filly but followed none the less.

The ruin was, just as Mystic said, a while away but they made it. So the two adventurers had come to the end of their journey. But what they didn’t know that the adventure was about to get a lot more interesting.

“Ahh” Mystic yelped as the ceiling came down on her. Fortunately she made it out of the area so she didn’t get hurt. Oak jumped around at the sound of Mystics cry and growled at the danger that might have been there, when she realised that Mystic was fine the filly turned back around muttering something about instincts.

“Be careful. This place is crumbling apart,” Shining said, being as cautious as always.

“I know, I know,” Mystic said, but she was still a little shaky.

“Now we have to find the library, and we should be fine” Shining said maybe a little too confidently.

“Right, up the old stairs and hopefully the library will be on the top floor. If not we will work our way down and that way we’ll have to find the library” Shining said, thinking strategically.

“Ok, whatever works for you” Mystic was trying to hide her fear by sounding as laid back as possible, but Shining knew his sister better than anyone else and he could tell that she was petrified, but didn’t say anything in case she got angry and her shouting would bring the whole castle down and they would be crushed by the weight of thousands of bricks landing on top of them. Somehow Mystic (throughout the journey) had come to really depend on on her brother and Shining had grown an admiration for his younger sister and the way that she was so determined to prove that nothing could scare her.

“Here we are. At the very top” Oak panted.

“Yeah, the top. That took a while. Let’s get started right away” Mystic panted in reply. Shining only nodded, to out of breath to talk.

---

“Great. Just great. I cannot stop them now that they have passed through the gates and into my brother’s domain. If only that human was still around, then I could send him in to throw them off the scent and lead them away from my demise, or if I’m lucky, exile back into the pages.” A loud, deep voice resonated around the library, “But, wait. What if they were to open the wrong book? With my magic I should be able to create an identical book and hide within the pages.”

---

"Come on, this looks like a good room to start off with” Mystic’s voice reverberated around the ancient castle.

“Ok, let’s go then” and with that Mystic and Oak gave the large oak door, with its rusty hinges and creaking wooden boards, a huge tug and strained to open it. Meanwhile Shining was looking out of the great stained glass window at the forest beneath them.

“You could help you know” Although just as she finished his sentence the door gave way and nearly broke.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to ruin your fun, and besides it’s open now” Shining giggled.

“Not funny. Now hurry up I think this is the library.”

So the three orphans ran through the oak door and into the library of secrecy. When they entered they realised that there were two books in the library on pedestals and the both looked identical.

“How are we supposed to tell which one is which?” Oak questioned.

“Mystic, Oak, Shining, you have arrived. Do not make the wrong choice or else my brother will be set free and it would be the end of humanity. It is my brother, the dark unicorn, in the other book, he cannot be trusted. Remember the prophecy,
When day becomes night the moon and stars need to share their light with the world to guide it through the darkness until dawn and the strong oak must stand firm to support the world through its darkest time.” the book on the right said.

“That is simply rubbish, can you not see that my brother is lying to you” The other book shouted (can a book shout?).

“No, you are the liar. I recognise that voice from a dream I had that I can only now remember, for some reason.” Mystic walked up to the book on the right and turned the first page.