Hoennshy

by Fenix

Chapter 4: Royal Archives

I can see Canterlot’s main gates from here,” Twilight called out. The city was perched on the edge of a mountain cliff with waterfalls above, creating a natural moat that spilled down to the land below. Ivory towers rose above the main wall with golden spires at their peaks. Lush gardens garnered the outer walls with evergreens scattered throughout. The massive city was awe inspiring, but it was nothing new to Twilight. One doesn’t forget their home so easily. The sun shone brightly and a warm wind complimented the inviting, yet regal stature of the capitol.

“I’ve never seen the city in daylight this close before,” Rarity said, taking one last sip of her water. “The way the sun glistens throughout. It’s simply marvelous!”

“It definitely woke you up in the morning, that’s for sure,” Twilight joked, giving Rarity and Applejack a small chuckle as they approached the draw bridge. The bridge was as crowded as Twilight remembered. There were always ponies coming in and out of the city: merchants with supplies to sell in stores and the streets, dignitaries with audiences with the royal sisters, and visitors staring in awe as one does in the celestial sisters’ city. On the drawbridge they could see almost the whole of Equestria. The entire westward expansion was drenched in golden light as the sun descended towards the horizon.

“Watch out Twi’!” Applejack shouted, knocking Twilight out from her thoughts as she ran into the back of a colt. He was helping to move a crop of baked goods into Canterlot. She stepped back and shook her head, tripping over her own hooves in the process.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight said, rubbing her forehead. The colt snorted and turned away, continuing on with his haul. It had been a while since Twilight was in such a crowded area, and her lack of attention showed. She sighed and continued walking, trying to slink away from embarrassment.

“Why the nerve of that guy,” Applejack huffed. “Are you alright Twi’?”

“Yeah, I just lost my focus for a second,” Twilight responded, seeing the interior of the city. The inside was much bigger than the outside suggested. In fact, it was much larger. Large white buildings scattered across the expanse of land, surrounded by massive parks with ponds and deciduous trees that provided much needed contrast to the crowded area surrounding the castle. Shops and houses crammed along the street towards the alicorns’ palace. Everything in Equestria seemed to be available for purchase: produce, magic spell books, saddlebags, the fanciest jewelery a pony could buy, dresses and other practical clothing, housewares. Twilight looked over fondly at the old book store on an intersection down the road, ignoring the rest of the crowded shops.

“So where are we going first? Maybe shop for a few things on our way to the castle?” Rarity asked. “I want to see what the designers up here are up to... see if it can spark a few ideas.”

“Later,” Twilight said, turning right off the main road, heading away from the downtown area of the city.

“Wait, where are you going?” Rarity wondered, trotting quicker to catch up.

“Yeah, weren’t we supposed to go see Celestia?” Applejack prodded.

Twilight turned her head back and stopped, making sure this time that she wouldn’t run into another pony. “Yeah, but I want to stop at my old place beforehand. The library back at Ponyville doesn’t have quite as many books as the one I used to use, so I want to check it before seeing the princess.”

“Well we never did get to see your old place when we went to the gala,” Applejack thought aloud. “Oh what the hay, let’s go.” Twilight nodded and galloped down the stone road with Applejack and Rarity following close behind.

Past parks and ponds, Twilight’s old home towered off the stone road. A spiral staircase wrapped around the tower to the massive main room with its enormous glass outer wall. It was just as Twilight had remembered it. She stepped off the road and made her way up the staircase, oblivious to the lack of hooves clopping behind her. Magically, one of her saddlebags opened and Twilight dug around for her old key. After poking around, she found it, grabbed it and opened the back door. The elegance of the blue interior provided a massive contrast to the down to earth feel of Twilight’s home in Ponyville. It was a refreshing change. She looked back to see the other girls, but neither had followed her in. Twilight made her way down to find Rarity and Applejack standing at the front of the house, conversing. “What are you girls doing? Come on in.”

“Rarity and I were just talkin’, and,” Applejack started. “Is this really your old place? I mean, it looks a little... pricey.”

Twilight stood dumbfounded. She thought for a moment and realized the problem. “Oh, well it does look a little expensive but that is the norm here,” Twilight assured Applejack. “I’m still paying on the rent during my stay in Ponyville.”

Applejack blinked, “Why, how do you get the money to pay for... that?”

Rarity broke off from the group and trotted up the stairs, “You two can argue about this all day, but I’m going to go inside. If this is normal for Canterlot, the interior must extravagant.” She turned the corner and escaped from Twilight’s view.

Twilight turned back to Applejack who looked like she was crunching numbers in her head. “Well, I get some government grants for my research which helps to pay for my old place,” Twilight explained, wanting to end this so she could commence her search. “Never mind that, I need to find my older copies of Grizwald’s books.” She galloped back up to the library. “Are you coming?” Applejack soon followed. They entered to the sight of Rarity inspecting every nook and cranny of the building. Twilight decided to ignore her musings and began her search.

The library glowed with the warm purple light of Twilight’s magic as books flew off the shelves and floated around her. One by one, she searched the spell books. It had been a while since she had been at her old home, and the layout of the library back in Ponyville was conflicting with her old collection’s whereabouts. Applejack and Rarity ducked and weaved through the volley of texts until they all suddenly dropped to the ground. “Found it!” Twilight exclaimed, beginning to skim through the pages.

“That was rather quick.” Rarity said, dusting herself off.

“I know it’s been I while since I’ve been here, but I don’t forget things that easily,” Twilight responded, digging through Arcane Alchemy and Dubious Divination. She chuckled as she browsed through, just now remembering that Grizwald’s texts had a famous humorous side to them. Before she knew it, Twilight reached the end of the book. The counter-spell was nowhere to be found. “Argh! How is it not in here? This is the latest copy of the book!” Twilight yelled, slamming her head into the pages in frustration.

“I’m sure the castle has the original edition. No other place would.” Rarity insisted.

Sighing, Twilight took her head out of the book and closed it. “I know,” Twilight said apprehensively. “To be honest I’ve never been in the royal archives. Everyone who’s seen it said it’s absolutely massive. It could take us days just to find evenone of Grizwald’s texts.” She set all the books back on the shelf and looked through her bag, grabbing a gold card with silver text.

“Well, there’s no use stayin’ here then,” Applejack stated, heading out the door.

“Wait Applejack!” Twilight hollered, stopping Applejack in her tracks. “You can’t just walk in. You’d need an audience with the princess.” She stood up and walked over to the girls. “This card will let us in. They can’t say no to the princess’s own prized student.” With that, she put the card back into her bag and headed out the door, hoping that the rumors of the archive’s size were exaggerated at the least.

The three galloped back the way they came, trying to make up for lost ground. Their hooves could be heard from the main street, causing onlookers to take notice. Rarity and Applejack followed suit and merged in with the massive crowd of unicorns and earth ponies. Twilight made sure to keep her eyes ahead of her. All she could think about was what could be lurking in the archives. The amount of knowledge it could contain only excited her, but what kind of ancient secrets and tomes would there be that no pony was to see? The more she thought about it, the crazier her predictions became.

“So, what do you reckon is in that archive anyway?” Applejack asked, only adding to Twilight’s train of thought.

“Well every time I’ve been in the castle and asked about it I’ve only told about how large and dark it is. Apparently, every book that’s ever been written is in there. I don’t quite believe them, but I’ve never seen it myself so there’s no way for me to really know,” Twilight explained. Slowly, but surely, they made their way through the massive crowd until the castle came squarely into view. Twilight noticed Rarity eying the glass fronts of stores and boutiques, making mental notes of other designers’ techniques and designs. She was sure that once all of her friends returned to Ponyville she wouldn't see Rarity for an entire week; she chuckled a little just thinking about it.

The crown jewel of the city, the celestial sisters’ castle, stood near the edge of town just looking over the mountain. Celestia’s afternoon sun made the outer walls glisten, contrasting with the overcast that still loomed over Ponyville. Twilight and the others turned down to the smooth-stone path whose sides were lined with perfectly groomed, richly leaved trees.

“Next in line, please,” a guard announced, letting a group of stallions with briefcases enter the crimson gates. The two guards stood by, watching the three come closer. They wore gilded armor with galea helmets covering their manes. The gray unicorn stepped forward as Twilight approached with her identification card hovering near her head. With a sparkle of recognition, the stoic guard broke out into a smile.

“Twilight! Ahem..., Miss Sparkle. You’re back so soon from Ponyville?”

“I came with urgent business under Princess Celestia’s permissions. I have studying I have to conduct in the royal archives, and my two friends here are helping me.” She placed the card away in her bag and looked over at Rarity and Applejack.

“The archives, huh? You must be moving up in the world!” the unicorn joked as the white pegasus still next to the door rolled his eyes. “The princess is entertaining guests from Trottingham, so she won’t be able to seen for the next few days. They’re dealing with a very important matter, and has asked that no pony disturb her.”

“Sounds urgent.”

“Another guard should be waiting for you when you get inside to escort to you to the archives. Good luck, Twilight.”

“Thank you, sirs,” Twilight said, motioning her to go through the towering, wooden doors. The interior still held the class and elegance that it had during the gala; the walls were painted a pastel purple with golden trimmings, thick red carpet draped across the floor with a large symbol of the sun in the middle of the crossroad. The stairs in front of Twilight was graced with stained-glass windows of the day and night cycles which cast their colored light on the black and white checkered floor. Applejack and Rarity were too busy during the night of the gala to truly look at the castle, but they were taking their opportunity now. Although they had just seen ponies walk into the castle, the main hall was completely empty save themselves.

A royal guard came out from under large archway and called out to the girls, “Are you Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight looked over, eying the unicorn guard, “Yes, I am.”

“The princess told me of your arrival and sent me to escort you to the archives. The princess is busy with other matters so a casual visit will not be possible.” He motioned them over and trotted down a long hallway opposite of the throne room. The three made their way to the guard, traveling to a section of the castle none of them had ever been. It seemed to go on forever; neither of the three ponies said a word as the guard continued on his route. Twilight bit her lower lip, anxiously waiting for them to arrive at the end of the hall.

After a few more minutes of trotting, the guard stopped in front of an archway on the side of the hallway. Twilight gained speed to see what the guard was doing. He looked over at the three mares, opened the stained wooden doors and waited for them to arrive. “The archives are down this staircase. It’s a long way down, so please watch your step.”

Twilight caught up and stared into the doorway, “Uh, did you say it’s... down?” The hallway sloped down at what looked like the angle of the cliff face for a few hundred feet under the city. At the end of the hallway she saw the stairs curve clockwise down into the mountain. She couldn’t fathom how far down the staircase might go down into the rock, but she would soon find out. She looked back at the guard who simply stared back at her with his continued stoic pose. After taking a deep breath she motioned her friends over started her way down the hallway. When they finally made their pace, she heard the door close behind them, causing her to turn her head back. She closed her eyes, took another deep breath and continued.

Step by step, they descended into the mountain, traveling down countless flights of red-carpeted stairs. Each flight was separated with a small track of flat land to make sure one didn’t fall down several thousand stairs without pause. Twilight panted. It was the most physical exercise that she had had in a long time, and the emotional stress of her three friends’ situation didn’t help her in the least. She opened up her water and took a large gulp. Rarity was fairing as well as Twilight, while Applejack kept a swift pace with no sign of exhaustion. “How are you girls holding up?” Twilight asked, closing her water bottle and storing it.

“I’m fine. Nothin’ these legs can’t handle,” Applejack stated.

“I’m a little tired and sweaty,” Rarity said with a disgusted tone. “Do you have any idea how much further we have to go? Not only that, but I don’t want to know what it’s going to be like to have to go all the way back up.”

Twilight hadn’t thought about the trip back up, but she was too eager to see what was in the archives to care. The more she thought about it, the less she noticed the painted walls being replaced with stone and the red carpet’s immediate, torn stop. The lights still shone like the ones near the top, but it began to appear ominous. The stairwell wasn’t finished. After what felt like hours, Twilight saw two large wooden doors ahead of her. They towered over them, being at least twelve feet high. She could feel her hooves shake in anticipation. “This is it.”

“Hopefully it isn’t too large,” Rarity said, staring at the behemoth doors. “For all we know we could be down here for days.”

“It’s a good thing I brought enough food for y’all.” Applejack replied, comforting Rarity just a little.

“Well, here we go.” Twilight said, pushing one of the doors open. It was much heavier than she thought. She tensed every muscle in her body and threw all her weight into opening it. It ground to a halt and was open enough for the three to fit through. “Can someone find a light switch or anything?” she asked as she entered the room. It was a nearly black inside the circular room with torches illuminating the perimeter near the twelve-story high ceiling. Bookshelves lined the outside walls with a maze of them leading to the center of the room on the floor. Twilight couldn’t make out what the floor was made from, but she felt it was stone. Rarity was right, she thought, she could easily be lost in the massive cylindrical library.

“What do you reckon we do, Twi?” Applejack asked, still trying to make out the size of the room.

“Well we could split up and cover more ground, or stay together,” Twilight started. “I’m sure if one of us finds something we can yell loud enough for each other to hear.”

“Sounds fine by me,” Rarity said as she headed off to the left. “If I find anything I’ll make sure to say something right away. It is ‘Grizwald’ that we’re looking for, correct?”

“Yeah,” Twilight confirmed then looked over to Applejack. “You take the right and I’ll head to the center.”

“Can do!” Applejack responded then headed off, leaving Twilight by herself.

Twilight took a deep breath and trotted forward into the maze of bookshelves. There were so many books, most without labels or in languages she had never seen. She simply browsed through the mass of book spines, trying to find a book she was able to understand. After thirty bookshelves, she stopped to think about how to tackle this predicament. She was gaining quite a bit of ground, but almost every book was incomprehensible. What did I get myself into? she thought as her enthusiasm dropped after every useless bookshelf. She closed her eyes to think, but was interrupted by a small noise. It sounded like somepony breathing. Twilight’s breath became quicker as she tip-hooved around the shelves to investigate. She poked her head out from a shelf and saw the silhouette of a pony, head down into an open book. There was a mountain of books on the sides of the desk obscuring her view of her culprit. Wait, who could that be? Who else would have access to the archives? she thought, inching closer the pony.

The candles on the desk showed the pony to be a unicorn with a blue coat and a dark blue, flowing mane. A dark blue chest-piece covered its chest. She could only see details on the unicorn’s head. With caution she stopped her approach, wondering what to do next. “Excuse me?” Twilight called out, startling the pony out of her sleep. She saw the pony stretch with a silhouette of a wing covering its face for a short second, then folding back in. Twilight swore she was seeing things as the pony looked over to her, its teal eyes staring back at her. “Umm, could you help me find something in here? I’ve never been in the archives before,” she said, nervously laughing a little as she spat it out.

The pony sat up and trotted towards Twilight, spreading her wings. Twilight stepped back, intimidated by the sight. She hadn’t seen anything unusual when she saw it the first time; the pony was an alicorn. She could still make out little of the pony as it approached, the light still behind it. It stopped and folded its wings back, its long shadow casting itself on Twilight. “You are the Element of Magic, are you not?” it asked. Twilight swore she had heard the pony’s voice somewhere but couldn’t quite place it.

“Um, yes. Yes I am,” Twilight responded, not knowing where the pony was going with this. “How do you know who I am?”

“I’m sorry, I seem to always forget to properly introduce myself,” it said, her long azure horn glowing and illuminating the archive. Twilight blocked out the light with her hoof and slowly lowered it to see the alicorn in her full regal majesty. “I am Princess Luna, bringer of the night. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to introduce myself to you in the old castle.” She took a step back in defense. “Please forgive my actions on that night, I wish you no harm.” Her voice had a hint of despair as she retracted from her formal speech.

Twilight took a step back, confused, “Hurt you? Why would I—” she stopped to remember what happened the last time they met. “Of course I won’t hurt you, you’re Princess Celestia’s sister. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m glad to finally meet you.”

“Twilight...” Luna started. “I’ve heard much about you from Celess. She often shows me the letters you send her about your studies. They’re very interesting,” she said, pacing.

“She shows you those?” Twilight gasped, her face flush red from embarrassment. “What are you doing down here, don’t you have to raise the moon soon?”

Luna turned and closed all her books with her magic. “I always come down here. Ever since it was built I came down when I was awake so I could study. I couldn’t handle the voices I heard when sitting on the throne,” she sighed, continuing to clean.

“Voices?” Twilight interrupted, intrigued by Luna’s story.

“Yes. When Celess and I sit on the throne we can hear the voices of our subjects in Equestria. The voices I heard... they were never very pleasant.”

“Oh,” Twilight muttered, trying not to upset the alicorn. “Since you know your way around the archives, could you help me find a certain spell? It’s very important that I find this right away.”

“Do you know who crafted it?” Luna asked, trotting back over to Twilight.

“It’s a spell from Arcan Grizwald. Have you heard of him before?”

Luna lightly laughed, “I’m very aware of Professor Grizwald’s work. In fact the first offering Celess and I got as rulers was one of his texts. During my reign before I was banished, I tried to use a spell that would make flowers grow in moonlight. What resulted was the destruction of the entire eastern half of the castle.”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at Luna’s silly tale, “So, even you had deviations occur? I thought only inexperienced magic users had that happen to them.”

“Oh no, Grizwald’s spells are the most intricate spells known to ponykind. Even the most powerful unicorn would have problems with his spells,” Luna explained, trotting into the hallway. “Come, I’ll see which of his books I can find.” The two made their way down the path Twilight took to get in. Luna was able to decipher all the texts’ names for Twilight, making her feel a little better about browsing the selection. It was ghastly quiet in the room with only the sound of hooves hitting stone and the flicker of flames could be heard. “Well none of them seem to be here,” Luna said, looking over to Twilight. “They’re probably along the inner wall. Knowing how old they are they shouldn’t be up too high.”

As they left the maze, Twilight couldn’t keep herself as her curiosity got the best of her, “So Princess, could I ask you... something personal?”

Luna stopped to look over to Twilight, “Yes, what is it?” Twilight noticed her trying to regain her proper tone of voice.

“Well,” Twilight started. She had no idea how the princess would react to this question. She took a few deep breaths and continued. “Is... is what the history books say about your fight with Princess Celestia accurate?”

Luna looked down ashamed. Twilight took a step back, still wary about how the princess was going to act. “Yes, technically,” she finally said, breaking the tension around the two. “I just want to say that I was never jealous of my sister’s abilities or work, only the constant ill-gotten praise she received. I was angry at the rest of my subjects, and I still am.” Luna started trotting again.

Twilight could only watch as the armor-clad alicorn started to ramble. “My sister was always the one who loved to be in the spotlight. She was a ponies’ pony. The Summer Sun Celebration was just her way of going out and seeing Equestria. Every year, I would make my way to my chambers to sleep through the day, and I would hear ponies celebrating that the night was over. I would hear fillies cry at night because they couldn’t play outside since the night was ‘too scary’—”

Twilight started to sweat, becoming very uncomfortable around the princess, but her curiosity was peaked. “I never needed any praise for raising the moon. I never wanted that much attention. I know ponies need sleep, but it was their words that slayed me. Every winter solstice I would put my soul and everything I could into the night sky: a bright moon, a multitude of stars, the Milky Way was visible as well as the aurora borealis. I sat at the throne and heard nothing. They only cried about their lament that winter had come and the nights were too cold. They only wanted my sister’s sun. Nothing I did ever made them happy—”

The books on the shelves started to rumble, causing Twilight to become more nervous and jumpy. “Even when I was banished they wouldn’t stop. They called me a demon and mocked me from the land I called home. They then had the nerve to completely forget about me and treat me as some monster they would use to scare their children into going to sleep. Even so much as to assume I was merely myth. Every time I would begin to forget about what they did I would hear them them again; their hatred of me still haunted me, even on my own moon—” The ground started shaking. In her emotional whirlwind, Luna’s magic began to spiral out of control. “Why!? I gave up everything for them! Why did they hate me so much!?”

"Luna! Stop!" Twilight yelled. The room's shaking came to a halt and the princess lowered her head. The last of the teetering books fell to the ground and filled the room with sound of them landing. The library was sick with the sound of silence.

"I-I'm sorry," Luna said, the archives now absent of light. "I've just never talked to anypony about this before. I shouldn't have exploded like that."

Twilight got closer, "Do you regret what happened then? I'm so sorry for prying."

Luna lifted her head and looked at Twilight with tears streaming down her cheeks, "I only regret getting my sister involved. She shouldn't have had to defend those ungrateful monsters." After gaining her composure, she trotted to the outer wall and lifted twenty books from the shelves to scan. "It's got to be around here somewhere..." she said to herself, trailing off mid-sentence.

An uncomfortable air around the princess filled the room, causing Twilight to stay a good distance away. She had no idea that Equestria was like how Luna described a thousand years ago, and she hoped that things were better now. She didn't want to fight Luna again, and Luna would be better prepared. Twilight shook off those thoughts. All that mattered with getting Fluttershy and the rest of her friends back home. With that in mind, Twilight took a look at the books Luna had brought out. "Some of these should be in Equestrian. The blue one is one of Grizwald's.”

“Alright, I'll take a look,” Twilight said, feverishly taking control of the book and setting it on the ground. She scanned through the pages as Luna hunted down more copies. Every one of the spells in the text Twilight recognized, it seemed to be a smaller version of the book she had back at her home. She read deeper, hoping to find at least a hint of where the spell could be found, but everything was word-for-word like book she had read already. She closed it and looked up at Luna who had found three other texts.

“So, did you find what you needed?” Luna asked.

“No, it's just a condensed version of the book I have at home,” Twilight responded. "Hope- fully these other ones have something.

“Most of these are older if that helps. I think there's two more around here somewhere." Luna explained, heading off again. Once again, Twilight delved into the texts. There were a few new spells near the end of the books, but most of them were repeats. Even ‘The Completely Complete Essential Spell Book by Professor Arcan S. Grizwald: The Compendium’ held nothing.

Twilight yelled out in frustration. Every other spell in the books had a counter-spell. Even ones as complicated as animal/inanimate object gene splicing had a fix, but not the transportation spell. She opened her bag and had a drink of her water. Twilight was exhausted by the hours that seemed to slip by in the archive. Over to her right she saw Luna coming with an old leather-bound book with frayed and loose pages. Applejack and Rarity were following behind her, talking to each other and Luna.

“This is it,” Luna called out, setting the book down in front of Twilight. “This is the book that Celess and I received as a gift when Equestria was remade. It is thousands of years old, so please take good care of it.”

The book was leather bound and quite thick. There were upholstered letters stitched into the cover that spelled out “Spells of Arcan Grizwald”. The pages inside were parchment with both Equestrian writing and a language Twilight had never seen. Many of the spells were the same, but it was the original copy; those spells were bound to be in it. The book started on page seven which stood out to her, but she didn't pay too much attention to it. Each page had calculations and very specific instructions for pose and technique to perform each spell. The illustrations showed something standing on its hind legs to demonstrate. Twilight had never seen anything like it before, but she continued her hunt unabated. After a few hundred pages of spells, the book suddenly stopped. Nothing. “Are you sure this is all you have? I still can’t find anything,” Twilight said, exasperated.

“Really? That’s the book where that spell originally came from.” Luna explained. She started to pace, thinking. “What-” she started, still in thought, “What exactly is the spell you’re looking for?”

“...and it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever—” Twilight heard Rarity say as Luna cut out her conversation. Rarity perked her ears up to hear what was happening between the other unicorns.

“It’s a spell that sends one outside of the realm of space and time,” Twilight explained. “A deviation happened and my friends were accidentally sent somewhere and I can’t bring them back,” she started to get choked up, the guilt of that night returning to her. “I need the spell to reverse it.”

Luna began pacing. “Oh, that spell. I know that one.” She stopped and lifted the old book and scanned through the pages. She brought her head back with a sneer, “Huh, the preface and back have ripped out.”

“What!?” the three exclaimed, staring at each other in disbelief.

With a distraught look Luna flipped through the book again. Twilight bit her lower lip anxiously and turned to Rarity and Applejack, “If those pages were ripped out, what are we going to do?” Her chest suddenly became heavy. “How are we supposed to bring them back now?”

“I don’t know,” Applejack bluntly stated. “That spell has to be somewhere, a copy of it had to have been made at some point.”

Twilight perked up, “That... is possible. The problem is who would have access to that first book and why wouldn’t the copy be in the archives in the first place?” she started to think.

“Hey!” Luna called out. “I have an idea about what happened.” The three turned her heads to see the alicorn digging through an old shelf filled with scrolls. “Somepony had to have come here at some point to steal those pages. I come down here every day, so I would’ve noticed something wrong right away.” She opened the scroll revealing a map and glanced over it. Her eyes widened as she scanned it. “Oh, I know,” Luna said with a small tinge of malice in her voice. “Take a look at this,” she motioned the girls closer.

“What is it?” Rarity asked as she approached. “Did you find that spell?”

“No, but I have a pretty good idea where the thieves who took it are from.” She placed her hoof near the northern sea. “See that country? That’s Ventia. It’s quite the distance away from Equestria, but I have a good feeling about my odds.” She moved her hoof to a small dot a little north of the country name, “This city right here is Mistral City. This is where all of Grizwald’s spells came from.”

Twilight was taken back, “Is that why those spells are so hard to do? Is it because they’re not Equestrian?”

“If there’s any other reason for it than just being advanced then ‘yes’,” the princess responded. “Now, Mistral City has some strange properties to it. It’s where space and time converge in this world, and that creates a city filled with different time periods and cultures. Unfortunately it’s filled not too friendly characters.” She looked up at the three with a stern look in her eyes. “It’s known as the ‘City of the Damned’.” Luna took the scroll and rolled it up, placing it in front of Twilight. “If the spells are anywhere, they are in that city. I have a feeling on why they either stole or destroyed ours, but that doesn’t matter. A full copy should be there.”

With a quick snatch, Twilight took the map and examined it. “So, you think we should leave Equestria?” she asked with a nervous tick. She looked over to the girls who both stared back at her with worry in their eyes. “Is it safe? What’s out there? What happens if they don’t have a copy?” She asked, placing the scroll in her bag.

“You should be fine, you have the physical representations of the Elements of Harmony. Those will help you out quite a bit.”

“Actually, we don’t have them.” Rarity interrupted. “As much as I adore it, I haven’t touched it in months.”

“Same,” Applejack joined in. “I reckoned I didn’t need any fancy necklace on this trip.”

“I’m guess you didn’t either?” Luna volleyed over to Twilight who simply shook her head. “Well, I can retrieve them for you; I did help create them after all, in a sense. I don’t know why you wouldn’t carry them around more often, they enhance your special talents in a pinch or high-adrenaline situations.” She stopped. “So, what are you going to do?”

The three looked at each other again, trying to read each others facial expressions. Twilight noticed her friends’ nervous looks which just added to her anxiety.

After a long pause, Luna finally spoke up, “Here, let me make this easier on you.” Her horn started to glow, enveloping the three in a bright white light. “I’ll send you to the guest rooms so you can sleep on it. If you want to go, I will summon your element charms and give you a note on where to go. If you don’t want to go, the pegasi will bring you back to Ponyville.” The light got brighter as Twilight felt her hooves leave the ground. She scrambled to get them back on the floor. “If you do decide to go the guards will bring you to the northern Equestrian border. You have to make the rest of the trip on hoof.”

“Wait, what happens if—” Twilight called out, but she her vision started to blur, startling her. The light became brighter, causing her body to tingle. She looked over to Luna who was simply staring back at her with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Good luck,” the alicorn said as the light fully enveloped Twilight. She could feel her consciousness slipping as she felt her whole body lightly compressed.

A mere moment later, the white light disappeared revealing a red painted room with three beds and large windows that showed the sun still setting over Equestia. They had landed in the guest room. The three stood in silence, trying to let everything that Luna had described sink in. “So, what do you girls think? Should we go? The spell might not even be there,” Twilight asked, starting to pace nervously.

“Do we really have a choice?” Rarity asked, inspecting her new living quarters. “No pony I know of has ever been outside of Equestria so I don’t really know what to expect, but we have to go regardless.”

“It can’t be too different from Equestria.” Applejack said reassuringly. “If we do I just need to make sure Big Mac knows I’ll be away for a while longer. Applebuck season’s coming.”

After a long pause, Twilight spoke up, “Well, if that city is truly where space and time can converge, Luna may be right. There might be no other place where this spell could be.” She thought aloud. “Who knows what that city will be like, we could walk into a door and find Fluttershy for all we know.” With a sigh she stopped and turned to Applejack. “Alright, I still need to write that letter to Spike, so I’ll mention something in there about the Apple family.” Twilight said, taking a quill, ink and parchment from her bag and set up on the nearest flat surface. She began to write:

Dear Spike,

Tomorrow, the girls and I are heading to the country of Ventia in search of the spell we need to bring Fluttershy back. I don’t know when I’ll be back, so please continue to watch over Fluttershy’s cottage and the library. If you can, feed Gummy and tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake that Pinkie is gone. It would really help.

Applejack needs you to tell her family that she’s gone. Apparently, it’s close to Applebuck Season again, so they need that information right away.

Thank you so much for helping at such a short notice. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Twilight

With her writing supplies neatly put away, she slid the letter under the door for the mail pony to collect then sat in her bed. She was still anxious about her coming travels, but she agreed with her friends. She had no choice but to leave. Twilight looked over at the other girls who were both sound asleep. The room had become dark as the sun fully set, letting the moon rise over the horizon. She slipped into the thick covers and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Twilight arose with the sun’s rays hitting her square in the face. She rubbed her eyes and looked over to the nightstand; the crown with her six-star purple cutie mark was there with a note. She grabbed the note and read it, noticing instructions on where the chariots would be and when they would depart. Twilight looked over, noticing that Rarity and Applejack were still sound asleep. “Girls, wake up!” Twilight hollered, causing the two to shuffle under their covers. She grabbed the crown from the nightstand, set it in her bag, and opened the set of doors. They were situated at the end of a long hallway that made its way to the main hall, so it wouldn’t take too long to leave. She heard small mutters of the other girls waking up as she went into her bag and grabbed an apple to eat.

“Is it mornin’ already?” Applejack asked, groggy from her sleep.

“Yes it is. I’m going to get some supplies for our trip, you girls meet me where that map says we need to be.” Twilight stated, heading out the door.

“Alright,” Applejack yawned, grabbing her element necklace.

Twilight made her way down the hall and out of the castle. The sun had just rose, making the whole town glow in a pale yellow light. In the courtyard she could see a chariot being set up with several pegasus guards getting strapped in for the flight. She made a mental note of the location and trotted along the main street that was near void of ponies.

Shops were just setting up for the day as Twilight noticed a small shop was set up on a street corner. It was a market store with fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. Twilight looked over the immense amounts of produce, making sure it was cost effective for their trip. She had no idea what kind of food would be on the outside so she didn’t want to take any chances.

After picking up more food than they probably needed, Twilight made her way back to the castle. She saw several dignitaries had already started to bother the guards to enter the castle as she noticed Applejack and Rarity were standing near the chariot, all ready to go. Rarity was already wearing her element proudly. The pegasi were almost finished preparing for the trip as Twilight arrived, setting down the bag of groceries, “This should be enough for a while at least.”

“I’m sure if we run out there‘ll be some towns along the road to pick up more.” Applejack said.

“That is if they take bits as currency,” Rarity interrupted. “Personally, I wouldn’t want to eat in a potentially disgusting road town, but if we must I’m willing to make an exception.

“We’re ready to depart, Miss Sparkle,” one of the guards stated, preparing to head to the skies. After rationing the food between themselves, they headed on the chariot. They made sure they were all securely then and took off at an astounding speed. Applejack looked down and gulped.

“I- I’ve never been on a flyin’ chariot before.” Applejack stated nervously.

“It’ll be fine,” Twilight assured her. She knew Applejack wasn’t afraid of heights: she’d walked on clouds before. The prospect of leaving Equestria must have been getting to her. “I’ve been on these many times. It’ll be over before you know it.”

As they left Canterlot, the three could see a large expanse of forest on the earth, covering most of what they could see. Small specks of pony towns spotted the landscape as mountains threatened the carefully placed clouds. On the horizon they could see a large expanse of plains and rivers as narrow roads snaked their way across the ground. Twilight’s breathing became heavy as the altitude's lower density of oxygen started to get to her. She looked down over the edge of the chariot and saw just how fast they were going. Anything she saw just flashed by her and traveled off into the distance. Before they knew, it the chariot began to slow down.

“So, what was that city called that Luna told us about?” she asked, looking over to Twilight.

“I think it was Mistral City,” Twilight responded. “What confused me is what she called it. The ‘city of the damned’. I wonder what that’s about.”

Rarity winced as the chariot started to descend, “Whatever the reason, I would rather not find out why.”

The chariot made its way through the canopy and landed on an earthy forest trail. “We have been instructed to drop you three off here at the northern border. If you would exit off the back we can make our way back to the castle,” one of the guards explained. The three hopped off, Rarity trying to shake a lose clod of dirt off of her hoof. The pegasi flew off back south, leaving the three on their own. The forest was dense, with a little amount of light able to penetrate the canopy. It felt just like the Everfree Forest. Twilight noticed they were close to the exit and trotted down the path to see where it took them.

“So, this is it, huh?” Twilight stated as she stared out into the open grasslands and blue sky ahead of her. Apprehensively, the three trotted down the path into the wide expanse, leaving the safety of their home of Equestria and began their hike to Ventia on hoof.

Comments

[catrianheir]

wow this is shaping up well, I especially liked the part with Luna. It's also written extremely well, worded in a way which makes it easy to visualize in the minds eye as one is reading; perhaps the best quality any story can have. Makes me wonder, are you planning on becoming a writer? cause you would make a great writer, professionally that is, I'd gladly buy any one of your writing regardless of the price. I'm off to chapter 5

Is it odd that though your fic isn't Luna-centric, I thought your perception of Luna was one of the best I've seen?

[erlenmeyer]

A yogscast-Pokemon-MLP crossover?!? So awesome!

[Silverstein]

Great work here. With that Luna scene, this story goes much deeper than just a Pokemon/MLP crossover.

Celes. Well that name sure is creative isn't it?

Adventure on both fronts and Pokemon in one of them!? Hay yeah!

Silver out!

[keaton-furman-prower]

The amusing part is that now, with the Season 3 premiere, stairs are indeed Twilight's natural enemy.

Also, that was an interesting take on Luna. Given her lack of old english (eqquish?) I'm assuming it was written before 'Luna Eclipsed,' so I'm impressed that you got pretty close to her canon representation.

[Enderstorm]

131468 yeah i noticed that too :D

[Dj Star Flight]

........ok i have to say this since no one caught it but mistril city?...Griswald?....i take it you watched yogscast and play minecraft? Fricken Shadow of israphel coming up.

[Xarsor]

4053187 I caught it when I started reading this, I just didn't feel the need to point it out.

[Enigma In the Jungle]

Now, Mistral City has some strange properties to it. It’s where space and time converge in this world, and that creates a city filled with different time periods and cultures. Unfortunately it’s filled not too friendly characters.” She looked up at the three with a stern look in her eyes. “It’s known as the ‘City of the Damned’.” Luna took the scroll and rolled it up, placing it in front of Twilight. “If the spells are anywhere, they are in that city. I have a feeling on why they either stole or destroyed ours, but that doesn’t matter. A full copy should be there.”

when you get to mistral city, go to skylord lysander, get temp skylord licenses, go up to the floating tower, see fumblemore, and everything will be fine. jsust be carefull.... if you see a space man, dwarf, or a pirate with a flint and steel, better leave the city. that or be kicked out by swampy. (swampy away!)

[Alchemystudent]

It's weird seeing Luna like this...it;s almost OOC.