Journey To Hearth's Warming

by Lighttone GryphonStar

S1 Episode 6: For A Friend

The morning cooed with the noises of a rooster. The reverberations tore through the tavern, following the sunlight to Starlight's face. Her nose twitched at the beam and her horn glowed to close the blinds without her needing to even open a single eye. The room wasn't filled with much of a mess when compared to Twilight's room. Even the blanket was perfectly folded around her form. She always kept her room cleaner than most.

"Oh... her nose is so cute." A soft male voice cracked through the rooster's now damping voice.

"Shut up, she will hear us." An annoyed female voice interrupted him.

"Twi... Teacher... I'm too tired... for training..." Starlight mumbled as her body moved.

The female voice went silent, and giggles of the male voice followed. Starlight turned at that sound; moving her hand free from the blanket and over her eyelids. The giggles faded with a slapping sound.

Silence followed as Starlight’s eyes timidly opened. Instantly she jumped at the sight of Silver Pear and Twilight standing in her room. "..." Despite being fully covered still, she pulled her blanket as close to her body as possible and sat up. "What's... going on here?!" Her voice was slow at first but quickly rose in an annoyed rage.

"Twilight tried to make you breakfast." Silver Pear smiled as he took a step back. Quickly hold his hand back from grabbing after a certain prize.

"I did?" Twilight almost forgot about the tray in her magical grasp until a nudge from Silver Pear changed that. "Oh yeah, I did." She lost her breath for a second and hesitantly placed the tray of food on the bed.

Starlight raised an eyebrow at this gesture. The tray had a bowl of cereal, an apple, and juice. It seemed rather pleasing to see, especially from her teacher. However, her nose twitched and her eyes watered at the stink. It quickly became apparent the choice of kindness was probably not the best.

Despite the look of the tray’s contents, it was very clear that almost all the meal was slightly burnt. This shouldn't have been surprising to Starlight, since usually all of Twilight's cooking was completely burnt beyond repair. This was the main reason when cooking was needed in the tavern: it was best to leave it to Starlight or Silver Pear.

Starlight had hoped, though, that with this sign of generosity, there would have been a bit more thought behind it. "Oh... thank you. It looks delicious." Starlight kept a smiling face as she brought the blackened apple to her mouth.

Twilight's face fell flat. "I know, I know. You don't have to eat it."

"Really?" Starlight looked confused at her words. "No, you worked hard on this." She took her bite, only to seal her mouth up in her best attempts to keep the contents down and prevent bile. "Mmm... good."

"Sometimes you are a worse liar than Silver Pear. Besides, it was his idea." Twilight deadpanned as she pointed to the stallion in the room.

“Hey don’t pull me into this. I’m the one who told you didn't need to roast the apple, especially with those kinds of spices.” Silver Pear held up his hands in distress. "And who's cook cereal?!"

"Don't worry, this wasn't the only idea for an apology."

"Oh, thank goodness." Starlight felt a sigh of relief fall over her as she put the apple down and got up. "Wait, an apology--" she was stopped as the bile rose back up and she disappeared in a puff of black and white smoke, presumably to the bathroom.

Silver Pear tried his best to hold back his laughter, and Twilight facepalmed.

"Don't worry, it will make sense later." Twilight let loose a smile. "Get downstairs as soon as possible." The two left Starlight alone, much to Silver Pear's annoyance.

Starlight's room itself wasn't empty of occupants. Sitting in a cage beside a window was an all too familiar brown spider. Gáidaros stretched out of his cave at the sounds of the flushing. The brown spider looked around before walking over to a web.

On the web was a fly that was perfectly tied into place to ensure no escape. Not remembering catching it last night, Gáidaros crawled right over and snatched it. He smiled at the scent of Twilight, happy to know that she also took the time to apologize to him as well. The brown spider dug his fangs in, sucking up the juices. As he ate his breakfast, his eyes wandered over to the rising sun in the distance.

“I’m not a fan of light and all its 'glory',” the spider spoke. “I can say with what good in my heart that this is indeed a beautiful morning… I will miss these kinds of mornings.”

The brown spider’s eyes wandered down the window to the road below. He continued to eat while watching the creatures of the town wake and walk through this pleasing morning.

******

Through those slowly growing crowds were many words being spoken. From the enormous mass talking about the coming war to the medium amount of daily grocery lists and even a small few wanting an early cider, begging for the Wolf’s Apple to open. Among those small few was Rainbow Dartz.

The stallion could rarely get far without a good drink, and, unlike most, Monday was his favorite day, because it meant the tavern would open once again. “Anytime now.” He rubbed some drool off his five o'clock shadow. As soon as he heard movement from the tavern, he reached for his pockets. “Alright, time to get my…” his hands moved erratically. “Wait, I know I brought my--”

A green blur passed by Rainbow Dartz, nearly knocking him off his feet. “Did you lose something?” a voice echoed from the green blur as it zipped around him.

“Yeah, Hermes I lost…”

“No, wait, let me guess… Your hand sanitizer?”

“No… my--”

“Hold on, I know, your belt!”

“I don’t wear a belt. My--”

“No, you're right, it’s not that,” the green blur couldn’t hide his giggles, “Hmm, your pants?”

“What? I’m wearing my pants?! Can you even see while running that fast?”

“Not sure, I’ve never crashed into anything.”

“Tell that to the pedestrians…” Rainbow Dartz snarked back. Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind. Despite recovering from a hangover, this sly drunk recognized what to do to get past this early morning annoyance. Holding his foot out, he closed his eyes and waited for it…

“Hmm, Oh I know you lost your wallet--” The green blur’s voice was cut off as he tripped and hit face-first into the wall.

“Yes… I lost my wallet, now how about you use that speed to go back to my place? I need somepony to pick it up, so I don't lose my spot in line.”

"Line?" Hermes spun his head around in a blur of movement. Despite, the dark blue pegasus's complaint, there wasn't much of a line at all.

“Oh, you want to buy something in the old tavern.” A fresh voice spoke up. It was filled with an honest grain that Rainbow Dartz took as familiar. He was too busy to care who it was... as long as it wasn't an ex asking for alimony.

In the end, though, he turned to see the owner of the voice... in case. The voice belonged to a rather foggy red stallion in ragged of clothing standing over his height. The foggy red stallion's face couldn't be seen as he wore a thick hood.

“And who might you be?” Rainbow Dartz raised an eyebrow and took a strong step forward. Determination to keep his spot in a line that didn't exist.

“That doesn’t matter, is the price still the same after all these years?” The foggy red stallion smiled at the dark blue pegasus’ nod. “Good, this should cover it.”

Before Rainbow Dartz could object, the foggy red stallion took his hand and placed some money in it.

“It’s okay, I decided I wasn’t going inside.” The foggy red stallion walked off.

“Who was that?” Hermes scratched his head as Red Steel picked him off the floor.

“I don’t know— Ah! Red Steel, when did you get here.” Rainbow Dartz jumped back.

“Silly, he was here the whole time.” Hermes jumped away from Red Steel's arms and into Rainbow Dartz’s arms.

“... Of course he was? Now get off me.” He knocked him back to Red Steel. “You two are perfect. One is too silent to be noticed and one is too loud to crash into.”

“Yea!!” The green griffin threw up his arms in joy. “I love that idea. Me and Red Steel, thick as thieves. Or maybe more…” He blinked his eyes fast at Red Steel for some reaction. The tall wall of buffalo gave a blank stare with no words. “Yeah, you're right, we should be friends.” The green griffin used his wings to push himself free and land on the ground upright. “After all, Twilight says friends are better as best friends than anything more.”

“That’s not even close to one of her sayings about friendship.”

“Speaking of friendship, it looks like you have expanded yours.” Hermes pointed at Rainbow Dartz’s hands.

“I’m not sure how friendship works… But hey, if he returns tomorrow with more money to give me, I’ll be his friend for life--” His words were cut short once he saw how much money the foggy red stallion had given him. His eyes went wide, and a sourness poured over him.

Hermes leaned over and looked at the amount in his friend’s hand. “... Wow, that is the exact amount for the most basic small-size cup of cider, tax included.”

“... no extra drink…”

Laughter poured out of both the griffin and buffalo. Their laughter echoed to the skies and back to Gáidaros, who was facepalming at the actions that happened.

******

The Sun's warmth tore through the thick clouds and onto the road. It cracked through almost any openings in the sky and knocked away every shadow from the night before.

An assortment of different species strolled past Starlight and Twilight without a care in the world. Griffins, sirens, donkeys, hippogriffs, and ponies alike were all walking by. War seemed on the horizon, very little would know this purely by looking at this old town alone. This place rarely had problems, and even when it did, it would be settled as quickly as it started. most of the time, many creatures were simply too busy to hold grudges. The alicorn and her student were among the ones to cause the least problems, and today was no different. Twilight looked like she was on a mission. Starlight, meanwhile, seemed bored with all this walking.

As they walked, Starlight tried her best to figure out what Twilight was up to. Her teacher’s recent actions made little sense. Yesterday, Twilight had been raging about the war that was most likely to break out any day, yet now it was as if none of that mattered. Starlight wanted to be happy about the smile on her teacher’s face, but there was something hidden under it.

Starlight's mind wanted to race back to plans she originally had for the anniversary of the event that trapped them in this timeline. It was tomorrow and everything she had thought up had been tossed to the wind with Twilight's outburst yesterday. She wondered if she could fix things.

“What's wrong?” Twilight's voice broke through the buzzing thoughts of the unicorn.

“N—nothing.” Starlight turned her head away from Twilight. “It’s that usually you only wake me up this early so we can get extra training.”

“Nah… no training today.” Twilight’s voice slowed, and she almost went jumpy.

Starlight's eyes went wide, and she giggled. “Wow, and I thought I was a terrible liar today.” She reached over and placed her arm over Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on, Teach. What's with the attitude change?”

“Nothing...” Twilight pulled the arm off and walked forward.

Starlight deadpanned. “Okay. can you at least tell me where we are going?”

“Don’t worry, we will get there soon.” Twilight’s smile faded once her face was out of the sight of Starlight. Yes, Twilight was happy, but unbeknownst to Starlight was also feeling the poison of guilt about anything that happened yesterday. Things today needed to go perfectly.

Without warning, Twilight came to a stop. “Well, here is our first stop.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow at the place. “A… butchery. But why here? We don’t even eat meat. Plus, the tavern gets its private stock meat for those certain customers.”

“I know that, but that’s not why we are here.” Twilight moved a little closer and made sure there was no dust on her clothes before knocking at the door.

There was no answer.

Starlight’s mind grew with confusion. To her, Twilight almost looked hesitant. “Oh, what’s wrong? Why are we here?”

Twilight didn’t answer. Instead, she gave the door another knock. Again, there was no answer. The alicorn tapped her foot twice before giving the door another knock, this time louder. “Where is he?” Her voice let slip words she didn’t want Starlight to hear.

“Who?” Starlight walked closer and looked directly at Twilight.

Twilight reached over again and knocked even harder. This time there was distress in her mind as Starlight could see the alicorn's wings tense up behind her cloak that was always used to hide them.

A moment passed and again… no answer came from the door.

“Okay, what is wrong?” Starlight gripped at Twilight’s arm before another attempt could be made.

“… Crimson isn’t answering.”

“Crimson?” Starlight blinked twice. She looked back and forth between Twilight and the butchery until it finally hit her. “Wait… is this where Crimson works?”

“Of course.” Twilight pulled her arm free and placed her hand on the door. “You didn’t know that he worked with meat?”

“No, I knew he worked with meat, didn’t know where.”

Twilight giggled, “Well, where else would he work?”

“Okay, that still doesn’t answer why we are here.”

“Well, I…” Twilight found her words wandering before finally up higher. “I wanted to say sorry to him as well.”

“Wait… did you yell at him too? Damn, Teach, your rage knows no bound--”

“No!” Twilight raised her voice. She was annoyed now, sure she never liked it when Starlight referred to her as Teach as it felt insulting, but Starlight was laughing even louder now. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize the true reason that Starlight was laughing.

“Stop laughing. He helped me get something off my chest last night.”

“Really?” Starlight was still skeptical. “You know that if Silver Pear was here he would ask how he helped you?” Starlight leaned inward with a devilish grin that perfectly brought a massive blush to Twilight's face.

“I and Crimson are not like that at all. You already know I choose to not have any relationships until we return to our time.”

“So, does that mean you are seeking? Or maybe Crimson can't live up to that Flash you sometimes dream about.”

Twilight's face glowed bright red, and she threw up her hands into the air, “That's it. If he is simply too busy, then I will leave a note.” On that, she conjured up her notebook. Quickly she wrote something and used her magic to teleport the note into the butchery, where she hoped that Crimson would find it.

“That's it?”

“Yeah,” Twilight smiled and her blush faded into a flush of rage. “Now come on, we have work to do before we get back to the tavern.” She grabbed her student by the arm and pulled her away.

“Hmm, speaking of which? Do you think Silver Pear is handling it fine? I have my doubts.” Starlight scratched her chin.

“You always seem to doubt that stallion of yours. He will be fine.”

“Yeah, I guess he will…” Starlight’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute, what do you mean by ‘my stallion’?” Twilight let go of her student’s arm and ran ahead at her questioning. Starlight's face grew with anger. “Hey now, I see what you're saying. He is not my coltfriend.”

“Oh, you’re allowed to bug me about Crimson and even Flash, yet I’m not allowed to bug you about Silver Pear.” Twilight giggled at her student’s distress.

“Exactly. Wait, I mean… There is nothing between me and him. He flirts with every mare... and stallion... and even tree. Trees!” Soon they were both laughing as they went to their next stop. "Wait a minute, what was that letter?"

Twilight laughed even louder. "Isn't it obvious? I'm inviting guests to the party."

Starlight stopped at those words. "Huh... what party?"

Twilight's movements came to a complete stop. It was so abrupt that it caught Starlight completely off guard. As they stood still, waiting for an answer, a few snowflakes flew past Twilight's face.

"Teacher..." Starlight spoke through the silence.

"Starlight, hmm, I decided I am going to train you today."

"Wait, what?" Starlight took up her guard. "Here, now. I don't even have my gentlemare sword--" Her words were stopped as Twilight puffed from sight.

Starlight surged her horn with magic. She swung back and forth, looking for any sight of Twilight. Her mind raced on anything that would provoke this training. Yet, her thoughts were also on her teacher's words. What party was she even talking about?

Despite how long she thought, no answer came to mind. All she could do now was wait for Twilight to reappear. Suddenly, though, she felt a heavy weight on her head. It was pushing down on her mane. She reached up, only to stop once she realized there was a foot on her head.

She jumped back and Twilight landed back down. "This won't be training with swords, but words." Twilight stared at her with an evil glare.

"What do you mean?" Starlight stared at the fact that Twilight had her hands behind her back.

Twilight caught on to her student's keen eye. She was surprised. To Twilight Starlight’s greatest weakness was her inability to chance on to the obvious. Of course, this was indeed one of those times, as Starlight still had not let go of her magic. The teacher sighed at her pupil's fault and revealed what she had. "Here, read this?"

Starlight let down her guard at the sight of a rather large purple book. She quickly caught it but was unsure why she was about to read this. "What do you mean by 'read this?"

"I mean read. This is a book for my five friends. It’s not my original copy as that one is still in our timeline, but it is one that was made during our two years here through good old memorization." Twilight horn glowed, "Now obviously you don't have to read all of it, chapter eighty-two."

"Okay..." Starlight raised an eyebrow at this. "Why that chapter?"

"The chapter is called Similar Opposites and has to do mostly with my friends Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy."

"Wait, Opposites! I met those two, they are practically the same. I bet if I were to blindfold myself, I wouldn't be able to tell those apart at all, even by voice."

"Oh?" Twilight turned around and ran off. "Then that will be your training for today while we invite more guests to the party."

"Wait, what party?!" Starlight rushed after her

"Also, I expect you to carry some stuff as well." Twilight laughed aloud and continued to run, only this time much faster.

"Oh, come on?! I thought there wouldn't be any training today?!"

******

Loud noise tore through the tavern as the business of both worked and play made itself very clear to any onlooker. Inside Silver Pear did the best he could to dodge the voices flying through… well, the male voices anyway as he didn’t mind taking time out of his work to flirt with the nearest female patron, especially if they were new patrons or ones he still hadn’t slept with yet. Starlight was often on his mind… well her rear mostly he did often make moves on others, sometimes mares, sometimes even stallions.

Meanwhile, Granny Apple was at a thick round table playing a game of poker with Lighttone, Hermes, and Rainbow Dartz. Lighttone was simply passing the time until his medium-rare roasted turkey covered in pigeon leg sauce was done, Rainbow Dartz was trying his best to increase the amount of money he received so he could finally get properly blind-stinking drunk, Hermes was completely lost in this game despite having the winning hand for the third time in a row and Granny Apple was, of course, dominating the game with confidence as always.

Indeed, the place was filled with so much joy. Outside, though, was a different statement. The foggy red stallion from before watched from a window, making sure no one noticed him at first. His heart filled with joy but his face for what could be seen as nothing but sadness.

“Nothing changes around here,” He chuckled. “Always joy in this place.” He found the strain in stopping himself from tapping his foot at the blues playing in the background.

“Silver Pear. Not again.” He laughed at the slapping sound that echoed forth through the blues. He noted the bright red mark on Silver Pear and walked back to the kitchen. "You still keep the dream going."

After a few more minutes of watching, the foggy red stallion pulled his head away and looked at the clock tower, looming over them all. "Hmm, it's almost nine, I better go find myself some breakfast."

He turned his attention to the road. However, he crashed into a light blue siren filly. "Oh, sorry."

"No, it's okay, it was my fault." The light blue siren filly looked back and forth. "I'm sorry, I was looking for... my dog. He's big and gray."

"Hmm, sounds familiar. I guess I'll let you get back to it." He rubbed the filly's mane and went back to his business. "I hope you find him."

However, as he left, the light blue filly smiled and stood still instead of looking for her doggy. A deeper voice echoed from her mouth, "Hmm, could it be?" She stared at the foggy red stallion for longer than needed. "I think I did."

******

On the other side of town, the laughter of two beings out of time filled the market area as they explored. Starlight tried her best to read through the chapter of the large purple book and her teacher's less-than-pleasing writing style while attempting to keep up with her teacher's mission.

Twilight was gathering supplies as they were yesterday, though, this time Starlight was caring for the stuff. At the same time, she was inviting more to the party.

“Hmm, not this.” Twilight put down the brown book with fancy writing on it.

“What?! Not that one either, but you looked at it for a solid ten minutes. Beside…” Starlight reached over to the book, “The Encyclopedia of pneu mu… pneumon oulti… pneu monoul tramicro.” The fancy writing made Starlight take multiple attempts, each time being nowhere near the right answer.

Annoyed, Twilight finally grabbed her student’s mouth shut with magic. “The word you are looking for is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

Starlight puffed away the spell over her mouth. “Wait, that's a whole word! There is no way that's a proper word.”

“Of course it is. It is the name for an infection or disease related to the inhaling or skin absorption of dust-size crystals.”

“Really?” Starlight was in complete disbelief. “Does that happen often enough to be given such a long and ridiculous name?”

“Not too often.” Twilight raised her index finger, “Actually the strangest thing is today’s newspaper reported pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis case happening last night.” She turned around and grabbed the book. “Hold on, this means I have to give this another read.”

“Wait, another read?”

“Of course, I’ve already read this copy four hundred and eighty-two times. I need more information now, though. Did you know that the recent case involved a group of zebras in the south?”

“Oh, joy... I’m certain you will tell me everything about this…” Starlight couldn’t help but give a deadpan. In the end, she knew once Twilight went into what she referred to as ‘ultra-teacher mode’, there was no way to stop her from talking.

“WAIT!!” Twilight stopped her train of words and halted her movement so fast that Starlight nearly crashed into her.

“Now what?”

“This isn’t the Encyclopedia of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Documentation IV Edition, this is Encyclopedia of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Documentation V Edition.” Twilight practically couldn’t hide her happiness.

“And that’s good how?”

“I haven’t read this copy. Who knows? It may have a report of the zebra case from yesterday.”

“I highly doubt they updated it that quickly.” Starlight’s words fell on deaf ears as Twilight walked back to the counter.

“I would like to rent this book. I'm going to need plenty of time reading this, so give me the longest amount of time you can.” Twilight gave more money to the thin red mare working the counter.

“Certainly.”

“Really?” Starlight rushed back over. “Don’t tell me you are going to read that one as many times as the last one.”

“Of course not.” Twilight turned toward her and gripped the book to her chest. “I’m going to read this easily three times as much, maybe even more.”

Starlight gave no words for that answer, the blankest deadpan she could muster.

Twilight couldn’t laugh back at her student, as happy in getting a new book, but also happy that her student had learned well from her own deadpans. “Wow, that was near as epic as the deadpans I’ve given Pinkie Pie.”

“Sure.” Starlight turned away. "Can we go now? We got more stuff to do."

"Give me a minute," Twilight wrote and noted and gave it to the thin red mare.

The red mare took the note and read it silently. “Sure, you can see me there as well.”

“Thanks, Jezebel. Invite any others that you can.” Twilight took her leave. "The more, the better."

“Wait, Twilight. I couldn't help but notice you were looking for something else,” Jezebel questioned.

“Yeah, I was. I was looking for a gift for a… friend. a friend.” Twilight stomped her foot down loudly to make sure it wasn't twisting. “I wish I could--”

“Wait,” a white siren mare with a big bust beside Jezebel interrupted. “Wish! I think we have what you need.”

“What do you mean, Izabel?”

“Hold on,” Izabel reached behind the counter, her ample size constantly getting in her way. “Wait, wait, I, I, got it.” The mare got back up and brought out a chest with strange writing on it.

Twilight’s eye went wide. “What is this?”

“I found this in the attic at my father’s old house. In some chest, he refused to open. Despite that, I opened it a few times when I was younger and I was overjoyed to see this.” She opened it.

Twilight’s eye glowed at the brilliant hue of a necklace with a turquoise pearl at the center. “Oh, it’s beautiful, but not my taste. I know a unicorn back where I'm from that would adore this.”

“Take it, it’s in the house.”

“What?” Twilight jumped back a bit.

“You were looking for a gift and I’m certain this will work perfectly.”

“I’m not sure how Crimson--”

“Oh, so it’s for Crimson?” Jezebel and Izabel both giggled.

“It’s not like that. And besides, I doubt he is the jewelry type.”

“Oh you are silly,” Izabel continued while giggling. “This isn’t for wearing constantly. give the inscription a read.”

Twilight leaned her head over the spot the white siren mare was pointing at. “Here lies the wishes of Morpheus. May the dreamer’s wish always be granted.” Twilight pulled the turquoise pearl necklace out and held the prize gem close to her eyes. “Wait, is this powered by some form of magic? Why would you give me such a thing?”

“I’m not sure about any power. All I know is my father never wanted me to touch it. So when he kicked me out yesterday I took it from him when he wasn’t looking.”

“Oh, to teach that cruel father of ours a lesson.” Jezebel bumped her shoulder against her sister's.

“Surely. Besides, if it is real, I’m certain you and Crimson will find better use out of it than he ever would.” Izabel reached over and caressed her hand around Twilight's chin. “Come on, you may work at a bar and he may work at a butchery, but we all see you two constantly looking at new magical stuff. You two can't hide your magical natures. I’m sure you both will get enjoyment out of studying this too.”

“You think so.”

“I know so. Besides, you are the biggest customers of books we're ever had. Consider this payoff for store credit.”

"Come on, Teach. Quit questioning and take the gift." Starlight pulled Twilight away to their next stop. "If we wait here all day, we won't have time for this party you keep wanting."

******

A rush of movement failed to get Rex's attention, as he finally noticed the darkened spot on the map. "If this is like the other, then that means one of the Alathar has been moved." He moved his fingers back and forth between the two darkened spots. "hna takmun raghabatin Morpheus. narju 'an yatima manh raghbat alhalim daymana." He retraced over a certain word. "Hmm, Starswirl, who is Morpheus?" He called out.

Starswirl's head appeared from a puff of cotton candy. "Hmm, if I remember correctly, Morpheus is the alicorn of dreams and husband of Cassandra, the alicorn of nightmares. He forged the dreamscape itself."

"Okay, thank you. That will be all."

"Are you sure? You don't seem to notice the surrounding rush." Starswirl spun his head around the room.

"Yeah... sure... rush..." Rex went back to reading.

Annoyed upon realizing that Rex had already tuned him out, Starswirl took his leave.

Rex traced his fingers over the writing again. "hna takmun raghabatin... hna takmun raghabatin... Here lie the wishes of Morpheus. May the dreamer--" However, he was stopped in his tracks at finding himself being launched away from the table. His body flew toward the wall as the ship turned to its side. The force was quite unexpected. He threw out his arms. His chains shot out and grabbed the nearest table as all of them were part of the airship's body and therefore wouldn't move with him.

The same could not be said of the map as it flew past Rex's eyes. He gritted his teeth at this and attempted to reach for it with his foot. Out of nowhere, a cloud of cotton candy appeared to catch the map.

"Thank you Starswirl..." Rex huffed in annoyance.

"You're welcome, old friend." On that, the cloud vanished with the map in tow. This only brought more annoyance to the umbrum as he lowered himself down to the nearest wall as the airship adjusted itself.

"Arg, sorry for the sudden stop, everyone." Fredricson's voice bells over the intercoms.

"You have terrible timing, you damn pirate." Rex picked himself up. It was at this moment did he notice all the movement from Clover and Lady Cat as they raced back and forth. The two mares were unaffected by the rush of movement, as they saw it coming. Plus, it helped that Lady Cat could fly. As for Clover, she was never the best with telekinetic magic, she had some promise at self-levitation.

Directions of movement from the two mares were centered on the front, so it was clear to Rex they knew the focus of this interruption.

Soon he too arrived at the front of the cockpit, where Fredricson was eating a sandwich. "Okay, I was in the middle of finding where the next Alathar might be. Do any of you mind telling me why we suddenly stopped? And please don't say it was because the pirate here needed a sandwich."

"Arg, don't get mad at me. It's the little filly that is to blame." Fredricson pointed to Adagio.

"What does the filly want now?!" Rex tossed up his hands and leaned into the door.

"Maybe, you not yelling at her," Clover pushed Rex out of the way and brought over a lollipop for the siren filly.

"A candy?! That is all."

"I see you're always terrible with children," Lady Cat also pushed him out of the way.

"I am not!" Rex threw out his annoyance and walked over to the nearest wall to lean on instead.

"Enough you four. We need to find the real purpose for the filly's outburst." Starswirl pushed Rex away from the wall as he puff out of it.

The old wizard walked over to the filly and knocked away the lollipop in Clover's hand. He leaned down to Adagio's height, giving her a cup of chocolate milk instead. "So little filly can you tell us why you demanded Fredricson stop the airship."

The orange siren filly took the chocolate milk and sipped it before finally answering. "I... I sensed her."

"Who?" Starswirl snapped his fingers, and the glass refilled itself.

Adagio took another drink and finished her words. "I sensed one of my sisters... I sensed Sonata Dusk."

"Hmm, where?"

She put the glass in her mouth and drank more while walking over to the nearest window. She pointed out to a town a few miles away. "That town, the one with the clock tower."

The town ahead of them was a mix of stone and wood. The stone structures seemed to circle toward the center where a clock tower stood.

******

Author's Note:

So a new chapter is here. I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to like, follow and or comment, whichever you think is best. If you want to keep up with the updates follow me on twitter. https://twitter.com/Gryphonstar5678