Legends of Equestria: The Long Road Back

by JimmyHook19

Farewell to the West

Mistmane hadn't slept at all well, truth be told. After what she was convinced had been some sort of psychic communion with the Pony of Shadows, her worries and concerns had kept her up most of the night. She had spent much of it trying to unravel many of the clues that existed within what the Pony of Shadows had said to her, and not all of it made sense. She knew he was somewhere in this world, but that didn't really help her or her friends a great deal. Later on, she did finally get some sleep, but it was short before the alarm clock went off.

She awoke tired and groggy, with enormous bags under her eyes. That morning, down in the tavern at breakfast, the others took notice of this. "Are you feeling alright?" Somnambula asked. "I have never seen you drink so much coffee before."

"Have I been drinking a lot?" Mistmane asked.

"That's your third cup," Flash pointed out. "You're gonna have a horrendous crash later on."

"She didn't sleep very well," Starswirl explained. "I heard her saying something about the Pony of Shadows in her sleep."

Mistmane looked at him in surprise. "Do you have any information that could help on locating him?" she asked.

Starswirl pulled his book up to his face and began flipping through the pages. "Pal... Pil... Pomegranate... Pony... Pony of Shadows! 'The best elements within us can spread light and virtue, and I know ponies who represent them all– strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery. Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But it wasn't long before another grew envious of our powers, and sought to rob the world of light and hope. This being, the Evil One, was vanquished to the world beyond dark space, but returned for revenge– to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have...'" He looked at the others. "That's all there is. Not hugely helpful, I know, but it's all I have."

"Great," Flash said, rolling his eyes as he dug into his food. "Not only are we fighting against a foe without our magic, tying a hoof behind our backs, but also we have no idea where the fiend is. Brilliant."

"You try decoding this then!" Starswirl replied.

"What do you mean? You wrote it!" Flash retorted.

"Can we please stop fighting?" Somnambula asked. "We have a bigger task at hand."

"That we do," Mistmane said. She placed her mug or tankard down. "Now then, once we are done here, I suggest we prepare to head out for our next destination, which is a fair distance."

"I've done long route marches before," Flash smirked. "Piece of cake."

---

After finishing their food and collecting their personal items, the four friends exited the hotel and got off on their way. They started their journey by heading to the north east, and then turned to the left before once more turning to the left.

"How many times have we turned left on this journey?" Starswirl asked. "We seemed to have turned left more than we have turned right! And I haven't seen a single roundabout on this journey either."

"Perhaps the people here can't cope with right turns," Flash joked. "I saw one of their race tracks once, and it had no right turns. Weird, eh?"

"Certainly odd," Mistmane mused, as she checked the next turning. "Ah! Here we are! We need to take the ramp." That they most certainly did do, and merged onto another of the big roads. Getting into the lane and the hard shoulder proved to be a challenge, as the road was once more filled to the brim with military traffic. Mistmane hadn't seen this many soldiers since the Unification Wars. The sky was thick with diesel fumes as tanks, trucks, and other vehicles rolled along, the combined noise of their engines threatening to deafen the travelers. Eventually, they took an exit off of this road, and walked across a bridge that went over a lake. It was after this lake that they took a rest to replenish water supplies and sort out equipment haulage for the rest of the trip. Later on, they paused at another rest area for food and drink, which was certainly in need and supply for them, before they crossed another river. They then crossed another river via a bridge, and then another river after that, but that was also on a bridge, the world area they were in being very short of ferries. They held to the right in another place, and shortly after that turned to a slight left, as opposed to an intense left. This was what they did not want. After turning to the slight left, they then made an exit via an exit road, followed by another exit, and then followed along another street for a bit, before turning right and ending up in the place where they were staying for the night.

That evening, as they were preparing for bed, Mistmane saw Starswirl at it again. "What are you looking at?" she asked the wizard.

"I am trying to find any clues as to where the Pony of Shadows may be," Starswirl mused. "'At the Temple of Ponhenge, we kept going towards the base of Foal Mountain, where we will make our final Stand. However, there is every possibility that we may not make it back, and others will need to continue the struggle against the Evil One when we are expired from this Earth. To this end, these artefacts will carry a fragment of our power, for that will allow others to stand against the Darkness.' The only problem is that gives us no idea where he is."

"The tank commander did say to go to Maxwell," Mistmane said, looking at the map. "That's on the outskirts of Montgomery, Alabama."

"A long way from here," Starswirl mused. "Well, I must rest. Good night, and see you upon the morrow."

Author's Note:

Apologies for the delay in getting Chapter 19 out. Had stuff regarding the Sonic Infinity Collab by that point on my DA page for of my side of it. ^^'

So anyways.... this will be the first of two chapters this week, as the 20th chapter will come out on the day before Christmas Eve 2021: Thursday December 23rd, 2021. :)