The Visiting Team -- Part II

by Lets Do This

Bring It All Together

The doors of the Solar Suite swung open. Twilight and her friends hurried out into the corridor.

Which was brightly lit again. The griffon ambassador was standing, hunched and apologetic, with his aide beside him looking similarly embarrassed. And Tempest was standing behind them both, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

"Tempest?" Twilight asked. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, the ambassador and I were just having a little chat," she said languidly. "About how he'd gotten turned around on the way to his quarters. And since he was in the neighborhood, he thought he might just pay a call on Equestria's rightful ruler, and beg the indulgence of a brief audience." She snorted. "Right, Ambassador?"

"Ah... yes," Egmund said quickly. "Very true, Commander. If we might be so bold, Princess?"

"Well, certainly," Twilight said. "What did you want to talk about?"

Egmund glanced at Tempest, and then tossed his claws in the air. "It's about this treaty, Highness! I have to say, I'm not entirely sure it's reasonable. But I can't get anyone here or at home to listen to me. In part because I can't point to anything I think is wrong with it. Because... to be quite honest, I can't make head or hindquarters out of it myself!"

"Really?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Indeed! The thing was started under my predecessor. And it's been back and forth through diplomatic channels so much, and rewritten and expanded on so many times, that I find it impenetrable! I just don't feel it's right to ratify an agreement when I can't tell if the terms are favorable to Griffonstone or not."

"Wow." Twilight glanced at Starlight, then at Spike. "I... wonder whether you might like to take a look at a simplified version of the agreement that we put together? Spike?"

Spike quickly produced the scroll, which he'd hung onto earlier, as part of his role as her note-taker.

Egmund took it doubtfully, read it over. And his expression turned from doubt to pleased surprise. "But... this is so clear and straightforward, Highness," he said. "It can't possibly be a legal document, it doesn't even read like one. But, nevertheless..." He held up a claw, examining it closely once more. "Yes, this all makes sense. I see you've even been kind enough to address the issue of that township that got cut in half. I could never figure out why we let that happen."

"So..." Starlight asked cautiously, "you'd be in favor of proposing this as an alternative?"

"More than that!" Egmund said. "I'd be happy signing the thing right now. Or, at an official ratifying ceremony, if we really need to have one. I suppose one must follow protocol that much."

"Really?" Twilight asked, amazed.

Egmund laughed. "Your Highness, I have no problem signing something even I can follow. And something tells me I should do so quickly, before the bureaucrats get their claws into it again."

"Then if it's all right with you, I'll ask the staff to make copies," Twilight said, taking it back from him. "And set up an official ceremony?"

Egmund bowed. "I would be much obliged, Highness. And may I say, though I had my doubts at first, if this is any indication of how Equestria's new administration plans to operate, then I look forward to doing business with Your Highness in future."

Tempest grunted in amusement. "Good to hear it," she said. "And now, perhaps the ambassador's party should return to their proper quarters? To get ready?"

"Of course, Commander, at once. If you'll pardon us, Your Highness?"

Bowing profusely, Egmund bustled off at speed, with Cherp scampering along in his wake.

And Twilight looked up at Tempest, an amused smile on her face. "Do I even want to ask what was going on out here?"

Tempest gave her a studied blank look.

"Just keeping the peace, Your Highness."

------------------------------

"The Castle of the Two Sisters," Sunset whispered in amazement.

It had taken a while, one pony at a time, to bring the others through. But finally they were all standing together on the edge of the chasm, staring at the ancient ruin on the far side.

"Uh... the what now?" Rainbow asked.

"The original Palace," Sunset explained. "Where Celestia and Luna once ruled a thousand years ago, back when the Everfree Forest was a lot nicer than it is now. Even after Canterlot's Royal Palace was finished, the Princesses still used this place as a kind of summer palace and retreat. They weren't ready to abandon it completely. Until, well... you know..."

She stamped a hoof in irritation. "I'm sorry, gang. If I'd known this was where we were headed -- and I should've guessed -- I could have saved us the walk. The Guards could have brought us here by chariot. They could have just flown us over all this."

"You couldn't have known for sure, dearest," said Rarity, putting a consoling hoof on her shoulder. "And if we did go the long way round, at least we know we didn't miss something. Being thorough counts, right?"

Applejack nodded. "Measure twice, cut once. But how do we get over there? There's a hoof bridge, but it's come unhitched from the other side."

"Hey, no problem!" said Rainbow. "I'll just zip down there, grab the end, retie it, and we're golden. Won't take a minute."

"Hold up, Rainbow," Sunset said. She pointed at the black, thorned creepers writhing across the ground all around them. "Those vines... they're not headed for the Castle."

"Oooh, you're right!" Fluttershy pointed fearfully into the yawning chasm below them. "They're headed... down there!"

Rainbow flapped a bit higher, peering into the distance. "Yeah, they're headed for some kind of cave opening down at ground level."

"Well, that's just grand," Rarity said. "And how do we get down there?"

Sunset checked her horn. It was still misbehaving due to the effect of the vines, so levitation or teleportation was out. She was about to ask if Applejack could fashion some kind of rope for them to use to climb down. Or if Rainbow and Fluttershy would mind ferrying them down.

Then there was a loud, painful-sounding series of noises coming from the chasm to their right:

"Woah! Oof! Ouch! Ow! Ugh!"

And, from the floor of the chasm below, Pinkie Pie scornfully called up to them. "Use the stairs, sillies!"

They hurried over and looked. There was indeed a long series of heavily-weathered steps set into the wall of the chasm, leading down into it. With Sunset in the lead, the others single-file behind her, the group made their way down the stairs to join Pinkie on the chasm floor. And then, carefully crossing over and around the vines converging on the cave entrance, they peered into the dimness within.

"The vines are thinner here than up there," Sunset said. "So it looks like they're heading in, not out. But who knows what we'll find in there, following them?"

// Nevertheless, into the dark //
// we must go. //
// For what these vines seek //
// we must know! //

Rainbow frowned at the zebra. "You're pretty gung-ho for a pony who was carting everything she owned away from this forest a while back."

Zecora looked calmly unoffended.

// Zebra in herds //
// are usually found. //
// With companions like these //
// my resolve is sound! //

Sunset nodded, then risked a luminance spell again. She found it was still weak and flickering, but reasonably stable as long she didn't apply too much power. "Okay," she said. "Let's check it out. Stay close."

The group edged into the darkness, huddled tightly together as if attempting to keep within the circle of light projected by Sunset's horn.

"Ouch! Uh, a little less close?" Sunset suggested, after having had a hoof trodden on for the third time.

"Sorry, Sunset," Rarity said. The group spread out a bit.

The cave tunnel ahead of them narrowed slightly, twisting a bit, then abruptly opened out into a large rocky cavern. And Sunset found her luminance spell was no longer needed. There was a dim greenish glow, filling the chamber. But what was causing the glow made them all gasp.

In shape, it was very like a tree, but formed entirely from crystal. It had a solid trunk that forked into narrower, angular branches. In color, it was a weak, sickly grey, and was projecting a dim, fungus-like glow, which made one feel ill just looking at it. The trunk and every one of the branches of the tree were ensnared tightly by the vines, as if the vines were deliberately strangling it.

"I think it's dying..." Fluttershy whispered, mournfully. "Those vines are sapping the life out of it."

"Well, all right," Applejack said. "So this is what we came looking for, a dying tree of some kind. So how do we go about saving it?"

Sunset edged closer, stopping when some of the nearer vines twitched threateningly in her direction. She was counting the tree's branches. There were five in all, each with a kind of dimple near its tip, where something had been removed. Something gem-shaped...

"Wait a second," Sunset breathed. "The Elements!"

"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie bounded happily. "Did Sunset just figure it out?"

"Maybe, Pinkie. This tree reminds me of the big tree-like stand the Elements of Harmony are kept on: five branches, each holding an orb which, when unlocked, becomes a gemstone. There are five branches here, each with a place where a gemstone would fit."

"And the tree itself is made of crystal," Rarity observed. "So maybe this tree thing is where the gems came from in the first place?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow added excitedly. "Celestia and Luna! They must have gotten those Element thingies from this tree!"

"Wow..." Sunset said. "It adds up. But there's still something I don't get. Celestia told me pretty much everything there is to know about the Elements when I was her student. I wonder why she never mentioned..."

Then Sunset's gaze fell on the large, six-pointed shape, set at the tree's heart. It looked very much like a pony's cutie mark... a very specific pony's cutie mark.

"And... as usual," Sunset observed quietly, "Twilight's hunch was right on the money."

She turned to the others, suddenly all business. "Okay, I think we've got our answer. We need Twilight and the Elements here, right now. Without them, this tree is unable to fight off these vines. We need to reactivate the Elements, and put them back on the tree to save it."

"Uh, awesome plan, Sunset," Rainbow agreed. "Totally with ya there. Just one tiny problem? We're here -- and Twilight and the Elements of Harmony, they're all the way up in Canterlot."

"And we've no way to reach her. Ugh," Sunset grunted impatiently. "I wish I'd thought to ask Twilight to loan me Spike. We could get a message to her pronto. But Spike's with Twilight, too."

"If wishes were horses..." Applejack said, shrugging. "Maybe we need to find some other way to reach her?"

"Except... wait a minute." Sunset tested her horn. "Yeah... it's a low-power spell, so it might get through the interference from the vines."

"What sort of spell, Sunset?" Rarity asked.

Sunset smirked. "Like I said, Spike's with Twilight -- which is exactly where we need him to be. Now give me a minute to recall this properly. After all, I only saw Princess Celestia do it once..."

------------------------------

Having witnessed the signing ceremony with the griffons -- to the evident pleasure of the griffons, and the befuddlement of the Equestrian diplomats, who found themselves with a copy of the new treaty they could carry home in a lunchbox -- Twilight and Starlight returned to the private audience chamber, and gratefully shoved the piles of paper and scrolls off the table.

Then they stared at each other.

"Now," Starlight suggested, "maybe we should think about organizing a rescue effort for Ponyville?"

Twilight nodded. "Assuming nothing else needs doing around here."

As she spoke, she heard the doors to the corridor opening behind her. Groaning in frustration, Twilight thumped her head on the table. Then she whirled to the doors, hopping mad.

"No! Whatever it is, it can wait this time! I need to send help to my friends in Ponyville, and I --"

She abruptly fell silent, registering who was standing in the doorway. There was Moondancer, of course, staring back at Twilight, wide-eyed. But behind her was a gray-maned, richly berobed pony with a very sharp-eyed gaze. Unoffended, he was regarding Twilight with the quietly indulgent amusement of an academic who has seen it all.

"I'm... very sorry about that, sir," Twilight said, astonished. "I didn't mean to shout."

The elderly pony bowed respectfully. "Chief Researcher Paradigm Shift," he said formally. "At your service, Highness. Though I'm only here because your very diligent Minister of Research here has made an unanticipated discovery, which she wished to inform you of. I came along merely to lend color and insight, if needed."

Moondancer grinned sheepishly. "Oh, it was team effort, sir, believe me! But Twilight, I did come across something important, something related to the Elements of Harmony." She trotted over to the table, and levitated a couple of small journals onto it. Paradigm Shift nodded to the assistants accompanying him, and they brought over several other volumes. But he and they remained in the background, merely looking on with interest.

"See," Moondancer said to Twilight, "we started by looking into who might be behind this: who might have a grudge against the Princesses. And of course, Discord's name came up pretty quickly. But since he's been reformed, it didn't seem likely he'd be behind this. But it got me wondering, how did the Princesses take him down so easily? You saw what a hassle he was for the seven of us. Legend tells us that Celestia and Luna used the Elements of Harmony to stop him. But where did those come from?"

She pulled over a journal, and flipped it open.

"I found this in the Star Swirl wing. It's one of his later journals, where he talks about using the growth of crystals to construct a living organism, which might last for a millennium or more. And look what I found, folded in amongst the pages. It wasn't even cataloged as ephemera, it just fell out as I was reading it."

Twilight looked at yellowed paper, bearing a brief series of notes in strict, almost typeset lettering. "This looks like Princess Luna's writing!"

"Yep. And she mentions not only this journal, but a couple other references as well, which I looked up." She pointed to a scroll and a journal which the assistants had brought. "The bottom line is, she believed Star Swirl the Bearded had somehow constructed a tree from crystal, to serve as a repository of magic, and potential source of balance in Equestria. Or as he called it, harmony."

"Okay," Twilight nodded. "A crystal tree, which is connected to the Elements of Harmony somehow?"

"More than that," Moondancer said. She brought over another journal, this one written in florid, graceful lettering. "Princess Celestia notes in one of her journals immediately following the Confused Era, that she and Princess Luna found this tree. The Tree of Harmony, they called it. And from it, they obtained the Elements of Harmony. This tree literally grew the Elements that she and Luna used to defeat Discord!"

"Wow. And then later," Twilight said, "Celestia had to use those same Elements to banish Luna." She gasped. "No wonder the Elements went inert. Using them for something like that -- it would be the very opposite of what they were created for."

"Right!" Moondancer nodded eagerly. "As Celestia describes it, the Tree was meant to serve as a kind of lynchpin, a source of harmony for all of Equestria. In particular, for the Everfree Forest. Look at this." She pointed to a particular passage in Celestia's journal:

Even without these Elements, the Tree of Harmony will still possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here...

"Do you see?" Moondancer was practically hopping like Pinkie Pie. "Something must have happened to this Tree, because the Everfree is so out of control."

"Wait a second," Twilight said. "The Elements came from the Tree -- but they were never returned to it. What if the Tree needs them to survive?"

"Yeah," Starlight said. "And what if this magic Celestia speaks of, that the Tree has to contain and control the Everfree... what if that's just about run out?"

Twilight nodded. "We should go have another look at the Elements, I think."

Working together, they gathered up the journals and scrolls that Moondancer had brought. And then they all set out at a brisk trot, with Paradigm Shift and his assistants accompanying them. Soon they reached the main gallery of the Archives, where Twilight stared up at the orrery, and the inert spheres of the Elements.

"I knew we needed these for something," she whispered. "The Tree of Harmony..."

Starlight nodded. "If only we knew where that was."

Moondancer shrugged. "Star Swirl himself didn't say where he'd planted it. And Celestia and Luna's journals and notes don't say either. I think maybe they felt it was necessary to keep the location a secret for some reason."

"Okay, we know what to do," Twilight summed up. "And how to do it. The only thing we don't know," she added sadly, "is where we need to be..."

Spike suddenly looked ill. Then he made a face and belched flame. A small scroll materialized in the air before them. "Huh? Where'd that come from?" Spike stared at it. And then grinned. "Woah! You think it might be Princess Celestia? Trying to reach us from whereever she is?"

"Maybe. Only one way to find out." Twilight took the scroll in her magic and opened it. "No," she said, in surprise. " It's from Sunset Shimmer."

"Sunset?" Starlight asked, amazed.

"Hey!" Spike demanded. "What's she doing using my message spell? That's for the Princess!"

"Maybe be outraged later, Spike?" Starlight suggested. "Right now we need to save the world?"

"Yeah, yeah," Spike muttered, crossing his arms. "Whatever."

"Well?" Moondancer asked, "what does she say, Twilight?"

Twilight read aloud:

Dear Princess Twilight (hey, sounds cool just writing it, huh?),
Have found strange crystal tree in cave near Castle of the Two Sisters. You know, in the Everfree Forest? Need you and the Elements of Harmony here soonest.
-- Sunset Shimmer.
P.S. Pinkie Pie says to say 'hi'.

"Sunset's already found the Tree?" Moondancer gasped. "That's amazing!"

Starlight shook her head. "What would we do without her, huh?"

"We'll ask Cheese to throw her a thank-you party," Twilight said. "Right now we need to get there -- and fast!"

Tempest was already waving over a nearby guard. "Locate the other Advanced Projects members," she snapped. "And have the Chariot and an escort made ready for immediate departure."

"Yes, Commander!"

"And," Twilight added quickly, "we'll need somepony to help us with gathering and moving these." She nodded to the Elements.

"At once, Highness!" The guard hurried away.

Twilight stared up at the Elements again herself. "I only hope we're not too late..."

Comments

[Turquoise pony]

This is strange, in the story there are three F's, but when I copy it for the comment, there's only two F's in effort.
"

Moondancer grinned sheepishly. "Oh, it was team effort, sir, believe me! But Twilight, I did come across something important, something related to the Elements of Harmony." She trotted over to the table, and levitated a couple of small journals onto it. Paradigm Shift nodded to the assistants accompanying him, and they brought over several other volumes. But he and they remained in the background, merely looking on with interest.

[Easysnuggler]

Im enjoying this AU but how did we get from the previous story to here?

[Lets Do This]

11416420
The previous story (also a two-parter) was
Who Needs Enemies, have you read that? What seems to be missing for you?