The pair of pegasi and one unicorn watched as Sunny carefully went around the table, sidestepping gemstones, going to each crystal throne, and brushing off the back, revealing an insignia on each. The closest to them was the trio of apples, then going counter-clockwise from there, it was the six-pointed star, a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, a trio of pink butterflies, a trio of yellow and blue balloons, and finally, a trio of cyan diamonds. Curiously, there were no marks of any kind on the smaller throne next to the six-pointed-star one.
By the time she worked her way back to her three friends, she had wiped her eyes and gotten herself under control.
"There's over a hundred gems in here, easy. Are you going to go through them all?" Izzy asked as she continued to rotate the first one in her hooves, watching the still image fade in and out.
"Absolutely. I need a way to transport all of these safely. If I just toss them into one bag, they might get scratched." Sunny said, as she picked up a second one, slowly rotating it in her hooves, and finding it contained an image of the guardians of harmony gathered around a picnic table with bottles of juice.
"These must be... Memories. Of the six of them." Izzy said as she gently set the gem down.
Pipp took a moment to think as she put a hoof to her chin.
"Zipp, you're faster than I am. Think you can get home and back before we lose the sun? My room, right dresser, third drawer on the left. You'll find a pile of silk patches. Bring as many as will fit in your bag. Sunny can wrap the crystals individually."
Zipp nodded at her, then turned back out into the hall, retracing her steps back out to the front, loving absolutely any excuse to take to the sky.
Pipp resumed filming while Sunny and Izzy began to collect the gems and organize them, putting them on the outer edges of the large stone table to get them off of the floor.
"We've discovered what appears to be some kind of throne room, with a large round table in the middle, and dozens upon dozens of these little gems, each with a still image inside. Was this how ancient Equestrians took pictures?" Pipp asked, talking to her future audience when she got these videos uploaded. She began to assist the unicorn and earth mare in getting the gems organized. There seemed to be three colors; topaz, cyan, and rose quartz, and Sunny began to wonder if it had to do anything with the memory they contained, or if it was just for aesthetic.
"What were these doing all over the floor in here?" Izzy asked carefully levitating another two gems over to the table.
"We have no idea how much time has passed. If it's not crystal, stone, or metal, it probably didn't last much longer than a century in here. For all we know, these were hanging all over the ceiling, and at one point fell all over the floor and table." Sunny said.
"Well, luckily we haven't come across any broken ones yet." Pipp replied. Indeed, some were a little scratched and scuffed, which was why Sunny wanted to handle them with great care to not damage them further.
Almost an hour later, Zipp came back with another backpack on her shoulders, and by that time, they had gotten all of the gems in the throne room on the table and organized, but hadn't had the time to look at them quite yet.
"Wow sis, how many silk scraps did you pack?" Pipp asked.
"Hopefully enough. By last count, we've got two hundred and twenty-two gems here." Izzy said, waving a hoof to the organized gems on nearly half of the table.
"Not just silk, you guys. I figured if we were spending the night down here, we could do with a good dinner, so I got stuff for carrot dogs, and some charged portable batteries for our phones; you probably haven't stopped recording since we got in here."
Hearing 'carrot dogs' made Sunny realize that she hadn't eaten since her late breakfast just before coming down here.
"Here ya go." Zipp said, handing Sunny a pile of square silk scraps.
"Thank you so much." Sunny said, accepting the stack of silk and setting them next to the first group of topaz gems. Next up out of Zipp's pack was a small plastic tub so she had something to put them in.
"When I got outside, the group chat got a few texts from Hitch. He said he'll try and make the time to swing by tomorrow after breakfast." Zipp said.
"Awesome, I'll send him a text when we get out by the tents. He could bring a new notebook so I can catalogue all of these. Oh, and Zipp..." Sunny paused, turning to the table and picked up one of the gems, and brought it over to her. "I found one I think you might like."
Sunny walked over and gently put the cyan gem into the pegasus' hooves, who then slowly rotated it. Her eyes widened and a smile slowly grew on her face when she saw the memory contained within; it was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, who was definitely posing for this picture. She recognized the navy blue flight uniform and goggles all too well from the metallic poster in the Zephyr Heights airship terminal. She believed they were called 'The Wonderbolts' or something. She recognized the pegasus as one of Sunny's wooden figures, the 'Guardians of Harmony'.
Zipp tore her eyes away from the crystalized memory, and smiled at Sunny as she handed the gem back to her.
"Must have been quite the world they all lived in." Zipp said.
"We can only imagine. At least for now." Sunny replied.
"With ponies like you, I doubt we'll have to imagine forever. Well, I'll let you get started getting these wrapped up. Meet me back out front in fifteen for some fresh fire-roasted carrot dogs, complete with all the toppings you could want."
So the girls found the castle a friendship again it's kind of sad to see it like this but another good discovery so they found the crystals the one the pictures all the memories of the past years so I wonder what kind of discoveries they're going to find this time
So... does Sunny even know about Spike? From what I gather from the movie, Argyle may not have known about him, so unless he's in one of those gems, Sunny probably will have no idea who that little throne was for...
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There was a Spike plushie on the floor of Sunny's bedroom when she was a filly, so odds are they knew about him
My only concern is those who would plunder the castle when they learn of its existence.
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Which is why they're sticking around to get all the valuable stuff out.
At some point, she's going to wonder if there's a town supporting the castle.
Wonder of they will find deeper parts of the castle preserved much better. I could also see the Spirit of the Tree not having vanished but just slumbered all this time, so they might encounter a "ghost", additionally Twilight's castle is right next to the School of Friendship, exploring the surrounding area might Just uncover the school. Discovering a treasure trove of artifacts and evidence of the other races.
Suggestions if Sunny found out how to transfer the memory into a projector she could have movie night. A literal documentary of 9 seasons of Friendship.
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Magic went into creating the place so perhaps magic can restore it.
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They can't plunder it if we do it first!
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No doubt evidence will make them wonder if they still exist. If they do, contact will be re-established. Lessons will have to be relearned. It might be a little harder this time since a princess hasn't guided Equestria for a while.
I was not expecting two updates in less than 24 hours! That's a fanfiction record! Make sure you don't burn yourself out, okay? Quick updates are a treat, but they can come with a cost if you dedicate yourself too much to crankin' 'em out.
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Hardly.
Once I did four updates in a 24 hour period.
Sunday and Monday are my weekend, so updates might slow down, but work helps me stir my creative juices.
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...I envy you so much now.
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Make the library a priority. Who knows what knowledge is in there!!
picks up da phone hello? yea?.... aha, okey, i'll be sure to say it, The Lost Library of Alexandria called, and it so approves, XDD
Superb work on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are, again, quite well done. Love to see the care taken concerning the valuables (as well as Zipp thinking to bring fresh recharge batteries for their phones and stuff to prepare a quick and easy meal). The stuff concerning the pictures and thrones was beautiful and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of this exploration as Sunny and her friends find out more about the Guardians of Harmony/their VERY probable ancestors as well as very possibly more about the other races too.
Anyway, definitely looking forward to more of this.
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While true, look at what this does to the time of no magic scale, though this may be just the strings that held the memories up and not the roots themselves (which would still be hanging from the ceiling somehow) or there should have been a large pile of wood on the central table (would the table itself survive in this case??) ...
Edit, wonder now if those roots were petrified so only the strings holding the crystals would be subject to time and decay ...
you know, this castle could become the site of the first Earth Pony/Pegasus/Unicorn effort to study the past since the separation of the three tribes and the loss of magic centuries ago. at least, some day; at the moment the ponies of today are still kinda getting used to each other again.
Twilight also kept the Mirror Portal to the Equestria Girls Earth in her castle's library. while I'd bet the mirror itself and likely the journal survived the ages, the machine that made it work any time likely hasn't survived the test of time as well. even if most of it had, it was a jury-rigged creation of Twilight's so most likely no one would have a clue how it worked; they'll likely have to send it to CanterLogic or a similar place for study. and that's even if they have a hint as to what it was beyond some kind of strange decoration around a normal looking mirror.
Boy that is a huge discovery for sunny and her friends to find the castle of friendship nice
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What a setup for a new story
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I think Twilight moved those books back to canterlot unless she wanted to keep some there for extra storage
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Oh, really? Must've missed that. Guess I'll have to watch again. What a shame.
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derpicdn.net/img/2021/9/25/2708781/full.png
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Could weirdly be the other races think the ponies are extinct sine they haven't seen them in moons. How odd might it be is say, Dragons had a better understanding of Pony history than the ponies do?
I see what you did there. This is a good story.
Good stuff definently liked and followed!!!
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The number of episodes (and specials+movies?) in all 9 seasons of G4?
Your question is as good as mine Izzy.
Damn, looks like they got a lot of work to do if they're gonna repair them.