Zephyr Heights
Due to their very early start that morning, well before the sun had come up, Sunset and Pipp were on the final approach to Zephyr Heights.
"Zipp may prefer free-climbing up the southwest face, but I myself prefer the main road into town," Pipp told Sunset as they approached Zephyr Heights' paved section as they came into the city proper, after cutting north joining the road that had been constructed next to the river which flowed south, bypassing the new road that went to Princess Twilight's castle.
"Welcome home, Princess Pipp," one of the gate guards greeted with a bow, as two more guards came out of the adjacent barracks and accompanied the pair into the city as the Princess' escort.
"Actually, if you want, we don't have to go straight to the castle first. We pass right by the Zephyr Heights Museum on the way," Pipp offered.
"Well, can we eat on the way? I don't know about you, but that granola bar from this morning has definitely worn off," Sunset commented.
"Now that you mention it, yeah, I could definitely do some lunch. What are you feeling? ZH has like, almost anything you could want."
"Let's see, I've done pizza, carrot dogs, hay sliders..."
"Cupcakes?" Pipp suggested.
"Yeah, sure. Let's break the rules. Dessert first," Sunset answered with a smirk.
"Private, could you please take Sunset's belongings to the castle's guest suite? We'll be a bit," Pipp asked, turning to the escort on her right. With a curt nod, the guard waited for Sunset to unhitch herself from the cart, and continued on towards the castle while she and Sunset cut off to the east towards the nearest confectionery. After a couple cupcakes each, they were on their way down to the Zephyr Heights Museum.
"Well, that hasn't changed a whole lot, at least on the outside," Sunset commented when she saw the exterior.
"You recognize it?" Pipp asked.
"It used to be Canterlot's public library," Sunset answered as they ascended the steps. They stepped through the doors and were immediately greeted by the receptionist.
"Hello, and welcome to, oh! Princess Pipp, Your Highness. Welcome back to our museum. May I help you with anything?"
Pipp shook her head politely.
"Just showing a new friend around before we head up to the castle," Pipp answered.
"Of course, of course, go right on in," the receptionist replied, waving them through.
"Yep... The walls look the same, but that's pretty much the only thing..." the unicorn commented, taking in her surroundings. Replacing the shelves upon shelves of books on both stories of the structure were now various displays. Artwork, artifacts, and other various displays lined the halls where endless rows of books once were.
Mirroring what had been happening the past few months with Maretime Bay's museum, the two story structure was now far more than pegasus history.
"One of the newest pieces," Pipp said, coming up to a metallic poster of the Wonderbolts. "Zipp was quite adamant about getting it restored and put on display. I think she's really hoping to revive the group. There's just the issue of... Well, mom."
"Not a fan of her doing all those dangerous stunts?" Sunset asked as they looked at more displays.
"More than that. You see, officially, my sister is Heir Apparent, and I know that's not what she wants to do with her life. I mean, maybe I could, but right now I don't want to think about how that would throw my content creation into chaos," Pipp commented.
"Yeah, I suppose if you don't aspire to something like that, it could really upend your life," Sunset commented, before stopping to look down the short corridor they had come to. It was various artwork on both sides, and on the back wall, which had a single large portrait of Cloudsdale.
"Can you imagine? An entire city in the clouds," Pipp commented, taking in the picture, while Sunset slowly stepped closer.
"I think this is the same hall... I wonder..."
Sunset stepped up to the painting, with just a velvet rope between her and the wall, and slowly reached forward, and gently tapped her hoof to the wall.
"What are you doing?" Pipp asked, nervous that the unicorn was disregarding the velvet rope. Sunset leaned over the rope, put her left ear to the wall, and tapped with her hoof again, her ear twitching in response, before standing upright again, and turned to Pipp.
"Pipp... What if I told you there was a secret passage here? Right behind this wall? Do you think the Head Curator would move this painting?"
Pipp's eyes widened at the request, but the princess had to admit that she was intrigued at 'secret passage', and Sunset even recognized the glint in her eye.
"And no streaming, Pipp. If it is still here, nopony was supposed to know about it."
Pipp gave a nod.
"I'll go see if I can find them," the pegasus replied before trotting off, and Sunset returned her attention to the wall, wondering if the mechanism had been removed, had been boarded over, and how hard it would take to get through. She was hoping her memory was serving her well; she didn't want to tear through a wall for nothing, but that tapping definitely sounded a bit hollow.
"Excuse me, miss?" Came a new voice, a well dressed pegasus stallion with Pipp at his side. "May I help you with something? Princess Pipp is saying something about a secret passage?"
Pipp took a step forward.
"This is Whirlwind, curator of the Zephyr Heights museum," she announced.
Sunset smiled gently at both of them, before looking at Whirlwind.
"Sir, how much do you know about this building?" Sunset asked, and Whirlwind cleared his throat.
"I do know that it's one of the oldest buildings in the city. Before it was a museum, I'm not sure. Records that far back are notoriously hard to find. I am aware of Sunny Starscout's new revelations on what happened in this city long ago, so I'm inclined to believe that this was a library repurposed as a refuge for homeless pegasi when their city collapsed."
Sunset nodded.
"I don't want to confuse you too much by going into detail about who I am or where I come from, Whirlwind. Suffice to say, I remember this building back when it was a library, and if my memory serves, there is a secret passageway behind this wall that was accessible to only the Princesses of Equestria. I can only assume that they attempted to hide it when things in the city started to go south, so that only ponies that knew it was here would be able to even attempt to get into it. I'm wondering if we can move these paintings and do that right now."
Whirlwind's eyes widened, but he put a hoof to his chin in thought. Pipp saw this and chimed in.
"If it helps, I can promise complete financial coverage on whatever it costs to repair the wall," she said.
"I don't think I'll have to tear down the whole wall," Sunset reassured. "My main concern is if the enchantment is still in place. If the panel mechanism is no longer there, a disenchantment spell is the only way we'll be able to even begin to get through, and those aren't exactly my forte," she confessed.
"Well, first things first," Whirlwind began after clearing his throat. "Yes, I can arrange to have these paintings moved shortly. Apart from those, with Pipp's reassurances, you can proceed once they're out of the way. Please mind your surroundings during your, um, disenchanting," Whirlwind replied, adjusting his glasses.
"I'll be careful, you have my word," Sunset reassured him.
Several minutes later, he had a pair of museum technicians come and carefully remove the paintings, and also moved the velvet rope back to the front of the corridor, safely cordoning off the area.
"Alright, next, if you two could take a step back. I need to make this area as safe as possible in case anything does go sideways," Sunset warned.
Pipp and Whirlwind took several steps back, then saw Sunset's horn light up, a brilliant orange aura surrounding her horn. With a sparkling flash of light, the walls on either side, the floor, the ceiling, as well as the front of the corridor now glowed orange, and the two pegasi saw that Sunset had essentially encased herself in a glowing box of a shield, as she now turned her attention to the back wall where the painting used to be, and her magical aura now turned a sickly green. Whirlwind instinctually backed up almost entirely behind the corner, with Pipp doing the same at the opposite corner. They heard the unicorn take a deep breath, then lower her head so that her horn was pointed directly at the back wall, and a moment later, a green and black beam erupted from the tip of her horn.
Motes of green-tinted light began to emanate from the back wall, floating in midair for several seconds before falling to the floor around Sunset's hooves. The unicorn strained in concentration, maintaining the beam for around fifteen seconds, before it dissipated, and all the motes of light on the floor evaporated into thin air, as Sunset now struggled to stay on her hooves as her glowing transparent box shield faded to nothing.
"Hey, you alright?" Pipp asked, coming up to her, helping her stay up right.
"Yeah... Disenchantment spells are no joke, and neither are magic-induced headaches... Whew, undoing an alicorn-level enchantment... That's one for the books," Sunset commented as she rubbed her forehead.
"So what now?" Whirlwind asked, relieved that there had been no damage so far.
"Now..." Sunset paused to take another deep breath, before beginning to concentrate again, her horn lighting up bright, but this time there was no aura as she approached the wall. "We hopefully hit air and not caved-in boulders..."
Her horn must have been as scorching hot as it looked, because the tip touched the wall, and passed through like a hot knife through butter. There was some smoldering smoke, but little else, thankfully. Over the next thirty seconds, she very carefully cut a nearly perfect circular hole four inches wide.
"That's it?" Pipp asked as Sunset raised her head again and her horn stopped glowing.
"That's all we need," Sunset replied as she dug her smartphone out of her saddlebags, and turned on the flashlight, shining it into the hole as she peered closer.
"Bingo," she said satisfactorily with a smirk. "You two ready?" she asked, turning back to the pair of pegasi.
"Um, I believe I will wait up here, make sure no other patrons see this until you can verify it's safe. Whatever is beyond that wall, you've earned first look, after all." Whirlwind answered.
Pipp, however, stepped forward.
"Again, that's it? How exactly are we going to get through that hole?" the princess asked.
"No sweat. Here," Sunset answered, offering Pipp her left hoof. The pegasus stepped forward and took it, as Sunset turned back towards the wall, and her horn lit up again.
Whirlwind took a short step back as the unicorn's horn lit up again, and in a flash of light, Sunset and Pipp vanished into thin air.
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Ohhh she use the dark magic just like what Twilight did back in the Crystal Empire
Ok it looks like Sunset and pipp finally made it to Zephyr Heights but before they went to the castle they wanted to check out the museum first but apparently it used to be a secret panel in the wall that Sunset remembers back in the day and she use the dark magic to dispel the magic whatever is holding but after a few minutes she finally got it and whatever behind the wall is must be very secretive for something I wonder what is in there I guess we'll find out next time
Again, a really good job on the latest chapter. Definitely appreciated the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Really liked the Zephyr Heights Museum tour and Sunset admitting she knew the building back when it was a library and even proved it by revealing a secret passage (after making Pipp and the curator promise NOT to reveal this to anybody). And, yeah, Sunset using a small amount of dark magic to get through the passage security was a good callback too.
VERY definitely looking forward to more of this. And, you know, if you are really worried about possible upcoming canon ruining this, well, you can just break out the "Alternate Universe" tags if it comes to that.
Sunset is probably the only unicorn capable of teleportation in this era. Wonder when will she be appointed the Grand Magic Master of this new Equestria.
the archives, i am wondering if all of the spell's protected all of it.?
Interesting chapter, and very curious to see where they are headed.
Also, that picture... Mood.
Legend has it, the book Sunset was reading on Chancellor Puddinghead is still on the same table she sat at 😂.
Ooooh, now I'm wondering if anything is left in the restricted section. I like to think Twilight would make arrangements to keep anything dangerous from falling into the wrong hooves. It has been a long time, though.
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What is the alternative to keeping stuff down there then shutting it away?
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If it's really dangerous stuff, destroying it. Twilight would hate doing it, but she might see the wisdom in the idea that some knowledge has just too much potential for harm if used recklessly.
Ah the restricted section, I wonder if Twilight organized the whole library and fixed the broken catalogue machine, might be useful, who knows?
Ooh! They'll have to tell Sunny when they get back!
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You say that like she's not going to come running.
*insert Sunny emoji that we should absolutely have by now here *
Whatever they'll find I hope it isn't bad!
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Hehehe "My Archeologist senses are tingling! So are my Hitch-would-definitely-not-approve senses!"
Did you accidentally remove some sentences or a paragraph? The first sentence of this chapter said Sunset and Pipp were going somewhere, but then it suddenly cuts to Pipp talking about taking the road into the city.
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Time jump between chapters, not that uncommon.
Edit: I'm an idiot.
Final approach to Zephyr Heights I assume?
I do wonder what Twilight and the Princesses may have left behind before things went really down hill for Equestria and if they had left anything for Sunset or some other pony to find in the near future?
I'm looking forward to the next chapter to see what was actually left behind.
Oh. my. This is starting to get a bit more serious.
Forgot the y for the word, "they."
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That's not what that person meant.
This feels like you're missing something before Pipp starts talking.
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How the hell?
Fixed, thanks.
Lost Equestria History.. Some Pony hit a Mother Load! A few pony historians just got new life time projects to get lost in!
Sunset zaps things with her horn laser!
Unicorn attack! Mayonnaise!
*singing* “SECRET TUNNEL!!!”
Oh the restricted section.
Ah, the restricted section, I wonder if the books will still be there?
Ohh, Sunset, what ever are we going to do with you? Not even a full day back in Canterlot and you’re already breaking into the Restricted Section again.
Why would there be enchantments didn’t the magic eating Sphere take all magic away?
Sorry I don’t know if it’s spoiling or not to say that so.
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Very powerful enchantments, of which I'm assuming there were very few, remained.
Heh, chroncles of Amber trick. Take a picture, use it as a source for teleport