Northen Stars

by Flower03

Chapter 9

Two days had passed since they left the forest. Two days that had not been easy for Twilight and Spike.

In the first place, because the situation with the other member of their strange group had not improved a bit since that day. The truth is that it had never done so and they only tried to convince themselves that the tension between them could simply be ignored.

At least and for the time being, it hadn't resulted in any further confrontation between the princess and the dark stallion. The dragon was content to mind only his own business.

In general, heavy silences predominated, and she only exchanged the necessary words with the unicorn. And it's not that she hadn't tried to do otherwise.

Secondly, because even though they didn't go back into the forest, the fact that they were following a path that was right next to it was enough for them to not be able to relax completely. What had happened recently would not be so easily erased from their minds.

In those two days, Twilight tried to get some other information out of the unicorn about where they were now, but she could have done the same with a rock and gotten the same results.

In the end she had given up for the moment with a frustrated snort, deciding to keep quiet until she could find a way to find out. Because as long as she and Spike were in that situation, she wouldn't give up on looking for an answer.

But in the meantime, her mind couldn't help but revert to the thought of what exactly that place was. How was the existence of such an island possible? What did all this mean? What else was in it, and how was it connected to the outside world? And more importantly, how exactly did they get there?

While it was obvious that there were many pieces of land scattered in the seas around Equestria and even beyond, the fact that some sort of barrier surrounded the island completely and supposedly isolated it from the rest of the world was something she had never seen before. Or at least that's what she assumed, by not letting anything out beyond a certain limit.

Twilight tried to remember if any of the many books she'd read talked about such places, but the only thing she could remember at the moment was the theme devoted to the mysteries of islands appearing or disappearing. Strange situations in which the seafaring ponies that sailed the oceans swore that they were sometimes involved.

As interesting as those kinds of mysteries were, she never bothered too much to do enough research on those subjects. All her life she had decided to focus more on studying the complex paths of magic, especially pony magic.

Now she was a bit sorry that she hadn't been more curious about it. However, that didn't matter too much anymore now.

At the time, Twilight and Spike were on a short break in the woods, but they hadn't strayed too far from the main path. She realized it was a bit odd that an unhabited place like that had a fairly defined path, but she thought that maybe the geography of the landscape was conducive to that.

"I'm so bored!" Spike yawned tiredly, not bothering to cover his mouth. "How much longer are we supposed to wait here?"

"I wonder that too, Spike," Twilight said as she looked in a certain direction. "We're supposed to wait for him to come back."

The fact that Sombra had suddenly told them to wait there, then disappeared into the trees had caused Twilight to frown. And though she tried afterwards to extract some information from him about his intentions, all she got was an answer too vague to satisfy her.

Then she had tried in vain to persuade him to go with them to make sure that what he had said was true. On the other hoof, there was the fact that she just didn't want her and Spike to be left waiting there alone. Maybe he hadn't proven to be a reliable pony, but at least he knew and was a better option than facing the unknown.

"I think he just waited to leave for good, you know?" Spike gestured with his claw. "Maybe he left us at last."

"It's a possibility, but I don't think so." She yawned too, but she did cover her muzzle with a hoof. "I don't think he can get rid of us so easily, remember he just said to wait here."

"Is it necessarily obligatory to listen to him?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, not wanting to hold back another yawn, but suddenly her ears moved in a certain direction when she felt a noise behind her. She and Spike turned around in time to see the stallion in question come out from behind some trees, but they quickly noticed that he looked different.

Different in the sense that a dark layer covered his body.

"Move if you don't want to spend the night in this place," was all he said as he passed by.

Twilight was shocked enough that Spike had to nudge her slightly, but she reacted and finally came to. She grabbed her saddlebag quickly and stepped forward to position herself beside the stallion.

"How did you get that?" She asked as she looked curiously at the piece of cloth that covered it.

He only glanced for a brief moment in her direction.

"That doesn't interest you at the moment," He replied in a deep tone, his gaze once more drawn straight ahead as they followed the forest path.

Twilight snorted in annoyance after falling behind in her wake. It wasn't new that he decided to keep her in ignorance, but that didn't stop bothering her every time. And she had a feeling that it only pleased him.

"Yes, I'm interested," she whispered as she walked back to Spike's side.

The rest of the way they were silent, at least for a certain pair of ponies. The alicorn and the dragon, on the other hoof, went on with their own whispered conversation, mostly with Spike asking her questions.

"Where do you think we're going next, Twilight?"

"I don't know, Spike, but I have a feeling something's not right," she spoke softly, looking down and muttering to herself. "Where did he get that cloak?"

"I don't think it's that important to know that," he said without worrying too much about that aspect.

"It's more important than it seems," she said as she straightened up completely. "Normally that would mean..."

Twilight interrupted herself as a low sound began to reach her ears, Spike frowned when he noticed that he picked it up too.

"This is weird," he said, rubbing one of his fins. "I seem to hear murmurs."

Indeed, it was not something they had imagined as they soon began to hear the sound of voices and the hubbub brought by the rattle of what seemed to be wheels on the road, as if they were arriving at some kind of populated place.

And that was exactly what awaited them beyond the tree line, when a village opened up before the incredulous gaze of Spike and Twilight.

It was a small village that should not have had more than twenty huts built of wood and stones, which were irregularly distributed without any apparent order between them. And in a quiet walk or just standing on the thresholds of each home were ponies.

Mares and stallions covered in what appeared to be gnawed, dull-looking clothes who spent their afternoon as they worked moving wagons or simply preparing for the night that would soon fall. A group of foals ran quite happily around the village, distracted by their own games. Meanwhile, some groups of young mares were in what appeared to be a small market. The ponies in that village were just going about their day, not caring about anything more.

However, Twilight's mind was in a frenzy as she tried to find the logic for the new situation that lay before her. She still had a surprised expression on her face as she moved her gaze all over the place. She later recognized how one of the trails leading into the village was the same one they had traveled on their two-day journey.

"This is unbelievable," she whispered. "A whole village of ponies existing in a place that shouldn't exist. How are they supposed to have gotten here?" She asked herself.

"I've seen a lot of weird things," Spike confirmed, nodding slowly. "But that's definitely a very strange thing."

They both stepped forward with the intention of stepping out of the shadow of the forest, but before Twilight could get ahead and go any further, the unicorn's front hoof stopped her in her tracks. She looked up with an obvious frown that spread across her face at his action.

"Are you really going to go out that way?" He said with a serious expression in his eyes. "Take a good look at those ponies, princess. Do you really think they've ever seen a fire-breathing lizard or a creature of your race? Be careful how you proceed, we are not in the seemingly peaceful land that you think Equestria is." He finished his warning as he lowered his limb. "I suggest you cover up and your lizard too." He ignored the dragon's frown and walked out of the tree line.

Twilight had opened her mouth with the intention of saying something, but once again she was met with the fact that he was right. And that wasn't something she liked at all.

"What did he mean by that?" Spike asked with a slight grimace.

"I don't know how these ponies got here, but they may have been trapped for a long time, so they've probably never seen a dragon," she replied ruefully, turning her head in his direction. "Or a pony that has wings and horn at the same time."

"That... It makes sense," he said after putting a claw on his chin, then looked back at the village. "Somehow I feel like they live in another age."

"Hmp, I think you might be right," Twilight conceded as her gaze drifted in the same direction. "According to the way they dress and how the houses are built, they remind me of the past time described in the history books of Equestria, the period of more than a thousand years ago."

Spike could only give an incredulous whistle as Twilight fumbled for something in her saddlebag. Soon she took out the familiar pair of cloaks and divided it between them. At least the dragon now had no more big piece of cloth, due to a fraction of magic that the alicorn used to adjust it to his size. She just put hers on tightly to hide her wings in a good way and adjusted her clasp.

Spike pulled up his hood, and when they were both sure they could go relatively unnoticed, they stepped out of the shade of the trees. They managed to quickly integrate themselves into the flow of ponies that circulated along the road, and the two relaxed when they noticed that none of them seemed to have paid attention to them.

They both walked in a certain direction when they located the stallion, who had apparently waited for them all that time they had spent with unsuspected patience. However, the look on his face reflected his obvious irritation.

But as she watched him, Twilight ended up widening her eyes in surprise when she realized something much more important.

"You say Spike and I should be careful. But don't you think they'd be more surprised by you than by us?"

"Why should they?" He pretended to be surprised at her question.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she shook her head.

"Cause it's obviously not common to see a pony of your size and appearance," She pointed to his body, emphasizing his horn and eyes. However, she snorted in annoyance when she realized something else. "You know what? Forget it, you're not even going to tell me what I want."

"Then you shouldn't ask," Sombra replied, resuming his walk. He clearly had no intention of answering the question and bringing the princess out of her ignorance.

Twilight snorted again and went to where Spike was, a few feet behind them. She wasn't going to follow through with her insistence for that moment, but that didn't mean she'd forgotten it.

However, Twilight couldn't help but notice something strange as she avoided the habitants of that place. They did not seem to be as well as he had at first hoped. And in the end, she couldn't help but notice the somewhat jaded look she could see on the adults' faces. However, for obvious reasons she couldn't deduce what was causing this, because nothing she saw so far gave away a much bigger situation.

At one point, Sombra left them practically abandoned in front of what appeared to be a resting place, before disappearing in a certain direction. Twilight had just stood there, with strange directions and a rather annoyed and confused look on her face. But before she walked past Spike, she let out a sigh and took on a serious expression again, at least so as not to make a possible bad impression.

"Hello?" She hesitantly called out to whoever lived there.

A few seconds later an earth mare appeared, partially covered in a dull garb, as most villagers wore. However, the pale color of her mane made her blue eyes pop. She quickly walked over to where they were while responding with her own greeting.

"You were lucky today," The mare replied after Twilight had told her what the stallion had told her. "Some travelers usually pass through here at this time, but lately we don't get too many ponies, so we're mostly unoccupied."

"And you have... any idea why that happens?" Twilight inquired, perhaps in a subtle attempt to find out as much information as possible by another means, since her main source was not very cooperative.

The mare looked at her in a somewhat strange way that made her slightly embarrassed, though she quickly regained her composure.

"Everypony knows that the roads between villages can be very dangerous."

"You're right about that," said Spike suddenly, who had been silent up to that point, as he nodded firmly to her words.

Twilight looked down with a thoughtful expression as the blue-eyed mare gave her friend a curious look.

Her mind was still trying to analyze the situation as much as possible. At least it was clear to her that these were not the only ponies on the island, nor the only settlement. She knew that the question of why they existed there would have to be left for later, so she decided to concentrate on another aspect.

But after digging a bit deeper with their hostess, Twilight noticed something strange.

The ponies here seemed to be unaware of certain aspects that were normal in her own world, though that didn't really surprise her too much when she discovered it. After that, Twilight and Spike decided to go to rest.

"So what do you think of all this, Twilight?"

She frowned slightly as she disposed of her saddlebag and cloak in the safety of the room. It didn't take long for Spike to do the same.

"It's obvious that these ponies didn't have the same thing that happened to us. They weren't ponies from Equestria that somehow made it here, no, these ponies are native to this place, strange as that sounds," She replied. "What I find most strange is that they seem to live as if we have gone back a thousand years in the past and if we are to go by what we now know, a thousand years ago this probably already existed."

"Why is that? If this place has supposedly existed for so long. Aren't they supposed to have had the time to develop?"

After Spike posed those questions, Twilight lowered her head and touched her chin with a hoof as she took a short walk around the room. After a few moments, she looked up as she came up with a possible answer.

"Just as mist diminishes our magic, it makes sense that it does the same with these ponies," She confirmed as she clashed her hooves. "Since the development of our own magic has always been linked to the very growth of our species, it makes sense that by failing to reach or surpass their level they have not been able to change their conditions. However, this factor is still insufficient, so perhaps there are more issues that we do not know about", She ended up saying at the same time that she was running a hoof over her chin.

"Hmp, that's interesting, actually," Spike conceded with a thoughtful look, directing it somewhere on the wall, before returning it to Twilight.

As they both set out to relax in their respective places for the night, the sudden sound of hooves began to echo in the surroundings. Before they knew it, the door of the place opened completely with a bang and let a certain stallion in as he passed through the threshold.

It didn't take long for Twilight's face to furrow with suspicion as her mind highlighted something else important.

It was obvious that Sombra knew of the existence of these ponies beforehoof, he just hadn't had the slightest intention of sharing that information with them. A piece of information, apparently from Twilight, very important.

"You didn't tell us there were more," She reproached him as she watched him throw off his cloak, then hang it on a rusty hook near hers.

"It wasn't important for you to know at the time," He grumbled without turning. "That wouldn't have changed anything at all."

Twilight snorted in disgust as soon as the stallion let it out. She crossed her front legs as her face reflected the expression that she had several things to say.

On the other hoof, at the hint that Twilight and Sombra would start exchanging words on another occasion, Spike decided to settle down and lie down on his side of the bed with the aim of his good night's sleep. All this with the attempt to forget about both ponies for a moment. He only hoped that they wouldn't suddenly start arguing and interrupt his well-deserved rest.

He really needed it.

"How can you know that?" She asked with a sigh as she moved her hooves to lightly rub her forehead, right under her horn. "Neither Spike nor I know what's in this place, and even if we don't like it, we must take your word for it to try to get out alive and unharmed..."

"Tell me what you're trying to say at the end," Sombra interrupted as he held up a hoof to stop her words.

"I'm just trying to say one thing," She replied with obvious annoyance in her tone. "Don't you think it's best for both of us to know all the information that is vital so that nothing else takes us by surprise? That's what I think would be the best."

Sombra frowned at her for a few moments, then softened his gaze a bit, looking away. A hopeful little flame ignited in Twilight as she noticed that he might be considering it.

"The next route we'll take is about a day's journey from here, and it's the one we'll cross the mountain, to avoid making so many detours," He replied in a grave tone. "Of all the others, it is the least dangerous."

Although it wasn't exactly what she had asked, Twilight allowed herself to close her eyes with some relief.

"I'm a little glad you understood," Twilight murmured. "I just hope we don't have as much work as long as it lasts."

"All I can tell you is to prepare for that."

After Sombra said those last words, he simply turned and climbed onto his respective bed, in an attempt to take his own break from the whole situation. Twilight did the same too, but unlike the two of them it took a bit longer to fall asleep, and it wasn't for lack of tiredness.

The questions about it all occupied the thoughts of her mind for a while longer.

---

The next morning they all woke up and went out in silence without saying too much. Twilight was the only one who took it upon herself to thank the mare who had taken them in for their stay.

As Sombra had mentioned the night before, now Twilight, and by extension Spike, needed to walk a bit faster if they wanted to get to the road before dark that they would apparently take through the mountains with as bit risk as possible. They only hoped that nothing else would bother them on their journey.

After adjusting their cloaks once more, the three of them quickly left the other end of the village, just before the villagers began to leave their homes. Eventually, they took a new path in the direction of their next destination.

None of them imagined what would be waiting for them beyond.

Author's Note:

We went back to Twilight and her group. Now I would like to read your comments and theories about it, I can wait for it.

Comments

[DarkSnowGaming]

None of them imagined what would be waiting for them beyond.

Not even Sombra? That's new, not much information to go off with, it could either be dangerous or it could surprise them in either a bad way or a good way, or a more surprising way such as if they are in the past. I'm wondering if they traveled back in time, earlier they said ponies so if it's 1 specific type of pony instead of all 3 types of ponies living in 1 village than that would confirm they are in the past probably before Celestia and Luna was born and when all 3 pony tribes all lived separately.

Also I was not expecting 2 chapters in 1 day, that's interesting.

[Flower03]

11889072
I said I'd post it together, for more pleasure.

And we'll see a lot more about that later, of course.