Tom had always been one who was prepared to receive big surprises. It rather came with the territory of his life. His full name, which he rarely disclosed to anybody, was Thomas Elias Haddington (his father had been rather strong on Chapel, and as a result had insisted that his son have two Biblical names rather than just one, which was the family convention). He had lived a fairly normal life up to this point, being a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and whoever knows how many spinoffs it got over the years, and had come to know several bronies and pegasisters across the years.
One such person he had come to meet was Jimmy Hook, an American chap from the east coast who had a large, slab like body and rippling biceps that enabled him to topple mountains (a cookie, or biscuit if you prefer, if you get that reference). He had been a rather quirky fellow with long hair and glasses (a rather unusual feature, the former was, for a man), and so he and Tom had struck it off pretty rapidly. He had heard rumours of a strange man who claimed to have been changed into many My Little Pony characters, but he brushed those off as false. After all, tales of fans and non fans being turned into characters from the show were a dime a dozen on sites like Fimfiction, Deviantart and Equestria Daily. Not a day passed without another person becoming Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, etc. So why would this be any different?
He came to realise how wrong he was one lonely night in California in the early summer of 2018, when he went on holiday with him and a mate of his, Troy Baker. Whilst there, at a sports game with a very rude woman, he had inexplicably and suddenly been changed into a perfect replica of Equestria Girls Rainbow Dash, complete with clothing, speed, and personality. A lucky escape had led to a mad few days in which the trio changed into many characters.
Since then, the friends had been on many myriad adventures, to several different places, and become many characters along the way. In fact, Tom had been keeping a careful list of how many there were to record, and this was how we find him on this dull morning in Nottingham, in his home which he called his own.
His journal was out in front of him, and he had many scribblings in it from journal articles he had been reading. He had been following a most strange case since the dawn of the year, and this confused him.
"Hello!" Katrina said, as she opened the door and put a coffee cup down for him, whilst placing one down for herself. Katrina was Tom's other American acquaintance, who was stranded in Britain due to Covid. "How's it going?"
"This case is most perplexing," Tom replied.
"Oh! The one with the artefacts!" Katrina smiled. "Interesting story, isn't it?"
"The first of the incidents occurred in February 2019," Tom began, "after Southwest Airlines Flight 405 crashed in the Mojave Desert near Bagdad, California, killing all onboard. Rescuers got to the crash site within minutes, followed by a tank column, but the rescuers reported seeing a pink winged horse dressed in stereotypical Egyptian clothing. They then fought off a giant purple cat thing that had appeared in a nearby pyramid."
"Sounds like a riveting adventure story," Katrina said, as they turned to a new page. "Who made that up?"
"It's not made up," Tom replied. "The entire incident was captured on film, and I got this pict capture of the creature itself. Compare this," he said, as he brought up another image, this time of Somnambula, "to this."
"It's an exact match!" Katrina said. "Now, I wonder who Somnambula was..."
"There were reports of a green object in the area," Tom continued. "And that's not all. In October the same year, an Amtrak service from Greensboro to New Orleans derailed in a swamp. No casualties, but one of the passengers vanished. Moments later, a blue horse dressed in stereotypical Cajun clothing was seen walking away into the swamp, and it was sighted several times throughout the next few weeks."
"Alcohol can do strange things to people," Katrina suggested. "Just ask Mad Uncle Geoffrey!"
"How do you know of Mad Uncle Geoffrey? He lives in Montgomery, Alabama!"
"Jimmy told me about him. Anyways, we have images of a strange bronze bracelet in the area, and we also have this sound recording, which I thought would interest you."
A series of loud stumbling noises could be heard as the recording started, followed by a strange voice which sounded oddly Southern. Then a man cursed, screamed a bit, and then the same Southern voice, before a trotting sound could be heard.
"That first voice was Jimmy," Katrina said.
"Indeed," Tom said, and then played a fragment of audio from an MLP episode. "And the Southern voice was Mage Meadowbrook."
"So, if I've got this straight, artefacts belonging to the Pillars have somehow landed in our world?"
"Or, they are the leftovers of an alternate set of Pillars who, instead of getting caught in limbo, were teleported to ours and died here, leaving the artefacts behind so that nobody would forget them. And this theory recently got some new evidence, thanks to an archeological find in China recently. They found a flower that they dated to the Liao period and had apparently been owned by a great sorceress. They also found a body embalmed nearby... of a unicorn."
"Wow," Katrina whispered. "All this time... I mean, we both know that Equestria is real and exists, but to think that our worlds have been connected for so long! It's a discovery that has the potential to change most of history should it ever be uncovered further!"
"They're doing a new dig somewhere in Scotland, and I recently bought some books from a local antiques shop, so you never know. Keep an eye out, or you may become Rockhoof!"
"I sincerely hope not," Katrina said. "I'm perfectly happy as I am... though changing into fictional characters at random moments does have its perks."
"It does indeed," Tom replied. "Well, I'll finish up here, then it's time for lunch."
Once Katrina had left the room, Tom started to look through the books. The book pile was big and heavy, and full of books (as you would expect). He looked at the first one. "A comprehensive guide to peas." Nonsense. He put it away, and looked at the next one. "The Myth of the Giant Fish; Moby Dick revisited." He shrugged. "I've already read that." He then looked at the next one. "Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music? Sounds worth it." He put that on the keep pile.
The last book in the pile was the one of greatest interest to him. It was a book with a blue cover, and that itself was decorated with an irregular hexagon on the front, with several swirls and several stars on the front within that. He blew the dust off of it, and flipped to another page.
"Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge, wir gingen weiter Toward dol grimlic of Fola Firgenbeorg user endemest scield." He blinked. "What language is this?"
Tom was somewhat weak when it came to foreign languages, so he had no idea what any of that meant. He turned to another page. "Das beste elements innerhalb uns kann Ausbreitung Licht und virtue, und ich kennt ponies Wer represent Sie alle." He sighed. "This feels like somebody mashed up German and old English. But wait, those words seem familiar."
He looked at the cover again. "This is the journal of Starswirl the Bearded! Further evidence for my theory!"
Suddenly, the book shocked him, and he was thrown backwards into a wall. "Ouch! I say, what a mess. This chair was mosty poorly placed. It does my back in so-"
He stopped. That wasn't his usual tone. He now sounded old, wizened, even perhaps a little gruff. "What is this?"
He got a clue as he suddenly shrank straight through his clothes, getting smaller and smaller as this happened, until he was hidden within them. His entire body was suddenly covered in a layer of grey fur, with the bottoms of his hands being a darker shade of grey than the rest of his bodily fur. He looked rather like a yeti.
He freed himself from his clothing just in time, as his hands glowed with white energy and morphed into a pair of hooves. Keen to continue work on his former arms, his elbows snapped and inverted to the reverse position, suitable for a horse to walk.
"Ouch! Good heavens, this is awkward."
His legs sprung him upwards into a bipedal stance, still covered in fur, and his neck grew upwards and clicked backwards, so he was now looking straight ahead. His hair, once brown, dropped down his head and turned to varying shades of grey and white, soon meshing with his stretched face created from his nose and mouth merging into a muzzle (not to mention his eyes turned from brown to blue). From the front of his face, a moustache dropped down under his nostrils, followed by a beard underneath that. Both were white and grey, soon joined by a white and grey tail. His head soon gained a horn, followed by his ears sliding up his head and growing taller, like giant radar dishes.
On the topic of changes, his feet morphed into hooves and his legs snapped backwards.
"Seriously, does this delight in causing one such discomfort?"
The final stage was underway, and a blue cloak floated into place over his back and sides, covered in bells and coloured two shades of blue, with yellow stars and a single crescent moon atop that, held in place with a purple clasp. Then, a hat floated into place whilst leaving space for his ears with the same colours, patterns and bells, completing the process.
Starswirl stepped over to the book. "Whomever last looked after this did little to control the magic filters on this," he said, flicking through the text. "Ah, excellent. The text is undamaged, which is perfect."
The door suddenly opened, and there was Katrina, looking in confusion. But when she spoke, Starswirl struggled to understand her.
Starswirl was very confused. "How can I not understand you?" he asked. "Is my hearing off?" He quickly checked if any of his hair or beard was covering anything critical, but alas it was not so. His ears were totally unobstructed, so he could hear her fine.
Katrina spoke again, but again her words were confusing. He recognised a few words, but otherwise he struggled to make sense of the sentences. The structure was right, but there was something about it that was off somehow.
He honestly wondered if there was some sort of language barrier, so he picked up the book with his horn, and flipped through the pages. Suddenly, he came across a spell, and smiled. "Aha! This ought to help!"
He called upon his magic reserves, and cast the spell, the entire room being blanketed in strange energies. Suddenly, the reception was improved, and he could understand Katrina clear as day.
"I assume it was that book?" she said.
"Indeed," Starswirl replied.
"Wait a second, how can I suddenly understand you?" Katrina asked.
"I cast a spell, called the Balelius Translaticon, that can instantly translate anything anybody is saying, allowing us to speak to one another with no difficulties," Starswirl replied. "It's quite an impressive spell, if I do say so myself. Anyway, I think this proves my theory quite conclusively."
"You mean with the artefacts?" Katrina asked.
"Indeed," Starswirl replied, as he levitated the sheets of paper in front of both himself and her. She crouched to look at them now, given that Starswirl was considerably shorter than she was. "These artefacts were left here by the Pillars when they passed onwards into the next life, and thanks to their magical properties, they were not affected. After all, as the words in these sacred pages state, 'Neither snow nor hail nor gloom of night will stay the righteous from their duty'."
"OK, so the artefacts got here," Katrina noted, taking out a pen and paper and jotting it down.
"Are you taking notes on my notes?"
"I don't mean to be rude, but your hornwriting is seriously messy."
"These works were never intended for one other than I to read, as this is a personal record. I fully expected a scribe to convert the relevant bits so they could be read by those who needed to read them."
"Erm, I think your personalities are starting to merge. You just spoke of Starswirl as yourself, not as a separate entity."
"When you seem to change into fictional characters for seemingly no reason, the concept of identity becomes rather fluid," Starswirl replied. "As you were saying on the artefacts?"
"OK, so the artefacts got here, which settles the question of how the Pillars are reappearing, but how did the original Pillars get here in the first place? We have a distinct hole in the information that we need to solve this mystery once and for all."
Starswirl flicked through some more pages in his book. "Ah! I think I have a useful passage here. This may help. It may not. It rather depends on the circumstances." He cleared his throat, and began to read. "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."
"Well, that's all clear enough," Katrina replied, "apart from the fact it sounds like you started halfway through the paragraph and dropped us in partway through the story. Let me just check this; they left artefacts lying around to ensure others could continue to fight the Evil One, whomever he is."
"Satan, maybe?" Starswirl suggested.
"Unlikely, given that Christianity and similar concepts don't seem to exist in Equestria. But then, we have another problem concerning the artefacts themselves. These artefacts are all from Equestria. So how did they end up in our world?"
"That is a question that we must answer," Starswirl replied, tugging on his enormous beard with his hoof. "But before that, we have something of far greater importance to do."
"And what is that?"
"Lunch."
Food had to be suddenly and abruptly rearranged owing to the fact that one of the residents of the house was suddenly a horse wizard thing. To this end, Starswirl slowly ate his way through a salad bowl whilst Katrina helped herself to some soup. They had recently stocked up on food owing to changes in Nottingham's Covid alertness level, and as a result didn't want to get caught short.
Starswirl seemed to be deep in thought about everything that was going on. "Artefact in the desert, another in a Bayou, and now Starswirl's journal in my own home."
He stepped up. "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Katrina asked.
"I've figured out why the Artefacts have appeared where they have. They have each appeared in a place connected to the Pillars. For example, the strange green necklace (which I suspect to be Glowpaz) appeared in the desert, which was the sort of place where Somnambula lived. Similarly, the bracelet appeared in a swamp in Louisiana, which in terms of terrain and environment is not too far removed from Hayseed Swamp, which Mage Meadowbrook called home. This means we can predict where the next ones will appear, as Starswirl's Journal was located in Nottingham by myself, which is not too far removed from where Starswirl lived, and the flower, which I am prepared to bet is Mistmane's flower, was located in China, which again-"
"Is similar to where Mistmane lived," Katrina finished. "That leaves only one artefact. Flash Magnus wore a shield, Invictus, which is often mistranslated as Netitus. It would make sense it would be located in an army barracks."
"There are thousands, if not millions, of Army bases and barracks across the world," Katrina pointed out. "There are at least four within striking distance of Olathe, one of which is the base of the Kansas National Guard."
"Maybe the book will help us figure out an answer," Starswirl said, as he turned the page to a spell and cast it.
There was a bright flash from the spell, but something was clearly wrong. For Starswirl the Bearded had pulled a vanishing act.
The light from the spell, sure enough, started to fade from around Starswirl's eyes, and as he slowly took in his surroundings, he noticed that he was no longer at the table.
In fact, he was no longer in a house.
In fact, he was no longer in Nottingham.
As a matter of fact (just wanted to mix it up a bit there), he was not only in another country, he was on an entirely separate continent. He was, to explain to all present, standing on top of a large suspension bridge, that was pained light green and stretched across from one side of a tidal estuary to the other. In particular, he stood on top of the tower that was closer to a large batch of flashing lights that ran alongside the estuary and ran up a hillside covered in buildings. There were normal houses, and towers, and many other exciting buildings there sat in the distance, blinking in the middle of the night.
Night! Of course! If he could see the stars, he could figure out where he was and make plans from there! He looked about for his telescope, only to realise he had left it at the observatory. Just perfect. The one time he actually needed that piece of machinery, he didn't have it.
"If only the stars weren't so murky!" Starswirl grumbled. "All this light and smoke is making it hard to see where I am in the world. I wonder if anypony will actually know where I am."
"You're in Vancouver," said a voice, an accent which sounded familiar but yet softer than the normal tones of this part of the world. Starswirl turned around to see an orange furred pony, a unicorn no less, with a two tone red mane that looked a little frazzled, judging from the bits and pieces of hair sticking up on it. He had a cream portion of fur running down the top of his face down to the edge of his muzzle, and he also had blue eyes, in front of which sat a pair of silver, round rimmed spectacles. His lower legs from the knee joints were white down to the bottom of his hooves, and he also had a tail, in very much the same colours as his mane. He wore a blue cloak with two tone turquoise and white trim, which itself was covered in blue stars of a lighter shade than most of the cloak.
"Another pony? Here, in this world?" Starswirl asked, as he climbed down the ladder to the lower platform, to speak to the unicorn there. He extended his hoof. "I say, these are most strange times. Tell me, what is your name?"
"I'm Sunburst," the unicorn replied, and shook Starswirl's outstreched hoof. "And you are, sir?"
"I am Starswirl," Starswirl replied, and nodded. "I see a very accomplished wizard before me."
With the word 'Starswirl', Sunburst's jaw suddenly dropped open. "Y- you're Starswirl the Bearded?!" he stammered, his eyes wide with wonder and amazement. "None other than the Father of the amniomorphic spell, the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era, the creator of more than two hundred spells, and you even have a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after you! Sir, it is such an honour!"
Starswirl looked slightly baffled as this unicorn bowed before him. "Rise, Sunburst. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, we sadly lack the time for such formalities right now. As I speak, there is a sinister plot afoot that requires us to do some research. I cannot collect information from the stars owing to the brightness of the lights and the smoke."
"Light pollution sucks," Sunburst admitted. "It makes stargazing very difficult. But we can do other things! How about I take you to where I live?"
"Does it have a library?" asked Starswirl.
"Yes, it does!" Sunburst replied. "It's an absolute haven for a bibliophile such as myself!"
Starswirl found himself wondering how he and Sunburst could speak to one another perfectly, given he had not cast the Balelius Translaticon on Sunburst. Either the spell worked rather differently to how he remembered it working, or Sunburst naturally spoke Old Ponish, which would be rather strange.
Starswirl, however, was swept up by the technological marvels that he saw in this city of Vancouver. He was led past a steam powered clock, and vehicles- no, carriages- that moved about by themselves! He was well and truly amazed by the machinery of this world and its people, who seemed to be a mixture of humans and ponies. He got this idea seeing as none of those humans, a being that Starswirl had glimpsed through the Magic Mirror centuries ago, saw anything odd in ponies trotting about and were simply used to it.
As they turned some more corners in this city of wonders, which featured lights that had no candle or wick in them, Sunburst opened a door, to reveal a pink unicorn with grape juice coloured eyes, and a purple mane with a turquoise streak running through it. Her mane was combed over her horn in a floppy curve, and she had a tail in the same colours. "Hello Sunburst!" she said. "How was your stargazing?!
"Not great, Starlight, to be honest," Sunburst replied. "Too much cloud and light pollution. But I did find this guy at the top of the Lions Gate Bridge."
'Starlight' took one look at Starswirl and nearly fainted. "Y- you're Starswirl the Bearded!" she exclaimed. "None other than the Father of the amniomorphic spell, the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era, the creator of more than two hundred spells, and-"
"-I even have a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after me," Starswirl finished. "I appreciate the sentiment, but sadly we lack the time. We must work fast and now, or else we are in grave danger."
"What sort of grave danger?" Sunburst and Starlight asked.
"The world is going to end type of danger," Starswirl explained.
After all the introductions were complete, and everypony had settled in with a drink of their choice (coffee for all of them, given that they would need to be able to focus), Starswirl began his explanation.
"The Pillars," he said, "were the greatest beings of their age. Each of them was a legendary hero in their own right, and they all brought power that together made them an unstoppable force for good. But then, they vanished into nothingness from Equestria, disappearing as if they had never existed at all. And yet, it would seem as though they live on here, for their artefacts have somehow ended up in our world. As the notes contained in this journal put it, '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.' This would suggest that the objects and artefacts that belonged to them, when encountered by a human, would change them into that being and grant them their powers and memories- myself being one such example."
"That raises more questions than it answers," Starlight pointed out. "Firstly, how did the artefacts end up here, and how did the Pillars vanish?"
"Although the amount of knowledge contained here is staggering, I am but one stallion," Starswirl replied. "To this end, I am asking you for help to research this situation."
"Imagine it!" Sunburst said, a look of excitement on his face. "The research! The referencing! The note taking! The reading! The re- reading! The re- re- reading! The re- re re- re re- re re- re re- re- reading!"
"Somepony's excited," Starlight said, glancing to Starswirl. "Sorry, he gets excited whenever there's research and reading to be done, or anything scholarly for that matter."
"Enthusiasm!" Starswirl said. "I always approve of enthusiasm, especially in the academic arts. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to researching!"
Over the next few hours, texts were pulled apart, passages were analysed over and over again, ancient spells were checked and memorised, and even film footage and other data logs were checked. After resting for the night and waking up the next day to look at their evidence afresh, Sunburst brought up something interesting.
"The military sure has plenty to say on these circumstances," he said, pointing to something he had found. "Following what is dubbed 'Operation Sphynx', where a US Army tank column took out a giant purple cat creature with the help of a pink pegasus, the military formed a dedicated program to study this phenomena called Project 722, headed by a Colonel Peterson, previously attached to NORAD."
"Any other information on them?" asked Starswirl.
"They have several facilities across the United States, but the names and locations are all redacted out, so that's a non starter. However, there is this audio data that was sent to them after the National Transportation Safety Board recovered an iPad and this audio."
"Play it," Starswirl replied.
"This way, Jimmy! I'm over here!"
Starswirl jumped. "Meadowbrook?" he asked, confused. "What's she doing here?"
"And who's Jimmy?" asked Sunburst.
"Is he a Hook?" Starlight added. They looked at her confused.
The audio then continued, with the crackling of leaves and squelching boots, before a loud bang could be heard on the recording.
"Argh! What the hell?"
Starswirl listened intently. "Back the recording up," he said.
Sunburst rewound the recording and started from the bang.
"That was the bracelet," Starswirl said. "That was the artefact that Meadowbrook left behind. Three of the Pillars have returned to the world!"
"OW! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!!!"
A few minutes passed on the recording, with groans and cries of pain, all the while the voice rose in pitch as their accent changed.
"Well, Ah'll be! Ah can't go anywhere like this, can Ah?"
There was another pause, before the voice, a Cajun voice, spoke again.
"Well, this is better! Well, Ah'll suppose Ah'll head there!"
"That confirms it. Mage Meadowbrook is here somewhere in the world," Starswirl concluded. "Which leaves us to figure out where Mistmane, Flash Magnus, and Rockhoof are. And what caused them to be here in the first place."
"This passage ought to help," Starlight said, floating a book over to Starswirl. It was another part of his journal.
Starswirl began to read aloud. "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..."
"Well, what do you make of that?" Sunburst asked.
"The world beyond dark space," Starswirl mused. "The Pillars intended to trap the Evil One between dimensions, which is the world beyond dark space. However, something went wrong and they were instead teleported to our world along with the artefacts. This would explain why the body found next to the flower was a unicorn and not a human! The Pillars lived out the rest of their lives on Earth and then died here, leaving the artefacts behind so others could finish what they started!"
The room fell silent once Starswirl had finished speaking, as it became apparent that a grand and epic task lay before them. Sunburst, having sat there in amazed silence for quite a while, decided to speak up to break the silence. "Where do we find the Pillars?"
"And more importantly, shouldn't we be getting some rest?" Starlight asked. "All this caffeine is bad for you, after all. And we've been going at this for hours!"
"This is all very important information," Starswirl replied. "Without it, our world will fall apart and be broken apart by the Evil One."
"And we have no idea who he even is," Starlight pointed out. "I'm off to bed. See you."
Sunburst sat up in his chair. "You know, maybe I should get some sleep too. I'll turn in upstairs. There's a spare bedroom if you need it, Starswirl."
Starswirl nodded. "It is perhaps wisest that I take my rest as well. The facts will still be here tomorrow, and a few hours rest will enable me to see them in a clearer light upon this day, or tomorrow's day and dawn. May I use this room?"
"There's no need to ask!" Sunburst replied. "You may make use of it as you see fit."
Starswirl nodded, and went to this room. He removed his hat, undid his cloak, and placed it onto a hanger on a door. He then climbed onto the bed and fell asleep on it, continuing that odd custom that ponies had of sleeping atop a set of bedsheets rather than in and among them. And so he drifted off into dreamland, which he could establish by context and not by the comic sans text at the bottom of his vision.
The next morning, he awoke, and got himself ready. After having manipulated the shower with his magic, and finely and neatly trimmed and cleaned his voluminous beard and moustache, he made his way out of the door and levitated the hat and cloak into position upon him, securing the latter with the purple bound along the front of the garment. And down the stairs he went, and at the bottom he then turned to the left, and saw Sunburst already at work on the paper. He was taking notes.
"Good morning, Sunburst," he said, the other pony suddenly looking up at him. "I see you are already hard at work. I admire that spirit in a pony. Early to rise, early to commence work. Very good."
"I was just trying to figure out where you'd find Mistmane or any of the other Pillars," Sunburst replied, as he went on with his writing. "According to these documents, Mistmane lived in quite a mountainous place. For it is written, 'and lo, her name... was Mistmane'. Yes, they really did write the ellipsis in there. 'And she was the most beautiful unicorn in all the land and a very promising young sorceress'."
"Can we skip on a bit?" Starswirl asked. "I already know her past."
"'She was as talented as she was beau-' yeah, we can skip that bit. 'While she was gone, she was delighted to find out that her best friend, Sable Spirit, was crowned empress. She couldn't wait to return home once she finished her studies. But once she arrived, she was devastated by what she saw, for the Empress had turned her home village, in the mountains and snows of the world, into a ruin of broken homes and broken ponies. Sable Spirit took everything that was beautiful away from anypony else! And Mistmane was sure there had to be some explanation.'."
"Stop there!" Starswirl said. "I don't think we need to know any more. But what of these coordinates you found?"
"I think I have a probable location to find Mistmane," Sunburst replied, rolling out a map of the world. He pointed to China, and brought out his calculations. "The most likely location, based on the story and evidence I have collected about this situation, would suggest these coordinates. 30°44'14.5"N 89°27'32.3"E." He drew on a map, and marked the point with an X to make his point.
"That's somewhere in Tibet," Starswirl noted. "Or Xizang, to use the Chinese name."
"Indeed," Sunburst pointed out. "The villages there are in the mountains, and fit the bill very well. Besides, it's near the site where they unearthed that unicorn remains recently."
"The unicorn remains," Starswirl corrected. "Alas, I must go!" He charged his horn, and white light began to fill the room.
Suddenly, a grey prescence floated in, and suddenly flooded into Starswirl's horn, causing him to suddenly vanish!
Starlight entered just afterwards. "Oh. Where's Starswirl? I could have sworn I heard him a moment ago."
"I think he might be in danger," Sunburst replied. "I need to run a trace on the energy in that mystery entity, and how it got here."
Starswirl was rather confused when he found himself zapped in front of a large white building with red lining, timbers, roofing tiles, and strange drawings and symbols on the side. "Maybe this is how they build buildings here," he said, and opened the door to the building. A cheerful tavern greeted him, with music and a bar. He went in, and straight to the bartender.
"Hello sir! How can I help you?" said the bartender, a pony. All the creatures in the bar were ponies.
"Is this China?" Starswirl asked.
"I'm afraid not," the bartender replied. "You're in Alaska, on the very edge of civilisation. Our coordinates, if you're interested, are 64°45'27.8"N 147°21'27.3"W."
"How did I land so badly off course?" Starswirl asked in confusion. He tried again, but something was blocking his teleportation spells. "May I stay here a while?"
"We have favourable rates for all grades of customers!" the bartender replied. "How long were you planning to stay?"
"At least a week," Starswirl said. "I have some research to do, and samples to collect. This wilderness allows for boundless knowledge expansion and growth."
"And a chance to stop the Evil One," he thought to himself. "I sincerely hope that, wherever you are Mistmane, you are safe and well."
