Forgotten Magics

Chapter 5: Arrival

By LunarGuard12

The following days were uneventful and Pinkamina had decided that she would hold on to the blade she acquired from the fight. When the group finally got within sight of the city Star convinced Pinkamina that she should probably let him store the blade in his stash portal for safe keeping. Upon reaching the outskirts of the city Twilight took in the similarities of this city compared to Canterlot. "Wow this place almost feels like Canterlot."

"Well a lot of the architecture around here is directly connected to Canterlot. Most of the ponies moved here from Canterlot and brought the style of the buildings with them and it kind just went from there." Twilight Continued to look around taking in all the sights she could and after they all made it into the city Star suggested they look for a place to say. "I know of a place around here we could stay. It should be around here somewhere." he told Twilight. The group wandered around the city for a good forty minutes before Star found what he was looking for. "Ah ha there it is." Star said as he pointed towards a small hotel with the name "Spice's Bed and Breakfast" nestled in between two larger hotels. Twilight looked over the hotel there wasn't anything that made this one stand out over the other two larger ones on either side. As they entered a bell above the door jingled cheerfully and heard a "Cooooming~~" from somewhere in the back. The voice belonged to a mint green middle aged mare with a bright pink and yellow mane that flowed to her withers and once she got a look at the group she got a huge smile.

"Star it's good to see you." she came over and gave Star a hug.

"It's good to see you too Lemongrass. How's Cinnamon?"

"Cinnamon is doing great. I see you have a few more ponies with you this time are you going to introduce me?" Lemongrass said.

"Oh yeah. This is-"

"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie and do I smell cupcakes baking?" Pinkie chirped jumping in front of Star.

"Yes it is and they should be done in a few minutes." Lemongrass said smiling and looking to Star and motioning him to continue.

"As I was saying. That's Pinkie Pie, this is Pinkamina Pinkie's sister, Rainbow Dash, And Twilight Sparkle." he said motioning to the other three in turn. "I was escorting these girls over the plains from Ponyville and we need a place to stay while we're in Baltimare and no place is better than the Spice's Bed and Breakfast."

"True enough and how many rooms will you need?"

"Well there's eight of us so four rooms two to each room." Lemongrass moved next to Star and subtlety whispered to him "I take it you and Twilight will be sharing a room?" Star was lucky he had a red coat otherwise he wouldn't have been the color his coat was. Lemongrass walked away and then a little light red colt with a light brown mane entered the room and when he saw Star he yelled his name and ran over to him. "Star! Star!" Star looked to the little colt running towards him and smiled.

"Hey Cinnamon how's it going."

"Guess what!"

"What!" Star replied with an equal amount of energy playing along with Cinnamon.

"I got my emblem."

"Really! Let's see." Cinnamon turned to show his flank and the emblem he supported. It was two cinnamon sticks crossed with what looked like a room number over top of them. "How'd you get that Cinnamon?"

"I was helping my mom bake one day and a customer came in and my mom was busy so I went and helped them and then I had it." Cinnamon said with a huge grin on his face.

"Well since it's from helping your mom with her work how 'bout you show us to our rooms then?" Star said to Cinnamon who  looked to Lemongrass and she said with a smile "Their room numbers are four-oh-two through four-oh-five. You know where that is?"

"Yep follow me." and Cinnamon led the group up four flights of stairs and showed them to their rooms two of them on one side of the hall with two on the opposite side as well. "Here we are. Rooms four-oh-two through five. If you need help with anything just call me or my mom."

"His mom?" Pinkamina asked looking to Star.

"Yeah his mom is Lemongrass. This place is a family business. It doesn't get the best business around here because of the two bigger hotels right next to it but this is by far the best place to stay. Now lets pick our rooms and get settled." Star took a room with Rig and Storm was with Berry while Twilight was going to share a room with Rainbow while the pink twins would share a room. Later that night after the group had settled into their rooms they decided to talk about what they would do tomorrow.

"Well the museum is a definite yes that's what we came here for." Star said

"But how could that be fun?" Rainbow complained "That's a place for unicorns not earth ponies and pegasi."

"There are a few exhibits that feature earth pony and pegasi magic as well. You could check those out." Star said to Rainbow

"But what about the other places in this city? what is there for pegasi?"

"Unfortunately there's not much here besides a few sightseeing spots and the museum." Star looked around and found Twilight who looked to be deep in thought.

"Hey Twilight whats on your mind?" Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Star.

"Oh nothing much just thinking about the others we left at Ponyville."

"And who would they be?" Star said honestly curious.

"Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Rarity has her business, Applejack has the farm to think about, and Fluttershy has her animals to look after. So most of them probably couldn't have come even is they wanted to." Twilight said with a sad smile "Doesn't mean I don't wish they could have." Star didn't know what to say to that since he and his friends have been traveling together since meeting. The silence lasted a few minutes before Twilight said "Cinnamon got me thinking and I realized I don't know what your cutie mark is."

"I prefer emblem but anyway it's a magic circle." Star said showing his emblem. A magic circle with an intricate pattern along and inside it "Not quite sure as to where it's from but I got it after I managed to do some zebra magic but even through quite a bit of research I haven't found what it is exactly."

"Ooooooo what's going on over here? Oh cool cutie mark Star." Pinkie said appearing besides Twilight seemingly from nowhere and startling her.

"I prefer calling it an emblem but thanks anyway."

"What are you doing over here sis?" Pinkamina said sitting next to Pinkie.

"Just saying how Star's cutie mark, oops emblem, looks cool." Pinkamina looked to Star's mark but made no comment.

"What's everyone doing over here?" Rainbow said after taking notice of the increasing group.

"Star was showing Twilight his emblem." Rainbow looked at Star's emblem and then said "That's cool." She looked to where Storm and Rig then asked "What are your guy's emblems?

Storm approached and reveled his showing a white flame with a blue outline. Rig showed his as well it was a three different colored gears locked together. Rainbow looked at both before asking "How'd you get them?"

"Go mine the first time I blew fire." Storm said.

"Made a bomb then blew something up." Rig stated.

"Heh your mark isn't all that special." Pinkamina said to Rig.

"What's your's then and how'd you get it?" Rig snapped.

Pinkamina turned to show her mark. It was a pair of knifes crossed with a chocolate cupcake over top. "Got it after finding out I'm a pretty good cook."

"Can you cook on a fire?" Star asked interested now.

"Yeah. Why?"

Rig looked at Pinkamina with a steely gaze "You could cook. On an open flame. And you made us eat uncooked food during our trip. Why the fuck didn't you bring this up sooner!" Pinkamina gave a grin and said "No one asked." Rig stood there with a blank look and an open mouth and Pinkamina was rolling on the ground laughing "You should see the look on your dumb face. Ah ha ha!" all the others joined in on Pinkamina's laughter and after everyone had settled down Rig looked to Pinkamina and said " I WILL get you back for that."

"You're welcome to try I'm the best pranker in Ponyville. I love a new target." Pinkamina said with a wide grin

"Ok but not tonight we should get some sleep for tomorrow." Star said. the group started to separate and Twilight moved to Star and said "I hope Rig knows what he's getting himself into."

"I hope Pinkamina know's she just stepped on a mine." the two looked to each other and laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

**********

The next morning after the group had eaten breakfast they had decided to split up to look around Storm and Rainbow would go together since the two of them could fly. Rig, Berry, and the twins would look around together and Twilight and star would go to the museum as they had planned.

Twilight and Star made it to the museum without any incident. As the two were looking around and talking about the exhibits Star found a familiar striped face.

"Is that Zepher I see? The zebra I know, it couldn't be."

The zebra turned to Star smiled then replied in kind "Is that Star in my sight. last time I saw you, you had to take flight."

"There was a problem if you must have an explanation. Surely you wouldn't have wanted to be part of that confrontation."

"Surely there is more, otherwise that explanation is a bore."

"That is for another time so let it rest. Allow me to introduce Twilight Sparkle in magic she is the best." Twilight blushed at the compliment. Twilight listened to the two talk in rhyme for several minutes amazed with how Star was able to rhyme like Zepher. Then after a few more exchanges Star asked.

"You do remember my other allies." Zepher nodded "But do you remember the color of Storms eyes."

Zepher gave a chuckle "Of course I could never forget those eyes of orange." Zepher paused realizing the trap he had fallen into and looked to Star to see a triumphant smile on his face. "That was cheap Star. That was really cheap."

"In case you haven't noticed Twilight has been sitting there for about five minutes waiting for us to include her and we both know we could have went on for about an hour before I screwed up so I cut it a little early. Plus it's not my fault you didn't think about your words."

"Actually it was kinda interesting to see you two talking in rhyme. Though I could have jumped in at anytime." Twilight said with a smile and continued "I know a zebra named Zecora. She lives in the everfree and knows much about its flora."

Star and Zepher both had dumbfounded looks on their faces before both laughed. After the laughter had subsided the three of them walked around the museum talking about various things before Zepher let something slip.

"Yeah Star has also been on his own for longer than I've known him."

"What?" Twilight asked looking to Star. Star gave Zepher a glare to which Zepher, with a sheepish smile, replied "Oops." Star gave a heavy sigh and said.

"This was bound to be found out sooner or later. I'm an orphan. Never knew my parents. Raised myself to what I am now before Luna found me and asked me to be her student."

Twilight didn't know what to say. she may have been a little distant from her parents but she knew who her's were at least and she couldn't imagine living on her own as a filly. "I'm sorry" she finally said.

"Why are you apologizing? Not like it's your fault." Star said not looking at Twilight then sighed and said "I better say this now. You shouldn't travel with us anymore."

Twilight was shocked at this statement "What? Why? You fought off that group of bandits we ran into on the road so why shouldn't we travel with you?"

"Because those were simple bandits you saw how we fought them. Well coordinated, efficient, and definitely in practice. Trouble tends to follow us and we don't always come out unharmed."

"But what if we still want to go with you?" Star looked to Twilight and saw a glimmer in her eyes. "What if we can help, three element bearers could be a huge help to you."

"Heh that's kinda a bad argument since the elements only work when all six are together. Besides it's not my vote alone that matters I have to ask the others on their opinions if you want to help."

"But what if I wanted to stay? What would your vote be?" Twilight asked sheepishly.

Star was once again saved by his coat as he answered "You would have my vote." Twilight had to hide her own face to hide the slight blush she was getting. "But anyway lets continue on our way we still have some time to kill." And with that the two unicorns continued with their day.

**********

Pinkamina, Pinkie, Rig, and Berry all carrying their own bags were walking around the city for some time and while Berry and Pinkie were talking to each other Pinkamina was looking around and Rig was in thought. 'How to get Pinkamina into one of my pranks. Probably don't have enough time, Star will probably have them go back to Ponyville after that attack.'

"Not much to do around here is there?" Pinkamina said bringing Rig out of his thoughts. Pinkamina looked around bored "I thought cities were supposed to have tourist traps all over them."

"Yeah in places like Las Pegasus. This is more of a philosophical city, ponies come here to learn mostly. It's a great place to pick up information."

"Wow that almost sounded smart Rig." Pinkamina said mockingly

Rig turned angerly on her "Make a comment like that again and see what happens." the two locked eyes and Rig couldn't help but notice that her eyes didn't even twitch. "Whoa whoa whoa no fights right now" Berry said getting between the two before they could start "I know a place where we could kill some time how 'bout we head that way?"

"Sure." Pinkamina shrugged Rig didn't say anything still looking at Pinkamina.

"Unfortunately it would take awhile to get there unless we cut through some alleys." Berry said

"That shouldn't be a problem." PInkamina said

"Then lets go!" Pinkie chirped from next to Rig which surprised him "How? How did you get next to me? You were just over there."

"I walked, duh." Pinkie said. Rig watched her walk away from him then heard Pinkamina snicker "You scared Rig? it's just my little sister." Rig just simmered in his anger and followed.

Berry led the group through several alleys supposedly leading to the place Berry was talking about. The alleys were so close only two ponies could walk next to each other at a time and there was garbage all over the place as well stacked as tall as a pony in some places. Berry was leading with Pinkie with Pinkamina and Rig following and once again Rig was in thought before Pinkamina asked "So what's your story?" Rig didn't respond, not realizing that Pinkamina was talking to him. Pinkamina thinking that Rig was ignoring her then slugged him on the shoulder. Hard.

"OW! What the hell! Why did you hit me?"

"You were ignoring me asshole."

"How can I ignore you when you weren't talking to me?" Rig snapped

"I was, and I asked what your story was." Pinkamina snapped right back

Rig was actually caught off guard. 'Why is she even talking to me?' Pinkamina just waited for an answer which confused Rig even more. a few seconds went by before he counter asked "Why do you care?"

"What a mare can't be curious about a pony who actually has some guts for a change?" Pinkamina asked calming down.

"Wait what?" Rig asked dumbfounded

"You're not afraid of a fight. Most ponies are soft, you're not and I'm curious as to why."

'I can't believe what I'm about to do.' Rig though to himself. "I was born in a small town near the Equestria border. In that town there is no place for you if you can't hold your own. That's my story." Pinkamina only nodded. The group wandered around the alleys with Berry trying to get his bearings to find out where they should head which ended up with the group at a dead end. "Damn it why did I let Berry lead. He can't walk in a straight line." Rig said.

"Still not as bad as Pinkie." Pinkamina said

"Really? I have an erratic pony who can't seem to stand still or shut up for five minutes as a partner."

"Pinkie can't sit still for one minute and she can seemingly disappear when you blink. Don't know how she does it but she does and she's my sister so yeah it's worse."

"Whatever."

Berry finally found his bearings and continued to lead them through the alleys. "I told you mine so what's yours." Rig asked.

"Me and my three sisters, Pinkie included, were raised on a rock farm." Rig couldn't stop a snicker. "Watch it rock farming is hard work and I did most of Pinkie's work since she was the weakest of the four of us. Inky and Blinky helped but I could do more so I did. Pinkie was out working one day and I had to help with something else around the farm, I can't remember what but that doesn't matter. Pinkie apparently saw this rainbow 'flow' across the sky and she threw a party for everyone on the farm, it was the most fun our family had ever had." Pinkamina said with a small smile "Shortly after Pinkie was offered a position at Sugarcube Corner and mom and dad thought it would be good if I went with her. I did and we lived there for quite awhile helping the Cakes and I found out I'm good at cooking there too." Rig took that information in but then asked "How are you good with that blade you got from those ponies from the road though you said you were a cook?"

"Used a lot of knives in the kitchen and on more than one occasion I would start to throw them in frustration. I had to set up a target to prevent damage to the walls." Pinkamina said with a mischievous smile.

'Note to self watch out for PInkamina when she has knives' Rig thought to himself.

"We're here." Berry finally said. Pinkamina looked over the small club that was in front of her. "Finally here should probably get in while we still have time." and she entered with Pinkie right behind her. Rig didn't enter and only looked at the door that the mares went through.

"Whats on your mind Rig." Berry asked. Rig was thinking about Pinkamina's story but couldn't say anything to Berry or he wouldn't shut up about it "Nothing let's just get our asses in there before one of them come out looking for us." Berry knew Rig was deflecting his question but thought nothing of it and entered right behind Rig.

**********

Rainbow and Storm flew around the city taking what sights they could taking the occasional break on a roof top but Rainbow's impatience was starting to get the better of her again "Geez why did I come if all I'm going to do is be bored." Rainbow said flopping face up on a cloud. "There's nothing to do." Storm just lightly landed on the cloud next to Rainbow not saying anything. Rainbow looked to him "So what's it like being a Kirin?" Storm looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean being part dragon has to be awesome right?" Storm inhaled deeply and let a small gout of white flame escape his snout. "It's more of a mixed blessing. Dragon vitality and strength has helped me and my friends more than once and the fire breath is more uncomfortable than painful." He was quiet for a second before asking cautiously "Do you know how old I am?"

Rainbow looked him over. "You look to be about my age why?"

"And how old are you?"

"Twenty three."

"I'm seventy eight." Rainbow's jaw dropped "No way you're seventy five I don't believe it." Storm just shrugged "You don't have to believe it for it to be true. The past five years have been the best of that time though. That's the time I've been running with Star, Rig, and Berry. Of course I hid my nature from them for awhile but then one day I just showed them and to my surprise they didn't care, Been following them since." Rainbow looked at Storm again and took in his appearance his eyes that seemed to look beyond what was there, his large black feathered wings which she knew could change into his leathery draconic wings with a simple wave, and Rainbow couldn't help but notice how his body was well toned too.

"See something you like?" Storm asked jokingly. Rainbow caught herself checking him out and she looked away and said "I don't see anything spectacular." with a light blush on her face. Storm chuckled "Come on there's more to this city than we've seen so far." and with that he took off Rainbow looked after him and thought to herself 'seventy eight that's a long time, and most of it was before he met his friends. Wonder what it was like.'

"Come on Rainbow I'm leaving you in the dust." Rainbow snapped out of her thoughts and saw Storm off in the distance hovering and waiting for her. Rainbow smirked and took off catching up with him.

**********

"I'm coming." Rainbow said. After all the ponies made it back to the hotel Twilight told everyone about how she planed on traveling with Star and there was no objections from them. "Me too it sounds so fun. Doesn't it Mina?"

"Not really but if you go mom and dad would want me to go with you so I guess I'm in too."

"Well that depends on the others." Star said "I don't get the final call on adding ponies to the group they do."

"You know me my vote is yes." Berry said immediately.

"I see no problems with that." Storm said.

"Whatever." was Rig's vote.

"Seems like you can come with us then." Star said "Now one warning before you all come along if you come with us your safety is not assured and you could possibly be injured." Star looked away got a distant look in his eyes "or worse."

Rainbow and Pinkie considered that for a moment, Pinkamina didn't flinch, as usual, and Twilight had already heard this and made up her mind and was just waiting for Rainbow and Pinkie to make up their minds. Rainbow got a determined look on her face Twilight knew well "Like I said I'm in." and Pinkie was nodding furiously in agreement off to the side her head looking as if it was about to fall off any second.

"Ok with that out of the way. I can tell you where we're going and Twilight can help me plan a course."  Star said pulling out a map "We're going to be heading to the griffon mountain border so we have a lot of ground to cover."

"Nothing we can't handle." Rainbow said in her normal cocky tone.

"Whee! This is going to be so much fun!" Pinkie and Berry shouted at the same time causing everyone but Pinkamina and Rig to chuckle. Star and Twilight planned their course while the others talked among themselves for the rest of the night.

**********

"It seems your student can't resist the call of adventure just like mine." Luna said looking into her mirror and seeing Twilight, Star, and their friends. "She probably would have been one of my students if I wasn't trapped in the moon for all those years that I don't blame you for. You know I wasn't myself during those times."

"It still hurts Luna. To know that I was the cause for your banishment and all those years alone. I could not imagine what it was like." Celestia said entering Luna's room knowing she was once again looking over her student.

"Lucky for me the years blur together during that time. The thousand years I was trapped only felt as two hundred years since my mind was occupied with its thoughts. But back to the subject at hoof. Your student is about to see places outside Equestria what do you think of that?"

"You know how I feel about Twilight she is like a daughter to me." Celestia said with a smile

"And you know me and Star are like mother and son." Luna was quiet for a moment before chuckling to herself.

"What's so funny Luna?"

"Nothing. Looks like they are planning on heading to the griffon mountains, good a very familiar place for my student plenty of good friends of his there a slow start for your student."

"Yes and just I hope that my student can learn something from this adventure." Celestia said

"She probably will." Luna said with a smile as she watched Star and Twilight plan their course.