Prologue
A lonely trail wound through the Everfree Forest. It was partially overgrown from lack of use and at times seemed to disappear into the surrounding foliage. A lone figure trudged its way through the underbrush, struggling to keep track of the faded trail. The grey unicorn stopped and shook the leaves out of her red mane.
With a worried frown on her face the unicorn surveyed her surroundings. With a sigh she closed her eyes and a yellow aura enveloped her horn. A wave of magic emanated out from her, radiating out in a ring through the forest.
Her frown deepened. “I don’t think that this is working,” she said with dismay. “And I am pretty sure this is just going to attract unwanted attention.”
The unicorn continued a few more feet down the path before stopping again.
“One more try,” she mumbled to herself. Once again her horn shined with yellow light. She let out another burst of magic. “Nope. I still can’t pinpoint it, only sense its general presence.”
A pair of red eyes were watching the frustrated unicorn from the dense foliage just off of the trail. A red glow briefly shined through the bushes. Then a burst of red energy rushed out of the foliage. The unicorn flinched as the energy hit her.
“It’s this way,” a voice called out.
The grey unicorn looked up to see a yellow head sticking out of the underbrush, a red glow surrounding the horn on its head.
“Snap, it’s nerve-racking enough out here without you disappearing on me constantly,” the grey unicorn called out.
“Sorry about that, Pearl” said the yellow unicorn as she jumped onto the path. “I thought that you were well versed in locator spells, what with the telescope on your flank.”
“I have never used this variation before,” Pearl admitted. “Where did you find this spell anyway?”
Snap brushed a strand of her blue mane off of her face. “It’s a slightly tweaked version of a gem finding spell that a unicorn in Ponyville taught me.”
Snap quickly may her way down the trail, rushing past Pearl. The grey unicorn followed after her with an annoyed look on her face.
“Slow down Snap. I don’t want to have to carry you back to town if you injure yourself.”
“I ‘m being careful,” Snap retorted over her shoulder. “Quick and careful.”
Snap continued confidently on through the forest. She was heading toward a nearby mountain that stood about two miles inside the Everfree Forest. Jagged rock spires covered the mountain and some could be found in the area around it. Snap slowed her pace as she approached one of the rock spires. Her horn projected a beam of red light at the spire.
“I think this is it,” Snap said as she slipped her saddlebags off. She levitated a pickaxe out of the bag a walk over to the spire.
It took Pearl a minute to catch up with the faster unicorn. She paused and watched Snap approach the spire as she caught her breath.
“You brought a pickaxe with you?” asked Pearl.
“I brought a sledgehammer, rope, a shovel, and a saw as well,” replied Snap as she looked over the spire. “I’m just being prepared.”
“Right,” said Pearl skeptically as she came up to the spire. “It’s inside the spire then?”
“Probably, can you confirm it?”
“No problem.” Pearl’s horn lit up, as did the spire. The grey unicorn paced around the rock structure, looking it over from all sides. After completing her examination she turned back to her yellow companion. “Good news, it seems to be blocking any attempt that I make to scan it magically. That coupled with these deposits of gold and silver in the rock mean that one could safely assume the spire does indeed contain trace amounts of electrum.”
“Perfect.” Snap smiled and lifted the pickaxe up. She began chipping away at the surface of the spire. After a few seconds a glowing yellow liquid began oozing out of the spire. Snap put down the pickaxe and stepped back.
Pearl stepped forward with a vial in her mouth. She walked up to the leak and began collecting the liquid, being careful not to get any on herself. Once the vial was nearly full Pearl pulled her head away.
“Watch your hoof, Pearl,” Snap cautioned. A few drops of the glowing substance hit Pearl’s fore hoof. Snap pulled a rag out of her saddlebag and quickly cleaned off Pearl’s hoof. Pearl levitated a stopper up to the vial and capped it.
“That tingles,” commented Pearl. Her horn began to glow as she focused on the Snap’s rag. The rag would not move. “Interesting, even a few drops of Electrum can block my magic.”
Snap grabbed the rag and stored it back in her saddlebag. She then looked up at the nearby mountain. “Hey, Pearl. Could you scope out that mountain for me?”
“I suppose,” answered Pearl. Her horn and eyes began to glow. “What exactly am I looking for?”
“Try to find a cavern or some other way inside. I have a theory that there is a natural spring of electrum and now I think it might be under the mountain.” Snap pulled out a map and pencil.
After a few minutes of studying the mountain Pearl turned back to Snap. “I think I found a suitable entrance.” She walked over to the map and marked the entrance on it. “You are not thinking of going out there now are you?”
“Not today,” said Snap. “I might get Red to help with that. Besides I know how nervous you get out here in the forest with all of the monsters in it.”
“The forest does not worry me in the least,” Pearl stated with an unusual amount of confidence. “I have dealt with worse things than organic monsters, so have you.”
Snap looked confused. She scratched her head and looked at Pearl with concern. “When exactly have either of us had to deal with anything as bad or worse than a manticore? Or a timber wolf?”
“I . . . don’t know,” conceded Pearl. “Odd, I thought we did for a second. Why don’t we roll out back to Canterville. This place is starting to freak me out.”
Snap stood and watched as Pearl walked back the way they had come with a look of concern on her face. “Strange,” she muttered as she put away the map and put on her saddle bags. Snap followed Pearl down the path. A loose strand of her blue mane fell into her face and Snap stopped. Frowning she readjusted her hair, making sure everything was in place before continuing.
If You are Patient Enough, the Answer Will Come to You Part 1
If You are Patient Enough, the Answer Will Come to You
Snap drifted in and out of sleep that night. She was too excited about her discovery. Nopony had seen a trace of electrum in over two hundred years. Snap’s legs were fidgeting as she thought about the mysterious substance. History books had provided little information on it, other than its origin. Electrum seemed to originate in the Crystal Empire, created by a long lost alicorn princess who has faded from history.
Unfortunately, the Crystal Empire had fallen long ago. All of its citizens and records had been destroyed by a mad tyrant, leaving only mysteries behind.
Dim illumination crept into Snap’s bedroom. Shifting in her bed Snap looked out the window. Soon it would be morning and Snap could get back to work tracking down the electrum. Knowing she would get no more rest Snap hopped out of bed.
Moving slowly down the hall Snap approached her bathroom. With nothing better to do so early in the morning she planned on taking a nice long bath. However as she passed by the mirror Snap noticed her blue mane and tail, both of which were horribly disheveled. Snap glared at her reflection for a moment before grabbing a brush and vigorously attacking the tangles in her mane.
The sun had already risen when Snap walked out of her house. A brush floated next to her, encased in the red glow of her telekinesis. Snap closed and locked the door to her house before heading out into town.
Snap continued to brush her mane as she made her way through the small town of Canterville. Her destination was the only shop in town that would be open so early in the morning, Wild’s Diner. The diner had started out as a simple café but had recently expanded into a restaurant. The owner was an insomniac, usually opening early and serving very strong coffee.
Upon entering the diner Snap was surprised to find a familiar grey and red unicorn inside. In a corner booth sat Pearl who looked half asleep and just as disheveled as Snap had earlier. Snap finally stopped brushing her mane as she walked up to Pearl, who did not seem to notice her friend approach. Snap’s brush floated down in front of Pearl. Startled, Pearl looked up from her drink and noticed Snap standing there.
Snap dropped the brush on the table. “It looks like you could use this more than me. Trouble sleeping?”
“Indeed,” replied Pearl. “All of my attempts at sleep were interrupted by nightmares. More accurately, I had the same nightmare multiple times.”
“What kind of nightmare?” Snap asked as she sat down at the other end of the booth.
“I was looking for electrum along a beach. Flower Glider, Roamer and Hairspray were with me. Somebody attacked us, I couldn’t tell who. Roamer disappeared. I tried to find him but he was gone. Flower and Hairspray were fighting back against the attackers. I left them and walked into a cave. Inside I found Roamer and a pool of electrum. Our attackers followed me and fired bolts of magic into the electrum, causing it to detonate. We were all caught in the explosion.”
“Strange,” Snap mumbled to herself. “Do you think that the electrum is responsible for the nightmares? You were acting strangely yesterday after you touched it.”
“I would think that a more likely explanation would be that a mixture of stress and anticipation brought out my odd behavior yesterday,” offered Pearl.
A waiter came by while Snap was thinking about Pearl’s theory and she ordered a cup of coffee.
“That makes sense,” Snap conceded. “Speaking of the others, I haven’t had a chance to tell anypony about our discovery yet.”
“I ran into Hairspray on the way home last night,” said Pearl. “She was eager to help me with my lab work and wants to assist me for a couple days.”
“I guess that means that neither of you will be able to accompany me when I go into the mountain then?” Snap asked in disappointment.
“I haven’t even run any tests on the sample yet,” protested Pearl. “There is no reason to assume that there is any other electrum in the area right now. I haven’t confirmed it to be electrum yet.”
“You seemed pretty sure yesterday,” Snap pointed out. “Besides, it can’t hurt to be prepared, can it?”
“I suppose,” conceded Pearl. “You are usually careful when it comes to these things.”
The waiter returned with Snap’s drink. The two unicorns sat quietly as they sipped their coffee.
--
“Hey, Hairspray,” called out Snap. “Good morning.”
Down the street a unicorn stopped and looked over at her. The unicorn was remarkably similar in appearance to Snap. Both of their tails looked the same and their manes would be identical if Hairspray did not cut hers shorter. They had different cutie marks of course, Snap having a checkered flag and Hairspray having three drops of water. The only major variation between the two was their color schemes. Were Snap had a yellow coat and a blue mane, Hairspray had a blue coat and a yellow mane.
“Good morning, Snap Dash,” Hairspray called back as the two approached each other. “I was just on my way to see Pearl Scepter. I will be her lab assistant while she tests the rather intriguing sample that the two of you found.”
“Pearl is going to need the help,” said Snap. “She was having weird dreams last night and didn’t get any rest.”
“Well it’s a good thing I will be there for her then”
“Unfortunately for me that means that you won’t be able help me on my expedition to find the source of the electrum.” Snap frowned and pulled a loose strand of hair back into place.
“And I doubt that you will be able to get Beach Roamer or Flower Glider to help either,” Hairspray cautioned.
“Why is that?” asked Snap.
Hairspray pointed a hoof back the way she had come. “You could go ask them yourself. Flower was going to talk to Roamer. They should be at his house. Now if you will excuse me I must help our sleepy scientist friend.”
Snap nodded to the other unicorn as she trotted off. Roamer’s house was just down the street and Snap sighed as she looked at it. She could understand why Hairspray would think Roamer wouldn’t be any help, he was notoriously lazy. He refused to participate in any activity that required prolonged physical activity and he was very blunt about it. What Snap didn’t understand was why Flower would refuse to help. She tended to be very agreeable and enthusiastic, but also easily distracted.
Snap came up to Roamer’s house and knocked on the front door. Opening the door was a blue earth pony with a short, disheveled mane.
“Hey there Snappers,” greeted the earth pony.
“Don’t call me that Roamer,” sighed Snap.
“Come on in, grumpy,” offered Roamer. “Flower is here looking for a favor or something.”
Snap could see the pegasus sitting on a couch near the door. It was hard to miss her as she had a matching bright red coat, mane and tail. Even her cutie mark was a dark red rose with its petals scattering in the wind.
“Sorry if I am interrupting,” Snap said as she walked over to the couch and took a seat.
“So, Flower, what do need?” asked Roamer.
“Something happened to my cousin, Joyful,” Flower began slowly. “Whatever happened has left her pretty depressed from what I understand and she refuses to talk about it. She doesn’t have anywhere to stay and I offered to let her live with me for a while. I am going to pick her up this afternoon and I kind of wanted to have somepony with me when I do.”
“Where is she staying now?” inquired Snap.
“Joyful is staying with a friend of hers,” answered Flower. “In Ponyville.”
Roamer frowned and shook his head. “I’m not going back to Ponyville. Everypony there is crazy. Last time I went there the town was attacked by Nightmare Moon. From what I’ve heard, the town getting attacked by monsters is a fairly common thing.”
“So you won’t come either. I really didn’t want to do this on my own.” Flower got off of the couch and began heading for the door. “Snap, I know you have that project that you are working on with Pearl and Spray, but is there any chance that you would be free this afternoon?”
“I’m actually having a similar problem,” Snap replied. “I was planning an expedition into the Everfree Forest but I don’t want risk going alone. Unfortunately everpony seems to be busy, unless you want to join me Roamer.”
“I would rather not get eaten by monsters.”
“I didn’t think so.” Snap smiled at Flower. “It looks like I am free this afternoon after all.”
