The Sword and the Spirit within/BOOK 2

After the encounter with Dream Shade:

Celestia told Twilight and her friends everything about the events that took place before and during Nightmare Moon's Rise, except for one tiny detail: the truth of what he was.

Twilight knew there had to be more to what Celestia was telling them. She wanted to know why he was never around and why he left.

Celestia could not reveal why. Instead, she decided to give Twilight a book that once belonged to a friend of the Guardian's. She presented it to Twilight, who saw it was very old and looked as though it had once caught fire.

“Why are you giving me this?” Twilight asked with concern.

Celestia closed her eyes for a second. “This book once belonged to a student of mine who was the Guardian's friend. It also belongs to you, Twilight.”

Twilight blinked. “Me? But I never had a book this old before. Why would I need this old burnt book?

“This book was embedded with a spell long before you six were born. My student always wanted to feel safe, so she had her journal record all the events that took place.”

Her listeners dropped their jaws and widened their eyes. Twilight was intrigued by how one unicorn could do that kind of magic.

Applejack got a closer look at the book by learning forward. “That’s some crazy magic right there, even though we haven’t seen it in action yet.”

Rarity didn’t much care for such things. “But how will this help us find the Guardian or what’s-his-name again?”

“It’s very simple,” Celestia said, smiling. “You have to transfer your minds to the book and venture into the past to discover what happen to the Guardian.”

“Transfer our minds?” Fluttershy said.

“This isn’t going to hurt us, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Don’t worry. As long as you have Twilight with you, I’m sure you will succeed,” Celestia answered.

Just before leaving the room she turned her gaze to the main six. “But I must warn you six. What you may see in the past might not be what you want to see.”  (I don't understand about the main six--are there a room full of other listeners, of whom only the main six are going on this quest?)

Twilight and her friends began to wonder what Celestia meant by that. But Twilight knew they had a one-month deadline, so she decided to go ahead, use her magic, and hope to avoid what Celestia had warned her about. (If they're going to see something in the past, how can her magic help her avoid its being unpleasant? Can she change the past?) “We'd best hurry up, girls," she told her friends. "The fate of Equestria now lies in our hooves.”

Applejack turned her gaze on Twilight while the others turned their eyes on her. “I know we just got threatened, Twi, but I reckon maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty.”

“Oh, come on, AJ!” Rainbow Dash said, getting up close to Applejack. “Since when do you think we shouldn’t be hasty?”

Pinkie started jumping with excitement. “Oh I’m so nervecited!”

“I told ya this once and I’ll say it again: That’s not a real word, Pinkie,” said Applejack.

Pinkie just stood there with her goofy smile. Applejack slowly nodded and said, “Let’s just go to the library and get this over with before Pinkie gets any crazier.”

“For once, Applejack, I kinda agree with that idea,” said Twilight.

(Scene break, Canterlot Library:)

They made their way to the Canterlot Library and chose one section where they would use the book's magic. All six gathered around and set the book in the center of them. “All right, ponies, you ready?” Twilight asked.

“Eyup,” Applejack said

“Always,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’m ready,” Fluttershy said.

“Yes,” Rarity said.

“I’m so nervecited.” Pinkie said.

“I’ll take that as a yes... All right, let’s get started,” said Twilight.

As they waited, Twilight began channeling her magic at the journal. She fired a bright ray of light which lit up the entire library. The eyes of the six companions started to glow even as their eyesight faded into darkness. After a good 5 seconds of blind darkness, their sight returned to normal and they saw that they stood in the middle of a forest. All six of them looked around in every direction.

“Where are we? And how’d we get here?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew in the air and tried to make out where they were.

“Well?” Applejack yelled up to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah! Nothing! We’re in the middle of a huge forest!” Rainbow Dash said.

She continued to look, flying higher until she spotted something in the far distance. It seemed to be a camp of some sort, but she couldn’t tell for sure from that distance; she saw no fire or smoke. Rainbow Dash returned to the group.

“I think I saw a camp that way,” she said, pointing with her hoof.

“OH! OH! I LOVE CAMPING!!!” Pinkie Pie said with excitement.

“If I knew we were going to a camp I would have packed-”

“Okay, everypony, we have a job to do and let’s not get distracted,” Twilight interrupted Rarity. “We’re in a memory, and we’re still in the library.”

“She’s right! We’re still in Canterlot, but our minds are inside the journal,” Fluttershy explained.

Rainbow Dash flew back to the group and stopped in midair. “If we’re done talking about where we really are, I think we should head over to that camp.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rainbow's right, not to mention we are on a serious threat deadline.”

“Than let’s get to it, y'all, the last thing we need to be doing is wasting time.” Applejack said. None of her friends objected.

They set off in the direction Rainbow Dash had pointed out. They soon noticed that the leaves they were walking past felt very real, even though they were only seen in a memory. They all hoped nothing bad would happen to them while their minds were in the past.

After walking a great distance, they finally reached their destination and saw that Rainbow’s theory was correct: it was a camp. The ponies that lingered there were a grey Unicorn and a red Pegasus. Twilight wondered if they would be able to communicate with them; then she remembered that on the one occasion when she had visited the past before, not even Celestia had been able to hear her.

To be sure that no pony could see her, she walked over to the unicorn and the Pegasus. They took no notice of her.  “You don’t have to hide, they can’t see us," Twilight told her friends.

Her friends heard and came toward her. But Rainbow had her eyes on the red Pegasus. Twilight noticed she wouldn’t stop looking at him and thought she might have seen him before.

Twilight went up to Rainbow Dash to ask why she had her gaze on him. “Is there something wrong, Rainbow?”

Rainbow turned her gaze on Twilight for a second and then returned it to the red Pegasus. “That Pegasus, he’s-”

She stopped herself and looked back at Twilight. “It’s nothing, let’s just do what we came here to do.”

Twilight put her left wing to the right side of Rainbow's neck. “If you know something’s off, just tell me.”

Rainbow looked back at the red Pegasus. “I said it’s nothing, let’s just get this over with. You said we had a deadline, remember.”

Even though Rainbow Dash was being a tad selfish, Twilight knew she was correct--they had a deadline and couldn’t delay the mission. Twilight decided not to press Rainbow for the moment, but she was still concerned to understand what made Rainbow so preoccupied with the red Pegasus. Twilight thought she would get a closer look at him for herself.

Before she could, she noticed something about the grey Unicorn; Twilight began to feel that she knew her somehow too. She decided to ignore that feeling and stay focused.

“Twi? I don’t really know what we’re going to find here. I thought we were looking for the Guardian?” Applejack's concern for the situation didn’t get Twilight's attention until they heard a voice coming their way.

“Hey! Tana! Red! I’m back!” A strange voice called out two names that gave both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle a thought of deja vu.

“Oh, wonderful! The Guardian of Equestria returns to keep us company! Did you find us firewood?” the grey unicorn, also known as Tana Coruscare, asked.

Out of the forest came a hooded being which stood on two legs and wore a white jacket and grey and red pants. “You bet I did! Big logs coming up for tonight's fire!”

The hooded being dropped 3 big logs in the center of the camp. Tana and Red looked doubtfully at them, thinking it was too much.

“Do you think it’s wise to try and ignite three big logs?” Red Scale asked.

“Um... Don’t worry, it’ll work. LIKE THIS!!!” He raised his right arm and levitated the three logs. Then raised his left arm to summon the Sword of Light. He swung his sword and created a small blade beam to cut the logs in half. After that he levitated the logs and and set them back in the center of the camp.

Twilight and her friends saw what he did and were a little surprised. Twilight's eyes caught the Sword in his right hand.  For once in her life she was seeing the Sword of Light.

“There, happy?” Even though he'd been trying to solve a problem, Tana and Red looked at the sword-bearer as if he was a show-off.

“What?”

“I thought we agreed that there'd be no magic at the camp and that you'd leave your sword at home, Syrus! And take that hood off, after all these years you still act like a kid.” Tana walked away and went back in her tent.

“Okay, mom,” he grumbled. He took his hoodie off and sat on one of the camping chairs.

Twilight was surprised and shocked to see that the Guardian they were looking for was a human from the world where she had ventured to retrieve her stolen Element. Even her friends were surprised to see that the Guardian wasn’t a pony or an Alicorn at all, Besides the fact that he had white wings.  Pinkie dashed over to Syrus and went crazy asking him questions while he sat on his chair, unable to see her.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie! Are you from the world where Twilight ventured to once? Were you born with those wings? Are you related to-”

“PINKIE!” Everyone except Fluttershy yelled at her.

“What? I was only-”

Rarity step forward to speak. “He can’t see us, Pinkie.  They're not really here now.”

“Remember, sugarcube, this is a flashback memory in the book. Even though it may feel real, it ain’t real at all,” Applejack stated.

Fluttershy looked at Syrus and thought he might be a lovable animal of sorts. “Such a cute little angel! If we ever find him I’m going to introduce him to all my animal friends.”

"He’s not like your animal friends, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash said.

“All right, everypony!” Twilight said. “We’re here to find out where he went, not to ask questions that keep us from the mission at hoof.”

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both agreed that this wasn’t the time for dumb questions, so they returned to the group and sat down to listen and observe.

“After all these years I still show off? What a joke, she’s acting like she’s my mom,” Syrus said.

“Well... She is a mother now, and after all these years of you being with us--um, how many years has it been since you’ve lived with us?” Red Scale asked.

“Six,” said Syrus.

“Oh right... But come on, Syrus. Just because she acts like a mother to you doesn’t mean she’s not a mother. She has the love of her life and her little girl waiting for her to return.”

Syrus stood suddenly and pressed his hands to his head. “She’s only been with that guy for how many years now? Two? Three? I mean, before that it took her a whole year to get over her grief for her dead sister!”

“Losing her sister wasn’t easy to bear, Syrus. I mean, look at you. Even when you first came here you still hadn’t gotten over your parents death, and if you must know it’s been 4 years” Red Scale said.

Syrus slowly turned his gaze to Red Scale. “Whatever... I got over them right after we defeated Nightmare Moon. There wasn’t any point in letting the past get the better of me.”

“All right, forget about that subject. But have you even considered your future in our world?” Red Asked.

Syrus had a weird feeling he knew what Red was asking, the thought of it made him feel uneasy. “What are you getting at..?”

Red laughed a little, thinking Syrus was either stupid or just trying to avoid the subject. “You know what I mean. Where’s a special somepony for you when you need one?”

Syrus quickly turned his gaze away from Red and crossed his arms, not caring about the subject. “Not interested. I told you this before, like a year ago.”

“Why? Because of Mosa?” Red Scale said.

Syrus flinched and gave Red Scale an angry grin. “That has nothing to do with it, Red!!!”

Tana came out of the tent. “Will you two just shut up already? I’m busy with important writing in my journal.”

Red and Syrus turned their gazes to Tana and saw that she looked pretty upset. “Okay, sorry. Will be more quiet." Syrus said.

“Good, and don’t think I can’t hear you two from inside the tent.” Tana pressed her front hoof against his gut. “And you better watch what you say, the last thing I want to hear is any more talk about that subject.”

Tana turned her gaze to Red, who was laughing behind Syrus' back.  “That goes for you too. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a journal to write.”

She turned around and went back into the tent, while Syrus sat back in the chair. “So um, what should we do now?” Red asked.

“I guess just sit back. This was Tana’s idea, remember?” Syrus said.

Red walked up to Syrus and stood on the right side of his chair. “Are you still worried about her? The other her, I mean?”

“I’m always keeping an eye out for her, even if many years have passed,” said Syrus.

Twilight, watching them in the book's memory, noticed that that Red Scales' Cutie Mark was kinda like Rainbow Dash's, except that the cloud was dark and the lightning was yellow. She began to wonder if that was what had made Rainbow Dash act a little strange earlier. But then, Twilight thought the grey unicorn seemed strange too...

“It’s been six whole years.  If she wanted you dead she’d have come back before we came here,” Red Scale said.

Syrus sighed. “Maybe, but she’s the least of my concerns. Something else is out there, I can barely sleep because of her.”

“You mean that thing that’s been haunting you in your dreams?” he asked, knowing full well whom he was speaking of.

Syrus nodded yes. “I haven’t seen her since the day after we defeated Nightmare Moon. But I know she’ll come back for me, she’s not done with me yet.”

“Do you even know what she wants?” Red Scale asked.

“No...The only thing she told me was to become the weapon. But a weapon for what? I find it hard to believe she had something to do with Luna becoming that monster.”

Syrus got off the chair and stretched out both his arms and legs. “You know, Syrus, maybe you shouldn’t be too protective of us. I can understand you bringing your sword everywhere you go but we’re not kids any more, thanks to you and Thunder Wave--you two gave us courage.”

Syrus turns his gaze to Red Scale. “I know...I’m going for a walk, I’ll be back in maybe an hour or two.”

“What ever happen to you using your wings?” Red Scale asked.

“That’s a conversation for another time, Red. I’ll back be back in an hour or two. Just keep the camp safe,” Syrus said.

Syrus went off into the forest, leaving Red Scale and Tana Coruscare alone. Twilight and her friends were unable to follow for some strange reason. Even when they entered this memory they were completely off from the camp. Twilight gave it some thought and figured maybe they could only venture to the places the book ventured to. Only time will tell.

End of Chapter 1.