The Castle of Dreams

Chapter 11

Everypony was in the Royal Dining Hall, discussing what they should do.

“Ah still say we oughta find th’ missin’ page from th’ book!” Big McIntosh insisted.

“But who knows when it went missing,” Rainbow Dash debated, “or if it even exists anymore!”

“It’s proof that the clue we need is out there somewhere!” Thunderlane added.

“Um, maybe we should talk to the princesses,” Fluttershy offered.

“I think she’s right,” Forester agreed while giving Fluttershy a kind look.

“Darling, finding the clue is the logical choice,” Rarity mused, “but the threat we face is imminent!”

“Do we even have time to search for a clue that may no longer even exist?” Bravissimo asked. “We wouldn’t even know where to begin!”

“Ooh, ooh! It could be like a scavenger hunt!” Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Um, doesn’t a scavenger hunt mean looking for a bunch of stuff, Pinkie?” Spike deadpanned.

“Maybe we shuld wait fer Twilight and Shining Armor ta’ get back,” Applejack amended.

“We’re back!”

Everypony looked to see Twilight at the double-doored entrance to the Dining Hall but noticed Shining Armor shying from the threshold so they only saw his horn.

“Hey Twi, Shining!” Starfyre called. “What’s up?”

Everypony then noticed the nervous look on Twilight.

“Uh, guys? We have good news and we have bad news…”

“Well, sugarcube, let’s hear it!” Applejack and Big Mac insisted.

“Well… The good news is…” Twilight hesitated. “Midnight is no longer trapped in the Dream Plane and at Sombra’s mercy.”

“That’s wonderful, darling!” Rarity swooned.

Thunderlane whooped as Pinkie cheered, saying, “Lemme get my party cannon!”

“Hold everything…!!!” Starfyre yelled in mid-air and oddly everypony in the room froze in place as they gave him an intimidated look.

Then Starfyre flew closer to Twilight, asking, “If Midnight’s not on the Dream Plane anymore, then where is he?”

“Well, that’s kind of… the bad news,” Twilight admitted, sweating a little, “depending on how you view the situation…”

“And why in thunder-ation are ya hiding, Shining Armor?” Big McIntosh asked suspiciously.

They all heard Shining Armor let out a deep sigh, and in he walked.

“Darling, have you done something with your mane?” Rarity asked. “Not that I’m complaining, the black streaks make you look rather refined.”

“And what’s with your eye?” Rainbow Dash asked as she got a little nosy and zoomed right up into Shining Armor’s face.

“They look… different somehow.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded, making the rainbow-maned Pegasus mare back off a little. Twilight sighed, and said to her brother, “Show them.”

Shining Armor gulped and then showed off his left flank, and everypony gasped!

“Haystack! How’d’ja get Midnight’s cutie-mark?!” Big Mac was blown away.

“You don’t have the cutie-pox, do ya, sugarcube?”Applejack hoped not, after having gone through that with her sister.

“No, no, everypony!” Shining Armor calmed them down, and sighed. “Midnight’s not on the Dream Plane anymore, because… he’s inside me.”

“What?!” everypony brayed.

“Listen, I know you want to find out what happened,” Twilight spoke up, “but I think we should include the Princesses in on this explanation.”

About fifteen minutes later, everypony was back in the throneroom, not including Midnight’s parents. Princess Florinda was scrutinizing Shining Armor’s flank with Midnight’s cutie-mark while apparently using some kind of spell.

Shining Armor stood in the center, feeling uncomfortable as everypony looked at him as if he’d grown a second head.

“This is most perplexing!” Princess Florinda declared. “This is definitely Midnight’s cutie-mark but I know for sure he is here, within you Shining Armor, because I can feel his essence, his spirit has buried itself within you!”

“And the story you told us of how this occurred is very interesting,” Princess Celestia agreed. “Never before has two ponies occupied the same body, even Star Swirl thought it to be impossible.”

“Uh, Shining Armor?” Forester asked, “Can Midnight… talk to us through you?”

“It’s not that simple,” Shining Armor explained, “I feel him, like he’s literally in the back of my mind, but it’s as if he’s asleep.”

“I would imagine that it’s because Midnight has sought refuge within you,” Princess Florinda deduced, “From what you told us, Midnight trusted you to save him from Sombra, and he’s chosen to bury himself within you.”

“The way he was when I saw him in the Dream Plane,” Shining Armor gloomed. “He was so… dejected, he blames himself for everything. And when Sombra showed up, he looked so scared… No wonder he’s hiding.”

“Well, we gotta get him to buck up!” Starfyre insisted, and suddenly he zipped over to Shining Armor and did a pretty convincing imitation of the Royal Canterlot Voice into the white unicorn’s ear.

“YO, MIDNIGHT BLAZE! BUCK UP, BRO!! WE NEED YOUR HELP TO BEAT SOMBRA…!!!!!”

This earned him a look from everypony in the room as Shining Armor turned an unhealthy shade of angry as he glared lightning bolts at the yellow Pegasus pony, Starfyre letting out a very un-stallionly squeal.

“And they call us immature,” Thunderlane cracked, Pinkie giggling.

One psychotic rant of a scolding later…

“Now that we’re back on track,” Princess Celestia spoke, ignoring the others’ fuming at Starfyre, who shrank at the persecution, “we must address the concern of the missing clue.”

“Is there any way to determine when the clue was lost?” Princess Florinda asked.

“Unfortunately no,” Twilight reported. “The page was completely torn out, and without it we have no means of finding the Mirror of Fantasia.”

“But we can’t assume Sombra hasn’t a means of locating the mirror,” Bravissimo stated, “If he is truly determined to take the power of the Castle of Dreams, and restore his original body, I daresay he will.”

“Perhaps if we knew who it was that took th’ page,” Applejack said, “we could find a way ta’ get it back!”

“Hold yer apples, AJ!” Big Mac gasped. “Ah think there is a way we can find out wha’ happened to th’ page!”

“Speak your mind, Big McIntosh,” Princess Celestia invited.

Big Mac stepped forward and said, “When we were in th’ Crystal Empire, Midnight used a spell to help us find th’ Crystal Heart, a spell that let’s y’all see what happened in th’ past! As if y’all were there!”

“Oh yeah!” Starfyre said, ignoring how everypony, Shining Armor particularly, wasn’t quite done being angry with him, “Midnight said it was an illusion, like a play-back of past events!”

“Eeyup!” Big McIntosh declared. “We jus’ need ta’ use th’ same spell and maybe it’ll show us who took th’ page or when it happened!”

“That is an excellent idea, Big McIntosh,” Princess Celestia agreed rather unenthusiastically, “but I’m afraid it won’t work.”

“Why not?” Rarity asked, “You agreed it to be brilliant!”

“I’m afraid the princess is right, everypony,” Twilight said.

“Because the only pony who can use that spell is Midnight himself,” Shining Armor explained.

The Princesses led everypony towards a room with a heavy metal door, engraved with many magical symbols and sigils, reinforced with multiple heavy-locks, crisscrossed with iron chains. It looked haunting and forbidden, and made everypony shiver.

“This is the Sorcerous Sanctum,” Princess Celestia declared. “Contained within are all the greatest secrets of Equestria. Besides us, the Princesses and Princes, very few have ever had the privilege of seeing what’s inside.”

“Ooh!” Thunderlane and Pinkie said with eyes filled with wonder.

“Twilight, Shining Armor, if you would assist me?” requested Princess Celestia, and the two siblings stood at her sides, and the three of them charged their horns with magic.

Everypony watched as the three different magicks worked in concert, symbols on the vault door brightening up with colors shifting like a kaleidoscope, undoing the locks, the chains falling away, as the door rumbled open, revealing a long dark hallway.

“Now then,” Princess Celestia invited, “shall we?”

Everypony followed as Princess Celestia shined her horn to provide light. They passed by multiple doors a lot like the vault door, with signs over them written in some old language most of them didn’t recognize. Finally, they came to a certain door, and Princess Celestia opened it to reveal a circular chamber, a light shining from the ceiling onto an ancient lectern, upon which laid an ancient tome.

At first glance, it looked like any other tome, like the ones Twilight and Midnight often buried their muzzles in. But as they approached it, all of them, even the earth ponies and pegasus ponies felt its power, ancient, foreboding, demanding of respect. The tome was in surprisingly good condition, bound in leather, with gold clasps and embellished with symbols, with three gem stones, a sapphire, a ruby, and an emerald, on the cover.

“What’s that, a spellbook?” Big Mac asked.

“Not just any spellbook,” Shining Armor said, Twilight saying, “That is the original spellbook!”

Princess Celestia and Princess Solar went over to stand by the book, the Princess of the Sun explaining, “Behold, my little ponies, the Grimorum Unicorum! The first spellbook ever written, containing magicks and spells that predate even the tribes of unicorn, earth pony, and pegasi.”

“Within this tome is one hundred ancient spells, unique and powerful in their own ways,” Princess Florinda added.

“Only the most trusted, proven, and worthy are allowed to learn a spell from this book.”

“Are you saying Midnight learned that spell to playback the past from that book?” Starfyre asked.

“Indeed, and it is for that reason the spell can only be used by Midnight alone,” Princess Celestia explained. “The Grimorum Unicorum was written by an ancient unicorn mage whose name has long been forgotten though it is a popular belief that Star Swirl was descended from the Mage. Anyway, this Unicorn Mage recognized the power of the spells within this book, and believed no one pony should be able to use them all after the mage passed away.”

“So the mage wove a very specific enchantment upon the Grimorum Unicorum,” Princess Florinda stated. “this enchantment would insure each of the hundred spells could only be used by a single pony at a time.”

“In fact, my Shield Spell is one of the hundred spells in this book,” Shining Armor added.

“Y’mean th’ one you used to cover all a’ Canterlot just b’for yer wedding?” Applejack asked.

“That’s the one,” Shining Armor confirmed.

“That particular spell is this one,” Princess Celestia said as she levitated the book and opened its pages, which were understandably yellowed with age, to a specific entry.

“The Bastion Barrier, purported to protect an entire kingdom with the resolve equal to the strength of a pony’s heart.”

“That didn’t work out so well at the time,” Shining Armor admitted rather guiltily as he looked at his sister, “because I put my trust in the wrong pony.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Twilight assured her brother. “I didn’t exactly go about that the right way.”

“So if Midnight’s spell is from this book, which one is it?” Bravissimo asked.

Princess Celestia turned the pages until it showed, “The Spell of Retrospection, to look back upon events past and inspect them as if you’d been there. This is the spell from the Grimorum Unicorum Midnight alone is able to use.”

“Whattya mean by that, Yer Highness?” Big McIntosh asked.

“Well, there are certain ways for a mage to be able to use one of Hundred Spells,” Princess Celestia explained. “As you recall, before Shining Armor was Captain of the Royal Guard, that rank and title belonged to Midnight’s father, General Knighthoof. Back then, Knighthoof was the wielder of the Bastion Barrier, but once he stepped down, he bestowed the power of the spell to Shining Armor, his successor.”

“So what did Midnight do to earn him the right to use one of these spells?” Spike asked.

“Take a look at his cutie-mark,” Princess Florinda said, pointing at Shining Armor’s left flank, which bore Midnight’s cutie-mark.

“Note the moon. Did Midnight ever tell you how he earned his cutie-mark?”

Everypony shook their heads no.

“Back when Midnight was still a colt in my school,” Princess Celestia explained, “there came a day when I fell ill. This was before the Return of Nightmare Moon, mind you. At the time I was so weak, I barely managed to lower the Sun, but I did not have the strength to raise the moon afterwards.”

“If the Moon had not been raised in time, Equestria would have been thrown out of balance,” Princess Florinda added.

“I could not do it because my magic is to manage the Seasons.”

“So what happened?” Pinkie Pie asked, having inexplicably acquired a bucket of popcorn as the story got good. Though her munching earned her some looks from the others Thunderlane joined her.

“One young unicorn colt took the initiative,” Princess Celestia stated proudly. “Although merely a student, Midnight had somehow come across the right spell during his studies, the very spell the unicorn tribe once wielded together to raise the sun and moon before my sister and I came to power. Midnight snuck into Canterlot Castle and made his way to the highest tower, and it was there he single-hoofedly performed a miracle!”

“Midnight raised the Moon…?!” Shining Armor was in awe. “Why didn’t he ever tell us?”

“We felt if the wrong ears heard that a mere unicorn colt had such power and potential,” Princess Celestia explained, “Midnight might become a target.”

“Not only that, it was that magical feat that earned Midnight his cutie-mark,” Princess Florinda confirmed. “Midnight raised the Moon and preserved the Balance of Equestria, and that was when I met him for the first time, and offered to be his mentor.”

“And the rest, as they say, is history,” Princess Celestia closed the book and placed it back on the lectern. “For his act, I chose to reward Midnight with a spell from the Grimorum Unicorum.”

“And he chose the Spell of Retrospection?” Twilight asked.

“No, Twilight he did not,” Princess Florinda clarified. “One does not choose the spell one learns from the Grimorum; the Grimorum chooses the spell for you. That’s part of the enchantment the Mage worked on the book, so one cannot abuse the powers of the book through deliberate intent.”

“Hold yer apples,” Applejack interrupted, “if th’ Spell is Midnight’s to use, and Midnight’s inside Shining Armor, maybe he can use it wit’ Midnight’s help!”

“I… don’t know, Applejack,” Shining Armor shied.

“Hmm, it is plausible,” Princess Celestia mused. “Perhaps with the right magic, we can help Shining Armor tap into Midnight’s power, so that he can cast the spell himself!”

“Uh, ah hate ta’ interrupt,” Big McIntosh piped up, “but there’s one more question we gotta answer. Do we tell Midnight’s folks about this?”

That one question hung heavily in the air. The one to break the silence was Shining Armor.

“No. We don’t.”

“But Shining!” Twilight gasped. “General Knighthoof and Faerie Tail have every right to know!”

“I know, but…” Shining Armor hesitated, “I keep getting this feeling of apprehension, and the very idea of telling Midnight’s parents… I think Midnight can hear us through me, but he doesn’t want his parents to know!”

“Well we cain’t keep it secret fer-ever!” Big Mac argued. “All they gotta do is see Midnight’s cutie-mark on yer rump and th’ jig is up!”

“But why doesn’t Midnight want his parents to know he’s safe now?” Fluttershy wondered aloud. “I mean, the situation is a little… strange, but they’d want to know!”

“Well, whatever the reason,” Princess Florinda said, “I feel we should respect Midnight’s wishes. If he and Shining Armor are sidetracked by Knighthoof and Faerie Tail, it could interfere with further proceedings. It may be a little deceptive, but the tasks at hoof demand priority.”

Although it made everypony uncomfortable, they all nodded hesitantly in agreement.