The Lost Alicorn City

The next morning, the six mares were stepping off the train in Sireville.

The town was a lot like Ponyville. A small, urban town with wooden buildings, large tents, and several farms. However, this town’s main product appeared to be pears, instead of apples.

Applejack wasn’t all to thrill to be in this town, do to her not liking pears one bit. She liked apples, and anypony who didn’t was just crazy to her. But she bit her tongue for the soul sake of being nice.

As they were walking away from the train station, a male voice said, “Howdy, y’all!”

They turned their heads to the right to see an Earth pony stallion trotting over to them. He had a light green coat and a dark brown main and tail, and the image of a sliced pear as a cutie mark.

The stallion spoke again. “My name is Bartlett. I haven’t seen y’all around these parts before. Y’all knew in town?”

“Well, yes,” said Twilight with a smile. “We’re from Ponyville. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.” She gestured to each one in turn. “We’re here looking for the Lost City of the Ancients.”

The stallion’s eyes widened in surprise. “You too?”

The six mares all looked back at him in confusion.

Bartlett continued. “Its been a really long time since somepony has come in search of the lost city, and now this is the second time this week somepony has come around looking for it.”

“Second?” asked Rarity.

He nodded. “Yeah. Four days ago, a unicorn mare came here who said she was also going to try to find the lost city. She wore a purple sorcerer’s hat and cape decorated with stars. She was kind of rude and boastful. No pony liked her very much. Ah forget what her name was. Somthin’ to do with magic.”

Twilight put her hoof to her chin in thought. Why did this mare sound so familiar?

Then from behind her, Rainbow Dash shouted, “TRIXIE?”

At that name, Twilight’s eyes widened. Now she remembered.

Bartlett smiled. “Yeah, that was her name. You know her or something?”

They all scowled, except for Fluttershy, who instead put on a sad face. They all knew Trixie well enough. A stuck up, boastful showmare who had come to Ponyville a while back to show off her magical abilities on a stage, humiliate anyone who challenged her, and boast about how she was the most powerful unicorn in Equestria and that she had once defeated a giant Ursa Major. This had turned out to be a lie, and when a real Ursa had shown up in town that evening, Trixie, unable to defeat the beast, was forced to confess that she had made her story up. Twilight had then defeated the Ursa, which turned out to only be a baby, an Ursa Minor, and saved the town. Trixie had left Ponyville right after that, still proclaiming that she was the most powerful unicorn in Equestria as she galloped away. Rainbow Dash had wanted to chase after the mare to catch her and give her a piece of her mind, but Twilight had persuaded her to just let the showmare go, believing that she might one day learn her lesson about boasting and making up stories.

“Yeah, we’ve met her,” said Applejack irritably.

“What in Celestia’s name is that uncouth pony doing here looking for the lost city?” said Rarity with equal irritation.

“I warned her not to go,” said Bartlett. “Told her it was too dangerous, especially for a mare to go all by her lonesome, but she wouldn’t listen.” Then his expression became serious. “Come to think of it, I should be tellin’ you gals not to go either. No pony who has ever gone looking for the city has ever been heard from again.”

“Th-they… h-haven’t?” squeaked Fluttershy in fear.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard the legends. But when me and my gal pals work together, there’s nothing that can stop us.”

Bartlett frowned. “Ah wont stop y’all, but I strongly urge you to reconsider. It’s a suicide mission.”

“Thank you for your concern,” said Twilight. “But the princess herself has given us this mission, and we must not fail her.”

The stallion’s eyes widened. “The Princess! Well, gosh, ah recon if she sent y’all on this quest here, then she must rightly believe y’all can do it. I still think its crazy, but I wish ya gals good luck.”

“Thanks,” they all said, and he turned and started trotting away.

“What a nice guy,” said Pinkie Pie when he was gone.

“Okay, Twilight, so where do we start looking for the lost city?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight used her magic to levitate the black book out of her pack and opened it up. "According to the map, we have to travel west of here to a forest near the mountains.” She raised her hoof and pointed out of the town at some mountains in the distance. “Listen to this,” she spoke again, looking back at the book. “According to my translation, it says here that in order to protect the city from the flawed and tainted, certain challenges were placed around it. And only patience, generosity, kindness, wisdom, modesty, and faith will guide you through them to the city’s golden doors.”

“AW YEAH!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she did a flip in mid air. “This is starting to sound a lot like Daring Do and the Griffin’s Goblet!"

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. Rainbow had really gotten into those books.

Suddenly, Fluttershy spoke. “I-I don’t know, girls,” she said softly, but still loud enough for her friends to hear her. She was gradually getting better at speaking up for herself. “Didn’t you hear what that stallion said? No pony who has gone to find the city has ever returned. I d-didn’t know this was going to be dangerous! Maybe we should reconsider.”

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “We’ve tackled way more dangerous stuff that this. Besides, how do we know that guy wasn’t just trying to scare us?”

“But what if it is true?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t think a buried treasure is worth risking all our lives.”

“This isn’t just buried treasure, Fluttershy,” said Twilight. “This is the archeological find of a lifetime. And besides, the Princess asked us to find the city, and we can’t disappoint her.”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” said Pinkie Pie. “As long as we’ve got each other, nothing bad will happen to us.”

“That’s right, sugarcube,” agreed Applejack.

Fluttershy looked at the ground like she was in thought. Then she looked up at them with a confident smile and nodded.

“All right, girls,” said Twilight as she closed the book and levitated it back into her saddlebag. “Lets go.”

And with that the six galloped out of the town towards the forest in the west.

When they made it to the forest, what they found was not exactly what any of them had been expecting. They had been expecting something a little more ominous looking, like the Everfree Forest back home. But for a forest that was supposedly ‘forbidden’, it certainly didn’t seem very ominous. It looked just like any other ordinary forest. They hesitated only for a moment at the edge of the trees before Twilight said for them to keep going, and they walked into the forest.

Celestia’s sun shown down through the treetops onto the dirt ground below. The trees themselves didn’t look in any way dark or creepy. They looked like perfectly normal, tall, healthy trees. A few wild flowers even grew here and there. The six mares were soon traveling cheerfully through the woods.

“See, Fluttershy,” said Pinkie Pie as she hopped along. “What did we tell you. Nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash as she flew up along Fluttershy. “This forest doesn’t seem dangerous at all.” The others couldn’t help but notice that their seemed to be a hint of disappointment in her voice. They guessed it was because she had been hoping for something a little more ‘exciting’.

Fluttershy was smiling with agreement at what they said. But then she frowned and suddenly stopped walking. “Wait, girls, stop!” she said.

They all stopped walking and looked at her. “What is it, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight in confusion and concern.

“Shhhh! Listen,” Fluttershy hushed them.

They all stood quietly for a moment and listened.

“I don’t hear anything, darling,” said Rarity.

“Exactly!” said Fluttershy. “No birds singing, no crickets chirping… No animal noises of any kind! Its like all the animals have disappeared.”

Twilight listened some more, and soon realized that Fluttershy was right. The forest was deathly silent, and that just wasn’t right. She began to feel a cold chill go through her body as she realized she was now a bit afraid.

“Okay, ah’m creeped out,” said Applejack. Twilight could see the rest of the girls also appeared to be feeling it as well.

“L-lets keep moving, girls,” said Twilight confidently as she started walking again. She couldn’t hide, however, that she was still a little spooked.

Then suddenly Rainbow Dash shouted, “HEY, GIRLS, LOOK UP AHEAD!” The rest of them looked at where she was pointing with her hoof, and gasped at what they saw…