The Lost Alicorn City

Twilight and her friends gasped at what they saw. Just ahead of them were dozens of ponies, all standing facing away from them.

“Hello?” Twilight shouted to them.

The ponies didn’t respond. They didn’t even turn their heads or move.

“HELLO?” shouted Pinkie Pie, a bit louder, trying to get their attention, but again, the ponies gave no reaction.

Cautiously, the group slowly walked up to the large bunch of ponies. As they got closer, they started noticing something very odd about the ponies. They were all slightly transparent, like ghosts. The only things that kept the mares from running away in fear was their curiosity, and that the see-through ponies still hadn’t moved a muscle.

“W-what’s wrong with them?” squeaked Fluttershy as they stopped right behind a couple of the ponies at the back of the bunch.

“I… I don’t know,” answered Twilight. She noticed Rainbow Dash about to go up and touch one of the ponies.

“DON’T TOUCH THEM!” Twilight shouted, causing the cyan Pegusus to quickly withdraw her extending hoof. “We don’t know what could happen.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and landed on the ground next to Twilight.

“Twilight?” said Applejack.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Twilight responded as she was looking closely at the ponies while trying not to get too close. “If I had to guess, I’d say these ponies are stuck.”

“Stuck?” asked Rarity.

“Yes. Stuck somewhere between our world, and… somewhere else.”

"You mean like the space between spaces?" said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight just rolled her eye at Dashes' 'Daring Do' reference. She was beginning to regret ever introducing her friend to that series of books.

“What could do this to them?” asked Fluttershy.

“I’m not sure,” answered Twilight. “This is obviously ancient and powerful magic. Maybe…” Twilight strayed off and looked down at the ground. Her horn glowed and a small rock lying nearby began to glow as well and she levitated it up infront of her. Using her magic, she then tossed the rock infront of them where the unmoving ponies were. While in mid air, the rock suddenly stopped and became transparent like the ponies. It just hung suspended in mid air there.

Twilight looked back at her friends. “Thought so. The whole area in front of us is enchanted with a powerful spell. Anything that enters that area will become trapped between worlds.”

“So what do we do?” asked Applejack.

“I know,” said Rainbow Dash with a grin. “I’ll just fly over it!”

Before Rainbow Dash could take off, Twilight grabbed onto her tail with magic and held her back. “That won’t work, Rainbow Dash. Look.” Twilight was pointing up into the air.

Dash looked where Twilight was pointing and gasped when she saw that she wasn’t the first pegusus to have that idea. Up above them, through the tree tops, several pegasi were frozen in mid flight, their bodies transparent like the ones on the ground.

Twilight continued. “The spell must extend above the forest as well, to ensure no pony can just fly in. And I’ll bet the spell also goes around the entire forest, so there’s no way to go around it either.”

Rainbow Dash settled back down on the ground. “Then what are we supposed to do? There has to be a way to get to the city.”

“I’m thinking,” said Twilight as she sat back on her haunches and rubbed her head with her front hoof. “The ancient alicorns wouldn’t have wanted the city to be impossible to get to, they just wanted to keep the flawed and tainted from finding it. In other words, anypony or thing they believed wasn’t worthy to uncover its secrets. Therefore, there must logically be a way of getting to it. We just need to figure it out.”

“Well, I don’t see that no good show mare Trixie anywhere,” said Applejack, remembering what Bartlett had said about Trixie also having come here looking for the lost city, “so she must’a found a way. And I ain't about to let the likes of her show us up.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity nodded in agreement with Applejack.

“Maybe there’s a way through somewhere,” said Pinkie Pie. “All’s we have to do is look for it until we find it.”

They all looked at the pink party pony. “And how are we supposed to do that?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Keep throwing rocks until we find it? Do you have any idea how long that will take?”

“THAT’S IT!” exclaimed Twilight as she jumped to her hooves.

Their attention switched to the purple unicorn.

“What’s it?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Remember what it said in the book? Only patience, generosity, kindness, wisdom, modesty, and faith will get us to the lost city. In order to get through this enchanted area, we need to be PATIENT, and throw rocks and other objects at the wall in order to find the way through.” She picked up another stone with her magic. “Come on, girls. Lets keep throwing stones until we find an opening.”

The rest of them all picked up stones on the ground as well in their hooves or mouths, and Rarity and Twilight with their magic, and began walking next to the area they knew was enchanted and threw the stones at it. Each stone they threw got stuck in the spell. After several minutes, Pinkie through a stone and it didn’t get stuck in anything. It flew through the air and landed on the ground on the other side of the frozen ponies. “I FOUND IT!” Pinkie shouted cheerfully.

The others hurried over to where she was. Pinkie Pie pointed the way through.

“Way to go, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight said.

“Follow me, girls.” Pinkie walked forward, entering the invisible hole she had discovered. Her friends followed her in single file behind her. Once they were sure they were on the other side of the enchanted area, they all began cheering and congratulating themselves on a job well done.

“All right, ponies,” Dash said as she leaped into the air and hovered in front of her friends using her wings. “Lets keep going!”

They continued walking through the forest, now a bit more cautious as to what lay ahead, knowing full well that they would encounter more traps like the one they had left behind them.

“What about those ponies back there?” Fluttershy asked while they were walking, a few minutes later. “The ones who are trapped in the spell. Can anything be done for them?”

Twilight could tell that all eyes were on her, her friends waiting for her to answer the question. Twilight frowned sadly and shook her head. “That magic is way beyond me. There’s nothing any of us can do for them. Maybe Princess Celestia would know a counter spell, or maybe we’ll find a way to help them at the city. But right now, I don’t know of any way that could help them.

Fluttershy cast her head down, her expression saddened, as they continued onward.

After walking for a few more minutes, Twilight heard something up ahead of them.

“Shhhh!” she said and motioned for her friends to stop moving. They all stopped and Twilight listened. She heard the noise again. It sounded like somepony talking, but the words were incomprehensible this far away.

Twilight’s friends also heard it as well. Being as quiet as possible, Twilight began tiptoeing through the forest towards the sound. Her friends did the same behind her, except for Rainbow Dash, who hovered along through the air quietly beside them.

As they rounded a pine tree, they found the source of the sound. On the ground directly ahead of them, sitting with their back turned to them, was a blue pony wearing a purple cape and hat decorated with stars.

Suddenly, they heard a snap as Fluttershy’s hoof landed on a twig. Infront of them, Trixie whirled her head around and saw them approaching her.

“STOP!” shouted Trixie, raising her front hooves as a signal to stay back.

Their initial confusion at Trixie's behavior was forgotten when there was a sudden flash of light all around them, and then they could all see that some sort of giant bubble had appeared all around them, and they were now inside it.

In front of them, Trixie let her front legs drop to the ground as she stared at the group of ponies before her with realization in her eyes. “Oh my, gosh, it’s you!” she said with annoyance, remembering them all. Then she sighed. “Well, make yourselves comfortable. We’re all going to be here for a while.”