The Lost Alicorn City

by HeatherIsBestPlayer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure
Length: 15075

Twilight and friends set out to find a lost ancient city, but uncover a dark and terrible secret.

Twilight and her friends set out on a quest to find the mythical lost city of ancient Alicorns. While searching, they come across an old acquaintance of there's, who coincidentally is also looking for the lost city, but for her own reasons. Little do any of them know, dark forces are at work, and what began as a seemingly innocent search for ancient ruins and buried treasure, will become a fight between good and evil with the fate of Equestria hanging in the balance.

Partially based off an episode of Stargate SG1, 'The Quest'.

Background of cover image by BreadKing [http://breadking.deviantart.com/art/Everfree-Forest-Background-1-281364421]

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-01 16:24:33 UTC

Celestia's Mission

The Lost Alicorn City

By: StarswordIsCool

Rainbow Dash was lying on her bed in her bedroom inside her cloud house, reading the latest Daring Do book, ‘Daring Do and the Curse of the Sphinx Queen’. She was almost to the end.

Daring Do, Peregrine, and the Professor took deeps breath as they rested in the middle of the baking dessert. The evil Sphinx Queen was destroyed, the Cult of Unicorn Supremacy had been defeated, and they had just escaped from the collapsing pyramid.

Daring Do and Peregrine’s attention shifted to each other.

“I though I’d lost you,” the Earth pony stallion said with relief as he gazed into is marefriend’s magenta eyes.

Daring Do smiled as she gazed back into his eyes. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Mister.”

And then to two leaned in and their lips met in a long, passionate kiss.

“I’d hate to interrupt you two,” said the Professor, causing the couple to reluctantly break their kiss and look over at the elderly unicorn stallion in annoyance, “but I believe we should start heading back before night falls. I don’t particularly find the thought of freezing to death out here a pleasant one.”

Daring Do and Peregrine chuckled and then looked back at each other.

“Come on,” Daring Do said to her new coltfriend. “I believe you owe me a drink.”

Peregrine smirked. “Yes. I believe I do.”

“Come along, chaps,” said the professor as he reared up on his hind legs and punched his forelegs in the air aimlessly. “To the village!” He came back down onto all fours and then began galloping towards the setting sun. Daring Do and Peregrine rolled their eyes and then trotted off to catch up with him.

And the three of them galloped off into the sunset.

The End.

Rainbow Dash closed the book and leaned her head back against her pillow with a grin.

“So awesome!” she squealed as she hugged the book close to her chest. But then she was sad, as that was the last book in the series so far, and she didn’t know when the next one would come out.

Then Rainbow remembered Twilight had asked her and all their friends to come by her house/library today at noon. Rainbow checked her wristwatch, only to remember that she had drawn it on with marker, and therefore made it very difficult to tell what the actual time was.

Quick as a lightning bolt, Rainbow Dash put the book down on her dresser, flared her wings, and flew right out her bedroom window towards town.

It was a bright and beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and all around town ponies went around performing their daily tasks and hobbies.

No pony gave a second thought as a rainbow blur streaked across the sky, heading towards the town’s library, as this was a common sight in Ponyville nowadays.

As she flew, Rainbow Dash wondered what Twilight wanted to tell them about that was so important. Perhaps the next Daring Do book was out already.

She didn’t have any more time to wonder about it as she saw the library coming up. Rainbow Dash flared her wings to slow her down, and she landed just outside the library’s front door. She walked up to the door and pushed it open, not bothering to knock. “Hi, Twilight,” she said automatically as she entered. Then she saw that everypony else was there in the library as well. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all looked at her as she announced herself at the doorway.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said with a smile. “I’m glad you made it. I have something big to tell you all.”

“What is it?” asked Rainbow ash she walked inside and kicked the door closed behind her with her hoof. “Is the new Daring Do book out already?” she asked hopefully.

Twilight shook her head. “No, but I’ve got something even better!”

“You’re getting married?” gasped Rarity.

Twilight looked at the white unicorn mare in shock. “WHAT? NO! Where did that even come from?” Twilight sighed. “Okay, here it is. Have any of you ever heard about the legendary lost city of the ancients?”

They all nodded.

“Why, of course, darling,” said Rarity. “Everypony knows that bedtime story. It’s supposedly some lost alicorn city from thousands of years ago where the alicorns kept their greatest treasures. But everypony knows it’s just a myth.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s where you’d be wrong. No pony has ever been able to find it… but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” Twilight’s horn glowed a violet aura. Then an object sitting on a nearby table began to glow the same colored aura and floated up off the table in front of Twilight. It was an old black book, with strange writing on the front cover that none of Twilight’s friends could read.

Twilight continued. “This book is the journal of an explorer pony from three hundred years ago named Guiding Star. He spent his whole life searching for the lost city, dedicated everything to it. And he wrote everything down in this book. But on one of his expeditions he went missing and was never heard from again.”

“Wait?” Rainbow Dash butted in, cocking an eyebrow. “How the hey did you get his journal then?”

“The Princess sent it to me,” said Twilight. “She was able to find his journal and believes that the legend of the lost city is actually true. She’s asked us all to go on a journey to find it. She’s even sent us enough bits to pay for our traveling. Think about it, girls. If we actually find the lost city, imagine all the things we’ll find there. All the history, knowledge, art, and of course, artifacts and gold. So what do you say, girls? Are you up for a little adventure?”

They were all silent for a moment as they though it over. Twilight frowned as she began to worry they might say no. After all, it was kind of asking a lot.

But soon, Applejack was the first to speak. “Well, ah recon if the princess asked us to, then we shouldn’t disappoint her,” said the orange Earth pony. “Besides, if she thinks its real, then there must be a pretty darn good chance that it’s real.”

“Well, I’m definitely up for an adventure,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’ll be just like Daring Do!”

“I’m in!” squealed Pinkie Pie, jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

“You can count on us, Twilight,” said Rarity.

Fluttershy looked a little nervous, but she nodded.

Twilight closed her eyes clapped her hooves together with a smile. “Great!” she said gleefully. Then she turned back to the book and opened it up. “According to what I’ve translated in the journal,” she said while flipping through the pages, “the location of the city should be somewhere just west of a small farming town up north called Sireville. I want you all to go get supplies together to take with us. We have a long journey ahead of us. Lets all meet back here in two hours to get to the train station. If we leave now, we should arrive in Sireville by tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, girls, you heard her,” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Lets go on an adventure!”

Twilight’s five best friends started heading out the door to go back to their places and pack their things. The purple unicorn was so happy. She really wanted to do a good job and find the lost city and impress her mentor.

That, and the ancient literature that was most likely in the city.

“This is so exciting!” said Spike suddenly, as he closed the door behind Twilight’s friends.

Twilight looked at her dragon assistant. “It sure is, Spike,” she said with a smile as she opened up her saddlebags on a table and began to pack her essentials into it.

“I bet you’ll find a lot of gold and jewels there when you find the city,” the purple dragon said as he walked up beside her. “We’ll all be set for life!”

“Spike,” she said with authority. “Any treasure we might find there belongs either in a museum, or to the princesses. Besides, I’m more interested in the ancient literature that’s probably there. Who knows what lost knowledge is just waiting to be uncovered?”

“Well, yeah,” said Spike, feeling a little embarrassed. “I was just saying is all.”

She grinned down at him. “Although… I might be able to bring back a small souvenir. If the Princess doesn’t mind.”

Spike smiled up at her.

Twilight giggled and then levitated her pack and trotted over into the kitchen to pack some food as well.

Elsewhere in Ponyville, each of Twilight’s friends were also packing for their trip, as well as informing their families that they would be gone for a few days on an important mission for the Princess.

None of them would have suspected that at that moment, from up atop a cloud in the sky above them, they were being watched.

The Quest Begins

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…

The Space Between Spaces

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.”

An Old Acquaintance

Rainbow Dash grunted as she rammed herself against the wall of magic for the fifth time, trying her hardest to break through it, only to bounce off it again with a sore head.

“You’re wasting your time,” said Trixie as she watched the pegasus’ futile attempts to breach the barrier. “Believe Trixie, she’s tried.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs as she hovered in mid air, and glared over at Trixie with gritted teeth. Her five friends also stared at the showmare trapped with them inside the giant bubble. Trixie looked like she hadn’t had a decent shelter in a very long time. Her coat was filthy, her mane and tail were unkempt and also dirty, and she looked a bit thin, like she hadn’t been eating too well. Her hat and cape also looked like they hadn’t been washed in a long time.

Yet despite all this, the arrogance in the blue unicorn’s voice hadn’t seemed to have changed one bit since they had last seen her.

Twilight had a lot of questions for Trixie, but at the moment she knew they had to deal with the current situation they were in.

“How long have you been in here?” Twilight asked the blue unicorn mare.

“Almost four days,” said Trixie. “Which reminds Trixie, you wouldn’t happen to have any food, would you? Trixie is starving!”

“Weren’t y’all smart enough t’ bring any food with ya before y’all came out here?” asked Applejack.

Trixie snorted. “Of course Trixie packed food with her, you silly farm pony. She is not a foal. But Trixie ran out two days ago.”

Fluttershy, being the kind pony that she was, reached inside her saddlebags with her muzzle and pulled out an apple in her teeth. She walked over and handed it to Trixie, who quickly snatched it up with her magic and began biting into it like there was no tomorrow. She obviously hadn’t been lying when she had said she was hungry.

It was then that Twilight noticed something else inside the giant bubble with them. There was a large wooden chest lying on the ground in the center of the area.

“What’s in there?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the chest.

Trixie looked at the chest, juices from the apple dribbling down her chin, and then looked back at Twilight. “It’s the trap’s bait,” she said. “Trixie was walking along when she spotted the chest. When Trixie went to investigate, she became trapped in this magical prison. Anything can get into it, but nothing can get out.” Trixie went back to eating her apple.

Twilight went over to the chest and opened it up with her magic, only to find it was completely empty. She rubbed her chin with her hoof in thought.

“Don’t bother looking in there,” said Trixie to the purple unicorn mare. “There’s nothing in there. Trixie has checked a hundred times.”

“I think that’s the point,” said Twilight, looking up at her friends and Trixie, who all looked back at her with confusion. “This is another challenge. The last challenge was a test of our patients. We had to be patient in order to find a way through the enchanted area. Remember? So what does this challenge test of us?”

Before any of them could make a guess, Twilight continued.

“A pony is walking along, sees a chest, and goes over to it, expecting it to have something of value inside it. This challenge was made to trap greedy ponies, to keep them from getting to the city.”

“Well it sure as hey works,” said Applejack, looking over at Trixie out of the corner of her eye. Trixie huffed and tossed her now finished apple core onto the ground, sticking up her nose at the orange cowpony.

“Shush,” Twilight hushed them. “I’m thinking. Now, the opposite of greed is generosity, which is one of the qualities the book said we’d need. So-” Just then, Trixie interrupted.

“Book? What book?” Trixie asked, raising an eyebrow as she glared at Twilight curiously.

Twilight’s horn glowed and the black book floated out of her saddlebags. Then, to her surprise, Trixie’s expression became angry and she pointed an accusing hoof at her.

“YOU THEIF!” Trixie shouted, allowing her anger full reign. “SO YOU’RE THE PONY WHO STOLE TRIXIE’S BOOK!”

Twilight backed up a bit in surprise, afraid that Trixie might try to attack her. She levitated the book behind her. “You’re book?” she exclaimed. “This book was sent to me by the Princess!”

Trixie snorted. “Yeah, right! The Princess of Equestria stole Trixie’s book, and then sent it to you of all ponies. Very likely story. GIVE IT BACK NOW!”

Suddenly, all of Twilight’s friends hurried over and surrounded Twilight, glaring angrily at Trixie.

“Hey, back off you!” said Rainbow Dash. “Twilight didn’t steel anything!”

“That’s right,” said Applejack. “And do you honestly expect us to believe that you ever had this book, you lyin’ two-bit!”

“It’s the truth!” the blue unicorn shouted, stomping her front hoof. “Trixie can prove it! On the twenty-sixth page, there’s a map of Equestria, isn’t there?”

Twilight opened up the book and turned it to page twenty-six. Sure enough, the map was right on that page.

“She’s right!” said Twilight, at which her friends were shocked. Twilight looked at Trixie. “How did you know that?”

“Trixie had the book for some time before you stole it from her. She studied it and learned everything she could from it.”

Twilight was shocked. The only way Trixie would have known that the map was on that page was if she really had seen the book before, and had looked at it for at least a little while. Twilight believed Trixie really was telling the truth.

“Trixie, if you had this book, how did you come by it? And how did you loose it?”

Trixie sat back on her haunches and crossed her forelegs. “That’s a long story,” she said.

“Well, as much as I’m sure we’d all love to hear it,” said Rarity, “right now, I think we should focus on getting out of here.”

“Right,” agreed Twilight. She looked at Trixie. “We can all talk later,” she said as she put the book back in her saddlebag. “Now, as I was saying, generosity is one of the six qualities listed. So in order to get out, maybe we have to be generous and put something inside the chest. Something of ours that is at least a little valuable to us.”

Rarity, being the generous pony that she was, took off her saddlebags, set them on the ground before her, and began searching through them. Her horn glowed with blue light as she levitated out a pink and white striped scarf with her magic, and dropped it inside the chest.

“There you go, darling,” said the while unicorn mare.

Twilight wanted to protest, wanting to put something of her own into the chest rather that see one of her friends sacrifice something, but she knew generous Rarity wouldn’t have it any other way. So Twilight nodded and closed the chest.

They all looked around them, expecting to see some sign that it had worked. When nothing happened, and the giant bubble around them was still there, Rainbow Dash angrily rammed herself against the wall a sixth time. But again, she couldn’t break through it, and only succeeded in hurting herself more. She grumbled angrily as she rubbed her head with her hoof.

Trixie chuckled in amusement. “Well that didn’t work.” She turned to Twilight. “Any more bright ideas?”

Ignoring Trixie’s mocking tone, Twilight actually did have another idea. “Well, seeing as we are all trapped in here, maybe we all have to put something in the chest.”

Taking Twilight’s knew idea into consideration; Twilight and her friends all began looking through their saddlebags for something of theirs to put in the chest.

At first, it was difficult for Twilight to find something to give up. She had some food, but she didn’t really think that could be considered something of value. She had the book, but she knew they would still need that later on in their quest.

Eventually she found the perfect thing. She pulled out her favorite feather pen. She was a little reluctant to part with it, but she knew she could always get a new one from her pet owl, Owloysius.

She levitated the pen over and dropped it into the chest.

The rest of her friends all put in their donations as well. Rainbow Dash put in her flying goggles, Fluttershy put in her favorite hair brush, Pinkie Pie put in her party cannon(No one was sure where she had been keeping that thing this whole time), and Applejack, to everypony’s surprise, actually took off her stetson hat and put it inside the chest.

“Don’t worry y’all,” the cowpony said. “I can always get another hat back home.”

Rarity had already put something in the chest, so all who was left was Trixie. They all looked at her, waiting for her expectantly.

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie doesn’t have anything to put in the chest.”

Applejack scowled. “Ya have your hat and your cape, don’t ya?”

Trixie gasped at the notion, not wanting to give up either her hat or cape, but she soon realized that she had no other alternative.

She looked back and forth between the hat on her head, and the cape around her neck. Finally, her horn glowed and she magically took off the hat, deciding that she ultimately wanted to keep the cape more. She lowered the hat into the chest with the other objects. Then Twilight closed the chest again.

Almost instantly, there was a flash of light around them, and then the giant bubble around them vanished. The ponies cheered as they trotted out of where they had been trapped.

“Thank Celestia!” sighed Trixie with relief. “Of course, Trixie would have figured out how to get out of there eventually on her own.” She turned to Twilight. “Now if you would just give Trixie back her book, we can both go our separate ways.”

“We need this book, Trixie,” said Twilight, attempting to reason with the show mare. “The Princess has sent us on this mission to find the lost city, and without the book we’d be lost.”

Trixie huffed. “Well, even though Trixie studied the book pretty well before she came out here, it appears she still needs it as well. And it WAS stolen from Trixie.”

“I have an idea,” Pinkie Pie popped up. “Come with us! That way it will be like we all have the book. Plus, the more, the merrier!”

Even as she had been saying it, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had been shaking their heads at her, mortified by the idea of Trixie traveling with them.

Trixie seemed to share their dislike of the idea. “The great and powerful Trixie travel with the likes of you?” she said with disgust and let out a fake laugh.

“Well, Trixie, we are all heading to the same place," Twilight said. "Plus, it would be a lot safer if we stick together.” As much as Twilight didn’t like the mare, she didn’t want to see Trixie go off by herself and get herself hurt… or worse. “So what do you say?”

Trixie thought about this for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and stuck up her nose. “Fine,” she answered. “Trixie will travel with you for now.” Then she opened her eyes and glared at them. “But Trixie demands her fair share of the credit for finding the city, as well as an equal share of the treasure there.”

“What ever treasure we find there will belong to the Princesses,” stated Twilight. “But I can promise you a fair share of the credit for finding it.”

Trixie gritted her teeth and looked like she was about to protest, but then her expression softened and she closed her eyes and nodded. “Very well. Trixie agrees.”

“HURRAY!” shouted Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down around Trixie happily. Trixie recoiled away from the pink party pony and stared at her like she was insane. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity groaned with disappointment that the rude and annoying Trixie was going to be traveling with them now.

“Come on, girls,” announced Twilight, getting their attention. “Lets keep moving.”

The seven ponies set off again through the forest.

A/N: I hope you readers are enjoying this story so far. I appreciate any feed back you give me. I enjoy hearing your opinions.

The Show Mare's Story

“So Trixie, if you really had that book before, how did you come by it?” Twilight asked while they were walking.

“Like Trixie said, it’s a long story,” said Trixie.

“It’d be a great way to pass the time,” suggested Twilight.

“Very well,” said Trixie, and she began her tale. “After Trixie had left Ponyville, back all those many months ago, things have not been easy for her. Trixie had nothing. She was homeless, her caravan and all her belongings having been smashed by the Ursa. All she had was a few bits on her, which she used to acquired a new cape and hat. Trixie tried to continue her life as a show mare, but no pony would watch her shows anymore. Word had spread about the Ursa incident in Ponyville, about how she had failed to defeat an Ursa Minor and her story had been exposed as a lie. Trixie was humiliated! Her reputation ruined! Some towns she was even chased out of because they did not want her. Often, she could find no place to stay at night and was left out in the cold, hungry and alone. That was the lowest Trixie had ever been. Eventually, Trixie realized she had no pony to blame but herself for making up that story in the first place.”

At this Twilight and her friends were surprised. Trixie really had learned a lesson after all.

“Well, Trixie, looks like y’all learned a valuable lesson,” said Applejack authoritively. “Not only is lyin’ wrong, but it can come back to bite y’all in the flank.”

Trixie glared over at her. “Don’t interrupt Trixie while she’s telling her story,” she snapped.

Applejack gritted her teeth and growled at the show mare.

Trixie continued with her story. “Trixie was down, but not defeated. Trixie realized that the only way to gain back her reputation was to actually do something great and amazing. And she also realized that in order to accomplish such an awesome feat, she would have to become great and powerful for real. So Trixie vowed that she wouldn’t rest until she truly was the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria, no matter what it took.” Trixie then turned her head to Twilight and looked her directly in the eyes. “So enjoy your title while you can, Twilight Sparkle, because Trixie aims to take it, one way or another.”

They all glared back at Trixie in disdain. She may have learned the drawbacks of making up stories, but she was still the same boastful, prideful, arrogant pony they remembered.

“Yeah, well good luck with that, you loudmouth,” Rainbow Dash shouted at Trixie. “Twilight is more than twice the unicorn that you’ll ever be.”

Trixie merely chuckled. “Oh? We’ll see about that,” she said smugly.

“What does any o’ this have to do with the book?” asked Applejack.

“Trixie was getting to that!” she spat. “Trixie began training with her magic, going to libraries, studying every advanced spell she could find. She trained for months; doing everything she could to improve her magical skill. She supported herself by finding jobs wherever and whenever she could, mostly waitressing. Trixie was barely scraping by, and even though she was definitely getting better and better with her magic, she still wasn’t as powerful as she wanted to be. Not by a long shot. Then, finally, Trixie’s luck changed.

One day, Trixie was training out in the forest, practicing lifting extremely heavy objects with her magic, when some old stallion was approaching her. He was weak, thin, badly injured, and seemed half mad. He looked like he had been traveling around out in the wilderness for weeks. He collapsed and Trixie went over to help him, but all he did was hand Trixie a black book, and with his dying breath, he said, “Don’t let the dragon get this,” and then he died.”

“Don’t let the dragon get it? What did he mean by that?” asked Twilight.

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie doesn’t know. Maybe a dragon was chasing him, or maybe he was just crazy. Anyway, once Trixie found out what the book was, she realized this was her big chance. If she could find the legendary lost city, she would be famous once again. Perhaps even the Princess herself would award Trixie in a public ceremony in Canterlot.” She said the last part as if she were staring off into a dream. Then she sighed happily. “Trixie has almost forgotten what it is like to be worshiped and adored.”

Applejack snorted. “Y’all are right pathetic, Trixie,” said the farm pony, at which Trixie gaped at her in astonishment and anger. “Goin’ through all this trouble just so ya can be popular again.”

Trixie growled. “Well, what else is Trixie supposed to do?” she said. “You all might be happy just being plain, ordinary ponies, but Trixie does not want to be ordinary. Trixie wants to be the best! Trixie wants to be adored! Trixie wants her name to be known all across Equestria!”

Twilight sighed, disappointed in Trixie. She had hoped the boastful unicorn would have one day learned her lesson, but that was starting to seem less likely now. Trixie was under the belief that the reason no pony liked her was because she wasn’t the best anymore. She was so blinded by her desire for fame, that she couldn’t see that her own selfish arrogance was the real reason no pony liked her.

“Trixie, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to accomplish great things, or be the best you can be,” said Twilight, attempting to give the show mare some helpful advice. “I myself am proud of my own magical skill, and Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt one day. But you have to remember to act with grace and humility; otherwise you lose what’s really important.” Twilight looked at all of her friends. “Great friends like these!”

“Its true,” said Rarity. “Fame and popularity may seem wonderful at first, but it hardly ever lasts. But true friendship…” she looked at her friends with a smile. “That is forever.”

At that, the six friends all suddenly stopped walking and hugged each other in a warm group hug, while Trixie watched from the side in annoyance... and perhaps just a twinge of envoy.

“Oh, please,” Trixie groaned at the sight. “You’re all even lamer than Trixie remembers. Trixie learned a long time ago that being miss nice pony gets you absolutely no where.”

The six friends all glared at Trixie in annoyance and broke up their hug. Twilight sighed.

“I guess you’ll never learn,” said Rarity, sticking up her nose at the blue unicorn.

“Now, if you’re all done hugging, can we please keep moving?” demanded Trixie.

The group began walking again through the forest.

‘Friends? Who needs friends?’ Trixie told herself as they walked. ‘Friends just get in the way. All Trixie needs is power.’ Then Trixie smiled to herself. ‘And soon, Trixie will have all the power she needs.’ Because what Trixie hadn’t told Twilight and the others was that she also had another reason for wanting to find the lost city.

“So, Trixie, how did you eventually loose the book?” asked Twilight suddenly.

“Huh?” said Trixie. Then she remembered what they had been talking about. “Oh, right. Trixie woke up one morning and it was gone. Stolen in the night.” She turned and glared at them. “Stolen by you, apparently.”

“Oh, for the last time! We didn’t steal the book!” shouted Applejack.

“And you expect Trixie to believe that?”

“I’m one of the Apple family!” said Applejack, getting right up in Trixie’s face. “And the Apple family don’t lie!”

Trixie snorted and rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said as she turned and quickened her pace to move away from the farm pony.

A few minutes later, Rarity said, “So Twilight, darling, does it say anything in the book about how much further it is to the lost city?”

Twilight pulled out the book and began turning the pages in it until she seemed to come to the correct one.

“Okay, according to this, we should come to a cave pretty soon, and we have to go into it.” The purple unicorn kept flipping through the pages for a bit until she stopped on one. “Well this is strange,” she said.

“What?” asked Rarity.

“There’s a page missing! It looks like it was ripped out.”

Applejack turned to face Trixie. “Y’all wouldn’t happen to know anythin’ about this, would ya?”

Trixie scoffed. “You accuse Trixie? The book had all its pages when Trixie had it. Something must have happened to it after it was stolen from Trixie.”

Twilight kept flipping through the book. “The page that’s missing is page seventy one to seventy two.” She looked up and then over at Trixie. “Trixie, do you remember what was on those pages?”

“Page seventy one to seventy two,” Trixie mumbled as she thought. Then her eyes widened, but then a split second later, she simply shrugged. “If Trixie recalls, it wasn’t anything important. Just some uninteresting notes Trixie didn’t even bother finishing reading.”

Before Twilight could inquire further, Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted from above them.

“Look, up ahead,” said the rainbow maned Pegasus. “I think I can see the cave entrance. Follow me!”

They all started following Rainbow Dash. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, they heard a loud cry on their left, as if somepony had shouted. They all stopped and listened.

“What was that?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Sounded like somepony crying out!” said Rarity.

“It sounded like it was coming from over there.” Fluttershy pointed off into the forest to the left of them. “Come on, girls,” she said as she flew off in that direction.

“This is obviously a trap,” said Trixie, staying where she was as the others started to follow the yellow Pegasus. “A trick to try to lure us away from the right path.”

“Lets go, you!” ordered Applejack, suddenly coming up from behind Trixie and pushing her forward with her head against her hindquarters.

“Hey! Stop pushing Trixie!” the blue unicorn shouted as she started moving along with the rest of them reluctantly, soon catching up with Fluttershy. They kept heading towards where they had heard the sound.

“Trixie still thinks this is a trap,” she said.

“But what if its not and some poor innocent creature is in terrible danger,” said Fluttershy. Then she put her hooves to her head. “Oh, I simply can’t stand to imagine it.” Fluttershy flapped her wings harder and flew faster towards the location of the noise.

“Hey, Fluttershy, wait up!” shouted Rainbow Dash, as she and the others quickly started moving to catch up to her.

They soon came to a large hole in the ground, like a large animal trap. They could hear soft crying coming from inside it. They looked down into the hole and saw a young, light brown colt, who didn’t even have his cutie mark yet, sitting at the bottom, tears streaming down his face. He had dirt and some minor scrapes and bruises all over his body. He looked up when he heard the seven mares approach the hole, a hopeful expression appearing on his face.

“Hold on, kid! We’re gonna get you out of there!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy quickly flew down into the hole and picked up the colt in her forelegs. Then she flew up out of the hole and set the little colt on the ground next to her friends.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.

The colt smiled. Then suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the colt was gone.

“Wha… Where’d he go?” gasped Fluttershy as she and everypony else started glancing around for the colt.

Twilight began to wonder if Trixie had been correct and this really was a trap.

A split second later, there was another flash of light to the left of them, and when they looked, they saw that, where a bunch of bushes had once been, there was now a cave entrance.

Just then, Twilight understood, and she spoke up. “It was another test!” she exclaimed. “This must have been the test of our KINDNESS.”

Applejack shot Trixie an evil grin. “Ya see what a little kindness can do?” she said.

Trixie seemed stunned for a moment, but then regained her composure and stuck up her nose. “Trixie thought it was a trap. She was simply trying to be cautious.”

“Come on, girls. Lets go,” said Twilight, excited now that they were one step closer to finding the lost city.

The seven mares began walking down into the cave.

Water Water Everywhere

Sorry it toot me so long to update this. I got distracted on Youtube for a while making videos. But I should start updating sooner again now.

As the seven ponies descended deeper into the cave, the light of the opening behind them faded and it was quickly becoming too dark to see. Twilight, Rarity, and Trixie lit up their horns with magic, casting enough light around them all to illuminate the cave.

“I see something up ahead,” said Twilight.

The tunnel abruptly came to an end. However, on the rock wall in front of them was a stone sign engraved with ancient Allicorn writing.

“It’s a dead end,” Rainbow Dash stated the obvious with a groan.

Twilight walked up to the sign and started translating the writing.

“What’s it say, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

“I think it’s a riddle,” said Twilight.

“Ooo! Ooo! I love riddles!” said Pinkie Pie. “What is it?”

Twilight began to read it aloud for her friends. “What has a mouth, but does not eat or talk?”

Suddenly, they heard a rumbling behind them. They all spun around in shock to see a stone wall slide out of the cave wall, sealing off the passage behind them.

“WE’RE TRAPPED!” squealed Rarity.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack hurried over to the wall blocking the way out and started banging against it, using all their mussels against it.

Applejack grunted, “… It won’t… budge!”

Then, suddenly, several small holes opened up on the sealing, and water began pouring into cave, quickly beginning to fill up the room with them inside of it.

The seven mares screamed.

“OH NO!” shouted Twilight, the water level already rising up above her hooves to her ankles.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued their futile attempts against the blocked passageway. Twilight’s horn glowed and then the wall glowed as well as she attempted to move it out of the way with her magic. She grunted with effort as she tried to push the heavy slab of solid rock, but it refused to budge.

“Let Trixie,” said Trixie as her horn glowed as well and added her own magic against the wall, but even the combined magical efforts from the two gifted unicorns wasn’t enough.

After a little bit, Twilight and Trixie cut off their magic.

“Its no use,” said Twilight. “It must be magically sealed with a powerful spell.

“What do we do now?” asked Rarity. The water had now risen up to their underbellies in the time they had wasted trying to move the blocked passage.

“I think we have to solve the riddle in order to get out of this,” said Twilight. “Okay, girls, what has a mouth, but doesn’t eat or talk?”

All the mares began thinking as fast as they could, trying to come up with an answer.

What sort of creature has a mouth, but doesn’t eat or talk? Twilight thought to herself. She ran through ever species of animal she knew about. She knew some that didn’t talk, but none that didn’t eat. She could feel the water already rising up to the base of her neck. They didn’t have a lot of time.

“Gah, I can’t figure it out!” cried Rainbow Dash, hitting her head with frustration.

“Well one of us better soon,” said Applejack, “Cuz if we don’t, we’re all gonna drown!”

“Maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way,” suggested Pinkie Pie suddenly. “Maybe it’s not a creature. Maybe it’s a… thing.”

Twilight considered this for a moment. What non-creature had a mouth? The water was almost up to their heads now.

Then it hit her.

“A river!” she shouted.

A second later, the dead end in front of them slid away into the cave wall, revealing another passage. The water that had built up in the room quickly gushed out through the open door, pulling the group of mares along with it. Twilight and her friends all cheered that they had gotten passed that challenge and avoided getting drowned.

As soon as the water level got down to their hooves, they proceeded down the next passageway… only to soon come to another dead end with another riddle hanging on the wall.

“Not again!” groaned Rainbow Dash.

Then, just like before, the way behind them slid shut and water began pouring in from the top of the cave.

“Quick! Read the riddle!” urged Pinkie Pie.

Twilight hurriedly translated the riddle on this sign. “Okay. It says… what is broken every time it is spoken?”

They all began to work out this new riddle in their heads, the water rapidly rising around them again, already up to their knees.

“Silence!” Trixie suddenly said after about a minute.

This appeared to have been the correct answer as, once again, the wall in front of them opened up, letting all the built up water rush out.

Trixie held her head up proudly for figuring out that riddle.

“Alright, I hope there are no more,” said Rainbow Dash.

The mares hurried down the next passage, only to once again run into another dead end with a riddle.

“OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

Like clockwork, the way behind them sealed shut and water began pouring into the tunnel again.

Twilight was already at work translating the next riddle. “What comes twice in every week, once in a year, and twice in a lifetime?” Twilight read aloud.

Once again, the group started trying to figure out the riddle.

Twilight soon found that the riddle didn’t seem to make any sense. How can something come twice a week, but only once a year? For that matter, how can something come twice in a lifetime and twice every week? A lifetime is several decades.

Twilight could see that the others seemed equally frustrated with the riddle. Minutes went by, but none of them could figure it out. The water level was soon up to their necks and getting higher.

“I’ve got nothin’,” said Applejack.

“Neither have I,” said Rarity.

“We can’t give up!” Twilight shouted. “We need to try thinking outside the box here. Maybe the answer isn’t an event.”

“I’m trying!” groaned Rainbow Dash, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. “But my brain is starting to hurt from all these insane riddles.”

The water kept getting higher and higher. They soon had to start treading water to stay afloat, but the tunnel was almost fully filled up to the sealing of the tunnel, and they were quickly running out of room to breath. They were all barely keeping their heads above the surface.

“Well, y’all, it was nice knowin’ ya,” said Applejack sadly.

“At least we’re all together,” Fluttershy muttered. “Not that I want any of you here in this horrible situation!” she quickly corrected herself. “I just meant…”

“We know what you mean, darling,” said Rarity, giving her yellow friend an understanding nod.

“It can’t end this way! I don’t want to die like this!” moaned Trixie as she flailed around in the water, briefly forgetting to speak in the third person in her panic.

Just as they were about to run out of room to breath, Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted, “THE LETTER ‘E’!”

Like a miracle, the wall in front of them instantly opened up and the water started pouring out, taking the seven ponies along with it. The mares were washed into the next passage, and soon found themselves all sprawled out on the cold stone floor, the water around them all draining away down to nothing.

Gasping for air, the seven mares all looked around them and at each other.

“WE’RE SAVED!” shouted Rarity with relief, throwing her front legs up into the air.

“The letter ‘E’,” said Pinkie Pie. Everyone turned to look at her. “’E’ comes twice in the word ‘week’, once in the word ‘year’, and twice in the word ‘lifetime’. I just figured it out at the last second.” Pinkie Pie grinned from ear to ear.

The others all stared at her, now feeling quite stupid.

“Please tell me that was the last riddle,” said Rainbow Dash as she and the rest of the group slowly stood up, their manes and coats soaking wet.

“I sure hope so,” said Twilight, desperately not wanting to go through that again.

“Oh, my mane and tail are ruined,” wined Rarity, looking at her drenched coat and purple mane and tail.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Rarity, that ain’t important right now. Y’all can fix your mane again the way ya like it when we get back home.”

Rarity moaned, but nodded.

They heard water dripping onto the stone floor. They turned their heads and saw it was only Trixie ringing the water out of her cape with her magic.

Twilight opened up her saddlebags and took out the black book with her magic. The pages were soaking wet and ruined. “Oh well. I guess we’re just going to have to make it the rest of the way without it,” she said and then placed it back in her saddlebags.

They walked down the passage and, to their delight and relief, didn’t come to another dead end. Instead, the passage led to a large underground chasm. A narrow stone bridge was the only thing that connected the two sides of the chasm. On the other side of the bridge was an opening to another passage, which they guessed was where they had to get to. Above the opening to the tunnel on the other side of the chasm was a stone ledge jutting out of the rock wall, upon stood a life-sized golden statue of the ancient Allicorn, Princess Faust.

“Wow, look at that statue!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“It’s Princess Faust,” said Twilight. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s mother. This is proof that we’re on the right path. Come on, girls.” Twilight started walking out onto the path.

She hadn’t taken more then three steps when Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted, “Twilight! The statue just moved its head!”

Twilight looked over her shoulder at her pink friend. “Oh, Pinkie, don’t be ridiculous,” she chuckled. “Statues don’t move.” But then Twilight saw that Pinkie and the others were all looking passed her with terrified expressions on their faces. A chill went down her spine.

She turned her head back around to look in front of her. She gasped at what she saw.

The statue of Faust had moved into a crouching position on the ledge and was flapping its wings; glaring right at Twilight like it was about to pounce. Its eyes were glowing red.

“It’s alive!” shouted Trixie. “The statue’s alive!”

The statue leaped down off of its ledge onto the stone bridge in front of Twilight, and its horn began to glow with bright red energy as it pointed it at her.

“TWILIGHT! RUN! COME BACK!” her friends shouted to her.

Twilight was not too far on the bridge, so she quickly backed up off of it to her waiting friends.

The statue fired a bolt of lightning from its horn right where Twilight had been standing a moment ago, leaving a black singed mark on the stone floor. The seven mares jumped and gasped with surprise and fear. Fluttershy leaped behind Rainbow Dash, her entire body shaking with fear.

“That was close!” Twilight exclaimed.

The statue went back to perching on its ledge, exactly how it had been before.

“I’ll get that thing!” announced Rainbow Dash angrily.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” shouted Twilight as the rainbow Pegasus flew out above the bridge towards the other side.

After a few flashes of lightning bolts, Rainbow Dash crashed down back where her friends were, exhausted, and the tip of her tail a bit singed.

“Its no use!” grunted Rainbow Dash. “I can’t get near that thing, and it sure doesn’t want us anywhere near the other side of the bridge.”

“It’s a guardian,” said Twilight. “This has to be another test. Lets look at the morals the book said we’d need. We’ve already used patients, generosity, kindness, and we used wisdom when we solved the riddles. That only leaves humility and faith. And since this is a statue of Princess Faust, my guess is that it is the test of humility.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight walked back out onto the bridge again. Just like last time, the statue looked at her and got into an attack pose.

“TWILIGHT!” her friends all shouted in concern.

Twilight then bowed her head low to the ground in front of the statue of the ancient Princess. Almost instantly, the statue stopped its attack and moved back into its normal position on the ledge.

Twilight looked back at her friends with a smile, while still keeping her head bowed to the ground. “Come on, girls. And keep your heads bowed.”

Trixie quickly moved in front of the others before they could step up to the bridge, wanting go before them. This earned her a few glares from the others, but nothing more. Trixie bowed her head to the golden statue and began walking across the bridge behind Twilight. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy followed after, keeping their heads bowed the whole way.

The statue continued to stay where it was and didn’t move an inch as they crossed.

The mares reached the other side and walked into the next tunnel.

“Okay, five challenges down,” said Twilight optimistically as they walked. “That means there should be only one left.”

“Does anypony else think it’s getting rather warm in here?” asked Rarity.

Twilight could tell what she was talking about. All of a sudden, it had gotten very warm in the tunnel, and it was only getting warmer the further they went.

“Hey, yeah, it did get kinda warm in here all of a sudden,” said Applejack in agreement.

Then, as they rounded a corner, they all saw why.

Their path was blocked by a wall of fire in the tunnel right ahead of them.

Finding The Lost City

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Trixie all sat around inside the cave tunnel while Twilight paced back and forth in front of the wall of fire that was blocking their path, trying to figure out away to get passed it. The heat from the fire had quickly dried their previously drenched coats.

“There has got to be a way through,” said Twilight as she paced. “The Princess wouldn’t have sent us all this way for nothing. I just have to figure it out.”

The flames were so intense that you couldn’t even see what was on the other side of them. The group of ponies had no water they could throw on the flames, ironic since they had been soaking wet only minutes before. Both Twilight and Trixie had attempted to snuff out the flames with their magic, but this had no effect, which led Twilight to conclude that it was magical fire.

“Well, at least I’m getting a good tan,” Rarity said.

“Twilight, maybe you should take a break from pacing. You’ll ware a trench in the floor,” Pinkie Pie said with a grin.

Twilight gave her a look, then she groaned and sat down on her haunches in frustration. She rubbed her forehead with her hoof.

“I don’t get it,” she muttered. “We demonstrated patients by getting through the invisible wall, generosity in escaping the treasure chest trap, kindness by helping the little colt, wisdom in solving the riddles, and humility in bowing to the statue of Princess Faust. The only one left is faith. But how does faith help us get through a wall of fire…” Twilight trailed off as she stared over at the wall of flames just a few feet away from her.

Her friends stared at her in confusion.

“What is it, Twilight?” asked Rarity.

“Did you figure something out?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight didn’t answer them. She got up onto all fours and stood facing the flames.

Could it really be that simple? she thought to herself.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” asked Rainbow Dash as she and the rest of the mares all got up on their hooves. “Twi?”

Twilight stared at the flames for a few moments longer. Then she took a deep breath… and stepped forward into them.

“TWILIGHT!!!” everypony screamed in horror, including Trixie.

Just then, the wall of fire vanished in a flash, reveling a completely unharmed Twilight standing smiling at them.

The six other mares stood stunned in amazement as they stared blinking at the purple unicorn.

“The fire was harmless all along,” said Twilight. “All it took was a little faith.”

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy all smiled happily and ran to their purple friend, embracing her with relief and congratulating her on figuring out the solution.

“Don’t ever scare us like that again,” said Applejack.

Trixie stood staring a few moments longer. Then she regained her composure with a toss of her mane, and walked up next to the six embracing friends. Then Trixie noticed something the others obviously hadn’t yet, and her eyes grew wide as she saw what was behind the group of hugging mares.

A moments later, Twilight and her friends noticed Trixie off to the side, staring at something off in the distance. They all looked up in the direction she was looking and their eyes widened as they saw what she saw.

They were at the top of a giant golden staircase, overlooking an entire underground golden city, illuminated by a large glowing crystal hanging from the top of the cavern overhead. There were buildings, temples, and right in the center of the city was a giant pyramid, all made out of solid gold.

“WE FOUND IT!” cheered Twilight. “THE LOST ALICORN CITY! IT DOES EXIST!”

Trixie grinned to herself. At last, she thought.

The group trotted down the long staircase and passed under a golden archway into the underground city.

They walked down one of the streets, taking in everything around them. The buildings that lined the streets were old and some were falling apart. Time had not been kind to the city. But the gold it was made of still glimmered in the light coming from the crystal above.

“Look at all this!” said Rainbow Dash. “There’s so much stuff to explore!”

“I wonder if we can find the ancient Allicorn library,” said Twilight in excitement.

“The Princess is sure gonna be happy about this,” said Pinkie Pie.

As they walked, Trixie stayed behind the group of friends, focusing on her own goal. All the gold and ancient artifacts were fascinating, but she had her own agenda to keep, and she couldn’t become distracted. Not now that she was so close.

The seven ponies walked into one of the crumbling buildings. Their eyes widened as they found they were in a large room filled with to the ceiling with treasure. Gold and jewels and statues and priceless artifacts from every era in Equestrian history.

Rarity squealed in delight and jumped into a nearby pile of gold coins, rolling in it happily.

Her friends all stared at her.

“What? Just because I’m a generous pony doesn’t mean I don’t like nice things,” said Rarity as she picked up a nearby golden queen’s crown with her magic and placed it on top of her head. Her friends just rolled their eyes.

While the others were all looking at Rarity, Trixie, who had been hanging around near the back, silently slipped out the door they had come in through, and trotted away.

While Rarity was still going through the gold and jewels in the room with Fluttershy helping her, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash walked through another door at the other end of the room into another room. This room was filled with rows and rows of old book shelves and tables, each one containing hundreds of ancient books and scrolls.

Twilight squealed in delight as she ran up to a pile of books on a golden table and began going through them, picking them all up at once with her magic and opening them.

“I think we found it! I think this is the library!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh, there’s just so many books to go through, so much knowledge to discover.”

Rainbow Dash lightly elbowed Applejack. “Well, Twilight is in egghead heaven,” she muttered to her friend with a smirk.

Applejack chuckled, then she looked around and frowned. “Hey, were did that slippery little snake Trixie get off to?” she asked the others.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight glanced around, suddenly noticing the absence of the blue showmare.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Awe, who cares? We got way too much exploring to do to worry about her.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Trixie walked into a large, round building. The inside of this building was completely empty, and there was no roof. It reminded Trixie of an ancient coliseum or stadium. It occurred to her that perhaps that’s what it had been at one time in the past.

She smiled as she spotted what she was looking for. In the very center of the stadium, if that’s what it was, was a large, pitch-black statue of a dragon sitting atop a nonfunctioning fountain.

She walked to the center of the stadium to the base of the statue. As she looked up at it, she had to admit, it was an impressive piece of art. But she knew what lay in side it, and there was only one way to get it out.

Her horn glowed with purple energy, and the statue began to glow with the same purple energy. Trixie gritted her teeth as she concentrated on the spell.

A crack appeared on the chest of the statue. Trixie grinned and continued to concentrate as hard as she could.

The crack in the statue continued to grow bigger, and bigger, until finally, the whole statue burst apart, sending thousands of tiny pieces flying in every direction, and creating a thick cloud of back dust in the room.

“Did y’all just hear somethin’?” asked Applejack while she and her friends were exploring the inside of a different building together.

“Sounded like an explosion!” said Pinkie Pie.

“I think we better go and see what it was,” Twilight said, immediately suspecting it had something to do with Trixie.

“Indeed. That stuck up showmare might have destroyed some valuable artifact,” said Rarity, apparently thinking the same thing as Twilight.

When the cloud of dust cleared, Trixie finally saw the object she desired lying in the rubble of the statue. A large, brown, ugly-looking book. But Trixie knew this was no ordinary book.

“At last!” she said to no one in particular. “The ultimate power! It’s finally mine!” Trixie picked up the book with her magic and levitated it over to her. She held it in her hooves, looking down at it. It was bound shut with iron chains wrapped around it, and there was a piece of parchment attached to the chains with an inscription written on it.  Trixie began translating it.

‘Do not open this book or you will unleash an evil that will destroy the world,’ the parchment read. Yeah, right, Trixie thought to herself as she used her magic to quickly pull off the chains that were wrapped around the book. She tossed the chains to the floor and gazed down at her prize, savoring her moment of victory.

You’re so close, Trixie told herself. Soon the ultimate power will be yours, and you will be the most powerful Unicorn in all of Equestria. Then you will finally get the respect and admiration you truly deserve. And all you have to do is open this book.

She was about to open it when suddenly she heard hoof steps behind her. She turned her head and saw Twilight Sparkle come trotting into the building.

“Trixie!” the purple unicorn said, looking around at the stadium and the rubble of the statue. “What happened here? What’s that you got there?”

Trixie grinned. “The key to Trixie’s victory, Sparkle,” she responded.

With a spark of her magic, Trixie flipped open the book to a random page… and then a blast of black wind burst up out of the book into the air.

Trixie screamed in surprise and fear, and dropped the book onto the dirt-covered floor.

The black wind continued to pour out of the book’s pages, forming a black clowd over head that was getting bigger and bigger by the second. Twilight and Trixie watched in horror as the cloud began to take shape, morphing into the form of some sort of creature.

Right at that moment, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie showed up, running into the stadium right beside Twilight. They looked at the giant black cloud in horror and then looked at Trixie down below it.

“TRIXIE, WHAT DID YOU DO?” shouted Applejack angrily.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Trixie shouted back, once again too terrified to bother speaking in the third person. This was not what she had been expecting when she had opened the book.

The black mass continued to take shape. It grew long and huge, it grew arms and legs, and a pair of large, bat-like wings grew out the back of it. Horns and spikes sprouted on its head and all down its back to the tip of its tail. Soon the cloud grew solid, and standing there, in the middle of the stadium, was an enormous, pitch-black dragon.

The dragon opened its yellow eyes and let out a defining roar that echoed throughout the cavern.

Dragon On The Loose

“I’M FREE!” the dragon bellowed in a booming, deep voice that echoed throughout the cavern.

The seven mares stood frozen where they were, too scared to move.

The dragon looked down at the seven ponies by his feet. Then he spotted the brown book lying open on the ground by the blue pony wearing a cape.

Before Trixie could do anything about it, the dragon snatched the book up with the tip of his tail, and then flapped his great wings.

“NO!” Trixie gasped at the sight of the object she had worked so hard for being snatched away from her in an instant.

The dragon roared as it pushed off from the ground and took to the air, flying up towards the top of the cavern high above the city. He struck the rock sealing, and burst through it, letting a large ray of sunlight pour into the cavern as the dragon flew away.

Several large chunks of cave fell down from the roof of the cave, landing on and crushing several other buildings below.

The seven ponies felt the ground begin to shake and could hear a rumbling all around them.

“What’s happening!” squeaked Fluttershy.

Just then, more chunks of rock started coming loose from the top of the cave and falling down on the city all around the mares.

“THE CAVE IS COLAPSING!” shouted Twilight.

“WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE, Y’ALL,” SHOUTED APPLEJACK. “EVERYPONY HURRY!”

They all ran out of the coliseum, onto the street. Pieces of rock falling all around them as they ran towards the golden staircase that led out of the cavern.

Trixie screamed as she narrowly avoided a large bolder sized rock falling on her, but instead it landed on one of the corners of her cape, trapping her there. She grunted as she tried to pull it free, but it wouldn’t budge.

The others had heard Trixie’s scream and were about to, reluctantly, turn back to help her, but before they could, Trixie undid her cape and hurried to catch up to them, reluctantly leaving her cape behind.

They made it to the stairs and trotted up, or in Rainbow Dash’s and Flutttershy’s case, flew up to the passage at the top, narrowly avoiding falling rocks as they went.

They speedily made to the top and rushed into the tunnel. Running out of the cave proved to be a lot easier than coming in had been, fortunately. They didn’t face any of the challenges as they ran that they had faced before. Obviously, those traps were only intended to keep ponies out, not keep them in.

Within a few minutes, they saw daylight up ahead, and burst out of the cave, just as the entire cavern completely collapsed in on its self, causing a defining rumble behind them that sounded like thunder.

They all caught their breath.

“Wow!” said Pinkie Pie. “I think my life just flashed before my eyes. At least… I think it was my life. I don’t even remember doing half the stuff I saw.”

“What in tarnation happened back there?” exclaimed Applejack.

“I’m not sure,” said Twilight. “Trixie opened up a book, and then that black dragon came out of it.”

Just then Trixie screamed in frustration and anger. They all looked at her.

“I HAD IT!” growled Trixie furiously. “I HAD THE BOOK IN MY HOOVES… AND THEN IT WAS SNATCHED AWAY FROM ME! IT’S NOT FARE!”

Applejack had had enough. “ALRIGHT, THAT’S IT, YOU NO GOOD LYIN’ SHOWPONY!” she shouted in anger, getting right up in Trixie’s face, causing the blue unicorn to lean back away from her. “It’s time you came clean!”

“What was that book you opened back there?” demanded Twilight. She was also ticked off. She had come all this way to find the lost city for its long lost knowledge, and to impress her mentor, and now it had all been buried under literally a mountain of dirt and rock, and at the moment, there didn’t appear to be anypony else to blame besides Trixie. So Twilight sure as heck at least wanted an explanation.

Trixie glanced around her, seeing the six other mares all standing around her glaring at her. “Alright,” she finally said. “That book was the real reason why I came here. On the missing page of the journal in your saddlebags was information about an ancient spell book, supposedly hidden in the lost city, that held the secrets to ultimate magical powers. I wanted the book so that I could become the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria… so I could get my life back!”

“So you lied to us when we asked you about the missing page!” growled Applejack.

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I lied. I lied because I knew if you all found out about that book, you would try to take it for yourselves.”

Rainbow Dash was about ready to thrash Trixie. “Why you little…” Rainbow Dash raised her hoof in the air, but right at that moment there was a blinding flash of light up above them, causing all of them to squint their eyes shut.

Then they heard a booming voice that Twilight recognized all too well. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” The seven mares looked up, still squinting from the light, but able to see the form of none other than Princess Celestia herself hovering above them. She did not look happy.

The sun princess landed on the ground in front of the group.

“Princess Celestia!” gaped Twilight, she and the six other mares instantly falling to the ground before the monarch.

The Princess! Trixie thought to herself in amazement as she gazed up at the infamous Princess of the sun. She could hardly believe she was actually in the presence of Princess Celestia herself.

The white glow around Celestia faded. “Twilight Sparkle, what in Equestria are you and your friends doing out here?” the Princess asked.

The seven ponies on the ground looked up, confused.

“P-Princess… w-what do you mean?” said Twilight nervously. “We’re here because you told us to come here.”

“What?!” exclaimed Celestia. “I never told you to come here!”

“B-but… the letter you sent me… It said you wanted us to find the lost Allicorn City!”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Twilight, I haven’t sent you a letter in weeks!”

“B-but…” stuttered Twilight. “But I got a letter through Spike with you’re seal on it, and a book with a map inside. If you didn’t send them to me… then who did?”

“I DID!” they heard a deep, booming, yet feminine voice shout from above them, followed by evil laughter. A second later, an enormous red female dragon landed beside them in the forest, grinning down at the eight, surprised equine.

“I sent you the letter and the journal, as well as the bits you used to pay for your trip.”

“Who are you?” demanded Celestia.

“Oh, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Skyla,” said the dragoness.

“Why did you do all this?” asked Twilight.

“So that you could free my master, of course. I would have done it myself, but I wouldn’t have been able to get passed all those little challenges. That’s where you all came in. The book said only the pure of heart could reach the city. So who better then the wielders of the Elements of Harmony themselves.”

“Wielders of WHAT?” exclaimed Trixie, mouth gaping open as she looked around at Twilight and the others.

Skyla continued. “Of course, I couldn’t just send you six. I also needed someone who was greedy and desperate enough to go in search of the spell book my master was trapped in. That’s where Trixie came in. I let her keep the journal long enough so that she could study it and figure out how to get to the ancient city, and then in the dark of night I took it away from her and sent it to you, Twilight.

“So you stole the book from me?” shouted Trixie, pointing an accusing hoof at the dragoness.

“Correct,” the dragoness sneered.

“So you set us all up!” said Twilight.

The dragoness laughed. “Of course I did! And you all played your parts perfectly. My master is free, and I have all of you to thank. So cherish the last few days you have left, little ponies, because now my kind will rise again, and we will have our revenge!” With that, she laughed manically, and flapped her wings and flew up into the sky.

The eight ponies stood standing there in the forest as the dragon disappeared over the tree line.

“This is worse than I feared,” said Celestia, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “He is loose!”

Twilight took a cautious step towards her mentor. “Princess… I’m so sorry.” She hung her head in shame.

Celestia looked at her. “It’s not your fault, Twilight. You were all cleverly deceived, and none of you could have known what evil was sealed away in that cave. All that’s important now is that we stop it… before its too late.”

“What is this evil that we’re talkin’ ‘bout exactly?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Who was that black dragon that came out of that book down in the city?”

“It’s a very long story,” said Celestia. “Lets get back to Canterlot. I will explain everything when we get there.” Then she looked over at Trixie. “By the way, who is your friend here, Twilight? I don’t believe I’ve met her before.”

“Um… yeah. Princess, this is Trix-“

“Your Majesty,” said Trixie, stepping forward, interrupting Twilight. “Please allow me to introduce myself. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! It is an honor to finally meet you.” She gave a quick bow.

“Oh! Likewise,” said Celestia in her normal cheery voice. “Trixie… I believe Twilight told me about you in one of her letters to me.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and looked confused. She looked over at Twilight, and then back to the Princess. “She… sends you letters?”

“Twilight’s the Princess’s personal student,” Rainbow Dash said to Trixie with a grin.

Trixie’s mouth gaped open as she looked over at Rainbow Dash with wide eyes, then at Twilight, then Celestia, and then back and forth between Twilight and Celestia a few more times.

“She’s… You’re… Her… Personal Student?”

“That’s right,” said Celestia. “Twilight is quite a gifted Unicorn. I heard you also have a gift with magic, Trixie.” Then Celestia became serious again. “But enough about that. We have more important maters at hoof to deal with. There is no time to loose. Everypony gather close.”

A bit confused, they all gathered around the white Allicorn. Then Celestia’s horn glowed with white light, and then in a bright flash, they all teleported.

Meanwhile, on top of a mountain, the black dragon sat perched gazing out over the land.

Suddenly, he heard the flapping of wings nearby and he turned his head to see a red, female dragon fly up and land on a ledge of the mountain a little ways below him.

She bowed her head. “Master Blade, I am here to serve you.”

“What year is it?” he asked.

She looked up at him. “It has been over three thousand years since you were imprisoned, my master.”

He nodded. “And who might you be?”

“I am Skyla. And I am the one who freed you.”

“And why is that?”

“Because in the time that you’ve been imprisoned, our once proud race has fallen to those…” she spat the next word, “…ponies. Only you can restore our race to its former glory and might, and put those ponies back at the bottom of the food chain, where they belong! I know you want revenge on them, and I only wish to serve by your side.”

“Very well,” said the Blade. “You will have the chance.” Then he slid down the mountain side to the ledge she was on and grabbed her neck in his talons, taking her by surprise. “But if you ever even think of betraying me, I will make you wish you never released me from that book. Understand?”

Skyla nodded, and he let go of her neck.

“Alright then. We have work to do. Come.” Blade flapped his wings and took off into the Equestrian sky. Skyla flapped her wings and flew off right behind him.