The mystery of the dark lands

"What?!" The conjoined voices of Twilight's friends shouted out in surprise.

"You see..." Twilight continued after placing another book on the table and turning it a few pages forward. "The very first records about the dark lands say that the lands were very minimal in size, just small enough for an earth pony to be able to see the other end of the lands while standing at the opposite one."

Twilight saw how the eyes of her friends widened up and how their faces gained an unsettling expression as they began to recall the events from five days ago. "I don't think I need to remind you that the dark lands we witnessed weren't exactly what I'd call minimal in size."

Silence claimed the room again, and not a word was said for some time. Everyone looked to Twilight for answers.

"So...what can we do?" Rainbow Dash asked, unable to cope with her curiosity. "How do we stop these lands from growing all over Equestria?"

"I don't know...I don't have an answer to that yet," Twilight replied in a slightly desperate tone. Her friends almost seemed as though they were about to start panicking before twilight added, "The only thing I have is a lead..." Those words helped her friends regain some confidence. "And another mystery."

"Another mystery?" Applejack asked.

Twilight stood silent for a while and then slowly nodded. She took the book from the table back to the bookshelf, and started sorting through the books, freeing a way to the back end of the bookshelf. After a while of searching, she finally magically pulled out a dusty and really old looking map from the back of the bookshelf, and instantly proceeded to unfold it on the table in front of her friends.

"This is one of the oldest maps of Equestria ever made," Twilight said as she revealed the whole map and held down it's edges with her hooves. "Notice anything strange about it?" Her friends started patiently eyeballing every inch of the map, but none of them seemed to spot anything out of place.

"Why, no, darling...I do believe this looks just like any other map of Equestria I've ever seen...Apart from lacking color, of course," Rarity answered, and the two ponies next to her didn't see any flaws in her sentence.

"What if I were to tell you that this map is not as old that last book I showed you."

That statement certainly aroused the interest in her friends, but they only stood and wondered while rubbing their chins. "I'm not following you, Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh! Did I forget to mention? This map holds no secrets! Everything it shows is exactly the way it looked like back then!" Twilight said out in an almost overexcited tone. She felt like a teacher at that moment. She just eagerly awaited for her students to catch on.

The chin rubbing continued for another moment, but Applejack's face soon woke up. "Wait a minute..."

"Go on," Twilight encouraged her friend.

"If you're saying what I think I'm saying..." Applejack paused for a moment. All eyes were on her, and none dared to interrupt her. "Then shouldn't the dark lands be marked on this map?" Applejack asked and pointed her hoof at the place where the so called dark lands should have been at.

"Bingo," Twilight stared into Applejack's eyes and answered confidently.

A question had been answered, but the answer only brought in even more questions. The confused ponies began looking at each other for answers, but there wasn't one to be found.

"Huh..." Applejack finally broke the silence. "I see what you meant by that mystery, Twilight." Applejack stared at Twilight for a moment, as if awaiting an answer, but continued after seeing that there was no answer to come. "So are we supposed to believe that the dark lands were shrinking at first, and then started growing?" A bizarre theory, but not impossible. None knew the answer for sure, so there was no reply. "Or that, for some reason no pony can explain, the dark lands simply weren't there for some time?"

Another theory came up. Although it was no more legitimate sounding than the last one, it still seemed to catch Twilight's interest. "Huh...you know, I never actually considered that," Twilight said and joined her students in wondering while rubbing her chin.

"Anywho," Applejack interrupted the seemingly pointless wondering. "We sure as hay won't be able to figure that out by just standing here."

"Right," Twilight agreed right away.

"So why not tell us the other part of this story of yours, Twilight?" Applejack continued after noticing that Twilight didn't quite understand what she had meant, "Tell us what was that lead you mentioned earlier."

"Oh! I almost forgot about that." Twilight cleared her throat and continued, "You see, the thing about these dark lands is that they're not so much growing as they are just regaining the land they lost."

That explanation left Twilight's friends just as confused as before "Uhh...come again?" Applejack asked

"The earthquakes. Every time one hits, it tears the land apart, leaving less solid ground to walk on. If you ask me, our best chance at solving this mystery is by finding out what's causing the earthquakes."

"So let me get this straight," Rainbow Dash responded with a question to be sure she understood Twilight's suggestion correctly. "What you're saying is that if we stop the earthquakes, we also stop the dark lands from spreading?"

"I'm not sure, but it's the only thing that I could come up with," Twilight responded in a slightly concerned tone, as if afraid she was about to get scolded for a foolish idea. "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

"Who, me?" Rainbow Dash asked and lifted her hoof up to her own chest. "Naah! I was just making sure. Your idea sounds good to me, Twi." Applejack and Rarity didn't have any objections to the plan either, both of them nodded in approval.

Twilight was happy to hear such a positive response. "I'm glad you agree with me on this one Rainbow Dash. Because you're just the pony I want by my side on this mission."

"Huh? Just me?" Rainbow Dash was no less confused about this than Applejack or Rarity.

"What about us, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Sorry, girls. To find the source of the earthquakes we'll have to venture even further into the dark lands than last time. Up to the part where there's no land left, just a massive sea of lava," Twilight explained. Her friends were sad about not being able to go with her, but she wasn't any happier about this than they were. "And I'm afraid there's only one way to get to those parts." Twilight spread her wings for a split second to let her friends get the idea.

Twilight sadly stared at Rarity and Applejack as they hung their heads. After a brief moment Applejack lifted her head and smiled as she walked closer to Twilight and placed her hoof on her shoulder. "Promise me you'll be careful, Twilight."

After seeing the frown wiped off of her friend's face, Twilight could easily smile right back. "I promise."

Both ponies spent some time happily staring at each other, and neither them nor Rarity would stop smiling as Applejack turned around and started walking towards the exit. "If there's anything you need, darling, you'll know where to find us," Rarity kindly added before following Applejack.

"Thanks, guys. You're the best." Twilight waved to her friends as they left, and they waved right back. "Ready to head out?" Twilight turned her head towards Rainbow Dash and asked.

"Huh?" Rainbow's counter question came like a reflex. She was still waving at her friends when Twilight asked that, so it caught her completely off guard. "Oh! Sure!" she replied after realizing what Twilight had just said.

"Oh! almost forgot," Twilight turned around and walked back towards her bookshelf. She picked up a book from the shelf and started reading it from around the middle. "Hmm..."

Rainbow Dash patiently watched Twilight eagerly reading her book and wondered what could possibly be so important that it simply must be read at a time like this. She didn't recognize the book since it wasn't one of the two books she had shown earlier, nor was it any other book she had seen Twilight reading before.

"Aha! Got it!" Twilight excitedly shouted and placed the book back before walking back over to the pony waiting for her near the balcony. "We're good to go," Twilight said as soon as she came closer to her friend. Although still rather curious, Rainbow decided not to ask.

                                                                      ***

Not long after Rarity and Applejack had left Twilight's castle, they looked up and saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight flying over their heads. They flew fast, but Rainbow Dash was clearly holding back and letting Twilight fly in front...Aside from the feeling of it being unfair to leave her behind, there was also the fact that she didn't even know the way to the center of the dark lands.

As the two ponies flew, Rainbow Dash noticed the determined look in Twilight's eyes. She seemed to be giving it her all. After remembering what happened the last time she was in the dark lands, Rainbow Dash became slightly worried about her friend.

"Save your strength, Twilight." Twilight turned her head back towards Rainbow Dash. "You're still kinda new to having wings, and the place you described doesn't sound like a good one for taking a nap."

"I'm fine," Twilight retorted in a slightly annoyed tone. She mistook Rainbow's concern for a mocking attitude towards her somewhat limited flying skills. "We don't have time to slow down."

"Really, Twilight? From what you said earlier, it sounded like it takes years for these lands to grow even a little bit, i doubt a few minutes will change anything," Rainbow Dash kindly explained, despite Twilight's rash response to her last sentence.

Rainbow's tone sounded compassionate, and her words convincing. It didn't take long for Twilight to agree. "You're probably right," she admitted and slowed down by a considerable amount. At first, Twilight felt slightly disappointed about having to stand down so easily, but she soon smiled as she began to notice how much easier the flying got.

With confident smiles on their faces, both ponies made their way to the dark lands. Even at a slower speed, it didn't take too long to reach their destination. As they flew above the dark lands, they started paying attention to how massive the lands had become. They soon reached the point where there wasn't a spot of land left underneath them.

As they flew over the fiery pools of magma, they increased their altitude to avoid the blazing pieces of magma rock flying out of the chasm.

"Phew." Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Aren't you glad we slowed down?"

"No argument there," Twilight gladly admitted.

As they pressed on, the land behind them faded away from view completely. As if the heat wasn't enough, now they also had to start worrying about being able to find their way back.

"This heat is really starting to become hard to take," Rainbow Dash said in a quiet and slightly nervous voice. She looked behind her to make sure there wasn't any land left in sight, but she quickly turned back when she heard Twilight performing a spell. As she turned her attention to twilight's shining horn, she noticed a large bubble of a dim, white color form around them.

The air suddenly felt a lot lighter, as well as less hotter. Rainbow Dash instantly took a deep, long breath and exhaled. She seemed overjoyed. "Oh, man...I can breathe again! Thanks, Twi." She stared at her friend who was just blindly flying forward without saying a word. "Twilight?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah, no problem..." Twilight turned towards Rainbow Dash to respond and then turned right back, as though she hadn't even heard her question.

The way Twilight acted seemed odd to Rainbow Dash. The air around them had gotten a lot easier to take, and yet Twilight still carried on as though it was the same as before. "You okay, Twilight?"

"I'm fine, Rainbow Dash...That spell just took a lot out of me," Twilight explained.

"You don't look all that fine..." Twilight didn't answer. "Hey, you don't need to keep that spell up just for me, Twi. If you're tired, just..."

"I'm fine!" Twilight interrupted with a loud and not so content response. "Ugh..." Twilight's head hung itself down. She rubbed her forehead and lifted her head right back up. "Sorry..." she apologized for the harsh reply.

"Don't sweat...just keep your head up, Twilight," Rainbow Dash responded in a sad and concerned tone.

"Don't worry, we're almost there."

"I hope you're right..."

And so the two ponies pressed on, one at the top of her strength, the other barely breathing. Luckily for them, Twilight was right, and their destination had already begun to reveal itself. They had reached the center of the dark lands.

Rainbow Dash focused her vision on an indistinct object not too far away. "What's that?" she asked and pointed towards the object.

"Lets go find out," Twilight replied and slightly increased her flying speed.

As the two ponies neared the object, it became clear what it was...although the more intriguing question was who it was. Both of them stopped near the object - a stone statue of a pony standing on top of a giant pillar of land. The land underneath him was definitely magically secured, otherwise there would be no way such an unstable piece of land would be standing still.

Twilight became completely mesmerized as she locked her eyes on the statue. Both her eyes and mouth opened widely. She kept flapping her wings and levitating in one spot without saying a word. Rainbow Dash also seemed interested in the sight, but she wasn't anywhere near to as taken by it as her friend, but there was something about this statue that started seeming familiar to her...In fact, she was now almost certain she recognized it.

"Umm, Twilight? This isn't who I think it is, right?" Rainbow Dash slowly asked, but Twilight didn't give any signs of even having heard her question. "Twilight?" she asked again.

"No...It...It can't be..." Twilight whispered.

"It is though, isn't it?"

Twilight could deny it all she wanted, but she knew exactly who was this stone trapped pony. She had seen monuments of him before, she had both heard and read about him before. Heck, she had even dressed up as him before, and not just once.

"It's Star Swirl the Bearded!"