Chapter two

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes drooped as she sat at the table, her mind barely registering what Spike was saying.

“Filthy Rich wants to run to become the new Ponyville Treasurer, but Mayor Mare won’t allow him to be on the ballot unless he steps down as CEO of Barnyard Bargains, so he’s petitioning us to overrule her because he says that ‘Barnyard Bargains is a family business’ and should stay that way.”

“Uh-huh…” Twilight murmured sleepily as she slowly chewed her breakfast and Spike cocked an eye at her before continuing.

“After that, we’ve got a visitor from the minotaur kingdoms called Steel Plate who’s looking to start a chain of fitness centers in Equestria and wants to open the first one in Ponyville.”

“Yep…” Twilight replied, her head drooping slowly and Spike narrowed his eyes.

“And then Rarity wants to have lunch to discuss the décor in the castle.”

“Sounds fun…” Her eyes began to close and the spoon she’d been holding with her magic slipped back into the bowl and didn’t come out again. Spike looked at her over the scroll.

“And finally Princess Celestia wants you to go to Canterlot because Nightmare Moon and Discord have teamed up and turned the entirety of Canterlot into daisy sandwiches.”

“Good for…” She ended her sentence with a soft snore and her head finally succumbed to gravity, falling into the bowl with a splat.

“Twilight!” Spike shouted and she immediately jerked her head out of the bowl, startled.

“I’m awake!” She exclaimed, louder than she needed to. “I was just resting my eyes!”

Spike stared at her incredulously.

“You were ‘resting your eyes’ in your oatmeal, Twilight.” Spike said flatly, and she lifted a hoof to her mane, scraping some of the cereal off and looking at it. “Again; it was funny the first couple of times, but now it’s starting to get old.”

“I’m sorry Spike.” The unicorn replied, yawning. “I was up late working on my astrology again.”

“Did you even hear anything I said?” He asked and Twilight glared at him.

“Of course I did!” She said indignantly. “Honestly, who do you take me for; Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh really?” Spike said flatly. “Then what’re you going to do about today’s agenda?”

Twilight levitated a rag over to herself to wipe the oatmeal out of her mane and off her muzzle.

“Just because I have a castle now doesn’t mean I’m going to start overturning the duly elected Mayor Mare. If she says ‘no’ than I don’t feel a reason to say otherwise and I’m sure my friends would agree. I’m sorry, but Mister Rich is simply going to have to either find an alternative or make a compromise.”

“What about Steel Plate?” He asked and this time Twilight looked thoughtfully at her bowl.

“While I’m sure there are ponies that would approve of having a new fitness center in Ponyville, the selling or leasing of property for commercial purposes is the territory of the Ponyville Zoning Board; he’ll have to take it up with them. You can go ahead and tell him that while I can’t guarantee any land to build on or buildings to lease, he at least has my support.”

“Okay, and Rarity?” He asked, almost hopefully and Twilight sighed.

“Of course I’ll meet her for lunch, that’s not even a question.” She told him and then she looked at the window. “This place could use a little sprucing up; it’s like living inside of a cave right now.”

“Tell me about it…” Spike grumbled as he rolled up the scroll containing the day’s agenda. “I really miss that old tree, you know?”

“Yeah… me too.” Twilight told him with a sad sigh, and then stood up, levitating her bowl with her magic and depositing it in the sink. “And Spike?”

“Yeah, Twilight?”

“I’m sure Luna would have bigger plans than to help Discord turn everypony into daisy sandwiches if she ever became Nightmare Moon again.” She said, smirking. “You get an ‘A’ for effort, though. Come on; let’s go see how the renovations are coming along.”

Spike leapt off his chair and onto her back and Twilight trotted out of the kitchen, and subsequently the designated living area, into the first floor of the castle that had quite literally sprung out of the ground after she and her friends had triumphed over Tirek.

Unfortunately, the tree–turned–library she had called home didn’t survive the conflict which meant that, like it or not, the castle created by the Tree of Harmony’s lockbox was now her home. The first thing she did upon moving into the castle was to hire a contractor to come out and start remodeling most of the first floor into a new library.

However, she couldn’t replace many other things that had been lost in the battle with Tirek, primarily the many mementos of her adventures with her friends. They’d managed to find a few intact items, but like the library, almost all of her dearest possessions and gifts had been lost, if not to the initial destruction of the tree, then to the subsequent fire that had resulted. Few of the books in the library had survived Tirek’s wrath and fewer still had been legible enough to read.

As she trotted down the corridor to where the contractor worked on the castle’s library extensions, she thought back to Tirek and was reminded about the unseen damage he’d wrought upon her. She had been inside the library when he’d attacked it and had only just managed to escape with Owlowiscious, her owl, before it exploded. Everything had been going so fast at the time, but once she’d calmed down and begun picking up the pieces of her home, she’d started to become very much aware of just how close she’d come to dying that day… and the thoughts haunted her.

One of the reasons she had not been able to sleep at night was because she was having constant nightmares that even Princess Luna could not chase away. In fact, Luna had flat–out told Twilight that her nightmares were not a creation of the dreamscape, but of her own, damaged mind, and that Twilight needed help the Moon Princess simply could not give. Owlowiscious, though, was still incredibly skittish, particularly around fire and tended to bolt if there was a sudden, loud noise.

She entered the large, open area that was swiftly becoming the new library for Ponyville and saw the carpenter, Floor Plan, at a desk going over logistics with a burly earth pony stallion wearing a hard hat, indicating in a direction occasionally. As Twilight approached the hard hat wearing mare, the stallion she was talking to looked up, saw the princess, bowed and departed to resume his work.

“Sorry if we woke ya up, Princess.” Floor Plan said nonchalantly, turning to Twilight. “Ya here ta check on the construction?”

“It’s fine, Floor Plan.” Twilight replied. “And yes, I did. I have to say, it’s looking pretty good, you seem to be working faster than I expected!”

Floor Plan laughed haughtily at Twilight’s remark.

“Don’t be sayin’ things like that, Princess, you’re gonna make me blush!” She said, grinning. “What didja expect when ya hired the best carpenter this side of Equestria, anyway?”

“I can honestly say I don’t know.” Twilight replied with a smile of her own. “Do you mind if we go take a look around?”

Floor Plan looked at Twilight quizzically. “Of course, go right ahead, though I gotta say ain’t much has changed since ya last seen it, Your Highness.”

“I know.” Twilight told Floor Plan. “But I’d like to see how everything is coming along anyway.”

“Well, far be it from me ta stop ya, then. Just make sure ya cover yer heads; I don’t want the royal guard breathin’ down my neck if somethin’ were to happen to ya in here.” Floor Plan said, and then turned back to the desk to examine the blueprints laid out on it while Twilight began to trot through the construction zone, quarter domes of force over her and Spike’s heads.

“Hey Aveline, wake up!”

Lance’s voice caused Aveline to sit up sharply, her knife drawn and her luminescent yellow eyes looking about for trouble before turning them towards her ghost.

“What time is it...?” She asked drowsily as her spike of adrenaline began to fade.

“It’s oh–five–thirty, Aveline.” Lance replied, hovering in front of her. “Stoneface just called for us, specifically. What do you want to do?”

Aveline yawned and rose from her bed, stretching. “I suppose we need to go see what the Vanguard wants from us, Lance.” She replied, walking over to her closet and stepping inside to change. “You should be more respectful to Commander Zavala; he is an accomplished Guardian and fought the Darkness longer than we have.”

“Is that so?” Lance said dryly. “He seems more like an accomplished stick–in–the–mud if you ask me.”

“And I do not believe he is very amused when you backtalk him, Lance.” Aveline countered, chuckling.

“Oh, I am so sorry for not sucking up to Commander Hardass like a good little soldier.” Lance retorted indignantly, garnering another chuckle from Aveline as she stepped from the closet clad in her protective leathers, her semi-automatic scout rifle slung over her back and a handcannon in its holster on her thigh.

“Come on, Lance. We should report to Zavala.” She said wryly and Lance disappeared.

That done, she departed her living quarters and strode to the lift, pressing the panel that would take her up to the Tower landing. After a minute, the door of the lift hissed open and revealed the hooded figure of the Hunter Vanguard representative, Cayde–6. The Exo’s optics settled on Aveline and the intricate plates that comprised his face shifted into a smile.

“Ah, Aveline. I guess Commander Sphincter called you too?” He said as she stepped into the elevator, pressing the panel to make it resume its journey.

“See? Even Cayde thinks Zavala’s got a stick up his ass.”

“Do you know what he wants us for?” She asked, ignoring Lance’s comment, and Cayde shrugged. “I thought the Vanguard shared all their intel with each other.”

“Normally, yeah.” He replied casually. “I think that’s why he called for your team as well; whatever he wants us to know, he wants us all to know it at the same time. Tells me it must be pretty damn important if he’s hurrying to mobilize Guardians.” The door hissed open and he gestured for Aveline to exit first, following her once she did. “I’d hazard a guess that it’s got something to do with that fancy engram you forked over to the Cryptos yesterday.”

“Really? They told us it was unlike any other engram they’d ever seen before.” She said as they descended the stairs towards the Hall of Guardians that the Vanguard used as their command center. “That it would take much longer to decrypt.”

“They said they didn’t know how long it would take, Aveline.” Replied a familiar voice. Cayde and Aveline stopped and looked in the direction of the voice to see Samson walking towards them, his helmet under one arm. “It looks like they found something already, though, and it must be important because Master Rahool is here in person.”

Aveline’s eyes opened wide in surprise; the head of the Crypto – Archeologists rarely ever showed his face these days. Cayde – 6, on the other hand, merely rolled his optics and gave a sigh.

“Shiny, all of my favorite people gathered together in one room.” He said dryly. “Nice to hear the old scrooge is still hanging around. This should be fun.”

Aveline looked at Cayde curiously, cocking an eyebrow.

“I’m… guessing there is some bad blood between you two?” She asked and Cayde waved her off, continuing into the command center.

“Long story, boring as hell.” He replied. “Come on, the others are waiting and Rahool doesn’t like it when people are late.”

They walked into the Hall of Guardians to see that they were the last to arrive, with Gospel standing next to a robed human woman; the Warlock Vanguard representative, Ikora Rey. Further down the table they saw a robed Awoken, his pale, luminescent eyes turning to regard them with almost lazy apathy, and Aveline instantly recognized him as the Crypto – Archeologist leader, Master Rahool. The last figure, another Awoken standing at the head of the table with a shaved head and gleaming, heavy armor, was none other than the Titan Vanguard representative, Commander Zavala.

Zavala straightened up as Aveline, Samson, and Cayde took positions around the table, each of them noticing the cold, stoic way Rahool’s eyes followed Cayde – 6’s path, with the Exo giving a brief, almost imperceptible grin as he stood on the opposite side of the table from the Cryptarch.

“Now that we’re all here, Guardians, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you.” Zavala began, and then he gestured toward the Cryptarch. “Master Rahool, if you would.”

“Yesterday, Fireteam Wisp was sent into a Golden Age installation on Venus in order to retrieve an object of worth to the Fallen.” He began, fiddling with a panel on the table, causing a projection of the engram they’d retrieved from Venus to appear. “The Crypto – Archeologists began decrypting it at once and while we have not yet decoded as much of the engram as we would like, we have discovered something remarkable.” He pushed down on the panel, causing a series of numbers to appear on screen.

“A bunch of numbers?” Gospel said, unimpressed. “Seriously? I thought this was important.”

The Cryptarch glared at him menacingly and the Warlock wilted slightly. Cayde glanced at Gospel, and then returned his gaze toward Rahool.

“Seeing as how some of us don’t get the significance here, Rahool, why don’t you enlighten us?” He said, garnering a cold stare and silence from the Cryptarch. Ikora, on the other hand, stared thoughtfully at the digits.

“It has been awhile since I last flew a jumper…” She said slowly. “But those look an awful lot like coordinates.” Zavala nodded.

“Yes, they are coordinates.” He said, and then pushed a button on his own panel, causing the display to change to a satellite view of Earth, though it methodically began zooming out.

“So where do they lead?” Samson asked, leaning on the table to get a closer look. “Somewhere on Earth?” Zavala shook his head and Samson’s faceplates shifted in confusion as the holo zoomed further out. “The Moon? Venus? Mars?” When Zavala didn’t respond, Samson straightened up and spoke in a hushed tone. “…Mercury?”

“No, they do not lead to any planet within the inner Sol System, or the outer.” Rahool stated. “In fact…”

The display changed, replacing Earth with hundreds of tiny pinpricks of light and a cursor appeared to indicate one of the lights. Cayde made a whistling noise and Ikora leaned in closer. Aveline merely put a hand over her mouth, completely disbelieving what she was looking at.

“These coordinates… are for a planet in a completely different star system.”

The train gave out a long whistle when it stopped, informing those who waited at the station to prepare to board while the conductor made sure everypony currently onboard was either staying or going. Among those departing was a strange yellow – coated mare wearing a simple cape, wide – brimmed hat, and aviator sunglasses with a mirrored finish. She gazed around the station and saw a rough – looking pegasus stallion with an off - white coat and short – cropped, dark brown mane standing off to the side, looking amongst the departing crowd as if he were searching for somepony. The mare trotted nonchalantly next to him and pretended to look at the periodicals.

“What did you need, Uncharted Fortune?” She asked, her voice low so that only he could hear her. For his part, he cocked an eyebrow at her.

“That depends.” He replied curiously. “Who’s asking?”

The mare turned her head slightly and scowled.

“You know very well who.” She said, agitated. “You called me here, Fortune.”

Fortune’s eyes widened in realization and he smiled.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “Sorry, didn’t recognize you under all those clothes, Da-”

The mare immediately shoved her hoof over his mouth to interrupt him before he could reveal her identity.

“If you say my name, Uncharted Fortune, then I swear to Celestia that I will make sure the next bed you wake up in is in a hospital!” Daring Do hissed angrily, but Uncharted Fortune chuckled.

“Hey, easy.” He said when she removed her hoof. “I was just messing with you, Compass Rose.”

Daring Do and Uncharted Fortune turned and began trotting down the platform.

“So, why’d you call me, Fortune?” Daring asked the stallion again.

“Well, I got a friend here who wrote me saying he found some ruins up in the Crystal Mountains.” He told her jovially. “I figured you’d like to come check it out with us.”

“Us?!” Daring exclaimed and Fortune put a hoof on her withers.

“Relax, it’s just a few of my buddies.” He said soothingly. “I haven’t told any of them who you are so no big deal.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but my face is on the cover of every Daring Do book from here to Tartarus.” She told him. “Just about everypony and their grandmother would recognize me.”

“Oh yeah…” He said thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll figure something out when we get to my place.”

“Ugh…” She groaned, facehoofing. “Why I’m your friend, I’ll never know.”

“It’s because I’m roguishly charming and handsome, sweetheart.” He said and Daring hoofed him hard.

Author's Note

Grimoire card acquired: Rise and fall of Tirek, Daring Do.
Rise and fall of Tirek:
Not long after Twilight Sparkle’s first trip through the magic mirror to Canterlot High, an ancient and fearsome foe known as Tirek escaped from Tartarus and began consuming all pony magic in Equestria. Eventually, with the aid of the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, Tirek claimed enough Equestrian magic to challenge the Alicorn nobility, but was rebuffed when he discovered that the three ruling Princesses had already transferred their magic into the recently crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle. Angered by this knowledge, Tirek proceeded to embark on a rampage through the entirety of Ponyville in order to draw her out of hiding. Twilight Sparkle attempted to stay away from his wrath, but was invariably forced to engage him in an incredible conflict. They appeared evenly matched, until Tirek forced Twilight to choose between stopping him or saving her friends and Discord, whom he had betrayed.
Tirek thought he had been victorious, but his ultimatum to Twilight had proven to be his undoing; the very amulet that Tirek had given Discord in order to gain his trust and trick the Spirit of Chaos into aiding him had in turn been given to Twilight Sparkle by Discord in gratitude for choosing to forgive and rescue him despite his own betrayal, with the amulet becoming the final key she needed to open the Tree of Harmony’s lockbox. Upon doing so, Twilight and her friends gained the ability to utilize the Magic of Friendship in a weaponized form again, only without the need for the Elements of Harmony, and they proceeded to strike Tirek down; releasing the magic he had stolen back to their rightful owners and banishing him, once more, to his prison in Tartarus.
While day dawned anew for Equestria and a new castle had sprouted from the ground in Ponyville, the scars of Tirek’s malevolence remained; if not on the very land, then in the hearts of those who lost homes and loved ones to his darkness.

Daring Do:
Novelist, archeologist, adventurer extraordinaire; a pony in the throes of Cutie Pox would be hard–pressed to surpass this mare–of–action’s talents. When she’s not exploring ancient Equestrian ruins or foiling Ahuizotl’s plans, she’s writing and selling her exploits as a top–selling “fictional” adventure series under the pen name of A.K. Yearling. Very few alive know the truth in the novels save for Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and Daring Do would rather keep it that way. Daring Do is not antisocial per se, but her choice of career bears its own brand of dangers and life threatening situations that she would rather keep civilians away from and the novels help her to do just that; if others believe Daring Do is a fictional character, then they’re under the assumption that there’s no way she’s constantly saving Equestria, and in a way Equus, from being destroyed or controlled by Ahuizotl and other mortal ne’er–do–wells. If Princess Celestia is aware of the truth of Daring Do and her feats of heroism, she approves but does not speak of them, leaving the adventurer to quietly protect her subjects from the less supernatural villains.

Author's note: Wow, one week and 28 likes? I'm honored, and slightly intimidated.