Good Heart

The storm finally stopped after a few hours, allowing Twilight to exit the ruined windmill. Before leaving,
Twilight decided to keep all the things she found inside the same bag from the chest.

As Twilight trotted away from the windmill, she couldn’t stop thinking about her discovery.
For her, this “Ponya” land looked very similar to Equestria. However, there was something in it that didn’t feel the same.

“I’ve never heard or read about a land called Ponya in any of my books, nor the cities that map indicated,”
said Twilight to herself, worried.

After some time later, the old windmill couldn’t be seen anymore and the green prairie ended in front of a dense forest. Only pine trees could be seen, but no signs or roads again.

The unicorn felt lost so she decided to stop for a moment to take a look at the map once again.
With the help of her magic, Twilight took out the scroll map.

“This black cross must be marking the location of that windmill, meaning that up here is this city called Aero.
However, there’s also a city in the south called Alicornia, but it seems that both places are too far from here.”

“I guess that my only option is Reins Harbor. It is, apparently, the closest city to my current position,” said Twilight while looking at the old scroll map.

After putting the map back inside her bag, Twilight continued her path now inside the forest, hoping to find a road or a sign of some kind, something that could help her indicate in which direction she was trotting.

Many hours later, very deep in the forest, the gifted unicorn found what appeared to be a small river that ran between some of the trees’ roots. To see what direction the water was flowing, Twilight took a leaf with her snout to later drop it above the water.

When the leaf fell, it moved over the water to the left. Apparently to the same direction of the sun’s current position in the sky, meaning that the river flowed to the west which was the direction of Reins Harbor and the sea.

Now with some real information about where to go, Twilight followed the river bank in the same direction of the leaf until the sun disappeared in front of her and the moon appeared behind her.

Finally after a long and exhausting journey through the forest in the middle of the dark of the night, the purple unicorn reached the outskirts of Reins Harbor. A unicorn town dedicated to the sea and the commerce.

“Those lights, that must be Reins Harbor!” Twilight shouted with happiness as she trotted to the city entrance
because she finally found some place to seek for answers about that mysterious land called Ponya.

As the gifted unicorn started to get closer and closer to the town square, music could be heard.
Some ponies were playing their instruments right in the middle of the town.

Merry laughs and music, accompanied with the sound of the sea, were the first familiar sounds Twilight
had heard in days since her arrival to Ponya.

“Wow everypony, look at that nocturnal beauty over there!” shouted one of the musicians
while he pointed at Twilight with his left hoof.

“Hey you purple one, isn’t it too late for a beauty like you to walk alone in the city?” asked another musician
while he laughed with his friends.

“Pardon me, but is this Reins Harbor?” asked Twilight to the trio of musicians as she approached to them.

After hearing those intrepid words, the musicians stop playing and smiling. Their look changed to a very serious one, making the silence prevail between them for a few moments right before breaking it with their laughs again.

“I’m afraid so purple one, this is the disgusting, old and salty town of REINS HARBOR!!!” shouted all three musicians at the same time while they continued playing their instruments.

“Excuse me, but I’m… I’m new in town so can you please tell me where’s the Town Hall or where can I find your mayor?” asked Twilight to the musicians.

“Sorry purple one, in here we don’t have Town Halls or mayors. We only have a forepony called Mr. Mallord.
If you want a job in the dockyards, he might find one for you, but if you’re looking for a place to stay, you should go to the Purple Inn,” replied one of the musicians while he pointed to Twilight the direction of the aforementioned place.

“Thank you,” said Twilight as she trotted away from the musicians.

As the purple unicorn cantered through the streets of the town, she started to think about the musician’s words. Another thing that caught Twilight’s attention was the style and architecture of the city. It reminded her of Trottingham, also a unicorn town dedicated to the sea commerce.

Some moments later, at the end of the street near to a quay, a very tall and black frameworked Inn was standing in front of her. The building was three stories high in some parts of it and it seemed more like a mansion rather than an Inn.

Twilight opened the doors with her magic and just when she put a hoof inside, a loud creak came out from the wooden floor and it echoed inside the building. The sound was only responded by a loud shout from the other side of the room.

“I’M SORRY DEAR, BUT THE INN IS FULL FOR THE WEEKEND,” shouted a voice with anger.

The purple unicorn couldn’t help notice something special about the voice that replied to her rash entrance. Its tone, making her think something she was about to prove.

“I’m sorry, I’ll return later… Rarity,” replied Twilight, hoping to see what happened next to such daring answer.

“Don’t worry dear, I forgot to put the sign outside the door,” replied again the very feminine voice, now with a nicer tone.

There was no doubt about it, that pony was Rarity and Twilight could only feel happiness because she finally found one of her friends, at least that was what she thought at the beginning.

“Canterlot”, “Carousel boutique” and “Ponyville” were a few words that appeared in the enigmatic conversation between the two former friends. All those words, all those places now seemed strange to this Rarity because they were, somehow, memories of things that had never happened for her.

“Oh dear, I don’t know what to say because I have never seen you before in my entire life. But you speak about me and those places you know so vividly that it makes me feel intrigued,” said Rarity while she was listening to Twilight’s speech.

“Diamonds are my favorite jewel, that’s no secret because my cutie mark has seven of them, but my attraction to fire rubies as the way you describe it, is something impossible for you to know. I mean, not even my friends know about that!”

“And if you, somehow, know so well my personal likes, then that means that your story is true… somehow, I guess. However, I can’t explain why you are here or why you still have those memories about us being friends in… Ponyville,” the white unicorn replied doubtfully.

“Me neither Rarity, because this doesn’t makes any sense and I was hoping that finding one of you would give me the answer to this problem,” said a very disappointed Twilight.

“I appeared in the middle of a green prairie when a storm was just about to begin. So I trotted away searching for a shelter when I found an old windmill in ruins. In it, I found this map…” said the purple unicorn while she took out the scroll map with the help of her magic.

“I assumed that the X marked the windmill’s position, so I decided to go here because it was the nearest city.”

“Finding you was something out of my plans, because honestly, I didn’t know what to expect or do after I arrived in here,” said Twilight.

“And you did good dear, because Aero is a city that no earth or unicorn pony has ever seen or set hoof in. Pegasi are no longer seen around these days, not like in that Ponyville of yours.”

“Alicornia, on the contrary, is a city forbidden for any of us because only alicorns are allowed to live there. All the other races have not been welcome since ancient times. That’s what I’ve heard from the travelers that have stayed in my Inn.”

“And now, about this right section of your map. This is what we all call The Wilds. A land unknown to any of us because no pony has ever travelled that far and the races that might live there are, well, unknown,” replied Rarity while watching and pointing the map with her left hoof.

“If I appeared in this land and you are also here, then that means that probably the rest of our friends are in other cities. And maybe, just maybe, I could find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna down here in the south, in Alicornia,” said Twilight while she pointed now with her hoof the scroll map.

“Probably yes darling… I’m not sure,” replied the generous pony.

For a small moment, the former friends stood in silence while they looked at the map, thinking about all the words both have said in such short time.

Finding Rarity was pure coincidence for Twilight, but to find the rest of her friends and probably the princesses in such far and scattered places, sounded very risky and there was no guarantee of actually finding them if Twilight decided to travel around Ponya.

A new dilemma appeared in front of Twilight, but this time, the solution didn't seem clear. There was no map or guide of what she should do in order to not only understand why she was in there, but to also to find a way to return to what she called home, Equestria.

However, from all the possible risks and guessing, the location of Celestia and Luna in Alicornia was something that looked more accurate. After all, Rarity revealed that such city only contained alicorn citizens.

The night went on while the both former friends continued talking about Equestria and how the other Rarity liked to make the most superb and elegant dresses anypony had ever seen. The talk ended when the moon disappeared across the horizon, giving space to the sun to claim his throne up in the blue sky once again.

“I guess you don’t have anywhere to stay or go, right Twilight? So why don’t you stay and I’ll give you your own room and even a job if you want. So, what do you say?” asked Rarity with happiness.

“You can use the money I’ll pay you to hire some merchant to take you with him around Ponya while you search for the rest of us. Who knows, you might even enter Alicornia and find these princesses of yours. By the way, unicorn merchants are the only ones allowed to enter the Eternal City,” said the white unicorn.

“Thank you Rarity, I’d be more than honored to accept working with you. It's curious how your former self and now you, are both generous with the others,” replied Twilight with affection.

Now with a place to stay and with a plan, Twilight decided to stay in Reins Harbor with Rarity. She would stay until she had gathered enough money in order to pay a journey throughout Ponya.

After working very hard in the Inn and in the dockyards lifting barrels, making dinners and cleaning some windows for three months, Twilight gathered the money to pay her first trip around Ponya and probably, her trip to return home.

“Well Twilight, after all these months together, I'm happy to have had the opportunity of meeting you. Now we are best friends, again, but seeing you leave today is something hard for me to accept… But you have to find your friends and return to where you belong, your home in Equestria.”

“I’m pretty sure that with your intelligence and talent, you’ll have no problems out there… But in case you don’t succeed, you’ll always be welcome in here,” said Rarity with some tears in her eyes.

“We may never see each other again, but I’ll always remind you as the pony who came from Equestria, where ponies of all kinds live together in harmony and peace.”

“Until next time Twilight, so long…” said for the last time Rarity while she waved at Twilight, who was now on board of a merchant wagon destined to Gallop Town, an earth pony town inside The Wilds.

Reins Harbor and all its experiences now were memories, alongside other ones inside Twilight’s mind.

*********

Twilight spent many months traveling around Ponya. Many ponies, many cities and many experiences appeared during her quest while she searched for her friends in that new mysterious land.

From Deer Lands to Aero, from Griffin to Dragonia, the talented unicorn visited every town and city she could. Sleeping inside hollowed trees or outside the cities’ walls, working as a cargo pony or teacher, Twilight gathered more money to continue funding her quest.

Sometimes, in her dreams, the purple pony could see her old friends and all her memories from her house in the library. Her days of childhood with Cadence or the days she used to spend with her mother visiting her family at the beach.

Every time these dreams ended, Twilight couldn’t help to drop a tear right before packing her things and continuing with her travels. There was no time or room for the busy pony to surrender and cry because she had a quest to fulfill.

Occasionally, between the stops, Twilight liked to talk with her merchant partners about her past in Equestria and all the things she learned about friendship. These talks ended in big smiles or laughs from the talented pony's audience, because after all, some ponies couldn’t buy the idea of different ponies living together.

After traveling to uncountable places, one day outside a furniture store in Uninopolis, the gifted unicorn heard a merchant talking about travelling back to his home nearby the famous brown paved road that lead straight to Alicornia. For the first time in months, Twilight found a real opportunity of traveling to the city of the alicorns.

Some words were interchanged between the old merchant and the purple pony and after getting an agreement of a payment of 100 tails for the trip, the final part of Twilight’s quest was about to begin.

Two weeks and a half were spent to finally arrive to what someponies called “the hard gates”, better known as the front gates of Alicornia.

The feelings of the distant dark days in Equestria, her arrival to Ponya in the middle of a prairie, finding one of her friends and meeting all the ponies that went on and off during her travels around Ponya, started to pop inside Twilight’s mind while she gazed up at the massive and ancient wooden doors of the Eternal City.

All her effort, all her worries and all her hopes tied in one single thought, the possibility of finally finding Celestia and Luna inside the city and probably, her only chance to return home. Despite her previous failures attempting to find her friends again, Twilight remained hopeful because this was the only place she hasn’t visited before.

Armed with courage, Twilight knocked at the small wooden door carved inside the great walls. After a small moment, one alicorn guard opened the tiny peephole.

“Too late little pony, the market is now closed so if you want to sell your goods inside, you’ll have to return tomorrow at first hour in the morning just like the rest of your pony partners,” said the guard.

“Well, I’m not a merchant, but I’m looking for two alicorns that might live in here,” replied Twilight to the guard.

“Yeah right, like if of one of you is a friend with one of us. I’ve been guarding these gates for over 900 years and I’ve never heard such silly story.”

“Go away and stop bothering little pony,” said the guard right before closing the tiny peephole in a rush.

“If I tell you their names, will you believe me?” asked Twilight, hoping to be heard.

The peephole opened again, just like it closed a few seconds ago, in a rush.

“Well, this is going to be interesting because I know the names of every alicorn that lives inside our city. Go ahead and try, amuse me with your ignorance,” said the alicorn guard to Twilight.

“If what you’re saying is right mister, then you should know the ones I’m looking for. A white tall female alicorn with a multicolored mane with a sun in her flank called Celestia. She and her small sister called Luna, this one with a moon in her flank,” replied the gifted unicorn to the guard’s challenge.

“Nice try pony, very nice indeed but there’s no one in here with a multicolored mane or a moon as her cutie mark. By the way, we're all are tall in here because we are alicorns you foal!” said the guard for the last time right before closing the door of the peephole again.

No matter what else Twilight tried to tell them, the guard didn’t open the door again, forcing her to retreat away because the night was about to begin.

Under a short cedar tree very near to the stone bridge that led to the city gates, Twilight prepared herself to go to sleep using her pillow full of leaves and her patched blanket once again. The sound of the Clock Tower’s bells could be perfectly heard, even at the distance of the talented unicorn’s position.

Right before losing her consciousness, Twilight heard a very familiar voice that immediately made her stand. This voice was recognizable for her because she has heard it since she was a little filly, it was Celestia’s voice.

“Thank you and see ya on Monday. I’ll bring you fresh bread from the bakery,” said the white alicorn to the door’s guards as she exited the city.

Due to the darkness of the night, Twilight’s vision was troubled and she couldn’t identify if Celestia was alone or accompanied. Still, thanks to the gates’ torches, Twilight was able to recognize her tall slim silhouette crossing the bridge.

Was she a princess? Would she remember Twilight? All this questions were boiling inside the purple unicorn’s mind and after all the months she has spent searching for her, it was time to seek some answers.

Twilight followed Celestia with caution. She didn’t want to scare her with her presence because, after all, she was just a stranger in the middle of the night following her with unknown reasons.

After trotting for ten minutes, the alicorn exited the dirt path and entered a garden surrounded by a short wooden wall. After crossing the small garden, Celestia entered into the house at the end of it.

Twilight in a rush opened the garden’s tiny door, crossed the garden and knocked the door of the house. After some time later, the door opened with magic.

There was no doubt about it, that house belonged to Celestia because in front of the little pony, there stood the Solar Princess in the door, looking down at her with curiosity.

The expression of Twilight was more than happiness, because after all her efforts and time spent, she finally found the pony that might have the answers to solve the mystery of Ponya and the uncertain fate of Equestria.

“Princess Celestia, finally, I’ve found you….” said Twilight to the white alicorn as tears of happiness came out from her eyes.

A deep silence between the two ponies emerged, to be accompanied only with the sound of the crickets, the owls hooting and a full Moon up in the sky because the real night was about to begin