The Ninth Enchantment of Mage Meadowbrook

Chapters

Prologue
1 - Pride and Prejudice
3 - Old Friends and New
4 - The Grand Design
5 - New Directions
6 - The Sounds of Silence
7 - On a Wing and a Prayer
8 - Just Desserts
9 - The New Order
Epilogue
2 - Let Sleeping Nightmares Lie

Prologue

Starswirl raised his horn, the light throwing daggers at the poor creatures that had spent their entire lives nestled away in the cracks and crevices of the dark cavern. The separation between the rhythmic drops of mineral rich water falling from stalactite to stalagmite gave the illusion that one could track the passage of time without heed to the sun, it’s light having forgotten or otherwise abandoned this place ages ago. Careful to find purchase on the slick, uneven surface, he stopped at the junction and scanned through the pages of a weather-worn journal held in his magical grasp.

The copied runes were ancient. He could only guess how long it had been since the language expressed in his broken hornscrawl had been spoken aloud. Symbol by symbol, he worked his way through the words, forming a sense of the idea which the originator intended when describing the place where he now stood. The markers were there, obscured by time, but surprisingly well preserved to the point where he could readily identify the correct path traversing the twisting labyrinth, guided more by intuition rather than the markings descriptions. Confidently, he ignored both of his forward options, pivoted ninety degrees to the right, and dropped his gaze on a slivered crack in the wall, barely wide enough to fit a pony.

A chill wind blew his cloak away from his flank. He closed the journal and tucked it into his pack. With a twist and a shiver he flattened his cloak back into place. A voice, somehow carried on the icy breeze through the forgotten depths, wailed a haunting warning that rang discordant in his forward facing ears. He brushed his tail to the side and cocked a brow in the direction of the side entrance. The bells that hung from the fringe of his drooping hat tinkled their response like a wind chime, but had no effect on the gust except perhaps to increase the force with which it came rushing out of the passageway.

Starswirl raised a hoof to his muzzle and cleared his throat. He let out a strong series of whinnies followed up with a translation in the common tongue. “I come to fulfill the promise of my destiny for the benefit of all! Look upon my heart and judge for thyself!” His voice echoed down the tunnel ahead, reverberating against the rushing of the wind.

He planted his hooves and braced himself against the force as it bore down upon him, bending him near to the ground, but not letting it sway his determination. Specs of dust, chunks of both earth and crystal, swirled around him and bit into his coat. Covering his face as best he could while maintaining a watchful eye toward the dark span ahead, he reached out with his magic to probe for the source of the incorporeal guardian he had unwittingly unleashed. He felt the chilling presence of a powerful magic sink deep into his coat, so strong he could almost feel the icy tendrils reaching out to grasp at him, if not for the fact that it only seemed to be toying with him by flinging bits and pieces of its full potential in his general direction while mostly sailing around his actual position.

Starswirl’s horn bristled with energy as he debated raising a defensive shield, shifting slightly to the right to avert his eyes from the direct assault and drawing back the cloak covering the head of his hidden prize. With a whimpering gasp, the wind suddenly ceased blowing. A radiating warmth replaced the harsh wind’s chill as the peaceful swelling of what could only be described as an utter calm and welcoming feeling settled over him. He let out a breath which had been held back for some time, raised his head, and deeply blinked twice to clear his sight. His horn showed the way ahead was clear. Confidence regained, he took a step forward.

The passageway came to life as his hoof hit chiseled stone only a stride past the threshold. Crystals of all shapes and colors illuminated the path ahead. Startled, he jumped back and nearly fell on his plot as his left rear hoof slipped out from under him on a wet patch of moss-covered rock. Half-blinded by the light, he dropped the illumination spell. He was close; the path to the secret shrine lay before him, lit now as if awaiting his visit, and practically inviting him in. His tiny bells laughed along as he chided himself for acting like a timid foal scared of the dark.

“All is well; the path is clear,” he said, reassuringly musing to himself.

Listening to his own sage counsel, he reasoned there was nothing to fear in this place but the fear he brought with him. Setting that aside, he brushed off his flank and straightened his hat. Before the fifth droplet fell, he was back on his hooves, continuing down the iridescent path leading further into the heart of the mountain.

Each hooffall echoed down the passageway, diffusing into the crystal latticework and bounding back like the tones of a harp being plucked in time to the beat. Starswirl kept a steady pace, his fascination with the crystals growing as he went. After what seemed like hours of walking in circles, swimming deeper and deeper into the hazy fog of color, his journey abruptly ended as the passage opened into a cavernous chamber. The ceiling rose beyond his ability to see even with the darkness retreating back into the shadows against the garish rainbow rays, trying to avoid being overcome by the bright crystal light at his back.

He had become accustomed to the light of the crystals, growing steadily in brightness the further down he went. Now, he gazed about, taking in the full display of color and light bouncing off of every polished surface and crystal stone, the barely familiar surroundings filling his mind with contrasting memories of not so long ago in the world above, but still not reaching the full potential of the sun, and not for lack of trying.

He lit his horn once more and focused it into a spotlight of sorts. The glow fell across a circular stone platform at the center of the room. For as old as this place was, it looked as if time itself would feel unwelcome here. Not a single spec of moss could be seen on any surface, not a single pebble felt out of place. Three statues stood guard over the granite altar at the focal point of the center dais. The vacant spot above the altar, shrouded in a sheath of roiling shadow and light along with alternating beams of prism colors breaking through the patches in the swirling mist from time to time and extending into the limitless ceiling above, drew his primary attention.

He made his way forward, cautious to heed the source of the magic which had already marked its claim to this shrine. As he lay his hoof on the dais, he could feel a gentle heat radiating off the stone. Being so deep in the mountain, it came as no surprise that there would be a certain amount of geothermal energy present. A simple explanation for all of this fell too far from the actual truth, and Starswirl knew there was much more power contained in this confluence than simple earth pony magic. Still, he hesitated under the gaze of the three towering watchers, a certain level of apprehension rising that made his mane stand on end barring even the oppressive weight of his hat.

Another step, and then another, his horn cast gray shadows on the walls as he twisted his sight among the pedestals at the base of each statue and back to center. He caught himself in the act of losing focus, closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. Opening them again, the altar lay before him, waiting for his only slightly trembling hooves to make the next move. He tossed his cape over his flank and drew out the distaff from its catch. With a twist of his horn, he guided the talisman to its resting place amidst the roiling centrifuge of confluence above the altar.

Glowing embers sparked to life from the six onyx eyes keeping watch on the petitioner below as the object came to rest, suspended in midair above the altar.

The chamber shook.

Starswirl held up his hoof and cried out with a whinny, approximating the ancient language lifted from whispers scribbled in the tome that served to guide him to this place as best he could in calling for peace. A grinding noise from the stone guardians above filled his ears with a resounding series of “neighs” that echoed through the chamber long after they sounded. The swirling light shining off the distaff crackling above rippled down their flanks, seemingly bringing the stone to life right before his eyes.

In deference, Starswirl bowed, prostrating himself before the altar.

The rumbling ceased.

Starswirl lifted his head and peered around the room with a cautious eye. Everything looked just as settled as it had when he first entered the room. He let out a sigh. “And now for the hard part,” he said through loosely grit teeth.

With the first phase of his task complete, he rose up and turned his attention back to the journal he floated out of his saddle pouch, concealed as always in the soft glow of his horngrasp. As he turned the page, symbols adorning the base of each of the statues began to glow. Starswirl nodded, confirming what the runes had to say about the continuation of the ceremony. “I hope this works, and doesn’t send me to limbo by some random miscalculation,” he muttered to no pony but himself.

He set the book aside and reached back into his pack, pulling out another pair of items: a tarnished horseshoe and a blood-red feather. With another sigh, he gazed up at the first of the three statues. Thoughts turned to fears as he studied the stone face above. The stoic stance and piercing gaze of the pony statue left him little doubt that there was no fooling around when it came to her duty. The token would either be accepted or rejected. There was little more he could do, what with the factions divided as they were. What other choice did he have?

Steeling his resolve and hoping it would be enough, he made his way over to the base and hung the horseshoe against the symbol of House Terra. The backing field pulsed a steady glow. He took a step back and smiled up at the brightening gaze of the gentle mare with the farmer’s bonnet hovering above. Just a moment ago, he could have sworn that expression wasn’t so endearing, but he wasn’t about to question the results.

With a slightly elevated confidence and spring in his step, he made his way to the second statue. The giant pegasus guard loomed large with her wings stretched out, intimidating and imposing, firmly establishing the presence of a leader and captain of the warrior race. Armor covered her flanks, and a plumed helmet substituted for most of her slightly overflowing natural mane. Starswirl kept his gaze focused straight ahead on the crest of House Vola. The crimson field lit up the moment the long feather made contact, draining what looked like a remnant of dark blood from the shaft in the process.

Starswirl swiftly drew back, releasing his hold on the feather and letting it drop like a rock to the floor—very uncharacteristic for a feather, and thus even more alarming as a result. He quickly turned his gaze and set to bask in the influence of the last of the three statues.

Taking little time to dwell on the previous points, he hurriedly made his way over and stood at the base of the majestic unicorn. If he had the luxury, he would have chosen to take all the time in the world here, studying and reflecting on the marvel of the legacy of his ancestors. The memories of his foalhood still fresh in his mind after nearly a century, he could almost make out the glimmer of his mother, himself kneeling in the shadow of the titan he knew and loved and had long since parted from. At that time, he hadn’t a clue of what his duty entailed, nor that he would be the one needing to ultimately fulfill this task. The years had certainly shifted his perspective. Without an heir of his own, the prospects for the future seemed dim, and only two young, flitting fillies left with the promise and plight to rule a divided land. The choice was clear: he, himself, had to stand up and take command of the tribes. There was only one way to do that.

The mark of his house had not dimmed with time, sparkling in the light reflected off the polished crystal walls. House Stella endured, always a light to the other tribes, an example for them to follow, unicorns, as always, set to perform their sacred duty. He understood the importance of the rites and responsibilities passed down to him; he knew what was required. The unfortunate circumstances he found himself in on this particular day, deep within the Canterhorn, gave him pause to consider what the world would become without him and his family’s service to the ancient ways. How long would it take for the light to grow dim? How long before it went out completely? He shrugged it off. At any rate, it was a problem for a far distant generation to overcome, and all he could effectively worry about was in the here and now—time travel spells notwithstanding.

For a moment, he considered the possibility that he had not done enough, that his efforts would prove to be in vain. What if he failed and he met his end right here and now? He brushed those thoughts aside as soon as they began to surface and made his way toward the mark. Whispering the remnant of a prayer passed down from stallion to colt, mare to filly, in the tongue of the first of his kind since the beginning, he reverently bent his head and touched his horn to the crest.

A prick of energy raced down his spine. In the span of an instant that lasted a lifetime, he opened his eyes to behold the First Ponies, the Goddess and her three daughters. Both earth pony and pegasus simply nodded their heads in acknowledgment. The unicorn’s smile beamed brightly with the Goddess above spreading her wings and lighting her horn as she reared up, tossing her head and neighing her simple thanks.

As suddenly as the vision had opened, it closed. Starswirl fell back to his haunches and shook his head. The ringing in his ears took a few minutes to subside while the dancing crystal fires in the room slowly dimmed and died.

Regaining composure, he hung his head. “It is done.” His words made no echo, as alone, he sat in the growing darkness, surrounded by the re-energized arcing sparks from the distaff flinging random patterns and images in a mix of colored light and shadow against the reflective walls of the shrine.

1 - Pride and Prejudice

Starlight Glimmer settled her flank against the hoofrest of the borrowed, Fluttershy branded chair on the far side of the cutie map. Her head tilted slightly left to right and back again, closely monitoring the serve and volley between Twilight Sparkle facing off against Starswirl the Bearded. The main points of argument had been dissected in two dozen different ways over the course of the past two hours. She absently scraped the edge her hoof against the smooth crystal trim of the map trying to keep focused while the sparring continued into a third hour. Everypony else had long since given up the argument and left the room to take care of their own chores.

“I really wish you would reconsider,” Twilight said. Her voice cracked, dry and starting to rasp. She scraped up every last ounce of spit in her throat to try and convince the old wizard to stay.

Starswirl stood his ground, a slight quiver in his left hind leg from an injury received in an adventure long forgotten seemed to linger long past the time of his physical recovery. The years had certainly been kinder to his image as preserved in the hundreds of books dotting the libraries of the rich and powerful as well as the conscientious collectors of ancient lore over the past millennia than in the real form that sported the unkempt image of a hermit, frayed and dangling slightly loose upon his faded gray coat. His beard had lost its youthful luster and hung limp against his weathered neck. Long had the days of old vanished from popular memory only to have this fleeting glance of yesteryear appear within the modern domain. A brief parade and royal accolade for his recent efforts to save Equestria, and then it was back to the question of what should become of this pony out-of-time.

Starswirl shook his head. “I cannot stay, Twilight. There is nothing more for me here. You have proven yourself a proficient and capable articulator of magic — magic of a sort I barely understand, much less feel I can take up a new study of. And on the other hoof, there is nothing more you could possibly learn from the likes of me. I trust you’ve studied all my spells and know everything I could possibly teach. You seem more familiar with them than I with my own own tail. I’ve failed to ascend to the next level, as your companion Applejack so aptly pointed out, and by finishing one of my own spells and proving your understanding of the most advanced principles of friendship, you have far surpassed what my teachings could ever provide in the way of instruction. You and your friends easily mastered the Magic of Friendship in my absence, and you yourself have proven beyond a doubt to have progressed far beyond my level of understanding of the subject. My errors in judgment led to a thousand years of darkness for the Pillars — lost to the world, and almost for good — and I nearly destroyed a friend I had tossed aside in the process. My place is not here, and it never will be. If I stay, I would only be a burden.”

Twilight looked none the worse for wear. Dark circles ran in concentric loops around her glazed over eyes. Her mane hadn’t been tended to since the royal ceremony welcoming the Pillars back to Equestria. The tip of her horn sparked with a touch of errant magic owing to her recent exertion and continuing recovery. Anypony could clearly see she wasn’t back to her typical self, and yet she pushed on. Determined to follow through with what had become the most important thing she had ever done, outside of becoming the Princess of Friendship, recovering the Elements of Harmony, and saving the world a couple dozen times over with the help of her friends, she persisted in her efforts to find a place for her idol to be welcomed into her world.

“That’s… not true!” Twilight stammered. “There is so much more I could learn from you, and you from me! Your work was instrumental in establishing the basis of the Elements of Harmony and laying the foundation of understanding the Magic of Friendship! The past—”

Starswirl held out a hoof to quiet the Princess. “The reality is, my dear, I’ve been stuck in limbo for over a millennia, and I find myself now, as it were, a seapony out of water.” Starswirl lit up his horn and levitated a towering stack of old, mismatched books covering random historical matters of the prior millennia off the map table, shrinking them down to the size of marbles with his magic as he deposited the entire stack comfortably within a fraying cloth pouch strung around his neck and hitched to one side, back across his left flank. He winced and turned to face the door. “It is time for me to accept my destiny and resign myself to the fate of all ponies who fail to keep up with the herd. Retirement!”

Twilight seemed to be on the verge of tears. Starlight looked on, trying to think of something to interject that could help sway the argument in Twilight’s favor. As much as she cared for Twilight knowing how much Starswirl meant to her, she couldn’t really think of anything to add to tip the scales. What little she could come up with had already been said.

“It’s time for this old wizard to hang up his conjuring hat and leave his frivolous magical pursuits in your more than capable hooves - and horns.” He made a sweeping hoof motion toward Twilight, and with a labored sigh, continued the motion around toward Starlight. Starswirl tugged on the satchel’s strap and slowly began to shuffle his hooves, trudging toward the throne room door as though subconsciously wishing somepony would physically stop him. The others looked on, tired and emotionally drained. He stopped himself just short of the door and tilted his head up, lit his horn once more, and painstakingly enveloped the door to open the way forward when he half-turned back toward Twilight. “Perhaps I’ll take a short journey and get to know a bit of the new Equestria before I settle down in some old, forgotten corner of the realm to pass the rest of my days?”

The door began to sway in Starswirl’s horngrasp as Twilight choked on the words she couldn’t formulate to stop his departure. Suddenly, the glow around the frame faltered and fell away. Starswirl shook his head and rubbed his temple. Twilight raised a hoof, half arrested but readying to sprint to his aid.

“Ahhhh!” Starlight blurted out, jerking up, and nearly falling out of her seat. Tipping off the edge of her chair and almost losing her balance, she reached back to rub her flank as Twilight and Starswirl broke off their failed attempts at exchanging an actual goodbye, and turned their attention toward her.

“What in Tartarus?” Starswirl exclaimed. A pulsating glow illuminated the floor beneath his robes. He too reached back to further examine his hindquarters.

“Ugggghhhh,” Twilight exhaled, finally generating an audible noise that didn’t sound like she was choking on her tongue. Standing upright on her hind legs, she perched her forehooves on the edge of the Cutie Map and rapidly scanned the terrain through bleary, bloodshot eyes.

Starlight quickly found her balance and shot a gaze across the map as well. “Umm, Twilight? Does this mean what I think it does?” Her cutie mark pulsed with an inward glow across her matted flank. The outline of a falling star, rising and falling over and over into the center of the original design, sent a wave of pleasant warmth up and down her spine. Her thoughts swam back to the last time she was called to solve a friendship problem, and her stomach tensed as an uneasy knot began to form.

Starswirl returned to the table, twice as fast as he had left it, taking up a vacant spot across from both Twilight and Starlight. “Perhaps fate has other plans for us.” He lit up his horn to try and connect with the magic of the cutie map. The hornglow faltered almost as soon as he reached out with his knowledge seeking magic. Either the map rejected his intrusion, or he’d somehow misjudged the spell’s effectiveness given the map’s current beckoning state. He looked perplexed.

Three cutie marks descended over Canterlot, but in the process of their decent, they flickered and disappeared. Starswirl peeled back, nearly stumbling over his own hooves. Twilight’s breath caught in her parched throat once more. Starlight’s eyes widened.

“Well, I’ve never seen it do that before,” Starlight said.

Twilight’s mark suddenly reappeared over the Southwestern desert, and then vanished again. Starlight’s did the same across the opposite side of the map. Starswirl’s cutie mark reappeared above the map and started making loops in the air as though it were riding an invisible roller coaster.

“What is the meaning of this?” Starswirl said, pulling off to the side and squinting to clear his line of sight.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, exchanging nervous glances with Starswirl, the map, and back at Starlight. “Like Starlight said, it’s never done this before.”

“Maybe it’s broken,” Starlight said, giving the edge of the map a little bump of her forehoof. The clop of hoof against stone sent an echo through the chamber from which she instantly recoiled and smiled a sheepish grin like she’d just been caught destroying a priceless antique.

“Powerful magic such as this does not simply ‘break’,” Starswirl said, pulling a hoof against his wispy chin-curl of a beard. “There must be a reasonable explanation.”

The trio of cutie mark symbols danced and twirled across the map, each moving to a rhythm and pace different from the other. One by one, the marks flickered and sped from one end of the map to the other as if chasing each other in a grand game of tag. The motion accelerated the longer the chase wore on to the point the ponies couldn’t tell if a mark was chasing another or being chased itself. The contrailed blurs left a sort of rainbow helix in their wake similar to the trailings of one of Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainbooms.

The race continued for several minutes with each pony’s flank taking on a greater buzz from the illumination of their flashing cutie marks. The growing vibrations made it hard to focus. The room around them felt like it was spinning out of control.

“I think I’m going to lose my lunch,” Starlight said as she brought a forehoof up to cover her mouth.

“Hmmm,” Starswirl mused, a slight rumble in his voice bubbling up from his pulsating cutie mark. “From what I know and can deduce in this moment, the map only calls you and your friends to solve ‘friendship problems’, correct?”

Twilight and Starlight both nodded, heads rocking slightly as they did.

“And, while I have no actual frame of reference to compare with what is happening now, the only time I’ve ever been called to perform a similar task in this manner was long ago, and for that there was no cutie map, malfunctioning or not, involved. So it would only stand to reason that…”

Twilight and Starlight leaned forward, both eager to hear what the old wizard had concluded in his rambling thoughts.

“I’m afraid, and also further establishing my previous point, that I am once again out of my depth.” He dropped back to all fours and spun to face the door once more, overturing just a hair so as to slightly correct before falling head over hoof.

Twilight and Starlight looked over at each other and shrugged. Returning their attention to the remarkable display, they continued to watch as the map played host to a full Olympics worth of cutie mark gymnastics, at one point appearing as a pair, other times alone, and then again as three together. Starlight strained to keep up with the movement across the map, so intent on tracking the marks that it made her increasingly dizzy. She rocked back on her hindquarters and flopped against the seat back, holding the sides her head in both of her forehooves as the room continued to spin. “I’m really going to be sick,” she groaned. Twilight grit her teeth with her forehead scrunching up below her horn. Beads of sweat began to build on the surface as she nervously shifted her weight between her tapping forehooves while trying in vain to think of something she could possibly do to resolve the issue.

“You aren’t giving up, are you?” Twilight sat back on her haunches and rubbed her forehooves against her temples, a worried look on her face.

“Nonsense,” Starswirl replied. “I merely have no clue where to start… unless—” He spun back toward the map, a hint of balance in his step regained in the process.

“Let me try something,” Starswirl said as he broke the awkward tension, bringing his elder magic to bear. The gentle glow of his aged horn called down a beam of light that spread from the near edge of the map gliding toward the far side where Twilight stood. The cutie marks dancing above the surface slowed to a crawl and stopped.

With their constant motion arrested, Twilight rubbed her eyes and peered out across the map hoping that the blurred vision she took in was only imagined. Instead, she saw the reality of the mark’s placement — three localized spots, with a copy of all three marks appearing at each.

She drew in a breath.

Starlight rolled forward clutching her belly as she went.

Starswirl scratched at his beard once more. “I believe I’ve found the problem.” He paused to assert his aged intellect. “This map is most certainly broken.”

Twilight exhaled a muffled scream.

“But that’s impossible!” Twilight said, quickly regaining composure. “It’s never done this before. How can it call all three of us to three different places, and all at the same time?”

“It’s obvious that the internal compass controlling the extrapolated friendship problem locater element has failed. I’m not sure if we can trust the map’s directional indicators or internal celestial guidance system given its current state. I am also not sure how one would go about growing a new internal compass or recalibrating such a device. It’s not like this castle or this map came with an instruction manual, or did it? Anyway, it seems to have taken a thousand years to grow the last—”

“Or…,” Starlight interjected, “there could be another reason why our cutie marks are showing up in three different places at once.” She turned toward Twilight, given that she, more than anypony, had faith in what Starlight knew she could do. “I’m not entirely sure what it all means, Twilight,” Starlight said, leaning forward and scanning over the locations. “I’m not even sure exactly why it would send the three of us together since these are all places somepony has been to before. Perhaps the map is broken, but maybe there’s something big, and I mean really big, as in a friendship problem that’s going to take all three of us to solve big, and it’s not going to be sitting around in just one location for us to stumble onto.”

Starswirl circled around the table, examining the indicated locations more closely. “I am familiar with that first location in the center of the map indicating Canterlot of old, and also the second grouping here to the south — the Desert of the Shifting Sands, but I have no knowledge of this third location.” He pointed to the Northeast corner of the map where their trio of cutie marks had settled on a small cluster of stables about half way between Canterlot and Manehattan.

“That’s Starlight’s old village!” Twilight exclaimed, surprising even herself with the force of the outburst. “If there’s a friendship problem there of all places, who knows what kind of danger Equestria could be in?” She shuddered and cast a comment aside, “No offense.”

Starlight cocked her head to the side and sighed. “None taken.”

“Yes, the village where it was said you brainwashed an entire herd and stole their cutie marks, making them all as equal as possible. I do recall that made mention now that you speak of it.” Starswirl continued to stroke his beard in a very knowing manner that made it look like he had just accused Starlight of perpetrating the entire friendship problem herself.

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Starlight sighed and dropped her face into her crossed forehooves. The nausea subsiding with the arrest of the spinning marks shifted into a throbbing in her head as she could feel the blood pooling in her cheeks as a sign of her growing embarrassment.

Starswirl lifted his head to the side and scratched his chin contemplating his thoughts for a moment. Dropping back to all fours, he shuffled around the map as he spoke. “Before I fully retire, I may want to understand more about how you accomplished that feat, but for now it can wait. We have a quest that we are called to fulfill, and however misguided it may be, I say we start with what we know for sure.”

Starswirl came full circle, having taken in the map from every angle. With a little nudge of magic, he broke the enchantment of his prior spell. The map sputtered and the trio of cutie marks spun back up to their blurring speed before taking off like a helicopter into the roots of the old library tree hanging from the ceiling above and disappearing among the light sparkling off the hanging crystal memories. The map of Equestria below sunk back into the smooth crystal table surface leaving no trace of the image as though it had always been that way.

The trio’s cutie marks settled back into their flanks, the pulsation finally come to rest in their familiar symbols of destiny.

“We best be off,” Starswirl said, tossing his head toward the slightly cracked open doorway. “First stop, Canterlot!”

Twilight fainted, dropping to the floor with a thud.

Starlight raised a hoof in protest. “Correction. First stop, Ponyville General.”

3 - Old Friends and New

The three ponies formed a single file line descending the steps into the bowels of Canterlot Castle. Starswirl led the way. The clip of their hooves against the worn stone echoed down into the chambers below as well as back up the path they came. The way grew darker the further they went, torches not being tended to or lit regularly this deep in the dungeons. Rats, bats, and other denizens of the dark scurried into the cracks in the stone and bricks with their hornlight guiding passage.

“Ah, here it is,” Starswirl said, coming to a stop in front of a small wooden door at the end of a long cobweb filled tunnel lined with rusted out, barred stalls. He blew a thick layer of dust off an oversize lock connecting three lengths of chain crisscrossing the doorway, uncovering an elaborate seal emblazoned with a depiction of an alicorn, but not one that Twilight could identify as being similar to the type of Celestia or Luna’s typical crest. There seemed to be no keyhole in the lock, potentially ensuring that the door had not been opened in quite some time and also owing to the amount of dust and cobweb that covered the ancient contraption and the passageway leading up to it.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“A door,” Starswirl replied in his casually flippant tone. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Starswirl reached into his side pouch and picked out the old tome. He flipped to somewhere in the middle and consulted an inscription beneath a drawing of a similar glyph. Glancing back at the lock, he quickly packed the book away and motioned for Twilight and Starlight to give him some space. Twilight inched closer and pressed herself against the damp, grime encrusted wall to keep a close watch. Starlight drew back and raised the intensity of her hornglow to compensate for the distance and reduced light throw from Starswirl’s horn.

“Obumbratio lucem et viam reseret!” Starswirl’s horn lit with a strange, green glow. Responding in kind, the alicorn’s horn from the emblem on the lock lit as well, spreading the magical glow down its spine and across the body all the way to the edge and around the ring encircling the pony design. The pairing glow pulsed three times, and the chains suddenly fell away. The lock shrunk and vanished into thin air. Finally, the door swung inward on its creaking hinges making all three ponies cover their ears from the grating sound of rusted metal twisting in on itself.

A musty rush of wind from behind the door hit the ponies straight away.

“Ahh-choo! Are you sure this is where we should be going?” Twilight asked through a sneeze.

“You can trust me,” Starswirl replied. “I’ve been here before.” He relit his horn and proceeded through the opening into the dark passage beyond.

Twilight flicked her wings to toss off the filth that had blown through her mane. “I’ve never been down this far beneath the castle - not even when Chrysalis invaded Canterlot and took Princess Cadance and me hostage,” she said. “I didn’t know it went any deeper.”

Starlight crept up closer to the doorway. “We’d better stick together. I have a bad feeling about this.”

The two mares huddled close together and followed Starswirl through the opening only a few steps behind.

The cavern passage quickly transitioned from the standard stone and foundational structures of the castle. Slick rock and settled earth laid the way before them. A slight wind rose from the depths and blew past the ponies and up through the open gateway above. Further and further, deeper and deeper they went, winding through the tunnels and open cave spaces that alternated along the not-so-obvious path forward. Starswirl kept his eyes darting around the space as they walked, intently watching for some sort of unmarked signs along the way. The howl of the wind grew the deeper they went. Starlight shivered in the growing cold. Twilight did her best to match pace with the old wizard, keeping a million questions at bay as she struggled to maintain her balance against the slick rock path beneath her hooves.

“Hold your places.” Starswirl came to a sudden stop and held up his hoof. The path ahead looked clear with the group’s hornlight throwing down the narrow passage for as far as the magical light would carry. He pointed to the side of the tunnel indicating an even smaller fissure in the wall barely wide enough to fit a pony. “Let me handle this.”

Twilight and Starlight simply exchanged curious glances and shrugged back at the old wizard.

Starswirl approached the crack.

A sudden gust of wind tore through the tunnel nearly knocking the ponies off their hooves. Starswirl almost lost his balance, but Starlight helped to steady him with a quick touch of levitation magic. The glare he shot back took her by surprise.

“I appreciate your help, young lady, but please refrain from using magic in this place. We can’t afford to anger the spirits that dwell here.” Starswirl adjusted his hat and turned back to face the crack in the tunnel wall. Starlight took a step back.

Like an echo from the past, he whinnied and neighed following the ancient words he had once uttered in this same spot. The finishing touch to his penitent plea ending in, “Cor meum ad vide!”

The howling wind subsided, and the air suddenly fell still. A warming light grew from somewhere beyond the crack in the wall, beaconing the ponies like guests to a hearthswarming fire.

“Follow me, and stay close. Whatever you do, don’t touch anything.” Starswirl punctuated the last few words by alternating his gaze between the young mares with every word he emphatically spoke.

Starlight and Twilight both nodded. Owing to the unfamiliarity of the entire experience, they both thought it wise to listen to Starswirl’s counsel given their current situation. Twilight still had a millions questions to ask about where they where, where they were going, or why they were down in the caverns below the castle in the first place. She wasn’t sure that Starswirl knew how to deal with a real friendship problem, and the idea that their mission could be solved deep in a cave under Canterlot became harder and harder to swallow with every step she took.

The dark cavern tunnel opened up into a glowing passageway of light. Crystals of every shape and size, and in every color of the rainbow lined the walls. Starswirl kept a steady pace, and the girls had to move extra fast to keep up, as well as take in the sight all around them.

“Well, I guess we know why it’s called the Cavern of Crystal Lights now,” Starlight whispered over to Twilight.

“Yeah, but what was with all that chanting, and the spell to even open the door into the tunnels?” Twilight replied in a hushed tone, a little scared, unsure, and amazed all in the same breath. “I’ve never read of or heard anything like it before, and I’ve studied a lot of ancient history books.”

“The chanting is from the language of the first tongue. It comes from a time before ponies had a voice. The final part was in the tongue of the Goddess. It’s all described very plainly in the book I showed you earlier.” Starswirl never stopped moving, his words echoing down the chamber from up ahead. “And you really shouldn’t whisper in here. The acoustics are amazing in and amongst all this rainbow crystal.”

“That’s great,” Twilight said. “So, can you tell us why we’re even down here? What’s in that book and how is it supposed to help us solve this friendship problem?” She broke into a slow trot to catch up with the wizard, a little annoyed that he wouldn’t even slow down to fill her in on the details.

Starlight hung back for a moment taking in the view of the strange formation of what she could only suppose were magically infused crystal foci. Some of the crystals looked very similar to ones she had used in her studies in school - six sided, clear or light pastel colors. Others looked like they belonged in a dark wizard’s lab - dark red to black with a strange green aura surrounding them. For the most part, the crystals covered the gamut of colors one might find lining the shelves of elaborately decorated pastries in Sugarcube Corner. It was the occasional dark formation that seemed to be spreading with a localized influence to the surrounding crystals that mainly drew her attention. The further she walked down the hallway, the more of the dark type she saw, to the point where the glow of the light colored ones couldn’t brighten the space near as well as they had further back along the path.

“A little patience goes a long way,” Starswirl said from as far down the tunnel as Starlight could see before it bent around a curve, “but we don’t have all day!”

Starlight rubbed her chin and debated taking a sample of the crystals to stash in her bag. She reached out as if being drawn to a particularly dark purple stone that lay only inches from her hoof. The urge to discover what sort of power was contained within the foci behind the odd lights coaxed at her thoughts. Take one now while nopony is watching. You can study it later and nopony will ever know. The thought repeated in her head, and in her own voice no less. She was telling herself to obey, but something else held her hoof back. You like purple. It’s your favorite color. Her hoof inched forward. It’s power is all for you.

“Come on, Starlight! Hurry up!” Twilight’s call barreled down the tunnel and hit Starlight so hard it snapped her out of her trance.

Starlight shook her head, and gingerly retracted her hoof. Looking around and regaining her bearings, she replied, “I’m coming!” Without looking back, she broke off at a gallop down the tunnel to rejoin her friends.

Starswirl and Twilight neared the end of the crystal passage just as Starlight caught up. The trio passed the last of the glowing crystals and crossed the threshold into a large chamber beyond, all bunched up together.

“Behold!” Starswirl said, braziers situated all around the circular room lighting as if at the command of his voice, “The Altar of Magic!” He stuck his hoof in the air and turned to strike up a pose as if somepony would be taking a picture to memorialize the moment.

The entire room lit up.

A trio of gigantic outer statues hung over a center dais with a pony sized altar in the middle. Twilight and Starlight took in the space all at once noting the three pony races displayed by each of the monstrous frameworks. The chamber seemed to rise beyond the ability to see how far up it went. At the center of it all, a roiling cloud of shadows and random sparks of light hovered over the altar.

“We must be near the core of the mountain with how far down and around we’ve come,” Twilight mused.

”It certainly is amazing,” Starlight added, still unnerved by the draw of the crystals in the nearby passage.

They each took a few steps forward, enough to pass Starswirl who held his pose a little longer than he should have. Reaching the edge of the dais, they stopped to take in the view of the statues above.

“What in the name of the Goddess!?” Starswirl burst past them both, nearly knocking over Starlight. “It cannot be!” He raced to the foot of the altar and reached up toward the cloud.

Suddenly, the earth shook.

All three ponies lost their footing and tumbled to the ground. A bolt of lighting cracked the air, struck the altar, and temporarily blinded them all. Starswirl was thrown clear of the dais. He landed at the foot of the unicorn statue, hitting his head, instantly knocked out cold.

“Ahhhh!” Starlight squealed as if crying out for help against some surprise assailant while batting her hooves in the air in an automatic fight-or-flight response.

Twilight quickly teleported to her hooves and raised a defensive magic bubble. As her vision cleared, her horn ignited with all the power she could muster in her and her friend’s defense.

“Who dares invade my holy sanctum?” A new voice called out, booming from all parts of the chamber and echoing back on itself.

Twilight backed away from the altar where a silver coated unicorn with a sparkling golden mane had just materialized. Slowly coming into focus, she could see the strange new mare’s eyes glowed white, but seemed empty without a speck of pupil in the center. Pure magical energy coursed through her mane and tail, riding the ridge of her backbone and sparking off her hooves which hovered a few inches in the air above and in front of the altar.

Starlight’s vision slowly came back into focus, and she scooted herself away from the new addition as fast as her hooves would allow for plowing at the ground in reverse while still lying on her back. Twilight quickly circled back around to join up with Starlight, never once dropping her line of sight from the strange pony assailant.

“Speak! I can hear your movement!” The voice of the silver pony boomed as loud as Luna’s Canterlot voice could ever muster.

Twilight searched across the space for any sign of Starswirl’s movement. He lay motionless on the ground where he had been thrown, on the far side of the room from where she stood. In a panic, she fought to catch her breath and steady her nerves. She didn’t want to have to fight, but she prepared for the worst while channeling her magic through her overglowing and pulsating horn which sputtered in an unsteady rhythm.

“Say something, Twilight,” Starlight motioned toward the altar, shrugging a shoulder. “This could be our friendship problem.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, and she began to settle her escalating panic. Starswirl had said that he’d been here before. Unfortunately, he was in no shape to respond at the moment. What Starlight proposed could very well be the case. If she had learned anything from the encounter with the Pony of Shadows, it was to see beyond the immediate danger and let the magic of friendship find a way to help. She stepped forward, not yet dropping the defensive shield, but lowering her channeled magic to a cautiously optimistic level, and spoke. “I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. I’m not sure why we’re here, but my friend that guided us, Starswirl the Bearded, is…” She debated making any assumptions about the current state of Starswirl. “Maybe you know him?”

The pony hovering above the altar turned in her general direction. “I am familiar with the pony of whom you speak, and I know you as well, Twilight Sparkle, fifth of your kind, and newly crowned Princess of Friendship. Now, where is the other you have brought into my domain? She does not belong here!”

Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Starlight. Starlight shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Twilight motioned her forward. Starlight shook her head again and mouthed the words No! Are you crazy?.

“You thought you could come here and steal my crystals - a prize for your master, hmm?” The mare’s eyes glowed with a new intensity, beaming across the room, but never focusing directly on Starlight. “Come out and answer for your crimes before I hunt you down from the stench of my sister’s musk that you absolutely reek of, traitor!” She lifted her snout and sniffed at the air, turning in several directions to repeat the same.

Starlight froze in place unable to even move a muscle or light up her horn in her current state of panic. Twilight thought for a moment. The glowing mare’s gaze darted from corner to corner, statue to statue in search of a target.

In a moment of inspiration, Twilight pulled up a small stone from the floor and quickly tossed it back across the chamber to the far wall opposite where they entered. The mare swiftly turned toward the spot where it fell, the rock clacking against the crystal stone wall. Her horn lit up and she lowered her head, generally aiming in the direction of the noise.

Before she could fire, Twilight yelled, “Stop!”

The mare raised her head, but left her horn alight with a magic that seemed to burn instead of glow along her elongated hornshaft. “And why is that? Haven’t you brought me the traitor so that I can dispose of her in my own appointed way?”

“Uhh, No?” Twilight replied, a little unsure of how better to answer the question of her friend’s extermination. “She happens to be my friend, and we came here together with Starswirl to help solve a friendship problem, not to dispose of her. She was summoned, too. We all were.”

The mare held her stance, obviously pondering Twilight’s declaration. “I see,” she said. Her magic fell away, and she drifted down to the altar. The arcs in her mane and tail, along with all the stray magic surrounding her body stopped sparking. “Then where are my manners. I must welcome you to my domain, miss…” She continued to stare toward the back wall where the rock had been thrown.

Twilight motioned Starlight forward.

Starlight glanced up from her cowering corner looking aghast and continuing to shake her head at the notion.

Twilight turned back to the pony and replied, “Her name is Starlight Glimmer, and she’s being a little shy at the moment. But, I didn’t catch your name—?”

Starlight mumbled under her breath, “not shy, just trying not to die in some underground cavern at the wrong end of that horn belonging to the, for all I know, mystery pony of magic death.”

The pony spun around to face in the direction of Twilight. “You should know very well who I am, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am Celeste, High Priestess of Power, and keeper of the Altar of Magic. I control the fate of all unicorns and grant unto them the magic which they use in my name, magic which some have brazenly sought to use against me.” She raised her chin and seemed to turn an eye toward the back wall of the chamber. Looking back, she finished her introduction. “You are proudly my third.”

Twilight paused. Her view of the situation came sharper into focus the longer she thought.

“Please forgive me for not knowing your name. I had no idea this place even existed until just a few minutes ago. Starswirl said that—”

“Hold thy tongue for a moment, young one,” Celeste said, feeling out with her forehoof in the place where Starswirl stood only moments before. “Where is my champion? I must see him at once!”

“Uhhh, your entrance sort of blasted him across the room,” Starlight said, finally finding her voice after recovering her footing and pacing up next to Twilight’s flank, but still taking care to keep the bulk of Twilight between her and Celeste. She raised a hoof over Twilight’s back, pointing toward the base of the unicorn statue. “He’s not really moving at the moment, and… that could be a problem.”

“Oh dear…” Celeste’s tone abruptly changed from her stance of power to one of panic and fear. “Quickly, Princess, bring my Champion to the altar so that I may revive him.” She fumbled her way forward, regaining the edge of the altar with the side of her hoof and bracing against it to orient herself in front.

Twilight sighed and lowered her protective shield.

Starlight elbowed her in the ribs. “What are you doing?” she whispered in Twilight’s ear. “She’s obviously playing us - keep your shield up and buy us some time so we can figure a way out of here.”

Twilight lowered her gaze and put her hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

“I sure hope you do…” Starlight mumbled to herself once more. Taking another look at Celeste as she fumbled her way toward the altar, she whispered back to Twilight, “Do you think there’s something wrong with her eyesight?”

“Just follow my lead,” Twilight replied before stepping forward and lighting up her horn, levitating the still motionless form of Starswirl up onto the altar. “There you go, High Priestess. Please do what you can to help him.”

Celeste pawed at the altar and the pony that now lay upon it. “Ahh, good. There is life in him yet. This shouldn’t take long.”

Her horn lit up, this time with a silvery glow. The magic flowed down from the tip and spread across Starswirl’s body. His tail twitched, and then his left ear. The bells on his hat jingled ever so slightly as the old wizard raised his head and opened his eyes. Then with a jerk and a thud, he pulled back and rolled off the far side of the altar. This time, he didn’t go so far as to knock himself unconscious. He gathered his legs under him and swiftly rose from the floor. His horn lit up only a split second later with his hooves set in a defensive posture.

“Stay back!” He ordered, slowly circling the altar along the edge of the dais toward Twilight. He quickly glanced around the room and back to his target. “Tell me what you have done with the distaff!”

“Oh goodness, me! I can see!” Celeste hopped around the platform mimicking a sort of waltz with her rigid, old wizard partner. “Such a difference from gazing through the mind’s eye of the staff for so many centuries.” She paused. “You did bring it with you, didn’t you?”

“And how could I have if you were the one to have stolen it in the first place?” Starswirl said, eying up his new adversary and keeping his horn leveled at hers.

Celeste tossed her head back with a laugh. “Silly stallion! How could I possibly steal what is rightfully mine?”

“Your staff…? Who? Who are you?”

“Uhhh…” Twilight cut in, “Starswirl the Bearded, meet Celeste, High Priestess of Power, and keeper of the Altar of Magic. Celeste, Starswirl the Bearded.”

Starswirl recoiled from his attack stance, quickly bowed his head and half bent his foreleg at the knee, and replied through a stutter, “M-m-may the Goddess have mercy on us all.”

4 - The Grand Design

Bowed in shock, Starswirl hastily replied, “My apologies. I come as per your summons, but I am at a loss to perform the ritual.”

Celeste fell back on her haunches, a look of pity and sadness settling in across her stern gaze. “I see now. You have failed as my Champion.” She covered her face with her hooves and let out a tiny whimper as her eyes filled with tears. “All is lost. My time is done. My sister will be swift in her wrath to exact her revenge.”

Twilight and Starlight apprehensively approached the dais, coming to a stop next to Starswirl in quiet reflection. The seconds ticked by. The only sound that permeated the silence came from the soft flicker of magical torchlight wafting from the wall-hung braziers decorating the outer ring of the cavern and the plaintive moans of the Priestess.

Only Starlight finally mustered the courage to ask, “What seems to be the problem, other than you can’t seem to find your staff? It’s not like it’s the end of the world, right?” Her self-inflicted panic voice took over. “Or is it? Please tell me it’s not the end of the world?” She grasped at Twilight’s mane to steady herself with the nearest object available for support.

“It might as well be. Without my staff, I fear it is the end of unicorn magic as we know it.” Celeste dropped to the ground, burying her head even further beneath her forehooves, and began to wail inconsolably.

“Maybe the three of us could help?” Twilight said, looking on with an awkward half-smile that did little to help reassurances while adjusting her mane to pull away from the clinging hooves of Starlight.

Celeste immediately perked up. “Oh, would you?” She hopped to her feet, extinguishing the waterworks in the blink of an eye, or at least what the pair of glowing eye sockets approximated in her case. “That would be delightfully helpful. How soon do you think you’ll return? My power wanes with every passing moment. I can hardly see a partial glimmer of the future now, much less a full view of the present.”

“Uhh,” Twilight said, exchanging her grin for a sheepish frown, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What she means,” Starswirl interjected, suddenly waking from his momentary lapse of devout concentration, “is how soon can we return with the Fork of Destiny and perform the ritual to restore it to it’s proper place atop the Altar of Magic.”

“Precisely right, my Champion.” Celeste clapped her hooves together in an encouraging display of foallike excitement. “And the sooner you return, the sooner all magic everywhere can be restored to its rightful owner, …I mean, owners.” A slight hesitation and waiver in her voice beguiled the sudden change of demeanor.

Starlight took a step forward, cutting across the line of sight of the others. “Wait a second. I thought the map sent us here to solve a friendship problem, not to track down some ancient relic and return it to some Priestess living in the basement of Princess Celestia’s castle—” She waved a hoof and gave a quick sideways nod in Celeste’s direction, “—no offense.” Lowering her voice to a whisper and cupping a hoof to her jaw, she continued, “How do we we even know she is who she says she is?”

Twilight gently brushed her aside and took a step forward. “I think what Starlight means to say is, we’re willing to help, but we don’t even know where to start looking, or exactly what we’re looking for, or exactly when or how it was lost in the first place, or a whole lot of other things I’m sure I’m forgetting right now. Who do you think might have taken it? Could you help point us in the right direction?”

“I believe I can help with that,” Starswirl said. He cleared his throat and stepped up onto the dais. “If my recollections are correct, I presume that High Priestess Celeste is none other than the Fate of Power, an ancient pony demi-goddess tasked with safeguarding the Altar of Magic and the power stored in the Crystal Caverns beyond. It mentions as much in my history. The more I recall of my previous visit to this place and the vision I experienced from so long ago, the more I see the connection to the pony that stands before us. The Fork of Destiny, the instrument by which all magic in Equestria is derived, seems to have gone missing from this chamber. If it is indeed lost, we must find and restore it to its rightful place atop the Altar of Magic, or else magic as we know it will soon cease to exist.”

Starlight shook her head. “That still doesn’t sound like a friendship problem to me.”

“No, but it certainly sounds like something we should help with.” Twilight glared over at Starlight, surprised and a little worried at her tone.

“Our quest is more important than a simple friendship problem — Equestria’s magic hangs in the balance!” Starswirl said, giving dramatic emphasis to the last part.

“My champion is correct,” Celeste said, rising from the ground and walking toward the group. “But it seems as though my sister’s influence still holds sway over your traitorous friend here. Perhaps she already knows what became of my staff and is currently tasked with leading you all astray.” She leveled a glare directly at Starlight. “What say you? Are you unicorn, or are you… Earth?”

“Pretty sure I’m a unicorn, at least last I checked.” Starlight lit her horn and teleported to the other side of the dais. “Yup, still a unicorn.”

Celeste flashed a growl and spun around to face Starlight, her horn bursting into flame. “How dare you, insolent foal!”

“Hold!” Starswirl shouted. “Let’s be civil here. I’m sure we can find a solution if we hold our tempers and work through the problem together.”

Celeste extinguished her horn and gave a snort that billowed out of her nostrils in a puff of smoke. “Very well, but I still don’t accept her as one of my own — not until she proves herself worthy.” She circled back around to face Starswirl and Twilight. “You understand your mission, Champion, and the urgency with which it much be undertaken. I trust you know where to find my staff, and if not, you can extract the location from your friend here.” She spat out the final word with an emphatic spark of fire from her lips.

Starlight plodded forward. “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m not sure I even want to go on this extreme scavenger hunt of yours until we get some real answers.”

Celeste reignited a smaller portion of her horn. “One more word out of you, and I’ll reduce you to the ash from whence you came!”

Twilight rushed forward. “I-I’m sure that won’t be necessary.” She motioned over to Starlight to cut out her antagonizing by motioning with her hoof horizontally across her neck.

“Fine, whatever,” Starlight said as she strolled off toward the earth pony statue. “I just wish somepony would tell me why she’s so anti-Earth Pony — and — wants to kill me so badly.”

“Hah!” Celeste retorted. “Don’t play games with me, young one. I’ve been at this for millennia, and I know my sister’s power when I smell it. Admit it! You helped her steal my staff, and now you come to gloat in triumph on her behalf. Devious witch; she always did revel in my misfortune.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. The only staff I ever had was just some stick I found in the desert to make it look like I—Wait.” Starlight stopped, dead in her tracks.

Twilight gasped. “The ninth enchantment of Mage Meadowbrook?!”

Starswirl drew back, a questioning smirk upon his face. “The Fork of Destiny is certainly not an invention of Meadowbrook’s conjuring. If my memory serves, she only had eight grand enchantments to her credit,” he continued, adding to the side, “I, myself, have forty-two.”

“So, the Staff of Sameness? My cover story was… real?!” Starlight spun around. “I used a priceless magical artifact to steal an entire village of cutie marks and didn’t even realize it was anything more than some twisted branch I found lying in the desert that I dreamt up some crazy plan to rule Equestria with? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“So you finally admit to your crimes?” Celeste said, narrowing her gaze and shining a gleam from her glowing eye socket directly toward Starlight. “The light of truth always burns away the darkest of lies.”

“Hey, that’s not what I meant, and stop it.” Starlight batted at the glowing beam of light with a forehoof. “Weren’t you acting all blind just a minute ago, or was that just another game of yours?”

“She is blind,” Twilight said. The others cocked their heads in silent contemplation of Twilight’s interjection. “Let me explain.” She opened her wings and deftly rose to the level of the statues above.

“The Fate of Power sees only through the mind’s eye,” Twilight recited as she floated over and hovered in front of the unicorn statue, pointing both there and at the pony below. The same hollow eye sockets in the towering form of the statue could be plainly seen upon direct inspection. “It’s the only thing I was able to read from the short glance I got of Starswirl’s book. I’m not sure how I knew what it said, and It didn’t really mean much to me at the time, until I noticed Celeste couldn’t follow our movement by anything other than sound or smell. Which also caused me to wonder how she suddenly regained the ability to track us once Starswirl recovered.” She floated down to the base of the statue, almost regaining the ground. “That’s when I saw the inscription on the base of this statue, which reads: ‘House Stella — Forever in service of Power’. And if all my study of ancient history and years of primary research on the life and teachings of the greatest wizard to ever live has taught me anything that could help in this moment, it’s that Starswirl the Bearded—”

“—is the last surviving member of the Great Herd of House Stella, and by birthright, Champion to the Fate of Power.” Starswirl nearly choked on the words.

The four ponies sat for a moment in quiet reflection. Thin shadows and tiny wisps of light danced along the walls, a dim reminder of the roiling ball of magical energy floating empty at its core above the Altar of Magic at the center of the cavern.

Starswirl closed his eyes to concentrate on gathering memories of a time long ago.

Twilight felt a small burden lifted in finally getting to the bottom of the mystery of Starswirl’s latest riddle — a sense of pride and accomplishment overshadowed only by the fact that they were no closer to finding and resolving the friendship mission they were supposed to be working on. Her attitude toward Starswirl had mellowed during the recent struggle. Having nearly lost him when she had only barely rescued him from a thousand year imprisonment in limbo served to put things into a different perspective. This was life and death, not just an argument about if, when, and where he should retire. The gravity of their new quest hadn’t been fully absorbed, and so she continued to struggle with her motivation both toward continuing the fight and reconciling her differences with her newly-found and nearly-lost idol.

Starlight felt no less of a struggle. Both mentally and physically, there was a lot to process. The near-death experience in fighting with a literal demi-goddess triggered a reaction in her that she had thought long ago repressed. How she could freeze and not be able to stand up for herself in a moment of panic bothered her more deeply than anything else. All the crazy talk of saving the world and ancient spells and talismans went right over her head up until the moment it came crashing down on her. She was somehow involved, and not just as the pony come to save the day like she had become accustomed to after she had escaped the ponysona of her equality village experiment and near world ending tear through the fabric of time. No, she was accused of being back on the side of misguided trouble making, mixed up with the wrong crowd once more. In the back of her mind, the nagging thought remained, am I really good?

She thought back to the time before her choices took her down a dark path toward enslaving other ponies through the removal of their cutie marks in a failed attempt at curing the ills of the world through equality. One fateful day, a few years after Sunburst had left her foalhood home town of Sire's Hollow to study in Canterlot, she recalled wandering away from her village in an attempt to find a new path. Alone, and without her best friend, she searched for anything to fill the gap in her heart, much less her blank flank, long past its prime in waiting for her own mark to appear. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps the idea to make everypony equal wasn’t her own. All she wanted was to be like the others her age, and without a cutie mark, she simply wasn’t.

An idle thought, perhaps, when she found the staff and suddenly things came into focus — her cutie mark finally appearing in that very moment. The excitement she felt with the rush of emotions flooding through her, it would have been simple to overlook any foreign sensations or misguided thoughts steering her subsequent actions. It did seem strange, the coincidence that an object carrying the power of every unicorn in Equestria would fall into her hooves, and grant her the one thing she had been longing to discover as it did. Had it really been her choice to steal ponies cutie marks? Or had that choice been made for her by some other power? Or even the staff itself, what Starswirl referred to as the Fork of Destiny? Was the power it held something she had no ability to control? The crystals in the passageway seemed to call to her in much the same way. Overpowering her thoughts and guiding her actions, if not for the distraction that helped her break the enticing pull, if not for Twilight calling out to her, she might have been halfway to Manehattan by now with a large purple gem in tow. The thought that she wasn’t in control of her choices gnawed at her resolve to finish the friendship quest — or whatever quest they happened to be on. What if her whole life was no more than a lie controlled in every way by another? Now, more than ever before, she looked to Twilight as a mentor, inwardly pleading for an answer as to what she should do.

“What are you waiting for?” murmured Celeste.

Starswirl gasped, shaking his head and shuffling his hooves. “We best be on our way.” He motioned toward the passageway urging Twilight and Starlight to leave the magic sanctum. Like it or not, the girls acquiesced to the old wizard’s urging.

The trio crossed the threshold into the crystal corridor with Twilight bringing up the rear. She glanced back over her shoulder, one final question for the High Priestess suddenly calling to her mind. In a blink, Celeste, along the entire ring of firelight, vanished into the darkness. Only the way ahead into the colorful, crystal-lined hall illuminated her view. With a momentary stutter in her trot, she quickly fell in line with the others and made her way through the winding passages and back up into the lower levels of Canterlot Castle proper.

5 - New Directions

Starlight spent the night in sleepless torment. Tossing and turning, never finding comfort in the majestically appointed bedding and cascading pile of pillows heaped all around her, she blinked away the tears. For all the recent confidence she had built in coming under the literal and proverbial wing of the Princess of Friendship, a gnawing loneliness ate away at her insides in turmoil. A pawn in somepony else’s game. A fraud in her own fur. Affixed with a cutie mark she no longer trusted. She buried her head under the pillow to try and hide its sight, but could feel the blood circulating through her flank with each pained heart beat. Each beat feeling like a scolding slap that she deserved as the cost of her failure.

Is my whole life a lie? The question repeated over and over in her head.

A knock came at the door.

Starlight’s muffled voice called out from underneath the pillow stack, “Go away! I don’t want to talk right now.” Exhausted, vexed by her dreams, and feeling like a prisoner in her own mind, she didn’t feel like receiving anypony at this late hour.

She groaned as the door creaked open.

The patter of a larger pony’s gait crossed the space between the door and the bed as Starlight clung even tighter to the pillow barely covering her horn and top mane bob.

With another creak and groan from the old oak bedframe and mattress, the unwelcomed guest made themself comfortable lying down in the unoccupied space at Starlight’s side. “Nevertheless, I am here to talk,” she said.

The lower than expected voice caught Starlight by surprise. Hitching a short breath and shimmying out from under her protective covering, she turned to see a pair of dark and silvery moonlit eyes hovering above and offering a calming presence amidst the battle raging within. “Princess Luna — I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware I was dreaming.”

“You aren’t.” Her dark lips parted with one side lifting into a curling corner — the best attempt at a smile that she could usually muster. “And yet you are just the same. But that doesn’t matter. A nightmare is still a nightmare regardless of your conscious state.”

“But, how did you know?”

“A waking nightmare calls to me just as strongly as a sleeping one, but I sense this is a special case. What troubles you, Starlight Glimmer?”

“Ugghhhh,” Starlight answered as she dropped back down on the pillow. “My whole life is a lie.”

Princess Luna took a moment to let the silence settle. “Perhaps, so might I suggest we speak truth. Lies begin where truth ends, and we both know that’s not why we are here. I’ll start.” Looking down with a confident and majestic gaze, she continued, “I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Warden of the Moon and Keeper of Dreams.” She finished and motioned a nod toward Starlight.

Starlight lifted her head and thought for what seemed like an hour. “I am…” The seconds ticked by with every loud beat of her heart. “—I don’t know!” She flopped back onto the pillow, forehooves covering her head and her eyes filling with tears once again. “I mean, I thought I knew, but now I don’t. How can I trust my own feelings if I don’t even know where they’re coming from? How can I trust my own destiny or cutie mark? I have so many questions, and nopony with answers.”

Luna placed a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “I know who you are.”

A gentle warmth flowed from Luna’s touch across Starlight’s shoulder. Her tears welled up, on the verge of spilling out and soaking into the already matted fur of her cheeks and continuing on to further ruin the soft velvet pillow that had been feeling the brunt of Starlight’s crisis of self.

“You are Starlight Glimmer, a pony like so many others and different yet the same. You have your faults, as we all do, and you have your strengths, as only those that can accept their faults can truly have. You are courageous. You are powerful. You are smart. And you are a good friend.”

“I enslaved an entire village and nearly tore apart the fabric of space and time.”

“And you are stubborn.”

“I’m a horrible friend.”

Luna’s gaze turned sour. “I thought we were speaking only in truths?”

“That is the truth.” Starlight propped herself up once again and wiped at her eyes. “I sit in the shadow of Twilight and her friends because I’m afraid to face to my past. I did some pretty awful things, and now I’m not even sure if I was in control of all those awful things I did. My magic? My cutie mark? My destiny? Is it all a lie? I picked up some stick in the desert and everything was so clear. Now, it all feels wrong, and I’m afraid it might happen again. Now I’m supposed to find the staff. What if it turns me into that monster again?”

Luna turned to face the window in the light of the moon streaming down across the far side of the room. “I once thought as you do.” She lit up her horn and conjured a shadow in inky silhouette that floated toward the path of the moonbeam. “Overcome by guilt, I gave into the darkness. I fought with my sister as I sought to subjugate everycreature under my very own hooves.” The obscurity morphed into the shape of a mare’s head and positioned itself over the crescent moon. “I spent a very long time in contemplation of my actions, somehow knowing I had full control of them all along.”

“Yeah, but that was Nightmare Moon — that wasn’t you.”

“On the contrary, the truth is that we are one in the same.” Luna’s horn shone again with a deeper and darker hue than Starlight had ever seen it take. “I fostered the spirit of doubt, jealousy, and spite.” The blot fell from the window and floated over toward Luna. Peering down into the small roiling cloud, her eyes flickered and flashed in lightning strikes across her silver glare. “Over time, those feelings grew to outweigh the good — my love for my sister, Starswirl’s guidance, trust in myself.” The ball slowly grew as she became transfixed on the sight as though she were inspecting the largest onyx gem ever discovered. “I lost focus of what really mattered. I let myself become Nightmare Moon.”

“But what does all that have to do with me?” Starlight flippantly replied, breaking the spell and spoiling the mood.

“It has everything to do with you, and also nothing at all. Don’t play coy with me, Starlight Glimmer. I know the signs when I see them. I have experienced what you are going through myself. Who better to understand your current state of mind? You feel alone and unsure of yourself. You doubt your strength and question your intelligence. You feel like you aren’t in control, and you don’t like that feeling at all. You miss the confidence and sense of purpose, even if it wasn’t always for good.”

“Yes! I admit it!” Starlight’s ears perked up. “I don’t feel like I’m in control of anything because I want to be good, yet I’m supposed to be able to fix all my faults and mistakes without breaking a sweat? I got lucky! If I hadn’t failed, Twilight and the others would still be slaves in my misguided experiment, or worse yet, on a different timeline altogether. How am I supposed to be confident in myself when I can’t even be confident I’m doing the right thing now?”

“My young pony, that is where your greatest strength lies. You have friends you can rely on, and you’ve proven yourself to be a friend that we can all turn to in our time of need. The pendulum swings both ways. Take comfort in knowing that I have trust in you. My sister, and Twilight, and all your friends — we care about you and we know that in your heart you know what is right. You control your own destiny, and you know this to be true. Don’t let anypony convince you otherwise, least of all yourself.”

“Mind control? What if I was mind controlled, or still am?” Starlight winced. “I mean, I’ve dabbled so I know a thing or two about—.”

Luna shrugged off the comment with a laugh. “Oh, Starlight. I’m sure you know that mind control spells are merely suggestions imprinted on the thoughts of another. If they don’t already have some level of trust in the caster, there is no way for the spell to take hold. Even the most skilled mage would need to find a way to anchor the spell that didn’t involve brute force. No — mind control is out of the question. You are your own pony and you need to trust in your friends if you ever doubt yourself, even for a second.”

Luna paused along with Starlight. She smiled, and Starlight smiled back.

“Thank you, Princess. I needed to hear that.”

“Don’t thank me,” Luna replied. “Thank yourself for having the courage to reach out to a friend for help.”

“I… I… okay.” Starlight stammered. “But I still have questions that need answers.”

“Then you best get some rest while you still can. I‘m still finishing up with Twilight, but I understand you have quite the quest laid out ahead of you.” Luna slid off the side of the bed and lit up her horn. “I bid you, goodnight, Starlight Glimmer. You know how to reach me if you require further assistance.”

“Wait, what?”

Before she could get an answer, Luna disappeared in a burst and collapse of a moonlit nebula. Starlight’s head hit the pillow once more. As she closed her eyes, the only question on her mind was trying to rationalize the enigma of whether the Princess of the Night was actually present or something she had only experienced in a waking dream. The outcome was the same either way. Her mind finally at ease, she quickly fell asleep.

After a somewhat sleepless night, tossing and turning in a borrowed bed high in the tower of Canterlot Castle, Starlight woke to a knock at her door. Without waiting for an answer, Twilight Sparkle’s magical aura thrust the door aside as she came tromping into the room.

“We’re already behind schedule,” Twilight said. “The train leaves in less than an hour, and you’re not even close to ready!”

Starlight rolled over and mumbled, “This had better be a dream.” Reaching up, she wiped the cold and crusting drool from the her cheek. “Guess not.”

“I don’t want to fall behind again. Starswirl is already up and asking for directions to your old village. If we don’t hurry, he might just try and go by himself!”

Starlight tossed off the covers and ambled out of bed. “Hold your ponies, Twilight. I doubt he’ll leave without us. I mean, we’re all in this together, right? That’s how these friendship quests work?”

“I’m not so sure about that. He’s been acting really strange ever since we made it out of the Cavern of Crystal Lights.”

“How so? You’ve only just met him. Maybe he’s just like that?” Starlight scurried over to the washroom to get herself put together.

Twilight paced at the foot of the bed. “It’s got something to do with that book, and the staff, and obviously his family. You saw for yourself how closely he’s bonded with Priestess Celeste. If he’s the last surviving member of one of the ancient pony houses, there’s no telling what kind of secrets he’s hiding. That kind of information won’t be found in just any other book out there. The ancient tribes passed down their knowledge mainly in oral history. He’s hiding something; I know it.”

Starlight shook her head as she simultaneously brushed her teeth and combed her mane. “It’s probably no big deal. We all have secrets, even ones we don’t tell our best friends.” She grimaced and spat out the residue from her mouth into the sink and took a sip of water from a glass sitting next to the faucet. “We’ll just go get the staff from my old village and bring it back to the altar. Piece of cake.”

“Piece of cake?” Twilight looked a little peeved at the response. “This is big, Starlight. Fate of all the magic in Equestria, big! If we don’t find that staff and get it back to the altar, there’s no telling what could happen.”

“Relax, Twilight. The staff has been gone from the altar for a while. I found it in the desert shortly after you became a princess, and nothing bad has happened to Equestrian magic since.”

“Okay, so that rules out a few things, but what if certain things happening in the past few moons are a direct result of the staff not being where it should? What if that’s why my magic is fading? I’m still exhausted from our fight with the Pony of Shadows, and it’s not just from lack of sleep. If we don’t restore the staff, I could lose my magic forever!”

“Guess we’ll have to return the staff before that happens.” Starlight slung her bags over her back. “By the way, how much sleep have you been getting lately?”

“In the past week? Counting last night, about twelve hours total. Why do you ask?” Twilight continued to pace the floor while Starlight finished getting ready.

“Is that, uhh, normal?”

“We just freed Starswirl and the pillars from limbo and then saved the world from the Pony of Shadows, so I’d say it’s par for the course.” Twilight turned one final time and headed toward the door. “Let’s go grab breakfast before Starswirl commandeers a train.”

Starswirl called out from the open train window as Twilight and Starlight raced down the hill toward the station. “All aboard!” Using his magic he blew pair of toots on the train’s signal horn.

The train conductor shook his head and mumbled to himself, “That’s my one and only job.” He then repeated aloud, “All aboard.”

Starlight made it to the train first. Twilight bounded up the steps with an overstuffed satchel strap digging into her wing sockets.

“Mornin’, Princess Twilight,” the conductor said as they passed.

“Thanks for holding the train for us,” Twilight replied somewhat out of breath.

“Anything for royalty,” the conductor said as he closed and latched the passenger car door behind them.

Twilight and Starlight quickly took their seats. Twilight unceremoniously dumped her bags on the floor next to her bench without so much as a flicker of levitation magic. She just flattened her wings and dropped her haunches letting the packs slide off her back.

Starswirl waved from the section ahead of them. “It seems somepony got up on the wrong side of the princess bed.”

Twilight slid into her seat. “Just saving up what’s left of my magic. Never know when I’ll need to use it save Equestria before some random threat to our existence snuffs it out.”

“Twilight, are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Starlight asked, a little worried for her friend. “You don’t seem like yourself, and I’m worried about you.”

“I’m doing great. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like I’m a princess and saving the world isn’t part of job description. That and the fact that I spent most of the night arguing with Princess Luna. Not to mention, Starswirl—”

Starswirl wasn’t paying any attention. He had his head stuck out the window, magically blowing the train whistle as the train began to pull out of the station.

Starlight chuckled. “It’s okay, Twilight. Let the old wizard have his fun.” She dropped into the seat opposite Twilight after stowing her bags in the luggage rack above. “So tell me, what did Luna have to say to you? I only saw her for a short while last night, but she really helped me put things into focus.”

“Ahhhh…” Twilight sighed. “She didn’t help. I wanted answers about the staff and Starswirl and this Priestess I’ve never heard anything about, guarding a shrine in the core of Canterlot’s foundations, and all she wanted to talk about was me.”

“Well, she is pretty good at what she does. Are you sure she didn’t help you out at all?”

“She just kept repeating stuff I already know. ‘Trust in your friends’, ‘You know what you need to do’, ‘I have faith in you’; I’m the Princess of Friendship — I don’t need a pep talk. I need to know what Starswirl won’t tell me.” Twilight dropped her head to the side to glance and point around Starlight. “Look, he’s just avoiding me now.”

Starswirl sat in the next row, having curled up along his bench, eyes now closed.

Starlight could hear him start to snore. She glanced over at Twilight. “Maybe he was up all night as well, thinking about our mission? He’s probably just as tired as you. Or stressed — I mean, this whole mission sort of revolves around him. Maybe avoiding discussing things is his way of dealing with the pressure? Can’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?”

Twilight’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get any sleep last night — again. Too many questions and not enough answers. Usually I have Spike around to act as a sounding board.” Twilight paused to clear a catch in her throat. “I don’t mean to be short with you, Starlight. This mission is important, and I hate going in without all the information we need to be successful, especially when it’s sitting right there.” She pointed over toward Starswirl, grit her teeth and gave a little sneer.

“I’ve got an idea,” Starlight said. “How about we all take a nap since we didn’t really get much sleep last night, and then we’ll all be awake and alert when we arrive?”

“Fine, but I still don’t like how he’s avoiding my questions.” Twilight laid down across her bench. “I need some answers.”

“Pretty sure we all want the same thing, Twilight. Get some sleep. We’ve got quite a ride before we reach my old village.” Starlight nestled into her bench and tried her best to get comfortable. It wasn’t as easy falling asleep on a moving train as it was in a soft, warm bed, but she somehow managed with the unsynchronized stereo whinny of Starswirl and Twilight competing for Equestria’s loudest snorer as the train continued down the track.

6 - The Sounds of Silence

The early afternoon sun hung in the same place it always stayed as the train pulled into the station. Starlight woke with a jerk and caught herself as she teetered out of her seat. Taking stock of her company, Twilight was still sound asleep, but Starswirl came around the moment she turned to check on him.

“Did you have a good nap?” Starswirl asked with a smile as he stood and stretched out his limbs.

Starlight rubbed the side of her face and replied, “Yeah, I think I did. I just hope Twilight finally got some rest.”

“Not to worry,” Starswirl continued, “She slept the entire way. I didn’t even have to use a sleeping spell on her.”

“Wait, what?” Starlight drew back in mild shock at the wizard’s comment. “How do you know? Weren’t you asleep too?”

“My dear filly, a wizard always sleeps with one eye open.” He reached out with his magic and pulled on his satchel. “Better wake the young princess. We need to get a move on.”

Starlight continued, “But if you weren’t asleep, then why did you ignore us like that? We’ve got questions and you’re the only pony with answers.”

“Trust me, my dear, the less you know, the better.” Starswirl brushed past Starlight, head held high and seemingly above it all. “Just don’t tell Twilight I said that. She asks too many questions as it is.”

He made his way toward the compartment exit while Starlight, taken aback at his brusque dismissal, turned her attention to Twilight.

“Twilight.” Starlight gently nudged Twilight’s shoulder as the princess continued to snore. “Wake up, Twilight. We’re here.”

With a gasp, Twilight opened her eyes and nearly caught Starlight’s chin with the tip of her horn as she bolted upright. “What did I miss? Where’s Starswirl?”

“Don’t worry, Twilight. He just got off the train. Let me help you with your bags and we can catch up with him right away.” Starlight fired up her horn and floated her bag off the top shelf and then turned to levitate the load that Twilight was struggling to heft onto her back. Twilight gave her a look as if to say both ‘thank you’ and ‘don’t waste your magic’.

The pair disembarked and trotted off down the path into town, catching up with Starswirl just as he came to a group of locals gathered at the edge of the village to welcome the new arrivals.

“Welcome to our town, Mr. The Bearded. And welcome back Princess Twilight, and Starlight!” Double Diamond greeted the old wizard with a cordial hoofshake much to the old stallion’s displeasure. Other village regulars approached, greeting and embracing the party as they made their way into town.

“Hey there, Princess Twilight! It’s good to have you back.” Night Glider swooped in to bump hooves with the Princess. “You too, Starlight!” She flitted over and gave Starlight a bear-hug.

“Good to see you, too,” Starlight said, returning the hug and wincing from the force of the one she received.

“Hello, Sugar Belle!” Twilight called out to the pony just exiting her bake shop as the group wandered past. “How are those Sweet Apple Acres orders coming along? Applejack tells me that her brother won’t let anypony else make the deliveries.” She smiled and nodded, knowingly. Sugar Belle blushed bright red on purple and ran back inside her shop.

“Sorry, everypony,” Starlight called out above the noise of the crowd with Starswirl taking the opportunity to extricate his hoof from Party Favor’s forced embrace. “Here on official business. Need to find my old staff, for uhhh… reasons.”

It was then that it dawned on Starlight that she didn’t actually know where she’d left it. A mild panic attack ensued with her mind conjuring all sorts of ways in which it could have ended up — lost in the canyons leading up toward Rainbow Falls, tossed in the river floating out to sea, or worst of all, used for kindling in somepony’s kitchen fireplace. “Ahhh… Anypony know where I might have left it?”

Twilight whispered over to Starlight, “You don’t remember where you left it? I thought you said this would be a piece of cake?”

“Well…” Starlight began.

“The Staff of Sameness?” Double Diamond replied, confused. “Why do you need that old thing?”

Starswirl cleared his throat and raised his voice above the mumbling in the crowd at the mention of the old staff that had helped steal their cutie marks. “The Staff of Sameness, as you call it, is actually a priceless Equestrian artifact that must be returned to Canterlot at once.”

“Well, I think I know where it is,” Double Diamond said, “but I’m not sure I want anypony messing with it. How do I know if I give it to you, you won’t take our cutie marks again?”

Starlight chuckled uneasily. “Why would I ever do that? No way. Just trying to get it back to its rightful owner is all. No plans for world domination for this here filly, I can promise you that.” She gazed out over the perplexed stares of the crowd, embarrassed and flustered.

Twilight came to the rescue taking two steps forward. “As the Princess of Friendship, I can promise you all that you have nothing to fear. Starlight, Starswirl, and I are here on a friendship quest to retrieve the staff and bring it back to where it belongs in Canterlot.”

“Well, if Starlight promises she won’t take our cutie marks, and the Princess of Friendship says it’s okay, that’s good enough for me,” Night Glider said.

“Alright, everypony, let’s go get the staff.” Double Diamond reared up and set course before Starswirl stopped them all.

“Everypony, hold on! While we greatly appreciate your help, fillies and gentlecolts, this is a very dangerous item and a matter of national security. Please tell us where we might find the staff, and we will secure it ourselves.”

Double Diamond sat and thought for a moment. “Well, I don’t know for sure, but I think the last time I saw it was up in the vault. Nopony’s been back there since we broke out our cutie marks, so it’s probably still in the cave.”

“And I trust that, Starlight, you know where this cave is located?” Starswirl kept his comments aloof and procedural.

“Yep! Follow me.” Starlight grinned and nodded, waving awkwardly to all her old subjects as the trio departed the village proper. The rest of the ponies sat in a daze, not knowing what it was they should do next. From the back of the pack, one of the taller ponies waved a tenuous goodbye.

Climbing up into the hills a short distance from the village, Starlight looked back over her shoulder upon the two neat rows of houses down below. Memories, both good and bad, came flooding back. For a little over a year, she had been the one in charge here. She had been the one directing all these ponies lives. Of course, they had forgiven her of all her wrongdoing, but deep down inside, she could never look at them the same way as she had before. She swam through an ocean of guilt whenever she came back to visit. This time was no different. She had to wonder where all these ponies might have ended up if she hadn’t altered their destiny and forced them into those two simple rows laid out neatly in the arid valley below.

“Be on your guard,” Starswirl said as they approached the cave entrance. “I sense a powerful magic here.”

“Yeah, about that.” Starlight trotted up beside him. “This was kinda the place I took and stored all those cutie marks from the ponies in the village we just passed through. Big wall. Little compartments. Sort of a magical safe deposit box system.”

“I see.” Starswirl turned to Twilight. “Anything to add before we go in, Princess?”

Twilight stopped a few paces behind the others. “Actually, I have a few questions about that book of yours. Also, how do you know so much about this staff? Have you ever used it?”

“I was asking if you had anything you wanted to tell me before we face the guardian of this place. We don’t have time for pedantic show-and-tell.” Starswirl turned in a huff and proceeded into the cave.

“Guardian? What do you mean by that?” Starlight called out to Starswirl, but he pressed forward into the cave undeterred. She shrugged her shoulders at Twilight. “It was worth a shot.”

“I don’t like this one bit, Starlight. Keep your eyes open and a protection spell at the ready. Only use it if you have to.” Twilight moved forward past Starlight, following Starswirl inside. “If there is a guardian holding onto the staff, we might be in for a fight to get it back.”

Starlight mumbled to herself. “It’s just the cutie mark vault. You’d think we were infiltrating Chrysalis’ hive.”

The trio moved inside, horns lighting the way.

The cavern opening bent around a turn toward the rear wall of the cave and the display of the cutie mark vault with its outer glass shell cracked straight down the middle. Starswirl led the group forward one step at a time. With his magic he reached out into the ether, searching for any sign of trouble. The girls followed his lead but focused mainly on keeping the space lit.

Twilight examined the broken vault ahead. The magical signature remained, but felt weak and barely clinging to the physical plane. Only a few small clusters of cutie marks remained in the upper and lower quadrants.

Starlight scanned around the space. The rock cast awkward shadows against the throw of light from her horn matching with the glow from the others. Once, she thought she saw the outline of the staff along the base of the wall to the right of the vault, but focusing her beam on that location revealed only a twisted root.

Suddenly, Starswirl yelled, “It’s a trap!” and he immediately vanished in a teleporting flash.

Twilight and Starlight fell into a defensive stance against each other as they sidled up to the other’s flank, horns blazing. Above them, a thud sounded akin to somepony walking into a glass door. A second later, Starswirl dropped out of thin air, landing on the ground at their hooves.

Twilight reached out to help the old wizard up. As she did, a hooded figure materialized near the base of the cutie vault cloaked in a dark earthen robe, cowl covering its head.

Without waiting for an explanation, Starlight brought her magic to bear and fired a stunning blast toward the new target. The magic sailed across the cave in an arcing strike, rebounding only inches from connecting, and ricocheting back toward her.

“Look out!” Twilight yelled as she dropped her assistance from a teetering Starswirl and lunged into Starlight, tossing her aside.

The magic blast missed Starlight by a hair, but caught Twilight broadside, through her overloaded pack and just below her left wing socket. Fur singed and knocked away by the force of the impact, she rolled head over hooves and collapsed in a heap.

Starlight leapt back to her hooves. “Twilight! No!” She glanced over at Starswirl, himself lost in a flickering pile of robes and pointed wizard hat, prostrate on the ground. Back again to the shadowy figure, she took stock of her situation. Three on one now reduced to a face off. Readying her magic for another strike, the mystery pony inexplicably sat back on her haunches and drew back her hood revealing a middle-aged earth pony mare.

“Excellent work, my dear!” The mystery pony clapped her forehooves in a most patronizing fashion. “Although I have to dock you points for technique, I do admire your courage in coming back to me even after your desertion. Did my sister send you here, or have you come to exact your revenge personally? We shall see.”

“Revenge?” Starlight said, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. The magic swirling around her horn subsided, but she kept the light glowing as intensely as she could muster. “I’m just here for the staff. Nopony said anything about revenge.”

“No use giving excuses. Actions speak louder than words. And why attack me, a poor defenseless earth pony, with your powerful unicorn magic? Not that it did you any good. Your friend can certainly attest to that.”

“What have you done? Why are you here? Who are you and where is the staff?” Starlight said. Her heart beat rapidly as she tried her best to remain calm with limited options. Twilight and Starswirl needed help, but all her attention remained focused on cloaked figure.

“Have you forgotten your manners, champion? Bow to me at once and swear your unwavering loyalty, or I shall destroy you as well!” The larger than average somewhat heavyset mare remained seated, a stern look etched across her face.

Starlight looked to her left and then to her right. Not seeing any available options, she turned back toward the mystery pony. As she did, a glint of light reflecting off the pony’s chest caught her eye. Curious, she focused in on a strange object hanging from a thin silver chain around the pony’s neck. Starlight’s worry began to melt away as a small grin spread across her face.

“What? What are you doing? I told you to kneel!” The mystery pony sat up but did not approach. A worried expression fell across her otherwise weatherbeaten visage. “Return to your place at once!”

Weighing her otherwise non-existent options, Starlight took a final measure of the pony fussing in the far corner and settled on her course of action. She knew she had the upper hoof, but needed to execute her plan perfectly.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while running through the motions in her mind.

With a jerk of her head, she quickly reversed the polarity of a simple levitation spell and shot it toward the object hanging from the chain around the pony’s neck. A moment later, a silver rock, no larger than one of Pinkie Pie’s miniature cupcakes, came hurtling toward her. She leapt up and back, and in the same swift motion drove her hoof down on the object as it impacted the cavern’s solid ground at her hooves.

Before the cloaked pony could react, the rock shattered in a thousand tiny fragments.

“Oh… No, no, no…” the pony bemoaned as she pulled on her hood and tried to sneak back into the shadows.

Starlight wheeled on her, horn lit to full.

“Please, please don’t hurt me.” The pony backed into the dead end corner as far as she could go.

Starlight approached. Step by step, the creature begging for mercy as though Death herself came calling.

Finally, she stood over the mare, nothing more than a huddled mass writhing on the ground.

Starlight reached out a hoof and dropped her magic aura completely. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

The mare trembled, her eyes closed and forehooves covering her head. The ratty fabric surrounding her gave off a putrid stench and looked to be caked with dirt and other assorted filth. She wouldn’t look up.

Starlight leaned down and placed a hoof on her shoulder. The mare winced and drew back from her touch. Drawing up into a ball, she clutched at her sides and kept repeating the words “Have courage and be strong — Have courage and be strong” like it was some kind of life-sustaining mantra.

Starlight sat with the pony trying everything she could to calm and reassure her. “Just take a breath. I’m not going to hurt you. You’ll be fine, just tell me who you are.” Nothing she said seemed to be giving the frightened pony any reassurances.

The moments ticked on. Twilight groaned and twitched. Starswirl rolled to his side, the jingle of bells from his hat not quite sounding properly.

Suddenly, Starlight’s ears perked up. She reached into her bag and brought out an apple. It was a little bruised and mushed on one side, but she held it out for the pony with a smile. “Straight from Sweet Apple Acres.”

The chanting stopped. The pony opened her eyes and stared out at the apple, then up at Starlight, and then back at the apple. She reached out with a shaky hoof and placed it on the offering. Slowly, she pushed it down.

The two ponies stared at each other for a long breath, the earth pony finally breaking the silence. “I have no need of your offering, my Champion.”

“Champion?” Starlight asked, a little perplexed and somewhat reeling from the smell. She withdrew the apple and covered her nose. “Can I help you with that cloak?” She pointed at the clasp holding the earthen sheet bound at the neck.

The pony regarded her a moment, and then pointed at the clasp herself. “You want my cloak?”

Starlight shook her head. “No, I just want to get it off you. It’s pretty dirty and smells awful. We should take it down to the village and get it cleaned.” She proceeded to gently light up her horn in an attempt to remove the cloak.

The pony gasped and drew back. “Stay your magic! I’ll do whatever you want.”

Starlight reached out with her hoof and took the other pony’s hoof in hers. With her magic, she carefully undid the clasp and levitated the mess off of the quivering mare.

Under the dirty cloth, the pony’s bedraggled golden fur shone a fair amount less that it should have if she had bathed in the past year.

“Maybe we should take you down to the village as well — get you a nice warm bath.” Starlight smiled and nodded her head encouragingly.

The mare’s eyes began to fill with tears. “Please don’t take my cloak. It’s all I have left. You already destroyed my incubator and now you’ve left me powerless to defend myself against my traitorous sisters. Just leave me here to die as my essence fades into oblivion.” The tears began to fall as the pony buried her head in her hooves.

“Don’t cry,” Starlight said, her smile fading with worry. “I’m here to help. Twilight, and Starswirl — they’re here to help too.”

The pony looked up and gave a sigh, visibly annoyed. “If you insist on speaking to me so, then you must first let me in. There is no other way.” She cautiously stretched out with her forehoof, reaching for Starlight’s horn.

Starlight held for a moment, but felt this was something she could indulge in the spirit of mutual trust. “Okay. I guess we’re doing this now.” She leaned forward and allowed the mare to touch her horn.

Energy burst from their contact. Starlight could feel herself being yanked out of place, like with a teleportation spell but not quite as smooth. With a jerk, she alighted on a silvery plane. A glowing, golden mare stood before her, radiant in her flowing velvet robe.

“We don’t have much time here, but welcome back, Starlight Glimmer, Champion of Earth. I was not sure I would ever see you again.”

Starlight spun around — nothing but blackness in all directions except for the spotlit circle immediately surrounding her and the golden mare. “But, how? How do you even know my name?”

“How quickly you forget. In the physical realm, I am deaf, but here in my inner sanctum, I hear and know all present.” The mare smiled and gently bowed her head. “I am Terrara, Priestess of Courage and Keeper of the Cradle of Destiny within the Sanctum of Earth. You, Starlight Glimmer, are my adopted champion.”

“Whoa there. Back it up. Adopted champion?” Starlight drew back in partial shock. “You mean like Starswirl, but only kind of? What does that even mean?”

“You are no pony of Earth, Starlight, so you couldn’t be of my literal house. The best I could do was to enlist a fallen member of another house to assist me in filling the role. And that you did — to a point.”

“Wait, you don’t mean…” Starlight brought her hoof to her chin in deep thought. “Just because I had a falling out with my family, and I found that staff and brought it here, I’m supposed to be your champion, like Starswirl with Celeste?”

“I recognize my sister’s champion in your company. Has he not told you?”

“Told me what?”

“Nevermind. It is not important now.” Terrara tossed her shining mane to the opposite side. “I also recognize the Princess Twilight Sparkle whom you struck just a short while ago. Tell me, do you do that with all your friends, or have you had a change of heart and wish to serve me again?”

“Uhhh, that was a mistake. Sorry. I shot first and asked questions later. Sort of a thing I’m working on — when to shoot, when not to shoot.” Starlight gave an uneasy chuckle. “I probably should see how they’re doing.”

“Nonsense.” Terrara returned the chuckle. “I may not be a unicorn like my sister, but I know enough of magic to tell a dazzle stun spell when I see one. As well, Celeste’s champion will be fine once his body comes back into phase after that gloriously aborted teleportation spell. I mean, what is it with you unicorns and casting spells first, and thinking after?”

“Well, it might have helped if somepony hadn’t been wearing a magic lodestone in close proximity to the spell being cast. Teleportation spells are hard enough without having to calculate for phase shift interference.” Starlight gave Terrara a scolding glare. “Good thing I recognized what that rock was doing and took measures to compensate.”

“You can’t fault me for trying to defend myself. It’s the best I can do in my fallen state. You’ve really left me no choice.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“For starters, you denied your own destiny. Don’t you remember our deal?” Terrara stomped her hoof and a vision of the past opened up like a viewing screen beneath the clear crystal floor. “I helped you fulfill your destiny in exchange for becoming my champion, but then you abandoned me leaving me vulnerable.”

Scenes from Starlight’s past played out as she gazed beneath her hooves at the swirling images. First, the moment she left her village, departing as a older filly without a cutie mark. Next, the trek into the wilderness, lost and alone. Then the discovery of the staff, what she thought to be a stick of no importance other than it forming the root of a plan to bring everypony down to her level. An idea she still struggled with knowing where it came from - herself, the staff, Terrara? Connecting with that idea lit a fire inside her - one that opened the door to the discovery of her destiny and the revelation of her cutie mark. A fallen star. Somepony with wasted potential that would never reach the heights and needed to bring others down to feel accomplished.

The shame of her lust for power at the expense of others forced Starlight to turn away, tears welling in her eyes. “I can’t watch this. It’s too painful.”

“And how do you think I feel? My powers stripped away and forced to live on less than a trickle of sustenance. The Fork of Destiny was meant to bring everything into balance, and it slipped through my hooves. I blame you and every other deceitful unicorn like you. You and your lust for power have doomed us all!”

The images played on. Crystal shattering. Magic escaping the vault. Terrara sitting alone in the dark gazing up at the broken crystal, willing each new cutie mark into being and giving her all in doing so.

“I can’t keep up. It takes everything I have to hold it together.” Terrara gazed down at the ground and waved a hoof over the shadowy image, the vision dissipating into blackness. “The cutie marks need nourishment if they are to survive. Without them, my purpose is lost, and I am no longer able to fulfill my sacred duty. That lodestone was the last bit of leverage I had to funnel magic into the Cradle of Destiny. And now, you’ve destroyed that as well.”

“Cradle of Destiny? Wait. Let me get this straight,” Starlight replied, trying to hold herself together. “You gave me this cutie mark,” she said pointing at her flank, “and set me up with this staff that I had no idea was so powerful,” she continued, mimicking holding a staff, “and then I went a little power crazy,” she intoned waving a hoof in a circular motion near her left ear, “and now you blame me for all this?”

“Well, yes. You and my conniving sister.”

“Okay, well, the power crazy thing might be on me, but how is the rest of this my fault?” Recovering, Starlight begged a question, “Why didn’t you just fix the vault? I mean, we left the staff here with you. Why couldn’t you just use that to fix this — whatever you call it?”

“Cradle of Destiny. And, well, umm…” Terrara recoiled a bit. “I… I thought you and my sister stole it back, didn’t you? I could sense a familiar presence after your struggle with the Princess, and then the staff was gone.”

Starlight heaved an enormous sigh. “So, you don’t have the staff, and your crazy sister doesn’t have the staff. So…” She thought for a moment and a sudden realization dawned on her. “I have to ask, do you happen to have a another sister and does she live somewhere out in the Southern desert?”

“Why, yes. Volara, the Fate of Wisdom. She resides in the—”

They both chimed in together, “Desert of the Shifting Sands.”

“—I know,” Starlight continued. “It’s the third location on our map.”

“Map?”

“Nevermind. If I had to bet, I’d say she’s somehow got the staff.”

“Nonsense. She can’t leave her realm. There is no possible way that she could have stolen the staff in the physical plane.”

“Does she have some sort of champion that could have taken it?”

“Not that I know of. Her true bloodline was wiped out centuries ago.” Terrara paused. She clenched her jaw. “She does have a pet. I suppose it could be trained to steal the staff.”

“And this pet of hers — is a…”

“Sphinx. Crafty and cunning beast.” Terrara gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof. “Oh dear! Well, if that’s the case, we are certainly in a lot of danger. You must hurry and retrieve the Fork of Destiny, Champion. I warned my sister what would happen if we let her have it, and now the whole world might truly descend into chaos! But does anypony ever listen to me? No! And they call me deaf!” She tossed her forehooves in the air with a dramatic flourish.

Starlight paced the floor, almost imitating Twilight to a tee. “So, if we get the staff from your other, completely welcoming and totally not insane sister and her pet sphinx, we bring it back here to fix the Cradle, then we can take it back to the magic altar place, and everything goes back to normal, right?”

“Not exactly.”

“Please tell me there isn’t a fourth sister,” Starlight said, shaking her head. “I’ve had a really long week, and I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

“While restoring the Cradle and Fork will do much to bring about the balance of Destiny, there is still the problem of balance among the Fates. You see, the Fate of Power is blessed with a pure line and three ascended. The Fate of Wisdom had her line broken as I, but she still holds sway with one ascended. As for me, the Fate of Courage, I have nothing to sustain my task but the bitter charity of my sisters. Alone I sit, in silence, tending to these cutie marks until they mature. I’ve had enough of my sister’s barbs and taunts — how they always think they are better than me. I had hoped the Fork of Destiny would level the playing field, but it has done nothing but bury me beneath it.” Terrara paused for a moment, gazing at the glazed over stare from Starlight. “You don’t have much time in any case. The Fork of Destiny must be recovered before my power runs out for good and Volara seals this dismal fate upon us all!”

Starlight took a deep breath. “I’m going to pretend I understood some of that and say we move on to phase three of this game of ultimate fetch.” She glanced around at the swirling darkness on every side. “Now, how do I get out of here?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Terrara whipped her tail and stomped her hoof.

Starlight felt herself being pulled back into the physical plane as Terrara’s parting words echoed in her head.

“Good luck storming the temple!”

In a flash, Starlight found herself back in the cave.

“Starlight!” Twilight yelped. “Where have you been?”

Starlight turned away from the blank space in the corner once occupied by the lowly Fate. Twilight and Starswirl met her gaze. “Twilight! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. A little bruised, but now I’ll have to explain to Princess Celestia how her first edition of Ancient History of Equestria got a hole burned straight through it.” She held up an old book with a large hole in it that had been carried in her saddle bag covering the spot and taking the brunt of the spell when she had been struck.

“And Starswirl? All back together again?”

“I feel no ill effects from the disapparition mishap.” He stood rigid, gazing into Starlight’s eyes. “But I might ask of you the same question. Where have you been all this time, and more importantly, where is the staff?”

“Great!” Starlight took off at a full gallop past them both. “Gotta catch a train; no time to lose. Follow me.”

Twilight looked at Starswirl, and Starswirl glanced at the departing Starlight before turning back toward Twilight. “We should probably follow her.” He hitched up his satchel and proceeded to the exit.

Twilight’s left eye twitched. “Could somepony please just answer a question? Is it that hard?” She yanked her saddlebags over her back and tried her best to catch up with the others.

7 - On a Wing and a Prayer

With luck, the trio made it back to the station before the train could be serviced and embark on the return journey. Starlight gave instructions to the conductor that they would need to make a short detour to the South of Las Pegasus. He begrudgingly agreed, mumbling something about royal privilege, and set the gears in motion.

Returning to the passenger car, Starlight faced two stern glares as she took a seat on the opposite bench.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Starlight began. “Where’s the staff? Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want first?”

“It’s both bad news. Isn’t it?” Twilight replied. Her dusty coat and singed saddlebag smelled like a campfire among the desert sagebrush.

“Kind of?” Starlight shrugged her shoulders.

“Then let’s have it out, my dear.” Starswirl waved a hoof, nonchalantly. “We aren’t getting any younger.”

“So, first off, we think we know where the staff is, and I’ve asked the conductor to take us to Somnambula’s village in—”

“The Desert of the Shifting Sands,” Starswirl interrupted. “We already guessed as much given the absence of the staff and the third location indicated on the map. You do know you were gone for over two hours?”

Starlight scratched her chin. “Oh? Huh? I guess time really does fly when you’re stuck in somepony else’s headspace.”

“Speaking of stuck…” Twilight motioned for her to continue.

“So anyway, there’s this third sister, and we figure that she’s got the staff. It’s the only way anything makes sense.”

“Nothing about what you just said makes any sense,” Twilight said, “and who is this we?”

“Sorry… Terrara and I believe that her sister, Volara, has the staff. We need to get it from her and bring it back here to fix the Cradle of Destiny before it goes back to Celeste and the Altar of Magic.”

“Is that all?” Twilight groaned. “Who is Terrara? And who is Volara?”

“And she has a Sphinx.”

“Forget I asked.” Twilight tossed her hooves in the air. She immediately regretted doing do and came up a little short, reaching down quickly to rub her aching flank. This trip had not been kind to her wellbeing.

“Now, Twilight, I believe the proper response in the vernacular would be, ‘piece of cake’, if I’m not mistaken.” Starswirl allowed a soft grin to spread across his face. “It seems we’re on the proper course, and our little detour through Starlight’s village gave us information vital to our quest.”

“And it seems that I’m Terrara’s adopted champion,” Starlight said.

Starswirl nearly choked on his smugness. “WHAT!?”

“Yeah, so, Terrara, the Fate of Courage, said I was her champion. Just like you with Celeste, the Fate of Power. She said to ask you about that.” Starlight took a small amount of inner joy in watching Starswirl squirm.

“That can’t be. It’s impossible!” Starswirl held steady.

“That’s what I said.” Starlight leaned closer and motioned toward Twilight to try and get her to pile on the pressure. “But there’s something you haven’t told us, isn’t there? Care to elaborate?”

“Inconceivable!”

Twilight somewhat reluctantly picked up on Starlight’s hinting. “Maybe there’s something you’re hiding in that book you won’t let me read?” She turned an accusatory eye toward Starswirl. “Some secret from your past you don’t want anypony to uncover?”

“That’s not it at all, and I object to any further questioning on the matter.” Starswirl sat back in his seat, crossed his forelegs, and stuck his nose in the air. “The book contains a personal family history and knowledge that is mine alone to bear.”

“So it contains information about the duties of a Champion of the Fates? Is that correct?” Starlight continued her interrogation undeterred. “Things that I should know if I’m supposed to be one too?”

“You are not a Champion of the Fates, Starlight. It’s physically impossible.” Starswirl held his ground as stubborn as ever.

“Physically impossible?” Twilight reared up, holding back a flood of pent up real and exaggerated rage. “Just because she’s a mare doesn’t make her any less qualified to—”

“Nooooo! No, no, no-no-no.” Starswirl swiftly waved off the sudden burst of sexist accusation. “That’s not what I meant at all.” His gaze shifted quickly between the two mares, trying unsuccessfully to pick his next battle.

“Then what do you mean?” Starlight said.

“We want the truth. No more secrets.” Twilight added.

“Out with it. What have you been hiding?”

Left, right, left, and Starswirl was out for the count.

“Alright.” Starswirl said, defeated. “I’ll tell you everything I know, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The girls nodded confidently to one another and settled back into their seats.

Starswirl took a deep breath. “The reason Starlight couldn’t possibly be a champion is that you have to be born such. It isn’t a title that can be bestowed on just anypony. It runs in the family, let’s say. It is a sacred duty, passed down from the beginning through the lineage of the three great houses, Stella, Terra, and Vola. I am the last remaining member of House Stella. The other two houses died out long before I was even born. This history contains knowledge passed down through the ages as well as the duties of the Champion of the Fates in performing sacred rituals to ensure the continued prosperity and favored destiny of ponykind. Duties that in my absence, it seems, have been severely lacking in fulfillment. Without the staff, we could be talking about the end of the three pony races; the end of cutie marks themselves!”

“Oh… Is that all? Just the end of ponykind as we know it.” Starlight gave Twilight a smirk. “All in a day’s work for the Princess of Friendship.”

“Can I see the book?” Twilight asked, clearly not amused at the level of drama on display.

“If you so desire,” Starswirl replied, “but it won’t do you any good. The text is written in a language so old, even I can’t decipher the half of it. Pieced together with my own memories taking part in the ritual alongside my mother, I can make sense of the more important elements, but the book as a whole is unreadable.” He lit his horn and levitated the tome from his satchel, enlarging it to its full size as he floated it over to Twilight.

Twilight begrudgingly took hold of it with her hooves instead of her magic and opened it to the first full page. She scanned the words, breezing through the first few paragraphs.

She lifted her head. “It’s an older version of the pony creation myth. Nothing new there.” She flipped the page. “And this part is just a long list of names.”

Starswirl looked like he’d just seen a ghost. “You—You can read that?”

Twilight lowered the book from her direct view and peered over the top. “Of course I can read it. It’s rustic old ponish.” She lifted the book and flipped another page over.

Starswirl’s mouth gaped open at a depth no pony had seen outside the likes of Pinkie Pie.

Starlight watched the expression unfold on Starswirl’s face and decided to chime in. “Umm, Twilight, do you think I could take a look at it too?”

“Sure, why not?” Twilight closed the book and held it out for Starlight to take. “So far it’s not much to read that I haven’t already seen in half a dozen census records or foal’s tales growing up. I thought you said this book was more than a family history?”

Starlight levitated the book across the gap and opened to the same initial pages. Quickly scanning the text, she looked up. “I can only read a couple words of this. Most of It looks like a combination of ancient runes and hoofscrawl I’ve never seen before.”

Starswirl pointed repeatedly toward Starlight while continuing to gawk at Twilight. A look of consternation and incredulity accompanied the gestures.

“Oh, come on, Starlight. Stop pulling my tail.” Twilight hopped off her bench and spun herself around to the opposite face peering past Starlight’s view of the book. “It’s just ponish with a bit of historic airs to it.”

“I only recognize these words here — power and courage.” Starlight said, pointing near the top of the page.

“Let me show you,” Twilight said, moving in closer. With an outstretched hoof, she began to slowly read aloud as she scanned the text line by line starting from the top. “In the beginning, there was One, and the One was with power and courage and wisdom. And the One made others and gave unto them destiny that they might fulfill the days of their creation with joy. And the One saw that all was good. And the One rested.” She paused to look over at Starswirl, neck cocked to one side. “Are you okay?”

“Simply amazing!” Starswirl shook his head. “In all my years, I never thought I would see the day when somepony would be able to freely read from the Book of the Goddess.”

“The what?” Twilight said.

“The ancient text written by the Goddess herself. The book you are reading. That one.” Starswirl continued to point and shake with excitement.

“Wait.” Twilight said, reaching out and grabbing the book out of Starlight’s horngrasp. “You mean to tell me this book was written by the Mother of all ponies, and nopony’s told me about it until now? Ahhhhh—” Little tufts of smoke wafted from her ears as she moved out and over to the next row of seats and propped open the book on the hoofrest. “I’m going to read now, so nopony disturb me until I’m done or we arrive at our destination.”

“Would you mind reading out loud?” Starswirl said.

“No!” Twilight answered, definitively. “I can read faster and memorize more thoroughly if I’m not reading for an audience.”

Starlight and Starswirl exchanged awkward glances.

“So, about that champion stuff?” Starlight said.

Starswirl’s gaze just dropped to the floor.

The rest of the train ride passed in a somewhat difficult silence interspersed with the occasional question or story told. Starswirl recounted his brief history with the staff, detailing the last time he performed a ritual ceremony at the Altar of Magic. He shared what he could remember of the ceremony and the depictions of it from the Book of the Goddess. Similarities were drawn between Starlight’s account of finding and returning the staff to the Sanctum of Earth, but his doubt remained about Starlight and her role as champion to the Fate of Courage. Still, he could not deny the effect the staff had been on it’s bearer. A nascent thought crept into the back of his mind, but he kept it to himself.

While he put up a facade of strength, he could feel his magic fading. He knew also that Twilight could feel the effects of their recent battle weighing heavily upon her. The fact that she chose not to use her magic was only part of his concern. The rest lay in her ability to handle the duty of their quest given her degraded mental and physical state. With the discovery that Twilight could actually read from the book, his prior argument in keeping it from her to avoid a potential meltdown mid-quest seemed even moreso misguided. However, he also noted that Starlight seemed unaffected. It was if somehow her magical reserves sat in excess of her peers. This too, worried him.

Starlight, for her part, found some peace in understanding a little more about her past and how she had come into possession of the staff. However, she still had her doubts about her abilities and purpose given the origin of her cutie mark. Her lust for power and bringing other ponies down in order to lift herself up didn’t feel like who she really was. Twilight helped her see the error of her ways, and by all accounts, she felt like a completely different pony. Finally talking things over with Luna and again with Starswirl helped put her mind partially at ease. Still, the focus of their quest and their final destination remained shrouded in the mystery of these sisters and the staff.

Twilight kept to herself, totally absorbed in reading and analyzing the book. The occasional gasp or acknowledging hmm perked up the ears of those listening, but she kept the information to herself.

Flat prairie gave way to rolling hills as the train chugged along to the South of Canterlot, past Ponyville, and continued through the White Tail Woods and the mountains leading out past the floating city of Las Pegasus. Turning further South, they skirted the major towns making an express route to Somnambula at the crossroads of the Desert of the Shifting Sands.

Twilight groaned with the sounding of the train’s horn along with the abrupt stop at the terminal station.

“I guess we’re here,” Starlight said.

“We’d better check in with Somnambula first,” Starswirl said, gathering his bag. “She’ll be our best resource for the path ahead.”

“Nope! We’re going straight to the temple.” Twilight hopped down off her seat and began cramming the hefty book into one of her saddle bags. “This place is far too dangerous to involve anypony not part of the quest.”

“But, Twilight,” Starlight said, “she’s our friend, and she probably knows a lot about this temple too.”

“Can’t risk it,” Twilight said giving the book one last shove that resulted in a tear splitting the side of her saddle bag.

“Can I at least help you with your bags?” Starswirl said, almost as if he felt bad for all the extra burden he’d placed on the young princess. “I could use the packing spell I myself use to lighten the load.”

“Can’t do that.” Twilight tossed the flap over the split of her already damaged pack. “We’re going to need to save all our magic for getting past the traps and the temple guardian.”

Growing increasingly frustrated as she watched Twilight struggle with her bags, Starlight ignored her warning completely. One magic spell later, the twin saddle bag contents were shrunk, tear repaired, and gently placed across Twilight’s back.

“Starlight! What did I just say?”

“You’re welcome.” Starlight shook her head and proceeded to the exit.

In the blistering heat of the late afternoon sun, and barely any breeze to speak of, they plodded along the outskirts of town. No pony gave them a second thought given the number of strange travelers that wandered these parts. It was best to keep your nose out of other creature’s business, so the trio made short work of the trip from the train station to the temple entrance without confrontation.

Twilight stopped for a moment at the entrance gates. “Stay close to me and don’t move or react to anything. The book gave precise instructions to follow and listed some pretty dire consequences if they weren’t.”

“But, Twilight,” Starswirl said, “Somnambula used to visit this temple quite often, and even in the present day your friends have made multiple trips here. What have you read about this place? Why is our visit any different?”

“Because, we aren’t just visiting the temple on the ground. We need to get to the temple in the sky. The Temple of the Swirling Winds.” She raised a hoof and pointed to the sky overhead.

“Hold on,” Starlight said. “That’s not where Terrara said her sister lived. Are you sure you know where we’re going?”

“I’m positive. The book clearly states that the Fate of Wisdom resides in the Temple of the Swirling Winds - a hidden temple, floating somewhere above this one, with a single entrance that can only be accessed from here. The whole place is enchanted, so even ponies flying above us pass straight through it. The entrance is also hidden inside, so not just anypony can wander in. Luckily, the book also has the solution to opening the hidden entrance; we just have to find the door. ”

“Alright then. Lead onward.” Starswirl held out a hoof pointing toward the temple entrance. Twilight moved ahead as the others followed.

They entered the main room occupied largely by the Pool of Hope, a large span usually filled with boiling liquid and a sacrificial pillar at the center. The pool had been recently drained as Pinkie Pie discovered and removed an old blindfold that was clogging the drainpipe. Perhaps at one point, the pool had been used for recreation, but following one thousand years of neglected upkeep, it wasn’t much to look at now. As the group entered the room, torches ignited illuminating the space. Twilight stopped, and Starlight and Starswirl did as well.

“Hello? Is anycreature there?” Twilight called out to the empty room. Only her echo replied.

She moved out into the open space before the pool. The others followed a few steps behind. The burning smell of pitch on magically enchanted torchwood left a sting in the nostrils of all present. The room was square with the long pool running down the middle flanked by columns on both sides to fill the center space. Each side of the room had three long decorative panel sections, with the exception of the entrance which had only two and an archway in the middle for the exit. Each panel depicted a scene drawn in vivid colors with a particularly symbolic pegasus being a central theme in each, shown in multiple phases of going about a typical day in the life.

“Does the book have any clues about where to look for the hidden entrance?” Starlight asked.

“Give me a minute. I need to get my bearings. The clue to finding the door was written as a riddle.”

Twilight began with the wall near the entrance tunnel and scanned each section going clockwise around the room. She mumbled as she spun around.

“Time will tell its secrets true.
Begin with half and follow through.
Pass sun at noon and soon you’ll see,
The door at one is where I’ll be.”

“Got it.” She came to a stop and motioned to the others. “Follow me.”

The Princess took the long way around the pool. In the shifting throws of the torchlight against the ponies and pillars, the shadows cast made it seem like a whole gathering made the trek from the entrance to the far back right corner. Starlight spun her head on more than one occasion to check to make sure they weren’t being followed. The echoing sounds of hooves marching over stone did little to mask their presence.

In front of a panel depicting a pegasus sitting at a table to eat a meal spread out before her, Twilight stopped again and held up a hoof. “No matter what happens, I need everypony to stay focused and remain calm. I have a feeling this is where things start to get dangerous.”

“Alright, whatever you say, Twilight.” Starlight said. “Let’s get dangerous.”

Starswirl merely nodded his head.

Twilight turned back toward the panel and cleared her throat. “Well, this is the door at one. The panel at one o’clock, if we started with the entrance at six. Now, for the key.” She looked up, and puckered her lips. Carefully, she blew a resonant tune of eight notes, the first four building to fall back on the rest.

C E D G --
G D E C

As the air passed through her mouth, the aspiration seemed more powerful than just a simple breath. Like dust being swept from an antique display shelf, sand particles fell from the painted sandstone surface leaving only deep cut runes now visible to the naked eye.

“Wow!” Starlight beamed.

“Very interesting. A harmonic locking spell.” Starswirl stroked his beard, an approving smile on his face. “I haven’t actually seen one of those used in ages.”

“Just following the instructions from the book.” Twilight sighed. “Unfortunately, that’s where the instructions stop. The book only says that from here a perilous test awaits anypony who wishes to gain access to the temple.”

“What do the runes say, Twilight?” Starlight asked, scanning the undecipherable words on the wall. “They look a lot like the ones from the book.”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you can’t read them.” Twilight looked up to the top row of runic symbols and began reading out loud:

“A welcome to all who now face this test
Fail, or succeed, there is no way to guess
To start on the path, leave your mark at the door
May the Goddess’ Gift lead the way, I implore”

Twilight looked back over her shoulder and motioned the others forward. “All together. Put your right forehoof against the wall, and push. The door should open from there.”

Starlight approached on her left and Starswirl on her right. They each stretched out a hoof and set them against the wall just below the runic text. Like punching through a sand castle, the trio planted their hooves into the sandy facade which immediately accepted their imprints before falling away in a shower of falling sand. The entire wall in front of them drifted into the floor space below, sealing tight to the ground and leaving a passageway open beyond.

“Oh no!” Starlight said. “What just happened?” The sickening sensation hit her all at once.

Focused on watching the wall fall apart, Twilight remained aware of the draining effect flowing through her body. She raised a hoof to quiet Starlight.

Starswirl lifted the rear portion of his cloak to inspect the damage, which he quickly confirmed. “That’s not a good sign.”

Without another word, the gravity of the situation shared by all three was apparent — their cutie marks were gone.

“Stay focused, and follow me.” Twilight walked forward, more determined than ever.

From behind the trio a voice bellowed. “Are you ponies lost?”

They all spun around together. At eye level, they met with a paw about the size of any single one of them. Gazing up, they stared directly into the overhanging cat’s eye pupils of a giant Sphinx.

Starlight’s first reaction was to light up her horn to establish a protective barrier. Try as she might, she couldn’t get her magic to respond. She froze staring at her own petrified reflection.

Starswirl was next to react, his spell fizzling with a waft of smoke rising past the bells on his hat. Nothing.

Twilight stepped in front of both of them and raised her wings to to their full extent in shielding her friends. She did her best to sound like Luna with her intimidating Canterlot voice, calling out to the beast looming above them. “I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and we seek an audience with Volara, the Fate of Wisdom.”

The Sphinx rocked back on its haunches, giggling.

“Excuse me?” Twilight dropped her wings just a touch.

“You seem lost, and I’ve come to help, but your first response is to call on the aid of your magic? Not very friendly of you, Friendship Princess and friends.”

“I’m sorry, but—”

Starswirl interrupted by pulling down Twilight’s wing. “What have you done with our cutie marks?”

“Hmm… You accuse me for the consequences of your own choices? You left your marks at the door when you accepted this challenge. Now your fate rests in my paws.” The Sphinx drew back a paw in a dramatic feint. “Really, for a group of unicorns seeking an audience, you certainly aren’t making a good first impression. Perhaps I’ll just eat you now and be done with it.” The big cat smiled, bearing an entire mouth full of sharp teeth. “Even given my warning you chose to accept the test, along with the rules. The first rule, of which, is that I make the rules. The second, no cheating, and that means no marks and no magic.”

Twilight folded her wings and gave a sharp glare over both shoulders. “You’ll have to forgive my friends. We were all caught a bit by surprise, and using defensive magic is a normal response to surprises.”

“Still, it’s rude. You are in Volara’s realm now, and she doesn’t take kindly to magic users. However, I don’t expect you to pass my test anyway, so let’s begin. I grow bored of your presence already.”

The Sphinx’ eyes flashed with an inner fire.

“First, a riddle to prove you wise.
For each their own, to win the prize.
But get it wrong and pay the price.
My dinner shall be thrice as nice.”

The giant cat flashed it’s paw extending three very long and very sharp claws, one toward each pony.

“So we have to answer a riddle? That’s it?” Twilight said.

“For starters,” the Sphinx replied. “There are many phases to the test, but I’m feeling generous today. Since there are three of you, I’ll add a third rule. You’ll have three chances to make it through. If any one of you makes it, I’ll pass you all. But you can’t answer for another, and you must each face and pass the challenge to proceed to the next.”

Wasting no time, Twilight replied seeming more confident than before. “Alright, let’s do it!” The others nodded.

“Then I’ll start with you, Princess of Friendship.” The cat waved its paw and a magical barrier of swirling sand surrounded the others, cutting off any possible interference. “Your friends may watch and try to listen, but they cannot help you now.” Before Twilight could object, the riddle began.

“You will always find me in the past, and I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I?”

Without so much as a blink of the eye to consider, Twilight answered. “History!”

The feline beast smiled.

“Very good, but they only get harder from here,” the Sphinx purred and one claw retracted. With another wave of its paw, the barrier shifted to contain Twilight and Starlight only. “Next up, the Champion of Power.”

“So you know who I am?” Starswirl asked. “And just who do you think you are?”

“I’ll ask the questions,” the Sphinx replied.

”My rings are not made of gold, but I get more as I get old. What am I?”

Starswirl was also quick to respond. “Foalsplay! I always thought the Great Sphinx’s riddles were supposed to be hard?”

The cat peered down at the old wizard, a grin spreading across its shiny white teeth. “Is that your answer?”

Twilight pressed up close to the edge of the barrier to listen as best she could, sand scratching against her coat, anxious that her former idol would get it right.

“Not at all.” Starswirl stared back at the Sphinx with that same condescending look he usually gave Twilight. “The answer to your riddle is simple — a unicorn’s horn.”

Siren’s went off in Twilight’s head.

The Sphinx pounced, snatching and devouring the great Starswirl the Bearded whole, in one jingling bite. The barrier fell just as the last bit of gray tail slipped through the cat’s teeth.

“A tree!” Twilight screamed. Her voice echoed through the chamber.

Starlight gasped and nearly stumbled over her hooves. “No! Starswirl!”

“Yes, and you’re up next.” The giant cat finished picking its teeth with one of its razor claws as a single bell fell to the ground and was swiftly batted aside. “One down, two to go.”

Starlight just stood there, mouth agape in a frozen pose.

Twilight spun around in a frantic panic. “No, no, no, no… This can’t be happening.”

“Ghahh, make it stop.” The Sphinx placed it’s paws over its ears. “Remember rule three.”

Panting, Twilight continued to circle. “One of us wins, we all pass.” She calmed her panic to a dull roar, repeating what she’d just said a few more times for good measure.

“Yes,” the Sphinx said, removing both paws from its ears. “Now where were we? Ahhh, yes. The Champion of Courage, so fitting in her role, just like her master.”

Starlight took a very deep breath trying to shake off the shock of what she’d just witnessed. Every hair of her coat stood on end, begging her to run, but she held her ground. She glanced up at the Sphinx wearing its devilish grin. “How do you know so much about us?”

“I know everything about you, Starlight Glimmer, even things you yourself don’t.” The cat slipped back into a trance as the barrier came up diving Twilight and Starlight. “And I have a special riddle for you.”

”If you have me, you can share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?”

Starlight broke off and stared at the floor for the longest time just gathering her thoughts. A thousand different answers swam through her brain. A thousand different questions did as well.

“I’m waiting.”

Lifting her head, she glanced over at Twilight, hooves straining against the sandy barrier to catch some small sight or sound of her test. The pleading in her friend’s eyes and a simple nod of her head said everything she needed to know. Twilight had confidence in her ability to answer the riddle. Hopefully she was right.

“Give your answer now, or you forfeit.”

Starlight turned to face the beast. She stared straight into the eyes of the cat, watching the ethereal flames flicker and dance behind the split irises. “If I have you, I can share you, but if I share you, I haven’t got you. What are you?” She paused, thinking over her answer for the hundredth time trying to reassure that she had the same faith in herself.

“Time’s up.”

“A secret,” Starlight answered confidently.

The Sphinx roared in disgust. “It seems you aren’t as dim-witted as your elderly companion.” The barrier fell and the cat stood. “Follow me to the next stage of the test.” It gracefully slid past the ponies without a sound, or even a breeze, and entered the passageway opened earlier.

Twilight and Starlight ran to embrace one another taking a moment to steady their nerves.

“If I don’t make it through, you have to finish this,” Twilight said.

“What do you mean?” Starlight replied. “If I don’t finish this, I’m counting on you to get us through.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Twilight said. “I’m just worried about Starswirl.”

“Me too, but what about our cutie marks? We can’t even defend ourselves without our magic.”

Twilight shook her head. “Like I’ve been saying, we can’t rely on our magic. The Fate of Wisdom is all about being smart and practical. The only way we’re going to win this is to stay calm and think our way through.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re the smart one. All I had was my magic.”

“That’s not true, Starlight. You’re smarter than you know. You see things other ponies can’t. You’re brave and powerful, even without your magic. More than I am, at least.”

“I don’t know if I agree with you, Twilight, but I guess we’d better follow and make sure at least one of us makes it through this test.”

Twilight nodded and they embraced once again, then carefully edged forward through the doorway together.

The pathway descended a flight of stairs before opening up on another large room. Starlight kept close to Twilight, and they came to a stop on a rectangular outcropping which dropped a single step onto a grid of square tiles embossed with various symbols which filled the long span of the room ahead. Across the room on the other side stood a single doorway. The same sort of torches from the pool room dotted the walls shedding a flickering light on the scene.

The Sphinx stood to one side of the platform and barked out their clue:

“A warning to all who seek an audience with fate
Never to stray for the pathway is straight
Three paths diverged in a dimly lit room
The right choice wins but the others spell doom.”

With a stomp of its paw, the room began to shake, and several tiles cracked and broke away from the floor. Starlight listened, but couldn’t hear any hit bottom as they fell. The gaps in the floor pattern established three pathways to cross — one a zigzagging road that led through the middle toward the door on the other side, another a snaking curve that left the platform where they stood and ran a somewhat crumbling arc along the left side to the door platform opposite, and the last one a straight shot on the right facing a dead end on the opposite side.

“One more thing, no flying for this test,” the Sphinx said. “That would be cheating.” With another wave of its paw, Twilight felt her wings pinned against her flanks.

Without her magic, and without her wings, Twilight felt as helpless as a newborn foal. She kept a brave face for Starlight who she could see was barely holding it together. If ever there was a time for her to be a strong leader, this was it. She mustered what inner strength she could and stepped to the edge of the platform.

“A crumbling path to the left, and a dead end to the right. I think the answer is clear.” Twilight checked over her shoulder and Starlight gave her a nod. Stepping out onto the zigzagging path, she began to cross using the center option heading straight toward the door.

One step, then two, she made measured strides to keep her balance on the narrow way. One step to the left, and three steps forward. Two steps to the right and again moving forward. Gaining confidence with each step, she quickly crossed the half way point.

Then, disaster.

Twilight’s hoof hit a tile only ten yards from the far side and broke straight through. The cascading blocks dropped out from under her as she struggled for breath to scream. Without wings or magic, the only way to go was down.

Starlight leapt to the edge of the start point and stretched out her hoof in vain as Twilight’s cries almost instantly faded into the darkness below. Lost for words, she nearly burst into tears.

“She chose poorly.” The Sphinx grinned menacingly overhead. “Two down, one to go.”

“It’s not fair!” Starlight cried. “You cheated!”

“Oh? And how is that?”

“You took away our magic; You took away her wings; You took away everything! How are we supposed to win a rigged game?”

“Ha! You think life is fair? You wish to control your fate? You have the answers given to you, and yet you still wish to blame me for your failure?” The Sphinx licked its lips and curled its tail around its feet. “Make your choice before I make it for you, Champion.”

Starlight stood and tried to shake off the feeling of failure. First Starswirl, then Twilight, and now only she was left. Two paths to choose from, and only one chance to get it right. The fate of Equestria rested on her shoulders. No pressure.

Head reeling, Starlight took a closer look at the remaining paths. The path to the left took a meandering snake of a journey to the door at the other end, but with obvious cracks in the floor tiles holding it together, it seemed no better than Twilight’s choice. The path to the right hugged the wall and went straight across the chasm span. It looked sturdy enough, but without the end matching up with the target, it seemed like a losing choice to make from the start. Starlight debated both options mulling over what the Sphinx hinted at having the answers already. The clues seemed key to making the correct choice, but nothing about the clue made it clear which one was right — except, one was right. The right path; the straight path. Was it that obvious?

It certainly took all the courage she had to step out onto the path leading to an uncertain end. She quickly put that thought behind her and focused on keeping her hooves steady on the narrow ledge. One step, then two, then a few more. She kept her head down, only watching a few feet in front of herself. Carefully, she moved forward.

Forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty— Her hoof clipped the edge of the platform on the far side of the room. She scrambled up the step and gazed up into the mouth of the open passageway ahead.

“Congratulations!” The Sphinx slid past her and into the next tunnel. “The final challenge awaits.”

Starlight looked back over the gaping chasm and down in the dark depths. “I’ll finish this, Twilight. No worries.” She turned back and followed the arbiter of fate to the final stage.

The tunnel ran for another hundred yards down a torched lined corridor. At the end of the tunnel sat the Sphinx next to an elaborately molded golden door. Starlight approached, tentative and lowly at the foot of the grand facade.

“Behold, the entrance to The Temple of the Swirling Winds.” The Sphinx raised a paw to indicate the golden doorway etched floor to ceiling with runes and markings prominently displaying four pony figures, one at each cardinal point, and a round lock at the center of each half. A combination symbol with a vertical horn, a set of spread open wings and a horseshoe overlapping them both sat at the very center. “All you have to do to receive your audience and save your friends, and yourself might I add, is to open it.”

Briefly scanning the wall, Starlight protested, “Don’t I at least get a clue? I can’t even read the runes up there.” She pointed up at the runic symbols lining the outer edge of the doorway.

“Very well,” the Sphinx said, “To be fair, I will read the instructions for you, but that is all the help you get from me. From there, you must prove your worth, or fail like the rest.”

”I fly from the North in more ways than one,
The South from exactly the same.
I rise in the West and turn to the East,
Around, there and back again.

My eyes never sleep but can be undone
Tempered in frost and in flame.
With courage and wisdom thy power increased
My blessing, a glorious reign.”

The cat laid down across the path leading back the way they had come. “Take all the time you need. I’ll be waiting for you to give up.”

Starlight sat and stared at the door.

Minutes turned into hours as she examined every last inch of the door. The clue rumbled around in her head as she took notes in the dirt of everything she saw. She noted how each pony was different race, one Earth, one Pegasus, one Unicorn, and at the top, one Alicorn. She also made note of how three beams of light seemed to descend from the Alicorn at the top of the door down to each of the other three on the left, right, and bottom.

Closer up, she ran her hooves over the metal. The lock on the left half felt cold to the touch while the one on the right was hot. Two frozen hinges lined both halves on the outer edge of the door frame, but more curious were another paired set of bolts on the top and bottom as well. Either the door opened from the middle in every direction, or somepony made a serious error in designing it to begin with.

Starlight wracked her brain. Nothing she could think of made any sense in the context of opening a locked door especially one built so strangely as this. With her magic, she could have tried a number of things — fashioning a key, blasting open the locks, or merely teleporting through to the other side as a last resort. Poking and prodding, sniffing and searching the golden gate yielded nothing. The key to opening the locked gate was nowhere in sight.

How would Twilight solve this, she thought.

That’s when it came to her. She had an idea. She quickly made a small note and stomped a few marks in the dirt at her hooves and then carefully backed away from the door as she ventured over to the Sphinx.

“Giving up so soon?” the beast asked. “I thought you’d give it at least until morning.”

“No, but I do have a request,” Starlight replied. “May I switch places with Twilight?”

“Hmm,” the Sphinx grumbled, rubbing its chin, thinking. “Why would you want that? Do you feel inadequate to the task at hand?”

“No, but I know my limits.” Starlight replied, “I know I can’t solve this puzzle myself, and I need the help of my friend.”

“So you’re giving up?”

“No, for the last time!” Starlight said, throwing the Sphinx’s logic right back in it’s face. “I’m making a choice to defer to somepony better suited for the task. I’m saying that this lock requires a key I don’t possess. I’m telling you, I need a pony with wings.”

“Ahhh, so you’ve figured out the puzzle, have you? And now you wish to trade your life for another?” The Sphinx leapt to its feet and crossed over to the door. Stooping down, it read the scribbled notes in the dirt. “Hmm… It seems you have made a terrible error in judgment.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight said. “I’m pretty sure that the lock is keyed to performing a set of actions that involve the motion of a pegasus’ wings. I may be wrong, but I have to take the chance and trust that Twilight will follow my instructions to know what to do.”

“Yes, you are correct, but your flaw lies in placing your trust in another making the same discovery as you. You’ve seen it already, two ponies so sure of themselves, yet failure. Their pride brought about their fall. Yes, Starlight Glimmer, I will honor your wish, but I cannot allow you to give her the answer. Are you sure that your friend will be as wise and patient as you?” With a laugh, the Sphinx swiped its tail and brushed away the notes on the ground. “Are you willing to trust your life to someone else?”

Starlight stood, steadfast and strong. “I trust that my friend will do everything in her power to save me. It’s the one thing here I know for sure to be true.”

“We shall see.”

With another wave of its paw, Starlight disappeared, replaced by Twilight.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” Twilight opened her eyes and stopped screaming as soon as she realized her hooves held solid ground beneath them once more. “What just happened? Did we win?”

“Not even close.” The Sphinx sighed and paced back to its resting spot. “Your friend decided to give you the chance to solve the last puzzle. Make it through the door, and you all win. Fail, and I can go back to sleep.” Padding around in a circle, the Sphinx finally laid down. “And just because she mentioned it, she said she’s trusting you with her life. Good luck.”

Still in shock from the fall and sudden reemergence, Twilight stood for a moment in solemn contemplation. Feeling the weight growing heavier on her, she reached back and undid the strap holding the saddle bags in place and let them fall to the ground.

She swiveled around to take in the doorway. The runes immediately caught her eye as well as the beautiful engraving in the center plate. The riddle read, the pony images admired, and the symbols littered throughout the engraving conjuring images from the book she’d just discarded within the bag at her feet, she took it all in.

Stepping closer, she nearly plodded over the remains of Starlight’s notes in the sand, swept over like a feathered imprint of a hard landing on the beach she recalled from her first attempts at flying. She considered them for a moment but couldn’t make anything out. Back on the door, the glimmer and glow from the twin locks took a while to examine. Their endothermic and exothermic reactions seemed almost magical in a way, but did not appear to affect the integrity of the material. She worked her way to the left and then back to the right, taking in every inch of the door’s secrets as she went.

Taking a few steps back and glancing up at the full height of the door then back down to the sand, thoughts swirled around in her head like a summer storm blowing through the open windows of her castle, trying to make a mess of what should be in perfect order. Her focus drifted to the last major storm and how she and Spike had to move quickly to secure all the items being tossed out of place by a simple gust of wind. The papers, the books, the runes, the swept over notes; a pattern began to emerge.

She unfurled her wings.

Stoke up with the left. Stroke up the with the right. The top two bolts sunk into the frame at the top of the door.

Stroke down with the left and down with the right. The bottom two bolts fell away as well.

Once to the left and once to the right, then repeated left and right once more. The outer clamps of the side hinges dropped back into recessed slots leaving the door free to swing.

She reached up and pressed against the lock on the left, her hoof meeting the chill of the cold metal and covering the eye. Following, she reached to the right and pressed into the second lock giving off gentle waves of heat.

The eyes covered. The door latch clicked.

She pushed hard, and the gate swung open.

8 - Just Desserts

“Curious, very curious indeed.” The Sphinx waved its paw and the two missing ponies appeared.

Starlight gasped as she regained her footing. Starswirl stumbled forward, legs locked at the first and second joints, nearly falling flat on his face.

Twilight basked in the glow of the magic portal only a few feet beyond the open gate. Her cutie mark restored, the energy flowed through her, filling her with a renewed strength of purpose and vigor.

Starlight rushed forward and tackled her friend in a hug. “I knew you could do it, Twilight!”

Twilight hugged her back. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Starlight. You got us here, and you made the tough call when it really mattered.”

“Excuse me?” Starswirl grumbled. “Could somepony tell me what in the Goddess’s name is going on here?”

“Horseshoe’s on the other hoof now, hmm,” Starlight said. “We just beat the test!”

“Oh goody,” Starswirl said in a wholly sarcastic tone. “Not much to it then, I gather?”

Starlight and Twilight just side-eyed each other and shared a quick giggle.

“Your audience awaits,” the Sphinx said, pointing at the portal. “Just through there. I’ll be along shortly. Have to close up shop first; get things ready for the next wandering soul.”

“We’ve come a long way,” Twilight said. “Let’s say we go meet our Fate.” A swelling sense of accomplishment made the hassle and struggle of the past couple days weigh less on her mind.

Starlight nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Holding a moment and gathering Twilight’s bags while they waited for Starswirl to get his legs moving in the right direction again, the trio approached the portal, stepping through one by one in single file.

Stepping out the other side of the portal into the Temple of the Swirling Winds felt a lot like stepping through the portal to the human world. Twilight and Starlight could attest to the oddity and relief of coming through with hooves, tails, and horns in tact. On first glance, the new setting could only be described as Twilight’s version of heaven instead of a typical high school full of gangly teenagers. Cloud-lined shelves stretched in every direction, row after row filled with the sum total of every book ever conceived in existence. Passing down the aisle, each vibrantly colored book had a unique mark on the spine for visual identification. Beams of golden light streamed through the crystal glass ceiling shedding a rainbow of color on all below. The path ahead led straight to a light oaken lectern set on a central dais at the cross-point of the simple maze of library shelves. Just above that, an inky black pegasus sat atop a pillowed seat holding the Fork of Destiny at her side.

The trio cautiously approached and bowed.

“Hello,” Twilight began. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and this is Starlight Glimmer and Starswirl the Bearded. I assume you are Volara, Fate of Wisdom?”

The pegasus smiled and nodded.

“I have to say, I love your library.” Twilight could barely contain her excitement. “But that’s not why we’re here.”

Volara shrugged and waved a dismissive hoof.

“So, uhhh.” The words didn’t come easily given the roller coaster of the past couple days. “We met your guardian downstairs and passed your test in order to get here, so you see—”

Volara shook her head and raised a hoof to silence Twilight. Stretching out her other forehoof, she pulled back the cover of a black velvet bound book perched on the lectern in front of her and set a bright red quill freshly dipped in ink into a small holster strapped around her fetlock. With a flourish of flame from the top of the phoenix feather quill, she quickly scratched out a note on the open page.

She waited.

The others passed glances at one another and back to Volara. The blank stares bordered on uncomfortable.

Volara scanned right, and then left, and then stomped her hoof twice against the stand. The thud broke the silence, but only slightly ahead of Twilight.

“Do you want me to come read what you wrote?” Twilight ventured to ask.

Deftly sliding past the ponies and swiftly taking a place at Volara’s right side, the Sphinx suddenly rejoined the party. “Please excuse my tardiness, Priestess.” It bowed it’s head toward Volara, and she reached up and gave it a gentle pat.

“It seems I’ve missed the introductions, so straight to business then.” The Sphinx pulled out a set of old reading glasses, and placing them over the bridge of its nose, glanced down at the book and then back toward the ponies. “Only one of you passed my test, and only they have earned the right to an audience.”

“That’s not what I was just told,” Starswirl said.

“Yeah, I thought if one of us passed, we all passed the test together,” Starlight added. “We all deserve an audience, and some answers.”

Volara went back to the page, jotting a longer note this time.

The Sphinx quickly read it out loud as she continued writing. “I will tolerate the ascended presence, but I maintain my dispute on the the validity of her merit in the aforementioned test. My objection stands to reject the appearance of my sister’s Champion. His spectacular failure in the trial went as expected and validates my previous position. But you, Starlight Glimmer, you have demonstrated your worth in wisdom, in courage and in power. Still, you remain a fool. Now, step forward and let me examine your cutie mark.”

Volara motioned for Starlight to approach.

“I—I don’t know about that,” Starlight said. “That staff doesn’t get along very well with cutie marks in general.” Her flank felt, in a way, naked without her mark. Even if she had her doubts about its purpose, it remained a part of her. Motioning toward the twisted relic and shrinking away, she nodded to Twilight for assistance.

“Speaking of the staff,” Twilight said, quickly chiming in again, “we do need to return it to the Altar of Magic. So if you don’t mind, we’ll—”

Volara opened her mouth full wide to laugh, but no sound escaped her lips. She rolled on her side and shook her head, all the while chortling in complete silence.

The Sphinx glanced out over the top of its reading glasses. “I believe the answer is, no, Princess.”

“But why not? That’s where it belongs.” Twilight pressed forward coming up to the edge of the dais.

The Sphinx reared up and brandished its claws. A deep growl rumbled in its throat. Twilight quickly retreated to her former spot.

Volara recovered and stood. Her height exceeded Celestia by a few inches, not counting the horn difference, and she exuded every ounce of royal stature. She tucked the staff under her left wing and stepped down from her perch all the while keeping a stern eye follow on Twilight. Circling around the princess, she swung over toward Starlight, passing close to the nearby row of shelves. Starlight held her ground, but felt an uneasy sway in the presence of the dark Fate bearing the staff that had started her down the path of forced equality not so long ago. It felt like a ghost of her past come to pay her a visit.

The shine of Volara’s raven wing reflected the light shining from above which caught Starlight square in the face. The staff sparked with an energy and intensity that she had never witnessed in her time of stewardship. Her flanks tingled as the strange yet familiar magic reached out to her. Her mane and tail along with every bit of hair on her body stood on end. She shrank a touch from the attack on all sides, but took no aggressive action to fight it or rally in defense. It almost felt like an acceptance of her guilty conscience in not fighting back against the assault.

Volara brought a hoof to her chin in quiet contemplation. She stood for a moment with Starlight waiting on the edge of baited response. After a long pause, she continued her journey completing the loop around Starlight before raising her wings and deftly swooping up and over, returning to her seat at the book on the lectern.

A few more notes, and the Sphinx began again, “I see now why my sisters entrusted you with this great honor. Few could have made it this far, but you are the exception. The irony is, you remain oblivious to your own destiny, Starlight Glimmer, heiress to the legacy of the Great House Stella. Nevertheless, you have passed the final test and are proven worthy of the blessing of the Goddess. I am duty bound to honor my mother’s wishes and convene the Council of Fates.”

Volara stood at her full height and spread out her wings, brandishing the Fork of Destiny with both forehooves as she raised it high above her head. The staff began to ripple and spark with magic current. A wind blew through the corridor and swept past the trio, gathering from each of the four points of the structure toward the center.

Stunned, the ponies watched in awe.

“This can’t be,” muttered Starswirl.

The Sphinx backed away. A portal opened in the space above the dais just over the tip of the staff. Starlight dug her hooves into the clear crystal floor but found no grip as the gust pushed her forward. She struggled to maintain her balance, turning and bracing against the wind.

The others weren’t affected, standing just outside the jet-stream path.

“What’s happening?” Starlight yelled.

Twilight tried to take a step toward her, but found herself unable to cross the plane of the gusting channel. “I don’t know,” she yelled in response.

Starswirl had already retreated into his thoughts. Twilight could hear him mumbling to himself amidst the growing chaos. “Family? How could she?”

The swirling vortex swept past the books on the shelves without them moving a hair. Starlight continued to struggle, finally losing the battle and tumbling head over tail toward the Fate’s portal. The updraft lifted her off the floor and sent her sailing through the magic gateway. Volara beat her wings in one giant sweep and followed her through the opening.

Starlight opened her eyes.

The heavenly plane spread to infinity in all directions. A chaotic twinkle of stars both near and far gave light to the otherwise empty void. The ground beneath her hooves didn’t appear solid; in truth, it didn’t even appear. Taking a step seemed to move and turn as would be expected, but with so far to go and nothing in between, movement in any direction could not be quantified.

“Hello?” Starlight called out. “Is anypony there?”

No answer.

“Am I dead?”

It was neither hot nor cold. It was neither light nor dark. It just was. Eternity and her. Though she could have felt frightened or angry being lost without direction, floating aimlessly through the great void, she felt more at peace than ever.

“You are not dead, but I see how you might think that.” A warm voice, deep but female, caused Starlight to pivot and stare. The imposing form of Volara, draped in a full set of golden battle armor and carrying the Fork of Destiny like a jousting lance under her wing, made her appearance.

“Where are we, and when did you start talking?” Starlight asked.

“The limitations of my mortal form do not impede me here. In the Eternal Plane, I am free to be as I am.” Volara reached back and withdrew the staff from it’s holster. “Take care, for I must now summon my sisters.”

“Hold on,” Starlight said, “I’ve got sooooo many questions.”

“Destiny waits for no pony.” Volara lifted the staff which produced two magic beacons driving divergent paths of light out into the void. The light traveled out and returned just as fast along with two passengers seemingly along for the ride. Neither looked all that happy.

“Celeste. Terrara. I can’t say it pleases me to see you both again so soon, but here we are nonetheless.” Volara lowered the staff, but kept a tight grip on the shaft as she crouched into a seated position.

“So, it was you all along?” Celeste said. Her radiant silver glow sparkled in the light of a million stars like a disco ball across an infinite dance floor. Brilliant blue iris shone like sapphires from her previously vacant, yet glaring eyes. “I should have known Terrara wasn’t smart enough to break through my defenses alone.”

“But I did, and I would have gotten it all to myself had I chosen a more loyal Champion to assist.” Terrara with her golden coat and perfectly coiffed mane draped about with a lustrous red velvet cloak sat and crossed her forelegs, sulking. “I tricked you both into fighting over that last ascendant trial so I could focus on getting the staff without either of you knowing. Unfortunately, I had to pull some strings and enlist a unicorn — power hungry mortals — to retrieve it from where it landed in the desert. And now my fate is ruined.”

“No offense, but I’m right here.” Starlight raised a hoof in the middle of the squabbling sisters. “Could somepony tell me where exactly that is?”

“You are on the Eternal Plane, Starlight Glimmer. A place beyond worlds and physical limitations. A place where the Fates sometimes meet to make an offering unto the Mother Goddess, if they can stop their foalish bickering long enough to honor their sacred duty, that is.”

“Ahh, thank you, o wise one,” Celeste said, mockingly. “Finally opening your mouth to share your great wisdom with us lesser beings.”

“Who are you calling lesser?” Terrara said. “I am a proud earth pony and greater than you in every way that counts.”

“Being older doesn’t count,” Celeste spat back.

“Mom always liked me better,” Terrara countered.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

Volara drove the staff into the pseudo-ground causing sparks to shoot from the tip and immediately gaining everyone’s attention. “Ladies! Have we forgotten our manners? There is an acolyte present.” She gestured over to Starlight with her free hoof.

Starlight looked around, still getting her bearings. The trio of Fates made a triangle with her at the center. Trading glances among the three sisters, so different and uniquely flawed, the realization hit like she’d been struck by the staff at full force. Finally making the connection, she blurted out, “I get it! This is the friendship quest! Three separate places, but linked by three unique ponies. The staff isn’t our quest — you are!”

“We are the Fates of Destiny, here in our true forms and gathered for a singular purpose — which is you, Starlight Glimmer,” Volara confessed.

“Why me? Don’t you have better things to worry about, like Terrara’s broken vault? Or the staff needing to be returned to the Altar of Magic so everypony doesn’t lose their magic? Let’s talk about your sisterly differences so we can get things straightened out here! Now what’s your problem?” Starlight said.

“We don’t answer to you, Starlight,” Celeste said. “We answer to a higher power.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight countered.

“Destiny has chosen you, Starlight Glimmer, and we are honor bound to answer,” Terrara said. “Even if that means we must suffer every indignity and humiliation as a result.”

“Oh come now, sister, it’s only four for me. You’ll catch up at some point.” Celeste gave her sister an evil grin and flicked her mane over her shoulder.

“This isn’t a competition, Celeste,” Volara said, scolding her sister like a mother would her foal. “Must I remind you that our place is only to observe and report. Your greedy power grab led to a millennium of twisted fate and unrealized destiny!”

“And you did any better?” Celeste scowled at Volara. “I saw the future, and I took action. You can’t blame me for realizing my own destiny.”

“You stole the future, Celeste,” Terrara said, interjecting. “At the expense of the present, you jeopardized everypony’s future, and for what? Power?”

“At least I had the courage to take what was mine, Terrara,” Celeste said.

“That wasn’t courage. That was cowardice. You were afraid of letting anypony else share the glory. Always needing to stay ahead of the pack.”

Starlight twirled around trying to keep track of the conversation. The more intense it got, the more confused she became. Seeing the Fates in their regal forms gave a sharp contrast to her first encounters with each of them. Just the thought of these powerful ponies, each representing their corresponding race and culture, fighting, gave her flashbacks to history class and the subject of the great pony wars prior to the unification of the races under the Princess Celestia and Luna.

“Why are you fighting?” Starlight cut in. “Aren’t you supposed to be sisters? Don’t you care about each other at all?”

*a collective sigh*

“We used to, back when our goals were the same.” Volara spoke, and the others ceased their bickering for a moment. “Many centuries ago, we had a common purpose to unite our tribes and direct our races to help one another. We began with our champions, but they proved only to divide the tribes further, each clinging to their own or seeking to consolidate all power in one. We thought that by granting the blessing of the Goddess to a worthy few, we could better focus our intentions. The idea was sound, but there were those among us that felt they knew better. And so, it took the better part of a thousand years, and the corruption and banishment of one of her own, for her to finally come around.”

“And you still blame me for it,” Celeste said. “We all agreed to follow the selection of the staff.”

“And you took it for yourself and manipulated the results,” Terrara added.

“Lies!” Celeste replied. “You’re just jealous that the staff hasn’t selected one of your race yet. More proof that Mother likes me best.”

“Mother cursed us!” Volara shouted, standing once again and brandishing the staff. “We are Power, Courage, and Wisdom — yet blind, deaf, and dumb. Take a lesson from history, my sister. We are slaves to our past and bound in the present to an already determined future. We have no choice in this, and neither does anypony else.”

“Keep your history lesson to yourself, sister,” Celeste said, ignoring Volara’s comments. “I see my future is bright, and the staff shall be mine again.”

“You have no future if you don’t learn from the past and tend to the present,” Volara said. “And I shall be keeping the staff safely out of your hooves.”

“There’s not much left to tend to as it stands,” Terarra said. “The marks are starving and grow weaker by the moment, not that anypony cares.”

“I care!” Starlight, waiting on the sidelines, kept mulling over the comments made by each of the Fates. “So, let me get this straight, Celeste can see the future but is blinded by power; Terrara, you’re supposed to be courageous but fear for the present; Volara is wise with a whole library with knowledge of the past, but—”

“But, I don’t usually share with those I deem unworthy or those who choose not to listen.” Volara settled back down. “Some have called me a hoarder.” She flipped a hoof in the direction of Celeste.

“Yeah, of dead cutie marks.” Celeste made a face and stuck out her tongue.

“I prefer to think of it as an archival of all the deeds of pony history, not a cemetery to mourn the dead.”

“Yeah, nothing like a magic crystal battery farm that you siphon extra power from,” Terrara said, still sulking. “At least her archive isn’t broken.”

“If you’d both do as you are told, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Volara said.

“What sort of mess?” Starlight asked. “Maybe I can help? I mean, it’s kind of why I was sent here in the first place.”

“Of course you can help.” Volara bowed down to address Starlight. “Acolytes are the answer to our plight, but my sisters just won’t listen. Quite honestly, they could both be deaf for all I know.”

“So much to unpack here,” Starlight said collapsing on her haunches. “Where to begin?”

“Let’s get this over with,” Celeste said. “I need to inform my Champion of the whereabouts of the staff. Don’t expect to have it much longer.”

“I’m fine with that,” Terrara added. “Sooner we’re done, the sooner I can get back to my dying cutie marks. More work for me the longer we wait.”

“Then we are agreed,” Volara said once more bringing the staff to bear. “By the power of the Fates combined, we present our offering to the Goddess. May Her blessing shine upon you as we fulfill our sacred destiny. Rise, acolyte, to the form of the ascended Alicorn.”

“Wait, what?” Starlight said.

The staff glowed and connected an arcing magical bridge between the three sisters. Starlight stood in the center and felt a strange tingle from inside. Her cutie mark began to glow, and a piece of herself pulled away from her chest. She felt no pain. The essence congealed with the surrounding magic and began to circle in a dozen different pathways around her. Lifting off the ground, the eternal plane began to drift out of sight.

From deep within her, she screamed, “No!” Her cry echoed into the void.

From the edge of existence came a response.

“What is the matter, my little pony?”

“I don’t want this. I’m not ready. I need my friends.”

“You are frightened, but have no fear. I am with you.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Then be at peace and accept my gift.”

“I don’t want your gift. I want what I choose for myself.”

“Is this not why you are here? Is this not your fate?”

“I’ll make my own fate, and I’ll choose my own destiny. This isn’t what I’m here for. Some day, I may be ready, but I’m not there yet. I’m still discovering who I am.”

“Have you not the cutie mark? A shooting star with unlimited potential?”

“A falling star, set up for failure, you mean.”

“Both the same, only a difference of perspective.”

Starlight pondered. “I hadn’t thought of that, but I still have to decline your offer. I’m not ready for this. I need to go back.”

“You are truly wise and courageous, Starlight Glimmer. Power over one’s choice is the greatest power one can have. I do not doubt my daughter’s selection, but I will respect your choice, for now. If not my blessing, what would you wish of me in the meantime, my child?”

Starlight thought for a moment, or quite possibly a lifetime.

“I wish we could all be friends.”

“A fine choice. A fine choice indeed. Carry that wish in your heart, and light the way for others.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“Now, let’s go see if we can’t help a few others see the light.”

9 - The New Order

Twilight scrambled up to the platform in a futile attempt to follow Starlight through the portal which had closed quite abruptly following Volara’s departure. Starswirl sat, dazed and confused. The winds settled, and the library returned to the peaceful calm of a sunlit afternoon.

“Where did they go?” Twilight asked, hoping to get an answer from the Sphinx who had retreated into the stacks not far from the center of the room.

Starswirl continued to mumble to himself. “Second cousin twenty-four times removed, carry the one…”

Failing an answer, Twilight turned to gather her bearings and try to formulate a plan. The book sitting atop the pedestal happened to catch her eye. Leaning down for closer inspection, the old tome showed signs of age along with a clear script on the open page consistent with the style of another ancient tome. The words dictated by the Sphinx from only moments before lifted from the last few lines, but the volume contained hundreds of pages prior to the open leaf. She turned the page back, again and again, working backwards through the information.

“I would caution you against intruding on the personal writings of the Priestess. She is most protective of that book.” The Sphinx had crawled closer, a piercing gleam shone in its eyes. Far short of bearing claws or teeth, it hovered nearby in a state of watchful curiosity.

Twilight lit her horn, intent on defending herself if it came to that. “I’m not losing my friend! I have to find her!”

The Sphinx shied away. “The answers you seek lie not in that book, Princess.”

“Then where are they? Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?” Twilight said.

“If I could, I would gladly say. But I think you already know the answer, for you yourself must have gone there whereas I have not.”

“What do you mean? Is this another one of your riddles?”

“The beast speaks the truth,” Starswirl rejoined. “Starlight has entered the Eternal Plane, a realm I have sought for the better part of my life and never found a way in.”

The Sphinx sat back and coiled its tail. “One must be invited to the Eternal Plane, for it is there that the chosen receive the Gift of the Goddess.”

“Starlight?” Twilight said, still trying to process the current situation. “Is she?”

Silence followed. The situation she now confronted brought back a wave of sentiment that Twilight had only faced on a few rare occasions. The day she received her cutie mark and became Celestia’s student; the moment she first connected with her friends bearing the Elements of Harmony in the defeat of Nightmare Moon; the day that the stars aligned and she became a princess after having solved Starswirl’s unfinished spell.

“Are you not happy for your friend?” the Sphinx asked. “She completed all the trials, and surprised even me with her ultimate sacrifice. Would you deem her unworthy of the promised Gift?”

“I… I’m…” Twilight could barely speak.

“I’m more concerned about her lineage,” Starswirl said. “How can it be that she is the last of House Stella? I have no offspring — that I am aware of.”

“A simple question with a simple answer.” The Sphinx turned and motioned toward the stacks of books behind and to the right of the center podium. “Behold the history of your kind, section three, rows one through ten thousand. The records of House Stella begin near the front. If you are looking for records of your tribal lineage, I believe you’ll find your answer there.”

“Well then, let’s get started!” Starswirl set off in the direction of the first row of books. “Twilight, you take the second row and we’ll meet at the far end. Let me know if you find anything not documented in my book.”

“Nebula!” Twilight quickly replied. “The Book of the Goddess already said as much.” She turned her horn back to her pack and brought out the old book. Returning it to full size and placing it on top of the lectern, she opened to a middle page. “It’s right here!”

“You carry the One,” The Sphinx declared. “The original from which the Three derive.”

“I’m confused.” Starswirl gazed up at both Twilight and the Sphinx. “What are you talking about? One? Three? Nebula?”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “I didn’t have time to explain before, but I just made the connection myself. There was another unicorn in your family tree. I think she was your aunt, Nebula. The book describes a falling out she had with the family, apparently over a young Earth pony colt she had fallen in love with. I think that’s how Starlight is related, I mean, she’s got your family name. It’s not too hard to connect the dots from there.”

“Where was that in my book?” Starswirl said, moving forward to approach the dais finally. “I’ve found no such reference to an aunt anywhere in my study.“

Twilight peered down over the page, scanning the symbols to refresh her memory of the story. “It’s here in a section that contains writing from both unicorn and Earth pony tribes. It looks like they each used a different written language, which I can somehow read — not sure why you can’t — and would explain why you never knew the truth about your family or that you seem to have some distant relations still living in this time.”

“The gift of tribal tongues is granted along with the Gift of the Goddess,” the Sphinx said. “As part of their curse on one another, the Priestess sisters drove their factions apart, confounding the language and making it impossible for one tribe to read the writings of another unless given their blessing to do so. As you are ascended, you have the ability to see past their illusions as well as those who are granted the sight.”

“So I can only read the parts written in the language of the unicorn tribe?” Starswirl said.

“Yes, and Starlight was able to read both the unicorn and Earth pony sections,” Twilight said. “And I can read the entire thing, even the pegasus glyphs.”

“Well that certainly explains a lot. And here I thought my decades of study on the subject would never be satisfied. Once again, I am shown to be inadequate for the task that comes so easily to those who surpass me.” Starswirl slumped to the ground. Having overcome so much in his life, only now to be shown the basic flaw in his reasoning that led to so many years of error and misdirected energy, felt like a slap in the face. On top of that, discovering familial ties that set his entire world view askew made him once again question himself in the most fundamental of ways.

“You’re wrong!” Twilight said edging forward and placing a hoof on Starswirl’s shoulder, comforting the old stallion in his grief. “I didn’t get where I am now if not for my friends. No pony can do this alone, and it’s amazing how far you came without the help of any pony else. I still look up to you and admire everything that you accomplished, and there’s no reason you should ever doubt yourself over that. A good student is one that can learn from a teacher. A great teacher is one that can learn from their students and also their own mistakes. Trust me, I’ve been there.”

Starswirl looked up at Twilight and smiled. “Thank you. I’ve always had to rely on myself to solve these sort of problems, and I guess I’m still learning to trust in others, like you.”

The two ponies sat, side by side, sharing the moment and reflecting on their shared experiences. The Sphinx kept its distance and also a watchful eye on the pair.

“For what it’s worth,” the Sphinx said, “trust is the hardest thing to earn and the easiest thing to lose. Pardon the obvious riddle, but there was a time when trust was freely given, but somewhere along the way that trust was lost. You say you are here on a mission to reclaim the staff, but I think the truth is much bigger than that. It is my fear that the three sisters will never regain that which they’ve lost unless the two of you and your companion can find a way to bring them together again.”

“Then why did you steal the staff in the first place?” Starswirl asked.

“I serve Volara and act as her emissary and mouthpiece as needed. Furthermore, I believed her to be the most capable to handle the power of the Fork of Destiny in the hopes of bringing the sisters back to terms. I fear now that is not the case, and she has become even more reclusive in the time since I brought her the staff. Always dwelling on the past, and never forgiving — a hard thing to do when a bond of trust is broken.”

“But how did that happen?” Twilight said. “What drove the sisters apart?”

“You, and others like you,” the Sphinx replied. “They fought one another for the staff, seeking to control whom of their respective tribes would receive the Gift. Wisdom is the first to lose when the others followed misguided Courage seeking Power. It took nearly one thousand years to even attempt a reconciliation after the first pair ascended. Even then, the constant fight for dominance means that in the end, all will lose, and you are the only way to fix that. Volara won’t listen to me, for I am only her servant. You must convince her and help her to trust again, or I fear we are doomed to repeat our past mistakes.”

“Then let’s hope Starlight is okay,” Twilight said. “If she’s set to become the next Alicorn, then she’s in a much better place than any of us to see that through.”

Starswirl thrust a hoof in the air. “She comes from strong House Stella stock. There is no doubt in my mind that she will see this quest through, or die trying.”

“Let’s also hope it doesn’t come to that,” Twilight said.

As the trio continued their discussion, the room began to swiftly grow brighter and brighter, washing out all sign of the rows of books and large feline beasts.

“I think we’re about to find out,” Starswirl said. “Brace yourself!”

The ponies huddled close together and shut their eyes as the light filled the space.

In a flash, the emptiness of the Eternal Plane lit in a blinding explosion of light. The Goddess stood with her crystallized mane refracting rainbow shafts from her glowing center so white it had to subside before Starlight could look directly at her. The children of the Goddess quickly bowed in her presence. Starlight’s cutie mark glowed with a smaller light of its own added to by a soft purple warmth given off from her coat amidst the reflection of the glorious display.

“My children,” the Goddess said, “I have watched from afar with a hope that the light of truth would illuminate your sight, enlighten your minds, and strengthen your bonds of love. Rise and report.”

Volara was the first to rise and respond. “Mother, as thy eldest daughter, I seek wisdom that I may prove myself worthy of thy gift. By protecting the collected experience of all ponykind, I hope to find favor in thy sight.”

Celeste spoke next. “Mother, as thy youngest daughter, I seek power that I may prove myself worthy of thy gift. By focusing the energy of all ponykind toward the future, I hope to find favor in thy sight.”

Terrara barely raised her head. Tears began to build up at the corners of her eyes. “Mother, I seek courage that I may… find forgiveness in thy sight. I sought to bring strength to my charge… but I have failed in my sacred duty. I humbly await my fated punishment.” She tried her hardest to hold back the tears as she stood, legs trembling, and eyes glued to the floor.

“My daughter, how it saddens me to see you in this state.” The Goddess moved over to Terrara and raised a wing to bring her in close for a hug. She raised a forehoof and stroked the Priestess’ mane while Terrara buried her nose deeper in her mother’s chest.

Raising her head and turning to her other children, the Goddess spoke to each in turn. “Celeste, even in thy youth, you choose to turn a blind eye to one in need and instead seek personal glory? Volara, having the wisdom to know better, you choose to remain silent and refuse to share your gifts for the betterment of all? And for what? Power? Leverage?”

“It was her own jealousy and greed that led to her present state, Mother,” Volara said. “I have alleviated her of the burden of bearing the staff.”

“If she would have just left well enough alone, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Celeste added. “In any case, the staff should be mine.”

Still nestled beneath her mother’s wing and sporting a tear soaked face and disheveled mane, Terrara said, “How was I supposed to know that Starlight Glimmer would react the way she did?”

“We told you she wasn’t ready,” Celeste replied, “but you didn’t listen.”

“I’m right here,” Starlight said.

Celeste cocked her head to one side. “Well, I guess you’re fine now, but whatever. Still doesn’t give her the right to steal the Fork of Destiny.”

“I have heard enough.” The Goddess stood and lit her horn. The Fork of Destiny slipped effortlessly from Volara’s grasp. “My gift was meant to bring you together, not force you apart.” Floating through the void and holding steady at her side, the staff sparked and flashed in an acknowledgment of the return to its creator. The Goddess looked over her children with a somber and disappointed gaze.

The Fates shared her look of sorrow and turned away as she met their view. The anger and scorn they felt for one another paled in sight of their mother’s judgment of their actions.

The Goddess turned and unexpectedly faced Starlight. “I fear my children are unable to work together to resolve their differences even given substantial means with which to do so. It seems Destiny has brought you here today and may yet have a part for you to play should you have anything to suggest, Starlight Glimmer. What would you do if you were in my horseshoes?”

“Well…” Starlight said, taking a moment to consider the wide open options. “To start, each of them brought about their own personal curse that they need to overcome. Celeste needs to open her eyes and stop siphoning magic away from the focusing crystals in her cave. It’s not the kind of power she thinks it is, just like I discovered when I stole the cutie marks from an entire village of ponies. Volara needs to speak up and start talking to her sisters, sharing her knowledge. I know my friends can’t count on me to help if I just shut myself in my room. She needs to open up and let them know how much she cares. And Terrara, she needs to face her problems and let her sisters know how much they’ve hurt her. She needs their love and support, and she can’t be afraid to listen even when the truth is hard to take.”

Starlight paused a moment and rubbed her chin. An idea, perhaps, but not one she knew for sure would solve the problem. Looking up at the Goddess, in all her radiant beauty and power, she asked a question. “Is it possible to get rid of the staff?”

“Get rid of… Destiny?” Volara said.

“How would that help?” Celeste added.

The Goddess replied, “The Fork of Destiny is merely a token of my power, one of many granted to my children in order to assist them with their tasks in helping all pony-kind discover and achieve their purpose in life. It contains no essential powers in and of itself, but how would its destruction prove useful?”

“You’ll just have to trust me,” Starlight said. “Could I have the staff?”

The Goddess nodded. “It is yours to do with as you will, Starlight Glimmer. I trust in your ability to make the right choice.”

“Thank you.” Starlight took hold of the staff with her magic as the Goddess transferred it to her control. The others watched in painful hesitation.

Concentrating, Starlight felt the power of the staff calling out to her as she brought her plan to bear. A near-sentient force with the ability to fulfill all her dreams had tremendous pull. The urge to keep the staff and use its powers for good quickly crossed her mind and vanished in the blink of an eye. This time, she knew that she was in control, and she was the only one making the decision to end the staff’s influence once and for all.

The wood cracked. Splinters broke from the main shaft as the head prongs collapsed in on one another. Flames erupted at the collar, shooting blue-white sparks in all directions. In just a few moments, the deed was done. The Fork of Destiny crumbled into a pile of gray ash at Starlight’s hooves.

An audible sigh could be heard from at least two of the three sisters.

Starlight turned on them next. “With the staff gone, it’s going to be up to the three of you to work together as you should have from the beginning. You each have a job to do, and the only way you’re going to succeed is by helping each other and tapping into the greatest power of all — as Twilight would say — the magic of friendship!”

“But what about the Cradle?” Terrara said, still looking utterly defeated and debased. “I don’t have the strength to continue to keep it operating.”

“I’m pretty sure Volara can assist with the knowledge she has stored away, as long as you’ll listen to what she has to say. Celeste can help as well by directing the magic stored in her crystal cavern to help power it. I’m pretty sure that’s what should have been powering things from the start.”

“But that will leave me without the staff, and without the power of the crystals,” Celeste said. “I’m giving up everything I have, and I get nothing in return. It’s not fair.”

“You need to trust me as well,” Starlight said. “This magic of friendship is some pretty powerful stuff. If you’d just give it a try, I’m sure you’ll find it gives plenty in return. I didn’t think it would before I gave it a try, and I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong.”

“Starlight,” Volara said, “I hate to tell you this, but we’ve been here before. If the past tells me anything, it’s that my sisters won’t listen. We’ll be right back to where we were just a moment ago in no time at all.”

Starlight looked Volara square in the face, glaring down a pony twice her size in full battle armor regalia. “And that’s why you need to be the example, Volara. You’re the oldest, and like it or not, your sisters look up to you. We all make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on them. Help them. Be their friend. Be their sister. If you don’t believe in them, how are they supposed to believe in themselves?”

Volara took a deep breath. “Alright. You have my word that I will not give up on them, no matter how many times they fail to listen and learn.”

“Great!” Starlight said, finally smiling once again. “Now, can you all promise to start acting like family? I know you didn’t get to choose your siblings, but you’re all that you’ve got. You might as well be friends since immortality can be a very lonely existence otherwise.”

“Fine,” Celeste said. “I’ll give it a try as long as they do.”

“I’m willing to try as well,” Terrara said. “I’ve got nothing more to lose.”

“And everything to gain,” Starlight said. “Now, let’s get to work.”

“Thank you, Starlight Glimmer,” the Goddess said, beaming with a warm smile like a proud mentor whose student just aced an exam. “I’ll let my daughters get started so you can get some rest. I believe you’ve earned it.”

Starlight felt the tingle in her backside as her cutie mark pulsed in its typical mission accomplished sign. She bowed her head. “Thank you as well. I’m grateful for your trust, and I hope I’ll see you again, someday.”

“I have a feeling it is your Destiny, Starlight Glimmer. Farewell for now, and give my regards to Twilight and Starswirl.” The Goddess lit her horn and the void filled with a luminescence emanating from her central location.

Starlight closed her eyes as she felt herself slipping back into the plane of reality.

Sunlight sparkled off the memory crystals hanging from the old library roots draped above the cutie map in Twilight’s castle throne room. Three audible pops landed three tired and well traveled ponies in three of the seats around the table.

Starlight sighed in exasperation letting all four hooves hang limp as she slumped into the back of her chair.

Twilight and Starswirl took a moment to gather themselves, noting the oddly satisfying tingle of their own cutie marks.

“So, who’s ready to call it a night? I sure am!” Starlight smiled a coy and knowing tell. The others just looked at her, staring in disbelief, mostly at the lack of wings.

“I have so many questions,” Twilight said.

“And don’t forget about family,” Starswirl added. “I’ve got a lot to catch up on with you as well.”

Twilight continued, “First, the obvious one, aren’t you supposed to be an Alicorn?”

“Turned it down for now.” Starlight propped herself up from her slump. “I don’t think I’m ready to take on this whole world-saving princess business full time. I’ve got enough work as it is just being friends with one.” She smiled and chuckled.

“So what happened with the Fates? And where is the staff?” Starswirl said.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story, but the short version goes: I destroyed the Fork of Destiny in order to help the sisters focus on what’s really important — friends and family.”

Twilight replied, “But doesn’t that mean—”

“Magic is safe, and no pony is losing their cutie mark. Turns out the staff was the problem all along and the sisters just needed to move past it to get to the heart of the issue. Now, if you’ll both excuse me, we’ve all had a very long quest, and I think a good night’s sleep is in order.”

“Well, I guess I’m good if you’re good,” Starswirl said. “And maybe I have a reason to stick around a little longer now? Get to know my niece a little better before I head off to pasture, eh Starlight? I’m sure Twilight won’t object to my taking up one of her guest rooms for, let’s say, the foreseeable future.”

“That’s all I wanted all along,” Twilight said joining in the chuckle as she tossed off her traveling packs. “Promise you’ll fill me in on everything that happened with the sisters, and the Goddess — I still have questions that need answers. But as long as Equestria is safe for now, I’d say we’ve earned a little rest before the next crisis hits. ”

“I promise.” Starlight got down off her chair and headed for the door. “But don’t even start until I’ve had a good ten hours sleep, Twilight.”

“I don’t think the map has a snooze button,” Twilight replied as she and Starswirl followed her out the door.

“Another problem, for another day,” Starlight replied as the door to the throne room swung closed as the last pony exited and the map powered down for the night.

Epilogue

Starlight sat on the edge of her bed, gazing out the window. The moon hung directly above with a million stars dotting the Equestrian night sky. The door to her room was open just a crack when her guest knocked.

“Come in,” Starlight said.

Princess Luna pushed open the door with her magic and crossed the threshold somewhat out of breath.

“Busy night?”

Luna nodded her head. “A little more aggressive than usual, but I wanted to make sure I paid you a visit regardless. I trust all went well with your quest?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.” Starlight motioned to the spot on the bed next to her. “I saved you a spot if you want to have a seat. Take a load off your hooves.”

“I have my rounds to keep, so I can’t stay long.” Luna glanced over at the comfy pillowed comforter and sighed. “Maybe just a few minutes.”

She crossed the floor and lifted herself up onto the bed next to Starlight making sure her mane and tail were properly situated along with tucking in her wings extra tight so as not to interfere with their conversation.

Starlight smiled, glancing over at all the extra work it took to keep everything in check. “I’m not sure I could ever get used to having wings.”

“After the first few decades, you’d wonder how you ever got along without them. Although, they do make for an extra encumbrance when it’s time to sleep.” Luna gave her left wing a little stretch and flap before tucking it back in place.

“So it took some time getting used to the change?”

“I can’t really say for sure. So many things changed all at once in my early years that it’s hard to know the difference. Time is the great equalizer and they quickly became part of who I am.”

“I guess it was pretty much the same for Twilight.” Starlight closed her eyes and propped herself up on her hind quarters with her forelegs outstretched. “Practice makes perfect,” she said, mimicking a pegasus crash landing with her forelegs tilting and waving before dropping down onto the mattress, ending in a little implosion effect.

Luna giggled. “Yes. Yes it was.”

Starlight added a little chuckle before raising her head and turning back to face her mirror on the far wall. The pictures of her friends dotted the edge of the frame — Twilight, and Trixie, Discord, Thorax, and even Sunburst.

“Luna, can I ask you a question?” Starlight said.

“Of course you may, Starlight. That is why I am here.” Luna smiled, resting comfortably for the first time in a few hours since her dreamwalking shift for the night began.

“Do you think I made the right call? Should I have accepted the gift to become an Alicorn?”

Luna took a moment to answer. She raised her right wing and placed it over Starlight’s back. “This world needs good ponies just as much as it needs good princesses. Only you can decide for yourself where you fit into that. Wings or not, you’ve outgrown your past and I see a bright future ahead.”

“A shooting star, with unlimited potential?”

“That’s what I see,” Luna said drawing back her wing. “I think you see it now, too.”

“There’s a long road ahead, but I think I’m starting to.”

Luna nodded her head. “Then I must take my leave. There are plenty of others out there that cannot see the forest for the trees, and I must tend to them.” Luna rose from the bed and steadily walked toward the door.

“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Starlight said. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank you, Princess Starlight Glimmer.” Luna turned back and winked before walking out and closing the door behind her.

Starlight watched as she left, a feeling of accomplishment and pride washing over her as she caught out of the corner of her eye a shooting star pass over the castle.

2 - Let Sleeping Nightmares Lie

“I’ll be fine,” Twilight said. The awkward pose she held, tail end half propped up on her hindquarters with horn and mane dangling over the edge of the pillow-rest of the Rarity designed, velvet padded bench in the Friendship Express royal passenger compartment, said otherwise.

Starlight stared back with a disapproving glare. “You passed out and spent the entire afternoon in the hospital. I don’t think you realize how not fine you are. You should get some rest.”

The afternoon had flown by, for some. Starlight and Starswirl rushed Twilight to the hospital where Doctor Horse took no time at all in giving his standard prognosis of princess-induced stress that always plagued his favorite patient. Twilight roused, the trio spent the next few hours debating if she could be forced to stay the night and sleep it off, or if she would just up and leave by invoking royal prerogative on account of important friendship duties she had to attend to — the usual. Having arrived at another stalemate, the magical trio found themselves boarding a train for Canterlot, much to the chagrin of Twilight who wanted to just have everypony teleport there instead. Starlight forced her hoof using common sense and logic, the worst kind of way to win an argument with Twilight, by pointing out the fact that all three of them weren’t in the best of shape to be using that kind of long distance travel magic when they weren’t all feeling their best - that, and they could all use the chance to rest that a long train ride would provide.

A nice, quiet train ride.

Not only had the events of that morning worn them down, the recent battle with the Pony of Shadows hadn’t done them any favors. Twilight and her friends, along with the ancient Pillars of Equestria, had given their all to overcome the darkness and save the pony trapped within, Stigian. Even for an alicorn princess, the amount of magic brought to bear in that fight gave Twilight plenty of reasons to take it easy for the next few days, if not weeks in magical recovery. Starlight, and even the great Starswirl the Bearded, could say as much given their part in the shadow play. For even the most powerful unicorns, magic had its limits and needed time to regenerate, or there stood a very real chance of losing it altogether. The ancient stories of ponies expending their magical energy stores in managing the rising and setting of the sun and moon gave one pause to think before exerting magic beyond its natural limits. Fortuitous though it was, Celestia and Luna’s gift for controlling celestial bodies saved many a unicorn from what some would consider a fate worse than death, but with untold numbers having succumb prior to their ascension.

Starswirl gazed intently out the window as he bounced along in his seat with the rhythmic clacking of the wheels of the train car rolling down the track toward Canterlot. “I can’t wait to get back to the castle and see what’s become of my research and notes. Back in my time, it would have taken the better part of two days travel from your village to Canterlot. That is, if you didn’t just teleport, or fly, for those so inclined.”

The non sequitur barely grazed Twilight’s comprehension as she lay in a relative daze.

“Yeah - we’ll get settled in tonight, and get a good sleep so we can start fresh in the morning,” Starlight quipped, then held up a hoof to mask her mouth from Twilight, “at least that’s what you promised we’d do in order to get Twilight released from the hospital and make sure she doesn’t over-stress the mission, right?”

Starswirl waved a hoof nonchalantly and continued to gaze out the window. “Oh, of course. Tomorrow.”

Twilight looked like she was about to say something in return, but opened her mouth to a giant yawn instead. The urge to argue the point of teleporting nearly escaped her mouth, but she held it in owing to how tired she felt. However, she stretched out a leg and wiggled her backside into a more comfortable depth of the crack between the seat cushion and the seat back before replying. “We’ve been tasked with a friendship mission, and as the Princess of Friendship, it is my duty to make sure that I do everything in my power to help resolve the friendship problem that the map sent us to handle. It can’t wait. I can’t take a vacation, or even a nap, knowing that somepony out there needs our help.” Her foreleg flopped back down to her side.

Starlight just shook her head. “Twilight, I don’t know if this is the best idea for all of us to dive into this friendship mission right away. You and Starswirl both seem to have some lingering issues from the battle with the Pony of Shadows, and the map wasn’t exactly clear on where this journey might take us.” Starlight had her own misgivings about heading into trouble, not the least of which was her own state of being. Not that anypony else needed to know, but looking at her companions, she felt like she might be the most able-bodied pony among them, and that thought alone made her anxious like she’d never been before.

“I said I’ll be fine.” Twilight rubbed her left eye and blinked hard to try and keep it open all the way. Her feelings at the moment teetered on the verge of an emotional hurricane. On the one hoof she had to deal with the fallout from meeting and immediately having to prove herself to her idol, and then the actual fight that had drained much of her magical fortitude, not to mention the hours long debate with Starswirl from that morning and again that afternoon. “Like you said, I’m just a bit tired and a little stressed about what we’re supposed to be doing is all. For all we know there could be a flock of sirens attacking Equestria from all sides. We have to get to the bottom of this, and… [yawn] I can’t stop to rest when the map made it clear that I was needed to help solve a friendship problem.” She glanced over at Starswirl, still gazing out the window and looking none the worse for wear given his advanced age.

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. Maybe the map was wrong — maybe you can sit this one out, or we could get somepony else to help?” Starlight’s brow furrowed as she watched her friend fighting the need to sleep and recover after all that she had been through recently. Starswirl certainly put on a good front, but she could tell he wasn’t running at one hundred percent either. The old mage was an expert at hiding things, but she was an even better expert at seeing through ponies deceptions.

“This whole area used to be a swamp,” Starswirl quipped, pointing out the window, seemingly ever so oblivious to the mares continuing conversation.

Twilight waved off both comments with a flagging sweep and flop of a foreleg. “There isn’t anypony else that can help right now. Everypony’s off helping the Pillars get reacquainted with what remains of their old homes and families. We’re the only ponies left that can do this… whatever it is.”

“What about Princess Luna, or Princess Celestia? Maybe we could ask Sunset Shimmer—”

“Princess Luna is helping Stygian… uhhh… adjust to life without the influence… evil that lived inside him… nearly consumed him. Princess Celestia… visiting the Crystal Empire… making sure… Cadance and my brother… overwhelmed with… baby alicorn. …And Sunset… finals… human problems…” Twilight rolled her head down against the pillow at the end of the bench. “…all Equestria’s got… have to…”

Starlight just shook her head as Twilight dozed off.

Starswirl hummed softly to himself as they rode through the countyside and into the foothills of the Canterhorn Mountains, making their way into the outskirts of Canterlot proper as the sun began to set against a glimmer of sparkling lights from much further North while Luna’s moon rose into place above the peak.

“Rise and shine, sleepy head.” Starlight drew back the curtain letting the early morning sun spill across the royal bed where Twilight lay.

Twilight cracked open an eye and quickly pulled a wing across her face while rolling away from the light. She groaned and began to rub her flank which felt like it had taken a buck from one of Applejack’s tree shaking kicks, just without the bruising plainly evident in the spot where her cutie mark sat.

Starlight approached her bedside and gingerly placed a hoof against Twilight’s shoulder. “Sorry to wake you, but it looks like Starswirl wanted to get an early start.”

Twilight heaved a heavy sigh. “How long have I been asleep?” She rolled her head around to face Starlight, an awkward smile forming with the crust of an extended night’s drool clinging to the matted fur around her chin.

“Long enough.” Starlight pulled a hoof to her mouth to hide a grin of her own. “Let’s get you out of bed, showered, and fed, and then maybe we can catch up to what Starswirl’s found so far.”

“What?!” Twilight sprang to attention. “I thought we agreed to work on this together? What has he been up to?” The sheets tangled around Twilight’s legs as she kicked to free herself from their grasp. Her wings flapped as she struggled, near smacking Starlight in the face. “Ahhhh!” she snorted, lighting her horn and instantly teleporting a whole two feet in the air above the bed. A few feathers broke loose and drifted to floor as she flapped her way toward the wash room, mumbling to herself as she went.

Starlight tailed behind, tidying the fallen plumage in her wake. “I’m not sure, but by the looks of things, he’s been up all night tearing through the Royal Archives. I think he’s looking for something in particular.”

The wash room door slammed in Starlight’s face as Twilight crossed the threshold. The fall of running water came soon after. All Starlight could make out in the series of grunts and groans coming from the shower included a few references to an ‘idol’ and ‘promises’ and ‘trust’. She waited patiently as Twilight put herself together thinking that she definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed, that side being the up-side.

After the long train ride and tending to Twilight through most of the day before that, she was gradually getting used to the role typically handled by Spike. Straight off the train, she’d half-carried and mostly levitated Twilight up the hill from Canterlot Station, waived off the guards at the door of the Royal Tower, and made sure she got her settled in bed before retiring for the night herself. A good night’s rest came as welcome balm given their abrupt departure from Ponyville. She hadn’t even packed for much else than what got tossed in or swapped out of her small travel bag from the last journey she had taken with the girls. However, the old wizard either didn’t find a bed to his liking, or discovered that after one thousand years in limbo, he didn’t require much sleep to keep himself vertical.

The guards just shrugged when Starlight questioned why the Archive looked like Pinkie Pie had detonated her super-duper party cannon after magically tracking Starswirl’s hoofsteps leading from his room straight over to the Archive shortly after she woke. She continued her minor interrogation asking them how long he had been searching through the stacks, and the only response they could give was that he had been at it since at least the last shift change. That’s when she turned her attention to Twilight and making sure she didn’t miss any more of the fun, leaving Starswirl to continue his search in peace, at least, for the moment.

Twilight emerged from the wash room looking ten times better than when she went in, but that still wasn’t saying much, all things considered. Her matted fur and feathers had partially settled into place as she ran a stiff brush through the length of her stubborn mane continuing on through her tail. The magical brush strokes were quick and careless, yanking the hairs rather than coaxing them into submission. The aura holding the brush aloft sputtered and reformed multiple times in the process. A toothbrush fell from the edge of the sink as she tossed the brush aside. Neither pony gave it a second thought.

“Where is he?” Twilight said, eyes focused straight ahead as she marched toward the door and into the hall beyond. Her grumpy attitude had soured even further in the time it took to wash the drool off her face and attack the mess of feathers in her wings that dared be crooked at a time like this.

Starlight shook her head and fell into a brisk trot keeping pace with the Princess. “Probably still in the library - been there for a while by the guard’s account. Do you want to get breakfast first?” She already knew Twilight’s answer, but she asked anyway. A couple bowls of oats, some fresh fruit, and a muffin or two had already been laid out in the dining room, the castle staff tending to their guests even in the absence of the Royal Sisters.

Twilight clipped through the hallway with a steadfast determination in her trot. The guards patrolling throughout the castle living quarters dove to the side and saluted as she went. She knew the fastest way to the library, and could have simply teleported there, but Starlight noticed she made a point of announcing her approach with every echoing hooffall. She was building to a boil her emotional steam.

And then, she stopped.

Starlight nearly ran straight into Twilight read end. A sudden flick of her own magic teleported her safely to the other side in avoiding the collision.

Twilight reared up, backpeddled a couple feet, and pivoted to the side. She lowered her head and stomped past the still saluting guard standing watch near an open doorway. Mere feet through the door, a now somewhat familiar voice greeted her.

“Good morning, Princess. I trust you slept well?” Starswirl sat at the table, an empty bowl of oats and a half-eaten bran muffin in front of him. An old, weather-worn tome perched in his horngrasp in the air beside him like he was taking in the morning paper with his couple bits of breakfast. “Care to join me for a bite to eat?”

Starlight approached. Twilight took a few deep breaths. Starswirl took another deep bite of muffin and went back to studying the book.

“Come on, Twilight. Let’s have something to eat and get things started on the right hoof.” Starlight gestured reassuringly toward the table.

Twilight snarled and begrudgingly made her way forward. “Looks like somepony’s already started without me.” She carried herself to the bench and propped up on her haunches to the sight of the buffet spread in front of her. Starlight took a seat by her side. A kitchen assistant hurriedly levitated over another pair of place settings.

Starswirl never took his eyes away from the book. “You know, Twilight, it’s almost as if the royal librarian didn’t want me to find this old thing. I spent practically the entire morning trying to track it down.”

Starlight kept her head down and began munching on her bowl of oats.

Twilight stared straight ahead ignoring the food. “Oh really? Don’t you mean, most of the night?” The tone of her voice could be felt as chill and biting as it sounded from the echo throughout the dining chamber.

“Well,” Starswirl replied, turning the book aside and raising an eyebrow in Twilight’s direction, “I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Since I didn’t actually leave my bed chambers to start my search until after midnight, it was technically morning when I began my hunt. As well, this old beauty wasn’t exactly where I left it, but I suppose that was to be expected after one thousand years.” He raised a strawberry from the fruit bowl and devoured it in a single bite. Starlight glanced up for just a moment before grabbing a muffin and sunk back into her chair, pretending not to notice or get in the way of the chess match from the previous day now resumed.

“So, where was it,” Twilight said, annoyed mainly with the fact that he hadn’t involved her in the search but also concerned about the mixing of breakfast food and ancient relics, “and what is it?”

“Well, to be perfectly honest, I thought I had left it in my personal washroom pile next to the old study hall in the Royal Archives, but the librarian kept insisting that whole area had been annexed by Celestia centuries ago and was now referred to as the restricted section. I always did enjoy a good read while relieving my—”

“You broke into the restricted section?!” Twilight howled. “But, but how?”

“Ha! It wasn’t hard. It seems Celestia never bothered changing the locks, so my horn still had access. Such a careless filly, she was, and apparently still is.” Starswirl smiled proudly.

Twilight fumed.

Starlight held up a hoof, sensing the climax of Twilight’s rage building past the boiling point, and Starswirl oblivious to the way he was making it worse with every word that came out of his mouth. “I think we should focus on the what, and not the where or the how of the book Starswirl recovered from the restricted section.” She glanced quickly between the two of them, nodding and smiling, passing from Twilight’s grit teeth and swirl of smoke lifting off her horn then back to Starswirl with the obtuse gleam in his eye. “So… what is it?”

“It’s the oldest known book in Equestria!” Starswirl beamed. “At least I think it still is. Perhaps you’ve discovered something older than this over the course of my absence, but that doesn’t change the fact of how old this particular book is. Even if it’s the second oldest book in all the land, it’s still—well—old.”

Twilight’s jaw nearly hit the table.

Starswirl continued. “This tome is so ancient, not even I understand half the things that are written in here. It was passed down to me from my mother, and her mother and mother before her and beyond. Book’s been in my family for countless generations.” He casually flipped it around to show the girls. Fancy glyphs in a language never before seen in Twilight’s studies filled the page the book was open to display. “I had a feeling it might come in useful seeing as ever since I returned from limbo I’ve been hearing the strangest voices in my head—not that I’m hearing voices—just something I haven’t experienced in a very long time. The effect of the map seems to have clarified the source of the voice which has been calling me here ever since. So, please forgive me if I got an early start. It doesn’t really matter since it took me all night searching to find it, which also gave you plenty of time to rest. So, shall we can get going?”

Starswirl closed the book with a thud as the pages snapped back together as if belying their true age. He got up from his seat and turned toward the exit. Pausing briefly, he motioned back to the girls. “So, are you coming, or not?”

“Where are we going?” Starlight asked through a mouthful of milk-soaked oats.

“The Cavern of Crystal Lights,” Starswirl said. “Are you ready to go, or do either of you need to use the little fillies room first?”

Twilight yanked a muffin out of the basket and swiftly drew it over to her mouth taking a huge bite and nearly devouring it whole. Following that up with an achingly big gulp of juice to wash it all down, she hopped down off her chair and said, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Starlight levitated what she could from the leftovers on the table into her pack and fell in line with the other two as they quickly left the dining room without saying another word.