Prologue
“SPI-I-I-I-I-IKE!” Twilight was searching every inch of her room for something that probably wasn’t there. She wasn’t sure what she was searching for any longer, but continued to search as if that would help, somehow. She also had no idea why she was yelling at Spike; but then again, she did that often enough.
The lavender unicorn had received a letter from Celestia an hour ago telling her to catch the next train to Canterlot with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. The letter seemed to be written in a hurry, so Twilight guessed it was really important to the Princess of the Sun. She had notified her friends immediately, and made plans to meet at the station.
“What now?” Spike sounded bored as he walked slowly out of the kitchen. Twilight had figured he should stay and watch the library while she was gone. She had asked Colgate to lend him a hoof every now, but she suspected he’d be fine.
“Ehmm. Never mind, I forgot what I was looking for, anyway. I think I’m ready to go now...” Twilight embraced Spike in a tight hug. She caught a glimpse of the clock sitting on a nearby table, and realized she had lost the track of time and was almost running late. Yelling a final, hurried “Goodbye!”, she galloped through the front door of the library towards the train station.
It was early Autumn and the leaves were already starting to fall, though it was two weeks until the next Running of the Leaves. Twilight was starting to regret the fact that she did not bring her boots. It was 06:25 in the evening, and the last sliver of sun was setting over the horizon. Twilight thought it was a bit early but she did not give it further thought as she approached the train station where her friends were already waiting.
“What’s going on? Why’d you drag us all down here so suddenly, Twilight?” It was Rainbow Dash speaking. She looked a bit annoyed. “I was having a da... Movie night with Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash blushed a bit but, no pony else seemed to notice. Twilight was unsure of what she had heard, but she decided to let it go for now.
“I was in the middle of sketching a design for my newest dress when you teleported in, so yes, I believe we do deserve an explanation, Twilight.” This time it was Rarity speaking. Applejack, next to her, nodded in agreement. Fluttershy hid behind her hair as she always did.
“Are we going to a party?!” It was Pinkie Pie’s amazingly hyper voice speaking. She was jumping on the spot as she always did when she was excited. “Oh oh oh is it a surprise party? I love surprises! Especially the ones where you come in the door and it’s dark and suddenly lots of ponies jumps out and scream SURPRISE! I always love those, or is it a-” She was cut off by a cyan colored hoof in her mouth.
“Thanks, Rainbow. We’re all here because I received a letter from Princess Celestia herself.” She pulled out the scroll she had received earlier that day, and started reading
Twilight,
I need you to come to Canterlot on the next train. It’s an emergency. Please be as kind as to bring your friends, as well.
Princess Celestia
‘’Th-That sounds r-really bad...’’ Fluttershy whispered.
‘’Lets get on that train, then!’’ Applejack answered.
On the train they began discussing possibilities for why the Princess would make such haste about them coming to Canterlot. Maybe Discord had escaped again? Or maybe the changelings were back? They had a lot of theories. Twilight, however, just sat there. She had received such a letter from her teacher. This could not only be bad, this could be really, really bad.
When they arrived, the sun had gone down, but the moon had still not appeared. This was odd, but Twilight had bigger things on her mind. They were greeted by Shining Armor, the lavender unicorn’s brother. When Twilight asked what the problem was, he refused to answer. He shook his head, saying Celestia would explain when they arrived.
Twilight was surprised at this; her brother always told her everything... Her stomach was turning over. This was beyond bad.
They entered the throne room where Celestia was pacing back and forth. Her eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like she had been crying. The Princess crying? There was something terribly wrong about this situation. Twilight automatically trotted to her and began asking questions. Celestia stood silently a short while longer before speaking up.
She spoke so quietly no one was able to hear what she said. She tried again, but the effort started her crying again. Twilight had never seen the Princess like this before. What was happening?
Celestia seemed to have given up on trying to say anything, and was moving towards the doors that led to Luna’s chamber. Twilight and her friends followed. Celestia opened the doors.
Luna was inside. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she tried to back up, but her hooves felt glued to the floor. She heard a gasp, and somepony behind her crying, but she could not avert her eyes.
Before her, in her bed, lay Luna. There was blood all around her. She had a knife sticking into her chest, just above where her heart was.
The Princess of the Night was dead.
~~~~~~~~~
Authors Note:
This is my first fic, hopefully it will be good,
Thanks to Aryn240 for editing and helping me out!
Also please give me feedback, i really need it.
Chapter 1: Plans and explanations
Chapter 1
“Oh, no” The dark grey unicorn known as Aryn was looking at the sky. He was a traveling entertainer and musician in Equestria. What his audience never knew (and never discovered, if he was lucky), however, was that he was a skilled thief; a talent only used when needed. He was also quite skilled with a sword. His mane was black and brown, a decent length. Somehow, despite he was a skilled entertainer, a good thief and a fine warrior, he was still fairly young, and did not as of yet have his cutie mark.
Aryn galloped as fast as he could towards the castle. It was a short run from his little stage, where he had been conducting a show in a nearby garden in Canterlot, to the main gates. Once there, he was stopped by the guards.
“The castle is off limits at the moment!” One of the guards said coldly.
Aryn contemplated him. In a calm voice, he said, “As the night falls apart, and the stars glow brighter than the moon, the world’s veins will cut themselves, and Equestria will be no more.”
Normally, this sentence would have earned any pony a direct trip to a mental hospital. However, all the night guards knew the code, and the unicorn was let in.
The guards bowed and parted. “Apologies, sir, there has been an murder in the castle. The security has been doubled, accordingly.”
“I can understand that.” With that Aryn galloped towards the castle once more. He rushed into the main hall only to see a crying Celestia, and six mares he did not recognize. His best guess was that they were friends of Celestia. They all seemed shocked, and no pony spoke. He snuck in behind them, and made his way towards the Queen of the Night’s room. His presence was quickly discovered when a gasp escaped his mouth as he came upon the corpse.
“And just who are you?” A white unicorn with a purple mane spoke. Aryn was still in shock, and it took him a couple of seconds to answer.
“I’m Aryn,” he answered. “I’m here to bring a message to Princess Celestia from Luna.” At this, the Princess of the Sun winced.
“Luna can be saved, though it’ll be difficult, and the journey will be long.”
“How?!!!!”
Everypony took a step back from Celestia’s sudden, loud outburst. She glanced at the stunned faces, and then straightened herself up and spoke with the calm voice her subjects were used to.
“I’m sorry. This has been a very difficult time for me, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Aryn had already moved on. “I will explain more tomorrow. For now you, must get some sleep. We will have to rise fairly early tomorrow, if we want to reach the first checkpoint on our journey.”
Celestia looked suspicious. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Luna told me you would probably be skeptical. Here’s my proof that I was sent from her: Luna’s first crush was Merlin Stars Swirl the bearded.”
Celestia was shocked. Luna had never told anypony but her about her first crush.
She kept her voice calm and controlled.“I suppose I’ll have to take your word, then. However, I insist that the first thing we do is bury her body.” Celestia turned towards the bed and stopped, now visibly shaken. In the bed was the murder weapon, but that was all that remained. The body of the Princess of the Night was missing. The Princess of the Sun had, actually, never seen the death of an Alicorn, so she was just as surprised as the others.
No pony could sleep well that night. Aryn sat in Celestia’s work room going over the plan. A numbered map sat in front of him. A few items were needed, given by a list on the side of the map.
The Elements of Harmony. The only item which that was not given a location.
Scales of a full grown dragon. That doesn’t sound good.
Ashes of a phoenix. Sounds simple enough?
The blood of an Alicorn. Celestia is not going to be happy about that one.
The sphere of a thousand flames. This was marked with the number five on the map. Never heard of that one. Guess we’ll just have to see.
The map covered all of Equestria. He noticed that number five was on top of a mountain north of Clopenhagen. In addition, he saw something that looked like a portal deep inside a huge forest.
From behind him, a voice. “You couldn’t sleep either?”
Aryn was caught off guard and jumped in surprise. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” He turned around and saw the lavender unicorn from earlier.
“Not a problem. I was just startled.” He gestured at the map. “Just looking over things for tomorrow.” He looked curiously at the other unicorn. “I never got your name, by the way.”
“Twilight Sparkle. And I believe you mentioned your name earlier? Something with ‘a’, right?”
“Aryn, yes. How do you know the Princess? Why were you here tonight?” The dark grey unicorn was curious about what kind of companions he would have on this quest. Celestia had already informed him that the six mares that had been in the throne room would be accompanying them.
The unicorn smiled with pride. “I’m her personal protege. I’m also the element of magic.”
Aryn was confused. “‘Element of magic’? What do you mean by that?”
Twilight looked at him like he had just claimed the world was round, or that it circled around the sun instead of the opposite. Everypony who had passed kindergarten knew that.
“One of the six Elements of Harmony... You do know what those are, I hope?” She asked with just a tiny bit of cockiness in her voice.
“If my answer was no, would that be such a bad thing?” Aryn asked, testing Twilights patience.
Her resulting expression caused him to realize that she was in great confusion at this, and he had to suppress his laughter.
“If you don’t even know what the Elements of Harmony are, why would Luna give YOU this responsibility? You must have been living under a rock for the last ten years!” Twilight looked like she was about to explode. Looking at her, Aryn couldn’t hold it anymore, and laughed so hard he fell on his back rolling around. The unicorn stared at him in disbelief. After a short while, he got to his hooves and glanced at her.
“Sorry. No, I have not been living under a rock for the last ten years. I’m a traveling entertainer. The reason Luna chose me is a tad hard to explain on its own. It would be easier just to tell the whole story.” Twilight seemed to have calmed down, and now looked curious. Aryn glanced at her. “I’ll take the silence as a ‘yes’.”
“I was on my way to a small town called Ponyville, when I got lost in a large forest I think the locals called it the Everfree. When I entered, I had no idea about how dangerous it was, and I was quickly lost. I think I had been walking in circles for over an hour when I heard a loud roar. It was too dark to see anything, so I used the basic spell for illumination. When I turned around, I found a manticore preparing to leap at me. I barely managed to dodge its surprise attack by jumping to the left. I pulled out my sword with my magic, and prepared myself for another strike. The manticore turned to me again, angered at its failed first attack. It stared balefully into my eyes, and I feared for my life. It made to jump at me again, and I began to dodge, but instead of leaping straight at me, it flapped his wings and flew above me. I was left stunned for a second by the maneuver, and he whipped his tail straight into my side. I screamed out in pain before blacking out from the wound.”
The next thing I remember is waking up on an improvised bed in some kind of ruins. I tried to move, but the pain was far too great.
I heard a voice. ‘Don’t move. You’re badly injured. The manticore struck you pretty hard, and you were quite lucky that I was nearby to save you.’
‘My name is Luna. What are you called?’
It took a moment to process all she had said. ‘Princess Luna? I’m injured, in the middle of a forest, being tended to by the one and only Princess of the Night? I must be dead.’
I saw a small frown on her face before she burst into laughter. ‘I must confess, I certainly did not expect that.’ Luna laughed, and explained that she had been flying nearby when she had heard the attack. We discussed various topics the rest of the night while her magic strengthened me, and the next day, I was strong enough for her to fly me to a hospital in Ponyville.
I was there for a whole month. Luna visited me regularly, and I told her about my life in exchange for her telling me some stories of her own. She confessed to me that she often tired of the formality of being a ruler, and wanted to hear the stories of somepony with a more exciting life.
When I was finally released, she told me a secret, in exchange for a promise to not share with anypony. She knew she would be killed within the next 20 years. She had no idea when, why, or how, but she had foreseen her own death in a vision. I asked her how she had done that. The fact that she was the goddess of dreams and prophecy helped explain. She also told me that she had done some research on the death of an Alicorn.
If killed through violence, an Alicorn goes to Tartarus. However, since Alicorns are immortal, they can’t truly die. Therefore, they can be recovered. The only way to bring them back is for a pony or group of ponies to gather a few particular items, and go to tartarus themselves.
After I had accepted all this, she gave me this map and some notes, and told me if there ever was a night without the stars or the moon, and I had not heard from her, I would have to get to Canterlot as quickly as possible, and share what I knew with Celestia. She gave me a secret password to gain access to the castle before departing. I received a few messages over the years, but that was the last time I saw her. Until tonight.”
Twilight had become completely lost in the story. When Aryn had finished, she snapped out of her daze and opened her mouth. Nothing came out. After a couple of seconds, she was able to speak again.
“Oh. Good night, then.” Twilight answered with her own yawn, and returned to her room.
Aryn trotted over to the guest chamber he had been allowed, and drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors note:
~~
Chapter one’s here. Introducing Aryn 240’s OC who is gonna have a huge role in the fic! Please check out his stories; he’s awesome!
Also, feedback is appreciated! I have no idea if i’m rushing the story too much, or using too little details, or whatever. If you have a comment, let me know! :D
Chapter 2: The journey begins?
Chapter 2
Aryn woke to the sound of hooves clopping against the cold stone floor. He shifted in bed in order to see who it was. Before him, standing proud and regal as always, was the Princess of the Sun. She seemed to have adopted her “ever calm” look again. Aryn was surprised by Celestia’s control over her emotions, considering the previous night’s events, but the princess did seem her royal self.
Suddenly, he realized that Celestia had been talking to him. “I’m really sorry, Princess, I was lost in my thoughts. Could you repeat that?”
At this Celestia chuckled. “No harm done. I was simply trying to tell you that all the other ponies are up and ready to listen to your plan, if you’re ready to present.” The Princess turned to leave, then hesitated, unsure. “And...If you are a friend of Luna, then you are a friend of mine. Please call me... Celestia.”
Aryn was feeling a bit stressed now. The lead rule of being an entertainer is to never let your crowd wait too long, and that’s what he was doing. That, combined with his sudden awakening, and the Princess asking him to use an informal name, was making this morning a bit surreal. “Thank you for waking me up Pr- um, Celestia. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Celestia left the room and Aryn got out of bed. He tugged his mane into a somewhat reasonable state, and went outside to the hallway. Down the hallway to the left was Luna’s chamber. To the right were the doors to the throne room. In front of him were two large doors which lead to the ‘Royal food quarters’, as the sign said. Aryn took a right and stopped before two medium-sized doors that said ‘Conference Hall’. I guess this is the place. He pushed open the door with his magic and moved in.
Inside, seven ponies were waiting. They all looked extremely tired, aside from Celestia. A cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane seemed to have fallen asleep on a pink earth pony, who didn’t seem to be having the same problem; Aryn noticed that the pink pony was almost vibrating with energy. Assuming this pony would be quite loud, and wake the pegasus on top of her, he smiled to himself as he asked a simple question.
“Okay, I need you all to introduce yourselves to me before we go. Starting with you.” He pointed a hoof at the pink pony. “I’ve already met you,” he added, nodding to Twilight.
“Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m throwing this party just for you!” she almost screamed. Aryn was confused. What party? He opened his mouth, but before he could ask his question,Pinkie Pie dragged a cannon out of nowhere and fired it without any kind of hesitation. The next thing Aryn knew, the whole room was filled with streamers, candy, music and everything else a party needed.
The formerly sleeping pegasi jumped at least three feet out of shock and landed on her belly. Twilight facehoofed. The white unicorn and the orange earth pony just sighed. The pink maned pegasi squeaked and jumped almost as high as the first pegasi did. Aryn wasn’t sure what to think.
“What the hay did you do that for?!” the blue pegasi asked. Pinkie just giggled in response.
Aryn finally managed to speak up. “Okay, let’s go on with the names, shall we?”
“What about the party?” Pinkie Pie looked a bit disappointed.
“How about after we get the Princess back?” Aryn was getting desperate to move on. The time was limited, and the journey would be pretty long.
“Okey dokey lokey! Then we can have a welcome back Princess Luna party, too!” Pinkie Pie was even more cheerful than when Aryn had first come in. She was bouncing on the spot. The stallion was pretty sure she could explode at any moment.
“-With streamers, and balloons and music and... did I say streamers?”
The next pony in line ignored her. “Quite enough with the silliness. My name is Rarity, Ponyville’s local fashionista.” Rarity said, extending a hoof.
“Pleased to meet you, miss Rarity.” Aryn returned the gesture before looking over at the orange earth pony, who grinned at him.
“Howdy, name’s Applejack! Mighty fine to meet ya!” Applejack introduced herself while shaking his hoof furiously. Before Aryn could respond, the cyan colored pegasi shot straight at him and landed a couple of inches from his face.
“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in Equestria, and soon to become captain of the Wonderbolts.” she said with a lot of pride in her voice. Aryn liked her attitude, and so forgave her the aggression. Rainbow seemed like the kind of pony who would never back down. It kind of reminded him of Daring Do, that book series all the fillies were in love with.
Down to the last mare. Aryn trotted over to the yellow pegasi with the pink mane, and extended his hoof, smiling.. She backed away from the stallion and hid her face in her mane. Aryn looked over at Celestia.
Before Celestia could say anything, although, Twilight broke in with a sigh. “That’s Fluttershy. She’s a tad... well, shy.”
Aryn nodded, wondering how the yellow mare would fit in at all on the journey. Putting it out of his mind, he slowly walked to the end of the table in the middle of the room. Gesturing for the rest of them to stand around the table, he pulled out the map with his magic.
“Okay. Before we descend into Tartarus, we need five items. The first thing is the Elements of Harmony. The map I have doesn't tell me where I can find those, but you mentioned them earlier.” He pointed at Twilight. “What exactly are the Elements of Harmony?” Six of the ponies stared dumbfounded at Aryn. He looked at the seventh, the Princess and prayed to Cel... Luna that she would act less childish than the others.
He was correct. “The Elements of Harmony are one of the most powerful weapons in Equestria; the very elements that make up the power of the peace in the land. In order to use them, the six spirits of the elements, usually represented in ponies, must wear the amulets that represent each one.”
Aryn took this in. “So... where do we find these six spirits?”
“We’re right here!” the six elements shouted, in perfect harmony.
Aryn was taken aback for a moment. The others shared a small laugh at his face. Aryn felt the tension in the room gone, for the moment. This made it easier to explain his plan, or at least the next part.
“Okay, so, second thing on the list is: a scale, from a full grown dragon. I know a pony in a small village north of Canterlot who would probably be able to get us one, but if I remember right, he’ll want a pretty hefty favor for it.
The next item on the list is ashes from a phoenix. Do any of you know where we can find a phoenix?”
“What about Philomena?” Twilight asked.
Aryn didn’t know who that was, but he listened as the Princess answered. “She’s not reincarnating for about six months.” Celestia answered with a small frown.
“We’ll just have to try and figure out that part later. Now, the fourth item is not that hard to get, I hope. The blood of an alicorn.”
Aryn looked up at Celestia and prayed to Luna that she wouldn’t be angry. Celestia didn’t look angry, but her expression was far from pleased.
“What is it, Princess?”
“The blood of one of my kind is a very powerful thing. If it falls into the wrong hooves, Equestria as we know it could end. We were quite lucky to catch Luna’s killer before he managed to escape. If he had, with some of Luna’s blood on him, no pony could say what could had happened.”
Aryn could see why Celestia was worried, and went on. “Alright. I guess we’ll leave that until it’s absolutely necessary. The last item on the map, then, is the ‘Sphere of a Thousand Flames’. It’s located on the top of a mountain, north of Clopenhagen. From the location, I’m guessing it’s not going to be easy to retrieve. Also, I lack any helpful information on this one. Do any of you have any clue what it might be, and what we have to do with it?”
The six elements just shook their heads. The unicorn stallion looked over at Celestia, who appeared to be deep in thought. After about thirty seconds she shook her head.
Aryn sighed. “Then we’ll just have to improvise as we go. With the recent assassination of Luna, I believe traveling as a Princess would not be safe. Your sister mentioned how you can hide your celestial form when I was in hospital. Can you do that, during the journey?” The unicorn held his breath, hoping that was an appropriate request. If not, he was not treading deep water right now.
“Hide my celestial form? ….Hmmm. That’s something I haven’t had the freedom to do for over a decade.” Without further warning, Celestia began to radiate light. The brightness was overwhelming, and the seven other ponies in the room had to look away. After a moment, the light died out, and they could feel a divine presence leave the room. Where Celestia had stood was now an alicorn the size of a normal pony. She was white, just like her normal form, but her mane was pink instead of multi colored, and it did not magically flow as her other one did.
“When I’m in this form, I tend to go under the name ‘Sunny Skies’. Now, if you all will excuse me, I need to get everything set, so the castle can handle my responsibility for the time this will take.” She began to leave, then paused, looking back.
“Oh, and Applejack- I’ll have the castle send bits to your farm so they may hire someone to take over your chores while we’re gone. And you, Rarity; I can furnish the bits needed to cover the expenses of the boutique when we come back.”
“That sounds like a fine deal ta me, thankya kindly, Princess.” Applejack answered. She would normally have rejected such an offer, but the farm could never manage without her for a long period of time. At least, not if no pony took her chores for a while.
Rarity, however, declined. “There is no need for that, thank you. I can afford shutting down the boutique for a while. The business has been excellent after Hoity Toity saw my collection.”
Celestia nodded. “The rest of you, please write the letters you need in order for Ponyville to continue with your absence while we’re gone. We shall meet here again in a hour. I’ll take care of supplies for the trip.” With that, the Princess of the Sun was out the door, closely followed by a concerned-looking Twilight.
“Well, shucks, ah gotta write to the farm. Would ya mind helping me out, Rarity?” Applejack looked over at the fashionista with a very friendly smile. Aryn could clearly see there was something beyond friendship there.
“Certainly. I could never leave a friend in need.” Rarity beamed before trotting out of the room behind Applejack. A couple of seconds later, Fluttershy exited the room without a single word. Aryn had barely noticed her doing so.
Rainbow Dash looked at Aryn. “Hey, could you-! Err... What was the name again?”
Pinkie answered first.“Oh Dashie, you’re such a silly filly! His name is... What was your name?”
“I suppose I never did introduce myself properly. Name’s Aryn, nice to meet you two.”
“Cool! Well, what I was going to ask, was if you could maybe help me write a letter back to Ponyville? I hate putting unnecessary things in my mouth, like a quill.” Rainbow explained.
“You didn’t mind having my tongue in your mouth!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily.
“Pinkie! That was supposed to be a secret! you pinkiepromised not to tell anypony!” Rainbow Dash was blushing furiously.
“No, you said I couldn’t tell any of our friends! Aryn isn’t our friend.” Pinkie Pie gasped in horror. “Oh no! He’s not! Aryn, do you wanna be my friend? Do you? Do you?”
The pegasus ignored her. “Please don’t tell anyone!”
“First of all, sure, I’ll help you. Second. Your secret is safe with me, buuutt...” Aryn looked amused. “...I think other ponies just might notice.” He looked at Pinkie. “Third... I suppose?”
“YAY!”
~~~~
Aryn was trotting towards Celestia’s chambers. He knew that the princess probably was busy, but this topic was way too important to ignore any longer. He was about to knock on the door when he heard a small moan from inside. He hesitated. The guards outside didn’t seem bothered at all.
“Come in” he heard Celestia say. How did she know I was out here? He didn’t question it further. Pausing a moment to build up some courage, he pushed open the doors and walked in. Celestia sat in her non-divine form on the bed, with her front hooves placed strictly between her back legs. The rather easy levitation spell she was casting was being used in such a complex way she could have a hard grip on the item currently going up and down with almost no concentration. Aryn was left stunned by the sight. Another moan, just higher this time, and the Princesss broke the little concentration she had, letting the item fall to the ground.
“Argh! I should really do this more often than once every decade. I just lose it every time I reach a hard knot.” The alicorn picked up the hair brush in her magic once more. Her mane did indeed look like it had not been brushed in a long time. “So, what was it you wanted to talk with me about?”
Aryn had to suppress a laugh at what most ponies would assume in the situation he was in moments earlier. Luckily, he was not the type of pony to assume anything before he got hard evidence. He trailed a bit off before realizing he should answer.
“...After Luna told me about her prophecy, I did some research. According to most books on Tartarus, ponies who are in love that enter will have their love turned to hate. This could post a problem, because I think some of the ponies with us may have feelings for each other.”
This didn’t phase the alicorn. “For the sake of the journey, I don't think we should mention that just yet.” Celestia answered calmly. One of her servants came in with two pieces of paper with a perfect drawing of a small sun, with a few of clouds around it.The Princess noticed Aryn looking curiously at it.
“It’s a sticker, which will only fall of if a certain spell is cast. It will hide my cutie mark so no pony recognizes it.”
“What will you do about the fact that you have both a horn and wings?” Aryn was curious on the matter.
Instead of answering, Celestia cast a spell Aryn recognized; an invisibility spell, useful for turning small objects invisible. However, this was the first time he’d seen it used on a horn.
“I have to learn how to do that to my horn! That would go pretty well with my entertaining.” Aryn said with excitement in his voice.
“There should be some books on the subject in the library. I’ll have somepony get one to you when we get back.” she answered with a warm smile. “However, I think it’s time we got moving.”
The group was gathered in the throne room.There were eight saddlebags filled with supplies, each with the carrier’s cutie mark. They each hefted their packs, except for Rarity, who placed hers on Applejack, who didn’t seem to mind. Aryn saw Twilight about to say something, and silently shook his head at her. Celestia spoke.
“We’re taking an alternate route to the village Aryn spoke of. You may remember the cave Twilight was trapped in during the royal wedding? After it was over, Luna recommended we dig a tunnel from the castle to the other side of the mountain, as an escape route, in case of another attack we can’t handle. Twilight, could you scan the wall to the left for openings?”
Twilight did as she was told and located the passage. Behind the wall was a dark tunnel with what seemed like a rail system and a couple of minecarts on it.
Celestia walked through the opening, then stopped and looked at Twilight. “Would you please supply us some light? I’m currently hiding my horn.” Twilight nodded, and a moment later, her horn began to give off a soft glow. The rest followed into the passage.
Rarity was the first to object. “Are we riding that thing?” She pointed a hoof at the minecarts. Twilight and Applejack looked worried as well. Fluttershy, predictably, looked like she was about to collapse from fear.
Rainbow Dash had no problem. “That’s so awesome! Let’s do it!”
“Oooooo, that looks like fun!” Pinkie Pie was vibrating and bouncing at the same time out of excitement.
“It’s perfectly safe.” The Princess’s voice was calm, but underneath, she wasn’t sure. According to the plans it was supposed to be perfectly safe, though they had never tested it.
“If you say so.” Twilight responded, looking unsure.
They each got into a cart, Applejack convincing Fluttershy to join them. One of Celestia’s guards pulled a lever.
The speed was intense. Aryn could feel the adrenaline running through him, and the wind on his face made his eyes water. Behind him somewhere, Rarity was screaming.
It only felt like seconds before they could see a light at the other end of the tunnel. They slowed down before coming to a complete stop, and stepped out of the carts.
“That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash squealed.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof, wasn’t moving. She looked like she was in shock. After Twilight convinced her that they were safe, it was over, the group walked through a door at the end of the tunnel and into the light they had seen.
They were in a living room. Aryn glanced back at the door they had come through, which Applejack was now closing. From the outside, it looked like the door to any other room of the house that they were apparently now in.
“Where are we?” Twilight asked.
“Luna wanted to keep the escape tunnel secret. So she built a house on the mountain side, just in order to hide it.” Celestia answered. “We occasionally send a guard down to turn the lights on and off, so it looks inhabited. Come, that town is quite nearby here. You may not realize how far the carts took us.”
They stepped out of the house and walked towards the little town Aryn had been talking about earlier. It was only a couple of minutes of walking before they were at the outskirts of the town.
“Hey, Aryn!” they heard a voice call. “Long time, no see.” The unicorn recognized the voice, but couldn’t believe his ears. Is that...
A dark blue pegasus came into view, wearing a black headset. His cutie mark was emblazoned on the side, and he was wearing red sunglasses.
I’ll be damned, Aryn thought. It is him.
~~~~~~
Authors Note:
I’ll be posting longer chapter’s from now on.
About that Celestia brushing her mane scene, I simply love messing a bit with the head’s of the readers so i could simply such an opportunity slip away :)
Also thanks to PhantomFox for allowing me to use some of the elements from his story in the description of how Celestia camouflaged herself! Check out his story, “Sunny Skies All Day Long!”
Please leave some feedback on the story, I love all feedback that can help me improve!
I hope you enjoyed and once again thanks to Aryn240 for editing :D
