Chapter 1: Friendship is Magic - Part 1
Once upon a millennium ago, in the enchanted land of Equestria, there were two royal sisters, who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the elder sister controlled the sun and day, bringing warmth and light, while the younger controlled the night, to bring it to peace and rest. For many years, peace was maintained within the boundaries of the kingdom, though not for long. As each day went by, the ponies of Equestria worshiped the elder sister more and more as she brought them her glorious day. Though, the younger sister didn't care, for she was a shy creature, rarely venturing out of her own chambers, but that was how she liked it. But the elder one wouldn't have this, and wanted her sister to enjoy the praise and glory as much as her; time went by, but she could do nothing to persuade her. All she could do was revel in the praise of her own, but eventually, her pride in her kingdom became a dark sin of arrogance. She eventually came to believe that day was the purest of the two, and that her sister and her precious night were a plague upon it. The younger sister tried to reason with her, but the pomposity of the elder one had transformed her into a cursed sorceress: Day Blight. She vowed she would end the darkness by exterminating all those affiliated with it and bringing eternal light to Equestria. With no other choice, the younger sister harnessed the most powerful magic ever conceived of by pony kind: The Elements of Harmony. Using their immense power, she brought together the twin moons of Equestria's sky and forever imprisoned her sister within them. The young princess then proceeded to take on the roles of her sister, bringing harmony to Equestria by giving it the harmonious day and night as it was meant to be, a realization that might've changed everything if it had come to her sister in time...
"Wow, that's some heavy stuff. I can't imagine going through that, banishing your own sibling..." said a young unicorn with an orange-yellow coat with cream-colored marks on her face and hooves, and a flaming red mane that curled over to the side of her head. She had a blazing sun cutie mark with six stars orbiting around it and wore a cyan striped scarf. She was lying down in a small tree fort in the middle of a dense, snow-covered, wood, reading a book of legends. "It is written that the princess locked the elements, in an ancient sanctuary no pony else would ever be told about until the day those chosen would uncover it and wield the elements once again. Hmm, you know, I can't help but feel like I've heard this somewhere before, but I've read about the tale of the mare in the moon hundreds of times since I was a filly. What am I missing... Come on Sunset Shimmer, think!" The young mare hit her head a few times as she tried so very hard to recall where else she had seen this legend until it finally hit her like a bowling ball. "Huh, that's it! I've got to see my brother!"
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The flame-haired mare packed up her saddlebag with her books and slid down a vine to the forest floor. Bounding crevasses of dormant cragadiles and sneaking past packs of Snow Leopards, she ran until she came up to a massive wall, with a mighty gate. She walked up to the door and faced a gear with a single crystal, as big as her head in the center of it; she touched it for five seconds until it began to glow. A massive series of gears could be heard, roaring within the walls and the door shook, until the single gear seen turned horizontally and the doors opened wide. Beyond them lay a sparkling village of Oak houses and small wild animals. "Everfree Village, home sweet home." The mare smiled proudly as she walked into the village, the doors closing behind her. At one time, the Everfree Forest was savage and feared, so the wall had been built to protect the village, but after several hundred years the ponies living in it had become all too familiar with it and even domesticated some of it's more dangerous species. "Ah, I can't think of a better place to live. Fresh forest air, cute little animals, there's nowhere else I'd rather... OOF!" Just as she had gotten lost in thought, she had run into another mare; she was a pegasus with a violet coat and a dark blue mane that had two bright stripes of teal and gold. Her cutie mark was a 6 pointed star with a shimmering galaxy behind it. "Oh, my Luminara, I'm so sorry! I didn't watch where I was going."
"Whuh, um, umuh..." the purple mare stammered. Sunset quickly picked up and organized everything they had dropped between them.
"It was an accident, I'm in such a rush I didn't see." Sunset continued to pick up their things, but the pegasus was trembling at the sight of Sunset; she was moving so fast and the mare was so very shy. "Wind and Wonder by the Twin Wings? Starswirls's Guide to Runes and Relics, the complete ten-book collection?! Wow, you and I like a lot of the same literature. Oh, look at the time, I've gotta be going! Hmm, belongs to Sundown Sparkle, I'm guessing that's you. Well, see you around! We should go for tea sometime!" Sunset ran off as quickly as she had appeared to the mare, leaving her behind completely confused and befuddled.
"Um..." she said to herself. "Huh?!"
"Don't mind her," A mint colored earth pony with a heart shaped guitar cutie mark walked up from behind her, followed by a cream colored unicorn with a mane split into navy and pink, with a cutie mark of 3 candy hearts. "Sunset Shimmer can be a little... enthusiastic."
"You think we'll actually see her at the festival tonight?" asked the unicorn.
"Not if the bookstore has any new science fiction novels in stock," the earth pony replied sarcastically.
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Sunset walked around the corner to a street of stores and walked down to one on the corner of the other side entitled Lost and Found in Time, Quality Antiques. She walked inside, ringing the bell on the door, and looked around a room filled with hundreds of priceless antiques, from vases to jewelry. A unicorn stallion walked out from the back; he had a yellow coat with white marks on his hooves and his face, as well as a messy orange mane and a cutie mark of a sun with three flares coming out of it, one larger than the others.
"Sunburst!" Sunset cried as she ran up to give him a hug.
"Shimmy!" the stallion cried as he opened his hooves and reciprocated her loving embrace.
"I need your help, one of your old tablets, it might be urgent!" Sunset said a little nervous.
"Well, you know me Shimmy, anything to help my big sister," he gladly replied with a smile. He walked behind a curtain to the back as he continued to talk. "Which tablet did you need to look at, exactly."
"The big one from the dig at the Chicomoztoc River," she explained. "The one about the Mare in the Moon."
"The Mare in the Moon?" Sunburst said curiously confused. "That's just an old fairy tale, like the Chaotic Plague or the City of Crystal."
"Yeah, well tell that to the pony who carved the huge thing," Sunset replied.
"Mmm, ah! Here it is," he said as he walked out with a tablet of silver-lined stone. "I keep these things until I've finished deciphering them, but I've been working on this one for five years now."
"But, you have deciphered it, you read it to me once," Sunset said.
"Well," Sunburst began. "There's a difference between knowing what it says, and what it means. Look, it says right here...
All those wise should cower in fear
On the longest night of the thousandth year
The stars shall align, an eclipse shall ensue
Until the moon cracks and splits in two
A seal broken by lurking eyes
As flames rain down from the skies
To ensure the harmony's return at the revealing cry
The first step to it awaits inside.
"This is it!" Sunset exclaimed. "Oh no, this is bad. If the prophecy is right, that means Day Blight will return, TONIGHT!" Sunburst sighed and shook his head.
"Sunset, you get a little too anxious when you get into those books of yours," he replied. "Hundreds of these old things turned out to be hooey, like the Flyan Calendar predicting the world's end... Last year. Come on, the Winter Solstice Celebration is tonight, let's just put the books on the shelf and have some fun." Sunburst began putting Sunset's books away, but she was frantic and began to pack her bag with her bits of evidence.
"No time!" she exclaimed. "If Day Blight is coming back, we've gotta do everything we can to stop it!" Sunset opened the door, preparing to go out. "I'll be back in an hour or two, I'm going to see the Princess." Sunset rushed out the door before Sunburst could even process what she'd said.
"Okay, that's nice Sunset. But hurry back I... WHAT?!!!!" He exclaimed in shock. He rushed just out the door and tried to call his sister back. "Sunset, Wait! The Princess has enough to worry about already! SUNSET!" She ran out of view before he could finish his thought, leaving him worried. "Oh boy, here we go again..."
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"Please, I must see the Princess immediately, it's an emergency!" Sunset was at the gates of the Princess’ castle, stopped in her tracks by a pair of guards. This was not helping the situation, and she was getting tired of waiting in the cold.
"Has something happened in the village?" the first guard asked.
"Well, no, not yet," Sunset replied. "But it will if I don't see the Princess right now!"
"Miss is that a threat?!" the second one asked sternly.
"No, it's a warning!" Sunset explained. "Look, just please let me speak with her for five minutes, otherwise we may have a worldwide catastrophe on our hooves!"
"Wait a minute," the first guard started. "I've heard of you, you're that imaginative mare from the west side of the town! What is there no one left in the village to tell your stories to?"
"What?!" Sunset exclaimed. "B-b-but I have proof, I just need to ask her about..."
"Oh no," the second guard groaned. "Look, kid, we're on duty here, and we're trying to keep things peaceful for the festival tonight. So why don't you just take your fanfictions and head back to your writing desk?"
"B-but I was just trying to prevent the rise of Day Blight," Sunset tried to explain rationally, but was failing to as the two guards started dragging her away. "Wait! you don't understand, I need to..."
"It's okay, Stallions, she's with me," A blue unicorn with a light blue mane in a ponytail, with a cutie mark of a moon with 3 stars cut out of it walked up to them. She wore a solid pink scarf and fluff-laced boots and seemed to hold a presence of importance.
"Oh, um, so sorry Miss Lulamoon," the first guard said.
"We, um, will just leave you two to your business," the second guard continued as they both walked away. Lulamoon walked up to Sunset, as she used her magic to help her pick up the books she'd dropped as the guards were "escorting" her out.
"Um, t-thanks," Sunset said in shock. "I'm Sunset Shimmer."
"Call me Lulamoon," she said as she extended her hoof, for Sunset to shake. "Now, what was it you were saying about Day Blight?"
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Lulamoon brought Sunset down a long hall, lined with shimmering suits of armor and tapestries that seemed to depict great moments in history. Sunset couldn't help but gape her mouth open in awe at everything she'd seen; she had never imagined she'd witness something as amazing as this.
"The Princess should be down this corridor, in the throne room as usual," Lulamoon explained, though she just smiled as Sunset didn't seem to be listening, she seemed too awestruck. "Pretty amazing, huh?"
"Um, sorry, yeah it is," Sunset replied. Sunset was amazed by what she was seeing, but couldn't help but feel a little on edge by this mare. "Can I ask you a question?" Lulamoon raised an eyebrow and then nodded, feeling a little estranged. "Why are you taking me so seriously? Nopony in the village ever does, but here you are." Lulamoon looked up to the ceiling with one eyebrow aloft, as one would do trying to think of how to say something, but after a moment simply shrugged.
"Let's just say," she began. "I learned long ago to believe in the more... impossible things. If I didn't I wouldn't have this cutie mark." Sunset opened her mouth, about to say something else, but Lulamoon prevented her as they had reached a large pair of doors with two unicorn guards. "I'd like to speak with the Princess, it's of the utmost urgency." The two guards nodded and began to open the doors with their magic. "You need to talk like that, otherwise nopony takes you seriously here either. Come on, don't be nervous, the Princess is a lot more intimate than everyone thinks." The two of them walked down a massive chamber, lined with a red carpet that led up to two massive thrones with two other tapestries depicting the sun and the moon above them. In the throne under that of the moon sat a tall blue alicorn with a cutie mark of a moon and a single star, on top of white clouded body patterns. She wore silver plated clothing with blue jewels, and her mane flowed with a mystic aura that depicted a cosmic sky within it. Sunset was trembling at the sight of her; here she was, standing in the royal throne room about to meet the most regal pony in Equestria.
"Ah, Lulamoon," the Princess spoke. "So, what brings my most faithful student here, during the most celebratory of occasions?"
"Princess Luminara," Lulamoon began. "I've brought somepony who has need of your wisdom, this is..."
"Hmm? Ah, Sunset Shimmer," Luminara interrupted. Lulamoon and Sunset suddenly became shocked that she knew Sunset's name. Sunset couldn't help but shake a bit until her nervousness caught up with her and she bowed, on the spot. "Oh come, none of that now, I won't have that from the ponies of my home village." Sunset blushed a bit as she nervously got up and back on her hooves.
"Heh, sorry," she stuttered. "Um, with all due respect Princess, how do you know my name? Has my reputation gotten that bad?" Lulamoon raised her eyebrow at that comment as Sunset frowned a little; what was she talking about?
"Hmhah," the Princess laughed. "No, my little pony, it's only right that a proper leader knows all her subjects, especially in her home village." Sunset smiled a bit as the Princess turned her head toward the back window, behind them between the two tapestries, as the smile on her face began to fade. "Forgive me if I did not see you immediately, sight has a habit of escaping me sometimes..." She walked toward the window for a moment and began to look reminiscent as she stared at the tapestry of the sun.
"Princess Luminara was blinded in one eye a long time ago," Lulamoon whispered to Sunset. "There's nopony alive who's known her before when she could use both of them." Sunset looked at Luminara with subtle shock; to think all this time and she'd never heard about the tragedy on her leader.
"But enough of that," Luminara interrupted. "What can I do for you today, Sunset?"
"Oh, um right," Sunset said, nervously. "You see, your highness, I have reason to believe we are on the verge of a national disaster." Sunset brought everything in her bag and explained thoroughly, the Princess listening to every word with a smile, which gave Sunset confidence that she'd made a convincing case. "So you see, Princess, If we don't look into this I'm afraid Day Blight may return tonight, and I don't think there's any way we can stop her if she does." Luminara raised one brow in thought, which worried Sunset for a moment until she smiled again.
"Lulamoon, Guards, would you all give us a moment of privacy please?" she asked. Lulamoon and the guards bowed their heads and complied. Sunset couldn't help but shudder a bit at the idea of being alone with the Princess; she thought she would either be rewarded for her work or scrutinized for her wild imagination. "Come, let me show you something." Luminara flew up to a balcony on the back window and brought Sunset up with her magic, she then pointed out the window. Sunset looked to see the most amazing view; the entire town could be seen, everypony working, foals playing, setting up for the festival, but it left Sunset confused. "I may have trouble seeing, but every day I come up here to remind myself of where I am, and what it is I am working to lead. Seeing all of you out there is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world for me, it makes me smile to know you're all safe and happy."
"It is an amazing view Princess," Sunset replied. "But, what are you trying to say?"
"You are a very passionate young mare," she explained. "I can see it in your eyes, but all that passion, and I've only ever seen you in town to pass through the gates." Sunset was trying to understand, but still seemed to be lost; just what was she implying? Luminara manifested a staircase for Sunset and began to walk her down, towards the door. "You've been living here with your brother for almost a year, yet everypony only knows you by the reputation your brother built up for you before you came, and you don't know anypony but your brother." Sunset winced a little bit; what she said was meant to be constructive, but it felt a bit like an attack. "You are correct, Day Blight’s return is a serious matter, but as Princess, it's my job to worry about serious matters."
"But Princess, I..." Sunset began but was stopped by Luminara, just as they reached the door before she could finish.
"How about this," she said. "I'll look at your tablet and work to find a solution right now if you can help me by checking to make sure the preparations are in order for tonight." Sunset hesitated at the idea, clearly, she was trying to make her go out and fraternize with the other ponies, but Sunset was too afraid of the idea. "Sunset Shimmer, I give you my personal word that everything will be alright if you let me do my job. Do we have a deal?" Sunset was still uncertain, but the Princess was very persistent, and she did give her word.
"Alright Princess, I'll try," Sunset agreed. She brought out the tablet from her bag and gave it to her for study. Meanwhile, Luminara opened the door to find Lulamoon falling down from trying to eavesdrop, which made both of them laugh a bit.
"Seeing as how you are already informed about the situation, Lulamoon," the Princess began with a smirk on her face. "Would you please accompany Sunset, and show her to where she must go?"
"Eheh, certainly your highness," Lulamoon said with a blush. "This way, Sunset." Sunset handed the Princess the tablet and followed Lulamoon. As the two of them disappeared down the hall, Luminara muttered something to herself.
"All is going as it should..."
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Sunset frowned a bit as she and Lulamoon strolled through the village; here she was, looking for ponies to check on decorations when she should've been preparing with everypony for the disaster yet to come.
"I love the village, at winter time," Lulamoon said breaking the silence. "I know we have one too many festivals already, but there's something about the Festival of the Winter Solstice that makes me feel... peaceful I guess," Sunset grunted a bit at how casual she was acting as if there was no risk of danger at all. "Sunset, are you okay? Do you still feel like the Princess blew you off?"
"Just a little irritated," Sunset replied. "I know she said she'd look at it, but I don't think she's taking this seriously. She'd rather have me go out and try to find some friends, the faith of Equestria isn't going to depend on me finding friends. Not like I'll be able to in one afternoon anyway..."
"Does this have something to do with that reputation you mentioned earlier?" Lulamoon asked. "What did you mean by that?"
"Um," Sunset stuttered as she blushed. "Nothing important, let's just get this over with. Where's the first pony?" Lulamoon pulled out a list and scanned it for the information on the food.
"In the orchards just up ahead," she said. The two of them came upon a small field of purple trunked trees, with dark purple leaves that seemed to spark inexplicably. "We're looking for a mare named... OUCH!" A rainbow colored apple suddenly fell from the tree and shocked her on the head at the same time. The two mares looked up just before several more began falling down on their heads. "OW! What's doing that?!" When they stopped, they glanced to find a cream colored pegasus with an orange mane, 3 freckles on each side of her face, and a red bonnet on her head with matching boots and coat. Her cutie mark was an apple with some sort of an apple pastry behind it. The mare's eyes suddenly winced up into a worried expression as they looked at her.
"Oops!" She said backing behind the leaves a bit, just before she flew down. "Ah'm so sorry, Ah didn't see y'all standin' there. Ah was just tryin' to bring in today's harvest, Ah wasn't expecting anypony to walk in! Not that Ah'm not glad yer here, Ah just mean Ah thought Ah was clear for pickin'..." The mare continued to ramble as she frantically picked up every apple, which could only leave the two unicorns stunned. "But it ain't a big problem since the Timberwolves can't get in to fertilize the trees, bein' the town's closed off anyway." Sunset had blanked out for a second and had no idea how they got to that topic, but didn't want to know.
"Ow!" Sunset became more annoyed as another apple landed on her head, and stuck to her horn. "Why are you even growing in the middle of winter anyway? It's not like you can control the crazy weather in the Everfree forest."
"No, but Zapple trees are a mighty fickle bunch," she explained. "Ya never know when, but if you tend to 'em just right, they'll sprout many times each year."
"I thought I recognized you," Lulamoon interjected. "You're an Apple, from the Southern Apples, your family runs the entire Zapple market!"
"Yes indeedy," the mare smiled. "They call me Apple Pasty! Bein' as how Ah might've cause y'all a mite of pain with mah carelessness, how's about Ah show y'all 'round the ranch?! It's pretty amazin' how we tend to the Zapple trees!" Sunset was about to decline her offer, but before she could blink Apple Pasty had dragged the both of them to the other side of the farm. "So, this is our backfield, where we grow most other fruits and veggies, though clearly not now bein' winter an' all. Over there is our greenhouse, where we do grow in the winter and work on special Zapple hybrids, like green Zapples, golden Zapples, red delicious Zapples, red gala..." Apple Pasty only continued to talk and talk as she dragged them both around the farm, which to say the least made the two mares quite dizzy. "And there's the barn, right next to the Storm Silo where mah Ma and Ah store all the storms we make to tend to the Zapple Trees. And right there's the farm house where me and mah family live and cook all the Quality Apple Family Homemade Zapple dishes." Sunset shook off the dizzy spell and walked up to Apple Pasty.
"That's very nice, um Pasty," she said. "But, we only came to..." Before she could finish a loud bell suddenly rang from the direction of the house, which only got Apple Pasty even more excited.
"Speakin' of which," she began. "Y'all got here just in time to take a look at the spread!" Before they knew it, Apple Pasty had pushed the two of them into the house, as her family began bringing out massive portions of food, enough to feed a small town for a week. "We've got Zapple Pickles, Zapple Tarts, Zapple Strudels, Zapple Dumplin's, Zapple Sass, Zapple Fritters.... And the Zapple of everypony's eye, hehuh! Apple family brand Zapple Cider!" Sunset and Lulamoon's eyes just froze open in shock at all the food they'd suddenly made.
"Well," Lulamoon side. "I guess that means we can tell the Princess the food's taken care of."
"Um, I guess so," Sunset concurred.
"The wha?" Apple Pasty interjected. "Oh, the food for the festival? Don't worry, we've got that covered too." The two mares snapped back a second time in even greater surprise; all THIS wasn't the food for the festival?!
"Then what in the name of Luminara is all this?!" Sunset said in shock.
"This? This is just brunch," Apple Pasty said. Sunset and Lulamoon's mouths couldn't be pried more open if they had a crowbar; this enormous feast and they were but a small family of five. "Well, of course, we made enough food for y'all too, so let's dig in!" Every Apple suddenly dove in and started gorging themselves on the enormous meal in front of them. Though Lulamoon began eating with them Sunset was more than a little hesitant. She was sat next to the filly of the group, and needless to say, she could've used some table manners, as crumbs kept flying everywhere
"Um thanks but," she started to say. "Um, you're very kind, but we... That is to say... Ugh!" Sunset tried to shake her mane free of crumbs but failed as more got stuck with every one she shook. She tried to speak, but couldn't get a word in edgewise. "Lulamoon, we don't have time for... OW!" Another huge crumb flew into her eye before she could finish her thought.
"They're being pretty hospitable, Sunset," she irritably said wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Huh, look, we'll be out of here faster if you just eat anyway, so you might as well try to enjoy it. Besides, how can you say no to free Zapple pastries?!" Lulamoon looked to the Apples and then began to join them as they all chowed down on their food. Sunset only groaned as she began eating, though she had trouble enjoying it as more and more crumbs flew into her coat and mane.
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"Bye! So long! Don't be strangers now, ya hear?!" Apple Pasty called out to them as they walked away.
"We won't!" Lulamoon happily said as she rubbed her stuffed belly. The two of them were heading back to town, taking the snow covered path that ran by a snow-capped mountain. As the path got snowier as they walked along, Sunset only irately picked the crumbs out of her now breaded mane. "Oh, not even the castle kitchen can measure up to the Apple family's cooking. I don't see why you're not more full." Sunset picked the last crumb out of her hair, but spit one out before answering.
"Trust me, I got my fill," Sunset mumbled. "Who's next on the list?" Lulamoon pulled out the list again, checking off the food preparations and scanned down to...
"Entertainment," she said. "OH! I know where that is! That'll be Party Favor's department, he always handles the fun parts for the town's parties, everything from the games and decorations to the wild party music. This way will actually give us a shortcut to the bakery, where he works."
"Fine," Sunset grimaced. "Let's just hurry up before something else gets in my mane. OOF!" A small pile of snow fell onto Sunset's head as they reached the cliff, followed by a sudden shout coming from the top. They looked up to see an earth pony in a plum scarf and goggles sliding down incredibly fast on a snowboard. Their jocular cries made them sound like they were having the time of their life, as they whizzed by every obstacle in a display of tremendous tricks and styles. Even as they approached a cliff ahead, they only kept going, until they seemed to speed up as they catapulted off a ramping rock, still in mid-air over the cliff as they did what seemed to be a dozen flips. Unfortunately, this completely distracted the two mares below from the pile of snow that was now coming over the side. It was too late to move, though they would've been buried if they hadn't been standing about ten feet behind it. Sunset breathed a sigh of relief until the sound of the earth pony screaming grew louder until they landed in front of them in the fresh pile of snow, spraying the unicorns in a small flurry. The snow died down as the earth pony took off their goggles to reveal a young stallion with a pale blue coat and a silver and white striped mane with a snowflake cutie mark. He looked at them with a blank face for a moment, until a smile slowly crept over his face into a big grin, as he burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHOOOOOOOOOOO!" he cried out at the top of his lungs. "THAT-WAS-AWESOME!!!!! Dude! I didn't even know I could go that fast! Whaddya think, pretty cool right?!" Sunset only held her previous grimaced look, while Lulamoon shook off the snow and grinned almost as much as the stallion.
"Uh, yeah!" she said ecstatically. "I've never seen anypony go that fast, at least nopony who wasn't a pegasus."
"Thanks," replied the stallion. "I'm Snow Banks! Looks like you dudes caught me in the middle of my EXTREME SNOW SLIDING CHALLENGE!"
"Funny, looked like you were snowboarding from where I'm standing," Sunset said with a sneer, though Snow Banks didn't seem to notice.
"Wha," he said confused. "No, that's what I was doing, I just trying to kick down the snow so.... Huh, oooooh! Ahahahaha! I get it, that's pretty funny!"
"Why are you trying to bring down all this snow anyway?" Lulamoon asked. "You know somepony could get hurt."
"I know," he replied. "But I've gotta get as much training as I can so I can someday ride with the best of the best: The Snow Breakers! They're the most radical, bodacious, extreme snow athletes ever to shred Equestria! I'm gonna be leading them someday! And since I had to get the snow for the Festival's Foal Crafts area anyway, I figured why not grind two curls with one shred, know what I'm saying?!" Sunset had essentially no idea what this stallion was talking about but just became more irritated the closer he got to her. "Well, I've gotta get back to the grind. I like you, dudes, let's hang next time we crash! Laters!" The stallion slid down his goggles as he ran back up the mountain. Little did he see that Sunset's face turned an angry red, causing the snow on her head to melt off the sides and get her even wetter.
"Well, that saves us the trouble of checking on him," Lulamoon said as they walked away. "Check On Snow Supply for Festival."
"I just hope the next guy isn't as crazy as he was," Sunset angsted. Lulamoon's face went worried as she said that, but shook her head and decided not to say anything, better not to get her upset about it now.
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Sunset wrung the last bit of water out of her mane as they strolled through the town. Her hooves were getting a bit sore from the cold, and she felt like this endeavor was getting her nowhere fast.
"Where is this bakery this Party Favor works at again?" Sunset asked.
"It should be right around this, here we are!" Lulamoon said. They turned the corner to see a little building that resembled an old shack, built to resemble a blueberry muffin. "Muffin Mare Baked Goods, on the corner of Drury Lane." Sunset couldn't help but notice as a street performer nearby hit his drums and cymbal at the moment she said that. It was strange, but whatever, they were there.
"Finally, let's talk to this Party Favor and be done with it," Sunset said. "I want to see how the Princess is doing with the tablet."
"Um, Sunset, wait I wouldn't," Lulamoon tried to stop Sunset, but she just blindly went ahead, not knowing about the surprise Lulamoon was trying to warn her about. Sunset walked into the bakery to see the most amazing sight; the bakery was lined wall to wall with cakes, cookies, bread, and most of all muffins, all swirling together in an aroma of baked bliss. A blue-grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane was working the counter, she looked at Sunset with a smile and waved with her wing. Sunset didn't understand what Lulamoon was talking about, it all seemed like a perfectly normal bakery. The only weird thing was that everypony who came through the door seemed to exit from the sides, never just walking through the center like they were avoiding something. Sunset was befuddled by this until she looked to her hooves to see she'd inadvertently stepped on a tile, different from the rest of the bakery; this one was blue, with some sort of a mark that looked like a celebration. Sunset only stared and pondered, not noticing the blowhorn that was lowering behind her until it gave a bellowing blast that threw her forward. She fell flat on her face, eyes spinning as she got up, until they straightened from the next big shock; cannons of confetti began going off, one after the other, knocking her this way and that around the bakery, until she finally fell on her flank in the center and looked up at the sound of a trap door that simply released pounds of more confetti which essentially buried her.
"Hello! Hello! Helloooooo!" Out from behind the counter came an earth pony stallion with a light blue coat and a darker blue mane with turquoise streaks and confetti riddling every corner of it. He had a cutie mark of a pinata with a series of streamers and confetti flying around it, the same mark as the tile Sunset had stepped on, clearly, this was his doing. "Hey hiya howdy! My name's Party Favor, and you're new! You'd have to be, otherwise, you wouldn't have stepped on the Party Favor patented I'm-Gonna-Meet-A-New-Pony-Today Tile!" Out of nowhere, he began bouncing around and doing some sort of bit with a microphone and an AD screen, too fast for Sunset to understand, not that she had any idea he was even talking. "That's right, this special tile is the ultimate warning signal for an incoming potential new friend! Only $19.99, plus shipping and handling!" Sunset only looked blankly until she shook her head trying to get the weird feeling out of her ears.
"What?!" Sunset yelled.
"Why are you shouting?" Party Favor asked.
"What did you say?!" Sunset shouted again.
"Oops," Party said to himself. "I think my blowhorn might've made you go deaf!"
"I can't hear you, I think I've got confetti in my ears!" Sunset shouted.
"Oh, is that all?!" Party said. "Well, let's take care of that, shall we?" Before Sunset could ascertain what he'd said, he suddenly dragged out a large barbershop chair and spun her around in it, leaving her dizzy. Party Favor then proceeded to return from behind the counter in some sort of hairstylist outfit before suddenly stopping Sunset, and beginning work on her mane. "Okay doll, we're gonna make you GORGEOUS! First, we'll get all that nasty old confetti out of your ears, besides, Streamer Ears are so last July! Now we'll fix that mane of yours up, and make you beyootifuuul! Now, what style suits you best... The Coiffure? Nah, too ritzy? The Sweet Night? Nah, not exactly family friendly. Oh, The Luminara!.... Nah, too complicated." As Party Favor ran through mane-style after mane-style, Sunset just became closer to her breaking point with every tug of a split end. "OH! That's it, it's perfect; so you! Oh, I have some highlights in the back that will go great with this! Don't go anywhere, Hon." While he proceeded to rummage behind the shop's counter, Sunset grabbed hold of a passing pony to look in their Hoof Mirror, only to gasp at the horror that Party Favor had transformed her mane into; only the Bride of Frankenstallion could be more horrifying!
"Has this pony gone crazy?!" she grunted hopping out of the chair and shaking her mane back to normal.
"Calm down, Sunset," Lulamoon scoffed. "Party Favor's just trying to help out... In his own, special, way."
"I don't care if he's planning me a parade!" Sunset whispered in retaliation. "Let's just ask him about the entertainment, and get out of here before he decides to dye my mane a new color!" Lulamoon just shook her head and walked up to the counter, while Party Favor continued to rummage through its shelves.
"Sooo, Party Favor," she said grabbing his attention. "How're the decorations going for tonight? Got anything big planned?" Party Favor's eyes and smile widened in sheer ecstasy as he began rummaging quicker through the cabinets until he pulled out a diorama of the village, decorated in the most elaborate setting.
"I have a few," he said. Sunset's mouth just collapsed in shock at the detail put into this display, while Lulamoon seemed to possess no shock at this and only turned her head at him and raised an eyebrow, as to imply a deadpan response. "What?! This is the thousandth official Festival of the Winter Solstice! Go big, or go home!" Party Favor suddenly whipped his tail in three directions, which seemed to snap with him as he shook his head, sassily.
"B-but this is an elaborate setup!" Sunset exclaimed. "None of the town's even been decorated yet, how do you plan to..."
"Up-bup-buh!" Lulamoon said, shoving her hoof over her mouth before she could finish. "Trust me, unless you want some wild musical number, you really don't want to ask that question now. Thanks, Party Favor, we'll be sure to let the Princess know."
"Thanks a batch, Lules!" he replied just as a timer went off. "Speaking of which!" Party Favor then dashed to the wall, where an oven that nearly touched the ceiling was baking. He then bumped the wall with his flank, opening the oven and causing cupcakes to fall from it, just before he began catching them with the movements of a monkey. "Here! Have a cupcake!" Before she could respond, he slingshot a cupcake into Sunset's mouth, using his tail.
"Mmm, MMMHM!! Not bad!" Sunset said, almost bringing a smile to her face for the first time all afternoon. "Actually, it's pretty go..." Suddenly, Sunset's eyes began to water, and her face started to turn red, rendering her mute. Everypony waited to see what she would say next, but only one sound came out of her mouth. "FIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRE!!!!!!!!" Sunset began running all over the shop, with a small flame burning out of her mouth, until the point where she ran out the doors screaming.
"Party Favor, what was that?!" Lulamoon exclaimed.
"It's my latest creation," he began, in a poncho, sombrero, and fake mustache. "Chili Powder, Taco Spice, and Mexicoltan Ghost Peppers! AYE YI YI YI YI!!!!!" As he began shaking his maracas, only one thing could be seen in Lulamoon's face as she heard that.
"Why?!" she said.
"Because the Jalapeños didn't make it spicy enough," he said, confusing her even more. "What? For Cinco De Mayo, you need the absolute best. Fun Fact: Did you know it's not a holiday about Mayonnaise? You wouldn't believe how embarrassed I was when I made my first batch." Lulamoon only shook her head and ran out after Sunset, leaving Party Favor at the doors confused as he ate one of his own cupcakes and shrugged. "Still needs Cayan Pepper."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunset continued to run all over the village, searching endlessly for water, but getting stopped at every source she could find, even with snow all around her. Her mouth growing drier with each second, she eventually reached the castle, and taking drastic measures broke through the ice and dunked her head into the cold moat waters, leaving her mane partly frozen as she pulled it out.
“Sunset!” Lulamoon called out, running up to her. “Sunset, are you okay?!” Sunset only gave her a deadpan glare, which caused Lulamoon to back up a step.
“I’ve been effectively burned and froze in the head in the last 5 minutes,” Sunset deadpan replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Eheh, right,” Lulamoon replied, pulling out the list. “Well, according to this, we came to the right place. We’ve only got one more stop to make; we’ll need Shining Armor, the new Captain of the Royal Guard.” Sunset cracked the ice that had formed on her head and shook it off.
“Good,” she sneered. “Let’s get this over with, and get back to the Princess!” An adamant scowl on her face, the two unicorns proceeded to the training grounds. Behind the castle, a small courtyard lies scattered with weapons and armor across its walls and entire squadrons of guards in armor training at the ready. Leading them was a massive white coated unicorn stallion, with a blue mane and beard with a cutie mark of a shield with a sword behind it, with a six-pointed star engraved in the handle. As the mares walked toward him, he shouted commands to the guards with a mighty presence, which intimidated a bit.
“And, Thrust!” he cried out. “And, Parry! And Lun… Ah, alright, at ease soldiers, I must attend to business elsewhere.” The guards dispersed as he walked up to the two mares, and the moment he took off his helmet his entire demeanor seemed to change.
“Hello, Captain Armor, how goes training?” Lulamoon asked.
“Just fine,” he replied. “Good to see you again, Miss Lulamoon, I trust little Nebby is doing well.”
“Oh, yes, he’s as helpful as ever,” she replied. “We’re just here to check on the security for the festival, this is Sunset Shimmer, the Princess’ official appointed preparations overseer.”
“I see, it’s nice to meet you, Miss Shimmer,” he said to her extending his hoof to shake. Sunset said nothing, she just stood there with her mouth partly opened in some sort of a trance, a slight tint of red on her cheeks. “Ma’am? Hellooo?”
“Sunset!” Lulamoon whispered frustrated, before jabbing her with her elbow, snapping her out of it.
“Wha?! Um, huh?!” she stuttered. “Oh, um, sorry, y-yes Captain. I-it’s nice to m-m-eet you.” Sunset could only blush after awkwardly shaking his hoof, making him laugh a little bit in friendliness.
“You’re a little strange, I like you,” he said, making her blush even more before trying to hide a bit behind her mane. “Don’t you worry about the security, my troops are ready for anything and everything. Speaking of which, I’ve gotta get back to work, I hope I’ll get to see you both at the festival tonight. ALRIGHT, SOLDIERS, BACK IN FORMATION!!!” In an instant, his demeanor returned to before as he put his helmet back on and began commanding his troops again.
“Well, looks like that’s everything,” Lulamoon said as they walked off. “Shall we go ahead and check on the princess?” Sunset didn’t seem to respond, she only giggled a little bit at what had just happened, which just made Lulamoon roll her eyes with a smirk. “Sooo, I’m guessing we have a thing for Le Cap’tain?”
“What?! I, it’s not like that!” Sunset said, nervously.
“Oh, really?” Lulamoon teased. “I-I-I’m sure I d-don’t um-uh have any reason to think that!”
“Oh, Shush!” Sunset said embarrassed as she punched Lulamoon in the shoulder. “Trying to change to subject, she then asked, who’s Nebby?”
“Oh, he’s my…” Before Lulamoon could finish, the two of them ran into a stallion carrying a large stack of towels and water-filled tubs, which began to shake violently as he lost his balance. A tower of water about to cascade on Sunset, to add to everything else that had happened to her, if it hadn’t been for Lulamoon’s reflexes, freezing everything in a moment in time before everything could end in a wash.
“Oh, my, oh no! Are you okay?!” the stallion asked in a fluster. He was a young Pegasus, about their age, with an orange coat and a navy blue wind-swept mane and tail. He wore minimal armor, enough to show he was part of the guard but not of high rank, and his cutie mark showed a blue six-pointed shooting star with a vortex swirling around its head. Lulamoon restacked everything for him neatly, as he breathed the sigh of relief. “Thanks, Lulamoon, I owe you big time.”
“By my tally, you owe me Five Big Times,” she joked. “But, eh, who’s really counting?”
“But, you just said…” he began, confused.
“Do you really want to point that out when I’m trying to be nice?” she deadpanned. The stallion only shut his mouth and gestured a zipping of the lip, before saying anything else stupid.
“I thought a member of the guard would’ve been more careful,” Sunset interrupted.
“Oh, um, well,” the stallion began. “I’m not, exactly, officially a part of the royal guard… not yet…” Sunset only raised an eyebrow, confused as Lulamoon interjected.
“Sunset, this is Flash Warp,” she explained. “He’s a member of the Elite Guard, in training that is.”
“Yeah, I’m not much to look at, I just take care of the tedious jobs,” he continued. “Y’know, get this, fetch that, clean those, whatever they need.”
“Hey, rookie! You’ve got helmets to polish in the main barrack!” A guard shouted from across the hall.
“Yes, Sir!” Flash Replied. He began picking up the few towels that Lulamoon missed, while Sunset just watched even more confused than when she’d met Party Favor.
“This is what it takes to be a member of the Royal Guard?” she asked confused. “It kind of seems like you’re more of a… Towel Colt.” Flash wiped his brow as he grabbed the last towel, and prepared to lift the stack again.
“It’s not exactly the fighting monsters and crusades I had imagined,” he replied. “But I’ll get there, and for now it helps the troops.” With one giant grunt, he lifted the stack and began to take his leave. “I’ll see you, girls, later, those helmets won’t polish themselves.” Before he turned the next corner, a hoof suddenly came out, causing him to start to trip. In a wild flail, Flash tried to regain his balance, sending him swerving all over the room until he couldn’t hold it anymore and causing everything to spill. As a guard from behind the corner laughed at the sight, Lulamoon remained dry from her shield spell, while Flash and Sunset were soaked to the bone. Flash merely scowled at the one who pulled the prank, but Sunset’s face began to heat up, causing the water to almost instantaneously evaporate around her, until she let out an enraged sentence.
“That-is-it!” she shouted. In a huff, Sunset marched out of there, and in the direction of the throne room. Lulamoon’s eyes suddenly widened with worry before she dashed off after her, leaving Flash alone with the mess and a wise-guy guard handing him a mop.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By the time Lulamoon caught up with Sunset, there was clearly no stopping her, but she had no choice but to try.
“Sunset, wait!” she attempted to reason with her. “I know this afternoon hasn’t exactly gone as planned…”
“Planned?!” she interjected. “I’ve had crumbs thrown into my mane, been buried in snow, gone deaf, had my mouth set on fire, and had buckets of water dumped on me; where exactly was the plan?!”
“Okay, okay, fair point,” she admitted. “But, you need to calm down before you see the Princess, or she’ll have your head!”
“Not if I get hers first!” Sunset shouted. The two of them reached the door as Lulamoon became more and more anxious.
“Sunset, wait!” she said. “You can’t go in there, not like this!”
“Watch me!” Sunset used her magic and opened the doors hard and fast, only to find the halls were completely empty; no guards, no delegates, no Luminara.
“What the,” Lulamoon said. “Where is everypony? Hello?! Guards?! Princess?!” Sunset ran in for some sign of what occured but was dumbfounded.
“She’s gone!” Sunset exclaimed. “What do we do?! We need to tell somepony!”
“And cause a panic?!” Lulamoon interjected. “We can’t! We don’t even know what happened!” Lulamoon quickly closed the doors behind them, as to prevent anyone else from hearing. “Look, we’ll just have to try and figure out where she is ourselves, and once we’ve determined if anything’s wrong, then we’ll tell someone! Just try and find something out of the ordinary for now: a misplaced object, signs of a struggle!” Sunset looked all around, trying to find even the most subtle of abnormalities. As she neared the throne, she noticed an odd indentation in the carpet; it seemed to be a hoofprint, but it was black and ashy, almost as if it was burned in.
“Huh?” Sunset looked down to find she’d stepped on some sort of stone fracture, and looked to find a few others along with more hoofprints, leading to behind the thrones. She walked over to find the most horrifying of sights. “Lulamoon, you might want to see this!” As she ran over, she joined Sunset in shock as the two of them looked at the scene. Scorch marks everywhere, the tapestries having been burned, and what remained of Sunburst’s tablet in shattered shambles. “There must’ve been an intruder, and Luminara tried to fend them off!” Lulamoon grew perceptive of the marks and walked up to take a closer look.
“Hmm, these burns here coincide with those of a teleportation spell,” she explained. “A massive one, maybe with multiple ponies, or a large object.”
“The intruder must’ve burst in, surprised the Princess so she dropped the tablet,” Sunset said. “And then she teleported her and anypony else who was here to safety.”
“Maybe, except these burns over here,” Lulamoon continued. “Are from some spell unlike any I’ve ever seen. Unless of course… They’re flame burns! You don’t think?!”
“Oh my Luminara,” Sunset said. “Day Blight’s back! She must’ve come for the Princess and taken her! Otherwise, she’d have sounded some alarm!”
“What do we do?!” Lulamoon said, in panic.
“Well, you’re her pupil!” Sunset said. “Don’t you know some kind of spell that can lead us right to her?!”
“They have teleported away, so any tracking spells are useless,” she explained. “And locator spells are really advanced, I don’t know any that can help us!”
“Then what?!” Sunset shouted.
“I don’t know!” Lulamoon said worriedly. “We’ll have to notify the guards, send out a search party, that’s all we can do. Come on!” Lulamoon ran ahead of Sunset, but before she could follow something began to glimmer in the rubble of the tablet, catching her eye.
“Lulamoon, wait!” she called to her. She doubled back and watched as Sunset pulled something of out the rubble with her magic. The dust settled to reveal a red tube, with golden highlights and a sun symbol on the front. Sunset twisted off the cap to find a dusty old scroll inside, nearly fallen apart.
“A scroll?” Lulamoon asked. “Why would there be a scroll in that rubble?”
“Because,” Sunset began. “Because it was in the tablet the whole time! Of course! It’s just like book 4 of Blinding Bolt: The Curse of the Unknown Treasure! They were searching for an antidote, but it was secretly sealed in the sacred statue the whole time! And this isn’t just a scroll…”
“It’s a map,” Lulamoon looked over her shoulder to see a map of Equestria; it seemed genuine, but there was something off about it. “This map is ancient, but if you look at it closely, it’s perfectly identical to a modern day map of Equestria. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” Sunset said. “But, if this is what I think it is, it’s the ancient map to the Elements of Harmony! Which means we now have a way to save Equestria! All we have to do is follow it, uncover the ancient tomb, and get past the traps to unlock an ancient magic and banish an evil demented sorceress!” Lulamoon only gave her a hard stare.
“Really,” she said deadpanned. “That’s the plan?!”
“Well, if Day Blight’s back, it’s the only chance we have at stopping her,” Sunset replied.
“But Sunset,” Lulamoon began. “This is all the way on the other side of Equestria, and the Princess is supposed to make an appearance, tonight! How do you think we’re gonna pull this off?”
“I don’t know, but we have to try,” she explained.
“But…” Lulamoon began.
“Look,” Sunset interrupted. “This may be our only shot, and I’ve got to look into it. You don’t have to come, tag along if you want, but I’m going one way or another.” Sunset walked out, scroll in bag, and by the look on her face her determination unwavering. Lulamoon was nervous, debating what to do until she couldn’t take it anymore and dashed after her.
“Wait for me!” she called out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hours later, the sun had set and the stars were a glimmer. Utilizing everything from the trains to the taxis, Sunset and Lulamoon had made their way to the other side of Equestria. Deep within an uncharted jungle, the two of them trekked their way through the dense wood, in search of the long lost Chamber of the Elements of Harmony. Sunset’s expression remained adamant and determined, but Lulamoon’s was nervous and shaken; for this dark wood was unknown to the rest of Equestria, and even living in the Everfree Forest didn’t calm her nerves at this idea.
“Sunset, how sure are you that thing’s even real?” she asked nervously.
“I live with an archaeologist,” she explained. “After a while, you pick up a sense of these things.” Lulamoon tried to take her mind off the dark woods, but was unable, and kept hearing sounds everywhere.
“What was that?” she shrieked.
“A bush, you just stepped through it,” Sunset said, looking up at the sky and pondering. “Hmm, there’s just one thing I don’t understand. If Luminara’s gone, then who’s brought out the night sky?” Lulamoon only kept shuddering while Sunset was lost in thought. Lulamoon looked all around the treetops, searching for trouble, when she suddenly saw a dark silhouette dash through, scaring her stiff.
“What about that?!” she said pointing to where it was.
“Probably a squirrel,” Sunset replied, tired of that question. “Now will you calm down?”
“I’m a bookworm,” she replied. “I don’t belong out here, in this… wilderness.”
“Oh boy, look,” Sunset said, stopping them right there. “We’ve been here for hours, and nothing’s found us. It’s winter, anything dangerous tends to hibernate this time of year, and even if by some chance it’s awake, we have enough emergency supplies and magic between the two of us to drive it off. Now, will you stop worrying? There’s nothing out here.” Little did Sunset realize a shadow was lurking in the branches above, sneaking and spying until the branch it stood on finally gave out and sent it tumbling down on top of them. Slightly out of it, Sunset shook off the crash to find a familiar blue tail filled with confetti sitting in her face. “PARTY FAVOR?!” The earth pony lifted his head and gave a sheepish grin and laughed a little bit as Sunset shoved him off of her. He dusted the snow off himself and was wearing a heavy orange coat and winter hat. “What are you doing out here?!”
“What does it look like?” he replied. “I’m climbing in the trees and falling on ponies.”
“I mean, why are you out here, following us?!” Sunset replied angrily.
“Well,” he said putting on a Sherlock Holmes get up and started using a British accent. “It was elementary, my dear Trottson. Using my expert skills of deduction, I…”
“Party Favor,” Lulamoon deadpanned.
“Ehuh, I followed the others,” he said putting the costume away.
“Others?” the two unicorns said.
“Come on out guys, they’re onto us!” Party Favor called out. From behind the many hiding places of the jungle, one by one, out came Apple Pasty, Snow Banks, and Flash Warp, consecutively.
“Wouldn’t have found out, if you hadn’t opened your big muzzle,” Snow Banks said.
“I couldn’t help it!” Party Favor replied, putting on a thug costume. “The Coppas pried it out of me, I couldn’t fight it no more!”
“Will you be serious for once?!” Snow Banks interjected.
“Serious?! I’ll shows yous serious!” Party Favor retaliated.
“Hey, we were gonna show ourselves anyway,” Apple Pasty interjected, just before a skirmish. “So what’s the harm?”
“What’re you guys doing here?” Lulamoon asked. “Did you all follow us all the way from the village?”
“Mmmaybe,” Flash Warp said, stammering. He seemed to be trembling in his yellow scarf, boots, and earmuffs; nopony could tell if he was nervous or simply cold. “Look, I thought you might be in danger. Back at the castle, I came looking for you in the throne room, and I overheard everything. I was worried you might get in over your heads, so I went to Snow Banks for backup and here we are.”
“Ah, saw them run past my family farm, so Ah caught up with ‘em and tagged along,” Apple Pasty replied.
“I just sort of blindly followed when I saw them go through town,” Party Favor said. “I actually thought we were playing follow the leader until we got on the train.”
“Well, you should all be going home!” Sunset barked. “The stars are beginning to align, and we’re running out of time.”
“Hey, that rhymes!” Party Favor interjected.
“I’m serious,” Sunset said. “It’s crucial we find the secret chamber, and it’s too dangerous for you to be out here!”
“Well, that doesn’t seem to be stoppin’ you,” Apple Pasty said.
“If our Princess in in danger, it’s my job to help get her back,” Flash Warp replied.
“Yeah, besides if I turn back now, how am I gonna face real danger when I’m ridin’ with the Snow Breakers?!” Snow Banks concurred. Sunset only facehoofed herself in irritation.
“Look, we’re almost there, and this is a very delicate situation,” Sunset replied. “We don’t need more ponies adding more craziness onto our other craziness!”
“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Snow Banks interjected.
“I’m just saying…” As Sunset unwittingly got herself caught up in a heated argument, Party Favor who seemed impartial to anything said, took a seat on a strangely square rock. With a sudden rumble and shake, he got up to find a patterned switch where he’d sat as a massive door slid open from the ground below them.
“Um, guys,” he said, trying to get their attention away from the argument. “Guuuuuys…..” No one’s attention changed, as he became a bit more irritated until he gave one big shout. “GUYS!!!”
“What?!” everyone said, as they turned their heads to see Party Favor standing in the staircase to the place they’d been looking for.
“You coming, or what?” he said smugly as he walked down. Everyone ran down after him, except Sunset and Lulamoon, one of whom was too shocked to follow.
“I-but-he-that-it-they,” Sunset stammered. “And the switch, and the door, and the… what?!”
“At times like this, Sunset,” Lulamoon said trying to help her out of shock. “Don’t question it and just go with it.” Sunset wanted to stammer more, to get the shock out of her system, but as Lulamoon ran ahead, she realized there wasn’t time and just followed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The six ponies walked down into a cold and very dark room, with very little light from the outside coming in. Sunset set her horn aglow to light the chamber, but not much could be seen by anypony.
“It’s so dark in here,” Apple Pasty said. “Anypony got a torch?”
“Hang on, I think I’m feeling a light switch,” Party Favor said.
“Party Favor, this is a centuries-old, secret, chamber for the most magical relics in Equestria,” Sunset said. “It’s not going to have a…” Before Sunset could finish, suddenly a series of torches lit up across the chamber and a skylight opened from the very center of the ceiling, revealing a massive round room with hundreds of hieroglyphs etched in the walls. Sunset turned around, toward the entrance to find Party Favor with his hoof having pulled down a sliding lever.
“I’m sorry, you were saying,” he said smugly. Sunset glared a bit but quickly turned her head to join everypony else, as they took in the spectacle of the chamber. Every individual slab on the wall told a story, in such artistic detail, simply taking their breath away at the sheer sight of it.
“Wow, look at this,” Apple Pasty said. “It looks like the founding of Equestria, thousands of years ago.”
“And check out this one,” Snow Banks said. “It’s two alicorns making friends with some unicorn at the top of a huge tower with a heart down at the bottom.”
“What do you think that means?” Flash Warp asked.
“I dunno,” Snow Banks shrugged.
“No way,” Lulamoon interjected. “This must be when the original Princess of the night sealed Day Blight into the twin moons with the Elements of Harmony.”
“Hmm, she kind of looks like Luminara,” Party Favor said, bouncing over.
“Oh come on Party,” Lulamoon replied. “This happened a millennium ago, Luminara would have to be centuries old.”
“What the?!” Everypony turned to see what Sunset was looking at and became just as surprised. “I think this one’s.. US! Right now!”
“What?! How is that possible?” Apple Pasty asked.
“The ancients used to guide Equestria with visions of the future they got from sages before they all went extinct,” Lulamoon explained. “Maybe this was made before they did, just like the map and the prophecy of the Mare in the Moon.”
“Hmmm,” Flash Warp pondered. “So maybe this next one shows what we’re supposed to do next!” Everypony turned their attention to look at a picture of what seemed to be them, all but Sunset, taking positions around a massive device with several spheres spinning around it.
“But, this picture looks like it takes place in this chamber,” Sunset said. “So then, where’s this weird-looking machine?” Sunset pointed at the strange machine in the picture and inadvertently pushed it down. The entire chamber began to wildly vibrate, as the center of the floor split open, and a golden clockwork device arose from it. Everypony gasped in awe, while Snow Banks walked ahead to the first of the spheres. “Snow Banks, wait! It might be rigged to…” Before she could finish, Snow Banks had placed his hoof on the first of the five spheres. Other than a warm yellow glow that began to surge through it, nothing seemed to happen.
“Guys!” he exclaimed. “If we want to get the Princess back, I think this is what we need to do to stop Day Blight!” Everypony looked at each other, in thought, and soon came to the same conclusion.
“Then what’re we waiting for?!” Flash Warp exclaimed. “Let’s save the world!” Everyone shouted in agreement as they all ran to their respective stations.
“Okay, Lulamoon, you’re at the middle sphere on the far right,” Sunset directed as Lulamoon took her place, bringing an orange glow to her sphere. “Flash and Pasty, you two are at the top two, with Flash on the higher one.” The two pegasi took their places and their spheres began to glow along with the rest, in hues of blue and white. “Party Favor, you take the last one over there.” Party nervously reached for the sphere but stopped just short of it. “Party, what’re you doing? We need to do this if we want to get Luminara back!”
“Well, I…” he said nervously, just before fluffing his mane and tail to resemble wool. “I’m no lamb, but some reason I’ve just got a baa-d feeling about this.” Sunset looked through the skylight to see the stars moving above, which made her more nervous with every second that passed.
“Party Favor, the stars have almost finished aligning,” she said. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now!” Everypony acknowledged in agreement as Party Favor nervously touched the sphere, giving it a friendly pink glow. Everypony waited in anticipation, anxiety running down their spines at the sheer insanity that was about to befall them. Until…. Nothing happened, no change, no sudden events, nothing at all.
“Where’s the boom?” Snow Banks asked, breaking the silence. “I was expecting a boom.”
“Yeah, how come nothing happened,” Flash Warp asked.
“Maybe we did it out of order?” Apple Pasty said.
“Maybe Sunset’s supposed to have her own?” Party Favor asked.
“Well, the hieroglyphs didn’t exactly come with instructions,” Lulamoon said, maybe we should back up and try again.”
“Okay,” Snow Banks said, attempting to move his hoof but couldn’t. “What the? Ugh-hngh! Hey, I can’t move!”
“Dnngh! Me neither!” Flash Warp exclaimed.
“What’s goin’ on?!” Apple Pasty began to panic.
“I didn’t bring any honey, so how come I’m in this sticky situation?!” Party Favor yelled, trying wildly to free himself.
“Oh no, this must be a trap!” Lulamoon exclaimed. “We have to get out of here before it’s too late!”
“Actually, I think it already is,” Sunset said in extreme worry. As the stars above finally aligned, the moon began to glow and quickly went dark, causing everything to become hidden deep within the shadow. Suddenly, the five spheres began to glow, as energies started to flow down their pedestals from them and into the core of the device. Out of nowhere, Sunset’s horn began to glow with a spell, firing a surging blast into the heart of the device with the rest of them. “What’s going oooooooaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!” Sunset shrieked in sheer agonizing pain as a mysterious force purged her magic from her body. By the time it all stopped, all went dark again, and the six ponies finally found themselves free of the machine’s hold, while Sunset collapsed in fatigue. Everypony ran to her side, just as she regained consciousness. “I-I’m fine, really. It just knocked the wind out of me for a second.”
“What was that thing?!” Flash Warp asked, helping Sunset to stand. Before anypony could say anything else, the ground began to rumble again, as the device once again started to glow with searing white light.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s over!” Lulamoon cried out. A tremendous beam of white light blinded the ponies as it fired itself through the sunroof and straight into the moon. As the quakes became more intense, the moon began to come apart with a crumbling crack, and a thunderous voice could be heard in a demonic laugh that could be heard by everypony across Equestria; including that of a shadowy figure that loomed in the upper towers of the Castle of Everfree.
I am inferno incarnate,
I am the physical manifestation of the sun itself!
The flames bend to my will alone,
And all those that burn cower in fear of my mighty presence!
I scorch the very world I walk upon,
I incinerate all that I touch with all-consuming wrath!
A thousand years I have been trapped within the confines of that wretched moon!
And now, I-Am-FREE!!!
As the voice stopped, the moon finished cracking, and all of a sudden split in half, sending a fiery rocket from its core and right into the room in which the ponies were held. A blazing crash blinded them all, and when the smoke finally lifted stood in front of them a ferocious presence. A towering orange alicorn with sinister golden armor and flames coming from her mane, tail, and the edges of her wings. She had a dark fiery sun cutie mark, surrounded by flames, and dark red eyes that screamed infernal death when you looked into them.
“I have returned!” she bellowed. “All bow to your one true master, DAY BLIGHT!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” The mare gave out a villainous cackle as the ponies froze there in complete fear.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Party Favor squeaked out.
“So, if I’m following this right,” Flash Warp began. “Day Blight never did manage to come and assault Luminara… Because she was still trapped in the moon.”
“Was, being the keyword here,” Lulamoon stammered. “Whatever was keeping her in the moon was some kind of seal spell, and whatever those spheres were, they were the keys keeping it together.”
“But, then we went and turned the keys and broke the seal,” Apple Pasty said.
“Meaning we just freed her after one thousand years,” Snow Banks said.
“And I couldn’t thank you more!” Day Blight shouted. “I promise, you shall all be greatly rewarded, as the first subjects of my new Solar Empire! Because, from this moment on, say goodbye to the night! For this is when it dies, and the daylight shall last FOREVER!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!” The blazing alicorn let out another monstrous cackle as the flames around her head began to dance around the chamber and out the sunroof, rocketing up towards the sky as the sun rose overhead, pulsing with ever greater firepower as the flames surged into it. Nopony could say a word, except Sunset, who could only ask the one question everypony was already asking themselves but was too terrified to say.
“…. What have we done…..”
Chapter 2: Friendship is Magic - Part 2
The room was filled with terror and malice; a towering alicorn of infernal hair and nature cackled wildly as she made flames dance around the room in a fury manipulated by her sheer force of will. As the flames rocketed from outside the roof of the chamber, the sun pulsed with a scorching flame, encompassing all within its light in a sweltering heat that raged to no end. The five ponies huddled around their weakened friend, but couldn't help shuddering in fear, not at what was before them but by what they'd done. The idea that these six, these ponies who'd come all this way to save their home ultimately doomed it instead, was full of the most vicious irony and it just stung them all the more. As the fiery alicorn continued to cackle, Sunset slowly regained her strength and returned to her hooves, with help from the others.
"Are you alright, Sugar?" Apple Pasty asked as Snow Banks helped Sunset get back up on her hooves.
"Ugh," she grunted. "I'm fine... But, Equestria, I'm not so sure..." As the laughter of the alicorn died down, she then stared ferociously at the group of six ponies in front of her, as they shuddered in fear of the death that could be seen in her eyes; horrified of what she would do to them next.
"Oh, how rude of me," she said. "It is not fitting for a ruler to neglect to properly introduce herself before her subjects. Rejoice, my people, for your one true leader, has returned, for I am..." Before she could finish, Sunset took a step forward.
"Day Blight!" She interjected, catching the flaming mare's surprise. "The Scorcher! Supreme Flamelord! The Fire of Vengeance! The Incinerator of Civilizations..." As the others leaped forward to pull their friend back, to everyone's surprise, Day Blight's face turned from one of anger instead of to one of amusement.
"Thou art correct, my little pony," she grinned devilishly, steam coming out of her snout as she spoke. "I had feared my absence would've left me all but forgotten in the hearts and minds of my beloved subjects, but it brings me to rejoice to see that is not the case!" The towering mare stretched and let out a sigh of relief as she released the tension in all her joints with thunderous cracks. "One thousand years trapped within that accursed moon! How ironic it is that the second moon I gave to my wretched little sister as a gift would be used against me in her hour of need. Truly sister, thou art a very treasonous wench..." The flame-haired enchantress' eyes wandered around the chamber, looking upon the significant moments in Equestria's history, but put on a face of pure rage as they rested upon the slab depicting her banishment all those centuries ago. "RRRRRAAAAAAAH!!!!" She cried out as she blasted away the entire section of the wall, turning nearly every hieroglyph on it into smoking rubble. "But, all thy efforts have become in vain! For I have finally returned, and in doing so shall fulfill my promise to the world, and purify it of all traces of your wretched night!!!" As the flames burst from her hair and wings at that cry, Sunset only clenched her teeth at her arrogance, using every ounce of her strength to keep herself from doing something reckless and stupid.
"Just what are you going to do?" exclaimed Snow Banks. "What's gonna happen to Equestria?!" The blazing alicorn only cackled all the more before giving an answer.
"If thou know of me," she replied. "Then I am sure thou know of my final decree, before my thousand-year imprisonment! Shudder not in fear, my little ponies! For this is a day of awakening! For never again shall the darkness threaten our lives with fear and shadow! For I shall bring forth the never-ending light of day, and a new millennial reign of prosperity and happiness for all of Equestria!!!" As she let out one more villainous cackle, Day Blight turned her attention to the great machine that released her, eying its spherical treasures with a smirk. "But first, I must ensure that there is no one or thing, left to stop me!" Day Blight's horn gave a villainous yellow glow, just before levitating the orbs around her. “My dear sister, so proactive you were to lock away the Elements of Harmony for safekeeping, and yet how foolish you were not to have taken the proper measure to keep them secure, as these six were what aided in my eventual escape because of it!”
“Wait, you mean those stones are the Elements of Harmony?!” Lulamoon interjected.
“What did thou believe them to be?” Day Blight responded. “Souvenir trinkets?!”
"Watch what you guys are thinking!" Party Favor whispered. "She can read minds!" Everyone just became a touch confused, while Lulamoon rolled her eyes.
“No,” she said. “Though, to be honest, with how they were talked about, I was expecting something a little more...”
“Impressive,” Flash Warp said, finishing her thought.
“Do not be fooled,” Day Blight stated. “Though they are not as awe-inspiring in their current dormant state, these five, along with the sixth, once held a beaming presence whose combined might be great enough to lock away that of an immortal such as me. Though, no longer! I shattered the hidden sixth element during the battle with my sister, just before my millennial imprisonment, and it is here and now THAT I FINISH THE JOB!!!!!!” The flame-haired demon made a massive slam on the floor as she let out a fiery blast, setting the five stones aflame as they began to blacken and crackle.
“NOOOOO!!!!!” Sunset cried out attempting to dash ahead to stop her, only for her friends to grab hold and stop her in her tracks. They all could only watch in horror as what may have been their only hope of survival burned away before their very eyes. As the last few cinders fell to the ground, Sunset began to tear up at the thought of how their... No, her ambition had lead to unleashing this threat upon their world. “They’re gone... Our last chance is gone...” Her friends attempted to comfort her, to reassure her it would be alright, but they couldn’t fool her when they all knew it likely would not.
“After a millennium of waiting, the Elements of Harmony are finally no more!” Day Blight bellowed. “Now, there is only one thing remaining, that could stand in my way...” Sunset’s tears soon came to a sudden stop as she looked up to see the magmatic menace walking up to them, causing them all to begin to cower in fright. “The Elements may be gone now, but it was you six who allowed them to be reawakened to free me. It would be counterproductive for me to begin my return, and my new reign as the Eternal Solar Queen, by eradicating those who so generously aided me in my escape. But, I will not make the mistake of permitting you all to roam free, so you may attempt to stop me!” A bright yellow aura began to glow from her horn, just before sending out a sudden blast, knocking back Apple Pasty as it hit her. When she stopped, a large electrified yellow bubble surrounded her, surging with electricity as she became trapped within its radius.
“Wha?! Hey! Ah can’t move!” she cried out. “Ah’m stuck!” Everyone began to shake and scatter, as she began blasting everyone else into similar bubbles. Sunset began to shake as she saw everyone around her becoming trapped and helpless. Just then, a large shadow loomed over her as she whipped her head back to see Day Blight holding the most villainous grin, just before entrapping her as well.
"Worry not, my champions," she said. "For I do not intend to leave you here after all that you have done to aid me. I shall see to your release, but only after my mission is complete!" The flaming alicorn opened up her wings as she began to walk out the stairs of the chamber. "I do hope thou art prepared dear sister, for I intend to exact the most agonizing vengeance upon thee, greater than this world has ever known before!" The infernal tyrant gave out one last loud and fiery cackle as her flames pulsed into one great torrent, rocketing her into the sky out of everyone's sight.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The chamber doors had closed, cutting off any source of light from the outside, and any chance of anyone hearing them from within. Most of the group was just floating around, doing everything to call to the outside for help, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Lulamoon and Sunset were doing everything they could to break the entrapment spell they had each been encased in, though they were not having any more luck than the others crying out.
"Hmmnnnnnn," Lulamoon strained, charging up a spell from her horn. "HA! AH!" However, it didn't go as well as she'd hoped, and the spell began rebounding all over the sides of her bubble. "AH! HA! UH! AH! AAAH!!!!" Eventually, it stopped ricocheting and had hit her right in her face, leaving her mane frizzled and her head covered in smokey black ash. "Cough Well, now we know break spells won't cut it. Speaking of cut, how's that cutting torch spell you mentioned, Sunset?" Sunset was leaning down toward the bottom of her bubble, charging up a small stream from her horn that resembled a welding torch.
"If I can just, get a fix on the corner," she said to herself as she sparked a proper stream. "Aha-uuuuuuuaaaahhhaaaahahahah!!!" Unfortunately, this went about as well as Lulamoon's last attempt, causing her to spin around and around in all directions from her lack of friction and propulsion coming from her horn. Eventually, she stopped casting the spell and managed to slow herself down, her head spinning and her stomach churning at an uncomfortable pace. "Uh... Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick!" Sunset began to heave forward, about to gag, until she swallowed and held it back. After shaking off the initial dizziness, Sunset levitated a book out of her bag and began skimming through it. "There has to be something we haven't tried! Um, uh, Somnambula's Energy Dissipator?!"
"Tried that, it just gave us a nasty shock," Lulamoon replied.
"Well, how about, Rockhoof's Amassing Addendum?" Sunset asked, getting twitchier.
"The feedback nearly crushed us," Lulamoon said.
"Mist Mane's Elemental Disintegration?!" Sunset said beginning to panic.
"That's the one we just tried!" Lulamoon snapped. Sunset clenched her teeth just before letting out a shout of frustration and throwing the book to the ground. Lulamoon gave a glum expression before speaking."Sunset, it's no use. These fields were specially designed to prevent escape by magical means."
"There has to be something!" Sunset exclaimed. "We have to hurry! The Princess is gone, Day Blight's going to take everypony by surprise, and there's no way anyone's a match for her!"
"I know, believe me, I know," Lulamoon replied. "But, there's no magic we can do that will make a dent in this forcefield, it's just too powerful. We may have no choice but to wait until someone can find us."
"Who's gonna find us?!!!" Sunset exclaimed. "Nopony can hear us out there, and the only one who knows where we are is Day Blight!"
"Well, we can't keep this up!" Lulamoon exclaimed. "Our spells are only making things worse! If we try the wrong spell, getting out will be the least of our problems!"
"This is so bogus, Dude!" Snow Banks said in a panic. "There's nothing we can do, we can't touch the ground, we can't go anywhere! I need to be able to move! If I can't move then-then-THEN! DYAHAHA!!!!" Snow Banks began to freak out, much to everyone's chagrin, which made Party Favor roll his eyes and shake his head.
"Yeesh, and you guys think I overreact a lot?" he said, begrudgingly. "It's true, but at least when I do it I'm not screaming like a drowning cat."
"Yesterday, when Ah brought you Zapples to bake with," Apple Pasty began. "You got all giddy after you screamed because you said you pulled off the perfect drownin' cat impression!" Party Favor's face suddenly went blank as he went mute.
"Ah crud, you got me in a box!" He said, pouting. "And I'm already in a bubble!" Sunset's lip began to quiver, as she started to consider what they were saying. Were they right, were they just stuck?
"This-this can't be it," Sunset muttered, struggling to hold back tears. "I can't be responsible for this, not again... There has to be something else-There's just gotta-gotta..." Sunset tried to figure out something else but became distracted by the grunting sounds echoing in the chamber. "Who is doing that?! I can't concentrate with all that noise!" She turned to see Flash Warp, stretching his limbs and doing everything he could do to reach the edges of the bubble. "Flash, what are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing?" he asked. "I'm trying to break out! Just-gotta reach-the edge!" Flash strained to reach the edge of his bubble, while Sunset just shook her head.
"Flash, you can barely touch the bubble at all," Sunset said. "It's useless, we have to figure out something else." Sunset continued to flip through her other books, but Flash wouldn't listen, he wouldn't have it.
"Hey, you said it yourself, there's nopony else," he replied. "We're our only shot of getting out and stopping Day Blight! So, I'm not giving up, a real knight would never quit so easily!" Flash began heaving himself to the edge, giving everything he had to hit it hard enough to break out but had no effect. Flash recoiled his limbs for a minute and took another look at his bubble. He began to notice the electrical surges that were flowing through it, all tended to come and go in the same directions. "Hmm, I wonder..." An idea sparking, Flash stretched his hooves as far as he could until he touched the surface of the bubble. Spreading his wings, he began to spin himself, gradually picking up speed.
"Flash, are you even listening? I asked you to be qui..." Sunset stopped short, surprised by what she was seeing. Flash was now doing cartwheels inside his bubble, causing sparks to fly along the edge as he spun, and the faster he spun the more that flew out and the more unstable his bubble was becoming.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAWHOA!!!!" Flash exclaimed, just as he started to feel like he was going to be sick, his bubble burst into a shower of sparks, sending him flying across the room. As he shook off his initial dizziness he jolted onto his hooves. "Yes! It worked! You just have to spin as fast as you can in the direction of the electricity, and the bubble will fall to pieces!"
"Oh! Of course!" Lulamoon said, facehoofing herself. "It's a friction field! It traps you by making you immobile, but if it's overloaded it becomes unstable and breaks down!"
"Well, you heard her!" Sunset shouted to everyone. "Everypony spin!!!" Everyone began following Flash's lead, stretching and spinning across the edges. Pretty soon, sparks were flying everywhere as the bubbles burst all around them.
"It worked!" exclaimed Apple Pasty.
"We're out!" said Lulamoon landing on her feet as Sunset followed.
"Ground! Sweet ground!" Snow Banks began shouting as he started to hug and kiss it just a little, kind of weirding everyone out. "I'll never leave you again!" As he continued his make-out session, Party Favor was the only one who had yet to escape.
"WEEEEEEEEWEEEEEEWEEEEEEWEEEEEEEEEEEE!" though, from the way he was screaming, he was probably trying to prolong it from the fun he was having. "Thiiiiiis iiiiiis aaaaaawesooooooome!"
"Alright, Party, that's enough," Lulamoon shouted. Though Party Favor didn't respond and continued to scream in glee. "Party? Party Favor?" Apple Pasty shook her head as he began to work her last nerve.
"PARTY!" she shouted. The shock caught Party off guard, and suddenly his bubble not only popped but he was sent flying through the air. Snow Banks had just finished kissing the ground and didn't entirely realize what was happening. He turned his head, and at that moment was run over by a cartwheeling blue earth pony that came out of nowhere. As the eyes rolled around in both of their dizzy skulls, Party Favor shook his off and only had one thing to say.
"Can we do that again?!" Everyone rolled their eyes, while Sunset face-hoofed herself for what seemed like the dozenth time that afternoon alone. From the outside, the door to the chamber suddenly began to shake and crumble, every other moment like the knock on a door. Until a second later when it completely broke apart into a massive pile of rubble and dust. Out of it walked Sunset and Lulamoon with smoking horns as most everyone else ran and flew out as quickly as they could.
"Freedoooom!" Snow Banks exclaimed.
"Just remember," Party Favor began. "If you're ever locked in a dark and creepy old chamber again, you can always just MAKE an exit!" Party Favor bounced off as Lulamoon snickered at the joke, while Sunset just smiled a bit. Flash came up from behind and began to walk past her, but she stopped him before he could.
"Flash, wait," she said. "How did you know that would work?"
"Well, tell you the truth, I didn't," Flash said, shrugging. "I just had a feeling, and I went with my gut."
"B-but what if it hadn't worked?" Sunset replied, confused.
"Then I would've tried something else," he replied. "And again, and again, until I found something that did. We can't just give up when things start to get hard, we just have to keep trying." Flash walked off to meet the others, leaving Sunset just the littlest bit stunned, until she snapped out of it and joined them. They all walked out of the shade to find the sun shining brighter than it had been all winter, which wasn't very reassuring since not more than an hour ago it was pitch black.
"We need to hurry," she said. "Now, we just have to figure out where Day Blight went. Let's think, where would she go to make sure she could create a never-ending daytime?"
"To find something that could help her?" Lulamoon said. "There are plenty of relics or talismans across Equestria that could help her."
"Or, maybe someone?" Apple Pasty interjected. "Before she left, Ah heard her mutterin' to herself about revenge on her sister."
"Um, am I missing something?" Snow Banks said. "Didn't her sister live a thousand years ago? Isn't that, like, a pretty long time ago?"
"Yeah, but in all the adventure books I read, villains usually try to get revenge on the people they think wronged them," Sunset answered. "She might be going someplace where she can destroy something that belonged to her, something important."
"You mean something like the thousand-year-old castle that's currently in the center of Everfree Village?" Party Favor asked.
"Yes, perhaps," Sunset replied, but suddenly jumped as a thought raced through her mind. "Wait, Party, why did you say... Is that my telescope?" She turned to see him looking off into the distance with a telescope in his hooves. "Where did you get that?"
"From your saddlebag," Party answered. "You should really be more careful, no telling what kind of weirdos are out here." Sunset only deadpanned at the irony of what he just said. "But, you guys should know I can see the village from here, and there's a whole lotta smoke coming from it right now..." he said. Everyone suddenly became panic-stricken and ran over to try and see what they were talking about. Sunset took the telescope from Party Favor and instantly became scared of what she saw. Smoke, coming from the houses in the village, and explosions going off around the castle.
"Oh no, he's right!" she exclaimed. "The town! Gasp My brother!" She threw the telescope back into her saddlebag and began to run off. "He's in danger, I have to save him!"
"I think you mean we have to save them!" Snow Banks proclaimed, causing Sunset's eyes to widen.
"What?!" she exclaimed, screeching to a halt. "No, no, no, no, no, no! I work better alone. We can't-You shouldn't..."
"Better alone?" Apple Pasty questioned. "Sugar, Ah don't know what'chu thinkin', but you ain't the only one with family in that town. We can't just sit by and let 'em get fried like kettle corn on a hot day." Apple Pasty flew past Sunset as the rest of the group began to follow.
"I'm working to become a member of the guard," Flash said passing her. "What kind of knight would I be if I left a citizen to do it?"
"Besides, no bra of mine is gonna swing a curl without me there for the shred!" said Snow Banks. As the rest of the group all trotted past her, Sunset was left there stammering for a moment before she let out a big sigh and conceited.
"Fine, let's just get this over with," she grumbled to herself as she followed along. "I need to save my brother!"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The six ponies walked through a large and mysterious wood. Though it was no longer as dark as it was before, there were many shadowy places created from the dense treetops and many ominous wild sounds could be heard, most likely agitated from the sudden shift from night to day. Most everyone was calm as they walked through the brush and bramble, except for Lulamoon, whose fear of the wilderness kept getting to her. With the sound of a twig snap behind her, she jolted forward, right next to Apple Pasty.
"So, do we actually have a plan?" she asked Apple Pasty.
"What do ya mean?" Apple Pasty asked.
"Stop Day Blight, and save the town!" Party Favor Interjected. "Sounds like a pretty good plan to me!"
"That's more of a goal than a plan," Lulamoon said.
"Shimmer, I think she's talking to you!" Party Favor said, bouncing by, leaving Sunset confused.
"Sunset, tell me you actually do have a plan?" Lulamoon asked.
"Lulamoon's right, Sunset," Flash interjected. "We can't just go up blindly without some idea on how to stop her."
"As a matter of fact, yes," Sunset assured. "I do actually have some sort of a plan. First, we make it back to town, using everything we used to get up here; the train, buses, taxis..."
"That one weird haycart pulled by those goats," Snow Banks said casually.
"Wait, how did you..." Sunset asked, very surprised. "Nevermind! Anyway, for what Day Blight has planned she'll most likely be in the castle; I've read enough adventure novels to know where the bad guys go. So all we have to do is sneak through town, make our way into the castle from the back door, catch her by surprise and-a-and... Party, are you scrapbooking my plan?!" Lulamoon turned her head to where Sunsets was and became just as surprised by what she saw; Party Favor lying on the ground surrounded by arts and crafts supplies.
"What?! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Party Favor replied. "Sunset, don't be silly, you don't scrapbook at a time like this! This a diorama, there's a difference. Check it out, it's us standing triumphantly over Day Blight, and everypony in town is carrying us on their shoulders!" Party Favor then pulled a small cord in the back that played a recording of a cheering crowd, just before it burst out a large cloud of confetti right into Sunset's eyes.
"DAH!" She exclaimed. "Confetti?! Again?!" Sunset quickly brushed everything out of her face, while everyone else laughed a bit before becoming serious again.
"Okay, well, let's say she is in the throne room," Lulamoon continued. "I may know another way into the castle once we get there, but how do you plan on actually stopping Day Blight"
"Day Blight cast a powerful spell to keep us trapped," Sunset replied, spitting out the last bit of confetti. "That means any of us is a threat to her plans, and she knows it, otherwise she would've just left us. That means there is a way we can stop her!"
"Okay," Apple Pasty said, going along. "But, what exactly do we have that'll let us stop her. Ah'm just a farm girl, Ah don't know anythin' 'bout fightin'." Sunset levitated her bag up and directed their attention to what was inside.
"I thought this might help even the odds," Sunset levitated her bag to show a large pile of dust and ash.
"A pile of dust?" Flash asked. "Sunset why do you have a pile of dust in your..."
"Wait a minute," Lulamoon interrupted. "Are those the Elements of Harmony?!" Sunset gave a big nod and proceeded to put them away.
"I swiped them just before we blasted our way out," Sunset explained. "Figured they might be able to help."
"Sunset, they're ash! We saw Day Blight destroy them right in front of us," Flash stated. "What makes you think they can do anything anymore?"
"Check it out," Sunset pulled out another book from her saddlebag and flipped through it.
"What's that?" Snow Banks asked.
"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide," Sunset explained, confusing a few of them. "What? You didn't think I came all the way out here unprepared, did you? Anyway, there are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Compassion, Selflessness, Honor, Perseverance, and Creativity. Used in the ancient battle against Day Blight, the Princess of the Night used them all to imprison her by merging the two moons of Equestria into one. However, before she was locked away, Day Blight used her immense power to destroy the sixth before the spell could be completed, leaving a potential opening for her to be released in the future. The destroyed element is unknown, and its name has been lost to time." As Sunset finished reading, everyone began to show faces of concern.
"So, you're saying the whole plan is to walk up to Day Blight, and hope there's some way to get the Elements of Harmony to work?" Lulamoon said, rubbing between her eyes.
"Um... Maybe," Sunset said, unsure of how to respond. Everypony just exchanged iffy looks and struggled in silence to figure out what to say.
"Yeah, um... No offense, Dudette," Snow Banks said, breaking the awkward silence. "But that's not much of a plan."
"Well, I don't see any of you coming up with anything original," Sunset snicked.
"Aw, come now, no need to get testy, Sugar," Apple Pasty replied.
"We just think we should have something a little more... solid," Lulamoon replied.
"Look, the elements were the only thing that could stop Day Blight a thousand years ago," Sunset began. "They're the only real thing we know that can stop her now!"
"That is, if they didn't look like that batch of cookies I forgot were in the oven last month," Party Favor interjected. "Hoo-boy, those were crispy."
"I'm working with what I've got," Sunset said through her teeth. "When you're up against a thousand-year-old fire sorceress that nopony has prepared for, you play a few hunches!" Sunset lowered her head and began to walk away from the group.
"Sunset, calm down," Apple Pasty said. "We ain't tryin' to pressure ya none, but yer probably the only one here who may know what to do."
"Oh, so now everyone wants Daydream and her crazy ideas around," Sunset muttered to herself.
"What was that?" Apple Pasty asked.
"Um, I-I said it doesn't matter what we do to try and stop her," Sunset stammered trying to cover up what she really said. "We're a really long way away from the Everfree Forest, so all the planning in the world isn't gonna matter if we can't..." Reeaaah! Reeaaah! Sunset's train of thought was suddenly brought off track.
"Look, Sunset," Lulamoon began. "We didn't mean to..." Before she could say anything reassuring, Sunset abruptly shushed Lulamoon. "Wha, she just shushed me!"
"Well, she probably just mea-," before Apple Pasty could continue Sunset abruptly shushed her as well. "Okay, we're tryin' to be corjial her, Sugar, but if yer gonna keep..."
"Will you all quiet for a sec and listen?!" Sunset irately whispered. Everypony stopped talking and kept their ears open for a moment. Reeaaah! Reeaaah! "There! There it is again!" A strange screeching sound could be heard somewhere out in the distance. "What is that?"
"Sounds like some kind of an animal," Flash Warp stated.
"A-Animal?!" Lulamoon said in fear. "W-w-what kind of animal?! Something f-f-f-f-ferocious?!"
"Whatever it is, it doesn't sound too happy," Snow Banks said. Party Favor stuck his head out and began to search around, his ears turning this way and that, until they pointed him somewhere to the east.
"Whatever it is, it's coming from thataway," he said. As he pointed in the direction of the sound, Sunset suddenly dashed off leaving the group behind. "Huh?! Hey, wait! Sunset there's more!"
"Come on, let's go get her!" Flash Warp exclaimed leading the rest of the group in the same direction.
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Sunset continued to run through the woods, jumping past branches, small animals, and even some very large fruits and vegetables the further she went. Though, the thick bramble of the forest made it hard for her to see what was ahead of her. Eventually, she came to a bright clearing, which blinded her for a second, as she stopped short of running directly off a cliff. As Sunset stood there trying not to lose her balance, just as she began to fall forward, Flash Warp flew up from behind her and grabbed her by the back, pulling her to safety. As the others quickly ran over afterward, Party walked over dead last, out of breath.
"I tried-Hah! To tell you-Huff!" he panted. "I could hear the sounds of water-huff... Beating against a cliff-hooy!" Party stood there struggling to catch his breath, Snow Banks patting him on the back.
"What were you thinking, Sunset?!" Flash interjected. "You could've run straight off the edge!"
"Well, I had to see where that noise was coming fro..." Before Sunset could finish her thought, the screeching started again. Down below them was a large river with icy edges, and stuck underneath the cliff, tangled in a bunch of rocks, was some kind of a small ray-like creature with a dorsal fin, trapped in a net of some kind and struggling to get out.
"Heavens to Luminara, what is that?" Apple Pasty exclaimed.
"I know this creature!" Sunset interjected. "I've read about them in tons of my adventure books!" Sunset then pulled out yet another book from her saddlebag, which made Party Favor curious.
"Just how many books can fit in that lil' bag o' yours?" he said.
"Will you just shut up for a sec and look," Sunset said turning to a page in her book. "Aha! I knew it! It's called an ashray! It's a type of translucent creature that swims in all kinds of water! But, it says here they're nocturnal."
"Well, it was the middle of the night just an hour ago," Lulamoon said.
"Lil' critter looks like it's just a youngun," Apple Pasty said. "Poor thing, the sudden change must've gotten 'er all out of sorts."
"Oh no, this isn't good," Sunset said, worried. "Ashrays are vulnerable in daylight, if they're captured in any way their bodies start to melt, and they turn into a puddle of water!" Everyone gasped in alarm at the sound of that. They looked down and could see the effects of the net starting to turn it into water.
"Dude! We gotta do something!" Snow Banks exclaimed.
"Okay, nobody panic," Flash said, trying to calm everyone down. "Pasty and I can fly down there, but that rough water's gonna make it hard. So, you guys find anything you can use to propel yourselves down, and we'll..." Before Flash could finish elaborating his plan, Sunset threw off her winter wear and saddlebag and dove off the cliff. "Sunset, NO!!!" Sunset had already lunged far off the side and into the freezing water below. She had lept far away from the cliff, so she was safe from the rocks, but the water was rough and she had to double back. She surfaced and coughed out some drops of water she accidentally inhaled but was otherwise okay. Taking a deep breath she dove back down below the waves and swam towards the rocks.
"Pasty! Come on! The rest of you, find a way down there!" Flash exclaimed as he and Apple Pasty down after her. Most everyone else looked down, struggling to figure out what to do.
"They're not gonna be able to fly down there long with those waves hitting them so hard," Lulamoon said, beginning to panic.
"Well, what can we do, Dudette?" Snow Banks asked. "If I had my board, I could probably surf the curls enough to stay on top, but I left it at home!"
"Hey, guys!" Party Favor interjected. Lulamoon and Snow turned their head to see Party pulling on a vine connected to the top of what seemed to be a giant calabash gourd, bigger than all three of them. "I may have an idea, but it's a bit gourd-y!" Meanwhile, down below, Sunset had reached the rock the Ashray was stuck to but it was beginning to become very jiggly and it was scared.
"Hey, hey! It's okay, I'm a friend," she said trying to calm it down. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here, but I need you to calm down." Sunset continued to speak in soft tones and gently let the ashray know it was going to be okay. "It's gonna be alright, just stay still. I'll be right back." Sunset took a deep breath and dove underneath the water again, swimming towards the net which had snared itself pretty tight around the rock. Sunset struggled to untie it with her hooves and magic, but it was no use, it was far too tangled. Sunset surfaced, grabbing onto the rock and taking several deep breaths, the ashray beginning to freak out a little again. "Hey, hey, hey, don't you panic, okay! I will get you out of this, I promise!"
"You mean we will get them out of this, right?!" Sunset looked up to see Flash and Pasty hovering above them with ropes. "Here catch!" Flash tossed down a small green pocket knife, that Sunset caught with her magic. "You didn't think you were the only one who came prepared, did you?" Sunset chuckled a little bit before extending the blade. Though she tried her best to cut through the net, the beating of the waves made it hard for her to focus without hurting herself or the ashray.
"It's getting a little chilly down here!" She exclaimed as best she could. "Can you guys come any closer?!"
"The water's too rough, if our wings get too wet we'll fall in," Flash explained.
"Just keep it up!" Apple Pasty Interjected. "If you lose yer grip, grab one o' the ropes and we'll pull ya back!"
"Okay, but this it's getting really hard to, WHA!" Sunset got hit by another really big wave, knocking her against the rock.
"SUNSET!" the two pegasi shouted in panic. The water went back down, and Sunset was still there, but she was struggling to hold on.
"Cough Cough, I'm okay," she cried out. "But... Oh no! I lost the knife!" The two pegasi attempted to fly a little closer to help, but the waves were just too rough for them.
"It's no use, Sunset!" Flash exclaimed. "Grab onto the ropes, we need to pull you up!" Flash lowered his rope more, but Sunset was unwilling.
"What?! No! We can't give up!" she shouted. "What happened to never quitting?!"
"I didn't say we were quitting," he replied. "But safety comes first! This isn't working! You're cold and freezing, if you stay in any longer you'll lose your grip! We have to find another way!" Sunset heard him, but her heart wouldn't listen. The ashray was coming that much closer to turning to water, she couldn't just leave it.
"There's no time!" she shouted. "If we don't get it out now it'll be too late! I can't just leave her!"
"I feel ya, Sugar, I do!" Apple Pasty shouted. "But the water's too rough fer us to come down and help ya! And it's not like any of us packed a raft!" Just as Pasty finished shouting that, a large splash of water drizzled on them from the middle of the river. The three of them looked over and from under the water, in a huge forcefield, popped out Party Favor and Lulamoon in half of a hollowed-out calabash gourd. As Lulamoon lowered the forcefield Party began tugging on this tail. When he finished a motorboat-like sound started as his tail began to spin around in the water, propelling them towards the rocks.
"All ashore who's going ashore!" Party Favor joked as they came closer. As they reached the rocks where everypony was, Lulamoon then raised a couple of forcefields around the side, to keep the waves from interfering too much. "Come on in, the water's not fine!" Party Favor joked again as he extended his hoof and pulled sunset onto their raft, which caused it to become a bit crowded. With the waves no longer a problem, Flash and Pasty came down and pried apart the net from where Sunset had started cutting, and at a moment's notice, the ashray flopped out of the net and back into the water as it finally stopped changing. Everypony was relieved that they were able to get her out in time and with that, Lulamoon lowered the forcefields and Party Favor started steering them out of the watery crags.
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They made landfall on the side of the river where the cliffs had finally leveled out. Snow Banks ran down to meet them, and by the time he came down Lulamoon had conjured a small fire as Flash wrapped Sunset in a large blanket to warm her up.
"Here ya go, Sugar," Apple Pasty said, handing Sunset a thermos. "Hot Zapple Cider, good to help cure what's ailin' ya." Sunset shivered as she reached out and took the thermos from her.
"Th-th-th-th-thanks," she said through her chattering teeth. She took a sip followed by a big gulp and a slight cough. "Whoooooaah! Cough That stuff really has a kick!"
"Ah told ya it was good fer what's ailin' ya," Apple Pasty said with a smirk on her face. Snow Banks walked over, carrying Sunsets things from on top of the cliff.
"Here Dudette, I got your scarf and hat back to warm you up," he said as he set her bag down and handed Sunset her winter wear.
"Thanks, Snow," she said, wrapping herself up as she took another sip of the cider.
"No big," he replied. "But, now that everything's okay, can I just say how totally rad that was?! I mean jumping in to save that little guy! Fighting the current to get to them in time?! That was the-most-bodacious-thing ever!!!" Sunset smirked a bit at how excited Snow was getting from her stunt.
"Ah gotta admit, Sugar, that was awful brave," Apple Pasty agreed. Sunset blushed a bit, but Flash only wore a frown on his face.
"Yeah, brave and foolish maybe," he said, sternly. "Sunset, you could've gotten yourself hurt, or worse." Sunset's smile gently faded. "I know you wanted to help, but don't you dare do something that headstrong again!" Sunset didn't know what to say, she just looked down into her drink, but she knew he was right. "That said... You were pretty fearless out there." Sunset looked up and saw a playful little smile on Flash's face as he gave her a friendly nudge on the shoulder, which brought her smile back to her own face.
"Sorry, I guess I've always been kinda reckless, just ask my brother," she chuckled, making everyone else chuckle along. "Old habits die hard, but if it means helping someone in need... I'd do it again." Sunset took another sip as some splashing came out of the water. "Well, speak of the Jauntsey Devil, we were just talking about you. The ashray had come back and was happily flipping around in the water. As it kept leaping about, two more ashrays swam up behind it, they were much larger and had special spots and marks on their backs. The small one then swam up to them, nuzzling each one on the cheeks before going back to play.
"Thank you ever so much for saving our daughter," the first one said. The fact that it spoke caused everypony to jump back a bit in surprise.
"Wha-the... You guys can talk?" Party Favor interjected.
"Heh, better than you, Curley!" the other one said in a rather gruff voice.
"Tide, play nice!" said the first one. "Apologies, he jokes, usually inappropriately. I'm Pool and this is my husband, Tide."
"Well, the books sure didn't say anything about this," Sunset said to herself as she got up. "Nice to meet you, and we're glad she's okay."
"You can't imagine how worried we were," Pool replied. "We were all out looking for lunch when suddenly the moon disappeared and everything became so bright."
"Dewey has never even seen the sun before," Tide continued. "She must've gotten scared and swam off. From what she tells us, y'all were pretty brave to rescue her." Everypony smiled a bit in gratitude for their nice words, but Sunset's smile only faded from her face as she thought about what they said happened.
"Blight," she muttered. "This was her doing, and Luminara knows how many other creatures are getting hurt by this." Sunset took off the blanket and put her winter clothes back on. "We've lost enough time, we need to get a move on, it's still a long way to Everfree Village." Sunset grabbed her saddlebag and began to walk ahead as everypony else began to pack up.
"Everfree Village?" Pool asked. "We know that place, it's just upriver from here." Sunset stopped for a moment and turned around to face them.
"Did you say upriver?" she asked. "As in this river?!"
"Yeah, this river connects to all kinds of little streams, creeks, and water holes," Tide said. "We've been through the river of this Everfree Village place loads of times, and we always remember our way 'round."
"If you're all needing to get there we'd be more than happy to show you the way," Pool continued. "It's the least we can do after what you did for our daughter."
"Spell, we'll even give you all a lift there ourselves," Tide concurred. "It's sure a lot faster than walking." Sunset began to smile bigger than she had all day, and everyone else was definitely feeling the same.
"Uh-y-yes, absolutely! Thank you!" she said, excited. "You hear that everypony?! We have a way back!" Everyone began to jump up in excitement, knowing they had a quick way to get home and stop Day Blight was a great feeling. However, just a moment later, Snow Banks stopped jumping for a sec and noticed something.
"Hey, wait a minute Dudes and Dudettes," he said, grabbing everyone's attention. "I was never big on math in school, but six of us, only two ashrays." Everyone stopped for a moment and realized he had a point, the ashrays were only big enough to hold one pony at a time, and Dewey was certainly too small to hold anyone.
"Okay, yeah, this might be a problem," Sunset said, breaking the silence.
"Well, Pasty and I can fly ourselves," Flash interjected. "But, that still leaves two ponies." As everyone looked around, trying to figure out what to do, Party Favor walked over with a big grin on his face.
"Hey guys," he said grabbing their attention. "I may have an idea, but it's a bit... Gourd-y." Lulamoon and Snow Banks deadpanned for a moment.
"You said that already," they said in unison. Party Favor paused for a moment, just as it clicked in his head that he had indeed said that very line earlier.
"Oh yeah," he muttered. "Ah, ponyfeathers! But, I still have an idea!"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Twenty minutes later the team was racing up the river, though no one on the shore would know what to make of it. Utilizing the two halves of the calabash gourd Party and Lulamoon had hollowed out, they had fashioned special harnesses out of sticks, reeds, and vines for the ashrays and tied the ends to the gourds to use as boats. Allowing the four non-pegasi to ride high speed upriver with the two pegasi flying in tow.
"This-is-AWESOOOOOOOOME!!!!!" Snow Banks shouted. As a sport pony, he was having the time of his life, but behind him in the other half of his gourd, Lulamoon was not as much.
"Doh-DOH! Another bu-URP-bump," she groaned, nauseated. "Just tell me when it's over..." Lulamoon just curled up into a ball and prayed to Luminara for this trip to be over. Meanwhile, in the other gourd boat, Party Favor was reimagining an old scene from an Equestrian classic.
"I'm the KING OF THE WORLD!!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "WHOOOHOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Sunset sat in the back of the boat and couldn't help but chuckle at his playful nature. Though she didn't want to spoil his fun, there was something on her mind that was nagging at her to ask him.
"Hey, Party!" she shouted trying to get his attention. "Party Favor!" Party suddenly stopped in the middle of a shout and turned his head around, all the way around like an owl.
"Yes, M'lady?" he asked in a satirical flirty tone. He then proceeded to sit down, but somehow seemed to hover in mid-air for a sec as his body turned to realign with his head, just before plopping down. Sunset blinked in shock for a second but quickly shrugged it off.
"I was wondering something," she began. "How did you come up with this? This, this, um... What did you call it again?"
"The HMS Cornucopia, and her sister ship, Milly?" he said in a jocular way.
"Um, yeah, that," Sunset stammered. "Well, w-what exactly gave you the idea to use these gourds as boats in the first place? Have you done this before or something?" Party looked up pondering for a second before giving out a small grunt and a shrug.
"Meh, not really, I just improvised," he replied. He then put on a fake mustache of some kind and pulled down the screen for a slide projector from out of nowhere, and began to talk in what seemed to be a mock German accent. "You see my dear, frauline, ze lagenaria frosto siceraria, or Wild Winter Calabash as it's more commonly called, has a thick un durable husk but is hollow on ze inside. Zerefore, when cut open and stripped of its innards, ze veggie's buoyancy ratio greatly increases zus making for a suitable floatation device." Party took off the mustache and flipped up the screen, but Sunset only remained there stunned at what he'd just said. "Vat? Ahem I mean, what? I read." Sunset was a bit surprised to hear that response but was still a bit confused.
"But, so, you mean you just came up with this out of nowhere?" she asked. "You haven't done it before or read about it in a book or something?" Party began to put on the mustache again but was interrupted before he could speak. "Hehe, okay Party, enough of the mustache, okay? Come on, be serious with me." Party put away the mustache and thought for a moment.
"For real," he started. "Yeah, pretty much. I've always been really good at seeing weird things in everyday stuff. Like, I see a pumpkin and I don't just think Jack-O-Lantern, pfft, too easy! I see a whole chandelier, with creepy carvings on the side, and tiny little pumpkin candle lights hanging all around! You know what I mean?" Sunset only sat there dazed for a sec. "Okay, so you don't... What I mean is I just see things differently, and when I do, I go big or go home, that's my motto." Party Favor laid back down and relaxed as the ride continued, but what he said definitely stuck with her. Whatever she was thinking exactly, she had the whole trip to dwell on it.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few hours had passed, and the sun was still high in the sky. The light had begun to take a toll on the local wildlife, agitating them out of their good night's sleep and the heat making them antsy as they were still prepared for winter. The team had made it to a rather large waterfall, very high and with a very powerful current. Flash had just set down Snow Banks on top of the cliff with Lulamoon and Party Favor, while Sunset and Apple Pasty remained at the bottom of the falls with the ashrays.
"Yer sure y'all won't come with us?" Apple Pasty asked. The ashrays only shook their heads.
"Sorry mates," Tide replied. "These falls are too strong and too high for Dewey to climb up with us, and we can't just leave her down here on her own."
"Yep, I'm afraid this is where we must be off," Pool said. "Time we found shelter for the day until it's dark and safe for us to come out again."
"If it even will be dark and safe for you again," Sunset muttered to herself, concerned.
"It should be, more or less, a straightforward path to the village from here though," Pool said. "Just keep following the stream and you'll get there eventually. You all take care now."
"And good luck to ya," Tide replied as they took off. Dewey flipped around and screeched one more time to say goodbye as the three ashrays swam off into the distance.
"A'right, Sugar, just hold on tight," Apple Pasty said. She wrapped her hooves around Sunset's waist and flew her up to join the others. As Apple Pasty set her down, Sunset straightened up her attire and took a deep breath.
"Alright, Everypony," she said grabbing everyone's attention. "The ashrays bought us some time, but we still don't know how much we've got. It's all upstream from here, but we've still got a long way to walk. Let's move out!" Sunset took the lead as everypony followed behind. Lulamoon, however, was treading behind, still dizzy from the bumpy river ride she had just endured.
"You okay, Sugar?" Apple Pasty asked, flying back to check on her. Lulamoon made a slightly confused sound in her dazed state but shook her head to snap herself out of it.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she replied, rather clearly lying. Party Favor bounced backward and joined them for a moment.
"You know," he began with a bit of a devilish smirk on his face. "Whenever I'm trying to get over the crummies in the tummies, I find a good scare always helps snap me out of it." Apple Pasty looked at Party and shook her head, but he wasn't listening.
"Um, no thanks, Party," Lulamoon responded. "I think I'll just wait it out."
"Oh, okay," he replied. "So then I shouldn't bother letting you know about the big ominous shadow behind us that's probably a vicious wild animal." Lulamoon only rolled her eyes.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that," she said, still dazed. HRAAAAAAAAAAAHR!!!!! "YIPE!!!!" Lulamoon jumped forward at the sound of a large roar. When she calmed down, she turned her head back and saw Party and Snow snickering, clearly having orchestrated the entire thing. "Oh, very funny! Hardy har!"
"Um, Lulamoon?" Flash said. She looked back to find she was gripping Flash's back very tightly. "You can let go now." Lulamoon gave an awkward grin and quickly let go, dropping back onto the ground. She was embarrassed, but at least her nausea finally settled down. Feeling better, she remembered a thought that had crossed her mind earlier and ran to catch up to Sunset.
"Hey, Sunset, I've been thinking," she started. "You think the Elements may be our best bet, even though they're toast." Sunset saw where this was going and rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I get it, it's a daydream, right?" she sneered. Lulamoon was a bit taken aback by that remark.
"Um, no," she started. "Actually, I was gonna say I think you might be right." Sunset's ears perked up in surprise.
"Wait, what?" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, I've been thinking," Lulamoon continued. "The Elements of Harmony are like the most ancient and powerful magic known to pony kind. But, one thing I've learned from Luminara is that magic can only be destroyed by magic. Powerful relics like those could be dented, burned, or even destroyed physically but to actually destroy-destroy them, magic and all, the only way to make that permanent is with magic itself. Day Blight may have incinerated them but that fire, while magically conjured, isn't magic itself, it's just fire." Sunset was surprised to hear what she was hearing, if her past mistakes were any indicator she was sure she would've just been ridiculed. Instead, there was somepony genuinely considering her ideas. "So, if I'm right, that means the Elements could still exist, just in a different form. Like what Day Blight said in the chamber, they were in a dormant state when we found them, so maybe they could still be reactivated. But, if there is a way to, it's with magic way beyond what I know. Are there any other clues in that book about them?" Sunset took the book back out and started flipping through it.
"Well, I did go through it a couple more times on the ride here," she began. "The only way we can stop her is with the power of all the Elements, but the sixth was destroyed a thousand years ago, right? I did a little more digging and found one mention. It says The sixth and most important is the elemental nexus: the keystone to uniting the power of all the Elements into one. Its true spark can never be extinguished, for when Equestria needs them most, that spark will awaken its power once again." Lulamoon heard what she said, but didn't really know how to respond to it.
"Okay, any idea what that means?" she asked. Sunset shut her eyes a moment as she closed the book.
"I have my hunches," she replied. "But, if they're right, we'll only really know once we get there. I know that's not much, but I'm asking you to trust me." Sunset put the book away and just kept moving forward. Lulamoon looked down for a moment disconcerted but decided it was worth a try.
"Okay then," she replied. "Whatever you say, fearless leader." Sunset jolted for a moment and turned around to face Lulamoon.
"Let's get one thing straight," she said with a scowl and a stern tone. "We may be in this together, but we are not a team, and I am not your leader!" Sunset turned on her hooves and continued walking, leaving Lulamoon with a bit of a scowl herself.
"Whatever you say, Sunshine," she said sarcastically. "Sheesh, who delixired her potion?" Apple Pasty grew concerned about Sunset's sudden mood swing and flew up next to her.
"Hey, Sunset, is somethin' the matter, Sugar?" she asked. Sunset looked the other way with a frowned face.
"Yeah, everything's peachy, okay," she snapped. "I just..."
"HELP!" cried out a voice. Sunset lost focus and started searching around.
"You hear that?" she asked.
"Somepony, help me!!!" Sunset looked off in the direction of the voice and began to follow it, away from the river.
"Sunset! Not again!" Flash exclaimed. "After her!" Everyone began chasing after Sunset, once again.
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This time, Sunset walked slowly and carefully through the brush of the wood. Taking her time and making sure she could see where she was going, so as not to inadvertently run off a cliff again. The deeper she went in the more tropical the climate seemed to become, becoming so warm in fact that she took off her hat and scarf and put them away in her saddlebag.
"Hello?!" she called out. "Can you hear me?! I'm here to help!" Sunset looked around, waiting to hear which direction the voice came from, but all was silent.
"Up here!" Sunset looked directly up to see a stallion trapped within the teeth of what looked like a giant flytrap.
"Sweet Spellbinding Circles!" she exclaimed. "Don't panic, I'll have you out of there in a jiffy!" Sunset put down her saddlebag and ran at the nearby trees. Parkouring from the trunk, to branch, to vine and so on she made her way up until she had her hooves wrapped around the torso of the giant carnivorous carnation. "I've read about these guys in my books, they even had diagrams on how to subdue them! There's a pressure point system right around the trunk, I just have to press here, a scratch there, and jab... Here!" The giant plant let out a sudden yelp of shock and suddenly went limp, relaxing every part of its body. Unfortunately, that also meant the teeth that were keeping the stallion from falling to the forest floor. "Uh oh." DYAAAAAAAAH!!! The stallion slipped out of the mouth and began to plummet to the ground, but just before he met his untimely splat, he found himself hovering just above the ground held up by a blue and orange pegasus.
"Yer felkom," he said through his teeth, which were clutching onto the end of his tail. Apple Pasty flew in shortly after and flew up to help Sunset. Flash put the stallion down just as the others came by. The earth pony came to his hooves and straightened himself up. He had a cocoa-brown coat and a mane of raven black hair that swept to the back. He wore a tropical outfit with a vest over top filled with all kinds of strange tools and an explorer's hardhat. He had a cutie mark of a compass with ivy wrapped around it, and when he talked he seemed to speak with an Australian accent.
"Few, that was a wallop, " he said getting himself together. "Don't know what I would've done if that Jupiter Flytrap had been able to have me for supper! Guess I was lucky your mates here came when they did." Sunset smiled for a second but faded as she turned to see Lulamoon giving her a hard glare, which she quickly reciprocated. "Um, pardon my saying so, but is something wrong?" Sunset and Lulamoon only continued to stare, beads of sweat dripping around their intense eye, until they simply turned their heads away and shrugged it off.
"Nope," Sunset said, drolly.
"We're good," Lulamoon continued.
"O-kay then," the stallion replied. "Well, thanks a bundle, you two, I owe ya! The name's Caballeron, Dr. Ulysses Caballeron!" He extended his hoof towards Flash to shake, who gladly reciprocated.
"Nice to meet you, Doc," he replied. "Sorry to save and run, but we kind of have places to be, urgently. Right gang?" Flash said that sternly, sending a look at Sunset and Lulamoon as to say "Now is not the time." Sunset only scoffed a bit of air out of her mouth before acknowledging.
"Yeah, we've got places to be," she said, grumpily. Sunset began to walk off just before Lulamoon stopped her.
"Um, Sunset, the river is this way," she said, pointing while holding an angry stare.
"Actually, Bros, I'm pretty sure we passed that fruit tree over there when we got here," Snow Banks interjected.
"Weren't that tree on the other side when we came a-runnin' in?" Apple Pasty asked. Party Favor looked all around, spinning his head several times before beginning to stumble in place. Before he could straighten up he fell on his back, his eyes still spinning.
"All these trees look the same!!!" he shouted. Flash flew up high to try and get a bird's-eye-view, but in every direction, all he could see were trees, no familiar landmarks. He growled to himself just before flying down to his team.
"Trees, nothing but trees as far as the eye can see!" he shouted. Lulamoon let out a growl of discontent.
"Way to go, Sunset!" she exclaimed.
"Me?!" Sunset shrieked.
"You ran off on your own, again! And got us dragged far away from the river!" Lulamoon shouted.
"Hey, I didn't ask any of you to follow me!" Sunset retorted. "I told you, I'm not your leader!"
"Clearly, cause a good leader wouldn't leave the rest of her team in the lurch!" Lulamoon rebutted.
"We-are-NOT-a-team!" Sunset shouted. "I came because I heard somepony in trouble! You didn't have to follow!"
"You're the one carrying the bag with the Elements in it!" Lulamoon retorted.
"Uh, w-well, what about you?!" Sunset stammered. "How come none of you were keeping track of where we were going?!"
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Snow Banks interjected, coming between the two mares. "None of these harsh vibes are gonna change what happened, Bros!"
"Snow's right," Apple Pasty agreed. "Arguin' ain't gonna fix the saddle sores. Let's just try to find our way back now, ya hear?" The two unicorns looked at each other for a moment but each took a deep breath and stepped back. Flash looked up into the sky, taking a quick look as the sun pulsed in the cloud-free sky, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.
"The heat from the sun is getting more intense," he said. "It feels like we're in some tropical paradise now."
"Actually, you are," Caballeron interjected. "You're in the Tenochtitlan Basin, right now. It's hot here all year long."
"Wait, the Tenochtitlan Basin?!" Sunset interjected. "But, that's on the far west side of Equestria! That's miles from where we were heading!"
"Dude! You mean we were heading in the wrong direction this whole time?!" Snow Banks freaked out.
"Groans The central river channels of Equestria run all around the continent," Lulamoon explained. "I've seen them on Luminara's maps, the river we were on must loop around the badlands into the tropics."
"Which means we were taking the long way around anyway," Flash explained.
"Which also means we're back to square one!" Sunset interjected, beginning to feel the heat. "Ugh! We can't dilly-dally anymore, we need to find a direct way back to Everfree Village, fast!"
"Hey, Doc, is there any clear path near here?" Flash asked. "A train station, the main road, anything?" Caballeron just shrugged.
"Uh, s-sorry, Palley," he said. "I'm just a botanist, I set up camp a few clicks from here. The nearest civilization is a remote town to the north, and it's miles away."
"Rrrrrgh! We are no closer to home than we were this morning!" Sunset growled. "Day Blight has probably burned the village down by now, no telling what's happening to our families, and we're stuck here in the middle of this dense, Luminara-forsaken JUNGLE!" Sunset began to huff and puff a little bit as the sweat began to drip down her face as well.
"Whoa, now, easy there tigress!" Party interjected. "Let's all take a chill pill." Party Favor bumped his flank into the side of a tree, knocking a banana down from the top. "Have a banana!" Party then proceeded to squeeze the banana and shot it right out of its peel into Sunset's mouth. Before Sunset could say anything, he started fanning her with a large palm frond, which seemed to help calm her down a bit. "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks," she said, chewing up the banana. Party continued to try and fan off as many of his friends as he could. As he did, Doctor Caballeron scratched his chin, thinking to himself for a moment until a funny grin came to his face.
"You know, if you Nippers need a way to get somewhere fast, I might know a way faster than any train or road," he said, grabbing everyone's attention. "About a mile north of here, there's a temple, The Lair of the Ahuizotl. In it, past hundreds of booby traps is an ancient relic called Ahuizotl's Puzzle-Box. Legend says every sunset it resets, but if you can solve the puzzle before it does, it'll send you on a one-way trip that day to anywhere you wanna go!" The sounds of this artifact piqued everyone's interest, giving them hope that they might still have a chance. All except Lulamoon, who had a bit of a suspicious look on her face.
"How do you know so much about this legend?" she asked. "I thought you said you were a botanist."
"The nearest town has all kinds of records of these kinds of places," he said with a cocksure smile. "I did my research before I came down, so I'd know exactly where not to go, to avoid any potential danger."
"Well that's it then," Sunset said beginning to smile again. "That's our ticket back home in time!" Flash began to think for a moment before interrupting.
"I don't know," he said. "Even if we can find it, how can we be sure this legend isn't only a legend?"
"Oh, it's real alright!" Caballeron said a little too eagerly, making Lulamoon even more suspicious of him. "Loads of artifacts have been recovered from down here, and their power is all too real, I've seen them myself." Lulamoon shot him another glare. "I-In museums, on display, that is." Lulamoon continued to have her doubts, but everyone else knew there was too much at stake to not check it out.
"We're running far behind, our families are counting on us," Sunset interjected. "I might be a longshot, but we have to give it a try." Everyone else nodded in agreement, and though she hesitated a moment, Lulamoon agreed as well.
"It should be a pretty straight walk in that direction," Caballeron said, pulling out a parchment of paper from his pocket and handing it to Flash. "Here, take my map, just encase something happens." Flash gladly took them and nodded in gratitude.
"Alright then, Everypony," Sunset announced. "Let's move!" Sunset began to lead the expedition with everypony in pursuit, though Lulamoon looked back one last time at Caballeron with suspicious eyes before she vanished into the brush.
"Good luck then mates, take care!" he shouted to them, waving goodbye as they left. As soon as they were out of sight, the smile on his face turned into a rather nasty smirk. "You're going to need it..."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The six ponies trekked forward, Flash in front navigating alongside Snow Banks who helped clear the brush. Though, as the group continued, the only thing that seemed denser than the jungle was the silence between Lulamoon and Sunset. It was pretty clear that they both felt awkward; though they weren't mad anymore they still felt a little embarrassed about their fight. Behind them, Pasty and Party exchanged glances for a moment, each of them then trotting up to the side of one of the two mares. Party nudged Sunset with his elbow for a moment and darted his eyes towards Lulamoon, while Pasty tapped on Lulamoon's shoulder and gestured with her head the same. The two of them then galloped ahead to join the others and give them a bit of space, each of them making their own awkward gestures before breaking the silence.
"I just wanna say..." they both said awkwardly at the same time. "You first. No you. No You!" They exchanged competitive glares for a brief moment before they snickered and just started to burst out in laughter. After they both calmed down a bit they shared an awkward but friendly smile, signifying the tension was alleviated.
"Look, Sunset, I'm sorry," Lulamoon said first. "I was way too hard on you back there."
"Eh, yeah, but I had it coming," Sunset replied. "I really shouldn't have run off like that... Again... Heh."
"Maybe, but I still shouldn't have said what I said," she replied. "I was hot, a-and tired, and we're still SO far from home!"
"Yeah, me too!" Sunset interjected. "And, then it turns out we were going the wrong way the whole time!"
"I know, right?!" Lulamoon exclaimed. The two of them stifled laughs before letting them out again. When they were done, Lulamoon looked down and her cheery mood quickly faded to solace. "You know, you're not the only one who's got someone they're worried about." Sunset looked at her and her smile began to fade as well. "I've got someone waiting for me back home, I barely had the chance to say goodbye to him before we even came out here. He's just so fragile, and vulnerable, the idea that I can't be there for him right now, knowing something bad might've happened to him..." Sunset officially felt guilty for running off, she hadn't realized that there were more consequences to her recklessness than just getting them all lost.
"I... I'm sorry too," she said. "I've been so wrapped up in my own worries I didn't even think about how this was affecting all of you guys. I ran off to help somepony in need, but I ended up jeopardizing everything by getting us lost..."
"Hey, but it was still a good thing that you did," Lulamoon said, reassuringly. "If you hadn't, we never would've found out that we were going the wrong way in the first place, and now we're making up for that."
"I guess so," she said solemnly. "But, that doesn't make it okay, it was still pretty selfish of me. I've never really been part of a group like this before, I guess I've still got a lot to learn about being a team player." As Sunset looked downward, averting her eyes out of guilt, Lulamoon smiled and shook her head before stopping for a moment.
"Everypony makes mistakes," she said, extending her hoof. "Bygones?" Sunset stared at her hoof for a second, before gladly smiling and shaking it.
"Bygones," she agreed.
"Oh THANK-LUMINARA!" Party Favor shouted as he suddenly popped up between the two of them, taking the two mares by surprise. "You have NO idea how awkward that was, I was afraid for a second that was gonna be the end of things for you both!"
"Party Favor, were you listening the entire time?!" Lulamoon exclaimed, clearly a little more than peeved. Party just closed his mouth and froze for a moment, awkwardly snickering as he thought of what to say.
"Well... Not the whole time," he said with a sheepish grin. "Just the last part, and a bit of the beginning, and... Most of the middle..." Lulamoon and Sunset only gave him glares of death as he started to quiver a bit until Apple Pasty flew in at just the right moment.
"Okay, okay, let's not do anythin' rash," she said, grabbing him by the hoof and gingerly pulling him out of there. "Come on girls, we gotta catch up, Flash an' Snow Banks say the place is just right 'round the bend!"
"Alright," Lulamoon said, straightening out her things. "But this isn't over, Party-Boy." She said giving him an ominous scowl before trotting off, leaving Party Favor nervously stunned.
"Get along, ya Rascal," Apple Pasty playfully said nudging him to come along as she flew off.
"Hehe, right," he said awkwardly before bouncing alongside her. "But ya gotta admit, this is pretty great! Makin' amends, a group of mismatched friends, all on a wild misadventure to save the world! When we get back, I'm definitely making the biggest celebration cake EVER! Maybe I'll just make one for each of us since we're basically gonna be like civic heroes or something after all..." As Party continued to go off with Apple Pasty on a ramble, Sunset took a moment to herself and just thought about that word he had just used to describe them all.
"Friends..." she said to herself with a smile and a small giggle.
"Hey, Sunset, come on!" Flash called out in the distance, snapping her out of it.
"Coming!" she shouted back as she ran off after them. Sunset pushed aside a large plant dangling down from the tree and met up with the rest of her group, just before stopping for a moment and taking in the incredible view. Across a river, on the edge of a cliff, was a giant temple, bigger than anything Sunset could've imagined from her adventure books.
"That's the place?" Lulamoon asked.
"That's it," Flash said, still awestruck. "That's the Lair of Ahuizotl."
"And our fastest ticket home," Sunset said, determination beaming in her eyes.
