Pony Adventures: Quest of the Lost Relic

There it was sitting on her little desk, the journal of Clover the Clever and the key to all her dreams coming true. The cover was a hardback one with three small clovers hoof-painted in the center and was singed along the spine. Aside from the spine, the rest of the journal was well preserved and had all of its pages intact, if a bit well-worn from being almost 300 years old. The unicorn mare carefully opened the journal, flipping through the yellowed pages scribbled with various notes and diagrams. Much of the writing was hard to make out--- Clover the Clever had terrible horn writing--- but the unicorn mare resolved to push past this minor inconvenience and scanned the journal with more intensity.

Hours went by as she read the journal over and over, only looking away from it to glance at the map that belonged with it or to take notes in her journal. The unicorn mare was deep into research; so deep she forgot to eat supper, so deep she did not notice the sun beginning to set, and so deep that it was like the rest of the world stopped existing around her. Nothing else mattered to her but the information in Clover’s journal and on his map, and she would not stop until her eyelids were heavy from exhaustion. It was only when she heard an owl call to her from outside the wagon that she realized how long she had been working.

The unicorn mare decided it was time to hit the hay, so she closed the journal gently and went to her hammock to sleep and dream of tomorrow. Now that she had Clover’s secrets, it was only a matter of time before the Alicorn Amulet was in her hooves. She drifted off to the sounds of imaginary praise, quickly falling asleep without a care. While asleep the unicorn mare had the most wonderful dream; she was surrounded by reporters asking questions about her journey, while her parents looked up from the crowd with tears of pride in their eyes. Camera-ponies took her picture for newspapers and journals, everyone in Equestria shouted her name, there was a loud banging noise…

The unicorn mare awoke from her dream to the door of her wagon smashed to piece and a mysterious figure standing at her desk. It was still dark outside and the figure was cloaked, but the unicorn mare managed to spot a pair of feathery wings poking out from under the fabric. The figure stared at her for only a few seconds with their glowing yellow eyes before spreading said wings as wide as possible in the small space, then produced a grand electrical spark of energy that briefly blinded the unicorn mare. Just as fast as they appeared the figure had vanished, leaving the unicorn mare to process everything in confusion. What had just happened? Why was there a mysterious cloaked figure in her wagon? Why did the figure blowup her door? Where did they go to? Most of these questions would need to be asked later, for the only question that mattered at the moment was where did Clover’s journal go?

It had taken the unicorn mare a moment to notice, but as soon as she did it sent her whole body into a flaming panic--- she burst into flames. She rolled out of her hammock onto the floor with a thunk, crawling along and scanning it in the hopes that the journal had merely fallen. However, she knew the truth was that the yellow-eyed figure had taken it. This could not be happening, not now and certainly not to her, she had worked too hard to get Clover’s journal for someone to steal it right from under her muzzle. The unicorn mare had anticipated others searching for the journal, although she never would have considered a pony would go as far as breaking an entry. No, this was not happening and there was no way she was going to let someone take what rightfully belonged to her.

Calmly, the unicorn mare got to her hooves. The flames on her body dissipating, her breathing and muscles relaxing, and her eyes showing with fresh determination. This was only a small derailment, nothing that could not be handled with a bit of focus and a good spell. She did another scan of the wagon and it did not take long to find what was needed. Lying on the floor was a chestnut brown feather that could only belong to the mysterious figure. The unicorn mare cradled it in her magic, focusing her golden aura around the item till it glowed the same color. She smirked at her handy work but held back the squeak of excitement that was threatening to come out. It was not time to celebrate just yet.

“Guide me to your owner, post-haste”, she said to the glowing feather. “Quaerere.”

On the command, the feather began to move in search of the pony it came from while the unicorn mare trotted not so far behind. It floated through the town, swerving around buildings, as a single drop of light in the darkness. The unicorn mare followed at a steady pace, her steps never faltering nor her eyes losing sight of the feather. As the feather closed in on its owner the glow it radiated got dimmer, till finally, it dropped on the doorstep of what appeared to be a particularly creepy house.

The house was more of a mansion, large and imposing, which added to its scary appearance. There were holes covered with boards all over the building, the wood was rotting, a death-like smell hung in the air around it, and there was no glass in any of the windows. When the unicorn mare stepped onto the crumbling porch it creaked, warning her to walk lightly so as not to be heard by whoever was inside. She opened the door just as lightly, not because she was afraid that it would creak but because it looked as though the smallest touch would knock it to the floor. The inside was just as bad from what she could make out in the dark. Glass containers of various shapes and sizes some filled with strange liquids littered the entryway, along with scraps of food and half-written on papers.

It came as no surprise to the unicorn mare that this was the residence of a thief for only someone with a vile profession could live in a vile place. Despite this, she knew that the only way to retrieve the journal was to brave searching the building. She steeled her nerves and continued onward, still doing her best to remain quiet as to not alert anyone to her presence. The unicorn mare searched room to room, finding many strange and somewhat disturbing things such as a jar full of live twittermites but not Clover’s journal nor the mysterious figure that took it. She knew both had to be somewhere in the building--- the spell she cast on the feather would have not stopped otherwise.

“I know you are here, but where in here are you?”, the unicorn mare whispered to herself.

“Maybe you should look behind you”, said a raspy voice.

The unicorn mare whipped her head to face the speaker and was hit by a cloud of green mist. The world around her became fuzzy, she stumbled and landed on her side, and was barely able to keep her eyes open. Before passing out she could hear the faint sounds of ponies arguing because apparently, the one that just gassed her was not the same one that destroyed her wagon. She tried to stay awake and listen but whatever that green mist was worked fast and she faded out, only being able to catch a single word “Spark”.