The Hunter's Trek

The Hunter’s Trek

Chapter 5: The Invitation

The Crystal Empire was a truly magnificent place, many ponies from far and wide booked train tickets to get there as soon as the news of its reappearance had reached news agencies and then, the whole of Equestria. Of course, this led to many delays, but the upside led to the many train stations gaining a whole lot of bits out of the whole ordeal.

The story of the return had actually been different each agency that tried to do an article on it, but the one story, the only one confirmed by Celestia herself, was that the empire itself was meant to reappear two years later than it did. The unfortunate part of it being Equestria had just gotten through the short period of Discords reign.

When news had reached the princess of the northern empire’s return, she had sent her niece, a pink alicorn named Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadance as she preferred to be called, out to see if the empire was indeed back from its thousand-year slumber. She had not gone alone, sent accompanied by a contingent of Solar Guards, led by Shining Armour, Captain, brother and ‘secretly’ coltfriend of the Princess of Love.

The Element bearers, Spike and Edmond tagging along, had been sent out to join them, catching their train before stopping by Canterlot to pick up the others before setting off and out towards the Frozen North.

They had spent the first week calming the citizens of the empire, trying to cure their amnesia, before a shadow descended upon them in the form of King Sombra. The shadow king’s appearance had gone and thrown away the progress Twilight and her friends had managed to make as the entire populace regained a long-buried, quite literally, fear.

On his appearance, however, Princess Cadance had managed to seal the Crystal Empire under a magic shield while the bearers looked for a more permanent solution to their problem.

That solution came around when Twilight had returned with the Crystal Heart, an artifact said to protect the empire from the cold of the Frozen North and whatever might threaten the empire’s denizens. Apparently, there was a trap surrounding the Crystal Heart, one that triggered on her magic, trying to keep the heart trapped at the highest tower.

It was a good thing Twilight had brought her number one assistant with her, too. She was sure she would have lost herself in her fear if it wasn’t for him.

After King Sombra’s defeat, the ponies, dragon, and human celebrated, Pinkie Pie managing to set one up themed around the crystal appearance everypony had donned, just after the return of the crystal artifact, in no more than a few seconds worth of blinking.

After the party concluded, the Solar Guard was dismissed, Captain Shining Armour, however, decided to stay. His excuse being, ‘To protect the princess just in case Sombra comes back.’ He also decided upon training a crystal guard regime for the extended protection of the empire.

It was about a year or so later that the now captain of the Crystal Force Battalion, with district captains in charge of different portions of the empire, had finally proposed to Empress Cadance of the Crystal Empire, who prefers to still be known as a princess.

And so, it is about a month later that Shining Armour sat in his captain’s quarters, trying to figure out how to write to his sister that he was getting married.

‘“Dear Twily”…? No. “Dear sister”… definitely not. How about… “Twilight Sparkle”? No, that makes it sound like she’s in trouble.’ He paused after a short snort of amusement in his ruminations, scratching the tip of his quill’s feather against the bottom of his chin.

Looking over the blank piece of paper didn’t really help him with his words. If only writing a letter to tell your younger sister that you were getting married to her age-long foalsitter was actually easy. Alas, for the life of him, he could not figure out the best way to break the news.

After a long series of mental battles, he finally put quill to paper and started writing.

‘Dear Twilight,…’

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It was the day that Twilight found still herself reading Edmond’s monster book, having decided to start at the start of the whole thing. It was just so full of detail, each entry, that she couldn’t help herself.

There was just so much that ponies didn’t actually know about the fauna of Equestria, but a single creature had managed to capture so much detail of animals, like the ursas of the Everfree, and creatures she had never seen or heard of before, like this changeling thing.

Apparently, there were only two different types of changelings he had found, one seeming to feed on love, while the other… didn’t eat at all? That had stumped Twilight, as, by the law of nature, every animal had to find some way to gain nutrients to survive. But, according to a field book, these changelings didn’t.

Although, most of the entries, other than the changelings, did not make sense to her. Like timberwolves, born from a pony’s soul if they wandered too far from the forest’s edge, sometimes. Or the manticore, who could or could not have acid venom. How was he unsure?

She did find herself falling asleep halfway through midnight. Or, more accurately, Twilight found out she had fallen asleep halfway through that fourth hour of the night, the following morning, face planted on a page depicting a four-legged, brown coated creature, commonly known as a bunyip.

She had been awoken by the sound of Spike’s voice. What later ensued was a bit of short-lived panic on Spike’s end at the sight of Edmonds book, thinking it might have been slightly stolen. Spike spent too much time with Twilight, he thought.

After a bit of assuring, and a little more panic, Spike had finally told Twilight the reason for the early morning disturbance.

Spike had received a letter. A letter from, not the Princess, but from the captain of Canterlot’s Solar Guard Unit, informing the unicorn of the disappearance of her teacher. Following that, Twilight gathered her friends and set off for Canterlot, Rarity assembling a wardrobe before even stepping upon the train platform.

So, it was to Twilight’s surprise, and shock, to see Princess Celestia walking through the streets of Canterlot – coming in from the main gates, a trader’s route – looking a little ruffled up and grumbling to herself, an unhappy look plastered upon her face, not a care for her public image on her mind. Many of the local citizens, however, took notice of her presence and tipped themselves into a sudden, deep bow.

“Princess!” Twilight called out to her as she made to tackle said royalty in a hug of relief and joy. Celestia froze, caught off guard before she smiled down at her overly joyous student, returning the hug. What limited guards there were, started to file in on the streets at the sudden appearance of the nation’s day monarch. “Are you ok? We heard you got foalnapped.”

“I’m fine, Twilight,” Princess Celestia replied, draping a wing over Twilight in a show of comfort. Then, her smile fell from her face, a saddened look appearing upon it. “Those monsters had just taken me by surprise. But luckily I escaped when they had been attacked in the Everfree Forest.”

It was then that Princess Celestia pulled away from the embrace with her dear friend and started for castle, Twilight following close at heel. “What happened Princess?” asked Twilight, her friends making their way towards, in an effort to catch up and not be left behind, while the present guards formed a protective ring around their Princess.

“Yeah! Whose butt do we need kick this time?” a rainbow maned, cyan pegasus, easily identifiable – because of said rainbow hair – as Rainbow Dash, exclaimed, making a show punching the air with her hooves whilst she was hovering above the ground.

“Calm down now, RD. Let th’ princess say ‘er word ‘afore y’all rush off blind into danger,” a southern accented earth pony said looking at her rainbow companion blankly under the rim of her stetson hat.

Princess Celestia stopped in her tracks, every pony and drake stopping soon after. There was a few seconds of silence before she looked over her shoulder at the Element bearers, plus one. Then, she finally spoke, her voice low enough not to drag the attention of Canterlot’s citizens. “We appear to have a traitor here in Canterlot. A pony I thought I could trust.” She turned herself around, now giving the ponies now before her, her full attention. “Has anypony here heard anything from Edmond recently?”

The ponies and dragon in attendance were still slightly shocked at the princess’s news. It took a few seconds before they registered the question and Twilight moved to talk. “He came by the hotel yesterday. But I haven’t seen him since. What about you, Fluttershy? You were looking after his birds, right?”

A yellow pegasus, with a pink mane and tail, jumped at the sound of her name and, at the realisation of being put on the spot, started sputtering as she tried to answer, her voice coming out weak and in a near whisper. “O-oh. Um… I left them both at Ponyville, a-and Edmond didn’t come by this morning, b-but he could have gotten them without me there.” With every stutter, Fluttershy shrank away, until the attention left her alone.

“Well, he left his book at the hotel, so he has to come back, right?” Twilight wondered aloud. Princess Celestia hummed in thought for a moment, head slightly tipped down. Shortly after, the group moved back to silence. Then, Princess Celestia turned back up the road, towards her castle.

Spike furrowed his brow as a sudden thought, and a question struck his mind. “Wait, what about the guards? Can’t they help?”

“Unfortunately, not, Spike. There was an… accident. A large portion of Luna’s and my own guards got injured recently and are currently being treated at the moment,” Princess Celestia replied. The group then fell over the group once again, many wondering what could have happened, a few worrying for the soldier’s wellbeing, and one planning a ‘Get Well’ party to cheer the, no doubt, sad and dour ponies within the castle.

When they reached the gates of the castle, the Princess stopping just before those iron doors. She turned back once again, her pose looking significantly more regal than when they had seen her walking into town. “You should return to Ponyville, my little ponies. Spike, Twilight, I will send you a letter for Edmond’s eyes only. But, if there is anything you must know, no doubt he will tell you. With that, I wish you a good day.”

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When the Element bearers had returned to Ponyville, it had become the time of dusk and the lot of them split up to return to their respective homes. Fluttershy returning home to find Ternychus and Fanu’ia still, the magpie and falcon waiting upon the top of her home, waiting for either of their caretakers. Applejack making her way back to her farm when she stumbled upon tracks. Tracks heading into the Everfree. Large tracks heading into the Everfree. Rarity returning to search around her workroom for that black rock she found. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash returning to their homes and just deciding to hit the hay. Pinkie taking it a bit literally before actually getting into her bed. And Twilight returning to find Edmond’s book still there.

So, she decided a little more reading wouldn’t.

It was through reading through an entry about something called a Chupacabra that she was once again interrupted by Spike calling her name from across the lobby. But, once she saw was about, she thought would she faint.

At first, she saw a letter, so she thought it was from the Princess and was about the reprimand spike on reading it. Then Twilight got a better look at it. It wasn’t from the Princess at all. So, her own curiosity taking over once again, she took it in her magic and read over it.

And then, her magic flickered out.

It was an invitation. Not just any invitation, but a wedding invitation. From her brother. And, if anything on the letter is to be believed, then it was about her brother marrying her, the best, foalsitter, Cadance.

As she read it over and over in her head, her eyes gradually grew wider and wider, until they eventually rolled up and glided closed as she fell to the ground, Spike barely being able to support her weight.