As Hitch asked that however, time froze and the book began to glow and pulsate before time restarted once more. Taking a step back and dropping the book, Sunny shook her head.

"Woah.. what just happened?" She asked, looking at Hitch.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you froze time." Hitch said, looking at the book.

Sunny also looked at the book, which was still pulsating. Taking a step towards it, Sunny poked it with a hoof and cried out as a lavender cloud of magic shot out and hovered in front of them.

"Um.. Sunny?" Hitch asked nervously.

Sunny however, wasn't listening to Hitch. She was entranced by this sparkling cloud, it was almost like a miniature rain cloud only lavender color. Reaching a hoof out, she softly touched it and watched as it began to take the form of a pony. Sunny couldn't believe her eyes, as she stared back at the tall slender form of Princess Twilight Sparkle. However she was shimmering as if she was a type of hologram.

"Greetings my fellow pony. If you're seeing this. It means you are next in line to rule Equestria and protect it and if necessary, restore harmony to the land. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'll try to make this spell as interactive as I can."

There was a pause before the alicorn in front of her looked down at Sunny and smiled warmly.

"Oh, hello there. I am living part of Twilight, preserved in her spell book. What's your name?" Twilight asked.

Sunny, who was absolutely in shock, couldn't find words and felt like she was about to faint. Hitch however stepped in and helped her.

"I know how you must feel Sunny," he said helping her steady herself. "It isn't the full Twilight Sparkle, but you should talk to her."

Sunny regained her thoughts and nodded.

"M-my name is Sunny Starscout, your majesty." She said, bowing on shakey legs politely.

"Sunny Starscout, it's so nice to meet you. But.. what happened to the castle? Everything looks old and ruined. How long have I been in that book?" Twilight asked, looking around in shock.

"Well.. the farthest we can date any of this back to is 1,000 years" Sunny said.

"1,000..." the holographic Twilight said, sitting on her glowing haunches. "Then... they're all gone.. Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy..."

Twilights ears folded back and and she hung her head, tears dripping down her muzzle to disappear into nothingness on the ground. Sunny was shocked at how interactive this spell actually was. It was like Twilight had put a part of herself in the book.

"There there Princess, I'm sure they all lived full and happy lives with you. I don't think they could have asked for a better friend." Sunny said, gently patting Twilights shoulder.

"That's not what happened however.." Twilight said, standing and trotting to her throne, which she promptly sat on.

"Twilight created me as a clone of herself with memories and an active learning spell which keeps my consciousness going. What happened to Equestria while I was away? The last thing I remember learning from Twilight was the day Akira attacked Canterlot."

"Akira?" Sunny asked, sitting in the throne to Twilights right. The alicorn looked at Sunny and sighed.

"Many moons ago now, about 40 years into my reign as leader of Equestria. A pony by the name of Akira attacked Canterlot with an army of winged creatures called Despair Leviathans. Creatures born from hell who's purpose was to trap the souls of ponies in the Ether Realm."

Sunny listened to her carefully. "Whats the Ether realm?" She asked.

"Limbo, a dark place where you spend the rest of existence replaying your worst nightmares. When Akira attacked, we put up a fight but eventually lost. I'm guessing Twilight disabled my spell to hide me, and used the Unholy artifact as a last resort to rid Akira and the Despair Leviathans forever. However many ponies were lost to the Leviathans before she activated the artifact, and are still trapped in Limbo. I know you're about to ask what it is, but my knowledge on it is limited to only this. It's an enchanted necklace forged by Starswirled the Beared to rid the entire planet of evil entities. Unfortunately, it also takes anypony else with it."

"Where does it send them?" Sunny asked, folding her ears back.

"A placed called the Mirror world. Another universe which is parallel to ours in which everything is the opposite."

"So..." Sunny said, thinking. "They might still be alive then? If we can find a way to get them out."

Twilight nodded, "it's a possibility yes. But I don't know how. Only my full counterpart, the real Twilight does."

"Alright, but if everypony disappeared then how are we here?" Sunny asked.

"In the event that something happened to Equestria, Twilight created embryos of the best ponies from each race. She put them in a facility who's location I don't know. Tell me, what towns do the three races reside in?" Twilight asked.

"There are three we know of. Maretime Bay, which is where the earth ponies live, Bridlewood which is where the Unicorns live, and Zephyr Heights, which is where the pegasi live. But we're all united now. My friends and I reunited all three races, and we live together in harmony." Sunny explained.

Twilight thought for a moment before going to the map of Equestria on the table and pointing at it. "And this? Is it still accurate?"

Sunny looked at the map then pulled out a large map her father had made when he was was a young stallion exploring the country.

"Maretime Bay doesn't have a map of Equestria, but my dad was an archeologist. And in his spare time he specialized in mapping as well. When he was young, he went on an expedition around Equestria to try and get an accurate map of our country." Sunny said, setting the map on a wooden table next to the crystal table.

"And by the looks of it he was very successful. Almost every single one of these landmarks adds up to the elements map." Said Twilight.

And indeed they did. However, the badlands and dry desert that appeared on Twilights map were marked as a forest and cliffs now.

"The desert is gone?" Twilight asked.

"I guess so, my dad never ran into a desert on his journey. And what was once a Mesa of dry badlands, looks like a cliff face with mountains now. That's where Zephyr Heights is??" Asked Sunny. "I thought Zephyr Heights was built over Canterlot."

Twilight shook her head, "Oh no, the topography is all wrong for it to be Canterlot."

Sunny thought for a moment or two.

"Huh.. I guess that does make sense. But if your castle is here, then... where's Ponyville?"

Twilight went to a window, "Well it should be right out-" but stopped mid-sentence when she saw the vines and overgrown trees. "Oh no no no no no!"

Sunny looked at her worriedly. "What? What is it?"

Twilight sat and looked at the trees, "The Everfree Forest.. it took back Ponyville."

"The what now?" Asked Hitch.

"The Everfree Forest. That's the name of this forest. Its an enchanted piece of land filled with dangerous creatures and living vines." Twilight explained.

"But.. we haven't seen any dangerous creatures on our way through here. Actually, it's been pretty quiet." Said Sunny.

The lavender alicorn stood and trotted to the holographic table in the center of the room.

"Then that must mean whatever Twilight did worked," said the spirit version of Twilight. Folding her ears back, she sighed and turned to Hitch and Sunny.

"I will help you find the village. However after a thousand years of being abandoned, I cannot say for certain there's anything left..." Twilight said sadly, hanging her head softly.

Sunny gave the shimmering Twilight a tight hug.

"Thank you your majesty..." Sunny whispered.

"For what?" Asked the spirit Twilight, returning the hug gratefully and smiling a little.

"For being an amazing leader, and never giving up on friendship. You were my idol growing up. Besides my dad of course. He would have loved to meet you Princess." Sunny said, smiling and releasing from the hug, tears forming in her eyes.

"You are very welcome my little pony. Without my friends I could have never been the pony I wanted to be or done half the things I did to save Equestria from evil."

Twilight turned and nodded to Hitch and bowed a little.

"And thank you, Hitch. I can see you work in law enforcement. I have always held a soft spot in my hearts for guardians of our great country."

Hitch blushed a little and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, uh, thank you Princess. I just like to keep ponies safe and make sure no one litters."

Sunny giggled, "Oh yeah, he's reallllll strict on the litter ordinance."

Twilight laughed a little and smiled some more.

"I had an old friend from Ponyville who used to say, 'A clean town is a town that attracts the good in ponies.'"

However as she said that, the book she appeared from began to pulse again. Looking at it, Twilight looked surprised.

"Oh gosh, we'd better hurry if I'm going to help you find Ponyville. I can only hold this form for 5 hours at a time. Its powerful magic but it has its limits." Said the Princess, trotting towards the double doors.

Hitch and Sunny followed her out into the hallway, not even noticing the new set of cutie marks appear on the map of Equestria as landmarks shifted and changed to the modern layout of Equestria.

Author's Note

Hello! Sorry this chapter took a little longer. Had to brush up on some knowledge of where the three settlements actually are. Realllllly wish Hasbro would have given us more to work with in terms of maps of modern Equestria. But then again us bronies in the fandom wouldn't have been able to write all these awesome stories speculating what happened to Equestria or how long it's actually been since Gen 4. See you in the next chapter everypony!