Shame, bone chilling, soul crushing. It filled my every pore and choked on my spirit. She and I were long friends by then, yet her embrace would never cease to hurt like the first day.

I couldn't bring myself to even look at my friends, who awaited in silence with saucer-like eyes and new light shining over their newest friend, a light I feared would cast a permanent shadow over me.

My leaky eyes peered straight down at my feet, full of bitter tears that blurred the image of my old boots caked in dust and debris from our long trek.

None of them had ushered a word after I had finished my retelling of what came to be known as ‘The Incident.’ Their labored breaths and occasional sniff warned me that they also were shedding a few tears of their own.

What would they think of me now?

“D-Dead?” A haggard whisper broke the sticky silence. My eyes searched for its origin. It came from Sunny, who had remained at my side during the whole story, but now had put the smallest of distances between us to address me in complete disbelief.

A shaky nod was the only answer I mustered to give, for I felt words held little meaning in light of my sin. It went beyond that simple act. Years upon years of work, changes, and the most dangerous of all: ideas.

It had been a truly traumatizing experience for my friends and I. A life taken for such a trivial matter. At least, that’s what we all thought in the beginning. History knows now how it turned out to be anything but trivial.

“B-But, the Tale of the Guardians of Harmony only speaks of an incident in which an earth pony was harmed by a unicorn, which then led the races to fully d-distrust one another and fled with their respective c-crystals…” Sunny sniffed hard, unceremoniously trying to wipe her snout while offering her decaffeinated version of the story. “… t-to the lands which eventually became our home towns and cities. There isn’t any mention of anypony dying…” The pain in her voice dug a knife deep into my heart, hurting more than any harm any villian I faced could inflict on me. The mare was struggling to fully grasp what I had just told them, death inflicted on such a manner a concept actually alien to their sheltered existences.

“I also know that story,” Pipp butted in from her place in front of me, her words dripping with disbelief as the earth pony had. “It's almost identical to the one you mentioned Sunny. I never imagined it was actually that bad…”

They knew little. They knew nothing.

“It was my fault…. The ISIT, the ideas, the globalization, the pupils…”

What was left to do but tell them? They deserved to know who they were dealing with, even if my selfish side tugged at my mind to keep my true self and past hidden under the layer of myths and tales ages had blaketed over my image.

“Don’t say that!!” An angry demand from my left killed my self-deprecating mutterings. Izzy was to blame for the jumpstart, leering at me through teary eyes, an angry scowl adorning her features. With an authoritative stomp, she drove her point home. “It wasn’t your fault, Alex. You’re the kindest, sweetest, most friendly human I’ve met in my whole life! You were just trying to defend him from that… that disgrace of a unicorn.” A flash of realization crossed her lavender eyes, bringing with it a renewed self of disappointment. “... Now I can see why we were regarded as dangerous and unpredictable ponies. B-But please, please don’t blame yourself!” She pleaded with her beautiful, teary pearls searching for mine.

A sorry chuckle escaped from my lips, warmed by her touching gesture and willingness to trust in me. But as I’ve said, it went beyond that day’s event.

“I’m the only human you’ve ever met, Izzy.”

The unicorn wasn't happy with my dismissal of her point, and she let me know with an annoyed nip on my collarbone. However, Izzy wasn’t a mare to stay angry. Sensing the pain under my sorry attempt at humor, she immediately lunged to dig her running muzzle in my neck, her forelegs surrounding me in a big hug. I could feel her lightly sobbing against me, whispering how sorry she was for me for having gone through such an event.

“She’s right, Alex.” Sunny reaffirmed from my right with cold resilience, using her hoof to turn my head in her direction to make sure I heard what she had to say. “None of those ponies had any right to fight like that. You just did what anypony else would have done. None of us believes for a second that it was your fault, right guys?” She turned to address the rest of the ponies with a face that left little room for disagreement. The rest of the gang returned affirmative nods, not needing the mare’s silent warning to agree with her view.

“Alex…” Hitch was next to add his two bits with a step forward, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I-I…”

Feeling unworthy of their sympathy and understanding, I raised my hand to silence him. “It’s fine Hitch, it was high time you all knew.” I revealed with a deep sigh and a heavy heart. “I spent many days hating myself, and even today I still do.” The truth spurred Izzy to strengthen her hug. Warmed, I gave her a reassuring kiss on her ear before continuing. “It got so bad that I… um… I almost did something very stupid…” I rubbed my right wrist with shame, the message not going unnoticed by the ponies, whose eyes grew larger as they understood my gesture.

Heh, not that it would’ve gotten me anywhere. No, I could no longer choose on that department.

Before they could say anything about it, I reassured them. “My adoptive family and friends were with me through every step of the way and helped me recover. We leaned on each other to push through, and for the most part, it worked. However, such a serious event forced us to take more… drastic measures.”

Drastic measures. No matter how many times I referred to the term, it always felt like a gross understatement. Still, the cat was out of the bag, and the ponies wouldn't settle for anything less but the truth. I had been reassured of their commitment and their hearts of gold. I saw little reason to continue playing the guessing game with them. Discord would spill the beans sooner or later knowing him. Best if they learned from me first and prevent that old, mismatched fucker from spinning the tale.

I stood a bit straighter in my seating position and regarded the surrounding ponies with a heavy look, eliciting a similar reaction from them. “Guys, my mission here, the reason why I traveled to your time…”

Time was up, now came the bomb.

“... is to free magic from the prison we locked it in, the Unity Crystals. To avoid situations like this one from ever happening again. To allow all ponykind to freely enjoy the gift of magic as it is their right. Magic is NOT, and never was the true problem. It was the ponies, the three tribes who misused it. Even without magic, they still feared and hated each other, perhaps even more so.”

I turned to adress Sunny, her gorgeous aqua-green pearls regarding me with uncertainty. Some late-due explanations were in order. “Sunny, the day I broke into your home, and you caught me messing with the crystals, I was actually trying to do exactly that. In this gem…” I raised the gauntlet containing it for emphasis, powering the aforementioned gem. “... is contained the spell matrix necessary for a madly complex spell we thought might achieve that goal. I wasn’t planning on destroying them like Discord is, more like…” I struggled to find the words. “... like reversing their effect, I guess. I tried to free the connection they hold over the leylines that block and disperse the flow of magic towards and from the ponies… but I guess Twilight saw me coming and placed defensive spells on them as a guarantee.”

I should've known better. My mare planned for each and every eventuality. How could I ever think playing the waiting game would be enough to trump her?

A veil of conclusion blanketed the ponies, one clinging mystery solved by my hand. Yet, one pressing concern remained in their stormy minds.

“W-Why didn’t you say so?” Sunny hesitantly asked.

“Would you have allowed me to? Or better yet, would you have even believed me?” I fired back.

“I… uh…” Knowing I had the point, Sunny’s ears folded back against her scalp.

My striking failure, however, had shone a new light over my plight. “Regardless of that, I now believe there’s more to the crystals than I originally thought. I need to learn more about them and their purpose before acting again.”

Sunny reached with her forelegs and grasped my shoulders firmly, leaving me little room to avoid her message. “Alex, I’ve already told you. We trust you… and we want to help you. Nopony here knows more about them than you do.” Her seriousness evaporated with a tender nuzzle on my cheek, yet her compromise remained as firm as ever.

These ponies were too trusting and forgiving, they’d give me a heart attack one of these days. I gave her another kiss behind her ear for her efforts, her cheeks slightly reddening in an adorable blush. “Thank you, Sunny…” I searched for the rest of the gang, who shared the mare’s will to judge me for who I was now, and not for who I used to be. “... and thank you, guys... I don’t deserve you, not after all I’ve told you.”

I took a few deep breaths and tapped the clinging mares at my sides to release me from their hugs. Reluctantly, they did so and allowed me to stand up. We had a demigod to catch and a crystal to recover if I was ever going to put the three of them to sleep permanently. “Well, we aren't going to learn anything if we don’t retrieve the pegasus crystal. Let’s get out of here, shall we? I’ve spent enough time underground to last me a lifetime.”

Not that the equines were going to get the actual meaning behind my comment, but that didn't stop them from nodding vividly, no doubt itching to return to the surface for some fresh air and warm sunlight. I pointed out the path I had taken and instructed them to look for my marks on the walls. Using her phone lantern, Pipp hovered above the group, lighting the way and hollering every time she spotted a mark.

Zipp and Hitch followed her closely, already going over possible plans to jumpstart the search, discussing possible hiding spots and search methods. Those two were a team of their own, it seemed. In the short time I’d been with them, I’d seen them together numerous times. A blind pony could tell they were becoming good friends. Like, really good friends.

‘I give them a month, two tops.’

Just as I was to follow behind them, Izzy leaped in front of me and blocked my path with a frown. She raised herself on her hind legs and rested her forehooves on my shoulders, fixing me in place. Now face to face, hear usually cute features hardened. “Now listen here, mister. If you ever, and I mean it, EVER, start having those nasty thoughts about yourself again, you come to me, or any of us, and talk to us, okay? We love you, and we want to help you, whether you like it or not! You’re important to us, and we couldn’t care less about whatever things you claim to have or haven't done in the past. Now you’re with us, and you fight with us for the future of all ponies, understood? Promise me!” She finished with a demanding jab on my chest.

Warmed by her concern, and grimacing from the firmness of her hoof against my delicate chest (ouch), I reached and rubbed my nose against hers, making her go cross-eyed for a moment.

“Thanks Izzy, I promise I will.” I rescued the mare with one parting ruffle of her wavy main. “Come on now, let’s not leave the others waiting.”

My promise brought her to brighten up with a warm smile. With our short affair settled, we resumed our path back to the surface. Due to the narrowness of the tunnels, the two mares who had stuck close to me during my brief fallout now went up front, with myself taking the rear and providing more illumination with my gauntlets, brisking our pace to catch up with the rest of the group.

Soul crushed or not, I didn't miss the image in front of me.

‘Aaand we are back with the gorgeous sights, nothing better to dispel dark thoughts… Ugh, we males are so simple it’s almost embarrassing.’

An embarrassed chuckle filled the narrow tunnel, causing the mares to peer back in confusion. I gave them a sweeping gesture with my hand indicating it was nothing and focused upfront where I was pointing the light. Sunny gave a pony shrug and returned her attention to the path. Izzy, on her part, caught up with my devilish dilemma. With a coy smile, she began swaying her flanks in a more seductive way as she made her way up the tunnels, her tail bobbing behind her in a way it teased me constantly with what laid behind it.

‘I swear, that mare…’

It took us less time to emerge from the cave system thanks to my marks. The pegasus sisters flew a short lap to stretch their wings, rejoicing in their renewed sense of freedom while the rest of us retraced our steps towards the castle’s main. With nothing else to do here, and keeping the shattered statue under wraps for now, the ponies wanted to return as soon as possible to Maretime Bay and start the search.

All fine by me. The better we found Discord, the sooner we could fix the glitching and return magic properly to the ponies. I feared the longer the search dragged on, the worse the anomalies would get until it became irreversible or worse.

However, on my way up I realized I had to take a little detour.

Once we were at the front gates, I voiced my plan to the ponies, regretful at the need to part ways with them temporarily. But I couldn't miss the opportunity, I needed to see for myself.

I clapped my hands to gain their attention. “Very well, gang. We should return immediately and begin planning the search for the crystal. I assume you know your way back?” The group nodded in confirmation, yet ever attentive Zipp scrunched her muzzle in suspicion.

“Why are you asking if we know our way back? Aren’t you coming with us?” She asked.

“Not right away, Zipp. I need to take a detour first, there’s something I need to see. But you guys should go back to the brighthouse right away. We can’t afford to lose any more time. Discord could find a way of destroying the Pegasus Crystal at any time. We have to be faster!”

I had hoped to elicit no conflict with my request, but one mare had something to say about it.

“Absolutely not!” Sunny was quick to counter, “You’re not going alone, much less after the past few days!”

Sighing heavily, I took a knee and tried to reason with her. “Sunny….”

“Don’t even try it, Alex!” She was a cliff against the waves. “We told you we were together on this, whether you agree to it or not!” Sunny laid it plain and simple before I could even begin reasoning.

With a tired puff, I tried again to convince her of the urgency of my request. “Sunny, I plan on visiting Ponyville’s ruins and the Castle of Friendship, just at the bottom of the valley.” I pointed with my finger towards the general direction. My words brought her eyes to widen. She, better than the rest, knew what I was talking about. “It’s possible that there are things that might be useful for us, or even just more clues about the past. Whatever it ends up being, I have to check.” I cupped her cheek with my hand, noticing her heated reluctance and tension on her velvety fur. “Also, this is something I want… no, I NEED to do for myself. Please understand, Sunny. It’s only going to be a couple of days. Days that you guys can’t afford to waste. I will be fine, Tangerine, I promise.”

She didn’t want to give in, a scared look shining on her softening eyes. “B-But Alex, it’s too dangerous…”

I reached and hugged her head against my chest. “Perhaps it is, Sunny, but the reward is worth the risk, believe me. You said you trusted me, right?”

I felt her nod against my chest. With a thankful smile, I gave her a peck of gratitude between her ears. Now slightly more reassured, she broke the hug and returned the smile, a shade of concern still clinging to her features.

A pawing motion brushing on my leg turned my attention to a concerned Izzy giving me the same treatment. With open arms, I gave her another quick hug and a reassuring kiss on her scalp.

Once the clingy unicorn freed me, I stood up and peered at the remaining ponies, who also didn’t seem very sure about my intentions, but offered no protest.

“I will return as soon as I can. Stay together. Protect each other. You will soon find that as a team, you’re unstoppable. I trust you to begin the search as you see fit. We will work over it once I’m back. Until then, stay safe, my friends.” I gave them one last encouraging wink.

I skidded on my heels to look at Suny who remained at my side. “Guide them well, Tangerine. Even if you don’t believe it yourself, I know you’ll be a great leader.”

She returned a hesitant nod, still mulling over the fact that the ponies looked at her as their leader, yet not outright shying away from the task. I had seen her take the reins and encourage her friends as the boss mare I knew she’d become.

Just like a certain purple mare I knew well.

I took the first steps outside the gate, cracking my neck and loosening my legs in preparation. The ponies stayed behind to watch me go. I tightened the straps of my backpack and gave them a final wave.

“I’ll see you guys soon. Good luck. Accelero!” With my spell casted, I sprinted my way out of the ancient city, leaving a trail of dust behind me.

Drawing from my magic-induced speed, I rushed my way back through the main street, taking a small moment to pass in front of the old 'Twilight’s' residence, where Twilight's parents used to live. More than once I found myself sharing a meal with that family, a family I began calling my own after some time.

With a fond smirk at the numerous memories flooding in, I couldn't spare the time to be lost in the past and resumed my run towards the same entrance we had used when coming into the ghostly capitol. From there, I would find the Silver Run’s course and follow it downhill until I reached the bottom of the valley. Any railroad tracks that once carried trains leading ponies up and down the Peak had most surely been reclaimed by nature by then, so I’d have to use the river to guide myself.

‘I hope the dam is still holding together. Or at least that its deterioration hasn’t caused the river to flood the town.’

Thanks to my acceleration spell, as well as the fact that it was all downhill, it only took me around five hours to reach the bottom. At one point, I used a fallen tree as a makeshift boat during a calmer stretch of the river to cut my aching legs some slack. Thank goodness I was carrying spare clothes in my backpack, for a moldy trunk makes for a miserable transportation method if you wished to stay wet.

Once I got close enough to the lower part of the valley, I left the river’s course and bolted up towards what in the past used to be a pretty popular hill for couples to spend a nice afternoon over a picnic, amongst other activities. More than once it had hosted some of the craziest CMC’s attempts to win themselves a cutie mark. The hilltop was tall enough to overlook most of northern Ponyville. Once atop it, I cleared some of the lush vegetation conquering it to get a better view.

It hit me like a train, a cold shower down my spine.

Unlike Woodlock Town, there were still some ruins of what was once a beautiful village. Although the buildings were all in shambles, I could still make out the principal avenues and the main square where the town hall had been located. Since the houses were mainly built of stone, wood, and straw, very little had survived the passage of time.

But the town, as paradoxically reassuring and devastating as it was to see it again, even in such a state, was not my main target. Straining my eyes, I could discern the ruins of Twilight's ancient castle at the other end of town. From what I could tell, it seemed that the base had collapsed, leaving the main structure to rest awkwardly on the ground, half-toppled on its side. Not far away, the remains of the School of Friendship could still be discerned hugging the tail end of the Smokey Range among the tall vegetation that had recolonized the area.

‘Faust above, such a waste, after all we went through…’

Tears threatened to escape my eyes at the depressing image of what used to be my home during my early years in Equestria. I had tons of happy memories here. Memories of all the friends I had made, of all our achievements, of my short time as a teacher in Twilight’s school, of the parties, the townsponies…

‘Dammit! No time for that now, Alex! We knew what to expect. We have to keep moving forward, it’s the only thing we can do.’

I carefully made my way down the hill and decanted for the path that crossed straight through the village to reach the castle, even if the harring sight of its ruins would dig dagger after dagger into my heart. I was partially responsible for it, if not fully. No pussyfooting around it was allowed.

I walked over the crumbling bridge that had connected the east and west sides of the town and then started my path through the main street. I searched left and right on my way, barely able to discern the ruins of some of the most characteristic sites Ponyville had to offer. I found the remains of Bon Bon’s sweet shop, the memorial site for Golden Oaks Library, the remains of Sugarcube Corner, and the ruined husk of Carousel Boutique not far from it.

It was a cold punch to my stomach to see them like this. I felt as if I was inside some post-apocalyptic video game. A Fallout Equestria if you want to call it that. I knew what I was talking about, for the crumbling ruins and skeletons of old buildings surrounding me reminded me a lot of the place I was left stranded in for a while during the timelines incident.

With stinging eyes, I accelerated my pace to get out of the ruins as soon as possible, a flurry of emotions storming inside me, dominated by self-hatred and guilt. I couldn't continue watching what little was left of my old home. I feared I’d start hearing their voices if I stayed too long.

‘I̵̥̿͌͒͊̄t̵̹͇̔́̑̌̐’̶̢͖̼̈́̄̊ş̶̮͎͚̗̕ ̶̭̫̤̘̽͐͠y̶̠͇̬̌͜͝ǫ̸̺̹͖̇̃͆͆̏u̸̞͍̞̝̔r̴͎͇̥̐́ ̵̣̠̇͋͆͘͝f̷̤͆͐ā̴̛͚̘̭̫̚u̴̬̫̳͒l̴̨̞͈̒͗͝t̵̲̫͖̟͇́̇͗͊̈.̴̻͗̃͝’

‘Silence!!’

After a painful ride through memory lane, my head working against me to project happy and painful memories alike over the dusty remains of the once epitome of friendship in Equestria, I left the town proper and rooted myself in front of the castle grounds, taking in what little glory it still exudated in its semi-crumbled state. Its tilting position and absence of a main entrance gave me no choice but to ingress through the side windows, which were now at a reachable height. Its original blue and purple colors were now duller. The crystalline composition, having become dirty and mudded, was now cracked in multiple places, as if a giant spider web had been sewn over its entire surface. The star-shaped ornament atop the structure had fallen at some point, and was now a shattered mess a few meters away from the main structure.

I used some of the broken shards chipped from the castle walls to help me climb up to the broken windows. I extracted a spare t-shirt to cover my hand and clear the remaining glass shards from the rim. The last thing I needed was a nasty cut for the gang to fuss over back at the Bay. Once done, I pushed myself up with a grunt and entered what I quickly recognized as one of the numerous guest rooms occupying most of this floor of the castle. Because the castle was now titled, I found it a complicated adventure to walk straight on the floor without toppling over, like in those cheap, slap-comedy japanese programs aired at ungodly hours for lonely bastards. The bed, closet and dressing table had all slid into the opposite wall, meeting a sorry end against its hardened surface and now resting in a mixture of rotten wood and torn clothes faded by time. With careful steps, I managed to cross the room and enter the corridor which connected the guest rooms with the rest of the west wing.

I had trekked through these corridors numerous times in my years, enough to help me effortlessly orientate myself to where I wanted to go. My room was at the end of this corridor, close to the stairs that connected the several floors of the castle.

I walked the length of the corridor, opening some of the rooms as I passed them out of sheer curiosity, to see if I could find anything useful. None of them had anything interesting to offer. It seemed that the castle had not received many visitors before it collapsed, surprising me with the same layout over and over again. At the fifth attempt, I stopped bothering and focused on my destination.

After a few minutes of hazardous walking, I arrived at my room. On the door, the symbol that I had adopted as mine still greeted the null amount of visitors the castle hosted nowadays. Six white circles intertwined around a central one engraved on the blue-stained wood. Perhaps it sounds familiar to somecreature, it was human in origin, with a meaning I saw beginning to my goal in Equestria.

Wincing at its now soiled meaning, I opened the door and took a peek inside, a wave of nostalgia hitting me with the force of an earth pony’s well-placed buck. Here is where I spent my first night after my arrival in Equestria, a room Twilight had granted me as my own after it became clear I was going to remain in the land of the ponies indefinitely.

Just as it had been the case with the other rooms, all the furniture had slid toward the west wall; the smaller articles of furniture had shattered, and the larger ones were barely holding up against the ravages of time.

With a defeated sigh, I mustered up the guts and entered my old room for the first time in what felt, and were, centuries, looking carefully for anything still worth salvaging. I remembered storing my most precious things in a special box with time-preserving runes engraved on it, in anticipation of my upcoming ‘trip’.

Using my levitation, I managed to pry what little reminded of my bed from the rotten mess of furniture and set it to the other side, a dust cloud arising from the mattress when I released it, polluting my lungs and making me cough several times.

Just as I remembered, there was the black box, boring and inconspicuous, its seals seemingly intact from a quick lookover. But what I didn’t expect was to find my old training sword near it, the hilt barely picked from under the sea of splinters and bleached cloth. It was a custom-made sword to match my arm length, a sword I used in my late training sessions with Shining Armor and the castle guards. As much as I despised violence and the need for a military in this land of peace, I was made painfully aware of the dangers of this new world very quickly. At the insistence of my loved ones, I received a fair amount of self-defense lessons, hoping I would never have to use them, a futile thought in the end.

The worst thing, is that I was good with it. Like, very good.

In addition, the sword was reinforced with an alloy of steel and electrum, which gave it the ability to conduct magic. During my later lessons, I practiced integrating my gauntlet with it but only managed to successfully summon electricity and heat through the blade, its composition being the limiting factor more than my skills. Nothing my other, deadlier blade could manage after I had graduated from this one.

The cutting edge was very blunt, not that it was much sharper in the past considering that it was intended only as a training sword, but that could be fixed with a little TLC.

I used the now torn shirt I used before to make a makeshift holster around my bag to carry it with me, making a mental note to apologize to Izzy for tearing her shirt when I returned. With that done, I returned my attention back to the jackpot.

I brushed aside pieces of wood and cloth around it and picked up the box. Taking a few steps back, I sat on a clear spot on the floor and placed it on my lap. Opening both latches with a *click*, a small flash monetarily blinded me from between the slit, signaling that the preservation spell had dissipated. I removed the lid completely and peered inside.

‘Holy shit, it’s still here.’

I was rewarded with the sight of my old college laptop, the one I had given to the R&D teams at Canterlot to research and reverse-engineer its technology. I had spent the first few days monitoring them to make sure it wasn't broken or stolen, as there was a lot of useful information on it and it was also the only way to access the information I had stored on my external hard drive, which was also present in the box. Lots of music and books, some movies, as well as lots of data, documents, and pictures from my research days on Earth. It was all I had left from my old home.

The charger, which had been modified by yours truly to work with Equestria's primitive electrical grid as well as my mouse, which I had tweaked to make it a little more 'hoof-friendly' to Twilight’s incessant insistence, were also all inside, and as far as I could see, they were all in pretty good condition.

‘I was right to ask Starlight to put those spells in the box, I knew I would most likely need this again wherever I ended up.’

Below the device was a bunch of papers containing info from the R&D team regarding the electronic devices. It’s most likely they used my laptop as a base to develop the technology I saw the ponies wielding nowadays, or at least part of it. I remembered Phyllis mentioning something like that.

I extracted the contents from the box and stored them in my bag. A quick look around revealed nothing else worth taking. My old clothes in the wardrobe would be little more than moth-eaten rags by then.

Now feeling a smidge more encouraged, I left my old room, wondering if there was anything else worth investigating in among the guts of the abandoned castle. However, before I could come to any decision, a strange sensation yeeted me out of my thoughts and made me sharply turn towards the stairs leading down to the floor below, a prominent goosebump sending ants crawling down my spine.

Puzzled, I took the stairs down in silence, straining my senses to see if I could feel the weird sensation again.

It was starting to get dark outside, meaning the innermost sections of the castle were now barely illuminated by the last clinging rays of the quickly setting sun. A simple light spell helped guide me through the stairs and down to the second floor. Shortly after arriving, that same strange sensation forced my gaze to lock into the right path leading from the intersection, where I remembered the Map Room was located.

My heart was furiously pounding in my chest, threatening to burst out and make a run for it. I had no idea what was happening. In theory, no one should be inhabiting the castle. Heck, no one should even know it ever existed. I hadn't seen or heard anything that could indicate that somepony had arrived before me.

With stealthy steps and quickening pulse, I snaked my way to the double doors to the throne room, one of which was slightly ajar, bad start, but I could discern no hoofprints or traces of any kind on the dusty floor. I charged my gauntlets in preparation and, at the count of three, I pushed the doors wide and busted into the room like a badass which… wasn’t that impressive in retrospect. Against what my gut was screaming at me, there was nocreature inside, just the six old thrones (plus Spike’s smaller one) surrounding the lifeless Cutie Map. Even after the tumbling of the castle, they still held mostly intact, although the symbols of my friend’s cutie marks had faded with the passage of time. I needn't them to remember by heart which belonged to each of my pony family members.

The map was completely flat, just as it had become after our last call to Dodge City. It was dusty, with small cracks all around its crystalline surface, a product of the castle toppling over, perhaps. The setting sun cast its parting rays through the broken upper windows, barely reflecting them on the map and the surrounding thrones. Moss and small vines had started to colonize them and all over the walls. The roots of Twilight’s old library still hung precariously from the ceiling, but many of the small crystal shards that decorated it were now shattered and littered around the floor, forcing a careful gate on me if I wanted to avoid getting one stuck in my toe.

I searched all around the room. Nothing seemed out of place from the layout in my memories, and the window still had some lingering shards clinging to its rim, meaning a pegasus or other flying creature couldn't have flown away quickly without catching one or two and hurting themselves.

And yet, amidst the oppressive silence of a dead castle within a dead town, I felt it once again, and this time I could tell that it came from the map. A whisper, a shift in the surrounding air, a vibration tugging at my minstrings. Scrunching my face in confusion and slight discomfort, I hesitantly approached the map, a trembling hand, glowing under the light of the powered gauntlet, raising to touch it. With a deep breath, I steeled my nerves and placed it near the edge, with myself standing still just beside Twilight’s throne.

I swallowed a pang of nostalgia, now wasn't the time to dwell in the past.

I held my breath in anticipation… only for absolutely nothing to happen. After a few more seconds, I was positive my touch wouldn’t elicit any reaction from the mystical map, and removed it with a relieved breath.

‘Phew! For a moment I thought I’d end up…’

The deep humming of building magic erased any notions of relief. Before I could blink, an energy wave was released from the map, encompassing the whole room in a bluish, ghostly glow, with small light particles flickering in and out of existence around me. I took a step back and reflexively raised my arms in defense, ready to tackle whatever the map would send towards me. But, thankfully, nothing came to bite my ass in some sort of revenge move from the castle for abandoning it or some other cheap movie plot.

Still hanging on edge, I lowered my hands enough to peer around me. The ambience of the room had drastically changed, the illumination of the setting sun now replaced by the bluish glow of magic buzzing with life around me, the floating dust particles only helping to improve the phantasmagorical, yet breathtaking sight.

I was completely mesmerized, so much so that it wasn’t until I returned my gaze to the map that I realized there was an equine head sticking out of my chest.

“... SHIT!!” I screamed while jumping back twice my height, landing on my ass and scraping myself with some of the fallen shards.

With a hand on my chest to trap my fast-beating heart, I fought to regain my breath. From down here I could now discern it was just only a projection and that I wasn't reliving that scene from Alien. It took the shape of a light-blue furred earth pony that I had momentarily intersected. Now seeing his full form, I could tell that his mane and tail were a darker blue with a few strands of gray and purplish hair. He wore a pair of glasses over his muzzle, shining with the glint of discovery. The projection showed him looking around the room in amazement, a small notebook on his right hoof. He also wore some kind of explorer, khaki shirt, with a pair of saddlebags riding over his hips.

Standing up and nursing my wounds, I took several steps to the left to get a wider view. His cutie mark depicted a shooting star with a rainbow trail. His eyes were sparkling in wonder, looking all over the place in disbelief, as a child flashed with the full potency of an amusement park and the possibilities it hid.

I moved my hand in front of him, earning no kind of response back from his part.

‘A vision, then? Some kind of stored projection that I somehow activated when touching the map, maybe?’

After finishing his apparent inspection and jotting down a healthy amount of scribbles, the pony returned the notebook to his saddlebag and stepped closer to the map. Giving it a thoughtful look, he placed his hoof atop of it.

Just as it had happened to me, the map responded after a few seconds, but this time it glowed up feebly and projected a series of floating cutie marks around its periphery, slowly running though its periphery.

A series of cutie marks I easily recognized.

‘That’s Sunny’s cutie mark, and Izzy’s, Hitch’s, Pipp’s and Zipp’s, and… that one?’

There was a sixth one that I didn’t recognize. However, before I could give it more thought and commit it to memory, movement from my left tore my gaze from the map. It was the stallion who, after having taken a few cautious steps back, returned to stand in front of the map, a hopeful spark in his purple eyes.

And then, it suddenly clicked.

‘Wait, is that… Argyle?’

I tried to take a step closer to make sure of it, but I was rooted in place when the vision of the stallion shifted suddenly.

It was as if time came to a halt, the hum and twinkling of magic giving way to a looming silence. Argyle’s projection lost its luster and wonder to take a stiff peek behind him, fixing his eyes to mine, somehow knowing I was there with him. Where his purple, inquisitive eyes should’ve been, a swirling rainbow glow dominated them, peering straight into my soul.

‘... No.’

Traveler

Another sudden burst of magic, this time stronger, floored me, paralyzing my limbs. Just as it had happened after my second attempt at casting my spell on the Unity Crystals, a foreign energy cursed through my body, clawed at my mind, sought to get in. A similar rainbow-patterned glow began swirling through my peripheral vision. My body locked up and fell against the map, my muscles tensing and my breathing becoming pained labored.

At that precise moment, I heard it. I heard her.

Your path is now clear, Traveler. Guide them through the incoming darkness. Our future depends on it.

It crushed my chest, stealing my breath away.

The moment the voice stopped talking, I was released from the strange energy coursing through my body. My vision became clear once again, able to discern once again my now silent surroundings. The projection as well as the ambient magic had disappeared, leaving the last of the sun rays to once again illuminate the darkening room.

I had no strength to raise myself back onto my feet. My whole body felt numb, my heart racing a mile a minute. In between raspy breaths, I muttered the name of the only being who had ever referred to me with that title.

“… H-H-Harmony?”

“Come on Sunny, it’s been a long day, we should get some rest.” I heard Hitch call from behind me. I hadn’t torn my sight from the valley below Canterlot since we had stopped to spend the night. Now covered under twilight’s blanket, I couldn't make out anything that might hint Alex’s whereabouts. Perhaps the faint glow of a campfire, anything that would let me know he was doing fine.

I couldn’t stop worrying about my human friend. Shaking my head to park my worry, I peered back with an appreciative smile to my oldest friend. “Yeah, you’re right Hitch, it’s definitely been a long day. I just can’t…”

“I know, Sunny. We’re all worried about him. But he asked us to trust him, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Hitch reassured me with a caring pat on my shoulder.

We had spent the day retracing our steps back towards the serpentine road that would lead us back Maretime Bay. Now that it was all mostly downhill, we had managed to cover a little more distance than when we climbed up the mountain. If we continued at a brisk pace, we would reach the brighthouse tomorrow before dark.

Taking one last look at the darkened horizon and coming up blank, Hitch and I rejoined the rest of our friends around the small fire Izzy had started. I sat beside her, both our eyes filled with lingering worry for our newest friend. I reached and gave her a comforting nuzzle against her curly mane, Izzy returning the gesture.

We had spent the trek down the mountain talking about Alex, and the terrible accident he blamed himself for. It was truly a haunting thing to know, an event that my father never told me about, maybe because I was still very young, or maybe because he didn't know the real story either.

Izzy was particularly bothered by Alex’s hurtful words, especially when he mentioned he had tried to... take his life… after the ‘Incident’. She sneered out Discord’s taunt about him and his alleged ‘treason’ with a bitter tone, fuming heatedly about what the draconequus might do with the crystal, and especially about what he had revealed about Alex. It felt somewhat unnatural to see her that angry. She’s always so full of joy and playfulness, it seemed so alien to see the flames and sadness in her eyes.

After a few moments, I stopped my caressing but didn’t fully back away, taking a curious moment to take in her scent. Even after all the excitement and exercise of the past days, she still smelled like tree sap and wildflowers.

“He's going to be fine, Sunny, I know it. He’ll be back with us in no time, and we can all start looking for the crystal, together.” Izzy whispered in my ear, her breath slightly tickling me.

I pulled back to see her giving me a hopeful smile. I returned hers with one of my own, drawing from her hopefulness to lift my spirits. Our previous talks had shown me how much we both care about him. I mean, we ALL cared about him, but Izzy and I seemed to have made a special connection with the human, even if he always tried to treat us all equally. He’s very sweet, and always tried to spend time with all of us, taking interest in our own peculiarities and hobbies. But after this morning’s events, we all got to see a side of him I had only glimpsed briefly during the lighthouse incident.

‘So much pain, so much guilt. Hidden deep inside, so as to not bother us with it, I guess?. He tried to tell us all the truth, but something stopped him from doing so. There’re so many things we don’t know, and so many things I thought I knew, but now I can’t be sure…’

“Guys…” Zipp interrupted my musings from the other side of the campfire. Conflict was visible in her features. “I-I don’t know what to think about today. I thought at the beginning it was going to be a simple heist case, somepony who didn’t like the new way of things or just trying to be funny, something we could solve in a day or two. But this? This is too much, it's too big for us!”

“How do we even confront him?” Continued Hitch from his place at her side, “He tossed us out like we were mere playthings. It’s like he controls reality itself, o-or something like that. It’s so crazy! Even if we have magic back, I don’t think we have any chance against him.”

“It was… um, pretty humiliating, not gonna lie.” Muttered Izzy with her droopy ears. It’s true we didn’t stand a chance at the moment, but I believed that with more time to prepare and careful thinking, we would find a way. Alex had said so: as a team, we were unstoppable. We just had to wait for him to return, he surely knew something that could help us.

Pipp returned from doing her business in the relative privacy of forest and sat at the other side of her sister, sighing softly. “I just hope we find him quickly. We had to trot half the way back ‘cause our wings stopped working again! It’s only going to get worse, and the moment we lose it forever, we won’t ever stand a chance. Oh my glitter, imagine returning to the old days! How will the ponies react? I’m terrified of thinking they’ll choose once again to isolate themselves. After all we’ve done…”

Zipp laid a comforting wing around Pipp’s shoulders, sharing her sister’s fears. “I don’t know Pipp, mom is very happy with the changes happening in Zephyr Heights as well as the new partnerships between the cities. I don’t think she’ll be quick to abandon all of that.”

“The unicorns won’t have much problem doing so, I think.” I peered at Izzy, not fully understanding what she had just said.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“Just that knowing the unicorns, the moment magic goes out, they’ll return to their silly superstitions and isolationist traditions. For many, many, MANY moons it has been our ‘mantra’: out of sight, out of mind. Supposedly kept us safe from you.” Her sad pearls lifted up to stare at us with a glint of shame. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re enjoying the new friendships a lot. And as far as I can see, they have no problem inviting non-unicorns to Bridlewood. I guess it's just… the way earth ponies and pegasi always portrayed us, blaming us first for anything they could think of… it still stings.”

“Izzy,” I placed my hoof on her shoulder, “Does it have something to do with Alex’s story?”

That only made her look more defeated. “I grew up knowing it was a unicorn who harmed an earth pony and caused the breach between the tribes. The story was twisted to make us think the unicorn was innocent, but knowing that he actually KILLED the other pony? That’s really messed up. I don’t believe for a second it was Alex’s fault… at least, as much as he thinks it’s his fault! I guess it just gave me a lot to think about… and, I dunno, it makes me feel guilty for what I am…”

“Oh, Izzy.” My heart broke at hearing her words. Without thinking, I reached out and trapped my friend in a big hug. “You should NEVER feel ashamed of what you are, or feel guilty for what that unicorn did hundreds of years ago. ALL pony kinds are to blame, all had the chance to make things right, and it came down to us to take that first step after so many centuries.” I forced her crumbling sight to meet mine. “You are my best friend, Izzy. The most wonderful unicorn I’ve ever and will ever meet. So, I want you to get this through your skull: nopony believes you’ll be anything like that unicorn, or any other unicorn from Bridlewood for that matter.”

“But that’s the thing, Sunny, I could be!” She countered me after pulling away from the hug. “Now, I have the power to become like him! That’s… that’s what scares me the most. What’s stopping a unicorn from blasting another pony, or a pegasus grabbing somepony and dropping them out of the sky or, or an earth pony hitting you hard enough to shatter all your ribs in one go?! Before, we were just ponies, but now? We are dangerous…”

After hearing this, Hitch decided to intervene, offering his two bits with a side of seasoned hindsight, “Ponies have always been dangerous, Izzy. That's why there has to be a sheriff in the first place. It’s just as Alex said: it’s not about the magic, but the pony who wields it. Even during the most aggressive, most heated argument, nopony should make use of their abilities to harm others, whether with a magic blast from a horn or a punch to the face with a hoof. A pony’s feelings and self-control are what makes them refrain from using magic or physical violence, not the other way around.”

“Come on, Izzy,” I rubbed her back sympathetically, trying my best to bring her out of the gutter, “You have seen first-hoof what we can accomplish now that our magic is back. Why would any pony want to endanger what we have?” She gave an uncertain shrug, still looking conflicted. “Well, in the unlikely event we find somepony like that, we’ll be there to show them the better way. Right, ponies?”

I received vigorous affirmative answers. The ‘Protectors of the New Age,’ as Alex had called us. It was now our job to ensure the future of the three tribes, to demonstrate to them how to live in harmony, like we always should have.

A big yawn from Pipp hinted that it was time to call it a day. “Well guys, I think I’m going to hit the hay, or filthy ground in this case… anyway, have a good night, ponies!”

“Good night, guys.”

“Sleep tight, tomorrow we carry on at first light.”

“Night, guys.”

I wished the ponies good night but didn’t join them. Instead, while they repositioned themselves to find a comfier spot, I silently walked towards the edge of the campfire and returned my gaze towards the valley illuminated by the pale moonlight, previously hidden by a nasty cloud, where my friend was currently spending the night. Alone.

I silently wished for his safety, and mentally scolded him for not allowing us to accompany him.

My ears twitched at the sound of closing hoof steps. I didn’t have to turn my head to know it was Izzy. Without a word, she sat beside me and followed my eyes towards the far side of the valley. I felt her lean against me with a deep sigh, our minds sharing the same worries for our human friend.

We weren’t going to get much sleep that night.

I ended up falling asleep in the Map Room, although a more appropriate term would be passing out from sheer exhaustion. My body and mind were too drained after suffering her invasion of my most sacred temple. Again. The summer night had prevented me from feeling too cold, but the hard crystal floor didn’t help keep me warm and cozy, either. Still, I managed to get some hard-won rest and shut down my mind which had been bursting with endless questions until I managed to pass out. Such a shame they would return the moment I woke up.

‘That was Harmony, I’m sure of it. After so much time silent, she chooses to speak to me again now of all times?’

It didn’t make any sense. She had completely disappeared shortly after the ‘Incident’. Not that she was very talkative in the first place, but at least she was willing to help if she considered the problem important enough to deem that it warranted her personal attention.

‘My path is now clear… an incoming darkness, because of course it fucking is. How weird would it be seeing an Equestria that wasn’t threatened by something or somecreature, right? A lasting period of peace? Nah, fuck it, let’s find somepony random and turn them into a villain to spice things up, it’s worked wonders in the past, right?! Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ…’

I shouldn’t even act surprised, it was the same song and dance as always. With a grunt, I raised myself from my sleeping position and I turned to look at the map that, once again, had gone silent.

‘Is why you brought me back? The role I have yet to play? Woken up from stasis at the precise moment I was needed. Godammit, I don’t know why I even bother…’

I wouldn't find answers there, but questions continued to accumulate in my mind. I’m not a ‘guide’, and I already fucked up being a leader. I had arrived there with a very specific mission. A mission I fully intended to complete one way or another. And now? I was tasked with a new purpose, my actions dictating the future of ‘us all’ no less. No pressure at all.

Needless to say, I was extremely pissed.

With a venomous glare towards the map, I packed up my stuff and left the room, muttering obscenities under my breath. Not feeling like returning to my old room, I decided to check out the library in a feeble attempt to find something of use, located on the other side of the second floor. All the books were enchanted with a preservation spell of some kind, courtesy of one, slightly-paranoid bookworm princess. Perhaps something there had survived over the centuries.

Wandering around the long corridors, it took me a minute to reach the castle's library. Once inside, I couldn’t help but release a tired breath at the absolute disaster in front of me. Hundreds of books were littered around the room, the wooden shelves knocked down, and those that had been carved out of the crystal walls had numerous cracks and missing parts. A hurricane might as well have passed over the castle for all I could see.

‘… This is going to take a while…’

Not wanting to waste daylight, I began to search for something useful inside the looming pile of littered books and scrolls.

“Predictions and Prophecies? Oh, Sunny is going to love this one.”

I spent the better part of the day diving into the book pile, managing to find a few useful tomes like History of Equestria, Seven Theories on Bending Time, Principles of Magic, and the Astronomers Almanac. I was sure that the ponies would find them useful, or at least interesting to read. I hadn't found any proper libraries during my short tour around Maretime Bay, so I wasn’t sure how much knowledge had been preserved between the three races, and how much of that knowledge was accurate. Sadly, most of the books had deteriorated way past their usage point, preservation spells or not. She should've stored them in a box, I couldn't help but chuckle. Hopefully, some could be restored, but they were closer to being museum exhibits than anything of use.

It was past midday when I finally managed to put some order to the disarray that was the library. However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find the one book I was most interested in.

‘Where is the Journal of Friendship? Last I knew, it was being kept safe by Spike, here at the castle.’

The lessons written in that journal were knowledge that ponykind desperately needed to relearn. A not-so-subtle reminder about what ponykind should aspire to be. Twilight had made sure to add hers and our friend’s friendship reports to the journal’s entries so it would contain practically all their adventures and all the lessons they had learned.

‘Perhaps it’s at the School of Friendship?’

More than once Starlight had asked for it to use as reference material during her lessons. She had taken her role as Headmare very seriously after inheriting the school from Twilight, and she frequently enjoyed partaking in a few lessons of her own to the new students. Even if Twilight had to step down to focus on her royal duties, the rest of the girls, as well as myself, continued with our lessons alongside many other Ponyvillians and creatures from abroad who wanted to help. It became a pretty famous school, never suffering from a shortage of new students, at least while the peace between the creatures lasted.

There was still plenty of sunlight, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. I put away the books I had found in my backpack and left the library, which now looked much better after the intense reorganizing session.

‘Twilight would be so proud of me… except I didn’t categorize them in alphabetical order, I can feel the metaphysical slap from her already.’ I rubbed my cheek fondly in mock pain.

With a small chuckle, I headed back into the hallway, looking for a room to use as an improvised exit back to the outside, as the main entrance had completely collapsed under a pile of shattered crystal. On the third attempt, I found a broken window, and the height was not too high. Very carefully and using the cracks on the exterior walls as supports, I returned to the outside, enjoying the warm midday sun and the tall grass that tickled my legs as I headed for the school.

The ruins of the school were not far from there, just a fifteen-minute walk from the castle. The remains of the once beautiful building still stood strong against the cliff at the eastern end of the Smokey Range.

The east wing of the school had partially collapsed, probably due to erosion from the waterfall that still flowed at its side. The flags and ornaments had completely disappeared, while the paint of brilliant violet and blue tones had enormously faded, but could still be found under the heavy layer of moss and vines. The waterfall that flowed around the main entrance now completely concealed it, the stone path leading to it submerged in the small pond that had grown in size during the last few centuries.

Not wanting to get wet, I took the path on the left to look for an alternative entrance from the dining room or the inner courtyard. Memories of my time as a teacher in the school flashed in front of my eyes. Memories of numerous creatures of all kinds chatting excitedly, the smiles of the teachers who welcomed them to a new school year, the newly formed groups of friends of all sizes and colors playing in the surroundings of the school, the trips to the nearby forest, the student exchange programs…

With what summed up to be the hundredth dejected sigh of the day so far, I continued my way up the hill, the tall and dusty stained-glass windows of the dining room barely reflecting my sorry state when I passed in front of them. It was not long before I found a partially-broken window. Making sure to remove the stray pieces of broken glass from the surrounding frame, I performed the same steps as I did at the castle and quickly entered the dining room, where the long tables and stools still casted a familiar sight. There were no remains of food or crockery of any kind. In fact, it looked like everything had been cleared away before they left for the last time. I wasn't sure for how long the school had remained open after my journey, but I doubted it would have been for long if the situation had only got worse.

Carefully, I made my way through the long, partially-rotted tables and exited the room through the main entrance. The tall hallways that once housed countless students arriving from the allied countries now echoed my footsteps. It was an unnerving and creepy experience, the deep silence where once the lively conversations of creatures from all over the world provided an energetic atmosphere, the eagerness to learn present in the eyes of all the students who hurriedly walked, trotted or flew in search of their next class.

It suddenly occurred to me that the laughter I was hearing in my mind, the ceaseless chatter of excited students, the enthusiastic lectures from eager teachers… it was all echoes of the dead. I tried my best to keep myself from thinking about it like that, but when confronted with empty chairs, dusty blackboards and unorganized desks, it became impossible to not fall back into it.

Dispelling those dark thoughts as best I could, I took in the image of the old paintings and worn-out statues that still decorated the sides of the corridors, the building’s support columns barely being able to keep the structure standing, if the numerous cracks they presented were of any indication. I crossed through the main hall, which was partially flooded due to the rising level of the pond in front of the entrance. At the end of the hallway of the opposite wing through which I had entered, was the school's loaded library. Luckily, only the far end had collapsed, but the presence of the nearby waterfall created a damp environment that over the years had destroyed most of the books.

‘A real pity. Most of these books have copies within the castle, but still…’

Fortunately, those that remained more or less intact were meticulously organized on their shelves, no doubt the work of my old bookworm friend. A couple of hours of searching resulted in nothing new. I couldn't find the Journal or any copies of it anywhere.

I picked up some books that were still intact and took them out of there to prevent further damage. I decided to look for Starlight's headmare office next. Maybe she had stored the Journal in her personal bookshelf. I climbed the stairs, gritting my teeth every time I heard the sound of marble crunching and small fragments falling away.

Once upstairs, I headed straight to the Headmare's Office. The old doors offered some resistance, but with an irritating creak, I managed to open them. The interior was just as I remembered it. The main desk at the end of the room, the armchairs where Starlight and Trixie conducted their counseling sessions, and hugging the right-hand wall, a small bookshelf with the school rules manual, among other thick tomes.

But not the one I was looking for.

‘Faust dammit! It’s not here either! Where is the Journal?! I need to find it!’

I turned the office upside down trying to find it without any success. After searching furiously for a while, I let out a snort of despair and flopped over one of the sofas, the old wood giving way effortlessly against my weight. With a cry of surprise, I found myself on the floor, slumped over the broken remains of the couch, looking like a complete fool. The highlight of the day.

I blinked twice and let a growl escape my lips. Not feeling like getting up again, I simply remained put looking at the crumbling ceiling, letting my mind wander back to my memories in search of a clue as to the location of the Journal. Sadly, I became distracted quickly, my thoughts returning once again to my friends. I had been trying HARD not to think about them. The freezing pain squeezed my heart hard and merciless every time I saw their faces. Discord’s words had deeply wounded me.

I wasn’t a fool. I expected them to be angry with my disappearance, but it wasn’t like I could tell them of my plans, either. They wouldn’t have allowed me to do it, especially Twilight. Starlight was the only one who shared my concerns about our friend, and she ended up helping me travel to the future, regardless of how much it pained her to say goodbye. Even after our… rocky start, we had grown close during the years, and she became the last pony I saw before going into stasis.

This room brought back memories of her, of our time in the school, of her small nervous crisis after being appointed headmare.

If only things had turned out differently…

I spent the next hour just laying there, rifling through my memories, as much as I didn’t want to, thinking about all the things we could have done differently, the mistakes we could have mended. Harmony’s words still lingered in me, keeping me wide awake. After I was granted a ‘second chance’, I had spent many hours awake searching for a reason. What role was I yet to play that was SO important that she had to directly intervene in such a manner? My presence was a mistake in Equestria, an anomaly that fitted none of her plans. She had made that VERY clear the first time I spoke to her, and yet…

It was at the moment of shifting to find a more comfortable position that I noted a distinct lack of a cold, hard object on my back. Alarmed, I raised myself from the fallen couch and reached for my back, my hand searching through the empty air around where the sword should have been.

‘Arrrgh!! I left it in the Map Room. Faust, I really don’t want to make the trip back there…’

I weighed up whether it was really worth recovering it. After a minute of internal debate, I released a tired sigh and decided not to waste any more time dawdling. If the Journal wasn't in these locations, it could have ended up anywhere, and I didn’t have the time to search everywhere for it.

‘Well… I tried. Perhaps I’ll come across it sometime in the future. There are many places I want to check out, but first things first, we have to find Discord and get that crystal back.’

With a little shake to get the blood pumping, I left Starlight’s office, but not before leaving in her bookshelf the books I had rescued from the school’s library, and went straight ahead towards the dining room, planning on exiting the way I had entered.

Once outside, I cast a final look back at the School of Friendship, silently saying my farewells. The sun would set in a couple of hours, which meant it would be nightfall soon after I started the way back to Maretime Bay. Not wanting to get caught in the forest during the twilight hours, I reluctantly decided to spend another night inside the castle’s safe walls.

A short run and a little climb later, I was back inside the room I had used to exit the castle. I wasn’t especially excited to return to the Map Room, and I definitely wasn’t planning to spend the night there. But I didn’t want to leave my sword there, it deserved better.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to give it any use. Faust I was hoping I wouldn’t have to… but if something I had learned during my adventures in Equestria was to always be prepared for anything, and not to miss any chance you get. Too many of our adventures had ended in close calls and pure luck for me to leave loose ends hanging now.

Hurrying along the empty corridors, I stood once again in front of the twin doors. Harmony’s words rang in my nogging, asking me to guide the ponies through some sort of ‘incoming darkness’, an extremely ominous warning. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to, to be honest, although the most prominent question was: what darkness was she referring to?

‘It’s not like you could have given me an actual clue or something, right, H? No. Know what will happen, and it won’t happen, right? Fuck you…’

I kept muttering dark omens while crossing the entrance, the empty thrones around the silent map glistening with the afternoon sun rays. I quickly found my sword scattered near the place I had fallen asleep. I grabbed it and checked if there was any damage. Even after many centuries the metal still reflected my image. I lifted it over my shoulders and checked both sides for scratches or fissures. However, the reflection of the map behind me caught my attention momentarily. More specifically, a mark on the map that I had not seen the other day with all the excitement.

Puzzled, I turned around and walked a few steps around the map until I came close to the mark. Now that there was more sunlight available, it was way more obvious. An X-shaped mark on the map, a claw or heel mark by the looks of it. The shape that altered the reflection of the light made it stand out from the rest of the pristine surface. It wasn’t accidental.

‘Okay, okay… when summoned, the map is aligned with the cardinal points, meaning that…. considering where that mark is located, and the west is in that direction, and the castle’s entrance faces south…. it should be marking somewhere around….’

“The Crystal Empire…”

Author's Note

Once again, thanks for the continued support. Before I forget, the inspiration for Agyle’s scene as well as a few other comes from this guy on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Bearmation93