Chapters Part One: The dream.
Pinkie Pie is the luckiest pony alive.
She has a good home, the job of her dreams, and best of all lots and lots of friends.
She even has a special ability! That is, she has many special abilities, but one in particular is relevant for this story. She has dreams that come true!
Some mornings Pinkie will wake up with a feeling that something great is going to happen. Although she cannot know the exact nature of what is going to happen, for the dream is hidden behind that veil that separates the wake mind from that of the realm of dream, she will, during all of that day, have callbacks and strong cases of déjà vu to lead her through what she must do to make the dream come true.
This has given her a reputation as something like the town weirdo, as she will often do things like throwing somepony a party or starting a random singing parade through town for no other reason than 'it seemed like a good time for it'. Most ponies have accepted Pinkies eccentricity and are often more than happy to indulge in her whims, so Pinkie is all in all a weary popular pony, despite, or perhaps because of, her strange and random behavior.
But one day Pinkie woke with a feeling beyond anything she had experienced from a dream before. Usually the dreams would make her wake up smiling, and maybe humming a little tune while preparing herself for the day, but this time she could not help herself from bouncing all around her bedchamber with pure excitement.
The immense feeling of joy slowly fading from her mind was like an echo of what she had felt that day in her childhood when she had seen a sonic rainboom and been inspired to throw her first party. But what could possibly happen today that could make her feel anything equal to that? She tried her best to recall any clue of the dream's contents, but the more she tried the fainter it became, until she had nothing but the memory of having the memory as proof that the dream ever existed at all.
Pinkie went outside to get some air and clear her thoughts. The dream had reminded her of her first party; that was the day she had earned her cutie-mark, by finding her true self and what she was meant to do with her life. Maybe today she was meant to find something else?
But what could she possibly find that would make her that happy? Her favorite thing to find, that she could think of, was new friends; but even though that made her very happy, she still find one every few weeks or so, and she had yet to experience the kind of joy her dream had led her to expect.
Maybe she was supposed to find a treasure? Like a real historical treasure that all of ponykind would gape at, and then she'd be famous and ponies all over Equestria would be throwing parties for her ! But wherever should she start such a search? Duh! In the library of course!
It was still rather early in the morning, but Pinkie knew Twilight, the town librarian and one of Pinkies best friends, would be up early to get started on her daily reading. She had barely finished beating her happy little door-beat when the door knob was enveloped by a purple, sparkly glow of unicorn magic and the door swung inwards.
“Hello Pinkie Pie! Come in, I'll be with you in a minute.” Twilight said cheerfully without taking her eyes off the pile of books she was sorting through. After a bit more than a minute she lifted three of the books and put them on a table and floated the rest over to Spike, her baby dragon assistant, for shelving, then turned o Pinkie, who had been patiently watching her the whole time. “So, what can I help you with?”
“I was just wondering, do you know of any lost treasures in Equestria?”
“Excuse me?” Twilight said giving Pinkie a confused look.
“Lost treasures,” Pinkie Pie repeated. “You know, like lost cities, sunken ships full of gold, magical artifacts. Things that nopony knows where are, but would be really exiting to find!”
“Pinkie, you must realize a large portion of those are only ponies' tales. The city of Atlantis, Captain Treehoof's lost treasure, the Holy Saddle and all the others are not real!”
“But everypony was saying that same thing about the Elements of Harmony,” Pinkie insisted. “And we found them, didn't we?”
Twilight could not hold back a heavy sigh at Pinkies persistence, but she calmed down and explained the best she could.
“The Elements are an important part of Equestrian history. I knew they were real because I knew Princess Celestia had used them to defeat her sister. Except the princesses, nopony knows more about Equestria's history than me, and I know there is no reason to believe any of these stories are true, because there is no record of anypony in the stories to have ever lived.”
“But I know for sure that there is at least one grand treasure out there waiting for me to find it!” Pinkie said, “Can't you think of any story that just might be true? Only the tiniest little possibility will do!”
“Well... There is one...” Twilight admitted reluctantly “It is a very old legend, and nopony knows who started it or where it's from. It's about the origin of the alicorns. We know the historical facts of the founding of Equestria. The three pony tribes, the unicorns, the earth ponies and the pegasi, was at war against each other; until a blizzard trapped them inside an icy cave and they had to cooperate to stay alive. The act of working together made them realize how alike they really where and they discovered the magic of friendship for the first time. This new found magic stopped the blizzard and made Equestria a fertile, habitable land for all ponies, and soon the ponies of all three tribes joined together in one nation under the benevolent rule of princess Celestia, the very same princess who rules beside her sister to this day. Now the big question, the question this myth tries to answer, is: where did princess Celestia come from?
“According to the legend the first outburst from the horn of Clover the Clever when the magic of friendship was discovered left a magical presence in the cave. The ponies considered the cave holy, and did not enter it, so nopony knows exactly what that means, but legend tells the cave itself became a living magical thing, that would provide Equestria with what she needs. In the beginning she needed a good ruler that could represent all the three tribes, so it created Celestia, a pony who was neither a unicorn, an earth pony or a pegasus, but at the same time represented all three. Then she needed someone to provide power of balance and share the heavy burden with Celestia, so the cave created Princess Luna. The myth is obviously too old to mention princess Cadance, but the believers claims that when Luna's return drew nigh, the cave created princess Cadence, an alicorn with the ability to restore love between fighting ponies, to be there and stop any future disagreements between the princesses before their fighting became a treat to other ponies.
“Of course I asked Celestia about this legend when I first read it, but she had no answer. According to her she simply arrived in Equestria with the will and knowledge to rule, but with no memory of where she was from. The same is true about Luna and Cadence. Nopony has ever found the cave, and no historical record gives any hints of its location. The founding of Equestria was more than four thousand years ago; the borders have changed many times in those years and even caves changes with time. There is no way to know where the cave is, or even where to start looking, but there you have what you asked for, a treasure that might be real, but that nopony has found.”
Pinkie was polite enough to stand still and listen while Twilight was speaking, but the exact moment she finished Pinkie was all over the place; bouncing, cheering, singing she even gave Spike and Twilight a tight group hug, making Spike drop a pile of books to the floor.
This had to be it! Pinkie could feel it with her entire body! She was so excited she could not think straight, but after a few minutes of wild celebration, and then a few moments of lying on her back to catch her breath she was back in business.
“So, Twilight, where should I start looking?”
Twilight tried her best not to look annoyed, but it was not easy “Did you hear anything of what I said? The cave can be anywhere in or outside of Equestria! If it even still exists, or existed at all!”
“Yes, yes, I heard that, but I know I can find it! I know it! I just need a little nudge in the right direction.” Pinkie pleaded, leaning towards Twilight and flapping her eyelids.
“Okay,” Twilight sighed, knowing it was useless to argue, “as I said, in any book, scroll or tablet I have ever read, no mention of the cave's location has been made, but I have not read every book, scroll and tablet in Equestria. I guess if anything should hold that kind of information it would be in the old castle in the Everfree forest. Nopony has been to that castle in almost a thousand years, except us when we recovered the Elements, and we didn't exactly go browsing in the library. I'm sure many unique books and scrolls are left behind in that castle even now. Of course nopony would be crazy enough to... Pinkie?”
But pinkie was no longer listening; she hugged Twilight and Spike one more time and was out the door. It was already approaching noon, and Pinkie had much to do.
Part Two: The forest
On a normal day, Pinkie would have waited until the next day before entering the forest, to be able to start off earlier and get more hours of sunlight. On a normal day, Pinkie would certainly not have gone alone. She would have conferred her plans with her friends, and happily suffered through all five different speeches about how her plan was reckless, idiotic or simply a waste of time, but today was not a normal day. She knew beyond a doubt that every hour mattered, she didn't really know why or how it mattered, but it did! And so she trotted directly from Twilight's library, straight through Ponyville, past Fluttershy's cabin and into the Everfree Forest.
The moment Pinkie entered the forest she could feel the difference in environment.
Not only was the forest so dense and deep that most places had not seen a single glimmer of sunlight in centuries, the very air was different. Wind blew without help from any pegasi, rain and thunder could start and stop all by themselves and some of the plants had strange and unpredictable properties, like thorns, poisons or even teeth.
This strange environment had naturally affected the animals living in the forest as well. The birds were quiet and lived hidden amongst the leaves. The predators, like wolfs and manticores, were abnormally large and fierce, and their pray were even bigger and tougher, just to stand a chance in the daily fight for survival.
But Pinkie did not fret. A few years ago she had been terrified of this place, just like everypony else, but since then she had been here several times and discovered that many things that seems scary or dangerous might not be so bad if you only deal with it correctly. Not having her friends with her was a slight drawback to be sure, but Pinkie just hummed a little tune and pronged on down the path.
Pinkie had no concept of time as she traveled ever deeper into the forest. The track ran downhill and the trees kept getting bigger and darker. It almost felt like forever, but at last the terrain flattened and the trees started to thin out some. When Pinkie finally again spotted the sun it was considerably higher in the sky then it had been last time she had seen it. She stopped a moment to make sure she was going the right way, and noticed a reassuring sound: there was a stream nearby.
A little while further the trees made way, and the sun shone on a brilliant blue river. The river was not too deep, but very vide, so Pinkie had to look for a safe place to cross. She had not gone far, however, before she was greeted by a familiar laugh.
“Well, isn’t it one of my old pony friends! How wonderful!”
The huge purple Sea Serpent looked like he was about to jump out of the water with joy. Pinkie noticed that his mustache was back to its shiny golden-orange self, perfectly matching his flowing, well-groomed mane.
“I don’t believe we have been properly introduced,” he added. My name is Steven Magnet, but you may call me Steve.”
“Oh, my name is Pinkie Pie! I’m actually called Pinkamena Pie, but you can call me Pinkie, all of my friend do! And I’m sorry for being so rushed last time we met, but we had a real rush saving Equestria from this really mean Queen Meanypants, who turned out to be not that bad after all, she was just mad because nopony wanted to be her friend, and then she had to live on the moon for a really long time, and I hear the atmosphere is really bad up there and…”
Here Pinkie was stopped by Steven’s laughter. She didn’t really get what she had said that was so funny, but making ponies (and Sea Serpents) laugh was her absolute favorite thing to do, so she was happy either way.
“Well you sure have a delightful mind, my dear pony friend!” The Sea Serpent said when he managed to stop giggling. “But I do have to ask: whatever are you doing so deep into the forest all by yourself?”
“Oh, I’m looking for the same old pony castle that we found last time,” Pinkie answered. “I’m on a treasure hunt you see, and I’m fairly certain there’s a clue in that castle.”
“Oh my, that sure sounds exiting. I do have to warn you though: the forest is not completely safe these days. The creatures you ponies call the Diamond Dogs are gathering en masse, just a stretch downriver. It might be vise to avoid them, maybe take a detour just to be safe?”
Pinkie had to consider this for a moment. The Diamond Dogs was definitely an unfriendly bunch, and not one Pinkie cared much for meeting, but then again, if they were gathering in such numbers they must have some reason. Maybe they were planning some mischief, or maybe they needed help! Either way, pinkie was better of knowing. So she bid the friendly Sea Serpent adieu and trotted away down the bank of the river, talking aloud to herself about how this had nothing to do with satisfying her own curiosity, but was simply the rational thing to do.
The river went on without any major changes to about a mile before it ran into a small lake. At one side of the lake there was a large flat area where a number of tents had been set up, and several tunnels had been dug into the ground. Out of the tunnels crawled a steady torrent of gray dog-like creatures. Pinkie could see several dozen of them already gathered by the tents, and yet there seemed to be no end to the in pour trough the tunnels.
Pinkie noticed three armored dogs standing on their hind legs and shouting what sounded like an angry motivational speech to the gathering masses and concluded those were probably the leaders. She skipped happily forward and greeted them with a shrilling “hello!” that quickly earned her the attention of every dog in the camp.
“Do you remember me?” she inquired cheerfully, “I’m Pinkie Pie, we met once, remember? When you pony-napped my friend?”
There was no reply, so Pinkie just continued: “I was in the area you see, and I heard there was a gathering, so I thought ‘hey, maybe they need help or something?’ so I decided to come by and see what you are all up to!”
Pinkie paused, looking at the three armored dogs with an innocent grin on her face. The crowd was completely quiet, but was now looking back at their leaders, who were whispering to each other in what seemed like a heated argument. Pinkie caught a few words like ‘pony’, ‘problem’ and ‘annoying’; but not enough to make out the conversation.
The conversation seemed to drag on for quite some time, several dogs in the crowd started to shift uncomfortably where they sat or to speak in hushed voices among themselves, but Pinkie just stood there patiently. After a while the three dogs turned to her and the shortest of them shouted at her. “Pony! Get up here, we have a request!”
They did not have to tell her twice. Pinkie rushed through the crowd speedily and effortlessly, and soon all the Diamond Dogs paid full attention once again.
“You see, pony,” the leader dog explained. “We are planning a little party to take back what is rightfully ours. That annoying pony friend of yours stole a lot of our gems, and we want them back.”
“I thought you gave them to her to have her go away?” Pinkie asked in a friendly, inquiring voice; without any hint of reproach.
“Yeha, I think that’s what happened” another dog agreed.
“That’s not the point!” the leader said angrily, and slapped a paw over the other dog’s head before he turned back to Pinkie and continued in a polite and diplomatic tone. “As I said: we want our gems back, the problem is that the annoying pony has a cat guarding her house at night. Now, of course, we could easily dispose of the cat and be rid of the problem, but that’s extra work, and someone could get hurt. What we want you to do is to lure the cat away for the night, then we can come and do our business, and leave without anypony even needing to notice we were ever there. Sounds like a deal?”
“So let me get this straight” Pinkie said. “You want me to go back to Ponyville, the place I have spent all day walking away from, to lure a cat away from its owner’s house, so you guys can rob one of my best friends in peace?”
The dog that got slapped earlier started mumbling and got an elbow in the face from the leader, who just nodded and smiled nervously, not knowing how to interpret a face that seemed to smile equally wide no matter what, but Pinkie didn’t take long to consider. “Okie, dokie, lokie” she said cheerfully. “See you after nightfall!” And then she was on her way back from whence she came.
Part Three: Of Dogs and Cats.
For some reason, going back was always much easier than going away. It was as if an invisible force was always dragging her towards the little town she called home. She was still set on finding the old castle and the lost treasure, but she couldn't just ignore the current situation in order to achieve her own goals. If the treasure had been hidden for thousands of years like Twilight said, then surly it would wait for a few more hours, or even days.
Pinkie was not absolutely sure what she was going to do with the whole Diamond Dog business though. She clearly couldn’t just ignore it, and risk Rarity’s cat, Opalescence, getting hurt, but neither did it seem right to help the thugs rob her friend. Her only choice seemed to be to start with warning Opal, and then take it as it came from then on. And as usual, everything turned out better than expected; at least, it did not turn out as expected.
When Pinkie arrived back in Ponyville, the sun was already tuning the fluffy little clouds into pink cotton candy, and the lamps of the houses made the little town look like a cluster of stars in the evening twilight. All the other ponies were already inside, spending time with family or reading a book before bedtime. Rarity was probably asleep already, unless some important fashion-project was keeping her up late, and her cat was playing in the big tree outside her boutique. Pinkie trotted right up to the tree and announced her arrival by clearing her throat and addressing the cat.
“Excuse me Mr. Opalescence” she said, hoping she did not miss on the gender of the cat. “I’m sorry to bother you, but there are lots and lots of Diamond Dogs in the forest that mean to harm you. I really think you should go into hiding or something, just to be safe!”
Pinkie noticed that the cat was looking at her as if it understood her. It was standing there, apparently in deep thought for a long moment, before it jumped down from the tree and spoke in a deep serious voice.
“How many do you mean by ‘lots and lots’ exactly?”
Pinkie, who had never heard a cat talk before, was slightly taken aback by this, but decided to hide it to the best of her ability. After all, she would have been terribly insulted if anypony had been shocked that she could talk, so why wouldn’t that go both ways? Even so, it took her a moment to answer.
“Um, I’d guess a couple of hundred, maybe three hundred.”
“I see” the cat responded with no visible emotion. “Walk with me, you can tell me the details on the way.”
And so they started walking back into the forest towards the place Pinkie had met the dogs. As they walked Pinkie told Opal everything she could remember of the meeting. Opal mostly kept quiet and let her talk, but once in a while he would shoot in a comment or a question.
As they walked through the forest in the ever growing darkness, Pinkie started to notice movement in the corner of her eyes. At first she figured it was just her imagination running wild, but soon it became clear that the two companions were no longer alone. It took her a while to realize that it was a myriad of cats that were lurking trough the shadows. Some were familiar housecats owned by ponies living in Ponyville, others were stray cats she had seen in the streets and outskirts of the village, but a vast majority was strange, wild-looking cats that she could only guess that were native to the Everfree Forest.
By the time they stopped, just close enough to the dog’s camp to be able to her their barking and digging, but far enough away not to be spotted, the sea of cats covered the forest floor for as far as Pinkie could see. In the dark it was hard to make any estimates, but the overwhelming number of gleaming eyes suggested that the cats by now easily outnumbered the dogs three to one.
“Mrs. Pie, a word with you, please.” Opalescence waived Pinkie away from the flock to get a private word. “We don’t normally include ponies in our affairs. We are an ancient order, sworn to protect all good creatures against evil. We have chosen to take on the role as humble pets in order to protect ponies without raising suspicion. You have been a great help to us tonight, and we truly appreciate that, but I have a few more requests that I would like for you to consider.”
Here he paused a few seconds to allow Pinkie to reply; but this kind of formality was more than she was used to, so she just smiled and nodded.
“Firstly,” Opal continues. “I would ask you to stay here and to not interfere in our operation. If anything should go wrong, or if you get frightened, or if you don’t want to stay here for any other reason, I’d ask you to return to Ponyville and act as if you know nothing of this event. Do you understand?”
“Stand here and do nothing, or go home. Not interfere with operation. Got it!”
“Good.” The cat said. “Secondly, and this is important, I would highly appreciate it if you would keep our order a secret. As I said, we play the role of pets so ponies will keep us close and let us into their villages and homes without giving us any special notice, it would be an unimaginable setback to our order if ponies learned to much of our secrets. Do I have your word on that?”
“Of course! I’m a master at keeping secrets!” Pinkie proclaimed proudly, while preforming a rather queer miming act where she locked her mouth with a key and buried the key under a house. “But I was thinking: if your order is so old and full of secrets, maybe you could help me with a little treasure hunt of mine?”
The cat looked at her for a moment, and then, for the first time, it smiled at her. “When this situation is dealt with, we will be at your service. If there is anything we can do to help you, we will.” He then motioned the other cats to get into position, and with Pinkie as a motionless bystander they all started pouring into the dogs’ camp.
Pinkie did not move a muscle. The curiosity and urge to know what happened just beyond that wall of trees was filling her like a balloon ready to burst, but she was not a pony to go back on her promise; so she stood silently, tripping her hooves and listening.
The moment the cats charged there had been an immense racket, consisting mostly of loud barks, at first of surprise and fright, but then of anger and defiance. Then the sound of claws digging or running, as if the dogs were on the retreat.
Throughout the whole session she did not hear a single sound that could have come from a cat. In fact, they were so eerily quiet that Pinkie started to wonder if she had indeed traversed the forest with a group of ghosts. She then sent a quick prayer to Luna that ghosts indeed were just an old pony-tale as her granny had assured her, but it had limited effect, for the forest did suddenly feel even darker and stranger than it used to.
Pinkie did still have her mind on ghosts when, what seemed like hours later, a rustling in the bushes made her jump startled several feet into the air. It took her a moment to make out in the darkness what had made the sound, but she let out a loud sigh of relief when the form of Opalescence and two other cats became distinguishable in front of her.
“Mission accomplished” Opal smiled at her, and motioned her to follow him. “We will need a moment to go over the scene before we can leave, but as soon as that is over with I fully intend to honor my promise and see if I can help you with whatever it was you needed help with.”
“Just take your time!” Pinkie chimed while jumping around, still ecstatic that she could move again. “I'm not in a hurry.”
Opal led a small group of cats back into the recent battlefield, and Pinkie followed close behind. The cats were communicating in a silent kind of body-language that Pinkie did not understand, but she decided to be patient and not to disturb them. The cats showed Opal trough the field where other cats were busy filling up the holes dug by the dogs, and tearing down their tents. Pinkie noticed a few dogs lying wounded on the ground, but most seemed to have escaped. She also noticed that there seemed to be none hurt amongst the cats, so she concluded the element of surprise must have worked really well.
After about half an hour of surveying the area, Opal finally seemed pleased and turned once again to Pinkie.
“Thank you for your patience,” the cat said politely. “And thanks for tipping us off in the first place, without you. This could have gone much worse.”
Pinkie just smiled and bowed her head at the compliments, hoping it was time for Opal to follow through with her promise; and she didn’t have to wait long, for the cat was quick to get to the point:
“So, to what purpose was it that you would like to request our assistance?”
Part Five: High Up and Low Down
Now that the sun was shining high in the sky, the path out of the forest was fairly easy to find. Opal and Pinkie Pie were walking side by side, talking about everyday topics ranging from the weather, their friends back in Ponyville and Equestrian history, a subject of which Opal seemed to have indepletable knowledge.
Soon however, they reached the end of the forest, and Opal had to turn back. The cat pointed out the mountain Pinkie would be aiming for, and gave her some advice and word of caution about the trip.
“You will not want to climb the mountain in the dark,” he warned her. “Not only will that make the trail almost impossible to find, but this far from Pony civilization there is no telling what predators might be hunting. Sure, there are plenty of nasty beasts in the Everfree, but there you at least have the cover of the trees and vegetation, on the mountainside you'll be free meat.”
Pinkie promised to be careful while she tanked and hugged the cat again and again before they finally parted ways. The warm sun, green grass and gentle hills made Pinkie start off boldly in a fast trot, augmented by occasional jumping and dancing; and plenty of humming.
The mountain seemed like only a half-hour trot away, but each time Pinkie ascended another hill she realized that was only an illusion played on her by the immense size of the mountain. In reality the hills rolled along for several miles, and the foot of the mountain was still way out of view.
Such disappointments would not take the heart off Pinkie though. She had the sun shining on her back and a gentle breeze blowing through her mane, and whatever she would find at the journey's end she knew it would be worth it; so she picked up her pace and went on, with a smile on her face and not a care in the world.
The sun was already touching the horizon, where the huge forest was no longer to be seen, when Pinkie reached the foot of the steep mountain.
Pinkie stopped for a short rest, while she contemplated the advice Opal had given her. He had told her not to climb the mountain in the dark, due to predators, but Pinkie was quite confident in her mountain climbing-skills. Like most ponies she could walk up nearly any incline, no matter how steep and she had never seen any predators that could outrun a pony on such terrain. The only thing she could think of being a threat would be a dragon, but as far as she knew dragons were diurnal and would not be a threat at night at all.
After all, she had to be on the plateau on the top at the mountain by sunrise. If she waited until morning before she started climbing she would have to spend a full night at the top and her quest would be a full 24 hours delayed; so Pinkie did not lose another minute, but started walking slow but steadily up the mountainside.
Ascending above the level of the surrounding hills gave Pinkie a short illusion of traveling backwards in time as the sun suddenly appeared in the sky again; but the extra moments of daylight were short lived, and soon the sun was gone beyond the horizon and a few bright stars showed up spread over the darkening, cloudless sky. Pinkie sped up her walk to a slight trot, she wanted to get as far as possible before twilight ended and the dark of night fell over the land.
It was not too long until the deepening darkness forced Pinkie to slow down her pace to avoid tripping on stones and rocks that stuck out all over the mountainside. The moon was hidden behind a thin veil of clouds that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, so the light of the stars were her only guide. It had become too dark to see the top of the mountain above her, but neither could she see the bottom if she turned around, so she was confident she had come a fair distance already.
Suddenly and without warning the stony ground fell away under Pinkies hoofs! Or rather: she was lifted up into the air by an unseen and unheard assailant. She didn't even get a chance to shriek before the numbing feeling of nothing but air for fathoms below her made her freeze in place and not move a muscle in fear that whatever held her might drop her by accident.
While she was hanging there in mid-air under her soundless abductor, she noticed in the corner of her eyes another creature flying along beside the creature holding her. Soon her curiosity overcame her terror and she swung herself around to get a better look at the creatures. It was hard to get a detailed look due to the darkness, but from their silhouettes against the stars she thought they reminded her a lot of changelings.
They clearly had the bodies of ponies, only slightly smaller than her, but they were clearly not pegasi; for their wings were clear and insect-like, unlike the colorful feathers a pegasus. They were still not quite like the changelings she had encountered earlier. Those changelings had been noisy, making a gurgling, buzzing sound, somewhere between that of a wasp and a bat, while these two were completely and ominously quiet.
As she watched them she soon realized they were having a voiceless argument, and something told her she was the prize being fought over. Soon the changeling not carrying her started pushing on the other one, so that its wings beat against Pinkie and started tickling her. Pinkie, more terrified than ever of being dropped, had to pull out every ounce of willpower in her to keep herself from laughing or doing any sudden movements in reaction to being tickled.
They went on like this for a while, the changelings fighting and pushing; and Pinkie fighting off equal measures of tears of laughter and tears of terror, until the fateful moment when the moon showed itself through a hole in the clouds and Pinkie got a look at the creatures’ faces; except, there were no faces! Where the creatures mouth, nose and eyes should have been there were nothing but a continuity of their sleek, leathery, black skin.
Pinkie screamed, and then screamed again when the sudden noise made the changeling drop her. She could see their silhouettes diminish as she plummeted downwards. Apparently she had not been that exiting after all, for neither of the changelings lifted a hoof to try and save her.
She fell and fell, until she could scream no longer. The air was pressed out of her lungs and her throat was sore, and still she kept falling. The creatures had disappeared completely between the twinkly stars and the moon was once again hiding behind the clouds, and still downwards Pinkie fell; until she landed on a steep, muddy dirt-incline, and tumbled down into a dark cave. Down and down she rolled, skidded and fell, until she hit the rocky cave floor and passed out.
When she came to she was at first immensely revealed at yet again having solid ground under her hooves, not to mention at not being killed by such a high fall, but her relief was soon overshadowed by concern. Pinkie had apparently been wrong about weather mountainsides was a safe place for a pony at night, but she had never even had any delusions about dark, big, scary caved being safe for any pony at any time.
At least she could take some comfort in the fact that this was not a dragon cave. If it was she would have already smelled the smoke, and it would also have been full of gems and therefore not so dark. Dragons are not the only unpleasant creatures living in caves though, so Pinkie felt a definite urge to find her way out of the cave as quickly as possible. She started fumbling around with her hooves outstretched, trying to get a feeling of which way she had fallen from. Luckily her hooves soon made contact with the cold, wet cave wall and she started tracing her way alongside it.
After some stumbling through the darkness and more than once stubbing a hoof on a rock, holding her breath to avoid waking whatever might be slumbering in the dark, Pinkie found a hole in the wall. The hole led to a tunnel, a relatively small tunnel compared to the rest of the cave, but a huge and roomy tunnel for a pony. When she strained her eyes she could see that there were light coming down the tunnel, so it had to lead to the surface, but it was too steep and wet and slippery to climb.
Pinkie fell back on her haunches in despair. She was exhausted after a long night of far too much unwanted excitement, and being trapped in this dark cave with no viable means of escape was not helping on her mood. She had been reckless and unwilling to wait, and now she might have to wait for Celestia knows how long. A single tear rolled over Pinkie’s nose and dripped onto the cave floor; but she was not ready to give up. She started fumbling around her in search for something that might help her climb out the tunnel.
Pinkie went through several piles of rocks and a few twigs before her hoof fell on something different. It was long and hard, but not quite like a stick. It was even harder and a lot smoother. When Pinkie finally realized what she was holding she threw the bone on the ground and backed away in disgust, before she ran to the tunnel opening and screamed as loud as she could with what feeble voice she had left, no longer caring if something living in the cave could hear her. Her instinct of self-preservation had called it a day, getting out of that cave was now her only priority.
“Help! Somepony! Anypony! Get me out of here !”
The moment she uttered the first sound she heard a deep rumbling behind her, but she didn’t turn around to see what it was. She just kept on screaming, higher and thinner and more desperate every second. She realized, of course, that the chances of anypony happening to walk by and hear her were astronomical, but she had nothing else she could do, so she kept on shouting, hoping for a miracle.
Suddenly the cave lit up, as if the stars of the night sky had been reflected inside the cave. Pinkie couldn’t help herself but to turn around and have a look, and what she got to see was exactly what had been her worst fear. An Ursa. And not an Ursa Minor, like the one Twilight had saved Ponyville from, an actual fully grown Ursa Major.
Pinkie screamed like she had never screamed before, and she almost ran up the tunnel by sheer adrenalin-power, but then suddenly a rope fell down the tunnel and hit her over the face. Pinkie was so surprised that at first she forgot what to do, but when a voice from above told her to ‘grab the rope!’ she didn’t need to be told twice.
With the help of the rope ascending the tunnel was not too hard, especially with a roaring Ursa Major at one’s tail. Luckily the tunnel was too narrow for the Ursa to enter, so Pinkie was safe for now. The moment she reached the top she threw her arms around her rescuer in a thankful embrace, shedding a few tears of relief into the pony’s orange mane.
“What in the wide world were you doing down there?” The pony, whom Pinkie soon recognized as her old friend Carrot Top, asked with a smile while gently stoking Pinkie’s head and whipping her tears.
“There were changelings,” Pinkie said. “They picked me off a mountain and dropped me into the cave.”
“I see.” Carrot Top said with a concerned frown on her face. “When Queen Chrysalis was defeated a lot of her changelings left the hive and went rouge. Now that she’s rebuilding her power she is punishing them by taking away their powers. First they lose their ability to change form, then they lose their voices, then they lose even their own form. In the meantime they fly aimlessly about passing their time doing random pranks or fighting each other, but- um, is something wrong?”
While Carrot Top had been talking the moon had once again appeared, now much higher in the sky, and a herd of zebras hiding in the shadows were now visible. Pinkie also noticed that Carrot Top had dyed her coat in black stripes imitating those of the zebras. Not only that, but there was something uncanny about her face as well. Pinkie could not quite put her hoof on what it was, but there seemed to be something off with her teeth. Suddenly all the horrible stories her grandmother had used to tell her about zebras welled up in her mind and she became extremely uncomfortable; she didn’t want to seem rude though, and they had after all saved her life, so she put up a brave smile and answered as steadily as she could.
“No, no! Nothing at all! I’m just tired and a bit jumpy after all that’s happened; that’s all.”
It was hard to tell if Carrot Top actually believed that or simply didn’t want to push any further, but any way she soon changed the topic.
“So, what are you doing this far from Ponyville anyway?”
I could ask you the same thing Pinkie thought to herself, but wanting to keep conversation to a minimum she just gave a straight answer and told Carrot Top about the city she was looking for.
Luckily the zebras were well traveled in the area, and although they were not welcome in the city itself, and could therefore not follow Pinkie the whole way (to Pinkies shameful relief) they could follow her close enough to point her in the right direction.
And so they walked through the night, Carrot Top and Pinkie Pie in front with the herd of zebras following behind. The two ponies talked a bit about their friends back in Ponyville and other trivial subjects, while the zebras kept quiet. Pinkie could not quite shake of the uncanny feeling that she did not belong in this company, and she would have lied if she said that she was not quite reviled when the sun showed itself above the eastern mountains and Carrot Top announced that from there she would have to walk on her own.
Part Six: The Nameless City
Pinkie Pie hugged Carrot Top goodbye and thanked her once again both for saving her life and for showing her the way to the city she was seeking. Then she bounced happily into the sunrise with renewed energy, now that her quest once again seemed promising.
As she approached the city she could start to make out a huge stone wall and towers and spires sticking up behind it. It was hard to tell the size of the city from this distance, but Pinkie judged it could not be much smaller than Canterlot, although not as tall. When she got closer she saw a big wooden gate, apparently reinforced by unicorn-magic. Strangely enough there didn’t seem to be a road, or even a path leading up to the gate, only the same bulgy hill-land all the way.
This lack of trotted paths, combined with the complete stillness of the city, made Pinkie wonder if the city was abandoned after all, and that her journey had been a waste of time; but she had not come this fare to turn at the gate, so she kept walking. And suddenly a voice from the guard post above the gate stopped her.
“Halt! Who goes there! Only scholars and agents are allowed in the sacred city. No entry for civilians!”
“But I am after a message,” Pinkie Pie pleaded. “What does it take to be accepted into the city?”
“I already told you. Only scholars and agents are allowed. I can tell you are not an agent, because if you were you would know the passphrase. And I can tell you are not a scholar, for you are far too young to have passed the Advanced Studies of the Worlds History and Lore.” The guard declared, and then added, almost as a joke. “So unless you happen to be a first-hand witness to a major event in Equestrian history, your chances of admittance are rather slim.”
“Oh, shoot!” Pinkie exclaimed disappointed. “I have seen some reasonably important events though, should I just tell you about them and then you’ll decide if their important enough?”
The guard seemed amused at Pinkies confidence, and it wasn’t like he had a whole lot to do, so he told her to go right ahead.
“Okie, dokie. I’ve been at the Grand Galloping Gala! That’s something isn’t it?”
“The gala has been held every year for centuries, with hundreds of attendees every time, it’s hardly a unique event.”
“Oh, but I got more! I was at the royal wedding! I even arranged the festivities!”
“Better, but still, that wedding had many guests, arranging the festivities is not really that big of a deal, considering what other events occurred that day.”
“I’ve seen a Sonic Rainboom! Actually I’ve seen two! The first one got me my cutie mark by inspiring my very first party.”
“Wait a minute -" the guard pony mumbled to himself as he started to recognize who he was dealing with, but Pinkie kept on talking without paying him any mind.
“The second time was in Cloudsdale. It was my good friend Rainbow Dash who performed them both times.”
“Excuse me one second,” he finally interrupted her with. “Are you saying that you are Pinkie Pie, the bearer of the element of laughter, one of the six elements of harmony?”
“Yup, that’s me!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “What’s your name?”
“That’s not important! Are you saying that you were there when Night Mare Moon returned and was transformed back into Princess Luna?”
“Oh, yes, that was fun!”
“And you stopped Discord when he plunged Equestria into chaos?”
“Yes, I do miss that chocolate rain…”
“And you were there to save the Chrystal Empire from King Sombra when both returned?”
“Well, that was mostly Spike, but I won’t deny my awesome flugelhorn-playing-skills might have made a difference.”
At this point the guard had no more questions, but simply turned around and shouted an order to somepony on the other side of the wall. Soon a field of unicorn-magic lifted the heavy bolt that locked the gate and the gate swung open.
Pinkie marched proudly through the gate and the guard immediately greeted her on the other side. He bowed and shook her hoof and apologized for every delay and inconvenience she had been burdened with. He then suggested that she should meet the Grand Scholar in person.
“Who is that?” Pinkie asked.
“Not many know,” the guard answered. “The first Grand Scholar was the founder of this city, and of the secret order that protects it. Some say the Grand Scholar is immortal; perhaps even an Alicorn, and never changes, while other insists he chooses his own heir when his time comes. I’ve never met him; he lives in the tallest tower and never leaves. He only accepts very special guests.”
Pinkie felt suddenly quite small and awestruck by all this grandeur and mystery, but she was certain that if anypony knew anything about what she was after it would definitely be the Grand Scholar. So she followed the guard to the door of the tower where he held the door for her and closed it after her when she had come inside.
Inside the tower there was a staircase that felt incredibly short compared to how tall the tower had looked from the outside. When Pinkie emerged at the top of the stair she found herself in what looked like a small library with a big terrace filled with plants and springs. On a bench among the threes sat an old, long-haired cat about the size of a school-filly.
“Come and sit, my dear filly,” the cat said as Pinkie entered. “I know you have a burning question on your mind, but have you considered that sometimes the mystery is more exciting than the answers?”
“But I have to know! I need to know! Oh please wise grandpa cat, can’t you tell me?”
The cat looked at her for a while and then laughed.
“You haven’t even told me what answer you are asking for, and yet you are that confident that I can give it. Are you always this optimistic?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yep, always; and it usually turns out just fine!”
“Very well then,” the cat said. “You are looking for an old legend, am I correct? A certain magical cave, if I’m not mistaken. Well, first I want you to know that you are not the first to go looking for this, and none of the other have ever returned; at least not to my knowledge. But that will not stop you from going, will it?”
Pinkie just shaked her head and waited for the cat to continue.
“I thought so. Well, I can give you some directions on where to look, and some advice on how to get there in one piece; but I will make one thing perfectly clear: I do strongly advise you to let this whole thing go and just go home. But since you will not take that advice I guess the second best thing is to maximize your chances of success.
“Come here,” he said, and led Pinkie towards the edge of the terrace where they could get a full view of the mountains surrounding the city. “Do you see that road, going in between the mountains over there? No pony knows who built that road or why, but that is where they have all gone. Now as I said: no pony who has ventured that road has ever returned, but a few managed to send back reports along the way by help of magic, so I have a certain idea of at least a few of the threats you’ll have to look out for.
“First of all, stay on the road. These mountains are uncharted and treacherous; if you leave the road you are lost and will not be able to find your way back.
“Second, keep your eyes on the road in front of you. Don’t look away and don’t look back. Those mountains play tricks with both light and sounds and ponies start imagining the weirdest things. Don’t let that distract you. Keep your eyes forward, no matter what.
“Third, don’t stop, no matter what. The weather changes in a matter of minutes and snowstorms and avalanches are not uncommon. So, did you get all that?”
“Yes sir, ma’am, sir!” Pinkie saluted. “One: Stay on the road! Two: Keep eyes forward! Three: Don’t stop!”
“Good. I wish you good luck. And please, if you succeed, come back here and let me know.”
“I will! Thanks for everything, and good bye!”
And so Pinkie started on the last part of her journey. She left the city through the same gate through which she had entered, saying farewell to the guard on the way, and finding her way to the hidden road through the mountains.
The road turned out to be a lot bigger than it had seemed from above. It was med from huge polished blocks of stone, apparently chopped out of the mountainside, but certainly not by any pony or even group of ponies. Pinkie, fighting off her curiosity, remembered the three rules; so without further delay she turned her gaze forward and set away in a fast trot.
The road was flat and polished, apparently untouched by time and only making a slight incline into the mountain range, so the trip did at first look out to be an easy one. That impression did not last long, however. Soon the mountains closed in on both sides and bathed the road in shadow and a horribly cold wind gushed against Pinkie's face, slowing her down.
Pinkie tried to start a song to calm herself and pass the time, but the hollow, uncanny echo of her voice thrown back at her from the naked, cold, rocky mountainsides was to unsettling to bear. She trotted on in silence, but soon the echoes of her hoof-beats became equally terrifying. Pinkie was tempted to stop for a moment, just to make sure it was all her and not somepony, or something, following her. But remembered the cat's orders and did not stop.
Soon the wind started making weird noises as it gushed trough the pass. Every crack and ravine in the mountains made the wing imitate a different sound, here the howl of a wolf, here the scream of a frightened filly and here the deep rumbling of a snoring dragon. Every sound made by the wind required a new surge of willpower from Pinkie to resist turning her eyes to see if it was really just the wind and not something horrible or fascinating.
The road itself looked exactly the same. It had no cracks, marks or any other features to tell Pinkie that she was progressing at all, but she kept her eyes forward and kept going. The cold wing and the deep shadow of the mountains gave her the feeling that night had fallen, but she could not be certain. Judging from how tired she was, she felt sure she had been at it for several hours.
Suddenly Pinkie noticed something in the corner of her eye. It was an area of deeper shadow by the side of the road. It could be a cave or a crack in the mountainside; or it could be a patch of trees or maybe a building; or it could simply be a part of the mountainside consisting of darker stone. It took Pinkie all her will to keep her eyes on the road and not to slow down. The wing was still bearing down at her at full strength, creating all manner of sounds in her ears and making her eyes water.
As she kept running the dark shadows kept haunting the corners of her eyes, and each time her curiosity kept growing, until the point that she could not take it anymore. As the area to her left turned dark, and the wind hurled a windigo-like whine, she turned her head to look; and she beheld a stunning view. The darkness was simply an open space between the mountains, and suddenly she could see for miles.
All the way back was a moonless, starry night-sky; before it was several layers of mountains. Pinkie slowed her pace a little to admire the view. She had always been fascinated with how when you move things close to you and things far away seem to move relative to each other. Like now, when the edge of the path were rushing past at the speed she was trotting, while the mountains closest to her were rushing much slower and the stars were seemingly keeping up with her. And then there were that one mountain that moved among all the others as if it were alive.
Wait a minute.
Pinkie stopped cold in her tracks. As she stopped, so did the track and the mountains and the stars, but that hulking, shadowy figure raging in height over several, if not all, of even the tallest mountains, kept walking on. There were no evidence that the thing even knew Pinkie was there, or if it did that it was in any way malevolent, but the very fact that such a thing could exist and move around in her world was more than Pinkie could stand. She let out a shriek of fright, closed her eyes and galloped blindly, hoping the road kept going straight ahead.
She ran at her full speed, no longer caring for wind or echoes or anything else, only running. After a good while she felt trough her eyelids that the light changed. She stopped running, opened her eyes and found herself in an enormous cave bathed in a faint, eerie, magic-like glow.
Part Seven: The Cave
All of Pinkies fear disappeared the moment she realized she had finally found what she was looking for. She trotted happily further into the cave and took in its unfathomable size.
At first glance the cave looked natural, made fully out of the same stone as the surrounding mountain, but Pinkie soon noticed that what she had assumed were stalagmites and stalactites joined together over time were actually constructed pillars spread in an intricate pattern throughout the cave. Each pillar was as thick as a big house at the base, and when Pinkie studied then closer she could make out chiseled hieroglyphs covering the pillars from the bottom up 'till as far as she could see in the faint light.
The hieroglyphs did not remind Pinkie of any alphabet of letters or runes she had ever encountered previously, but each symbol seemed to represent an object. Some looked like trees, animals, fishes, squids, dragons or other natural object, others looked like things Pinkie had never seen or heard of before; some seemed to be strange hybrids of ponies and various sea creatures, and some were completely beyond description.
Pinkie wondered what ancient civilization could have made those marks and how old they could possibly be. Then she started to wonder how big the cave was. The magical glow that seemed to emit from every part of the cave felt strong enough to make her expect to be able to see quite far, but still she could not see the end of the cave in any direction, not even the ceiling.
Pinkie tried to make a little shout, to use the echo as a measurement of the caves dimensions, but her voice was still low and timid after her long run. It was very unusual for her to have been quiet for so long, and it took her some concentration to get over it. Soon however, she as back to her old self, and cleared her throat and filled her lungs and let out a clear and loud
“Hello!”
Other than a slight distortion from the pillars, the total lack of echo made Pinkie for a moment wonder if she was still outside after all, and if the sky was just covered in unnaturally ark clouds. She did not have long to wonder this however, for soon the gloom of the cave lit up brighter and a voice boomed trough the cave as if it came from the very mountain itself.
“Well, well, well, if it isn't my little pony friend! Pinkie Pie, isn't it?”
Pinkie instantly recognized who the voice belonged to, yet it was not possible that he should be here! She had been there herself when the Element of Harmony turned him to stone. He stood in the gardens at Canterlot, safely under guard.
As if reading her mind the voice responded:
“Well, you wouldn't expect an omnipotent being to limit itself to a single form would you? Especially not such a vulnerable one; try and see if your precious elements can turn this entire cave into stone!”
The voices laugh made the entire cave shake, but Pinkie was not really scared. Despite being an enemy of Equestria and vastly powerful, Discord had seemed to her more like a loose cannon than actually evil.
“So, what are you doing here anyway?” she asked. “Are you guarding this cave or something? What's so special about it?”
“Straight down to business, eh?” the voice responded. “You ponies are so curious! Oh well, no need in keeping secrets. What am I doing here? That's a big question. Since you're here I assume you know what this cave is and what it does?”
Pinkie considered a moment, trying to remember what twilight had told her.
“It... it creates princesses, right?”
“Ugh. You ponies, unable to see longer than your own muzzle. This cave is the source, or rather the gateway, of all magic in this world. And yes, it created your princesses to bring balance, or, as you say, harmony to the magic of ponies. Now do you know the two ground rules of magic?”
Pinkie just shook her head, and the voice continued.
“Rule one: all magic action has an equal and an opposite reaction.”
“Oh!” Pinkie got that one. “So when the cave made the princesses, creating ultimate harmony...”
“...It also created me,” Discord interrupted. “The spirit of chaos.”
“The second rule is that every magical creation has a purpose,” he continued. “Can you guess what my purpose is?”
Pinkie considered for a moment. Of all the horrible things Discord had done, she could not seem to find a pattern. How could she. The spirit of chaos wasn't exactly predictable.
“To ruin ponies’ life?” She finally tried. “To put friends up against each other?”
“Interesting.” Discord said. “Are you saying I did those things, or are you implying that I failed my purpose?”
“Of course you failed!” Pinkie said “We stopped you. We defeated you by...” Suddenly it dawned on her “Your purpose is to teach ponies a lesson?”
“Bravo!” Discord shouted. “At least close enough; but enough talk, you found my cave, and here is you reward: I will give you the one thing in the world you desire most if you can answer one single question right.”
At first Pinkie was expecting a trick, but thinking back at her experiences with Discord she knew that his only rule was that he would never lie.
“Is it a difficult question?” she asked.
“Oh, not at all,” Discord answered. “It's about you, so it should really be quite easy.”
“And what happens if I can't answer it?” Pinkie asked.
“Nothing at all!” Discord answered.
Figuring she had nothing to lose, and not wanting to return from this long journey empty hoofed, Pinkie made herself ready and said:
“Very well, bring on the question!”
“Okay, listen closely, for I will only say this once,” Discord said slowly and clearly. “Here it comes: What is the one thing in the world you desire more than anything else?”
The moment the question was asked the magic gloom faded away, and the cave seemed to grow colder. Pinkie was suddenly afraid.
“Is that it?” Pinkie shouted into the darkness, her voice sounding shrill and scared. “I can just ask for anything, and then I'll have it?”
But no answer came. She was alone in the big dark cave, and she was starting to panic.
“I want chocolate rain!” she shouted, figuring it was wise to ask for something she knew Discord could deliver, but nothing happened.
In her desperation Pinkie concluded she had asked for too much, and hurried to assert: “I don't want anything! Nothing at all!”
Suddenly a huge boulder fell down from the cave roof, crashing through the floor, leaving a gaping, black hole. A rush of cold air streamed through the hole and the entire cave started to vibrate as more stones loosened from the walls and ceiling, and the cyclopean pillars started to crack.
Pinkie's panic skyrocketed. She started to run around like a terrified mouse in a trap, trying desperately to figure out what she could possibly want more than anything.
“I want infinite friends!” she shouted to the darkness. “I want a party that never has to end!”
But the cave just kept on collapsing around her. The floor was starting to be more gaping abyss than solid floor. Pinkie crept together on the inclining floor, terrified of what would happen when the last bit of floor fell. When she looked up she could spot starry night-sky through the collapsed ceiling of the cave.
“I want the cave to stop falling apart!” she cried. “I want you to come back and talk to me! I want the lights back on!”
But nothing happened. Pinkie felt a sinking feeling in her guts when she concluded Discord had been lying after all. He was probably still here, laughing at her misery. “I wish this would just be over.” She whispered to the floor she was laying on, but soon regretted that decision when the floor fell away under her.
Pinkie held her breath and braced herself for the fall, but none came. She was floating in mid-air, looking down at the floor falling into the endless darkness below her. As more of the cave around her broke down and tumbled into the darkness she felt like she was suspended in an ever increasing empty space.
It took some time before the initial shock and confusion left Pinkie, allowing her to turn her head and look around her. The cave was now almost completely gone and the night sky was suspended over her from horizon to horizon in all directions.
At first the familiar sight of the night sky, and the relief of not falling, calmed Pinkie and made her relax; but then it dawned on her that even with the cave collapsed the sky should be blocked from her view by the surrounding mountains. She did not have to wonder for long where the mountains had gone, for as she looked about her a solitary mountain suddenly crumbled into gravel and fell through a crevasse in the earth. Apparently the crumbling was not limited to the magical cave, but affected all of Equestria.
As more of the world crumbled and fell away from her it seemed, from Pinkie's perspective, that she was floating up into space. Soon Equestria was just a gray and green and blue disc, falling away from her. Soon the moon and the sun appeared on each side of it, and the stars seemed clearer and more alive than she had ever seen them.
Before long, the world had fell so far that she could no longer distinguish it from the surrounding stars and the deep all-encompassing darkness in between. She started to spot other planets, gigantic spheres covered in strange patterns and unfamiliar geometry, and other, stranger objects floating through the darkness.
Dark thoughts started to go through Pinkies mind. Was she trapped floating through space forever? Was Equestria really gone? Had all her friends perished in the catastrophe? Was it all her fault?
Pinkie curled herself together and shed a single tear that instantly froze on her cheek.
“I wish I was back home in Ponyville where everything is ordinary and quiet and predictable!” she whispered.
And suddenly all the stars went out. Total darkness covered everything. Pinkie wondered if she had gone blind suddenly, but when she reached out a hoof she could feel a warm, soft veil packed around her. She pulled the veil away and looked straight at the brightly painted walls of her own bedroom! Warm sunlight and the even warmer laughter of happy ponies streamed through her window, and nothing had ever been more beautiful.
Pinkie Pie is the luckiest pony alive. She just needed some help realizing it.
Part Three: The Painting on the Wall
Pinkie Pie told Opalescence everything. About her dream, the legend Twilight had told her about, and her resolve to look for clues in the old Princess castle deep in the Everfree forest. Opal listened in silence for all the time it took Pinkie to tell her story, but when she finally finished he could not help letting out a laugh.
“Well, that was not exactly what I expected to hear from a pony. I honestly didn't know that old myth would have been remembered by anypony any longer, except perhaps for the Princesses, but I happen to have heard it. I was a student of Pony lore before I moved to Ponyville to serve the order. My master was (and still is, I would guess, if his still in business) one of the absolute top experts on pony lore in all of Equestria, and he told me many stories such as these. Of course, on the topic of which ones are true and which ones are made up, mine or even his guess is just as far-fetched as anyone's. Checking out the old castle ruins is a great idea though, who knows what hidden knowledge might have stayed hidden there in the last millennium; I will personally take a team of specialists and help you in you search.”
“That's awfully kind if you!” Pinkie said, trying not to get her excitement get too much of a hold of her. She had the impression that Opal was a very serious cat, and she was a bit worried that if she suddenly started floating or run up the trees or something like that she might find her self excluded from the search party. Instead she tried her best to seem responsible and calm. “But what about Rarity? Wont she be worried if you're suddenly gone for a full day or more?”
“Oh, don't worry about her,” the cat assured her. “I'm away for days at a time regularly. Rarity will think I'm out hunting or visiting Fluttershy or some other harmless activity.”
Pinkie bought that without comment, she wasn't trying to ruin her own plan after all, and there were no denying that she would need help should she be able to search through that big castle without really knowing exactly what she was looking for.
“Very well then, you just stay put while I gather the team. If we move at a reasonably pace we should reach the castle around daybreak.”
When Pinkie had no objections the cat started going around to all the cats still working on cleaning up after the battle earlier, apparently giving orders or instructions, although Pinkie could not make out a sound. It didn't take too long before he returned with four other cats that apparently was the team of specialists Pinkie was promised.
“All good then?” Opal said. “Allons-y! Isn't that what you ponies say?”
“No, I don't think anypony ever says that.”
“Oh,-- well, let’s go then.”
Going to the Everfree Forest at night would have been literally impossible without the light yellow eyes of the cats to guide her. She could not see the ground she stepped on and far less the trees and bushes surrounding her on all sides, but the cats kept a slow pace and made sure to show her the safest path between the vegetation. And Opalescence seemed to know the forest well, for just as he had predicted, the moment the first streaks of sunlight shoot up over the eastern horizon, the first thing they hit was the green copper roof of the old stone castle ruin.
“Well, here we are,” Opal announced. “Remember: we have no idea what we're looking for, so report in any book, scroll, tablet, wall painting; even graffiti, anything that has any chance of containing lore or information of any kind. Go together two and two, these old castles are dangerous. Pinkie, you'll go with me, if you please. Now get to it!”
And so the three pairs each entered the castle and started searching. Two cats went down to the basement; two went to the tower; Pinkie and Opal started looking through the main hall.
The last time Pinkie had visited the castle she had been in such a hurry that she had not realized how old and crumbly the place really was. Every step was a new risk of treading on a loose floor-tile and falling, and every bit of debris they moved to look for clues was threatening to unleash an avalanche of crumbled wall and roof. The cats, however, were experts on light and careful movement, and Pinkie made sure to follow their example, so no one got hurt or killed.
The search was all in all rather uneventful, at least for the cat and pony searching the main hall. All evidence suggested that this place had been emptied of all valuables when the castle was first abandoned. More than a little disappointed, but still hopeful of the other teams’ luck, pinkie sat down and sampled a view of the sunlight bathing the treetops as far as her eyes could see. It was a beautiful day, at least by Everfree-standards, and a warm summer breeze was blowing through the holes in the castle walls.
Pinkie was just about to get restless again when her attention was captured by the two cats searching the tower appearing in the stairway.
“There used to be a library in the tower,” one of then reported to Opal. “But all the scrolls are long since turned to dust and the books are ruined by rot. The roof went down probably centuries ago, and most of the walls are gone as well. There were a couple of statues still standing, but nothing of interest.”
“I feared as much,” Opal replied gravely. “Let’s go see if there’s any more luck in the basement.”
The so called ‘basement’ was really more of an underground palace. To get to it, the three cats and the Pony had to open a manhole-cover in a corner of the throne-room, uncovering a spiral staircase of wet, dark-grey stone. Opal lead the way, carrying an oil-lamp in his mouth. Pinkie Pie followed close behind, with the two other cats in the rear. The decent went slow and steady on the slippery steps. Pinkie tried to count them to get her mind off the moss on the walls and the eerie dripping sound that echoed through the tunnel, but she lost count when the number reached three digits; after that she tried to imagine what they might find on the bottom, but the darkness and the dripping and the sound of her hoof beats on the cold stone did not sway her imagination in a very good direction.
When the staircase finally ended the party found themselves in a huge hall of stone, illuminated partly in a warm, red glow by several blazers spread out and lit by the two cat-archeologists. Opal gave them a quick report on what they had found (or rather, what they hadn’t) in the rest of the castle, before they all joined in searching the immense cave-like room.
This part of the castle was in considerably better condition than the main stories, due to not being directly affected by the wind and rain, but a thousand years is still a long time, and the dampness in the hall had been enough to ruin both books and tapestries.
As the group spread out to start the search Pinkie bounced over to a pile of rock and started digging. She wasn’t too sure what she expected to find under a pile of broken statue-pieces and stalagmites, but she wanted to look like she was being useful, and moving rocks was something she had lots of experience with.
It was impossible to tell time underground, but after what felt like an hour or two the cats started talking of giving up. The search had so far been utterly fruitless; the only event being when Pinkie jumped halfway across the hall, startled by a blind albino rat that lived under the pile of rocks she was digging. The cats was at first worried when she did not get back up, but only lay there shaking, until they realized she was laughing, not crying. Just as they were about to call it a day and go home though, Pinkie felt a strange feeling she could not explain, but she suddenly knew what she had to do.
“We need to take down that tapestry.” She said, more to herself than to anyone else.
Opal looked at her curiously, but before he could say anything one of the other cats shot in.
“And why in equestrian would we do that? The thing is faded beyond recognition! There’s no way it can have any value.”
“Exactly!” Pinkie exclaimed gleefully, and gave Opal a wink when she saw the look of comprehension in the cats face. “That means it has probably taken the worst wear and tear from whatever is hidden behind it!”
The cats seemed quite dubious to thinking something would be hidden behind a huge wall tapestry, and perhaps even more to why Pinkie seemed so sure it would be exactly this tapestry out of all the dozens spread all around the hall, but Opal was their leader and he seemed to trust Pinkie, so taking down the tapestry it was.
The thing itself was huge, at least twenty feet high and twice as wide, made of thick wool. Even though the colors were faded completely, the fabric was still largely intact. It took a lot of effort to get the tapestry off the wall, but when it was finally done it was obvious to all that it had been worth it. Painted directly on the stone wall was an image of a landscape consisting of a large, hilly plane with a range of tall mountains in the distance. In the midst of the mountains there was a city Pinkie did not recognize, and the sun was shining down on the city between two peaks. Around the painting there was written something in strange hieroglyphs that Pinkie had seen in a few very old books, but never learned much about at all, and certainly not how to read them.
For a full minute the room was bathed in complete silence as the entire party stood overcome with awe; Pinkie and Opal staring at the wall-painting and the other cats staring at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie noticed Opal’s mouth was moving as if he was reading, and she asked what it said.
“It’s a very old language, I can barely make it out,” he said and paused to concentrate on the reading before he summarized. “It appears that the pony who wrote this was some sort of massager. He was sent from the city in the drawing, he doesn’t say what it’s called, to bring an important message to the Princesses, but when he arrived the castle was already abandoned and the princesses were fighting each other. He left this message assuming it would be found by somepony after the fighting was over and that that somepony would go to the city to get the message in person, since it was too important to write down.”
The cat stopped talking for a while, looking at Pinkie and trying to read her expression, and then he smiled and said:
“You are seriously considering finding this city to retrieve a thousand year old message, aren’t you?”
“Yes sir, I am!” Pinkie said with a grin.
“You are aware, of course, that there is no proof that this pony ever returned to the city, or that anypony still knows that there ever was a message, or indeed that the city is still populated. Not to mention that there’s no reason to believe that this message had anything at all to do with your dream or that magic cave you’re looking for?”
Pinkie looked at Opal for a moment, considering, and then her expression lit up and her grin filled her entire face.
“So you know what city this is and where I can find it?”
She started bouncing and dancing of joy before the cat even had a chance to answer, he just stood there smiling with amusement.
When Pinkie finally calmed down she noticed the other cats had already left, and only she and Opal were left. They started ascending the staircase together and Pinkie asked Opal to tell her everything about the city.
“I cannot tell you everything,” the cat started. “But I’ll tell you what I can. The city in that picture is an ancient pony city, built in Equestria’s first years as a nation. It was a center of learning and education, and it was visited by scholars and traders from all over the world. Throughout the years however, Equestria was plagued by several conflicts and catastrophes, and for every catastrophe the guardians of the city got more and more afraid that the city would fall victim to one, and in the end they decided to close the city for all outsiders.
“It was around that time that my order was founded. Our job was to spread out all over the world to gather and protect knowledge wherever we could find it. But once we left the city we were not allowed back in, and for centuries now even the location of the city has been kept hidden from all but the Masters of the order.”
“But-, but you’re not a master, are you?” Pinkie asked, disappointed. “So you don’t know where the city is?”
“I didn’t, until I saw the map” Opal answered with a smirk. “The picture was clearly drawn from somepony’s memory, but unless that pony has really bad memory it should be fairly accurate. Did you notice the possession of the sun?”
“It was going down beyond the mountains behind the city, wasn’t it?” Pinkie said.
“Well, you’re right about the position,” Opal noted. “But I think you’re wrong about the direction. I think the picture portrays the view of the city at sunrise, and if I’m right it should not be too hard to find. There is a mountain range just outside the Everfree forest, on the opposite side from Ponyville, in that range there is a plateau that used to be quite famous for the fantastic view from the top. It was said that on a clear day you could spot every major city in Equestria from up there. My guess is that the artist of that picture painted the view to the city from this plateau, but the fact that the whereabouts of the city has been hidden this long makes me suspect that it is only visible from the plateau when the sun is in the right position.”
Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin, thinking.
“So I need to be on this plateau early in the morning? Do you think you could show me the way?”
“My mission from the order is to scout Ponyville and the Everfree forest, I cannot leave,” Opal said. “But I can follow you to the edge of the forest, from there I should be able to point out the way for you.”
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou” Pinkie exclaimed and hugged the cat in her hooves. She then threw the cat upon her back and finished the ascent in a fast trot. “Just tell me where to go, there's no time to lose!”