The Wat Chronicles: Álru for an Eai

On the fifth day of fallreign, after 120 hours of consecutive moonless night, Ponyville was in a state of chaos. My cousin came to me, wondering if we had to wait a whole two weeks to kill Twilight. I had to convince him that time had to pass, however catastrophic it could be. As the only two ponies alive knowing of the Opal and the Amethyst, and their powers, we waited, while the entire world around us was falling apart. Earthquakes shook Equestria regularly, the rain toggled on and off constantly and the temperature dropped. Some ponies started to pack and move, hoping salvation could be found elsewhere. They were wrong. The situation was global, and the entire planet was having the same problem. Then, I saw a very faint light from far in the north.

"Whooves!" I hurried to the clock tower; there was no time to spare. He quickly let me in, and I took him to the roof of the tower. "Look," I said, "look to the north!" "Wha," Whooves replied. "What is that?" "Well it's a light." "Obviously. But is it him?" "There is only one way to find out." "By TARDIS or by hooves?" "Magical seals. We must travel by hoof. Come! We leave at once." I scurried down from the tower.

Whooves and I, the two Doctors, swiftly travelled out from Ponyville, towards the great north. The fields around us were full of dulled life; plants starved of sunlight, plants drowned in water. The grass we were stepping through had fallen down to the ground, forming a massive carpet to trot on. Slowly, the time passed, the only thing changing being the relative placements of the stars as our planet rotated. Neither Whooves nor I would stop from exhaustion or fatigue; nothing could ever stop a timepony on a mission. We trotted quickly for hours, though the night kept rolling. As we approached the mountain ranges of northern Equestria, the goal we were going towards shone brighter. Like the emigration of so long ago, we had to scale the mountains to get past them. "Avalanche?" Whooves suggested, holding his Sonic Screwdriver. I grabbed mine as well. "Avalanche," I replied. We fired off at the snow-capped mountains, which quickly shed their snow. Then, Whooves and I started climbing upwards.

Three tiring hours passed before we reached the top of the mountain range, at the lowest pass we could go through. When we cleared the mountains and could see the other side, we were met by the sight of Eävelainde. The motherland. No mortal pony knew of this place anymore. After the emigration and the events of Hearth's Warming Eve, I was the only pony that came here at all.

In front of Whooves and I lay the majestic, ancient land. The light we were searching stood far in the northwest, the direction to the capital. It glowed brighter in Eävelainde than in Equestria. It was a light green shine, meant to pierce the night and signalise a turning point for the world. I and my cousin made our way down from the mountains and towards the old capital. Untouched by the windigoes for millennia, the magic winter had been lifted, and the land thrived. Forest was regaining land; big orchards had become rural forest, and villages had disappeared into the woods.

Whooves and I trotted on for more hours. We did not talk much, but we knew that we were both getting tired. We were moving towards an old city, a place in the middle of a field that had been built to serve as a fortress and watchtower, in addition to housing thousands of ponies. The city gates stood open, but the houses were all locked. We went to the town hall, where we found magically fresh food, and beds to sleep in. We rested for the supposed night, though we could not know. The darkness was endless.

We both woke up around seven hours later. The green light still shone from the northwest, the rest of the sky still starry and black. We quickly ate before setting back out, heading for the eäva capital of Lissmeä. Lissmeä was situated at the base of a mountain, with the royal castle built into the mountainside. Within the castle lay vast dungeons and caves, where thousands of ponies had ended their lives adventuring and getting lost. The city of Lissmeä itself was in its day populated with tens of thousands of ponies of all races. The posh was living on the hillside, and the not so lucky on the flat fields below. Living up on the city's mountain entailed status, and the royal palace was the building that was the furthest up the mountainside. Ten minutes to the west of the palace lay the alruneä's tower. Home of the late Starswirl the Bearded. Within it laid thousands of pages and scrolls of information now lost to the world. The great eäva capital of Lissmeä lay contained within twenty-hoof thick stone walls. No siege ever took the city down, but the windigoes felled Lissmeä when the country collapsed around it. This was where we were headed.

Hours went by, nothing happening but the passing of time and travelling of distance. Neither Whooves nor I said anything. We spared the words for the destination. After a good while of trotting, we could make out the shape of the mountains of Lissmeä in the reflections of the green light. The light had grown sharper, but thinner, and it appeared to originate from the same mountains. As we moved towards the capital, the light got brighter and brighter. It became apparent to us that the light came from Lissmeä itself. And then, two hours later, approaching from the southeast, we were standing outside the city walls.

We had travelled for four days, and finally, we had reached Lissmeä. The green light stood above us like aurora light on a winter's day. I released a sigh of relief. "So we're finally here," Whooves said, "here at the capital." "The travelling may be done, but the quest isn't over," I replied. "Let's go inside." We made our way down the walls to the southeast gates. We went in, and the sights of Lissmeä met us. In front of us and to all sides lay houses, roads, lit candle lights and decorations. We could see forward to the Fountain of Earth, dedicated to the earth ponies of Eävelainde. On its top stood a statue of a proud stallion, with his muzzle high and his right hoof to his chest. Flowers lay around the fountain, a sort of praise for the earth and the farmers that used it. To the left in the junction around the fountain, where we now went, lay a market road. Stalls were set up along the way, with all sorts of wares for sale, ranging from food to clothing, from cutlery to weaponry. The armour and weaponry stall was the only stall not to be empty. Neither Whooves nor I picked up anything from the market.

We then hit one of the major streets. To our right, towards the mountain, we could see the Fountain of Wind, dedicated to the pegasi of Eävelainde; the knights of the realm, the flying steeds from the west. This fountain had been broken, possibly by the earth ponies, in their riots and rampages. When we went over to it, we could see the statue that used to stand on top of the fountain. The statue was of a pegasus in a jumping pose, wings high in the sky. Now, the statue was broken like the fountain, dewinged and decapitated. Instead of looking at the broken decorations, Whooves and I continued making our way uphill. Following the line between the two fountains, we quickly found the third: The Fountain of Fire. This third one was dedicated to the unicorns and their magical powers. Together, the three fountains were magically formed to bless all ponies with good fortune and well-being. This statue and fountain was functional, the statue being a unicorn pony, posing gracefully, in progress of casting magic.

As the architectural layout of the fountains foretold, there was a line between the three fountains, the alruneä's tower and the royal palace. From the Fountain of Fire, one could go up the normal of the line to reach the palace, or continue on the line to reach the tower. As it was our goal, Whooves and I continued walking directly up the line, towards the tower. It wasn't a long way away, but it was a steep climb towards the top. The last time I had seen anyone other than myself within the tower's walls was over 3000 years ago. And now, with Whooves by my side, I was entering it once again. Finally, we were at the doors. Our destination was reached.

We looked at the grand gates of the tower. “Remember,” Whooves said, “the álru gates are activated by the magical words.” “I know,” I replied “we have to ask them for entry.” I cleansed my throat and spoke in Equina, “Grinna álru, eldepaenari sankra intri.” Magical gates, the timeponies seek entry. And the gates recognised my voice. Slowly, they opened, and we were able to come into the tower. The sight that met us was the entry floor, a library filled with ancient knowledge. In the centre stood a table made for enchantments of physical objects. Around the room there was a circular staircase running to the top of the tower. The enchantment floor had to wait; Whooves and I hurried up the staircase. On the next floor there laid shelves with potions, with a table for both alchemy and potion-making in the centre of the room. On it laid a big book on the two subjects. Like the enchantments, the alchemy and herblore had to wait for now. These rooms were tall under the ceiling, and when we had gone past these two floors we were at the topmost floor of the tower. Here stood a long table with scrolls on it, comfortable cushions to sit around the table on, shelves with books on them, and an exit out to a balcony. A part of the floor was also closed off behind a locked door. When we came to this floor, Whooves and I finally stopped hurrying. We needed to go no further.

“What do we do now?” Whooves asked. “Well,” I replied, “this is the alruneäri’s tower alright.” “Yeah, we’re at the right place.” “I guess we’ll have to wait. We can go out on the balcony over there and look at Lissmeä from above. Its view is pretty good towards the royal palace.” “I thought you were going to tell me to go read a book or something. Good that you didn’t. You know how I am with books.” “Yeah, I know you aren’t patient enough.” I giggled. We went out to the balcony, but the giddy mood quickly turned serious. The green shine over the city was strong, and pulsating. It grew brighter and brighter, until the shine had become a white light so strong that I couldn’t see. When it faded away, it was no longer night; it was dawn. And Whooves and I weren’t alone anymore.