An Equestrian Journey

Chapters

An Ocean of Sand
The Goddess of the Sands
The Broken Bridge
A Desert Oasis
The Bubbly Deity in the Buried Temple
An Empty City
The Mountain
The End of a Dream...

An Ocean of Sand

An endless ocean of sand stretching out in every direction, a golden sea unto the horizon. As the winds blow through this endless desert, crystalline grains of sand begin to shift and follow the winds. As they shift and change, from the sky a single ball of light began to descend. It made its way to the ground, stopping before it reached the sand, merely floating there as if waiting for something. Then as quickly as it came, it took off floating towards a small monument of sorts among the sands. In this small patch of desert there are many small stones sticking out from the sands, like small tombstones of men lost forever amidst the limitless expanse. The light passed through the small group of monuments towards a small hill looming above it. As it makes its way to the top it began to flicker and spark, occasionally giving off a bright flash of light. Once it made its way to the top, it flashed one final time, brighter than any of the others, blinding everything nearby with its brilliant intensity, then disappeared…

Where the light used to be, a figure now resided. A small figure, equine-shaped, though cloaked entirely in purple colored robes. Her body was completely covered giving no glimpse of what she might be beyond the form the robes were hugging to, the only part of her that was visible was her eyes, which were as purple as her robes were as well as a purple horn that was poking of of the darkness of the hood, though the rest of her face was shadowed.

The purple figure got to her hooves and began making her way through the sands towards a strange altar she saw at the bottom of the hill. She slid down the hill on her back hooves, making sure to keep balance with the front. As she made her way to the bottom she saw a small light that seemed to floating in mid air. When she got closer to the light she realized that it seemed to be some sort of glyph, though it was in ancient writing, long lost to the sands it now inhabited. When she approached the glyph it began to shine brightly and started swirling around her. The light from the shining glyph began to seep into her body. She felt an indescribable feeling of warmth as the light filled her up, reaching every part of her body, though it seemed greatest around her horn though.

After the glyph ceased to shine its otherworldly light ‘Purple’ felt a strange sensation as the warmth she had felt earlier now seemed to be surging around inside her, moving about and concentrating in one place. Eventually the feeling of it being concentrated was too much too bear any longer. Trying to think of a way to free it, the horn that had been poking out of her hood lit up with a purple colored light, which crackled and flashed with energy. The light from her horn flashed once and a small wave of energy surged outwards from her body in every direction, and the glyph that she had absorbed appeared over her head. The wave of energy only expanded outwards for a short distance of about a few feet, after which it dissipated and phased out of existence. The sand it had touched though seemed to almost come alive when the energy touched it, where it had been worn down and crushed over the centuries it seemed to clear up and shine.

After the wave dissipated, Purple began scanning her surroundings to see if there was anything in this desert. She looked high and low in all directions, and then...she saw it. A light brighter than any she had ever seen, brighter than the glyph and the flash that had birthed her combined. It must have been a very sizable light as she could plainly see it on top of a towering mountain in the distance. The next thing she realized though, she felt a strange feeling inside her, as if the light was calling her, beckoning her to walk towards it, climb the mountain to it’s peak and claim the light as her own. She felt that unless she did as the light asked, it would not leave her alone, almost as if this was her purpose in life. She knew now that she needed to do this.

Purple made her way down the steps of the altar and began walking towards the light. She came upon a dune and began climbing it, grains of sand being displaced and sliding down the dune with each step. As the dune became steeper, she needed to take bigger steps as her hooves began to sink into the sandy hill, and it became tougher to pull them out for the next step. Once she reached the top of the dune, she could see a group of ruins in the distance. Knowing that the light was not going to go anywhere as well as the fact that the ruins were on the way, she started walking towards the ruins.

As she made her way through the ruins, she felt a tugging feeling, as if something were pulling her to the center. She navigated the ruin's hallways and corridors and reached the source of the tugging, which was a large open room in the center of the ruins. The first thing she noticed about the room was another light on a pedestal in the corner. She moved towards it, and as she did it began to flash as the other light had, giving off brighter and brighter flashes as she got closer. When she reached it, it acted exactly like the first, giving off a final flash before approaching Purple and encasing her in its glow, seeping into her very being. This light was no different from the others, though it came with something the others did not have, a scarf which looped itself around her neck and billowed in the desert breeze. Upon inspection of the mysterious scarf, Purple noticed the scarf was covered in runes similar to the ones she had seen on the first glyph. These were different though, they were not the same markings she had seen in that glyph.

While she was pondering these new runes which adorned her similarly new scarf, she noticed a strange looking wall out of the corner of her vision. When she approached the wall, she realized something was off, it was as if something was supposed to be there but wasn’t. While Purple pondered this dilemma, the small monuments surrounding the wall began to resonate, and Purple began to feel another strange feeling arise from her body. The strange force was pushing itself up through her on it’s way to her horn...she did not want to try and stop it, lest she prolong the feeling, so she let it go where it felt it needed to go. When it reached her horn she felt the feeling pushing to come out, until it blasted out in a bizarre magical beam. The beam struck the wall with great force, yet as it did something marvelous happened. The wall which had been previously blank and lifeless suddenly sprung to life, pictures and images appeared from nowhere, as a beautiful scene unfolded before her eyes. The wall depicted a civilization of creatures similar to her in many different colors, living in small settlements and towns frolicking in each others company. They all seemed to be making some sort of pilgrimage towards the very mountain she was walking towards. The strangest thing she noticed was that there was no sand anywhere to be found, the desert did not even exist. Purple realized the mountain must hold some significance to whoever her kind were, though she had no idea as she had never seen anyone else like her before.

After learning all the wall had to teach, Purple put it behind her as she continued through the ruins. She made her way through the corridors until she was out in the desert sands once more. The breeze from the winds felt very soothing on her face, and she set her sights on the mountain once more and began to walk. Bit by precious bit, she inched closer to the mountain, each step taking her a tiny bit closer to her goal, as well as answers to the questions the wall had posed. Who were her kind? Where did they all go? Why was she the only one left? Why did her kind seem to hold the mountain as something of religious importance and make pilgrimages to it? Purple hoped these questions would be answered once she reached the mountain, though at the rate she was going, it would be a long while before she got her answers...

Author's Note

This seems a little short for an opening chapter, though I figured at least this way I could give you guys something to read and hopefully give feedback on while I write the rest of this story. :twilightsmile:

The Goddess of the Sands

Purple was trekking through what seemed like endless dunes of sand though she was always had the mountain in the distance to keep her on track. Every dune she traveled over seemed the same, climb one side slowly but surely, and then slide down the other side.

After she was several dunes away from the ruins where she had discovered the story wall, she noticed the winds were blowing differently. Instead of the normal desert breezes had changes to fiercer winds. The sands around her were being picked up by the stronger than usual winds and began to obscure her vision. She tried to keep the mountain in her sights so that she would know where she was, though the now budding sandstorm was obscuring her view of the mountain more and more with each passing second. Eventually the sands succeeded in fully concealing the mountain, as well as everything more than a few feet in front of her. She was glad she had her robe as it protected her face and body from the brunt of the storm.

She kept trying to venture forwards in the direction she had been going through it was an arduous ordeal. For every step she managed to take through the storm, she seemed to have to take several moments to buckle down in the sands to keep from getting knocked over. She had taken a couple of steps through the dunes during the storm, though once she reached the top of the dune, she realized that going down the other side would be problematic. Her normal plan of sliding down the side of the dune would not work right now, if she tried she strong winds would knock her over while she slid. She resolved to try to walk down the same way she had come up, and though it had worked well for the first couple of steps, she ended up faltering as one of her hooves fell out from under her.

As if sensing a moment of weakness, the winds chose this moment to pick up and become even fiercer. The now stronger winds blowing against her now prone form ended up pushing Purple around and causing her to be blown off of her original path. Knowing she would not be able to get up and right herself, Purple buckled down and focused on keeping herself wherever she was so that she would not be knocked further off course. Once she had found herself a sufficiently protected location, half buried in the sands, she waited while making sure she would not get fully buried under the roaring sands.

Purple waited for what seemed like forever for the storm to die down, and after a great deal of waiting and preventing herself from being buried, she no longer heard the fierce winds of the sandstorm. She proceeded to uncover herself and continue on her way to the mountain, though she would need to find out where she was first. After making her way out of her sandy bunker, Purple surveyed her surroundings. She could still see the mountain, it even seemed closer than it did before. The surrounding area seemed to be the same though, all around she was surrounded by sand, dunes leading into more dunes as far as the eye could see.

She noticed something different though it was small and she almost missed it, though it was definitely there. Resting among the sands, nestled between two collapsed pillars of some forgotten building was a single yellow flower. She had never seen anything like it. A flower should need water and soil to live and grow, yet here was this simple flower all alone in one of the harshest areas imaginable, just like her. The flower should not have bee able to grow...and yet it did, a testament to anything being possible. Purple took this flower as a sign that no matter how far the mountain seemed, if a flower could grow in this climate, then her journey was certainly possible.

With renewed vigor thanks to the lone flower, she began making her way towards the mountain again. After traveling the whole day, though she could not tell how long it had been as the sun never seemed to set in this world. She had never seen the sun even move the slightest bit in all her travels here. Correcting herself, after traveling for what seemed like a full day, she came upon the most whole and preserved ruins she had seen yet. There were multiple structures and though they were slightly decrepit, and falling apart she could clearly see that each on was some sort of tower, and each one seemed to have some sort of glowing light inside of it.

Purple made her way towards the central structure which was a small cylindrical platform in the middle of the circle of towers. A part of it was crumbling and had created makeshift stairs for her to climb to the platform. Once she made her way to the top of the platform and looked around at the other towers. There were no bridges or paths connecting them to the central platform, and this caused her to wonder how those who used this, which she assumed to be the lost people of her kind, got from each tower to the other. Another thing she noticed was that the were strange ribbons made of cloth sticking out of the floor of the platform. The ribbons looked very worn and ragged, and any designs that may have been on them had long since disappeared.

She approached the ribbons to inspect them, though when she took one of them in her hooves, the area around where she touched suddenly lit up and looked like new, pieces no longer missing, and the runes adorning it were clearly visible. Upon seeing this mysterious transformation, Purple felt that tugging feeling, which seemed to happen anytime her horn was about to burst with magic. She let the magical force flow through her to her horn, and it n longer felt weird or pushing as she had learned to channel the feeling through herself, when her horn lit up the magical energy manifested itself as another wave of energy. As soon as the wave touched the ribbon, it sprung back to life like it had when it had been in her hooves. The light covered the entire ribbon and once the whole thing looked like new Purple heard a machine like whir, and the ribbon started sliding into a whole in the ground. It seemed that returning the ribbon to it’s past state had jump-started whatever mechanical process it was part of.

Purple used the magical wave to renew the other three ribbons on the platform, which all slid into their own holes in the floor. Once all the ribbons had entered the slots, she heard a clank and the spinning of gears inside the structure. A grate that was in the center of the platform opened up and pieces of cloth flew out of the hole. The pieces of cloth look almost like the ribbons had been shredded into tiny rectangular bits. They floated aimlessly in the air until Purple approached at which time they began to swirl around her, which caused the runes on her scarf to light up and shine. She let out another burst of magic, assuming these cloth bits reacted the same way the ribbons would, and when she did the bits lit up very brightly and began to lift her into the air. While she floated she saw another one of the glyphs nearby at which time she glided over to it. When she reached the glyph it lit up and was absorbed into her body like the others, though this one came with another light that attached itself to her scarf, adding another rune to it and extending its length. After returning to the platform she grabbed another glyph that was hidden over one of the sides, after which she cantered back to the cloth bits.

After using the bits to float into the air, she looked around quickly and noticed another altar across a broken bridge. She floated across to the other side and walked towards the altar, as she approached the stone monuments around the altar began to light up. Once all the monuments had lit up, an otherworldly circle of light appeared in front of the altar. Purple looked around and the only other place she could go was barred by a massive golden gate of gilded metal. Since she had nowhere else to go, she stepped into the light and as she did her vision suddenly blanked as she fell over.

Purple awoke in a blindingly white realm and she could see nothing around her in any direction. As her eyes adjusted to the white she noticed there was a faint outline of something in the distance. As she approached it the outline became more defined, and she realized that it was a large white creature. The strange creature was the same shape as her, she even had a horn like she did though she also had majestic wings. The creature approached Purple, its wings flared, and looked down at her. After studying her for a few moments the creature nodded its head to the side, as if to point out something that she should be looking at.

Purple saw a massive mural appear nearby with pictures of things she had seen on her journey here, though something was different. She saw the mountain with the light at its peak, though the skies above it were brightly lit by the same marking she had seen on the glyphs and story walls. On the ground a ways from the base of the mountain there were drawings of creatures who looked like her, they were together as if they had formed a town or village. They were working together in a field to harvest what looked like crops. There were also creatures leaving the town heading towards the mountain on their pilgrimage. They were headed through what looked like the hub area she was in towards some sort of bridge through the gates she had seen. Purple assumed that this creature was showing her how her kind used to travel their pilgrimage in the past, perhaps in an attempt to help her with her journey. After showing her the mural, the creature nodded again and began walking back the way she came as everything flashed white again.

When Purple came to and her vision cleared, she way lying next to the altar, and the gates in front of her began to creak and grind as they opened. She got to her feet and began walking towards the now open gateway. As she walked through the archway towards the next legs of her journey she knew there must be a reason that the white creature was so intent on her getting to the mountain. She added this to her list of questions she hoped would be answered when she arrived as she made her way towards to light at the end of the tunnel.

Author's Note

I can't really think of anything to put in this author's note...Hope you enjoy. :twilightsmile:

The Broken Bridge

Purple had been wandering through the tunnel for what seemed like ages. There were small piles of sand strewn about around the inside of the tunnel, blown in by the winds from either side of this long passage.

She had not noticed it while she was walking through the desert though now that she was walking through the shaded tunnel, with nothing to think about other than herself and her journey, she easily noticed that she was feeling very tired and exhausted. She had been walking through a desert and had engaged in strenuous physical activity for what seemed like more than a day so she was not surprised. Her robe was a lighter purple and was very lightweight, plus it had the added benefit of helping keep her body cool and dry, yet it was not perfect. Her body apparently still felt the effect of the sun’s rays even if she had not. She decided that it would be unhealthy to keep going and ignoring her body’s obvious signal, and laid down against one of the walls of the tunnel. The fatigue hit her in full force once she was leaning against the wall, and she could not believe that she had been walking with this. Feeling the fatigue wash over her she began to notice her eyes slowly closing of their own volition as she slowly slipped into sleep.

As Purple awoke she looked around through half-lidded eyes and took in her surroundings. As she saw the interior of the tunnel she suddenly remembered her situation. She remembered waking up in the desert, she remembered the glyphs and the story walls, she remembered the dreams, and most importantly she remembered her task, reaching the light at the summit of the mountain.

As she got back to her feet, she began making her way through the rest of the tunnel. Walking seemed easier, and the weather even seemed less brutal now that she was rested. She hadn’t got a the kind of rest she could have if she had a bed though this was good enough for her trek.

Purple had finally reached the other side of the passage, and gazed upon the new landscape that was to be the next leg of her journey. She was looking at a small canyon sized desert, with a large plateau ahead of her that seemed to encircle the mountain. There were also small ridges to her left and right cutting off entry to those areas, which looked suspiciously like the area she was currently in. As she looked down at the small stretch of desert, she spotted what looked like a bridge that led from the sandy ground up the plateau. She guessed that this would be the only way she would get closer to the mountain, though when she took a closer look she saw that the bridge was broken and in ruins. The only parts of the bridge that were still standing were the supports, the pieces of bridge that used to connect them however were lying in piles of rubble in the sands below.

Knowing she would not get anywhere by staying up here, Purple leaped of the platform into the small canyon. She was afraid she would injure herself when she hit the sands, though was able to prevent this by tucking in her body and rolling them moment she hit the sands. The impact caused her to spin out into a small dune, her back hooves sticking out of the sands with her robes lying in front of her. She used her back hooves to pull herself out of the dune and fix her robes before looking around the canyon from a new point of view. While she was searching she noticed that there was another 2 of the glyphs to the Northeast and Northwest. She was about to go and collect them when she heard a strange sound behind her, and when she turned she saw a small sand waterfall cascading down so her Southeast; relatively unimportant; yet through a small crevice in the wall it was in front of, she could see a small cavern behind the waterfall. When she went to investigate it, she saw another story wall in the cavern, hidden away from all but the most prying eyes. As she approached the wall she summoned her powers and created another wave of energy, which on contact lit up the wall with images like the others. This wall depicted images of her kind fighting each other over the cloth and scarves, tearing them to pieces in an attempt to steal them from others. She wondered what could have led to this kind of behavior, as their civilization seemed entirely peaceful and pleasant in the dream she had of the great white creature.

Now finished learning the story of this wall, she made her way back through the sand waterfall and headed towards the 2 glyphs she had seen earlier. As she collected each of them, she felt the power within her grow larger and stronger as her runic scarf became one rune longer. It was already slightly longer than her body was after collecting the 2 new glyphs.

Turning her attention towards the difficult task of getting up the crumbling, ruined bridge she began surveying the area looking for something that could help her get up to the top. She saw what looked like the scarves she had used in the hub area. She trekked through the dunes to the nearest group of scarves , which were poking out of a strange piece of rubble. She took a couple of seconds to climb the rocky rubble it was resting upon and used her powers to renew the scarf as she had done with the others. Once the scarf was brand new, it dissipated and receded into the strange ruined machine. Once the scarf was inside, the machine made the same whirring noises as the other one had done earlier though when this one finished, a small door in the machine opened and a large swarm of scarf pieces flew out. Purple was about to try and get them to carry her like the others, with the idea of floating up to the bridge, yet before she could they flew up towards the bridge on their own and began creating a large cloth path between two of the bridge supports. Purple finally realized this was how she would get up to the top, and began making her way to the other scarves in the area yet before she could, something blue jumped into her vision and was blocking her path.

When she got a good look at the creature, she noticed it look like her, though it had a blue robe as opposed to Purple’s violet robe. She also had cyan wings poking out of her back unlike Purple’s horn. Her scarf was the same kind of blue as her robe though the runes were rainbow colored. What was interesting was that Blue’s scarf was slightly shorter than her own, just reaching the end of her body. Purple noticed a small amount of hair sticking out from the creature’s hood, what was strange though was that it was rainbow colored, similar to the tail that was poking out of the back of her robe. Naming the creature the same way she named herself, she decided the creatures name would be Blue.

No sooner had she finished examining Blue, before she saw a small noise coming from the Blue’s direction. She wondered what the Blue was doing, though after a few more chirps, she realized that Blue must be trying to communicate with her. Blue’s eyes magenta eyes were visible from underneath her hood and combined with the noises she was making Purple interpreted the noises as some form of asking her something.

How did you do that!? Purple assumed this was what Blue was asking.

Purple simply pointed at the scarves, then showed Blue the energy wave she made, then pointed to the new bridge path.

Blue then smiled; or at least what looked like a smile; and embraced Purple with her front hooves. Purple concluded that Blue had been here for a longer time than she had and had been trying unsuccessfully to solve this problem. Purple was happy to help and made her own chirp in response.

Would you like to come with me to the mountain? I’m sure we could help each get their faster. She hoped her face and bodily motions along with her chirp conveyed this. Purple assumed Blue had understood her, as Blue began following her around as she made her way to the next cluster of scarves.

After Purple had finished renewing all the scarf clusters she could find in the desert canyon, she looked up at the bridge which should be completed and traversable. What she saw instead was a bridge that was entirely traversable except for the beginning. The first two bridge supports had no cloth pathway between them. It was not that high up to the second bridge support, though it was far too high for Purple to get to on her own. She began frantically looking for another scarf cluster that she must have missed and began panicking when she couldn’t find any left.

Strangely Blue was as calm as can be as she began walking over to the edge of the first bridge support. Purple had no idea what she was trying to do, she had no way of getting up without the bridge pathway there. Blue seemed to think there was a way up, and chirped to beckon Purple over to the edge. Purple walked over and began thinking of how to explain how it was impossible to cross without the pathway when suddenly, Blue simply place her front hooves underneath Purple arms, and began to flap her wings heavily. The pair began to float upwards in the air towards the second bridge support. Purple was amazed at this display of power from Blue and was wondering how she could fly when Purple could not. Her answer came in the form of a peek at Blue’s scarf while they were floating, much like Purple’s scarf when she used her magic wave, the runes were slowly disappearing. With this new information, Purple concluded that the scarves were able to channel the runic energy in different ways depending on who the user was. In Purple who had a horn it manifested as magical energy, yet in Blue who had wings it manifested as flight.

After another look at the scarf for a more thorough examination...Purple realized that the runes were almost gone! She called to Blue trying to ask her to hurry before they fell. Blue seemed annoyed by the frantic calls, though she understood why they were there when she began to fall. She was still a few feet from the next bridge support, though through a mix of flapping her wings furiously and trying to swim through the air, she somehow got her and Purple to the other side, though they were hanging from the edge. Blue managed to pull herself up and then help Purple get onto the platform as well. Realizing they almost didn’t make it, they both heaved a sigh of relief as they relaxed on the floor of the bridge support. Once they had calmed down, they both got to their feet again and began traveling across the pathways to the altar at the end. As soon as they touched the cloth pathways, the runes on their scarves were fully restored, and they began lightly floating, and when the leaned forward they began moving in the same direction. They floated across each cloth scarf and finally arrived at the altar.

It was similar to the first one Purple had seen, though there were more small stone monuments this time. Purple lit up the monuments on one side, while Blue handled the other. Once all the monuments were lit, another small pool of light formed in the middle as before. Purple cantered over and sat in the circle, and seeing her Blue did the same. As the light filled them up they once again saw everything go white as the were sent into the dream again.

Purple and Blue awoke in the dream realm and saw the same great white creature that Purple had seen the first time. Blue seemed ready to attack, as if she thought it was dangerous, though Purple chirped to her, the look on her face saying that it was not hostile. As before, White, as Purple had decided to call her merely walked up to the pair, and craned her head to the side indicating another lesson on the history of their kind…

The great wall she had seen the first time now depicted a civilization of the robed creature who had created a thriving city based on the energy they had found in the scarves. The scarves had been incorporated into every machine and device in the city and powered everything they had. The people became dependent on the scarves power for all the activities of their lives. Everyone had them to power their machines, and those that didn’t had nothing...

Then the vision ceased and they were back in the dream world. Noticing that the pair had finished learning the new lesson, White simply nodded at the two of them, and pointed the head at the space behind her...and then, she turned and began walking off again. As she walked off, the pair vision began to fill with white again as they woke up from their dream. When they were fully awake the two noticed that the great sand waterfall in front of them had parted revealing a secret passage behind it.

Purple got to her hooves and called to Blue to follow her, as they made their way towards the mountain. A few of Purple’s questions had been answered yet she still did not know what happened to them and why they always walked to the mountain on their pilgrimages. At least now she had a friend to share this adventure with who could help her with the problems she could not solve alone...

Author's Note

I have decide to use the songs from the game where I think it fits (using the level music for each level). Other than that I'm sorry this took so long... :pinkiesad2:

I hope you enjoy! :twilightsmile:

A Desert Oasis

Purple and Blue traveled through the sandy passage that was revealed after viewing the White’s lesson of the past. Once they made it through to the other side they noticed that they were once more in the desert. The thought of traveling through the hot and dusty sands again filled Purple with dread. Her last trek through the desert before she reached the bridge had got her stuck in a sandstorm and thrown off course, though she somehow still made it. Breathing a sigh her and Blue began making the trek through the sands.

They made their way though the dunes as they always had though after three dunes of walking, they noticed something that hadn’t been there before...singing. They heard a faint hum and a simple melody and coming from the Northeast. After listening to the music to discern it’s location, they realized something interesting, whatever was singing was making the same noises they made when they communicated. They quickly started running towards the sound, completely ignoring the mountain in the distance, as they were more interested in perhaps finding another companion.

They traveled towards the sound across several dunes and reached another ruin. They searched around for the source of the singing yet, they could not find it anywhere in the ruins. Blue used her wings to search the top of the destroyed building while Purple searched the ground. After thoroughly searching the entire area they reconvened in the center of the area, only to find nothing. The sound of the music seemed to be coming from nowhere, just a disembodied sound floating on the winds.

Assuming the music was just sound carried on the winds, they moved to collect the glyph that blue had found while she was surveying the are. She carried Purple up to the ruined wall where it resided and after their scarf were lengthened again they turned their sights to the mountain and began walking once again. They could still here the music even as they began walking over their first dune in front of the mountain.

While climbing the dune Purple began to feel extremely exhausted and drained. She thought at first tha she might be tired again, though she and Blue had taken a chance to sit down and relax earlier after the cleared the bridge together. She also noticed that her mouth was much drier than normal and she felt like she hadn’t had a drink in forever. That was when she realized, she truly hadn’t had a drink...ever. Since her journey started there had never been any source of water or other drinkable fluids. When she combined that with the symptoms she was feeling, she was probably severely dehydrated. Given that she had not seen Blue drink anything either, she was probably suffering from the same problem. As the dehydration overtook her Purple began to slow as her steps up the sand dune became harder and harder to take. Blue began calling to her, wondering why she was slowing down. Blue began walking over to Purple to see what was wrong, only to keel over and fall right into the sand unexpectedly. Purple tried to move over to her, though she feel to her knees at Blue’s side and feel down into the sand, unable to move. Blue was already unconscious and Purple was fading fast. She silently prayed to the deity she had seen in the dreams, hoping for something to save her and her friend. As her eyes closed for what she thought was the last time she thought she saw a faint white blur of a creature approaching them, though she assumed that this was the just the heat, that such a rescue could never truly happen. Then everything was black…

Purple awoke feeling cold...cold and wet, two sensations she had never felt before. She also felt the desert breeze against her coat, meaning she must not be wearing her cloak. She slowly began to open her eyes and readjust to the light of the desert, when she remembered everything, the storm, the dehydration, her and Bl–BLUE! She had keeled over as well, and for all she knew Blue could still be out there slowly dying of thirst as the sands slowly buried her. She quickly searched the are around her through still half-lidded eyes, her fears allayed when she saw Blue’s face next to her.

With her immediate fears calmed, she returned to the task of finding out what had happened to them. When her eyes had fully readjusted she noticed that she was lying down in a small oasis and Blue was lying next to her. Their cloaks had been hung up on the solitary tree next to the oasis, hanging on a branch while the two rehydrated their tired, worn-out bodies.

While osmotically absorbing water from the pond was nice, Purple still felt thirsty and her throat was very dry. She cupped her hooves and scooped up some of the water and lifted it up to her mouth. The cool water felt heavenly and it slid down, a cool breeze caressing her parched throat.After three more hoof-fulls of water she felt her strength returning and her vigor restored. She felt as energized and able as she had at the beginning of her adventure.

It was then that Blue began to stir. She slowly awoke from her slumber in the oasis and began to look around frantically, searching the new environment, though calming down once her eyes saw Purple. She then looked down at the water she was currently relaxing in and began to eagerly lap up the water as if she had never drank anything in her entire life. While watching Blue drink, she realized this was the first time she had ever seen one of her kind without its robe. She noticed that their kinds bodies under their robes looked almost pointy, with many edges and points, though except for the head there did not seem to be any curves on their bodies.

Now that they were refreshed, they emerged from the oasis and re-donned their robes, readying for the continuation of their journey, when a thought struck Purple…How did they get here? Last things she remembered they had collapsed from dehydration in the middle of a sandstorm, yet somehow they ended up safe in an oasis.

As Purple was pondering who could have helped them, Blue saw something moving beneath the sands. From the mound it made as it moved, she guessed that it wasn’t the same kind of creature as her and Purple were. As the sand-swimming creature moved closer she prepared to do whatever it took to protect her friend. Once the creature reached them it burst from the sands sending a small spray of sand particles in every direction. The creature’s emergence has snapped Purple out of her pondering as both got a full view of the new being.

The creature was indeed strange looking to the two adventurers, it was flat and wide, and even stranger, it seemed to be made of the same cloth scarves the machines used, though unlike the red scarves that powered the machines, this creature was almost entirely white save for the violet runes that adorned it’s body. From the way the scarves were arranged it almost looked like a fish or some sort of shark. It slowly approached them as they prepared to fight it off if need be. Their fears were calmed when the beast stopped near the pair and simply floated there as if it was waiting for something. Then it did something they had not anticipated...it called to them, using the same chirps they used to talk with each other, it called out to the pair.

For several seconds it simply floated in front of them, as if it was waiting for an answer. Seeing that the creature did not mean any harm, Purple took the initiative and attempted to converse through her own call. She figured the call that she used with Blue might not work due to differing species she infused some of her magic into the call, in an attempt to create a mental link between the two. When the magic infused sound wave reached the creature, it created a bridge between its mind and hers and she was able to converse with it through memories. She saw her and Blue collapse in the desert, after which the creature emerged from the nearby sands, and floated over to them. The creature dove under the sands and surfaced underneath them, carrying them as it glided slowly over the sands. It carried them to the oasis and deposited them in the water to help speed up the re-hydration process. That was when the memories stopped, as there was nothing new to experience.

Returning from her mental conversation, she waved a hoof towards Blue indicating it was safe, after which she began to try conversing with the creature again, trying to thank it for saving their lives. She turned to Blue and indicated that it was time to continue towards the mountain, though as soon as they tried to leave the creature moved in front of them, chirping and waving it’s head. They assumed it did not want them going anywhere, or at least not going that specific direction. When it realized that it was having trouble communicating it’s point to them, it simply dove under the sand again and scooped them up from below. With its two new passengers it began hovering a few feet off the ground and started searching for something in the distance. It’s apparent target was a massive ruin to the northwest of their location. While the creature made it’s way towards the ruins, Purple and Blue collectively pondered what could be so important to distract them from their mission and ignore the mountain. Purple thought that perhaps this creature was leading them to some kind of secret passage that would lead to the mountain without the chance of dehydration and heat. Whatever the case, this creature seemed welcome to help them and flying on it’s back was much preferable to walking through the dunes.

The Bubbly Deity in the Buried Temple

Purple and Blue had been flying on the violet creatures back for several minutes before they reached the ruins it was flying towards. Seeing how fast they had traversed over the several dunes, Purple almost wished this creature would stay with them, as it was a much faster way of travel compared to slowly walking over each dune of the endless desert. AS they reached the center of the ruins, the creature (from here on known as Violet) lowered and let the two adventurers off of its back.

The first thing Purple noticed about the structure was crumbling wall that was hiding another story wall. She called to Blue and swayed her head towards it, indicating that they should head over. The story wall had more of the monuments, which Purple ignited with her magic, which in turn depicted the ancient lore this wall had to impart. Upon the mural Purple saw the same city she had seen in earlier walls, though this one was ruined and in complete disrepair. She also realized that where her kind had been plentiful in earlier tales, there were barely any of them in this story and those that were there were sequestered in small buildings keeping solemn watch over the scarves and cloths they had collected, never looking away for fear of losing them to the imaginary beings that seemed to be hiding in every shadow of the crumbling buildings. Purple realized that their greed for the power of the scarves had consumed them, and their fear of losing them superseded even the need to eat or sleep. Purple could not begin to imagine what could make them act so deranged. It was then that she realized that these walls were not left as a way for them to figure out the history of her people and their way of life but was instead a cautionary tale, warning against depending on the power of the scarves. For while the scarves powers did vastly improve the standard of living, they also contain unfathomable power and as they say, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Purple etched the story’s warning into her mind so that she would never forget and it suffer the same fate as those that came before.

It was at this time that Violet flew up to the them and began wildly chirping. They decided it would be a good idea to for her as she might have found something. Hidden inside a collapsed corridor, Violet had a discovered a secret passageway deeper into the ruins! They followed the sandy ancient passage further downwards until they came upon a dead end, a large stone wall blocking any incursion deeper into the structure. The stone wall was very intricately created and someone pristine and new compared to the surrounding ruins. Violet called to the pair and urged them to venture through the gate almost as if it knew what was on the other side. Purple attempted to tell her that it was impossible, that they had now way through the gate but she didn’t seem to understand, she just kept urging them on. Purple then decided it would be best to humor her and show her that it was not possible.

She began to approach the gate, yet as she did she felt something strange. It was almost like a voice, though it was speaking strange words she didn’t understand. Part-way through the disembodied voice’s speech, she thought she heard something about magic. She had no clue about how to open this stone gate, so she figured she would give magic a try. Summoning all the magic she had in body, she channeled it through her horn into the most massive wave of magic she could muster. Aiming her wave of energy at the door, she took a deep breath and then let loose. The great wave of magic surged forwards and as it collided with the stone there was a strange reaction. Instead of hitting it and bouncing back, or simply passing through it the magic seemed to be soaked up by the stone, as if it was drinking the magical energy through it’s stony pores.

Once the magic had been entirely devoured by the gate, there was a jarring, mechanical sound. With a clank of metal and the whirring of gears, the stone gate slowly slid open, inch by inch, until it was fully agape. Purple peered inside the newly opened tunnel and she could tell it had not been opened in a very long time as the halls were clean and sand-free, it was even less ruined than the ruins she had seen so far. She quickly scanned the area for anything that may be hostile, though like the rest of the desert it seemed they were the only ones here.

Once Purple gave the a-ok Blue immediately shot ahead into the tunnel, though her dash was cut short abruptly as Purple grabbed Blue’s tail in her mouth.Blue looked back with a look of anger and unhappiness on her face, though Purple chirped back with a look on her face that said We need to be careful, who know what could be in there!. Blue immediately understood and stepped back, rejoining the rest of the group.

The three of them entered the corridor slowly making their way down the winding passageway. It was a very simple path, one single path that continued forwards with no distracting side paths divert those traveling it. They continued down the path for several minutes until they reached some sort of atrium for a temple of sorts. Somehow this area had remained entirely pristine and unscathed by time and the desert sands. The only thing there was in the area that reminded of the desert was the thin layer of sand that covered the floor. They made their way through the atrium and into the temple proper...and what they saw they could not have imagined. The atrium’s doorway fed into a massive golden temple with a gargantuan tower in the center that went as far up as they could see. On the surrounding walls there were smaller shrines and places of worship all the way up, along with floating platforms that connected the shrine to the tower via scarf bridges.

While they were amazed by the majesty of this magnificent jewel of a temple, a creature had been slowly sneaking up on them from behind. It was shaped like Purple and Blue were though it had no cloak to protect it’s body from the desert winds, and instead sported a goatee and turban. It also walked around on two legs as opposed to the four that the adventurers walked upon. What was strangest of all though...it was pink.

It had almost reached it’s prey, slowly stalking, never making too much noise lest it alert them. The moment it reached them, it stretched out it’s body, making itself as tall as it could, reached it’s arms out to both sides ready to strike, and then it scooped them up...in a great big bear hug.

“Oh my gosh, new ponies!” it shrieked. “It been a while since I’ve seen anyone new in here, though I actually haven’t ever seen anyone in here, but that doesn’t really matter right now cause I get to make new friends!”

The group of adventurers had no idea who this creature was, why it was hugging them, or what it wanted. It looked like they did, but without the cloak, yet it seemed to be making the same noises that Purple heard outside of the great stone door. Even the voice seemed similar and Purple began to believe that this strange being was the one who sent that message. The pink creature then released them from it’s death grip and began speaking in that unintelligible tongue again.

“So what are you guys doing down her? Because I’ve been here for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, time and I’ve never seen anyone come down here, though I already said that didn’t I, anyway I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you guys?”

Purple simply looked a Blue with a confused stare. She had no idea how they were going to communicate with this ‘Pinkie Pie’, it was the first thing they had found that did not speak their shared language of chirps and calls. Purple was trying to formulate a plan when she heard Blue chirping away at Pinkie. Purple was about to get Blue to stop, believing it to be impossible when Pinkie spoke up a third time.

“OH MY GOSH,” she shouted, “can you guys like, not talk or something because I feel like you’re trying to tell me something but I can’t hear anything other than just squeaks and chirps, and I think it would be kinda hard to be friends if we can’t talk to each other.

“Well, we can do the first step of being friends though,” she exclaimed with joy, “you already know my name, but I don’t know yours. Since you can’t tell me, I’ll just try to guess your names!”

Pinkie walked over to Purple and began looking her over. “You look really smart and that purple color reminds me of nighttime, so I’m going to call you Twilight.

She then did the same for Blue. “Those wings look like you could go really fast, and you’ve got that really pretty rainbow mane. I’m thinking your name is probably Rainbow Dash!”

“This one here is a challenge,” she exclaimed while staring at Violet, “all that spotless lovely white looks super fancy with those neat purple letters. You’re probably the only thing I’ve seen that looked so fancy, you’re such a rarity...that’s it, I’ll call you Rarity!

The three of them looked at each other and burst out in smiles, and chirps of laughter escaped from their mouths. Purple, now Twilight, had never laughed or felt happy like this before, she liked it. After days of endless trekking through the barren desert, along with almost dying, having a chance to just stand around and laugh may not seem like much but to her, it was the greatest thing she could ask for.

“Now I’m sure you’re probably wondering who I am and why I’m here, right?” she asked. “Well, I was originally the god of this temple, and I granted the wishes of the Travelers who came here during their pilgrimages. Though one day all the Travelers stopped coming through and instead just spent their time hoarding the scarves, some of them even went as far as taking them from my temple! I know right, I was like ‘Are you CRAZY!’ though they just kept taking them and that caused me to lose almost all of my powers.” she sighed at her current situation. “Now I’m just stuck here with nopony to come see and make wishes…” as she said this her poofy mane that was sticking out of her turban began to deflate.

Twilight felt bad for the discarded deity, and she quickly chirped to Rainbow and Rarity to make some sort of wish, in an attempt to cheer her up. Twilight herself wished for a someway to get to the mountain. She may have taken a rather long detour though she still wanted to get there in the end.

“Huh...Somebody’s wishing...but the only ones here are...You GUYS!” her mane instantly poofed back up as she became happy again. “I can’t believe you would do that for me, but Now I’ve gotta do something for you...hmmm, what to do, what to do...I got it! At the top of this tower is a tunnel that opens up to a small city right at the base of the mountain. That’s where you wanted to go, right?”

Twilight shook her head happily, though she lost a little head-bobbing momentum when she realized one crucial problem.

“You’re wondering how you’re gonna get all the way up there, aren’t you?” the pink deity asked with amazing precision. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a friend who can get you up there lickety-split.” She whistled loudly, the sound resonating through the entire temple.

A roar was heard as a titanic beast began floating about through the air above them. It looked like Rarity did, though instead of looking like just a fish, this one looked like a gigantic, fully formed shark. The beast started slowly descending from the upper levels of the temple, until it was resting among the sands behind Pinkie.

“This here is my good friend, Fluttershy. She’s kinda shy so she doesn’t like meeting new people, though if I’m there she’s usually fine. Back on point though, she can actually carry you up to the top on her back! Isn’t that awesome!”

Twilight and her companions were awestruck at the massive proportions of the great beast. It was beyond anything they had ever seen, hay it was even bigger than some of the ruins they had seen on the way. And to think that this gargantuan beast was afraid of them!? It was inconceivable.

“Flutters here can carry you up, though unfortunately there is a catch,” she began slightly dejected, “Rarity, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to stay here. If they do go up there, you can’t follow. There are dangerous monsters and brutal, piercing cold winds that would tear you to shreds, and with you being one of the few remaining live scarf creatures I can’t let you get harmed.”

Twilight and Rainbow were devastated. They had only known Rarity for the space of a day, though they had gotten attached to her. She had saved them both from certain death and nursed them back to health. She helped them find the ruins and even found the secret entrance as well. She was the one who never gave up and always pushed them to try something else. If not for her, even if they did find the secret door, they would have abandoned it the moment it seemed un-openable, though she got them through it.

They were considering finding another way to the mountain, when Rarity spoke up. She began chirping up a storm, pointing and shaking her head towards Fluttershy and Pinkie, urging them to go on despite her sacrifice. It was their duty, it was their destiny...and they needed to see it through, no matter the cost.

After a series of heartfelt goodbyes and see you laters, Rainbow used her wings to float Twilight and herself onto Fluttershy’s back. The two watched Pinkie and Rarity get smaller and smaller in the distance until they were nothing more than specks among the sands. Once they were no longer visible, they turned their tear-filled eyes skywards, towards the top of the temple and the city they were heading for.

Leaving Rarity was the toughest, most painful thing Twilight ever had to do. She hoped she could finish this adventure before anything else like that happened again.

Author's Note

Emotional chapter. I hope the ending elicited some form of feels from you.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :twilightsmile:

An Empty City

As Twilight and Rainbow; atop the massive, flying scarf-beast named Fluttershy; made their way towards the tip top of the gigantic tower, Twilight began looking around at her surroundings. Adorning the walls around her were many shrines to the goddess of the temple, Pinkie Pie, though altars were worn and unused, and their candles were unlit and melted. They looked very disheveled and dingy, reflecting the loss of power she had suffered when everypony stopped wishing on her. Uttering a silent prayer for the forgotten goddess, she could have sworn she saw one of the altars almost return to it’s original state, and the candles became like new. Seeing this, Twilight called Rainbow over and urged her to make as many wishes as she could for the goddess in hopes that it would restore the temple.

I wish for the safety of my companion Rainbow on our journey to the mountain.

I wish for the safety of my companion Twilight on our journey to the mountain.

I wish that Rarity will be safe and happy with Pinkie and Fluttershy, and that we meet up again in the future.

I wish we get to the mountain soon….

The wishing continued the entire trip up the temple’s shaft. Once they had reached the top, the entire temple was surging with life once more, its bright and colorful walls shining brilliantly. They hoped this was an adequate thanks to Pinkie for her help. As if on cue, a specter of the goddesses head appeared with a smile and thanked them for all the wishes stating they had had almost single-handedly restored half of her powers.

The only time the pair stopped their constant wishing was about three-quarters of the way up the structure. Rainbow had something strange floating around on one of the temples open platforms and raced over to see what it was, while Twilight called for Fluttershy to slow down and see what Rainbow was after. Twilight disembarked from the beast onto the platform and began cantering over to the Rainbow who was hunched over something she had found on the ground. When Twilight approached, Rainbow waved a hoof to come over and look at what she had found, steeping back to give her a better view. It was a creature of some sort, though it had no flesh, muscle, or organs, it almost looked like a constellation, similar to the ones she had seen in the sky when she was traveling at night. It was made of many white lines and circles that were glowing blue as it pranced around on top of the platform. It didn’t seem like it belonged in this world, almost as if it had been pulled here from another realm. The creature seemed to enjoy Rainbow’s company and chirped along with her, as if the two were singing. After allotting a decent amount of time to let her play with her new friend Twilight called to Rainbow waving her foreleg at Fluttershy, indicating it was time to go. Rainbow understood, and knew that where they were going was far to dangerous to bring the creature with them. With a regretful chirp, she bade farewell to the creature and the pair climbed back onto Fluttershy’s back, as she made her way to the top of the tower.

When Twilight and Rainbow reached the apex of the tower Fluttershy stopped near the opening in the temples wall that was their exit. They made their way to the ground below and gave a hearty thank-you to Fluttershy, as she began making her way back down to where Pinkie Pie was. They made their way through the corridor that led out of the temple surging with vigor and prepared to finish their quest.

They exited the temple’s corridor into a white world. At first Twilight thought they were having another vision, though she soon realized that the landscape around her was merely covered in a thick layer of snow. The temples exit had brought them close enough to the mountain that it was now looming high above them its shadowing blotting out the light where they stood. They looked towards the next leg of their journey, which was a large city that winded through the mountains trails as it ascended part of the way up.

They made their way down the snowbank they had been standing in and headed towards the city gates ahead of them. The gates were more simplistic that others Twilight had seen on her journey. While the others were very thin and wiry, with many designs covering the surface, these gates were made of solid wood with strips of cloth hanging from it, worn from years of neglect. The ancient gate creaked open as the pair approached it giving them a view of the city beyond it.

The city was massive to say the least. It stretched out to either side as far as they could see and was relatively long across as well. Upon better inspection, Twilight realized that the city seemed to encircle the mountain, a last obstacle for anyone trying to reach the mountain’s peak. Twilight and Rainbow made their way through the gate into the city, following a paved path towards one of the city streets. Upon reaching the street the pair gazed in awe, as before them stood an entire street of glass. It seemed that all the streets in this city were made of thick sheets of solid glass, as when Twilight kneeled down to inspect it She could see several dozen feet down to the desert sands below. As Rainbow wandered the street gazing at the glass, Twilight wondered how they could have pulled this off. There was plenty of sand around, though how would they have submitted it to the necessary amounts of heat to turn it into glass? Suddenly, it came to her, the scarves! She had seen them do incredible things like build cities using the power hidden in the scarves, and after that, was it really so crazy to think they could use that power to do this.

Twilight shook her head, it didn’t really matter now. All that mattered was her and Rainbow getting to the top of that mountain and completing their mission, no matter what. She called to Rainbow to come join her as they trotted though the city, their hooves constantly clinking on the glassy streets.

As they were traveling through the empty city, the pair had almost reached the mountain, and saw a pathway between two pillar that led up the mountain. They were about to head around a the building in front of them, when Rainbow heard a strange noise. It sounded like a the calls she and Twilight made, though more angry and primal, as if made by a beast. She wondered what it could be, as the only creature they had met that could do it was Rarity and her sounded similar to theirs. She looked in the direction of the sound and a gargantuan snakelike monster surge up into the sky as it coiled it self around one of the pillars near the entrance to the mountain pass. Rainbow immediately alerted Twilight to the monster that was currently soaring through the air. Twilight had never felt terror as she had when she gazed upon the beast, it was hundreds of meters long and seemed wide enough to gobble up entire buildings. They tried to run as fast as they could towards the nearest building, deciding to hide inside until the beast left. Once inside they carefully trotted over to the door near the other side, and looked outside to see if it had left. They immediately pulled their heads back in as a light flashed over the doorway, illuminated the inside of the building, though they managed to remain hidden. Twilight assumed this was how the beast saw, and that it was currently searching for where they might be hiding.

It was at that point when Rainbow cautiously peeked out again, only to see something she hadn’t expected. Running across the open street in front of them was another one of their kind! This one had a cloak that was orange and brown, and it seemed to have small depictions of red apples around its trim. Rainbow also noticed that the creature didn’t seem to have a horn or wings unlike her and Twilight, which led her to believe that her and Twilight must be special since they had something it didn’t. She tried to think of what Pinkie would have named it, and given the color of her cloak and the apples that decorated it, she decided on the name Applejack.

Applejack had almost made it to the other side of the street, when the light emitting from the beast’s eye discovered her. Once it noticed it had found something, the light turned red, as the beast surged forward to devour its prey. As the beast approached it maw gaping wide, Applejack managed to dodge at the last moment, though part of her cloak and scarf were ripped of in the process. The creature hungrily ate the pieces of scarf that had been ripped from her cloak, and Rainbow realized that was what it was after. Much like the citizens of this city, the beast greedily loved the scarf as well, and was attempting to eat them as a snack. Applejack did not seem like she would be able to dodge another attack, and Rainbow nudged Twilight with her hoof and pointed at the injured pony, calling out to indicate her desire to help.

Twilight did not know if it was a good idea to risk their lives to help the injured pony, though she could have somepony’s death on her conscious. It didn’t seem right to leave her. Twilight chirped out an okay and the pair rushed out trying to distract the leviathan and give Applejack a chance to recover and escape. They waved chirped as much as they could to distract it and it seemed to be working as the beast turned it’s gaze away towards them, choosing two meals over one. Seeing that it had taken notice of them, they immediately swerved into one of the side streets weaving in between the buildings for better protection and cover from the beast, while it hovered over them, waiting for the chance to strike. Eventually, they came upon the gate to the mountain and had nowhere else to hide while the beast began to increase it’s speed, knowing they could not escape. They tried to run into one of the nearby buildings hoping they could make it in time. It was at that moment that they saw a flash out of the corner of their eye, an orange flash. They turned and saw Applejack standing near one of the pillars, with what was left of her scarf glowing with an orange light. She turned around and leaned forwards on her fore legs raising her hind legs up in the air. She waited until the beast was nearby, and then she used all her strength to deliver a massive kick to the pillar. There was a great cracking noise as her hooves connected with the structure and it began to creak as the top portion slowly fell over. The collapsing pillar fell and crushed the beast as it passed underneath. The light in it’s eye slowly died as it wildly flailed around, the weight from the pillar crushing the life out of it.

After the beast was dead Applejack slowly trotted up to the beast and crawled inside it’s mouth. She searched around and managed to find the pieces of her robe and scarf that it had eaten. She then made her way towards the two adventurers, chirping to let them know it was okay to come out from their hiding place.

Twilight and Rainbow made their way towards the orange pony and chirped happily to thank her for destroying the beast. Twilight tried to think of someway to properly thank her, noticing the ripped pieces of her robe and scarf. She did not know if it would work, though she tried using her magic to repair it. With a shine of light, the pieces seemed to float over and restitch themselves as her robe returned to its normal state. Applejack chirped a thank you and tried to ask if they would like to join her on her trip up the mountain as a group of three is usually better than two. They quickly agreed to teaming up, and the group began to canter over to the gates, now one pillar short, ready to climb the mountain and finally finish their long journey.

Author's Note

We're almost done, and I would like to say thanks to everyone who's read up to this point, you're all awesome and I love you. :twilightsmile:
P.S. In case you were wondering, in this story each race has different scarf powers, unicorn = magic, pegasi = flight, and earth ponies = incredible strength.

The Mountain

Twilight, Rainbow, and their new ally Applejack began making their way up the slope of the mountain. The mountain air was fiercely blowing and the biting cold forced the group of ponies to pull their cloaks further around themselves. Twilight could see that there was frost beginning to form on the edges of her robes and the runes on her scarf were going dark as the biting slowly froze the life out of them.

She called out to the others and tried huddling together for warmth. When they were close to each other, the runes on their scarves and their cloaks began to shine and the frost melted. It seemed just being near each other was creating a source of heat to combat the fierce cold of the mountain path. Clearly staying together was the only way they were going to get up the mountain without freezing to death.

They slowly made their way through the thick snow, though it almost seemed like the snow was working against them, holding their feet in place and preventing them from going farther. They were getting exhausted from the trek up the mountain through the bitter cold winds, yet their spirits were renewed when they saw a small flickering light slightly farther ahead. They made their way towards it as fast as they could and discovered a small hut carved into the rock face with a fire burning inside. The group made their way inside the hut and lay down around the fire and rested their hooves. This was the first time any of them had a chance to lay down and relax; except for sleep; since the start of their journey, it felt good to take some time to relax and regain their strength. Twilight took this time to inspect their new companion. Applejack’s body looked very worn and strained, her cloak slightly tattered and in less than favorable condition. Twilight assumed this was because to her knowledge, Applejack had made the entire trek to the city alone, without any of the help she had gotten from Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, or Fluttershy. Applejack must have used a once of the separate paths she had gotten a glimpse of all the way back at the ruined bridge, as without wings she couldn’t have followed the same path they had taken. She could not believe how hard this must have been for her, though it made her respect and admire the orange robed mare. Without any help from anyone, nor the abilities granted by having wings or a horn, she had achieved what had taken Twilight and Rainbow together.

They could not tell what time it was as the snowstorm blocked out any view of the sky, though it seemed like they had been in the hut for an entire night. They spent the ‘night’ resting to recover their strength for the rest of the trek, as well as discuss where and how they got here. Twilight had already told her story, and Rainbow was beginning her own.

She was seeking out the light at the top of the mountain because it seemed to be the one thing she couldn’t fly to. She had tried time and time again before meeting Twilight, yet every time she tried flying to it she never got any closer. At times she would fly for hours and never seem to move, yet when she was walking she could see her goal getting visibly closer. She had been just getting started on her journey when she had gotten stuck at the bridge and met Twilight.

Applejack on the other hoof was searching for answers. As far back as she could remember she had been traveling towards the mountain, though that wasn’t very far. One day she woke up from what she thought was a simple nap and was in the middle of a desert. She had no idea how she got there, and the only thing she could remember was a large stallion with red robes telling her to “find the light.” He said that her family was on the other side waiting for her and she needed to come home. She had no clue what he meant, though she felt that was the only way to find out anything about who she was. This was when she saw the mountain in the distance and the shining light at the top of it, and immediately set out to find out who she was, or used to be.

After a night of stories told around the fire the three girls decided to rest for the night, to regain their strength for the journey tomorrow. They had to make sure that the fire would not go out though or they would freeze to death in their sleep. Applejack took the first shift as she was the least tired, while Rainbow followed, and the final shift was taken by Twilight. With their strength restored, the group made their way out into the snowy wastes of the mountain trail once more.

The wind was just and cold and biting as it has been the night before, though the sunlight allowed for slightly more visibility making it a bit easier to see where they were going. As they were making their way up the mountain, they came across a field of monument stones, and they realized that these stones were grave markers for those that hadn’t finished their journey and died climbing the mountain. Thy slowly walked through the graveyard uttering silent prayers for those that had fallen. They decided that their journey was no longer just for them, but for all those that came before them, and all those who never got the chance. The group nodded and continued making their way up the mountain trail with renewed vigor.

Shortly after departing the ancient graveyard, they found themselves at the entrance to a large ruin. A series of buildings had been built into the walls of the mountain, and though they were ruined now, they had probably serve as a sort of way-station in the past. The building was very decrepit and pieces of it had been littered around the snow in front of it. Twilight wondered what could have caused this, as time alone would not have strewn these pieces around such a large area. It was almost as if...her train of thought was cut off as a deafening roar sounded through the mountains. Looking up towards the source of the roar, the girls saw two of the shark-like beasts spring up from behind the mountain, awoken by new travelers in their domain. As Twilight thought back to her first encounter with these beasts it was then that she realized that they were responsible for the destruction of the ruins. Their constant attacks on the pilgrims traveling up the mountain had damaged the ruins and blown pieces of it about the fields.

They all knew that they could not face two of these beasts at the same time, as they had had enough trouble with one of them. They were about to flee when Applejack noticed that destroyed ruins could be used to their advantage. She called to the others and pointed a hoof towards the closest piece, which happened to be part of a gate, and then she sprinted towards it hiding underneath the arches. Twilight and Rainbow soon did the same and hoped their plan would work. The beast soared over the fields looking for it’s prey, and as it passed over the arch it did not notice the three ponies hiding inside, nor did it notice them quickly running to the next piece of ruin after it had passed. The three girls silently ran from piece to piece, never been seen, until they had almost reached the other side. Eager to escape they ran a little bit to early and were spotted by one of the beasts. They ran as fast as they could, though the beast was catching up to them. It’s mouth was gaping wide as it prepared to swallow them whole, as just as it was about to grab them…they managed to escape through a small crevice in the mountainside. The girls slowly made their way though the crevice into a small pathway through the rocks. As they walked up the the pathway they quickly hid against the wall, as the beast flew overhead, searching for it’s prey.

The pathway let out into the rest of the ruined way-station, which was a series of stone bridges going along the side of the mountain. They were about to travel across when a fierce wind blew, pushing them up against the wall. Once the wind finished blowing, they quickly ran towards the wall in front of them, crouching down to hide from the winds. Their plan worked as the winds blew over the edge but did not push them back.

Once they had reach the other side of the stone bridges, they arrived at the exit of the way-station. A large gate opened onto another expansive field of snow, though this one was devoid of any ruined pieces of building. Twilight assumed that since the area her was not as ruined, the beasts never traveled this far up. Again she and her friends heard a massive roar and prepared to hide, though nothing showed up, no beasts, no monsters, simply roar then silence. Twilight took this as a sign that her hypothesis was correct.

The trio made their way onto the plains, and saw they had almost arrived at their destination, the light was only a few dozen feet ahead of them on top of a hill. They began to hurry towards it, unaware that their cloaks and scarves had already frozen over. Their scarves had gone dim and were beginning to shrink as well, inch by inch, they disappeared until they were no longer even there.

The girls immediately felt a wave of exhaustion wash over them as their scarves vanished, and slowed down to a trot. Their scarves’ magic had been protecting them from the biting cold of the mountain, and now that they were gone, frost was beginning to form on their cloaks as the began to freeze. At this height, it suddenly became difficult to breath, another problem caused by the loss of their scarves, and their pace slowed even more as they rasped for breath.

Their pace had slowed to a stumble, each one struggling to take another step while fighting for another breath of frozen air. One at a time they began to falter and stumble, each time they picked themselves up and continued, fighting through the pain to achieve their goal. The mountain’s peak was so close, the light almost reached...but everyone has a limit, and they had reached theirs.

Rainbow was the first to fall. She stumbled into the snow and fell, lying on her side as the snow and winds covered her unmoving body.

Then Applejack fell as well, slowly gasping for air as she fell into the snow.

Twilight was the last one standing. She was crying at the loss of her friends, tears freezing against her cheeks, though she had to continue for their sake. At any cost she thought to herself.

She took step after painful step through the snow, Applejack and Rainbow no longer visible behind her.

The light was almost within her grasp, hovering right before her nearly frozen shut eyes.

She reached out to grab it, almost managing to touch it…then she fell. Like all the others, like Rainbow and Applejack before her, she fell into the snow silently weeping and she lost consciousness.

Then, everything went white.

Author's Note

Sorry again that this took so long :pinkiesad2:
Hoep you enjoyed the cliff-hanger, though don't worry, I should have the final chapter out in a lot less time than it took for this one. :twilightsmile:

The End of a Dream...

The air was still in the white void, emptiness as far as the eye could see in all directions. Among the blank, white canvas that was this space there was a single blot of color. A lone unicorn adorned in purple robes lay collapsed in the middle of the void. She was unmoving, though still alive as evidenced by her slow breathing. As she was lying there a looming white creature approached her, examining her prone form for signs of life. The creature finished its examinations and lifted its head to the sky, releasing a wave of sound in all directions. As if answering some unknown summons other creatures appeared out of the mists of the void and converged on the unicorn. The creatures were similarly shaped, all much taller than the sleeping unicorn though they had both a horn and wings and were all differently colored, all except one. Dancing around on her hooves in between the regal-looking creatures was the same fallen deity Twilight and her friends has met on her journey.

“So Celly, you must’ve found something pretty big if you’re calling all of us here like this.” She exclaimed with the same casual smile she always had. “Last time I saw you, Luna, and Cadence was when we had banish the pilgrims to prevent their greed from destroying everything; I still think we could’ve found a better way to solve that matter; though back to more important things, whatcha find?”

The white creature, referred to as ‘Celly’ looked down at the fallen unicorn and sighed. Pinkie looked at what they had gathered around, her mane deflating slightly when she saw the unicorn who had been so kind to her earlier.

“Aww, I really thought she would’ve made it. She certainly had the spirit and guts, and her friend seemed strong enough…” Pinkie sighed and looked away wistfully.

Seeing their hopes of someone completing the journey crushed, the beings slowly turned and departed from the area, each going their own separate way, reluctantly planning to find some new pony to restart the mission and succeed where others had failed.

Pinkie however, did not want to give up.

“HEEEEEYYYYY!” The others turned in shock at the loud outburst from the pink mare.

“I’ve always agreed with what you guys have said was necessary and even though I’ve had reservations about the way you guys do things I’ve never gone against them I knew you were doing what you all though was best,” Pinkie had tears in her eyes as she called to the others, “but this girl was the best chance we’ve ever had of someone completing the journey. For the first time since the good-old-days she made me feel like a deity again, she even got her friends to pray and make wishes as well just to make me happy, so I’m not going to give up on her. I don’t really know how yet, but I’m going to save her!”

The godly creature merely sighed at her clamor and looked away. ‘Celly’ looked towards Pinkie and called to her trying to reason the weeping deity.

“I don’t care what you say! She was so close, just a bit more and she would have made it!” She shouted at the white, godlike creature. “Can’t we just give her one more chance?”

Celly was about to explain that there was nothing they could do, since their powers began to fade they barely had enough energy to meet like this let alone return a lost soul from death. Before she could though, a group of strange lights appeared in the void. Each light was the same color as the cloaks of her fallen friends, and they each bore the respective sigil tat adorned her friend’s cloaks. They began to all call out in unison each one trying to suggest a way to save their friend Twilight.

Celly worked hard to understand their mad chirping, though after a few moments she was able to understand the gist of their plan. They planned to give their remaining energy to Twilight in hope that it was enough to bring her back. While they did not have much energy, barely enough to materialize, combined they just might have enough to bring her back. She turned to the four of them, explaining that if they chose to do this, they would disappear and cease to exist, they would be giving their very lives for Twilight to have a chance.

“Fluttershy, what are you and Rarity doing here? I thought I told you to stay back at the temple. You guys don’t need to do this!” Pinkie had managed to dry some of her tears, only to have them spring up again at the thought of losing her friend.

Fluttershy turned to her old friend and called out to her.

“I know someone needs to finish the journey, but...I can’t...you’ll disappear you know!” Pinkie tried to dissuade her former companion, all the while knowing that this was the only way. She sighed. “Will I ever see you guys again?”

None of them could answer, though they all hoped they would meet again in the future. They spent the next several moments discussing something with ‘Celly,’ presumably why this was all necessary, and why it was so important that Twilight finished her journey. After they finished, they all chirped a single thought in unison as they gathered into a single brilliant light.

See you later…

Then in a flash of shining light they disappeared into the prone form of the purple unicorn. Moments later, the unicorn was enveloped in a cocoon of light as she was lifted up into the sky of the blank void, finally ready to complete the task she had started.

Twilight felt a dull chill run through her body as she awoke. She strained to open her eyes, and found them surprisingly easy to open. She remembered falling unconscious in the middle of the snowy wastes of the mountain, and if that were true she should be incredibly sore and covered in frost yet she found herself light as a feather. She also noticed a surprising addition to her body that was not there before...wings. Poking out of slits in her deep purple robes were a pair of similarly purple wings, like the ones her friend Rainbow…RAINBOW!

She remembered her friends and how they fallen as well. She searched the area for them, but could find no trace of where they had fallen. She began to frantically dig in the snow, thinking they had been buried while she was unconscious. While she dug, she heard a faint whisper in the back of her mind. The whisper intensified until it was a group of voices, ones she recognized as the voices of her friends. They spoke of each of them falling in the snow unconscious and nearly dead. The creature they had seen in visions had explained that completing the journey was both important and necessary, and that it would help restart this world after the calamity that befell it. She also explained that Twilight had been their last chance, and even combined they did not have the energy to bring any of them back from the dead. That was when her friends told her how they gave their life energy to bring Twilight back, saying it was the only way they would be able to complete this journey.

Twilight was devastated by the loss of her friends and sobbed uncontrollably into the snow. They tried to calm her down by explaining that they weren’t gone but simply living inside her as a part of her, and they had become one with each other to finish this journey together. This idea helped to calm her down, and as she dried her tears and got out of the snowbank she had been sobbing into she thought to herself calmly.

We finish this together.

She felt a new sense of confidence as she cantered slowly towards the light that had been her goal these several days past. She had lived for this, she had died for this and now she was finally almost done. Finally she reached the end of the mountain path, and as the winds finally cleared she saw the peak of the mountain ahead of her. With her newfound wings she took to the sky, higher and higher until she had breached the clouds themselves. She gazed at the mountain, the blue sky behind it and it’s rising yellow sun.It was a truly beautiful sight to behold.

She soared towards a massive pathway leading towards the mountain’s peak, large gates marking the spaces between bridges, and traversed the path to a massive open plain. The plain was filled with scarves, sprouting from the snowy ground like daisies. As she walked up the pathway towards the peak Twilight thought of all she had learned on her journey.

She had made friends and learned what they were willing to do to stay together.

She had learned what had happened to her kind and how she could help them be reborn.

She learned why her journey was so important and how much of difference she was able to make.

She had not been alive for long, yet she had already experienced so many amazing things, more than most ponies had experiences in her entire life.

She smiled at the thought of how much she had accomplished in the past few days, and slowly made her way into the light she had strived, and worked so hard to reach.

And as the world went white one final time, she kept on smiling and with and single thought in her mind. I’m coming girls.

A light surged from the peak of the mountain, surging out into the sky. The light made it’s way through the lands below, and wherever it went life seemed to follow. It breathed new life into the lands, deserts became fields, and ruins became cities. The entire world was reborn in the brilliance of the light’s glow.

After completing it’s travels through the former desert, the light soared into the sky, higher and higher until it could glimpse the entire world. Satisfied with its work, the light flashed brilliantly and with a wave of radiant glow the world was bathed energy restoring those who were lost so long ago.

A lone pony awoke in the middle of the streets of Canterlot, one of the great pony cities of Equestria. She was surround by 5 other ponies of differing races who were still asleep in the middle of the roads. As she looked up at the brilliant light in the middle of the sky, she felt a twinge of bittersweetness, as if she was forgetting something important, the feeling disappeared as she saw her friends waking from their slumber, and as she pondered how they got here, a single thought lingered in the back of her mind…

I made it girls. Now we can all be together

Author's Note

This may have taken a while, but I finally got this finished, so I hope you all enjoy. :twilightsmile: