Chapter 9 - The Castle of the Regal Pony Sisters

I woke up to the sound of a camp fire the next morning. I looked over and saw Twilight cooking some eggs over a small fire. “Good morning!” she said. I was quite surprised that she was cooking a form of meat. However, cake and pastries are made and eaten in Equestria which include eggs so I guess it was normal.  “You should eat before it gets cold.” She said. I ate rather quickly and we began to travel towards the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. After about an hour of hiking we made it to the castle.

“What an amazing site!” I exclaimed. The castle was larger than I expected. The keep was very high and at the top emanated a faint orange glow. “That must be where Applejack is.” I exclaimed “Let’s go!”

“How?” asked Twilight “The bridge is out.” I didn’t realize this. She was right. The bridge was out and it appeared that the there was no way to get to the castle without one…and then I remembered I had wings.

“We have to fly over there.” I stated.

“Are you crazy?!” She exclaimed. “We won’t make it!”

“You have any other ideas?” I asked. She shook her head. “Well it’s the only way. So let’s just do it.” I took to the sky and flew to Twilight. I grabbed her by her waist and began lifting her into the air. I wasn’t expecting her to be light, but I still strained to lift her off the ground.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Twilight asked nervously.

“This is the only way!” I exclaimed. I started to fly over the open pit that was between us and the castle. we were about half way across when I felt my hooves begin to lose grip.

“Jared! I’m slipping!” Twilight shouted.

“Hold on!” I hollered back. I began frantically flying faster but Twilight was slipping faster than I was flying.

“Jared!” Twilight screamed. I tried to hold on but I lost my grip. I watched in horror as she began to plummet into the pit. “Jared!” she screamed again. My mind raced. I did the only thing I could think of; I raced after her. “Jared!” she screamed a third time. I could see the bottom of the pit coming into view. “Jared! Wake up Jared! Jared!” Twilight screamed. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was standing at the edge of a bridge to the Castle of the Regal Pony Sisters.

“Twilight! How-I saw you fall and- I flew after you- how?” I stammered.

“You were in some kind of trance. I was worried you were going to walk off the cliff!” She exclaimed. She pointed to where I was standing. I looked over and saw that I was only a few feet from falling off the edge. I quickly move away. I knew something wasn’t right.

“Twilight, is there any spell you can cast that can guard our minds?” I asked.

“Well we could try a mental protection spell,” She suggested “but is only works for two hours.”

“It’s better than nothing.” I said “Let’s do it.”

“Okay. Here goes!” Twilight’s horn began to glow a faint purple. I started to see a glowing ring appearing around both of us. Twilight’s horn grew brighter as a dome began to form on the ring. As soon as the dome completed, it disappeared.

“Good job Twilight now let’s get-” I turned to see Twilight swaying tremendously. The color from her mane had faded to an extremely pale shade of purple. “Twilight are you all right?” I asked

“Yeah I’m fine.” She said “I just need to lie down for a minute. I just…” Before she could finish her sentence, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground.