Crystal Empire Part 2: Far From Home

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By the time the Library team arrived at the Crystal Castle, the book had yielded more of its secrets. Perhaps because of the close proximity to the crystals that were discovered earlier, 5 more pages were now filled with text, each describing a new adventure of the mysterious Unicorn. As it was their only clue, several groups were chosen to head expeditions to the locations noted in the newly revealed stories to see if anything could be gleaned in relation to this book or the crystals that floated in their own, separate chamber.

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The town was quaint and quiet. It had been a while since The Unicorn had had a good bed to sleep in, and the sign for the inn tempted her fiercely. The innkeepers were surprised that she had walked the whole way here, through the woods. They said it must have taken ages, pulling that cart of hers. It had. But, she assured the kindly elderly couple who accepted her bits for a room, the cart contained only what was necessary, and what it held she couldn’t carry on without, and that it was worth the extra weight. As she lay in the soft bed, staring out the window under which she’d parked her mysterious treasure, she thought about it more. Why was it important? Why did she bring it with her? Surely, if she left it behind, gave it up, she could catch up to her desired target. She pondered this thought as she drifted off to a restless sleep. A dream. The Unicorn, alone, swallowed whole by a giant eagle. She awoke particularly early the next morning to ask everypony in the town if they’d seen that wagon, that troupe. They had, and they gave her the same directions they’d given him. Head north along the path until you reach the Eagle-shaped rock, then curve East and continue on until you reach the ocean. The Unicorn’s face flushed white as she remembered her dream. Strapping herself into the wagon’s harness, she set off north with her burden, vowing never to think of leaving it behind again.

This one had been tricky. The trains didn't lead out anywhere near here. Firstly, if Princess Cadence hadn't come from Dappleshore herself, no one in the room would have recognized the eagle-shaped rock referenced in the story, nor would they have connected the location with the directions to the shore. Secondly, there was the matter of getting there. The group had taken the train that had left for Manehattan, but it went no further than the city itself. To travel the rest of the way by hoof would take quite some time, which at the moment they didn't have. Instead, several unicorns from Manehattan were contacted, and together they cast a teleportation spell. While they couldn't get all the way, they all landed atop a hill, at the bottom of which a forest sprouted. In the middle of the forest, they were told, was Dappleshore. The unicorns would accompany them to the town and then rest so that they could make the return trip. Aside from that, the team from the Empire would have to face their task alone.

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Dappleshore - Princess Cadence's hometown. Twilight Sparkle was the first to show excitement for this part of the quest. What sort of village did this place look like? What sort of things did her old foalsitter grow up with? Hold on, Twi. This is about the Crystal Empire, not fulfilling your own curiosity. She thought to herself as she and the other two unicorns looked down the hill toward the forest where Dappleshore lay hidden. Fossil Stone and Prince Blueblood (surprisingly enough) had offered to join her in this leg of their journey, which provided some company at least. If anything happened, she was certain between the three unicorns, their magic could thwart anything bad from occurring, or at the very least uncover the answers to the questions now brewing in their minds.

Taking out the book, she scanned the passage detailing the directions. "Hmm... It doesn't mention if the eagle stone lies before or after the way to Dappleshore, so I suppose we should all just head there and figure it out from there...since Dappleshore's our only lead." She wished there was more information, but after looking the section over one more time, the purple unicorn closed the book and stuck it back into her saddlebags before turning to the others. "Shall we then?" Obviously Fossil Stone - the famous professor and author of the Daring Do novels - was knowledgeable enough in such things...but as for Blueblood... Well, Twilight wondered what made him leave the 'regal sanctity' of the Canterlot palace. After hearing how he treated her friend Rarity at the Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight wasn't sure she wanted to stand near him, let alone speak with him. Perhaps hehad changed, or at least trying to change... There was only one way to find out.

Guessing that they wanted her to take the lead, the purple unicorn descended the hill toward the forest, easily casting a spell to give some light around them as the trio went in.

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Fossil looked out over the forest for any sights of a clearing or smoke they may have to go off of in locating the town. Hidden as they sometimes were, town's weren't the hardest thins to find. Smoke, and trails would be obvious signs civilization. A town would also need fresh water to drink as well, so he tried to make note of any river's, streams, or other bodies of water he could see from the top of the hill. He wanted to get as much information as he could from the vantage point of the hilltop.

"By all means, take the lead Twilight Sparkle. I'll try to keep up." the stallion said with a smile. His traveling companions had been informed about his limited mobility and his personal inability to teleport. "We'll want to look for signs of life. Beaten trails or roads, smells like smoke or baking, possible crops. Anything that is pony-made. Also take note of any water you might see or hear. I know a water dowsing spell, but it only targets the nearest source of drinkable water, even if it's underground. It won't point out another source unless it's closer than another, and I don't think we want to be wandering the forest all day."

Fossil Stone followed behind Twilight, taking the descent carefully. It was just a hill, but he made sure to favor his left foreleg as he went down. The professor didn't want to injure himself so early in the adventure, or strain his leg to the point of needing to use his cane. He so greatly disliked having to show weakness like that. With him he had his cane, and a set of saddle bags that was somewhat filled with material components for some of his spellwork, and a few essentials.

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Well at least I am not digging around in filthy mines or….ugggggh, sewers.

The options in terms of tasks were not exactly the best ones. Visiting a small town in the woods was about the only one that could even begin to be considered acceptable in terms of Blueblood’s standards. Caves? Too dark and moist. The Everfree Forest? Only a crazy pony would go there. He didn’t even want to think about the poor group having to visit the sewers of Manehattan. Besides, this group had Twilight Sparkle, the student of Celestia herself, and some other unicorn named Fossil Stone that he barely knew anything about other than he was from Canterlot. At least these two, he suspected, understood some basic level of etiquette and standards. He was even willing to tolerate the slowness of Fossil just for that kind of chance.

From the sound of things Miss Sparkle and Fossil Stone had control of the situation, and so Blueblood was content to let them lead the way. Besides, he had nothing to add anyway, his knowledge of navigation leading to similar conclusions as Fossil anyway. Although if this town was not properly mapped or had a road going to it, that seemed to be a rather interesting situation.

”I must remember to inform Auntie about the need for proper roads here. This is quite unacceptable…” he mumbled to himself, thinking about who knows how many royal taxes they may have gotten out of because they were out in the middle of nowhere and no one was able to find them.

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It wasn't exactly a 'road' per se. Not really. It wasn't even really a 'path'. However, as they entered the rather peaceful forest, the way they needed to go became obvious. The village often received visitors, and often they came in from Manehattan. Because of this, there was a vague sort of direction in which they all traveled. The regular traffic had left an imprint on the land. If one tried to quantify it by giving it boundries, they would find the borders widening and compressing, encompassing trees and branching off into several other directions when some road weary wanderers strayed in the wrong direction for a few yards before realizing their mistake and swerving back in sharp arcs.

To the fresh travelers who had just skipped the majority of the walk, however, it would be easy enough to pick out the right way to go. The light Twilight provided would be appreciated, but not fully necessary. The canopy wasn't nearly as thick as the Everfree's, and light filtered down through the leaves quite pleasantly along the path, leaving streaks of golden rays, tinted by the early autumnal foliage. The other major difference between the plantlife here and that of the more familiar forest near Ponyville (Aside from the fact that none of it was trying to eat, poison, or grapple you in any way) was the sparsity of it. While ferns did sprout up occasionally, and vines did creep their way up the trunks of several trees, and moss did seep into the ground and the rocks around them, it never quite looked overgrown. Really, it was much more like the Whitetail Woods.

In any case, be it a wood or a forest, the walk was pleasant enough, and if the group decided to walk just to the side of the beaten section of the forest floor, they would find it quite comfortable, with the soft cushion of fallen leaves and pine needles crackling to give a pungent, relaxing aroma. Soon enough, they would find themselves spotting the village ahead of them, between the trees.

Dappleshore had grown a little bit as time went on, but not all that much. It remained a small town, but that did not mean that it was by any means a 'poor' looking town. The houses seemed to be well-kept, their exteriors sporting a sort of rough perfection that came with a house built by hoof. Some of them were log cabins, while other were cut boards, painted with care, all with subtle colors that blended into the forested surroundings. Some of the buildings were larger than the others, denoting things such as the inn and the town hall. Throughout the town, the constant white noise of a river could be heard between the wind in the leaves and the birds' calls. Indeed, there seemed to be a water mill a short distance away, turning slowly as the water of the small river flowed through it.

The path upon which the group walked became more defined as they approached. The ground was more tamped, forming a solid, dirt road, which widened into the circular clearing of the town itself. The buildings formed an inner square in the clearing, leaving the outer arcs of the circle as open field or as space for crops. Another pair of rows of houses cut across the center of the clearing, leaving two wide roads that circuited the town. The unicorns that had brought them thus far wished them the best of luck, and gave them their room number in case any further assistance was needed. Then, they immediately headed for the inn, to rest and recharge themselves for the return trip, leaving the trio of unicorns to their investigations.

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Apparently the light she provided wasn't needed upon entering the woods, which reminded her a lot of Whitetail Woods back home. She nodded to the others (while ignoring Blueblood's comment about the lack of roads for now) as the trio walked down the well-trodden path toward the village.

Upon arriving, the quaintness of it was enough for the purple unicorn to smile. She could imagine her new sister-in-law growing up here, and remembered Cadence mentioning several details about the town. Turning to the prince, Twilight explained, "Sometimes towns don't need to have roads; maybe they would rather be 'hiding' just for the purpose of peace and quiet. It isn't about trying to draw them out and make them more like...well, Canterlot. Hey, I didn't like Ponyville that much until I saw the town for what it had...a rather unique charm that helps it stand out from others. Dappleshore is no different, and besides, this is where Princess Cadence grew up." Now they had to find out more about this place, and any other clues from the passage they were assigned to.

Their guides bid them farewell and went to the inn for the night so they could leave for their homes at first light. Now it was just the three unicorns on their own, with barely an idea on how to proceed aside from the 'stone eagle' that was mentioned. Taking out the book once more to read the page, Twilight Sparkle mused outloud, "If we keep going, we may run into this stone eagle on the way, but then again, nothing else is mentioned. We could ask the villagers, but we don't want to be too imposing..." Granted Dappleshore was a new town, so it would be rather...awkward for any of them to talk about something that could very well just be something far from the past, as in hundreds of years in the past. Closing the book once again, she faced the others. "Should we split up and ask around without frightening the locals? Or is there a better idea?" Out of all of them, Fossil Stone was the more knowledgeable, whereas Blueblood - while arrogant and conceited - had a bit more...well, she wasn't sure what to put it; he had the royal thing going for him, so she could see why Rarity was trying to become his date (aside from the fact he was Princess Celestia's great nephew, or some type of relation). Maybe he could charm the locals into helping us find what we're looking for...not sure if we want to go that route... Twilight thought, awaiting an answer from the two male unicorns.

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Fossil Stone took note of the sound of bird calls and smiled. Birds singing, insects buzzing, and other assorted forest noises were welcome ones. Those noises were a sign of safety. If there was any significant danger about, small creatures would either be silent, or fleeing. The sight of a pony or two off in the town was also a good sign to the professor. He always found it rather disconcerting when approaching a town during daylight hours and not seeing anypony around. It was about lunch time though, so many of the town's inhabitants were probably eating.

When their guides left them Fossil Stone stopped walking and closed his eyes. The Unicorn took a moment to extend his natural senses all around him to get a feeling for the place, specifically his sense for magic. His keen sense had lead him to him finding a magical book in the Crystal Empire, and he was relying on that sense once more. He wanted to know what magic, if any, was at work at the moment, or if there was any auras or emanations he could feel from outside.

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the pony was lost. For want of a pony the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. All for the want of a horseshoe nail." Fossil Stone opened his eyes and looked at his two traveling companions with a steady gaze. "Sometimes the smallest of things can be the most important, whether it be a nail, a town, or a spark."

The author thought about Twilight Sparkle's question for a moment. How should they proceed? Without knowing what sort of opposition they were facing it was a touch call. Once they started asking questions news would travel fast among the villagers, but if someone had come ahead of them they'd know about that as well. There was an easy way to find that out though!

"There are two things that come to mind, and both of them take place at the inn. We don't know what, if any, competition we may have. If we ask the innkeepers if they get guests often, or received any recently, we may get an idea if anyone else has shown up. The moment we start asking a lot of questions, word will spread quickly as to why we're here. I'd like to know if we're two steps behind another group, or the first ponies here."

"The second thing I'd like to do is investigate the rooms on the second story of the inn. Specifically I'd like to follow in the hoofsteps of the story. The story says she stayed in the inn, and her wagon lay beneath a window. Given the considerable size her load was supposed to be, she'd have to be on the second floor, otherwise it would have been stated to be outside the window. After that she was told to go 'North along the path until you reach the Eagle-Shaped rock, then curve East until you reach the ocean'."

"Prince Blueblood, as Royal Surveyor do you think you could procure a map of the area? If the Eagle-shaped rock isn't shown on it as a landmark would you be able to get a rough idea of where it may be given the vague directions we have to go by? While you do that Twilight Sparkle and I can investigate the inn. With our talents in magic we may be able to sense or trigger some sort of event."

"Twilight, would you mind being my assistant for an investigation? We may still be able to uncover clues we can use. The story had revealed more of itself the more we had filled it in, perhaps visiting the same locations could cause something to happen. As a young mare just coming from the Crystal Empire, you'd be the best candidate to trigger something by mere presence." That was his plan, to split up. Prince Blueblood, Royal Surveyor, would work out their navigational details, while he and Twilight Sparkle worked at things from a different angle. If they ended up having to stay the night, he wanted all three of them on that second floor, or at the very least Twilight.

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Even without roads, the whole journey at this point had been rather pleasant. Even the town itself had, as Fancy Pants would call it, “rustic charm”. In fact, it’s idyllic setting was almost too perfect for Blueblood; he was already missing the hustle and bustle of Canterlot. Twilight’s little defense of the town pretty much fell on deaf ears. Still, he had to give the town credit for welcoming them in and guiding them around; that was the appropriate kind of service for heroes of his (and the others) status.

When it came to settle down to actually doing the heroics, however, he did start paying a little more attention. He was slightly annoyed that again his task would involve talking with locals again. Geesh, he was expecting a little more action in this whole adventure. But could he blame everyone for wanting him to be the face of Equestria? His natural looks and charms would make such investigations quite easy.

”A map of the area? Should be no problem if the locals have been keeping up with the task. If not, I can send a request to Canterlot, but that could take some time…” he responded.

As Royal Surveyor, he was in charge of making sure all topographical data was collected. Granted he wasn’t the most competent at the job, but his staff usually picked up the slack. So, hopefully, as long as everyone else had been competent, the local town hall would have the area maps.

And maybe I can start planning out a proper road while we’re at it…

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Shortly after their arrival in the town proper, which seemed to be shortly after midday, a slight transformation swept through the area. One at a time, but over the course of about 2 minutes, ponies began filing out of the houses. Soon enough, the town was alive again, children playing out in the field behind some of the buildings, a fair number adults congregating together and chatting amicably amongst themselves. Apparently, lunchtime had just ended, and the tight-knit community had all taken their food at the same time.

More important, however, was the task at hoof. Some poking by Blueblood would indeed find them a map in the town hall records. While outdated by a decade, technically, the secretary assured the unexpected royalty that nothing had changed since the map's drafting. Indeed, it was a rather simple map. Boldened lines led from the town off to the south and east, indicating the road they had taken to arrive and a second path out that read "To Seahorse Bay" respectively. Aside from that, there were a few other lines, all of which seemed to indicate smaller walking paths, that crisscrossed around the woods, labeled with different colors and opacities. The oldest, or the least used, were light, and somewhat hard to see. There were a few dots on the map, which seemed to mark out points of interest.

As for the inn, it was quite empty. The rooms were, at least. No one seemed to be staying, so they were offered their choice of rooms, and the matron kindly allowed them to inspect each one. The unicorns that accompanied them were staying on the first floor, near the back of the building. However, inspect as they would, nothing seemed especially out of the ordinary. There did, however seem to be something. Nothing specific, but a general haze of magic seemed to pervade the area. It seemed to flow with the air, swirling about the area, and leading nowhere in particular. If one were to compare it with something, it might bring up comparisons to some old ruins or artifacts, like several places Fossil may have visited, or like the old castle where Twilight and her friends found the Elements of Harmony.

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She guessed that there were perks of being royalty, but if it meant becoming someone like Blueblood, then Twilight would forgo any crowns altogether. The purple unicorn had always looked up to Princess Celestia since that day at the Summer Sun Celebration, and would continue to do so even long after she was no longer her student...whenever that would be. Daydreams aside, Twilight glanced at Fossil as he mentioned her being a possible catalyst for anything to happen in this area. She blinked a few times, unsure on what exactly he meant; as far as she knew, she had nothing else in common with the Unicorn mentioned in the story aside from the fact they were both...well, unicorns. But if it meant anything happening to put this mystery to rest and save Princess Cadence's kingdom, then by all means she would do her best.

Nodding to the prince as he departed for the town hall, Twilight and the processor went into the inn and were given a rather friendly greeting, as well as the option of looking through the rooms to find one to their liking. Apparently there was no one staying there, hence the option to choose. Being the ever-observant mare that she was, Twilight carefully scrutinized each object, several times thinking she could sense something with magical abilities, and yet at the same time, nothing was present. After going through a few of the rooms, the purple unicorn sat on the floor with a hoof to her chin in thought. "There seems to be something here...something a bit familiar. But for some reason I can't picture where. It feels old, as in from days before..." It looked like she was going to attempt a spell to try and gather whatever essence was in the room, but then it hit her like a...

...A spark.

"Professor! This seems familiar to that castle where my friends and I found the Elements of Harmony. It just has that ancient musty yet potent feeling. I didn't think about it before because back then I was still trying to get the Elements to work, and now I'm wishing I could go back there and do some research....had I known it would have been important later on..." Now that she had it somewhat pinned down, Twilight wanted to know just what sort of magic it was exactly, and why was it here as well as back at the otherwise named 'Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters'

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By the time the duo had reached the second floor of the inn Fossil Stone was favoring his left side much more. He had yet to bring out his cane, but he was leaning to his left quite a bit more, and only using his right hoof to step with every few paces. While his energy levels were fine, part of his brain was beginning to tell him to take it a bit easier with the walking now. The rest of his brain however was telling him to figure this puzzle out.

"Good observation Twilight. The professor said as he slowly looked around the room. "We can go back there and do any kind of studies of the area you wish, but at another time. Right now an Empire depends on us. We have a new piece to the puzzle, there is magic in the air. It's old, and currently inactive. Unless something very powerful happened here in the past I would think that it's tied to something. Otherwise it would have dissipated by now."

The Unicorn clicked his tongue a couple of times in thought as he searched through the library of his brain. "We also know that what we're dealing with comes from the Crystal Empire. Given how prevalent crystal was there I would imagine it could be used as a focus for magic. If we had some sort of spell to seek out minerals or gemstones we may very well find the source of this magical haze. We should also find out how far this reaches. If it's just the hotel, the entire town, or beyond."

"We have questions, now we must find our answers Twilight Sparkle. Though you may have to do a bit more hoofwork than I at the moment. It would seem past ailments are beginning to catch up once again."

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Decade old maps? Did the ponies in this backwater town not know that’s the maximum amount of time that is supposed to pass between mappings. The census department would be getting a rather stern letter once they got back to Canterlot when this Crystal Empire business was over with. Although knowing them, they’d probably give him some kind of excuse of being “too busy with the new kingdom” to take care of this travesty of authority. Whatever, that’d be something to worry about another day. For now, he had maps to deliver to his little group and a mystery to solve so they could save the Empire.

Heading back into the Inn, he arrived in time to hear the other two mumbling something about ‘ancient magic in the air’ and trying to track it down. He had thought there was something off about the town, but he had chalked it up to his disliking of avoidance of proper mapping procedures. The idea of ancient magic permeating the town was not something that he had thought about. But if they were chasing after an ancient artifact, it shouldn’t have been that surprising.

”Well, if the story was focusing so much on that eagle thing, then chances are that is where we should go. Fortunately, I was able to secure some maps that are supposedly accurate representations of the area even if they are a decade out of date.”

Levitating them, he unrolled the maps and presented them to his partners. Hopefully this “eagle stone” was an important enough landmark that someone put enough brains together to have it marked on the map.

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The unicorns had so far gained a much better understanding for the town just by looking around for a little while. Now that they had a better grasp on their surroundings, they had brought themselves to a point where options arose.

Firstly, there was the magic permeating the town. Indeed, it wouldn't take much searching and testing to find that it was everywhere: not just the hotel room. It seemed to be at its strongest, however, near the residences, or wherever ponies spend a longer period of time. Upon closer inspection, it didn't feel quite as old as they had originally thought. It seemed to have been cast recently, or relatively recently compared to the millenia-old sites that they were initially reminded of. It may even have taken place within their lifetimes. Rather, it was the source and type of magic that felt old, an ancient power reborn and reused in the modern world. Their first option came down to the investigation of this magic, and searching for any information they could.

The second option became quickly apparent when Prince Blueblood opened the map. The stone eagle was clearly marked and clearly accessible, and the directions seemed just as simple as the story described: go north out of town, follow the road, and there it is. Every single one of the maps showed the same result. In fact, most of them were nearly identical, though they were produced at different times. Aside from the occasional addition of a path or deletion of an old one, the only thing that really changed between them was the town limits, which grew just slightly over the course of time. Perhaps the one oddity, however, was on only one of the maps: The most recent one. In the forest, off the beaten trail, somewhere just a short distance north-east of the stone eagle was a small marking: A tiny heart had been drawn in red ink, and it was clearly made some time after the map had been originally made.

Aside from that, the town was open to them, and the ponies were welcoming and helpful. For the most part. Occasionally they would find a curmudgeon or a few ponies who seemed to be particularly wary and suspicious of outsiders, though overall they would be able to find anything they needed, if only they asked.

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The residual magic felt old, but then again, it didn't. It made nonsense whatsoever, but it was quite possible that the spell itself was old, but the magic behind it wasn't...or vice versa. This left more questions than answers for the young unicorn of the group, and she wanted to try and figure out just what sort of spell or power that was used here.

Before she could try and study the magic around them further, Blueblood returned with the maps. They looked the same despite the small additions and deletions here and there, but glancing at the most recent one where a red heart had been drawn, Twilight Sparkle was going to ask when this particular map was drawn...and who had access to it last.

So there was trying to figure out the magic in this town, and finding out just what the heart stood for. Oh, and the stone-eagle statue that was the most obvious clue. Glancing at the prince and the professor, Twilight asked, "Where so we split up from here? There are three points of interest so far, and if I'm right, these may be connected to each other, and in what we are trying to find."

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"Normally..." the Professor began, "I would examine things step by step to unravel a mystery. Lay out the facts and go over them meticulously before looking over new information to add into the puzzle." Their first puzzle was the magic around the town. It was a mystery to him. It was an old power, but cast sometime in his lifetime. Luna's arrival was too recent of an even for it to be her, but there were other powers in Equestria that would have the ability to do it.

"However, time is of the essence here I'm afraid. The Crystal Empire is depending on us, and we shouldn't keep them waiting too long. I think we should move on to the statue in the morning. With my condition I won't be able to get there until nightfall if we left now, and it'd be a bigger strain on the way back." The Unicorn didn't know how much he'd like pushing his leg anymore. If he was careful the trip would be slow and they'd be forced to use their own magic for light. If he rested he could make a reasonable pace like he had earlier.

"You two may go on ahead if you wish though. You two should be able to make it before nightfall. The choice is yours though." Fossil didn't bring up being carried by a cart for a good reason. He doubted Blue Blood would take such a suggestion easily, and he didn't want to push the burden onto the young Twilight Sparkle.