Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yUF4-pA05eAJaCWEzOKhtpoLWPYkImhosMOdvajb43k/edit?usp=sharing

Endless sand sparkling in the sunlight. A breeze of heat washing over their faces. Widely scattered exotic trees and bushes. Occasional small rivers and oases around which the wildlife blooms. In a sense, Saddle Arabia was like another world. A place that could be beautiful if you were willing to live with the harsh climate. While boiling hot during the day, it got so cold at night that the keepers of harmony sometimes thought they were back at the Crystal Empire.

Just as predicted, Rarity had trouble keeping up with the others and frequently needed to take a break in the cart while one of the griffon soldiers pulled it. But it seemed like she was right. Her coughing and sneezing had reduced a lot and it seemed like she was finally starting to get better.

The group had been traveling for almost two months now, but at least they had relatively few dangerous encounters on their way. The closer they came to the border of Equestria, the less demons and cultists were left around. But now that they were deep in the land, their problems had changed. Their need for water had increased dramatically and the creatures in the tundras and deserts were dangerous, not to mention foreign to Fluttershy. Most of the time, she could handle them and convince them to leave the group alone. But especially the monsters were too hard for even her to understand, leaving them no other option but to fight and kill them.

One would like to imagine that in a land that lacked mountains, where dunes were the highest the landscape had to offer and the horizon was constantly in plain sight, it would be easy to find your way around. But the opposite was the fact. The whole group lost orientation a few times and wandered from settlement to settlement, trying to find the capital of the land. Two whole weeks passed like this before they finally met a caravan by sheer coincidence, heading to their goal and willing to let the group join up.

The ponies of Saddle Arabia were so unlike the ones in Equestria. There were no pegasi or unicorns among them and all had a nearly alicorn-like size and body shape. Twilight theorized that this was due to adaptation to the harsh environment. At the very least, they were so used to the heat that even during the hottest times of the day, none of them were even sweating. The ponies on the other hand were suffering enormously from the heat and intense sunlight, although it seemed like at least Celestia could cope with the latter very well. Regardless, all including the griffons were very relieved when they finally saw the large walls of Baleg.

From the outside, the capital wasn’t easy to spot, even when nearby. The sandstone walls looked nearly identical to the rest of the desert it was located in. One had to look very carefully, otherwise you could mistake it for just another large dune. Maybe this was a disguise on purpose, the griffons figured. That would not only explain why they had so much trouble finding this city, but also the reason why the arabian ponies were still able to defend themselves against Blueblood and his army. For now at least. The letter they sent made it pretty clear that they badly needed support.

“Halt! Identify yourselves!” a guard shouted down from atop a tower at the front gate.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, leader of the rebellion against Blueblood. These are the members of the circle and some of my allies. We are here to answer to your request,” Twilight called back.

Instantly, the expression on the guard’s face changed into astonishment. He swiftly gave the signal to open the gate and started running down the stairs to meet the group. Once he arrived, the gate was open just wide enough for them to pass through individually and the guard bowed down before them.

“The sultan and his wife await. Please allow me to guide you,” he spoke.

With a small nod, the group agreed. Although none of them said a word, it seemed like the guards were very tense and hope the group would enter as quickly as possible. Shining Armor, being the last to step inside the city, could barely move his tail aside in time to prevent it from getting stuck in the quickly closing gate.

While unsuspicious on the outside, Baleg was a wonderous place on the inside. Colorful oriental decor was adorning all the walls and streets. The spherical, pointy roofs had beautiful patterns of differently colored tiles in them. Right next to them were the first stalls, offering dates, figs, herbs, tea and silk. The arabian ponies themselves wore a lot of colorful but light clothing in a very traditional oriental style. A sight that marveled Rarity more than anypony else. Up in the sky, an occasional wizard pony was flying by on an enchanted carpet. Again an impression that made them believe they crossed the border to another world.

But despite all the wonders and beauty, the atmosphere in the city was less than comforting. It was silent. Next to nopony was on the streets and those who did dare to go outside seemed very cautious and scared. It was utter fear filling the whole city. Perhaps they were just recently attacked by the BloodClaw Cult or at the very least they were being threatened by them.

Before any of them could think about this any further, another wonderous sight presented itself to them. The palace of the sultan was an enormous symmetrical building of white stone and golden roofs that could even rival Canterlot Castle in size. Long rectangular but shallow pits were cut in the white stone ground and filled with water, streaming in and out through aqueducts. The water seemed to be clean and to public access, as a few citizens could be seen either drinking out of them or filling crocks. Nearby, where the ground would still be moistened from the artificial rivers, perfectly symmetrical palm trees and flower bushes were growing. A very wide staircase lead between several columns and finally up to another massive door, adorned with gold. After parking the cart at the bottom, Fluttershy helped Rarity out of the cart and supported her on the way up the stairs. Upon seeing the gatekeeper approach with a group of equestrian ponies, the palace guards began to open the path and revealed a long and heavily decorated throne hall. Though the griffons stood behind. Weapons were not allowed inside the palace and since this was a meeting only between leaders, Gabriel decided to remain outside and join the palace guards on their duty for the duration of the meeting.

The hoof steps of the circle members echoed in the massive hall. At its very end were two empty thrones. As they arrived just in front of them, a couple of servants appeared and started placing pillows on the ground.

“The sultan will arrive shortly. Please make yourselves comfortable in the meantime,” one of the servants stated. “May we bring you something to recover from the exhausting journey? Some tea perhaps? Or a meal?”

“Both would be nice. Thank you very much,” Luna stated.

The servants bowed down and backed away several steps before turning around and hastily walking to the kitchen. Finally, Twilight let out a sigh.

“At least it is a bit cooler in here. Oh my gosh. I had no idea what I was getting myself into by coming here. I read so much about Saddle Arabia, its culture and its climate. But I would have never expected it to be that hot!” she stated.

“I’m just glad we are finally here,” Shining Armor commented.

“And I am starving, I tell you,” Rarity added.

“Mistress. How are you doing?” Fluttershy wondered, looking at Celestia and bowing down before her.

“Quite alright. Thank you, Fluttershy,” the white mare replied with a gentle smile.

The minutes passed by as the whole group gathered their strength. To their surprise, the servants returned much sooner than expected, carrying small tables and trays with tea pots and cups, rice, curry sauce, mixed vegetables, seasoned lentils, flower salad and flatbread. Most of this was foreign to Twilight, but she was more than happy to try it.

“Thank you,” she spoke in behalf of the group and started eating.

The food was surprisingly spicy. She would have imagined that when it was so hot all the time, food would be milder. But as a matter of fact, some of it was even a bit hot. Especially the fact that they served hot tea was confusing to the purple mare. Yet, it seemed like the servants put their efforts in adjusting the recipes to tone them down a bit, so it would still be enjoyable for those not used to these spices.

But soon, Twilight began to notice something paradox. The heat filling her on the inside made the air around her feel more pleasant. After looking at the others, they seemed to be feeling the same way. It seemed like this was one of the secrets how the arabian ponies could endure the heat of the desert. Again, minutes passed while the group was eating and drinking. The servants immediately walked back to the kitchen whenever a teapot was emptied in order to refill. Like this, they all could easily quench their thirst and fill their stomachs.

All except of Fluttershy. She had been unable to consume flesh and blood for weeks, thus she would not dare to touch regular food. The last thing she wanted was to snap due to being unable to provide the demons inside her what they desire. After all, she still remembered the story Applejack told her when Obsidian first visited her at Sweet Apple Acres and she gave him a slice of apple pie. So instead, she just secretly bit her left front leg and began to lick up her own blood, hoping this would be enough for the moment.

Being so busy with the food and tea, it seemed like no time at all had passed when the sultan and his wife entered. To show their respect, the group stopped eating and bowed down to them.

“By all means, do not let me interrupt you. I can only imagine the troubles you must have undertaken to get here,” the sultan spoke, then bowed down himself. “If anypony has to be respectful, it would be me. I am very grateful you responded to my invitation.”

“If that is the case, how about we meet each other as equal?” Twilight suggested with a friendly smile. “I am Twilight Sparkle, leader of the rebellion.”

“You are honoring us, Lady Sparkle,” the female arabian pony replied and bowed down as well. “I am Jinan, wife of Sultan Asim. If I may ask, who are the others following you?”

“We are members of the leadership circle. I am Rarity,” the fashion diva started.

“I am the reaper Fluttershy. Guardian of the circle,” Fluttershy continued.

“I am Shining Armor. Prince of the Crystal Empire, “ Shining Armor spoke.

“And we are Cadence, Luna and Celestia,” Celestia spoke, looking at each one of them while saying their name and pointing her front hoof at herself when saying her own name.

“W-Wait… The Celestia? Princess Celestia?” Sultan Asim wondered in shock.

“Not princess anymore…” the fallen alicorn replied.

“As King Blueblood took over Equestria, he robbed us of our powers and immortality, which is why we look like this now,” Luna explained.

“By the creator… I apologize for not having recognized you sooner. Quite honestly, I am deeply shocked to see you like this,” Asim commented.

“Apologies for asking so bluntly, but this has me worried. Do we now need to be afraid you might die soon?” Jinan wanted to know.

“Not any more than anypony else,” Cadence started. “We age normally, so we still should have many years left. That of course changes once we defeat Blueblood and get our powers back.”

“You seem so confident you will win,” the sultan commented.

“Because we will. No matter what it takes, we will take down Blueblood and return Equestria and the entire world to what it used to be,” Twilight stated, very sure of herself.

“Are you actually sure you can simply return to immortality like that?” Jinan wondered.

“Yes. If Blueblood truly became immortal through our powers, it seems very likely this will work for us again as well,” Luna explained.

“But even in the case it wouldn’t work, we are willing to take that possibility. Such power must not remain in the hooves of corruption. To be honest, the idea of outliving my husband Shining Armor had me terrified for a long time. But now, even if we fail at becoming demi-goddesses again, I will at least not have to fear about this anymore. So no matter how you turn it, there are always positive aspects to be found,” Cadence added.

Shining Armor seemed to be touched by her words. They both smiled at each other and shared a short kiss, causing Jinan to sigh a little. This was a strong and assertive message, not to mention romantic in a blissful yet tragic way.

“A love like that may last through death and beyond. You two are meant for each other, I can feel it,” Jinan commented.

“We are convinced of your devotion to your cause. But what about others? How strong are your alliances?” Asim wanted to know.

“Oh, we have quite a few by now. At this very moment, Cows, donkeys, diamond dogs, griffons and of course crystal ponies are roaming through the Crystal Empire, ready to fight and support you,” Twilight responded.

“Impressive. You see, my subjects are constantly living in fear of a possible attack. We have been threatened and the attack can happen any moment. Do you have some advice as to how we can guard ourselves better against the cultists and demons?” the sultan requested.

“An early detection system would be useful. Back home, we have diamond dogs feeling the vibrations in the ground to notice if any creature approaches the empire. But seeing as your people can use magic, you could try it that way,” Fluttershy suggested.

“I fear you overestimate our magic abilities,” Jinan started. “Seeing as we are of earth pony descent, we lack horns and thus can not use magic directly as unicorns can. We have to rely on staffs and other enchanted items. Even then, far not everypony is capable of magic. I would say that our court wizard Djin is the most talented magician in the entirety of my kingdom. But even his abilities are limited, as he is more a scholar than a great sorcerer.”

“In that case, we will do our best to get more diamond dog allies and request them to protect your cities. I am also certain that the griffons are willing to spare an army, seeing as they are so far successfully fighting back the BloodClaw Cult on their own,” Shining Armor assured.

Now, both the sultan and his wife began to smile happily.

“Your words and promises are very reassuring. I fear, though, that our contribution to the rebellion might be rather small. We lack a strong military presence and hold no magical artifacts worth mentioning. We also can not offer many goods, as we need most for ourselves to survive. Some money, a few spices and magical ingredients maybe,” Asim explained.

“That is okay. We want to protect, not to gain profit. I also think that your kingdom will get stronger with our support, making it easier for you to help us in return,” Twilight stated.

“With all the terror going on these days, it is good to hear of such good-hearted ponies as you, who fight for hope and a better future,” Jinan commented.

“It seems we have a mutual agreement,” the sultan stated happily. “In behalf of my subjects, I would like to request an alliance with the rebellion.”

“You are most welcome, Sultan Asim,” Twilight accepted instantly, smiling widely.

A moment of happy silence filled the hall. Another success for the purple mare. Another step closer to her goal of returning the world to harmony. Who knows, maybe by uniting so many species in an alliance, she will even find a way to defeat Nightmare Moon.

“It appears you are done with your meals. Is there anything else we can offer you?” Asim wanted to know.

“If it is not too much trouble… Could you recommend me a good doctor around here?” Rarity requested. “I have been sick for a while now and back in the Crystal Empire, none were able to help me.

“The court doctor shall take care of you. We will do our best to send you home healthy again,” Jinan offered.

“Oh my stars. The doctor of royalty! Why thank you most kindly!” the white mare spoke.

“I think we’re are done then,” Twilight started. “We will be staying one or two days more to restock for the journey home and to make some arrangements.”

“Please feel free to use the guest rooms of the palace during your stay,” Asim offered.

“Thank you very much for your hospitality,” Shining Armor thanked and got up.

The servants had been waiting for a signal nearby the whole time. As they saw the guests getting up, they quickly cleaned up and offered guidance through the palace. The others were already gone, Asim and Jinan just about to leave as well when Twilight suddenly turned around and approached them again.

“Excuse me, but where can I find your court wizard?” she wanted to know.

“Oh, he is currently not in Baleg. He will return this evening. His study tower is located on the eastern wing. One of the servants will guide you to him,” Asim explained.

“Thank you,” Twilight spoke, then turned back around and joined the others.

---

It was evening now and as promised, Djin the scholar was at the top of his tower, which consisted solely of a balcony. Climbing up a tower filled with books and magical devices gave her a sense of nostalgia. It was so many years ago when Twilight was a magic student herself and she spent so many hours learning and researching in her tower back in Canterlot, she couldn’t even begin to guess. While walking past all these books, she discovered a surprisingly high amount of familiar titles. Many of these were her own study material. But there also were a lot of strange and obscure topics laying about. Twilight didn’t have the time to read more than just a few words of individual pages as she walked by, but it was enough information for her to conclude that it seemed like Djin had been trying to figure out where demons come from and what they actually are. Something she would gladly help explaining him, if she only could. All she could give out would be a fraction of the truth, since the curse of secrets still blocked her from telling everything she knew. This just would not do and wasn’t the reason she wanted to meet him anyway, so she already decided to not discuss that topic. At last, they reached the top.

“Master Djin, here is a young mare who wishes to speak with you,” the servant spoke.

Djin was a surprisingly young puce stallion in a traditional green and cyan sage robe, seemingly meditating in the middle of the balcony. He did not even open his eyes as he responded.

“Thank you. You may leave now,” he spoke.

Again, the servant bowed down and walked a few steps backwards before turning around and hastily leaving. Twilight, on the other side, slowly approached.

“Looks like I am not so unusual for getting very far in magic training at young age after all,” she spoke and halted before him. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah. I have heard a lot about you. The legendary keeper of magic. It is an honor to get to meet you,” the stallion spoke, still not opening his eyes. “As you may know by now, I am Djin. Court wizard of the sultan of Saddle Arabia. What can I do for you?”

“I am still continuing my magic studies and I am always eager to hear the thoughts of great scholars. Seeing as you are still pretty young for a court wizard is quite astonishing. I myself never managed to complete my official magic training,” the purple mare explained.

“In other words, you wish to hear some words of wisdom. I can not say that I have had anypony other than the sultan asking me for such advice before, but I will try my best. But where to begin and what to talk about?” Djin wondered.

“Hm… I don’t know… Let me think of something,” Twilight stated.

For a few seconds, Twilight sunk into thoughts, but she quickly got distracted as the colors of the sunset started to unfold and began to stare into the distance.

“Oh my. I must say, the sunsets are beautiful here in the desert. I have never seen anything like this before,” she commented.

This made Djin chuckle a bit, catching Twilight’s attention.

“I wished I could say the same. But as a matter of fact, I have never seen anything in my life before,” he stated.

“Huh? What do you mean? Are you implying that… um... “ the purple mare spoke in confusion.

“Yes, indeed,” Djin confirmed her suspicion and finally opened his eyes. “I am blind since birth.”

Twilight couldn’t hold back a little gasp, but out of two reasons which had nothing to do with disrespect. She had seen blind ponies before, but his eyes were pretty remarkable. They were of an intense silvery gray, almost as if they weren’t organic at all.

“Oh wow. You may not be able to see with them, but you have very beautiful eyes,” she commented.

“You think so? Why thank you most kindly,” Djin replied, smiling a bit.

The other thing that astonished Twilight was the fact what she had just seen a minute ago, one staircase down.

“But how are you able to read books that aren’t written in braille?” she wondered.

“Learning that was the key to my success. At young age, I developed a spell that copied the information out of a book and drew it directly into my head. I can not take credit for it, though, as I got the idea while reading about Starswirl The Bearded and his work in a rare braille edition. It was said there that rumors had been going about that he was capable of reading the minds of other ponies through magic spells, although he was the only one who ever managed to successfully perform the spell. I just thought if it does not work on living things, perhaps it works on something that does not live. So I just took the spell and modified it until it fit,” the scholar explained.

“That is amazing! Oh my gosh, I can only imagine how useful that is! Whole chapters, absorbed into your brain within seconds! All the books I could read that way within just a single day!” Twilight stated, highly excited.

“Hm. You must like reading a lot. I can not say I met anypony before who got so excited about this,” Djin figured, closing his eyes again.

“Oh yes, I do! When I was young, I used to read up to three books simultaneously!” the purple mare explained.

This really seemed to amuse Djin. He could hardly suppress a laughter and needed a moment to catch himself.

“Well in that case, would you like me to teach you that spell?” the stallion offered.

“Would I?! Yes, of course!” Twilight happily accepted, nearly shouting in excitement.

“Then would you be so good as to quickly fetch me a book that catches your interest?” Djin requested.

Instantly, Twilight turned around and ran down the stairs. She picked up the first best book about magic theories she could find and placed it in front of him. Djin now hid his mouth underneath his robe and pulled some sort of silvery glove with arcane symbols out of it and put it over his left front hoof.

“Will I need that, too?” Twilight wondered.

“No, no. This is just a medium that allows me to cast the spell. Since you are presumably a unicorn, you can just cast it straight from your mind,” Djin explained.

Twilight watched closely as he placed the covered hoof on the book, a magic aura forming around both. Then the book began to levitate into the air, opened, rapidly flipped through all its pages and closed again. After that he let it land on the ground again.

“That’s it? Wow that was fast!” the purple mare commented.

“Indeed, it is very useful,” Djin agreed, then let the book float over to Twilight. “I also quickly noted down the spell on the first blank page of the book. Have a look at it, then I will tell you how to use it.”

Twilight didn’t need to be told that twice. She used her magic to take over control of the floating book, quickly opened it and read through the magic formula and connecting text.

“Done!” she announced.

“Okay. Now close your eyes and try to establish a mental connection to the book. You have to feel as it floats in front of you. It must be precise enough that I could technically spin you around and you would still immediately be able to walk back to the book and touch it on first try, all while your eyes remain closed,” the scholar explained.

Luckily, Twilight had been practising this before. A quick flashback to the early days when Obsidian first came to Ponyville came to her mind, how he taught her several spells and how to make the most out of her magic. She tested herself by walking in circle three times with her eyes closed, then tried to touch the book. She could pull it off instantly.

“Done!” she announced again happily.

“Oh, impressive!” Djin commented. “Now open the book and flip through all pages while casting the spell in the back of your mind. Your levitation spell will act as an extension to your mind, eidetically memorizing each page in the fraction of a second. Then the spell returns to you, allowing all the knowledge to enter your head.”

That was a bit of an adept trick to pull off, but Twilight could manage it. As she finished casting the spell, her eyes suddenly went wide open and she let the book drop on the ground. Slowly a huge smile grew on her face, followed by her hoofing it in place in excitement.

“This is unbelievable! I just learned everything about Gazer’s First Theory of Magic-to-Matter Spells using Symmetrical Patterns! My gosh! This guy was a genious when it came to turning gathered magical energy into solids! But I have to say, I don’t quite agree with his attempts to explain how to turn them into non-reactive liquids. He completely disregarded the fact that on an atomic level, liquids are… Oh, sorry. I got carried away,” Twilight babbled.

“It is fine. I still remember how overwhelmed I was the first time I successfully pulled this spell off,” Djin replied.

Again, Twilight smiled and stared back into the distance, watching the sun set while she processed all the things she just learned.

“Quite a train of thought we went through there. Starting from the sunset, we went to your eyes, to reading regular books while blind, to teaching me the spell how you do it,” she commented.

“You know, I may not be able to see the sunset, but I can feel it. Just like I can feel it when the sun rises in the morning. Sometimes, it even wakes me up,” Djin responded.

“Huh? Really? You can feel that? Oh, I guess it is the difference in temperature. I heard that when you lack one sense, your others become sharper,” Twilight figured.

“No, not at all. You see, I have no idea what the color orange looks like. But I know for a fact that there is a stripe of orange in the sky over there,” the scholar spoke, pointing at a specific point in the evening sky to his right.

Twilight’s mouth fell open in astonishment. He got that one right. There was no way he could have known this part was orange at this precise moment. Just a minute before, it was yellow. A minute later, it would be green.

“How did you know that?” she wanted to know.

“What many don’t know is that aside of hearing, smelling, feeling, seeing, tasting and balance, magic-wielders have a seventh sense. To us, casting spells comes so naturally that a lot don’t even think about it. In fact, so few know about this that it is hardly researched and just called the magic sense. You are a very talented magic-wielder yourself. Just close your eyes and try to feel it for a moment. Now that it is dusk, you have the best possible conditions to notice the seventh. Concentrate very closely on what your head tells you, then you will notice your magic sense respond,” Djin explained.

Again, Twilight closed her eyes. For a while, she had no idea what he was talking about. She could not feel anything, or whatever was supposed to happen. She tried harder and harder, until it crossed her mind that she may be trying too hard. This was supposed to be a very natural sense. The less force she put into it, the easier it would come, she figured. Indeed, just as she relaxed, she started noticing something moments later.

“I think I… feel it? I don’t know how to describe this sensation. There is some sort of tingling in the top left side of my forehead, although it is not really a tingling either. Gee, I have no words for this,” Twilight stated.

“Ah, yes. That is the magic sense. You wanted some words of wisdom from me, so my wisdom would be to make good use of the spell I taught you and to practise your magic sense. It can become very useful when having control over it,” the stallion advised.

“Now that I think about it, I had this sensation a few times before. Back then I used to describe it as being able to feel the magic around me. I could even sometimes feel when there was a disturbance in the magic,” the purple mare commented.

“You must already be very sensitive towards magic if you can do that,” Djin figured.

“But there is something I don’t understand. What do dusk and dawn have to do with the magic sense?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Think about it for a moment. Can’t you answer that question yourself? You as a pony from Equestria should be able to come up with the solution much sooner than others,” the stallion spoke.

Twilight began to rub her chin in thought. After a few moments, she looked at Djin in confusion.

“Are you implying something that has to do with my name? Sun and moon being powerful symbols of the two major forces light and darkness? Both meeting and creating some sort of reaction?” she wondered.

“You are close there. You see, this world is not made of just two major forces, but three. Magic itself is a very powerful force, but it only shows itself when it is either being called or when the other two forces meet. The colors of dawn and dusk are basically magic in its purest form,” the scholar explained.

“Arcane magic…” the purple mare analyzed in astonishment.

“Indeed. Now, is it a coincidence that your name is Twilight? Seems unlikely to me. I don’t think you were given that name just because of the way you look, assuming you have the color of twilight since ponies often name their children after the way they look. I think somepony saw a connection to magic in you from the very beginning, presumably your parents. Also, many don’t seem to get just how important magic is to this world. If it was solely for light and darkness, nothing but these two would exist. But it is magic that makes them both unite, creating everything we know. Magic is the very essence of life, the force which holds the world together. Without magic, there would be no spectacular sunset. Without magic, dragons would not be able to breathe fire. Without magic, none of us would have ever been born. We owe all of this to the third party, which always keeps itself neutral and acts as the ambassador and middleman between the two other, very contrasting forces,” Djin explained.

“Wow… that was… quite eye-opening. Unbelievable… how much you know at your age. That is just… wow,” Twilight commented.

“Just spend a few years casting the spell I taught you on whole libraries and you will get to my level pretty easily,” the stallion spoke, smiling a bit.

Once more, Twilight could only smile and watch the soon ending sunset. One more time, she closed her eyes, getting the same sensation as before again. Then finally, she realized that she was getting tired.

“Well, this was a really deep conversation. I am so glad you took the time to talk to me. I learned so much today. Thank you so much for that,” she spoke.

“Anything for a heroine like you,” Djin replied.

“Heh. Well I need to go to bed now. We need to prepare for the way back home. I hope we meet again some day. Good night,” Twilight finished.

“I hope so, too. Good night and goodbye, Lady Twilight Sparkle,” Djin spoke.

This surely was much better than the purple mare had hoped. At last, she made some real progress in her magic studies. She hoped she would find a few moments of time tomorrow to scan through the local library using her new spell. She also could not wait to get back to the Crystal Empire now. While before, it would have taken more than a lifetime to read every last book in its library, she now had a realistic chance to actually learn everything it had to offer.

---

Five days passed and the group was on its way back home to the Crystal Empire. None of them had gotten used to the heat yet and it seemed like Rarity was particularly suffering from it. She hadn’t been walking a single step on her own since yesterday and was breathing heavily. Once again, the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her and just gave her more medication.

“Rarity, are you okay?” Shining Armor wanted to know.

The white mare gave no response. She did not even look at him and just kept panting, sweat washing over her face.

“Rarity?” Twilight called in worry.

Still, their friend did not react the least bit. It was as if she didn’t even hear them. Suddenly, she began to shiver and made sounds as if she was freezing. She wanted to wrap her front legs around her chest to keep herself warm, but she couldn’t keep up the balance. As she fell on the bottom of the cart, she immediately lost consciousness.

“Rarity! Oh my gosh! Stop the cart! Rarity has a heat stroke!” Twilight shouted.