And so the heroes set off to Mt. Gné, where they hoped to find the Olc Sword and save Centura. With the southern wind at their backs, they journeyed across the continent of Wisteria. They marched through thick forests, trudged through barren deserts, and scaled towering mountains.

Each member of the team supported each other to the best of their ability.

Eclipse led the group, knowing how to get to the volcano from years of travel.

Huntsmen gathered and supplied resources for the group whenever hungry or thirsty.

Ebony Diamond used her illusion magic to ward off any thieves and any of Thanatus’s stallions that may be following.

Silver performed songs to entertain and boost team morale.

And Ace motivated the group by telling them the stories that her aunt and uncle told her.

For a while, it seemed that the five were unstoppable in their quest. However, that all changed when they reached Voltayd Pass. It was a rigorous, unforgiving path through the Talon Mountains. Always accompanied by a raging blizzard, this path only had a few ponies go in, and even fewer return.

“Welp, this isn’t going to work.” Silver announced after reading the wooden sign in front of him.

“It’s the fastest way to the south.” Ace rebutted. “We have to go through it.”

The cold wind hissed across the five as they stood at the gateway to the pass. The sounds of falling boulders echoed across the cliffs before them.

“…We can handle this.” Huntsmen declared.

“Are you sure?” Ebony asked.

“He is correct.” Eclipse reassured her. “Together, we can get through the pass alive.”

“Indeed.” Huntsmen nodded. “Let’s move out.”

While the others followed Huntsmen into the pass, Silver stayed at the sign, refusing to go forward.

“Including you Silver.” He added.

Silver stayed for a moment and debated against himself for a moment. Eventually, he found himself walking right alongside Huntsmen as the venture across the treacherous path.

“We’re here!” Pinkie proclaimed.

Twilight’s eyes glanced above the book and saw the saw right in front of her, with Pinkie and Rarity waiting at the front door. She finished the sentence she was on and placed a bookmark in the book before closing it.

As the three mares walked in, they were greeted with billows of steam in their faces. Two of the spa workers approached them shortly after, as if expecting their arrival.

“Welcome to the Ponyville Day Spa.” The first one said in a welcoming voice.

“Will it be the usual, Ms. Rarity?” The second one asked.

“Yes please.” Rarity nodded.

“We have been awfully busy due to the storm,” the first one explained. “But you will be fully pampered in no-time-flat.”

“Don’t worry, we can wait.” Rarity waved off the apology.

Rarity and the others proceeded to sit at the nearby couch and waited until the spa ponies were ready for them. Twilight stared at the cover of her book for a while, reflecting on it. She opened it to the dedications page and read it once more.

In remembrance of Sanctus.

Sanctus… Twilight’s mind turned at the mere thought the name. It sounds so familiar, but who? Didn’t Celestia talk about a pony by that name? Was it a tribe name, or perhaps even a-

“Excuse me, miss.” The second spa pony had returned.

“Hm?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“A steam room is available. Allow us to hold your book until you return.”

Twilight looked down at the spa pony’s waiting hoof. She was hesitant about giving it to her. She had always given damageable belongings to them to hold while she was being steamed and whatnot, but this felt different. It felt wrong for some reason.

She shook off the feeling though, and gave the book to her. She watched as the spa pony went into the locker zone and placed it into one of the open cabinets. The second the lock clicked was the second her nerves began to settle.

“Right this way,” the mare motioned to the hallway.

In Remembrance of Sanctus.

The fresh steam brushed across Spike’s scales as he entered the Ponyville Day Spa. The lobby was empty upon his entry, a sign that the staff were busy. Spike didn’t mind however, and simply sat on one of the couches and waited.

Ahead of him was the counter, a beige table built in the hollow of the pink wall. On the desk was a small pile of papers, a stamp, and a pen. Behind the counter were the lockers, but they were barricaded by a wall of fog.

He played Roshambo against himself as he waited, and waited. It was an intense match, seventeen ties before the left hand cramped and forfeited. Spike silently cheered for the right hand, before suddenly realizing how stupid that all was.

Taking a quick glance below, Spike saw a pile of magazines on the coffee table. None of them interested him, and he returned to staring at the counter table. He stared at the dozen or so papers, the date stamp, the ballpoint pen, and also a small dent beside the pen.

His eyes then trailed to the walls of the building. There were faint purple designs painted into the pink, subtle, yet intriguing. He recognized that a Prance Curve was used in drawing the curves. Spike could even see the indent the template made in the wall right beside him.

After mentally circling the room, he returned to the beige counter, and the fourteen eggshell papers, the date stamp with red ink dripping from it, the black ivory ballpoint pen, and the dent made from a paperweight that was dropped some time ago.

The steam had faded away from the locker area by the time Spike noticed. With now something new to stare at, Spike’s attention turned to the lockers. He counted how many there were, what shade of puse were they, which ones were jiggling and which ones weren’t.

“Wai-What the?” Spike said to himself in surprise.

One of the lockers was vibrating violently, as if some pony was trapped inside it. Spike looked around to see if anypony was there, only to find the steam present. Cautiously, he sneaked around back to the locker area and approached the vibrating one.

Peeking inside, Spike was met with a yellow and red eye, staring him back. Spike jumped and fell to the floor. The locker leaked out a multicoloured liquid at Spike’s feet, which formed into Discord.

“Hello Spike,” Discord greeted. “Here for a claw trimming?”

With a snap of his claws, a maid’s outfit appeared on Discord and a filer formed between the claws.

“Does this make me look fat?” He then asked.

Spike shook his head, slightly stunned from the sight, and questioned back, “What are you doing here?”

“What? Can’t a mystical being who can conjure practically and impractically anything enjoy a little steam?”

Spike crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow.

“Alright, you got me. I was looking for something.”

“What? Can I help?”

“Actually, you can…” Discord said with a smirk.

“What is it?” Spike curiously asked.

“See that locker I was messing around with?”

“Yes.”

“You see, my magic’s been a bit on the fritz, and I need you to use your dragon-breath-thingy to pull something out of it.”

“What is it?” Spike asked, now suspicious of Discord.

“Nothing to concern yourself with,” Discord rebutted, patting the little dragon on the head.

“What is it?”

“’What’s this? What’s that?’ What is this? Twenty Questions?” Discord crudely barked. “I swear there’s been about ten or eleven ‘what’-s up to this point.”

“Just tell me what’s in the locker that you want so badly.”

“…” A light puff of steam spewed from Discord’s nostrils. Eventually, he confessed to Spike, “It’s Twilight book-”

“Nope.” Spike quickly retorted.

Calmly, Spike returned to his seat.

“Oh please!” Discord begged. “The locker’s too small for me to open it inside.”

“Nope.”

“It’ll just be a quickie.”

“Then do it yourself.”

“I can’t!”

Spike stopped.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I-I don’t know.” Discord explained. “For whatever reason, my magic isn’t working. It’s like the book is distorting my magic, my chaos magic, away from it.”

“…” Spike silently thought.

“Please, this is for the good of Twilight.”

I get you, I get you, Spike’s mind answered. But should I trust you? You have caused trouble just to mess with us, and you were a villain once. Maybe I should tell Twilight about this. Then again, Discord wouldn’t go through so much trouble to seek help if he could do it himself. And, he has moved on from those days. It’s not like he’s out to destroy our friendship.

With a sigh, Spike turned around and approached the locker. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Discord squealing in glee like a mare student seeing a cute stallion walk past her. He looked through the locker bars once more, seeing the book.

He breathed his green fire into the locker, absorbing the book. It disappeared from the locker floor and appeared in front of Discord. The draconequus immediately snatched it and begin flickering through the pages. The prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and finally Chapter 6. The disturbing sensation festered inside him as he scanned the pages, however, was unable to find a definitive source of this unease.

Perhaps it is my excited angst, no, Discord thought. No! It has to be this thing.

He stopped at the point where Twilight had. On the right hoof page, there was an illustration of the pass the heroes were walking through. At the end of the path, between two mountains, was a bright light. Spike and Discord stared at the image for a while.

“Huh, Twilight has gone through a lot.” Discord noted. “I might actually have to go back and actually read. I didn’t see anything really, wrong.”

“Hold on,” Spike said, pointing a claw at the light. “What is that?”

“The sun?”

“But it isn’t.”

Discord gave a confused look at Spike. Spike saw this and further explained himself.

He continued, pointing at the five ponies at the foreground of the picture, “Look closely at them.”

“…” Discord silently stared at them.

Spike’s claw slowly slid down to their shadows, which were heading towards the light.

“There was either a mistake in drawing,” Spike concluded, “or the sun is actually behind them.”

“I see… but what is that light if that’s the case?”

“I have no idea. Perhaps we should read.”

“Perhaps.”

Quickly, the two made it back to the sofa Spike was on and read.

After following the pass for some time, the five heroes eventually reached a massive ravine that cut across the path. There was a wooden bridge from one end to the other, weak and covered in ice. Ebony and Silver flew across the ravine, Ace and Eclipse teleported across with their magic, leaving Huntsmen to cross the bridge.

However, midway across, the bridge broke. Huntsmen began to plummet into the raging ice water below. But Silver came flew in after, and carried him to a nearby alcove. Huntsmen was grateful of Silver’s bravery, and once the two made it back to the others, the heroes continued.

“Quit glossing it over so quickly. We might miss something.”

“Hey, we don’t have all day, Spike.”

As night drew close, the search for a safe place to spend the night became top priority. The heroes split up and searched around the area. With her bat senses, Ebony found a large cave, a safe haven for the night. When looking for the others to tell of her findings, she found Eclipse, sitting on a rock and fiddling with something in her cloak.

Ebony had noticed the squirming object when they first met, but only assumed it was her hoof.

Curious, she asked the sitting mare, “What is that you’re playing with?”

Eclipse was hesitant, but eventually revealed the hidden object. It was a grey cat doll, with button eyes and a wide grin on its face.

“His name is Nightbeam,” She quietly answered.

“A doll?”

“Yes, I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.”

Ebony stared at the cat, and it stared back with the same dopey expression it always had.

“It’s cute.” Ebony remarked.

“Thank you.”

“Bah, this is getting boring!” Discord snapped as he swiped the book from Spike’s grasp.

“Aw,” Spike moaned. “I was actually beginning to enjoy it.”

“Enjoy it when we’re not stealin-borrowing it from Twilight.” Discord replied, scanning through the passages. “We have to find out what the light is and what’s up with this book.”

“Fine.”

“Now, let’s see… Lighting the fire, nope… Telling personal stories, nada… Ebony getting touchy-feely with Ace, nein…”

As Discord examined the chapter, Spike was checking their surroundings, looking out for any sign of Twilight or one of the workers. It took a fair while before Discord found a passage, and when he did, Spike’s eyes had become dry from the lack of blinking.

Running his eagle claw across the words, Discord read out loud.

With the death of the night at their backs, the five heroes looked to the end of the path, now within their sights. A bright light shown between two mountains, magnificent as the sun, but calming as the moon. It was their beacon, their hope to keep pressing forward, and to reach the light at the end of their treacherous path.

Not once did they ever stop. They trudged through the howling wind. They marched across the glaciers of pure snow. They resisted against the element of despair, of torture. Finally, after a long and furious battle, they made to the end of the pass. For their reward, the sun greeted them from high above, and followed them as they continued to Mt. Gné.

“Is that it?” Spike asked.

Discord scanned the following pages for a moment before replying, “Yes.”

“It seems to be just the sun. Maybe it was an error.”

“It can’t be!” Discord instantly barked, but quickly collected himself. With a tug at his neck, he continued, “Perhaps there is some subtext or something to it. You’re into reading things too deeply, you figure it out.”

Without warning, Discord dropped the book onto Spike’s head, causing a loud bump upon impact. Dazed, Spike pulled the book from his scalp and examined the passage.

“’A bright light shown between two mountains, magnificent as the sun, but calming as the moon.’ Hm… It doesn’t say that it is the sun directly, but only relates it to the sun, as well as the moon.”

Spike then flipped back to the illustration. He could barely see the outline of the main body that the light is coming from. It was greatly larger than the moon, but wasn’t as bright as the sun.

He returned to the passage and read, “’For their reward, the sun greeted them from high above, and followed them as they continued to Mt. Gné.’ …In an earlier part, it said that the ‘death of the night’ was behind them. That must be the sun. So that means the sun could’ve never been at the other end of the mountains until the heroes got there.”

“So it couldn’t be the sun. Goodie. Then what is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Spike returned to the illustration, and examined the light once more. A new wave of steam rolled into the barren lobby, obscuring his vision of the book. Frustrated, Spike lifted the book and pressed the page to the window. The light from the emerging sun illuminated the page from the backside, so much so that most of it became transparent.

Spike tried to peel the page back a little, but is stopped by Discord, reaching out his paw. Discord noticed some parts of the page remained opaque, including some of the mysterious light. Closer examining it, he saw that it wasn’t just a circle, but rather a circular glyph, composed of several shapes, runes, and a presence discouraging for even the most stoic of ponies.

“Alchemy, looks advanced too,” Spike noted.

“That’s what it is?” Discord asked, unfamiliar with the topic.

“Yeah, you draw a special circle, offer something of value, and you can perform a spell of equal value. Like, transforming a lot of lead into a slightly smaller amount of gold.”

“I see. What would this circle do then? Why is it glowing in between two mountains?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could perhaps…” Discord then asked. “Could perhaps one make a circle that can counter magic?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, anti-magic can be made with physical elements usable in alchemy. But I don’t know why that would be at the end of a mountain pass.”

“What if it’s only in this book?”

Waves of steam brushed across Twilight’s fur as she, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie enjoyed the spa. She could feel her pores clear and her mind enlighten as tranquility surrounds her. At this point, only the whooshing of warm air and the plucking of a koto came to her ears.

Her mind wandered the great white pastures of her imagination. Its crops yield fresh new ideas from the monsoon that has recently passed over. Its water had come from the far lands of Wisteria, and it shows in the crop. Theories of what’s to come in the future, interactions between herself and the characters of fiction, and the everlasting desire to feast upon the tales of the fictional world.

As she walked through these fields, her mind’s eye saw Ace and her friends in the midst of the crops, playing with the green leaves atop the vegetables. They looked back and saw Twilight as well, and invited her to play with them.

Without a second though, Twilight nodded and galloped to them. However, a mysterious force tugged at her tail. Twilight looked back, and saw a monstrous, set of claws, as black as pure darkness, holding onto her tail. She attempted to flee, only to be crushed by a second hand.

Twilight’s eyes bulged open, and she found herself back in the spa with Pinkie and Rarity. The strums of the koto return to her hearing, and she found herself becoming relaxed once more. A stinging sensation lingered at the back of her mind though. She began to feel as if she forgot something, or that there is a disturbance to her balance.

However, she summoned enough self-confidence to return to a relaxed minset.

“Nothing to worry about.” Twilight said to herself, convincing herself to ease. “I’m probably just paranoid, like I’m going crazy or something.” She chuckled.

“Tell me about it.” Eclipse replied.