Once the train had completely halted to a stop, the doors opened. One by one, Acidic, Sour, Sweet, Dawn and Cluttered all trotted out and onto the Trotstock platform. The area around them looking like it was a few centuries behind the current times. Old styled buildings, with wooden support beams stood. It almost resembled the medieval times; with the walls being a pure white behind the wooden supports on the exterior. The foundations of the houses being made from various stones, with cement holding the formation of the stones together. They were also very closely bundled together, the streets feeling very small and claustrophobic at points as the five traversed together. They passed several small groups of ponies, but given it was the weekend, there weren’t that many ponies about. As they passed through two buildings that were connected on the upper level by a sort of bridge, Cluttered looked up at the sky, realizing that the sun had almost reached the sunset phase of its movement. “Well, this is where I depart then. I’ll catch the next train back to Buckgrove… I honestly thought I’d have more time to stick with you guys. Guess the ride here was longer than we guessed huh Dawn” Cluttered said, looking slightly upset.
“Yeah, well it’s best you go then. Check on Duskfall and Soundwave for us and give them our well wishes!” Dawn responded with a slightly happier tone. “But didn’t you say you wanted to get some drawings of Old Gallopvant Castle?” Sweet then asked. Cluttered looked away as he nodded. His feelings of failure surfacing as he just trotted off without saying goodbye. “Guess that answers your question…” Acidic then said, slightly upset that Cluttered wondered back to the train station. Dawn remained silent, thinking about and worrying to an extent, as to how Duskfall and Soundwave were. They hadn’t checked up on the pair for a little bit and, with Cluttered just trotting off without a word, they wondered if Cluttered would actually manage to do things correctly. Nevertheless, Dawn still focused on the present as much as they could; groaning as the weight of their saddlebags dawning on them after the train ride. “Can one of you take these?” Dawn then asked aloud as Acidic stepped up to the task. Dawn slipped the saddlebags onto Acidic’s back, as the saddlebags made him dip down for a bit. “Are you sure you wanted to bring along a pair of saddlebags as heavy as that? Poor Acidic is almost breaking his back!” Sweet asked with some concern upon looking at Acidic. “Oh please. A brewing set isn’t that heavy!” Dawn protested. Sweet looked stunned for a second, before then remembering that Dawn had indeed brought along a brewing set. Sour however, protested further. “Hold on, you brought a brewing set?!” he shouted out. “Well, yeah. So we can get right to brewing the potion. You do have the book, right?” Dawn then asked.
“Oh yeah, it’s in Cluttered’s saddlebags… That he just took off with… Uh…”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Sweet then bellowed out as he immediately galloped after Cluttered. Sour, Acidic and Dawn looking slightly stunned at the volume Sweet had shouted at. Several ponies around them also looking at Sweet as he galloped back to the train station. “Should we go after him…?” Acidic asked the other two. “No, he knows we’re headed for the castle… Speaking of which, it’s up that massive hill” Dawn responded, then pointing to the castle that resided on the imposing hill; having a wall built around it as Sour and Acidic looked up in sheer awe. “Whoa… We don’t have anything like this in Manestralia… Coltney Castle being on a sort of higher cliff after all. It almost stretches out from the cliff it sits on. Supports had to be put in a few years ago to help keep it steady. It looks amazing from the main city though!” Sour then explained as Dawn looked intrigued. “Oh honestly, it’s not that good. What really makes Manestralia great though would be the abundance of beautiful seas and coasts!” Acidic then responded with a slight dismissive attitude to the urban part of Manestralia. “Yeah, I suppose that is better than the castle… Although, do you remember the time we tried to get to that weird structure in the center? Where legends and myths said an ocean world use to be accessible?” Sour then responded, asking Acidic a question. “Oh, right! Uh… What was it’s name?” Acidic then asked in response. “I think it was… something beginning with a T?” Sour then replied, starting to think on the matter. “Let’s talk more about this when we’re at the castle you two” Dawn then said, interrupting Sour’s thoughts. Sour, looking quite annoyed rolled his eyes as he said “Alright then” before the three began heading toward it. The stone path winding around the hill from what they gathered due to the formation of the houses they could see.
Meanwhile, back down in the train station, Cluttered was sat. He was upset about having to leave so soon, given the fact that the trip didn’t seem to feel that long. Although he figured his little sleeping incident on the train would’ve had that effect. He knew the train would come back around to pick anypony back up, the tracks stopping down at Trotquay in the most south part of the continent. It wasn’t surprising then, that Sweet was able to catch up to Cluttered rather quickly. With panting that got louder and more audible, Sweet approached. ”You… Have… The book… My goodness… You’re fast” he gasped as he started frantically gulping in air; the worry wearing off as he recovered. “Oh, the book… Right” Cluttered responded, slightly bummed out that Sweet had only come for the book. Slowly, he got the book out of the saddlebags he was carrying, along with something else. A small box, with a nice orange texture and a green ribbon pattern on it to make it look like a present of sorts. When Sweet grabbed the box, he opened it. Finding that Acidic’s necklace from the Spring of Body had been kept in it. “Oh! I wondered where that’d gone. Thanks for finding it!” Sweet then said, putting the box on the book as he then began trotting away. “I’ll see you back in Buckgrove! Say hi to Duskfall and Soundwave for me!” he shouted back as he trotted back through the path. Leaving Cluttered alone with his thoughts until the train came.
Back with Sour, Acidic and Dawn, the trio had managed to scale most of the path leading up to the castle gates. The trio took a breath before spotting that the gates, that were made of wood and stone, were closed. With no sign of them opening for the night. “Oh great, so we’re stuck!” Dawn shouted out with some sadness. “We could fly over” Acidic suggested as he flapped his wings as an example. “Yeah, and risk being put on the Ceyonait criminal watch list” Sour then responded, with sass filling the sentence. Acidic looked annoyed as he put his wings away, all three of them stuck on what exactly to do. There wasn’t anypony around at this part of the city, with most places being shut around them. Still, they couldn’t risk it. That however, was when Dawn spotted something nearby. “Is that-“ but before Dawn could finish, the said something made itself, or rather themselves quite plainly obvious.
From the shadows, Arcane emerged. Barely, but he emerged. His wing being the only thing coming fully out of the shadows as he gestured for the trio to follow him. “Of course he appears… Again” Sour said, with bitterness in his voice as he kept it low. However, before any of the three could protest, they all felt a cold wind blowing against their backs. It was enough to start making snow appear as the three of them trotted over to the shadowed area. Arcane, once the three came closer, started trotting off down the area he had been found in. Sour and Acidic looking at eachother with some concern. “Hey, so-“ Acidic began to say to Arcane. Arcane however, simply replied with “Don’t waste your energy. I’m not giving you any information other than what he wants me to give you” as the two looked at eachother with disappointment. “Now you hold on just a minute there!” Dawn protested. Their eyes looking intensely at Arcane. “You know something about the three of them! Surely they deserve to know!” they shouted. This, however, made Arcane angry. With a frigid coldness emanating from himself, he stared directly at Dawn. A frozen fury in his eyes. Without hesitation he summoned some lethally sharp icicles and threw one. He threw it in a way that made sure he would miss, but the message was clear. Any information he had he wouldn’t be giving away.
The silence ended up being deafening as the quartet travelled down the shadowed path. The dirt under their hooves feeling damp and cold. Partially from Arcane’s anger that was still simmering, and partially from the natural cooler temperature’s that the shade brung. “Through here” Arcane quietly said, using his magic to open a nearby water gate. The iron being old and rusted as it was pulled out of the water. “Quickly. I’ll get your other part when you’re in the castle. It’s abandoned as I’m sure you’re aware. They just don’t want anypony entering on her orders” Arcane then added on. At first, Sour and Acidic looked confused, until Dawn spoke up. “Oh, Queen Tidal. Right”. Arcane eyed him, slightly angered, but keeping himself together this time. Without confirming, he simply trotted to the edge of the water. Once he got there, he flew down and onto a slightly lower platform. Dawn and Acidic flying down after and Sour deciding to jump down. Once he had landed, the four continued trotting through.
The only thing that accompanied the four as they trotted, was the slight trickling of water next to them as they looked around. Stone being all around them as Sour and Acidic were intrigued. It didn’t take long for the four of them to come across a door at the end of the path; with the door being slightly open. Arcane, using his magic almost effortlessly at this point, swung the door open as he trotted in. Acidic and Sour going through after him, and then Dawn following in last. Inside, the cold atmosphere was striking. Arcane seeming to enjoy how cold and empty the place felt. The structure of the castle seemed to be decaying as several passageways were sealed off by pieces of the ceiling that had collapsed over time. Strangely though, nothing else seemed to reside. No decorations. No furniture. It was as if the life itself in the castle had been completely eviscerated. With only the structure itself to serve as evidence that something existed. It was like a body without a mind or soul, to put it lightly.
“She abandoned this place after the thing you call the Ceyonait-Ellestros Unity. It’s funny really… How she sat there and lied to her entire kingdom about Ellestros, and none of you bothered to question it” Arcane then said, speaking up for the first time in a little bit. “Yes, because we’re going to go up against the most powerful Alicorn in the world. That’s obviously a smart idea” Dawn protested with sarcasm. “Well… What’s the truth then?” Acidic then asked. Arcane took a moment, silence filling the air. Then, he answered. “The truth is, that she used to have three children. Once her and her husband fell out and had a divorce, he took his children. Sealing them away until he felt he was ready to conquer Ceyonait. One in the northern continent. One in this continent, and one in the continent of tropics and coasts” he explained. The trio looked at eachother, Sour then asking another question. “But surely she would’ve found the child in her own continent…?”. Arcane smirked, and then decided to expand on his original statement. “The husband of the queen made sure to put in special measures. No normal Alicorn, Unicorn, Earthpony or Pegasus could break the spells he used, even if she found the child in this continent. His magic was special. Just like the children he sealed away. I’ll leave that with you” he further explained. He then opened a portal up made of ice. “Now If you’ll excuse me, I have to go and get your other part” he then said, trotting through and closing the portal without giving the trio any chance to ask where they were supposed to head to.
“Great. So he leaves us with more questions than answers… And then leaves us with n-where to go!” Sour angrily shouted. “Will you calm down? There’s really only one place to go” Dawn replied, trotting forward. “Come on. Let’s find this lily” they then said, with the other two looking at eachother, after a moment, then following Dawn as Dawn trotted through the worn down and decaying castle. The halls gradually leading up to the surface and an empty courtyard. There, the trio looked around. “Look, over there” Acidic then said aloud, using his wing to point to an open door with another familiar face. Harmonous. Or rather, a misty duplicate of him. They weren’t sure if he was real, but when Acidic flew up and attempted to tap him, his hoof went right through him. “But, that doesn’t make sense…” Acidic said to himself. As he said this however, the misty duplicate began trotting forward. As if it were guiding them. “Uh… Guys… I think we should-“. “Go after it?” Dawn asked, before Acidic could suggest the obvious. Before Acidic could even nod, Dawn took off after it. “Come on then! Let’s get going! The note in the book was written by him after all. This has to be the way to the Lily!” they then shouted behind themselves; trotting just behind the mist duplicate. The other two trotting then behind Dawn.
Meanwhile, back on the other side of the castle walls, Sweet stood. He looked up, and then around. Nothing really looking like a viable entrance. He also felt the cold again, assuming that Arcane was still around given his disposition toward ice. He could’ve tried levitating himself, that could’ve worked. But he didn’t know what was on the other side. For all he knew, there could’ve been no way into the castle itself. Furthermore, he was worried about where the other three were. He looked down from the place he was at, seeing the train just about pulling into the station. Assuming that Cluttered was going to get on it, he looked down with some sadness. He knew that Cluttered wanted to come along, but also knew that Cluttered had his duties to Canvas Corner.
It was during his lookdown at the train station that Arcane re-emerged. Looking at the Unicorn. With a tap of his hoof on the ground, he created a disc of ice below Sweet that Sweet drew his attention to. Then, he made the disc spin to face him. Without uttering a word, and seeing that it was approaching sunset, Arcane created a portal to the courtyard the trio had just left from. “Go” Arcane simply said to Sweet, sulking in the shadows as he watched Sweet. Sweet looked at him, and began trotting forward. But, as he got closer, the question he wanted to ask him on the train. The topic that they had agreed on back on the train. With a turn of his head, he looked at Arcane, then speaking. “What exactly are you getting out of all this? Any of you?” he asked the form in the shadows. Arcane however, didn’t respond with words. Instead of answering, he used his magic to create a giant wall of ice that moved toward Sweet. Sweet, in turn was forced into the portal, with it closing after Sweet fell on the ground. With a groan, he got up and simply said “Could’ve at least said no” before beginning to trot on a path that had seemingly illuminated itself. With arrows on the ground pointing to the door the trio had gone through.
At the same time, the trio had followed the mist duplicate down to the catacombs of the castle. The three of them were unnerved, given the darkness, but the mist duplicate lit the way forward. After about five minutes of weaving through what seemed like an infinite amount of arched corridors, they all came to an open room with a singular altar in the center. There, bottles of all shapes and sizes rested, with the newly born moon of the coming night shining down from an opening in the ceiling. Ahead and past that, the trio could see the Lily, but when they all galloped to it, a wall of white fire flared up and blocked their pathway. “Oh now that’s just rude!” Sour protested to himself as they turned head toward the altar. When they reached it, they looked at what was on the table. Nine bottles stood. With a note on the table with what looked to be a riddle. When Sour, Acidic and Dawn looked at it, they saw that it said the following:
Triads of potions, all different in taste
Be wary when choosing, do not act with haste
One contains water, and naught in value,
One contains the essence of the morning dew
Three open the door forward,
But two, so devious, will see you be tortured
One contains fire, better known as the fatal spice
The final one concealed in warmth, but existing as an Oxymoron and having you turn to ice
Should you desire to enter the labyrinth,
Then listen well and avoid consequence
The farthest ends contain equal value,
But refuse to sit next to the keys forward, hoping to misguide you
The third in line will coldly damn you,
The eight will laugh as it burns you,
Second cannot aid you, thanks to the first
Tall bottles lead to you being cursed,
This should bring you to the three in one,
If you pay attention and choose right, then you have won
“…You’re kidding” Sour said aloud, looking at the note. “It’s a riddle?!” he then shouted out, groaning as his head began to hurt. “It’s so much…” Acidic then said, stumped as well. “Actually, it’s not that hard. The second part is a bunch of clues. We just need to piece them together” Dawn responded, looking down carefully and intently staring it, and then looking at the bottles on the table. “Hmm…” they said to themselves. “Fatal Spice… Clearly the clear one with that scarlet red liquid in…” they then said aloud. “If we go by that logic…” Dawn then said to themselves. “Then that means… The three in the middle are the correct ones…” Dawn then finished. Sour and Acidic looked at eachother with some confusion. “And how do you know that?” Sour asked. Which is when a voice from behind the three answered for them.
“It’s actually quite simple!” the voice said. Becoming startled, the three immediately turned around, to see that Sweet was standing behind them. “As you were saying, the three in the middle are the correct ones! If we go left to right” Sweet began. “The end ones are water. Morning Dew being a fancy word for that. Learned that in Manestralia. Remember?” Sweet asked Sour and Acidic. “Unfortunately…” Sour responded. “Huh” Dawn responded. That was, before they took over the conversation and responded to Sweet. “Uh, yeah. So the Second and Seventh are the torture potions. Second can’t help the first because they don’t sit next to the correct ones” Dawn then continued. Sweet nodded, as he then responded. “Yup! Third Is the one that turns you to ice, and eighth would be the Fatal Spice… Although I’ve never heard of that one” Sweet responded. “Oh, Fatal Spice is an old potion. One that’s often also called Liquid Fire” Dawn then informed Sweet. “Ah, so then, after you eliminate the six on either side of the three in the middle, you get the ones in the middle” Sweet then finished off as he smiled. Then, he trotted forward.
“So, there’s three. One of those looks fuller than the others” Dawn said to Sweet, the other two standing next to Dawn and Sweet. “Yep. The ones to the right of this one” Sweet began as he used his magic to levitate the fuller bottle. “Look like they’re moreso used to get back to this side of that white fire wall” he then finished off. “So… Who gets a swig of that fuller bottle?” Acidic then asked. “Well, since Sweet and Dawn broke that riddle down… Why not them?” Sour suggested, with a look of approval toward Sweet. “Oh! Before I forget Acidic” Sweet then said, using his magic to grab the box that he carried along with the book to the castle and plopping it down on the table infront of Acidic. “Keep ahold of that. Sour, you keep ahold of this for us” he then added on as he dropped the book on the altar next to Sour. Then, Sweet looked at Dawn. “So… You ready?” he asked them. Dawn nodded, and within an instant, Sweet took a small gulp of the potion, passing it to Dawn, who finished off the potion in the first bottle.
The feeling of the potion was unlike anything Sweet had felt before. He felt his body starting to fade. But not fading completely. “Whoa! You’re both transparent!?” Sour exclaimed in shock. “So this is the Ghost’s succubus! Legends tell of this potion and its recipe being gifted to an adventurer after being able to make a ghost feel happiness in their time of grief. Being the gift to said adventurer before the ghost passed on to the spirit world” Dawn explained to the trio. “Aw, so the ghost made a friend” Acidic responded with a sort of smile. “I guess so. It makes sense then. Only a Ghost’s cold embrace could calm those flames” Sweet then said, looking at the white fire wall. With a trotting pace, the pair headed toward the wall of white fire, with Sweet levitating both of the other bottles along with him so they could get back. With a final step, the pair put one hoof into the wall of fire, and then jumped fully onto the other side. The flames licking the pair, but not hurting them as they landed on the other side. There, the pair saw the Lily on a very small hill of dirt. White flames lining the walls of the Lily’s room. The Lily itself being a beautiful baby blue in colour.
“Wow… So this is the Breath-Imbued Lily…” Dawn said, stunned. “It looks so beautiful… Shame we have to pluck it” Sweet then remarked, with a slight frown on his face. “Yeah… Although, I have an idea…” Dawn then responded. “Oh? What’s that?” Sweet then asked as Dawn looked at him. “Lily’s have seeds. Right there! In the center” Dawn then said, using their wing to point to the five black, egg-shaped seeds attached to the lily. “If I use those, we could cultivate and possibly even help to make this lily flourish! It clearly likes light to some degree, so I could try planting them in a pot at home” Dawn then responded, eagerness and excitement hitting their voice. “Yeah… That’d be nice” Sweet smiled back, within a minute or so, Dawn plucked the Lily from its soil, carrying it as they began drinking one of the bottles contents and then passed through the fire, pouring a tiny amount on the lily to protect it from the flames. Sweet following shortly after as he drunk his bottles contents.
When they re-emerged on the other side, Sour and Acidic galloped to them. The fire wall still blazing behind them. “So there it is, the key to the Spring of Mind!” Acidic excitedly exclaimed, with Sour staying silent, but content enough in his expression. “Now the question is… Where do we go now? Like… Where do we sleep?” Sweet then asked the group. “We could sleep at an inn. There’s bound to be one around in this town” Acidic suggested. “Yeah, there is. The Flighty Pegasus. It also has a pub that’s open late, so I guess they expect late night travelers. I have enough Ceyans to also get us tickets to Trotquay since ours won’t work going there currently. But we’ll have to use our current ones on the way back. Think of it like an extension of our current tickets I guess” Dawn explained as they began trotting out of the castle. The other three following behind as they gathered what they had on the altar and left.
After about an hour, they finally managed to navigate to the path they had come from, Sweet being very intrigued by the surrounding areas that the three trekked through on their way to the Lily when they went through the water route. Once at the path, they noticed that Arcane was gone. As was any trace of him. His ice and his bitter cold having disappeared. Even so however, the cold of the night set in and reminded them that they needed to head to the inn Dawn spoke of. They all trotted down the path and followed the noise, eventually making it to said Flighty Pegasus Inn after taking a slight detour. When they got there, Dawn quickly grabbed one of Acidic’s saddlebags that he had been carrying for the entire time they were in Trotstock. “Just need to find… Aha! There it is!” Dawn said, pulling Acidic slightly as he looked confused. When he turned around, he saw that Dawn had then put the Lily into a premade terrarium of sorts. With soil in to keep the Lily with. “Oh, I see” Sweet then said, slightly intrigued.
“Yeah, I thought it’d be nice. Right then, let’s go” Dawn said, with the three following behind them as they all entered the Inn. Inside, it was packed. With a huge crowd between the four ponies and the owner of the inn, who was serving drinks. The four formed a huddle, then pushing their way through the crowd as they maneuvered through it. When they got there, Dawn dealt with the inn reservations rather quickly. The inn owner pointing them to a staircase to their left side as they trotted up them. Sweet using his magic to carry a key they’d gotten for their night stay in Trotstock. After trekking through a small hallway, they came to the door at the end. Sweet, using his magic, made the key fit inside of the hole and then unlocked the door. Inside, the four entered and saw a singular room with four basic single beds against the wall, with a big window overlooking a portion of the town further down from them. “Well, this is where we sleep for the night” Dawn then said as they yawned. Acidic soon following them as they dropped off the saddlebags, box and then got in bed too. Sour however, stopped Sweet from immediately also jumping in after the pair.
“I… I just want to say, thanks… And that you’re doing great” Sour said to Sweet. Sweet looked at him, smiling as he replied with “Thanks. Nice to hear a compliment from you for a change” before the pair then joined the other two, sinking into their beds as the quartet fell into a deep slumber for the night. Their next goal, being to get to Trotquay. With Arcane having that in his mind as he teleported back to the mountains, seeing that Harmonous awaited. At first, Arcane was worried, given Dallasite wasn’t anywhere to be found at first. That was, until he saw him sleeping behind Harmonous. He sighed as he closed his portal, trotting up to Harmonous. “They have the Lily…” Arcane began. Before he could continue however, Harmonous interrupted. “Your plan with Dallasite is foolish” he said, confusing Arcane for a brief second before he realized he was talking about what Dallasite had suggested.
“It was his idea” Arcane simply replied, some dismissal in his voice. “In any case, It’ll be nice to have something to do when Dallasite is doing what you want him to do and vice versa” Arcane then added on, defending Dallasite’s suggestion. “Whatever you think you might get from this, you won’t reach. I already keep tabs on him and already am well aware of everything the pair of you are aware of. Stick to your main orders. That’s all I will be saying on the matter. I trust you know that’s my final stance” Harmonous then told Arcane. His voice wasn’t angry, but he was still cold in his tone. Arcane, after a moment of concealing his anger, nodded through his feelings. After all, if he ended up protesting against Harmonous, it wouldn’t go well for him. It was then that Harmonous came up to him. Arcane dreaded what would happen. Did he do something wrong? What had he slipped up on? All would be revealed to him as Harmonous sat next to him. Instead of being cold in his tone this time, he spoke.
“Arcane, I know you want to prove yourself. As does he” Harmonous began, glancing at Dallasite briefly with some regard. “But you must understand, what’s most important is helping Bounded reform as himself. It was… Your fault that he was split into three ponies after all” Harmonous then continued, trying to not put any malice in the final part of his sentence before he paused again. “By doing what I ask, you’re already proving yourself to me, as is he. You need not focus on additional subjects or topics. Now I bid you good night” he then finished, getting back up again. With a wisp of mist, he then departed from the cave, leaving Arcane with his thoughts and the sleeping Dallasite. “It’s great he says that, but he’s barely around to prove he does anything…” Arcane remarked to himself as he finally turned in for the night. His thoughts being mostly negative as he had feelings of uselessness that began to surface whilst he tried to sleep. Although, eventually, he was able to get himself to sleep. The night ending with all but Harmonous going to sleep. Harmonous travelling to Western Ceyonait for his own mission that he’d act on during the next day.