By the time Sour woke up, he was surrounded by Cluttered, Sweet and Acidic. Albeit two of the three were asleep. The only one awake being Sweet as he seemed to jolt himself awake at the right time. “You’re awake!” Sweet exclaimed, relieved as he saw that Sour had awoken. “Yeah…” Sour simply responded, glaring at the Hourglass that had noticeably been moved to the windowsill. “We were going to ask you about that… Where did it… Come from?” Sweet then asked Sour. His eyes giving off a concerned expression which was extremely evident all over his entire face. Sour looked back to Sweet momentarily, but then immediately looked back. Simply saying to himself “Of course they’d try and force it” in a faint whisper. Sweet only catching a little bit of what he had said.
Before Sweet could ask what he had just said however, a knock was heard at the front door. “That should be them” Sweet said to himself, getting up and trotting down the hall. A moment later, Duskfall, Soundwave and Dawn came in. All relieved to see Sour alive and well. “You’re all acting as if I died. If I died, the other two would die too” Sour then said, taking notice of what he deemed to be overexaggerated reactions. “Well screw them for being worried, right?” Sweet then said, adding some sarcasm into his sentence as the other three sat down. “You had us all in for a scare!” Soundwave shouted out, waking Acidic and Cluttered suddenly in the process. “Wuzzat?” Cluttered said aloud as Acidic yawned. Both of them looking around and then to Sour, also expressing relieved sighs as they all looked directly at Sour. Duskfall being the one to ask the question. “Sour… What happened?” he asked, as the other five looked at Duskfall momentarily, ears perked up as they then looked back at Sour. Being uncomfortable at the remembrance of the encounter, Sour took a moment to brace himself as he explained it. Before finally speaking.
“Dallasite and Arcane came and… Well, apparently I’ve been lazy… According to them… So they’re forcing me to go to Whistleheight. Since that’s the location of the final Spring. When you discovered that door on our first day in Ceyonait, Sweet. The one that said something about a mountain soul… Well, after I said I didn’t want to do it, the pair of them made that Hourglass. They called it their Hourglass of Lavender Fire and Ice. Then they said I had two weeks to come to terms with what I had to do” Sour explained, not looking up until the very end. Being met with stunned faces all around. Acidic then speaking up. “They did this with only you? Surely they could’ve waited…” he said, frowning slightly. “They seem desperate” Sweet then added on, putting his hoof up to his chin to think. “Well, I suppose it’s a waiting game then” Duskfall then said aloud, prompting Dawn to actually protest. “But surely Sour should be allowed to make his own decision!” she said, with Soundwave then interjecting. “But they’re Alicorns! And he, I mean these three, are also an Alicorn!”. “Who cares?!” Dawn then interjecting. “Will the lot of you calm down?!” Cluttered then asked with intensity.
The five looked at Cluttered as they waited for him to clear his throat. To which, he then spoke. “For the safety of Sour, Sweet and Acidic, I think the only option at this point is to have you at least go to the Spring. Nothing I’ve heard about tells me of any immediate reformation into an Alicorn. So, you could appease them and then hold out hope, right?” Cluttered then said, looking at Sour. The others also looking with intense anticipation for Sour’s next words. To which, Sour said “But… What if it does end up happening? The lives we have right now… We’re free. Free from the royal duties and stress. Free from the responsibilities. Free from almost everything” and seemed to form slight tears. Keeping himself composed however as he looked to Sweet and Acidic. Acidic speaking up and saying “Yeah… Ever since you asked that question on the train to Southern Ceyonait I’ve been passively thinking about our ultimate goal”. Sweet nodding in agreement. “And what’s your general consensus on this whole thing?” Sour then asked the pair of them. Sweet speaking up for both of them. “Well, we don’t know what we really want to do. We all miss dad and Stardew… But at the same time, we’re going to miss this. We sacrifice one thing to keep another in either scenario…” he said, looking down slightly. “Yeah… It’s a sacrifice, but if we go back to Manestralia, we’d get our family back at least” Acidic then added on.
Sour looked at the pair momentarily. His mind and soul conflicted. On one hoof, he really did enjoy the life he had at the current time. On another hoof however, he missed the comfort of family. “Well…” Sour began. “We, or rather I, have two weeks to come to terms with everything. So, I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the time to run out” Sour then finished off. Duskfall and Soundwave seemed to nod in acknowledgement and then Soundwave spoke. “Yep, I suppose that is the best-case scenario. Me and Duskfall are gonna head off. If you need somepony to talk to, you know where to find myself, Duskfall, and Dawn” he said to Sour, Sweet and Acidic. Then, the pair left the room, both giving their farewells of “See you soon then!” before the other five heard the front door open, and then shut.
The next to leave happened to be Dawn. But not before she ended up telling the four others about something. “So, me and Elixir were thinking of meeting up. She’s travelling to Buckgrove for the first time, so if you need something to take your mind off of all this, you should join us! Just, keep it in mind, ‘Kay?” she said, with the four nodding. Then, just like her brother and brother-in-law before her, she left the building. Leaving Cluttered and the other three alone in the house. “Well” Cluttered then began. “I think I’m going to head to bed, officially. Try and get some sleep. I mean it. You three need this time to process everything and come to terms with what’s happening. Don’t take all this time for granted” Cluttered then finished off, bidding the three goodnight as he trotted up the stairs and into his room. With a final shutting of his door, the three sat, not speaking for about half an hour.
That was, until Sour finally spoke up again. This time, with one simple word. “Sorry”. Sweet and Acidic looked at eachother in confusion, and then Sweet asked “Sorry? For what?”. “For everything. If I’d gotten this done with ages ago we wouldn’t be stuck here now…” Sour responded. To which Acidic spoke up in protest. “Are you kidding me? Arcane and Dallasite are to blame here! If they respected yours, and by extension, OUR decisions, they’d let us stay in these forms!”. To which Sweet interjected. “Actually Acidic, they, well Harmonous, did give us the option to live our lives like this and we chose the springs. It’s kind of self-inflicted”. Acidic paused for a second, remembering the Spring of Body and the question. “Oh yeah, I suppose that’s true. But they could at least respect that we changed our minds” Acidic then said. “Well, whatever the case, let’s just get some sleep. Cluttered, Dawn, Duskfall and Soundwave probably want us to relax or whatever” Sour then said, a glum tone overpowering his words before he sunk into the bed again, turning away from the other two. Sweet and Acidic momentarily looked at eachother. Before the pair of them joined Sour. Getting their blankets from the corner of the room, which were previously folded neatly together, and got into the bed with Sour. The three of them falling asleep relatively quickly. The day ending with the revelation in their minds.
Soon enough though, the morning rolled around. Clouds in the skies abundant as it threatened to rain. Leaves rustling and, today, even starting to fall off of their trees as the autumn finally started to roll in. The world seeming to almost calm down from the summer sun as it rose slower than before. Sweet and Acidic waking up near the dawn of the day. Not entirely given the Sun was a little into the sky at the point of them waking, but still close enough to the horizon to tell it hadn’t been long since it had risen. Sour still sleeping as Sweet and Acidic left the room and headed to the living room. Their stomachs rumbling as Sweet wordlessly trotted into the kitchen before he finally asked Acidic “You want some toast or are you good?” with a yawn. Acidic nodded his head and even used his wing to imitate a thumbs up as Sweet popped bread into the toaster. Making himself and Acidic a coffee whilst Acidic kept himself awake.
Coming back into the living room, Sweet used his magic to levitate the plates of toast he made and the drinks he made onto the table infront of the couch. Acidic immediately taking his plate and downing both the toast and coffee in an instant. “It’s a good thing we all know what we like, huh” Sweet said, watching Acidic devour his breakfast. “Yeah” Acidic began through eating. “It is. Oh dear Manestralia this is good” he then added on as he finished off the toast. Sweet seemed confused, saying “But we have this almost every single day…” before Acidic looked at him and responded with “yeah, but we can still be happy at little things! Helps to keep things feeling fresh and original, y’know?” as Sweet then laughed slightly. “Sure…” he said, managing to stop himself from laughing more at the idea. Acidic simply rolled his eyes as he waited for Sweet to finish his breakfast. To which, near the end, Acidic got up, saying “I’m gonna check on Sour” as he trotted off to the guest room. Leaving Sweet alone to enjoy his meal momentarily. When Acidic got into the guest room however, Sour was already awake. Albeit barely as he yawned and stood up once he saw Acidic. “Mornin’” he said through some yawning. Acidic nodding as he then said “me and Sweet finished our breakfast, so I’ll get Sweet to make you what we had” before flying back to the living room and saying to Sweet “He’s awake!”. “Which one?” Sweet asked, as Cluttered could also be seen trotting down the stairs with heavy yawning.
“Oh, I meant Sour. But since Cluttered’s here too, make some for him as well?” Acidic then semi suggested to Sweet. Nodding, Sweet got to work in the kitchen after he got up from the couch. Cluttered taking his seat as Sour trotted in and sat next to him. “How’re you doin’ Sour?” Cluttered asked him. It took Sour several moments before he responded. Even half asleep, he seemed to be thinking of a way to word how he felt. “I dunno… Maybe it’s because of the time limit now, but the glum feelings are going. If I’m being forced to do something… I might as well take every fleeting moment of my life as Sour… As something worth remembering, y’know?” he then said, taking various pauses as he spoke to try and stop himself from tripping up on his words. “Yeah, that’s how I’d feel. Just try and take your time with the processing though… It’s a big event for you that’s coming up” Cluttered then responded, trying to reassure Sour about the fact that he could take time out of his life to process everything. To which Acidic then responded. “But this time IS going to be used to process everything, right?” Acidic then asked, slightly confused until Sour nodded slightly.
Just as their little conversation finished, Sweet came in with two more plates and two more cups. Using his magic to simultaneously stack the previous two plates and cups ontop of eachother. “Wow, you’re getting proficient at that!” Acidic remarked. “Oh shush!” Sweet then quickly said, slightly flustered and secretly a bit too happy about the remark. “On the bright side for the pair of you, when we become an Alicorn again, you’ll both know all the spells I’ve learned!” Sweet then added on, with Acidic laughing a little and Sour seeming slightly interested. “Of course, it’s nowhere near as good as dad’s or Stardew’s but I’m sure they’ll be… You know, satisfied” Sweet then added on in a less cheerful, and more nervous, tone. “Yeah but that won’t help stop father from belittling us, or Stardew from making teases at us for being inept at magic” Sour then added on, still slightly tired and not in the mood for too much pleasantry in the way of over optimism or too much positivity.
After Sour and Cluttered finished their breakfasts, Cluttered got up as he spoke. “I have to go to Canvas Corner. Sour, do you want to come with me? It’d be good for you to get out and take in some other places. You could even go to the beach during lunch hour” Cluttered suggested. “Yeah, you could do that whilst me and Sweet do some library stuff. After all, something I learned yesterday got me thinking…” Sweet then added on. Sour looked up, confused as Sweet then said “I’ll tell you later” as Sour nodded in understanding. “Alright then” he then began. “I’ll go with Cluttered. But we might as well all go now. Otherwise me and Cluttered’ll be late” Sour then told the other two. Agreeing, the four of them set off. One by one exiting the house. First Sour, then Sweet, then Acidic and finally, Cluttered.
Trotting down the hill, the four of them took note of the leaves and the colder nature of the city. “Must be that time of year” Cluttered said aloud to himself. Making the other three confused as the four of them. “Oh, right. You three don’t know. To be honest, it’s the first time in a while you’ve all been so confused. What I’m on about is the coming of the Autumn Gathering. A celebratory day where we all donate food, drinks, and other necessities for the winter. It’s for the community incase anyone runs out of food. It’s been a common tradition ever since Ellestros and Ceyonait were founded. Ellestros often instigating very harsh winters according to historical records” Cluttered then explained. “Harsh winters?” Sweet then asked in curiosity, with the expression on his face being evident. “Yeah, Ellestros is often referred to in books as the frozen north due to its cold climate. We have a city that connects us and Ellestros, which connects to Crystalia. The current main city of Ellestros. Even if the one that used to be there is no longer there. Although it’s small because of the winter weather up there. Most inhabitants tend to not venture outside the city” Cluttered then elaborated. Leaving Sweet to say “And here I thought speaking about Ellestros was a taboo subject” to which Cluttered elaborated further. “It’s not the place. Last time it was the historical stuff you were on about referred to the time period which is tied to something we tend to not talk about”. “Ah… Right” is all Sweet responded with as they finally reached the bottom of the hill; the library and the city finally in front of them.
“Well” Acidic began. “Me and Sweet will be at the library. Hopefully we bump into Duskfall. I mean, it can’t really be that impossible or hard to imagine he and Soundwave are at the library right now. Maybe they can help find what we’re looking for” Acidic then finished off. “And what exactly is it that you’re looking for?” Sour then asked the pair, an air of slight concern washing over him. “I said we’d tell you later, didn’t I?” Sweet then responded with some defiance. To which Sour simply said “I was only asking…” before the four parted into pairs. Sweet and Acidic heading to the library as they said “See you back at Cluttered’s then!” in unison. The other two nodding as they headed out to Canvas Corner.
Trotting off for about five minutes, Sour and Cluttered were wordless upon their travel. Sour being slightly inside of his own head and Cluttered focused on making sure the pair of them were on time. “I wish I brought an alarm clock now…” Cluttered muttered as he kept his pace inconsistent. First, it would get extremely fast, then extremely slow. His fear of being late being extremely forward as the two rushed to the store. “Remind me to get you one so you can stop being so worried!” Sour then shouted as he realized how far behind he was. Almost half a street behind as he raced to catch up. Finally, after a few more minutes of trotting, the pair made it to good old Canvas Corner. Cluttered opening the door as he said to himself “Forgot to lock it before the weekend! Hope nopony noticed…” as the pair stepped inside. Thankfully, nothing had happened. Everything was tidy and clean. Just as Cluttered had left it before the weekend. So, the pair got into their positions. Cluttered at the counter and Sour loitering about. Sitting down at a chair near the desk.
About an hour went by before the pair finally had a proper conversation. Ponies actually taking a look around and buying the pieces of art and the various supplies in the most abundance that Cluttered had seen. Racking up quite a number of Ceyans that he elected to keep some of in his savings when he got the chance to deposit them. “That’s… Two hundred and fifty Ceyans in the first hour of business! What is going on?!” Cluttered then asked himself, with Sour holding back childish giggling as he simply said “Word must’ve gotten out”. Cluttered looking at him as he seemed almost amazed. “You know, I’m gonna miss this” he then said, prompting confusion from Sour. “Gonna miss what?”. “Well” Cluttered began. “Me, Dawn, Duskfall and Soundwave are all going to miss the three of you. You’ll probably head back to Manestralia… And then…” Cluttered paused as he thought of what to say next. His next words striking a chord in Sour. “You’ll forget about us, won’t you…”.
Sour took a moment to process the words Cluttered had just said. Forget about his only friends? Absolutely not! So, he spoke up in accordance with that thought. “I would never forget about you four! None of us will! We’ve been through a lot together! And if the worst case comes around, where we do end up getting carted back to Manestralia, then we’ll at least make sure to come visit!” but this didn’t alleviate any of Cluttered’s feelings. “When you’re King of Manestralia? You’ll hardly have any free time and when you do have some, your first thought won’t be to come to see us” Cluttered responded. Making Sour upset. “I’m not going to forget any of you!” He protested. To which Cluttered looked away and simply said “Time will tell, I suppose” as more customers seemed to be just stepping in. Making the pair put the conversation on hold.
Meanwhile, at the library, Sweet and Acidic had already said hello to Duskfall and Soundwave, who helped them find the section on history they were looking for. So, naturally, Sweet and Acidic piled up books upon books. Trying to find the right one as Duskfall and Soundwave looked at eachother; highly concerned. “What’s so urgent that the pair of you… Well, are doing all of this for?” Duskfall asked as he finally piped up. “Well, the Fae stuff got me thinking! There has to be some history with the Fairies here! Other than the Springs… Fairies: Myth of Reality? Oh please, only a child would read this rubbish!” Throwing a book on the floor as Sweet responded. “Be careful with that! We need those! You’re not the only ones using the library y’know!” Duskfall promptly shouted. To which both Acidic and Sweet paid his anger no mind. To them, Sweet especially, answers must’ve lied somewhere. About ten more minutes of this and Sweet finally hit the jackpot. He saw a strange book. One simply called Fae. A guide for those seeking knowledge – By Quartz Honour. “Quartz Honour?” Sweet asked himself as he took a peek into the book. There, he finally saw what he was looking for. The transformation he had remembered. Charmed. “At last! Although… Something is definitely familiar about this Quartz pony. I swear I’ve heard of that name before…” Sweet said to himself, recalling faint conversations from his father about a stallion named Quartz, and faintly recalled his flashback at the Spring of Mind. But there was no way the pair were the same stallion. He couldn’t have possibly been. So, Sweet dismissed the idea entirely.
“Now let’s look through- Hey!” Sweet then protested as Duskfall ripped the book out of Sweet’s magical hold. Before Sweet could protest more, Soundwave interjected. “Clean up the mess first! Then we’ll let you read the book!” as Sweet rolled his eyes. In his annoyance. He used a spell he’d never actually used that he dubbed the recollection spell. A spell that traced an objects flow through space and time. Which made the books almost perfectly follow their line in time from when Sweet arrived in the library, to when they were pulled out. In other words, Sweet decided to use a fancy levitation spell that automated his work significantly. “There. We happy now?” Sweet then asked with a heavy pettiness in his voice as he looked at Soundwave and Duskfall. They reluctantly nodded as Sweet swiped the book back off of Duskfall quickly. Then, the four of them sat down. Duskfall and Soundwave debating to wait until lunch to even think about what they were going to do in the afternoon. Which was going to be big for them.
“Huh…” Sweet said to himself, reading a specific passage about Quartz himself. It read as “To those seeking knowledge of the ancient and forgotten race of fairies, I welcome you on this knowledgeable journey. For I am Quartz Honor. The first Fae of Ice and second child to the grand King of Fairies. I have made this tome of knowledge in the hopes that those who emerge from the future can write the wrongs that they will soon discover if everything in fate has lined up correctly” which had Sweet incredibly confused. “Is that all he says about himself?” he then asked, to which the next page confirmed this. There were three transformations listed in this specific book. Far less than he remembered his father having in the tome he kept on trying to swipe from his father’s archives. But three was more than enough to get started on his knowledge endeavor. He started reading the chapter on Charmed. Seeing a picture of a stallion. One that he seemed to recognize. One with a glittering, yet simply, grey top. With foreleg bands and two icy, and almost reflective, wings. “Is that… Is that Harmonous!?” Sweet then shouted, quickly looking at the annotation which read “Quartz Honour circa Year 6460; Prosperity Era. Charmed” this Quartz looking much like a younger version of Harmonous. Without the damage. Without the disturbing visual. Finally, he looked happy without having a malicious aura around him.
In some ways, he was also reminded of Dallasite and Arcane. Which immediately connected some major possibilities in his head. “So then they’re… Fairies too?” Sweet immediately muttered to himself, with Duskfall seeming confused. “I don’t actually remember this being in the library… This book, it’s not in our records, I’m sure of it. Yeah, now that I get a good look at it… Turn to the front page real quick Sweet” Duskfall then said, prompting Sweet to flick to the inside first page. “Yep. Not of our library. There’d be a stamp that you’d see on the inside of the front cover. But there’s none. So somepony must’ve placed this here, and I have one guess as to who” Duskfall said aloud. With Sweet going “Harmonous?” as Duskfall nodded. “It’s clear he wants us to see something from this… but what?” Acidic then asked, having stayed silent this entire time. “I honestly don’t know… But maybe he’s trying to hint at something or call to some pony. It’s probably us, to be fair, but I think this is one we should passively look through… And we’ll definitely ask Harmonous about it when we see him” Sweet then theorized, closing the book as they all seemed stumped by the discoveries. So stumped in fact, that Sweet decided to close the book entirely. Bookmarking the page with Quartz on.
Which was timely, given Soundwave took a quick look outside. “Ah. Midday” he said to himself as Duskfall trotted up to him and seemed eager to go across from the library. To a big building in red. One that looked important and well maintained. “We need to schedule the appointment with Mayor Solar Wind!” Duskfall shouted. Then looking back as he then spoke once more. “But… We have to stay at the library…” he muttered to himself, seeming upset. That’s when Soundwave simply responded with “I can stay here if you want. I’m sure Sweet won’t mind helping. Acidic, why don’t you go with Duskfall? I’m sure he’ll need some help trying to set up the appointment”. Sweet looking reluctant given what he’d just said, but Acidic happily nodding and going “Sure, I can do that!” as Sweet just sighed and added on a “sure…”. Acidic flying to Duskfall as the pair then headed across the road. Duskfall giving Soundwave a big hug as he seemed overjoyed.
“So, we’re staying here then?” Sweet asked Soundwave, who had trotted back to his table after seeing Duskfall and Acidic off. “Yep! We don’t have to do much other than keep the place clean. But, it’s still nice” Soundwave responded as the two sat around and observed the rest of the library.
Meanwhile, with Duskfall and Acidic, who’d just crossed the street and were now headed inside of the big, red building. The pair opened the bright white doors. Leading them into a very nice-looking reception area. Where a singular pony sat. He seemed quite busy, his mane white and his coat colour a deep brown. Nonetheless, noticed the approaching pair and instantly said “Come back later. Mayor Solar Wind has better things to attend to besides tourists” as Acidic and Duskfall looked at eachother. “I’m not leaving. I work at the library and I need an appointment made as soon as possible!” Duskfall protested. To which, the stallion on the other side of the desk rolled his eyes, then yawned and simply said “Fine… Is next week a good time… Early Afternoon?” clearly not wanting any trouble from the pair and remaining rather aloof and glum. It took Duskfall a moment to process what he’d just heard. Eventually responding with “All good” as the stallion marked it down on a complicated looking sheet of paper.
“And what’s the appointment for, then?” the stallion then asked, with another tired yawn. “Oh, uh” Duskfall began. “It’s about the library funding” he then finished off as he seemed to note that the stallion simply wrote ‘FUNDING – LIBRARY - EARLY AFTERNOON’ down. “Your name?” the stallion then asked, prompting Duskfall to say “Duskfall” as the stallion then wrote that down. “All done then. You can buzz off now” the stallion finally said, putting pen down from paper and looking largely bored as he watched the pair trot out of the building. Once they were outside, Duskfall was overjoyed at the fact things went so well. “Can you believe how easy that was!?” he asked Acidic. To which, Acidic shrugged using his wings and simply responded with “Seemed like he didn’t want any argument so that’s good. Shall we head back to the library then?” as Duskfall nodded. Ending their endeavors for the day as all four stallions in the library attended to their duties. Sweet keeping an eye on the book he had; making sure it was in fact real. Was Quartz really Harmonous? And what did Harmonous then know about the Fae if they were real? Was he, infact, one of them? Only time would tell. For now, they had more immediate issues to attend to for the next two weeks of their lives.
Meanwhile, back with Cluttered and Sour, the pair also worried about the next two weeks. The clock was ticking, and Sour hoped that something would prevent the immediate transformation back into an Alicorn. It pondered in his mind as he kept working with Cluttered. But for now, the day would see no more interesting activity. With the six ending their days as usual. Tomorrow being another day.