Windwhistler looked at the great piece of chart paper stuck up on the wall and frowned. "Mmmm," she said from time to time, which wasn't very expressive, and twice now, Cotton Candy had almost fallen asleep. Twilight was eyeing her, horn aimed and ready, in event of a third.
"Yes, certainly," Windwhistler said, mostly to herself. Firefly, who could think of about twenty other things she would like more to be doing, looked around the small gable of Dream Castle and sighed wistfully. "I, for one, would certainly appreciate lunch break anytime before three."
Magic Star, the last member of the ensemble, could only flick her ears in agreement; Windwhistler had her holding a spot pointer so her mouth was full.
At last, the serious blue-faced pegasus took a decisive step back. "Well?" Cotton Candy yawned wildly. "Have you cracked the code yet, O Great Knowledgable One?"
"I would hardly employ the verb "cracking" to such a tedious endurement as this," she answered without humour. "Cracking would tend to illustrate a matter which is dealt with swiftly and brutally, the art of linguistics is far--"
"Windwhistler," Magic Star had spit the pointer out of her mouth. "What does it say?"
The ponies looked up to the cryptic scrawls drawn across the paper, carefully copied from Queen Majesty's old notebook. The notebook had been found by Buttons as she set about the chore of spring cleaning, to which most sensible ponies had wisely left her (and promptly left the castle; Buttons got particular around cleaning time). She was about to throw the dusty old manual out, when a scrap of brightly tied letters tumbled from its covers. Surprised, she'd collected the book and brought it to the court square where Queen Majesty and the others were gathered.
When the dust had been blown from its ancient covers, Majesty's eyes became moist as she looked through the old clippings, scrawled messages, and scraps of paper. "Oh, it's been such a long time!" she cried. She touched her ivory white horn to it's covers, and the book rose up, stories dancing before their eyes, much to the excitement of the baby ponies.
"Who ARE all those people?" Baby Surprise wanted to know. "Why are they wearing all those strange clothes?"
Majesty smiled, "Why, those were people in the Kingdom when I was a little filly."
Clipper smirked, and leaned over to whisper in Ember's ear. "I don't thing she ever was a little filly."
"THAT isn't nice," Baby Lickety Split interjected. "I'm telling!" And she would, but a sharp look from her mother settled her into silence -- for the time being.
"Wow, that must have been an AWFULLY long time ago," Cuddles muffled into her teddy bear.
"It was, wasn't it," Majesty sighed. "I'd almost forgotten all about it." The dancing figures stopped, and all fell away into the pages of the book. Their Queen leaned over and picked it up carefully, when a weathered old scroll tumbled from the clipping, rolling across the ground to come to a rest at Firefly's feet.
"What's this?"
The ponies turned. Baby Lickety Split nudged forward and scrutinized it closely. "Well, it's wrapped in a pink ribbon, so it MUST be a LOVE LETTER!"
"Lickety Split!" said Lickety Split. "Really!"
"But, in all the books, the love letters are always wrap--"
"And just WHAT sort of bedtime stories have you been reading?" her mother turned to Truly with a weary eye. Truly blushed.
Meanwhile, Firefly had pulled off the ribbon and the yellow paper unravelled to the ground. "I'm not sure," she began, "but I don't think I've every seen writing like this before. I can't read a word." She turned the paper upside down and sideways to see if this improved matters.
"Let me see," Windwhistler took hold. Firefly held up the scroll, and she stared at it for a long moment before shaking her head. "You are correct. Though I have studied extensively the languages and scriptures of these parts, this subtext is completely alien to me. Where is it from, Queen Majesty? A far off Kingdom? A forgotten isle, perhaps, or a vanished people, a misnomered plain of existence--"
Queen Majesty was very still. Her old blue eyes, the clear, peacock blue of the sky, were cast to the ground, her thick forelock tumbling around her horn and hiding her face. "I... I'm not sure that I remember," she said slowly. "It was a long, long time ago." With that, she carefully collected the book again, and ambled up the wide marble staircase into the rooms above.
Firefly was left holding the paper. "Uh-oh. Queen Majesty doesn't look very happy. Maybe... it's an... ancient curse!"
"Nonsense," Windwhistler said pointedly. "She said she didn't remember. And if it was a curse, I'm sure that would trigger abstract impressioning enough to certify--"
"She seemed so terrible sad," said Twilight thoughtfully.
"Maybe she DOES remember what's on the scroll!" Baby Lickety Split exclaimed. "And it IS a Curse, and now that we've opened it we're all going to turn into MONSTER ZOMBIES and spend the rest of our days wandering the earth and saying, URGG!" She turned to Cuddles. "URGG!" she said, screwing up her face.
Cuddles screamed.
"That's quite enough," Lickety Split caught her daughter by the tail. "The only place you'll be wandering is up stairs to clean your room."
"Awwww..."
Magic Star trotted over and peered at the crumpled paper. "Perhaps we should make a copy of the original before we try reading any more."
"Commendable," Windwhistler agreed.
"Perhaps," Twilight flicked her tail, "if we found out what the manuscript said, we'd find out why Majesty seemed so bothered."
"But wait--" Buttons put out a hoof. "If it's from Majesty's book, it's Majesty's paper, and maybe she wouldn't want us reading it." "Don't you have a house to clean?" Cotton Candy p
ointed.
"I wash my hooves of this," she retorted as she trotted off.
"Never expected less," she sighed.
The five remaining ponies stared a the manuscript in wonder. "I have some left-over chart paper," Twilight said. "North Star and I were trying to plot weather patterns, but I think we only get nice wether here in Ponyland. It got very boring."
"I can transcribe," the green-haired pony offered.
"I'll watch," Cotton Candy said. "This ought to be interesting."
Windwhistler was staring at the page in earnest. "Yes... very interesting." There was no doubt in anyone's mind as to who would head the operation.
And now, as she stood before neatly transcribed copy on the wall, the others were hanging on her words. "Well?!" Firefly exclaimed. "What does it say?!"
Windwhistler opened her mouth. "I--"
"I am the barer of ill will and fortune!" the pink pegasus cried. "It IS a curse! I just knew it!"
"I," Windwhistler repeated, a little more firmly, "do not know."
The ponies looked at her. "That's it?" Cotton Candy flattened her ears. "We've been here, watching you ooh an ahh over a yellowed manuscript for THREE HOURS and you do not know?"
"Commendable," Windwhistler said.
"That's it, I out of here!" Cotton Candy turned for the door. Twilight grabbed her by the tail.
"Aren't you at all concerned about Majesty?" she cried.
The pink spotted pony stopped and heaved a gigantic sigh. Of course she was concerned about Majesty. It annoyed her that Unicorns always knew when to say just the right thing. The afternoon had ceased to be interesting, but all the ponies cared very much about their Queen. "How much longer do you think it will take, oh wise one?" she asked.
"That is difficult to confirm at this moment," the pegasus frowned. "Every code has a key; the same with language. I have not yet found that key."
"Oh, then you should ask Buttons," Firefly turned from the window absentmindedly. She could see Surprise and Sprinkles doing figure eights in and around a brand new rainbow. "If you're looking for a key, I bet you she came across twenty while cleaning the castle."
"I will contemplate that," Windwhistler said wanningly.
"Well, I'm going to LUNCH," Cotton Candy declared, secret code or no code at all. "Can't work on an empty stomach."
"Not like she actually DID any work," Magic Star shook her head. "But I do believe Cupcake was making stroodle..."
"Go on ahead," Windwhistler told the group. "I'll catch up later." For now, she simply had too much to think about.
Chapter 2
TicTacToe narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and let the ball fly. Slugger met it over the plate and sent it sailing into out field. "Oh, oh, oh, it's going!" Shady tripped over her tail in haste. "It's --"
"SAVED!" TicTacToe cried. "Thanks to Medley on cloud eight!"
Slugger whipped the lock of hair from his eye. "I still think the pegasus have a distinct advantage," he frowned. There was sparkle of light and Mimic winked home beside him. "Slugger! The ball is still in play if her feet don't touch the ground!" she cried hastily.
"Is that true?" Medley hovered.
Just to be safe, Shady pulled the rules book out and took a peak. "I thinks Mimic's right. Which means...."
But Slugger didn't need another word. He tore off across the field, his hooves pounding the earth in his wake. At the same time, Melody gripped the ball with a vengeance and went plummeting to earth. And, standing right in front of first base, her basket overladen with sweet, shiny red fruit, Apple Jacks froze with eyes wide in horror.
"WATCH OUT!"
Basepony Tex's cry came too late. In a collision of fur, feathers, and apples everywhere, the ponies were caught in a tangled heap. "Oh, my apples!" Apple Jacks cried.
"YOU are SITTING on my WING!" Medley exclaimed.
"Sorry," Slugger grinned apologetically.
Tic-Tac-Toe trotted calmly over to the pile up. "Tex, you all right in there?"
"Whew-ee! No problem!" was the reply.
The twinkle-eyed pony nodded her head. "Safe," she declared.
It was at this point Firefly came swooping in, looking at the chaos and sighing because she had really wanted to be a part of it. "Where have you been?!" Sparkler exclaimed. "You're our best pitcher!"
"Sorry," she apologised. "Windwhistler needed help with an old manuscript we found. It used to belong to Queen Majesty, and it's written in a strange language. The only problem is that Majesty can't remember where it came from and I think it's an ancient curse!"
The other ponies looked properly shocked. Firefly went on. "Old Know-it-all is still at it. I bet you she'll be working on it for weeks!"
"Good, let her work on it," Slugger was nonchalantly wiping the dirt from his hind quarters. "While she's busy, we can play baseball without her trying to analyze it and declaring it illogical. Let's play ball!"
"Good idea!" Firefly agreed, and the ponies scampered off across the rolling green meadow.
Not too far away, Glory sat in the nursery, combing the tangles out of her daughter's hair. "Ouch, that hurts," Baby Glory complained bitterly. "Must we, Mamma?"
"Of course," her mother said so sensibly. "All ponies must keep their tails neatly combed. Do you know what would happen if they did not?"
"Their tails fall off," said Cotton Candy, pausing at the door.
All the baby ponies looked up with shock. Cuddles began to cry. "I don't believe it," Clipper declared.
Glory frowned, and Cotton Candy forced a weak smile. She didn't like it when unicorns looked at her in quite that way. Glory finished with the last tangle and rose to her feet, handing Cuddles a sparkle of star dust to busy herself with as she walked by. "You were supposed to help Confetti with the picnic this afternoon."
"The picnic? Oh, was that this afternoon?"
Glory gave her another look. Cotton Candy shook her head. "I would have gone, but Windwhistler insisted I stay and help her decipher that manuscript. Not like I would know--"
"What manuscript?" Glory looked puzzled.
Cotton Candy sighed. "The one that Buttons found while cleaning the attic; in an old scrap book of Majesty's; that Firefly swears to be an ancient curse." Baby Surprise had begun to mischievously hover her way to the swing set that hung from the oak tree outside the nursery door. Baby Tiddly Winks was curled up inside, fast asleep. "SURPRISE!" she yelled. "GWAAA!" shrieked Baby Tiddly Winks as she tumbled to the ground. In the next moment the two were off, tearing around the garden and trampling Posey's newly planted begonias. "My turn?" Cotton Candy looked at the cavorting fillies.
"You bet," the unicorn nodded as she trotted away. Glory winked herself out before Cotton Candy could protest; besides, she had some investigating to do.
Glory found Queen Majesty in her thrown room. Spike was seated outside the door, looking glum. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Queen Majesty's been in their all morning," he sighed. "It's such a bright and shiny day, not at all a day to spend in doors!"
Glory smiled. "Why don't you go out and see what the baby ponies are doing? I think they might even be planning a picnic." Spike brightened at this, and scampered off, leaving Glory to continue on. "Majesty?" she spoke carefully. "Are you resting?"
"No, no, come in," came the reply. Glory pushed open the door to find her queen seated by the window, gazing out at the rolling hills of pony land spread below. "It's so beautiful," she sighed. "I remember when I was young, how I used to frolic across those hills, chase the stars, and catch moon beams..."
"Why, you can still do all that now!" said Glory emphatically. "Why, Lofty goes chasing comets every night, even after that big nasty asteroid took a double swing and frazzled the tip of her tail! And Sunbeam--" She stopped abruptly, because she knew this wasn't what Majesty was talking about at all. She trotted quietly over, and seated herself down beside her. She looked out the window. "What lies beyond that stretch of mountains?" she asked after a while. "I don't believe a pony's ever been there."
"Oh, they were, once; long, long ago," Majesty spoke. "Once there was a beautiful crystal kingdom that lay beyond that mountain, at its heart, the Palace of the Seven Stars. Such a palace never stood, before or after, that was like that Palace of the Seven Stars. It was nothing like our dear Dream Castle, it was enormous, with seven spires piercing into the sky, so tall they seemed able to touch the moon, from which the crystal it was built with had come. At moonrise, it was a glorious sight."
"And what happen?" asked Glory eagerly.
Majesty sunk down into her thrown. "I was destroyed; a great evil came, the Palace, and all its inhabitants, disappeared into the forgotten realms forever."
"That's a horribly sad story," Glory said.
"Yes," her queen sighed. "It is."
There seemed to be a tone in her voice that Glory knew meant she wished to be alone. She rose to her feet and quietly let herself out the door. Behind her, Queen Majesty heaved another deep, heartfelt sigh, but said nothing more.
In the study, Windwhistler sat frowning at the great scroll spread before her on the wall -- the copy, of course, for the original was safely away in silver chest. The sun had sunk low into the sky, and she found her head nodding. "There must be something here somewhere," she sighed, shaking herself awake. "There must be!"
As the first star began to twinkle, she rose and ambled across the floor to where the silver chest was sitting. Carefully, she opened up the lid and pulled out the yellowed scroll, gently uncurling it. A loose leaflet fell away, and she caught it before it fluttered to the floor. She would have to be more careful; the old paper was certainly deteriorating rapidly! She held up the thin leaflet thoughtfully, and noticed some small, pin-pricked holes through the paper. "That's odd," she thought. "It almost looks like a star. Funny that the paper should tear just that way."
Perhaps, because she was curious too, the old moon leaned in closer to have a look. As the moonlight fell across the room, across the little blue pegasus, and across the old pin-pricked paper, a wondrous thing happened: seven tiny moonbeams shone through the seven tiny holes and right onto the chart paper hung up on the wall! Windwhistler's mouth fell open; so surprised was she that she almost dropped the paper, for there, shining like jewels in the moonlight, the seven points connected a webwork of the strange symbols to form what seemed to be---
"A Star Castle!" Windwhistler exclaimed.
She stood there gazing at the glimmering moonlit manuscript for exactly two and a half minutes. Then, with a whinny of exclamation, she went flapping off to collect the others.
Chapter 3
"It's a treasure map!" Barnacle declared.
"Obviously, it's all about the ancient curse," Firefly said.
Tootsie eyed it critically. "I think... I think it's a recipe for darlin' little starlight cookies."
Most of the ponies had crowded their way into the little study, allowing only enough room in front of the paper for Windwhistler to stand and read it to them. She had a magnifying glass tied over one eye, a chalk stuck behind her ear, and looked very comical, but nobody -- even Cotton Candy -- said anything about it. They were all waiting.
"This symbol here, that's definitely a pony," she said.
"It looks an awful lot like a cookie," Tootsie frowned.
"And this on," Windwhistler went on, "is a castle. While that one is not really an object, it must simply symbolises Good. Which means this one then must be for Evil."
"And you're 100% sure it's not a curse?" Firefly whinnied.
"No," she said.
Moon Dancer had been very quiet for a long time. Now she stepped forward. "I believe," she began slowly, "I might be of some help with this. If I can make stars dance and comets sing, I'm sure I can make a few little symbols speak. But you'll have to read them, Windwhistler."
"Oh, try it!" Cotton Candy cried out. The two ponies needed no encouraging. They turne
d to the manuscript, and Moon Dancer closed her eyes. She concentrated. She scrunched up her eye and horn glowed brightly. "It's... so difficult!" she huffed. "It's almost as if there's.. magic... in the symbols themselves!"
"A curse--" Firefly began, but Truly put a hoof over her mouth.
Moonstone stepped forward and stood beside Moon Dancer, her head bowed in union. Together, the unicorns stirred the symbols on the page until...
"There!" Windwhistler cried out. "I can see it!"
"What does it say?!" asked Cotton Candy for the second time that day.
"It says..." Windwhistler had to shield her eyes. Lights were dancing between the unicorn's horns and the room rustled with the rippling of a sudden breeze. She began to read:
"Driven deep,
the darkest night
can hide the brightest
spire from sight;
Yet hold the key,
and you shall find
the treasure darkness
could not bind..."
"I told you it was a treasure map!" Barnacle broke the silence.
"The treasure darkness could not bind... what do you suppose that means?" Magic Star mused softly.
Moondancer and Moonstone lowered their glowing horns and the and the lights faded away until the room was lit in normal light. It was then that the heavy wooden doors creaked open, and the ponies turned with a guilty hush, like children caught with their hooves in the cookie jar. But it was only Glory and North Star.
"And just what have you been up to?" the pink pegasus took in the room at a glance.
Windwhistler pushed the eye piece out of the way as she answered. "Scientific analyses regarding--"
"The mystery of the Star Castle!" Cotton Candy exclaimed.
"Star Castle?!" Glory tossed her mane up in surprise. "Where ever did you hear about that?!"
"Here," Cotton Candy frowned, but reminded herself that unicorns always over-reacted anyway. "Old Know-it-all read it off this crumbly paper."
North Star came foreword, regarding the moonlight-dotted map with wide eyes. "Indeed... this could be the very Castle Majesty spoke of."
"Spoke of WHAT?" the spotted pink pony snorted exasperatedly.
North Star and Glory exchanged glances. They looked over to Windwhistler, who stood with her brow raised, and the others who waited expectantly. "I suppose we ought to tell them," North Star said gently. "You spoke with Majesty, so it would be better if you explained it first." Glory nodded, and slowly recited the tale of a long-ago Castle of Seven Stars, brought too soon to an untimely end. "But... it doesn't make any sense!" Twilight bit he
r lip against the tear that had caught her eye. "Who would destroy a happy Kingdom -- for no reason! It isn't fair! But this... map... it's almost as if... there's still something there..."
"Hidden," Magic Star chimed in.
"Waiting," said Firefly.
"Until," Windwhistler had turned to the map again, "we find the key."
There was a deep silence. "And then?" Cotton Candy yawned slightly (it was, after all, getting quite late).
"Perhaps we will find the answer to what happened to the Castle of the Seven Stars," said North Star carefully.
"And set things right," said Twilight defiantly.
"And then Majesty...." Glory trailed off.
Now the silence was charged with restless energy. "Then what are we waitin' for?!" Tootsie cried. "There's a key to be found, a kingdom to save--"
"But not necessarily so late at the night," Windwhistler interrupted practically. "If we are to find this Key, we require far more planning, and not to mention that to find the Castle itself--"
"That lies beyond the far hills," Glory gazed into the darkness beyond the window. "Far away and long ago..."
"We'll start first thing in the morning," she gave in with a sigh. With that, the ponies began prancing off, excitement crackling in the warm night air. Soon, only North Star, Windwhistler, Glory, and Magic Star remained, the great manuscript spread before them.
"I wonder what awaits at the end of this quest," said Magic Star softly.
"It is a little early to think that," Windwhistler frowned.
"I'm sure we will find it, all in good time," North Star spoke.
"And when we do," Glory began with the wisdom of dreams, "it will be the most glorious treasure of all..."
