adventure "Where are the keys?"

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

^That's not the title. But it's what the story is about. This is a follow-up to the S4 premiere (spoilers, natch) with a bit of a twist! Let's say the golden box at the Tree of Harmony doesn't necessarily hold anything, but unlocking it will release the Elements again. Nopony knows where the keys went. But whoever finds them, controls the fate of the world.

Let's say they end up in the wrong hooves. HOW wrong, you ask? Read on and find out.  

 

 

Forging Destiny

 

CHAPTER 1

 

 

Princess Twilight Sparkle gaped in astonishment as the Tree of Harmony was resurrected before her eyes. It had been so long since the Elements were contained in the magic branches, and for one terrible moment she feared that a thousand years of Equestrian history was disappearing with them. She was, after all, still a scholar at heart.

But she needn’t have worried. Her five friends were still here, these uncomfortable new wings still attached to her sides—and, as the last of the black vines withdrew, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were back.

“You are very brave, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia commended her with relief. “It must have been very hard for you to give up the Elements of Harmony.”

I didn’t do it alone, you know, Twilight thought. But before she could answer, Celestia and Luna’s sigils appeared on the tree to glow in unison with the Elements. Something else was happening. As they watched, a large pink flower sprouted from the base of the tree.

Twilight tapped it gently, and it opened to reveal a golden lock.

 

“What’s this?” she asked, ever curious.

“Six keys for six locks,” Luna answered simply.

“Excuse me,” Fluttershy said politely. “Do you mean that if we open them, we can use the Elements again?”

Applejack nodded. “Ah guess that makes sense…”

“But then, where are the keys?” Twilight asked.

“That,” replied Celestia, “Is a mystery. But it is one you will not have to solve on your own.”

They trotted out of the forest together, ready to celebrate another lesson learned, another crisis averted. But still Twilight worried. One thought wrapped itself around her mind as tightly as the Everfree vines: Where? Where did they go?

With their luck, it was be a place nopony would ever dream of looking.

 

 

 

“…Excuse me?” the rich stallion inquired. His eyebrows rose and vanished into his expertly styled mane.

“I said it’s worth three thousand bits, Mr. Set,” Silver Spoon replied. She gestured to the old saddle he had just deposited on the table. “Three thousand five hundred at the most.”

Jet Set shuffled his hooves nervously on the carpet and smiled at her as though she were a foal. “Well, I…I’m afraid that’s impossible, little filly. Perhaps you’re not looking at it quite closely enough, hmm?” His wife Upper Crust was listening close behind him, casting worried looks around the foyer.

Silver Spoon fought the urge to groan. Where was Diamond Tiara? She hoped her best friend would arrive soon. These antiques shows could get so boring without her.

With Jet still looking imperiously down his snout at her, she grabbed a monocle and examined the offering even more closely. “Oh my! You were right, Mr. Set.” He leaned forward hopefully. “I didn’t even see this little stain on the underside! Yes, that makes it more like twenty-nine hundred.” She clopped her hooves together and gave him a self-satisfied grin.

The stallion blushed red under his gray coat—almost the same shade as hers, though thank Celestia they weren’t related. “I’m sorry, but perhaps you should call your parents over to help you with this. You see, my wife’s father bought this saddle at auction for three times that amount. It was made by High Horse himself, a very famous designer of the Greater Canterlot Period—”

“The Lesser Canterlot Period, actually,” Silver corrected him icily. “Do you want to know why I have this fabulous cutie mark and you don’t? It’s because, like, I actually know about antiques. And this is so not a High Horse, okay?”

Jet Set stared at her, finally shocked into silence. His wife looked as though she wanted to sink through the floor.

“It’s a High Horse knockoff.  Worth maybe a thousand bits back in the 3700s, not much more now. And my dad can tell you the same thing, if you want to ask him too. But he’s really busy now, and I’m sure you don’t want to make the Spoons upset with you, right?”

“Well, I…er…”

“I didn’t think so.” she said smugly.

As the social climbers took back their saddle and walked out in a huff,  Silver noted with some relief that the crowd was dwindling. Maybe she would get some sleep tonight after all. It was a school night, and she and Diamond had a long day of teasing the blank flanks ahead of them.

 

Something clattered gently in her saddlebag, where she kept her tools and a few of her favorite pieces for display. She glanced at the right pocket and saw something that hadn’t been there before.

Six golden keys, all together on one ring. Where did those come from? They weren’t her keys to the family mansion; those, obviously, were silver.

“Hmmm,” she said to herself. “Oh well. I’ll get a closer look at them later.”

“Hi, Silver Spoon!”

She would know that voice anywhere. Silver turned around and ran to greet her best friend. “Bump, bump, sugar lump rump!” they chorused, ignoring confused stares from the mares and stallions.

“How’s it going? I’m glad they didn’t bore you to death before I got here.” Diamond glanced around with disdain. As usual, Silver was one of the only fillies she would speak civilly to.

“Close enough,” she sighed. “I love judging antiques, but you know how these parties go. We never get anything really good.”

 

The keys jingled again, unnoticed, before sinking further into her bag.

Edited November 26, 2013 by TailsIsNotAlone

[PrincessLuna24x7 1]

I think that the keys are hidden throughout the episodes, but the ponies don't really even relize it. Remember when they learn a lesson and their eyes glow rainbow? Well at the end of the episode, something in the end glows rainbow... Those things MUST be the keys!!!!