Chapter 9.1 (Ponies Below the Grand Tree)

Early in the morning before dawn broke, Espie popped out of the bed early to arrange her items and the staff to get a head-start preparation for the trip.

A few moments later, Ethos and Fluttershy also woke up. "Get ready whatever you need and get going to Twilight's castle to meet up with everyone!" Her voice was filled with much enthusiasm, yearning to bring the group around the forests of Nibel.

The two looked at each other somnolently for a moment before washing up their faces and packing necessities and moving off with Espie, who was already fervent about the visit to her home.

Reaching the castle, the rest of the group was already waiting. "Is everyone ready to travel to Nibel?"

"Yeah!" They exclaimed in unison, thrilled for the visit.

"Espie, just for curiosity, how much time are we going to spend in your world?" Princess Celestia asked at the last minute, worried about the state of Equestria when she is on the trip.

"It's a two day one night trip around Nibel. There's someone I would also like you to meet, so I invited you to join us." She apprised her before announcing to the group that they were leaving. "We are going to warp. Everyone, stay close to me! The staff has a magical proximity limit, so I cannot warp anyone too far away."

After everypony stood close to her, she pointed the Staff of Spacetime to the sky and teleported everypony from Ponyville to Nibel in an instant.

Upon entering Nibel, a revitalising breeze was felt. The air was welcoming with a cooler temperature, crisp and pure as always. They appeared at the base of the majestic Spirit Tree, the beginning roots of all the Light Spirits that were born around.

"Welcome to Nibel, my home and where I started off from. This ginormous tree is the Spirit Tree, where most spirits are created. The Spirit Tree takes care of creatures and spirits in an extensive area around the Nibel forest, trying to keep them safe. Let's go meet the duo who saved Nibel once before. While walking, just look around and appreciate the nature..." Espie lead them in a tour-like manner, introducing different monuments and their functions.

"Ooh! Those are quite cute! They look like you two, Espie and Ethos!"

"Of course, they look like Ethos and me! We are all spirits originating from the same Spirit Tree."

Maundering about how spirits look, Pinkie Pie and Espie had a longwinded prose, speaking loud enough for the rest of the group to hear them.

"Well, these guys are my size…" Spike compared his size with the size of nearby frolicking spirits.

"Yes, Spike. They are as small as you…"

"Twilight, they are just marvellous little creatures! Look!"

Rarity pointed with her hooves, pointing the group to look in one specific direction. They saw spirits climbing, placing tag, prancing from tree to tree and capering. One of the spirits swung on a vine niftily towards them, seeming to want to interact with them.

"Hey Espie, it has been a month since you left. I missed you! Who are all of these friends you have brought here?" "They are Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Princess Celestia and the new addition to our community, Ethos. Nice to see you again, Lucie."

"Wow! Another Celestia? That is so awesome!"

"She's a royal pony of Equestria where they reside, so you might want to address her differently. Anyway, wanna come along Lucie?"

"Um, I'm actually training some of the younglings' agility currently, so I need get going to catch up with my students." She said before she sprinted and resumed swinging on the vines that drooped from the majestic tree.

"Who was that? A friend of yours?" Rainbow Dash asked, observing that they were somehow related.

"She's one of my companions and my best apprentice. She's a veteran student of mine who took over my teachings because I wanted to pursue my dreams of becoming an adventurous explorer," Espie explained to her.

"You're a teacher? Wow. I didn't know that…" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"There's a lot you don't know about me. C'mon, let's move on ahead!"

She continued moving ahead, leading the group as if it was like a tour.

"Here is where spirits like me live. These are the leafy beds that light spirits normally sleep on for the night. This is my home." Espie led them into a tree hollow and introduced her home to them.

"Espie, you live here? Oh my! It's um… too natural for my tastes..."

"Rarity, it's their way of life here, don't judge. It's not like you will sleep here anytime soon." Twilight stopped her criticism about the hollow in case Espie was offended.

"I think it's quite pleasant to live so close to nature, it's quite serene here." Fluttershy poked around at the leafy beds and glanced around.

After they finished visiting Espie's home, the group proceeded onto a winding path on the side of the Spirit Tree leading to the top.

The ponies who could fly did not split from the group to go ahead, but instead, stayed along with the rest.

However, halfway up the tree, the ponies who could not fly felt exhausted and started panting.

"Phew… How much more do we have to climb? This is really tirin' for us who can't fly…" Applejack grumbled as her hooves started to protest against the long trek, feeling pain and increasingly weary on every step.

"Well, some of us spirits use magic to fly while some of the others just like to do the conventional vertical climb all the way up which is more enervating than the way that we are reaching the top. Anyway, we should be there anytime soon. Don't give up!"

They moved on further, finally emerging from the path onto the summit of the tree, seeing Ori next to a glowing spherical shape.

"Finally! We've reached the top!" Spike exclaimed, sighing with the rest of the group who walked all the way up to the top.

"Hey Ori and Sein!"

Chapter 9.2 (Meeting the Heroes of Nibel)

The seven ponies, Spike, Espie and Ethos were all pleasantly greeted by Ori.

"Hey Espie and all of you. Nice to meet all of you. I'm Ori and this is Sein, the light and eyes of the grand Nibel Spirit Tree. But Espie…"

Ori moved next to her, whispering to her about a trivial matter.

"Did you seriously bring them up by walking? You do know there is a teleportation portal at the base of the Spirit Tree to just instantly come here, right?"

"Yep. I just wanted them to enjoy the views while they climbed up. If I did inform them, they might not have followed me by the spiralling path." she said, giggling softly, making herself slightly suspicious to the rest of the group.

"It's so mean of you."

Ori sighed, shaking his head distastefully and face-pawed before proceeding to what they planned to do in the late morning.

"We shall commence with our introductions. Let's start with your names and something about yourselves."

Each of them took turns to introduce themselves, including Ethos, sharing tales and stories.

"Wait a moment Ori, how are you a Guardian Spirit while Espie is just an Elder Spirit? Isn't she qualified?" Pinkie Pie asked Ori on one of his replies.

"She is. Although she's a Guardian, the 'guardian' title is not usually put on her as she does not permanently stay in an area to protect something. For me, I'm guarding the Spirit Tree constantly, ensuring that everything is all right in Nibel first before anything else that I do."

"Ori is right… Most of the spirits call me an Elder Spirit as I have taught most of them in the past and I'm one of the veterans here. I'm only like fourteen spirit years old, which is not old in spirit years, but it's fine."

As they continued chatting, Espie delineated about her adventures in Equestria to Ori and Sein while the rest listened attentively the different boasts and exaggerations that she added on into her story.

"Hmm, Equestria seems kinda nice. I would like to visit the place one of the days with my students. Anyway, Ethos, welcome to the Light Spirit community." He said, thinking about going on a personal trip there.

"Espie, a word with you in the hollows, behind these vines." Ori swept the vines to the side, revealing a room full of rare items and sacred carvings.

They had a tête-à-tête moment, discussing in secrecy while Sein attended to chat with the rest.

Ori took out two stone pendants from a nearby wooden box, passing both to Espie. "I will need you to use your staff to imbue both of these energy stone on these pendants, one just for me to use for dimensional exploration. The other, you may pass it to one of your trustworthy pony friends later, so that they might return to Nibel anytime they want."

She transferred some of the staff's energy and charged the stones with spacetime powers, making them glow with bluish-grey luminescence.

While Ori kept it for his future explorations, she kept the pendant in her bag securely to pass it on to Twilight when she was back in Equestria again. "Espie, keep it a secret to most. Spacetime magic is the strongest one of all magic in Nibel, so I won't know what to do if those charged items are misused."

They emerged from the hollow after their personal conversation to re-join the rest.

"Ori, do you know where my friends are? The four of them who followed me to the Valley of Dreams. I want to see them."

"They aren't around Nibel at the moment. They left traversing through the outskirts of Nibel there to pay a visit to their masters. They should be arriving at the valley in tomorrow."

"Oh… How about visiting the places you've been before? We've still got half a day to go before their arrival and my pony friends would like to see those places." Espie requested while the rest nodded in agreement to visit Ori's great escapade.

"Okay. I will follow your group around for today until a point before returning back here. Shall we leave to see my past adventure places now?"

"Sure!" the group answered eagerly, anticipating the picturesque locales that he used to go on his peregrination to save the forest of Nibel.

Standing in close proximity of Espie, she casted a teleportation spell, warping them to their first stop on the list, Ori's erstwhile home.

"Ah! This brings back memories, my former home. This is where my adoptive mother, Naru, and I used to play together." He spoke, flashbacking to the joyous moments he and Naru had there.

Chapter 9.3 (Ori's Former Adventure Spots)

Seeing Naru, he ran forward to hug her. "Welcome back Ori, and your new friends too!"

"Ma, it's been a long time since I've came back here. I have been busy doing my duties at the Spirit Tree. Anyway, where are Gumo and the owl?"

"They are out in the grass field playing with each other. Why don't you introduce your friends to me?" she suggested, pointing out that he forgot to introduce them.

"This is Espie and Ethos and the ponies are…" Ori introduced each and every pony that was in the group to Naru, including Spike, which fascinated her. "All of you have nice names, and you are an interesting one, Spike. I've never seen a dragon here before." She said, examining him from the head to tail, checked him out.

"Anyway, Espie and Ori, how are spirits born here?" Princess Celestia asked curiously while Naru was taking a look at Spike. Ori nudged Espie, signalling her to explain, saving the effort for him to continue talking.

"As spirits, we are born from the leaves of Spirit Tree that falls onto the grounds of Nibel. Although we have different looks, we have similar roots," she explained to the group who were not familiar with the customs around here.

"Wow, so that's how you two were born. I was born quite differently and my beginnings were not as simple as yours." Ethos recounted the way he was born in the darkness and not from a leaf but in a cave. They continued to share about themselves until it was time to leave for the next area.

Ori decided that they should move on to the next place, leading the group out of his home after bidding Naru adieu. Espie took the staff, and waved it around, teleporting and then reappearing in front of a colossal tree that was flowing ceaselessly.

"Here we are at the Ginso Tree, Nibel's element of water," Ori spoke, retelling the group on how Gumo stole the Water Vein and how he managed to get the orb back to open the Ginso Tree.

They entered the tree with ceaselessly flowing water, seeing decayed wooden logs that hung from the ceilings. "Oh, right… I forgot about this… Let's teleport up to the waterfall to save the effort of climbing up,"Espie suggested alternatively, teleporting all of them to the Ginso Tree summit, in front of a flowing pool of water.

Reaching the summit of the tree, they frolicked in the crystal clear waters under the late-afternoon sun, splashing and swimming and wading until it was dark. In the evening, they laid on the nearby grass patch, staring into the starry night sky.

"Ah! It's so cooling and tranquil here, what an enjoyable night." Princess Celestia looked up, feeling tranquil around them. The others also felt the same relaxing atmosphere and started to lay down.

"We are going to sleep here for the night. Aaaah…" Espie yawned, turning to see the others, noticing Rarity still standing and expressing a face of disgust.

"Urgh! Why are we sleeping here? There might be bugs or insects!"

"Rarity, don't worry, we don't have them this high here at this altitude. Rest well" Espie reassured her. Reluctantly, she slept along with the rest on the grass patch.

The next day, they woke up and moved on to their next location. "Time to go to the Valley of the Wind," Ori announced before the whole group routinely gathered to be teleported. Upon reappearing, wind gushed into their faces. They were on the top of a rocky precipice of the vast valley.

"Some of you ponies with wings can fly around the valley. There is a powerful updraft for gliding and flying around. Those who cannot fly, just hang around or follow Espie to the Forlorn Ruins."

Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumped off the cliff edge, blown vertically upwards by the gusts of strong winds.

Spike, feeling envious, complained to Ori "Hey! What about me? I wanna fly too!"

"Me too!" Ethos joined him in the protest.

"If you really want to, I will lead you to acquire some big leafs from the vegetation close by for you to glide with." He put forward a backup plan for the non-flyers enjoy the experience.

He led Spike and Ethos towards an ancient tree and got some broad leaves for flying. The trio proceeded to jump into the wind, flying in the breeze.

Espie stayed with the rest of the group who didn't want to fly and visited the Forlorn Ruins, teleporting there. They enjoyed the gravity changes in the ruins, cantering around while they were hanging from the ceilings.

"Woo hoo! Upside down jumping!" Pinkie Pie bounced continuously off the ceiling before landing back onto the ceiling, experiencing the difference to only bouncing on the flat ground.

"Yup, the Forlorn Ruins has gravitational anomalies, which makes it perfect to hang like a bat. The heart at the centre of this place, the Element of Winds, produces wind for our friends riding the wind right at this moment. Unfortunately, we can't enter the heart at the moment as there are gale force winds there, which will be pulverised to bits if you enter. Going in there would endanger everyone." Espie warned them, pointing at a blocked off hole in the wall.

Whizzing through the air and flying towards the walls, they landed on different surfaces on all sides of the ruins using the floating bluish blocks, changing whichever side they want the gravity to pull.

"Wait, what in tarnation is this?" Applejack asked, looking at a circular structure that was right below her.

"Oh… That? That's a Spirit Well. When Light Spirits are debilitated, they come to these wells to revitalise themselves with the spirit energies within."

"Wait! So that's your type of hospital? Wow, so that's how spirits normally heal themselves." Pinkie exclaimed, also staring at the Spirit Well.

"Not only that, but spirits also can use the energies to instantly teleport themselves to other wells that they choose to go. It's just how Nibel works."

Having exhilarating fun, time passed quickly but it was time for them to return back to the Valley of the Wind to check on the flying ponies and the gliding non-flyer duo.

"Alright, it's time to wrap things up! We should return back to the Valley of to meet up with the rest."

Hanging upside down, they teleported back to the cliffside of the valley.

Ori approached Espie and informed her about needing to go back before sundown.

"I need to return to the Spirit Tree to check on Sein, so I might need to go back now…" he said, worried about the state of both the Spirit Tree and Sein after a day apart with them.

"Okay Ori. The rest of you, I will be back in a jiffy so please help to look out for the flyers and gliders while I'm away." Espie disappeared for a moment before reappearing back onto the cliff.

"It's time for us to go, my friends should have arrived," she shouted to them. Immediately, they landed on the valley cliff edge beside her.

"That was so fun Espie! We don't have such strong winds like that back at home in Equestria. It's a pity that we have to go so soon." Rainbow Dash felt slightly reluctant to leave and stated.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry we have to cut this short. My friends are going to where I planned to go today so there is rescheduling. It's around noon now, so they should already be there." she logically replied.

Espie used the staff and transported them to the Dream Sanctuary, at the base of the valley.

"Well, we are here. This is the Valley of Dreams, the place where there are unlimited psychic energies flowing all about. This is the place where Light Spirits acquire psychic abilities and the place where I gained mine."

The ponies glanced around, looking at some of the levitated boulders and in the yonder, a misty lake surrounded by trees and wooden houses with leafy roofs. Espie pointed at an area outside a big building, a peculiar one with a birch wood roof and was temple-like which stood out from the rest of the wooden buildings around the lake.

My Light Spirit friends should arrive at that rendezvous point soon. That was the spot where we split for our individual trainings and where we reunited after that seven years ago. Let's head there to wait for my friends! I can't wait for them to meet you!" She announced to the group, anticipating her friends' arrival as a joyous occasion.

Chapter 9.4 (A Return Visit to the Valley of Dreams)

After waiting a while at the sanctuary, her four spirit friends appeared on the horizon, sighting Espie along with her friends. "Hey Espie! I see you've got some new friends while you were away. Can you introduce them to all four of us?"

"Yes, I've brought them from another dimension just to bring them around Nibel. These my new friends. They are…" she introduced her visiting group to her four friends and vice versa.

"You used the Cube of Dimensions to instantly travel here, didn't you?" asked the strong and muscular one.

"I used the Staff of Spacetime to teleport here. Ethos' previous master had the incomplete staff of magic which was the missing piece to put together with the cube. Since we had both the parts, we fused the relics together into the staff, increasing the power of spacetime magic so that we can choose where to go instead of randomly travelling through dimensions."

"So now you have full control over the spacetime continuum. Big deal…" he whined.

"Don't mind him. He's a bit jealous about Espie's positive progression in her life. Anyway, should we go to visit our former masters now? I mean, we don't have all day, just the afternoon."

"Yes, we shall! Ponies, Spike and Ethos, the choice is up to you to follow any one of my friends, but we will meet here at dusk."

The group split into five subgroups to follow Espie and each of her four Light Spirit friends to visit the masters. Princess Celestia, Twilight, Spike and Ethos decided to follow Espie.

She led them to the Grand Spirit Elders' sanctuary, higher above ground than the normal sanctuary. They climbed up to the sanctuary and went into the main wooden building and saw the Spirit Elder Celestia. As a former protégé, she bowed to her formally and thank her for her teachings. "Master, it's nice to meet again. Thank you for teaching me in the past. I've got someone I'd like you to meet. Master Celestia, meet Princess Celestia."

Espie was eager to see what both Celestias would do. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Celestia. You and Espie have the same teacher-student relationship as me and Twilight." Princess Celestia pulled Twilight into the conversation, involving her to join the gabfest.

Spike and Ethos joined in the conversation shortly after. They were so involved in talking they lost track of time. As they were talking, they were oblivious to the passage of time that elapsed.

The evening sun's orange glow shone into the room, indicating that it was turning night and the ponies had to return. "It's time for us to go. Goodbye master! I hope I can visit you again another time!" Espie and the rest bid their adieus, waving goodbye to Spirit Elder Celestia before exiting the Elders' sanctuary.

On the way down to the foot of the Dream Valley Mountains, they met up with Espie's four spirit friends and the rest of the ponies on the converging paths. "Do you four want to hitch a ride with us back to the Spirit Tree? I'm sending the ponies back home and going to stop by the Spirit Tree first. Maybe it is better if you join us?"

"Sure do! It's tiring trying to come here without any means of teleportation. They should really build Spirit Wells around this valley too for us to teleport here without any hassle." The bulky one of the four spirits spoke to Espie, whining about the long journey all the way from the Spirit Tree.

"Okay. I can't teleport anyone from too far away from the radius of my staff, so four of you should come and crowd near me together with the ponies." Espie instructed. The group huddled together and teleported, returning to the Spirit Tree in a snap.