The cool air nipped at my skin as we stepped into the spring night. I gathered Luna quickly, and informed her of the situation. We quickly left the castle, to fly to Dismith. Flying there by ourselves would be quicker than waiting for one of our carriages, so we took to the skies as fast as we could. Dismith was 173 kilometers away from Canterlot, towards the west. If we flew at a consistent rate, we would arrive in just over two and a half hours. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived on time, as I had predicted. We landed on the outskirts of town, and made our way towards the location we had felt the emanation originate from. The terrain quickly changed from flat rock to hills and valleys with a dense foliage covering the sky. We made our way through the forest, clearing trees as needed.
"What do you think we will find? Did you sense anything when you felt the emanation?" Luna asked solemnly.
"No, I received no indication of what lies ahead. Whatever it is, it's powerful. Only something quite proficient with magic could trigger the elements so fiercely," I told her.
Truth be told, I had no idea what we were walking into. The elements had long been forgotten, abandoned when Discord had been defeated. The power was unparalleled in magnitude. We saw it for the best to hide them, buried in a tomb of rock and sand, hidden for all eternity.
Or so we thought. Obviously, something had found them, and now, we could have a serious issue on our hooves. If something with nefarious intentions had gotten hold or control of the elements, then Equestria could be plunged into another dark period.
And I will NOT allow that to happen…
We descended into a small valley with trees coating the entire plane. It didn't take us long to find a small cavern, where the feeling of the elements had gotten stronger. Much stronger.
"Be wary sister, we do not know what could lie ahead," Luna warned me.
We cautiously stepped into the cave, igniting my horn for illumination. As we traveled deeper into the cave, something felt… off, about the elements. They felt, almost like… like they were… one? It felt like one… no… two, energy sources. One felt quite faint, but the other, the other felt immensely more powerful than the other.
I could practically feel heat coming off one of the emanations, as we rounded one last corner. Ahead was a long "hall," and at the end, our anomalies.
"Careful sister," I ushered to Luna, to which she nodded, preparing her magic. We slowly crept forward, hoping for our findings to be peaceable.
The glow of my magic engulfed the room, and I saw the pedestal for the elements...
…and no elements.
Gazing past the pedestal, I saw… a boy? Yes, a boy, lying on the ground, unmoving.
"Luna, help him," I told her, and she quickly moved to help the boy.
Gazing over to my left, I saw another boy, sitting against the wall, also unmoving. I quickly went to check on him, finding him to be unconscious.
"Luna, what have you found?" I called out to my sister.
"This boy, he is unconscious," she told me. I looked around the room carefully.
"Where are the elements?" Luna asked me.
"I wish I knew Luna,"
I looked back to the unconscious boy.
"I wish I knew…"
Getting back to Canterlot proved more than a small challenge. Without a carriage, we were limited to flying back, while carrying the boys on our backs. We couldn't leave them in Dismith, even if we suspected them as coming from there. These boys, whatever they did, had information on the elements. I could feel their presence in the boys.
Several times, we had to stop so one of us could rest our wings and magic. Once, Luna had dropped the smaller boy, barely saving him from falling to death. We flew low and quiet, avoiding any towns on the way back to the castle.
When we arrived back, it was around four in the morning. The night staff were not expecting visitors, obviously, so when we approached the gate, we were stopped.
"Stop, identify yourself," the guard on duty said, around one hundred meters away.
"Draw the bridge, we need medical attention, now!" I yelled.
The guard immediately recognized my voice in the darkness, and signaled for the bridge to be lowered. Once it was, we quickly entered the castle. We met a medical team halfway to the medical wing, who were equipped with two stretchers. We placed the two boys on each stretcher, and they were quickly taken away to be helped. A doctor that I knew stayed behind to talk to us.
"Princesses, are you two alright?" Doctor Windy asked us.
"Yes, I- I think we will be alright," I told him, catching my breath. Drained of my magic, I dismissed Doctor Windy, telling him that the boys were his first priority. Having gained my composure back, Luna turned to me.
"Shall we go get a bite to eat sister?"
"…that sounds nice, yes," I told her.
The next morning...
With what little sleep I had gotten last night, I moved swiftly down the hallway towards the medical wing. Arriving, I entered the first wing, the admission hall. This is where all individuals who came here were filed and made note of. I approached the counter to talk to the mare who was working today. She turned to meet my gaze, and quickly straightened her posture. I smiled at that, and went on.
"Good morning princess! Um, are you here about the two boys from last night?" she asked me in her high pitched voice.
"Yes, can you tell me where I can find them?" I asked her.
"Sure thing, room seven, just down the hall behind you,"
"Thank you," I told her, and I turned to leave. Quickly entering room seven, I found both boys, on either sides of the room, lying in hospital beds. A new doctor was standing over the smaller boy, a doctor I was not familiar with. He noticed me, and finished writing something down.
"I uh, was hoping you could provide a little more insight to me on who these boys are," he told me with a laugh.
I smiled back. "Unfortunately, I also am at a loss, but I do need to speak to them. When will that be possible?"
"That… we don't know. See, these boys aren't unconscious. They're in a comatose state, but not like one we have ever seen before. This one is… deeper, somehow. The only things we are getting out of them are their heart rates. Their brain wave signatures are almost non-existent. The decision to remove life support falls to you, princess," he told me.
"Doctor, I want the opposite. If you need to use all of your funding for the year to keep these boys alive, you do it. I don't care what happens, you WILL look after these two, am I clear?" I enforced.
"Crystal,"
"Good, now, in that case, please keep me informed to any changes that occur. If they wake up, I want to know," I told him.
"Yes princess," he nodded. I returned the gesture, and left the room. I made my way back, heading towards Luna's room. Arriving, I knocked on the door, and waited.
"Luna? Open up," I yelled.
"Oh my god…" I heard faintly. The door opened, and a frizzy maned Luna appeared before me.
"What do you want, dear sister," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm.
"Haha, funny. Let me in," I told her. She stepped to the side, and I entered her absolute pitch black room. The door closed behind me, and I felt out to the curtains with my magic. Flinging them open, I heard Luna yell behind me.
"Ah, Tia, why must you destroy something so precious to me!" she yelled.
"And what would that be?"
"Sleep. Darkness,"
I rolled my eyes, and turned to face Luna.
"The two boys, we need to talk about them," I told her.
"So talk," she said.
"Right. The two we brought in… they are in a magically based comatose state. The doctor didn't know it, but I did,"
"Did you tell him then?"
I mentally face-palmed, and continued.
"Regardless, I have informed the doctor to let me know if anything changes," I told her.
"Okay,"
"But we need to do some covering up. The boys were more than likely from Dismith, so we should go and inform the parents of what has happened,"
"Alright,"
"And I want you to do that," I told her.
"What!? Why me? Why not you?"
"I need to be here if anything happens to them. Look, the faster this gets done, the better, ok? That's why I need you in Dismith today, Luna" I told her.
She groaned, and half-heartedly agreed, likely because of her lack of sleep. She quickly ushered me out of her room, insisting that she needed to get ready. Her doors slammed behind me, and I turned.
"Don't forget to set your alarm Luna!"