A Clone Gargoyle's Equestrian Tale

Journal Lessons: Castle Mane-ia

S4 E3 Everypony! Daring Don't is up next! (Sorry if this is shorter than the last two episodes)

...

On a typical peaceful morning, Malibu was seen back in the Golden Oaks library with Twilight as the two were busy reading. Celestia had allowed them to live in Ponyville which Malibu was happy about since he wanted to keep living with Applejack's family too.

Twilight soon reached peak frustration, slamming another book shut. "Uggh!" She moaned, throwing the book which nearly hit Spike, destroying his feather duster.

Malibu had jumped from her frustrated groan. "Whoa, it's alright Twilight. I know we'll find something." He tried to assure, Spike wondering what they were doing.

"What's up guys?" Spike asked, Twilight rubbing her head. "I've gone through every book in Ponyville, Spike. And there isn't a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, nor anything about keys to unlock it! But something tells me that opening it is pretty important."

The former gargoyle agreed. "Yeah, but where would the keys be? I hope we won't have to travel to the far reaches of Equestrian to find them." He said nervously, not ready to travel out of reach of his home.

Twilight lowered her head. "I hope your mom will have ideas. If the library in Canterlot doesn't have anything, I-I don't know where else to look!" She sat down in despondency, Malibu putting a hoof around her.

Spike suddenly yelped out, belching out what appeared to be a message, Twilight opening it with her magic and reading it. "My dearest Twilight and son, while it will be perfectly lovely to have you in Canterlot once more, I have another option in mind much closer to Ponyville!"

Malibu stared in surprise but gratefulness. "That's a start." He said, Twilight reading further. "As you know, the ancient castle that I once shared with Princess Luna lies mostly in ruins, deep in the Everfree Forest. But if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research."

Just from reading that made Twilight suddenly geek out. "Oooh! There could be so many ancient books! We gotta go Malibu!"

Malibu however didn't know about this, especially after being held hostage there by Nightmare Moon he had no desire to return to that place. "Not sure if you forgot that Nightmare nearly killed me in that castle!" He snapped, feeling tiny pricks of PTSD.

Twilight nudged him playfully. "Come on, I know you're scared, but it could help you find your key to the chest. We'll be close by you this time."

After a time, Malibu then gave in, nodding nervously. "Alright."

...

The trio soon arrived at the Castle of the Two Sisters which was still just as foreboding as it ever was before. Malibu's heart thumped in fear, still not so sure about venturing inside.

Twilight had given him an encouraging look and he reluctantly followed his friends into the entrance. It felt too long ago that they had found the Elements in here.

When entering in the library of the castle, it caused the mulberry alicorn to completely flip out, Malibu grinning when she did. "Wow! Look at all these ancient books! It is a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it!" She whooped out in joy, flying about while Spike trembled, stumbling about and getting caught in cobweb before falling and collapsing against a horse statue head.

Malibu noted how spooky it looked, Spike yelped out, chuckling nervously. "So, uh, Twilight, ready to head home?"

Twilight was buried in a pile of books. "Are you kidding? This is perfect!" She shrilled, burying herself in again, Malibu gulping, rolling his eyes, while noting the spiders with stars on their backs crawling around, hoping they weren't poisonous while Twilight read through a lot of books to take to another room with her.