//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Seeker 
// by NotanImportantPony 
//------------------------------//


 Seeker 


By: NotanImportantPony 





My name is Silver ‘Ghost’ Byrd, I am a Seeker and this is my story. To be able to know what I do- which is Seeking -you must know who and what I am as well as my reasons for becoming a Seeker.

I am an average sized Pegasus mare with a silver coat, mane, and tail, personally I found that coloration to be very bland so when I graduated from the Seeker Academy at the age of twenty-two I dyed the crest of my mane and the tips of my feathers a tawny orange to add some color. If you want to know why I didn’t dye my hair before joining the Seeker Academy that would be because of my parents. They were, or rather are very strict; however. the day I graduated from the Academy is among one of the proudest moments of mine and my parent’s lives, after my Uncle Silver Wing beat it into their heads that I loved what I did and I would not change for them. So, once they saw that I had made something of myself and that I enjoyed what I was doing they backed off.

Now, you probably have a head full of questions, like “what is a Seeker?” Well, to put it simply, we are explorers. We go wherever we want to go whenever we want. That's what a Seeker is, you know. It's not just a name and a skill set and knowledge; that's what a Seeker needs. That’s not what a Seeker is because what being a Seeker really is, is freedom. Like I said, we go wherever we want whenever we want, we’re free to make our own decisions; our own stories. The most important part of the job is to have fun, to meet new people and explore new lands. The tales my Uncle told me when I was a filly gave me a feeling, at that time I could not describe what I felt. It was only after myself and my crew completed our month long graduation trek across the Badlands that I knew what I felt. It was awe.

Awe. That is a fickle emotion often tempered by excitement, nervousness, and fear; however, at the same time those emotions along with several others come together to form awe. Had it not been for the awe inspiring stories my Uncle enthralled me with when I was little I might never be here, instead, I might be working in the Cloudsdale weather factory. But, I think that no matter where I would have gone, I would be fine. Although, there is a certain mystique that comes with being a Seeker. We- the Seekers -consist of many different species from many different backgrounds and cultures. While my Uncle’s tales filled my head with fantasies of Gryphons and Minotaurs along with a couple of Dragons, I was always fixated on him.

Despite his death I find my Uncle to be somepony whom I look up to; somepony I can always see next to me in times of trouble; my voice of reason. He was fifty-six years old when he died and I was twenty-three. The funny thing is, even after being officially ‘retired’ from the Seeker’s he still considered himself to be a Seeker. I took all of the tales he told me and wrote them down in one of my journals, I’ll have to fish that out sometime and insert them in here. He was always fond of saying “In my day” then adding on something like “we Seeker’s didn’t have all these fancy technologies, we just had a stick, a rock, and a piece of string.” Truthfully he said that phrase so many times that it just became ingrained in me. Oddly enough I met with a young cadet yesterday and I started that very same phrase. I guess I really do miss him.

But enough of that sappy stuff, I have story to tell. I’ll have to clarify a bit more. While being a Seeker grants you pretty much any perk you can think of, the work and effort needed to become a Seeker is well, it puts the Royal Guard training to shame. We have to learn several languages many of which are no longer in use. I’ll give a short rundown of a few languages in the order of easiest to hardest: Old Equestrian, Dog, Dragon, Zebrican, Griffin. To be fair, hearing a pony speaking Griffin is just weird. Unicorn’s have the easiest time out of any species because they can use magic for translation spells.

Because we travel everywhere we have to memorize pretty much every bit of garb and culture that is thrown at us. There are four major cultures that we have to master. Zebra; Either by choice or by magic the Zebra’s cannot use magic, in some villages magic is viewed as a taboo and is punishable by, well whatever punishment that they want, I was a bit freaked out when I learned about that.  Griffin; One of their rights of passage is to have a youngling track, hunt, kill, and then eat their meal I had to do that and well, I can’t look at rabbits the same way ever again. Dragons place power and honor before everything else. In order to be accepted in their community I had to fight against a dragon whelp, needless to say I got my hide tanned. I was accepted though. Dogs are… different and for a Pegasus, being under ground was not a good experience, I didn’t- I, well I failed that.

The Seeker’s history is coloured. Like every other organization we have made our fair share of mistakes, some are worse than others. But for those who die in the field we honor them by bringing their bodies back to their families no matter what. That is part of being a Seeker, loyalty. We never leave a fellow Seeker behind. But that is history and like I said, my name is Silver ‘Ghost’ Byrd, I am a Seeker, welcome to my world.