Chapter 5
In the heart of the Everfree Forest, facing a mysterious cavern in a small clearing, were four of the elements of harmony. Their friend Zecora had brought them to the lair of the strange creature. His absence had surprised them. They were worried about that since they had no idea were the creature was. They had come to make first contact with this one and learn more about it, but at the same time, its peculiar pace and the terror it had imposed to the Cutie Mark Crusaders made them approach this encounter with fearful caution. But the monster was not here when they arrived.
Each one scattered to try to discover a trace, or even to learn anything about this thing. Rainbow Dash was flying around, hoping to spot the terrifying creature. Pinkie Pie had the same goal and searched on ground level, behind every tree, every bush, and even in every burrow she could find. Fluttershy spotted a raven duo that had landed on a branch and started to talk with them. Twilight and Zecora had entered the cave and become interested in the curious garbage on the floor. As for Applejack, she was interested in a campfire placed in front of the cave’s entrance.
This proof of the monster's ability to use fire didn’t really surprise her. She had understood it was an intelligent being since she heard about its music and clothes. What worried her, however, was the presence of fish leftovers near the ashes. The ponies, pegasi, and unicorns were all herbivorous. This thing was not. When she shared her macabre discovery with the rest of the group, it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to call it dreadful and suspect him of eating ponies. Their fears were understood by all, but some tried to tranquilize them.
"I also hope that's not the case," Fluttershy said shakily before giving a slight smile, "but I have a lot of animal friends who eat fishes, you know. Herons, otters, snakes, and especially Harry the Bear."
"And what do you think I feed Gummy with?" added Pinkie Pie. "Alligators have a very strict diet, you know."
None of this reassured the farmer and the blue pegasus. This didn’t prove the harmlessness of the creature concerned. Maybe it simply hadn’t had a chance to capture a pony. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, and Zecora were studying the objects on the floor of the monster’s home with great curiosity. The presence of a mattress surprised them more than they would have thought, because it couldn’t have made it by itself. Did it steal it then? However, their attention was quickly attracted by the big black box placed against a wall. They of course recognized it as a guitar case, but it was its contents that really interested them. Opening the box, they discovered a cherry red guitar, very different from the ones they had seen before. The six strings were there, but the instrument was thinner than a classic guitar and had no hole for the sound box. Zecora made one of the strings vibrate, but the sound it produced was not melodious at all. Even pulling each of them in different places, they produced nothing but a dissonant noise. The zebra and the unicorn wondered whether it was really the instrument with which the monster had played its terrible music.
They ended up concentrating on a pile of shiny rubbish and bits of paper. They had absolutely no idea of the use that could have been made of the plastic artifact covered with buttons and filled with green plates furrowed with metallic lines. But the fact that said buttons were covered with letters reminded Celestia’s disciple of experimental models of typewriters that she had seen in some scientific magazines. Twilight couldn’t understand how that thing could work however. Despite her desire to study this strange artifact, she had many other curiosities to look at. Twilight was excited about so much mystery. She felt like an adventurer discovering a lost civilization, except that it was still alive and closer to her own than she would have imagined.
The circular pieces first made her think of mirrors, but once put together, they made her think about a miniature version of the vinyls that Vinyl Scratch used for her music, an assumption that was bolstered when she noticed the drawings and texts on the opposite side. But by collecting the pieces, including the shreds of paper that she identified as tattered posters, her curiosity was tinged with fear. Most of the words she was able to form weren’t really intimidating, such as "Nightwish" or "Dream Theater", but others had unpleasantly shocked her, such as "Disturbed" or "In Flames".
Zecora pulled her out of her worried thoughts with a discovery that made Twilight’s eyes shine like little stars.
"Books!" she exclaimed joyfully.
Indeed, hidden near the mattress, under a large piece of poster, Zecora had found three books. Twilight seemed to have suddenly forgotten all her worries before throwing herself on the wonderful treasures. She told herself that this creature might not be so bad in the end. With her magic, she levitated and studied with much care the different volumes like they were a crystalline treasure. The first her eyes discovered intrigued her more by its cover than the title. She also was surprised that the texts were in Equish, since they never heard of a book like this one.
"The complete fiction of H.P. Lovecraft ..." she read. "I’ve never heard of any author named Lovecraft. And is that a flying octopus? "
She opened the strange book and read aloud, carried away by curiosity, the first lines she found. The more she read, the more her eyes lost their innocent brilliance.
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
Twilight exchanged a worried look with Zecora. The zebra seemed more curious than frightened by this disturbing text. What is a Human? She had never heard of a species by that name. And what kind of civilization could have such a dark vision of life? These lines rang in her ears like a frightening call to ignorance. She decided to look at the second book of the pile. The cover was more interesting this time, with two two-legged creatures on it that corresponded to the general description of the famous monster. They had their particularities; one was larger than the other, for example, but they clearly belonged to the same species. The title was "Of Mice and Men", and the author named John Steinbeck. Twilight understood that these creatures did not have the same way of designing names as ponies. She was pleasantly surprised when she discovered a back cover, which she read on.
“They’re an unlikely pair: George is small and quick and dark of face; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a family, clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.”
This text reassured her a little. Twilight guessed it was a friendship story and, of course, she was happy to see that. She’d never heard of this country called California, but the story itself intrigued her. It suggested some kind of empathy from the creature, which made her opinion about it a little more confused. The last book broke her heart because it was as damaged as if crushed by a stampede. The cover was damaged and covered with stains. Some pages were folded or torn, others were simply detached. She levitated the book with great care, as if it was about to fall to dust at the slightest gust of wind. She didn’t even dare to open it, contenting herself with studying the cover. There were two different creatures on it. One had an armor and the other, a dress. The title and the name of the author seemed to be in two different languages: "Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troy". The style reminded her of the French language that was sometimes used by her friend Rarity and some people from Equestrian high society. She pondered all sorts of explanations about the existence of these curious objects, but Twilight had her thoughts interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“So, what do we do? Since the monster’s not here?”
“We could wait hidden in the bushes,” suggested Pinkie. ”He’ll come back eventually.”
“That could be hours!” complained the blue pegasus. “And what if it’s attacking Ponyville right now?”
Applejack, with a worried face, entered the conversation to express her concerns.
"Twilight, I admit I'd rather go home. I promised Applebloom wouldn’t come back late and I don’t want her to worry too much in this circumstance."
Personally, the disciple of Celestia would have preferred to stay in order to see the famous creature, but her friends were right to be worried. She had hoped that this expedition would allow them to settle the case of this strange creature quickly, but it hadn’t turned out that way. Not only had it brought more questions, but no one was really watching over the city right now. Pinkie had hoped to convince her of the benevolence of the creature, but nothing she had discovered allowed her to consider it harmless. It seemed much more complex, mysterious, and potentially dangerous than expected.
Twilight finally decided to return to town. She thanked Zecora for guiding them and asked if she could continue to keep an eye on the monster when she could.
"Do not worry, I'm agreeing. I'll keep an eye on this strange being,” she answered.
She thanked the zebra hermit before joining her friends. The purple unicorn had been thinking of taking the strange books with her to study them, with a certain excitement, but she decided that it wasn’t a good idea to steal the possessions of a creature about whom they knew nothing. It could cause an incident before even beginning to discuss with the monster. She left the damaged book on the mattress before heading back to town, the other elements of harmony behind her.
Pinkie Pie's mane appeared to have partially deflated, and Fluttershy hurried to comfort her friend.
"Oh don’t worry, Pinkie. I'm sure we'll meet him soon. Well... not too soon, I hope."
"I hope so," said Pinkie. "I really want to see it and listen to its strange music. It seems to be a unique being and it makes me curious. It’ll be some funny friend. "
"Pinkie! I already told you it's too soon for saying that.” declared Twilight. "You should be more careful. There’s still a lot we need to discover before thinking about that kind of relationship.”
She then saw Fluttershy and thought about her conversation with the local birds.
“Did the crows tell you anything interesting?"
"Nothing Zecora didn’t already tell us, except that the creature always let them eat the leftovers of its fish."
"Ooooh!" said Pinkie with excitement. "That means it likes to share! Rarity will definitely like it."
xXx
The sun was setting. Everypony was going home to spend a quiet evening. There was, however, a sad exception that night. In the Carrousel Boutique, the elements of harmonies had gathered around Rarity to support her as best as possible. She had wrapped herself in a soft blanket and Fluttershy made her a sweet tea, but she hadn’t touched it. She had a glassy look and a crestfallen face. When the others returned from Everfree Forest, they found her in this worrisome state. It seemed that all emotion had left her.
When she was able to tell her friends what had happened in their absence, she seemed to slowly regain her vivacity, as if sharing this traumatic event allowed her mind to accept the reality and recover working. All her friends were by her side, worried about her and ready to say a kind word, which helped a lot. Her story was short but intense. She had allowed herself to tell what happened to Spike so that they did not need to get him upstairs. Rarity did not want to force him to relive his own nightmare again. Each of the elements of harmony had looked terrified by listening to this misadventure. Then Rarity finished telling it.
"After it left, I ended up running back with Spike. I... I was so scared. I double-locked all the doors and asked the girls to stay upstairs with Spike. I did not know what I was doing, I admit. I just wanted to ... feel safe again."
Pinkie hugged her while Applejack consoled her, telling her that it was completely normal, under Twilight's both sad and intrigued gaze. That's when the element of loyalty questioned Pinkie angrily.
"Do you still think this thing would make a good friend?"
"Rainbow Dash, said shyly Fluttershy, I do not think it's the right moment for that."
“Did you hear what Rarity told us? These creatures are ultra-violent and super-dangerous wild beasts! If we don’t do anything, who knows what they’ll break or who they’ll hurt next time!"
Rarity started shaking again. She visualized the deformed face and badly arranged teeth of the creature who had stood so close to her. This giant whose power made her imagine the ease with which it could have hurt her. She then heard Pinkie's voice with a determined tone she wasn’t used to hearing from her.
"You forget something, Dashie."
"What?"
"The one with a checkered shirt, it saved Spike and Rarity."
The stylist was surprised to have forgotten this detail. Pinkie was right. The creature who wore clothes interposed, despite its terrible wounds, to stop the clay horror. If it hadn’t done that, who knows what would have happened? The element of loyalty didn’t know what to say. She supposed the dressed thing might have just wanted to keep fighting, but Applejack, with some hesitation, reminded her that it had clearly helped Spike and told him to run away. Rainbow didn’t know what to say to that. She was still frowning, unconvinced of the benevolence of this second monster. She suspected it of simply wanting to fight with the strongest person of the moment and had just left to recover from its injuries. Rarity looked at her librarian friend, who seemed just as worried and pensive as herself. She asked then, hoping to receive an answer that would calm her tormented mind.
"Twilight, what are you thinking about?"
"Well, I’m not certain..."
"Whatever you have in mind, I'd love to hear it," Rarity insisted, as each of the elements of harmony stared at the purple unicorn. "Please. I don’t know what to think anymore."
Twilight hesitated a bit before sighing.
"The creature that attacked Spike, you said it was made of clay, right?"
"Indeed," replied the stylist, "but I don’t know what its eyes are of. Why?"
"Centuries ago, magicians tried out experiments to create... life. More precisely, sentient beings made from stones, wood, or any other inert matter. "
"You think it was one of those things?"
"I don’t know. Princess Celestia didn’t like it at all and thought about forbidding these experiments, but she didn’t need to. The researchers who initiated it tried everything, even studying timberwolves, but they always failed. Some even lost their lives. They ended up giving up, announcing that artificial life was impossible. At least for anyone except the Great Equis."
This story astonished the other elements of harmony. They weren’t surprised to have never heard of it. The study of magic wasn’t really a domain that concerned them, after all, but there indeed did not seem to be any other way to describe the monster than as a pure pile of clay come to life.
"What does that mean?" Applejack asked fearfully. "Do you think someone succeeded in creating life?"
"I don’t know," Twilight admitted, lowering her ears. "It's just that this description doesn’t remind me of anything except those experiments."
"What's the link with the other monster?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I don’t know," Twilight admitted again, lowering her head. "Rarity told us that the two monsters have similarities, but also fundamental differences. Rarity, are you sure that the monster with clothes wasn’t made of clay too?"
Rarity tried to remember the creature. She didn’t like going back to those moments, especially when she was still in shock. Despite this, she made an effort, concentrating on the thing that had saved Spike and herself. This one had indeed a very strange anatomy, whose seemed close to that of the clay-thing, but the more she thought about it, the more she saw the differences. The dressed creature was not of a dirty brown color but a very pale beige. His head had hairs that looked like a black mane and goatee, while the other monster was completely naked. But the most important thing was its eyes. Rarity hadn’t seen anything in those of the clay monster, whereas those of the one with the checked shirt had emotions: anger, fear and, most of all, pain. It was not very reassuring, but it was better than emptiness. It seemed like nothing, but Rarity seemed convinced when she answered Twilight.
"I'm sure. These two things are alike, but the one with clothes was a true living being."
Twilight would have prefered if her testimony helped her, but that was far from the case. She had told Rarity what she and the others had discovered in the forest. The more she learned about the monster that was hidden there, the less reassured she was. It was intelligent, but also violent and potentially carnivorous. She was ignoring too much about it. Even more when the description of these two monsters corresponded to that of things at the service of the terrible Blazing Sky, in the famous Canticle of Truth she was studying. She wanted to talk to her friends, but she had promised the princesses to keep that a secret. Blazing Sky was defeated by Equis a very long time ago. So how could its agents exist today? She did not even dare to imagine all the possibilities and dangers that could imply this for Equestria.
"I think I'll go home," she informed the others. "I need to do some research about all of this. I'm getting Spike."
Each of her friends was a bit sad to see her go, but they understood that this was how Twilight handled her stress, working to try to get things done. They wished they could help but they knew she prefered to do it alone. That was her way to do it, and they wanted to stay with Rarity and the crusaders. The purple unicorn climbed to the second floor while the others remained with Rarity. She arrived at Sweetie Belle's room and slowly entered. The Cutie Marks Crusaders were also under a blanket, as if it could hide them from the horrors of the universe. Spike kept them company without saying a word. He seemed lost in his thoughts, until he noticed Twilight.
“Spike, let’s go home. We have a lot of work to do.”
The little dragon joined her with a long face.
“Where are the others?” asked Applebloom, trembling like a lost kitty.
“Downstairs,” explained the librarian, “Fluttershy is gonna stay here tonight. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
That didn’t seem to reassure them.
After walking through the now-deserted streets of ponyville, the duo eventually came back to the treehouse. Without wasting time, Twilight asked Spike to seize his feather to write a letter that she dictated to him.
"Dear Princess Celestia. If you receive this letter, it is to inform you of a terribly serious situation... "
The young unicorn paused when she noticed the absence of the scratching sound of a feather. Her gaze fell on the little assistant with a low face. He had sat on the sofa, hunched over as if carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes seemed lost in the void, and his eyelids heavy. Twilight had never seen him like that. She approached him anxiously to ask if he was okay. The child answered him in a low voice.
"Sorry Twilight, I just can’t focus."
"After what you lived through I can understand. What are you thinking about?"
Spike seemed to hesitate, but he was talking to Twilight, after all. He ended up explaining what troubled him, his voice tight and choked voice.
"I... I was so scared." Tears formed like pearls at the corner of his eyes. "This thing tightened me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I begged it to let me go but... It didn’t care. I..." Spike threw himself on Twilight, embracing her with his little arms. "I struggled as much as I could but it didn’t help. It wanted to kill me, Twilight. Nothing else. I almost died. I don’t want to die."
The young dragon shed torrents of tears on the purple fur of his friend. She was crying too, hugging the dragon with her front legs. Taken in by the whirlwind of events, she only seemed to realize now what had nearly happened. The little dragon she had seen growing up, that she had raised herself all those years, had almost been taken away. She could have never seen him again, talked to him, or even hugged him like she was doing right now.
"It's okay, Spike," she murmured, "It's over. Nothing will happen to you now. I promise."
The unicorn dried the little dragon's tears and cast a sad look on him. She didn’t know what to do in this situation. All she knew was that working could wait a little bit.
"I'll write the message later. You want some cookies with gems?"
The child didn’t answer. The unicorn wanted to reassure him so much, to bring back his smile, that she told him that she was going to bring some and told him with tenderness.
"You were very brave today."
Spike watched her go to the kitchen. When she entered there, he put on a long face, not convinced at all.
xXx
The night had fully came on the Everfree Forest. A torrential rain had begun to fall. Each drop seemed to impose a huge weight on Kenneth's back and revived the pain. Not a single piece of his body seemed to be spared by suffering. His muscles were torn apart. His skeleton was crumbling. His head seemed about to explode and his abrasions were burning. On several occasions, during his walk back, he had to stop as the pain had blurred his vision and numb his legs, and he was covered in mud and dust.
It is only after a long and difficult journey that he finally arrived to his lair. Finally sheltered from the rain and the wind, he could catch his breath and let his body calm down a bit. The metalhead began to punch the stone wall of his cave with rage. Why did he have to interfere with all this? The dragon was in danger, it's true, but he didn’t know him. He had spent two weeks keeping a low profile to not to be spotted, and now he had just revealed himself because of a disgusting monster that he had defeated only by pure luck. What even was this thing? A powerful monster made of clay? Was it a fucking golem or what?
He had revealed his existence, put himself in danger for strangers instead of fleeing, and ended up in a terrible state. His favorite shirt was tattered and covered in mud. He was wounded absolutely everywhere. He was drenched to the bone. This day was a disaster. If he could face a clone of himself, he would finish it for good with a rain of punches screaming, "What the hell did you have in mind?"
He dropped on his mattress and added two new kinds of suffering to his collection: the piercing pain of the springs on his back and a shock in the back of his head. Kenneth stood up, growling in anger and looking at what had caused this. When he put his eyes on it, the musician seemed to calm down a little. He delicately took the damaged paper block that had hit him behind the head. His gaze changed from wild rage to melancholy as he saw its cover showing a knight and his lady. He carefully opened the book of Arthurian Romances and saw a little message, written with a handwriting like beautiful curls.
‘Happy birthday, my little star.’
He put the old book next to the mattress and finally laid down. Crushed by the weight of pain, he ended up being carried away to unconsciousness by sheer exhaustion. He would think about all of this tomorrow. For now, he couldn’t take it anymore. He just wanted to fall asleep, hoping to be spared from nightmares, at least for tonight.
xXx
Meanwhile, at Canterlot, the two princesses of Equestria dined privately. They liked that moment of the day, where they could discuss everything before swapping places. Just after dessert, Luna would take her sister's place in the throne room for the evening, but tonight Celestia wanted to talk about something she was worried about.
"And you're sure it’s not a good idea to try to get into that dream?"
"As I told you, sister, I do not know how it would react. This black sphere resists all my spells. If I insist too much, it could have detrimental effects on the dreamer itself."
"I know, but... not knowing anything about this one worries me."
"Do not worry. I know what I'm doing."
The princess of the sun was hoping for it with all her heart. Before she could even say it, a green flame appeared in front of her followed by a parchment. She knew what it was and magically unfolded it, apologizing to her sister. As she read the message, her face became gradually marked with fear.
"What is it?" Luna asked, worried.
Celestia levitated the scroll to her sister, who read it in turn. She, too, ended up wide-eyed as she discovered what the message was saying.
"A furless monster?" she listed. "A clay creature? By the moon, what's happening in Ponyville?"
"I don’t know, but we definitely need to go there."
"Twilight Sparkle seems indeed in trouble. I'll call my guards. We'll be ready to go immediately."
At that moment, a servant entered the room while bowing.
"Sorry, your majesties, but someone came asking for you, Princess Celestia."
"Tell them to make an appointment like the others."
The servant insisted by adding, "It is Chancellor Neighsay, your highness."
The princesses were surprised by this unexpected visit. It wasn’t often that the chancellor asked to meet them. Luna saw her sister sigh and announced to the maid, "Alright, tell him I'll be there in a minute."
The servant bowed again and left the room. Luna glanced at Celestia, who anticipated her question and explained.
"He's the head of the Equestria Education Association. Refusing to see him could be... scandalous. "
"But what about Ponyville and these monsters?"
"I'll try to tell him to come another time, but he can be quite stubborn and not being on his good side could cause problems later. And you have your own appointment after that. If I can’t change his mind, we'll go together tomorrow, first thing in the morning."
Luna wanted to reply. This monster situation seemed much more urgent than anything else. All she wanted to do at that moment was call her soldiers and go to Ponyville, but she also didn’t want to put her sister in a delicate situation. She just sighed and accepted this unpleasant turn of events.
"I'll j send my bat-ponies there to watch over the city."
The sun princess thanked Luna, not only for her initiative but also for her understanding. Celestia left the room, leaving Luna alone, just as the cook brought in the two desserts, which she no longer wanted to eat. She had lost all appetite in this huge and empty place.