Amber turned to the next page with her magic. "Amazing," she sighed out, eyes scrolling across the text. "This is either a great fiction, or my mind is just... blown."
"Don't do that." Izzy landed next to her new uni-buddy. "You need that." She ruffled Amber's head, as if that might help that mind not explode. "What're you reading that's so amazing? Isn't that the trash book?"
"It's more than where I found it." Amber flipped to the next page. "It's filled with old myths, exactly what I was looking for! Look!" She tapped at the page where an ornate picture rested. The heroic six mares that protected the realm once long ago. Arrayed before them were other curious creatures, also taking a defensive stance, and a little dragon?
Izzy gasped with amazement. "What are those?" She began pointing to the creatures she'd never seen, which were most of them. "They look neat! Do they want to be friends? They look like they do."
"I think they would... But they're gone." Amber willed the page to turn onwards, eyes sweeping hungrily over the text. "This is from long long long ago. More moons than you could even count! But they did things, great things..." She sighed with the memory, tail swaying behind her. "I am blown away... What happened to all those creatures?"
Izzy's eyes went wide with wonder as she gazed upon the fantastical illustrations. "Whoooooaaa...they're so cool! Look at that one with wings and a horn - it's like just like Sunny!"
She bounced excitedly in place. "Ooo and that little purple one breathing fire - I bet they tell the bestest stories!"
As Amber explained just how long ago these strange beings existed, Izzy's excitement dimmed to disappointment. "Aww, that makes me sad they're all gone now." Her ears drooped.
But then she perked right back up again. "Buuuut if they were real once, maybe they could come back again! Do you think if we gathered all the uni-buddies together and combined our magics, we could zap them back here to play with us?"
Not waiting for an answer, she began hastily sketching crude depictions of the creatures in the dirt with a stick. "We gotta remember exactly what they looked like so our spell gets them right. Now which one was your favorite, Amber? Maybe we could bring that one back first to be our super special friend!"
Amber blinked at the crude and sudden magic work. "Izzy? I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I'm pretty certain it doesn't..."
But she never got to finish, as, with a flash and a scent of cinnamon, a creature was indeed summoned. They were a curious thing, as if someone took every part from a different creature and pressed them into place. She had the leg of a yak and a leg of a pony. She had the arm of a griffon and another of a dragon. Her wings, which she had two of, were also mismatched, with a changeling and dragon wing. She was quite the mess, and she was smiling at them in a kind way.
Izzy was clapping cheerfully. "I didn't even cast the spell yet! Wow, I did good. Look at it!" She waved at the new creature with amazement. "Hi there! I'm Izzy, nice to meet you. This is--"
"Amber Skyray?" Amber inclined her head at the strange creature. "Who, and what, are you? I.... am very scared right now... But also kinda curious."
"That's a good combination." The creature stood up, taller than any of them. She was an adult biped, her griffon tail curling behind her in slow and easy patterns. "I'm Comforting Shade, and I am so happy right now, I don't even have words. I was lonely for way too long. Hug?"
Izzy's eyes glimmered as she bounced forward. "Any creature that asks for a hug, politely, as the first thing they do? Yep, you're already great in my book." She pounced forward, caught by Comforting as the two twirled in a firm hug.
Amber watched with equal parts fascination and trepidation as the mismatched creature - Comforting Shade, apparently - embraced the enthusiastic Izzy. So many questions swirled in her mind! But manners won out first.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Shade," Amber began politely with a slight bow. "However unexpected our meeting may be."
She shot a wry glance at Izzy as the two finally broke their elongated hug. "I see you've already won over my boisterous friend here." Turning back to their strange guest, Amber adjusted her slipping glasses. "I must ask...that spell wasn't meant to actually summon anything! Just some whimsical notions on Izzy's part. So where exactly do you come from? What are you?"
She paused, not wanting to seem rude. "That is...you appear most unique. Part pony, part griffon?" Amber gestured curiously at Shade's mismatched limbs. "How did you...ah, come to be?"
The scholar in Amber was bursting with questions. But she waited patiently for Comforting to share whatever she was comfortable revealing about her origins, vibrating with restrained excitement.
Comforting approached, not on her mismatched feet, but floating over in front of Amber. "Good questions! First, I am a spirit." She waved over herself. "Not exactly alive, so I've been here a long... long.... long long time." She sighed, shaking her head as if to be rid of certain memories. "It also means I can come in crazy configurations like this." Comforting waved over her curious form. "Now, you need to tell me how you even know what a griffon is."
Amber grabbed for her book and flipped back to where the picture of the griffon was, just to pause, staring at it as if lost. She looked back at Comforting, the picture, and back and forth. "W-wait..." She tapped a hoof on the picture of the griffon. "You have their parts," she whispered with awe.
"I loved them so much." Comforting drifted over the book and its displayed picture. "They did so many good things... It's not fair I can't just... bring them back."
"Why not?" Izzy hurried over for a fresh look at the picture of the assembled old heroes of Equestria. "Is it a rule, or just too much magic?"
"Little A, Little B." Comforting shrugged with a faint smirk. "I bet I could make one, for a little while, but it'd just be a whimsy, a dream. They'd fade away pretty fast, and I'd just get sadder. Let's focus on the now, and not the before. You two, to start, are worth paying attention to."
Amber stared wide-eyed between Comforting Shade and the book's illustrations, her earlier questions fleeing her mind. It was all she could do to keep her glasses from slipping right off her muzzle.
"You...you knew them?" Amber finally managed, pointing a hoof at the creatures on the page that had so mirrored Comforting's own amalgamated form. "The ponies...and griffons...and all manner of wondrous beings in this ancient text?"
She took in Comforting's sadness, the haunting longing in this self-professed spirit's eyes as they lingered over images from eras past. Amber's voice grew gentle. "You still miss them after all this time, don't you?"
Tentatively, she reached out a hoof to Comforting in a comforting gesture. "As a pony who's devoted herself to preserving myths and lore, I cannot imagine how it feels to have actually lived through such ages that have now passed out of memory."
She hesitated, then added: "Were you...friends? You must have so many stories to tell, so much history most have forgotten. I can see why you decided to visit us."
Amber gestured around eagerly. "We may not be griffons or dragons, but Izzy and I would be honored if you'd share some of your tales with us! Bring the old legends back to life again, if only through words. It's the least we can do for one who clearly cares for those ancient heroes."
"You." Comforting poked Amber on the nose. "Are too excited. Listen to you prattle on and on and on." She giggled, not looking offended by it at all. "But I can't answer your questions if you don't give me a chance." Comforting swirled in place to face Izzy, tail lashing with a joy. "I say we take Izzy's example and be happy we made some friends today. First, I am so proud neither of you took off running."
Izzy sat up proudly. "I was tempted! But your glow is... nice."
Amber awkwardly smiled. "Sorry... It's just... It's not every day I get to meet a living legend. You could answer so many questions."
"And I won't," sang out Comforting. "Not all of them." She leaned in, touching noses with Amber, the rest of her body going flat, floating in the air. "But, nice to meet you! One of my mentors, back in the day, was a real book worm. I can feel some of those vibes. She was a unicorn too. How many spells do you know?"
Amber inclined her head, nose still touching with Comforting as if unsure if she should draw away or not. "Spells? Um... does grabbing things count? I have that one!"
Comforting hiked a brow. "Just one?" She drew away from Amber and landed properly, turning back to Izzy. "What about you?"
"Magic is more of an art for me." Izzy spread her hooves wide. "I just do what I need to know and it works... sometimes..."
"But you can float things?"
"I can float things." Izzy grabbed her cup and floated it over with a big chug. "Mmm...."
Comforting swayed with amazement. "Unicorns don't know spells... Unicorns... don't know spells..."
Comforting shook her head in disbelief. "Unicorns not knowing spells? That's just tragic!" She floated back over to Amber, placing a reassuring claw on her shoulder. "Not your fault, of course. But oh, the magic we'll unlock together!" Her eyes lit up eagerly. "I learned from the best back in my day. Starswirl the Bearded himself taught me a trick or two!" Comforting waved a paw, and a shower of rainbow-hued sparks rained down around them.
Izzy oohed and aahed, dancing among the glittering display. "So pretty! This is way better than that boring old book learning."
She struck a dramatic sorcerer's pose. "Teach me, master shade! I must know your ways of sparkle power!"
Comforting chuckled. "Patience, little one. We have only scratched the surface of what's possible." She smiled encouragingly at Amber. "But I sensed great potential in this new unicorn friend of ours. What better place to start our magic revival?"
Amber clapped her hooves to her cheeks. "Me?! Um... I just like books. Izzy seems way more excited... about everything."
"She is." Comforting nodded at Amber approvingly. "But magic takes book learning. At least, if you want to learn a spell or three. So! I say you learn a spell, then Izzy can see what one looks like and how it works and I bet she'll work from there pretty well."
Izzy trembled with an excited squeal. "Do it! Do. It." She grabbed the book in her magic. "You could be a big wizard, like the book." She pointed at the picture of Twilight Sparkle. "Master of sparkles! That's why she's called that, you know. She was the master of sparkles."
Comforting burst into laughter. "That... I'll accept that. I've heard worse explinations. Oh, dear Twilight... "
"Ma'am?" Comforting perked at Amber. "Are you the only one?"
Comforting smiled brightly. "Only spirit? No! No way! This world's too big for me to handle it all." She wriggled her fingers in the air. "Way too large... My bestest spirit friend woke up recently... We both took a nap." She considered a moment. "A lot of things took a nap, actually..."
Izzy bounced. "You know..." She leaned in, voice dropping to a conspirational whisper. "I bet Sunny would freak out if she knew you were here and knew so much about her heroes."
"I bet she would." Comforting put her hands a her hips. "Do you think we should tell her?"