Book I: The Insurmountable Task
“Wake up,” Knowledge said to himself. “You’ve some ancient tomes to look over. Royal orders.” With that, he dragged himself out of bed. God, I need to stop pulling all-nighters, Knowledge thought to himself. As he stumbled downstairs, he found that somepony had make him coffee. Attached to his age-stained mug was a note;
“I made it just how you like it – 4 sugars, 3 creams, and twice the normal amount of ground coffee. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up, but I was needed at the store. Why can’t we hire any competent employees? – Love, your big sis, Wisdom.”
They ARE competent. You are simply a perfectionist, which makes it impossible to hire the employees YOU want without going into debt. We don’t make THAT much money, Knowledge thought. He practically chugged the coffee, and bee-lined directly to his study. “If I don’t finish deciphering and interpreting these ancient texts by sundown Thursday, my sister will tear me a new plothole for not meeting the deadline. Only two days left…better get to work,” Knowledge thought out loud. He sat at his desk, and quickly began his work. After all, he was the only pony in all of Equestria who could read Ancient Equestrian. His work was in high demand, and he also co-owned a bookstore with his sister, who could be a bit overbearing at times. They sold everything from children’s books, to epic poems from many millennia ago, to ancient spell tomes. While they make a decent profit, they weren’t by any means rich, although they almost run out of stock every year around Twilight Sparkle’s birthday. They even began a sale, prudent as they may be, around this time of year; buy 5 books, get the 6th 75% off. Many consider this to be a good deal, though there are some who say that this is purely a way to get in more customers without cutting too deeply into profits. Wisdom often called these people “pompous assholes, with little care for how hard we have to work to make any profit. Hmph, hope you go to hell.” Many hours passed, day became night, night became day, and his sister returned home. By now Knowledge was almost done with his work when he came upon something quite startling. Knowledge charged out the front door, and ran as fast as he could to the palace. At the gate, the guards were about to stop him, but they quickly recognized him, and knew from the way he had been panting that he must have some important news. He burst into the throne room, shouted “Your Highness!”, then collapsed. When he awoke, he fond himself lying in a servant’s bed.
Celestia ask him, “What’s the matter?”
He responded with simply this; “Everyone’s in danger.” Celestia supported him, as his legs were too tired to support him. In the throne room, he described when he had read. “A prophecy. It reads, ‘The forgotten relic shall be the catalyst for the end of the Pure Bloodline, a war with a long-forgotten foe, and a 1,000 year rule of darkness and death. A hero shall be reborn, and be emboldened by the strength of the Sun, to destroy the evil, and reignite the Bloodline of the Pure. Everypony shall weep for the loss, and cheer for their savior.’ Any idea what it means?”
“I have no idea, but that phrase, ‘Bloodline of the Pure’, seems familiar.” Celestia closes her eyes for a moment, then opened them wide in terror. “I-I remember…mother saying to ‘Remember to cherish your heritage, for our Blood is Pure.’” Celestia shuddered at the thought of what this prophecy could mean. Knowledge was a bit scared at this news, an emotion he didn’t feel much of.
Luna, interrupting the awkward silence, said, “I order you to go out, find this artifact, and destroy it. Do you understand?”
“Yes, your Highness. I’ll see right to it.” And with this, he was off, with a worrying sensation in his chest. I hope this won’t become too complicated, he thought. Last time things got complicated, I found out that sis and I both admired the same mare. I didn’t know she played for that team… He continued on home, to find his sister making dinner.
“It’s chicken stuffed with anchovy paste and brussel sprouts.”
“Uh, I think I’ll make my own dinner, thanks.” Knowledge said with a nervous smile.
“Suit yourself, but you’ll never have a chance to have anything this memorable again."
Not my kind of memorable, he thought. I’d prefer not to remember anything you cook. And as he went up the stairs, he found a small wooden box with a note attached, saying “for Knowledge, from Celestia”. Needless to say, he almost screamed he was so surprised. He quickly went to his room (which was where he was heading anyway) to open it. Inside he found a green crystal, and note with a riddle on it. it read: “When the thing you seek is near, the crystal will begin to glow. Now that your mission is clear, go, go, go!” Knowledge smiled, then went downstairs to fetch some food. He was, indeed, very hungry. He made himself some steak with shrimp, lobster, and herb butter. After eating, he thought that he smelled smoke coming from the cellar. When he got there, he found that he was mistaken. But he was thirsty, and was reminded so by the cider barrels he kept down here. After a few drinks, he found it was but 5 pm. He knew that the sun would not set for at least 2 more hours, so he started reading. It was his favorite pastime. To him, his work feels less so, because it involves books. After several hours of reading, he found it was much later than he expected, and yawned. Knowledge decided he’d better get his sleep. He had a long day ahead of him.
To Be Continued