//------------------------------// // Chapter II: Heyv // Story: Apocrypha's Reach // by Blarghalt //------------------------------// From the uncoiling black mass of squirming horrors, Hermaeus Mora was delighted to see that the journey to Equestria had not ripped the Dragonborn's soul apart. That would have been inconvenient. From his throne of infinite depth, he observed "Greyfeather" attempt to communicate with his favorite pony, the one so artfully named Pinkie Pie. Below him in the seething liquid wastes, his Keepers diligently recorded every detail of the window to Equestria, as Hermaeus Mora devoted an entire sphere of his endless library to nothing but studies and observations on the magical talking ponies. "Hi!" Pinkie Pie said, her voice magnified by the profuse magical sigils old Herma-Mora had spread around the gateway. "So, new to town, huh?" Hermaeus Mora's boundless mind calculated that anything Greyfeather said in reply would not be to his liking. Greyfeather was the deadra's champion, and as such the only being that Hermaeus Mora could directly interact with; with a ghastly swing of one of his greater tentacles that shined with a horrible glistening void, he poured his desires into his steward. "Dragonborn," The deadra's cool, dripping voice echoed throughout Greyfeather's mind. Pinkie continued to ramble as Greyfeather looked around him. He saw no dark tentacles in the sky, nor acidic green gas peeling off the skin of the unworthy, so Hermaeus Mora wasn't around in physical form at least. "Hermaeus? What are you doing in my head?" "My methods are unknowable to you. I simply request that you say something in my stead when the one known as Pinkie Pie ceases her most amusing babbling." "Do I have to?" "Do not invoke my wrath, mortal. Now, say to her 'Pinkamena Diane Pie, where is Twilight Sparkle?' It shall be most...acceptable." Pinkie had gone into some long-winded rant on why she distrusted pinecones and finally snapped back to Greyfeather when he looked like he was ready to say something. "Oooh! A question! I love questions!" "Pinkamena Diane Pie, where is Twilight Sparkle?" Greyfeather asked in a stale, bored voice. He'd already become tired of Hermaeus Mora's ridiculous errand. "Your tone is heretical, Dragonborn," hummed the deadric prince's harsh needling voice of evil. "Shut up, Herma-Mora," Greyfeather shot back in his thoughts. Pinkie simply looked at Greyfeather as if he'd just asked her if he could mug her. "How do you know my middle name? And who's Twilight Sparkle? She sounds nice, though!" "Hermaeus?" Greyfeather asked again in his mind. "I have sent you to...the beginning of the end. Twilight Sparkle will arrive shortly in this quaint, undisturbed, pure settlement known as Ponyville, and you will dissuade her from her transformation into an alicorn." "And how do I do that? Did you even think this through?" "I am the master of fate, and all shall bend to my unerring knowledge! Simply guarantee that Twilight Sparkle does not acquire the assets needed for her...downfall. Make sure that the Elements of Harmony are not found, and the tides of fate shall flow in my favor once more." Pinkie continued to stare at Greyfeather as he stood there with a chagrined look on his face, seemingly arguing with someone else in silence. "Well, it sure was nice talking to you!" Pinkie exclaimed and began to trot off. She stopped when she witnessed something descend from the sky. "Ooooh! Is that a chariot?" she asked, running off towards the object. "Dragonborn! Pinkie Pie must not reach that chariot; it carries Twilight Sparkle! Distract her for as long as you can!" "Right," Greyfeather replied, and quickly ran in front of the pink pony and blocked her way. "So, yes! I'm new to Ponyville, and I sure don't know my way around here! Could you give me a tour?" Pinkie Pie arched an eyebrow and turned around. When she turned back, she had produced a small microphone. "Well, I can't have that! C'mon, I'll give you the grade-A Ponyville Tour Plus! With Chocolate Sprinkles! And Whipped Cream! And—" "This had better be worth it," thought Greyfeather. Just a few dozen meters behind them, Twilight Sparkle exited the carriage and thanked the guards for the ride. At Spike's urging, she looked over the ponies that walked up and down the street to find one to strike up conversation with. She eventually found such a pony in Rose, and made small talk with her for a few minutes before going to check up on preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration. Pinkie's tour of Ponyville was exhausting; the earth pony literally showed him every house, every pony, and every rock withing five square miles of the village before she announced that the first part of the tour was complete, and to meet her back at the same spot tomorrow so she could perform Part 2 of the Great Ponyville Expedition, as she called it. The sun had just began to set when Pinkie Pie hopped off, strange springing noises sounding with every bounce she took. When Greyfeather was alone, he checked his mind to see if the writhing mass of forbidden intellect was still with him. "Herma? You there?" "Your arrogant butchery of my name is paramount treason. But I am here, and I have observed your distraction with approval." "That's it? Did it work? Can I go home now?" "Not yet, my champion. I find a certain...pleasure in the observation of events in what you mortals call the present. In a few short hours, my plan will succeed. Go amuse yourself with petty trifles; I shall begin the final preparations." Greyfeather amused himself with sleep. He awoke when he felt himself being grabbed by the shoulders. "IT'S HORRIBLE!" shouted Rarity as she shook Greyfeather, "Some horrible pony has kidnapped the Princess! There's no sun! We're all doomed!" The dressmaker ran off screaming. Greyfeather dismissed her words as the rantings of a crazy person until he saw several other ponies running around in a panic. "Herma?" he asked, "Is this part of the plan? I know how much you love wrecking stuff just to see what would happen." "My champion, do you not see?" Without meeting her so-called friends, Twilight Sparkle has not formed the Elements of Harmony! Without the Elements, she cannot attain those accursed wings!" "If you say so," Greyfeather answered. He didn't much care what happened to this town as long as Herma-Mora dangled the vague promise of a reward over a head. While it was probably just another helmet or sword he would never use, loot was loot. The Dragonborn was about to ask Herma-Mora to send him back home when he heard the screams come from a nearby alley. Curious, he trotted into it. There he found Twilight Sparkle, eyes wide as she rocked back and forth. "Princess...Preparations...Failure..." she repeated. "No no NO!" Herme-Mora shouted from beyond the abyss, "This is NOT the desired outcome!" Greyfeather looked up. "Why? What was supposed to happen? I thought driving people crazy was sort of your thing. Sheogorath once told me you keep taking his property." "Do not lecture me on the laws of Oblivion, mortal. Twilight Sparkle was supposed to became a happy pony librarian. But something went wrong! This is not the Twilight Sparkle desired!" "So now what? Can I go home now?" "No. This simply means that Twilight's encounter with Pinkie Pie was...not the catalyst for her transformation. I will send you a bit further on the tides of eternity. Perhaps there you can avert this catastrophe." Greyfeather sighed as he was sucked into a summoned portal by the deadric prince.