//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Getting the facts // Story: The Inventor and the Red Lady // by MadNimrod //------------------------------// Hello! Welcome back to IntRL! Sorry it's been taking so long! I'll do better in the future, i promise! Not really much to say here, but I do not own MLP. Always gotta say that. Enjoy. Thom continued to shine as monsters flew backward from his powers. None of them got torn apart like the second one, but the force from the blows was enough to stun them. Watson blasted the monsters as Ditzy vented the frustration she worked up hearing about Thom's parents by tearing the monsters apart bare-hoofed. Redstamp stayed back from the fight, making sure none of the monsters reached the unconscious Pegasus they assumed was Brokenkeys. In a few moments, the ponies were alone amidst a small field of dust and crumbling monsters. "These are exactly like the ones at the old palace," Watson observed. "Who knew we were coming here?" Red asked. "No one," Ditzy replied. "At least, no one outside of the palace, and even then only a few ponies beneath the Princess." "Guess that makes it official," Watson stated. "The culprit is from the palace. Now to more imme…" He turned to ask Thom about what happened back there only to see the Earth Pony laying on the ground, with a pool of blood around his head. "Thom's down!" "What?" Redstamp asked as he moved from the unconscious Pegasus to the fallen Paladin. "Did a monster get him?" As the Paladins rolled Thom over, they saw his wounds did not come from any monster. The blood came from his eyes, like crimson tears. The Earth Pony was clearly unconscious, and his face was twisted into a painful grimace. "If he goes through this when he uses his powers," Watson observed, "it's no wonder he doesn't do it much. Bring him and Keys inside. Let's see if we can figure anything out." Watson floated Thom inside while Redstamp carried the unconscious BrokenKeys and Ditzy helped keep him steady. The inside of the house was smothered in books. Big tomes, small journals, if it had pages, it looked like it migrated here. Most of the furniture was covered in books, as well. A couple desks had actually collapsed from the weight of them all. Moving some books from the couch and setting the two unconscious ponies on it, Watson went looking for the kitchen. When he found it, it was thankfully devoid of books. Grabbing some damp towels, he rushed back and started cleaning the blood from Thom's face. His green marking were still shining like the sun and not even blood could hide them. "Ow," Thom said as he jerked his head up. "That hurt." "You're awake," Red stated. "Are you alright?" "Been better," Thom said as he raised his forelegs to his head, only to realize his helmet was off. "Oh, umm, I guess I have some more explaining to do." "How can you use magic?" Ditzy immediately asked. "Only unicorns can use magic." "It's not technically magic," Thom replied. He would've gone further, but the other unconscious pony started waking up. The Pegasus shook his head and groaned. As he opened his eyes, he saw the Paladins and recoiled a bit. "Who are you?" he quickly asked. "Who are you? What do you want? Don't hurt me!" "Simmer down," Watson ordered. "We're servants of the Princess. Don't worry." This seemed to calm the Pegasus down a bit. "The Princess?" he asked. "W-w-what would the Princess want with me?" "We recently learned you have a…book," Redstamp explained. "A very special book." Brokenkeys looked around the room at all the books that were stacked almost to the ceiling, and gave a slightly-scared chuckle. "You'll have to be specific." "We've never seen the book," Watson explained, "but we believe you picked it up some time ago from the Shetlands. It should be at least two hundred years old." "Hmm…" the white Pegasus hummed. "I picked up a few on my last trip there…I'll take a look." "It's Evisican," Ditzy pointed out. BrokenKeys stopped dead in his tracks. "You…you want that one? Why?" "The reasons are classified," Redstamp pointed out, "but it is a matter of multinational importance." "When we're through with it," Watson added, "we'll see if it can be returned to you." "Oh…." The non-Paladin said, "…..okay, let me go get it." As he left, Ditzy turned back to Thom. "So, you don't use magic?" "Oh, uh, not quite," The Earth Pony explained. "I am what Celestia refers to as a 'Psychic.' My powers draw strength from my mental faculties." "Never heard of this before," Redstamp said. "It's not common. Only non-unicorns with strong mental abilities or a long lineage of magic can become psychic, and even then it's still rare." At that point, realization struck Watson like a lightning bolt. 'Thom's family line is mostly unicorns…' "But," Ditzy asked, "why not tell anyone? Don't you trust us?" "With my life!" The black Earth Pony explained. "It's just…I was told by Celestia to keep it hidden. A hidden weapon, you could say. Besides, it's not like I use it that often. I only used it back there because if I don't use it every once in a while, it'll fry my brain. On the other hoof, if I use it too much…" "We could tell," Watson nodded. "One more question. How did Alphonse learn about your powers?" Thom was startled at this question. "How did you know he knew?" "Umm," Watson said matter-of-factly, "he did ask about your markings in the restaurant." "Oh…right…Wel,, he visited one time when i was sick. Had my helmet off so I could actually breathe and he saw them. He liked them, but agreed not to tell anypony." "Okay, my turn," Redstamp said. "How long have you had these powers? Judging from what you told us earlier, you didn't have them when your parents…did what they did." "No," Thom shook his head, "I didn't get them until I was in Canterlot with my sister. I was trying out for the guard, and one day a Pegasus was injured in the air and he just fell. I was so focused on running to him to try and help it took a few seconds for me to notice he was slowing down and surrounded in a green aura. When he landed, he thanked me and asked what sort of markings were on my face. My powers and these markings came in that day." "And that's why you wear the armor," Redstamp stated. "To hide the markings. Does anypony other than us, Celestia and your uncle know?" Thom shook his head. "Nopony. Didn't show my parents because they'd just hate me even more, my sisters would freak out, and the guards would think I'm even weirder. I was inducted into the Paladins a bit after getting them, so I was able to get away with my special armor." He turned to where BrokenKeys went and said, "He's coming back." Thom barely finished his sentence before said Pegasus returned. Slung across his chest was a large tome. It was almost as tall as Watson, and about as thick. The cover was deep red and studded with stones of various sizes and shapes. Some were precious gems, but most were plain polished stones. In the middle was an unusual design. It was a heptagon, its seven sides made from polished bronze. In the middle was a ruby that would make all but the most finicky dragons drool. It was an impressive tome, but it left Watson with one question… "How in the world did you sneak THAT out of the Shetlands?" BrokenKeys gave a chuckle as he set it on the couch next to Thom. "It wasn't easy. I really had to work it." Removing the straps from around his neck, the Pegasus continued, "Here you go. An authentic Evisican Tome. Just be aware, most of it's in their language." He bowed his head and said, "You have my thanks in my life. I hope this tome serves you well." Malice was pacing in her study, impatient for any news concerning the Paladins and that missing Tome Discord directed them to. The Draconequus himself had vanished soon after his appearance at the old Palace, but had assured her that he was doing all he could to help her and Celestia in this effort. Celestia was initially worried about the Lord of Chaos being free, but calmed down after hearing about his helping. 'He may be chaotic,' Celestia said, 'but even HE has to keep his word every now and again.' The scarlet alicorn could only hope she was right. The sun was setting in the Shetlands, two weeks after the Paladins' departure, and her dreams had only increased in consistency. Fields of battle, a dying world, a fallen Watson…she shook her head at this. Why had this one thought plagued her mind? Of all the devastation she had seen, why seeing this Paladin dead so heart-wrenching? "Milady?" Racer asked as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Is everything well?" "I hope so," Malice replied. "How about the murders? Any news?" "None, Milady," Racer bowed his head. "No new murders have been reported. Perhaps the murderer stopped?" "Doubtful," the Princess retorted. Nopony who would go to such great lengths to achieve whatever they were trying would stop without good reason. "How is everypony else? The Conclave holding up fine?" "Some of the Elders," Racer reported, "are a bit miffed at the presence of Equestrian soldiers at the castle, but most see this as a chance of bettering relations between the nations. Some of our knights are actually starting friendships with Equestrians." The big Earth pony chuckled. "Quite the improvement from four years ago." Malice smiled and nodded. During the last week, Celestia had arrived with a little less than a hundred of her knights to aid in the effort to stop the murders and the magic. Celestia herself was busy in the library with some of her knights, scouring every tome and scroll (nothing less than a monumental feat) while most of her knights just aided the Shetland knights in their investigations. Making a quick glance at one of the bookcases, she turned back to her General and ordered, "Leave me, General. I have some other business to attend to." With a bow, the General left the study. The door barely clicked shut before another click was heard. Then another. The sound of muted gears broke the silence as one of the bookcases swung outward, revealing a passageway. Standing in this passage was a pony garbed in completely black clothes. His face was covered in a black shroud, his mane and tail cut short to fit into the tight clothes. The only thing about this pony Malice could see were his piercing green eyes. A little more than a thousand years ago, the Paladin Order of Equestria started as an independent group of nobles, farmers and warriors intent on intercepting threats before Celestia needed to involve herself. Around the same time, Malice started the Blackwatch. These were ponies that Malice trusted above almost everypony else under her rule. Like Equestria's Paladins, only Malice and a few others knew about the Blackwatch. Like the Paladins, the Blackwatch was dedicated to the protection of her nation. Unlike the Paladins, the Blackwatch protected the Shetlands from inside threats. Dissent, anarchists, any major threat within Shetland borders had to deal with these invisible ponies. Few lived long enough to repent of or regret their actions. The black-garbed pony gave a bow as he entered the study, letting the bookcase swing closed behind him. Malice recognized his canter as belonging to one of the newer Blackwatch. He was young, but skilled and discreet. If she recalled correctly, he joined up only a month after Watson escaped the castle. "Cinder," Malice greeted the pony, referring to him by code name, "are things truly going as well as Racer tells me?" "Only barely," Cinder reported with a crackly voice. "We have ponies posted at the places you instructed us to be, but most have reported no activity." "Most?" Cinder lowered his head. "A couple days back, Brick and Tsohar reported that they stopped attempted murders at their positions. The almost-victims were a farmer's daughter and a wandering merchant. The almost-murderers were a random brigand and…" "And?" Malice asked. Cinder gulped before continuing. "…and the other was Sir Lancer of Highrest." Malice almost stumbled when she heard this. One of her own knights was doing this? This meant her fears were true. The culprit was somepony of authority within her court. Straightening back up, she looked back at the Blackwatch. "Tell me everything." One perk to being the Lord of Chaos, nothing could keep you out. Whoever set these wards up did not do a good job. Discord was slipping by them with ease. This was the fourth fort he investigated, the fourth fort that was riddled with all sorts of barriers… The fourth fort that had those rancid monsters. He killed them as quietly as he could, and continued slithering through the fort. There were quite a few ponies here, many bearing the crest of the Shetland Guard. Malice would not like that. Worse yet, these guards were commanding these pony monsters around. The last few forts seemed to be inconsequential, but this one was quite active. Hiding in the shadows above a meeting room, Discord waited until an important-looking pony was alone before swooping down and plucking him off the ground. The unicorn he chose was about to scream before Discord covered his mouth in taffy. "No screaming," The Lord of Chaos said without any humor. "You scream, I break your neck. You struggle, I break your limbs. Do both, I eat you. Are we clear?" The unicorn gave a teary-eyed nod in reply before Discord removed the taffy. The unicorn was completely still and did not make a sound. "Good. Now, tell me what you know…" Watson sat in a train car by himself. Redstamp and Ditzy were off doing something together again and Thom was eating in the food car (with his helmet repaired, of course), privately reveling in how his friends did not begin to distrust him after learning about his identity and powers. On the seat next to Watson was the Evisican tome. He had browsed part of it earlier, but the unfamiliar glyphs started making his eyes hurt part-way through. He did not see many pictures before he stopped, and most of those were of significant events in the past. One picture was an event that Watson had read about, and some Shetland scholar had managed to interpret some of the text and left a scroll inside with a translation. '…and with Her sister bound in the moon, the Princess of the Sun stood alone to carry both Sun and Moon. Her servants, the Bearers of the Elements of (unknown), retired from their roles and continued with their lives. The Elements were sealed into lay dormant within the ruins of the Palace of Night Nightmare Palace, and Celestia and her knight guarded her land with all their might. However, there were some many years where Celestia had to step stand forth to directly battle threats to her land, and she grew weary from each conflict… The text continued to explain how many nobles and warriors saw this, and formed a private group independent from the throne whose sole purpose was to stop threats before Celestia had to intervene. Using whatever resources they could, this group successfully spent the next century stopping threats without being discovered by anypony. Eventually, Celestia did discover them, and made them into a private group of specialists, who continued to protect the land while the Elements of Harmony were dormant. Somehow, the Evisicans knew the origins of the Paladin Order, and this worried Watson greatly. The Order started nearly a thousand years ago, but Malice and the few books he could find on the subject stated that the Evisica only appeared two hundred years ago. How had this people known about something so far back, something that almost nopony under Celestia knew about? "You doing okay?" Thom asked the worried-looking Watson. This snapped the small unicorn out of his trance and quickly nodded. "Yeah," he replied, "I'm fine. How about you and the others?" "I'm fine," Thom nodded. "Red and Ditzy are busy with a drinking contest in the liquor car." "But Ditzy doesn't drink." "Neither does Red," Thom chuckled, "and neither of them know about the other, so they're both ordering nonalcoholic drinks waiting for the other to lose. They've been at it for two hours now, and everypony else in the car is just laughing from the ridiculousness of it all." He sat in the chair on the other side of the tome, lifted it and started flipping through it. "Any clue what any of this means, and how it can help us yet?" "If I could read Evisican, maybe,' Watson sighed. "I only got part-way through before my eyes started hurting. One part that worries me in there…" The tan unicorn used his magic to turn the tome to a certain page with a scroll tucked in and directed Thom to read it. The armor-clad pony recoiled in surprise. "How'd these guys know that? Not even the majority of the castle guard knows that!" Thom closed the book and set it back on the seat between him and Watson. "Just creepy." "Indeed," Watson agreed. As he said this, the door slid open and a bemused Redstamp made his way to the seat opposite of Watson. "Why didn't you tell me Ditzy doesn't drink?" the white-and-red Pegasus asked. "Never asked," Watson chuckled. Thom stifled a laugh. "Yeah, laugh it up!" Redstamp laughed back. "This all makes her seem even more perfect to me." "Whoa," Thom asked, "you got the hots for Ditzy? For real?" "Really!" Redstamp leaned back in his chair as he continued, "Every time I see her, I'm just in awe! You'd think her eyes being crossed would be a handicap, but she's still more graceful than any other mare I've seen. I think this is the real deal, Thom. When she looks at me, my knees wobble and my chest gets real warm on the inside! When she smiles, my day just seems to get so much better! When I can't see her, she's on my mind no matter what else might be going on!" "That's getting real close to being a stalker, you know," Thom joked. As Thom and Redstamp continued their bantering, Watson realized something in Red's words. Those feelings he had were almost exactly the same feelings Watson was having around Malice. The way he enjoyed Malice looking at him, how she was on his mind since they left the Shetlands, it was official… Watson was in love with Malice. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH! The romance begins to shine through! Like I told Almost-Actress in an earlier chapter, this romance won't be an in-your-face thing. In fact, if you know Watson, you can figure out just how much he'll say. If you don't know him, then go back to chapter one and try again. Okay, sorry for the bland chapter, just working through a funk. At least everyone now knows the origins of the Paladin Order, right? This chapter was titled this way because the next chapter will bring everypony together and reveal what they know. Also, next chapter will be more exciting because we will see the return of a previous character we didn't get to technically see before and...well, can't say too much, but the end will surprise you. Okay, see ya later!