“So…let me get this straight…you met a gigantic Earth Pony, and his name was Ubenox?” Dash repeated with disbelief in her voice. Miracle smiled and nodded.
“And he claimed that he was ‘a child of the univ“So…let me get this straight…you met a gigantic Earth Pony, and his name was Ubenox?” Dash repeated with disbelief in her voice. Miracle smiled and nodded.
“And he claimed that he was ‘a child of the universe’, and that you’re needed to fight something called the ‘Corrupted One’?” Fluttershy jumped in.
Miracle nodded again.
Dash’s face remained deadpanned, “And that…not only are you needed, but that you’re probably the only one that may be able beat this ‘Corrupted One’, even though this same thing is the one that locked away your memories and powers in the first place?”
The filly’s nods got stronger, “And I gotta talk to a ‘dragon of knowledge’!”
The two older Pegasi exchanged confused glances.
“You think Twilight is trying to dreamwalk like Luna used to?” Dash whispered. Fluttershy shrugged.
“Soooo I gotta find the dragon! Can you please help me?”
Dash put a hoof on Miracle’s shoulder, “Look kid…that was a uh…pretty vivid dream. So detailed, that you may think that its something you really need to do.”
Miracle respectfully pushed her hoof away, “It was real, I swear! This is the only way right now I can figure out who I am and where I come from and how I ended up in the forest. So please, help me, so I can get out your house…like you want me to…”
Dash shrunk back. She knew there was nothing she could do to take back what she said. And honestly, she didn’t even want to. Still…that would be hurtful to anyone, much less a child. Fluttershy gave her a glance before focusing on Miracle,
“Alright.” She gave a tiny smile, “We’ll help you.”
Miracle once again found herself in Fluttershy’s forelegs, “Thank you so much!!” she leapt out of them, “I don’t even know where to start!”
Normally, if any of the Mane Six had gotten into a situation that involved magic, history, or science, Twilight would be their go-to mare. But due to recent events, she was not an option. It was a good thing they had another friend who over the decades had delved quite frequently into magic. Dash and Fluttershy turned their attention to one another;
“The Boutique.”
-MLP-
“Well aren’t you just one of the cutest little fillies I’ve ever met!” Rarity cooed as she cupped Miracle’s cheeks. The filly giggled, causing the unicorn to squeal even louder with delight.
“She’s a cute lil’ thing but uh…” Applejack cleared her throat, “Who is she? Where did she come from? Is she the reason we’re here?”
Pinkie giggled, “Silly, they foal-napped her!”
Miracle flittered her wings to land on Fluttershy’s back, earning a soft smile from her, “Yes. And she needs our help.”
The group focused their attention on the filly as she introduced herself.
“My name is Miracle, and as you can see, I’m a Pegasus!” she smiled, “However, ‘Miracle’ isn’t actually my name. I dunno what my real name is, and I don’t know why or how I ended up in the Everfree Forest. Also, I’m a very powerful pony, but my powers are locked away. In order for me to figure out who I am and what my powers are, I need to find a ‘dragon of knowledge’.”
“Ooooh that’s sounds really cool!” Pinkie squealed, “But how do you know about all this?”
Miracle smiled with confidence, “Ubenox!”
Pinkie and Applejack had perplexed looks on their faces, while Rarity had one of complete and utter shock,
“Ubenox appeared in your dreams?” she leaned in towards her, “What did Ubenox look like?”
Miracle rubbed her chin, “Well, his fur was black and white, but the color was split down the middle of his body! Ooh, and he had a pretty flowing dark blue mane and tail with little stars in it. And he had the little rocks that circled around his body. Oh yeah, and he had some reaaaaally blue eyes and was crazy tall!” Miracle finished with her hooves in the air for emphasis.
The group was unable to read the expression on Rarity’s face. Silence hung in the air for a moment before Rarity’s gaze floated over the girls,
“We will help this child. She has a destiny that cannot be ignored.”
The others looked back and forth between Rarity and Miracle. Applejack was the first to speak up,
“What in tarnation are ya talkin’ about?”
“Ubenox is a being that we’re all taught about in Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns.” She held a hoof up, silencing the group before they even spoke. “Yes, I did attend her school, Twilight isn’t the only intelligent mare in the group. I simply enjoy devoting my time to fashion and the daily coming-and-goings of being a socialite.” She focused back on Miracle, “You said you need to speak to a ‘dragon of knowledge’ correct?”
Miracle nodded.
Pinkie started to bounce in place, “Omigosh, we know a dragon!”
Dash nodded in agreement, “And he’s a real egghead all right.”
“But we ain’t seen him in years.” Applejack started. “Dragons get real nasty when they get older and are more uh…settled inta their roots. He may not try ta eat us, but who’s ta say that he wont have a real fit fer us getting’ all up in his space?”
“Well…we have to try anyway.” Fluttershy said in a soft tone, though it was still laced with determination. “If this is what needs to be done, then so be it.”
Miracle looked up at Fluttershy, “Who are we going to see?”
Fluttershy gave her a wink, “You’ll see.”
-MLP-
They were at the entrance of a mountainous cave that overlooked Ponyville from a distance. This place was sentimental to them, as this was the moment Fluttershy in ferocious bravery, stood up to a dragon to protect her friends. But the dragon from their memories no longer resided in this cave. Another dragon had taken its place. A dragon they had been friends with for years, but had fallen out of touch with due to the differing priorities and their scaly friend’s budding dragonian instincts. They hadn’t seen him in almost a decade, and so, they treaded carefully.
“WHO’S THERE?!” a voice boomed, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”
Dash cleared her throat, “Spike? Yo, its Dash!”
There was a moment of silence before Spike roared again,
“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”
Dash rolled her eyes, “C’mon man, just come out and talk to us!”
The mouth of the cave rumbled and smoke began to billow from it, a pair of bright emerald eyes focused on Rarity, the snake like pupils constricting while doing so. A set of massive feet emerged from the darkness and landed beside in front of the group, creating small twisters of dust. He took slow and careful steps to not crush them as he emerged from the shadows.
He was a mountain of a beast, composed of tightly backed royal purple and green scales. The jagged green plates that ran along his spine were crowned by the singular row of equally jagged horns atop his head. Small wisps of smoke billowed from his nostrils filtered from his nostrils as he stared down at Dash,
“Again…what do you want?”
“Hey, no need to be rude!”
“Watch it Dash…” Applejack warned.
“You trespassed onto my home. I will act as I please.”
“Spike? Is this how you treat a lady?” Rarity quipped.
Spike’s gaze turned to her and softened, “Rarity?” he knelt down and held out a clawed hand to her. Even while kneeling, he still was easily two stories taller than them. Rarity stepped into his hand and he slowly brough her closer to his face.
“What’s happened to you, darling? What happened to the gentledrake I knew before?”
“You guys stopped coming.” Spike replied, bitter and sadness in his voice. “Forgot about me…”
Fluttershy flew up to get into his field of view, “No…no, Spike, we didn’t forget you…” she placed a hoof on his cheek, “We knew you were a growing dragon…dealing with a lot of things that we couldn’t teach you. We wanted you to embrace who you were, and let your full potential come out while you grew up in the Dragon Lands.”
“Ah’m sorry you felt like that!” Applejack shouted from the ground below. “We all are!”
Spike’s eyes widened in surprise as Pinkie landed on his snout,
“If you want, we could throw you a ‘Reunion’ Party if you want!”
“I-I-” Spike started to stammer.
Dash flew up and landed in his palm beside Rarity, “If there’s anything we can do to fix this…please tell us.”
A soft smile slowly bloomed across Spike’s face. Deep down…he could never be mad at his equine family. And he knew that with adulthood, life’s priorities would change and could put physical distance between friends and family.
“I will hold you all to your word…” Spike rumbled. A sadness glazed over her eyes as he reached down to let Applejack and Miracle into his palm, “However…I have a feeling that you’re not just popping up into the neighborhood…who is this little one?”
Miracle was hiding peeked from behind one of Applejack’s hindlegs.
“Don’t worry, I wont bite.” He licked his lips, “I may take a nibble though.”
“Spike, knock it off, she’s scared of you!”
“Hell, Ah ain’t gonna lie, I’m a might touch scared of how big you are! You were already pretty big when you left fer the Dragon Lands. How?”
“Ponyville stunted my growth.” He simply replied. “Within the first couple of years of me leaving, I quadrupled in size. My growth has slowed though, so perhaps I’m nearing the end.” He returned the attention to Miracle, “Now…who are you?”
Miracle slowly stepped forward and cleared her throat, “My name is Miracle, and I’m a Pegasus that spoke to Mr. Ubenox in a dream. He told me that I needed to speak to a ‘dragon of knowledge’ to help me beat something called the ‘Corrupted One’.” She looked around at the mares, “They brought me here because they said you might be able to help me.”
Spike nodded thoughtfully for a few moments before rising back up. He turned and started to walking into the mouth of the cave. Pillars of fire began to glow as they passed. The heat was becoming unbearable to the mares,
“Consarnit, its hotter than two rabbits fuckin’ in a wool sock!”
“Applejack!” Fluttershy snipped. Miracle and Dash giggled.
Spike snapped his fingers, and the fires turned a shade of turquoise. The temperature in the cave dropped almost instantly.
“Coool, where’d you learn to do that?” Pinkie questioned.
“Turns out, dragons can have the capability to perform magic as well. It just takes a lot of a concentration and discipline…things that are hard to have when the instinct of greed is nearly overpowering in most circumstances.”
They came to an open section in the cave. There were bookshelves that took up most of the wall space, most of which housing books that rose from the floors to the ceiling with dragon-sized tomes, rewrapped scrolls, magazines…any form of reading that could be found,
“While most dragons will hoard gold and precious gems…growing up around Twilight made it to where my hoard consisted of knowledge.”
He gently set his palmful of ponies down, before returning to get eyelevel with the bookshelves. He scanned the shelves until before pulling a massive mahogany colored leather-bound book. He shot a small spurt of green fire from his mouth, shrinking the book to a size more manageable for a pony. He knelt back down again, passing the book to Miracle,
“This should be able to help you.” Spike started. “If Ubenox has appeared, then matters must have gotten serious. If you need my assistance again, simply stop by again.”
Miracle nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Spike. This means a lot!”
The dragon smirked, “Not a problem..but please, do make sure to return this….” His eyes darkened, “I’d be upset if something from my hoard got destroyed…” he looked to the rest of the group, “Is there anyway I can be of assistance?”
“Would you be so kind as to return us to the mouth of the cave?” Rarity questioned. “We have quite a trek back to Ponyville…”
Spike smirked, “I’ll do you one better…”
Fire bubbled up in the back of his throat. The girls got panicked looks on his face, and let out horrified shouts as they were engulfed in the surprisingly gentle warmth of Spike’s flames, as he magically sent them back to the borders of Ponyville.
-MLP-
The group was back at the Carousel Boutique, all surrounding the book Spike had provided them. Pinkie snatched it from the middle of them and began to read a few of the pages. She looked up at the group and smiled,
“I didn’t get any of it!” she declared confidently.
“Give it to me.” Rarity ordered as she took it into her magical grasp. She flipped through the book for a minute before slamming her hooves on a page,
“Ah! Here it is, ‘Cosmic Child & The Corrupted One’.” She began to read the page aloud. “Ubenox is one of the deities that watches over the cosmos, known as a ‘Child of the Universe’ or ‘Cosmic Child’. He walks along the past, present, and future. His knowledge is said to come from all lives that have ever existed, or will exists, thus giving him infinite knowledge. He’s known to be one of the balancing forces of the universe, though some believe he may only a messenger or soldier for the gods. Should he or the other ‘Cosmic Children’ fail to fulfill their purpose, the gods and goddesses of the Higher Plane will come down, and…cleanse the universe…”
Applejack threw her hooves up in exasperation, “Great…so there’s some kinda evil thing out there, and if we don’t handle it, some higher power is gonna do a hard reset on our existence?” she looked at Miracle, “Lil’ filly, ya haven’t haven been in ourlives fer more than a day an’ yer already turnin’ em upside down.”
Miracle shrugged, “Sorry Miss Applejack…”
“There’s more.” Rarity continued. “The Corrupted One isn’t actually a ‘living thing’ per se, but a manifestation of all the dark thoughts that have existed or will exist. Though an age cannot be placed on it, it is believed to be older than Ubenox, as he was birthed as a counter to this…thing. In order for the Corrupted One to become a legitimate threat, it must find a proper host to control…to feed on the dark thoughts of the mortal. From there, it will then begin to feed on the very essence, devouring their soul, until nothing remains…” she paused for a moment to let the end of that sink in. “The Corrupted One has no plans to control the universe…but seeks its outright destruction. It will continue to destroy parts of the universe until the host dies, where it will find a new host and begin its process of possession all over again…”
Everyone sat in silence for a moment before Pinkie bounced to her hooves.
“Awesome! So we know what’s going on now. Kinda.” She looked down at Miracle, “So what’s next?”
“I…I don’t know.” Miracle softly replied. “Mr. Ubenox didn’t tell me anything after that…”
“Great, an’ we dunno how ta get in contact with the ‘King of the Universe’.” Applejack huffed.
“Child of the Universe.” Rarity corrected. “And I’m sure there will be a spell in this book that can tell us how to receive his visions without sitting around and waiting for one to come to us.” She looked down at the book and began flipping through the pages once more. Her eyes fell onto a paragraph and she paused. She remained frozen while only her eyes rolled back and forth along the lines, before she nodded to herself and looked up at the others.
“It’s a blood offering and a hallucinogenic herbal potion.” She closed the book, “Quite simple to do…” she stood up, “Follow me. I have a place were we can do this. These kinds of potions and spell can get a bit…messy, and I don’t want my beautiful storefront caught in the crossfire.” She walked over to a nearby door that led to a set of descending stairs. The others followed, until they made their way into the surprisingly clean and organized basement. While random boxes of stored goods lined some of the walls, there was a small section of the basement was dedicated to the arcane. A decently sized table was lined with beakers filled with random oozes. Next to it, a shelving unit that held books and the prepping materials needed to make whatever thing Rarity felt like trying to create. She magically grabbed a few tiny bowls, a couple herbs, and a small knife. She cleared one of the tables off and placed the items down. She turned to the others,
“Alright, each of you place a hoof over this bowl. I’m going to need some of your blood.”
Dash gawked, “What? Hold up now!”
Rarity sighed in exasperation, “Potions of this caliber need a ‘personal touch’.” She grabbed the knife and placed a hoof over one of the bowls. She effortlessly sliced the skin above her horseshoe open. The blood briefly flowed freely, before the wound hissed as it closed up on its own.
“Since our little darling Miracle doesn’t have an Element, I will make sure to tend to her wound as soon as she provides the amount needed for this spell.”
The girls looked at one another. Applejack focused on her,
“Ya sure ‘bout this?”
“I’m positive.” Rarity replied in reassurance, “I give you my word that I won’t let anything go wrong.”
“Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie demanded.
Rarity proceeded to make the hoof motions, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She finished with a smile as she placed a hoof over her eye, satisfying the Earth Pony.
“Alrighty!”
Pinkie took the knife into her grasp and made a quick motion over her foreleg. Her blood poured into the bowl, and just like Rarity, her wound quickly closed up. The others followed suit, each contributing to the bowl until it was Miracle’s turn. She looked up fearfully at Fluttershy,
“I’m too scared to do it…” Miracle admitted. Fluttershy cupped her cheeks,
“You’re going to be just fine, I promise. There might be just a little burning, but then it will be all over.”
“But what if it hurts a lot?”
“It won’t.” Fluttershy stated with a smile, “As a matter of fact, it’s done.”
Confusion washed over the white Pegasus’ face, “Huh?”
She looked down to see Dash wrapping a small roll of gauze above her horseshoe. Rarity was wiping the knife clean.
“You didn’t even flinch.” Dash smiled softly, “Good job.”
Miracle smiled back, “Thank you, Miss Dash.”
“No problem, kiddo.”
Rarity grabbed another much larger bowl and mixed the herbs in it, before adding the blood bowl to it. She levitated a beaker with a bright orange ooze sloshing in it and added it to the concoction, which she quickly followed with a violet hued potion. She then offered the bowl to her friends,
“Drink up!”
Applejack shook her head, “HELL NAW!”
“How else did you think you were going to take the potion?” Rarity questioned with a deadpanned expression. “Besides, with the way I’ve mixed this, it’s not like you just drinking just a straight up bowl of blood. I assure you, there’s no risk of any…diseases being transferred, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
“But I mean…its still blood.” Dash agreed. “Kinda nasty.”
Frustration flashed on Rarity’s face, “Neither one of you are exactly the cleanest ponies I’ve ever met. In fact, you’re both quite repulsive in some circumstances-”
“HEY!” Dash and Applejack shouted in unison.
“So I think you both can manage to suck it up for a second and take a sip! It won’t even taste like blood.”
Pinkie clacked her hooves together, “Does that mean it’ll taste like candy?”
Rarity frowned, “I wouldn’t exactly say that-”
Before she could finish, Pinke snatched the bowl from her grasp and took a swig. She smacked her lips as the others looked on in shock.
“Mmm!” she smacked again, “It kinda taste li-”
She sat at attention and froze. Her eyes glazed over for a moment before the entirety of her eyes went violet. Applejack waved a hoof in front of her,
“Pinks? Pinkie? Sugar, what’s wrong?” she shook her, with no response. She turned angrily to Rarity.
“What did that shit do to her?”
“Her mind is in an altered state. She’s in a plane of existence beyond our own.” Rarity replied, then smirked. “All we have to do is follow her brash example.”
Rarity copied Pinkie, and it wasn’t long before she was in the same frozen state. One by one, the rest of the girls followed Pinkie and Rarity into this different plane, where they would hopefully, find the answers they needed…