//------------------------------//
// Ch 1: You're completely mad! 
// Story: The Legends of Lore 
// by ChaosDragon 
//------------------------------//

"You're completely mad!... You know that, right?" The teal earth pony stared across the cluttered room at his friend in utter disbelief. He was far too shocked at the moment to even begin worrying about the maroon unicorn's safety. "You know, coming from me, that's saying something! I mean, we both know I'm mad, but you're supposed to be the rational one in this little duo! " He closed his eyes tightly and pressed a hoof to his forehead. Oh, how he wished he wasn't the one who had to put up with this. He let out an exasperated sigh as he massaged the spot between his eyes. He always found this helped him to relax, and Luna only knows he could use a little stress removal right about now. "Okay, so let me see if I've got this right. You're telling me, you plan on meeting a complete stranger... with a sack of bits... in the seediest bar in town... at midnight... alone..."

The cheerful unicorn looked up from packing his satchel to give his friend a broad grin. "Yep!"

Reluctantly, the earth pony dropped his hoof and opened his hazel eyes to the grin he knew would be awaiting him. Remaining completely silent, he blankly stared at the unicorn for several long moments. His eyes darted over his friend as he looked for something wrong, something out of place that would explain all of this. The unicorn's maroon coat looked as it always did, and his black mane was just as tidy as ever. His light, forest-green eyes seemed fine. His black tail was long for a stallion, but that wasn't new. The open book and magnifying glass of his cutie mark looked unchanged as well. He seemed perfectly normal, perhaps a little more excited than usual, but there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with him. So why was he speaking such nonsense?!

The teal earth pony walked over to the unicorn very calmly, and placed his hooves on the maroon stallion's shoulders. Drawing in a slow, deep breath, he lifted his head to meet the unicorn's gaze, giving him a determined look. Suddenly, he started shaking the grinning unicorn with everything he had, as if he could shake the crazy out of him. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?! Why would you do this?! This whole thing couldn't be a more obvious trap even if it actually had 'trap' written all over it in great big blinking neon lights! What happened to the Lore Seeker who used to play Oubliettes & Ogres with me?! I watched you spot traps I hadn't even designed yet! I know you know this is a bad idea!"

Lore Seeker's cheeky grin quickly disappeared as his head bounced around like a bobblehead on a roller coaster.

"Would you stop shaking me, Lucky Roll! I'm not one of your blasted dice!"

"Not until I shake some sense into you!"

Grunting in exasperation, Lore Seeker started pulling on the teal pony's hooves. With a little effort, he was finally able to extricate himself from his friend's grasp. He quickly took a few steps back to move out of range, then frowned at Lucky Roll. "First of all, don't give me that 'what happened to you' stuff. We just had an Oubliettes & Ogres session on Saturday. Second, you're my assistant, so quit whining and start assisting!"

Lucky Roll simply stared at his friend in open-mouthed shock, his brain playing a bit of catch-up after being knocked silly by Lore's retort. "You... Are you playing the assistant card on me?!"

"If I have to."

The teal earth pony threw a hoof up in disgust. "I can't believe this! We've been best friends since we were in diapers! You begged me to be your assistant!" He pointed an accusing hoof at Lore Seeker as he frowned right back at him. "You swore to me that you would never play the assistant card! You told me I would always be a friend first and an employee second!"

Shaking his head, Lore walked over to sit next to his friend. "You're right, Lucky, I'm sorry." Lore looked up to stare determinedly at his friend. "But you know this is important to me, and you know I'll end up going with or without you anyways. So instead of fighting about it, would you please just help me out?"

Lucky Roll let out a heavy sigh as he accepted defeat. He knew Lore was right, but it certainly didn't make him feel any better about it. "All right, all right. But can you at least tell me what this is all about? I know you already told me what you are planning, but do you mind letting me in on exactly why you are trying to get yourself mugged?"

Lore stared at Lucky in confusion for a moment before finally finding his words. "You mean... I didn't tell you? I could've sworn I told you."

With a rather impressive smack, Lucky planted his hoof firmly to his face. "Oh, for the love of Luna! No! No you did NOT tell me! Why the hay do you think I'm asking!?"

Lore rubbed the back of his head as he gave his friend a sheepish grin. "Hehe, whoops. Guess I got so excited it slipped my mind."

Lucky rolled his eyes and gave a quick retort. "Gee, you think?"

"Sorry, sorry, totally my fault. Come take a look at this and I'll explain." Lore trotted over to an old desk with Lucky Roll in tow and began to sift through the accumulated mess of scrolls, books, and notes. His brows furrowed and he began to mutter to himself as he shuffled through the pages. "Where is it... I know I left it on this desk somewhere..."

Grinning at Lore's frustration, Lucky poked at some of the papers halfheartedly as he made an off-handed quip at his friend's expense. "You should really clean this place up, you know. You'd probably have a much easier time finding things if you did."

Without even looking up, Lore Seeker shot one right back at him, quickly falling back into the familiar banter the two friends often shared. "I would, but I'm always so busy. If only I had an extra pair of hooves around to help me out. You know, like someone I could hire to assist me with my work. Someone dependable and supportive. Someone I could pay far too much to do all those little tasks that keep my life organized and running smoothly; like cleaning up the study... You wouldn't happen to know where I could find someone like that, would you, Lucky?"

Lucky Roll struck a sophisticated pose and tilted his head back as he dramatically swept a hoof through his disheveled white mane. "You forgot suave and devilishly handsome~"

Lore sniggered and snorted as he tried his best to stop himself from laughing out loud while he searched. "Yeah sure, whatever you say there, Romeo." He flicked his tail at the twenty-sided crimson die of Lucky Roll's cutie mark, playfully whacking him right on the '20' that was showing for the roll. "Just make sure not to ruin your hooficure when you're cleaning this place up later."

Just then, Lore let out a triumphant cry as he pulled an old piece of parchment out of the drawer he had been searching through. He placed it down on the heap of papers covering the desk, and carefully smoothed it out. "Here it is. This is why I'm going tonight!"

Curious, Lucky stuck his head over his friend's shoulder to stare down at the piece of parchment. "It's... what is it? Looks like one of those messy doodles that foals are always drawing."

Lore rolled his eyes and gave a derisive snort at this suggestion. "Oh come on, Lucky! Quit joking around and actually look at it, will you? It's an ancient rendering of an elven city! Granted, some of the charcoal is a tad smudged, but it's still recognizable." He points to several spots on the page. "That's a roof sticking out above the trees there. There's a fountain. And that looks like some sort of path there."

Lucky Roll stared at the charcoal picture intently for a few moments before he started nodding along with Lore. "Yeah, I see it now..." Leaning in closer for a better look, Lucky Roll let out a low whistle. "Wow, this thing is elaborate! That is some fine detail work; in charcoal no less! No wonder it looked like an indistinct black blob at first. You really have to get in close to appreciate this thing." After doing just that for a moment longer, Lucky stepped back and looked at Lore, his brow furrowing as he tried to piece it all together. "Soooo... what does this old drawing have to do with you going to meet some stranger in the dead of night?"

Lore Seeker turned to his friend with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Everything! Do you remember me telling you about my theory? The one about 'Taurelond'?"

"Taurelond, the lost elven capital? Taurelond, the only elven city that you believe hasn't been wiped off the face of the earth? The Taurelond you wrote your doctoral thesis about? The same Taurelond you've been babbling about since we were ten? That Taurelond?... Nope, doesn't ring a bell."

Lore simply rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, smart-ass, that one... Though I suppose I deserved that, given how often I tend to go on about it. Just indulge me for a minute, okay?"

Having brought this on himself by asking, Lucky didn't see that he had much choice in the matter. He made himself comfortable and waved a hoof at Lore for him to continue.

"Well, you know I've spent half my life searching for Taurelond. I believe it holds the evidence I need to finally prove that the lost races really did exist!... Which I guess you also already knew, but here's where the stranger comes in. One of my colleagues, Dr. Do, sent me a letter from her expedition in the far east. She recounted a conversation she had with a zebra mystic in the village where she was staying. In it, the mystic mentioned an ancient race that she only referred to as 'the elder kin' and 'the lost ones'. Naturally my interest was piqued, so I wrote her back and asked her to inquire into the matter further."

Lore started pacing across the floor now as he got into his story. "The mystic wasn't able to tell her much more, but she did mention an old map that had been passed down from elder to elder for as long as anyone could remember. The zebras told Ms. Do that it was a map of a land that didn't exist, and it showed the location of a city 'lost to time'. I don't think any of them even knew why they still kept it around, other than simple tradition. So naturally, I urged Dr. Do to bring me back a copy of the map. That part turned out to be rather simple, as the locals were happy to let her borrow it. Something about repaying a favor she did for them. But then, about two weeks ago, when she was coming back from her trip, she was set upon by some, some..."

Lore grew livid and began to splutter, flailing his hoof around before him, as if he was trying to swat the right word out of the air. "Some... no good, dirty, rotten, thugs! Ms. Do was all right, thankfully, but those scoundrels managed to take her bag, and the map with it! I thought all hope of ever seeing it again was lost, until I got a call last week." Lore turned to look at Lucky Roll pointedly. "You remember, it was on Tuesday. I got a call and suddenly became all... what? What is it?"

Lucky Roll was still sitting attentively in the same position, but now he was giving Lore an amused smirk. "Scoundrels? Really? You sure they weren't hooligans? Maybe they had some ruffians with them. Possibly even a miscreant or two."

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean. Now, where was I... Oh right. So last Tuesday, I got a call. There was a disguised voice on the other end, probably one of those muggers. He offered me a deal for the map. Apparently, Ms. Do had placed the map into an envelope addressed to me, so those thugs figured I might be willing to pay to get it back. I've spent the last week bargaining with them and hammering out the details."

"But why go through all this trouble just for a map of someplace that doesn't even exist?" Lucky retorted, as he scratched his chin ponderously.

Filled with excitement, Lore's words began to fly as he raced toward his conclusions. "Don't you see, Lucky?! This is it! This is what I've been searching for all this time! The zebra tribes have been around for thousands of years. Long enough that they might have actually had contact with the lost races at some point! If they had been given a map to the capital as a sign of friendship and trust, they would have been sure to preserve it. It would have been a matter of honor and pride to them. Don't you see? After thousands of years, the meaning behind this map has been lost, but they still honor the tradition of protecting it and passing it on!"

Lore was getting more excited and frantic by the second, but he stopped now to take a few deep breaths and composed himself before continuing. "I believe, this map is not of some imaginary land. I believe it's a map of Equestria! The zebras didn't begin to cross the oceans until about two hundred years ago, but even now they don't cross in great numbers. We only ever see one or two, just the odd outcast or adventurer. They wouldn't have been familiar with Equestria, or even known what it looked like! That's why they think the lands on the map don't exist! So if this map is of Equestria, and it was given to them by the lost races, then I think the city on the map might be Taurelond! This could be it, Lucky! Don't you see? I have to get that map back! It might not turn out to be a map to Taurelond, but if I don't do this, and just let the map disappear, I will spend the rest of my life regretting it. I'll always wonder whether or not I was right."

Instantly more interested in the story, Lucky Roll leaned in and began to question his friend on the details. "So what exactly are the terms of this deal?"

"The deal is three hundred bits for the map. I'm supposed to meet one of them at the 'Water Trough Tavern' at midnight to make the exchange. No cops, no guards."

Lucky Roll hopped up from his seat and brushed a hoof across his shoulders casually as he commented to Lore. "Well then, it's a good thing I'm coming with you, now isn't it?"

Lore simply frowned at his best friend in consternation. "Lucky, I just told you, they said to come alone! What if they get angry?! I could lose the map for good!"

"If you think I'm letting you go alone, you're even more crazy than I thought!" The impudent stallion flashed Lore a cheeky grin. "Besides, when have I ever done what I was told?"

"Wait... just... you..." It was Lore Seeker's turn now to slap a hoof to his face as he let out a groan. "UGH!... Okay, I guess... I suppose I can't really stop you from coming anyway... Just promise me you won't do anything reckless. I can't afford to lose this map, Lucky."

Letting out a hurtful little huff, Lucky turned to regard Lore. Hoof pressed to his chest in shock, he gave his friend a look of complete indignation. It might have actually been convincing, if Lore hadn't been absolutely certain that the stallion was just being overly dramatic. "Me?! Do something reckless?! I'm hurt, Lore, truly hurt! After all this time, I thought you knew me better than that!" He suddenly grinned at the unicorn and gave his maroon cheek a mocking little pat. "You know I could never promise something like that. I mean honestly, we've been best friends for almost thirty years, and you still haven't figured that out? For shame!"

Lore groaned and began to rub his forehead. "I'm getting a very bad feeling about this..."

Lucky simply laughed and gave his friend a good-natured slap on the back. "It's a little late for that, Lore. Now quit your griping and find me an empty pack."