//------------------------------// // The Eyes of Sherastol - Chapter 5 // Story: The Eyes of Sherastol (Title in Progress) // by Twysted //------------------------------// “Why would she send me a letter?! And why mail it? Why not send it through Spike?!” The young dragon had returned to Ponyville, but was told to stay at the library in case anypony wanted to come check a book out. But it was mainly so he wouldn’t be a nuisance to Twilight while she studied the lions. Twilight was flustered as Star Strider read the letter that came with the book Twilight had received. “Twilight Sparkle,” he said as he began to read the letter. Twilight had already read and re-read it three times. She wasn't used to receiving a letter from the Princess. Much less one that addressed Twilight so informally. “I sent you this book in hopes that it will shed light on what happened in the Everfree. I was worried dearly about you, but was unable to come and see you, much less rescue you. I had other duties to attend to. The Rocs are back and I needed to speak with Arishol, their king, but you don't need to be bothered with this.” “Unable?” Twilight asked. “Unable to help rescue her student from certain death?” “I'm sure the Princess has her reasons, Twilight. After all she said she had to deal with the Rocs.” “Rocks? Rocks are more important than her student?” “Not R-o-c-k-s. R-o-c-s. They're big birds.” “Oh.” Twilight muttered something beneath her breath, but let Star Strider finish the letter. (A.N.: Celestia’s not being a complete bitch. The reason why she couldn’t help Twilight is explained in the next chapter. Don’t hate it because of that) Star Strider smiled. “When you are feeling better, I would like you and your friends, including any siblings of a certain Element of Loyalty, to come and meet with Luna and I in Canterlot. In the meantime, I think you will find pages thirty-six to thirty-eight and pages forty-seven to forty-nine quite interesting in Areas Outside of Equestria. Your teacher and mentor Princess Celestia of Equestria.” Twilight looked at the book that the Princess had sent her. It wasn't anything special. It had the words Areas Outside of Equestria inlaid in gold on the brown leather cover, and looked to be old, but certainly nothing special. Twilight flipped through the book with her magic. There were some pictures in it, but mostly it was filled with text. “Page thirty-six,” Twilight said as she flipped to the correct pages. “LeoArun,” she began. Star Strider watched her as she read. “LeoArun, pronounced Lee-Oh-Ah-Rune, is the name of the lands beyond the Everfree forest. These lands stretch far and wide. The lands of LeoArun are more of a savannah than anything else. They are populated by the race of large cats known as lions.” Twilight quickly looked up at Star Strider. “I guess I'm not crazy.” “Twilight, no amount of imagination could have given you those wounds.” Star Strider gestured towards Twilight's leg. The bandages had been replaced, courtesy of Fluttershy. “I know but still. Star Strider, have you ever seen anything like the lions that I told you about?” “No.” “Heard about them?” Star Strider bit his lip at this question. He didn't want to lie to Twilight, but he also wasn't ready to tell the world about his father. “No, Twilight. I haven't.” “So apparently nopony has. Ugh.” She looked back down at the book. “The race of lions live in packs. Packs are made up of several different lions. The lions of LeoArun are divided into eighteen different packs.” Twilight kept skimming down the page for useful information. “Diet. No. Sleeping habits. No. Mate... definitely no!” she said blushing a little. She scanned down the page past what she deemed useless. “Hello? What's this? Class Separations and Religions?” Twilight checked the page numbers. Sure enough, it started on page fourty-seven. “They have their own religions?” “Well, the book says they do.” “Well what does it say?” Star Strider leaned closer to Twilight. The purple unicorn blushed a little from being so close to Star Strider. “As mentioned before,” Twilight read, “The lions of LeoArun are separated into eighteen different packs. In the pack system of lions, thirty to forty lions make up a pack. The lowest in this pack are the females. Though the females are the ones who bring life into the world, they are looked down upon.” Twilight was stunned at the information. How did the author get this much information on these beasts. Twilight's eyes drifted back to the book. “The next in the lion's society are the male hunters. They are given the praise for feeding the pack. And finally there is the head of the pack. The priest. The priest is usually a male... ch-chimera.” Twilight stumbled a bit when she said 'chimera'. Memories of the day flooded back to her. “Twilight, do you want me to read it?” Star Strider knew she was having trouble reading the book now. “N-no. I'm fine. Thank you though.” Twilight smiled a little, then cleared her throat and began to read again. “The priests all signify the head of the lions. They are at the top of the community because the extra appendages they possess are considered to be gifts from the lion's god...” Twilight paused for a moment. “Sherastol,” she said quietly, but loud enough for Star Strider to hear her. Star Strider's eyes went wide. “Let... let me look at that. Please.” Twilight pushed the book over a little so Star Strider could look it over. His mother's words kept repeating in his head. He knew the Eye of Sherastol was a jewel, but the jewel of a god? 'Tell me my pony, do you know what the Eyes of Sherastol are?' The chimera's words rang in Twilight's head. Her head was spinning. She could barely see straight. She could see the look of worry in Star Strider's face. “Star Strider, could you... Could you please finish reading?” “Of course, Twilight.” Twilight lifted the book with her magic and put the book on the ground in front of Star Strider, who proceeded to lay down and read it out loud. “Religion. The lions of LeoArun worship a central deity. The name of this deity is Sherastol, the All Seeing. It is said that the chimera priests are able to connect and speak with Sherastol, which also gains them their status in the lions society.” Star Strider stopped reading, which confused Twilight. He looked up from the book and into the purple unicorn's eyes. “There's nothing else.” Twilight's eyes went wide. “What?” her tone was distressed. “What do you mean there's nothing else?! There has to be more!” She begin to panic, not hearing anything about the Eyes. She levitated the book over to herself and scanned the pages furiously. “No, that can't be all it says! There has to be more! There has to be...” There has to be something about the Eyes. Twilight just looked at the pages for a moment before looking up at Star Strider. “Star Strider, I need you to do me a favor. Please.” Her tone was kind, but slightly distressed. “What do you need Twilight?” “I need you to find your sister. I have to talk to her.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thundercloud awoke on the edge of the Everfree Forest. His mind was burning. He tried to recall what had happened in the forest with Fluttershy, and the voice. He tried to stand up but just flopped back onto the ground. “What in the hay, happened?” he asked himself. Only bits of the conversation with Fluttershy and the voice remained in his head. He managed to shakily stand up, and wandered down the road to Ponyville, when the memories of the forest suddenly flooded back to him. “Oh, There's one other thing I need you to do for me, my little pony.” Fluttershy drifted closer and ran her hoof down Thundercloud's cheek. “I need you to bring me your sister also.” Thundercloud slowly nodded his head in agreement again. “I'll do it,” he smirked. The misty Fluttershy began to dissolve into the air. The mist turned red, as if it was made out of blood. It slithered up around Thundercloud's right front leg and wrapped around it. Thundercloud felt a burning sensation on his leg as the mist pressed into it. He winced in pain. It felt as if he had stuck his leg into an open flame. When the red smoke dissipated, a mark on his leg was all that was left. A red diamond with a flame behind it was imprinted into his skin, on the back of his leg. He looked at it, and the around the area. “Welcome to the pack, Thundercloud,” the voice said, startling the pegasus. “You still never told me who you are,” the pegasus spat. “I didn't? Oh how silly of me. I mean sometimes it's so easy to forget the details, eh Thundercloud.” Thundercloud blinked a little and a confused look overtook his face. He didn't know what the voice meant. “I am known as The All Seeing to certain races, but you, my little pony, may call me Sherastol.” The name rang a small bell in Thundercloud's head, but he couldn't remember why. “And all you need to do, is bring me that jewel, along with your sister, right back here in the forest.” All Thundercloud could do was nod. “Excellent,” the voice said. With that, Thundercloud felt strange. His eyelids began to droop, as a black mist swirled around him. “Consider this your initiation, Thundercloud. You are now a lifelong servant of Sherastol, The All Seeing god of the LeoArun. Use your new gifts wisely, young pegasus.” “What gifts?” Thundercloud asked. He suddenly felt a strange sensation taking his body over. As if he was... falling. He quickly looked down to see himself falling down a large black hole. The voice of Sherastol cackled. “You will find out when you awake! If you awake that is,” Sherastol yelled. The next thing he knew, Thundercloud was waking up on the edge of the Everfree forest. Thundercloud stood up and noticed a difference quickly. He felt stronger. He shook his head once or twice, and took a look around. He knew he was on the edge of the Everfree, but he didn't know where. Fluttershy's house could not be seen, which meant he was a ways away from Ponyville. He unfurled his wings to inspect them, making sure that nothing was broken in the fall. Thundercloud glanced over at each wing, and, seeing that nothing was wrong with them, took off. Flying felt different to the black pegasus. It felt as if he was flying faster than he ever had. He flapped his wings once and generated a large burst of speed. He soared over the scenery below, which was just simple field land. Thundercloud flew for a while before coming to the edge of Ponyville. He touched down on a street leading away from the city, and walked ahead. Thundercloud slowly made his way into the small village, looking around at the scenery. All in all it was a beautiful day. Birds were singing and the sun shone down on the peaceful town. Thundercloud didn’t care for any of this beauty though. His mind was filled with thoughts of what had just happened with Sherastol, or rather, the disembodied voice of Sherastol. Fragments of the conversation still loomed over him, such as Thundercloud having to bring his sister to the “god.” He had no idea how he was going to convince Rainbow to trek into the Everfree Forest with him. He mulled ideas over in his head. No. This is crazy. Why would I even convince to bring her into the forest? Suddenly the vision of Ponyville raced through his mind again. The bloody and gruesome bodies of ponies torn apart. The town being burned to the ground. Ditzy… Thundercloud shook his head to rid himself of the horrid thoughts. “No. That won’t happen. I won’t let it. Sherastol promised he wouldn’t hurt her.” Thundercloud decided the best approach would be to just talk to his sister about it. As he neared the town, he sighed lightly. “Easier said than done…” Suddenly, a gray blur crashed into him, knocking him to the ground and making his vision go blurry. He rubbed his head and looked around, finally finding a pegasus mare resting on top of him. “Well hello, Ditzy.” “O-Oh. Hi Thundercloud!” Ditzy smiled at the stallion stupidly, then gasped as it clicked. “Th-Th-Thunder! You’re here! Wh-what are you doing here?!” Ditzy was now hovering excitedly in the air, blushing a little at the sight of the other gray pony. Thundercloud laughed a little at the mare’s excitement and blushed himself. “Nothing much, Ditzy. Just here to visit Rainbow with Strider, you know?” “Y-Yeah! I saw him too! But… you weren’t with him…” Ditzy looked at Thundercloud sadly and landed next to him, then nuzzled his mane. “I missed you…” Thunder knew that Ditzy had always been a little… direct in expressing her emotions, but never had she done something so straightforward as that. “I… ah… missed you too, Ditzy.” He smiled a little as the mare stopped nuzzling, and looked at him with those golden eyes, which were now wide, and she was smiling. “Well you’re here now, and that’s all that matters! We have so much to catch up on!” Thundercloud let out another laugh at the easily excitable mare. “Well,” he hesitated, thinking about the task that was set before him. He still needed to think some more on this. And besides, one little date with Ditzy wouldn’t change anything. If anything it would give him a distraction from everything that’s been going on. “Sure Ditzy, I’d love to.” Ditzy let out a small squeal and smiled happily. “We’ll go out to lunch then! Get a plate of hay fries and catch up. Get it? Catch. Up?” Ditzy smiled at her own little pun, which prompted a laugh from Thunder. “Sounds nice Ditzy. Let’s go.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash was resting on the rug in front of Twilight, who was still lying on the couch. Rainbow's eyes were red and puffy from having to tell her friend about her father. Tears were streaming down her face, and she had to keep closing her eyes to try and hold them back. “I told you all I know Twilight.” Star Strider had gone back and fetched Rainbow after Twilight had asked him to. She wasn't too happy about being woken up from her nap, but when Star Strider told her what it was about, the thought of revenge flooded her mind. She immediately perked up and followed Star Strider to Fluttershy's house, where he and Twilight had been resting. Twilight eyed her friend. She knew this wasn't easy for the pegasus. Star Strider was lying next to Rainbow, comforting her. Twilight was pressing her friend for any information she could get, but realized it was a fruitless attempt. “But that Chimera said-” Twilight started, a little too loud, when Rainbow cut her off. “I know what he said Twilight. You told us all what he said.” Rainbow's tone had turned bitter. She was annoyed with everypony. She was annoyed with having to relive that day over and over again. “I don't know what the jewel is for. I found it this morning. That's all I know,” she lied. “Rainbow I know you don't know, but please isn't there anything-” “Twilight.” Rainbow cut her friend off and looked her directly in the eyes. The two ponies stared at each other for a few second, when Twilight broke the gaze. “I'm sorry Rainbow. This must be so hard for you...” “It's fine, Twilight. Don't worry about it,” the pegasus said, though she wasn't too sure that she meant it. “So what did that book of yours say about the lions or whatever?” Twilight's ears perked up again. She had been waiting to tell Rainbow about the book, hoping that maybe, it would help her to gain some information of sorts. “Well it talked about where they live, their diets and everything of the sort, but even that is amazing information. I can’t believe that I don’t have this book in my-“ “Twilight,” Rainbow said, trying to get her friend to stop talking. “It’s just crazy, Dash. I mean, somepony would’ve had to watch them to understand their habits, and yet there’s so little information on the subject of their religion that-“ “Twilight,” Dash said once again. “Hmm? Oh… I did it again, didn’t I?” Rainbow laughed lightly at her friend and smiled. Even though they were talking about the creatures that caused the death of one parent of hers, she felt a little better by being comforted by Twilight. She looked over at her brother, who was now asleep next to her. “How late did you keep him up last night?” Twilight just giggled. “Oh not that long…” “Don’t you hurt my brother with all your late night studying!” “Oh calm down Dash. Don’t get your feathers ruffled. We went to bed around two, okay?” Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. “So how did you get this book again?” “I told you Rainbow, the Princess sent it. She also sent a letter. She wants us all to go to Canterlot to meet her and Luna.” “Luna, huh? Think she’ll still be talking all funny like on Nightmare Night?” Dash giggled a little, along with Twilight. “Probably not. She’s had enough time to become accustom to the speech here. I’m sure we’ll actually be able to understand her this time. Okay… you’ll be able to understand her.” Twilight giggled at her own joke. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” “Nothing, Rainbow.” Twilight smiled, happy she was able to make her friend laugh and smile. “Yeah, it better mean nothing!” Rainbow stood up and stretched herself out, spreading her wings. “So… When are we getting the gang together?” Twilight’s ears folded back. She wasn’t exactly sure how to approach her friends about this. “Ah… I really don’t know Rainbow.” “Well why not?” Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, it’s hard to explain, okay?” Actually it was impossible to explain, because even Twilight didn’t have a reason for it. “Whatever, Twi.” Rainbow sighed and rolled over. “Rainbow?” “Yeah?” “Thank you.” Rainbow arched her eyebrow and rolled back over to look Twilight, who was looking at her with a mix of sadness, yet the oddest look of sincerity. “For what?” Twilight sighed a little. “I can tell this isn’t easy for you Rainbow… I never… Nopony never even had the slightest idea about your parents. So… thank you… It means a lot to me that you’re willing to open up to me and tell me this.” “Twilight… you’re my best friend. I trust you with my life.” Rainbow smiled at the unicorn then snuggled next to Star Strider, who was still asleep next to her. “Naptime sound good?” Twilight chuckled a little and nodded. “Yes. That sounds… delightful.” Twilight rested her head against a pillow and soon fell into sleep. And with sleep, came dreams. Chilling dreams about Sherastol, the lions and the chimera, Ponyville in ruins, and Equestria erased from existence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ditzy Doo and Thundercloud were currently sitting outside the Ponyville Café, waiting on their plate of hay fries to come out. It was about three in the afternoon, so the café wasn’t that busy. “So you’ve just been in Cloudsdale this whole time?” Ditzy asked Thunder. She was so happy to see her childhood friend. “But… You had my address when I moved… why didn’t you ever visit me?” Thundercloud sighed. “I really don’t know Ditzy. A lot of stuff happened after dad and Rainbow left. Mom was ill for years to come. She never really recovered from it…” “Oh yeah… I forgot about your dad and Rainbow leaving.” “There’s that killer memory of yours.” Thunder grinned and laughed while Ditzy blushed. Hard. “I… uh…” Ditzy rubbed the back of her head and smiled as the waiter brought out their food. “A plate of hay fries for the stallion and mare. Enjoy.” He trotted back towards the shop after setting the plate down on the couple’s table. “Thank you, and we will. Have a nice day!” Ditzy smiled as she looked at the plate hungrily, but then looked back at Thundercloud, with sad eyes. “It’s been so long Thunder… I just can’t believe you’re here. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.” Thundercloud blushed, looking back at Ditzy. “Hey… Like you said, I’m here now. That’s all that matters, right?” Ditzy let out a small laugh and smiled lightly, then leaned over and pecked Thunder on the cheek. “Right.” Thunder just sat there blushing. “So are we gonna get started on these hay fries or not?!” Ditzy grabbed the bottle of ketchup and began smothering the fries in it. Thunder laughed and watched her. “Do you remember the time you came over, and you and I tried to bake our own cookies?” “Oh dear Celestia, do I?” Ditzy laughed and popped a couple fries in her mouth. Rainbow ended up covered in flour, and you and I did nothing but eat the chocolate chips!” The two friends shared a laugh. “Oh! Oh! Oh! What about the time we got Star Strider to play hide and seek with us?” “Now that was a fun day. He started freaking out because he couldn’t find us, and we were hidden in a cloud the whole time!” “Hey… Thunder?” “Yeah?” “I… Can I ask you a question.” “O-Oh… Uhm.. sure Ditzy.” “How… How was it? Without Rainbow at home, I mean.” Thunder shut his eyes. That was a subject he did not like talking about. “It was very different. Without having dad or Rainbow there, it left a hole in all of our lives.” “I see…” Thundercloud sighed again, wishing he could just push the painful memories out of his mind. “We woke up one morning, and Rainbow and Dad were just gone. Mom was sobbing and blubbering something about a stone or something, and Strider was just silent the whole time. None of us knew what to do. We asked mom if we could go out looking for them, but she said that we were too young, she didn’t want to lose us either. Within the next few months, mom fell ill. Nothing too horrible, just a cold or something, but it never went away. She was like that for the next seven years, her illness worsening and taking a toll on her body. Strider and I had to make sure we had alternating shifts at the weather factory so one of us could always be at home with her…” Ditzy was tearing up a little. “So you found Rainbow… what about your dad?” Thunder turned away and sighed. “Thunder? Did you find him?” Ditzy was being her oblivious self. Thundercloud remained silent. “Thun-“ “No! Alright? I didn’t find him. Now stop asking me,” he said in a harsh tone. Ditzy winced a little, but put a hoof on her friends shoulder. She was a klutz, but her heart was huge and she cared for, above all else, her friends. “Thundercloud. I know this is a hard topic for you to talk about. I’m sorry for asking questions. Why don’t we just get back to eating, alright?” She smiled at her friend and popped a few more fries in her mouth. Thunder smiled lightly and did the same.