You Seek Knowledge?

by Astral Star and Company

Chapter 2: Introductions

I blink rapidly in the sun’s glare. The light here is harsh, even underneath the canopy of the dense forest. It seemed wild, and gave a foreboding aura around the twisted trees and entangling undergrowth. A creature approaches. It is small, grey and covered in fur, with two elongated ears on the top of its head.

“What have we here,”

My voice requires re-recognition after my departure from the void. It is deep, and hollow. It vibrates as I speak, like the low buzzing of an insect. It is a unique combination that instills negative responses in my listeners. The creature, oddly enough, does not react to my voice. A creature of such small stature would normally flee at my mere presence. Intriguing, with a flash of magenta light, the position of the creature was now occupied by a pile of ash and soot.

“Hm, mammalian, physically weak but very fast. They can breed very quickly, with no danger of genetic defect through incest. Interesting,”

But it was not what I was looking for. I float along the forest floor on mere magical will, scanning the undergrowth for beings of interest. The plant life is unimpressive, and nothing I haven’t seen before, with the exception of a small, blue flower. It grew in large groups ranging from 23 to several hundred. It exhibits strange magical properties, now this, was worth something.

“Perfect,”

I reduce a large bed into a smoldering pile of hot carbon in my analysis.

“Orchid, with mysterious medicinal properties. Found only in areas of similar environmental conditions to my current location. Highly dangerous on direct physical contact with the pollen. Takes the most valued trait of a victim and manipulates it in a meaningfully humourus way. Cures can be found in three herbs, mixed into hot water and used to bathe the victim. Very useful,”

I quickly adapt my casting methods to suit this new-found power. I shiver as a blue ripple of lightning courses through my body. This world yielded some interesting specimens, and I intend to find more. Open further exploration, I happen upon a residential structure. It was built from a hollowed native tree, and decorated with tribal masks. Inside, a strange quadrupedal form stood over a cauldron of boiling liquid. I peek through a nearby window to inspect the interior.

Shelves upon shelves of strange magical concoctions and ingredients lined the walls. The cauldron’s contents also seemed to be magical in composition. The figure greatly resembled an equine, but was much smaller ans covered in black and white stripes. Its head and eyes and legs were too large to be proportionate to its body. Its chanting told me that it held a notable amount of intelligence. I silently cursed my size, as the doorway was clearly meant for creatures of lesser height and width, by at least a third. I focus a portion of magic into my eye, as it glowed brighter and brighter. At the apex of the channel, I released my magic in a single bolt of pure energy.

The creature exhibited astounding reflexes as it lept clear of my attack. My analysis retrieved results from the vat that was formerly the centrepiece of the room.

“Metal exterior,” I muse “Tempered to withstand high temperatures. Contents included, but not limited to, parsley, pumpkins, sour cream, croutons and a touch of sugar,”

Only then did I notice that the liquid was not magic, but was a meal. Oh, and the creature seemed very distressed as well.

“Who are you?” it cried “If you are friend, stay. If you are foe, go away!”

The silly creature thinks of itself in the position to be making demands, how foolish. Its dialect was far too similar to English to be coincidence. Perhaps it is a universal language? The creature obviously has intimate knowledge with this world. Thus, it had something I needed, and I was going to get it. I tore the door from its hinges, as well as a large portion of the front wall. The equine cowered below me, exhibiting the universal signs of fear. Wide eyes, quick heart beating, sweating and the compulsion to stop moving and talking. Such a useless response to any given situation. With a flash of magenta light, I put it of its misery. A great wealth of data flowed into my mind, detailing some interesting points on my current world of inhabitants.

“Equestria, ruled by two beings of divine quality. Dominantly populated by three races of ponies, unicorn, pegasi and earth. A very social, peace loving race of high magical potential,”

Now this was intriguing. This world might be worth harvesting after all. A quick sift through my new-found knowledge yielded an image of a town, not far from my current position. Quickly disintegrating the former tenant’s belongings, I made way for the town of Ponyville.

-{>(|)<}-

I departed from the forest quickly, as my new data informs me that extremely dangerous creatures roam free in there. Everfree forest, such an apt name indeed. I would most likely pay another visit in the near future. Some of the powers the creatures possess could prove useful. The light outside was much harsher than anything I was exposed to in Runeterra, aside from the human Lux’s magical attacks. The grass is very green and healthy, as were the currently limited fauna. An oddity in a world where industrial progress was evident. The air was strangely pollutant free, and carried the sweet aroma of flowers from several hills over. I could liken this world to the dreams of many an infantile human female.

I ceased progress as a thought struck me. If the previous creature’s reaction was any indication, my form was frightening to them. I floated over to a nearby stream, just before my objective and gazed into the water. Looking back at me was a large, slit magenta eye, nestled in a frame of angular bones, akin to the jaws of a shark. Three lesser eyes decorated my forehead. Two tentacles protruded from the front of my body, and one from the back. If my normal form was so abnormal in this land, then a change of shape was required to arouse less suspicion. Using my magic to alter my shape, my body folded into itself, then reformatted into something less conspicuous.

Looking back at me now, was an accurate representation of the native species of pony. A unicorn mare with a very dark purple coat, nearing black and long, wavy magenta hair that obscured my left eye. A crown of bones atop her head. My eyes were unfortunately slit, as any shape-shifting spell was far from perfect. Turning around, I now see a pattern resembling an eye, burning in pink fire. My tail also followed the style of my mane, almost touching the ground.

Satisfied with my new form, I tested out my new voice.

“Hello,”

It was reminiscent of the equine I had taken earlier, deep and mature, but lacked any accent, and thankfully, rhyme. Now truly satisfied, I trotted over a nearby bridge, and approached the town confidently.

-{>(|)<}-

After vaporising the striped pony, I now have an instinctual grasp of normal social behaviour. The town was a quaint, medieval village composed of wooden houses, and thatched rooves of straw. The residents were highly social, all-round cheerful folk of many colours. They gave me some odd looks as I passed by, but also through a greeting my way, which I enthusiastically returned. My show of normality quelled their suspicion as they walked off to do their own thing. I was just about to reach the village hall, a tall round building resembling a carousel, before a blur of pink filled my vision. The blur settled into a vibrantly pink pony, with a puffy mane and tail, greatly reminiscent of cotton candy.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pony said, in a high pitched, happy tone “I’ve never seen you ‘round before, which means you’re new! Because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville…”

‘Will she ever stop?’ I thought, while my current body only smiled at the pony’s antics.

I decided that controlling this body wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I forfeited control and gave it free rein. However, I kept a keen watch over my surroundings through my mind’s eye, looking for any potential sources of significant knowledge. While my body wandered, my mind scouted the surrounding town in an insubstantial, ghost-like form.

“And if I don’t know you, it means you’re new! And I hope we can be the best of friends!” she continued

“I hope so too,” my body smiled

“Great!” Pinkie pulled my body along in a death grip of a hug towards a large tree “So what’s your name?”

“Umm…”

‘Uh oh’ I quickly scanned my database for an appropriate name for an infant to adolescent female. I then sent forth the very first name on the list to my body’s own mind.

“Annie,” my body said confidently

“Annie huh? Nice name! A little odd though. Anyway, the quickest way to be friends is to meet more friends! We’re going to see Twilight, Ponyville’s librarian. She lives in that giant tree over there!"

‘Finally, a place of significance’

I was readying my life form disintegration ray before another thought struck me. Testing a theory, I scanned my guide for social contact. True enough, a miasma of multi-coloured lights spread across the whole town. These streams of light connect individuals together, varying in colour and intensity depending upon the nature of the relationship and the other being’s personality. A bright violet stream connected Pinkie to a single life form within the tree-turned library. My mind’s eye flew ahead, eagerly awaiting the knowledge inside.

-{>(|)<}-

[3rd person, following Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight was studying, as per usual. Today, she was looking at trans-dimensional theory, a topic often covered by sci-fi, but captured the interests of many legitimate scientists. On the side though, she had a book of defensive spells, for safety of course. Ever since Nightmare Moon and Discord she’s needed to build some form of self-protection. Her reading was interrupted by her front door flying open.

“Hey there Twilight!” Pinkie Pie grinned, hopping all around the purple unicorn “Guess what?”

“What?” Twi asked wirily, all too familiar with Pinkie’s little games

“I got a new friend for you!”

“Well that’s nice, where is…”

Her mental functions stuttered for a bit when she saw the new arrival. The dark mare was just plain creepy. Her magenta mane and tail glowed softly, even in the midday sun. Her one visible eye was slit, and her smile looked far too artificial, not forced, but made.

“Um, hello?” Twilight said nervously “My name is Twilight, what’s yours?”

“My name’s Annie,” the mare said “It’s a pleasure to meet you Twilight,”

Her voice sent shivers up the librarian’s spine. For a brief moment, it sounded like there were two voices at once.

“Would you mind if I tried something on you?” Twilight asked nicely, but just couldn’t hide her trepidation

“Be my guest,” she said coolly, offering again that artificial smile

Pushing thoughts of psycho –killers and horror movies, she flipped the page on her self-defence book onto a page labelled ‘Spells of revealing and the dispelling of illusions’. The spell was very simple, but required a lot of concentration. Screwing her eyes shut with focus, she manifested a wave of soft pink light. It drifted lazily across the room, and vanished on the other side. Her library seemed clean, and so did Pinkie. Annie too, but it reacted weirdly to her. The book said it would reveal the true nature of any illusion in a shimmer of light, but Annie seemed to be fighting against it. Just to be sure, she cast it a couple more times, three in succession.

The first evoked the same results as before, but the second dispelled something else entirely. The third however, put it in plain sight. A huge, ghostly image of a creature that matched nothing in her books, real or otherwise shimmered into existence above the dark mare. It’s body looked like the maw of a dead beast. Three tentacles, two in the front, and a large one at the back sprouted from the bottom. It had a large, slit eye that looked to be made of magenta lightning. Three lesser eyes were positioned in its forehead. In the space of two seconds, it faded into nothingness.

“P-Pinkie,” Twilight stuttered, eyes wide at the place where the creature once was “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Pinkie asked with an arched eyebrow

“Um, nothing,”

Twilight dismissed the image as a trick of the light, but something still pulled at her. Annie was currently reading eighteen books in succession, catching a fleeting glimpse of each before returning it to the shelf. The books levitated around her in a purple aura, swirling around like electrons to an atom. Annie’s right eye darted back and forth, capturing every word in an eye blink. Twilight might have been disturbed, but also, intrigued. So intrigued, that she did not feel the malignant prescence of a being silently trawling through her head’s worth of knowledge.

‘Perfect’

Comments

[Dawn Darkling]

Fascinating rendition of Vel'Koz's personality. Good so far. Not many authors have the guts to kill off a side-character so early in the story.
I hope this keeps updating; I'm eager to read more.

[Chaotic Note]

Well as a Vel'Koz mainer, this intrigues me. I'll watch the story for now.

[Jason Brony]

Have all my thumbs and stars!

[Dementia Ravenmane]

I was readying by life form disintegration ray before another thought struck me.

Misspelled word, should be my.

[Peacekeeper]

Fear is confusion pain is clarity

[ShadowFall]

Annie...

Yay! Tibbers!

I am really enjoying this so far...

[Cole the guy]

4231553 That sounds to much like 1984 for me to feel comfortable that book scares me.