A Frayed Notebook with Pages Missing

by Ezn

THB: Spirit of Magic Chapter Two

Chapter Two: The Predators Following Her Every Step

Heather the grey earth pony stood up, her new legs shaking beneath her. The long arms of her jersey rumpled at her hooves. Digging knelt down and swiftly rolled them up.

"How did you do that?" asked Heather, marvelling at Digging's hoofwork and looking down forlornly at the ends of her own forelegs.

"Practice. I know we don't have hands like you humans, but we're not totally helpless."

Heather raised her left forehoof to her eyes and gave it a puzzled glance.

"I'll teach you all about that sort of thing later," Digging said gruffly, "but right now we need to figure out how to get out of here."

Heather nodded and she and Digging began scouring the room for anything that might help them escape. They were in a square stone cell with a tiny barred window set into the highest point of one of its walls, and a thick wooden door opposite that window. Digging flew up to the window, but found the bars too narrow for her to even get a hoof through. Defeated, she fluttered down to rejoin Heather.

Something above the two crackled, and a deep, masculine voice said, "There is only one way of getting out of your cell... and that's by waiting for us to deal with you. Patience, my little ponies."

Digging snarled. "Show yourself!"

"It's a radio transmitter... probably stolen from the base. There's no-one else here." Heather sighed. "Ms Doo, a radio is like –"

"I know what a radio is!" Digging snapped. "We have them in Equestria as well, you know. There actually are things we can invent without needing humans to show us how." Digging's eyes glinted. "Like ponification spells!"

Heather gasped. "That's –"

"Yeah, how does it feel, Heather?" asked Digging. "How does it feel to have your identity destroyed? To have your species changed?"

"Ms Doo, I'll have you know that there's a big difference between the voluntary service we offer ponies and forceful species –"

"Time! That's the only difference. Or weren't you around for the big 'Equestria is dying and we all need to humanify and go live on Earth' speech? At least whoever these cultists are didn't play mind games with you before they zapped off your fingers!"

"Wait... cultists?"

"Duh." Digging rolled her eyes. "Typical know-nothing human. Everypony knows that the only ones with the resources or the will to break into human outposts are the crazy countryside cults. It's why I moved to the city – needed to stay out of the way of those idiots. Didn't help in the end, of course."

"Tell me more about these cults," Heather asked softly, silently thankful for the situation's defusal.

Digging put a hoof to her chin and cast a thoughtful eye to the ceiling, the last of the anger in her face disappearing. "Well, you see, a few hundred years ago, we had these two princesses who ruled over Equestria, and they were kind and benevolent and wise. But then war broke out and they got killed, which obviously upset everypony. Some were even upset enough to group around minor nobles and charismatic speakers in their desire for new rulers, and as Equestria became more dangerous and chaotic, their groups got bigger and started to move away from the rest of the country. They went to live in the mountains, on the plains, and in the forests, and a few of the bigger ones are still around today."

Digging paused for a moment. "They didn't used to mingle with the rest of us much, but ever since you humans arrived, well, at least one of the cults has been making a lot more of a nuisance of itself."

"I guess they must feel threatened," Heather said.

"Yeah, it's a way folks tend to feel when their worlds get invaded by aliens."

Heather huffed at this, looking for a moment like she was about to say something, but then apparently thinking the better of it and keeping her mouth shut.

"Don't think I'm going to forget about that, Heather," said Digging. "We're going to need to co-operate with each other to get out of here, and you may make a cute little pony but –"

"Thanks!" Heather smiled with her muzzle for the first time.

Before Digging could continue her speech, the speaker on the ceiling crackled again. "We are ready to attend to you two now. Please step up to the door and wait for further instructions."

Digging and Heather exchanged glances before obediently trotting towards the door – the latter wobbling on her legs a little as she did so.

"Open the door and step outside." As the voice finished speaking, a clicking noise sounded from the door's locking mechanism and it creaked open slightly.

Heather stared down the hallway before them with wide eyes, and Digging took a deep breath. The walls were lined with torches, but the first set wasn't for a good number of metres, and the second set looked even further still.

Wordlessly, the two ponies slowly walked down the passage, one of the two sets of hoofsteps growing steadier as they want.

***

"You're getting better at that walking thing," Digging observed. "You're almost doing it naturally."

Heather beamed for a second time. "Thanks!"

"You'd better be able to gallop as well. We'll probably need to do some of that later."

"Uh..."

The end of the passageway was in sight, much to Digging and Heather's relief. They hadn't been walking for long, but the torches had stopped before one of the hallway's corners, and the utter darkness of the past few minutes made the twilight-accustomed Digging uneasy.

What made Digging even more uneasy was the sight of a large, fat unicorn stallion sitting on a throne, which slowly came into view as they reached the end of the dark passageway.

Two loud voices on either side of Digging and Heather boomed an introduction: "Hail to His Majesty, The Great Emperor Soluna, he who is to create the moon-sun and shepard us into a new dawn!"

Digging rolled her eyes and then let them land on the stallion in the throne, bitterly noting how unsuited such a filthy, fat creature was to such a grand title. He was a middle-aged stallion with a thinning orange mane and a yellow coat. A rusty crown sat lopsided on his head, and on his back were fastened a pair of metal wings. Digging almost pitied his pathetic attempt to appear royal.

"Salutations, Ms Digging Doo!" he boomed, voice dripping with mock respect. "It is an honour to finally meet you in the flesh!"

The room at the end of the hall was a large and well-lit, but its decorations were gaudy and badly co-ordinated. A long crimson rug clashed the with sickly yellow and cyan wall-hangings, and Soluna's throne was a filthy, decaying couch that might once have been green.

"What do you want?" Digging asked bluntly. "Did you want the journal page? Because you've got that now, so I don't know what you're keeping me around for? And why did you turn this human into a pony? What was the point of that?"

Soluna smiled a slimy smile, full of yellow teeth and bits of his lunch. "So many questions..." he droned. "You're a fiesty one, Ms Doo, but I suppose all bird ponies are – never obedient to anyone they feel they can escape... it's no wonder nopony else ever wants to deal with you lot."

Digging glared at him, saying nothing.

"Not that you don't have a point, of course. I do need you for something, Ms Doo, and I'm certain your formerly human friend can help as well."

"Hmph." Digging scanned the room for exits. Guards were everywhere, and the only apparent opening was to the passage she and Heather had entered from.

"You see, Ms Doo," Soluna continued, "that journal entry you found for us was the final piece of a puzzle we've been working on for quite some time. Thanks to the information recorded on the back – it was in invisible ink, bet you didn't figure that out – we've been able to locate a place of great importance, where an artefact of great power lies."

Digging sighed. "My services aren't free, you know."

"But of course not!" Soluna chuckled. "I'm perfectly prepared to pay you with the most precious thing I have to give – your life."

Digging snarled and bared her teeth, expelling a puff of breath from her nostrils. As her hoof scrapped against the ground, she heard the sound of every unicorn in the room lighting up their horns.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Soluna warned.

Digging glanced at Heather, who was shaking and wordlessly imploring her to listen with wide, tearful eyes. She groaned and let her body relax.

"Why did you turn Heather into a pony?" Digging spat her question out vehemently.

Soluna grinned. "Mostly to show that I can – my scientists are very proud of their successful reversal of the humans' formula. Besides, she looks much cuter as pony, don't you think?"

Heather whimpered and her head receded into the neck of her large jersey.

"Uurgh, just looking at that bundle makes me feel sweaty," Soluna said. "She must be burning up! Guards, cool the lady down!"

Heather squeaked in terror as two burly unicorn stallions approached her. She clung to the jersey with her legs as their magic grasped and tugged at it.

"Hey!" Digging shouted, jumping between the unicorns and Heather. "Leave her alone!"

"What's the matter, Digging Doo?" asked Soluna. "You turning into a human sympathiser?"

Digging's wings flared out and she stared menacingly at the guards. "No, I just don't like bullies. You touch one thread on her jersey – or one hair on her head – and you're not going to have a co-operative Digging Doo."

The room was silent for a moment, and then Soluna sighed. "Guards, stand down. Let the silly mare die of heatstroke."

The guards retreated and Digging turned to back to Soluna with a confident smile on her muzzle. "Now, Mr Soluna, what is that you would have me retrieve for you?"

"At last, the lady sees reason!" Soluna's eyes glinted briefly, and he focused them in Digging's direction. "I'll keep this brief and to-the-point: there exists an object of great power in a well-hidden, even-better-guarded site at the summit of Mount Arcana, and I'd like it to exist in my possession instead."

"That's not an awful lot to go on."

"It doesn't need to be. In my immense kindness, I've arranged for my people to take you all the way to the site's entrance. If my sources are correct, the celebrated Digging Doo should be more than capable of handling herself from there on in."

Digging huffed. "Your slimy little spies are right about that one."

"I look forward to seeing you back that up." Soluna clapped his forehooves together. "Guards! I tire of my guests! Escort them back to their quarters at once!"

Digging and Heather were swiftly taken back down the dark passage and put back in their cell, with the door locked behind them. The guards' hoofsteps had barely faded into the background when Heather forced her jersey up over her head and tossed it into a rumpled heap in the corner of the cell.

"That king guy may be an unpleasant creep, but he was right – it's far too hot around here for a jersey," she said to Digging's inquisitive look.

"That's not what I was going to ask about..."

"Huh?"

"Heather, did you know you're a pegasus?"

Heather gasped and looked back at the creased white shirt covering her trunk. Her eyes widened as she noticed two large holes in its back, and beneath each one a grey, feathery wing. She inhaled sharply as they flicked out to her sides, and then slowly retracted them. "N... no... I had no idea..."

"You know what this means, right?" Digging asked slyly.

"What?"

Digging flared her own wings. "Flying lessons."

***

Heather's wings wilted at her sides as she slipped off her hooves into an exhausted sitting position. "This is a lot harder than it looks."

"So is anything worth doing," Digging called from above, her wings beating exuberantly. "You're doing well, don't worry!"

Heather lifted her head just long enough to smile weakly.

"And I mean it, too! Young pegasi take years to learn this stuff, and you're already hovering after only an hour of training. That really is very good." Digging neglected to mention that the duration of Heather's longest hover could easily be mistaken for a jump.

The two ponies looked up at the ceiling as they heard a familiar crackling. Try as they might, they remained unable to locate the speaker it was coming from.

"Playtime's over, kids! It's time for both of you to say goodbye to your luxury suite, pack up your luggage, and get ready for an all-expenses-paid, first-class trip to the exotic and lovely Mount Arcana!"

Having made no escape plan, Digging and Heather looked at each other, shrugged and nonverbally agreed to go along with it. Heather pulled her jersey back over her head – "It's probably cold at the top of Mount Arcana," she said – and the two ponies walked out of the now-open door and into the hallway.

They were greeted by two tight-lipped, solemn-face earth pony mares, who escorted them down a previously unseen corridor and out into an open air clearing, where an unmarked, khaki zeppelin sat, awaiting passengers.

"You guys have airships?!" Digging exclaimed, forgetting herself momentarily. "I didn't know there were airships anymore! This is going to be just like in Daring Do and the – uh... whatever."

One of the earth ponies smirked as she led Digging and Heather on board.

The wooded interior of the zeppelin was lined with benches, the red fabric seats of which were torn and losing their stuffing. Digging nonetheless gazed at them with childlike wonder, a rare grin forming across her muzzle.

A crackling noise, similar to the one Digging and Heather had become accustomed to hearing in their cell, sounded from the roof. "Good afternoon, this is your captain speaking. We will be departing for Mount Arcana shortly, so please find your way to your seats."

Digging and Heather sat down next to each other on one of the less-damaged benches. "It's so weird sitting like... urgh," Heather whined.

Digging snorted and rolled her eyes.

Gently, silently, the zeppelin lifted up, and Digging and Heather felt their stomachs lurch slightly. They look out the window at the grey sky and its dirty, drifting clouds, uncared for by pegasi and blown haphazardly around by the wind.

"I knew this world didn't have a sun, but I've never..." Heather's mouth hung slightly open as she stared at the bleak vista beyond the window.

Thunder cracked in Digging's mind. "We had one once. I remember it. It was... bright."

The room fell silent as the zeppelin continued its journey through the monochromatic heavens. Digging looked at her companion, the grey pony born to this grey Equestria in a grey, half-lit time. Even Heather's green jersey was a subdued, greyish green – not light or pastel, nor dark or rich.

She herself was a pale pink. Although she'd often wished she could have been born with a tan coat like Daring Do's, at least pink stood out a little more against the grey.

"This is your captain speaking," came an urgent voice, piercing the contemplative silence. "We've sighted griffons. Prepare for turbulence."

"Griffons?" asked Heather, her eyes widening more in fascination than shock. "They never told me there were griffons on this world!"

Digging's blood ran cold, and she felt for a moment like clubbing Heather over the head with her forehoof.

"Consider yourself blissfully ignorant. Maybe they'll leave us alone and you won't get an opportunity to study them."

The loudspeaker crackled ominously. "We've been sighted."

"Get out your microscope, lady," Digging said between gritted teeth. "Make a gift of it, and maybe they'll only kill me."

Heather gasped, bringing her forehooves to her mouth. "Are they really that bad?"

"Stay calm, passengers. I'm going to try to outmanoeuvre them," the loudspeaker said.

Digging had already left her seat and was looking for a way off the zeppelin. "Worse," she called back. "I heard they used to be alright, but for all my life we ponies have known that if you see a griffon in the sky, you get outta there or you're birdfood."

Heather sprung up from her seat to follow Digging. "W-where are you going?"

"I'm getting off this floating graveyard, and you'd better follow me if you value that new flank of yours."

"But the captain –"

"No slow, bulky zeppelin's gonna outmanoeuvre a pack of bloodthirsty griffons. We stay here, we're a stationary target. At least out in the open we may have a chance to outfly those griffons while they're focused on the ship."

"But I can't –"

"Death by freefall's better than death by griffon!" With that, Digging grabbed Heather roughly and started pulling her towards an exit door.

"What are you – ah, no, let me go!"

But Digging just pulled her forelegs tighter around Heather's chest and neck. With a well-placed buck from her left hindleg, she kicked the door off its hinges and sent it spiralling out into the empty sky. Wind whipped fiercely at her mane and tail and roared in her ears.

Digging could feel Heather squirming and pounding on her, desperate to get away from the open door. With a mischievous grin and all the strength in her forehooves, she pushed Heather closer, until she was teetering with most of her body outside the ship.

"I can't!" Heather cried.

"Sure you can!" Digging grabbed the bottom of Heather's jersey in her teeth and hoisted it up to her neck so her wings could move freely. "Just remember those lessons!"

"But I'm not –"

She never finished her sentence, because at that moment, Digging shoved her out of the ship. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Digging waving at her, green jersey gripped in her mouth.

Heather was falling. Instincts she didn't know she had flicked her wings out to the side, and her fall slowed. Slowly, she righted herself and fell into an awkward glide. She tried to flap, but fell further. She screamed.

Air whooshed around her, and she felt a steadying hoof on her shoulder for a moment. "Relax!" came Digging's voice. "They're going to hear us if you scream like that! Besides, you're doing fine!"

Author's Note:

And that's where it abruptly ends.