The Eye of Destiny

by derpyland

Chapter 2: A Song of Time

Spike was with Twilight Sparkle in her library. “So he got away, huh?” Spike asked. “That’s too bad. What are you going to do now?”

“The only thing I can do,” Twilight replied. She used her magic to levitate the fragments of The Eye of Destiny into the air, and then carefully placed them on a table in the middle of the library. “I’m going to put this book back together if it takes me all night.”

“But Twilight, do you have any idea what time it is? Couldn’t you just go back to bed and deal with this in the morning? I mean, it’s not like the book is going to go anywhere!”

Twilight looked up, startled. “Oh my goodness – you’re right! What if that evil pony comes back and tries to steal it again? That would be terrible! There’s only one thing we can do.”

“Go back to bed?” Spike said hopefully.

Twilight shook her head. “Nope. Spike, take a letter to Celestia. Tell her that she needs to send a shipment of a hundred guard ponies here immediately. It’s a matter of national security! They can protect my books while I try to restore this poor, damaged volume back to its original glory.”

“But Twilight, Celestia is in bed! She’s not going to be checking her mail at this hour!”

“Good point,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Send it to Luna, then. I’m sure she’ll be awake. She’s the princess of the night, after all! In fact, Luna’s guard ponies might be even better, since they’re nocturnal. Brilliant idea, Spike!”

Spike sighed. “Are you sure you need a hundred? That seems like an awful lot. What about, oh, I don’t know, five? Or maybe ten, at most? Where are you even going to put a hundred of them?”

“They’ll form a defensive ring around the castle. Until we catch that book thief, all of my books are in danger! With the extra security there’s no way that villain would try to come back. Tell Luna to hurry – every minute they’re not here is another minute we’re vulnerable!”

“Are you sure you’re not overreacting to all this?” Spike asked.

Twilight pointed a hoof at the remains of The Eye of Destiny. “Does it look like I’m overreacting? One of the oldest books in Equestria has been ruined! Its spine has been snapped, its pages broken – just look at it! It’s going to take me hours to fix all of this damage! This cannot be allowed to happen again. What if that villain comes back and tries to steal my signed, first-edition copy of The Flowers of Equestria? What then? We can’t let this madness continue!”

“Fine, fine,” Spike grumbled. “I’ll send the letter.”

* * * * *

It was about five o’clock in the morning when Spike heard a knock on the front door. He yawned, got out of his cozy bed, and ran downstairs to answer it.

Standing in front of the castle was a dark blue alicorn. Behind her were twenty of her bat-pony guards. All of them were wearing dark armor and holding swords.

“Good morning, Spike,” Luna said cheerfully. “Lovely night, wasn’t it?”

“I can’t believe you actually came!” Spike replied. “I really thought you would send Twilight a note telling her she was out of her mind. You realize this is all about a book, right?”

Luna looked at Spike thoughtfully. “How many guards does Twilight have?”

“None, of course. I mean, until recently she was just the town librarian. Why would a librarian need an army?”

“But she’s not a librarian anymore, is she?” Luna asked. “She is now a princess of the realm! A princess needs protection – from assassins, thieves, paparazzi, clowns, and so forth. Twilight’s request was quite sensible. Sadly, I do not have a hundred guards, but I am happy to spare those that I can afford. I assure you, young dragon, that these are the most vigilant and ruthless guards of the night in all the realm.”

“How well do they work in the daylight?” Spike asked.

“They don’t. They sleep during the day, just like I do.”

“But isn’t Celestia about to raise the sun?”

Luna paused. “This is true. It will do Twilight no good to be protected by guards who are not awake. When I return to Canterlot I shall speak to my sister about this.”

Spike eyed the twenty new guards. “I’m going to need to find a place for all these ponies to sleep, aren’t I?”

Luna shrugged. “Your castle is quite large. I am sure there are guard barracks in there somewhere. But I am afraid that I must be going. The night is waning and the dawn approaches.”

“Don’t you want to say hello to Twilight before you leave?”

Luna shook her head. “Your princess is in book mode right now. It is best to leave her in peace until she emerges. Tell her that her princess of the night was most glad to return a favor to a friend. Farewell!”

The princess then took off into the sky and teleported out of sight.

Spike looked at the guard ponies she had left behind. “Um, so, hey there. Do you guys know what to do?”

They all nodded in unison, without saying a word.

“All right, then I’ll leave you to it. Just remember – you are here to guard Twilight’s books, so make that your top priority. Twilight is going to have a fit – well, another fit, I guess – if any more books get damaged. She’s a nice pony and all, but she can go kind of crazy sometimes.”

While the guards took their positions around and within the castle, Spike walked back to the library and stuck his head inside. “Oh, Twilight, Luna’s guards are here. I told them–”

“Not now, Spike!” Twilight hissed. That’s when Spike noticed that Twilight was levitating what looked like a hundred tiny book fragments. She appeared to be trying to figure out how to put them back together. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Sorry,” Spike said. He turned to go – and saw that there was already a guard stationed by the library door. “Boy, you guys are fast!” he exclaimed.

The guard said nothing. He continued to stare straight ahead.

“All right, then,” Spike replied. “I’ll just let you do your job.” He left the library and went back to bed.

* * * * *

At about nine o’clock in the morning, Spike once again found himself answering the front door of the castle. This time when he opened it he saw Twilight’s friends. “Oh, hey there!” Spike said. “I’m glad you could make it. Twilight’s been frantic ever since it happened.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “So where are all these guard ponies you were telling me about? Are they hiding in the shadows or something?”

“They’ve all gone to bed,” Spike explained. “They’re nocturnal, you know. Luna said she would try to send some daytime guards later, but I don’t know when they’ll get here. Personally, I think–”

“It’s a perfectly logical reaction to a book emergency!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “I hope they catch that dastardly villain pony. He sounds like a real meanie.”

Rarity spoke up. “You know, darling, that villainous pony probably has a name. I doubt his parents looked at him when he was born and said ‘Oh look! Doesn’t he look absolutely terrifying and evil? Let’s name him Villain!’ Spike, you didn’t happen to catch a name, did you?”

“I was actually in bed when it all happened,” Spike admitted. “Twilight got a good look at him, though, and – hey, where’s Fluttershy?”

“Beats me,” Applejack said. “I stopped by her house on my way over here but she wasn’t at home. She’s probably out with her animal friends or somethin’. We weren’t exactly planning on coming over here this morning, you know.”

Pinkie spoke up. “That’s why it’s called a book emergency. Nopony actually plans to have an emergency!”

“I bet Twilight might,” Spike remarked. “You haven’t seen her calendar! But you don’t suppose Fluttershy’s in any trouble, do you? I mean, Twilight kind of wanted all her friends to be here.”

“Naw, I’m sure she’s fine,” Rainbow Dash said. “Don’t worry about her.”

After they were all inside, Spike closed the door behind them and led them to the library. Inside the library they found Twilight. Her mane was a mess and she had a wild look in her eyes, but the purple pony was wide awake.

“I did it!” Twilight exclaimed proudly. She levitated a book in the air. “See? Good as new!”

Applejack looked at it curiously. “So that’s the book the varmint tried to steal. Just how long did it take you to put it back together?”

“Oh, only about eight hours. Fortunately it wasn’t as hard as I expected. I just–”

“Eight hours?” Rarity interrupted. “My dear, I don’t mean to be rude but you look positively dreadful! Don’t you think it might be a good idea to go get freshened up a bit? You surely don’t intend on going out in public looking like that!”

“And a nap might do you good,” Rainbow Dash added. “After a bit of sleep you’ll feel like a new pony. Trust me – I know.”

“I’ll say,” Applejack commented. “Rainbow, you take more naps than anypony I’ve ever seen. It’s a wonder you ever mange to get anything done.”

“I’m just awesome that way,” Rainbow Dash replied, grinning.

Twilight spoke up. “Really, girls, I’m fine. I can get some sleep later. The big problem we’re faced with right now is that we’ve got a book thief to catch.”

“So what do you know about villain pony?” Applejack asked. “Were you able to get a good look at him?”

Twilight nodded. “I sure did! He had a unique cutie mark – it looks just like mine, but without the white stars. I wrote to Celestia and asked her about it–”

Spike interrupted. “For the record, I made her wait until after Celestia was awake.”

“– and she told me that the criminal was a pony by the name of Crimson Star.”

Rarity spoke up. “I’m afraid that name doesn’t sound familiar. Was Celestia able to tell you anything about him?”

“Oh yes! Celestia knew quite a lot about him. Get this: the book that he tried to steal used to belong to him! You see, about twenty years ago Crimson Star was a powerful mage in Celestia’s court. He was rich, influential, and had an impressive library of his own. Then one day he launched an armed revolt against Celestia. When his attempt to overthrow her failed, he was thrown in prison and his library was confiscated. Years later, Celestia gave most of his books to me. That’s how I ended up with it.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “So what is that book, anyway?”

“It’s called The Eye of Destiny. It tells the story–”

Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Let me guess. I think I see where this is going. A long time ago an evil wizard created a powerful magical artifact, and then hid it in a secret hiding place. He then published a book about it so the whole world would know where they could find it. However, nobody bothered to look for it for hundreds of years, until Crimson Star decided he didn’t have anything better to do. He tried to steal your book so he could find this artifact for himself and use it to conquer all of Equestria. Now that we know his evil plan, we’re going to beat him to it in an epic battle and save the day! Did I get it right?”

Twilight frowned. “Well–”

Pinkie Pie spoke up. “You know, Dashie, that’s not the only possibility. Maybe he just wanted his old book back – you know, for sentimental reasons. Or maybe he collects rare books and needed that one to complete the set. Or maybe he was actually trying to steal a different book and grabbed that one by mistake. Or maybe he had a grudge against Twilight and wanted to annoy her by breaking one of her precious books. Or maybe he’s started a new career as a circus clown and wanted that book to be part of his act.”

Applejack spoke up. “Sugarcube, I don’t think clowns use priceless books in their acts.”

“I know!” Pinkie said. “It’s sad, isn’t it? Books never seem to have any fun.”

“No, it’s not sad!” Twilight shouted. “That would be terrible. Books aren’t supposed to be funny! Well, unless they’re comedies, I suppose. But the humor is supposed to come from the book’s contents, not the book itself!”

Rarity spoke up. “I think we’re getting a bit off-topic. Do we know which theory is correct?”

Twilight yawned. “Sorry – I guess I need more coffee. You would think nine cups would be enough to keep me awake–”

“I’ll go get you some more!” Pinkie exclaimed, then dashed out of the room.

“Pinkie, stop!” Rarity exclaimed. “What Twilight needs is sleep, not stimulants. Coffee will only make the problem worse!”

But Pinkie was already gone.

“Anyway,” Twilight said, “Rainbow was kind of correct. About a thousand years ago – after Luna’s banishment – there really was a powerful wizard, and he really did make a powerful artifact. However, he wasn’t evil or anything. He created the Eye of Destiny so he could see into the future. He was hoping–”

“To win the lottery!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight frowned. “Pinkie, Equestria doesn’t have a lottery. Besides, I thought you left to go get some more coffee!”

“I already did that,” Pinkie said excitedly. “I’ve brought you something even better than coffee.” She handed Twilight a large white mug that contained a steaming brown liquid.

“Thanks,” Twilight said. She drank the entire cup, then set it on the table in front of her. “As I was about to say, the reason he created the Eye was so he could–”

Then, all at once, Twilight burped. Her eyes closed and she collapsed onto the floor.

“Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, she’ll be fine!” Pinkie said. “She’s just asleep.”

“What do you mean, asleep?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Coffee doesn’t put you to sleep!”

“Oh, well, I didn’t give her coffee. That would have been a terrible idea! What she really needs is rest, so I gave her nine doses of anti-coffee. I invented it myself! She’ll wake up in a few hours, better than new. It’s really for the best.”

“But she was about to tell us the backstory of the Eye!” Dash complained. “What are we supposed to do now?”

Applejack pointed at the book on the table. “Isn’t it obvious? You like to read, don’t you?”

Dash sighed. “But that book looks long and boring.”

“Maybe so, but it’s either that or wait until Twilight wakes back up. Your choice.”

“Fine, fine,” Dash grumbled. She gingerly opened the book and began reading it aloud.

* * * * *

Four hours later, Dash finally closed the book. “That was the most horrible experience of my life,” she grumbled. “Next time we’re going to wait for Twilight.”

Rarity spoke up. “Personally, I thought it was a lovely tale. The problem was in your delivery.”

“No, the problem is that the entire book is a song! Who in their right mind writes a song that is 200 pages long? Why couldn’t he write a normal book like everypony else?”

“I’m with Rainbow Dash on this one,” Applejack said. “That wasn’t exactly a hit tune. But at least we know what’s going on now.”

“Do we?” Dash asked. “Because after about page two I got really super lost. This guy desperately needed an editor.”

“It made perfect sense to me,” Rarity replied. “Perhaps you simply lacked the refinement and social graces necessary to understand a true work of art.”

“Could you explain it to us, then?” Applejack asked. “From what I could make out, he wanted to use the Eye to prevent disasters and such from happenin’. He thought that if he could foresee the future, he could save lives and create a better world.”

“No, I think you got it backwards,” Dash said. “He was heartbroken over the loss of his wife and wanted to change the past to save her.”

Applejack shook her head. “But the book said the Eye can only see into the future. It can’t even see into the past, let alone change it! How could somethin’ that foresees the future possibly bring back the dead?”

Rarity spoke up. “I will admit that the book was a little confusing on that point. In my opinion, the loss of his wife is what motivated him to create the Eye in the first place. I believe he wished to avoid such tragedies in the future by foreseeing and preventing them.”

“I reckon’ that makes sense,” Applejack replied. “But it sure sounds like the Eye didn’t work the way he wanted it to. He said it just made things worse.”

“Which makes absolutely no sense,” Rainbow argued. “I mean, c’mon! The Eye just shows you different possible futures. If you don’t like what you’re seeing then pick a different one! Maybe this wizard was just an indecisive, incompetent moron. If I had the Eye–”

Pinkie Pie interrupted her. “I think Twilight is about to wake up.”

The purple alicorn on the floor began to groan. “Where am I? What happened?”

“You took a nap!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Do you feel better now?”

“Not really,” Twilight mumbled. She wiped her eyes with her hooves and stood up. “Why is my head pounding?”

“It’s because you drank nine cups of coffee before going to sleep,” Pinkie explained. “You really shouldn’t do that! Well, unless you’re me. But if you were me you wouldn’t be you!”

Twilight looked puzzled. “But if I – you know what, never mind. I don’t want to know. Where were we?”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “We’re at the part of the story where the wizard created this powerful magical artifact and didn’t like how it turned out, so instead of destroying it like a normal pony he created a powerful magical guardian and hid it away somewhere.”

“Oh. Right. Well, I guess that about says it all. So now we just need to find the Eye before anypony else does. Can you imagine the disaster that would happen if it fell into the wrong hooves?”

“Aw, c’mon, that’s not going to happen,” Rainbow Dash said. “We all know how these things turn out. Whenever there is an insanely powerful magical artifact in the world, one of two things happens: either it turns out to be a fake, or else it’s real but it somehow gets destroyed before anypony can use it. If the Eye exists – which I kind of doubt – some contrived series of events will occur that will make it unusable. Crimson Star is not going to seize it and rule the world.”

“Hey, wait a minute!” Pinkie Pie said. “I’m the one who makes ridiculous leaps in logic that later turn out to be true! Which means that either I’m infecting you with my Pinkie sense, or else your ridiculous leap of logic really is ridiculous and isn’t going to happen.”

Rarity spoke up. “Twilight, I don’t mean to be a pest, but you really need to go and get freshened up before you venture outdoors. You look simply dreadful! A shower will do you a world of good. The Eye has waited patiently for centuries; I’m sure it can wait another hour or so.”

“Fine,” Twilight said reluctantly. “I guess you’re right. I’ll be right back.”

As Twilight left, Rarity spoke up. “Has anypony seen Spike?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “He left about four hours ago, when we started reading that blasted book. I guess he just couldn’t take it. He said something about waiting outside for Celestia’s guards to arrive.”

“I shoulda joined him,” Applejack remarked. “That was some of the worst poetry I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s all in the delivery, my dear,” Rarity replied. “Sometimes it takes a true artist to make a work’s full potential shine.”

“Or we could just set the book on fire,” Rainbow Dash commented.

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!” an enraged voice bellowed from upstairs.

“Sounds like she really is awake!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

* * * * *

An hour later, Twilight and her friends were walking out the front door of her castle. “The first thing we need to do is–”

Twilight then froze. In front of the castle were twenty of Celestia’s finest guard ponies. Spike was standing in front of them, talking to Celestia herself.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Spike was telling her. “We shouldn’t need to borrow them for very long. Twilight just wanted somepony to protect her books while she looked for Crimson Star. It’s really not safe to leave those books in the castle all by themselves.”

“I understand,” Celestia said. “Between these ponies and the ones that my sister has lent to you, the castle should be well-protected. But the truth is you do not need any of them. You would be just as safe if I brought them back to Canterlot with me. Crimson Star will not attempt to break into the castle again.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Not to be rude or anything, but how could you possibly know that?”

Celestia hesitated. “I have known Crimson far longer than you have. He was once a great and wise pony. In fact, Twilight, he shares a great deal in common with you. It was heartbreaking to see him choose the path of darkness. I had hoped that he had changed his ways and returned to the pony he used to be.”

“Well, his book-stealing days are about to be cut short,” Twilight replied. “Well track him down and put an end to his nefarious scheme. The Eye is as good as ours!”

“I have no doubt you are quite capable of finding the Eye. But, Twilight–”

The Princess of the Sun hesitated yet again. She finally sighed. “I knew the powerful wizard who created the Eye, and I can promise you it brought only heartbreak and sadness. Just leave it alone, Twilight. Some things are not meant to be found.”

Celestia then looked at them all and smiled. “I must return to Canterlot. I trust you will not need my guards for very long?”

Twilight shook her head. “Once we’ve apprehended Crimson Star I’ll send them all back.”

“Very well. Then I will wish you all farewell.”

Celestia then took off into the air and teleported out of sight.

As Spike returned his attention to Celestia’s guards and began giving them orders, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “The anonymous ‘wizard pony’ who created the Eye was totally that clown costume guy, wasn’t he?”

Twilight frowned. “That ‘clown costume guy’? What in Equestria are you talking about?”

“You know!” Pinkie exclaimed. “That bearded pony you dressed up as for Nightmare Night!”

Twilight stamped her hoof on the ground. “Starswirl the Bearded was not a clown! He was a powerful wizard–”

“–who lived about a thousand years ago,” Rainbow Dash finished. “He made the Eye, didn’t he? C’mon – you know it was him.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “I’ve been through all of his papers in his wing of the Canterlot Library, and none of them said anything about the Eye. Starswirl wasn’t the only mage who was around back then, you know. It easily could have been somepony else.”

Rarity spoke up. “Where should we begin our search for Crimson Star?”

“Let’s go to Carrot Top’s garden,” Twilight said. “That’s where I shot him last night. Maybe he dropped a clue of some sort in the struggle!”

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “Don’t tell me you ruined her garden again, Twilight. Don’t you remember how mad she got last week when–”

“I’m sure the damage this time was very minimal,” Twilight insisted. “It’s not like we had a long drawn-out fight or anything. It was over pretty fast.”

She turned to Spike. “Are you going to come along with us?”

Spike shook his head. “I’m going to stay behind and watch over the castle, just in case villain pony decides to return. You can’t be too careful!”

After Spike dispersed the guards and went inside, Twilight turned to her friends. “All right, girls. Time to go find ourselves a book thief!”

* * * * *

Carrot Top was exasperated. “Why do you keep doing this to me, Twilight? Why? Why does it always have to be my garden? Haven’t we gone through this enough already?”

Twilight winced. When Crimson Star plowed into the ground after being shot, he destroyed an entire row of Carrot’s prized produce. What had once been a beautiful line of plants was now nothing but shattered stems and a long furrow in the dirt.

“What am I supposed to do?” Carrot Top demanded. “Do I need to have Celestia come out here and erect some kind of magical force field to keep you ponies out? Do I need to start raising my carrots underground?”

Pinkie Pie spoke up. “You already raise them underground, silly! That’s how carrots work. They don’t grow above ground!”

Carrot Top facehoofed. “That’s not what I meant. I – oh, whatever. What’s the use? You need to go save Equestria – fine, go save Equestria. But stay out of my garden! A pony can only take so much.”

After Carrot Top stormed out of her garden and went back inside her house, Twilight spoke up. “You know, I really do feel bad about all this. I’ll find some way to make it up to her.”

“I’m sure you will,” Applejack said. “But now that we’re here, does anypony see any clues? There’s gotta be somethin’ here that can tell us where Crimson Star’s gone off to.”

Rarity spoke up. “I’ll do my looking from over here, girls. Away from the dirt and, um, fertilizer.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “And while you’re over there, worryin’ about your appearance, I’ll–”

“I found it!” Twilight interrupted. “I know where Crimson Star is hiding! He’s–”

“Let me guess,” Rainbow interrupted. “You just happened to find a flower trampled into the dirt, and thanks to your complete knowledge of every single flower in Equestria you know that particular flower only grows in one spot in the Everfree Forest. You also know that no gardener in all of Equestria has planted that flower in their own garden, or anything like that. The flower is the perfect clue to lead you to the villain.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Twilight replied. “Well, I mean, he is in the Evefree Forest. I even know the exact place where we can find him! But it’s not because of a flower. It’s because he dropped a map and circled his hiding place. Look!”

Twilight levitated the map she had found, so her friends could see it.

Pinkie Pie spoke up. “See, Rainbow, this is why you need to leave ridiculous leaps of logic to me. Your game is way off today.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the map and frowned. “Does that map really say ‘I am hiding here – come and get me’?”

Applejack nodded. “It sure does. Which can only mean it’s a trap. I think that varmint wants to be found.”

“You think?” Dash said sarcastically. “Maybe instead of going there we should avoid going there.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Twilight said. “The note also says that he kidnapped Fluttershy.”

“WHAT!” her friends exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight in shock. “You know, you could have told us that information first!”

“No wonder she wasn’t home,” Applejack remarked. “That poor, defenseless pony! I sure hope she’s not sufferin’.”

Rarity spoke up. “Suffering? Why, that gentle creature is being held hostage by an evil villain in the middle of the scariest place in Equestria! I bet she’s absolutely terrified. We must save her!”

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “No, she’s fine. I think Crimson Star is the one who’s about to experience a lot of suffering. He picked the wrong defenseless pony to mess with.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Pinkie, you’re crazy! The only way she will be fine is if we get out there right now and save her. Let’s get moving!”

Rainbow Dash raced off toward the Everfree Forest. Her friends galloped close behind her.

Comments

[Twilightsparklefairy]

Wow, sooo much fourth wall breaking... I LOVE IT!