Location, Location, Location
Lightning glanced from side to side, examining the work her crew had done as she sat on a nearby cloud. “Flitter, move those ceris higher and Raindrops, spread out the lower hanging clouds. It’s not supposed to be so overcast.”
Flitter saluted. “You got it boss lady.”
Rolling her eyes, Lightning smirked at her teammates antics as Flitter adjusted her clouds while Raindrops began spreading out the clouds letting more light shine on Ponyville. Seeing that her team mostly had the cloud arrangement handled, Lightning reclined on her cloud.
As she lay back, still supervising her team, Lightning began thinking about the last few days. When she’d made her way back home, Lightning all but collapsed. Quicksilver had rushed out and gotten nurse Redheart and after being examined by the medical pony, Lightning had been told she would need to take it easy for a few days to give her strained muscles time to heal. When Lightning had told Rainbow Dash, the weather manager put Lightning on supervising duty until further notice.
Lightning flexed her wings and winced at the throb of pain that ran through them. Blowing some of her purple mane out of her face Lightning lightly flapped her wings and set her cloud drifting across the sky towards the second area she needed to supervise that day.
========================================================
After making sure the weather was up to par in the last area she’d been assigned, Lightning dismissed the weather team and with a flutter of her wings angled her cloud toward to ground. As the cloud reached the ground, Lightning stepped off and gave the cloud a light kick to dissolve it. And deciding to keep her pegasus form on for a bit longer Lightning made her way to sugarcube corner for her daily round of pony watching.
Making her way down Ponyville’s market street Lightning wondered, not for the first time, how she would go about finding Scootaloo’s mother. She’d asked Quicksilver to go over the records Lightning had gotten from town hall but that didn’t turn up anything new. And neither she or Quicksilver could find anything on the group Solaris other then they were the top tier of Celestia’s guard. All and all, they’d found nothing but dead ends and were no closer now than when Lightning had gotten back.
Lightning sighed heavily and stepped into Sugarcube corner, hoping that she could get a few minutes of relaxation before she went back to thinking of ways to track down this mysterious mare she didn’t even have a name for. However, no sooner had the bell on top of the door stop ringing then Lighting found herself muzzle to muzzle with Pinkie Pie.
“Lightning! I’ve got a message for you!”
Lightning squeaked and took a step backwards. “Pinkie! Give a mare some warning when you just pop outta nowhere.”
Pinkie giggled. “But then it wouldn’t be a surprise and everybody loves surprises.” Pinkie’s expression suddenly went serious. “But that’s not important right now. Gene was here a while ago and he told me to tell you that he has something to tell you.”
Lightning arched a brow. “That’s it?”
Pinkie shrugged. “He said something about Solaris. Whatever that is.”
Lightning’s face split into a huge smile as she turned and trotted briskly out of the sweets shop, giving quick word of thanks to Pinkie as she left.
==========================================================
Gene was poring over a dusty tome in his library when Jazzy skittered up onto his shoulder and pointed to the entrance with one of her legs. Turning, Gene smiled. “You found your way down here ok?”
Lightning nodded and walked further into the library. “Jazzy was waiting for me at the surface so I didn’t have much trouble.”
Gene nodded. “Well anyway I..”
The sound of a few books falling interrupted Gene and Twilight emerged from around a corner, coughing at the dust that was kicked up. “Sorry about that. I was reinforcing the shelf with magic when it caved.”
Gene chuckled. “Thanks Twilight, but it can wait until we get done here.”
Gene looked to Lightning and motioned for her to follow him. “After you got back and told me how things went I started working on something to help you.” They entered an adjoining room and Gene pointed at a table with various maps and gems on it. “Twilight helped me get the last bits sorted out and I think it’s finally done.”
Lightning looked over the maps and found them to be parts of Equestria. Everything from a general map showing all the major areas to more detailed maps of individual places in Equestria.
Lightning arched a brow. “What is all this exactly?”
Twilight waved a hoof over the maps and smiled proudly. “This is the most sophisticated locating apparatus in Equestira. Gene had the idea and I had the knowhow on how to put it all together. If it works, you should be able to find Scootaloo’s mom.”
Lightning’s questioning expression didn’t change. “Ok, but how does it do that?”
Gene reached into his coat and brought out a golfball sized gem shaped like two cones joined at the base. “I put a standard locating rune on this and layer it with the magical signature of someone we want to find.”
Twilight pointed to the maps and gems. “Then I feed it a constant stream of mana so it and the supporting gems can search accurately enough to give us an exact location.”
Lightning tilted her head. “But we don’t have a magical signature for this mare. We don’t even have a name to go on.”
Twilight nodded. “We thought of that. If you bring us one of Scootaloo’s feathers, we can use her signature to link with her mothers and use that.”
“But wouldn’t that just make it lock on to Scootaloo?”
Gene shook his head. “No. You see, I’m also going to etch the runic word for mother onto the gem. That way when the mana powers the spell it’ll work like a chain. First going through the rune for “locate” and then the rune for “mother”.”
Twilight gestured to the gem. “It’s the same concept as when layering various spell parts to alter how a spell will cast.”
Lightning smiled. “So all I have to do is bring you a feather from Scootaloo and I’ll be able to find her mother.”
Gene nodded but a worried expression crossed his face. “About that. I was wondering if you’d let me handle the finding her part.”
Lightning cocked her head. "What, why?”
Gene sighed and went to stand beside Lightning, crouching slightly to look her in the eyes. “Lightning, be honest. Do you think you’re ready to go on a trip again so soon after nearly running yourself ragged?”
Lightning’s eyes narrowed. “You saying I can’t?”
Gene shook his head. “Quite the opposite actually. But do you think it’s best to be away from Scootaloo again so soon after getting back?”
Lighting’s ears dropped and her eyes softened. “I have kinda been obsessed with finding her birth mother. I haven’t even spent much time with her, not really anyway.”
Gene put a paw on her shoulder. “And that’s why I should go find this mare after we do this. You just worry about taking care of your family.”
Lightning smiled. “Thanks. You’re a good guy Gene.”
Gene smiled. “I try.” he stood and turned to Twilight. “Can you take her home and bring the feather back here?”
Twilight nodded and started leading Lightning out of the subterranean library. After waving to the pony and changeling as they left, Gene went back to looking over the maps. Making sure the supporting gems were placed properly.
=============================================================
Gene moved his claw slowly over the gem, etching the rune onto its surface deeply and precisely. Bringing his claw away from the gem, Gene looked over the finished rune. Nodding at his work Gene set the gem aside and double checked the positioning of the supporter gems.
As he repositioned one of the gems at the left edge of the map he heard the clopping of hooves behind him.
“You have the feather?”
Twilight came up beside Gene holding an orange feather in her magic. “Yeah. Now to see if all our work pays off.”
Gene hummed and gestured at the locater gem in the center of the table. “I hope it does. I just finished the rune before you got here. Give it a look and if you think it’s good we’ll start.”
Twilight nodded and picked up the gem in her hoof. After a few seconds of scrutinizing the rune she put it down. “The rune’s fine as far as I can tell, let’s get to it.”
Nodding, Gene moved aside as Twilight levitated the Gem and Scootaloo’s feather in her magic. Closing her eyes she began focusing on imprinting the magical signature of the feather into the gem. After a few moments the gem began to glow a soft orange color while starting to spin in place. Feeling the imprint join with the gem, Twilight focused now on feeding mana to the gem and the smaller supporting gems around the map.
The supporting gems began glowing the same orange color as the locater gem and floated slightly above the maps spread out on the table. Arcs of mana flowed between the gems and up to the locater gem, creating a spider web of arcane energy suspended just above the maps. As Twilight continued to feed mana to the gems, the locater began moving over the maps one by one. First it hovered over the large map of equestria, strafing back and forth over the northern border before moving on. The next map showed just the regions in the northern parts of Equestria and the gem repeated it’s strafing motions before finally hovering over Stallionguard.
Gene moved closer. “Almost done Twilight. It’s found the region she’s in.”
Twilight grunted slightly and continued concentration on giving a constant flow of mana to the gem. The locater gem’s glow brightened and it spun faster as it moved over a map that showed every city and town in Stallionguard. After making a circuit of the map a few times the gem stopped over Mareskow and stopped spinning. The gem hovered in place before it started to pulse rhythmically.
Gene smiled. “We did it Twilight, we’ve got a location!” Gene moved over to the map and placed a small triangle shaped gem just under the locater. “Ok, transfer the energy to the marker.”
Twilight nodded and her horn’s glow brightened. The orange light coming from the locater gem then stated to funnel into the smaller gem under it. Once the locator's energy left it, Twilight used her magic to place it off to the side while breathing a sigh of relief.
Seeing that the transfer was done, Gene slid the marker gem to the far side of the map. After taking his finger off the marker it immediately started sliding back across the map and stopped in the same spot as before.
Gene’s face split into an ecstatic grin. “It worked! The marker gem can follow the signature now. If I put this on a map of Mareskow it should be able to guide me right to Scootaloo’s mother.”
Twilight smiled. "I’m glad everything worked out.” Twilight lifted a hoof to cover her mouth as she yawned. “Wow, that took more out of me then I thought. I’m gonna head back home and rest. You need me to do anything else?”
Gene picked up the marker gem and put it into one of his coat pockets while shaking his head. “No, you did wonderfully. Go home and rest, I can take it from here.”
Twilight nodded and started on her way back home. As Twilight left, Gene began moving swiftly, going through various rooms before coming to his personal quarters. As he started gathering various things around his room, Jazzy skittered in and chittered at him.
Gene turned to her and pointed to the shelves that lined the wall. “Help me gather up what we’ll need for a trip. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us Jazzy.”
Jazzy skittered up the shelves and started carrying things over to Gene, which he promptly stuffed into a good sized rucksack. After the packing was done, Gene slung the rucksack over his shoulder, tightened the leather strap and held an arm out to Jazzy.
Once Jazzy was perched on his shoulder, Gene made his way to the surface and in the direction of Ponyville.
==========================================================
Lighting was playing a game of chess with Scootaloo when a knock sounded through the house. Lightning was about to get up when Quicksilver walked by and waved a hoof at her. “Don’t worry, I got it.”
Lightning nodded and went back to her game as Quicksilver opened the door. Quicksilver arched a brow as she looked at the visitor. “Gene? What brings you around here?”
The diamond dog smiled. “I just wanted to let you and Lightning know that I’m headed off to find...” Gene noticed Scootaloo sitting with Lightning in the living room and leaned forward to whisper. “To find Scooaloo’s birth mother. Twilight and I finished the location and I’m going out to where she is.”
Quicksilver nodded, smiling gratefully. “Thanks for this.”
Gene waved a paw. “No problem. See you guys when I get back.”
Quicksilver nodded and closed the door as Gene turned to leave. Stepping away from the house, Gene turned toward the north and made his way through town. As he came to the edge of Ponyville he looked out over the hills and plains. Jazzy hopped onto his head and chittered.
Gene chuckled. “Yeah, this is gonna be one heck of a walk, but it should be fun.”
Jazzy chittered again and batted one of Gene’s ears with a leg. Gene rolled his eyes and started walking. “You’re such a nag sometimes. But yes, I’ll take this seriously.” Gene sighed. “I just hope this mare’s willing to cooperate when we find her.”
Jazzy made a trilling sound and moved to Gene’s shoulder, pointing a leg in the direction they were headed. Gene nodded and quickened his pace. “Right, we should get there as soon as we can. Don’t want whoever it is we’re looking for to get further away.”
And as the sun began to dip lower and lower, Gene continued his trek north, hoping things would go smoothly for him in his search and, if he was lucky, that nothing would get in his way.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
969 users online
1,838,264 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I am totally loving this!
only problem i found
3028787 thats not a problem thats a new OC Dcootaloo the best OC EVER!!!
Lighting was playing a game of chess with Dcootaloo when a knock sounded through the house. Lightning was about to get up when Quicksilver walked by and waved a hoof at her. “Don’t worry, I got it.” ????Dcootaloo ?????? Who's that?
3028850>>3028814>>3028787
I could swear that was an S when I typed it. Weird, anyway ti's fixed. Thanks guys.
3029022 its understandable since the s is right next to the d
did scoots change her name?
constant stream of manna: of mana
‘I’m glad: "I'm glad
3071924 well that was my first thought but i normally dont post that (tends to get me introble
)
3591179 Yes but what message does that send? "Oh you helped the country so now you get a free pass on the laws!" At least that's how I'd view the princesses intervening would come across as. And even if they stepped in and handled the situation flawlessly, like I said, others who are having trouble and being screwed by a flawed system would expect help as well. Also, do you think that Celestia and Luna are the type of rulers who abuse their own power? I've never seen them do it before.
3591725
People get off the hook for crazier shit on less merit, so I can't honestly see why it's not possible. I fail to see how it's an abuse of power at all: save the country, get a favor. That's not an easy thing to reproduce. Again, not saying you needed to, I just hate how it's always written off on the grounds of that they can't, not that they won't. If the jury found for Pierce, it'd have to go to a higher court where the Princesses would have to weigh in anyway due to having such an old law that directly contrdicts their current stance.
ADD MORE CHAPTERS!!!
3929195 Wow. I got a lot to go over. And here I thought I'd caught everything. Thanks.
Oh, hell, yes. This is a awsome point. Pleas continue. And make moar!
3931961 np dude, glad to help for this story.
I'm still catching up. Feel free to delete the comments btw. Also, I'm not exactly going through it with a fine-tooth comb, there are other minor things. You tend to use "quotes" inside of dialog for dialog in dialog, where they should be 'apostrophes.'
ie, Celestia looked to Twilight and said, "And then Luna said 'thy ass has fattened from all thy cake eatery.' Isn't she just the best sister ever?"
Finally caught up.
Nice story. I loved part 1, part 2 is turning out to be just as good. I can't wait to see if Gene can track down Scootaloo's birth mother. I hope she comes to Ponyville to help her daughter, or at the very least sends some blood samples if she can't get out of her current assignment. If she's a total bitch I hope Lightning tracks her down and kicks her flank to drag her back to Ponyville... or goes the route of having Celestia give her an order to do so and a scolding for being so callous to her daughter. In that case, all of Ponyville should make her feel like a heel.
Please I need more of my fix!