Overgrowth

by ezra09

The Creature

“They spotted this thing a half-mile out of town,” Scootaloo said as she poked through Rare Breed’s oversized hiking saddle bags. “Water, I get. But Rope? Bug nets? A machete? Aren’t you over doing it?” She lifted the large, flat blade to show the rest of the room.

Rare Breed rolled his eyes and took it from her, gently placing it back in the pack. “A half mile isn’t anything to a city pony like you, maybe, but out there in the wild, it’s a totally different story.”

“There’s a road,” Mimic said flatly.

“And I’m sure these new creatures will be polite enough to wait alongside it for us, but I’ll take the hiking gear just in case,” Rare Breed said, giving her head a pat as though she were a school filly. She brushed his hoof away with a glower.

Rare Breed had dressed the part, wearing a tan shirt and hat that could have come from a Daring Do book. “Well, let’s be off. Daylight’s burning. Triplicate?”

“I’ve scheduled four hours for tracking in a typical grid based search pattern. After that we can break for lunch,” the unicorn said in his dry monotone. He was dressed similarly to Rare Breed, but one of his saddlebags instead carried two large water bottles. Lines marked the bottles in regular intervals, with times written next to each mark in half hour intervals.

“Wonderful.” With that, the two left the house.

“Well, I for one am feeling underdressed,” Thistleroot said once they were gone.

“They’re trying too hard. Imagine his face when he realizes we already know the Librarian,” Scootaloo said. “And I am not a city pony.”

“I mean, you did live in a city,” Thistleroot said.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and bumped him as she walked past and out the door. The morning air was still cool, and helped in clearing the remaining dregs of sleep from her head as they walked. Mimic and Thistleroot fell into step beside her and they followed Rare Breed and Triplicate toward the forest.

“Now, I know none of you are very experienced in the study of rare fauna,” Rare Breed said from ahead of them as they passed into the shade of the trees. “You can leave tracking to me, once we find some sign of this creature, but there are a few things you should know for when we find it.”

“Like what?” Thistleroot asked as Scootaloo groaned. She could hear a similar sound of displeasure from Mimic.

“Well, first of all, we don’t want to scare it. When I tell you that we’re getting near, which I’ll know from how fresh the tracks are, of course, I’ll tell you, and we will have to proceed slowly, and quietly. Any sudden movements or loud noises can scare an animal and force it to flee.

“Second, don’t approach it. We want it to come to us, not the other way around.”

“Makes sense,” Thistleroot said.

“Does anything seem different to you two?” Mimic asked under her breath.

Scootaloo fell silent, looking around, listening. The forest looked just like any other, if maybe a bit thicker than any she’d been camping in before. The leaves were a vibrant green, the moss and underbrush thick and lush and threatening to overtake the underused road. She could hear the singing of birds and chirping and buzzing of insects.

“No,” she answered. “Everything seems normal.”

“I said different, not strange,” Mimic said. “This place was a lot creepier before. It used to be quiet, like there weren’t any animals around. Until that last time when everything was screaming at us. Now it’s normal.”

“Huh, now that you mention it,” Thistleroot said. “I guess it—”

“Shh!” Rare Breed cut him off, stopping and looking back at the three with a raised hoof.

The three came to a halt. Scootaloo tensed, listening.

“Did you find tracks?” Thistleroot asked. “Is it clo...” He trailed off, blinking. Scootaloo followed his gaze past Rare Breed and into the trees beyond. A large, dark shape was standing thirty feet away, its vibrant, emerald eyes fixed on Rare Breed and Triplicate. Scootaloo blinked in surprise.

“That is not the Librarian,” Mimic said.

The wooden stag stood unmoving, its polished horns reflecting what little light managed to filter down between the trees. It was tall and sturdy, with no sign of the frailty that had hampered the Librarian. It was definitely the same species, but younger. Stronger.

Rare Breed slowly stretched a hoof out, trying to appear non-threatening.

“Fru yna oui?” the wooden stag said in a deep, commanding voice. Rare Breed jumped in surprise and blinked.

“Draca fuutc yna cylnat du dra caagan. Mayja.” The stag turned and began moving away through the forest.

Thistleroot moved forward, drawing even with Rare Breed and called out to it, “Uh, kna dek?”

“What are you doing?” Rare Breed asked in a panicked whisper. “I said no loud noises.”

The stag paused, looking back to him, head tilted in curiosity.

“What does that mean?” Scootaloo asked.

“No idea, but the librarian said it when we met him.”

“Knaadehkc,” the stag said.

“Okay, harder k at the end,” Thistleroot mumbled to himself. “Uh, Librarian?”

The stag studied him for a second longer. “Librarian. Lusa.” It turned again and began walking into the forest. It stopped after a few feet, looking back at them.

“I think it wants us to follow him,” Mimic said.

“Hold on a moment,” Rare Breed said. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, we’ve met one of these things before,” Scootaloo said, fighting back a grin.

A moment passed in silence.

“You didn’t think to mention that?” Rare Breed asked, voice a mix of disbelief and outrage.

“We didn’t know if it was important,” Scootaloo said, keeping her voice serious. “You’re the expert, after all.”

“Come on,” Mimic said, moving off the road and jumping over a fallen branch, with Thistleroot right on her heels..

Scootaloo followed. To their credit, Rare Breed and Triplicate were only seconds behind her. The thick growth of the forest slowed her immediately, and Scootaloo wondered if she should just fly above the trees. She’d be able to see the clearing and Libiris easily enough from the sky.

Then again, there was a chance the stag wasn’t leading them to Libiris, and she’d be further from her friends if danger arose. She stayed on the ground,

Behind her, she heard a whoosh followed by a sharp impact. She turned to see Rare Breed straighten, the machete held in his mouth. A thick vine that had blocked his path had been neatly severed.

“Shee,” he said around the handle of the machete. “Ah told you it whould come an handy.” He moved forward, whipping his head back and forth, carving a path through the thick plant life for himself and Triplicate.

A powerful wooden hoof came down on the blade as Rare Breed drew it back for another swing, pinning it to the ground. All three of them jumped in surprise and looked up at the stag, who had somehow managed to approach without a sound. Thistleroot and Mimic were watching from a few dozen feet ahead.

“Hu suna,” the stag said, glaring down at Rare Breed.

He smiled back in response, and let go of the machete. “Sorry about that.”

The stag stood for a second longer, and then turned and continued through the forest. Rare Breed let out a nervous chuckle, picked up the machete, and slid it back into his pack. “Right. We do this the old fashioned way, I guess.”

“I suppose since we found it so quickly, we have the time,” Triplicate said.

“Wonderful.”

*****

“Well, now what have we here?” Rare Breed said as they stepped out of the last line of trees and Libiris came into view ahead. “This is some kind of, ancient jungle monument. Maybe a temple built by pre-Celestia ponies. Could you imagine the fame somepony might earn for rediscovering a lost civilization?”

“Yeah, you’re about a thousand years to late,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “Starswirl the Bearded discovered this place.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Rare Breed said.

“Yeah, not all of us are history nerds,” Thistleroot said with a snicker as he walked forward.

“History... but we met...” Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, it’s on.”

The building itself didn’t look any different, but the area around it had been mostly cleared of the choking vines and leaves. The stag lead them toward the stairs to the front door.

“Look at these prints,” Rare Breed said, pausing just before the dirt floor became stone steps. He pointed down, to dozens of tracks coming to and from. “They’re consistent with the stag’s, but there’s too many. He’s either coming and going all the time, or there’s a fair number of them. Some are different sizes too.”

“It seems surprising that even a small number could be this close to the town and remain undiscovered,” Triplicate said.

“Indeed. Well, we won’t find any answers out here. Shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, Rare Breed climbed the steps and entered Libiris. Scootaloo and her friends followed.

The inside of Libiris was lit by the soft blue glow of crystals set into the walls at regular intervals. The hall opened up into a room that looked like it took nearly half the building. On either side was a door, and two more stood on the far end of the room.

At the center of the room was a semicircular wall. On the right side of the area surrounded by the wall was a flight of stairs leading down. To the left of the stairs was a large circle carved into the ground, which Scootaloo knew could be used to quickly visit other floors.

Unlike the last time they’d been there, the room was occupied. Two wooden creatures stood near the platform. One was a smaller creature with no antlers. A doe. The other, just as tall as the stag that had led them to Libiris, but seemingly ancient, with a beard of moss and dulled eyes, was the Librarian.

The Librarian looked up as they approached, his old eyes focusing.

“Well,” he said in his creaking, slow voice. “I was wondering if I would see you again.”

Rare Breed slowed to a stop, eyebrows raised.

“Hey,” Scootaloo said, fighting back a chuckle once more. “Long time no see.”

“For one as young as you, syopa.” The Librarian smiled. “For one as old as I? Ed ec namydeja. I am glad that you have returned when you did. I hoped you soon might.”

“Why?” Thistleroot asked.

“Because I began to remember some of what has been lost to me over the many long centuries,” the Librarian answered. “I have begun to understand once again what Libiris is, and what sleeps within.” As he spoke he leaned his head, gesturing toward the doe beside him.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

The Librarian nodded. “We do not know much of the outside world in this modern day, save for what we have gleaned from analyzing the pages of Power Ponies, Issue One, and right now knowledge is more important than anything. I think the Caagan, the knowledge seekers, are but one of the things locked away,” the Librarian said. “And I think others, outsiders, will come to take what is within.”

Comments

[Forestfire34720]

I don’t like Rare Breed personally, but he does seem interesting.

Thistleroot moved forward, drawing even with Rare Breed and called out to it, “Uh, kna dek?”

Good memory there, Thistleroot.

“Yeah, you’re about a thousand years to late,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “Starswirl the Bearded discovered this place.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Rare Breed said.

*raises eyebrows* Do you live under a rock or something? Well, I mean, I’ve always gotten the impression that Starswirl is like world-famous in Equestria. Or country-famous, but whatever. Maybe just because Twilight gushes about him all the time.

“It seems surprising that even a small number could be this close to the town and remain undiscovered,” Triplicate said.

MAGIC.

[ezra09]

9129053
Originally I was going to have him know who Starswirl was, but thinking back on it, nobody recognized Twilight's costume but Luna.

[Forestfire34720]

9129252
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that episode.