The Threads that Bind Us

by AncientOwl

Chapter 1

“I wonder what he wants now… it’s nearly 3 in the morning”, said Ceti.

He was used to the late hours his overseer was used to working, but he himself wasn’t a night owl. As he climbed the stairs into the tall tower, he couldn’t help but wonder if the late nights were running his friend’s mind into rags. As he wandered through possible reasons for his calling, he didn’t realize he had already made the long trek to the top of the tower until his nose had hit off the ivory door.

“I am really not a night pony.”, the dark-blue unicorn scowled, rubbing his nose gingerly. “He better have a reason to call me up so late, or I swear he’ll have to deal with a whole different Ceti than he’s used to.”

As he opened the door, he was startled by a loud crash in the corner of the room. As he ran in to see what had caused the noise, he was greeted by an embarrassed green Pegasus smiling at him guiltily among a pile of books.

“Scrib, you think you would have learned to use a step-ladder by now…” Ceti said, trying not to let his annoyance show through his voice.

Scribble Down, or Scrib as he is known to his friends, is the royal taskmaster of the Canterlot Court. It is his duty to coordinate the daily weather all across Equestria, as well as planning celestial events for celebrations, which leaves him a bit empty-minded at times as his work keeps him occupied mentally and physically most of the day.

“Yes, I know, but Tau always moves the dang thing. I couldn’t find it.” Scrib said in his defense.

“Well, I don’t blame you, then. He really should start organizing his office more often.” Ceti said, realizing that Scrib was right. Tau would often leave things in places that they shouldn’t go. It was a miracle he could remember where he slept, let alone monitor the very source of Equestrian magic for all these years.

“What are you doing here anyhow? Shouldn’t you be in the library planning for the Alignment Celebration next week?” Ceti asked, quizzically.

“I would be, but I needed a copy of “Equestrian Alignment Theory”, and the only copy the library has disappeared a few weeks ago. Tau has the only other copy in all of Canterlot”, Scrib answered.

A week from now, one of the greatest celestial events in Pony history would soon be occurring. It was the Equestrian Alignment, a time when the Sun, the Moon, and all the planets of the Equestrian System would become aligned. This once-in-a-millennium event caused a large warping of the Celestial Fabric, allowing ponies of every kind to feel a deeper connection to the inherent magics they all possessed.

“What’s all that noise I just heard?” a loud voice bellowed down from rooftop.

“Scrib couldn’t find the stepladder again”, Ceti quickly answered, almost accusingly towards the voice.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll be right down”, the voice called out.

A few moments later, an alicorn came billowing down the staircase leading up to the roof. This alicorn was none other than Prince Tau, the oldest of the Celestial Family. He was a large charcoal-colored pony with a black muzzle roughly the same height as his younger sister, Celestia, with a grey and emerald mane that he let hang loose, ending in a long tail he fashioned into a spiked demeanor.

With a guilty look in his sharp, green eyes, he placed the step-ladder on the ground by his feet.

“The telescope needed some lens adjustments, so I borrowed the bookshelves ladder to get a closer look”, Prince Tau explained, looking at the pile of books his friend had knocked off the shelf trying to get to the highest one.

“What I don’t understand is why neither of you can ever seem to remember that you can fly”, Ceti exclaimed. “That’s the only reason I ever got that thing, because you numbskulls would forget your own manes if they weren’t attached to your heads”.

Scrib and Tau looked at each other, embarrassed. “Well, that’s why you’re here, Ceti”, Tau jokingly remarked.

“That’s what it feels like most of the time…”, Ceti thought to himself. “Anyway, what was it you needed me for Tau?”

Tau, snapping back into his usual work-oriented self, thought for a second on why he had called Ceti to the tower so late at night.

“Aah, now I remember”, he exclaimed. “Recently I began noticing some... disturbances in the Celestial Fabric. At first I didn’t think much of them, knowing that the Alignment was coming up soon and that these were probably just the beginning of the event taking place”, Tau explained, becoming noticeably sterner with every word.

“However, when I went back to the notes of the event I took last time this occurred, I noticed that this warping was occurring days before it should.” Tau then proceeded to hand Ceti a stack of ancient-looking scrolls. The paper was yellowed with age and the wording was so badly weathered it was barely legible, but Ceti could gather enough from the scrawlings that he knew something was indeed wrong.

“Well, you are definitely right. These calculations don’t account for any kind of warping that should be occurring for at least another 3 or 4 days, but that doesn’t exactly rule out any natural explanations for the disturbances. I’ll have to go over my notes” Ceti said, trying to think of anything that could be causing such warps in the Fabric.

“I’m afraid that’s the reason I called you up here. I’ve gone over the notes, I’ve checked every book pertaining to the subjects of magic and celestial events, but nothing turned up that could have explained this.” Tau explained, rather solemnly.
“But if it’s nothing natural, the only thing that could be causing noticeable disturbances to the fabric would have to be an extremely potent source of magic, more so than any Pony should be capable of”.

Several seconds passed as Ceti tried to think of someone, or something, that was capable of warping the Fabric. His face then broke into a look of sheer fright, his eyes frozen in a blank stare. “Y-you don’t think D-Discord could be escaping his imprisonment, d-do you?!?”, Ceti asked in terror.

Scrib, who up until now had been listening in silence, started trembling, and with a wobbly voice added in “But he’s been encased in stone for almost 20 years. I thought Twilight Sparkle sealed him away for good?”

“No, it isn’t Discord”, Tau said, trying to reassure his friends. “My sister’s student and her friends still maintain a strong connection to the Elements of Harmony. Knowing Twilight, she’d have informed Celestia if she felt something was wrong with the Elements or Discord”, said Tau, knowing full well that a power the size of Discord’s would have a much more noticeable effect on the Fabric.

“Well, if you think so…” said Ceti, feeling a bit safer. “But I’m not taking off the list of possibilities. It never hurts to be safe.”
“Fine, fine, but we have a lot of research to do before we make any calls.” Tau said. “Scrib, do you think you could get me a copy of “Magic throughout Equestria” from the library?”

“Sure, I’ll be back soon”, Scrib said, turning around to fly off to the library.

“Scrib”, Ceti called out, stopping him before he could take off. “I’m afraid that we’ll be needing that copy of “Equestrian Alignment Theory” more than you right now. We need every book on magic we can get our hands on.”

“Oh, no problem. I didn’t need it for the celebration that badly, I was just hoping to find that passage on Magical Aspects and their relation to the alignment”, Scrib said, as he placed the book down on the tale in the center of the room. “I’ll be back as soon as I find that book”.

As Scrib flew off into the night, Tau and Ceti sat down to begin a hard night’s work…