Chapter 87
What did you say to that? Was there anything I could say? My focus had waned, ejecting all three of us back to the real world alongside a flood of scripting errors and fatal exceptions. A gesture of my thoughts closed them all, me at least maintaining enough mental faculties to manage basic user interface controls. Everything else was numb as I shivered, suddenly feeling like the blanket around me did nothing to stop the cold wind from cutting through my fur.
"Mender!" Twilight squeaked, looking over to me almost immediately. Purdue was still between us, and wavered ever so lightly in opacity before snapping back to completely solid as I refocused the effect. No, no matter how I felt, letting her down wasn't an option. Sure, she could have told me all of this a whole hell of a lot sooner, but she'd said herself that she only recently had started to trust me. I couldn't even begin to guess what the reserved little filly had been through, so who was I to judge if that was fair or not? She herself also looked surprised to still be in physical existence, looking down at her own hooves carefully before poking the blanket with her left one.
Slowly, I looked up at Twilight instead, who froze mid exclamation when she locked eyes with me. Something in them caused her to lock up completely for just a moment, but she snapped out of it fast. "No, just no! I don't care what a few billion confused and crazy spirits think. We know you have little to no memories of the event, and from your logs, you weren't in control anyway! Do not blame this on yourself," she almost ordered, suddenly looking quite stern. My words died on my lips before I could formulate them, and I realized that's exactly what I felt was going through my head. They were actually there when I tore them all apart. They saw everything, and had labeled me their killer. Could billions of witnesses all coming to the same conclusion actually be wrong?
"Brother, stop," Purdue whispered, looking up at me with her milky eyes. This time I let their color be, knowing I couldn't make her see in this world quite yet. The frozen nail through my chest wouldn't let me manage to focus long enough to change their color anywa.
"How can so many spirits be wrong in what they saw themselves, though?" I asked, frowning to myself. Two billion... They were all literally right here. Just thinking about that mass of hostile energy looming over me was enough to turn my blood cold, and for a brief second, I was suddenly scared to risk glancing over my shoulder.
The little filly shook her head, to my surprise. "It was you. You did kill them," she answered slowly. I froze, eyes slowly widening as Twilight gasped sharply. I... I almost didn't catch her talking again. "You did kill them, but it wasn't you who was controlling your body at that point. But Malice can't understand that. Its rage and hatred is too much, and clouds its perspective," she explained. The tone of her voice left no room for doubt, and I realized almost instantly that she'd witnessed the event herself, personally. Twilight locked onto that, too.
"What happened?" the lavender mare inquired, frowning as well as she pulled the blanket back up over me. I barely felt it, my body now just feeling numb more than anything. I gave a start as she leaned over Purdue a moment later before gently nuzzling into my neck, further sandwiching the little filly between us.
If the blue and bronze filly cared, she didn't mention so. "There was a monster inside of you. A great evil. Then someone helped to force it out of you at the last minute. It was almost too late, but you managed to get your body back under your own control, and that's when you made the journey to Equus," she explained softly, sliding in against my right shoulder as the three of us rested there.
Honestly, did I even want to know? It seemed like every time I found out more about myself, it only led to me hating myself a little bit more. That was the main reason behind my adamant refusal so far to watch the full tape that I'd repaired. What else could I possibly discover about myself that would be horrifying and destroy my view of what little 'normality' to my life I could scrounge up? One could almost take bets on it. That nagging sensation of horror stirred within me every time I even stared at the file, like some dark beast in the far corners of my mind ready to pounce on me and consume me entirely. But things were getting dangerous already if this 'Malice' could physically manipulate the events around me still. I was fairly certain that I myself could survive its wrath, but that wouldn't be the easiest way to make me suffer, would it? No, something happening to another pony I cared for would be beyond horrible. Malice. Was that what that 'fake Nirru' was in my mind? She'd been absent for a surprisingly long duration, and I had sort of assumed she'd either given up or taken a new approach somewhere else.
My thoughts drifted in a controlled sort of chaos as I stared up at the sky, enjoying the soft silence and sensation of Twilight's gentle breathing across my neck. I could feel her relax into me, and my own panic seemed further away. No, I would deal with this, too. My niece, whom I'd given up attempting to apply all of the 'great's to her title, was a necromancer, after all, and might have more insight into how to deal with a few billion hostile spirits. Maybe with the help of fifty or sixty other necromancers, we could just perform some sort of mass-exorcism of a sort and shunt them all off into the Ether? That sounded kind of disrespectful, even when it only bounced around in my own head, though. Although I wondered how much of that was just the deep pity and guilt resounding from my responsibility for their situation. I sent a silent thanks to whatever might be listening that Fluttershy was too far away to pick up on the raw empathy at the moment.
The faint sound of wings almost gave me a heart attack, however. It was a slow but moderately powerful sounding wing stroke, which didn't fit either Fluttershy's lighter, or Rainbow's faster flying ambiance. My eyes flicked open to find not one, but six familiar looking incoming ponies, to my surprise.
"Look who we found?" Derpy asked, smiling happily as she drifted in alongside the mare I was just thinking about, Aura. She was assumingly the 'we' that Derpy had referenced, meaning the four Crusaders prancing around them were the 'found' entities. I felt Purdue freeze next to me, and I smiled. Well, this would be interesting.
The smaller filly slid tighter against me, hiding herself behind my right foreleg, with only enough room for her right eye to pointlessly peek out between Twilight's left one. Well, maybe it wasn't pointless, as I honestly had no idea how the sight of the filly normally functioned. Aura didn't notice her, however, instead sitting down a meter or so away in front of me in the grass. Derpy started to glide in to find a landing spot, but the fillies weren't nearly as reserved, rushing around the necromancer instead on both sides. She let out a squeak, and so did Purdue as two fillies jumped over us, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle collided with me instead.
Sweetie just snuggled under my left foreleg, but Apple Bloom froze almost instantly, having flailed and fallen to her left, then come face to face with a surprised looking Purdue, who was reaching behind her with her back left leg for her book, probably looking for an escape route. Figured she'd do that.
"Purdue, relax. I'm right here," I assured, causing the smaller filly to freeze again, then slowly look up at me. My talking to a completely new sounding individual snapped everypony's attention right to her, of course, minus Twilight, who just smiled and slid a bit closer on the other side. Sweetie slipped out from under my leg again to peek at the surprise that Apple Bloom had discovered, of course, and over my shoulder, I saw both Scootaloo and Babs come to a screeching stop as they turned to look at the new arrival. Well, new arrival for them, anyway.
"Aww, she's adorable," Aura immediately chimed in, not missing a beat, but promptly causing Purdue's cheeks to flush pink. Heh.
"Be gentle with her. She's shy, okay? This is Purdue. She's my little sister," I explained, causing the filly's cheeks to go red instead as she snapped up to looking at me, immediately forgetting momentarily about her predicament.
Sweetie's eyes got huge as she immediately took in every detail she could about the small filly. "W-Whoa! I didn't know you had a sister!" she squeaked immediately, shifting to a big smile towards her. Purdue shrunk down a little, then hid under my right foreleg again, earning a giggle from Twilight.
"Seeing as everypony here knows about Mender, I can safely say that she's actually from his dimension. She's a spirit inside of Prudentia, Mender's big book he carries everywhere. So she's an adopted little sister," Twilight explained, nudging Prudentia as it lay against her left hip. I noticed that the 'book' stopped having problems with Twilight touching it as well, leading me to believe that was actually Purdue inside of the book that had initially avoided contact with her.
Despite everypony else's surprise, Aura wasn't fazed, which also didn't surprise me. She only smiled and nodded to that. Derpy lowered herself fully, still smiling as she edged up to Purdue. The filly looked more surprised by her behavior than anything, tilting her head until Derpy leaned forward and bumped her nose into hers. They both blinked once, then Derpy backed off and simply smiled happily again, leaving me a little confused, too. Purdue actually smiled at her, however, so I relaxed and let her do whatever. She was good with foals, too, it would seem.
"She looks so normal for being a ghost," Scootaloo muttered, slipping up behind and looking over Twilight's back at Purdue as well, who turned to look at her when she talked. The orange filly then asked, "Why are her eyes all white like that?" Oh...
Babs frowned to Scootaloo for a moment before replying with, "It's becawse she's blind." Oh, so ponies did know about blindness, then. Well, admittedly, I had no reason to suspect they didn't.
"Wait, what?! Fer real?" Apple Bloom murmured, looking horrified. Purdue frowned at that, her eyes softening as she got a tiny smile on her face and shook her head.
"It's not, um, that bad. I've never known what it's like to see anyway, but, well, my powers sort of let me see regardless. I can see vague shapes where ponies are," she explained, causing me to perk my ears up. Oh, that was definitely interesting. Was she seeing some sort of energy, then?
Aura scratched her chin for a moment, then inquired, "Shapeless flowing masses around everypony, subtle shades of difference that tells you things about them, and maybe even other colors mixed in?" I looked to Purdue, who looked more than a little surprised before nodding rapidly. The mare giggled at that before continuing with, "You're seeing the magic in everypony. We're comprised of it, and each pony has their own unique 'pattern' of energy that's inside of them that's incredibly complex. The colors, shapes, and other traits can tell you more about the pony." Oh, that was what she saw in me earlier, then. It must be special training that necromancers pick up.
Regardless, Purdue nodded again, momentarily forgetting her situation once more and looking towards me instead. "Yeah, Mender's is really light blue with streaks of silver, yellow, and a pretty rose color mixed in. Then it goes deeper, and the blue turns darker and darker until it's almost black," she whispered. I'm not entirely sure why, but I shivered hearing her explanation. Aura got a sadder expression on her face before she nodded and smiled weakly at me instead. Huh?
"The streaks represent individuals who've touched upon his soul and left a mark. The silver I'm already familiar with. Gemstone Weave is a part of you, and your link with her will never fade," the necromancer assured, shifting to a more confident smile. The cold sensation faded slowly along my back, and I smiled at that. No problems at all there. If anything, I wanted to get to know my mother all the more.
Derpy giggled a moment later, then took a shot in the dark with, "I'm guessing the yellow is Fluttershy, right?!" Heh, I felt the little yellow pegasus all the way from here, and barely resisted smirking. Yeah, that was a good guess.
Another giggle sounded from Aura and she nodded, adding, "Having met the mare, yes, I can firmly say that it is indeed Fluttershy. I'm quite astounded at how strong their link is for having known each other such a short amount of time." Fast friends indeed, then upgraded to coltfriend and fillyfriend, and then lovers shortly after. The yellow mare was a very loving pony, and I wasn't about to change her for the world.
Sweetie looked curious, however, before pointing out, "Wait, so who's the rose color, then? Fluttershy's coat is yellow, so that makes sense, but..." Rose? Uh oh...
"Oh, no, little one. The color of the streak doesn't need to have anything to do with their colors," Aura corrected before explaining, "The color comes from the color of their heart. That's separate from their physical colors, and even their magic color. Yellow is the color of compassion and kindness in its most pure sense. Red however is the color of passionate and unwavering trust and loyalty. The only pony I saw last night with that color was Miss Rainbow Dash." Damn it.
Twilight blushed lightly at that, coughing as she averted her eyes. Derpy blinked as well, then looked up at me, of course, curious now. Yes, it was totally my fault. “Uh, accidental encounter with Rainbow gave us a bit more of a connection than intended?” I attempted to explain, unsure of exactly what to say.
Aura only snickered and waved a forehoof at me, though. “I imagine you already had a strong connection with her, you also being the same color around your heart. It doesn’t matter how dark the blue becomes, as I imagine ‘loyalty’ to also be closer to your most focused upon virtue?” she pointed out curiously. Loyalty? Well, did a desire to guard and protect count? That’s what I typically felt the most, even if it sometimes got in the way of things. Twilight appeared amused, however.
“That I never considered before. Yeah, that probably only helps Rainbow like you even more. You’re closest to her element, after all,” she agreed, examining me even closer, as if that would help. Was any pony really just one virtue? Even Rainbow had elements from the other virtues, particularly the laughter one. They were all kind, although none of them could beat out Fluttershy in that regard. Honest, too, although Applejack also took that to an extreme. Aura was probably right. The Elements were their particular Element not because that was their only virtue, but because they had that particular virtue so well established that it could almost be considered a vice instead.
Applejack had difficulty with any lie whatsoever, even those meant to promote kindness and good feelings. Fluttershy was almost too kind, letting herself get abused because of it. Rainbow was extremely defensive of her friends and so loyal that she can come off as almost brash and hostile to others. Pinkie loved laughter and happiness, but sometimes had difficulty understanding emotions that weren’t encompassed by those. Even Rarity had difficulty with her generosity from time to time, putting ‘value’ in inappropriate or materialistic things. If I was ‘Loyalty’, did I go overboard with that defensive thing, just like Rainbow did from time to time?
So I had no problem lying if I needed to. I liked being nice to ponies but, uh, okay, so I wasn’t always the nicest pony. I could sort of call myself generous, but even I knew that it was because I had difficulty accepting things for myself. I’m not sure if that ‘counted’ as generosity in that event. Laughter? Uh, no. I wasn’t the happiest or most mirthful pony out there. Magic I could definitely do, and I had some weird styles in comparison to most Earth Ponies, but it wasn’t really my defining trait. So yeah, I’d have to say that they were right.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll agree with that. I’m definitely more partial to ‘Loyalty’, then. I’m not sure if that helps me understand ‘me’ any better, though,” I finally admitted, looking to Aura instead. What was the point of all this, again? Maybe it was to warn me against being too protective? It had ended rather tragically for my other ‘self’ and DNA donor, after all.
She shook her head, however. “No, the only reason I brought it up at all was to maybe help you find your place a little easier. You’ve been through a lot, and I figured that maybe a better sense of who you are would help you settle into yourself better,” she explained, a surprising amount of wisdom in her soft, slow tone. Despite it taking about forty to fifty percent longer for her to say it, it still made me feel better to hear. She was right, there. Ever since I’d gotten to Equus, I’d been at least a little lost and confused. Anything that helped against that was welcome, even if it took me by surprise.
Maybe sensing my hesitation, Babs perked up behind me at sat up fully again. “Maybe ya should go daown there an’ try ta have some fun? Fohget abouwd all this foh ah while?” she suggested. I must have really looked like I was stewing on it…
Derpy perked up and nodded at that, revealing, “Oooh, good idea. The mayor said she wanted to talk to you still anyway.” Mayor…? Glancing towards the dunk pit, I noticed a very soggy mare there still, and the memory of before that Estrus week snapped back. Oh, right! She’d wanted to talk to me and I totally forgot!
Slapping my forehead with my right forehoof, I nodded at that. “I’d forgotten that she wanted to talk to me. Uh, right. Well, dropping by probably could at least let me set up an appointment,” I suggested, glancing to Twilight, who rolled her eyes at me.
“Maybe you should let me do your schedule for you from now on, Mender. Your virtue definitely isn’t memory,” she pointed out. Coughing, I averted my eyes slightly, and Purdue giggled next to me, finally having relaxed a little amidst all the other ponies…
* * * * *
Okay, I admit to this being my fault. Why had I assumed anything in this town was going to be ‘normal’? Maybe I had expected some sort of government official to be, I don’t know, somewhat saner compared to most of the rest of the populace? Like I said, probably my fault.
“Just for the record, this isn’t what I meant when I said to have a meeting with the mayor,” Twilight pointed out yet again, her magic activating to crank the sitting platform back up as we both shifted onto it. Swimming in this stuff wasn’t exactly pleasant or easy, it having more the consistency of maple syrup than water. I could practically feel it staining my fur, too, and sticking to everything in uncomfortable ways.
The mayor appeared to take it in stride, however, resuming her ‘proper’ posture as we were lifted back up above the fluid. It was a bit embarrassing to see nothing but glass all around me, and ponies able to see me from all sides now covered in the goo. “Nonsense! Authority figures need to take a good dose of humility from time to time, no matter the position. It keeps ponies realizing that they’re just ponies like them, after all,” she pointed out. Well, I suppose that made sense, but weren’t there better ways to achieve that? I wondered idly how long I’d be green for, and how big of a heart attack Rarity would have when she saw me. Rainbow was still rolling and laughing off to my left, having thrown the ball that dunked us both, after all. It turned out that she and Applejack had been trying to see who could dunk the mayor the most times and I had ‘ruined it’ according to Rainbow, by getting into the tank too in order to talk to the mayor. Applejack refused to play after that…
Instead, the orange mare glared at her fillyfriend rather pointedly as she continued laughing at my misfortune. I’m sure that would be awkward later, regardless. The mayor coughed lightly, however, and somehow shifted back to serious, despite being covered in splotches of green slime and wearing a clown costume with a giant rainbow afro. Well, it had a lot of green in it now, but I think it was originally rainbow colored. Her acting serious was kind of a creepy juxtaposition.
“Regardless, as you’re now the co-founder of a new branch of government, and responsible for several new constructions coming to Ponyville this fall, I wished to obviously speak to you about some of the details. At least, what you can answer about them,” she revealed. Oh, right. Tia had wanted to construct the research and development facility under Ponyville. I pulled up my scans of the paperwork about it that I had in my database, ignoring Scootaloo gleefully taking up position with a new ball. She, Babs, and Apple Bloom had no problem at all dunking me, which I was both thankful for, and a bit put off by, but ah well. It was all for fun anyway. Sweetie joined Applejack in glaring from the sidelines.
Nodding to the mayor regardless, I explained, “Yes, Princess Celestia wishes to establish the Research and Development branch of the Dimensional Regulations here in Ponyville, as both Twilight and I live here. She also wanted to set up a small barracks for the guards that are training in the new developments.” That was the gist of what I understood, anyway. The information I’d scanned in backed that up, minus the exact details of the guards and training they’d be doing, of course. I imagined that was more up to me once we actually started developing stuff, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. At least, I assumed they’d be sending me already trained guards. That might be a dangerous assumption to make, however. I momentarily shuddered at the mental image of a new recruit accidentally blowing his hoof off with a laser rifle, and quickly pushed it out of mind.
“Ah, yes. I’d heard-“ the mayor started to say before both of us winced. The baseball instead skipped up over the glass rim, fell down inside with us, and splatted into the green goo, joining a dozen or so that were already down there. Well, at least Scootaloo’s aim was terrible.
The mayor coughed before continuing with, “Yes, I’d heard that she wished to set up Research and Development here. You must realize, as a pony responsible for the welfare and health of this community, I’m simply concerned as to the safety that research and development of alien technologies might entail.” Oh, right.
Smiling, I shook my head to that before assuring, “Princess Celestia’s actually already fully considered that. The actual facility is going to be set up in a large, underground bunker that we’ll be constructing first. I’m still going over the plans and designs for it to make sure it’s fully up to my own safety standards, but it’s more for keeping things in than out, just in case. I don’t imagine we’re going to have any accidents, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Oops, that was another thing I carried that ‘protection’ thing over to. All of my projects I wanted to be as safe as possible.
The mayor tilted her head slightly at that, then asked, “Now, when you say ‘underground bunker’, this is some sort of facility that-“ We both paused as a ball went sailing past the target by a good two meters, crashing into something behind the tank and causing a massive squawk from what sounded like a series of chickens. Uh… Glancing back, I saw Derpy flailing and trying to catch three chickens that appeared to be having panic attacks. They apparently didn’t like the new addition of a baseball embedded into the side of their coop. Well, her aim was terrible, but that filly could put some serious power behind her throws!
“Ooooh, looks like your special talent won’t be in ball throwing, blank flank!” I heard squealed from a rather familiar sounding filly in the other direction. Ugh. Glancing back, I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon trot up, the pink filly in the lead giving a rather malicious smirk to Scootaloo, who glared back at her. They both sat down behind the group of fillies and Rainbow, sipping what looked like milkshakes of some sort. Silver Spoon perked as she saw who was in the tank, then to my surprise, smiled and waved towards me, ignoring Diamond’s annoyed stare at her. Of course, I smiled and waved back to her, remembering what she’d said about her friend from before. It was kind of sad, really.
Rainbow bristled at the intrusion and name calling, sitting up from her laughing rather abruptly and glaring at the little pink filly as well. “What, you think you’re an expert at ball throwing now?” she demanded, then rolled her eyes as the filly just giggled.
“Please, you wouldn’t catch me touching any of these ugly balls if my life depended on it. Coattail, if you would!” she called out instead. A larger stallion walked up from behind them, his coat gray in coloring and oddly having no mane or tail whatsoever, only the fuzzy gray base of his tail resting over his rump. Further, he sported an immaculate black suit that covered him almost completely, and equally black shades over his eyes. He nodded to her, and picked up one of the baseballs instead. Psh. So, she had to resort to cheating to win, huh? Then she’d encounter cheating to lose instead.
My left hoof activated, the magic slipping along the goo stained platform and then under it. Shooting along the underside, it traced the release mechanism as I manipulated the barrier. It didn’t take long for me to find the bar extension to the target pad, and my barrier slipped along the bar behind it, holding it rigidly in place instead while being completely hidden from the front. Derpy, who was behind the tank and now sitting happily with three chickens in her lap, grinned as she watched the energy extend, then smirked over at me, nodding.
The stallion’s first throw was strong, and highly accurate. It smashed into the second ring of the target pad with enough force to shake the entire dunking pool, surprising me a little. I felt the energy radiating off the ball, and realized the Earth Pony was using some sort of technique to throw it, a moment later. Was it possible to use empathy magic and sync with a baseball, too? Regardless, my barrier wasn’t going to be defeated by anything less than a Mach two or so impact, and there was only one pony in that crowd capable of that. The target didn’t even budge, and all of the trigger mechanisms were equally held fast. The mayor lifted an eyebrow up, but didn’t say anything as she continued watching the spectacle.
“Pff, what?! Are you cheating or something?!” Diamond Tiara demanded to know, glaring over at Rainbow instead, as if she were the one doing it. Dash just grinned, however.
“Says the one ordering somepony else to throw for her? Maybe you should step up and try it for yourself? Or at the very least, use one of your own tickets instead of throwing somepony else’s ball,” the cyan pegasus pointed out, gesturing to Scootaloo. Hey! That had been Scootaloo’s last ball!
The game manager trotted up as well a moment later, dropping a new ball down for Scootaloo. “She’s right. You’re disqualified from this game for taking somepony else’s ball. This isn’t how we play nicely,” the older looking mare declared. Scootaloo smiled down at the ball, then nodded, picking it up gently in her mouth. Diamond Tiara looked absolutely furious, however, snarling and stomping off, the larger stallion slowly following after her.
Silver Spoon took a few more sips from her shake, remaining sitting as she watched, however. After another moment, she lifted her muzzle again and said, “You can do it, Scootaloo. Just relax.” Scootaloo looked surprised by it, too, glancing back at her with a start before smiling and nodding.
The ball left her mouth with surprising speed during her flip, and she kicked it with her back legs after spinning around at the same time. My magic dispelled as I released it, watching the ball rotate in the air three times before crashing into the center of the bulls-eye. Smiling, I felt the snap, and both the Mayor and I dropped yet again into the goo with a rather loud splash. This time, I definitely didn’t mind, however.
Surfacing again to the sound of Rainbow’s laughter once more, I peeked back in the direction of the grinning Scootaloo, who hopped into the air and buzzed her wings repeated. Heck, if she was throwing the ball like that, I was amazed it was even going in the same direction as the tank. Apple Bloom smirked over her shoulder in time to see Silver Spoon walking away, heading in the direction that Diamond Tiara left in.
“Hey, Silver Spoon. Ya can hang out with us if ya really want ta,” the farm filly called out as she left.
The little gray filly stopped and hesitated for a moment before smiling back over her shoulder as well and shaking her head. “Thanks, but no. I’m going to keep Diamond Tiara company. Maybe tomorrow,” she returned. The two fillies exchanged nods, then Silver Spoon ran after her friend, who was already almost thirty meters ahead now. Guess she was loyal, too.
The mayor and I were slowly lifted out of the slime once again, and she smiled over at me, somehow looking like everything was normal and perfectly well despite being covered from head to hoof in green goop. “Normally I wouldn’t condone unlawful behavior, such as rigging a game, especially with you being a guard of all things. But that was clearly in defense against other unlawful behavior, so I believe you were justified,” she pointedly assured a moment later, earning a grin from me as I realized she’d caught my manipulation. She did know about my magic, after all.
“He didn’t have a ticket, so I couldn’t let him play,” I reasoned, shrugging. Rainbow gave me a smirk, overhearing easily as Scoots started giggling at the information.
The mayor gave an assured nod, a few strands of slime dripping off her bang as she rotated fully towards me yet again. “Regardless, this is going to be an underground facility, then? With defensive measures in place?” she inquired. Oh, right, I didn’t know how prevalent the term ‘bunker’ was in standard pony society.
“Yes, it’s going to be a ways underground, and the walls are constructed out of concrete and reinforced with steel. It also operates with its own environment and is air sealed to prevent any gas leaks, if that much is needed. I can give you the tour of the place during construction and after it’s built, if you wish further assurance,” I explained. Princess Celestia’s policy for almost everything was complete transparency anyway, after what happened with BEID. The exact number of guards released to this program would be reported, just their identities kept secret, as per usual. Our project summaries and goals were also reported, with just the details being restricted. For the most part, unless our discoveries yielded something of immediate and crucial civilian use, we weren’t to release any new technology or information in that regard. That I agreed with. Ponies, for the most part, didn’t need weapons on the scale of what I’d be researching.
The mayor visibly relaxed before nodding twice at that, more distracting strands of goo spraying off her mane. It was really hard to take this conversation seriously… “That would be a relief, yes. I’d also like the newspapers to run a story on it if that’s at all possible. The more exposure ponies have to something, the more comfortable they usually feel about-“
Apple Bloom’s now glowing, rune covered hoof bashed the ball directly into the target center with considerable speed, spinning our entire tank around as the trigger gave way and we both yelped, falling into the goo once again. Damn it! I told her not to use that…
* * * * *
“See ya later, Uncle Mender!” Derpy chirped as she hovered off away from us, earning weird glances and a blush from me. Arg! She was clearly enjoying that way too much. She laughed as I made a pouncing motion at her, and sailed even higher into the air, waving backwards at us as she moved away from the Library.
Having talked with the mayor for a good hour and a half about construction specifics, location, and safety precautions, I’d gotten a healthy feel for how pony zoning and building construction worked now. She was also amazingly open about how things worked for Ponyville and what I was to expect during the construction. I didn’t understand quite why she was so eager to be as accommodating and helpful as possible until Twilight pointed out that this is going to bring a huge boost to the town’s economy, having such a large project draw national attention to us. Well, more national attention than the typical slew of disasters and destruction that typically befell the area at least twice a year. Yeah, a bunker was a good idea…
We’d also been dunked sixty-seven times, by what I assume was half the population of Ponyville and dozens of tourists here for the fall festival. Trotting into the library ahead of Twilight, I immediately slipped upstairs and into the bathroom to look into the large mirror. Sighing, I noted that my coat was indeed a teal-green color now, with darker green splotches all over it. I’d been assured that it would likely stay this way for the better part of a week until it washed out naturally. I wouldn’t have been so eager to get into the tank if I’d known this much, although Rarity’s horrified gasp, wobble, and collapse onto a couch that almost ran Rainbow over as it sailed in out of nowhere was rather amusing.
“I must say, I really like your library, Twilight,” Aura commented politely from downstairs. She’d followed us back at my request. Fluttershy and Rarity had met us on our way back from the tank, the yellow mare looking more perplexed at my new color than horrified. I was just thankful it didn’t smell. Ponies have really good noses, and this would be horrifying if it did. Which was probably why it didn’t.
Double-checking I didn’t miss any errant goo spots, I confirmed that all of the splotches on me were indeed just darker splotches now, and headed back downstairs. Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow were already sitting at the main table downstairs, while Twilight was showing the lower shelves to Aura. Spike and Fluttershy came out of the kitchen as I was descending, a tray balanced on her back with tea on it, while Spike followed behind her and steadied the tray, also being careful not to step on her tail.
The tray made it to the table without any disasters, and I came up alongside and pecked Fluttershy on the cheek as she let Spike unload the refreshments. Her light blush was worth it, and she gave me a gentle smile, eyes trailing over my coat again before she giggled, not used to me being vaguely the color of her eyes. Still, her coat looked amazing and felt silky against my muzzle, and I saw that she’d gotten her hooves polished and fetlocks trimmed while she was there. She looked amazing, which made me cringe at my own appearance all the more. In fact, Rarity should be-
My own thought was interrupted as the door opened abruptly again, Rarity coming in at a brisk pace carrying an entire bag of cleaning supplies with her magic. “I’m back!” she called out in a pleased, sing-song voice as she closed the door again. She’d rushed back home to get ‘products’ to aid me in my ‘natural disaster’ that my coat had become.
She wasted no time at all in setting down a large sheet of plastic from her bag, at the end of the main table. Oh, joy. We were to do this literally right now, and in front of everypony. She hummed as she unpacked what seemed to be dozens of bottles of strange fluid, and at least a dozen varying combs of different shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. I was reminded of a torturer gleefully getting out their implements of pain and misery.
“I’ll go get you a tub of water,” Twilight assured, giving me a wink as she trotted past and headed upstairs, leaving my niece to her own devices. She didn’t stray far, however, instead wandering over and sitting down next to me, making sure she was at least clear of the meter distance the plastic extended out to.
She giggled at my annoyed expression a second later, watching me curiously as I prepared for the horror that was beauty treatment. Rarity looked me over more carefully before requesting, “Fluttershy, dear, you’ll have to help me with this. Plus, as he insists on wearing your braid, you’re going to have to redo it after this. Might I suggest only one side, however? I think that would look far more fetching on a stallion.” Oh? Only one side of my bangs braided? I nodded at that, and Fluttershy smiled happily, drifting up with a light flap of her wings to land next to me instead.
Oh, right, the reason I asked Aura to come back with us. I looked over at her momentarily, noting I still had her attention before tapping the floor with my left forehoof. The line of magic shot across the floor, zipped over to the closet, and opened it in one fluid motion. I redirected it afterwards, and flattened it out into a platform as I gently scooped up the box and slid it across my barrier and back towards us.
Aura’s eyes widened as she watched the fancy, ornate jewelry box move into her view. I moved it over to me in about ten seconds or so, taking my time and being careful with it as I lifted the barrier platform up and seamlessly slid it onto the table. Applejack’s debate about using magic enhancements while playing sports dwindled as the three mares already seated turned and watched the box with a certain amount of fascination, despite having seen it before. The jewelry box always seemed to invoke this reaction, I noted.
“It’s very pretty! And you said this was from Bronze Bastion and Auraprism?” Auramirror asked quietly, reaching out to touch her hoof against the dark wood.
“Well, it supposedly belonged to them, anyway. I’m not sure who it’s from. It was sent anonymously, with the signer being ‘A Friend’,” I corrected, nose twitching as that old wood scent came back due to proximity to the box. There were still too many mysteries for me, personally. I’d decided that was one of my pet peeves. I liked clear, presented problems that I could apply an immediate solution to. These ponies that skulked around in shadows and refused to just speak with me upfront about their concerns only frustrated me. Of course, if I thought my government had been compromised by some horrific alien entity… Okay, so I could at least see their point. But that didn’t stop it from being frustrating. Was it one of them that sent this to me? And if so, why? It wasn’t trapped, and the things in it were actually rather valuable, both resource-wise, and for me, personally. And it was just freely given. Were they hoping for a favor or something later out of thanks? Or was this just pity?
Dozens of questions zipped around in my mind as I watched Aura slide open the shelves one at a time, peering at the jewelry and equipment inside. “This is indeed their wedding bangles. I’ve seen pictures of them, and items worn frequently by ponies pick up some of their auras permanently. This is grandpa and grandma’s aura, alright,” she confirmed, sliding a hoof over the simple golden metal. Heh, even she’d given up on attaching four or five ‘greats’ before each title. Still, I figured she’d be able to pick up stuff on them that others wouldn’t, and that definitely confirmed the legitimacy of the jewelry. But it also only brought more questions.
“What happened to all of this stuff after they passed away?” I asked softly, ears tweaking back as I heard Twilight humming as she came back down the stairs behind me, accompanied by the light sloshing of water.
Aura frowned for a moment, and I could almost see the gears and memories turning in her mind as she stared at the box. “Bronze Bastion passed on first, about four months before Auraprism. All of the stuff went to her after he passed, and she had most of his stuff moved back into their home. He owned his family manor still, and they lived there while they were both alive, but he kept a lot of stuff at the various work sites he had to visit,” she explained softly and slowly, looking back over at me as I did my best to absorb the information. Only four months? I remembered about the links and how sad they could make ponies after their lovers pass on. Maybe that lessened their remaining time?
“She passed away not long after, a lot of the family saying she just sort of gave up the will to keep going. All of their research and breakthroughs are public and kept in the Canterlot library. The family was spread out after that, and none of us could really justify taking up the space of an entire manor to ourselves, so we gave it back to Princess Celestia a month later,” she continued, detailing out things as she remembered them. Ponies technically only owned furniture and items, I remembered. The land of Equestria belonged to everypony equally for the most part, and buildings and the land itself was publically maintained and cooperatively worked on. That meant that Tia was free to give the manor to a different family if she saw fit and they asked. I wondered what happened to it.
My niece must have seen my curiosity, and smiled at that. “I think Princess Celestia still holds a deep sadness over what happened. She simply preserved the manor and kept it unoccupied, which it is to this very day. She told my… well, our family that if we ever wanted it back, we just had to ask. All the personal effects were removed and mostly split up amongst the family members, but quite a bit of it was oddly never found. The wedding jewelry they frequently wore, your father’s personal projects, and their research from the last twenty years of their life just vanished. Now I at least know where the wedding jewelry is, but I don’t know where it was prior. I’m sorry, Uncle,” she murmured, looking over at the box again. Just disappeared? Was it BEID, then?
Twilight’s keen mind snapped to attention after she set the water down next to Rarity. “Disappeared? That’s a lot of stuff to just disappear. Did anypony ever look?” she asked, frowning in concern. Oh, yeah, that was a lot of stuff to just go missing. I hadn’t realized how much that probably was, given that my father probably continued his personal projects his entire life. For all of that to just ‘vanish’ was crazy, especially with nopony anywhere seeing what happened.
“Yeah. Literally. Silver Sheen, their first foal and a grown stallion by then, was helping to clean the house up. In between him closing the doors one night, and opening them the next morning to get back to work, the projects were just gone. Completely. A lot of the family looked, yeah. Quite a few of his projects were quite valuable to the advancement of many sciences, after all. A lot of his later research, I heard, hinged around the basis of quantum field theory about ether fields around crystals, which, of course, his wife could easily help him with. If they’d had all that data!” Aura gushed, shifting back into her more excited tone that kind of reminded me a little of Twilight. It also had the side-product of having her talk at about normal speed for a pony. Still, that reeked of either a whole lot of ponies moving stuff, or some scary advanced magic… Heh. Or Discord, but he was a lawn ornament at that time.
The warm water touching upon my fur snapped me out of my thoughts, and I smiled back at Rarity, who gave me a nod as she slid a brush down my coat. “This is simply dreadful. There’s nothing I can do about the color. It shall have to wash its way out unless you wish to use even worse intervention methods, which I would not recommend. I can, however, restore the shine and feel, removing these nasty clumps,” she assured me elegantly, while managing to frown in disapproval at the very thing she was talking about.
“It’s fine, Rarity. It was my fault, but admittedly, watching all the little foals having fun was worth it,” I returned. That was one of the highlights to the otherwise oddly ‘normal’ conversation with Mayor Mare.
Aura smirked at that, then complimented, “Mmm, you’d probably make a good father, Uncle.” Damn it! Now I was glad the Crusaders were still at the fair and not here to hear that.
My ears flattened back and I frowned at that, glancing to Aura, who still looked absorbed in the jewelry box despite her soft smile. “Why does everypony keep saying that?!” I asked, having gotten that similar comment from at least four sources now. Rarity lifted an eyebrow in my peripheral vision while scrubbing my shoulder down.
“Perhaps because it’s true?” she suggested, earning a series of snickers from the other end of the table. Ugh. Sure, they could say that, but that didn’t make me understand the ‘why’ of it any better.
“It’s ah compliment, Mender. Ya should take it easy. It means yer trustworthy, good at lookin’ after tha little ones, an’ kind. Any mare would be happy ta have ya father their foals, Ah imagine,” Applejack commented, tossing an amused wink at me afterwards as my face flushed with heat. And then there were those ones that did it on purpose!
Rainbow shot her a smirk with a questioning, raised eyebrow, and Pinkie burst into copious amounts of laughter and promptly fell backwards out of her chair. My concern for her safety was never triggered regardless as she simply bounced when she landed and started rolling about, laughter unabated. Even Twilight giggled in amusement again, relaxing as she slid up against my back instead and kissed me between my shoulder blades. The pearly mare to my left just rolled her eyes, and Fluttershy scrubbed a little harder to my right, flush in her cheeks as well. She’d admitted she wouldn’t mind being a mother, and had ‘hinted’ towards next summer’s Estrus, if I remembered correctly. My mind buzzed, and I fought to beat back all of the terrible mental images that flooded in. Damn them all!
The resident necromancer seemed mostly oblivious, however. She instead perked up, slowly lifting the box curiously, and peeking under it, oddly. Eh? Well, technically I just called it a jewelry ‘box’. It was actually hexagonal, but that was hardly the point. Jewelry container? “Hmm? What’s this, Mender?” she inquired a moment later, snapping me out of my momentary lapse in attention.
Everypony’s attention was simultaneously pulled back to reality as she gently tipped the box back, her horn glowing softly with magic as she lay it on its back. I heard the jewelry gently shift inside of it, but then widened my eyes at the underside. Why hadn’t I noticed that?!
Along the underside of the box was a bronze disk, making an almost perfect circle that was three or four centimeters away from each side of the hexagon. It was inlaid with a beautiful pattern of intricate weaves like the vines extending off a flower across the entire thing, the flower itself being in the center. Only it wasn’t a flower. It was an actual gemstone with a woven bronze over the top of it and flower petals expanding off in each direction. The vine weave on the disk was an enlarged copy of the weave over the gem, I suddenly realized. What was this?! Twilight peeked curiously over my shoulders at it, then frowned.
“That flower! A flower blooming with a gem in the center and vines going over it… That was Gemstone Weave’s Cutie Mark!” Twilight announced, gesturing past me at the center of the disk. My mother? Why did Bastion and Auraprism’s jewelry box have my mother’s Cutie Mark on the bottom of it? She’d never written about her own mark, so I had no idea…
Aura frowned before revealing, “It had subtle life energy in the gem. I could see it because of my necromancer training, but it wouldn’t have been picked up if you were only looking for magic instead.” Wait, it had energy in it still?
“Is it dangerous?” I asked, suddenly reevaluating if this was a trap or not. If they knew about Twilight, they wouldn’t have tried to slip a magical trap in, that was for sure.
My niece shook her head, however before explaining, “It’s just a keystone. They’re used because they can react to certain things, like a certain type of magic, or even a certain life force.” A keystone? Where had I read about that before…
Spike, who had been silent up until now, perked up while sitting on the corner of the table. “Wait, wasn’t that like what Sombra used? His thingy in the throne room only reacted to that dark magic stuff!” he suddenly exclaimed. Sombra? Oh, King Sombra! The Elements of Harmony had defeated him when his kingdom reappeared recently.
“Yes, Spike. He used it to hide a spell that created the portal to that other dimension he was hiding in, but that contained magic and I was able to see it,” Twilight confirmed, glancing over at Aura instead. So this contained life force instead of magic? That would mean that it detected life force instead of magic, too, right?
Aura nodded, then hesitantly reached out and poked the gemstone in the center of the disk. My eyes widened, and to my surprise, everypony backed rapidly away from the table and the gem itself. Aura, Rainbow, and Spike even dove for cover, a table getting flipped over as a makeshift cover a second later. What did they think it was going to do, explode or something?! Twilight remained behind me, however, horn glowing softly as her eyes narrowed, and we all waited in tense anticipation.
The gem glowed softly a couple of times with a faint inner light, then faded dark again. It was almost ten full, tense seconds before everypony stood up fully again from their various covers. A nearby pile of books presented Spike’s head a moment later, and he asked, “Is it done? Did it explode?” Ah, so they really did think it was going to explode.
Aura walked up again, then frowned and shook her head. “No, it didn’t activate. Mine wasn’t the right life force, it would seem. I figured it might be keyed in to detect our family’s life force, but I guess not,” she suggested, looking a bit shaken from her flailing dash to hide behind the other table. They can do that? Wait…
On a guess, I extended my hoof and touched the gem next. Spike yelped and ducked down beneath the books again, and Aura skidded backwards, looking for her table barrier to return to, as predicted. I didn’t know what I’d expected to happen. Maybe I was hoping to be disappointed by the same results. No, not really. A part of me realized then why this was sent to me. It wasn’t keyed in for our family. It was keyed in for Gemstone Weave.
The gem glowed softly, a golden light bathing me that was much brighter than its last reaction. Slowly, the plate rotated around on the bottom of the box, and I felt Twilight tense against my back, her own horn’s glow picking up to almost match the light from the gem, defensive magic undoubtedly getting prepared just in case. I didn’t ‘feel’ any malice, however, when I touched the gem. Instead, I got the sensation of a deep, immovable sorrow. It was a sadness so consuming that it almost made me choke on it all. The gem’s light ‘felt’ like that sadness, and I wondered who these emotions had belonged to. The rotation continued until the gem was upside down. Then the outer ‘disk’ of the bronze disks stopped, and only the next inner one rotated after. It wasn’t a solid disk at all, and instead, held a series of bronze rings. My surprise only compounded as I watched the next ring in raise out slowly with those vine engravings, the vines themselves apparently movable too as they extended out on hard looking bronze spokes. It kept going, stopping every few centimeters and freezing another ring one at a time, going closer and closer to the center. Finally, the main Cutie Mark in the center rotated to facing upright again, and extended out on a long, bronze pole. Several smaller poles extended out the sides of it in uneven angles, and the disks formed a ‘cone’ along the bottom with all of the vines extended out in no real pattern either.
Then it stopped. The glow faded, and the box just sat there, not moving. The pole extended from the bottom was twice as tall as the container itself, yet had no discernable extension lines on it. How could it have even fit inside?! But its shape seemed so familiar… Oh.
“Uh, what is it?” Applejack asked, edging closer and frowning as she stared at the elongated end. Everypony slowly took in the sight, Spike popping out of the books again as well. I frowned as I brushed a hoof along the rod, bumping the hard metal studs that had folded out the sides of it. They didn’t budge in the slightest, and I smiled, suddenly realizing it all. It had been sent to me intentionally because I was one of only three ponies who could ever open it, and two of those other ponies were dead. Whoever sealed it knew that, and intended it only for me. I also imagine that they knew I’d hear about the other stuff disappearing, too. Putting two and two together, I realized that this was sent to me as both a gift, and an enticement to find the rest of the things that went missing. And they just gave me the ability to do so.
“It’s a giant key,” I answered, simply enough. But where was the lock?
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A giant key? Does that mean he has to fight heartless?!
Congrats on popping up in the featured box again!
Purdue is just unbearably adorable, I hope she gets more 'screen' time.
Also nice to see Silver Spoon growing some more friendships.
Menders found a Key To his Heart?
Wonder which method was used on the research. Was it like Bob, hidden File Attribute?
Or was it more like Perry Rhodans, Time Vault, where a quantum vault was built around the research, folding it in place, away from normal time flow, reality, until the key was used to breach the effect and open or disspell it?
Give key to Purdue. Mystery solved.
5596200 considering malice that is kinda fitting.
5596200 No I think it means he needs to gather some heart containers and head for a dungeon, hopefully getting a useful tool or weapon. I just hope he doesn't pick up a personal faerie along the way.
Cmon, Mender, broach the subject of Malice with Aura. The sooner the better!
In before Kingdom Hearts crossover!
...Nah. I can't wait to see Malice screw this one up, though.
Something tells me something interesting will happen if all the objects are together in the same place...
Well we do have a locked book...
The mansion. 'Nuff said.
5601753
True dat
5601753 I don't think so. Tia would have the means to open the Mansion. Plus the family had access to it after their death. No I think it goes to something within the mansion.
congrats Kiro on making it this far and still keeping interest in the story. You are the epitome of wat a true writer should be, especially on writing a story this long. Please keep up the great work and dont lose interest in this diamond of a story...or should i really say novel...by now lol. Your awesome Kiro. Keep these gems comin
Or it's the key to the missing stuff, which was what Bronze Bastion and Auraprism wanted.
That's XCOM baby!
Not sure why people seem to think it's a key to Prudentia, I mean it's giant and the book was from another dimension in relatively recent time...
I'm a bit surprised that the lack of Twilight here wasn't addressed. It feels like something Mender would be self-conscious about, even if no one else was.