//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Stargazer's Peak // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Barely functioning with its rudimentary repairs, the freight train finally reached the station in Stargazer's Peak. The engineers were forced to remove the brake and regulator assemblies entirely and rely on a wrench attached to the valves to adjust their speed, but they had made it safely with all passengers uninjured, thanks to their special guests sent by Princess Luna. The station was an outdoor stop, rather humble with just a water tower and a ticket booth. Nearby was the high-altitude town, its stone carved homes with thatch roofs clearly of griffon origin. Techorse was the first to step off the train into the station, taking a good look around at the city in front of them. He could see several griffons dressed in conductor's uniforms talking to some of the train engineers, a few were discussing the sabotage from the night before. Since most of the ponies who went to Stargazer's Peak were tourists, and the griffons there would hate for their tourist industry to be harmed, the griffons running the station took the act seriously and went to report it to the local authorities for further investigation. “All right, we made it!” cheered Flaming Ivory as left the train, making it onto the platform. Shadow Breeze and Midnight were the last to get off, joining their friends on the platform. They didn't have any luggage, as they were only planning on being there for the day to negotiate for the return of the chalice. As they turned to leave, one of the conductors of the train hopped out from the steam engine's mutilated control center, and walked up to Techorse. He was a taller earth pony with a tan coat and bright green eyes, his black mane tucked underneath his blue cap. “Wait, before you go!” he said, “Once again, thank you so much for saving the train and protecting the passengers. We're talking about free train fare on our line for life here once this gets to the board of directors.” “I appreciate the offer, but what we really need is for this to be kept quiet,” requested Techorse, “whoever sabotaged the train wants to believe we're not here today.” “A bit too late for that son,” answered the conductor, “we've already contacted the local police. But hey, the free passage offer is still on the table.“ “All right, but we really need a way to send a message back to Princess Luna about what happened,” said Techorse sternly, “she deserves to know she's not the only one gunning for her chalice.” “Oh, so that's what the Princess wanted, something that belongs to her?” asked the conductor, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow with a hoof, “Guess those jerks who blew out our controls must be trying to steal it to sell for a ton of dough.” Knowing about the magical properties of the cup, Midnight hoped that the others looking for the chalice would only be interested in the handsome pile of money it was worth. Maybe someone else found out about how much they were going to offer the duke and duchess of the Peak and was hoping to steal it first. But a bad feeling in his gut told him otherwise. “Well don't worry!” continued the worker, interrupting Midnight's thoughts, “We've got the cops out looking for suspicious behavior, and there weren't any stowaways on the train, so whoever did that to us is probably gone now. Good luck getting the Princess's treasure back.” “Thanks...” trailed Techorse, hoping for a name. “Oh yeah, my name's Timetable,” he answered, smiling, “we'll see you at the station for the ride back.” “Great! Hopefully we'll have that chalice with us,” said Flaming Ivory confidently. The four turned away from Timetable and started to head for the gravel path that led up into the village, when they were stopped by an eager passenger who had waited patiently for them to stop talking with the conductor. “Hey, wait up!” he called, getting the team to stop. He was a pegasus pony, about their age, with a pleasant gray coat and blue eyes, light blue hair with a black stripe in a jagged mane that fell off to the sides, and a tail that was tied back with a narrow band near the base. His cutie mark was a set of letter a's, one uppercase and one lowercase next to each other on a leather-bound book. “Thanks for saving us back there,” he said, “my name's Typesetter, pleased to meet ya!” “You're welcome,” answered Techorse, trying to be friendly, “I'm Techorse, and these are my friends Shadow Breeze, Midnight Blaze, and Flaming Ivory.” “So what do you do?” asked Shadow Breeze curiously. “I'm a professional writer,” answered the other pegasus proudly. “Ah, so unemployed then,” Flaming Ivory joked with a smug look on his face, earning a nasty look from Techorse. “Flaming, you hop from gig to gig as a jazz artist, you're one to talk,” he said to him. “It was just a joke,” complained the unicorn, rolling his eyes, “sheesh Techie.” “Anyways,” grunted Typesetter, “I actually own a pair of bookstores that my parents gave to me, one in Canterlot and one here. When I'm not writing, I'm selling books to the tourist. The griffon locals never seem to want to buy anything though.” “Typical,” sighed Flaming Ivory, “but hey, bookstore owner is a pretty neat job.” “It's pretty rewarding, but during the tourist season sales are better up here, so I move up and work the store here while the Canterlot outlet is run by my sister,” the author explained, “want to come see the shop?” “We'd love to, but we've really got to get going to the duke's estate,” explained Techorse, “we're on an errand for Princess Luna.” “Well see, that's where I come in,” snickered Typesetter, “the duke recently announced that he has forbidden ponies from entering his estate grounds.” “What, why?” asked Shadow Breeze, “That seems really strange.” “It is, and the locals are upset about it too, they've never seen their leader act like this before,” nodded Typesetter in agreement, “I used to see tourists come to visit his rose garden all the time, he made good money off of admission to see them and have tea there. But recently the duchess hatched a daughter, so maybe he just wants more time with his new chick.” “So how are you going to help us?” asked Techorse. “Well, the duke has always ordered books from me, and I get to make one final shipment to his library,” he continued, pointing back to a cardboard box being offloaded from the train, “if you come back to the shop with me, we can come up with a plan to get you inside. Think of it as a thanks for not letting me become railway slime.” Techorse smirked at the comment, “Lead the way!” Typesetter's bookshop was called The Fine Print, a standalone shop in the center circle of the griffon town. It was made from stone like the other buildings, and was insulated with both thatch and some kind of tile roofing that kept water out of the home. A brick chimney ascended into the sky from the side of the store, and the two-floor building had a wooden door entrance in the front, which Typesetter unlocked using a key tied around his neck. The inside of the bookshop was clean and well-lit to the surprise of the guests, featuring a small cafe area sunk into the ground near the front of the building right next to the idle fireplace. Bookshelves were scattered in the main floor area on red throw carpets over the cold stone floor, and the front desk where Typesetter worked had a set of coffee machines and a cash register for him to complete his sales with. A wood staircase led to the above loft area, where Techorse and his friends could clearly see a bed and some other amenities where their new acquaintance lived when his shop was closed. “Nice place you've got here,” complimented Shadow Breeze, “It's really simple, but cozy.” “You should see the store in Canterlot, much better than this,” he said, “I've got an entire apartment attached to that one, and it doesn't freeze overnight.” After locking the door behind them, he ushered them over to the lounge area, where he started a fire in the empty fireplace to get the room heated. They sat around on the comfy, haphazardly arranged beanbag chairs, and warmed up. “So, why did you guys need to get into the duke's estate again?” asked Typesetter. “Princess Luna has sent us on a mission to offer the duke a sum of bits in exchange for her Lunar Chalice,” answered the green stallion, shifting in his chair, “she says the duke has not wanted to give back the chalice.” “What? The duke said no to Princess Luna?” asked Typesetter, his mouth falling open, “That's... that's the strangest thing I've heard yet about him. Something is definitely not right here.” “What do you mean?” asked Midnight Blaze, “The duke hasn't always been like this?” “Well I mean, his new child might have something to do with it,” he responded, his ear flicking once, “but Princess Luna is such a loved name here. She practically founded the city.” “Oh?” asked Flaming Ivory, curious. “Yeah, before she was banished, Princess Luna gave Stargazer's Peak a generous donation of astrological equipment to build the observatories located just outside the duke's estate. That's why we're a big tourist attraction, ponies come here to observe deep space through the ancient magical telescopes Princess Luna had constructed. Of course, it's been a thousand years and the arcane telescopes don't work, but they're museum pieces now.” “But then why would the duke not want to help out Princess Luna?” asked Techorse. “There's no way he's forgotten the history of the town,” said Shadow Breeze, “do you think he's found out about the chalice's power and he wants it for some reason?” “Maybe he wants to keep it for himself to try to reactivate the arcane telescopes,” figured Midnight Blaze, “deep space telescopes powered by magical energy tend to be fueled with something, so it might be the only way to make fuel for them.” “I've got just the thing,” interrupted Typesetter as he pointed at the table, “this book right here on the table.” The coffee table had a good pile of books on it, including one put face down on the table opened to a particular page. Flaming Ivory spotted the book, and knew it wasn't the one Typesetter wasn't talking about. But when he had a closer look at the cover of the green book lettered with silver, he could see that it was written by him. “Jungles of Intrigue, by Typesetter...” thought Flaming Ivory, as he picked up the book with his magic and began to read from the page. “Without warning, the half-snake, half-pony creature wrapped her long, powerful body around the hapless explorer Font Maker. 'Mmm, aren't you a little lost?' she hissed teasingly...” Typesetter, turning red, quickly grabbed the embarrassing work of fiction from him, “Whoops! Sorry about that...” He replaced the self-authored book with the actual history book he was going to show the ponies in the room, a big red volume with a picture of the biggest observatory in the town. “This is a history book on the telescopes,” he explained, “maybe one of these will give us a hint.” “Well Midnight, you're the expert on magical tools here, take a look,” said Techorse, encouraging his friend. Midnight Blaze smiled and started to flip through the pages while his friends watched, coming to the information he was look for. “Here it is,” he said, pointing at an open page describing a potion recipe, “this is the list of ingredients used to make the fuel for the telescope's operation. The fuel is spent in a combustion chamber to both move the telescope and power the arcane conduits to magnify the image in the lens.” “Can I get that without the ridiculous vocabulary?” teased Flaming Ivory. “Sure, it means this fuel is burned in an engine of some kind to power the telescope,” answered Midnight, ignoring the musician's teasing. “But would the chalice be necessary to make the fuel?” asked Techorse. “I wouldn't think so,” said Midnight, “but the only way to be sure is to ask.” “And that's what you're going to get to do,” assured Typesetter, “we're going to go make that book delivery, and you guys are going to help me unload it.” “They'll never fall for it,” sighed Shadow, shaking his head, “there weren't that many books in the pile, and they'll probably watch.” “Do you have any other ideas?” asked Typesetter, “I really want to help you guys meet the duke, but he's been so strict lately...” After a few moments, the author stood up, “Wait, I've got it! We'll need a little help from another buddy of mine though. Let's go talk to her.“ Typesetter extinguished the fire with a nearby pail of sand, fizzling out the hot coals, and then led his friends to the front door, which he prepared to lock up. Flaming Ivory picked up the green adventure book while he wasn't looking, and brought it up to the writer. “So, how much for your little self-published gem here?” he asked, holding the book up to the author. “I can't sell you that, that's a draft of my work in progress,” answered Typesetter, “and it's not really meant to be published at all, it's just for my friends in Canterlot.“ “I dunno, seems pretty interesting to me, a stallion lost in the jungle ends up struggling with some kind of mutant ponies,” said Flaming Ivory, “I wanna find out what happens.” Typesetter cleared his throat, “I'm not sure, you'll just find it awful. My friends and I are kind of weird.” Flaming Ivory smirked and flicked his white-striped tail, “Have you seen me and those guys? Two inventors, a wet noodle diplomat, and a traveling musician. We're total weirdos too.” The author seemed comforted by his kind words, “Well, I guess you can read it if you want to. I won't ask for money for it, just let me know how it is.” “Awesome,” said Flaming Ivory, tucking the volume into his saddlebags with his orange magic aura. Typesetter brought the others through town, where the ponies got to see how griffon life was up in the mountains. Due to the economy largely centering around tourism and the astronomy museums, most of the griffons owned shops where they sold things to ponies who had come to visit. The real rush of tourists would not come for another week, so many were preparing their places for opening, stocking shelves and opening up storefronts with various wares. The buildings were huddled close together, but many mountain flowers grew in the planters that separated out the village streets, and a crystal clear river of glacial water flowed through the town, so pure it could be drank from directly, and one of the griffons sold pewter mugs just for that purpose. Eventually after a tour of the town, a theater building located just outside of the village sat attended by a small group of griffons who were talking about the latest play they were going to show. Typesetter smiled and brought Techorse and company up to the birdlike residents. “Hello Kaila, Jordie,” greeted the gray stallion, getting the first two's attention. Kaila was a tan-feathered female with a soft personality and a warm voice, her talons groomed perfectly and shined, she wore a light blue sun hat, and was usually the lead of whatever performance was being shown at the theater. “Oh hello Type, nice to see you around here,” she said, batting her feathery eyelashes, “I see you've brought some guests.” “Yes, and we need your help. These guys need to see the duke, but after his decree, not sure that will fly,” he said. “Yeah well forget about the duke,” grumbled Jordie, stepping past Kaila, she was a black and white plumed lady, with piercing hot pink irises, “he's a jerk. Lemme see these ponies.” Jordie was wearing a backwards blue baseball cap, and seemed to be chewing gum, cracking it in her beak while looking over the ponies in front of her. In contrast to Kaila's sweet perfume and makeup, she smelled of gunpowder and burnt feathers. “So what do you guys want,” she said, standing on her hind claws to get a better look, “we're busy here getting ready for a musical, and it's getting pretty messy.” “Oh, so you're part of the play, too?” asked Shadow Breeze, smiling. Jordie wasn't having any of it, “Guess you could say that, I do pyrotechnics. I'm not pretty like Kaila here, so I blow stuff up.” “Please be kind, you are beautiful, somehow,” choked Kaila to her friend, not really helping out. “Whatever showgirl,” she answered, “so, what do you guys want anyways?” “We're looking for a way to get into the Duke's estate without being caught,” answered Techorse, “apparently he hasn't been taking guests lately.” “Yeah, I know,” said the griffon, cracking her gum again, “I used to do fireworks for his estate during celebrations. Used to. He fired me.” “What my friend means to say is,” laughed Kaila nervously as she pushed past her, “she has good reason to help you get in! We've got plenty of costumes in the back, and I think we know just the ones to fool the duke's new security.” “Fantastic,” said Shadow Breeze, eager to try, “what are we going in as, pizza delivery?” “Heh, you wish...” chuckled Jordie, spitting her gum out onto the sidewalk carelessly, disgusting Kaila. Techorse and his friends didn't think they were going to like what Jordie's plan was, but getting inside to see the duke was more important than whatever embarrassing costume Typesetter's friends could come up with. Following the two griffons and their support staff, the ponies entered the theater to go put on their costumes.