//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Bringing Balance 
// by Shumiry 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 8

“While much can be said about the power of a unicorn's intuition, there just is no substitute for the careful procurement of magical knowledge. A more learned unicorn will almost always be more successful where a lesser educated magician has failed.”	-Starswirl the Bearded, Great Advice from Great Ponies


Canterlot in the daytime was breathtaking. Ponies crowded the streets, preening and showing off, entering and exiting the numerous stores and museums. Adorned as he was in nothing, Secret Seeker felt decidedly out of place amongst the carefully done up populace. Still, those moments were few and far between, as he tried to take in all the sights, smells and sounds of the bustling city.
His original plan had been to head straight for the archives, hoping to research deeper into the history of the demons. He would've loved to have had Twilight assist him, but his conversations with her always seemed to go... awry.
“I'm kind of busy right now, but I can spare a minute.”
“Oh great! I was hoping you'd be able to help me out a bit with Perfect Method's Stricture of Congruent Interference...” He trailed off at the vacant expression on the unicorn's face, as if the question didn't even warrant a response.
“You'll want to read these,” four thick texts levitated onto the table, were stamped in rapid succession, and slid towards him. He stood staring for a moment.
“Anything else?” she asked icily. Unsure of how to respond, he collected the books in his packs and made his way out of the library.
“I just don't know what went wrong...” he muttered, trying to puzzle out the source of her ire. With a shake of his head, he moved on to more pleasant thoughts. Earlier that week he'd been invited to watch Dash train, a spectacle the likes of which he'd never witnessed. He'd imagined many times what such a session might entail, but nothing had come close to seeing it first-hoof.
From the start his heart had been racing, watching the pegasus defy death with last-second direction changes, pulling up just before hitting the ground. On several occasions he lost track of her when she burst her speed and darted from one cloud to another, setting them spinning like tops. Then, like a pinball she bounced back between them, kicking each cloud apart without slowing down to move to the next one.
It had been quite a feat to behold, and he'd cheered enthusiastically when she landed, breathing heavily. His praise had brought a hefty blush to the mare's cheeks as she'd waved off his compliments, claiming “It was nothing.” Still, she'd seemed pretty pleased with herself when they'd said their farewells, and he hoped she'd taken some of it to heart.
He emerged from the crowds as he approached the palace, fewer ponies having royal business than everyday business, and was able to relax a little more, no longer feeling like he was being stared at. The journey had taken a bit longer than he had anticipated, as he had wandered the streets of the city, enraptured by it's splendor. Now, he finally reached his destination.
After a time of walking, he found his way into the section he desired, a place where many history texts were kept. It took some searching, but he managed to get his hooves on a few books that looked to be promising. Something had been nagging at him since his encounter with Mephistopheles' soul, and, somehow, he knew this would be the place to sate his curiosity.
“Woah Twi, that was kind of mean.” Spike said, a bit of admonishment in his voice, as he watched the door close behind Seeker.
“Oh what would you know!?” she snapped, immediately regretting it. Spike just stared at her silently. The purple unicorn heaved a sigh,
“I'm sorry Spike. I just don't know what comes over me. Whenever I'm around him I just get... irritable.” She shrugged helplessly, “He just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. I don't understand it.” Spike was surprised to hear the admission.
“Maybe you still blame him for what happened to Princess Celestia, even though it wasn't his doing.” Twilight stared at her hooves on the table.
“Maybe...” It was as good a reason as any, but, somehow, she knew that wasn't it. With another sigh, she returned to her work, a sense of guilt and shame burrowing its way into her gut as she tried not to think about how she'd just behaved. If the Princess could see me now... she thought darkly, chagrined. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to figure this out.
Spike resumed cleaning, concerned for his best friend. It was very unlike her to let a conundrum like this eat at her without pursuing a solution. Something, he thought, is making her afraid of the answer.
Seeker pored over the book, looking for anything explaining the two demons, but to no avail. Frustrated, he tossed it aside, next to a dozen others similarly discarded. I don't get it. I know there's something, yet everything I find tells me there's not. The texts he'd found thus far that mentioned the two evils only mentioned them. So why was he convinced there were more? With a sigh, he opened the next tome.
Clop clop clop. Somepony else had entered the library. Looking up, he saw Twilight walking towards his table. Surprised, and unwilling to risk ruining this fortuitous act of happenstance, he merely nodded to her, and resumed reading when she returned the gesture. His heart was pounding as she sat on the other side, and pulled the stack of discarded books to her.
In the few minutes it took her to scan through the different books and glean the purpose of his search, he failed to read even one paragraph, focused as he was on keeping his gaze on the page. When she'd finished with the last of them, she cleared her throat, causing him to nearly jump out of his seat. She stifled a giggle with her forehoof, causing Seeker to blush furiously at the cuteness of the display.
At the sight of his blush, her mirth vanished, and he swore he could almost feel the air turn colder. He had paled completely before she spoke.
“If you're looking for information about Mephistopheles and Carryion, you probably want to be looking further back in the histories.” He looked at her, intrigued.
“I thought they emerged in the last few thousand years,” he said. A spasm crossed her face, some internal conflict quickly resolved, and she forced a smile.
“This time. Let me show you what I mean.” She rose, and trotted off, effortlessly locating the books she sought. Returning with the two ancient texts in her nimbus, she sat back down and deposited them gently on the table. Daring not to touch the yellowed pages with her hooves, she instead used her magic to turn them, carefully flipping through the book until she found the section she wanted.
“Here, read this,” she said, rotating the book so it faced him.
In nature, all things stem from balance. Light and shadow. Good and evil. Life and death. So it is too in the realm of magic. It is believed that the ancient magic, now known as the Elements of Harmony, have always existed in some form or another. Each time they appear, they take a new shape befitting the task before them in order to maintain the balance.
It is believed, therefore, that there must be a counter to this magic. At this time, the nature of the counter is unknown, but hopefully, in time, we will be able to understand it, and effectively recognize it when it begins to manifest.
When he looked up, she floated the other book over the first, having opened it when he was reading.
We found that there was some sort of massive disruption in the strata beyond that point. As can be seen in figure 19.2, the soil layers have stable growth over the years, and we encounter the expected changes in fossilization. But, as shown in figure 19.3, in the strata belonging to the period of time some 11,000 years ago, we see a nearly 9000% jump in the fossil density.
This vast difference can only be accounted for if there were some global, nearly extinction-level event that took place. At this time, we simply don't have the means to analyze the layer for clues as to just what was responsible. We can only hope that, as technology improves, future generations will seek out the answers we cannot.
“Unfortunately,” Twilight explained, “the chasm they were using to study all this is located in what is now the Scorched Lands, far to the south. That place hasn't been safe for thousands of years, so the research was never resumed.”
“An extinction-level event...” Seeker mused aloud, “like a large meteor hitting the earth?” Twilight considered the idea, but shook her head.
“A meteor would've displaced a large amount of dust or water when it hit. There would've been some sign other than widespread, cataclysmic-scale death.” Seeker nodded in agreement, and the two sat in silence for a time, mulling over the information.
“The Lord of Death, and the Lord of Deceit...” he muttered, “if they're supposed to be the balance to harmony, then there would have to be more of them. Those two alone don't counter all the Elements.”
“Perhaps that's why we tend to have more harmony than not,” Twilight said, “because they can't effectively counter them.” He pondered that for a moment, but something in her expression gave him pause.
“But you don't believe that, do you?” For the first time since he'd met her, Twilight favored him with a genuine smile,
“No, I think there are others as well. It doesn't say so here, but I theorize that there was some kind of global war, which would be a logical counter to the peace and prosperity offered by the Elements.” Seeker nodded in contemplation, fear settling in his gut as his understanding of his opponents' power grew.
For an hour they sat, discussing possibilities, and where they ought to look for more information. Finally, Twilight rose, and said she needed to get going and take care of the research she had actually come here to do. Bidding him farewell, she left the room as he began returning the books to their resting places.
A humming sensation was vibrating in his chest, and he couldn't help but smile as he thought, This is the start of something good.
Ambassador Taulus was reclining in his room. Things were going well. Splendidly, actually. While he hadn't managed to dissuade the council from sending a party to Equestria to discuss trading policy changes, he had been able to pull some strings and be elected head of the party. It would be a simple thing, with his pony friends' assistance, to sabotage the peace negotiations, and force Equestria to cede to his demands.
Alion had been growing increasingly aloof and despondent, but he continued to carry out his duties diligently, so Taulus couldn't complain. If anything, it made his job easier, since he didn't have to deal with anyone disputing his orders. Which was precisely what infuriated the griffin. That sort of meek, careless acceptance was exactly what had led to the Griffin Kingdoms being in the state they were in!
He couldn't sit still anymore, now that thoughts of his apathetic assistant had stirred up his wrath. Heading down to the training ground, he took out his anger on the dummies. It wasn't very satisfying, but it would have to do for now. As he struck the griffiquins, he pretended they were ponies, imagining his claws tearing the little, sniveling wretches apart.
Alion looked down from his perch above the training grounds, watching Taulus vent with disinterest. With a yawn, he repositioned himself, and resumed his nap. As of late, the world just didn't hold much interest for the young griffin. Nothing really seemed to matter.