//------------------------------// // Twentyone // Story: Under The Northern Lights // by CoastalSarv //------------------------------// “Well, at least you don't have to deal with... foreigners today, Your Highness,” said Twilight Sparkle as she placed the crown on Princess Luna's brow. “I'm sure the Russ will be easier to deal with.” “Given the reaction from my own delegation, I don't know how much I can hope for just because I am talking to equines,” said the Princess. “They are supposedly following orders from both me and my sister now, but I could hear they are still doubting our reasoning. Loyal, but not reliable.” “The Russ live here, and many are wealthy,” said Twilight. “This land is hard to farm, but it is easier for Earth Ponies, and my studies indicate they dominate the trade with Equestria. I am sure they can be persuaded to help with raising an army and, if that idea goes through, the envallation of southern Tarandroland.” The Moon Princess snorted. “Tia said in her latest dispatch that their support also was important to 'raise consciousness' about the problem in Equestria,” she said. “Because if it is actual ponies who are about to freeze to death ponies would be more eager to help.” “Well,” said Twilight, “there are movements who tries to teach everypony that all ponies everywhere are siblings, even if they are Gildedalers or Kiger tribesponies or Russers.” The Moon Princess snorted again. “A noble and true sentiment, as long as they don't exclude other ungulates, or develop that into the idea that their lands should be part of Equestria again because of it,” she said and gently rose from her divan. “This looks good, thank you, Lady Sparkle.” “It's a pleasure, Your Highness. What do you want me to do today?” said Twilight with a smile – a nervous smile. Our Lady of the Moon had been tetchy since yesterday and the whole vision thing. “There is that blasted Lord Eminence... Tia said she had no idea of what he was up to – she didn't even know who he was. She has given her spymaster strict instructions to send all of his reports on to her, and to support any of his requests, but she has heard nothing more that way,” said Luna. “I am pretty certain what he is doing is waiting for money, and for some reason he must have tried to get it somewhere else than his boss. His contacts demanded a lot of bits to act. I am sure he has that much money personally but not in cash, and certainly not in coins,” Twilight said. “Then why doesn't he go to a bank?” said Luna. “They seemed like a useful enough invention when I learned about them – especially in such a situation as this.” “Banks register things like a foreign noble withdrawing a large sum in coin,” said Twilight. “It is easier if his contact sends the money here. It travels by diplomatic pouch, remember?” Luna groaned. “Your Highness, I have a suggestion...” said Twilight carefully. “Suggest on, suggest on,” said Luna. “Me scrying on him isn't having much effect, because he acts mostly outside the grounds of Castle Muorra. My idea is that we have him shadowed instead,” said Twilight. “Shadowed by whom?” said Luna with some irritation in her voice. “Your guard, Your Highness,” said Twilight. “They have basically done nothing since they arrived, and given what I have heard of the different training they get than the Sun Guard, they should have an idea of how you shadow a suspect.” “It's true”, said Luna, a thoughtful hoof to her delicate mouth. “I have even started to hope they will start fraternize with Ukko's guards, getting drunk – at least on their horrible coffee – or having a duel or something. Had I understood what happened in that blizzard, I would have brought some when we got the kids but – oh well. It is a good idea. Make it happen, Lady Sparkle.” “M-me?” said Twilight a bit disturbed by the idea of the Moon Guard and Ukko's surly housebucks duking it out in an alley or something. “Of course – you carry my orders to them, describe their target, and so on,” said Luna casually. “I have the meeting soon, so I'll be going. I might have to actually go on and visit Trotholm and Glennborg later, to... rally them or something.” She started to leave the room. “Well, there is just one thing...” Twilight said as she almost ran after her. “What is that?” said Luna over her shoulder. “Well, reindeer are... perceptive, we have established that. I don't know if they will be unseen by the locals, especially if they try any unicorn magic!” Twilight said. Luna shrugged. “That's even better. It's that rat that shouldn't see them. It's just as well that the reindeer understand we are keeping track on him,” she said. And then, she was gone. “I wish my teleportation was as neat,” Twilight sighed to herself. “But that she jumped away like that... she sure is upset over something. Well, a local-scale apocalypse that she thinks is partially her fault should do that to anyone, I guess...” She put on her own accessories and went away to find the Moon Guard. She suspected they were playing cards, or had found a TV that showed Equestrian shows. “Hi Twilight!” said Spike. There was no answer. “Twilight, are you spending the day scrying again?” he said as he stepped into the room where Twilight slept – Luna's suite had been dark. He found Twilight looking at a TV, a rather small black-and-white one. A sniff told him the magic amber in it were almost burnt out – when he was baby Twilight had often given him the innards of electronics to chew on, since they consisted mostly of gems, and the ready-for-the-dump stuff smelled like this. “Sort of scrying,” said Saga, who appeared behind him, and giggled. “That's a pretty manurey TV to have in a royal guest suite, Vigg.” “I don't think there is a TV in here normally,” said her partner in crime. “Grandpa hates TV, so there aren't many in the castle. I sneak off to a buddy if I want to watch something.” “I had to confiscate this to maintain discipline,” Twilight murmured. Then she suddenly sat up and turned around. “Oh. Hi kids. Sorry,” she said with a crooked grin. “I – I took this TV from Luna's – from some of her servants. Like a kick in the flank. But then I had to see what the program they watched was, and... I got stuck.” She indicated the TV with her hoof. “It's a photograph, and someone is talking,” said Spike. “What are they saying?” “He is talking about the history of the photograph, what is happening in it, and so on. It is more interesting than it looks like” said Twilight. Spike raised an eyebrow. “I'll have to take your word for it, Twilight,” he said. “It's the kind of thing they send during the day. It's really cheap TV, but you see why many reindeer like to watch foreign shows, Lady Sparkle?” said Vigg. “I guess so,” said Twilight, averted her gaze from the screen and turned off the TV magically. “What do you kids want?” “Well,” said Saga and cleared her throat, “we...” She looked at Spike, who smiled and nodded. “We want to find out more about the Sampo. Oh, I just know it is important! So, please, could you help us?” she said and made big eyes. “I am sorry, I don't know if I should...” Twilight began. “There wasn't that much in the temple,” said Vigg, “so we thought we should do some more... bigger research.” “Like,” said Saga, “in a library.” “L-library?” said Twilight and stood up. “Which library?” “Well,” said Vigg, “there is one here in the castle, in another building. Grampa approves of reading as long as he doesn't have to do it, and it has a lot of chronicles and stuff. But a lot of it is really old books in, well, Ancient Cervine or something, and we don't know if we can read it...” “Old... books?” said Twilight and licked her lips without knowing it. “Yeah, the oldest are old runestaves which I think are older than the building,” said Vigg dismissively. Twilight's eyes became a bit glossy. “Or!” Saga said “We could go to the big public library in Sarvvik instead. It is really big 'cause Vigg's mom donated money to it and everything. So, we're not sure if we can find anything, you know?” “How big?” said Twilight who rotated her glossy stare to Saga and licked her lips again. Saga paused and just stood there with open mouth. “About two hundred thousand volumes, give or take,” said Spike, who had done some research of his own. “Though a lot of it is periodicals, it seems.” Twilight got a slight blush over her face and neck. “Oh... that's pretty good for a city of Sarvvik's size...” she said and looked between the two youths with a rather feverish gaze. “Well, no matter where we go....” said Vigg and pulled out a piece of rumpled paper from his saddlebags... “Hay, we can go to both places!” said Saga brightly and spread her front hooves. “...I have this to start with,” Vigg finished and gave Twilight the paper. She unfurled it with her magic and levitated it in front of her, turning on the lights to see well enough to read. “It is the bibliography for a paper I once wrote on the Sampo. Or on Sampo, I mean,” said Vigg, who found himself a bit sweaty under Twilight's gaze. Twilight read it silently and turned a manic, passionate grin towards Vigg. “Such a... long list. And so... detailed!” she said. Vigg looked down, flushed. Twilight smiled towards Saga as well. “Well... you are my apprentice... temporary apprentice... so I can't see how I can deny helping you two!” The two reindeer bounced a bit, then smiled towards each other, then towards Spike. Spike smiled back and did what he alone in the room could do and gave them a thumbs-up, but within he was less than happy. The things I do for my friends. Or to save foreign countries from ice ages, he thought to himself. The Royal Library was small and overstuffed. While Twilight was delighted in the amount of books, she and Spike found their treatment deplorable. “I think your Grampa should fire his librarian, or possibly execute him,” said Spike. “Really, if you pack books like this you destroy the spine and then you cannot read the book!” “I don't think there is a librarian, really. He's more of a janitor who reads a lot,” said Vigg. “If I am to guess, King Ukko has received a lot of books as gifts during his reign, but he doesn't use them, so he hasn't realized he needs to have the library moved to a bigger room, said Twilight. “I thought the most important thing for a library was to have lots of books?” said Saga. “Well, in a library like this, you cannot find the book you want, and the books themselves are falling apart, so no,” said Twilight. “Without books there is no library of course, but you must take care of them for them to be useful – and that includes giving them space.” “What are we looking for?” said Vigg. “Well, the Sampo, of course, but how? I mean, that's why we asked you for help, Lady Sparkle.” “History. Arcana. Probably religion,” Twilight said. “And I would guess that while those runestaves would be just delightful to read...” Twilight cast a yearning look at said artifacts, hanging from the ceiling. “...the most important sources will be modern.” “Why?” said Saga confused. “Aren't the older books better since it is a really old story?” “It is like this...” Twilight started. “I don't want to be rude, but hasn't reindeer culture been predominantly preserved orally until recently?” The reindeer stared at her. “She means you didn't write things down,” said Spike. “You had reindeer who remembered important things and told stories about them instead.” “Yes, thanks Spike,” said Twilight. “Sorry for being overly academical. So when those things happened, not much if anything was written down, because no one cared overly much about writing anything.” “That... that's right” said Vigg. “Grazers still don't have many books, and my Grandpa – my other Grandpa, dad's dad – never learned to read.” “City reindeer have read for... like hundreds of years,” said Saga. “But I guess they mostly wrote things about business,” said Twilight gently. “Yeah... probably,” she said and looked bit off-put. “Meanwhile, King Ukko is an immense historical romantic,” said Twilight. “It seems to be his main guiding policy. I would guess that he would encourage any reindeer going around and collecting folklore and oral history from reindeer skalds and storytellers.” She gestured around the walls of the cramped room. “And I would guess any reindeer so 'encouraged', say with a stipend, would give the King a volume of his book or an issue of the magazine where his article was published,” she said. “So, start looking for such collections. Step to it!” “How do we know what in all these different stories is true?” said Vigg. “That was what my teachers said was so difficult.” “There are a number of signs, but a good one – though not necessarily true – is if all stories repeat the same fact,” said Twilight. “Like – all the stories agree that it was Wiglek who knew where the Sampo was, not his son. So that it is probably true. But because all stories are so negative about the Sampo, it could also be that deer who told it blamed Wiglek for everything because he was already a villain to them.” “Well, the guy who wrote this book was nice enough to lump similar stories together,” said Saga “That makes it easier. There's a lot of stories about Hrimfaxi and Wiglek, for instance.” Then she giggled. “Here's one with you in it, Mistress Sparkle!” “What? Princess Luna? And me? I'm not a thousand years old?” said Twilight. “No no, but listen to this: It says Wiglek wanted more magical power, so he called upon Hrimfaxi, the goddess of the Moon and Night, with his sorcery,” said Saga “When she arrived, he said that his sister could weave a better fabric than the Northern Lights, which were Hrimfaxi's tapestries.” “The Northern Lights are made from a perfectly natural form of magical particles,” said Twilight. “They have been scientifically measured with spells even before Princess Luna returned.” “It's a fairy tale, Twilight, not a lesson in astronomy!” said Spike. “This made Hrimfaxi very angry,” Saga continued. ”Wiglek then bet that his sister could weave a more beautiful tapestry than the pony who had made the Northern Lights. Hrimfaxi was furious, but thought she could defeat any mortal in anything.” Saga turned the pages. “Here's why I meant that it was a fairy tale with you in it, Mistress,” she said. “See, the one who wove the Northern Lights – they look different every time, so they are re-woven all the time – was the hoofmaiden of Hrimfaxi.” Then she giggled again. “Another version says it was the 'bride of Hrimfaxi'...” Saga said with a wicked smile as Twilight blushed a bit. “Anyway, the unicorn starts to weave, but then she is interrupted by this charming gentlecolt unicorn every night. So, when the time comes to compare the tapestries, her isn't even done, so it loses automatically. Hrimfaxi is furious, but must hold her side of the bet.” “Let me guess: Wiglek shapechanged into a unicorn and seduced the hoofmaiden,” said Spike. Saga nodded. “The cad!” said Vigg with a strange vehemence. “Her side was what? What did she have to pay?” said Twilight. “It just said it was secrets of the universe here, but other versions of the story has it be immortality, or a magic spell or... the Sampo,” said Saga. “Do you think Princess Luna knows where the Sampo is?” said Vigg and frowned. “I mean, she seems to think it is really dangerous, so she could have... lied.” He looked a bit nervous at the ladies beside him, one who was a servant and confidante of the Moon Princess, the other one who directly worshiped her as a goddess. They both shook their heads. Neither smote him, to his relief. “I just can't believe My Goddess would actually do that,” said Saga and looked down into the table. “Me neither” said Twilight. “It wouldn't be her thing, really.” It honestly don't, but there is something strange about this whole thing... Maybe some horrible tragedy happened with the Sampo, but then why doesn't she say that as a deterrent to Vigg and Saga? Twilight thought. “Anyway, you haven't heard the best part yet: After the predictable pregnancy, the hoofmaiden gives birth... to Sampo!” said Saga. “That... must have hurt” said Vigg. Wait... she said she had nothing to do with Sampo. She didn't say she had nothing to do with his father! Twilight continued. “Not the magic artifact, dummy! The reindeer. Who is said to have 'pretty blue eyes' from his mother!” said Saga with yet another giggle. “A unicorn and a reindeer?” said Spike. “That isn't possible, right?” No... but an alicorn and a reindeer is perhaps possible... Celestia has certainly told me that she mated with mortals long ago, and that this is where Equestria's aristocracy comes from... Twilight thought. “It's magic!” said Saga and put down the book. “Isn't a story like that blasphemy or something to you?” said Spike. “It sort of makes fun of Luna, you know?” That would explain why she didn't want to face the issue... and I remember there was some awkwardness about family and Tarandroland... I thought she meant Karhu-Akka, but... “Maybe I should go to her and beg forgiveness,” said Saga and grinned. “Maybe she will make me atone in some horrible way? What do you think, Mistress Sparkle?” If Luna was the mother of the reindeer hero, he probably had magical powers stronger than normal reindeer. That would explain a lot. She probably took the shape of a mortal servant to fool Wiglek the Wicked in return. “Mistress Sparkle?” said Saga. “You look a bit out of it? Are you OK?” “Who was his wife?” she said. “Whose wife?” said Vigg. “Wiglek's. That fairy tale got me thinking... I mean, um, if we knew, I was thinking maybe someone actually related to Sampo would know more about his magical artifact,” Twilight improvised quickly. “And Wiglek and his brother the king didn't have any other fawns, but maybe Wiglek's wife had.” “Y'know, she is never even mentioned in any stories,” said Vigg. “Haven't seen her mentioned in the stuff you helped us with today either.” “Typical male chauvinism!” said Saga and snorted. “They probably didn't mention her because she was a vaja!” They both missed Twilight's worried expression, but Spike noted and got worried himself. Why does life always have to be this complicated? they thought at the same time, unknowingly.