//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: The Codex Amicitia // by malletmann //------------------------------// There was a certain addictive comfort in melancholy resignation, bemused Carpathios as he tread the polished marble walkways of Agathonis, the City of Light as it was once known. The sound of his footsteps, intermixed with the far sharper clack of his heqa staff hitting the stone, were some of the precious few noises to be heard on the main concourse of the city, echoing off the tall, polished spires, fittingly dull in the day’s overcast weather. The entire scene was quite befitting of Carpathios’ mood. A frustratingly short time ago, these roads would have been lined with bright, open-aired pavilions. People from all statuses and walks of life would come to bask in the illumination that Magnathios and his mighty pupils gave. This was once a place where magic and knowledge flowed freely, and all efforts were for the betterment of the world. A place with a vision, now lost. The pavilions and the crowds were gone now. The colorful banners had fallen into tattered disrepair. The spires that were once open and inviting were now sealed shut, while hidden away inside, lesser mages schemed and plotted ways to enhance their own station, ever searching for the secrets of those far greater than themselves. The glory days of his home were gone. At last, Carpathios arrived at his destination, the base of a great stepped pyramid. He entered through the main vaulted entrance into the Omniceum, the world’s greatest library, repository of millenia worth of knowledge, lore and arcana. Great shelves, taller than some castle walls, stood covered in myriad tomes, grimoires and codices. The spectacle was usually enough to overwhelm most minds. Carpathios, despite his position as the former Mage King’s personal pupil, did not possess the same intuitive knowledge of the Omniceum as its librarians. He sought one out immediately, pleased as he identified his old friend Soptek amongst the faintly musty books. The wizened old figure in maroon robes smiled as he noticed the younger mage’s approach. “Greetings, Proctek,” Soptek said as he turned to look at Carpathios, using the old honorific he had earned from his tutelage at the Mage King Magnathios’ side. Soptek was one of the few that still used it, since the sudden and perplexing disappearance of the king. Despite the fact that he had gained that position from his own intellectual prowess and force of will, his respect had subtly but noticeably declined. “Greetings to you, Chief Librarian. I was hoping you might be able to help you with a project of mine. I’ve been researching various forms of traversing the Veil...” Twilight Sparkle was sitting out on her porch on this fine sunny day, reading yet another book on magic. Today, she had chosen to study the complete works of Neighcoli Sparkla, a contemporary of Starswirl the Bearded. At the time, unicorns looked at him with derision, thinking him to be little more than a charlatan and madpony. However, recent advances in magic had proven him right about many of his once critized theories. As she was attempting to concentrate on a passage about Sparkla’s theory on magical resonance, she felt a strange buzzing in her horn. Rubbing her temple with a hoof, she tried to shake off the feeling. After a few seconds it passed. Curious, and perhaps a slight bit concerned, she marked her place in the book and went back inside her home and the library. “Spike, do you know where the book on strange unicorn ailments is?” Twilight asked as she began searching through the library’s medical section. “Twilight, you’re not going to try and self...umm, what was that word you used again?” her baby dragon assistant said as he climbed down the ladder from where he had been dusting another shelf of books. “Self-diagnose,” the unicorn said, remembering the particular incident in question. “And like I said before, anyone could have made that mistake. The symptoms all seemed to be a match. And I’ve learned my lesson; from now on, I’ll see a professional before I jump to any conclusions. I just felt a buzzing in my horn and need to see if its anything to worry about.” “Alright, but I am not gathering mucus samples for you,” Spike said as he recovered the desired book. Twilight held it in front of her, suddenly dropping it as the peculiar sensation returned, stronger than before. It lasted a bit longer than the last time. She shook her head, trying to clear her head. Surprisingly, Spike seemed to be rubbing his belly. “Twilight, I think I felt something too,” he said at her quizzical expression. “Well, this changes things,” the unicorn scholar said, reshelving the medical text and pulling several others off and placing them at her desk. “It would appear that the cause is external, since it would be highly unlikely for us to be affected at the same time. Unless my horn buzzing was causing your tummy trembling, then I might need to-” she was cut off by the largest bout of buzzing yet, which seemed to be growing in intensity. It spread from her horn to the rest of her body, then seemingly to the rest of the room. “Spike, get out of here! I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t stop! You need to-” A strange noise came from outside, a massive sucking sound. This built up for a few seconds before a thunderclap was heard, accompanied by a bright red flash from the center of town. “Or,” Spike said, “It could be caused by that.” Twilight took a moment to calm down. “Yes, that would make sense,” she said. “Well, let’s go check it out then. Based on my reaction, it was some sort of magical phenomenon, but not one I’ve ever heard of.” Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed several books, a quill and ink, and a roll of parchment. “We’re going to discover something new!” she exclaimed excitedly. As they made for the front door, it unexpectedly burst open, revealing Pinkie Pie, even more excited than usual, a state Twilight had previously thought impossible. “Twilight! Have you seen it? It’s so big and tall! And mysterious and shiny! And loud and surprising! And TALL!” the pink earth pony blurted at her usual rapid pace. “Calm down, Pinkie,” Twilight said, despite the fact she wasn’t even sure if her request was possible at the moment. “No I haven’t seen it, Spike and I were just on our way to investigate. What happened?” “Well, I was baking a batch of cookies for Dinky’s birthday next week. I decided cookies because I already knew her mom was making her muffins, and muffins are good, but muffins and cookies are better. Well so are muffins and cupcakes, but I made her cupcakes last year, so I decided to mix it up. So anyway, I was baking the cookies...” “Pinkie...” “I was getting there, Twi. Anyway, I was baking the cookies when my knee twitched, then my tail twitched, then my shoulder ached. That means something strange is about to happen. So I go to look out the window, and whoosh-bang! And then, I saw it! It was big and tall, and mysterious and shiny, and loud and surprising, and TALL! Then I came here.” Pinkie finished with a smile. Twilight sighed. “Well, I guess we’d better go see this for ourselves. Come on, Spike,” she said, donning her saddlebags. Spike hopped onto her back, and they headed out, Pinkie bouncing beside them. By the time Twilight had reached the town square, ostensibly the source of the strange event, she had noticed the town seemed deserted. It was likely that whatever Pinkie had seen had spooked the mostly timid townsponies. Occasionally she saw a few faces in the windows giving her nervous looks. They arrived in the center of town, and Twilight got a good look at the strange creature that was the apparent source of the day’s commotion. It was in fact tall, standing about twice the height of an average pony. This was likely due in no small part to the fact that the creature stood on two legs like a minotaur or diamond dog. It wore a bright red robe, covered in golden, gem-encrusted ornaments. Most conspicuous was the bright, polished sundisk it wore on a yoke over its chest. A pair of gracefully curving golden branches sprouted from the yoke on its shoulders, coming up to its eye level. Upon its head it wore a headdress consisting of a headband placed over a red hood, with a large crest in the middle of its forehead. In its hand, it grasped a large stick covered in blue and gold bands, perfectly straight save for the top end, which was curved into a crescent. As Twilight approached, it turned to her, giving her a good look at its face. Flat, it was mostly hairless, save what looked like a few strands of sand-colored mane poking out from under the headdress. It had pale skin, a small triangular shaped nose, and a pair of unusually small slate-grey eyes, glimmering with intelligence. Twilight cleared her throat. “Ahem, hello.. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and on behalf of Princess Celestia, I would like to welcome you to the land of Equestria and the town of Ponyville.” She waited for its response, smiling a touch nervously, perhaps. The creature nodded its head. “I graciously accept your welcome. I am Carpathios, Proctek of Magnathios, the Mage King of Agathonis, and Magus of the Seventh Intonation.”