Chapter 7 – Rolling Revelations
*In the background, a train can be heard.*
"I find that I'm not upset about the fact that I offended Celestia than I am on how she handed it. I get that she didn't want to speak to me for a while, but there was no subtlety in her reaction whatsoever. Anyway, looks like calling the sun princess out on her manipulation is a bad idea. I wonder who else noticed her doing this. I don't know why she ended up so offended though.
“Now that I think about it, this sort of happened before. Though in that instance, Celestia avoided me when I tried to ask about Luna. Maybe not entirely, but they mirror each other in some fashion.
“Ah well, gotta live with it. Time to see what this train ride has in store.”
The locomotive rolled along the tracks, with a distinctive click as the metallic wheels passed across each section as it rolled toward Ponyville.
Inside one particular carriage were two ponies – Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie - along with Fred Walsh riding along. The three sat on the moving vehicle, accepting being jostled around by the train. The pink earth pony looked excitedly out the window while the human and unicorn seated themselves facing each other.
“I had a good point though,” he began. “About Celestia's careful control over everything.”
“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked skeptically.
“Unless you thought it a complete coincidence that all six bearers of the Elements of Harmony just happened to be in the same place, at the same time, right as they were needed,” he replied, implying Nightmare Moon's defeat at the 1000th Summer Sun celebration.
“Wait, how do you know about the mare in the moon?” she noticed a hole in his logic.
'Stercore, I haven't actually been told that. Umm...' “Back in 796, Celestia and I were involved in the first part of the prophecy of her return. Damned if I didn't get closure on that when I showed up now.” 'I really want to stop returning to these events.'
“I guess that makes some sense.”
All remained quiet for a few minutes, until the unicorn voiced her thoughts. “I wish we could've stayed in Canterlot a little longer. I didn't even manage to see my brother.”
“By any chance is he that Shining Armor bloke who arrested me?” 'Woah, I said bloke.'
“Yeah. He's my BBBFF.” The mare smiled.
“Well, there's one mystery solved; I noticed your cutie marks bear a resemblance.” 'And I'm really behind on recent episodes.' “Apart from Nightmare Moon, what else has happened over the years?”
Twilight spent a moment in thought. “Well, Discord – the spirit of chaos – broke out of his stone prison last year to turn Equestria into his personal plaything.”
“He made it rain chocolate milk!” Pinkie butted in.
“Fortunately, we took care of that. More recently, my brother and Princess Cadance wed each other while a swarm of changelings tried to invade and steal all of Equesria's love.”
“Love being the very foundation of this country.” Fred noticed the implications if they were to have succeeded. 'Hold on, something about this recollection reminds me of something.' He fiddled with the Scavenger Watch.
“The changelings, including their queen, were defeated by my brother and foalsitter's love,” she finished.
“Somehow.” At that moment, a particular piece of music emanated from the watch. The display read 'Huey Lewis and the News – The Power of Love.' “It had to be done,” he said flatly and crossed his arms.
Always the inquisitive one, the unicorn only spent a few moments listening to the song, instead focusing on the device used to play it. “What is that thing?”
With the jazz still playing, Fred mentally prepared an explanation. “I call it the Scavenger Watch. It's essentially a really advanced calculator made from other pieces of discarded technology. I'm assuming you know about the calculator's discovery. Note I said discovery, not invention.”
“I remember hearing that calculators began replacing the abacus around the year 803,” she went through some history. “Discovered? You brought it here?”
“Not by intention. The blue wormhole that sent me to 796 has gravity.” 'This would be a good time for a yo mama joke, but I prefer to keep my privates intact.'
The unicorn examined the display. “Is it supposed to look like a spider web on the front part?”
“Not normally... I hit it against a tree as I landed in this time.”
“I might be able to repair it...” Twilight's horn began to glow, accompanied by an identical glow on the watch.
“So, Cadance is your foalsitter, and you said earlier she was a princess?” The human struck another conversation as the cracks gradually faded away.
“She always has been until I stopped being a filly. Even before I discovered my cutie mark.”
'Wait a second...' “Would that be before or after you became Celestia's student?”
“Before, why?” She looked up after all the cracks had disappeared.
“So you were foalsat by royalty, long before they had any reason to notice you?”
The lavender unicorn paused momentarily. “Now I really need to speak to Cadance.”
The train's whistle blowed, and the occupants peeked out the window. Their destination loomed, only a few minutes away.
“Okay, your device is fixed. I think I also charged the battery. I've examined calculators before, and you're right – It's similar but much more advanced.”
“Thanks,” he smiled. “Lastly, since a bunch of revelations are being dropped,” the human began the final topic of the train ride, “harmonic gemstones.”
“Harmonic gemstones?” Twilight hadn't heard the term previously. “What are they?”
“You know the Elements of Harmony,” He answered as a statement. “In short, the Elements output an exotic form of energy that gets absorbed by normal gemstones, empowering them with certain magical properties.” 'Before being kicked out, I should've asked Celestia what she's learnt of them.'
“What exactly do they do?”
“I've only witnessed emeralds and amethysts. Your mentor probably knows more. The harmonic emeralds are capable of stealing magic – flight, some cases of physical strength, and unicorn powers. A cult used them and almost killed Princess Celestia once,” he educated.
The unicorn's eyes widened. “Why would somepony ever do that‽ “
“Demonic influence, I think. Also, it was a cult. The leaders are often excellent at words. I've heard of dozens of cults back on Midgård that manage to convince the followers to do just about anything.”
“Like what?”
Fred contemplated telling her, yet decided against the matter. “I don't really want to taint your world image. Trust me, you really would be better off not knowing.”
“Why haven't I heard about these attacks?”
“Two reasons: One, it was a long time ago. Two, If everypony knew how fragile the system was, there wouldn't be a system. Anyway, the harmonic amethysts.”
“The Princess' jewellery is amethyst, does that have something to do with it?”
“Bingo.” He pointed his finger as a punctuation. “They defend against most forms of magical attack.”
“But they didn't work against Chrysalis during the changeling attack,” she pointed out.
“What happened in that battle?” Being behind on Friendship is Magic, Fred had no idea about the events after Hearth's Warming.
“They both shot beams at each other, but the changeling queen overpowered Celestia.”
“Overpowered? I think she just got downgraded to demigod status. I'm not an expert on the gems, but there's got to be some limit to its protection,” he finished as the train's brakes activated, slowly bringing the locomotive to a halt. “There's also rubies. The last one I saw linked to other universes.”
The two ponies and human opened the carriage door and stepped outside.
Pinkie bounced ahead. “Gotta go! The Cakes are missing me!”
“We should ask Rarity if she knows anything about these gemstones,” the lavender mare directed.
All the ponies in their vicinity besides Pinkie and Twilight froze at the sight of Fred Walsh.
“...Damnare.”