//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Monster of the Monastery // by JesterOfDestiny //------------------------------// Zao lead us into her room. It was a little messy, but it’s the kind of mess where the pony who lives here can find their way around the place. Everything is just thrown into a pile, but they’re thrown into their own piles where they belong. In other words, it’s organized chaos. Zao scrambled to her table and lifted a letter out of one of the drawers. “I think you should look at this letter.” She opened it and laid it out in front of us. It was written in some strange alien language, the only thing we could read is the address. It was addressed to Itah. “Why do you have a letter addressed to Itah?” Bon Bon asked. “I found it in the hallway. When I asked Itah about it, he said it’s just gibberish, so he threw it away.” “Why would anypony send a letter in gibberish? And why would they do it with a strange writing?” I asked. “I’m not sure, but... Hold on a moment...” Zao took a few things off her table and put a big book in front of us. “This is a book of ancient writings. Itah used it in his attempt to crack the message. Apparently, the letter is written in pre-Equestrian unicorn script.” “Oh yeah, I recognize it.” I said. “It’s the one with unnecessary complications and excessive agglutination.” “You can read it?” Bon Bon asked in surprise. “No, but I studied it in Celestia’s school... Well, they taught it and I was staring out the window half asleep.” “I tried to translate the text letter by letter,” Zao continued, “but I came to the same conclusion as Itah. It’s complete gibberish.” I looked through the text as if it was going to become legible by itself. I started translating it letter by letter as well, just to test it. Bon Bon was looking through the letters in the book. She bounced her eyes from the book onto the letter and then back to the book. The back and forth glances became more frequent, until she lifted the letter up and put it right next to the book’s pages. “Did you find something?” I asked curiously. “The ancient unicorn script has fifty letters. But the letter to Itah, doesn’t use any of them above the twenty-sixth letter.” “What does that mean?” “Well, according to this book, the letters also serve as numbers.” “Oh yeah, it’s as if we used the letter A for number one.” “Exactly! We just need to count the letters of the alphabet, according to the numbers.” So we did. Can’t say it wasn’t tedious, because that’s exactly what it was. But I felt like we were getting closer and closer to the truth. This is the message we got: Do not sit idly, I can help. Go into the forbidden library, go to the sixth spellbook section, bay sixteen, row six. There you will find a series of books about the pony of shadows. Look for the fourth book in the series and go to page two hundred and fifty-eight. Good luck! That is what was written in the letter. It wasn’t even signed, unless you count a drawing of a chameleon a signature. But this is some major development here! “So my hypothesis was correct,” I declared, “the monster was indeed made with a spell!” “But this also means,” Zao was concerned, “that somepony ventured into the forbidden library and made it out. The sixth spellbook section is forbidden.” “Right,” said Bon Bon, “so it was somepony who knew their way around it. Like, Zeuhl for example.” “I don’t think he’d need to be told where to find a book.” Zao argued. “He knows where every book is.” “And the letter does give you a very good idea on where to find the book.” I said. “Let’s not rule out any possibilities just yet.” “In that case,” Bon Bon added, “we can’t rule out the pony of shadows being real either. We don’t know what this spellbook is about, after all.” “That is true,” I replied, “we need to see this book for ourselves.” Zao gasped and put both her hooves up to her mouth. She stayed like that for a moment, shifting her eyes between Bon Bon and me. “Are you saying,” she whispered with wide eyes, “that we need to go inside the forbidden library?” “Well, I mean...” I said. “If we find the spell, we can prove that the pony of shadows is indeed just a spell.” “And it’s not like Zeuhl will be any help to us.” Bon Bon added. Zao clapped her hooves together as her expression quickly turned into a beaming smile. She bounced off into another corner of the room and dug up a big rolled up paper from one of her chaotically organized piles. “This is the map to the entire monastery, including the forbidden library.” She exclaimed and rolled it out in front of us. “Awesome!” I shared her enthusiasm. “Look, I can even see the sixth spellbook section.” “Right, we just gotta get inside.” Bon Bon added. “With your skills,” I replied, “it ought to be a breeze.” “Don’t be so sure.” Zao interjected. “Zeuhl locks the door all the time and he’s got the only keys. The windows are all kept shut as well and they cannot be opened.” She then smiled slyly and leaned closer to us. “I know a way though.” “Yes? Where?” I said with Bon Bon in unison. “There is a secret passage.” She pointed at one specific point on a map. “This monastery is very old and is full of secret passages. One time, I did try to venture through but... you see...” She pointed at the map again. “You have to go through the ossuary.” “Ugh, the ossuary?” I repeated. “What’s wrong with the ossuary?” Bon Bon asked dismissively. “Do you not know what an ossuary is?” I asked her back. “Of course I know what it is! It is a place where the remains of dead ponies are kept, after the graveyard runs out of space. What, are you afraid of the skeletons coming to life?” “Well, I tried to go down there one time and I did hear something.” Zao explained. “It was probably nothing, but I didn’t feel like finding out what made the noise. So I ran the fluff out.” “Ugh, I know that feeling, I would have done the same.” I added. “Seriously?” Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “Even if a skeleton comes back to life, it’s still just dried out bones. One well-placed kick and it falls into pieces.” “You sound... experienced.” I nudged her. Bon Bon realized what I was getting at and she tried to explain. “I just assume, because timberwolves fall apart easily as well.” Zao gasped again. “I got it! I’ve got the map, Lyra has the light spell, so we don’t have to rely on our ears and Bon Bon will be the brave warrior to protect us. We’re going to make the best adventurer party ever!” “I love it!” I grinned. “Good,” Zao continued the train of thought, “then let’s meet here in the morning.” “In the morning?” “Oh, I forgot.” Zao laughed. “You two are day active. Sleeping at night is perfectly normal for you. Get yourself some sleep, while I try to get ready for ‘the night’. “So forbidden library it is then?” Bon Bon asked. “Forbidden library it is!” Zao and I exclaimed in unison.