-Ponyvile Library, Morning-
Garebel soon woke up, & blinked a couple of times.
"Huh...? What...oh, yeah…" Garebel said to himself, remembering what happened last night. "I really need to get used to this form. Wait, Burroughs?" Garebel asked, to no avail. Signing, Garebel soon found the reason why. "Must have been a just in case scenario..." He muttered to himself.
"What are you mumbling to yourself?" Garebel, recognizing the voice, turned to the purple unicorn who help him last night.
"I was actually trying to check something, before finding the reason why. It's going to be a bit showy, though, what I'm going to do." Garebel explained to them, who nodded.
"No destruction, please." Twilight asked.
"Nowhere near planing on it to happen." Garebel assured. "Let's see here...Aha! Here we go!" Garebel suddenly yelled. With seconds, several images appeared in a dome-like fashion around Garebel, one of which was actually floating in front of Garebel. It was not long until all the images disappeared with only one reappearing. ("Good morning, Master.") The image spoke. The pony and the little dragon were shocked at the image speaking, though they could not understand what the image said. Garebel signed.
"Switch to English please, Burroughs." Garebel asked. Twilight raised any eyebrow at the first name.
("Understood!") The image said before disappearing with a new image with two gold bars, one on the top & one on the bottom with a black bar in between with a gold word on it. The new image then disappeared, with the first image reappearing. "Change complete. Sorry for the wait." the image answered, with both the pony and the dragon being able to understand it now, much to their shock.
"What's going on here?" the pony all but shouted.
"Okay, We really need to get to introductions. As I said last night, just call me Garebel." Garebel introduced himself again. The pony calmed, realizing that the image might have info, too.
"Twilight Sparkle, Faithful Student to Princess Celestia, who was the white pony with the sun symbol on her side, by the way." the pony, Twilight introduced herself, and explained who Celestia was since She didn't introduced herself to Garebel last night.
"Spike, Twilight's Number One Assistant." The dragon, Spike, said.
"Burroughs, I'm an A.I. or Artificial Intelligence. Basically, I have no physical body, so to speak, unless you count Master Garebel's currently a jacket as one." The image, Burroughs, explained, though, Spike and Twilight are confused at this.
"Long story." Garebel said, though really he was unsure of how to explain it, himself.
"By the way, Master, black side of the jacket, front topmost pocket." Burroughs said.
"Okay...? And Burroughs, I thought we talked about using my 'titles'..." Garebel said, feeling a little annoyed at Burroughs for calling him Master. Garebel then blinked when he realized something. One, no hands, two, though... Twilight and Spike looked in surprise when Garebel did used levitation without his horn glowing, indicating a spell is being used, lifting what appears to be a glass monocle, but more triangular. "There we go...what? What's wrong?" Garebel asked both Twilight and Spike.
Twilight shook her surprise off first. "You used telekinesis...without your horn glowing. Unicorn & Ailcorn horns always glow, when they cast a spell!" She explained to Garebel, who blinked at this bit of info. Burroughs was quick on the uptake, though.
"Master is basically a Psychic master. He can make illusions that are very real, unable to touched by any illusions, but his own, lifts anything with just his mind, and read the minds of anyone." Burroughs explained before adding. "Although, he keeps the last one sealed away."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to make things fair for others, if I'm playing a game with them!" Garebel deadpanned. Twilight shook her head, before realizing something.
"Wait, your illusions still affect you?" Twilight asked, to which Garebel nodded, confused by the question.
"Use one on yourself. You're an Ailcorn, now. Being an Ailcorn means you're of royal blood. Everypony will worship the ground you walk on." Twilight explained. Garebel actually looked angry at this.
"I don't desire to be like that. EARNING their respect is one thing, but being given their respect, just because I'm a certain kind of pony? No thanks." Garebel ranted, before his appearance changed, he look the same as before, but without the odd wings. "At least having a horn will keep anyone from asking how, and likely why." He muttered.
"Okay, might as well introduce you to Ponyville, Garebel." Twilight said, before she motioned to Garebel to follow along.
"Fine by me." Garebel said, surprisingly back to upbeat.
-Carousel Boutique-
A light gray unicorn was overlooking a dress. "Let's see, if I do this, then that won't work, but if I go with this, then that won't work, either..." She muttered herself, before she heard a knock at the door. "It's unlocked." She said, she knew from the knocking that it was one of her friends, which one is what she didn't know...
"Hey, Rarity!" Rarity blinked her blue eyes at the voice, before smiling, recognizing it.
"Hello, Twilight-darling." Rarity said, turning around. Rarity blinked when she saw Twilight alongside an unknown unicorn. Judging from the unicorn's stance, she'll say the unicorn is a colt. Still... "Oh, who's the new unicorn, Twilight-darling? Did you find a new coltfriend without telling me or your friends?" Rarity teased. Surprisingly, the colt answered, while Twilight sputtered.
"We have only met, just last night. All Twilight is doing is showing me around, since I'm new here. That's all." The colt answered, seemingly a little annoyed. Twilight quickly recovered from the sudden tease, which is a little bit weird coming Rarity, though, while the colt seem to be looking over the dress, Rarity was making.
"Oh, yeah, that's Garebel. As he said, he's new here, & I wanted to introduced him to my friends plus show him around town." Twilight explained. Garebel then spoke up.
"Huh, I might not any sense of fashion at all, but wouldn't this dress be better with a clashing theme and used by someone who likes to be the center of attention?" Garebel asked. Rarity then looked over the dress and realized that Garebel's right, the dress would worked with a theme that involves being the center of attention.
"Huh. I never thought about it like that. Rarity Belle, by the way." Rarity introduced herself.
"Garebel, and I'm surprised you're accepting advice from someone who has no sense of fashion." Garebel admitted.
"A different point of view works wonders at times, though, I'm surprised that you knew I worked with making dresses. How did you know?" Rarity asked, being very curious.
"I just looked around. My mom used to do some work with fashion, although, not for long, and It just wasn't going to be the family business, so I didn't do any. I did, however, notice that some of the items lying about were of a similar nature, to my mom's tools." Garebel explained, his voice started having a sort of sad tone. Before Rarity asked more, Garebel suddenly paled. "Oh no…." He muttered. Twilight & Rarity looked confused, before they heard it. The two mares paled, realizing what they heard. A stampede was coming...
-Outside Ponyville-
"Y'all sure you want to help?" An orange pony asked to a light-purple pony and a brown pony, while running ahead of the cattle stampede.
"Considering we started this, by accident, I'm sure." The brown pony asked. Surprisingly, her mane was yellow at the base, but suddenly turns purple, above the base. On her flank was an image five silhouettes with several music notes in the center.
"Come on, Mates!! We need a plan here!" The light-purple pony yell, all dressed like a pirate and talking like one, too. On her flank was the image of a skull and crossbones surrounded by dice & the background was a treasure map.
"Ah have one! We rope up and steer the leader. If we do that, the stampede should follow. If we get the leader to stop..." the orange pony trailed off. From the looks on their faces, she knew the other two connected the dots.
"Let's do it." The duo spoke at the same time. With a plan in motion, the trio put to their plan into action. At one point, the rope they were using nearly snapped, but suddenly a spider climbed along the rope and used its own silk to reinforce the rope, preventing it from snapping. Eventually, the herd was stopped before they tramped Ponyville.
"Ok, promise me, y'all steer clear of Ponyville, next time, will ya?" The orange pony asked, making a pun. Several groans were heard, including from the other ponies.
"Sorry, we were on edge. We all heard a loud crash, followed by a very big kaboom, last night. We don't know what was the cause, so when we heard a bang, we all panicked." The leader explained. The light-purple pony shivered at that.
"Sorry, mateys, I made that bang sound, but it was meant to get your attentions, not panic you all out." She explained, before realizing something. "Where was the direction you all heard the crash and kaboom from?" She asked. The herd responded by pointing to the outskirts of Ponyville.
-Carousel Boutique-
"Huh, the stampede must have stopped. Applejack must have a hand in it..." Twilight mused to herself, realizing that the noises stopped.
"Well, that's a relief. Hey, maybe you should introduce Garebel to her?" Rarity said, crawling out from the table she was hiding under. Garebel, meanwhile, was hiding behind an orange wall that suddenly appeared. He blinked when he realized the noises stopped.
"Well...That was weird..." Garebel said to himself, confused that the stampede had stopped. Twilight's horn seemed to glow for a bit.
"Okay, I might as well introduce you to another one of my friends to you." Twilight said. Garebel nodded before he and Twilight left the Carousel Boutique.
-Outskirts of Ponyville, Near crash site...-
the orange pony trotted over to where the herd pointed where the noises were heard. She looked towards the other two ponies, which were walking behind her a bit. She could not hear what they were saying, but it was not aimed at her. She didn't know why, but after Nightmare Night, she could feel when someone is lying or not. She didn't know the cause, but she had a feeling where it came from...
"Hey!" a voice rang out. The orange pony nearly jumped in surprise when she heard it, but calmed herself straight away. She turned to where she heard it, seeing an unknown ailcorn with wings looking like they're not there at all, walking alongside her friend, Twilight Sparkle.
"Heya, Twilight, what cha doing here?" the orange pony asked Twilight.
"I'm actually showing Garebel around town and my friends, AppleJack." Twilight answered back to the orange pony named Applejack. Applejack nodded before turning to Garebel, who was chatting up with the other two ponies, in a language she could not understand. For some reason, He was making her feel wary of him, and if Twilight knew what he was really like. A look at Twilight's face told her, that while she did know a bit of the language, it was not enough to understand what they are saying. Applejack then decided to go for it.
"By tha way, any idea wha he's like?" Applejack asked. Twilight blinked at that but answered anyway.
"He's mostly a lost unicorn with no memories of his time here." Twilight replied. Applejack however could tell that some of it was a lie. Lost, she can get. Same with 'no memories of his time here', she can get him coming from a foreign country, but unicorn?
"So, do you tell him, he's considered Royalty here?" Applejack asked, discreetly as to not let him hear them. Twilight's eyes widened in shock
"How did you know?" Twilight whispered, trying to not let Garebel or the other two hear this.
"Ah could faintly see the wings at his side. That and Ah can somehow tell you were lying." Applejack replied, with a frown on her face.
Twilight started to worry. She had forgotten Applejack is the Element of Honesty, and with the way Applejack said, It's giving the power to detect lies. Surprisingly, Garebel jumped in, likely sensing her worry.
"It's my fault. She told me what I am & the meaning behind it. I simply said, 'F that, I'm not to be treated as royalty.' If anyone worships me, I'll tell them to stop. I want to earn their respect, not have be handed to me on a sliver platter!" Garebel said, devolving into a rant. Applejack just stared at Garebel, before looking to Twilight.
"Ok, yah were just protecting his secret, then. Sorry, Twilight. Ah really should not have distrusted yah like that." Applejack said.
"Trust me, Applejack. I'm sure I would have done the same thing. That being said, as far as I know you, me, Spike, & Celestia are the only one who know." Twilight said.
"Mates, you might want to include us, too." the light-purple pony replied. "We were actually looking for him, since his tracks were lost."
"Say, Ah forgot to ask, what are y'all's names?" Applejack asked.
"Call me Risky in private, and Purisk in public. Risky is my real name, but I want to hide it." Risky, the light-purple pony explained.
"I'm Shantae, though Shanty Jig is acceptable, too" The brown pony, Shantae, introduced herself. Applejack nodded.
"Allright, I'll be headed back to Sweet Apple Acres. It's Applebuck season & mah brother, Big Mac, got injured, so Ah got to take his place." Applejack explained.
"Wait, Apple-WHAT Season1?" Twilight asked, her train of thought got derailed at that.
"It's what my Family call Harvestin' time." Applejack explained.
"Do you use your head for that?" Garebel asked, having finished his rant.
"No, that'll be AppleBUMP Season if that were tha case, but it's not, it's Applebuck season." Applejack corrected.
"Do you need any help?" Twilight asked Applejack.
"No, Ah got this." Applejack answered, Garebel suddenly shivered.
"I don't think so, you might need some help." Garebel suggested, but Applejack refused again before leaving the area. "I've got a bad feeling here..."
"Master, We have a problem!" Burroughs yelled out, her image suddenly appearing in the air.
"Burroughs, what's wrong?" Garebel asked, wondering what got her panicking.
"I was doing a routine scan, when I got to your cards. I did scan them, but learned one set of cards has become completely blank!" Burroughs revealed. Suddenly, Shantae & Risky got a sinking feeling.
"Which ones?" Shantae asked, to which Burroughs revealed three blank cards before revealing what they were originally. Shantae gasped at this.
"No..." Risky said, fighting her panic down.
"Impossible, then where...?" Garebel trailed off, actually feeling scared.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked the three of them, worried about them.
"He-he-he's gone." Risky answered.
"We have to find him!" Shantae yelled. Garebel quickly regain his composer.
"Shantae, this is an unknown WORLD! We have no Information to go. We don't even know if this world has an Egypt!" Garebel reminded Shantae. "We need to find the Winged Dragon of Ra, all right, but we don't know where to start!"
-Ponyville Library-
Twilight sighed. She honestly has no idea why Garebel is panicking over the loss of some cards. They just rush back to the Library, almost instantly, & Garebel started looking though books. Surprisedly though, he not only pulled books relating to history, but only books with myths and fictional books. She did also noticed that Garebel gave Risky and Shantae a deck of cards each, before diving into the books.
"No, no...Please put back this, Spike, thanks." Garebel said, looking though the books he chose, and handing ones that he was done with back to Spike to put away. At least he didn't ruin books that didn't help. She would be angry at him for that. Still, she wondered what about those three cards caused Garebel to act this way. Maybe, one of the two who was looking for him till now may know something. She trotted up to the room where they decided to go to. At the door though, she was nearing pushed away by a sudden gust of wind. Once she got on her hooves, she then heard what she guess was a string of bad words. 'Sounds like Purisk.' Twilight thought. she was trying to use the alias of the two mares to better hide them. She only knew them but, It seems like they're quick to trust anyone, & yet, she wondered what happened if someone broke that trust. Twilight decided to just open the door.
Inside the room was a bunch of odd cards scattered across the floor, Purisk & Shanty Jig seem to be trying to pick them up. Absentmindedly, she picked up one of the cards, & almost felt choking. Was the card...self-aware? Shanty Jig, seeing Twilight being choked, shouted, knowing what the card is.
"Obelisk, stop. I doubt she is trying to steal you!" Shanty Jig yelled, & to Twilight's surprise, the choking actually stopped. "Sorry about that, Twilight. I'm glad I stopped him in time." Shanty Jig said, picking the card Twilight dropped. It's name revealed to be Obelisk The Tormentor.
"What *huff* The *huff* Tar-*huff*-tarus was that!?" Twilight asked, quickly regained her breath.
"One of the God Cards. Cards that are so powerful, It's almost as if the Gods they were based on are actually inside the cards, themselves." Purisk explained, noticing Twilight and hearing her question. "Just one of them can almost destory the very landscape..."
-Canterlot, inside the castle...-
[a golden orb was floating around the hallways, almost as if looking for something.
Purisk: "But if someone holds all three cards..."
the orb found what appears to a bird, its feathers looking to be made of flames.
Purisk: "They are effectively the ruler of the world."
the orb floated closer to the bird.
Twilight: "in other words, will they be...?"
The orb soon rushed the bird, effectively entering it's body.
Purisk: "Unstoppable? Yes."
The bird shirked in surprise, and fell of its perch.
Shanty Jig: "Thankfully, The Gods chooses who uses them. But one of them is lost now."
The bird thankfully landed on the carpeted floor, simply falling unconscious.
Twilight: *starting to sound worried* "Which one is that?"*Gets a feeling she already knows.*
Celestia soon stumped to the scene at this, & gasped.
Both Shanty Jig & Purisk: "The Winged Dragon of Ra..."]
-Ponyvile Library-
Twilight's eyes widened at this. Such a power was lost, & if it falls into the wrong hands...She shivered at the thought. Now, she realized why Garebel was trying to find the Winged Dragon of Ra.
"That's not even the worst part, either. Ra's effectively the Strongest one of the 3 Gods. No matter what, We can't let Ra fall into the wrong hands. Ra has KILLED a number of people who were not chosen by him, before. We can't let a repeat of that occur! Even if they would otherwise deserve it!" Purisk explained, scaring Twilight further. There was no way, she would let that happen. Suddenly, Twilight got an inkling on where, but...
"If you don't mind me asking, does the actual Ra govern something?" Twilight asked. Maybe, just maybe...Shanty Jig & Purisk looked confused.
"Yes, Ra is the Egyptian God of the Sun, why do you asked?" Shanty Jig asked, confused.
"Aha! Princess Celestia effectively does the same thing for us ponies, so, maybe Ra is there as well!" Twilight revealed. Purisk & Shanty Jig's eyes widened at this bit of information. This may be helpful but...
"There is no way anyone here or where she is, will believe it, even Celestia. So we can't just go up & ask to investigate the place. She's a Princess to boot, so we can't just ask her directly, either." Purisk pointed out. Twilight waved her hoof, though.
"Don't worry at those. There's an upcoming event called the Grand Galloping Gala, that's going to happen at Canterlot. It's a really big event, so nopony will miss a few missing ponies. All the nobles will be there, so the Royal Guard will have their hands tied. Which makes things easier." Twilight explained.
"But that mean it's exclusive. How are we going to enter the event?" Purisk said, being realistic.
"I'm Celestia's Number One Student. I can just ask Celestia, to send three more Tickets to the Gala." Twilight revealed. Purisk's jaw dropped at that. Shanty Jig simply put Purisk's jaw back into place.
"Dang, with a Plan like that, there's almost no way it can go wrong." Purisk muttered to herself. Twilight just smiled.
"Ok, Might as gather up the cards Garebel lended to us & tell him what's up." Shanty Jig said, noticing there were still cards scattered all over the place. Twilight's horn just glowed, and all the scattered cards flew into two different plies. They all were inside sleeves with one design or another, and she sorted them based on the sleeve's design. A crash was then heard.
"What the heck was that!?" They heard Garebel yelled. Twilight signed. She has a feeling who it was.
"Excuse me." Twilight said, disappearing. A short while later, Twilight reappeared, alongside a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, sighing. She had just teleported back to the Library with one of her friends, Rainbow Dash in tow, so she can ask her why she was stuck in a mountain.
"Simply put, I tried to use a catapult as a start to my stunt routine, but Applejack kept starting before I was ready and when I was... You saw the end result." Rainbow Dash explained. Twilight sighed.
"Okay, AppleJack is overworking herself with Applebuck season. Why is she doing the harvesting alone, anyway?" Twilight asked.
"Pride, I guess." Rainbow Dash spoke. both Purisk & Shanty Jig sighed at this. Thankfully, Twilight decided to introduce them to Rainbow Dash, before asking her what happened.
"She sounds like a mare version of him at times." Purisk muttered to herself, though Rainbow Dash picked it and asked Twilight.
"She means Garebel, who's downstairs trying to research something. Anyway, did anypony else asked for Applejack's help?" Twilight asked, changing the topic.
"Only Pinkie Pie & Fluttershy...uh oh!" Rainbow Dash revealed only realizing what that would mean.
"Go to Fluttershy, & tell her Applejack's overworking herself and help stop her from making any of her animal friends scared." Twilight asked Rainbow Dash, who nodded & disappeared leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
"Well, at least her name fits..." Purisk commented. Twilight then sighed.
"Ok, you two stay behind and tell Garebel the plan involving the Gala, & I'll take Spike along with me to Sugar Cube Corner, where Pinkie Pie works, in order to make sure I have backup. Applejack is very stubborn, that's for sure." Twilight said before going down, picking up Spike and left. Shanty Jig & Purisk went downstairs and grabbed Garebel before dragging him upstairs.
"Hey! What's going on!? I'm still trying to find a possible lead, here!" Garebel said.
"Because Twilight ended up finding a possible lead, first, and how we're going to do. We'll explain upstairs." Shanty Jig revealed, causing Garebel let out an 'Oh!' sound.
-Sugar Cube Corner-
Twilight's eyelid actually twitched at the current scene.
She was too late to stop Applejack from causing a scene, who did so by misread a recipe & ended giving the ponies who ate the result to have food poisoning. one of which is throwing up in a trash can. She just hoped Pinkie Pie detained Applejack, which was the case actually much to Twilight's relief.
"Nonono! You don't use worms in place of wheat! The muffins wouldn't bake properly." a Pink pony with her mane a brighter shade of pink, told Applejack.
"So? Ah helped make the baked goods ya asked me to." Applejack said, but the pink pony shook her head fast enough to leave afterimages.
"Not baked goods, You made baked BADS!!" the pink pony emphasized. Applejack just shrugged.
"Well, ah'm going to help Fluttershy, she said she need help with a bunch of newborn bun-Wha' Tha!" Applejack yelled, tripping over surprisingly. She tried to only to find a frowning Twilight.
"AppleJack, we need to talk!" Twilight said, with a tone of voice saying she was not taking a no for an answer.
-Ponyvile Library-
"Ah, com' on! Let me go!" Applejack yelled out, struggling against the chair she was tied to. She need to get to back to bucking those trees.
"Not until you realize you're being dumb." Twilight yelled. Applejack just ignored her. This was going on for at least a couple of hours. All the yelling was starting to get Garebel. If Applejack opened her mouth, one more time...
"Let me go!" Applejack yelled. That was the straw that broke the camel's back as the saying goes.
"BE QUIET! YOU'RE KILLING YOURSELF LIKE THAT! SURE, EVERYONE HAS LIMITS BUT THERE MEANT TO BE BROKEN ONE AT A TIME. YOU'RE TRYING TO BREAK YOUR LIMITS ALL AT ONCE! YOU'RE OVERWORKING YOURSELF! THAT WOULD END UP KILLING YOU IN THE LONG HAUL!" Garebel ranted, before calming down a bit. "Besides, I don't know y'all at all besides your name, but I'm pretty sure you can't take care of the harvesting completely! Besides, you probably have only done around 10% in the time between we first met to now! If you're this much overworked from that much progress, drop your darned pride & ask!" Garebel let out. Applejack paled at that. "Here." Garebel said, before his horn flashed. Applejack soon find herself losing conscious. It wasn't long before Applejack fell asleep. Twilight looked at Garebel, curiously.
"What did you do, Garebel?" Twilight asked.
"It was a spell from a different world I visited. It's called Sleep and well...I bet you can guess what it does based on the name." Garebel said. Twilight nodded at that, sweat dropping at the name.
"So, help with the harvest?" Twilight asked. Garebel shrugged.
"Got nothing better to do, besides playing cards & napping, so sure. Why not?" he said
-Sweet Apple Acres-
"Eeyup, should have known she would act like that." Big Mac, Applejack's big brother, just said.
"Stubborn as a mule, no offense to any mules present." Garebel just said, using the levitation spell Twilight taught him, before he looked thorough the books to find info related to Ra, to pick an entire tree's apples off and put them in a woven basket. Rarity was making those baskets, with both less time & stronger than the ones Granny Smith, Applejack and Big Mac's grandmother, usually makes. Twilight, Pinkie, & Fluttershy were all picking apples off the trees in different parts. Rainbow Dash...
"Hey, you done?" Rainbow Dash suddenly appearing
''Speak of the devil' as the saying would go' Garebel thought as he realized who asked that question. "I think so, any that I missed, Big Mac?" He asked. Big Mac shook his head. "Ok, y'all all right with dealing with Applejack, when she awakens?" Garebel asked.
"Eeyup. Granny might have a few choice words for her not wanting any help though." Big Mac stated. Twilight & Garebel had levitated Applejack, untied, to the Apple Family, before helping them out.
"Ok, I'm headed to the Library. Please tell Twilight I'll be there, Dash." Garebel said, before disappearing.
"Ok, I need to ask him if that was speed-related, and if I could learn it." Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.