Weeks passed, until, in late September, Kenny’s extended family gathered again, along with friends and fans of the deceased, filling a small chapel in Portston, Archipellaga to near-bursting. Kenny was seated in the front row, in a pew on the right-hand side. A quick glance to his left told him that filly from a few weeks ago had come as well. Then again, he didn’t have to look, as she had been crying loudly when she had first entered, but all the eyes on her had quickly silenced her. Apparently, she was somewhat shy, like himself.
The talks from friends and family dragged on for almost an hour, and though Kenny tried to pay attention to all of them, he couldn’t really. Not with that strange filly still in the back of his head. Besides, he’d heard quite a few of these stories before, from his own grandfather, no less.
He’d asked if he could speak, but apparently, his grandfather had asked in his will that he not, because their relationship was far too personal to share with so many. Kenny felt that others might benefit, but he was not about to dishonor the wishes of the departed.
Many talked about the high moments of Stuart Draper’s life, including how he had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the computer age by Kenny’s father and his aunt Francine. His grandfather had been convinced that he could always do everything with a typewriter.
This was how his faith differed from others: make the occasion happy. Sure, they’d lost a person they loved, but it wasn’t forever, so why should they weep and wail at what was merely a point of reflection to tide them over until meeting again?
Eventually, the service in the chapel ended, and they filed outside to follow the casket to the gravesite. Kenny tried to talk to the filly again, but she just ignored him. This was getting beyond frustrating.
Upon reaching the site, as the pallbearers approached, Kenny heard the filly sniffle from right next to him and decided he had to get to the bottom of this. His curiosity was burning with the desire to find out what was making her so resistant to what he was trying to tell her, so he turned to face her so he could ask her some things.
“Hey, why are you sobbing so much?” He asked as he turned to face her, speaking as gently as he could. “Didn’t you hear that this is only temporary? They were saying it at the funeral over and over.”
The filly shook her head. Apparently, she still remembered him from a few weeks back, and his failure to explain things to her well was still fresh in her mind.
Sighing, Kenny thought hard, choosing his words carefully. Something told him he had to get through to her. It was very important, although he didn’t know exactly why, he knew who was telling him that, and he wasn’t about to ignore divine promptings.
“Look,” he whispered, taking a step closer, “I understand how it must feel, losing someone you care about, even idolize. I idolized him too. He’s not just family, but one of my greatest role models. I look up to him more than my own parents. Seeing him so weak when he’d always been so strong despite his age was crushing to me. But you know? I know this isn’t the end. I’ll see him again. I know I will. And that gives me comfort.”
“But will that apply to me?” she sobbed even harder. “The books have nothing about what happens to ponies!”
So, that was the issue. There were no records of the secrets of pony spirituality because Faust took that knowledge to her grave. The filly was rightly confused. But, Kenny wasn’t going to give up on that.
Chuckling slightly, he helped her dry her eyes and explained gently, “Not all books are equal. These are special books called scriptures. Not all books of scripture can be right, because they conflict. But, because of how human magic works, based on spirit and divine energy, we know someone put us here. But the question isn’t did someone put us here, but instead, who is that someone?”
“I know something did that,” the filly huffed. “You’d have to be stupid to think it all just happened with all that evidence. But…” The filly swallowed hard, as if the next part was difficult, tears welling up in her eyes again. “So many versions, how can anything alive know one above the other? Why didn’t whoever put us here just tell us? And how can you prove you’re more correct? It makes no sense!”
Smiling, he hugged her gently to comfort her, like a friend would, then recited what he’d been taught in children’s’ religious classes every Sunday since he was four. “Many take a dark and wrathful approach, to scare others into doing good,” he told her, shaking his head at the foolish notion. “But ours? It was only recently founded, a couple hundred years ago, in fact. So, when we first heard our founder declare our doctrines to us, they sounded friendlier, almost fatherly in nature. Parental, like the semi-divine figures on your side of the world. So, we felt it made no sense for your semi-divines to be kinder individuals than a full-divine. A perfect being would be perfectly kind, like the perfect parent. So, with that and my personal feelings I get after prayer in mind, I’m pretty sure we’re correct.”
“But even your books don’t say much about us,” she sniffled.
“The scriptures aren’t the entirety of the doctrine,” he explained. “And even then, faith is a huge factor. But, I know it isn’t a truly happy occasion, as I won’t see him again for a long time. Oh, Grandpa, I hope I don’t mess things up.”
The filly was suddenly very interested. “He was, er… is your grandfather? You said that before, right?”
“Yeah,” Kenny replied, smiling sadly. “At his passing, he wanted to see me last. Told me a lot of things, including how I’m his favorite grandson, and that after passing, he’d be my guardian angel.”
“His favorite?” the filly exclaimed, leaping up and down. “Can we talk after the funeral? My name’s Twilight Sparkle!”
“The filly from that news report?” now it was his turn to get overexcited. “When I saw it, I wanted to meet you so bad! I bet you’d love my encyclopedia collection!”
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “You love books, too?”
Kenny grinned. “Of course I do! And yes, we should most definitely talk after this. My name’s Kenderick Noah Draper, but I prefer Kenny.”
Nodding, Twilight smiled. “Thanks, Kenny. I think I feel a bit better now.”
Kenny nodded as well, but said nothing, as it was time to watch the coffin be lowered into the grave.
A half hour later, they’d returned to the chapel, where a dinner had been set up in the cultural hall. Kenny’s family were all eating in silence. Even Kris was more subdued than usual, and the lack of conversation was starting to get to the nine-year-old boy.
Just as he was about to take a bite of his funeral potatoes, he heard a feminine clearing of a throat behind him.
Turning around, he found himself face-to-face with Twilight, who was looking at the ground, shuffling her hooves.
“Um… Kenny, right?” She mumbled. “Can I sit with you? My family’s kind of…” Trailing off, she looked back at a table where three unicorns were sitting, the white teenaged colt was slumped in his chair, looking at his food as several families, both human and pony glared at him. “Shining cracked a joke at your grandfather’s expense, so…”
“Say no more,” Kenny chuckled, taking his suit coat off the empty eighth chair next to him. “Here. have a seat.”
“Thanks,” the filly said before taking the offered chair. “So, I know we were going to talk more after, but do you think we could talk now?”
“With how silent everyone is here?” Kenny sighed and nodded. “I welcome it. So, Twilight? What’s it like being Celestia’s student?”
“Hard,” the filly grumbled. “Sure, it’s great and all, but she’s very demanding right now. I want to study magic! Not perform mundane tasks and take tests!”
“Grandpa spoke highly of her at family reunions,” Kenny offered, trying to lighten her mood. “He always managed to bring back ten or more funny stories from each conference, and since she always attended, what with being on the High Council and all, he somehow managed to always get a new story involving her, too. Hey, did you know that she actually forgot his name in front of the whole Council?”
The filly’s eyes went wide. “You’re kidding!”
“Nope,” Kenny chuckled. “She actually called him ‘Stupid Oswald Draper’ when she was awarding him the Alchemical Medal of Prosperity for his findings on how to improve the search for the Elixir of Life. Chrysalis actually passed out from laughing too hard. It made Discord chuckle, too.”
“How did he react?” Twilight inquired, leaning in to hear every word.
“He took it in stride,” Kenny said with a huge smile. “In his own quirky way, of course.” Clearing his throat, Kenny did his best impression of an elderly gentleman’s voice. “‘Yes, only the most stupid can excel in Alchemy! That’s why I’m announcing that I’m taking Her Majesty as my student! She’ll be better than me in a week!’”
Twilight burst out laughing herself, hiding her face in her hooves as she tried to stop giggling.
“So, Twilight, what happened with that dragon?” Kenny asked after she calmed down. “I heard Celestia took him after she fixed everything. Do you know anything about him?”
“Not much,” the filly admitted. “The Princess took custody of him, and that’s the last I saw of him. At least for now. She said she’s considering adding him to my studies, but what good would raising a baby dragon do me?”
“You’d be surprised,” Kris suddenly cut in. “Grandpa had a pet dragon from Joyrland. The little bundle of energy really helped him understand Power magic and its dual emotional and draconic origins. The fellow was clever, too. He actually made that stuffed dragon Kenny studies with and sleeps with every night.”
Kenny went red in the face. “Kris! We don’t talk about Memo outside the house!”
“Correction: you don’t talk about Memo,” Kim snickered. “My friends find it a riot that my nine-year-old brother still sleeps with a stuffed animal!”
Kenny buried his face in his hands, but a tap on his shoulder brought his eyes to meet his sister’s. As she sneered at him, she reached into her backpack, pulling out a felt stuffed blue quadrupedal dragon with glasses and a notebook attached to one foreclaw and a pencil attached to the other.
“‘Kenny doesn’t like talking about me…’” she said in a very fake ‘bouncy’ male voice, “‘I just wanna meet all of Kenny’s friends!’”
“Sis…” Kenny said between clenched teeth, “Hand him over. Give Memo back, now.”
“Or what?” Kim snickered. “Mom and Dad aren’t doing anything! So why should I care?”
Kenny turned to his parents. His mother was turned around, chatting with one of his aunts, while his father was watching, but was merely looking concerned, but more interested.
Before Kenny could ask his father to step in, a purple field engulfed his sister’s hand, forcing it open. A look to his left confirmed it: Twilight was intervening, and she looked none too happy.
As Memo was floated over to him, the filly spoke.
“That’s not funny. How would you like it if something important was taken from you?”
“I’d hate it,” Kim said simply. “But the important thing is I keep my wolf collection under lock and key. Why’d you have to come along and ruin the fun?”
“I may not know what you do,” Twilight replied, “But wouldn’t your grandfather not like seeing you fight?”
That caused Kimberly to flinch, and after huffing in frustration, she suddenly became very interested in her food.
“Thanks,” Kenny chuckled. “So, why’d you get all defensive over Memo? I appreciate it, after all, Bouncy put a lot of effort into him—Bouncy was Grandpa’s dragon pet—but that’s only why I care about him so much.”
“Because I’d hate it if Shining did something like that with Smarty Pants,” the filly explained. “You see—”
“You have a Smarty Pants doll?” Kenny cut in. “That’s what Bouncy based Memo off of! He had one, too! Well, until he burned it by accident as a teen. I’m actually shocked Bouncy’s not here. He’s getting up there, and Grandpa released him last year, but you’d think a Mesmrowyrm would’ve—”
“Bouncy couldn’t make it,” Kris sighed. “I’m the one who answered the phone call. He’s entertaining a ‘guest’ this week.”
Twilight was stunned. “A Mesmrowyrm? You mean those Hominian dragons with hypnosis powers? Why raise one of them?”
“They’re smart,” Kenny said as simply as if he were saying the sky was blue. “I mean, raising one from an egg ensures its loyalty to you and your family. Not for your life, but for its life. They hypnotize those who want knowledge to humiliate them before teaching them, but you can get around that if they see you as family. Friends of family count, too.”
“Wait, they use it for that?” Twilight exclaimed, “I mean, sure, mind control is a negative power no matter how you slice it, but that’s just cruel, even by mind control standards!”
“Well, that’s how Mesmrowyrms do things,” Kenny replied with a shrug. “Acquiring a servant for them is a survival mechanism: they don’t have to hunt to acquire their own food, and when you’re at least sixteen feet tall as an adult, hunting becomes hard because most animals are a lot smaller, will see or even hear you coming, and run away, even with your hypnosis powers. That, and they use it to entertain themselves because it can get boring living in a cave alone for long periods of time.”
“That’s… Interesting, I guess,” Twilight said, sounding a bit disturbed, before changing the subject. “So, do you like computer games? I know most computers only are designed for humans or ponies, but the Hybrid X6 my family has carries that new Mergenet game. Have you heard of Cave Game?”
“No,” Kenny said with a shake of his head. “It it any good?”
“It’s amazing!” Twilight gushed. “Sure, the graphics are a bit backwards, but it’s a world of blocks where you can play as a human or pony. There’s supposed to be updates for more races later. You start out with nothing, and you work to survive to basically become master of that world! You can play with friends, but,” her ears drooped. “Nopony wants to play with me.”
“Could you teach me?” Kenny asked excitedly. “Please! It sounds like it’d be a lot of fun!”
“I don’t know if I’d have time,” the filly muttered. “I mean, Celestia gave me five days for this, and I’d have to come with you, and the trip—”
“Would take no time at all, if you ask,” a female voice said from behind them.
Looking back, they saw a pink figure with a dragon pattern dress smirking down at them.
“Hiya!” The newcomer gushed, waving a wing-arm in greeting. “New friends? That’s always great! Allow me to—”
“Hey, Lady Wyvern,” Kenny said with a wave, cutting the heraldic dragon/wyvern hybrid off.
“Oh, come on!” she huffed, stomping a foot, her talons clicking against the hardwood floor. “You robbed me of the best part! Don’t you know it’s a bad idea to tick off a Consumed?”
“I’ve met a few, and they all seemed nice,” Twilight countered. “Why do you say that?”
“Fine,” she growled. “It’s a bad idea to tick me off. Wyvern the Pink Herald? My Element’s Power? Dragons and emotions? Get the picture?”
“What do you want?” Twilight grumbled, “We were in the middle of a conversation.”
“What’s with that attitude?” Wyvern sighed. “I was going to offer my help is all! I’m the only one who could make it to the funeral. Also, I’m the youngest, what with only being eighty myself, although I look eighteen, so I wanted to represent us for once, and Bear, our leader, finally said yes. I just wanted to be friendly, and although I’m not Chimp with her Miss ‘I-Can-Teleport-Everyone-On-The-Whole-Planet-At-Once-With-My-Pinky’ powers, I can still help you out. One filly should be easy enough for little old me, all you have to say is please!”
“Okay, seriously, what do you want?” Kenny sighed. “We’re kind of in the middle of something.”
Wyvern’s eye twitched.
“Kid, I’m trying to be nice. Don’t make me Draco Rampage your face!” Suddenly, she was all sunshine once more. “Of course, it’s a very cute face, don’t take that the wrong way! I’m old enough to be your grandma!”
“If I say please, will you go away?” Twilight snickered.
“Ugh!” Wyvern groaned, throwing up her hands in frustration. “Yes, little filly, if that’s what you want, then fine.” Once again, she was back to her bubbly self in seconds. “But, if you change your mind, just ask. I can carry one filly across the ocean on my back no problem!”
With a wink, she spread out the wings on her back and flew out of the room, leaving the group alone once more.
“What’s her problem?” Twilight wondered out loud.
“Beats me,” Kenny shrugged. “She seems more like an embodiment than the other twenty. I feel sorry for whoever ends up getting the Water seat, having to put up with her for thousands of years. I thought Power required control of emotions, not being controlled by them.”
“Can you imagine if that somehow ended up being you?” Twilight giggled.
“For the love of all that is holy, please no.” Kenny shuddered. “Not with someone like her in the group.”
“Well, can you tell me more about your grandfather?” Twilight inquired. “I mean, I know quite a bit about him already, what with being a fan and all, but for you, he’s family! Was there anything that went on behind the scenes, so to speak, that helped him get so good?”
Kenny chuckled. “Well, he practically absorbed his profession into his every thought. Studied it to insane levels until he basically dreamed alchemy. Always on his brain, making him forget the names of everyday things just to make room for more alchemy. Family reunion dinners had him constantly saying ‘pass the whatchit’, even when he wanted something as simple as salt, pepper, or a glass of water!”
Twilight erupted into a small fit of giggles at that, taking a few seconds before waving him on with a hoof.
“He kept forgetting the names of all of us grandchildren, too,” Kenny sighed. “‘Wooden-head Puddin’-head Jones’. All of us. Too many of us, and far too much alchemy in that head of his. He even went so far, the books ran out of answers!”
At that, Twilight stopped giggling, staring in disbelief. “But, everything’s in books!”
“I thought books were everything myself,” Kenny said with a shake of his head. “But before he passed on, Grandpa told me he had to delve into sorcery at that point. He went from a man who studied the books, to a man who wrote them. His search for the path to the Elixir of Life actually encountered the ‘Absolute Nothing’ phenomenon, but he advised against using it. He said there’s something… off… about it.”
“What did he mean by that?” the filly asked next, leaning closer to not miss a word.
“I don’t really know,” Kenny admitted. “Just that using it would be a huge mistake, a mistake far greater than just how it would impact alchemy.”
“You know?” Twilight said next, placing a hoof over Kenny’s shoulder, “I think I actually would like to see where you live. I’ll have to ask my parents first, but I think I’ll take You-Know-Who up on her offer.”
“It’s really cold where we live,” Kenny warned. “We live in the Frozen North.”
“I’ll be fine,” she giggled. “I’ve wanted to see the Frozen North of Hominia for quite a while, you know. I’ll bring my scarf, a hat, maybe a jacket, too. That should do it, right?”
“If you want to come home a popsicle,” Kenny snickered. “I’ve lived there for years, and even I still need to bundle up like an Eskimo before setting foot outside. If you want to see everything the outdoors has in the Frozen North, you’ll need a lot more than that.”
“How could it possibly get that cold?” the filly demanded, sounding quite confused.
“In the summer, it rarely gets hotter than forty degrees,” Kenny said simply. “And that’s not for very long. This time of year? It’s often around sixteen degrees. We’re talking about the site of the former Ice Kingdom. Their magic thrived in the bitter cold, and they had the power to reshape the air patterns to push away heat and maximize the cold. Only Tundaria near the South Pole is colder, but few live there because even the Ice Kingdom’s colonies gave up and returned home. Still, I’d recommend a parka, snow pants, fur boots, one of those Ruffsian hats for cold the Diamond Dogs wear might not be a bad idea, either. Otherwise, you’ll spend the whole trip indoors!”
Twilight’s eyes were huge after taking this all in.
“Oh,” the filly said quietly. “Well, I can get all of that! No problem! Shining’s training for the Royal Guard, and I could probably get him to lend me his cold assault uniform!”
“Are you sure you want to use a military uniform?” Kenny cautioned. “It may be a bit big, not to mention heavy.”
“I’ll think of something!” Twilight insisted as she got out of the chair. “See you later, Kenny!” With a smile and a wave, she trotted back to her family, and the rest of the day carried on without incident.