//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: New Information // Story: Realm of the Lost // by Orsuros //------------------------------// (Split vote. Dice rolled to break the tie. Silverstream decides to travel to The Bazaar.) Silverstream would have loved to stay in the nice guest room with its ornate bed and massive study desk, but she wasn’t going to rest until her friends were safe. The guide book had mentioned The Bazaar as being somewhere safe to explore, so she decided to go there next. “Sumac, it was nice meeting you, but I need to go find my friends.” Silverstream patted the red kobold on the head. He made his cute squeaky noises. He sounded annoyed, but he seemed to understand what she said. He locked the room behind her after she walked out the door. He helped guide her to the entry hall and the gateways there. One had a sign saying it would lead to The Bazaar. Silverstream walked through it. Once outside the massive building, Silverstream could get a better view of the landscape. Volcanoes surrounded The Library. Some of them were slowly leaking lava, but a system of stone channels kept it away from the roads and The Library. The path led to a pass between two of the volcanoes then down to the surrounding plains. Silverstream took off and flew in that direction. A series of lakes dotted the landscape below the volcanoes. Lush green bushes and trees grew in the volcanic soil. Different villages full of kobolds dotted the shores of the lakes. Silverstream landed in one of these villages that was built around the path. The kobolds squeaked and looked very cute, but Silverstream still wasn’t able to communicate more than the fact that she was a peaceful guest of Scriptus. Once she told them that, they gave her a small meal of fish, fruit, and vegetables. The meal was like what she’d have back at Mt. Aris. The food was all of more tropical varieties than what the ponies had in Equestria. The kobolds seasoned the fish with something very spicy, and Silverstream enjoyed that. While she ate, she opened the guide book up again. She was thinking more clearly after the exercise. She got to an interesting section on how creatures ended up here and how some managed to get free. No known creatures originally came from The Realm of the Lost. All had migrated here or had been banished from other worlds. A few of the more evil creatures found their way here because it had less resistance to their intrusion than normal worlds. Such creatures were last seen by Scriptus in the ocean depths near Jester’s Court, and they hated the light of the sun. The book mentioned that many creatures used to be able to come and go freely between here and Equus until Celestia had strengthened the magical barrier between the two realms. Many other worlds had similar barriers in place, but both Grandeur and Scriptus had deals or magic to get around some of the barriers. And still other worlds had no barriers and could be accessed by anyone with powerful magic, but most of these realms had already been invaded by dark creatures. Silverstream skimmed again until she found a section on Equus. The Pony of Shadows was held in Limbo in stasis with the six heroes of Equestria until the spell that kept them here was ended. Scriptus knew that the ponies of Equestria had won the battle with the Pony of Shadows because the dark spirit that possessed him had returned in a weakened state, and Stygian had written a book about his life. Another spirit named Nightmare had been banished from Equestria several years ago. Before that, the previous history of anyone going between here and Equus was before Celestia put the barrier in place. Silverstream shut the book and thanked the kobolds for the meal. Silverstream wasn’t good at magic theory, but maybe there could be a way back to Equestria if the barrier was weaker now. They had all of Equestria’s magic here with them, so maybe there was some way to use it to get back. Starlight might know a way, but Silverstream would have to find her first. A small blue kobold stepped forward as Silverstream got ready to take off. He squeaked and gestured. Silversteam didn’t understand the words at first. “Do you want to come with me?” Silverstream asked. “Saffron g-go. Go with birdhorse.” Silverstream’s eyes widened. “You can speak Ponish!” She gave him a hug. He squeaked out a few words in his kobold language before talking. “Yes. You smell like dragon friend. Saffron help dragon friend.” Saffron had the same slender build of most the kobolds. He had the horns that the males all had, but his were smaller than the older males. He put on a small backpack and strapped a small obsidian-tipped spear to it. He pointed to Silverstream’s back and sputtered as he tried to think of what to say. “I’m Silverstream. And if you want to come with me, you can ride on my back. That’s what you were going to ask, right?” Saffron nodded. Silverstream had to crouch down for the little guy to hop on, but once he was on, she started to flap her wings. Silverstream was reminded of the few times she had seen Spike ride on Twilight’s back. A small group of blue and green kobolds came and gave Saffron hugs. They looked like his family. The kobolds all smiled and waved as Silverstream took to the skies again. The landscape slowly changed from volcanic and tropical to green plains with long grasses waving in the breeze. The winds made it hard to talk to Saffron, so Silverstream focused on moving ahead. The little kobold was easy enough to carry. He weighed about as much as a saddlebag of school books. Eventually, a distant walled city full of colorful tents and buildings appeared on the horizon. A massive bank took up an entire section of the city. It looked exactly like the descriptions of The Bazaar in the guide book. Silverstream approached The Bazaar. She tried to fly over its walls, but a sudden burst of wind came out of nowhere. She was forced to land just outside the gates of the city. A black griffon with red and yellow wing feathers ran out. “You’re lucky the wind barrier didn’t slam you into the ground. Sorry about that. We keep it around to protect our goods. Any who wish to enter or leave The Bazaar need to go by me first. My name is Glissanda. We love to have more customers. Are you looking for anything in particular?” Glissanda was lean and small. She looked fierce, but she also had a friendly smile. “I’m looking for my friends,” Silverstream said. “And what do your friends look like?” Silverstream quickly described them. The griffon nodded. “A yak left not too long ago. There’s a pony and griffon like you described who are currently doing business with Grandeur. I’ll take you to them.” Silverstream followed Glissanda through streets with rows and rows of tents and shops filled with all sorts of things. Bronze griffon statues were scattered around the market. Their eyes gleamed with a golden glow as Silverstream walked by. The things for sale here would have made even the pickiest of the royal hippogriffs proud. A shimmering gold paintbrush studded with gems of every color caught Silverstream’s eye. “Whoa! Is that the paintbrush of Tranquil Shoal? I thought it was just a legend. Can I touch it?” Glissanda stopped Silverstream from grabbing the brush. “No touching sensitive magical merchandise. But it did belong to her until her children sold it off to Grandeur. If a skilled painter paints from the heart, that paintbrush has the magic to help their paintings take life. If you’re interested in it, I’m sure Grandeur would be happy to make a deal.” Silverstream stared at the brush. She’d love to have it, but her friends were more important. She walked away but made a mental note of which shop the brush was at. They arrived at a tent with several of the statues. Glissanda pointed past them. “Here we are. Grandeur and your friends are in there. It was a pleasure to meet you.” Glissanda walked away. Saffron hopped off Silverstream’s back and sniffed the air. Silverstream could already hear Gallus talking with someone. Just hearing his voice made her feel more relaxed. She walked into the tent. Gallus and a huge gray griffon were talking. It almost seemed like an argument until Silverstream listened in. They were haggling over something. Starlight was sitting to the side and listening in, but she looked a little bored. She looked up as soon as Silverstream entered. “Silverstream! You found us! I hope everyone else is okay. Twilight will kill me if anything bad happens to her students on my watch.” Starlight looked over at Saffron. “And who is this? Did you find a new friend?” “Yes! His name is Saffron.” Saffron cautiously sniffed the air and flicked out his little forked tongue. “Pony and young griffon smell like dragon friends, too. Greetings!” The large griffon smiled and waved them in. “Ah, more friends. This might change our deal somewhat. Welcome to the both of you. Have a seat and enjoy some food. I am Grandeur, and I extend my hospitality to all potential customers.” Grandeur pulled some very fancy food out of his bag and poured a drink for Silverstream into a crystal chalice. He pulled out something similar for Saffron. The plates the griffon used were as good or better than Queen Novo’s finest sets of dinnerware. They would have fit into the finest royal dinners. Grandeur’s smile hinted that he knew how impressive they were. Grandeur paused the haggling with Gallus while Silverstream shared what had happened to her with her friends. His ears perked up when Silverstream mentioned the barrier that Celestia had created. “You could break the barrier,” he said. “If it’s already weak on Equestria’s side, you’d just have to find what Celestia tied the barrier to on this side to break it. But removing the barrier would also leave your world open until it could be restored. I’d love the chance to do business in Equus again, but you would have to hope that less friendly creatures don’t take notice of such a weakness. Or you could find a way to distract them.” “I have other ideas, too,” Starlight said. “I’d be happy to help as long as you can repay me for my help,” Grandeur said. Silverstream patted Grandeur’s front foot. “I’m sure if you help us, we could ask Celestia to let you come back to Equus.” “She is quite firm in her decision about keeping me out, but I would welcome the opportunity to have some allies who could convince her that I will do better. You all are connected to Princess Twilight, and I think Twilight could convince Celestia to let me back in. Good friends lead to good business. To show you that my friendship is genuine, I’m willing to give you a better offer and include Silverstream and Saffron in our previous offer. It’s been centuries since I offered anyone a deal this good.” (No vote this time, but the previous vote for a deal with Grandeur will now cost less.)