//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Umberfoal Awakened // Story: The Festival of Lights // by Dusk Melody //------------------------------// The Spectral Stair led the party of four down to a ‘landing platform’ of sorts which was built up to meet the lower steps. Stepping off the transparent blue stairway, Sparkler and Stonecutter once again found their hooves on solid rock, standing under another elaborate archway that matched the one in the cavern wall behind them, although this one was free standing. “Stone...sweet, blessed stone!” Stonecutter sighed with very great relief as she stood on the firm, very solid and not at all transparent surface of the large stone pillar. It was like the best Hearths Warming gift ever! “Happy there, are we, Stony?” Blackbeak snickered as he and Cloudy Skies came in for a landing on the smooth platform. “Very happy,” Stonecutter grinned, bending a knee, the stocky earth pony laid the palms of her hands flat on the ground. She felt the ancient magic through the ground that was everywhere around them, she also felt the rock; strong, firm, unyielding. “I love this ground. I want to marry it and have its foals.” “Hmmm...” Sparkler frowned good naturedly and playfully, she gave her pet a light smack on her bountiful rump, “Nice to know I’ve been usurped by a piece of rock, Stony.” As Blackbeak and Cloudy laughed, she lit her horn and retrieved one of her history books from the large backpack her marefriend carried. Now they had the chance to look at the city close up, they noted the architecture was unfamiliar. “Look at this!” Sparkler had her book open, and she was running her hand over the carvings on the archway they were stood under. “Um, Sparkler?” Cloudy Skies drew her friend’s attention, “Forgive me, but what are we looking at, exactly? It’s the same as the one back up there.” “This, look!” Sparkler pointed to the carvings and she received three nonplussed looks in return, to which she sighed and rolled her eyes. “The carvings! The language! Don’t you see?” by the looks on their faces, they clearly did not. “Ugh, look, the language here is clearly Equestrian, although it’s a very old style and dialect, some of the words don’t exist anymore.” “So?” Blackbeak couldn’t see what was so exciting about that. “So?” Sparkler couldn’t believe her friends were being so dense! “So? This is especially important. The message we deciphered on the stone tablet that Professor Gully Trotter found up in the Badlands was written in Old Ponish!” “Sparks?” Stonecutter spoke up, “Not to sound dumb or anything, but what does that mean?” “I have no idea!” Sparkler exclaimed gleefully, “But if there’s something I don’t know, it does mean I get to research it! This place must have a library!” Then, she pulled out from the backpack a second book, this one on architecture. “Look at those!” she pointed to the nearest buildings. “What about them?” asked Cloudy Skies. She couldn’t see what Sparkler was so enthralled about. They were buildings. Not the wooden walls and thatched roofs of Ponyville, nor the white marble of Canterlot. Neither were they the modern brick of Manehatten or the eyrie style of Griffonstone or the organic flowing lines of Mount Aris. They were just angular functional looking buildings. “What about them?” Sparkler wanted to facepalm so badly! “Do you three know nothing of history?” the trio of shaking heads that greeted her answered her question. “Uuuuuugh!” she held open her book, which showed a close up of Canterlot from nine hundred years ago. “Don’t you see? The style of buildings here and in the picture are similar! This means Umberfoal predates Canterlot by centuries! This is amazing! We had the ability to excavate all this before Equestria as we know it was even formed!” “Yeah, yeah,” Blackbeak waved his hand dismissively, “I’m excited that you’re excited. Are we gonna stand here on this platform all day, or what?” “Don’t worry, Mistress,” Stonecutter said with a reassuring smile as Sparkler huffed and put the books away, “I think it’s amazing too.” “Suck up...” Blackbeak snickered, earning himself a raspberry from the earth pony, to which he just shrugged and stepped off the platform. As they moved into the city proper, they noticed that Umberfoal was arranged in a more or less circular pattern, with main avenues leading towards the centre like spokes on a wagon wheel. Every turn of her head, Sparkler squealed in delight. Every glance was a new discovery. They passed a few of the native ponies going about their business, though none of them paid them any mind. Each street they passed was paved with stone and bordered by rows of stone buildings. While Sparkler was amazed at the architecture, Stonecutter was interested in the stone itself. When she laid a hand on the wall of one building, she could feel that it was a refined form of the rock pillar the city was stood on. They could see that the buildings were a mix of homes and shops on most of the streets they passed. Unlike Ponyville, there didn’t seem to be a dedicated marketplace, the stores were scattered throughout the streets. They could tell the nature of the stores due to the banners that hung outside. Larger buildings, consisting of three and four storeys, stood out on the outer ring and towards the centre of the city. While they couldn’t guess what they were for, they seemed important. Above and all around them, the blue light continued to wash over the city, bathing it constantly in magical energy. Blackbeak, with his sharp eyes, was the first to notice the streetlights. Consisting of tall metal stands, they held more of the translucent blue crystals that had accompanied them on the walls. Every time the light pulsed overhead, the crystals in the streetlights glowed with a bright blue / white light. In some of the stands, there was even luminescent fungi, “Stormclaw’s tits...” he scoffed, “They don’t even have gas lights?” “Yeah, funny thing, that,” Sparkler snarked, “A thousand years ago, Canterlot didn’t have gas lights either. In fact, they didn’t even use crystals. You’ll also find they don’t have cell phones or the internet. Y’know, due to the whole ‘turned to statuettes for a thousand years’ thing.” “No internet...” Cloudy Skies took out her phone and, sure enough, not only was there no phone signal, there was no internet signal either. “No Wi-Fi...no Facetube or Mystable?” the thought of not updating any of her social media accounts was almost too much for the trans pony to bear. “Guys,” Sparkler didn’t even bother to keep the frustration from her voice, “This whole place is a cultural time capsule, a snapshot of life a thousand years ago, and you’re worrying about lights and your phones!?” They walked on in silence after that, until they approached the centre of the city. Together, they entered a wide plaza into which all the radial avenues led and converged. At the end of these avenues, stood two remarkably familiar stone statues. The Golems again acting as staunch protectors, there to ward off any threat. Again, the milling ponies went about whatever business they had, some shopped, some walked arm in arm with a loved one, while others, families, sat on benches around the plaza. It could have been any weekend day anywhere in Equestria. While Stonecutter, Cloudy Skies and Blackbeak observed the ponies, Sparkler was taken by the Golems. She followed the guardian’s gaze to the raised platform in the middle of the plaza. Upon it was a most peculiar construct ornately decorated, somewhere halfway between a cage and a vase. Inside it was a glowing glass orb about the size of her head. “Wow...” “I see you are admiring the Crucible,” said a tall unicorn who had seemed to materialise out of nowhere. Taller than the four by at least a head, the slender mare had a strained expression on her face, though one that bore a pleasant smile. “Whoa...” Blackbeak turned to the sound of the voice which, though quiet, calm and reserved, nonetheless carried with it the undeniable weight of authority, “Check out Celestia the next generation.” the unicorn certainly looked regal enough, with the white robes and the necklace she wore around her neck. “Celestia,” the tall white unicorn turned her gracious smile to the griffon, and she smoothed out a nonexistent wrinkle in the long white robes she wore. “And how is the young Princess? Still skipping out on Professor Starswirl’s lectures?” At their collective stunned faces, she held up a hand, “Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Evenlight, Head of the Wisery of Umberfoal, and you must be our saviours who lifted the enchantment.” “Evenlight the Wise!” Sparkler all but levitated off the ground. She was so happy she forgot to curtsey, which she remembered after a moment. “Please, just Evenlight,” the mage corrected the young mare, “Now, you must be Sparkler, Stonecutter and... forgive me, you are Cloudy Skies, yes?” “I am, ma’am,” Cloudy Skies curtseyed respectfully after Stonecutter had done the same, “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” “There’s no need to be so formal,” Evenlight kept her smile, a genuine, interested smile, without an ounce of falsehood anywhere. “Just Evenlight, if you please. And you,” she turned at last to Blackbeak, “I must confess, when Princess Twilight informed me of the itinerary change, I was quite intrigued. I have never met a griffon before.” “Then it pleases me to be the first, Evenlight,” Blackbeak bought a fist to his heart in a salute and he respectfully bowed his head. “Blackbeak, of house Greyclaw, at your service.” “Your house is well represented, Mr. Blackbeak, it saddens me that we never ventured over the southern sea in my time. Something I seek to rectify in yours.” Evenlight extended her hand, which he shook, and which she repeated with the others. “Please do pass on my respects to Miss Cloudburst. I should have liked to meet all of those who saved us, but I do understand why she could not attend.” “Excuse me, ma...” Sparkler caught herself just in time, “Evenlight, is it true you have a Tomevault, here in Umberfoal?” “It is indeed true,” Evenlight replied, her smile widening when she recognised the fervour of a fellow scholar. “There are many thousands of books stored there, at the last count, it was over six thousand.” “Si-Si-Six...th-tho-thousand...” Sparkler could barely speak. The more she tried, the more she hyperventilated. She would have fainted, had Stonecutter not been there to catch her in her strong arms. Evenlight walked with the group over to one of the empty benches dotted around the centre of the plaza. When they were sat, so that Sparkler could recover, Cloudy Skies asked, “It’s an honour to be invited to attend the Festival of Lights, Evenlight. May I ask when it will take place?” “In two days,” Evenlight answered her, “And the honour is ours, I assure you. Were it not for you, we would still be under the effects of the enchantment, forgotten under the mountains of Dustmane Ridge.” “What’s it like?” asked Stonecutter before she could lose her nerve, and she winced at Sparkler’s glare for asking what she deemed to be an impertinent question in the first place. “Hmm? Like?” Evenlight asked, puzzled as to the earth pony’s meaning, “What’s what like?” “You can’t ask her that!” Sparkler and Cloudy Skies both hissed simultaneously at Stonecutter. “Y’know,” Stonecutter blushed heavily, her slate grey cheeks turning a deep crimson, “Being...well, ponies again, aah, after all that time. I wondered, what it’s like, if it’s not out of place to ask, I mean.” “It is...” for once, Evenlight’s genial smile became fixed, well-practiced, fake, “Different, I suppose you could say. Imagine waking up from a very, very deep restful sleep. A sleep that lasted a thousand years,” she added wistfully. “And ah, how have you found it, waking up in this time, I mean?” Stonecutter asked her follow up question. “Different,” Evenlight replied after a few moment’s consideration. “We are lucky indeed to have ponies from Canterlot and... Ponyville,” she paused to recall the names, “That have come to help us adjust. Therapists, I believe they are called. Some of us have needed more help than others.” her smile returned, though it was a little wan, “That is why we are hosting the festival, to lift everypony’s spirits now we are back in the world.” “And... how are you doing?” Evenlight stood up abruptly at Stonecutter’s question. While not rude, it was something she was not prepared to answer fully just yet. “I am...well, because Umberfoal requires me to be so. Captain Flash Hoof!” she called to a passing charcoal grey earth pony stallion in military armour. “Oh um, pardon me, ma’am, I didn’t mean to upset you...” Evenlight though ignored what Stonecutter had said, though Sparkler did not. She smacked her marefriend and pet upside the head when the Umberfoalian had her back turned. “Captain Flash Hoof!” she called out again, and the guard stopped and walked over to greet her with a low bow, “Captain, I wonder if you’d be so kind as to take three of your Duskloaks to Capstone Fort? Lady Alethea reports strange sounds, and you know how she worries.” “Yes ma’am, Lady Evenlight, right away, ma’am!” the guard turned and marched away, his shadowy dark grey cloak billowing behind him as he walked. “Is everything alright, Evenlight?” Sparkler asked. After the adventure with the statuettes, the unicorn had developed a finely tuned trouble detector, and right then, it was making the hairs at the back of her neck rise up. “Oh yes,” Evenlight gave her a beatific smile, “I’m sure it’s nothing. Lady Alethea is prone to the dramatic. She hears attackers when it’s just a loose pebble or a trick of the wind. The Duskloaks will see to it. Again.” “Duskloaks?” asked Blackbeak. “The name of the city guard,” Sparkler answered before Evenlight had a chance, “Named after the cloaks they wear. The Veil of Dusk enchantment upon them allow them to blend with the shadows.” “Very good, Miss Sparkler,” Evenlight praised her, “Intelligence is a weapon as keen as any sword, and you wield it as well as any warrior.” Again, Sparkler could have levitated off the floor in sheer happiness. Stonecutter though, frowned. Like Sparkler, she had a trouble detector, albeit hers was from a decade of knowing Cloudburst, and hers was going off long and loud in her head. “Evenlight, ma’am, would you like us to check it out?” “Oh no,” Evenlight said quickly, “Bear it no mind. The ‘disturbance’ is likely to be Lady Alethea’s imagination. If not, the Duskloaks will see to it.” she gave them all her best smile, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m needed back in the Tomevault. But, if you would like to explore the city, might I recommend The Burrows and Founder’s Forge as places you might want to ‘check out’?” she stood to take her leave with a polite bow, “Come find me in the Tomevault when you’re done, I’ll show you to your hotel.” “Well,” Blackbeak scratched the feathers at the back of his head once they were alone, “She was something.” “It felt like we were talking to one of the Princesses!” Cloudy Skies squealed, clapping her hands together. Stonecutter shot her friend a good-natured frown, “You know we talk to one of the Princesses all the time, right? She runs our school, in case you forgot.” “You know what I mean,” Cloudy Skies shot back, crossing her arms across her chest. “I know what you mean,” Stonecutter grinned, “I was just pulling your feathers, Cloudy, I didn’t mean anything by it.” “Hey, there’s only one who pulls my pet’s feathers,” Blackbeak then demonstrated that by gripping Cloudy’s tertiary feathers on her left wing and tugged them, delighting in the way his mare went weak at the knees. “So, The Burrows or Founder’s Forge. Which are we hitting up first?” Somewhat predictably, Sparkler had her history book out. “It says here that The Burrows are situated over on the west side of the city, accessed by a stairway from the plaza. They go down the inside of the pillar the city is built on...” “Yeah, but what are they, Sparks?” Blackbeak interrupted her. “I was coming to that,” Sparkler shot Blackbeak a glare that Headmare Twilight would have been proud of at being interrupted. “The Burrows is an underground residential area. The Umberfoalian ponies ‘burrowed’ into the stone pillar because there’s only so much room up top. The area is named after their resemblance to twisting animal burrows.” “And ah, what about Founder’s Forge?” asked Stonecutter excitedly. She already had an idea where she would like to visit most. Sparkler turned a page in her book and ran her finger down the text. The fact that she was sat in the middle of the very city the history book was written about, a very alive and bustling city, was not lost on her. “Ah, here we are. Founder’s Forge. A large building situated on the east side, the name refers not only to the building, but also to the group of skilled craftsponies who work there. The forges themselves are built down in a basement chamber. The ponies in the forge work stone as well as metal.” That sealed the deal as far as Stonecutter was concerned. “The forge!” she and – surprisingly – Blackbeak said together. “The Burrows!” Cloudy Skies and, a moment later, Sparkler joined in with her choice. “The forge, really, Blackie?” Stonecutter asked. As a stoneworker herself, she wanted to go to see how these ponies worked stone a thousand years ago. “Well, yeah,” Blackbeak shrugged, “I can move metal, you know. I am a griffon. We do mine gold for our armour and weapons in the Abysmal Abyss. And, well, I’d rather go to the forge than go see some homes.” Sparkler shuddered on the bench seat, “I can feel myself getting dirty just thinking about the forge. Okay. Why don’t we split up? You two head off to the forge, and Cloudy and I can head on down to The Burrows.” “Sounds like a plan,” Stonecutter and Blackbeak shared a fist bump, “Meet back here in the plaza in say, two, three hours?” Sparkler checked her watch, “Alright, so we’ll meet here at three thirty?” “Behave, pet,” Blackbeak embraced Cloudy Skies and affectionately, he nipped the tip of her ear. “Master,” Cloudy gave him her absolute best half lidded eyes, “We’ll only be apart for a few hours. I won’t run off with Sparks, I promise.” “You’d better not,” Sparkler snickered as she hugged Stonecutter and kissed her lips, “I’m not dealing with Stony coming after me.” After they had shared a genial laugh at that, the four friends split into their two respective groups. Sparkler and Cloudy Skies headed to the west side of the plaza, while Stonecutter and Blackbeak went the opposite way. “So,” the earth pony mare started after a few moments of pleasant silence, “How’s it going with you and Cloudy?” Blackbeak chuckled, “Straight to the point, huh?” “Well, I dunno about straight,” Stonecutter laughed, “But I am to the point. Just occurred to me that we don’t have a lot of time where it’s just you and me. Figured I’d make the most of it.” “Eh,” Blackbeak shrugged as he walked through the avenues and streets, “Not much to tell that you don’t already know. We had a conversation about her transitioning yesterday. You know she’s been taking hormone medication for the past couple of years?” when she nodded, he continued, “Well, she’s at the point where she needs to make up her mind whether she wants the operation or not.” “When you say, the operation, do you mean, ‘the’ operation?” “Uh huh. ‘The’ operation.” Blackbeak said with a slight sigh, “We saw Nurse Redheart yesterday morning. She said everything’s going great, and if she wanted it, Cloudy could have it done before Hearths Warming Eve.” “That’s good news!” Stonecutter caught the ‘look’ in Blackbeak’s eyes, “I mean, isn’t it good news?” “Yeah, of course it is...” “But?” “But...now the time is upon us, Cloudy isn’t so sure she wants to take it all the way. She’s worried if she does, I won’t want her.” Blackbeak snorted, “I tell her every time, I don’t care what equipment she’s using. Penis or not, she’ll always be my cute little mare. As long as she agrees to wear my collar, she’ll always be my beautiful pet. Nothing will ever change that.” “That’s the only issue?” “Well, there’s the money too,” Blackbeak admitted, “We’ve both got a few bits to our name, but nowhere near what we need to cover that.” “Then let me take care of it.” “I couldn’t ask you...” “You aren’t asking,” Stonecutter interrupted her friend as they neared the east side of the city, “I’m offering. And I’m happy to offer. Consider it a Hearths Warming present.” seeing that he was still about to argue, she added, “There’s no dishonour in taking help when it’s given, Blackie.” “And there’s no honour in refusing said help and struggling like a moron,” Blackbeak added with a wry smile. “I’ll talk it over with Cloudy. Promise.” “Whoa...” Stonecutter breathed when she turned the last corner and saw their destination. “Now that’s what I call a forge!” Founder’s Forge was a huge three storey building right on the extreme eastern edge of Umberfoal. Several chimneys belched out smoke, and it even had an outdoor coal forge under a wooden awning situated next to the main stone building. An exceptionally large dark red earth pony stallion was busy working the glowing forge as they approached. “Look!” Stonecutter was giddy with delight, “They actually use coal forges!” “I know!” Blackbeak had the same joyful expression on his face, “I’ve got to see how they work metal without a power hammer!” “Excuse me sir,” Stonecutter said as they got closer to the stallion working at the forge, “I apologise for interrupting your work...” “By the Crucible’s blessed light...” the stallion cut across her when he looked up from the half-finished sword he had been working on, the glowing steel billet forgotten on his anvil. He took one look at the school uniforms they wore, and their ID badges and his face alternated from shock, to awe to a wide smile, “You’re the saviours! From Ponyville! Lady Evenlight sent word you might be coming!” “Aaaaah...I-I’m...just a pony...” Stonecutter blushed, unaccustomed to the praise and recognition she was getting. “I wasn’t even there,” Blackbeak responded truthfully. “Modest too!” the stallion clapped his hands. “I’m Molten Metal,” he held out his hand, and his guests shook it firmly, “Chief blacksmith of Umberfoal. It’s such an honour to meet you at last!” Stonecutter found she was still shaking Molten Metal’s hand long after she had introduced herself. After five minutes it was starting to get uncomfortable. After ten minutes, she was starting to see why Sparkler didn’t like to be touched. “Sir...sir, please,” Stonecutter finally managed to get her hand away – ignoring the smirk on Blackbeak’s face, “Do you mind if we have a look around your forge?” “It would be an honour to show such distinguished guests around my humble forge!” Molten Metal had a gleam in his eyes that made both Stonecutter and Blackbeak feel distinctly uncomfortable. “But first,” he ducked under his table and he reappeared with a wide wooden tray in his hands, “Gifts, from me and my team.” “Sir...that’s really not necessary,” Stonecutter’s words fell on deaf ears though as Molten Metal set the tray down on the table. “Whoa...” Blackbeak stared open mouthed at the display set before him. Weapons greeted his yellow eyes. There was a sword, a rapier, a mace, an axe, a warhammer and an array of short swords. “These are for us?” “Aaaah...we really can’t...” “Please,” Molten Metal shoved the tray a few inches closer, “Tokens of my appreciation, my small way of thanking you and your friends for releasing us from the statuette enchantment. It’s the least I can do.” “Stony,” Blackbeak said as he reached his hand over the tray like he was scanning the weapons, “We’d be insulting the nice stallion if we refuse his kind offer,” the griffon’s left hand came to rest over the sword, three and a half feet long with a cruciform guard and pommel, “And I’m not about to insult anypony.” “Yeah,” Stonecutter gazed at the weapons before her and, as a mason, she was drawn to the warhammer. The wide three foot long wooden shaft fit in her hand like it had been made for her and the business end had a carved snarling earth pony head and a wicked looking spike, “Headmare Twilight would hate for us to insult our hosts, right?” “I assume these aren’t wall hangers?” asked Blackbeak as Molten Metal practically skipped around the table and he secured the sword and its scabbard around the griffon’s waist. “They most certainly are not,” Molten Metal looked affronted, though his infectious enthusiastic smile returned when he affixed a leather lanyard and clip to the warhammer so that Stonecutter could wear it on her hip, “We are proud to supply the Duskloaks with the finest quality Umberfoalian steel, Master Griffon.” “Nice,” Blackbeak grinned a very wide grin, “So, can we go inside? We’d love to see how you craft these beauties!” Molten Metal didn’t need any further urging. He was only too happy to show his two guests into his domain. ~ ~ ~ “You really like this place, don’t you?” Cloudy Skies asked Sparkler as the two mares made their way from the Crucible over to the western side of the plaza. Sparkler was nodding enthusiastically before she knew what she knew what she was doing. “I love it!” she squealed loudly in utter delight, so loud that a few of the passing Umberfoalian ponies turned to see what the noise was about. “How can you not? I mean, look at it! Practically unchanged from a millennium ago!” Cloudy Skies giggled behind her hand, “Be honest, Sparks, when Evenlight said six thousand books, you had an orgasm, didn’t you?” All at once, Sparkler blushed so hard that she was an inch away from bursting into flames. “Um...maybe?” she all but admitted to her friend – getting together with Stonecutter had not just come with Cloudburst like a step-child to a second marriage, but there was the extended friend network of Seafoam, Blackbeak and now Cloudy Skies as well. Not that that was a bad thing. “I knew it!” Cloudy Skies clapped her hands in well-meant glee, “What set you off?” “Well,” Sparkler shuffled her hooves uncomfortably, the bright yellow unicorn embarrassed to have been found out, “All that knowledge! Think of it, events of a thousand years ago are legend! Nightmare Moon, The Sirens, King Sombra, Discord...we learnt about them from history books, but even the best one was written a hundred and fifty years after the events. Here, they aren’t history, don’t you see?” Cloudy Skies saw. “They would have been written contemporaneously as the events happened...” “Yes!” Sparkler’s green eyes had a zealous shine to them, “Written as they happened, detailing exactly how they happened, with no veneer of myth or legend to colour the text!” “Careful,” Cloudy Skies teased, “You’re going to need new panties at this rate, Sparks. I’m sure the fabric can only take so much.” “Oh hush...” Sparkler’s blush was complete, “Was it that obvious?” “You make an excellent tomato,” Cloudy Skies giggled as they reached the top of the wide winding stairs that lead down from the plaza to the inhabited levels below the city. “And yes, it was obvious. As obvious as the plot of a Columbo episode.” “A what?” “Columbo!” Cloudy Skies repeated like her friend was being deliberately obtuse, “You know, the police pony drama? You should know Columbo, being a Canterlot pony. It was set and filmed there.” Something triggered in Sparkler’s brain, “Oh...yes, now I know what you mean,” grinning, the unicorn lifted up her hand to her head and, in a decent impression of the television stallion, she said, “Just one more thing!” “Just one more thing!” Cloudy Skies copied Sparkler and both mares laughed, “Oh...I do love that show. Even though I have them all on DVD, when they’re on TV I just have to watch them. Unless I’ve been naughty, and then Blackie makes me watch them with a blindfold on.” she leant in conspiratorially, “He was my first crush, Columbo.” “Really?” Sparkler lifted up an eyebrow as they started to descend the spiraling staircase, “Wasn’t he a bit...y’know, crumpled and untidy?” “That was just an act, to disarm the villain!” Cloudy smiled, “I suppose you were a Holmes pony, huh?” Sparkler paused on the stairs and turned a pouting look to her friend, “Is everything about me so obvious?” “No,” Cloudy replied, “But Holmes was a book release long before the stories were on TV or made into movies, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you are a book pony.” “Fine,” Sparkler conceded, though her pout remained firmly in place, “I’ll give you that.” As they wound their way down from the plaza, they began to notice other passageways leading off from the stairway. Down and down, they passed a dozen or so levels, like floors in a tower block, each with their own corridors and chambers hollowed out from the rock. Ponies of all tribes moved to and fro, going about whatever they were doing, navigating their way easily by the light from thousands of blue crystals mounted in the walls. After a noticeably short descent, they heard some noise coming from the level directly below them. Giving each other a look, they heard the sounds of a commotion; raised voices, the clattering of galloping hooves and an ominous rumble. Nodding silently, the two mares decided to investigate the strange sounds rather than go further down the wide winding staircase. The headed on down the next corridor and, when they turned the corner, they were met by the sight of three fully grown ponies being carried towards them on a wave of water! “Buck!” on instinct, Cloudy Skies spread her wings and hovered above the fast-moving water, while Sparkler just barely managed to avoid getting knocked off her hooves. As they made their way further along the flooded corridor, they passed several ponies who were stood helplessly with buckets trying to scoop up the water. “It’s coming from there!” Sparkler pointed to the far end of the corridor, to a chamber that was a shop marked as an Alchemist, advertising the potion making skills of the amazing Doctor Fizzbang. The door was forced wide open and the water was pouring out like somepony had pulled the plug in the ocean. “Help!” came a stallion’s desperate scream from inside the store, “Please! Somepony help!” “Come on!” Sparkler forced herself to walk faster against the seemingly never-ending flow of water, and Cloudy Skies flew alongside her. “Cloudy, can you create a cloud to soak some of this up?” Cloudy Skies looked about her, scanning the rocky corridor. “Sorry Sparks, with no direct way to the city, I can’t siphon the water. The cloud would just clog up this corridor.” “Fine,” Sparkler ignored the fact that her knee length school socks and her horseshoes were soaked through and she forced herself to the shop doorway, where she saw who she assumed to be Doctor Fizzbang foundering in the water. Then, she saw the vial on the desk. It was all pouring from that! “Doctor!” Sparkler yelled, “What kind of flood is this!?” “U-Um...aaaaAAAH!” the green earth pony stallion, who had just righted himself, was swept off his hooves once again by the raging water that poured from the ruptured vial. Spitting out water, he surfaced. “I-I’m not sure! Um...magical? Enchanted? Summoned? Charmed?” he flustered around in the torrent, “I need to find the Alchemical Neutraliser! It will stop this!” Cloudy Skies flew into the flooded store, “Where is it? What does it look like?” “It’s a small pale pink solution, in a conical flask!” the stallion yelled over the rumbling water, “I had it on the table, I don’t know where it is now!” Sparkler looked around the chaos in the potion shop. Vials, flasks, test tubes of all shapes and sizes bearing fluids of all colours were floating all around them. It would take a lifetime to sort it all out. “No time for that.” Standing up, the powerful young unicorn planted her hooves and, lighting her horn, she channeled her magic. The exact source of the water might be unknown, but one thing was certain. It was grounded in magic. Magic was magic, regardless of its type. And she knew magic. A second later and a flash of green light shone from her horn and washed over the store. All at once, the water stopped gushing from the vial. “What did you do?” Cloudy Skies asked as she hovered above the water in the room, which was quickly draining through cracks along the floor near the walls. Which left vials near the drains and many down the hallway. “Simple dispel,” Sparkler explained as the store owner finally managed to stand up in his own store, “Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns lesson one, counter magic. How to stop somepony else’s spells.” “That was amazing!” Doctor Fizzbang exclaimed as he stood gingerly amid the wreckage of his shop. “It was nothing, really,” Sparkler said modestly, a faint blush colouring her yellow cheeks, “It was just a dispel...” “Do you need any help clearing up this mess, Doctor?” Cloudy Skies asked as she finally landed now the water was all drained out. “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to impose,” the earth pony stallion shuffled his hooves like a schoolcolt who had been caught misbehaving by the teacher. “It’s no trouble really,” Sparkler countered, “My horseshoes are already wet through, might as well help. “Well, if you insist, then thank you both, very much.” Doctor Fizzbang carefully stepped around his shop and started to pick up the many hundreds of misplaced potions from the floor. “If you could please pick up the potions and put them on the counters, I’ll sort them all out later.” By the time the two mares had finished tidying up, Cloudy Skies had a counter full of potions, but Sparkler had gone one step further. Not only had she set the potions up on the counters, she had sorted them by the shape and size of the flasks, she had also arranged them from the smallest to largest, and grouped them by the colour of the contents. “This is marvelous!” Doctor Fizzbang said once everything had been cleared away, “My store has never been so clean and...” he caught sight of Sparkler’s ‘efforts’ and he froze, “Ahem...organised. Now, for your reward.” Fizzbang ignored their protestations and he reached under his workbench, where he pulled out a sturdy looking leather case. Inside were over twenty potions, as well as what the two mares recognized as Ponybalm. “The pale blue ones are Potion of Water Breathing; this is what I was trying to make when it went a bit...wrong. These will allow you to breathe underwater for an hour.” The alchemist then pointed to the deep purple potions next to the Water Breathing ones, “These are Potion of Darkvision. Drink this, and you’ll see in complete darkness, although not as clearly as if it was bright light. These last ones,” he moved onto the dark green liquids, “Are Potion of Wild Growth. Sprinkle a few drops onto bare earth or rock and new plants and fungi with burst forth in a matter of moments.” “Sir, please, we couldn’t accept this...” “I insist, please,” Fizzbang practically forced the strap of the leather case over Cloudy Skies’ neck, “It’s the least I can do for all your gracious help,” he smiled sheepishly, “Besides, I wouldn’t be a gentlecolt if I didn’t reward two pretty mares when they come into my shop.” “Th-That’s exceedingly kind of you, sir,” Cloudy Skies stammered, blushing hard that she was so convincing a mare that the stallion thought she was pretty, “B-But I h-have a coltfriend.” “And I’m gay,” put in Sparkler quickly before this poor stallion got too far ahead of himself. “Alas!” Fizzbang raised his hand dramatically to his head, “No matter! You still more than earned the potions, please, take them and use them as you see fit.” ~ ~ ~ “Whoa...” Stonecutter breathed as she entered the Tomevault alongside Sparkler, Cloudy Skies and Blackbeak, “This place is huge!” Huge was an understatement. Big was simply not enough. Massive undersold the sheer scale. Grand just about covered it. The Tomevault space was thirty feet high, with bookcases six feet across and twenty feet tall covering the walls and the aisles. Each one full of books, scrolls, crystals and artefacts the four had never seen before. “That certainly is a lot of books,” Blackbeak commented, earning himself a dig in the ribs from his marefriend, “What?” he questioned innocently, though the twinkle in his eye said otherwise, “It is a lot of books! What do you think, Sparks?” Whatever Sparkler thought about being in the presence of six thousand one thousand-year-old books, she didn’t say. Since setting hoof in the Tomevault, she had only been able to communicate via whimpers, squeaks and meeps. Holding her marefriend’s hand, Stonecutter snickered, “I think she likes it.” “Look,” Cloudy Skies pointed to a wide-open space in the middle of the main room of the Tomevault, a space that was occupied with and dominated by a large round bowl-like structure. “That’s the thing that was in the plaza earlier, isn’t it?” “The Crucible,” Evenlight the Wise said as she appeared from one of the many halls that branched off from the central space – much like the plaza above – with a slightly smaller yet much older looking earth pony mare at her side. Both unicorn and earth pony wore long white robes, the older mare wearing round glasses perched on her nose. “When the Arcast is placed in the receptacle at the top, it is raised to the plaza above through the aperture in the roof and the Festival of Lights begins.” “Why don’t you just go and tell these outsiders everything, Evenlight?” huffed the red earth pony mare as she removed her glasses that had been delicately balanced on her nose and cleaned them furiously on the handkerchief she kept in her robes for just such purpose. “Lady Alethea, please,” Evenlight said with a sigh in her voice, she looked drawn and tired, more so than when she had met the newcomers in the plaza, “These are the ponies from Ponyville, the ones who lifted the Statuette Enchantment. They are our honoured guests.” “Well, technically...” Stonecutter was cut off as Alethea walked straight up to Blackbeak and forced him back a step through her sheer presence alone. “You are not a pony, what are you doing here?” “I am Blackbeak, ma’am,” the griffon saluted the earth pony and gave her a respectful bow, ignoring for the moment her brusque manner. “I was invited, along with my marefriend, Cloudy Skies.” Alethea glanced down and noted the ID badge he wore, that bore the seal of the Princess of Friendship herself and she relented. “I see. Please, accept my apologies, Master Griffon,” she sniffed, her tone short and clipped, “Rumours of the eastern barbarians across the sea kept us here in Equestria.” “No apology necessary, ma’am,” Blackbeak politely inclined his head, though his feathers bristled at the thinly veiled insult, “This ‘barbarian’ is pleased to make your acquaintance.” “Ahem,” Evenlight coughed rather loudly than was needed to draw attention back to herself, “This is Lady Alethea,” she introduced the earth pony, “She is the Chief Librarian of Umberfoal and the curator of the Tomevault and the safekeeper of the Arcasts.” “Arcasts?” Cloudy Skies and Stonecutter asked almost at the same time, both mares sharing a confused look and a shrug of the shoulders with each other, “What are Arcasts?” Lady Alethea was about to answer, when Sparkler, who had been previously only able to communicate via unintelligible noises, at last found her voice. “Arcasts are solid crystals that store information,” Alethea wore a stunned look on her face, while Stonecutter, Cloudy Skies and Blackbeak were used to it by now. “This information can be in almost any form,” Sparkler continued, oblivious to the speechless look on the Chief Librarian’s face, “For example: words, images, sounds and even emotions! Sometimes there can even be a combination of many different types!” the yellow unicorn was well into her stride now. Nothing short of a natural disaster or monster attack would stop her, “Each Arcast can hold the knowledge of hundreds of books but it can only be accessed by placing the Arcast into the Crucible.” “How...” Alethea was slowly remembering she could speak, while Evenlight, who had already sampled Sparkler’s encyclopedic knowledge, simply smiled serenely, “Forgive me, but...how do you know all this?” “Oh, um,” Sparkler blushed as she used her magic to bring her History of Umberfoal book from Stonecutter’s bag, “I read up on Umberfoal before we came here, ma’am, I’m Sparkler,” she shook Alethea’s hand, “And even though I’ve read that book cover to cover, it’s a privilege and an honour to be stood here in a library like this!” “Well now,” Lady Alethea’s stern austere attitude towards the newcomers softened substantially when she saw Sparkler’s genuine enthusiasm, “It’s certainly refreshing to see a young pony so at home in a place of learning. Many of our own youngsters are not so acquainted with our history.” she spared the unicorn a rare smile, “You are correct. The information stored in an Arcast can only be accessed by placing it in the Crucible. In this way, the Crucible effectively ‘writes’ and ‘reads’ the Arcast. When somepony uses the Arcast in the Crucible, all the knowledge within is projected into their mind in the blink of an eye, or they can transform knowledge from their own minds into a new Arcast.” “Yes!” Sparkler exclaimed, a look of foalish delight mirrored on the much older mare’s face, “I read that they are particularly useful for storing knowledge relating to enchantments, rituals and spells, due to their complex nature.” “You are correct again!” Alethea smiled, and she wondered if her earlier judgement on these outsiders was in error. Certainly this mare, young as she was, was as clever as any of The Wisery. “I oversee all matters relating to the Crucible and its use in our ceremonies, as well as the creation and use of the Arcasts.” “This is going to go on for some time, isn’t it?” Blackbeak asked out of the side of his beak. “I’m afraid so,” Evenlight said quietly with a wry smile, before she lit her horn and levitated over four chairs for them to sit on. “But I do not begrudge Alethea this. The awakening has been hard on her, and I have not seen her clap her hands like a giddy school-filly in a long, long time.” “Is it true there’s less than two dozen Arcasts in Umberfoal?” Sparkler asked, completely and utterly oblivious to the others now sat on the chairs and sharing a plate of biscuits that Evenlight had summoned. “It is indeed true,” Alethea stated with a nod of her head, pointing with her hand to a large, wide, very ornately carved and decorated bookcase over by a wall, that had three shelves holding six one foot long white crystals. “Please, allow me to show you our most precious and important Arcast.” “I see you took my advice,” Evenlight said softly to Stonecutter, “You went and visited Founder’s Forge,” she clarified by indicating the warhammer that hung from the new belt around her waist, and the sword that Blackbeak wore. “Yes ma’am, Evenlight, ma’am,” Stonecutter replied quietly, “Mr. Molten Metal insisted we take these, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” “We didn’t forget the girls,” Blackbeak snickered, “We got them a letter opener each.” “He means this,” Cloudy Skies showed off her short sword with a very loud roll of her eyes, “You’ll have to forgive my Master, Ms. Evenlight. He is under the belief he is a comedy genius.” It was a good thing that Evenlight was looking at Cloudy Skies. It meant she missed the dangerous warning look that Blackbeak shot the pegasus. Lady Alethea opened a double door in the middle of the bookcase, and she showed off an Arcast. Unlike the other eighteen, this one was larger by half and glowing so brightly that they couldn’t look at it directly without hurting their eyes. “This,” the red earth pony mare said reverently, “Is the Arcast that holds all the history and magical knowledge of the Festival of Lights.” “Why don’t you show our guests how it and the Crucible works, Lady Alethea?” Alethea stared at Evenlight as if the unicorn had suddenly grown two heads and breathed fire over her most valuable possessions. “I beg your pardon?” Evenlight saw the way her old friend’s left eye twitched and she shook her head at her foolishness. “Alethea, these are our guests. They are here at my invitation to witness and to take part in the Festival of Lights. They can hardly do that if they do not understand how it works. So, if you please, Chief Librarian, show them how it works.” “Very well.” The Chief Librarian’s eye twitched again as she carried the Festival Arcast from the bookcase over to the Crucible. As much as she didn’t want to comply, there was an undercurrent, an implied statement of intent that if she did not, then Evenlight would. And that, she would not, could not, allow. Not if her plans were to succeed. Like she was carrying the first-born foal of a Princess, Alethea carried the Arcast to the Crucible, where she reverently placed the glowing crystal in the receptacle at the top. “Now, you four, come here and place one hand on the Crucible.” when they were stood around it like the cardinal points on a compass, Alethea continued, “Open your minds, clear your thoughts, and you will see.” “This is stupid,” Blackbeak scoffed after five minutes of nothing, he glanced at the others, who were all stood with their hands on the Crucible and their eyes closed, “Nothing’s hap...” Whatever Blackbeak was going to say was lost to the ether as the Arcast suddenly glowed with the intensity of Celestia’s sun and a beam of bright white magic shot from each hand to their foreheads. Then, their eyes glowed with the same bright white light. In the fraction of a second, the knowledge stored in the Arcast was dumped simultaneously into four brains. Just as quickly and suddenly as it had started, the light from the Arcast stopped, leaving the Tomevault feeling dark by comparison, even though it was well lit. “Buck...” Cloudy Skies was on her knees, her head held in her hands to steady the dizziness she felt. It was like being drunk, but not a pleasant drunk. It was as if the whole universe was spinning in and around her head. “Stormclaw’s sainted furred ass...” Blackbeak was down on one knee, the griffon had to use a clawed hand to steady himself and to keep from falling over. His head felt like it usually did after a three-day drinking binge, namely, like Princess Twilight and Lord Tirek were reenacting their battle inside his skull and he was Goldenoak Library. “What...the infernal damnation was that?” “That...was...incredible!” Stonecutter, who being an earth pony, channeled magic naturally through her hands, was not as adversely affected as her two friends. Sparkler, who had a natural affinity with magic, being born under the Sign of Magic, was grinning so wide it was as if her head had been split in two. She was suffering no ill effects whatsoever. “Wow!” she squealed in awed delight, “I saw it! I felt it! I understand it! How the Umberfoal ponies fill their hearts with Friendship Magic! The festival is everything! It keeps the lights shining, it reinforces the magic wards to keep monsters at bay, it keeps the pillars that support the city standing! The Festival of Lights is a magical manifestation of everything that makes Umberfoal a home!” “You see?” Evenlight said to Alethea as Stonecutter helped Cloudy Skies and Blackbeak up to their hooves and feet, “They do understand.” “One of them does, at least,” Alethea replied coldly. Evenlight was about to answer that when, in a loud clatter of hooves, a Duskloak guard came bursting into the Tomevault, panic all over his young face. “M-Ma’am...L-Lady E-Evenlight, ma’am...” he breathed hard, having galloped from the fort all the way down the stone pillar. “What is it, Private Spearhead?” if Evenlight was concerned, she gave no outward sign of it. Her calm serene demeanour remained firmly in place. “It-It’s Captain Flash Hoof, ma’am,” the earth pony stallion explained once he had caught his breath, “The scout patrol he lead into Capstone Fort have not reported back. And uh...um...there was...we heard...that is to say, the lookouts reported...screams, coming from inside.” “I see,” Evenlight for once allowed a frown of consternation to cross her otherwise calm face. In a heartbeat, she turned to address her four guests, “I hate to impose upon you, but could you please go with the Private here and investigate this situation before it gets out of hand?” “Us?” asked Cloudy Skies uncertainly. “If you would be so kind,” Evenlight forced a smile on her face, “You see, the Duskloaks are city guard, police, I think your Princess likened them to. I am afraid they are ill equipped to deal with whatever monster has found its way into Capstone Fort.” “What makes you think we can help?” Cloudy Skies asked before the other three could speak. “You have faced and survived the Trials of the Badlands. You have lifted the Statuette Enchantment and you have returned us to the world. Those are no mean feats, my friends.” Evenlight addressed the group as a whole. “What makes you think a monster is in the fort?” asked Sparkler quickly, before Cloudy Skies could correctly point out that it was just Stonecutter and herself who had done those things. “Because the magical wards that keep the city safe have not been renewed in a thousand years,” Evenlight admitted with a deep sigh. “That is the purpose of the Festival of Lights. However, we have had reports over the past month of bigger and bigger creatures breaching our borders. Please, if you can help at all, please, I would be so grateful.” “Let me guess,” Stonecutter spoke up, “This is a situation you don’t want the populace alerted to?” “You guess correctly,” Evenlight nodded, “It would not do for the morale of the city to have the citizens panicking about monsters and jumping at shadows. If you could see to this quietly and discreetly, I would be most grateful.” “Well, I guess we could take a look, right?” Stonecutter said, earning herself a dubious look from the other three. “Excellent!” Evenlight clapped her hands delightedly, “You truly are the Saviours! Here,” she reached into her long robes and she pulled out a small circular token that bore her cutie mark of a single lit candle, “Present that to the Sergeant at the Duskloak Barracks and he will give you some things to help you.” “Thank you, Evenlight, ma’am,” Stonecutter took the token in her hand and, she walked away with Sparkler, Cloudy Skies and Blackbeak, following the Private out of the Tomevault, she couldn’t help but think of Cloudburst and what her best friend had said back in Headmare Twilight’s office. “Isn't this the bit when CB would say 'I told you so'?” Blackbeak, who was walking with Cloudy Skies, one hand holding hers and the other resting on the pommel of his sword, asked, “What?” “Nothing,” Sparkler sighed, though her face was set resolutely, the unicorn resigned to the adventure that had found them, “Just another typical day...” Cloudy Skies wore a confused look on her face, “But, I don't think CB has typical days?” “Got it in one,” Sparkler agreed grimly, her mind running through and organising the offensive and defensive spells she knew in order of usefulness and effectiveness, “Let's go.” Placing the Arcast back in the bookcase, Alethea watched them leave with a dark smile on her face. The outsiders had been unexpected diversions, but no matter now. ‘Insidira will make sure they never leave Capstone Fort...’ she thought with satisfaction.