Odysseed

by AuroraDawn


Chapter 2

“Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh, Applejack, wake up, wake up, did you see it too? Did you?”

Applejack opened her eyes, still feeling damp and slightly cold from the world of salt water she had just woken from. She rolled over, following the sound of Twilight Sparkle’s voice to find her bouncing just a couple feet from her bed.

“Oh good! You’re awake! Did you see the Source island? Pleeeease tell me you saw the Source island! You must have, right?”

“Uhm,” Applejack started, blinking sleep from her eyes. Several questions passed through her mind in rapid succession, and only a couple had been about the dream. Most of the remaining ones had to do with the purple alicorn who was practically prancing in place inside her room, eyes beaming, smile wide, looking for all the world as if she had just discovered coffee and then immediately attempted to find the minimum lethal dose of it. She chose her words carefully, and finally spoke to her eager friend. “Good morning, Twilight.”

Great morning to you, Applejack!” She smiled wide still, and after a brief pause, blinked.

Applejack considered which of her questions she wanted to start with, and then settled on the simplest.

“Why are you in my room?”

Twilight blanched and, looking around as if seeing where she was for the first time, gave a nervous chuckle.

“Oh. Right. I’m just… a little excited, is all. Everypony else is up, well, Rainbow Dash is sleeping again, but I’ve spoken to her already, she was on the way—”

“Alright,” Applejack said, sliding out from under the covers. Twilight stepped back out of the way while Applejack quickly brushed her mane and threw her hat on, rambling on the entire time.

“—and then of course Pinkie Pie doesn’t seem to ever sleep, so I had managed to speak to her before I finally got here. But I’m here! And you’re awake! Did you have the dream?”

Applejack walked out of her room and Twilight quickly followed, her wings twitching while she tried to reign in her excitement. In the hall, Applejack glanced behind her, throwing up an eyebrow.

“I had a dream. Why? Didja do something to me?”

“No, no!” Twilight blushed. “Sorry, Applejack. I guess this is a little abrupt. The temple on the island, in the water. Did you dream it?”

“I did, yeah. Cut right into the middle of a real relaxing thing, too. This some sorta magic hullabaloo we’re all about to get caught up in the middle of? World ending stuff?” She chuckled and winked, and then said a quick hello to the rest of her family who were currently sitting around a full breakfast table, chatting with Spike. 

“Wellll, maybe,” Twilight admitted. While she followed Applejack into the kitchen, her stomach let out a mighty growl.

“I take it you got all antsy pantsy and didn’t even eat this morning, didn’t cha?” Applejack laughed, stepping aside and waving a hoof to direct Twilight in.

“Heheh, uh, yeah,” Twilight tittered, taking a seat next to Spike. He was speaking gleefully with Apple Bloom, who had slid over on the bench to make room for her sister.

“...And Rarity’s said “Directly as the peg’sus fly” which she was pretty mad about, I mean, why cut out part of the word, right?”

“That is a good question,” Apple Bloom agreed, shovelling a pancake into her mouth. “Mine was “Take not our guidance as jesting”. What’s ‘Jesting’ mean, Applejack?”

“Kidding around, acting foolish. You should know, heh,” she said, lightly elbowing Apple Bloom in the ribs. She reached forward and heaped a spoonful of oatmeal into a bowl and started eating. “What’re y’all talking about, anyways?” she asked between mouthfuls.

“Our weird dream last night, with the island!” Spike announced, spraying hay fries as he spoke. “Mine said “And find safe passage to the Source”. Everyone apparently heard something at the end, but it was all different.”

“Oh, that’s what I heard too. Then I woke up.”

Immediately Twilight pulled out a notepad and started furiously writing in it. “So some phrases may be repeated… Interesting, very interesting. Could you tell me about your dream, Applejack? So far everyone I’ve spoken to has described it exactly the same, but I want to make sure there wasn’t any variation between us.”

“So is it just us Elements and our families?”

“It doesn’t appear to be. Seems everypony in town had the same dream last night, though of course it is early and I’ve only managed to ask a couple residents.”

“Huh,” Applejack muttered, frowning. “Well, I was in the middle of a regular dream, just relaxing on the farm and whatnot—”

“Relaxing on the farm?” Apple Bloom said, earning a chuckle from Big McIntosh.

“Oh, button up. I closed my eyes for a second and then I was floating above an endless ocean. The whole thing started spinning and sinking and then after it seemed it had made enough noise, that chunk of rock just sprouted up like an apple tree set on fast forward. I got placed down in front of that Pegasi-built-looking temple or whatever, heard my phrase, and woke up to you bouncing at my bedrest.”

She looked up from her bowl of oatmeal to find Twilight nose-deep in her journal, her magicked quill moving furiously. Applejack raised an eyebrow again, and then resumed her breakfast.

“Well, that’s at least every one of us seven with the exact same dream. And the rest of you, of course,” Twilight said, smiling at the other Apple family members. Her stomach complained one more time and she grabbed a plate with a small stack of pancakes on it.

“So? What is it then? You called it Source Island, right?”

“Mmm.” She took a moment to savor her first bite and then swallowed. “Yes. There’s an old filly’s tale about the Source of all magic in Equus. Legend says that a group of wise ponies hid it away under the earth from all creatures to keep those who would be tempted by its power away. Some of the stories mention a prophecy that when the hiding spell failed, the Source would echo its location to all the world!”

“That’s all you’re going off of? And you’re sure it’s this magic thing?”

“Well, not positively, of course. I’m going to need to do more research. But it does seem to fit. Something rising up out of the earth—”

“Ocean.”

“—to echo its location—”

“Show its appearance.”

“—to all the world!”

“To residents in Ponyville, so far as we know.”

There was a moment of silence while Twilight ate another couple forkfuls and contemplated while chewing.

“Alright,” she admitted, “It’s pretty loosely applied. But I don’t know of anything else that even remotely matches what just happened, and that definitely is something big. You saw how much Luna struggled to maintain a shared dream when we fought the Tantabus. Something that can give potentially the whole country the same dream must be extremely powerful… Perhaps even the source of all magical power!” She beamed at Applejack, giving exaggerated winks.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” she sighed, laughing. “Though providing dreams ain’t nothing like bringing ponies all into one dream. It’s a fairly simple spell.”

Twilight blinked at Applejack.

“...I’ve heard,” Applejack added.

“Didn’t take you one for reading up about dream magic. Or any unicorn magic.”

“You learn things from friends.”

“That you do!” She beamed, fluttering her wings. “I should know better, being Princess of Friendship and everything. Speaking of, thank you all. Those were delicious. The chef at the Castle makes a lot of good food, but nothing compares to Apple family cooking.”

“Eeyup,” Big McIntosh said.

“What did your dream tell you, Big Mac?” Spike asked, licking syrup off his claws. 

The stallion tapped his chin. “Mine said “Hugged by waves of dark mystique”.” He shrugged while Apple Bloom giggled at mystique in a country drawl.

Again Twilight’s notebook zipped up. “Oh, very interesting, that was mine as well. So there’s perhaps significant overlap with these. I really should head back to the Castle library, try to see if I can find any more concrete information.” She looked up at Applejack with a smile. “Or if there’s anything else that explains it that isn’t an old mare’s tale, of course.”

“You haven’t been through all those books yet?”

“I skim a lot of them. Don’t tell anypony,” she whispered loudly, winking at Apple Bloom. “But I’m also prepared to head over to the Crystal Empire and see what their library has.”

“Maybe the Cloudsdale library, too,” Applejack suggested. “That definitely seemed like pegasus construction on the temple to me.”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s close, but it’s older by far. Pegasus architecture is an advancement made on classical, pre-pony designs. You can tell by the pillars, mainly. They’re thinner than the Pegasus style, but spaced closer together to support the same weight of the roof. The Pegasus ones are wide pillared, but further apart, so there’s more room to fly in and out. There’s also the use of volutes and fluting or the lack thereof with the Pegasus style—” 

“You’re saying this temple is older than even ponies exist?” It was Applejack’s turn to shake her head. “Now you’re just spouting nonsense. I thought it was just wild four-leggers until some’a them settled down and started farming.”

“That’s definitely the secondary school version of things, yes, but the ‘wild quadrupeds’ actually had their own civilizations, long before they split into the groups that would become us ponies and the deer and kirins and whatnot. Very little is known about it, but some archaeological sites were found. Coltlantis on the west coast, for example, that sunken city with the giant horse head statue? That was pre-pony.”

“Huh,” was all Applejack could think to say. She started. “So then this thing is really old then, hey? Maybe it is your Source.”

“It’s definitely another reason to start my research! I should get going, though, start doing my research. Who knows how long it’ll be before I figure things out?”

As she went to push back from the table and stand up, a weird look came over Spike’s face. Twilight glanced down, and then jumped back as a flaming belch erupted from the little dragon, almost reaching the rafters of the barn. While Apple Bloom laughed uproariously and rolled off the bench, Twilight grabbed the letter that had appeared and started reading.

Aside from the filly’s mirth, the room was silent, everyone’s eyes focused on the alicorn. Her brow creased after a moment, and then her eyes went wide.

“Well? What’s it say?” Applejack asked, while already thinking to herself that she probably needed to start preparing to leave.

“Dear Princess Twilight,” she read aloud, “By now you should be aware of the shared dream across the planet last night. We know what it is about and must discuss this situation with haste. It is of utmost importance that you travel to Canterlot at once. While urgent, the situation is not dire; you need not disturb your friends from their daily activities yet. If you know of the stories, you likely have realized that it is indeed the reappearance of the Source. We await your audience. Signed, Princess Celestia.” She looked up, jaw loose and words lost. “Applejack it is the Source. Ohmigosh. It’s the Source Applejack, the reason magic exists on Equus in the first place, the whole thing behind my ability to do stuff like hold this letter and for you to grow crops and for Dash to make it rain and—”

Applejack had stood up while Twilight rambled and she stuffed a hoof into her mouth, silencing her.

“Alright, you silly pony. I’ll go grab my bag. I keep one set up just in case for situations like this.”

Twilight gave her head a shake and then smiled, before blanching. “Oh, it said I didn’t need to bother you yet.”

“Y’ain’t bothering me. Harvest season isn’t for fully another month, and it was high time Big McIntosh started showing Apple Bloom some of the more strenuous chores around the farm. Besides, this whole magical artifact majigger ruined a perfectly good relaxing dream for me. This sounds like an important enough excuse to take a break.” She grinned around the room, guffawing at the strange, half-excited, half-dreading noise that slipped from her sister. 

“Well, I mean, if you’re sure, I’d love to have you come along!” Twilight said, embracing Applejack. “I was just, well, the letter said—”

“It sure didn’t say you couldn’t bring any friends.” She closed her eyes briefly while she hugged Twilight, thinking of her sleep last night and the night sky she had so briefly seen. “I reckon you’ll need somepony who’ll listen to you gush about it, anyways.”

“That’s definitely true,” Twilight laughed.