//------------------------------//
// Legends of Equestria 
// Story: That Particular Instance I Performed Metempsychosis As An Equine Named After A Piece Of Silverware 
// by Yuri Fanatic 
//------------------------------//

I closed the door behind me and locked it as I finally entered my room. Dropping my school saddle and supplies, I quickly let my hair down and replaced my blue designer glasses with my much-more-comfortable black rectangular reading glasses. I turned my gaze towards the window and night sky and proceeded to close the curtains. Walking to my small cabinet, I turned on the lamp and jumped up on my bed with a short thump.

I released a long-winded sigh as I leaned back into the soft cushions, then I took a glance at the large red book beside me. My eyes lingered on the tome for a while as I pondered what I discovered. Those missing pages. They can't be a mere accident. Dark foreboding thoughts slipped into my mind as I closed my eyes in contemplation. It can't be that, can it? A tome mentioning... humans. What are the chances of that? Could it be something completely different? Like a humpback whale or something?

I shook my head as I extinguished these doubts. The feeling in my gut was ever-present upon this revelation. No, this isn't something that can be ignored. Even if it's not humans, it could be something really important if it warrants being removed from this book and blotted out in the table of contents. With another extraneous sigh, I took the tome in both hooves and laid it on the bed where I can start reading it. Laying on my stomach, I opened its first page.





"Hello, my name is Parchy Scribbles and if you are reading this, then you probably ripped it out of my cold dead hooves. In which case, I applaud you; for you now have access to one of the most guarded tomes in Equestria. This is no mere exaggeration either, as I am currently the scribe of one of the most famous unicorns to ever 'probably' exist: Starswirl the Bearded.

Now, I must confess. When I signed up to be amongst the legendary group of unicorns in charge of moving the celestial objects in the sky, I never thought that I would end up being a simple scribe. Alas, Starswirl only chose me due to my uncanny ability to remember an expanse of details, texts, and imagery and the ability to scribble them down to minute detail.

I cannot hold a grudge over this, however, as I was never really known for my magic and the pay is plentiful enough to put a roof over my family and food on our table. Anyways, this book shall be a recording of various artifacts, legends, and monsters. Most of these entries will be new accounts considering that we are currently traveling in unknown territory. Despite the dangers, Starswirl is insistent that we travel; both to make sure the areas surrounding the tribes are secure and to find any artifacts that might aid us in our growing society.

If you ask me, however, I believe that my master has divined something particularly old and exceedingly powerful if it has managed to pull him from the comfort of his warm stone tower. I sincerely hope this book will be of use to you as it will be probably the last thing I will write in my career."





I finished reading the small note scribbled there and tilted my head. Okay, wow. That is a little grim. But I suppose that's par for the course if their society is just starting out in completely unknown territory. I turned over to the front cover again, seeing the title of the book inscribed there. The tome definitely showed its age, but not as far as it would fade out the ink within it. This book must be really old, and one of a kind if it's not published. By the look of this, it seems more of a personal recording rather than an official published account. This Parchy Scribbles also seem to be pretty loose-lipped when writing about Starswirl; they probably don't care about who's reading it.

I turned to the table of contents once more. Listed here are indeed lines of names; all organized under artifacts, legends, and monsters. "How organized," I muttered to no one in particular. I look at the top of the list and scanned my eyes down for anything of interest, but before I could even reach the fifth line my gaze paused at the line with the words 'Alicorn Amulet'. I pursed my lips in great curiosity. "This should be interesting..." I muttered again before turning the page.





The Alicorn Amulet



"With the subjugation of the Crystal Empire in the Frozen North under King Sombra, all liberation attempts by the Two Alicorn Sisters have failed. His control over the Crystal Heart had caused him to reach powers that not even they could handle, having reversed the properties of the empire's vital artifact completely in his favor.

Ergo, when they returned from their defeat, they discussed a plan of action with Starswirl the Bearded. The end result was to enchant a small keepsake of Two Sisters with a powerful sealing spell. The battle for the empire led to the loss of an entire nation, as King Sombra was banished along with the empire he ruled over. When the Two Sisters returned they presented the amulet to my master, the amulet glowing with immense red energy that tinted its color grey.

They stated that only a quarter of King Sombra's magic was sealed within it. They haven't explained why, but Starswirl seemed to accept that fact without question or hesitation. I wasn't present for that battle, so I can't say with any account how powerful that amulet is or what it is capable of.  All I know is that it warranted Starswirl to store the amulet under Castle of the Two Sisters where all the other forbidden treasures and cursed artifacts lie."





"Wait what?!" I exclaimed silently to myself. Okay, that was a lot of information at once. The Alicorn Amulet was under that castle the whole time!? I silently screamed. Last I recall, the amulet in the show was in the keepsake of some random shop in Canterlot. Or what I think it's Canterlot at least. That's where Trixie originally purchased the Amulet. I tapped my hoof on my chin.

A quarter of Sombra's power... Jesus Christ, Trixie was able to take over all of Ponyville and play practically God that episode. That level of power was almost on Discord's level of reality-bending shenanigans. Do you mean to tell me that Sombra was four times that powerful?! No wonder Celestia and Luna got curb stomped to the ground the first time. How'd they even manage to escape? Or get the opportunity to even attempt to seal his powers? I released an exasperated sigh. "I guess Alicorns are just that powerful?" I half-heartedly said, not believing that assumption.

"Wait..." I furrowed my brows. It's currently years before Trixie got that amulet. Is it possible that amulet is under that castle right now; with a bunch of other magic items, albeit cursed? I shook my head again. No, I shouldn't mess with canon if I can help it. That episode was an important one for Twilight. Probably. I don't even know where this castle is in the first place. I reasoned with myself before staring at the page again. "Hmm... I wonder if it has an account of that Crystal Heart."

I flipped to the Table of Contents again to see that it indeed was listed there, before flipping to the respective page.





The Crystal Heart



"When I heard the Crystal Empire requested help from our growing city, I had to listen to what was going on. The empire had lost an important magical catalyst that was vital for driving out dark forces, building-toppling blizzards, and huge monsters that lived on their borders.

From what my master said, the crystal was the literal 'heart' of the empire, empowering the positive emotions of the Crystal Ponies and releasing a constant stream of positive energy that projects a barrier of sorts. He explained it as an artifact that was capable of making the moods of everypony reflect onto reality; preventing anything negative from entering the empire.

Yet somehow a dragon of all things managed to steal it! Fortunately, the Two Alicorn Sisters managed to retrieve the artifact and helped forge good relations with both our nations. If I ever get the chance to visit the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Heart will be the first thing I want to see."





"Hmm. About what I expected in all honesty." I pressed my head against my hoof as I internalized this. I guess Sombra being able to reverse the effects of this heart and pour all this energy from the Crystal Ponies into himself explains why he was so powerful. My muse had me smirk. "Man, I would have never have learned any of this in the books in our library," I spoke to myself. "Not sure what I will do with this information now that I have it, but that was pretty interesting."

I flip back to the Table of Contents. Well I suppose I should take a look at the bestiary. There could be some interesting stuff there. I scanned the pages down again, then stop at a particular sight. "Oooh, Changelings! I love Changelings." Then I immediately navigated to the respective page.





Changelings



"These things are a danger to everything we have built here! They are NOT to be underestimated under any circumstances. Changelings have the ability to change shape, copying the form, mannerisms, and voices of any creature they encounter, and even disguising themselves as inanimate objects such as rocks. The outside of their bodies is a hard black carapace that can protect from even the most well-trained spears and arrows. These creatures are numerous beyond our expectations and are a threat that we can't feasibly prepare for a large-scale confrontation.

They have the advantage in espionage, being able to be anyone of us and with great ability to convince others of even the closest allies. They can be anything, such as weapons or even our armor! A small line of ants inside our walls could very well be an infiltrating squad of Changelings! They could even shapeshift into beasts much larger than themselves, such as bears, and chimeras, and Celestia help us an ursa minor.

We do not know the limits of their shapeshifting powers, but we can only act on the assumption that it is nearly unlimited. The only good thing we have against them is that we know that they cannot cast magic and Starswirl the Bearded has a spell that can undo their shapeshifting at a moment's notice.

These creatures have a queen and are located all across the underground in the deepest of known cave systems. My only fear is that our rock miners have treaded too far on their territory to the point where conflict is nigh inevitable."





"Holy shit." I reread the page once more. Are Changelings really that dangerous? They didn't seem so when Canterlot was raided by them. The mane six managed to fight through a horde of them with just improvised kung-fu skills. I paused mid-thought. Wait why the hell do they know kung-fu?! I pressed my hoof against my temple in idle painful confusion. This doesn't make sense.

I glanced over the sketch that  Parchy Scribbles drew. Huh, they do look a lot different than the ones seen in the show. They probably evolved during that time or something. I casually flipped back to the Table of Contents. Alright let's find something less foreboding now, shall we? I then looked down the list again. "Hmm... the Cockatrice. That should be neat."





Cockatrice



"A Cockatrice is a small Dragon-like creature, easily distinguished by its chicken head. Although one should be thankful that it is not a Dragon, the Cockatrice should still be handled with extreme caution as its stare can turn even the most stalwart of ponies to stone! The cures for being turned into a statue are few and far between; beyond finding a rare magical artifact or remedy, the surest way is to hunt down the offending Cockatrice and convince or force him or her to release the trapped pony.

It is unclear as to why the Cockatrice turns ponies to stone, though there are two main theories. The first is that it is simply a defense mechanism; the Cockatrice is not the largest or scariest creature, but being able to turn things larger than it into stone allows it to get away unharmed.

The second theory is my personal favorite, however, and it is that although the Cockatrice is a grouchy and cranky creature, it does want to have friends. The Cockatrice believes that a creature that stays with it must be its friend, so by turning ponies to stone it can convince itself that it has lots and lots of statue-y friends.

Either that, or it just doesn’t like the noises ponies make!"





"Hmm... nothing that I already don't know." I drew an unimpressed look. Is there a way to counter it? Maybe it follows Medusa laws and that you can look away from its gaze? Or does it just petrify you no matter what? If that's the case then I'm pretty fucked. I guess that's why Twilight got stoned in the first place. Why was she there even?

I disregarded the thought as I flipped over to the book's list of contents again and blew a small sigh. "Okay... hmm... Timberwolf. That should be good."





Timberwolf



"Respect the Everfree forest and stay clear of them, as you never know when you're going to encounter one of its ancient protectors. The Everfree forest is an ancient earth pony burial site, formed after Nightmare Moon's banishment. Until Celestia was powerful enough to master her duties over both the sun and moon there was a catastrophic famine brought on by the erratic climate causing unnatural heat and cold during the planting season.

This is why it is illegal to attempt to cut down the Everfree forest, despite all its current inhabitants. The timber wolves were once loyal timber hounds that were created to guard the graveyard against those who would defile it by the last mare of the large clan. They've gone feral after years of neglect, and see anypony who enters the forest as a defiler.

Timberwolves tend to work together in teams to chase ponies that enter their woods. They are cunning and fast, not to mention they have a nasty bite! Although Timberwolves are scary, they are also very territorial, meaning they are usually content to chase ponies out of their forests, and rarely leave the woods unless something forces them to.

If you end up encountering one, you'd best have some fire spells memorized or torches to scare them off. They're the most common creature you'll find in that forest and they are vulnerable to fire most of all."





Okay damn, that's some depressing shit. That whole forest is a grave site!? That's just plain creepy. Just how many ponies died during that erratic climate? I furrowed my brows with concern as I contemplated this. The forest probably grew since then, extending the Timberwolves' territory as it did. Wait, doesn't Fluttershy live next to that forest? Why would she live there? I mean, yeah I guess there are animals, but encountering feral creatures is not worth that risk. I pressed the side of my head against the cushion. "Well, whatever I guess."

I paused my reading to look at my nearby clock. It's getting late, I'll continue this another time I guess. Closing the book, I pushed it off the bed and joined it. Then I lifted the floor carpet before taking a small silver spoon from my cabinet. Taking it, I pressed the spoon against the floorboard edges and lifted the wooden panel up to reveal a small space inside. I promptly slid the book in and closed the panel; undoing the carpet and making sure nothing was left misplaced.

Hopping up on my bed, I turned off my reading lamp and dozed off into sleep.