Chapter 7
"Well, you seem to have been correct..." Celestia said as she walked into the room.
Weaver looked up from the book she had been reading, replying with a questioning glance towards the princess of the sun.
"Your friend, nopony has seen anything of him for a couple of days now. Though I really am concerned as to where he is. We also have not heard anything from the other one you mentioned." Celestia continued on as she trotted over and prodded at the sleeping form of her sister.
Weaver inwardly smiled as she thought of the piece of information she had withheld from the princesses. She had told them that her friends had gotten separated, but not how. She had not told them that Helix and her had let Dizastrous fall alone, lest they view her in a negative way. And she had also neglected to tell them about the fact Helix was staying with a pony in a town not far from Canterlot.
"I'm not quite sure where he could be." Weaver lied as she set the book down on the table next to her.
Luna stirred and moaned as she put a pillow over her head and moaned for her sister to cease her attempts at waking her up. This however only caused the princess of the sun to double her efforts in waking her sister.
"They will turn up eventually, they always do." Weaver said, mumbling the last part in a barely audible tone.
Celestia picked up on this however and gave the warlock a questioning glance, "Do you and your friends split up and get lost a lot?"
"to the point Helix and I have become masters of summoning allies..." Weaver scoffed.
Celestia's eyes narrowed, "You can summon them?"
Weaver froze after realizing her mistake, but quickly recovered, "technically speaking yes. But not alone though. It requires three to open a portal, and two to summon. I would happily open the portal, but teaching you two to help me open it will take time. Plus they could turn up before I teach you how to aid me."
Celestia considered this for a moment, then looked down on the still sleeping form of her sister. The princess of the sun frowned at this.
"Luna it is almost time for me to lower the sun and for you to raise the moon." Celestia said, putting her head next the the pillow from which the blue starry mane billowed from underneath.
"Fine..." Luna groaned as she rolled onto her hooves and stretched as she stood.
The princess of the moon yawned as she spread her wings and blinked a few times, attempting to readjust her eyes to the light. She looked around until she noticed the stack of books that sat next to the warlock.
"Any luck?" Luna asked.
"Unfortunately no." Weaver said as she closed the book she was reading and set it on top of the pile next to her, "When is this Discord going to be back? I thought he was just being rehabilitated, don't you have a spell for that?"
Celestia eyed the book Weaver had been reading and realized it was a spell book, one that contained spells pertaining to mental conditions.
"We were hoping to use a more humane form of rehab. Those spells are only for a last measure." Celestia said with a frown.
Weaver scoffed at the word 'humane', and then braced herself for what was about to happen. Both princesses' horns lit up, and an intense magical aura filled the room as the sun was lowered and the moon was raised. Each princess burned with a power that together rivaled that of the Sunwell. After the ordeal was over, Weaver unclenched her hands, noting the drips of blood her fingertips had drawn from her palms.
"Are your people blind when it comes to magical senses?" Weaver asked with a strained voice.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked with a confused look adorning her face.
"Being near you two when you do that is like staring into the sun..." Weaver said with a groan.
The two royal sisters exchanged glances briefly before Celestia spoke up, "Is your ability to sense magic that keen?"
"That is the thing about having an addiction to magic. The craving, along with feeding on fel energies has changed us. While others who train in the magical arts may have a keen ability to sense magic, we are practically predators. They however could even tell you two hold immense power, can ponies not feel this?" Weaver asked, an incredulous look on her face.
"Well, we can recognize magic when we see it. But we can not feel it as you apparently can." Luna offered.
Celestia yawned and rubbed a hoof to her eyes, "We have spells to trace magic, and detect it. But we do not perceive it as if it were one of the five senses."
Luna looked at the bags under her sister's eyes and frowned, "Tia, you should get some rest..."
"That does sound nice. Weaver, I told the guards to allow you out of the castle if you wanted to search around the town for anything." Celestia said as she turned and headed back for the door to exit Luna's room.
"Good night Tia." Luna said with a smile as she watched her sister leave.
"Good night Luna..." Celestia mumbled, eyes half lidded as the princess of the sun fought to stay awake long enough to make it to her room.
Weaver watched the exchange with a neutral expression. She watched as Luna put on her shoes and her necklace, and then finally donned her crown before checking herself over in her mirror to make sure everything was in order. The princess of the night then looked expectantly at the warlock.
"Looking forward to another night of waiting for royal duties to occur?" Weaver asked, having witnessed Luna sitting on the throne with no visitors to her night court. The only thing Luna seemed to do was channel a spell as she kept a bored expression.
"While there were no visitors requesting an audience, I still had many nightmares to stamp out in the dreams of my little ponies." Luna said with a small smile.
Weaver raised an eyebrow at this news, "You watch over the world of dreams for your subjects?"
Luna nodded, causing Weaver to go deep into thought for a moment. Weaver contemplated whether or not her dreams had been invaded by the princess. The warlock tried desperately to remember what she had dreamed of the first day she had stayed in this strange world.
"Are you concerned that I have spied on your dreams?" Luna asked with a frown after seeing the expression the warlock wore.
"I only fear that if I had a nightmare that attracted your attention it would be too gruesome for your tastes." Weaver said with an even tone as she lied.
"Well, I promise not to look into your dreams, though I find it hard to do so when you and I sleep at near the same hours of the day." Luna said commenting on the almost nocturnal sleep pattern of the warlock who had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning before finally crashing.
Weaver smiled, and even chuckled as the worries were vanquished from her mind. The smile on the warlock's face brought one to the princess of the night as well.
"Well princess, if you do not mind I shall take my leave. I want to poke around the town a little bit. Are there any shops open at this time of the night?" Weaver asked.
"Almost every store in Canterlot have night time hours to accommodate for the nocturnal residence. While not as many travel the roads, the bars and restaurants tend to be more lively at this time anyways." Luna answered with a smile.
"Then I shall see what I find." Weaver said with a shrug, "Any recommendations for good spots?"
"There is a nice little shop called Doughnut Joe's. Wonderful pasties, and they also serve some alcohol at these hours." Luna offered.
Weaver considered this for a moment, she was about to turn down the thought of a pastry shop, but then remembered that the majority of the populace was vegetarian and most likely ate hay based products. The only reason she had been able to procure fish the previous day was because the castle staff had it in store for the Griffon diplomats that visited every now and then. Perhaps pastries would be the best she was going to get in the town.
"I will have to look for that place. I will see you later then Luna." Weaver said with a bow.
Luna waved a hoof as the warlock turned an departed, as Weaver got out of sight however she pulled out a medallion from her pack and grasped it firmly in her hands as she walked through the castle halls, making her way for the exit.
The medallion was an enchanted piece, that every member of the guild had, and were required to keep on them at all times. Through the amulets, a telepathic link could be established with the other amulets they were attuned to, to relay messages. Weaver accessed the officer channel the medallion provided for the higher ranking members and began to send out a message.
'Diz, you better have your medallion on you.' Weaver sent.
Weaver walked, clutching the amulet in a fist as she exited the castle. The reply was not always instant, as to send and receive a message one had to grasp the amulet, the only thing one of the amulets did when not being touched was emit a low sound to alert that a message was waiting.
'Do you think he is asleep?' Helix sent through the amulet's line.
'Helix, how are things on your end?' Weaver replied.
'Got into a little trouble with a local, was accused of being part of the legion. But it's fine now, we had a talk and smoothed things out. Tomorrow I was going to have dinner with his family, granted the town calms down. Some psycho with an insane amount of power is spending some time in town apparently, the place he is staying at is as chaotic as Outland...' Helix reported.
'Ah, that would be Discord. I was hoping to have a chat with him once he is done being rehabilitated there.' Weaver messaged back.
'What did you need now? I'm a little busy.' Dizastrous messaged.
'Busy with what? You better not be causing more trouble! The locals were going to start a man hunt for you had I not vouched for you.' Weaver scolded over the line.
Weaver looked around the street she was strolling down, noticing the few passerby's that gave her odd stares. She could not see the shop she searched for however.
'There is a particularly annoying Hydra that refuses to stay down here... It is a little distracting to respond while trying block at the same time.' Dizastrous messaged after a short while.
'Kill it then, we need to discuss something important aside from me warning you not to piss off the residence of this world.' Weaver sent angrily.
'I would but I don't want to completely wipe these poor bastards off the face of this world. I've already killed five of them, and I have been told not to kill any more of them. Something about the balance of nature being too disrupted if another dies.' Dizastrous replied.
'Told by who?' Weaver sent, a confused frown as she sent the message.
'Diz... The only place I have heard that the hydras call home is Foggy Bottom Bog. Are you seriously there right now?' Helix cut in.
'Hold on, I'll ask.' Dizastrous replied.
Weaver sighed in exasperation as she pinched the bridge of her nose between her eyes. If the conversation was already getting derailed by the short attention span of her guild mates, then things were not looking good. She looked up at the store she stood in front of and cocked her head to the side.
Weaver stood in front of Doughnut Joe's, the sight was shaped in a giant doughnut, with the words written in frosting as a baker would on a cake, over the doughnut. Weaver stepped inside and sat at the front table, towering over the pony that sat next to her on the bar stool.
"What can I get for you?" A cream colored stallion with short brown hair asked from behind the counter.
Weaver cocked an eyebrow at the lack of fear in the stallion's face as it talked to her, "One glazed doughnut, and... What kinds of alcohol do you serve? "
"We have hard ciders, whiskeys, ales, mead, and a few different porters." Doughnut Joe said with a smile.
"I shall go with a mead. Any kind you have." Weaver said as she placed a golden coin down on the table.
Joe eyed the coin with interest, levitating it to him, and placing it between his teeth as he bit down on it. The stallion's eyes widened slightly as he smiled, "Planning on opening up a tab?"
Weaver raised a brow at this, and then looked around, noticing that the other customers seemed to have paid in copper coins that sat in a pile on the counter top.
"Sure, why not?" Weaver shrugged, relieved that her gold was going to take her a long ways here.
'Yeah, it is. What of it?' Dizastrous finally replied.
'That is fairly close to Ponyville if I am not mistaken...' Helix responded.
'Yeah, I'm headed there now. I found someone who is giving me directions to where I want to go.' Dizastrous replied without a delay this time.
'Finally got away from the Hydra?' Weaver sent.
'Yeah, it gave up when I led it to the bodies of the others.' Dizastrous messaged.
'Why are you coming here? Don't you have any leads yet?' Helix asked.
'Yes, but you are staying at a library aren't you? I was hoping to do some looking into on a few things before I set off. You know, things like local fauna, climate in regions, and where the hell anything actually is so I can tell my guide where I want to go. Oh, and I already know I will only be getting a rough estimate on where something is. Their maps are shit for a civilization that has the ability to fly to a better vantage point to make maps.' Dizastrous ranted over the guild amulets.
'Any chances you can be subtle when you get here? Aside from a handful of ponies I actually have not been found out by the local populace yet.' Helix messaged.
'Helix, you know damn well his armor is practically a big metal beacon. If he doesn't get noticed, then the ponies are blind.' Weaved sent.
'Come on Helix, I thought you knew me better than that. Why go in unnoticed when I can make life more difficult for you?' Dizastrous asked.
'Is this about leaving you where we dropped into this world at?' Helix messaged.
'You bet your sweet ass it is!' The angry reply came from Dizastrous.
'Diz, focus for a moment. I need to warn you about something.' Weaver attempted to get the conversation back on track.
'I'm listening...' Came Dizastrous's reply.
'It is a good thing you are going to a library to find a map, I know where you need to start looking. I read of an empire up north that has an artifact with the ability to purify the hatred and darkness from the land around it. I suspect it may even possess the ability to cleanse the traces of fel energy that corrupt us. Can I trust you to look into it?' Weaver sent.
'Yeah, that should be fine.' Dizastrous replied back.
'And can I trust you not to cause an angry mob to chase helix out of the town he is staying in?' Weaver asked cautiously.
'That shall remain up for debate.' Dizastrous sent the telepathic message.
'You better not!' Helix's angry reply came.
Weaver smacked a hand over her face as she deposited the amulet back into her pocket. Helix and Dizastrous would be at it for at least an hour. She might as well enjoy the pastry and drink that was set down before her.
Picking up the doughnut and taking a bite out of it, Weaver thought over what she would say when the cat came out of the bag that not just one of her friends, but both of them were near Celestia's prized pupil in Ponyville. Weaver took another bite, only now realizing it was delicious, her first bite wasted because of how deep in thought she was.
"I may have to come here more often..." Weaver mumbled to herself.
The trip and stay here proved useful as a chance to send a message to her friends without either of the princesses catching onto her. The fact that the food, while not nutritious, was delightful to the taste was a bonus as well.
As weaver finished her doughnut she downed her drink and smiled at Joe, "I may have to return tomorrow."
Joe smiled at this news, to him as long as the customer paid he did not care what race it was.
Weaver left the shop and strolled back towards Canterlot castle. As she walked she gazed at the sky, particularly at the full moon that hung overhead. Unlike the night sky of every other world she had been to, this one stood out. While the night sky the titans had forged for her world was mesmerizing, this one that was moved around by Luna seemed more like artwork.
"Why is this moon so beautiful compared to every other I have gazed upon?" The question donned on Weaver as she spoke to herself.