Scrolls and books. Many scrolls and books. Derpy took it all in as she stood there in the chamber, mouth agape. The room they resided in was a large dome, most likely the top of the library. There was no wall visible whatsoever in this room, just shelves crammed with books and yellowing scrolls. The only time there was a break in the shelves was a small window that let light filter through just a crack.
Nightlight’s horn glowed blue as an extremely blinding light shone in the middle of the chamber. “Sun damages books, especially the older ones. Celestia’s sun may be beloved by all ponies, but we’re pretty sure most books hate the beauty,” he joked, signaling that the trio should follow him as he began to walk. “Now, this is the room for all the ‘top secret’ stuff. In your letter, it states that you three are only allowed to search the maps and…” he levitated the permission letter that he had been hiding somewhere and peered at the text. “Legends? Okay? Anyways, so, we are going to skip all this,” he said, swinging his arm to show half the room, “and we are just going to look at this,” he pointed to the other half. “Yes, we have quite a collection of maps and such, considering how many explorers Equestria was blessed with!
“We don’t keep all this a secret though, why, over an eighth of this is given out as common knowledge in school! Average ponies know the basics of a few nations, like what lives there and how close it is to our nation. However, average ponies only know of nations we are allies with. A good example would be Zebrica. You three are about to breath in knowledge that most nobles don’t even know! But you must understand, don’t go spreading this secret around! Nope! Nu-uh! The government is very… strict…” He muttered. “Okay, yeah, I’m going to be here if you need me!” He trotted to a corner where he pulled out a book from an unknown place and began reading.
“Alright, let’s see that map!” The Doctor hollered.
Derpy quickly obeyed as she flipped open her saddlebag with her wing and searched through her left bag with her muzzle. When her head popped back up, her hair was messy in some areas and she had the scroll in her little mouth. Her eyes shone bright and golden.
She looks so adorable, The Doctor thought. He shook his head trying to clear the thought. What was he doing? He’d never felt this way before! Both his hearts thumped in his ears, a warm feeling spreading through her face. His eyes dilated as he continually stared at the smiling mare.
Kacoonis levitated it out of her mouth and unrolled it, setting it on a wooden table nearby. “See that top line?” Kacoonis asked, placing a hoof on the upper border. “Does that look familiar to you?”
“It’s… It’s like part of Equestria’s bottom border!” Derpy exclaimed.
“Right, so what are places near Equestria?” Kacoonis placed a hoof on her chin, a frown on her face and a crease on her brow.
“Er, San Palomino Desert? Er, Bad Lands? Amare-azon? I don’t really-“
“Amare-azon!” Kacoonis shrieked, a sparkle in her eyes. She ran along the approved shelves, her horn pulling out each and every scroll and map. A storm started to form around her. A tornado of books, that is. Her eyes scanned each piece of literature as they swirled around her. “Ah-hah!” She exclaimed, all the books dropping to the floor but three. She rushed to the table where Derpy and the Doctor were staring in awe at how amazing Kacoonis’ magical abilities truly were. “Here, I found these three clumped together,”
“Derpy took the two scrolls and large book and set them down. “How about we each take one, we need to know what these faded out dots are,” she explained, pointing to each little dot with an almost invisible label.
The trio set to work, searching through the long scrolls and every individual page, careful not to miss anything. “Guys, come over here!” the pegasus shrieked. The two companions quickly trotted over. “See, here, it starts to talk about the legends of Amare-azon. Each little tale has a miniature map of where it supposedly took place. Well, each one is one of the dots!” Derpy proudly showed her new find.
“So the legends must have clues…” The Doctor muttered. He looked to the first one.
There once was a pony who ran free through the jungles, not giving a care to anypony else. He ruined crops, released farm animals, and brought stampedes through the neighboring villages. The only way the local villagers could get him to stop was to get rid of him. They silently crept to his home in the night and tied him in a bundle. The villagers found the largest bird they could find and tied the pony to the bird’s feet. The bird set off, the villagers now free from the horrid pony. The pony was sent to a nearby land, to a cloudy area. Once he set hoof on the fluffy clouds, he sprouted long wings that made him go faster than any other pony. This is how the pegasus was created.
“Nearby Land… that’s Equestria, San Palomino Desert, or the Bad Lands. I don’t believe the last two have ‘cloudy areas’ where pegasi live.” The Doctor examined.
“Cloudsdale,” Derpy stated. The word hung in the air.
“Okay, so what if it is Cloudsdale is the place? It’s a modern, overpopulated city. I doubt they would have anything that, would-“ Kacoonis was interrupted by a knowledgeable pegasus.
“Isn’t it obvious, guys? In the legend, there are only a few things stated: A naughty pony, a bunch of villagers, villages, a ‘cloudy area’, pegasi, and a bird. It can’t be the villagers, villages, or cloudy area, so it has to be the pony or the big bird. Think about it. They could be sort of ageless creatures like our dear princesses. Seriously. I mean, what else could it be?”
“I guess… it’s worth a shot,” Kacoonis muttered.
“Cool, we should leave right away,” Derpy got up to leave. “Thank you Nightlight, for everything,”
“Nightlight looked up and blinked a few times. “Huh? Oh, sorry, this is a really good book. Are you lot leaving? I hope we can meet again soon…” his head dropped as he went back to reading.
“Can we check this book out?” Derpy questioned.
“Huh? Yeah, yeah, run it by Leaflet on your way out…” he rambled, keeping his eyes glued on the book.
“Uh, okay, goodbye then!”
The party weaved their way through the many bookshelves once again, ending up back at the front desk. Leaflet was busy on a typewriter, her tongue poking out as she concentrated hard.
“Um, hi, we would like to check out this book,” Derpy placed the large and dusty text on the desk. A large thump sound followed.
“Yeah, just give me a second,” she muttered. Derpy sighed and stood there, impatience seeping out of her.
The Doctor trailed off, into the labyrinth of books. Kacoonis followed. “Where are you going?”
“Going to find out what’s with Derpy’s wings, I hate not knowing things,” he stopped at a shelf labeled, ‘Anatomy of a pony’. He stooped low and found an excerpt of pegasi wings.
“Oh, you are going to love what you find out,” Kacoonis giggled as the stallion’s eyes grew wide at the information that was going through his mind. He closed the book quickly.
The Doctor cleared his throat. “Hmm, yes, that is all,” he blushed and ran back to Derpy who was just about to go out the door.
“Oh, there you guys are! I thought you were in the Tardis waiting or something,”
“Let’s go,” the Doctor dismissed, galloping out of the door.
Derpy cocked her head. “What happened?”
Kacoonis smirked. “He found out about why your wings go ‘pomf’,” She made air single-quotes with her white hooves.
Derpy’s jaw hit the floor as Kacoonis walked out of the library.
***
Kacoonis’ horn lit inside the Tardis as the Doctor was hit with a beam of lime green. “I don’t feel any different,” he muttered, examining his body.
“You shouldn’t. It’s just a spell to help you walk on clouds,” she muttered, her horn shrinking and wings sprouting from her back.
“Come one! I want to see the city I was raised in!” Derpy moaned impatiently.
“Alright, I want to walk on clouds!” The Doctor exclaimed with glee.
They all opened the cobalt blue doors into the white and blue city that lay out before them. The Doctor practically belly flopped into the clouds. He was giggling uncontrollably. Pegasi all around stared at the odd trio of a giggling earth pony lying on the ground, a tall pegasus who was obviously embarrassed, and a strange pegasus with unfocused eyes.
“Ahem,” Derpy shouted to the Doctor. He looked up with an innocent face that made Derpy’s heart melt. “Now, we should go to the Cloudsdale Zoo-for the bird- and ask around. We should see if there’s any really ancient pegasi around or something. We need to go to the Cloudsdale Library as well, to check the history records or the tourist attractions of Cloudsdale or-“
"Derpy?" A deep voice called out.
Derpy quickly turned her head around to the familiar voice. She squealed in joy when she found out who it belonged to. “SHADOW CRAWLER!" She galloped towards the foalhood friend and leapt into the air. She collapsed right on top of the slate grey batpony.
"It's great to see you!" He chuckled, his muscles rippling under Derpy's delicate body.
Derpy broke the embrace and examined the stallion’s face. "You haven't changed a bit! Well, except you’re a lot more ripped than the lightweight fast pony I used to know. Other than that, exactly the same!"
"Why thank you," he flexed his forelegs mockingly.
Derpy giggled. "So why are you in Cloudsdale? Last I remembered, you four moved to Ponyville together. How are all of you?" He questioned, glad to bump into one of his foalhood best friends.
"Well, I'm still neighbors with Raindrops, and Fluttershy and Rainbowdash are still close." She answered. Shadow Crawler urged her to continue. "Rainbow is still hard headed and the best flyer ever, Fluttershy is still all about animals and still shy, and Raindrops is still amazing with the delicate art of weather. We all haven’t changed much," she recollected.
"And you still love muffins and bubbles and call yourself a klutz when you aren't?" He raised a brow.
Derpy blushed and giggled. "Yeah… so right, I'm in Cloudsdale with two of my friends on a mission from the Princess,"
He whistled "Wow, the Princess! What's your role in the government, huh?"
"…Mailpony… well, used to be," she said sadly, lowering her head.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he muttered reassuringly, he placed his hoof on her shoulder-though this was hard for she was still sitting on him.
"Ahem," Kacoonis interrupted. "Sorry to break up this reunion, but I want to know who this foxy pony is," she said, licking her lips.
"Rosetta, Doctor," she introduced, "meet my foalhood friend, Shadow Crawler, the best Night Guard you will ever meet," she praised, finally stepping off of the batpony.
"Woah!" The Doctor shouted. He ran up to the pony who was just getting up. The Doctor unfolded the bat wings much to Night's surprise.
"Er," Shadow muttered, looking to the giggling Derpy for assistance.
Derpy cleared her throat. "Doctor, he's a batpony. They are a whole another race from outside of Equestria. Many immigrated here, and thus, they are quite common here, they have integrated their way into the pony world."
"I see," he examined, looking at the tufts of fur coming out of the batpony's ears.
"Anyways, it's really great to see you Derpy! We should hang out sometime during your stay,"
"Well, we aren't staying here for over a day, so I don't think we'll have time… unless…" Derpy turned to her two companions. "Guys, could I hang out with Shadow for a while? We haven't seen each other in years and we need a lot of catching up. Please? We could meet up back here in two hours. Please?"
"Ooooooh! A plot twist in drama!" Kacoonis cheered. She looked at the Doctor and Derpy with a sly look. "Sure, Derpy. You can hang out with your coltfriend all day, if you like," she snickered.
Both faces looked identical in colour and expression. Derpy's blushed face uttered, "We aren't…"
"Dating…" he finished.
Kacoonis snickered, "Whatever you say!" She trotted off with the Doctor staring at the duo until they were too far away to be seen.
“You mad?” Kacoonis questioned, a smiled on her face.
“W-what?!” The Doctor blushed profusely, “W-why would I be?”
“You’re mad that Derpy’s getting nice and comfortable with another stallion. You want to smooch her so bad, don’t you?” Kacoonis’ persistent smile irked the beige stallion.
“NO. I. DON’T!” He shrieked.
“Denial! Such a stupid thing. Really, you need to confess your love for her before that delicious batpony whisks her away from you,”
“I-I-I,” the Doctor stuttered, the same warm feeling spreading through him again.
Kacoonis had won. “Whatever, your love life! Let’s just go to this zoo!” She whipped her rosy hair and started to trot away.
The Doctor looked back at the two ponies who were still standing there, laughing and giggling with each other. The Doctor felt a slight rage boil deep within him. Derpy leaned over, close to the stallion’s face. The Doctor’s eyes shrunk to pinpoints as this action happened. His mouth tasted horrible. He felt like he was going to be sick. He stared with intent eyes as she leaned over and whispered something inaudible… and then started giggling? Hmmm… maybe the zoo can wait, time for some… studying,