//------------------------------// // A Mystery Uncovered // Story: The Best Intentions // by SpearmintSonnet //------------------------------// Chapter 7: A Mystery Uncovered: Cadence met Claudia down in the bowels of the castle the next evening outside Sharp Retort's offices. The young dragon looked better than she had the evening before, but only marginally. The pegasus eyed her friend carefully, “You did get some sleep today, right? You didn't stay up all day in the library again?” “No,” the dragon yawned, covering her mouth with a claw. “I did sleep a bit, but not as much as you would have liked, I'm sure. But if we're going to take care of this, one of us needs to be working on it, and during the day, that would be me.” The pink princess frowned, “that would be fine if you slept at all during the night, but you won't unless I get on you about it!” The door before them swung open and the blue alchemist poked her head out, looking irritable. “If you're going to come in, do so! Don't stand outside my door and chatter like twittering birds all evening! I have work to be done, and I cannot be distracted!” She raised an eyebrow when she realized who it was loitering behind her door, but she made no motion to take back the frustrated words she'd spoken. “If you're here to try these potions, you'd be better served to enter my office rather than stand around outside, Princess.” “Yes, of course,” Cadence smiled as she pulled the door wider and entered with Claudia on her heels. “Then you do have some done?” “I have a couple. One at least needs some more time, but only because it requires some ingredients I cannot obtain until later this week.” Retort gestured to the counter where two small vials sat, one with a glowing blue liquid and the other filled with a mixture that had the color and viscosity of blood. Cadence grimaced at the second vial, “Are you sure that potion is supposed to look like that, Sharp Retort?” “Don't you trust me, Princess?” Retort actually sounded forlorn as she spoke, but quickly cracked a devious grin, “I suppose I don't blame you. However, there is no malice in my work and I would never force you to try any potion if you are not comfortable in taking it.” Taking a deep breath, the princess reached for the first vial and downed its contents in two quick swallows, gagging slightly on the foul taste. “What... what was in that?” she gasped as the potion started to burn its way through her. Retort's face was impassive, “You're probably better off not knowing, Princess. There is a good reason why very few alchemists choose to use their own potions. You should be feeling any effects quickly, if there are any effects, that is. Some potions don't give visible results.” The princess nodded, which caused her head to spin, “Is dizziness a normal side effect?” “No,” Retort shook her head and moved around the counter. “Well, it is, but not if the potion worked. You might try the other one now. Or wait a few minutes. It makes no difference.” Steeling herself, Cadence reached for the second potion. It sloshed around unappetizingly in the thin glass vial. This one didn't burn as it went down, instead it felt quite cool and refreshing. The princess allowed herself a short moment to fantasize about this being the cure to her ailment, but it quickly passed as several waves of nausea washed over her in quick succession. Covering her mouth with a hoof, she tried to breath evenly in an attempt to not throw up on the alchemist's floor. “I suppose that one didn't work either,” Cadence sighed as the waves of nausea passed. “I would agree,” Claudia sighed and turned to Sharp Retort. “Thank you for taking the time to help, even if it was fruitless.” “It wasn't completely useless,” the alchemist disagreed, passing the dragon some of the books she'd brought down the night before. “You learned that these potions aren't the solution so if you ever see them again you can ignore them.” “Right,” Claudia muttered, taking the books back. “Well... we'll see you in a few days, I suppose.” “Hmmmph,” Sharp Retort grunted as the princess and her dragon vacated her offices. ~~~ The two friends headed back upstairs to the library. Expecting it to be empty for the night, both were surprised to see the librarian, Britannica, waiting for them with a stack of books. “I found some of the volumes you asked me for, Claudia, but unfortunately it seems many of them are missing from the shelves.” “Maybe I won't need them,” the dragon said, taking the stack from the mare. “And you're sure they're missing and not just misplaced on the shelves?” Britannica looked indignant, “I am entirely sure, Claudia. Those books are not in my library.” “Perhaps you could tell us which ponies have the books, and when they are returned so we can use them,” Cadence offered. “Normally I wouldn't give out such information, Princess, at least not who has the books, but considering your husband has many of them, I don't see the problem.” Britannica moved back towards her desk and the file cabinets that held cards on each and every book in the library. She began moving between the cabinets, removing a card here and there. “Speaking of, Prince Silver Scales checked out many of these books over a year ago. I haven't seen him around lately, so would you mind telling him that he can either pay me fifty bits and keep the books, or return them and pay me twenty. Either way, the sooner I know which it will be, the sooner I can restock the library.” She handed the Princess a small stack of cards that contained the book title and the names of the last several ponies who had checked them out. Cadence nodded, “I'll be sure to tell him...” “I would very much appreciate it, Princess. Now, if you'll excuse me,” the librarian yawned broadly and headed towards the doors, “I need to get to bed. Goodnight Princess. Claudia.” Cadence moved to the table she and Claudia had commandeered for their research, setting the cards in front of her as she began looking through them. “Dear gods, some of these books have been checked out for years.” She sighed and began setting the cards into piles based on who had checked out the book and when. “I'm not sure we'll be able to find all of these, even if we needed them desperately.” Claudia walked over and pointed a claw at an ever-growing stack off to the right, “and those are the books Silver Scales checked out?” “Yes, most of them at least.” Cadence stopped what she was doing to filter one or two cards out from the stack. “These are all of the ones he had borrowed.” “What would a unicorn need all these books on the fundamentals of alchemy?” Claudia asked as she flipped through the cards, taking note of the titles. “Well, from what I remember him telling me, his magic isn't very strong and so he turned to alchemy, which he turned out to be very good at.” Cadence said sitting back from the table. “I think he said his love for alchemy was present in his cutie mark, among other things.” “Hmmm, you haven't seen any of these books hanging around your suite have you, Cadence?” the dragon asked as she straightened the cards between her hands. “I know I didn't notice them the few times I've been there, but then I wasn't looking.” “No, I haven't, but I think they were all checked out before we were married. Can you check the dates?” Claudia riffled through the cards for a moment before nodding, “All of these books were checked out between March and April last year. And you're sure you haven't seen them in your apartments?” “Absolutely sure,” the princess confirmed. “I would have noticed them by now.” “Well then, maybe he left them in the suite he'd stayed in before you were together. If I recall correctly, he was staying in the West Tower Wing of the castle.” Claudia thought a moment, “yes, I'm quite sure that's where he would have been. We always set up visiting royalty there.” “Do you think the books are still there? I mean, he might have moved them. If that's the case, they could be anywhere!” “Calm down, Cadence,” Claudia raised a claw, “if we assume that Silver Scales fell under the same spell you did around the same time, then he wouldn't have thought to move his books. I'm sure his room is the exact same as it was when he was last there.” The princess nodded, “that makes sense... Well, do you want to go grab the books now, or wait until later?” Claudia set the cards back down on the table, “No time like the present, as they say. Let's go. The West Wing isn't too far from here anyway.” The purple dragon lead the way through the empty castle halls towards the tall spiral tower on the western side of the castle. It was a generally empty area of the castle at the best of times as it was only used when royalty of other kingdoms visited. That wasn't a problem now as no royalty had visited the Crystal Castle in over a year, and certainly not since Cadence and Silver Scales had been married. However, despite it's lack of use, it was just as clean and beautiful as the rest of the palace. Inside the tower, rooms were spaced at intervals up the tower, and most suites spanned the entire breadth of the tower. The room Silver Scales had stayed in was one that did not, however, and only took up half the floor between two rooms- a larger sleeping area with a small room annexed to one side. It was quite similar to the rooms that Claudia had and was one of the sparsest of the royal suites. The bedroom was neat and clean, with no outstanding objects to make one think that somepony had been living there. In fact, one could say that the room was down-right sterile. Hopes for finding the missing library books dwindled until Claudia noticed the small door that led to the suite's drawing room. Pulling the door open, the dragon was greeted with billows of smoke of many different colors. From the smell and color of the rancid fumes, it was obvious that the smoke was not natural in origin. In fact, it was the same kind of smell that permeated Sharp Retort's rooms downstairs and was the reason she did not have offices in the upper levels of the castle. Leaving the door open, Cadence and Claudia ventured into the small, smokey room. Even after the smoke began to clear, it never completely cleared. The bookshelves and walls were stained with strange colors and smells, as well as many of the books that lay scattered around the small space. Claudia began picking them up and setting them on the desk. In her bustle to collect all the books in the room, a small black book got shuffled into the mix. The little room had so many books, the pair feared they'd have to take two trips down to the library, but Cadence found a pair of saddlebags against the wall. Neither noticed the framed picture or ornate wooden box set on the top of a bookshelf. Quickly, the pair left the smokey room, books in hoof. They decided to wait to look through them until after they got back downstairs since neither of them wanted to stay very long in the smokey suite. Returning to the library, Claudia set her stack of books onto a separate table. “Let's organize the books over here, since I'm pretty sure not all of these are the missing library books.” “I'm pretty they aren't,” Cadence agreed, pulling the worn saddlebags off her flank and setting them on the table, the books inside spilling out as the worn clasps broke under the weight of the tomes. “I think I even saw Silver Scales' name on one of them.” “Well, some ponies mark their books,” Claudia said as she picked up the stack of filing cards. “No, I mean, his name was on the cover, like he'd written it.” Cadence clarified, beginning to sort through the books on the table. “Perhaps he was doing research and refining some technique he had written about before. I've heard of mages and writers doing such things. That could explain all these books up in his room.” “It's true,” Claudia agreed as she too began sorting through the books, setting them in one of two piles. One was the books that belonged in the library, the other was all the books that didn't and were presumably the prince's. Eventually the pile dwindled until only the mismatched black book remained in the middle of the table. “What's this?” The dragon scooped up the book in her claws and turned it over. “I don't remember picking this up from the Prince's room.” “I'm not sure,” Cadence said taking a moment to look up and scrutinize the book. “Let me see it.” Holding out a hoof for the book she, too, turned it over several times before flipping it open. The book opened easily as the cover was beginning to tear away from the inside pages, which was strange. All the other books in the prince's possession seemed to be well cared for, while this one was clearly tearing at the seams. The princess carefully turned through the pages until she came to the first with writing: Mother gave me this diary journal so I could document my travels throughout the Known World. I doubt I will ever use such a trivial thing, but on the off chance that I have nothing better to do, I suppose an opening entry would not be without merit. My name is Silver Scales, I am the second son of King Moonstone of Magia and his Queen, Crystal Breeze. I am a unicorn, but have very little skill with my natural magic. Instead, I prefer to make use of the Earth Pony art of Alchemy. Most of my family does not approve, but as I am not the Crown Prince, what I choose to do with my time and energy is of very little consequence. My brother Starstriker, however, is scrutinized every waking moment, which suits him just fine. He prefers to be the center of attention at all times and is quite upset when he is not. But I digress. As I have stated before, I do not plan on writing within these pages quite often, though perhaps this notebook will serve well to catalog my research of Alchemy... The entry continued on, but it was there that Cadence stopped reading and looked up at Claudia, “It's Silver's journal!” “You probably should just set it aside then,” Claudia advised as she picked up one of the tomes that had been in the Prince's room. “We need to look for a cure.” “Yes, yes,” the princess agreed, but she could not tear her mind from the little black book. Even as she reached for another book, her eyes stayed riveted to the dusty, worn cover. She glanced over and saw Claudia engrossed in her own reading and quickly snagged the journal, hiding the much smaller book behind another, a simple trick she'd used to fool her tutors back in her foalhood. I doubt Claudia would really begrudge me reading his journal, the princess justified as she gently opened the cover again. This time she skipped the first entry and looked for something a little more... interesting. Just a few pages in another entry caught her eye: I was certain that I’d never pick this journal up again, but as fate would have it I desperately need somewhere to write out my feelings and this book is the most easily acceptable place. My family and I have just returned from one of our royal visits to another kingdom, both to cement the relationships of our kingdoms and to introduce my brother, the future King of Magia, to the Princess who rules there… and by the stars of my ancestors, I met a mare there who is unlike any I have previously met. Here in Magia, whenever my brother and I go out into the city we are almost swarmed by mares as we try to go about our business- it seems as though we can barely take two steps without having some random pony barely older than a filly swear her undying love for us, or my brother, at least! (He always was the better looking of the two of us.) But this particular mare, she… she was different. She was very polite to me and my family, but she had such a cool air of authority that I… I cannot help but be drawn to her. My father Moonstone and my mother Crystal Breeze, the King and Queen, and my brother Starstriker, the crown Prince, she greeted with perfect poise and grace… but when she greeted me, she smiled… and by the stars, what a smile… We spent a week there, and in that time I was able to remain in her company a great deal, and now that I am home I find myself… missing her. She is always at the edges of my thoughts, her warm smile and kind eyes… I know I shall not forget her for a very long time. Cadence blushed a little and turned the page, secretly eager to read more about Silver Scale's first crush: I am in love. Hopelessly, unabashedly in love, and there is no reason to try and deny it. My brother Starstrike has decided that he finds it particularly amusing to try and dissuade me, but even he is slowly acknowledging that what I am feeling can only be love. The mare that I mentioned in my last entry did not leave my thoughts as I feared she would; instead, she has moved from the edges of my mind to the very forefront, chasing away thoughts of all else in favor of her beauty. For a long while I wasn’t sure what ailed me but soon I realized that it could be nothing else but love; I find that I cannot eat as I once could, cannot drink as I once did, and for the longest time now sleep has eluded me. Try as I might to sleep beneath the blanket of stars, whenever I close my eyes I see only her, as if the very firmament of the heavens were sending me visions of her to grace my dreams. I toss and turn as the nights wear on, thinking of her lustrous coat and shining mane, her glimmering eyes and summer smile… and as sleep eludes me early in the morning I rise to watch the sun return to the world, and the brilliant pink of the morning sky makes my heart soar and ache for it reminds me of her. My days are spent adrift, my heart mine and yet not; even my parents have taken notice of my condition, and have had the castle mages delve me with magic to ensure that I am not suffering from some unknown illness. I am, of course, perfectly healthy… or as healthy as a stallion may be while a mare holds his heart in her hooves. I cannot even read anymore- ME! Not able to read! For as the words envelope my world they are lost against her, the depth of their knowledge as shoals to the breadth of the sea that is my love. What I would give to be with her again… for her I would abdicate my throne, were it mine to do so, and live as a pauper in the streets just to be near her once more. The moon is her crown and the sun her collar, the stars countless baubles around her graceful neck; the clouds are as folds of silvered cloth between her wings and the sky her robe, shifting in the multitude of hues that are her glory. She is a mare of such beauty that the alicorns of the ancient stories would sigh in longing of her, or if not in longing of her then to be her, for surely there has been no more perfect pony in all of creation than my love. The longer I am away from her, the more one thing becomes certain- that without her I am a sliver of my former self, a shadow of what I am and what I may be with her. I have already received permission from my parents to return to her and court her, for there can be no other option for me. My heart is with her already, and so must the rest of me be. To her I go, and my hopes for what may be go with me. Perhaps soon I shall return to this journal with glad news! Another page turned and the journal picked up just a few weeks later: I have come home to Magia. The mare whom I love has… rebuffed me. I was in her kingdom for a little over a fortnight, and I tried everything that I could to show her my feelings… but in the end she told me that her love for her kingdom had to come first… So now I have returned to my brother’s foalish jabs and my mother’s worried glances to wallow in my misery. The Princess knew she should set the book down, there was research to be done and a cure for her condition to be found, but somehow she could not pull herself away from the pages: Did she even try..? Why would she say that she cannot love me as she loves her kingdom when she has not tried, did not allow herself to love me? How could she say such things when she does not know the depths of my love, the breadth of my devotion to her? How can she deny my feelings for her when she has not given me the chance? I have been home for almost two weeks now, and despite my family’s insistence that time would heal my broken heart, it has not. I still think of her endlessly… perhaps even more now that she has told me that we cannot be together. Truly she is a beautiful horror upon my soul, sweeping my life into the deep shadows of misbegotten love. I am broken, and I do not know if I shall ever recover. My parents have tried to get me to leave the castle, to roam the capital as I did not so long ago with Starstriker… but his company is worse than loneliness, as he is newly betrothed to the young daughter of Queen Sunstrike of Cirrus, Princess Rose Wine. Father is beyond pleased, as such a union will give him an ironclad connection with Cirrus, and Mother is overjoyed because Princess Rose Wine is a finely-bred mare of beauty and grace… but all I see is a Pegasus, just like the mare whom I love. All I see is happiness when I feel despair and all I wish to do is leave all of that behind me. I spend almost all of my time in the library now; where before I could not stop to read for seeing her eyes before the pages, now I cannot seem to pull myself out of the books arrayed before me. I throw myself into the tomes laid out by my ancestors, hoping and praying that somewhere amidst the knowledge they have left behind for us that I may find an answer to my heartache, a solution to take away all of my sorrow and misery… and yet for all that I read I cannot stop thinking of her. Even after she has sent me away, cast from her sight like an unwanted pet… I cannot stop. I see her when I close my eyes, I dream of her when I sleep, I pine for her and need her in ways that I never thought a pony could need another pony… I cannot stop loving her, even though her love is denied me. Why would she do this to me..? How could she? How could you..? Mi Amore… Mi Amore Cadenza… how could you do this to me..? Mi Amore… my love… …I cannot stop loving you. Seeing her name on the page gave Cadence pause. Flipping back through the journal, she reread the entries and saw them in a new light. She sat back from the journal, letting it sit open against the parchment pages of another tome. In the back of her mind she did recall rebuffing the affections of a stallion, but for the life of her she did not recall who it had been. According to these pages it had to have been Silver Scales, but that can't be right. Cadence argued to herself. Intent on finding answers, she picked the journal back up and continued to read: I knew that my time in the library would not be wasted! In enveloping myself in words I found that my misery is NOT irreparable, and indeed I have even found a solution! After pouring over almost every book in the library, I ended up settling into the most familiar section for myself- the Alchemical section, where a copy of every book in the kingdom of Magia that deals with the art of alchemy can be found. I have, of course, read all of these books before, but for whatever reason my recollection of this one particular book never brought forth the knowledge that I now have in my possession! Oh, my dearest love… finally I shall be able to show you. Mi Amore Cadenza, you told me that your love for your kingdom would always come first… but what if I showed you how amazing our love could be? How we could be together and yet let you rule your kingdom with justice and kindness, as you always have done… and perhaps with yet more kindness, as love breeds such things in ponies. My beloved, my most adored Princess- I will show you what our love could be, and we will be together at last! However, I believe that though my solution lies in alchemy, I will have to… alter some of my discoveries a bit. I shall depart within the fortnight for the Crystal Kingdom, where my research will begin afresh. It has been far too long since I have dabbled in my talent. Wait for me, my Princess; soon I shall brew our future. Pages turned faster as Cadence felt herself drawn into the strange story detailed in the careworn pages of an old, forgotten journal: THIS. IS. NOT. WORKING. I do not understand… WHY is this happening to me!? I have tried EVERYTHING I KNOW to make this potion work- EVERY conceivable combination of every known element, earthen or ethereal, I have tossed and brewed and mixed, yet EVERY TIME I am met by the same, inevitable result: FAILURE! My studies in the Crystal Kingdom have been fruitless in my pursuit of a love potion that would show the Princess what our life could be like if she simply let me in- if she simply let my love take hold of her and loved me in return. True I have discovered many other kinds of potions that may have never been if I had not created them, but my purpose remains unfulfilled, and my life remains empty without her… yet I am not without her! She is here, and yet not mine! Every DAY I see her around the castle, and EVERY DAY I am driven to continue my search for the perfect potion… yet I fail. Every potion, every concoction, every mixture and brew that I combine ends in complete and utter DISAPPOINTMENT!! Just like me. Worthless useless STUPID DISGUSTING JOKE I am a failure, a joke, a disappointment to myself and to my family… and most importantly to my Princess. I have failed her, in EVERY WAY POSSIBLE… I am not worthy to be hers, and yet… …and yet I MUST HAVE HER. I… I cannot live without her… As painful and heart-wrenching as my life here with her is… the mere thought of leaving causes me physical pain. I writhe in agony, my body wracked with innumerable phantom pains whenever I contemplate leaving; as if a thousand guards were stabbing me with their spears, and only the decision to remain gives me respite. My life is consumed, and I know this… yet I cannot, WILL NOT end my research until she is MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. I love you, Cadence! Can’t you see?! I love you, Mi Amore, more than anything, more than EVERYTHING! I love you with every breath, every fiber of my being, and YET YOU DENY ME!!! You see my constant wanderings; see my flat coat and dead eyes AND YET YOU DO NOTHING TO HELP ME, DO NOTHING TO GIVE ME RESPITE. YOU SAY THAT YOU CARE AND YET YOU REJECT ME, REBUFF ME. I LOVE YOU, CADENCE. I LOVE YOU MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF!!! AND… AND I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU, CADENCE… I HATE YOU!!!! If I cannot make a love potion that will make you see my feelings for you, then perhaps I shall be able to make a POISON that will take us BOTH FROM THIS LIFE and free us from the earthly bonds that tie your affections, AND THEN PERHAPS WE SHALL BE TOGETHER FOR ALL ETERNITY. IF I CANNOT HAVE YOU, CADENCE, NOPONY WILL. Reading the entries slowly made Cadence feel exposed, as if she were a deer being hunted by a great cat of the Zebrika Desert. How could one consider these feelings to be love, she wondered, for to the crystal princess they sounded nothing of the sort. Eager to distance herself from these obsessive phrases, she turned the page to the very last entry in Silver Scale's journal. It was short and simple, the page covered in ink stains, as if the writer had been nearing the point of exhaustion: I… I’ve done it. I can barely write my magic is so weak. I have been working for almost… what is it? 16 hours straight… and my magic is nearly exhausted, as am I, so I apologize for ink stains, but… but I have done it!!! I’ve finally made the potion… and I’m giving it to Cadence tonight. I have waited long enough, I shall wait no more. When I write in this again, I shall be a married stallion! I love you, Cadence- more than you could ever, ever know. We shall be together, my love. FOREVER.