Chapter 5
By KidtheBrony
To the far south of central Equestria, far beyond the Buffalo Tribe plains and the frontier town of Appleloosa lay the Neverstill Desert. Much like the Everfree Forest - and other wild zones - the desert was an anomaly of the world where things moved and acted on their own; nopony controlled the weather and oftentimes unnatural magic saturated the places. Such zones were the few remaining marks of a time when disharmony and chaos ruled the world, before the Royal Sisters arrived and brought Harmony to all of the races. The Neverstill, in particular though, was a tragic tale. Beneath the ever shifting dunes - which rolled like the ocean in a storm - lay the ruins of a lost city and its population. At times the dunes would dip low enough to reveal the top of pale towers and shattered stone buildings, but within minutes it would cover the landmark again. Nothing lived here, not even the stubborn and hardy dragons. It was quiet and (pun not intended) deserted save for the sigh of sand and the howl of wind, and nobody ventured here; anyone seeking to explore past the far southern edges of Equestria would often head east or west toward the sea.
Alone atop one of these dunes, however, stood a figure completely unaware of all of this.
Stumbling in place, Sonic the Hedgehog watched the tall dune he had been standing on sink down beneath the others. If it wasn't for the rough sand being blown into his face, he would think he'd somehow learned to walk on water and that this was an odd colored ocean. It even made him nervous, knowing he couldn't swim, but since he wasn't sinking after being here for over an hour he was fairly confident that it wouldn't happen.
"Where the heck am I?" He asked again. Zipping over to a better position, he peered across the desert in hopes of spotting any sign of life. "KNUCKLES! TAILS! AMY! CREAM!" He shouted.
Not even an echo replied, and sighing Sonic started moving to keep atop the wave crest he was on. "Not cool, whatever happened must've knocked us all over the place. But I've never seen a place like this on Mobius before. Are we on some kind of alien planet?"
It wasn't a happy thought, but while sometimes dense Sonic was smart enough to know that such things were possible. The Chaos Emeralds were as unpredictable as they were powerful, and more often than not he'd had to deal with a crisis even bigger than Eggmans robots thanks to some otherworldly entity seeking out their power - or worse, something from Mobius waking up and taking a liking to their power. He'd even been up into space above his home world a couple times, so he knew that traveling to the stars could be possible given the chance.
But what made this worse was the fact that he and his friends - plus Eggman, no doubt - were scattered. Most of them could handle themselves, but while Amy was loud and liked to swing that hammer of hers, she actually wasn't all that strong. Cream and Cheese were worse off though; the little bunny was an innocent sweetheart who wouldn't hurt a fly, and while Cheese was very protective of his friend, the little chao was a tough as a cotton ball. He had to find them and make sure they were okay, or he'd never forgive himself if something were to happen.
"Hang on guys, I'll be there in no time flat!" Sonic declared. Clenching his hands, he sped off in a blur of blue, a sizable wave of sand rising in his wake.
It was to the birds chirping that Twilight finally awoke. Yawning, she stood and felt something slip off her back, but chose to ignore it for the time being in favor of stretching. With only a quick glance she determined that she'd slept outside the whole night atop her balcony, her book becoming a improvised pillow. It was nothing new to her; back in Canterlot there had been many a late night study session that had ended the same way on the small balcony of her tower library. Feeling the last stiff muscle relax, she turned and lifted the blanket Spike had kindly laid over her with her magic, folding it neatly to be put back later.
He must've woken up for a midnight snack, the little sneak. Twilight thought in amusement. Walking back inside, she could already hear her assistant busily making breakfast downstairs, and so slipped into her room to clean up for the day. Several minutes later she walked down to the kitchen and entered, seeing Spike already seated with two plates on the table.
"Good morning Spike." Twilight greeted.
"Morning Twi." Spike muttered behind a gem in his mouth.
"Chew and swallow please, you know better Spike after what happened last time."
"Sorry." Spike swallowed. "So what's the agenda for today?"
Humming, Twilight dug into her breakfast. "Well Fluttershy said that one of her animal friends had found something interesting last night during the party. I think I'll go visit her. You can take the day off and do what you like in the mean time. Just be back before sunset so we can work on a few experiments okay?"
Eyes sparkling, Spike wolfed down the rest of his meal, and with a hasty goodbye dashed out of the library. No doubt he was on his way to Rarity's shop to help his crush out. Cleaning up the dishes, she grabbed a saddle bag and loaded a few books that she thought she might need (Floral Facts for the Floundering Florist, Exotic Beasts from Beyond Equestria, and Gems: The Complete Guide just to name a few.) before setting out herself. Along the way she greeted a few ponies already out and about, but mainly kept to herself as thoughts of Canterlot again occupied her.
I must be feeling homesick finally. Twilight mused. All this thinking about Canterlot...the Princess...maybe I should go visit my parents instead of take a day off later this week. Shaking her head, she thought, But I also promised Spike I would help him collect some gems. Maybe I could ask Rarity to help instead?
As she caught sight of Fluttershy's house in the distance, Twilight put aside her planning and instead focused on what her friend might have in store for her. Hearing someone singing, Twilight walked around instead of knocking and saw that the yellow pegasus was happily hovering from spot to spot. She was feeding her animals breakfast and entertaining them with her voice - a sound which made Twilight herself happy. The shy mare was truly gifted in not only looks but with her voice as well; Rarity would often lament over their friends shy nature and how, with more confidence, she would've really struck it big as either a model or singer. But after the first - and last - attempt at fame, everypony had decided it was better to leave Fluttershy alone about such things.
"Good morning Fluttershy!" Twilight called out. To Fluttershy's credit she didn't jump or flee at the surprise.
"Oh, good morning Twilight, I hope you don't mind, but, my little friends still need to eat. It won't take but a moment, if you don't mind waiting that is." Fluttershy said.
"Take your time Fluttershy."
Two minutes passed in silence while Fluttershy finished her chore. When she was done, she landed beside Twilight and smiled. "So, um, what are you doing here Twilight? Do you need help with something?"
"Actually, I came here about something you said you found? You mentioned it to me last night at the party." Walking toward the cottage, the two entered and sat down at the kitchen table. Levitating a book out, Twilight added, "I brought a few books that I thought could help us identify it - whatever it is."
"It's a very beautiful gem - Angel suddenly ran off and I was oh so worried he'd gone off the Everfree. But then he came back, and was carrying it with him. Poor thing could barely hold it." Excusing herself, Fluttershy quickly trotted upstairs and grabbed the gem she had been talking about and brought it back. Taking it carefully with her magic, Twilight slowly rotated it to inspect it.
About the color of grass, the green gem was cut perfectly along all sides into the shape of a nonagon pyramid. There were no scratches, blemishes, or discolored segments anywhere on it. Although she wasn't an expect like Rarity, even she could see that it was perhaps the most perfect cut gem she'd ever laid eyes upon. But what really mystified Twilight was that, in response to her magic, it seemed to give off a subtle glow. What's more, she could almost sense a power inside the gem itself. The last time she had felt anything like this...
"Oh my, it didn't do anything like that before." Fluttershy whispered. Mentally shaking her head, Twilight noticed just how bright the gem was actually glowing and set it down on the table. As soon as she withdrew her magic it stopped glowing, but now that she'd touched it with her magic, she could still feel the hidden power from the gem.
"This is really strange, I don't I've ever read about magical gems before." Grabbing Gems: The Complete Guide, Twilight quickly flipped through the book until she found the magical gem section. As she read she said, "Theoretically it's possible; there are numerous glyphs that can be inscribed on certain surfaces and infused with magic so as to react in certain rituals. But gems have often been ignored due to the difficulty of actually etching the glyphs onto the surface, not to mention the reflective qualities that they cause with magic..."
"Um..." Fluttershy stared at Twilight in hopes of understanding what she was saying. As Twilight continued to babble though, going even further into terms only a scholar would know, the pegasus finally decided to just let her friend go on until she naturally stopped. "That's...nice?"
"This is your stop, Mark." High Road said. Looking at the crossroad, it was a simple four-way intersection in the road that curved north, south, back west, and straight ahead east with a little sign in the middle. Gesturing to the south road, High said, "Ponyville's down that way, just be sure to take it slow when you get into town and you should be fine. They've seen weirder things lately than you - no offense."
"None taken." Mark replied. As a precaution he'd been lying down as they passed several fields and small farms along the way. So far nobody but High Road had actually seen him, but now it was time to see just how others would react. Hopping off the cart, he dusted his pants off and slung his backpack over one shoulder. "Thank you for the lift High Road, and for the oranges too."
Nodding, the merchant trotted off down the north road without another word. Waving until he was a speck in the distance, Mark glanced up at the distant castle along the mountainside and giggled. Then he stopped himself and blushed, realizing what he'd done. Let's try not to be too girly...even if this is My Little Pony, he thought. Facing the opposite direction, he could just make out the cluster of buildings that made up Ponyville, and with a large grin on his face he set off down the road.
As the minutes passed and his target grew closer, Mark tried to take in as much as he could of what the real Ponyville looked like. From this side it was rather organized; the buildings all seemed to be houses with thatched roofs like was commonly seen in the show. Over the roofs, he could just make out town hall near the center of the village, but otherwise he'd need to be on a hill to have a more aerial view of it all. From the little he could recall clearly, the major landmarks would mainly be either in the center of Ponyville (Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique) or be on the south and western outskirts (Sweet Apple Acres, the school house and market place). He could also see a few pegasi flying around and moving the clouds, while down among the buildings there was likely earth ponies and unicorns talking and walking about.
Finally, after a few minutes longer he reached the actual edge of the village. Following the main road, he noticed many ponies stop and stare, but luckily none of them were running for their lives. Whispered conversations broke out - mainly among the mares he noted - but a surprising number of ponies just looked, did a double-take, and then went about their business. It seemed all the adventures and near disasters really had mellowed the folks out - either that or the fact he was wearing clothes unlike most monsters clued them in to him being civilized. Rounding a corner, Mark saw that town hall was still a fair distance off, but he paused and thought about what he actually planned to do now.
I can camp out for a while to deal with sleeping arrangements. There's no need to try and bug one of the Mane 6 like most people would, he thought. But I still need money - or bits - to pay for things I can't catch or pick myself. Maybe I could...
A loud crash behind him caused him to jump. Turning, he saw that a crate alongside the road had broken, and that a grey pegasus was trying to unwedge herself from the wood pile. Some ponies likewise watching the scene were shaking their heads or already moving to help, but Mark beat them to the mare and carefully helped her out. Brushing off some slivers from her coat, he noted that her eyes were askew but mainly locked onto him.
"Thanks mister!" She chirped. Before he could reply she was already zipping off into the sky, her flight surprisingly straight.
Was that...Derpy? Mark thought.
Looking at the small crowd around him, he shrugged and received a few smiles in return before they went back to their business. They really are mellow about me being here. He noted in amusement. Suddenly, he had an idea. Of course! I could try to apply at Sugarcube Corner for a job - I'm sure even with Pinkie Pie helping they could use an extra hand, or the only hands really. Nodding to himself, he asked for directions from a passing pony, and in little time was heading down the street toward the bakery.
"...and although technically they're classified as magical, magic gems have no special properties besides how they're grown and-"
"Twilight?"
"Oh um, yes Fluttershy?" Blinking in confusion, Twilight noticed how in addition to the gem and book, there was now a slowly cooling pot of tea set before her. Fluttershy herself was calmly sipping a cup of it after finally getting her friends attention.
"Sorry to interrupt, but um, did you find anything about Angel's gem in your book?"
"Huh? Oh! Right, sorry...um..." Flipping through a few more pages, her eyebrows furrowed as she came up with nothing close to what the gem on the table was. Double checking, and then triple, revealed no missed nuggets of information. "That's strange - according to this your gem has never been discovered before. This is amazing Fluttershy, you might have the first recorded discovery of a new brand of magical gem! Do you know what this means?"
Fluttershy tried to guess. "Um...that Rarity can make a very special dress for somepony? I'm sure the Princess would love it perhaps."
"Actually Princess Celestia doesn't like jewelry all the much." Twilight replied absently, and not completely on topic. "What this means is that if we can determine how it was created, we can make a major breakthrough in the field of magic! This gem seems to have it's own magical signature - there's a power inside of it that's entirely it's own, I'm sure of it. If we could learn how to tap into it, harness it even...why, we could revolutionize magical energy use across Equestria! Maybe even make portable devices solely powered by similar gemstones like this one."
"Oh, that's amazing Twilight!" Fluttershy gasped, then titled her head. "Um...what does that mean?"
Rolling her eyes, Twilight nevertheless tried to simplify her explanation. It wasn't the first time her lectures had slipped over a friends head. "Instead of relying on say, the Ponyville Dam, to power the village and everything inside of it, we could instead use more gems like this to support smaller things. Like for instance your radio - wouldn't you like to take it out of the house, maybe all the way to the park and listen to music still? Right now you can't, not without a massive extension cable that is."
"Oooooh, I see! Sorry Twilight, but I mean, that really does sound amazing."
"I know right?" Levitating the gem up again, Twilight observed the faint glow that re-appeared. "Do you mind if I borrow this for a while? I'd like to run some tests on it and see if I can determine how it was made." There was a gleam in her eyes that Fluttershy recognized very well. Giggling, she nodded and watched as the lavender mare all but galloped out of the cottage, only throwing a hasty goodbye over her shoulder.
Approaching the center of town, Twilight finally began to slow down before her excitement caused her to crash into someone. Carefully tucking the gem into a saddle bag, she turned a corner...and promptly bumped right into somepony.
"Oof!" They both cried out.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you like that."
"Oh, it's no problem miss, I..."
The two froze, staring at each other in shock. Between them, the mysterious gem bounced to a halt and pulsed with light.