//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Forsaken's Search // by Cyreni //------------------------------// I closed the book I was currently reading, and reached for the next one. Six hours had passed between now and when I started my trawl through the reading assignment Celestia had given me. She had come back after half an hour to check on me, midway through History of Equestria, in the guise of a pink-maned pegasus with a mark of a sun behind clouds. How she got through the castle looking like that without garnering any attention is beyond me. Maybe these ponies aren’t quite as observant as I initially thought, or maybe she used an invisibility spell. Regardless, I told her that I would prefer reading a dry book rather than History of Equestria, and she came back ten minutes later with a massive sixteen-hundred page tome from only she knew where, along with the instruction to just read the overviews on the first page of each chapter. Instead, I went through the first hundred pages of extremely interesting pony history, much to my future annoyance. I was now rather well-versed on happenings from two thousand years ago, but I didn’t have a clue regarding recent history. Maybe I should see if they have recent newspapers? With that thought in mind, I stretched backwards from my sitting position on the floor, cracking every single vertebrae in my spine. The pony illusion did the same, and rose to a standing position as I did. I was surprised it had lasted this long, actually. Plain illusions usually break down after just an hour, with invisibility lasting an even shorter period of time. Gathering the books the librarian gave me, I turned them back to the desk and asked for some recent newspapers. This city was a lot like Dalaran, I realized after I watched a pony check out a grimoire. All it needed to do now was fly and park itself next door to a giant frozen cathedral of death, and there wouldn’t be any difference that mattered. I checked my pocketwatch, a memento Ira gave to me during our travels, and decided that it was way off. It was certainly not six in the afternoon, not with the sun almost directly overhead. The librarian came back to see the pony illusion looking at a pocketwatch of foreign make being levitated six inches above its head and vanishing into thin air as I put it back in my pocket. She didn’t seem to be very surprised about that, so I thanked her for the newspapers and went back to my table. Another hour later, and most everyone was out to lunch while I was skimming the recent newspapers. Celestia came back, still in her disguise, and gave the newspapers a raised eyebrow. “The book I gave you wasn’t enough?” she asked, taking the top newspaper on my “already read” stack with her hooves. “Too absorbing, actually. I ended up reading all of the first three chapters,” I said, putting the newspaper I had onto the read stack and taking the next one. Something about a midsummer celebration in a week, from a week ago if the size of the remaining stack newspapers was anything to go by. “Anyways, I assume you’re just back to check up on the not-so-famous undead?” “Mm-hmm,” she hummed. “Let me guess: you’re paranoid that something will go wrong sooner or later, and there’ll be a panic here in Canterlot?” The name had come up in every single paper I had read. She put her newspaper back. “Exactly. Come, Mr. Icara, it’s lunchtime. I don’t want to have to be constantly worrying when I’m not around you.” I almost opened my mouth to disagree, but thought better of it. “I don’t think your illusion’s going to wear off in the next ten minutes,” I said, piling up all the papers into a single stack. I had learned a fair amount going through those, but I was still in the dark when it came to some things. I could pass as a foreigner. “And I certainly don’t want to draw attention to myself. We Forsaken get enough animosity as it is.” Celestia took her book, balancing it on her back with her wings. “I’m not sure how to respond to that,” she replied. I shrugged. It looked strange when the illusion did it. “You don’t have to. I went beyond caring about that kind of stuff a few years ago,” I explained, dropping the papers off at the desk. “It’s just something me and Ira got used to in our travels. The Alliance doesn’t take kindly to Forsaken wandering around.” “Alliance?” she asked. “One of the two, three, four,” I counted, “major factions. There’s them, the Horde, the Burning Legion, and the Scourge.” She looked at me with interest. “Go on.” “Hoo boy,” I exhaled, “that’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way.” And so I did, explaining to Celestia the basics of those factions. I didn’t go too deeply, as politics wasn’t something that interested me, nor was it something I was familiar with. I told her the tale of the Horde and the orcs of Draenor as we exited the castle, the story of the demonic Burning Legion and its role in creating the Scourge, the Alliance and how it came to be in light of the encroaching Legion, and finally, I came to the Scourge. I paused in my storytelling as we arrived at a restaurant, grimacing. Celestia took notice. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “Yes. I’m not fond of this next bit, mostly because the Scourge were led by Arthas until recently.” She nodded in understanding as we took an empty table outside. “I see,” she said. “You may be able to figure out what happened, with the Scourge being a product of the Legion and what my story’s been like so far. But I doubt you can actually understand what it was like to try and destroy all that you cared about under the dominion of a twisted husk of a man,” I finished bitterly. “Try?” I gave her a flat look. “Try, and succeeding half the time. I wasn’t placed on the front lines, but I killed just as many people in the lab. I was a researcher when I was killed, I became one of the researchers at a Scourge outpost in the middle of nowhere, Plaguelands, and I’m now one of the best researchers in the Undercity. I’m not going to discuss what necro-arcane horrors I helped make.” We were silent after that. The waitress came and left, and an awkwardness descended. I wasn’t looking for anything to fill it though. It let me be with my thoughts. Lunch came and went. I had water, Celestia had a salad with flowers in it. Not a word was shared between us. She went and paid the bill, and we were back off towards the castle. Walking the streets of Canterlot wasn’t much different from walking the streets of Dalaran, or maybe Lordaeron before it was overrun by the Scourge. Magic was used commonly, ponies acted just like people, goods were ferried across the sky and through the streets… if it wasn’t for the inhabitants, I wouldn’t be able to notice the difference. “I should think the guards will get nervous when you don’t show up to lunch.” I said, making sure we weren’t in direct earshot of anyone. “They worry a little, but I go out every once in a while to escape royalty. It’s nothing new,” she added. I hummed. I had a lot to learn about this new world, apparently. “And,” she continued, “I’m heading right back to check on my sister.” “Sister?” I asked. Her eyes went distant for a few seconds, and she looked to be on the verge of tears. “I would rather not discuss it.” Nothing more was said on the way back. Upon getting back to the castle, I was led right back to the library to finish up reading my newspapers while Celestia went off to presumably visit her sister. Half an hour later, I had gone through the remainder of the papers while everyone was still buried in a book or absorbed by a tabletop magical experiment. I exhaled, seeing a long afternoon ahead of me filled with history books. While I wasn’t opposed to reading, I did enjoy doing other things besides. ‘Now what?’ I went up to the desk, requesting some paper and a pencil. I got some paper, a quill, and an inkwell. I thanked her for them, and gave the quill an annoyed look as soon as I sat back down at the table. I was going to attempt to recreate my spell from memory. Fifteen attempts, forty pages of math, and the rest of the day later, I had managed to make something that resembled the original. Only an untrained idiot would try casting it as it was now, but it was a decent start considering that all of my calculations were back in the Undercity. I picked up the most recent version, folded up the rest into various pockets of my light duster to dispose of later, and returned three inkwells with hardly any ink left. After being hassled for using so much ink and paper, and a few pieces of unmarked silver given in return, I went my way out of the library to find out where Celestia had gone off to. I stopped in the hallway, just outside the library as it closed for the day. Was this a good idea? “Probably not,” I muttered to myself. “What to do, what to do?” Grunting in annoyance, I backtracked to the best of my ability to the castle’s entrance. “Oh, you’ve got to be joking,” I complained after hitting a dead-end. Twenty minutes of walking hadn’t gotten me anywhere, though I was pretty sure I was on the third floor. I think. I could be wrong, I walked up and down a lot of staircases of varying length. With a sigh, I continued my trek through the castle. Maybe I could find a guard, but that would end up going into explanations as to why I had to find Celestia. After a lot more walking up and down staircases and along hallways, I was completely, utterly lost. Looking out an open window to the city below, the last few ponies were heading home for the night, with a few others beginning the graveyard shift. I could see a few pegasi pushing around clouds, but they were too far away for me to see more than that. From my vantage point, I could see Celestia on a circular balcony below me, next to the smaller blue alicorn I glimpsed last night. I considered calling to Celestia, when a thought came to me and shut me up. ‘How did I not see that? Little blue alicorn is big white alicorn’s sister,’ I thought. ‘And little blue alicorn is Luna from the Nightmare’s legend.’ I nearly banged my head on the wall, held back by how weird the illusion would look if I did. In the end, I cut myself some slack, knowing that I didn’t know anything earlier. It was still frustrating, regardless. I turned my attention back to the duo, Celestia saying something reassuring to Luna. Whatever she said seems to have worked, because Luan began casting a powerful spell. A very powerful spell. It was one that I nearly shielded my eyelights from again, for fear of it being similar to that massive light show from the ruined castle. What happened was very different: Luna stumbled forward a bit, and whatever she had attempted to cast sputtered out. Celestia caught her, and they slowly made their way back inside. Luna was crying. ‘I wonder…?’ I had a new destination, provided I could find it. I followed the hallway down, keeping a mental eye on where the room the sisters went into was. After more walking and backtracking, where the sun had gone down in the meantime, I reached the hallway where the room was located. I came to a door emblazoned with a moon and two spearmen… spearponies guarding it. Luna’s room, more likely than not. I got curious glances from both of the guards before they went back to imitating statues. ‘Professional guards. Doesn’t matter what they are, who they work for, or where they’re located, they’re always the same.’ I gave a questioning look to them as I approached, stopping in front of the door. I raised a hand to knock, the illusion doing the same with a hoof. No response from them. I knocked on the door three times. Still no response. I gave a mental shrug as the door opened to reveal tired- and irate-looking Luna who narrowed her eyes at me, glaring. They only narrowed as she continued to look at the illusion. My confidence rapidly drained as they slowly trailed upwards and locked onto my eyelights. ‘Ohh boy.’ I thought. With a startled yelp on my part, she yanked me into the room and slammed the door shut. I was let go just as she removed the illusion, and she threw me unceremoniously onto the floor. “Who art thou?” she yelled at me as I rolled onto my back. The guards from outside barged in, saw me, and immediately leveled their spears at my chest. I didn’t crawl back. I gave the three wary looks as Luna lit her horn up. “Three…” she counted. “Mr. Icara, as your sister Celestia knows. Speaking of which, I was trying to find her,” I brazenly told her. “What’s your name? Luna?” That just made them more upset. Their spears went from my chest to my neck, and they were moved away as Luna picked me up in blue-colored telekinesis. She drew my face to her height, leaving my legs to bend as my feet dragged. “And what reason do We have to believe thou, undead?” she yelled, angling her horn to gore me. I thought quickly. “You can just contact her, can’t you? I’ve been sear-” I was cut off by Luna locking my jaw closed. “Undead, We do not know what manner of creature thou art-” she began in a low tone. ‘So there aren’t any humans here? That’s a first.’ “-and I don’t know why you were sent here, but know that whomever your master is, he won’t succeed in stealing the crown.” “Hey!” I yelled back, “My ‘master,’” I said, injecting as much loathing as I could into the word, “died long ago, and for the better.” “And how can We know thou art?” she yelled right back. “Because I’m not a liar! I’m a person trying to find his wife and get back home, and getting royal help is the best method of doing so,” I finished. “Undead, mine patience spreads thin. We cannot know thou art not a liar from thine word alone. Now tell Us this: for what reason should We not incinerate thou where thou art?” A clatter of hooves sounded down the hallway, drawing the attention of everyone. Celestia rounded the corner, looking extremely frazzled and panicked. She shot me a death glare, saying, “Luna, sister, please put Mr. Icara down. I need to have a word with him about disappearing.” “Sister, this is one of the undead!” She heaved a sigh. “I know he is, which is why I put his disguise up.” Luna looked a bit flabbergasted. “‘Twas your work?” “Yes, and I had hoped that it would last a little longer.” Luna glanced between Celestia and me a couple of times before dropping me. The guards looked even more confused than Luna did, who moved to the side as Celestia approached me. I got to my feet and cracked my neck, eliciting a slight jump from the guards. “Mr. Icara, I was hoping that I could leave you be for a couple of hours without incident, against my judgement. Unfortunately, I’ve come to be disappointed.” She frowned at me, keeping her neutral mask on. “Yeah, I mucked up. I started looking for you as the library closed-” she grunted in annoyance, “and I got lost.” She mulled over what I just said. Turning to the guard duo, she said, “You two are to accompany Mr. Icara here and make sure he doesn’t get into any more trouble than he already is.” One guard snapped up in a salute, while the other stared at me slack-jawed for a second before doing the same. I rolled my eyelights at him, folding my arms across my chest. “So are you going to share my tale with Luna and send me off somewhere?” I asked. “Oh no,” Celestia responded, “I’m going to have you retell your tale to my sister and the guards here.” I exhaled, letting my arms fall. “Hope you’ve all got an hour,” I warned. With that, I began recounting my tale again, along with telling everyone what happened between me meeting Celestia and now. “I’m going to get sick of retelling that tale, methinks,” I groused after I was finished. It was definitely nighttime by the time I finished. I had grabbed a stool while the princesses sat on Luna’s bed. The guards had opted to stand. “At least you’re consistent,” Celestia commented dryly. “Guards,” she turned to them, “take Mr. Icara to a spare room for the night.” They snapped another salute as she replaced the illusion. Luna’s horn glowed as well, and I could feel the illusion becoming… more real? Tangible? Something like that, anyways. Celestia looked surprised, and huffed. “You always were better at that,” she faux-complained. Luna smiled a bit, but her eyes were distant. I took that as my cue to leave, the guards having similar thoughts. Down the hallway and around a bend, a guard said, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” “Walking an illusioned undead to his room granted by the crown?” I asked, making sure we were the only ones in the hall. “Yes. That.” “Well, I shouldn’t be much of a problem unless you’re hindering me.” One of them rolled his eyes as we stopped at a door along the hallway. “Here’s your room. We’ll keep the maids out so they don’t stumble on a limb, or something.” I rolled my eyelights, opening the door. “It takes about a hundred years before limbs start falling off, and I’m only thirty-five. Goodnight.” “Thirt-” Whatever he was going to say next was cut off as I closed the door behind me. The room wasn’t too different from the princess’. Everything was plain, though. I walked out onto the balcony. I don’t sleep very often, and the sleep that I do catch is used to sort out my thoughts. I spent the night looking out into the night sky. There weren’t as many stars as I was used to.