//------------------------------// // Ogham Augur // Story: Chaotic Neutral // by C-Puff //------------------------------// Chapter 10 The next morning, the group was woken up by a piercing scream. Twilight snapped awake, looking back and forth frantically. “What?! What?!” Her, and the rest of the ponies' attention, turned to Applejack, who had once again been the first up. She was sitting bolt upright, using one hoof to fan her mouth with her hat while scratching urgently through her bag with the other. “Applejack, whatever's the matter?” Rarity asked, pushing up her sleep-mask. “Are we in trouble?” Rainbow Dash dropped out of the tree, her hooves raised and ready as she looked around. Applejack finally found her water bottle and proceeded to completely drain it. She calmed down once she'd finished and gave a loud sigh. “Applejack, what's going on?” Twilight asked with a frown as she stood up. Applejack turned and gave Pinkie Pie an accusing glare. “I thought I'd get somethin' to eat and get myself goin'. It seems, however, that somepony thought it'd be funny ta lace the snacks with hot sauce!” Pinkie burst out laughing, as the others all turned to follow Applejack's gaze. “It ain't funny!” Applejack snapped at her, but all this seemed to do was make her laugh harder. “You- you should see your face!” She managed to hiccup, holding her sides. Applejack grumbled to herself irritably. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, gave a snerk before laughing as well. “Not you too!” Applejack moaned, turning to glare at her instead. Rainbow tried to get herself under control, only to completely lose it. She dropped out of her hover to land beside Pinkie, where the two of them continued their hysterics. Applejack was about to roll her eyes when she noticed the rest of the group were doing their best to suppress their own laughter. She gave a sigh in defeat. “Alright. I admit, ya got me good,” she gave a chuckle. Taking this as a sign, the rest of the ponies all broke out into a fit of giggles, finally infecting the stubborn farm pony as she joined them. Even she couldn't deny the fact that she must've looked ridiculous. “Whaaaaat?! I missed it?!” Came a cry of dismay as Discord dropped down from his perch, his tail keeping him hanging above them. “Best reaction ever!” Pinkie giggled, bouncing in place. “Good prank!” She jumped and gave Discord a rather one-sided hoofbump. He pulled his paw back up, rubbing it with a sulk, but he didn't seem entirely displeased. With the abrupt wake up and the shared laugh, everypony was properly awake. With no reason to delay, they ate their breakfast (with the rest of the cookies all being given to Pinkie Pie), and prepared to set out again. The day looked like it was going to be another good one. The sky was clear, except for some thin clouds in the far distance. The forest birds were calling to each other enthusiastically, and the fields ahead of them were dotted with early morning animals, either just waking up and coming out to graze, or hurrying back to their lairs after a night's foraging. Cold dew soon covered their hooves as they made their way across the fields, heading for the hills ahead and onwards to Coltchester. Discord seemed to actually be behaving himself, Fluttershy noticed. Or maybe he was just half asleep, as she caught him yawning to himself every few minutes at first. However, as the day warmed, he went back to entertaining himself by pestering either the other ponies or any animals they passed along the way. Twilight wasn't treating him any friendlier than yesterday. She was clearly still angry. As the morning started going into afternoon, and they were starting to see the outlines of the town, Something caught Rainbow Dash's attention. “Hey, That's kinda weird.” She said, frowning at the sky in general. “What''s up, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked as the group came to a stop. “Do you guys see that, or have I got sunstroke or something?” Rainbow replied, pointing at what appeared to be nothing. The others turned to follow her hoof. Twilight squinted, trying to figure out what Rainbow was talking about. After a few seconds, she realised what it was and gave a small gasp. “The moon! It's still up!” The group all turned to her with similar noises of surprise before looking back at the sky. Sure enough, hanging low, there was the moon. It was waxing and wasn't completely full yet, but its white, almost-circular form was unmistakable even in the light of day. “That can't be good.” Applejack muttered darkly. “You don't think anything has happened to the Princesses, do you?” Rarity asked Twilight with concern. “I don't know.” Twilight bit her lip. Their attention was broken when Discord started laughing behind them. As one, they turned to him. He was rocking back and forth in the air, not even trying to hide his amusement. Twilight growled quietly before taking a few steps towards him. “Do you know anything about this?” She snapped. He tried to calm down, wiping at an eye. “I'm sorry, but I've never seen anything so precious! Ponies really are the most entertaining creatures!” “You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at him, however she didn't seem to fully believe he would. “Of course not. He's been with us the whole time,” Fluttershy said with sincerity, “Isn't that right, Discord?” “Oh yes. I assure you, I am completely innocent.” He nodded, regaining his composure. “But you do know what's going on, don't you?” Twilight kept her frown. “Now now, there's no need to get so worked up,” He said. He seemed to want to pet her at first, but seeing her expression, he changed his mind. “I can assure you nothing has happened to your Princesses. At least, that I would know of.” “So what is this?” Rainbow asked, looking confused. “This, my dear fillies, is what you get when you don't have your dear and dutiful Princesses running absolutely every minuet detail into the ground,” He said, smiling widely as he flapped over to hover beside her. “So, nopony's controlling the sun and the moon?” Twilight paled. This only caused Discord to break into laughter again but he quickly pulled himself together, clearing his throat. “Simply put; no,” He smiled and snaked his way next to Twilight, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You do know that your beloved Celestia and her sister haven't always been around, don't you?” He let her go when she tried to swat at him, turning to walk on ahead instead, his arms behind his back. “She may be a little older than the rest of you, but she is still a pony. A pretty powerful one, I'll give her that, but a pony nonetheless. Before she showed her face, the sun and moon were just fine on their own.” He put his arms up dramatically at this. “Of course they had their own ideas about how to do things, but they didn't just fall out of the sky because nopony was telling them what to do and when.” Twilight gave the sky a second glance. She had to admit, despite the unsettling sight of both sun and moon being up there together, things had been pretty normal that day. The sun had risen, the day had grown hotter as morning went on and with afternoon upon them, the sun was high in the sky. Apart from the strange view, things seemed close to how they always were. “So, we're ok, right?” Rainbow said, wanting to be clear. “It'll be fine,” Discord said, turning back to her. “You may not believe this, but some things can, in fact, survive without ponies holding them on a leash the whole time.” “Well, that's a relief.” Rarity sunk with a sigh, fanning herself with a hoof. “For a moment, I thought we had even more things to worry about.” “I don't like the moon hangin' around without a reason, but I don't think it'll have much affect on the farm if the sun moves like usual,” Applejack agreed reluctantly. “It's good you told us,” Fluttershy beamed at Discord as he trotted to walk beside her again, “otherwise we'd be worrying about it all day.” Twilight said nothing. She merely frowned to herself as they got going again. Something about this new information didn't sit right with her. The small voice in the back of her head told her it was because she'd always thought the sun and moon were completely dependent on Princess Celestia and her sister. Seeing this, and learning that perhaps her mentor was not as essential to the world as she had believed her whole life, felt strange and uncomfortable. It felt wrong to her. She gave Discord a surreptitious glance as she walked, watching him chat happily to Fluttershy about how silly they were for being afraid. Twilight's expression darkened. Coltchester was different from Ponyville. Not just because it was slightly bigger, but also in its design and layout. Whereas Ponyville, even in the centre of town, was quite spacious, the buildings of Coltchester were close together with thin side-streets between them. The small roads were cobbled and had floral sidewalks on each side. The ground seemed to be uneven and always tilted at a slight angle. The town must've been built on a hill. Trees popped up wherever there was enough space for them, which wasn't really that often. The houses themselves seemed almost stretched. Most of them only had about two storeys, but their roofs jutted upward sharply, while also reaching lower to the ground than what seemed necessary. The stream from the forest had grown larger by now and ran through the center of town, several arched bridges made of stone crossing it. The townsponies seemed normal enough. They were the usual assortment of unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi. They didn't seem that much different than the ponies from ponyville. Perhaps more skittish, but considering the magic situation, that didn't seem to be a reflection on the town itself. Twilight's group decided the best plan was to stick together, to prevent getting lost, and ask for directions to Ogham Augur's home. Most ponies they spoke to didn't seem to know who they were talking about. Some of them would give a sideways glance to Discord before muttering something about not knowing and trotting off. After several incidents like this in a row, Fluttershy and Discord stayed back and let Twilight do the talking while they sat and watched from a nearby bench. This seemed to do the trick as eventually, somepony realised they were looking for what she called 'The weird researcher' and pointed them in the right direction. Thanking her, they headed for the east side of town. 'House' might've been the wrong word to describe what they found. At the edge of town, overlooking a ditch, stood a tiny tower. It was probably only three floors high, but with its round shape and pointed roof, 'tower' was the best thing to call it. Its small windows were closed near the bottom, but were open on the top floor. Apart from its strange shape, there didn't seem to be anything remarkable about it. “Should we wait for you to knock first?” Fluttershy asked as they walked to the front door. Twilight turned to blink at her and Discord. He gave her a grin and a wave, making her sigh. “Yeah, that'd probably be for the best.” She looked around the small street before noticing a patch of grass that'd been left open to grow various wild flowers and a small, twisted tree. “Wait over there and we'll call you once we've um, made the introductions.” “Don't introduce us too much,” Discord said as they turned to go, “I don't want to miss this guy's expression when he sees me.” Twilight made a disgusted noise but said nothing. She turned back to the door. After taking a moment to mentally prepare a greeting, she knocked. The rest of the group stood a few paces behind her, waiting anxiously. After a few minutes, the door opened and a dark teal stallion poked his head out. “Yes? Who is it?” He asked, sounding polite but irritated. “Hello,” Twilight said, smiling in what she hoped was a friendly manner. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. We've come from Ponyville to talk to Ogham Augur about something very urgent.” The stallion gave her a once over as if trying to decide something. Twilight couldn't place how old he was. He was either young with a weathered face, or he was older than he looked. His mane was cherry red and stood up in the back. There was also a lime bandana around his neck. “Did somepony send you?” He asked, his brown eyes staring into her hard. There were rings around them, and the scar along his jaw made him look rather intimidating. Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, like I said, we're from ponyville. I don't know how things are in Coltchester, but we've been having a lot of problems back home. So, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sent us to speak to an old scholar of their's called Ogham Augur,” she gave a nervous smile. “He does live here, right?” She noticed the stallion's eyes look to her wings, then up at her horn before he gave a nod, opening the door fully. “Yeah, he lives here. You'd better come in.” “Thanks,” Twilight said with relief, beckoning to the others behind her, “These are my friends; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity.” “How do you do,” he said with the same polite yet distant tone. The room he lead them into was round with a wooden floor. On the one side sat a heavy looking desk, almost buried under loose papers and books with hundreds of bookmarks stuffed into them. On the other side there were two off-blue couches and an armchair surrounding a fireplace, which was currently dark. A brass pot hung over the dead logs from a hook. At the opposite side of the door was a small staircase with an open trapdoor leading to the floor above. “Do you want some tea?” The stallion asked. Clear of the doorway, Twilight realised he was a pegasus which struck her as a little strange. “I'm ok. Anypony else?” She asked, looking around to the others. “I wouldn't mind a cup, if I may be so bold,” Rarity said as she headed for the seating area. He nodded and turned to a small preparation area next to the fireplace. The group sat down, giving each other awkward glances. Twilight remained standing, waiting for the stallion to say anything else. When the silence drew out too long, she found herself forced to be the first one to speak. “Um... Is Ogham Augur home?” She tried. “I am,” He said, walking over and giving Rarity her tea before giving the others their own cups, including Twilight. She noticed as he did so that most of his forelegs had long, permanent scars cut into them. “Oh. Thanks,” She said, looking away to hide the fact that she'd been staring. “So, you're the pony who was working as one of Princess Celestia's scholars?” “I was. But I'm retired now,” he said, getting his own cup before taking his seat in the chair across from them. “If Princess Celestia really sent you, it must be important.” “What do you mean if she really sent us?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. Applejack elbowed her in the side. “I don't understand,” Twilight frowned at him, “Why would we lie about something like that?” “Let's just say, I'm not that trusting of strangers,” he said, eyeing her over the rim of his cup. “That's really sad!” Pinkie blurted out, looking horrified. “If you don't trust strangers, how do you make any friends? Every stranger could be a friend waiting for you to say hi to them! If you don't trust anypony you're never going to make friends!” She gave a dramatic gasp. “Wait, do you have any friends?!” “Pinkie Pie!” Rarity said, appalled. The stallion called Ogham Augur blinked at her with round eyes, taken aback. “Sorry about her,” Applejack said, giving a nervous smile, “she means well.” Ogham Augur said nothing, but he looked bemused by the outburst. A loud knock on the door Startled them. Discord was practically halfway inside already, looking around with excitement. “Hellooo~? Did you forget about us out here? That's not very friend-like of you now, is it?” He strolled in, not bothering to look at them as he started to circle around the room before coming to a stop at the desk where he proceeded to leaf through everything on top of it. “I'm so sorry,” Fluttershy came in after him, blushing darkly, “I tried to tell him to wait until you said it was alright, but he wouldn't listen.” “I can explain!” Twilight said, spinning back to face Ogham. The stallion was gaping at Discord in disbelief, his eyes wide as dinner plates. Twilight was impressed he'd managed not to drop his cup. “He's with us!” She added, flailing her forelegs around. “I know it sounds strange but Celestia asked that he come with us to help! We'd never been to this town, you see! He's just here to stop anything bad happening to us! Although I guess that doesn't really make sense to you! But I swear it's true!” “No way!” Ogham said and at first Twilight was sure it was to argue with her. However, she was proven wrong when he put his cup down on the floor and practically jumped up, trotting over to Discord at a brisk pace. “So, you're the pony good ol' Celestia says can fix this 'broken magic' problem,” Discord said when he noticed the stallion walk over to him. “I must admit, I was expecting something a little more impressive.” Applejack groaned, putting her hat over her face. “And you're Discord!” Ogham said. It was as if somepony had flipped a switch in him. He was beaming brightly as he took wing and did a few circles around the Draconequus. “I'd heard Princess Celestia had you freed but I never expected she'd let you so far out of her sight! This is fantastic!” He dropped behind his desk, causing a flurry of paper to shoot into the air. “I have a notepad here somewhere. You gotta answer some questions for me! I've read tons of books about you and I gotta know if they were accurate or not! And to think, just last night I'd finished reading Rowan's manuscript about alternative deities! When I tell him who showed up at my doorstep; Hah! I can just see his face! Where the heck did I put that quill?!” “He seems nice.” Discord shot Twilight a smirk. “Um... Mr. Ogham?” She walked over, ignoring Discord. “We really need your help.” “What?” His head popped out from his mountain of papers to stare at her. “Oh! Oh yes of course! How rude of me, I apologise!” He took wing again, flying over to return to his spot although he remained on his hooves. “I suppose there's no mistaking it now. If you have the Spirit of Chaos with you, you must have come from Princess Celestia!” “That's what we've been telling you!” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof at him impatiently. “We're really sorry to just burst in on you like this, Mr. Ogham Augur,” Fluttershy added as she came over. She'd grabbed Discord by the paw and dragged him with her, presumably to get him away from the desk of important documents that was clearly a temptation. “Oh please, nopony calls me that except the Princess! My name's Oggie. My parents are the ones who decided 'Ogham Augur' would be a good name for a young colt. Linguists, both of them. I suppose it could've been worse, but I've yet to meet a pony with a more ridiculously unwieldy name.” He smiled at them. It was as if the pony who'd invited them into the house had popped out of existence, to be replaced with somepony completely different. “Ok then, Oggie,” Twilight said, sitting down. “We really need to talk to you. I don't know if it's happened here, but back in Ponyville, and even Canterlot, everypony's magic seems to have stopped working.” “Yes, it's been happening here too,” Oggie nodded vigorously, picking up his cup again. “It's dreadful! I've been trying to contact my colleagues, but getting ahold of anypony outside of town has been a nightmare! Rowan asked me to read over the manuscript for his new book and I haven't been able to get any of my notes to him at all!” “Yeah well, Princess Celestia is real worried about it,” Applejack said. “It's not just ponies whose magic is on the fritz either.” “The animals are having a hard time too,” Fluttershy carried on. “I've seen so many creatures come out of the Everfree forest who are suppose to have some magic to them who just don't anymore.” “Not to mention none of us unicorns are able to do anything!” Rarity lamented. “None of us can do our jobs and everything is in complete chaos!” “Ah tut tut!” Discord waved a finger at her from his spot next to the couch. “Let's not be pointing fingers. I've already assured you, I had nothing to do with this!” “He's probably telling the truth about that,” Rainbow Dash said reluctantly. “You don't have to believe him, but I don't think he'd do this and take his own magic away.” “'His own magic'?” Oggie turned back to Discord. “Your powers are nulled as well?” Discord's ears flattened as he carved a groove into the floorboards with a claw. “I'm not enjoying the experience, honestly.” “Well, that's not good!” Oggie said, getting up again. He started pacing around the room, frowning to himself. “I had no idea the problem was so widespread. I could've told you from the start that Discord wasn't the culprit though. Taking magic away doesn't fit his MO in the slightest.” “THANK you!” Discord threw up his arms. “At last, somepony who doesn't just blame me for every little problem!” “Princess Celestia said you're the expert on weird cults and stuff,” Twilight went on. “None of her other scholars have been able to find anything that could cause this. She was wondering if maybe you knew a group of some kind that might be behind this.” “Hmm.” Oggie came to a stop, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Not a bad theory, I must say.” He trotted back to his seat again. Apparently sitting still wasn't his strongest point. “You won't believe the things some groups devote themselves to. It's truly fascinating! Do you know, I once interviewed a group purely focused on changing cutie marks to whatever they saw fit? They never succeeded of course, but it was insightful to hear their reasons. I can see their point of view, though. Some ponies are just unlucky when it comes to their destiny. Most ponies I know have no idea what my own cutie mark is suppose to be.” He gave the mark on his flank a sideways look. “Um... Isn't it a wisdom knot?” Twilight blinked. “Correct!” He smiled happily. “But then you're Princess Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, aren't you? I heard you'd managed to complete Starswirl's spell, recently! I wasn't at the Coronation myself though. I try not to leave Coltchester unless I have a reason.” “Don't worry about it. But, you said this might be a group of ponies after all?” Twilight said, trying to get back on track. “Oh yes. As I was saying;” He nodded, getting up once again to go to one of his bookshelves, “There's quite a few strange cults that might want magic to stop working. There are several 'Pro-Earth Pony' groups out there for instance, but I highly doubt this is their work. They're pretty fanatical about their 'no magic' policies and this is definitely the work of some strong magical force.” “You really think so?” Applejack said, twisting in her seat to watch him as he pulled books out and inspected their covers. “Most definitely,” He nodded. “So, I think we can rule out any cults who are anti-unicorn and more than likely any cults with a small list of members. I doubt a group of ponies numbering ten or less would be able to pull off something like this.” He came trotting back with a small pile of books, dumping them in the centre of the floor before paging through one of them. “You really think there would be a large group of you ponies rude enough to do something like this?” Discord said, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned against the couch. “I can believe it. Some ponies are just crazy!” Pinkie said with a hard frown. “But why in Equestria would somepony use magic to destroy magic?” Rarity sighed. “That doesn't make any sense.” “Does it have to?” Discord said, shooting her a sideways look. “Don't even start, Discord!” Rainbow pulled a face at him. “No, he's right,” Oggie said, pushing his book aside to page through a different one. “Some cults operate with a completely different mindset to most ponies. What seems nonsensical to us probably seems perfectly logical to them. In fact, there are many cults whose sole goal itself is the lack of sense!” “Oh really?” Discord broke out into a wide grin at this. “Oh yes!” Oggie said, nodding enthusiastically. “You yourself are quite a celebrity! There are so many groups devoted to the Spirit of Chaos it's staggering!” “My my,” Discord grinned in a manner that made Twilight uncomfortable. “Please don't encourage him,” She muttered. “No please, do tell!” Discord said, leaning forward to try and peek into the book himself. “Thanks to a certain somepony, I've been out of the loop for the past, oh, thousand or so years.” “Well, there's the biggest one, the Order of Discord. Quite a clever pun, I must say. They're of the mindset that ponies shouldn't be ruling ponies. They view it as unfair; glorifying members of our own species as deities, if I remember correctly. Then there are a bunch of others more or less with similar ideas regarding power and age and politics. It's a little confusing. Politics have never been my strong point, I admit.” “Oh. Politics.” Discord rolled his eyes and sat back again. “That's disappointing.” “Not all of them are politically driven though,” Oggie went on. “Some of them are just, I don't know, sinister I suppose.” He closed the book he'd been reading and pushed it aside, his smile fading. “There's a group operating outside of Equestria called 'The Defectors'. The name doesn't inspire much, however they're one of the more fanatical groups focusing on the idea of Chaos.” “That's more like it,” Discord said, perking up again. “I'm afraid it's not you they have much interest in,” Oggie said. “You see-” He stopped as something seemed to occur to him. He tapped his chin with the tip of a hoof. “Actually, perhaps they are relevant to our current predicament.” “Really?” Twilight said hopefully. She'd been wondering if they were going to get anywhere at all. “The Defectors are a cult with a rather unique goal in mind. They believe that the world we live in is too controlled. They see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ruling the sun and the moon as overstepping our boundaries, but they feel all ponies are equally to blame. They believe we are on the verge of physically killing magic. In their opinions, magic needs to be wild and untamed. It needs to flow freely, both in the world around us as well as through us. Or at least through those of us who can channel it. To tame it as much as we have is an affront to nature, and they have taken it upon themselves to try and reverse the now inbred hold we have over it.” “Sounds pretty crazy to me,” Rainbow Dash pulled a face, “and how exactly do they plan to do that?” “It's not a pretty picture, I'll tell you that much,” Oggie said. “They've set up their base of operations in an old ruined castle, to the north, across the border. It's close to a small town called Falabell, but still far away enough to do what they like. They generally experiment with unstable magic and unleashing spells without proper direction. There are quite a few accidents, of course. However, they're a fairly large group and it never hurts their numbers. Of course, they're not the kind of ponies to let their members leave, even if they wanted to.” “But you said they just want magic to be wild, right? Would they do anything to stop it completely? How would they even do that?” Twilight asked. “Unless they're so crazy they're actually right!” Pinkie gasped. “Maybe we did kill magic!” Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but after thinking it over, a sickening realisation hit her that Pinkie might have a point. The tense silence told her she wasn't the only one who realised this. “Wouldn't that be something?” Discord said. “Unlikely though. Ponies have been doing what they like for literally ages. I don't see how today is any different to, say, last century.” “I agree,” Oggie nodded, “But I do bring them up for another reason.” He pulled a third book closer, but this time he paged through it with purpose, stopping on a page and turning it around for the others to see. “Just under a hundred years ago, the group got their hooves on this.” He pointed to a rough pencil sketch. It looked like an idol of some kind, or maybe statue was a better word. From a spherical pedestal grew two snake-like creatures, twisting around before facing each other. The space between them was coloured in, and in the middle of this there was drawn a small rectangle with a hole in its centre. “This might have something to do with what's happening,” Oggie said with certainty.