//------------------------------// // A Song To Remember // Story: Five Changelings In Equestria: The Sixth Path // by Bucking Nonsense //------------------------------// "Is something wrong with your sister?" Trixie looked over at Gravy, a little bit surprised. The two of them were walking down the road, pulling their respective carts. Elle was asleep in Trixie's cart, along with Biscuits, who seemed to have taken a shine to the disguised changeling. Since Trixie had found the changeling yesterday, the little one had spent a great deal of time sleeping. Given that, by the youngster's own admission, that she had spent a three weeks sitting out in the open, without sleep and without protection from the elements, Trixie could understand why. She hoped the changeling wouldn't catch ill after all of that... Given the changeling's unusual behavior, the performer could understand why Gravy would be a bit concerned. "Well, she's not my sister," Trixie admitted, "I just found her on the side of the road yesterday. Ah, but why do you think something is wrong with her?" Gravy, still masked, turned his head to one side, and said, "Well, she seems kind of... distant. She's the first kid I did the 'Invisible Monkey' skit with who didn't even crack a smile. I thought that she... wait, did you just say you found her on the side of the road?" Trixie nodded, and said, "Yes. She was being... menaced by a group of Timberwolves. I've dealt with such creatures before, so it wasn't difficult to be rid of them: just rattle some pots and pans together, and they take off. After speaking with her, I decided that the best thing to do would be to take her with me." The jester, his posture reflecting the confusion in his tone, asked, "What about her family?" The magician shrugged, and said, "The only family she has is her... father, although I hesitate to use that title to describe someone like that. After hearing about the way he's treated her, well, I won't be taking her anywhere near him." "Yikes," Gravy said, "Just, um, how bad was it?" He seemed extremely nervous about asking that question, as if worried he'd want to immediately unhear the answer... With a long sigh, Trixie said, "I'm not sure how I can explain it without betraying her trust in me. Suffice it to say that it was terrible enough that I would prefer never to hear the details of her... upbringing." With a visible shiver, Gravy said, "Fair enough." After a little more walking, Gravy asked, "So, what were you doing before you decided to start on the road to the Crystal Empire?" Trixie, after a moment's hesitation, shook her head sadly, then said, "I made a total fool of myself. Twice. Both times, it was because I had too much pride for my own good. The first time, my mouth wrote a check that my horn couldn't cash. The second time, I decided that I wanted to get back at somepony, and nearly drove myself insane doing so." Gravy tilted his head to one side, then asked, "Wait... you're 'The Great And Powerful Trixie'?" With another sigh, the mare admitted, "Yes. Although I am seriously considering dropping the 'Great and Powerful' from the name." The stallion nodded, and said, "The might be a good idea. The Crystal Empire has probably had it's fill of great and powerful unicorns. You might want to stick with something simpler, like maybe 'The Amazing', or 'The Magnificent'." After a moment's thought, Gravy asked, "So you're hoping to get yourself established in the Crystal Empire before the story about your, ah, mistakes reach the ears of the locals?" Nodding, the magician admitted, "Exactly." As they continued walking on, Trixie asked, "And what about you? What were you doing before you were invited to the Crystal Empire." Chuckling to himself, Gravy said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Raising an eyebrow, Trixie asked, "Oh really? Try me, you might be surprised what I'd believe today." The last two days alone had been incredibly strange, so she could see herself believing almost anything that the stallion in front of her said. "Alright," the stallion said, his voice now filled with mirth. "I was getting something published." Now that was surprising. He hardly seemed the scholarly type. "You've written a book?" Laughing aloud, Gravy said, "I've written more than a dozen. They aren't exactly best seller material, though, since they're kind of dry. Still, I imagine that there isn't a library in Equestria that doesn't have at least one of my works on its shelves. Most university libraries carry the whole set." Now this was fascinating to hear. She'd rather expected to hear that he'd written children's stories, or joke books, but a dry work that would still be considered a valuable addition to a library's shelves? What kind of book could that be? "Well," Trixie asked, hesitantly, "I don't suppose you would mind telling me what it's about?" "I wouldn't mind," Gravy said, after a moment's thought, "But like I said, it's dry stuff. You'd probably find it terribly boring." With a gesture towards the road ahead of them, Trixie said, "We have miles of road ahead of us. I honestly doubt that anything you've written could be more boring that us walking in silence." "You might change your mind about that," Gravy said, chuckling. "Well, let me ask you this, before I get started: How much do you know about the law of gravity, and gravity manipulation spells?" "What goes up, must come down, unless a magician says otherwise," Trixie said, confidently. While she might not have had the magical 'muscle' to be able to cast a spell like that, she certainly understood that much. "A good answer," Gravy said, with a smile that could be heard in his voice, "But it doesn't describe the actual, factual law itself, or what the spells that manipulate that law really do. Gravity is a bit more complex than that..." ----------------------------- As Leiurus, or 'Elle', as she was currently being called, lay in bed, listened to the two unicorns talk, she 'tasted' the air with her horn, sensing the flow of affection between the two. While it wasn't love, specifically, it did feel like there was something forming between them. It was much too weak to be considered worth feeding off of, but the changeling believed that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on it... However, the changeling was surprised that Trixie had made some sort of mistake, one that she was now trying to put behind her. Curious. While in Elle's eyes, the unicorn could do no wrong, at least right now, she couldn't help but wonder what the mare could have done that had gotten her into so much trouble. Well, not so much 'trouble', from the sound of it, so much as it was something that had damaged her reputation. Gravy seemed to know something about it: if an opportunity came, she would inquire about it, discreetly. The changeling had the distinct impression that if she asked Trixie, it would make the unicorn very sad. Somehow, the idea of making Trixie sad was something that she couldn't bear to think about... The conversation between the two ponies was definitely interesting, though. Elle's training had only been in magic, not the science behind it. She'd always kind of taken it on faith that a spell would always work the way it did, because that was how the spell was supposed to work. The idea that someone would ever sit down and work to figure out the how's and why's behind a spell was remarkable. Moreover, the idea that a spell served to manipulate a fundamental law of the cosmos was fascinating... ------------------ "So," Trixie said, struggling to keep up, "Every object has some measure of gravitational pull being exerted on every other object in the universe, all at the same time?" That much was... incredibly difficult to grasp on its own... "Right," Gravy said, his tone light. "But the mass of the object, and just how close it is to another object, determines just how much of a pull it has. For example, the world is incredibly large, and we are right up against it, so it's pull has priority over everything else. Meanwhile, for something like you or I, the pull that our personal gravity would have would be the equivalent of an ant walking up to a mountain and trying to drag it away. The ant could pull for a thousand years, but the mountain would never budge an inch." Nodding, Trixie said, "I suppose that makes sense. But just because it doesn't have a visible effect, doesn't mean it isn't there." "Precisely. The trick of the gravity spell is that it doesn't just alter the gravitational relationship between an object and the world, but rather the relationship between any object, and any other object. However, it doesn't change the properties of mass: a heavy object remains difficult to move, since it's mass remains unchanged. However, if you remove the pull of the world, then strengthen the pull with something else, like increasing the gravitational pull of the sun, then you can get something like my levitating cart here." "Or," Trixie said, putting two and two together, "Like how you were able to lift my cart up, and keep it up, when I needed to fix it earlier." "Very observant. Yes, that's exactly right," Gravy said, nodding. "You could also reverse that relationship using a spell, causing an effect like being pushed away. The effect is like falling, only in the opposite direction. It takes more power, though: magic is always more difficult when you're trying to do something that goes against the laws of the cosmos. Making two objects more attractive to one another is easy, forcing them apart will have a great deal more resistance." Raising an eyebrow, Trixie said, "That... makes a lot of sense." After a moment's thought, Trixie couldn't help but ask, "And you write books about this kind of thing? I wouldn't have thought..." "...That I would be the type?" Gravy laughed, his tone still light, "Well, I'll clue you in on a secret. This is something that I was told by somepony much, much wiser than I am, and I have found it to be the pure and simple truth. 'Your mark will guide you towards what you are best at. However, that doesn't mean that it's the only thing you'll be good at, or even great at. It is a sad, sad pony who only has one talent to their name, and you can drive yourself to madness by pursuing your special talent to the exclusion of all else.'" After a moment, his tone turned a bit more serious. "Sometimes the simplest truths are the ones that are the most important, and the most easily overlooked." Trixie mulled on that for a little bit. She had, herself, pursued her own special talent for quite some time, to the exclusion of almost everything else. That hadn't made her any happier. She'd tried to show off her skills in an effort to win friends and the admiration of others, but instead had ended up making herself into a laughingstock at first, and then a monster. Maybe it was time to start looking into something else, something other than just magic... "Anyways," Gravy said, breaking Trixie out of her reverie, "That's why I'm out here on the road, in a jester's costume, instead of some dry, dusty office scratching away on a chalkboard, trying to unlock the secrets of the universe with math and science. It's much more fun to see the world than it is to try and convert it into a mathematical formula. You can convert a song into notes on a sheet of paper, but hearing the notes is always much more enjoyable than seeing them written down." Nodding, Trixie couldn't help but agree... --------------------------- Strange as it would sound, Elle had far more trouble following Gravy as he described his personal philosophies than she did when he was talking about science and mathematics. She had been taught to be logical, not emotional. The idea of something making you happy or sad was still foreign territory to her. It was when Gravy mentioned songs that a memory came flooding back from the the past. Her first instinct was to push it away. After all, that was what she had been ordered to do all her life. Wait... Just who had ordered her to do that? Braconidae. And Trixie said that Elle could ignore any order that he had given. So instead, the changeling embraced the memory. It was warm, this memory, if a little hard. But then, changelings, even mothers, were like that. Her voice was sweet, and gentle, and soft. She sang. The song, not a lullaby, but something else, something she was supposed to remember. It seemed like it was important. Even with an eidetic memory, it was difficult for her to recall right away. As she remembered it, she felt an urge to sing it herself. Singing was forbidden as well, but if Braconidae didn't like it, Elle decided that he could just come here and try to stop her... ------------------------ Trixie's ears perked up as she heard what sounded like singing coming from her cart. Gravy also seemed startled by the sound. The fact that it was Elle's voice raised in song was startling, but the fact that this was the first time that she'd heard any emotion in the changeling's voice since they first met made this all the more incredible... Come here, child, and listen well, It's a cold world in which we dwell. Some things I fear you'll need to know, While along your path you'll go. The world is strange, fierce, and wild, With little pity for you, my child. The path you'll walk will be so tough, I fear your strength won't be enough. So to help you on your way, Remember well the words I say. When the hardest foe is in your path, you'll find you'll need a wizard's staff. A wizard's staff, a wizard's staff, What you'll need is a wizard's staff. A wizard's staff, a wizard's staff, Build yourself a wizard's staff. Take a rod, straight and true, Any kind of wood will do. These symbols, you must engrave, They'll help you when in danger grave. The sun, the moon, the heart, the shield, Will make a ward that will not yield. The six-point star, the last you'll need, To perform a mighty deed. Take a stone, from crystal bright, To shine in this, your darkest night. Bind it tight with a cheerful laugh, For now you have a wizard's staff. A wizard's staff, a wizard's staff, Now you have a wizard's staff. A wizard's staff, a wizard's staff, Forever yours, the wizard's staff. When the song ended, Trixie was... stunned. That really couldn't be... Trixie asked, a little hesitantly, "Elle, um, would you mind writing that down for me? I've never heard that song before, and I wouldn't mind singing it sometime." After a moment, Elle responded, in the same distant monotone she always used, "Affirmative." Trixie and Gravy shared a look. The method of making a wizard's staff was considered a lost art: there had not been any who could build one since Starswirl The Bearded. If that really was the way of creating one... Well, who knew what else may be rattling around in that little lady's head?