Seekers in Equestria

by dracone


More Pieces to the Unknown Puzzle

Rec, Twilight and Pinkie were trotting down the streets of Canterlot, only because the train station wanted to do a few extra security checks, as a result the station was closed for outbound transit until noon. This left Rec and the rest some free time to kill, Twilight had offered to guide the three around the town properly, Claudia and Mandi had decided to do a little sparring in the guard training grounds, they had started to draw a crowd and when they had asked Rec for any advice on fighting he had just told them to not think about it and just act naturally. Thinking ahead he insisted that he, Twilight and Pinkie go through the town with saddlebags, the two didn't argue since they thought he might want to make some purchases, despite having yet to be paid by the princesses.
Twilight, Pinkie and Rec had informed the waiting diarchs and Rec's friends of what they had dealt with, this in turn prompted the pegasus and griffin make their plans for getting a little combat practice out of the way. Which somehow lead to Rec going towards a jewelry store with a critical eye with Twilight and Pinkie in tow. “Could you explain what we're doing heading for a jewelry store?” Said Twilight, “it's not something ponies like me keep an eye on, that's more of Rarity's thing.”
“Yuppers,” said Pinkie with a vigorous nod.
“It's a seeker thing,” said Rec calmly as the two mares came to stop next him just at the door, “I want to know what caused titans to fall to this world, there doesn't seem to be any lore that can be tied in to that sort of thing, heck what my friends and I thought were just titans last week turned out to be very real creatures in this one.”
“Oh, you want to see if any of those amulets you told us about are around here, and you figured somepony might have ended up putting them in a jewelry story,” said Pinkie.
“Yes,” said Rec, “now, would you two care to assist?”
“How exactly will we know what we're looking for is what we're looking at?” Inquired Twilight.
“Trust me, you'll know,” said Rec, “even if an amulet is unfamiliar seekers can usually tell if it is an amulet or random jewelry, we can feel the distinct mystical energies radiating from amulets and some seeker artifacts. So if you're confused as to what you're looking for you just need to focus on the pieces that feel similar to your amulets. Different types of titans have different sort of feel to them, not everyone picks up on it though. For instance Gaia-Titans like Pinkie's new friend usually have a feel that can be akin to admiring a plant; Hecto-Titans like your Akmen-Meo typically have a feeling that's a bit like moving your... forehoof over a piece of sandstone; Litho-Titans, like Nordrake, have usually have a feeling that's akin to a cold stone in your hold; Krono-Titans usually have a feeling of self-assurance to them; and Draco-Titans usually have a feeling of having good friend at your back. Those are just some of the feelings you can get, just try to be aware of jewelry that makes you feel different than it normally would and you'll be fine. I would also like to point out that if we find anypony else with amulets we will have a potential mess on our... hooves, so we need to approach everything with a certain level of caution.”
“Can't you just send one of your titans in to find out and have them report back what they found?” Said Twilight.
“While the populace of Equestria seems to be a place where titans can be seen a bit more openly, I would like to avoid using them in the open without the assurance that folks won't take their presence the wrong the way. Think of it like this, if you knew that a fully grown dragon was the most harmless creature on the planet, but nopony in a town you were visiting did, it would probably be a bad idea call him in to help with the delivery you promised a friend. In the same regard a location that is unaware of titans is probably not a good place to invoke them openly. You also have to remember that seekers have been taught to do things a bit more covertly, only use your titans if you believe it to be necessary.”
“But you had me using Akmen-Meo in a situation where I didn't think she was required,” said Twilight.
“You also pointed out you didn't even consider her, or her ability, at all for situation where her ability proved useful,” said Rec.
“He got ya there,” said Pinkie, “now, let's go amulet hunting.”
“Probably should have brought Rarity along with us for this,” said Twilight as they entered the storefront, a little bell over door gave soft jingle for a couple of seconds.
“Welcome to my humble store,” said a lilac blue mare with a lime yellow mane and cutie mark that had was a gold banded ring, a silver bracelet and a bronze pendant with a white diamond in it.
“Um, hi,” said Twilight a little nervously.
“Oh my... Princess Twilight Sparkle is in my shop, it's an honor to be in your presence, what is you're looking for?”
“We're looking for amulets that seem to posses unfamiliar magical energies, have you encountered such items at any time prior to this moment?”
“Well, I did find a few unusual amulets in my storeroom last year, I used them as display pieces and replicated their appearance, last I checked they're still in good care.”
“So, you haven't sold any then?” Said Pinkie.
“I almost sold a few to mister Fancy Pants and miss Fleur de Lis last month, they were visibly disappointed when I said that those were strictly display pieces and could not be sold, after all if I made an exception for one high profile client the other high profiles might try to take advantage of me. Are the amulets dangerous?”
“Potentially, yes,” said Rec with a tone that denoted seriousness without a hint of being overbearing or condescending, “certain conditions have to be met with the amulets, some more specific than others, however it's possible for ponies to get the wrong idea with the amulets and we don't want to cause any undesirable incidents, after all we don't want anyone screaming about how some kind of dragon suddenly appeared in the middle of a major city without anyone noticing its approach.”
The mare's eyes went wide before she said, “They can summon dragons?”
“Some of them can, others can call some other kind of mystical creature that if under the influence of the wrong pony could be more trouble than it's worth.”
“Influence?” Said the shop keeper.
“Oh, yes,” said Twilight, quickly picking up on what Rec was playing at, “the amulets in question have distinct magic that can allow an a pony to influence certain creatures, Princesss Celestia and Princess Luna just became aware of such things themselves, as did I. My associate here,” she gestured to Rec, “is an expert on such things, if you don't believe just take a look at his cutie mark.”
The shop keeper took note of Rec's distinct mark before saying, “Ah yes, a pony with a talent for magically infused jewelry would make sense as an expert, I'll prepare them for transit right away.” She headed over to the display case.
“Be sure to not touch any of them,” said Rec, “a few have been known to have unexpected reactions with the magical fields of those that touch them.” The shop keeper stopped at moving her hoof at the case door, looked over and gave a nervous smile before gingerly pulling the tray out and heading to the back.
“You call that covert?” Said Twilight unbelievingly.
“Adapt to the situation and utilize it your advantage, a basic tenant of ninjitsu and how I was told seekers best operate,” said Rec.
“What's ninjitsu?” Inquired Twilight.
“A style of combat that utilizes unconventional strategy and tactics to catch opponents off guard and gain an advantage on the battle field, roughly translates to ninja technique. You'll find out more consulting a database with the information, which you will probably have access to if you decide join my friends and I on the return trip when and if it happens. We aren't sure how long we're going to be here, but it's best to plan for any event. Magic is more openly recognized and practiced here, if it were back home I would just tried bargaining with the shopkeeper and upon realizing that wasn't getting me anywhere I'd resort to using some of my more covert spells to secure them, I'm not joking on that either.”
“That's potentially illegal,” said Twilight.
“Which is why I try to avoid such things,” said Rec, “the truth is I've had to make some difficult choices over the time I've been an officially sanctioned seeker, and every time I did something like what I described left bad feeling all over me, I've only done it twice before, but those choices still haunt me.”
“Why did you do it that way then?” Said Pinkie in a concerned voice.
“Because all the alternatives I saw were mass panics that were far worse than a jewelry store owner being confused and calling for law enforcement to track down their merchandise,” said Rec, “supposed monsters potentially duking it out in a shopping center, while awesome sounding, is a quick trip to mass hysteria.”
“My favorite kind of hysteria,” came Discord's voice, “Celestia's new bird keeps giving me the stink eye, I don't like it,” he suddenly appeared in a flash of light, “oh, and your friend is showing up the Royal Guard in practice.”
“Ah, Claudia's daring them to go six on one against her, my odds are always on Claudia,” said Rec, “she's our best fighter.”
“Six? She's going eight on one and kicking their flanks,” said Discord.
“Oh, so she's already trying to end the warm up session,” said Rec with a level of calm that was a little disturbing to his companions, and Discord, “let me know when she gets to fourteen, that's her personal best.” They all stared at him.
“I suppose her parents are less than thrilled by that prospect,” said Twilight.
“Her dad isn't too happy about her fighting in general, even more so when it comes to her sparing matches that somehow make his well trained and paid bodyguards look like rookies at the academy,” said Rec, “her mom, however, just beams with pride that her little girl is so capable in combat situations, it also doesn't help that Claudia's mom is the one taught her how to fight.”
“That does explain some disparity between the two,” said Twilight. It was at this point Discord disappeared, presumably to stir up trouble somewhere else.
“It's made all the more amusing, in the opinion of several we are acquainted with, when you take into account how influential her family is.”
“Come again?” Said both mares at once.
“Claudia isn't just our team's muscle, she's also the most well educated,” said Rec, “it comes from being a member of the Hawkson family, the Hawksons are one of the most wealthy and influential families of our modern age, also she's apparently their only seeker.”
“How do you know?” Said Twilight.
“She dropped a few key words that would identify her to a seeker as another seeker at her last family gathering, none of them gave the response she was looking for.”
“Oh,” said Twilight.
The shopkeeper came trotting back out with the amulets in a rather mundane magic case with cardboard on every point other than the top, and looked like it could easily fit into a saddlebag with room to spare. A quick look at the amulets showed that they appeared like some sort of golden Greek shield with the sides having arcs that turned inward, a small V like gap in the top, orange highlights and an oval shaped aqua colored gem in the center.
It was at this point the bell rang and a slim pink haired white unicorn mare and distinguished looking white unicorn stallion in a tuxedo jacket with a bow tie and blue mane, the stallion said in his refined voice, “Madam Pearl Necklace I was under the impression that wouldn't be selling those.”
“And she's not,” said Twilight, “this is more of a matter of citizen safety, the crown has just recently been informed of the potential danger of some of this jewelry, I'm afraid I can't share more than that for the time being,” she took the case in her magic and slipped into Rec's saddlebag.
“Perhaps we will meet under more desirable terms,” said Rec giving the two a courteous bow, turning to Pearl Necklace he said, “I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience we have given you madam, but you understand the urgency, I believe.”
“Not exactly,” she said, “but if one of the princess says they and that something that was in my care could be too dangerous for the populace then I will trust her judgment.”
“I'm afraid that won't be good enough for some of ponies in the circles we frequent said the stallion, may we join you?”
“I suppose,” said Rec, “we have a few hours before our train is available.”
The five exited the store, the amulets now safely in Rec's bag. “What additional information can we share with them?” Inquired Twilight once the they were all at a secluded part of Canterlot's park.
Rec thought for a moment, “You are aware of the magic in castle going out last night?” Said Rec.
“It was more than that,” said the unicorn mare in a refined, respectful and highly confident voice, “the magic of the entire city went out,” Rec had been made aware of that a few hours before leaving the castle, but decided to hide that fact showing a level of surprise that told Twilight he had more than enough practice at such things.
“Well in that case,” said Rec, “the event was caused by a rebel faction within the populace using an artifact with similar magical energies to the amulets we have here, speaking of which, we really should be getting these back to the castle,” he turned to the two, “please hold off on sharing most of this information, we don't want to cause some kind of panic.”
“Of course,” said the two in unison.
It was at this point the unicorn mare noticed the new accessories on Twilight and Pinkie as well as the piece on Rec's neck. “Princess, I was unaware you were trying out jewelry in the store, I hope you payed for it.”
“Oh, no, Miss Fleur,” said Twilight indicating to her amulets, “I had these last night, Pinkie acquired hers last night, and he's had his for years.”
“It's not often you see a stallion going around with such wonderful accessories.”
“They aren't just accessories,” said Rec, “they're trusted friends, and not every piece of jewelry is what it seems.”
“And he has a distinct opinion not seen that often as well,” said the stallion with amusement in his voice.
“Fancy Pants, darling,” said Fleur, “let's not embarrass him any further, besides, we have an important appointment within the hour.”
“Oh, quite right,” said Fancy Pants, “I wish you all good a day,” he gave the three a courteous bow, as did Fleur, and the two were gone.
“Well, that was interesting,” said Rec, “care to fill me in on who we just had a chat with?”
“Sure,” said Twilight, “you see Fleur de Lis is...”

____________________________________________________________________

While Rec, Twilight and Pinkie were out on the town Claudia and Mandi decided to get some practice in. When they asked for advice on how to fight in their new forms Rec just told them to not think about it and fight like they normally would, something that irritated the two. Rec had a tendency for doing that sort of thing, knowing it didn't make it any less frustrating. Mandi took the most natural combat stance to her, a position that ironically was similar to a standard guard defensive stance. Claudia's stance was less recognizable to most of the onlookers.
Celestia was confused by the stance she saw, Luna was very familiar with the pose. Claudia was standing on her hind legs with one wing positioned like a forward shield on her her right and her left wing was positioned like a shield facing behind her, her talons were positioned in a similar manner with her forward facing talon more open than closed as sort of open fist while the other was more of a loose fist facing behind her. “I am unfamiliar with that style,” said Celestia, “of all my encounters with the griffins I have never seen any with that particular combat composure.”
“I have,” said Luna with concern, “it is a style used by one of the griffin warrior houses, in particular one of their highest ranking warrior families. I wonder how she learned that, the family does not share its combat knowledge with non-family members.”
“Perhaps she learned a similar style in the other world,” said Celestia with a vested interest.”
“And her shoulder placements lined up with how to position the wings,” said Luna shaking her head, “no, it's not similar, it is in fact the same style, sister. I may have been gone for centuries, and not be in the know of many things that are common knowledge in this era, but that is one of the few things I would still be able to recognize if my sight were dramatically failing me.”
“I take they are formidable,” said Celestia.
Luna merely nodded and indicated for her sister watch.
“You ready?” Said Claudia.
“I guess,” said Mandi, let's do this.” The two started circling each other, for a full five minutes. After getting tired of circling her opponent Claudia charged, which Mandi knew would always be the case from her prior skirmishes with her companion. Claudia swung right with her left arm, predictable, Mandi moved out of the way by jumping back and to the right, what she didn't notice was black griffin wing following the talon's motion and got knocked back by it.
“Hah, gotcha Manders,” said Claudia in her taunting voice.
“Only because I didn't anticipate the wing following your punch,” Mandi glowered back, “and you know me, once I've encountered something once it's exceedingly hard for it to get me again.”
“True,” said Claudia, “but you know how fighting me tends to go.” With that she charged again, Mandi leaped up and gave her wings a strong flap, which in turn took her up higher, all avoiding the attack made on her, she then dive bombed Claudia.
Claudia caught sight int time and instinctively used her wings as an angled shield to deflect the attack. The griffon gave a chuckle, even though it hurt more than she thought, before both shot up into the air. Claudia made and aggressive aerial charge, which was highly expect by Mandi. The pegasus mare dove out of the way by shooting up and to the right, taking all the limbs of griffin into account. Claudia missed her mark by a good two feet, she grinned at how fast her associate had figured out aerial maneuvering. After keeping at it for few more minutes they both landed and Mandi excused herself with her usual polite thanks for the exercise.
“So,” said Claudia turning to all the guards that had been watching, “who wants to workout with me?”
“You're forgetting that we saw how you fight,” said a unicorn stallion in golden armor, “you don't know any about what our combat style is like.”
Claudia looked like she was mulling over what was said before saying, “you know what, how about three of you at the same time as me.”
All the guards chuckled and three stepped into the ring, thirty seconds later they were all on their backs wondering what had just happened, “She took them each out in ten seconds,” said one of the guards with surprise.
“Yeah, still warming up,” said Claudia, “it should have been at least half that.”
The gathered ponies looked at each other eight of the fifty-plus ponies decided to swarm her. Celestia looked on in amazement while Luna just giggled, unknown to either Discord was watching and decided to pop out for a bit.
“I was unaware there was a griffin combat style so effective against multiple opponents,” said Celestia as she watched a team of sixteen various ponies get knocked back by the griffin.
“From what I was able to gather on that style of combat,” said Luna with amusement, “it was intially created for taking on enraged creatures that are known for being dangerous such as manticores and even dragons. I read the file on the three that disappeared thirty years ago, one was a griffin hen that was considered a prodigy in her family's fighting style, I have my suspicions about which griffonian martial art it was, I've managed to narrow it down to a list of the top fifteen most likely griffonian martial arts.”
Celestia looked over at her sister and blinked before saying, “I was unaware you were being so thorough.”
“I felt that in my absence from Equestria's development that I should at least take the time to investigate cases such as the one you had our new arrivals look into. I must say, sister, a secret vault within the hallowed halls of your own institution was something I expected.”
“I quite agree,” said Celestia turning her attention back to the practice ring only to see seventeen of her guards get knocked on their backs.
Luna chuckled as she returned her attention back the display before them. Before they knew it Discord blinked in next the two just in time to see twenty-six ponies begin making their attempt, and said, “I must say I am quite surprised a single griffin, especially one that young, can make old Celly's best units be so humiliated so fast.”
“Technically they're not,” said Celestia with a mischievous smile, “all of her opponents thus far have be recent training graduates with an overly cocky attitude, this sort of thing is a good way of humbling them.”
“Not to mention the way she moves indicates she has combat experience outside of training,” said Luna with a smirk.
As they talked the twenty-six guardsponies tried a classic guard swarm technique, they were all thrown to the ground thirty seconds later.
“Is that it? This all you have for me,” said Claudia with a smirk, “this barely qualifies as a warm-up.”
“It would seem she needs to be knocked down a few pegs herself,” said Celestia with a chuckle.
One the guard's more senion lieutenants stepped into the ring and said in a gruff voice, “You showed my ponies they aren't as hot as they think they are, but can you handle a true guard?”
Claudia looked the river blue unicorn with an amber mane up and down before saying, “I take it you're off duty and just came over to see how the rookies were doing in training,” the unicorn nodded, “go gear up, I was taught you always want to take as much advantage in fight as possible, and you're armor is definitely an advantage if you know to properly utilize it,” she chuckled and thumbed at the pile of ponies nearby, “unlike these amateurs.”
The unicorn chuckled a bit himself and went into the guard house before coming out in golden armor that was somehow making him appear white and a spear, once he stepped into the ring he said, “Do you always hold back in practice?”
“Of course,” said Claudia taking her stance, “I don't wanna hurt anybody to badly, and besides, I need conserve my strength for legitimate threats.”
The two alicorns and draconequus chuckled to themselves as they watched. Instead of charging with his spear the unicorn charged up an energy blast, Claudia didn't try to dodge she just said, “My ArmorBrand is bit different,” and that was it, the three long lived observers noticed the air around her distort for a fraction of a second. The energy blast fizzled into harmlessness the moment it reached her.
“What in the... how did... that shouldn't be possible,” said the unicorn.
“I have a few tricks up my wings,” said Claudia with a smirk, if you're using magic then so am I.”
“But griffin spell caster don't know how to fight like you were, they're so focused on their craft...” the rest was cut of by a taloned hand tossing him across the arena.
“I learned to fight before I started learning magic,” said Claudia with a smirk, “and the brand of spellcraft I learned goes well with martial arts. Do you want to keep going, or are you good? I'm starting to feel all loosened up now, so I won't be as sluggish as I was a few minutes ago.”
The spectators blinked, as did her opponent before he said, “I think that's enough practice out of you for the day then.” Claudia gave a respectful nod before leaving the practice grounds, a few minutes later she was standing with the princesses and Discord.
“That was most amusing,” said Luna, “We haven't seen the use of a combat style similar to the one used by thee in a long time! Pray tell, where did thou learn thine combative art?”
“My mother taught me,” said Claudia, “she said it's been passed down the family for generations.”
“Dost thou know much of thine mother's kin?”
“Nay, good princess,” said Claudia in a manner that was not making fun of the princess, “mine mother always finds ways to dodge the issue her ilk.”
The three looked at her with surprise, Celestia carefully said, “How is it you were able to speak similar to my sister and yet not due so in a disrespectful manner?”
“My father's family, the Hawksons, are very high up in the echelons of our world's society, they are rich, powerful, and a quite egocentric at times.”
“Sounds like the nobility of Canterlot,” said Discord casually, while in a maple brown tuxedo with a pine green top and a black oaken cane.
“Why do think I dislike those pompous twits so much,” said Claudia, the two mares giggled, “I've spent a large portion of my life around high society, and I have a lot of displeasure towards it, then again so does mom, guess that makes me a mommy's girl. Then again Mandi and Rec are both very closely attached to their mothers as well.”
“Speaking of which,” said Celestia, “where did your compatriot get off to?”
“Knowing that girl,” said Claudia, “she's probably in the library reading something, she's like her mom that way.”
“As long as she isn't getting into trouble we have no qualms,” said Luna with a smirk.
“Please, that girl is the one making sure we don't get into trouble,” said Claudia with a flick of her talon, “well me in particular, Rec is not someone to worry about in that regard.”
“But you said you are of a noble house where you come from,” said Celestia with a raised eyebrow, “you should know more about etiquette than your friends, is that not right?”
“Oh, it is perfectly correct,” said Claudia with a smirk, “but I'm what you call the rebel of the family, I only follow etiquette when I believe it absolutely necessary, which is why I don't ever really bow to anyone claiming to be royalty, I know it's rude, but I want to see how far I can push my luck with that sort of thing. Besides I seem to have special sense about what kind of etiquette required in in almost any circumstance, bugs the Hell out of my family when I come of as the 'most refined' one of the family.”
The two alicorns and Discord gave a few chuckles, “Well,” said Celestia with a smirk, “you certainly know how handle yourself. Let's go find your friend.”
A few minutes later they were trotting through the halls, well Discord was floating on a cloud made of white bubblegum that was raining orange juice up into supposedly empty bottles. Claudia kept sneaking peaks at the event before saying, “Alright, that is it! I don't care if anybody has bets going on regarding this, but up until now everything he's done could be explained away as possible titan abilities, but this is just ridiculous. The whole you two can move the sun and moon thing I was willing to take in stride because different dimensions have different rules. But this, she gestured to Discord as they kept up their pace, with Celestia leading, “is something makes me seriously makes me start worrying for my sanity.”
“Oh, good somepony actually is getting close to a mental breakdown,” said Discord with a Cheshire grin was floating above his tail, “have message sent to Shining Armor and let him know I won the bet.”
“There was a bet of some kind,” said Claudia in an emotionless voice with a flat tone, which happened to send waves of rainbow colored shivers down Discord's spine, and regular chills down the back of Celestia and Luna, “I figured there might be.”
This caused Luna to burst out laughing, and Celestia just chuckled. Claudia just gave the two mare's a confused look. “It's because you predicted a random event,” said Discord, as if he had read her mind, from what she was seeing that probably wasn't much of a stretch, “that and you've managed to take all this in stride despite not being familiar with it.”
“If you saw what constitutes a typical month for me you'd probably be about as well adapted as I have been,” said Claudia with a huff, “some of the things my friends and I have dealt with have been pretty wacky. What with dealing with three different hydra variations, walking thorough puzzle mazes that have different gravitational pulls in different rooms, and the incarnations of various divine beings running about I would like to believe that somebody without anything remotely similar to Seeker experience might think this world a mad house, and that's before becoming aware of the Lord of Chaos over here.”
“One does not lord over chaos,” said Discord indigently, “they merely nudge less likely events into happening.”
“It was a figure of speech,” said Claudia, “it's just expression that means you're good at chaos.”
Celestia chuckled before saying, “You two seem to be a good mix.”
“Probably has something to do with the fact I'm not quite what you'd consider a high society girl,” said Claudia.
A couple of minutes later they came up to the entrance to one of the palace's libraries, the closet one to the observation deck that looked over the training grounds. Celestia swung open the doors, the first thing anyone heard was Luna laughing her flank off. Inside was Mandi wearing her Cavalier amulet like an eye patch with a map of some kind folded to look like a sailor's stocking hat, quite expertly in fact, reading a novel titled “Buccaneer Bobble, the Pirate That Could Never Be” Discord just made an offhand remark about amateurs with Celestia giggling a under breath and Claudia just face palmed.
Mandi suddenly became aware of their existence and said in the most obviously fake pirate accent, “Avast me hearties, what do ya think uh me cabin?”
“What are you reading?” said Claudia, clearly ignoring the look of her friend, or just not caring about it.
“You know all those Monty Python skits we would watch every once and a while?” Said Mandi in her normal voice, the sound of the princesses snickering could still be heard in the background.
“Yeah,” said Claudia, then after a few seconds worth of pause she said, “wait, are you saying it's a book that's actually a pirate parody?”
“Aye,” said Mandi, giving a salute to her friend, “it's got Monty Python level genius.”
After she calmed down to occasional chuckles Luna said “We would very much like to meet this 'Monty Python' pony, they sound like somepony that can bring about great comedy.”
“That would be rather difficult,” said Mandi, “seeing as that's the name of a group, they're a British comedy group known for some amusing parodies and satires, they've made a few highly comedic films, which are actually a compilation of skits of various length.”
“Entertainers that focus entirely on comedy, much like the the fools of yore,” said Luna.
“Only with a bit more variety,” said Claudia, “if we can we'll try and bring you some samples of their work back so that can see their unique stylings, consider it a cultural exchange. After all, we've already introduced you to the concept of Seekers, what you do with the knowledge is entirely up to you.”
“I have question,” said Celestia.
“Go ahead your majesty,” said Claudia.
“Why does the exterior of the device mimic wood?”
“Each faction has a different approach to how they produce the units,” said Mandi as she removed rather silly outfit and put its components back where she had gotten them, in rather excellent order, “Celtic and Japanese culture are strong driving point behind the Association, and in both cultures forests have a powerful mystical significance, aspects of nature are given forms, some of which are tied to titans. The design is about paying homage to the heritage of the cultures, it also is reflection of the edicts of the faction.”
“I see,” said Celestia, “it's a physical representation of what the order stands for, I think I've decided on what we will call our little grouping of these new magic users.”

***************************************

A few hours later Rec, Twilight and Pinkie were all back with rather sizable collection of various amulets in their saddlebags. “Ugh, seven jewelry stores with amulets in them, fortunately all of the ponies that had them had the foresight to use them only as display pieces or in back until somepony qualified could authenticate them.”
“I just don't get it,” said Rec with genuine confusion in his voice, “all these titans fell to Equestria within the past year, some even before the Red Comet event,” he took a deep sigh, “what major events of mystical significance happened in the past year.”
“Well,” said Pinkie as they all took a seat in the throne room after instructing a guard to inform the princesses of their return, “there was the return of Nightmare Moon, Discord getting free of his stone prison, the changeling invasion of Canterlot, the restoration of the Tree of Harmony, the whole Tirek incident, and the Tree of Harmony giving Twilight her spiffy new castle.”
Rec just stared at both mares for a moment before saying, “That all happened in a year? And my team thought we had a hectic year. What did the 'Tirek incident' involve?”
“Oh nothing much,” said Pinkie, “just every pony, and Discord, getting their magic drained by an evil centaur escapee from Tartarus.”
“I think we found our incident,” said Rec, “Titans in an initial fall are all about keeping a sort of mystical balance, but Lord Casterwill called the titans to Earth for their first fall, what could possibly have called the titans here for their fall to this world. It would have to be either someone very powerful or knowledgeable about magic to pull off something like that.”
“It was me,” came Luna's voice as she entered with her sister and Rec's friends, causing everyone to look at her with confusion, “as a backup plan should Tirek actually achieve victory I reached out to the many realities that can be touched upon within the dream realm.”
“And your call reached into the Spirit World all the way to Huntik,” said Rec, “but instead of becoming this world's original seeker you just allowed them to appear rather haphazardly across the nation, possibly the world.”
“I feel bad about what I did, especially since I hid it from everypony until now,” said Luna with guilt in her voice, then with conviction said, “but I stand by decision, should Twilight have failed to best Tirek we would require the assistance of these 'titans', I am thankful that those with knowledge about such things made their way to us regardless.”
“What is Huntik? You said that was the name of one of the Seeker factions,” said Celestia.
“Before the Foundation took the name it was the name given to the dimension of the spirit world from which the titans reside and come from,” said Rec, “unfortunately it's also where their greatest enemies are from and reside as well.”
“Oh,” said all three alicorns at the same time.
“How bad was it with original titan fall in your world?” Inquired Princess Luna.
“He actually told me about that one,” said Twilight, “the enemies he's referring to are called the Nullifiers, they don't know how or why the nullifiers came to their world. But the first seeker, someone named Lord Casterwill, did something to call the first titans to their world. Through sheer will power he kept himself alive for the entire length of the battle with the nullifiers, which was centuries. Keep in mind this all passed down through oral tradition because all the events predate their world's written history, even if we did have access to their records chances are at best we would get is a massive collection of lore. If Lord Casterwill was indeed real then there's a chance he was their world's equivalent of an original alicorn, he introduced an understanding of magic to their world before anypony else. If we were to draw a comparison I would say that his word would be akin to the foundations of magical practices all over the globe, a Source Caster event.”
“Something that most ponies have dismissed as a mere theory in regards to magic,” said Luna, “it's argued that all understanding of magic has to have come from an originator, but magic is so intertwined with our culture it's become next to impossible to tell fact from fiction.”
“That's the way it is with Seekers as well,” said Rec, “we have supposed proof that Lord Casterwill was real because of what the descendants of his sons and daughters call themselves 'the Casterwill Clan' some members of the clan even have it as their family name.”
“Too use a more current analogy as to why this is a big deal,” said Mandi, “I want you to consider the Apple clan, while they most certainly are excellent in apple related skills and abilities you still need to ask who the original Apple was? By this time the clan probably has a massive lore built around their ancestor, it's the same way with the Casterwills. We know that Lord Casterwill was the original seeker to hold three legendary titans, keep in mind every other seeker entrusted with a legendary titan at that time is stated to only have held a single legendary titan, and they are believed to be the founders of sub-clans of the Casterwills.”
“So, who was the original seeker for Inari?” Inquired Twilight.
“Inari's a special case,” said Rec, “while she was certainly there during the conflict, she kept her existence mostly unknown, her original seeker was the secret student of the Champion of Casterwill, she personally told me that only the Champion and Lord Casterwill were aware of her existence. Lord Casterwill said that should the Nullifiers ever return that she would be playing a mjaor part in a hidden contingency to stop them.”
“There was a major conflict between the the Blood Spirals and the combined forces of the Casterwills and Huntik foundation last year,” said Claudia, “we wanted to help out, but the higher ups put an end to that attempt.”
“Her mom wasn't too happy that we were stone walled,” said Mandi, “the reason they gave us was that should the united front fail we were the contingency.”
“We didn't buy that for a second,” said Rec, “they just didn't want get involved in a battle that could potentially decide the fate our world, and risk any resources that could result in potential deaths. We need to stop hiding from the other factions and let the Foundation and Casterwills know they have another ally should they need one next time. Currently the most well known seekers in our world are Dante Vale, Lok Lambert, and Sophie Casterwill. They all work for the Foundation.”
“Not really all that surprising,” said Mandi, “the Foundation has been the most public of the factions since it's formation in the 1800s, they haven't gone public with all the seeker stuff though, they still keep that stuff secret and play cleanup when they have to. The train station will be ready for use in three hours by the way, looks like you did some 'shopping' while you were out. Get anything good?”
“See for yourselves,” said Rec as he floated the containers for the amulets he carried out of his saddlebags, Twilight did the same for hers and Pinkie's bags. In addition to the gold shield like amulets were some smooth, triangular shield looking amulets with a pinkish-gray gem in the center, brown oval like triangular amulets with an upward curving stinger like protrusion at the bottom and red circular gem near the top, what looked like more Gremlow amulets, and a small hoard of Read Searcher amulets.
“That's quite the haul,” said Claudia with a smirk. How you get so many so fast?”
“We convinced them it was matter of national security,” said Twilight in a rather blunt manner.
Claudia took two her talons and pinched the base of her beak before saying, “And we need to teach you girls the lingo, seriously, you need to learn the code words and key terms.”
“What are you a club, secret society, hidden order?” Said Twilight.
“All of the above,” said Rec, Mandi and Claudia in unison.
“Oh,” said Twilight as if she was finally catching up.
“And the last horse crosses the finish line,” Claudia deadpanned.
“We do not use that kind of language in place like this,” said Celestia with a bit of anger and far more amusement.”
“She didn't mean anything insulting,” said Mandi, “she used the word H-O-R-S-E, horse, it's a type of large equine that's part of several cultures in our world, in fact many different breeds have been produced to perform a variety of jobs more effectively.”
“Oh,” said Twilight, “that's actually fascinating, I'll have to do a study on the different equine variations of your world if I ever end up going there.”
“Thanks, miss Guard, for explaining that for them,” said Claudia with an indignant huff.
“You're a guard where you come from? I can see now how you understood how to fight so effectively,” said Luna.
“No, Guard is my family name,” said Mandi with a shake her head, “just like Hawkson is Claudia's family name and Mage Staff is Rec's family name.”
“Recorded Formula Mage Staff,” said Twilight with an amused smile, “that's quite a name for a unicorn.”
“Yeah, well if we end up back home mom will probably drop my middle name,” said Rec with an evenness to his voice that was far more chilling than he intended.
“Same here,” said Claudia, “that and she's probably gonna kill me, again.”
“You two are lucky,” said Mandi in an irritated voice, “my mom didn't give me a middle name!”
“So you've complained before,” said Claudia in a calm manner, “having a middle name isn't all that important if you ask me, just another way for parents to make your name look more impressive.”
“My name is already long enough without my middle name, thank you very much,” said Rec.
“What's a middle name exactly?” Inquired Twilight.
“Where we come from you have your given name, family name and sometimes a name between the two,” said Rec, “names are dependent on the parents, and I'm sure you know what those kinds of variables are like.”
All the mares gave a little chuckle and Claudia said, “Not that funny folks, can we please just get on with our day.”
“We have a little under three hours to kill,” said Rec, “or did you forget that? Considering it's around half hour to the station from the palace under light circumstances, and assuming the princesses have not only made accommodations, but are deciding to join us with a few items I would say they get to packing now and by my calculations we will be ready to go to the station in one hour, and assuming we leave shortly after the princesses have all their things I believe we will arrive at the station five minutes after it is once again serviceable, that is unless I've run the numbers wrong.”
“No, actually,” said Celestia, “you crunched the numbers rather accurately, honestly I can't understand why the castle staff has to work itself into a tizzy every time either of us says we want to leave the castle grounds.”
Luna rolled her eyes and said, “She's ruled for centuries and she still talks like that.”
“Don't you dare say it like that,” said Celestia, “do you remember that time on your thirtieth birthday?”
Luna blushed and made a not so discreet cough before saying, “Well, the guards did find me before nightfall at least.”
Celestia burst out laughing, “I'm never going to understand any of this,” said Claudia, “and I've been taking it in stride long enough, there is no way either of those two is a day over forty if you ask me.”
“But Princess Celestia reigned over Equestria for a thousand years after being forced to banish Nightmare Moon,” said Twilight, “it's a well documented fact that Celestia has ruled for centuries.”
“How is you two are taking this in stride and not calling bullshit on this sort of thing?” Said Claudia with a glare at both her friends.
“One, we've already seen things don't quite work in this world the same way they do in ours,” said Rec, “two, how is the tales of Lord Casterwill any different than those of Celestia, Luna, or Nightmare Moon? And three, mom used to tell me bedtime stories about stuff like this.”
“What's your excuse?” Said Claudia with a glare at Mandi.
“Pretty much the same as Rec,” said the pegasus mare with a shrug, “not that I think about it our moms all seemed to know each other when they met.”
“My mom didn't tell me stories that were that load of malarkey,” said Claudia, “She'd tell me about amazing warriors and powerful kings. You two are just taking it in stride because you didn't see them do anything other than some parlor tricks.”
The three alicorns gave the griffin a withering look, which she just brushed off.
“Did you forget last night,” said Mandi, “we literally saw Celestia and Luna move the sun and the moon with their magic. And really Rec's the one who worked at all on blind faith, which ironic considering he's the last of us that I would consider would do something like that.”
“Well considering who he's bonded to I wouldn't call it too much of a surprise,” came Inari's voice before seeming to materialize next to Rec, “every now and then you seem to forget he has a tendency to be running a lot of info in his head at any given moment, those files you found in conjunction with the stories his mother told him and what you've learned about this world have began to lead him to start thinking about things in a different light, but he's still got some big holes in the puzzle. I mean even Lord Casterwill didn't have as many answers as seekers seem to think he did, I should know I was there for a considerable amount of it.”
Twilight turned her attention to the nine tailed white fox and said, “You were there? You're a firsthoof source on the war between the Seekers and the Nullifiers.”
“Yes, but that was so long ago my memory of that time is pretty spotty, heck I can barely remember what things were like two thousand years ago, so try to imagine what it's like trying to remember things from before the dawn of recorded history.”
The three alicorns blinked and Rec gestured to Inari as he said, “She's the main reason I pretty much take them at their word that they are a few thousand years old.”
“Okay, your making your point,” said Claudia, “but she,” she gestured to Inari,” is a legendary titan and has an immense amount of magical energy coursing through her.”
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna also have immense wells of magical energy within them,” said Rec, “that argument is not as sound as you think.”
“Point made,” said the female griffin.
“I'm going to enjoy gathering research from and on Inari,” said Twilight.
“You'll have to wait on that said Inari, “Also, we're bringing the amulets with us to Twilight's castle, it's a security thing and no arguments from any of you, I'm technically the oldest one here, so you better listen to your elder children.” Celestia and Luna burst out laughing, as did Inari.

*******************************************

Three hours had passed and all of them were in a private train car headed for Ponyville, all the while Twilight was jabbering with excitement about the new magic lesson plan. Celestia was just enjoying how her guards would have to wait a full five hours for the next Ponville bound train, although chances are some her winged guards would be there a half hour after her. Luna's guards were basically in the same boat as Celestia's. The white and dark coated alicorns were having a long discussion with Inari about how the past played out at certain points in their experience, Twilight was listening with great intent when she was pontificating about the greatness of learning a new kind of magic.